Historical

William Wallace Canfield By Karen Cuccinello   This guy was a bit tricky as there were two William Canfields in Stamford born a year apart. William was born May 15, 1880 in Stamford to John B. (1844-1892) and Lydia Maria (Denny 1849-1926) Canfield. His siblings were Otis, Cora and Perry. His mother Lydia, of Harpersfield, […]

10 West End Avenue By Karen Cuccinello The present owner, Katy Keen, of 10 West End contacted me wondering what I knew about the history of her house, and after looking into it this is what I found. First off, West End Avenue was originally called Division Street so that adds a little extra confusion. […]

New York Bargain Store by Karen Cuccinello I found an ad in a January 12, 1888 Hobart Independent- The New York Bargain Store will open in the Loewenstein store, West of the Commercial Hotel, Hobart, NY on January 12th, 1888. Big Bargains in Tinware, Hardware, Glassware, Jewelry, Notions, Dry Goods, Silverware, etc. etc. The best […]

Chateau de Navarre By Karen Cuccinello I got started on this article when I found a 1960 article about a fire at The Chateau. I knew about the fire when it burned down in 1985 but not about a bad fire in 1960. The Chateau, now where the Baptist Church is at 40 Lake St./Rte. […]

Alexander Ott, Aquatic Promoter By Karen Cuccinello Alexander was the Rexmere pool and water carnival director, swim instructor, performer and beauty pageant coordinator from about 1923-1937. He and his family spent their summers in the Catskills and winters in Florida. Alexander Karl Ott was born August 4, 1888 in Manhattan, NYC to Albert (born 1858) […]

Merchant in Stamford By Karen Cuccinello This store was at 127 Main and was first owned and operated by Hamilton Preston from 1867-1893. Upon Preston’s death in 1893 his widow sold the store to Henry C. Lawrence who brought his son-in-law George Clute into the business in 1906; then after a couple of owners Clayton […]

Merchant in Hobart By Karen Cuccinello J. Lawrence & Son dry goods and general merchandise store began with Jacob Lawrence (1853-1934) who came to the USA from Germany/Prussia in 1872. Jacob married Laura A. Grant (1851-1921) and they had one child, Amasa Jacob, born July 12, 1884, who joined his father’s business July 15, 1902. […]

Stamford-Richmondville Stage Line By Karen Cuccinello The earliest mention I found of this stage line in the newspapers was 1873, but it probably started earlier. Delos A. Seeley (1841-1902) owned the Stamford and Richmondville stage line from 1873 until 1881, then operated the Catskill to Grand Gorge stage from 1881 to 1889. He was the […]

Stamford Novelty Stores By Karen Cuccinello I found this little 1906 article about Scutt’s Souvenir Factory in a Jefferson Courier newspaper that is housed in the Stamford Village Library history room and I decided to look into it because I had never heard of such a place before. During my search I found another similar […]