Cortland County

Thurlow Weed, Stephen Van Rensselaer III and the Disputed Election of 1824

October 7, 2021 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Thurlow Weed was born on November 15, 1797, the son of Joel and Mary (Elis) Weed, in Cairo, Greene County, NY where his grandfather settled after the Revolutionary War. His father was a farmer who was apparently hard working but never prosperous, occasionally spending time in jail for debt.

In 1799, the family moved to Catskill where young Weed received a small amount of schooling. His first job was pumping a blacksmith’s bellows while the blacksmith formed heated iron. He made six cents per day. At nine, he got a job as a cabin boy on a Hudson River sloop. [Read more…] about Thurlow Weed, Stephen Van Rensselaer III and the Disputed Election of 1824

Albany’s Ira Harris: From Rights Advocate to Lincoln’s Assassination

September 27, 2021 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

Ira Harris was born at Charleston, Montgomery County, NY on May 31st, 1802 to Fredrick Waterman Harris and Lucy Hamilton. When he was six years old, his family moved to Preble, NY where his father became one of the largest landowners in Cortland County.

Harris attended Homer Academy and graduated from Union College in 1824. He studied law for one year in Homer, New York and then moved to Albany where he assisted one of that city’s most highly regarded jurists, Ambrose Spencer. [Read more…] about Albany’s Ira Harris: From Rights Advocate to Lincoln’s Assassination

Volunteers Improve Trails at Morgan Hill State Forest

July 28, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Recently, volunteers from the bike group CNY D.I.R.T. worked together at Morgan Hill State Forest in southern Onondaga and northern Cortland counties to build an additional 1.3 miles of single-track multiple-use trail. The forest now hosts 10.8 miles of designated multiple-use trail, with another 4+ miles planned in the next few years. [Read more…] about Volunteers Improve Trails at Morgan Hill State Forest

Aerial Photos: New York Rural History From Above

January 5, 2015 by Bill Casey 52 Comments

Aerial photos can be helpful research tools for historians. Google Earth, which provides access to a vast collection of aerial photography stretching back 20 years, is just a sampling of the many aerial photos that have been made since French balloonist Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known as “Nadar,” took a photo over Paris, France in 1858.

Much of New York Sate was photographed with the camera pointing straight down, an oblique presentation that is less useful to some historians. An effort to capture all of New York in an orthophotographic perspective (corrected to a uniform scale) started in 1936 with a contract to C.S. Robinson of Ithaca, NY. These images are particularly valuable resources for historians of all stripes. [Read more…] about Aerial Photos: New York Rural History From Above

Sesquicentennial Observance of Battle of Cedar Creek

October 13, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Three days before the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War Battle of Cedar Creek, Sue Greenhagen will deliver the second program in the new Madison County Civil War Series.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 16, 2014 at the Hamilton Public Library (13 Broad Street, Hamilton NY) Greenhagen will describe the October 19, 1864 battle in Middletown (Belle Grove) Virginia with particular attention to the service of the 114th Infantry Regiment which was recruited primarily from Chenango, Cortland, and Madison Counties in New York State with recruitment headquarters in Norwich NY: Companies A and H were from Oxford, Companies B and C from Norwich. Company D from Eaton, Company E from Greene, Company F from Sherburne and New Berlin, Company G from Hamilton and Brookfield, Company I from Otselic, and Company K from Cazenovia. [Read more…] about Sesquicentennial Observance of Battle of Cedar Creek

Sunday: Southern Tier Event Recalls Civil War Veteran

September 25, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Coventry Town Museum Association will present its 10th Annual Civil War Commemorative event “Celebrating And Remembering The Life Of Coventry’s Immigrant Son, Private John Shaver – Stonemason, Family Man, Civil War Infantryman”, on Sunday, September 28th, on the grounds of the Coventryville Congregational Church.

This all day event honors John Shaver, ancestor of numerous descendants live throughout the Southern Tier including Chenango, Cortland and Broome counties. [Read more…] about Sunday: Southern Tier Event Recalls Civil War Veteran

African American Men in White NY Civil War Units

January 4, 2012 by Carol Kammen 5 Comments

An obituary from 1865 led me to investigate the life of Ira T. Brum, who enlisted in the 185th New York Volunteers in June 1864. The regiment was full of young men from Onondaga and Cortland, and some few from elsewhere in the state. Company F contained mostly men from Cortland who enlisted together that spring.

The 185th participated in the siege of Petersburg and was part of the Appomattox Campaign, fighting at Quaker Road, Gravelly Run, Five Forks and at Appomattox Court House. There, on April 9th, 1865 members of the 185th saw the “white flag come out and was glad to see it.” First Lieutenant Hiram Clark of Marathon gathered his men and sang “Hail Columbia.” As the men settled against a fence, a shell came over and killed Clark, the “last man killed in the army of the Potomac.” [Read more…] about African American Men in White NY Civil War Units

Roberson Museum Commemorates the Civil War

December 12, 2011 by Gerald R. Smith Leave a Comment

150 years ago shots were fired on Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina signaling the beginning of the Civil War. A century and a half later, Roberson Museum and Science Center has assembled hundreds of objects and stories to tell the story of how that conflict affected this area in a new exhibition appropriately named The Civil War. [Read more…] about Roberson Museum Commemorates the Civil War

SUNY Cortland Historian William Sharp Retiring

December 8, 2010 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

William Sharp, who served SUNY Cortland for 16 years as a senior administrator and teacher, will retire on Dec. 31, 2010. He has been designated professor emeritus of history.

Sharp joined the College in 1994 as a professor of history and provost and vice president for academic affairs. He was provost for seven years before returning to the classroom in the College’s History Department.

As provost, he oversaw all academic programs and faculty personnel matters. He played a key role as the College underwent its 10-year review by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. During his term as second-in-command, he was instrumental in capturing a $1.75 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education for the project aimed at strengthening the School of Arts and Sciences programs. He shepherded through to approval many new and revised degree programs.

Prior to his employment at SUNY Cortland, Sharp was dean of Temple University’s Japan Campus in Tokyo, with its 2,250 students and 160 faculty members from 1988-94. He opened the campus and served as its first director from 1982-85. Between those two appointments, he directed Temple’s Institute for Languages and International Studies in Philadelphia and also served as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Sharp became part of Temple’s History Department faculty in 1969, teaching courses in Latin American history and helped develop curricula in Latin American Studies, Black History, and Asian Studies. Sharp also directed the Honors Program for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Before joining Temple, he was a visiting associate professor of history at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and was an instructor of English as a Foreign Language at Centro Colombo/Americano in Bogota, Columbia.

A native of Minneapolis, Minn., Sharp earned a bachelor’s degree in American history from Stanford University and served two years in Colombia with the Peace Corps.

He received master’s and doctoral degrees in Latin American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While studying for a doctorate, he minored in American history and political science.

A past president of the Northeast Region National Collegiate Honors Council, he was chair of the American Association of Colleges and Universities in Japan for many years, often representing American universities in Japan’s educational, business and governmental circles. He was a past president of the Temple University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

A past member of Rotary International, Sharp served on the boards of Cortland Repertory Theater and the Cortland Country Club as vice president and, until recently, as chair of the Cortland/Tompkins County Habitat for Humanity.

He and his wife, Elizabeth Sharp, live in Cortland and plan to remain actively involved in the local community, where Liz served as president of the YWCA Board of Directors and on the board of the Lime Hollow Center for Environment and Culture. They have three grown children, Michael Sharp, Christopher Sharp and Heather Sharp; and four grand-children.

Roundtable to Discuss Cortland County Railroad History

September 23, 2009 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A panel of railroad scholars and buffs will give a presentation on “Railroads in Cortland County: Past, Present and Future” from 8-9:45 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, in SUNY Cortland’s Park Center Hall of Fame Room. Sponsored by the President’s Office and the College’s Center for Educational Exchange (CEE), the community roundtable is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 7:45 a.m.

All Community Roundtables are recorded and available as Webcasts on SUNY Cortland’s central Webcasting page at cortland.edu/webcast.

This special, extended roundtable will explore the historical uses of rail service in this area as well as current and potential tourist destination opportunities. The speakers will include Sharon Todd, an associate professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies at SUNY Cortland, and Tom Trencansky, executive director of the Cayuga Nature Center.

Following the discussion, Vince Minnella, director emeritus of instructional resources at SUNY Cortland, will briefly introduce and then show the popular, 30-minute locally produced video, “That Lonesome Whistle: The Railroads of Cortland County,” to attendees who wish to stay beyond the usual ending time of 9 a.m.

The history of railroads in Central New York is rich and varied. Even decades after the railroad industry’s decline, a variety of small tourist train operations have continued intermittently in this region.

Todd will summarize results of a two-year study completed for the New York State Department of Economic Development by students in the Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies Department at SUNY Cortland. The study explores the extent to which citizens would support and use a local tourist excursion train between Binghamton, N.Y., and Cortland. Todd will share results from a survey about ridership on the Central New York Maple Festival train, and ideas for other excursion trains and their psychological, economic, educational and community benefits.

Trencansky, a photographer of trains and railroads and the founder of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society, will share an entertaining musical presentation that highlights the scenes and long history of New York state and Cortland County railroads.

“That Lonesome Whistle” was produced by the Sperry Learning Resources Center in 1979 as a project supported by a SUNY Faculty Grant for the Improvement of Undergraduate Instruction.

A nostalgic look back at the rich history of railroads in Cortland County, the video highlights the vitality and economic impact of freight and passenger travel from the 1850s through the 1900s and on to its decline following World War II. Archival photographs take the viewer to the thriving passenger stations on Central Avenue and South Avenue. They will enjoy a virtual ride on the Cortland-Homer Horse Railway, which after becoming the Cortland and Homer Traction Company extended from South Avenue in the city to Little York in Preble.

Minnella, who produced and wrote the video script, was associate director of the Sperry Center when the video was taped. Marcia Carlson, SUNY Cortland professor emerita of recreation and leisure studies, directed the video with the help students in her Recreation Administration class. Morris Bogard, SUNY Cortland associate vice president emeritus for academic affairs, narrated the film.

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