I live in a small village in north-western Pennsylvania. I am, by trade, a maker of custom fishing rods – particularly split-bamboo fly fishing rods. I was recently researching one of my favorite rod makers from the past, Mr. Charles E. Wheeler of Farmington, when I happened onto a newspaper article discussing how a large cache of historical documents had recently been discovered and turned over to the Farmington Historical Society. Some of these documents evidently included information regarding your famous past resident and hero of mine Charles Wheeler.
Upon discovering this I contacted Taffy Davis at the Farmington Historical Society and asked for any information about Wheeler that she could provide, especially regarding his fishing rods and factory, as well as a photo of Wheeler. The reply I got from Ms. Davis is the reason I am writing to you.
She provided me with everything that was available regarding my request by email and to my surprise she sent me even more documents and info through first class U.S. mail. She was extremely professional and kind to me. I can’t thank her enough. She even gave me info about other resources to further my research about Mr. Wheeler.
In my opinion it speaks volumes about the character of your community when she responded so professionally to a person she’s never met and isn’t even a member of your local community, living
several states away! I don’t mean to speak out of place, but it seems to me you folks are very lucky to have such knowledgeable and competent people staffing your historical society.
I once visited your town of Farmington about 10 years ago and found the area and the people there to be very nice. I was impressed with how friendly everyone was to me. You have a very pleasant community that I think would be a great place to live.
Thank you to Taffy Davis and the Farmington Historical Society for their time and expert assistance to an inquisitive stranger.
Sincerely,
Chris Lantzy
