Niles News is a series of twelve short stories that were written for the 200th anniversary of the New Hope Gristmill. These stories explore key moments in Town of Niles history with far reaching impact.
Often beginning at the old gristmill, each story takes the reader through the rolling hills, steep ravines, and outside the small settlement of New Hope and it's creek, and into the wider world it will soon touch.
~ INDEX OF STORIES ~
1. Patriots & Politicians
"THE INVINCIBLE PIONEERING SPIRIT" OF AN EARLY TOWNSMAN. Before modern fame, they were the founding family of Kelloggsville, who brought with them the stories of freedom, revolution, and enterprise to a wild frontier.
2. The Old Mill Stream
NOTEWORTHY ADVENTURES ON BEAR SWAMP CREEK. He was brought to New Hope at two years of age, and would grow up there dreaming of becoming a soldier. Later, he would send a fleet from his national navy to the far east, with a letter to an emperor.
3. The Rounds Table (COMING SOON)
THE MILLING DYNASTY OF NEW HOPE FOR NEARLY A CENTURY. The industrious Rounds family carried on a wide range business, and through some of the most difficult times in America. Through a civil war and culminating in world shifting global conflicts, the Rounds family faces the challenges of the day.
1. Patriots & Politicians
"THE INVINCIBLE PIONEERING SPIRIT" OF AN EARLY TOWNSMAN. Before modern fame, they were the founding family of Kelloggsville, who brought with them the stories of freedom, revolution, and enterprise to a wild frontier.
The story, behind the story
There are some family names in the world that carry an instant recognition and connection to something great.
The House of Kellogg is one of those names....
Patriots
Charles was from patriot stock and experienced the Revolutionary War as a toddler and through the stories handed down by his father, grandfather, and uncles.
Pioneers
Charles, like the greater Kellogg family, made a continued westward journey in America. From Sheffield in New England to Galway, New York, and finally settling for many years in the Finger Lakes, Charles and his wife Mary Ann were pioneers.
Politicians
Charles became one of the first county Judges, a postmaster, merchant and New York State Assemblyman.
Charles and Mary Ann were known and respected on the frontier and together they raised children that would become influential.
Their son Day Otis Kellogg served as United States Consul in Glasgow, Scotland. Likewise, their daughter Frances Louisa Kellogg accompanied her husband, also a United States Consul to Basel, Switzerland.
Today, Kelloggsville in the Town of Niles is only a small collection of homes and old foundations...but do not be fooled by a seemingly humble status. These roads were host to a few other great names, well matched to that of an incredible frontier family.
- THE KELLOGGS IN THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW - BY TIMOTHY HOPKINS VOL 1. 1903
- THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER VOL 30. 1876
- THE VINELAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE – VOL 2. “THE KELLOGG FAMILY” JANYARY 1916 – BY REV. DAY OTIS KELLOGG
- FAMILY MEETING OF THE DESCENDANTS OF CHARLES KELLOGG OF KELLOGGSVILLE, N.Y. 1858 – BY DAY OTIS KELLOGG
- THE MASSACHUSETTS SPY, OR THOMAS’S BOSTON JOURNAL, VOL. 2, NO. 107, FEBRUARY 18, 1773
- SHEFFIELD FRONTIER TOWN, 1976 BY LILLIAN E. PREISS
- Gray, O. W., Lothrop, G. D., Dawson, A. R. Z. & Gillette, J. E. (1859) Map of Cayuga and Seneca counties, New York. Philadelphia: Published by A.R.Z. Dawson. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2013593221/.
2. The Old Mill Stream
NOTEWORTHY ADVENTURES ON BEAR SWAMP CREEK. He was brought to New Hope at two years of age, and would grow up there dreaming of becoming a soldier. Later, he would send a fleet from his national navy to the far east, with a letter to an emperor.
The story, behind the story
Imagine if you will:
Two members of the Fillmore family sat, enjoying the completion of their endeavor: the first Library in the White house. Millard picked up a book and took a chair within the oval-shaped room. It was a type of precursor to the room later built where future generations of United States Presidents would make world altering decisions.….
That is…if Millard could keep America from tearing itself apart.
It had been roughly a year and a half since Millard presided and called for order during a heated exchange in the senate chamber. The altercation between two senators led to one being held at gunpoint, and a general panic among the attendees.
Discourse with leadership was breaking down and America was in trouble. Millard thought of simpler times, he thought of the earliest memories of his life, when he lived in a place called New Hope.
The place was “wholly uncultivated and covered with heavy timbers” and it was the perfect place to hunt and fish. Millard remembered the words his Father spoke “… no man ever prospered who spent much of his time” doing such things.
Millard, suddenly aware again, looked at the embers crackling in the fireplace. The entire country had seemed like coals ready to ignite. He laughed a solemn note as he remembered the events of the last few days, where he helped fight the blaze at the Library of Congress. He had stayed over the course of two days, and lamented seeing the loss of over 35,000 books.
Such an apt reminder of how it had all seemed to go: potential for fire on all sides.
Things in Washington D.C had thankfully calmed somewhat, but there remained internal strife and questions about the western American states, and beyond. American ships were now sailing into the Pacific where the meeting and potential clash of nations seemed destined.
Millard laid the book down as the time for reading was over, and the time for writing had begun. But how would such a letter conclude? He'd finish the letter to the Emperor of Japan thusly... "Your good friend, Millard Fillmore"
- THE KELLOGGS IN THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW - BY TIMOTHY HOPKINS VOL 1. 1903
- THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER VOL 30. 1876
- THE VINELAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE – VOL 2. “THE KELLOGG FAMILY” JANYARY 1916 – BY REV. DAY OTIS KELLOGG
- FAMILY MEETING OF THE DESCENDANTS OF CHARLES KELLOGG OF KELLOGGSVILLE, N.Y. 1858 – BY DAY OTIS KELLOGG
- THE MASSACHUSETTS SPY, OR THOMAS’S BOSTON JOURNAL, VOL. 2, NO. 107, FEBRUARY 18, 1773
- SHEFFIELD FRONTIER TOWN, 1976 BY LILLIAN E. PREISS
- (1856) Life of Millard Fillmore. [New York, R.M. De Witt] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/29004716/.