The Historians

....tomorrow, New York State Historian Devin Lander

"Thursday exchange of information "11 Minutes"

The Fort Plain Museum will host “Mixing History and Fiction: Writing the Controversial Story of the 1945 Bombing of Dresden,” a virtual presentation with Fort Plain Museum’s Board of Trustees Member and Military Historian James Kirby Martin scheduled for  this evening at 7, via Zoom. Registration is required.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cW-F-r9XRZmmQU6Qy5vyEg

James Kirby Martin is on The Historians Schedule next month

Friday, February 11, 2022-Episode 409-James Kirby Martin is executive producer of the documentary Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed.  The film is based on Martin’s 1997 book Benedict Arnold Revolutionary Hero.  The documentary is streaming on several TV platforms, narrated by Martin Sheen and stars Peter O’Meara.  Three men from the Mohawk Valley area created the documentary: Niskayuna native Chris Stearns, Saratoga Springs native Tom Mercer and Fort Johnson native Anthony Vertucci.

...in August 1884 Jackson delivered a rousing speech in support of Republican Presidential candidate James Blaine and his running mate John Logan at a celebration of emancipation held in Canajoharie.

Amsterdam barber was African American political leader

Thursday, January 27, 2022

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History 

An Amsterdam barber, Robert A. Jackson, may have been active in the Underground Railroad and was an African American political leader in the late 1800s.

Montgomery County historian Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar said, “It is very possible that (Jackson) had Underground Railroad connections because he was not too far away from Chandler Bartlett’s shoe store that also reputedly sheltered freedom seekers.  Jackson’s barber shop was in an upper floor over 69 East Main Street which would be approximately where the Riverfront Center now sits.  He lived on Charles Street.”

In the late 1800s there were newspaper accounts describing Jackson’s role in what were then called Colored Conventions at the Montgomery County and state level

According to research compiled by historian Christopher Philippo, Jackson was one of five men appointed at a statewide convention of black Republicans to prepare an address to voters in 1872.  

In 1879 Jackson was chosen for the committee on principles and rules at the Colored Men’s Montgomery County Convention in Fonda.  He was named an at-large delegate to the group’s state convention in Elmira.

In August 1884 Jackson delivered a rousing speech in support of Republican Presidential candidate James Blaine and his running mate John Logan at a celebration of emancipation held in Canajoharie.  Other events that day included a parade, music and a reading of the emancipation proclamation.

The Amsterdam Daily Democrat reported that Jackson’s speech was fluent and enthusiastic and was applauded throughout, “Mr. Jackson clearly and forcibly reviewed the history of his people since the war, showing the marked difference between the attitudes of the two great parties toward them.

“The Republicans, he said, had given them the treatment they deserved and had done all in their power to dignify their condition, whereas the policy of the Democrats toward them has resulted only in their detriment.”

Blaine and Logan narrowly lost the Presidential election that year to New York Governor Grover Cleveland and his running mate Thomas Hendricks.  Cleveland was the first Democrat to be elected President since 1856.  He carried New York by a margin of just over a thousand votes to clinch the election.

In October 1884 the Amsterdam Daily Democrat printed an interview with Jackson who had recently returned from a trip to Philadelphia for the national convention of what were then called the Colored Masons.  Another newspaper reported that Jackson came originally from Troy and had joined the Masons there.

The Amsterdam paper’s interview took place at Jackson’s barber shop and he reportedly “talked rapidly away as he stropped his razor.”

Jackson said the convention was the largest ever because it celebrated the 100th anniversary of the creation in Boston of the first lodge of black Free Masons in America.

Jackson said, “(The convention) was marked by a grand parade in which 25 lodges were represented in a membership of 2,000 , comprising delegates from Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Ohio.”

In 1886 the Amsterdam paper reported “tonsorial artist Robert Jackson” was spending Sunday with friends in Minaville.  Jackson died in February 1893 and was about sixty.

Farquhar said, “According to my records he was married to Hannah Herod and they had at least five children.  One of their daughters, Agnes, died at the age of seven in 1882 due to meningitis.  Agnes, Hannah and Robert are all buried in Green Hill Cemetery, possibly along with a couple of other daughters.”

Farquhar and Judith Wellman have written “Uncovering the Underground Railroad: Abolitionism and African American Life in Montgomery County, N.Y. 1820-1890.”  It is available at Farquhar’s office at the Old Courthouse in Fonda. 

 Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, January 27, 2022

High pressure will push to the east today as a warm front lifts
northward, bringing a slight moderation in temperatures. A cold
front then approaches from the west tonight through Friday with
isolated to scattered snow showers, mainly for higher terrain
areas. A coastal storm will track off the East Coast late Friday
through Saturday with a chance for some light to moderate
snowfall and gusty winds, especially for areas south and east of
Albany. The track of this system remains uncertain.

Mohawk Valley News, Thursday, January 27, 2022

Daily Gazette

Indictment: First-degree murder charged in Duanesburg killings; Man accused of murdering wife, 5yo son
DUANESBURG – The Duanesburg man accused of murdering his wife and 5-year-old son and trying to kill his 2-year-old child…

Amsterdam-area native to perform with ‘Come From Away’ pit orchestra
For Saturday’s evening performance of “Come From Away” at Proctors, there’ll be a familiar face in the pit orchestra. Violinist…

https://dailygazette.com/

Amsterdam parents: District must act to end school threats

AMSTERDAM — Parents are calling for swift action and better communication following a rash of...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Contest brings Fulton County arts community ‘into the spotlight’

by Andrew Waite

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...and on The To-Do list

Susan Meissner

The Nature of Fragile Things

Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so anxious to get out of a Manhattan tenement that she answers a San Francisco widower’s mail-order bride ad.

Wednesday, January 26-From the Archives- March 29, 2019-Episode 259-Patricia Walsh Chadwick, author of “Little Sister,” a memoir about her childhood in which she was raised in a strict Roman Catholic community. Wednesday Interview "32 Minutes"

The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive is off to a good start!  For more information or to donate online click here, 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. 

Tomorrow is another day

Thursday, January 27, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam barber a black political leader

Friday

New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution

Amsterdam’s “Hallelujah” Connection

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

Coming soon on Historians Podcast-Episode 408-WGY radio’s 100th anniversary; Episode 409-James Kirby Martin is executive producer of the documentary Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed.  The film is based on Martin’s book Benedict Arnold Revolutionary Hero.  The documentary is streaming on several TV platforms.

 Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Wednesday, Janaury 26, 2022

Daily Gazette

2.6% Capital Region unemployment rate lowest in a third of a century
ALBANY — Capital Region unemployment dropped to 2.6% in December, the lowest rate ever seen in the 32 years the current…

GE reports net loss, decreased revenue amid challenges of 2021
BOSTON — General Electric on Tuesday offered an optimistic forecast for 2022 as it presented a not-great financial report for…

https://dailygazette.com/

Glen residents ‘categorically opposed’ to wind project

GLEN — The concern of residents is mounting to a proposed wind turbine that would be visible...

‘The right wrong turn’; town’s new deputy supervisor arrived by accident a little more than a year ago

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Gloversville’s DRI local planning committee announced

by Jason Subik

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...Captain Pope of Montgomery, Alabama and Lieutenant Charles Thompson of Schenectady, another member of the crew, were decorated combat veterans from the North Africa campaign.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022...Chit-Chat "5 Minutes"

Wartime Army plane crashed in Amsterdam

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

It was 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13 1943 when a twin-engine American Army bomber crashed in a rural section of Amsterdam’s South Side as the plane’s four-man crew parachuted to safety in the city’s Fifth Ward.  Remarkably, there were no injuries.  The plane was on a flight between Rome and Schenectady when its engines went out.

Fireman Frank Mazur, standing outside the Central Fire Station at West Main and Pearl Streets, heard an airplane engine sputtering and saw the tail light descending rapidly toward the South Side.  Firefighters, cops and ambulances scrambled to the scene.  The plane went down either in the vicinity of today’s Route 5-S or New York State Thruway.  The Army and State Police guarded the accident scene during the night, keeping crowds of spectators away.

Captain John F. Pope, the last to exit the plane at about 500 feet, was found wandering on DeWitt Street.  He apparently had landed on the roof of popular Fifth Ward Alderman Angelo Sardonia’s house or on the nearby porch of Charles Frohlich.  Accounts differ.  The other three crew members landed safely in the vicinity of the Fifth Ward School on Perkins Street. The plane’s exit door from which they escaped was found on Eagle Street in the city's East End.

Captain Pope of Montgomery, Alabama and Lieutenant Charles Thompson of Schenectady, another member of the crew, were decorated combat veterans from the North Africa campaign. Thompson had been in a plane shot down 45 miles behind the German lines, but Thompson and his men found their way back to allied territory.  The two other soldiers in the Amsterdam crash were Sergeant Joseph Bragdon of York Village, Maine and Sergeant Albert Finarelli of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The Recorder reported of Captain Pope, "He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, with several oak leaf clusters, but it remained for Amsterdam to hold the distinction of being the first place over which he bailed out of a plane."

Captain Pope lost his beat-up old hat in the parachute jump into Amsterdam, a hat that had been with him in England, Ireland, Scotland, Gibraltar and all over North Africa in his 108 combat missions. Fortunately, Fifth Ward School second grader Peter Marcucio, celebrating his seventh birthday, and his friend Robert Selbert found the hat and were rewarded with junior sets of pilot's wings later that month.

In a letter to Marcucio, Captain Pope wrote, “As you know, the hat wasn't very good, but it carries a lot of memories with it that make it priceless to me.”

The flight had originated at the relatively new Rome Air Depot, created in November 1942.  The facility became Griffiss Air Force Base after the war in 1948.

Amsterdam city historian Robert von Hasseln said the bomber likely was on a check flight testing repairs to the aircraft or engines before returning it to an operational command. 

Von Hasseln said the type of plane that crashed is not certain, but probably it was a B-25 Mitchell, although it could have also been an A-20, B-26 or another type.  The Mitchell was named in honor of aviation pioneer Billy Mitchell.

The bomber crew from the Amsterdam crash was lucky to survive.  Laura Hillenbrand in her book “Unbroken” wrote of World War II, “Some 15,000 airmen died in accidental crashes stateside.”

Thanks to Al Mancini of Amsterdam for suggesting this story.  Much of the information came from attorney Bob Going.  The story of the plane crash will be part of Going’s book on Amsterdam in World War II called “Where Do We Find Such Men?”  The book will be published later this year.

There is always tomorrow, we hope  

Wednesday, January 26-From the Archives- March 29, 2019-Episode 259-Patricia Walsh Chadwick, author of “Little Sister,” a memoir about her childhood in which she was raised in a strict Roman Catholic community.

Thursday, January 27, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam barber a black political leader

January 28, 2022--This Friday by 6AM

#407

250th anniversary

We think that's in the 2020's

New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution

Wall St History: 19th Century Growth of Investment Banking

by Jim Kaplan

New York Almanack https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2022/01/wall-st-history-19th-century-growth-of-investment-banking/

All 12 Jim Kaplan Historians Podcasts are posted on this page

New York State Council on the Arts / Museum Association of New York
Partnership Grants for Capacity Building
The Museum Association of New York in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts will award $500,000 in capacity building grants to non-profit museums located in New York State. 100 grants of $5,000 will be awarded. As this partnership grant program was developed to reach museums not already funded by NYSCA, priority will be given to museums that did not receive NYSCA organizational support funding for FY 2022. Those who did receive Restart NY and/or Recovery Grants, but not organizational support are eligible.

https://nysmuseums.org/Partnership-Grants

Amsterdam weather, not much to mutter about...

 Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Daily Gazette

State judge overturns NY mask mandate
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge ruled Monday that the state’s mask mandate can’t be enforced, after it…

Sheldon Silver, NY power broker sent to prison, dead at 77
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful figures in state government…

https://dailygazette.com/

Amsterdam school officials: Governor’s education aid proposal promising

Canajoharie school district pays unneeded fuel expenses, audit shows

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Johnstown Board OKs $131k plow truck purchase

by Jason Subik

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...done by special request

Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"

This Friday, January 28, 2022-Episode 407-New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution

Devin Lander

Tomorrow back into the print archives

Tuesday, January 25, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-An Army plane crashed in Amsterdam during World War II

Fireman Frank Mazur, standing outside the Central Fire Station at West Main and Pearl Streets, heard an airplane engine sputtering and saw the tail light descending rapidly toward the South Side.  Firefighters, cops and ambulances scrambled to the scene. 

Wednesday, January 26-From the Archives- March 29, 2019-Episode 259-Patricia Walsh Chadwick, author of “Little Sister,” a memoir about her childhood in which she was raised in a strict Roman Catholic community.

Imagine an 18-year-old American girl who has never read a newspaper, watched television, or made a phone call. An 18-year-old-girl who has never danced - and this in the 1960s.

Thursday, January 27, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam barber a black political leader

Friday, January 28, 2022-Episode 407-New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution

   The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam’s Bob’s Tavern. 

Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller By Bob Cudmore

   A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy.  I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.

   Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native. 

   The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton’s given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch.  His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.

   Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.

  HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.

   Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some advertisements. 

   He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs.  Patton was drafted during World War II.  HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.

   Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie “Swing in the Saddle” which featured music by Nat King Cole’s trio.

   Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez’s song “Nature Boy” which became a hit.

   Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones’s song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949.  However, Jones’s biography failed to mention Patton.

   Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band.  At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores. 

   From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.

Donate off line to The Historians

thru th U.S. Mail

Send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Mail is a little slow, it gets there, sooner or later, Thanks to all the mail people

Go Fund Me  

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

   A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW.  A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.

   Roamin’ Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, stated Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.

   The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.

   Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later.  He had purchased a recording studio there.

   My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller.  Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers. 

   Miller’s brother in law Barry Frank frequently performed with Miller’s band.  Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District. 

   Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending machines in the area.  In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers. 

   Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton’s Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.

   The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam’s Bob’s Tavern.  Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.

   Miller’s last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam’s myriad characters, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers

   “I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.

   When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.

Zoom tonight at 7

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OOsjtvMHQcG5DwmA7yKb0A

Professor Scott Manning Stevens, a citizen of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, is currently working on a book-length project dealing with these issues between Native American nations and museums. While his focus is largely on Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities, he hopes this work will serve as a template for broader application amongst other Indigenous cultures and the museums in which they are represented by collections and exhibits. Stevens considers the many challenges for museums in overcoming the legacy of misappropriation and misrepresentation of Indigenous cultures.

Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX) will host a conversation with Professor Scott Manning Stevens looking at the complicated issues around Native American nations, their histories, and their relationships with museums, set for this evening, Monday, January 24, 2022. He will discuss the terms of the debate and some possible solutions for moving forward.

 Mohawk Valley Weather for a new week, Monday, January 24, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Monday, January 24, 2022

Daily Gazette

Apartment project along Schenectady’s State Street approved
SCHENECTADY — Plans to build a 24-unit apartment complex above a multi-floor parking structure along State Street are moving forward after receiving…

Letters to the Editor for Jan. 17 to Jan. 23
Letters to the Editor for Jan. 17 to Jan. 23 Thirty-two total letters to the editor this week, including five…

https://dailygazette.com/

Abuse experts describe troubling cycle

In the case of alleged kidnapping and torture inside a Town of Perth trailer, one domestic abuse...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us Part of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

From the Archives-Episode 209, April 6, 2018, Poetry Songs and History Songs-Words of famous poets including Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, are put to original music by Tom Staudle.  The History Songs portray the life of American settlers during the American Revolution through original songs by Cosby Gibson. Sunday Podcast "37 Minutes"

New York State historian Devin Lander interview this Friday, January 28, 2022

Tomorrow, Monday, January 24, 2022- Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"

Tuesday, January 25, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-An Army plane crashed in Amsterdam during World War II

It was 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13 1943 when a twin-engine American Army bomber crashed in a rural section of Amsterdam’s South Side

Wednesday, January 26-From the Archives- March 29, 2019-Episode 259-Patricia Walsh Chadwick, author of “Little Sister,” a memoir about her childhood in which she was raised in a strict Roman Catholic community.

Thursday, January 27, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam barber a black political leader

Friday, January 28, 2022-Episode 407-New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Bob Cudmore at WMHT 89.1FM Public Radio Albany around 2015 when RISE the radio service for the blind added The Historians to the schedule, where it remains today, Thanks for the Go Fund Me help

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

Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller

By Bob Cudmore

   A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy.  I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.

   Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native. 

   The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton’s given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch.  His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.

   Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.

  HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.

   Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some advertisements. 

   He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs.  Patton was drafted during World War II.  HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.

   Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie “Swing in the Saddle” which featured music by Nat King Cole’s trio.

   Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez’s song “Nature Boy” which became a hit.

   Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones’s song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949.  However, Jones’s biography failed to mention Patton.

   Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band.  At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores. 

   From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin. 

   A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW.  A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.

   Roamin’ Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, stated Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.

   The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.

   Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later.  He had purchased a recording studio there.

   My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller.  Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers. 

   Miller’s brother in law Barry Frank frequently performed with Miller’s band.  Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District. 

   Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending machines in the area.  In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers. 

   Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton’s Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.

   The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam’s Bob’s Tavern.  Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.

   Miller’s last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam’s myriad characters, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers

   “I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.

   When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.

Everybody likes the Mooosess(we mean more than one)

The moose is the largest member of the deer family and the largest land mammal in New York State. Bulls weigh from 600 to 1,200 pounds and stand up to 6 feet tall at the shoulder.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the start of a new moose research project in the Adirondack region. This winter, 14 moose were fitted with GPS collars as part of a multi-year project assessing moose health and population.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6964.html

By collaring calves and monitoring their survival to adulthood, biologists will be able to investigate factors limiting moose population growth such as the effects of parasites on juvenile moose survival.

Sunday in Amsterdam

 Mohawk Valley Weather, January 23, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Sunday, January 23, 2022

Daily Gazette

Nathan Littauer Hospital diverts ER patients to St. Mary’s
GLOVERSVILLE — Nathan Littauer Hospital was forced to divert incoming patients for at least 18 hours due to reaching full…

Marijuana possession cases set to be expunged as courts sift through thousands of records
Sevell Graham remembers being convicted of possessing marijuana in New York as if it were yesterday. But it was nearly…

SPAC summer classical: NYCB with full roster, Philadelphia Orchestra featuring new artists
The summer season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center will look a bit more traditional this year with the return…

https://dailygazette.com/

High schools: Amsterdam boys’ basketball dominates Queensbury

In Foothills Council boys’ basketball action, Amsterdam cruised to a 79-41 win Friday against...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us Part of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

... my conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller.  Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers. 

Saturday Schedule Update and Podcast "36 Minutes"

The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive is off to a good start!  Thanks to Patricia Chadwick for a very generous donation.  Patricia is author of the memoir “Little Sister.”  We’ve also had contributions from Wanda Burch, Ilene Wagner, Emil Dahlberg and Mary Alexander.  Thanks to all of the donors.  For more information or to donate online click here, 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. 

Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller

By Bob Cudmore

   A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy.  I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.

   Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native. 

   The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton’s given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch.  His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.

   Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.

  HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.

   Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some advertisements. 

   He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs.  Patton was drafted during World War II.  HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.

   Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie “Swing in the Saddle” which featured music by Nat King Cole’s trio.

   Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez’s song “Nature Boy” which became a hit.

This Monday Posted by 6AM

January 24, 2022- Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"

   Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones’s song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949.  However, Jones’s biography failed to mention Patton.

   Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band.  At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores. 

   From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin. 

   A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW.  A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.

   Roamin’ Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, stated Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.

   The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.

   Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later.  He had purchased a recording studio there.

   My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller.  Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers. 

   Miller’s brother in law Barry Frank frequently performed with Miller’s band.  Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District. 

   Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending machines in the area.  In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers. 

   Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton’s Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.

   The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam’s Bob’s Tavern.  Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.

   Miller’s last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam’s myriad characters, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers

   “I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.

   When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.

Tomorrow, Sunday, January 23, 2022-From the Archives-Episode 209, April 6, 2018, Poetry Songs and History Songs-Words of famous poets including Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, are put to original music by Tom Staudle.  The History Songs portray the life of American settlers during the American Revolution through original songs by Cosby Gibson.

In response to a dramatic increase in canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards on the NYS Canal System, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has published the New York State Canal System Hand-Launch Facility Design Guide.

The free guide shares best practices for communities, businesses, and organizations looking to install or improve hand-launch facilities for paddlers.

https://eriecanalway.org/explore/watertrail 

 Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, January 22, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Saturday, January 22, 2022

Daily Gazette

Elmore, defendant in torture case, charged in Montgomery County
Nicole K. Elmore, 35, who allegedly helped kidnap and torture a woman in Fulton County during the first week of…

$603M in bets during first nine days of online sports wagering in N.Y.
SCHENECTADY — New Yorkers placed $603 million in online bets in the first nine days of mobile sports wagering in…

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

https://www.leaderherald.com/

The latest this Saturday, January 22, 2022-Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder-Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller

Today it's Pals of the Saddle Podcast explanation "10 Minutes"

Barnell and Lopuch were bandleaders

By Bob Cudmore

The column on local music prompted a reader inquiry about former Amsterdam High School bandleader Gerald P. Barnell, wondering what was the name of his family’s dance band in the 1920s and 1930s.

            The family was Italian although the name had been Anglicized from Baranello to Barnell.  Gerald Barnell was the youngest of eight children who were raised on Amsterdam’s South Side where their father operated a grocery store and was one of the founders of Mount Carmel Church.

            In 1915, brothers Angelo, Charles and Anthony organized Barnell’s Concert Orchestra.  The group played for local society, such as carpet mill owner Stephen Sanford plus performances at the New York governor’s mansion, country clubs and Saratoga casinos.

            The orchestra disbanded in 1932 when brother Anthony contracted a bone disease.  Soon, however, the youngest Barnell organized Jerry Barnell and His Society Orchestra, playing local spots such as Jollyland in Amsterdam.

            Gerald Barnell graduated from Amsterdam High School in 1929 and earned a bachelor’s degree at Ithaca College.  A violinist, he did graduate work at several universities and the Juilliard School of Music.

            He taught for a year at the Cazenovia Seminary and joined the Amsterdam Schools in 1934.  He served until 1973 as instrumental director, leading the high school, junior high and elementary bands and orchestras.

            In the 1950s, it was Barnell’s inspiration to meld the band with female cheerleaders and baton-twirling majorettes whose signature number became “Lullaby of Birdland,” featuring a Rockette-style kick line.  Barnell’s traditions continue today in the performances of the Amsterdam High School Marching Rams.  He also organized the first All County Music Festival in Montgomery County in 1956. 

            Barnell was active in Local 133 of the Professional Musicians’ Union and performed with his family’s Barnell Concert Orchestra and his own Union Orchestra.  He had many private students, including popular local performer and music teacher Rachelle Cotugno.

            Barnell married Antoinette Morini in 1940.  For many years they lived on Phillips Street in Amsterdam.  Their son, Jerry, pursued a career as a business educator at Schalmont High School in Rotterdam.  His wife, Terri Mikolaitis, was one of Amsterdam’s majorettes in the late 1950s.

            After Gerald Barnell retired in 1973, he taught music education at the College of St. Rose in Albany.  He died in 1998 and his wife died in 2001. 

Please help us reach our 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive goal of $6,000! For more information or to donate online click here, 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.  Keep history alive by donating to The Historians Podcast

PALS OF THE SADDLE

          Joan Ready of Amsterdam sent information on a musical group from the Mohawk Valley, Pals of the Saddle.      

          Steve Lopuch led the band.  Other members were Frank Lopuch, Joseph Lopuch, Eddie Jarvis and Adam Orleanski, known as Tex Adams.    Adam Orleanski is a cousin of Ready’s father, Walter Orleanski.

“The Pals of the Saddle were well known, having played on WRGB in Schenectady when television first came on,” Ready said.  Those early appearances were in the 1940s. 

Stephen Lopuch also wrote songs for prominent polka bandleader Jimmy Sturr, including the Blue Jeans Polka.  Sturr won two Grammy awards for albums containing songs written by Lopuch in the 1980s.  

Lopuch died in 2004 in a one-car motor vehicle crash in Rotterdam.  He was 82.  According to his Recorder obituary, Lopuch was a native of Auriesville who lived in the town of Florida where he was a dairy farmer and raised a family with his wife, Mary Ann.   He could play guitar, fiddle and mandolin, teaching himself to play while listening to the radio as a youngster.  He was a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He also wrote a book about his section of Florida called "Snook's Corners, One Hundred Years Plus."

Tomorrow Historians Episode #406

Friday, January 21, 2022

Bob Cudmore and Dave Greene discuss polo player and carpet executive Laddie Sanford, a 1940 Northville fire and a newspaper contest from the early 1900s.

 Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, January 20, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Thursday, January 20, 2022

Daily Gazette

15-year-old student arrested, accused of making threats against Amsterdam schools via social media
AMSTERDAM — A 15-year-old Amsterdam schools student was arrested Wednesday, accused of making threats against Amsterdam schools on social media,…

Local historians to tell story of the Black experience in Saratoga County, spanning 200 years
BALLSTON SPA — A review of the struggles and successes of African-Americans in Saratoga County as of the mid-20th century is…

https://dailygazette.com/

Study: Low rate of new COVID infections statewide among previously recovered

ALBANY — A new study finds people who have had a previous COVID infection enjoy substantial...

Amsterdam middle school remote through Friday following burst pipe

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Johnstown FD staff make up 70% of city’s highest paid employees; EMS OT cited as reason

by Andrew Waite

https://www.leaderherald.com/

The Latest this Friday, January 21, 2022-Episode 406-Today, Wednesday, January 19, 2022-From the Archives-Historians Episode 215- Michael Doyle is the author of “The Ministers’ War”: John W. Mears, the Oneida Community, and the Crusade for Public Morality.”  A new book on a 19th century utopian community in upstate New York. Wednesday Podcast "36 Minutes"

Unbridled passions threatened nineteenth-century America, a vulnerable young nation already feeling beset by foreigners, corruption, and disease. Purifying crusaders like Hamilton College philosophy professor and Presbyterian minister John W. Mears mobilized to fight every sin and carnal lure, from liquor to free love. In Upstate New York’s famed Oneida Community, Mears encountered his stiffest challenge. Oneida’s founder and patriarch, John Humphrey Noyes, oversaw a radical Christian commune where men and women sexually mingled through the practice of "complex marriage." 

The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive is now underway! For more information or to donate online click here, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  A check made out to Bob Cudmore also may be sent to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Palatines in the Mohawk Valley: 300 Years of History
by Ginny Rogers

Little Falls Historical Society

https://littlefallshistoricalsociety.org/

New York Almanack

Those Palatines that were granted parcels in the Burnetsfield Patent of 1725 established homes, farms, and communities throughout the central Mohawk Valley. An insight into their lives is given through this translated letter dated July 10th, 1749 from Lot 43 patentee Johannes Müller and his wife, Anna Maria, to their family back in Germany.

https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2022/01/palatine-germans-in-the-mohawk-valley-300-years-of-history/

Tomorrow, Thursday, January 20, 2022 Local bandleaders Jerry Barnell and Steve Lopuch

The family was Italian although the name had been Anglicized from Baranello to Barnell.  Gerald Barnell was the youngest of eight children who were raised on Amsterdam’s South Side where their father operated a grocery store and was one of the founders of Mount Carmel Church.

Steve Lopuch led the band.  Other members were Frank Lopuch, Joseph Lopuch, Eddie Jarvis and Adam Orleanski, known as Tex Adams.    Adam Orleanski is a cousin of Ready’s father, Walter Orleanski.

Friday, January 21, 2022-Episode 406-Bob Cudmore and Dave Greene discuss polo player and carpet executive Laddie Sanford, a 1940 Northville fire and a newspaper contest from the early 1900s.

 Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Daily Gazette

Picture:Daily Gazette

Gloversville looks to advance brownfield cleanup
GLOVERSVILLE — Mayor Vince DeSantis and City Attorney Amanda Rose are set to meet with Fulton County Attorney Jason Brott on…

by Jason Subik

Hochul proposes $216B state budget for 2022-23
ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday outlined a $216.3 billion spending plan that includes a significant increase in school…

https://dailygazette.com/

Fultonville residents quiet on retail pot, opt-out stands for now

FULTONVILLE — The absence of community input on the village’s recent decision to opt-out of...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Johnstown state of emergency continues through Feb. 1, water ops to stay under DPW

by Andrew Waite

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Tuesday Podcast "10 Minutes"...from the Star Ship to Tim Buckley to Rocket J. Squirrel

Bob Cudmore at the controls of The Historians Star Ship

...also found some new information

Singer Tim Buckley’s Amsterdam roots

By Bob Cudmore

The 1960s singer songwriter Tim Buckley spent his early years in Amsterdam and Fort Johnson.

According to author David Browne, Buckley was born in Washington, D.C. but the family moved back to Amsterdam soon thereafter.

The singer’s grandfather—the first Tim Buckley--moved to Amsterdam from Ireland in the early 1900s.  He and Frank Graff briefly operated an auto repair shop at 14 Mechanic Street called Buckley and Graff.  Buckley and his wife Charlotte lived at 49 Mechanic Street and Buckley later tended bar on Mechanic Street.

Son Tim Junior was born in 1916.  Tim Junior worked at the Strand movie theater on East Main Street and then at Bigelow Sanford Carpet Company.

Browne said, “In 1942, Tim Junior was drafted and served in the Screaming Eagles in Europe, receiving a Purple Heart but also a head injury that resulted in a head plate, and many psychological problems, like thinking he was still in the war decades later.

“Tim Buckley--the singer, also known as Timothy Charles Buckley III--was born in the District of Columbia, where his father stayed after World War II.”

The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive is now underway! For more information or to donate online click here, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  A check made out to Bob Cudmore also may be sent to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. 

Tim Junior, his wife Elaine and their son moved back to Amsterdam in 1947 and lived on Garden Street.  Tim Junior worked for General Electric.  Tim III’s mother was a Miles Davis fan who introduced the young man to jazz recordings.

Browne said, “In 1955, the family moved to Fort Johnson. When Tim III was in second grade, the family moved again--this time to Southern California, where Tim Buckley's music career began to take root, resulting in a string of albums and tours between 1966 and his death in 1975 from a cocaine-alcohol overdose.”

Browne is a well known music and entertainment critic, currently contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine.  Browne’s 2001 book "Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley” was published by Harper Collins in 2001.  Tim III had a son named Jeff who also became a musician in the 1990s.

Brown said, “Jeff Buckley, who grew up barely knowing his father and being resentful of it, himself died in 1997 from drowning in Memphis, near the Mississippi River.  A sad story, almost a Greek tragedy.”

Tomorrow, Author Michael Doyle

Wednesday, January 19, 2022-From the Archives- May 18, 2018-Historians Episode 215- Michael Doyle is the author of “The Ministers’ War”: John W. Mears, the Oneida Community, and the Crusade for Public Morality.”  A new book on a 19th century utopian community in upstate New York.

Thursday, January 20, 2022- From the Archives of Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-Local bandleaders Jerry Barnell and Steve Lopuch

The column on local music prompted a reader inquiry about former Amsterdam High School bandleader Gerald P. Barnell, wondering what was the name of his family’s dance band in the 1920s and 1930s.

Friday, January 21, 2022-Episode 406-Bob Cudmore and Dave Greene discuss polo player and carpet executive Laddie Sanford, a 1940 Northville fire and a newspaper contest from the early 1900s.

In one or two weeks on Historians Podcast-January 28, 2022 Episode 407-New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution; February 4, 2022 Episode 408-WGY radio’s 100th anniversary

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, Janaury 18, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Daily Gazette

Schenectady fire that claimed life of 4yo doesn’t appear suspicious, FD says; ‘beautiful little girl’ – Mom
SCHENECTADY – Saturday morning’s house fire that claimed the life of a 4-year-old girl remained under investigation Monday, but the blaze…

https://dailygazette.com/

NY Farm Bureau Seeking 2022 Scholarship Applicants

MOHAWK VALLEY — Graduating high school seniors interested in pursuing careers in agriculture can apply for New York Farm Bureau’s Agricultural Youth Scholarship. Statewide sinners can earn up to $3,000 for college or advanced...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

COVID surge appears to be easing across Capital Region, state as fewer test positive

by John Cropley

https://www.leaderherald.com/