Oswego County Historian's Office

05/24/2026

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June, 1943. This is a wonderful shot of women at war. Caption on photo reads “women welders at Fitzgibbons Boiler Co.” Someone’s grandmother could be one of these gals.

05/24/2026

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The most popular men’s headwear at the time of the Revolution was the “cocked hat,” usually today called a “tricorn hat.”

Called “cocked” hats because the sides were pinned up in three places to create a triangular shape, the hat style was made popular by European gentry but by the time of the American Revolution was so popular at all levels of society as to be essentially ubiquitous. Cocked hats were standard parts of military dress for both British and American officers and enlisted men, often adorned with a cockade. Early in the war, when uniforms were rare among the Patriots, General Washington ordered that cockades be used to distinguish rank (pink for field officers, white for captains, green for lower-ranking officers). In 1780 American officers were requested to wear black and white cockades, which represented the French American alliance.

Cocked hats fell out of fashion in America in the early 19th century and nowadays the “tricorn” hat is associated with the colonial and revolutionary eras.

The image is a photo of a cocked hat in the collection of the Museum of the American Revolution (without a cockade).

05/13/2026

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Radical reformer. Civil War surgeon. Defiant suffragist. And the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.This short documentary explores the extraordin...

04/12/2026

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Save the date! Our 75th Old Home Days are June 5,6,7 2026. All events are posted individually.

04/05/2026

03/09/2026

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03/08/2026

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Update… this photo dates to 1897. This house was built 1794.
Scriba Mansion.
Unfortunately, I don't have a date.. but early years. This structure is the oldest in the COUNTY, that is still standing.

03/06/2026

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03/02/2026

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In March 1818 Congress passed the Revolutionary War Pension Act, responding to decades of complaints that the country had not honored its commitments to veterans. The Act awarded modest lifetime pensions to veterans who had served at least 9 months and were “in reduced circumstances.”

At the time the federal government was running a substantial surplus and had money to spend. But the government had greatly underestimated the number of living veterans and the number who would request the pension. Instead of the few thousand applications they had expected, the government was flooded with over 25,000 applications, many of them fraudulent. The cost of the program skyrocketed from a predicted $300,000 to over $2 million, with no end in sight. The federal government was so small in those days that the pensions were soon consuming over 25% of the federal budget. In an effort to rein in the cost, in 1820 the government required applicants to prove their poverty by submitting a detailed list of assets, but ultimately few applications were denied on that ground that the applicant didn’t need the money.

Despite having badly underestimated the cost of the program, and despite having failed to rein it in, the program remained popular with the public and the government rode it out. As the passage of time caused the number of remaining veterans to dwindle, the means tests were eliminated in 1832.

The Pension Act was the first federal program of its type, the ancestor of many to follow.

Because applicants had to provide summary descriptions of their service, the pension applications are invaluable resources for historians of the Revolution. The stories left by veterans in their pension applications are frequently featured on this page.

The paintings are by Don Troiani.

01/06/2026

CLYDE, N.Y. (WROC) – Throughout Wayne County is an abundance of history, especially among those who have died more than a hundred years ago. One Boy Scout from Rose has made it his mission to…