Frontiersmen of the Adirondacks: Economic Development in Early North America - Paperback

by Cyrus Durey (Author)

Every large or small community both of civilized and barbarous men has its traditional heroes. The memory of some one person or other who in his time stood out sharply from his fellows is preserved by them in tradition or by the written word often with fantastic embellishments of his person or his acts. We Americans know too little of the doings of the people of past generations who lived their lives in our several localities. These pioneers selected land for their farms and bore the hardships of an isolated and primitive life with the wild beasts always and the Indians often as enemies. They finally fought a war with their kinsmen across the seas to establish their right to live their own lives in their own way without interference from the homeland. They made a new government that has served as a model for the entire world since. This knowledge is vague enough with most of us but it is so generally diffused that it unifies the country in the consciousness of a common origin, a common surmounting of dangers and a common destiny. When this knowledge is supplemented by adequate information concerning the history of country, state and their subdivisions down to the story of the neighborhood's traditional hero, the patriotic reaction is deeper; resulting from the knowledge of these old time individuals' doings that have a far-reaching effect on posterity for different reasons.

Author Biography

Cyrus Durey (May 16, 1864 - January 4, 1933) wrote a history of Fulton County, New York around 1920 from which this book is based upon. In that history, he stated that prior to 1752; Mohawks were in possession of this land. Born in Caroga, New York, Durey attended the common schools and the Johnstown Academy. He engaged in the lumber and real-estate business. He was appointed postmaster of Johnstown on August 19, 1898, and served until February 28, 1907. He served as member of the Republican State committee 1904-1906. Durey was elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses (March 4, 1907 - March 3, 1911). He was appointed on March 20, 1911, collector of internal revenue, fourteenth district of New York, and served until September 30, 1914. He served as delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1912 and 1920. He was again appointed collector of internal revenue on September 30, 1921, and served until his death at Albany, New York, January 4, 1933. He was interred in North Bush Cemetery, near Johnstown, New York.