Volume Four  Issue Five  June 2019
The History Center on Main Street
 83 and 61 North Main Street
Mansfield, PA
The Museum of Us
The History Center on Main Street
Director- Joyce M. Tice: President - Deb Talbot Bastian: V.P - Kathy McQuaid

The History Center on Main Street welcomed Mansfield's newest baseball team, the Destroyers, and other attendees on Wednesday evening at the Museum of Us location. Steve McCloskey, sports historian, told the inspiring stories of a dozen Mansfield and Tioga County baseball players who made it to the major leagues. The event featured hot dogs, popcorn and peanuts and was attended by some 60 people.
See Steve's story in this newsletter.
McCloskey Captures the Destroyers
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Elmer Backer Post G.A.R., Roseville PA: Wesley Reynolds, Charles King, Louis Soper, Charles Hulslander, Josephus Stout, Lafayette Havens, David Stone, William Worden, Darius Soper, Ebenezer Bronson.
Do you have ancestors in this photo? Tell us. We want to hear from you. Darius Soper built the house I grew up in, and Ebenezer Bronson was brother to my great great grandmother, Lucy Bronson Mudge. David Stone and his wife Emma Brace had sixteen children, most of whom grew to adulthood, so there must be some of their descendants reading this. Give us a shout. JMT
Upcoming Events
July 06 - MHS Class of 1959 Reunion 1 PM at the Museum of Us.
July 12 - The Art and Humor of A.S. Johnson's Novelty Freak Postcards - Amusing Reflections of Rural American Life in early 20th century.
July 13 - MHS Class of 1969 Reunion
July 14 - Sunday 1-5 Nancy McCurdy - DNA testing and Matching $15 donation recommended (Please pre-register)
July 27  - Joyce speaking at the Sayre Historical Society Meeting 1 PM
August 02 - Bonnie Kyofski - Storytelling 6:30-
August 17 - MHS Class of 1979 Reunion 11 AM
September 06 - Steve McCloskey - Mansfield's Greatest Baseball Players. From Mansfield to the Major Leagues
October 04 - Mansfield Then and Now - A Photographic Journey Through Mansfield's Streets from the earliest photos to the present.
Tracking Down the Soldiers
One of the History Center’s greatest and most valuable resources is our genealogy files. We have been tracking our local people and their ancestors for close to three decades and have created a genealogy database of over 100,000 people with local connections. These records tell the story of our area and its people.
 
One of our current concentrations is tracking down all of the World War One soldiers on the Memorial Wall on the corner of North Main and East Wellsboro Streets. This is partly to provide information to the American Legion Post and Commander Bruce Dart for their upcoming book on these people, particularly the charter members of the American Legion which was founded in 1919, a century ago.
 
Of the roughly 200 individuals on the wall, we have been able to find all but a few. Tracking where the people lived, died and are buried reveals much about the movement of people following The Great War which ended in 1918. Fifty of these individuals are buried right here in the borough limits in Prospect or Oakwood, and another 53 are buried elsewhere in Tioga County, accounting for half of the people commemorated on the wall.
 
Eleven are buried in national military cemeteries including Woodlawn in Elmira, Bath and Arlington. Interestingly, several are buried in the same cemetery in Endicott, NY and elsewhere in Broome County as a result of employment opportunities at IBM and Endicott-Johnson that attracted people to that area. The same is true of the Elmira-Horseheads-Corning are a that has always attracted people from our area.

Carl Webster, brother of Dr. Myron Webster, was the last survivor. He died in 1992 at age 96.
 
If y o u have photos of any of these people or family stories, we would like to have copies for the book and to enhance our research. You can contact us at histcent83@gmail.com or 570-250-9829.

Photo: Ensign Glenn Irwin Smith of Sullivan Township. USN. Naval Aviator.
Mansfield is just a little place, and some think nobody important ever came from here. At the History Center, we think all of our people are important, whether famous or not.
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We also think Mansfield's history is as interesting and important as any other place. 
If you think so too, if you think our history, our people, our families are worth saving and recording, say  YES with a donation to make it happen. We can't do it without YOU ! 
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From the Farm to the Big Time
Charlie Parsons Becomes Area’s First Professional Baseball Player 135 Years Ago

By Steve McCloskey

The Mansfield community warmly embraced its newest baseball team – the Mansfield Destroyers of the New York Collegiate Baseball League – this past week.

Wednesday night the History Center and the Mansfield Area Chamber of Commerce teamed up to host a Mansfield Baseball Night/Meet the Destroyers gathering before a large and appreciative crowd at the Museum of Us.

Destroyers players from across the country, as well as local history and baseball fans, were amazed to learn about the area’s remarkable professional history that included a dozen Mansfield area players reaching the major leagues.

2019 also marks the 135 th anniversary of an area player earning a spot on the roster of a recognized professional baseball team. In 1884, Charlie Parsons walked off his father’s farm in Cherry Flats and into the lineup of the Newark Domestics of the Eastern League of Professional Baseball. There were just seven minor leagues in the entire country in 1884 and the Eastern League was considered the best.

Parsons played often for the Mansfield town team, both prior to and after signing his first professional contract. He played for Mansfield and other local teams in numerous tournaments including the prestigious and highly coveted championship at the Great Mansfield Fair.

The big left-handed pitcher threw a no-hitter a season latter while playing for Binghamton of the Southern League. His catcher in that game was a former Mansfield teammate Will Crossley. In 1886, Parson became the first Mansfield area player to reach the Major Leagues starting and completing two games for the Boston Beaneaters of the National League. The Beaneaters later changed their name to the Boston Braves and later moved to Milwaukee. They are now the Atlanta Braves.

Parsons appeared in the Major Leagues for two other teams in his career playing for the New York Metropolitans of the then American Association in 1887 and the Cleveland Spiders of the National League in 1890 pitching on the same staff as a rookie by the name of Cy Young .
New "Old Stuff" at the Museum
Among our newest acquisitions is a 1940 program from the charter banquet of the Mansfield Lions Club. It includes the names of all the charter members as well as their menu.

The Mansfield Lions Club will celebrate their 80th anniversary next year.

Sylvia Snyder Crossen was the first woman admitted to the local Lions Club in 1999. Women now make up one third of the membership, and all four of the incoming officers are women

This is just one of the 25,000 items we have catalogued so far from our collections. Every day the History Center adds to and deepens the understanding of our communities and the people who made them.
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The History Center on Main Street
570-250-9829
histcent83@gmail.com
The History Center on Main Street provided no goods or services in exchange for your contribution. Your contribution is deductible to the extent provided by law. The official registration and financial information of The History Center on Main Street, may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement