BOUND VOLUMES
Oct. 3, 2019
200 YEARS AGO
Ed. Note: October 4, 1819, a Monday, marks the first appearance in Cooperstown two centuries ago of the newspaper still known as “Freeman’s Journal.” John Prentiss the editor introduced the publication to the community as follows: “After a lapse of more than a year, we resume our editorial labors, and at a time, too, inauspicious to an extensive circulation of newspapers, because the pecuniary pressure upon the country is so great as to require a general retrenchment in expenditures. Having incurred great expense in procuring an entire new apparatus, and being resolved to devote our whole time in the business, we rest with confidence upon the liberality of a generous public
for patronage in an undertaking encompassed with many difficulties, arduous in its very nature, and highly responsible in its consequences.”
October 4, 1819
175 YEARS AGO
A Whig Movement Against Foreigners – The Vicksburg Constitutionalist, a paper which displays the names of Clay and Frelinghuysen from its masthead, comes out boldly in favor of shutting out foreigners from the privileges of citizenship until they should have resided among us 21 years. “Let one and all unite in petitioning the very next Congress on this subject. Have the laws altered. Let the term of probation be 21 years and let no foreigner have a foothold in the country without he brings with him irrefutable, conclusive, decisive evidence, beyond a doubt, of his good character at home. We are not at all bound to admit into our country the vile outpourings of any land. We must not suffer the convicts, the criminals, the paupers, the traitors, of three quarters of the world to be shoveled in among us. If we have any immigrants at all, let us have the good and virtuous, and no others. We have enough now, in all conscience.
October 7, 1844
150 YEARS AGO
The names of school teachers from the Town of Otsego attending a training institute includes the following: Adelbert Gates, Edwin Bowen, S.B. Bliss, S.I. Haynes, Albert Van Horne, C.F. Brewer, Geo. Temple, Amanda Sitts, Jennie Palmer, Martha Ball, Mary Ball, Lovina House, Ella Lake, Mary Kelley, Mary Hubbell, Hattie Gould, Maggie Russell, Cornelia Hecox, Hattie Williams, Sarah Byrnell, Jennie Byrnell, Lucretia Potter, Ellen Brower.
October 1, 1869
100 YEARS AGO
The Aviators to Go – News comes that the U.S. Aviation Hospital here is likely to break up during the next ten days.
Had this step been decided upon four months ago it would be generally agreed that the aviators and their business would be generally missed in Cooperstown. Perhaps a few frank statements will not be out of place. The presence of the hospital here was, like any other military affair, a distinct novelty at first. But, like everything else military, the novelty wears off. When the hospital was filled to capacity and there were a number of patients and medical officers who took an interest in Cooperstown, and its affairs, they were exceedingly welcome. But when the personnel lagged, interest lagged. And there is little doubt but what a large number of the patients attempted to have things “their own way.” This of course worked to the detriment of the hospital in the village. But, the long and short of it is that Cooperstown is growing a little weary of the continual presence of free and easy soldiers who toil not and spin little, and do not add materially to the citizenship of the village.
October 7, 1919
75 YEARS AGO
Excerpts from a Republic Steel advertisement titled “Boys, I’ll tell you what Free Enterprise really is” “It’s a lot of little things – and some mighty big things too. But, in a nutshell, it’s our right to live our own lives, run our own farms and our own businesses in our own way – without needless interference. “It’s our right to criticize the government, bawl out the umpire, belong to the Grange, or make a speech on the public square. It’s our right to travel when and where we choose – to work or not as we please. It offers opportunity to anyone who wants it. It rewards thrift, hard work and ingenuity. It thrives on competition and raises our standard of living. It encourages invention, stimulates research and promotes progress. Yet in spite of all this, some folks would like to change our American way of doing things – and rebuild our whole country under a new and different system. If they had their way, Tom here, wouldn’t own this store. Ed’s farm would belong to the state and Ed would be told how to run it and what to raise. Jim would be working for a state-owned factory with his job and wages frozen. Frankly, I don’t like the name Free Enterprise because it’s the most American thing we have. It really is America. Let’s keep it.”
October 4, 1944
50 YEARS AGO
In Cooperstown – Michael S. Jastremski, son of Dr. and Mrs. Michael M. Jastremski of this village, who graduated cum laude from Hartwick College in June, is attending upstate Medical Center at Syracuse. He and his wife Karen and daughter Kimberly Ann are residing in Syracuse.
Waldo C.M. Johnston, director of the Marine Historical Association at Mystic Seaport, Conn. Will be the guest speaker at the Wednesday, October 8 meeting of the Women’s Club of Cooperstown to be held in the club rooms of the Village Library building. His talk will be titled “The Role of the Outdoor Museum in a Changing Culture” using Mystic Seaport as an example.
October 1, 1969
25 YEARS AGO
The Cooperstown High School Science Department will welcome students, parents and community members to a Science Department Open House on Thursday, October 27. The evening will begin with informal tours of the two McIntosh Computer Centers. The Earth Science Computer Center, under the direction of Dr. Frances Hess, is located in Room 102. The McLab, under the direction of Mr. Thomas Good, is located in Room 100. Students in grades 9 to 12 will be on hand to demonstrate many of the applications used in the sciences for data collection, graphing, word processing, drawing and publishing.
October 5, 1994