My family lived here from 1970 - 1978. I was 10 years old when my dad (Allan Rathbun) bought this place along with Jim Hutchinson. We bought it from George Assilen's (Assilin?) surviving next of kin. I'm told that George was killed by one of his horses (it is claimed that he was cruel to them). The current lot adjacent to this house (on the north side) was then part of the property; we pastured my horse and our goats there. There used to be a (shack-like) barn on it but it was razed after George's death. In this photo, the tractor shed (garage) and the chicken coop next to it are no longer there. To the back is the (partially-finished) barn-shed where I kept my horse. It is still there, albeit completed. To the back of this lot were several cherry trees (gone now) and a gnarled apple tree (also gone). Some of the sugar maples in the front have succumbed to parasitic wasps and are also gone. There are two new houses on these lots. It was a great place to grow up and I'd love to know who owned the house before us and/or even who built it.

Hi Rebekah,
It must have been a great place for you to grow up. Do you remember any specific events or traditions from that time? It's interesting to hear about the changes to the property since then. Do you have any documents that might shed light on its history?

Hi Alexis,
It was the BEST. Our land bordered the watershed for Canadice Lake and Hemlock Lake owned by City of Rochester - lots of undeveloped land to ramble around in..! Our land had a beautiful view of the Hemlock Valley.

We lost the farm in the 1973-1975 Recession when he was out of work. His friend Jim "Hutch" Huchardson bought him out with a promise to sell back to him w/o interest. We moved 1978 when he reneged on that promise.

Historical Events (unfortunately I do not have any documents):

1970 (summer) Body found inside a 55 gallon drum in Canadice Lake after her spouse, Gary Stone, confessed to the murder.
Blizzard of 1970 - a 3-day storm with more than 3 feet of snow, drifts up to 15 feet. Snowed in for several days.
Blizzard of 1977 (repeat of above blizzard)
Great Blizzard of 1978 (repeat of above blizzards). The blizzards were why every Autumn we put in blizzard pantries! People with snowmobiles were heroes who brought milk, bread and medicine in to their neighbors.

Aside from the lack of technology that we have today (computers, cellphones, gaming and live streaming) traditions weren't much different than they are today. The rural community was largely a farming one, close-knit and kind to one another.