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Image provided by: Walworth-Seely Public Library
THE TIMES - PAGE 6 - JULY 10,1990 The History end Heritage of Our Area . Jay -S. Seely -. As I Remember Him The following exce+ts are biked ~ upon. the writings of Mr. Charles H. Pem broke ..ne'library in our town of Wgworth is named after a man, very few of us really knew or knew what he Stood for. Mr. Jay S. Seely was a curious type person who always \wanted to know what made things work. This man taught me how to solder galvanized sheet metal. If you ever tool a small job for him to fix and asked him if he could fix it, his reply would usublly be, \1f I can't fix it, I'll fix it so nobody else can.\ This man loved to play the violin and enjoyed doing a little entertaining with Charles Dinse, p1,ayirig the old style button accordion. Mr. Dinse would play the melody and Mr. Seely the harmony. ~e had a wonderful ear for music: Mr. Seely put in the bathroom in the Methodist parsonage for Rev. D. 0. Chamberlain's wife. In her last years, she was crippled and could not get to the outside toilet, which used to be a common sight in the rear of a home when I was a boy. One of the first luxuries in a ho~me was a bathroom on the inside. . Mr. Seely also invented a gas generator tq be able to have gas lights in a h'ome:.I have the small model which he sent to Washington, D.C:to get a patent on it. But he never got into the heavy marketing as we would have today on a new invention. There was one in the cellar of the Methodist Church. I can remember when we would have a Christmas program. at night and the lights would start to go down; They wouldr rixsh down cellar and-put more carbide in the generator. Shepard Hurley was the custodian for years and kept the fires going. Mr. Seely and the preacher did the pipe work 'for the gas lights in the church. -Mr. Seely would be seen some mornings walking up the street with 'his satchel which he carried his tools in. Someone would make a remark to him as to where .he was going, and he would usually reply, \Emma McMurray has trouble with her water works.\ It was a standing expression with him. I recall Mr. ,Seely trying to get the juice -out of apples by centrifugal force with a contraption he made. If you go up in the library building on the second floor in the north room, if they haven't covered it over, you will find pieces of apple pumus on the east and west walls as well as the ceiling. His idea was a failure. On the old Floyd Fredenburg farm, the William Petty farm on Route 350 and the Lee Daansen farm, you will find wells that were dug by hand by Mr. Seely. A metal form was put in place and cement was poured to hold the walls of the well. There probably are more wells which he dug, but these wells I mentioned I have worked pumps in. J.S. Seely related to me how he used to dig and reenforce them. His metal form was collapsible and he would take it out and lower it another two feet after,he dug down. from the last pouring. Mr. Seely was a great reader. He had many books of all types and also had some of Thomas Edison's . actual inventions, which were very interesting. Once Mr. Seely made his own washing machine, built out of a barrel made with slats about an inckapart and rotated the clothes and tumbled into a tub with water in it. It first ran in one direction and then with'reversing the belts, would go- in ,the other. He used this machine till his death. Another thing Mr.- Seely was noted- for was tuning and repairing pianos. He was known all around the countryside for his tuning. Mr. Seely at one time wanted to gain a little more knowledge about the violin. He went to the Eastman School of Music and told them he wanted to take some violin lessons. So they had him go to a recital room with a violin teacher. The teacher asked him if he every played violin before. He said he did, so the teacher wanted Mr. Seely to play a piece or two. He started and the teacher observed him very closely. When he got done playing, the teacher told him he didn't hold his violiri right, didn't finger his strings right and didn't hold his bow right. In fact, the teacher said, \You don't do a darn thing right.\ So Mr. Seely, in disgust, quietly put his fiddle 'back in the box and told the teacher, \If that's the case,I'll go home and fiddle to suit myself and the old lady. Goodbye.\ He walked out. Mr. Seely would make all kinds of wooden pulleys: -He would help the %' farmers in the dryhouse set up jack ' shafts to run the apple paring machines and slicers and the elevator and con- veyors for the apples. Give him a problem and he would be in his glory to figure out the speed of a certain shaft or piece of machinery. He once told me that an emery wheel was-designed to run one mile a minute. He hooked up a twelve inch grinding wheel to run that speed. He made a mistake and ran it backwards, .so the nut on the shaft unscrewed, instead of tightening. He had the emery going and the small' door to his shop open. The emery wheel ended up in Peter VanHaneghem's apple orchard about opposite the Ida ~oun~rnan house. , . When Mr. Seely we seventy years old,,he patched the steeple on the Meth- odist Chuich. He has two ropes around the steeple. First he had one shorter than the other and kept walking around the steeple with a safety belt fastened to . one rope. He would raise the second , rope andmake it shorter, then transfer the hooks from his. safety belt to the other rope. That was the way he worked his way around the steeple as well as up. He explained to me how he did it, but he never did tell me how he got the first rope around the steeple. The tip of the steeple is one hundred thirty-one feet high, figured mathematically by the Class of 1935 of Walworth High School. One other 'thing I failed to tell about Mr. Seely is that he used to like to . harmonize on the violin with himself. One of his favorites was \When You and I Were Young, MaggieT'' Mr. Seely had many grape vines planted around the present ~alwosh Seely Library building and in the fall after a good frost; the grapes were at Continued on Page 7. . . -. , . -.-. -- - - Pictured at the site of a new historical marker in Macedon are: (left to right) ~ohn Zimmer, Stuart Carlson, lice Hosenfeld, Earl Mehlenbacher, Penny Fredrick, Scott Smith, Chris Schoonerman, Helen Burgio, Chris Knight, and Kevin Austin. New Historical Marker Unveiled on Quaker Road in Macedon On June 26, 1990, the Macedon Historical Society unveiled a com- memorative sign designating the location of the birthplace of Macedon's first settlers Webb and Hannah Harwood on Quaker Road. . David Taber, president of the Macedon Historical Society, 7th Grade Social Studies teacher and advisor to the Pal-Mac Middle School Student Council, explained that he and two members of the Yokers' Club went to the founary a't Walton, New York to pick up the sign, and later the two students painted and lettered the sign. The students, both junior members of the New York State Historical .Associ- ation were Scott Smith, son of Duane and Retta Smith of Jupiter Way, Macedon, who* bas served as president of the Middle School Student Council and Chris Schoonerman, .son of Dan and Diane- Schoonerman of Daansen -Road,-Macedon, who is president of the Yorkers Club. Also at the unveiling of the sign were: Stuart Carlson, Supervisor of the Town of. Macedon, Kevin Austin, Vice-Principal of. -Pal-Mac Middle School (who stated that he has been a Yorker ever since early wooden signs were ereaed at the old Canal Lock), Earl Mehlenbacher, Principal. of the AUTOPLAZA EVERYTHING FOR YOUR CAR UNDER ONE ROOF 95 Main Street - Macedon (31 5) 9861261 6- Auto Repair Tires Towing Rentals If you have news, views9 or events to report, p1eese call rffE TIMES at @8&-4300 or write to US at: The TWES, $900 Route 3 3, West Wayne Plaza, Mgcedon, N Y l4SOS. Middle School (whose philosophy is that students should be involved in com- munity service); Chris Knight, French teacher at t,he Middle' School and recently elected Student Council , Advisor; John Zimmer, official Macedon Village photographer and Bill Ryder, local photographer and proponent of- preservation- of historical landmarks. . ' el en Burgio, Macedon Historian, assisted by Penny Frederick and Rosalie Gabbert, researched the history of the . -- Harwood property ' including maps, deeds and burial sites. The sign is located on state pro- ' perty; adjacent to the property owned by Mr. and Mrs. J%lnes Rogers of 1940 .. ,.Quaker Road. The Historical Society . . j would like to thank Cliff Everdyke, , \ aced don Superintendent of -Highways i and his department far erecting the sign. - In the near future, the Macedon .Histmi- i I cal Society will bepecting another sign at the Macedon Town Complex indi- cating the settlirg of the town in 1789 and its incorporation in 1823. The Macedon 'Historical Society, which meets on the fourth 'Wednysday of every month at the ace don . Academy, Route 31F in Macedon Center; participates in the, Macedon , ~icentennid effort for the preservation of historical data. GROCERY , Route 31 F and- Route 350 \If you can't stop in . . . SMILE as you go by,\ We carry \The TIMES\ Plumbing * eating It Electrical Paint Sr Paint Sundries * Wallpaper Hand & Power Tools * Automotive * Builders Hardware Jr . * Lawn & Garden Tools * Small Appliances * H~usewares * Glass & Plex Glass A \SERVICES\ - Window Repair .* Keys Cut Permit- Photos *Sharpening Service Ir Film Developing * \Your Full ,Me Country Hardware\ wmwvinB-ww 3700 Main Street - WdwMtlr Houn . on.-F~J. 8 am4 p.m. * 3f5 597-4492 Sat.8a.m.4 .m. Sun.8a.m.-Noon
