BOUND VOLUMES

Aug. 15, 2019

200 YEARS AGO

Agricultural Notice – A meeting of the Agricultural Society of the County of Otsego, will be held at the house of Joseph Munn in Cooperstown, on Thursday, the 26th day of August, inst., for the purpose of organizing the Society, agreeably to the Legislature of this state. Robert Campbell, Rec. Sec. Cooperstown, August 12, 1819.

Welch Indians – It seems that a Society in the State of New York has sent out persons to ascend the Missouri in search of Welch Indians. A Mr. Stoddart collected some years ago and embodied in his sketches of Louisiana, many loose reports and disjointed rumors on this subject. He seemed to give credit to the belief of their existence. Since his time, however, the country supposed to be the place of their residence, and in fact every part of the country in which they could reside, has been explored. There is no exception from the confines of Mexico to the Arctic Circle. No such people as “Welch Indians” have been found.

August 16, 1819

175 YEARS AGO

Competition is the life of business. This saying is illustrated in the fact, that the post-coaches between this place and Fort Plain and Canajoharie now make their trips in about three hours. In several instances, Mr. Willoughby has run through in two and one-half hours, affording us the Albany and New York mails by 3 o’clock p.m. Thanks for his diligence.

August 9, 1844

150 YEARS AGO

Advertisement: “Cooper House, Cooperstown, New York” The Spacious and Elegant building, formerly known as the “Cooperstown Seminary,” having been altered, improved and adapted to hotel purposes during the past three months, at the expense of over $30,000, was opened for the reception of guests on June 25. The building will be found complete with all the modern improvements, and the situation and attractions of Cooperstown are second to no summer resort in the country. Within about four hours from Albany by railroad and thirteen miles distant from Richfield Springs, and 20 miles from Sharon, amid hill, lake and valley scenery unsurpassed in beauty, and surrounded by the historic and classic associations made famous by the pen of Cooper, it is believed that few points in the country afford equal inducements to the tourist, or to those seeking a rural home during the summer.

August 13, 1869

125 YEARS AGO

The “Cuban Giants” always draw well, when playing against the Cooperstown Athletics. Monday last was no exception to the rule. There was a large audience to witness the game. With one man for two days previous on the sick list, and a substitute playing for another, it did not look promising for the home team – but the manner in which they opened the game gave their friends confidence. On the second inning it was a tie. Then the Athletics surged six ahead, after which the Giants closed up the gap steadily, leaving the Athletics the victors at the end by two runs, 16 to 14. It was an exciting game – some fine playing – though marked with a number of errors on both sides. (Ed. Note: Baseball in the early 1890s was played without the aid of gloves for fielding and errors were more common as a result)

August 16, 1894

100 YEARS AGO

Leonard and Delmar Hutchings, the former 13 years old, and the latter 15 years old, were sentenced yesterday to a term in the Rochester Industrial School by Justice of the Peace Vanderwerker after they had been accused and admitted breaking into the home of Mrs. Stone Benedict on Main and River streets, and robbing the house of various petty articles. The conviction is part of the program of District Attorney Adrian A. Pierson to break up a number of so-called “boy gangs” about the village who have been committing various depredations from time to time.

August 20, 1919

75 YEARS AGO

Miss Helen E. Fry describes her work serving U.S. soldiers in the front-line combat area in Italy with the Red Cross. “We work in two teams, driving our own three-quarter ton trucks. We start out in the morning loaded down with from 2,000 to 4,000 donuts, coffee, sugar, canned milk, Victrola, accordion, guitar, cards, writing paper, etc. A schedule is made out a day in advance, so that at each outfit we go to the fellows are waiting for us with their canteen cups. We serve the coffee and donuts first, and then sit around and talk with the fellows while they eat, play the Victrola, dance, or get someone to play one of the instruments we have along. We make anywhere from four to seven or eight stops a day like this.”

August 16, 1944

50 YEARS AGO

The Coleman Family reunion was held on Saturday, August 9, at the Forest of the Dozen Dads in Middlefield. Those attending included Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Taugher and family of Cooperstown, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reich and family of Bardonia, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Garbera of Richfield Springs, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Coleman, Sr. and family of Odenton, Maryland, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Schultz III and family, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Coleman, Sr. and Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Coleman, Jr. and family, all of Cooperstown. Four generations were in attendance including Mrs. Charles A. Coleman, Sr., her daughter, Mrs. Stuart P. Taugher, her granddaughter Mrs. Jackson Schultz III, and great-granddaughter, Miss Amy Schultz.

August 13, 1969

10 YEARS AGO

Vittoria “Vicci” Demarest, 90, Cooperstown, an early and ardent supporter of the Glimmerglass Opera, died Friday after a brief illness. Ms. Demarest was a graduate of the Knox School in Cooperstown. She attended Skidmore College for two years and graduated from the Traphagen School of Design in New York City. Ms. Demarest was the daughter of the well-known sculptor, Victor Salvatore, and the former Ellen Ryerson, whose father, Arthur Ryerson, died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. After a marriage to the late William Demarest, she lived in Guilford, Connecticut for many years. In 1973 she returned to Cooperstown and served on the board of the Glimmerglass Opera and other local organizations.

August 14, 2009