Irwin Turcotte worked for Cleveland Dodge as his handyman and boatman maintaining the "Wild Goose" for years, and my parents were married on the "Wild Goose." When my grandparents moved of Hickory Island, where my mother grew up, they bought a house on Merrick Street, in Clayton, but kept a boathouse on the river. Thomas Hill, Charleston, SC 29412
Obituary (from newspaper of 9 Sept. 1976): CLAYTON---Guy E. Fitch, 73, of 622 Merrick St., died Thursday at 4:03 p.m. at the House of the Good Samaritan, Watertown, where he had been admitted Sept. 1.
There will be a committal service Saturday at 1 p.m. at Clayton Cemetery, with Rev. Richard E. Barton, of the Clayton Methodist Church, officiating. There will be no calling hours. Arrangements are with the Cummings Funeral Home,
Clayton.There are no immediate survivors.
He was born in Driftwood, Pa., and he attended schools at Driftwood and Dents Run. He had been employed by the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Co., Sheffield, Pa., and the General Electric Co., Erie, Pa. In 1929 he moved to Conifer, where he
worked for the Emporium Forestry Co.On Oct. 24, 1935, he married Bessie M. McRae, of Clayton, at Middlebury, Vt., with Rev. Howard S. Kennedy, officiating. The couple lived at Conifer until 1943, when they moved to Clayton.
Mr. Fitch was an employe of Consaul-Hall, now known as the Hanna Fuel Co., and he retired in 1968. Since that time he had been a part-time employe of the village of Clayton.
Mrs. Fitch died Oct. 19, 1971, at the family residence at the age of 65. Mr. Fitch was a member of the Clayton United Methodist Church.
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 18 Aug. 1994): CLAYTON---Pauline R. Hunneyman, 83, of Fox Hill Road, town of Clayton, died at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday, in the Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, where she had been a patient since Saturday.
A prayer service will be held Saturday at Cummings Funeral Home at a time to be announced. Burial will be in Evans Mills Cemetery.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Donations may be made to either the Clayton or LaFargeville volunteer ambulance funds.
Surviving are her husband, Erle S.; a daughter, Mrs. Frank K. (Janet I.) LeFleur, Clayton; two granddaughters; two great-granddaughters; a sister, Florence "Sis" Matthews, Grindstone Island, and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Two brothers, Lawrence and Clarence Garnsey, died before her.
Born on Feb. 18, 1911, on Grindstone Island, a daughter of Robert and Clara Turcotte Garnsey, she was educated on Grindstone Island.
She married William McFadden in 1932. Mr. McFadden died April 21, 1953, at the age of 52. She married Erle S. Hunneyman on May 4, 1964, in the Clayton First Baptist Church.
Mrs. Hunneyman was employed for many years by the former Johnstown Knitting Mill. Mr. and Mrs. Hunneyman were farmers on Fox Hill Road until retiring in 1987.
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 8 Sept. 1979): CLAYTON---Mrs. Lois (Maude) Garnsey, 67, Clayton, widow of Lawrence C. Garnsey died Thursday at Balboa, Panama, where she was visiting her son.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the Cummings Funeral Home here, with Rev. Robert Nay officiating. Burial will be on Grindstone Island.
Calling hours will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.
She is survived by three sons, John Alden Garnsey, Panama, Frederick, Florida, and Lawrence E., Theresa; several grandchildren and a brother, William Wright.
The daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Robert Wright, she married Lawrence Garnsey Sept. 1, 1932, at Sylvan Lake. The couple lived their married lives at Clayton.
Mr. Garnsey died Nov. 16, 1972, in Florida.
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 3 June 1945): CLAYTON---Lawrence Edward Garnsey, 57, Pensacola, Fla., formerly of Clayton, died Wednesday in the Veterans Administration Hospital, Tuskegee, Ala., after a lengthy illness.
Burial will be in Clayton. Donations may be made to Spanish Trail Baptist Church, Pensacola. Arrangements are with Faith Chapel Funeral Home, Pensacola.
Mr. Garnsey, formerly of Clayton, had resided in Pensacola since August. He was a member of Spanish Trail Baptist Church and the American Legion.
Obituary (from newspaper of 7 Jan. 1970): CLAYTON---The funeral for Miss Winifred Rose Garnsey, 19, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Garnsey, who died Tuesday in Roswell Memorial Institute, Buffalo, will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Clayton
United Methodist Church, Rev. Dean P. Shaw, Syracuse, and Rev. Kenneth Reynolds, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Grindstone Island Cemetery in the spring.Friends may call at the funeral home Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Friday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m.
Besides her parents, she is survived by three brothers; John Alden, an Army warrant officer in Vietnam, Fred, Pensacola, Fla., Lawrence E., Clayton; her paternal grandmother, Mrs. Robert W. (Clara) Garnsey, Clayton; aunts, uncles, nieces,
and cousins.Born in Clayton, May 8, 1950, a daughter of Laurence and Louise Wright Garnsey, she attended Clayton schools and had completed her freshman year at Potsdam State University College where she was active in musical organizations.
Miss Garnsey was a member of the Clayton United Methodist Church and participated in its youth program.
1 CMNT Called Square Dances At Grindstone Community Center
1 CMNT 1910 Census Says Middle Initial Is A.
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 18 Aug. 1994): CLAYTON---Pauline R. Hunneyman, 83, of Fox Hill Road, town of Clayton, died at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday, in the Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, where she had been a patient since Saturday.
A prayer service will be held Saturday at Cummings Funeral Home at a time to be announced. Burial will be in Evans Mills Cemetery.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Donations may be made to either the Clayton or LaFargeville volunteer ambulance funds.
Surviving are her husband, Erle S.; a daughter, Mrs. Frank K. (Janet I.) LeFleur, Clayton; two granddaughters; two great-granddaughters; a sister, Florence "Sis" Matthews, Grindstone Island, and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Two brothers, Lawrence and Clarence Garnsey, died before her.
Born on Feb. 18, 1911, on Grindstone Island, a daughter of Robert and Clara Turcotte Garnsey, she was educated on Grindstone Island.
She married William McFadden in 1932. Mr. McFadden died April 21, 1953, at the age of 52. She married Erle S. Hunneyman on May 4, 1964, in the Clayton First Baptist Church.
Mrs. Hunneyman was employed for many years by the former Johnstown Knitting Mill. Mr. and Mrs. Hunneyman were farmers on Fox Hill Road until retiring in 1987.
1 CMNT Killed In Car Accident
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 27 Sept. 1985): Harness driver Glen G. Garnsey, 52, a Clayton native and well-known former driver at Vernon Downs, died at 12:49 this morning in Lexington, Ky., when his automobile flipped over as he was
leaving a standardbred horse auction.Mr. Garnsey died of head and chest injuries, Fayette County Deputy coroner Louis Hager said. His wife Paula, a passenger in the car, was in satisfactory condition at St. Joseph Hospital there this morning.
The accident occurred near the Fasig-Tipton sales pavillion, after the opening sessions of the Kentucky Standardbred Yearling Sale.
Mr. Garnsey, a driver and trainer at The Red Mile, was a member of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame.
"He was probably one of the top drivers in our sport and was right at the zenith of his career," track spokesman Tom White said. "Glen was swell-known in Lexington because he trained here in the spring, raced horses here. He won The Red
Mile driving championship a couple of times.""The year before the U.S. Harness Writers elected him to the Hall of Fame, he was given the Good Guy Award. He would do anything for anybody." Mr. White said.
Track officials did not know the exact cause of the one-car accident.
"We just know that he had a small car...that flipped over into a ditch right before. It was on Fasig-Tipton private property. He flipped over and came down inside a ditch," the officials said.
Mr. Garnsey, son of well-known driver and horse breeder, the late J. Garland Garnsey, Canton, was one of the most active drivers at Vernon Downs in the 1960s and was the driver with the most wins there for many years.
He entered harness racing at the age of 22, shorly after leaving the Army and had nis most successful season at Vernon Downs in 1966 when he scored 133 wins. He was the leading dash winning driver from 1963 to 1966.
In 1968 he became the private trainer for Ken Owen of Houston, Texas, and in late 1969 took over operation of Castleton Farm racing stable, Pompano Beach, Fla.
In 1972 he competed in the World Driving Championship in Sweden.
He drove his first race in 1950 at Saratoga and won his first race that year at the Coblesville Fair.
Glen and his father became the first father-son team in the sport to record 1,000 wins.
J. Garland Garnsey, Sykes Road, Canton, died Jan. 2, 1980 at the age of 70.
Glen Garnsey had piloted horses to track records at Vernon Downs and had set a world's record at the United Nations Trot in Yonkers in the late 1960s.
Obituary (from newspaper of 3 Jan. 1980): CANTON---J. Garland Garnsey, 70, Sykes Road, nationally-known harness race driver who earned more than 1,300 victories in a 30-year career, died Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. at his Winterhaven Farm home.
The funeral will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at the O'Leary Funeral Home with Rev. Calvin Zimmer officiating. Burial will be in St. Lawrence Cemetery, Clayton.
Calling hours at the funeral home are tonight from 7 to 9 and Friday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Surviving are his wife, Florence; his mother, Mrs. Carrie Garnsey, Clayton; four daughters, Mrs. Phyllis Ashwood, Hightstown, N.J., Mrs. Donald (Shirley) Corneau, Shafter. Calif., Mrs. Clare (Elizabeth) Patterson, Vestal, and Mrs. James
(Carla) Toomey, Canton; three sons, Eugene M., Canton, Glenn G., Pompano Beach, Fla., and John T., Canton; 19 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and nieces.He was born in the Town of Clayton, April 11, 1909, son of John and Carrie Slate Garnsey, and attended school on Grindstone Island. He married Florence Carnegie at Solvay in 1948. The couple had lived since on the Sykes Road.
For many years and up until his death, Mr. Garnsey had raised horses and had been a well-known trainer and driver in the east and in Florida.
Mr. Garnsey drove horses over the ice at Clayton in winter months, when that village had its annual ice race meeting, and later drove over the Edgewood track at Alexandria Bay, when Capt. Chester A. Massey, a retired Great Lakes captain
and fancier of trotters and pacers, held summer and winter meetings at the resort.Mr. Garnsey began racing in 1938 at county fair meets throughout Northern New York. He raced at Saratoga Harness in the 1940s and moved to Vernon Downs in 1953.
He rapidly became a favorite with the harness race enthusiasts at Vernon and finished the inaugural Vernon Downs season as the number two reinsman at the central New York track.
In his second season, the veteran driver was the second leading money-winning driver at Vernon Downs, winning more than $29,000, during the 1954 campaign at the three-quarter mile track.
That same season saw Garnsey set a world's record with a 1.28.4 time for a three-quarter mile pace.
During the 1960s, Mr. Garnsey and his son, Glen, consistently placed in the top 10 drivers at the Vernon track, and had among the highest winning percentages at the track. They were the first father-son duo to earn more than 1,000 career
wins.In 1968, Mr. Garnsey became the 45th driver in harness racing history to earn 1,000 career wins. He had amassed more than 1,300 victories and earned an estimated $1.5 million in purses.
He operated a public stable for training purposes here. One leader in the harness racing business once pointed out that while many drivers take their stables to Florida and Georgia in the winter for training purposes, Mr. Garnsey seemed
to get just as much success training his horses in the cold north country weather, which was considered a remarkable feat.In 1966, after 31 years of racing, Mr. Garnsey won a $40,063 purse, then the biggest purse he had ever won.
He was a member of the Clayton Masonic Lodge, Harness Horse Association of Central New York, Harness Horse Breeders' Association of New York State, United States Drivers' Association, the Old Times Club, Saratoga and the Kentucky Colonels.
Obituary (from Thousand Islands Sun of 24 July 1991): CLAYTON---Verna N. Dwyer, 84, Strawberry Lane, a native of Grindstone Island, died July 17 in the Madonna Home, Watertown, after a long illness.
There was no funeral. The body was cremated. A graveside service will be at a later date in St. Lawrence Cemetery, town of Cape Vincent.
Contributions may be made in her name to the Clayton Volunteer Ambulance Fund.
Surviving are a son, Eugene M. Garnsey, Canton; three daughters, Mrs. Gary (Martha) Clark and Mrs. Lawrence (Peggy) Kalk, both of Clayton, and Mrs. Donald (Shirley) Corneau, California; 22 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren, and
nieces and nephews.A son, Glen G. Garnsey, well-known harness race driver and member of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, died Sept. 27, 1985. Two daughters, Mrs. Clare (Elizabeth) Patterson and Irene Rose Garnsey, two brothers, Edwin K. and Irwin J.
Turcotte, and two sisters, Aleatha Pettit and Clara C. Garnsey, also died previously.She was born Jan. 6, 1907, on Grindstone Island, a daughter of Joseph and Clara Fowler Turcotte. She attended Grindstone Island schools and Clayton High School.
She married J. Garland Garnsey, a nationally known harness race driver on June 29, 1929, at Grindstone Island. The marriage ended in divorce.
She married Clifford C. Dwyer May 18, 1944, in the Clayton Methodist parsonage. He died Nov. 19, 1974, at the age of 61.
Mrs. Dwyer was formerly employed at Foxy's Restaurant, Fishers Landing. She had also been active in the Green Thumb environmental beautification program at Minna Anthony Common Nature Center Wellesley Island, and at one time was an
organist and soloist at the Grindstone Island Methodist Church.She was a former resident of Pelow Road.