| Notes |
- If you have corrections and/or updated information on this person please contact Roz Edson at MrsEdson@gmail.com
Newspaper article.
From Pelham, Ma. library.
Written in October 1915 (Name of newspaper not given)
[Heading] NEVER SAW CITY STREET NOR EVEN TROLLY CAR
"Aunt Fannie" Horr Has Lived for 78 Years in Her House in Pelham Hollow, Being Away Only One Night in That Time.
Out in Pelham Hollow, famous as the haunt of hunter and fisherman, there dwells a woman nearing four score years, who is remarkable and interesting for what she has not seen and where she has not been, for, with the exception of one night 61 years ago, when she was 16 years old, she has spent her entire life in the house she now occupies in the Hollow.
She is Miss Fannie Maria Horr-- "Aunt Fannie" she is called by those who were brought up here-- and she is throughly satisfied with her lot. She is in good physical health, for she cut five cords of wood this simmer, and carried it from the woods to her house and sawed it up there, and she complains of nothing except failing eyesight, which makes it difficult for her to read her Bible, the one comfort she misses.
Within 25 miles of Springfield lives this woman who never has seen a city street, never has seen or used a telephone, never has seen a trolly car, has ridden in a steam train just once, when she was a little girl; never heard a brass band, never saw a circus parade or a motion picture show, who has heard a phonograph but once, and then asked that it be stopped because the record was a musical one, and it reminded her of the only times when she had heard music--the funerals of her relatives; never saw an electric light, or a gas light; never saw a camera, so that she did not know the picture shown on this page was being taken when the instrument was directed at her; in fact, here lives in peace and contentment a woman who knows less about the world about her than the average child.
"Aunt Fannie" was born 78 years ago in Pelham Hollow, in the house where her neice, Mrs. Gertrude Hanson, now serves appetizing dinners to starving fishermen. She spent her life serving and helping others, and she tells the few people she permits to talk with her that it makes her feel lonely to have no one left to do things for. She has cared for many members of her family, who have passed on, and her life has been so busy and so useful that she has had no time to go very far from the Hollow, which explains why she knows so little about how the rest of the world lives.
Her only train ride was from Northampton, more than three score years ago. "Aunt Fannie" and another girl from Pelham Hollow obtained work in a mill in Easthampton. They drove to Northampton from the Hollow, and there took the train. One day's stay in Easthampton made them so lonely that they laid awake all the night, crying as though their hearts would break, and the next morning they walked back to Northampton and made their way home to Pelham Hollow, where "Aunt Fannie" has stayed ever since. Her only journey's for many years have been the four-mile walk up hill to Prescott Center, where she gets what groceries and supplies she is in urgent need of.
"Aunt Fannie" does not find life in the Hollow wearisome, for long ago she learned to be contented. She knows there is much wickedness in the cities--so she is glad that she does not have to live in one. She knows that the air is clearer, the stars are brighter and the trees and fields are greener in Pelham Hollow than they are in Boston or Springfield or any other crowded hive of humanity, so she feels that she is blessed. She knows that God always has been with her in Pelham Hollow and who knows but that they might not be so near together elsewhere? So "Aunt Fannie" dwells in calm serenity in her little old house in the Hollow, where the morning sunlight strikes a little later than it does on the hill-tops, and where the evening shadows fall a little earlier than they do in the cities--where only the automobiles of fisherman and hunters disturb the peace of nature, content that she has lived so long, glad that she has been blessed with good health, and knowing that no soul can say she ever did ill to a living creature.
(Note: Photo of a slight woman, long sleeved, long skirt, dress of the day, standing timidly, outside the door of her home (looks to be a very simple cabin).
Cemetery:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Horr&GSiman=1&GScid=91487&GRid=64528151&
[[The following census information was compiled and contributed by Joyce S.
Living with parents in 1850.
1850 Census: Pelham, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
Fanny M. age 11, bp MA
Living with mother in 1860.
1860 Census: Pelham, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
Fannie M. Horr, 22, Massachusetts
1870 Census: Pelham, Hampshire, MA, PO Belchertown
Fanny Horr, age 31, bp MA
Rebecca Horr, age 25, bp MA
1880 Census Place: Pelham, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
Household:
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Fanney M. HORR Self S Female W 41 MA Keeping House MA MA
Rebecca HORR Sister S Female W 36 MA MA MA
Note both sisters are single in 1880.
Note their census is on the same page as her sister-in-law Martha and Martha's daughter.
Also have: born 1837.
Written as Fanie and Rebbecca HARR.
1900 Census: Pelham, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
Fanie M. Horr, head, Oct 1844, age 55, single, bp MA, p's bp MA
Rebbecca Horr, sister, Oct 1838. age 61, single, bp MA, p's bp MA
1910 Census: Pelham, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
image 5 of 10
Fannie M. Horr, age 71, single, bp MA, p's bp MA, Braider- palm leaf hats
No others listed in household.
Note sister Rebecca is not living with Fannie.
Transcribed as HARR
1920 Census: Pelham, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
Fanny M. Horr, head, age 81, single, bp MA, p's bp MA, Farmer
No others listed.
Next household to Gertrude G. Hanson, age 50, divorced, bp MA
Is this her niece Gertrude, dau of sister Martha?
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
1838 - 1923 (84 years)