DANNEMORA — Joseph F. Osier Jr., 12, died unexpectedly on June 7, 1936 in a Ticonderoga hospital. Afterward his despondent dog, Lindy, waited patiently for his young master to jump off the school bus.
Not only did Junior get an obituary in the Chateaugay Record, so did his bereft English Springer Spaniel, who sensing Joseph would never return, “sulked, refused food, howled dismally each time he heard the school bus, and finally died.”
That is among the fascinating tales Jack Bilow will spin today in his presentation, “Genealogy Explorations of Old Newspapers,” at the Northern New York American Canadian Genealogical Society Conference,10 a.m.-3 p.m., 40 Emmons St., Dannemora.
“We try to hold them annually, but we didn’t do it last year because of a few internal problems. But, we wanted to get back on track this year,” NNYACGS President Pat Buckley said.
‘Rest in Peace’
Bilow’s latest book is “Rest in Peace ‘The Chateaugay Record Obit Book’ Covering the towns of Chateaugay, Churubusco/Clinton, Burke, Ellenburg, Bellmont, NY & Hincinbrooke, QC With some obits from Malone, Constable, Altona & Mooers, NY 1881-1945.”
He dedicates the book to Abbie Ives (1900-1995), who opened the teen center in Chateaugay, and Beatrice Patnode (1936-2021), who ran the day-to-day operations of the Chateaugay Record until the presses stopped in 1995.
“I’ve done genealogy since I was 15 years old. I’m no longer 15 of course. I’m in my 70s. This book is a compilation of obituaries from the Chateaugay Record and also I used a couple of Plattsburgh papers to cover Ellenburg and Churubusco,” the Plattsburgh resident said.
The Chateaugay Record was a weekly published by Chas. A. Huntington from 1878 to the 1890s, according to nyshistoricnewpapers.org.
“Basically, there are 15,000 extracts from obituaries in it. It took me quite a while. I had started it about 30 years ago because I had some girls doing it for me. I had the cards sitting around my house and four or five years, I started picking them up and looking at them. They didn’t complete about 5,000 of the obituaries. I had to add those to it. So, I spent hours and hours going through the newspapers again from 1881 to 1945,” he said.
Interesting data surfaced from his research.
“It was the best obituary newspaper in northern New York from 1900 to 1950. I’m often fond of telling people if your dog died they would put an obituary for him. I actually did find one for a dog. I put it in the front part of my introduction. I did find two obituaries for horses,” Bilow said.
“Old Creamer” was owned by the Smith family, and 32-year-old “Jack” was owned by the Douglas family, distant relatives of Bilow’s.
“There was this woman (Marie LaFrance) who was murdered by this guy (Isaac White of Hogansburg). What happened was the judge in Franklin County was named Samuel Beman. He was a native of Chateaugay. What occurred there, he was a county judge in Franklin County. This was in 1897. He would get this smell. One day he spent the whole day there, and he followed the smell into the cellar and kicked off some covers to some old boxes and he comes upon a body. He looks at it, and he recognizes the dress. About a year before, they had had a trial. This girl had been murdered, so what they did is brought her in for evidence in the courtroom and when they got done with her, they brought her down in the cellar, left her there, and forget about it. That’s true,” he said.
There were actually two newspapers, Chateaugay Record and Chateaugay Journal, from 1897 to 1904.
“Of course, I have the extracts from the Chateau Journal in there, too, so that’s an extra added thing if they weren’t in the Chateaugay Record. They got into a battle with a newspaper called the Malone Farmer. The said it’s an awful thing they put it in the paper, and they’re going back and forth with articles each week. Finally, they said we interviewed the judge. He was the one who told us the body was down in the cellar,” he said.
Other interesting historical facts include a Burke resident who was involved with the chain across the Hudson during the Revolutionary War, a corpse that sprang to life, and a serial killer with a list of aliases.
To learn about them and more, go and hear Bilow’s talk today. Genealogical sleuths will find many clues in the voluminous book that list surnames from Abair to Zimitrovich. There is also data from the Malone Palladium 1850-1909, which was originally called the Frontier Palladium.
“He has written several books, and he’s going to be speaking specifically about his Chateaugay Record obit book called Rest in Peace. I think that will be very interesting. He’s very knowledgeable about especially the Chateaugay area,” Buckley said.
“Pathway to America250 with Geri Favreau” (CCHA president) is the second morning presentation.
“Then, we’re going to have Geri Favreau outlining the events planned for 2026 including the grand finale planned for Oct. 11, 2026,” Buckley said.
At noon, conference attendees can partake of their bring-your-own bag lunch and tour the NNYACGS Library and take a guided tour of the Village of Dannemora Museum located next to the NNYACGS Library. The museum contains information and artifacts from the local history, history of Clinton Correctional Facility, and more.
An afternoon presentation, “Clinton County Revolutionary War Patriots with Diane Parmeter,” introduces a record of Clinton County’s Revolutionary War Veterans, which was prepared and published by the Saranac Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The book lists the names, service records, and other (cemetery locations and spouses) information as available for 294 Revolutionary War Patriots who had lived in Clinton County. The book can be purchased for $15, and all proceeds will go toward the purchasing of Revolutionary War Patriot bronze DAR markers for soldiers’ grave sites, according to a press release.
“She’s going to have books there to be purchased. She’s going to sit up a table. The Clinton County Historical Society is going to be there will a table also. Helen Nerska will be there also. She is one of our members. We are going to be selling books, some of Clyde Rabideau’s books. There will be some parish records. If we have to, we will print them right on the spot for people. The tour of the museum is well worth a stop. Larry and Colleen Seney are very knowledgeable there about the goings-on of Dannemora and the Saranac area,” Buckley said.
This conference is free and open to the public.
“People that live in the Village of Dannemora, there is no membership fee for them. We have very few members from the village. I don’t know why. There’s no charge for them. That was part of our lease deal with the Village. We definitely could get more Dannemora people there. We’re going to have coffee and doughnuts in the morning and get things started,” he said.