Local History connections in Syracuse

 

I had a nice local history moment during a recent visit to the Great Law of Peace Center in Syracuse.  What is this place you ask?  Let me just quote from their website https://www.skanonhcenter.org/:

The Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center is a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Heritage Center focused on telling the story of the native peoples of central New York. The history is told through the lens of the Onondaga Nation and covers topics such as Creation, European Contact, The Great Law of Peace, and more. The Onondagas, or People of the Hills, are the keepers of the Central Fire and are the spiritual and political center of the Haudenosaunee.

Skä•noñh, is an Onondaga welcoming greeting meaning “Peace and Wellness.”

While the Husband and I enjoyed all of the exhibits, the item that caught my eye was in the European Contact section.  The Two Rows Wampum.  Let me just put in a picture of the text instead of trying to paraphrase - hope you can read it,

Did you catch where the agreement between the Mohawk and the Dutch traders was signed? South of present day Albany.  You know where that is?  Bethlehem.  Specifically, this meeting is said to have happened on the banks of the river we know as the Normans Kill.  Other names for the creek are Petanock,  Secktanock and Tawasentha. 

So, while learning history from a distinctly Native perspective, I had a little Bethlehem history moment. Nice.

Also at the Center is the impactful, and perhaps not so nice, exhibit "Tonto Revisited: Native American Stereotypes."  It is a room packed full of "Indian Kitch" and wow is it something. Appalling is the word that comes to mind.   As the description on the website says, "On their own, these items can seem harmless, however, when put together, the destructive nature of the imagery is apparent." And I would add the word powerful.  I'll never again look at this bag of corn meal the same. 

On a lighter note, of course our visit to Syracuse  included a stop at the Erie Canal museum, which was pretty cool. Literally, it was freezing outside that day. I think I got excited because the car thermometer indicated it got to 5 degrees! Anyway, inside the museum,  I enjoyed learning more about the Erie Canal, especially going through an actual canal boat and reading about passenger experiences in their actual journals.  Upstairs were some fun installations that recreated historic Syracuse places including a general store, limestone quarry and, the Husband's favorite, a local bar.  

If you travel to Syracuse, we had a lovely brunch/lunch at Oh My Darling, and a fun time that evening with family at Coleman's Irish Pub.

Donkey Basketball

Who would have thought I would be having deep thoughts about Donkey Basketball on this winter afternoon?

It all started when Tom McHugh, a professional photographer whose images were published in the Spotlight and Times Union in the 1970s, sent me a batch of photos he had created. Included were a group from a donkey basketball game at Bethlehem High School.   

At first I smiled, remembering such games from back when I was in high school in the late 1970s in Rhode Island.  They were fun, we laughed at the players and the absurdity  of stubborn donkeys  playing basketball. Then, my modern, 21st century sensibilities started up and all I could think was "Oh, those poor donkeys! What were we thinking?"

This is a tough one folks.  Google around and you will see animal cruelty activists having their say as well as modern donkey basketball operations assuring that their highly trained donkeys are fed and watered properly, indeed, even pampered.  And that the donkeys truly enjoy their job of entertaining people.  

I was struck by some basic donkey facts like a well cared for one can carry up to 50% of their body weight (an average, healthy donkey is about 365 pounds, so half that is about 182). And one site noted that donkeys are much stronger than humans.  You can't drag them anywhere they don't want to go, despite what looks like a lot of pulling in these pictures.

My take?  I enjoyed the nostalgia of these photos and wondered about the crazy things we used to do. But you know, I'm glad we don't have donkey basketball games around here anymore.  

And in case you are curious, donkey basketball became a thing in the 1930s.  Below is a clip from the Ravena News Herald from December 18, 1936. The first paragraph reads:

The donkey basketball game drew a crowd of fans to the high school on Tuesday and they had a great many hearty laughs.  The  antics of some of the local business men trying to handle the donkeys and play ball too, was a laugh feast.  The score was 8 to 14 in favor of the "Never Washers," captained by Max Horelly on "Kate Smith." Albano, astride "Jean Harlow" was captain of the Dirty Faces."

Bradt-Oliver House Open House

 The developers of the The Spinney at Van Dyke have graciously agreed to host an archology open house at the Bradt-Oliver House this Friday. Stop by between 10 and 4 and chat with the archaeologists from Hartigan Archeological Associates about their data recovery project. 

I posted here about the house back in 2017 - pop over for a quick read and some great old pictures from the Leonard family. 

https://bethlehemnyhistory.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-bradt-oliver-house.html

I'll be at the open house too and will try to answer your local history questions.  I'll  have copies of the old maps that show the farm.  That would be the 1767 map where it is listed as Adrian Bratt. The 1854 indicates J. Oliver and the 1866 says P.H. Bradt.  

The three families associated with the property, Bratt (or Bradt), Oliver and Leonard, all have deep roots in Bethlehem history. 

While Ralph and Lillian Leonard moved there in the early 1920s with their two sons Irvin and Harold, it looks like they are directly connected to the Olivers through Ralph's aunt Susan who married John H. Oliver.  Who just might, might, be the John Oliver on the 1854 map, altho he would have only been 14 so a tenuous connection at best.  I haven't yet been able to determine John Oliver's parents, but I am wondering if his mother was a Bradt - more research per usual!  

Anyway, the farm remained in the Leoard family until the Spinney acquired it in the 2000s. 

Hope to see you on Friday!

 

Our Towne Bethlehem December 2021: Taking a Break

 Did you know I have been writing monthly articles for Our Towne Bethlehem since January 2013? The first one was published that February. That is nine years of monthly articles and it is time for me to take a break.

I long appreciated the monthly deadline. Sadly, I am a firm believer in procrastination. For me, a deadline, especially because other people were depending on me getting the work done, was essential to, well, getting the work done! But now, that deadline is no longer serving me or my goals.

I am carving out time for other writing ideas, mostly playing with fiction. For the local history articles I write, I strive to be accurate and do a ton of research. But in the end, I am usually still curious about the people and places I write about. There is always more to the story, but it is just impossible to find the details. So, I am going to make some up. That’s what fiction is after all.

Here’s an example, a short newspaper snippet about the doings of a couple of folks from Feura Bush:

“The marriage of Mr. Peter Hedrick and Miss Helen Slingerland has just been made public. They were married in the autumn, but marriage, like murder, will out.” (The Argus, January 28, 1887)

What? Marriage, like murder? What? Don’t you have questions? I know I do. Who is this couple? Why did they keep their marriage secret? How did they keep it secret? Feura Bush is a pretty small village after all. And what about the Slingerland connection? That’s a prominent family name. Historically accurate answers are not forthcoming, I looked. But you know, I can make up a pretty good story about Helen and Peter. Who knows if it will be any good, but I am going to give it a try.

Many thanks to my faithful readers at Our Towne. I have received so much positive encouragement over the years and I really do appreciate that. I will continue to be your Town Historian. Keep the history questions coming and be sure to check back here often. For now, this is where I’ll post the historical tidbits I’d like to share with you.

******

To illustrate this article, I chose some old pictures of Bethlehem people in front of their homes. Each one makes me curious about the story behind the picture. Read more in the captions.

The facts about this picture are simple. Members of the Wilkens family are posing in front of their summer place on Old Quarry Road about 1940. They are likely Sarah Wilkens in the background and two of her three daughters (either May, Bess or Harriet) in the foreground. In my mind, Mother, has just stepped out the door, and now, hand at her throat, is wondering what shenanigans Harry is getting up to at the mailbox. Harry, hand in pocket, is about to stuff an outrageous letter in there. And at the lower left is May, grinning up at her older sister, urging her on to mischief. See how fun this is? 

The only known facts about this image are that member of the Terrel family are posing on a porch step, perhaps the porch of their farmhouse that used to be on Route 32 just before the village of Feura Bush. But, oh the story on that little girl’s face, and her mother’s slanting side eye. Grandma and grandpa just stare at the camera, oblivious to the drama between mother and daughter.

In this photo John L. Winne stands in front of his farm house probably around 1900. This Delmar house has a Roweland Avenue address but nowadays the front façade shown here faces Louise Street. This one is a ghost story for me. Old man Winne is so wizened looking while he casually leans on the post. Surely, he has come back to haunt his old house, now that it is all turned around, the fence long gone and so many other houses have sprung up in his orchards. 

A boy poses in front of the Slingerland Sager house in 1935. The house is still standing near the roundabout in Slingerlands behind the post office. This young boy seems so proud of his jaunty, vaguely nautical hat. What imaginary sailor game is he about to run off and play on the grounds of his grandparent’s home? Perhaps he’ll end up at the old LaGrange family cemetery, not too far away back behind Shop Rite. See how this simple picture just became another ghost story?

These are members of the Welch family on the porch of their Van Wies Point home. What intrigues me are their gazes. The sun must have been very bright in their eyes, but some do look directly at the camera like patriarch Warren Welch in the center. His wife Teresa is behind him and seems to be minding her grandson who is under the watchful hand of his mother. Their son Frank Welch stands tall at the upper right corner. What is he thinking beneath his carefully upswept hair and squinting brows? And sitting on the lower right holding a book is Emma Welch. She is a daughter-in-law and her husband William is not in the picture. And what about Arabella, standing behind her brother Frank? She’s looking out disapprovingly on the whole thing. Just from their gazes, I am imagining a whole story line between these various siblings. 

Remembering Dr. Browne

 This little item was handed to me the other day.  Of course, I had to find out more about Dr. Browne.

It turns out this is actually a small envelope that probably held a couple of pills when it was handed to a patient.  And don't you love the office hours, only 2 per day.  And Sundays by appointment!

Harold Roberts Browne was born in 1897 in Cobleskill, his father Leslie was a dentist, his mother Daisy was of course "keeping house."  He attended Albany Medical College, and settled in Bethlehem as early as 1929.  By then he was married to Ruth Knappenberg. I'm not sure how they met, but in 1920 she was a school teacher in Tarrytown. She grew up in the West Sparta area of New York, daughter of John and Ida.

Dr. Browne was much appreciated.  I found several glowing articles about him plus his 1971 obituary.  He was an old-fashioned general practitioner and an early plastic surgeon.  I'll  just quote Edgar S. Van Olinda's tribute in the Times Union (January 1, 1969) who in turn was quoting an anonymous hometown patient: 

"Words cannot portray how many good things Dr. Brown has done in this community of Delmar and its environs... Many an adult has a good-looking face, fixed up by the good doctor.  He was one of the old school who would go to see a patient "in the hills and far away", any hour and weather...  he worked his way through medical school playing the horn, French and English, in orchestras in New York State resort areas... Dr. Browne, although right up-to-date with the miracle drugs of this day and age, remains a shining example of the family doctor, close to his patients when the fee charged was a dollar for an office call ..."

Another tribute mentioned the many babies he delivered, and his obituary mentioned that he remembered making house calls on snow shoes when he practiced up in Clarksville.   Charmingly, the obituary mentions "Dr. Browne's sledding hill." This was the gentle slope between his house at 421 Delaware and his office at 415.

Ruth Knappenberg Browne (1895-1965) was popular around town as well.  She was a very active member of the Delmar Progress Club and a member of the St. Stephen's Church Woman's Guild.  Her obituary noted her charity work. 

I am wondering if there are Bethlehem folks who have memories of Dr. and Mrs. Browne.  I'd love to find a picture of them.

You might recognize the pictures below (stolen from Google of course.)  415 Delaware Avenue is where the couple lived, and Dr. Brown practiced, until about 1947 or 48.  Then they acquired the lovely yellow Colonial Revival home at 421 Delaware.  A quick cut across the side yard, down the sledding hill, across Dyer Terrace, and the good doctor would be at the office.  Interestingly enough, in the Tri-Village directories, the phone number on the envelope above, 439-2323, was listed for both the residence and the office.

421 Delaware Avenue

415 Delaware Avenue

Our Towne Bethlehem November: Second Milers

 The phrase “going the second mile” is familiar to us today. It rouses the idea of going beyond the call of duty in helping someone or, perhaps in a work place situation, taking on extra work or responsibilities.  Googling the phrase turns up many Christian/spiritual/inspirational articles all tracing back to the Bible and the story of the ancient Roman road system. A Roman citizen could demand that anyone not a citizen carry their burden along the road for one mile.  In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exhorted his followers to carry the load the second mile. Merriam-Webster Dictionary sums up nicely: second mile, noun: a deed of charity or kindness beyond the demands of duty – used chiefly in the phrase go the second mile.

Another idea of the second mile is that after the first mile of one’s life, one enters the second mile, be it retirement, the golden years or even the leisure years. Now that’s a phrase we don’t hear too often – the leisure years.  These days most Seniors lead quite active and involved lives and perhaps there is not much leisure to them.

On their 25^th Anniversary, May 1989, Second Milers president H. Neil Smith and founding members Dr. Robert Thomas and Art Westfall get ready to slice the cake.

In 1964, a group of Delmar men combined both connotations when they named their club the Second Milers.  Earl S. Jones, Sr, a retired lawyer and parishioner of the First United Church of Delmar, was the instigator, proposing a club for retired men to meet up once a month for lunch and social time. At their second meeting in July 1964, the group named Howard W. Davenport their first president and chose the name Second Milers as representing that the members were on the second lap of their lives. *

In December that year, a statement about the group’s purpose was read. “The Second Milers of the Delmar Methodist church, a group of retired men, seeks to promote sociability and Christian fellowship among its members, and to render service to the church wherever possible, through their time and talent.”  The group quickly became secular and open to all men of the community.  By the following spring they had eliminated the reference to Christian fellowship and revised the second clause to “render service to the church and community when practicable.”

Over the years, service to the church and community was provided in various forms. Requests for assistance from local charitable groups were regularly read at meetings, and members volunteered as they saw fit.  Painting Red Cross hospital beds, counting donations to UNICEF, serving coffee after church services are just a few.  The list is long and varied.  

But the real focus of the group was the social interaction provided over lunch which was then followed by a program.  And indeed, by 1994, the purpose of the group had been distilled to a purpose of “fellowship to meet for luncheon and then hear a timely presentation on important affairs of the day.”

For years, the men met at the Delmar Methodist church hall. Few early menus survive but one meatless luncheon in February 1967, which happened to fall on Ash Wednesday, featured macaroni, cheese and a tuna casserole.  The cost was 75 cents per person.  For almost 20 years, from September 1971 to May 1991, meals were organized by Priscilla Stevens.  She was in charge of the church’s kitchen and made it her mission to support the men’s luncheon. Menus from her tenure were varied from Sloppy Joes to fried fish sandwiches, and included fruit cups and ice cream. Slowly the price for a meal rose to $3.00 per meal. After Priscilla’s tenure, various caterers were brought in until the group moved over to Normanside Country Club in 2004. They met there for the first time during their 35^th anniversary program on May 12, 1999.  That was the first time they met anywhere other than the church hall.  

The majority of Second Milers 56 years of meetings had a program.  Topics were very diverse reflecting members interests and community concerns. Slide shows by members of their various travels were often on the schedule, like Carlton Gordon’s slide show Three Months in Australia and New Zeeland presented December 13,1967. Health and environmental topics came up over the years like the June 14, 1967 presentation on Progress Toward Clean Air & Water or the one from November 1976 about Air Pollution and the Weather. Musical programs were often featured, especially the Friendship Singers. Bethlehem supervisors presented many a State of the Town address, and town historian’s, including yours truly, turned up on the roster as well. How about the October 8, 1969 presentation, simply titled “Prestidigitation.”?  That one sounds intriguing.

Like all community groups and clubs, the Second Milers have had their ups and downs.  They were always an informal group with no bylaws or incorporation.  Membership numbers ranged from 80 in 1965 to 230 in the 1980s.  In 2004, there was some uncertainty about the club’s continuation, but rejuvenated leadership declared the Second Milers “alive and well and pulsating with new energy.”  That energy continued for a while, but the last five years have seen a steady decline in membership, with Covid-19 giving the group its final push.  Their last official meeting, March 11, 2020, just before the pandemic enfolded us, is expected to be their last.

 *I am indebted to John Alden’s 2009 history of the group for much of the information in this article.  And also a shoutout to Bill Fuller and Bob Mulligan, Second Milers who provided a warm welcome every time I spoke to the group.

 Flashes and Dashes

The Bethlehem Historical Association presents Ron Gabriel speaking about the Second Battle of Gettysburg at their November 18 lecture. The time is 2 p.m. Location is the Delmar Reformed Church.  Masks and social distancing are required for this in person event with limited seating. Save the date for BHA’s Holiday Open House, Sunday afternoon, December 12.  The last history hike of the season is a walk at Bethlehem Cemetery, 9:30 am on November 13.  Visit BethlehemHistorical.org for more details.

Second Milers gather at their 25^th anniversary celebration. Front row (left to right): Frederick Knapp, William Reuter, John Longley, George Chesbro, Vincent Hummell, and Harold Hastings. Second Row: Donald Stevens, Howard Gmelch, Jack Pellettier, Alan Hoffman, Neil Smith, John Klim, Wayne Fry, and Carlton Gordon.

Our Towne Bethlehem October: The Streets of Glenmont

 

With all the work on the Glenmont Roundabout project, I am back to thinking about street names. What is a feura bush? Is life particularly jolly on Jolley Road, or extra brightly lit on Beacon Road? And what is a glen-mont anyway?

One spoke on the wheel of the new traffic circle is Glenmont Road. Sometimes I catch myself calling it Glenmont Hill Road. It goes east, down the proverbial hill, to River Road and to what is historically the hamlet of Glenmont. Glenmont takes its name from the old Hurlbut estate. Judge Hurlbut’s mansion was at the top of a hill (the mont or mount) with a beautiful view east towards the river valley (the glen) and, so inspired, he named the place Glenmont on the Hudson.

Another spoke of the new roundabout is Route 9W, parts of which were once known as the Stone Road. South of the roundabout, it was the South Bethlehem Plank Road, incorporated in 1851. The tollgate was about where the gas station is now. Mrs. Babcock, the first tollgate keeper, collected the toll, for example, six cents for a carriage drawn by two horses and twelve cents for a four-horse coach. Also, it was literally paved in planks of wood, a system that did not last and the surface was soon covered with other materials including crushed stone.

The last spoke is Feura Bush Road. Sometimes, you’ll see this as one word on old maps, Feurabush. Think of this as the road to the hamlet of Feura Bush, now in the town of New Scotland, but in the town of Bethlehem until 1832. Back then it was known as Jerusalem. But what is a feura bush anyway? A 1914 article on Albany County place names defines it thus:

FEURABUSH, Hamlet. Dutch: vurenbosch (pronounced vurrebosch), fir-bush, or woods …now known as Jerusalem, the name Feurabush being attached to the railroad station.

A look at Google adds the translation “pine forest” to vurenbosch. Former Bethlehem Historian Allison Bennett wrote that Feura Bush means “fire bush” which is also a possibility. Google Translate says vuur in Dutch is fire in English. But Bennet concluded with “no one seems to know exactly how the little village received this name.” Personally, I like the idea of a pine forest, but maybe the fire is the red and gold foliage of autumn?

Other local roads in Glenmont include Beacon Road. Did you know there was an actual beacon on Beacon Road? It was installed by the United States Lighthouse Service about 1929. One might think the Lighthouse Service would focus on watery aids to navigation, but in 1926 an airway division was established.

The Glenmont light beacon was installed to guide planes on the New York to Montreal airway during a time when visual navigation was used. A lighted beacon was essential for night flying. Such dependence on the visual would lessen as radio navigation came into play. About the same time as the Glenmont airway beacon was installed, a pilot named Jimmy Doolittle made the first successful flight using only instrumentation to take off, set course and safely land his plane. While the exact date of when the Glenmont beacon was de-commissioned is not known, an article entitled The Evolution of Airway Lights and Electronic Navigation Aids (centennialofflight.net) states that “the last airway light beacon from the system begun in the 1920s was shut down in 1973.”

The Beacon Road roadway itself is found on maps as early as the 1850s and likely developed from the lane that connected the Schoonmaker farm to what we know as Route 9W. John Schoonmaker, Jr leased approximately 143 acres here from the Patroon in 1792. Just to the north, Jacobus Schoonmaker leased 224 in 1806. One of their descendants built the stately brick home (circa 1840) which still stands on modern-day Wemple Road near its intersection with Beacon Road.

One can think of Wemple Road, like Feura Bush Road, more in the way of the road to Wemple. And Wemple, the old hamlet and station on the West Shore Railroad, is, of course, named after the Wemple family. The family homestead was on Wemple Road near where the railroad tracks cross. John Gilbert Wemple (1831-1911) was particularly well known.  He was elected Bethlehem’s supervisor in 1875-76 and served as sheriff of Albany County from 1877-1883.

Bender Road is named after the family of Christian and Elizabeth Bender. Christian (1732-1808) served under Col. Phillip Schuyler in the 3^rd regiment of the Albany County Militia during the American Revolution. After the war, he leased 300 acres in the vicinity of modern Bender Road. He and Elizabeth (the former Elizabeth Cramer, 1739-1806) raised a family of nine children on their homestead and there are many Bender descendants around today.

Hugh Jolley (1721-1804) arrived here from Scotland in 1772. He was also Revolutionary War veteran. He and his wife Eleanor are buried at the Nicoll – Sill cemetery in the Cedar Hill section of town. Jolley Road originated as the lane to the Jolley family’s Crystal Farm. It is unclear whether this is Hugh and Eleanor’s farm or one founded by his son Hugh, or Hugh’s son Henry. The dates line up for it to be Henry’s farm as the 1851 Pease map has the location as “Heirs to H. Jolley”. By the 1866 map and onward, it is clearly the farm of Samuel Jolley and his wife Caroline Rosekrans. Samuel (1833-1917) is Hugh and Eleanor’s great grandson who, according to his obituary, was born, raised and died at Glenmont.

A 1928 stamp showing an airway beacon.

The beacon on Beacon Road is marked on this 1953 U.S.G.S topographic map.

In the 1940s, the roof of the old Security Supply building on Maple Avenue in Selkirk had a giant arrow directing pilots to Albany.

The Wemple Station on the West Shore Railroad.
(Courtesy of the book Along the Old West Shore by John M. Hamm)

Flashes and Dashes

October is the last month of regularly scheduled Sunday openings at the Cedar Hill Schoolhouse Museum, home of the Bethlehem Historical Association. Be sure to stop by to learn more local history! BHA has also resumed in person lectures on the third Thursday of the month. On October 21 at 2 pm, David Hochfelder will talk about the Telegraph and 98 Acres in Albany.

 My history hikes continue with a History Hike in Selkirk on October 16 followed by a walk at Bethlehem Cemetery on November 13. Sign up with the town’s parks and rec department.

And October is New York State History Month.  Stop by the Bethlehem Public Library for a look at my exhibit called Historic Bethlehem (with dogs and horses.)  It is up until the 31st.