HOMETOWN History

Aug. 2, 2019

150 Years Ago

Excerpts from a letter submitted Mrs. Dr. Bassett, mother of Mary Imogene Bassett, then practicing medicine with her husband in Mt. Vision – “We maintain there is nothing in the study or practice of medicine to unsex the sexes; nothing unwomanly, or un-Christian in responding to the calls of suffering humanity; that it is truly woman’s nature and province to practice the healing art; that it is a necessity of the age to have well-qualified female medical practitioners; that gentlemen physicians themselves have complimented us by requesting our assistance in treating the wives, daughters and patients, in cases where their innate modesty and refinement of character have prevented and excluded knowledge essential for the proper treatment of disease.”

August 1869

125 Years Ago

Brakeman Killed – Peter Tigue, head brakeman on Conductor Flannigan’s train on the D. & H., met with a horrible death last Thursday morning at Cobleskill. He was unmarried and boarded in Oneonta. The crew had been taking on cars, and owing no doubt to the darkness he stepped from the end of the car to the ground, thinking that another car was attached. He probably died almost instantly as his body was completely severed just above the hips, he having fallen across one rail.
Portlandville – Last week Mr. Aaron Wilber met with what might have been a very serious accident. His hay fork failed to dump, and in trying to loosen it, the hay, about 500 pounds, dropped upon him, crushing him to the load. He is doing well.

August 1894

100 Years Ago

A woman’s brain reaches its greatest weight about the age of 25, while in the case of a man, this does not occur until ten years later. This explains the assertion that a woman at the age of 21 is in a better position to give a mature judgment than a man at the same age.
Dogs of War – On July 28, 1838, General Zachary Taylor, afterward President of the United States, requested the government to furnish him bloodhounds to be used in hunting the Seminole Indians of Florida. He was furnished with the dogs.
Education always helps. The success of the unlettered man is often argued to show that men do not need education. In special cases the truth may seem to be conclusive. But did you ever stop to inquire what the fellow might have become had he added education to his natural talents? He has succeeded in spite of a handicap and not because of it.

August 1919

80 Years Ago

Mrs. Willard E. Moxley of 16 Fifth Street, Oneonta, has a hobby of collecting pictures of twins. Mrs. Moxley started July 12, 1938 compiling a scrapbook of pictures of twins, and she now has snapshots or photographs of 91 pairs. In some cases she has more than one picture of the same twins, showing them at different ages. In another part of her scrapbook she has newspaper pictures of 128 pairs of twins, many of them accompanied by descriptive clippings. Among these views are pictures showing from five to ten pairs of twins enrolled at the same school. Her next door neighbor, Mrs. George W, Wright of 18 Fifth Street, was credited by Mrs. Mrs. Moxley with having given her much encouragement and assistance in this hobby. In the collection are pictures of 18 sets of twins who live in Oneonta, or who formerly resided here.

August 1939

60 Years Ago

Haloka, a three-month-old woodchuck listens like a puppy dog to the commands of its master, 11-year-old Faith Deering, of 38 Ford Avenue. “Hokie” as Faith calls the animal came to her when just a few weeks old. Hokie was found by some classmates of Faith, and with Faith, Hokie has received the best of attention – bottle fed, washed and kept warm. Soon Hokie became a real household pet. Faith began to take the animal for walks, came back when she called, and according to Faith “just loves candy and other sweet things.” She plans on keeping the animal a few more weeks and then hopes to find Hokie a permanent home in the Bronx Zoo. “Daddy (William Deering) is in New York City now, and I think he might be able to get Hokie into the Bronx Zoo for display.

August 1959

20 Years Ago

Less than 17 months after it opened the Sav-A-Lot grocery store in Oneonta is closing. Store manager Jeff Allen said executives from Houchens Industries, Inc. the Kentucky-based firm that owns the store informed him and his fourteen employees last week of plans to shut down. The Oneonta Sav-A-Lot is located in the Ames Plaza at the corner of Chestnut Street and Winney Hill Road. It opened in April 1998 in the building formerly home to a Grand Union grocery store. Houchens Industries Inc. owns or operates more than 200 grocery and convenience stores in 11 states and is ranked among the top 500 private businesses in the U.S., according to Forbes.

August 1999

10 Years Ago

The National Soccer Hall of Fame inducted former U.S. National Team standout defenders Joy Fawcett and Jeff Agoos on Sunday. Alex Yannis was honored also as the Colin Jose Media Award winner. Yannis spent 35 years with the New York Times covering Soccer in the United States. The event drew a crowd estimated at 500 including eleven returning Hall of Famers. Shannon MacMillan introduced former teammate Fawcett who played a key role as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team that won the first FIFA World Cup in 1991. Fawcett became the eighth players from the “91ers” inducted into the Hall. Agoos acknowledged his father Andy Agoos and several coaches who contributed to a career highlighted by 134 international soccer matches, World Cup appearances in 1998 and 2002, plus a 10-year stint in Major League Soccer that produced three titles for D.C. United and two for the San José Earthquake.

August 2009