The Historians

The Historians Podcast fund drive has raised $2610, the end zone $7000 for 2023. It's a bit of a tall order. Please help us provide more history programing on Fort Ticonderoga, Old Fort Johnson and the Wild West and coming up Movie History. (Episode #500 this November) Please donate online with the link at the top of the page or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thank you 

The Hart–Agnew Law (Racing returned to New York in 1913)

New York State outlawed betting in 1907 and racing stopped at Saratoga.  Temporarily, the Sanfords sold most of their horses to out-of-staters and Canadians, according to Robb.

Walking the horses to Saratoga 

By Bob Cudmore

        In the early twentieth century, thoroughbred horses owned by Amsterdam carpet mill owner Stephen Sanford were walked each summer to Saratoga from Sanford’s Hurricana Farm.

        Racing Hall of Fame trainer Hollie Hughes, who served three generations of Sanfords, recalled the annual trek in Alex M. Robb’s book, “The Sanfords of Amsterdam.” 

The trip began at the Sanford horse farm on what is now Route 30 in the town of Amsterdam.  Efforts are underway to preserve remaining buildings at the complex, originally called Hurricana Farm but later known as the Sanford Stud Farm.

        “First, we’d go up to Hagaman, a couple of miles away, and then we’d head for Top Notch, or West Galway, as it’s called,” Hughes said.  “That would be about five miles.  Then we’d go three miles straight east to Galway village.  Then we’d go to West Milton, about seven miles farther east, and there we’d stop at the old Dutch Inn and feed the horses and men.  My, those breakfasts tasted good!  By that time it would be close to daylight.  On the way over, half the horses would be under saddle with boys up.  After breakfast the saddles were put on the others which had been led by the men up to this point, and we’d walk the remaining ten miles to Saratoga, coming in by Geyser Spring.”

        In 1901, Sanford built his own stable on Nelson Avenue in Saratoga.  He had as many as 35 horses at a time.  When asked why he kept so many horses, the industrialist replied he was not in the horse raising business for “margin,” in other words for profit. 

Author Robb, an official of the New York State Racing Commission in 1969 when he wrote his book about the Sanfords, said that Stephen Sanford started buying the property that would become Hurricana Farm in the 1870s after his doctor recommended he take up farming as a hobby to help with what may have been stomach ulcers.  And Robb said that Sanford’s sons—John and William—also encouraged their father in this enterprise because of their own interest in fast horses, especially jumpers.  William died in 1896.

        From 1903 through 1907, the Sanfords invited the people of Amsterdam to the Sanford Matinee Races at Hurricana on the Sunday closest to Fourth of July.  Trolleys ran continuously up to Market and Meadow Streets.  From there, horse drawn wagons took people to the farm.  Some automobiles went to the farm as well but were not admitted to the grounds.  There was food, drink, music and, of course, horse racing. Some 15,000 attended the event during its last year.

        New York State outlawed betting in 1907 and racing stopped at Saratoga.  Temporarily, the Sanfords sold most of their horses to out-of-staters and Canadians, according to Robb.

        Stephen Sanford was blind the last five years of his life.  Born in 1826, he worked with his father John and then on his own to create the Sanford carpet mills.  Stephen Sanford went to West Point, served in Congress and was a friend of Ulysses S. Grant.

The old gentleman doted on his grandchildren, in particular his namesake, born in 1899.  He gave the boy a Shetland pony almost before the youngster could walk.  Young Stephen called the pony Laddie.  The grandfather bestowed the nickname Laddie on his grandson as well.

Stephen Sanford died on February 13, 1913.  Six months later, racing resumed at Saratoga along with the first running of the Sanford Memorial. 

Stephen’s 62-year old son John continued to head the carpet mills and racing stables created during his father’s lifetime.  According to Robb, John Sanford inherited $40 million at his father’s death. 

Robb wrote, “Hollie Hughes recalls Stephen Sanford as a man with a magnetic personality, one to whom your eyes would turn instinctively, even though he was but one of a hundred men in a crowd.  Hollie describes him as tall, thin, straight as a ramrod, his chin (and the chin whiskers) carried high, his right arm across his back.  He had a dry wit.”

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Episode 294- There are insights into the life of a reclusive 19th century poet in Marta McDowell’s book, “Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life.”  McDowell was gardener-in-residence at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2018.

Emily Dickinson was a keen observer of the natural world, but less well known is the fact that she was also an avid gardener—sending fresh bouquets to friends, including pressed flowers in her letters, and studying botany at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke. At her family home, she tended both a small glass conservatory and a flower garden.

https://www.oldfortjohnson.org/

Master furniture maker John Los will be the featured speaker for the first Wednesday lecture of the Old Fort Johnson summer  series. He will demonstrate how the classic American Windsor chair was made, using four variations of the style that he built and donated to Old Fort Johnson.

Fort Johnson, New York, new bridge, Colonial Privy, Kings Colours, back of fort showing gun ports, herb garden, roof of colonal bake oven.

This Thursday, June 22, 2023

Homeless man sketched the homes of others by Bob Cudmore

   Fritz Vogt slept in barns and relieved the pain of rheumatism with alcohol. He spoke broken English and died at a poorhouse. Yet he left a collection of 200 drawings that have been prized by art collectors and exhibited at museums

Fritz Vogt at The Arkell

http://www.arkellmuseum.org/content/fritz-vogt-drawings-sense-place

Friday, June 23, 2023-Episode 480 --A highlights edition with excerpts from podcasts on the Holocaust, Amsterdam history, Harlem, the Battle of Bennington, desegregation, Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Johnson.

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Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Tuesday, June 20, 2023

62 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:23AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Walking the horses to Saratoga

In the early twentieth century, thoroughbred horses owned by Amsterdam carpet mill owner Stephen Sanford were walked each summer to Saratoga from Sanford’s Hurricana Farm.

The Historians Podcast fund drive has raised $2610 toward our $7000 goal for 2023. We still have a long way to go. Please help us provide more history programing on Fort Ticonderoga, Old Fort Johnson and the Wild West. Please donate online or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thank you

Wednesday, June 21, 2023-From the Archives-November 29, 2019-Episode 294- There are insights into the life of a reclusive 19th century poet in Marta McDowell’s book, “Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life.”  McDowell was gardener-in-residence at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2018.

In Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life, award-winning author Marta McDowell explores Dickinson’s deep passion for plants and how it inspired and informed her writing. Tracing a year in the garden, the book reveals details few know about Dickinson and adds to our collective understanding of who she was as a person. By weaving together Dickinson’s poems, excerpts from letters, contemporary and historical photography, and botanical art, McDowell offers an enchanting new perspective on one of America’s most celebrated but enigmatic literary figures.

https://www.oldfortjohnson.org/

Master furniture maker John Los will be the featured speaker for the first Wednesday lecture of the Old Fort Johnson summer  series. He will demonstrate how the classic American Windsor chair was made, using four variations of the style that he built and donated to Old Fort Johnson.

Fort Johnson, New York, new bridge, Colonial Privy, Kings Colours, back of fort showing gun ports, herb garden, roof of colonal bake oven.

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Homeless man sketched the homes of others

Friday, June 23, 2023-Episode 480 --A highlights edition with excerpts from podcasts on the Holocaust, Amsterdam history, Harlem, the Battle of Bennington, desegregation, Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Johnson.

Up on the roof

By Bob Cudmore

   When there was a gathering at Amsterdam’s Clock Tower building at 37 Prospect Street early this month, Paul Russo was happy to attend.

   Friends of North Chuctanunda Creek celebrated National Trails Day at their first public meeting.  There was a discussion of the potential for a pedestrian trail along the North Chuctanunda, the creek which provided water power to many of Amsterdam’s 19th century mills.

   “I always loved that building,” said Paul of the Clock Tower.  He lived his first 22 years in Amsterdam then, after college in Albany, he and his wife Elizabeth Dye Russo settled in Johnstown, raising two boys and teaching in the Johnstown schools.

   Paul’s father, Carl Russo, worked for Bigelow-Sanford for many years.  He was top accounting official for the carpet mill in Amsterdam with a huge office and a secretary on the top floor of the Clock Tower.

   Terry Barker, who is restoring and developing the building, took Paul and other guests up on the newly restored roof.  Paul, who only visited his father at work once when he lived in Amsterdam, said you can see three-quarters of the city from the roof. 

   Barker has been working on the Clock Tower for over a decade.  He has found what works best is to create and rent small spaces for businesses, professionals and artists.  Former Mayor Ann Thane has her art studio there.

   Carl Russo was born in Amsterdam, skipped sixth grade and graduated from high school in 1926.  He married Bernice Kedzior of Amsterdam.

   The family lived first on Route 30 but later bought a house from Bigelow-Sanford in a development nicknamed Hollywood on Park Hill, not too far from the Clock Tower. 

   Carl and Bernice Russo’s first child was a boy they named Paul, who died as a baby.  In 1943 came twins Carol and Karen, followed by Paul in 1945 and Janet in 1947.

   Carl worked long hours for Bigelow-Sanford and had a side business, a bowling alley on East Main Street.  He enjoyed singing at Butch Robertshaw’s Drum and was a bowler and golfer.

   Paul remembers Sunday drives in the family car, a 1947 weathered green Chevrolet.

   Carl worked for a time at Bigelow-Sanford in Thompsonville, Connecticut.

   In 1955 Bigelow-Sanford closed its Amsterdam operation and relocated to Thompsonville.  Carl was offered a job at one of their plants in North Carolina.  Instead he wound up staying in Amsterdam, working for the city’s other major carpet maker, Mohasco.

   Carl developed colon cancer, but Paul said he and his sisters were told it was an obstruction of the bowels.  Paul was in eighth grade in 1959 when he saw a robin in early spring, hoping it was a good sign.  Carl Russo died that day. 

   Paul’s mother got a job with the state tax department in Albany.  Someone told Paul that he was now the “man of the house.”

   Barker said the Clock Tower was constructed in 1922 and occupied by Bigelow-Sanford in 1923.  He has assembled most of the parts needed to fix the clock and hopes the four-sided timepiece can be restored next spring.

   After the carpet mill left town, toymaker and Cabbage Patch doll creator Coleco eventually used the Clock Tower Building.  Coleco made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the home computer market with its Adam computer and went into bankruptcy in 1988.

   Paul gave one of his father’s accounting books to Barker.  The developer has collected other memorabilia from people who worked in the building.

   As Barker refurbishes the manufacturing floors in the structure he tries to preserve the scratches.  He said, “Every scratch is a man’s day’s work.”

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Historians Radio Schedule this Week

Monday and Wednesday WMHT89.1 Public Radio Albany RISE

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, June 18, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Saturday

David Pietrusza 

Bob schedule  "On the Radio" today (two episodes) at Noon WCSS Amsterdam 106.9 and WIZR 102.9 Johnstown

Tomorrow, Bob goes Up on The Roof

Sunday, June 18, 2023

When there was a gathering at Amsterdam’s Clock Tower building at 37 Prospect Street early this month, Paul Russo was happy to attend.

Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle

https://www.cosbygibson.com/cosby-tom

BandCamp

https://cosbygibson.bandcamp.com/

https://tomstaudle.bandcamp.com/

This Monday, June 19th, 2023 from midnight to midnight Pacific Time, we’ll hold our fourth annual Juneteenth fundraiser, where we donate 100% of our share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a racial justice organization with a long history of effectively enacting change through litigation, advocacy, and public education.
As a reminder, Bandcamp Fridays will resume on August 4th, and continue on September 1st, October 6th, November 3rd, and December 1st. https://bandcamp.com/

https://www.oldfortjohnson.org/

Master furniture maker John Los will be the featured speaker for the first Wednesday lecture of the Old Fort Johnson summer  series. He will demonstrate how the classic American Windsor chair was made, using four variations of the style that he built and donated to Old Fort Johnson.

Sign-up for the Bob Cudmore email blast each Weekend (in your email this morning)

 [email protected]

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, June 17, 2023

61 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:07AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Fort Plain Museum https://fortplainmuseum.org/

Dark days in Amsterdam in 1955

By Bob Cudmore

The announcement that Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company was leaving Amsterdam for Thompsonville, Connecticut shocked Amsterdam residents and brought joy to people in Thompsonville.  The move eliminated 1,650 jobs in Amsterdam, most of them employed in weaving Axminster, a patterned carpet with a cut pile.  A 12-person plastic manufacturing plant remained in Amsterdam. 

“I remember the announcement of their leaving broadcast over WCSS in 1955 that made the rumors official,” recalled Rochester resident and Amsterdam native Dave Northrup. “It cast a real pall over the city.”

Company president James D. Wise broke the news at Noon on Saturday, January 29.  The local papers didn’t print the story until Monday.  Historian Hugh P. Donlon said those were “dark days.”

Wise cited competition from new tufted carpet mills in the South, plus competition from woven carpet plants in America and overseas as reasons for consolidation.  Local wisdom has held that corporate control passed outside of Amsterdam when the Sanford family merged their company with Bigelow-Hartford in 1929.  

New York Governor Averill Harriman moved quickly to publicly pressure Stephen “Laddie” Sanford, the company’s largest stockholder, to do what he could to save jobs in Sanford’s native Amsterdam. 

But Sanford, then living in Florida, told reporters, “Conditions in the carpet industry are very bad making it necessary for us to cut down on our overhead.”

Local leaders had been aware of the possibility of Bigelow-Sanford’s departure.  A community drive had raised $300,000, secured land for an industrial park on Edson Street and work had begun on a new factory building.  Local officials offered the building to Bigelow-Sanford.

The president of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, Karl Kempf, told the Daily Gazette that unsuccessful efforts had been made to bring about a merger of Bigelow-Sanford and Amsterdam’s other major rug maker, Mohawk Mills.  Kempf said, “Such a merger would have been of obvious benefit to Bigelow-Sanford stockholders.”

Kempf said the move to Connecticut was, “An injustice both to Amsterdam and to the company’s stockholders.”

That January weekend Harriman dispatched his new Commerce Commissioner, Edward P. Dickenson, to Amsterdam for meetings with local leaders.  Fred Krokenberger of the textile union told Dickenson his members had accepted concessions.  Krokenberger noted that while Amsterdam only had four union grievances in four years, workers in Thompsonville had participated in 17 work stoppages in two years. 

Some said the move was engineered by Connecticut’s Governor Abraham Ribicoff, who had met Bigelow-Sanford officials at their 140 Madison Avenue offices in New York City in December 1954.

In Thompsonville, a section of the town of Enfield, prayers of thanksgiving were offered up at Sunday church services that weekend.

Theodore Misaszek, president of Local 2188 of the Textile Workers Union of America was pleased for his workers and community but added, “We feel sorry for the people of Amsterdam and our sincere sympathy is with them.”

In October 1955 more than two million square feet of Bigelow-Sanford factory space divided into 21 parcels was offered for sale at an Amsterdam auction, along with company houses and vacant lots.  According to historian Donlon, property assessed at $5 million brought total bids of only $300,000.

Thompsonville merchant Frank Tokarczyk happily told a reporter in 1955 he hoped Bigelow-Sanford would stay 125 years.  However, by 1971 the company had closed its Thompsonville mills after moving manufacturing to southern states.

The Enfield Historical Society in Connecticut has an Axminster carpet loom from Bigelow-Sanford’s Thompsonville plant on display at their museum at 1294 Enfield Street.  There is still carpet in the loom and society president Tony Secondo would be happy to show it you.  More information on carpet making in Thompsonville is on the Web site, http://www.enfieldhistoricalsociety.org

https://www.oldfortjohnson.org/

Master furniture maker John Los will be the featured speaker for the first Wednesday lecture of the Old Fort Johnson summer  series. He will demonstrate how the classic American Windsor chair was made, using four variations of the style that he built and donated to Old Fort Johnson.

Saturday, June 17, 2023-From the archives- Friday, August 31, 2018-Historians Episode 230-Presidential historian David Pietrusza discusses his book, “TR’s Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy.”

Sunday, June 18, 2023-Focus on History- Up on the roof

Sign-up for the Bob Cudmore email blast each Weekend

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Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, June 15, 2023

60 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:15AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Thursday, June 15, 2023

A dark day for Amsterdam in 1955

New York Governor Averill Harriman moved quickly to publicly pressure Stephen “Laddie” Sanford, the company’s largest stockholder, to do what he could to save jobs in Sanford’s native Amsterdam. 

New (state of the art, as they say" release this Friday)

June 16, 2023 – Episode 479 – 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.

Saturday, June 17, 2023-From the archives- Friday, August 31, 2018-Historians Episode 230-Presidential historian David Pietrusza discusses his book, “TR’s Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy.”

Sunday, June 18, 2023-Focus on History- Up on the roof

Sign-up for the Bob Cudmore email blast each Weekend

 [email protected]

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, June 14, 2023

54 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:53AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Amsterdam man was author and aeronautic expert

By Bob Cudmore

The story of Amsterdam native Adam Golab came to the foreground recently because the Walter Elwood Museum of the Mohawk Valley needed copies of Golab’s popular books for the museum gift shop.

“Adventures of a Small Boy in His Small World” was published in 1994 and illustrated by the author.  Ann Peconie, director at the museum, said she gets more requests for Golab’s “The Mighty and Awesome Chuctanunda Creeks Runs Through a Limestone City,” published in 1999.

After detective work on the part of history buff John Szkaradek, copies of one of the books were secured from Golab’s daughter, Carole Martin, who lives in Amsterdam.  The book focusing on the Chuctanunda Creek is now available at the 300 Guy Park Avenue museum gift shop for $10.  The earlier book is out of print.

Golab, born in 1920, was married to the late Regina Majewski and they had two other children--Lisbeth Golab of Amsterdam and James Golab of North Carolina.

Adam Golab studied aeronautic engineering at the Bedford Technical School in Brooklyn.  From 1940 until 1943, he was employed at Precision Instrument Company in Brooklyn and later worked as an aircraft mechanic at Roosevelt Field on Long Island.  He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1948, including a stint aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard. 

Go Fund Me "A check in The U.S. Mail" to Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thanks to an extremely generous and anonymous $1000 donation, The Historians Podcast fund drive has now raised $2610 toward our $7000 goal for 2023. The Historians #500 Podcast will post this November.  Donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore 

He returned to Amsterdam in 1949 when he secured a position at Schenectady General Electric, first in the steam turbine plant and then at GE Research and Development in Niskayuna.  He was a specialist in materials and processes and retired in 1982.  His wife died in 2000 and the author died in 2004.  They made their home on Wallins Corners Road.

Martin said her father’s first book was a surprise to her but that she was the typesetter for book number two.  She has followed in her father’s footsteps to some extent.  Martin today works at GE’s Niskayuna research headquarters.

“Adventures of a Small Boy in His Small World” tells tales of Golab’s youth.  He lived on Grand Street on Park Hill, adjacent to the Bigelow-Sanford carpet mill.  His parents, Joseph and Katherine Kosiba Golab, were Polish immigrants, both of whom worked in the rug mills. 

Martin recalled one story from her father’s first book.  Since the carpet mills used the North Chuctanunda Creek as a dumping ground for dye and other waste, parents could tell if their children had been playing in the creek if their clothing had picked up unusual colors.  Golab also wrote how adventurous boys would walk on the top level of the girders of the old Pulaski Bridge that spanned the creek, connecting Park Hill with the city’s other traditionally Polish neighborhood, Reid Hill.

“The Mighty and Awesome Chuctanunda Creeks Runs Through a Limestone City,” according to Martin, is the story of Amsterdam and the North Chuctanunda Creek.  The creek is a character in the book (called Chuck) and the author asks Chuck to describe places, people and things along the route the stream takes on its way from its source north of Amsterdam to the Mohawk River.

Golab had other interests in addition to writing. He was a member of the Sacandaga Boat Club over 40 years and built his first boat.  He was a master carpenter and woodworker who built his own home and the custom designed furniture in it.  He was a photographer and worked on a photographic almanac of historic barns of the Mohawk Valley. 

He enjoyed radio controlled airplanes and was a member of the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Schenectady.  He belonged to a number of historical organizations, including the Elwood Museum.

Bob Cudmore on The Radio this Weekend

WCSS Amsterdam and WIZR Johnstown (Noon Saturday)

Wednesday, June 14, 2023-Polo player and carpet executive Laddie Sanford, a 1940 Northville fire and a newspaper contest from the early 1900s.

Thursday, June 15, 2023

A dark day for Amsterdam in 1955

“I remember the announcement of their leaving broadcast over WCSS in 1955 that made the rumors official,” recalled Rochester resident and Amsterdam native Dave Northrup. “It cast a real pall over the city.”

New release this Friday

June 16, 2023 – Episode 479 – 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.

Sign-up for the Bob Cudmore email 

 [email protected]

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, June 13, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Go Fund Me "A check in The U.S. Mail"

to Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thank you

Thanks to an extremely generous and anonymous $1000 donation, The Historians Podcast fund drive has now raised $2610 toward our $7000 goal for 2023.

The Historians #500 Podcast will post this fall.  Donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore 

Bob Cudmore and Scott Haefner talk history

Old Fort Johnson is the 1749 limestone house built by William Johnson on the Mohawk River in colonial New York. It was fortified for protection during the French & Indian Wars from 1755-63. Johnson convened many Native American conferences on this site as the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Department.

Sunday, June 11, 2023-Bob Cudmore

Focus on History

Going over street to Fort Plain "Posted Tomorrow"

Luxuray manufactured women’s underwear, mainly panties, from 1931 to 1999 in a factory on Willett Street in Fort Plain.  Luxuray sold its own line of panties, had a factory store in Fort Plain and supplied retailers like Macy’s and J.C. Penney’s.

by Andy Arthur

Driving down NY 10 and heading into and through parts of the village of Fort Plain in Montgomery County. 

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Mohawk Valley Weeekend Weather, Saturday, June 10, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Thanks to an extremely generous and anonymous $1000 donation, The Historians Podcast fund drive has now raised $2610 toward our $7000 goal for 2023. The Historians #500 Podcast will post this November.  Please donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or send a check  to Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thank you 

Violins and Ginseng

By Bob Cudmore

   Arch Kested was a violin maker and ginseng grower from Fonda who was the plaintiff in an assault case that had political overtones.

   Born in Broadalbin in 1861 to Henry and Lydia Lansing Kested, Arch Kested married Charlotte Craig in 1891. He became proficient in “hand wood turning,” according to his 1940 obituary.

   He was a longtime woodworker at “the old steam mill” in Fonda.  His obituary stated, “For many years he was recognized as an expert in the art of violin making and was consulted by many people who possessed violins of various makes.”

   Amsterdam native Gail Buchner Breen has a Kested violin made in 1895.  There is a crack on the back, which has been repaired.  Breen said the violin “has a little bit of a froggy sound when the weather is very humid but is very playable.”

   Breen added, “It originally belonged to Charles Rockwell, my maternal grandfather, who lived in Galway. He, along with my grandmother on piano and uncle on accordion, played during the breaks at some of the dances locally around Hagadorn Mills many years ago.”

   Another Kested violin from 1893, owned by a collector in the region, is playable but also has a small crack on the back.

   The fiddle’s back and sides are maple and the front is spruce. The peg board and other parts are ebony.

GINSENG KING

   Kested also was known as the Ginseng King. Ginseng is a root crop that is processed and used as a general health tonic and to treat male sexual dysfunction.

   Cornell University has pictures from 1903 posted online showing Kested’s ginseng farm on the Johnstown Road north of Fonda.  Kested was shipping ginseng in two tin-lined hardwood barrels to China in 1905.  In 1911 Kested and a partner were said to have a $10,000 ginseng crop on hand but were unable to sell it in China because of a war there.

   In 1915, Kested reported his ginseng beds were raided twice within a month and about $1000 worth of the roots were stolen.  The story reported that Kested sold ginseng in New York City for three to eight dollars a pound.  Kested’s ginseng farm was estimated to be the largest in the United States in 1917.

NO VERDICT

   Kested was the plaintiff in a politically charged assault case in 1922.  Kested alleged that J. Hooker Cross and his son Irving Cross came to his barn and beat him.

   The Crosses were upset at stories Kested allegedly was spreading about them and the Crosses contended Kested started the physical fray with his pitchfork.  The Crosses left the scene when Kested’s wife suddenly appeared. 

   A jury in Fonda could not agree on a verdict against the Crosses that June, according to the Recorder.  The trial attracted attention as all three men were prominent (the elder Cross was superintendent of horses at the previous year’s Fonda Fair) and involved in Republican politics.

   When Kested died, his wife survived as did three sons and three daughters.  Kested’s obituary stated, “His genial personality and his kindness endeared him to a large circle of friends and acquaintances.”

ANOTHER VIOLIN MAKER

   John S. Hull of Fort Hunter also made violins by hand. The Leader Herald reported that at age eleven Hull started to learn violin-making from his father, John Justin Hull, a violinist and instrument maker in Kingston, Pennsylvania.

   The younger Hull trained to be a violinist at Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania.  He ultimately focused on making and especially repairing violins in Fort Hunter.  He was especially good at repairing bows.  He was relied on by a large clientele of musicians.

Tomorrow the Bob Cudmore conversation with Scott Haefner

Friday, June 9, 2023 – Episode 478 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.

Old Fort Johnson is the 1749 limestone house built by William Johnson on the Mohawk River in colonial New York. It was fortified for protection during the French & Indian Wars from 1755-63. Johnson convened many Native American conferences on this site as the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Department.

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Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, June 8, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/