HOMETOWN History

April 24, 2020

150 Years Ago

News Items – The Buffalonians are taking 90 pound sturgeon. On April 4, a foot of snow fell at Scranton, Pennsylvania. There are over 250,000 Odd Fellows in the United States. Wyoming farmers plow with tame Buffalo. Rhode Island has abolished imprisonment for debt. Lotteries are not tolerated in Russia – not even for religious purposes. There are said to be 500,000 French Canadians in the United States. Steps are being taken in India to put a stop to the common custom of destroying female infants. Cincinnati has a curiosity in the shape of a Mulatto barber who has unmistakable red hair. The estimated number of members of the Masonic Order in the United States and British America is 468,455. Four young ladies were recently baptized in the Rum River at Aronka, Minnesota, when the thermometer marked ten degrees below zero. The New York Assembly has agreed to the Bill making eight hours a legal day’s work, except where by contract a different time is specified.

April 1870

125 Years Ago

Advertisement: JACK’s – Corner Main and Chestnut Streets Oneonta – Have you ever considered how much you can save by buying goods from us, notwithstanding the big advertisements of some of our competitors? We, in our “Little Store,” are MAKING PRICES to SUIT the TIMES. If our prices are right, you will be satisfied. COME and GET YOUR MONEY BACK. W.H. JACK.
Advertisement: M. GUNEY’S & SONS, ONEONTA – Having enlarged our store and increased our stock, we can now show the finest line of Dry Goods ever brought in this Section. WASH GOODS in PROFUSION; DRESS GOODS and SILK DEPARTMENT; CLOAK DEPARTMENT; CARPETS, RUGS and OILCLOTH; UPHOLSTERY DEPARMENT; TRIMMINGS
– Agents for Butterick’s Patterns.

April 1895

100 Years Ago

Reverend Dr. Edmund M. Mills, acting secretary for the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which opened Saturday at Des Moines, Iowa, stated tonight that the Conference would probably revise the ban on amusements, changing it from a mandatory act in the Book of Discipline to a “word of advice.” Memorials submitted to Dr. Mills from Conferences in all parts of the country showed that about one-third of the preachers want to eliminate all reference to dancing, theatres and card playing. In view of the fact that preachers do not put men and women on trial for these amusements, Dr. Mills will move the elimination of the following words in that part of the Book of Discipline dealing with the trial of a member for “Imprudent Conduct: Dancing, playing games of chance, attending theatres, horse races, circuses, dancing parties, patronizing dancing schools, or taking part in such other amusements as are obviously of misleading and questionable moral tendency.”

April 1920

80 Years Ago

A retired United States Marine Corps Officer told New York State Methodists that he had observed a “marked similarity” between the doctrines of Christianity and the work of Chinese Communists. Addressing ministers and lay delegates at the annual New York Conference of the Methodist Church, Major Evans Carlson spoke on “The Duty of Christian America in the Japanese-Chinese Conflict.” “The so-called Chinese Communists are practically Christians, though they do not profess the faith,” he said. “As a group they are humble in spirit and compassionate of their enemies.”

April 1940

60 Years Ago

The Oneonta Youth Council has grown up and will become 15 years old next Tuesday. Suitable anniversary observances have been arranged, according to Chairman E.C. Damaschke of the Oneonta Recreation Commission. The public is invited to join a sociability night at the Youth Center, on the top floor at the Y.M.C.A. on Tuesday night at which new officers will be elected and installed. On Thursday night there will be a dinner for Council members and the election of new officers. On Friday night the large game room will be the site of a Teen Age Record Hop with prizes and a birthday cake cut. On Saturday, there will be tournament play in games with prizes and dancing in the record hop room. The Youth Council was organized April 26, 1945, with James T. Catella as first president. Last night the top floor of the “Y” building was crowded with upwards of 200 young people.

April 1960

20 Years Ago

Laura Jean Oliva, a physician’s assistant in Oneonta, made her first medical relief trip to the Dominican Republic in 1996. Since then she has been back about five times each year, sometimes staying for as long as a month. Oliva offers exams, medications and vaccinations, as well as more specialized orthopedic care to residents in the southeastern part of the Dominican Republic, an agricultural area that produces sugar cane and tobacco. Eight months ago, Oliva started Esperanza Dominican Relief, a non-profit, nonsectarian, humanitarian organization – to provide her efforts with a formal structure and facilitate fund raising for a new clinic and laboratory. “After four years, I’m still working out of the back of my car,” Oliva said. Oliva is a 45-year- old Bronx native who stays in the Dominican with a host family and has two godchildren in the country.

April 2000

10 Years Ago

Armed with signs, songs and speakers, Tea Party patriots gathered in Norwich on Thursday in East Side Park across from the Chenango County Courthouse to rail at perceived governmental excesses and failures. Organized by Gilda Ward of Guilford, Charlie Ressiguie of Norwich and others, the Chenango County gathering, slated to run seven hours, drew scores of people at a time, some staying all day, others moving on. “Tea Party Patriots are tired of being ignored and controlled by their governments, both state and federal, Ressiguie said. “It’s come to the point where we’ve got to speak up.”

April 2010