The Historians Podcast yearly fund drive is now at $3125.  To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $100.00 this weekend.  Please help by donating online here- https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  You may give anonymously and no donation is too small.

Controversy raged when Akin was mayor

By Bob Cudmore

   Personal attacks and viciousness dominated the four years that Theron “Doc” Akin was Amsterdam mayor in the 1920s.

   Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that political pamphlets were full of “innuendos so gross and vicious that some of the campaign literature was later prized as collectors’ items.”

   Akin was born in Johnstown in 1855. His father Ethan was a prosperous farmer, attorney and landowner who lived near Amsterdam in Old Fort Johnson, which had been the home of the British colonial Indian agent Sir William Johnson.  In 1905, the Montgomery County Historical Society bought the old fort from the Akin family and continues to operate it as an historic site. 

   The younger Akin was a farmer and a dentist.  In 1909, he led the campaign to incorporate the area around the fort as the village of Akin and became the first village president.  

   Akin was elected to Congress in 1910, narrowly defeating popular Republican Cyrus Durey from Fulton County.

   A Progressjve, Akin’s campaign slogan was “The Full Dinner Pail.”  His posters showed a dinner pail empty except for a lemon.  He campaigned, some said, by trying to expose the errors of his opponents.

   In Washington, Akin angered the poor and powerful.  He berated a messenger on Capitol Hill who did not know who Akin was.  He had harsh words for President William Taft and called New York Senator Elihu Root “That refrigerated vulture of the dead.”

   While he was in Washington, the people of Akin, concerned with his antics in Congress, voted to change the name of their village to Fort Johnson.

   Akin tried but failed to get elected to Congress in 1912 and 1914.  At one rally in Gloversville he said, “You have more hypocrites in this city than any other place I know of.”

  Akin then set his sights on becoming mayor of Amsterdam, much to the chagrin of city leaders.  Running as both a Democrat and Republican, Akin was elected mayor in 1919.  

   Shortly after taking office, Akin suspended a longtime opponent, Police Chief Fred Packwood.  Akin appointed new members to the city health board after the existing board threatened to stop garbage and ash collection to embarrass the mayor.

   Akin began an investigation of illegal gambling. He disguised himself as a hoodlum and was arrested to probe conditions in the city jail.

   Leon Hall ran for mayor in 1921 with the slogan “Hall Akin Out.”  Akin trounced Hall by over three thousand votes. 

   Akin’s personal life raised some eyebrows.  He was married four times.  His first wife was Carrie Wallace Bell.  They had two children.  After the divorce, Bell founded an Amsterdam elementary school. 

   Akin’s second wife was Mary Sanford, the daughter of David Sanford.  She and Akin had one child.  Mary hauled Akin into court shortly after his term in Congress for non-payment of alimony.  Akin said he had not been able to save any money while he was a Congressman.  Akin’s third wife was Jenny Shelp Roberts, who left him in 1912.

   Mayor Akin and a woman named Jennie Bornt mysteriously left Amsterdam for three days early in his second term.  The Recorder learned the mayor had traveled to Bennington, Vermont, where a Methodist pastor married the couple in the church parsonage. 

   Republican Carl S. Salmon was elected Amsterdam mayor in 1923 and served for three terms of relative calm.  City employees did give Akin a watch and chain when he left office.  In 1927, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor.

   When Akin died of a stroke in 1933 he was 78 and living with his daughter.  He was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Tribes Hill.

Friday, July 22, 2022-Episode 432-The third Highlights Edition of 2022 has excerpts from 12 podcasts including stolen Little League Dreams, an Erie Canal balladeer and a boy’s life in Ilion, New York.

Saturday, July 23 2022

Episode 233 David Fiske talks about a Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.

Fort Ticonderoga this Weekend

1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022

https://www.fortticonderoga.org/event/reenactment-1759-siege-of-carillon/2022-07-23/

Don’t miss the epic two-day 1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022 as Fort Ticonderoga recreates this dramatic 1759 battle for the first time since 2011! Through a combination of demonstrations, vignettes, and battle reenactments, visitors will experience the British advance for Lake George, pushing through stiff French resistance to gain a foothold upon the previous year’s battlefield, overlooking the French-held fort.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, July 21, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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