This site contains stories I have written for my children and grandchildren telling something of life growing up in Madison County New York in the 1920's, 1930's, and on into the 1940's,1950's and later. My thanks to my daughter, Fay Page Lackey for designing and building this site from "scratch" and for trouble shooting whenever I have a problem workin with it.
New Stuff: July 2008 I added three pictures of old school sites in the town of Stockbridge, near Valley Mills(scroll down to "Places and Things", then "Schools".
My newest update (Sept.1, 2009) is a final addition to the story about my Oneida high School. I added a couple "end of the story" pictures, too.
A little older story was added in November 2007 and is about Gramma's Needle (Look under "How they Lived").
Check out the link to my site about Folk Art-"wood carvings". For Fairly new stories scroll down to "Looking Back" Dec.2005, "Age Perspective" Dec 17.2005, "Husking the corn" January 2006. A picture was added to "Stanchions & Bowls" (under "Bits & Pieces" Jan 2006. March 1,2006 Link to my site about Wood Carvings.
As of April 2008 most of these stories have been published in a book entitled "Family Stories from Madison County, New York" and is being sold by the Madison County Historical Society as a fund raiser. Contact them for details at history@mchs1900.org
I am now 88 years old (Will be 89 in Nov. 2009) and have lived in Madison County all my life as did my parents and grandparents.The events described are as I remember them. There was no historical research to check on the accuracy of my memory. My wife, Alberta, also added her memories to some of the stories. In presenting these tales I am trying to pass on to the younger people an idea of how we lived and what we saw and heard about. Also included are pictures, old and new, miscellaneous anecdotes and tales.There also are some other stories and pictures that depart from those "How we lived" type of stories [e.g."Tickle-Tales" just for fun.Ponder their complete truth?]----Charles E. Page, June 2002 Oneida, N.Y.
Charles and Alberta Page
2002
I retain the copyrights to all the stories on this site. The story "Minnie Lloyd Jones" was previously published in Madison County Historical Society's Heritage Magazine. [number 24, 1999]. The companion story "Minnie Jane Lloyd" was also published in the Heritage Magazine (Number 25 in 2000). A third story "Life in Matthew Jones' Time" appeared in the Heritage Magazine (number 29). If anyone wishes to use my stories for non-commercial purposes please feel free to contact me. [This site is still on-going (maybe), so you can expect there will be changes, additions and deletions]
SPECIAL NOTE: Sadly, I must report the death of my wife, Alberta, on March 20, 2006. She was my wife for 59 years, 7 months--my best friend and partner in all things. C.P.
Alberta Page Sept. 2005
I welcome your comments, suggestions, or other chit-chat. Contact me by email at cepage1@verizon.net
