New Yorkers Rejected Black Voting Rights

January 30, 2013admin

In 1846, New York voters rejected equal voting rights for black males by a wide margin &#8212- 71% to 29%.

This rejection helped persuade Gerrit Smith to start his Timbuctoo colony in the Adirondacks. His idea was to get free blacks land enough to meet the $250 property requirement. (All property requirements were abolished for white males.)

Meanwhile, voters in some parts of New York did support equal voting rights, and voted to end the property requirement that kept more than 90% of free black men from voting.

The North Country showed the strongest support. Read more →

Farmers Museum Hosting Farm Museum Association

January 29, 2013admin

The Mid-Atlantic 2013 Regional Meeting of the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) will be held March 8th and 9th, at The Farmers’ Museum, in Cooperstown, New York.

Founded in 1970, the ALHFAM serves those involved in living historical farms, agricultural museums and outdoor museums of history and folklife. Read more →

Franklin County: The Trial of Allen Mooney

January 29, 2013admin

On May 12, 1903, Franklin County attorney Robert M. Moore was at wit’s end. After two years of haggling, all possibilities had been exhausted, and he knew his client was in serious trouble. There was nothing left but a claim of insanity. If that failed, a man was sure to die.

The client was Allen Mooney, and his crime in Saranac Lake became one of the most talked-about murders in North Country lore. It’s not a particularly complex tale, but its salacious and violent aspects guaranteed plenty of media coverage. Legally, it was pretty much a cut-and-dried case. Mooney admitted the shootings, and there was plenty of evidence against him. Read more →

Johnstown: St. Patricks Masonic Lodge

January 28, 2013admin

I noticed that there was a report in the Leader Herald on the Johnstown Masons of St. Patrick’s lodge, so I thought this bit of history might be timely:

St. Patrick’s Lodge No. 8 (now called St. Patrick’s Lodge No. 4) in Johnstown, NY, founded by Sir William Johnson, is one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in the State of New York. Sir William Johnson was raised a Master Mason on April 10, 1766, in Union Lodge No. 1, located in Albany, New York, (now Mount Vernon Lodge No. 3).Augustine Prevost, a brother of the Union Lodge, wrote to Johnson a few weeks earlier, on March 23, 1766, informing him that Johnson’s friend and fellow Masonic brother Normand McLeod, had formally notified Union Lodge of Johnson’s desire to be a master of a lodge in Johnstown. Prevost noted in the letter: Read more →

James Hazen Hyde: A Gilded Age Scandal

January 28, 2013admin

This portrait has captured the imaginations of New-York Historical Society visitors. Who was this dapper man, with his seductively villainous good looks? Why this dashing, bold pose for what seems to be an official portrait?

The man is James Hazen Hyde, though that name may not ring a bell these days. The son of Henry Baldwin Hyde, the founder of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, James was famous for his social and financial success, and the dramatic scandal that caused his downfall. Read more →

This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

January 25, 2013admin

This Weeks Top New York History News

January 25, 2013admin

UGRR Conference: Milestones on the Road to Freedom

January 24, 2013admin

The 2013 Underground Railroad Public History Conference in the Capital District this year is marking three major milestones: the Emancipation Proclamation 150 years ago, the death of Harriet Tubman 100 years ago, and the civil rights March on Washington 50 years ago.

The annual conference is the major Underground Railroad gathering each year in New York State. It will hold sessions in Albany and Troy, starting Friday, April 12, and finishing on Sunday, April 14. Read more →

The Leadership Role of Municipal Historians

January 24, 2013admin

As the new year gets underway, it is appropriate to pause and reflect on open issues from years gone by. I am referring now to the role in 2013 of the county historian as a custodian for New York State history as we forge ahead with our Path through History Project.

The starting point for this investigation is an article which appeared on September 12, 2012 just after the summer launch in August entitled &#8220New York State’s Curious, Century-Old Law Requiring Every City and Town to Have a Historian&#8221 by Amanda Erickson in The Atlantic Cities. Read more →

Orange County: St. George’s Cemetery in Newburgh

January 23, 2013admin

When I lived in Boston, I discovered that cemeteries are truly historical treasures to be protected and maintained. While living there, I spent many hours at the Park Street Burying Ground admiring the unusual headstones and looking at the old names which appeared on them.

Usually I was not alone, as other people, many of them tourists, were doing the same. Early on, Bostonians learned a valuable lesson that these final resting places could also be a source of tourist revenue. Read more →