This is the first of a series of posts featuring additional information I’ve either found or been given after the book was published. If you have family photos, or know more than I do, please contact me!

Germantown Town Historian, Thomas Shannon wrote to me with some additional information about Adam Edelman and I’m delighted he has let me post it here! Adam and other members of his family appear on block 2 of the quilt starting on page 112. Images courtesy of Germantown History Department.

Per Tom Shannon, “(Adam Edelman) ran a blacksmith shop on Main St. and also owned what was called “Edelman’s Hall” on the corner of Maple Ave. and Main St. in Germantown. He sold it to the local Grange in the very early 1900s and it became the Grange Hall. The building burned down along with 7 other buildings in a huge fire in 1923.” 

Germantown’s records speculate that Adam and his family may have lived in the village of Germantown as he is listed in close proximity with other village residents in 1900.

Thomas told me “the mid 1800s wave of German immigrants to the Hudson Valley is a fascinating and, I think, under-examined topic,” and I agree!

He added “Adam Edelman’s blacksmith shop was the small building that says “H. Brehanny” on it. These buildings were on Main St., Germantown, just a bit east of where Gaskins restaurant is today. They’re gone now.”