The Sheldon Mansion
An Historic Inn
The Sheldon Mansion An Historic Inn
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Granville Sentinel November 17, 1960 (Retyped)
Always youthful, Bertha Owen personified ‘dignity’ at all times
By Morris Rote-Rosen
If there was ever one person in our village who we couldn’t visualize as getting old it was Bertha Thorne Sheldon Owen. And we sincerely regret the passing of one who was a good friend of ours for more than half a century. With the impression of her as we knew her shortly after she was married to Fred C. Sheldon, we carried the image of her as a young person all these years. It was only shortly before her passing that we realized that the years were catching up with her. She always appeared youthful not only in spirit but also physically and when we saw her a short time before she died, walking with the unsteady step of old age, it brought a feeling of sadness. From our knowledge of her she always applied the Golden Rule in her everyday life with her friends; Bertha Owen never passed a person on the street without nodding pleasantly or extending a kindly greeting to those with whom she was acquainted. She was kind-hearted, gracious, religious and she personified a dignity, which was in keeping with her ancestry of the Society of Friends. We spent some pleasant moments in the company of her and Dr. W. E. Owen and their welcome to us was always warm and friendly. Her father Leonard C. Thorne came to Granville in 1875, when he bought the Thorne homestead from Consider Bardwell, who erected it in 1869. Leonard Thorne was a noted temperance advocate and a well-known Abolitionist who while employed as a young man in a men’s furnishing store in New York City, boxed a young Negro porter and his brother into a dry goods case and smuggled them out to Canada. Before coming to Granville, Leonard Thorne was editor of the Christian Herald. He married Hannah Rogers Warren, widow of John “Jock” Warren who was a well known Granville merchant on our Main Street during and after the Civil War. On a winter evening we called on Dr. and Mrs. Owen, while Dr. Owen was enjoying a game of cards with a group of Granville friends with whom he played regularly at his home. We sat upstairs in the Thorne homestead (now the Juckett Funeral Parlor building) and talked about her early life as a child and as a young lady in our community. Bertha Owen said that she had lived in the Thorne home until she was 21, then she married Fred C. Sheldon, the ceremony was performed in the Trinity Episcopal Church on Feb. 8, 1889 and the reception was held at the home. A Quaker Mr. And Mrs. Sheldon lived in North Adams, Mass., for about three years and then returned to Granville to live with her widowed mother. She had a brother, Leonard Thorne, who also lived with his mother and it was he who got Fred C. Sheldon interested in the Granville slate industry. Slate business was at an all time high about that time and Sheldon, who was a traveling salesman for a shoe manufacturer, decided to try the slate business. He signed a lease to operate a quarry which was then known as the old Mike Welch quarry and he was so successful with it that in a short time he became the second largest producer of slate, only second to the Norton Brothers. Bertha Owen was born a Quaker. Her father Leonard and her mother Hannah were both members of the Granville Society of Friends. When Bertha’s mother married “Jock” Warren, who was a member of Trinity, Bertha was baptized in that church at the age of two years. When she died, she was the oldest member of that church. The Thorne homestead today is practically the same as when it was erected 90 years ago and for many years it was one of the show places of Granville. At one time there were large shade trees surrounding the home and a wooden fence along the sidewalk was so much a part of the home as was the spraying umbrella fountain for many years. Bertha Owen recalled that these beautiful trees which lined the Thorne residence were planted five years before she was born and until recent years she informed us she carried a love for those trees because of her pleasant recollections of scenes and incidents when she played among them as a little girl. No person ever passed by the Thorne home in years past without stopping to admire the home and in particular the fountain depicting a little boy and girl crowding under an open umbrella from the end which there was a constant spray of water dripping over the umbrella. We were interested in the origin of the fountain, which attracted attention. Bertha said that her stepfather presented it to her mother after he bought it at the Philadelphia Centennial, which they had visited. He had it shipped and set up on the lawn. It is of bronze and a replica of the original well-known statue. ‘Belle of Ball’ Bertha spent an active life in Granville, in her younger days she led a busy social life, she was the “belle of the ball”, she was attractive in any group, she stood out at parties and dances by her good looks, shapely figure and warm personality and always wore the latest in women’s fashions. She was a member of the Shakespeare Club and of Captain Israel Harris Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an active member in the Travel Club; she traveled widely and visited Florida, California, Cuba and Mexico. We once recalled our friendship with her mother, Hannah Rogers Thorne Warren. She beamed and said: “My mother was one of the finest persons anyone ever met. She was a beautiful personality and was always an honored guest at all my social affairs in our home.” Bertha Owen from time to time would stop at the office while on her way down Main Street. We admired her more in her declining years having known her background, which brought reverses to her as well as tragedy but she never let it obscure the sunshine of her smile and beauty of her character. She was one of the last real Granville natives living on Main Street. At her death she was the oldest of her generation in our village. After the death of Dr. W. E. Owen, she seemed to slow up and take on the feebleness of old age and did not come down the street as often as she used to. But until the last, she was youthful in spirit. Her memory was good and we talked about many of the older generation now gone with whom she was busily engaged in community activities, supporting any worthwhile project that meant for a better Granville. |
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The Sheldon Mansion 48 North Street Granville, New York 12832 (518) 642-0000 Copyright © 2007 [The Sheldon Mansion]. All rights reserved. |