Why did Asa seek to purchase a farm in 1864?
His Iowa farm land investment failed.
His gold adventure was quite successful.
His oil drilling venture failed.
Between his return from California, likely in the late fall of 1856 to the spring of 1857, and the purchase of a farm in 1864, there is zero information available. Most likely, he was working for one or more of his brothers or cousins who lived nearby in the Lebanon Center, Madison County, NY locality so as not to deplete his savings. Perhaps on some parcels he planted and harvested some crops for sale on a sharing arrangement between relatives.
Why did he not become a merchant? Lebanon was and is a very small village. But there is a very important overriding consideration which is displayed in a chart by the website [research gate.net]. Over 50% of all employed members of the US population were engaged in farming in that era. Only 13% in manufacturing, which was a minor employer in Madison County. Current day, farmers are around 2-3% of the population, and manufacturing has declined steadily since peaking around 1970.
Asa Purchases a Farm with House and Land and Barn buildings
Asa Makes a Decision.
A deed was signed on April 1, 1864 on which Asa bought a farm from Elijah and Sarah Skidmore for $6,575 for 287 acres less about 3 acres which they reserved. Asa’s brother Ryal Wolcott Hartshorn lived on the next farm over the hill towards Randallsville (to the northeast). The deed’s handwriting is very hard to read, but includes the legal description using as measurements the now antiquated use of rods and chains and links, and it reads the farm Asa bought consists of multiple parcels. It appears that the Skidmore’s had two mortgages totaling $4600, one to Hamilton Bank, which seems steep and may have influenced their decision to sell. It is possibe that Asa negotiated separately with the Hamilton Bank to assist in financing, or his relatives might have advanced some funds. The deed makes no mention of the house which was built around 1825, barn, cattle, nor equipment, but most or all was typically included. The author has the original deed. [Hartshorn/Skidmore Deed 1864].
On July 28, 1877 Asa added to his farm with a purchase of adjoining 25.8 acres of land from Moses Campbell for $516. The legal description mentions one border defined by a stump, another by a corner of the fence, as well as the antique measurements of rods, chains, and links. [Asa Hartshorn Deed 1877].
Recollections of the farm by Ruth Hartshorn Roe, his granddaughter, assisted by Rolfe Hartshorn her brother [Roe, Ruth Hartshorn, document file]
The stone barn and other buildings were built around 1810 by Henry S. Ostrom, according to dates handed down, and written records. The barn was built of stone to the eaves. Some of the stones were field stones and others were slate quarried from what is called “the ledge” on the farm, where a pond was formed. The barn was 84 feet long and 34 feet wide.
Before 1850 (prior to Asa’s purchase), the farm housed steers that were fattened from the residue of a distillery. The steers were driven to market at Albany, NY, about 100 miles distant. Hogs were also fattened in a building a bit to the south, also from distillery residue, via pipe from the steer barn. The distillery was north of the road in what is called the little orchard, built on different levels and situated against the hill. Grains and an enormous amount of potatoes were used. The ground was hollowed out for a trough which still shows. The potatoes were unloaded from a wagon on the upside of the hill, and rolled down into the distillery for processing on the lower level. There was another drop where a part of the building once stood. Those of us who played there could tell where it stood.
The distillery was in operation in the 1820s. Lewis Hughes, born in 1850, told Laurence Roe that Lew’s mother related how as a child she saw as many as 20 men walking over the hills to the distillery to get their whiskey. There were as many as 5, or more, houses standing along the ridge of the surrounding hills. I remember seeing stone foundations, wells filled with stone, and broken shale in the back lots of the farm.
About 1890, Asa moved a barn that stood to the east, onto the main farm, forming an “L” for a long overhead drive on one side, and a hay mow from the ground up to the roof on the other side. Underneath the drive was a room that we called “the dungeon” where tools were stored. Thinking this addition would apply excessive push force onto the main barn, a stone silo was built on the opposite west side to stabilize the main barn. Asa used the stone silo to store whole corn stalks for silage. That too was built with stone to the roof. In later years, our father Ryal (one of Asa’s sons) made a feed (storage) room of one end of “the dungeon”.
Asa milked cows, made cheese and butter, and at one time grew hops. We had milk pails he used with a hollowed cover to sit on, and a spout into which fitted a flattened funnel into which one milked, by hand in those days. There were also tall cream cans about 8 inches in diameter and 20 inches high. Our father Ryal used worn out ones for carrying coal to the stove. There were a few large milk cans with straight sides that held about 40 gallons.
The barn was probably built about the same time as the house. It was of mortise, tenon and pin frame, with plank siding under the clapboards. The house had a large living room and a parlor. Off each was a bedroom. In the hallway from the kitchen to the living room were the cellar stairs, the cellar having a floor to ceiling cupboard, a pantry that contained shelves on both sides, cupboard and draws [sic] on the end by the window. I was told that the shelf covered the space that used to be for a sink where they washed the butter. Upstairs there were two large bedrooms and one small one that our father Ryal finished off, plus a small room used as attic space. An addition was added for a large kitchen/dining room, and two bedrooms (later made into one bedroom). We had running water in the kitchen through a lead pipe (gravity fed from a spring in the northeast pasture), but I remember when there was a tub, barrel size, in the backroom. Water continually ran into it, with an overflow went to the barn. Water above a certain point overflowed by pipe to the outside. Running water protects against freezing. In one corner of the room was a chicken incubator at least 6 feet square. Another spring also ran directly to the barn. The two back rooms where the cheese had once been stored, and the woodshed have been torn down, and another addition added. The toilet was an outhouse attached to the far end of a woodshed and had 3 holes. (Author’s note: the house was destroyed by fire around 1985. The fire revealed the planking, which were approximately 2″ x 10″. Rolfe Hartshorn, a grandson, was given permission to cut some of the unburned planks, from which a stool was made).
Cheese made on the farm was stored to cure in a large backroom of the house. There were shelves upstairs and down. I remember the wagon our father Ryal used as his milk wagon, on which his father Asa drew the cheese to Canastota NY for shipment on the Erie Canal. Another point in regard to the old homestead is that our grandfather Asa Hartshorn ran a creamery for a while.
Ledger Pages
,Asa was a meticulous bookkeeper. Here are a couple pages from his ledger. The upper one is of milk production, with two neighbors mentioned, so perhaps a joint creamery operation, perhaps involving cheesemaking or butter. The lower one is for fulfilling Asa’s duties as the Highway and Bridge Commissioner for the Lebanon Township.
Asa sells farm to son, then is sold again and again
Asa’s farm was sold in 1904 to Asa’s son Ryal P.earce Hartshorn and wife Maude Jaquith, and again in 1930 to Ryal and Maude’s daughter Ruth Hartshorn Roe and husband Laurence W. Roe, with a portion not deeded over, which Ryal kept as an investment. Ruth and Laurence sold the farm at auction in June 1947 because, due to economics, the percentage of farmers kept declining and farms were forced to merge into much larger operations to make any profit. Labor was difficult to find, and farm equipment too costly for one farmer to use only a few days per year. Instead of 40 cows per dairy farmer, the number needed to reach hundreds to be a going concern. Their offspring in the late 1940’s viewed farming as a very unfavorable way to make a living. Electricity was installed in the house in 1944 according to a bill receipt. That discontinued the icebox and the necessity for an icehouse on the property. However, the outhouse was still in use in 1948 and there was no hot water heater available to replace the wood stove’s side water tank. Taking a bath was a big project, and of course there could not be a shower, as there was no bathroom. Metal tubs and ceramic washbowls were used. People in the village and in nearby cities had electricity, running water, sewers, and bathrooms for many years earlier. Below are two of the last photos taken of the remaining buildings.
In the following years, sadly the barn was torn down. Then by the mid-1980s the house also and all the outbuildings were demolished, and the new owner constructed a modern house. It is a sad ending because of the economic decline of small dairy farms. It was now taking a herd of hundreds, and acreage into the thousands, to make a decent profit. The location continues to be roughly at the intersection of Briggs Rd and Lebanon Center Rd. The Briggs Rd also has been reimagined into, mostly, houses on acreage for hobby farmers who have jobs elsewhere.
The auction notice posted in the newspaper July 1947
Asa in old age, and his obituary
Madison County Leader and Observer
Morrisville, NY, Thursday morning, JANUARY 7. 1909
Death of Asa Hartshorn. One of Town’s
Oldest and Most Highly Esteemed Men
Jan. 6—Asa Hartshorn, whose illness
has been occasionally noted for some
time, quietly passed away at 10 o’clock
on Thursday morning. Mr. Hartshorn
was nearly 80 years old and up to the
past few years had been an active farmer.
About two years ago he left the
farm where he had spent the most of
his life and moved to the village, where
he resided up to the time of his death.
Mr. Hartshorn was a consistent mem-,
ber of the Baptist church, being con-
verted when a young man, had always
lived an exemplary life in his family
and among his neighbors and with his
kind, generous heart was always ready
to respond to any needy call, seeking
always to alleviate the burdens of
others, his pocket book always going
with his heart. Rev. J. I. Flick, who
conducted the funeral, which was held
Sunday at 11 o’clock at the Baptist
church, paid a warm tribute to his noble
life. Mr. Hartshorn leaves a wife whose
maiden name was Janette [error] Morgan,
daughter of Percy Morgan; also three
children, Mrs. Jennie Bartlett, Karl
Hartshorn and Ryal, who has worked
his father’s farm since the former’s
retirement. Three sisters and a brother,
Mrs. Laura Curtis of California, Mrs.
Hannah Schauck of Springfield, Mass.,
Mrs. Elizabeth Cossimer of Danesville,
Ohio, and William Hartshorn of Hornellsville;
also relatives from Oneida,
Syracuse, Canajoharie, Munnsville,
Hamilton and other points came to pay
their last respects to one whose memory will ever be fondly cherished.
