Coming in December with Bob Cudmore on The Historians (10 years, 500 conversations)

Friday, December 8, 2023-Episode 502-Jack Kelly is author of God Save Benedict Arnold.  Arnold committed treason.  Yet he was more than a turncoat—Kelly argues Arnold’s achievements during the early years of the Revolutionary War defined him as the most successful soldier of the era. 

Saturday, November 18, 2023-From the Archives-Episode 369-Jack Kelly is author of “Valcour: The 1776 Campaign (on Lake Champlain) That Saved the Cause of Liberty.”

This weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

The story of the dancing Glorias as told by the late David Fiske.

https://www.dailygazette.com/

Tomorrow on Bob Cudmore dot.com 

   David Fiske, who died late last month at age 69 after a battle with cancer, was very generous with fellow history writers.

A retired New York State librarian, avid outdoorsman and native of Bangor, Maine, Fiske was known for his work on Solomon Northup...

Superhighway once proposed between Amsterdam and Maine

By Bob Cudmore

   For a time, serious thought was given to the idea of making Amsterdam the western end of a 419-mile, four-lane road informally called Interstate 92 or the east-west highway.  Two successive Amsterdam mayors traveled to New England in support of the project, which was never built.

   The highway was meant to open up northern sections of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to economic development.  The road’s eastern end would have been at Calais, Maine, on the Canadian border.

   According to I-92 booster W. Bartlett Cram, an industrial consultant from Bangor, Maine, access to the New York State Thruway in Amsterdam would have given northern New Englanders a way to increase trade not only with New York City to the south but also with the Midwest.

   Amsterdam also was picked on the basis of topography.  Cram said to move the road a few miles east or west from the city would add significantly to the cost because of steeper grades

   In 1967 Amsterdam Mayor Marcus Breier was said to be enthusiastic attending a campaign kickoff for the highway in Portland, Maine.  In 1968, the year Amsterdam’s Mohawk Carpets stopped producing rugs in the city, Cram pitched the highway before a crowd of 125 business and community leaders at the local Tepee restaurant.  

    Cram said the road would have a seventy mile per hour speed limit.  Realistically, he said, the federal government would not be able to contribute its proposed ninety percent share of the cost until the Vietnam War ended.

   Later that year there was opposition.  Governor Philip H. Hoff of Vermont said he was "totally against" the Amsterdam to Calais plan.  He favored a more northern route.  There were environmental concerns.  Some favored a western end of the highway in Glens Falls, not Amsterdam.

   On Sunday June 8, 1969 Amsterdam Mayor John Gomulka led a four-car caravan carrying city officials on a trip along the proposed route.  There were welcoming groups in Saratoga Springs, South Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, Fort Edward, Fort Ann and Whitehall.  Vermont State Police escorted the Amsterdamians to Rutland for a coffee break with the Chamber of Commerce.

   In New Hampshire there was another state police escort as the group stopped at Meredith, Laconia and other villages.  State police in Maine escorted Mayor Gomulka and his party to dinner in Augusta.  The next day it was lunch with highway advocate Cram in Bangor.  The Mayor of Bangor, Ed Porter, gave Gomulka the key to his city.  The group continued on for dinner in Calais.

   Despite the warm welcome in New England, Gomulka told the Recorder he was not pleased with Amsterdam’s indifference to the highway proposal.

   "The one deplorable fact,” the mayor said, "was the lack of interest in the project locally.”  When he asked local movers and shakers to join his caravan to Calais, no one wanted to go.

  There was an effort to get Governor Nelson Rockefeller to assume leadership of the highway plan in 1970.  In January 1971 Time Magazine did a story on the east-west Highway called “Road to Riches.”

  Retired Marine general Hamilton South, in 1971 an Albany banker and highway supporter, told reporters, "There will be a road there one day, but if we don't do it now, it won't be done properly.  Instead a lot of crummy small highways will be built. That would be a tragedy."

   The Federal Highway Administration rejected the Amsterdam to Calais plan.  Efforts were made to save the idea with the western end being Albany, Glens Falls or Schroon Lake.  No east-west superhighway was ever built linking northern New York and northern New England.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, November 18, 2023

45 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:21AM 

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Lonely hearts killing case linked to Amsterdam

By Bob Cudmore

   An Amsterdam woman was the step-daughter of a 1949 victim of a notorious murderous couple.

   Mary C. Fay was listed in the 1930 census as a hospital nurse living in Albany with her father, Matthew Fay, and step-mother, Janet J. Fay (nee Flinn). 

   Mary Fay married a prominent physician, Alton Spencer.  In 1940 Mary and Alton were living in Canajoharie with their daughter.  They subsequently moved to Amsterdam.

   Matthew Fay, Janet Fay’s husband and Mary Spencer’s father, was a steamfitter.  Matthew and Janet lived on Caldwell Street in Albany until Matthew’s sudden death in 1946. 

   At the end of 1948 Janet Fay, then about 60, was lured into a romantic relationship by Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a native of Hawaii who wore a toupee.

   Historian David Fiske wrote in a New York History Blog article, “The modus operandi was to use ‘lonely hearts’ ads to lure lonesome women into romantic situations in order to make use of their financial resources. In several cases (at least) the victims were then murdered.”

   Fernandez was joined in the scheme by Martha Beck.  Beck, who had children in Florida, was originally earmarked to be one of Fernandez’s victims, but the couple fell in love.  

   Fiske wrote that Fernandez began courting Fay at her Albany apartment on New Year’s Eve of 1948, “Beck stayed out of the way at a hotel. After their initial meeting, Beck was introduced as the sister of Fernandez (a ploy used with other victims).  Before long, Fernandez proposed marriage to the lonesome widow, and she accepted.”

   Fiske said Fay introduced her new friends to the Spencers at their Summit Avenue home in Amsterdam in early 1949.  Dr. Spencer told the Albany Times Union, “We weren’t suspicious in any way. 

   A short time later Fay took several thousand dollars from her bank account, left Albany and went to Valley Stream on Long Island with Fernandez and Beck. 

   Mary and Alton Spencer received a typed letter supposedly from Fay that did make them suspicious. 

   "We received many letters from Mrs. Spencer's stepmother," Dr. Spencer told the Times Union.  ''None ever were typed.  We thought it was very unusual."  Mary Spencer went to Albany and convinced police to search for her step-mother.

   Police found that Fay was murdered in Valley Stream after Beck became jealous when she saw Fernandez in an embrace with Fay.  Beck, who weighed 200 pounds, bludgeoned Fay with a hammer and Fernandez then strangled Fay with a scarf, according to prosecutors.

   The couple then went to Michigan, having found another lonely victim there.  Fiske wrote, “Their killing spree halted when they were arrested in Michigan, where they admitted to having murdered a woman and her young daughter.  Because they were in a state with no death penalty, they also felt comfortable telling police there about a widow they had murdered in New York State.”

   Police found Fay’s body in Ozone Park in Queens, buried in the cellar of a house the killers had rented.  Mary Spencer went to Queens to identify her step-mother’s body. 

   New York State, which had a death penalty then, extradited Fernandez and Beck.  Fernandez blamed Beck for the killing.  He did tell police he had murdered 17 women, but authorities could not confirm that.

   Both were found guilty after a 30 day trial that summer.  Mary Spencer testified about the visit the two killers had made to her Amsterdam home.

  Fernandez, 36, and Beck, 31, professed their love for each other before being executed by electric chair at Sing Sing prison in 1951.  The case has been the subject of a book, e-book and 1970 film.

David Fisk

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

David Fiske talks about Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.  David Fiske died last month.

Thursday, November 16, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Superhighway once proposed between Amsterdam and Maine

Friday, November 17, 2023-Episode 499-Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle with songs from Hanukkah, Kwanza and other year end holidays.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 14, 2023

35 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:50AM 

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Monday, November 13, 2023-Story behind the story- Fonda politician Jacob Snell loved elections

Tuesday, November 14, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Lonely hearts killer case linked to Amsterdam

   An Amsterdam woman was the step-daughter of a 1949 victim of a notorious murderous couple.

   Mary C. Fay was listed in the 1930 census...

Wednesday, November 15, 2023-From the Archives-September 21, 2018-Historians Podcast Episode 233-David Fiske talks about Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.  David Fiske died last month.

Thursday, November 16, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Superhighway once proposed between Amsterdam and Maine

Friday, November 17, 2023-Episode 499-Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle with songs from Hanukkah, Kwanza and other year end holidays.

Jacob Snell loved an election

By Bob Cudmore

   Jacob Snell was “unceasing and unrelenting” on behalf of the Republican Party.  The Canajoharie Courier wrote, “A campaign once begun was waged until the polls were closed on Election Day, so in case of a narrow defeat he never felt the chagrin that he had not made his best and most ardent fight.”

   Snell was born in Stone Arabia in the Town of Palatine in 1847 and lived on a farm with his parents.  While in Palatine, he was elected supervisor and town clerk, running as a Republican in a Democratic town.

   Snell married Nancy Nellis of Palatine in 1867 and they had two sons and three daughters.

   A popular and powerful leader, the Amsterdam Recorder reported “prolonged cheering and hand-clapping” when “Uncle Jake” entered a 1903 Republican county convention.

   Boss Snell’s large girth made him a target for political cartoonists.  The New York Journal in 1901 showed a seated Snell with a diamond stickpin on his tie, which was lying atop his stomach. 

   The caption said, “Jacob Snell, whose diamond looks him square in the face.”

   About 1870 he moved to Fonda.  Two of his ancestors—an earlier Jacob and Alexander Snell—had been elected Montgomery County sheriff.  Jacob Snell ran for sheriff in 1884 and lost.  He was elected two years later, serving three years as sheriff.  He became chairman of the Republican county committee, was a state committeeman and president of the village of Fonda.

   Snell owned a company that did roadwork and he was president of Mohawk Valley Broom of Fonda.  He owned a downtown Fonda hotel, later known as the Hotel Roy.  He was president of the County Agricultural Society, which stages the Fonda Fair, for two years.  He was superintendent of a section of the Erie Canal for a time. 

   Although both were Republicans, Snell and Gloversville Congressman and glove industry mogul Lucius Littauer were at odds over the years.  Snell had threatened to run against Littauer for Congress in 1902 but dropped out of the race, reportedly to improve his chances of getting an appointment to be a prison warden.

   It took a while but Snell got what he wanted.  He sought the job of warden at Clinton Correctional Facility, also known as Dannemora state prison in northern New York.  Snell didn’t get the job. 

   Finally, in 1904 Governor Benjamin Odell named Snell the warden of the four-year-old Napanoch Reformatory in Ulster County. 

   Snell died at the reformatory on December 22nd, 1905 at age 58.  “An abdominal abscess and acute kidney disease, surgical treatment of which was not practicable because of his immense girth, were the primary causes of his death,” wrote the Schenectady Union.

   There is an often repeated story that when Snell died, the door of the room where he perished at the reformatory had to be enlarged to get his body out.

   The Little Falls Times reported that Snell weighed 500 pounds and that twelve men were needed to carry his casket.

   Amsterdam’s Democratic paper, the Morning Sentinel, actually came to Republican Snell’s defense on the subject of his size.  The Sentinel scoffed at the Little Falls Times report, saying Snell did not even weigh 400 pounds and that “six small men” had no trouble handling the casket. 

   When he died, newspapers called him “one of the best known Republicans in the state.”

   At the funeral in Fonda, popular Reverend Washington Frothingham, a Mohawk Valley historian, paid tribute to Snell’s Revolutionary War ancestors, saying seven of them had given their lives for their country. 

   After the funeral, Snell’s body was taken by train for burial in the Canajoharie Falls Cemetery. 

Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates.  American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battle of Saratoga, Gates’ reputation suffered at the end of the war.  He later moved to New York City and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, November 13, 2023

22 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:06AM 

The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Monday, November 13, 2023-Story behind the story- Fonda politician Jacob Snell loved elections

Tuesday, November 14, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Lonely hearts killer case linked to Amsterdam

Wednesday, November 15, 2023-From the Archives-September 21, 2018-Historians Podcast Episode 233-David Fiske talks about Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.  David Fiske died last month.

Thursday, November 16, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Superhighway once proposed between Amsterdam and Maine

Friday, November 17, 2023-Episode 499-Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle with songs from Hanukkah, Kwanza and other year end holidays.

Jacob Snell loved an election

By Bob Cudmore

   Jacob Snell was “unceasing and unrelenting” on behalf of the Republican Party.  The Canajoharie Courier wrote, “A campaign once begun was waged until the polls were closed on Election Day, so in case of a narrow defeat he never felt the chagrin that he had not made his best and most ardent fight.”

   Snell was born in Stone Arabia in the Town of Palatine in 1847 and lived on a farm with his parents.  While in Palatine, he was elected supervisor and town clerk, running as a Republican in a Democratic town.

   Snell married Nancy Nellis of Palatine in 1867 and they had two sons and three daughters.

   A popular and powerful leader, the Amsterdam Recorder reported “prolonged cheering and hand-clapping” when “Uncle Jake” entered a 1903 Republican county convention.

   Boss Snell’s large girth made him a target for political cartoonists.  The New York Journal in 1901 showed a seated Snell with a diamond stickpin on his tie, which was lying atop his stomach. 

   The caption said, “Jacob Snell, whose diamond looks him square in the face.”

   About 1870 he moved to Fonda.  Two of his ancestors—an earlier Jacob and Alexander Snell—had been elected Montgomery County sheriff.  Jacob Snell ran for sheriff in 1884 and lost.  He was elected two years later, serving three years as sheriff.  He became chairman of the Republican county committee, was a state committeeman and president of the village of Fonda.

   Snell owned a company that did roadwork and he was president of Mohawk Valley Broom of Fonda.  He owned a downtown Fonda hotel, later known as the Hotel Roy.  He was president of the County Agricultural Society, which stages the Fonda Fair, for two years.  He was superintendent of a section of the Erie Canal for a time. 

   Although both were Republicans, Snell and Gloversville Congressman and glove industry mogul Lucius Littauer were at odds over the years.  Snell had threatened to run against Littauer for Congress in 1902 but dropped out of the race, reportedly to improve his chances of getting an appointment to be a prison warden.

   It took a while but Snell got what he wanted.  He sought the job of warden at Clinton Correctional Facility, also known as Dannemora state prison in northern New York.  Snell didn’t get the job. 

   Finally, in 1904 Governor Benjamin Odell named Snell the warden of the four-year-old Napanoch Reformatory in Ulster County. 

   Snell died at the reformatory on December 22nd, 1905 at age 58.  “An abdominal abscess and acute kidney disease, surgical treatment of which was not practicable because of his immense girth, were the primary causes of his death,” wrote the Schenectady Union.

   There is an often repeated story that when Snell died, the door of the room where he perished at the reformatory had to be enlarged to get his body out.

   The Little Falls Times reported that Snell weighed 500 pounds and that twelve men were needed to carry his casket.

   Amsterdam’s Democratic paper, the Morning Sentinel, actually came to Republican Snell’s defense on the subject of his size.  The Sentinel scoffed at the Little Falls Times report, saying Snell did not even weigh 400 pounds and that “six small men” had no trouble handling the casket. 

   When he died, newspapers called him “one of the best known Republicans in the state.”

   At the funeral in Fonda, popular Reverend Washington Frothingham, a Mohawk Valley historian, paid tribute to Snell’s Revolutionary War ancestors, saying seven of them had given their lives for their country. 

   After the funeral, Snell’s body was taken by train for burial in the Canajoharie Falls Cemetery. 

Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates.  American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battle of Saratoga, Gates’ reputation suffered at the end of the war.  He later moved to New York City and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, November 12, 2023

34 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:10AM 

The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Jacob Snell loved an election

By Bob Cudmore

   Jacob Snell was “unceasing and unrelenting” on behalf of the Republican Party.  The Canajoharie Courier wrote, “A campaign once begun was waged until the polls were closed on Election Day, so in case of a narrow defeat he never felt the chagrin that he had not made his best and most ardent fight.”

   Snell was born in Stone Arabia in the Town of Palatine in 1847 and lived on a farm with his parents.  While in Palatine, he was elected supervisor and town clerk, running as a Republican in a Democratic town.

   Snell married Nancy Nellis of Palatine in 1867 and they had two sons and three daughters.

   A popular and powerful leader, the Amsterdam Recorder reported “prolonged cheering and hand-clapping” when “Uncle Jake” entered a 1903 Republican county convention.

   Boss Snell’s large girth made him a target for political cartoonists.  The New York Journal in 1901 showed a seated Snell with a diamond stickpin on his tie, which was lying atop his stomach. 

   The caption said, “Jacob Snell, whose diamond looks him square in the face.”

   About 1870 he moved to Fonda.  Two of his ancestors—an earlier Jacob and Alexander Snell—had been elected Montgomery County sheriff.  Jacob Snell ran for sheriff in 1884 and lost.  He was elected two years later, serving three years as sheriff.  He became chairman of the Republican county committee, was a state committeeman and president of the village of Fonda.

   Snell owned a company that did roadwork and he was president of Mohawk Valley Broom of Fonda.  He owned a downtown Fonda hotel, later known as the Hotel Roy.  He was president of the County Agricultural Society, which stages the Fonda Fair, for two years.  He was superintendent of a section of the Erie Canal for a time. 

   Although both were Republicans, Snell and Gloversville Congressman and glove industry mogul Lucius Littauer were at odds over the years.  Snell had threatened to run against Littauer for Congress in 1902 but dropped out of the race, reportedly to improve his chances of getting an appointment to be a prison warden.

   It took a while but Snell got what he wanted.  He sought the job of warden at Clinton Correctional Facility, also known as Dannemora state prison in northern New York.  Snell didn’t get the job. 

   Finally, in 1904 Governor Benjamin Odell named Snell the warden of the four-year-old Napanoch Reformatory in Ulster County. 

   Snell died at the reformatory on December 22nd, 1905 at age 58.  “An abdominal abscess and acute kidney disease, surgical treatment of which was not practicable because of his immense girth, were the primary causes of his death,” wrote the Schenectady Union.

   There is an often repeated story that when Snell died, the door of the room where he perished at the reformatory had to be enlarged to get his body out.

   The Little Falls Times reported that Snell weighed 500 pounds and that twelve men were needed to carry his casket.

   Amsterdam’s Democratic paper, the Morning Sentinel, actually came to Republican Snell’s defense on the subject of his size.  The Sentinel scoffed at the Little Falls Times report, saying Snell did not even weigh 400 pounds and that “six small men” had no trouble handling the casket. 

   When he died, newspapers called him “one of the best known Republicans in the state.”

   At the funeral in Fonda, popular Reverend Washington Frothingham, a Mohawk Valley historian, paid tribute to Snell’s Revolutionary War ancestors, saying seven of them had given their lives for their country. 

   After the funeral, Snell’s body was taken by train for burial in the Canajoharie Falls Cemetery. 

Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates.  American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battle of Saratoga, Gates’ reputation suffered at the end of the war.  He later moved to New York City and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, November 12, 2023

34 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:10AM 

The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

The Historians Podcast fund drive has a long way to go to reach our $7000 goal by year’s end.  We’re asking for your help.

Historians Episode #500 coming this month.

This year Historians Podcast featured 50 episodes.  Topics included the story of an African American who named the Underground Railroad; songs of the American Revolution with Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle; the 1963 desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama and the story of a pioneer female photojournalist and war correspondent who was killed during the Vietnam War.

Featured guests include New York State Historian Devin Lander, Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League, Denise Doring VanBuren of the Beacon New York Historical Society, sports reporter Kate Fagan, composer Maria Riccio Bryce, Holocaust researcher Meryl Frank, New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan and Gregg Ficery on the history of American football.

You may donate anonymously.  No donation is too small. Your support is much appreciated. 

You may donate online here: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore

Another Congressman from Amsterdam area

By Bob Cudmore

In what has become an ongoing feature, another Congressman with ties to the Amsterdam area has surfaced--Theron Akin.  Born in Johnstown in 1855, Akin went to school in Amsterdam and became a dentist.

He lived in Akin (what is now Fort Johnson) just outside Amsterdam where he served as president of the village and was elected as a Progressive Republican in Congress from 1911 through 1913, during the administration of Republican William Howard Taft.  Akin was defeated in his bids for election to Congress in 1912 and 1914.  In addition to dentistry, he was also a farmer. 

Akin was elected mayor of Amsterdam from 1920 to 1923.  He died in 1933 and was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Tribes Hill.  

Former Amsterdam city attorney Bob Going wrote, “While in Congress he vigorously protested the successful effort to rename the hamlet of Akin (named after his father Ethan Akin) to Fort Johnson.  It is a reflection of the esteem with which he was held by his colleagues in Congress that his protests were ignored.

“(Akin) was arguably the worst mayor in the history of the city of Amsterdam, reportedly quite wacky and from what I've read in the old Common Council minutes he didn't seem to get along with anybody and there were continuous efforts to have him removed from office.”

In all, then, nine men from the Amsterdam area have been elected to Congress—Benedict Arnold, John Sanford, Stephen Sanford, John Sanford the younger, John Knox Stewart, Samuel Wallin, Theron Akin, Sam Stratton and Paul Tonko.  Tonko, plus Stephen and the younger John Sanford were born in Amsterdam.

Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (who lives near Plattsburgh) currently represents the city of Amsterdam. Tonko is still in Congress and represents a district comprised of most counties in the Capital District.

TESIERO’S PHARMACY

With descriptions of soda fountains and drugstores in recent columns, Amsterdam native Peter Betz has put in a word for the former Tesiero’s Pharmacy at 186 Market Street.  In 1932, it was operated by Thomas Tesiero.

Betz wrote,  “There was a long, marble fountain inside the street side window with those old curled metal fountain chairs.  They took it out in the early 1950's. I think it was one of the earliest soda fountains in the city.  It sure was beautiful.”

DESCENT FROM ADAM

Peter Betz, Fulton County historian and professor emeritus from Fulton-Montgomery Community College, said Amsterdam’s Betz clan was descended from Adam Betz, an 1890 immigrant from Weinheim, Germany. 

Adam Betz was a barber but did police work as well, as a constable, Sheriff’s deputy and Children’s Court officer. 

Author Harvey Chalmers wrote a story about Adam called “Law Enforcement in the Age of Homespun.”  The sheriff asked for Adam’s help in subduing an armed farmer who was keeping authorities at bay on the front porch of his home.  Adam noted that the deputies could see the back door of the house through the open door on the front porch.  Adam snuck to the rear and when the deputies saw Adam, they created a commotion enabling Adam to sneak up on the farmer.

One of the few times Adam was hurt, he was repossessing chickens.  While be bent down to get the chickens, a woman hit him with a baseball bat dislocating his shoulder. 

Adam and his wife Elise had four children: Elizabeth, George, David and Peter’s father, Paul.  George worked with his father as a barber.  George’s son was John Betz, who founded the Betz Funeral Home.

“When Adam died, it was about the biggest funeral I’ve ever attended in my life,” said Peter Betz.  “And there were all these people standing around telling my older relatives that Adam did this for them and Adam did that for them. And I began to get a much greater appreciation for the man.”

Wednesday, November 8, 2023-From the Archives- May 26, 2023-Episode 476-Journalist Paul Kix documents how the 1963 desegregation campaign in Birmingham Alabama changed race relations in America.  Martin Luther King, Jr., was imprisoned and wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. 

Thursday, November 9, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Lincoln and Amsterdam

Friday, November 10, 2023-Episode 498-Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates.  American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battle of Saratoga, Gates’ reputation suffered at the end of the war.  He later moved to New York City and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800. 

No need to go far for this interview, Galway

        Episode 468-Alan Maddaus is author of The Prestons of East Street, the Story of a 19th century A merican Family. The lives of seven Preston family members from Galway, N.Y., were impacted by events including Civil War, the Second Great Awakening and the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the natural disaster claiming the most lives on US soil.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 7, 2023

51 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:19AM 

The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Monday, November 6, 2023-Story behind the story- Amsterdam woman influenced city culture

Reverend William Trapnell, rector of St, Ann’s Episcopal Church, courted Annie many years.  In 1872 Reverend Trapnell left Amsterdam for a parish in Maryland and Annie and he finally married.  She was forty, he was sixty.  He died four months later.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Members of Congress who represented Amsterdam

Wednesday, November 8, 2023-From the Archives- May 26, 2023-Episode 476-Journalist Paul Kix documents how the 1963 desegregation campaign in Birmingham Alabama changed race relations in America.  Martin Luther King, Jr., was imprisoned and wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. 

Thursday, November 9, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Lincoln and Amsterdam

Jim Kaplan

Friday, November 10, 2023-Episode 498-Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates.  American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battle of Saratoga, Gates’ reputation suffered at the end of the war.  He later moved to New York City and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800.

Amsterdam woman influenced city culture

By Bob Cudmore

   Mercy Annie Allen Trapnell was an educator and organizer in nineteenth and early twentieth century Amsterdam.

   Born in 1832 at Blue Corners, a West Charlton hamlet, Annie’s family moved to Church Street in Amsterdam when she was young.  She was educated at Amsterdam Academy on lower Market Street.

   She described the Academy as a “large, ancient white structure, with its fine broad piazza extending across the entire building.”

   She taught school in Watertown.  In 1868 she was among the first to teach at the Normal School in Potsdam, today a college of the State University. 

   Returning home she taught at Amsterdam Academy and a Grove Street fine arts school.

   Reverend William Trapnell, rector of St, Ann’s Episcopal Church, courted Annie many years.  In 1872 Reverend Trapnell left Amsterdam for a parish in Maryland and Annie and he finally married.  She was forty, he was sixty.  He died four months later.

   Returning to Amsterdam after a European tour, Trapnell lived at the Allen family home on Church Street.  When not traveling, she spent her days supporting community activities in the growing mill town.

   In 1895 Trapnell was teaching a course in Shakespeare to 25 women. Each woman invited three friends to join what became the Century Club, as the original goal was to have 100 members.  The Century Club in later years built a club house on Guy Park Avenue and is active to this day.

   A club history stated that the founders wanted to share their love for “books and study in a day when women had not yet been received into full intellectual equality with men.” 

   In 1899 Trapnell attracted attention when she spoke at a club meeting in favor of having schools offer girls education in home economics.  Trapnell said such a program would solve the problem of finding domestic help.  Plus, she said, by having girls learn housekeeping as an educational subject, women would no longer regard housework as drudgery.

   In a paper presented to the Century Club Trapnell lamented the loss of trees as Amsterdam became more industrialized. 

   She wrote, “One alderman in answer to an entreaty to spare the trees said, ‘New York City does not have trees.  There are no trees on Broadway.’  What noble trees were sacrificed by those pitiless vandals!”

   One tree remembered by early twentieth century writers was an old pine that stood near St. Mary’s Church on East Main Street,

   Trapnell wrote the “scraggly, irregular” tree was a “trysting place,” marking the goal of lovers’ walks, “And what tales that old tree could have told! 

   “Market Street was handsome then.  Fine trees overshadowed the sidewalks and fronts of the houses.”

   Trapnell was among the founders of Amsterdam Free Library. A charter member and secretary of the library board, she was there when the building opened on Church Street.

   A portrait of Trapnell, painted by Amsterdam artist Mary Van der Veer for the library, was later given to the Century Club.  Some years ago the portrait was stolen.

   Trapnell’s views on education were quoted in the newspapers and her death was front page news.

   In 1908 while on a trip to Hampton, Virginia, Trapnell became ill.  Several friends traveled there and were with Annie when she died November 9.

   Her body arrived by train in Amsterdam and mourners thronged St. Ann’s Church for the funeral.  One floral bouquet included 250 white roses, one for each member of the Century Club.  She was buried at Green Hill Cemetery.

   Trapnell left a $12,000 estate (worth about $400,000 today) including bequests to St. Ann’s, Amsterdam Free Library and the Children’s Home, a local orphanage.

Bob Cudmore 500 interviews over the last 10 years, people from your Hometown of Amsterdam and across The Mohawk Valley

Composer, choral director and pianist Maria Riccio Bryce, creator of a new work called Requiem: What Remains Is Love. CD recordings are available at Amsterdam Free Library.

Recorded in the spring of this year

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, November 6, 2023

31 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:22AM 

The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Amsterdam woman influenced city culture

By Bob Cudmore

   Mercy Annie Allen Trapnell was an educator and organizer in nineteenth and early twentieth century Amsterdam.

   Born in 1832 at Blue Corners, a West Charlton hamlet, Annie’s family moved to Church Street in Amsterdam when she was young.  She was educated at Amsterdam Academy on lower Market Street.

   She described the Academy as a “large, ancient white structure, with its fine broad piazza extending across the entire building.”

   She taught school in Watertown.  In 1868 she was among the first to teach at the Normal School in Potsdam, today a college of the State University. 

   Returning home she taught at Amsterdam Academy and a Grove Street fine arts school.

   Reverend William Trapnell, rector of St, Ann’s Episcopal Church, courted Annie many years.  In 1872 Reverend Trapnell left Amsterdam for a parish in Maryland and Annie and he finally married.  She was forty, he was sixty.  He died four months later.

   Returning to Amsterdam after a European tour, Trapnell lived at the Allen family home on Church Street.  When not traveling, she spent her days supporting community activities in the growing mill town.

   In 1895 Trapnell was teaching a course in Shakespeare to 25 women. Each woman invited three friends to join what became the Century Club, as the original goal was to have 100 members.  The Century Club in later years built a club house on Guy Park Avenue and is active to this day.

   A club history stated that the founders wanted to share their love for “books and study in a day when women had not yet been received into full intellectual equality with men.” 

   In 1899 Trapnell attracted attention when she spoke at a club meeting in favor of having schools offer girls education in home economics.  Trapnell said such a program would solve the problem of finding domestic help.  Plus, she said, by having girls learn housekeeping as an educational subject, women would no longer regard housework as drudgery.

   In a paper presented to the Century Club Trapnell lamented the loss of trees as Amsterdam became more industrialized. 

   She wrote, “One alderman in answer to an entreaty to spare the trees said, ‘New York City does not have trees.  There are no trees on Broadway.’  What noble trees were sacrificed by those pitiless vandals!”

   One tree remembered by early twentieth century writers was an old pine that stood near St. Mary’s Church on East Main Street,

   Trapnell wrote the “scraggly, irregular” tree was a “trysting place,” marking the goal of lovers’ walks, “And what tales that old tree could have told! 

   “Market Street was handsome then.  Fine trees overshadowed the sidewalks and fronts of the houses.”

   Trapnell was among the founders of Amsterdam Free Library. A charter member and secretary of the library board, she was there when the building opened on Church Street.

   A portrait of Trapnell, painted by Amsterdam artist Mary Van der Veer for the library, was later given to the Century Club.  Some years ago the portrait was stolen.

   Trapnell’s views on education were quoted in the newspapers and her death was front page news.

   In 1908 while on a trip to Hampton, Virginia, Trapnell became ill.  Several friends traveled there and were with Annie when she died November 9.

   Her body arrived by train in Amsterdam and mourners thronged St. Ann’s Church for the funeral.  One floral bouquet included 250 white roses, one for each member of the Century Club.  She was buried at Green Hill Cemetery.

   Trapnell left a $12,000 estate (worth about $400,000 today) including bequests to St. Ann’s, Amsterdam Free Library and the Children’s Home, a local orphanage.

Episode 497

Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carpet mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry.  Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.

Bob Cudmore and David Fisk "Talk Baseball" Scroll Down

Historian and retired librarian David Fiske questions the persistent claim that Ballston Spa native and Civil War general Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Saratoga County Stories Authors

Dave Fiske, one of our Saratoga County Stories authors

passed away on October 28, 2023 after a valiant fight with cancer.  We remember Dave 

as a dedicated historian with a special focus on the life of Solomon Northup. He has

written several articles in our weekly series. Two months ago he sent me an article on

"Obstinate Betty Jones" which we will publish posthumously  on  November 22, 2023

A celebration of his life

is being planned.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesunion-albany/name/david-fiske-obituary?id=53504185

Go Fund Me/November 5, 2023. Update-$2270.00 in need by December 31, 2023

U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. 

on-line: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore 

Bob Cudmore and David Fisk talk Baseball

Friday, October 11, 2019-Episode 287-Historian and retired librarian David Fiske questions the persistent claim that Ballston Spa native and Civil War general Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, November 5, 2023

46 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 4:40AM 

The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.