150 Years Ago
November 25, 1868 — The school house in Dist. No 15 has been painted, a new roof put on and other improvements made. That is right, make our school houses comfortable and pleasant for the children. They appreciate your efforts.
The Misses Wolcott have opened a dress and cloak making establishment including a department of plain sewing, in the double house on Sullivan street, in this village.
125 Years Ago
November 23, 1893 — A very pretty entertainment was that given by the young people of the Episcopal church Monday and Tuesday evenings at the home of Mrs. John Stebbins. It was entitled “A Harvest Night’s Dream” and was a representation of the visions of a farmer’s daughter, in which the vegetables of the garden became endowed with life and came to bid her farewell on the eve of their departure to market.
The costumes were all fancy, and all in some manner suggested the vegetable they were supposed to represent. The whole thing was very nicely done, but perhaps the prettiest part was the “Pepper chorus,” in which four little maidens with pointed red caps very suggestive of the pungent fruit they were representing, came dancing on the stage and sang their part with all the unconscious grace of childhood. A touch of the burlesque that added to the variety of the entertainment was found in the “Sweet potato chorus” where a number of juvenile burnt cork artists entertained the company with the lively strains of plantation music.
100 Years Ago
November 28, 1918 — A large amount of foreign mail has been received in this section this week from boys over there. Some letters bring good news and relieve many anxious parents, other messages bear the sad news of local boys missing or of having made the supreme sacrifice.
The town of Fenner (the smallest in point of population of any town in the county) has been one of the most stricken. With the announcement of the death of Private Lloyd Stoker as a result of wounds received in action, the fatalities for that little town number at least three, while the township of Cazenovia with nearly five times the population of the town of Fenner has had no fatalities in so far as we know. Aside from Private Stoker, the other two fatalities for Fenner are Private John Shanahan (son of Patrick Shanahan) died in training camp, and Private Asa Vedder (son of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Vedder) died as a result of being gassed.
The mail just received brought letters from several of the boys who had not been heard from in several weeks. Among those were: First Lieutenant Lynn L. Edwards, Private Fred Barrett, Sergeant George Burton, Sergeant Ulrich Hutchinson and Private Wilmer Walters.
50 Years Ago
November 27, 1968 — Ray Peterson, Cazenovia trucker, had the distinction of dumping the first truckload of refuse at the new town landfill when it opened at 9 a.m. Monday. With the opening of the landfill, the Village of Cazenovia was able to shut down its dump, which has been under an air pollution closing order from the State Department of Health.
Years Ago is compiled by Erica Barnes. She is a contributing writer for The Cazenovia Republican with a degree in history and communications from Flagler College. She compiles the column from the archives of the Cazenovia Public Library. It is written in the style of the time.
