To enter her home, you are immediately greeted

with an instant smile, animated gestures and strong

embracing arms. “Sit down…sit. Do you want a cup

of coffee?” She had a hardscrabble childhood—

growing up without a mother who died giving birth to

a fifth child, working long hours in her father’s gro-

cery store, wanting more than an eighth grade educa-

tion, sewing blouses for a dollar a day at a local fac-

tory. Yet nothing, nothing has daunted her indomita-

ble spirit.

At ninety-six, Angeline Polverelli Bassotti ex-

cites a listener with stories

about being a daughter of

a musician who immigrat-

ed to America, about a

Catholic education in the

1920s and 30s at St. Pat-

rick’s School, and about

taunts endured because of

her Italian heritage.

Known as Angie, she is

the last sibling who re-

calls how her father

“didn’t care” about life

after his wife Margaret

Morell (1899-1924) died.

Remembering an image of “a white casket,” Angie

said, “I started to scream. I knew it was something.”

The family separated: Angie’s sister Helen lived

with an aunt in Albany, baby Michael was raised by

relatives in Schenectady, James and Jane (Jenny) as

the oldest stayed with their father, and Angie lived for

a while with her grandmother in Ravena. “For years, I

didn’t know I even had a brother. Father didn’t ex-

plain it.” Angie’s father Luciano (1886-1954) ran away

from a seminary in Italy and paid for passage to

America by playing his trumpet in the ship’s band.

After he had settled in Ravena and saved money, he

married Margaret on January 1, 1915, in St. Patrick’s

Church. The family lived in a three-story brick build-

ing on the corner of Main Street and N. Clement Ave-

nue. “Father had a big store

next to St. Patrick’s…

grocery store on the bottom

and on the side a place for

his band,” Angie recalls. He

taught his children to play

musical instruments, and

Angie played “trumpet for

only one year.”

During a lesson, An-

gie’s father “pinched” her

finger for sounding a

wrong note, and she said,

“I quit!” And much to her

surprise, he responded,

“Okay.” Angie admits, “The

notes were getting harder.”

She speaks fondly today about the years her father

taught music at Coeymans High School and the Luci-

ano Polverelli Music Scholarship Fund awarded each

year to a RCS student. In Angie’s childhood home the kitchen had “an

icebox, a wood and coal stove, pots and pans in the

kitchen,” where Sunday meals of “macaroni and meat-

balls” were served. From the grocery store she would

walk up to three bedrooms: her father’s, Jimmy’s and

hers shared with Jenny. Some objects she explains

were not to be touched “like the fancy crystal bowls

on the chifforobe,” gifts Angie’s father had given her

mother. As a young child, Angie remembers opening

a dresser drawer with “lots of gold jewelry…I tried

on some pieces…quickly closed it when my sister was

coming up the stairs.” After her mother had died, An-

gie says that “aunts and uncles took everything, but

people in the village helped the family.”

Life for Angie as a child was “work...no play

time…scrubbing floors.” The grocery store became

(Continued on page 3)

RAVENA COEYMANS HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Spring 2016 Vol. 14 No. 1

The Hitching Post

A Veritable Storyteller: Angeline Polverelli Bassotti

Angie and her father

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Friends,

I am pleased to announce the Board of Trustees is in the process of pri-oritizing ways to improve the organization. At a January retreat, we dis-cussed revising the mission statement and framing a vision statement. Our new mission is to recall the past by preserving, sharing and educating. The vision statement reads: As custodians of the past, the Ravena Coeymans Histori-cal Society preserves the rich history and diverse culture of our community. We educate through exhibits, programs and outreach.

In February, we publicized a historical society scholarship open to all eleventh grade students living in the Town of Coeymans. The RCS High School Guidance Center, RCS Community Library, village and town munic-ipalities disseminated information about its criteria on their websites as we did on ours.

In this newsletter we are introducing a series of articles which celebrate and illuminate the lives and stories of women from diverse backgrounds in the Town of Coeymans. This issue features interviews of Angeline Polverelli Bassotti from Ravena, Zelda Jones Foy from the hamlet of Coeymans, and Pearl Schoonmaker Collins from Coeymans Hollow These women recall the past and share experiences that give us vivid understanding about life in our community.

Best wishes, Ralph Biance

P a g e 2

RAVENA COEYMANS

HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

2015 - 2016

Officers/Trustees

President

Ralph Biance 2017

V. President

David Ross 2018

Treasurer

Marie Sturges 2018

Recording Secretary

Linda Peterman 2017

Curator/Historian

Joseph Boehlke 2018

Trustees

John Bonafide 2016

Nancy Bruno 2016

Suzanne Celella 2016

Paul Lawler 2017

Dennis Whalen 2016

Roger Wilber 2018

M u s e u m

H o u r s

The Historical Society Museum is

open every Thursday (except holi-

days) from 1 - 3 p.m.

For an appointment, call

365--6567 or 756-6536.

Visit us at

coeymanshistory.org

William Meyer, Webmaster

The Hitching Post

Marie Sturges, Editor

Editorial Staff

Mary Farinelli

Roger Wilber

THE CURATOR’S CORNER Joseph Boehlke

On December 13, 2015, approximately 100 people attended our annual Open

House to view a new exhibit, “Highlights of the Blaisdell Collection.” On display

were family photos, quilts, clothing and personal items. We were pleased to have

had some members of the Blaisdell family attend, who over the years have made

generous donations to the society. We appreciate their thoughtfulness and willing-

ness to share family history.

L to R: Linda Blaisdell Roosa, Rev. Edgar Roosa, Betsy Slingerland Blaisdell, John Blaisdell

P a g e 3

the family’s lifeline. Angie recounts how her “father

took orders for workers on a railroad being built in

Selkirk.” At age ten, she helped her father “pack up

the truck for deliveries. In an Italian family you have

to work. Now I sit around.”

Except for trips to Albany and Schenectady, An-

gie stayed in Ravena and “went to Grandmother Mor-

rell’s for holidays.” Christmas presents were meager,

yet practical. Angie recalls getting “coal in stocking,

an orange, tablets for school…no candy, no toys. We

played with other kids who had toys. No birthday par-

ties, just a couple of dollars. We were lucky to get

food on the table.”

Angie’s neighborhood, east of the railroad bridge,

was known as “the lane,” a microcosm where immi-

grants and their children survived indignities. “Italians

couldn’t pass the railroad bridge [Main Street]. Boys

[beyond the bridge] were throwing stones, calling us

guineas,” recounts Angie. She describes an incident in

which boys in her neighborhood would ask girls, “Did

you pass the bridge? Did you get your penny candy?

Follow us!” Boys were ready to fight boys beyond the

bridge. And after the fight, the “Italian boys got called

to the office [St. Patrick’s School].” Girls knew there

was trouble when the priest went room-to-room to in-

quire who the fighters were. The boys told the girls

later what the priest warned: “If you do that again,

your parents will be called.” Angie says, “We knew

we would be in hot water because parents always fa-

vored priests.”

Even in grammar school, the children feared and

chafed under the strict rules of nuns. “I sat in the front

seat and saw everything,” Angie says. She relates an

incident when a boy in her class was told to stay after

school. “I ain’t staying

after school. You ain’t

keeping me,” he said,

jumping out a window.

When the boy’s mother

came to school the next

day, Angie describes

how “she came into the

classroom, yanked him

out of his seat and beat

him in front of the class.

Italians favored nuns…

worshipped priests and

nuns.” Among boys

and girls, a code of con-

duct dictated behavior.

”Kids became angry with those who were bad in

school and would beat them up,” explains Angie.

The only subject in school Angie enjoyed was

“arithmetic, long division...my father showed me how

to do it.” When asked about a favorite teacher, Angie

admits she had none. “They were mean nuns,” Angie

recalls, relating a second grade experience when she

asked permission to use the bathroom. “When the nun

said no, I peed on the floor…went to the office and the

priest talked to me. I had to stay after school until

6:00.” Yet Angie also mentions fun moments at

school, “being with friends and [at] recess playing

jacks.”

Angie acknowledges outside the classroom “nuns

were nice,” asking girls to stay after school to “peel

potatoes and clean the convent while boys worked

outside. You couldn’t say no. We did not refuse.” The

nuns “treated them well and gave them supper.”

As a child Angie dreamed of becoming a nurse.

After her Grandmother Morrell had a leg amputated,

nobody wanted to take care of her. Angie explains, “I

watched a nurse wrap her leg, ‘the stump,’ and learned

how to take care of it. I did this for a couple of years.

My dad did not speak to me for a year.” Angie under-

stands the reason for his silence: “I was needed to

work to help support the family.” Having completed

eighth grade, Angie “wanted to go to high school but

didn’t get the chance.”

Teenage years brought chores, more work and

fiscal austerity. She cleaned the house, worked in the

grocery store, and eventually was hired in a blouse

factory. To be hired in a blouse factory, Angie, along

with her girlfriends, took sewing lessons in Coxsackie,

and “to save money had an apple for lunch.” Angie

laughs about the time her brother Jimmy drove her

friends to the sewing center and then forgot to pick

them up: “We hitchhiked up 9W to Ravena." After

passing the sewing test, Angie was hired at a blouse

factory located in the Masonic Temple on Main Street

in Ravena.

At seventeen, she worked at a drugstore the Eh-

renbergs owned, helping Edith, the owner’s wife,

clean from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. Treating Angie like a

daughter, she taught her how to cook, set a table and

make beds. “I was looking for money…had to make

it. Your own family didn’t give it.”

Rules for teen dating were strict. Angie retells

how girls from “the lane” would meet boyfriends un-

der the viaduct: “We sneaked dates. When we heard

the train whistle, we would go back home.” A popular

dating place was the movie theater located on Van

(Continued from page 1)

(Continued on page 4)

Buren Avenue where teens were “escorted to their

seats.” Angie’s father gave advice to his daughters

when they went out on dates: “Keep both feet in one

shoe.” After John Bassotti had asked permission to

date Angie, her father called him “a gentleman.” How-

ever, John could not walk her home. “My father

would patrol in his truck where we were,” Angie says.

After dating a year, nineteen-year-old Angie

married John Bassotti on October 1, 1939, in St. Pat-

rick’s Church. “We honeymooned in New York City.

My husband took

me to a show—

burlesque! Women

all naked! Then we

heard Frank Sinatra

who was just start-

ing out. We had

good seats, could

see everything, even

all the musicians,”

Angie reminisces.

Just like her father,

John found joy in

music. During the

week he worked on

the railroad, and on

weekends played

the guitar at various

venues.

Married for fifty-five years, Angie offers her per-

spective for a successful marriage: “Listen to your hus-

band. Don’t add more to problems. Figure it out.” And

to her daughters she imparts these values: “To be

good, to treat your mate with respect and help others.”

During her adult life, Angie has continued to

maintain Italian traditions—going to church, frying

pizzelles and preparing elaborate holiday meals. “As I

got older, I had them [holidays] catered,” Angie ad-

mits. She still maintains and takes pride in her home

on Pulver Avenue, pointing to the woodwork she

stripped—“wanted it natural upstairs and down-

stairs”—ceramics she designed, blankets she cro-

cheted. No longer does she attend adult education

classes or volunteer as a school aide. Now Angie

spends time with family—three daughters, two grand-

children, a great-granddaughter, and several nieces and

nephews.

Born February 19, 1920, Angie has embraced

life’s ups and downs with resourcefulness and resili-

ence, describing herself as “happy-go-lucky” and of-

fering reasons for longevity: “Paycheck to parents,

saved, did without a lot of things, worked hard, looked

for a job...be caring to people, helping people out.”

A few years ago when her late sister Helen’s chil-

dren were cleaning their mother’s basement, they

found a wedding gown in a trunk, the one Margaret

Morrell wore when she married Luciano Polverelli. It

remains Angie’s only heirloom.

______________________________________ \

Interview February 19, 2016 ~ Marie Sturges

———————————————————

(Continued from page 3)

P a g e 4

Margaret Morrell Polverelli

Angie’s Mother

Angie at RCHS 2015 Annual Open House

P a g e 5

An elegant woman dressed in a formal black

velvet coat and hat sits in a pew alone during the

2015 Riverview Missionary Baptist Church Christ-

mas concert in Coeymans. A countenance of grace

and serenity reveals the spirit of a woman born June

21, 1930, whose faith for decades has sustained and

uplifted her. “I was brought up in that church since

when I was a little girl,” recalls Zelda Beatrice Jones

Foy who describes her baptismal in the “Hudson Riv-

er, along with three men, one named ‘Horseshoe.’ I

loved church. I have been there all my life. I grew up

in the church and sang in the choir until I left.” Her

husband The Reverend Pleasant J. Foy Sr. became

pastor of the Morning Star Missionary Baptist

Church on Quail

Street in Albany,

where she was known

as First Lady.

Sitting at a table

in her home, Zelda

begins to scan photo-

graphs, “That’s me!”

pointing to herself and

Pearl Brewer Boxley

in a church choir. And

then a picture of her

father, “He was a

dresser, too. I called

him chief—always

wanted to look good.”

She reminisces about a father who came from Hali-

fax, Virginia, telling how the “brick-yard brought

him here.” Yet her mood changes when she relates

how he “worked in the brickyards until he got sick.

He lingered for a while but had to quit. Died in his

early 50s.”

Looking at her mother’s memorial brochure,

Zelda explains how her mother LuLu Westmorland

Scott Jones came to Coeymans from Washington,

D.C., “worked for Suderley” and “became a secre-

tary at Riverview.” As she finds childhood pictures

of her two younger brothers, Samuel “Sonny” and

John Frank, Zelda recounts how the oldest sister

died young and her “mother sent Bessie, the young-

er sister, to live with her brother” in Danville, Vir-

ginia, where she “went to school, graduated down

there and stayed.” Lulu’s brother wanted one of the

girls to live with him, and Zelda remembers, “I was

crying when Bessie left and wrote letters to her.”

Zelda Foy, now eighty-five, recalls her com-

munity known as the Bottom, “We were in the first

house in the Bottom. Path in the Bottom went up a

hill.” Showing photographs of each parent standing

in front of a section of the area, she gives specific

directions about the Bottom’s location and the fami-

lies: “Grill, red building: [Adamo’s] when you go

down a hill [Rte. 144] and alongside it a little path,

and up on the hill black people lived. Houses up

there. Wilsons lived there and Leatrice Ray, one of

my friends, and the Waltons, Stevens...lots of little

children around. Gladys Martin lived next door…had

daughter my age and twin boys. I remember them—

(Continued on page 6)

A Woman of Faith: Zelda Jones Foy

Zelda’s father Zelda’s mother

John Frank Jones Samuel “Sonny” Jones

set of twins. I loved them babies.”

“I guess it was old,” the childhood house she

starts to describe: “We had running water, no bath-

room inside. We had pots [chamber pots] to sit on and

we’d get up in the morning to empty it in the creek. It

was a house with a big kitchen, running water inside,

large living room downstairs and upstairs three big

bedrooms. My sister and I were in one and brothers in

another.”

Zelda tells where her family shopped, “Nice gro-

cery stores…Mayone’s had one, further down

Frangella’s. We went to Ravena and Albany for

clothes.”

The conversation turns to education. Zelda dis-

cusses grammar school in Coeymans. She identifies

her favorite teacher, “Miss Reynolds… taught Eng-

lish, arithmetic, all subjects. She was nice.” And then

thinks of another teacher, Miss Stovall, also described

as nice. Zelda explains there was “no separation in

class of blacks and whites.” She does admit, however,

children did “things we weren’t supposed to do…

fights, yeah!” And she does remember nostalgically,

“I wanted to be a nurse. I don’t know why…take care

of people.”

After finishing grammar school, Zelda says,

“They shipped me to Ravena High School. I loved

English. It seems I could catch on to things in English

class. Arithmetic was my least favorite subject.” Zelda

remembers girls “showed they were smart but so did

the boys, nice boys.” She mentions one classmate in

particular, Ray Starr, “who was nice to everyone.”

She also points out, “We did not have many colored

boys [in class]...didn’t come to school.” Then she

comments about sports, “Didn’t like to play basket-

ball. Girls were too rough.” Holding two fingers together, Zelda discusses

the relationship with her mother, “I was like that…

right by her side. I watched her cook, make home-

made bread. Everything she did, I was watching. It’s

how I learned.” Zelda then quickly lists her assigned

chores: “Make up my bed. Me and my sister would do

the dishes, taking turns. One night I did them, the next

she did.”

Recalling her first job, Zelda says, “At fifteen,

I worked in Albany Medical Center (supply room).

Took the bus. It came to Coeymans, ran all day

long, 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m....Mountain View Bus

Line from Coxsackie.” As she traces her work ex-

perience, Zelda describes her job after high school,

“Working at Montgomery Ward filling orders. For

twenty-five years I worked at the Thruway Authori-

ty as a clerk.”

Continuing to look through old photographs

of family members, Zelda begins to talk about her

teenage friends: “Nothing but girls!” And then with

a hearty laugh, she raises her arm to summon the

name of her first date—“Howard Dickson! We

went to movies in Ravena near the park. Walked

over and walked back.” But her first love was

Pleasant J. Foy.

Zelda at fifteen

Zelda and Pleasant at eighteen

P a g e 6

Not being able to find her wedding photo, she does

find one of Pleasant and her when they were eighteen.

Zelda tells how Pleasant moved to Coeymans from

Halifax, Virginia, and then found work in the Coey-

mans brickyards. After their courtship, they “got mar-

ried in my sister-in-law’s home in Albany [September

23, 1949]. Rev. Sutton from this church [pointing to

Riverview Church] was the pastor. It was nice.”

Then Zelda finds a picture of her two children

when they were young—Pleasant Jr. and Wanda—

and begins to discuss at great length the one value she

demanded of them: “To continue school. Both went

to college. I wanted them to continue their education

and they did what I said. Junior went to Seton Hall on

a basketball scholar-

ship but you had to

have good grades to

get it. And Wanda

went to school in Vir-

ginia. She became a

teacher. I wanted

them to get all they

could get. I’m proud

of them.”

Reflecting on how

the world has changed

since she was young,

Zelda mentions various household objects: “We used

an ice box growing up. Glad to see the ice man to

make Kool-Aid! But I had a refrigerator when I was

married. We had no washing machine. My mother

used a board and I would rinse the clothes. She did

get a washing machine…clothes went through a

wringer. I enjoyed doing that kind of work.” But she

opines, “It’s not the way it used to be. Everyone is

walking the streets with a telephone up to their ears.

It’s too much!”

Zelda responds to comments about her elegant

attire: “I wanted to dress up when Sundays came. I

wanted to be dressed. I did not wear pants to church.

Amen! No pants to church—dresses, skirts. I didn’t

wear hats until I was thirty years old. Mrs. Sutton

wore them…struck with—that looks nice.” An invet-

erate hat collector, Zelda asserts, “I love my hats. I

won’t go to church without one—red, pink, blue, yel-

low.” She then relates a bitter-sweet event about

dressing well: “When my husband was dying, he told

me to get a coat off lay-a-way, to get to the store. I

went flying. I got my fur coat. He didn’t get to come

home.” Rev. Foy Sr. passed away February 25, 1999,

ending a marriage of forty-nine years, a marriage

of faith and respect. With resoluteness Zelda Jones

Foy asserts, “I thank God for my longevity. I’ve

been sick. I’m looking for a home when I die, a

better place than here.”

\

__________________________________________

Interview February 19, 2016 ~ Marie Sturges

——————————————————–

Wanda and Pleasant Foy Jr.

P a g e 7

Ravena High School Class of 1948

Riverview Missionary Baptist Church

Tri-Centennial Belles Chapter

1973

Zelda ~ back row, second from left

The Farm Girl

Pearl Collins was meeting me at the historical

society museum that day. She had written in a note-

book many details of her life. I eagerly began to read

through the first pages. “Who Am I?” she wrote. “I

was born to Earle Theodore Schoonmaker and Cathe-

rine M. Connell Schoonmaker on May 20, 1939.

They were expecting a boy. They had no name for a

girl.” She said eventually her mother named her Pearl

Anne. Her parents told her she was born in the hospi-

tal at “quitting time,” as they could hear a loud whis-

tle from a nearby building at day’s end. Pearl said her

sister, Ruth, had been born twelve years earlier

(1927) at home (a common practice at that time), and

her brother, Andrew, was born in the hospital in

1940.

As Pearl and I continued talking, I noticed her

curly, snow-white hair and her blue eyes—a gentle

lady with a soft-spoken voice. She told me about her

parents and grandparents: “My dad’s father was

Frank Schoonmaker, who came down from

Mechanicville to work on the Alcove Dam. He met

and married Jeanette

Embocher who came

from Indian Fields.”

Their first home was

in Feura Bush. Pearl’s

father told her about

getting a “government job” at Voorheesville

Depot, which was in

Guilderland Center.

Her mom sold Ra-

leigh products to sup-

plement the family

income. Pearl attend-

ed school in a small

building in back of the

Voorheesville houses. Her teachers were “Miss Joc-

lyn (first grade) and Miss Wright (second grade)” and

she told me she “loved her teachers.”

And then her parents bought a farm on Wem-

ple Road in the Town of Bethlehem. Pearl was excit-

ed to be moving to a new place. Farming came easily

to Pearl’s dad; however, her “mom was a city girl,”

but an innovative lady who learned fast. She would

go berrying (berry picking) with high boots and a

pistol (for the snakes she might meet). “When my

brother and I got older, we’d go do the berrying. I’d

get mad at him because he’d eat the berries. ‘How’s

Mom going to make jam?’ I’d say.”

Pearl recounted why she was chosen to pick

fruit trees: “Dad said I could climb any of the apple

trees because those limbs would hold me. I probably

fell out of most of the apple trees. I loved to climb. I

was what they called a tom boy. I’d rather talk with

the boys. They had something to say. Girls usually

talked about the boys and gossiped about everyone.”

After moving to the farm, Pearl remembers

going to Glenmont School and playing with the

boys. Sometimes she would even get knocked over.

“Rover, Rover and Kick the Can were two of her fa-

vorite games,” she said.

Summer on the farm was a joyful time for

Pearl and her brother, Andy. She described a “big,

galvanized tub” they had. “We kids would get

bathed, then Mom, then Dad (outdoors). When we

got older, we had a bathtub and a shower inside.”

And she described her chores: “I helped Mom a lot. I

ironed, baked pies and brownies and helped Mom

can and wash clothes.

When Grandma was in

the hospital, my mom

was at the hospital all the

time, so I cooked for

Dad. It was mostly fried

potatoes and fried eggs.

Dad always said, ‘Oh,

this is so good!’” Pearl

said her “grandmother

died… never came out of

the hospital.” On that day

Pearl became a cook.

Pearl recounted

another “illness that made

a memory”: “My brother,

Andy, got hepatitis. The

doctor came to the house and gave us all shots, and

we were all quarantined for a week. My big sister

and her husband came down because it was Christ-

mas. They passed the gifts through the front door.

Then they went around back to my brother’s room to

watch him (through the window) open his gifts. It

never made him sterile. He recovered and we were

P a g e 8

Family and Farm: Pearl Schoonmaker Collins

Pearl’s high school graduation

picture

P a g e 9

all just fine.”

It is apparent life on the farm where she lived

with her family was one of the happiest times in

Pearl’s life. In a notebook she sketched a diagram of

the farm’s many buildings and gardens. She labeled

various buildings—goat shed, chicken house, pig shed,

wood shed, outhouse, chicken coop, garage, main

house with plants all around. Then she described the

orchards: “There were three different pear trees, plum

trees, cherry trees and all kinds of apple trees. There

were currant bushes planted in between trees on the

upper level. There were black caps along the fence and

grape arbors and a large patch of thimble berries un-

derneath. We had a large garden and a hilltop planted

with potatoes, and one year, we planted a field of tur-

nips. We staked the goats out and moved them around

for best eating.”

A Farm of Her Own

On August 12, 1961, Pearl Collins married Al-

bert Floyd (Jiggy) Collins whose parents were Clar-

ence T. and Mary Winchell Collins. Pearl was to live

with the Collins family and another couple, Mr. and

Mrs. Hall, who rented another part of the house. Fami-ly friends secretly planned a “horning” for the newly-

weds. At their homecoming to the Collins farm on Rte.

143, a crowd of twenty or more rushed into the house,

banging on pots and pans. They brought food, presents

and fun to the newlyweds who were celebrating their

special day in a grand old house. Pearl and Jiggy

would live in this large house for the rest of their

lives.

Records show Pearl and Jiggy’s house was

built by Isaac D. Ver Planck (1759-1836), son of

David Ver Planck, who married Ariaantje Coey-

mans. Isaac built a grist mill, a saw mill and card-

ing and cloth dressing mills in Aquetuck. He and

his wife Helena had nine children—seven girls

and two boys. In 1803, Isaac decided to build for

the family a large house with twenty-two rooms,

five fireplaces and two staircases. According to the

writings of Robert Blaisdell, it was “the most hand-

some house in Aquetuck, having some of the best

creek-bottom land of the neighborhood…the cream

of the Coeymans patent.” It has been rumored the

house was built with some slave labor. The last Ver

Planck to live in this house was Mrs. Annie Guth-

rie, a descendant of Isaac. Records indicate Anne

Guthrie sold the house to Clarence Collins, Jiggy’s

father, in 1928.

Pearl settled in with her new family: Jiggy, his

parents (“Mom C and Dad C”) and Bucky, Jiggy’s

brother, who visited often. Mr. and Mrs. Hall de-

cided to live elsewhere. Mom C did all the cook-

ing. One day Dad C asked Pearl if she would like

to cook a meal. She would and she did. Dad C said,

“Look! Pearl can cook too!” After that, she and

Mom C took turns cooking meals.

This was a farm, a real farm, with a Dutch

barn built in 1812. And there were other buildings

for farm animals and places for vegetable gardens.

Earle, Pearl’s father, brought produce from his gar-

dens to a market on Hudson Avenue in Albany and

to another in Menands. Now Clarence was doing

the same, bringing chickens and eggs to house-

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wives in “the lane” [Main Street, Ravena]. Some

wives ordered live chickens while others just bought

eggs.

“The spring was the hardest,” Pearl said. She

worked with the plantings, helped with birthings,

watered the crops, drove a tractor, unloaded bales of

hay and delivered milk. I asked Pearl if she ever re-

gretted having this hard-working life. Her answer:

“No, I was with my husband. Besides, this is life.

And my life is taking care of my family.”

Mom C, Dad C, and Jiggy (d. July 8, 2006)

have passed away. The wallpaper that covered all the

walls has been removed. The wainscoting on the

kitchen ceiling was torn down, revealing the original

large beams. Arrow heads and beaded corn can no

longer be found at the creek’s edge.

During their marriage Pearl and Jiggy had a

daughter, Catherine (b.1963) and a son, Albert Jr.

(b.1966), a helpmate to his father. They, along with

some of their children, continue to live on the farm,

and Pearl’s other grandchildren visit often.

In another conversation Pearl told me about “a

vault in the woods across the road from the house.

There is an inscription on a marble slate.” At its foot

are two markers: Father and Mother. Robert

Blaisdell states: “Between these is a curious notched

marble slab inscribed: This vault created by Abra-

ham Ver Planck in memory of my father and mother

1843 I.D.V.P. It is believed that Abraham built the

door of the vault on the east side of the woods near

the house.” Pearl commented, “The son, Abraham,

pays homage to his father, Isaac.” As we honor our

parents, so our children will honor us. On this farm,

Pearl honors her parents who lived on the little farm

of her childhood.

Vault’s date - 1843

Vault Abraham Ver Planck built

for his parents

_____________________________________________

Interviews February and March 2016 ~ Mary Farinelli ___________________________________________________________________________________________

The Collins Farm

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2016 MEMBER SPONSORS

BENEFACTORS ($250+) Joe & Gail Boehlke John & Anna Marie Bonafide Bob & Ann Hallock Harry & Marie Sturges Dennis & Alice Whalen

PATRONS ($100+) Lois Acquino William Bailey & Penny Gould* Ralph Biance Clesson & Jean Bush Mary McCabe* Robert & Ruth McCabe Catherine & Tony Ricciardi

INDIVIDUAL LIFETIME [New] ($100) Richard A. Fuhrrman

SUSTAINING/FAMILY ($50 annually)

Lynn Van derzee Christie* Raymond & Eileen Collins Charles F. Coons Patricia and James Feuerbach Robert & Laraine Misuraca Patricia Joralemon-Selko Gordon & Linda Stanton

SUPPORTING/INDIVIDUAL ($25 annually) John & Rita Ablett William W. Beardsley

Karol Beck Rudy & Marcia Blakesley Ronald Decker Mary Farinelli Roni Fori Greene County Historical Society Henry Hamilton John & Susan Leath Margaret Matheny William & Judith McMillen William R. Meyer George & Patricia Orsino* Danielle Parks Thomas & Judith Plummer Ronald A. Rauche* David & Starr Ross Joseph Rotello Richard Touchette Roger & Cyndy Wilber

* Additional contributions

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP BUSINESS SPONSORS

Member $10 annually Supporter $50 annually Family $15 annually Sustaining $100+ annually Supporting/Individual $25 annually Patron $250+ Supporting/Family $50 annually Benefactor $1000+ Patron $100+ Benefactor $250+ Individual Life $100 (65 or older) Student $5 annually (25 and under)

The Society welcomes new members, businesses and contributions. Checks are payable to The Ravena Coeymans Historical Society c/o Treasurer

P.O. Box 324, Ravena, NY 12143

2016 BUSINESS SPONSORS BENEFACTORS ($1000+) Village of Ravena

PATRONS ($250+) Babcock Funeral Home Callanan Industries, Inc. Selkirk Community Fund State Telephone Company

SUSTAINING ($100+ annually) C.A. Albright & Sons LLC Bullock Utilities Collins & Son, Inc. Crossroads Ford National Bank of Coxsackie Stanton Farms LLC TCI of NY, LLC Robert P .Van Etten Excavating, Inc.

BUSINESS SUPPORTER ($50 annually) John T. Biscone, Esq. Boomer’s Garage Central Hudson Mueller’s Automotive LLC* Persico Oil Company Ravena Shop ’n Save

Note: All members/sponsors are cited on the website as of 3/25/2016.

____________________

REQUEST TO EMAIL NEWSLETTER

To save printing and postage costs, the editorial staff is offering all members and sponsors an opportunity to request

an email newsletter. To make this request, please email curator@coeymanshistory.org

Hard copies will continue to be mailed until

an email request is made.

The Hitching Post

Ravena Coeymans Historical Society P. O. Box 324 Ravena, New York 12143

coeymanshistory.org

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Published semi-annually by The Ravena Coeymans Historical Society

2016 Spring Programs/Annual Summer Picnic

April 10, 2016 ~ 2:00 PM

Sharing the History of Powell and Minnock Brick Company

Ten Eyck Powell will discuss the development Powell and Minnock

Brick Company in Coeymans.

May 15, 2016 ~ 2:00 PM

Examining the Sanborn Maps

Richard Fuhrman will explain what the Sanborn maps reveal about

life in the early 1900s.

August 6, 2016 ~ Noon to 4:00

Annual Summer Picnic

Sylvia and Paul Lawler to host the picnic at the Ariaantje Coeymans

Stone House in Coeymans, New York