by Roy Crego
Photographs of early Adirondack guides are rare, and when found, they often show elderly gentlemen, not the young, active men who are described in contemporary journals and newspaper articles.
Thankfully, some artists were among the early visitors to the Adirondacks. In 1871, the Rev. Frederick B. Allen sketched a likeness of guide Abner Daniels.
Abner P. Daniels was born October 1, 1824 in West Turin, Lewis County, NY, to William and Clarissa Daniels. His middle name is not known, but the initial “P.” was used regularly throughout his life.
On October 8, 1851, he married Jerusha Sheldon. Abner appears on the tax list of the Town of Lee, Oneida County in 1854.
By the time of the 1860 census, he had settled into a farmer’s life near Fish Creek, Lewis County, NY, where he owned 73 acres. In that year he was also paid $15 for serving as Town of Lewis assessor.
But fortune did not follow the Daniels family. Jerusha died in 1864, followed shortly thereafter by an infant child.
Their son, Paul S. Daniels (b. c.1855), died at age 20.
These tragedies may have led Daniels to take up the life of a wilderness guide.
On October 26, 1864, Abner Daniels stopped in Moose River Settlement at the Lawrence Hotel, a popular rest spot along the route to Old Forge.
This may have been one of his first trips to the Adirondacks, but in later years Daniels became a familiar face in the region.
He often guided parties of sportsmen along with George C. Ballard, Dwight Grant, Gus Syphert, John Van Valkenburg and Paul S. Crego.
Daniels and the others are named as Fulton Chain guides in E. R. Wallace’s Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks (1878).
On August 28, 1874, Daniels was again recorded at Moose River Settlement, guiding a party that included H. G. Miller of Chicago.
Sportsmen like Miller learned the ways of woodcraft from the guides, and the guides in turn learned about hunting and fishing opportunities nationwide.
An 1878 article published in the Utica (NY) Morning Herald mentioned that Daniels was active along Michigan’s Au Sable River.
The article described him as a “still hunter”—one who tracks deer by stealth rather than one who uses dogs, a practice later outlawed.
In 1880, the Adirondack writer Nessmuk (George Washington Sears) provided a clue as to what may have drawn Daniels to Michigan.
Nessmuk quotes guide “P. Jones” (perhaps the Paul Jones also listed in Wallace’s guide) as saying that in the off season, when some Adirondack guides chose to hunt deer for market, they would travel to the Au Sable region.
In December 1880, the Morning Herald of Utica, reported that Daniels sent B. P. Graves of Boonville “a fine specimen of the wild cat variety . . . frozen for mounting from Michigan.”
Around 1880, Daniels and fellow Fulton Chain guides George C. Ballard and Paul S. Crego moved to Michigan and settled in Iosco County in the Au Sable watershed.
Daniels was one of many “freeholders” who signed the petition that was adopted on January 17, 1885 for the creation of Reno Township in Iosco County. Daniels had purchased (1883-84) 160 acres there from the State in Sections 34 and 35.
Daniels, however, continued to roam. The railroad made travel easier in the late 19th century, and it was no surprise that he was back in Boonville, NY, visiting old friends on March 18, 1889.
He is reported to have spent eight years on Michigan’s northern peninsula, and on the 1900 census is shown there in Crystal Falls, Iron County, as a 75-year-old boarder with the Margison family.
In September 1900, he returned south to Iosco County, MI, and died there in the house of Paul S. Crego in Whittemore on February 5, 1901 at age 76.
His occupation was listed as “mechanic” and the cause of death was paralysis.
A week before his death, he deeded 40 acres in Section 35, perhaps the last of his land holdings, to Paul’s wife, Eliza Crego. He signed the deed with his mark.
An obituary published in the Boonville Herald stated he was a half-brother of Paul Crego, but this appears to be an error.
Paul S. Crego (1828-1905) was a son of Samuel H. Crego (1793-1861) and Lucy Daniels (1792-c.1868).
Paul Crego was also the informant on Daniels’s death certificate and provided two different parents for Daniels—the previously mentioned William and Clarissa Daniels. Abner Daniels and Paul Crego were more likely first cousins.
Abner P. Daniels was buried in Reno Cemetery, Iosco County, MI, on February 8, 1901 after a funeral that began at 10:30 a.m. A narrow stone monument, approximately three feet tall, marks his grave.
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The author is a descendant of Roy G. Crego (1879-1955).
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Sources:
1860 Census, Lewis, Lewis Co., NY, page 448.
1900 Census, Crystal Falls, Iron Co., MI, ED 75, Sheet 23
Crego, Richard C., The Diary of Richard Crego of Boonville, New York, 1889, edited by Roy Crego (1983), page 13.
Death Certificate of Abner Daniels, Michigan Dept. of Health.
Deeds Recorded, Journal and Republican, Lowville, NY, Sep. 7, 1882, page 3, col. 6, accessed on www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org.
“The Deer Question,” Morning Herald (Utica, NY), Dec. 14, 1878, page 5, col 8. Accessed on Fultonhistory.com.
Funeral Announcement, Tawas (MI) Herald, Feb. 8, 1901.
Hotel Register, Lawrence Hotel, Moose River Settlement, NY, microfilm, Adirondack Museum.
Iosco County (MI) Deed Books 7:625; 35:496; 35:431
Lewis Town Accounts, Journal and Republican, Lowville, NY, Dec. 26, 1860, page 2, col. 8.
Obituary of Abner P. Daniels, Boonville (NY) Herald, Feb. 28, 1901, p. 5, col. 1
“Oneida County Towns,” Morning Herald (Utica, NY), Dec. 9, 1880, page 2, col. 6, accessed on Fultonhistory.com.
Reno Township Centennial Committee, History of Reno Township (1985), page 1.
Sears, George Washington, The Adirondack Letters of George Washington Sears, Adirondack Museum (1962), page 77.
Town of Lee (NY) Tax Assessments 1852-1858, accessed at http://oneida.nygenweb.net
Wallace, E. R., Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks and Handbook of Travel, Waverley Publishing Co., 1878, 6th Ed., page 261.