The Historians

Monday, November 21, 2022-The story behind the story- Pigeons and people in 1962 fire as Amsterdamians celebrate holidays.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Dr. Riggs stomach globules

The great-granddaughter of a homeopathic physician and pharmaceutical maker from Amsterdam finally has secured one of her ancestor’s signature products, Dr. Riggs’ Stomach Globules for Dyspepsia and Indigestion.  According to Merriam Webster, dyspepsia is pain in the stomach caused by difficulty digesting food.

Wednesday, November 23, 2022, From the Archives, Episode 99, February 21, 2016-David Fiske is author of “Solomon Northup’s Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens before the Civil War.”

Thursday, November 24, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette—-The Ultrasound  pioneer

Friday, November 25, 2022-Episode 450-Bob Cudmore and Dave Greene take a look at Guy Park Manor, arguably Amsterdam’s oldest house. We also look at the leather business.

 People and pigeons at risk in Amsterdam fire

By Bob Cudmore

   People and pigeons were at risk on Friday, November 23, 1962—the night after Thanksgiving--when fire broke out at 29-31 Market Street in Amsterdam.

   Piccolo’s Candy Store, badly damaged in the blaze, was owned by Frank and Sophie Piccolo, relatives of Joseph Inglese’s wife, Lucille, of the town of Florida, Fire Chief Samuel A. Palombo, in command that night, was Joseph Inglese’s great uncle. 

   “I’m not leaving here until you get my pigeon,” was what one female apartment dweller told a firefighter trying to lead her out of the building, according to a Recorder account.

   “So the gallant smoke-eater located the pet bird, resting comfortably in a cardboard box, and carried it down the stairs,” wrote reporter Richard C. Healy. “The woman followed.”

   Another person’s pet pigeon perished.  An onlooker cradled the victim in her arms and left the scene. 

   A man who had been led to safety told firefighters he had forgotten his coin collection.  Firemen went back inside but returned empty-handed because of heavy smoke.

   The apartment dwellers led to safety were M.C. McLouth, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kowalski, Louis Gatto and Raymond Moore.

   No civilians were injured but two firefighters—Edward Lampkin and Stanley Lomnicki--were treated for smoke inhalation. 

   About 60 men battled the flames.  One person in the crowd was heard to stick up for the firemen, “Where are all these people who squawked about these guys getting a raise?”

   Chief Palombo said, “When I saw what a beating the men were taking from the smoke, I ordered all apparatus to the scene.” 

   The fire started at the rear of Piccolo’s Candy Store in an area rented by John Picco, proprietor of the adjacent Vallee curtain and drapery store.

   Smoke made its way into Britell insurance agency, Ottavio’s luggage shop and Sochin’s men’s store.

   The Salvation Army and Nicholas Meola of the nearby Rialto Restaurant provided hot coffee to the firefighters and victims.

   The fire began at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and firefighters finally left the scene about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

   Advertisements that November day 60 years ago, the start of the holiday season, touted an active social and shopping scene in the Amsterdam area.  Local college students came home for the festivities and New York State’s 18-year old drinking age.

   The Oasis Café at 50-52 Market Street featured music by the Casuals and vocalist Lenny Rocco.  The New Yorkers—a band “that speaks for itself”—were playing at the Wil-Ton bowling alley lounge at 31 West Main Street.  Ferris Tavern out at Mariaville Lake featured round, square and polka dancing to the music of the De-Lo-Ters.

   You didn’t need to buy a drink to have a good time.  Auction City on the Amsterdam-Schenectady Road urged you to bring the kids to see the largest Christmas stocking in the world, over six feet tall.  An auction was scheduled Saturday night and Kiss’n Dolls were Auction City’s weekend special at five dollars each.

   If you wanted to stay home but your TV and radio were on the fritz, you could pay a visit to Eugene W. Brach at his “electronic hospital” on Broadway Avenue Extension on Amsterdam’s South Side.  He would fix your TVs and radios and also offered rock bottom prices, such as a $289 console TV for just $169.95.  A transistor radio with a leather case, listing at $22.95, could be yours for $13.95 at Brach’s.

   And for the health conscious, apples were on sale at T.J. Murphy’s Appleland Farm on Swart Hill or at Raymond Rector’s on Scotch Bush-Scotch Church Road.  In each case, you were advised to bring your own containers.

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Saturday, November 19, 2022-Susanne Dunlap discusses her book The Portraitist, a novel based on the life of 18th century French artist Adélaïde Labilleo-Guiard whose life went on amid the changes and terror of the French Revolution.

Based on a true story, this is the tale of Adélaïe Labille-Guiard’s fight to take her rightful place in the competitive art world of eighteenth-century Paris. 

 With a beautiful rival who’s better connected and better trained than she is, Adélaïde faces an uphill battle. Her love affair with her young instructor in oil painting gives rise to suspicions that he touches up her work, and her decision to make much-needed money by executing erotic pastels threatens to create as many problems as it solves.

Amsterdam N.Y.

People and pigeons were at risk on Friday, November 23, 1962

Sunday Print story from Bob Cudmore

Focus on History from Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder. Pigeons and people in 1962 fire as Amsterdamians celebrate holidays.

Episode 449-Bob Gumson of Albany, author of In Blind Sight: From Canarsie, Brooklyn with Love, Music and Mischief", his autobiography about living blind.

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Gene Tunney was born in New York City in 1897, one of seven children of an Irish immigrant family.  Tunney was in the Marines in World War I and fought in the ring rather than in the trenches, becoming champion of the U.S. Expeditionary Forces.

Speculator was a training site for famous boxers

By Bob Cudmore

   World heavyweight champion James Joseph “Gene” Tunney trained for his most important fights in Speculator in the Adirondacks in the 1920s.  One of the champion’s sons spoke this summer at a talk arranged by the Friends of the Lake Pleasant Library.  Speculator is a village in the town of Lake Pleasant in Hamilton County.

   Jay R. Tunney has written a book called “The Prizefighter and the Playwright” about the seemingly improbable friendship between his father and playwright George Bernard Shaw, who was a boxing fan.

   Gene Tunney was born in New York City in 1897, one of seven children of an Irish immigrant family.  Tunney was in the Marines in World War I and fought in the ring rather than in the trenches, becoming champion of the U.S. Expeditionary Forces.

   Tunney met William Osborne from Speculator in the Marines and Osborne invited Tunney to come to Speculator and establish a training camp.

   In 1926 Tunney trained for his first world heavyweight championship fight against Jack Dempsey in Speculator where the Osbornes owned the Osborne Inn.  Tunney won the fight in a ten round decision. 

   Tunney also trained in Speculator for his 1927 rematch with Dempsey.  Tunney won that fight in a unanimous decision despite the controversial “long count.”  Dempsey knocked Tunney down in the seventh round but the referee did not start the count on Tunney for several seconds as Dempsey did not immediately go to a neutral corner.  The two boxers later became good friends.

   Tunney trained in Speculator in 1928 for one more fight as world champion, defeating Tom Heeney of New Zealand.  Tunney then resigned from boxing, apparently a promise made to Mary “Polly” Lauder, the socialite he married that year.

   Other fighters including Max Baer, Max Schmeling, Maxie Rosenbloom, Jim Slattery and Knute Hansen also trained in Speculator, according to a pamphlet prepared by Lake Pleasant seventh graders in 1986 under the supervision of former town historian Ernest D. Virgil. 

   The fighters who came in later years were more ostentatious than Tunney, who is sometimes pictured reading a book, said to be his favorite form of recreation.  Max Baer for one was said to love attention.

   Famous people came to see the fighters train.  According to the student report, “Bernard Gimbel of Gimbel’s (department store) in New York suffered a few bruises when his plane, leaving the golf course in Lake Pleasant, failed to climb high enough to miss the trees at the end of the fairway.”

   After retiring from boxing, Tunney first wrote a book and then went into business.  He reenlisted in the military in World War II and was a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, heading the Navy physical fitness program.  He died in 1978.

Off the digital press tomorrow

Friday, November 18, 2022- Episode 449-Bob Gumson of Albany, author of In Blind Sight: From Canarsie, Brooklyn with Love, Music and Mischief", his autobiography about living blind.

Amsterdam N.Y.

Mohawk Valley Weather and News Headlines, Thursday, November 17, 2022

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Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Michael Mauro DeBonis discusses his New York History Blog article on Canastota, N.Y., boxing champion Carmen Basilio.

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Thursday, November 17, 2022

Speculator a training site for famous boxers

World heavyweight champion James Joseph “Gene” Tunney trained for his most important fights in Speculator in the Adirondacks in the 1920s.  One of the champion’s sons spoke this summer at a talk arranged by the Friends of the Lake Pleasant Library.  Speculator is a village in the town of Lake Pleasant in Hamilton County.

Bob Gumson

Friday, November 18, 2022- Episode 449-Bob Gumson of Albany, author of In Blind Sight: From Canarsie, Brooklyn with Love, Music and Mischief", his autobiography about living blind.

Mohawk Valley Weather and News Headlines, Wednesday, November 16, 2022

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   Dr. Bloom said that finding recordings of his father’s radio talks would mean a great deal to his family. 

Voice from the past

By Bob Cudmore

   His son and grandson want to hear the voice of Rabbi Samuel A. Bloom once again.

   Bloom came to Amsterdam in 1949 and served as Congregation Sons of Israel’s rabbi for thirty-nine years.  Born in Savannah, Georgia, he was ordained at Beth Joseph Rabbinical Seminary in Brooklyn.  He later earned a doctorate at New York University.

    His wife, Eleanor Golub Bloom, was executive director of United Synagogue of America for the Empire Region, and on the board of the National Jewish Youth Directors of America.

   According to his obituary, Rabbi Bloom was heard regularly over WCSS radio in Amsterdam for thirty years.  A 1965 newspaper story reported that his commentary was broadcast Saturday mornings at nine on WCSS.  However, apparently neither the radio station nor the family has any of the recordings. 

   The rabbi’s son, physician Michael J. Bloom of Clarence in western New York, wrote, “I remember vividly accompanying him as he recorded the tapes for his radio show.  And how hard it was for me to be perfectly silent as I sat next to him.”

   Dr. Bloom said that finding recordings of his father’s radio talks would mean a great deal to his family. 

   Dr. Bloom’s son Joshua, a Buffalo attorney, wrote, “I, unlike my Dad, never even heard my grandfather's voice after about age three.  So for me it would be a truly incredible experience to find any of these (recordings) or even to find a transcription.”

   Newspaper archives paint a portrait of Bloom as an active speaker.  In 1954 he recounted the history of the Jewish experience in America for a Kiwanis Club meeting in Gloversville, saying that American Jews have followed the words of God which told them when fleeing from Egypt to move on and make progress if they want to be saved.  

   In 1958 he told the Amsterdam Rotary Club that religion won’t save us from all suffering and pain, but can help us understand why we suffer, and teach us to learn and grow from our misfortune.  At a forum on the Vietnam War in 1969 he said he feared the war would last another five years.  That year his synagogue hosted an interfaith Thanksgiving service which had to be repeated because of the large crowd that attended.

   Bloom was active in the Greater Amsterdam Clergy Association and served as its president.  He headed United Way campaigns. 

   Bloom died in July 1988, five months after his wife passed away.  The Recorder eulogized him then as a “wise teacher, a good man.”

Nice picture from The Mohawk Valley, add 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow(scroll down)

Wednesday, November 16, 2022, From the Archives- June 1, 2018-Historians Episode 217-Michael Mauro DeBonis discusses his New York History Blog article on Canastota, N.Y., boxing champion Carmen Basilio.

Thursday, November 17, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette—-Speculator a training site for famous boxers

Friday, November 18, 2022- Episode 449-Bob Gumson of Albany, author of In Blind Sight: From Canarsie, Brooklyn with Love, Music and Mischief", his autobiography about living blind.

Bob Gumson’s career in disability rights advocacy started in his childhood. He received the message from his family that his blindness was merely an inconvenience, something everyone faces. He became his own best advocate at an early age, fighting alongside his family for the right to attend public school and summer camp, participate in a high-school fraternity, and play sports. He also put pressure on New York City to create a resource to serve people with disabilities, which later became the Mayor's Office for Handicapped Affairs

Mohawk Valley Weather and News Headlines, Tuesday, November 15, 2022

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Tuesday, November 15, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-A voice from the past-Rabbi Bloom

His son and grandson want to hear the voice of Rabbi Samuel A. Bloom once again.

   Bloom came to Amsterdam in 1949 and served as Congregation Sons of Israel’s rabbi for thirty-nine years.  Born in Savannah, Georgia, he was ordained at Beth Joseph Rabbinical Seminary in Brooklyn.  He later earned a doctorate at New York University.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022, From the Archives- June 1, 2018-Historians Episode 217-Michael Mauro DeBonis discusses his New York History Blog article on Canastota, N.Y., boxing champion Carmen Basilio.

Thursday, November 17, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette—-Speculator a training site for famous boxers

Friday, November 18, 2022- Episode 449-Bob Gumson of Albany, author of In Blind Sight: From Canarsie, Brooklyn with Love, Music and Mischief", his autobiography about living blind.

Bob Gumson’s career in disability rights advocacy started in his childhood. He received the message from his family that his blindness was merely an inconvenience, something everyone faces. He became his own best advocate at an early age, fighting alongside his family for the right to attend public school and summer camp, participate in a high-school fraternity, and play sports. He also put pressure on New York City to create a resource to serve people with disabilities, which later became the Mayor's Office for Handicapped Affairs

Stories from Guy Park Manor

By Bob Cudmore

   New York State Power Authority recently announced a $36 million multi-year reconstruction project aimed at creating a Guy Park Manor that is safe for the public. 

   The Manor is the oldest house in Amsterdam, New York, a limestone structure built in 1766 for Irish immigrant Guy Johnson, son-in-law and nephew of Sir William Johnson, Britain’s Superintendent for Indian Affairs in colonial New York.

   Guy Park Manor is adjacent to Mohawk River/Barge Canal Lock 11 and has been vacant about ten years.

   Guy Johnson came to America in 1756, sought out his uncle and married William’s daughter Polly.  Family patriarch Sir William died in 1774.

   Guy and Polly did not have much time to enjoy their new home, fleeing for Canada in 1775 as anti-British sentiment grew during the buildup to the Revolutionary War.  

   After the Johnsons left, the winning side turned the building into a tavern.  “Visitors began seeing a mysterious woman in white in an upstairs room,” city historian Rob 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 room and rid it of its ghost; thereafter, the visitations ceased.”

   There were various private occupants of Guy Park Manor over the years including stone cutter James Stewart.  He helped build canal locks, aqueducts and railroad bridges in the area.

   Stewart was struck and killed by a train as he crossed the railroad tracks in front of the Manor in 1860.

   The State took over the Manor in 1907 for canal maintenance when the Mohawk River was made into the Barge Canal.  A movable dam was built at the canal lock adjacent to the Manor.

   Tourism grew when a custodian was hired.  A limiting factor has been the railroad tracks which must be crossed to reach the historic site by auto or foot. 

   For some years the building housed Assemblyman Paul Tonko’s office and the Chamber of Commerce.  In the 2000s the Walter Elwood Museum, looking for a home, moved in.

   Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 left the Manor in a ruined condition.  The Elwood Museum moved up the hill to former Amsterdam mill buildings.

   State government stabilized and rebuilt Guy Park Manor over time but it has remained unused.

   Both of the original Amsterdam area Johnson family colonial homes (Old Fort Johnson and Guy Park Manor) continue to attract travel attention.  And among visitors each year are descendants of Loyalists who come from Canada or the British Isles. 

   Amsterdam historian Hugh Donlon added in his book “Annals of a Mill Town,” “The old stone houses provide opportunity for reflection on what might have been had the American Revolution failed.”

   Additional Manor renovations will include installation of a wheelchair lift. As for interiors, upgrades will be made to the mechanical systems and a fire and security system will be installed along with repairs to fireplaces, staircases, flooring, and trim work. The spaces will be reimagined for new exhibitions and to house multipurpose spaces.

   Other improvements include a staircase leading to the moveable dam over the waterway, which will create a pedestrian pathway connecting the Manor to the Empire State Trail, canal, and river.

   Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said. “Communities are increasingly having to plan for and respond to risks – and the rehabilitation of Guy Park Manor is an admirable example of incorporating protective measures designed to withstand future storms while also maintaining the historic integrity of a locally significant site. 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, November 14, 2022

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Stories from Guy Park Manor

By Bob Cudmore

   New York State Power Authority recently announced a $36 million multi-year reconstruction project aimed at creating a Guy Park Manor that is safe for the public. 

   The Manor is the oldest house in Amsterdam, New York, a limestone structure built in 1766 for Irish immigrant Guy Johnson, son-in-law and nephew of Sir William Johnson, Britain’s Superintendent for Indian Affairs in colonial New York.

   Guy Park Manor is adjacent to Mohawk River/Barge Canal Lock 11 and has been vacant about ten years.

   Guy Johnson came to America in 1756, sought out his uncle and married William’s daughter Polly.  Family patriarch Sir William died in 1774.

   Guy and Polly did not have much time to enjoy their new home, fleeing for Canada in 1775 as anti-British sentiment grew during the buildup to the Revolutionary War.  

   After the Johnsons left, the winning side turned the building into a tavern.  “Visitors began seeing a mysterious woman in white in an upstairs room,” city historian Rob 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 room and rid it of its ghost; thereafter, the visitations ceased.”

   There were various private occupants of Guy Park Manor over the years including stone cutter James Stewart.  He helped build canal locks, aqueducts and railroad bridges in the area.

   Stewart was struck and killed by a train as he crossed the railroad tracks in front of the Manor in 1860.

   The State took over the Manor in 1907 for canal maintenance when the Mohawk River was made into the Barge Canal.  A movable dam was built at the canal lock adjacent to the Manor.

   Tourism grew when a custodian was hired.  A limiting factor has been the railroad tracks which must be crossed to reach the historic site by auto or foot. 

   For some years the building housed Assemblyman Paul Tonko’s office and the Chamber of Commerce.  In the 2000s the Walter Elwood Museum, looking for a home, moved in.

Tomorrow, Monday, November 14, 2022-The story behind the story- Bob with more stories from Amsterdam’s Guy Park Manor.

   Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 left the Manor in a ruined condition.  The Elwood Museum moved up the hill to former Amsterdam mill buildings.

   State government stabilized and rebuilt Guy Park Manor over time but it has remained unused.

   Both of the original Amsterdam area Johnson family colonial homes (Old Fort Johnson and Guy Park Manor) continue to attract travel attention.  And among visitors each year are descendants of Loyalists who come from Canada or the British Isles. 

   Amsterdam historian Hugh Donlon added in his book “Annals of a Mill Town,” “The old stone houses provide opportunity for reflection on what might have been had the American Revolution failed.”

   Additional Manor renovations will include installation of a wheelchair lift. As for interiors, upgrades will be made to the mechanical systems and a fire and security system will be installed along with repairs to fireplaces, staircases, flooring, and trim work. The spaces will be reimagined for new exhibitions and to house multipurpose spaces.

   Other improvements include a staircase leading to the moveable dam over the waterway, which will create a pedestrian pathway connecting the Manor to the Empire State Trail, canal, and river.

   Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said. “Communities are increasingly having to plan for and respond to risks – and the rehabilitation of Guy Park Manor is an admirable example of incorporating protective measures designed to withstand future storms while also maintaining the historic integrity of a locally significant site. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-A voice from the past-Rabbi Bloom

Wednesday, November 16, 2022, From the Archives- June 1, 2018-Historians Episode 217-Michael Mauro DeBonis discusses his New York History Blog article on Canastota, N.Y., boxing champion Carmen Basilio.

Thursday, November 17, 2022, From the Archives of the Daily Gazette—-Speculator a training site for famous boxers

Friday, November 18, 2022- Episode 449-Bob Gumson of Albany, author of In Blind Sight: From Canarsie, Brooklyn with Love, Music and Mischief", his autobiography about living blind.

Bob Gumson’s career in disability rights advocacy started in his childhood. He received the message from his family that his blindness was merely an inconvenience, something everyone faces. He became his own best advocate at an early age, fighting alongside his family for the right to attend public school and summer camp, participate in a high-school fraternity, and play sports. He also put pressure on New York City to create a resource to serve people with disabilities, which later became the Mayor's Office for Handicapped Affairs.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Sunday, November 13, 2022

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We’ve raised $5075 so far toward our $6000 yearly Historians Podcast fund drive goal.  We need to raise $425 IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS to stay on track.  Please donate online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  You may give anonymously and no contribution is too small.  Our latest donation—thanks to Michael Davi.  

Saturday, November 12, 2022- From the Archives- Episode 139, November 25, 2016-T Martin Bennett, author of “Wounded Tiger”: The true story of the pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, whose life was transformed by an American prisoner and by a girl he never met. 

Bruce Henderson, author of “Bridge to the Sun: the Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II.”

Polly had returned to her home...

Tomorrow The Weekend Print Story

Sunday, November 13, 2022 Focus on History from Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder. Stories from Amsterdam’s Guy Park Manor.

After the Johnsons left, the winning side turned the building into a tavern.  “Visitors began seeing a mysterious woman in white in an upstairs room,” city historian Rob von Hasseln wrote, “Some suspected Polly had returned to her home...

Rain, it does look as though the sun will return to The Mohawk Valley tomorrow afternoon

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, November 12, 2022

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