The Historians

Wednesday, November 22, 2023-From the Archives-March 1, 2017-Episode 121, July 22, 2016- Jack Kelly discusses his book “Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal.”

"The Erie Canal rubbed Aladdin's lamp. America awoke, catching for the first time the wondrous vision of its own dimensions and power." - Francis Kimball, American architect

The technological marvel of its age, the Erie Canal grew out of a sudden fit of inspiration. Proponents didn't just dream; they built a 360-mile waterway entirely by hand and largely through wilderness. As excitement crackled down its length, the canal became the scene of the most striking outburst of imagination in American history.

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving 2023

A Bob Cudmore story about "Work clothese in the factory age"

They wore leather shoes all day, at work, how did they do that...??

Mohawk Valley—The Way West plus Where was Dimaggio?

By Bob Cudmore

As one of the few natural breaks in America’s eastern mountains, the Mohawk Valley has played an important role in travel east and west for centuries.

The late Amsterdam area historian Katherine Strobeck said, “At the time that the West was being settled how could you get there except through the Mohawk Valley? 

“You couldn’t go through Pennsylvania because of the mountains.  You couldn’t go through the Carolinas because of the mountains.  There were mountains all the way down to Georgia.  And that’s why the Erie Canal was built.  That’s why the Thruway was built.”

WHERE WAS DIMAGGIO?

Fort Johnson native and New York City resident Michael Cuddy recalled attending the 1949 baseball game at Mohawk Mills Park between the Amsterdam Rugmakers and New York Yankees.

Yogi Berra hit a home run, according to Cuddy, who said he was disappointed that Joe Dimaggio did not play in Amsterdam that year because of problems with his heel.  Dimaggio had come to Amsterdam in 1942 for a previous exhibition game with the Rugmakers.

Cuddy, an attorney who spends summers near Oneonta, remembered he used to caddy for members of the Shuttleworth family at the Antlers Golf Course in Fort Johnson, now called Rolling Hills.  The Shuttleworths operated Mohawk Carpet Mill.  Cuddy said he especially enjoyed the company of Howard Shuttleworth.

Regarding a recent mention of singer, dancer and Amsterdam native Arlene Fontana, Cuddy said that he and his wife went to see Fontana when she performed at La Maisonette at the St. Regis Sheraton Hotel in New York City in 1969 or 1970.  They went backstage and introduced themselves as fellow Amsterdam area natives.  Fontana was happy to reminisce about her hometown.

Also on hand for the get together was Carmen LaVia, Fontana’s husband and agent who had married the singer in 1965.  Fontana died in 1990 after a six-year battle with breast cancer and other complications.

“Her greatest appeal was her energy and appearance on stage,” LaVia said.  LaVia said his wife had a sophisticated act with international songs translated from Italian and French and grand costumes.

Auditioned by Richard Rodgers, Fontana played Linda Low in the national touring company of “Flower Drum Song” in almost two thousand performances.  She and LaVia met at one of those performances in Las Vegas.  They were married at St. Michael’s Church in Amsterdam.

In addition to her work on stage and television, Fontana played numerous nightclubs during her 40-year career.  After she graduated from Amsterdam’s Wilbur H. Lynch High school in 1954, Fontana and her parents—Marty and Palmera Fontana—moved to Miami so the young singer and dancer could pursue her career.  She was offered a contract to sing at the Shell Room Lounge in Miami operated by Amsterdam native and Fontana family friend Joe Miller.

Over the years, Fontana sang in nightclubs in England plus bookings throughout the United States.

Historians Episode #500 this Friday

Friday, November 24, 2023-Episode 500-Dana Cudmore, author of Farming with Dynamite.  Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, cut stones were used to build impressive structures such as churches, public buildings and homes.  Cudmore documents more than 30 stone quarries across Schoharie County where dynamite was used to get large stones from the land.

Author Dana Cudmore grew up in the middle of New York State’s “Cave Country”―home to an astonishing 150+ caves including world-famous Howe Caverns and Secret Caverns.

Mohawk Valley Weather for Thanksgiving Week

Wednesday

37 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:14AM 

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.

They say Podcasters are more than ever using "AI"

This is not the case hear on The Historians 

Something we thought we would never say 'Bob Cudmore is a Real Person"

Proof this Friday

Historians Episode #500

Mohawk Valley—The Way West plus Where was Dimaggio?

By Bob Cudmore

As one of the few natural breaks in America’s eastern mountains, the Mohawk Valley has played an important role in travel east and west for centuries.

The late Amsterdam area historian Katherine Strobeck said, “At the time that the West was being settled how could you get there except through the Mohawk Valley? 

“You couldn’t go through Pennsylvania because of the mountains.  You couldn’t go through the Carolinas because of the mountains.  There were mountains all the way down to Georgia.  And that’s why the Erie Canal was built.  That’s why the Thruway was built.”

WHERE WAS DIMAGGIO?

Fort Johnson native and New York City resident Michael Cuddy recalled attending the 1949 baseball game at Mohawk Mills Park between the Amsterdam Rugmakers and New York Yankees.

Yogi Berra hit a home run, according to Cuddy, who said he was disappointed that Joe Dimaggio did not play in Amsterdam that year because of problems with his heel.  Dimaggio had come to Amsterdam in 1942 for a previous exhibition game with the Rugmakers.

Cuddy, an attorney who spends summers near Oneonta, remembered he used to caddy for members of the Shuttleworth family at the Antlers Golf Course in Fort Johnson, now called Rolling Hills.  The Shuttleworths operated Mohawk Carpet Mill.  Cuddy said he especially enjoyed the company of Howard Shuttleworth.

Regarding a recent mention of singer, dancer and Amsterdam native Arlene Fontana, Cuddy said that he and his wife went to see Fontana when she performed at La Maisonette at the St. Regis Sheraton Hotel in New York City in 1969 or 1970.  They went backstage and introduced themselves as fellow Amsterdam area natives.  Fontana was happy to reminisce about her hometown.

Also on hand for the get together was Carmen LaVia, Fontana’s husband and agent who had married the singer in 1965.  Fontana died in 1990 after a six-year battle with breast cancer and other complications.

“Her greatest appeal was her energy and appearance on stage,” LaVia said.  LaVia said his wife had a sophisticated act with international songs translated from Italian and French and grand costumes.

Auditioned by Richard Rodgers, Fontana played Linda Low in the national touring company of “Flower Drum Song” in almost two thousand performances.  She and LaVia met at one of those performances in Las Vegas.  They were married at St. Michael’s Church in Amsterdam.

In addition to her work on stage and television, Fontana played numerous nightclubs during her 40-year career.  After she graduated from Amsterdam’s Wilbur H. Lynch High school in 1954, Fontana and her parents—Marty and Palmera Fontana—moved to Miami so the young singer and dancer could pursue her career.  She was offered a contract to sing at the Shell Room Lounge in Miami operated by Amsterdam native and Fontana family friend Joe Miller.

Over the years, Fontana sang in nightclubs in England plus bookings throughout the United States.

Wednesday, November 22, 2023-From the Archives-March 1, 2017-Episode 121, July 22, 2016- Jack Kelly discusses his book “Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal.”

Thursday, November 23, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Work clothese in the factory age

Friday, November 24, 2023-Episode 500-Dana Cudmore, author of Farming with Dynamite.  Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, cut stones were used to build impressive structures such as churches, public buildings and homes.  Cudmore documents more than 30 stone quarries across Schoharie County where dynamite was used to get large stones from the land.

Author Dana Cudmore grew up in the middle of New York State’s “Cave Country”―home to an astonishing 150+ caves including world-famous Howe Caverns and Secret Caverns.

Mohawk Valley Weather for Thanksgiving Week

Tuesday

19 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:42AM 

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.

Historians Episode #500 this Friday

Monday, November 20, 2023-Story behind the story-The story of the dancing Glorias as told by the late David Fiske.

Tuesday, November 21, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-The way West

As one of the few natural breaks in America’s eastern mountains, the Mohawk Valley has played an important role in travel east and west for centuries.

Wednesday, November 22, 2023-From the Archives-March 1, 2017-Episode 121, July 22, 2016- Jack Kelly discusses his book “Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal.”

Thursday, November 23, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Work clothese in the factory age

Friday, November 24, 2023-Episode 500-Dana Cudmore, author of Farming with Dynamite.  Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, cut stones were used to build impressive structures such as churches, public buildings and homes.  Cudmore documents more than 30 stone quarries across Schoharie County where dynamite was used to get large stones from the land.

Author Dana Cudmore grew up in the middle of New York State’s “Cave Country”―home to an astonishing 150+ caves including world-famous Howe Caverns and Secret Caverns.

The story of the Glorias as told by David Fiske

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

   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, a free black man who was abducted from Saratoga Springs and sold into slavery. 

   Fiske was a consultant to the 2013 Oscar winning film, Twelve Years a Slave.  He was co-author of Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave and author of Solomon Northup’s Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens before the Civil War.

   Fiske was a guest on my Historians Podcast ten times and provided information for six of my newspaper columns. 

   Doing research for a book on a flamboyant costume designer, Madame Sherri: The Special Edition, Fiske came across the story of Adelaide Gloria Hollenbeck and her brother Albert Gloria. Madame Sherri designed elaborate costumes worn by the Glorias.

   Fiske passed the information about the Glorias on to me, knowing that my history columns deal with Fulton and Montgomery Counties. 

This Friday we will debut Episode 500 of The Historians Podcast.  Would you be willing to make a contribution to honor that achievement?  You could donate $5, $50, $500 or any amount.  Make donations online for The Historians Podcast at

https://gofund.me/777777e9   or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Please and thank you.  We need to raise $2245 by December 31 to reach our $7000 goal.

   Adelaide Gloria Hollenbeck and her brother Albert Gloria were a brother and sister dancing team born in Europe who spent their later years in Gloversville and Caroga Lake.

   The siblings began dancing as toddlers in Europe. Showman Florenz Ziegfeld said Adelaide had “the most beautiful legs in the world.”

   Their father died and Adelaide, Albert and their mother came to the United States in 1913 and lived in Bayside, Queens. The Glorias performed in cabarets and restaurant revues in the New York City area and did vaudeville tours.  Adelaide and Albert specialized in dancing that imitated ice skating and roller skating.

   The Glorias earned as much as $5000 a week.  They were acquainted with celebrities including Bing Crosby, W. C. Fields and Vernon and Irene Castle.

   In 1933, Fiske said, Adelaide claimed she had been attacked by admirer and Cuban businessman Francis Xiques. Xiques denied the charge.  Later that year Adelaide was chloroformed and beaten while walking home. The dispute was resolved with a cash settlement, although Xiques apparently did not pay up.

   In 1940 the Glorias retired from show business. Albert got a job with Republic Aircraft Corporation on Long Island. In 1942 Adelaide married Sidney F. Hollenbeck of Gloversville, a native of Mayfield.

   Sidney was introduced to Adelaide by a movie actress friend, Marguerite Gale, a native of the town of Glen in Montgomery County.

   Adelaide and Sidney lived first at 12 Clinton Street in Gloversville and later in Caroga. 

   In 1956 Sidney took his own life, shooting himself twice with a shotgun at the couple’s home on the Gloversville-Caroga Lake Road.

   The Leader Herald reported Sidney had been despondent for several months. He was working at G. Levor & Company, a leather tanning mill in Gloversville.

   In 1960, according to Fiske, Adelaide’s brother Albert retired from the airplane company and came to live with her in Caroga.

   Fiske said Adelaide and Albert took numerous trips together. A Leader-Herald article in 1963 described plans to take their trailer to Florida, California and Guatemala for an extended vacation. “When you are not active, you are dead,” Albert told the reporter.

   Albert died in 1975 and Adelaide passed away in 1982. Gloversville was listed as their last place of residence.

   A celebration of David Fiske’s life is being planned and will be held at the Ballston Spa Village Cemetery.  Details when available will be located on David’s page, www.mevecfuneralhome.com

Mohawk Valley Weather for Thanksgiving Week

28 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:01AM 

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.

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.

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.

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.