HOMETOWN HISTORY

January 7, 2021

150 Years Ago

Local: Most of the wells in this village are dry. Housewives therefore grumble.
Charley Freiot has just received a large and splendid assortment of stereoscopic views.
N.I. Ford wishes to say that he will sell his house and lot on Centre Street. It is centrally located and will be sold cheap.
More than 70 houses have been built, enlarged and repaired in our village this past year. We hope to herald more than double that number the coming year.
George Bixby has sold his house and lot on Dietz Street near the bridge to H.J. Cummings of Burlington, at $2,000. Mr. C. will come here to reside in Spring. Mr. Thompson, who recently purchased the old M.E. Church, was busy last week moving it on the lot purchase of Bixby. Mr. T. will arrange the building for two families.

January 1871

125 Years Ago

Obituary: F.D. Shumway, Esq. of Otego, was a man of very decided ability, both as a lawyer and as a businessman, and likewise a man of good impulses. He died at his home on Saturday last of consumption, after an illness of several months. His funeral occurred last Monday. Mr. Shumway was born in the County of Otsego, near Schuyler’s Lake, and was at the time of his death 51 years of age. He was a son of John W. and Sarah Shumway. He had been long a resident of Otego. He was a popular member of the Masonic fraternity, and being so we are informed that he was a Knight Templar. He leaves a family consisting of a wife, three daughters and a son.

January 1896

80 Years Ago

Obituary – Frank C. Huntington. After two years of failing health, during the last year of which he had been unable to visit his office, Frank C. Huntington, who served for nine years as Oneonta City Judge and who had been active in many community activities, died at his home Sunday evening. The cause of his death was a nervous breakdown and complications.
Surviving Mr. Huntington are his widow, two children, Miss Eleanor Huntington, a sophomore at Syracuse University, a son, Franklin C. Huntington, Jr., his mother, Mrs. S.I. Huntington of Oneonta, a sister Mrs. C.M. McGee of Yonkers, and a brother, Lowell S. Huntington of Westford. They will have the sympathy of wide circles of friends in their bereavement for Mr. Huntington was one of Oneonta’s best-liked men. Judge Huntington was the son of the late Shirley I. Huntington, former Surrogate of Otsego County, and Nellie (Rogers) Huntington. He was an alumnus of the Oneonta State Normal School and Wesleyan University. He was admitted to the bar on July 3, 1917.

January 1941

60 Years Ago

The Charter and Dinner Meeting of the Otsego County Legal Secretaries Association was held at the Goodyear Homestead on January 4 with charter members representing 17 law offices within Otsego County, as well as representatives from Otsego County offices, the Oneonta City Clerk’s office, Supreme Court Chambers, County Court, Surrogate Court and City Court. The Hon. Frederick W. Loomis, Otsego County Court Judge installed the following officers: Mrs. Betty Clemons of Oneonta, President; Mrs. Margaret Bolton of Edmeston, Vice-President; Mrs. Kristin Gibbons of Oneonta, Secretary; and Mrs. Dorothy Firman of Cooperstown, Treasurer. The guest speaker was the Hon. Ronald L. Rowley, Oneonta City Court Judge. A letter of endorsement from the Otsego County Bar Association was read. The next meeting will be held at the Goodyear Homestead on February 1..

December 10, 1980

40 Years Ago

The Movies: “Dressed to Kill” (Rated R) Once more proving himself out of the minors and into the major league of movie-making talents, Brian DePalma shows us what movie-making is all about with this wickedly humorous yet deadly serious excursion into suspense. Angie Dickinson plays a suburban housewife who is slain by a razor-wielding psycho. Michael Caine and Nancy Allen also star in this puzzling Hitchcock type whodunit. The story builds as the camera prowls and snakes its way through the New York locations, plotting and unraveling a sexy spine-tingling tale about the way female fantasies link up with the madness in men.

January 1981

25 Years Ago

The 29th Edition of “Who’s Who Among American High School Students for 1994-1995” lists the following students from Oneonta High School: Stacy L. Aldrich,
David B. Benson, Joshua C. Chambers, Fred W. Doctz, Kirsten R. Dutcher, Frances E. Fuller, Frank A. Gambardello, Eric D. Goddard, Sara C. Hall, Marilynn Hecox, Peter Judd, Stacey L. Kolberg, Amy E. Lambiaso, Edwin C. McCurdy, Trevor J. Mix, Timothy J. Oakley, Eric W. Pierce, Rebecca Sechrist, Callie Shrader, Rebekah L. Staples, Susannah M. Stayter, Laura Tillapaugh, Tammy S. Utter, Geeta A. Varghese, and George I. Wilber II.

January 1996

10 Years Ago

Editorial: The high hopes for Governor Spitzer exploded. Governor Paterson’s strong start soon foundered. After two years of the “Troubling Great Recession” the state now faces a $10 billion deficit. So, while every New Yorker should be optimistic about Governor Andrew Cuomo’s prospects, we’ve witnessed how difficult it is going to be to return our state to “Empire” status, wish as we might. In his New Year’s Day Inaugural speech, the new governor certainly captured the pain in “describing the taxpayers – who are imprisoned in their homes because they can’t afford to pay the property taxes anymore, but the value of the home has dropped so low that they can’t afford to sell the house because they can’t pay off the mortgage.” SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski has said: “In the next decade, economic revitalization is going to come from higher education.”
She is exactly right. The question, locally, is how can we jump-start the process?”
Excerpts from Governor Cuomo’s inaugural speech. “New York faces a deficit.
A deficit that we talk about all day long. The budget deficit. But, it’s actually worse. The state faces a budget deficit and a competence deficit and an integrity deficit and a trust deficit. And those are the obstacles we really face.”
Gov. Cuomo’s plan highlighted job creation; cleaning up corruption in Albany to restore trust in government.”

January 2011