Bound Volumes

June 8,, 2023

210 YEARS AGO
Among the ten provisions of a village ordinance adopted on May 21, 1813 is the following: And be it further ordained, that the owner of every dwelling, house, office, shop or store, shall provide on or before the first day of October next, (under the penalty of one dollar for neglect or refusal so to do,) one leather fire bucket, for every two fire places in each and every dwelling house, office, shop or store; and that each dwelling house, office, shop or store that may have but one fire place, shall nevertheless furnish and provide one fire bucket; and that the said fire buckets may easily be obtained at all fire alarms, it shall be the duty of such owners to place or suspend the said buckets in the most convenient place therefore & further, it shall be the duty at every fire alarm to place or cause to be placed such buckets without the door for use.

June 5, 1813

185 YEARS AGO
On Wednesday evening last, as the Fort Plain stage was passing down the road upon the east shore of the lake, the driver fell from his box to the ground, immediately in front of the wheels, which passed over one of his legs in such a manner as to break it in three places. He is expected to recover. The unfortunate man is the sufferer in this instance from the effects of a practice which put in jeopardy the safety of nearly a dozen passengers – we mean that of drinking ardent spirits.

June 4, 1838

160 YEARS AGO
Summary of News – Bible Society Anniversary – the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Otsego County Bible Society, will be celebrated on Tuesday, the 16th day of June at 10 o’clock a.m. in the Presbyterian Church in this village. Interesting addresses are expected, and all the friends of the cause in this County are invited to attend. F.A. Lee, President.
Teachers’ Association of the 2nd Assembly District of Otsego County met at Morris, on Saturday, May 16th, 1863. The meeting was called to order by the president, J.T. Wallace. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. A general exercise in Orthography was conducted by Oscar Hardy; also one in the Geography of the State of New York, by G.C. Ritter. An essay was read by Mr. G. Weeden; Subject, “The Philosophy of Teaching.” Also read was an essay by Miss Jennie C. Reno; Subject, “Reflections on the War.” A Lecture was presented by Professor J.M. Hartwell, of Charlotteville Seminary; Subject, Mental Susceptibilities.” The lecture was carefully prepared and well received.

June 5, 1863

135 YEARS AGO
The day after Sheriff Talmadge took possession here and finding several criminals in the jail, he took additional precautions for keeping them there, by adding a padlock to the cell in which four of them were confined. He soon found out that they had been planning to escape, and after carefully watching their movements, he said to one of them a few days since that he “would take charge of the tools which they had on hand.” The fellow gave up a piece of steel and two case knives which had been made into saws. They had a poker with which they could unfasten the clasp that had alone held the door of their cell previous to the addition of the padlock. Once out of the cell they had expected to saw through the bars of the windows and escape.

June 8, 1888

85 YEARS AGO
Speaking on the topic “Why So Much Education?” at the annual commencement of the Knox School in this village on Saturday morning, Dr. Frederick C. Ferry, president of Hamilton College, said that the average annual income of men and women who have finished grammar school is $1,200; of those finishing high school $2,200; of college graduates $6,000. This, he said, is only the financial angle of the matter, but 73 percent of those listed in “Who’s Who” are college graduates. The goal of education is to enable young people to find activities in life for which they are fitted, and this seems to work out in a measure although a poll of 500 college men recently showed that the majority went to college because their fathers did. Dr. Ferry also observed that many students find themselves more fully in the extra-curricular activities than in the classroom, but it all leads to the same result.

June 8, 1938

60 YEARS AGO
The State of New York last week took formal possession of 600 acres of the George Hyde Clarke estate on Otsego Lake. The site, which includes historic Hyde Hall, will eventually be developed into a state park and operated under the jurisdiction of the Central New York Commission. The acquisition was made from the proceeds of the state’s $75 million bond issue, approved by voters in 1960 for state park purposes. The price for the property is believed to be nearly $250,000.

June 5, 1963

35 YEARS AGO
The first executive director of the Otsego County Tourism Bureau says she sees problems as opportunities. “I like to be an optimist. I think of every problem as an opportunity. If you come into a job with a can-do attitude, it rubs off on others,” said Doris Holdorf, the Edmeston resident who started her job in Cooperstown two days ago. Holdorf is the former director of the Business Management Program at Cazenovia College.

June 8, 1988

20 YEARS AGO
Cooperstown varsity tennis duo Reid Snyder and Finn Dusenbery made the long trip down to Flushing Meadows for the New York State Class C championship tennis tournament on Friday, May 30. After losing in the first-doubles round on Friday to Rochester McQuaid, 6-4, 6-3, Dusenbery and Snyder advanced to the first round of consolation matches on Saturday, May 31 and defeated Seton Catholic, 6-0, 6-2. In the second round, however, they were eliminated when they lost a marathon three-set match to Commack, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Both Dusenbery and Snyder are juniors.

June 6, 2003