Ok, there's no Santa Claus, nor Easter Bunny, but there is one cultural icon that is real - Uncle Sam. Fortunately for Troy, it was a popular business man who became the symbol of a new emerging nation. The alternative could have been "Home of Brother Jonathan?"

America was known as 'Brother Jonathan' to inhabitants of the new country and Europeans for several years. 'Brother Jonathan' appeared after the Revolution and seems to be based on Jonathan Trumball, Governor of Connecticut. George Washington relied on him for supplies during the war, and advice, and would utter "We must consult Brother Jonathan on the subject," when contemplating actions.

The English used it as an insult (as they did Yankee Doodle), friendship, or tongue in cheek, and came to symbolize the typical American to many overseas. Brother Jonathan became a sympathetic figure for early Americans after the war and appeared in a Boston play in 1787, called 'The Contrast.' The name even appeared in music and cartoons of the period, often showing him whittling, a favorite pastime. However, it was the War of 1812 that changed the course of this American ethnoglyph.

In February, 1789, Samuel & Ebenezer Wilson trudged on foot to the new village of Vanderheyden (Troy). Born in Massachusetts, but raised in Mason, New Hampshire, the kids knew how to make bricks.

The Wilson brothers started brick making at the west foot of Mt Ida at Sixth Avenue and Ferry. In 1793, they leased a lot from Jacob D. Vanderheyden on the northeast corner of Second and Ferry and built a small house. They also created a butcher business and built a large slaughter and packing house on the north bank of the Poestenkill. With more than 100 men working for them, they slaughtered more than a thousand head of cattle a week.

Just south of Troy in Greenbush, the US Government purchased 300 acres and built barracks and parade ground to house some 6000 troops. It wasn't uncommon for troops to pass through Troy on their way to the camp and this included Troy's own "Fusileers," "Trojan Greens," and "Troy Invincibles!" Here they would recuperate, and eat. Large oak casks of salt beef and pork with the initials U.S. were a common site.

Sam Wilson was known to his friends and family around Troy as "Uncle Sam," apparently having a very kind disposition. Sam and Ebenezer advertised as early as 1805 that they could butcher and pack 150 head of cattle a day. When the War of 1812 broke out, Sam secured a job as meat inspector for the Northern Army and also sought contracts to supply meat.

One of the accounts Wilson inspected was by Elbert Anderson. Anderson had secured a year contract to supply all rations to troops in New York and New Jersey. In October 1812, he advertised for bids to supply 2000 barrels of pork and 3000 barrels of beef, to be packed in barrels of white oak. The Wilson's got the job. The barrels were then marked E.A.- U.S. referring to Anderson and United States.When asked what the initials meant, a Wilson workmen said it referred to Elbert Anderson and "Uncle Sam."

The name Uncle Sam caught on since everyone in the area knew "Uncle Sam" Wilson (and wife 'Aunt Betsey'). In 1813, a broadside was printed with the first reference to Uncle Sam, and mention is made the same year in the Troy Post. Many periodicals carried the notion of Uncle Sam the following year and it simply caught on. While it began as a local regional folk tale, it caught on nationally. Today, United States (U.S.) and Uncle Sam are one in the same.

Sam Wilson had a farm house at the junction of Cottage and 15th streets, and just north of Liberty and Division at the end of Mt Ida the area was called Wilson's Hollow. Later, he built a farm house at 177 Ferry and 7th. He died there in July 31, 1854.

I remember this house since I lived opposite it as a teenager. Ironically, it was demolished during the American Bicentennial, but I can't remember if it was the city of state that demolished it.

Former City Manager Steve Dworksy tells a great story about the episode. The actor E.G. Marshall was filming various "Bicentennial Minutes," that appeared on TV in 1976. As the story goes, the Marshall people called and asked for permission to shoot a Bicentennial Minute on Uncle Sam's house. I guess someone forgot to mention the house was just demolished. When taken to the site, Marshall, irritated, but the consummate actor, looked around, found a brick, and held it up ad libbing the "newly scripted" bicentennial minute.