This leads me to talk about daily life around 1900. How did people live? I will begin to do this through the inventory and life of Charles Baker, who died in October 1895. Charles was the second son of Dr. Ezekiel Baker, who was THE physician in town from 1820-1866. Born in 1823, Charles was one of six brothers. In 1841, he became a clerk in the store of Fellows and Briggs. He went into business for himself in 1847, so was a general storekeeper in the village for almost fifty years. He never got involved in politics, but was a pillar of the Presbyterian Church: a member for 52 years, a member of Session, a Sunday School teacher for forty years. His brother Lorenzo was also a merchant in the village, specializing in clothing. Lorenzo built the Opera House in the village of Schaghticoke in 1880. It housed his and his brother’s stores on the first floor for the few years it existed before it burned. At the time of his death, Charles was renting a store on Main Street.
Charles Baker ad from the Schaghticoke “Sun” 1894
Charles married Permelia Lydia Hayden about 1848. She was born in Massachusetts. They had at least five children, daughters Harriet, Emily, and Edith, and sons Charles and William, the latter born in 1869, when his mother was 40. Permelia died in 1881. By the time Charles, Sr. died, just the daughters survived. His obituary in the Schaghticoke “Sun” called him “a faithful and conscientious Christian worker”, and “an honest man.”
On December 28, 1894, the “Sun” reported a “systematic burglarizing of the store of Charles Baker.” Apparently the thieves had a key to the front door! Charles and local policeman John Askins staked out the store one night later and caught four boys in the act of thievery: T. Evon Jones, James Steele, Everett Harrigan, and Eugene Speanburg. They were arraigned and taken to the Troy jail. The men were lucky that the perpetrators went quietly, as Charles was 71 and John 61 at the time.
Before turning to the contents of Charles’ store, I must insert a bit more about his brother, Lorenzo Dow Baker. They must have been fixtures of the village. Lorenzo, born in 1826, was educated at the Greenwich and Manchester Seminaries. He worked in Troy for a few years, then was a tailor and clothier in the village of Schaghticoke for the rest of his long life. He married Matilda Dunn, daughter of a pastor, in 1859. They lived on the edge of the village at the time, on the west side of Pleasant Avenue. After twenty years of marriage, they had a son, Alfred, born in 1880. A college graduate, he died of typhoid fever in 1905. The NY Census that year listed his young widow, Ruby, living with her in-laws in Schaghticoke. Lorenzo died the following year.
Returning to Charles, when he died, local businessman J. Bryan Baucus was the executor of the complicated estate. He hired another local store owner, T. J. Wiley, to do the assessment for $15. Baucus felt that Charles had about $1400 in uncollectible bad debts, owed by customers, and ranging from a couple of dollars to about $35. And he owed money to 66 people and companies totaling over $5,000. After J.W. Askins auctioned the contents of the store and home, realizing about $5000, there wasn’t enough to pay the creditors in full. Charles had definitely not made a fortune in business.
a bit of the inventory of Charles Baker’s store 1895. from the probate file
So, Charles’ financial issues aside, what could one buy his store? The inventory revealed baking supplies: baker’s chocolate, coconut, olive oil, baking powder, baking soda, spices, sugar, rolled oats, raisins, salt, corn starch, corn meal, molasses, extracts, – but not flour. Food: chipped beef, corned beef, roast beef, mustard, canned sardines, salmon, and oysters; canned pineapple, corn, tomatoes, succotash, pumpkin; graham crackers, mackerel. And some other things: lots of tobacco, spirits of camphor, seeds, laudanum (tincture of opium), camphor, rosin, bluing, soap, lots of tea, castor oil, coffee, kerosene, cough syrup, root beer, bitters. There was also a stock of housewares: jugs, chamber pots, 5 gallon oil cans, tea pots, washbowls, pails, china, and glassware, table lamps. Charles also sold some clothing: gloves and mittens, hats, 3 long pages of boots and shoes of all sorts, mens’ shirts, overalls, and underwear, collars and cuffs; also yard goods, thread, ribbon, yarn, and other sewing supplies; carpeting, lamp supplies- wicks, chimneys, and illuminators. It truly was a general store. The store fixtures included a safe, clock, tables, scales, show cases, a coffee mill, and various lamps.
Moving to the Baker home, which was on Main Street just north of 5th Street, the kitchen and wash room featured a washing machine, copper wash boiler, old cook stove, and a refrigerator. This was still before electricity, so the washing machine would have been hand operated and the refrigerator cooled with ice. The stove could have been either wood or coal fired. The dining room had an oil stove, clock, and nine old chairs. The house had both a sitting room and a parlor. Presumably our equivalent of a family room and living room. The rooms had carpeting, chairs, sofas, small tables, curtains, and stoves. There was a piano in the parlor, valued at $15. The Sears Roebuck Catalog of 1897 offered a piano for $159 and a parlor organ for $50. The upstairs bedrooms had wardrobes- as many houses did not include closets- and carpeting, washstands- as there was no indoor bathroom- . The attic had items of past use- like a high chair- but also about 100 cans of fruit and catsup- why??The barn had a number of vehicles: two buggies, a bob sleigh, a cutter, a spring buggy, and a delivery wagon and one horse.
Another prominent local man died in 1894, leaving an inventory of his estate. I have written about William P. Bliss before. He was the long time President of the Schaghticoke Powder Mill and lived in the home now occupied by Scott Rice and family on South Main Street. William left a larger estate than Charles Baker, a total of about $20,000 in assets. He left his brother Ebenezer a gold watch worth $50 and four boxes of books worth $250, a substantial sum.
curtains with lambrequins
I don’t know if the appraisers of his estate, Franklin Harwood and William H. Lansing, were just more thorough than those of Charles Baker’s, or if William lived in a more modern and Victorian manner. Each room in the house was carefully inventoried. Every room had carpeting. I will not list all of the furniture, but most of the wooden pieces were identified by the type of wood- for example, a cherry stand. His parlor featured a number of Victorian features: window cornices, curtains with lambrequins, a mirror with a shelf and brackets, a black marble-topped stand, a candelabra, an atmospheric lamp, a Rip Van Winkle chair, and “plush-covered” sofa and chairs. The parlor also had framed pictures- a steel engraving, and a portrait-, a piano, and 63 yards of carpet.
Besides the usual dining table and chairs, the dining room had a Harvard stove, four pictures with gilt frames, an eight-day clock, and a plant stand. In the pantry, there was a silver-plated tea set, and a set of solid silverware, plus more mundane items. The kitchen had a range, of course, and the back kitchen a wash boiler, clothes wringer, and coffee mill- But there was no refrigerator unlike the Bakers. There were six bedrooms, one downstairs and five up. Besides the bed and its mattress, the rooms were carpeted, each had a washstand with its crockery, pictures on the wall, and either a sofa or rocking chair. One of the bedrooms was for the servant. Even that had a bedstead, washstand, bowl and pitcher, stand, mirror, and carpet on the floor.
Harvard stove
In the will, Bliss divided many of the household furnishings between his sister in Massachusetts and the woman who had been his housekeeper. The October 19, 1894 Schaghticoke “Sun” advertised a sale of some of the furnishings: the square grand piano, carriages, sleighs, etc.
Moving to the barn, there were a road wagon, two-seater and single carriages, a cutter (sleigh) and a bay horse. There were two lawn movers and other tools. The Wood House had 3 ½ tons of coal plus wood and tools. As William was not a farmer, there were few tools.
Michael Butler, proprietor of a bar/saloon called, appropriately, the Butler House, died in February 1894. He left a wife, Mary Ann, and five minor children. Appropriately, Patrick Nagle and John Casey, fellow inn keepers, were the appraisers of his estate. Though he ran a bar, Michael had a hay cutter and two scythes, but also three vehicles- a buck board and a wagon for summer and a sleigh for winter, plus one horse. His inventory included nine kinds of cigars and two boxes of tobacco, more than 39 gallons of whiskey, 15 gallons of gin, 10 gallons of rum, 5 gallons of port wine, 1 gallon of blackberry brandy, 7 gallons of sherry, a dozen bottles of tokay wine, a barrel of cider, 1 ½ barrels of ale, 3 boxes of soda, and a gallon of rye. Where was the beer?
As was common, widow Mary Ann retained some items from the estate for her own use. They seem minimal, to say the least: three stoves, a sewing machine, two bedsteads and bedding, a crib, four pictures, fifteen school books, a tea kettle , a table and six chairs, twelve knives and forks, twelve tea cups and saucers, a sugar bowl, milk pot, tea pot and six tablespoons and six teaspoons.
The rest of the inventory only includes a few chairs, nine lamps, twelve plates, a bureau, a ladder, and a fork, plus twenty yards of carpet. Michael had $2000 in the bank in Troy, but he owed his vendors over $2500. He owned his establishment, valued at $5000, with $1000 left on the mortgage. Mary Butler managed to continue running the bar through 1900, but the 1905 NY Census listed her as a mill worker.
In June 1895, a “Miss Butler” graduated from the Schaghticoke Union Free School. I believe it was Alice, one of the children of Michael and Mary. The Schaghticoke “Sun” of June 25 listed all of the gifts she received on her graduation from 8th grade. This gives us another insight into life in town around 1900: gold watch, silver pin, toilet case, gold bracelet, black silk belt with silver buckle, fountain pen, 4 silver napkin rings, 8 feather and gauze fans, gold pen set, pair patent leather slippers, class ring, 3 gold rings, 3 silver shirt waist sets, cologne, silver hair pin, 2 dozen silk handkerchiefs, ½ dozen linen handkerchiefs, 2 silk mufflers, pair russet slippers, belt pin, marble clock set, set silver knife, forks, and spoons, 5 volumes poems, silver curler, $5 gold pieces, silver nail file, fancy plate, gold brooch, emerald and diamond settings, 2 white parasols, 1 silk umbrella, from her brother Thomas, a valuable set of French plaques; from Dr. EB Daley of Bennington, cologne and money . This is a rather amazing list of items, certainly containing some useful things, but mostly seeming rather frivolous. Her mother had a reception for her in the evening, attended by a couple of members of the Board of Education, the Catholic Priest, the local doctor, and many others. At the time there were only a few graduates in any given year.
Let’s look at probate inventories of two farmers. Daniel DeLurey, who farmed on Hayes Road at the time of his death in 1889 left a long inventory. Daniel (1818-1889) had emigrated to Easton from Ireland in 1844. He and wife Catharine had seven children before her death in 1865. They farmed in Easton until just after 1870, then Daniel moved to Schaghticoke. The 1880 US Census indicated he had about 100 acres. There were evidently two houses on the farm, as the inventory was divided into two lists, the second for “the upper place.” Adding the two, Daniel had ten horses, included a 20-year-old bay mare named “Minnie,” and a bay horse named “Ned.” There were 18 cows, 57 ewes, 35 lambs, three sows and two pigs, 78 fowls, six turkeys, and three bee hives.
Daniel had a variety of vehicles: a lumber wagon, three buggies, a spring market wagon, another wagon, a pair of bob sleighs, an old cutter, and a box sleigh. There were many farm tools: a Buck Eye Mower, a Walter Wood reaper, a wheel hay rake, many plows, a Scotch harrow, two corn plows, a potato coverer, two fanning mills, a grain cradle, and smaller tools. There were also some farm products: 12 hams, 200 pounds of beef and 200 of pork, three barrels of apples, 156 barrels of potatoes, a barrel of vinegar and one of cider, twelve barrels of potatoes, 350 pounds of wool, 75 bushels of corn, rye, two tons of rye straw, 450 bushels of oats, and a lot of lumber.
After a detailed inventory of the barns, the contents of the house were briefly indicated: stoves for parlor and kitchen in each house, carpet, chairs, and furniture in the parlor and sitting room of each house, a table and chairs in the kitchens, and tinware and dishes in each kitchen. One house had a clock, one had five beds and bedding, and a book case in the hall, the other had four beds and bedding. Perhaps the men conducting the inventory, John Kenyon and Hiram Gifford, were more interested in the farm than the houses.
flag bottom chairs
Seneca Corbin was another farmer who died in 1900. He was born in Dutchess County in 1818, and was married to Sarah, who survived him. They had three children: Daniel, Edward, and Amy. As of the 1880 census, Seneca’s farm was 81 acres of tilled land, seven acres of meadows, and ten acres of woodland, located about a mile north of the village of Schaghticoke on route 40. This inventory included a bit more detail on the house contents than that of Mr. DeLurey, but still focused on the farm side. Set aside for the widow were a cook stove and utensils, an extension table, six chairs, twelve knives and forks, twelve plates, twelve cups and saucers, one sugar dish, a milk pot, a tea pot, twelve spoons, a clock, three lamps, a bedroom carpet, a bed and bedding, ten sheep, a cow, two swine, and hay, straw, feed, and stalks to feed those animals for 60 days. The house also contained a bedroom “suit” of nine pieces, four pictures, a table, a lounge, six flag bottom hairs, a mirror, a set of dishes, a washing machine, tubs, a boiler, and three feather beds.
Champion Grain Drill 1887
Seneca left five barrels of potatoes, a barrel of pork, one of vinegar and one of flour, 100 pounds of ham, 50 cans of preserves, 200 bushels of oats, 25 barrels of market potatoes, 20 barrels of seed potatoes, 200 gallons of vinegar, a bushel of seed corn, 40 bushels of corn on the ear, eight tons of hay, and eleven acres of rye on the ground. Moving to animals, there were nine pigs, 16 sheep, four cows, three gray horses, 65 fowls, six turkeys, and three bee hives. There were four or five plows, a cultivator, a fan mill, a grain cradle, ½ interest in a Champion grain drill, a McCormick Reaper, a McCormick Mower, and a wheel rake. There were also a 4-spring market wagon, and a cutter, so transportation for summer and winter.
According to the 1865 NY Census for Schaghticoke, Walter J. Cornell was born in “Chataguey.” There is a Chataguey in Vermont, near Killington, and there is one in New York, in Franklin County. In 1865 Walter and his mother Sarah lived in the village of Schaghticoke. She was a 60-year-old widow born in Vermont, listing a worth of $1200, and he was a 22-year-old “soldier.” Sarah and Walter were also in the 1860 US Census for Schaghticoke, when Walter reported he was an apprentice machinist.
Who knows why Walter didn’t follow many of his fellow villagers and enlist in a New York State Infantry regiment? In the 1865 NY Census, he reported he was in the Navy. He enlisted in 1861 for a year, but evidently stayed on until the end of the war. He stated he was a Yeoman when he enlisted and a Port Engineer by the time he left the Navy. Under the column for “ship or regiment” it reads “Port Royal.” Well, Port Royal was both a place and a ship. He could have served at Port Royal, which was the base of operations for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, located on a coastal island near Beaufort, South Carolina. It was captured by the Union early in the war.
An example of a sidewheel steamship from the Civil War era
Walter also could have served on the ship, the USS Port Royal, which was a side-wheel steamship, built in New York City. It participated in early battles on the James River as part of the Peninsular Campaign, then served off North Carolina and Florida until the end of the war.
Walter also mentioned the “Honduras” on that 1865 census. The USS Honduras was another side wheel steamer, built in New York City, which served in the East Blockading Squadron out of Florida. It was sidelined in July 1864 when the crew had yellow fever, but they recovered to participate in action on the St. Marks River in February of 1865, preventing Confederate shipping from penetrating the Union blockade. Either way, Walter had a war very different from the rest of his fellow servicemen from Schaghticoke.
Walter stayed in Schaghticoke and did not marry. As noted above, he was back living with his mother in the 1865 census. I don’t know where he was in the 1870 US Census, when his mother was living alone, but he is in the 1880 US Census, a 39-year-old machinist, boarding in the home of Samuel and Marian Gamble in the village. His mother had died in 1876 at age 71. Her tombstone states that her husband had been named Daniel.
Walter died in 1880 and is buried next to his mother in Elmwood Cemetery. His tombstone states he was 39. I wonder if his long service in unhealthy areas- subject to yellow fever, malaria, etc., caused his early death.
Continuing to post biographies of men with a connection to Schaghticoke who served in the Civil War…..
Charles A. Cornell was born in September 1837 in Pittstown, the son of Allen and Catherine Cornell. His family is listed in the 1860 census for Pittstown: father Daniel A. (presumably Allen), 50, was a harness maker with real estate worth $1600 and a personal estate of $600. Mother Catherine was 44, and Charles, 22, had a sister Hellen, 14.
He enlisted on October 19, 1861 in Nassau in the 7th NY Cavalry, mustered in at Camp Strong, in Troy. He was a saddler, in charge of repair and maintenance of the equipment of the cavalry, a great job for a man who was a harness maker in his civilian life. One would imagine that this was the reason he enlisted in a cavalry regiment.
NY Muster Card of Charles A. Cornell
The 7th Cavalry was the unit that went South to the Washington, D.C. area but never got any horses, so was mustered out on March 31, 1862. Many men in the regiment transferred to other units, but not Charles. He came home.
By the 1870 US Census, Charles was married, to a woman named Mary, a milliner, and they lived in the village of Schaghticoke. He had resumed his profession as harness maker. I cannot find him in the 1880 US Census, but by the 1890 Veterans Schedule, he was in Tomhannock. His first wife Mary had died, and he married a woman named Bridget Ratigan, who had emigrated from Ireland in 1876. The 1900 US Census listed them in Pittstown. Charles, now 62, was a farmer, and he and Bridget, age 40, had been married for ten years. They had two children of their own, son Allen, 8, and daughter Olive, 5. Bridget’s daughter by her first marriage, Katherine Gelan, 11, lived with them. In 1906, Charles finally applied for a Civil War Pension. By that date they were available for any surviving veteran, not dependent on any disability incurred in the war. That same year, their son Allen died, at age 15.
The Cornells continued on in Pittstown. In the 1910 US Census Bridget’s son Charles Geland, then 26, lived with the couple. Charles Cornell still reported he was farming at age 73. He died in 1913 and is buried in St. John’s Catholic Cemetery. Bridget applied for a widow’s pension the next year. She lived until 1943, when she would have been about 83 years old. Daughter Olive married Armen A McTarian and lived until 1986. All are buried in the same plot at St. John’s. Charles’ tombstone even includes his rank as saddler in the war.
Application for a Federal tombstone for Charles A. Cornell
Tombstone of Charles Cornell in St. John’s Cemetery
Just before 1900, the first real suburban development in Schaghticoke began. The developer was Jennie Hemstreet VanVeghten (1867-1946). She was the surviving child of Henry and Margaret Webster Hemstreet. Henry’s family had run the ferry over the Hudson River to Mechanicville for many years. Their farm was just south of current Route 67 along the river, the site of today’s Hemstreet Park. Henry died in 1874, as did Jennie’s brother James.
At age 17, Jennie married her neighbor, Abraham or Abram VanVeghten, son of wealthy farmer John and his wife Harriet. VanVechten/VanVeghtens had lived in Schaghticoke since about 1720, and John’s farm was north of route 67 where it crosses to Mechanicville, and south of where the Hoosic River joins the Hudson River. Jennie and Abraham had three children: Henry, Theodore, and Margaret (born 1894). Abram and Jennie were very hardworking people. Abram was a farmer, specializing in raising pedigreed animals. In 1895 he was appointed a town constable. The Schaghticoke “Sun” of 1894-96 featured a weekly ad from Abram: “Hoosick Valley Stock Farm, A.H. VanVechten, proprietor. Choice specimens of pigs and calves.” And the 1900 census listed him as making buttonholes in a factory. There was a buttonhole factory in Melrose. Perhaps he worked there? Or he could have crossed the bridge to Mechanicville.
original map of Hemstreet Park- in the Rensselaer County Clerk’s Office basement
Meanwhile Jennie went to a “special piano teacher’s course” in 1897 and began teaching students at the YMCA in Mechanicville. (Mechanicville Mercury Dec. 4, 1897) And in February 1898 she advertised in the Mechanicville “Mercury” that she had a farm to rent and fine building lots for sale. She soon designed a suburb on her father’s farm, named Hemstreet Park. An article in the “Mercury” on September 1, 1900 read “Over the river boom continues. Come this side of the river and avoid the village taxes, as the taxes on a good house and lot at this desireable (sic) location are only about $5. Hemstreet Park has for the past two weeks been very rapidly booming. Several lots now bear the card “sold” on them. Crystal St., a new street, has been laid out this week, opening 20 more lots at $50 and $75 per lot. Electric lights will be in operation Sept 1st 1900. A beautiful stream of water coming from Crystal Spring between Lincoln and Crystal Sts. is of great value to this valuable location.”
Continuing, “A desireable lot has been reserved for a new school house, to be erected in the near future. Lose no time in making your selection as 14 building sites have already been sold. Mrs. VanVeghten having sold her beautiful cottage on the corner of Washington St and Hemstreet Ave, will at once erect a handsome dwelling on the site where her beautiful home recently burned. Since August 14 33 building lots have been sold. Six lots were sold on one morning this week before 10 o’clock. Electric street lights are to be continued up Hemstreet Ave to Linden St. A Street has been opened south of Hemstreet Ave which will be known as So. Hudson St and on the east side of this street very desireable lots are now offered for sale.” Jennie’s elaborate Victorian-style home stood until the late 1900’s, at the southwest corner of River and Hemstreet Roads, just a block south of Route 67.
Jennie Hemstreet’s home
from the August 4, 1904 Mechanicville Saturday Mercury
View from Mechanicville of early Hemstreet Park
Ads continued in the “Mercury” through the next two years. One on July 20, 1901 added that a clause in each deed prohibited sale of liquor on the premises. “Hemstreet Park ought to grow and flourish without saloons. Mechanicville will furnish all of the drink required.” Ads emphasized low taxes, pure fresh air, and high ground for the class 1, 2, and 3 lots, plus the opportunity to own one’s own home. Lot prices began at $50 when first advertised, but by 1902 were up to $300, though a half-price sale was offered. Those interested could stop in at Jennie’s house to look at a map of the lots. In 1903, the school house at the corner of Route 67 and Hudson River Road was constructed for $1400, reflecting the rapid growth of the suburb.
In 1904, Jennie hired the Metropolitan Land Company of Hartford, Connecticut to handle the sales. In August they held a three-day auction of lots, and handed out prizes totaling $1000. “Those lots are bound to increase in value, and a large village is one day promised on the east side of the river.” Many workers in Mechanicville were attracted to the new suburb, so convenient to the mills where they worked. Though the Hemstreet Park of today is a built-up suburb, it does not have any commercial establishments. It does have a golf club, however, which began in 1909, and a fire department. The original building for the golf course was the Hemstreet home located at the end east of the bridge.
It is evident that Jennie Hemstreet and Abram VanVeghten had a troubled marriage. By the 1905 NY Census, they were definitely separated and probably divorced. Jennie was listed as a poultry keeper in that census, living with her three children. According to his obituary, Abram had gone to Utah, where he continued in the cattle business. But I think he was remarried and back in the area by 1910. The 1910 US Census listed Jennie as a farmer, the 1915 NY Census as a music teacher. She was also clerk of the local school board. She married again, to a man named Marvin Cook, who was a railroad inspector. Jennie died in 1946 and is buried in Hudsonview Cemetery. Abram was working as a night watchman at the Barnett Shoddy Mills in Rensselaer in January 1926 when he was shot and killed by burglars who were trying to open the safe in the office. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
Of course Schaghticoke was still a very agricultural community. As I said at the start, there are fewer sources of information about farm production for 1900 than earlier as the censuses were destroyed. We know that at least 100 farmers sold milk to the Schaghticoke Creamery around 1900. Most of it was made into butter. It would have been difficult for farms to be financially successful as solely dairy farms without the possibility to ship large quantities of milk by rail. The first ice-refrigerated rail cars were developed in the 1870’s, but improved by 1900. So farms locally, thanks to that and cooperatives like the Schaghticoke Creamery, could begin to specialize in dairy. The Schaghticoke “Sun” stated on January 14, 1898, “Wallace Verbeck is said to have the best dairy of its size in the state.” He was also the local agent for Page wire fence. Wallace farmed in neighboring Easton.
From what I have read, most farmers did have dairy animals, but still had a variety of other animals and grew a variety of crops. As I have mentioned earlier, about a dozen farmers tried crops of hemp at the encouragement of Edwin Hartshorn of the Cable Flax Mill about 1900. There are just a few agriculture-connected items in the Schaghticoke “Sun” from 1895-1898: W.W. Verbeck advertised his Berkshire swine, A.H. VanVeghten his Hoosick Valley Stock Farm. In 1895, the village poundmaster was to restrain the running of cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or geese and impound them. This reminder was prompted by three horses running at large in the village. In 1897, local strawberries were on the market as of June 25. J.B. Overocker’s Melrose steam cider mill was in operation in September and October for people to bring their apples. In January 1898, Edward Bryan had several colts to break; Chauncey Verbeck had a large number of fall pigs he was fattening for market; and farmers were taking their rye to market. Dan and Joe Casey were getting in their rye and getting their wood cut: “No flies on Dan and Joe.” “Quite a number of potatoes are still in the cellars, waiting for a rise in the market. Wesley Verbeck took a number to Troy and got $2.50 a barrel.” In April 1898, Ambrose chase, “one of our successful farmers, has purchased some early (seed) potatoes from Rochester, and expects to have potatoes by July 4.”
Ice harvesting
Every year, the “Sun” had little articles on ice harvesting. Any likely pond was watched until the ice was thick enough to be harvested, then it was cut and stored in specially designed buildings, layered with straw. I have been unsuccessful in finding an illustration of a home ice house- there was one on my grandparents’ farm- a small wooden building with a peaked roof- the distinctive part was that one end had several doors, one above the other, for removal of ice at different levels. Hopefully, this supply would last well into the summer. Ice harvesting was nothing new, and many farmers would have had their own ice houses, but with better saws and more mechanized transport to storage, it became more of a commercial operation over the course of the 19th century.
Around 1900 Melrose, especially Avenue A, was an accessible vacation site for hard working folks from Troy. …..
How did these vacationers spend their time? Presumably many of the men commuted at least some days to their businesses in Troy, easy to do with six trains each way per day. A number of articles in the Troy “Times” mentioned the Melrose Athletic Club, sometimes tongue-in-cheek. But there were periodic baseball games – on July 14, 1899 between the Melrose Athletic Club and the Melrose team, on September 4, 1900, the third game of the season between the Troy colony players and the local Melrose folks. The Troy team included Messrs. Frear, Caldwell, and Coverly. There was a field on the nearby Doty farm, and also “Hill View Park”, near the railroad station, which was at the bottom of Church Street. There were also athletic competitions, with races and other track events. There were parties and “banquets”, one on October 2, 1901 at the barn at J.H. Osterhout’s farm, sometimes in Henry Stearn’s barn. May 4, 1896, “Quite a number of Troy people were in Melrose yesterday, gathering trailing arbutus and enjoying the first blossoms of spring.” There was also a “Melrose Male Quartette” which sang at many events. And there were three local churches: the Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian, which all hosted social events.
Melrose was also the site of the grove of Charles Doty. The Doty houses were just west of route 40 near the current post offices. I am not sure of the location of the grove, but it was large. The Troy “Times” in August 1894 reported that over 2000 people from the Sunday Schools and congregations of seven churches had met for a “union picnic” there. The grove was on “high ground about one half mile from the Melrose station.” It was one of the “most delightful and picturesque in town.” Presumably many of the attendees came by train.
The July 10, 1896 Schaghticoke “Sun” reported on the events of the 4th of July, a big day for the Melrose summer people. “Charles Francis had his usual fine display of fireworks on his lawn.” The Melrose Athletic Association held its first annual field day. It had just been organized the preceding day, so needed to be excused for any faults in organization, stated the tongue-in-cheek article in the “Sun.” “The 100-yard dash was won by Willie Walker, proving that his name should not be Willie Walker.” His prize was a tennis raquette (sic). There was a sack race, a three-legged race, an egg race, a 50-yard race, a one-legged endurance race, a fat man’s race, a potato race, and a ball game between the Gold Bugs and the Silverites, a reference to the current political division over U.S. currency. Most of the contestants in the races were the same few men, George DeMurry, John Leavens, W. Fitzpatrick, A. Gorham, and Dusenbery ; the whole article was written in a very jovial tone. The fat man’s race contestants were H. Stearns, J. Caldwell, and E.J. Bonesteel. “Stearns ran like an ice wagon, Bonesteel was as graceful as a bear, and Caldwell like one of Troy’s messenger boys with an important dispatch.” Bonesteel won the prize, a bicycle bell. H. Stearns was Henry Stearns, the local blacksmith, who was about 50 at the time. Caldwell was presumably the Ludlow Valve executive who had built what is now the Denio home. It’s hard to tell from this very humorous story how involved the Melrose community actually was in this whole thing.
site of the tavern, then the hotel in Melrose. This photo is a bit later, with the Grange in the backgroung
While Melrose was mainly a spot for long-term vacationing, the hotel at the junction of Melrose-Valley Falls Road and Route 40 was also the site of daily recreation. The week of August 1895 there was a reunion of the 125th NY Volunteer Infantry Regiment Association- the veterans of the Rensselaer County Regiment in the Civil War- at Paul’s Hotel, which was that hotel at the junction. There was to be baseball, a tug-of-war, running races between the one-legged veterans, and sparring matches between the one-armed men. This was certainly making the best of what must have been devastating wounds. “The old boys always take their families.” There was to be music, and dinner at the hotel for those who did not wish to picnic. A report after the event stated that over 100 men attended. There was an “excellent literary and music program after dinner, performed by the members. A drum corps added much to the day’s enjoyment by rendering of war pieces and bugle calls.” Local businesses and residences were “tastily” decorated for the event. Attendees would have come from all over the county, with Melrose easily accessible by train.
clearly the 125th had a reunion at Melrose more than once
There was probably a hotel at that junction soon after the Northern Turnpike (Melrose-Valley Falls Road, then south on Route 40 to Troy) was built in 1801. On the 1856 town map the hotel was owned by Humphrey Akin. The 1877 Beers Atlas just labeled it “hotel”. For years it was called the Park Hotel, though sometimes referred to by the name of the owner or operator. In 1877 he was E.D. Strunk, in the 1890’s through 1920, Edward Paul. Apparently the roof of the building was at times painted in squares of white and red- or had a shed that was- the origin of one of the old names of Melrose, “Checkered Shed.”
Edward D. Strunk, born in Schaghticoke in 1837, was listed in the 1865 NY Census as a farmer, but in the 1870 US Census as an inn keeper. He and wife Margaret Weatherwax ran the Park Hotel until about 1879. In the 1880 US Census Edward was listed as “retired”, very odd. The following year he was listed in the Troy City Directory as a retail grocer, by 1884 as the proprietor of the Phoenix Hotel in Lansingburgh. This was definitely a step up for him, but Edward died in 1891. His obituary stated that he had been running the Hotel Brunswick in Lansingburgh at the time of his death, but that he had run hotels in Melrose and Schaghticoke as well as the Phoenix.
I think that Edward J. Paul was the next owner of the Park Hotel. I can’t find him in the 1900 US census, but an article in the Schaghticoke “Sun” in 1894 reported that Edward Paul’s Park Hotel had new sheds for parking. Several articles in 1895 run quite a gamut: March 22 Paul had received a gift of a stuffed six- foot alligator which would be on display; the hotel was for sale as of May 31, and that September 27 that Edward had been fined $125 for selling liquor without a license. Although a little item in the May 4, 1896 Troy “Times” reported that James Russell had rented the hotel, Russell really owned a hotel down on River Road. Perhaps this was true only while the liquor problem was happening, as Edward was the owner as of the 1905 NY Census. He was 45, wife Jennie 28, and they had a three-year-old, also Jennie. Mrs Paul’s mother Loretta Whalen lived with them, as did Anthony Rosen, 26, a bartender.
The Park Hotel burned due to a “defective flue” on December 20, 1913 (Troy Times). The Pauls were in Troy at the time. It was insured for $4,500, though the paper said the hotel was valued at $6,000. It was rebuilt at once. Edward was recorded as running the hotel through 1920. He died in 1923.
Odd Fellows Hall and buttonhole factory
Melrose was not solely a vacation destination. There was a small buttonhole factory- certainly a niche operation- and at least one cider mill. An ad in the 1894 Schaghticoke “Sun” asked people to bring their apples to C.H. Sipperly, who would make them into cider, though I’m not sure how and where he accomplished this. C. H. was Charles H., a son of John J. Sipperly. I have written about John before. He was supervisor of the town around 1850 and built and lived in the house at the corner of my road- Roe, and Pinewoods Road. John had had a special interest in apples- he did experiments with grafting- so perhaps this carried on to Charles.
John O. Wing had a general store just to the southeast of the junction of Route 40 and Melrose-Valley Falls Road. John was born in Pittstown in 1844, the son of farmers James and Phebe Wing. As of the 1870 US Census, he and wife Arlina were farmers in Brunswick, but by 1875, they lived in Melrose and he was operating the general store and post office. Arlina was the daughter of farmers Alpha and Mary Hayner of Pittstown. Wing and Daniel Viall, in Grant Hollow, alternated serving as postmaster for many years, presumably depending on politics, as the postmaster job was a political appointment, but Wing was postmaster when he retired in 1914. Of Quaker descent, he was a faithful Presbyterian in Melrose, then became a very active Methodist when the churches joined. He was long- time director of the choir at the Presbyterian Church in Melrose, and a member of a male quartet which sang at a number of functions. In 1897 he became the President of a new Anti-Saloon League in the town, which advocated unsuccessfully against licensing saloons. Dr. E.N. Beale, prominent local physician, was the Vice-President. John retired from store and post office about 1920. Arlina died in 1922, John in 1929.
Melrose also had the essential blacksmith shop. Located where S and M Motors is now, it had been operated by Henry Stearns since at least 1875. He and wife Mary emigrated from England with four children about 1872. He took over the blacksmith shop of Jacob Cookingham in Melrose. According to his 1921 obituary, “he was one of the real old-fashioned blacksmiths, and was particularly noted for his feats of strength. He was greatly interested in throroughbred horses and at one time owned several.” (Troy Times Dec 23, 1921) He and his family were members of the Lutheran Church, where Henry was an Elder for many years. Wife Mary died in 1905. In February 1910 (Troy Times Feb. 10, 1910) he married Mary Nett Yates of Pittstown, who survived him. He died in 1921.
Melrose Methodist Church before the move
The Presbyterian Church at Melrose was organized in 1882 by a combination of full-time residents and summer folk, including Adam Hayner, Alexander Reid, T. Newton Wilson, George Sinsabaugh, and C.C. Schoonmaker. There had been a Methodist Church in Grant’s Hollow since 1853. In 1905-1906, in a further sign of the shift of the local activity from Grant’s Hollow up route 40 to Melrose, the Methodist Church was physically moved and joined to the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church was the front section of the current building. Now all Methodists, they bought a new organ, eighteen feet wide and twenty feet high. “Through the splendid endeavours of the leading spirits in this church the entire property..was purchased or placed here..at an expense of about $10,000.” The Church was lit by acetylene gas.
Lutheran Church as Lyn’s Hairafter
St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church had been organized at the junction of Melrose-Valley Falls Road and Northline Drive at the time of the American Revolution. There was some sort of church building there by 1800. The church records state that as of 1893 the building was the second on the site. No center of population developed in that area, and the church membership dwindled. In 1893 the church was taken down and part of it was used in building a new church at the corner of Church Street and Valley Falls Road in “downtown” Melrose. The records go on to say that the new church cost about $5000, with a subsequent “strengthening of the roof” costing $1000 more. The price included sheds and a barn, needed for parking horses and buggies on Sunday. In 1903, Reverend Dreibelbis began a landscaping project, and in 1905 the whole building was raised three feet for $125.00, with the basement being dug out by the parishioners themselves. New memorial windows were added. The C.H. Larabee family installed a Monarch Acetylene Plant, which provided gas lighting for the building. E. M. Lounsberry gave a communion set.
Moving out into the area surrounding Melrose, the September 10, 1896 “Sun” says that J.B. Overocker’s steam cider mill would operate in September and October as had Sipperly’s. Of course the use of steam power meant he didn’t have to depend on the water flow of a stream. The 1905 NY Census actually lists John Overocker’s occupation as “cider maker.” John, 47, lived with just housekeeper Sarah Webster, 38. The 1915 NY Census listed him as having a saw mill, certainly a more year-round job. The 1916 Farm Directory calls him simply “miller.” I believe that John lived, farmed, and milled where Paul and Anthony DellaRocco do in 2020, on Riley Road. That is where his father Norman’s farm was. Incidentally, John and Sarah married in 1920. He and Sarah had moved in with his nephew in Center Brunswick. John fell down the stairs there and died in 1927. (Troy Times August 8, 1927)
Of course there were also a number of farms in the Melrose area. Many farmers continued to grow a variety of grains, plus raise a few cows, pigs, chickens, etc. But one farm was a stand-out: the stock farm of Joseph H. Osterhout. Joseph was born in Wawarsing, Ulster County in 1845, and worked on his father’s farm as a young man (his obituary). He was in Troy by the 1870 US Census, and clerked at Frear’s Department Store (Troy Directory 1875, obituary). The 1880 US Census for Troy listed him as a shirt manufacturer. This was to be his career. He began as a partner with Dennis Sheehan. He married Elizabeth Orr in 1882.
By 1890 Joseph was buying fancy trotting horses and had bought his farm, called Fernwood, in Melrose. In 1890, the Troy “Daily Times” described him as ‘owner of the best blooded stock” at fairs in New York and New England. He had Kentucky- bred mules, a 3-year-old standard stallion named Reputation, a 2-year-old standard filly named Showeress, who was “pure gaited and fast,” a standard brood mare named Madeleine, and a roadster brood mare named Mollie Kistler, who won ten consecutive races. “Mr Osterhout’s stock farm is thoroughly equipped in everything pertaining to the breeding and growing of the best horses.” He was “one of the best drivers behind thoroughbred horses in the section.” (Troy Times May 11, 1914)
Several newspaper articles give us great information about Joseph Osterhout’s farm business, and about how the railroad made Melrose so accessible. On January 21, 1890 the Troy “Times” reported, “Joseph H. Osterhout, well-known shirt manufacturer of Troy and proprietor of Fernwood Farm at Melrose narrowly escaped instant death yesterday.” He ran to catch the 5 o’clock train to Melrose at Fulton Street in Troy, jumped for the platform of the smoking car, but slipped and was hit by parts of the car. He was dragged from under the train just before the wheels would have run over him and escaped with cuts on his nose and head.
On November 13, 1894, the “Times” reported a sale at Fernwood Farm at 11, accessible by the 7 and 10 a.m. trains. Sixty head of horses, mules, and jerseys (presumably jersey cows) were to be sold, along with Poland China pigs. Fernwood would provide wagons from the train to the farm. The “Holstein-Friesian Herd Book” for 1891 listed five cows owned and bred by Joseph, giving us a bit of insight into that side of his business. On May 30, 1896, Joseph entertained the Park Island Club, an organization of which he was a founding member, and which sponsored horse races. Of course the horsemen all drove to the farm. Joseph “has eight or ten fine horses and a number of cattle. An excellent spread was served.” On August 26, 1899, the Times reported that Joseph “paraded his string of Shetland ponies before the grandstand” at the Rensselaer County Fair. Howard B, nine- years -old, had won first premium among 28 entrants in a world’s fair. Someone offered Joseph $2000 for him, which he refused.
The 1900 US Census listed Joseph, 54, and Libbie, 46 and their two children, Eugene, 11, and J. Gordon, 8 in Melrose. The 1905 NY Census recorded him as a stock raiser for the first time, rather than a collar and shirt manufacturer, confirming that he had sold that business. I think Joseph was a hard-driving businessman and a passionate horseman who was happy to reach a level of success where he could move to the country and raise fine livestock, making a living at his avocation.
Joseph was also active buying and selling horses. On May 13, 1900, he advertised “two charming roadsters, right in every way, safe for a lady to drive, $150 each.” On May 26, 1900 the “Times” reported he bought six harness racing horses at a sale in Cleveland, Ohio. On March 21, 1901, he bought Clausely, a harness racing horse at the Fasig-Tipton sale in Madison Square Garden for $335. In May 1902, Joseph sought to sell two mules cheaply, and a month later he was looking for“10 pairs of cheap work horses about 1200 pounds each and 10 good men as drivers.” What was the occasion? Of course along with buying and selling horses, Joseph frequently advertised for stable hands, generally boys over 18.
On a very different note, on October 2, 1901 the newspaper reported the Osterhouts had held a barn dance for sixty young people from Melrose and Troy. The interior of the barn was decorated with corn, autumn leaves, and Japanese lanterns. There was supper and dancing.
Joseph died of a stroke in 1914. The obituary in the Troy “Daily Times” on May 11 described him as a widely-known horseman. A final article, published in 1914 after Joseph’s death, reported that his widow was selling Shetland ponies of all colors and sizes, with complete outfits. The 1915 NY Census reflected the new Osterhout family: Elizabeth, 58, plus sons Eugene, 25, a railroad conductor, and Gordon, an assistant chef. No stockmen there. Elizabeth lived in Melrose until just before her death in 1931.
History of the Town of Schaghticoke 