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Newsletter of the Town of Porter Historical Society
Vol. 22, No. 3, November, 1998
Vee L. Housman, Editor
Come up to the museum and enjoy our display of beautiful old dolls. Helen Murray has loaned us her collection of dolls that she has accumulated from family and friends. See Shirley Temple in her doll buggy, Madame Alexander dolls, bed dolls, Gerber Baby doll, Kewpie dolls and antique dolls. They'll be on display through Christmas. Many thanks to Helen and to Gretchen Greene for arranging the display.
This is a very unusual story about three of our veterans of World
War II:
Infant Found on Tracks After Crash Brought Up as Ransomville
Physician's Third "Son"
There are six names on the plaque of the new memorial organ at the
Ransomville Baptist Church. Two are listed as the sons of Dr. John
C. Plain, but folks around Ransomville know the doctor really lost
three boys in the war.
It goes back 34 years. In October 1912, as the Smithson family buggy
approached the West Crossing, the horses shied, reared and then there
was a terrible crash. [Clarence] Smithson was thrown clear, but his
wife [Hanna (Schulze) Smithson] was mangled under the engine. The
freight with its 20 cars rolled past. Between the rails lay little
Raymond Smithson.
Dr. Plain was called. He glanced at the dead woman and spoke to her
uninjured husband before spotting the bundle of white on the tracks.
Tenderly he lifted the trembling infant into his arms. "Like a
frightened rabbit he was," said Dr. Plain, "his heart pounding and his
pulse racing." The four-month-old baby was just 11 days younger than
his own son, Gardner. That night Mrs. Plain had two sons.
Although relatives later claimed Raymond, the two boys were brought up
together . . . Gardner "joined up" first. On February 1, 1941 he
entered service, becoming a paratrooper with the 502d Regiment. About
a year later Raymond followed in his footsteps, joining the 505th
Regiment as a paratrooper. It was while he was in training at
Ft. Benning, Ga., that Raymond received word that the war had taken
the first of Dr. Plain's boys. Gardner was killed in a plane crash in
New England.
Now a corporal, the boy Dr. Plain picked up from the railroad tracks
30 years before stood at his side as his own son was lowered into his
grave in the North Ridge Cemetery of Ransomville [sic].
In January, 1943, Dr. Plain received his second message which began,
"We regret to inform you . . . ." Another son, Lieut. Roger M. Plain,
was killed in North Africa. Dr. Plain still had one boy in service,
Raymond.
Then came D-Day. Dr. Plain knew Raymond was in England. He figured
he'd be in on the invasion, and he was. His outfit was one of the
first to hit the beaches of Normandy. He wrote Dr. Plain about it.
Raymond fought some more. It was in January 1944, that the third
message came: "We regret to inform you . . . ."
That's how half the names on the plaque are Dr. Plain's boys. The
folks in the little parish knew this when they installed the $2,200
memorial organ.
"I wish they could be together again," said Dr. Plain. "Gardner is
buried in Ransomville, Raymond lies beneath French soil. Roger's in
North Africa. I'd like the boys together again--always."
When we think of the horse and buggy days, somehow we don't picture them quite like this:
YOUNGSTOWN. A team owned by Jas. Bradley of Wilson ran away here last week. They ran about one mile when they were stopped by running into a tree. Slight damages were done to horses, cutter and harness.
YOUNGSTOWN. While Fred Balcom, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Balcom, was leading a horse to water on Monday, the animal suddenly wheeled and kicked, striking him directly over the stomach, leaving the print of its hoof and rendering him unconscious. He is expected to recover.
YOUNGSTOWN. A horse owned by Seitz & Co., undertakers, Niagara Falls, ran away in this village Saturday night, breaking a rough box and medical case that were in the wagon. No other damage was done.
RANSOMVILLE. Walter Brockway of North ridge left his team attached to a wagon loaded with coal hitched in front of the Ransomville House Tuesday night and they became frightened and ran away colliding with a carriage driven by Walter Peterson. Peterson's vehicle was badly damaged but no one was hurt.
YOUNGSTOWN. A horse owned by Luke Tower of this town, ran away in Ransomville on Saturday afternoon, smashing the buggy into kindling wood and breaking the harness.
RANSOMVILLE. There was an exciting runaway and accident in front of the post office in Ransomville on Tuesday noon. The handsome team of blacks belonging to Postmaster Gentle, used on his undertaking wagon, became frightened at clothes flapping on a line in the yard at the side of Mr. Gentle's store and residence, and ran into the street. The wagon was partly filled with barbed wire that Bert Foster had been unloading. The runaways collided with a one- horse rig of an Italian peddler in the roadway. A five-year-old son of the peddler in the latter's wagon was thrown headlong to the ground and was painfully but not seriously injured. George Monohan and H. A. Swigert stopped the runaways. Mr. Gentle offered to engage a physician to attend the boy and to also give the Italian $5 in cash to settle for all damages, but the Italian wanted more money.
RANSOMVILLE. The team of William Hyde of Ransomville ran away at Randall Road station the other day and made things lively there for a little while. Mr. Hyde had taken a drummer from Buffalo with a load of trunks from Ransomville to L. A. Bradley & Sons' store at Randall Road and hitched the rig to a telephone pole near the store. The team became impatient at standing and broke loose, then ran into the field with rig jolting over stones and through ditches. A large trunk was spilled out upon the ground and the team became ensnared in a barbed wire fence. One horse was somewhat cut up about the legs and that was the extent of the damage.
YOUNGSTOWN. A well known farmer who resides east of this
village is receiving the merry ha! ha! from his many friends, as the
result of a little piece of forgetfulness on his part, the forepart of
this week.
He drove into town Monday morning and went from here to Buffalo via
trolley. He returned Tuesday morning, and upon going to a friend's
barn where he usually leaves his horse, he found that the animal was
not there. He then "hoofed" it home, thinking some one of the family
had taken the horse home again, but such was not the case.
Following an all day search, the patient animal was finally located in
the Murphy sheds where the farmer's tardy memory at last reminded him
that he had left the horse there.
RANSOMVILLE. The pleasant home of supervisor J. W. Thompson was the scene of a most delightful gathering on Thanksgiving Day. All of the members of the local branches of the Thompson family, 25 in all, were present from the aged mother to the wee great-grandchild -- the first time there has been such a complete reunion in several years.
The able host and hostess spared no pains in providing for the comfort and enjoyment of their guests and the happy joyous spirit with which they later entered into the pleasures of the day, could come only from hearts filled with gratitude for the past year of prosperity.
Shortly after noon the beautifully decorated tables were set forth and the guests seated. The hostess, assisted by Mrs. Calvert, served such a dinner as only a most perfect cook could prepare and such as one remembers for an entire year and to which all present did ample justice. From the table the guests repaired to the parlor, where, gathering around the piano, they poured forth their gratitude to God in songs of praise. Early in the evening the guests reluctantly departed, hoping that each might be spared to enjoy many more such Thanksgiving Days.
Contributed by Vee L. Housman, courtesy of Town of Porter Historical Society.
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