75-year old history manuscript finally published
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, 08-22-15
Columnist and reporter Hugh Donlon labored for eight years writing “The Mohawk Valley,” what he described as a history of the valley from the last ice age to 1940.
Donlon, whose full-time job was at the Amsterdam Evening Recorder, finished the manuscript but couldn’t get it published.
Donlon’s son John, who became a nuclear submarine commander, preserved a typed copy of his father’s work. The manuscript has now been published through the editing efforts of Amsterdam native and author Dave Northrup of the Rochester area.
Northrup made only a few changes to correct misspellings and garbled syntax in Donlon’s text. My contribution was a biography of the author, who died at age 93 in 1989.
Northrup said “The Mohawk Valley” shows “Donlon’s love of the region’s geography and its importance in the development of the United States.”
Donlon quotes Arent Van Curler, a pioneer Dutch settler who called the local landscape "the most beautiful land that the eye of man ever beheld." Donlon ends his book by pointing out that the valley played an essential role in American history. It was a natural break in the mountains, the "great Gateway through which the founders of the republic passed."
Over half of the book deals with events that took place in the 1600s and 1700s in wars among Indian nations, wars between European colonial powers and the American Revolution. The book chronicles the suffering, fear and exhaustion that accompanied numerous violent raids on local settlements during the war for independence.
Donlon complains that libraries and historical societies have failed to preserve the history of the region after the Revolution, “Priceless papers have been left in long-forgotten attic trunks and other out of the way places.”
The book is geographically inclusive, making reference to communities ranging from Schenectady and Amsterdam in the east to Utica and Rome in the west.
Northrup said the book’s only weakness is “that it ends at 1940.” Since then there has been dramatic change. Most of the thriving industries Donlon wrote about, from desk making in Herkimer to carpet making in Amsterdam, have disappeared.
“The Mohawk Valley” is full of lists showing dates for the founding of local churches, the creation of industries, development of telephone systems, incorporations of municipalities and names of Civil War regiments.
No doubt the unpublished manuscript was useful to Donlon as background for his later writing. His best known book is “Annals of a Milltown,” published in 1980. That effort made Donlon the most widely recognized authority on the history of his native Amsterdam.
Former Recorder city editor Brad Boyles said, "(Donlon) could sit down at that shockingly green two-tone Royal typewriter of his and bash out paragraph after paragraph on any subject you wanted."
Donlon’s writing style, Northrup said, is “clear, concise and directed toward an audience of common folk.”
Little gems of history are included throughout the book. According to Donlon there was a waltz sung by soldiers in the Civil War called “Bonnie Eloise, Belle of the Mohawk Vale.”
The lyric begins, “Oh sweet is the vale where the Mohawk gently glides on its clear winding way to the sea.”
Donlon wrote, “The accepted story as to the song is that it was written by George Elliott, about 1858, for his sweetheart Mary Bowen, while he was traveling in a New York Central train toward Fort Plain.” Other sources indicate Elliott was a poet and editor of a Fort Plain newspaper.
“The Mohawk Valley” costs $24.95. Proceeds benefit the Walter Elwood Museum. Books are available at the museum, 100 Church Street and at the Bookhound, 16 East Main Street in Amsterdam.
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