Episode 263-Victoria Riskin, a psychologist and movie and TV producer, is the author of “Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir” about her parents.
Mohawk Valley Weather-Saturday, April 27, 2019-Showers likely, mainly before 7am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Windy, with a west wind 24 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph.
Tonight-Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34. Breezy, with a west wind 18 to 23 mph decreasing to 9 to 14 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph.
Sunday-Rain and snow likely before 2pm, then rain. High near 45.
Saturday, April 27, 2019-Today’s Focus on History in the Daily Gazette-A Mohawk Valley native, Francis Spinner, became U.S. Treasurer during the Civil War and was known for being among the first to hire women for government work.
Francis E. Spinner was a 19th century U.S. treasurer who developed an elaborate signature to prevent currency counterfeiting.
He also was proud of being one of the first federal officials to hire women to do work previously done by men.
Spinner was born in German Flats in the western Mohawk Valley in 1802, the oldest of nine children. His father, Rev. John Spinner, was a German Roman Catholic priest who had become a Protestant and married Magdalene Brument. The Spinners came to the United States in 1801. John Spinner was pastor of two German-speaking Dutch Reformed churches in Herkimer and German Flats.
In a 1937 history, Rev. W.N.P. Dailey wrote, “A week after the child (Francis Spinner) was born, the house burned and the mother, barefooted, carried her infant through the snow to a neighbor’s. As a lad he showed great taste for books but his father insisted on his learning a trade.”
Spinner was apprenticed to a confectioner in Albany. His father moved him to Amsterdam when he found out the young man was not learning how to make confections but was serving as a salesman and bookkeeper in Albany.
The youth was apprenticed to saddle and harness maker David DeForest in Amsterdam.
Spinner showed his love of books by reading every volume in the Union Library, the first organized book collection in Amsterdam.
A newspaper reported that Spinner had a close call when the first Amsterdam Mohawk River bridge was under construction in 1821. Spinner was climbing along an unfinished part of the structure when it began to give way. He jumped to safety as part of the bridge collapsed.
Spinner returned to Herkimer County in 1824, where he married Caroline Caswell of Herkimer and became a banker. He also was a major general in the state militia and sheriff of Herkimer County. He was one of the commissioners involved in construction of the state asylum for the mentally ill in Utica.
A Republican, he served in Congress from 1855 to 1861. President Abraham Lincoln named Spinner the U.S. treasurer following a recommendation from Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase.
Spinner’s elaborate signature became the best known handwriting in America. He told a magazine writer that he consciously developed his signature while he was sheriff, asylum commissioner and banker.
During the Civil War Spinner was among the first federal officials to hire women as clerks because so many men had become soldiers. Some 70 women were hired and Skinner kept them on after the war ended.
According to the U.S. treasury website, the first woman employed at Treasury was Jennie Douglas of Ilion, New York in 1862, hired to cut and trim new “greenback” currency.
Spinner said he took great satisfaction in being one of those “instrumental in introducing women to employment in the offices of the government.”
Women were paid less than men. Male clerks had a salary of $1,200 annually while women were paid $900.
In 1875 Skinner resigned as U.S. treasurer in a dispute with a new secretary of the treasury who would not give Spinner final say over who would serve on his staff. That same year Spinner ran unsuccessfully for New York state comptroller. He relocated to Jacksonville, Florida and died in 1890. He was buried in the village cemetery in Mohawk in Herkimer County.
The women he had hired at Treasury raised $10,000 for a bronze statue of Spinner done by sculptor Henry J. Ellicott, first located at a private gallery in Washington. In 1909 the Daughters of the American Revolution had the statue moved to Myers Park in Herkimer. Monday, April 29, 2019- The Story Behind the Story Podcast focuses on the Daily Gazette column-U.S. Treasurer Francis Spinner was a Mohawk Valley native.
Bob Cudmore’s guest this weekend on Talk of the Town is Niskayuna town councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw. She discusses town finances and remembers the life of philanthropist Jane Golub who was a Niskayuna resident. Listen Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 6:30 a.m. on Magic 590 and 100.5 in Albany and 1410 and 96.9 in the North Country. Posted as a Podcast on The Historians
Niskayuna Town Councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw.
The Annual Schoharie County Historical Society Spring Program Meeting has been set for Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 2 pm at the Old Stone Fort Museum, located at 145 Fort Road in Schoharie. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. NYHB https://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2019/04/schoharie-co-historical-spring-meeting-at-old-stone-fort/
The Jason Subik Show
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Live Facebook Feed https://www.facebook.com/jason.subik
Monday thru Thursday at 9am Amsterdam Talk and Information on WCSS 106.9FM and 1490AM Posted as a Video Podcast on The Historians
To invite Bob to speak to your organization, please email bobcudmore@yahoo.com
The Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site Visitor Center in Fort Hunter will re-open for the 2019 season at 10:00am on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Hours at the Visitor Center are 10:00am-5:00pm Wednesday through Saturday and Sundays 1:00pm-5:00pm from May until October 31st. Come visit the site to witness the engineering marvel of the Erie Canal and check out the “Pathway to Empire” exhibit as well as artifacts from the colonial Fort Hunter and the Lower Castle Mohawk Village. Schoharie Crossing is the best place to witness Erie Canal history and enjoy a day walking the towpath trails, kayaking the creek, cycling the Canalway trail, or just enjoying a picnic and time with family and friends.Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site page of the New York State Parks website, nysparks.com, call Schoharie Crossing at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov or find us on Facebook.
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