Our Towne Bethlehem December 2021: Taking a Break

 Did you know I have been writing monthly articles for Our Towne Bethlehem since January 2013? The first one was published that February. That is nine years of monthly articles and it is time for me to take a break.

I long appreciated the monthly deadline. Sadly, I am a firm believer in procrastination. For me, a deadline, especially because other people were depending on me getting the work done, was essential to, well, getting the work done! But now, that deadline is no longer serving me or my goals.

I am carving out time for other writing ideas, mostly playing with fiction. For the local history articles I write, I strive to be accurate and do a ton of research. But in the end, I am usually still curious about the people and places I write about. There is always more to the story, but it is just impossible to find the details. So, I am going to make some up. That’s what fiction is after all.

Here’s an example, a short newspaper snippet about the doings of a couple of folks from Feura Bush:

“The marriage of Mr. Peter Hedrick and Miss Helen Slingerland has just been made public. They were married in the autumn, but marriage, like murder, will out.” (The Argus, January 28, 1887)

What? Marriage, like murder? What? Don’t you have questions? I know I do. Who is this couple? Why did they keep their marriage secret? How did they keep it secret? Feura Bush is a pretty small village after all. And what about the Slingerland connection? That’s a prominent family name. Historically accurate answers are not forthcoming, I looked. But you know, I can make up a pretty good story about Helen and Peter. Who knows if it will be any good, but I am going to give it a try.

Many thanks to my faithful readers at Our Towne. I have received so much positive encouragement over the years and I really do appreciate that. I will continue to be your Town Historian. Keep the history questions coming and be sure to check back here often. For now, this is where I’ll post the historical tidbits I’d like to share with you.

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To illustrate this article, I chose some old pictures of Bethlehem people in front of their homes. Each one makes me curious about the story behind the picture. Read more in the captions.

The facts about this picture are simple. Members of the Wilkens family are posing in front of their summer place on Old Quarry Road about 1940. They are likely Sarah Wilkens in the background and two of her three daughters (either May, Bess or Harriet) in the foreground. In my mind, Mother, has just stepped out the door, and now, hand at her throat, is wondering what shenanigans Harry is getting up to at the mailbox. Harry, hand in pocket, is about to stuff an outrageous letter in there. And at the lower left is May, grinning up at her older sister, urging her on to mischief. See how fun this is? 

The only known facts about this image are that member of the Terrel family are posing on a porch step, perhaps the porch of their farmhouse that used to be on Route 32 just before the village of Feura Bush. But, oh the story on that little girl’s face, and her mother’s slanting side eye. Grandma and grandpa just stare at the camera, oblivious to the drama between mother and daughter.

In this photo John L. Winne stands in front of his farm house probably around 1900. This Delmar house has a Roweland Avenue address but nowadays the front façade shown here faces Louise Street. This one is a ghost story for me. Old man Winne is so wizened looking while he casually leans on the post. Surely, he has come back to haunt his old house, now that it is all turned around, the fence long gone and so many other houses have sprung up in his orchards. 

A boy poses in front of the Slingerland Sager house in 1935. The house is still standing near the roundabout in Slingerlands behind the post office. This young boy seems so proud of his jaunty, vaguely nautical hat. What imaginary sailor game is he about to run off and play on the grounds of his grandparent’s home? Perhaps he’ll end up at the old LaGrange family cemetery, not too far away back behind Shop Rite. See how this simple picture just became another ghost story?

These are members of the Welch family on the porch of their Van Wies Point home. What intrigues me are their gazes. The sun must have been very bright in their eyes, but some do look directly at the camera like patriarch Warren Welch in the center. His wife Teresa is behind him and seems to be minding her grandson who is under the watchful hand of his mother. Their son Frank Welch stands tall at the upper right corner. What is he thinking beneath his carefully upswept hair and squinting brows? And sitting on the lower right holding a book is Emma Welch. She is a daughter-in-law and her husband William is not in the picture. And what about Arabella, standing behind her brother Frank? She’s looking out disapprovingly on the whole thing. Just from their gazes, I am imagining a whole story line between these various siblings.