Munson sisters remember life in early 20th century

One hundred years ago this past April 15, a woman from Holland married a man from Lansing in Beirut, Lebanon. They stood on a rug the woman had bought in Damascus, Syria.

Then, they traveled in trains across Asia Minor and then army trucks across war-torn Europe, the woman in front with the driver and the man in back with the troops.

They traveled through Constantinople, Turkey, Budapest, Hungary, Berlin, and then, from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, sailed across the U-Boat haunted Atlantic Ocean to New York City. They came to Lansing, where the man, Jasper Paul Munson, began farming with the woman, Johanna Huffnagel. She had never seen a farm before she settled on “The Old Miller Farm” on Munson Road.

“J. Paul” and “Joh” had a daughter, Johanna Cornelia, in February 1917, and then two more: Mary Esther in July 1918 and Jacoba Petronella Munson in July 1920. Mary is 98 years old now, and Jacoba is 96, but the “Munson Girls” have fond memories of growing up in Lansing.

“Our road was a mud road,” Mary said. “It wasn’t even Munson Road then, it was just a side road. When relatives would visit, I would take the horse and buggy down the mud road to meet them at the main road. In the spring, a scraper would come by and smooth out the mud, and we thought it was great.”

J. Paul became the principal (and Latin and algebra teacher) of Ludlowville High School in 1918 and, in 1920, the family moved up the road from the “lower place” to a larger house at 297 Munson Road.

Eight years later, there were six children in the family, the three girls and then the three boys: Jasper Paul, born in 1923; Phillip (“Pheep”) Huffnagel, born in 1924; and Fred Caleb, born in 1928. All attended the one-room “Newman District” schoolhouse on Van Ostrand Road, a mile and a half walk from home.

“Mrs. Bingham was our teacher for quite a few years,” Mary said. “She was grandmotherly and she would call me to her desk and ask for my glasses. She had a big box of clean ladies handkerchiefs and a special one for cleaning my glasses.

“We had a little more play time when we were in the lower grades, and I played outside with Charlie Volbrecht and Randell Tarbell. There was a gully behind the school and we would go down the hill to the creek. It’s always fun to play in a creek.”

There were 32 one-room school houses in the district. When J. Paul was elected district superintendent of schools for Groton, Lansing and Ithaca in 1921, he began a push to combine them. There were five separate consolidations which, in the end, reduced the 32 schools to two — Groton and Lansing.  The last year the Newman school was open, there were only two students there.

After grade school, the sisters went to Groton for high school.

“Groton was larger than little Ludlowville,” Jacoba said.

Church, 4-H, and school were the foundation of their social lives. The family attended services and Sunday School at the West Groton Congregational Church, and the girls were active in Vacation Bible School and the Youth Group. The “Wise, Willing, Workers” 4-H group met twice a month for crafts and once a month for business, and the girls also played in the school band — Mary played the French horn (with a fellow named Clarence Benson) and Jacoba the clarinet.

“We were very organized,” Jacoba said. “One day we would drive the Munson car and the next day we would drive the Benson car. We kept very careful books.”

“We would drive our car to the Bensons and then they would drive us into Groton,” Mary added. “Into the city.”

“Clarence played a very musical horn,” Jacoba said. “That was the main thing.”

Both girls went to college after high school. Mary began at Cornell in 1937, and majored in Home Economics. She lived in Carl and Ruth Lewis’ home on Linden Avenue for three years, going to classes and caring for their new baby, George. Jacoba went to Michigan State, sharing rides for the long trip there and back.

When Mary entered her senior year, she moved into the dorms and waited tables at Willard Straight Hall to pay for her meals. Clarence would come on Saturday nights to take her home.  “And I was so tired, I just wanted to go home,” Mary said.

Mary graduated from Cornell in 1941 and then taught school for two years in New Berlin. When she would come home, Clarence was still waiting to pick her up. They were married in 1943.

Jacoba graduated from Michigan State in 1943. She came home and applied for a job with Cornell Cooperative Extension agent Robert Baker. They were married in 1944.

Clarence was working at his Great Aunt Hattie Luce Buck’s farm when he  and Mary were married, and he continued to work there for 2½ years afterward. Mary worked as a traveling nutritionist.

In 1945, the couple stopped in at the Coon Farm on Lansingville Road. They had heard through the Farm Bureau that the farm was for sale. They took possession in March 1946 with six cows. They named the farm “Bensvue.” There was no indoor plumbing.

Clarence Charles (“Chuck”) Benson was born in 1946; Marjorie Jane in 1948; Johanna Marie in 1950; Sara Elaine in 1952; and Andrew Fay in 1954.

Jacoba and Bob went to Penn State and to Purdue before Bob came back to Cornell as a PhD in Poultry and Food Science to teach and conduct research. He wrote more than 290 research papers, he invented the process for making chicken nuggets and pioneered the sale of chicken parts, rather than whole chickens. And, he invented “Cornell Chicken,” the foundation of so many Lansing fundraisers.

The two started “Bakers Chicken Coop” at the New York State Fair — with more than 30,000 chicken halves sold each year — and “Bakers Acres,” a nursery in north Lansing. And they had six children. Dale Robert was born in 1946; Myron Munson in 1948; Kermit Francis in 1950; Regina Ellen in 1952; Maureen Diane in 1955; and Johanna Maria in 1958.

Today, Jacoba lives in her house near Baker’s Acres and Mary has an apartment at Woodsedge. Their families are partial and present, but the two share a secret sisters’ smile and a laugh, and their care for one another is remarkable.

They also have what is now known as the “wedding rug” from Damascus, which hangs on Jacoba’s wall. All six children of J. Paul and Joh, all of their grandchildren, and more than two dozen of their great-grandchildren have stood on that rug to be married.

Together, Mary and Jacoba have more than 30 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren. If you live in Lansing, the chances are very good that you know more than one.

Note: Frances Benson Wells’ compilation of her Aunt Mary’s memories, “Ninety-Five Years of Joy” was extremely helpful in writing this article.

Food pantry thank you

Nancy Myers, of the Food Pantry, sent in a note: "Thank You to all the volunteers who pick up bread,  set up tables, put out the groceries, help unload the truck, volunteer at Woosdedge for the Mobile Pantry, provide us with lunch, are always there for us — the list is endless of all the things that are done to make the pantry run smoothly.

"We have had recently three young ladies from Lansing, Morgan Wilcox, Delaney Hawkins and Samantha Myers, who volunteered in the baked goods and snack area. I had a number of clients say to me what sweet, mannerly and helpful young ladies they were.  I hope they come back soon!  Also a huge thank you to Tracy Orr Durkee and Karen Cole for helping us out at the last pantry — we also hope that they come back.My thanks to all of them!

"If anyone has school supplies to donate this year they can be left at Lansing Town Hall and the Lansing Market.  Thank You to Michelle Pronti for all the school supplies.  Lots of smiling faces on children who pick out what they needed for school."

The Food Pantry will be open on Monday from 10 to 11 a.m. at The Rink, 1767 East Shore Drive in Lansing. For questions about the Food Pantry, please call Nancy at 592-4685.

Music in the Park

This week’s concert will feature “The Destination Band,” a nine-piece dance band with a musical focus on the genres of R&B, Latin-influenced material, Swing, and Funk/Disco. The band’s “A-list” repertoire is built around the power of horns and three outstanding vocalists.

King Ferry Winery and Mega Moos Ice Cream will be on tap with treats for the older and younger members of the audience. All concerts begin at 6:30 p.m.; admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Lansing Town Talk appears weekly. Send your news and notes to Matthew Montague atLansingtowntalk@ gmail.com.