The Walworthians: Pembroke, Charles H.
The Walworthians: Pembroke, Charles H.
A collection of telephone interviews published in the Wayne County STAR Newspaper and Wayne County MAIL Newspaper, 1994-2009
by Kate Chamberlin
Charles H. Pembroke
January 15, 1997
Charles H. Pembroke is one of the people in our neighborhood. He was born in the farm house on the Sherbourne Road farm (which eventually became Charlie Hack’s farm. A portion of this land is being bought by the town as a green space.)
Charlie remembers one snowy winter watching his father walk to the barn. He bobbed IN AND out of sight twice in the snow drifts before young Charlie saw the barn door open. That’s a lot of snow!
Charlie’s Dad used a horse team and cutter to deliver the mail. Young Charlie would often ride with his Dad.
“I remember one time we were out on Plank Road, near Dan Frederick’s place,” Charlie said. “It was really cold, snowy and windy. The cutter hit a drift and turned over. I had to chase after all the letters that were blowing around.”
“That mail route is how come I know so many people in Walworth,” Charlie said. “The only person I wrote about in my book that I didn’t personally know was Mrs. Emily Huntley’s grandfather.”
He has a copy of his book with him in Florida and confirmed dates by looking them up in it. There’s also a copy in the Walworth-Seely Library.
In time, his family moved into town. Charlie attended the Old Academy in the cobblestone building for First and Second Grades. Then, for Third and up he attended the Academy.
He nearly lost his life when he was about 6 years old. He’d gone to the old mill with his Dad. Someone had left the grain bin chute door open. Charlie backed up and fell down with the grain that was about to be ground. Fortunately his absence was noted and he was hauled out just in time.
As a boy, Charlie had some leg problems. He had his father’s old hunting dog, Fritz, trained to pull him to school in a dog cart.
“I even had him trained to pull with a goat,” Charlie chuckled. “I used them as a team until one day the goat geed instead of hawed! There was a terrible fight. That was the end of that.”
He sold the goat, harness and all, to a State Trooper for $15.
He was graduated from high school in 1935 and began working with J. Seely. He learned how to be a mechanic on the job.
In November, 1929, he attended meetings of the Firemen with his Dad. There were about 500 people living in Walworth at that time. He became a charter member. It was the beginning of what became a life-time of dedication to the citizens in Walworth.
“We were working a barn fire south of Walworth, when the old truck just died,” Charlie remembered. “We had to get a new one really quick. A guy near Buffalo had a home-made one, so, we bought it.”
Milt Bradshaw and Charlie drove the open cock pit truck with two tanks and a pump on the back. It was so cold they nearly froze.
When Charlie was Commissioner of the Fire Department, plans were developed to build a new fire hall. Rosalyn Herriman designed the new fire hall shortly before her death.
What is now The Auction Hall, used to belong to the Firemen. It was used to hold fund raising events.
Many Walworthians remember round and square dances there. Actually, Charlie was playing the accordion for dances in Williamson when he met Bertha vanHouter.
They were married December 24, 1938. In due time they had two sons, Burton and Vaughan.
Charlie told me that in all their married years, he and Bertha have never had a really bad argument. (I’ll get her side of the story next time!)
His son, Vaughan remembers they were a “fire family”.
“In the early days, they didn’t have radios and telephones. The fire calls would come into Youngman’s Store or our home,” he said. We had to trip a siren switch. “I would then run across the street to write the location of the fire on a chalkboard.”
Charlie’s wife, Bertha, and Katie Youngman were organizers of the Ladies’ Auxiliary.
These and many other stories will be shared at the dedication in Charlie’s honor of the newest Walworth Ambulance on Sunday, January 19, 2 P.M. in the Walworth Fire Hall.
Come help us honor Charlie Pembroke, a Walworthian with the accent on WORTH.
2017 Up-Date: The Walworth Historical Society fund raiser features “Walworth, As I remember It” by Charles Pembroke. Charlie died in 2003