GUILDERLAND — Guilderland had over 50 historical markers, but not one of them celebrated a woman.

John Haluska wanted to change that — and he has now succeeded.

The town’s newest marker is headlined, in capital letters, “Liberty’s Women.”

It says, “Terpenning sisters Maria & Elizabeth, wives of Henry & Levi Van Auken, defended the farm here while husbands served in the Revolutionary War.”

The new marker now stands near one for the Van Auken brothers — two sisters married two brothers — beside the parking lot on Westfall Road for the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy’s Bozen Kill preserve.

Years ago, Haluska took it upon himself to paint all of Guilderland’s historical markers and has since spearheaded efforts to acquire new ones. Many of the new markers were funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation.

“Pomeroy has to be selective,” Haluska told The Enterprise this week. “You can’t get a marker on speculation. They need solid stuff.”

There were no original sources to document the lives of the Terpenning sisters but, in this year of celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, that didn’t stop Haluska.

“Both genders took part,” he said of the Revolution. “One was recognized because we have documentation in the militia.”

Such was the case with the Van Auken brothers who served in the Albany 3rd Militia, he said.

Not so for their wives.

“Men read and wrote stuff,” said Haluska while the Terpenning sisters were illiterate.

One of them, he said, “had to almost get down on her knees to get her husband’s pension. She signed her name with an X,” he said.

Asked how the sisters “defended the farm,” Haluska acknowledged no battles were fought there — the only Revolutionary War battle fought in Albany County was the Battle of the Normanskill elsewhere in Guilderland.

“They defended the farm in the sense they kept it going,” said Haluska of the Terpenning sisters.

Without being able to get a marker through the Pomeroy Foundation, Haluska, an officer of the Guilderland Historical Society, set about raising funds. Twenty-five donors, with contributions ranging from $25 to $200, gave a total of $2,500.

Catskill Castings charged $1,910 to make the marker, which is painted in blue with gold lettering.

The remaining $590 will be used for future markers honoring Guilderland women, Haluska said.

Bryan Swift was instrumental in getting the markers for the Van Auken brothers and for the Terpenning sisters, Haluska said. Swift and his wife, Lauren, live nearby and have donated land to the Bozen Kill preserve.

A ceremony will be held in the late spring or early summer to officially unveil three markers at the Westfall Road lot: the one honoring the Van Auken brothers, the latest one honoring the Terpenning sisters, and a third marker honoring Peter Westfall, a private who fought in the Revolution and is buried off Westfall Road.

“We made it work,” Haluska concluded of securing a marker to honor Maria and Elizabeth Terpenning.