175 YEARS AGO

Advertisement – Eagle Tavern, Cooperstown – Isaac Lewis, having returned to Cooperstown, will be happy to accommodate the public at the “Bold Dragoon” stand formerly kept by Major Griffin. There have been some alterations in the establishment which will tend to contribute to the comfort of the citizen and traveler. All the subscriber asks, is that the public will try, before they censure him – “All is not gold that shines” – “The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof.” Isaac Lewis.
August 5, 1833

150 YEARS AGO

That bridge (over the Susquehanna River at Cooperstown) has finally been erected (replacing an older dilapidated span) – and it is unanimously voted a disgrace to the two towns – for which the Commissioners are responsible. It is not only a mean looking structure, but we are assured by those competent to judge, that it is built of poor timber, which can last only a few years. It would have been about as well to have re-planked the old bridge.
July 30, 1858

125 YEARS AGO

With its present issue, the Freeman’s Journal completes its seventy-fifth volume, and our Junior has dubbed it the “diamond edition.” It has outlived most of its early contemporaries, and has attained what must be regarded as a “good old age” for a weekly newspaper. Probably of no other paper ever published in this country can it be said that two persons have conducted it for within a few months of 73 years. Col. Prentiss was its editor for nearly 41 years; he was succeeded by Daniel Shaw for something over two years; and in August 1851 it was purchased and has since been conducted by its present editor. If wisely conducted, it should be a “hale and hearty” county paper when a century old.
August 4, 1883

100 YEARS AGO

With its next issue, the Freeman’s Journal will complete its one hundredth year. A century of life! What an experience the Journal has had! When it was born, Thomas Jefferson was the President, and there were only 17 states – the original 13 and Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. The only way of getting about the country was by walking, rowing and horse-power. Fulton had just invented his first steamboat a few months before. There were no steamships, no railroads and hardly any canals. The Journal has lived through four big wars – the War of 1812 with England, the Mexican War, the Civil War and the War with Spain. What wonders will it witness in its second century? Nobody can venture to predict, in view of the enormous strides of civilization in the recent past. Probably the North and South Poles will be discovered, ballooning be made more practicable, and other modes of traveling much safer, speedier and more comfortable. It is hoped that medical science may make still further advances in the diminution of pain and the cure of “incurable” diseases. Very likely Cuba and Canada may be annexed to the United States. May The Freeman’s Journal be on hand to chronicle it, as usual!
July 30, 1908

75 YEARS AGO

The motion picture reels showing the Grand National steeplechase won in England last spring by Kellsboro Jack, owned by Mrs. F. Ambrose Clark, were shown at the home of Mr. Edward Severin Clark Sunday afternoon on which occasion Mr. F. Ambrose Clark gave a most interesting description while, with a pointer, he carried each one of the prominent starters through the race.
August 2, 1933

50 YEARS AGO

Joe Dovi, an 18-year-old apprentice at the Duke’s Oak Theatre, lost his glasses case the other day. So Henry Beckman and Cheryl Maxwell, operators of the theatre, loaned him one from the theatre’s lost articles department – one which had been lost in the theatre last season. Joe opened the new case, and much to his surprise found inside it a note indicating that it belonged to a Luigi Zaffiro of New York City. Zaffiro happens to be a friend of Joe’s. In fact, both were born in the same village in Sicily. Joe came to this country when he was nine years old. Mr. Beckman said that Zaffiro had no connection with the theatre, and apparently was a patron last season when he left his glasses case behind.
July 30, 1958

25 YEARS AGO

Nine people joined the Cooperstown Presbyterian Church on Palm Sunday according to pastor Robert Herst. They include Beth Kerr, Beth Hager, Kathy Marx, Sally Goodwin, Dorothy and Romayn Heyler, Adele and David Lott, and Walter Nagel. Miss Hager is the fourth generation of her family to be a member of the congregation. Her mother, Margaret McGown, her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. McGown, and her great-grandmother, Mrs. F. Hamilton McGown are also members of the congregation.
April 27, 1983

10 YEARS AGO

Letter to the Editor: The July 24 Freeman’s Journal included an editorial naming Cooperstown as baseball’s “birthplace,” and General Abner Doubleday as its inventor, among other misinformation. It is well known and documented that the Doubleday story is a myth, and that Cooperstown has no verifiable claim to being the birthplace of baseball. The so-call “Doubleday Baseball,” found in Fly Creek in 1935, had supposedly belonged not to Doubleday but to Abner Graves, the man who claimed to have been a school-chum of Doubleday’s when he invented the game in 1839. Doubleday, 15 years Graves’ senior, was actually at West Point in 1839 and couldn’t have been in Cooperstown unless he was AWOL. Bill Deane.
July 31, 1998

Bound Volumes is compiled from resources provided courtesy of the New York State Historical Association Library. Tom Heitz is the Town of Otsego historian.

Labels: Bound Volumes, Columns