The Rural Experience in southern

"

Erie County

\

<
*
"V

The census of 1870 indicates that there were 4,683 farms in Erie

County.One of them,presently within the limits of the Borough of Edinboro,was purchased by George Seymour Goodell,an Edinboro merchant,in

1875.His son Todd farmed the land from his marriage in 1907 until his
death in 1956.The property then passed to his daughters,Carrie and

Margaret,who have preserved the property much as it was when they were
growing up in the period between the two world wars.With their co-op­

eration and with the aid of a substantial collection of old photographs
of farming in the immediate area,John L.Marsh and Karl E.Nordberg,both
on the faculty at Edinboro State College,have attempted to tell the

story of agriculture's golden age in southern Erie County.

In Todd Goodell's youth,horses were both scarce and expensive.As
a consequence,farmers used teams of oxen for many of the heavy farm

chores.L.V.Kupper,a turn-of-the-century photographer,shows them pulling
a walking plow in a field that is now part of the Edinboro State College
campus.A boy guided them with a long stick even as the farmer started

and stopped the animals by voice commands.Often they were put to pulling

the hay wagon,and one of Kupper's most nostalgic views shows them waiting
patiently as the farmer pitches hay from the wagon to a stack in the

field.Yet another Kupper photograph captures these same animals after a

trip to Edinboro's Keystone Mill.Particularly in evidence in the picture
are their brass-tipped horn caps.

J

«,. ■
?■'

.-’'•Sii-

'’■ - ••'/" ■• •^^'sta'V'S'AAV'' ■^- ■
''.1*
\

, : •• ; ■ '■■■
z

‘ ‘ ■'"'
7

. •.■-

-

u

(Rural Experience continued from pg.l)

The farmhouse into which Todd Goodell moved with his bride in 1907
had been built perhaps as early as the 1840's and used by a local

physician as his surgery or office.Today it reflects a number of additions
the earliest dating from the 1870‘s;the lattest,the glass-enclosed porch,
from the 1950*s.Within,Carrie and Margaret continue to use wood or coal

burning stoves for heating and cooking that date from their parents’
era.As well, they have preserved and added to the room that was their

mother's especial pride,a country Victorian parlour.Its furnishings-from Eastlake chairs to cheery whatnot stand to a bird dog print on

the wall--call to mind Edinboro's years as a dirt-street farm community.
Todd's especial world,of course,was centered around the barns,the

earliest dating,in part,from the 1850's.When George Goodell purchased
the property,they stood much closer to the house and the Waterford Road,

but in 1885 he had them moved further from the house to their present
locations and placed upon stone foundations.Commemorating the event is

a cornerstone that captures the visitor's eye almost iranedlately.Within
the upper story's interior,hand-hewn beams capture the viewer's attention

as does the double-pronged hay fork,dating from the days when hay was
stored loose in the mow.At ground level Todd Goodell stabled his three
teams,and their harness is to be seen,just as he hung it for the final

time early in the 1950's.

Literally hundreds of items,like Todd Goodell's McClellan saddle,
remain in the barns.Many,of course,are scarcely recognizable,even to

the farmer of today.Some,like the townships's first horse-drawn corn
planter,have an historical interest.With a grant from The Public Committee

for the Humanities in Pennsylvania,John Marsh and Karl Nordberg have
spent the winter and spring photographing the farmhouse and the barns

'

’ '■

*'

" '

•' '(Rural Experience cont.)

,

7' ?

\

■

together with their contents.The public is invited to see the results
at a program to be held in the auditorium of Miller Learning Center
at Edinboro State College beginning at 10 A.M. on July 25th.The day­

long program looks not only at the Goodell farm but at the farm of

today and of tomorrow in southern Erie County.Following an opportunity
to visit area farms,the program concludes with an open house and display

of old photographs in Edinboro's borough building.Those interested in

attending are urged to contact the borough office by mail or phone for
registration materials.The charge,including lunch,is

per person.