Talking History
Local historian has roots back to 18th century
By RICHARD NILSEN, The Leader-Herald
Published on Sunday, November 11, 2007
The Leader-Herald/Richard NilsenNorthville and Northampton Historian Gail Cramer opens the museum made from a former one-room schoolhouse and moved to the site behind the Bradt Municipal Building in Northville Tuesday.
NORTHVILLE — With family dating back to the late 1700s in this area, tracing history and genealogy is a natural activity for Gail Cramer.The Northampton resident has been historian for the area for the past 13 years.
“We had been spending summers here and winters in Binghamton,” Cramer said. “I was coming to the historical society meetings and the former historian, Terry Warner, was going to resign in 1993, but said he’d stay on one more year if I would take it over when I moved here year-round in 1994.”
Cramer sees her job as both cataloger and preserver of history. “So much material is scattered and needs to be organized so people can find the material they need,” she said. Cramer has put together a data base on her computer so that when someone calls with a genealogical question, she knows if there is an obituary, cemetery or picture available to e-mail to the inquirer.“ I scan obits if they are available and e-mail them at no charge,” Cramer said. Other items she catalogs include character sketches from old Northville, historic houses and one-room school houses.
“There were 13 working one-room schoolhouses in Northville at one time,” Cramer said.
“Gifford’s Valley Schoolhouse #9 was moved to become our museum.” Cramer said the schoolhouse couldn’t be moved to it’s location behind the Bradt Municipal Building until the new Northville bridge was built in 1991 to accommodate the building’s width. “We have photos of the truck carrying it over the bridge,” she said “It was quite a spectacle.”
One of Cramer’s interesting items on display at the museum is a mortar and pestle thought to be of Native American origin and possibly between 400 and 1,000 years old.
“We had an archeologist here [Joel Ross] who said the stones were authentic and about that age,” Cramer said. “He said if he could have seen the area it came from, he could tell more accurately what its age was.”
Cramer said being a historian or genealogist grew on her. “Once you get into it and make connections, it just steamrolls,” she said. “I learn so much from those who ask me questions — as much as they learn from me.”
Cramer said she thinks highly of Fulton County Historian Peter Betz. “All the local historians are friends,” she said. “We trade off information. [Fulton County Historian] Peter Betz is fabulous. He knows how much time we put into what we do.”Betz said Cramer exemplifies the best of what historians do.
“She is steeped in a wealth of the history of the town because her family goes back so far in this area,” Betz said. “She is a fine example of what a historian does in the way of preserving, protecting and educating people about local history.”Betz said Cramer is also very good at sharing the information she uncovers.
At the Bradt Municipal Building Tuesday, Cramer jokingly asked Northville Clerk Elaine Mihalik for a larger office and a raise.Mihalik said she’d been clerk there for ten years. They spoke about the small space where Cramer stores records at the building. “I keep much of my work at my home office because it’s easier and more comfortable to work there,” she said.
“Historians are rarely appreciated for what they do.”
Cramer has put together studies of different themes in the Northville area. She said she interviewed many families for her character sketches and that local drama was popular in the area in the 1800s. “Local businessmen would put on plays,” she said. “There is a wealth of history in scrapbooks that are donated to the museum. It’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together to organize the material.”
Cramer said sometimes people call her and say they were cleaning out “grandma’s attic” and came across some historical material.“When they ask if I want it, I always say ‘yes,’” she said.
“Just last week a man in a nursing home asked if I would like a collection of Morning Herald newspapers from the 1920s,” she said. “I immediately cut out all the articles about Northville from them before the papers disintegrated.”
Cramer said her grandfather was a pharmacist in Northville for 54 years an his father was a harness maker named Frank Kested. Some of her family on her father's side, settled in Osborne’s Bridge, an area covered by the Great Sacandaga Reservoir now, but where foundations of buildings can still be seen at low water level as the lake is now.
“I’ve thought of having our next historical society meeting there next time,” Cramer said. “Of course you’d have to be in four-wheel drive vehicles to make sure you got out again.”
