Alexander Millener Myths

To continue the April 2009 story of Alexander Millener, in searching his history I ran into some possible myths. Many have reported that Alexander Millener was the inspiration behind the old man featured in the famous painting "Spirit of 76".

The history of this famous painting is on file with the library of Congress. The artist was Archibald Willard, who first called the painting "Yankee Doodle", having featured his creation at the first Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia. The painting would later be renamed Spirit of '76, being an 8 x 10 mural.

According to the Library of Congress, Willard's mural began in the upstairs bedroom of his home in 1875, which is 10 years after Alexander Millener's death. The file reports that the studio was moved and after relocating to Cleveland, Ohio, inspired by his father's death, Willard used his father Samuel as the model for the old drummer.
Click here to see the Library of Congress information on the Spirit of '76

Archibald Willard would go on to do several different versions of the Spirit of '76 in much larger sizes. According to the Herrick Library, the fifer was based on Hugh Moser, and the young drummer boy was Harry Deveraux.

Click here to see the Herrick Library detail on the Spirit of '76. Be sure to click on the upper right hand corner, to see all 3 images full size, it is a good example of the several variations made on the original mural.

If anyone has any information on the painting that is supposed to be based on Alexander Millener, please contact me.

However, not all is lost. American Folk Painter Sheldon Peck did in fact do a painting of Alexander's daughter in-law Fannie Root Millener, wife of his son George W Millener of Port Byron. She was painted with her young daughter Francis Millener, who would as an adult be the wife of Gamaliel Thomas. Sheldon Peck once lived at Jordan, NY and must have struck a friendship with the Port Byron Millener family.

This painting had survived in the family of Nellie King Waterman and donated to the Cayuga Museum in Auburn, NY. The painting was later sold at Auction in 2003.

The location of the Fannie Root Millener painting with her child Francis is not known. It is not know if the painting is housed in another museum collection or if it is in the hands of a private collector. Lets hope the painting has found a wider audience and continues to be well cared for.

It is wonderful that some of the artifacts of such a prominent family can be found, such as Alexander Millener's Drumstick that is part of the collections at the Rochester Museum & Science Center:

1918 Influenza Epidemic

In response to the anonymous posting to Calling 967 :

Statistics for infectious diseases are maintained by the Department of Health. However, local newspapers often can provide traces of when such epidemics are prevalent in our region. You can often find notices in the social columns that announce entire families having been ill with Typhoid and other infectious diseases like Influenza.

I was able to find an article in 1937, when New York State’s population dropped by 1200 people due to high outbreaks of influenza, combined with low birth rates for the same period. At that time, the report indicated that prior to 1937 there were only 4 other times in New York’s history when the population had similar drops. The report indicates that this happened in October 1918, November 1918, February 1920 and January 1928.

In particular to our readers question, 1918 was a wide spread epidemic that impacted all communities in our region. Spanish Influenza was a big concern at this time. Many towns canceled public events in attempts to slow down the spreading. Even the church in Emerson canceled church services due to influenza.

Among the hardest hit with the 1918 epidemic was the City of Auburn. Many of the nurses at the hospital contracted the influenza while caring for their patients. The outbreak was so severe, if the cause of death was from influenza, public burials were forbidden.

Here is a good article about the 1918 influenza outbreak that provides some insight.

Thank you for your question.

Calling 967

Remember the plastic telephone covers?

This one dates back to 1964 when Port Byron's phone numbers started with 967. This was before the days of cable television. We have missed these companies from years past, such as Blake's Pharmacy, Port Byron Lumber, and especially our local trained electronic technician John B Carpenter.