Tioga County, New York, Celebrates America’s 250th

[By Peter Gordon, Historian]

On Tuesday, May 26, Emma Sedore, Tioga County Historian, received the first two copies of the book she envisioned. That book is a celebration of the progress of the people of Tioga County since the Bicentennial in 1976. The 68-page book presented to Emma is titled Tioga County, New York, Celebrates America’s 250.

The front cover features an image of the Declaration of Independence, whose signing, 250 years ago, we are celebrating. The original document, which you can see on the US National Archives website, has substantially faded from being on public display for many years. The Archives description of the image we used on our cover is as follows: In 1820, the Declaration of Independence was already showing signs of age. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned printer William J. Stone to make a full-size copperplate engraving. This plate was used to print copies of the Declaration. The 1823 Stone engraving is the most frequently reproduced version of the Declaration.

The rear cover is what I believe to be the clearest map of all the towns, villages, and hamlets in the county. It has the additional benefit of displaying the names of many of the shopkeepers and farmers at work in 1855. It was rendered by Samuel Giel, E. D. Marsh and Robert P. Smith and published in Philadelphia by Mr. Marsh. This team published many maps of New York and other counties within the state. You can download a high-resolution copy of this map at https://www.loc.gov/item/2013593236.

The idea for the book was formed when Emma called together historians from each of the nine towns in Tioga County, and also invited Jackson Bailey, County Administrator, Rebecca Maffei, Director, Tioga County Tourism, and Gerald Smith, Director, Tioga County Historical Society Museum, to share her vision for this work and to ask for comment and suggestions. At the meeting, each of the historians agreed to write some brief highlights of their communities. The historian authors are Penny Magnus, Berkshire; Carol Henry, Candor; Neal Clinehens, Newark Valley; Martha Schneider, Newark Valley; Erica Deretz, Nichols; Peter C. Gordon, Owego (Town), Alicia Vasilow, Owego (Village), Bonnie Hutchings, Richford; Tammy L. Sherwood, Richford; Joan Bartlett, Spencer; Anne O. Stout, Tioga; Amy Zehr*, Waverly, and Barton.

Emma’s true vision, mentioned above, of a history since ’76 was honored in the breach, except in the case of Berkshire, where Penny Magnus heroically wrote two full drafts of Berkshire’s history, first from the founding and then from ’76. Only the second was published. Alicia Vasilow’s history of Owego Village is also primarily modern. The majority of us began with early highlights before moving forward to the modern, led by bestselling author and long-time Candor historian Carol Henry. Since there are no current Waverly or Barton historians, Amy Zehr, a *Founding Board Member of the Waverly Historical Society, agreed to step in and wrote an admirable piece. Joan Bartlett is the recently appointed Town of Spencer Historian. Her excellent article is likely her first historical publication. Neal Clinehens and Martha Schneider, Newark Valley Historians, and Bonnie Hutchings and Tammy L. Sherwood, Richford Historians, double-teamed this effort with excellent results.

Each historian’s essay begins with an image of their Town excerpted from the Giel 1855 map of the county. The historians included over 100 images in this 67-page book. Joan Bartlett traveled about Spencer, taking new original pictures to illustrate her essay.

As part of the statewide celebration of America’s 250th Birthday, the NY State Department of Education provided a minimum grant of $15,000 to each of the 62 counties in the state. Large population counties received more. Part of this money was used to print the essays, assembled into a book by Town of Owego Historian Peter Gordon. Two thousand copies were printed and delivered by Curcio Printing of Vestal. The books will be distributed free of charge by the municipal historians.