February 16, 2024
A 99 Year Old Photo
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This week's Musings from Main is a request for more information. If you can tell me more about these images, and more about Edward Bancroft, I would love to hear from you. |
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My quest for information all begins with the image below which I found in our online archival database. I was looking at pictures of snowstorms and a keyword search for snow turned up this image of a plane crash. I said to myself, "Oh my! What on earth is this?" (or something to that effect.)
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The description that accompanies the image says, "Plane crash in the snow, ca. 1925, in the Strong Road meadows. This image shows people and horses standing by the plane, which was a single engine biplane. Edward Bancroft. No injuries; put on sled to take to Main Street, then put on truck." |
This led me to search the database for Edward Bancroft, the only person mentioned in the description of the photo. The second image I found, began my exploration into various modes of transportation which overlapped during the 1920s. |
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The description that accompanies this second image says "Trolley car next to trolley tracks, being moved by four pairs of horses. Edward Bancroft picked up old trolley cars and delivered for use as sheds, workshops; camp one on Bissell Ferry and one on Oxbow Lane." |
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I begin to notice the common theme of horses emerging in these images associated with Edward Bancroft. This is further reinforced by the next image I find. |
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The description that accompanies this third image says, "Edward Bancroft with McCormick Reaper/Binder. Two horses and a mule. Behind Theological Seminary, 1920's." |
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Image of Charles Nielsen (L) and Linc Streeter (R) taken in June 1990
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My final research for this Musing led me to Charles Nielsen's First Oral History which mentions Edward Bancroft and contains an intriguing story about him. This interview was conducted on April 30, 2009 by Jean Klein. |
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"...Ed Bancroft up here used to tell me—he was about my age when I was a
teenager. He was a teamster, and during the winter instead of going down to Hartford and across the bridges into Hartford they would go directly over the frozen Connecticut River into Windsor. In those days the test of manhood amongst teamsters seemed to be who had enough nerve to be the last team across in the spring." |
During the interview, Klein takes the time to have Nielsen explain what a teamster is.
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KLEIN:
"Just for the record, people don’t understand in this day and age what teamsters are. They know, of course, they drove a team of horses, but what did they carry back and forth?"
NIELSEN:
"All kinds of things, merchandise."
KLEIN:
"Farm produce."
NIELSEN:
"Yeah, anything that had to be moved. In those days the roads—well, it’s only been recently since they started to put in the roads that the roads were travelable. Freight was hauled by local—what they called teamsters. In my time, or early before my time, the wagons were pulled by horses." |
Now that I know he was a teamster, the presence of horses in all of the pictures associated with Edward Bancroft is more understandable, but after all of my research for this Musing, I still have many questions...for instance...Was Bancroft the pilot of the plane? or as a teamster are those his horses in the image that towed it back to Main Street on the sled? Other than trolley cars, and possibly planes, what else did he deliver with his team? Did he cross a frozen Connecticut river to deliver goods? Did teamsters of the times really compete to see who would cross a frozen river in the spring? And if they did, did Bancroft ever "win" the spring thaw competition?
If you have any information about the stories behind these images, or if you can answer any of the many questions I have after researching them, I would love to hear from you! |
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