In 1976, as the nation prepared to celebrate its 200th birthday, my parents were already a year into the hunt for records of an elusive ancestor: Sanbun Ford, a founder of the town of Milton, in Saratoga County. [Read more…] about Sanbun Ford: An American Revolutionary Rediscovered
Saratoga County History Center
Egbert Ludovicus Viele: Engineer, Soldier, Politician
Egbert Ludovicus Viele died on April 22nd, 1902 at the age of 77 in the city of New York after an eventful life that began in Waterford, New York.
He was born in 1825, son of Kathlyne Schuyler (Knickerboacker) and State Senator John L. Viele. The title of his newspaper obituary notice “Veteran of Two Wars and Indian Campaigns Passes Away” did little justice to his varied career, nor his personal foibles. [Read more…] about Egbert Ludovicus Viele: Engineer, Soldier, Politician
The Short Eventful Marriage of Henry and Eliza Vrooman
On April 15th, 1842, Henry A. Vrooman, a forty-one-year-old farmer living in West Charlton, Saratoga County, passed away in his home near the intersection of what is now Eastern Avenue and Sacandaga Road. He was laid to rest in the nearby West Glenville Cemetery. Only eight months earlier he had married forty-year-old Eliza McClelland, a widow with two children from nearby Blue Corners on the western edge of the Town of Charlton. It was a roller-coaster eight months. [Read more…] about The Short Eventful Marriage of Henry and Eliza Vrooman
When Clifton Park Had Its Own Amusement Park
On April 3rd, 1935, wrecking crews began the demolition of buildings and rides that comprised an amusement park in Rexford, Saratoga County, NY.
Few remember when Clifton Park had its own amusement park. It was located on the Mohawk River in Rexford near the Alplaus border from 1906 to 1933. [Read more…] about When Clifton Park Had Its Own Amusement Park
Patriot Then Traitor: Saratoga County’s Joe Bettys
On April Fool’s Day, April 1st, 1782, Joe Bettys was hanged. It was, as was the custom, a public spectacle in Albany where the notorious traitor had been taken for his trial and sentencing.
On the scaffold, just after a noose was tied around his neck, he jumped to his death, thereby depriving his executioners from carrying out his sentence. [Read more…] about Patriot Then Traitor: Saratoga County’s Joe Bettys
How Hudson River Floods Helped Create Great Sacandaga Lake
Before the 20th century, the upper Hudson River was used commercially as a conduit to ship logs downstream to the mills along the river. Logs were stored in pens, behind temporary dams, and at streamside log landings until the spring melt increased the flow of the river – known as the spring freshet. When the flow rate was right, the the logs were sent careening downstream to the mills. [Read more…] about How Hudson River Floods Helped Create Great Sacandaga Lake
The Secret Criminal Life of Nelson Knickerbacker
Beginning in the early 1860s, break-ins began taking place at businesses across Saratoga County, New York. The method was always the same, an office was entered and the safe was emptied and then re-locked. The only outward evidence of the theft was the owners’ inability to open the safe. [Read more…] about The Secret Criminal Life of Nelson Knickerbacker
Isaiah Blood: The Forgotten Industrialist of Bloodville
A man with the ominous-sounding name of Isaiah Blood, born on February 13, 1810, once operated one of the largest tool factories of its kind in New York State, along the Kayaderosseras Creek in Saratoga County, 150 years ago.
The Ballston Scythe, Axe and Tool Works shipped hundreds of thousands of quality hard-edge tools around the world for decades. [Read more…] about Isaiah Blood: The Forgotten Industrialist of Bloodville
Isaac Jogues: Man On A Mission
Who is Isaac Jogues? Before we address this question, we should acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land when I write this article – the Iroquois Confederacy and the Algonquians – and pay our respect to their elders’ past, present and emerging. [Read more…] about Isaac Jogues: Man On A Mission
Veteran’s Honor Roll Is One Town’s Lonely Sentinel
In winter, it stands silently like a lonely sentinel, set back from Ballard Road in the Town of Wilton, Saratoga County. Day and night the traffic whizzes by the Veteran’s Honor Roll, yet its presence is overlooked by most. [Read more…] about Veteran’s Honor Roll Is One Town’s Lonely Sentinel