Monday, January 31 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, January 31  1966
Strong west wind and snow flurries all day.  Bad all over the state.  No school.  We weren't plowed out till noon.  I washed in am and started jumper for Carol.  Wayne started with mail at 130 am and waited 5 and a half hours on Duanesburg hill.  Made only one trip.  We had no mail.
Comment:  Winter's grip continues...

Sunday, January 30, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, January 30, 1966 
Blizzard conditions all day and all night.  No church, Wayne and Laura stayed at LaVerne's while they are in Florida.  Wayne called for Clifton to come down in am to fix broken water pipe in garage.
Comment:  If no church, must have been pretty bad....some scenes of winter on the hill. That's our first dog, Prince, who fell out of the tower and broke his left rear leg and hip.....he was given to us by an old woman who had about 6 puppies, but recommend this one because of the wide space between his ears...she said this was a sign of greater intelligence...seems like her name was Mrs. Newkirk and lived over on Stone Store Road around the old Haskin homestead.  She was all crippled up and could barely walk....

Saturday, January 29 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, January 29  1966
Cloudy, 10 high.  I baked in am and did some cleaning.  David took LaVerne, Roberta and John to New York City to fly to Florida at 8 am.  Girls and I started for Dewitt's for Laura's shower and ran off the road into the snow the other side of Mrs. Vane's.  Pat Wilson brought us over after Clifton and he and Ethridge Goodfellow got the car out and Pat took us on the the shower.
Comment:  And Winter has it's way one more time....

Friday, January 28, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, January 28, 1966
Cold and windy, -10 to 2 degrees.  I ironed and cleaned some.  Sue went to ball game at South Kortright.  We took Carol to Grand Gorge game and picked her up after.  Stopped at LaVerne's.  Called Gerald and Mary Ann.
Comment:  Lots of basketball games in the frigid cold...Schoharie Creek....

Thursday, January 27 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, January 27  1966
Cold, sunny.,  Clifton started work at Oneonta for Howell as oiler.  I wrote to Marilyn and Doug.  Didn't go to prayer meeting because of the cold.  Windy and snowy.  Made batch of cookies in pm.
Comment:  Sounds like Mom is holing up....Dad probably saw scenes like this on the way to Oneonta.....

Wednesday, January 26, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, January 26, 1966
Cold and partly cloudy 20.  I had sick headache all day.  LaVerne's and Wayne's here for supper, had pancakes and sausage.  David drew mail for Wayne.  Clifton was called to go to work as oiler at Oneonta on Thursday.  Had letter from Gerald and Mary Ann.  David's lessons and materials came from Chicago tech college.  Had trouble with lights, main fuse blew...
Comment:  Nothing wrong with breakfast for supper....must have been "fit to eat"....excerpt from Hubbard Hill Memories: 

In the fall we’d often kill a pig and hang it from a tripod rig and gut it out to take inside to treat.

When mom would cook the tenderloin with home made pancakes we’d all join in dining on a meal called “ fit to eat”.

And the rhythm of the family filled our veins,

And the autumn breezes hummed in soft refrain.

Then we laid on the grassy lawn to look at stars until we’d yawn then go to sleep and start it all again. Take a listen....

Hubbard Hill Memories

Tuesday, January 25, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, January 25, 1966
Cold, bright and sunny.  Clifton and I went to Cobleskill and to Mother's for dinner.  I worked on a rush bottom chair at night, removed almost all the paint.
Comment:  Mom always keeps busy..The  oldest known resident from Gilboa...from the Devonian Period, and this is how the world looked at the time, about 400 million years ago....take a look..Gilboa_Fossil_Forest

Monday, January 24 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, January 24 1966
Partly cloudy, 20's.  David drew mail for Clara (Castle) because of the snow.  I washed in am.  Bettie called in am.
Comment:  I think the Bettie may be Bettie Kingsley rather than Betty Yvonne Hubbard.....Clara was the daughter of our school bus driver of many years and also worked for LaVerne for  many years.  Claude Castle lived on Robinson Road just off the Bull Hill Road and just above the Lee/Cleveland place....there were some beautiful spots along the road, this is one of them at the top of Haskin Hill.....South Mountain is in the background...here is a ghost story us kids heard from our Dads and Uncles many a time.......take a listen....
Hubbard Music Mountain: South Mountain Ghost Story, Gerry Hubbard Performed By David Hubbard

Sunday, January 23, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, January 23, 1966
Snowed all day, about 10 inches. First heavy snow.  We went to church, no Sunday School.  Mary Briggs here for dinner.  We went to Wayne's in afternoon and stopped at LaVerne's a minute.
Comment:  Snow plows will be out, here's Dad when he was town superintendent in front of a Walter Snow Fighter...probably about 1948 or so...Dad was about forty, less than half my age right now...

Saturday, January 22, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, January 22, 1966
Mostly cloudy, 20's.  We took Sue to LaVerne's in am.  Clifton cut wood.  Carol went to Oneonta with Gilbert.  I had headache all day and didn't feel good.  David drove mail for Wayne and Mary Briggs came back with him.
Comment:  David John, Mary Briggs, David Gerald, Mary Ann, Carol Sylvia, about 1968 in the dining room on the Hill...

Friday, January 21, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, January 21, 1966 
20, Mostly cloudy.  I made 3 aprons.  Had letter from Linda.  Sue went to game at school at night.  We called Marilyn at night.
Comment:  Not sure who this Linda is...Marilyn and Arlene Conine Wyckoff in 1950, they were about 14 and freshmen in high school..on the baseball diamond that our Dad  would soon re-construct ...the old tennis court is in the background, never used while I was in school...always wondered why...

Thursday, January 20, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, January 20, 1966
Light snow all day, 20's.  I finished ironing and cleaned.  Clifton, David and I went to Wayne's in afternoon.  Men put up antenna for them.  David ate supper then drew the mail at nite.  We stopped and saw Robert and John.  Clara, Celic and Carolyn and Greg were there.  Had prayer meeting here at night.  We called Gerald and Mary Ann.  I wrote to Marilyn.  Gilbert here for supper.
Comment:  Busy day with family and church...David, Carol and Sue on a snowy day

Wednesday, January 19, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, January 19, 1966
Cloudy, light snow. teens.  David went for unemployment.  I wrote to Doug and Gerald and Mary Ann.  Clifton, the girls and I went to LaVerne's at night then over to Wayne's.
Comment:   Wayne getting a lot of visits....Wayne on the bridge below the dam in flood stage, Fifties.....

Tuesday, January 18 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, January 18  1966
Cloudy, teens.  Carol did not go to school.   We went to Schoharie and got license and to Cobleskill shopping, home 1230 pm.  I went to Home Bureau at Mrs. Magas.  Ella went with me. We did smoking. Saw Wayne in Schoharie.
Comment:  "Smoking" meant smoking meat to preserve it......my entry about Moses Young yesterday was wrong.

From Patty Young: (Jan 18, 2014)  "This is Patty (Young) Le Viness, daughter of Moses Young, who was taken to Binghamton.  It was my  dad's brother William that died of cancer.  The census was William's family.  Richard and his wife, Betty Ann live in Windham and are doing well.  Next time I see Richard, I'll share your comments about him!  Do enjoy your Mom's diary entries and your comments!  Brings growing up to mind always.

Thanks, Patty"

Also heard from Ron Fancher that Richard Young was "Athlete Of The Year" in 1957 at the Gilboa School.  His comment: "Rich was a very good athlete. Hub named him "Best All Around Athlete” in his junior year. I remember Rich being called up to the stage on graduation night 1957 to pick up his trophy (much to the surprise of some seniors). Back in those days an award meant something - especially from Everett Hubbard".
The 1956 Varsity Basketball Squad, Gilboa Central: Rich is fourth from right....Hub's strategy, full court press man to man defense, pass the ball, don't dribble into the defense..that's me second from right....

Monday, January 17, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, January 17, 1966
Cold, cloudy, teens.  I was sick in am.  Did some mending, called Mother.  Had letter from Doug.  Field representative of Chicago Tech College was here in evening to sign David up for home study course in drafting and design.  Moses Young was taken to Binghamton, nervous breakdown.
Comment:  Busy Monday..  The Young family lived about 4 miles from us on a hardscrabble farm on the Bull Hill Road to West Conesville.  It was on our school bus line and several of the Young kids were our friends.  In the 1940 census, it shows him as single and 28 with the following other people in the house:  Mary 23, Myrtle 4, Richard  2, William 25 and Sarah 68 who must have been his mother.  Richard was my age and a pretty good friend, and a very large powerful guy with a great disposition.  Here is a picture of him in his sophomore year at Gilboa Central....

Sunday, January 16, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, January 16,  1966 
Cold, zero all day, 10 below in early am.  Sue and I went to church and Sunday School,  Koerners, LaVerne's, Wayne's here for dinner.  I went to church at nite, took Young's home after.
Comment:  That old house was freezing  cold at those temperatures.  Probably below freezing all through the upstairs level.  Heating cables and strategically placed light bulbs kept the water lines from freezing.  We also used extension cords to place lighted bulbs in the engine compartments of the cars, trucks and tractors so they would start in the morning.  Inside the barn would be relatively warm from the cow body heat but the hay mows on the upper level would be freezing.  By this time in 1966, the house was relatively much warmer because of increased insulation and newer windows, but it was still pretty drafty....

Saturday, January 15, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, January 15, 1966
Cloudy, teens and 20's.  I baked and cooked nearly all day.  Linda Barlow came at 1 pm and spent the afternoon.  Glad to see her.  Gilbert and Carol went to ball game and Sue went on bus.  Gilbert here for supper.
Comment:  Don't know who Linda is...Gilbert spending a lot of time on the Hill, Carol's boyfriend.... Before The Dam....the beach at Gilboa, a long time ago.....

Friday, January 14, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, January 14, 1966
Mostly cloudy, 20's.  I cleaned all through, had head ache all day and worse in afternoon.  Girls and Clifton got supper.  Gilbert here after school.
Comment:  Laid low by the migraine, she usually keeps working through it....Before The Dam...the stone quarry for the dam.  This is where the fossil trees were found....I remember that bridge well...

Quarry Below The The Dam Site.  Fossils Found Here

Thursday, January 13, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, January 13, 1966
Fair, becoming cloudy in pm.  Cold, 20 high.  Clifton and I went to Grand Gorge in am and got new tires on the car and called on Laura a minute.  Went to Middleburgh to Bates Haskin's funeral after dinner (lunch). Stopped at Maude's for coffee cake after funeral.  I went to prayer meeting at Kingsley's with Lyle's.

Charlotte, Reggie Haskin

Comment:  Lots of interactions with neighbors.....I'm sure most of the Haskin family and friends were at Maude's remembering Bates....as kids, we were pretty good friends with our second cousins, Reggie, Charlotte and Tommy Haskins picture here on their senior trip in 1954 or so.....

Tom Haskin, Hartford Keith

Wednesday, January 12, 1966, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, January 12, 1966
Beautiful, clear sunny day but cold, minus 10 to 10 above.  I wrote to Marilyn, Doug, Ella Mae and Linda.  David went for unemployment then to school to see Mr. Hill about school diploma.  I finished all the ironing.  Head felt miserable until the pm.
Comment:  Cold, letter writing day...Before the dam:  Gilboa Village

Tuesday, January 11, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, January 11,  1966
Partly cloudy and light snow squalls, in the teens.  Clifton and I went to Cobleskill and Mother's for dinner.  Stopped at Kling's about insurance.  Gerald and Mary Ann called at nite.  David drove the mail.  Maude and Ella called about Bates.  Did ironing at night.
Comment:  Ferdinand Bates Haskin was the son of Almearon Haskin, (brother to my grandmother Agnes Haskin), and therefore Dad's first cousin on his mother's side.  Ethel Bates Haskin was Charlotte Haskin's grandmother and "Bates" was her father.  Ethel maintained a diary off and on starting in 1929 and there are many entries about the interactions of Agnes's Hubbard children and Ethel Haskin's children.  This is a picture of my grandmother, Agnes, with her brother Almearon Haskin, he was 86 years old when he died April 5, 1961, and she was 67 when she died on January 13, 1946.  I vividly remember her on her death bed taking great heaving breaths dying from congestive heart failure, a process that had taken many hours as her large extended family grieved.  LaVerne, Marilyn and I were taken in individually to her so she could say goodbye....I was 8, Marilyn 10 and LaVerne 12.  Here is an email from Charlotte Haskin Carlton about Haskins, Halleck's and her family:  Happy New Year to you and Mary Ann and the family,  I enjoyed your family picture and the grandchildren have grown up so fast.   Aunt Maude called yesterday and chatted she is doing well.   She has to stay home and that is depressing for her yesterday was one of the luncheons she attends and too much ice and snow for her to go.   The diary entry today reminded me of the winter Daddy passed away and we all went home for his funeral and it was bitter cold.   Didn't realize it was today.   Loved the picture of Grandma Haskin's home wonder what she would think if she could see it now.   I enjoy all your old pictures and told Aunt Maude yesterday about the pictures of the town of Gilboa before the dam construction and she remembers everything.   Bee's health is better this year so that is good news.   Aunt Maude told me David Halleck's daughter that lives by the Flat Creek church and her husband have taken over  the Halleck farm and are milking cows.   Upgraded the barn and producing milk now.    

It has been a good year for my family.   My oldest son, Bob his two boys graduated from college.   Alex graduated from UTC with a degree in Computer Science Engineering and the firm he interned with hired him immediately after graduation and he rented an apartment in downtown Chattanooga and takes him one or two minutes to walk to his office.   His youngest son Austin completed his Master's at Belmont University in Nashville and passed his 4th and last CPA exam 12/4/13.   He is in Atlanta since 1/1/14 training with Arthur Young and will return to Nashville this weekend to start work.   Welcome to the real world.   Thanks for all the pictures and facts you add to your Mother's diary every day.   charlotte haskin carlton

Monday, January 10, 1966, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, January 10, 1966
Sunny, beautiful warm day, 40.  Clifton helped Wayne finish moving and they came for lunch.  The girls, Gilbert and us went over at night.  Koerner's were there.  David drove mail.  New iron came.  Bates Haskins died.
Comment:  Bates Haskins was father of Charlotte and Leonard Haskins, very good friends of Marilyn and I and also distant cousins.  He also had a couple of other children whose names escapes me now.  This is the house  they lived in on The Stone Store Road just across the road from Ferris Camp.  The picture was taken in 2011.  

Sunday, January 9, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, January 9, 1966
Bright, sunny and cold, -7 to 10 above. LaVerne's here for dinner and we all went over to see Wayne and Laura's apartment in Grand Gorge in pm.  We all (Clifton, girls and I), went to church in am.
Comment:  Bitter cold, similar to this year....Hubbard Hill House in the winter:

Saturday, January 8, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, January 8, 1966
Cold, 10 in am, zero 4 pm.  Clifton and I went down to look at house in West Conesville and on to Grand Gorge to get oil changed in car.  Gilbert here in afternoon.  David took mail at 8 am, Wayne earlier.
Comment:  Brisk, busy day....Gilboa Before The Dam..pretty little town...

Friday, January 7, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Friday, January 7, 1966
Snow squally, 20's.  I did small wash in am.  Clifton and I went to West Conesville to look at Brigg's house.  Could not get in and went on to Koener's and saw Wayne and Laura's new furniture they brought at 2 pm.  Gilbert here after school.  Took Carol to Grand Gorge to ball game and picked her up.  Sue went to Margaretville to games. Clifton and I went to party for Herb and Lillian at Evelyn Bailey's at night.  LaVerne's here for supper.
Comment:  Not sure who Herb and Lillian are...sounds like a busy Friday...another picture of Wayne, Laura and Mary Ann at our  "Peter Pan" apartment just across the North Grand Island Bridge in Niagara Falls.....Wayne looked a lot like the Barber side of the family and he also had a slight "pigeon" chest inherited from his mother..

Thursday, January 6, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Thursday, January 6, 1966
Rain turn to snow 10:30 am, 32, about three inches wet snow.  School bus ran late because of icy roads. David drew mail and smashed the side of his car on Manorkill Mountain.  Clifton went to Grand Gorge with Wayne in pm to look at houses to rent; looked at Neuman's.
Comment:  If it's not one thing, it's another, Wayne and Laura on visit to us in Niagara Falls later in the spring...a windy day....

Wednesday, January 5, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Wednesday, January 5, 1966
Nice day, upper 30 s.  Clifton and I went to Albany with Wayne and Laura about noon to look for furniture.  Home about 430 pm.  I had sore mouth on one side.
Comment:  Newly marrieds setting up house.....An old picture of the now Route 30 near Blenheim along the Schoharie Creek heading towards Middleburgh.  I don't remember when it wasn't paved but I hauled a lot of charcoal hell bent for leather down the paved road.  Maxi Stryker put a semi full of charcoal into the ditch just below this, probably in 1965.  He wasn't hurt, I think he went to sleep.....I remember it laying on it's side as I came through and Reggie Waters was at the scene remarking how lucky he was.....

Tuesday, January 4, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Tuesday, January 4, 1966
Beautiful sunny, clear day, about 30 high roads dry and bare.  Very little snow.  Clifton and I went to Mother's for lunch and did some shopping.  David drove mail at night, he signed up for unemployment.  I wrote to Marilyn and Doug.
Comment:  Sounds like a nice day....Gilboa:  Before The Dam..it has it's own electric power dam....

Monday, January 3, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Monday, January 3, 1966
Cloudy and warmer and rainy.  About 2 inches of snow but thawing.  The girls started back to school.  David worked.  I did a big wash.  Lyle's went with me to annual business meeting at church.
Comment:  Back to normal after the holidays...snowy day on the hill about 1966,  bush in front of the porch....

From Sister Sue About Gilbert Gale:  Yes, Gilbert Gail or (Gale), was the son of Hilda Gail, who dated Uncle Earl, and was in the automobile when Uncle Earl had his fatal heart attack.  That, of course was quite some time later.  Carol dated Gilbert a little.  He died in an automobile accident (I believe) when he was still in his late teams as I can remember.  He was a few years older than Carol, so he would have been around 17 at the time of the diary entry, probably to live only a few years more.  Carol wasn’t going with him when he died, but he was a very nice guy, and Carol was very sad at his passing – although I don’t believe a whole lot was said about it to her – as was the culture, custom and the family way of dealing with things.  

Sunday, January 2, 1966 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday, January 2, 1966
Cloudy 20's, started to snow about noon. Sue and I went to church but Mary Ann and Carol were both sick and didn't go.  We all went to Wayne and Laura's wedding in Grand Gorge at 2 pm.  Small wedding, (thirty two present), but very nice.  Gerald and Mary Ann left 4 pm and reached home at 11 pm.  We called them.
Comment:  Very few pictures of their wedding and most not  very good.  

Front Row From Left:  David John, Laura's Sister, Laura, Wayne
Back Row:  Laura's Parents and Step Parents, Dad and Mom far right.

Saturday, January 1, 1966, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Saturday, January 1, 1966
Partly cloudy, 42.  Gerald, Mary Ann, David, Gilbert, the girls, Clifton and I went to Loraine's for dinner, had a nice time.  Saw Ina Belle, Winnie, Doris, Rudy and Willard. Home about 8 pm.
Comment:  Lots of family to start the new year.  I remember the day at Lorraine and Howard's house in Middleburgh.  Here are four of Dad's sister's at Dad and Mom's house in Gilboa, which afterwards, served as the Gilboa post office with Merel as postmaster.  This was probably mid to late thirties.....