The Pierce Family - Chapter 3

100 Years of the Pierce Family

by Harold Pierce

Sidney Record - Enterprise, February 11, 1954

They were going to Unadilla or Bainbridge for worship.  Bishop Doane came to Sidney Plains, investigated and agreed with my father.  He said:  "Proceed, call a meeting and see what can be done."  The meeting was called, a parish organized and a little money raised but not enough to build a church.  They rented the downstairs of the building that is now No. 11 River street, at the south corner of Grand street, the building with the second story porch nearly surrounding it.  The ground floor was named Saint Paul's Chapel.  The upstairs was occupied as living rooms by Mr. and Mrs. Buddenhagen and their two children, Carrie and Fred, the latter being our present day Main street clothing merchant.

 

The first Rector of Saint Paul's Chapel was Rev. Frederick S. Griffin, a native of Hobart, Delaware County, just graduated from New York Theological Seminary.  This was the year of 1888.  Mr. Griffin stayed a few years, then accepted a church at Maspeth, Long Island, where he stayed 53 years when death ended his career.  St. Paul's Chapel must have prospered, because in 1893 land was bought and a church built at the corner of River and Clinton streets. This was used exactly 50 years; as nearly all of us remember that churh burned on Christmas Day, 1943.

 

On May 6th, 1896, the third and last born arrived.  My parents lived here many years when bread or any other baked goods could not be bought.  They had to make and bake them; they had to make their own yeast.  Then there came a day in the late 1880s or early 1890s that was a boon to housewives.  Yeast cakes were being shipped in. You can buy them two for a penny over at Scott Fisher's grocery store.

 

In the late 18880s the Pierces lived at the south corner of Grand and Division streets, the house on the elevated terrace, now No. 32 Grand street.  The landlord was Mr. Dode Kikok, who informed my father that he would have to move as he was going to sell the place to the first man that has the price.  The tenant says:  "If that is the case, I will buy it, what is your price?"  Mr. Hikok says:  "Twelve hundred dollars."  The answer was "I will never pay such an exorbitant price as that" and the Pierces moved out. 

 

In 1888 a village government was organized and incorporated and the name changed form Sidney Plains to Sidney.  Hon. Ira F. Sherman was the first village president or mayor.  In that organization William Pierce was elected police justice, a two-year elective office.  He was elected and re-elected to this office 17 consecutive terms covering a period of 24 years, 1888 to 1922.  His career as police justice alone would fill more than one book.  I will mention only the most serious.

 

Soon after taking office there was a man well known throughout the village who lived on the east river road toward Bainbridge, his name was Sam Hill.  He came into my father's office, handed him a revolver and said:  "Judge here I am, take me and do with me what you may.  I have just shot and killed Bob Peaslee."

 

When the judge recovered enough to find words he said "When and where did this happen?"  Hill said:  "About five minutes ago over here on River street.  I was driving my horse up River street, and Peaslee jumped into the back end of my wagon, a box wagon, and attacked me from the rear violently with his fists.  I sitting and he standing I was completely over-powered and helpless.  I managed to get my revolver out of my pocket and shot him.  He staggered and fell out of the wagon.  I dragged his body over on to the grass near Mr. Olmstead's house and immediately drove up here to your office."

 

It was known that there was a serious feud between Hill and Peaslee for some time.  It was not believed that it would lead to anything as serious as this.  Hill was held to await the action of the grand jury at Delhi. The grand jury indicted him, he was tried and acquitted.

 

In the 1890s the body of a man by the name of Wood was found in a chicken yard at the rear of a home near the east or south end of Grand street.  His body showed several marks of assault.  The slightest clue was never found and the case was never solved.

 

In 1906 there lived upstairs in the house at 17 Division street, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Glen Fical, a Mr. and Mrs. Allen.  They had an adopted daughter, Pearl Allen, she was a young lady.  In 1906 this was a two-family house.  Mr. and Mrs. George Yagel lived downstairs.  Pearl Allen was heavily covered with life insurance, her foster mother the beneficiary.  The Allen girl became ill, gradually became worse, and died. The doctor who had the case was very suspicious of poisoning.  An autopsy showed poisoning, the foster mother was indicted, tried and acquitted.

 

In 1908 there was a young lady in Sidney, her name was Elizabeth Donnelly.  She lived on Cartwright avenue with her widowed mother Hannah Donnelly.  One evening in 1908 she called on some friends of hers, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Belknap, who lived in the Brooklyn section of the village. About 10 o'clock that evening she left the Belknap home, supposedly to return to the home of her mother.  She never arrived at her mother's home.  Early the next morning a farmer going after his cows for the morning's milking found the dead body of Libby Donnelly lying in his pasture under Southwick's trestle, a trestle of the O&W railroad about a mile or two this side of Sidney Center.  Southwick's trestle is 100 to 150 feet long and about 40 or 50 feet high.  Foul play was never doubted. It was believed that she had met a violent death in the village of Sidney or somewhere, and her body placed under the trestle to make it appear that she had been knocked off the trestle by a railroad train.  Why would a young lady be on Southwick's trestle in the middle of the night?  There were horse and wagon tracks leading from the main road to the exact spot where the body was found.  There were horse and wagon tracks from that spot back to the main road. 

The office of police justice is a village office with no authority outside the incorporated limits of the village.  Southwick's trestle is in the township of Sidney.  If it was found that Libby Donnelly had met a violent death in the village of Sidney and her body taken up to the Southwick farm, that would have brought Judge Pierce into the picture. The slightest clue has never been found and Libby Donnelly's death is still an unsolved mystery. 

 

To be continued