BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN NEW YORK STATE 17 



cucumber timber about six by eight inches, hol- 

 lowed out on the inside and moulded on the out- 

 side, and these, when spiked under the eaves, not 

 only served to convey water but formed a very 

 respectable cornice as well. They did efficient serv- 

 ice for more than thirty years. At the time I was 

 born there was also a barn, a long cow stable, a 

 wagon-house, a wood-house, a stone ash-house, a 

 smoke-house and an out-door brick oven. 



THE FAMILY 



Such knowledge as I have of my forebears on 

 both sides indicates that they were farmers, almost 

 without exception and chiefly of Welsh and Eng- 

 lish extraction. Some of them fought in the Revo- 

 lution but, so far as I know, without particular dis- 

 tinction. My maternal grandfather, Joseph Bur- 

 roughs, was born in Hunterdon County, New Jer- 

 sey, probably about 1769. He appears to have 

 begun life as a school teacher, for a certificate of 

 his superior qualifications exists in the Roberts fam- 

 ily Bible, owned by Ralph P. Roberts of East Var- 

 ick, New York. The certificate is signed by twelve 

 Dutch school trustees. It is known that the Bur- 

 roughs family emigrated from New Jersey to Cen- 

 tral New York in 1812 and settled in Seneca 



