Last summer I made plans to visit friends who live on Seneca Lake (near Watkins Glen) in upstate New York's beautiful Finger Lakes region. Along the way I stopped at some antique stores and wineries to look for insulators and a good bottle of wine to bring as a gift. As I drove past a road side sign I saw the name Jeptha Wade. After the brakes unlocked and I regained control of my car I turned around and recorded this image.

Throughout New York the State Education Department has erected signs highlighting points of interest or historical information. Apparently State Ed. felt Mr. Wades birthplace was worthy of a marker. Jeptha Wade was the youngest of nine children born to Jeptha and Sara Wade of Romulus, NY. While he pursued many occupations including carpentry, tanning, woodworking, landscape and portrait art he is best known for his involvement with the telegraph.

In 1847 he became a subcontractor in the telegraph business. Then in 1849 established a telegraph office in Milan, Ohio and later he organized the Cleveland Cincinnati Telegraph Company. Jeptha Wade became the third President of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1866 but resigned from the W.U.T. Co. a year later due to failing health. The Wade family is very prominent in the history of Cleveland, Ohio and land donated to the City by Jeptha Wade as a public Park carries his name. For a pictures and a short history of Jeptha Wade's life go to http://library.case.edu/ksl/ecoll/exhibits/chp /jeptha1.html

During his career in the telegraph industry he developed a network of telegraph line through the West and Midwest called the Wade Lines. The wooden covered Wade Insulators used on many of these lines are among of the hobby's most important insulators. Wade insulators were used on the first Trans-Continental Telegraph Line, completed in 1861.

For those visiting the area the sign is on State Road 414 between MacDougall Road (I'm not sure why, but that name has a familiar ring to it.) and Marsh Road in Romulus NY, directly between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. While I didn't discover any good insulators in the antique stores that day I did discover something that we all can enjoy.

Pictured below is a typical Wade, with the glass insert showing at the bottom. Although the dry climate ill parts of the West helped preserve some wooden covers, most are quite weathered after 140 years of exposure to the elements.