The contents of late restaurateur Chris Fay’s house in Waddington includes his antiques collection and, says Blanchard’s Auction Service, a trunk full of documents of historical interest found in the attic, some of which will be donated to local museums.

Blanchard’s Auction Service will have an auction in Potsdam on Saturday for some of Fay’s antiques.

The documents were from the 1850s through the 1870s, and included journals, diaries, letters, land deeds, receipts, letterhead, contracts, banking documents, St. Lawrence County mining records, Waddington postcards and much more, mainly pertaining to people and events in St. Lawrence and Jefferson Counties.

Some of the notable names in the documents are George Parish of Ogdensburg, Loveland Paddock of Watertown, Z.H. Benton of Antwerp, Dr. Thatcher of Potsdam, Thomas S. Clarkson of Potsdam, and New York politician and Civil War general Daniel Sickles. There are also many Nicholville and Ft. Jackson turn-of-the-century pin-up posters advertising events such as baseball games and ice cream socials. Blanchard’s says there was also a St. Lawrence River shipping journal and documents from the 1870s naming various steam vessels.

The documents were discovered by Blanchard’s Auction Service while picking up the antiques from Fay’s house in Waddington. Fay was well known as an antique collector and amateur historian.

Chris Fay, who died last September at the age of 66, owned and ran several restaurants around the North Country during his career, including his last, in Waddington, one on Market Street in Potsdam where Tardellli’s is now, and in Hannawa Falls, where the Shoreline is now.

Blanchard’s says every room in the stone house was packed to the ceiling with an abundance of antiques leaving just pathways throughout.

Auctioneer Kip Blanchard and Chris Fay’s family have decided that some of these paper goods should be donated to local area museums and historical associations. St. Lawrence County Historical Association President Carlton Stickney and Assistant Director Sue Longshore, along with Kip Blanchard, spent several days going through thousands of documents to determine which to donate.

Blanchard’s Auction Service, on the Potsdam-Morley Road, will be handling all of the antiques from Fay’s estate with the first of three auctions on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. in Potsdam.

For more information visit www.blanchardsauctionservice.com.