Who are the Canalboys?

Historically, the Canalboys were the lowest of the low. They were the young men who drove the mules that pulled the boats that plied the canal. Poor, often orphans, many sought to be arrested in the late fall so they could spend the winter warm (and fed) in a local jail.

These canal boys are Paul Ryan & Terry Morris. Terry is a research librarian from Dewitt with a love of stupid facts. Paul is a former Wall Streeter who fell in love with the canal while riding the Amtrak from NYC to Syracuse. Paul and Terry are friends from kindergarten in Buffalo. Paul found Terry derelict in a local gin mill one night insisting to no one in particular that Dewitt Clinton should have been President. This is the Bonafide origin story of the Canalboys and makes as much sense as any Batman movie we’ve seen.

  • Paul Ryan

    FOUNDER

    Born in Buffalo, NY, Paul Ryan worked on Wall Street for 35 years. He founded Hayfield, a middle-market consulting and advisory firm. Paul has held several C-suite positions with various hedge funds throughout his career and also played a leading role in many early-stage companies. While teaching history to at-risk youth in New York City the importance of the Erie Canal made itself apparent to Paul and he has been reading and researching this topic ever since. Paul earned an AB in Economics from Harvard University and a JD from Fordham University.

  • Mark Schmeller

    THE COACH

    Mark Schmeller (AKA "Coach") is an Associate Professor of History at Syracuse University, where he teaches and researches 19th-century American political, cultural, and legal history. A native of Kansas and a graduate of Kansas State University and the University of Chicago, he has lived in Central New York for the last fifteen years. During this time, Coach Schmeller developed an unreasonable and often morbid fascination with the history of the canal region that lead him to write  The Book of Morgan: A Story of Conspiracy, Freemasonry, and Democracy in America (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming), which examines the 1826 abduction and murder of William Morgan, a Batavia, New York freemason who had threatened to publish the secrets of the fraternity. The ensuing "Morgan Affair" resulted in a flurry of prosecutions and conspiracy theories, sent shock waves through American politics, and nearly destroyed American masonry. Schmeller became a Canal Boy for reasons that remain unclear even to him, but it is suspected that he just likes being called "coach." 

  • Terry Morris

    AKA Tonawanda Dandy

    Born in Buffalo, NY, a few blocks from Paul, Terry has always loved libraries and research. In his career, Terry worked at various library vendors in sales and support positions spending nights hidden in the stacks of many a public library researching his yet unpublished History of the Entire World 2026BC-2026AD. Paul found Terry on the floor of the Continental bar in Buffalo, NY and convinced him to shower and work on this podcast. Terry holds, although on occasion drops, a Master's Degree in Library Science and a BA in Tarot from the University at Buffalo.