With a light winter and early spring, yard work has been easier and ahead of schedule at our Richland facility.
We had two work days, March 19 and 20, with four more scheduled and with many hands made light work of the front lawn, the SW classroom and other areas of the building.
We are trying to get things in good order and neat before a wedding we will host on April 23 for the son of our Florence trustee Doreen Tilton.
Regular meetings begin this Saturday, March 26, and will flow through the year on the last Saturday or each month with exception of June, September and November.
This month’s agenda will reflect yearly reorganization and prioritization, as well as reports on the Oswego County bicentennial activities.
Peg Balcom of Pulaski was in last weekend and donated a wonderful World War II era photo of her father, Lloyd Whaley (1917-74) and his two brothers in a patriotic frame.
Peg worked with Shawn Doyle on searching through our files to augment her research and shared a great deal of information.
The first Whaleys to come to Oswego County came in the 1870s from Ontario, Canada, where the family had lived a few generations.
The ones who came settled in Amboy near the Williamstown line and were employed in the construction of the Redfield and Williamstown Railroad.
We have found many similar stories where a number of families moved in to this region from Canada to work on this railroad project.
Society researcher Kevin Stewart has recently been compiling stray files and clippings on the Whaleys, so Peggy’s assistance will be of great help in compilation of a definitive notebook on the subject.
Chuck Balcom of Pulaski is finally nearing completion of our second floor library restoration in memory of his first wife, Allison Regnar Balcom (1964-2000).
The wall cabinets have been painstakingly stripped and refinished and all that is left now is the flooring and trim.
Curtains were even hung this week and the room is taking shape greatly.
An April completion is expected.
Aall of the work has been done at Chuck’s own hand or expense.
Work continues in the digitalization of the Redfield Church records.
Sharon Turo has scanned the two oldest books and Shawn Doyle continues to work on the others.
Loose paperwork is being copied by Erma Schroeder at Half-Shire.
We expect to have this done by mid-April.
The current newsletter is ready to go out, and may be out by the time this column is published.
The headline recounts the Oswego County bicentennial work and plan for the year, while other interesting articles on the Wells family of Boylston, the House family of Happy Valley and other topics should interest our readers.
Half-Shire is now open with warmer season hours from normally 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday or by appointment otherwise.
It’s always best to phone ahead to ensure someone is present.
298-2986, or President Doyle, 532-5919.
We will also be open Easter morning and the following Sunday.
Our website is at www.halfshire.org email [email protected] and facebook at “Half Shire”
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