The Sanders Homestead

 

Among the first settlers of Galway were John and Moses McKindley.  They settled this farm in 1774.  Arriving from Galloway, Scotland, it is fitting that the first Scotch Church stood on this farm, south of the house near the Charlton town line.  The Church today, the West Charlton United Presbyterian Church located at the corner, a mile south of the house, is still referred to by many of the local people as the Scotch Church.

After cultivating the land, the McKindleys built their homestead.  It is believed that the wind of the present house was the original home.  The main section of the house was added later with construction completed around 1790.  The farm was self-sufficient, as all farms were in the early days.  Moses McKindley remained a bachelor while John married and was the father of eight children.  The five McKindley daughters were deft spinners and weavers and one of their reels, used for skeining yarn, remains in the house.

The last McKindley daughter, Lilla, rented the farm on the first day of January 1876 to Frederick Sanders whose family had migrated to America from Prussia, when he was an infant.  Lilla lived her remaining 10 years on the farm occupying the parlor and parlor bedroom.  Lilla enjoyed reminiscing to the Sanders about the early days on the farm.  One of her favorite tales was that of the Mohawk Indians venturing out of the woods in back of the house and shooting at their pigs.  After Lilla’s death, Mr. Sanders purchased the farm from the McKindley heirs.

The original homestead remains almost unchanged.  Fred Sanders added the front porch at the turn of the century.  The only other changes made in the name of modernity was the conversion of the pantry into a modern kitchen, while half of the parlor bedroom is now the bath.  The Christian doors, latches, wide floorboards, back-draft fireplaces, including dental mantel in the dinning room are all original…as are the built-in cupboards in the living room and dining-room and the wide pine wainscoting in the old kitchen which features a dutch-oven.

A few of the Sanders home antiques were purchased from the McKindleys.  The Chippendale mirror in the dinning-room hands in its original place.  The set of six Hitchcock-type chairs in the living room feature their original stenciling, which is believed to have been painted by Ranson Cook of Saratoga.  The white painted chair next to the piano was Lilla’s, as was the cherry drop-leaf table in the hall and Steeple clock.  Local antiques include, Galway jug, and the desk in the dining room, which was built, by either John or Ormel Cook before 1840.  The Seymour chairs made in Troy were patented in 1862.  Among the antiques, which have been added to the home, are the Peterson, Currier & Ives, and Wallace Nutting prints in the living room.

The “back room” with its dutch door connects the old kitchen and central hall.  This room was originally used for churning butter.  Butter was made here first in the dash churn, which pre-dates the swing churn, which all predate the sale of milk and Dennisons Store.  The room features a splatter dash floor, which were popular in country homes immediately after the revolution.

 

Phylllis Keeler, Town Hisorian

From an article by Tom Cwiakala