The Historians

The Historians Podcast Go Fund Me for 2023. This Sunday more on Amsterdam’s Wilson family. Go Fund Me Link The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or U.S. Mail. Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  Bob Cudmore and The Historians on Radio this weekend in The Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier, New York State 

Presumed dead, Amsterdam man survived the war

By Bob Cudmore

An Amsterdam man presumed dead during World War II survived the war and lived until 2003.

Attorney Robert N. Going in his book “Honor Roll: The World War II Dead of Amsterdam, N.Y.” listed the death of Private First Class Anthony “Doc” Kosiba of 39 McCleary Avenue.

Inducted in 1943, Kosiba arrived in England in the summer of 1944.  He fought in France, Belgium and Germany.

Kosiba’s wife Olga received a telegram from the War Department that her husband was killed in action on German soil on October 6, 1944.  His age was 35.  The Recorder printed Kosiba’s obituary and a funeral Mass was held.

Going now has learned from family members that some time after the funeral, Olga Kosiba received a letter from her husband.

“It took a good deal of tear-wiping before she finally noticed the date on the letter,” Going said.  “It was after the date of the telegram announcing his death.”

Going said that Kosiba had been wounded so badly that initially he was thought to be dead, “Doubtless his dog tags were gathered up and it was only later when they came back for the body that someone realized he was alive.

“After spending some time in Army hospitals, he came home to Olga and Amsterdam and lived a long and fruitful life.”

Kosiba earned the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and European Campaign medals.  After the war, he returned to his job at the Fitzgerald Bottling Company in Amsterdam.  He was a production manager for the Fitzgerald and PepsiCola companies until his retirement.

Olga Kosiba, who had worked for Mohasco, died in 1998.  Anthony Kosiba died on March 6, 2003 at age 94 at the Wilkinson nursing home on Route 30.  The couple had no children.  They were members of St. Stanislaus Church.

DARK DAYS

Stephen Sanford, arguably Amsterdam’s most famous horseman, ended his life unable to attend races at Saratoga.

Sanford, who founded Amsterdam’s first major carpet mill, created Hurricana Farm in the 1870s on what is now Route 30.

According to Alex M. Robb’s book “The Sanfords of Amsterdam,” Sanford’s doctor recommended the industrialist take up thoroughbred breeding as a hobby to help with stomach ulcers.  Sanford horses, especially jumpers, were a mainstay every summer at the Saratoga racing meet, founded in 1863.

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.  Thousands attended each year.

In 1908, Stephen Sanford went blind.

 And in the last two years of his life the races he loved at Saratoga were cancelled.

Today the future of racing at Saratoga is threatened by economics and state government dysfunction.  A hundred years ago the issue was morality.

The reform movement was a reaction to the devil may care attitude of the Gay Nineties.  New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes signed a law that banned bookmaking at horse tracks in the state.  The tracks, including Saratoga, were closed in 1911 and 1912.  Hughes later served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Sanfords sold most of their horses to out-of-staters and Canadians when the track closed, according to Robb.

Stephen Sanford died on February 13, 1913.  Six months later, the state allowed racing to resume at Saratoga along with the first running of a race named to honor Amsterdam’s premiere racing family, the Sanford Memorial.

The Amsterdam horse farm—later called Sanford Stud Farm—continued under the management of Stephen Sanford’s descendants until 1977.  Today the Friends of Sanford Stud Farm are making an effort to restore the remaining farm buildings.

Friday, March 17, 2023-Episode 466-Kate Fagan is author of HOOP MUSES-An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s) Game an Adventure through Basketball History. Fagan is a native of Schenectady. She writes for Sports Illustrated.

Saturday March 18, 2023-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan explains the role played by Democratic Party district leader Jimmy McManus in reviving the Broadway theater industry and the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan.

Sunday, March 19, 2023- More on Amsterdam’s Wilson family

Benjamin Wilson responded with more information after reading the recent column describing his Amsterdam ancestors. 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, March 16, 2023

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The Historians Podcast Go Fund Me for 2023. Working on an interview with Maria Riccio Bryce “Requiem” that should post in April. The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or U.S. Mail. Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  Bob Cudmore and The Historians on Radio and The Internet. The Historians airs today on Albany Public Radio WMHT89.1FM RISE that serves The Hudson Valley

Wednesday, March 15, 2023-Episode 399 Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Presumed dead

An Amsterdam man presumed dead during World War II survived the war and lived until 2003.

Friday, March 17, 2023-Episode 466-Kate Fagan is author of HOOP MUSES-An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s) Game an Adventure through Basketball History. Fagan is a native of Schenectady. She writes for Sports Illustrated.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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His father wanted to name the baby Alexander, after a Polish prince.  Paula’s name, for example, was in reality Pelagia Julianna, the name of a Polish princess.  However, his mother prevailed and the baby was named Henry, after the American industrialist Henry Ford.  The family always called him Harry and he legally changed his name to Harry when he came of age. 

The Historians Podcast Go Fund Me for 2023. This Sunday more on Amsterdam’s Wilson family and later this month Episode 467-Charles Morgan Evans is author of Helicopter Heroine--Valerie Andre, Surgeon, Rescue Pilot and Her Courage Under Fire.  The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302  Bob Cudmore and The Historians on Radio and The Internet (to be honest, radio is more fun)

Sikora family memories

By Bob Cudmore

Descendants of Albert and Katie Sikora have preserved fascinating accounts of daily life during the 1920s and 1930s in Amsterdam.  The family lived on Clark Avenue and in 1931 Albert Sikora is described as a spinner at Mohawk Carpet Mills.

One of Albert and Katie’s daughters, Paula, wrote down her memories of the birth of her youngest brother Harry in 1928.  The pregnancy was not discussed with the six other children and at the time of the birth, a “birthing lady” attended their mother. 

At first shooed out of the house into the rain by their father, the children eventually were brought inside and told to get sheets for the birthing lady to use.

“(Sister) Kay and I ran to the house and started pulling the sheets off the bed,” Paula wrote.  “We tried to give them to the birthing lady but she hollered at us--she wanted unused sheets.   Then all of a sudden we were allowed to go to Mom’s room and she introduced us to our new little fat wrinkled baby brother.  I had a new doll to play with!   He was so cute.  Mom was back.  All was well again.”

His father wanted to name the baby Alexander, after a Polish prince.  Paula’s name, for example, was in reality Pelagia Julianna, the name of a Polish princess.  However, his mother prevailed and the baby was named Henry, after the American industrialist Henry Ford.  The family always called him Harry and he legally changed his name to Harry when he came of age.   

Harry Sikora died March 28 this year at age 79 in Florida.  His wife Joan plus three children and their spouses survive along with grandchildren.

Harry Sikora served in the U.S. Army, went to Union College and Syracuse University and became an industrial engineer at IBM, retiring in 1985.  His later years were spent at a farm in Bradford, Pennsylvania and a winter home in Clearwater, Florida.

“Was four years old when I started school in the first grade,” Harry wrote of his childhood in Amsterdam.  “Mom lied about my age to get me into school early.  Believe she had enough of children by the time I arrived.”

The grade school was about seven blocks from their Clark Avenue home and his mother told him to follow the other children to get to school.

His sister Paula married in 1937 but Harry did not want to attend the wedding because he had a perfect school attendance record for six years. 

Paula recalled the days when the family had no radio.  Eventually, a windup Victrola came their way. 

Their father built them a new home on Clarke Avenue and an upstairs flat was rented.

“Our renter had a radio—wow,” Paula wrote.  “On Saturday night, there was a program, Fibber McGee and Molly at 8:00 p.m.  She would turn it on loud and we kids sat on the hall steps and listened to the half hour program.  What a treat!”

As far as Harry was concerned, there always was radio in the house, but not enough.

“Mom would turn the radio off when sleep time approached, usually in the middle of a very interesting program,” he wrote.  “No mercy from her here.

“Heat came from a wood/coal stove, which heated the kitchen and living room area.  Bedrooms were cold during the winter and hot during the summer.  Coal bin was located in the basement.  Had to be carried upstairs and ashes emptied daily.  Burned tons of coal every year.

“We had two sour cherry trees.  One year, dad made cherry wine in the basement.   When he wasn't looking, I tasted some of it.”

Wednesday, March 15, 2023-Episode 399 Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Presumed dead

Friday, March 17, 2023-Episode 466-Kate Fagan is author of HOOP MUSES-An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s) Game an Adventure through Basketball History. Fagan is a native of Schenectady. She writes for Sports Illustrated.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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In 1930 she went to Hollywood.  Under contract with Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures, Courtney appeared in non-musical roles, usually as the wise-cracking friend of actresses such as Jean Harlow or Ginger Rogers.

Vaudeville days--from dancing to roller skating

By Bob Cudmore

   Red haired Amsterdam native Inez Courtney was 15 when she performed a specialty dance act during a three day run in 1923 in a vaudeville show at the Rialto Theater on Market Street, part of the Keith vaudeville circuit. 

   People referred to her as St. Vitus, Mosquito and Lightning.  Born into a large Irish-American family, Inez took up the stage after her father died.

   Vaudeville was a mix of specialized stage acts including dancers, singers, comedians and even roller skaters.  Vaudevillians toured America, some visiting big cities and others going to smaller towns like Amsterdam.

   My father, a teen ager at the time, recalled he could watch a movie and four or five vaudeville acts at one of Amsterdam’s theaters for 25 cents in the 1920s. 

   One Amsterdam movie theater prided itself on not providing vaudeville.  The Orpheum, on Market Street did feature movie stars on tour making personal appearances.

   Dancer Inez Courtney left vaudeville for Broadway, and was performing in “The Wild Rose” and other musicals in 1926.   She won acclaim for her role in the 1927 musical “Good News” about college life. 

   In 1930 she went to Hollywood.  Under contract with Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures, Courtney appeared in non-musical roles, usually as the wise-cracking friend of actresses such as Jean Harlow or Ginger Rogers.

   Courtney performed in 58 films between 1930 and 1940 including “The Raven”, “Suzy”, and “Turnabout”, her last movie.

   She was married twice, the second time to an Italian nobleman.  When she retired from the movies in 1940 they moved to Rome Italy where her husband Luigi Filiesi was a wine merchant.  She died of undisclosed causes at a hospital in New Jersey in 1975 at age 67.

   Another vaudeville act that originated in Amsterdam had a long run but never made it to the movies.  Hyman and his brother Barney Nathan were roller skaters.

   According to the American Vaudeville Museum, there was a roller skating vogue in the early 1900s including Dare Devil Frank, Fielding and Carlos and the Skating Macks.

   The Nathan Brothers’ act was created by Hy Nathan when he ran the roller skating rink at a facility called the Colonial on Liberty Street in Amsterdam. 

   Roller skating was advertised four days a week at the Colonial in 1906.

A 1912 newspaper story reported that Hy Nathan canceled a ten mile skating race between Alfred Shrubb, the English champion, and Billy Queal, the American champion, which had been scheduled for the Colonial.  Nathan said there was not sufficient interest in the race.

   Hy and Barney Nathan toured on the Keith vaudeville circuit in America starting in 1918.  They also performed in Europe.  In February 1922 Hy Nathan was quoted by the Recorder as saying that the brothers were on tour in Ireland with their self-described “sensational” roller skating act.  The Nathans performed in Ireland during the first day of freedom for the Irish Free State.

   The news account stated, “They expect to fill a number of European engagements before returning to America.  Hy Nathan was home last summer on a brief visit.”

   In 1924 a newspaper story reported the Nathan Brothers were in Paris and about to tour Germany with stops in Berlin and Munich.  In 1928 the skating brothers sent a card from Hamburg to Amsterdam friend James Aiken via the mail service of the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin.

   A 1929 Amsterdam newspaper account of a contested will involving property in the Nathan family lists Hyman Nathan as one of the heirs.  No further word turns up, however, on the career of Hy and Barney Nathan, the vaudeville roller skaters.

Monday, March 13, 2023-Vaudeville days (the Podcast) from dancing to roller skating

Tuesday, March 14, 2023-History from the Daily Gazette-SIkora family memories 

Wednesday, March 15, 2023-Episode 399 Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Presumed dead

Friday, March 17, 2023-Episode 466-Kate Fagan is author of HOOP MUSES-An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s) Game an Adventure through Basketball History. Fagan is a native of Schenectady. She writes for Sports Illustrated.

The Historians with Bob Cudmore The City of Amsterdam, New York.

The 2023 Historians Podcast Go Fund Me Drive.

Use this Link

The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  

or

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

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, March 12, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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Monday, March 13, 2023-Vaudeville days (the Podcast) from dancing to roller skating

...a type of entertainment popular chiefly in the US in the early 20th century, featuring a mixture of specialty acts such as burlesque comedy and song and dance.

The Historians Podcast Go Fund Me for 2023. Later this month Episode 467-Charles Morgan Evans is author of Helicopter Heroine--Valerie Andre, Surgeon, Rescue Pilot and Her Courage Under Fire.  The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023-The Daily Gazette-SIkora family memories from The City of Amsterdam, New York

Descendants of Albert and Katie Sikora have preserved fascinating accounts of daily life during the 1920s and 1930s in Amsterdam.  The family lived on Clark Avenue and in 1931 Albert Sikora is described as a spinner at Mohawk Carpet Mills.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023-Episode 399 Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Presumed dead

Friday, March 17, 2023-Episode 466-Kate Fagan is author of HOOP MUSES-An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s) Game an Adventure through Basketball History. Fagan is a native of Schenectady. She writes for Sports Illustrated.

Vaudeville days--from dancing to roller skating

By Bob Cudmore

   Red haired Amsterdam native Inez Courtney was 15 when she performed a specialty dance act during a three day run in 1923 in a vaudeville show at the Rialto Theater on Market Street, part of the Keith vaudeville circuit. 

   People referred to her as St. Vitus, Mosquito and Lightning.  Born into a large Irish-American family, Inez took up the stage after her father died.

   Vaudeville was a mix of specialized stage acts including dancers, singers, comedians and even roller skaters.  Vaudevillians toured America, some visiting big cities and others going to smaller towns like Amsterdam.

   My father, a teen ager at the time, recalled he could watch a movie and four or five vaudeville acts at one of Amsterdam’s theaters for 25 cents in the 1920s. 

   One Amsterdam movie theater prided itself on not providing vaudeville.  The Orpheum, on Market Street did feature movie stars on tour making personal appearances.

   Dancer Inez Courtney left vaudeville for Broadway, and was performing in “The Wild Rose” and other musicals in 1926.   She won acclaim for her role in the 1927 musical “Good News” about college life. 

   In 1930 she went to Hollywood.  Under contract with Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures, Courtney appeared in non-musical roles, usually as the wise-cracking friend of actresses such as Jean Harlow or Ginger Rogers.

   Courtney performed in 58 films between 1930 and 1940 including “The Raven”, “Suzy”, and “Turnabout”, her last movie.

   She was married twice, the second time to an Italian nobleman.  When she retired from the movies in 1940 they moved to Rome Italy where her husband Luigi Filiesi was a wine merchant.  She died of undisclosed causes at a hospital in New Jersey in 1975 at age 67.

   Another vaudeville act that originated in Amsterdam had a long run but never made it to the movies.  Hyman and his brother Barney Nathan were roller skaters.

   According to the American Vaudeville Museum, there was a roller skating vogue in the early 1900s including Dare Devil Frank, Fielding and Carlos and the Skating Macks.

   The Nathan Brothers’ act was created by Hy Nathan when he ran the roller skating rink at a facility called the Colonial on Liberty Street in Amsterdam. 

   Roller skating was advertised four days a week at the Colonial in 1906.

A 1912 newspaper story reported that Hy Nathan canceled a ten mile skating race between Alfred Shrubb, the English champion, and Billy Queal, the American champion, which had been scheduled for the Colonial.  Nathan said there was not sufficient interest in the race.

   Hy and Barney Nathan toured on the Keith vaudeville circuit in America starting in 1918.  They also performed in Europe.  In February 1922 Hy Nathan was quoted by the Recorder as saying that the brothers were on tour in Ireland with their self-described “sensational” roller skating act.  The Nathans performed in Ireland during the first day of freedom for the Irish Free State.

   The news account stated, “They expect to fill a number of European engagements before returning to America.  Hy Nathan was home last summer on a brief visit.”

   In 1924 a newspaper story reported the Nathan Brothers were in Paris and about to tour Germany with stops in Berlin and Munich.  In 1928 the skating brothers sent a card from Hamburg to Amsterdam friend James Aiken via the mail service of the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin.

   A 1929 Amsterdam newspaper account of a contested will involving property in the Nathan family lists Hyman Nathan as one of the heirs.  No further word turns up, however, on the career of Hy and Barney Nathan, the vaudeville roller skaters.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, March 13, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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GLOVERSVILLE — The Fulton County Historical Society neither accepts nor dismisses the existence of ghosts. But they welcome believers.

Tonight at 7

$30 FCHS MEMBERS; $35 NON-MEMBERS
TICKETS REQUIRED

Gloversville ghosts? Utica area paranormal agents ready to probe the undead
https://fultoncountyhistoricalsociety.org/

The Bob Cudmore conversation with Denise Doring VanBuren president of the Beacon New York Historical Society and author of two books about Beacon’s history.  Dia Beacon, a modern art museum revived formerly industrial Beacon starting in 2003.

Tomorrow, Focus on History

Vaudeville days--from dancing to roller skating

Red haired Amsterdam native Inez Courtney was 15 when she performed a specialty dance act during a three day run in 1923 in a vaudeville show at the Rialto Theater on Market Street, part of the Keith vaudeville circuit. 

The Historians with Bob Cudmore The City of Amsterdam, New York.

The 2023 Historians Podcast Go Fund Me is in need of $200.00 by the first of April.

The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, March 11, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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In his book “Past and Present,” Tony Pacelli said the Swingsters dressed as hillbillies and made sweet music the hard way, “The instruments consisted of a guitar, a stovepipe with a kazoo on the end and a washboard with attached novelties such as whistles, horns and a toy trombone with a kazoo attached to it.  The group was similar to the Spike Jones Band.”

Gloversville ghosts? Utica area paranormal agents ready to probe the undead
GLOVERSVILLE — The Fulton County Historical Society neither accepts nor dismisses the existence of ghosts. But they welcome believers. 

https://fultoncountyhistoricalsociety.org/

The Historians with Bob Cudmore The City of Amsterdam, New York. The 2023 Historians Podcast Go Fund Me drive keeps Mohawk Valley History Alive The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

If you knew Susie

By Bob Cudmore

   Angelo Sardonia was born in 1911 in Poultney, Vermont and moved to Amsterdam as a young boy.  His nickname was “Susie.”  Unlike Johnny Cash, he enjoyed the name.

   Sardonia’s daughter Maryann Salm said the nickname could have come after her father formed a band in the 1930s, Susie’s Washboard Band also known as Susie’s Swingsters.  Other band members were Joe Iannotti, Dennis “Junior” Hasenfuss and Jim “Dale” Dallesandro. 

   In his book “Past and Present,” Tony Pacelli said the Swingsters dressed as hillbillies and made sweet music the hard way, “The instruments consisted of a guitar, a stovepipe with a kazoo on the end and a washboard with attached novelties such as whistles, horns and a toy trombone with a kazoo attached to it.  The group was similar to the Spike Jones Band.”

   The Swingsters weere a hit at the 1930 Sportsmen’s Show in Amsterdam and at Leggiero’s gas station on Bridge Street on the South Side where the band drummed up business Wednesday nights.

   They played out-of-town gigs, including the Schine Theatre in Ilion.  Pacelli said Schine, based in Gloversville, wanted the band to perform at all its upstate theaters but the deal never finalized.  The group disbanded in the 1940s.

   Sardonia worked at Chalmers Knitting Mill and its successor Montco, heading the knitting room, the dye house and maintenance.  He also owned a tavern named Susie’s on Bridge Street across from the mill.  He was married to Helen Reichel and they had a son and two daughters.

   In World War II Sardonia edited the South Side Servicemen’s News to keep soldiers far away up to date on local happenings.   

   Salm said, “Dad was never drafted.  I think The Servicemen's News was a way he could help.  That little newspaper was quite an undertaking.  It took contributions, and social functions to raise money.  The Recorder and staff were also a great help to my Dad.”

Salm said the newsletters were funny and sad, “It was as though you met someone on the street you knew and stopped to talk.”

   The war literally came to Sardonia’s home on October 13, 1943.  That night a twin-engine Army transport plane crashed in a rural section of Amsterdam’s South Side as the plane’s four-man crew parachuted to safety. Remarkably, there were no injuries. The plane was on a flight between Rome and Schenectady when its engines went out.

   Captain John F. Pope, the last to exit the plane, was found wandering on Dewitt Street. He apparently had landed on the roof of  Sardonia’s house or on the nearby porch of Charles Frohlich.

   After the war, Sardonia was instrumental in building the Fifth Ward Memorial Park on Bridge Street.

Sardonia served over 20 years as Fifth Ward Alderman, from 1944 to 1948 then from 1958  to 1973, when he lost an election to Lawrence Morini. 

   Sardonia’s nephew Michael Chiara was impressed that his uncle always stood when he spoke at the Common Council, while most members stayed seated during their speeches.  

   Longtime friend Bert DeRose recalled that in one campaign, Sardonia organized a Kettle Band, young people banging on tin cans and buckets drumming up votes for Sardonia. 

   After 36 years of marriage, Helen Reichel Sardonia died in 1968.  In 1972, Sardonia married Margaret Schultz.  Angelo Sardonia died at age 76 on July 3, 1987.

March 10. 2023-Episode 465-Denise Doring VanBuren is president of the Beacon New York Historical Society and author of two books and editor of a third book about Beacon’s history.  Dia Beacon, a modern art museum revived formerly industrial Beacon starting in 2003.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, March 9, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

The Historians with Bob Cudmore

The City of Amsterdam, New York

The 2023 Historians Podcast Go Fund Me drive keeps Mohawk Valley History Alive

The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore 

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

Wednesday, March 8, 2023-From the Archives, Episode 455-Buddy Levy author of Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic (1913) Voyage of the Karluk.  Levy, who lives in Idaho, is a go-to author for Arctic history.

The true, harrowing story of the ill-fated 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition and the two men who came to define it.

In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame.

Thursday, March 9, 2023-If you knew Susie

   Angelo Sardonia was born in 1911 in Poultney, Vermont and moved to Amsterdam as a young boy.  His nickname was “Susie.”  Unlike Johnny Cash, he enjoyed the name.

Beacon New York Historical Society

Edit is complete, posted early Friday

March 10. 2023-Episode 465-Denise Doring VanBuren is president of the Beacon New York Historical Society and author of two books and editor of a third book about Beacon’s history.  Dia Beacon, a modern art museum revived formerly industrial Beacon starting in 2003.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

The Historians with Bob Cudmore

The City of Amsterdam, New York

The men of the league became famous for hearty pancake suppers served in the junior high cafeteria. There were canoe tipping, ax wielding, fly-casting and sharp shooting competitions and demonstrations, along with professional exhibits.  In 1937, the show featured the world’s biggest snowshoe, sent by a Maine manufacturer.

The 2023 Historians Podcast Go Fund Me drive keeps Mohawk Valley History on The WWW known to some as the internet and Radio (Local and Public)

With the nudge of a button...The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore 

or the little white truck we all observe on the roads-U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Sportsmen’s Shows in Amsterdam

By Bob Cudmore

March and April were the months for the annual Sportsmen’s Shows put on by the Amsterdam Fish and Game League from the 1930s into the 1950s.  The shows were held in the gymnasium and auditorium of the former Theodore Roosevelt Junior High on Guy Park Avenue during the school’s Easter vacation.

“It was a big thing,” said city resident Mario Checca. “They chopped wood, sawed wood and rolled logs on the water.”

The league formed in 1931 and the annual shows began in 1933, first at the South Side armory then the junior high. Some years were missed during and after World War II but the event resumed with an entire week of activities in the late 1940s, attracting tens of thousands of visitors. Proceeds went for fish stocking and other conservation work.

The men of the league became famous for hearty pancake suppers served in the junior high cafeteria. There were canoe tipping, ax wielding, fly-casting and sharp shooting competitions and demonstrations, along with professional exhibits.  In 1937, the show featured the world’s biggest snowshoe, sent by a Maine manufacturer.

Entertainers were brought in.  One local native recalled a performance by a young Minnie Pearl.  In 1938 league members put on a skit called “Trappers’ Justice” in which local marksman W.H. Jacoby hit the bulls eye on a card held by Robert Knapp, while Art Grass played the harmonica.  Leyman and Arnold Watson of Hope Falls won the men’s log sawing contest that year while Mildred Moore and Sarah Colson won the women’s competition.

In 1946, the show featured state lumberjack championship events.  There was no show in 1947 but in 1948, the event ran for eight days, featuring live bears and trick log rollers from Michigan. An estimated 25,000 attended.  There was a live radio broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.

Local banker Charles Wharton, who died in 2004 at the age of 97, was founding treasurer of the fish and game league and a prime mover in organizing the annual shows.  Wharton said that people came from all over the state on buses and up from New York City to “see how we did things.”

“Real pine logs right out of the woods,” Wharton said, were used for the log rolling competition. So many pine boughs decorated the junior high, he said, that, “The place smelled like the north woods.”

Adirondack hermit Noel Rondeau used to put on a demonstration, setting up a camp inside the school.  Rondeau came out of his hermitage in the Cold River area of the western high peaks, sometimes with help from a state helicopter, to appear in many New York sportsmen’s shows in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Amsterdam shows ended sometime in the 1950s, after professional entertainment companies that competed with the volunteer event asked the State Education Department to rule if it was proper to hold the shows in a public school.

Historian Hugh Donlon said the answer from the state was “an official frown,” adding, “That brought an end to one of the most ambitious and successful community undertakings ever recorded in the valley.”

WHY FLORIDA?

Florida formed as a Montgomery County township on March 12, 1793. One explanation for using that name is that March 12 was the anniversary of explorer Ponce de Leon’s Easter Day landing on the coast of what he named Florida down south.  The explorer derived the name from a Spanish phrase meaning feast of flowers.

An unusual name in the town of Florida is the hamlet of Minaville. According to Kelly Farquhar’s book “Montgomery County,” Minaville was named in honor of Mexican-American war hero, General Francis Mina.

Wednesday, March 8, 2023-From the Archives, Episode 455-Buddy Levy author of Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic (1913) Voyage of the Karluk.  Levy, who lives in Idaho, is a go-to author for Arctic history.

The true, harrowing story of the ill-fated 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition and the two men who came to define it.

In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame.

Thursday, March 9, 2023-Daily Gazette-If you knew Susie

Denise Doring VanBuren

Friday, March 10. 2023-Episode 465-Denise Doring VanBuren is president of the Beacon New York Historical Society and author of two books and editor of a third book about Beacon’s history.  Dia Beacon, a modern art museum revived formerly industrial Beacon starting in 2003.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, March 7, 2023

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