Summa Papers

Collection — Carton: MSS Box 329

Identifier: MSS 2019.0013

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a small selection of documents related to the Straughan, Barlow, Prout, and Peck families historically of Windham, Hunter, Jewett, and Lextington on the Mountain Top in Greene County, NY. The earliest documents within are personal letters ostesibly written by ancestors of one of the above-mentioned families, and the majority of the other materials within are land papers for property purchased and sold by Thomas and John Straughan. Of particuar note within the collection is an odd selection of materials of William A. Dedrick, who was an engineer employed at one time with the Northern Pacific Railway Company and possibly the Panama Railroad. Also included is a selection of calling cards from the turn of the 20th century and a small collection of collectible cards from ciggarette and baking soda boxes.

Dates

Majority of material found in 1801-1949

Biographical / Historical

Little is known about the relation of the individuals who appear in this collection. Thomas Straughan, who was purchasing land in Windham as early as 1829, seems to have had two sons, Thomas and John Straughan, who remained on the mountaintop through the 1920s and eventually sold some of their family land to the State of New York. The elder Straughan was a naturalized citizen, likely of Scottish origin, who owned a selection of parcels in what would become Jewett, Prattsville, and Lexington.

The Barlow family were early settlers in Windham/Ashland and also in Delaware County. Treat B. Barlow was a veteran of the Civil War, and was a son of Abel Barlow. Whether these individuals are of any relation to Alanson Barlow, whose family bible survives from the late 18th century, is a matter of speculation though circumstantial evidence may back this claim.

William Augustus Dedrick was a locomotive engineer who seems to have spend a considerable portion of his early years on the railroad in Montana. He now rests in Catskill Rural Cemetery, and it is assumed he was originally from the area though his work carried him across the country.

Extent

.3 Cubic Feet (Single document case holding folders of material) : Paper materials and realia

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Materials were conveyed from Barbara Summa of Leeds, NY to the care of GCHS Trustee Emeritus J. Theodore Hilscher in the Fall of 2019. A note included with the materials explained the source but does not contextualize the documents. How these documents arrived in Barbara Summa's care originally is not explained, though it is likely they were simply passed down through the family.