Talk:List of mayors of Albany, New York

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DePeysters[edit]

An edit was made regarding Johannes DePeyster saying that his brother, Abraham, was Mayor of New York City, not his father, Johannes. The "Mayors of Albany" book cited in references says his father was the Mayor of NYC. The external link to JDP in the bottom of the Huguenot page has the following quote: "Johannes De Peyster (1666-1719) held every public office in New York City. He was mayor 1698-99 and later a member of the provincial Assembly. He was known as Johannes De Peyster II and his son as JDP III "of Albany."" So the only place I see "Abraham DePeyster" listed as Mayor of NYC is on the Wikipedia page for Mayors of New York. I'm reverting back to sources I can confirm unless someone else has something else that demonstrates it's wrong in an verifiable way.--Gnhn 19:24, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

John S. Davis[edit]

I have found one online source that lists him as mayor from 1902-1903, but can find no other mention of him in that capacity. Any local history buffs know (a) if he was in fact Mayor, and (b) any other interesting facts about him, if so?--Gnhn 19:31, 12 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Followup to my own inquiry: After getting a copy of the Albany City Historian's collection of biographical sketches on Albany's mayors, I can confirm that John S. Davis was NOT one of them.--Gnhn 17:09, 14 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmmm. Who was he then? I'm guessing he got on the erroneous list for some reason. Maybe he was almost mayor? —Wknight94 (talk) 19:52, 14 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Dunno!! Can't find any mention in any of the Albany-related books I've looked at over the past few days. I'm guessing it's just a spurious/stray entry. The only place I've found his name mentioned is here: [1].--Gnhn 22:53, 14 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thatcher[edit]

Am I missing something...John Boyd Thatcher II is listed as "see above first term" but there isnt, just that of his uncle....Camelbinky 03:09, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The 1896-97 one should have been Thacher the Uncle, not JBT II. I fixed it. Good catch.Gnhn 12:46, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Acting mayor[edit]

I dont think we should include the man who was acting mayor during mayor Corning's stint across the seas during wartime, Congress specifically enacted a law allowing mayors to continue to hold their office during any of their time of service during the war, so he was indeed still mayor. If we include him then what about the period of time towards the end of mayor Corning's life when he was in Boston enable to run the city but still mayor, do we then put in info about that? and from what i understand a card table was set up and the acting mayor worked off that refusing to use the mayor's desk, out of deference to mayor Corning.Camelbinky 03:21, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Frank Harris is recognized in the City Historian's official accounting of the Mayors of Albany, and in the "numbering" of Mayors that she used in her book. (See references). I would leave him in accordingly. He may have deferred to Mayor Corning's desk, but he (under Uncle Dan's tutelage) was certainly running the city when Corning was overseas. Also, during Corning's final illness, there was never a formal "swearing in" of an acting Mayor, as there was with Harris. Gnhn 10:53, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I see, I was not aware of the swearing in for Harris. And thanks for the fix on Thatcher, and the info to find the party affiliations as well. I think I'll check other cities mayor lists and see if there seems to be any leanings towards including party affiliations or not before I go ahead and do any adding to this one. Thanks Gnhn! Camelbinky 18:07, 22 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Party Affiliation?[edit]

Does anyone have an objection if I looked up and added the party affiliation of each mayor? Obviously the early ones wouldnt have any, but it may be interesting for some people to know what party each person was...and the few Republicans in the city might be glad to see that there actually was at some point a Republican in city hall!Camelbinky 03:25, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you do, I would most emphatically recommend using "Mayors of Albany, 1686-1997: Biographical Sketches," by Virginia B. Bowers, City Historian (City Club of Albany, Inc., 1997). There are a ton of erroneous and incomplete online lists of Albany mayors. The one on this wiki now is consistent with her research. The Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza generally carries her book, or can get it on short order.Gnhn 10:55, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Acting mayor...again...[edit]

Again, if anyone is actually looking at this page, I would like to on behalf of this article and related articles such as Erastus Corning 2nd point out that the listing of the "acting mayor" Frank Harris is wrong and we shouldnt proceed to list him as a Mayor of Albany, which splits up Corning's career needlessly. It has been stated that Harris was "sworn in" but I have found no actual evidence of any swearing in other than these words spoken by Corning himself at a Common Council meeting (with no such swearing in words by Harris)- "Pursuant to the provisions of Section 105-B of the New York State War Emergency Act, being Chapter 445 of the Laws of 1942, as amended by Chapter 544 of the Laws of 1942, and Chapter 421 of the Laws of 1943, I, Erastus Corning, 2nd, Mayor of the City of Albany, New York, having entered upon military duty, do hereby appoint Frank S. Harris temporary Mayor of City of Albany, effective this date, for the unexpired term of my office as Mayor, or until I shall return, if the date of my return be prior to the expiration of such term". I have not found any reference anywhere from that period either by Corning, Harris, the Knickerbocker News, or the Times Union that refers to Harris as anything other than "Acting Mayor Harris", I just dont think this rises to the occasion of saying he was mayor of Albany. Are there other opinions or evidence that anyone wishes to share?Camelbinky (talk) 02:35, 13 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm still looking at this page, and stand by my earlier position that Harris should be listed. City Historian Virginia B. Bowers' "Mayors of Albany: 1686-1997 Biographical Sketches" lists Harris as the 72nd Mayor of Albany, and a 17-month term of service is more than an ephemeral, passing event. I would also recommend Paul Grondahl's book about Mayor Corning, which discusses Harris' service. I don't think you can remove Harris simply because he wasn't elected . . . as early mayors were appointed as well. If you want to "asterisk" Harris somehow, that certainly makes sense, but I don't think that he can be removed when the primary historian of record on the Mayors' lives cites him as one of the 74 to have served. The Bowers book is an EXCELLENT resource, by the way, for historic information about the Mayors and the City. I ordered a copy from Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza a few years ago, and would recommend it as a resource given your interest in Albany history.Gnhn (talk) 12:56, 13 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Years of Service: McEneny vs. Bowers[edit]

UpstateNYer: I just realized that you had edited many of the dates in the table for the Mayors pages to (presumably) reflect the McEneny dates . . . though the dates of SERVICE listed now are not correct, per the Virginia Bowers book, which is taken from the 1906 Cuyler Reynolds book "Albany Chronicles," and was officially "certified," if you will, by its commissioning by Mayor Whalen, and official promulgation by Mayor Jennings. McEneny's book was a work of commercial/personal research, and, as best I can see, it seems to indicate electoral years, NOT terms of service . . . e.g. President Obama was elected in 2008, but his term began in 2009. Just picking a random sample, you changed Charles E. Bleecker's term to 1868 to 1869, though the actual dates of his administration were May 6, 1868 to May 5, 1870, per Bowers/Cuyler, and per the long held practice in the 19th Century of having terms change in early May . . . it wasn't until 1898 that the mayoral terms began on January 1, so for most of the mayors before that, the dates of SERVICE now appear to be incorrect. I've been able to verify a random sampling of the Bowers' dates from other sources, and I feel very confident and comfortable in the original dates as I had built them into this table, and would respectfully ask that you undo those date changes to restore them to the original Bower/Reynolds dates as I had first recorded them here. Thanks in advance for your consideration.Gnhn (talk) 18:16, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If the move I made worked, all of those edits should be fixed. Thanks for fixing me up. :) upstate NYer 21:53, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The changes you made worked fine, but then someone else came in and undid your changes . . . so now the dates are wrong again . . . is there someway to just undo your revisions without removing them? I admit to not being a skilled editor here from a technical sense, so don't know how to go about that.Gnhn (talk) 13:43, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'll have to come back and do it manually. Apparently the way I did it is not allowed by policy; it is meant only for serious cases of libel, etc. I thought it was a convenience, but that's not the case. Will get back to it soon. upstate NYer 23:07, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have the Bowers book handy, so I went through and fixed all the dates.Gnhn (talk) 12:37, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]