Ira Hall Story
HALL: Samuel > Ira > Ira Jr. > Zellon > Ira
Ira's Story
Helpful Information:
Ira Hall was the third son of Samuel and Anna (Ives) Hall, born in 1800 in Brookfield, Chenango County (now Madison), New York, about three years after his parents moved there from Connecticut. He was raised on a small farm under the common conditions of pioneer settlers at that time. He probably attended a little log schoolhouse in Brookfield. They had to face the dangers of the wilderness - wild animals, getting lost in the woods - and the hardships of living far from "civilization." As a young man he remained living with his father, working as a school teacher (probably during the winters) for 10 years and working on the farm.1 When he was 27, he married Sophia Foote (probably in Brookfield) and purchased 109 acres of farmland in Hounsfield, Jefferson County, where they then moved and made their home.2 Ira's brother Hiram married Emeline Foote and moved to the same area of Hounsfield. It is possible that Sophia and Emeline were sisters. They may also be sisters to Rufus Foote who married Emily Hall, the niece of Ira and Hiram. Interestingly, Emeline Foote named her three children Hiram, Sophia, and Rufus.
A New Life
One can imagine these young couples packing their few belongings into a wagon and crossing wilderness to reach their destination in upstate New York. They must have felt both fear and excitement, leaving their families behind to start a new life. The rich land in Jefferson County promised a bounty to farmers. Ira's farm was at "Stowell's Corners," a rural crossroads which eventually included several farmhouses.3 4 5 6 A couple of the houses still stand, but what I believe to be Ira's lot is empty now. The hamlet sits at the crossroads of Massey Road and Sulphur Springs Road, and at the intersection of Mill Creek and Beaver Creek. The creeks must have added to the attraction of this location for farming and setting up a homestead. When they arrived, the young men probably worked hard to clear the land so crops could be planted and animals could graze. A house had to be built quickly - probably a crude cabin at first, followed later by a nicer frame house. Much work had to be done to prepare for their first winter in this new home.
 An old house at Stowell's Corners in 1994. |
Neighbors
Settlers relied heavily on their neighbors for support and safety. Among Ira's neighbors at Stowell's Corners were the Maxsons, the Ingleharts, the Dimicks, and the Bakers.7 8 These families were closely connected. In his letters to Ira Jr., Ira wrote about neighbors C.W. Inglehart, Rufus Maxson, and Jay Dimick.9 The following relationships might help to show how closely the lives of these families were interwoven in the hamlet of Stowell's Corners:
- Benjamin Maxson was the same age as Ira, and had moved from Brookfield to Hounsfield within a year of Ira (1828).10 Benjamin's first wife was Lucy Ives, Ira's cousin.11 12
- After Ira's brother Hiram died, Hiram's widow Emeline married neighbor Cornelius Inglehart.13 14
- Hiram and Emeline's son, Reuben, lived with Benjamin Maxson as a teenager.15
- Ira's son Hiram married Sarah D. Baker, daughter of neighbor John Baker.16 17
- After Hiram died, Sarah remarried to Rufus Maxson, the son of neighbor Benjamin Maxson.18
- Hiram and Sarah's daughter, Jennie Hall, lived with the Bakers as a teenager in 1875, at Stowell's Corners.19
The 1855 map of Hounsfield, below, shows Ira Hall's farm ("I. Hall") on the lower right side. Near his home at Stowell's Corners are the Bates, Baker, Maxson, Inglehart, and Ives farms. The "S.H." at Stowell's Corners stands for School House. Also nearby are the Spicers and Dimicks. It's difficult to read, but across the road from C. Inglehart is "R. Hall" - Ira's nephew, Reuben. Just above the center of the map, northwest of C. Inglehart, is the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church and cemetery.
From a 1855 map of Hounsfield, NY, from the collection
of the Library of Congress. View the full town map on the American Local
History Network website for Hounsfield.
From the 1864 map of Hounsfield, NY from Beers Atlas.
View the full town map on the Jefferson
County GenWeb page.
Hardships
In August 1831, four years after their marriage, and just a few months after the birth of Joel, Sophia died. Two months later, 2-year-old Erastus also died. It is likely that they both died from disease as was very common, but the cause of their deaths is unknown. Ira was then alone, caring for a 5-month old infant (Joel). Within a year, he remarried to 19-year-old Mandana Swift of St. Lawrence County (the neighboring county). Ira was 32 years old. Their first child together, Ira Jr., was born a year later, followed by seven more children. Early on, Ira was farming and actively buying land with his brother Hiram.20 21 22 23 Hiram must have lived near Ira at Stowell's Corners, perhaps on the same land. In 1835, Hiram died at age 32, leaving a widow Emeline and son Reuben. The following year, Ira and Mandana named their newborn son Hiram, after Ira's brother.
A Prosperous Farm
Ira continued to buy and sell land and maintain his farm at Stowell's Corners. By 1850, the family was fairly well-off, with $6000 in property, 200 acres of land, and a live-in servant.24 The local agricultural census of 1850 recorded the Halls' stores of wheat, corn, oats, wool, peas, potatoes, barley, butter, cheese, hay, grass, and molasses. In addition, they had $834 of livestock--4 horses, 6 cows, 2 oxen, 17 cattle, 64 sheep, and 19 pigs--and $250 in farm machinery.25 In 1855, the frame house was valued at $2000, the farm at $8120, plus stock and tools.26 27 The farm must have been a demanding operation. Forty-four acres were plowed during that year, 60 acres were pasture, and 43 acres were meadow. Twelve cows were slaughtered for beef, 8 cows were milked, and 13 more cows were recorded as livestock, with 5 horses, 4 swine, and 5 sheep. They cultivated 9 acres of wheat, 14 acres of oats, 13 acres of barley, 1/2 acre of corn, 1/2 acre of potatoes, 1/2 acre of peas. They produced maple sugar and collected honey, and from their sheep they produced 15 fleeces, 5 pounds of wool, and 10 yards of flannel. By that time Ira had four grown sons to work on the farm, and there was a servant girl to help in the house.
Seventh Day Baptist Society
| Ira Hall was a trustee of the Sulphur Springs Seventh Day Baptist Church, organized in 1847.28 It is unclear when Ira joined the Seventh Day Baptist church, as he was probably not raised in that faith. Ira's neighbor, Benjamin Maxson, was also a trustee of the Sulphur Springs Seventh Day Baptist society.29 Most of the Hall family is buried at Sulphur Springs Cemetery, across the street from what was the Seventh Day Baptist Church (now a Methodist Church). |
 Sulphur Springs Methodist Church in 1994. |
Health & Sickness
Like many families in rural America in the mid-1800s, health was a major concern to Ira and Mandana. In their letters to Ira Jr., they always wrote about their health, as well as the health of their children and friends in the community. Sickness was common and one gets the sense from their letters that they felt that sickness was always just around the corner, an unpredictable and constant danger. In August 1867, Mandana wrote to her daughter-in-law, Helen, that "there has been sickness and death in the neighborhood. I attended two funerals last week." She assured Ira that "our folks are in usual health." She also described her sadness at her son Hiram's death in Missouri the previous December: "The past winter has been the saddest of my life. Those dark days of sorrow are still casting their shadows across life's pathway. May God grant that I may never drain so bitter a cup again." She felt a terrible irony that Hiram died, "who so recently left us so full of life, and hope, only to find a lone grave among strangers," whereas "my fears were all for my Dear Ira whose health was so poor." Later in her letter she mentions a friend's wife who died the previous week from consumption.30
Ira, too, wrote often about health. In February 1869, he wrote to his son Ira Jr. that he had been sick for the past four months with a strange problem in his foot and leg. He was recovering slowly. Mandana's health was also poor at that time, "as it has been for some few years" with "cold and cough." He described a new cough medicine he obtained through Cornelius Inglehart that seemed to help her condition. He went on to say that "the people are generally well in this vicinity," but that his nephew Reuben was not in good health. At the end of his letter he seemed reluctant to tempt fate by planning too far into the future. He wrote, "Perhaps if your Mother and I live and enjoy usual health till next fall, we may come to see you..."31 A few months later, in December 1869, he wrote that his health had been "pretty good" and "is very good for a person as old as I am." However, Mandana was still not well. Her health "is quite delicate, takes cold very easy, which causes her to cough very hard, she's not now so bad as at some times..."32
Other Notes
Ira received $300 from his father's will in 1841. His mother and brother (Samuel Jr.) received the real estate.33 Ira served as a Justice of the Peace for twelve years,34 and as postmaster of Stowell's Corner (Hounsfield) from 1849 until his death in 1879. His friend and neighbor Orville Baker took over temporarily and within the year the duty transferred to Samuel F. Hall (Ira's son) followed by Reuben Hall (Ira's nephew) in 1880. A few months later the post office at Stowell's Corners was discontinued.35
Ira lived on the farm at Stowell's Corners for the rest of his life. In 1879, a year after the death of his daughter Sophia, Ira died at age 79. Mandana continued to live on the farm until at least 1881, when she wrote a letter to her son Ira from there.36 She died in 1885 at the age of 72. They are buried next to Sophia in the Sulphur Springs Cemetery. It is not known what became of their farm; perhaps it was sold.
Read about Ira's children:
Joel | Ira Jr. | Hiram H. | Edwin Walter | Sophia A. | Samuel F. | Ella E. | Winfield Scott
Sources:
1. L.H. Evarts & Co., History of Jefferson County, New York (1878, 419). Profile of Ira Hall.
2. Emeline Inglehart tombstone, Sulphur Springs Cemetery, Hounsfield, Jefferson County, New York; photographed and transcribed by Kelly Hokkanen, 1994.
3. Edgar C. Emerson, Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Jefferson County, New York (Boston, MA: Boston History Co. Publishers, 1898), 153. Profile of Hiram F. Inglehart, son of Cornelius W. Inglehart and Emmeline Foote.
4. 1855 Map of Hounsfield, NY, from the collection of the Library of Congress. View the full town map on the American Local History Network website for Hounsfield. The map shows "I. Hall" marked at Stowell's Corners.
5. 1864 Map of Hounsfield, NY from Beers Atlas. View the full town map on the Jefferson County GenWeb page. The map shows "I. Hall" marked at Stowell's Corners.
6. L.H. Evarts & Co., History of Jefferson County, New York (1878, 419). Profile of Ira Hall.
7. Letters written by Ira Hall, 1863-1869, addressed from Stowell's Corners. Letters now owned by Raldon Hall, Covina, CA.
8. John A. Haddock, The Growth of a Century: As Illustrated in the History of Jefferson County, New York (1895), 615. Profile of Benjamin Maxon.
9. Arthur Coon Ives, Genealogy of the Ives Family: Including a History of the Early Settlements and the Movement from Quinnipiac to the Black River Country (Watertown, NY: Hungerford-Holbrook, 1931). Lucy Ives (1802-1844) was the daughter of Joel Ives and Anna Goodwin. Joel Ives was the brother of Anna (Ives) Hall, Ira's mother. Thus, Lucy was Ira's first cousin.
10. Benjamin Maxon household, 1850 U.S. census, Jefferson County, New York, Hounsfield township; county-level copy, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Reuben Hall, age 18, laborer, born NY, attending school.
11. Hiram Hall household, 1865 New York state census, Jefferson County, Hounsfield township; Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Hiram Hall, age 29, with wife Sarah D., age 28, and children Jenny (4) and Lyman (1 3/12).
12. John Baker household, 1875 New York state census, Jefferson County, Hounsfield township; Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Jennie Hall, "granddau."
13. Edgar C. Emerson, Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Jefferson County, New York (1898), 195. Profile of Rufus L. Maxon. Rufus Maxon's second wife was Sarah D. Hall, married in 1872.
14. Jefferson County Land Records, Grantees Book C 262, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Hall, Ira & Hiram from Jainus Bates (2/26/1829).
15. Jefferson County Land Records, Grantees Book H 64, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Hall, Ira & Hiram from Elisha Camp (9/22/1831).
16. Jefferson County Land Records, Grantees Book I 156, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Hall, Ira & Hiram from Jno Baker & Roxana (2/25/1832).
17. Jefferson County Land Records, Grantees Book M 571, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York. Hall, Ira & Hiram from Saml Holloway & Lucy (3/4/1833).
18. Ira Hall household, 1850 U.S. census, Jefferson County, New York, Hounsfield township; county-level copy, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York.
19. Ira Hall household, 1850 New York State Agricultural Census, Jefferson County, Hounsfield township; Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York.
20. Ira Hall household, 1855 New York State Census, Jefferson County, Hounsfield township; Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York.
21. Ira Hall household, 1855 New York State Agricultural Census, Jefferson County, Hounsfield township, Jefferson County Courthouse, Watertown, New York.
22. Sulpher Springs United Methodist Church, online <http://homepagess.rootsweb.com/~legends/ssmechurch.html>. A brief history of the church taken from a service bulletin handed out on 29 October 1989 by Rev. Dean E. Hill, Pastor.
23. Edgar C. Emerson, Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Jefferson County, New York (1898).
24. Letter from Mandana (Swift) Hall to Ira Hall Jr., 8 August 1867; now owned by Raldon Hall, Covina, CA.
25. Letter from Ira Hall to Ira Hall Jr., 11 February 1869; now owned by Raldon Hall, Covina, CA.
26. Letter from Ira Hall to Ira Hall Jr., 17 December 1869; now owned by Raldon Hall, Covina, CA.
27. Samuel Hall will and probate (1841), Madison County Will Book B: 177, Madison County, NY.
28. L.H. Evarts & Co., History of Jefferson County, New York (1878, 419). Profile of Ira Hall.
29. "Postmasters of Hounsfield," Jefferson County, New York GenWeb Page, online <https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyjeffer/pmhoun.htm>.
30. Letter from Mandana (Swift) Hall to Ira Hall Jr., 30 June 1881; now owned by Raldon Hall, Covina, CA.
Copyright 2000, Kelly E. Hokkanen.