New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-29
The home of John d. and
William Rockefeller in 1850
while they went to school at
Owego Academy


Kansas and see the cousins. am 20.
ing to write Cousin John that while wa
are able to pay our honest debts and
get along respectfully. we haven't anv
money for pleasure, and that want to
go and see our Western cousins She
did SO, and at once received a check for
$3.50 from Mr.. Rockefeller, with which
she made the trip. l never personally
met John D., but I have always re-.
spected his great ability and his kirali-
ness to his relatives"
William H. Finn, Of Richford, told
the following story:
~ lived near third or fourth cons,n
Of John D. when he lost his cow-Ais
only COW. This cousin was very po.r
man, and he deeply felt the loss. 4
was suggested that he write John D.
for money to buy a COW. He did ~.
asking for $50. He got letter back
lnclosing check for $50 with sug-
gestion by Mr.. Rockefeller that $50
was too much to pay for COW, and an
other suggestion that if he tried hc
could buy good COW for less, and if he
did so, Mr.. Rockefeller wanted him to
return the unspent balance. The cousin
got a good new cow for $40 and re-
turned $40 to John<D. Soon after that
check for S25 was sent to him. and
until the end of his life he received a
pension OF $25 month from John D.
lie probably would not have got It il
he had failed to send back the change"
The story of the visit of the Rookie
fellers to Owego would not be COM
plete without Miss Kate Roche in il
MISS Roche for many years has been
an important part of the Ahwaga. and
the old Ahwaga itself is an institution.
1t Is one of your old-fashioned hos
tierles, with large rooms and high CELL
lngs. 1t was here years ago that Sem
ator Thomas c. Platt, at about the
time that Senator Depew was a candi-
date for United States Senator. held
his buckwheat pancake breakfast. Two
or three hundred Republican politi-
clans, with a bunch of reporters. came in
on special trains from around the state
and sat down to a pancake breakfast
that began at 10 o'clock in the morning
and lasted until in the afternoon
John F. Ward was the manager of the
hotel then, and he is the manager now.
Kate Roche was the head waitress then.
and she is the head waitress now.
John D. and William Rockefeller have
known her for years, and 50 do John
D., Jr, and Percy and the others.
Kate was at the side o, the Rookie.
Teller brothers when they sat down to
eat at the Ahwaga on Tuesday and
again on Thursday, after the return of
the visitors from Ithaca and Watkins
Glen.
They've been coming here, old and
young and little and big, for the last
thlrty-five years." said Kate "Mr. John
ID. and Mr.. William are very smart men.
and they are very nice to plain people,
Mr.. John D. told me that he never had
such nice trip before in his life as
the one he had here. And Mr.. William
said the same thing. And, more than
that"-and here Miss Roche assumed
an air of almost regal superiority and
dignity-"this time they all stayed
over night at the Arlington, in Bng-
hamton, with fourteen rooms for four
teen people, and when Mr. John D. was
leaving he said to me that he had had
such a good time that the next time
ne comes, and that will be next year, he
IL going to stay overnight here at the
Ahwaga, with all of his party. He GER
tainly knows a good hotel when he
sees 1T. And more than that" added
Miss Roche, as fitting finale to per-
feet day, she said that he never tasted
better custard pie than | served him
to-day"
The Rockefeller party went from
Owego to Ithaca, where they took a
look at Rockefeller Hall, one of the
show places of the college town, and
from there they went to Watkins Glen
for Wednesday night 1t is said to
have been the first time the brothers
ever were in Watkins Glen. They re-
turned to Owego for the midday meal
on Thursday. John D. Rockefeller Wis
tied Owego about twenty years ago.
being unattended at the time. He
looked up few of the men he had
known as boys and inquired about
others. William Rockefeller visited
Owego last in 1910. He was on a spe-
cial train with President Truesdell of
the Lackawanna Railroad. James Still
man. John D., jr, and others. At that
time he took drive around town and
stopped to look at the old home at Hia-
watha Island. The day was in Nove.r-
Der, and it was cold and dreary. This
time it was different. as June in the
Valley is time to make
nature lovers enthusiastic. Wherevsr
they went, the brothers expressed the
greatest pleasure over their trip and
over the beauties of the country they
had kraversed-