Charlton

Early Saratoga County Inventors & The Patent Office Fire

January 28, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The United States Patent Commission was created on April 10, 1790, to establish a formal method for submitting and indexing patents. Its first three members were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.

As only three people made up the early patent office, the first applications were not closely examined. An inventor simply submitted a written description, a working model, and a $30 fee (equivalent to about $1,000 today). [Read more…] about Early Saratoga County Inventors & The Patent Office Fire

John W. Taylor, New York’s only Speaker of the House

August 13, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Saratoga County resident John W. Taylor twice served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the only New Yorker to ever serve more than 24 hours as Speaker of the House, the leader of that body.*

Taylor was born on March 26, 1784, at home in the town of Charlton (which was still a part of the town of Ballston, Albany County, at the time). An historic marker on Charlton Road roughly marks his birthplace. [Read more…] about John W. Taylor, New York’s only Speaker of the House

John Brotherson & Saratoga County Spiritualism

July 2, 2025 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

A lot of things could be said about John Brotherson, but those who knew him well were unlikely to include “he would be late to his own funeral.” Yet in the middle of the day on October 17, 1887, a group of people waited patiently on a little knoll in Ballston Spa’s Village Cemetery, and he was nowhere to be found.

John had passed away two days earlier at the home of Dr. Charles Inslee Pardee, a relative with whom he spent the winter months in his later years. His death was an unfortunate accident by asphyxiation, caused by John inadvertently leaving a gas valve on when he retired for the night. At his passing at 87, John Brotherson was the senior member of the Saratoga County bar association and a practicing attorney for over fifty years. He was also a prominent Spiritualist. [Read more…] about John Brotherson & Saratoga County Spiritualism

Dawson’s: The Alplaus Kill’s Last Mill

March 26, 2025 by Dave Waite 1 Comment

Local historian W. Bronson Taylor once observed that the three essentials of the early pioneers of western Saratoga County were “a grist mill, a sawmill, and whiskey still.” While there is little mention of stills, Taylor’s point about the mills is borne out in historical records time and time again.

In the town of Charlton, one of these early mills was built by William Dawson on the Crabb Kill, not far above where it enters the Alplaus Kill. Brought into operation as early as 1785, mills would run on this property for the next 120 years. [Read more…] about Dawson’s: The Alplaus Kill’s Last Mill

The 1782 Raid on the Gonzalez Farm in Saratoga County

January 3, 2025 by Dave Waite 4 Comments

On Western Avenue, two miles from the hamlet of West Charlton,in Saratoga County, NY, stands a blue and gold historic marker recalling a tragedy from nearly 250 years ago: [Read more…] about The 1782 Raid on the Gonzalez Farm in Saratoga County

Gideon Hawley: Advocate for Common Schools in New York State

November 11, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Although born in Connecticut in 1785, Gideon Hawley’s family moved to the Town of Ballston in Saratoga County, NY, in 1794 and four years later relocated to a farm in the nearby Town of Charlton.

Gideon worked on the family farm until 1804 when in his own words “too infirm in health for farming,” he entered the newly established Ballston Academy to prepare for college. [Read more…] about Gideon Hawley: Advocate for Common Schools in New York State

The Art of Blacksmithing is Alive at Round Lake Forge

September 16, 2024 by Wendy Hobday Haugh Leave a Comment

For centuries, the welcomed sound of a blacksmith’s hammer rang out in communities large and small where people relied on these skilled iron-workers for everything from cookware, cutlery, carpentry tools, and farming equipment to horseshoes, locks, nails and much more.

Community blacksmiths are a rarity today, but Saratoga County is fortunate to have one of its very own. Colin Roy, proprietor of Round Lake Forge in Charlton, spends his days doing what he loves, a mix of blacksmithing, metal fabrication, and architectural design. [Read more…] about The Art of Blacksmithing is Alive at Round Lake Forge

The Seeley Family: Settlers, Patriots & Missionaries

August 7, 2024 by Dave Waite 1 Comment

In the spring of 1870, Rev. George Augustus Seeley boarded the steamship Colorado in New York harbor bound for Liverpool, England. When he stepped aboard that day, Rev. Seeley was beginning a journey of 8,000 miles to Farrukhabad, India, returning as a missionary to the place of his birth 23 years earlier.

This is a story of how the seeds planted by early settlers and patriots from Charlton, Saratoga County bore fruit as far away as the other side of the globe through the lives of George Augustus, and his ancestors. [Read more…] about The Seeley Family: Settlers, Patriots & Missionaries

The 115th New York: The Iron Hearted Regiment During The Civil War

August 27, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the Civil War, Colonel Simeon Sammons received authority to recruit a regiment in the counties of Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, and Saratoga, with headquarters at Fonda. On August 26, 1862, it mustered into the service of the United States for three years as the 115th New York Infantry Regiment, known as the “Iron-Hearted Regiment.” [Read more…] about The 115th New York: The Iron Hearted Regiment During The Civil War

Saratoga County Granges: The Patrons of Husbandry

June 11, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

The Grange, formally known as “The Patrons of Husbandry,” was introduced to Saratoga County in 1890, twenty-three years after the agricultural organization’s founding and twenty-two years after the nation’s first local chapter was established in Fredonia, Chautauqua County, NY. In the 1880s and into 1890, New York State Grange sent organizers in the field to build up membership. [Read more…] about Saratoga County Granges: The Patrons of Husbandry

361 Votes: Saratoga County’s 1898 Leadership Battle

April 2, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The recent battle for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives left many astounded that it took so many votes to reach a conclusion. However, Saratoga County once went through a situation that makes the House of Representatives battle look like very small potatoes. [Read more…] about 361 Votes: Saratoga County’s 1898 Leadership Battle

When The Yeggs Hit Upstate New York

February 13, 2023 by Dave Waite 4 Comments

It was late on Wednesday, January 19th, 1910, and Police Chief W. R. Bronner was making his evening rounds through the quiet village of Mohawk, in the town of German Flatts, Herkimer County, NY, making sure all was safe for both business and residents.

Somewhere near the intersection of Main and Washington streets, he encountered four men who engaged him in conversation as they all walked along. Before he could resist, he was relieved of his pistol, gagged, and brought into the Masonic Hall billiard room that the Yeggs had broken into earlier in the evening. Once inside, Bronner was bound with wire taken from pictures on the wall. [Read more…] about When The Yeggs Hit Upstate New York

Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

February 1, 2023 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

Around 1800, Philip and Catharine Brotherson arrived in Blue Corners on the western edge of Charlton in Saratoga County. Over the next 40 years, their five children grew to maturity, the last being Benjamin Kissam Brotherson, born in 1819.

At the age of sixteen, Benjamin was hired as a clerk for the dry goods merchant James Winne in Albany, New York. During his time in Albany, he was known as an upstanding young man of good moral character. Three years later, in 1838, he moved to the city of New York and took a job at Union Bank, where he would work for the next twenty years. [Read more…] about Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

Medical Practice in 19th Century Schenectady

November 7, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Very little is documented about medicine in Schenectady County during the 19th century. There are few hospital records to review; Ellis Hospital was not founded until 1885; and the Schenectady County Medical Society did not meet between 1843 and 1869.

We can however, glean some insight into this period from old newspapers, a wonderful book on the 134th NY Volunteer Infantry, minutes of the Schenectady Common Council, and old stories from the Efner Center and the Schenectady County Historical Society library. [Read more…] about Medical Practice in 19th Century Schenectady

John Taylor: New York’s ‘Only’ Speaker of the House

October 5, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

What do you suppose history will say about politicians of current times? Hindsight is often different from what was presumed by contemporaries. But for John Taylor, who became New York’s first Speaker of the House of Representatives, that does not seem to be true. He was always seen as a man of high standards, even if those high standards irked some people in his own political party. [Read more…] about John Taylor: New York’s ‘Only’ Speaker of the House

Laura Smith Ellsworth: Devoted Spiritualist

March 11, 2022 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

These days clairvoyant is not a term that is often used in describing a doctor’s ability to diagnose disease. Yet, in the last half of the 1800s it was not uncommon to seek out a “clairvoyant physician” when a person was concerned about changes in their health.

Laura Smith Ellsworth, a self-proclaimed spiritualist, medium and clairvoyant physician who would devote her life to spiritualism, grew up in Charlton, in Saratoga County, NY. The daughter of Henry and Jane Smith, the youngest of their three children, Laura was born in 1862 and baptized in September of the same year at the Charlton Freehold Presbyterian Church. [Read more…] about Laura Smith Ellsworth: Devoted Spiritualist

John W. Taylor: A Moderate Anti-Slavery Activist

February 18, 2019 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

It’s hard to believe that the nation’s fourth-most-populous state (New York — nearly always number one, and in the top five since 1790) has only one native who served in the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Well, technically, there are two, but one of them served 99.82 percent of the pair’s total time in office — to be explained later. The man of the House is John W. Taylor, born in the town of Ballston in 1784. [Read more…] about John W. Taylor: A Moderate Anti-Slavery Activist

Charlton

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