The Mill on Halfway Brook

Sawmills on Halfway Brook

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

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Halfway Brook flowed through an ocean of large old magnificent trees in the town appropriately named Lumberland. There were 8 or 9 sawmills on Halfway Brook around the turn of the 19th century, as well as other sawmills in the area, or that is what I read in Johnston’s Reminiscences and Quinlan’s Sullivan County.

I now have a site that relates to Book I: The Mill on Halfway Brook that you may be interested in: Halfway Brook

Halfway Brook

Monday, September 7th, 2009

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Hello Friends and relatives!

I am working on the first in a series of three books about my Austin/Leavenworth ancestors. I’ve titled both the series and the first book, The Mill on Halfway Brook. (Special thanks to daughter Joanna for her expertise in creating titles.)

As I have been writing this book, my husband has been remodeling our home, and now we are to the new kitchen cabinet stage. Yay! ( I say this to hint at one of the reasons the book is not done yet and may be slowed down for a couple weeks. The other reason is that I have ginormous amounts of material to include in the book [said appreciatively, not complainingly].)

I decided to do a blog about the first book, which I had hoped to be out by now, but isn’t, and is at least two months away.

“Why don’t you get the book done instead of doing posts on the book?” you ask.

It’s a reasonable question. I’m not sure. I thought it might be fun to involve you the reader in my writing process, and the many discoveries that I am making as I write this book. Also, since many of you are more acquainted with the area, you may be able to correct some of my information before it is printed.

So this first post is about the area around Halfway Brook, where my father’s parents, grandparents, and great grandparents lived, and where some of you reading this post grew up or may even live.

Halfway Brook was the name of a nine mile stream, before it became the name of the Village which is now Eldred. At the mouth of Halfway Brook on the Delaware River was the settlement called The River, which became Barryville. To the west of The River, also on the Delaware River, was the Ten Mile Settlement (later Tusten) on the Ten Mile River. And to the East of the River was/is Mongaup on the, guess the name—Mongaup River.

The mouth of Halfway Brook is halfway between the Ten Mile River and the Mongaup Settlements, hence the name. Or that is what I read.

The Halfway Brook (there is another one) I am talking about, is in a most gorgeous area called the Upper Delaware River Region, in New York State. Halfway Brook Village, (now called Eldred), grew up about four miles north of “The River”, and slightly to the east, near the middle of Halfway Brook.