TUPPER LAKE — Heartfelt memories of happy childhood days prompted Carol Payment Poole to publish a book about her hometown, Tupper Lake Junction.
“Rising from the Swamp” chronicles the founding families of “The Junction,” also known as Faust. It has been a 10-year trek of reading old newspapers, combing through census records and contacting numerous people for pictures. Poole is pleased with the result.
“When I saw the book in print, I was absolutely amazed,” she said. “I couldn’t believe that my work culminated in a book that looked like a book.”
Poole said a previous book by the late Kelsie B. Harder, college professor of English at SUNY Potsdam, chronicled the Village of Tupper Lake. It concentrated on the businesses and not much on people or “The Junction.”
“I didn’t want to redo what Professor Harder had already written. I wanted to make it more personal, about the people, the fabric of the area and about Tupper Lake Junction.”
Historical records note that this area of Adirondack wilderness, eventually Tupper Lake, was first visited by a crew of surveyors, including one named Tupper. He liked the area so much he named the lake after himself. Hunters, trappers, fishermen and loggers came to make their mark. Many stayed.
“The first survey map of Tupper Lake Junction was filed in the (Franklin) County Clerk’s Office in Malone under the name of William N. Roberts,” according to Poole’s research. The index in Poole’s book contains nearly 170 names of families connected with the Junction, including Rushford, Savard, Burke, Jarvis, LaBlanc, Paiment, Hausen, Farmer, Fortune, Trudeau, Southworth and Keniston, to name a few. It also contains more than 90 illustrations.
Poole was born in the Junction 74 years ago. After graduating from Tupper Lake High School, she left the serenity of the Adirondacks for SUNY Albany to earn her teaching degree in English. Later in her teaching career, she had the satisfaction of returning to Tupper Lake High School as an English teacher for 13 years. She took great pleasure teaching another generation about English and her hometown.
“It was always home to me. I knew all the people, the store owners, the school staff, and my father’s family lived nearby,” she said. “We were always a close-knit family and community.”
She said there are a few errors, brought to her attention by descendants of families named in the book.
“The errors were mostly because the census or newspaper reports were incorrect for information like dates or ages. I accept this fact that I may have made some detail errors, but when I researched business information, I used the (Franklin) County Clerk’s Office very carefully, so I know that’s right.”
This isn’t the first time Poole has researched a book and seen her work in print. She co-authored “Places and Names of Franklin County, NY” with Harden, a book about name origins of towns and roads.
“Rising from the Swamp” has nearly 300 pages and can be bought locally for $28 at Larkin’s and Maroun’s stores, Sun Creations, Goss Nelson and the Wild Center, all in Tupper Lake; Adirondack Embroidery and Antiques in Bloomingdale; and the House of History in Malone. It is also for sale at the publisher’s website: www.bloatedtoe.com.
Email Susan Tobias: writertobias@gmail.com
