Announcements 

  • Northumberland Historian's Report 2011

  • 1/5/11 Gave Town Clerk 2010 Historian's report and sent one to State and County Historians. Gave Town Clerk unofficial Deaths for 2010 and an update of inventory added to Historian's Office for 2010.
  • Unofficial Deaths 2011*
  • Weather Watch for 2011*
  • Historian's Inventory for 2011*
  • 1/5/11 Town Board authorized the purchase of a new computer for my office. I went to Staples and purchased a HP Laptop and Copier and Micro Soft Word. So grateful, it's awesome. Thank you!
  • 1/8/11 Rec'd. e-mail from Mielklewicz, thanking me for my contribution to the "Elijah Freeman Story", the lock tender at Lock 5 in 1872.
  • 1/14/11 Answered e-mail from Tim Greer, inquiring about Lindsay Road. He told me a neighbor had told him that his house was the first one on the road. On the 1866 map of Northumberland, three houses were there. J. Lindsay (perhaps the one road was named for), W. Fuller and P. Sullivan. I told him to send me his mailing address and I would send him a copy of the map. I also referred him to the assessor and Town Clerk and to check his deed which has a wealth of information regarding former owners.
  • 2/15/11 Answered e-mail from Marge Erickson regarding Lewis family. Sent Bicentennial Booklet also.
  • 2/22/11 Answered e-mail regarding 1975 Lyttle ax-murder info from Shelley Derby. I referred her to Newspaper articles in 2/11/76 - 8/17/76.
  • 2/24/11 Gave Gwen Eastman copies of info on Northumberland Senior Citizen's History. I had notes from their 1980, 10th Anniversary party etc.
  • 3/2/11 sent Bill corey info on old Borden Plant with pictures of workers. His grandfather Raymond Corey was superintendent in 1912. I had a copy of a contract that his grandfather had signed. Also sent a clipping from 1909 of the night watchman dying of natural causes while on duty at the plant. Also gave him a short history of the plant and our 1998 Bicentennial booklet.
  • 3/10/11 Answered e-mail from Sharon Blanchard from Empire State College wanting to know how Bacon Hill got it's name. I told her our first town historian, Grace Vanderwerker's book on Early Days in Eastern Saratoga County states it was named after Ebenezer Bacon an early settler who bought land there in 1794. It's earlier History was the home of the Mohican Indians and the first naming was Normanstown and then changed to Fiddletown and finally named to honor Ebenezer.
  • 5/3/11 Attended Spring Historian's meeting. We welcomed new Providence Historian Ed Dandaraw. Discussed County Fair exhibits. We are doing a tri-fold board display of our Town's Civil War participations and how it affeted our communities. We also discussed various upcoming events and website contents each municipality has on line. Fall meeting set for Oct. 4th.
  • 5/13/11 Researched "Nancy Ann Gailor" old Gansevoort Cemetery Records for Laura (Gailor) Taylor. She was looking for info on her gr. gr. grandfather. He was Jacob. Nancy Ann's husband. I was able to gave her birth and death dates for Nancy Ann.
  • 6/14/11 Lengthy research set to richard Robbins on Vanderwerker family: included lineage, curch and war records for Martin Vanderwerker; copies of other researchers and my responses to them; our Bicentennial Booklet for 1998; Heritage Hunter Brochure; 1856 & 1866 Northumberland Maps showing the Vandererker properties; cemeteries map of Northumberland; and a Saratoga County Museum list.
  • 6/16/11 Gave Barb Green info on Underground Railroad Routes and brief History and local connection for her Grandson's College Paper.
  • 6/28/11 Sent Ann Pierce from Spokane Washington some History on Wm. Burnham. Sent her Heritage Hunter's Brochure and a list of researchers from 2006 list from Heritage Hunters who were linked to Burnham. Also sent her a current list of Saratoga County Historyians as some of the references I sent her were from Towns of Wilton, South Glens Falls, Day and Ballston Spa.
  • 6/29/11 E-mail rec'd from R. King researching Abram VanRensselaer. There was nothing in our files so I referred him to Town of Wilton as I found in Wilton History a Charles VanRensselaer who was town supervisor and owned a store. On 7/11/11 I re'd a nice thank you for link from Wilton History.
  • 6/29/11 E-mail received from Tiffany Leonard wanting information on her Grandmother, Irene Ballestero, Who worked at the post-office. She wanted a picture of the building and some History. I was able to send her four photos as Irene worked at the post-office when it was located in the Municipal Center and she was the postmistress when the new postoffice was dedicated in 1989. Irene served the Gansevoort Post-Office as postmistress from 1980-1992. She will be turning 75 this year and her granddaughter wants to surprise her with the photos.
  • 7/5/11 Sent information and photos to Tiffany Leonard; Florida; regarding her grandmother Irene Ballestero. Tiffany needed some help with Irene's job activities and the photos showed the post-office where she worked.
  • Tia Kilburn, assistant to Town Clerk is using photos from Historian's Photo collection to place on a Face Book Page for Northumberland. She will also preserve the Archival Photos to disk. Albums doneted by the late Agnes Rourke and late Elizabeth (Patterson) McKean were included as well as photos taken by the four former historians and myself spanning many years.
  • 7/12/11 I took our Civil War tri-fold board to the County Historian for future Display at the Saratoga County Fair. I included lists of Veterans from Northumberland that were in the 77th Regt. And 115th Regt. A former town historian, Albertine Rice served on the committee from Saratoga County for the Centennial for the Civil War, 50 years ago. I included the clipping from Knickerbocker News. I included a photo of our Veteran's Monument in Gansevoort Park. I included copies of Civil War Post Office Commemorative StampSeries; maps on Battles with pictures and victory and surrender letters of the Generals Grant and Lee. I took a picture of the whole exhibit for our files.
  • 7/13/141 Bonnie Williams of Indiana stopped at my office looking for Joshua Fish and William Sweet, and Milton Fish. I gave her Heritage Hunter Brochure; a Gov't list for Civil War Veterans Research. She said her ancestors were members of the 77th Regt. But I couldn't find their names as serving from Northumberland. They were staying at Saratoga RV Park here in town. Later that evening I checked Sylvester's History from other towns where she thought they migth have enlisted from. I found Joshua in Moreau, he was their town superisor in 1877; also he was on Malta's Assessments in 1813 for $4374. I found Sweet in the Moreau Military record. I thook this information down to the RV Park and she was so pleased when I gav it to her; "one happy Camper".
  • 7/18/11 Answered e-mail request Lisa Vitalo; for information on an animal farm that use to be located here she had visited as a child and could not remember the name of it or any of it's History. I was able to tell her; it was Safari Animal Country Inc. and it stared up on 6/15/74. It was beset by financial and animal mishaps and was closed on 8/22/1975; and sold at Public Auction on 1/23/1976. The property now is the home of RV Recreational Park since 1979.
  • 7/19/11 Answered e-mail from Pam Trombly requesting info on a map for Gansevoort Cemetery. She was looking for a Barber relaiton. Town Clerk gave me the telephone number of John Ingleston who is in charge of the cemetery. I sent her info on the 4 Barber's I have on file and referred her to Heritage Hunters.
  • 8/1/11 Sent Frances Burnham of Scotia Cemetery Records regarding WM.H.Brate a "GAR" Civil War Relative; I also referred her to the N.Y.S. Archives and the Brookside Museum. Received a nice thank you back.
  • 8/8/11 James Kell, researching Vandenburgs. I was able to give him irth and death dates for some of his relatives buried in Gansevoort Cemetery. The VanDenburg family is an early pioneer family settling in 1772 near Fort Miller; they had saw mills and grist mills here. Three brothers bought 1900 ancres of land for $2000, opposite Fort Miller. When the Revolution broke out they had to flee to Albany for Safety. I also referred him to Heritage Hunters and Brookside Museum's Research Center.
  • 8/19/11 Researched Elijah Strong Jr. for Phil La Fountain. I gave him what info I had from Cemetery Files; he is buried in Nevins Cemetery and his wife is there also.
  • 8/23/11 Sent information to Sue Raymond regarding Jonathan Brown lineage. Enclosed Bicentennial Booklet from 1998; our 1866 map; and marriage and death records from our files. I included a copy of a photo of a house owned by Brown's that still exists on Brownville Road; formerly known as the Murphy House the oldest house in Brownville Hamlet it is believed. It has ginger-bread lattice work on front porch.
  • 8/31/11 Rec'd e-mail from Kathi Brooks wanting to know how Gurn Springs got it's name. I sent her information from Town of Wilton files that state the "spring" was near Emerson Corners. It was Gurn Mineral-Spring in late 1800's, and early bottling plant for water was popular in early 1900's. It sold under the advertising phrase "King of Tabled Waters" according to Saratoga Heritage Book, in notes from a former Wilton Historian in 1973. The plant also made flavored soda using some carbonation, but eventually could not compete with Saratoga Waters.
  • 9/2/11 Rec'd email from Emily Lopez, program manager fro Vt. Agency of Transporation Office of Civil Rights and Labor Compliances. She was looking for a telephone number for our building inspector, Richard Colozza. She had a zoning question. I sent her the Town Hall number with his hours he could be reached week days.
  • 9/9/11 I copied records I loaned from Doug and Joann Johnson on Gansevoort family Genealogy that had been researched by Barb Laria and Kacie Wilson, descendants, eight grandfathers removed. In June 2011, they visited the Johnson's and were given a tour of the "old yellow house" the Johnson's now own that was the former home of General Peter Gansevoort near his mills on Snookkill Creek, c1787. I found a wealth of information including photos and list of improvements with copies of newspaper articles of former owners. A great addition to our ALbum on the General.
  • 9/29/11 Answered Joseph Donnelly's request for information on his ancestor Arthur Donnelly from Bacon Hill from 1860. He was listed in 1860 Census and on the 1866 map of Northumberland. I referred her to Heritge Hunters for further possibilities, since I couldn't give her much info.
  • 10/3/11 Sent research material to Demitris Whittacker who is reasearching James H. Whittacker: Access to Military Records, 1866 Northumberland map, Heritage Hunter Brochure, Source Checklist, Where it's located in N.Y.S. Archives, Death Certificate Checklist, our 1998 Bicentennial Booklet, and addresses and telephone numbers for County Clerk and County Historian's offices. He was supposedly born here in 1840 and our birth records date 1855.
  • 10/4/11 Attended County Historian's fall meeting. She told us our Tri-fold display boards on the Civil War were a big hit at the Saratoga County Fair. In 2012 we'll be working on the war of 1812. Since there were so few soldiers from Saratoga County involved in that war, we are going to research thru our archives and report local events and matters of importance for the early 1800's from each of our townships.
  • 12/5/11 Researched Welch family for Merrilee Carlson from Minnesota. Sent her our Bicentennial Booklet from 1998; research sources: Heritage Hunter's Brochure. Hours and address for Brookside Museum; County Clerk's info.; and our 1866 map. Her heritage includes VanKleeck, Viele, Clark, Vandenburg, McGowan and Brown amongst our early Northumberland settlers.
  • 12/7/11 Researched DeYoe family for William DeYoe (a former Northumberland Town Councilman) sent him Bicentenial Booklet from 1998, 1866 map, copied pictures from Sylvester's History that showed the family farm of Daniel H. and Emma DeYoe, history sheet on Northumberland, N.Y.S. Museum "Where it is Located" sheet, Heritage Hunter Brochure, Resource Sheet, County Clerk's address and hours. Five DeYoe brother settled in Bacon Hill area. Four of them are listed on our 1866 map. They were mostly farmers. Two were former TownSupervisors for Northumberland. Daniel H DeYoe was Supervisor in 1877, member of State Assembly in 2nd District in 1878 and Sheriff in 1886. The DeYoe family has indeed, played a big role in our History.
  • 12/13/11 Rec'd e-mail from Catey Kielb of Tetra Tech. GEO in Schuylerville. She's doing an Environmental Assessment of Griffen Island Property owned by Bob Frenzi for G.E. They were interested in History of building permits on property with 2 houses, an airplane hanger and barn. I gave our Bldg. Inspector her e-mail and he told me he'd look into it. I called her to let her know he'll be in touch with her.
  • 12/20/11 Rec'd copies of military records on James H. Whittacker from Demitria Whittacker who was researching him in Oct. I sent her source materials etc. She sent me a lovely Christmas card and thank you note.
  • 12/20/11 Rec'd a very fragile Election Poll Booth Record book for Northumberland that was found in a building in Bacon Hill owned by Charles and Doris Platner (Box 83). Mrs. tingley of Ballston Lake, N.Y. is donating it to our archives in memory of her family; Dan, Fred, Diane and George Tingley. Also she gave us an early reprint of Grace Vanderwerker's "Early Days in Eastern Saratoga County". It was the wihte and black covered edition that Mildred Peck and former Historian Mildred Shaw were involved with. It is in good condition.
  • Signed; Georgia E Ball
  • Town of Northumberland Historian
  • January 1,2012
     

  • Town of Northumberland Dog Control Law

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