William Grant Harkness was a local dairy farmer. He was born in Delaware County in 1871, the son of a long line of Irishmen who hailed from Armaugh, Ireland. William came to Cayuga County before 1920 and settled on Wise Road where he remained until he died in 1956. Though not actually located in the town of Cato, his diaries make note of many people from the Cato area. Listed are the names from 1934:

G.L. Applegate, George Babcock, Ed and Leslie Bevier, Wallace Bradt, Frank Briggs, Harriet Carncross, Dr. Cooley, Otis Cooper, Nellie Cutting, Mortimer Dallas, William, John and Thomas Dalton, Ed Deforest, Herbert and Gordon Downie, Bert Dunham, Walter Dudley, Claire Emmerick, Jason Fuller, Elvina Gauger, Bill Griffin, Fred Groot, G.C. Gumaer, Eugene Halicy, Lucille Hapeman, Rev. Homrighouse, Floyd Horn, W.H. Hutchinson, Clarence Kelley, Wayne Keysor, Irv Lamoreaux, William Legg, Silas Lincoln, Frank Loader, Frank Longley, Fred Marsh, Herbert Marshall, Steve Melnick, Charles Millis, M.T. Mount, Paul O'Neil, Guy Parsons, Rev. Pritting, Fred Pople, Jarvis Reynolds, Marjory and Dorothy Slater, Harold Smith, Frank Spoor, Herman Stoll, L.A. Taber, Paul Taylor, Palmer Titus, Gladys Timerson, C.E. Turner, J.H. Van Doren, Ada Vreeland, D.R. Waggoner, Lloyd Wallace, H.G. Webster, Dave Weldon, Sam Wells, Elmer White, John and Roy Wilkes, Harry Whitford, George Wise, Carl Wolford, Charles Wood and John and Glen Wright.

If you recognize any of these names and would like information, call the Cato historian at 834-6306 or e-mail evatay@localnet.com.

From the Cato Citizen, October 1935:

Fire Destroys Barn On John Van Doren Farm

“One thousand bushels of grain, 75 tons of hay, a valuable bull and machinery were lost in a fire that destroyed a large barn on the farm of John Van Doren near Cato Wednesday night.

“The fire was discovered by Mrs. Van Doren at about 6 o'clock, less than five hours after threshers completed their work and stored the last load of grain in the building.

“The blaze began in the straw stack on the east side of the barn and had gained considerable headway before Mrs. Van Doren saw it and notified her husband and farm hands who were milking cows in the basement of the barn.

“Cows were driven to safety, but the bull and a heifer were burned to death. The barn also contained several tons of straw, farm implements and a wagon.

“Cato and Meridian fire departments fought the flames for several hours. A concrete silo near the barn, one of the largest in Cayuga County north of Auburn, remained standing, but the ensilage stored in it was still burning fiercely late Wednesday night.”

John Van Doren lived on Brick Church Station Road which is known as Short Cut Road today. This is one of many unfortunate events referenced in the W. G. Harkness diaries which span more than 22 years.

The historian and her assistant will be indexing these diaries over the coming months. Any comments from the public are welcome.