A Visit to the Norman's Kill

Just who is Norman and who did he kill?

I paddled the Normanskill on Labor Day - hence these thoughts.

No one as it turns out.  Living in the Hudson River Valley one must have a smattering of Dutch.  Norman, or Noorman, is Dutch for Northman, Norseman, or Norwegian.  Kill, or kil, is creek.  Therefore we have Norwegian's Creek.

So, who is this Norwegian and why did the creek get named after him?

The Norman in question is Albert Andriessen Bradt often known simply as the Noorman.  Albert was born about 1607 in Fredrikstad, Norway.  At some point, his family moved to Amsterdam, where there was a sizable Norwegian community.

On August 26, 1636 Albert and two others signed a contract with the patroon Killaen van Rensselaer to establish a new sawmill venture in van Rensselaer's colony Rensselaerswyck.  In October, Albert, his wife Annatie Barents, their two young daughters and about 35 other passengers set sail.  "Most of the men were farmers or farm laborers, but there were also smiths, shoemakers, carpenters, a millwright and a mason, all trades of necessity to the frontier community."  After an eventful crossing, the ship finally arrived at Fort Orange on April 7, 1637.  (Albert & Annatie would eventually have 8 children in total - one of whom, named Storm, was born during this crossing.)

Albert set about creating a life for himself and his family in the frontier community that would later become Albany and Bethlehem. He was a woodcutter, sawmiller, tobacco planter, orchardman, and trader.   He accumulated wealth and acreage (including some in New Amsterdam - today's Manhattan).  While a respected businessman and an elder in the Lutheran church (a somewhat dangerous prospect given the dominance of the Reformed Church at that time) he was also known to be "irascible", a difficult neighbor and a thorn in the side of the patroon.

Albert, who died on June 7, 1686, was "a man of vision in a new world, a settler in a strange land, one of the founders of a colony.  He... reached a position of respect, then watched his sons surpass him....in his later years he was separated from his wife [wife #3, not Annatie], alone and bitter, watching his children pursue a strange religion. "

All of the above quotes are from Peter R. Christoph's publication "A Norwegian Pioneer in a Dutch Colony: The Life and Times of Albert Andriessen Bradt: Miller, Merchant, and a Founder of the Lutheran Church in America."  I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of this book.  Christoph does a marvelous job of presenting the complicated man that is Albert Bradt in the context of his times using primary sources.  You can find it at the Bethlehem Public Library under the title "A Norwegian Family in Colonial America."  Or if you ask nice, you could read my copy.

I'll close with a quote of a quote from Christoph in describing Albert:

His complexity draws to mind an oft-quoted paradox from Martin Luther, simul iustus et preccator - "righteous and sinful at the same time."

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On a further note, we'll save for another day the discussion on whether the river's name is Normanskill, Norman's Kill, or, as the sign on 9W says, Normans Kill.

A Visit to the Mabee Farm

So, this weekend I had a nice visit out to the Mabee Farm in Rotterdam Junction.

It is another one of those old Dutch homesteads, this time in Schenectady County along the Mohawk River.  While it was fun to contrast the jambless Dutch fireplace with the more enclosed English fireplace...

and to appreciate the soaring interior of the Dutch barn...

my  Bethlehem connection came when we walked down to the dock on the Mohawk to check out their two bateaux.

I'm thinking boats like this would have been used along the Normanskill and Vlomankill and maybe the Hudson to move goods and people inland.  A bateau is a shallow-draft, flat-bottomed boat, traditionally pointed at both ends and comes in many sizes.

The sign at the Mabee Farms notes

"The bateau became the favored means of transportation on the Mohawk and its tributaries during much of the 18^th century.  This type of boat could navigate the shallow river and carry substantial amounts of goods, supplies and men.  Materials need for building these boats were readily available along the Mohawk."

P.S.

If you squint and read the complete sign below (at least it is not sideways!) you can read a claim about Henry Hudson over which there is much dispute.  Just how far up the Hudson River did he explore?

 

Virginia Remington Rich

In honor of Way Back Wednesday I thought I would share these local history sketches that recently came my way.  All are by Slingerlands artist Virginia Remington Rich.  I have not been able to find out much about her except that she was active in art circles in town in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.  And that she is a descendant of the slightly more famous artist Frederick Remington.

Enjoy!

And now for head tilting time... I thought I had this issue solved, sigh.

Baseball and Adam Mattice,

I hope you have seen the August issue of Our Towne Bethlehem.  My latest article is about Bethlehem and Baseball.  Here's a link which hopefully has been updated (it still showed July when I last checked.)

http://www.ourtownebethlehem.com/

Local author Michael Hallisey also has a great article about Bethlehem baseball with a lot more info than I could provide in Our Towne.

http://michaelhallisey.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/we-played-the-best-and-never-lost-a-series/

Hallisey mentions Adam Mattice, who was known for his curve ball pitching.   Adam's son John played catcher for the Slingerland Village Wonders in 1918-20.  It just so happens that Adam Mattice's great grand son contacted me last week to ask if I was interested in looking at some old Mattice family documents.  "Of course!" I said.

Judging by the mustache, the player standing on the far left MIGHT be Adam Mattice.

Adam Mattice (1863-1917) played ball for several teams in Albany and Schoharie counties in the 1880s and 90s including the team Central Bridge and the Slingerland Echos.  He might even have played for the Altamont Stars.  Mattice was known for his curve ball.  An undated newspaper article notes "Although there were pitchers in Albany familiar with the use of the curved ball, Mattice was the first to introduce it in this vicinity, and by its use became practically invincible when opposing the old school of sluggers accustomed only to the swift straight kind."

The Albany Evening Journal of March 23, 1903 recalls an unusual game from 1882 which featured Mattice's pitching for Central Bridge.  It goes on to note that "He is now living in Slingerlands and is a train dispatcher for the Delaware & Hudson railroad, being as expert with the telegraph key as he was years ago with the baseball."  (The unusual part of the game involved a betting scheme gone awry.)

And indeed, the 1900 census offers a glimpse of the Mattice household.  Their home in Slingerlands was dwelling number 69 in the enumeration.  Adam was born in February 1863 and is 37 years old.  He works as a railroad train dispatcher.  His wife Mary was born in October 1865 and is 34.  They have been married for 15 years.  Their children are Blanche (age 14), Dudley (age 11) and John (age 2). All were born in New York State and their parents were born in New York State. All, except John, can read, write and speak in English.  They are home owners with a mortgage.

Husband and wife Adam Mattice and Mary Hagadorn Mattice

The Mattice home still stands on New Scotland Road in Slinglerlands.
It was built about 1898 when Adam and Mary moved to the hamlet. 

Many thanks to John Morrill for sharing his family's photos and papers!


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Today is December 8, 2015 and I wanted to add a postscript about Adam Mattice.  I recently found his obituary from the Altamont Enterprise.   It intrigues me that baseball is not mentioned at all.  His career with the Delaware and Hudson spanned 30 years starting as a train dispatcher, clerk in the auditing department and as an assistant in the legal department. He studied law with his father and was admitted to the bar in 1897. He died in 1917 at age 54.

A Visit to the New Scotland Historical Association Museum

In my quest to visit little museums this summer, the Husband and I trekked out to New Scotland on Sunday and visited a local history gem - the New Scotland Historical Association's museum.  I knew there would be Bethlehem connections because the Town of New Scotland was created from the Town of Bethlehem in 1832.

I enjoyed this auction poster - it really speaks to the agricultural roots of Bethlehem and New Scotland.

In the fine print you might notice (I know, if only it were vertical instead of horizontal) that the sale was put on by the Albany County Breeding Association and scheduled for September 12th, 1860.  The location was "at Log Tavern Farms, on the New Scotland Plank Road, two miles from Albany, N.Y."  I have mentioned the Log Tavern and the trotting course - or race track - in a previous post.  In 1860, the Log Tavern Farm was firmly in the town of Bethlehem.

Further down are descriptions of specific stock offered for sale.  A large herd of short horn cattle includes "Finella, bred by S.E. Bolden, Esq... and her calves."   Black Hawk and Messenger breed horses include "the celebrated Black Hawk Maid by the original Vermont Black Hawk"  It is noted that "The proprietors have been many years engaged in breeding FAST TROTTING HORSES"

The names of the proprietors or "breeders and managers" listed might have a familiar ring:

William M Bullock, Bethlehem near Albany
Joseph Hilton, New-Scotland
William H. Slingerland, Norman's Kill
William Hurst, Albany, N.Y.
Geo. W. Adams, Whitehall, N.Y.

I am going to speculate here that William Bullock is almost certainly related to Matthew Bullock whose Bullock Road historic marker says he "Introduced English Short Horn Cattle into Albany County about 1815 and won premiums at fairs" .  Joseph Hilton is probably related to the Hilton family of Hilton Road in New Scotland, William H. Slingerland was well known in the hamlet of Slingerlands.  In 1860 it was still known as Normanskill.  William Hurst - that would be Hurstville.  And George W. Adams - while listed as being from Whitehall - is he perhaps related to the family from Adamsville - today's Delmar?

Here's one other picture of an area in museum that caught my eye - one day I'll write a whole other blog post about the Anti-Rent War and Calico Indians.

So go for a ride out New Scotland way on Route 85 and visit this small museum.  They are open Sunday afternoons.  Here's a link to the website  http://www.newscotlandhistoricalassociation.org/info.html

It is worth the trip.  Oh - and if you like Thacher Park - the museum has a wonderful exhibit on the history of the park and a some hands on fossils.

Historical Gifts

I thought of calling this post "The Stuff People Give Me" but that seems a little too flip, even for me!

I am deeply grateful for those thoughtful folks who seek to preserve their piece of Bethlehem history either with the Town Historian's office or the Bethlehem Historical Association.  Just in the past couple of weeks I have received these items.

Plus this large one.

 So, what is all that stuff?

The title of the book on the upper left is, and I quote:

Gazetteer of the State of New York Embracing a Comprehensive Account of the History and Statistics of the State. With Geological and Topographical Descriptions, and Recent Statistical Tables Representing the Present Condition of Each County, City, Town and Village in the State.

It is by Franklin B. Hough, A.M., M.D., published in 1872 in Albany by Andrew Boyd.  I am looking forward to reading about the state of the state from 142 years ago. Here's the bits about Bethlehem.

The scrapbook concerns the Rotary Club of Delmar and includes their application for charter membership to Rotary International.  The snapshot below is of their 1st anniversary dinner held January 6, 1959 at the Center Inn in Glenmont.

The newspaper is the August 6, 1950 edition  of the Albany Times Union.  While I often read newspaper clippings from scrapbooks or online, it is a whole different experience to page through a complete, original newspaper.  Physically, it seems huge (opened up flat, it is about 30" wide and 22" high not including the binding boards) and the paper feels weighty.  The comic section is several pages long, and again huge by comparison to the modern paper, and even compared to the  newspaper I remember reading as a young adult 30 years ago.

(My apologies for the sideways pictures - I still haven't figured out why Blogger does this. I swear they are horizontal on my computer!)

So, thank you Dan, Robert, Virginia and Dwight. Your gifts are much appreciated.

Post Script: Did you notice I left off the postcards?  They are of Clarksville in the early 20th century.  Soon I plan to head out that way and see if I can line up the "now" photos for these "then" postcards.  And lunch at Jake Moon's, and maybe a peep into the Clarksville cave while I'm there.

Bill Howard's Civil War article

Did you see Bill Howard's article The Cruel Year of War in the Sunday June 29, 2014 issue of the Times Union?

Here's a link to the online version. http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Commentary-The-cruel-year-of-war-5587046.php#page-1 

Sadly, the online version does not have the photos, so here's a snapshot.

The two on the bottom are of particular interest because of their Bethlehem connection.

On the bottom left is Pvt. William Frazier of Slingerlands.  Frazier was born October 19, 1844 and enlisted with the 91st New York Infantry in March of 1864.  He survived the war and lived on Maple Avenue until his death in 1926 at the age of 82.

On the bottom right is Capt. David Burhans of Bethlehem.  Burhans was born on June 24, 1840.  He served in Company H of the 43rd New York Infantry and died while carrying the regimental flag at Po River, Virginia on May 10, 1864. He was just 23 years old.  Here's how he was described in Heros of Albany County.

And in case you are curious, the top picture is of Cpl. William H. Fisher who served in the 97th New York Infantry and died on May 15, 1864 from wounds he received at Gettysberg and The Wilderness.  I don't know of a Bethlehem connection for him.