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WOMAN RECALLS CIVIL WAR DAYS (1940)
Mrs. Emma Satchwell Hayes, 94, Remembers Getting News of Lincoln's Death

By ERNEST G. COOK.

Depauville, Nov. 27. -- "I remember well when the Civil war broke out, and was a girl 13 years old when we got the news that our president, Abraham Lincoln, had been shot. You know I have seen four wars with which the United States was connected in my day." So spoke Mrs. Emma Satchwell Hayes, 94, when she was interviewed at her home on the Under-the-bluff road, from Depauville to Lafargeville, on Saturday. But the strange feature of the location, it seems to be the only house on the road that is located high up on top of the bluffs, that is on the road. The house actually looks down on the highway, far below.

Mrs. Hayes has many interesting stories to tell of her girlhood. For instance, she remembers that the Methodist church at Pillar Point, where she was born, had great Christmas exercises in her girlhood. And it probably did, for the same Methodist church once had a membership of nearly 200, it is stated.

"Those were great days," continued Mrs. Hayes, "and we youngsters used to look forward to Christmas for months ahead. We used to have some great parties out there on the Point. Nothing dull about those pioneer days, as I recall them. And when Lincoln was shot, we got the news right away, for our neighbor, Mrs. Adams, came right over to tell us about it, but I don't know where she got her news."

"My parents were Ruben and Mary Vandewalker, and I was born at the Point on Sept. 29, 1852. I went to school some in Brownville and for a time I worked for Mr. and Mrs. James Douglas, very nice people and they were good church people. They were the parents of the well known Douglas men, such as John P. Douglas, James Douglas and Norvel. The Douglas family were Scotch and they landed in America the very day that the tea was thrown overboard in Boston Harbor.

"I married Ezra Hayes, going to Watertown for the ceremony and we didn't have any honeymoon trips in those days, we went right to where we were to live at East Rodman. That's the way we used to do things. I was married in 1875, and now I live with my son and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Hayes. I guess I have been here for all of 50 years. I like it here first rate. Nice people live out here.

"Yes, I like out of door living and I work in the garden each summer, and have a pretty good garden I think. I do quite a little plain sewing and do read a little from The Watertown Times. That is the only paper I read because my eyesight is none too good. I wear---well I call them 'window-lights,' for I don't think they are real glasses. Just window-lights, I call them."

Mrs. Hayes had stories to tell about incidents in her life in different parts of the North Country where she had resided, but gave to the people of Pillar Point warm praise. Mrs. Hayes could not get clear the names of her ancestors, but stated that she was a descendent of the pioneer Satchwells of Pillar Point. This being the case she would trace back to Josiah Satchwell, son of Thomas Satchwell, who came from England with Burgoyne's army in 1776. At the close of the Revolutionary war Thomas settled in Dutchess county, where Josiah was born April 27, 1789. When he was 12, the family moved to Montgomery county. There Josiah married Catherine Bellinger, and in 1837 he came north and located in Pillar Point. He probably came north for he saw the section when he served in the war of 1812 and fought at the battle of Sackets Harbor. He was a very active Methodist, serving as a class leader and steward. He was the father of eleven children.

Mrs. Hayes is already making plans for her garden next year and says she has never been visited by a newspaper man, but enjoyed the visit very much.

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