Hidden Hero - Roger Lewis - Korean War Veteran/Hero

For many years, a quiet but very friendly gentleman graced the last pew of Trinity United Church of Christ sanctuary every Sunday. Over time, he has lost his hearing but never his beautiful smile. While he was a man of few words, little did we know that he was a man of great deeds.

Roger Lewis was that man. We came to know him as a successful businessman, a community volunteer, and a devoted husband and father. His quiet demeanor did not give a hint to his accomplishments during the Korean War. Roger was born in Auburn but spent most of his adult life in Union Springs. He owned several successful office supply stores long before Staples and Office Max were part of our landscape. He married Millicent Spring and together they had two children, Deb and David. Roger served our country in the Army both during World War II and yet again during the Korean War when he was called back to service. It was during this war that Roger was awarded the Silver Star Medal, the United States Armed Forces" third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.

Below is the citation which accompanies Roger's medal which is on display at the Frontenac Museum.

HEADQUARTERS 7TH INFANTRY DIVISION

APO 7

GENERAL ORDERS 5 August 1951

NUMBER 382

AWARD OF THE SILVER STAR. By direction of the President, under the provisions of the Act of Congress, approved 9 July 1918 (WD Bul. 43, 1918), and pursuant to the authority in AR 600-45, the Silver Star for gallantry in action is awarded to the following named enlisted man:

Corporal ROGER E. LEWIS, ER12246761, Infantry, United States Army, Company K, 31st Infantry, distinguished himself by gallantry in action near Sindok, Korea, on 4 June 1951. On this date, Corporal LEWIS's platoon was attacking a heavily defended enemy-held hill when the group was pinned down by intense hostile small arms and automatic weapons fire. Observing the fire was being placed on them from a bunker, Corporal LEWIS, with complete disregard for his personal safety, charged up the hill firing his automatic weapon at a rapid rate. Reaching the emplacement, his BAR failed to fire. Corporal LEWIS then used his pistol and grenades to kill the occupants of the bunker. The intrepid and prompt action of Corporal LEWIS allowed his platoon to advance and capture its objective with negligible casualties. The gallantry displayed by Corporal LEWIS reflects great credit on himself and is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.

And so this Memorial Day Weekend, we remember Roger, a quiet, brave and fearless hero whose heroism is hidden no more. There are many quiet heroic veterans among us. It could be the man who mows the museum lawn always with a smile on his face who served during the Viet Nam War. It could be a Lion Club Member who gives of his time on Saturdays to barbeque chicken knowing that the proceeds will benefit many of our community organizations. It could be a member of the American Legion who supports the amenities of this organization knowing that those proceeds will also promote the good of our community. It is our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, as well as neighbors, who served our country and continue to serve today in a more quiet way. We salute and thank each and every one of you for your continued service!

The Frontenac Museum is grateful to the Lewis family for entrusting us with Roger's Silver Star and Commendation which are on permanent display in the museum's Military Room.

Hidden Heroes - Hiram McDonald - Master Boat Builder

With his wife Rhoda and their six children, Hiram McDonald (1807-1890) arrived in Union Springs sometime in the 1840's. Over time, another six children would join the family here. Hiram also brought with him his keen knowledge of boat building which had been honed around the boat yards of Ludlowville in Tompkins County.

On several census records for Springport, Hiram's listed occupation was that of ship carpenter, boat builder and manufacturer. He also served several terms as a school and village trustee. But Hiram's greatest connections were his ties to the Howland's, a wealthy New Bedford whaling family who saw great possibility for growth in this area. It was the patriarch, George, who built the iconic stone mill at the North Pond realizing the potential value of a pond which never froze in the cold winter months.

George's son, Charles, engaged in a local ferry boat operation and in boat building. By the 1850's, McDonald joined Charles Howland in his boat building yard located adjacent to the canal leading from the North Pond and Cayuga Lake. It is noted as "Dock House" on the 1859 map of Union Springs.

In advertisements dating to the 1850's which appeared in Albany newspapers, it is clear that McDonald's intention was to attract commercial buyers from all over New York State. To tempt these buyers, McDonald cleverly moored one of his boats, the "Adriatic," at a dock in Brooklyn. The Adriatic, a cargo ship built by the Union Springs' lakeside, offered a tonnage of 86.68 tons.

Noted Haverford College graduate, philanthropist and area entrepreneur, Robert Howland, stated in a 1902 edition of the Union Springs Advertiser that "Hiram McDonald built the best boats every floated in the Erie Canal in a yard west of the mill" referring the mill at the North Pond.

Following his retirement from boat building, Hiram worked for Howland Bending Works. In 1861 he was granted Patent No. 31,182 for a device which created a more secure means of bending wood. In 1981, IBM applied for a patent entitled Dynamic Send Queue Modification System which was a data communications system providing for the dynamic modification of a queue of documents arranged sequentially for transmission. This patent and 14 later patents all cited McDonald's original patent in their applications. Hiram and Rhoda McDonald removed from Union Springs to Shortsville, NY to be near family and where he died in 1890.

We are indebted to Alan McDonald, three greats grandson of Hiram McDonald for the source information for this article. Alan presented the museum with copies of a biography of Hiram which he completed in 2016. Hiram's History. Copies of this biography are available in the Lake Room of the museum.

Hidden Heroes - Phoebe Brockway - Pioneer Era

In the 1880's, several residents of Union Springs were making national news. Champion rower Charles Courtney was flying across lake waters winning championships in his scull. Will Hoagland (check out his previous Hidden Heroes article) was outwalking other "pedestrians" at an unprecedented pace. Henry Carr was skating to headlines proclaiming him to be a world champion. Phoebe Brockway was also making news around the country as having been the "greatest natural curiosity of the times." Phoebe, who lived in Hamburg just a mile south of Union springs, lived to age 112, giving her the distinction of being the oldest resident of New York State and the country. The news of her death even warranted an extensive write up in the New York Times and countless other papers across the country.

Born in Saratoga County in 1772, Phoebe Collier Brockway came to this area with her parents when it was considered a western wild, inhabited mostly by Native Americans. Her husband, Gideon, died young, leaving her to live a life of hardship and privation. Endowed with a strong constitution, she lived to see her descendants of the fifth generation. During the Civil War, she lived with a daughter, Abigail Menzie, whose husband had enlisted and later died in Libby Prison. Their lot became a humble one, living in a small home in Hamburg. Upon her death, a correspondent for the St. Louis Globe wrote of his past meeting with Phoebe penning the following:

"The centenarian inhabited a portion of a small hut a stone's throw from the pale blue waters of Cayuga Lake, on the outskirts of the village, and when your correspondent visited her last, he found her seated in a dingy little armchair which looked almost as time worn as it occupant, her form bent toward the bright fire gleaming on the hearth, her lips tightly clasped about the stem of a clay pipe, from which she was slowly drawing whiff after whiff of tobacco smoke. She had been an inveterate smoker for more than half a century and ridicules the idea that tobacco was injurious to the healthy. Her face was very much wrinkled and her eyesight was almost gone. She became aware of the visitor's presence by means of hearing rather than by sight. Her hand shook incessantly when not occupied with her pipe. Her memory was fast failing her.

Mrs. Brockway had enjoyed remarkable good health up to half a dozen years ago. Even as late as three years ago she continued her habit of walking to the village for her supplies, and many a time in her extreme age she astonished the younger generations by carrying a sack of flour from the mill."

As recorded by the Union Springs Advertiser, she died "full of years.". Phoebe Brockway had four children, one of which died in infancy while the rest survived her. Lettie Whipple, Abigail Menzie and William Brockway. Her descendants occupied several homes in the Hamburg area, one of which today is the home of her Knapp descendants.