Foote article by Karen
Edward Livingston Foote II
By Karen Cuccinello
This story began because a handful of letters were discovered by Stamford Village Mayor Bob Schneider, in the old Kelsey garage behind 82 Main St. Stamford. The village recently purchased the property with the intent to restore some of it and revamp the rest. All but one of the letters was written by Edward Foote to his mother in 1927 while he was attending the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-On-Hudson, NY. The other letter is dated 1932 and is a love letter that Edward wrote to his girlfriend in OH. When I searched in the Stamford Village Library’s history room photo collection I found one photo in the Foote folder and it was this Edward. Hmm, coincidence?
Edward Jr. was born March 26, 1910 in Hobart to Edward Livingston (1877-1952) and Ethel Pauline (Irwin 1877-1960) Foote. He had one older sister Eleanor Lura (Mrs. John Barclay Wilson) and one younger, Frances (Mrs. F. Dickson Brown). Edward Jr. was to become the fourth generation of the Foote family involved in the horse and cattle business in Hobart started by his great grandfather Charles A., continued by his grandfather Orlando Bailey Foote “O.B” then to his father.
In his letters from the Academy he mentions: studying often, loud roommates, needing something from home, asking his parents to visit, thanking for letters, inviting Angie to the Halloween Hop, he has very little spare time, he flunked Spanish, needed four heel plates because of walking on the crushed stone roads, thanked her for sewing name tags in his clothes, polo practice, parade with the 360 boys, needed black shoe polish, joining a fraternity, keeping white gloves clean, up every day at 6am, typewriting class and thanks dad for sending him there.
His letter to “Edna Honey”, of Newark, OH, dated November 7, 1932 was all about how he loved and missed her. From the first page, “Honey, my mind is made up to one thing, that is; you are the only girl I ever took even a second glance at seriously – if I can’t have you I want no one”. He was hoping to visit her on the weekend if his father got home from buying cattle. I am quite certain that this was Edna (1912-1974) daughter of Otis and Florence (Custis) Sulcebarger who became his wife. I believe they got married in 1933 and they had one son Edward L. III (1948-1998) who married a Debra.
After Edward graduated from the military academy in 1929 he became a partner in his father’s business buying and selling livestock and farm machinery and the company became known as E.L. Foote & Son. Edward and his wife were also very involved in judging, training and exhibiting American Saddlebred show horses around the area.
Edna’s parents moved to Hobart in 1946 and Otis (1884-1972) worked the for E.L. Foote Company. Edna became a teller for the National Bank of Hobart in 1951.
I found everyone in the family buried in Locust Hill Cemetery in Hobart except for Edward Jr. He is mentioned in his mother’s 1960 obituary as surviving; E.L. Foote & Son was liquidated at an auction in 1960; he is selling some cars to settle an estate in 1961; he is not listed in an announcement that his son was accepted at State University of New York at Albany in 1965; his father-in-law’s 1972 obituary mentions Otis was a retired sales manager for the former E.L. Foote Company and his wife’s 1974 obituary does not mention Edward at all but his sister Eleanor’s 1979 obituary mentions him as living in Oneonta. So?????? Please email me at karenc@midtel.net if you know what happened to Edward L. Foote Jr.