Born: May 16, 1886
Died: July 16, 1963
Married: Viola Marshall
Children: Mrs. Joyce Caskey, Mrs. Elizabeth Spraggins
John Ramsey worked for the Adirondack Hardware, later Starks Hardware.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, May 15, 1958
John Ramsey Is Retiring After 50 Years
Started Work At Hardware
by ROSEMARY SIGNOR
On April 27, 1908, an eager, alert young man, 20-year-old John Ramsey, came to Saranac Lake, having been hired as janitor in what was then the Adirondack Hardware Co. It was not until 13 years later that the name was changed to Geo. L. Starks & Co.
Now, just one week ago, that same John Ramsey, no longer 20 years old, but just as alert and just as spry at 72 years old, has retired from the Company for which he had worked so faithfully for 50 years and five days. I went to visit John yesterday and find out his story. “First of all I'd like you to say this,” he said, “the people with whom I worked when I first came to Saranac Lake were the finest bunch you could wish to meet. They were all so nice that I hated to see the nights come and I had to go home.”
I asked him how he happened to come to Saranac Lake. “I used to work as elevator man at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York City in the winters and the Hotel Champlain at Plattsburgh in the summers. A Mr. Mike Callahan, who was a guest at the Murray Hill Hotel and also a brother-in-law of Mr. George Starks, persuaded me to come to Saranac Lake and hired me as janitor for the Adirondack Hardware Co.”
After he had worked there for 13 years, taking care of the store, making sure the elevators worked, also the cash registers, and looking after any mechanical job that came up, the first Mrs. Starks bought a 4-cylinder Cadillac and wanted John to drive it. He learned by practicing in the backyard! Mrs. Starks used to like to take drives to Bloomingdale, an enormous distance in those days, and they would go whizzing along at 10-15 miles an hour, and feel as though they were flying.
Mrs. Starks died in 1925 but he continued to drive for Mr. Starks and also look after the store trucks. The last trip he took was in 1946 when he drove Mr. Starks to New York City to St. Vincent's Hospital. “I never saw him again alive.”
John was born in Georgia in 1886, one of 9 children of Jack and Nancy Ramsey. His father, as well as his father's two brothers, were slaves. When his father died the family drifted to Mississippi where, after six years, his mother died. His eldest sister, Mattie (Mrs. Mattie Reid), who died a year ago, brought the little family to New York City where she took care of them and brought them up.
Apart from working at Starks, John has worked on every road leading out of Saranac Lake. He, as he put it “drew dynamite” to help make the roads. His final heavy load was a trip, with 40 cases of dynamite, to help make the Whiteface Mt. Road.
He built the house at 24 Lake Flower Avenue where he and his wife operate a Tourist Home. He married the former Viola Marshall on October 10, 1922 in New York City. The couple have two daughters, both now married, Elizabeth, who lives in New York City, and Joyce, who lives in California.
I asked John what Saranac Lake was like when he first came and here is his reply:
“Lake Flower Avenue was a dirt road and was known as Rat Street. There were just two houses and a barn on it. Main Street and Broadway were just boardwalks, with shady trees on either side. They were not paved until I'd been here for six years.
Woodruff Street was just plain swamp from behind Starks clear to Bloomingdale Avenue [all the low land including the sites of Grand Union, Nori's, former A&P, the car wash and laundry mall];
where Methodist Church was [,] where the Hotel Alpine now stands [,] was small printing office which put out a newspaper [A previous Methodist Church? What was the name of the printer?] ;
the High School was where the Hotel Saranac [is] now;
moving pictures were shown downstairs in the McKee Building, now Ann Foley's Dress Shop;
the Methodist Church was where the IOOF Hall now stands;
St. Bernard's Church was a wooden structure which burnt down; where the St. Regis is now was just a bare corner; behind where Bernie Wilson has his coffee shop there used to be a livery stable. Those were the real horse and buggy days. All the roads were dirt roads. I had a motor cycle the only place I could ride it was in my own backyard!”
“What will you do now?” I asked.
"All the things I've never had time to do," he chuckled. Couldn’t just sit and do nothing— I'd go crazy.”
John is a familiar, and well-known figure in our town, liked and respected by all who know him. All his friends wish him well in his retirement and hope he will enjoy many, many years of relaxation and pleasure.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 16, 1963
John Ramsey
John Clinton Ramsey, 77, a resident of Saranac Lake for 55 years, died early today at Saranac Lake General Hospital.
Mr. Ramsey came to Saranac Lake to work for the Adirondack Hardware Co., later George L. Starks & Co. and stayed with the firm until 1958 when he retired.
In that time he saw Saranac Lake grow from a few board-walked streets. At the time of his retirement he recalled that he once owned a motorcycle but could only ride it in his yard because the streets were so bad.
He was born in Columbus County, Ga. on May 16, 1886, a son of Jack and Nancy Bussey Ramsey.
His father was an ex-slave. After his parents died one of his sisters took the family to New York City where he found work at the Murray Hill Hotel. Summers he worked at the Hotel Champlain in Plattsburgh where a guest persuaded him to come to work in Saranac Lake for Mr. Stark.
Besides working at Starks he worked on every road leading out of Saranac Lake, drawing dynamite. His final road job was the Whiteface Mt. Road. He and his wife also operated a tourist home at their home at 24 Lake Street.
Survivors are his wife, the former Viola Marshall; two daughters, Mrs. Joyce Caskey and Mrs. Elizabeth Spraggins of Hollis, L. I.; three grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Pearl Holloway of Clinton, N. C; nieces and nephews.
Friends may call from 2 to 3 and 7 to 9 o'clock, beginning this evening at the Garden Chapel of the Keough and Son Funeral Home.
Dr. Lionel R. Driscoll, pastor of the Methodist Church, will conduct a funeral service at 2 pm. Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Brookside Cemetery.
