Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
Historian's Corner
March 25, 2016
Photo: Chadwick Gerow (L) and Rex Hadley (R) (Rex Hadley was the first man from this town to fall in combat, shot by a German sniper while defending a line of trenches in the Dickiebusch sector in Belgium and died several days later.) I received an interesting query recently and it concerned a World War 1 soldier, Sgt. Chadwick Gerow (1890-1918), who had been associated with the E. M. Hastings Co. of Lacona and during this period made the Thomas House his home. He appears in the WW I book compiled in 2004. The request for more information on Chadwick Gerow as the Blooming Grove Church (origins back to 1759) is preparing to honor veterans with a stain glass window. November 1918: M. S. Prescott, editor of the Holstein-Friesian World, in that journal pays the following high tribute to Sgt. Chadwick Gerow with whom he was closely associated for several years. Gerow was the Associate Editor of the Black and White Record, has died a hero’s death on the battlefields of France, enlisting as a private in the National Guard in July 1917, his promotion has been steady. He was a clean cut American. To know him was to love and respect him. A superb athlete, he was long active and very successful in Boy Scout and Y.M.C.A. work.
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| His Holstein connections were originally with the E. M. Hastings Co. Later, in partnership with E.A.Harrington, the firm of Harrington and Gerow was formed, and a successful pedigree business was conducted at Madison, Wisconsin. In 1915 his firm was combined with the E. M. Hastings Co. and he became a partner, in active charge of the pedigree department. He was also as mentioned above, an Associate Editor of the Black and White Record. In addition to his other activities he was an enthusiastic lodge worker, having advanced in Masonry to the honor of a Sir Knight of the Temple. In his own Blue Lodge he was filling the post of Senior Deacon with credit at the time of his enlistment. He was also Worthy Patron of Lake Ontario Chapter, No. 124, O. E. S. The details of his death have not been received, but we know without being told, that he died as he had lived, with honor to himself, his God, and his country. (M.S.P.) His obituary reads in part: November 1918: Word reached here last Friday, through William A. Prescot that Sgt. Chadwick Gerow had fallen in the first real battle in which his company engaged. His home was in Blooming Grove, Washingtonville, Orange County, New York where his parents reside. He enlisted with Rex Hadley and William A. Prescott . |
Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
1992 Harwood Drive
Sandy Creek, NY 13145
315-387-5456 x7
office hours: Friday 9am to 2pm
www.sandycreeknyhistory.com |
