— Photo from the Albany Institute of History and Art
Trolleys travelled under police guard on Albany's Washington Avenue in February 1921.
Nary a trace remains of the long, slim, silver tracks that once carried the olive-drab, wicker three-seated trolley cars through our neighboring city of Albany to the town line of Mckownville in Guilderland. Those trolleys once brought businessmen to work, students to school, and shoppers to the super clothing stores at Whitneys and Myers on North Pearl Street in the heart of the Capital City.
The United Traction Company provided transportation for the city from 1890 to 1946. The operation had 93 miles of tracks with 434 trolley cars.
But there is a more historic story about the trolleys that for so long were the transportation in Albany.
“The big metal doors were shut on the car barn in North Albany and the streets were quiet on February 8, 1921,” the Albany Evening Journal story read, “when suddenly the barn doors burst open.”
The trolley leaving the barn had a police guard aboard, a strikebreaker as a motorman, and an escort of six mounted policemen. Stout steel wires encased the car’s windows.
“The street soon became black with men, women and children. Boys still in knickers, women wearing long serge skirts beneath their winter coats joined 200 men as they tried to surround the trolley,” the story went on. “Anger permeated the air as police cleared a passage. The trolley completed its first run without incident. When the second run started, the crowd pulled down guy wires and immobilized the cars.”
This started Albany’s Great Trolley Strike.
On Sunday mornings, the cars were usually filled with picnickers headed for the Six Mile waterworks on Fuller Road and Lagoon Island, or with families traveling to relatives in Troy. This came to a temporary halt when the trolley strike began.
The dispute was over salary when motormen and conductors wanted a raise to 85 cent per hour from 45 cent per hour and other employees wanted raises as well. The UTC, owned by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, refused these demands.
Following post-World War I inflation, the cost of labor and materials had doubled, and in some cases had gone up by 500 percent, according to management.
Dickering about wages continued and UTC officials responded by cutting back a recently negotiated 60-cent hourly wage to the former 45-cent per hour. Idle trolleys in North Albany and North Troy car barns left Albany without public transportation.
Several enterprising automobile car owners started a “jitney service” and charged riders 10 to 25 cents to drive people across town.
A three-day riot on the streets of Albany started. Mayor James A. Watts ordered the Albany Police force to maintain order, yet violence continued in Albany and Troy as trolleys attempted to make their runs.
Trolleys were cut, switches were clogged, and cars were stoned. Policemen were assigned a 12-hour-a-day duty. State Troopers were called in.
Near the final days, about 300 men, women, and children armed with stones and bottles gathered outside the building where newly employed UTC workers were housed. The recently retired police captain, John T. Begley, on duty at the time, recalled the thunderous sound of about 150 mounted Troopers galloping down Broadway and charging into the crowd.
People dispersed quickly. No one was injured. The Troopers stayed three days and that was the beginning of the end of the violence, but not the end of the strike.
Although violence began in smaller episodes and trolleys had no schedules, it was a long labor dispute that never came to a decisive end. Citizens urged UTC to arbitrate. Many families were without salaries. Just a small number of the original employees were ever rehired.
By 1922, however, the city of Albany was dealing with a new problem that overshadowed the trolley strike. Motor buses were being considered that would eventually bring an end to the electric trolley in the city.
Twenty-five years after the Great Trolley Strike ended, Albany’s government authorized a renewal of bus franchises, and trolleys and their tracks started to be removed from the city. In September of 1946, Trolley 834 made its last run through the city.
Albany residents, including this historian, lined the old trolley line, and awaited the final clang, clang of the trolley’s bell.
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An early view of the District 4 schoolhouse that still stands on Willow Street. Built in 1847, it was the first two-room schoolhouse in town. It became the Guilderland Town Hall in 1954, and then the New York State Troopers barracks in 1972.
The town hall in Guilderland transferred its offices from the building in this story that was on Willow Street and had, since 1847, been the first two-room schoolhouse District 4. It is one of the most historic structures in town and had been originally one room. It is now occupied by New York State Troopers.
Edward W. Chesebro became the principal of the new school in 1847. Here are some of Chesebro's comments about his pupils from a letter dated Feb. 21, 1847.
"I am still plodding on the pedagogical path....such an ignorant school, ignorant of all the first principles of elementary studies, I think never was collected together before in Christendom. I have 97 different pupils. My compensation is $1.50 per scholar for the term of 72 days and board myself." ( This would amount to about $2 a day for the graduate of the second class of the Albany Normal School).
Chesebro goes on, “They are about the most respectful scholars I have ever had, and are the best disposition of scholars yet, yet how lamentable all this ignorance, I have gratification to know they are advancing in some of their studies quite rapidly, particularly reading, grammar, arithmetic.
“This school has an average of about 70. Since I have taught here, I have had about 97 different pupils. The District has 166 children aged between 5 and 16 years. I have a class of 41 in the ‘Village Reader’ — half reading one morning, and half the next. I have a class of 15 in 'Child Guide' which reads once a day; two classes in 'First Reader' which read semi-daily, one to myself and one to my assistant.
“I have a class of 12 pupils who commenced at the foundation and have arrived at the dignity of 'reading.’ I have three classes in arithmetic, the first in 'Perkins,’ the second in 'Smith's.’ I have two classes in grammar, and three classes in geography.
“Besides these, I have a class of a dozen to whom I lecture upon ‘Natural Philosophy’ two evenings a week. The space of an hour after school Wednesday afternoon is appropriated to general exercises; that is, we have no lesson and I talk to them on geography, give them a lesson on drawing, exchange pictures, have a lesson on normal chart, singing and composition and reading.
“Wednesday the boys meet and have declamation. And so we go — a burdensome job. My assistant is Miss Rhoda Ann Jackson from Seward, Schoharie Co., who attends school as a pupil.”
Before the two-room schoolhouse was built on Willow Street, an earlier schoolhouse stood on the site, built in about 1800. It is referred to by an earlier author, who was born two doors north on Willow Street when the town was called Dowesburg.
He was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, son of Major Lawrence Schoolcraft, and cousin of Congressman John L. Schoolcraft whose house on Western Avenue is now being restored by the town.
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft wrote the poem "Iosco" that included:
"Village schoolhouse, youth's most dear essay
with ruddy gleam arose besides the way,
But waning years, and fortune's iron frown
With slow decay have struck the mansion down;
And where it stood, the late increasing moor
Had scattered thistles ’round the fallen door."
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft became an explorer, geologist, discoverer of the true source of the Mississippi River, and Indian Agent for the United States territory at St. Sault Marie. He was a great authority on American Indians and wrote several books on the topic.
The story is long and full about the complete Schoolcraft family in the town of Guilderland. The key that opened the door to the school that both Henry and John Schoolcraft attended is pictured with this story. This historian is still looking for it!
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A huge hello and thank-you to the Guilderland Transfer Station and the town’s highway department, and to all the men, women, and friends of those departments who carried out their super Saturday morning shredding and hazardous waste collection day. It was wonderful!
When I arrived about 9:20 a.m. at the entrance road and saw the amazing number of cars in line, I was astonished. However, it took me only about 15 minutes to get through the line and be met by the men who took my shredding and hazardous-waste materials from the trunk of my car with aplomb and a smile.
The organization of that huge town effort was well thought out and, when I think of all the clean attics, basements, and garages in the town of Guilderland, I say again, "A warm thank-you to all who took part in the event!"
I was home by 9:45 a.m.! I would be interested to know just how many cars and vans showed up to deliver their worth.
Controlling animals
This month, I was handed three metal dog tags dated 1951, 1953, and 1955. They seemed a bit worn and faded.
Do dog tags have to be turned in when a dog "moves on?" A trip to the animal shelter seems where I might get that answer.
At the first actual meeting of the town of Guilderland held April 5, 1803 at "Good Hank Apple's Tap Room" in Guilderland Center, the following laws were created with regulations regarding animals:
— Resolution 1: Resolved, that it shall not be lawful for hogs to run at large beyond the enclosure of the owner;
— Resolution 2: Resolved, that stallions of the age of two years and upwards shall not be suffered to go at large beyond the enclosure of the owner, under the penalty of $5;
— Resolution 3: Resolved., that it shall be lawful for any person or persons to cut or geld any ram that may be found going at large beyond the enclosure of the owner from the 15th day of August to the last day of November, or any time within that space;
— Resolution 4: Resolved, that a bounty of $30 shall be paid by this town to any person killing a wolf running wild within said town. (The bounty on wolves was no idle gesture, according to the late Arthur Gregg, Guilderland’s long-time town historian. There were plenty of wolves roaming around the Helderbergs and the Pine Bush, awaiting the opportunity to clean out a farmer’s entire flock); and
— Resolution 5: Resolved, that the compensation to Fence Viewers shall be at the rate of $1.25 for every day that they or them shall be acting in that capacity.
Nicholas V. Mynderse was the supervisor at that time.
And we all, or most of us, know where the Mynderse House was and still is, on Route 146 between Guilderland Center and Altamont.
There is no mention of laws regarding dogs or cats from that first town meeting. The animal shelter is on my list for tomorrow.
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The Enterprise — Michael Koff
The Knaggs Farm, on Route 20 in Guilderland, was the site of religious camp meetings in the mid-19th Century and is still the site of modern gatherings, according to Alice Begley, Guilderland’s town historian.
Apropos! Great! A column concerning the first class to graduate from Albany Normal School in 1845 just emerged from old yellowed files in this historian's desk. How did I miss this one for so long?
The Normal School in Albany was a new school for students who wanted to become teachers. A letter tells of final examinations and the number of graduates granted a “sheepskin.” The writer’s name was Edward Chesebro of Guilderland.
Chesebro was to begin seven weeks of vacation and was also preparing for a "camp meeting at the old place" somewhere near Fullers-French's Hollow. That "place" was an old farm and house out Western Turnpike near where the Watervliet Reservoir is today. The house still stands.
Whole families spent an entire week there, renting one of the shanties or a tent, cooking by campfire, and attending religious services held every afternoon and evening. It was a picnic, a holiday, and a pioneer's Chautauqua with a chance to meet old and new friends, wrote the late Guilderland historian Arthur Gregg.
But the primary purpose was by no means neglected — that of “quickening their religious experience and of bringing new converts into the fold.” The camp meeting of ancient Methodism was the principal source of their ever-increasing membership.
Another exciting feature of the vacation was that, of all locations and resorts, Principal Page, head of the Normal School, forerunner of the University at Albany, had selected the Chesebro homestead on the Normanskill as a boarding place for his children and their nurse.
Chesebro’s letter
On Guilderland, Aug. 28, 1845, Edward Chesbro wrote to his brother-in-law, John, who had married his sister.
John Dearest,
We received your last a few days ago and hasten to reply. Allen [another brother] wishes me to say to you that your agency in regard to your school matter meets his entire concurrence and what time they will want him so he may make his plans to suit circumstances. He will still be obliged to rely on you for the desired information.
Business is all topsy-turvy preparing for camp meeting which starts next meeting at the old place. Everybody is going to make his fortune this time by putting up shanties. They are now clearing the ground, putting up tents, fixing up watering place etc. etc.
The Normal School terminated day before yesterday by an examination that lasted four days, and I intend for the ensuing seven weeks prior to the next term to remain at home. There were 34 graduates at the end of the term and if I had seen fit to leave the institution I too, even I as ignorant as I am, could have bought off their "sheepskin,” but I would not have it under existing circumstances.
The Executive Committee say they have been very lenient in granting certificates at this time, but in the future they will require higher standard of qualifications. So I am doomed to another half year at Normal School.
Accompanying this you will find a "District School Journal " containing the catalogue with the graduates marked.
You would probably like to hear when Pa and Ma and Uncle Robert and Aunt Cataline will be to see you but I can't at this time because of the camp meeting. After that also Mr. Page's children and nurse will be spending a week or more.
I congratulate you on your respite from "Candleism.” Respects to Polly, Charles and the children. Does Angelina want any flower seeds saved? If so, What kind?
You would probably call it news to know that Mr. Powell was married a few days since to Widow Throop from Schoharie. Her first name was Seiby. They have commenced to keep house in his new house which Henry Carhart and John Moak built for him this summer down on his place near Harry Mains.
Aunt Laviana Chapman wants me to send her "hopping" compliments to you all and her "hopping" love to little Susan.
Yours etc. etc.
Edward W. Chesebro
“Candleism” was the term for the transition from candles to oil.
Widow Throop was the widow of Washington Throop of Schoharie who operated the Throop Drugstore there. That family operated the famous Throop Drugstore for 136 years. The drugstore was removed to the Albany Pharmacy College and reconstructed for future generations with fixtures, patent medicines, and drawers filled with materia medica of more than 100 years ago.
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Apropos! Great! A column concerning the first class to graduate from Albany Normal School in 1845 just emerged from old yellowed files in this historian's desk. How did I miss this one for so long?
The Normal School in Albany was a new school for students who wanted to become teachers. A letter tells of final examinations and the number of graduates granted a “sheepskin.” The writer’s name was Edward Chesebro of Guilderland.
Chesebro was to begin seven weeks of vacation and was also preparing for a "camp meeting at the old place" somewhere near Fullers-French's Hollow. That "place" was an old farm and house out Western Turnpike near where the Watervliet Reservoir is today. The house still stands.
Whole families spent an entire week there, renting one of the shanties or a tent, cooking by campfire, and attending religious services held every afternoon and evening. It was a picnic, a holiday, and a pioneer's Chautauqua with a chance to meet old and new friends, wrote the late Guilderland historian Arthur Gregg.
But the primary purpose was by no means neglected — that of “quickening their religious experience and of bringing new converts into the fold.” The camp meeting of ancient Methodism was the principal source of their ever-increasing membership.
Another exciting feature of the vacation was that, of all locations and resorts, Principal Page, head of the Normal School, forerunner of the University at Albany, had selected the Chesebro homestead on the Normanskill as a boarding place for his children and their nurse.
Chesebro’s letter
On Guilderland, Aug. 28, 1845, Edward Chesbro wrote to his brother-in-law, John, who had married his sister.
John Dearest,
We received your last a few days ago and hasten to reply. Allen [another brother] wishes me to say to you that your agency in regard to your school matter meets his entire concurrence and what time they will want him so he may make his plans to suit circumstances. He will still be obliged to rely on you for the desired information.
Business is all topsy-turvy preparing for camp meeting which starts next meeting at the old place. Everybody is going to make his fortune this time by putting up shanties. They are now clearing the ground, putting up tents, fixing up watering place etc. etc.
The Normal School terminated day before yesterday by an examination that lasted four days, and I intend for the ensuing seven weeks prior to the next term to remain at home. There were 34 graduates at the end of the term and if I had seen fit to leave the institution I too, even I as ignorant as I am, could have bought off their "sheepskin,” but I would not have it under existing circumstances.
The Executive Committee say they have been very lenient in granting certificates at this time, but in the future they will require higher standard of qualifications. So I am doomed to another half year at Normal School.
Accompanying this you will find a "District School Journal " containing the catalogue with the graduates marked.
You would probably like to hear when Pa and Ma and Uncle Robert and Aunt Cataline will be to see you but I can't at this time because of the camp meeting. After that also Mr. Page's children and nurse will be spending a week or more.
I congratulate you on your respite from "Candleism.” Respects to Polly, Charles and the children. Does Angelina want any flower seeds saved? If so, What kind?
You would probably call it news to know that Mr. Powell was married a few days since to Widow Throop from Schoharie. Her first name was Seiby. They have commenced to keep house in his new house which Henry Carhart and John Moak built for him this summer down on his place near Harry Mains.
Aunt Laviana Chapman wants me to send her "hopping" compliments to you all and her "hopping" love to little Susan.
Yours etc. etc.
Edward W. Chesebro
“Candleism” was the term for the transition from candles to oil.
Widow Throop was the widow of Washington Throop of Schoharie who operated the Throop Drugstore there. That family operated the famous Throop Drugstore for 136 years. The drugstore was removed to the Albany Pharmacy College and reconstructed for future generations with fixtures, patent medicines, and drawers filled with materia medica of more than 100 years ago.
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Apropos! Great! A column concerning the first class to graduate from Albany Normal School in 1845 just emerged from old yellowed files in this historian's desk. How did I miss this one for so long?
The Normal School in Albany was a new school for students who wanted to become teachers. A letter tells of final examinations and the number of graduates granted a “sheepskin.” The writer’s name was Edward Chesebro of Guilderland.
Chesebro was to begin seven weeks of vacation and was also preparing for a "camp meeting at the old place" somewhere near Fullers-French's Hollow. That "place" was an old farm and house out Western Turnpike near where the Watervliet Reservoir is today. The house still stands.
Whole families spent an entire week there, renting one of the shanties or a tent, cooking by campfire, and attending religious services held every afternoon and evening. It was a picnic, a holiday, and a pioneer's Chautauqua with a chance to meet old and new friends, wrote the late Guilderland historian Arthur Gregg.
But the primary purpose was by no means neglected — that of “quickening their religious experience and of bringing new converts into the fold.” The camp meeting of ancient Methodism was the principal source of their ever-increasing membership.
Another exciting feature of the vacation was that, of all locations and resorts, Principal Page, head of the Normal School, forerunner of the University at Albany, had selected the Chesebro homestead on the Normanskill as a boarding place for his children and their nurse.
Chesebro’s letter
On Guilderland, Aug. 28, 1845, Edward Chesbro wrote to his brother-in-law, John, who had married his sister.
John Dearest,
We received your last a few days ago and hasten to reply. Allen [another brother] wishes me to say to you that your agency in regard to your school matter meets his entire concurrence and what time they will want him so he may make his plans to suit circumstances. He will still be obliged to rely on you for the desired information.
Business is all topsy-turvy preparing for camp meeting which starts next meeting at the old place. Everybody is going to make his fortune this time by putting up shanties. They are now clearing the ground, putting up tents, fixing up watering place etc. etc.
The Normal School terminated day before yesterday by an examination that lasted four days, and I intend for the ensuing seven weeks prior to the next term to remain at home. There were 34 graduates at the end of the term and if I had seen fit to leave the institution I too, even I as ignorant as I am, could have bought off their "sheepskin,” but I would not have it under existing circumstances.
The Executive Committee say they have been very lenient in granting certificates at this time, but in the future they will require higher standard of qualifications. So I am doomed to another half year at Normal School.
Accompanying this you will find a "District School Journal " containing the catalogue with the graduates marked.
You would probably like to hear when Pa and Ma and Uncle Robert and Aunt Cataline will be to see you but I can't at this time because of the camp meeting. After that also Mr. Page's children and nurse will be spending a week or more.
I congratulate you on your respite from "Candleism.” Respects to Polly, Charles and the children. Does Angelina want any flower seeds saved? If so, What kind?
You would probably call it news to know that Mr. Powell was married a few days since to Widow Throop from Schoharie. Her first name was Seiby. They have commenced to keep house in his new house which Henry Carhart and John Moak built for him this summer down on his place near Harry Mains.
Aunt Laviana Chapman wants me to send her "hopping" compliments to you all and her "hopping" love to little Susan.
Yours etc. etc.
Edward W. Chesebro
“Candleism” was the term for the transition from candles to oil.
Widow Throop was the widow of Washington Throop of Schoharie who operated the Throop Drugstore there. That family operated the famous Throop Drugstore for 136 years. The drugstore was removed to the Albany Pharmacy College and reconstructed for future generations with fixtures, patent medicines, and drawers filled with materia medica of more than 100 years ago.
This historian spoke this morning with Earl Brinkman who is the grandson of William Brinkman, one of the first historians of the town of Guilderland. Earl came to the Town Hall about seven years ago to give me picture postcards of Guilderland and Albany that had belonged to his grandfather, William.
Earl himself is now 97 years old and remembers the post cards well.
One of the Guilderland postcards was of a young women's camp headquarters in Altamont and several others were pictures taken from paintings depicting downtown Albany between 1805 and 1820 and the Dutch Church that stood until 1806 at the foot of State Street.
Mine Lot Falls, Helmes Crevice, and the Tory Cave of the Helderbergs were pictured, too. And so were State Street in Albany, an 1820 view of the Hudson River shores, and houses with "half-doors" called Dutch doors. Seventeen postcards in all.
A corner of State Street in Albany was known as "Old Elm Tree Corner" because of the tree that stood there for over 100 years, planted in 1760 by Phillip Livingston who lived in the corner house beneath its shadow. Later this house was bought by Noah Webster and for many years was the center of great activity in the printing and publishing line. In the distance at the foot of Broadway can be seen the Third Reformed Protestant Dutch Church.
The ship "Half Moon" is pictured at anchor in the Mauritius, now called the Hudson River. The postcard was produced in 1924 for Albany’s tercentenary, with the image taken from a painting depicting the site of Albany in 1609. A Dutch trading post was established in in 1624, which was the beginning of the city of Albany.
A special thank-you to the Brinkmans who have added much to the town of Guilderland and the neighboring city of Albany.
Historian’s note: In my new book, "More From The Historian's Desk," is a story on William Brinkman titled "Remembering Brinkman" on page 3. The book can be found at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza.
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The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
Red Men relics: A badge and a receipt for dues are artifacts of a fraternal organization that once flourished in Guilderland. The Improved Order of Red Men, founded in 1834, boasted half of a million members in the Great Depression and now has just 15,000.
GUILDERLAND — Many new residents in the town of Guilderland have probably never heard of the Red Men's Wigwam, the historic building that was on the south side of Route 20, east of the Hamilton Union Church from 1850 to 1966.
Since we have just received an historic item associated with the Red Men's Wigwam, we will tell new and other residents about it.
A true Red Men's badge was brought to this historian by Greg Weir, Parks Department supervisor. It is pictured with this story. He received it from someone who apparently was associated with that group. The Guilderland town name is on the badge.
The Redmen, a fraternal group, and its auxiliary, the Degree of Pocahontas, met in the building for years. Older residents might remember the Indian garb used by the Redmen for ceremonial functions.
The building had housed many organizations through Guilderland's early days and had been the hub of the town's social activities.
Red Men's Wigwam had been a Baptist Church in 1875 and was then purchased by The Good Templars, a temperance society. It was also once a Catholic Church called St. Ambrose Church.
In the World War I I era, women of Guilderland met in the Wigwam to roll bandages and make clothes for refugees. Town organizations held their meetings in the old building, and it was used as a voting place for a short time. It was also rented out for an occasional party.
The Red Men’s fraternity can trace its origin back to 1765, and is descended from the Sons of Liberty. These were men who concealed their identities to work "underground" to establish freedom and liberty in the early Colonies. They had patterned their group after the great Iroquois Confederacy democratic governing body. In 1834, the name was changed to Improved Order of Red Men, and they kept the customs of Native Americans as their fraternity.
In the early 1950s, Red Men's Hall was condemned for public assembly.
The tiny piece of land went on Albany County rolls for back taxes. Guilderland records showed that 1966 taxes were $28.69. The building stood as a ghostly derelict until it was destroyed by fire.
The iron marker that stood on the highway telling the history of the building was demolished by a large automotive vehicle. The marker awaits restoring to tell of the Red Men’s Wigwam that had a unique history in the Town of Guilderland.
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Do these three faces belong to Frederick Crounse? Alice Begley wonders.
When Doctor Frederick Crounse's old barn was still up, curious people stopped by to visit it a lot!
Old barns are filled with belongings of all sorts of things, especially things that the house owner or new house owner want to get rid of: cutlery, old papers, magazines, books, household furniture, old crock pitchers, old pictures, and more.
This historian has been recently given a plastic bag filled with old pictures presumably once owned by a past owner of the Crounse house. (The house, which is in disrepair, is currently owned jointly by the town of Guilderland and the village of Altamont.)
An Altamont resident told me she had visited the barn just before it was destroyed, and that a group of old pictures were scattered all over the barn floor. She started picking them up and realized that they could be important to the history of the house. She took them home, put them in a bag, and stored them in a closet.
A few years later, they were still in her closet! So the historian of the town was called, and I am hoping the pictures are who I think they might be.
Most of the shots were taken in downtown Albany photography studios. No one had cameras then as we do now. Brown's Photography; Pearsall's Photography of 69 South Pearl Street; MacDonald’s Photography; and Robinau Photography and C.C. Schoonmaker Photograph,y both of North Pearl Street were all named on the pictures.
Five tintypes were included along with five postcards of the State Normal School, the Washington Park lakehouse, Thompson's Lake, West Point, and a "Glimpse of Western Avenue in Albany."
A picture of a young man in what looked like a War of 1812 uniform, and a hard-covered 3-by-5-inch child's book titled "Anna and the Kittens" by Mrs. L.M. Childs were included in the treasures.
The front inside page of the book is dated August 3, 1883. It says “Prize 4” and the following poem is written in pencil:
"Among the green bushes and blooming on bushes
Hi O! Hi O! Hi O!
I'll find me a treasure
To give me much pleasure
Hi O Hi O Hi O
All of these articles are in very good shape.
I took several of the tintypes to Jim Gardner at the Enterprise Print & Photo shop for development. One of them is included with this story. The beautiful dress worn by the woman identifies the financial status of the family.
None of the photos are identified. Perhaps readers can do that. I plan to meet with Marijo Dougherty of the Altamont Museum & Archives to deliver the wonderful findings there.
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Baron von Steuben, born in Prussia as Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben, in 1730 had connections to Guilderland. He died at the age of 64
Baron von Steuben, known for his knowledge of military discipline, has not been widely known in the Hellebergh history annals. However, he was touted for his military skills, and he did have a great connection with Frederick Crounse, one of the town of Guilderland and Altamont's prominent ancestors.
Born in 1730, von Steuben was educated by the Jesuits and became a Prussian officer. Benjamin Franklin recommended him to George Washington as a Lieutenant General. Schooled in the armies of Frederick the Great, he brought invaluable military knowledge to the disheartened troops of Washington at Valley Forge.
On Feb. 23, 1778, von Steuben reported to Valley Forge and was put in charge of Washington's battered army encampment for training. He wrote a training manual, drilled the men hard, and whipped the army into shape. Coming without a contract or monetary promises, he waited many years after the war for Congressional recognition.
His adopted son and aide-de-camp was Colonel William North who had a mansion on Duane Lake near Duanesburgh.
While he would visit his son in the Hellebergh area, Baron von Steuben, would also call on one of the most famous German men in this area, Frederick Crounse, the man renowned then for furnishing food from Hellebergh farms for the victorious armies at Saratoga; the man who had also helped many captured Hessians to find work here and at Schoharie, and the man who had been one of the first members of the German Society of New York State founded by Baron von Steuben in 1784.
Historian's Note: This information was found in an Altamont Enterprise of July 9, 1976 written by the late Guilderland historian Arthur Gregg.