Several weeks ago, we asked a question about the number of elm trees to be found in the village. And although we did not learn anything about the elms, we did hear from former Cooperstonian, Bob Peaslee, who wrote: "Don't know if there have ever been elm trees on Elm Street, but I do have memories of collecting horse chestnuts on Chestnut Street for use in a sling shot. They were not for hitting anything, as their shape was not good for that purpose. Also, how about Maple Street? It seems to me that all the streets were named after existing things at some time. I grew up on Lake Street and River Street definitely was for the river." We thank Bob for sharing his thoughts with us and do wonder if Elm Street once had a number of elm trees.

We have also heard from former Cooperstown resident, Lucille McGown, who now lives in Arizona, who, upon reading about George Starr's memories of the Chamber of Commerce, sent us some memories of her own. She wrote: "Mac [her late husband, Wilson McGown] and I had just moved to Cooperstown

and his good friend, Ray Fry,asked if I would try to restart the C of C which was dead in the water. So with the help of a square dance friend, Helen Spellman, we got BOCES to build us a cabin and we set up shop on the parking lot. I soon backed out but Helen and her helpers made it a lively and profitable concern." We will remember the Chamber of Commerce building to which Lucille refers as it was in place when we first came upon the Cooperstown scene. It was there a good number of years before being replaced by the current chamber office.

In fact, it was in the BOCES built building that the he-we sent the wee-we to ask Helen Spellman how to get to the Hall of Fame. Helen had barely gotten into her directions to the hall, when the he-we arrived and asked why on earth Helen was bothering with giving directions to the lad. Helen, of course, was somewhat taken aback as she was accustomed to giving directions to everyone. Helen remained speechless until the he-we finally explained who the questioned was and that Christopher knew full well where the Hall of Fame was. We think Helen must have found the he-we, who was at the time the chamber treasurer, to be a trial.

We recently heard from former Cooperstonian, Diane Fetterman, who was happy to announce the birth of grandson, Brayden Matthew Fetterman, who checked in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. The son of Ken and Kristin Fetterman, Brayden has blue eyes and light brown hair for now. Diane thinks he looks like his father except Brayden is not a red head. Our congratulations go to the Fetterman family on their latest arrival.

We recently received a phone call from a reader who was curious about who the Foote family was for whom the recently renovated Foote house is named. We somehow thought that Foote was a doctor, but, since we were not certain, we called on village historian Hugh McDougall for his input. Not surprisingly, Hugh was ready with an answer. According to Hugh, Dr. Lyman Foote (1796-1846 - MD Yale 1816; a US Army Surgeon) married, in 1836, Mary Morris Cooper (1806/7-1876), the daughter of Isaac and Mary Morris Cooper. According to census entries, Mary Morris Cooper Foote appears to have been owner of the house from 1850 until her death, which suggests that she inherited it from her husband. Mrs. Foote's mother, Mary Morris Cooper (a daughter of Jacob Morris), was living with Mrs. Foote in 1850-60-70.

Mary Morris Cooper had had to sell Edgewater, where she and her husband Isaaac Cooper lived, following his death in 1818. Two of the Foote sons, Frank and Morris served in the Army during the Civil War. One was wounded and another captured by Confederates during the Civil War. And although both survived, Frank evidently eventually died of his wounds. We thank Hugh for all of this information and will no doubt call on him again in the future.

In closing, we note that the we-wee has finally succumbed to the cell phone industry and is the proud owner of a cell phone which we are happy to report has a "manners" setting for which the phone vibrates instead of ringing. We are, however, somewhat disconcerted by the fact that when he calls us, we are never certain where he might be. Last week we received a call only to discover that he was in Central Park in New York City and had encountered a statue which he thought looked surprisingly like the Indian Hunter here in Cooperstown. We were able to explain that the statue in Central Park is the original work by John Quincy Adams Ward and that the statue in Lakefront Park is a copy. There are two other copies of the statue, one in Delaware Park in Buffalo, NY and another in Oak Dale Cemetery in Urbana, Ohio where Ward is buried. Of course, not only do we not know where he is when he calls us, we also don't know where he might be when we call him. Our next call to him, several days later, found him at Ground Zero. We can't keep up.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

Where nature smiles,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.