I was in the Research Center when a donor came in with some items and was speaking with Norm Carlson. My attention was piqued when I overheard that the donation was a wonderful portrait of a WWI Veteran and then his name, Harley Barstow. I couldn’t help blurting out, “I knew Harley Barstow in Frewsburg, but he was a younger Veteran.” The donor confirmed that WWI Harley had a son named Harley Jr.
I happily went off to look for the Barstow name in the Chautauqua County Veterans Listing Project, which consists of many yellow cards which were filled out in the late 1990’s to the present time by Veterans, their families, or volunteers who extracted info from obits, etc. Both Harleys were documented, and I gave the donor a copy of each. I was excited to see on Harley Barstow Sr.’s yellow card, that he had been a member of Co E, 108th Inf., which left from the Jamestown Armory when they entered WWI service. His name is listed in the History of the Fenton Guards, as having left with the unit. Also this year, a photo was loaned for scanning that shows the Co E men lined up in front of the Armory prior to marching up to the train station, so he must be in there. There are so many young and slender faces shadowed by their campaign hats, it’s hard to be sure.
The WWI folder in our vertical files supplied the wonderful information I was hoping for. A copy of a petition sent to the City of Jamestown, which was filed on July 14, 1919 by the newly formed Ira Lou Spring American Legion Post, was located in the file. In the petition they were making clear that now that the City had purchased the Fenton Mansion and property to serve as a Soldier and Sailor Memorial Park, work needed to begin shortly to make the transition from family home to a public meeting place for Veterans. Listed on page 4 of the signatures of the members of the Ira Lou Spring Post is Harley Barstow. Four years later, on July 4, 1923, the first Veteran meeting was held. These Veterans were the Veterans of the Civil War, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), and the young men who were preparing their own meeting space on the third floor were heartily thanked for helping to prepare the Fenton Drawing Room for these Old Soldiers. The Ira Lou Spring Post Veterans had worked diligently to move the desks, chairs, portraits, and many other items from the previous GAR meeting place to the Mansion.
How nice it is that items, such as this portrait, can make their way through time and come back to the Fenton, where this young Veteran was a vital part of our own history.
