Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site
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Nadine Beach Phillips of Hartwick, NY. She was the 3rd great granddaughter to Daniel Beach. Photo on right by John H. Beach |
- Stories of Early Settlers in the Wilderness
- by Josiah Priest, pub 1837 (preface & acknowledgements by transcriber John H. Beach) - Timothy Beach
- Addition to Timothy Beach file regarding Erastus S. Beach
- Daniel Beach - 5 generations
About a year ago I was in contact with Dorothy Kubik who was writing "West Through the Catskills, The Story of the Susquehanna Turnpike". Before the turnpike, this was the same route or trail that Timothy Beach and his eldest son, Richard, took in 1784. Dorothy added Beach's coming over this trail to her book. When the book came out I found another interesting fact in it. She added a photo of a sketch of what an old inn looked like during the days of the turnpike and also one as it looked today. The sketch was labeled as "Beeches Inn". Dorothy said the place was being restored today. This place is in Franklin just east of the village on Rte. 357.
I also found reference to this place in the Sidney Center Bicentennial 1792-1992 as Daniel Beach's Tavern. We knew Timothy had a son Daniel, but knew very little about him except that he was living in Franklin with his brothers, Richard and William. Several pieces of information began to surface about Richard and William that suggested that they were supporting the tavern businesses of the area with whiskey and obtaining licenses to operate them. One such person was Daniel Beach who obtained a license for $5 to maintain an inn in 1832. I thought that this inn had to be that of our Daniel Beach.
Several months ago I went to Franklin to look at it and found the owner's Joe and Donna Otello home. They said the sketch name placed in the book was a misprint and should be Beach. Joe wanted to know why I was interested and I told him that I believe this inn was operated by our Daniel Beach. He said that it did belong to Daniel back in 1828 when he bought it from Hugh Thompson who previously operated a tavern there. It is not clear if the inn was there at the time that Daniel bought the property, but the tavern and large barn across the road was.
Joe said a year ago Franklin had a tour of old buildings and a woman in the tour (*Nadine Beach Phillips of Hartwick) said she is sure it is the tavern of Daniel Beach and that she has photos of it back around the beginning of the 1900's. (see photo top left).
The porch is gone today and I am not sure if it was there during the stagecoach days either, but I would seem to think one might have been there then for the guests to sit and rest and look at the scenes down toward the Ouleout creek and valley. When Daniel died in 1838 his son, Alexander, ran it, but they soon sold it and moved up the road toward Walton. It became a farm after that and sold many times since. Some of the interior was done over to allow better living, but Joe and Donna Otello pulled off much of material on the walls and floors and exposed the original surfaces and have restored them. They have tried to find as much peroid materials to enhance the home. They found a large stone sink for the kitchen. One fireplace has a wonderful carved wooden front cover that is a period piece. The floors are wide plank pegged flooring. They are not too smooth and there is some pitching, but the Otellos love the original feeling even though it is not perfect. Good for them.
The sketch by Ruth Payne shows the place without a porch and a stagecoach passing it. It is not clear if the sketch was drawn from the current building or did Ruth know that there was no porch there when the stages were running in the 1800's.
One thing we do know is that the tavern sat to the left of the inn and is not there today and it was not in the photos back in the early 1900's. This tavern was said to have at least 7 fireplaces and rooms for the more rowdy travelers and the inn was for those that wanted privacy and or had greater finances. The Otellos are trying to restore it as much as possible both inside and out. If you walk in it today it is as if time has stood still for 170 years. They are fixing up one of the 4 fireplaces. The others will have to be left still since the fire codes would require more flues which would change the original value of the place.
*Nadine Beach Phillips is the 3 great granddaughter it Daniel. I contacted her and since then we have been exchanging mountains of data. Daniel Beach is not an unknown child of Timothy anymore.
John H. Beach
Yonkers, NY
November, 2003
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