BOUND VOLUMES

December 17, 2020

200 YEARS AGO

Congressional Investigation of the Slave Trade: “Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to lay before this House (of Representatives) any correspondence that he does not deem it inexpedient to disclose, which may have existed between the Executive of the United States and the governments of any of the maritime powers of Europe, in relation to the African slave trade.”
Military Academy: That the Secretary of War be directed to lay before the House, as soon as is practicable, a statement shewing the aggregate amount that has been expended on the Military Academy at West Point, in the State of New York, from the establishment of the same to the present time, in the erection of buildings, barracks, repairs and materials for the same; also the aggregate amount that has been expended in pay, substance and clothing, of the teachers, officers and cadets, that are or have been at the Academy, up to the present time.

December 18, 1820

175 YEARS AGO

To The Freeman’s Journal: In looking over the religious periodicals of the day, I cannot but observe the manifest tendency of all the articles towards a spirit of controversy. This is at once inimical to true religious feeling and injurious to the church as an organized and efficient body of Christians, upon which depends the evangelization of the world – the success of Christ’s Kingdom upon Earth. Sects are dividing and subdividing until the original is scarcely to be recognized in the incongruous mixture of sentiment and opinion. Instead of unity in worship and faith, we find contention as to the manner of that worship. Instead of the practical truths of Christianity, we are generally presented with a variety of non-essential dogmas, in no respect necessary to the vital interests of religion and not infrequently involving obscurity and doubt.

December 20, 1845

150 YEARS AGO

How to get The Freeman’s Journal in 1871 for Nothing – it is easily done – has been done by a few – can be done by many more. This is the way: Obtain six new subscribers to the Journal at $2 each, and on receipt of the money we will forward an extra copy one year to the getter of the club. There is not a school teacher in the county who cannot do this. Any smart lad who wants the Journal for himself can do it. Try.
Wild Game – Robert G. Davis, who is conducting the butchering business in the old basement stand east of the Cooperstown Bank, has brought to this market a quantity of venison, prairie chickens and quail – and designs keeping wild game constantly on hand, if he can make it pay.

December 22, 1870

125 YEARS AGO

Local: Dr. D.E. Siver, one of our oldest and most experienced resident dentists will take into partnership with him Dr. E.L. Pitcher, who has been his associate the past two years and has an excellent reputation as an operating and scientific dentist.
Frank Cooper, who has a fishing shanty on the lake, last Saturday rescued Duncan Rathbun from a perilous position and the danger of being drowned, he having broken through some thin ice near the “sunken island.”
Amusements – Kent’s Minstrels who will appear at Bowne Opera House, Christmas night is an organization principally of home talent, under the management of Actor Frank Kent. In addition to an up-to-date stage performance they announce as a special feature of the musical program an exhibition of living statuary as the closing event. Seats may be secured at Winegar’s drugstore.

December 19, 1895

100 YEARS AGO

The holiday program of moving pictures at the Village Theatre is one of wholesome entertainment. On Thursday and Friday, December 23 and 24, Bryant Washburn in “Why Smith Left Home” and Harold Lloyd in a two reel comedy, “Haunted Spooks” will be shown. On Christmas Day “Old Lady 31” starring Emma Dunn will be shown. Olive Thomas appears in “The Flapper” on December 27; Tom Moore in “Stop Thief” on December 29 and 31 along with “Her Kingdom of Dreams” with Anita Stewart in the leading role; on New Year’s Day Pauline Frederick appears in “Madame X.” A matinee is held each day at 3:30 p.m.

December 22, 1920

50 YEARS AGO

The thoroughbred racing stables of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Clark, Jr. have just completed their most successful season since the Cooperstown couple entered racing – Mr. Clark about four decades ago and Mrs. Clark, about three decades. Their horses accounted for a combined total of 23 victories during 1970, most of them on the eastern tracks of the United States. Seven of Mrs. Clark’s horses hit the wire first in 13 races, while three of Mr. Clark’s horses accounted for 10 wins amongst them. Highlight of the season for Mrs. Clark was the sudden rush to fame of her two-year-old colt “Hoist the Flag” which wound up as the top two-year-old in the nation. For Mr. Clark, it was “Shadow Brook,” a six-year-old gelding, which started the season racing on the flat and wound up as a jumper. He finished second in the 150,000 International Steeplechase at Camden, South Carolina in November, only a length and a half behind “Top Bid,” which was declared the nation’s top jumper of 1970.

December 16, 1970

25 YEARS AGO

The Blencoe Hop House on the “Onesimus” Farm on the Middlefield Center Road, Route 33, has succumbed to structural decay and been destroyed. This icon of the New York hop culture was a fixture for nearly 150 years. It was a typical hop house with a massive screw beam. In the 1880s, with prosperity from good hop prices, the pyramidal kiln was added and the older part remodeled for storage.

December 17, 1995

10 YEARS AGO

The Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce is testing its vocal chords in anticipation of joining a rising chorus of local opposition to hydrofracking for natural gas in Otsego County. “Industrial-scale hydrofracking in the upstate region will irreparably damage the essential qualities that make the Cooperstown area an excellent place to live, raise families, farm and work,” the chamber’s directors declared in a draft approved on December 9.

December 16, 2010