Category: Miscellany

I’m absolutely terrible at remembering birthdays, anniversaries, anything of that sort. And yet, I almost never forget that December 27 was the birthday of my great grandmother, Hazel Grace Smith, neé Cath. She was born on this day in 1894, the third child of Teunis H. Cath and Nellie Seaman, who lived in West…

There just aren’t enough milliners in today’s world. Or at least they don’t go by that name. It specifically referred to one who designed, made or trimmed women’s hats. According to Amasa Parker’s “Landmarks of Albany County,” William Henry Hallenbeck was born in Knox in 1859, and was of an old Albany Dutch family.…

Also from the 1898 history of Albany’s Central Federation of Labor, a very useful guide to how many nails one might need for a particular carpentry task. From having done extensive renovations on old houses, I can attest that a pound of nails in a single doorframe wasn’t considered excessive.

The Illustrated History of the Central Federation of Labor of Albany from 1898 is a delightful collection of the informative, historical, and unusual. Not apropos of Albany in any way, but Hoxsie was tickled to find this recipe for creating liquid slating to coat blackboards. Yes, the liquid could be purchased ready for use,…

From 1893, an ad from the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, the creators of perforated roll toilet paper. This was an ad to the paper goods trade:   “If you want to purchase roll toilet paper at a price that will permit you to sell for what it formerly cost you, you can do…

Before linoleum, ceramic tile, and hardwood veneers, there were two ways to cover the floors in your home: paint, and oil cloth. The first manufacturer of oil cloth in the United States was William Powers of Lansingburgh. Weise, in his “The City of Troy and its Vicinity,” writes: “The first oil-cloth was made in…

Hoxsie is the namesake of this site, primarily because of a magnificent ad that featured a rooster, the name “Hoxsie,” and nothing else. Hoxsie was a bottler of beer, root beer, sarsaparilla, soda and cider. An antique bottle auction site recently listed this fine example of a George W. Hoxsie Premium Beer bottle. Norman…

English: Andrew Jackson – 7 th President of the United States (1829-1837) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) In the mid-19th century, there was a proliferation of military organizations, usually politically affiliated militias. They owned armories and guns, they marched in parades and were called on during unrest. One of those was Albany’s Jackson Corps, which was…

From Munsell’s Albany Directory for 1853, the very first entry after the index is this listing of nurses. “The above are all that have been found.”

As we noted yesterday, there used to be a Second Dutch Church down on Beaver Street, along with a once-sizable burying ground. The graves were mostly moved, and the church was remodeled into a printing office after 1881, which was home to J.B. Lyons, then the official state printer, and the then-small shop of…