Local History at the Old Stone Fort - Voting Machine & Upper Fort Illustration

Voting Machine, circa 1925

In Honor of Election Day

This nearly 100-year-old voting machine was made by the Automatic Registering Machine Corporation of Jamestown, NY, and used in Schoharie County until the 1960s. It now resides in our Jackson Law Office exhibit and was sent to us by the Old Stone Fort’s own Clay Edmunds.

The machine lists four parties, Republican, Democratic, Independence, and Conservative. Voters cast their ballots by moving the wooden handle to the right, making their selection, and then returning it.

Upper Fort Illustration by Rufus Grider

The stone house depicted was owned by Johannes Feeck, whose daughter Margaret “Peggy” Feeck married Timothy Murphy. During the American Revolution, the home was fortified and became known as the Upper Fort.

When Johnson’s forces raided the valley, they bypassed the fort, but its defenders spotted them and fired cannons to warn the surrounding settlements.

Source: The Schoharie News