Monthly Archives: September 2010

Newspaper Rivalries; Penn Yan Lights Up

By Rich MacAlpine On the New York ballot in November 1860, was a proposed state amendment to eliminate property requirements for black men to vote. They had been eliminated for white men years earlier. The Yates County Chronicle, edited by … Continue reading

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179th New York Volunteers

Here’s a Request from a Reader in Utah YCGHS Member  Ed Rutan is writing a regimental history of the 179th New York Volunteers, the Civil War regiment that his great-great grandfather served in.  The 179th had a strong connection with … Continue reading

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Chronicle Roasts Church Members Supporting Douglas

From the Yates County Chronicle, Thursday, September 20, 1860 Prominent among the advocates of Slave Drivers and Liquor Dealers candidate, S.A. Douglas, in this village, are several Church members in “good and regular standing.”  We can conceive of no better … Continue reading

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Yates Pole Raising in the 1860 Election

By Rich MacAlpine During the summer and fall of 1860 leading up to the Presidential election in November, there were a number of “pole raisings” across Yates County. The practice  was inspired by the liberty poles of the Revolutionary period. … Continue reading

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The ‘Little Giant’ Visits Penn Yan

By Rich MacAlpine In September of 1860, in the midst of an intense campaign for the Presidency against Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas stopped for a short time in Penn Yan, New York. Douglas was on a train heading to … Continue reading

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Committee Members Meet With Teachers

On September 7, 2010, Jim Rice, Mike Gleason, and Ray Copson, members of the Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society‘s Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, met with teachers preparing for the new school year at Penn Yan Academy.   Dave Pullen, the … Continue reading

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Things Needful!

On September 6, 1860, the Yates County Chronicle re-printed an article from the Albany Journal on “Things Needful” for a Republican victory in the upcoming November election.  Most of the recommendations would sound familiar to political activists in our own … Continue reading

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More from the Yates County Chronicle, Our Republican Newspaper

Yates County Chronicle, September 6, 1860 Republicans go openly and boldly to the people, with their principles inscribed upon their banner, asking them to elect Lincoln and Hamlin.  The other parties or factions spend their time in bargains and dickers … Continue reading

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