Watson Youmans
(1895-1971)
Anne Adacusky
(1915-1980)
Dorothy G. Youmans
(1935-)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
1. Gerald G. Beechert Sr.

2. John E. Jennings

Dorothy G. Youmans

  • Born: 14 Sep 1935 2 3
  • Marriage (1): Gerald G. Beechert Sr. on 2 May 1954 in Westerlo, Albany, NY, United States 1
  • Marriage (2): John E. Jennings

   FamilySearch ID: LRJ4-MTY.

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Residence: 5810 Oak Hill Durham Rd, Oak Hill, NY 12460 in 2001 in Oak Hill, Greene, NY. 3

2. Residence: 21 County Route 402, Medusa, NY in 2008 in Medusa, Albany, NY, United States. 4

3. Fact: Porcupine Soup Website: Fire Destroys Historic Home, 21 Jun 2022, Oak Hill, Greene, NY. 5 In the early morning hours of June 15, a historic house in the hamlet of Oak Hill was totally destroyed by fire.

Tri-Village Fire Company wrote a description of the event: "At 02:29 Tri-Village was dispatched mutual aid to the village of Oak Hill for a fully involved structure fire. Kudos to Chief Haller from OHD for an outstanding job on a difficult fire. Responding were Oak-Hill Durham, Tri-Village, East Durham, Greenville, Medusa, Livingstonville, Durham Ambulance and Greene EMS. A special THANK YOU The Milk Run, Yellow Deli, Brenda Wood and Dorothy Simons for taking care of all the firefighters. The Milk Run brought us egg sandwiches and coffee and the Yellow Deli made several stops with sandwiches, coffee, baked goods and juice. That is why you must support local businesses, because they are always the first ones to step up for the communities during crisis. 17 members worked for 7 hours on this call. Special shout out to our most junior firefighter, 11-year-old Lucas Lounsbury who jumped right in to help get our apparatus back in service."

Thankfully, the occupants of the residence are safe and none of the responders are injured. The cause of the fire was not known as of this week.

The house started in 1790 as the home of Andromiean Skeels, an early settler in the area, one of three Skeels who signed a covenant in 1792 to build a church on Meeting House Hill.

From the National Register listing, where the house is referred to as the Cleveland House it is called an example of a home associated with early foundry owners.

"As constructed, the Cleveland house is an outstanding local example of late Federal era residential architecture that was updated and modernized to keep up with the architectural trends of the mid-nineteenth century. The evolution of the building further reflects the ongoing and burgeoning prosperity of the residents of Oak Hill and specifically the Cleveland family. (C 1790, c 1830, c 1850).

The rear is dominated by an early single-story, kitchen wing. The method of construction used in this portion of the housed indicates an earlier date of construction than the main block of the house. It is suspected that the wing may have served as the original dwelling on the site [the 1790 Skeels house] and was later incorporated into the newer dwelling."

An 1876 map of Oak Hill shows that LB Cleveland owned several properties: the house; a store across the street; another business across the street, a barn and tin shop next door.

A handwritten account from 1931 written by Marie W. Pratt, who grew up in town, says "Lyman Cleveland born 1816, died 1872. He was a farmer and also had a small general store. He was married three times. The first two wives were sister: Catherine and Annie Utter, an old and much respected family. The third, and much younger wife was his housekeeper at time of last marriage. Her name was Rebecca Palmer and she was a relative of Potter Palmer. As far as I can learn Mr. Cleveland was one of the sterling men of the community. His portrait was painted by Amos Hamelin when Cleveland was 75. Mrs [Alfred]. Tripp was a sister of Mr. Cleveland's first two wives. Mr. Cleveland had a son and daughter but they had no children."

The National Register listing further says: "On the interior the house displays evidence of the various epoch of change that it has undergone. The house is presently laid out with a traditional wide center hall flanked by single parlors, this plan appears to date to a ca. 1830s renovation. The original plan appears of have had large front rooms with smaller rear rooms. There is also evidence of corner fireplaces in the area of the front rooms. The rear wing retains a single room plan on the first floor with storage area above."

Apparently, after Cleveland died, the house was a boarding house called the Stannard House.

Dorothy Beecher Jennings, who still lives locally, says she lived in the house beginning when she was 14 years old. Her Aunt Emily and mother (Youmans) bought the house together. They did a lot of work on the home and turned it into apartments. When Dorothy married, she and her husband and later their family lived in the apartment upstairs.

Arlene Beecher, who is now pastor of the Durham Oak Hill Methodist church, says that is the house she grew up in. From there she walked up to the Oak Hill Methodist Church, where she first felt called to enter the ministry.

Dorothy says she always thought of it as "such a stately house." She remembers her aunt's big apartment downstairs and that there was a middle bedroom upstairs had a heart shaped window, called courting room (engaged couples could go into the room alone but still be observed by family members). Also, Dorothy remembers a boarder in a little apartment in the house who was crippled from polio but could walk up the street to her job at the Oak Hill telephone. The Beechers then built the "modern" house next door where they moved with their family. Allan Beecher says they moved to new house when he was six.

Next a man from Hudson bought the house to use as rental property.

Sara Stickler bought the house in 1992. Sara came to Oak Hill first when her brother Sam Stickler purchased the buildings that became Sam's Oak Hill Kitchen and the DeWitt Hotel Antique Center.

During Sara's ownership the house was listed on the National Register of Historic places. Extensive restoration and updating were done; just in the last year it was newly painted. Sara was living in the house when it burned.


Dorothy married Gerald G. Beechert Sr., son of Edward Samuel Beechert and Lucy M. De Dea, on 2 May 1954 in Westerlo, Albany, NY, United States.1 (Gerald G. Beechert Sr. was born on 20 Dec 1934 in New York, New York, NY,6 7 died in Aug 1981 in Oak Hill, Greene, NY 6 8 and was buried in Oak Hill: Oak Hill Cemetery, Greene, NY, USA 8.)


Dorothy next married John E. Jennings. (John E. Jennings was born on 12 Jun 1935.)


Sources


1 Ancestry.com, New York State, Marriage Index, 1881-1967, Beechert Gerald F. Certificate 7954 Westerlo NY.

2 Ancestry.com, U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 (Ancestry.com), Dorothy G. Beecher b. 14 Sep 1935 residence Oak Hill, NY.

3 FamilySearch.org, United States Public Records, 1970-2009, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJH4-1J9Q Dorothy G Jennings, b. 14 Sep 1935, Residence, Durham, New York.

4 FamilySearch.org, United States Public Records, 1970-2009, Dorothy Beechert 2008 Medusa NY.

5 "Porcupine Soup," https://porcupinesoup.com/fire-destroys-historic-home-in-oak-hill.

6 U.S. Social Security Death Index, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JTTG-C6F Gerald Beechert, August 1981.

7 1940 United States Census, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K3TF-2GF John Beechert, 1940.

8 Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=135434768.



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