The Historians

On a more somber note, Mohawk’s sales director Z.L. Potter wrote that the local mills were suffering from hard times, “But I pledge you personally and for all members of the sales organization that we will leave no stone unturned that will bring in business, start all Mohawk looms up again and give you the security of employment you desire.”

Selling Amsterdam carpets

By Bob Cudmore

Amsterdam rugs made it at least twice to the White House. The Liberty Rug was one of 20 Axminster carpets woven in Amsterdam by the Shuttleworth mills to mark the initial floodlighting ceremony at the Statue of Liberty in New York in 1916. The rug was then presented to President Woodrow Wilson for his bedroom at the White House.  In 1947 a Chenille rug from Mohawk Carpet showing the Presidential seal was produced for President Harry Truman’s Oval Office.

Following the recent column on Mohawk’s Wheel of Life carpet, woven for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, retired Amsterdam educator Gavin Murdoch has provided Mohawk Carpet publications from his family’s collection.

A 1930 in house publication called the Mohawk Courier contained praise from a New York City theater for a Mohawk rug and described how the Amsterdam firm’s sales force was expanding around the country to fight the Great Depression.

A Chenille carpet from Amsterdam had been installed in 1927 at the Roxy Theatre in New York.  Manager C.W. Griswold was lavish in his praise, “The writer is positively amazed at the life and durability of this rug, subjected to daily traffic for over three years.  It is really remarkable when you consider that we have entertained 25 million persons during this period.”

On a more somber note, Mohawk’s sales director Z.L. Potter wrote that the local mills were suffering from hard times, “But I pledge you personally and for all members of the sales organization that we will leave no stone unturned that will bring in business, start all Mohawk looms up again and give you the security of employment you desire.”

The opposite page described a going away dinner at Saltsman’s Hotel in Ephratah for regional sales managers who were being dispatched to San Francisco, Philadelphia and St. Louis to promote the company’s line.

Colonel G.H. Durston was assigned to San Francisco, and J. Ralph Blocher drew the Philadelphia assignment.  “Invited but not present at the dinner because he was already enroute for his new home in St. Louis was John Smeallie,” wrote the Courier.

A picture showed Smeallie, his wife and daughters standing in front of an automobile pulling an impressive trailer.  Smeallie reported the car and trailer made the 1100 trip without a “mar or trouble.”

Smeallie said, “I snaked the trailer along at 45 and 50 miles per hour on straight concrete stretches and had absolutely no trouble in traffic, even in Cleveland, Indianapolis or St. Louis.  We stopped for some meals and prepared others in transit, Mrs. Smeallie walking about the car and kitchen just as if she were at home.  She claimed it rode much more comfortably than any sedan she was ever in and read a book enroute as well as drinking in the scenery.”

COMPUTER PREDECESSOR

Amsterdam’s former carpet mills produced several kinds of floor coverings—Axminster, Chenille and Wilton.  Wilton carpet has interested me the most, partly because that was what my father, Clarence Cudmore, wove for Mohawk and partly because of its connection to modern days.

Wilton is a wool carpet that can have as many as five colors per pattern. The name derives from Wilton, England.

Wilton was woven on Jacquard looms, invented by Joseph Jacquard in France in 1801  The pattern was determined by hundreds if not thousands of paper punch cards that controlled what color yarn the consumer saw on top of the carpet. 

The Jacquard loom’s punch card system is frequently described as an industrial prototype of early computer hardware.  Since the punch cards could be used multiple times, Jacquard looms even predicted the concept of computer programming.

Tomorrow

The saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater...

Episode 448

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

One of the last, great untold stories of World War II—kept hidden for decades—even after most of the World War II records were declassified in 1972, many of the files remained untouched in various archives—a gripping true tale of courage and adventure from Bruce Henderson, master storyteller, historian, and New York Times best-selling author of Sons and Soldiers—the saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater, in Burma, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, with their families back home in America, under U.S. Executive Order 9066, held behind barbed wire in government internment camps.

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. 

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

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, November 10, 2022

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Wednesday

"Soldier mortals would not survive if they were not blessed with the gift of imagination and the pictures of hope," wrote Confederate Private Henry Graves in the trenches outside Petersburg, Virginia. "The second angel of mercy is the night dream." 

Author Wanda Burch discusses her book, “The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs.”  The late singer-songwriter John Kenosian has set some of these letters and memoirs to music. 

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Selling Amsterdam carpets

A 1930 in house publication called the Mohawk Courier contained praise from a New York City theater for a Mohawk rug and described how the Amsterdam firm’s sales force was expanding around the country to fight the Great Depression.

The saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater...

November 11, 2022 Episode 448- Bruce Henderson, author of “Bridge to the Sun: the Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II.”

Bruce Henderson

One of the last, great untold stories of World War II—kept hidden for decades—even after most of the World War II records were declassified in 1972, many of the files remained untouched in various archives—a gripping true tale of courage and adventure from Bruce Henderson, master storyteller, historian, and New York Times best-selling author of Sons and Soldiers—the saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater, in Burma, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, with their families back home in America, under U.S. Executive Order 9066, held behind barbed wire in government internment camps.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Leader Herald

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“The Depression, though more severe, was nothing new,” McMartin wrote.  “It was not a bad decade: years at the beginning and end were poor, but 1935-37 were actually quite good years.  In Fulton County, no one starved, no one prospered, and most continued to find some work.”

Glimpses of life during the Depression

By Bob Cudmore

Amsterdam native Isadore Demsky received a few gold pieces as Bar Mitzvah presents in 1929.  Added to money saved from working a paper route, Demsky—who later changed his name to Kirk Douglas--had collected $313, what he termed a fortune in those days.

The young man was going to save the nest egg to go to college but over his mother’s objections gave the money to his father Harry Demsky, a local ragman and legendary strong man. 

“He wanted to buy up a lot of metal, because the prices were so cheap (24 cents a pound) and then sell it at a killing,” wrote movie actor Douglas in his autobiography, “The Ragman’s Son.”

But the bottom fell out of the scrap metal market in 1929 with the crash of the stock market.  The elder Demsky ended up selling the copper he bought with his son’s money for two cents a pound.

Douglas wrote, “That was what the Depression meant to me, that prices came tumbling down and my father lost my savings.  Our scale of living wasn’t much different before, during or after.”

GLOVE CITIES

Historian Barbara McMartin in her book “The Glove Cities” wrote that although Johnstown and Gloversville enjoyed relatively good times in the 1920s, workers and owners in the glove industry had to struggle, even before the Depression.

“The Depression, though more severe, was nothing new,” McMartin wrote.  “It was not a bad decade: years at the beginning and end were poor, but 1935-37 were actually quite good years.  In Fulton County, no one starved, no one prospered, and most continued to find some work.”

SCOOPING COAL

Arnold Wittemeier was born in 1920 in Fort Hunter where his father, Harold, owned Wittemeier’s, one of Montgomery County’s biggest coal companies.

Coal for the family business came on the West Shore Railroad.  In the Depression, Arnold Wittemeier said, coal trains would speed through the valley to try to keep people from taking coal from hopper cars.

“It got so bad that cars of coal were having two tons of coal scooped off of them,” Wittemeier said.

NRA PARADE

An estimated ten thousand people turned out in Amsterdam on a raw and windy November 9, 1933 to parade for economic revival.

The Depression gripped the nation then and former New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt had become President that year.  Roosevelt was launching his New Deal, a key part of which was the National Recovery Administration or NRA.

According to the Albany Evening News, the NRA Parade was the biggest in Amsterdam’s history and featured hundreds of marching mill workers, office employees and school children. There were scores of floats, bands and drum corps.

Republican Mayor Robert Brumagin reviewed the Main Street line of march at a reviewing stand at Church Street. But newly chosen Democratic Mayor-elect Arthur Carter was receiving cheers from the crowd, according to the Evening News, as Carter—a friend of President Roosevelt’s--walked at the head of the contingent from the James T. Bergen American Legion Post.

Michael J. Wytrwal was NRA chairman for Montgomery County.  Wytrwal was a prominent businessman in the Polish neighborhood on Reid Hill. His family operated a coal yard, drugstore and furniture store.

The most notable Amsterdam public works project during the Depression was the municipal golf course, named for Mayor Carter and partly bankrolled by FDR’s federal government. 

BLUE PLATE

In the Depression, Orsini’s Royal Restaurant at East Main and Liberty streets offered a blue plate special.  Genevieve Orsini Hartigan Palumbo said the special cost 35 cents and included meat or fish, mashed potatoes and vegetable.  Coffee was an additional five cents.  Orsini’s also offered a meal ticket for $4.50 that was worth $5 in food.

Wednesday

"Soldier mortals would not survive if they were not blessed with the gift of imagination and the pictures of hope," wrote Confederate Private Henry Graves in the trenches outside Petersburg, Virginia. "The second angel of mercy is the night dream." 

Author Wanda Burch discusses her book, “The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs.”  The late singer-songwriter John Kenosian has set some of these letters and memoirs to music. 

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Selling Amsterdam carpets

A 1930 in house publication called the Mohawk Courier contained praise from a New York City theater for a Mohawk rug and described how the Amsterdam firm’s sales force was expanding around the country to fight the Great Depression.

The saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater...

November 11, 2022 Episode 448- Bruce Henderson, author of “Bridge to the Sun: the Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II.”

Bruce Henderson

One of the last, great untold stories of World War II—kept hidden for decades—even after most of the World War II records were declassified in 1972, many of the files remained untouched in various archives—a gripping true tale of courage and adventure from Bruce Henderson, master storyteller, historian, and New York Times best-selling author of Sons and Soldiers—the saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater, in Burma, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, with their families back home in America, under U.S. Executive Order 9066, held behind barbed wire in government internment camps.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Leader Herald

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Monday, November 7, 2022

The story behind the story-Last hurrah for Amsterdam’s Bowler’s Brewery

Tuesday, November 8, 2022 Glimpses of life during the Great Depression

Amsterdam native Isadore Demsky received a few gold pieces as Bar Mitzvah presents in 1929.  Added to money saved from working a paper route, Demsky—who later changed his name to Kirk Douglas--had collected $313, what he termed a fortune in those days.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022 Author Wanda Burch discusses her book, “The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs.”  The late singer-songwriter John Kenosian has set some of these letters and memoirs to music. 

Thursday, November 10, 2022 Selling Amsterdam carpets

Amsterdam rugs made it at least twice to the White House. The Liberty Rug was one of 20 Axminster carpets woven in Amsterdam by the Shuttleworth mills to mark the initial floodlighting ceremony at the Statue of Liberty in New York in 1916.

Executive Order 9066

November 11, 2022 Episode 448- Bruce Henderson, author of “Bridge to the Sun: the Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II.”

One of the last, great untold stories of World War II—kept hidden for decades—even after most of the World War II records were declassified in 1972, many of the files remained untouched in various archives—a gripping true tale of courage and adventure from Bruce Henderson, master storyteller, historian, and New York Times best-selling author of Sons and Soldiers—the saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater, in Burma, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, with their families back home in America, under U.S. Executive Order 9066, held behind barbed wire in government internment camps.

The last hurrah for Bowler’s Brewery

By Bob Cudmore

   Time caught up with Bowler’s Brewery and its ghost sign on Route 5 in Amsterdam’s West End this month.

   Emergency demolition of the former brewery and All Seasons Motor Sports building at 399 W. Main St. was ordered by city officials who said the structure had become unstable.

   Phil Bowler said some years ago he really wishes he had the formula for the long lasting paint his ancestors used to write the name Bowler’s Brewery on the building.  Phil also said he never got the family beer making formulas or any of the money either.

   Harry Fitch Bowler started his Amsterdam brewery in 1889.  Born in Ipswich, England, Bowler came to Troy, New York, at age four where his father, also named Harry, operated a brewery.

   Young Bowler grew up in Troy, then worked for a brewer in Virginia.  Two of his brothers ran a brewery in Worcester, Massachusetts.

  He married Julia Imogene Millard of Palmyra, N.Y., and honed his beer-making in several cities before coming to Amsterdam.  To brew beer, he used water from the Mohegan Spring on the firm’s property on Carmichael Street.

   Bowler expanded his wooden Amsterdam plant in 1894.  The facility was destroyed by fire in 1895.  He then constructed the five story brick structure in 1896.  The New York Central Railroad built a siding adjacent to the brewery in 1905.

   In 1912 a Bowler’s newspaper ad stated, “For the sake of the health of everyone in your family, take my advice and tell your mother to always have in the house a supply of Amsterdam Brew, bottled lager beer and still ale.”

   Harry’s wife Julia died in 1913 at age sixty. Harry married an Amsterdam woman, Anna Wood, in 1915.  He suffered from heart disease and traveled to Newark, New Jersey, to consult with a heart specialist.  Bowler, 63, died in his hotel room in Newark on February 9, 1917 before he had a chance to see the doctor.  The wake was held at his 24 Grove Street home. He was buried next to his first wife in her hometown of Palmyra.

   Bowler was eulogized as a charitable, community minded family man, a Democrat, although he never ran for public office.  Pictures survive showing him hosting gatherings for employees and customers, with plenty of beer in sight.

   Bowler’s offspring--Arthur, Harry, and Sarah Bowler Burnham--continued brewing after their father’s death but Prohibition of alcohol became law in 1920. 

   Beer lovers had a temporary reprieve that February.  The federal government let breweries sell beer to those who had medical prescriptions for it.  The medicinal beer had nearly twice the alcohol content of beer sold before Prohibition.

   “Tell the glad tidings to suffering men!” wrote the Recorder. “The hop hounds are howling in happy hilarity.”

   However, Prohibition did take hold and the alcohol industry went underground.

   Bowler’s became Chuctanunda Dyeing and Dressing Company to make non-alcoholic products such as soda, at least some of the time.  Buildings, land and equipment were sold to the John P. Dugan Company in 1923. 

   The operation was renamed Amsterdam Cereal Beverage Company.  In 1924 federal agents staked out the plant and impounded a truck leaving the property which appeared to contain real beer.

   Historian Hugh Donlon said federal agents raided the former brewery “with crippling frequency.”

   In 1927 what had been Bowler’s was purchased by George Largay, a Waterbury, Connecticut, brewer.  Largay and Leo O’Mella of Fonda resumed beer production as the Amsterdam Brewing Company when Prohibition ended in 1933.  

   Products included Amsterdam Porter, Amsterdam Stout and Linden Lager Old German Style Beer.  Beer production ended there in the early 1940s.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, November 7, 2022

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   Bowler expanded his wooden Amsterdam plant in 1894.  The facility was destroyed by fire in 1895.  He then constructed the five story brick structure in 1896.  The New York Central Railroad built a siding adjacent to the brewery in 1905.

The last hurrah for Bowler’s Brewery

By Bob Cudmore

   Time caught up with Bowler’s Brewery and its ghost sign on Route 5 in Amsterdam’s West End this month.

   Emergency demolition of the former brewery and All Seasons Motor Sports building at 399 W. Main St. was ordered by city officials who said the structure had become unstable.

   Phil Bowler said some years ago he really wishes he had the formula for the long lasting paint his ancestors used to write the name Bowler’s Brewery on the building.  Phil also said he never got the family beer making formulas or any of the money either.

   Harry Fitch Bowler started his Amsterdam brewery in 1889.  Born in Ipswich, England, Bowler came to Troy, New York, at age four where his father, also named Harry, operated a brewery.

   Young Bowler grew up in Troy, then worked for a brewer in Virginia.  Two of his brothers ran a brewery in Worcester, Massachusetts.

  He married Julia Imogene Millard of Palmyra, N.Y., and honed his beer-making in several cities before coming to Amsterdam.  To brew beer, he used water from the Mohegan Spring on the firm’s property on Carmichael Street.

   Bowler expanded his wooden Amsterdam plant in 1894.  The facility was destroyed by fire in 1895.  He then constructed the five story brick structure in 1896.  The New York Central Railroad built a siding adjacent to the brewery in 1905.

   In 1912 a Bowler’s newspaper ad stated, “For the sake of the health of everyone in your family, take my advice and tell your mother to always have in the house a supply of Amsterdam Brew, bottled lager beer and still ale.”

   Harry’s wife Julia died in 1913 at age sixty. Harry married an Amsterdam woman, Anna Wood, in 1915.  He suffered from heart disease and traveled to Newark, New Jersey, to consult with a heart specialist.  Bowler, 63, died in his hotel room in Newark on February 9, 1917 before he had a chance to see the doctor.  The wake was held at his 24 Grove Street home. He was buried next to his first wife in her hometown of Palmyra.

Tomorrow

The story behind the story-Last hurrah for Amsterdam’s Bowler’s Brewery

   Bowler was eulogized as a charitable, community minded family man, a Democrat, although he never ran for public office.  Pictures survive showing him hosting gatherings for employees and customers, with plenty of beer in sight.

   Bowler’s offspring--Arthur, Harry, and Sarah Bowler Burnham--continued brewing after their father’s death but Prohibition of alcohol became law in 1920. 

   Beer lovers had a temporary reprieve that February.  The federal government let breweries sell beer to those who had medical prescriptions for it.  The medicinal beer had nearly twice the alcohol content of beer sold before Prohibition.

   “Tell the glad tidings to suffering men!” wrote the Recorder. “The hop hounds are howling in happy hilarity.”

   However, Prohibition did take hold and the alcohol industry went underground.

   Bowler’s became Chuctanunda Dyeing and Dressing Company to make non-alcoholic products such as soda, at least some of the time.  Buildings, land and equipment were sold to the John P. Dugan Company in 1923. 

   The operation was renamed Amsterdam Cereal Beverage Company.  In 1924 federal agents staked out the plant and impounded a truck leaving the property which appeared to contain real beer.

   Historian Hugh Donlon said federal agents raided the former brewery “with crippling frequency.”

   In 1927 what had been Bowler’s was purchased by George Largay, a Waterbury, Connecticut, brewer.  Largay and Leo O’Mella of Fonda resumed beer production as the Amsterdam Brewing Company when Prohibition ended in 1933.  

   Products included Amsterdam Porter, Amsterdam Stout and Linden Lager Old German Style Beer.  Beer production ended there in the early 1940s.

Historians "Something old 7 days a week"

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Glimpses of life during the Great Depression

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Author Wanda Burch discusses her book, “The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs.”  The late singer-songwriter John Kenosian has set some of these letters and memoirs to music. 

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Selling Amsterdam carpets

Friday The very latest Podcast

November 11, 2022

Episode 448- Bruce Henderson, author of “Bridge to the Sun: the Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II.”

Mohawk Valley Weather, Sunday, November 6, 2022

Leader Herald

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Author Jim Richmond discusses Milton, New York: A New Town in a New Nation.  Richmond and Milton town historian Kim McCartney are co-authors of the book about a Saratoga County town that includes new information on religious conflicts, slavery, mill town history and Civil War soldiers.

Focus on History

The Cudmore story in The Gazette and Recorder on-line edition this weekend "Guy Park Manor"

The Historians Go Fund Me Drive for 2022 needs $100.00 this Weekend 

If you can help keep The Historians History (The way Bob Cudmore tells the stories) on the web and radio, here is the link

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022

Thanks

Highlights Edition with excerpts from Joe Collea on Ilion, N.Y.; Giovanni Ruscitti visits his Italian roots; Chris Carola discusses Mohawk chief Joseph Brant; Alyson Richman on writing historical fiction David Pietrusza dissects FDR’s landslide 1936 victory;  Norm Bollen meets filmmakers interested in Mohawk Valley; Rod Correll on learning to be a Leatherman.

The Historians Radio Edition this afternoon, Saturday, November 5 at 12:05 and 12:35 WCSS 106.9FM Amsterdam

Tomorrow

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Last hurrah for Amsterdam’s Bowler’s Brewery

Young Bowler grew up in Troy, then worked for a brewer in Virginia.  Two of his brothers ran a brewery in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, November 5, 2022

Leader Herald

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Bob Cudmore’s scheduled talk tonight in Hagaman has been cancelled.

The Hagaman Historical Society. 

The event is on tonight November 3 at 7 pm at Pawling Hall on Pawling Street in Hagaman.

The annual Pumpkin Smash will be held this Saturday, November 5, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Veterans Park in Amsterdam. 

People, pigeons and an Amsterdam fire

By Bob Cudmore 

   People, pigeons and a coin collection were all at risk on Friday, November 23, 1962 in a major fire at 29-31 Market Street in Amsterdam.

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

   The story reminded Inglese of the Gazette retrospective on Amsterdam fires that followed the recent factory building arson on Brookside Avenue.

   “I’m not leaving here until you get my pigeon,” was what one female apartment resident 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.”

However, another pet pigeon perished.  An onlooker cradled the victim in her arms and left the fire scene. 

A man who had been led to safety told firefighters he had forgotten his coin collection.  Firemen went back inside but gave up the effort because of heavy smoke.

No apartment dwellers were injured but two firefighters—Edward Lampkin and Stanley Lomnicki--were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries. 

About 60 men battled the flames. Chief Palombo said, “When I saw what a beating the men were taking from the smoke, I ordered all apparatus to the scene.” 

One person was heard to stick up for the firemen, “Where are all these people who squawked about these guys getting a raise?”

The fire apparently 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 also made its way into Britell insurance agency, Ottavio’s luggage shop and Sochin’s men’s store.

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

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

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

LIFE GOES ON

Advertisements that November day 48 years ago touted an active social scene in the Amsterdam area that weekend.  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.

If you were into entertainment for the whole family, Auction City on the Amsterdam-Schenectady Road urged you to bring the kiddies to see the largest Christmas stocking in the world, over six feet tall.  An auction was scheduled that Saturday night and Kiss’n Dolls were the weekend special at five dollars each.

If you wanted to stay at home, 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 had for $13.95 at Brach’s.

And for the health conscious, apples were still 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.

Posted early tomorrow morning, Episode 447

Friday, November 4, 2022

Highlights Edition with excerpts from Joe Collea on Ilion, N.Y.; Giovanni Ruscitti visits his Italian roots; Chris Carola discusses Mohawk chief Joseph Brant; Alyson Richman on writing historical fiction David Pietrusza dissects FDR’s landslide 1936 victory;  Norm Bollen meets filmmakers interested in Mohawk Valley; Rod Correll on learning to be a Leatherman.

The first half of the weekend in The Mohawk Valley and Historians

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Author Jim Richmond discusses Milton, New York: A New Town in a New Nation.  Richmond and Milton town historian Kim McCartney are co-authors of the book about a Saratoga County town that includes new information on religious conflicts, slavery, mill town history and Civil War soldiers.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, November 3, 2022

Leader Herald

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Bob Cudmore’s scheduled talk Thursday night in Hagaman has been cancelled.

Bobs walker has a flat tire, no big deal.

The Hagaman Historical Society. 

The event is on (tomorrow) Thursday night November 3 at 7 pm at Pawling Hall on Pawling Street in Hagaman. 

Today

A history of the Mohawk River with Mary Zawacki, executive director of the Schenectady County Historical Society.  When the last Ice Age began to melt 22,000 years ago, the Mohawk River flowed with more force than Niagara Falls.

Tomorrow, Thursday, November 3, 2022

People and pigeons in Amsterdam fire.

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

Friday, November 4, 2022-Episode 447-2022 Highlights Edition with excerpts from Joe Collea on Ilion, N.Y.; Giovanni Ruscitti visits his Italian roots; Chris Carola discusses Mohawk chief Joseph Brant; Alyson Richman on writing historical fiction David Pietrusza dissects FDR’s landslide 1936 victory;  Norm Bollen meets filmmakers interested in Mohawk Valley; Rod Correll on learning to be a Leatherman.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Leader Herald

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Bob Cudmore’s scheduled talk Thursday night in Hagaman has been cancelled.

We’ve raised $5000 so far for our yearly Historians Podcast fund drive.  That’s over 80% of our $6000 goal.  We need to raise $1000 in the next two months.  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 donation is too small.  Our latest donation was from Dave Northrup.

Story behind Richard Montgomery

By Bob Cudmore

          Richard Montgomery, for whom Montgomery County in the Mohawk Valley was named, was a hero of the American Revolution.

   According to historian Hugh Donlon’s book “Outlines of History,” Montgomery was born in 1736 near Raphoe, Ireland.  Other sources say Montgomery was born in Dublin.  He joined the British army at 18 and served against the French in North America and the West Indies.

   Donlon said Montgomery was part of the Amherst Expedition that passed through the Mohawk Valley as part of the British conquest of Canada in 1760.

          Montgomery left America to live in England from 1765 to 1772, when he moved to New York City.  He married Jane Livingston, daughter of Judge Robert Livingston in Rhinebeck, a leading figure in the growing rebellion. 

          When war broke out, Montgomery became a brigadier general on the rebel side.  Montgomery’s forces took Montreal in November 1775.  When General Philip Schuyler of Albany became ill, Montgomery took command of Schuyler’s troops.

          Forces commanded by Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, although relatively small, laid siege to Quebec City.  They attacked the city in a snowstorm on December 31.  The British repelled the attack and Montgomery was killed.  Montgomery was buried on the spot.

          His widow pleaded with Canada’s government for 43 years before her husband’s remains were brought back to America.  According to Donlon’s story, when Montgomery’s remains were passing his aged widow’s home at Annandale-on-Hudson, the steamer paused.  Mrs. Montgomery is said to have saluted the vessel, then collapsed.

          Montgomery is buried in St. Paul’s Churchyard in New York City.  Benjamin Franklin directed creation of a stone memorial that was made in Paris that states, “This monument is erected by order of Congress, 25th of January, 1776, to transmit to posterity a grateful remembrance of the patriotic conduct, enterprise and perseverance of Major General Richard Montgomery.”

          Maryland and Virginia moved quickly to name counties for the war hero.  North Carolina followed suit in 1778 and New York was fourth in 1784.  In all there are Montgomery counties in 17 states.

   In New York, Montgomery’s name was given to what had been Tryon County, created in 1772 and named for New York’s British colonial governor, William Tryon.

   Tryon became unpopular in the Revolution, according to Donlon.  He was called “Bloody Billy” and reports circulated that Tryon was part of a plot to kidnap and assassinate George Washington.  Tryon served the British as a military commander when the colony he had headed was placed under martial law.  Tryon led forces that attacked civilians in southern Connecticut.  He returned to England in 1780 and died in London in 1788.

   The original Tryon County was created during the heyday of Sir William Johnson and his family in the local area and the county seat was in Johnstown.  In 1836, the county seat of Montgomery County was moved to Fonda. There was an outcry from the people of Johnstown who were granted their own county. 

   Fulton County split off from Montgomery County in 1838.  That county is named for Robert Fulton, an American inventor credited with creating the first commercially successful steamboat.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022- From the Archives-Episode 433-A history of the Mohawk River with Mary Zawacki, executive director of the Schenectady County Historical Society.  When the last Ice Age began to melt 22,000 years ago, the Mohawk River flowed with more force than Niagara Falls.

Thursday, November 3, 2022

People and pigeons in Amsterdam fire.

   People, pigeons and a coin collection were all at risk on Friday, November 23, 1962 in a major fire at 29-31 Market Street in Amsterdam.

   Information was provided by Joseph Inglese of the town of Florida. 

Friday, November 4, 2022-Episode 447-2022 Highlights Edition with excerpts from Joe Collea on Ilion, N.Y.; Giovanni Ruscitti visits his Italian roots; Chris Carola discusses Mohawk chief Joseph Brant; Alyson Richman on writing historical fiction David Pietrusza dissects FDR’s landslide 1936 victory;  Norm Bollen meets filmmakers interested in Mohawk Valley; Rod Correll on learning to be a Leatherman.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 1, 2022

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