Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal

Anybody remember this song? It's known by several different titles: "Low Bridge, Everybody Down" and "The Erie Canal Song" and "Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal" and "Mule Named Sal" and last: "Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal." It was one of my favorite songs when I was in third or fourth grade. Actually, I'm discovering a lot of things that held my fascination when I was eight or nine years old is proving to be relevant in my genealogical trekking. [I'll have to write about Pocohontas, too...]

Anyway, here's the song. You'll see the genea-connection below.

"Low Bridge" by Thomas S. Allen

I've got a mule, her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo

Chorus:
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge 'cause we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever, ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Get up here Sal, We've past that lot,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
And we'll make home before six a-clock
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

One more trip and back we'll go
Through the rain and sleet and snow
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal

If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.....

We sang this song in Girl Scouts, and at school, too, if I remember correctly. I sang it everywhere. As I walked down the slope from my house to Lake Ivanhoe, as I walked to school and as I walked home. I still find myself humming this song.

Fast Forward 40 years. I discover that my great great grandmother Kate Valentine was born in Buffalo, NY. Huh? Buffalo? Near Niagra Falls? Ha. Another place I've always wanted to visit. [And the movie with Marilyn Monroe, Niagra (1952), that always held my fascination, too!] Kate was born in 1852 in Buffalo, NY to William Valentine and Katherine Mee.

Valentine and Mee

I'm pretty sure Katherine Mee Valentine died giving birth (or soon after) to her daughter ('my') Kate. Katherine was only 38 years old, born in England in 1814.  She and William had had four children: George b 1834, Lois b 1843 (nine years later--were there children in between who died young?), Matilda "Tilly" b 1849, and 'my' Kate b 1852. The picture to the right is of these girls, left to right: Tilly, Lois and 'my' Kate. What I don't know: Where did Katherine and William meet and marry? When did either of them immigrate to the United States?   Note: cousin Ginny O'Neel graciously sent me this digital photo of our ancestor sisters just a month ago!

Their eldest child, George was born in 1834, in Buffalo. Essentially William and Katherine were living in Buffalo while portions of the Erie Canal were being completed. William was a mason and a bricklayer. I wonder if any of the buildings he worked on are still standing there in Buffalo today?

William remarries and moves to Davenport, Iowa

After Katherine's death, William remarried Mrs. Sarah Ann Baker (a widow who had a daughter Sarah, the same age as 'my' Kate). William and Sarah had a daughter Ida b 1857 (but she never appears in a census after 1860, so I assume she dies before then), and a son Frank b 1861. Then they move west! To Davenport, Iowa where George has married a Mary Snow. George has established himself as a brickmason and businessman. He and a business partner designed many early historic buildings there. The photo to the left is one of his many buildings.

All Valentine Children Move Westward
Eventually, all the Valentine children moved westward.
Lois married Joseph Sandman and they move to Chicago, IL. Tilly married Joseph Kemmerer and lived in Nora Pct, Nebraska, where they had their first son William V, 1879. Later they moved to Davenport, IO. The 1900 census states Tilly has had six children, but only her eldest William is still living. My Kate married Francis V Phillips; they had their daughter Harriet “Hattie” Ellen Phillips in London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada in 1877 and by 1880 they are living in Chicago, IL.

I found the above photo of The First National Bank at this link (where you can search for more buildings):
http://www.umvphotoarchive.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/scdpl&CISOPTR=148&CISOBOX=1&REC=6

Back to the Erie Canal

More images of the Erie Canal, Buffalo, NY are at this link: http://www.eriecanal.org/
Buffalo and Erie Canal images

And one last coincidental bit: Between Buffalo, NY and Niagra Falls is Tonawanda, NY. My mother Lois was a camp counselor at Camp A-Ton-a-Wonda in western North Carolina one summer! I can't wait to go see Buffalo, NY, now!