creamery band article

Sheffield Farms Creamery Band
By Karen Cuccinello 6-2019

I posted this photo over a year ago with a partial identification of the members. The other day I found a January 2, 1947 Mirror-Recorder on fultonhistory.com that posted the same photo identifying all of the members. The photo and newspaper clipping both refer to the band as Sheffield but the Mutual McDermott Dairy Company owned the creamery briefly and the abbreviation they wrote on the drum fits that name. The newspaper clipping states the photo was taken about 1920 but I have deduced that this band was only together about 1916-1917.
The first sentence following the band member’s name is where they were in the 1915 census; the rest of the information is tidbits I could find about them.
Frank Taggart – is a 26-year-old farm laborer boarding with Asa and Susie Porn in South Gilboa. In 1925 he is a creamery laborer boarding with William and Sarah Ellsworth in Stamford. An obituary for a Francis Taggart in 1957 stated he worked for a creamery and lived in Stamford for 50 years.
Everett Harold Mondore – is 17, going to school and living with his parents Joel and Alice in Stamford Village. On his 1917-18 WWI service card his address is Stamford, he’s unemployed and age 21. He moved to Binghamton in 1917, lived out his life in that area and worked for IBM.
Charles H. Stone – is a 29-year-old creamery laborer married to Sadie/Sarah and has seven children in South Gilboa.
He was drafted for WWI in 1917 but I did not find evidence that he served probably due to his large family. His 1958 obituary stated he had lived in Harpersfield for the past 20 years.
Jack (John A.) Barthelmess/Barthelmes – is a 28-year-old creamery laborer married to Neta and living in South Gilboa.
In the 1925 Gilboa census he is living on South Gilboa Road and is a 40 year old construction laborer with his wife and three children. Mr. and Mrs. John Barthelmes of Stamford, were notified that their son, Lieut. Clifford Barthelmes, was killed in action in Germany on October 5, 1944.
Hartley W. Cook – is a 24-year-old farm laborer with a wife and child living in Ashland, NY.
In 1911 he is playing a brand new drum in the Ashland Cornet Band. He’s in South Gilboa in 1916 and Wells Bridge, NY in 1919.
Allie Smith – try as I might I could not find him in any census reports as I suspect Allie was a nickname and Smith is a very common name to search without a correct first name.
In 1935 fire engines were called out to extinguish a chimney fire in the Allie Smith house on River Street, Stamford which was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. John Laux.
Leo Deigman – is a 22-year-old creamery laborer living with his parents John and Mary and two siblings in South Gilboa.
In his 1917-18 WWI service card he is living in South Gilboa, age 24 and a Supt. of Creamery for Mutual McDermott in PA. After being in the service for more than a year he received an honorable discharge in 1919.
Clyde More/Moore – is a 43-year-old creamery foreman living with his two daughters and sister Rose in South Gilboa.
In 1912 he is a foreman of the Sheffield creamery and sells headstones on the side and in 1916 he is manager of the Mutual Milk company creamery when he marries Miss Grace Brown of Stamford.
Clyde C. Darling – is age 33 and lists as an engineer (I suspect at the creamery) in South Gilboa.
He became manager of the Sheffield creamery at South Gilboa in 1927. His 1964 obituary states that he was employed as fireman and later manager of Sheffield Farms creamery South Gilboa for 15 years.
Morse Ellsworth – is 19 years old, in school, living with his parents William and Sarah in Stamford. In his 1917-18 WWI service card he is age 21, living at Roosevelt Ave. Stamford, and working as a Custom house clerk at the post office in Stamford. On October 31, 1917 he married Olive Lockwood Gipson in Manhattan. He served his country state-side May 1918- January 1919. He conducted his own poultry ranch in Stamford in 1919 and moved to Tampa, FL about 1923 where he remained.
James A. Winn – is a 39 year old creamery laborer with his wife Ethel and two young daughters in South Gilboa.
Winn’s permanent residence was Burlington, VT but he often summered with Clvde C. Darling. He later married Clyde’s daughter Effie. His December 1963 obituary states that he started and instructed the creamery band and he also played in the South Gilboa Fife and Drum Corps. He and a few of the other band members often attended the Fork-in-the-Road one room schoolhouse reunions.
The South Gilboa guys all lived near each other in 1915. Some of the guys were involved in other bands as well.
There were a few different creameries in South Gilboa starting about 1886. The Catskill Mountain Creamery was built in 1897 and Sheffield (originally called Sheffield Farms Slawson- Decker Dairy) was built in 1905 by the railroad depot. Creameries seemed to have a lot of ups and downs buying or sell each other. Another issue that altered the creamery business was that every town had at least one and whoever could get the farmers to bring them the most milk would continue in business. Sheffield Creamery sold out to Mutual Milk and Cream company of NYC in 1911 and then bought it back about 1918 and closed in 1932. The 1918 Agricultural Bulletin- NYS Dept. of Agriculture and Markets booklet listed the Mutual McDermott Dairy Company as being in operation in Gilboa or South Gilboa even though Sheffield had bought them out the end of 1917 (Mutual McDermott went bankrupt in 1919 after 20 years in business). The South Gilboa train depot closed in 1932 when the Sheffield Creamery went out of business. The Sheffield Creamery building burned in 1946.