Over the past decade, genetic genealogy graduated from pioneering research to one more tool in our family history arsenal, but just as the number of us taking DNA tests has grown, so have our genetic options. Renowned genealogist, author and TV and radio guest, Megan Smolenyak, will discuss Trace Your Roots With DNA at the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society's upcoming annual meeting. Smolenyak has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, the Early Show, CNN, NPR and BBC. In additon to consulting on shows ranging from Who Do You Think You Are? to Top Chef, Smolenyak is the author…

In an October 2011 Patch article I wrote: "A late-1800s local newspaper noted that when a resident of Millburn (or a member of St. Stephen's Church) died, the church bells would toll once for each year of the person's life. I wonder how many people tried to bribe the bell-ringer to cut short some of that ringing when the inevitable day arrived for them." And, "St. Stephen's Church was - and is still - such an important integral part of life in Millburn that it embraced residents of all religious denominations within the walls of the church and its social hall, at a time when meeting places …

What IS that in the attached photo? A church? Under another building?  On Sunday, April 29, from 2 to 4 p.m., members of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society will see and discuss this and similar photos at the second program in the society's Architect's Salon Series. Local architect James Weill will explore architectural and urban design examples from our community and from around the world that have used different approaches to address this challenge of approaching new construction in an historic setting: Do you exactly match new construction to surrounding homes/buildings? Do you …

William Ingraham Russell was likely the wealthiest man in Short Hills when he lived there from 1879 to 1893. Although his autobiographical book, The Romance and Tragedy of a Widely Known Business Man, never reveals his occupation, it suggests he was a commodities broker. His career success and his growing family brought him to the community he called Knollwood, which he saw growing from the ground up as he passed by on the train every day. The Russells moved first into a modest house that still stands at the intersection of Wells Lane and Knollwood, and of which he wrote: "Of course we must …

While going through a 1939 scrapbook that belonged to a young NJ woman (not from Millburn), who chronicled her activities while in college, a page of rare Short Hills memoriabilia was uncovered. The items of interest that were pasted into the scrapbook were from the Short Hills nightclub known as The Brook and they add to the very small store of information about the restaurant, which was completely destroyed by fire in 1947. William C. Wallace built the original mansion (seen here), allegedly in the early 1900s, although a definitive date is not available. It was built on family-owned land …

As can be seen in this photo of Stella Worth Jones in about 1917, she was an enthusiastic suffragette. The banner across her dress asks for JUSTICE and her sign says: “The men of twelve States and Alaska have given their women the ballot. Will you not be as fair as those men?” A 1917 Melrose, Mass. article about Stella notes that “Miss Stella Worth Jones of 245 Porter st, daughter of City Clerk W. de Haven jones, has gone to New York to conduct a two months’ campaign, under the auspices of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. She will later return to do Americanization work in this …

The varied wildlife in my neighborhood is one of the most enjoyable perks of suburban living–hawks, skunks, raccoons, opposums, wild turkeys, countless common and uncommon species of birds, chipmunks, (harmless) snakes, flying squirrels, foxes, rabbits, deer, box turtles and much more. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, however, one young resident of Short Hills appreciated that wildlife for the income it provided him. The Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society recently acquired a copy of Al. Nunan's Trappers' Supply House catalog for 1953-1954. A search for information about the unusual …

A June 1969 newspaper article from the Associated Press notes that Millburn resident J.J. Mascuch lived in Just a Simple Mansion With Many Treasures—and, indeed, it does seem to have been a mansion filled with a great many treasures. The article notes that “A tour of the Mascuch villa is like a trip through Disneyland and New York’s Metropolitan Museum combined.” The author relates that when they walked past a closet in Mascuch’s library, the owner “gleefully hauls out a canvas sack filled with ore” from a privately owned gold mine that Mascuch “believes may prove to be one of the richest …

In the mid-1950s, when my husband was in the third grade, he saw a repaired patch of asphalt in the playground at his school. An older boy told him that the circle was a target where the Russians were going to drop the atom bomb--and he told him that it was going to happen at a specific time that day. My husband ran to his grandmother's yard nearby and stood there, watching and waiting for that bomb to drop. The threat of nuclear attack from Russia, during the Cold War, brought back memories of many similar moments, for me in my elementary school and my husband in his school. We both had …

When my husband was a little boy, his home in central New Jersey had what they called 'ductless heat.' For him and his brother, that usually meant no heat. The boys' bedroom was on the third floor, but the heat was on the first floor. The coal-burning stove was in the basement and right above it was a large iron grate, through which the heat generated by that stove rose - without any ducts. As hot air does, a little of that heat rose from there up the narrow stairway to the second floor. What the warm air did not do was then turn and go up the narrow stairs to the third floor where he and his…

A 1970s oral history interview with former Millburn resident Herbert Marshall described a frightening incident from his childhood on Wyoming, when a herd of cows was being walked from the pasture in the South Mountain area to the dairy near the upper part of Wyoming Avenue. A new-mother cow was frantic when she heard the cries of her young calf, who was being driven back to the dairy in a truck. The mother panicked and broke out of the herd, looking all over for her calf. That triggered a stampede of the entire herd, which ran over lawns, porches, streets everywhere, and, Marshall added, "the…

As Millburn residents hunkered down in anticipation of the disaster was soon to be brought by Hurricane Irene, a 'new' item in the collection of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society brought to mind another long-ago tragedy incurred in the course of the 1780 Battle of Springfield. This 1905 booklet seen here commemorated the 125th anniversary of the June 23, 1780 Battle of Springfield. Millburn was part of Springfield at that time, and 125 years later Millburn residents joined Springfield residents once again, to remember the battle that destroyed lives and residences in the town. The …

As we limp from one paralyzing heat wave to the next paralyzing heat wave, many visitors to the historical society museum reflect on what it was like before we had air conditioners at home, work, or in our cars and trains. It may surprise many Millburners to learn that as recently as the mid-1980s, summer commuters crammed into uncomfortably stuffy, hot Erie-Lackawanna trains that were not air conditioned and often had windows that would not open--and if they did open, they might suddenly slam down on you. A very recent new/old donation to the collection of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical…

In 1958 in the US: -- the average yearly income was $5,100 -- the average cost of a new house was $12,750 -- average yearly wages were $4,600 -- a Ford could be purchased for around $2,000 -- gas could be purchased for 20 cents per gallon -- tuition at Harvard  was $1,250 per year -- the new TV game show Concentration premiered and the George Burns and Gracie Allen show ended after 239 episodes -- Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, and Sheb Wooley’s Purple People Eater dominated the top singles for the year -- movies that opened in 1958 included Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Vertigo -- the …

A telephone caller to the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society this week asked if the society had any photos of the recently-demolished Chanticler. The caller was told that the archives housed a great many photos of the popular catering site, but when the caller arrived at the museum at the Short Hills train station, he indicated that he wanted a photo of the outside of the building as it was shortly before the building was demolished--and of all the photos in the collection, not one was of the recent outside. Do any Patch readers have any recent photos of the outside of the building, to …

The online FreeDictionary defines a patriot as someone who loves, supports and defends one's country. At 9 a.m. on July Fourth, in Taylor Park, lifelong Millburn resident John "Jake" Dalton will be the recipient of the 2011 Patriot Award, to be conferred upon him because of his many years of love, support, commitment, hard work and defense of his country and community. Jake continues to live in the same Millburn Avenue house that was built circa 1894 and bought by his grandfather, James Dalton, in 1913, when the street was an unpaved dirt road traveled by horses and carriages. Jake was born …

When the local elementary schools visit the museum, or when the historical society goes to the elementary school, for a talk about local history, the students learn about the Battle of Springfield and its pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. Of inevitable particular interest is the role in the war of our "short hills" of the Watchung mountain range. The students learn that General Washington suspected the British and Hessian soldiers would try to make their way to his army camped at Morristown, where the ring of mountains around their encampment provided a measure of protection and where …

The plaque on the boulder in front of town hall notes that: "The last and deepest thrust towards Morristown and Washington's supplies was stopped here by the American militia on June 23, 1780. After a punishing retreat, the British never entered New Jersey again in force." In her epic history of Millburn Township, author Marian Meisner asked how Springfield became a battle ground "...and of what importance was this village of a few score people and their widely scattered homes to his majesty's forces to compel them to make several attempts to capture it? Two very good reasons may be simply …

At Sunday's Hillside Avenue house tour sponsored by the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society, guests were treated to history of the area and the connections of the past. During a PowerPoint presentation on the history of the Hillside house and its original owners, they also got to see rare photos of the mansion that later became enveloped by the Chanticler. One of the original owners of the Hillside Avenue home, Wilbur F. Denman, was an avid amateur photographer and a many of his print photos and film and glass negatives were donated to the historical society by Anne Gallitelli Smith and …

 An empty envelope – a letter without an address – and a 14-year-old girl create a mystery of sorts and some clues to early Millburn history. No house numbers or street names were needed when mail was sent to Millburn in 1866. An envelope sent to Odessa Reeves of Millburn is simply addressed “Millburn Post Office, Essex County, New Jersey” and was likely claimed at the post office by someone in person – as was the custom in the post-Civil War township, where the population numbered around 1,500 people.  Marian Meisner's history of Millburn Township, which can be read online at the Millburn …