Fourth Generation

8. George Raymond (Raymond) Hoxie was born on 14 Aug 1904 in Merrifield, Cayuga, New York. He died on 7 Feb 1934 in Merrifield, Cayuga, New York. He was buried in Evergreen or Scipioville Cemetery, Ledyard, Cayuga, New York. While at Sherwood Select School, Sherwood, NY, Raymond was on 'its basket ball team in the school years of 1919 & 1920. While at Auburn Business School he was on the basket Ball team there in the year 1920/21. From about 1926 he owned and operated a grain mill business in Fleming, New York. He operated the mill till about 1932 when he was overcome by illness.

(1)From 1932 to 1935 the mill was operated by Alfred & Harry Gulliver. During this time, Raymond's family resided in Merrifield in the north side of his father's house. During this period, Alfred Gulliver family occupied the Fleming house. The Gulliver management and residence ended in 1935 when they moved to Syracuse in time for the school year. (1) Source from Eleanor Gulliver Ockenfels of Green Valley, AZ.

The mill was combined with a sawmill. The complex was operated by a water wheel. From the pond that fed the wheel he had an ice supply business using a motorcycle with a saw mounted on it to cut the ice.

The following is from "The Township of Fleming, Cayuga County, New York.

"A mill was operated by' Amos Gould across from the Fleming Rural Cemetery on Route 34B. Luthan Hammond purchased the saw mil from him and operated it until his death on Oct. 22, 1806 (age 49) leaving his wife Mary, daughters Hannah, Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Thores and sons John Ephraim, Luthan and Isaac. John Hammond purchased the mill from the other heirs and in 1849 he also purchased the Thornton mill from William P.. and Isabel Thornton. On June 28, 1865 John's heirs Mary', Augusta, Ruth, Ephraim, Grace and his wife Phila sold the mill to Amos Mosher, who lived in the neighboring house that he had purchased in 1857 from Lathron and Eliza Earl (El wood Hoxie home).

Amos Mosher opened a Thrashing Machine Manufactory next to the old Hammond mill and left the management of the mill to James and his son Martin Rheubottom. He in 1873 added a feed mill and in 1876 created a cider mill. The saw mill that had a circular saw and one run of stones was operated by water power until 1878 at which time Mosher added a turbine wheel. After Amos' death in 1894, his heirs, Florence and Herbert continued the mill business with Richard Gregory. In 1915, Jay C. Mosher sold the water powered mill to Allen F. Hoxie and his wife Clara Strang. They in turn sold it to George Raymond and Pauline Atkinson Hoxie. After George's death in February 7, 1934 Elwood W. Hoxie and his wife Mary Marsh operated the business until it closed in 1942."

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(2) Building Near Fleming Looks as it Did
in Civil War Days
by M. L. Shattuck Mar 31, 1935 (2) Sourced from Eleanor Gulliver Ockenfels of Green Valley, AZ.

About seven miles south of Auburn near the village of Fleming, stands Hoxie's mill. Altho some distance from the road its stark outlines make it prominent enough, but unless you know just what to look for you may miss the best of it.

Its outward appearance is very misleading and a casual glance reveals only most prosaic of buildings - a gaunt, barn-like structure, painted a dull, rusty red. A deeply rutted wagon road leads up to an enclosed portico which is the only architectural adornment save a darkly painted cupola sitting squatly astride the rooftree.

A most unpromising facade. Indeed, and were it not for this cupola blinking owlishly down with its huge, square-paned windows, there would be no hint that this old mill is more than it seems; that its bleak, weather-beaten exterior houses not only a triple business enterprise but a dual personality as well.

Divided in Three Parts

For like Caesar's Gaul, Hoxie's mill is divided in three parts, one of which is a sawmill, another a grist mill, and a third part is a cider mill not only in our language, but in the language of anybody whose nostrils have been sharpened by the keen country air.

But not knowing these things, and being somewhat repelled by the austerity of the foreground, your attention wanders to the right of the building, where, through a clump of dwarf elms you catch the glitter of the millpond and realize for the first time the murmur of flowing water.

Only a few yards -- a rough path leading over a rustic bridge -- past the corner of the building -- descend a dozen steps and you are behind the mill. Only a few yards in actual distance, but over 100 years in time.

Mill of Poets

Here is the mill that poets painters have described for you; the very kind of mill that finishing school young ladies of a past generation painted in rather rancid oils to be hung in a shadowbox over the square piano. Here is the huge overshot wheel, the spillway, and the group of elms and willows just as they came from grandmother's brush; and if you care to wait 'till evening, the moon will obligingly complete the composition for you.

Truly a lot of water, has passed this old mill. It was built before 1840, no one knows the exact date. (See footnote)

As one gazes enchanted by the memories and tradition the scene brings to mind it seems quite possible that the gigantic water wheel could break its majestic rhythm and reel away those intervening years that history might pass in review. Somehow a mill is as closely associated with the traditions of our country as the blacksmith shop and the little red schoolhouse.

Built by John Griffith

John Griffith built this mill. Amos Mosier saw it and found it to be just the mill he was looking for, and either bought it or went into partnership with Griffith in the year of 1840.

Nine years later everybody was caught by the lilt of "Oh Susanna" and began dreaming of California and gold. Probably Mosier dreamed too, but he had already found Phoebe Thornton, who lived in a log cabin opposite the mill. She, he evidently decided, with her golden hair, was wealth enough for him, so in 1849 they were married.

You look upon the setting of their courtship; the rustic bridge, the path where they wandered by the elm shaded stream, heartbeats hurriedly out of rhythm with the steady lap of the wheel, lover's moons dancing on the peaceful waters of the millpond. Now you may guess why the tenor's Adam's apple does those funny gyrations when he sings "Down by the O-o-old Me-e-l Stre-e-eum."

Broken by Hum of Saw

Then for a long while the wheel did little but mark time and turn away the long peaceful days of its owners. Long, peaceful days broken only by monotonous hum of the saw. Lumber to build a growing America.

Then a sharper note Bugles sounding, the rough timbers of the mill echo with the tramp of marching men. Its 1861 and Abraham Lincoln calls for volunteers.

You know the old wheel must have hurried then, hurried to keep time with file and drum, keep on hurrying till the boys came marching home ...

Through peace and war this old mill has carried on and done its small part in the building of our country. A long line of millers have owned it, who, like Amos and Phoebe, have seen their hopes and ambitions realized on the turn of the wheel.

And while wandering today by the mill, it is well worth while to take a peek inside for there you may see marvels in mechanical engineering performed with the wire-bolts, automobile parts, and Yankee genius.

Just Like Wall Street

A slight pressure on an insignificant looking gadget opens a huge counter - balanced trap-door; a push of an automobile gear shift lever and lo, the cider press starts pressing. Prices for grinding are indicated on turntable blocks; simply turn one of these blocks partly over and the grain market rises or falls five cents per bushel -- just like Wall Street.

Above, the cupola houses a myriad of pulleys, gears, and angular contrivances arranged in a way to gladden the heart of a modern cubist painter. In fact the whole mill goes "modern" once you are inside. The more you look about the less you see of grandma's mill.

Two enormous gas engines are likely to dispel any remaining illusion of romance unless you take one last look at the rear of the building before leaving.

Old Mill Is Not Still

For this "old mill is not still, Maggie," and it doesn't creak altho it has been in continuous operation from the time of Amos Mosier to the time it came into the possession of its present owner, Allen Hoxie. And the tradition of those first young lovers. Amos and Phoebe has continued, for it seems the mill has always been in the keeping of some young people who were just beginning life.

Even today the mill is operated by a young man who might be the personation of Amos Mosier and he and his wife live in the very house that was the first home of Amos and Phoebe.

No. the old mill wheel is not still and you may roam there as much as you like. Smoothly and silently as the stream that drives the great wheel measures the hours of the present day. Somehow there is a dignity and stateliness in the motion - an incredible sense of tireless power - that impresses you with the smallness and triviality of your own affairs and the futility of any regret - but better let the poet say it:

Listen to the water mill
All the livelong day!
How the clicking of the wheel
Grinds the hours away.
And this problem o'er my mind
Until a spell is cast,
That the mill will never grind
With water that is past.

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Footnote:
From the "History of Cayuga County, New York; with Illustrations; 1789-1879" page 382.

Manufactures.- Mosher's Mills are located three-fourths of a mile west of Fleming, and occupy the site of a saw-mill erected as early as 1820, by Amos Gould, and run by the Goulds a good many years. The present proprietor, Amos Mosher, added a feed-mill in 1873, and in 1876, a cider-mill. It is a frame building, and contains a circular saw and one run of stones. It was operated by water power until 1878, in which year a steam engine was put in. George Raymond (Raymond) Hoxie and Pauline Maude Atkinson were married on 21 Jul 1926 in Throop, Cayuga, New York.

9. Pauline Maude Atkinson was born on 23 Feb 1903 in Throop, Cayuga, New York. She died on 19 Jan 1973 in Auburn, Cayuga, New York. She was buried in Evergreen or Scipioville Cemetery, Ledyard, Cayuga, New York. She graduated from the shorthand & typing department Auburn Business School. She worked for many years at Smith and Pearson's, Auburn, New York in the tin shop as bookkeeper. Later in about 1943 she worked in defense industry on Osborne Street, Auburn, New York. Children were:

4	i.	Kenneth Elwood Hoxie (092106hoxy).
	ii.	George Raymond Hoxie was born on 28 Aug 1931 in Auburn, Cayuga, New York. After 27 May 2003 he resided in Peabody, Essex, Massachusetts He died of congestive heart failure 3 AM on 11 Dec 2004 in Peabody, Essex, Massachusetts. He was buried at Shawsheen Cemetery, Shawsheen Road, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts He served in the military US Coast Guard as GMG2 Son of George "Raymond" Hoxie and Pauline Maude (Atkinson) (Hoxie) Wright. George was raised by his aunt and uncle, Earl T. Atkinson and Mildred (Hoxie) Atkinson. He received a degree from Alfred Tech; joined the United States Coast Guard; and was a Sales Manager and other high management positions in Connecticut, New Jersey and New Hampshire. George retired on Lake Murray, in South Carolina. AN ARTICLE FROM "LAKE MURRAY MAGAZINE "Night Lights" by Sue Duffy February 2001 Finding your way around the lake at night is a challenge. Even a thousand points of light won't help you unless some of them are blinking red and green. Those are the reference lights that mark strategic points of lake geography. Maintaining them is another challenge. Once a month on the full moon, George Hoxie, George Frederick and Lewis Mitchell visually inspect all 33 reference lights by boat. Just one light out could mean a wrong turn for some night fisherman searching for home. After three years of search and rescue duty with the U.S. Coast Guard, Hoxie knows how critical reference lights are to nighttime navigation. Now a retired paper products executive living in Chapin, he says there are five different flashing sequences on the lake. "The lights are laid out so that at no place on the lake will a boater see two lights with the same flash sequence at the same time." You might see a red light flash once every second, a green light flash twice every five seconds, and another red light shine three seconds on and one off. If you're lost, you can determine from your map where on the lake you would see those three lights at the same time. That and a compass reading should pinpoint your position. Lake Murray maps indicate even-numbered red lights on the right going upstream from the dam, and odd-numbered green lights on the left. Their flash sequences are also indicated. But none of it works if the bulbs are out or the posts are down. So Hoxie, Frederick and Mitchell, members of the Lake Murray Power Squadron, volunteer their time and skills to keep lights flashing at the lake. "I don't like to just ride around on the lake," says George Frederick, a retired engineer from Irmo who's responsible for all electrical repair to the lights. "This gives me a purpose, a job to do while I'm out there." He and Mitchell of Prosperity, a retired sales manager with the Shakespeare Corporation, share inspection duties on the upper lake. Hoxie monitors the lower lake. Their efforts are partially funded by the Lake Murray Tourism and Recreation Association. Only five reference lights are solar-powered, some on remote islands and others far from power lines. The rest are 12 0-volt lights with six bulbs each, only one burning at a time. All three men make an annual close-up inspection of all 33 lights. "At each light, we open and clean the lens," Hoxie says. "Then we inspect the voltage to the bulb. It can't be too high or too low. We check the operation of the sun switches, the photo cell that turns it off in the morning and on at night." The 14-foot posts that house the lights also have to be checked. "They have a tendency to dry out on one side more than the other causing them to warp and lean," Hoxie says. "The lights have to be level, so we make those adjustments." Along the way, the trio encounters obstacles that add a little excitement to their mission. Fire ants, snakes, underwater debris, even stranded boaters. Twice, Mitchell has towed disabled boats to their home port late at night. Occasionally, Hoxie and Frederick have plowed into unseen flocks of black coots huddled on dark waters. "All of a sudden, the coots will fly up from the water right in front of your boat," Frederick says. "It'll scare you to death," Hoxie adds. Hoxie likes to make his rounds a little later than his buddies. "I usually go out at 3 A.M. If I really screw up and find myself hanging off the side of my boat in my life jacket, I only have a few hours to wait before daylight and someone finds me." That's never happened to Hoxie and he's been checking the lights since 1991. But when you're alone on the lake at 3 A.M., you might imagine all sort of things going wrong. The least of your worries should be out~of~order reference lights. That's why these guys do what they do. End of "Night Lights"