BOUND VOLUMES

January 7, 2021

200 YEARS AGO

The Florida Treaty – The Treaty ceding Florida to the United States has been officially communicated to Mr. Rush, the American Minister in London. Don Manuel de Barros, who is attached to the Spanish Legation to the United States, is arriving at the House of the Spanish Consul at Bordeaux, with the Treaty for the Cession of the Floridas which had been ratified by the Cortes. A letter from Bordeaux, received at Paris on November 7, says he will embark immediately in the ship Rapid of New York for Philadelphia.

January 8, 1821

175 YEARS AGO

Ed. Note: In the following report editor John Prentiss remarks on the swift arrival of an important report State of the State report from Governor Wright coming from Albany in time to be included in the weekly edition: “The message was received at

Fort Plain by Express on Tuesday at half past two o’clock and was sent on here by Mr. Becker, coming to our hand at 4 p.m., the distance of 22 miles from Fort Plain, having been travelled in 1 hour and 45 minutes, and in four hours from Albany!”

Married in Otsego, on January 7, by the Rev. Job Potter, L. D. Brown, Esq., Attorney at Law, of Burlington, to Miss Elizabeth Wilson of Otsego. Married in Middlefield, on December 15, by William Temple, Esq., Mr. Andrew Woodbeck, of Summit, Schoharie County, to Miss Sally Ann Sweet of Middlefield.

Married at Hartwick by Rev. M. Marvin, Mr. Grant Perry to Miss Maria Pratt. Married in Cherry Valley on December 24, by Rev. Wm. Lusk, Mr. Thomas J. Thompson to Miss Weighty J. Brown. (Ed. Note: Church pastors earned a portion of their incomes from performing marriages. Newspaper notices were placed by the pastors as advertisements of their availability to do so).

January 10, 1846

150 Years Ago

In reviewing the local meteorological records we find that 1870 has exhibited some remarkable features that have not characterized any previous season in our record of 21 years. In the first place we have a daily mean temperature of 47.3 degrees. Our average for the previous 20 years has been about 43 degrees, and this has been very constant and uniform. In all our previous records we do not note a greater annual variation than 2 degrees. The summer of 1870 was the warmest we have noted in 21 years. The winter, with the exception of the month of March was one of the mildest. The time of sowing, ripening and harvesting of the crops was the earliest for a corresponding period. The shortest harvest of the year was the ice crop. Our 1870 rain record is much below average and the third lowest on record. The beautiful fall weather of 1870 will long be remembered and the much-abused month of November 1870 receives a good mark for many bright, pleasant days.

January 12, 1871

100 Years Ago

The latest U.S. Treasury Department figures show that the people of the United States now spend $2,200,000,000 yearly for tobacco products. This is $200,000,000 more than the total expenditure for automobiles. The quantity of tobacco consumed is enormous. The American candy bill runs up to a round one billion. For chewing gum, we spend 50 millions of dollars yearly.
(Ed. Note: Significant increases in expenditures for tobacco and candy products followed the prohibition of consumer alcohol beverage products).

January 5, 1921

75 Years Ago

Theodore P. Feury, a popular young Cooperstown attorney, who was recently discharged from the U.S. Navy, with which he attained the rank of Commander in three years’ service, and O.L. Van Horne, who has practiced law in Cooperstown with eminent success since 1905, have formed a partnership effective January 1, 1946, to be known as Van Horne and Feury. The new firm will occupy the offices on the second floor of the Second National Bank building which previously have been occupied by Mr. Van Horne. Mr. Feury practiced law in New York City for three years prior to 1931 and in January of that year took up law practice in Cooperstown. On April 15, 1942, he entered the naval service at Quonset, R.I. His duty assignments included San Juan, Puerto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and then a year aboard the USS Saratoga before a final assignment at Pensacola, Florida.

January 2, 1946

50 YEARS AGO

Jerry M. Franklyn, officer-in-charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service office at Albany, has urged all aliens in the area, who have not yet done so, to fill out alien address report forms before January 31, at the nearest Immigration Service Office, or any U.S. Post Office. The Immigration and Nationality Act requires all non-citizens to report their addresses to the government each January. Persons in diplomatic status and foreign representatives to international are exempt. The parents or legal guardian of an alien child under 14 years of age must fill out the address report form and return it.

January 6, 1971

25 YEARS AGO

After four years of struggling with low attendance, and with plans to build a library and archives in the works, the Corvette American Hall of Fame and Museum has been sold to Wilber National Bank according to bank president Alfred S. Whittet. Allen Schery, listed as vice president and secretary, built the museum four years ago, using seven of his own Corvettes. Schery began collecting
Corvettes when he was 18 years old, acquiring a used vehicle for about $1,800. Along with the museum, Schery planned to build a Corvette Library and Archives using the same architectural firm that designed the library addition to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That structure was completed and opened in 1993.

January 14, 1996

10 YEARS AGO

Louis Tadross began working in kitchens when he was 12-years-old. Fifty years later Tadross is celebrating his 50th anniversary in food preparation and service as Chef at the Otesaga Hotel and Cooper Inn. “They are great people to work for,” Tadross said. Tadross first became a member of a kitchen staff at the age of 12 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Tadross recalled “I was sick of asking my Dad for money every time I wanted to go to the movies. So I went and got a job at a diner.”

January 13, 2011