The Historians

...conversation "6 Minutes" todays print story and information on the new Historians Podcast tomorrow, Friday, January 7, 2022 with Jim Kaplan "Evacuation Day"--on the recording schedule a podcast about the history of Wall Street.

Amsterdam man’s Guadalcanal diary

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History 

Frequent contributor Richard Ellers has memories of Joseph A. Bucci, an Amsterdam man who fought heroically in World War II.

Ellers, a 1945 Amsterdam High School graduate who lives in Ohio, said Bucci was a close friend of his parents.  Ellers recalled that Bucci started as a private and ended up as an officer during the war.

Bucci was the son of Charles and Mary Bucci who lived at 12 Lark Street in the East End.  Charles Bucci had served in World War I.  Joseph Bucci’s brother Anthony served in the Army Air Corps in World War II.

Joseph Bucci was a graduate of St. Mary’s Institute and the University of Notre Dame.  He was among the first local youths to enlist as a private in the Leathernecks on January 26, 1942.  He had been working as a life insurance agent for John Hancock in Amsterdam.

By October he was fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal Island in the Pacific and found himself and six others pinned down by Japanese artillery fire in the Battle of Matiniku River.  The small band had missed orders to move from their foxholes to another position.

Through one long night and the next day the seven endured a Japanese artillery barrage and attack.  The seven Marines were credited with killing 175 to 200 Japanese soldiers.  Then Bucci and his comrades came under American artillery fire in a Marine counter attack.  Ultimately the seven Marines were reunited with their unit.

That November in the struggle on Guadalcanal or another of the Solomon Islands, Bucci was wounded by three pieces of shrapnel.  He contracted malaria and was shipped to a military hospital in San Diego, California.

It was there that he learned he was to receive the Silver Star for his actions on Guadalcanal.  He was promoted to Sergeant.

Bucci was home on leave in July 1943 when the Recorder printed an account of his actions on Guadalcanal written by Marine private Eddie Lyon, who had interviewed Bucci at the San Diego hospital.  Bucci and his parents went to the Recorder offices to get their first look at the news story and to have their picture taken.

In December 1943, Bucci was still at home, assigned to the Scotia Naval Depot on Route 5, today an industrial park.  He had applied for Officer Candidate School.

That month Knights of Columbus Council 209 in Amsterdam honored Bucci at a dinner at the then Amsterdam Hotel on East Main Street and presented him with a special ring.  Bucci was honored or spoke at numerous gatherings while home on leave.

“When I was in the South Pacific, I dreamed of getting home,” Bucci told the Knights of Columbus, according to a newspaper account.  “Just at the present I wish I were down there again.”

He also said, “It is my fond wish and hope that this international mess will soon be over and that all of us can come back to the good old American way of life.  However, I expect to be shoving off again soon and in whatever part of the world I am I will have this ring with me, a reminder of your thoughtfulness and I will be thoughtful for you.”

Bucci went to Officer Candidates School and became a second lieutenant in October 1944.  It’s not known what further service he saw in World War II.  A 1951 clipping states that Bucci was promoted to captain in the Marine Corps Reserve by President Truman.  Bucci was studying at Albany Law School at the time.

Ellers said the last he knew Bucci had moved to California in the 1960s. 

Tomorrow, Friday, January 7, 2022

This is not a page error code, this is the episode number

Episode 404

Evacuation Day was November 25, 1783, the day the British left New York City finally ending the American Revolution.  Attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years.

January 6, 1880 – Tom Mix, cowboy and actor, if you like bad/good six shooter movies from the 30's 

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder-Albany Congressman corresponded with town of Florida soldier

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, January 6, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Thursday, January 6, 2022

Daily Gazette

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s first State of the State Address was as far-reaching and ambitious as those offered by…

Canajoharie passes updated animal law; owner of emotional support pig may be affected
The Village of Canajoharie officially passed an updated law spelling out which types of animals are illegal in the village….

https://dailygazette.com/

High schools: Pair of girls’ basketball games postponed

A pair of Foothills Council girls’ basketball games scheduled for Thursday night — Amsterdam at...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Gloversville Zoning Board of Appeals hires consulting firm for Eden solar farm case

by Jason Subik

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...a little bit about chocolate

Wednesday, January 5, 2022- From the Archives- Episode 58, April 26, 2015 David Fiske, Ballston Spa historian, on the chocolate factory in that village and the latest on Solomon Northrup, 12 years a slave.

Tomorrow morning...

Thursday, January 6, 2022- From the Archives of Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-Guadalcanal diary

By October he was fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal Island in the Pacific and found himself and six others pinned down by Japanese artillery fire in the Battle of Matiniku River. 

New York City History Corespondent Jim Kaplan talks with Bob Cudmore on the latest edition of The Historians

Friday, January 7, 2022

Episode 404

Evacuation Day was November 25, 1783, the day the British left New York City finally ending the American Revolution.  Attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Daily Gazette

Tonko looks back on Jan. 6 insurrection
It’s been a year since hundreds of insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the…

https://dailygazette.com/

Chamber of Commerce celebration rescheduled after boiler fails

GLOVERSVILLE — The Fulton Montgomery Regional Chamber of Commerce has postponed its annual...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

High schools: Kowalski leads Fonda-Fultonville past Fort Plain

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Later this mounth Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League has stories from a new booklet on Amsterdam’s arts, focusing on visual artists, actors, singers and more with ties to Amsterdam, New York. Tuesday Historians Podcast "8 Minutes"

Market Street as seen north from Main Street around the dawn of the 20th century

Print Archive Today, Tuesday, January 4, 2022

         The1939 fire at the Sanford Stud Farm             

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

A tragic event in Amsterdam’s history was the January 9, 1939 fire that killed 25 thoroughbred horses and did $200,000 damage at the Sanford Stud Farm outside the city limits on Route 30.  A police dog also died in the blaze.

Carpet mill executive Stephen Sanford started the farm, at first called Hurricana, in the 1870s.  His doctor advised Sanford that a farm might ease his stomach ulcer if it took him away from the stress at his mills.  Sanford’s horses raced at Saratoga. Sanford’s sons—John and William—encouraged their father in this enterprise because of their own interest in fast horses, especially jumpers. William died in 1896. 

In 1901, Stephen Sanford built his own stable on Nelson Avenue in Saratoga. He had as many as 35 horses at a time. 

From 1903 through 1907, the Sanfords invited the people of Amsterdam to the Matinee Races at Hurricana on the Sunday closest to Fourth of July.

New York State outlawed betting in 1907 and racing stopped at Saratoga. Temporarily, the Sanfords sold most of their horses, according to Alex Robb in his book, “The Sanfords of Amsterdam.”

Stephen Sanford was blind the last five years of his life. He died on February 13, 1913 at age 86. Six months later, racing resumed at Saratoga along with the first running of the Sanford Memorial.

After 1913, John Sanford headed both the family carpet mills and horse farm.  The farm produced many famous thoroughbreds, including 1916 Kentucky Derby winner George Smith and the winner of the 1923 English Grand National polo championship.  

John Sanford died eight months after the 1939 horse barn fire.  John’s son, Stephen "Laddie" Sanford, a famous horseman, and two of John’s daughters took over the farm.  Bigelow-Sanford Carpet left Amsterdam in 1955.  The farm was put up for sale in 1976, the year before Laddie Sanford died.

A group called the Friends of the Sanford Stud Farm has been working to restore what remains of the farm buildings. 

In 2003, retired Sanford jockey Louis F. Hildebrandt of Perth wrote a book about his horse riding exploits called “Rider’s Up.”  His son Sam Hildebrandt, the founder of the Friends organization, is out with a new book on the history of the horse farm, originally called Hurricana because of the strong winds that blow through its location on top of a hill.  The new book is called “Hurricana: Thoroughbred Dynasty, Amsterdam Landmark.”  It contains 193 photos from 32 different sources.

Sam Hildebrandt said one story about the disastrous 1939 fire is that it was started on purpose by a disgruntled worker, angered at the hazing that new farmhands were subjected to by old-timers.

However, research done by another volunteer with the Friends indicates the exercise boy involved appears to have started the fire accidentally, although the youth was punished for violating terms of a parole he was serving while working at the farm.

Patrick Boles of the town of Amsterdam said newspaper accounts indicate exercise boy William H. Dougrey, 15, from Glens Falls started the fire by disposing of his lighted cigarette inside the barn.  Even if Dougrey had no intention of starting the blaze, Boles said that smoking was prohibited inside the Sanford barns because of the fear of fire.  No charges were filed in connection with the fire itself.

The youth had been sent to work at the Sanford farm after getting into some unspecified trouble in Glens Falls.  After the fire, Sanford head trainer Hollie Hughes saw to it that the youth was sent back to Glens Falls court.  There Dougrey was found guilty of violating parole and sent to a state penal reformatory.

...get to it tomorrow, Wednesday, January 5, 2022- From the Archives- Episode 58, April 26, 2015 David Fiske, Ballston Spa historian, on the chocolate factory in that village and the latest on Solomon Northrup, 12 years a slave.

Thursday, January 6, 2022- From the Archives of Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-Guadalcanal diary

Bucci was the son of Charles and Mary Bucci who lived at 12 Lark Street in the East End.  Charles Bucci had served in World War I. 

Friday, January 7, 2022-Episode 404-Evacuation Day was November 25, 1783, the day the British left New York City finally ending the American Revolution.  Attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Mohawk Valley News, Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Daily Gazette

Capital Region schools get tens of thousands of COVID test kits
Millions of COVID test kits have been distributed to New York school districts and millions more are on their way…

Troopers: Johnstown man struck two state police cars in RV chase; Multi-county incident ends in Duanesburg
JOHNSTOWN – A Johnstown man led police on a multi-part, multi-county chase in an RV that ended in Duanesburg 

https://dailygazette.com/

Barkley goes fully remote, second GASD school to close this week due to staffing shortages

AMSTERDAM — William H. Barkley Elementary School will shift to fully remote learning through the...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

VanValkenburgh appointed deputy supervisor in town of Johnstown

by Jason Subik

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...a Thank You and then the British Navy sailed into town

Hidden History cover picture-Movie:Life Begins for Andy Hardy, released August 15, 1941

IMDB review https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033832/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3

There's some bite in this eleventh installment of the Hardy series. Unfortunately, there's also a forced retreat from any kind of controversial follow-through. In the end, the tried and true verities of small town America are once again affirmed, but then that is exactly what audiences expected from this pre-war version of Ozzie and Harriet.

Monday, January 3, 2022- Today’s Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on top history columns of 2021. Monday story "7 Minutes"

The Historians with Bob Cudmore and the Stories about people you know

Tuesday, January 4, 2022- From the Archives of Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-The fire at the Sanford Stud Farm

A tragic event in Amsterdam’s history was the January 9, 1939 fire that killed 25 thoroughbred horses and did $200,000 damage

Wednesday, January 5, 2022- From the Archives- Episode 58, April 26, 2015 David Fiske, Ballston Spa historian, on the chocolate factory in that village and the latest on Solomon Northrup, 12 years a slave.

Thursday, January 6, 2022- From the Archives of Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-Guadalcanal diary

Frequent contributor Richard Ellers has memories of Joseph A. Bucci, an Amsterdam man who fought heroically in World War II.

Friday, January 7, 2022-Episode 404-Evacuation Day was November 25, 1783, the day the British left New York City finally ending the American Revolution.  Attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years.

Soccer, ice cream and men’s clothing among 2021’s topics

By Bob Cudmore

   Soccer players from the British navy competed in a 1941 exhibition game against the Bigelow-Sanford United’s, a soccer club sponsored by the Amsterdam carpet manufacturer.

   The Recorder reported, “With pipers piping and a total of three bands contributing to a musical background, the Bigelow-Sanford team squeezed out a 3-2 victory over picked players from the Royal British Navy Saturday night at Mohawk Mills Park in the greatest soccer show of all time in Amsterdam.”

   Ed McKnight scored twice for the locals and Howie Dynes scored once.  It was the first local soccer game under the lights.  Rain made the field slippery.

  Great Britain was at war with Germany when the benefit was played to raise funds for British relief. 

   The Bigelow-Sanford soccer team formed in 1893.  Gavin “Guy” Murdoch, who fought in World War I with the Canadian army, was anonymous editor of United’s PX, a monthly newsletter published during World War II

   Guy Murdoch was a quality supervisor at Mohawk Carpet.  His grandson Gavin Murdoch, retired Amsterdam high school principal, provided information for this story.

   Tollner’s ice cream occupied a white building on Route 5 in Fort Johnson near the railroad tracks, west of the main gate of St. Mary’s Cemetery.

   Willis Tollner, Sr., started the popular shop with his father, Fred Tollner, in 1935. 

   Willis Tollner, Sr., died in 1955 at 47.   Also that year Willis’s father Fred and his wife moved to Yonkers, New York, where one of their daughters lived. 

   Willis Senior’s sons Willis Junior (Bill) and Ron operated the ice cream shop in its later years according to Fort Johnson native Shirley Kosinski. 

   Bill Tollner, married Fran, who had worked as a carhop.  They relocated to western New York and have four children.  Ron Tollner died young, leaving his wife Peggy Van Patten Tollner and one son.

   Tollner’s closed and the building was torn down along with many other structures when Route 5 in Fort Johnson and Tribes Hill was rebuilt in the 1960s as a four lane highway.

   Paul Guttenberg, who headed Mortan’s men’s store in Amsterdam until it closed in 1990, passed away in August 2021.  Paul was born in New York City in 1927, the son of H. Morton and Pearl Rauch Guttenberg. 

   Mortan’s was named after Paul's father, who moved his clothing store from Schenectady to Amsterdam in 1933.  Despite launching in the Depression, Mortan’s prospered at several East Main Street locations.  Mortan’s last store was in the downtown mall.

   In his memoir “Too Long Ago” about growing up in Amsterdam, historian David Pietrusza wrote, “Imagine Paul Newman operating a clothing store in Amsterdam, and, you have an approximation of Paul Guttenberg, whose skill in making a sale was prodigious.”  

   Guttenberg was a U.S. Marine veteran and graduate of Union College.  After Mortan’s closed he pursued other interests including skiing and flying airplanes.

   The Guttenbergs made their home in Broadalbin.  In 2007 Paul and his wife Susanne, a health administrator, assumed ownership of Montgomery Meadows, a 120-bed nursing home on Amsterdam’s South Side.  The facility was renamed River Ridge Living Center. 

   Eleanore Cramer Breier, widow of late Amsterdam mayor and industrialist Marcus Breier, died last May in Miami, Florida at 101.  A graduate of Ithaca College, Eleanore was a physical education teacher at the former Theodore Roosevelt Junior High in Amsterdam.

   Veteran radio broadcaster and Mohawk Valley Daily Gazette reporter Sam Zurlo, 90, died October 25 at his Tribes Hill home.  In July a column had chronicled Zurlo’s early working years when he was in the U.S. Army, a disc jockey and newsman at Armed Forces Radio Service in Frankfurt, Germany.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, January 3, 2022

Much colder weather is expected today with a partly to
mostly cloudy sky. After a mostly clear and cold night tonight, dry
weather will continue on Tuesday with temperatures moderating closer
to normal. Temperatures will return above normal for Wednesday with
a few passing showers, but will return back close to normal for
Thursday. Some snow is possible for Friday.

Coming soon on Historians Podcast-January 14, 2022-Episode 405-Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam  League has stories from the booklet on Amsterdam’s arts

Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Monday, January 3, 2022

Daily Gazette

COVID continues to surge as schools prepare to reopen
CAPITAL REGION — The number of reported coronavirus cases continued to climb across the state this past weekend, with Albany…

https://dailygazette.com/

Rebranding of dairy princess to ambassador program to nix sash and crown for a nametag

CAPITAL REGION — Young farmers have long served as the face of the local dairy industry, often...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Johnstown’s water plant operator will stay on the job

by Andrew Waite

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...first, Bob is on the virtual road this month "Sunday chatter 38 Minutes"

Sunday, January 2, 2022-From the Archives- March 8, 2019-Episode 256-Robin Oliveira discusses her book “Winter Sisters,” set in Albany, N.Y., in 1879.  Oliveira grew up in the Albany area and is also author of a novel about a Civil War physician, “My Name is Mary Sutter.”  Sutter is a major character in “Winter Sisters.”

Soccer, ice cream and men’s clothing among 2021’s topics

By Bob Cudmore

Tomorrow, Monday, January 3, 2022- Today’s Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on top history columns of 2021. Long and short of it Monday Story "6 Minutes"

   Soccer players from the British navy competed in a 1941 exhibition game against the Bigelow-Sanford United’s, a soccer club sponsored by the Amsterdam carpet manufacturer.

   The Recorder reported, “With pipers piping and a total of three bands contributing to a musical background, the Bigelow-Sanford team squeezed out a 3-2 victory over picked players from the Royal British Navy Saturday night at Mohawk Mills Park in the greatest soccer show of all time in Amsterdam.”

   Ed McKnight scored twice for the locals and Howie Dynes scored once.  It was the first local soccer game under the lights.  Rain made the field slippery.

  Great Britain was at war with Germany when the benefit was played to raise funds for British relief. 

   The Bigelow-Sanford soccer team formed in 1893.  Gavin “Guy” Murdoch, who fought in World War I with the Canadian army, was anonymous editor of United’s PX, a monthly newsletter published during World War II

   Guy Murdoch was a quality supervisor at Mohawk Carpet.  His grandson Gavin Murdoch, retired Amsterdam high school principal, provided information for this story.

   Tollner’s ice cream occupied a white building on Route 5 in Fort Johnson near the railroad tracks, west of the main gate of St. Mary’s Cemetery.

   Willis Tollner, Sr., started the popular shop with his father, Fred Tollner, in 1935. 

   Willis Tollner, Sr., died in 1955 at 47.   Also that year Willis’s father Fred and his wife moved to Yonkers, New York, where one of their daughters lived. 

   Willis Senior’s sons Willis Junior (Bill) and Ron operated the ice cream shop in its later years according to Fort Johnson native Shirley Kosinski. 

   Bill Tollner, married Fran, who had worked as a carhop.  They relocated to western New York and have four children.  Ron Tollner died young, leaving his wife Peggy Van Patten Tollner and one son.

   Tollner’s closed and the building was torn down along with many other structures when Route 5 in Fort Johnson and Tribes Hill was rebuilt in the 1960s as a four lane highway.

   Paul Guttenberg, who headed Mortan’s men’s store in Amsterdam until it closed in 1990, passed away in August 2021.  Paul was born in New York City in 1927, the son of H. Morton and Pearl Rauch Guttenberg. 

   Mortan’s was named after Paul's father, who moved his clothing store from Schenectady to Amsterdam in 1933.  Despite launching in the Depression, Mortan’s prospered at several East Main Street locations.  Mortan’s last store was in the downtown mall.

   In his memoir “Too Long Ago” about growing up in Amsterdam, historian David Pietrusza wrote, “Imagine Paul Newman operating a clothing store in Amsterdam, and, you have an approximation of Paul Guttenberg, whose skill in making a sale was prodigious.”  

   Guttenberg was a U.S. Marine veteran and graduate of Union College.  After Mortan’s closed he pursued other interests including skiing and flying airplanes.

   The Guttenbergs made their home in Broadalbin.  In 2007 Paul and his wife Susanne, a health administrator, assumed ownership of Montgomery Meadows, a 120-bed nursing home on Amsterdam’s South Side.  The facility was renamed River Ridge Living Center. 

   Eleanore Cramer Breier, widow of late Amsterdam mayor and industrialist Marcus Breier, died last May in Miami, Florida at 101.  A graduate of Ithaca College, Eleanore was a physical education teacher at the former Theodore Roosevelt Junior High in Amsterdam.

   Veteran radio broadcaster and Mohawk Valley Daily Gazette reporter Sam Zurlo, 90, died October 25 at his Tribes Hill home.  In July a column had chronicled Zurlo’s early working years when he was in the U.S. Army, a disc jockey and newsman at Armed Forces Radio Service in Frankfurt, Germany.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Sunday, January 2, 2022

Rain, snow, freezing rain, and sleet likely before 11am, then rain and snow likely between 11am and 4pm, then a chance of snow after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 39. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Sunday, January 2, 2021

Daily Gazette

‘A dream of mine’: Couple gains speed in second season owning Royal Mountain
For Jake Tennis this is the second year of living his dream. Tennis, who is 35, has been working at…

https://dailygazette.com/

Area counties hit new highs on COVID; state doubles down on masks, tests, shots

ALBANY — While state government will kick up the current countermeasures, it currently has no...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Looking back at local sports in 2021

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...here on the first day of the new year

Saturday observation and podcast #403-Highlight Episode 5 "38 Minutes"

Thank you for exceeding our 2021 goal by donating $5,441 to keep Historians Podcast going.  Our most recent generous donation came from Paul Trembley.  The 2021 fund drive is still accepting donations at https://www.gofundme.com/historians-podcast-2021  A check made out to Bob Cudmore also may be sent to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  The 2022 Go Fund Me campaign will be announced soon.  

Historians January 2022

Jim Kaplan-Evacuation Day when British troops left New York City in 1783 (01-07)-Jerry Snyder-Amsterdam’s arts (01-14)-Bob Cudmore-horses and carpets, Laddie Sanford (01-21)-New York State Historian Devin Lander (01-28)

Soccer, ice cream and men’s clothing among 2021’s topics

By Bob Cudmore

   Soccer players from the British navy competed in a 1941 exhibition game against the Bigelow-Sanford United’s, a soccer club sponsored by the Amsterdam carpet manufacturer.

   The Recorder reported, “With pipers piping and a total of three bands contributing to a musical background, the Bigelow-Sanford team squeezed out a 3-2 victory over picked players from the Royal British Navy Saturday night at Mohawk Mills Park in the greatest soccer show of all time in Amsterdam.”

   Ed McKnight scored twice for the locals and Howie Dynes scored once.  It was the first local soccer game under the lights.  Rain made the field slippery.

  Great Britain was at war with Germany when the benefit was played to raise funds for British relief. 

   The Bigelow-Sanford soccer team formed in 1893.  Gavin “Guy” Murdoch, who fought in World War I with the Canadian army, was anonymous editor of United’s PX, a monthly newsletter published during World War II

   Guy Murdoch was a quality supervisor at Mohawk Carpet.  His grandson Gavin Murdoch, retired Amsterdam high school principal, provided information for this story.

   Tollner’s ice cream occupied a white building on Route 5 in Fort Johnson near the railroad tracks, west of the main gate of St. Mary’s Cemetery.

   Willis Tollner, Sr., started the popular shop with his father, Fred Tollner, in 1935. 

   Willis Tollner, Sr., died in 1955 at 47.   Also that year Willis’s father Fred and his wife moved to Yonkers, New York, where one of their daughters lived. 

   Willis Senior’s sons Willis Junior (Bill) and Ron operated the ice cream shop in its later years according to Fort Johnson native Shirley Kosinski. 

   Bill Tollner, married Fran, who had worked as a carhop.  They relocated to western New York and have four children.  Ron Tollner died young, leaving his wife Peggy Van Patten Tollner and one son.

Monday, January 3, 2022- Today’s Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on top history columns of 2021. Long and short of it Monday Story "6 Minutes"

   Tollner’s closed and the building was torn down along with many other structures when Route 5 in Fort Johnson and Tribes Hill was rebuilt in the 1960s as a four lane highway.

   Paul Guttenberg, who headed Mortan’s men’s store in Amsterdam until it closed in 1990, passed away in August 2021.  Paul was born in New York City in 1927, the son of H. Morton and Pearl Rauch Guttenberg. 

   Mortan’s was named after Paul's father, who moved his clothing store from Schenectady to Amsterdam in 1933.  Despite launching in the Depression, Mortan’s prospered at several East Main Street locations.  Mortan’s last store was in the downtown mall.

   In his memoir “Too Long Ago” about growing up in Amsterdam, historian David Pietrusza wrote, “Imagine Paul Newman operating a clothing store in Amsterdam, and, you have an approximation of Paul Guttenberg, whose skill in making a sale was prodigious.”  

   Guttenberg was a U.S. Marine veteran and graduate of Union College.  After Mortan’s closed he pursued other interests including skiing and flying airplanes.

   The Guttenbergs made their home in Broadalbin.  In 2007 Paul and his wife Susanne, a health administrator, assumed ownership of Montgomery Meadows, a 120-bed nursing home on Amsterdam’s South Side.  The facility was renamed River Ridge Living Center. 

   Eleanore Cramer Breier, widow of late Amsterdam mayor and industrialist Marcus Breier, died last May in Miami, Florida at 101.  A graduate of Ithaca College, Eleanore was a physical education teacher at the former Theodore Roosevelt Junior High in Amsterdam.

   Veteran radio broadcaster and Mohawk Valley Daily Gazette reporter Sam Zurlo, 90, died October 25 at his Tribes Hill home.  In July a column had chronicled Zurlo’s early working years when he was in the U.S. Army, a disc jockey and newsman at Armed Forces Radio Service in Frankfurt, Germany.

Tomorrow, Sunday, January 2, 2022-From the Archives- March 8, 2019-Episode 256-Robin Oliveira discusses her book “Winter Sisters,” set in Albany, N.Y., in 1879.  Oliveira grew up in the Albany area and is also author of a novel about a Civil War physician, “My Name is Mary Sutter.”  Sutter is a major character in “Winter Sisters.”

Amsterdam and Mohawk Valley Weather, Saturday, January 1, 2022

Mohawk Valley News Headlines for Saturday, January 1, 2022

Daily Gazette

Area counties hit new highs on COVID; state doubles down on masks, tests, shots
ALBANY — While state government will kick up the current countermeasures, it currently has no plans for a lockdown as…

EDITORIAL: Thank you, readers, for sharing Your Voice
After the tumultuous presidential election year of 2020 and the outbreak of the first worldwide pandemic in 100 years, it…

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Area counties hit new highs on COVID; state doubles down on masks, tests, shots

by John Cropley

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Officer Nelson was big, gruff, but really nice

by Bob Cudmore

Historians, Thursday, December 30, 2021 Thank You and a little Chatter "11 Minutes" with the January docket

Let us say here, the latest Bob Cudmore print story Saturday

January 1, 2022-Focus on History in the Daily Gazette- Soccer, ice cream and men’s clothing among 2021’s topics

The Recorder reported, “With pipers piping and a total of three bands contributing to a musical background, the Bigelow-Sanford team squeezed out a 3-2 victory...

Officer Nelson rode police motorcycles.  One of the cycles that Nelson used was a three wheeler, another had a sidecar.

Andrew C. Nelson

   An Amsterdam police officer is well-remembered by relatives and former Guy Park Avenue elementary school students. Andrew C. Nelson was born in Amsterdam in 1893, the son of Andrew and Minnie Coons Nelson.  He attended West Spring Street School and lived in the West End most of his life.  He served in the Navy in World War I. After the war he worked at Bigelow-Sanford carpet mill. He married Edith Townsend of Tribes Hill in 1926. 

   In 1927 Nelson became a member of the city police force. Before switching to driving a police car late in his career, Officer Nelson rode police motorcycles.  One of the cycles that Nelson used was a three wheeler, another had a sidecar.

  Nelson’s niece, Florence Orlando now of Gloversville, recalled her aunt and uncle came to visit her family in Mount Kisco, New York, with Andy in the driver’s seat of an Indian motorcycle and Edith behind him.  Orlando still has Nelson’s nightstick. Orlando recalled that people said Officer Nelson would give his own mother a traffic ticket. He once attached a ticket to a car owned by the police chief, illegally parked near the chief’s home. 

   Orlando said, “He was a big man, very gruff. You listened to him when he talked and were kind of scared of him.  But he wasn’t going to harm you.”

   Nelson protected children crossing Guy Park Avenue to get to the elementary school.  One of those children was Peter Betz who now lives in Perth.  Betz, Fulton County historian, said there was the time Nelson arrested a yo-yo salesman at Guy Park Avenue School. Nelson once tamed a gray squirrel to eat from his hand for the amusement of the children.

   Guy Park alumnus Lawrence Spagnola recalled looking forward to seeing Nelson with his uniform and motorcycle at school. Spagnola lived near the Nelsons on Carmichael Street.  Spagnola said neighborhood kids played football in front of Nelson’s home but he never chased them away. 

   “I don't like admitting that from time to time we actually challenged him,” Spagnola said. “He was always understanding and just knew that it was nothing personal and he understood that we didn't mean anything against him.”

   Amsterdam native Eugene Leonard of Garden Grove, California said Nelson was a father figure who made sure he played it straight. One day Leonard questioned the accuracy of the speedometer on his car.  Officer Nelson proposed a test.  Leonard set off down Guy Park Avenue with his window open and Officer Nelson followed on his motorcycle yelling out instructions, such as “Bring it up to 30 miles per hour.” Leonard was sure people thought he was a miscreant being pursued by the diligent Officer Nelson. 

   Nelson’s brother-in-law, Louis Townsend of Fort Johnson, said Nelson was very strict on the police force but in reality was a gentle man who loved children.  Nelson and his wife had no children of their own.  He enjoyed holidays and sometimes played Santa Claus.

   Nelson retired in 1958 and enjoyed hunting and especially fishing in his retirement, often accompanied on trips north by his wife.  He died in 1965 while on a fishing trip at Lake Pleasant.  Nelson belonged to city and county police organizations, the Masons, American Legion, plus fish and game clubs.  He and his wife were Methodists who worshipped at churches in Tribes Hill and Division Street in Amsterdam.

   His obituary had the following quote, “Assigned to enforce the Motor Vehicle Law in the days prior to tire-screeching, mufflerless and public thoroughfare drag racing, Nelson was considered a tough cop who knew the law and enforced it without regard to his personal welfare.”

   Veteran Recorder police reporter Wallace McBride Kimball once said if the city had four officers like Andy Nelson and Stanley Bush, another highly regarded Amsterdam cop, the rest of the police force could be dismissed.

The just completed

Tomorrow, Friday, December 31, 2021  

Episode 403-2021 Highlights Episode #5-The Lincoln assassination; reviving New York City’s Broadway theaters; an Adirondack lumber baron; a woman bandit from the Wild West; whatever happened to Judge Crater and Trancendentalism in Concord Massachusetts in the 1800s.

Amsterdam and Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, December 30, 2021

Mohawk Valley News, Thursday, December 30, 2021

Daily Gazette

Huge one-day COVID jump possibly inflated by holiday delays
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Leader Herald

Town of Johnstown deputy supervisor job still undecided

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...from time to time on The Historians

Historians Podcast Episode 238- Sue Ingalls Finan discusses her historical novel “The Cards Don’t Lie.”  The book is based on real-life accounts of women during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.  The victory of General Andrew Jackson’s American forces over the British at New Orleans effectively ended the War of 1812. Wednesday exchange and Podcast "35 Minutes"

1814: It’s the third year of the United States second War of Independence. The British are on the verge of capturing the strategically important port of New Orleans. In the midst of the Americans’ chaotic preparations for battle, three women play key roles in the defense of the city.

Mohawk Valley "More Down the Page" and the links to get there

Amsterdam girls’ basketball pulls away to finish off 63-45 win over Johnstown

Montgomery County finally writes off $428K in property taxes Amsterdam supposedly owed

Rain New Year's Day

The last Historians Episode for 2021

Focus on History in the Daily Gazette, Saturday, January 1, 2022- Soccer, ice cream and men’s clothing among 2021’s topics

...by and by tomorrow

Andy Nelson 

Thursday, December 30, 2021- From the Archives of Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam police officer

  Nelson’s niece, Florence Orlando now of Gloversville, recalled her aunt and uncle came to visit her family in Mount Kisco, New York, with Andy in the driver’s seat of an Indian motorcycle

...ain't over till, but, it is this Friday

December 31, 2021

Hot off the Press

Episode 403-2021 Highlights Episode #5-The Lincoln assassination; reviving New York City’s Broadway theaters; an Adirondack lumber baron; a woman bandit from the Wild West; whatever happened to Judge Crater and Trancendentalism in Concord Massachusetts in the 1800s.

This is where 2022 comes in...

Saturday, January 1, 2022-Focus on History in the Daily Gazette- Soccer, ice cream and men’s clothing among 2021’s topics

Rain on New Years Day High 47

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, December 29. 2021 

Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Daily Gazette 

Amsterdam girls’ basketball pulls away to finish off 63-45 win over Johnstown
AMSTERDAM — Comfortably ahead since early in the second quarter, the Amsterdam girls’ basketball team finally started to feel a…

EDITORIAL: Let public speak at local government meetings
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Montgomery County finally writes off $428K in property taxes Amsterdam supposedly owed

AMSTERDAM — After years of negotiations between the city and Montgomery County, the Legislature...

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Gloversville will have two DPW directors on temporary basis

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