Stories of our people in the city

Albany, New York

Albany, NY

The heart of my Albany life will always be 185 Elk Street, a row house behind the Armory on Washington Avenue. My great-grandmother started renting it around 1912, and died there, in 1942. It was to this house that her sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren came when they needed a place to live. She rented two floors in a three-story house, known as "Principal and Basement.” We spent all our time in the basement area, which had a bay window in the parlor at the front, with the sill at Elk Street level, and a bay window at the back, where the kitchen looked out over a long, fenced back yard. Between these two bright spaces, other halls and rooms depended upon a single bulb hanging from a ceiling fixture for light. We slept in the upstairs, where there was a bathroom and no heat, except for the grates in the floor letting in what floated up from the basement. But, the upstairs front room was our “company” Parlor, with beautiful furniture and drapes and rugs and curio cabinets and it was where the most special guests would be brought. And it was where we laid out my great grandmother for her wake.

Notable places:

Herkimer County

Frankfort Town

Haggerty, O’Hara, Devine/Devin/Davin

Four-Mile-Grocery, Harbor and Mohawk

Little Falls Town and City

O’Hara, Kelley, Davin, Dinneen

Salisbury and The Mexico Road

Fairfield, Middleville, Danube, Manheim, Paradise, Indian Castle

The City of Little Falls

John Street. St. Mary’s Church and Grandma and Grandpa’s last home, alone.

Family Houses on East Main Street, Garden Street West Monroe and High Street