This season, the Northern
New York Agricultural Historical Society
at Stone Mills will celebrate its 33rd
anniversary, and with that celebration
members will reflect on the contributions of one of
its founders whose
vision was instrumental in the establishment and
growth of the museum
that showcases rural life in the north country
during the past century.
Always one intent on
preserving our agricultural heritage, Josephine
Fredenburg,
Robinson Road
, Clayton, was disheartened to see old farm
machinery just standing out in
fields while driving along the country roads.
It seemed a waste for it to rust away.
The organization of a boat museum
in Clayton got Josephine to thinking, “I didn’t
see why, if they had a
museum down to the river, that we couldn’t have
something in the country.”
She presented the idea to
the local grange and they thought it was a good
idea. They, in turn, presented the proposal to
Pomona Grange, the county
wide organization. They were, clearly, touched by
her appeal and agreed to
investigate. One member reached in his pocket and
said, “How much do you
need?”
Interested granges drew
support from individuals around the area.
A
former schoolmate from the Bay, Pauline Carlisle,
shared Josephine’s
vision and the interest grew.
When sufficient support
had been generated, the group began looking
for a home. Everyone
suggested the LaFarge mansion but, upon entering,
they feared the building would collapse on them.
Clearly, it was too far
gone.
Group representatives
contacted
Albany
for support, she said, and a
state official brought an architect up to take a
look. He suggested using a
piece of property by the old church in Stone Mills
as the museum site.
The church was empty, used
off and on, and not in good shape. To
add to
the challenge, no one knew who owned it.
Undaunted, they went ahead
and publicized the project. Soon
a
letter was forthcoming from a woman in
Oswego
County
stating that she
had a deed to a corner of the property.
The deed was enclosed therein.
Josephine advised that the
church was one of the first buildings in
Jefferson
County
to be placed on the national registry.
Deemed public
property, was secured for the museum at no cost. To
Josephine’s knowledge,
no deed exists to this day.
Marguerite Raineri,
current museum director, confirmed that there are
deeds in the safe but they may be to adjoining
property that was subsequently
purchased.
Hard Work
Josephine remembers how
hard the group worked to get the church ready.
“They put on a new roof and made repairs to the
walls,” she said. “The
pulpit
and the railings are the original but many of the
center pews were removed for
dances and other group activities.”
Once the site had been
secured and the building restored, the group
realized the need for a permanent organization to
oversee its operation;
hence the Stone Mills Agricultural Society was
formed. Josephine recalls
that her friend Pauline served as its first
president and she as its first
secretary.
“We started out
collecting household effects”, she noted.
“We went up
and down the road in search of items.
“I’ve got a rolling pin made out of a
stick.” A
gas lantern, a 1919 3 pt. truck, a buckeye point farm wagon, a
Leroy hillside plow and a Black horse pull are
among other remembered
acquisitions that represent the way people lived.
The driving force behind
the group’s achievements, Josephine encouraged
expansion. The
site once contained a one room schoolhouse.
Destroyed by fire,
they secured another.
A historic schoolhouse was donated by the Shimmel
family of LaFargeville and moved moved to the site,
courtesy of the town as
Josephine recalls.
It rests on the original foundation, occupying a portion of
the 50 acres of land now comprising the site, some
of which was deeded over
by the state. The
group was unable to have it placed on the historic registry
due to regulations governing structures moved from
original sites.
The cheese factory was
also acquired, she said, a gift from the Ebblie
family. It
has been completely redone and has been placed on the registry.
Mrs. Raineri advised that visitation to the site is
limited as it is across the road
from the site of the other buildings.
“We’d get a lot more visitors if we moved
it,” she said, “but it would lose its historic
listing.”
Still expanding their
historic holdings, the group acquired the building
known as Irwin’s store, at the foot of the hill
and took steps to have it
placed on the state’s historic registry.
Josephine recalled that it was later
sold by the museum to Tim Beattie in 1990 after
unsuccessful efforts to
protect it from vandalism.
Mrs. Ranieri stated that Mr. Beattie indicated a
willingness to sell it back to the museum should
they be able to secure
grant moneys for its restoration.
In the meantime, the
structure continues to deteriorate. Its
back is out
and its sides are falling in.
“But it has such a rich history,” she bemoaned,
“once serving as a stagecoach stop.
The first telephone was in there,”
Josephine added, “and the first telegraph came
through there.”
Special
Activities
Josephine never saw the
museum as a quiet storage place for yesterday’s
memories and she encouraged the scheduling of
activities. Special events
were planned and have grown to occupy just about
every weekend
throughout the
summer.
The craft fair highlights
the special events planned at the museum
and this season will mark the 33rd.
Josephine remembers the first one they
held. “Some
of the locals brought in knitting,” she remarked, “and
Canadian crafters also participated.”
She explained that there
were no fences when the craft show was first
held and so no admission was charged.
She doesn’t recall assessing any
booth fees either.
Money was realized by requesting donations from both
the crafters and the visitors; “anyone who would
give,” she stressed. After
the first couple of years, everyone had to pay. The
fair has since grown to
225 crafters and thousands of visitors.
Additional funds were
raised through the sale of $100 life memberships
to the society, she said, adding that a plaque is
on display at the site
recognizing all such members. Life
memberships currently number over
100, most of whom are still living.
With progress there are
always setbacks and Josephine remembers
one such event.
“There was an electrical fire in the steeple one summer.
The worst part of it,” she said, “was the loss
of a beautiful work of art in
the front of the stairwell.”
Today, the steeple remains
very charred and in need of repair. The
estimated cost of repairs runs between $6,000 to
$12,000 and restoration is
underway.
96 Years
A rural north country
museum was, indeed, a remarkable vision but
Josephine is a remarkable woman.
Her list of accomplishments is long
as she celebrates her 96th year of life.
She has recorded many firsts for
women of the north country and experienced numerous
opportunities
not often available to women of her day.
Born Josephine Elizabeth
Collins on a farm in Collins Landing to B.
Franklin Collins and Maude Beckwith Collins,
Josephine recalls that her
parents and their parents were grangers. A 1907 New
Years baby,
she disclosed that her father pedaled fruit with a
boat when her parents were
first married. After the
Thousand Islands
bridge was built, she said, he ran a
gas station on the corner of Collins Landing and
the old
State Road
.
Josephine’s mother, an
ordained minister, taught school and was
instrumental in getting a Cornell extension home
bureau at the local level,
between Collins Landing and
Alexandria
Bay
. Her mother was clearly a
strong influence in Josephine’s life and guided
by the model she set.
Josephine remembers a teacher once telling her,
“Your mother knows how
to do everything.”
Josephine started school
in Collins Landing, in the schoolhouse her
grandfather built.
“Years ago,” she remembered, “a sheet of paper was
discovered in the building that apparently was the
student register. It
contained my grandfather’s name.”
She graduated from high school in
Alexandria
Bay
, valedictorian
of the class of 1922, and went on to
Canton
, completing her studies in
home economics at St. Lawrence University in 1925.
While there, she
applied to and was accepted at
Cornell
University
, the first woman student
at the school to be so honored.
However, it would be a
few years before
she went.
She did receive a bachelor
of science degree from Cornell. An
accomplished
student, she held membership in the Phi
Kappa Phi, Lambda Theta and Omicron
Gnu honor societies.
The Country Life
Association, a national organization, had a chapter in
several colleges, she said. including Cornell.
She became active and, later,
had the privilege of serving as national president
for 3 years, an experience
she describes as “wonderful.”
“Each year the conference was in a different
institution,” she recalls.
“
West Virginia
,
Iowa
,
Michigan
.
Josephine enjoyed a number
of varied work experiences before settling
permanently in
Jefferson
County
.
She trained as a hospital
dietician at
Muhlenburg
Hospital
in
Plainfield
,
New Jersey
, subsequently working at the
Jones
Memorial
Hospital
in
Wellsburg.
She taught at
Canton
for 4 years, leaving there to attend
Iowa
State
,
Ames
, for summer school. While
there, she landed a job in the general
college at the
University
of
Minnesota
. But, when it looked like war
was
imminent, she flew home, in the 1st
plane ever to fly out of
Minnesota
. A
previous trip home was made by car, quite an
undertaking before the days
of interstates.
Josephine cared for her
parents for a period, but it was hardly a period
of inactivity.
Josephine didn’t know the meaning of
the word. They had a
home bureau on the
State Road
(now NYS Rt. 12), she said, “which ran
between Collins Landing and
Alexandria
Bay
. My mother and I were both
active in home bureau,” she said, “and I was
also involved with the 4H Club
and with the local chapter of American Country Life
Association.”
The war years were spent
in
Delaware
County
as a home demonstration
agent teaching home economics to adults.
She traveled from there to
Albany
, where she spent an additional year.
Josephine married Augustin
(Gus) Fredenburg shortly after World War
II, after which she was called home because her
mother was sick.
She and Gus settled back
in her father’s house and remained there until
it was taken for construction of the Interstate Rt.
81 cloverleaf approaching
the American span of the
Thousand Islands
Bridge
.
Last summer, Josephine
received an honor from Daughters of the
American Revolution, marking 50 years of service to
that organization.
At 95, Josephine doesn’t
get out very much any more, but she still takes
a keen interest in events and activities of the
day, especially those of
the Northern New York Agricultural Historical
Society to which she gave
birth through her vision and support.
It remains, perhaps, the most lasting
of her many gifts to the community.
Added note:
Mrs. Fredenburg passed away
November 2002. The Museum held a memorial service for her and placed
a bronze plaque in a garden in her memory.
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