For a number of years, the Emily L. Knapp Museum in Brockport has been the home of two taxidermy golden eagles. Although they were treasured artifacts, the museum had limited space in which to display both of them. For a short time, one of the eagles was on loan to the Clarendon Historic Society. The only information the museum had was on a scrap of paper indicating that one of the eagles had been prepared by Nathan Locke Davis and was part of the William Palmer collection.
After further research on Ancestry.com, it was discovered that Nathan was the child of Mary A. Locke, born in the town of Sweden in 1840. Mary married Walter Davis in 1875. Their son Nathan later settled in California and became a taxidermist. The Locke family’s history in Brockport and the town includes both the Covell and Comstock families.
Recently, Dr. Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer, curator at the Morgan-Manning House, has turned one of the building’s display rooms into a bird sanctuary in honor of Gifford Morgan who had a special fondness for wildlife and birds in particular.
Gifford, D.S. Morgan’s youngest son, settled in Brockport and eventually acquired the Blodgett property on the east side of Lake Road in Clarkson. By restoring the original Blodgett millpond and excavating a second basin, Gifford created on his land what he hoped would become a wildlife preserve and a sanctuary for migrating birds.
The room at the Morgan-Manning House now showcases many bird pictures and dioramas prepared by local taxidermists David Bruce, George Guelf, and Carl Akeley, and it seemed a perfect location to hold and display he eagle.
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