In 2019, the Fredonia Shakespeare Club lost a beloved member with the passing of Patricia McQuiston.

Throughout her 50 years with the club, McQuiston offered her talents and skills, and she left behind an array of papers and notes. These included a play which McQuiston wrote and directed in 1985, commemorating the club’s first 100 years. McQuiston’s research was based on extensive review of articles published in 1885-86, in the “Fredonia Censor.”

Current club members decided to honor McQuiston (and relieve “COVID-weariness”) by presenting the play, under the direction of club member Joyce Haines. The virtual presentation took place on January 21.

The play revolves around two original members of the Fredonia Shakespeare Club (“Mrs. Green” and “Miss Blair”), as they discuss news items found in the “Censor,” pertaining to other club members and village events. These characters were energetically portrayed by Mary Croxton and Dr. Irene Strychalski, garbed in period costumes and hats. Some highlights from their chat are as follows:

On August 26, 1895, the Censor reported that: “The G.A.R. had a gathering at Chautauqua. Five hundred veterans from all over the county came to hear speaker Clinton R. Fiske, who had known General Ulysses Grant personally. All the hotels and boarding houses were full.” The play noted that The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans who served in the American Civil War.

On September 30, the paper enthused that “Madame Carlotta ascended in a hot-air balloon at the Fairgrounds. The audience was delighted”; and that “After today, if you write to a place of over 4,000 inhabitants and want immediate delivery, affix a 10-cent special delivery stamp to the regular postage and the letter will be delivered on arrival by special messenger any time up to midnight.”

The annual reception of the Fredonia Library Association was announced on February 3, 1886: “The library, consisting of 1,500 well-selected books, belongs to no one class, but is designed to benefit the whole community. The public is urged to take a lively interest in it and support and promote its prosperity. Supper, furnished by the generous citizens of Fredonia, will be served. Come and have a 50-cent meal for 25 cents.”

Readers were informed that: “There will be a meeting of the Pomfret Prohibition Club at Temperance Hall on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. All interested in overthrowing the liquor traffic are earnestly requested to be present,” and that “All members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union are requested to pay their annual dues of 35 cents as soon as possible.”

In March 1886, the Censor reported that: “The Fenner Hose Company is pleased by the action of the trustees to purchase a new carriage for $695,” and in April: “The annual squirting to lay the dust on the streets has commenced. It is very nice when not overdone, but some keep at it until the mud is worse than the dust. A man who starts out with a clean buggy feels like cursing every time he passes the residence of one of those everlasting hose pipe sozzlers.”

Another complaint was registered in August 1885: “Silver Creek is having a hard time with Sunday picnickers from Buffalo. Last Sunday a fight broke out between roughs at some of the parties, resulting in cuts and bruises for many. Decent citizens must be protected against this type of visitor.”

McQuiston’s play paints a vivid picture of life in Fredonia, circa 1885, and the lives of the ladies who made up the original club. This interesting glimpse into village history was followed by a discussion of the Shakespeare Club’s activities during its second hundred years, up until 2021. The play concluded with an invitation to “unmute your microphones and enjoy some conversation, as the ladies have done for one hundred and thirty-six years.”