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A New York Minute In History
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A New York Minute In History is a podcast about the history of New York and the unique tales of New Yorkers. It is hosted by State Historian Devin Lander, Saratoga County Historian Lauren Roberts and Don Wildman. Jesse King and Jim Levulis of WAMC produce the podcast.
A New York Minute In History is a production of the New York State Museum, WAMC Northeast Public Radio and Archivist Media.
Support for the project comes from The William G. Pomeroy Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Humanities New York Action Grant.
Find us on social media! Twitter: @NYHistoryMinute
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Happy 200th Birthday to the Erie Canal!
May 2800:40:31Tap to summarize2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 and New York State has a huge party planned. On this episode of the podcast, we speak with state officials and local partners to discuss this momentous birthday celebration and the importance of the Canal System today and into the future. Interviewees: William J. Hochul Jr., First Gentleman of the State of New York and co-chair of the New York State Erie Canal Bicentennial Commission, Brian U. Stratton, Director of the New York State Canal Corporation and co-chair of the New York State Erie Canal Bicentennial Commission, and Derrick Pratt, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Erie Canal Museum. For a deeper dive into the history of the Erie Canal, check out episode 3 of A New York Minute in History called “Erie Canal: Compressing Time and Distance.” Marker of Focus: Old Erie Canal, Onondaga County. Image Courtesy of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation Transporting Grains on the Erie Canal, late 19th century, courtesy of the New York State Museum Courtesy of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor The Seneca Chief, Image Courtesy of the Buffalo Maritime Center Upcoming Bicentennial Events: New York State Canal Corporation Bicentennial Website Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Bicentennial Website 2025 World Canals Conference, Buffalo, NY September 21-25 Buffalo Maritime Center: The Bicentennial Voyage of the Seneca Chief Albany Symphony Orchestra: 2025 American Music Festival Water Music NY: More Voices Further Reading/Viewing: Carol Sheriff, The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1997. Brad Utter, Ashley Hopkins-Benton and Karen Quinn, Enterprising Waters: The History and Art of New York’s Erie Canal, 2020. Laurence M. Hauptman, Conspiracy of Interests: Iroquois Dispossession and the Rise of New York State, 2001. WMHT: Reflections on the Erie Canal Educational Resources: Consider the Source New York: Erie Canal Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor: Teacher Resources Erie Canal Museum: Educational Resources for School and Home Buffalo Maritime Center: Student Programs Follow Along: Lauren: On this month's episode, we're focusing on the 200th anniversary of the completion and opening of the Erie Canal. Now there are several historic markers that relate to the incredibly important history of the Erie Canal all across New York state. As an example, there's a marker located in the hamlet of Memphis, which is outside of Syracuse in Onondaga County. Although you may not have heard of this Memphis, it does have a particular claim to fame. It's located on Bennett's corners road, and the text reads, old Erie Canal, formerly called Canton Memphis, was halfway stop on original canal route, 179 miles from Buffalo and 183 miles from Albany, William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2018. Now, if you're Interested in an in depth history of the Erie Canal. You should go back and listen to our earlier podcast from several years ago in 2018 it actually predates me as co host, so you'll be able to hear our former co host, Don Wildman, and it's called the Erie Canal, compressing time and distance, and that'll give you a good foundation about why the canal was so integral to the 19th century development of New York State. But on this episode, we're going to focus on the 200th anniversary of the opening of the canal and all of the events and celebrations and exhibits that are planned throughout 2025 to celebrate this milestone. Now, being that the marker I just mentioned is just outside of Syracuse, we're going to start right in that area at the Erie Canal museum. We were able to speak with director of education and public programming, Derek Pratt, about their upcoming plans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal. Derrick Pratt: I'm Derrick Pratt, director of education and public programming at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, New York, and our mission at the museum is to tell the story of the canal, past, present and future. And as Director of Education, kind of my job to get that story in front of people. So the museum is housed in what we believe is our most important artifact, which is the 1850 Syracuse Weighlock building. That's W, E, I, g, h lock. It was essentially a toll booth on the canal. You would bring your canal boat into it, and it would get weighed and assessed a toll. There were seven of these across the state after they stopped collecting tolls in 1883 the weighlocks fell out of use in a lot of cases and were taken apart, with the exception of the Syracuse weighlock building, which itself was almost destroyed during the construction of interstate 81 in Syracuse. But in 1962 thanks to protests by the Junior League of Syracuse and the canal Society of New York State, the building was saved. It was purchased by Onondaga County with the specific caveat that it be a canal Museum in perpetuity. So that's how we were born. We're a private museum while the county owns the building. We're independent of them. Yeah. So we have a lot going on at the museum this year. We have our kind of flagship program, is our Sloan Lecture Series, which we've got some really great speakers in. And those events are also simulcast on Zoom, and you get recordings afterwards, so even people who aren't in Central New York can view them. We have some, some pretty interesting ones coming up. But we also have our beers bikes and barges cycling series, where we partner with different historic groups throughout the state to put on about hour long bike tours in different canal towns, learn the history of the town, and then we end at a local brewery, typically, and part of your ticket is you, you get to enjoy a beer at the end on us. So that's fun. Another big thing, we have been supported by the Pomeroy foundation in our Bicentennial research project. So one of the things the Erie Canal Museum is really committed to is expanding the narrative of the Erie Canal. And there's just so much stuff that hasn't been covered in Canal history, we are encouraging researchers to do their own research, head into archives in their communities or state archives. People are also welcome to come to the Erie Canal museums, archives, which are pretty extensive, and research a topic that's under discussed in the canal world. And we're collecting all of those papers by August 31 is the due date, and then the hope is to publish kind of a compilation of al...
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Troy Trailblazer: Garnet Douglass Baltimore
Apr 30, 202500:40:07Tap to summarizeOn this episode of the podcast, Devin and Lauren were able to attend the unveiling of the brand-new Garnet Douglass Baltimore historical marker at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy along with Bill Pomeroy himself. Garnet Douglass Baltimore was the first African American graduate of RPI and went on to a long and very successful career as a civil and landscape engineer. Interviewees: Dr. La Tasha A. Brown, Director of Community Relations at RPI Unveiling Ceremony Speakers: Bill Pomeroy, founder of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and Dr. Martin A. Schmidt, President of RPI Marker of Focus: Garnet Baltimore, Rensselaer County Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts by the Garnet Baltimore marker. Photo courtesy of Lauren Roberts. Garnet Douglass Baltimore. Image courtesy of the Hart Cluett Museum William G. Pomeroy speaking at the Garnet Douglass marker dedication, April 15, 2025. Photo courtesy of Lauren Roberts. William G. Pomeroy speaking at the Garnet Douglass marker dedication, April 15, 2025. Photo courtesy of Lauren Roberts. Further Reading: Kenneth Aaron, “Troy Street Paved with Family Pride,” Albany Times Union, February 11, 2021. RPI Alumni Hall of Fame. “Garnet Douglass Baltimore, 1859-1946,” The Cultural Landscape Foundation. “Garnet Douglass Baltimore,” Black Past. Suzanne Spellen, “Garnet Douglass Baltimore: Troy’s Landscape Master,” New York Almanac. “The History of Oakwood Cemetery,” Oakwood Cemetery. Teacher Resources: Hart Cluett Museum, Educator Resources Follow Along: Devin & Lauren Welcome to a New York Minute in History. I'm Devin lander, the New York State historian, and I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. Lauren Roberts: On this month's episode, we're taking you to a brand new historic marker located at one oh 5/8 Street in the city of Troy, which is part of Rensselaer County. The sign is located at the top of an elaborate granite staircase known as the approach, which connects the city of Troy to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, better known as RPI. And the text reads, Garnett, Baltimore first black RPI graduate class of 1881 lifelong Troy resident, civil engineer who designed Prospect Park and parts of Oakwood Cemetery, William G Pomeroy foundation. 2025. Now many of our listeners who are not from the Troy area may have heard of RPI, but they probably haven't heard the name Garnet Baltimore. So let's start off with talking a little bit about who he was and how he came to be the first black graduate at RPI. Devin Lander: Well, let's start with his name, Garnett, Douglas, Baltimore. So he was from a very prominent African American, free black family in Troy. His father, Peter was a barber and also very active in community life in the city. He was also a member of the Underground Railroad and was an abolitionist, of course, and very involved with several of the most prominent abolitionists in the state and nation at the time, including Henry Highland Garnet, who was a legendary preacher and an abolitionist based in Troy at the time, and also was associated with Frederick Douglass. So that's where we get the name Garnet Douglas Baltimore. He's named after Henry Highland Garnet and Frederick Douglass. And even going farther back, his grandfather, Samuel Baltimore, was born enslaved and sought his freedom as a soldier in the American Revolution. He was promised to be free if he had fought on the side of the Americans during the revolution. Unfortunately, after the war, he was denied his freedom by his master or owner at the time, and so he escaped and settled in Troy, which is how the Baltimore family came to the area. Now Garnet, Baltimore was born on Eighth Street, so not far from where the marker is, and right in front of the RPI campus, actually at 160 8th street in 1859 he was born, and he again, was born into a prominent African American family that really valued education and valued the ability of education to lift up a person and allow them to pursue a career and a life on their own. Lauren: Garnett studied at the William rich school and then went to Troy Academy, where he and his brother were the first black students accepted there. He had great grades, and because of the family's connections with prominent people around Troy, he was able to gain acceptance into RPI in 1870 seven's freshman class, and that's how he became the first black graduate in the year 1881 which then led to an amazing career as a civil engineer, and he remained in Troy for the rest of his life. Devin: One of the things about Garnett that we've learned is that beyond being, you know, the first African American RPI engineering graduate in 1881 was the fact that his career was long and varied, and evidence suggests that he received his first job the day after getting his engineering degree from RPI. And so that started a career in which he worked on a variety of projects around the area and around the state, including parts of the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal bridges, other types of civil engineering projects like that. Now we were fortunate to go to the unveiling ceremony for the garnet Douglas Baltimore marker. And this entire project, the work, the research that was done to apply for the marker and to receive a marker from the Pomeroy foundation. Was done by Dr Latasha Brown at RPI, and we had the opportunity to speak with her after the event. Dr. La Tasha Brown My name is Dr La Tasha Brown, and it's my pleasure to be here. I have a PhD from the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, in comparative cultural studies from there, I Well, prior to that, I should say I have a master's degree in African New World Studies from Florida International University down in Miami, Florida, which is now African and African Diaspora Studies. That changed a couple of years ago. My undergrad is from bachelor's degree in history, minor in English, lit, from St Lawrence University in Canton, New York. So I've had quite a bit of experience up and down the East Coast in terms of educational development, and then I did a bit of study abroad in the Caribbean at the University of the West Indies. So throughout my career, I've had the privilege of learning and working across the US, the Caribbean and the UK. So I bring a particular perspective that is global to the work that I do right now at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the Director of Community Relations within the Office of Community Relations and Communications. Devin: Alright, well, let's, let's talk about, a little bit about Garnett Douglas, Baltimore. When did you first become aware of Garnett Douglas, Baltimore and how did that whole interest that you have start? La Tasha: Yes, I started at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute back in February of 2022 I was the Director of the Office of Multicultural Programs at the time, and everyone was talking about the first African American to graduate from RPI, Garnett, Douglas, Baltimore. And I'm like, Oh, okay. Neat. You know most institutions has the first African American. What year did he graduate? Most people did not know oh. And I was just like, oh. And I was just like, Okay, I need to find this out, just because it's the first and knowing that RPI has been around for quite some time, since 1824 which we just celebrated the Bicentennial, so I really wanted to sort of position him within sort of that historical moment. And so 1824 you know, RPI is founded, and then he graduates in 1881 and I was just like, This is amazing, regardless of the fact of, you know, putting the title or the adjective of him being a trailblazer, I'm like, that is just really interesting when you're thinking about the development of America and, you know, upstate New York, and him working in a space that is not heavily filled with African Americans, right? And so that was like the journey he was well connected. And I should say that his father was well connected. His father was part of the Underground Railroad. And so having the opportunity to be around sort of intellectuals, at the time, black and white, being around affluent people. Because, you know, Troy, New York, my understanding, was filled wi...
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Women’s History Month: Sojourner Truth and Her Groundbreaking 1828 Court Case
Mar 26, 202500:36:41Tap to summarizeThis episode of A New York Minute in History commemorates Women’s History Month by uncovering the groundbreaking 1828 court case of Sojourner Truth, a self-emancipated Black woman who took on a white slave owner to free her young son from bondage. Interviewees: Barbara Allen, author and Sixth-Great Granddaughter of Sojourner Truth and Taylor Bruck, Ulster County Clerk and the City of Kingston Historian Marker of Focus: Sojourner Truth, Ulster County Office of the Ulster County Clerk Library of Congress Library of Congress Further Reading: Barbara Allen, Remembering Great Grandma Sojourner Truth, and Journey with Great Grandma Sojourner Truth New York State Education Department, “Sojourner Truth’s Historic Supreme Court Documents From the New York State Archives on Display in Kingston” New York State Archives: People vs. Solomon Gedney Sojourner Truth, Narrative of Sojourner Truth, 1850. Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol, 1996. Teacher Resources: National Park Service: Ain’t I a Woman Lesson Plan PBS Learning Media: Sojourner Truth: Abolitionist and Women’s Rights Activist Consider the Source NY: Sojourner Truth's Fight for African American and Women's Rights in 19th Century New York Follow Along: Devin & Lauren Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian, and I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. Lauren: In honor of Women's History Month, we are taking a look at a marker located at 285 Wall Street in the City of Kingston, which is in Ulster County. It's just outside the Ulster County Courthouse, and the text reads, Sojourner Truth at this courthouse in 1828 the orator and anti-slavery activist successfully sued to free her son Peter from enslavement. William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2023. Before we take a deep dive on this particular marker, I want to point out that it's not the only historic marker erected by the William G Pomeroy foundation in recognition of the life and accomplishments of Sojourner Truth. There's actually four in total. One of them is just south of Kingston in Ulster Park, which marks one of the locations where Sojourner Truth lived when she was enslaved by tavern owner Martinus Shriver. There's another one down in Cold Spring Harbor, which is out on Long Island, where she's noted for visiting for three weeks in 1843 and taking part in a temperance meeting there. The final one is located in Florence, Massachusetts, and that marker is part of the national votes for women trail, and it marks where she lived from 1844 to 1857. It's just incredible to think that this woman who lived so long ago in the constraints of the society at the time, has Four Pomeroy markers dedicated to her accomplishments back then, and that's just William G. Pomeroy markers. There are numerous other monuments and statues and parks named after her, so it's a pretty incredible legacy that she has left behind. Now, getting back to the marker of focus that we're talking about outside the Ulster County Courthouse in Kingston, this court case in which Sojourner Truth brought the complaint against her sons and slavers, and where she was able to win this case, the first time that an African American was able to win a court case against a white man. It's an incredible story, but I think knowing her background and her early life makes it even more incredible. Devin: So let's start by talking about her early life when she wasn't yet Sojourner Truth. So Sojourner Truth was born enslaved in Ulster County. We don't know the exact date. I've seen dates suggesting 1797 but we don't know 100% exactly when she was born. But she was born into enslavement. She was born into a Dutch enslavers family, essentially, and spoke Dutch as her first language, and again, was enslaved in a situation in which, although the enslavers didn't have huge numbers of slaves, they did a variety of types of work. She would have worked in the house. She would have also worked on the property outside hard labor type of work, and she was sold several times in her youth, she was actually sold as a small child to a person named John Neely for $100 along with a few sheep. And by the time she was 13 years old, she had been sold two more times and ended up enslaved under a person named John Dumont. It's interesting to think of having a young woman who had been sold so many times in her short life. Sometimes we think about that in the as happening in the south, but it also happened here in New York and as late as the 1800s and you know, there was a variety, as you mentioned Evan in the work that she had to do. And we talked a little bit about this in the Frederick Douglass episode, that there was a difference between enslaved people who were on a farm, type plantation or a state, and then moving to the city, where they had maybe some more freedom than they were used to on the state. And Isabella, which was her given name at birth, experienced this too. She mentions in her autobiography the difference between, you know, having some more freedoms once she gets to a place of where she is learning some skills in a tavern setting when she's enslaved by Martinus Shriver, but also, you know, being able to learn English, which she hadn't been able to do previously. So she experiences a lot of different situations at a young age, even in in the state of New York. While Isabella was enslaved by Dumont, she made a deal with him, because of the laws of gradual emancipation in New York State, all slaves would be freed in 1827, however, the deal that she made with Dumont was that if she worked hard enough, she could be released a year early in 1826 so she worked very hard, she kept up her end of the bargain, and when it came time for her to go to him and to get her freedom, he basically reneged on the deal and said, No, you can't, you have to stay until 1827, and she decided that because she had held up her end of the bargain she worked hard, that she was going to leave anyway. She did make a point to leave in the daylight, so it wasn't as though she was running away in the middle of the night. So she woke up in the morning, in the daylight, and she walked away, and she was able to find help with the Van Wagonens, not too far away from where the Dumonts lived. And she went there and was able to stay with them. Dumont did come after her, but she refused to go back with him. And also, we should mention that she had a baby, Sophia, with her at the time, who she also took with her, although she had no choice but to leave her other children behind with the Dumonts the van Wagonens, who she had found shelter with, offered to pay Dumont cash for the rest of the year that she would have been enslaved to him, and he accepted that, and from then she was free. Unfortunately, though, her children that she had to leave behind were not free, including Peter, who was born in and around 1818, and was about eight years old when she walked to freedom. John Dumont sold Peter to a man named Eleazer Gedney of Newberg for $2...
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Black History Month: Frederick Douglass in Rochester
Feb 26, 202500:30:42Tap to summarizeIn honor of Black History Month, this episode will delve into the life and work of Frederick Douglass during his time living in Rochester and discuss the legacy of Douglass today. To help us understand this important story, we welcome very special guest Hon. Malik D. Evans, Mayor of the City of Rochester, NY. Markers of focus: Douglass Home, Monroe County Interviewees: Hon. Malik D. Evans, Mayor of the City of Rochester. A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by David Hopper. Our executive producer is Tina Renick. Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby. Photographs courtesy of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. Frederick Douglass, 1879. Photograph by Frank W. Legg, National Archives and Records Administration. Hon. Malik D. Evans, Mayor of the City of Rochester. Photo courtesy of the City of Rochester. Further Reading: Shayla Martin, “2 Black Heroes, 2 Cities in New York: A Journey into the Past,” The New York Times, 2024. Frederick Douglass, The Frederick Douglass Collection: A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, 2023. David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, 2020. Victoria Sandwick Schmitt, “Rochester’s Frederick Douglass: Part One and Part Two, Rochester History, 2005. Teacher Resources: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History: Lesson Plans for Frederick Douglass National Park Service: (H)our History Lesson: Frederick Douglass’s Life-long Fight for Justice and Equality. PBS Learning Media: Becoming Frederick Douglass Follow Along: Devin Lander: Welcome to A New York Minute in History I'm Devin Lander, the New York State Historian, Lauren Roberts: and I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. In honor of Black History Month, we're focusing on two markers for this episode, both located in the city of Rochester and both honoring the contributions of one man, Frederick Douglass. The first marker is located at 297 Alexander Street in the city of Rochester, and the text reads, Douglas home. Frederick and Anna Douglas lived in a home on this site with their five children, 1848 to 1851 welcomed freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, the William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2018 the second marker is located at 271 Hamilton Street and is titled Douglas house. And the text reads, Frederick Douglass, noted abolitionist and orator, lived here with Sprague family. 1873 to 1874 owned a building for 32 years, William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2019, so both of these markers focus on the noted abolitionist orator and printer of the North Star, Frederick Douglass, and on this episode, we're going to take a look at his life and his influence, especially in the city of Rochester. Devin: And to do that, we spoke to Malik Evans, the Mayor of the City of Rochester. Hon. Malik D. Evans: So I'm Malik Evans. I'm the Mayor of the city of Rochester, and I grew up on a street in which Frederick Douglass owned a home the corner of bond in Hamilton. So it's great to be on, be on your show. And I'm a student of history. I love history, so any chance I get to talk about history, I like to take that opportunity. Well, my father was big into history, particularly African American history, and its effect that it had on America. So by the time I was probably 12 years old, I had read both of Frederick Douglass books. So Oh, wow. Became very aware of Frederick Douglass at an extremely early age, and also the elementary school that I went to, we knew that that was also near a site of where Frederick Douglass had lived, the house that actually was down the street from where I grew up. Grew up, we actually did become aware that that was a house that Frederick Douglass had lived in until I was older. So but, but the fact that he was in the area of the school that I would walk to every day, that that was cool. And then we knew he was buried in in Mount Hope cemetery. And then there was a in my neighborhood I grew up in. I grew up in a neighborhood where the statue was a Frederick Douglass in Rochester. So a lot of people don't know, but the first statue to an African American in America was to Frederick Douglass, and it was here, Eureka Lodge, number 36 back in the late 1800s commissioned that statue, and it was downtown, near the train station. At the time we had this major train station, and I mean, presidents came when the statue was unveiled. I mean Frederick Douglass was just really a major, major figure in Rochester history. So I was very, very much aware of Frederick Douglass growing up. There was a gentleman who's now probably close to in his 90s, Dr David Anderson, who actually would play Frederick Douglass when I was in elementary school. He would come to the school dressed as, you know, dressed as Frederick Douglass. So he's always been someone that is a that someone I looked up to as a hero, and His books were just amazing to me, that someone was able to write like that and not have a background in in schooling. I mean, he never PhD or or a master's degree in English, but you would think he would by however. When his writing was, you know, Rochester was, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. It was, it was a safer place to be than in the south, but it also had a strong abolitionist movement. I think that when he started writing his doing his newspaper here, which ran for years, the North Star, was published in Rochester for years that, you know, that kept him here, and people came through here. He had a great friendship with Susan B, Anthony, who was also here, I d B, wells, Barnett came through here. So Rochester was, was a place that all these people could come to and but it was also very strategically located, yeah. So I think that that helped him. John Brown. John Brown, who, you know, who was hung but was a big abolitionist. He came through here to meet and talk with Frederick Douglass and when John Brown was captured and hung, if you remember, Frederick Douglass left and went overseas for an entire year before he returned, before he returned back to Rochester. So I think it was just, you know, a place that was that that was comfortable, comfortable to him, and a place where he saw as a base of his work. You know, he's born in Cordova, Maryland, but if you look at the most amount of time that he spent, it's been in Rochester. So I always argue with my my fellow mayors in Baltimore or in Maryland, and I say, No, Fred, you go. Belongs to us. He might have been born in Maryland, but he spent more time in Rochester than any other place, and he's buried here, yeah. So you know that's what states our claim to Douglas. Devin: Yeah, I think we should talk a little bit about how Frederick Douglass ended up in Rochester, New York. Well, he was born into slavery in Maryland and Tuckahoe, Maryland, to be precise. And he was actually born Frederick, August, Washington, Bailey. His last name was not Douglas at the time, and he was born into slavery raised predominantly by his grandparents, because, as was a common practice during the time ...
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Patriot Burial Markers: Ormsbee Cemetery and the First Rhode Island Regiment
Jan 29, 202500:48:31Tap to summarizeOur new season kicks off with an episode that highlights the war experiences of the legendary Rhode Island Regiment, a multiracial combat regiment that served through the entirety of the American Revolution, from the Siege of Boston to the disbanding of the Continental Army in 1783. The regiment saw action at the battles of Red Bank and Rhode Island before being transferred to New York’s Hudson Valley where they took part in the battle of Pines Bridge and an unsuccessful attempt to seize Fort Ontario in 1783. They mustered out of Saratoga later that year. The episode also tells the story of Isaac Ormsbee, a white private in the Rhode Island Regiment who took part in the Oswego Expedition and mustered out at Saratoga. He would later return to Saratoga on foot, walking from Rhode Island to the Town of Greenfield, to purchase land there. Descendants of Isaac Ormsbee still live on that land today. Markers of Focus: Patriot Burials: Ormsbee Cemetery, Saratoga County. Interviewees: Dr. Shirley L. Green, author of Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence and Eric Schnitzer, Park Ranger and Military Historian at the Saratoga National Historical Park. A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by David Hopper. Our executive producer is Tina Renick. Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby. Photo courtesy of Saratoga County Historian. Further Reading: The New York State 250th Commemorative Field Guide—Office of State History and the Association of Public Historians of NYS. Shirley L. Green, Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence (2023) Gary B. Nash, The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution (2006) Robert Geake, From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution (2010) Teaching Resources: National History Day: “Promises Made, Promises Broken: The Rhode Island First Regiment and The Struggle for Liberty” Battle of Rhode Island Association: Resources New York State 250th Commemoration Commission: Educator Resources Consider the Source New York: American Revolution Follow Along: Devin Lander Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian. Lauren Roberts: and I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. On this episode, we're focusing on a marker in Saratoga County. It's located at 299 Ormsbee Road in the town of Greenfield, and the text reads, Patriot burials, Ormsbee cemetery, revolutionary war veterans, Ambrose Cole and Isaac Ormsbee interred here circa 1828 to 1848 both served in Rhode Island as privates. William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2023. Now this marker is part of Pomeroy’s partner program called The Patriot Burial Markers. They do this in conjunction with the Sons of the American Revolution, and this allows people to mark cemeteries that have patriots from the American Revolution buried in them. I think this program is a good way to include a lot of different communities that might not have maybe a specific battle in their backyard or a historic site directly tied to the revolution, but so many of the veterans that fought in the American Revolution moved to other places after the war and settled in small, rural towns, and so these small family cemeteries often hold a lot of really interesting stories, and the Patriot Burial Marker Program gives you a chance to mark these unmarked cemeteries, and it also gives you a chance to delve into some of these individual stories of the veterans that are buried there. Now the Patriot burial marker program has a few requirements. The cemetery can't be already marked as having Patriot burials in it. So, if you already have that marker, it would disqualify you from this program. If you don't, this is a great way to mark a cemetery and to have communities included in the upcoming 250th commemoration of the American Revolution. Now this marker in particular is in front of Ormsee cemetery. It's a small family cemetery, and there are two patriots called out, Isaac Ormsbee and Ambrose Cole. And Isaac Ormsbee is the one that we're going to be talking about today. Not to leave out Ambrose Cole, but his military record is a little more sparse. We know a little bit less about him and his story in the revolution. We know that he was from Barrington, Rhode Island, and he did come to the town of Greenfield in Saratoga and settle alongside of Isaac Ormsbee. But Isaac has a really interesting story. Isaac Ormsbee enlisted in January of 1781, for three years of service. So, he enlists towards the end of the war, he is with the Rhode Island Regiment. They’re present at Yorktown for the defeat of Cornwallis. And then after that, he is in the Hudson Highlands, and then the Rhode Island regiment comes to Saratoga in 1782 and 1783. But one of the really interesting parts of his story is that after the revolution, he walks from Rhode Island back to Saratoga to find farmland, and then moves here in the 1790s and he leaves behind a diary that describes exactly the route he took on foot, walking from Barrington to Greenfield, covering 20 to 30 miles a day. He talks about all of the different places that they stop along the way. He even describes stopping in Ballston Spa, which was then Ballston Springs, and tasting the mineral water. He comments on the taste of the water, before he makes it up to Greenfield, where he purchases a farm that's part of the Kayaderosseras Patent. And then walks back to Rhode Island, where he collects his family and his things, and they move to the town of Greenfield. And of course, we think that he was familiar with Saratoga, because he was stationed there at Saratoga, which was actually in what we now call the town of Stillwater. And then his family continues to live in the town of Greenfield. In fact, the people that own the farmhouse are still descendants of the Ormsbee family, and the person whose property the cemetery is on, he's also a descendant of the Ormsbee family. So they have a long history, from right after the revolution all the way through until present day, where they settled. Obviously, the road, Ormsbee road is named after the family. They continued to farm there for quite a long time, and part of the original farmhouse is still located there. As part of the Patriot Burial Marker Program, we had a ceremony at the Ormsbee cemetery to unveil the marker. We were joined by the family, Mark Young, who was so gracious in helping us to erect the sign. And he cares for the cemetery itself. And one really interesting thing, one of the other descendants, Cy Young, actually has in his possession the spy glass that was used by Isaac Ormsbee when he was serving in the American Revolution, and he brought it out for us to see. Clifford (Cy) Young, direct descendent of Isaac Ormsbee, showing Isaac’s spy glass to Tim Mabee of the Saratoga Battle Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Photo courtesy of Saratoga County Historian. And Devin, you know that we have been working toge...
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The William G. Pomeroy Foundation: For History, For Life | A New York Minute in History
Dec 4, 202400:28:58Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Devin and Lauren sit down with William G. Pomeroy, founder of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, and Bill Brower, the new Executive Director of the Foundation, to discuss the origins of their shared love of history and how the Pomeroy Foundation is increasing its marker program presence in New York and beyond. Interviewees: William G. Pomeroy, entrepreneur, philanthropist and Foundation founder, and Bill Brower, Executive Director. A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Urbanczyk. Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby. Further Reading: For information on the Pomeroy Foundation’s grant programs and to apply for a New York State Pomeroy Foundation Historical Marker: https://www.wgpfoundation.org/history/nys-historic-markers/ For information about the Pomeroy Foundation's National Education Program: https://www.wgpfoundation.org/history/education/ New York State Museum: History of the State Marker program. Teacher Resources: Stop the Drive-Bys: A Teacher Makes the Case for Local Historical Markers, American Association for State and Local History. Not Your Usual History Lesson: Writing Historical Markers, National Council of Teachers of English Follow Along: Devin: Welcome to a New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian, Lauren: and I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. This month, instead of focusing on just one marker, we have the opportunity to introduce the new executive director for the Pomeroy Foundation, Bill Brower. We were lucky enough to sit down with both Bill Brower and Bill Pomeroy, the founder of the organization, and we got to learn more about what got them interested in markers in the first place, and how the foundation got started, and where they see themselves going in the future. Devin: Okay, well, let's jump in, because I know everybody's busy, especially on your end, I'm sure. And, and I'm going to say “Mr.” So I'm not calling everybody “Bill,” but I can call everybody “Bill” if we want to, but, but anyway, if Bill, Bill Pomeroy, could just introduce yourself and just just tell the audience a little bit about who you are and how you came about to create the foundation. Bill Pomeroy: Hi. My name is Bill Pomeroy, and I am the founder of the William G Pomeroy foundation back in 2005. I moved to the Syracuse area in back in 1974 after coming off of a two year Volkswagen camping trip through South America to explore history that I had never seen before. But with an RPI engineering degree and a Wharton MBA and four years of experience with IBM selling mainframe computers in Silicon Valley, I found the greatest opportunity right here in Syracuse. And so within 30 days of starting the job that I had achieved, I had thought I'd died and gone to heaven, I was finally doing something that was absolutely fun for me. One of the things that I wasn't too well prepared for, though, was office politics. And so after four years, I was fired, and so I had a lot of ideas, and by the time I got home, I had an idea for my own business, and that was back in 1978. And by 2016, I'd grown the business to over $100 million in revenue, but a couple things happened along the way. I had a bad case of leukemia in 2004 which changed a lot of the direction of my life, which resulted in the formation of the foundation, because I thought that, wow, this is such an incredibly difficult to deal with disease. If I can survive this, and I didn't have much chance of doing that, according to the statistics at the time, but if I could, what can I do to help others that follow in my shoes? I had a stem cell transplant which saved my life, and I had a totally unrelated stranger who was a perfect match to me, donate his cells, and that enabled me to finally conquer this disease. I'm still in remission, and it's been nearly 20 years. It's been quite miraculous. So what we found out was. I thought it was quite normal to be able to find perfect matches, and it wasn't the case. It turns out that half the people at that time that were looking for a stem cell donor couldn't find one. And if I had fallen into that 50% I would not have been here today. And I said, Okay, what's wrong? What's going on here? So we thought we’d better start working on helping improve the probability of people finding a match on the registry. And so we concentrated on conducting bone marrow drives amongst the underrepresented populations. And over the life of that project, honestly, we've lost count from the computers at the National Marrow Donor Program, but over 30,000 people on the registry, and we've had over 300 donor matches made. So a little… that was a little of the background, but I got interested in history, because that was my passion, and that's what brings me to the historic marker program. We kind of fell into that quite by accident, with a project with the Pompey Historic Society where we helped them refurbish all of their original New York State markers, which were totally unreadable. And the thing that surprised me was that once those were all refurbished and the Highway Department got them reinstalled, the pride and the celebrations that were going on in that community with their historic markers, actually, it just surprised me and said, Wow, these folks really like their markers, so we said, well, we'll buy a couple of more. And we had dedication the recipients had dedication ceremonies and, holy cow, it just reinforced in our minds what's what's really in people's hearts in their communities. And that then evolved into the historic marker program that we're involved in today, and our entire, most of our foundation now are dedicated to expanding that historic marker program, and our long term plan is to do it nationwide. Devin: That's great, Bill Pomeroy: I guess, I guess I gave you the long version of my introduction. Devin: No, that's, that's great, and I think that's what we were looking for. And we'll, we'll circle back to your love of history in a minute and where that began, but I'd like Mr. Brower to be able to tell us um, introduce yourself to our audience, and tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up at the Pomeroy Foundation. Bill Brower: Sure. Bill Pomeroy, thank you and Devin and Lauren, thanks for having us. We're appreciative to be here with you. So I'm going to rewind the tape back to the early 60s. So I grew up in Southern New Jersey, and I have these incredibly poignant memories of my father and my grandfather taking me into the Pine Barrens and visiting Historic Batsto Village. So if you think about Williamsburg, [or] Sturbridge, but on a much smaller scale. And I can't count how many times I was taken there, and they imbued in me the beginnings of a fascination with history. And I remember probably when I was eight years old, I got a gift of a board game called “Your America.” And it was a roll and move trivia game focused on American history. And it didn't take me long to start beating the adults in my family at this game, which kind of gave them a sense that I was into this. And then I started to get gifts of history books, and probably in fourth grade, someone gave me Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, and that just rocked my eight year old world. I just couldn't get enough, and it just - it was a romance. So I came up to New York state from Southern New Jersey to go to college. Was a pre med student, clearly, here I am with you. So that didn't go as well as some had hoped, but I was at a liberal arts college, and so I was encouraged to pursue what I loved, and I love history. So I majored in history, wrote my thesis on black athletes as potential catalysts for social change. I'll brag a little bit I won the Darling prize at Hamilton for having the highest cumulative average in US history. Courses… still didn't get me into med school, but it was a heck of a lot of fun to study. And I had never been to Boston After falling in love with Paul Revere and Johnny Tremain and the Sons of Liberty and the Tea Party and all that history, and I moved to Boston and worked at the Perkins School for the Blind, which is another US institution that's full of history going back to the early 1800s; first, I work...
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New York and the War of 1812 | A New York Minute in History
Sep 25, 202400:29:35Tap to summarizeThis episode delves into New York State’s role in the War of 1812, which is often considered America’s “second war of Independence.” With a particular focus on the State Historic site at Sackets Harbor, we learn the particularly important role that New York, and New Yorkers, played in the war. Marker of Focus: War of 1812, Village of Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County. Interviewees: Constance Barrone, Site Manage, Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site and Dr. Harvey J. Strum, Professor of History and Political Science at Russell Sage College. A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Urbanczyk. Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby. Video: History Happened Here, William G. Pomeroy Foundation https://youtu.be/3Izr1CpHreU Further Reading: Harvey J. Strum, “New York City and the War of 1812,” New York History Review, 2024. Harvey J. Strum, “New York Militia and Opposition to the War of 1812,” New York History, 2020. “Special Issue on the War of 1812,” New York History, 2013. Alan Taylor, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies, 2011. Richard V. Barbuto, New York’s War of 1812: Politics, Society and Combat, 2021. Teaching Resources: The War of 1812, PBS Learning Media. Battles of the War of 1812 Lesson Plans, American Battlefield Trust. Follow Along Devin Lander: Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian. Lauren Roberts: And I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. On this episode, we're talking about a marker located in Jefferson County on the eastern shores of Lake Ontario. The address is 448 Ontario Street in the village of Sackets Harbor, and the text reads: War of 1812. At daybreak on Saturday May 29, 1813, British forces waded ashore from Horse Island and engaged American forces defending the harbor. William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2013. So of course, here we're talking about the War of 1812 and I'm guessing that many of our listeners might have some remembrances about the War of 1812. I know there's a few things that stick out in my head, such as, that's the war that gave us the Star Spangled Banner, and also the role that Dolly Madison played in saving the portrait of George Washington from the White House as the British burn the White House and the Capitol in Washington, DC. But I'm going to guess that most people probably can't remember any of the battles or the premise. So Devin, why don't you give us a quick summary so that we can refresh our memories on the War of 1812? Devin: So the first thing we have to remember about the War of 1812 is that at that point, the United States was less than 30 years old. So it was really a matchup between a very young nation with a very small Navy and a small armory, versus one of the world's superpowers, Great Britain. Great Britain was embroiled in a world war, essentially, with France at the time, the Napoleonic Wars. Lauren: You mean another one? Devin: Another one, exactly. They can't help themselves during the 18th and 19th century, seemingly. But the War of 1812 was kind of an offshoot of this larger conflict, and the British Royal Navy, which was controlling - or attempting to control - the world's oceans at the time, began to encroach upon the United States maritime rights by impressing sailors to become part of the Royal Navy, and they justified this - feloniously - by suggesting that they were impressing only citizens of Great Britain, when in fact, most of the people that they were impressing the sailors on merchant vessels were actually American citizens, and some of the estimates for how many sailors are between 6,000 and 9,000. The British also took up to - and perhaps more - than four hundred American merchant ships in an effort to stop trade between the United States and France. And that's really the impetus behind the declaration of war from the United States and the President, James Madison and Congress, against Great Britain on June 18, 1812. New York played a major role in the War of 1812 mostly because it shared a border with Canada. And one of the strategies early on for the American side was not to challenge Great Britain at sea. At the beginning of the War of 1812 the United States Navy had 16 warships. Great Britain had over 500, so that would have been a bloodbath. So instead of that, they went after Canada, which at the time was controlled by the British. So, much of the offenses that the United States made in the War of 1812, at least, initially, were launched from New York and were launched across the Canadian border and as an attempt to - not necessarily take Canada over, although some historians have argued that - but more of an attempt to force Great Britain to acknowledge the demands of the United States. There were several major battles that took place in New York state during the War of 1812 and we're going to talk more about the Battle of Sackets Harbor and its importance, but one of the most important battles of the entire war was the Battle of Plattsburgh, which is also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, which happened in September of 1814, and really was a victory for the small American Navy who turned back the British warships and their invasion of Lake Champlain at the Battle of Plattsburgh, and really forced the British out of New York and away from that part of North America for the rest of the war. Now, the war was taking place in other parts, for example, the British had taken over Washington, DC and burned it. There was a major battle in Baltimore that gave us the Star Spangled Banner from Fort McHenry, and, of course, the Battle of New Orleans, which was led by at the time, General Andrew Jackson, who would go on to become president, based on the fame that he encountered as the victorious general the Battle of New Orleans. So there was a lot going on. It wasn't just happening in New York. But again, New York played a strategic role because of its border with Canada and also the fact that it remained the largest port in the United States, New York City. So New York City was a target. As a result of this, New York is really a center of the story of the War of 1812. So not only was the Battle of Plattsburgh one of the most important battles of the war, but New York actually plays host to the first battle of the War of 1812 and that's also known as the first battle of Sackets Harbor, which took place on July 19, 1812 - just over a month after the two countries declared war on each other. Lauren: For more information about Sackets Harbor, we spoke with Constance Barone, the site manager, Sackets Harbor, Battlefield State Historic Site. A note about the audio quality here. We apologize for the distortion, and we did everything we could to fix it. As a rem...
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Hungry for History: Culinary and Foodways History | A New York Minute in History
Aug 28, 202400:29:17Tap to summarizeThis episode focuses on culinary history and the Pomeroy Foundation’s Hungry for History program. We discover that the history of what we eat, and how we eat it, can tell us much about ourselves and our shared pasts. Markers of Focus: Hungry for History Interviewees: Elizabeth Jakubowski, Senior Librarian, New York State Library. You can follow the State Library and learn more about their Tasting History project at: Facebook, Instagram – @nyslibrary and X (formerly Twitter) – @NYSLibrary A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Urbanczyk. Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby. Featured Image: Salt Potatoes Hungry for History Marker near Onandaga Lake. Further reading: Jennifer Jensen Wallach, How America Eats: A Social History of U.S. Food, 2013. Michelle Moon, Interpreting Food at Museums and Historic Sites, 2016. Libby O’Connell, The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites, 2015. Annie Hauck-Lawson, Gastropolis: Food and New York City, 2009. Amelia Simmons, American cookery: or, The art of dressing viands, fish, poultry and vegetables, and the best modes of making puff-pastes, pies, tarts, puddings, custards and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plumb to plain cake. Adapted to this country, and all grades of life,1796. Teaching resources: John Rosinbum, “Teaching with Food History: Digital Collections, Activities and Resources,” American Historical Association. Future Farmers of America Teacher Resources. Follow Along Devin: Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian. Lauren: And I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. Today, instead of focusing on just a single marker, we're going to focus on a program, one of the many, offered by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. And this program is called Hungry for History. This is a rolling grant program, so applications are accepted all the time, and the focus of this is to celebrate America's food history by telling the stories of local and regional food specialties across the United States. The program is designed to commemorate significant food dishes created prior to 1970 in the role they play in defining American culture and forging community identity. Hungry for History is intended to help communities nationwide put the spotlight on their renowned, locally and regionally created food dishes with historic roadside markers. All right, in order to get started, Devin, I'm going to give you a pop quiz. Devin: Okay! Lauren: There are six of these signs, and I want to know if you have had any of these six types of food. Are you ready? Devin: I'm ready. Lauren: Okay, salt potatoes, Devin: Absolutely. I grew up in Western New York, Lauren: Michigan hot dog. Devin: That's a beloved favorite. I did my undergraduate studies at Plattsburgh, and the marker for that is located in Plattsburgh. So yes, I have had my share of Michigans. Lauren: Chocolate jumbles. Devin: So that's one that I have no idea what it is, and I had to actually look that one up and see pictures of it. I may have had one, but I have no memory of that name. Lauren: Okay. How about Spiedies? Devin: Yes, and I make my own Spiedies using speedy sauce that I buy at Hannaford. Lauren: I'm impressed. All right, number five, barbecue chicken - and barbecued chicken in the sense of this sign denotes the gentleman who was able to innovate the way that large quantities of barbecued chicken could be cooked over time without charring. So for festivals and fundraisers and things like that, Devin: I have definitely had that at festivals and fundraisers around New York. And I've also had Brooks House of Barbecue in Oneonta, which is wonderful, and also cooks in that style, Lauren: Okay, and last, but not least, all the way out to Buffalo: beef on weck. Devin: That's another one from my childhood, growing up in western New York that we would have frequently. In fact, one of my cousins at his wedding, that was the main dish for his reception was beef on weck, and it was delightful. Lauren: Wow,so you did really well, five out of six. I'm impressed. I'm only at about 50% here I've never had, Devin: Let's ask you, then which ones have you had? Lauren: Okay, So I have had barbecue chicken, of course, chocolate jumbles and salt potatoes, but I have never had Spiedies, beef on weck or a Michigan Hot Dog. I know! Devin: We'll have to do something about that. Lauren: So in talking about these types of food, most of us, even if we haven't tried them, have heard of these. And interestingly, they are peppered around the state; beef on weck is from the Buffalo area, the barbecue chicken sign is out in the Finger Lakes area near Cayuga Lake. Spiedies are from Binghamton, Chocolate jumbles from Schoharie County. Salt potatoes, of course, from the Syracuse area. And as Devin mentioned, the Michigan from Plattsburgh. These are all great examples of communities that are erecting signs because they're proud of their culinary history and thinking about food ways and culinary history in a larger context. Why is it important that we're recognizing where these regional foods are coming from, and why is it so important to our historical memory? Devin: Well, those are great questions, and I think what we've seen in the last few decades here has been...
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Summer at the Fair: A History of Agricultural Fairs in New York State | A New York Minute in History
Jul 31, 202400:29:34Tap to summarizeAs New York State prepares to host the oldest state fair in the nation, this episode tells the history of the summertime tradition of agricultural fairs and how they developed from gatherings of learned societies into the popular attractions that we all know today. Markers of Focus: County Fairgrounds, Ballston Spa, Saratoga County. Interviewees: Richard Ball, Commissioner of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, Joshua Hauck-Whealton, Archivist at the New York State Archives and Sarah Welch, Historian for the Saratoga County Agricultural Society. A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Urbanczyk. Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby. Featured Image: "A Close Finish", Saratoga County Fair, Ballston Spa, NY. Image courtesy of SCHC at Brookside Museum Further Reading: Joshua Hauck-Whealton, “Farm to Fair,” New York Archives Magazine, Summer 2024. Judith LaManna Rivette, State Fair Stories: The Days and the People of the New York State Fair, 2005. Julie A. Avery, Agricultural Fairs in America: Tradition, Education, Celebration, 2000. New York State Agricultural and Industrial Expo, New York State Fair and Agricultural and Industrial Exposition: 1841-1912, 1912. New York State Fair, State Fair History. Teaching Resources American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture Learning Resources. National Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher Center. Follow Along Devin Lander: Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian. Lauren Roberts: And I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. And today we are focusing on a marker located in the Town of Milton in Saratoga County, which is just outside of the village of Ballston Spa. The title is “County Fairgrounds” and the text reads; Saratoga County Agricultural Society created 1841. Held annual fairs at various locations. Fair held on this site, beginning 1882. William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2022. And of course, we are right now in the midst of County Fair season. As we're recording, the Saratoga County Fair is going on for the rest of this week, and as the county historian for Saratoga County, I have been there every day and will be until the end of the fair. So first hand, enjoying what the county fairs have to offer. But before we talk about the county fairs of today, we're going to go back and look at the origins of these county fairs - and of course, the New York State Fair, which happens to be the oldest state fair in the nation. And we're going to talk a little bit about how that got started. Devin: I think that it's important for us to realize that the origins of what we know today as county fairs and our State Fair, which is one of the largest in the nation - and as you noted, the oldest - really originated in learned societies in the 19th century. So going back to the early 19th century in New York, there were various collections of gentleman farmers, meaning they they owned large estates that were farmed, often by tenant farmers, but they were very interested in the farming technology, in agriculture as a science, and really their interest in agriculture and farming was to figure out ways to make it more scientific, to make it more efficient and to be able to compete with farming that is happening in Europe at the time. Again, this is some of the old story of early America, comparing itself to Europe and finding itself somewhat lacking. To learn more about the origins of agricultural fairs, we spoke with Joshua Hauck-Whealton, an archivist at the New York State Archives and author of the article “Farm to Fair: The Beginning of New York's County Fairs,” which is featured in the summer issue of the New York Archives Magazine. Joshua Hauck-Whealton: My name is Joshua Hauck-Whealton. I am a reference archivist here at the New York State Archives. Have been for a couple, few years now. I am a reference archivist. That means that I am likely the other person at the end of the email exchange or the telephone, answering your reference questions, explaining the finding aids, helping retrieve the materials you're asking for that sort of thing. I've been sort of in this field for 15 years, call it now, and during my dues-paying years, I bounced around from interning at Claremont State Historic Site, which is, of course, the home of Robert R Livingston, Chancellor Livingston and working at the Albany Institute of History and Art, which is the ultimate descendant of Robert Livingston's little gentleman's agricultural society. Chancellor Robert Livingston was one of the largest landowners in the Hudson Valley. He had about a million acres, I think, by the time he became chancellor, and he financed himself by leasing out chunks of that land to farmers. That made him very interested in agriculture and very interested in improvements to agricultural techniques, improvement to land, convincing his farmers who rented land from him to, you know, be more productive and thus pay their rent and produce more resources for him. Also at this time, basically every state had an agricultural society about like this by the beginning of the 19th century; it was an acceptable means for gentlemen of leisure to get together and discuss scientific topics. It was a way to gain status. It was a way to get together with like-minded people of the same class. In the late 18th century, Robert Livingston and a number of other large landowners produced this society to discuss and do research on ways to improve agriculture, sometimes called Scientific agriculture at the time. Robert Livingston managed to export a number of Merino sheep back to his estate here in the Hudson Valley. The merino sheep had a reputation of producing very fine wool, very large amounts of very fine wool. They also had a reputation for grazing rough, which meant that they could eat more than just grass. They could eat weeds, shrubs, things like that. You head west, you into the Catskills, which is just famously rocky, and that's where most of Livingston's land was so a sheep that could turn the weeds on the side of a hill and turn it into wool, was just exactly what he wanted. So he sent some sheep home and began - when he came back in 1803 - began breeding and cultivating and generally trying to popularize the breed. Lauren : I think it's important that you make the distinction between gentlemen farmers and tenant farmers, or, you know, the average farmer, because these gentlemen farmers are the ones that h...
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Lady Acland’s Voyage: A First-Hand Account of the Battles of Saratoga | A New York Minute in History
Jun 26, 202400:29:30Tap to summarizeThis episode tells the story of Lady Christian Henrietta Caroline “Harriet” Acland, aristocratic wife of Major John Dyke Acland, who commanded the British 20th Regiment of Foot during the Burgoyne campaign of 1777. When Major Acland was wounded and taken prisoner, Lady Harriet risked her own life and freedom to nurse him back to health. She would go on to publish her diary of her time travelling and living with the British Army during the American Revolution. Marker of Focus: Lady Acland, Village of Schuylerville, Saratoga County. Interviewees: Sean Kelleher, Town of Saratoga Historian and Anne Clothier, Assistant Saratoga County Historian Further Reading: Lady Harriet Acland, The Acland Journal: Lady Harriet Acland and the American War, 1993. Holly A. Mayer, Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution, 1999. Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, 1999. Teaching Resources: PBS Learning Media: Women in the American Revolution Interactive Lesson Museum of the American Revolution: A Woman’s War National Park Service: The Battles of Saratoga: Student Reading Activity Follow Along Devin: Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York State historian. Lauren: And I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. Today we're focusing on a marker located along Route 4 in the town of Saratoga, which is in Saratoga County. It sits at the entrance to a public boat launch and park that's along the Hudson River, and the text reads, Lady Acland. On October 9 1777, Traveled down Hudson River to Stillwater to nurse her wounded husband, British Major Acland, held prisoner by American forces. William G Pomeroy Foundation 2021. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most of our listeners are not familiar with the name Lady Acland or her more formal name, Lady Christian Henrietta Caroline Fox-Strangways, Acland, who went by the name of Harriet. Harriet was born on January 3, 1749, in England. Her father was an Earl, so she lived a very privileged life, and she married John Dyke Acland. During the American Revolution, major Acland was sent to the colonies to fight, and in 1777 Lady Acland accompanied him to Canada. So for those of us who might not remember fourth grade American Revolution history, just a brief overview of that campaign led by General John Burgoyne. The British army of between 9000, 10000 were coming down from Canada, and their main objective was to fight their way through and reach Albany. And while Burgoyne was successful early on in his campaign - he took Fort Ticonderoga without a fight - and continued to move his army south until he made it to Saratoga. So the first battle of Saratoga happened on September 19, 1777, it was essentially a stalemate. The Americans were successful in stopping the British advance towards Albany, but at the end of the day, the British Army held the field of battle, so they calculate that as a victory. And on October 7, the second Battle of Saratoga occurred. By that point, the British were outnumbered, low on supplies, and they were losing men. So on October 7, the American army was victorious and forced the British into a retreat. General Benedict Arnold was instrumental in that battle, he rallied his men, and he was valiant. He was also shot just above the ankle in the left leg, which is why we have the famous boot monument. But it does force the British into a retreat. They begin to retreat north, about eight or nine miles north of Saratoga Battlefield, and they eventually are surrounded by the American forces. There's no way for them to head back north, and so they negotiate terms of convention, and on October 17, General John Burgoyne surrenders to General Gates at Saratoga, or what we now call Schuylerville. And it's the first time in world history that a British Field Army surrenders, and that army then becomes known as the convention army. They're essentially prisoners of war for several years after that, but it's known as the turning point of the American Revolution. It helps to convince France to finally become our ally and to send troops and what we desperately needed, a navy. In June of 1777, Major Acland served in the 20th Regiment of Foot in Burgoyne's army, and he was part of the expedition from Canada that General Burgoyne was leading to come down and conquer Albany to learn more about Lady Acland and her story. We spoke with town of Saratoga historian Sean Kelleher. Sean Kelleher: So I'm Sean Kelleher. I'm the historian for the town of Saratoga, and I've been a historian in the town for 20 years now. I've kind of come to becoming a historian through an interesting way. I've always enjoyed putting on historical events. I grew up during the American bicentennial in the Boston area. After college, became a TV producer doing primarily educational type programs for a PBS station. And the skills that I learned as a TV producer worked very, very well as a historian too, because it's basically: go out, find out information and share it with others. It's the same basic skill sets. So Lady Acland is one of those interesting stories from the Saratoga campaign of 1777. She is this aristocratic lady, and in 1777 she marries this John Dyke Acland. So she accompanies him on campaign with a valet, a ladies maid and a dog, and she creates this narrative of the American landscape that later gets published, and there's paintings done, and it just shows people of Europe what America looks like. They started up in Canada, and as they were leaving Canada, her husband got quite ill, so she spent some time in June nursing him back to health, and then he joins the British Army for the attack on Fort Ticonderoga. And during the subsequential Battle of Harperton, he receives a dangerous wound, and she rushes to him to nurse him back to care. And in that process, they have a second tragedy, that their tent gets caught on fire. She goes out one side, and he goes out the other, and he can't see her, so he goes back into the tent to save her, and she's not there, but he gets burnt in the process. So he's having a tough time in 1777. But again, he gets nursed back into health. So when we get to the second battle of Saratoga in October 1777, he's there on the front lines, leading his regiment the 20th of Foot. And he gets wounded again, so he gets brought to the British hospital. She's with the British Army. The British Army retreats north to the village of Saratoga. What we know as Schuylerville today, but they abandoned their hospital, so he becomes a prisoner of the Americans. On October 9, she goes with another woman, the Baroness von Riedesel, to General Burgoyne, and they ask for permission for Lady Acland to go down and to nurse her husband. So it's during a driving rainstorm Burgoyne writes a note to Gates asking for his assistance in getting her to her husband, and she goes down the Hudson River in an open boat. It's 11 o'clock at night during a driving rainstorm in October. It's her, h...
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