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Charlton

361 Votes: Saratoga County’s 1898 Leadership Battle

April 2, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Saratoga County Supervisors 1898The 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Ballston, Charlton, Edinburg, Galway, Halfmoon, Malta, Mechanicville, Milton, Political History, Providence, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Springs, Stillwater, Waterford

When The Yeggs Hit Upstate New York

February 13, 2023 by Dave Waite 4 Comments

Always remember !! Square meals Make round peopleIt 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

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, New York City Tagged With: Bolton, Charlton, Crime and Justice, Fulton County, German Flatts, Gloversville, Herkimer COunty, Ilion, Lake George, Lake Luzerne, New Jersey, New York City, Northville, Postal Service, poverty, railroads, Saratoga County, Stillwater, Warren County, Winfield

Ben Brotherson’s Bank Scheme

February 1, 2023 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

New York Herald, March 24, 1858Around 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Charlton, Crime and Justice, Financial History, Gambling, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Vice, Wall Street

Medical Practice in 19th Century Schenectady

November 7, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Joseph Lister calls for an antiseptic spray prior to surgeryVery 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany Med, Charlton, Duanesburgh, Ellis Hospital, Esperance, Medical History, Patent Medicine, Pattersonville, Rexford, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Schenectady County Historical Society, Science History, Scotia, tuberculosis, Union College

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

October 5, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

John Taylor 1784-1854What 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Ballston Spa, Charlton, Political History, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

Laura Smith Ellsworth: Devoted Spiritualist

March 11, 2022 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

Mrs.Laura Smith Ellsworth courtesy The Wayside of Life, 1906These 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Charlton, Glens Falls, Mechanicville, Religious History, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Spiritualism

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