Name/Title
Horatio Averill Scrapbooks and BooksEntry/Object ID
2021.3.20Description
Horatio F. Averill is largely credited with the initial vision and business acumen needed to transform the relatively isolated and agricultural Town of Sand Lake into a late 19th through early 20th-century far more renowned travel and tourism-related destination centered around the hamlet of Averill Park. In addition, he was a New York City-based attorney and jurist who became deeply involved in many of the most sensationally famous and infamous court cases of his day. Refer to the weblinks portion of this entry for both brief and in-depth overviews of the Averill family. In addition, this entry includes:
- A forty-nine-page PDF of a scrapbook of newspaper articles that was meticulously maintained by Horatio by his own hand during the late 19th century. The scrapbook includes numerous cut and pasted-in newspaper articles published from December 11, 1877, through April of 1886 that Horatio obviously collected from well over a dozen different newspapers located throughout the region and State regarding the business and social dealings of the overall Averill family and Town of Sand Lake. Most of the articles relate to Horatio's law practice which was involved in many of the most sensational primarily New York City-based civil and criminal cases throughout the last third of the 19th century. In particular, he represented notorious hereditary land baron George Clarke against his frequently violent anti-renter tenants located throughout Central, NY. Other cases involved many of the most sensational matrimonial, insurance, and criminal cases of his day. The articles also include Horatio's defense of his involvement in the Nalle fugitive slave affair, Nalle's eventual death, and the genesis and demise of Averill family-owned or involved businesses and events in Sand Lake, including the Averill Park Hotel, Tally Ho Stage Coach, Plank Road Company, Mutual Protection Agains Horse Thieves, and Averill family marriage, event, and death notices. The PDF also includes two-pages of handwritten notes by an unidentified modern-day local historian that highlight a small fraction of the most interesting entries. The scrapbook was donated to the Town by Richard Seuffert in 1977 and the PDF is downloadable while fully logged into the system. Refer to the included example page for a preview of its content. A much higher resolution PDF is stored off-line and available upon request under the file name:
1877-1886_H_F_Averill_Family_News_Articles_Scrap_Book_Hi_Res.pdf
The original scrapbook is Town of Sand Lake owned and stored in a locked fireproof safe at Town Hall.
- A fifty-page PDF of a second scrapbook of newspaper articles that was similarly meticulously maintained by Horatio by his own hand spanning the period June 19, 1879, through April 19, 1881, to record a series of newspaper articles published by the Troy Daily News regarding the origin and history of the various Towns that comprise Rensselaer County and City of Troy, NY. The entries interestingly begin with a seven-page article regarding the origin and history of the Town of Sand Lake even though it was published well into the series, indicating Horatio's fondness for Sand Lake. Each article offers an excellent in-depth overview of the municipalities founding. The scrapbook was donated to the Town by Richard Seuffert in 1977 and the PDF is downloadable while fully logged into the system. Refer to the included example page for a preview of its content. A much higher resolution PDF is stored off-line and available upon request under the file name:
1879-1881_H_F_Averill_RC_Towns_News_Series_Scrap_Book_Hi_Res.pdf
The original scrapbook is Town of Sand Lake owned and stored in a locked fireproof safe at Town Hall.
- An eight-page PDF of a third scrapbook of newspaper articles that also appears to have been similarly kept by Horatio to document his efforts to develop a steam railroad between Troy and Sand Lake and beyond to enhance the prospects of economic development in the area. Although Horatio never signed this scrapbook as with the other two scrapbooks, it is nearly certainly attributed to him given the notation on its cover that it was donated to the Historian of the TOSL in 1977 by Richard Seuffert along with the other two definitely Horatio Averill authored scrapbooks. In addition, the handwriting and manner of entries appear to match the other scrapbooks. Per the weblinks portion of this entry, the steam railroad was never built. However, Horatio's vision and initial efforts eventually resulted in the completion of a highly successful electric railroad between Troy and Averill Park in 1895 that substantially increased the development of Sand Lake as a residential and vacation destination. The PDF is downloadable while fully logged into the system. Refer to the included example page for a preview of its content. A much higher resolution PDF is stored off-line and available upon request under the file name:
1886_H_F_Averill_Troy_&_AP_RR_Scrapbook_Hi_Res.pdf
The original scrapbook is Town of Sand Lake owned and stored in a locked fireproof safe at Town Hall.
- A book of Common Prayers and a Sunday School Manual that were once owned by Horatio Averill. Both books were gifted to Horatio in 1861 and are SLHS owned items stored in acid-free wrappings located in a plastic container in Drawer 2 of SLHS File Cabinet 3, Drawer 4, on the 2nd Floor of Town Hall, which is a locked and fire-resistant container.Context
Metropolitan Hotel , June 2, 1861 , Protestant Episcopal Church , prayer book , Psalter , W. Benjamin ,Cataloged By
Michael Frederick PerryDimensions
Dimension Description
All three ledgers are approximately 9 inches tall, 8 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. The religious books are approximately 7-8 inches tall, by 4-5 inches wide and .25 to 1.5 inches thick.Created By
curator@slhstrustees.orgCreate Date
March 23, 2021Updated By
curator@slhstrustees.orgUpdate Date
March 30, 2022
