Glen’s Falls in The Apostrophe Era — Attempt to‘equalize’ board of supervisors

This is the latest in an occasional series of posts based on local 19th century news reports before Glen’s Falls dropped the apostrophe from its name.

Austin W. Holden, a physician, historian and newspaper writer from Queensbury, was a popular candidate when he ran for state Assembly in 1873.

“He is a gentleman of culture — an educated, capable man, everywhere respected for his ability and integrity,” touted a local newspaper report preserved in the Austin W. Holden scrapbooks at The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library. “His nomination is especially appropriate at this time, when there is so much laxity in the discharge of their duties and so much corruption among the representatives of the people.”

Holden, a Democrat, fell out of political favor when he championed a proposal to “equalize” the Warren County Board of Supervisors by expanding Queensbury’s representation to one member for each voting district in the town, instead of one member for the whole town. Other towns in the county would still have just one member.

“The bill of Mr. Holden, introduced into the Assembly to increase the number of supervisors in the town of Queensbury, meets with an unqualified and unanimous opposition from the people in the northern part of the county,” The Messenger of Glen’s Falls reported on March 6, 1874. “Were it not for abundant evidence to the contrary, it would be difficult to find a Democrat in this vicinity that would acknowledge that he voted for Mr. Holden.”

A proposal to provide a supervisor for every voting district in the county or on a general basis statewide might have had a greater chance of success, The Messenger editorialized on March 13, 1874.

“The defeat of Holden’s little bill to equalize the Supervisors of Warren County meets with unqualified endorsements in this part of the county,” The Messenger reported.

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.