The Ghost of Mary Persons in Stony Creek
During a brisk, autumn afternoon in November, I gathered a bag with a notebook and headed northwest toward Stony Creek, New York. I drove down Luzerne Road, venturing deep into the mountains before descending toward the Hudson River. The autumn colors of the leaves popped along the sides of the road, whisking past as I rode along the rural roads. I passed by Rockwell Falls in the hamlet of Hadley, with a small library and a general store, turning onto Stony Creek Road and stopping at a small building emblazoned with a crest that read, “Stony Creek Town Hall”. Parking in the small lot, I noticed a rickety farmhouse to the left and a church across the street.
Walking into the Town Hall, felt like stepping back in time, a large table on a raised floor up ahead and Radio Shack speakers attached to the wall on either side. In front of the raised floor stood a table and chair, musicians, Frank Orsini and Dan Hubbs, playing music nearby on the left. There were twenty people seated on folded chairs around the room when I found an empty seat near the front. Within a couple minutes, Cindy Cameron of the Stony Creek Historical Society, gave an introduction, commenting about the incredible work that historian and librarian Frieda Toth has undertaken to tell the story of Mary Persons. She stated that there would be questions after the show along with coffee and food, whisking into the audience while Frieda strolled on stage.
Frieda was dressed in the typical dress of a housemaid in the late 1800’s. Speaking as Mary Parsons, she reflected on a life filled with hope, tragedy, and redress. Mary, or Melissa, as the play eludes, was “a common-law wife of Jones Ordway, a prosperous Adirondack lumberman,” and the play details her unique living situation in the 19th century. While the play was a one woman show, Frieda’s classical training cultivated a suspension of disbelief as she interacted with historical figures.
Mary was the youngest of four siblings, born in 1833, and lived as a housekeeper in Indian Lake, New York. She gave birth out of wedlock with Mr. Ordway to three children, though all three died at a very young age. Mr. Ordway’s first wife, Clarissa, lived in Glens Falls, and he split his time running his lumbermill between the two places. With a large donation to the Young Men’s Christian Association, Jones Ordway’s name is dedicated to an incredible building on Glen Street, known as Ordway Hall. Currently, the building houses a local cafe known as Spot Coffee. (As Frieda pointed out, be sure to look for a curiously decorated sculpture on the top right of the building) At the end of Jones Ordway’s life, he left money for not only Carissa but Mary as well. She used the money to build a house that eventually became a convent and built a mausoleum that still stands as the tallest memorial in the Indian Lake Cemetery. As Frieda noted, Mary’s desire to have the tallest mausoleum in cemetery was cultivated from a desire to redress those that looked down on her in life.)
Through an hour and a half, Frieda crafted a living exhibit that whisked the audience back into the life of a 19th century housekeeper and highlighted the technological advancements that we take for granted, like running water and overhead sprinklers. There was a humorous incident involving a kitchen fire alarm during this performance after she explained Mary’s astonishment to the sprinkler systems. As I have learned from perusing the Warren County Historical Society’s records of old businesses, fire hazards were a constant worry until the beginning of the 20th century.
Her play about Mary Persons encapsulated Frieda’s impeccable talents as a historian, classical trained singer, and acting prowess. The legacy of Mary, while mostly forgotten in history, reminds us that life can surprise us, whether in tragedy or redemption. Frieda ended her play with an audience discussion, where a member of the audience noted that he was a great relative of Jones Ordway. She is still looking for avenues to perform her play in the coming years, but her life has led to other avenues. Not only does she work as a community engagement director at the Crandall Library, but she just finished a published book entitled James, Route 9, and Me. Look for it wherever books are sold, or perhaps in your local library.
