#haverstraw

Gordon Parks Untitled, Haverstraw, New York, 1943⁠

Self-portrait in Chevy Pickup, 1966 Haverstraw, New York Lee Friedlander crédit: This Public Address

https://mbcurso.wixsite.com/fera2017

#TBT USS President Lincoln (1917-1918) Painting by Fred Dana Marsh, 1920, depicting the ship sinking after she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-90 on 31 May 1918. Twenty-six lives were lost with her, and one officer was taken prisoner. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Lilburn Gillies of Haverstraw was on board and survived. __________________ Excerpt from the Rockland County Times, June 8, 1918 YOUNG GILLIES SAVED Haverstraw Boy on President Lincoln Known to Have Been Rescued but No Details yet Received The announcement that came late Friday and more thoroughly verified Saturday of the sinking of the President Lincoln, a converted German Lloyd passenger steamer, off the coast of England on its return to this country. Carrying besides the crew, a considerable number of convalescing soldiers caused the greatest apprehension and excitement throughout this village. The interest of Haverstraw in the torpedoing of the ship by a submarine was because of the presence on board of Mr. Lilburn Gillies a son of Mrs. James W. Gillies of this village, and who enlisted the navy at the very outbreak of hostilities and became a member of the crew of the converted German Liner. In view of the fact that the President Lincoln was sunk far out at sea the official and naval officers feel that if the figures given in the current dispatches on Sunday prove to be correct the loss may be considered light, although the vessel carried a large vessel crew, besides ill and wounded soldiers, who were returning home. The excitement and interest continued intense, until late Monday when it was reportedly the Gillies-Lilburn families had received telegraphic assurances from the Navy Department at Washington of the safety of young Mr. Gillies, and it was reported by a friend of the family that these assurances were verified on Tuesday by a cablegram from the young man himself, who was devoted to his mother, and knew that her anxiety would not be appeased until she had word from him of his safety. ________________ Read more about this event here: https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/world-war-i/incidents--1918/uss-president-lincoln-torpedoed-and-sunk-by-u-90.html

#TBT Members of the Society of Sts. Peter and Paul and Father Blaznik in front of St. Mary’s Church in Haverstraw, circa 1915. The hats and badges signified membership in the society. Haverstraw was one of the earliest Slovak settlements in New York, be­ginning at least in the mid-1880s. A few Slovaks lived in America before then, and a Slovak regiment was formed during the Civil War. But the bulk of the immi­gration came after 1880 when Slovaks left in large numbers from the Slovak region of Hungary, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As with other ethnic groups Slovaks tended to settle in certain sections of towns or cities. Most who came to Haver­straw settled in the “Mud Hole” in the south end of the village along West Street, accurately termed the Haver­straw Slovak section. Another large group settled in the Calico Hill area in Garnerville. Other smaller Slovak settle­ments were found in Rockland Lake, Piermont and Tuxedo Park. Anthony X. Sutherland, Ph.D., a specialist in East European history, carefully researched the Slovaks who came from Hungary in the mid-1880s to Haverstraw, one of the earliest Slovak settlements in New York. He wrote of the reasons the Slovaks left Europe, their strong sense of organization, the Slovak church and prominent citizens of Haverstraw. To read the recently digitized issue of "South of the Mountains" including Sutherland's essay (desktop viewing recommended), click here: https://www.hrvh.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/hsrc/id/2763/show/2739/rec/1