| Notes |
The following article "Reminiscing" by Helen Feraldi (with Mr. and Mrs. Alfred A. Welsh) appeared in the Tri-County Times. Their niece, Mary Hibbard Stack, is in possession of a copy of the article dated Wednesday, February 16, 1977:
"Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Welch are residents of Main St., Sandusky. They have lived there since selling their farm on Genesee (formerly South) road in 1968.
ANTECEDENTS
Mr. Welch was born in 1891 in Eden Township at Pawntiac Corners. His parents were natives of the area. His forbears are of Scottish descent having left Scotland in 1545, some settling in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. His paternal grandfather, born in 1801, took up land from the Holland Land Company in the Eden area. He lived to be over 96. Mr. Welch's maternal grandfather was born in 1803, Alfred Bushnell Allen; the Bushnell’s were from Connecticut. This grandfather was an adventurous soul who traveled to California to search for gold and, with Sam Sutter, formed the Sutter Company. As a souvenir Mr. Welch has a pony express check, a form of monetary exchange before California was a state. The check has Rt. 2 printed on it to identify the particular pony express route. He also has a faded bulletin published for A. W. Potter, Miner's bookstore, Main St., Nevada listing the Miner's ten commandments. This same grandfather had a brother who was an engineer and built the first bridge across the Mississippi River below Kansas City. Prior to that he built a bridge in Galveston connecting Galveston Island to the mainland in Texas. Thus it was that young Alfred at the age of eight accompanied his grandmother on a two-month trip West when the estates of these gentlemen had to be settled. They traveled by train then changed to stagecoach, their journey including Galveston and terminating at Sacramento. He has memories of a rough, dull, interminable ride in the six-passenger coach drawn by 4 horses, traveling through miles of sagebrush.
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Alfred attended a small, one-room school about a mile from his home until he was about 8 when the family moved into Eden. He has one brother. The school in town served first grade through high school. It is gone now and the present town hall is next to the site. The present centralized school is farther out, built on the land, which was once his grandfather's farm in Eden valley. Al also attended a German Lutheran school with some of his friends who went after school and on Saturday. Therefore, he learned the German language. The teacher, from Leipzig, Germany, was also a preacher and a farmer. At that time Eden was a small village with one general store, a hardware store that handled coal, three churches, Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist, a canning factory, post office, livery stable, Roehler's hotel and a blacksmith shop. Near the Welch farm was a cheese factory. The family moved back to the farm when Alfred was 14. He then rode his horse to the livery stable in town and walked to the school. He had to help with the milking before leaving. One of his pleasures was riding the Morgan horses. Eden was a truck gardening community so the Welch's took produce to market. They loaded the wagon with tomatoes, melons, etc. to sell at the Elk street market. When shipments of bananas came in by carload lots, Al learned one had to be careful handling them because of the banana spiders lurking within the bunches. They were black with yellow legs and a poisonous bite. He knew of one person who was bitten. The Welch's made Limburger cheese and one of Al's chores was the care of the curing process. They were kept on shelves in a separate part of the house and he had to turn them twice a day and rub salt on them. The cheese had to be made with milk with the animal warmth still in it, so they were made twice a day. When Alfred was ten the Pan American Exposition was attracting worldwide crowds in buffalo. Since he had an aunt who lived in the city, it enabled him to visit the grounds several times. The numbers of people, the lights and sounds, the good music one could enjoy at the Temple of Music and the height of the Electric Tower impressed him. He remembers the horse-drawn streetcars of the period that passed as he walked from his aunt's home to the exposition grounds. When President McKinley was shot, Alfred was only about 100 feet away. People ran in all directions, some toward the sound to see what was happening and others away, to get out of danger. He remembers the shock at the idea of a president being shot. Alfred was taking part in a horse showmanship event and the rest of the show was called off that day. The Indian Congress was putting on the event and they lacked enough Indian riders so Al was riding one of the horses in the parade. He had been acquainted with members of the Sioux Indians for years and had become a blood brother through a friend, William Laye, whose grandfather was chief of the tribe. The ceremony of becoming initiated into the tribe involved making a small cut on the upper arm of Al and his Indian friend and mixing the blood. Mr. Welch values this relationship and still has some gifts of Indian workmanship. Al's father ran a sawmill in Eden and several Indians were employed there. Al himself learned to saw lumber at age 14. Eventually he went to study engineering at the Massachusetts school of Technology, which started him on a 63-year career in the building trades.
HER CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Mrs. Alfred Welch, the former Helen Hibbard, was born in 1892 in North Collins as was her father before her. Her mother was from Wyoming County. She attended the village grade school, the building now gone, but the present school is on the same site. North Collins in those years was much smaller. There were five in her family; her four brothers are now deceased. Mr. Hibbard went to Buffalo business college and had a varied career. He was an auctioneer, assistant postmaster (Helen's brother was postmaster) a farmer, a juror in the Supreme Court in Buffalo and after retirement he worked in the Y.M.C.A. athletic department. Helen's mother was the second woman to be called to jury duty in Buffalo. The bank of North Collins is on the site of Mrs. Welch's family home. Her grandparents for many years spent winter months in the south. Young Helen spent long visits with them, going to kindergarten in Tallapoosa, Georgia, not far from Atlanta. One time she accompanied her parents on a ride with horse and buggy out into the country. They were warned not to go too far out but they got lost anyhow and the dirt road ended up in a cornfield. When Helen was 12 her grandparents had property in Jacksonville, Florida so she had the opportunity to visit them there. They went by car and she remembers the long bridge crossing the Dismal Swamp in Georgia. She was going to attend school there, but the first day was told she had to be inoculated in order to go. Her father wouldn't allow it. He didn't believe in vaccinations since he'd had an unfortunate experience with one himself and nearly lost an arm. Helen's grandfather bought her a bicycle and she accompanied him on his large tricycle on trips to a farm for fresh eggs. When the ship of the Clyde line docked in town she would run to the wharf as soon as she heard the siren blast. Her grandfather would buy a stem of bananas. When Helen graduated from high school in North Collins she attended Holy Angels, now D'Youville College. In addition to her academic course she took elocution and music. She lived on the grounds and came home once a month. School life was pleasant. She remembers the morning and afternoon walks, lines of students accompanied by the black robed Sisters. For a recital Helen wore a yellow, satin dress made by a North Collins seamstress. Alfred Welch met Helen Hibbard at a Grange dance at Lawton’s. Square and round dancing was popular and they were held at school halls, Masonic halls, and neighborhood homes and in new barns after a rising. Card parties were held regularly.
MARRIAGE
In 1913 they were married at a Buffalo Methodist Church by Rev. Schlenker. They enjoyed a Syracuse honeymoon visiting points of interest in Oswego and Auburn. They remember viewing Auburn prison's electric chair. The young couple stayed with parents until their new home, which the bridegroom was building, was completed. He already had experience in home construction having built a home for his parents the preceding year. He cut the lumber and built a new home for his bride on the main road between North Collins and Eden. Their two sons were born there. They lost their older son at age 12 to polio. Eventually they moved to a house in town. Mr. Welch went to work for Turner Construction, an international company. The firm has recently completed a skyscraper in Chicago. His work took him all over the country. Among the projects were the St. Lawrence University, Van Hornsville, a section was dedicated Madame Curie who came for the ceremony; the Cushing Memorial Hospital in Framingham, Mass.; the Holy Name college in Washington and many well known buildings in cities too numerous to mention. While working on the college Mr. Welch stayed with the Monks of the Franciscan order by special dispensation. Like in a monastery was an education. Working as a construction engineer made Mr. Welch familiar with all facets of life in America. Mrs. Welch traveled with her husband. They rented places in various cities. While in Washington she was given a pass to sit in the gallery and watch Congress in session. One question being debated around the early thirties was the sugar quota. She particularly remembers Huey Long. Her husband had a much closer acquaintance with the leaders of government due to his work. He remembers Lyndon Johnson when he was secretary to the Secretary of State. Among notables with whom he had a personal acquaintance were former vice-president, Jack Garner, Albert Einstein, Joe Kennedy and many others. Mr. Welch has a certificate attesting to his title "Clerk of the Works", making him accountable for all large construction projects in the area including school buildings of Letchworth, Springville and Attica, as well as plants and medical buildings. He is now retired after trying unsuccessfully to retire a number of times. The Welch's once owned a farm in New Hampshire, and then later bought the one on Genesee road. In their present home, Mr. Welch has the basement converted into a shop where he pursues his hobby of constructing and fixing furniture. Since a heart attack two years ago his activities have been greatly restricted. Mrs. Welch is in excellent health, does all her own work and still sews and makes hooked rugs. Both find pleasure in reading and keeping up with current events. Their interest in people and things seems to keep them young at heart and in appearance. It is hard to believe they have been married 63 years. Their son Leroy and his wife, reside in Williamsville. Their (Roy & Rea's) daughter and husband and their two sons also live in Williamsville.
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1891 - 1982 (90 years)
