Daniel D. Butts

Map Marker 1

Painter

In 1871 the Grace Episcopal Church founders commissioned Mr. Butts to paint the towering ceiling of their new church on Main Street in Whitney Point. Mr. Butts painted the ceiling a dark royal blue with trompe l’oeil rafters, giving the impression and effect of real timbers and supports high in the edifice. No one knows if Mr. Butts ever did any similar work in the area. The parishioners of Grace Church are proud of their church and the beautiful work that Mr. Butts did all those years ago.

Graves Collins

Map Marker 2

1796 - 1864

Settler

Mr. Collins came to Whitney Point in 1829. He owned a great deal of real estate in the village, ran a store and was active in the early lumber interests in the area. He was a leading citizen in the village. The Broome County Fairgrounds sits on what was once part of his farm.

Colonel Milo Eldredge

Map Marker 3

1834 – 1881

Soldier / Politician

Milo Eldredge was born in the Town of Barker in 1834. At the age of 15 he began his teaching career. He taught for several years at the Mount Hunger School and then he went to Binghamton as a principal in a school there. In the summer of 1862 he enlisted in the army and immediately began to raise a company. He entered the service as a captain of company E 137^th New York Volunteers. Colonel Eldridge’s military record shows that he was one of the bravest soldiers who ever served his country. He was at the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Dalton and was at the siege of Atlanta with Sherman on his “March to the Sea.” Although Milo wasn’t wounded in the war, he contracted chronic diarrhea, possibly from sleeping on grounds that were continuously occupied by union and confederate troops from the beginning of the war. After the war he came home, and in 1866 he represented Broome County in the State Legislature. In 1870 he married Alice Hyde and they had two children, Grace and Frankie. Frankie died when he was six years old. In 1876 he bought the Broome Gazette and erected the Nioga Block. He published the Nioga for four years. He then sold the paper to M.D. Branday. Colonel Eldredge’s health, fragile since the war, deteriorated and in 1880 he was taken to the Utica Insane Asylum, where he died in 1881. Milo Eldredge was a gentleman who impressed everyone he met. He suffered from effects of the war and in the end took his own life.

Dr. Charles Leahy

Map Marker 4

1914 - 2000

Veterinarian and Local Politician

Charles Leahy moved here with his wife, Nancy, in 1943. Charlie practiced large and small animal veterinary medicine in the Whitney Point area for 53 years before retiring in 1995. He was involved in local services in the village for many, serving as mayor and trustee. His interests included agriculture, dairying and care of forests lands. He could be soon mowing and cleaning the roadsides throughout the village with his family for many years. He was a man of many interests and was a good friend to everyone. Doctor Leahy’s wife, Nancy, served on the Riverside Cemetery Association Board of Trustees for many years. Charlie and Nancy donated the Tracts known as the Leahy Tract 1 and 2 to Riverside Cemetery.

Hanna Lee

Map Marker 5

d. 1792

Settler

Hanna Lee is home to the oldest plot in Riverside Cemetery. Hanna was mother-in-law to General John Paterson. See attached data for more detail on Hanna.

Ethel Newcomb

Map Marker 6

1875 – 1959

Traveler / Pianist

Ethel Newcomb was born in 1875 to Willis and Mary Seymour Newcomb. Ethel began to play the piano by ear at an early age and then was tought by her aunt, who was a trained pianist. Ethel’s father wanted her to go abroad for a year before she began her adult life. In 1897 she went to Vienna to study with the famed pianist, Theodor Leschetizky, first as a pupil, then as an assistant and finally as a close personal friend. She stayed in Europe until 1907 when she returned to begin her concert tours all around the world. She was a friend of Mark Twain’s daughter, Clara Clemens, and played at her wedding. Ethel returned to Whitney Point in 1926 and played locally for many years. She also gave private lessons at her studio on Pendell Hill Road. In the summers, people traveled from miles around to the concerts that were held there. Ethel died in 1959 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Whitney Point under a very unique horizontal slab stone. The Mary Wilcox Library in Whitney Point has a display of Ethel’s music and books in the Ethel Newcomb Room.

George Seymour

Map Marker 7

1841 - 1900

Local Figure

George Seymour’s house on Collins Street was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1850s. Runaway slaves were hidden there and in the darkness of night were taken to the next station on the railroad.

Dr. Daniel Wheeler

Map Marker 8

 d.1823

Physician

Daniel Wheeler was the second physician in Broome County. He, along with John Seymour, gave land for this cemetery. During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1812-1813 his labors were many and his rides were long. Five of his children lay sick with the fever at one time. His oldest son died of it and soon afterward the doctor himself contracted the disease. He survived the fever but with the death of his son, misfortunes in business, his own sickness and his mind weakened, he took his own life in 1823.

Thomas Whitney

Map Marker 9

d.1881

Settler

Thomas Whitney came here in 1802 with his brother William. Another brother, Joshua Whitney was a land agent for William Bingham. Thomas soon engaged with others to build a bridge over the Tioughnioga River. He also started the first store and kept the first tavern in the settlement. He was also the first postmaster here when the post office was established in 1824. Prior to this time, the name of the settlement was Paterson’s Point or Paterson’s Settlement. When the post office was established the name was changed to Whitney’s Point. General Paterson had died in 1808 and his family has moved from this place so there was no one left to plead for the original name. It was said that Thomas Whitney was a go-ahead man, who would “do” while others were “getting ready to do”. He had only one leg, having lost the other to a fever sore but accomplished more than men with two legs. He was a large landowner and a leading man in the community.

Ransom and Eliose

(Peg) Franklin

Map Marker 10

1909 – 1993

1919 - 2004

Local People of “note” and Cemetery Officers

Ransom Franklin was a life-long resident of Whitney Point and was dedicated to serving the community. He was a member of the Whitney Point Fire Department for 67 years and served as Secretary. He was a 20 year member, Secretary and Treasurer of the WP Emergency Squad. Also served as Secretary, Vice President and Director of the Broome County Fair for many years. He was a member of the Triangle Town Board AND the Village of Whitney Point Trustee for 20 years each. Mr. Franklin also served on the Board of Directors of the First City Bank of Whitney Point and the Chase Lincoln Bank. Mr. Franklin served on the Riverside Cemetery Board of Trustees for many years and was President of the Cemetery Board from 1953 till his death (40 Years).  

Eloise (Peg) Franklin was also deeply involved in her community. Serving as Member or Officer of the Northern Broome Golden Age Club, Fireman’s Auxiliary, Police Matron, Broome County Fair Clerk (over 20 years) and  Tax Collector. Peg was Secretary/Treasurer of Riverside Cemetery for over 40 Years. She treated those interred in her cemetery as dear friends and never let them down.

General John Paterson

 d.1808

Revolutionary War Hero & Early Settler

General John Paterson was the first settler here in 1791. He bought his family here from Lennox, Mass. He was a soldier of the Revolution. Hours after hearing the news of the Battle of Lexington, he raised a regiment of minutemen and left for Cambridge. He fought at the Battle of Saratoga and crossed the Delaware with General Washington and surprised the enemy. At the end of the war, he was serving as an aide to General Washington. Paterson built a log-home on the banks of the Tioughnioga River. He died in 1808 at the age of sixty-four. General Paterson was buried in Riverside cemetery following his death but was disinterred and returned to his home state of Massachusetts.

***** See next page for additional information regarding General Paterson’s career and disinterment from Reverside Cemetery – From May 28, 1891 and June 4, 1892 Lisle Gleaner Newspapers.