Tioga Point Museum

10/14/2026

Found in our Collection: Map from 1805 showing a tract of land 100,000 acres for sale situated on the Geneseo River. ......the newspaper clipping is from The Connecticut Courant April 17, 1805 advertising the land by Philip Church and the surveyor Evert Van Wickle

10/10/2026

When Simon Spalding marched through our valley with Sullivan’s army in 1779, the grass was as tall as a man on horseback. He never forgot this land, and in 1783 he returned to claim it. Today, his sword is part of the Tioga Point Museum’s collection. Read more about this fascinating local figure below, and plan a visit to see a real piece of Revolutionary War history!
“We’re open Tuesday and Thursday noon to 4 pm. Article is from the Valley Heritage Festival magazine dated August 6, 2005

GENERAL SIMON SPALDING
Written by Duane Hunter and Valerie Jacoski for the Tioga Point Museum
Simon Spalding, a fascinating man of character and principle, was one of the earliest settlers of this area. A sixth generation descendant of Edward Spalding, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1630, he was the son of Simon and Anne Billings Spalding, born in Connecticut on January 16th, 1742.
In her book, Old Tioga Point and Early Athens, Louise Welles Murray states:
“He was a large man, of imposing and pleasing appearance, very simple in his tastes, and scornful of any pretensions of his neighbors.”
He enlisted in 1776, as a Second Lieutenant in Ransom’s company, and soon was promoted to Captain. His son enlisted at the age of 14 as a fifer on Sullivan’s Campaign in 1779. Captain Spalding was in the battles of Germantown, Bradywine, Mud Fort and other places.
“He was an unusually brave and faithful soldier. It is said that justice has not been done to him as to his service; that the Revolutionary victory at Bound brook was really due to him, although the honor went to a superior officer”.
It was during the Sullivan Campaign, as it passed though this area, that he first saw the land that he would eventually return to claim. He reported that the “Indian grass” was as high as his head when he sat on horseback. He served in the military until the close of the war. Shortly after his discharge from service in January 1, 1783, he returned May 30th, 1783 with a few other families to settle in what is now Sheshequin. The location he chose was exactly where he had camped with Sullivan’s army of 3,500 men on the Sheshequin flats.
He and his wife Ruth Shepard Spalding had 9 children. Sara, born January 31, 1763, married Joseph Kinney. John, born November 14, 1765, married Wealthy Ann Gore (her portrait hangs in the Tioga Point Museum). John had served as a fifer in the Sullivan Campaign, and later was commissioned a Colonel. Ruth Shepard, born July 2, 1771, married Silas Hutchins of Killingly, Connecticut. Mary, born July 20, 1776, married Moses Park. Anna, born April 21, 1779, married Colonel Joseph Kingsbury, and later took over the homestead. George was born 9-5-1782, and only lived to the age of 18. Chester Pierce, born June 18, 1784, married Sarah Tyler and moved to Palmyra, NY.
Spalding was constituted General in the militia once he moved to Sheshequin. On June 27th, 1790, Benjamin Walker, Henry Walker, Joseph Walker, and Samuel Doyle murdered a pair of friendly Seneca Indians at Pine Creek. By order of President Washington, Colonel Simon Spalding and Colonel Pickering met the Seneca Chiefs Red Jacket, Farmers Brother, Fish Carrier, Big Tree, Aupaumont, and about “300 warriors in full gala dress” at Tioga Point, November 14th – 23rd, 1790, giving them gifts to make restitution to the families and to secure their friendship. In David Crafts, History of Bradford County, he states “General Spalding contributed to their frolic and cuisine at the same time by giving them (the Native Americans) six good running hogs for capturing and cooking. The race was a long and exciting one. They cooked those shoats with corn and beans, sans dressing, and called the mess ump-a-squanch.”
During the council, Red Jacket was further advised to go to Philadelphia to get resolution on a separate land disagreement.
Craft goes on to state:
“On their return from Philadelphia, they stopped at the same place and challenged the whites for a foot-race. The challenge was accepted, and William Witter Spalding won the race... peace was maintained with much difficulty.”
“Simon Spalding had a peculiar tact with the Indians, and “rarely failed to provide good cheer and sport on their frequent visits to his home.”
He was an original trustee for the building of the Athens Academy, another accomplishment for this very worthy citizen of our area. Simon Spalding passed away January 24th, 1814, and rests in the Sheshequin Cemetery.

10/09/2026

10/07/2026

📰 Yesterday's News, Today: Daily Review Plus, October 18, 1983. "Tioga Point Museum Has the Local Past and Much More." Bonus finds on the page: Xerox copies for 10¢, Dutch Boy paint 15% off, and a Belly Dancing Gram by Bahara. 😄 Do you remember any of these local businesses?

10/04/2026

A Surprise from the Top Shelf 📜
Sometimes the best history is the history we didn't know we had.

While working in our archives recently, we pulled down a box tucked away on a top shelf. Inside, wrapped carefully in tissue paper, was a small pewter cylinder with a dished, perforated top. It had never been accessioned, so there was no record of it in our files. The only clue was a handwritten card:

"Sand Blotter used by John Adams while he was President — Cowell"
along with a note to be careful, because there might still be sand inside.

Before blotting paper was common, writers sprinkled fine sand or "pounce" over wet ink to keep it from smearing. The dished top let the writer pour the extra sand back in to use again. Every letter, every order, every signature of that era passed under a tool just like this one.
We may never know the whole story of how this piece made its way to our town. What we do know is that someone, perhaps a member of the Cowell family, valued it enough to save it, label it, wrap it with care, and give it to the museum so it could belong to all of us. That is the quiet gift our town's ancestors have given again and again. They held onto the treasures of their families and then chose to share them with the whole community.
The sand blotter is now on display in our Connie Bryan memorial case, donated by the Chemung School Friends. It sits alongside a letter John Adams wrote from Paris on September 10, 1783, to his brother-in-law Richard Cranch. That was just one week after the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Revolutionary War. In it, Adams talks about the treaty, the fishing rights still being fought for, and how much he misses his "dear Partner," Abigail.
Can you help us? If you know anything about a Cowell family connection, or have family stories about this piece, we would love to hear from you. Comment below or stop by the museum our hours our Tuesday and Thursday noon to 4pm

The full text of the letter:
Paris Sept. 10. 1783
My dear Brother,
I have received with very great Pleasure, your favours of June 26 and July 18. If my Townsmen of Marblehead, Salem, Cape Anne, Plymouth &c are pleased with the Peace, I am very glad: But We have yet to secure, if We can, the Right to carry some of their Fish to market. This and other Things is like to detain me longer here than I expected. I do not regret this on Account of what you say is meditated, because I have not the qualifications necessary to give Satisfaction in such a Station, which no Man can obtain without divisions or hold without Reproach in these turbulent Times. A great deal of dangerous and disagreeable Service, it is true, has fallen to my Lot, and it has been done with as much Success as could be expected, and I am content.
I regret the Articles concerning the Tories, even for their Sakes as well as ours. I thought and still think it would have been better to have said nothing about them. But what was done, was insisted on and could not be avoided.
The Treaty must speak for itself. I do not think myself qualified for a Commentator, nor should I think myself at Liberty to comment if I knew how. From the Treaty itself, the Stipulations may be easily distinguished from the Recommendations. The former should be sacred and the latter coolly considered, at least.
It will never do to quote me in Explanation of the Treaty: Your Ministers have said and will say in their Letters to Congress as much as they think proper upon the subject, and such Parts as Congress think fit to communicate you will have from them. All I can say is I wish the real Sense and Spirit of the Treaty may be complied with, and would recommend to all a dispassionate Consideration of it. If there are any serious Things among Men, such a Treaty is one of them.
I am much obliged to you for your particular Account of my Friends, and particularly of the Death of my aged Uncle, for whom I had a great Regard, and am much affected with his kind Remembrance of me in his last Days. When I shall be released and see you I know not. We must finish off, in Europe, if such is the Will of Congress, which may take us a Year, and may be done sooner, or may require longer time. I should hope to finish all in a Year. I have written to my dear Partner to come to me this fall if she can, but have small hopes that my Letters will reach her soon enough, and I would not have her think of a Winter Passage. It is a cruel Punishment to me to live without her, but I should choose this for 6 months longer rather than expose her health to a turbulent Winter Passage without me. My kind Regards to Sister and the Children and all our Friends.
With great affection, your Friend & Brother,
John Adams
Mr. Cranch

Look closely at the top of the letter and you'll see a very human moment: Adams first wrote "June 26," crossed it out, and wrote "Sept. 10" above it. Even a founding father had to fix his mistakes!

John Adams letter is from our Tidd collection..

09/30/2026

Director's Corner...
Wednesday Object: An Anniversary of an Anniversary

This week's Wednesday Object is hard to miss. At 38 inches wide and 70 inches tall, it is nearly six feet tall, and it has been part of the Tioga Point Museum collection since 1895.

The poster was printed for the Centennial of the Sullivan Expedition and Battle of Newtown, held on August 29, 1879, exactly 100 years after the Battle of Newtown. The enormous program advertised speeches, poems, visiting dignitaries, the Masonic dedication of a monument, and even fireworks in Elmira.

For residents of the Tioga Point area, the history being commemorated was particularly close to home. In 1779, the armies commanded by Generals John Sullivan and James Clinton joined at Tioga Point, where Fort Sullivan served as their base before they marched north into Haudenosaunee country. The campaign destroyed numerous Haudenosaunee towns, crops, and food supplies and displaced thousands of people.

However, our poster also tells another story: how later generations remembered that history. A century after the campaign, thousands gathered near Newtown to commemorate it. Sixteen years later, in 1895, this poster came to the Tioga Point Museum from someone identified in our original catalog only as “Mr. Merriam, Waverly.” We're still working to determine exactly which member of the Merriam family that was.

Apparently, the poster had already seen better days. Our 1895 catalog card describes it as: “Brown paper crumbling.” It also records that the paper had been mounted on “window shade material.” Remarkably, 131 years after that assessment, the enormous and decidedly battered poster is still with us.

That doesn't mean it isn't fragile. Tears, losses, creases, and exposed backing are clearly visible, and we're now exploring a professional conservation assessment, improved long-term care, and high-resolution digitization so the information it contains can remain accessible without unnecessarily handling the original.

The timing seems especially appropriate. In 2029, our region will mark the 250th anniversary of the Sullivan Campaign. This poster was created when people gathered for the 100th anniversary. Today it gives us an opportunity not only to study the events of 1779, but also to consider how those events were commemorated in 1879, and how our understanding and interpretation of that history have continued to change.

1779 → 1879 → 2029. Sometimes an artifact survives long enough to become part of the history it was originally created to remember.

09/28/2026

Here it is, straight from the teacher's desk: Mrs. Joan Moody's official 1986 ANSWER KEY! (You can even see "Key" written right at the top of page 2.) 😄
⭐ 19–22 right: Gold star! Mrs. Moody would be proud!
👍 12–18 right: Solid work, you paid attention in class
😅 Under 12: Looks like somebody was passing notes...

09/27/2026

📚✏️ POP QUIZ! Pencils out, everyone! ✏️📚

We found a Bradford County social studies quiz from 1986, straight out of Mrs. Joan Moody's class! Back then, kids were expected to know all of this by heart... so how do YOU stack up?

Highest point in the county? Largest borough? What did men mine up on Barclay Mountain? 🤔

No Googling! Drop your answers in the comments and let's see who would've made Mrs. Moody's honor roll. 🏆

Answers will be posted tomorrow. Good luck!

09/23/2026

Director's Corner

Wednesday Object: Catherine’s Memory Pot

How many objects can you spot?

At first glance, this strange gold-covered vessel looks like a jumble of odds and ends. Look closer, and a tiny world begins to appear: shells, thimbles, buttons, bells, hardware, a horse, a miniature figure, acorn caps, decorative pieces, and dozens of things we still haven't identified.

They weren't simply stuck there at random. The objects were carefully arranged over what appears to be a ceramic teapot, embedded in a thick compound and covered with a metallic finish. Large pieces become focal points, shells and decorative objects are turned outward to show their shapes and textures, and smaller objects fill the spaces between them. Even the handle, lid, and spout became part of the composition.
Museum records call it a “Memory Pot” and identify its maker as Catherine Rockwell of Sheshequin. Two old labels underneath add an important clue: “CATHERINE” and “MADE BY GRANDMOTHER ROCKWELL.”

We've been doing a little detective work. Catherine Lent Rockwell was born in 1798 and died in Bradford County in 1880. According to the history that accompanied the pot, she gave it to her granddaughter Gabriella Sarah Rockwell Shores. From Gabriella it passed to her daughter Grace, then to Grace's son Daniel Safford, who reportedly kept it on his mantel for some sixty years. It eventually passed to Daniel's son Geoffrey before entering the Waverly Historical Society and, in 2019, the Tioga Point Museum's collection.

That family history gives us an intriguing possibility. If the traditional identification of Catherine as its maker is correct, this memory pot was made no later than 1880.
Objects like this are generally known today as memory jugs or memory vessels. Makers covered bottles, jugs and other vessels with a soft compound and pressed small objects into the surface. Surviving examples contain everything from buttons and coins to shells, jewelry, toys and ordinary household objects. Some were connected with remembrance and mourning. Others appear to have been decorative or personal assemblages. Their history is complex, with connections to African American funerary traditions as well as the broader nineteenth-century culture of keepsakes and sentimental objects.

We don't yet know what Catherine intended hers to mean or what each little object meant to her. Family tradition says the pieces came from Sheshequin, but after nearly 150 years, many of their individual stories have been lost.

Perhaps that's part of what makes it so fascinating. A thimble is just a thimble to us. A shell is just a shell. Yet Catherine chose each piece, kept it, and decided exactly where it belonged. Whatever stories she attached to them have long since disappeared. The objects remain.

09/20/2026

A Special Visit: Meeting Descendants of Jedediah Stephens

Last Thursday, the museum had the honor of welcoming two descendants of Jedediah Stephens, brother of Ira Stephens. They are pictured here beside the display case housing the spy glass presented to Ira Stephens by George Washington — an artifact donated to our museum in 1898 by one of Ira's grandsons.

It was a privilege to connect the history preserved in our exhibits with members of the extended Stephens family. We are grateful for their visit and for the continued opportunity to share this piece of history with the public.

Ira Stephens (1760-1803) - Born in Canaan, Connecticut, this true American patriot served seven years in the Continental Army as one of George Washington's aides! At the war's end, General Washington personally presented him with a field glass as a token of appreciation for his service.
After the war, Ira built a house near Spanish Hill in 1795, establishing himself as a respected member of our community. By 1798, he was actively doing business at Hollenback's Trading Post - the major commercial hub for the entire region.
But Ira's story took a tragic turn. As a Connecticut settler facing constant threats from Pennsylvania-Connecticut land disputes, he was forced to keep moving. In 1803, he was assassinated by a coward while purchasing land in Angelica, NY, leaving behind a pregnant wife.
Here's where the story becomes legendary: His brave widow Sybil rode horseback to Angelica with her 4-month-old baby in her arms, driving a herd of cattle to complete the land purchase! She deeded the 400 acres to baby Cynthia, securing their family's future.
Ira's son Chester became one of Athens' most respected citizens, living here until 1878 and purchasing what's now the lot north of our Museum-Library for $1200 in 1817 - then the most valuable property in town!