Information Please: Prohibition and the "Lost History"

We wish to explore a wide variety of local history, folklore, biography and related areas in the Review, and to encourage readers and people interested in history to contribute articles.

Among the broad subject areas which we feel need more exploration are the prohibition and depression eras, local contributions to the various war efforts, (including pacifism) and social history in general.

On more specific notes, we are interested in learning whatever more we can about enforcement of the Volstead Act (prohibition) by District Attorney Alberti Baker and Supreme Court Justice Charles B. Nicols. And, we are intrigued by a report that, in the 1940s, a new history of Schoharie County with previously unpublished material was nearing completion. These are the items which intrigue us so:

“Travel where you may in Schoharie County, in New York State, you will not hear it contended even by the bitterest enemies of prohibition that the law cannot be enforced. These people give vent to their feelings in another way, namely, by cursing the law and the officers and citizens who enforce it.”

That is the opening paragraph of an unsigned article that appeared in the Dearborn Independent, a national publication, in 1926. The publication is generally considered to reflect the prejudices of its owner.

Several years ago, we saw photographs of Cobleskill hotels boarded and displaying signs about being closed due to prohibition. Unfortunately, we cannot recall who owns the photos.

Charles Ham of Jamaica and Breakabeen wrote a long letter, printed in the Quarterly Bulletin of January 1942, to Old Stone Fort curator Myron Vroman. Here are excerpts:

Dear Myron:

The history of Schoharie County is now practically completed and the next step is to find a publisher. In preparing the work I found an abundance of material in the libraries of New York, Albany, and Schoharie. In working over the field I came across quite a large amount of new material some of which, as far as I know, has never been published. One of the most interesting lines of research was the study of material in Canada as filed and told by the Tories who fled from Schoharie during the Revolution. Some of this Canadian material leads one to revise his judgment concerning the Revolution. The Pennsylvania archives also contained much material concerning the Revolution in Schoharie.

The most interesting of my original source material, was the authentic copy of the Reformed and Lutheran Church records, translated and compiled by the New York Genealogical Society. The amount of information recorded here is stupendous and most exciting, for example, the reference by Dominie Sommers to the martyrs of the battle of Cobleskill. From these Church records I also learned that, in the early days, Schoharie had a special holiday celebrating the arrival of the Palatines in America.

Another exciting document found was a description of the road leading down the Creek from Upper Brechenbein (Breakabeen) through Weiser dorp, Schmitt dorp, Hartman dorp, etc. The old town records furnished excellent accounts couched in quaint language, of the early roads, schools, taverns, strayed cattle, etc. but, I guess this is enough to give you some idea of the exciting time I have had in perusing the sources which revealed the rise and progress of Schoharie.

Anyone with information on either of the above subjects, or who is interested in researching any subject for a Review article, may contact the editor, Lester Hendrix, P.O. Box 711, Schoharie, N.Y. 12157 or SCHReviewEditor@Hotmail.Com. We would be pleased to consider articles on other subjects as well.