Name/Title
St Pierre & Shepard Faith Mills Documents CollectionEntry/Object ID
2021.2.78Scope and Content
Collection of over 156 primarily real estate, survey, water rights, and map-related documents associated with the establishment, growth, and demise of Faith Mills as well as numerous other historic mills located along the Wynantskill Stream in Sand Lake, NY. The collection includes original documents dating from 1959 back to at least 1810, particularly original deeds and surveys for most of the properties located in and around the former Faith Knitting Mills site located about a third to a half of a mile south of the Hamlet of Averill Park on Burden Lake Road in the Town of Sand Lake, NY, as well as several neighboring avenues, streets, and roads. Highlights include original handwritten surveys and maps by prominent 19th and early 20th century surveyors Barton A. Thomas and his son Jefferey P. Thomas as well as the financial wheeling and dealing of former Faith Mills executives and investors Peter J. and Robert H. McCarthy, Robert M. Butler, and William D. Mahoney as well as early local entrepreneurs Aretus Lyman, Andrew B. Knowlson, Daniel and William Wright, James B. Jermain, John Kerr, Gideon Butts, Jennie D. Averill, Collins S. Hardin, Hezekiah and George C. Arnold, Stephen P. Hunt, and Joseph P. Alden among many others. Related early businesses include the historic Beverwyck, Warp, Paper, Kidder, Troy Yarn, Maple Spinning, Arnold, and Grist Mills that were located along the Wynantskill as well as the Troy Waste Manufacturing Company, Averill Park Company, and the Wynantskill Improvement Association. The names of numerous other prominent early 19th through mid-20th century Sand Lake residents and town officials, along with their original handwriting and signatures, also appear throughout the documents. Those unfamiliar with the mills of Sand Lake may wish to begin by reviewing the SLHS "Sand Lake -- Mill Town," "Memories of Faith Mills," and, "?Averill?" webpages that are referenced in the Web Links section of this entry. The pages describe the importance and map the location of the numerous Mills that once shared the raceways and mill ponds of the Wynantskill throughout the Town of Sand Lake. The Web Links also include a downloadable Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that provides a concise searchable and sortable summary of all 156 documents. Only the first page (FPO = First Page Only) of many of the later or more common documents are displayed for sake of efficiency. However, photos of full documents are available upon request. In addition, the documents pre-date modern street addresses and typically refer to long-gone stumps, rocks, posts, and landmarks as boundary references. However, the maps included toward the end of this entry and in its Web Links section help provide some context for the numerous transactions that follow based on family names and visually depicted locations and boundary lines. The documents are displayed in approximately most to least recent order and include as many filing dates and associated family names as possible to ease searching for documents of interest. Finally, and most importantly, this collection remains intact and pristinely preserved thanks to the foresight and generosity of Sand Lake resident David, "Frenchie," St. Pierre, who salvaged them from a safe that was once located in the Recreation Building of the Faith Mills complex after the dissolution of Faith Mills, and his aunt Sharron, "Chick," Shepard who helped David further organize and donate the collection to the Town of Sand Lake over 30 years later in nominal exchange for a 19th-century notebook that was once owned by her great, great grandfather and former Sand Lake mills employee George Gault. Sharron meticulously separated each document with acid-free paper, carefully packed them in an archival storage box, and shipped them back to Sand Lake even though she had long since relocated to California. Please refer to the correspondence included in this entry for more information about this extraordinary story of bicoastal generosity, care, and kindness that resulted in the documents eventually finding their way back to Sand Lake rather than being eventually discarded or scattered among the shelves of antique dealers located throughout the nation via listings on eBay or Etsy. Thus, many thanks and much appreciation to David and Sharron. Documents (Doc) numbers (#) 1 through 156 are stored in the black fireproof safe located in the Town Library at Town Hall in Sand Lake. The original copies of document numbers 157 through 160 were retained by Sharron due to their connection to the Shoemaker family but are fully presented as downloadable PDFs by this entry while fully logged into the system.Cataloged By
Michael Frederick PerryAcquisition
Accession
2021.2Acquisition Method
FoundCreated By
curator@slhstrustees.orgCreate Date
October 25, 2022Updated By
curator@slhstrustees.orgUpdate Date
November 21, 2022
