100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, Dec. 12, 1918. Local baker Michael J. Rowland is elected the next president of the Saratoga Business Men’s Association tonight, The Saratogian reports.
Rowland is chosen unanimously, but only after incumbent president James N. Crocker refuses to serve another term and Loyal A. Norton declines the nomination. Rowland himself urges Crocker to stay on, but “his mind was made up and he could not be induced to reconsider.” Both Crocker and Norton cite business reasons for declining the post. Rowland’s election will be formalized at next month’s meeting.
Among Rowland’s plans for the next year are the creation of an employment bureau for returning soldiers and, more immediately, extra lights on Broadway during the holiday season. While the lighting plan “was not received with great enthusiasm,” the association authorizes Rowland to appoint a five-man employment bureau committee in the near future.
A contest for the post of secretary between E. F. Andrews and Albert F. Forthmiller is aborted when the latter angrily declines a nomination.
Forthmiller had been nominated for the post in November 1917, but since he missed the election meeting, presumably due to circumstances beyond his control, another man was chosen. He resents the nomination of Andrews, telling members “I presume that the work that I did upon the city charter and the thousands of dollars which I collected for the association were of some value.” He would only accept the post now if “it was the wish of every member of the association and I was the only man named for the office.”
R. F. Knapp seals Forthmiller’s fate. “Well, I nominated Mr. Andrews and I shan’t withdraw the nomination,” he says.
Loses Two Brothers on the Battlefield
The casualty reports released daily by the federal war department don’t tell the whole story of the world war’s impact on families in Saratoga Springs and across the nation.
Flora W. Francis of 117 Nelson Avenue is making arrangements to return to Great Britain, her ancestral homeland, to mourn two brothers who were killed in action while fighting in the British army. One brother, Joseph A. Jones, also lived here before enlisting at the age of sixteen in 1915. He was killed last October, while an older brother, Frank Jones, died on August 15 of wounds received one month earlier. The Saratogian ran Joseph’s picture on yesterday’s front page. A third brother, William Jones, was wounded in the second battle of Verdun but reportedly was the sole survivor of his regiment.
Francis herself “made every effort to enlist as an ambulance driver” and had been tentatively accepted when the November 11 armistice ended the war.