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Roy Crego

About Roy Crego

Roy Crego is a researcher and writer focusing on New York history, especially that of the western Adirondacks. He is a member of the Town of Webb Historical Association and a direct descendant of Adirondack guide Richard C. Crego (1853-1925).

History Corrected: Adirondack Guide Charles H Smith & King Edward VII

January 3, 2023 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

New Bremen, Atlas of Lewis CountyHistory often makes a muddle of people’s lives. One such example is Charles H. Smith (ca. 1832 – 1911) of Petries Corners in the town of Watson, Lewis County, NY. Charles was well known as an Adirondack guide in the Beaver River/Stillwater area of the Western Adirondacks.

He lived to a ripe old age as an elder statesman of the guiding fraternity. But confusing reports of his age, a story about guiding for royalty, and a common first and last name have obscured his actual accomplishments. [Read more…] about History Corrected: Adirondack Guide Charles H Smith & King Edward VII

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Boonville, botany, Brown's Tract, Horatio Seymour, Lewis County, Stillwater, Watson

Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator

November 7, 2021 by Roy Crego 7 Comments

Exhibit 1_Sheppard Portrait Jack Sheppard came to the Fulton Chain region of the Western Adirondacks after roaming the West as a youth and then served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

These experiences equipped Sheppard with the knowledge, skills, and social network to become a successful guide and enabled him to shift his occupation from guide to innkeeper, to builder, to businessman. He never married or raised a family, but when he left the Adirondacks in 1892 he left behind a long list of devoted friends that reads like a virtual who’s who of Adirondack history. [Read more…] about Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: 117th NY Volunteers, Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Brown's Tract, Civil War, Environmental History, Fourth Lake, Genealogy, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, hunting, Moose River, Mountain Lions, Old Forge, Steamboating, surveying, Verplanck Colvin, wolves

Shoemaking to Sewing Machines: One Central NY Cobbler’s Path to Prosperity

July 26, 2021 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

Russel Crego & Son Business Card, c.1885Shoemaking was a common trade for centuries, but quickly became a casualty of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. The development of the sewing machine in the 1840s, by Elias Howe, Isaac Singer (from Pittstown, Rensselaer County, NY) and others revolutionized the textile industry.

Machines that could stitch leather for shoes soon also appeared and events like the Civil War spurred the technology on. The U.S. Army ordered thousands of machine-made boots for its soldiers. During this time, Russel Crego (1820-1892) was one New York shoemaker who made a very successful leap from making shoes by hand to selling sewing machines, not only to factories but to the home market. [Read more…] about Shoemaking to Sewing Machines: One Central NY Cobbler’s Path to Prosperity

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Chenango County, Industrial History, Manhattan, New York City, NYC, Utica

Bates Tavern: A Lost Oneida County Landmark

August 26, 2020 by Roy Crego 14 Comments

Salmon Bates GravestoneThe Bates Tavern, named for innkeeper Salmon Bates (1774-1858), was in Northern Oneida County, just south of Ava Corners, then part of the Town of Boonville.

Bates was born in Connecticut and had made his way there with his wife Annie Campbell and their young children, by way of New Lebanon, Columbia County, NY, around 1805. They soon opened a tavern in their house; a place to rest the horses and quench the thirst. [Read more…] about Bates Tavern: A Lost Oneida County Landmark

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Mohawk River, Oneida County

F. C. Moore’s Big Moose Lake Retreat

April 27, 2020 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

big-moose-campIn the late 19th century, the Adirondacks became a prime summer destination for sportsmen and their families who enjoyed the region’s hunting, fishing, and fresh air. By the 1880s, wealthy businessmen were building permanent camps on even the remotest lakes, including Big Moose, near Old Forge.

Sometime after 1880 local guides Jack Sheppard and Richard C. Crego built a summer camp on South Bay of Big Moose Lake for F. C. Moore of New York City. [Read more…] about F. C. Moore’s Big Moose Lake Retreat

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Architecture, Big Moose Lake

The Shooting of Adirondack Guide Alex White

April 19, 2020 by Roy Crego 6 Comments

Alex WhiteSunday, October 22, 1916, seemed like a good day for a deer hunt at the Adirondack League Club, near Old Forge.  Walter D. Gelshenen of Manhassett, Long Island, and his brother-in-law William S. Lawson of New York City hired two local guides, Alexander White and Howard Stell.

They started out early for Fernow Mountain, east of Little Moose Lake and just south of Mountain Pond. [Read more…] about The Shooting of Adirondack Guide Alex White

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, New York City, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack League Club, Adirondack Park, Crime and Justice, hunting, Old Forge

The Crego Family: Three Generations of Adirondack Guides

April 15, 2020 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

crego-farm-courtesy-Joyce-Entremont  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, three generations of the Crego family worked as wilderness guides in the Western Adirondacks. Along the way, they raised families, worked for prominent employers, adapted to new forms of transportation, and helped lay the groundwork for the conservation movement in New York State. [Read more…] about The Crego Family: Three Generations of Adirondack Guides

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack Park, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Boonville, Brown's Tract, Fish and Game Commission, fishing, Fourth Lake, Fulton Chain, hunting, Lewis County, Moose River, Old Forge, Oneida Fish Hatchery

Father Fitz: Missionary to the Adirondacks

April 11, 2020 by Roy Crego 3 Comments

Rev-John-FitzgeraldThe Rev. John G. Fitzgerald, or “Father Fitz” as he was known to contemporaries, was the first resident Roman Catholic priest in Old Forge. He is fondly remembered as a missionary to the widely scattered working people of the region and as a prolific builder of churches.

His obituary in 1925 and local histories rightly focus on his time in Old Forge, but Father Fitzgerald had a significant career prior to that. His early assignments reveal a resourceful and energetic clergyman who made an impact across the Adirondacks and North Country. He served the people of northern New York State for a total of 49 years providing faith, culture, and kindness. [Read more…] about Father Fitz: Missionary to the Adirondacks

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Adirondacks, Ausable Forks, Immigration, Irish History, Logging, Old Forge, Religion, Religious History

The Union Club’s Camp on Big Moose Lake

April 9, 2020 by Roy Crego 2 Comments

The-Old-Club-Camp-courtesy-Roger-and-Nancy-PrattThe Club Camp is often mentioned as the first permanent structure built on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. The word permanent is rather ironic as this hunting and fishing establishment had a relatively short history of just 28 years. Today the camp’s origins, visitors, and sad end seem largely forgotten. [Read more…] about The Union Club’s Camp on Big Moose Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, New York City Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Fires, Fisheries, NYC, ornithology, Union Club, zoology

A Short History of Club Camp on Big Moose Lake

October 24, 2019 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

The Old Club Camp courtesy Roger and Nancy PrattThe Club Camp is often mentioned as the first permanent structure built on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. The word permanent is rather ironic because this hunting and fishing establishment had a relatively short history of just 28 years. Today the camp’s origins, visitors, and sad end seem largely forgotten.

According to Joseph F. Grady’s The Adirondacks: Fulton Chain-Big Moose Region (1933), the Club Camp was constructed in 1878 at the request of several sportsmen from New York City who had been spending summers on the lake in previous years.

At the time, Big Moose, near Old Forge, NY, was difficult to reach — the railroad would not arrive in the area until 1892. Before 1878, only lean-tos or shanties were available on Big Moose, notably that of businessman William “Billy” Dutton, which was built in 1876, and that of guide Jack Sheppard which was set up around the same time. [Read more…] about A Short History of Club Camp on Big Moose Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Big Moose, Fires, fishing

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