To maintain the expanding trucking & farming businesses Charlie decided to build a workshop. To do this he built a large addition on an existing farm barn. Because there was a post WW 2 shortage of building material [& to save a buck] he bought the old Reeds Corners Baptist Church in 1949, then located near the intersection of Ontario Co. NY Rt. 18 & DePew Rd.

    With the help of brother John & others they took the building apart. They only had hand tools, a farm tractor & Charlie’s trucks for equipment. First they removed the roof. Somehow known only to God they got the steeple down in one piece. Then standing on ladders they hand sawed the side walls from the eaves to the sills. The author saw them do this. Then they loaded the sections on to Charlie's trucks & hauled them up to the farm where they were attached to the barn. Charlie bragged he had the only shop in the county with varnished wainscoting.

THE CHURCH

THE SHOP- in 2007

    The shop looked much better when it was first built in 1949. The steeple ? It was brought to the farm where it became a grand pig pen ! Alas, there are no photos of this gem. Charley used nearly every stick of wood from the old church. As he said “I bought every thing except the preacher”.

    His first can hauling truck, a 1940’s Brockway. It was originally a long wheelbase job with a cab-over wood box. He shortened it into a tractor & built the trailer shown here. Standing on the running board is daughter Connie. Photo about 1946.

    As time went on he added some new tractors, the first a 1948 Ford “Big Job” & some better trailers, all “remanufactured” by him to the maximum size allowed by law. He also added a fleet of Ford 1 1/2 & 2 ton long wheelbase trucks fitted with dump boxes. A couple were new, but most were used late 1930’s & early 1940’s. They were used to haul produce from farm to food canning factory. Charley had several “cowboy” drivers to help him out. This was seasonal work, so during harvest season all the trucks were run full tilt. Both Charlie & the boys were paid by the load, so it was work “28 hours a day , 8 days a week”. During the off season, cans were hauled to fill the warehouses, some odd hauling jobs & putting the bedraggled fleet back together.

The proud owner of a new 1955 Ford C.O.E.

    On Feb. 25 1957 Charlie & Orabelle bought a 140 acre farm on West Swamp Rd. in Potter Yates Co. NY. It was known as the Wm. Rector Farm & was located on the east side of the road near the intersection of Bootes Rd [green dot]. On the property was a house, some farm barns, a bank of gravel, a hill of pure sand & some swamp land. Orabelle’s parents, Clarence & Hazel Bergman moved in to the house. Charley cleared off the swamp land & used it to raise peas & beets. Other cash crops were also raised.

On Sept. 18 1961 they bought a 1.9  acre lot adjoining the farm where they built a new home.

    On Dec. 15 1960 they sold the farm at #4762 NYS Rt. 247. Charlie had sold the trucking business, keeping one of the big Ford tractors which he converted into a dump truck. He used that truck to haul around a Caterpillar tractor & digging farm ponds & other custom jobs. He continued to work the Potter farm & opened up the gravel & sand pits. This went on until they sold the Potter farm on Sept. 10 1965. He kept the rights to the sand & gravel pits for ten years & continued to work them. He also went to work for the Town of Potter Highway Dept. driving snow plow.

    On Nov. 8 1976 they bought some land off Upper Hill Rd. in town of Middlesex ,Yates Co. NY. This bordered the Middlesex Spring Co. pond. There they built a new manufactured home. Charlie did all the excavating & septic system himself. He also built a pole barn/shop down along the Upper Hill Rd.   He continued to do excavating work & to drive tractor-trailer for Dudley Poultry Co. of Middlesex.

    The green dot is the location of the Upper Hill Rd. property. On Oct 23 1979 they sold the West Swamp Rd. property.

    It was not all work & no play for them. They managed to go on some vacations. Out to California to visit brother Merrill & other relatives. For some years they spent a couple of winter months at a small cottage they owned in Leesburg Florida. They even went to Holland to visit Charlie’s grandson who was in the Air Force. 

    As time went on Charlie’s health started to decline. In his mid 60s he developed emphysema. To many cigarettes, to much diesel smoke, etc. He had many other aliments & injuries from overwork. None kept him from working or doing something right up to the end. The end came at Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua NY on March 23 1983 at age 72. He is buried in Gorham Cemetery, Ontario Co. NY. R.I.P.

    After Charlie died, Orabelle moved into a new mobile home on Castile St., Rushville NY in 1984. In the same year she sold the Upper Hill Rd. property. She lived on Castle St. until she died Nov. 11 2003. Orabelle was born in Italy Yates Co. NY, March 17 1914 the daughter of Clarence & Hazel Herrington Bergman. She is buried Gorham Cemetery next to Charles. R.I.P.

Some of Charlie’s philosophies: ”There are no bad jobs, just better ones”.

                                                         “Put a dollar sign in front of it and i can add faster

                                                         “If i can’t get work, i’ll buy some”

A story told by Charlie’s Uncle Charles Edwin Blakesley: “Alice [1st wife] helped him make his first dollar & Orabelle has still got it”. Uncle Charley was not one of Orabelle’s favorite people.