Historian's Corner



Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
Historian's Corner
February 14, 2014

Photo: Stock Cars Racing on Sandy Pond Ice

Dr. Samuel Crockett was a veteran of the civil War. His biography in the Oswego County History says his medical education was interrupted when he enlisted as a cavalryman. He was in 34 battles and had six horses shot under him, but he was never wounded. However, he was taken prisoner and spent several months in a Rebel prison, and his health never fully recovered after that ordeal. He died in Sandy Creek March 23, 1906 at the age of 69 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. His wife was Frances Doolittle, who died in 1926, is also buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Their son Dr. Robert Crockett was born in Sandy Creek February 23, 1876. He was a graduate of Sandy Creek High School in 1894 and of Syracuse University in 1897. He practiced medicine here until about 1911, when he moved to Oneida, but even after moving away he continued a schedule which brought him to Sandy Creek at regular intervals.

He was an eye, ear and throat specialist, his office was at first in his home on East First Street, and later in the office maintained over what was the Foderer Market (south Main Street – bottle return today) in Sandy Creek. Dr. Crockett was a major in the Army Medical Corps in the First World War. He was always interested in natural history and in his later years participated in expeditions to Mexico, Yucatan and the Gaspe Peninsula. He died in 1946.