Main Street – June 23, 1949

By Morris Rote-Rosen

On one of these rare June days, Sidney Potter came hopping in like a youngster in his teens and in his choir-trained baritone voice soloed:

"Some guys tear through life like a blizzard,
Folks point out and say he's a wizard,
And then he's dead at forty,
With a burned out gizzard.
Uh! I'll be eighty-three come October".

Then sitting down in one of the office chairs said: "I told Doctor Owen I can outwalk any one my age, that is any one except Ben Getty, but he's nearly a hundred." Then we met Truman Temple who looked tired after a busy day at the library and he said, "Oh, that incurable old age!" ... Figure it out yourself.

And while on the subject of age we overheard a group of ladies commenting on the annual kindergarten program presented by Elsie Kniess on the graduation of her tiny tots of 1949. "Kids may come and kids may go, but Miss Kniess goes on forever in her excellent kindergarten work which has furnished many a good graduate for G.H.S.", said one lady ... Granville boasts of good teachers, but the work of Miss Kniess is outstanding in that of laying the proper foundation in her grade to prepare our children for higher education ... The parents of Granville, who can be counted in the hundreds ow Miss Kniess a lasting debt of gratitude and so do her grown-up graduates."

The driver of Swift's Packing Company truck did not have an order for venison out of season, but he accidentally killed a deer when he struck it with his truck near the Willow Glen farm ... Washington, Virginia, boasts that t was the first town named after General George Washington. Our county was the first in this country to be named after the General when the name of Charlotte was dropped ... Nettie Roberts calls our attention to the lone survivor of the Bulkleys - Mrs. Minnie Bulkley - who resides in Glens Falls ... If "Larry" Hayes becomes frantic and reports that his car has been stolen direct him to the Grand Union store. That's where he found it the last time it was "stolen".

The writer of the Blacksmith editorial in the Sentinel of May 26 must have had in mind the late Amos B. Noxon of Granville. He was the father of Daisy Williams and he was one of the most respected citizens in our community. His blacksmith shop on Slocum Avenue, which adjoined his residence, was a daily public forum where his friends used to gather to listen to his philosophy of life. He would stand at the bellows, operate them with one hand, hold a horse shoe in the other and disseminate wisdom between the puffs of the red smoldering soft coal, or between the flying sparks at the anvil. His only trade mark of a blacksmith was his leather apron, otherwise his neat appearance made him look like a white collar worker.

He was beloved by the children of the community and hardly a day passed when some little boy or little girl did not come to him to have a broken wagon or a tricycle repaired. Little girls even came to him with their broken dolls. Mr. Noxon was a patient and a kind, soft spoken man. He would take time out of his work, lean over and carefully listen to the woes of the little boys and girls and would send them happily on their way. He was a lover of harness horses and interested in training them for the track. He was a familiar sight on the village streets, exercising, or breaking in a new colt to harness. Recalling the character of Mr. Noxon is like a refreshing cool breeze on a hot summer day.

We sometimes wonder if we belonged to a young generation in which lived a different type of the older group than at the present time. We know definitely that we no longer have such personalities and characters as Amos Noxon, Lafayette Carr, James L. MacArthur or Charles E. McFadden. Reading the "From Our Files" column in the Sentinel a few weeks ago we came across the name of Lafayette Carr, who died ten years ago. Another lovable character in our community at the turn of the century, who rose from the ranks of a school teacher to become the first proprietor of a "five and ten cent" store in Granville.

Lafayette Carr conducted his business in the present Tatko building, on the corner of Main and Church streets, after he opened his store in the Durfee block on Church Street. We could write many paragraphs about Lafayette Carr, but who can forget him standing behind his counter of the "five and ten" telling a witty story; or with his inseparable collie dog whenever he appeared on the street; or at a Masonic clam bake; or while reciting poetry at an Eastern Star meeting; or his chuckling laugh at a Royal Arch Masons gathering; or at a Knights Templar conclave. No one can forget seeing him riding to the lake with J.L. MacArthur in a buggy which tilted on Mac's side, who weighed three times as much as Carr, while they were bumping over the rough stony road of Bull Frog Hollow on their way for a weekend at the MacArthur cottage.

The sudden passing of "Bob" Cathcart was a shock to many of those who remembered him as an enthusiastic outdoor man in his younger days. Bob was considered a good walker and hunter at one time and we joined him many times on the wooded trails with his well trained pointer dog beside him. "Bob" was as tough as nails and we recall joining him on a ski trip on a cold Sunday morning, leaving the village square, heading for Blossom's Corners, through Wells, over the frozen Lake St. Catherine and to Poultney without stopping once. From Poultney we took the 4 o'clock afternoon train for home.

While busily occupied in the office one morning we heard a little boy's voice from behind the chair: "Open up!" It was little Jimmy (Seferlis) Giannestras, Main Street's favorite little boy, pointing his tin toy pistol in an imaginary hold-up. He brought a laugh to several ladies who happened to be in the office at the time ... Jimmy isn't old enough to read the "funnies", nor to understand western movies, but there it is - the trend of the children of today, whether for good or bad. We would prefer to see our little boys carrying baseball bats and balls. Little Jimmy is no different than the average Granville child who prefers toy pistols and toy machine guns and, who, while playing, is dressed like a pocket edition of Jesse James or Cole Younger. If the cause is bad movies or perverted "funnies" - what is it?

Miss Athene S. Foster of Coconut Grove, Florida, in search of Bishop family history, paid us a visiting, coming all the way from Florida, by the way of Cleveland to Granville to complete her biographical and historical collection of Granville's first family. Finding more information that she anticipated Miss Foster was thrilled when she was presented with several historic documents bearing the name of John Champion Bishop and his sons Isaac and Abram. Miss Foster called at the library where she obtained additional information and left Granville with the same impression of many other visitors: "every one has been so kind and so friendly".

If Granville had more taxpayers of the caliber of May D. Braymer, Stanley Roberts, Or Mrs. Moses Roberts, public officials would have an easier time in trying to serve the community. Criticism is sometimes directed against village or town officials which is not based on fact and the way to get to the truth is to get to the source. Mrs. Braymer came up to a village board meeting, asked questions and had the books and records opened to her. "I am glad I came up," said Mrs. Braymer, "I am satisfied to learn what it's all about after hearing all kinds of reports".

Charles H. White was 86 years old on June 5. Although bedfast "Charlie" White is cheerful. And it isn't like him to be idle after such an active career over a period of many years. He accepts it all as the inevitability of time. Charlie served the village as street and water commissioner for a long time and in rain or shine, good or bad weather, he always gave the people of the village the best of service. His many friends think of him during his illness and wish him well. Perhaps Charlie will smile if he is reminded that he was once ordered by the Mayor William Munson to trim the overhanging branches of a tree in front of the Harry N. Jennings residence. Jennings swore that he would shoot Charlie of he cut the tree. When Harry wasn't around, Charlie White trimmed the tree and for several weeks after that Harry Jennings sat with a shotgun on his knee waiting to "kill" the street commissioner if he returned. Charles White never returned and that may be the reason that he has lived to the ripe old age of 86 years.