Family Trappers

Anna Maria (Flansburg) White was an accomplished trapper. Most trapping done in the Adirondacks was for the purpose of selling pelts to the local tanneries. The most commonly trapped pelts were muscrat, rabbit and mink, although many other species were also favored by the tanneries. Anna taught her skills to her daughter Jessie Belle Dayton who used to trap more for amusement and to put food on the table than she did commercially.

Listen as Chip tells how his grandmother taught Jessie Belle how to trap partridges.

One day Grandpa Dayton proved he was a better trapper than Grandma…and not only did he trap, but he actually used “Dayton ingenuity” to invent the method. To digress,let me explain “Dayton ingenuity”. When Dayton brothers were suddenly faced with a problem at the sawmill they didn’t look up a “fix it man” in the telephone directory. Instead one brother said to the other, “let’s noodle on this until we come up with a solution”. To use an old business cliche, they thought “out of box” until they found the answer…that is what they called “Dayton Ingenuity”, and it always surely was. Let’s listen as Chip tells us the method.

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