Post by maddogblues on Feb 14, 2010 23:44:42 GMT -5
A Brief History of Hardenberg Corners
A political fantasy: any apparent similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental
part one
The history of Hardenberg Corners begins shortly after the revolution with the arrival of George Harley Wesley Shrub. The Shrubs were a well to do family that, rumor has it, fled from New Amsterdam, now called New York City, amid rumors of collaboration with the British during the war for independence. They arrived in Hardenberg Corners with several wagon loads of possessions and their favored son, George Harley Wesley Shrub the 2nd. The younger George Shrub was 12 years of age at the time.
It was the opulence of the Shrub family that made the development of Hardenberg Corners progress as rapidly as it did, becoming a major cross road almost from its inception. The influence of the Shrub family wealth was evident from the start. The elder George immediately began a tannery on the shores of the Owasco River. His business was brisk and it soon began to out produce his already sizable holdings increasing his wealth by almost ten times what he arrived with.
Besides the tannery George Shrub opened an ale house, the first Bank of Hardenberg, and operated a toll gate across the main thoroughfare in the city. All of these ventures added to the already highly visible status of the Shrubs. They also tended to alienate most of the other citizens who thought of them as snobbish and elitist. The Shrubs developed a callousness that they covered with a disingenuous smile to all they met.
About the time of the War of 1812 the younger George Shrub was faced with the prospect of fighting the British. They very same 'enemy' his father had corroborated with during the war for independence. True to his convictions, that of not fighting in any war, he went into hiding in a religious community that held pacifist convictions.
He was able to fit in there for the few years that the war lasted and returned to his regular life as soon as it was over. He spent the next six months as a regular in his father's ale house and was one of 'Sassy Sally's' best customers in the apartments over the drinking room. His somewhat simian characteristics got him the nick name 'George the swinger', or George the howler, from 'Sassy Sally's' girls, depending on how drunk he was on the night in question. On many occasions the local constabulary would walk him to the door of his parent's house after a night out. This kindness was always remembered around the holidays when a fresh turkey and cask of whiskey would be delivered with no note attached to the constable's back door.
Shortly after George's hiatus with the religious community it was time for him to gain an education and he was sent off to one of the influential colleges on the East Coast. While at the university George proved to be a likeable but some what dim witted sort. He was the class clown and his simian traits proved to make him the butt of jokes. He also helped to form a school club involving necromancy and homosexual activities which is active to this day.
During this time, his father's tannery business that had made the bulk of his livelihood since moving into the area, was suspected of being the cause of a severe epidemic several miles downstream in Port Byron on account of the effluents released in the tannery process. It was alleged that bacteria from the dried skins and the refuse from the tanning process which was dumped directly into the Owasco River had caused the almost complete decimation of the small community.
The older Shrub was acutely aware of his part in the problem but steadfastly denied he was the cause calling for 'scientific' reports to be made claiming that the finger pointing at him was uncalled for and that they were jealous of his wealth and status.
The younger Shrub took up his fathers cause and with a sizable grant in hand funded a 'study' by the university and his father was subsequently let off the hook. The problem, it turns out, was due to a large explosion in the turtle population in the river which resulted in an increase in fecal matter, this coupled along with a decline in the native population that had used them for a food source, lead to the current situation in Port Byron. So the university said.
The only solution that was offered was for the residents to move to Hardenberg and try and find work in one of the business run by the Shrub family. Several of the local women ended up working at 'Sassy Sally's' where they made the acquaintance of both of the Shrub men.
While George the 2nd was at the university George the elder was embarking on the biggest exploit of his life. He was funding the development of the Erie Canal to facilitate the delivery of the newly found salt reserves in neighboring Solvay as well as delivering food and machinery and providing transportation. Graft was very prevalent and for every dollar he made honestly he was said to have made ten under the table through backroom deals.
Along with the canal construction the elder Shrub put up a series of 'Sassy Sally's' approximately every 15 miles along the length of the canal and put young George in charge of overseeing their operations. It was proverbial around that time that a poor girl from Port Byron could always find work on the canal and make something of her self thanks to George Shrub.
It was the fruits of these enterprises that were the nest egg of the Shrub family fortune that exists to the present day though they are now sanitized and secure in oil futures and energy investments as well in military support contractors who made a killing in the succession of wars the country has started.
There is a chilling similarity to the simian like feature of the dim witted chimp like President we have today and the forbears through which loins he came into the world.
Some forensic medical experts have thought that the debilitating effects of both syphilis and gonorrhea contracted at 'Sassy Sally's' had left the gene pool of the Shrub family impaired. But who in their wildest imagination could have imagined such world shaking events proceeding from the humble beginning of the crossroads known as Hardenberg Corners?
The end of part one: To be continued.
The continuing saga of the Shrub family
part two
Just before and during the time of the Civil War George H. W. Shrub the 2nd was investing in slave futures as well as the fledgling canned food industry that supplied canned meat products to the Union forces.
He had received a notice of conscription but as many of his station in life did he paid the $300 bond and had someone else serve in his place. He lobbied long and hard to have Lincoln silenced and was secretly glad when he was murdered, though he mourned publicly even giving a eulogy before the local congregation praising him.
At the time of emancipation he suffered his one and only financial loss. His cargo of slaves aboard the Black Trader ended in a political limbo. After a month in the doldrums of Charleston harbor in the sweltering of an August heat wave one hundred twenty five emaciated bodies were found along with one or two survivors who had resorted to cannibalism in order to save themselves. There were papers found on board to connect him to the shipment but as it was a legal contract at the time it was made there was no prosecution. It was simply a lost shipment of merchandise to him. He successfully recouped 50% of his loss through insurance, but losing the other half made him bitter.
He found the aftermath of the Civil War a fruitful place to make his own contribution to the family fortune. He was able to broker deals for timber to be shipped for reconstruction in the rebuilding of houses, cities and railroads and also for cotton to be sold while it was still in the ground. Around this time he made himself friends with the disaffected southerners whose lives had been uprooted by the war and would never be the same again. The years would prove this relationship to be very fruitful as the family lineage became involved in national politics.
Immediately after the war he made a bid for the NYS state senate and won handily. He won mainly by the recognition of the family name and the legacy of improvement in the state due to the Erie Canal, but partly because despite, or because of, his simian mannerisms, he was a likeable sort. He was an affable guy with a down home type of personality. Always the life of the party he was always invited and he always went and generally was the last to leave.
This did result in a short lived scandal of sorts. For a while there was some talk of a dalliance with a young socialite in which a pregnancy was said to occur. It was here his true colors were revealed. The right thing would have been to marry her. That was the way things were done then. But instead he went to a 'woman' who knew herbs. And the problem was resolved that way, though, during the miscarriage following the 'herb woman's' prescription, the young woman died. There was talk at first, and rumors of money changing hands but nothing was ever proven and the 'herb woman' died shortly afterward in an accident.
It was around this time that George H.W. Shrub the 2nd found religion. Whether or not there is a connection between the events in his life and his new found dedication to God there is no proof; but they did follow one after the other.
His new beliefs lead him to harangue loud and long about witches; and that they should not be allowed in the community as they were not Christian. He was quick to point out that witches were not to be allowed to live among decent folks in the bible times and that things should be no different today.
It was shortly after this that the 'herb woman' had her 'accident' and died. She was found hanging in the stall with her milk cow. The local constable said it was an accidental hanging. There was no inquiry.
Always one to make lemon juice from lemons he realized right away that people liked to be talked to about God. He recognized that there was something about the quaint Judeo-Christian morality that rang a bell in peoples minds which they agreed with. Even if they had no intention of following those rules themselves they agreed that it was a 'godly' thing to affirm them and that's what he did.
So George H. W. Shrub the 2nd began to sprinkle religious phrases into his political speeches and found it to be a very effective vote getting device.
Whether or not this soothed his conscience at all is not known, what is known is that his drinking increased from heavy to constant. It was at this time, at the age of 35 that he decided to marry.
A Miss Goody White was the lucky girl and the wedding was the talk of Hardenberg Corners. Pastor Jonathan B. Goode performed the service at the Tabernacle of the Divine Word.
Pastor Goode was to be a prominent figure in the thinking of George H. W. Shrub the 2nd. While his father had nothing to do with religion, the benefits of this relationship became apparent and future generations of Shrubs stayed 'close' to God.
Goode counseled him against partaking too much of the spirits. "Moderation" he used to say. But George knew nothing about moderation. With him it was all or nothing and he wasn't about to give up drinking just yet. In fact he never did, but true to his nature he made a pretense of doing so.
Toward the end of his days his neighbors reported seeing him in his back yard flailing his arms and hearing him cursing at the birds while staggering around with a whiskey bottle in his hand.
It was his lack of moderation that lead to his early death. In his early 50's he was struck down after turning yellow, becoming sickly and slowly passed away.
He left two sons. The eldest, William Wright Wesley Shrub was a poet and at one time was the homosexual lover of Walt Whitman. William died in a tragic accident while hunting with his grandfather.
The elder Shrub related that he tripped while stepping over a log and that when he fell the gun discharged into the back of Williams head blowing most of it away and killing him instantly. There was no inquiry into the accident.
The second son George Harley Wesley Shrub the 3rd. followed his father's death bed advice and his mothers urging to go into politics and make a name for himself in order to preserve the family legacy.
By this time the Shrub family fortune was more than enough to live comfortably from without having any of the concerns of the laboring man or woman so the door was wide open to him. George H.W. Shrub the 3rd walked right through and into the 20th century where the opportunities of WW1 awaited his inherited propensities.
A political fantasy: any apparent similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental
part one
The history of Hardenberg Corners begins shortly after the revolution with the arrival of George Harley Wesley Shrub. The Shrubs were a well to do family that, rumor has it, fled from New Amsterdam, now called New York City, amid rumors of collaboration with the British during the war for independence. They arrived in Hardenberg Corners with several wagon loads of possessions and their favored son, George Harley Wesley Shrub the 2nd. The younger George Shrub was 12 years of age at the time.
It was the opulence of the Shrub family that made the development of Hardenberg Corners progress as rapidly as it did, becoming a major cross road almost from its inception. The influence of the Shrub family wealth was evident from the start. The elder George immediately began a tannery on the shores of the Owasco River. His business was brisk and it soon began to out produce his already sizable holdings increasing his wealth by almost ten times what he arrived with.
Besides the tannery George Shrub opened an ale house, the first Bank of Hardenberg, and operated a toll gate across the main thoroughfare in the city. All of these ventures added to the already highly visible status of the Shrubs. They also tended to alienate most of the other citizens who thought of them as snobbish and elitist. The Shrubs developed a callousness that they covered with a disingenuous smile to all they met.
About the time of the War of 1812 the younger George Shrub was faced with the prospect of fighting the British. They very same 'enemy' his father had corroborated with during the war for independence. True to his convictions, that of not fighting in any war, he went into hiding in a religious community that held pacifist convictions.
He was able to fit in there for the few years that the war lasted and returned to his regular life as soon as it was over. He spent the next six months as a regular in his father's ale house and was one of 'Sassy Sally's' best customers in the apartments over the drinking room. His somewhat simian characteristics got him the nick name 'George the swinger', or George the howler, from 'Sassy Sally's' girls, depending on how drunk he was on the night in question. On many occasions the local constabulary would walk him to the door of his parent's house after a night out. This kindness was always remembered around the holidays when a fresh turkey and cask of whiskey would be delivered with no note attached to the constable's back door.
Shortly after George's hiatus with the religious community it was time for him to gain an education and he was sent off to one of the influential colleges on the East Coast. While at the university George proved to be a likeable but some what dim witted sort. He was the class clown and his simian traits proved to make him the butt of jokes. He also helped to form a school club involving necromancy and homosexual activities which is active to this day.
During this time, his father's tannery business that had made the bulk of his livelihood since moving into the area, was suspected of being the cause of a severe epidemic several miles downstream in Port Byron on account of the effluents released in the tannery process. It was alleged that bacteria from the dried skins and the refuse from the tanning process which was dumped directly into the Owasco River had caused the almost complete decimation of the small community.
The older Shrub was acutely aware of his part in the problem but steadfastly denied he was the cause calling for 'scientific' reports to be made claiming that the finger pointing at him was uncalled for and that they were jealous of his wealth and status.
The younger Shrub took up his fathers cause and with a sizable grant in hand funded a 'study' by the university and his father was subsequently let off the hook. The problem, it turns out, was due to a large explosion in the turtle population in the river which resulted in an increase in fecal matter, this coupled along with a decline in the native population that had used them for a food source, lead to the current situation in Port Byron. So the university said.
The only solution that was offered was for the residents to move to Hardenberg and try and find work in one of the business run by the Shrub family. Several of the local women ended up working at 'Sassy Sally's' where they made the acquaintance of both of the Shrub men.
While George the 2nd was at the university George the elder was embarking on the biggest exploit of his life. He was funding the development of the Erie Canal to facilitate the delivery of the newly found salt reserves in neighboring Solvay as well as delivering food and machinery and providing transportation. Graft was very prevalent and for every dollar he made honestly he was said to have made ten under the table through backroom deals.
Along with the canal construction the elder Shrub put up a series of 'Sassy Sally's' approximately every 15 miles along the length of the canal and put young George in charge of overseeing their operations. It was proverbial around that time that a poor girl from Port Byron could always find work on the canal and make something of her self thanks to George Shrub.
It was the fruits of these enterprises that were the nest egg of the Shrub family fortune that exists to the present day though they are now sanitized and secure in oil futures and energy investments as well in military support contractors who made a killing in the succession of wars the country has started.
There is a chilling similarity to the simian like feature of the dim witted chimp like President we have today and the forbears through which loins he came into the world.
Some forensic medical experts have thought that the debilitating effects of both syphilis and gonorrhea contracted at 'Sassy Sally's' had left the gene pool of the Shrub family impaired. But who in their wildest imagination could have imagined such world shaking events proceeding from the humble beginning of the crossroads known as Hardenberg Corners?
The end of part one: To be continued.
The continuing saga of the Shrub family
part two
Just before and during the time of the Civil War George H. W. Shrub the 2nd was investing in slave futures as well as the fledgling canned food industry that supplied canned meat products to the Union forces.
He had received a notice of conscription but as many of his station in life did he paid the $300 bond and had someone else serve in his place. He lobbied long and hard to have Lincoln silenced and was secretly glad when he was murdered, though he mourned publicly even giving a eulogy before the local congregation praising him.
At the time of emancipation he suffered his one and only financial loss. His cargo of slaves aboard the Black Trader ended in a political limbo. After a month in the doldrums of Charleston harbor in the sweltering of an August heat wave one hundred twenty five emaciated bodies were found along with one or two survivors who had resorted to cannibalism in order to save themselves. There were papers found on board to connect him to the shipment but as it was a legal contract at the time it was made there was no prosecution. It was simply a lost shipment of merchandise to him. He successfully recouped 50% of his loss through insurance, but losing the other half made him bitter.
He found the aftermath of the Civil War a fruitful place to make his own contribution to the family fortune. He was able to broker deals for timber to be shipped for reconstruction in the rebuilding of houses, cities and railroads and also for cotton to be sold while it was still in the ground. Around this time he made himself friends with the disaffected southerners whose lives had been uprooted by the war and would never be the same again. The years would prove this relationship to be very fruitful as the family lineage became involved in national politics.
Immediately after the war he made a bid for the NYS state senate and won handily. He won mainly by the recognition of the family name and the legacy of improvement in the state due to the Erie Canal, but partly because despite, or because of, his simian mannerisms, he was a likeable sort. He was an affable guy with a down home type of personality. Always the life of the party he was always invited and he always went and generally was the last to leave.
This did result in a short lived scandal of sorts. For a while there was some talk of a dalliance with a young socialite in which a pregnancy was said to occur. It was here his true colors were revealed. The right thing would have been to marry her. That was the way things were done then. But instead he went to a 'woman' who knew herbs. And the problem was resolved that way, though, during the miscarriage following the 'herb woman's' prescription, the young woman died. There was talk at first, and rumors of money changing hands but nothing was ever proven and the 'herb woman' died shortly afterward in an accident.
It was around this time that George H.W. Shrub the 2nd found religion. Whether or not there is a connection between the events in his life and his new found dedication to God there is no proof; but they did follow one after the other.
His new beliefs lead him to harangue loud and long about witches; and that they should not be allowed in the community as they were not Christian. He was quick to point out that witches were not to be allowed to live among decent folks in the bible times and that things should be no different today.
It was shortly after this that the 'herb woman' had her 'accident' and died. She was found hanging in the stall with her milk cow. The local constable said it was an accidental hanging. There was no inquiry.
Always one to make lemon juice from lemons he realized right away that people liked to be talked to about God. He recognized that there was something about the quaint Judeo-Christian morality that rang a bell in peoples minds which they agreed with. Even if they had no intention of following those rules themselves they agreed that it was a 'godly' thing to affirm them and that's what he did.
So George H. W. Shrub the 2nd began to sprinkle religious phrases into his political speeches and found it to be a very effective vote getting device.
Whether or not this soothed his conscience at all is not known, what is known is that his drinking increased from heavy to constant. It was at this time, at the age of 35 that he decided to marry.
A Miss Goody White was the lucky girl and the wedding was the talk of Hardenberg Corners. Pastor Jonathan B. Goode performed the service at the Tabernacle of the Divine Word.
Pastor Goode was to be a prominent figure in the thinking of George H. W. Shrub the 2nd. While his father had nothing to do with religion, the benefits of this relationship became apparent and future generations of Shrubs stayed 'close' to God.
Goode counseled him against partaking too much of the spirits. "Moderation" he used to say. But George knew nothing about moderation. With him it was all or nothing and he wasn't about to give up drinking just yet. In fact he never did, but true to his nature he made a pretense of doing so.
Toward the end of his days his neighbors reported seeing him in his back yard flailing his arms and hearing him cursing at the birds while staggering around with a whiskey bottle in his hand.
It was his lack of moderation that lead to his early death. In his early 50's he was struck down after turning yellow, becoming sickly and slowly passed away.
He left two sons. The eldest, William Wright Wesley Shrub was a poet and at one time was the homosexual lover of Walt Whitman. William died in a tragic accident while hunting with his grandfather.
The elder Shrub related that he tripped while stepping over a log and that when he fell the gun discharged into the back of Williams head blowing most of it away and killing him instantly. There was no inquiry into the accident.
The second son George Harley Wesley Shrub the 3rd. followed his father's death bed advice and his mothers urging to go into politics and make a name for himself in order to preserve the family legacy.
By this time the Shrub family fortune was more than enough to live comfortably from without having any of the concerns of the laboring man or woman so the door was wide open to him. George H.W. Shrub the 3rd walked right through and into the 20th century where the opportunities of WW1 awaited his inherited propensities.