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Subject: [NYFL] town history writing & books - esp Dryden & Enfield
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2002 17:16:22 EDT

from the Ithaca Journal:
Saturday, October 12, 2002


Including the right details key to town history writings



By CAROL KAMMEN KAMMEN
Writing a town history requires a delicate balance. There is, in the first
place a very particular audience -- residents of the town, and historians and
researchers of other nearby towns. And there are very particular expectations
of a town history. It might show how the town progressed through time from
its geological base, Iroquois phase and origins of early settlers. It should
describe how the town grew to develop institutions, industry or commercial
enterprise. How the roads came through, where the railroads went and what
happened when they were no longer running are always of interest. And too,
there is an expectation that the important, or funny, or odd stories about
the town will be told: What happened in the flood of 1935, for example. And
stories about a town character, or in the case of Ulysses, a historian could
not omit information about the Trumansburg Giant, his origins and demise. But
there are other things that people might look for in a town history, and they
are the specifics of who held office, who were the local doctors, the
location of schools before centralization-and when that happened. A town
history, in other words, is both a story -- or a series of stories --and a
reference book. It should also be illustrated (everyone likes pictures), it
should be easy to read and it should be logically organized. Town histories,
of course, cannot tell everything even though a town, or a place within a
town, is a small geographic unit. So writing a modern town history, when we
have 200 years of written history, and several layers of human habitation
before that, can be a daunting enterprise. One of the best town histories is
George Goodrich's "Centennial History of the Town of Dryden: 1797-1897"
published in 1898. Goodrich does not include everything, but he manages
narrative history of the town from prehistoric conditions, Indian occupation,
to the histories of the village and hamlets and other communities within. In
the process, Goodrich also tells us how the use of the land has caused the
land, and the weather, to change; he gives family histories, and lists of
those who fought in the Civil War, and good maps. Goodrich's comprehensive
list of topics have been emulated by others over the succeeding century. The
people in Enfield might point out that Goodrich had 100 fewer years than they
had to cover in their history, which has just been published by the Enfield
Historical Society, a group that was convened in 1992. Now, 10 years later,
that group has put together a book entitled "The Town of Enfield New York:
Christian Hill to Enfield Falls." The book contains a map, a description of
the land, a comprehensive timeline of events in the town, information abut
early settlements, the Military Lots, the division from the Town of Ulysses,
early settlers, transportation, buildings in the town, businesses and
doctors, town government, the various religious groups to be found in the
town, education. It also includes a very interesting and useful chapter of
social organizations in Enfield from the grange to the mother's club and
other groups that have formed for companionship, improvement and recreation.
There are lists, too, of soldiers who have served in this country's wars, and
a chapter on agriculture in Enfield. The various chapters were written by
different individuals and edited by members of the Enfield Historical Society
and Sue Thompson, Enfield town historian. The first thing I had to look up
was Christian Hill. Where was it? According to the description (page 29) it
centered on the schoolhouse at the intersection of Waterburg and Iradell
Roads. I longed for a somewhat better map in the book on which to locate
Christian Hill, but the one provided clearly shows the early Military Lots
and that is useful. This book about Enfield is clearly intended to tell some
of the stories of the people and activities of the town and to also be a
reference work -- who received Military Lots can be tracked; who served as
town officer can be traced; the origins of the names of many of the town's
roads are given, as are the members of the Enfield Women's Christian
Temperance Union. The book is useful to residents and will provide
information for historians throughout the county. More, of course, always
needs to be known, researched and told. That is the continuing job -- and
pleasure -- of the appointed town historian and the Enfield Historical
Society. Carol Kammen, whose column is published every other Saturday, is the
Tompkins County historian and the author of several books on local history.

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