Eight boys from the rural community of Holley, New York, died fighting in Vietnam. All went to the same high school where the average graduating class consisted of just 30 students. This is believed to be one of the highest casualty rates per capita of any town and school in the United States. The 'Holley boys' were awarded 40 medals for combat and valor including seven Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star, Silver Star and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry. But they were more than soldiers and heroes. They played Little League, were Boy Scouts, went to sock-hops and performed in the high school marching band. But they also drove hot-rods, drank beer, smoked, and brawled. They weren't angels. They were boys--once. Now, nearly 50 years later, their stories are finally told. Drawing upon over 60 interviews with family members, access to personal letters, diaries, newspaper accounts of the day and after action combat reports, we learn not only about the lives of these boys but also about a seldom seen slice of American society and a remarkable small town you probably never heard of, before that damn war changed everything.

Vietnam Reflection: The Untold Story of the Holley Boys

Biographies & Memoirs

Keene, Michael T.

Leaders & Notable People

Ad-Hoc Productions

The Erie Canal delivered people to important places for important reasons, like Susan Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott to Seneca Falls for history's first women's convention, to Rochester to meet and support abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, to witness the Fox Sisters summon spirits and their eerie knockings, or maybe people on the temperance bandwagon hurrying to the Burned Over District so Charles Finney could save their souls. It was a time of intense individual focus and enlightened change in the ways in which people communicated. It was as if a bolt of electricity struck western New York, lighting it up as fertile ground for ideas and lifestyles that had never been expressed or attempted before. It was a time of religious re-birth, ongoing social reform, and making one's life the best it could be in the present, in the future... and even the great beyond.

The Psychic Highway: How the Erie Canal Changed America

History

Americas

THE YEAR WAS 1869, HER NAME WAS MARY ROTE. ...SHE ARRIVED BY STEAMBOAT AT OVID LANDING, SHACKLED AT THE WRISTS AND TRANSPORTED BY ARMED GUARDS..... Mary Rote HAD SPENT the previous TEN YEARS CHAINED TO A WALL IN MADISON COUNTY, New York OFTEN NAKED AND SUSPENDED BY HER THUMBS. DESCRIBED AS DEFORMED AND DEMENTED, SHE WOULD BECOME WILLARD INSANE ASYLUMS.... FIRST PATIENT 127 YEARS LATER IN 1996 THE WILLARD INSANE ASYLUM WOULD FINALLY SHUTTER ITS DOORS WHEREAPON A HORRIFYING DISCOVERY WAS MADE..... BURIED NEAR THE FACILITY WERE OVER 5700 BODIES.... LYING IN UNMARKED GRAVES.....ALL FORMER WILLARD PATIENTS ***DRAWING UPON CONFIDENTIAL HOSPITAL ARCHIVES, PRIVATE PATIENT LETTERS AND NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE DAY, I WILL NOW TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY INSIDE A WORLD OF MADNESS. ***WHAT TERRIBLE SECRETS WERE UNCOVERED AT ROLLING HILLS ASYLUM? ***WHO WAS THE GRAVE DIGGER LAWRENCE AND WHAT WAS FOUND BURIED NEAR THE ROCHESTER INSANE ASYLUM?-- ***WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BEAUTIFUL NELLIE BLY INSIDE THE LUNATIC ASYLUM ON BLACKWELL ISLAND-- ***WHAT WAS THE NOTORIOUS DEVICE 'THE UTICA CRIB' USED FOR? ***WHO HAUNTs THE BUFFALO INSANE ASYLUM even TO THIS DAY? SHOCKING TALES OF NEGLECT, ABUSE AND EVEN TORTURE WILL BE REVEALED HERE SOME FOR THE FIRST TIME... BUT ALSO WE WILL HEAR OF REMARKABLE STORIES, OF INSPIRATION, HOPE AND HEALING

Madhouse: The Hidden History of Insane Asylums in 19th Century New York

The women who serve as the subjects for this book, all share compelling stories. Most of the women in Keene's book are from North Central New York living along the Erie Canal in small, isolated rural communities. Some of the women chronicled in the book include, Lizzie Halliday, convicted of murdering nine of her own family members. Catherine Claus, who boasted of killing 15 infants in her care, Caroline D. Sorgenfrie, charged with the murder of her four husbands', and Ella Holdridge, the fourteen year old thrill killer who enjoyed looking at her victims because, "They looked so nice dead."

Question of Sanity: The True Story of Female Serial Killers in 19th Century New York

Just off the coast of the Bronx in Long Island Sound sits Hart Island, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves. Beginning as a Civil War prison and training site and later a psychiatric hospital, the location became the repository for New York City�s unclaimed dead. The island�s mass graves are a microcosm of New York history, from the 1822 burial crisis to casualties of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Important artists who died in poverty have been discovered, including Disney star Bobby Driscol and playwright Leo Birinski. Author Michael T. Keene reveals the history of New York�s potter�s field and the stories of some of its lost souls.

New York City's Hart Island: A Cemetery of Strangers (Landmarks)

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

The History Press

Just off the coast of the Bronx in Long Island Sound sits Hart Island, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves. Beginning as a Civil War prison and training site and later a psychiatric hospital, the location became the repository for New York City&#65533;s unclaimed dead. The island&#65533;s mass graves are a microcosm of New York history, from the 1822 burial crisis to casualties of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Important artists who died in poverty have been discovered, including Disney star Bobby Driscol and playwright Leo Birinski. Author Michael T. Keene reveals the history of New York&#65533;s potter&#65533;s field and the stories of some of its lost souls.

New York City's Hart Island: A Cemetery of Strangers

Historical

History Press Library Editions

Born from the chilly waters of Lake Ontario and the Genesee River, Rochester, New York, has been the cradle of the modern spiritualist an anti-Masonic movements and religious sects and communes. This unusual history has given rise to strange legends and shrouded the city in mystery. Was the corner of Main and Elm Streets―McCurdy’s Department Store―cursed? Who was Captain William Morgan, and why did he suddenly disappear? What stories lie behind Rochester’s first murder and the execution of William Lyman’s killer? What is hoodoo, and who is the Hoodoo Doctor? Native American tales, the history of the infamous Fox sisters and the secrets of the Freemasons are woven into these and other legends of Rochester

Folklore and Legends of Rochester: The Mystery of Hoodoo Corner & Other Tales (American Legends)

Discover the details of 19th-Century insane asylums in Michael Keene's latest historical venture, Mad House. With vivid detail and deep research, readers will travel through the lineage and architecture of the asylums in New York. While walking in the footsteps of history's mentally ill, readers will continue to be amazed at their treatment, their stories and the ever evolving world of mental health in the United States. Mad House specifically looks into the insane asylum wards of 19th century New York and the rich assortment of doctors and patients that inhabited them. Be prepared to be both educated and entertained as you follow along with Keene and the sad, but engaging inhabitants in the hidden history of New York insane asylums.

Mad House: The Hidden History of Insane Asylums in 19th Century New York

Lightning Source, Inc.

The author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester takes us on a journey into the past, investigating thirteen true stories of the dark side of local history. Drawing upon years of original research, often uncovering new clues, we learn of some of Western New York's most shocking crimes. Was Joseph Smith of Palmyra, the founder of the Mormon Church, murdered to prevent him from running for the presidency of the United States? What terrible event occurred in the village of Caledonia that led to a man being hanged twice? Who was Anna Schumacher and why did her mysterious murder in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery go unsolved-until now? Who was the Batavia woman who poisoned her entire family only to eventually be set free? What stories lie behind Rochester's first murder and the unusual execution of the killer? True crimes of passion, insanity, and greed are woven into these and other tales as we explore 150 years of Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

Murder, Mayhem & Madness: 150 Years of Crime and Punishment in Western New York

True Crime

Willow Manor Publishing

In 1848 Ireland was gripped by famine. Nearly a million people died of starvation. Desperate, a million more abandoned their homeland and immigrated to America. Many settled in Five Points, an area of Lower Manhattan infamous for its squalor, gang violence and disease. By the mid-nineteenth century, an estimated 30,000 orphaned and homeless children roamed New York City. They survived by resorting to petty crime, by begging and by selling newspapers for a nickel a piece. They slept in alleyways, in cellars and even sewers. For protection, they joined the violent gangs of the Bowery Boys, the Dead Rabbits and the Roach Guards. In response to this crisis, the age of orphan asylums began, culminating in one of the most improbable and audacious episodes in American history. Called the Orphan Train Movement, it endeavored to rescue these children lost to the streets and our institutions, by heroes who fought for their liberation.

Abandoned: The Untold Story of Orphan Asylums

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Books by Keene, Michael T.