Walk With Ghosts 2013 - (The Last)

Just in time for your Thanksgiving reading!  And now, the final three, so to speak.  They've been waiting for us.  But why not, they've nowhere to go anyway!

John Wilkinson

John Wilkinson took up residence in 1952, rather recently I’d say. Born in 1868, his family was already connected with Syracuse. Years previous, his grandfather gave Syracuse its name.  He was a smart, inventive guy, a tinkerer.  Good enough to graduate Cornell (engineering), and good enough to play on its first football team. 

He had a love of bicycles, and bicycle racing.  He competed far and wide, and became a Champion racer. He was, early on, the chief designer for the Syracuse Bicycle Co., and is credited with designing the first bicycle built for two. He married…who else?  Why, one Edith Belden, of course.  God, these Beldens were everywhere! Their bicycle ride lasted some 55 years, their only tragedy the loss of a son, also buried in Oakwood.

His best known success occurred while he was at the Franklin Mfgr. Co. There,  he invented the air-cooled engine that was the automobile rage for years. The first car with this new technology debuted in 1921, at a cost of $7,100, quite a sum in those days.  It was the first car with 4 cylinders and got 29 miles a gallon, an excellent result for that era.  He ended up as a V-P with that firm.  At one time, the Franklin Mfgr. Co. consisted of 18 buildings on 30 acres of land.  As you drive Geddes St. past Fowler High School, look closely at the football field and imagine a bustling car manufacturer of long ago, with cars rolling off the assembly line, cars that put little old Syracuse on the map.

Later in life, he worked with Dodge to develop a water cooled V-6 Auto, then in WWII he worked on the Liberty V-12 engine for aircraft.  His interests led him to try to develop a wooden car, believing that less weight meant lower costs and more gas mileage. He correctly believed that the future of the automobile depended on more good roads. He was ahead of his time, for sure!  With Henry Ford, he helped found the Society of Automotive Engineers.  And into the mix of all that he accomplished, he was an excellent golfer. Golf seems to be a minor theme this year.

And when he reached his 84^th year, he took his last bicycle ride, right into Oakwood Cemetery, where we met him, swinging a golf club. Heaven.

Milton Price - the Merchant Prince of Syracuse

Milton Price is this year’s human interest story! Born in New Woodstock in 1825, he made his way to Syracuse with a stop along the way in Chittenango to work at a dry goods store -  and a tavern.  It was there he developed an affinity for retail business – and drink. 

When he got to Syracuse, he opened up a dry goods store in the Washington Block on Salina St.  The store prospered, thanks to Milton’s business acumen, and his (many would say) eccentric approach to the “promotion” (modern day translation – advertising) of his store. Examples:  he would walk down the street, knock the top hat off someone’s head and crush it.  He would then direct that person to his store where they could pick out a new one, for free.  Promotion!  He rode horses into his store and trampled on the carpets, to show how durable they were.  Promotion! He used to throw kids into the nearby Erie Canal, fish them out, and send them to the store for a new set of clothes, then instruct them to go home and tell their parents where they got the new outfits (try that today and see where you end up!).  Promotion!  This offbeat approach to business earned him the title of  “Merchant Prince of Syracuse.”

In no small part, his creativity was, many said, fueled by alcohol.  He did love a good drink.  Imagine this.  Way back in the 1850s - 70s,  Milton lived in a mansion he built directly across from his store on Salina St.  Milton loved to ride his horse all the way to Cicero, there to spend some time in his favorite tavern, the King’s Hotel.  On more than one occasion, he rode his horse into that Hotel.  Would you ride a horse from downtown Syracuse to Cicero just for a drink?

He was labeled everything form a genius to a drunk.  He was something in between all that.  But he did have a knack for, and a love of, business.  He made a lot of money, and he did love Syracuse!  His generosity and many acts of charity were legendary.  Perhaps the loss of his son at the age of 7 played a part in how he acted.  No, surely that was a factor. At the age of 64, Milton died and went to his final residence, which is now in need of some serious maintenance.

 

Dr. George Greeley - in the Oakwood Chapel

Dr. George Greeley.  If there is a sad story among this year’s ghosts, this one is it.  Horace Greeley’s younger brother was born in 1844 and died in 1912.  He lived, most people believed, a tragic life for most of his 68 years. 

He had a young sister who died at the age of three.  He vowed to fight disease so future parents would not have to lose their children like this.  He saw the horrors of the Civil War, and there he witnessed the emergence of narcotics to treat disease.  During the war, they alleviated the pain of amputation and other wounds.  After the war, they became a dope fiend’s paradise.  Soldiers, hooked on them, were the conduit for the use of opium in mainstream medicine. There was widespread misuse of opium for sleeping, teething, etc., in addition to pain therapy.

He did not approve of this approach to medicine.  Thus, George Greeley became Dr. George Greeley…a doctor of homeopathic medicine.  This, he thought, was the path to curing the ills of mankind.  He opened his first office in Baldwinsville, where one of his first customers was Ann Aurelia Stone.  They married a few years later and had a daughter Jennie, named after George’s deceased sister.

They moved to Syracuse where he opened a homeopathic drug store with a small medical office next door.  They then moved to a larger location on Warren St.  Business was good.  Then, the unspeakable.  Daughter Jennie died, and George was plunged into deep depression as he was unable to save her….his medicine could not cure her illness. Life became unbearable. The marriage was harmed. 

Then, one day, Mabel Rice walked through his door, and the rest, as they say…..

She was young, blonde, beautiful, and shy.  He was instantly smitten, and found reason to live again.  They had a 3 year affair, which was hardly a secret around small town Syracuse.  George divorced his wife, something that rarely, rarely happened in that era.  He and Mabel eloped.  Due to the social norms of the day, his medical practice suffered because of this “scandal.” My my, how times they have changed!

Life spun him around another corner. He began to forge checks, falsify records, and the like, all to procure money to pay his many expenses.  He was trapped in a downward spiral.

Then, the unspeakable, again.  Mabel got sick, and died, at the age of 39.  Dr. Greeley broke down completely.  Unable to cope with life, and beset with even more money troubles, he longed to be with his Mabel.  So, one day, he came to where she was.  He came to Oakwood, and on the steps of the Chapel, he ingested enough morphine to grant his wish.  He is now buried next to his beloved Mabel, forever.

Note:  How many times have I walked by that spot, not knowing.  As you can see from the picture, we did not meet at George’s grave, but rather inside the old Chapel, which is where he often went. So, this was the reason for the distant check in tent.  The inside of the Chapel was dark and dank, and suffered from years of abuse.  It was cruelly stripped of everything, but you could get a partial glimpse of what it used to be, and it honestly made me mad that it has been allowed to fall into disrepair.  My mind’s eye saw what could be an elegant edifice that could welcome visitors even today.  It triggered in me a wild idea that Oakwood’s old buildings and prominent grave monuments should be restored to their original beauty.  Some day.  Some way?

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Chapel at Oakwood

Mark Twain Quote:  “In order to know a community, one must observe the style of its funerals and know what manner of men they bury with most ceremony.”