The inscription on the stone reads: "John, died Sept. 9, 1865, aged 9 years, 6 months; Eliza, died Sept 14, 1865, aged 4 years, 9 months, Catharine, died Sept 17, 1865, aged 11 years, 8 months, children of J. & E. Markel."
George Hartman, one of the oldest residents of Browns Corners, whose farm is near the cemetery, gave the explanation of the four deaths in such a short time. "The Markel family were thrifty people, Germans, of course, who had their home down below where my farm is located, and off the gravel road leading to Cattails Corners on the Ogdensburg State Road," he said. "I was about six years old at the time and diphtheria raged in this section giving a fright to all families, especially those with children. The disease struck in the Markel home and the first child, John, died Sept. 9. The other three died within a month. "My brother, John Hartman, a youth at the time, acted as one of the bearers for all four children. The children were buried side by side and the one stone erected to their memory. I recall there were two children who lived. A daughter is still living, the wife of Frank Haller, superintendent of the Town of Orleans. They reside right by the old German church at the Orleans-Clayton line." Frank Dickhaut, a resident of the Corners, whose land surrounds the cemetery at Browns Corners, tells a little of the early days of the Corners and of the locating of the cemetery there. His grandfather was the late John Dickhaut, Sr, a pioneer settler at Browns Corners. It was in the pioneering days of Browns Corners that the rich land holder, Mr. Francis DePau, a wealthy merchant in New York City, had purchased fifteen great lots in Penet Square and other lands in Alexandria township. He pictured Browns Corners as a possible village site and gave the land for the cemetery from his holdings. A stone fence was built around the cemetery but as there were no caretakers for the place, the weeds and briers grew in a tangled mass in much of the ground. Some years ago the Hartmans, Dickhauts and Nicholas Cook, who had a farm near by, cleaned up the place and raised money to build an attractive iron fence at the front with and arch and gates around the place. "When my grandfather live here, Browns Corners was quite an industrial center," Frank Dickhaut declared. "There was a blacksmith shop, a saw mill, a tannery, an ashery, a school house, a Methodist church and a toll gate just below the school house. "Now we have three tourist homes and eating places, and two stands were agents in summer seek to sell tickets for boat trips around the Thousand Islands. Four generations of the Dickhauts have lived here on lands the pioneers selected for homes."
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