Pre Schools!

Friday, 02 August 2019 13:32

Pre Schools!

Written by Kacie

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

Rate this item

1
2
3
4
5

(0 votes)

Looking for the perfect Pre School for your child?
Look no further. Here is a guide to some of the best pre school programs in the local area.
Click on the ad to be directed to their website for more information.

Read 3819 times Last modified on Friday, 02 August 2019 12:38

Published in Pre Schools

Kacie

Latest from Kacie

Hanging at the top of the main stairs at Brookside Museum is a pair of portraits. With them is a framed brooch which contains locks of hair. These portraits are of Thomas McDonnell and his wife, Frances Halsey McDonnell, and were painted in 1852 and 1853 respectively by John G. Taggart, a New York City trained artist with a studio in Saratoga Springs. In her portrait, Frances is wearing the brooch that now hangs beside her.

But who are they? That is the question their great great great grandson and his wife, who gave us the paintings, wanted to know.

Thomas, who was born on 28th Feb, 1795, and his younger brother Robert, arrived in New York City from Ireland in 1816. By 1823, Robert was in Saratoga Springs, opening a store selling groceries and liquor in a prominent position in town, on Broadway, opposite the United States hotel. In 1827, Thomas joined his brother, became a joint owner, selling “a great assortment of groceries”, and later taking sole ownership in 1831. Over the following years, the brothers owned a succession of stores, together, or with other people.

According to the New York Daily Herald, early in the morning of June 4th, 1846, a devastating fire, “doubtless the work of an incendiary” broke out in the offices of the Saratoga Sentinel. Although “the capacious reservoirs of the United States Hotel” across Broadway were made available to the firemen, six buildings were burnt, including one owned by Thomas McDonnell. This building was occupied by a grocery store, McDonnell and Bennett, and, on the 2nd floor, by a billiard hall. His property was insured for $2000, though damage was estimated to be $3000.

But Thomas was still doing alright. The 1855 census lists his house as worth $4500, and his neighbors at the time were Samuel Root and Gideon Putnam, both prosperous gentlemen. By 1860, the value of his real estate was $12000 with personal property valued at $15000.

Thomas and Frances married on Nov 23rd, 1828 at the Vandewater Street Church in New York City. They had 5 children, and it is the children’s hair contained in the brooch. Two children, Thomas and Maria, died young. The eldest child, Jane, married Frederick L. Root, a neighbor from Saratoga Springs. A son, James S., died, at 30 years of age, in 1870. Interestingly, Thomas’s will, written in 1864, left his estate for the use of his wife, and, after her death, to be divided between his daughters; James was not mentioned. James, together with young Thomas and Maria, is buried with their parents in Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs.

The second child, Frances, married a Greenfield lawyer, John T. Wentworth on October 4th, 1852 at her father’s house. She was described as a “beautiful and accomplished young lady”. She was certainly accomplished. Frances and her husband moved to Chicago, IL, and then to Wisconsin, finishing in Racine, WI where John worked in multiple legal positions, including as a circuit court judge. Frances threw herself into causes, including being an early advocate for the temperance movement, and a very strong proponent for women’s suffrage. In 1909, in response to a request for names for a petition to Congress in support of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, “Mrs. Wentworth, over eighty years of age … obtained 1,000 names”.

Robert and Thomas’s seemingly rapid rise to wealth in Saratoga Springs suggests that the brothers were not poor Irish immigrants. According to a Wisconsin biographical note on his grandson, Thomas was Presbyterian Irish, of Scottish descent, from Portaferry, a small coastal town in County Down, Northern Ireland. After arrival in NYC, he went to Charleston, SC, from there to Syracuse, NY, and then to Saratoga Springs, where he stayed until his death. The Charleston connection is not as unusual as it may appear. From 1750-1820 a wave of Scots Presbyterian Irish traveled to Charleston and frequently these immigrants were from wealthy backgrounds, though were probably not eldest sons.

Thomas died on February 22nd, 1866. His death announcement in the Saratogian describes him a gentleman who had “won a high reputation for integrity, promptness, order and general business capacity”, but, more importantly than that, “[h]e had a warm heart [and] his sympathies were generous”, and “his tenderness often spoke when his lips were silent”.

Frances died on December 1st, 1876. Her death notice describes “her ready sympathy and benevolence, her cordial greetings and friendship, and her genuine integrity of character, [which] secured to her affection and respect”.

Thomas and Frances appear to have been kind, generous, hardworking people. We are proud and honored to have their portraits hanging in Brookside Museum. If anyone would like to see them, please let us know.

Current Issue

News

Sports

Entertainment

All Entertainment »

Saratoga Springs Politics

Obituaries

All Obituaries »

Blotter

April 27 - May 3, 2024

Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office The Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic incident call on Manchester Drive in the town of Halfmoon on April 21. Investigation into the matter led to the arrest of Julia H. Kim (age 33) of Halfmoon, who was charged with assault in the 2nd degree (class D felony) and criminal possession of a weapon in the 4th degree (class A misdemeanor). Kim is accused of causing physical injury to a person known to her by striking them to the head with a frying pan. She was arraigned before the Honorable Joseph V. Fodera in the Halfmoon Town…

Property Transactions

May 3 - 9, 2024

BALLSTON Edward Pigliavento sold property at 2 Arcadia Ct to Stephen Emler for $399,900 Erik Jacobsen sold property at 51 Westside Dr to Jeffrey Satterlee for $330,000 Brian Toth sold property at 288 Middleline Rd to Giannna Priolo for $347,000 GALWAY Owen Germain sold property at Hermance Rd to Stephen North for $120,000 GREENFIELD Nicholas Belmonte sold property at 260 Middle Grove Rd to Timothy McAuley for $800,000 Derek Peschieri sold property at 33 Southwest Pass to Michael Flinton for $400,000 MALTA Jennifer Stott sold property at 41 Vettura Ctl to ESI Development LLC for $476,500 Kathy Sanders sold property…

All Property Transactions »

Business

All Business »

Education

All Education »

Buzz

Editorials

All Editorials »

Trending

Galleries

Photo of the Week: Winter 2024

Photo of the Week: Winter 2024

Photo of the Week: Fall 2023

Photo of the Week: Fall 2023

Photo of the Week: Summer 2023

Photo of the Week: Summer 2023

Photo of the Week: Spring 2023

Photo of the Week: Spring 2023

Photo of the Week: Winter 2023

Photo of the Week: Winter 2023

Photo of the Week: Fall 2022

Photo of the Week: Fall 2022