The Goat Man

Archie Davis first appeared in Hemlock Hollow in the late 1930s.  Where he came from, nobody ever knew. However, it was rumored that he had come from Bingham Center. He lived in the empty barn on the old Charlie Day farm four miles from town. After living there for several years, the barn was torn down, so he moved into an old granary with a few boards over the one corner for shelter. He had a few heads of goats that he milked and ate. That is how he got the name of the "Goat Man". Some claimed Archie was an Indian because his face was smooth and he didn’t shave. 

Archie would come to town once a month with a grain sack to carry home his monthly supplies. The general store owners, Stanley and Helen Pearsall, told me that in the wintertime Archie would arrive around 8:00 a.m., about an hour after the store had opened. He would stand for hours in the same spot without changing his position or saying a word to anyone. About 4:00 p.m. he would start home on foot, carrying his supplies in the sack slung over his shoulder. His monthly supplies were always the same and always ordered in the following order: 3 packages of Red Man chewing tobacco, 3 boxes of unsalted soda crackers, oatmeal, and two or three other small items.

After Archie had lived there several years, one summer day a nice Cadillac drove up in front of the store. A nicely dressed woman came into the store. She told Stanley that she lived in Wellsville, NY and was Archie Davis’ sister. She told him that if Archie ever needed anything to give it to him and then send her the bill. Stanley said that Archie never used that privilege.

The townspeople always believed Archie would be eaten up by his dogs since all they had to eat was what they could find in the woods. Hunters told that when they killed a deer and dragged it out, the dogs would follow their track, back to where they had killed and gutted the deer, and then eat the innards. Some of Archie’s dogs’ mouths were full of porcupine quills. The game commissioner came one year and shot 33 dogs that had no license.

After many years of living up Hemlock Hollow in very poor conditions, Archie moved to Coneville. He lived there three or four years in an old chicken house just west of where Torrey’s Cheese, Ice Cream and Pizza Shop are now. Rev. David Derk, pastor of Oswayo and Coneville at the time, had made friends with Archie when he lived in Hemlock Hollow. One day he stopped in to see Archie in Coneville and found him dead.

--Darell

This story from Dad's trove of memories awakens some of my own memories. As young children, visiting during the summer, my grandparents would take us for Sunday drives on the back roads of Potter County. Occasionally, we would drive past the Goat Man's place up Hemlock Hollow and they would tell us how he lived alone out in the woods. We would peer out the windows in hopes of seeing him or his goats. I don't think we ever saw him (he may have moved by then), but it was always a marvel to me how someone could survive without anyone else around.

"A friend loves at all times.  They are there to help when trouble comes."  Proverbs 17:17 (NIRV)

--Jan

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But For the Grace of God

The following are two memories that Dad has written to share with you.  As I read them, it impresses upon my heart to be thankful for all the blessings we enjoy and are often taken for granted in such an affluently evolved nation like the United States.  

The Gypsies

About every two or three years, someone would come to town with the message, “The gypsies are coming”.  It has been a long time since we have heard that in Oswayo.  I remember the gypsies usually entered Oswayo from the east and had special camping areas.  One campsite was across from the Wells Cemetery, next to the Fish Hatchery.  Another was up Deering Hollow by the creek near Coneville.  A third-place the gypsies would camp was on the flat in the woods by Topeka (at Clara Junction and Route 44).

The dictionary defines a gypsy as someone who belongs to a traveling group of people making a living by itinerant trade and fortune-telling.  These people are believed to have come from South Asia and speak the language of Romany that is related to Hindi.  

Entire families (about 15-20 in a group) came with horses and wagons, leading horses along behind them.  The group of gypsies would stay a week or two and then move on.  They sold or traded horses with the local people. They had the reputation of being dishonest in their dealings and of stealing when there was a chance.  They would enter the stores in large numbers, and people claimed that the women were experts in hiding bread and other merchandise under their long, full skirts and other clothing.  The townspeople were always glad to see them leave.
 
The Logging and Wood Cutting Camps

The logging and wood cutting camps were usually Italian, Hungarian or Polish.  They were usually honest and hard workers, but their living conditions were poor.  I knew a logging camp family whose girls, Geraldine and Mary, went to grade school with me.  The father’s name was Henry Aldrich (not the Henry Aldrich on the radio).  The family moved to Tyler Hollow from Deering Hollow near Coneville.  They lived up Tyler Hollow for two or three years, then moved over near Genesee and Hickox. It was four miles up the hollow from State Rte 244, but the girls walked down to the main road and back each night to attend school.  They were good girls, but very poor.  I always felt sorry for them.  The wives and mothers had very hard lives with no modern living conditions at the logging and wood-cutting camps.  Often, they had to carry water, wash clothes by hand, and had very little female companionship.

In those years, there was little or no government aid available to most families. The lives and hardships of those who have gone before us should never be forgotten.  May we be reminded that only by the grace of God do we live in this time and place in history.  Still, many around the world today experience similar or greater hardships.  Let us be grateful and compassionate!

"He who is gracious and lends a hand to the poor lends to the Lord, and the Lord will repay him for his good deed." Proverbs 19:7 Amplified Bible

--Darell (and Jan)