Two Monticellos, Two Generations

The Monticello News had an interesting visitor Monday with an intriguing story. Alvin Dumas, Jr., better known as Al, popped in to visit The News staff while visiting his father’s hometown to catch up with family and friends.

His father, Alvin Sr., was born here in 1904 but eventually moved away heading northbound. He landed in Monticello, New York (approximately 90 miles northwest of Manhattan) where Al was born and still resides while working with the Monticello, N.Y. Fire Department.

Alvin, Sr. passed away in 1988 but Al still makes the solo journey here annually to visit relatives of the Dumas and Standifer families. He made the journey this year during Deer Festival weekend and age 50 attended his first Deer Festival in its 49 years.

Al is quite the aficionado of all cities Monticello USA. He recounted that there were 17 Monticellos in the country of which he has visited 12. He shared a myriad of peculiar facts about Monticellos from New Mexico to Georgia and from Maine to Florida. Facts that included local architecture, census statistics, proximity to major interstates, and connections to historical personalities.

Though featured in The News this week alongside the photo of his father posed with a mountain lion captured locally in the 1930s, this is not Al’s first appearance within The News pages.

Sometime in the early 1990s, he was contacted by Lyn McLaurin, a Shady Dale resident and former News freelancer, about an article he had published in N.Y. about his research of Monticellos. Her intrigue about his research led to a story about him locally 20 years ago.

Al has had a full career in public service. In addition to his current work with the N.Y. fire department, he served in the U.S. Navy and worked as a U.S. postal employee. He also served as chauffeur for the Chief Justice of N.Y. for 15 years.

In addition to visiting family and The News, Al made drop-ins of greetings to the local sheriff department and fire department.