New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Ulster County

Alton B. Parker: New York’s Neglected Statesman

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Alton B Parker and Henry G Davis 1904 Democratic Party candidates for President and Vice President of the United States campaign posterThe History Channel’s new special on Theodore Roosevelt describes his victory in the 1904 presidential election but doesn’t even mention his Democratic opponent.

That was New York Court of Appeals’ former Chief Judge Alton B. Parker (1852-1926), probably the most neglected major party presidential candidate in U.S. history. Yet at the time of the election Parker was the leader of one of the nation’s two major political parties and one of the nation’s foremost judicial statesmen. [Read more…] about Alton B. Parker: New York’s Neglected Statesman

Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

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The Roemer map of Albany 1698 showing fort orange and BeverwyckTjerck Claeszen DeWitt immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) from Grootholt in Zunterlant in 1656. Grootholt means Great Wood and Zunterland was probably located on the southern border of East Friesland, a German territory on the North Sea only ten miles from the most northerly province of the Netherlands.

By 1657, Tjerck DeWitt married Barber (Barbara) Andrieszen (also Andriessen) in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church and moved to Beverwyck (now Albany). While in Beverwyck, he purchased a house. At this time Albany contained 342 houses and about 1,000 residents, about 600 of whom were members of the Dutch Church. [Read more…] about Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

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Sojourner TruthIn February 2022, the New York State Archives announced that archivists had uncovered court records detailing the 1828 legal battle by Sojourner Truth to secure her enslaved son Peter’s freedom. According to archivist Jim Folts, this case was the first time in United States history that a Black woman successfully sued a White man for a family member’s freedom.

After passage of the New York State Gradual Emancipation Act in 1799, some slaveholders illegally sold enslaved Africans to Southern planters for the expanding cotton industry. When Sojourner Truth, then known as Isabella Van Wagenen, escaped from enslavement in 1826, her former “owner,” John J. Dumont of New Paltz, Ulster County, NY, sold her five-year old son Peter to Eleazer Gedney who planned to take the boy with him to England.

When this plan fell through, Eleazer Gedney sold Peter to his brother, Solomon Gedney, who resold Peter to their sister’s husband, a man named Fowler, who was a wealthy Alabama planter. [Read more…] about Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring

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Sojourner Truth State ParkGovernor Hochul has announced that a new State Park to open to the public later this spring in Kingston, Ulster County, NY will be named for 19th century African American abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth.

Covering more than 500 acres and a mile of Hudson River shoreline, this park was once an industrial site for production of cement, quarry stone, and ice harvesting. Sojourner Truth State Park will be first new State Park since 2019. [Read more…] about New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring

Ulster County Clerk Receives 2022 Martha Washington Woman of History Award

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Nina PostupackUlster County Clerk Nina Postupack has been named the 2022 Martha Washington Woman of History. This award is given annually by Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site to a woman who has made a contribution to the history of the Hudson Valley through education, promotion, or preservation.

The honor was inspired by Martha Washington, an outstanding woman in history who resided in the Hudson Valley with her husband, General George Washington, during the last days of the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about Ulster County Clerk Receives 2022 Martha Washington Woman of History Award

Scoopers: Popular Catskills Slang

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19th Century wooden shovel fashioned by a "scooper"During the nearly 35 years I’ve spent answering questions about Sullivan County, NY’s rich and colorful history, a few topics come up far more than any others.

For example, lots of people want to know about the location of the very first summer hotel in Sullivan County, and the question of whether Al Capone ever owned Lake Louise Marie — and is it named for the gangster’s wife and/or girlfriend? — never seems to go out of style.

But possibly the most asked question of all is about the origin of the colloquial term “scooper.” Whether a person is hearing the word for the first time, or they have lived in Sullivan County all their lives and have grown up hearing — and using – the term, most people have no idea how it came to be. [Read more…] about Scoopers: Popular Catskills Slang

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Confirmed in Ulster County Deer

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Whitetail deer by Dick ThomasThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has confirmed that two whitetail deer in the town of Esopus, Ulster County, died after contracting Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD). DEC is currently following up on reports of several other dead deer in Dutchess, Ulster, and Westchester counties. [Read more…] about Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Confirmed in Ulster County Deer

The Palatine Printer & Three Scots Behind The First Amendment

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Inscription of the First AmendmentCensorship is the official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression conceived as a threat to the sociopolitical or moral order. Attempts by the authorities to suppress freedom of the press in the American colonies were recurrent. These efforts would eventually lead to a confrontation at the Supreme Court in the case of New York v. John Peter Zenger in August 1735. [Read more…] about The Palatine Printer & Three Scots Behind The First Amendment

Accessibility Improvements Made At Wilson Campground

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Kenneth L Wilson Campground provided by DECImprovements to the Kenneth L. Wilson Campground and Day Use Area in Ulster County have been completed.

Updates to the campground’s shower house and three comfort stations include several accessible features to make camping fun for people of all abilities, will help connect more New Yorkers to the outdoors and reduce the facility’s environmental footprint. [Read more…] about Accessibility Improvements Made At Wilson Campground

Story of New Netherland Virtual Talk

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New Netherlands Early Street_InPixioThe Time and the Valleys Museum in the Catskills, has announced a virtual program The Story of New Netherland: Dutch Colony 1624 – 1664, set to be held on ZOOM on Sunday, July 12th, with historian and former teacher Thomas Riley of New Jersey. [Read more…] about Story of New Netherland Virtual Talk