Walter Haslam Lewthwaite. Photo provided by The Saratoga County History Roundtable.

I would like you to meet a fascinating fellow– Walter Haslam Lewthwaite. I came to know him through a single letter he wrote in March 1918 to his brothers, their wives and his nieces and nephews.  He mailed this eight-page letter from the post office in Middle Grove to family in Brooklyn.  Walter was a patient at the Homestead Sanitarium in the town of Providence – a hospital for tuberculosis patients.  The letter was found at a barn sale in the summer of 2023.  Because of the thickness of the envelope, it stood out from other greeting cards. This letter introduced me to a very interesting fellow.

Walter begins the correspondence by condensing his response to many letters into a single joint letter.  He goes on to explain he has been too busy to reply.  He had been “appointed to a very important position at the san (his nickname for the sanitarium) – namely that of bacteriologist and I do the work in the evenings.”  William Holmes assists him.  They make microscopic specimens of the sputum taken from each of the patients every three or four weeks.  They also do a urinalysis for albumin and sugar.  He says that he finds the work interesting and a way to pay back the facility for all the care he has received.

Walter receives no compensation for his work.  At the time that the letter is written there are 34 patients at the hospital, and it takes two men 8 to 12 evenings to process the specimens.  A detailed description of the chemicals used as the specimens are prepared on the glass slides along with small drawings of the slides are included in the letter.  Each sample is identified with a number so no names are used.  Walter and his assistant had tested themselves and found they had minor infections.

Walter experiences “blue” periods at the sanitarium.  The winter weather had been bad and he notes there had been eleven deaths since the first of January just in his pavilion.  Almost all of the women who were at the hospital when he came the previous summer had died.  Only one was still alive.  He refers to her as “Mother Jones of Mechanicville.”  One night the head physician, Doctor Hirst, stated there was a show being performed in East Galway, a few miles away, and two sleighs were provided to take all who wanted to attend.  Walter decided not to go because of the physical stress in the cold air.  Another patient, Bunny Hunt, called him a “slacker” for refusing to go.  But the next day Bunny Hunt was late to rise and soon fell ill, and died before day’s end.  He had a severe case of TB and had been deemed as incurable by the doctors.

Walter refused to work on Sundays.  He would play hymns on the player pump organ and read aloud from the Bible.  The organ was hard to play because the bellows had a leak and was stressful to him.  A piano player was soon to be purchased for the facility using funds from a donation left by a woman patient who had died.

Apparently, Walter had been a patient at Saranac before coming to the Homestead Sanitarium.  Comparing the two he feels the care he is currently getting is not “proper” and the doctor is more concerned with the looks of the facility rather than the patients’ care. Some of the improvements mentioned are a pool room, smoking room, landscaping, and a recreation area.  There had been no improved cases and of the 34 patients eleven deaths had been reported in two months.

Alas, Walter died that fall at the age of 27 at the Homestead Sanitorium.  Four years earlier he had been a student at Cornell University in Ithaca and his photograph was included in their yearbook, which captured his short life:

Unquestionably the most popular person in Prep school, “Ted” came to Cornell to continue his conquest of winning friends. When you know him well, you understand how he does it. He is the kind of student who makes an enviable average without any perceptible effort, always having time for college activities and every chance of a good time.

The 1900 federal census indicates that Walter’s father, George Lewthwaite, born on the Isle of Man in England, was employed at a paper mill in Ballston Spa and the family lived on Prospect Street.  His mother’s maiden name was Adelaide Dake of Greenfield.  Walter was the youngest of five children. By 1910 the family lived in Greenwich where Walter went to High School before  enrolling at Cornell.

Walter’s letter provides an insightful view of life in the Homestead Sanitarium a century ago and gives us a glimpse of Walter’s shortened life.  This letter ensures that Walter is not forgotten.

Rachel Clothier is historian for the Town of Corinth, operates the Corinth Museum, and is retired from Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls.

John Shepard had been a canaller now for some time.  He had relocated to Waterford, New York, from Massachusetts in 1838, to seek work in an area that was rich with opportunity. Twenty-five years have passed since then, and John was contemplative about his life, especially in the current times.  As the canal season of 1863 was coming to its annual conclusion, he was reminded of the good fortune that has been his companion in this journey through life and on the towpath leading the mules that towed the canal boats.

Canals had played a curious role in John’s life.  The bank failure in Massachusetts during the Panic of 1837 caused him to move to Waterford. As a result of the success of the New York State canals, other areas of the country were investing in canal building on borrowed money, and not all canals were as successful as those in New York State.  Overinvestment by his home commonwealth and other states was the cause for him to move to Waterford, seeking the work that was available because of the canal.  He was amused that the financial failures in one location, attributable to canals, led him to a successful career elsewhere.  In any regard, John thought it was a curious twist of fate.

In 1823, the Champlain Canal became the first of New York’s Canals to be completed and in operation. This created a passageway between Lake Champlain and Canada to New York City and the world.   This was followed in 1828 by the opening of the King’s Power Canal, which provided a more reliable source to create the power needed for Waterford’s growing industrial community.  It was the single greatest contribution to Waterford’s development when built by John Fuller King.

John Shepard fancied himself a part of something much greater than a mule driver.  The wealth of the area, the state, and the country, John thought to himself, is largely dependent on all the canallers, whose work and lifestyles help to make this waterway a great asset in a great country.  Despite the current rebellion of the Southern States, the country was expanding in area and wealth.  John took pleasure in his own estimate of the role he played on the canal.

His thoughts could wander as he walked the towpath leading his team; this day was pleasant, and he became reflective.  He had achieved a measured amount of success and owned a nice home just 137 steps from the Champlain Canal.  His family was well.  His wife, Harriet Kennedy, was an industrious helpmate, and his son Charles had done well in school.  He was doing quite well as a local peddler for a young lad, just 15 when he began the trade.  He had grown into an accomplished agent at 18.  John’s daughter, Rebecca, was an active, obedient child of 14 and a helpmate to her mother.

John was approaching Lock 4 on the Champlain Canal.  It was a river or guard lock. The towpath was on the east side of the canal in Waterford.  The canal will cross the Mohawk River here.  The Fulton Street change bridge would enable the teams to change sides, enter lock 4, and continue a westward journey on the Erie or continue south to Albany and the Hudson River.  To affect this crossing, the mules must change from the left side to the right side.  The Change Bridge would allow the mules to change sides, never removing their tow lines or crossing them.

He often smiled to himself to hear some people speak of the mistreatment of mules.  John owed his economic well-being to his mules and, like most teamsters and drivers, and owners, he cared for his mules.  They were an essential part of his life. Unlike many other drivers, he did not name his mules.  John felt the mules recognize his voice and his tone.  They were well cared for and responded to his commands.  That’s all that was needed for a successful relationship between a driver and his animals.

John’s thoughts cleared; he was over the bridge, and his breathing became a little easier.  He was beginning to notice how involved with his thoughts he was becoming.  Maybe it is his age, he thought. A young man, like his son Charles, doesn’t think about something, they just do it.

The day would start at daybreak for John.  First, he would take a quick walk down to Grogh Street from his Sixth Street home, where his mules were stabled. There, he would ready his team for the day.  Owning six, he would switch mules every day, or in very busy times, he would employ another driver if business warranted.  On the two days each week that he towed for Rock Island, he would usually be home by 6 p.m.  The other five days would depend on the towing jobs available.  At the end of each day, he would return the mules to the Grogh Street stable and care for the mules, then walk back to his Sixth Street home to Harriet, Charles, and Rebecca.

These were dynamic times for Waterford, New York and the nation. John was pleased with himself, the canal, and his station in life but the same could not be said about John’s feelings for the state of the nation.

In 1863, the country was in the midst of the Civil War. John kept abreast of its activities in Harper’s Weekly and the sacrifices and sufferings of his friends and neighbors.  He was praying it would end before his son would have a chance or desire to be involved.

The Christmas season of 1863 was a joyous one for the Shepard family. They all felt blessed and had much to be thankful for.  That joy came to an end on December 27th when Charles announced that he had enlisted in the New York State 4th Brigade Heavy Artillery and would be entering the Union Army two days later. His letters back to his family over the next eight months are recounted in a new book, Dear Mother, I am the only one left! written by this author.

Russ VanDervoort is the Waterford Town Historian, leader of the Waterford Canal and Towpath Society and a Trustee of the Saratoga County History Center. He can be reached at russvandervoort@gmail.com

Development in northern Halfmoon is rapidly transforming this once expansive area of productive farmland into an area of winding streets and attractive homes, where landscaped lawns are replacing the hay fields, pastures and woodlands of years gone by. There in the middle of new neighborhoods called Fairway Meadows, Adams Pointe and Howland Park, at the corner of Johnson and Staniak Roads, is an old building, a remnant of the town’s farming days known as Chip’s Hall. Let me tell you a bit about Chip’s Hall.

Back in the early 20th century, there was a wave of immigration from Eastern Europe, with people looking for a chance to make better lives for their families in this land of opportunity, the United States of America. Many took that courageous step, packed whatever they could carry in a steamer trunk, boarded a ship and crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Ludwig Ciepiela sailed from Austria about the time World War I was coming to an end, arriving in Rhode Island. He wanted to buy a farm. So in 1918, he and his young wife, Sophie, parents of two small children, Willie and Wanda, bought a 160 acre farm in the Town of Halfmoon in upstate New York. They bought cows and began their dairy farm. They planted gardens and crops. And they had a second son, Teddy.

Farmers in those days helped each other in harvest season. At the Ciepiela farm in 1923, the wagons were loaded with corn to be chopped and stored away for winter feed for the cattle. Teddy, unbeknownst to the man driving the team of horses, had crawled under the wagon. As the wagon moved forward, Teddy was run over and died from his injuries the next day. Sophie gave birth to daughter Anna just two months after Teddy’s tragic death. Three more children would be born to Ludwig and Sophie – daughter Mona and sons Edwin and Chester. As they became old enough, all of the children worked alongside their parents. It was the way farming was.

The Ciepielas had settled in the midst of many other immigrant families working hard to achieve a better life for themselves and their families. The farms of Halfmoon back in the middle of the 20th century thrived under these new Americans. With their predominantly Polish heritage as a unifying factor, they joined the Polish National Alliance. They needed a place to meet, socialize and discuss the latest innovations in farming. Ludwig had a hall built in 1939 across the road from his house. Its upper floor was wide open for dancing. In the basement he had a bar built, and added tables and chairs, dart boards and a pool table. It became known as Chip’s Hall, and it was a fine place for get-togethers. They had meetings, dances and wedding receptions. After working in the fields all day, the men would come to relax, play pool and shoot darts.

In 1942, with World War II in process, eldest son Willie enlisted in the US Army and was stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia. Ludwig, always known as a giving and kind-hearted man, went out on the night of September 28, 1942 with a friend whose automobile had slid off the road on a curve near the Noradki farm a half mile away. Ludwig drove his tractor to the site and hooked it up to the vehicle to try and pull it back out onto the road. The tractor tipped over, pinning Ludwig under it and killing him. Sophie was devastated. She had a farm to run, and only herself and two daughters still living at home to run it. Edwin and Chester were still young children, so the daily work of milking, feeding and cleaning was left to teenage daughters Anna and Mona. They quit school so they could get all the days’ work done. The Red Cross endeavored to get Willie discharged from the Army to come home to support his family, and he did come home on New Year’s Eve to take over the farm. He ran the farm for the rest of his life, and the family endured. Together with his siblings they maintained not only their livelihood, but their father’s hall as well. The dances, parties and gatherings continued. In 1948 Mona married Bill McBride and held their reception in the hall her father had built almost 10 years before. They bought a farm to the south of her family homestead and lived there for the rest of their lives.

In 1962, the cow barn on the farm caught fire and was badly damaged. That area of Halfmoon had no designated fire protection at that time, and the Ciepiela fire was just one of several serious fires in that area of the town that spurred the people to establish their own fire district. In 1964, Hillcrest Volunteer Fire Department came into being. With fund-raising efforts needed to supply the department with its amenities, it was Chip’s Hall that became the go-to place to hold dances to help out. Polish cuisine, Polish music and Polish dancing… it was what Chip’s Hall was all about – community unity.

But time is relentless. Over the past half century, the neighbors ceased farming. The Polish families have grown and scattered. New neighbors have moved in. That solid core of immigrant determination and desire has dissipated and blended.

In Chip’s Hall, the music plays no more. No dancing feet rumble on the wood plank floor. No more great Polish food is served in the dining room. Today the remains of the building still stand at the corner of Johnson and Staniak Roads, a mere shadow of what it used to be. The Ciepiela farmhouse and rebuilt barn are still there, but the pastures, the fields and the woodlands are now known as Howland Park, and new houses are fast being built in this neighborhood-to-be.

One can only hope that with homes springing up where cattle used to graze and crops used to grow that the influx of people seeking to make a better life for themselves and their families will find their own center, their own community unity. Their own spirit of Chip’s Hall, you might say.

Sandy McBride is a native of Mechanicville, and lives in the Town of Halfmoon. Writing has always been her passion, and she has won numerous awards for her poetry. For the past 17 years, she has written feature stories for The Express weekly newspaper and has published four books of feature stories and two poetry collections, and also a children’s historical novel on the Battles of Saratoga entitled “Finding Goliath and Fred.”

Winston Churchill once said of him that meeting Franklin Roosevelt is like opening a bottle of fine champagne. His lineage was that of an American aristocrat. Roosevelt could claim a dozen of the passengers on the Mayflower as ancestors.

He came from a highly respected and very wealthy family. This gave him the opportunity to attend America’s finest institutions of higher learning. He did his pre- university studies at Groton, a prestigious private school and then it was on to a degree from Harvard. After graduating Roosevelt took up the practice of law in New York City. He soon made his debut on the political scene. At the age of twenty eight he pulled off a minor miracle. He won a seat in the New York State Senate in a district that hadn’t elected a Democrat in over four decades.

During Woodrow Wilson’s administration Roosevelt was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the same position his distant cousin and former president Theodore Roosevelt had held twenty years earlier. In 1920 he was surprisingly nominated for Vice President on the Democratic Party ticket led by Ohio Governor James Cox. It was a Republican year and the Cox-Roosevelt ticket was trounced on Election Day. Although a setback for the Democrats, Roosevelt emerged as a political player on the national scene.

Fate intervened in the following year of 1921. He was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, a devastating disease that paralyzed him from the waist down. For most it would have put to rest any thoughts of a life in politics. As we know Roosevelt was indeed not like other men. With the strong encouragement of Louis Howe a close friend and confident, he pushed himself past his outer limits to regain some strength in his legs. With the help of grueling daily sessions he was able to walk a few steps with the help of crutches and leg braces. It is of note that Louis Howe was a Saratoga Springs resident for many years. He excelled as Roosevelt’s private secretary and was a highly respected member of his inner circle until his death in 1936. 

Roosevelt soon had his sights set on returning to the political arena. In 1928 Al Smith, New York’s colorful Governor was chosen as the Presidential nominee on the Democratic Ticket. With Smith’s blessing Franklin was given the nod to run for Chief Executive of the Empire State. Although the GOP and Herbert Hoover won nationwide in a landslide, Roosevelt took his race in a close election. The landscape began to align for Roosevelt’s ascendancy to power. A sudden and severe depression overcame the country in 1929. President Hoover seemed to have no solution to the problem. Roosevelt’s time had come. He showcased his shrewd political skills in obtaining his party’s nomination for President in 1932. He embraced the song “Happy Days Are Here Again” as his campaign slogan. It gave the folks a glimmer of hope in desperate times. The election of that year was a resounding success for the Democratic Party. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as our country’s 32nd President on March 4, 1933.

The Great Depression as it was called saw the unemployment rate hit a peak of twenty five percent in 1933. One had to live through it to understand the despair that the decade brought. Roosevelt was a calming force in leading the country through the calamity. His radio speeches known as “Fireside Chats” gave Americans hope that better times were ahead. He jumpstarted programs to get the country back on its feet. The Social Security Act of 1935 guaranteed a monthly check to senior citizens. The WPA enacted that same year opened Federal Government funded jobs for over eight million of the unemployed. Although the programs had some effect, it would take an unprovoked attack by the Japanese on our forces at Pearl Harbor to get the American economy back in full swing. The event would also lead to Franklin D Roosevelt’s finest hour.

He was now a wartime leader. His grasp of foreign affairs with our allies, and the delegation of authority within the government were instrumental in the smooth and successful transition to a war footing. In his role as Commander in Chief of the military he was superb. For four long years he steered the ship towards a successful outcome. Unfortunately, the presidency had taken its toll on Roosevelt. In April of 1945 at the age of sixty two, he passed into history at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. The entire nation mourned for the man that had led them through both the Great Depression and the Second World War. He had more than earned their respect.

A DAY TRIP 

TO HYDE PARK

Franklin D Roosevelt resided at Hyde Park his entire adult life. The estate covers over one thousand acres overlooking the Hudson River. The Roosevelt residence known as Springwood is the focal point of the property. It is a Colonial Revival style Mansion that befits an American leader of the highest order.

One of the major events held there was the visit of King George VI and his Royal Consort Queen Mary in 1939 during the tumultuous times preceding the war. It strengthened the bond between the two countries at a monumental time in World history. Winston Churchill also visited Roosevelt here on two occasions during the war to discuss plans concerning the ongoing conflict.

The president, his wife Eleanor, and his beloved Scottish Terrier Fala are laid to rest in a shrub enclosed parklike setting a short walking distance from the main house. There is also a museum on the grounds that brings Roosevelt’s presidential years to life. One of the items on display is Roosevelt’s 1936 Ford convertible. It was fitted with hand controls that made it possible for him to take drives around the Hyde Park area.

Hyde Park is located two hours south of here. The estate is easily accessible by way of the Thruway and the Kingston-Rheinecliff bridge. It’s a short drive from the picturesque town of Rhinebeck. The historic village is a great place to stop for lunch and visit the shops that line the main street. One of the main attractions there is the Beekman Arms. It’s America’s oldest continuously operating inn. Those who have visited the property include our first president, George Washington and since then a host of famous personalities from around the world.

I hope you have enjoyed our look back at one of America’s greatest presidents. Taking a day trip to Hyde Park is a fascinating and worthwhile experience. Enjoy and safe travels.

The medical experts of the time said that the country air would cure them. And a religious facility would be best to give them proper care. But… those experts, as well-intentioned as they may have been, were wrong. Many of the children brought here died. And they were buried in a small plot of land in Ballston Spa near the hamlet of Eastline. And their story still haunts us today.

At the northwest corner of Route 67 and Eastline Road sits a sprawling development of high-rise buildings full of apartments, a complex created within the last 6 years. But what was there previously was an important part of the Eastline community in the towns of Ballston and Malta.

St. John’s Mission Church opened on November 17, 1876 in a building that sat on current-day Route 67 between Eastline Road and Commerce Drive.  Since it was the only church in the area, many of the residents, regardless of their religious persuasion, joined in the services and the activities centered in the church.  As time went on, a chapel was built to accommodate the larger and larger crowds which were coming to the church.  Then, two other buildings were constructed just to the west of the church, a “Clergy House” for retired ministers to live in and to help out when nearby churches needed a minister as well as a rectory whose cornerstone called it “St. Michael’s and All Angels Cottage- 1883,” constructed two years after the building of the Clergy House.

It was during that time that the local newspapers show that the Eastline Mission of Christ Church was growing, attracting a lot of people. In 1882, Rev. Walter Delafield, the founding minister, published “a neat pamphlet [with] information in regard to the [clergy] house  and the work connected with it.” Other churches contributed money to the Mission.  In 1884, three ministers were even assigned to the Clergy House for their two-week vacation. 

And it is the Clergy House and All Angels Cottage that tell a very different story from their original designated use for housing ministers.  Shortly after these buildings were constructed, financial support for the church dried up and “travelling ministers” seemed to have been in less demand.  The Clergy House had to be closed; Reverend Cook, who was the current minister and living there, moved next door to All Angels Cottage; and the Clergy House became a home for something very different, a hospital for sick children. 

Child’s Hospital in Albany (named for the nuns who ran it, “The Sisterhood of the Holy Child Jesus) sent two nuns, Sisters Helen and Mary to transform the Delafield Clergy House, named for Rev. Walter Delafield who had started the Mission House in Ballston Spa, into what would be called “St. Margaret’s Hospital,” a summer retreat for sick infants.  The children were brought during the first week of May, 1886.

So, from the years 1886-1890, Child’s Hospital sent some of its sickest children, many under the age of 1, to the countryside of Eastline in Ballston Spa. The prevailing medical opinion of the time was that getting children out of the city and into the peaceful and less contagious countryside would cure them. Unfortunately, most of the children ended up dying of various diseases.

Surviving records show that the common causes of death were teething, marasmus (severe undernourishment), disease of the brain, and pneumonia.

Local newspapers sometimes reported about the children in this makeshift hospital.  On July 4, 1890, almost at the end of the use of the old Clergy House for hospital purposes, The Saratogian reported that there were presently 19 children in residence and that most were suffering from whooping cough. 

In some cases, children were transferred back to Child’s Hospital.  An 1887 Saratogian article describes 25 children being sent back to Albany, but no information is given about their ailments or the resolution of their diseases. 

As the children died, almost 60 for whom we have records,  they were buried behind the All Angels Cottage, the building next door to their final home while they were alive. Each grave was marked with a fieldstone and Irena Wooten, whose grandparents lived in the All Angels Cottage in the years after the church sold it, remembered also putting little wooden crosses atop each gravesite when springtime came each year. What a beautiful sight it must have been in those years and a fitting memorial to the young people who forever rest there.

As a result of the high death rate at this rural location facilities were constructed in Albany including one that was built in 1890 and named St. Margaret’s House, the same name as the hospital in Eastline. Probably not coincidentally, the St. Margaret’s in Eastline closed that same year. That ended the medical experiment that had failed at the Eastline village in Ballston and Malta. Long afterwards, the Clergy House burned down in 1942 but All Angels Cottage survived many more years, most recently as a construction office.  It has since been torn down.

But what about the cemetery behind All Angels Cottage?  Cemeteries are sacred to most people and are protected by state and local laws.  But where exactly was it located?  The fieldstones that marked the gravesites are long buried and probably moved from their original places. Any wooden crosses would have disintegrated over time. And memories have dulled the exact location of the cemetery that had been located “behind” All Angels Cottage.

In 2007, a developer decided to build an apartment complex on this site, along Route 67 between Commerce Drive and Eastline Road.  In order to do so and to follow state laws that mandate an archeological study be done on properties that are considered “historic,” he commissioned Curtin Archeological Consulting to try to discover the remains of this cemetery.  Unfortunately, no remains were found.

The developer never did build on the site, and in 2016 another developer came onto the scene.  As the new owner of the land, he, too, was mandated to do an archeological study. This time, a different site was chosen as the possible site of St. Christopher’s Cemetery and the Hartgen Archeological Associates did find remains from graves of the children of the past.  However, state law states that there must be physical remains found in order to preserve the site in perpetuity.  That was impossible as the coffins, if any, were probably wooden and the babies buried there would leave nothing behind after many years.  So, the site, even though now found, could not be preserved.  Despite repeated pleas from this historian, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and other preservationists, one of the multi-story apartment buildings was built right on top of the children’s graves. A sad ending to a long saga of our past.

Rick Reynolds has been the Ballston Town Historian since 2004. He is a retired social studies teacher at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Middle school and is the author of the book “From Wilderness to Community: The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central School District. Rick can be reached at rreynolds@townofballstonny.org

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation presents “Saratoga’s Role in the American Revolution,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25 via Zoom. 

Saratoga County Historian Lauren Roberts will share an overview about Saratoga County’s pivotal role in the American Revolution, the creation of the Saratoga250 Commission, and upcoming plans for the 250th Anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga. 

Roberts will additionally discuss her involvement in the PBS television series “Travels with Darley – Revolutionary Road Trips” – which will feature a segment filmed in Saratoga County last fall – as well as her recent participation on a panel at the Smithsonian Institute highlighting Saratoga County’s rich history. 

The program will take place on Zoom for a suggested donation of $10 or more. For additional information or to register for the virtual program, visit www.saratogapreservation.org or call 518-587-5030. Everyone who pre-registers for this program will be emailed a Zoom link in advance and will receive a link to the recording.