Around Remsen and Steuben

Images of America: New York

by Megan Plete Postol

The first settlers of the rugged wilderness that became the towns of Remsen and Steuben were hearty pioneers, Welsh immigrants, and a famous Revolutionary War hero. The untamed forest of Oneida County proved challenging but not insurmountable for Remsen s first settler Barnabas Mitchell and the noble Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Steuben, who was famed with being the sturdy backbone of Washington s Continental Army and known as the Drillmaster of the Revolution. The area flourished into a place of farming, manufacturing, business, and religion. Settlers ranged from rollicking woodsmen to large working families to pious pastors. There were so many churches that the lands of Steuben became known as the singing hills. It has been said that the courage of a Welshman rises in proportion to the obstacles thrown in his path. This book strives to tell their tales through visuals of old Remsen and Steuben."

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2016

Reviews

[Carl Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do love Remsen and its environs. I was raised there. My mother and grandmother were raised there. My father came with his family as a teen and my mother’s father came as young men and made their home there. It is my homeplace. And, many volumes in the Images of America series are wonderful collections of photos and anecdotes, so I was excited to hear of this book’s release.

And I was pleased to see a combination of photos I’m familiar with and some new ones too. I was also very happy to see Margaret Davis’ _Honey out of the Rafters_ cited.

Ultimately, though this was a disappointment. There seemed to be little if any connection to the broader understanding of the area. Unlike others in the series there was a dearth of dates, little if any citation of the stories and events. There was also a slap-sash feel to it—it was poorly laid out, a number of names were misspelled. Too bad. It was a great opportunity to put some of the stories and oral history of the Remsen-Steuben area into print.