Our Towne Bethlehem October 2019: Apples and Orchards

With the weather turning to the cool crispness of fall, your town historian’s mind turns to apples as I am sure yours does too. Apple picking is such a quintessential fall activity in Bethlehem and all of Upstate New York.

Apples and apple orchards have a long history here going back to the earliest Dutch settlement era.  The Van Rensselaers urged their tenant farmers to plant orchards of apples, pears, and other fruits. Think about that for a minute. In the 1600s, to European eyes, the land here in what is now Bethlehem was very much wilderness. To plant an apple seed in anticipation of the tree growing and bearing fruit, something that could take 10 years, was an act of faith in the future of the settlement.

In 1682, Albert Bratt, the Norwegian for whom the Norman’s Kill is named, subleased his orchard along the creek to his future son-in-law Teunis Cornelissen Slingerland. The rent was 150 “schepels” a year. If this was the usual ten percent, then that orchard was producing 1500 “schepels” of apples a year. That’s about 1100 bushels in modern terms, and likely over 250 mature trees.

65+ years later, during his stay in the Albany area in June 1749, Peter Kalm noted that each farm had a large orchard. Some of the apples were “very large and palatable” and were “sent to New York, and other places as a rarity.” He also wrote “they make excellent cider, in autumn, in the country round Albany.”

An important word about that cider. We are not talking about the delicious cider we pick up at the store today. We are talking about hard, that is alcoholic, cider. Also delicious, but not the benign cider of today. Orchards in those early days were dedicated to cider apples and the reason is interesting. Apple trees grown from seed do not produce the kind of apple the seed came from. For example, if you plant the seeds from a Golden Delicious apple, watch the tree grow and harvest its fruit, the resulting apple is not a Golden Delicious. It is likely to be sour and look nothing like its parent apple. Sour, inedible apples however, are excellent for pressing into cider. That cider can then be easily fermented back on the farmstead into a drink that, especially on the frontier, is more easily obtained than beer or wine, or even fresh water. 

While seedlings and grafted trees did come from Europe early on, apple seeds were also planted in abundance. You might remember the tale of Johnny Appleseed?

To get a true Golden Delicious, one needs to purchase a grafted tree. And this is interesting too. Apples, in the wild genetic mixing of their seeds, sometimes produce very yummy varieties. Every Golden Delicious goes back to a single apple tree, one found in an orchard on the Mullin’s family farm in West Virginia in 1904. Anderson Mullins sold the tree and propagation rights to Stark Brothers Nursery who first marketed it in 1914. Another example is the Granny Smith. That apple literally goes back to a single tree discovered by Maria Ann Smith in Australia in 1868. And yes, Maria did become a Granny.

The Temperance movement of the late 1800s (which eventually led to Prohibition in 1919) caused farmers and orchardists to wonder what they were going to do with all their apples if they couldn’t make hard cider from them. The answer was to market them for their healthy wholesomeness with the classic “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This in turn led to something of an apple gold rush where farmers scoured their orchards for the tree that distinguished itself with extra special fruit. Shoots of that special tree could then be grafted onto root stock and the saplings marketed and sold.

Apples, and other orchard produce, continued to be a cash crop for Bethlehem farmers well into the 1900s. For example, in the 1940s, Sunnybrook Farm, run by Charles and Virginia Waldenmaier, included a 500-tree orchard with Alexander, Wolf River, Greening, Delicious and Macintosh apple trees. While Bethlehem does not currently boast a large commercial orchard, remnant trees from the old orchards can be found. Recently while walking in the woods near my home, I noticed large apples on the ground, and looking up saw the gnarled old tree they came from. Could this tree have been part of the orchards of the Van Allen family farm that was here before my housing subdivision? You bet!

This article was inspired in three ways. First and foremost, by the iconic Indian Ladder Farms. Second by the book Botany of Desire A Plant’s Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. Pollan’s article on apples and the real Johnny Appleseed is fascinating. And finally, the collection of the Bethlehem Historical Association has several brass stencils that illustrate the wonderful variety of fruit produced by Bethlehem farmers. Romantic sounding names like Blue Gage, Green Gage, Baldwin, Magnum Bonum, Cranberry Pippin, Louie Honne, Sutton Beauty, and Hubbardston were stenciled onto boxes and barrels in preparation for shipment to market.

All of the apples on these stencils are listed in The Apples of New York published in 1905. Baldwins arose from a chance seedling on John Ball’s farm in Wilmington, M.A. The tree and its fruit were brought to the attention of Loammi Baldwin as early as 1784 who propagated it widely. Sutton and Sutton Beauty originated in Sutton, M.A. The Cranberry Pippin is mentioned only as what it is not, a Scarlet Cranberry. Louie Bonne is either a Belle Bonne or a Billy Bond, two very different apples whose names were mixed up early on. Hubbardston is an apple native to Hubbardston, M.A.

While in my mind Indian Ladder Farm is synonymous with apples, the only pictures I have are set among the pumpkins. Here is my daughter Emma circa 1998. 

Our Towne Bethlehem September 2019: Historians!

Town Historians

September 2019

Quite often your town historian is asked “What exactly do you do?” and “Why do we have a historian anyway?” This month I will explore those questions and next month I will get back to objects. I am thinking about apples and orchards.

100 years ago this past April, Gov. Al Smith signed New York’s Public Historian Law.  Section 57.07 of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law states in part “A local historian shall be appointed for each city, town or village, and a county historian may be appointed for each county.”  It goes on with a list of duties that focuses on managing and preserving records of historic value and concludes with the statement that the historian shall “carry out and actively encourage research in such records in order to add to the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the community’s history.” 

And there you have it. What Bethlehem’s town historians have been striving for since the first one was appointed in 1921. To add to the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the community’s history.

APHNYS, the Association of Public Historians of New York State, sums up the duties of a municipal historian in four straightforward bullet points.

1. Research and writing
2. Teaching and public presentations
3. Historic Preservation
4. Organization, advocacy and tourism promotion

So, who was Bethlehem’s first historian? That would be Mrs. Harriet C. D. Wiltsie of South Bethlehem.  She was appointed by the Town Board on March 26, 1921. Wiltsie and her family show up regularly in local newspapers for their involvement in community life in South Bethlehem, and there is one intriguing item from when a carriage she was riding in was hit by a street car on Pearl Street, but nothing regarding her activity as historian.

Reading through the Town Board minute books, there is no further action on the historian appointment until August of 12, 1926 when the board carried a motion to ask Ruth M. Miner to be the “social historian”. Her letter declining the position was read at the August 27, 1926 meeting. October 4, 1926 brought the appointment of Mrs. Lucius Washburn as “social historian.”  Washburn, the former Anna Holler, turns up often in the local paper for her doings in Delmar, especially with Delmar Reformed Church, but again, nothing regarding her appointment as historian.

The mostly honorary appointments of Harriet Wiltsie and Anna Washburn were followed by a gap of 19 years.  Then a new, and very active, historian came on the scene.  Ruth Dickinson (often referred to in the records as Mrs. Paul Dickinson) was appointed March 14, 1945 and annually thereafter until she resigned in December of 1965. Researching Dickinson in the newspapers turns up many articles and mentions of her work on Bethlehem’s War Council during World War II, her work on the Civil Defense Council during the Korean War, and especially, her work as town historian. 

Dickinson’s annual reports highlight her work including the many talks she gave to local groups of adults and children designed to educate about, in her own words, “the back ground and history” of the town. She answered many questions from citizens and students, was a founding member of the Bethlehem Historical Association, chaired Bethlehem’s participation in the Hudson Champlain Celebration/Year of History in 1959 and was particularly concerned with preserving the records of Bethlehem’s service men and women.  

Ruth Dickinson

Then there was the “drab” and “arduous” work of newspaper clipping.  Dickinson, and historian’s that followed, spent hours clipping articles out of daily and weekly papers in order to document “all phases of Bethlehem’s daily growth” and then organized them into 50 or more categories.  Thankfully, in our digital age, historians no longer do this work.  There are, however, two boxes of carefully filed, and now brittle and crumbling, newspaper clippings in the town’s archive.

Each and every historian on the list below brought their own interests and strengths to the work of town historian adding to the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Bethlehem’s history. Your current historian seeks to do the same.

1921 Mrs Harriet C. D. Wiltsie

1926 Anna Holler Washburn (Mrs. Lucius H. Washburn)

1945-1965: Ruth A. Dickinson (Mrs. Paul Dickinson)

1966-1974: Allison Bennett (Mrs. William D. Bennett)

1974-1976: Thomas E. Mulligan

1978-1977: Lois Dillon (Mrs. Edward Dillon)

1979-1983: Thomas E. Mulligan

1984-1987: James E. Morgan

1988-1990: Valerie Restifo Thompson (Valerie J. Restifo, Valerie Thompson)

1991-2005: Joseph Allgaier

2005-2007: Raymond C. Houghton, PhD

2007 to present: Susan E. Leath

Standing at the Bethlehem Historical Association’s Cedar Hill Schoolhouse Museum about 1975 are, from left to right, William D. Pompa (president of BHA from 1975-76), Ruth Miner (attorney and active Bethlehem citizen), Bertram Kohinke (supervisor from 1960 to 1974), Grace Waldbillig (BHA member) and Thomas E. Mulligan (town historian 1974-76 and 1979-83.)

The editorial staff for Bethlehem Revisited: A Bicentennial Story published in 1993. From left to right, Town Historian Joe Allgaier, Chuck McKinney, Floyd Brewer, Hugh Hewitt, and Peter Christoph.

That's me doing my best to do a pubic history presentation while aboard my kayak. Fun times!
Thank you Sharon Askew for the picture.

Frederick Becker Landers

"At age twelve, he was thrown upon his own resources"

It is often the random historical inquires that keep this historian's job interesting.  Not too long ago I was asked about the Landers family in Bethlehem, specifically Frederick Becker Landers. You'll notice right away the Becker name, locally famous at Becker's Corners and the Becker Elementary School. It turns out there was another group of Becker family farms near where modern day Elm Avenue and Rt 32 cross. There was also a Becker family burial ground there which has been subsumed by 32.  But first some maps.

Here's a crop of the 1866 Beers map of Bethlehem.  Can you find the Beckers, especially F. R. right in the middle?

To get you oriented, below are the modern google map and the 1866 map with two intersections circled.  At the top is the intersection of Elm Avenue and Murray Avenue near the Luthern Church.  At the bottom is the 4 way stop at the intersection of Elm Avenue and Feura Bush Road.  Can you follow the triangular shape of Elm, Murray and Feura Bush?  The By-Pass cuts right thru the middle and Elm Avenue was rerouted near the park.

Ok, now you know the area we are talking about, look at the page below from "Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem" about the Becker Family Burial Ground.

The location is right about where F. R. Becker is on the 1866 map.  And low and behold, at the bottom are two members of the Landers family, "C" and "L.W."  We've got a Becker-Landers connection. 

Also recorded in the "People" book is the July 4, 1825 marriage of Laurence W. Landey to Catharine Becker at the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem. This is likely the LW and C listed above - I'm thinking the name was misspelled or mis-transcribed in the church record.

So, how does all this connect up with Frederick Becker Landers? Well, we know he was born October 7, 1829 in Bethlehem, New York. Maybe, just maybe, Catherine and Laurence are his parents but we haven't found any records to attest to that. Maybe he was born on the Elm Avenue farm, but that is just supposition. 

The newspaper clipping above is from his 1887 obituary in the Decorah Republican.  That is Decorah, Iowa. My inquiry came from the folks at the Winneshiek County Historical Society, the proud owners of the Landers-Adams-Bodensteiner House in Decorah.  Did we know anything about Fredierick who left Bethlehem at age 12 to make his way in the world?  No we do not, only the supposition that his parents' burial spot is now under the Delmar By-Pass.  Not a thrilling moment for your Bethlehem historian.

I very much enjoyed reading about Frederick Becker Landers in his obituary. He seems to have led such an interesting life. But the mystery of his Bethlehem connections have to will remain.

The Landers house in Decorah, Iowa

Below is a transcript of his obituary.

Frederic B. Landers

Died Thursday Evening, May 26, in his 58^th year.

Again, we are called upon to record the passing away of another old resident and active business man.

When it was written last week that F. B. Landers was “just the same,” it was not exactly true. There seemed to be evidence e that to his family gave some hope.  But it was only the flicker of the lamp of life just before expiring.  Although it has been an event considered probable for weeks it came to those who had been watching by his bedside with unexpected sharpness.

Frederick B. Landers was born in Bethlehem, N.Y., Oct. 7^th, 1829.  At the age of twelve he was thrown upon his own resources, and such was his native energy and disposition, he was engaged in business on his own account before he had reached his 29th year.

He was married at Canisteo, N.Y., in 1850 to Sarah W. Mulhollon, who survives him.  To them ten children were born, five of whom are living.  It was noted in the funeral discourse, most beautifully, that in his death the family was evenly divided – one half in this life, and the other in the future.

Business ventures in the east proving unfavorable, in 1854-55 he came west, and for a year he was in the employ of P.H. Conger & Co. of Dubuque. During the year he made arrangements to come to Decorah and entered into partnership with McHenry, Packard & Co.  After a couple of years an association was formed with D. B. Ellsworth, and for long years the firm of Ellsworth & Landers, occupied the leading position in our mercantile life.  Later the firm became that of Landers & Son, remaining such until his business career was terminated.  For over thirty years he had been an important factor in the business life of this city.  During that period, he performed more hard labor than most men crowd into a life of three-score years.  He was a natural trader – a born merchant; possessed of boundless energy, and a love for work possessed by few, he prosecuted his business with remarkable vigor.  At times he carried loads which would have crushed other men; but he did it with a buoyancy and courage which was truly wonderful. He has been known to say that he did not know what tire was.  In his disposition he was liberal and progressive, always willing to bear his share of public burdens.  While always interested in political affairs, he never desired official position.  As a husband and father, he was liberal to indulgence.  The funeral service was held at the family residence on Sunday afternoon, and was attended by one of the largest gatherings ever seen in our city – Rev. Willard officiating, assisted by Rev. J. M. Ferris.  Thus, one by one, the ranks of our oldest business men are being depleted.  The pioneers are going to the long home, leaving vacancies behind them which may not be easily filled.

The Decorah Republican
1887

The Landers house today.  Soon to be the Winneshiek County heritage Center. 

Fun Friday Photos

Zip-Bing!

And a happy Friday to you.  Here are a few "Bethlehem" pictures from around the turn of the 19th century.  They are Bethlehem in that they came out of a house on Willowbrook Avenue in South Bethlehem.  That is all I know about them, but I could make up some fun stories that is for sure.  Enjoy!

Some town photos from the late 1970s and early 80s

Here is a random assortment of "old" photos to brighten you day.
Enjoy!

Elsmere School 

Explaining safe street crossing on Delaware Avenue in front of Elsmere School.

Marty Cross in center. 

This is William Lang and the location is Adams Street. November 1979 for a date is good.  Mr. Lang died in 1982. 

Van Liew Family

Sometimes I wonder if I am simply curious or just plain nosy.

Last week I visited a Delmar estate sale on Gardener Terrace.  The house was an interesting bungalow and I could tell right away an older woman had lived there and that she was a cat lover.  As I was checking things out, this photo caught my eye.  Aren't these kids cute?  It was 50 cents, so I picked it up.

Later as I investigated the basement, there was another small pile of pictures. Again, 50 cents each, so I picked these up and wondered isn't that the same kid in the pony picture?

The garage/shed building out back was fascinating too. These drawings on the wall caught my eye.

Turns out these are the plans for the house, dated 1926, and completed for the Van Liew family.  How cool is that?  Unfortunately, the name of the person that drew up the plans was obscured.  Here's a close up of the front elevation and a picture from Google Street View (dated June 2011)

This is where the curiosity takes over. From what I could piece together, this was the home of Roland and Bertha Van Liew.  Roland was an electrician later working for G.E.  They had three children, Roland, Clifford and Thelma.

In the pony picture, I believe Clifford is on the pony, and that is certainly Roland standing next to him.  Clifford died tragically in 1943 at the age of 17 after being hit by an automobile near the Blanchard Post in Elsmere. His father, Roland, was an active member of the post and Clifford was part of the Drum Corps.

Roland, the son, entered the U.S. Army shortly after graduating from Bethlehem Central in 1942.  In the right hand picture above, Roland is shown in uniform and the back of the photo is inscribed "1944 Camp Chaffee Arkansas."  The photo of him at the beach is inscribed  "3 June 44" and he is sitting on a beach chair at Carolina Beach, N.C. Which makes sense because his father's obituary (he died just a few months after Clifford) states Roland was of Fort Bragg, N.C.

The picture of the young man at the rail of the ship is most certainly the father Roland Van Liew. When I took it out of the picture frame, it turned out it was a postcard.  Written on the back is "Taken at sea just after captains inspatection June 10, 1919."  Stamped below that are the words R. VAN LIEW  U.S.S. ZEELANDIA 

One snippet I found about Bertha Van Liew was the fact that she was in a bad car accident in 1950 when the vehicle she was riding in was hit by a train while crossing the tracks at Gardener Terrace.  Two other women passengers were killed, but she survived.  That accident led to the closing of the grade crossing there.

And finally, daughter Thelma graduated from Bethlehem Central in 1949.  Her yearbook says her goal was to become a "comptometer operator."  Which is fascinating because at the estate sale, there was a vintage check writing machine and two boxes of computer punch cards.  I wonder what Thelma did for a living all these years.  Her obituary from February 2019 is very nice but short on details.  "She will be greatly missed for her sweet, friendly disposition, easy smile and concern for animal welfare."  Below is her yearbook picture. Thelma I wish I could have met you.

Our Towne Bethlehem August 2019: Suffrage

Woman suffrage.  Woman's right to vote.  It seems such settled law, nothing to talk about here.  Yet, it fascinates me to think that my own grandmother, someone I knew personally, was not able to vote until she was 31 years old, simply because she was a woman. 

My grandmother, Ruth Harriet Todd,
 about the time she married in 1922.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Suffrage.  What an interesting word. Merriam-Webster simply says “the right of voting.”  The dictionary adds that the word is descended from the Latin word suffragium which can be translated as vote, support or prayer.  Early supporters of the “woman vote” liked the word too. Just by itself, the word suffrage points to suffering and speaks of rage.

     New York has close ties to the woman suffrage movement going back to the first women’s rights convention held at Seneca Falls on July 19 and 20, 1848.  The convention and its Declaration of Sentiments was the beginning of the formal movement with well known leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony.  A road trip to the excellent Woman’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls and the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester is well worth the effort.

     New York passed its legislation affirming women’s right to vote in 1917.  The 19^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex passed the House on May 21, 1919 and then the Senate on June 4. The amendment went to the states for ratification. Tennessee became the 36th state needed for ratification on August 18, 1920 making woman suffrage the law of all of the United States.  Mississippi, the 50th state to ratify, did not do so until 1984.

     But what is the local Bethlehem connection to the Woman Suffrage Movement? That is proving frustrating to figure out.  Hints are scarce in the local papers. There are plenty of references to the suffrage movement in general, and the anti-suffragists too, just not truly local specifics.

      For example, the May 29, 1914 issue of the Altamont Enterprise reported that “Mrs. Rosalie Jones of Albany was scheduled to speak at the Methodist Church in Clarksville on the interests of the suffrage movement.”   The News-Herald reported June 5 that at Clarksville “there was a crowded house to greet Miss Rosalie Jones.” Your historian likes to assume that this is in fact General Rosalie Jones.  General Jones was widely known for her suffragist efforts especially her suffrage hikes.  On December 16, 1912, the General and 200 of her followers left Manhattan and walked to Albany. That’s about 170 miles through a cold New York winter.  They marched on the east side of the river, so did not pass through Bethlehem, arriving in Albany on December 28 where they worked to present their petitions and arguments to the Governor. The following February, Jones organized a hike from New York City to Washington D.C. to meet up with the many Suffragist marchers converging on the Capitol.

     It is probable that Jones was here in Clarksville, but who are the local men and women who packed the church in May of 1914?   Similarly, Albany County Equal Suffrage clubs held a convention in June 1915 where it was reported that organizations were thriving in Delmar and that mass meetings had been held in Bethlehem. But who exactly attended? That remains a mystery.   

     And what about the anti-suffragists?  Some of the names in a July 10, 1914 clipping are familiar and local in the sense that Albany is local for us.  A report under the Voorheesville section of the Altamont Enterprise reads “A meeting in the interests of all opposed to the granting of suffrage to women will be held here in the early autumn, should a group of men and women express their willingness to urge attendance.  The Albany Anti-Suffrage society, in which such well known women as Mrs. George Douglas Miller, Mrs. Moneure C. Carpender, Mrs. Robert C. Pruyn, the Misses Fenimore-Cooper, Mrs. John Boyd Thacher and Mrs. George Curtis Treadwell are interested, will send representatives.”

     1914 was a busy summer.  The paper notes that at the Albany County Fair both the Equal Suffrage and Anti-Suffrage clubs “vied good naturedly with each other and were well attended by their adherents and friends.”

     While not all that local, my very favorite clipping is from the June 11, 1915 issue of the Altamont Enterprise.   The left-hand column of page 6 begins with Suffrage Day on the Diamond which was held May 11 during a baseball game between the Giants and the Cubs. “The fusion of suffrage and baseball interests certainly resulted in a great turn-out for the game.” The suffragists were certainly creative in publicizing their cause.

Immediately following that item is an anti-suffrage report where the anti’s make the argument that allowing women to vote will somehow cancel men’s votes. “Women will either divide on issues in proportion that men do. In which case they but double the vote without affecting the result, or they will vote in opposition to men, which case they nullify men’s votes.” (Which to my 21^st century feminist ears does not quite make sense.)

     And then the best is the final item in the column.  “Woman Garbage Collector. Garbage in Hastings-on-Hudson is to be removed by a woman, her bid for the contract being lower than that made by any of her male competitors.  She has announced that she expects to superintend personally her men and teams.”  Another paper identifies this woman as Mrs. Mary Eliot.  Here is a successful business woman competing for a contract in a field dominated by men.  In 1915.  I want to know her story.

     And finally, what object inspired this article?  In the collection of the Bethlehem Historical Association is a Votes for Women banner that was donated anonymously in the 1980s.  It was last displayed in the summer of 2017 during their centennial exhibit on World War I and the passage of New York’s suffrage law.  Those familiar with BHA’s collection report no other references or objects related to woman suffrage. Readers, do any of you have family stories about the battle for the vote for women?  Letters, diaries, journals? Anything?  I would love to hear from you!

From left to right, Mrs. J. Hardy Stubbs, Miss Ida Craft and Miss Rosalie Jones in Albany, perhaps on the roof of the capitol.  In the background can be seen the spire of St. Peters Church which is on State Street. (Library of Congress)