BOUND VOLUMES, January 2, 2014

200 YEARS AGO
Died in this town on the 25th of December, 1813, Mrs. Mary Metcalf, aged 78. She had for many years been a professor of religion and adorned the doctrine which she believed. When the hour of her exit arrived she calmly resigned herself to her fate, and bade a final adieu to the transitory scenes of the world, under the full conviction that through the merits of her Saviour she should inhabit another and a better.
Notice: Attend! The members of the Otsego Sugar-Stick Society are requested to meet at Ostrander’s Coffee-House on Monday evening, the 3rd of January, at 6 o’clock. Per Order. Dec. 30, 1813.
January 1, 1814

175 YEARS AGO
The poet Byron, with more of point than verity, has said: “The past is nothing.” Yet who among the human race, does not look back to that past, as the parent of all the good or ill that betides them for the present, and of much that they anticipate for the future? Who can regard that past with indifference? To who does not the recollection of it recall scenes, images and feelings, which yet throb in every pulse, are riveted to each link in the chain of memory and written so indelibly upon the heart’s inmost core, that nothing but the hand of Death can obliterate the impress? By common consent, the New Year season is hallowed to the festivities and social enjoyments of all; while to the reflective, it tenders a prominent point of observation, from which to look back upon the past, or forward into the dimness of the future.
December 31, 1838

150 YEARS AGO
Standing on the threshold of a New Year, the mind naturally turns to a contemplation of the stirring events which marked the outgoing of the late Administration, and which have distinguished that of the present. The civil war which now devastates the land actually commenced in January 1861, when the rebels fired upon the vessel sent to provision and reinforce the little garrison in Fort Sumpter – now a heap of ruins.
The early leaders in this wicked rebellion no doubt contemplated the complete and comparatively easy consummation of their plans; they expected to effect the division of the Union, the secession of all the slave States, with little or no fighting. They were not prepared for such a demonstration of devotion to the Constitution and the Union – for such a determined opposition even unto blood, to any and every attempt to destroy the nationality of this mighty Republic.
January 1, 1864

125 YEARS AGO
Death came to only nineteen residents of Cooperstown in the year 1888. This is a very remarkable record for a village with a resident population of about 2,600 and from 300 to 500 visitors during the summer. The eldest of the departed were Mrs. Catherine F. Barrows on January 24; Mrs. Bridget Kraham on February 13 and Miss Betsey Crafts on March 26, each of whom lived to the age of 87 and beyond. The youngest was James Volks, an inmate of the orphanage, who was aged 8 years. Leaving the child out, only three others of the nineteen were under 52 years of age and the youngest was 34. Absent the child the average age of the remaining eighteen was 65 and one-half-years of life. Cooperstown is a remarkably healthy place.
January 4, 1889

100 YEARS AGO
The death of J.A. Melrose Johnston in the early morning of December 26th brought deep sorrow to the people of Cooperstown. Death was attributed to heart failure. Mr. Johnston had never been sick in bed a day in his life. As custodian of the wealth of others, J.A.M.
Johnston gave his entire time to that and never accepted any of the honors of a public nature that his townsmen might have given him. In his capacity as agent for the Clark Estates, however, he probably did more for the village than any man in his generation, for it was he who built the Alfred Corning Clark Gymnasium, the Village Club and Library, the Cooper Park, the O-te-sa-ga, the Country Club, and all the other enterprises both public and private that have been provided by the Clark family. Mr. Johnston also had charge of dispensing the many charities that are maintained by the family.
December 31, 1913

75 YEARS AGO
The Penn Athletic Club baseball team of Philadelphia has accepted an invitation to take part in the National Baseball Centennial in Cooperstown early in the coming summer. And fittingly enough, the Pennac Nine will play Connie Mack’s Athletics on a day to be known as “Connie Mack Day.” Mack, is one of the immortals whose name has been placed in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
He said of playing the Pennacs, “It’s a fine idea and I’m glad of the chance to play baseball at the game’s birthplace. The celebration of the birth of baseball 100 years ago is one of the greatest things the game has provided and those in back of the project should be commended.”
January 4, 1939

50 YEARS AGO
The auditorium of the Village Hall has been refurbished and other renovations to the structure completed, for use by the Cooperstown Youth Center. The auditorium now has a light and airy appearance. The space has been closed as a Youth Center headquarters for more than eighteen months.
The project cost $4,645 and was carried out by Neil R. Nielsen, Inc. of Oneonta. Youth Commission Chairman Dr. Joe H. Cannon said the Youth Center would reopen when new equipment arrives in January or February. Commission and Center members raised more than $5,000 to finance the project and will spend about $1,000 to equip it.
January 1, 1964

10 YEARS AGO
The Walking Example Group will present the second annual “Deck the Halls” Walking Tour led by Pat Thorpe on Sunday, December 28, at 2 p.m. Thorpe will provide an “up close and personal” tour of the holiday designs of Theatricum Botanicum. The walk will depart from the Otesaga Hotel near the Hawkeye Grill entrance.
January 2, 2004