Jonathan E. Hoag on Dionondahowa Falls

A running theme of my blog seems to be "While researching something else, I came across this cool thing!" & today's post is no different. I was just searching online for some local suffrage images for a colleague (& myself), when I came across a great virtual cemetery on Find A Grave listing members of the Easton Political Equality Club. I noticed a lot of family names, so I started trying to piece together how folks were related. 

Then I came to Jonathan E. Hoag. & the next person on the list turns out to be his third wife Lydia Martin (nee Dwelle) Hoag. The couple joined the EPOC in 1892, just one year after it's founding. So we have husband/wife suffragists in Easton. Cool! As I start reading Jonathan's bio on Find A Grave, I notice that he was poet & friends with Howard P. (H.P.) Lovecraft! Very cool! Since I just happened to be working in the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library at the time, I went over to the OPAC & located a copy of The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag with an Introduction by none other than H.P. Lovecraft.

Jonathan Elihu Hoag of Easton, NY poet & suffragist

Suffragist Lydia (nee Dwelle) Hoag of Easton, NY

Jonathan Elihu Hoag was born in Valley Falls (Rensselaer County), NY on February 10 1831 to Abigail (nee Gifford) Hoag & her husband, Robert Nesbit Hoag. The family, including six other children, moved to South Easton when Joanthan was 8. He moved to Greenwich in 1911, & lived there until his death on December 17, 1927. He was 96 years old, & had outlived three wives.

Hoag wrote poems for family & friends

A brief search of New York Historic Newspapers brought the above clip. Apparently Jonathan was fond of writing poems for family members to commemorate milestones, like his cousin's 80th birthday. There are some such poems in his book, including a few for his mother, and one for his sister Hannah Hoag Balch.

I have yet to read the entire volume of Poetical Works..., & while I have not yet found a poem entitled "An Ode to a Suffragist", I did notice one about Dionondahowa Falls. Please enjoy...

An Ode to the Falls of Dionondawa [sic] 

by Jonathan Elihu Hoag (1917)

Ye towering rocks o’er which the waters fly,

Pray tell me whence ye came and when and why;

Your revered age reveal, your purpose show,

Unseal those mysteries of long ago!

Was it at Nature’s noon that first your height

Rose to the fulgent rays of solar light?

Or was it at the dawn, when nascent earth

Glowed like the nebula that gave it birth?

Speak, hoary torrent of the primal scene,

And trace the course of ages that have been;

Reflect once more that ancient sky, whose rays

Lit the first drops with mist-enshrouded blaze;

Recall each memory, and display the whole

On revelation’s all enlightening scroll!

Tell the long story to yon clinging vine,

On that proud sentinel, the wind-swayed pine;

In whispers tell the tinted flowers that spring

Close to the banks where your swift waters sing;

Tell the green groves by balmy winds caressed,

Where twittering wrens and chirping robins nest;

Why be so loath your secrets to unfold,

Ere time shall leave your gorges dry and old?

Some fateful day the sage will seek in vain,

Where now your ripples run, a numerous train;

And many a weed and thorn will lift its head

O’er the mute pebbles of the arid bed.

So speak, thou cataract, while time remains,

And I will spread thy fame in Doric strains;

Thy wondrous tale to millions shall be dear,

And generations yet unborn shall hear!

When glacial cohorts on the heights arrayed,

In icy wonder watched thy tall cascade;

With deadly purpose scanned thy gorge below,

And stalked with hypoborean skill the foe;

Didst chant a warning, and the glaciers greet

With prophecies of peril and defeat?

On sunny plains to Phoebus wont to yield,

They left their rocky bones strewn o’er the field!

And when the Red Man in primeval pride

In admiration sought they pine-clad side;

In each white spray a Manitou to trace,

And bow before the spirit of the place;

Didst thou to him thy secret then relate,

And tell the copper visitor thy fate!

See Cossayuna, stately, gray and tall.

With question grave, address the waterfall;

“You tell me some,” he grunt, “Me tell you more,”

But naught is heard above the mighty roar.

Then lovely Minnewawa, she whose eyes

Gleam brighter that the stars of midnight skies;

“You tell,” she says, “the many things you know;

“Me tell you Indian lore of long ago.

“Your rocks and torrents, I’ll preserve to fame,

“And your proud falls, Dionaondawa name!”

Then spake the rocks, whose ancient lips so long

Had lain in silence, dumb to speech and song;

With thunderous accents they the records read,

Kept through uncounted years of varied dead;

“Behold our sides, by time’s sharp chisel rent

“When Nature rocked the rising continent,

“Dark were the thick veiled skies, no sound was heard

“Save the black Vulcan’s subterranean word.

“The sooty Cyclops, with gigantic might,

“Heaved up the rocks from realms of Stygian night,

“Plutonian silence and Cimmerian pall

“In hideous mantle shroud and cover all;

“In sunless, moonless, starless, soundless space,

“A new world joins the planetary race,

“Then falls the fiat as the Almighty speaks,

“A rift of light through the deep vapor breaks—

“Sun, moon, and stars their wonted paths assume,

“And ordered heaven supplants the primal gloom.

“We gaze above, where circling seraphim

“Induct a foaming torrent o’er our brim;

“With sprightly grace the crystal waters flow,

“And loud reverberate in the gulf below;

“Through the deep gorge with rushing force to rage,

“And serve the mill-wheels for a future age.

“In days to come a million souls shall reap

“The blessings our tumultuous waters keep,

“And industry, with all her copious store,

“Shall feed the mendicant and clothe the poor.

“Its work complete, the useful stream shall glide

“To where the river meets the salty tide;

“And there the laboring flood at least shall rest,

“Safe sleeping on Old Ocean’s ample breast!”

Dionondahowa Falls from the Easton side looking toward the Stevens & Thompson Paper Mill

Place Name Origin- Battenkill

Over the last couple of weeks I have been having an interesting e-mail exchange regarding the etymology of "Battenkill". I received a query from Rudy in MA asking if I knew where the word for the famous fly-fishing river came from. I did not, so I set out checking all of the resources in my office. Old histories by Mr. Gill, Mrs. Sharpe & Mr. Grant Tefft were not very helpful. New books like The Hudson: A History by Tom Lewis & the massive Encyclopedia of New York State barely mention the river. I was particularly disappointed that the encyclopedia didn't even have a separate listing for the Battenkill!

After a quick Internet search, because I assumed that Rudy was capable of that himself, since he composed a decent e-mail, I turned to local historian & newspaper man, Tim Tefft. (Yes, that is his ancestor is mentioned above.)

Tim's answer was... interesting. Basically it comes down to legend & conjecture that will require further research, but here are the hypotheses...

Rudy's: that the river is named after the bats found in a cave near Mt. Aeolus near Dorset, VT. This cave is near the headwaters of the Battenkill. Rudy admits that to be plausible it would take a combination of Dutch & English etymology. (Tim points out that very few rivers are named for points near the headwaters, but for where they flow into another body of water.)

Now, it should be recognized that the Dutch word for the flying mammal is 
not "bat," but "vleermuis," derived from the Germanic "fledermaus" (or 
literally, fluttering mouse). "Bat," on the other hand is from the Middle 
English word "bakke," which has a Scandinavian origin. Dutch Americans, in 
the years after the English took control of New York, naturally adopted 
English words into their vocabulary, and vice versa. In this regard, they 
might well have adopted the English word "bat."
 
Dutch formed their plurals in most cases by adding "en" to the end of the 
singular noun... Thus, the plural for "bat" would be "batten." And the 
river that formed at the Dorset bat cave that flowed all the way back to 
their homes in the Upper Hudson Valley would, of course, be the Batten 
Kill.

Tim sent a long e-mail with a couple of theories as well. One states that the river was named after Bartholomew Van Hogeboom, an early settler of the area. The nickname "Bat", plus the plural "en" & "kill" for river, give rise to the Battenkill name. However, Tim states

I can find no proof that Bart or Bat Van Hogeboom ever lived at the mouth of the
Battenkill, but genealogies list a number of Bartholomew/Bartholomus Van
Hogebooms who were born in towns along the Hudson from the early to mid 1700's,
one of them was baptised at Albany in 1702. 
There is a tradition of an early 1700's community along the Hudson near
the mouth of the Battenkill.  If it
existed, perhaps Bart Hogeboom was among the settlers.

Next Tim mentions our local Bottskill Baptist Church, & that is name seems to derive from "Bart's Kill."The local hamlet of Battenville (where Susan B. Anthony's father moved the family in 1826) is named after the river, right? Or is it named after the "battens" used in looms?

What about the native name for the river "Dionondehowe". Apparently the earliest this name shows in writing is 1709. & is loosely translated as "she opens the door for them".  Check out some amazing images of the Dionondehowa Falls here.

One thing is for sure. The Battenkill River is redundant & incorrect. Simply the Battenkill will do.

Clang, clang, clang went the trolley

I love musicals. Astaire & Rogers. Rogers & Hammerstein... There are few I don't like, though I can't think of one at the moment. Ah well. I love Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland. There are some great songs & some over the top costumes. The Trolley Song is a high point! But, I digress...

I am really talking about actual trolleys. This area had a number of electric trolleys, even Greenwich. On April 8, 1900, the electric trolley began service between the village of Greenwich & Middle Falls. By June 17th the track was complete & service to Schuylerville was available. This also meant a person could ride to Stillwater & Mechanicville. In January 1901 the track to Fort Edward was complete.*

Oh, & those dry glass plates... There is a plate of the trolley. Along with other shots that seem to be of the construction of the trolley line.

Trolley from Greenwich to Schuylerville c. 1900

 This car appears to be the Hudson Valley Railroad car #133 that was, according to David Nestle's book A History of the Hudson Valley Railway, a 15 bench D.T. open car. It was 40' 00" long and sat 75 passengers. These cars were build between 1899-1902.*


building of bridge over the Dionondahowa Falls

 Going over/near the Dionondahowa Falls in an electric trolley must have been quite a sight! A power plant built at this sight harnessed the power of the Battenkill & provided the electricity for the trolley.*




Dionondahowa Falls- Battenkill River

 The postcard below was donated to the Town of Greenwich by Deputy Washington County Historian Loretta Bates.

Hudson Valley Railway car crossing the Battenkill

Oh, what the heck... Here's The Trolley Song for fun!

* Nestle, David F. A History of the Hudson Valley Railway, Greenwich NY: David F. Nestle, 1967.