THE TANGLEWOOD FARM of THOMAS 2 & DEBORAH 1812 -- 1937 . r 46 Before we get settled on permanent farm land, we should l ook into the 11breati1er ye ars" of 1 806-12. ·rnose six ye a.:. s were by no means an idle interval between storms, but a long planning confer- ence. Life in Wayne and Urbana was distinctly different t h an that of New J·ersey and the growing city of New Yor k . There was work to b e done, nai 3hbors to be helped and, in turn, to be helped by the same neighbors. Nobody had much ready money, but homes, farms, crop s and even raw survival to overcome ~he new environment. The older sons were busy scouting the neighborhood for "the right young l adies 11 with Hhom they were to spend the rest of their lives. Romance take s time ~nd a lot of serious consider ation. A young c ouple, also, had to have at l eas t a few dollars and a source of income, with whi ch they c 0uld 11start huusekeeping. 11 'llie years 1 818 t o 1 822 saw Mar ges ons buying land, building houses (mostly l og cabins ) , starting third generation famili es and making plans for the next migration, moving on out to the oppor- tunities, new vocations and a br·ight new futur e . '.L'wo of the Mar·geson 1',arms, however, were to have a fairly long life span. ·rhe se were the Old Home stead of 'i'homas I and l''.iary Brundar;;e and 'l1an,;;l ewood that of Thornas II and Deborah ·dood. We Hargesons, who are at tempting to tell y ou this story, have known '.ranglewood Farm better. We have visited t hi s borne many times as y oung fellows 11on vacations, 11 played along the rows of Concords, explored the r ocky ravine, skippe d thin stones on quiet waters, fished for sunfish and perch, watched the steamboats loading stacks of grape trays and listened to tales of other days from our parents a nd Uncles. Thomas •.:e. Deborah purchased these acres in 1 81 3 -14 and lived upon them until the end of their lives. How To Locate Tangl ewood Earle HcGowan 1 s Map of North Urbana as your guide, helps to orient your starting point at the Center (circle map) and point out north, east, west and south (NEWS). North and first left is Coryell Road. West and downhill, you stop at the first cross roads. This N 3c S road is the Urbana- ··.fayne townline ro ad. Coryell road extends to Route 54 and to the old Lakeshore road. rrhe 11a nglewood Farm lies between the Coryell Road, (south ) to the 1-Ceuka Lake s hore (west) the deep ravine, ,)r 11gully 11 , on the north and the Urbana town line on the east. Tbomas II and his four sons farmed some 1 .50 acres here. 'lliere was also a ten acre lot across the ravine in the ·rown of Wayne. Using the map on the back of this page, we, t alce it easy a.nd slowly, down from the Center to r e ach the Lake at •ranglewood Point. 47 'l'hFJse 11 foints" on our Fingerlakes, were formed in prehistoric ar;,;es, by the erosion of soil and rocks, ,1,'lshe d out on Lhe 1)ric;inal lalceshrJre. At '.ranglewood i'oint (for y r::; ars known ,is 'rhowas l·iar .-:esons Polnt) and at Grove 3primss, four miles north , 2.IM in several other sites around Keuka, these points were made into ports of call for Jteamboats durinr.; the .Steamboat f•,ra. Below is the scene at Grove dpriDGS an especial ly busy landinr; for the Grove Springs Sw(llrwr lfotcl . Tanglewood liud a si:rt,i;ler dock a nd a large pacldng h .. ;use, which we .:hu.11 show you in a few minutes. 'The Grove Sprin0 Landin0 Dock KEUKA !AKE \ State ownline Rue.d Tanglewood Point ,-l ,-l ~t0 FARM 'fo ,1 ./ '~ci f North Urbana -Grove Springs Road 49 Details on Tanglewood Farm Map As you read, with the map (opposite page) in hand, we shall see certain sites, as of early days, but missing man made buildings. 1. North Urbana Center. 2. Left from N. Urbana-Grove Sprfngs road to - - - J. Coryell Road 4. Residence of Herman Silvernal, present owner of part of the Thomas Margeson farm. 5. Intersection with the townline road. 6&7 Extension of town line road. Today, you may see a tumbled in cellar wall of the Bradley Marges on house. Nearby is the still live-water spring, what remains of an old willow tree, a small packing h ouse and some timbers from 1:,he barn. (The present owner had the building s razed in order to lower his assessment). 'l'his 36 acre portion of the original farm was the home of Bradley, youngest son of Thomas II. Pay close attention to Bradley, his wife, his brother-in-law, Sarn McGowan and cousin Mary A. :Margeson on later pages. 8. Is the 11 dugway 11 road slanting down the grade to a point at the head of the gulf, where there was an "old stone bridge". 9. On the north side of the ravine, there was a "Ten acre lot in Wayne" part of our farm, The stone bridge also connected with a road to the Farm Buildings on the Fairchild Vineyard. Alva A. & Etta Margeson lived there and Gr andmother Angeline lived with her son until her death in 1909. The gully near the stone bridge became the scene where Br adley lost his xife in an accident on Christmas Day 1878. Tangled up in his team at the bridge, he was unable to exticate himself. A few years later, Bradley's brother-in-law, Srun McGowan g ave up his life in the same ravine. 10 & 11. Ap ple orchards, grapes, peach trees, raspberries and garden crops were to be seen. 12. Crossing modern highway 54 you 1nay have to look closely to locate entrance to the old Lakeshore ro a d. 'rhis takes you down to wate r level and the site of the steamboat dock and the p ackinghouse ( photo later ). The old road was, and for a mile or more, so close to the waters edge as to forbid building at tne waterside. This road is an old documented 11public right of way " that, so far, it can not be closed or sold to private owerner·ship. 13 & 14. Were once log c abins and later framed houses and barns. There are some modern building s on parts of the original Marge son f a rm. Present times summer cottages line practically every suitable building site around Keuka and most other Fingerlakes~ Moderns ask and receive very high prices for such vacation properties. I . I, t . ,.. ' ' •1 ,, ,... "' ... ~ :t:1tl.: ~, . . t.~ '· • .,.. r" •j' ' .. '~ ' :' .... ., ' .,•" ~ rl 1 1/ f: i I ' •• t ' ~ · .,..., ~; .., f, I .. f • • . '1.J-• . ' ) .,~L••.·P '~,· , "I • ' ,.•' t''' ,.. •WI' w 51 1 rHE HOMECOMING REUNION This group photograph was taken at the 1909 reunion at •ranglewood Point on the Thomas II and Deborah Margeson farm. 3hown present were grand children of ;rhomas and their children and grandchildren. Also a few cousins, descendants by Israel II. . · We've tried to 11 tie together groups II most closely related. ~lUJ.te a number of the youngsters are still with us in 19?0. 111runily of Ira Margeson III, Eber J. & Mary Elizabeth, Martin V. & Murtha Bell, daughter Akzada, son Guy H. ( 11George 11 ), Minnie, Mrs. Nelson Hamner. Children of Cyrus III Cyrus's widow Angeline was a bed patient at the home of her son, at the Fairchild F'arrn, nearby. Grandchildren: A. Wilson~ Mary M., and children, Cetella, Peter Smith and wife Lettie with grand-daughters, Nina and Bernice; Cyrus V & Eunice with their sons Gerald and Arnold. Mariah Margeson IV Mrs. Alpheus Wright and daughter, Nellie Wright, an older daughter Mary and husband Patrick McGivney (with derby hat) Monroe IV i!G Elizabeth, daughter Ella and her husband, Wm. R. Mclean and daughter Florence, son Alva E. V Har·geson Paulina IV, Mrs. Charles 'l'ravis with son, Alf-r.ed and daughter .Ruth. Alva IV and Etta, host and hostess for the day. The Descendants of Israel II Frank 11 •.&; daughter Hazel. Mary A. IV, sister of Frank. Mrs. Beckwith and her husband, Sam McGowan ( Then living on the former Bradley house on 'l1u.nglewood Farm) Children of Sarah, 11Sally 11 , III Margecon C·arlinghouse. Sally J: Daniel Garlinghouae's son Ashton and daughter, Pearl. One or two unidentified guests, including a local minister names not listed. The background is the packing house, described elsewhere in our story. In the foreground, at the waters edge, (not shown) was t;he steamboat dock. These Margeaons had come from near, and as fas as 100 miles to visit familiar scenes. Some had been born here and grown to maturity in this neighborhood. They had travelled by horse and carx•iage, by the Erie and Bath & Hammondsport Railroad, .:3tearnboat and even afoot. '!'here was no"horselesa carriage" anywhere in sight. 52 Take time, now, to account for the dispos al of this farm property. Involved were the four s ons of Thomas II. For details, turn to r ages (27 ) to ( 38 ) of Part Two, Family Units Chart. First the houses and farm buildings. For the pl ant of 150 acres, buildings 1.-.rere scattered fr om the lakeshore to the upper townl ine road. 1bere must h ave b een more than one log house. Cyrus II, his b:eothers and sisters were born in lug cabins, grew up to maturity. Cyrus IlI and Angeline 's children of IV generation were also born in probably t he same cabins as their fat her. The second set of bui ldings, were on more l evel ground near the l ake. Bradley III and Amy J rune were ovmers of the up_Jer level set of buildings. This property .of some JO acres reverted to Amy Janes brother aft e r t be death of Bradley. This tur ned ovmer- ship t o Sam McGo·wan, l ater to Frank and the n t o Earle McGowan. Sam McGowan marr i ed Mary A. Margeson, widow of Charl es Beckwith. Mary A., IV generation, gr and-dau ght er of Israel II and dau ghter of Israel III, became the last Margeson, by birth, to have lived on the Tangl e wood Farm. Earle McGowan sold the Bradley Pl a ce to Herman Silvernal t he present 1970 owner. This last transaction bring s us up from 1814 to 1970. Lastly, What can we t race in the DISPER$AL of the de scendants of Thomas II? Once mor e we refer the re ader to Part Two pages (27) to ( 38 ). If your descent by other II generation Sons is other t han tha t of 'l'homas II, your !'road map " is listed on the index of Part Two on page (1) and also by your k ey number and name (of II generation ance stor) in y our 1970 Director y. The eldest son of Thomas & Deborah completed his career a t Dundee village in Barr ingt on, Ya tes County. John second s on and his fami l y (wi v es Paulina and Hannah, with n o Margeson childr en,)was c ompleted at Te cumseh, Michiban. Cyrus, third son, stayed wi t i1 his pare nts until after their death, the n moved t o Adrian. Cyrus died at t he home of hi s son Monroe, a t Towlesville and wi t h his wife is buried in Fairvi ew Cemetery. Bradley, youngest son, de rived his title on p art of Tanglewood, thr ough quitclaim deeds given by others of his r elatives. Bradley's widow and two daughters gave dee ds to Sam a nd l'iar y A. Nc Gowan. Alva A. Margeson IV lived for ye ars, on t he Fairchild Place which adjoined Tanglewood, as we h ave r e c orded. FI NIS 'l'ANGLEWOOD FARM