James Warner - Early Blacksmith

No Traces Can Be Found of Old Blacksmith Shop

James Warner Was Famous as "Smithy"

The old blacksmith shop of James Warner, when it was located in West Bainbridge. 

Inset is close-up of the "village smithy" James Warner

 

      In the cemetery at West Bainbridge, there is a stone marking the last resting place of James Warner, born in 1833 and died in 1917.  He was one of the last old-time blacksmiths Bainbridge was to know.  Today, there is no trace of his shop or anvil left;  only these snapshots taken of him and his shop shortly before his death. 

      Some of the residents of Bainbridge remember his shop near the bridge in Union Valley [Bainbridge, Chenango Co.., NY], and the first shop that he set up over 50 years ago at the four corners of West Bainbridge, where Hans Sorensen now lives. 

      He learned his trade as a boy and spent four years as an apprentice in Goshen.  Later, he served as a private in the Civil War and, for a time, was not active in blacksmithing. 

      An amusing story is told about him and his mittens.  In the winter time, he had great difficulty in keeping track of them.  One day, he appeared in a general store and, much to the amusement of the cracker barrel loafers, he had the mittens attached to either end of a string and hung around his neck.  He died at the age of 84 and was buried in West Bainbridge where he had lived.  [Edna Pixley Scrapbook]

 

 

Tombstone - West Bainbridge Cemetery

James M. Warner / 1833 - 1917

Maggie Halstead / His Wife / 1841 - 1899

Obituary

      1917:  The body of James M. Warner, 87 years, who disappeared from this city Thursday afternoon was found beside the Delaware and Hudson tracks a mile beyond Duanesburg, by a train crew, about 7 o’clock yesterday morning.  Death appeared to have been due to exhaustion and exposure.  Coroner A.G. Baxter was notified and went to Duanesburg to make an investigation.  Warner, who came here from Bainbridge, N.Y., was visiting his nephew, W.H. Williams of 335 Veeder avenue.  Thursday he was downtown to visit a barber and later started for a walk.  It is supposed he became confused and walked until he dropped from exhaustion.  He was a veteran of the Civil War.  The body was taken to undertaking rooms at Delanson and will be shipped in Bainbridge where the funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon.  [Schenectady Gazette, Jan. 27, 1917]

 
James M. Warner was born in Susquehanna Co., Pa. Feb. 1, 1833, the son of David and Susannah Warner.  He married Maggie (Margaret) A. Halstead in Susquehanna Co. (New Milford), Pa. on May 19, 1858. (Maggie was born March 1841 in Orange Co., N.Y. and died March 22, 1899 and is buried in the West Bainbridge  Cemetery.  She was the daughter of Benjamin & Betsy Halstead).  James M. Warner died January 25, 1917 at Duanesburg, near Schenectady, while visiting his nephew Wm. Williams.  Warner, according to a news story in the Schenectady paper, had at 84 years of age, walked to the barbershop.  After his haircut he started back and it’s assumed he became confused and lost.  Walking until he dropped of exhaustion, he was found froze to death the next morning, alongside the D&H Railroad.  He was buried in the W. Bainbridge Cemetery, January 28, 1917.  James & Maggie had [at least] 3 children…:  Ella Warner….who was married to Frank Payne of Bainbridge; who was a son of Elmer Payne & Theodora Bartlett & grandson of Hiram Payne;  Warner, who was married to Jessie Williams of Schenectady….and a son Jessie A. Warner who died 1918…He is buried in the West Bainbridge Cem.;  sharing the headstone of his parents.  James M. Warner was a veteran of the Civil War, a private & an artificer in the ‘A’ company of the first regiment of the Penna. Light Artillery.  An artificer was a person who repaired cannons, etc.---James M. Warner was a blacksmith by trade.  After the Civil War, Warner & his family moved about quite a bit:  In Orange Co. N.Y. & Trenton, N.J. especially, before settling down in Bainbridge around 1885….[Letter to the Editor, author/reference unknown]