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Bridge over the Cattaraugus
Creek at Versailles, NY. This postcard is postmarked Oct 20, 1908. It was sent to
"Mr. Terry Brown, New Berlin, Ohio." The writing on the card says,
"Hello, Does this bridge look natural. R.F.D.
#2". The image printed on the card seems to be a mirror image as noted by the fact that the faint
printing at the bottom of the image says "Versailles" but in mirrored letters. Maybe this is why the sender asks if it looks natural?
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The
same Versailles Bridge as seen above is
shown here in three additional pictures. On the top left is a tinted image,
published by V. C. Armes. The image on the top right appears to be the identical
photo, only it is not colorized. Given the similarity of the background
tree-line in these images to the tree-line seen in the postcard above, these
images all appear to be from the same era, that is c.1908 or earlier. The image
to the lower left shows some people swimming in the Creek and it also bears the
"ARMES" name. The image on the lower right is taken from a scan of a
5"x7" glass plate negative of a photograph taken c.1900, by Winfield
Scott Thrasher, a prominent lawyer and Cattaraugus County judge. Thanks" to Mr. Phil Palen of Gowanda for supplying
these images and for allowing them to be displayed on this web site.
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"Cattaraugus
Bluff at Versailles" is the label used to describe the two
5"x7" glass plate negatives from which these images were taken.
The photographer was Winfield Scott Thrasher, a prominent lawyer and Cattaraugus
County judge. These images are from scans of the glass plates done by Mr. Phil
Palen and shared on this website with his permission. The images are circa 1900.
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Corner of Main and Front Sts., looking North up Front St.
Date is unknown but believed to be circa 1970s. Another
blurry image taken from the same spot at the same time is looking Northwest
from the same spot.
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"Grandma Brown's"
House circa 1900. - This is a picture of the house lived in by the person that Marion Arline Erbland (nee Brown) called "Grandma Brown".
This would have been Marion Eliza Hills, wife of Elisha Brown. Marion's daughter, Marsha Smaith (nee Erbland) believes that
Grandma Brown was the town milliner, undertaker, coffin maker, etc. Marion always said that
Grandma Brown was "quite the lady".
Marsha Smith believes that the darker house behind the Brown's house is where Nina Morehead (nee Hayward) lived.
The houses were not attached, even though they appear so in the picture. Nina and her family eventually
moved to the North Canton, Ohio, area, as did W.L. Brown's family.
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Bird's
Eye View of Versailles. This photo was taken from a point on Bush
Rd., in Erie County, while looking across the Cattaraugus Creek, into
Versailles. "Grandma Brown's house" (see
above) is located in the center-right of this image. Many "Thanks" to Mr. Phil Palen of Gowanda for
sharing this photo and allowing it to be displayed on this web site.
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The
'Old Chimney' at Versailles is shown in this
photo. This chimney was obviously located on the banks of Cattaraugus
Creek and it is thought to have been located near the foot of Main Street.
Again, our "Thanks" to Mr. Phil Palen of Gowanda for sharing this
photo and allowing it to be displayed on this web site.
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Harvest Time - The
reverse of this photo is marked simply, "Harvest
Time, Cattaraugus County, New York State".
Because the detail is so interesting, you may want to not only click on the
image below but also look at larger views of the lower
left and lower right
of this image.
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"FREE LIBRARY"
are the words on the middle of the sign to the left of the photo. The line
above that is difficult to make out but it seems to read "S. MARY C. P.
CHAPMAN". There is no date on this picture. On the back of the photograph it reads
"INDIAN NAME OF TOWN GUSTANGO N.Y."
The building in the center of the picture is the same building as Marion
Brown's old school house shown later on this page.
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Main St.
looking east
toward Cattaraugus Creek, c. 1907. The southwest corner of the former W.
L. Brown store can be seen at the foot of the hill, behind the horse at the
center-left of this image. The Whitehorse Inn is the white building near
the center of the image. A sign with a white horses head painted on it can just
be distinguished hanging from the top-left front corner of the building. This image is on a postcard sent by Adele Hare to Mrs. W. Brown (Maude) after
Maude moved from Versailles to New Berlin (North Canton) Ohio in 1906. It is
believed that the picture was probably taken around 1907. The photographer was "Ethie". The
address side of the postcard reads
"This is so pretty. I want you to have it. Ethie took it. Hope you are all well. Do you like Ohio as well as N.Y. Yours friendly Adele
Hare." and it is addressed to "Mrs. W. Brown, New Berlin,
Ohio." there is a one cent stamp but no postmark.
The "Divided
Back" on the postcard reinforces the date as no earlier than 1907
and no later than 1915.
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Looking down the hill toward
Cattaraugus Creek. The store formerly run by Will L. Brown is seen at the
bottom of the hill. Early 20th century photo.
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Palmers Store.
Probably circa 1910-20? In 2003, this store is operated as Sprague's
General Store, at the corner of Main and Water Streets. The left image is of a 'postcard' (never mailed)
written by Marion
Arline Brown, who was living in Ohio after leaving Versailles in 1906. The
card reads, "The Will L. Brown home was between Merrils' house and the
store. Large front yard With trees. The addition to the store was
added in later years Grandma Brown's home was across the street from
Will's house In 1906 when W.L. Brown family left Versailles this was
Rush Palmer's store. Alva Merril house to left".
The image on the right is from another postcard that contains no stamp nor postmark.
The reverse side is addressed to Cora Longfinger, Tunesassa, NY. Tunesassa was
inundated by the Allegheny Reservoir when Kinzua Dam was built in the 1960s.
Once again, our "Thanks" go out to Mr.
Phil Palen of Gowanda for sharing the photo on the right and allowing it to be
displayed on this web site.
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Schoolhouse - The reverse of this photograph is marked
"MARION BROWN'S SCHOOL IN VERSAILLES NEW YORK". No year is given.
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This picture was taken in
approximately 1894. It is the store formerly owned by Elisha
Brown and bought by his son, Will Lincoln Brown, in 1893. Because the original
photograph is a tintype it appears backwards; as do all tintypes. The image shown here has
been 'corrected' to make the scene appear as it would have looked to the
photographer. Will's daughter (Marion) had told me (
her son - Mardon Erbland) that the original picture was printed backwards and
I've since verified this by observing that the lettering on the small sign near
the centre of the picture appears as a mirror image in the original.
Marion also said that the people at the top of the stairs are her mother, Maude
Belle Brown (nee Jeffrey) and Maude's niece, Jessie Hawley (later Jessie West.)
The men
standing in from of the store are not identified.
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This picture was taken
in June 1901. It is the store owned by Will Lincoln Brown.
The reverse of the original photo says that the people
in the photo are "Papa [ W/L/ Brown] 37 years, Terry Brown 6 years and
Marion A. Brown 2 years.
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Store - Probably circa
1930s? Notice how the roof on "Palmer's Store" had been extended over
the porch as compared to the earlier
picture (circa 1910-20). There is also a wire visible crossing the road that does
not seem to exist in the earlier photo. This store was formerly owned by Elisha Brown and then by W.L. Brown
until he left Versailles to go to Ohio in 1906. This store is on the east side
of Water St. at the foot of Main St.
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The Whitehorse Inn,
circa 1900, was located at the SW corner of Main St. and Water St. It later
burned down. This photograph is on a 'penny
postcard' that is postmarked "SEP 1903"; the day is
illegible. The postcard was addressed to "Mrs.
W. Brown, New Berlin, Ohio" and reads as
follows, "This I think is rather good of
the hotel but a little dark, See Putney is the Artist - he also is the teacher
here. This week will be lively I suppose Fair week. Regards to all, A. S.
Hare." Marion Erbland (nee Brown) said that people used to
come to Versailles for the summer and "want the room that looked over the beautiful solarium of Grandma Brown's
house" which was located next door. Grandma Brown's house (that is, Marion Eliza Hills house) was on Main St., directly west of the Whitehorse Inn.
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"D. M. Parker's House at
Versailles" is marked on the source photo, which is a
5"x7" glass plate negative. (It may read "D. N." rather than
"D. M." — the writing is difficult to decipher.
"D.N. Parker" is mentioned on page 243 of Everts
History of Cattaraugus County as operating the store that was later
operated by Elisha Brown ) This image is from a jpeg file emailed to JustUs by Phil
Palen and it is displayed with his permission. Our "Thanks" go out to
Mr. Palen for sharing this bit of Versailles history. The porch image on the
right below is just an enlargement of the porch section of the larger house
image on the left. It is thought that Winfield Scott
Thrasher was the photographer.
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The Chapman Monument is
shown in this photo. This is the spot where 'Grandma Brown' (Marion Eliza Brown, nee Hills) used to go with her
granddaughter, Marion Arline Brown. The reverse
side of the source photograph contains words, made in the handwriting
of Marion A. Brown, about the visits that she used to make to this site
with her Grandma Brown. It reads as follows: "This I think, is
the Remington Monument. It is in Versailles, New York. Grandma
Brown used to walk up here and take me with her, I must have been 4 years
old. She would sit there and think while I played with the
squirrels, birds and flowers, on the monument. I loved
the "log" cabin. Grandma Brown was Marion Eliza Hill
Brown". It is not clear why Marion Brown referred to this
monument in her note as "the Remington Monument" when the
inscription on the concrete clearly says "Chapman". Maria
Helen Chapman (nee Parker) and Hiram Chapman are the people whose births
and deaths are recorded on the concrete.
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Lawton
Station is where the Will L.
Brown family boarded the train for their move to Ohio in 1906. Lawton
Station was on the Erie R.R. in North Collins Twp. as shown on "Tunison's 1898
railroad map". The photo on
the left was
taken in August 1941 during a family trip that Marion Erbland's (nee Brown)
family took to NY. The photo on the right was taken in May, 2003. Notice
that the hotel building still exists, although it is no longer used as a hotel.
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The students
at Versailles School posed for this photograph abt. 1906.
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The Hicksite Quaker Meeting House and Burying Ground at North Collins, Erie County, New
York, is shown on the left. Levi Brown
(Elisha Brown's brother) is buried
here. Levi may have been active in this Quaker
Meeting around the time that this meeting house was built, in1851. It
replaced an earlier log building which was located at a site 1.7 miles to the
Southeast. Notice the two
entrances; one for the women's meeting and one for the men's meeting. This
building is located at coordinates N42º 34.616’ W078º 56.375’ (WGS84).
The previous log meeting house was located at coordinates N42º 33.522' W078º
54.959 (WGS84). There is also an Orthodox Quaker
Burying Ground adjacent to the old Orthodox Meeting House site but as of May 2003
that Burying Ground is in a sad state of disrepair. Some
foundation stones from the old log meeting house are visible in the center
image and some grave markers at the old Burying Ground can be seen in the
image on the right. It is thought to be unlikely that any of Elisha
Brown's family is buried at the old Orthodox Burying Grounds because
the Brown's had followed the Hicksite faction after the split. It is known
that besides Levi, Elisha's brother Simeon Brown and
Simeon's wife, Arminda, were Quakers and living in the Collins/Brant/Evans area of
Erie County in the mid-1800s. All of these images are from photos taken in May
2003.
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