As I’ve been learning lately, having just moved to Glen Aubrey–a little hamlet 20 minutes outside of Binghamton–the Binghamton area has hundreds of small towns. So does Rochester (where I was raised) but it’s very different. In Rochester, everyone says “I’m from Rochester” even though they technically live in a smaller town. Here, everyone feels much more allegiance to their small town and no one, I mean NO ONE, says “I’m from Binghamton”..… unless they are too lazy to explain to someone foreign to central NY.
Anyways… This post will probably be the most interesting to someone from the Binghamton area (aka one of the smaller towns). Another thing I have found out about these smaller towns is that everybody knows everyone. And I don’t think that it is due to the fact that there are fewer people to know. I think it’s because the families down here have roots. They don’t live out here for the careers and conveniences, but because this is where family is, where their roots are. As a result, local family trees get established and get reputations. For example, the Hust family has roots in Glen Aubrey. My husband, his father, and his father’s father all attended the same school and had many of the same teachers. Many of our aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins live along the same country road and are able to stop by and visit any time.
That being said, I hope that someone in the area can help locate a family. A couple of weeks ago, Tom and Casey unearthed a box of old papers as they were clearing the goat area and moving a broken down barn.
In the box there are a lot of family papers, including a few pictures from around 1910, a few marriage certificates, wills and testaments, army papers and other documents. We thought it would be nice to give these back to the family they belong to. We believe they belong to a family by the name of Mead.
If you think you know someone, read on. And SHARE away! Here are the clues we have from the box:
The first picture, from October 1910. We are guessing that the man in the foreground is N.P. Gordon, since the meat truck appears to belong to him. They may have owned a dairy farm since his son’s papers said he worked on the family dairy farm.
That first photo of the young couple seems to go along with this marriage certificate. The marriage is between Nathan P. (N.P.) Gordon and Alice Mead. It took place in 1910 in Lackawanna County, PA. So they weren’t originally from Binghamton…
This booklet says Scranton, PA. Sure enough, that’s in Lackawanna County. In the book itself are written some notes about their children. For example, what age baby Harold smiled for the first time. In the back of the book were hidden two locks of hair from baby Harold and Homer (see above).
The rest of the box centers around Homer G. Mead and his wife, Lillian. (formerly Lillian Fueglein). They got married in Binghamton.
Here we see that Homer was in the military but it’s hard to tell which branch. “Air Service Command.” “Marine Training School.” “Seamanship.” So which is it?
Here is a telegraph Homer wrote home to Lillian in 1945, from camp in San Pedro. It looks like she was living back in Moscow, PA at the time. It’s cute at the end of the telegraph. “See you soon love.”
Homer’s honorable discharge from the military. Also a record of his service. Looks like his address was in Moscow, PA at the time.
But then they moved to an address on Leekville Rd in Glen Aubrey, NY! That explains why we found the box. We can’t tell what the current house would be, unfortunately.
Sadly, the couple divorced in 1962. Here is a modification of the agreement made in 1966. This booklet is how we found out the names of two of their daughters. Terri Lee Meed, born around 1951, Bobbi Lynn Mead, born around 1960. We think there might be an older daughter named Alice that was found in other papers but not this divorce agreement.
Soon after the separation agreement was signed, Homer died of a heart attack while fighting a fire in Johnson City.
So the box appears to have been kept by Lillian, since it held Homer’s obituary. Here is Lillian’s last will and testament.
And that’s all I have for the post. Please, if you think you knew these people, or if your parents would, ask around! We weren’t able to find the daughters online, probably because they’ve since gotten married and changed names. That’s the hard part, so it’s going to be tricky finding them!
We would love to be able to give these back to the family! Thanks for reading and sharing. 🙂
