The Historians

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.

The Battle of Bennington preceded the 1777 Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution.  It was fought in the hamlet of Walloomsac in the Town of Hoosick New York on August 16 1777—about ten miles from Bennington, Vermont.  Phyllis Chapman of Friends of the Bennington Battlefield describes the battle and its impact on the Battle of Saratoga.

Tomorrow on The Historians with Bob Cudmore

The latest story from Bob this weekend in The Gazette and Recorder

Amsterdam woman influenced city culture

   Mercy Annie Allen Trapnell was an educator and organizer in nineteenth and early twentieth century Amsterdam. Born in 1832 at Blue Corners

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

Helping Sam Stratton get elected

By Bob Cudmore

   On one of Samuel Stratton’s early trips to Amsterdam as part of his first Congressional campaign, he luckily ran into an 11-year old entrepreneur

   East End native John Naple wrote, “If I was 12 years old I could get my working papers and then have my own paper route, but it was only 1958 so I had one more year to wait.  While I waited, Mike Sheridan from Kline Street hired me to deliver his route.”

   Sheridan had over one hundred Recorders to deliver, from Marotta’s News across from St. Casimir’s Church to Degraff Street near Coessens Park.

   It was a hot summer day and Naple said he still had half the papers to deliver, “Having some pocket change, I stopped at Frosty’s Ice Cream at the top of Elk Street.  A handsome, thin young man, with a sweaty wrinkled white shirt pulled a beat up station wagon into the parking lot.  He jumped out and started talking to the people in line.”

   He told them, “I’m the mayor of Schenectady, running for Congress and looking for your vote.”

   Stratton was 41 at the time.  He had been awarded two bronze stars as an officer in Navy intelligence in World War II.

   Naple said Stratton was handing out small cards with this name and picture on them, “I introduced myself to him, while he was eating his ice cream.  I was taken by the man and making an executive decision, offered to put his cards in my papers when I rolled them up.  I showed him how to roll the paper and tuck the card inside.  He gave it a try and did a fair job.  I could roll a paper in about two seconds.  I rolled about 50 of his cards into the papers in the dirty canvas bag that hung over my shoulder.”

   Naple threw some rolled papers up on first and second story porches.  Some went into milk boxes and others behind screen doors.

   “All those customers received the card of Sam Stratton,” Naple recalled. Stratton won the election in November and served 30 years in Congress, 1959 to 1989.

   Naple said, “Years later Stratton appointed two of my younger brothers to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.  They both had distinguished naval careers.  Did I help my brothers get their appointments by helping Sam get elected?”

COUSINS

   Naple and his cousin Sharon DiMenno Menech of Broadalbin recently visited Eagle Street. 

   “It was kind of sad,” Menech said.  “There were some people there that we grew up with, but a lot of the houses were boarded up.”

   Menech recalled, “In the neighborhood everyone got along, and all the adults sat out in front of our house and the kids played all kinds of games.”

   Menech grew up at 35 Eagle, across the street from where Kirk Douglas was born and raised.  She used to walk past old Amsterdam landmarks on her way to and from school: the bars, Shell’s Pharmacy, Johnny’s Seafood and the Mohawk, Tryon and Rialto theaters. 

   Menech said, “On Friday nights there always was walking downtown and shopping and meeting friends at Brownie’s and all sitting in tbe back booth.”

   Menech’s father worked at Bigelow-Sanford carpet mill and her mother worked third shift at Mohasco carpet mill.  When Bigelow-Sanford moved out in 1955 her father got a job at a Christmas tree factory.  When Mohasco moved out, her mother found work at the Big N store’s deli on Route 30.

   “The closing of the carpet mills put many of work,” Menech said. “But they usually found a job of one kind or another.  Some people went south with Mohasco.”

Go Fund Me/November 4, 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, Saturday, November 4, 2023

48 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:29AM 

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.

Helping Sam Stratton get elected

By Bob Cudmore

   On one of Samuel Stratton’s early trips to Amsterdam as part of his first Congressional campaign, he luckily ran into an 11-year old entrepreneur

   East End native John Naple wrote, “If I was 12 years old I could get my working papers and then have my own paper route, but it was only 1958 so I had one more year to wait.  While I waited, Mike Sheridan from Kline Street hired me to deliver his route.”

   Sheridan had over one hundred Recorders to deliver, from Marotta’s News across from St. Casimir’s Church to Degraff Street near Coessens Park.

   It was a hot summer day and Naple said he still had half the papers to deliver, “Having some pocket change, I stopped at Frosty’s Ice Cream at the top of Elk Street.  A handsome, thin young man, with a sweaty wrinkled white shirt pulled a beat up station wagon into the parking lot.  He jumped out and started talking to the people in line.”

   He told them, “I’m the mayor of Schenectady, running for Congress and looking for your vote.”

   Stratton was 41 at the time.  He had been awarded two bronze stars as an officer in Navy intelligence in World War II.

   Naple said Stratton was handing out small cards with this name and picture on them, “I introduced myself to him, while he was eating his ice cream.  I was taken by the man and making an executive decision, offered to put his cards in my papers when I rolled them up.  I showed him how to roll the paper and tuck the card inside.  He gave it a try and did a fair job.  I could roll a paper in about two seconds.  I rolled about 50 of his cards into the papers in the dirty canvas bag that hung over my shoulder.”

   Naple threw some rolled papers up on first and second story porches.  Some went into milk boxes and others behind screen doors.

   “All those customers received the card of Sam Stratton,” Naple recalled. Stratton won the election in November and served 30 years in Congress, 1959 to 1989.

   Naple said, “Years later Stratton appointed two of my younger brothers to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.  They both had distinguished naval careers.  Did I help my brothers get their appointments by helping Sam get elected?”

COUSINS

   Naple and his cousin Sharon DiMenno Menech of Broadalbin recently visited Eagle Street. 

   “It was kind of sad,” Menech said.  “There were some people there that we grew up with, but a lot of the houses were boarded up.”

   Menech recalled, “In the neighborhood everyone got along, and all the adults sat out in front of our house and the kids played all kinds of games.”

   Menech grew up at 35 Eagle, across the street from where Kirk Douglas was born and raised.  She used to walk past old Amsterdam landmarks on her way to and from school: the bars, Shell’s Pharmacy, Johnny’s Seafood and the Mohawk, Tryon and Rialto theaters. 

   Menech said, “On Friday nights there always was walking downtown and shopping and meeting friends at Brownie’s and all sitting in tbe back booth.”

   Menech’s father worked at Bigelow-Sanford carpet mill and her mother worked third shift at Mohasco carpet mill.  When Bigelow-Sanford moved out in 1955 her father got a job at a Christmas tree factory.  When Mohasco moved out, her mother found work at the Big N store’s deli on Route 30.

   “The closing of the carpet mills put many of work,” Menech said. “But they usually found a job of one kind or another.  Some people went south with Mohasco.”

Tomorrow

Friday, November 3, 2023-Episode 497-Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carper mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry.  Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.

History, adventure and the outdoors await you in Montgomery County, a valley carved by a mighty river and built by amazing people.

Come Here to Get Back. Back to basics in Montgomery County - an exceptional setting for all seasons. Get back to history. Get back to the outdoors. Get back to spending time-together. Be curious, be adventurous, be yourself in our serene and intriguing corner of upstate New York.

https://visitmontgomerycountyny.com/

Go Fund Me/November 2, 2023. Update-$2370.00 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 Mohawk Valley People

Scott Haefner of Old Fort Johnson historic site explains how this formerly fortified home of British Indian agent Sir William Johnson was preserved by a grass roots organization, the Montgomery County Historical Society.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, November 2, 2023

26 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:54AM 

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.

Thursday, November 2, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Helping Sam Stratton

   On one of Samuel Stratton’s early trips to Amsterdam as part of his first Congressional campaign, he luckily ran into an 11-year old entrepreneur..

Friday, November 3, 2023-Episode 497-Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carper mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry.  Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.

Go Fund Me/November 1, 2023. Update-$2370.00 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 

Johnny Podres and Alex Isabel

By Bob Cudmore

       There are Amsterdam connections to the late Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres who died January 13 at age 75 at Glens Falls Hospital.  A longtime Queensbury resident, Podres was best known for shutting out the New York Yankees in game seven of the 1955 World Series.

       An Amsterdam man, Alec Isabel, was the Dodgers baseball scout who recruited Podres to play for the Dodgers.

       A native of Pisciotta, Italy, Isabel played baseball for Amsterdam High before World War I, getting an offer from the New York Giants. Instead, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and suffered hearing loss while on board the battleship Michigan. After the war, Isabel finished high school and played baseball at St. Mary’s Institute. He married Ann Murphy in 1923 and they had three children.

Isabel played and coach baseball in the semi-professional leagues of the day. In 1940, Alex he began coaching baseball at St. Mary’s, adding basketball duties a year later.  He became recreation superintendent for the city from 1946 until his death.  His family, primarily his brother Guy and Guy’s wife Ida, operated Isabel’s, the popular West Main Street restaurant.

As a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Isabel scoured Upstate New York and parts of New England and Canada.

Coach Isabel’s nickname was Chief according to John Szkaradek, one of the members of Isabel’s basketball and baseball teams at St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam in 1952, the year Isabel discovered Podres.

“I remember the day he signed Johnny Podres,” Szkaradek said. “We were at Coessens Park.  Robert Sise, who became a judge, had taken over the team that day.  Sise was a pitcher.  Sise said the Chief had signed up a young fellow up north and he looks like he’s going to be a pretty good prospect. And I guess he was because Podres played in the World Series, pitched a no hitter in the World Series.”

Isabel died suddenly in 1953, two years before Podres pitched his World Series shutout.  Isabel and Szkaradek’s father died on the same day, both from heart attacks.

Some of Podres relatives named Zilinskis also have lived in Amsterdam’s East End through the years.

Bob Cudmore and Mohawk Valley People

Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle with songs of the American Revolution. Previously Cosby and Tom, who live in the Mohawk Valley have done musical programs with songs of the Erie Canal and other historical events.

Coming this month!!!

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

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, November 1, 2023

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

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.

Go Fund Me for the last day of October. Update-$2370.00 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 

Johnny Podres and Alex Isabel

By Bob Cudmore

       There are Amsterdam connections to the late Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres who died January 13 at age 75 at Glens Falls Hospital.  A longtime Queensbury resident, Podres was best known for shutting out the New York Yankees in game seven of the 1955 World Series.

       An Amsterdam man, Alec Isabel, was the Dodgers baseball scout who recruited Podres to play for the Dodgers.

       A native of Pisciotta, Italy, Isabel played baseball for Amsterdam High before World War I, getting an offer from the New York Giants. Instead, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and suffered hearing loss while on board the battleship Michigan. After the war, Isabel finished high school and played baseball at St. Mary’s Institute. He married Ann Murphy in 1923 and they had three children.

Isabel played and coach baseball in the semi-professional leagues of the day. In 1940, Alex he began coaching baseball at St. Mary’s, adding basketball duties a year later.  He became recreation superintendent for the city from 1946 until his death.  His family, primarily his brother Guy and Guy’s wife Ida, operated Isabel’s, the popular West Main Street restaurant.

As a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Isabel scoured Upstate New York and parts of New England and Canada.

Coach Isabel’s nickname was Chief according to John Szkaradek, one of the members of Isabel’s basketball and baseball teams at St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam in 1952, the year Isabel discovered Podres.

“I remember the day he signed Johnny Podres,” Szkaradek said. “We were at Coessens Park.  Robert Sise, who became a judge, had taken over the team that day.  Sise was a pitcher.  Sise said the Chief had signed up a young fellow up north and he looks like he’s going to be a pretty good prospect. And I guess he was because Podres played in the World Series, pitched a no hitter in the World Series.”

Isabel died suddenly in 1953, two years before Podres pitched his World Series shutout.  Isabel and Szkaradek’s father died on the same day, both from heart attacks.

Some of Podres relatives named Zilinskis also have lived in Amsterdam’s East End through the years.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023-From the Archives- February 10, 2023-Episode 461-Alan Maddaus is author of Wright Peak Elegy: A Story of Cold War, Nuclear Deterrence and Ultimate Sacrifice. The book tells the story of a U.S. B 47e jet bomber that crashed into Wright Peak in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in in January 1962. 

Thursday, November 2, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Helping Sam Stratton

   On one of Samuel Stratton’s early trips to Amsterdam as part of his first Congressional campaign, he luckily ran into an 11-year old entrepreneur..

Friday, November 3, 2023-Episode 497-Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carper mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry.  Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.

Bob Cudmore and Amsterdam People

WAMC radio film commentator, historian and archivist Audrey Kupferberg discusses pre-Hollywood filmmaking in New York State and other topics.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, October 31, 2023

35 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:55AM 

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, October 30, 2023-Story behind the story- Ghosts of the Mohawk Valley

Tuesday, October 31, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Johnny Podres and Alex Isabel

There are Amsterdam connections to the late Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres who died January 13 at age 75 at Glens Falls Hospital.  A longtime Queensbury resident, Podres was best known for shutting out the New York Yankees in game seven of the 1955 World Series.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023-From the Archives- February 10, 2023-Episode 461-Alan Maddaus is author of Wright Peak Elegy: A Story of Cold War, Nuclear Deterrence and Ultimate Sacrifice. The book tells the story of a U.S. B 47e jet bomber that crashed into Wright Peak in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in in January 1962. 

Thursday, November 2, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Helping Sam Stratton

Friday, November 3, 2023-Episode 497-Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carper mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry.  Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.

The Historians Podcast fund drive has raised $4630 so far.  Our most recent generous contributions came from Jackie Murphy, Jim Kaplan, Dave Northrup and Wanda Burch. 

Go Fund Me Monday Update-$2370.00 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 

Ghosts in the Mohawk Valley

By Bob Cudmore

   Wishing good weather to Historic Amsterdam League for tonight’s conclusion of their likely sold out Ghosts of the Past tour at Green Hill Cemetery.

   One cemetery resident portrayed in a previous tour was Lewis Putnam Strang, who liked fast cars, according to Jerry Snyder of the League.

   A descendant of Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam, Strang was born in Amsterdam in 1884.  He died in 1911.  Snyder wrote that Strang “became the first Indy driver ever killed, pinned beneath his car when it overturned during a reliability test run in Wisconsin, going four miles per hour.” 

   The year Strang died he had taken part in the first Indianapolis 500.  Strang did well in other races, even beating legendary driver Barney Oldfield. 

   Daisy Crouse Rhinehart was interred at age 79 in 1961 in the Crouse family mausoleum at Green Hill.  She was placed in a bronze casket dressed in her ermine wrap. 

   Her father, David, was one of the original owners of the large carpet mill on Lyon Street, called the upper mill. 

   Daisy divorced twice.  Her first husband, John Smith, was a traveling trading stamp salesman.  She and second husband Roy Rhinehart had homes in Saratoga Springs and Florida. 

   In 1955 an assault complaint was lodged against Daisy by her cook.  After allegedly biting the Saratoga undersheriff Daisy was dubbed Hurricane Daisy in the newspapers.

   The oldest building in Amsterdam, Guy Park Manor, had a ghost, according to city historian Rob von Hasseln.  Guy Park Manor is currently being converted into an education center

   The building’s first residents were British Loyalist Guy Johnson and his wife Polly, who fled to Canada during the American Revolution.  The winning side turned the building into a tavern.

   “Visitors began seeing a mysterious woman in white in an upstairs room,” von Hasseln wrote.  “Some suspected Polly had returned to her home, others thought it was a maidservant dispatched by Guy Johnson to retrieve papers and valuables secreted in the house.  A German hexmeister who travelled the Valley offered to stay overnight in the manor and rid it of its ghost; thereafter, the visitations ceased.”

   The reputed haunting of Widow Susan Road in the town of Amsterdam by Susan DeGraff still gets attention from ghost hunters.  The road runs from Chapman Drive (formerly Route 5) up a hill to Route 67.

   Local lore has it that driving down the road and chanting “Widow Susan” three times conjures the spirit.

   Renee Mallet, in her book “Ghosts of New York’s Capital District,” wrote, “Most of the witnesses report seeing a lady in an old fashioned white dress, walking along Widow Susan Road, sometimes crying but always searching for something.”

   Susan Thomas, born in Perth in 1821, married Harmanus DeGraff in 1838. They lived at the bottom of the road.  Harmanus died around 1848.

   Susan and a daughter moved to Michigan where the widow died in 1892.  She was buried at Green Hill.

   The story was that Susan haunted her old neighborhood looking for her husband’s grave, thought to have been in a family cemetery.

   However, Jerry Snyder found that Alonzo DeGraff, the widow’s son, purchased a plot at Green Hill in 1883 and had his father and other family members exhumed from where they were buried and moved to Green Hill.  When Susan died in 1892 she was buried next to her husband. 

   There have been reports of ghost-like activities in the Old Montgomery County Courthouse in Fonda where the office of county historian Kelly Farquhar is located.  At different times people have seen a woman in a long blue dress walking on the building’s second floor. 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, October 30, 2023

46 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:48AM 

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.