A Newspaperman in the Family

I have been researching other branches of the family and found a newspaperman.  I also have information on the Hartwick Reporter for historians. 

In April 1915 Charles S. Hitchcock and his brother A. D. Hitchcock started the Hartwick Reporter in Hartwick, N.Y.  A. D. Hitchcock died in 1918, leaving his brother to carry on with the newspaper.  Five years later Charles sold the paper to Edward E. Carpenter, editor of the Morris Chronicle, in October 1920.  Hitchcock planned to retire 1 January 1921.  However, the paper must have reverted back to him at some point because in the summer of 1925 he sold the Hartwick Reporter to Loren A. Mann of Susquehanna, PA, who was taking over the week of 4 September 1925.  It was further noted in the newspaper article that “Mr. Hitchcock retires on account of the condition of his health which has not been good of late but expects to devote his spare time to the interests of the paper,”  sounding like he intended to stay involved with the paper.  A year later Mann installed a new typing machine in the printing office.

It appears the Hartwick newspaper reverted back to Charles Hitchcock once again.  On 22 April 1930 he passed away.  His obituary referred to Hitchcock as the editor of the Hartwick Reporter, explaining that he "had continued with his work in the office until December 24, when he was taken ill and confined to his bed most of the time."  On 13 June 1930 The Otsego Farmer announced that newspaper employee Frank E. Boyce, who went to work at the paper in September 1929, had bought it.

Frank E. Boyce was born 3 May 1869 in Housatonic, Mass., to William F. Boyes and Rachel A. Winchell.  He attended high school in Oneonta, N.Y., and learned to be a printer in the office of the Oneonta Herald.  Boyce pursued his trade in the surrounding area.  After his daughter Ethel graduated from high school in Sidney, N.Y., in 1922, “she became associated with her father in his work as editor of the Hartwick Reporter.  Boyce died 4 December 1941. After his death, she continued to publish the paper as long as health permitted.”  That was less than a year, for on 20 November 1942 The Otsego Farmer announced that Mrs. Grace E. Boyce was discontinuing the paper.  She and her stepdaughter moved back to Oneonta where Ethel died from a heart ailment on 11 Mar 1943.

My Family's Houses

My father's family came from a lovely village in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, called Housatonic. There are only a few photos from that time because my grandfather burned all he had in the 1960s.  It was easier to obtain photos of the houses they lived in than of the people. 

This is the house that Lawrence Vosburgh built on the western bank of the Housatonic outside of Vandeusenville.  Vosburgh was the stepfather of my gggreat-grandmother Sarah Livingston.  He was the third husband of her mother Rachel Boyes.  In 1850 as shown on the federal census Sarah and her husband George Winchell lived in this house with Vosburgh and his wife Rachel Boyes.

The next generation of Winchells moved to Housatonic.

This was the house that George's son and my ggreat-grandfather John L. Winchell bought with his wife Winifred O. Ashley on Hart Street in Housatonic.  I am still kicking myself for not arranging for a tour of the house when it was for sale.

This house next door belonged to John and Winifred's son Daniel H. Winchell.  Daniel was married to Alice Augusta Warfield.  They had a daughter Adelsa Roberta.  Daniel died of epilepsy when he was thirty.

Lower down on Kirk Street is the house that George and Sarah's daughter and John's sister Henrietta lived with her husband Uriah Surriner Sr.

Right around the corner from Hart Street on Main Street, Samantha Winchell, sister of John and Henrietta, lived in this house with her husband Isaac Strong.  I'll have to go see if they ever finished painting the house.

The Winchells were all carpenters at one time.  A friend showed me this photo one day and I recognized the last man on the right as my great-grandfather:

This is the only surviving document for the construction of Searles Castle in neighboring Great Barrington.  I suspect other family members were on the crew as well. 

Searles Castle today

If you go to Searles Castle, Estate of the Day, you will see more exterior and interior photos of the estate.  I have never seen photos of the interior of what my great-grandfather helped build until today.