The Historians

The Bob Cudmore Focus on History Stories, one week before they are posted on The Historians

Subscribe to the Daily Gazette E-edition, today running the story of Don Williams, the Adirondack historian. 

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Newspaper columnist and podcast host Bob Cudmore will introduce the speakers Saturday and Sunday June 11th and 12th at the 2022 American Revolution Conference sponsored by the Fort Plain Museum.  The conference will take place at the Fulton-Montgomery Community College Theater, 2805 NY-67, Johnstown.  Speakers will include Edward Lengel, William Fowler, James Kirby Martin, Mark Edward Lender and many other experts on the Revolutionary War.

https://fortplainmuseum.org/

Historians Go Fund Me Needs a Lift https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022

Charles Postel, author of “Equality: An American Dilemma 1866-1896,” follows three organizations: the Grange, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Knights of Labor.

The Civil War unleashed a torrent of claims for equality―in the chaotic years following the war, former slaves, women’s rights activists, farmhands, and factory workers all engaged in the pursuit of the meaning of equality in America. This contest resulted in experiments in collective action, as millions joined leagues and unions. In Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866–1886, Charles Postel demonstrates how taking stock of these movements forces us to rethink some of the central myths of American history.

Listen to The Historians Podcast today at 12:05PM on Amsterdam Radio WCSS 106.9FM and 1490AM

Episode 424

David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic site in Fort Hunter takes a look at life on the wild side of the Erie Canal with tales about the Kilboys, including balladeer Tom Kilboy.  Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, where the old Erie Canal crossed the Schoharie Creek

Tomorrow, Sunday, May 29, 2022 A Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.

St. Stanislaus Church organist and choir director Joseph Tralka.  Born in Poland, he lived some of his early years in the New World in Brazil, moved to America, was a music professor in Pennsylvania and lived in Amsterdam N.Y. from 1938 until his death in 1955.  His son George Tralka was a World War II infantryman, came home and became a doctor practicing in the Washington D.C. area.  George Tralka died in 2018. 

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, May 28, 2022

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American Legion memories

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, bringing America into the World War that had begun three years earlier.  The first Amsterdam National Guard members departed for World War I in August of 1917. 

The first draftees left Amsterdam the next month.  Historian High Donlon wrote that there were monthly sendoffs of as many as 240 draftees from Montgomery County during the war.

The fighting ended with the armistice on November 11, 1918.  When the news reached a contingent of 59 Amsterdam area draftees bound for Camp Humphries, Virginia by train, the men turned around in Albany and returned to the Rug City.

The first Montgomery County casualty of the war was Henry Deckro of Fonda, according to Donlon, followed by Raymond W. Smith of Canajoharie.

The first man from Amsterdam killed in the war was Matthew J. Coessens. Donlon said that money collected for the war effort in Amsterdam that was not used at war’s end was used in creating Coessens Park in the East End, named in honor of that first Amsterdam war casualty.  The leftover money also was put toward creation of a monument at the West End Memorial Park.

Lieutenant James T. Bergen of National Guard Company H in Amsterdam was killed in the war and his name was given to American Legion Post 39.

American Legion Post 701, which recently observed the 90th anniversary of its founding, was named for John J. Wyszomirski, an Amsterdam youth of Polish heritage who died in France 11 days before the Armistice.  Wyszomirski’s body was returned home in 1921.

According to a Post 701 history written by the late Commander Winston K. Hughes, a Polish-American veterans group first met at Wytrwal Hall on Hibbard Street in February 1919 and John Kosinski served as chairman. 

The local group was aware that a veterans organization was being formed on a national level.  Before deciding on the name American Legion, veterans considered other names—the Colonial Legion, International Legion and Comrades Service Club.

The Hibbard Street veterans group affiliated with the American Legion in 1919.  The new post was named to honor Wyszomirski after permission was secured from his parents, Stanley and Magdalene. 

The first commander was Albert Mushaw.  Early on, the Post formed a popular drum and bugle corps who wore black and white uniforms and silver helmets.

In 1928, the Post moved to the Selmer Building on Reid Street then to the Pythian Temple on Guy Park Avenue.

In 1935, a decision was made to buy a building and by the end of the decade Post 701 had renovated a structure at 33-35 Church Street.

During World War II, there was a dance every Saturday night at the Church Street Post with Commander Desmond Nichols as MC and comedian.  The Church Street facility had a canteen, kitchen, meeting rooms, lounge and two parking areas.  Post 701 was a popular spot for servicemen home on leave.

In 1952, the Post took over sponsorship of what had been the Mohawk Mills Band.  Jerry Culick became director of the Post 701 band in 1963.

In the 1970s, Post 701’s Church Street building was torn down for road reconstruction, part of urban renewal.  Ground was broken for the current Post 701 home at 123 West Main Street in 1974.

HOME FRONT

During World War I, there was grumbling on the Amsterdam home front because of price increases and shortages, according to historian Donlon.

Trolley fares climbed from one cent to a nickel and electric power rates doubled. Fuel shortages started in 1918 and some of the city’s factories closed periodically. The Amsterdam Free Library closed for eight weeks.

..it's a system, a network

Tomorrow, Friday, May 27, 2022-Episode 424

David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic site in Fort Hunter takes a look at life on the wild side of the Erie Canal with tales about the Kilboys, including balladeer Tom Kilboy.  Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, where the old Erie Canal crossed the Schoharie Creek

Saturday, May 28, 2022-From the Archives-Friday, October 4, 2019-Episode 286-Charles Postel, author of “Equality: An American Dilemma 1866-1896,” follows three organizations: the Grange, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Knights of Labor.

Joseph Tralka

This Sunday, May 29, 2022 A Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.  A native of Poland, Joseph came to Amsterdam by way of Brazil and Pennsylvania and was longtime organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church.  His son George went off to the Second World War then became a physician in the Washington D.C. area.  

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, May 26, 2022

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Leader Herald

Local schools react to mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas
A day after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas, school districts throughout…

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Amy Catania of Historic Saranac Lake explains how that upstate New York community became a center for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 26, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-American Legion memories.

Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, bringing America into the World War that had begun three years earlier.  The first Amsterdam National Guard members departed for World War I in August of 1917.

Friday, May 27, 2022-Episode 424

David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic site in Fort Hunter takes a look at life on the wild side of the Erie Canal with tales about the Kilboys, including balladeer Tom Kilboy.  Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, where the old Erie Canal crossed the Schoharie Creek

Saturday, May 28, 2022-From the Archives-Friday, October 4, 2019-Episode 286-Charles Postel, author of “Equality: An American Dilemma 1866-1896,” follows three organizations: the Grange, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Knights of Labor.

This Sunday, May 29, 2022 A Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.  A native of Poland, Joseph came to Amsterdam by way of Brazil and Pennsylvania and was longtime organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church.  His son George went off to the Second World War then became a physician in the Washington D.C. area.  

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, May 25, 2022

The Historians Podcast is heard on WCSS in Amsterdam, 1490 AM and 106.9 FM, following the Noon news on Saturday.  Historians Podcast is also carried on RISE, WMHT’s radio service for the blind, and on WBDY 99.5 FM in Binghamton.

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Leader Herald

Council passes new tree laws for city

by Jason Subik

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This coming Sunday, May 29, 2022 on-line here on The Historians

Read all About It

Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.  A native of Poland, Joseph came to Amsterdam by way of Brazil and Pennsylvania and was longtime organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church.

"The coin of the Realm"  

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Amsterdam judge was noted talker

By Bob Cudmore

          When Marilyn Zierak Betz was growing up, her father frequently sat at their dining room table--writing speeches on a yellow legal pad.

          Amsterdam native Raymond J. Zierak, who died this year at 92, was a bilingual attorney, 24-year City Court Judge, New York Assistant Attorney General and counsel to Poland’s American consulate.

          Zierak spoke frequently at occasions honoring fallen soldiers.  For example, he was main speaker at Memorial Day observances at Green Hill Cemetery in 1952 sponsored by the John J. Wyzomirski Post of the American Legion.  Zierak had served as a lieutenant in the intelligence operation of the Marine Corps in the Pacific in World War Two.

          Judge Zierak also was a much-requested speaker and toastmaster at Polish American events and other dinners put on by the Republican Party and organizations ranging from St. Luke’s Lutheran Church to the Soap Box Derby.

          When he died, Zierak left behind legal pads filled with speeches and jokes.  He also saved programs from numerous occasions, some marked with handwritten notes to refer to when he spoke.

          Zierak was toastmaster at the 65th anniversary of the St. Michael the Archangel Society of St. Stanislaus Church in 1957.  His program has a handwritten note saying that D. Paul Wojcicki, one of the speakers, was “responsible for helping acquire real property and other assets.”  Another short note is in Polish.

          The 1957 program from the St. Michael the Archangel event has a full-page ad from Brownie’s restaurant on Reid Street, along with greetings from politicians on both sides of the aisle ranging from Republican Judge Malcolm Tomlinson to Democratic mayoral candidate Thomas F. Gregg.

          The oldest program Zierak saved was the 25th anniversary of the Polish National Legion from 1934, when he would have been 20 years old.  All the editorial copy is in Polish but most ads are in English.  Prohibition had ended by 1934 and taverns ranging from Patsy’s Grill on Lyon Street to B. Adamski’s Restaurant on Grand Street proudly advertised beer on draught.

          Zierak grew up on Reid Hill’s Hibbard Street, where his sister Regina Wytrwal still lives.  His father was a loom fixer and his mother also worked in the carpet mills.  His father died when he was young and his mother later married Louis Zajaczkowski.

          Zierak earned money at an Amsterdam dairy and other jobs to work his way through Union College and Albany Law School.  His legal practice to some extent focused on Amsterdam’s Polish community because Zierak was fluent in Polish and Polish Americans trusted him.

          He married Lucy Drzewicki from Amsterdam’s Park Hill neighborhood in 1942.  Her family operated S & D Bakery on Park Hill’s Third Avenue.  Raymond and Lucy Zierak settled nearby on Locust Avenue.

          Their son, Raymond S. Zierak, recalled he was born while his father was training with the Marines in Quantico, Virginia.

          Raymond S. Zierak also became an attorney and today specializes in land use law in New Jersey.  The younger Zierak at one time practiced law in Amsterdam and was an unsuccessful candidate for State Assembly, running against Mary Ann Krupczak.

          When Judge Zierak presided over City Court, its work consisted of civil cases.  After 24 years on the part-time bench, Zierak became an assistant to New York Republican Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz.  He did work for the Polish Consulate during the Communist era, helping Americans of Polish descent who had to deal with wills and other legal issues in Poland. 

          Zierak’s wife died in 1999.  The judge passed away April 3 of this year.  In addition to his son, he leaves two daughters—Marilyn Betz and Patricia McCarty—six grandchildren and other relatives.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 25, 2022-Amy Catania of Historic Saranac Lake explains how that upstate New York community became a center for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Thursday, May 26, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-American Legion memories.

Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, bringing America into the World War that had begun three years earlier.  The first Amsterdam National Guard members departed for World War I in August of 1917.

Friday, May 27, 2022-Episode 424

...including balladeer Tom Kilboy

David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic site in Fort Hunter takes a look at life on the wild side of the Erie Canal with tales about the Kilboys, including balladeer Tom Kilboy.  Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, where the old Erie Canal crossed the Schoharie Creek, is now open for the season.

Old English-Tiw's Day

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, May 24, 2022

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Leader Herald

Safe Boating Week provides reminders ahead of Memorial Day, summer

by Andrew Pugliese

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Looking to Raise $400.00 this Week to keep the fund drive docket up to date

The 2022 Historians Podcast-To donate click, 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. Thank You

Monday, May 23, 2022-The story behind the story podcast-Amsterdam ties to Kentucky Derby winners. Monday Podcast "7 Minutes"

The Week on The Historians

Tuesday, May 24, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-The judge who was an after dinner speaker.

When Marilyn Zierak Betz was growing up, her father frequently sat at their dining room table--writing speeches on a yellow legal pad.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022-From the Archives- Friday, July 24, 2020-Episode 328-Amy Catania of Historic Saranac Lake explains how that upstate New York community became a center for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Thursday, May 26, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-American Legion memories.

Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, bringing America into the World War that had begun three years earlier.  The first Amsterdam National Guard members departed for World War I in August of 1917.

Friday, May 27, 2022-Episode 424-David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic site in Fort Hunter takes a look at life on the wild side of the Erie Canal with tales about the Kilboys, including balladeer Tom Kilboy.  Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, where the old Erie Canal crossed the Schoharie Creek, is now open for the season.

Coming in June: Jim Kaplan on the founding of the Wall Street stock exchange; Adirondack historian Don Williams on his new book, “Grandfather’s Tool Chest.”

Kentucky Derby winners with Amsterdam ties

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

   Two different Amsterdam industrialists owned Kentucky Derby winners. The horses were named George Smith and Clyde Van Dusen.

   George Smith was named for popular gambler and racing handicapper George Elsworth Smith, who died in 1905 from tuberculosis

   John Sanford of Amsterdam had not bred the Kentucky Derby winner but purchased the horse in 1915. 

   The Sanfords operated one of Amsterdam’s largest carpet-making factories.  John Sanford’s father Stephen made a fortune with his mills and founded the family’s horse farm.  An organization called Friends of the Sanford Stud Farm is working to preserve buildings remaining from the once massive spread on Route 30.  The location in the town of Amsterdam is a regional shopping mecca today.

   George Smith’s trainer, Hollie Hughes, was serving in the U.S. Army when the horse won the 1916 Derby.  Hughes was chief trainer for the Sanfords for many years and has been inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame.

   In the Derby, George Smith, with jockey Johnny Loftus in the saddle, won by a neck over Star Hawk on a clear day.  George Smith later was used for stud at Sanford’s farm, producing no famous offspring.  Sanford donated the horse to the Jockey Club’s Breeding Bureau in 1926 and he ultimately ended up siring horses for the U.S. Army.

   Years later Hughes found a horse named Snob that he thought would also have a chance in the Derby.  John Sanford was not interested saying, “I won one Kentucky Derby. I have no desire to win another."

CLYDE VAN DUSEN

   The 1929 Kentucky Derby winner was a gelding named Clyde Van Dusen, the first male offspring of Man of War.  With Linus “Pony” McAtee in the saddle, Clyde Van Dusen beat 20 other horses on a muddy track. The next gelding to win the Derby was Saratoga’s Funny Cide in 2003.

   Amsterdam broom mill proprietor Herbert Gardner owned the Kentucky-bred Clyde Van Dusen.  Gardner lived at 301 Guy Park Avenue and had a horse track and farm off Golf Course Road in the town of Amsterdam, behind the current location of a Fort Johnson fire station.

   Brothers William and Herbert Gardner operated their broom factory on Chuctanunda Hill, a street running from Church to Grove streets on the east side of the Chuctanunda Creek.

   The horse was named for his Kentucky trainer, Clyde Van Dusen. The animal spent his later years as an exercise horse for his human namesake who went on to be a horse trainer in California.

   Van Dusen, a former jockey, said, “Clyde is a little horse, and that is why Mr. Gardner named him after me.”

   No trophy was awarded in 1916 for George Smith’s Derby victory.  Trophies first appeared in the 1922 Derby and the first Derby Gold Cup, as it is called, was presented in 1924 to Rosa Hoots, owner of Black Gold.

   Presumably the 1929 Derby gold cup was presented to the owner of the winner, Herbert Gardner.

   In 2008 curator Jay Ferguson from the Kentucky Derby Museum made a number of unsuccessful inquiries in an effort to locate the trophy awarded Herbert Gardner for Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.

   Ferguson told the Daily Gazette in 2008 that he believes Herbert Gardner had financial reverses and the trophy ended up with his brother William, who was mayor of Amsterdam in two non-consecutive terms.  Ferguson thought the trophy may have been passed on to William Gardner’s heirs.

   When asked about the location of Clyde Van Dusen’s trophy, museum director of communications Rachel Collier said this month, “Yes, as far as we know, the trophy in question is still unaccounted for.”

70 at 4 this afternoon in Amsterdam

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, May 23, 2022

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Leader Herald

Johnstown city officials, water board tension not new: Situation predates Praught, Capparello yet resolutions still far off

by Andrew Pugliese

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Kentucky Derby winners with Amsterdam ties

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

   Two different Amsterdam industrialists owned Kentucky Derby winners. The horses were named George Smith and Clyde Van Dusen.

   George Smith was named for popular gambler and racing handicapper George Elsworth Smith, who died in 1905 from tuberculosis

   John Sanford of Amsterdam had not bred the Kentucky Derby winner but purchased the horse in 1915. 

   The Sanfords operated one of Amsterdam’s largest carpet-making factories.  John Sanford’s father Stephen made a fortune with his mills and founded the family’s horse farm.  An organization called Friends of the Sanford Stud Farm is working to preserve buildings remaining from the once massive spread on Route 30.  The location in the town of Amsterdam is a regional shopping mecca today.

   George Smith’s trainer, Hollie Hughes, was serving in the U.S. Army when the horse won the 1916 Derby.  Hughes was chief trainer for the Sanfords for many years and has been inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame.

   In the Derby, George Smith, with jockey Johnny Loftus in the saddle, won by a neck over Star Hawk on a clear day.  George Smith later was used for stud at Sanford’s farm, producing no famous offspring.  Sanford donated the horse to the Jockey Club’s Breeding Bureau in 1926 and he ultimately ended up siring horses for the U.S. Army.

   Years later Hughes found a horse named Snob that he thought would also have a chance in the Derby.  John Sanford was not interested saying, “I won one Kentucky Derby. I have no desire to win another."

Tomorrow, Monday, May 23, 2022-The story behind the story podcast-Amsterdam ties to Kentucky Derby winners.

CLYDE VAN DUSEN

   The 1929 Kentucky Derby winner was a gelding named Clyde Van Dusen, the first male offspring of Man of War.  With Linus “Pony” McAtee in the saddle, Clyde Van Dusen beat 20 other horses on a muddy track. The next gelding to win the Derby was Saratoga’s Funny Cide in 2003.

   Amsterdam broom mill proprietor Herbert Gardner owned the Kentucky-bred Clyde Van Dusen.  Gardner lived at 301 Guy Park Avenue and had a horse track and farm off Golf Course Road in the town of Amsterdam, behind the current location of a Fort Johnson fire station.

   Brothers William and Herbert Gardner operated their broom factory on Chuctanunda Hill, a street running from Church to Grove streets on the east side of the Chuctanunda Creek.

   The horse was named for his Kentucky trainer, Clyde Van Dusen. The animal spent his later years as an exercise horse for his human namesake who went on to be a horse trainer in California.

   Van Dusen, a former jockey, said, “Clyde is a little horse, and that is why Mr. Gardner named him after me.”

   No trophy was awarded in 1916 for George Smith’s Derby victory.  Trophies first appeared in the 1922 Derby and the first Derby Gold Cup, as it is called, was presented in 1924 to Rosa Hoots, owner of Black Gold.

   Presumably the 1929 Derby gold cup was presented to the owner of the winner, Herbert Gardner.

   In 2008 curator Jay Ferguson from the Kentucky Derby Museum made a number of unsuccessful inquiries in an effort to locate the trophy awarded Herbert Gardner for Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.

   Ferguson told the Daily Gazette in 2008 that he believes Herbert Gardner had financial reverses and the trophy ended up with his brother William, who was mayor of Amsterdam in two non-consecutive terms.  Ferguson thought the trophy may have been passed on to William Gardner’s heirs.

   When asked about the location of Clyde Van Dusen’s trophy, museum director of communications Rachel Collier said this month, “Yes, as far as we know, the trophy in question is still unaccounted for.”

Looking to Raise $400.00 this coming Week to keep the fund drive docket up to date

The 2022 Historians Podcast-To donate click, 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. Thank You to All

May 22, 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers. July 17, 2020 Bob Cudmore interviewed Tim Welch-podcast posted on page 6

https://www.grantcottage.org/

Tim Welch discusses Grant Cottage in northern Saratoga County where Ulysses S. Grant died after finishing his memoirs of the Civil War.

The Paper

This weekend in the Daily Gazette: A Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.  A native of Poland, Joseph came to Amsterdam by way of Brazil and Pennsylvania and was longtime organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church.  His son George went off to the Second World War then became a physician in the Washington D.C. area.  We will post the story about the Tralkas online on bobcudmore.com next Sunday, May 29, 2022

The Week on The Historians

Tuesday, May 24, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-The judge who was an after dinner speaker.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022-From the Archives- Friday, July 24, 2020-Episode 328-Amy Catania of Historic Saranac Lake explains how that upstate New York community became a center for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Thursday, May 26, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-American Legion memories.

Friday, May 27, 2022-Episode 424-David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic site in Fort Hunter takes a look at life on the wild side of the Erie Canal with tales about the Kilboys, including balladeer Tom Kilboy.  Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, where the old Erie Canal crossed the Schoharie Creek, is now open for the season.

Coming in June: Jim Kaplan on the founding of the Wall Street stock exchange; Adirondack historian Don Williams on his new book, “Grandfather’s Tool Chest.”

Mohawk Valley Weather, Sunday, May 22, 2022

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Leader Herald

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The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive needs your help!  To donate click, 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. $2625 of the $6000.00 needed to pay the internet rent, the 1,s and zeros that keep it on The WWW

This Weekend

In the Paper you find in the mailbox or front porch, steps or lawn

Subject:Lawn, May

It's No Mow May, think of the pollinators

Daily Gazette: A Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.  A native of Poland, Joseph came to Amsterdam by way of Brazil and Pennsylvania and was longtime organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church.  His son George went off to the Second World War then became a physician in the Washington D.C. area.

Tomorrow, Sunday, May 22, 2022-Amsterdam has ties to two Kentucky Derby winners.

Posted on-line

The Sanfords operated one of Amsterdam’s largest carpet-making factories.  John Sanford’s father Stephen made a fortune with his mills and founded the family’s horse farm.  An organization called ... 

Episode 423 Charles Gehring

Fort Plain Museum

....about 19 days to go

https://fortplainmuseum.org/conference

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Glove Theatre interviewing candidates for manager

by Jason Subik

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   Recollections of war    

By Bob Cudmore 

A Virginia doctor has written a book recalling his World War II memories of both the home front in Amsterdam and the last days of the war in Europe.

George A. Tralka was at his family’s James Street home in Amsterdam the afternoon that radio broadcasts were interrupted to report the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tralka at first thought Pearl Harbor was in Alaska.

Tralka’s parents went ahead with their plans to go out that day and to have Tralka watch his younger sisters. The next day as Tralka delivered the Schenectady Gazette he heard President Roosevelt’s “day of infamy” speech on the radio when he made his newspaper delivery to Reid Hill Pharmacy. 

“It was a solemn moment in the drug store,” Tralka wrote in his memoir, “Diary of a Replacement Soldier.”

The first member of Tralka’s group at St. Mary’s High School to go off to war left in July 1943.  After their buddy’s train left Amsterdam, friends gathered at Rapello’s Pharmacy and, according to Tralka, “Raised high our chocolate sodas and wished him good luck.”

As his senior year in high school drew to a close, Tralka enlisted in an Army training program. His notice to report came a few days before his senior prom and he was so busy getting ready to go that he failed to notify his date that he couldn’t attend the prom. Later his brother accepted Tralka’s high school diploma and he was told the “applause was enthusiastic.”

For three months, Tralka attended a course in pre-engineering at the University of Delaware, followed by basic training in Arkansas. Once overseas he became an infantry replacement in France and a rifleman with the 103rd Division in the Rhineland and Central European campaigns. After the war he was discharged as a private first class and went to medical school.

His book benefits from Tralka’s artistic skills—many of his war stories are illustrated with his own drawings.  There are also photos and other visual reproductions in the book.

During his career Tralka practiced medicine in Washington, D.C. and Vienna, Virginia for government agencies and in private practice.

ORGANIST FATHER

Tralka’s father Joseph was for many years the organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church in Amsterdam. Joseph Tralka, whose own father was a church organist, emigrated from partitioned Poland at age 17 to play organ music for a settlement of Poles in Parana, Brazil.  He married there and even took part in a posse that went off to fight natives who had attacked their settlement.

He and his wife relocated to the United States and lived in a variety of places, including Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. There he was a professor of music at Alliance College.  His first wife died in 1935 and he remarried. 

Joseph Tralka was not making much money at Alliance College. The work was enjoyable but all consuming. He left the college and moved from place to place playing organ at Polish Roman Catholic parishes, finally settling at St. Stanislaus in Amsterdam where he was church organist until 1954.

Joseph Tralka made a modest salary from the church and had a modest sign in the front window of his parlor offering private musical lessons. George Tralka wrote, “I remember that he could be a little deflated when requested by earnest and hopeful neighborhood mothers on occasion to teach introductory accordion to their fair haired nine-year-olds in as few lessons as possible.”

Joseph Tralka also made some money at the end of each year with door to door sale of Christmas wafers, a traditional holiday perk for Polish church organists. 

Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder this Weekend

The Paper Paper

This Saturday May 21, 2022 in the Daily Gazette: A Bob Cudmore Focus on History column about Joseph and George Tralka.  A native of Poland, Joseph came to Amsterdam by way of Brazil and Pennsylvania and was longtime organist and choir director at St. Stanislaus Church.  His son George went off to the Second World War then became a physician in the Washington D.C. area.  We will post the story about the Tralkas online on bobcudmore.com on Sunday May 29th.

Tomorrow, Friday, May 20, 2022-Episode 423-Charles Gehring’s life work has been to translate Old Dutch language documents from the 17th century New Netherland colony in New York, New Jersey and Delaware.  Gehring is Director of the New Netherland Research Center at the New York State Education Department in Albany.  His work has been used by many historians, including Russell Shorto whose book “The Island at the Center of the World” is a history of New York City dating back to colonial Dutch times.

Saturday, May 21, 2022-From the Archives-April 9, 2021-Episode 365-Roland Vinyard is author of the book, “The Ballad of Pete Hauer: It Was Caves that Pete Loved The Best.”  A true story of two mysterious deaths in West Virginia’s cave country.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, May 19, 2022

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