From the Otsego Herald
for Saturday, December
22, 1810
Compiled, with comments
BY HUGH C. MACDOUGALL
SEEK YOUR FORTUNE!
Tickets for Sale, in Union College Lottery No. 11. By the editor of the Herald at 8 dollars and 50 cents. The price will be raised by the 20th June, to 9 dollars.
COMMENT: Union College in Schenectady, like other very early New York Colleges, raised money through officially sanctioned State lotteries.
A COOPERSTOWN TAILOR ELNATHAN ORSBORN, Merchant Taylor, Respectfully informs his old Customers, Friends, and the Public in general, that he still continues to carry on the Tayloring Business, at his old stand, Second street, Cooperstown, where he has just received from New-York, a good and fashionable assortment of black, blue, bottle green and mixed superfine Broad- Cloths. Do. of second quality. Do. of low priced. Bedford Chord and Hunting Chord, for pantaloons. Kerseymeres.
Vestings and Flannels, together with an excellent assortment of trimmings selected by himself at New- York. All of which he will dispose of for ready pay, or short approved credit, on as low terms as any person in the vicinity.
All orders in his line will be strictly attended to, and every favor Duly and Truly acknowledged. Wanted one or two Journeymen at the above business.
To those who are good workmen and steady, the highest wages will be given if they apply immediately. He likewise is in want of a smart, active Boy, 14 or 15 years of age, as an apprentice to the above business, to whom could encouragement will be given.
December 22, 1810.
COMMENT: Elnathan Osborn (the printer misspelled the name) (1769-1853), came from Danbury, CT via Vermont. It is said of him that in 1777, when he was a child, he came home in Danbury to find his family gone and the house occupied by British soldiers: “This is my home, and I want my dinner’’ he said. The soldiers, after asking for apples and cider, departed, leaving the house undamaged.”
He was Secretary of the Otsego Lodge of Masons, and evidently a solid citizen. In 1793 he married Sally Jarvis (1772-1831) of Fly Creek -- they had seven children. He was advertising for apprentices as early as 1805.
“Chord’’ (or Cord -- we know it better as corduroy) was a raised rib fabric, often used for riding breeches and other trousers (pantaloons) subject to heavy wear. A “Kerseymere” was a twilled woolen cloth.
AN ESCAPED CAPTIVE
Delaware: Is there not an avenging God above? A FACT -- Richard Hancock, a citizen of the United States, who has a wife and two children and formerly living in this borough, says, “he was prest (impressed, or “drafted’’) eight years on board a British 71 gun ship -- that in the course of his eight years captivity, he was only 33 hours on shore, and then in a dock-yard, rigging a 90 gun ship; where he consented to go in getting an opportunity of making his escape.’’
He states, “that he frequently wrote home, & to the American department of state, but he believes the officers with whom he entrusted his letters, never delivered them.’’ He also states, “that there were 37 American Citizens on board the ship Bellisle with him -- that they were treated severe and kept very close.”
Hancock was determined to commit his body to the sharks, rather than sustain such severity any longer; and seeing the American ship Amiable at some distance, he plunged into the deep and bravely swam to her; where he was kindly received and secreted, and has lately arrived at Philadelphia from Tonningen. He is personally known to many of the inhabitants of this borough. -- Delaware Watchman.
COMMENT: The British Navy would continue to seize sailors off American ships, on the grounds (sometimes justified) that they were really British subjects, and force them to serve indefinitely on board British warships. This would continue until the end of the Napoleonic wars, and was one of the principal disputes between England and American for many decades.
SPINNING RECORDS
Pittsfield, Mass.: Female Activity and Industry. Misses Waterman and Wheeler, did, on the 3d inst. (November) at the house of Mr. John Waterman, Esq., of this town, between the hours of three in the morning and six in the afternoon (in the whole fifteen hours) spin from rolls, on the common wooden wheels, and reel on the common reels, (6 feet and two inches in circumference) 277 Notts of 40 threads each, of excellent Yarn, suitable for making the first quality of homespun Cloth -- equal to 27 Skeins and 7 Notts, of 10 Notts each, which, if extended in a line, would have reached 68,327 feet -- equal to thirteen miles, 11 rods, and 7 feet!
This, we hope, will convince those Ladies, who have hitherto submitted their spinning races to the public, that the fair inhabitants of the towering hills of Berkshire are not to be excelled in any of the useful arts; and while to conclude their industry, they triumphantly exclaim, “out do this if you can,’’ we as proudly call upon them to EQUAL this if they can. -- Adams (Mass.), Nov. 7, 1810 -- Pittsfield Sun
ALOE TREE
A vegetable wonder. -- An article under the date of Dublin Sept. 8, states as follows: -- “An aloe, which is known to have been in the garden of lord de Dunstanville, at Trehidy Park, sixty years, and how much longer is uncertain, and which till about two months ago was not more than four feet from the ground, suddenly shot up. And has grown at the rate of two inches a day, till it is now some twenty-five feet high, and expected shortly to appear for the first time, in full bloom.’’
COMMENT: Francis Basset, 1st (and only) Baron de Dunstanville and Basset (1757- 1835) lived at Trehedy Park in Cornwall, England.
He was a Member of Parliament.
Columns
Otsego Herald: Escaped captive
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
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In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
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Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
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In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
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Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
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From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
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In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
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From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
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In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
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From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
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In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
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In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
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From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
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Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
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In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
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Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
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From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
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In These Otsego Hills: Waiting for spring to have sprung ...
Difficult as it to believe, both January and February seem to have flown by and we find ourselves turning the calendar over to the month of March, which we have long thought is one of the more dreary months of the year. Of course, as in the pastthere are signs of spring as reflected by the tapping of the maple trees. For many years, the trees sprouted buckets to capture their all important sap. However, we now know to look for the sap collection lines that are strung from tree to tree.
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Book Notes: Kennedy: a unique individual
It’s been almost 50 years since the Kennedy assassination shocked the nation. Since then much has been written about President John F. Kennedy and whether he would have achieved his destiny (whatever that may have been) if he had lived. It is said he inspired young people in a way that has never been equaled. And there is the notion of Camelot, espoused by his widow Jackie, that there will never be a time of hope and promise like that again.
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
