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Casket plant to Broadalbin
Inaugural Farm to Table Tour today in Montgomery and Fulton counties. Sunday, July 31, 2022 Daily Gazette https://dailygazette.com/
People will have the opportunity to visit 32 farms, cideries or breweries between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m…
Farm to Table(The Map) https://farmtotabletour.org/
This Friday Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar, Montgomery County New York historian, explains why Fonda’s Old Courthouse is a mecca for genealogists and upstate New York historians.
Friday, August 5, 2022-Episode 434-NBC TV has aired an episode of their family history show Who Do You Think You Are including scenes filmed in Fonda and Johnstown. Actor Nick Offerman (who plays Ron Swanson in the sitcom Parks and Recreation) traced his ancestors to families from upstate New York.
The undertaker and the telephone
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History
Historian and undertaker W. Maxwell Reid was one of the first to install a telephone in the Amsterdam area.
Reid visited the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and was impressed by a demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
When Reid returned home, he had wires strung between a casket plant in Amsterdam and a store in Broadalbin.
How this early telephone worked was described in a Chamber of Commerce publication, “Twice a day at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the persons at each end of the line, by a process of shouting into the telephones, and then moving the same instruments to their ears to hear what was shouted back, were able to carry on a conversation over the intervening ten miles.”
William Maxwell Reid was born in 1839 on his father’s farm, land which later became the Reid Hill neighborhood. Reid’s father was from Scotland. He was also a school teacher, librarian and justice of the peace.
Ultimately Reid took over the company after his father-in-law died and. Reid also operated his own undertaking business.
Reid was a founder of the business-boosting Board of Trade in 1884 and president of the organization for seventeen years.
Reid is known as an historian for his 1901 book, “The Mohawk Valley: Its Legends and Its History.” Reid also wrote a history column for the Recorder newspaper using the byline “The Hollander Letters.”
Reid died in 1911 at age 72. He and his wife lived on Spring Street, what is now Guy Park Avenue and had three children.
Other 1870s phone lines connected Amsterdam’s New York Central Railroad freight office with the Sanford carpet mill and Kelloggs & Miller’s linseed oil plant. The homes of linseed oil magnates John, George and Lauren Kellogg had early telephones.
Tomorrow, Monday, August 1, 2022- The story behind the story podcast-The undertaker and the telephone.
Another local telephone pioneer was William Charles, who operated a cotton and wool brokerage business. In 1940, Charles was still living in Amsterdam and had telephone number “1.”
Historian Hugh Donlon wrote, “By 1881, the Amsterdam Telegraph and Telephone Company, locally organized, was operating a switchboard of 50 lines from a central office at East Main and Church streets.”
Several companies competed for telephone customers in Amsterdam but after a time, competition cut the number of companies to two—the locally based Automatic Telephone Company and Hudson River Telephone, part of the growing Bell system’s national network.
Hudson River opened a new central exchange at 40 Division Street and Automatic created a new facility at 19 Pearl Street. By 1910, though, the battle was over and New York Telephone—successor to Hudson River—took over phone service to some 1,500 Amsterdam customers.
To promote long distance calling a few years later the phone company invited 200 people to a public phone conversation at the Elks Lodge between Amsterdam Mayor James R. Cline and Mayor James Rolph of San Francisco. George Scott, exalted ruler of the Amsterdam Elks, conversed with the exalted ruler of a San Francisco lodge.
Donlon wrote, “Despite the ballyhoo, cross-country talk failed to gain immediate popularity with frugal townspeople. Rates were comparatively high and it was more economical to write a letter when speed was not particularly important.”
A picture which accompanied a 1942 article about telephones showed a row of 15 seated female operators and two supervisors at the Amsterdam office of New York Telephone, then at 40 Division Street.
Bob Cudmore
Story in The Recorder
Focus on History: “Who Do You Think You Are” visits Fonda and Johnstown
https://www.recordernews.com/
A national family history television show recently focused on a celebrity’s ancestors in the Mohawk Valley.Actor Nick Offerman and a production crew from NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” recorded interviews at sites in the...
The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive needs your help! To donate click, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022 Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, July 31, 2022
Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the morning.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 61. Calm wind.
Monday
Sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Sunday, July 31, 2022
Daily Gazette
Inaugural Farm to Table Tour Sunday in Montgomery, Fulton counties Sunday
On Sunday people will have the opportunity to visit 32 farms, cideries or breweries between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m…
On Sunday people will have the opportunity to visit 32 farms, cideries or breweries between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Make Us A Part Of Your Day
CAROGA LAKE – Caroga Chapel will celebrate a special service on Saturday, August 7, 2022 at 10:15 a.m. with Rev. Laurie Garramone from the St. John’s Episcopal Church, Johnstown officiating. A reception will follow for a time to share pictures and stories.
https://www.leaderherald.com/
View all episodes
By Bob CudmoreInaugural Farm to Table Tour today in Montgomery and Fulton counties. Sunday, July 31, 2022 Daily Gazette https://dailygazette.com/
People will have the opportunity to visit 32 farms, cideries or breweries between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m…
Farm to Table(The Map) https://farmtotabletour.org/
This Friday Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar, Montgomery County New York historian, explains why Fonda’s Old Courthouse is a mecca for genealogists and upstate New York historians.
Friday, August 5, 2022-Episode 434-NBC TV has aired an episode of their family history show Who Do You Think You Are including scenes filmed in Fonda and Johnstown. Actor Nick Offerman (who plays Ron Swanson in the sitcom Parks and Recreation) traced his ancestors to families from upstate New York.
The undertaker and the telephone
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History
Historian and undertaker W. Maxwell Reid was one of the first to install a telephone in the Amsterdam area.
Reid visited the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and was impressed by a demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
When Reid returned home, he had wires strung between a casket plant in Amsterdam and a store in Broadalbin.
How this early telephone worked was described in a Chamber of Commerce publication, “Twice a day at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the persons at each end of the line, by a process of shouting into the telephones, and then moving the same instruments to their ears to hear what was shouted back, were able to carry on a conversation over the intervening ten miles.”
William Maxwell Reid was born in 1839 on his father’s farm, land which later became the Reid Hill neighborhood. Reid’s father was from Scotland. He was also a school teacher, librarian and justice of the peace.
Ultimately Reid took over the company after his father-in-law died and. Reid also operated his own undertaking business.
Reid was a founder of the business-boosting Board of Trade in 1884 and president of the organization for seventeen years.
Reid is known as an historian for his 1901 book, “The Mohawk Valley: Its Legends and Its History.” Reid also wrote a history column for the Recorder newspaper using the byline “The Hollander Letters.”
Reid died in 1911 at age 72. He and his wife lived on Spring Street, what is now Guy Park Avenue and had three children.
Other 1870s phone lines connected Amsterdam’s New York Central Railroad freight office with the Sanford carpet mill and Kelloggs & Miller’s linseed oil plant. The homes of linseed oil magnates John, George and Lauren Kellogg had early telephones.
Tomorrow, Monday, August 1, 2022- The story behind the story podcast-The undertaker and the telephone.
Another local telephone pioneer was William Charles, who operated a cotton and wool brokerage business. In 1940, Charles was still living in Amsterdam and had telephone number “1.”
Historian Hugh Donlon wrote, “By 1881, the Amsterdam Telegraph and Telephone Company, locally organized, was operating a switchboard of 50 lines from a central office at East Main and Church streets.”
Several companies competed for telephone customers in Amsterdam but after a time, competition cut the number of companies to two—the locally based Automatic Telephone Company and Hudson River Telephone, part of the growing Bell system’s national network.
Hudson River opened a new central exchange at 40 Division Street and Automatic created a new facility at 19 Pearl Street. By 1910, though, the battle was over and New York Telephone—successor to Hudson River—took over phone service to some 1,500 Amsterdam customers.
To promote long distance calling a few years later the phone company invited 200 people to a public phone conversation at the Elks Lodge between Amsterdam Mayor James R. Cline and Mayor James Rolph of San Francisco. George Scott, exalted ruler of the Amsterdam Elks, conversed with the exalted ruler of a San Francisco lodge.
Donlon wrote, “Despite the ballyhoo, cross-country talk failed to gain immediate popularity with frugal townspeople. Rates were comparatively high and it was more economical to write a letter when speed was not particularly important.”
A picture which accompanied a 1942 article about telephones showed a row of 15 seated female operators and two supervisors at the Amsterdam office of New York Telephone, then at 40 Division Street.
Bob Cudmore
Story in The Recorder
Focus on History: “Who Do You Think You Are” visits Fonda and Johnstown
https://www.recordernews.com/
A national family history television show recently focused on a celebrity’s ancestors in the Mohawk Valley.Actor Nick Offerman and a production crew from NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” recorded interviews at sites in the...
The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive needs your help! To donate click, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022 Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, July 31, 2022
Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the morning.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 61. Calm wind.
Monday
Sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Sunday, July 31, 2022
Daily Gazette
Inaugural Farm to Table Tour Sunday in Montgomery, Fulton counties Sunday
On Sunday people will have the opportunity to visit 32 farms, cideries or breweries between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m…
On Sunday people will have the opportunity to visit 32 farms, cideries or breweries between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Make Us A Part Of Your Day
CAROGA LAKE – Caroga Chapel will celebrate a special service on Saturday, August 7, 2022 at 10:15 a.m. with Rev. Laurie Garramone from the St. John’s Episcopal Church, Johnstown officiating. A reception will follow for a time to share pictures and stories.
https://www.leaderherald.com/