The Diary of Miss Alvina Helmer

Written at Kast Bridge - March 1915

My Recollections of Eatonville as it Was in 1850

The diary of Miss Alvina Helmer, in the collections of the Herkimer County Historical Society, was digitally transcribed by Jane Dieffenbacher, Fairfield Town Historian.  The material is Copyright ©1998 Herkimer County Historical Society and Copyright ©1998 Jane Dieffenbacher/ Martha S. Magill. The reminiscences in the diary notebook speak of the residents of Eatonville, a hamlet on the southwest corner of Fairfield, bordering on the Towns of Herkimer and Little Falls.

". . . .A little farther up the hill on the opposite side of the road was the dwelling owned and occupied by Benjamin Willard and family.. . .  He had a second wife then, who had been the widow of D'n'l Bucklin, her maiden name having been Sally Warner. She had 5 children of her former husband, three sons and two daughters. They were Daniel, Bradley, William, Sarah, and Mary Bucklin, who although grown up to man and womenhood, still made their home off and on with their mother until after marriage. The last children of Mr. Hall being all girls, Ellen, Lucy Ann, Rosalia, and Laura, all of them yet school girls. Bradley was an artist of considerable merit and he had some very fine pictures painted of scenery on the North Creek. . . . .

(Insert) Since writing of Squire Hall's family, the following has come to my notice, copied from Utica semiweekly Press of Apr. 9, 1915, "Little Falls artist dead, L. Falls, Apr. 7. Bradley Brayton Bucklin, a former resident of this city, passed away in his studio at Troy, Mon. P.M. Apr. 5, where he has been located for the past 60 years. He was found dead in his chair, easel and paint brush in his hand, when a member of the family with whom he resided went to summon him to supper. He was born in the town of Little Falls near the site of the present C. Club in 1824, being the son of Daniel and Sarah Bucklin. From childhood he showed considerable aptitude as an artist and his parents gratified his desire for an art education. He never married. He leaves three sisters. Mrs. Otis Eysaman of this city is a cousin."