L is for LAND

1895 Atlas of New York, Julius Bien & Co - Map of land patents.

An abstractor is a person who does an abstract of title for a piece of property.  If you have ever bought or sold a house or taken out a mortgage, either your realtor or attorney has contacted an abstract company and requested a title search to make sure it is free of any debts or encumbrances to clear title. The bank requires this to protect their interest so someone can't come along later and claim a right to it.

I have researched land title for abstract companies, attorneys, private parties wishing to put their home on the National Register of Historic Places, and for my own pleasure. I have done title work in every county in Western New York as well as Clinton, Franklin, and St. Lawrence counties in the northern part of the state. I have even helped, remotely from my computer, with a title search for land in Alaska (where the index to records are online), and also in Vermont. Combining my skills as an abstractor and my historian's obsession to document facts, I found my niche in researching Indian land title from an abstractor's point of view―hence the subject of my book coming out later this year with The History Press titled Indian Land Title in New York. I'm hoping it will give new perspective to land claim cases.

Stay tuned for more history tidbits throughout the month of April!

The list to the other A-Z bloggers is here.

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If your user name in comments doesn't lead to your A-Z blog, leave the URL so I can find you!

Here's how to do a clickable link to your blog in the comments section:

< a href="http://historysleuth.blogspot.com/">History Sleuth's Writings - Blogging A-Z</a >

Just replace my stuff with yours and take the space out between the < a and a > above.

(Had to put a space in or you would see a link instead of code. :)

Keep it in a note on your desktop so you can copy & keep hitting paste at every blog instead of retyping.

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U is for UNDERSHERIFF

The following is an excerpt for Bread & Butter the Murders of Polly Frisch.

Old Genesee County Jail, pre-1900.

Sunday the 3rd was to be a day of rest, and the jury needed it. It was a difficult task deciding the fate of Polly Frisch. The jurors were lodged at the Eagle Hotel and their rooms were in a separate area from the regular hotel guests. A sitting room had been provided near the hotel lobby for their use only. Under Sheriff Charles Sprague, Deputy Sheriff Lorenzo Olcott, and Constable Robert Pease were in charge of the jury. Their job was to insure that the jury was under constant supervision. They were sequestered, and not to speak to anyone, read anything that may have been in print about the trial, or leave the confines of the Eagle Hotel. All the things the jury was not supposed to do, they did.

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Bread and Butter The Murders of Polly Frisch is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

The list to the other A-Z bloggers is here.
If your user name in comments doesn't lead to your A-Z blog, leave the URL so I can find you!
 

Here's how to do a clickable link to your blog in comments:
< a href="http://historysleuth.blogspot.com/">History Sleuth's Writings - Blogging A-Z</a >
Just replace my stuff with yours and take the space out between the < a and a >
(Had to put a space in or you would see a link instead of code. :)
Keep it in a note on your desktop so you can copy & keep hitting paste at every blog instead of retyping.

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L is for LUNATIC

A lunatic was the term used to describe someone of an "unsound mind" in the 19th century. Polly Frisch's mother, Eliza Franklin would be declared so in 1879. Below is an excerpt from Bread & Butter The Murders of Polly Frisch.

Sadly, on the 1st of May in 1879, Charles Noble filed a petition to have Eliza Franklin declared of unsound mind—in the terms of the day, a lunatic. The youngest daughter, Emily Hayes, had been taking care of Eliza up to this point. Charles named Julia Maybach as Eliza’s guardian. Charles Noble, who was the husband of Schubel’s sister Sarah, was also the executor of Schubel’s estate. Because he handled the estate on behalf of Schubel’s wife Eliza, he felt it necessary to appoint someone on her behalf. Once again an inquest would be held at the Alabama Hotel, now owned by Charles Clark, for a member of the Franklin/Hoag family.

From reading the affidavits of the inquest it did not sound like Eliza was insane, but was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Although they were nearing the turn of the century, and some advances were made in medical science, they still did not know this illness existed.

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Bread & Butter hardcovers went live last week, and the paperbacks over the weekend on Amazon. E-books coming soon!

The list to the other A-Z bloggers is here.
If your user name in comments doesn't lead to your A-Z blog, leave the URL so I can find you!
 

Here's how to do a clickable link to your blog in comments:
< a href="http://historysleuth.blogspot.com/">History Sleuth's Writings - Blogging A-Z</a >
Just replace my stuff with yours and take the space out between the < a and a >
(Had to put a space in or you would see a link instead of code. :)
Keep it in a note on your desktop so you can copy & keep hitting paste at every blog instead of retyping. 

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Bread and Butter 01

Hoag Family Plot - Alabama Center Cemetery, Alabama, NY

Well I'm not so sure how non-fiction is going to work for Sunday Snippets but let's give it a go, shall we?

SETUP: (Alabama, NY) In November of 1855 Polly Hoag had her fortune told when her and her husband Henry attended an election party at the Alabama Hotel. She was told two members of her family would die, and she would not be one of them. Henry decides he wants to give up being a shoemaker and try farming. This meant they would be moving away from the conveniences of village life, her friends ... and someone else. We will begin in the spring of 1856 (which is somewhere in chapter 2).

As time passed, Polly's hostility towards moving to the farm increased.  Mrs. Potter testified during one of the trials that Polly had told her and another woman, Delia Avery, that she was sorry she ever got married.  Polly also relayed to the women that she wished she was clear of her husband and children. She did not care how she got clear of them, nor how soon; and that if it was not for them she could go anywhere she had a mind to.  Polly told the ladies that she would not care a bit if Henry should die; if he moved on the farm, as he was not healthy, he wouldn't live six months.

Why was Polly protesting so much? Henry would not find out the real reason until right before the move. The answer would not come from Polly, but from her then nine-year-old son Albert.

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BLURB:

In 1856, in the rural town of Alabama, NY one woman's family suffered from multiple unexplained deaths. The town folk grew suspicious of the now remarried Polly Frisch. An investigation commenced, bodies were exhumed, an affair—exposed. Polly would be arrested for the murders of her first husband and daughters. Her fourteen-year-old son would testify against her. If found guilty, the punishment for such a crime was the gallows. Bread & Butter is the true story of Polly Frisch who poisoned her family with arsenic and the five trials it took to convict her. 

The link to the other Weekend Writing Warriors is here. You're bound to find something to pique your interest.

The Sunday Snippet writer's on Facebook are here. Between the two there is something for everyone. Thank you for any comments you leave me. Much appreciated!

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The above excerpt is from Bread & Butter: The Murders of Polly Frisch, a book I co-authored with my friend, Ellen Bachorski. We are re-releasing it into the modern world of POD and Kindle, etc. It has had an edit make over and new info added. The copies of the first edition which we printed through Morris Publishing in 2000 are still available. You can see it over on the right in my blog. I did a mock up for the new cover below. What do you think?

Stay tuned for the release date of February 2014. Anyone have tips on how to do a blog tour let me know!

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There's No Such Thing as UPSTATE New York

I absolutely detest the term "Upstate" New York. Most people in western New York State feel the same way. When the term "upstate" is used, what it really means is there is New York City and "everybody else." It's an "us and them" term. It's egotistical.

Now looking at the map you can see how egotistical that really is to the point of being absurd. New York City area is this little speck hanging off the bottom of the state like a wart. A wart, that if removed, would financially benefit the western part of the state. I'm all for separation.

No offense to the residents, it wasn't your choice either to get singled out. That's the politicians fault and the medias fault. It's not your fault they don't know what north, south, east and west is or the difference between up and down, left and right. 

Now I could maybe sort of understand the headiness of it if NYC was the state capital, but it's not. That would be Albany. That's a whole other post right there because they have no clue or understanding at all of the rural communities in Western NY. You know, I think we should lop them off too, split it off right at the Hudson River like it used to be before land expansion. I think on this side of the state we would be just fine. We know how to be frugal.


This is post #5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

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