The Anderson Family Serves Up Hospitality With Nostalgia | News, sports, jobs
A stay at Tree’s House, located at 1410 Peck Settlement Road in Jamestown, combines a showcase of the home’s history with enough new adaptations to make it deeply comfortable, yet nostalgic.
In his earlier years, Magnus had purchased three properties to set up his farm. They were Peak and Fish Farm on Peak’s Settlement Road and Eaton’s Farm on Keanton Road. He built a new house in 1912 on the former fish farm to replace one he had moved across the road.
Kevin Anderson’s grandson tells a story his father, Richard, told many times. The story goes that when Shorty, alias Magnus, was setting off to California on a cattle drive, he didn’t have money for a train ticket. He happened to find $20 on the ground and then was able to continue on his way. While in California, he contacted a bank in Jamestown where he hoped to obtain a loan to purchase the animals. was the bank’s wired response “Give the little Swede what he wants.”
Jenny Nilsson, who was working as a maid in Chicago, met her future husband on a flight back from Sweden, after both had returned home to visit family. Their friendship began on the ship when Magnus helped Jenny locate her chest. The couple married in 1905 and had three children. Magnus died in 1934 at the age of 77. Now Margaret, Dick and Bill, the children he shared with Jenny, were young adults. Since it was in the midst of the Great Depression, the young men had to work hard to keep the farm going. They have come up with many creative ways to make money. Among them was the commencement of excavations and a milk road to the town of Jamestown, which they did by horse and cart. They also hauled WCA hospital waste and sold several parcels of land along Route 60 (an extension of Foote Street) where many small businesses are located today.
The Magnus Anderson family, in the back row, are Jenny, Richard, and Margaret with William and Magnus in the front.
Jenny’s sister Ellen and son Dickie move into the house with Jenny. Magnus and Jennie donated the Peck Settlement Road property on which Stillwater United Brethren Church is built. A large painting of Jesus presented in memory of Dickie, who was killed in 1945 at the Battle of the Bulge and buried in France, still hangs in the church. The church is now the home of the Koinonia Christian Fellowship.
Jenny’s three children remained in their parents’ home until adulthood. Margaret was a guidance counselor at Jamestown High School and later became dean of women at Otterbein College. She returned to Jamestown to take care of her mother while serving on the advisory board for the new Jamestown Community College.
Dick studied agriculture at Cornell University. He had an appendectomy at WCA Hospital a few years later. His nurse was Teresa, a 1944 graduate of WCA’s three-year nursing program, from Cornell University. The couple married on Christmas Eve 1949, after which they spent their honeymoon in Florida and Cuba. They had three sons, Richard (Rick), Jr., Don and Kevin.
Rick was an engineer and Christmas tree farmer before his death. Don was a dairy farmer on a home farm and worked for the Carborundum Corporation. Kevin also stayed on the farm and expanded the vegetable business that their father and Bill started in the 1940s selling sweet corn.
Dick and Bills, an Anderson Brothers farm, was known in the area for its registered Holstein cows.
Magnus Anderson
“The two brothers had a great influence on many of the boys and girls in the neighborhood who worked on the farm,” says Nancy Anderson. “Bill never married. His complete devotion was to cows.”
The family still possesses a note Teresa received from a friend at the time of Dick’s death showing how hard the brothers had worked to save the property. He reads one of the writer’s lines “They saved the farm through courage and hard work.”
Kevin Anderson and his wife Nancy still use Magnus Yellow Barn for their Anderson Produce business. The famous landmark on the corner of Route 60 and Peak Settlement Road is passed by thousands of vehicles each day as they travel to Jamestown, Friosburg, Falconer, Poste, and the many small businesses along the way. And who didn’t stand near him when they stopped to buy produce or freshly baked pies or cookies from Anderson’s roadside stand?
“Client, old man, stop at the stand,” Kevin shares. “All the kids in the neighborhood have bikes,” he said, “but I did, because we didn’t have the money. Your dad (Dick) gave me money for a bike and said I could fix it.”
Since Theresa’s six siblings lived far away, it was common for her to have guests at home. A few years after her death, in keeping with the tradition of hospitality, Kevin and Nancy opened the house to guests. It got off to a slow start due to the onset of COVID-19, but has become a meeting place for many families to reconnect after things opened up. Guests have likened it to “staying at Grandma’s house.”
Jenny Anderson
“It’s set up and perfect for renting out a whole house,” says Dave Williams, Anderson’s brother-in-law and host/property manager.
It is an ideal place to live when families come to the area for weddings, funerals, vacations and reunions. Breakfast can be served, if requested, but families and groups who rent the house tend to prepare their own meals.
“We’ve found a niche market with families,” Nancy adds.
Williams handles reservations and any physical property needs. Mrs. Anderson does the cleaning during the off-season. Housecleaners are hired from strawberry season through pumpkin season, when the stand is open.
“There were a lot of other people who pitched in to help,” says Williams.
As an architect, he has an interest in doing remodeling and upgrade projects, so he’s done a lot of the work, including a beautiful bathroom remodel.
“We’ve tried to keep the house very much the way Teresa had it and worked, because the guests enjoy it the way it is,” she says. He says.
“And we have this wonderful house to use when our family comes home,” His sister-in-law boils in. “And that was one of the reasons we did it.”
The guests asked the owners not to change the character of the house, especially the cozy kitchen with its large corner booth where family meals have been enjoyed for decades.
The house has many large windows to let in natural light from the outside. Apart from the private areas, there are several spaces that can accommodate all occupants to gather.
There are five bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. They are named after some family members and each decorated with a theme. There are two bathrooms with thought of adding more.
At the end of the day, an outdoor seating area with a fire pit and barbecue facilities await guests who wish to roast hot dogs, make s’mores, observe fireflies, stargaze, or just enjoy watching the fire. A few lawn games are provided, as well as Lego games and puzzles.
The trunk with Jenny Nelson’s name plate is still in the house’s attic.
“Although the house has Swedish roots, Teresa has Armenian heritage, so she provided recipes that she and her siblings make together sometimes,” says Nancy Anderson.
Parties interested in reservation information on Tree’s House Guest Accommodation can visit www.treeshousebnb.com or call 716-450-9251.
baklava
12 sheets of phyllo dough
2 c chopped almonds
2 cups of chopped walnuts
1 c sesame seeds
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3 tablespoons of honey
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (for brushing the dough)
Full gloves
syrup
2 c water
1 c honey
2 c sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon peel
1 lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds, cinnamon, ground cloves, and honey in a bowl. Brush 4 sheets of filo dough with olive oil and place on a baking tray. Spread one-third of the nut mixture evenly over a layer of filo sheets. Repeat twice until you are done with the nut mixture. cut into squares. Place an entire clove in the middle of each piece. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Prepare the syrup while baking the baklava.
syrup
Combine water, honey, sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon peel in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then let it simmer for 15 minutes. Leave it to cool until it becomes warm. Remove lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Add lemon juice. Pour over the baklava after removing it from the oven. Leave to cool before serving.
Armenian meat dolma
(or stuffed grape leaves)
Ingredients for the meat mixture
Preferably 2 1/2 pounds of ground beef, beef and lamb
1 liter of yellow onion, cut into cubes
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
2 tons of tomato paste
1 t smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Combine all of the above ingredients in a large bowl.
Additional components
2 tons of olive oil
1 gram of onion, cut into cubes
1 leek cubes
3 c cooked rice
1 teaspoon ground spices
1/2 cup freshly chopped parsley
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
16 oz grape leaves jar
1 24 oz tomato sauce
1 lemon
Sauté onions and leeks in olive oil until translucent. Combine the prepared meat mixture with sautéed onions, leeks, rice, allspice, parsley, salt and pepper. Grease a large Dutch oven or pot with olive oil. Use any imperfect grape leaves to double layer the bottom of the pot.
Start filling in the leaves, using about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the widest part of the leaf. Fold and roll sides from base, saving enough leaves to layer over dolma. Layer in bowl, packing loosely. Put lemon juice on top of the dolma. Cover with tomato sauce, then remaining grape leaves. It is covered with an inverted board resting directly on a dolma and then covered with a lid.
Start cooking over medium heat with the lid open to release steam as needed. As liquid bubbles around the edge of the plate, reduce the heat to low. Cover completely and cook for 1 1/2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure there is enough liquid.