Pleasantdale retained its mix of residences and summer camps. Through the 1930’s, more streets were developed and accepted by the town of Schaghtico*ke as town roads. Tampa, Marion, and Lansing Avenues were taken over in 1930. In 1933 federal aid money was used to develop Seminole Street. Pinehurst Street and Lansing Avenues were also improved with federal assistance. The Town Board hired Garnett Baltimore, the first Black graduate of R.P.I., to survey some of the streets. Residents of Pleasantdale worked at all sorts of businesses in Troy, from brush shops, to the valve company, to a shipyard, to all kinds of mills.
On September 1, 1939, the town board authorized the creation of the Pleasantdale Fire District. There had been a volunteer fire department, with building and apparatus since 1924. The formation of the district allowed the department to collect tax monies from the residents. According to an article in the Troy “Times Record” on August 22, 100 taxpayers voted to create the district. There were 200 homes in the area of the district, with an assessed valuation of $115,000.
Pleasantdale also had a couple of hotels and other establishments for recreation. For example, an article in the Troy “Times” in 1928 reported that there was a fire at the quarters of the Mohawk Moose Club of Cohoes, located opposite the Pleasantdale Hotel, just within the Troy limits. In the same area was the “Seven Point Camp”, “tenanted by an organization of young men from Troy”, which burned in October 1928. In May 1930 a man was arrested at the Horseshoe Inn, in Pleasantdale- a hint at another restaurant. The 1930 US Census listed John Butzinski, 47, as the owner of a hotel. The town board granted a dance hall license to Leo Perrault in May 1933 and Edward Sheldon in 1934. The paper reported activities of the Pleasantdale Rod and Gun Club from 1930 to 1932. And in 1931 there was a renewal of the 1000 yard swimming race in the Hudson River at Pleasantdale.
Returning briefly to John Butyinski/Butzinski. He and wife Catherine were Austrian immigrants. By 1930 they had purchased a hotel in Pleasantdale. They still owned the hotel as of the 1940 census, but I have not been able to find out its name for sure.
I learned about the M and M Club “a resort at Pleasantdale conducted by William Hatfield,” because it was robbed. In June 1930, John Champine of Pleasantdale and three others were arrested for a robbery at the M and M Club, They stole $14 in cash, two slot machines, a cigarette vending machine, and a radio. The theft exposed the illegal activities of the club and the owner was charged with possessing gambling devices.
Apparently this event had no effect on the activities of the club, as the following year, state troopers conducted a raid there, arresting 29, including four women. “Patrons and others scrambled in wild turmoil..troopers found a bar room upstairs.” William Hatfield, 27, was arrested for “maintaining a disorderly house and possessing a slot machine.” Besides William, only the four women were named, which seems rather unfair. But I guess they were employees, rather than patrons. The clear implication was that they were prostitutes. In 1932, charges were dismissed against Champine, when Hatfield refused to testify against him. The judge wondered if he had either been paid off or threatened by Champine.
John Champine was indeed a resident of River Road in Pleasantdale, appearing in the 1930 US census as an 18-year-old farm worker, living with his parents, George and Sarah. John continued to commit crimes. In January 1932, he and two others robbed a “soft drink parlor” a half mile north of Miami Beach, operated by Elmer Kelly, taking $8, a peanut vending machine, and a battered portable radio. Interestingly, the records of the jail say they robbed a “speakeasy,” implying the illegal selling of alcohol. This would have been just up route 40 into Speigletown, as Miami Beach was the auditorium on the site of the water treatment plant today. This time John, and his colleagues, William Johnpiere and Francis Paul were convicted and sentenced to two to fifteen years at the Clinton Correctional Facility, Dannemora. The jail’s record indicated that John and Francis committed the crime because they were out of work. John continued his life in crime, charged with trying to sell a stolen diamond in May 1935 (Troy Times Record 7 May), along with William Taylor and John Butynski, son of the hotel owner. Apparently John Champine was sent back to jail, as he was imprisoned, now at Great Meadow, as of the 1940 US Census. In 1946, out of prison, John married, and he shows up in the local newspapers as operator of a trailer park on the Hudson River opposite Cohoes in the 1950’s.
In August 1931, Rensselaer County deputy sheriffs arrested two men and two “girls”, all from Troy, in Pleasantdale and seized a “complete opium layout”. They had staked out the summer camp for some time. Owner Peter Calhoun was renting out his camp.
The poor condition of River Road- from Pleasantdale to Hemstreet Park – remained a constant source of frustration and argument through the years. The town of Schaghtico*ke and Rensselaer County continued to wrangle over what could be done to repair the road permanently, which they did not realize was an impossible task. One of the first statements from new town supervisor, Walter Lyons, at his first town board meeting in 1930 was to call for improvement of River Road. The County Highway Superintendent Roemer said it would cost $1 million (a crazy amount of money at the time) to build “three miles of concrete walls from the old toll gate to the dam”, all of the county highway money for five or six years. If the state of NY would fund it, $45-60,000 for a new road would do the job. Nothing was settled, of course. In May 1939, a “gigantic landslide took a huge slice out of River Road” A piece 150 feet long and 40 feet thick went into the river, where “it looks like a new island.” There were repairs every year.
Pleasantdale had a couple of grocery stores. On May 2, 1934, the paper reported that Herbert B. Simons, a “widely-know grocery store proprietor in Pleasantdale” had died. He had been in business for 17 years. This is interesting as throughout his working life, the census lists Herbert (1860-1934) as a brush maker, in 1910 operating his own shop. A newspaper article from April 16, 1906 described Herbert as the “bankrupt brush manufacturer of Cohoes.” He and his family had moved to Pleasantdale after 1915 and before 1920. The 1930 census lists them as living in “The Grove.” At the time, I am sure everyone there knew what part of Pleasantdale that was. The article on May 2, 1935 reporting on the probating of his will states that his wife lived in the Lansing Homestead- probably the surviving farm house of the former owners of Pleasantdale, at the corner of River, Tampa, and Marion Avenues- so that was the location of “The Grove.” Herbert must have had the grocery store as a side line. His wife, Emma, is never listed with an occupation, but perhaps she worked in the store.
An article in the Troy “Times” on May 28, 1931 stated that Gallagher’s store in Pleasantdale had been robbed the night before. This was Martin J. Gallagher, whom I had discovered before as a World War I veteran. He and wife Mary operated the store from about 1930 to just after 1940.
Martin was born November 4, 1890/92 to Mary A. Walsh and Patrick Gallagher in Rutland, Vermont. His mother was born in Vermont; his father was an Irish immigrant. By the 1900 U.S. Census, the family had moved to Troy. Patrick, 65, a laborer, had been married for 44 years to Mary, 56, who had had eleven children, ten of whom were living. At home were Michael, 23; William, 20; Alice, 16; Rose, 12; future soldier and store owner Martin, 10; and Suzanne (?), 7. All but Martin and his younger sister were working. The family still lived in Troy as of the 1910 US census, and Martin, 18, worked as a collar shrinker.
I could not find Martin in the 1915 NY census. When he filled out his draft card in June 1917, he lived in Troy, but said he worked as a machinist’s helper at the National Acme Company of Windsor, Vermont. He claimed to be the support of his widowed mother. He was of medium height and build with blue eyes and light brown hair. His father had died in 1912.
Martin was not awarded an exemption for support of his mother. He was inducted into the Army in Troy on June 26, 1918. After a brief stint in the 152nd Depot Brigade, he deployed with a Machine Gun Company in the 347th Infantry and was in France by August 22. Martin was promoted to Private 1st Class on November 13, 1918. He was in France until December 30, and was discharged February 3, 1919.
Although the application filled out for Martin’s tombstone states he was in the 87th Division, online sources say this Machine Gun Company was in the 91st Division. This is an important distinction, as the 87th was a construction division, while the 91st was in both the battles of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. Those were the two huge and bloody battles that led to the surrender of Germany on November 11, 1918.
I first found Martin after the war in the 1925 NY Census, living in the Pleasantdale. He was 32, employed as a chauffeur, and had a wife, Mary, 27, and a son, Martin A., 2. By the 1930 US Census, he and Mary owned a house worth $1500 in the hamlet, and operated the retail grocery store there. The census confirms that they had married about 1921. They had added three children to the family: John, 4; Marie, 2 ½; and Patricia, 8 months. The 1940 US Census listed Martin as the owner of and wife Mary as a clerk in the grocery store. The youngest child was listed as Donald, age 8. Patricia was left out. A charming article in the Troy “Times Record” on November 7, 1941 reported that the Gallaghers had entertained with two Halloween parties, with 25 guests for each of their children, Pat and Don.
Martin died suddenly on April 11, 1950 (Troy Times Record). He was at his home, 1004 2nd Avenue. His obituary obligingly tells us that he had just moved two weeks earlier from 874 7th Avenue, and that he had lived in Pleasantdale for 24 years. He had formerly owned a grocery store there, but was now a carpenter by trade, a member of the union. He was a member of the Charles Waldron Post of the American Legion, the Schaghtico*ke post, and attended St. Augustine’s Church in Lansingburgh. He had been a baseball player in his younger days, playing as catcher with several semi-pro teams: the Johnsons, Hoys and Beavers of Troy, the Daisies of Green Island, and the Pleasantdale Athletic Club, among others. He was survived by his wife, sons Martin A. of the Navy, John, and Donald, and daughters Patricia and Mrs James Morris of Troy, plus one grandson. He was buried in St. John’s Cemetery in Lansingburgh. Mary lived until 1978. She is buried there too, with son Donald and daughter Patricia.
Other World War I veterans living in Pleasantdale were Edward Kewley, Gilbert Whaley, Jeremiah Keeler, George Martin, Ernest Hicks, Chris Johansen, Norman Frazee, and Samuel Finch.
Pleasantdale also had a small church: the Community Gospel Chapel. Members organized in 1932 and built a chapel on a hill between Belgrade and Seminole Streets, facing on Seminole. After a WPA street project leveled the hill on Seminole Street, access to the front of the church was cut off. In April 1937 the church asked the town board for a street to the church, which involved the town purchasing a couple of unoccupied lots in the hamlet. Access was now from Belgrade Street.
Pleasantdale also had a poultry farm. A March 1, 1933 ad in the Troy “Times” advertised New Hampshire red chicks for sale at the River View Poultry Farm.
A horrific murder in June 1931 was a window into a very interesting family in Pleasantdale. I have written earlier about William Gordon Patrick Campbell and his wife Charlotte, who began a market gardening operation on modern Haughney Road about 1855. Their youngest son, Harvey, took over some of the business, though he seemed to have focused on being a florist.
Harvey (1871-1936) and Martha Washburn Campbell (1871-1950) began married life in Troy. According to their daughter Ruth Bennett in her memoir “The Campbells of Nestledown”, W.G.P. gave them a building lot for a wedding present. It was near the public grade crossing of the railroad on Haughney Road. His brother C. Wallace lived at Nestledown, the family farm, for a short while after their father died. According to Bennett’s book, he did truck gardening on Campbell Island in the Hudson River nearby. The main farm was sold after W.G.P.’s death, as he died intestate.
Martha Washburn Campbell was a Quaker, who had graduated from Guilford College in North Carolina, a Quaker institution. She and Harvey had one daughter, Ruth, born in 1897. In an article in the Troy “Times Record” in May 1975, Ruth said she was educated at the one-room school in Speigletown, and that her mother didn’t want her to have more education. Harvey had taken over at least some of his father’s business. As of the 1925 NY Census, Harvey was listed as a gardener, Ruth as working as a waitress. Though Martha had no occupation listed, she in fact worked for New York State and traveled all over the area, speaking about canning fruits and vegetables, to local granges. She was very active in the Melrose Grange. Harvey gradually became a florist, and the newspaper records his donation of gladioli and dahlias to various organizations for fundraising.
Ruth (1897-1975) married Leon Bearce (1897-1964) in 1926. He was from Maine. The 1930 US Census listed them living next door to her parents. They had a daughter, Dena, born in late 1929. Leon was listed as a restaurant laborer. Perhaps the couple met in a restaurant where they both worked. In summers, Leon set up a tourist camp in the Lake George area. I would assume he rented a parcel for the season. Twins George and Joyce were born in 1930. In early June 1931, Leon departed to set up his tourist camp, on the Lake George-Glens Falls Road. It’s hard to know what was going on in the Bearce marriage, but by the time Leon went to Lake George, Ruth was afraid that Leon was going to have her institutionalized for mental issues and take custody of their children. Ruth traveled separately to Lake George, and the next day, took their children for a “romp in the woods” near the camp and murdered them with a knife. Dena, age 4, survived long enough to run out of the woods and gasp that her mother had done it.
The newspaper articles were detailed, but always sympathetic to the whole family. From the start, observers were sure that Ruth had been insane at the time of the murders. She showed no remorse, feeling that she had no choice as her husband would take her children from her, and said she would have killed herself, but the knife was too dull. The funeral of the children was held from Harvey and Martha’s home in Pleasantdale. They were buried in Elmwood Hill Cemetery in Troy. Ruth was committed to the Mattewan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Beacon, NY. She was listed there in the 1940 US Census as a dressmaker.
By the 1950 US Census, Ruth had been released, and lived with cousins Charlotte and Caroline Lee in Troy, working as a “kitchen woman” in a restaurant. In 1957, Ruth married Charles E. Bennett, a prominent resident of Grafton and recent widower. Charles (1874-1961) had been deeply involved in Republican politics in his town, also a clerk for NYS, and a special detective for the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets. They lived in Grafton, where Ruth became deeply involved in her new community.
Ruth also became a writer. Her first work, in 1971, was “The Campbells of Nestledown”. While several sources describe the little book as a genealogical work, it is that, but also a great description of her grandfather’s farm in Pleasantdale and her own childhood there. I was happy to use it as a source above. In the biography on the back cover of the book, she says she attended Page-Davis Correspondence School, and the Newspaper Institute of America in NYC, as well as the Burdett Business College in Boston. I do not know the timing of that education.
Ruth became the unofficial town historian of her new town, and ended up writing “Grafton Hills of Home”, published the year of her death, chronicling some of the history of the town. The May 1975 article in the “Troy Times Record” said she had sold her home to finance the publication of the book. It spoke of the beginning of her life, and her life after her marriage to Bennett, mentioning nothing in between.
Ruth’s ex-husband, Leon Bearce returned to Maine. As of the 1940 US Census, he lived in a large rooming house and worked as a lumberman. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was a Sergeant in the 167th Engineers, Combat Battalion. Leon died in
I must highlight another Pleasantdale resident of c. 1930, for a very different reason. William J. O’Brien was a genuine hero.
William was born in Troy in 1899, the son of Timothy Francis (Frank) and Charlotte Ryan O’Brien. Frank worked “on the cars”- that is the trolley cars. The family must have had a summer place in Pleasantdale, as when Frank died suddenly in 1925, his obituary said he was very well known among the summer residents of Pleasantdale.
William enlisted in the Army- the local 105th Infantry of the 27th Division- in August 1917- at a very young age. I have not been able to find the record of his service during World War I, but I think it would have been mentioned if he made it to France. A 1934 news article said he was promoted to Corporal and Sergeant “during his first enlistment.” The 105th was a National Guard unit that was federalized for service in World War I. After the war, William stayed in the 105th as a National Guard soldier. He was named 1st Sergeant of Company A of the 105th Infantry in 1922 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in 1926.
Meanwhile, the O’Briens moved to Pleasantdale full- time following Frank’s death. The 1925 NY Census lists mother Charlotte and sons William and Francis on River Bend Road., William, aged 24, was working as a “financial reporter.” The grouping continued through 1930, though now William was a salesman at a radio store.
On March 21, 1934, the Troy “Times Record” ran the story quoted above, when William was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant. It noted that he was employed by Albany Garage Company as a salesman.
William married Mary Baird before 1940, when the US Census listed William, 40, wife Mary 28, son William Jr., 1, and his mom Charlotte, as a household in Pleasantdale. William was listed as a salesman for a refrigeration company. Clearly, his military service was a priority for him.
The 105th Infantry was federalized on October 15, 1940 and deployed to Ft. McClellan, Alabama. They left for Hawaii in March 1942, first fighting on Butaritari Island in the Makin Atoll. After some regrouping in Hawaii, they went to Saipan on June 17, 1944. William O’Brien had been promoted to Major in February 1942, then Lt. Colonel and Battalion Commander in April 1943. Right from landing on Saipan, the 105th was in heavy fighting.
This is the full citation that goes with the Medal of Honor he won there:
*O’BRIEN, WILLIAM J.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: At Saipan, Marianas Islands, 20 June through 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Marianas Islands, from 20 June through 7 July 1944. When assault elements of his platoon were held up by intense enemy fire, Lt. Col. O’Brien ordered 3 tanks to precede the assault companies in an attempt to knock out the strongpoint. Due to direct enemy fire the tanks’ turrets were closed, causing the tanks to lose direction and to fire into our own troops. Lt. Col. O’Brien, with complete disregard for his own safety, dashed into full view of the enemy and ran to the leader’s tank, and pounded on the tank with his pistol butt to attract 2 of the tank’s crew and, mounting the tank fully exposed to enemy fire, Lt. Col. O’Brien personally directed the assault until the enemy strongpoint had been liquidated. On 28 June 1944, while his platoon was attempting to take a bitterly defended high ridge in the vicinity of Donnay, Lt. Col. O’Brien arranged to capture the ridge by a double envelopment movement of 2 large combat battalions. He personally took control of the maneuver. Lt. Col. O’Brien crossed 1,200 yards of sniper-infested underbrush alone to arrive at a point where 1 of his platoons was being held up by the enemy. Leaving some men to contain the enemy he personally led 4 men into a narrow ravine behind, and killed or drove off all the Japanese manning that strongpoint. In this action he captured S machineguns and one 77-mm. fieldpiece. Lt. Col. O’Brien then organized the 2 platoons for night defense and against repeated counterattacks directed them. Meanwhile he managed to hold ground. On 7 July 1944 his battalion and another battalion were attacked by an overwhelming enemy force estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese. With bloody hand-to-hand fighting in progress everywhere, their forward positions were finally overrun by the sheer weight of the enemy numbers. With many casualties and ammunition running low, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to leave the front lines. Striding up and down the lines, he fired at the enemy with a pistol in each hand and his presence there bolstered the spirits of the men, encouraged them in their fight and sustained them in their heroic stand. Even after he was seriously wounded, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to be evacuated and after his pistol ammunition was exhausted, he manned a .50 caliber machinegun, mounted on a jeep, and continued firing. When last seen alive he was standing upright firing into the Jap hordes that were then enveloping him. Some time later his body was found surrounded by enemy he had killed His valor was consistent with the highest traditions of the service.
I would just add that on July 7 he and his men had faced the largest banzai attack of the war, that is the 3-5000 Japanese soldiers were making a suicide attack on O’Brien’s battalion. Following his death, William and a Sergeant in his unit, Thomas Baker, who was also awarded a Medal of Honor, were feted locally for years. On May 23, 1946, an Undersecretary of War came to Troy to award the Medals of Honor to the widows, in front of 7000 people at the RPI field. Memorials were added in several places through the years, including renaming a portion of Oakwood Avenue for the men about 2018.
William was survived by his widow, Mary and their son William, Jr., who was just five years old. In December 1946, Mary married Bruce W. Bracken. The Brackens and O’Briens were next door neighbors in Pleasantdale. As Mary had been considerably younger than William, she was considerably older than Bruce. They continued to live in Pleasantdale, where the 1950 US Census listed the family: Bruce, 25, Mary 37, and their two children, Linda, 2, and Bruce, Jr, born in August 1949, plus her son William O’Brien, 11. In 1955, William enlisted in the National Guard, without telling his mom. Not long after, the Brackens moved to Cambridge. Mary died in 1963, William Jr., in 2013.
