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ROTTERDAM
Woman to deed home to historical society Owner seeking to avoid ‘another condominium complex’
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

Marjorie Schmid is very candid about the first line of her will.
“I give to my children what they gave to me in my time of need,” recites the outspoken 84-year-old Rotterdam resident. “Nothing.”
Instead, Schmid will deed her historic 19th century home off Schermerhorn Road to the Schenectady County Historical Society, ensuring her 2.34 acres near the Great Flats Nature Trail is preserved. Though details of the deal haven’t been completed, the historical society’s 24-member board agreed last week to take Schmid up on her offer.
    “The board voted to accept it,” confirmed Edwin Reilly Jr., the society’s president. “We are going to acquire it.”
    Schmid’s home was originally constructed by the Schermerhorn family in 1885 for John Schermerhorn, who died of pneumonia shortly after it was built. The home was then occupied by Simon Schermerhorn and his wife, Julia, the daughter of Col. John Campbell, who lived there until 1946.
    The home bounced between owners for several years before Schmid visited the property with a group of anxious Realtors on a chilly New Year’s Eve in 1955. She paid $11,900 for the property, using money she had borrowed from her father.
    “They wanted to unload it,” she recalled Monday.
    Schmid decided to offer the property to the historical society last year, after learning she could no longer afford the taxes on it.
    The five-room Victorian and nearby carriage house were assessed at $274,500 following last year’s town revaluation; the land alone is valued at $58,600, according to the town assessment database.
    In giving the historical society title to the property, Schmid also hopes to preserve the land from future development.
    She was an outspoken critic of Putnam Woods, a 52-unit condominium development built off Putnam Road, a short distance away from her land.
    “I just want to make sure it doesn’t become another condominium complex,” she said.
    Schmid said she’s made few significant alterations to the home since moving in. Aside from improvements to the kitchen, she said many of the features and fixtures remain as they did when it was built.
    “It needs major repairs,” she said.
    Both Schmid and Reilly declined to discuss their arrangement until the property is officially transferred.
    Reilly was uncertain when the historical society will assume the deed to the land, but said there are additional negotiations outside of discussions with Schmid.



PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Marjorie Schmid’s house on Schermerhorn Road in Rotterdam is seen on Monday.

I was sorry to read that Mrs Schmid will be leaving her home because she can't pay her taxes.  I was even more disturbed to read this:

Quoted Text

“I give to my children what they gave to me in my time of need,” recites the outspoken 84-year-old Rotterdam resident. “Nothing.”

I've known this fine lady for several years, tho admittedly rarely outside the Rotterdam Town Hall meetings we used to attend together. To even imagine her saying something like this makes me sad to think what she must have gone thru with her kids. That's depressing.

I'm seriously concerned about Mrs Schmid's living arrangements ... will she be able to stay in her house till the end of her natural life? Will she spend her days in a nursing home? Is her family around at all? I may attempt to contact her - just to say hello and make sure she's alright.

I swear, if I had extra room in my house (meaning even the smallest room for a spare bed) I'd invite Mrs Schmid to live with us,

For those that don't know or remember her, Mrs Schmid was an well spoken proponent of the Aquifer, the natural lands in Rotterdam and one of the few people that were/are really concerned about the town of Rotterdam and it's future.  Spending a short amount of time with her, you'd realize she knows more about the lower Campbell Rd are, aquifer, mall property, cemetaries, etc - than ANYONE else in the area (sans Scott Ritter, Larry Hart and maybe a couple of others). She's probably, in her better days, mapped every square foot of that area and knows the surface and subsurface as well as any geologist. She has/had stacks of research.  If she didn't know the answer on this or hundreds of other topics, she knew where to look to GET the answer, or who to call to discuss and perhaps debate "the" answer.

I wish I had known this lady more than I did. I feel it a privledge to know her and will always remember her fondly.

I thought it inappropriate to air the family dirty laundry  in our local paper. It really had nothing to do with the 'why' she was leaving the house to the Historical society. I mean either that was her 'good intention' plan right along, or she is doing it to spite her children. In either case, that was way too much personal information that the people of Rotterdam needed to know.

Putting her personal business life aside, she should be commended for the work she did 'trying' to protect the aquifer.

Nice tribute to Mrs. Schmid Mobile, I'm sure she is special. I too am saddened by the treatment by her children, they should be ashamed regardless of the circumstances.

I think she is just telling the truth---What's her's is her's and what is theirs is theirs.....she is very outspoken. I dont know her family issues but, there is nothing that a child should expect to get from their parents other than wisdom and knowledge.....It's just a house with land

Not: I work this hard so you dont have too. type of wisdom.

But: I work this hard so you know how to do and what/who you do it for. type of wisdom.

It was not appropriate to air the family conflict, if there even is one, in the local newspaper! Perhaps if  Justin Mason the gazette reporter ended the article  the way he started it, the impact of this gracious story would have been first in the people's minds.

Is this the house at the top of the hiking trail?