History, Natural History & the Arts
Trivia clue: He was reportedly the first New York governor to address contestants of a New York spelling bee.
Correct response: Who is Nathan Miller? On August 19th, 1922, The Post-Star of Glens Falls reported that Miller would speak September 12th at a dinner at the New York State Fair for contestants in the state spelling bee. [Read more…] about Humorous Reporting About Historic Politicians
President Grover Cleveland spent some years in Clinton, Oneida County, NY, as a boy, while his father Rev. Richard Cleveland and his family lived at 26 Utica Street (the house was marked by the Clinton Historical Society in 1968).
Rev. Cleveland had arrived there in 1850 to take a position as Secretary of the American Home Missionary Society. The job required a lot of traveling which eventually took its toll on Rev. Cleveland’s health. [Read more…] about Grover Cleveland’s Indiscretion, Oneida Co Connections
It has long been the conventional wisdom that the Irish in America trend Democratic in their voting tendencies. This was more true in the late 19th Century and in the 1880s, Republican Party election committees were hell-bent on mitigating that trend. [Read more…] about Collections Mystery: The Emancipator Newspaper in 1888
On the morning of August 28, 1888 residents of Dimmock Hollow (Ostego County) woke up knowing that it was going to be a memorable day. They couldn’t have known how right they were. [Read more…] about A Cannon Explodes: 19th Century Electioneering In Otsego County
Caroline Scott Harrison, the wife of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, died in the fall of 1892, after a trip to the Adirondacks failed to cure her tuberculosis. Her death left the White House without a first lady. Harrison’s daughter, Mary Scott McKee, filled that role for the last few months of Harrison’s term (he lost his bid for re-election that November). In those days, presidential terms ended in March, so Mrs. McKee carried on as first lady for about five months.
She and her husband, James Robert McKee, and their two children Benjamin Harrison McKee and Mary Lodge McKee had been living at the White House during her father’s term. The presidential grandchildren – especially Benjamin, who got labeled as “Baby McKee” – were media sensations. (Though it was often stated that he had been born in the White House, both he and his sister were actually born in Indiana.) [Read more…] about Baby McKee: Early American Child Celebrity
In the summer of 1892, the wife of President Benjamin Harrison, Caroline Scott Harrison, became extremely ill. She primarily suffered from tuberculosis, but experienced complications from pleurisy and the accumulation of fluid in her chest. Medical treatment of T. B. at the time mainly amounted to having the patient rest. For this reason, it was felt that a stay in the Adirondacks offered the best chance for restoring the First Lady’s health.
Early in July, the journey from Washington, D.C. to Loon Lake was undertaken, via a special train. The Troy Daily Times dutifully reported on the train’s progress. It arrived in Troy in the wee hours of the morning on July 7, then proceeded to White Creek, Rutland, Vermont, Rouse’s Point, and Malone, reaching the latter place at 10:30 am. There, a crowd that included some local officials met the two-car train, but the President asked that they refrain from cheering, so as not to disturb his sick wife. [Read more…] about A First Lady’s Failed Adirondack Cure