*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 49260 ***

 The History of
 Orange County
 New York

 EDITED BY
 RUSSEL HEADLEY

 PUBLISHED BY
 VAN DRUSEN AND ELMS
 MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK
 1909




PREFACE

In presenting this new History of Orange County to the public, we do
so in the earnest hope that it will prove to be the most complete
compilation of local chronicles that has up to this time been offered
to our citizens. The authenticity of the facts contained in the
various articles is as absolute as the utmost care could make it. The
data have been procured from the best known authorities, and the
sketches, when completed, have been subjected to the most searching
examination for verification and correction. That no errors will be
discovered in this production, is too much to hope for; but we do
most certainly trust, that if any such errors there be, neither in
number nor by their nature, will they be found to be sufficiently
important to detract from that character for reliability, which it
has been our constant aim and endeavor to impart to this history.

In this new work the design has been, to make clear the development
of ideas and institutions from epoch to epoch; the social and
economic conditions of the people have been preserved in the
narrative, and much attention has been paid to describing the civil
characteristics of the several towns and cities, both in the conduct
of their local affairs and also in relation to each other and the
county at large.

It is a well-known fact that considerable prejudice exists among a
great body of the people toward county histories in general, for the
reason that some such compilations in the past, have been composed of
fact and fiction so intermingled, as to render it a difficult matter
to know what was true and what was false. It has been our object in
this work to hew straight to the line, satisfied to simply furnish
such information as we were able to gather concerning each important
matter or interesting event; and where the desired materials were
lacking, we have not attempted to supply that lack, by filling in the
vacant niches with products of the imagination. We have not striven
for effect, but our object is merely to give an authentic account of
facts recent and remote, so disposed in a proper and orderly manner,
as to enable our readers to clearly understand the history of their
county from its origin down to the present day.

It is the limitation attached to all works devoted to general
history, that from their very character only a superficial knowledge
of the men and their times can be derived from them, while on the
other hand, that which they lack is supplied by local histories of
this nature, whose great value in adding to the fund of human
knowledge cannot be overestimated; for they are the only mediums
through which we can get the whole story of the economy of life,
practiced by those men and women in every county in our broad land,
which eventually resulted in transforming a wilderness into a garden,
and from a weak and needy folk, creating a rich and mighty nation. It
has long been recognized by every scholar, that the knowledge of such
humble elements is absolutely essential, in order that the mind may
intelligently grasp the potent factors which go to make up history.
Hence, our correct understanding of the advancement and growth of a
people varies in just such proportion as the narrative of their daily
lives is full or incomplete.

The history of our own county cannot be studied too often; for it is
one of great interest, and the record revealed is a proud one. There
is no section of the country possessing more of historic interest,
nor does one exist, as closely identified with those crucial events
connected with the formative period of the Republic. In this county
was held the last cantonment of the Revolutionary army, here
Washington passed a large portion of his time, and within our borders
he rendered his greatest service to our country.

At the time the army went into winter quarters at Little Britain in
1782, although peace was not declared until the following year, yet
it was well understood that the long war was over and the States were
at last independent of Great Britain. The knowledge of this fact
naturally inclined the minds of men to a consideration of the form of
government to be adopted for the infant commonwealth, and nowhere did
the matter receive more attention than in that encampment, and from
those soldiers whose deeds in arms had made the happy consummation
possible.

The leisure entailed from the long relief from active duty which
ensued after going into camp, afforded ample opportunity for both the
officers and men of the army to discuss this question in all its
bearings. It must be borne in mind that republics were not much in
favor at that period, while the incompetent and discreditable manner
in which Congress had conducted the national affairs for years, had
created profound distrust and widespread discontent. Under the
circumstances it is not so surprising that, believing nothing but
chaos and ruin would be the lot of the country should the form of
government then in force be continued, the army should have finally
declared for a limited monarchy, and desired Washington as king.

The deputation of Colonel Nicola to present the subject to Washington
does not require repetition here, nor the details of the manner in
which that great man resolutely put aside all feelings of personal
ambition, and so sternly repressed the movement for all time, that
our present form of free government became an assured fact. These
events are merely mentioned to bring vividly to the mind the
recollection of the important connection our county sustained toward
that great drama, and also to bring clearly home the fact, that even
though the sun of liberty rose first from the green at Lexington or
the bridge at Concord, the gestation of the Republic occurred on the
banks of the Hudson in the old county of Orange.

Some criticism of this work has been occasioned through the inclusion
therein of biographical sketches; but we are certain that upon calm
reflection it will be seen that such objections rest upon no
substantial foundation. The narratives of the lives of men and their
acts constitute all there is of history. If it be true that all that
our county shows in the way of growth and development, is entirely
due to the men and women who originally peopled this region, and
worthily performed those parts allotted to them in the general scheme
of life, during their existence here, it is equally true that their
successors who still abide with us, took up the burden where it fell
from the hands of the fathers, and most signally continued the work,
and carried it forward to success. If the works themselves are
deserving of commendation, surely the workers and finishers thereof
are entitled to the honor of some mention.

In sending forth this volume, we trust that in addition to its value
as a depository of accurate information and useful knowledge, it will
also prove an effective instrument in creating a more active public
sentiment regarding historical subjects, and especially foster an
interest in the annals of our own county.

The editor would be wanting in gratitude did he fail to acknowledge
his obligations to the well-known writer, the late Mr. Edward M.
Ruttenber. The whole historical field comprising that period prior to
the Revolutionary era, has been so carefully gleaned over by that
indefatigable and accurate historiographer, that there remains little
or nothing that is new, to reward any subsequent investigator into
the history of that era, and therefore all who include that epoch in
any sketch, must perforce draw largely from the store of valuable
materials gathered by him. The editor also desires to return his
sincere thanks to our numerous contributors, for their cheerful
assistance, and especially for the painstaking care exhibited by them
in the preparation of those articles which appear herein, and whose
excellence constitutes the chief merit of this work.

That the efforts of myself and associates have fallen short of the
high standard we had set up for ourselves at the inception of our
labors, we are well aware; but we do at least claim, that we have in
some material degree, contributed in this volume to the "rescuing
from oblivion and preserving the services which others have performed
for God and country and fellow men." If the public by its verdict
allows this claim to stand, our reward will be ample and we shall
rest well content.

 Russel Headley.

 Dated, July 14, 1908.





 CONTENTS



 Part I

 CHAPTER I-X
 The County of Orange

 CHAPTER XI.
 The Town of Blooming Grove . . . . . . By Benjamin C. Sears

 CHAPTER XII.
 The Town of Chester  . . . . . . . . . By Frank Durland

 CHAPTER XIII.
 The Town of Cornwall . . . . . . . . . By E. M. V. McClean

 CHAPTER XIV.
 The Town of Crawford . . . . . . . . . By J. Erskine Ward

 CHAPTER XV.
 The Town of Deer Park  . . . . . . . .

 CHAPTER XVI.
 The Town of Goshen . . . . . . . . . . By George F. Gregg

 CHAPTER XVII.
 The Town of Greenville . . . . . . . . By Charles E. Stickney

 CHAPTER XVIII.
 The Town of Hamptonburgh . . . . . . . By Margaret Crawford Jackson

 CHAPTER XIX.
 The Town of Highlands . . . . . . . . By Captain Theodore Faurot

 CHAPTER XX.
 The Town of Minisink  . . . . . . . . By Charles E. Stickney

 CHAPTER XXI.
 The Town of Monroe  . . . . . . . . . By M. N. Kane

 CHAPTER XXII.
 The Town of Montgomery  . . . . . . . By David A. Morrison

 CHAPTER XXIII.
 The Town of Mount Hope . . . . . . . . By Wickham T. Shaw

 CHAPTER XXIV.
 The Town of Newburgh  . . . . . . . .

 CHAPTER XXV.
 The City of Newburgh  . . . . . . . .

 CHAPTER XXVI.
 The Town of New Windsor . . . . . . . By Dr. C. A. Gorse

 CHAPTER XXVII.
 The Town of Tuxedo . . . . . . . . . .

 CHAPTER XXVIII.
 The Town of Wallkill . . . . . . . . . By William B. Royce

 CHAPTER XXIX.
 The Town of Warwick  . . . . . . . . . By Ferdinand V. Sanford

 CHAPTER XXX.
 The Town of Wawayanda  . . . . . . . . By Charles E. Stickney

 CHAPTER XXXI.
 The Town of Woodbury . . . . . . . . .

 CHAPTER XXXII.
 The Bench and Bar  . . . . . . . . . . By William Vanamee

 CHAPTER XXXIII.
 The Medical Profession . . . . . . . . By John T. Howell, M.D.

 CHAPTER XXXIV.
 The Schools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . By John M. Dolph

 CHAPTER XXXV.
 The Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Rev. Francis Washburn

 CHAPTER XXXVI.
 Agriculture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . By David A. Morrison

 CHAPTER XXXVII.
 Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By W. T. Doty

 CHAPTER XXXVIII.
 Freemasonry  . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Charles H. Halstead

 CHAPTER XXXIX.
 Horse Breeding . . . . . . . . . . . . By Guy Miller

 CHAPTER XL.
 Dairying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 * * * * *

 PART II.
 Biographical Sketches




THE COUNTY OF ORANGE



CHAPTER I.


COUNTY, PRECINCTS AND TOWNS.

Orange was one of the earliest counties of the State, dating back to
1683. when it was organized by a colony law. It was also one of those
formed by a general act of organization in 1788, when it included the
present county of Rockland, and was described as extending from the
limits of East and West Jersey on the west side of the Hudson River
along the river to Murderer's Creek, or the bounds of Ulster County,
and westward into the woods as far as Delaware River--that is, all
that part of the state south of an easterly and westerly line from
the mouth of Murderer's Creek to the Delaware River or northerly line
of Pennsylvania. In 1797 Rockland county was set off from it, and
five towns from Ulster were added. Its boundaries were definitely
fixed by an act of the New York legislature adopted April 3rd, 1801.
The previous act of April 5th, 1797, provided that five towns, then a
part of the County of Ulster, should be annexed to the county of
Orange, and that the courts should hold their sessions alternately at
Newburgh and Goshen. Two days afterward another act was passed
defining the boundary lines of the towns composing the newly
constructed county, and naming them as follows: Blooming Grove,
Chesekook, Deer Park, Goshen, Minisink, Montgomery, New Windsor,
Newburgh, Wallkill and Warwick. There were subsequent changes, and
the following is a list of the present towns, with the years of their
erection, and the territories from which they were taken:

Blooming Grove, 1799, taken from Cornwall; Cornwall, 1788, as New
Cornwall, and changed to Cornwall in 1797; Chester, 1845, taken from
Goshen, Warwick, Monroe and Blooming Grove; Crawford, 1823, taken
from Montgomery; Deer Park, 1798, as a part of Ulster County and
taken from Mamakating; Goshen, 1788; Hamptonburgh, 1830, taken from
Wallkill, Goshen, Montgomery, Blooming Grove and New Windsor; Monroe,
1799, taken from Cornwall, original name Chesekook, changed to
Southfield in 1802, and to Monroe in 1808, and divided in 1890 into
Woodbury and Tuxedo; Montgomery, 1788; Mount Hope, 1825, taken from
Wallkill, Deer Park and Minisink, original name Calhoun; Newburgh,
1788; New Windsor, 1788; Wallkill, 1788; Minisink, 1788.

There are three cities in Orange County, Newburgh in the town of
Newburgh; Middletown, in the town of Wallkill, and Port Jervis, in
the town of Deer Park. Newburgh was chartered as a city in 1865,
Middletown in 1888, and Port Jervis in 1907.

The irregular county thus constituted is bounded on the northwest and
north by Sullivan and Ulster Counties, on the east and southeast by
the Hudson River and Rockland County, on the southwest and west by
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Sullivan County. It has nearly half a
million square miles.

The towns along the northwestern and northern border are Deer Park,
Mount Hope, Wallkill, Crawford, Montgomery and Newburgh.

Along the Hudson are Newburgh, New Windsor, Cornwall and Highlands.

Next to Rockland County are Highlands, Woodbury and Tuxedo.

On the New Jersey line are the point of Tuxedo, Warwick, Minisink,
Greenville, and a section of Deer Park.

The most western town is Deer Park which lies along New Jersey, the
Delaware River and Pennsylvania on the southwest and Sullivan County
on the north.

In the interior are the towns of Wawayanda, Goshen, Hamptonburgh,
Blooming Grove, Chester and Monroe.

The post offices of the county as distributed in the several towns
are named as follows:

Blooming Grove: Salisbury's Mills, Washingtonville, Blooming Grove,
Oxford Depot, Craigsville.

Chester: Chester, Greycourt, Sugar Loaf.

Cornwall: Cornwall, Cornwall-on-Hudson, Cornwall Landing, Idlewild,
Mountainville, Orrs Mills, Meadowbrook, Firthcliffe.

Crawford: Bullville, Pine Bush, Thompson Ridge.

Deer Park: Cuddebackville, Godeffroy, Huguenot, Port Jervis, Rio,
Sparrowbush.

Goshen: Goshen.

Greenville: Greenville.

Hamptonburgh: Campbell Hall, Burnside.

Highlands: Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery, West Point.

Middletown: Middletown.

Minisink: Minisink, Johnson, Westtown, Unionville.

Monroe: Monroe, Turner.

Montgomery: Walden, Montgomery, Maybrook.

Mount Hope: Otisville, Guymard.

Newburgh: Newburgh, Middle Hope, Liptondale. Cedarcliff, Cronomer
Valley, Savilton, Orange Lake, Roseton.

New Windsor: Little Britain, Rocklet, Vail's Gate, Moodna.

Tuxedo: Arden, Southfields, Tuxedo Park.

Wallkill: Middletown, Circleville, Stony Ford, Howells, Crystalrun,
Fair Oaks.

Warwick: Edenville, Warwick, Florida, Pine Island, New Milford,
Wisner Lake, Bellvale, Greenwood Lake, Amity.

Wawayanda: New Hampton, Ridgebury, Slate Hill, South Centreville.

Woodbury: Woodbury Falls, Highland Mills, Central Valley.

To go back and particularize more fully: In 1686 the town of Orange
was organized, and soon afterward adjoining patents were attached to
it for jurisdiction and assessment. In 1719 the northern settlements
were separated into the precinct of Orange, with Tappan as its
center, and the precinct of Haverstraw, with "the Christian patented
lands of Haverstraw" as its center. In 1714 the precinct of Goshen
was organized, and included the entire county except the Orangetown
and Haverstraw districts. In 1764 it was divided by a straight line,
all the lands west of the line constituting the precinct of Goshen
and all the lands east, the precinct of New Cornwall. The four
precincts named were the political divisions of the county until
after the Revolution. In 1788 the towns of Warwick and Minisink were
erected from Goshen, and in 1791 the towns of Clarkstown and Ramapo
were erected from Haverstraw. In 1797 the name of the town of New
Cornwall was changed to Cornwall.

In the southern towns of the County of Ulster, afterward transferred
to Orange, changes were made in 1709. The precincts of Highlands and
Shawangunk were attached to New Paltz, and the present Orange County
towns of Montgomery, Crawford and Wallkill were then embraced within
its limits. These divisions continued until 1743, when they were
changed to three precincts--Wallkill, Shawangunk and Highlands. There
was also the precinct of Mamakating west of the precincts of Wallkill
and Shawangunk, the northern part of which was made a part of Deer
Park in 1798 by the law annexing the Ulster County towns. In 1762 the
precinct of Highlands was divided into the precincts of Newburgh and
New Windsor, and in 1772 the precinct of Newburgh was divided so as
to form another precinct on the north, named New Marlborough. The
same law divided the precinct of Wallkill so that its northern
section became the precinct of Hanover. In 1782 the name of this
precinct was changed to Montgomery by permission of the Provincial
Convention of the State. By the general act of 1788 the Ulster County
precincts which have been named were erected into the towns of
Newburgh, New Windsor, New Marlborough, Shawangunk and Montgomery.

In the winter of 1797, after much opposition to plans for changing
the boundaries of Orange and Ulster Counties, two bills were agreed
upon by a Convention of Delegates from the several towns interested,
and these were presented to the Legislature and passed. One of them
set off from Orange the present County of Rockland, and the other
annexed to Orange County the towns of New Windsor, Newburgh,
Wallkill, Montgomery and Deer Park, then the southern section of the
county of Ulster.

In 1801 a general law dividing the State into counties fixed the
then somewhat undefined boundaries of Orange, and another law adopted
the same year fixed the boundaries of its towns as they now are, with
the exception of Woodbury and Tuxedo, into which Monroe was separated
in 1890.

The first Board of Supervisors of the present county, which met in
Goshen in 1798, was composed as follows: John Vail, Goshen; Francis
Crawford, New Windsor; Reuben Tooker, Newburgh; Anselem Helme,
Cornwall; Jacob Post, Warwick; Nathan Arnont, Minisink; James Finch,
Deer Park; David Gallatin, Montgomery; Andrew McCord, Wallkill.

Since that time the three towns of Greenville, Wawayanda and
Highlands have been erected.

[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh]




 CHAPTER II.
 EARLY INDIAN CHARACTER AND CONDUCT.



Among the surprises experienced by Columbus and the explorers who
sailed up and down the coast of North America soon after his great
discovery, were the characteristics of the newly-found race of native
Indians. Their tribal differences were comparatively slight, and
although uncivilized, many of them exhibited traits which indicated a
remote ancestry above savagery, and caused speculation which has not
yet ceased.

Hendrick Hudson, from whom the magnificent Hudson River takes its
name, has given us in his journal the first information about the
tribes at its mouth and along its shores. Sailing from Amsterdam in
the ship _Half-Moon_ in 1609, he first landed near Portland, [fn] Me.,
on July 19th. Thence he sailed south to Chesapeake Bay, thence north
to Delaware Bay, and thence to Sandy Hook, anchoring, probably off
Coney Island, September 3d. Here and on the New Jersey coast Indians
came to the ship in canoes, and bartered green corn and dried currants
for knives, beads and articles of clothing. He wrote that they behaved
well, but when he sent out a boat on the 6th to explore the Narrows,
his men were attacked by twenty-six natives in two canoes, who killed
one of his crew with an arrow and wounded two others. On September
11th he sailed through the Narrows and found a good protected harbor.
Here his ship was again visited by many natives, who brought Indian
corn, tobacco and oysters for barter, and displayed copper pipes,
copper ornaments, and earthen pots for cooking.

  [fn] To avoid circumlocution present names will be generally used to
  indicate localities.

Hudson started on his voyage up the river September 12th, and began
his return September 22d. His ship stopped near the present city of
Hudson, but he proceeded much farther in a small boat--as far, it is
supposed, as Albany. About 25 miles below Albany an aged chief
entertained him hospitably, and the Indians offered in barter tobacco
and beaver skins. Here the Indians of the Hudson, and probably of all
North America, first tested the white man's liquor. Hudson gave them
some to see how they would act under its influence. Only one drank
enough to become intoxicated, and when he fell down in a stupor the
others were alarmed, but after he became sober the next day their
alarm ceased, and they manifested a friendly spirit. This was on the
east side of the river. Below the Highlands on the west side the
natives were of a different disposition, and shot arrows at the crew
from points of land. For this they were punished by Hudson's men, who
returned their fire and killed about a dozen of them. Hudson's
journal says that above the Highlands "they found a very loving
people and very old men, and were well used." One of his anchoring
places had been the bay at Newburgh, and here he wrote prophetically:
"This is a very pleasant place to build a town on," and the handsome
and prosperous City of Newburgh shows that he judged well. At this
point many more Indians boarded the ship, and did a brisk business in
exchanging skins for knives and ornamental trifles.

At several anchorages the Indians brought green corn to Hudson's
ship, and it was one of the agreeable surprises of the crew at their
meals. Corn was generally cultivated by the Hudson River tribes, and
grew luxuriantly. Ruttenber says it was long supposed to be native,
but investigation shows it was transplanted from a foreign shore. It
is certain that the early explorers knew nothing of it until it was
brought to them by the Indians, and that it had been cultivated by
the latter from immemorial times.

Hudson wrote that some of the Indians whom he met along the river
wore mantles of feathers and good furs, and that women came to the
ship with hemp, having red copper tobacco pipes and copper neck
ornaments. Verrazano, who sailed along the North American coast 33
years after Hudson's expedition, said the Indians were dressed out in
feathers of birds of various colors. He mentioned "two kings" who
came aboard his ship in Narragansett Bay as "more beautiful in
stature than can possibly be described," and characterized them as
types of their race. One wore a deerskin around his body artificially
wrought in damask colors. His hair was tied back in knots, and around
his neck was a chain with stones of different colors. The natives who
accompanied the chiefs were of middle stature, broad across the
breast, strong in the arms and well formed. A little later Roger
Williams was welcomed as a friend by an old chief, Canonnieus, and
his nephew, and he described the Indians who accompanied them as of
larger size than the whites, with tawny complexions, sharp faces,
black hair, and mild, pleasant expressions. The women were graceful
and beautiful, with fine countenances, and of modest appearance and
manner. They wore no clothing, except ornamental deer skins, like
those of the men, but some had rich lynx skins on their arms, and
various ornaments on their heads composed of braids of hair which
hung upon their breasts. These Indians were generous in their
disposition, "giving away whatever they had."

Later the Indians were classed from language into two general
divisions--the Algonquins and the Iroquois--terms given them by the
Jesuit missionaries. The Iroquois occupied central and western New
York, including the Mohawk River, the headwaters of the Delaware, the
Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The Algonquins included all
the Indians of Eastern New York, Eastern Canada, New England, New
Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Eastern Virginia. Several tribes in
the west Hudson River counties constituted the Lenni-Lenape nation,
which held its council fires on the site of Philadelphia. Some of
their names were Waoranecks, Haverstroos, Minisinks and
Waranawonkongs. When Hudson came the Lenapes were the head of the
Algonquin nations, but wars with the Iroquois and the whites so
weakened them that they became the subjects of the Iroquois
confederacy for eighty years previous to 1755. Then they rebelled,
allied themselves with other tribes, became the head of the western
nations and successfully contested nearly all the territory west of
the Mississippi. During the period of their subservience they were
known as the Delawares. The Mohawks were the most eastern nation of
the Iroquois, and were called Maquas by the Dutch, and a branch on
the Delaware, Minquas. The Iroquois, first known as the Five Nations,
later received the Tuscaroras of North Carolina, who removed to New
York, and with the Cherokees and other southern Indians became the
sixth nation of that great Indian confederacy, to which they also
were related by language.

Both the Algonquin and Iroquois confederacies were divided into
tribes and sub-tribes of families, each with a head who was the
father or founder. These combined for mutual defense and the heads
elected one of their number chief sachem, regarding themselves as a
nation to make laws, negotiate treaties, and engage in wars, the wars
being mostly between the Algonquins and Iroquois.

The Esopus Indians occupied parts of Orange and Ulster Counties, and
their war dances were held on the Dans Kamer, a high promontory
north of Newburgh. Their rule extended to other families east and
west of the Hudson, but their territory cannot be clearly defined.

Regarding Indian character, there have been presented by our
historians some contrasting but not wholly irreconcilable views.
E. M. Ruttenber, in his valuable contribution to the History of
Ulster County, edited by Hon. A. T. Clearwater, says:

"When they were discovered the race had wrought out unaided a
development far in advance of any of the old barbaric races of
Europe. They were still in the age of stone, but entering upon the
age of iron. Their implements were mainly of stone and flint and
bone, yet they had learned the art of making copper pipes and
ornaments. This would rank their civilization about with that of the
Germans in the days of Tacitus (about the year 200 A.D.). They had,
unaided by the civilization of Europe, made great progress. They had
learned to weave cloth out of wild hemp and other grasses, and to
extract dyes from vegetable substances; how to make earthen pots and
kettles; how to make large water casks from the bark of trees, as
well as the lightest and fleetest canoes; had passed from the cave
to the dwelling house; had established the family relation and
democratic forms of government; their wives were the most faithful,
their young women the most brilliant in paint and garments and robes
of furs; they carved figures on stone, and wrote the story of their
lives in hieroglyphics, of which some of the finest specimens in
America are preserved in the senate house in Kingston; and most
remarkable of all, and that which carries back their chronology to a
period that cannot be defined, they had developed spoken languages
that were rich in grammatical forms, differing radically from any of
the ancient and modern languages of the old hemisphere, languages
which were surely ingenious, and of which it was said by the most
expert philologists of Europe that they were among 'the most
expressive languages, dead or living.' . . . They were savages or
barbarians, as you may please to call them, men who wrote their
vengeance in many scenes of blood, the recital of which around the
firesides of the pioneers became more terrifying by repetition;
nevertheless they were representatives of a race whose civilization,
though it was 1200 years behind our own, had no faults greater than
were found in the races from which we boast our lineage."

In Samuel Eager's "History of Orange County," published in 1846-7,
are found statements presenting a different conception of Indian
qualities. It says:

"The Indian character in this State is well known, and we have no
reason to believe that the character of the Indians of Orange was
materially different. If you know one you know the general character
of those who compose his wigwam, and knowing this you know that of
his tribe. They are all alike--dirty, slothful and indolent,
trustworthy and confiding in their friendships, while fierce and
revengeful under other circumstances. Their good will and enmity are
alike easily purchased. All have the war dance before starting upon
and after returning from the warpath, and bury the dead standing,
with their instruments. Their known rule of warfare is an
indiscriminate massacre of men, women and children, and they are
cruel to their captives, whom they usually slay with the tomahawk or
burn up at the stake. They believe in a future state of rewards and
punishments, and sacrifice to a Good Spirit--an unknown god. We have
the testimony of Hendrick Hudson that the Indians above the Highlands
were kind and friendly to him and his crew, and the more so the
further they proceeded up the river. This, we presume, related to
those on both sides of the river, though below the Highlands they
were of a more hostile character. We have understood, as coming from
the early settlers, who first located in Westchester and Dutchess and
afterwards removed here, as many of them did, that the impression was
very general that the Indians on that side of the river were less
hostile and more friendly to the white settlers than those on the
west; and this was given as a reason for settling there, which
accounts in some measure for the earlier settlement of that side of
the river. We infer, from the absence of written accounts of
anything very peculiar or different in the habits and customs of the
Indians of the county from others in the State, and from the poverty
of tradition in this respect that there were no such peculiar
differences, but they were similar and identical with those of the
heathen Indians at Onondaga and Buffalo before modified and changed
by white association."

These somewhat contradictory views of the Indian race seem to be
a little too sweeping on both sides, they being neither so good nor
so bad as represented. The native Indians have been both kind and
cruel to one another and the whites. Their instincts are not unlike
those of civilized peoples, but there are less control and restraint
in savagery than civilization. Their tribal differences of conduct
towards the whites depended less upon natural disposition than
leadership and provocations. Vindictiveness towards real or fancied
enemies seems to have prevailed everywhere among the North American
tribes, and this was undoubtedly increased towards the whites by the
latter's aggressions and by the former's indulgence in the
intoxicants furnished them by their white neighbors. But cruelty is
ingrained in the barbarian character almost everywhere, and often is
manifested in communities called civilized. The tortures of the
middle ages in the name of religion were as painful as those
inflicted in the eighteenth century by our Indians, and both seem
almost impossible to the philanthropist of to-day. Not until minds
have been softened by such teachings as those of the Founder of
Christianity, and extremes of bigotry have given place to tolerance
and charity, is the natural disposition of the average man to give
pain to antagonists dissipated.

There has been no more intellectual nation among the aborigines of
America than the Senecas of Western New York--the most original and
determined of the confederated Iroquois--but its warriors were cruel
like the others, and their squaws often assisted the men in torturing
their captives. When Boyd and Parker were captured in the Genesee
Valley in the Sullivan campaign of 1779, Brant, the famous half-breed
chief, assured them that they would not be injured, yet left them in
the hands of Little Beard, another chief, to do with as he would, and
the prolonged tortures to which he and his savage companions
subjected them were horrible. After they had been stripped and tied
to trees, and tomahawks were thrown so as to just graze their heads,
Parker was unintentionally hit so that his head was severed from his
body, but Boyd was made to suffer lingering miseries. His ears were
cut off, his mouth enlarged with knives and his severed nose thrust
into it, pieces of flesh were cut from his shoulders and other parts
of his body, an incision was made in his abdomen and an intestine
fastened to the tree, when he was scourged to make him move around
it, and finally as he neared death, was decapitated, and his head
raised on a pole.

[Illustration: John G. Borden]

Similar tortures were not uncommon among both the Iroquois and
Algonquins when they made captives of the whites.

Returning to the Lenni-Lenape of the Hudson River's western lands,
there is in Eager's history an account by a Delaware Indian of the
reception and welcome by the Indians of the first Europeans who came
to their country--on York Island--which is here condensed.

Some Indians out fishing at a place where the sea widens saw
something remarkably large floating on the water at a great distance,
which caused much wondering speculation among them. The sight caused
great excitement, and as it approached news was sent to scattered
chiefs. They fancied that it was a great house in which the Mannitto
(Great Spirit) was coming to visit them. Meat for sacrifices and
victuals were prepared. Conjurers were set to work, and runners were
sent out. The latter soon reported that it was a great house full of
human beings. When it came near it stopped, and a canoe came from it
containing men, one elegantly dressed in red. This man saluted them
with a friendly countenance, and, lost in admiration, the Indians
returned his salute. They saw that he glittered with gold lace and
had a white skin. He poured something from a gourd into a cup, drank
from it, filled it again, and handed it to a chief. It is passed
around, and the chiefs smell of it, but do not drink. At last a
resolute chief jumps up and harangues the others, saying that they
ought to drink, as the Mannitto had done, and he would dare to drink,
although it might kill him, as it was better that one man should be
destroyed than that a whole nation should die. Then he drank, soon
began to stagger, and finally fell to the ground. He fell asleep, and
his companions thinking that he was dead, began to bemoan his fate.
But he awoke, and declared that he had never before felt so happy as
when he drank from the white man's cup. He asked for more, which was
given him, and the whole assembly imitated him and became
intoxicated. After they became sober they were given presents of
beads, axes, hoes and stockings. Then the Dutch made them understand
that they would not stay, but would come again in a year, bring more
presents, and would then want a little land. They returned the next
season, began cultivating the grounds and kept bargaining for more
land until the Indians began to believe that they would soon want all
the country.

The scenes thus described by the Delaware Indian were probably soon
after the voyage of discovery by Hendrick Hudson.

The Esopus Indians, according to early records, represented four
sub-tribes--the Amangaricken, Kettyspowy, Mahon and Katatawis. In
1677 their chief deeded a large tract of land lying along the Hudson
in Ulster and Orange Counties and extending back to the Rochester
hills, to the English Government. The tract cannot be clearly
defined. Previous negotiations and fighting led to this transfer. In
1663 Wildwijk (Kingston), where an infant colony had been started,
was set on fire, and the colonists were attacked and murdered in
their homes with axes, tomahawks and guns. They finally rallied and
drove the Indians away, but not until twenty-five of them had been
killed and forty-five made prisoners. The New Village, as it was
called, was annihilated, and of the Old Village twelve houses were
burned. When Peter Stuyvesant heard of the calamity he sent a company
of soldiers from New Amsterdam to assist the settlers. They were
commanded by Captain Martin Kregier, arrived at Wildwijk July 4, and
a few days afterward Kregier had a conference with five Mohawk and
Mohican chiefs who came from Fort Orange. He induced them to release
some of their captives, but his negotiations with the Warranawonkongs
were less successful. They were the proprietors of lands in the
vicinity of Newburgh, and for some distance above and below the
Lenni-Lenape confederacy. They would not agree to terms of peace
unless the Dutch would pay for the land called the Groot Plat or
Great Plot and add presents within ten days. Kregier would not agree
to this, and on July 25th followed them to their castle. They
abandoned it, and fled to the Shawangunk Mountains, taking their
captives with them. They were followed, and again retreated. Kregier
burned their palisaded castle, cut down their cornfields and
destroyed about a hundred pits full of corn and beans which were a
part of the harvest of the previous year. Then Kregier returned to
Wildwijk and guarded the settlers while they harvested their grain.
He resumed offensive operations in September, sending out about fifty
men to reduce a new castle which the Indians were building "about
four hours beyond the one burned." The Indians were surprised, but
fought fiercely as they retreated, killing and wounding three of the
Dutch soldiers. Thirteen Indians were taken prisoners and
twenty-three Dutch captives released. The Indians fled to the
mountains, the uncompleted fort was destroyed, and the soldiers
carried away much spoil. Another force was sent to the same place
October 1st, when the Indians retreated southward, and the Dutch
completed the work of destruction, including crops and wigwams around
the fort. Later the Indians solicited peace and an armistice was
granted. They had suffered severely, and felt crushed, and their
allies, the Waoranecks, were also subdued, although their territory
had not been invaded. "The embers of their forest worship, which had
for ages been lighted on the Dans Kamer, were extinguished forever."
In the following May of 1664 they sought and executed a treaty with
the Dutch at Fort Amsterdam, whereby the lands claimed and conquered
by the Dutch were to remain the property of the conquerors, and the
Indians were not to approach the Dutch settlements with arms. The
ratification of the treaty was celebrated, and thus was closed the
struggle of the Indians for the possession of their lands on the
western slope of the Hudson from the Catskills to the ocean. The
Minsis remained in the western part of Orange and some adjoining
territory, and in 1692 and 1694 were strengthened by additions of
large colonies of Shawanoes. For nearly a hundred years after the
treaty there was but little trouble between the Indians and the
settlers of Orange County.

The incursions during the French and Indian and the Revolutionary
Wars properly belong to the military chapter of this history.




 CHAPTER III.
 FIRST SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS.

There is a tradition, supported by some evidence, that the first
settlement of Orange County was in the old Minisink territory along
the Delaware River. Although the supposed settlement was mostly in
Pennsylvania, the reported excavations, roads and other work of the
settlers were mostly in Orange County. The story of the tradition,
and evidence that it has a basis of fact, are given in a letter by
Samuel Preston, Esq., dated Stockport, June 6, 1828, which is
published in Samuel W. Eager's county history of 1846-7, and
reproduced in Charles E. Stickney's history of the Minisink region of
1867. Eager says the letter "will throw light upon the point of early
settlement in the Minisink country," and Stickney assumes that its
second-hand statements are substantially true. But Ruttenber and
Clark's more complete history of the county, published in 1881,
discredits them. The essential parts of Preston's letter are here
condensed.

He was deputed by John Lukens, surveyor general, to go into
Northampton County on his first surveying tour, and received from
him, by way of instruction, a narrative respecting the settlements of
Minisink on the Delaware above the Kittany and Blue Mountain. This
stated that John Lukens and Nicholas Scull--the latter a famous
surveyor, and the former his apprentice--were sent to the Minisink
region in 1730 for the government of Philadelphia; that the Minisink
flats were then all settled by Hollanders; that they found there a
grove of apple trees much larger than any near Philadelphia, and that
they came to the conclusion that the first settlement of Hollanders
in Minisink was many years older than William Penn's charter. Samuel
Depuis, who was living there, told them that there was a good road to
Esopus, near Kingston, about a hundred miles from the Mine holes,
which was called the Mine road. Preston was charged by Lukens to
learn more particulars about this Mine road, and obtained some from
Nicholas Depuis, son of Samuel, who was living in great affluence in
a spacious stone house. He had known the Mine road well, and before a
boat channel was opened to Foul Rift, used to drive on it several
times every winter with loads of wheat and cider to buy salt and
other necessaries, as did also his neighbors. He repeated stories
without dates that he had heard from older people. They said that in
some former age a company of miners came there from Holland; that
they worked two mines, and were very rich; that they built the Mine
road with great labor, and hauled their ore over it; that they bought
the improvements of the native Indians, the most of whom moved to the
Susquehanna.

[Illustration: The Colonel Ellison House, New Windsor]

In 1789 Preston began to build a house in the Minisink and obtained
more evidence from Gen. James Clinton, the father of Gov. Dewitt
Clinton, and Christopher Tappan, Recorder of Ulster County, who came
there on a surveying expedition. They both knew the Mine holes and the
Mine road, and were of the opinion that they were worked while New
York belonged to Holland, which was previous to 1664. Preston did not
learn what kind of ore the mines produced, but concluded that it was
silver. He went to the Paaquarry Mine holes, and found the mouths caved
full and overgrown with bushes, but giving evidence of a great deal
of labor done there in some former time.

Ruttenber and Clark's history, as stated, discredit the tradition
regarding the early settlement of the Minisink by Hollanders, as
accepted by Clinton, Tappan, Depuis, Preston and others. It
represents the Mine road to be simply an enlargement of an old Indian
trail, and the mines to have been of copper and located in what is
now the town of Warren, Sussex County, N. J. It says that the Dutch at
Esopus during the war of 1660-63 had little knowledge of the country,
even east of the Shawangunk, and that if the Minisink was penetrated
at a much earlier period it was by way of the Delaware River. The
historian discusses the subject further, and concludes that the first
settler of the Minisink was William Tietsort, a blacksmith from
Schenectady, who barely escaped the slaughter at that place in 1689,
and went to the Minisink country from Esopus, by invitation of
friendly Indians, and purchased lands of them in October, 1689.
"There is little doubt that he was the first settler on the western
border," says the history.

But Stickney, after recapitulating the traditions and evidence of the
early settlement of the region, says: "Here generations lived the
fleeting span of life in blissful ignorance of any outer or happier
world beside, and were alike unknown outside the boundaries of their
own domain until some wanderer chanced to come across their
settlement, and went on his way, thereafter to remember with
gratitude and envy the affluence and comfort that marked their rough
but happy homes."

If Tietsort was the first white settler of the Minisink, Arent
Schuyler was probably the second, as he settled there in 1697, having
been granted a patent of 1,000 acres of its lands by Governor
Fletcher. The governor had sent him there three years before to
ascertain whether the French in Canada had been trying to bribe the
Indians to engage in a war of extermination against the New Yorkers
from their fastnesses in the Shawangunk Mountains.

The earliest land transfers and titles were so thoroughly
investigated by Ruttenber and Clark that we cannot do better,
perhaps, than condense mostly from their history.

Warranawonkong chiefs transferred to Governor Stuyvesant the Groot
Plat or Great Plot, as it was called, in which Kingston is now
situated. These lands are said to be the first for which Europeans
received a title from the Indians, and are somewhat indefinitely
described in the treaty with them of 1665 to which reference has been
made. They were conquered by Captain Kreiger in 1663, and embraced
three townships in southwestern Ulster. Chronology next takes us to
the extreme south of Orange County. Here Balthazar De Hart and his
brother Jacob, purchased of the Indians "the Christian patent lands
of Haverstraw." They were on the south side of the Highlands and
extended from the Hudson westward to the mountains. On the
presumption that they were included in the boundaries of New Jersey,
the Harts soon transferred them to Nicholas Depues and Peter Jacobs
Marius, and purchased another tract north of them in 1671, which was
bounded by the Hudson River on the east and the mountains on
the south. This became the property of Jacobs. They also purchased a
tract north of the previous purchase, and including a part of it,
which was called Abequerenoy, and passed from them to Hendrick Ryker.

On the north a Huguenot, Louis Du Bois, with some friends who had
been driven from France by religious persecution, located first at
Esopus in 1660; and in September, 1667, after purchase from the
Indians, twelve of them became patentees of a tract of 36,000 acres
lying north of the Redonte Creek, as the Warranawonkong was then
called. The patent was obtained from Governor Andros in the names of
Louis Du Bois, Christian Doyan, Abraham Hasbroucq, Andre Le Febvre,
Jean Hasbroucq, Pierre Doyan, Louis Beviere, Anthony Crespel, Abraham
Du Bois, Hayne Frere, Isaac Du Bois and Simon Le Febvre, "their heirs
and others." Nine families immediately settled on the land and
founded New Paltz.

Between Haverstraw and New Paltz Patrick Mac Gregorie, David
Fosbruck, his brother-in-law, and twenty-five others, who were mostly
Scotch Presbyterians, occupied lands at the mouth of the Waoraneck,
and Mac Gregorie purchased for them 4,000 acres on both sides of
Murderer's Creek, on which they settled. Mac Gregorie built his cabin
on Plum Point, then called Conwanham's Hill, and the cabins of his
associates were in the vicinity, and on the south side of the creek
David Toshuck, the brother-in-law, who subscribed himself "Laird of
Minivard," established a trading post. "Within the bounds of the
present county of Orange this was the first European settlement,"
says the historian, but the precise date is not given. Stickney
thinks the year was 1684, but it was probably a little earlier, as
about that time Mac Gregorie entered into the military service of the
State without perfecting his patent, mistakenly trusting Governor
Dongan to protect his interests, who, in 1684, obtained from three
Indian owners their title to a tract extending from New Paltz along
the Hudson to Murderer's Kill, thence westward to the foot of the
high hills, and thence southwesterly along the hills and the river
Peakadasank to a pond; and the same year added by deed from several
Indians another large tract of the land called Haverstraw. These
lands included a part of those which the Indians had previously sold
to Mac Gregorie, and others which they had sold to Stephanus Van
Cortlandt. The latter had preserved his deed, and succeeded in
obtaining a patent attaching them to his manor across the river.
Mac Gregorie was killed in the Leslie revolution of 1691. Governor
Dongan sold his two purchases to John Evans in 1694, and the latter
then proceeded to dispossess Mac Gregorie's widow and her family of
their home, when he granted only leases to them and the other Scotch
settlers. After some years, however, the Mac Gregorie heirs, in
consideration of their original claim, obtained a patent of the Plum
Point farm and a mountain tract.

The fourth and largest settlement was made adjoining "the Christian
patented lands of Haverstraw" by emigrants from Holland, mostly of
the Reformed Dutch Church. They were granted a township patent in
March, 1686, under the name of the town of Orange. There were sixteen
trustees of this grant, which began at the mouth of the Tappan Creek,
extended north to Greenbush, and thence easterly and southerly back
to Tappan Creek. The center of the township was Tappan, where a
church was organized. The trustees of the grant were Claessen Cuyper,
Daniel De Clercke, Peter Harnich, Gerritt Stenmetts, John De Kries,
Sr., John De Kries, Jr., Claes Maunde, John Stratemaker, Staaes De
Groot, Aream Lammatees, Lamont Ariannius, Huybert Gerryts, Johannes
Gerryts, Ede Van Vorst, Cornelius Lammerts.

A vast tract of land immediately west of Haverstraw was conveyed to
Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon, January 25, 1696. Adjoining this on
the south were certain tracts containing 2,000 acres which were
granted to Samuel Bayard. The Indian deed for this and other
purchases was covered by Lucas Tenhoven and embraced 100,000 acres,
for which no patent was issued.

[Illustration: V. V. Headley]

Between the Haverstraw lands and the township of Orange was the rocky
bluff known as Verdrietig Hook, including Rockland Lake, which became
the subject of controversy between the John Hutchins Company and
Jarvis Marshal & Company, both parties having obtained deeds, but
that of the latter proved to be of prior date (Sept. 27, 1694). A
few years later, in 1708, a patent was issued to Lancaster Syrus,
Robert Walters and Hendrick Ten Eyck, covering the vacant river
point described as beginning at the south bounds of Haverstraw,
extending west to Welch's island, thence southerly to the lower end
of the island, thence east to the creek running from the pond of
Verdrietig Hook, and thence north to the place of beginning, "except
the grant of Honan & Hawdon."

Ruttenber and Clark's history states that the indicated foregoing
patents covered the entire district from the New Jersey line to New
Paltz and west to the line of the Shawangunk Mountains.

Here is the proper place for some statements made by David Barclay
in his paper on Balmville read before the Newburgh Historical
Society in 1899. He said that Captain John Evans in 1694 obtained
from Colonel Fletcher, then Governor of New York, a patent for a
tract of land on the west shore of the Hudson, extending from Stony
Point to the south line of New Paltz, and westward to the Shawangunk
Mountains, including two-thirds of Orange County and parts of Ulster
and Rockland Counties, and estimated to contain 650,000 acres. The
only settlement thereon at that time was that of Major Gregorie's
heirs and followers at Murderer's Creek in the present towns of
Cornwall and New Windsor. The patent was afterward annulled by an
act of the assembly, which was confirmed, and the title reverted to
the crown. Included in these lands must have been those unjustly
transferred to Evans in 1694 by Governor Dongan "under the title of
the lordship of the manor of Fletcherdom." Ruttenber says that the
Evans patents, with others, were for a long time a disturbing
element, and were entirely undefined except in general terms.

Near the close of the 17th century there was active competition in
the extinguishment {_sic_} of the Indian titles and obtaining patents, and
several patents were granted. Three of them, to associations, were
issued at the following dates: Chesekook, December 30, 1702;
Wawayanda, March 5, 1703; Minisink, August 28, 1704.

The Chesekook patent was included in a purchase from five Indian
proprietors to Dr. John Bridges, Henry Ten Eyck, Derick Vandenburgh,
John Cholwell, Christopher Dean, Lancaster Syms and John Merritt.
The Wawayanda patent was a purchase from twelve Indians by the same
parties, and five more, namely, Daniel Honan, Philip Rokeby,
Benjamin Aske, Peter Mathews and Cornelius Christianse. The
Minisink patent was to Mathew Ling, Ebenezer Wilson, Philip French,
Derick Vandenburgh, Stephen De Lancey, Philip Rokeby, John Corbett,
Daniel Honan, Caleb Cooper, William Sharpass, Robert Milward, Thomas
Wearham, Lancaster Syms, John Pearson, Benjamin Aske, Petrus Bayard,
John Cholwell, Peter Fanconier, Henry Swift, Hendrick Ten Eyck,
Jarvis Marshall, Ann Bridges, George Clark.

This last purchase was of parts of Orange and Ulster Counties,
beginning in Ulster at Hunting House, on the northeast of Basha's
land, running thence north to the Fishkill River, thence southerly
to the south end of Great Minisink Island, thence south to the land
granted John Bridges & Company (Wawayanda), and along that patent
northward and along the patent of John Evans to the place of
beginning. There is no record that the purchasers received a deed
from the Indians, and it was reported, probably correctly, that when
Depuis obtained the Minisink lands from the Indians, he got them
drunk and never paid them the money agreed upon--treatment which
they resented for a long time afterward in hostility to the white
settlers.

The Chesekook patent was bounded north by the patent line of Evans,
west by Highland Hills, south by Honan and Hawdon's patent, and east
by "the lands of the bounds of Haverstraw and the Hudson."

The Wawayanda patent was bounded eastward by "the high hills of the
Highlands" and the Evans patent, north by the division line of the
counties of Orange and Ulster, westward by "the high hills eastward
of Minisink" and south by the division line of New York and New
Jersey.

The boundary lines of the three patents were defined in such general
terms that for a long time they caused trouble as to titles, and in
the final adjustment the territory claimed by the Wawayanda
patentees was cut off, while on the west a tract called the Minisink
angle, embracing 130,000 acres, was formed.

The English government began investigating the patents of such
immense tracts in 1698, and the next year caused the Evans patent
to be annulled, after which the territory covered by it was conveyed
in small tracts issued at different times up to 1775. These
conveyances, exclusive of those outside of the present county, were
as follows:

  1. Roger and Pinhorne Mompesson, 1000 acres, March 4th, 1709.
  2. Ebenezer Wilson and Benjamin Aske, 2000 acres, March 7th, 1709.
  3. Rip Van Dam, Adolph Phillipse, David Provost, Jr., Lancaster
     Symes and Thomas Jones, 3000 acres, March 23, 1709.
  4. Gerardus Beekman, Rip Van Dam, Adolph Phillipse, Garrett Brass,
     Servas Vleerborne, and Daniel Van Vore, 3000 acres, March 24th,
     1709.
  5. Peter Matthews, William Sharpas, and William Davis, 2000 acres,
     Sept. 8th, 1709.
  6. William Chambers and William Southerland, 1000 acres, Sept. 22,
     1709.
  7. Samuel Staats, June 5th, 1712.
  8. Henry Wileman and Henry Van Bael, 3000 acres, June 30th, 1712.
  9. Archibald Kennedy, 1200 acres, Aug. 11th, 1715.
 10. Alexander Baird, Abner Van Vlacque, and Hermanus Johnson, 6000
     acres, Feb. 28th, 1716.
 11. Jeremiah Schuyler, Jacobus Van Courlandt, Frederick Phillipse,
     William Sharpas, and Isaac Bobbin, 10000 acres, Jan. 22d, 1719.
 12. Edward Gatehouse, 1000 acres, Jan. 22, 1719.
 13. Cornelius Low, Gerard Schuyler, and John Schuyler, 3292 acres,
     March 17th, 1719.
 14. Thomas Brazier, 2000 acres, March 17th, 1719.
 15. Phineas McIntosh, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719.
 16. John Lawrence, 2772 acres, April 9th, 1719.
 17. John Haskell, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719.
 18. James Alexander, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719.
 19. Cadwallader Colden, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719.
 20. David Galatian, 1000 acres, June 4th, 1719.
 21. Patrick McKnight, 2000 acres, July 7th, 1719.
 22. Andrew Johnston, 2000 acres, July 7th, 1719.
 23. Melchoir Gilles, 300 acres, Oct. 8th, 1719.
 24. German Patent, 2190 acres, Dec. 18th, 1719.
 25. John Johnston, Jr., two tracts, Feb. 3d, 1720.
 26. Thomas Noxon, 2000 acres, May 25th, 1720.
 27. William Huddleston, 2000 acres, June 2d, 1720.
 28. Vincent Matthews, 800 acres, June 17th, 1720.
 29. Richard Van Dam, 1000 acres, June 30th, 1720.
 30. Francis Harrison, Oliver Schuyler, and Allen Jarratt, 5000
     acres, July 7th, 1720.
 31. Phillip Schuyler, Johannes Lansing, Jr., Henry Wileman, and
     Jacobus Bruyn, 8000 acres, July 7th, 1720.
 32. Patrick Mac Gregorie, two tracts, 660 acres, Aug. 6th, 1720.
 33. Mary Ingoldsby and her daughter, Mary Pinhorne, and Mary
     Pinhorne and Wm. Pinhorne, her children, two tracts, 5360 acres,
     Aug. 11th, 1720.
 34. Jacobus Kipp, John Cruger, Phillip Cortland, David Provost,
     Oliver Schuyler, and John Schuyler, 7000 acres, Oct. 17th, 1720.
 35. Lewis Morris and Vincent Pearce, two tracts, 1000 acres each,
     July 21st, 1721.
 36. John Haskell, 2000 acres, August 24th, 1721.
 37. Patrick Hume, 2000 acres, Nov. 29th, 1721.
 38. James Henderson, two tracts, one not located, 1600 acres, Feb.
     12th, 1722.
 39. Jacobus Bruyn and Henry Wileman, 2500 acres, April 25th, 1722.
 40. James Smith, 2000 acres, Dec. 15th, 1722.
 41. Charles Congreve, 800 acres. May 17th, 1722.
 42. Ann Hoaglandt, 2000 acres. May 24th, 1723.
 43. Francis Harrison, Mary Tathani, Thomas Brazier, James Graham,
     and John Haskell, 5600 acres, July 10th, 1714.
 44. William Bull and Richard Gerrard, 2600 acres, Aug. 10th, 1723.
 45. William Bull and Richard Gerrard, two tracts, 1500 acres, Dec.
     14th, 1724.
 46. Isaac Bobbin, 600 acres, March 28th, 1726.
 47. Edward Blagg and Johannes Hey, two tracts, 2000 acres each,
     March 28th, 1726.
 48. Nathaniel Hazard and Joseph Sackett, two tracts, 4000 acres,
     Jan. 11th, 1727.
 49. William Bradford, 2000 acres, Sept. 1st, 1727.
 50. John Spratt and Andries Marschalk, 2000 acres, April 12th, 1728.
 51. James Wallace, 2000 acres, March 2d, 1731.
 52. Gabriel and William Ludlow, six tracts, 4000 acres, Oct. 18th,
     1731.
 53. Thomas Smith, 1000 acres. May 8th, 1732.
 54. Daniel Everett and James Stringhani, 3850 acres, Jan. 17th,
     1736.
 55. Elizabeth Denne, 1140 acres, Dec. 12th, 1734.
 56. Joseph Sackett and Joseph Sackett, Jr., two tracts, 2000 acres,
     July 7th, 1736.
 57. Nathaniel Hazard, Jr., 2000 acres, Aug. 12th, 1736.
 58. Thomas Ellison, three tracts, 2000 acres. May 13th, 1737.
 59. Joseph Sackett, five tracts, 2000 acres, Sept. 1st, 1737.
 60. Ann, Sarah, Catherine, George, Elizabeth, and Mary Bradley, two
     tracts, 4690 acres, Oct. 14th, 1749.
 61. Cornelius Dubois, two tracts, one not located, July 2d, 1739.
 62. Richard Bradley, 800 acres. May 17th, 1743.
 63. Jane and Alice Colden, two tracts, 4000 acres, Oct. 30th, 1749.
 64. John Moore, 280 acres, Oct. 30th, 1749.
 65. Peter Van Burgh Livingston and John Provost, 3000 acres. May
     26th, 1750.
 66. George Harrison, three tracts, 2000 acres, July 20th, 1750.
 67. Jacobus Bruyn and George Murray, 4000 acres, Sept. 26th, 1750.
 68. Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, six tracts, 4000 acres, Nov.
     12th, 1750.
 69. Alexander Phoenix and Abraham Bockel, 1000 acres, July 13th,
     1751.
 70. Thomas Ellison, 1080 acres, Dec. 1st, 1753.
 71. John Nelson, 550 acres, Oct. 4th, 1754.
 72. James Crawford, Jr., Samuel Crawford, James White, and David
     Crawford, 4000 acres, May 17th, 1761.
 73. Cadwallader Colden. Jr., and Daniel Colden, 720 acres, June
     20th, 1761.
 74. Vincent and David Matthews, 1800 acres, Nov. 26th, 1761.
 75. John Nelson, 1265 acres, Oct. 4th, 1762.
 76. Thomas Moore and Lewis Pintard, 2000 acres, Dec. 23rd, 1762.
 77. Peter Hassenclever, March 25th, 1767.
 78. William Smith and Edward Wilkin, 2000 acres, April 17th, 1768.
 79. William Arisen and Archibald Breckenridge, 400 acres, 1770.
 80. Daniel Horsemanden, Miles Sherbrook, Samuel Camfield, and
     William Sidney, 3210 acres, 1772.
 81. Thomas Moore and John Osborne, 2000 acres, March 14th, 1775.
 82. Henry Townsend, 2000 acres.

[Illustration: Thomas Darling, Esq.]

[Illustration: Thomas Darling]

Only a small part of the Minisink patent was in the present county
of Orange, but the Wawayanda and Chesekook patents were wholly
within its limits, and covered its most fertile sections. The
Wawayanda patent caused much trouble, and was unoccupied by settlers
until 1712, when the surviving shareholders--Christopher Denne,
Daniel Cromeline and Benjamin Aske--determined to make settlements
thereon, and to facilitate their ends were made justices of the
peace. Parties were sent out by each of them, and these began the
settlements of Goshen, Warwick and Chester, where houses were soon
completed and occupied. The agent who preceded Denne into the
wilderness was his adopted daughter, Sarah Wells, then only 16 years
old, who was accompanied only by friendly Indian guides. She married
William Bull, the builder of Cromeline's house, and lived to the
great age of 102 years and 15 days.

Soon after the settlement thus started in 1712 John Everett and
Samuel Clowes, of Jamaica, L. I., took charge of the patent, and
proved to be enterprising and efficient agents. Recorded sales to
settlers and others prior to 1721, as well as to Everett and Clowes,
were as follows:

1. Philip Rokeby sold his undivided twelfth part to Daniel
Cromeline, John Merritt, and Elias Boudinot, June 10th, 1704.
Merritt sold his third to Cromeline in 1705. Boudinot sold his third
to George McNish, who sold to Clowes, Feb. 5th, 1714, for 150 pounds.

2. Cornelius Christianse sold to Derrick Vandenburgh, Sept. 8th,
1704, all his twelfth part. Vandenburgh sold to Elias Boudinot, and
the latter sold one-sixth of same to Everett and Clowes, July 20th,
1714, for 66L 13S. Boudinot's heirs subsequently sold five-sixths to
Everett and Clowes for 41L 13S 4D. This tract embraced New Milford,
in the present town of Warwick.

3. Hendrick Ten Eyck sold his twelfth part to Daniel Cromeline, Dec.
8th, 1704. Cromeline, who also owned two-thirds of the Rokeby share,
sold to Everett and Clowes, Jan. 1st, 1714, the sixth part of his
interest for 83L 6S, excepting two tracts, one of which contained
three thousand seven hundred and six acres. This tract was
principally in the present town of Chester, and embraced the site
on which he had made settlement and erected a stone dwelling, and to
which he had given the name of "Gray Court."

[Illustration: Governor George Clinton's Birthplace, New Windsor]

4. Ann Bridges sold to John Van Horne, merchant, of New York, July
4th, 1705, all the equal undivided twelfth part held by her husband,
Dr. John Bridges for the sum of 250 pounds. Van Horne was also the
purchaser of a part or the whole of another share and sold to Everett
and Clowes one-sixth part of one-sixth of one-thirteenth part for
58L 6S 8D. Amity was in Bridges's parcel.

5. Daniel Honan sold to John Merritt, 1705, all his twelfth part.
Margery Merritt widow, and John Merritt, son, sold to Adrian
Hoaglandt one-half and to Anthony Rutgers one-half. Rutgers sold to
Everett and Clowes one-twelfth of his half, and Anna, widow of
Hoaglandt, sold to the same parties one-twelfth, the latter, April
12, 1714, for 75 pounds.

6. Derrick Vandenburgh died holding his original share, and his wife,
Rymerich and his son Henry, his heirs, sold the same to Elias
Boudinot, Aug. 8, 1707. Boudinot sold his entire share to Clowes,
Oct. 27th, 1713, for 355 pounds. This parcel embraced what is called
in the old deeds the "Florida tract;" the name "Florida" is still
retained.

7. John Cholwell sold his twelfth part to Adrian Hoaglandt, Oct. 5th,
1706 for 350 pounds. Anna Hoaglandt, his widow, sold to Everett and
Clowes one-sixth of the share, and the remainder descended to
Christopher Banker and Elizabeth his wife, James Renant and Bertilje,
his wife, Petrus Rutgers and Helena his wife, her heirs.

8. John Merritt held his share at the time of his death, and his
heirs, Margery Meritt, widow, and John Merritt, eldest son, sold
one-half to Adrian Hoaglandt. John (then a resident of New London)
sold to John Everett, Feb. 25th, 1714, the remaining half for 120
pounds.

9. Benjamin Aske sold to Everett and Clowes, July 20th, 1714,
one-sixth of his thirteenth part for 50 pounds. He subsequently sold
a portion to Lawrence Decker, Feb 28th, 1719, another to Thomas
Blain, May 20th, 1721; and another to Thomas DeKay, Dec. 8th 1724.
In all cases the land conveyed is described as part of his farm,
called Warwick and in all cases the parties to whom the deeds were
made were described as residents of the county and upon the land
conveyed.

10. Lancaster Symes sold to Everett and Clowes, July 20th, 1714,
one-sixth of his thirteenth part for 50 pounds.

11. Peter Matthews, then living in Albany, sold all his thirteenth
part to Clowes Feb. 11th, 1713, for 200 pounds.

12. Christopher Denne sold, July 20th, 1714, to Clowes and Everett
one-sixth of his share for 50 pounds. He also sold to Robert Brown
three hundred and ten acres Sept. 3rd, 1721. Elizabeth Denne sold to
William Mapes, Joseph Allison, John Yelverton, Ebenezer Holley,
Joseph Sears, John Green, and John Worley, the Mapes deed bearing
date March 1st, 1729. The remainder of her interest in the patent
passed by her will to Sarah Jones, spinster, of New York, and
Vincent Matthews. Sarah Jones afterwards married Thomas Brown.

13. Dr. Samuel Staat's thirteenth part descended to his children,
Gerturv wife of Andries Codymus; Sarah, wife of Isaac Gouverneur;
Catalyria wife of Stevanus Van Cortlandt; Anna, wife of Philip
Schuyler; Johanna White, widow; and Tryntie Staats, who sold to
Clowes and Everett one-sixth of said part for 50 pounds, Sept. 2,
1720.

By these conveyances Everett and Clowes came into possession of lands
equaling four of the thirteen parts, and, as required by the terms of
their deeds, laid out the township of Goshen in 1714, dividing it
into farms and opening roads, and assigned 200 acres of land for the
support of a minister.

Some of the first settlers--those of 1714--were: Michael Dunning
Johannes Wesner, Solomon Carpenter, Abraham Finch, Samuel Seeley and
John Holley.

The most prolonged and bitter contest of titles was between settlers
of Orange County, mostly in the original Minisink region, and
settlers of Northern New Jersey. This was continued for sixty-seven
years with occasional border frays. The dispute had reference to the
boundary line between New York and New Jersey. King Charles II of
England in March, 1663, gave to his brother, the Duke of York,
a patent of all lands "from the west side of the Connecticut River
to the east side of Delaware Bay." The following year in June the
Duke of York granted release of all the territory now known as New
Jersey to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret. The northern line as
described in this grant extended from "the northward most branch" of
the Delaware River, "which is in latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes and
crosseth over thence in a straight line to the latitude 41 degrees
on Hudson's River." Sir Carteret took the east half of the province
and Lord Berkley the west half. In 1673 the Dutch reconquered New
York from the English, but on February 9, 1674, in a treaty of peace
between the two nations, it was restored to England. Sir Carteret
immediately took the precaution to have a new patent made out, which
defined the boundaries in about the same general terms as before.
Then came controversies as to which should be called "the
northward most branch" of the Delaware. The point of 41 degrees on
the Hudson was agreed to, but the New Yorkers insisted that the line
should touch the Delaware at the southern extremity of Big Minisink
island, and the Jerseymen {_sic_} that the point should be a little
south of the present Cochecton. This difference made the disputed
triangular territory several miles wide at the west end. Under the
New Jersey government the land was parceled out in tracts to various
persons, and when these came to take possession the men who had
settled upon them long before, resolutely maintained their claims. In
the border war that resulted numbers of the Minisink people were
captured and confined in New Jersey prisons. The first series of
engagements resulted from efforts to obtain possession of the lands
of a Mr. Swartwout, who was a major in the militia of Orange County.
One day the Jerseymen {_sic_} surprised him and put his family and
household goods out doors. He went to Goshen for help, and a
formidable company returning back with him, they in turn put the New
Jersey occupants and their goods out of the house, and restored it to
the major.

Then a spy was employed to watch the Jerseymen, and through the
information which he continually furnished, their future operations
were generally frustrated. About 1740 the "Jersey lines" made
another attempt upon the major and his possessions, but they were
anticipated and driven or frightened back, no one, however, being
killed. In 1753 a Jersey raid was made to get possession of the
lands of Thomas De Key, colonel of the Orange County militia and a
justice of the peace. He tried to negotiate with them, and induce
them to wait until the boundary question was determined, but they
refused, and he then barricaded himself in his house, and threatened
to shoot the first man who tried to enter, and they finally retired
vowing that they would bring a larger force. The last important raid
was in 1765, on a Sunday, when the Jerseymen came in considerable
force resolved to capture Major and Captain Westbrook. They
surrounded the church where the Westbrooks were worshiping, and when
the service was over there was a fight, amid the screams and sobs of
women, with fists and feet, in which the Jerseymen, being the more
numerous, conquered and captured the Westbrooks. They were confined
in the Jersey colony prison awhile, and then released.

In 1767 hostilities were suspended, and commissioners were appointed
to run a boundary line, and soon afterward the territory was
surveyed, and about equally divided between the claimants, and peace
thenceforth was established between the two sections.

In 1683, when the county was organized, it did not contain more than
twenty families. In 1698 a first census was ordered by Governor
Bellmont, and it showed the population to consist of 20 men, 31
women, 140 children and 19 Negro slaves. In 1860 the population had
increased to 63,812; in 1880, it was 88,220; in 1900, 103,850; and
according to the last census of 1905, our population was 108,267.




 CHAPTER IV.
 TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.



Orange County is unsurpassed by any other in the Empire State in
variety of surface features and picturesque beauty of scenery. It has
mountain ranges and extended ridges, streams with wide and narrow
valleys, and is dotted with lakes and ponds. Along the mountain lines
are a few lofty peaks, and there are many isolated hills and rocky
precipices. Parts of its boundaries are the Hudson River on the
northeast, the Delaware and Mongaup Rivers on the west, and the
Shawangunk Kill on the northwest. Near the center the Wallkill winds
along its rich valley into Ulster County, and thence into the Hudson.
Its principal tributary on the northwest is Rutgers Creek--which also
has several tributaries--and others are Monhagen Creek, Mechanicstown
Creek and Shawangunk Kill. On the southwest it gathers in the waters
of Warwick Creek--which is swollen by smaller streams in its
course--and also Quaker, Rio Grande, and Tin Brook Creeks. The Otter
Kill flows easterly from Chester into the Hudson. The Neversink flows
from Sullivan County through the town of Deer Park, and becomes a
tributary of the Hudson. The course of the Ramapo is southerly from
Round Pond in Monroe to Rockland County, and it is fed by several
other ponds. Other streams, large and small, are numerous.

The central portion of the county consists of rolling uplands broken
by deep valleys. The most prominent of the mountain ranges are the
Highlands along its eastern border. Their loftiest peak, Butter Hill,
is 1,524 feet high, precipitous on the river side, and sloping on the
north. Another name given to it is Storm King, because clouds
occasionally gather there from different directions and concentrate
in storms of rain and lightning. Cro'-nest {_sic_} adjoins it on the
south, and is 1,418 feet above the Hudson. Bare Mountain is next,
with a height of 1,350 feet. Mount Independence, with Fort Putnam on
its summit, is the background of the West Point plateau. Other well
known hills are in this broken range, where Arnold, the traitor,
conferred with Andre, the spy, and is more intimately identified with
the military history of the country than any other mountain region.
It has been written of Butter Hill and Cro'-nest that "they have a
charm which might induce a man to live in their shadow for no other
purpose than to have them always before him, day and night, to study
their ever-changing beauty."

[Illustration: Gate of the Highlands]

The Shawangunk Mountains are a spur of the Alleghenies stretching
northeast across the western angle of the county. They are less
broken than the Highlands, and not so high as the Catskills, but of
the same general formation. The western side is precipitous, but the
eastern is sloping, and some of its lands are very fertile, producing
sweet grasses from which much of the famous Orange County butter has
been made. The peaks rise from 1,400 to 1,800 feet above tide water.
This range was the original dividing line between the Wawayanda and
Chesekook patents.

The Schunnemunk range is on the dividing line of the towns of Monroe
and Blooming Grove and a part of that of Blooming Grove and Cornwall.
An accepted descriptive phrase for the range is, "the high hills west
of the Highlands." North of it, in New Windsor and Newburgh, is
Muchattoes hill, west of it Woodcock hill, and southwest of the
latter are Round, Mosquito, Rainer's and Peddler's hills; also Torn
Rocks, which rise in two rocky peaks 200 feet high. To the southwest,
in the town of Warwick, are the Bellvale Mountains, and south of
these the Sterling Mountains. Several other mountainous elevations
in Warwick and Woodbury punctuate this part of the county and also
the border country on the west. The feet of Pochuck Mountain are in
the Drowned Lands, and northerly in Warwick are Mounts Adam and Eve,
with Adam looking down from his superior height upon the longer Eve.
Easterly, in Chester, is Sugar Loaf Mountain, and west of this is
Mount Lookout, the principal elevation of Goshen. With the further
mention of Mount William and Point Peter, looking down upon Port
Jervis, let us clip the long list of Orange County elevations.

Valleys connect mountains and hills. That of the Delaware River,
along the border of Deer Park, is narrow and irregular, being much
broken by tributaries and mountains. The most of the cultivated
lands of Deer Park are along the Neversink valley. The valley of the
Wallkill is wide, fertile and beautiful its bottom lands are among
the best in the State, and its farmers are prosperous and thrifty.
Wide flats, gradual slopes and steep declivities give variety of soil
and scenery to the Otterkill valley, and much of its scenery is
charming. The same may be said of its tributary, Cromeline Creek.
Sugar Loaf valley extends from Sugar Loaf Mountain to the village of
Warwick, taking in Wickham Pond in its course, and extending into
New Jersey. Smith's Clove, extending from Highland Mills to the
Ramapo valley, should be mentioned because it was the birthplace of
Chief Justice William Smith, his brother, John Hett Smith, and the
notorious Tories, Claudius Smith and his two sons.

One cannot travel far in Orange County in most directions without
coming upon a lake or a pond, and there are dozens of them in the
southeastern section. These feed its many streams, and when Eager
wrote his history he said there was not one town in the county that
had not water power to some extent. Beginning in the northern part of
the Highlands in Cornwall the lake-and-pond system extends through
the towns of Highland and Monroe to Greenwood Lake, thence west and
north to Big Meadow Pond in the Highlands. Greenwood Lake, in
Warwick, is the largest body of water in the county. It is about nine
miles long and one wide, is partly in New Jersey, and is a feeder for
the Morris Canal. Sutherland's Pond, half a mile long, southeast from
Cro'-nest Mountain, has an outlet which runs into Murderer's Creek.
Big Meadow Pond, in Highlands, covers about 300 acres, and its outlet
pours over the rocks of Buttermilk Falls. The waters of Round Pond
flow into Long Pond under a natural bridge about 80 feet wide, but
the stream is lost sight of until it emerges on the other side. This
is similar to the outlet of Washington Lake in New Windsor, which
emerges at Trout-hole and there becomes a fall of forty feet.
Sterling Lake, at the beginning of the Warwick series, covers about
sixty acres, and in 1751 iron works were established at its outlet.
Round Pond, in Wawayanda, is in shape what its name implies, has no
visible outlet, its water is clear, pure and deep, and it is about a
mile in circumference. Thompson's Pond, in the northwestern part of
Warwick, covers about 100 acres, feeds Quaker's Creek, and this
outlet furnishes power for mills. Orange Lake, in Newburgh, covers
about 100 acres. But all the lakes and ponds of Orange are too many
to be named. They are almost as interesting a feature of the county
as its streams.

Orange County is richer in alluviums than any other in the State,
as they cover about 40,000 acres. The "Drowned Lands," as they were
formerly called, include about forty square miles, and are partly in
New Jersey, but mostly in New York, extending in Orange from Cheeunk
Outlet in Goshen through Wawayanda and Minisink to the New Jersey
line, and covering about 17,000 acres. They contain a number of
fertile islands, and thousands of acres of the waste lands have been
recovered by means of an artificial outlet, which, at first a mere
ditch, has been deepened and widened by the flowing water until the
principal flow is through it. These recovered lands are rich and
productive. They are belted by the Wallkill and three creeks, and the
Wallkill's course through them is long because so crooked. The Gray
Court meadows extend from near Craigville in Blooming Grove into the
northern part of Chester, and embrace about 500 acres, which are
nearly all under cultivation and very productive. They are drained by
Cromeline Creek. The Black Meadows, in Chester and Warwick, are about
1,000 acres in extent, and Black Meadow Creek flows through them.
Long Swamp, in Warwick, also contains about 1,000 acres, and is
drained into New Jersey. Great Pine Swamp extends northward from
Howells on the Erie railroad seven miles in the town of Wallkill, and
embraces many oases and cultivated farms. There are several other
scattered areas of swamp lands. In the marl and peat beds in several
localities many bones of the extinct mastodon have been found,
including two complete skeletons. One of the latter was taken from a
bed near Coldenham in 1845, and weighed 1,995 pounds, and the other
from a bed in the town of Mt. Hope, and weighed 1,700 pounds.

The topography of the county has been changed somewhat by its
railroads, of which there are 250 miles, not including double
trackage or trolley roads. The following places in towns extending
across the county have each direct railroad communication north,
east, south and west: Port Jervis, Middletown, Campbell Hall, Goshen,
Chester and Newburgh. The wagon roads are numerous, generally good,
and are charming arteries for carriages and automobiles.

The geology of Orange County is as varied as its topography. Along
the eastern feet of the Shawangunk Mountains are Heidelberg
limestones, gray and Medina sandstones, shales and grits, and the
mountain rocks are mostly sandstones, shales and grits. The grits
extend along the top of the range through the county and are from 60
to 150 feet thick. Heidelberg limestone extends from the Mamakating
valley to the Delaware River. Grit and red rocks are on the west side
of Greenwood Lake, and grit of various colors extends from Round Hill
to Woodcock Mountain, and is also found in the southwest base of the
Schunnemunk range and in Pine Hill. Grawacke is the rock on the
southeast side of the Bellvale range in Warwick, and is found in the
town of Blooming Grove in the Schunnemunk range. The Hudson River
group occupies a large part of the surface of the county, and
consists of slates, shales, grits, limestones, breccias and
conglomerates. It extends from the Hudson River through Warwick to
the Jersey line, and from the Hudson at Cornwall Landing to four
miles above Newburgh. It is stratified with grawacke and grawacke
slate. It forms the surface rock of the most of Goshen and Blooming
Grove, and parts of Cornwall, New Windsor, Newburgh, Montgomery,
Hamptonburgh, Crawford, Wallkill, Mt. Hope and Minisink. Dark Utica
slate is found on the banks of the Hudson near Newburgh. Trenton
limestone appears in Hamptonburgh near Mount Lookout, and this
mountain is composed of Black River limestone, which is also found on
Big Island in the Drowned Lands and in Minisink. There is a bed of
blue limestone about a mile wide extending from the Hudson at
Hampton southeasterly through Newburgh into New Windsor. It is also
found in the towns of Cornwall, Blooming Grove, Warwick, Monroe and
Goshen. Oolitic limestone is on Big Island, near New Milford, and on
Pochunck Neck.

Slate rocks of the Taconic system are above Newburgh, and its
limestone between the Highlands and Grove Pond Mountain. Its white
limestone appears in Warwick, where it is in narrow ridges separated
by other rocks. It is also found along the shore of the Drowned Lands
at Amity, and near Fort Montgomery in the Highlands, from which it
may be traced by way of Little Pond across the Ramapo. In some
localities it is so white as to be translucent. Many different
minerals are found in it.

The primary rocks of the county consist of gneiss, hornblende,
granite, sienite, limestone, serpentine, angite and trappeau. They
extend over parts of several towns, and several mountains and hills
are composed of them. Granite is found at the foot of Butter Hill,
sienite at Butter Hill and on the east side of Bare Mountain at West
Point, gneiss along the Highlands, mica and slate north of Fort
Montgomery, angite rock between West Point and Round Pond and at
several points in Monroe, greenstone trap at Tuxedo Pond, granular
limestone at Cro'-nest and Butter Hill. Quartz rock and hornblende
are all along the Highlands and in Monroe and Warwick. Crystalline
serpentine is in the white limestone in Warwick, serpolite at Amity,
yellow garnet at Edenville, soapstone in Monroe. Large sheets of
mica are found southwest of the Forshee iron mine in Monroe, and in
this mine, which embraces an entire hill, are red garnet, brown
tremoline, carbonate of copper, serpentine, cocolite and umber. In
the O'Neil mine, half a mile northeast of the Forshee mine, are
crystallized magnetic ore, magnetic and copper pyrites, carbonate of
copper, serpentine, amianthus, asbestos, brown and rhombic spars,
angite, cocolite, feldspar and mica.

There are beds of arsenical and titanium ores in Warwick and a bed of
hemolite ore near Canterbury village. Magnetic oxide of iron abounds
in the primitive rocks of the Highlands, and at West Point is
associated with hornblende. Beds of lead have been opened at
Edenville and in the towns of Mt. Hope and Deer Park, and zinc and
copper ores have been found in small quantities. The Sterling iron
bed in Monroe, which was opened in 1781, extends over about thirty
acres, and has produced so strong an ore that it has been much used
in the manufacture of cannon. There are a number of other iron mines.
Searches for the traditional silver, gold, lead and tin mines have
been without satisfactory results.

Many evidences of glacial action in Orange County include masses of
boulders scattered in places throughout the county. These are mostly
of granite and gneiss, and there is occasionally one of grawacke. The
eastern slope of the Shawangunk Mountains gives evidence of the
passage there of an enormous glacier, which ground the rocks into the
rich soil that has been cultivated there for 200 years. Some of the
county's drift deposits are valuable for casting, brick and pottery
making, lithographic stones and glass.

The soil of the semicircular plateau from the Highlands of the Hudson
to the Dans Kamer is mostly a mixture of gravel, sand and clay, which
form a warm and fertile loam. That of the wide Wallkill valley is
alluvium mixed with clay, sand and gravel and is easily worked and
richly productive. So is the soil brought down from the hills in the
town of Deer Park. The lands on the islands of the Drowned Lands are
among the richest in the county. The alluvium of the Otterkill is a
sandy and gravelly loam. In other sections of the county there is an
alternating variety of soils, rich, medium and poor.

[Illustration: Thos. W. Bradley]





 CHAPTER V.
 EARLY GOVERNMENT

Until after the conquest of New York by the English in 1664 Holland
methods of government, with a local government for each town,
prevailed. The next year the English introduced courts and sheriffs.
In 1682 Thomas Dongan was appointed governor, with directions to
organize a council of not more than ten "eminent inhabitants," and
issue writs for the election by freeholders of a general assembly,
the members of which should consult with the governor and his
council as to what laws were necessary for the good government of
the province. The first meeting of the first general assembly was in
New York in 1683, and it passed fourteen acts, which were assented to
by the governor and his council. One of them established twelve
counties, as follows: New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond,
Westchester, Albany, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Duke's and Cornwall.

Except Orange, to be in the care of New York, and Ulster, to be in
the care of Dutchess, the counties were to be entitled to
representation in future general assemblies. Another act established
town courts to be held for the trial of minor cases each month;
county courts and courts of sessions, to be held quarterly or
half-yearly; a general court of oyer and terminer, with original
and appellate power, to be held twice a year in each county; and a
court of chancery, or supreme court, composed of the governor and
his council, for which the governor was empowered to deputize a
chancellor to act in his place.

This was the system of administering justice eight years. Then, in
1691, Courts of Justices of Peace were organized in each town, and
Courts of Common Pleas for each county. In 1701 an act was passed
requiring justices of the peace in each county to meet once a year
at a Court of Sessions, to examine and allow necessary charges
against the county and its towns.

There were supervisors, assessors and collectors in each town from
the first, and in 1691 the freeholders of each town were empowered to
choose three surveyors to lay out and look after highways and fences,
and also to ordain laws and rules for the improvement of village,
pasturage and other lands.

Such were the laws which directed the early administration of
government in Orange County.

For many years previous to 1701 Orange County shared in serious
corruptions and frauds which were prevalent in the province. The
Assembly which convened in 1698 was so turbulent and brought so much
confusion into its councils that Governor Bellomont, who succeeded
Governor Fletcher that year, dissolved it and ordered a new election,
taking care that the untrustworthy sheriffs of his predecessor were
retired from the management. Protests were made to the King, but
without avail. The Governor had been clothed with power to correct
abuses, to veto any law, and "to adjourn, prorogue and dissolve the
Assembly." The new Assembly, which consisted of seven Englishmen and
fourteen Dutchmen, instituted some important reforms. It nullified
grants to large tracts of lands, regulated election methods, and
provided punishments for frauds. Unfortunately Governor Bellomont
died in 1701, before some of his plans could be carried into effect,
and Lord Cornbury was appointed as his successor, and acquired the
distinction of being "the worst of all the Governors under the
English crown." He was notoriously ill-mannered, dishonest,
rapacious, and openly vicious. The Assembly refused grants of money
which he asked for, and asserted the rights of the people, declaring
that they could not "be justly divested of their property without
their consent." Thus began in New York the preliminary struggle which
brought on the Revolution, ending in the establishment of the
Republic, in which the representatives of Orange earnestly assisted.

The first sessions of the Court of Common Pleas and of justices of
the peace as a Board of Supervisors were held in Orangetown in April,
1703. The court justices were William Merritt and John Merritt. The
supervisors were William and John Merritt, Cornelius Cypher, Tunis
Van Ronton, Thomas Burroughs and Michael Hawdon. The sheriff was John
Perry, the clerk was William Haddleston, and the constable was
Conradt Hanson. Orange and Ulster County people were then required to
do their surrogate business in New York. This was continued until
1751, when the Court of Common Pleas of the county was empowered to
take proof of wills and grant letters of administration. The Court of
Common Pleas was an institution of the county until 1847, when the
County Court was substituted. The Supreme Court began holding
sessions in Orange in 1704, and was succeeded by Circuit Courts
established under the Constitution of 1821, as these were by the
judicial system of 1846, consisting of a Supreme Court, Circuit
Court, and Court of Oyer and Terminer. Surrogate's Courts were not
established until 1854. In 1727 the original county was divided into
two court districts, and the sessions were held alternately in
Orangetown and Goshen, the former being the shire town. Not until
1798 was Goshen made the shire town, when the sessions alternated
between Goshen and Newburgh, an arrangement which still continues.

The first public buildings for the original county were constructed
at Orangetown in 1703. In 1740 a building of wood and stone for
court house and jail was erected in Goshen, at a cost of 100 pounds,
and was torn down about 1776. a new stone court-house having been
erected in 1773 to take its place, at a cost of 1,400 pounds. The old
Orange court-house had been replaced by a new structure in 1704, and
some years afterward was destroyed by fire. The Goshen building came
into the present county when it was reorganized under the Act of
1775. It was two stories high, with a court-room on the second floor,
and on the first a sheriff's office and dwelling, and a dungeon for
prisoners. During the Revolution Tories and war prisoners were
confined in it, one of them being John Hett Smith, arrested for
complicity in Arnold's treason, and who managed to escape. A third
story was added to this building about 1800, and on the new floor
were a main jail room, a dungeon with one grated window which could
be completely darkened, and three other rooms for the county clerk,
surrogate and jailer respectively. Above were a cupola and bell.
Court-houses were erected in Goshen and Newburgh in 1842, by
authority of an act of the Legislature, the Newburgh building at a
cost of $17,000 and the Goshen building at a cost of $13,000. The
latter structure has been completely remodeled lately, and is now a
fine, up-to-date building. The county clerk's office in Goshen--a
one-story brick building--was constructed in 1851. and the building
there for the surrogate and supervisors in 1874, at a cost of $7,400.

The county house for the poor, four miles south of Goshen, was built
in 1830 at a cost of $11,000 for the building and $1,000 for 128
acres of land. The building has since been improved and is now 50 by
100 feet and 3-1/2 stories high. In 1848 a building for the insane
was added, which is 30 by 50 feet, and in 1865 a separate building
for colored people was erected. In 1875 another building for the
chronic insane was erected, the cost of which was $20,000, and its
dimensions 80 by 40 feet and 4-1/2 stories high. The farm has been
increased to 263 acres, 200 of which are tillable, and has been
provided with the requisite outbuildings.




 CHAPTER VI.
 EARLY MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.

In the section of Orange County taken from Ulster the first two
companies of militia were organized before 1738. The regiment to
which they were attached consisted of nine companies, located as
follows: Kingston 3, Marbletown 1, Wallkill 1, Hurley 1, Rochester 1,
New Paltz 1, Highlands 1.

The regimental officers were: Colonel, A. Gaasbeck Chambers;
lieutenant-colonel, Wessel Ten Broeck; major, Coenradt F. Elmendorf;
quartermaster, Cornelius Elmendorf.

The following lists give the names of the officers and privates in
the territory which is now a part of Orange County:

Foot Company of the Highlands.

Officers: Captain, Thomas Ellison; ensign, John Young; sergeants,
David Davids, Moses Gariston, P. McCloghery; corporals, Jacobus
Bruyn, James Stringham; Jonah Hazard; clerk, Charles Clinton.

The names of the privates were as follows:

 John Umphrey            Jolin Markham
 Alexander Falls         John Read
 David Bedford           Joseph McMikhill
 Wm. Coleman             David Umphrey
 Joseph Sweezer          James Gamble
 Thomas Coleman          John Gamble
 John McVey              Cornelius McClean
 John Jones              John Umphrey, Jr.
 Patrick Broderick       James Umphrey
 Joseph Shaw             Peter Mulinder
 Caleb Curtis            Robert Burnet
 William Sutton          Archibald Beaty
 Jeremiah Foster         Daniel Coleman
 Charles Beaty           David Oliver
 Amos Foster             Arthur Beaty
 Alexander Foster        Matthew Davis
 James Young             John Nicoll, Jr.
 James Nealy             Alexander McKey
 Robert Feef             Robert Sparks
 Joseph Butterton        Juriah Quick
 Samuel Luckey           Jacob Gillis
 Joseph Simson           Thomas Johnston
 James Clark             Casparis Stymas
 John Clark              John Monger
 Lodewick Miller         James Luckey
 Peter Miller            Thomas Williams
 George Weygant          Johannes George
 William Ward            Jeremiah Tompkins
 William Ward, Jr.       Isaac Tompkins
 John M. Kimberg         William Watts
 William Smith, Jr.      Josiah Ellsworth
 James Edmeston          James Ellsworth
 Tobias Weygant          Anthony Preslaer
 Jerry Manse             Jonathan Tomkins
 Robert Banker           Moses Ellsworth
 Thomas Fear             John Marie
 Frederick Painter       Jonathan Owens
 Thomas Quick            Andrew McDowell

 Total, 85.

[Illustration: Joseph Chadwick]

Company of the Wallkill.

Officers: Captain, John Bayard; lieutenant, William Borland; ensign,
William Kelso; sergeant, John Newkirk; corporal, John Miller.

The names of the privates were as follows:

 Lendert Cole            Stephanus Crist
 Cornelius Cole          Jacob Bush
 Barnat Cole             Benjamin Haines
 John Robeson            John McNeill, Sr.
 James Gillespie         Matthew Rhea
 Thomas Gillespie        William Crawford
 John Wilkins            Robert Hunter
 William Wilkins         James Monell
 Andrew Graham           George Monell
 George Olloms           John Monell
 John North              William Monell
 John North, Jr.         Thomas Neils
 Samuel North            Robert Neils
 James Young             John Neils
 Robert Young            Matthew Neils
 Matthew Young           Nathaniel Colter
 James McNeill           John Neily, Jr.
 John McNeill            Joseph Buttletown
 Andrew Borland          Thomas Coleman
 John Borland            Joseph Shaw
 John McNeill, Jr.       Patrick Broderick
 James Crawford          William Soutter
 John Crawford           John Butterfield
 Alexander Milligan      John McVey
 Nathaniel Hill          John Jones
 Alexander Kidd          Joseph Knapp
 Archibald Hunter        Isaiah Gale
 James Hunter            Caleb Knapp
 John Wharry             Robert McCord
 John Mingus             William Faulkner
 Isreal Rodgers          Samuel Smith
 Jeremiah Rodgers        Joseph Theal
 James Rodgers           James Crawford
 James White             Joseph Sutter
 John Manley             David Craig
 Francis Falls           Edward Andrews
 Cronamus Felter         Samuel Crawford
 Richard Gatehouse       Andrew McDowell
 John Boyle              Philip Millspaugh
 Richard Boyle           Cronamas Mingus
 Robert Hughey           Stuffel Mould
 Robert Buchanan         Johannes Crane
 James Eager             John Young
 Thomas McCollum         Hendrick Newkirk
 Sojonaro Her            Frederick Sinsabaugh
 John Haven              Cornelius Wallace
 McKim Clineman          Hendrick Crist
 Jury Burger             Tunas Crist
 Hugh Flanigan           Lawrence Crist
 Benjamin Bennet         Mathias Millspaugh and son
 Patrick McPeck          John Jamison
 John Eldoris            John McDonald
 Patrick Gillespie       James Davis
 John Lowry

     Total, 114.

The following, found in the records of the original County of Orange,
is entitled "A List of Officers Belonging to the Regiment of Foot
Militia in the County of Orange, in the Province of New York," and is
dated June 20, 1738:

Officers of Foot Militia.

Colonel, Vincent Mathews; lieutenant-colonel, Solomon Carpenter;
major, George Remsen; adjutant, Michael Jackson; quartermaster, James
Thompson.

First Company: Captain, Ram. Remsen; lieutenant, Cornelius Smith;
ensign, Ebenezer Smith. Three sergeants, three corporals, one
drummer, sixty-three private men. In all, 73.

Second Company: Captain, Samuel Odell; lieutenant, Henry Cuyper;
ensign, Benjamin Allison. Three sergeants, three corporals, one
drummer, fifty-eight private men. In all, 68.

Third Company: Captain, John Holly; lieutenant, Michael Dunning;
ensign, Sol. Carpenter, Jr. Three sergeants, three corporals,
one drummer, one hundred and eleven private men. In all, 121.

Fourth Company: Captain, Jacobus Swartwout; lieutenant, Johannes
Westbrook; ensign, Johannes Westbrook, Jr. Three sergeants,
three corporals, one drummer, fifty-five private men. In all, 65.

Fifth Company: Captain, Nathaniel Du Bois: lieutenant, David
Southerland; ensign, Isaac Hennion. Three sergeants, three corporals,
one drummer, sixty-three private men. In all, 73.

Sixth Company: Captain, Abraham Haring, Jr.; lieutenant, Garret
Beanvelt; ensign, John Haring. Three sergeants, three corporals, one
drummer, sixty-two private men. In all, 72.

Seventh Company: Captain, Jacob Vanderbilt; lieutenant, Andrew
Onderdonk; ensign, Aaron Smith. Three sergeants, three corporals, one
drummer, fifty private men. In all, 60.

Troop of Horse: Captain, Henry Youngs; lieutenant, William Mapes;
cornet, Michael Jackson. Two sergeants, two corporals, one trumpeter,
fifty-two private men. In all, 60.

Total officers and soldiers, 595; sub-officers, 56 foot.

In 1756 the Ulster regiment was divided into two regiments. Kingston
was included in the northern one, and the southern was embraced in
the precincts of Highlands, Wallkill and Shawangunk. These regiments
took part in the French and Indian War.

In September, 1773, the officers of the Southern Regiment were:
Colonel, Thomas Ellison; lieutenant-colonel, Charles Clinton; major,
Cadwallader Colden, Jr.; adjutant, Johannes Jansen.

In 1775 the New York Provincial Congress passed a law for organizing
militia which provided that counties, cities and precincts should be
divided, so that a company might be formed in each district to
consist of about 85 men, including officers, between the ages of 16
and 50 years; that these should be formed into regiments of from five
to ten companies each; that the regiments should be classed in six
brigades, under a brigadier-general and brigade major, and the
entire force should be commanded by a major-general.

The Fourth Brigade when formed consisted of five Orange County
regiments, the colonels of which were William Allison of Goshen,
Jesse Woodhull of Cornwall, John Hathorn of Warwick, A. Hawkes Hay of
Orangetown, and Abraham Lent of Haverstraw. The four Ulster County
regiments were commanded by Johannes Hardenberg of Kingston, James
Clinton of New Windsor, Lee Pawling of Marbletown, and Jonathan
Hasbrouck of Newburgh.

Colonel Allison's regimental district consisted of Goshen and the
western part of Orange County. Colonel Hathorn's of Warwick and the
southern section, Colonel Woodhulls of Cornwall (then including
Monroe and Blooming Grove), Colonel Hasbrouck's of Newburgh,
Marlborough and Shawangunk, and Colonel Clinton's of Windsor,
Montgomery, Crawford and Wallkill. The other four regiments belonged
to territory now outside of the county.

Colonel Allison's Regiment.

William Allison, colonel; Benjamin Tusten, lieutenant-colonel.

Goshen Company, 1775: George Thompson, captain; Joseph Wood and Coe
Gale, lieutenants; Daniel Everett, Jr., ensign. In 1776 Lieutenant
Coe and Ensign Everett were transferred to a minute company, and in
their places William Thompson was appointed second lieutenant and
Phineas Case, ensign.

Wawayanda Company, 1775: William Blair, captain; Thomas Wisner and
Thomas Sayne, Jr., lieutenants; Richard Johnson, ensign.

Drowned Lands Company, 1775: Samuel Jones, Jr., captain; Peter Gale
and Jacob Dunning, lieutenants; Samuel Webb, ensign.

Chester Company, 1775: John Jackson, captain; John Wood and James
Miller, lieutenants; James Parshal, ensign.

Pochuck Company, 1775: Ebenezer Owen, captain; Increase Holly and
John Bronson, lieutenants; David Rogers, ensign. In 1776: Increase
Holly, captain; David Rogers and James Wright, lieutenants; Charles
Knapp, ensign.

Wallkill Company, 1775: Gilbert Bradner, captain; Joshua Davis and
James Dolson, lieutenants; Daniel Finch, ensign.

Minisink Company, 1775: Moses Kortright, captain: Jolin Van Tile
and Johannes Decker, lieutenants; Ephraim Medaugh, ensign. In 1777
Martinus Decker became second lieutenant _vice_ Johannes Decker.

Colonel Hathorn's Regiment.

John Hathorn, colonel.

Warwick Company, 1775: Charles Beardsley, captain; Richard Welling
and Samuel Lobdell, lieutenants; John Price, ensign. In 1776 John
Minthorn became captain in place of Beardsley, deceased; Nathaniel
Ketcham and George Vance, lieutenants; John Benedict, ensign.

Pond Company, 1775: Henry Wisner, Jr., captain; Abraham Dolson, Jr.,
and Peter Bartholf, lieutenants; Matthew Dolson, ensign. In 1776:
Abraham Dolson, Jr., captain; Peter Bartholf and John Hopper,
lieutenants; Mathias Dolson, ensign. In 1777: Peter Bartholf,
captain; John De Bow and Anthony Finn, lieutenants; Joseph Jewell,
ensign.

Sterling Company, 1776: John Norman, captain; Solomon Finch and
William Fitzgerald, lieutenants; Elisha Bennett, ensign. In 1777:
Henry Townsend, captain; William Fitzgerald and Elisha Bennett,
lieutenants; Joseph Conkling, ensign.

Florida Company, 1775: Nathaniel Elmer, captain; John Popino, Jr.,
and John Sayre, lieutenants; Richard Bailey, ensign. In 1776: John
Kennedy, lieutenant, _vice_ Popino. In 1777: John Sayre, captain;
John Kennedy and Richard Bailey, lieutenants; John Wood, ensign.

Wantage Company, 1775: Daniel Rosekrans, captain; Janus Clark and
Jacob Gale, lieutenants; Samuel Cole, ensign.

Colonel Wooodhull's Regiment.

Jesse Woodhull, colonel; Elihu Marvin, lieutenant-colonel; Nathaniel
Strong and Zachariah Du Bois, majors: William Moffat, adjutant;
Nathaniel Satterly, quartermaster.

Oxford Company, 1775: Archibald Little, captain; Birdseye Youngs and
Thomas Horton, lieutenants; Nathan Marvin, ensign. In 1777: Thomas
Horton, captain; Josiah Seeley, first lieutenant; Nathan Marvin,
second lieutenant; Barnabas Horton, Jr., ensign.

Clove Company, 1775: Jonathan Tuthill, captain; John Brewster, Jr.,
and Samuel Strong, lieutenants; Francis Brewster, ensign.

Bethlehem Company, 1775: Christopher Van Duzer, captain; William Roe
and Obadiah Smith, lieutenants; Isaac Tobias, ensign. In 1776:
Gilbert Weeks, ensign.

Upper Clove Company, 1775: Garrett Miller, captain; Asa Buck and
William Horton, lieutenants; Aaron Miller, ensign.

Woodbury Clove Company, 1775: Francis Smith, captain; Thomas Smith
and Alexander Galloway, lieutenants; John McManus, ensign. In 1776:
John McManus, second lieutenant; Thomas Lammoreux, ensign.

Southwest Company, 1775: Stephen Slote, captain; George Galloway and
John Brown, lieutenants; David Rogers, ensign.

Blooming Grove Company, 1775: Silas Pierson, captain; Joshua Brown
and David Reeve, lieutenants; Phineas Heard, ensign.

Light Horse Company, 1776: Ebenezer Woodhull, captain; James Sayre,
lieutenant; William Heard, cornet; Azariah Martin, second master.

Colonel Hasbrouck's Regiment.

Jonathan Hasbrouck, colonel; Johannes Hardenburgh, Jr.,
lieutenant-colonel; Johannes Jansen, Jr., and Lewis Du Bois, majors;
Abraham Schoonmaker, adjutant; Isaac Belknap, quartermaster.

Clark's Newburgh Company, June 8, 1788: Samuel Clark, captain; James
Denton and Martin Wygant, lieutenants; Munson Ward, ensign; William
Albertson, Isaac Brown, Ebenezer Gidney and Hope Mills, sergeants;
Hugh Stevenson, Isaac Demott, John Simson and William Palmer,
corporals; Sol Buckingham, drummer.

Conklin's Newburgh Company, May 4, 1778: Jacob Conklin, captain;
Jacob Lawrence and David Guion, lieutenants; John Crowell, ensign;
Robert Erwin, Robert Ross, John Lawrence and Abraham Strickland,
sergeants; Jacob Strickland, corporal; Abraham Smith, drummer.

Smith's Newburgh Company, April 24, 1779: Arthur Smith, captain;
Isaac Fowler and John Foster, lieutenants; William Conklin, John
Kniffin, James Clark and Reuben Holmes, sergeants; William Smith,
William Michael and Samuel Griggs, corporals.

Colonel Clinton's Regiment.

James Clinton, colonel; James McClaughry, lieutenant-colonel; Jacob
Newkirk and Moses Phillips, majors; George Denniston, adjutant;
Alexander Trimble, quartermaster.

Eastern New Windsor Company, 1775: John Belknap, captain; Silas Wood
and Edward Falls, lieutenants; James Stickney, ensign.

Western New Windsor Company, 1776: James Humphrey, captain; James
Karnaghan, second lieutenant; Richard Wood, ensign.

New Windsor Village Company, 1775: John Nicoll, captain; Francis
Mandeville and Hezekiah White, lieutenants; Leonard D. Nicoll,
ensign.

First Hanover Company, 1775: Matthew Felter, captain; Henry Smith and
Johannes Newkirk, Jr., lieutenants; William Crist, ensign.

Second Hanover Company, 1775: William Jackson, captain; Arthur Parks
and James McBride, lieutenants; Andrew Neeley, ensign.

Third Hanover Company, 1775: Cadwallader C. Colden, captain; James
Milligan and John Hunter, lieutenants; Matthew Hunter, ensign.

Fourth Hanover Company, 1775: John J. Graham, captain; Samuel Barkley
and Joseph Crawford, lieutenants; James McCurdy, ensign.

Fifth Hanover Company, 1775: John Gillespie, captain; Jason Wilkins
and Robert Hunter, Jr., lieutenants; Samuel Gillespie, ensign.

First Wallkill Company, 1775: Samuel Watkins, captain; David Crawford
and Stephen Harlow, lieutenants; Henry Smith, ensign.

Second Wallkill Company, 1775: William Faulkner, Jr., captain; Edward
McNeal and John Wilkins, lieutenants; John Faulkner, ensign.

Third Wallkill Company, 1775: Isaiah Velie, captain; Israel Wickham
and John Dunning, lieutenants; Jonathan Owen, ensign.

Fourth Wallkill Company, 1775: William Denniston, captain; Benjamin
Velie and Joseph Gillet, lieutenants; David Corwin, Jr., ensign.

Of the Hanover companies the First had been known as Captain
Newkirk's Company, the Second as Captain Goldsmith's, the Third as
Captain Colden's, the Fourth as Captain Crage's, and the Fifth as
Captain Galatian's.

Of Wallkill companies the First was located on the east side of the
Wallkill, the Second on the west side, between the Wallkill and
Little Shawangunk Kill, the Third south of the Second, between the
Wallkill and the Little Shawangunk, and the fourth northwest of
Little Shawangunk Kill.

During the service of these organizations in the War of the
Revolution there were many changes in the commands. They were home
guards. In case of alarm, invasion or insurrection, the companies
were instructed to march and oppose the enemy, and immediately send
an express to the commander of the regiment or brigade, who was to
control their movements.

Under a law passed by the Continental Congress in May, 1775, three
companies of minute men were raised in the southern district of
Ulster, with the following officers:

Newburgh Minute Company: Uriah Drake, captain; Jacob Lawrence and
William Ervin, lieutenants; Thomas Dunn, ensign.

New Windsor Minute Company: Samuel Logan, captain; John Robinson,
ensign; David Mandeville and John Scofield, sergeants.

Hanover Minute Company: Peter Hill, captain; James Latta and
Nathaniel Hill, lieutenants; William Goodyear, ensign.

These companies and one organized in Marlborough formed a regiment
which was officered as follows:

Thomas Palmer, colonel; Thomas Johnston, Jr., lieutenant-colonel;
Arthur Parks, first major; Samuel Logan, second major; Isaac Belknap,
quartermaster.

Another regiment was formed from two companies organized in Goshen
and Cornwall, with the following officers:

Cornwall Minute Company: Thomas Moffat, captain; Seth Marvin and
James Little, lieutenants; Nathan Strong, ensign, who was succeeded
by William Bradley.

Goshen Minute Company: Moses Hetfield, captain; Cole Gale and Daniel
Everett, lieutenants. Later James Butler and William Barker were
chosen lieutenants and William Carpenter ensign.

The officers of the regiment were:

Isaac Nicoll, colonel; Gilbert Cooper, lieutenant-colonel; Henry V.
Verbeyck, first major; Hezekiah Howell, Jr., second major; Ebenezer
Woodhull, adjutant; Nehemiah Carpenter, quartermaster.

Both of these regiments of minute men were on duty in the Highlands
in 1775-6; but the system did not work satisfactorily, and in June,
1776, Congress repealed the law.

Three drafts were made in 1776 to reinforce the army--in June, July
and September. Under the first draft Orange County sent three
companies and Ulster four to the vicinity of New York City, as a part
of General John Morin Scott's Brigade. The second draft took
one-fourth of the militia under Colonels Nicoll and Pauling,
constituting a brigade under General George Clinton. By the third
sixty-two men were drawn from Colonel Hasbrouck's Regiment, and were
a part of 600 men which reinforced the garrisons at Forts Clinton and
Montgomery.

In July, 1776, companies of rangers were organized for the protection
of the frontiers, and three of them were raised in Ulster County,
under Captains Isaac Belknap of Newburgh, Jacob De Witt of Deer Park,
and Elias Hasbrouck of Kingston.

Of the four "Continental" Regiments organized in 1775 to serve six
months, the one commanded by Colonel James Clinton was largely
composed of Orange and Ulster County men. Orange furnished two
companies--Captain Daniel Denton's of Goshen and Captain John
Nicholson's of New Windsor. The four regiments were in the expedition
to Canada in 1775.

Under a call by Congress of January 8, 1776, for troops to reinforce
the army in Canada, New York furnished one battalion. A second call
was made on January 19, under which New York was required to furnish
four.

[Illustration: Samuel Brandt]




 CHAPTER VII.
 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.



The French and Indian War was the result of rivalry between France
and England for the possession of disputed territories in North
America, and the Indians along the Delaware and other frontiers
became allies of the French because they believed they had been
cheated by the English and Dutch colonists, and were stimulated to
hostility against them by French agents.

In 1754 England directed her colonies to oppose with arms the
encroachments of the French, although the two nations were then at
peace, and obedience to this command from the crown brought on the
cruel war of 1755. In February of that year New York voted 40,000
pounds sterling to defray war expenses, and ordered a levy of 800 men
to co-operate with troops of other colonies in the impending
struggle. The law also declared that slaves were liable to military
duty, and if over 14 years of age they were forbidden to be found
more than a mile from their master's residence without his
certificate of permission, and "if one of them were so found any
white person might kill him without being liable to prosecution."

Along the Delaware River the Indians had been complaining that the
whites appropriated lands which they had not bought, and by getting
them drunk had defrauded them of the purchase money for their lands
and their furs. These complaints led the Pennsylvania proprietaries
to call a council, with the head chiefs of the Six Nations as
arbitrators, and by bribing these chiefs with presents they obtained
from them a decision which obliged the Delawares, then wards of the
Senecas, to give up their lands and move to Wyoming. Soon whites
followed them and bought in fraudulent ways their Wyoming lands. This
angered the Senecas, and they drove away their chief who had aided
the whites, and bade the Delawares defend their homes. The eastern
and western chiefs met at Allegheny, rehearsed their grievances, and
resolved on vengeance. The bloody scenes that followed have seldom
been surpassed in barbarous cruelty and cunning, and the ravages of
the Minsis were mostly confined to the western frontiers of Orange
and Ulster Counties within the limits of the original Minisink
patent.

The settlers of the Minisink observed that the Indians there,
including squads who had been friendly, had suddenly disappeared, and
the few that remained said they had gone west to join hostile tribes.
Foreseeing trouble, some of the settlers sent their wives and
children to places of comparative safety, and a well-settled region
on the west side of the Wallkill, eight by fifteen miles in extent,
was abandoned, some of the residents moving to the east side and
others far away. Before they moved seven men and one woman had been
killed by the Indians. In 1756, pending negotiations for peace, four
men and two women were killed in the Minisink. Three of the men went
into the harvest field with their guns and laid them down, when
concealed Indians seized them, shot the men dead and scalped them.
At Fort Westfall, which the Indians tried to capture by surprise,
there was a fight in which several Indians and seven soldiers were
killed. A large party of Indians attacked the upper fort at
Neversink, which was well garrisoned, but the fort took fire from a
burning barn near it, and its inmates had to leave. Only one of them
escaped the Indian bullets and tomahawks, and among the killed was
the wife of the captain, who was absent. Only a colored woman, hidden
from view by the smoke, escaped. The captain returned a day or two
afterwards, and took an oath of vengeance by the grave of his wife.
A man named Owen was killed by strolling Indians in Asa Dolsen's
meadow in the northwestern part of present Wawayanda, and Dolsen
immediately moved to Goshen. David Cooley lived near him, and his
wife was shot dead as she was walking from her house to an outdoor
oven. In 1758, on the New Jersey frontier, one day, when Nicholas
Cole was absent from home, thirteen Indians rushed in, tomahawked
and scalped his two daughters and a son-in-law, and carried off his
wife and a young son. When Cole returned the Indians were followed
and frightened, and allowed the wife and boy to escape. In June of
the same year a sergeant and several men went from Wawarsing
block-house to Minisink, and not returning, a large party went in
search of them and found seven killed and scalped, and three wounded,
and that a woman and four children had been carried off. About this
time a house containing seventeen persons was beset by Indians and
all of them were killed. They carried off a little son of Mr.
Westfall in Minisink, and he never saw his father again, but when
the latter died, he came back with an interpreter after his
inheritance. The persuasions and pecuniary offers of his mother
could not induce him to abandon his life in the wilderness.

It was in 1758 that Governor Hardy caused a series of block-houses
to be erected along the western frontier, which were a protection
for the whites and a restraint to the Indians. In the latter part of
that year negotiations with the head chief of the Delawares,
Teedyusking, stopped hostilities for a time. The Minsis were paid for
their lands in the Minisink, and the titles of the proprietaries
were referred to the Government for adjustment. But subsequently
"the Indian allies of the French" held the frontier in terror until
after the fall of Montreal and Quebec, when all of French Canada was
transferred to British authority.

In an address before the Newburgh Historical Society in 1885, E. M.
Ruttenber said:

"In common with its associate regiments in Orange and Ulster,
Colonel Ellison's Regiment had no little service in the French and
Indian War of 1756, on the western frontier of the county, where the
Minsis were scattering firebrands and death in their rebellion
against the domination of the Six Nations, and for the recovery of
the lands in the Minisink patent, of which they had been defrauded,
and in 1757 marched to Fort Edward to aid Sir William Johnston. How
great was the service performed or by whom personally we may never
know. The depredations of the Minsis were terrible; the settlements
west of the Wallkill were perpetually harassed, and many of them
broken up; men were killed in the fields and in their houses; women
and children became the victims of the scalping knife."

Colonel Ellison wrote in 1757:

"It is but too well known by the late numerous murders committed on
our borders that the County of Ulster and the north end of Orange
have become the only frontier part of the province left unguarded and
exposed to the cruel incursions of the Indian enemy, and the
inhabitants of these parts have been obliged to perform very hard
military duty for these two years past, in ranging the woods and
guarding the frontiers, these two counties keeping out almost
constantly from fifty to one hundred men--sometimes by false
detachments of the militia, and at other times by voluntary
subscriptions--nay, often two hundred men, which has been an
insupportable burden on the people, and yet all the militia of
these parts are ordered to march to Fort Edward, while the officers
had no orders to guard the frontier."

Mention may be made here of a famous character of the Minisink.
whose unequaled career of revenge against Indians began during the
French and Indian War. His name was Thomas Quick. His father was
kind and hospitable to the Indians, and was shot dead while at work
in his field by some of them whom he had entertained. Thomas, who was
near him, and was then almost a youth, managed to escape. Over his
father's grave he took an oath to avenge his death, and afterward to
kill Indians became the passion of his life. It was said that he shot
eighty-seven of them, the last one being the chief murderer of his
father. He went by the name of "the Indian slayer." He was
marvelously alert and cunning, escaped all of the many efforts of
Indians to kill him, and finally died of old age. A monument has been
erected to his memory in Milford, Pa.




 CHAPTER VIII.
 WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

The most interesting period of our national history was its
beginnings in protests against oppressive demands and acts by the
mother country, followed by a revolutionary resort to arms, and in
these beginnings Orange County took a conspicuous part.

The non-importation resolutions adopted by the Continental Congress
in 1774 drew the line of issue between Great Britain and her North
American colonies, which started the war for independence. Perhaps
their most significant feature was a call for the organization of
committees of safety in every city, county, precinct and town. In the
original County of Orange the people had held a convention in Goshen,
which sent a delegate, Henry Wisner, to Congress, who voted for and
signed the non-importation resolutions; and in the towns of Newburgh,
New Windsor, Hanover, Wallkill and Goshen an opposition pamphlet
which had been scattered broadcast was publicly burned and the
desired committees of safety promptly selected. On April 29, 1774,
the committee in New York drew up a pledge and sent it to all the
counties and towns for signatures. The pledge was as follows:

"Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America
depend, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a
vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety; and
convinced of the necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion which
attend the dissolution of the powers of government, we, the freemen,
freeholders and inhabitants of ____ do, in the most solemn manner,
resolve never to become slaves; and do associate, under all the ties
of religion, honor, and love of our country, to adopt and endeavor to
carry into execution whatever measures are recommended by the
Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention,
for the purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing the
execution of the several arbitrary acts of the British Parliament,
until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on
constitutional principles (which we most ardently desire) can be
obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our
General Committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation
of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and property."

[Illustration: Indian Fort Built Between 1761 and 1765, Port Jervis]

When the signed pledges were returned to the Provincial Convention in
New York it invested the committees of safety with power to appoint
assessors and collectors, and these, with the committees, were
directed to assess, raise and collect the quotas required for the
support of the home government, and empowered to enforce collection
from defaulters by "distress upon their goods and chattels." They
might also arrest persons inimical to the measures which had been or
might be taken. These powers were afterward enlarged by Congress, and
the committees empowered to suppress the enemies of the revolutionary
government. Legislative duties devolved upon the Provincial
Convention until 1777, when the first Constitution of New York was
adopted, and meanwhile the committees of safety attended to the
execution of its laws. Methods differed somewhat in different
counties. In Orange the precincts chose committees, and these
constituted the county committee. A signature to the pledge
formulated by Congress was regarded as evidence of loyalty to the
revolutionary cause.

In the precinct lists of the Orange County signers of the pledge the
signatures in Goshen embraced the present towns of Goshen, Chester,
Warwick, Wawayanda, Greenville, and a part of Blooming Grove; in
Mamakating those of Mt. Hope and Deer Park; Cornwall and Highlands
were included in Cornwall; in Monroe parts of Blooming Grove and the
present county of Rockland; in Newburgh, New Windsor and Wallkill
with Newburgh. The signatures by precincts were as follows:

Precinct of Newburgh.

 Col. Jona. Hasbrouck.   Henry Cropsey.
 Thomas Palmer.          Wm. Harding.
 Isaac Belknap.          Joseph Belknap.
 William Darling.        John Stratton.
 Wolvert Acker.          Lewis Holt.
 John Belknap.           Samuel Hallock.
 John Robinson.          Samuel Sprague.
 Saml. Clark.            Burroughs Holmes.
 Benj Birdsall.          Samuel Bond.
 Benjamin Smith.         Thomas Campbell.
 James Waugh.            James Cosman.
 Abel Belknap.           Lewis Clark.
 Moses Higby, M.D.       Jonathan Sweet
 Reuben Tooker.          John Griggs.
 David Belknap.          Saml. Smith.
 Daniel Birdsall.        Jeremiah Ward.
 Robert Lockwood.        Wm. Ward.
 Benj. Knap.             Wm. Russel.
 Saml. Westlake.         John Tremper.
 Josiah Ward.            Charles Willett.
 Silas Gardner.          Jeremiah Dunn.
 Jacob Gillis.           Wm. Lawrence.
 Wm. Kencaden.           Robert Waugh.
 James Denton.           Wiggins Conklin.
 John Foster.            Robert Beatty, Jr.
 Hope Mills.             Abr'm Johnston.
 John Cosman.            Silas Sperry.
 Wm. Wear.               James Clark.
 Thomas Fish.            David Mills.
 Wm. Lawrence. Jr.       Caleb Coffin.
 John Kernoghan.         James Harris.
 Robert Harmer.          Theo. Hagaman.
 Robert Ross.            Wm. Dunn.
 John Crowell.           Nehemiah Carpenter.
 Obadiah Weeks.          Leonard Smith.
 Francis Harmer.         Wm. Day.
 William Bloomer.        John Wandel.
 Abraham Garrison.       Abel Thrall.
 James Marston.          Phineas Corwin.
 Samuel Gardiner.        Moses Hunt.
 Anning Smith.           Samuel Sands.
 Richard Albertson.      Jacob Concklin.
 Martin Weigand.         Joseph Price.
 Wm. Foster.             John Saunders.
 Wm. Wilson.             Benj. Lawrence.
 Wm. Stillwell, Jr.      Richard Buckingham.
 Peter Donally.          Jacob Morewise.
 Charles Tooker.         Nicholas Stephens.
 Leonard Smith, Jr.      Johannis Snider.
 Henry Smith.            Benjamin Robinson.
 James Wooden.           Andrew Sprague.
 Thomas Smith.           Thomas Beaty.
 Caleb Case.             Solo. Buckingham.
 David Green.            Wm. Bowdish.
 John Stillwell.         Jona. Belknap.
 Luff Smith.             Jacob Tremper.
 John Gates.             Abraham Smith.
 Benj. Darby.            Cornelius Wood.
 Israel Smith.           John Lawrence.
 Thads. Smith.           George Hack.
 Jacob Myers.            John Shaw.
 Saml. Concklin.         Corns. Hasbrouck.
 Isaac Brown, M.D.       Isaac Demott.
 Peter Tilton.           David Smith.
 John Douaghy.           John Stratton.
 Ste. Stephenson.        Absalom Case.
 Joseph Dunn.            John Weed.
 Daniel Morewise.        Daniel Duboise.
 Jonathan Owen.          Arthur Smith.
 Jehiel Clark.           Isaac Fowler.
 Reuben Holms.           Stephen Outman.
 Nathaniel Coleman.      Saml. Stratton.
 George Leonard.         Joseph Carpenter.
 Elnathan Foster.        Daniel Thurstin.
 Neal McLean.            John Fowler.
 Wm. Palmer.             Daniel Clark.
 George Westlake.        Isaac Donaldson.
 Burger Weigand.         Wm. Concklin.
 Tunis Keiter.           Charles Tooker.
 Hugh Quigly.            John Smith.
 Daniel Darby.           Isaac Fowler, Jr.
 Isaac Brown, Jr.        William Wright.
 Hezekiah Wyatt.         Wm. White.
 Wm. Whitehead.          Daniel Kniffen.
 Daniel Goldsmith.       Rob. Morrison. M.D.
 Gabriel Travis.         John Dolson.
 Nathaniel Weed.         Leonard Smith.

Precinct of New Windsor.

 James Clinton.          William Robinson.
 John Nicholson.         Arthur Carscadden.
 James McClaughny.       Edward Ryal.
 Matthew Du Bois.        Henry McNeeley.
 Robert Cook.            William Nicols.
 John Umphrey.           Roliert Boyd, Jr.
 James Umphrey.          Nathan Smith.
 George Umphrey.         Samuel Logan.
 Oliver Umphrey.         James Denniston.
 James McDowell.         Jacob Mills.
 Alexander Telford.       Thomas Cook.
 Robert Smith.           Daniel Clemenee.
 Jonah Park.             Robert Couhan.
 Scudder Newman.         John Waugh.
 James Humphrey 2d.      William Gage.
 John Davis.             Alexander Kernahan.
 John Coleman.           William Stimson.
 Joseph Young.           Henry Roberson.
 Andrew Robinson.        Benjamin Homan.
 William Fulton.         William Miller.
 James Taylor.           William Telford.
 Hugh Polloy.            John Burnet.
 Samuel Given.           Joseph Realty.
 Robert Burnet, Jr.      John Smith.
 Timothy Mills.          James M. Oliver.
 William Buchanan.       William Miller 2d.
 Matthew Bell.           Charles Byrn.
 Robert Thompson.        Walter McMichael.
 Charles Nicholson.      George Coleman.
 James Gage.             Alexander Fulton.
 James Dunlap.           James Faulkner.
 Robert Stuert.          David Clark.
 Samuel Wood.            Nathan Sargent.
 Nathaniel Garrison.     Gilbert Peet.
 Andrew Dickson.         James Docksey.
 George Coleman 2d.      Solomon Smith.
 Peter John.             Samuel Woodward.
 Samuel Lamb.            Jonathan White.
 William Crawford.       Alexander Beatty.
 John W. Miklan.         Jonathan Parshall.
 Francis Mains.          James Greer.
 James Miller.           John Mills.
 John Morrison.          Thomas Eliot.
 Hugh Watterson.         Robert Campbell.
 Caleb Dill.             Nathaniel Boyd.
 John Dill.              Charles Kernaghan.
 Edward Miller.          Eliphalet Leonard.
 Robert Whigham.         William Nichols.
 John Crudge.            Thomas McDowel.
 Robert Boyd, Sr.        James Crawford.
 Silas Wood.             Joseph Belknap.
 Richard Wood.           John Nicoll.
 John Johnston.          Samuel Brewster.
 David Crawford.         Samuel Sly.
 John Morrison 2d.       Matthew McDowel.
 Henry McNeeley, Jr.     Daniel Mills.
 Alexander Taylor.       John Close (Rev.)
 James Perry.            William Moffat.
 Samuel Boyd.            William Beatty.
 John Cunningham.        George Harris.
 James Jackson, Jr.      Stephen King.
 Isaac Stonehouse.       John Murphy.
 John Hiffernan.         Benjamin Burnam.
 James Smith.            Austin Beardsley.
 William Park.           Thomas Swafford.
 David Thompson.         Timothy White.
 Nathaniel Liscomb.      Dennis Furshay.
 William Mulliner.       George Mavings.
 Isaac Belknap.          Samuel Brewster, Jr.
 Nathaniel Boyd, 2d.     David Mandeville.
 Edward Petty.           William Welling.
 Robert Johnston.        Peter Welling.
 Joseph Sweezey.         Hugh Turner.

[Illustration: Clinton W. Wisner]

Precinct of Mamakating

 John Young.             Johan Stufflebane, Jr.
 Capt. John Crage.       John Thompson.
 Benj. Cuddeback, Jr.    Wm. Cuddeback.
 T. K. Westbrook.        Elias Travis.
 William Johnston.       Eli Strickland.
 Johan. Stufflebane.     Capt. J. R. De Witt.
 Abner Skinner.          John McKinstry.
 Thomas Kytte.           Harm. Van Inwegen.
 Joseph Drake.           Samuel Dupuy.
 Isaac Van Twill.        Chas. Gillets.
 Joseph Westbrook.       James McGivers.
 Daniel Van Fleet, Jr.   Joseph Hubbard.
 Jacob Van Inwegen.      G. Van Inwegen.
 Corn. Van Inwegen.      Eliphalet Stevens.
 Reuben Babbett.         Adam Rivenburgh.
 Robert Milliken.        Stephen Larney.
 John Williams.          Samuel King.
 Wm. Smith.              Valentine Wheeler.
 Jep. Fuller.            John Wallis.
 Joseph Thomas.          Jacobus Swartwout.
 Joseph Skinner.         Gerardus Swartwout.
 John Travis.            Phil. Swartwout, Jr.
 John Travis, Jr.        Jacobus Cuddeback.
 Robert Comfort.         Petrus Cuddeback.
 Eph. Furgison.          Rufus Stanton.
 Moses Miller.           Asa Kimball.
 Jno. Barber.            Zeb. Holcomb.
 John Fry.               Samuel Daley.
 George Gillespy.        Nathan Cook.
 Henry Newkirk.          Henry Ellsworth.
 Philip Swartwout, Esq.  John Seybolt.
 Wm. Haxton.             David Wheeler.
 Robert Cook.            Elisha Barber.
 William Rose.           Jonathan Davis.
 James Williams.         Gershom Simpson.
 James Blizzard.         Jacob Stanton.
 Thomas Combs.           John Gillaspy.
 Ebenezer Halcomb.       Abraham Smedes.
 Abr. Cuddeback.         Joseph Shaw.
 Aldert Rosa.            Abraham Rosa.
 David Gillaspv.         Jacob Rosa.
 Abrm. Cuddeback, Jr.    Stephen Halcomb.
 Fred. Benaer.           Moses Roberts.
 Jonathan Brooks.        Daniel Roberts.
 Ebenezer Parks.         Jeremiah Shaver.
 Petrus Gumaer.          Joseph Ogden.
 J. De Witt Gumaer.      Elias Miller.
 Ezekiel Gumaer.         George I. Denniston.
 Elias Gumaer.           Jonathan Strickland.
 Moses Depuy, Jr.        Johannes Miller.
 Jonathan Wheeler.       John Douglass.
 Thomas Lake.            Joseph Randall.
 Jacob Comfort.          Thos. Gillaspy.
 Jonah Parks.            Daniel Walling, Jr.
 Saml. Patterson.        Matthew Neely.
 Joel Adams.             John Harding.
 James Cunen.            Eph. Thomas.
 Peter Simpson.          Abm. McQuin.
 Benjamin Dupuy.         Joseph Arthur
 Daniel Decker.          Nathaniel Travis.
 John Brooks.            Ezekiel Travis.
 David Daley.            Joseph Travis.
 Daniel Walling, Jr.     Isaac Rosa.
 Matthew Terwilliger.    Abr. Smith.
 Johannes Wash.          Leonard Hefinessey.
 Daniel Woodworth.

Precinct of Goshen.

Minisink District.

 J. Westbrook, Jr.       Isaac Davis.
 Benjamin Cox.           George Quick.
 John Prys.              Jacobus Davis.
 Levi Decker.            Jacobus Vanfliet.
 Samuel Davis.           Levi Van Etten.
 Reuben Jones.           Daniel Cole.
 Petrus Cole.            Benjamin Corson.
 A. Van Etten.           Joel Westbrook.
 John Bennett.           A. C. Van Aken.
 Petrus Cuykendal.       Johannes Decker, Jr.
 Sylvester Cortright.    Jacob Quick.
 Jacobus Schoonhoven.    Timothy Wood.
 Jacobus Vanfliet, Jr.   Benjamin Wood.
 Thomas Hart.            James Carpenter.
 John Van Tuyle.         Esee Bronson.
 S. Cuykendal, Jr.       Isaac Uptegrove.
 Martinas Decker, Jr.    Solomon Cuykendal.
 Wilhelmus Westfall.     Martimas Decker.
 Moses Kortright.        Benjamin Boorman.
 Jacob Harraken.         Nehemiah Pattison.
 G. Bradcock.            Arthur Van Tuyle.
 Nicholas Slyter.        Wilhelmus Cole.
 Daniel St. John.        Petrus Decker.
 Allbert Osterhoust.     Asi Astly.
 Johannes Westbrook.     Daniel Kortright.
 Simon Westfall.         Ephraim Middagh.

[Colonel Knox's Headquarters, New Windsor]

Blooming Grove District

 Alexander Smith.        Increase Wyman.
 Joseph Conkling.        Jonathan Smith.
 Jonathan Horton.        John Barker.
 John Case.              Moses Carpenter.
 Phineas Ramsey.         Joshua Corey.
 Benjamin Harlow.        John Corey.
 William Hubbard.        John Pain.
 Garrett Duryea.         Daniel Pain.
 David Youngs.           William Warne.
 James Miller.           Hezekiah Warne.
 James Mapes.            Zeba Owen.
 Joseph Drake.           Jonathan Jayne.
 Samuel Haines Smith.    Caleb Coleman
 David Rogers.           Daniel Tooker.
 Henry Wisner.           Isaiah Smith.
 Thomas Goldsmith.       William Best.
 Jacobus Bartholt.       David Rumsey.
 Guilian Bartholf.       John Meeker.
 Abraham Dalsen, Jr.     Joseph Browne.
 Isaac Dalsen, Jr.       David Horton.
 Cornelius Decker.       Solomon Smith.
 David Demarest.         John King.
 John Denton.            Cuppe Brooks.
 Corns. Van Orsdale.     Samuel Wickham.
 Joseph Elliot.          Silas Horton.
 John Elliot.            Charles Tooker.
 Abraham Springsteen.    John Budd.
 Capt. Nathaniel Roe.    William Horton.
 Lieut. John Jackson.    Joshua Brown.
 Joseph Dixon.           Joshua Brown, Jr.
 David Godfrey.          James Markel.
 Silas Pierson.          John Bull.
 William Satterly.       Richard Bull.
 Gideon Salmon.          Jeremiah Butler.
 Phineas Salmon.         John Minthorn.
 John Brown.             Abraham Chandler.
 Silas Morton.           Jacobus Laine.
 John Cravens.           Jacob Demarest.
 Ezra Keeler.            Joseph Todd.
 James Aspell.           John Bigger.
 George Duryea.          Elijah Doan.
 John Ketchum, Jr.       James Smith.
 William Heard.          Zephaniah Hull.
 Phineas Heard.          Joseph Case.
 Joshua Reeve.           William Marshall.
 Obadiah Helms.          Benjamin MacVea.
 William Forbes.         Christopher Springsteen.
 Coleman Curtis.         Hezeiah Watkins.
 David Jones.            Daniel Reeve.
 Francis Baird.          Samuel Bertholf.
 Stephen Lewis.          Henry Roemer.
 Nathaniel Minthorn.     Robert McCane.
 Gamadid Tansdell.       Peter Gumaer
 Andrew Christy.         Stephen Meeker.
 Hendrick Bartholdt.     Joseph Smith.
 Peter Bartholdt.        Thomas McCane.
 Reuben Hall.            Samuel Smith.
 Solomon Carpenter.      Jacob Dunning.
 Martin Myer.            Joshua Davis.
 Joshua Smith.           John Williams.
 Ebenezer Beer.          Richard Jones.
 Samuel Mofat.           Philip Borroughs.
 Lieut. John Wood.       Thomas Engles.
 Ensign Daniel Drake     Oliver Heady.
 Richard Sheridan.       John Van Cleft, Jr.
 Jonathan Owen.          David Cooley, Jr.
 Joshua Wells.           Nicholas Van Tassel.
 Jonah Seely.            Joshua Weeks.
 Wright Smith.           Benjamin Currie.
 Silas Stewart.          Samuel Jones.
 Benjamin Carpenter.     Michael Carpenter.
 Squire Whitaker.        Samuel Webb.
 Silas Hulse.            John Owen.
 Elisha Hulse.           Benjamin Dunning.
 Benjamin Smith.         William Kimber.
 Samuel Cooley.          Gilbert Bradner.
 John Ferger.            Jacob Finch.
 David Kendle.           Hidley Spencer.
 Samuel Cole.            William Walworth.
 Peter Miller.           Cornelius Bertholf, Jr.
 Robert Thompson.        Stephen Bertholf.
 Matthew Billing.        Joseph Allison.
 James Little, Jr.       Michael Allison.
 Benjamin Whitaker.      James Allison.
 Henry David.            William Carpenter.
 Samuel Demarest.        Casper Writer.
 John Hopper.            Jonas Wood.
 William Wisner.         David Linch.
 Israel Wells.           John Boyle.
 Daniel Carpenter.       Michael Coleman.
 Samuel Carpenter.       Abraham Harding.
 Peter Arnout.           Henry David, Jr.
 James Bell.             Jonathan David.
 Jeremiah S. Conkling.   James Thompson.
 John Garvey.            Jonathan Cooley.
 Benjamin Forgesson.     William Howard.
 Elijah Truman.          James Dolsen.
 David Moore.            Isaac Dolsen.
 Nathaniel Tuthill.      Reuben Smith, Jr.
 Joseph McCane.          Jacob Fegate.
 Joel Cross.             Jeremiah Smith, Jr.
 Caleb Goldsmith.        Amos Smith.
 Henry Smith.            Matthias Carvey.
 John Finch.             John Carvey.
 Moses Smith.            Francis Alvanjoy.
 Robert Thompson, Jr.    Solomon Tracey.
 George Little.          Amos Hubbs.
 James Knap.             Thomas Barer.
 Jeremiah Smith, Sr.     William Morris.
 Amos Woolcocks.         John Kennady.
 Jeremiah Ferger.        Joseph Wilson.
 Zephaniah Drake.        James Steward.
 John Van Cleft.         Joseph Steward.
 Israel Holley.          John Clar.
 William Seely.          John Feigler.
 Benjamin Demarest.      Richard Allison.
 Peter Demarest.         Henry Hall.
 Sallier David.          John Kinnett.
 Edward David.           Benjamin Halsted.
 Jolin David.            David Miller.
 Jacob Cole.             Henry Dobin.
 George Kemble.          Solomon Finch.
 William Dill.           Solomon Hoff.
 Christopher Myers.      Joseph Currie.
 Thomas Wood.            James Ramsey.
 Philip Rodrick.         James Masters.
 William McCane.         James Clark.
 James McCane.           Michael Dunning.
 Martin McConnely.       James Schoonover.
 William Horton.         John Morrison.
 Philip Horton.          Joseph Coleman.
 Benjamin Carpenter.     Jonathan Coleman.
 Henry Samis.            William Kirby.
 Samuel Knapp.           Orinns Bertholf.
 Roolof Van Brunt.       James Bertholf.
 Abel Jackson.           Joseph Halsted.
 Nathaniel Knapp, Jr.    Michael Halsted.
 James Parshall.         Gershon Owen.
 Anthony Swartwout.      Samuel Westbrook.
 Benjamin Jackson.       Anthony Westbrook.
 George Howell.          Joshua Hill.
 James Mosier.           Benjamin Gabrelis.
 Samuel Finch.           David Shephard.
 Samuel Reed.            Abraham Dolsen, Sr.
 Jabez Finch.            John Kinman.
 Benjamin Wallworth.     Daniel Rosegrout.
 John Whitaker.          John Davis.
 Nathaniel Mathers.      David Lowren.
 Increase Matthews.      Moses Whitehead.
 James Gardiner.         John Myers.
 John Little.            David Stephens.
 James Reeves.           Jeremiah Trickey.
 John Knap.              Henry Clark.
 Jonathan Corney.        John Carpenter Smith.
 Solomon Roe.            Nathan Roberts.
 Saven Tracey.           John Shepard.
 Obadiah Smith.          John Gerner.
 Henry Bartoli.          Hezekiah Lawrence.
 David Demarest.         Nathan Pemberton.
 Jacob Demarest.         Benjamin Cole.
 William King.           Caleb Smith.
 Christopher Decker.     Peter Arnout.
 James McCane.           Matthew Howell.
 John Thompson.          Matthew Howell. Jr.
 Thomas Gale.            Thomas Angel.
 Charles Webb.           Moses[?] Tracey.
 Samuel Chandler.        Elijah Egars.
 James Hulse.            John Miller.
 Mark Chambers.          John Rhodes.
 David Cooley.           David Mapes.
 Nathaniel Cooley.       Zacheus Horton.
 Nathan Bailey.          Joshua Wells.
 Nathan Bailey, 2d.      Benjamin Hill.
 Zephaniah Kelly.        Nathaniel Allison.
 Samuel Satterly.        William Kinna.
 William Vail.           John Bailey.
 James Hamilton.         Landrine Eggers.
 Joseph Beckas.          John Conner.
 Elias Clark.            Peter Mann.
 Alexander Campbell.     Daniel Cooley, Jr.
 Elihu Horton.           William Huff.
 Hugh Fulton.            Jacob Cole.
 Phineas Parshall.       Edward David, Jr.
 Peter Townsend.         Daniel David.
 John Gardiner.          Richard Halsted.
 Michael Brooks.         Joseph Oldfield.
 David Howell, Jr.       Joseph Chilson.
 John Howell.            Silas Holley.
 Samuel Harman.          Benjamin Dunning.
 Jabez Knap.             Daniel Holley.
 Nathaniel Knap, Jr.     Joshua Drake.
 Peter Barlow.           Walt Smith.
 Elias Oldfield.         Stephen Jackson.
 Samuel Sawyer.          Daniel Myers.
 Jeremiah Oakley.        John Smith.
 Timothy Smith.          Jonathan Rawson.
 Benjamin Attwood.       William Reed.
 Gilbert Howell.         William Egger (Eager).
 Isaac Hoadley.          Daniel Egger.
 Nathan Arnout.          Anning Owen.
 Caleb Smith.            Jacob Hulse.
 Stephen Smith.          Solomon Smith.
 David Caser.            Thomas Denton.
 Matthew Tyrel.          Asa Derba.
 Andrew Miller.          Moses Clark.
 Asa Vail.               William Helms.
 Bazaliel Seely.         Phineas Case.
 Francis Gallow.         William Knap.
 John McDowell.          Gilbert Aldrige.
 William Hoff.           James Kinner.
 John Kimball.           Joshua Hallock.
 James Miller.           John Mory.
 James Stewart.          Oliver Smith.
 Abraham Johnston.       Isaac Smith.
 Stephen Conkling.       Cain Mehany.
 Joshua Howell.          Ebenezer Holly.
 Samuel Titus.           Joshua Herbert.
 Jonathan Hallock.       John Armstrong.

Precinct of Cornwall.

 John Brewster, Jr.      David Stevens.
 Silas Benjamin, Jr.     Jonathan Stevens.
 Smith Clark.            Daniel Mapes.
 Thomas Clark.           Smith Mapes.
 Ephraim Clark.          Isaiah Mapes.
 Benjamin Mapes.         Nathan Marvin.
 Bethuel Mapes.          Samuel Gibson.
 Isaac Corky.            Solomon Little.
 Patrick Cassaday.       Jesse Woodhull.
 Joseph Wilcox.          Nathan Brewster.
 Timothy Smith, Jr.      Jonathan Brooks.
 Richard Honiman.        Elihu Marvin.
 Nehemiah Clark.         Seth Marvin.
 John Seely.             Elihu Marvin, Jr.
 James Peters.           David Beggs.
 James Matthews.         Timothy Brewster.
 William Roe.            Isaac Brown.
 Joseph Smith.           Jesse Teed.
 John McWhorter.         Benjamin Budd.
 Josiah Pell.            Benjamin Lester.
 John Pell. Jr.          Joab Coleman.
 Abr'm Ketchum.          Phineas Helmes.
 Thomas Clark, Jr.       Silas Youngs.
 William Hunter.         Silas Youngs, Jr.
 Archibald Little, Jr.   Reuben Youngs.
 Jonas Seely.            Abimael Youngs, Jr.
 Israel Hodges.          John Callay.
 Samuel Knights.         Thomas Sullivan.
 James Sayre.            Jeremiah Howell.
 Isaac Corley, Jr.       George Baitman.
 Jesse Marvin.           Josiah Seely.
 Jeremiah Clark.         John McCarly.
 Joseph Wood.            John Wood.
 Archibald Little.       Thomas Moffat.
 Stephen Gilbert.        Samuel Smith.
 Abraham Loce.           David Mandeville.
 John Mapes.             Vincent Matthews.
 Joseph Ketchum.         Samuel Ketchum.
 Samuel Ketchum, Jr.     Eleazer Yonmans.
 Benjamin Ketchum, Jr.   Stephen Yonmans.
 Benjamin Ketchum.       John Marvin.
 Joseph Morrell.         Jonathan Hallock.
 James Tuthill.          John Pecham.
 Brewster Helme.         John Burges.
 William Brown.          Patrick Odey.
 Asahel Coleman.         Isaiah Howell.
 Samuel Sacket           Samuel Seely.
 Micah Coleman.          Israel Seely.
 John Smith.             Nathaniel Seely.
 Gershom Clark.          James Little.
 Timothy Little.         Thaddeus Seely.
 Samuel Mapes.           Benjamin Gregory.
 Justus Stevens.         William Nicholson.
 Sylvanus White.         Bn. Cruft.
 Daniel Coleman.         Nathaniel Sayre, Jr.
 John Brewster.          David Clark.
 Christopher Van Duzer.  Richard Drake.
 Isaac Van Duzer, Jr.    Josiah Reeder.
 Roger Barton.           Peter Reeder.
 Obadiah Thorn.          Stephen Reeder.
 Solomon Sheldon.        Jacob Reeder.
 Absalom Townsend.       Samuel Reeder.
 James Hall.             Francis Vantine.
 Silas Hall.             Alexander Sutton.
 John W. Clark.          Samuel Smith.
 Paul Howell.            Thomas Smith.
 Silas Howell.           Jacob White.
 Bazaliel Seely.         Justus Philby.
 Elijah Hudson.          Benjamin Corey.
 Samuel Moffat, Jr.      Frederick Tobias.
 Hugh Murray.            Gilbert Weeks.
 Dennis Cooley.          Nathan Birchard.
 Sylvanus Sayles.        Zebulon Birchard.
 Matthew Sweny.          Robert Height.
 Isaac Brewster.         Daniel Thorne.
 Ebenezer Woodhull.      Timothy Wood.
 Nathaniel Strong.       Samuel Moffat.
 Daniel Tuthill.         Sylvanus Halsey.
 Maurice Hearen.         Barnabas Many.
 James Smith.            Luther Stuart.
 Henry Dier, Sr.         James Sayre, Jr.
 Silas Pierson.          John Sayre.
 Silas Pierson, Jr.      Birdseye Young.
 Richard Coleman.        Aaron Howell, Jr.
 Francis Drake.          William King.
 Benoni Brock.           Isaac Bower.
 Justus Hulse.           Thaddeus Cooley.
 Stephen Howell.         William McLaughlin.
 Stephen Sayles.         Nassiad Curtis.
 Daniel Smith.           Elijah Green.
 Daniel Jones.           Jonathan Tuthill.
 John Brooks.            Francis Tuthill.
 John Moffat.            Zachariah Du Bois.
 Michael Kelly.          Francis Brewster.
 John Leonard.           Joseph Collings.
 Lewis Donnovan.         Thomas Collings.
 John Close (Rev.)       James Moore.
 John Pride.             Benjamin Thorne.
 Nathaniel Seely, Jr.    John Parker.
 Jesse Seely.            Hezekiah Howell.
 Obadiah Smith.          Richard Collingwood.
 Nathaniel Satterly.     Silas Benjamin.
 Hezekiah Howell, Jr.    John Benjamin.
 Patrick McLaughlin.     John Kelley.
 Daniel Deven.           Aaron Howell.
 James Davidson.         John Carpenter.
 Benjamin Carpenter.     William Gregg.
 Timothy Carpenter.      Sylvanus Bishop.
 Joseph Carpenter, Jr.   Samuel Smith.
 Robert Gregg.           John Paren.
 Samuel Bartlett.        Isaac Vandusen, 3d.
 William Owen.           John Lightbody.
 Silas Coleman.          Gabriel Lightbody.
 Hugh Gregg.             Isaac Lightbody.
 Francis Drake.          Andrew Lightbody.
 Charick Vanduzen.       James Lightbody.
 Azariah Martin.         Thomas Hulse.
 Abraham Butler.         Selah Satterly.
 Zachariah Burwell.      Joel Tuthill.
 Joshua Burwell.         John Miller.
 Joseph Reeder.          Arch. Cunningham.
 John Reeder.            James Galloway.
 William Reeder.         Abner Thorp.
 Joseph Reeder, Jr.      John Johnson.
 Samuel Tuthill.         Arche. Coreham, Jr.
 Benjamin Tuthill.       George Whitaker.
 Joshua Sandstar.        Henry Myers.
 Isaac Lamoureux.        Henry Brewster, Jr.
 John Lamoureux.         Joseph Van Nort.
 John Lamoureux, 2d.     William Conkling.
 Peter Lamoureux.        John Brooks.
 Luke Lamoureux.         Neal Anderson.
 Peter Lamoureux, Jr.    James Mitchell.
 Philip Miller.          James Overton.
 John Carpenter, 2d.     Moses Strain.
 Elijah Carpenter.       Caleb Ashley.
 William Carpenter.      Benjamin Chichester.
 Josiah Halstead.        Jonas Garrison.
 Jonathan Du Bois.       Samuel Robbins.
 Thomas Poicy.           William Bedall.
 Thomas Herley.          Thomas Smith.
 Zacheus Horton.         Jacob Comten.
 John McLean.            Jacob Comten, Jr.
 Austin Smith.           Thomas Cooper.
 Joseph Lamoureux.       William Clark.
 Eleazer Taylor.         Abraham Sneden.
 William Bradley.        Adam Belsher.
 Nathaniel Pease.        Stephen Hulse.
 Charles Howell.         Eleazer Luce.
 F. Taylor.              Timothy Corwin.
 William Cook.           James Ludis.
 Thomas Chatfield.       Daniel Ramsey.
 James Wilkins.          John Tuthill.
 William Moffat.         William Owens.
 Isaac Moffat.           William Bartlett.
 John Moffat.            James Stought.
 Thomas Lenington.       John Carpenter, 3d.
 Jesse Brewster.         James McClugin.
 Joseph Chandler.        William Hooge.
 James McGuffack.        Tobias Wygant.
 Silas Corwin.           James Lewis.
 Henry Brewster.         Nathaniel Biggs.
 Stephen Halsey.         James Huff.
 James Halsey.           Daniel Curtis.
 Jacob Brown.            Nathan Strong.
 John Earll.             Solomon Sarvis.
 Peter Earll.            Richard Earll.
 Abraham Cooley.         Benjamin Earll.
 Silas Tucker.           John Brase.
 George Everson.         Robert Brock.
 Thomas Everson.         Neal Anderson, 2d.
 Reuben Tucker.          Benjamin Jayne.
 David Wilson.           Joseph Patterson.
 Peter Lowrie.           Thomas Gregg.
 Elisha Smith.           Jacob Vanduzer.
 Aaron DeGrauw.          Andrew Stuart.
 Amous Wood.             Henry Atwood.
 John Williams.          Isaac Vanduzer.
 Togidah Dickens.        William Ayres.
 Samuel Howard.          William Miller.
 William Howard.         Edward Robben.
 Francis Bourk.          Isaac Horton.
 John Daynes.            Hugh McDonel.
 Aaron Miller.           James Wilks.
 Owen Noblen.            James Wilks, Jr.
 Jacob Devo.             Richard Wilks.
 Thomas Willett.         William Thompson.
 Thomas Horton.          John Johnson.
 Hanes Bartlett.         John Wagent.
 Reuben Taber.           John Wagent, 2d.
 Solomon Cornwell.       Joseph Stevens.
 John W. Tuthill.        Thomas Smith.
 Joseph Davis.           Silas Reynolds.
 Nathaniel Jayne.        John Wolly.
 Stephen Jayne           Peter Stevens.
 Daniel Jayne.           William Obadge.
 Joseph Hildreth.        John Boucke.
 Adam Miller.            Silas Millis, Jr.
 Isaac Tobias.           Charles Field.
 David Bloomfield.       Henry Mandeville.
 Gilbert Roberts.        Jacob Mandeville.
 Lawrence Ferguson.      Francis Mandeville.
 Daniel Harrison.        Peter Reynolds.
 Daniel Miller.          Thomas Powell.
 Joseph Gold.            Benjamin Prindle.
 Henry Davenport.        Daniel Prindle.
 Israel Osmun.           Enos Prindle.
 Ezekiel Osmun.          Oliver Davenport.
 Henry Hall.             Chester Adams.
 William Cooper.         Joseph Canfield.
 Samuel Lows.            Benjamin Canfield.
 Jacob Lows.             John Canfield.
 Amos Miller.            John Carr.
 Cornwell Sands.         Garrett Miller.
 Thomas Linch.           David Causter.
 George Galloway.        Joshua Miller.
 John Smith.             William Bell.
 Dariah Stage.           Zophar Head.
 Garret Willem, Jr.      John Hall.
 William Horton.         Benjamin Kelley.
 Benj. Miller.           Henry Dier.
 James Miller.           William Compten.
 Asa Buck.               Philips Roblin.
 Robert Miller.          Samuel Hall.
 John McKelvey.          Matthias Tyson.
 Benjamin Goldsmith.     Vincent Helme.
 Joseph Miller.          L. Canfield.
 Timothy Owens.          Daniel Adams.
 John Gee.               Patrick Ford.
 John Arkils.            Amos Mills.
 John Earll, Jr.         John Barton.
 David Standley.         Andrew Southerland.
 James Unels.            James Southerland.
 James Arnold.           Alex. Southerland.
 Nathan June.            David Southerland (3d).
 Fanton Horn.            John Southerland.
 Thomas Davenport.       David Southerland.
 Oliver Davenport.       Henry Cunningham.
 Robert Davenport.       Henry Reynolds.
 Gideon Florence.        David June.
 Uriah Wood.             Richard Sheldon.
 Amos Wood.              John Celly.
 Benjamin Wood.          Stephen C. Clark.
 John Wood (3d).         Reuben Clark.
 Daniel Wood.            Joseph Plumfield.
 James Scoldfield.       John Wood.
 Uriah Crawford.         Stephen Wood.
 Jonas Smith.            Amos Pains.
 Francis Plumsted.       Joseph Cupper.
 Samuel Whitmore.        Joseph Canfield, Jr.
 Amos Whitmore.          Francis Welton.
 George Everitt.         John J. Hammond.
 David Miller.           Solomon Siles.
 Zabud June.             Thomas Porter.
 Francis Smith.          John Samson.
 Thomas Dearin.          Micah Seaman.
 Jeremiah Fowler.        Jonathan Earll.
 Martin Clark.           John Haman.
 Richard Langdon.        Alexander Johnson.
 Stephen Pect.           Samuel Earll.
 John Cronckhite.        Samuel Raymond.
 Andrew Sherwood.        Thomas Lamoureux.
 William Sherwood.       James Tuttle.
 Samuel Strong.          John Florence.
 Thomas Oliver.          Francis Miller.
 Thomas Gilbert.         Elijah Barton.
 Alexander Galloway.     Benjamin Quackenbush.
 William Douglas.        William White.
 Patrick McDowell.       Jacob Vanduzer.

[Illustration: Oscar Cochran]

In Newburgh precinct the "Committee of Safety and Observation,"
appointed January 27, 1775, consisted of Wolvert Acker, Jonathan
Hasbrouck, Thomas Palmer, John Belknap, Joseph Coleman, Moses Higby,
Samuel Sands, Stephen Case, Isaac Belknap, Benjamin Birdsall and John
Robinson.

In New Windsor precinct the committee appointed May 6, 1775,
consisted of Col. James Clinton, Capt. James McClaughry, John Nicoll,
John Nicholson, Nathan Smith, Robert Boyd, Jr., Samuel Brewster,
Samuel Sly, Samuel Logan. In May, 1776, the committee became: Samuel
Brewster, chairman; Robert Boyd, Jr., Nathan Smith, Hugh Humphrey,
George Denniston, John Nicholl, Col. James McClaughry, Samuel Arthur.

In the precinct of Mamakating, John Young, chairman of committee,
certified that the pledge was signed by all the freeholders and
inhabitants of the precinct, June 26, 1775.

In the precinct of Goshen the committee appointed September 14, 1775,
consisted in part of Isaac Nicoll, Benjamin Gale, Moses Hetfield,
Daniel Everett, James Little, Joshua Davis, with Daniel Everett as
Chairman. Later the names of John Hathorn, John Jackson, Henry
Wisner, John Minthornes and Nathaniel Ketchum were chairman at
different times.

In the Cornwall precinct, 1775, the committee consisted of Hezekiah
Howell, Archibald Little, Elihu Marvin, Nathaniel Satterly, Nathaniel
Strong, Jonathan Brooks, Stephen Gilbert, Zachariah Du Bois, with
Thomas Moffat as chairman.

In the precinct of Hanover no names of pledge-signers were reported,
but the committee, appointed May 8, 1775, consisted of Dr. Charles
Clinton, chairman; Alexander Trimble, Arthur Parks, William Jackson,
Henry Smith, Jacob Newkirk, James Latta, Philip Mole, John Wilkin,
James McBride, James Milliken, Samuel Barkley.

In the precinct of Wallkill there was no return of pledge-signers,
but the committee, Jan. 30, 1775, consisted of Abimael Youngs,
chairman; James Wilkins, Hezekiah Gale, Moses Phillips, Henry Wisner,
Jr.

The county committee of Orange in 1776 had Elihu Marvin, of Cornwall,
for chairman, and David Pye was deputy chairman for Haverstraw and
Orangetown. Robert Boyd, of New Windsor, was chairman for Ulster
County.

The Committees of Safety and Observation began immediately to gather
arms, and later to arrest inimical or suspected persons and bring
them to trial.

With few exceptions the inhabitants of Orange and Ulster Counties
were loyal, earnest and active for the cause of Independence. In the
early years of the war the militia was efficient in guarding the
frontiers, constructing Highland forts and placing obstructions to
navigation in the Hudson River; and two of the companies took part
in the expedition to Canada of 1775. In 1776 one-fourth of the
militia of the two counties was "drawn out for the defense of the
State" and stationed along the Highlands. They consisted of two
regiments from Orange commanded by Colonel Isaac Nicoll, and one
from Ulster commanded by Colonel Levi Paulding. In December, after
the British had captured New York, a more general requisition was
made, and men were obliged to leave their families and stock
unprovided for, which caused great disaffection for a time; but
after General Washington's victory at Trenton they were permitted to
return home.

In 1777 George and James Clinton were in command on the west side of
the Hudson, and General Putnam on the east side. Burgoyne, with an
army of 3,000 men, marching down from Canada, had reached Saratoga,
and Howe, with another army, was marching to capture Philadelphia,
when, about September 20, 3,000 British and Hessian soldiers arrived
in New York and joined the army of Sir Henry Clinton. Thus reinforced
Clinton soon started to force his way up the Hudson, and on October
6, approached Forts Montgomery and Clinton, defended by some 400 of
Colonel Du Bois's Regiment and Lamb's Artillery, and about 200
militia, mostly from Orange and Ulster Counties. They made a gallant
defense, but finally overwhelmed by superior numbers, were obliged to
retreat, leaving behind them 300 in killed, wounded and prisoners. In
Governor Clinton's report to General Washington of the fight at Fort
Montgomery he said that Sir Henry Clinton commanded in person; that
the enemy was repeatedly driven back by grape shot from a field-piece
and the well-directed fire of musketry during their approach; that
the militia retreated to the fort, when a demand to surrender was
refused; and that the enemy's superior numbers finally forced the
works on all sides. If expected reinforcements had reached the fort
it was believed that the enemy would have been defeated. Many
militiamen were in the mountains, but their communications had been
cut off. There were not more than 600 men in both the forts, while
the attacking army numbered 3,000. Governor Clinton escaped across
the Hudson, and many of his men were bayoneted after the works were
taken. DuBois's Continental Regiment and Lamb's Artillery bore the
brunt of the fight. The following other regiments were represented in
small numbers; Colonel Allison's from Goshen, commanded by himself;
Colonel James Clinton's from New Windsor, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel James McClaughry; Colonel Harbourg's from Newburgh, commanded
by Colonel Masten; Colonel Jesse Woodhull's from Cornwall, commanded
by Colonel Dubois.

Sir Henry Clinton's ships moved on up the Hudson, and Putnam's and
Clinton's troops followed. The British Commander caused Kingston to
be burned, and here, receiving the news of Burgoyne's surrender,
turned back. His army tarried a few days in the Highlands to
complete the destruction of the forts, and then sailed to New York,
and the militia returned home.

The Indians on the western frontier of Orange and beyond were still
nursing grievances against the colonists, and were easily won over to
the British side by diplomatic agents. Their depredations began again
in 1777, when the family of a Mr. Sprague in the northern part of the
Minisink was attacked and some of them taken prisoners. Next they
killed some of the family of a Mr. Brooks, and took the rest
prisoners. In 1778 the upper Minisink was invaded by about 100
Indians, under the famous warrior chief, Brandt, and on Oct. 13 they
attacked two dwellings, killed three persons and destroyed much grain
and stock. The settlers repaired to the forts of Gumaer's and
De Witt's, and the Indians after following and firing a few times at
them from a distance, went away.

The Committee of Safety for Minisink in 1778 consisted of Benjamin
Depuy, Philip Swartwout and Ezekiel Gumaer, and they ordered the
erection of five forts, three in the upper neighborhood, and two in
the lower. These could not accommodate all of the fifty families in
what is now Deer Park, and many women and children were sent to the
older settlements. Scouting parties were sent out under command of
Captain Bezaliel Tyler, and persons suspected of aiding the Indians
were imprisoned or banished. Small companies of nine months militia
were obtained to garrison the forts.

[Illustration: Webb Horton]

The massacre of Wyoming in July, and the horrible cruelties practiced
upon some of the prisoners, had caused grave apprehensions, and these
were increased by the coming of Brandt and his Indians in October.
Count Pulaski and his cavalry legion were sent to Minisink, and
remained there during the winter of 1778-9, and Colonel Van
Cortlandt's Regiment was sent to Wawarsing. In the spring Count
Pulaski and his legion were ordered to South Carolina, and on July
19 Brandt, aware of the poorly defended Minisink, came with
sixty-five Indian warriors and twenty-seven Tories disguised as
Indians, to the lower section, now Deer Park, south of the Neversink
and while the settlers were asleep set fire to several dwellings.
Some of the inmates were killed as they were fleeing and others were
taken prisoners. The cattle were driven off, and much booty carried
to Brandt's headquarters, Grassy Brook, on the Delaware. When news of
the murderous raid was received by the militia, a council was held by
Lieutenant-Colonel Tusten of Colonel Allison's Goshen Regiment,
Colonel John Hathorn of the Warwick Regiment, and Captain Meeker of
the New Jersey militia, and contrary to Tusten's advice, it was
decided to march against the Indians with such numbers of men as
could be quickly brought together. Meanwhile Brandt's force had been
increased to about 300 Indians, and 200 Tories painted to resemble
Indians. The small band of militiamen, commanded by Colonel Hathorn,
marched to the hills overlooking the Delaware near the mouth of the
Lackawaxen, and then discovered Brandt and his warriors
three-fourths of a mile away. Colonel Hathorn prepared to attack
them, but Brandt outmaneuvered him, and cut off fifty of his men,
leaving only ninety in the fight that followed. Brandt got in their
rear, and hemmed them in on a rocky slope, with the advantages of
position and more than five times as many men. When their ammunition
was exhausted they formed in a hollow square to fight with clubbed
muskets, but the square was soon broken and the men sought safety in
flight. Tusten was killed by the Indians while dressing wounds of his
men behind a rock, as were also seventeen wounded men with him.
Others were shot or drowned in trying to swim across the Delaware.
Only about thirty survived.

In Colonel Hathorn's report of the fight to Governor Clinton he says
that "the enemy repeatedly advanced to from forty to one hundred
yards distance and was as repeatedly repulsed"; that his men
"defended the ground nearly three hours and a half and during the
whole time one blaze without intermission was kept up on both sides."
This was at the last stand on the slope. Hathorn's men had been
firing for five hours, when, ammunition being almost exhausted, he
ordered that no one fire "without having his object sure." Soon they
were forced to retreat down the hill towards the river, and
scattered, every man for himself. Colonel Hathorn further says:

"The Indians were under the command of Brandt, who was either killed
or wounded in the action. They burnt Major Decker's house, barn and
mill, James Van Vlock's house and barn, Daniel Vanoker's barn (here
were two Indians killed from a little fort around the house, which
was saved). Esquire Cuykindall's house and barn, Simon Westfall's
house and barn, the church, Peter Cuykindall's house and barn;
Martinus Decker's fort, house, barn and saw-mills, and Nehemiah
Patterson's saw-mill; killed and scalped, Jeremiah Vanoker, Daniel
Cole, Ephriam Ferguson and one Tavern, and took with them several
prisoners, mostly children, with a great number of horses, cattle
and valuable plunder. Some of the cattle we rescued and returned to
the owners."

A list of the names of the killed has been preserved, and is as
follows:

Killed in Minisink Fight.

 Col. Benjamin Tusten.   Gabriel Wisner.
 Capt. Bezaliel Tyler.   Stephen Mead.
 Capt. Benjamin Vail.    Nathaniel Terwilliger.
 Capt. John Dimcan.      Joshua Lockwood.
 Capt. Samuel Jones.     Ephraim Ferguson.
 Capt. John Little.      ____ Talmadge.
 Lieut. John Wood.       John Carpenter.
 Adjt. Nathaniel Fitch.  David Burney.
 Robert Townsend.        Gamaliel Bailey.
 Samuel Knapp.           Moses Thomas.
 James Knapp.            Jonathan Haskell.
 Benjamin Bennett.       Abram Williams.
 William Barker.         Daniel Reed.
 Jacob Dunning.          Jonathan Pierce.
 Joseph Norris.          James Little.
 Gilbert S. Vail.        Nathan Wade.
 Joel Decker.            Simon Wait.
 Abram Shepherd.         James Mosher.
 ____ Shepherd.          Isaac Ward.
 Eleazer Owens.          Baltus Niepos.
 Adam Embler.            Samuel Little.
 Ensign Ephraim Hasten.  Benjamin Dunning.
 Ensign Ephraim Middaugh.

There is a tradition that Joseph Brandt secretly visited the Minisink
some time before his second invasion, and was cared for by a Tory,
and thus became well informed of the condition of the region. Brandt
was supposed to be a half-breed, with a German father, but later he
was believed to be a pure Mohawk Indian. He was educated at Dartmouth
College, and at the commencement of the Revolution received a British
appointment as Colonel of the Six Nations. He was a Free Mason, but
neither this nor a good education tamed his savage nature. Dr. Wilson
said of him: "He was more cunning than the fox and fiercer than the
tiger."

Detachments from Woodhull's, Allison's and Hathorn's Regiments were
sent to guard the frontier, but Sullivan's expedition up the
Susquehanna and to the Genesee Valley drew the attention of Brandt,
and he and his Indians did not return.

The jails at Goshen and Kingston were filled with prisoners, but the
local Tories continued to be troublesome, and some of them joined the
British Army, while others made predatory excursions from retreats in
the lower Highlands, covered by the British works at Stony Point and
Fort Lee, and became a terror to the inhabitants.

The residents of this portion of the country and on down the Ramapo
Valley were mostly Tories, and in this defile in that region known as
the "Clove," the Tory Moody intercepted an express from Washington to
Congress regarding an interview about the land and naval forces of
France. This messenger was intended by Washington to be captured,
and the news thus obtained caused the withdrawal of a portion of the
forces under Cornwallis, rendering easier the capture of the latter
at Yorktown. Claudius Smith and his sons, who had their headquarters
in the Clove, were the boldest and most successful of its Tories.
Smith was a large, powerful and shrewd man and while he committed
many crimes and did many hazardous things, yet for a long time
managed to escape capture. In October, 1778, Governor Clinton,
enraged at Smith's depredations, offered a reward for his arrest and
that of his two sons, Richard and James. Alarmed by this, Smith fled
to Long Island, was recognized there, and seized in the night in bed.
He was tried for one of his crimes at Goshen in January, 1779, and
executed on the 22nd of the same month. Five of his associates were
executed with him--Matthew Dolson, John Ryan, Thomas Delamar, John
Gordon and Amy Angor. Retribution followed soon on all Smith's band.
His son William was shot in the mountains, and his son James was
probably executed in Goshen soon after his father, with James
Flewelling and William Cole. Silas Gardner, however, who was tried
and sentenced as a Tory, was pardoned, but the rest were slain or
driven from the country. Claudius Smith commenced his depredations in
the interest of the British in 1776, and first appeared on the
public records, charged with stealing, in 1777. He was confined in
the Kingston jail, and transferred from there to the Goshen jail,
from which he escaped. He was said to be the friend of the poor,
giving liberally to them of what he stole from the rich. Many
exciting stories were told of his doings.

One of the most brilliant exploits of the war was the night assault
on Stony Point, twelve miles below West Point, and now a State
reservation in Rockland County. This was on July 16-17, 1779. It had
been occupied by British troops since Clinton's expedition up the
Hudson in 1777, and was regarded as almost impregnable. "Mad" Anthony
Wayne headed the enterprise, and it was carried out in substantial
accordance with a general plan which had been suggested by General
Washington. The fort was garrisoned by 700 men, who had fifteen
pieces of artillery on the heights. Their surprise was complete, and
the capture quickly accomplished. The American loss was 15 killed and
83 wounded; that of the British 63 killed, 61 wounded and 575 made
prisoners, only one of the garrison managing to escape. The works
were destroyed and the place evacuated. In July, 1779, the British
reoccupied it, and began to build defenses, but were soon withdrawn
because of the coming of the French fleet, and the Americans took
possession and began restoring the fortifications.

Arnold's treason was discovered Sept. 23d, 1780, and Stony Point was
included in the fortifications which he intended to betray. His
treason, his conference with Major Andre below Stony Point, Andre's
stay at Hett Smith's house, his capture at Tarrytown and brief
confinement at West Point, Arnold's flight and Andre's trial and
execution, are too familiar to the readers of American history to
require recapitulation here.

[Illustration: John Devon]




 CHAPTER IX.

 THE WAR OF 1812.



Notwithstanding other ostensible causes, it was really necessary to
complete the independence of the United States, only partly effected
by the War of the Revolution, that the War of 1812 should be begun
and fought out. Great Britain claimed the right to search American
ships, impress American seamen into her service, and make prizes of
all American vessels going to or from France or her allies which did
not clear from or touch English ports. France issued retaliatory
decrees which were more damaging to America than England. They
declared that its vessels which had touched English ports or
submitted to be searched by an English ship should be the property
of France, and that English goods, wherever found, should be subject
to confiscation. Thus endangered by the policy of both nations,
Congress in 1809 declared an embargo prohibiting American vessels
from sailing from foreign ports, and foreign ships from carrying away
American cargoes--a law which virtually suspended our commerce and
exposed our merchants to the risks of bankruptcy. England gave notice
to the President that her claims before stated would be adhered to,
and Congress, seeing no other means of redress, formally declared war
on June 18, 1812.

Orange County citizens had given expression to their views on the
embargo act in March, 1800. A Republican county convention held at
Goshen selected General Hathorn as its chairman, and a committee on
resolutions was appointed consisting of Jonathan Fisk, Colonel John
Nicholson, General Reuben Hopkins and Judge Nathan White. The
resolutions reported and adopted asserted that the American embargo
was "a wise and patriotic measure, imperiously demanded by the exposed
condition of our seamen, shipping and trade to the audacious outrages
of foreign powers." In the Federal party's county convention, held
later, Daniel Niven was chairman, and its committee on resolutions
consisted of John Barber, Alexander R. Thompson, Alanson Austin, John
Bradner, J. N. Phillips, John Morrison, John Duer, Samuel Saver, James
Storey, Solomon Sleight, John Decker and Samuel B. Stickney. The
resolutions protested against the enforcement of the embargo, as
"unjust, illegal and oppressive, subversive of the rights and
dangerous to the liberties of the people."

But when the war came the views of many of the Federalists had
changed, and they sustained the Government.

The first call for troops was made April 21, 1812, when the militia
was arranged in two divisions and eight brigades, and the brigades
were divided into twenty regiments. The second brigade of the first
division, embracing the militia of Orange and Ulster, under Brigadier
General Hopkins of Goshen, was organized as the Fourth Regiment, and
its Commander was Lieutenant Colonel Andrew J. Hardenburgh of
Shawangunk. In 1813 and 1814, Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Belknap took
the place of Lieutenant Colonel Hardenburgh. The cavalry and
artillery were similarly organized.

The second call was made in July, 1813, and the third in July, 1814,
when the places of rendezvous were Newburgh and New Windsor, and from
these the men were moved on sloops to New York and assigned to the
neighboring fortifications. They embarked Aug. 28, and returned Dec.
4, having been absent only a little more than three months.

Among the uniformed companies at that time were the following: Orange
Hussars of Montgomery, Captain William Trimble (succeeded by Captain
Milliken); Captain Van Orsdal's and Captain Dorcas's companies of
infantry of Montgomery; Captain Kerr's company of artillery of New
Windsor; Captain Butterworth's company of artillery of Newburgh;
Captain Westcott's company of cavalry of Goshen; Captain Acker's
company of cavalry of Newburgh and Marlborough; Captain Denniston and
Captain Birdsall's companies of infantry of Newburgh.

It appears that Captain Westcott was afterwards appointed Major of
the first regiment of cavalry, when Charles Lindsay was made captain
of his company; Joseph H. Jackson, first lieutenant; Daniel McNeal,
second lieutenant, and Stephen P. Rockefellow, cornet, all being
residents of Montgomery except Major Westcott.

[Illustration: Signing of the Wawayanda Patent]

In the fall of 1812, Captain Denniston of the "Republican Blues"
enlisted about fifty volunteers to serve one year or during the war,
and they elected Jonathan Gidney captain. They formed part of a
detached regiment of riflemen of which Captain Denniston became
major and afterwards colonel.

A part of a company from Wallkill was included in Colonel
Hardenburgh's Ulster regiment, which went to Plattsburgh and thence
to Fort Hamilton, near the Canada line, for guard duty.

The following roll of a detached company in Colonel Michael Smith's
regiment of infantry, mustered in in September, 1814, embraces men
from both Orange and Ulster Counties:

Roll of Detached Company.

 Dunning, John, Captain.               Gardner, Samuel.
 Mullicks, William, First Lieutenant.  Gardner, Silas L.
 Moore, Walter, Ensign.                Goldsmith, John D.
 Booth, Jeffrey, First Sergeant.       Horton, Barnabas.
 Crane, John A., Second Sergeant.      Hulse, Jonas, Jr.
 Dunning, Henry, Third Sergeant.       Hudson, Eleazer.
 Clark, Oliver, First Corporal.        Hines, John W.
 Genung, Pierson, Second Corporal.     Jackson, Daniel T.
 Murray, Archibald Y., Third Corporal. Jagger, Paul.
 Lewis, James, Fourth Corporal.        Kirk, Robert.
 Smith, Derrick, Fifth Corporal.       Kortright, John C.
 Wilkin, Daniel, Sixth Corporal.       Kerr, Nathan.
 Brown, Samuel, Drummer.               Kirk, David.
 Genung, Harvey, Fifer.                Keen, Elihu C.
 Brown, Elisha.                        Knox, James.
 Brundage, Abijah.                     Knapp, Elijah.
 Brown, Neal.                          Long, Artemas.
 Bennett, Levi.                        Lockwood, Jared.
 Brown, Daniel.                        Loder, Isaac W.
 Bailey, Nathaniel.                    Millspaugh, Samuel.
 Benjamin, John.                       McNish, Joshua.
 Booth, Thomas A.                      McNish, Spicer.
 Bedford, Benjamin.                    McNish, Henry.
 Cash, Stephen.                        McCarter, James.
 Clark, Stephen.                       McCarter, Ardent.
 Corey, Benjamin.                      McVey, James.
 Crawford, James.                      Mires, John, Jr.
 Caldwell, Gabriel.                    Monnel, Joseph.
 Christie, Andrew.                     Moore, Loderwick.
 Corwin, Nebat.                        Miller, John C.
 Corwin, Joseph.                       McVey, John.
 Cox, Jeremiah.                        McVey, Arden.
 Cox, Thompson.                        McCarter, William.
 Canfield, Joseph.                     Miller, George.
 Decker, Stephen.                      Nicolls, Allen.
 Dunning, Michael.                     Ogden, Gilbert.
 Dunning, John, Jr.                    Prescott, Stephen.
 Fanning, Samuel.                      Puff, Adam.
 Goldsmith, Salem.                     Puff, James.
 Gale, Henry.                          Robbins, John.
 Gregory, Lyman.                       Robbins, Peter.
 Goldsmith, Moses.                     Ray, James.
 Selleck, Isaac.                       Rodgers, John.
 Slauson, Alva.                        Taylor, Morrison.
 Saver, William.                       Uptegrove, Richard.
 Sands, Samuel.                        Van Benschoten, John.
 Stringham, Jacob.                     Warren, David.
 Smith, Isaiah W.                      Warren, Solomon.
 Screder, Elijah.                      Warren, Eliphalet.
 Smith, Grant.                         White, Jonathan.
 Smith, Silas W.                       Watson, James.
 Smith, Bezalell.                      Wilkin, William.
 Thompson, Jonathan.                   Wood, John.
 Treadwell, Charles.                   Youngs, Virgil W.

Orange County was represented in the Navy by Silas H. Stringham,
Charles Ludlow and Robert C. Ludlow, among others. Robert Ludlow was
on the "Constitution" when she captured the "Java," and Augustus C.
Ludlow as a lieutenant distinguished himself as a hero in the action
of the "Chesapeake" with the "Shannon."

After the British captured Washington in 1814, a public meeting was
held in Goshen, August 30, to consider the propriety of repairing the
fortifications at West Point or erecting new ones for public defense.
General James W. Wilson was chairman of the meeting, and a committee
to devise and report plans was composed of John Duer, Jonathan Fisk,
William Ross, John W. Wilkin, George D. Wickham, James Finch, Jr.,
and Nathan H. White. They reported at an adjourned meeting, and
recommended the following committee of defense, which was appointed:

For Minisink, John Bradner, Nathan Arnot; Deer Park, John Finch, Jr.,
Joseph Baird; Wallkill, Henry B. Wisner, Benjamin Woodward; Goshen,
John Duer, Freegift Tuthill; Warwick, Dr. Samuel S. Seward, Jeffrey
Wisner; Monroe, James D. Secor, Benjamin Cunningham; Cornwall,
William A. Clark, Joseph Chandler, Jr.; Blooming Grove, Col. Selah
Strong, Jeremiah Horton; Montgomery, John Blake, Jr., Johannes
Miller; Newburgh, John D. Lawson, Jacob Powell; New Windsor, Joseph
Morton, David Hill.

This Committee of Defense met September 7, and made Selah Strong its
chairman and John Duer its secretary. It passed resolutions in
harmony with those of the public meeting, and appointed the chairman,
the secretary, William A. Clark, Joseph Morell and Johannes Miller a
committee to tender the services of citizens in repairing the West
Point fortifications. At another meeting, September 17, the committee
instructed the town committees immediately to collect subscriptions
of money and labor, and report them to the General Committee, and
also inquire into and report the quantity of arms and ammunition
which the respective towns might need.

October 25 it was reported from the Secretary of War that he would
send a skillful engineer to West Point "to superintend the works and
point out the sites most eligible for defense."

Little was done, however, at West Point, but military companies of
exempts were organized in several towns.

The glad news of the treaty of peace, concluded in December, 1814,
was celebrated in every town of the county with great enthusiasm, and
included illuminations, cannon firing, speeches, toasts, and
thanksgiving services in the churches.

Peace with other nations continued from the close of the War of 1812
until the war with Mexico, 1846-8. For this war New York City
regiments drew a number of volunteers from Orange, but only one
company was recruited in the county, and this was in Goshen, and it
became Co. K of the 10th Regiment U. S. Infantry. Its captain was
Alexander Wilkin and its lieutenant, Francis M. Cummins. Captain
Wilkin resigned in April, 1848, and Lieutenant Cummins was promoted
to the captaincy. The regiment with this company was attached to the
Army of the Rio Grande under General Taylor.




 CHAPTER X.

 THE CIVIL WAR.

The patriotic services of the people of Orange County in the
four-years' Civil War of 1861-5 were as praiseworthy as those of
their ancestors in the two wars with Great Britain, which founded the
Republic upon a lasting basis of unparalleled prosperity and
progress. It was as necessary for the continuance of that prosperity,
and as a lesson of our republican experiment to the world, to defeat
the efforts of the slave-holding States to rend the Union in twain,
as it had been to compel the kingly power across the ocean to let us
establish it. This Orange County was quick to perceive and act upon.

Its Co. B, Third Regiment of Infantry, was the first company
recruited and ready for muster in the State. Recruiting for it was
commenced in Newburgh immediately after the passage by the
Legislature, April 16, 1861, of an act to authorize the equipment of
volunteer militia for the public safety, the movement being started
by Hon. Stephen W. Fullerton, Member of Assembly, and placed in
charge of James A. Ramney. There were seventy-seven men enrolled when
the company was mustered in for two years, May 14, 1861--less than
one month from the day the first man enlisted, and it had then been
ready several days for mustering in.

The following regiments and companies were recruited in Orange for
the Civil War, and there were many other enlistments from the county
in other regiments and in the Navy:

Infantry: Third Regiment, Co. B, 1861; 18th, Co. D and Co. H, in
part, 1861; 36th, Co. B, 1861; 56th, Cos. A, B, D and E, 1861; 63d
Regiment, 1864; 70th, Co. F, 1861; 87th, Co. C, 1861; 98th, Co. C,
1864; 124th Regiment, 1,047 men in 1862 and one company in 1864;
168th, 335 men, 1862; 176th, 272 men, 1862.

Mounted Rifles: First Regiment, Co. C, 1861.

Cavalry: Second Regiment, Co. B, 1861; 15th, Co. I, 146 men, 1864.

Artillery: Fifteenth Regiment, Co. M, 82 men, 1864; 7th, 70 men,
1864; 7th Independent Battery, 1861.

Militia: Nineteenth and 71st, 517 men, 1861-62.

The following are the aggregates by towns of the men furnished and
accepted in the county:

     April, 1861, to July, 1862.

 Towns.             Volunteers.       Militia.      Total.
 Blooming Grove         37               ..           37
 Chester                31                2           33
 Cornwall               36               ..           36
 Crawford               11                5           16
 Deer Park             104               ..          104
 Goshen                 30               ..           30
 Greenville              3               ..            3
 Hamptonburgh            2               ..            2
 Highlands               1               ..            1
 Minisink               17               ..           17
 Monroe                 25               ..           25
 Montgomery            109               79          188
 Mount Hope              9               ..            9
 Newburgh              493              429          922
 New Windsor            26                2           28
 Southfield             12               ..           12
 Wallkill              447               ..          447
 Warwick               100               ..          100
 Wawayanda              12               ..           12
                     ______             ____       ______
                     1,505              517        2,022

In addition to the numbers tabulated there were in the 71st Militia
four hundred and twenty-nine from Newburgh, seventy-nine from Mount
Hope, five from Deer Park, two from Chester and two from Southfield.

The totals tell their own story of patriotic zeal.

Company B, Third Regiment, before referred to as the first to be
recruited and ready for muster in the State, was mustered out at the
end of its two years' service, but reorganized and was mustered out
the second time after the close of the war, on August 28, 1865. It
was in many fights, including those of Big Bethel, Fort Wagner,
Bermuda Hundred, Petersburg, Fort Gilmer, Chapin's Farm, Fort Fisher
and Wilmington. Its first captain, Stephen W. Fullerton, appointed
April 20, 1861, died in Newburgh, September 11, 1861, and was
succeeded by Ervine A. Jones, first lieutenant, September 25, 1861,
who was dismissed August 16, 1862. Alexander Mann, second and then
first lieutenant, was promoted to captain, June 10, 1861, and
discharged August 31, 1864. Jeremiah D. Mabie, who was promoted from
first sergeant to second lieutenant, and then to first lieutenant of
Co. B, was made captain of Co. F, June 15, 1863, and discharged
September 18, 1864. James H. Reeve was advanced from fourth sergeant
to first sergeant and then to second lieutenant of Co. B, was made
captain of Co. I, October 3, 1864, lost a leg at Fort Fisher, and was
discharged June 26, 1865.

The Eighteenth Regiment was recruited in several counties in
response to the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers. It
was mustered in for two years May 17, 1861, and mustered out May 28,
1863. Co. D was recruited from Orange County and organized at
Middletown, with John C. McGinnis, captain, George Barry, first
lieutenant and Roswell M. Sayre, second lieutenant. The commissions
of these officers date back into April. The enlistments were so many
that thirty men of the company were separated to form a part of Co.
H. The regiment supported a battery in the first battle of Bull Run,
but was not brought into action. It was stationed and remained near
Alexandria the most of the time until McClellan's Army went to the
Peninsula, and took part there in the seven days' fighting. Afterward
it did guard duty at various points until it was mustered out.

The following promotions of Orange County men in the 18th Regiment
are on record, the dates being those of rank, some of which preceded
dates of commission:

Thomas S. Lane, 2d Lieut., Nov. 6, 1861; 1st Lieut., Nov. 10, 1862;
mustered out with regiment.

W. E. Carmichael, 2d Lieut., May 7, 1861; 1st Lieut., Dec. 2, 1861;
resigned May 16, 1862.

Robert A. Malone, 2d Lieut., Nov. 11, 1861; Capt., Sept. 8, 1862;
mustered out with regiment.

Roswell M. Sayre, 2d Lieut., April 30, 1861; 1st Lieut., Dec. 21,
1862; Capt., June 26, 1862; mustered out with regiment.

John S. King, 1st Lieut., June 26, 1862; mustered out with regiment.

George Barry, 1st Lieut., April 30, 1861; killed at Gaines Mills, June
27, 1862.

John C. McGinnis, Capt., April 30, 1861; Major, Dec. 2, 1861; Lieut.
Col., Oct. 14, 1862; mustered out with regiment.

The 36th Regiment was organized in New York, and its Co. B was
recruited in Orange County by John Raney of Newburgh, captain of Co.
F, 19th Militia, assisted by Timothy Donoghue of the same company.
The enlistments were for two years. Between May 13 and June 17, 1861,
they enlisted seventy-seven men. The regiment arrived in Washington,
July 14, 1861, and remained in camp until March, 1862. It was
brigaded under General Couch, and attached to General Buell's
Division, afterward commanded by General Keyes. It went with General
McClellan's Army to the Peninsula and was in the fights at Seven
Pines, Gaines Mills and Malvern Hill. Afterward it saw much active
and perilous service in Virginia and Maryland. At Fredericksburg it
was in General Deven's Brigade, which was the first of the left
grand division to cross the Rappahannock, December 11, 1862, and
covered the retreat of the army, December 15, Co. B being detailed to
collect stragglers under the enemy's fire. May 3, Co. B, at Marye's
Heights, captured a battery from a Mississippi brigade, and was the
first to raise the colors on the heights. The regiment was a part of
Sedgwick's Corps in the attack on Salem Heights. The last active
service of the regiment and Co. B was in Hooker's campaign. The
officers of the company were:

John A. Raney, Capt., June 15, 1861; Major, Dec. 21, 1861; resigned
Oct. 15, 1862.

Timothy Donoghue, 1st Lieut., June 15, 1861; Capt., Nov. 12, 1861;
mustered out with regiment, July 15, 1863.

John M. Lewis, 2d Lieut., June 15, 1864; 1st Lieut., Dec. 2, 1861;
mustered out with regiment.

Charles B. Lewis, 1st Sergt., Oct. 1, 1861; 2d Lieut., Nov. 12, 1861;
1st Lieut, Aug. 20, 1862; mustered out with regiment.

  FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.

The 56th Regiment was formed of companies from Orange, Ulster,
Sullivan and Delaware Counties, Companies A, B, D and E being
recruited from Orange, as were also the 7th Battery and Co. C of
Mounted Rifles, afterward detached. It was a three-years' regiment,
but was continued by re-enlistment, and although the companies were
all mustered in between July 31st and December 10th, 1861, the
regiment was not mustered out until October 17th, 1865. Its services
in the army were varied and creditable throughout, and at times
brilliant, and deserved the detailed record of its movements,
hardships, perils and achievements in the history by John C. Fisk
and William H. D. Blake, members of the regiment, which was published
in 1906. It is this well-written history herein epitomized.

The 56th Regiment, first known as the Tenth Legion, was organized in
July, 1861, by Charles H. Van Wyck, with headquarters at Newburgh. It
consisted of ten companies of infantry, one of sharpshooters, two of
artillery and two of cavalry, when it went away, but in Washington
the four latter companies were detached and placed in the artillery
division and cavalry corps. Its camp of rendezvous and instruction
until November 6th was on a sandy plateau by the Hudson River, near
New Windsor. In Washington it was made a part of the Provisional
Brigade, including also the 52nd and 104th Pennsylvania, the 11th
Maine and the 100th New York Regiments. The 56th New York was
commanded by Colonel Charles H. Van Wyck until he was brevetted a
Brigadier General. Companies A, B and E were recruited in Newburgh
by Recruiting Officers Thomas S. Marvel, Charles T. Thayer and
William J. Williams, respectively; Co. C of mounted rifles in
Montgomery by Frederick Decker, and Co. D in Warwick by John J.
Wheeler.

The instructing officer at the New Windsor camp was Charles A. Van
Horne Ellis, of the 71st New York Militia, and he proved to be an
efficient drill-master in regimental and company movements and the
manual of arms, in which officers and men made rapid progress and
became expert before leaving for the seat of war. When the regiment
reached New York General Stuart L. Woodford presented to it a white
silk banner in behalf of a patriotic society called "The Sons of
Orange and Sullivan," and this was carried through the whole war. On
arriving in Washington in November the regiment was sent to Kalorama
Heights, near Georgetown, and tented there about two weeks. The
weather was severe, and many of the men contracted colds, pneumonia
and rheumatism from unaccustomed exposures, which also proved fatal
to some of them. Afterward they camped a few weeks by Rock Creek, in
the suburbs of Georgetown, and in January, 1862, went into the
Carver barracks on Meridian Hill. The brigade, under General Naglee,
had then become one of the best-drilled in the army, and President
Lincoln and family and General Scott and daughter repeatedly came to
Meridian Hill to witness its parade. It was in the grand review of
140,000 men under General McClellan which preceded the movement to
the Peninsula, and on March 26th crossed the Long Bridge in Casey's
division of four brigades, which marched thence to Alexandria, where
on April 1st they started down the Potomac on the steamer
"Constitution" for the Peninsula, reached Hampton Roads in the
evening of April 2nd, and proceeded to Newport News April 3d. On
this last trip the men had their first experience under fire, but the
shells which the rebels shot at them from Sewell's Point fell short.

At Newport News they went into camp on a large plantation, waited for
the rest of the army a few days, and marched with it to Yorktown.
Here the men on picket line were almost constantly under fire, and
all were kept in a fever of excitement by the roar of cannon and
cracks of rifles along the whole line from river to river, day and
night.

The first real baptism of fire experienced by the 56th was on April
16th, when a large force of the enemy came out and fell on the left
of the division near Lee's Mills. The rebels were repulsed, and the
officers commended the men of the regiment for their courage and
steadiness under fire. May 5th they had more fighting experience
after a swift march of the day before to the front of Fort McGruder
in the suburbs of Williamsburgh. Here they took part in a charge on
their enemies with fixed bayonets, which caused the latter to flee in
confusion leaving many dead and wounded and about 600 prisoners. They
remained in line of battle all night, standing in deep mud, and
drenched by a drizzling rain. When, the next afternoon, they were
each given three biscuits of hardtack it was the first food they had
eaten in two days, and ended the first experience of intense gnawing
hunger with the most of them. May 9th they followed the retreating
rebels over roads deep with mud, exchanging shots with them day after
day, sleeping on the ground at night, wading streams waist-deep
sometimes, with little to eat, and much of the time only what they
could jayhawk. May 19th they drove the enemy across the Chickahominy
at a point opposite Richmond, and as all the bridges had been
destroyed, waded the next day across the Oozy river without much
opposition, and waited for the rest of the corps, which followed in
three days, and crossed the river on a bridge which had meanwhile
been constructed for them. During the next three days the regiment
was kept on the move making reconnaissances and scouting, and
scouted to within four miles of the city of Richmond.

May 28th the 56th found itself assigned with Casey's division to a
position on the right of the Williamsburgh turnpike, remained on
picket till sometime after the attack of the 31st and captured a
number of the enemy's skirmishers. Later, when the two lines of
battle were formed, it was placed to support Spratt's battery, but
the battery's captain relieved it and left the division lying on the
ground exposed to the plunging fire of the enemy's artillery, which
killed the men "at a fearful rate." They then formed in the edge of
the woods, and there fought two hours, and Colonel Van Wyck was
wounded in the leg by a piece of shell. The division that day opposed
a force of 30,000, and held the line. Three times the enemy charged
to within reach of their bayonets, and each time was driven back. The
division made one of the most bloody and obstinate fights of the war,
and lost nearly half of its men, but, it was believed, saved the army
of the Potomac from great disaster.

Then to Malvern Hill. On July 1 the division, after a tedious march,
lay down on the hill near a large house, and there all day witnessed
the cannonading of 160 Union guns, expecting every moment to be
ordered to assist in the frequent fierce assaults made by the Army of
Virginia in three divisions, "only to be torn in pieces and hurled
back again to the cover of the woods by the awful storm of shot and
shell and volleys of the infantry supports." But the brigade was not
moved from its reserved position until late in the afternoon, when it
was sent to the southern slope of the hill, and on the 2nd acted as
rear guard of the whole retreating army, being in charge of the
artillery and wagon trains. The enemy's advance attacked it at
Carter's Hill, but was repulsed. The next day breastworks were thrown
up, and the army rested. On July 7th the men were cheered by a visit
and praise from President Lincoln. It was thought that the army would
move forward and capture Richmond, but General McClellan received
orders to withdraw by way of Aquia Creek and attack Richmond from the
Rappahannock. The Chickahominy was crossed October 16 in weather so
hot that large numbers of the officers and men dropped by the wayside
exhausted, and that night when the regiment bivouacked not more than
100 men stacked arms, and hardly an officer except the mounted ones
was with them. Key's corps, including the 56th Regiment, was left at
Yorktown to cover the embarkation. The Peninsula campaign was ended.

General Naglee's brigade remained in and about Yorktown for sometime,
doing picket duty and demolishing earthworks. On December 11 it went
on a raid into Gloucester, Kings and Queens Counties, and brought
back horses, mules, cattle, sheep and fowls. The brigade marched all
night closely followed by the enemy, the 56th doing excellent service
as the rear guard. On December 29th the brigade embarked on steamer
for Morehead City, N. C., and went from there to Newbern, near which
it remained two weeks. On January 8, 1863, orders were read informing
the men of the 56th that their regiment had been attached to the 18th
Corps, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, with General Naglee as division
commander, and Colonel Davis of the 104th Pa. as the brigade
commander. General Naglee, on taking leave, issued an order naming
the important events in the history of the brigade in which it acted
a conspicuous part, and which should be inscribed upon the regimental
banners. The 56th was included in all of them.

General Naglee also characterized the work and behavior of the
brigade in each of the events.

In connection with the preparations to attack Charleston the brigade
went to St. Helena Island and waited there until about April 1st.
Thence to woods near the shore of Edisto Harbor, where monitors and
gunboats lay at anchor, and covered its landing by shelling the
woods. After landing it followed the retreating enemy, and some of
the men were wounded. While in camp here it was several times
attacked in night forays and some of its picket men captured. Here
the 56th was temporarily brigaded with that of General Howell in
General Terry's division, under General Gilmore of the Tenth Corps.
On July 16th, this division, 4,000 strong, was attacked by a
superior force of Georgia troops, but with the aid of the gunboats
they were driven off with a loss of 200 prisoners. Soon afterward the
division went to Folly Island, and here, while the bombardment of
Forts Wagner and Gregg was in progress, the men were engaged in
arduous duties and got but little rest. August 16 they sailed to
Beaufort, S. C., and went into camp, with the regiment sadly reduced
in numbers and many sick. They remained there till September 3, 1864,
with the exception of an expedition to John's Island in July.

In February, 1864, the regiment veteranized,{_sic_} the most of the
men re-enlisting, and was mustered in as a veteran regiment February
29. In March it went north on a furlough and returned May 18,
commanded by Colonel Tyler. During its stay at Beaufort about 400 new
men had been recruited for it by officers sent north. The regiment
went from Beaufort to John's Island, near Charleston, July 1st, and
here became a part of J. P. Hatch's division. On July 4th it had the
most trying march of the year on account of the extreme heat and the
soft sand. Many of the men were sun-struck, and some of them died.
The march was continued the next morning to within seven miles of
Charleston, when, hearing that rebel cavalry were in their rear, they
were ordered back. The next day they started again for the front, and
had to do some fighting. July 9th they were attacked by the rebels in
force in a dense fog. A surprise was intended, but the rebels were
met with volleys of grape and canister, and were twice repulsed. On
July 10th, the regiment went back to Beaufort, and the St. John's
expedition passed into history. It was regarded as the most exciting
and perilous scouting expedition the regiment was ever engaged in,
but its object was accomplished. It remained at Beaufort until
September 3, when it moved over to Morris Island and assisted in the
siege of Charleston. Here the men could see every shot from their
batteries that struck Fort Sumter, and the firing was kept up night
and day. The heat was extreme, the whole island was covered with
shifting sand, which filled eyes, ears and hair, the heavy fogs at
night were like a drenching rain, and all the while they were under
the fire of the rebel forts and batteries, shells from which burst
over their heads; but they had the compensation of seeing their own
shells burst in the city of Charleston.

Many of the men became afflicted with scurvy, and the effective force
of the regiment was reduced to 600 men, one-half of whom were
detailed each day and night for field duty. Otherwise their duties
were severe, and in October the nights became very cold, and, being
without fuel, caused them much suffering. They remained there until
November 27, when they were taken to Boyd's Point, and the next
morning were marched by General Potter toward Honey Hill, where they
were surprised by a concealed rebel battery, and there was a bloody
fight in which the 56th lost fifty men in killed and wounded, and the
division 746, and they were obliged to fall back. On December 3d the
brigade, after a lively skirmish, returned to its old camp, and three
days later went up Broad River to Deveaux Neck, near which it had
many of its men killed and wounded in a severe fight. The next day it
was attacked by a large force, and there was a bloody fight in which
each man fired sixty rounds and the rebels were repulsed, but
resisted stubbornly and retired slowly. In this battle the 56th
encountered the 5th Georgia Regiment, drove it from its position,
captured its colors, and lost twenty-four men in killed and wounded.

The camp was thirty-six miles north of Savannah and seventy from
Charleston. December 23d the news came that General Sherman had
occupied Savannah. On the 29th Colonel Tyler was put in command of
three regiments, including the 56th, and they advanced to ascertain
the strength of the enemy. They encountered his picket line which
resisted but fell back, and killed and wounded seventeen of Tyler's
men. The camp was undisturbed until January 7th, when a rifled gun
began shelling them and kept it up for a week, night and day. This
was not restful, but the camp was so sandy that not more than half
the percussion shells burst, and not a man was injured by them.
January 15th it was discovered that the rebels had left, and our men
pushed on and took possession of Fort Coosawhatchie. Here the rations
were greatly improved by foraging expeditions. On the 17th they were
visited by Generals Sherman and Howard. On the 29th the 56th remained
at the fort while the rest of the brigade left to relieve General
Sherman's forces at Poctaligo. The 56th did not join it until
February 16, and afterward the brigade made a slow march to Ashley
River, across which lay Charleston, arriving there February 28. The
city had been evacuated after the cotton warehouses, quartermasters'
stores, bridges, vessels, etc., had been burnt by order of General
Hardie. March 1st the division started to pursue him, and if possible
prevent him from joining General Johnston's army. It marched several
days without finding any rebels, then was ordered to return and was
back in Charleston on the 9th. This expedition, composed of General
Potter's entire division, had marched ninety miles. It went on March
11th to the village of Mt. Pleasant, near Charleston, and remained
there until April 2nd, when it went to Georgetown. Major Eliphas
Smith being in command of companies A, B, C, D and E of the 56th. A
and B remained in Georgetown as a part of the garrison. C was sent as
guard of a transport up the Santee River, and E and D were attached
to the 157th regiment, and went with it on the "Kingsville
expedition." Kingsville was about 135 miles from Georgetown, and the
rebels had run in there from points on Sherman's march as many as 25
locomotives and 200 cars, with large quantities of stores and
ammunition. After a troublesome march, with some hard fighting, the
expedition reached Kingsville April 10. On the 9th companies B and D
of the 56th had gallantly charged a rebel battery, in the face of a
fusillade, and captured it, but with a loss in killed and wounded of
fifteen men.

[Illustration: G. W. Kern]

The next day news was received of the fall of Petersburgh and the
surrender of General Lee's army. In General Potter's order announcing
it he returned "special thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Carmichael of
the 157th New York and detachment of the 56th New York for the
skillful and gallant manner in which they carried the enemy's battery
and drove him in confusion from the field."

The locomotives and cars at Kingsville were destroyed, and the
expedition marched back happy to their old camp at Mt. Pleasant. The
fightings and severe hardships were ended at last.

April 14 the men witnessed the raising of the Union flag at Fort
Sumter on the 4th anniversary of its surrender. Soon the regiment was
united again at Summerville, and remained near there until the men
were paid up. It started homeward October 6th, and was disbanded and
mustered out on Hart's Island, New York Harbor, November 10th, but a
number of the men whose terms had expired had been discharged on July
5th.

During its last campaign in South Carolina the distances the regiment
had traversed were about as follows: Beaufort to Morris Island,
seventy miles; to Coosawatchie by way of Honey Hill and Deveaux Neck,
ninety miles; to Charleston, seventy miles; to Santee River and
return, eighty miles; Kingsville raid, 390 miles; to Newberry by way
of Orangeburg and Columbia, 166 miles; to Chester, forty-five miles;
to Charleston by way of Winsboro, Columbia and Florence, 205
miles--all during the regiment's last year of service.

The regiment arrived in New York City October 20, 1865, was quartered
in the Battery barracks until November 9, was paid up and discharged
November 10.

From first to last there were 2,176 men and boys enlisted and
assigned to the 56th regiment.

The incomplete record shows the names of forty-one killed in battle,
twenty-three died of wounds; 216 died of disease; 170 wounded and
recovered; 415 discharged for disability and wounds; sixty-seven
transferred to other commands; five captured and paroled.

Following is a list of the engagements in which the regiment took
part:

     Engagements of the Fifty-sixth.

  1. Siege of Yorktown, Va., April 15 to May 4, 1862.
  2. Lee's Mills, Va., April 28, 1862.
  3. Williamsburgh, Va., May 5, 1862.
  4. Bottoms and Turkey Island Bridge, Va., May 23, 1862.
  5. Savage Station, Va., May 25, 1862.
  6. Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862.
  7. Seven Days' Battle, June 25 to July 2, 1862.
  8. Railroad and Bottoms Bridge, Va., June 28 and 29, 1862.
  9. White Oak Swamp Bridge, Va., June 30, 1862.
 10. Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, 1862.
 11. Carter's Hill, Va., July 2, 1862.
 12. Woods' Cross Roads, Va., Dec. 14, 1862.
 13. Seabrook Island, S. C., June 18, 1863.
 14. Grimball's Landing, S. C., July 16, 1863.
 15. Siege of Fort Wagner, S. C., July 18, 1863.
 16. Siege of Charleston, S. C., August and September, 1863.
 17. Johns Island, S. C., July 1 to 10, 1864.
 18. Honey Hill, S. C., Nov. 30, 1864.
 19. Coosawhatchie, S. C., Dec. 3, 1864.
 20. Boyd's Point, S. C., Dec. 5, 1864.
 21. Deveaux Neck, S. C., Dec. 6, 1864.
 22. Deveaux Neck, S. C., Dec. 7, 1864.
 23. Deveaux Neck, S. C., Dec. 9, 1864.
 24. Deveaux Neck, S. C., Dec. 19, 1864.
 25. Deveaux Neck, S. C., Dec. 29, 1864.
 26. Manningsville, S. C., April 8, 1865.
 27. Dingle's Mills, S. C., April 9, 1865.

     _REGIMENTAL AND COMPANY OFFICERS._

     COLONELS.

 Charles H. Van Wyck, and Brig. Gen., U. S. V.
 Rockwell Tyler, not mustered.

     LIEUTENANT-COLONELS.

 James Jordan, to August 5, 1862.
 Frederick Decker, not mustered.
 John J. Wheeler, to Feb. 11, 1864.
 Rockwell Tyler, to muster out and Brevet Colonel.
 Eliphas Smith, not mustered.

     MAJORS.

 Jacob Sharpe, to Aug. 5, 1862.
 John J. Wheeler, to Dec. 15, 1862.
 Rockwell Tyler, to Feb. 27, 1864.
 Eliphas Smith, to Oct. 17, 1865.
 James Du Bois, not mustered.

     ADJUTANTS.

 Eli H. Evans, to Oct. 25, 1863.
 Henri B. Loomis, to muster out of regiment.

     QUARTERMASTERS.

 John B. Gerard, to Sept. 5, 1862.
 Jesse F. Schafer. to Oct. 15, 1864, from Co. K.
 Addison J. Clements, to muster out of regiment, from Co. F.

     SURGEONS.

 Solomon Van Etten, to Sept. 28, 1864.
 George H. Fossard, Oct. 7, 1864, to July 5, 1865.
 Ira S. Bradner, Sept. 19, 1865; not mustered.

     ASSISTANT SURGEONS.

 O. A. Carrol, Sept. 2, 1861, to May 13, 1863.
 Albert S. Turner, Aug. 9, 1862, to Nov. 18, 1863.
 Daniel S. Hardenburgh, Nov. 11, 1863, to April 1, 1865.
 Ira S. Bradner, April 25, 1863, to muster out of regiment.
 George K. Sayer, Brevet 1st Lieut., and Asst. Surg.

     HOSPITAL STEWARD.

 George K. Sayer, from Oct. 20, 1861, to muster out of regiment.

     CHAPLAINS.

 Charles Shelling, to Dec. 23, 1862.
 George P. Van Wyck, Dec. 30, 1862, to muster out of regiment.

     SERGEANT MAJORS.

 William N. Phillips, to Jan. 18, 1862.
 Demmon S. Decker, Co. F, to Feb. 9, 1862.
 Francis Hines, Co. E, to Aug. 8, 1862.
 John Metcalf, Co. A, to Dec. 23, 1863.
 Francis Might, Co. G, to July 1, 1864.
 Robert C. Roper, Co. H, to Jan. 1, 1865.
 James Gowdy, Co. C, to May 18, 1865.
 Frank Hotchkin, Co. F, to muster out of regiment.

     QUARTERMASTER SERGEANTS.

 Jesse F. Schafer, original, to Feb. 27, 1862.
 Noah D. Smith, Co. H, to muster out of regiment.

     COMMISSARY SERGEANTS.

 Isaac Rosa, original, to April 12, 1862.
 William H. Merphy, Co. K, to Nov. 20, 1864.
 William H. D. Blake, Co. C, Nov. 22, 1864, to muster out of
   regiment.

     REGIMENTAL BAND.

 Berger, Albert B.       King, Hiram T.
 Biddle, John            Kirkpatrick, Joseph
 Canfield, George        Little, James, Jr.
 Count, Thomas H.        Sloat, Cornelius J.
 Cromwell, Charles       Stewart, William H.
 Depuy, Elias            Turner, Joshua B.
 Depuy, George           Tuthill, Charles
 Depuy, Calvin           Van Cleft, Theodore H.
 Frost, William N.       Way, Richard D.
 Harding, Elisha C.      Welch, Theodore H.
 King, George J.         Wheat, Robert A.

[Illustration: Temple Hill Monument, New Windsor]

     MUSICIANS--DRUM AND FIFE CORPS.

 Aber, David, Co. B.       Lamoreux, Timothy, Co. F.
 Aher, George, Co. B.      Mead, John, Co. L.
 Baird, Charles, Co. H.    Miller, Harman B., Co. A.
 Bender, Conrad, Co. D.    Miller, Thomas, Co. G.
 Bradner, Fred H., Co. F.  Nixon, Edward, Co. G.
 De Sylvia, Dwight, Co. F. Pitts, Charles V. L., Co. H.
 Graham, Nathaniel, Co. L. Reynolds, Newell F., Co. D.
 Grannis, James H., Co. H. Robinson, John T., Co. A.
 Hamilton, William, Co. B. Robinson, Henry, Co. C.
 Howe, Westley, Co. H.     Smith, Cornelius. Co. F.
 Kennedy, Lewis E., Co. G. Smith, William T., Co. I.
 King, Henry, Co. D.       Weightman, Charles, Co. E.
 Kinsler, George, Co. K.   Young, William, Co. F.

     RECORD OF FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS--ORIGINAL

Van Wyck, Charles--Age, 37 years. Enrolled at Newburgh, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as Colonel, Sept. 4, 1861; mustered out with
regiment, Oct. 17, 1865, at Charleston, S. C. Commissioned Colonel,
Nov. 13, 1862, with rank from Sept. 4, 1861. Original. Brevet Brig.
General, U. S. V. Brigadier General from Sept. 27, 1865; mustered out
Jan. 15, 1866.

Jourdan, James--Age, 29 years. Enrolled at Brooklyn to serve 3
years, and mustered in as Lieutenant Colonel, Dec. 19, 1861;
discharged, Aug. 5, 1862; prior service as Major 84th Infantry.
Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel, Dec. 20, 1861, with rank from Dec.
19, 1861. Original.

Sharpe, Jacob--Age, 27 years. Enrolled at Newburgh, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as Major, Sept. 3, 1861; discharged Aug. 5,
1862. Commissioned Major, June 28, 1862, with rank from Sept. 6,
1861. Original. Subsequent service in the 156th Regiment, N. Y.
Infantry Vols., as Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel.

Evans, Eli H.--Age, 25 years. Enrolled, July 31, 1861, at Newburgh,
to serve 3 years: mustered in as Adjutant, Sept. 1, 1861;
dishonorably discharged, Oct. 1, 1863; also borne as First Lieutenant
on rolls of Company A. Commissioned First Lieutenant and Adjutant,
Aug. 1, 1862, with rank from Sept. 1, 1861. Original.

Gerard, John C.--Age, 32 years. Enrolled, July 21, 1861, at Newburgh,
to serve 3 years; mustered in as Quartermaster, July 31, 1861;
discharged Sept. 4, 1862. Commissioned First Lieutenant and
Quartermaster, Aug. 7, 1862, with rank from July 31, 1861. Original.

Shelling, Charles--Age, 35 years. Enrolled at Newburgh to serve 3
years, and mustered in as Chaplain, Sept. 16, 1861; discharged, Dec.
23, 1862. Commissioned Chaplain, Aug. 7, 1862, with rank from Sept.
16, 1861. Original.

Van Wyck, George P.--Age, 35 years. Enrolled at Seabrook Island, S. C.
to serve 3 years; mustered in as Chaplain, April 8, 1863: mustered;
out, Oct. 17, 1865, while absent with leave. Commissioned Chaplain,
Dec. 30, 1862, with rank from same date, vice Charles Shelling,
resigned.

Phillips, William N.--Age, 30 years. Enlisted. Sept. 19, 1861, at
Newburgh, to serve 3 years; mustered in as Sergeant Major. Oct. 1,
1861; died of typhoid fever, Jan. 4, 1862, at Warren Hospital,
Washington, D. C.

     DISCHARGED.

 James Jourdan, Aug. 5, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel.
 Jacob Sharpe, Aug. 5, 1862, Major.
 Eli H. Evans, Oct. 1, 1863, Adjutant.
 John C. Gerard, Sept. 4, 1862, Quartermaster.
 Charles Shelling, Dec. 23, 1862, Chaplain.
 Frederick Decker, Nov. 23, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel.
 John J. Wheeler, Feb. 11, 1864, Lieutenant Colonel.

     SURGEONS, ASSISTANT SURGEONS AND HOSPITAL STEWARDS.

Bradner, Ira S.--Enrolled, April 25, 1863, at Hilton Head, S. C, to
serve 3 years; mustered in as Assistant Surgeon, May 12, 1863;
commissioned as Surgeon, Sept. 19, 1865; mustered out with regiment,
Oct. 17, 1865, at Charleston, S. C. Commissioned Assistant Surgeon,
May 4, 1863, with rank from April 25, 1863, _vice_ O. A. Carroll,
promoted in 143d Infantry; Surgeon, Sept. 19, 1865, with rank from
Sept. 19, 1865, _vice_ G. W. Fossard, resigned.

Carroll, Oscar A.--Age, 34 years. Enrolled, Sept. 2, 1861, at
Newburgh, to serve 3 years; mustered in as Assistant Surgeon, Sept.
23, 1861; mustered out May 13, 1863, for promotion to Surgeon, 143d
Infantry. Commissioned Assistant Surgeon, Aug. 7, 1862, with rank
from Sept. 23, 1861. Original.

Fossard, George H.--Age, 25 years. Enrolled, Oct. 7, 1864, at Morris
Island, S. C., to serve 3 years; mustered in as Surgeon, Nov. 5, 1864;
discharged July 5, 1865; prior service as Assistant Surgeon, 146th
Infantry. Commissioned Surgeon, Oct. 7, 1864, with rank from Oct. 7,
1864, _vice_ S. Van Etten, mustered out.

Hardenberg, Daniel S.--Age, 23 years. Enrolled, Nov. 11, 1863, at
Beaufort, S. C, to serve 3 years; mustered in as Assistant Surgeon,
Dec. 11, 1863; discharged, April 1, 1865. Commissioned Assistant
Surgeon, Nov. 13, 1863, with rank from Nov. 11, 1863, _vice_ A. L.
Turner, promoted.

Sayre, George K.--Age, 22 years. Enlisted at Newburgh, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as Hospital Steward, Oct. 20, 1861;
re-enlisted as a veteran, Feb. 24, 1864; mustered out with regiment,
Oct. 17, 1865, at Charleston, S. C.; also borne as Sayer. Brevetted
First Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon.

Turner, Albert S.--Age, 35 years. Enrolled at Yorktown, Va., to serve
3 years, and mustered in as Assistant Surgeon, Aug. 9, 1862;
discharged, June 30, 1863, for promotion to Surgeon, 103d Infantry.
Commissioned Assistant Surgeon, Aug. 29, 1862, with rank from Aug.
19, 1862.

Van Etten, Solomon--Age, 32 years. Enrolled at Newburgh, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as Surgeon, Sept. 23, 1861; mustered out, Oct.
7, 1864; also borne as Fetterman Van Etten. Commissioned Surgeon,
Sept. 23, 1861, with rank from Aug. 7, 1861. Original.

     MEMBERS OF BAND.

Biddle, John--Age, 23 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Canfield, George--Age, 15 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Count, Thomas H.--Age, 35 years. Enlisted at Ellenville, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

[Illustration: Henry Seacord]

Cromwell, Charles--Age, 27 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Depuy, George--Age, 29 years. Was enrolled Sept. 10, 1861, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band; discharged, Dec. 6, 1861,
at Washington, D. C., by General Order, No. 91, War Department.

Harding, Elislia C.--Age, 26 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve
3 years, and mustered in as band leader, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

King, George J.--Age, 31 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

King, Hiram T.--Age, 27 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Kirkpatrick, Joseph--Age, 25 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve
3 years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861;
mustered out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C. Subsequent service
in the Cavalry.

Little, James, Jr.--Age 24 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Stewart, William H.--Age, 24 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve
3 years, and mustered in as musician in band, Nov. 1, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C. Subsequent service in the
Engineer Corps, and Captain in the Regular Army.

Tuthill, Charles--Age, 24 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Van Cleft, Theodore H.--Age, 24 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to
serve 3 years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861;
mustered out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Way, Richard D.--Age, 24 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861;
mustered out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Welch, Theodore H.--Age, 23 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

Wheat, Robert A.--Age, 25 years. Enlisted at Middletown, to serve 3
years, and mustered in as musician in band, Sept. 21, 1861; mustered
out, March 1, 1862, at Washington, D. C.

      Company A.

Captains--Thomas S. Marvel, Jr., James H. F. Milton, John Metcalf.

First Lieutenants--Thomas B. Pope, Thomas Atwood, John Metcalf,
Robert C. Roper.

Second Lieutenants--Peter B. Steele, Wilbur F. Still, Robert C.
Roper, George R. Black, Daniel R. Franklin, Wilbur F. Still.

     Company B.

Captains--Charles F. Thayer, James H. Smith, Norman Perkins, Alfred
W. Loomis, Melville Sears.

First Lieutenants--Effingham Vanderburgh, Alfred W. Lomas, James J.
Cox, Alphonse Richter, Edward H. Lomas, Jeremiah Strickland.

Second Lieutenants--Alfred W. Lomas, James J. Cox, Isaac Roosa,
Alphonse Richter, Algernon Rose, Jesse L. Stivers, Calvin Lambert.

     Company D.

Captains--John J. Wheeler, Edward Wheeler, John Connell.

First Lieutenants--Edward Wheeler, Isaac Beckett, William J. Sayre.

Second Lieutenants--Isaac Beckett, John Connell, Robert E. Halstead,
Benjamin F. Clark, William J. Sayre.

     Company E.

Captains--William J. Williams, Daniel D. Elting, James J. Cox.

First Lieutenants--Edgar E. Morse, Joseph A. Holmes, John L.
Thompkins, Francis Hines, Meeker G. Bell.

Second Lieutenants--Meeker G. Bell, Francis Hines, Edward J.
Scranton, Clement B. Newkirk.

     ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.

The following brief story of the organization and military career of
the 124th N. Y. V. is condensed from the history of the regiment
prepared by Colonel Charles H. Weygant and published in 1877.

The 124th was distinctively an Orange County regiment, as all its
companies were recruited in the county under President Lincoln's call
of July 1, 1862, for 300,000 three years' men. The day after this
call was issued Governor Morgan made an appeal to the people of New
York urging them to respond promptly to the President's wish and the
country's needs. The State was immediately divided into military
districts and a committee of prominent citizens was appointed for
each, to superintend the work of enlistment and recommend suitable
persons for the officers of the regiments to be raised. Orange and
Sullivan Counties constituted one of these districts, and its
military committee was composed as follows:

Hon. Robert Denniston, Blooming Grove; Hon. Andrew S. Murray, Goshen;
Hugh S. Bull, Montgomery; Albert Post, Newburgh; James M. Barrett,
Cornwall; Alexander Moore, Washingtonville; Morgan Shint, Monroe.

A little later the following were added to the committee: E. A.
Brewster and William Fullerton, Newburgh; C. H. Winfield, Thomas
Edsall and Silas Horton, Goshen; James Cromwell and William Avery,
Cornwall; C. C. McQuoid, Halstead Sweet, John G. Walkin and John
Cummings, Wallkill; Charles J. St. John, John Conkling, Orville J.
Brown and C. M. Lawrence, Port Jervis; C. B. Newkirk, Monroe; A. S.
Dodge, Mount Hope; Dorastus Brown, Greenville; A. F. Schofield,
Montgomery; A. G. Owen, Blooming Grove; John Cowdrey and Thomas
Welling, Warwick.

The committee recommended A. Van Home Ellis, of New Windsor, then a
captain in the service, for colonel of the regiment which it was
proposed to raise in Orange, and to have general charge of the
recruiting. The gloomy conditions at the seat of war made enlistments
slow throughout the State. Colonel Ellis, after his selection by the
committee at its first meeting on June 11th, had gone to work
immediately, and opened recruiting offices in every town, yet only
eight men in all were enlisted in the county during the month. Then,
when it was seen that the national capital was again in danger of
capture, public meetings were held, private bounties were offered,
money for the support of the families of volunteers were raised, and
there was a general revival of patriotic enthusiasm. Although up to
August 8th not more than a score of volunteers had reported at
Colonel Ellis's headquarters, fifteen days later the regiment was
fully organized and ready to march to the front.

The regimental officers then were: A. Van Horne Ellis, colonel; F.
M. Cummins, lieutenant colonel; James Cromwell, major; John H.
Thompson, surgeon; T. Scott Bradner, chaplain; Augustus Denniston,
quartermaster; De Peyster Arden, adjutant; Edward Marshall,
assistant surgeon; R. V. K. Montfort, 2nd assistant surgeon.

These field officers had all served honorably in the Union army, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Cummins had been a commissioned officer in the
Mexican War.

The members of the regiment's band were: Drum Major, ____ Hart;
buglers, Wm. B. Wood, Moses P. Ross; fifes, John G. Buckley, Charles
Whitehead, Arthur Haigh, Geo. W. Dimick, Henry C. Payne; drums,
Robert L. Travis, A. J. Millspaugh, Geo. W. Canfield, John N. Cole,
R. D. Stephens, Charles W. Bodle, Henry U. Cannon, Wm. Hamilton,
Henry Hoofman, C. Van Gordon, Jehue Price, J. M. Merritt, W.
Johnston, James McElroy, Samuel W. Weeden.

The captains of the several companies were: A. Charles H. Weygant;
B. Henry S. Murray: C. Wm. Silliman; D. James W. Benedict: E. Wm. A.
McBirney; F. Ira S. Bush; G. Isaac Nicoll; H. David Crist; I. Leander
Clark; K. Wm. A. Jackson.

Delay in obtaining guns postponed the mustering in of the regiment
until September 5th, and the next day it broke camp at Goshen and
started for Washington. Meanwhile it had been presented by Charles H.
Winfield, in behalf of the ladies of Orange, with a stand of colors.
Its fine appearance in New York inspired a paragraph of praise from
the Tribune, which said that the most influential families of Orange
County were represented in its ranks, and that it contained "the very
cream of the regimental district."

Three days afterward they were in Washington, and the first night
there slept on the ground and stone block in front of the Capitol.
The next day they marched to Camp Chase on Arlington Heights, and two
or three days later moved to a spot which they christened Camp Ellis.
Here they were attached to Platt's brigade of Whipple's division of
Heintzleman's corps. The other regiments in the brigade were the
122nd Pa. (a nine months regiment), the 86th N. Y., and the 1st Ohio
battery. The 124th and 86th regiments remained together during the
war. The latter and the Ohio battery were already veterans.

The 124th broke camp again September 25th, went to Miners' Hill, and
here the men became experienced in picket duties. Tents were struck
October 16th, and the next day they started in a drizzling rain with
their division to join the main army on the Maryland side of the
Potomac in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry. A freight train carried
them in great discomfort from Washington to Knoxville, eight miles
from Harper's Ferry, and they became a part of the Army of the
Potomac. October 25th they again received marching orders, and were
in motion from supper time till midnight, when they bivouacked near
Berlin, where a pontoon bridge was being laid. Across this they went
with the entire army of 100,000 men, and were afterward halted in a
muddy cornfield near Lovettsville, where they had to stay all night
in rain, a cold wind and mud, and had their first realization of the
sufferings of army life. The next morning thirty of the men were
unfit for duty. Short marches were continued, with stops of two or
three days, they being in the advance with the rest of Whipple
division a part of the time, and then they looked from a peak of the
Blue Ridge upon some white tents of the enemy. The object of the
movement had been to cut off a force of his infantry, but it was too
late and the division was ordered to retrace its steps.

At Orleans they learned that McClellan had been succeeded by
Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. November 11th they
marched to Waterloo, and here some of the men of Co. B, commanded by
Lieutenant W. E. Weygant, were part of a detail which had a fight
with the enemy's pickets and captured two prisoners. November 16th
they marched to Warrenton and here became a part of General Hooker's
grand division. There were now daily marches, some of the time
through heavy rains and in deep mud. November 23rd, four miles from
Fredericksburg, they went into camp for the first time since leaving
Miner's Hill. The army waited in that vicinity for the pontoon
trains, which did not arrive until December 10. Then, in pushing a
pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock, many of the builders were
killed by Mississippi sharpshooters. To stop this 120 cannon were
placed on Stafford Heights overlooking Fredericksburg, and began
firing shells into the city and among the sharpshooters. When the
firing ceased two bridges spanned the river, and Union troops hurried
across and soon drove the enemy out of Fredericksburg. But the great
battle was yet to come, when the Confederates forced Burnside's army
to withdraw to Falmouth after losing 13,000 men. Platt's brigade
formed the extreme right of the line, and the 124th was one of the
last regiments to recross the bridges. The next morning about half of
the men answered to the surgeon's call, and nearly a hundred were
placed on the sick list. General Platt resigned about Christmas time,
and there was a period of drilling and picket duty by brigades.
January 5th the corps was reviewed by General Burnside. January 10th
new Enfield rifles came and were substituted for the old Belgians.
Then, after three or four orders to march had been countermanded, a
start was made through pelting rain and sleet and deepening mud. The
rain and sleet froze as it fell, and the men were chilled, and
experienced two nights of great suffering. General Burnside abandoned
the attempt to advance. On January 26th General Hooker superseded
him. The division moved a little way, and cut down trees and
constructed log cabins. During February the weather was severe, but
the log cabins, which had fire places, though smoky at times, made
them tolerably comfortable. February 25th the 124th drove off a body
of Confederate cavalry which made a dash on their picket line. There
was a monotonous interval, enlivened April 7th by a grand review
before President Lincoln and Generals Hooker and Sickles. The
division and brigade were then attached to General Sickles's corps.
Orders to march came April 28th, and the entire army was soon in
motion, and the next day halted in sight of the enemy's pickets
across the Rappahannock. The 124th crossed the river on a pontoon
bridge with an army of 65,000 men, thirteen miles from Fredericksburg.
Then came the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville, during which the
124th got into the thickest of the fight, had a fierce encounter with
Iverson's brigade, and "not a man faltered," although raked by a
deadly fire in which many men and a number of officers fell. Once they
made a charge and retook works from which one of our batteries had
been driven. The battle ended with the day, and Hooker was whipped.
The Third corps lost in killed and wounded 4,000 men. It captured
seven battle flags and over 1,000 prisoners. The losses of the 124th
were fifty-five killed, 150 wounded and six missing. Colonel Ellis, in
his official report said: "Our men fought like tigers, cheering
loudly, but falling fast, the officers without exception standing up
to their duty and encouraging their commands."

After Chancellorsville the 122nd Pa., having completed its nine
months of service, returned home, and the brigade collapsed to
between 500 and 600 men of the 86th and 124th. Colonel Ellis was now
in command of the brigade, and it was selected as one of three
brigades of picked regiments to accompany a large body of cavalry on
a secret expedition. They Started May 6th through a thunderstorm to
Beverly's Ford, where they crossed the Rappahannock. There had been a
clash of cavalry, and Colonel Ellis's regiments were the first in the
field. Batteries on both sides opened fire, and there were charges
and counter charges, in which bullets flew thick. A body of rebels got
in the rear of the 124th, but they were repulsed after a hot contest
in which Co.'s A, F and D lost two killed and twenty wounded. The
troops were ordered to recross the river.

The 124th did such splendid service at Chancellorsville that it was
transferred to the roll of "first class, tried and to be trusted,
veteran battalions," although only six weeks before it had been
classed among the "untried recruits." June 9th it was part of an
expedition of these veteran regiments which recrossed the
Rappahannock, did some more fighting, under General Buford, and
captured some of the enemy's pickets. General Pleasanton accompanied
General Buford and ordered an advance in force, but he found the
enemy reinforced and the troops were withdrawn after a loss of about
800 on each side. The 124th and 86th were commended as "reliable
regiments" in the day's doings.

[Illustration: Soldier's Memorial, Goshen]

About this time the old Whipple division ceased to exist in
consequence of the losses at Chancellorsville and mustering-out of
several regiments. Berdan's sharpshooters and the 124th and 86th
were assigned to General J. H. H. Ward's brigade of General D. B.
Birney's division.

On June 14th they started on one of their longest and severest
marches northward, and on June 25th crossed the Potomac at Edward's
Ferry near Ball's Bluff. Just before it was ordered Milner Brown was
assigned to the command of the regiment. They proceeded through
Fredericksburg to Emmetsburg, and here on June 30th the 124th had
but 264 rifles in line, so great had been the losses in battle and
from disease. They were informed that General Hooker had been
succeeded by General Meade. The Confederates had invaded Pennsylvania
and a great battle was anticipated. A forced march was made to
Gettysburg through such intense heat that many were prostrated, and
when the regiment reached the high ground south of Gettysburg not
more than 100 men and five or six officers appeared in the regimental
line, but the next morning it was 240 strong. It was placed in the
right center of the brigade, and in that decisive battle of the war
distinguished itself by its steadiness and daring. For forty minutes
Ward's and De Trobriand's brigades of about 3,000 men held their
ground against Longstreet's entire corps. By a mere chance the whole
regiment escaped capture. General Ward harangued its men on the
battlefield, and said the heroic resistance they had made "was beyond
anything he had ever dared to hope for." Its active part in the
great three days' battle was finished on the second day, as it was
not called upon to participate in the fighting of the third day,
which brought defeat to Lee's army. The 124th had lost thirty-three
killed, including Colonel Ellis, Major James Cromwell and Captain
Isaac Nicoll, and fifty-nine wounded, including Lieutenant Colonel
Cummins. A number of the severely wounded remained in the hands of
the enemy several days. The regiment was now reduced to 150 men with
muskets and nine commissioned officers. Some had been sent to the
corps hospital. They were now temporarily commanded by Captain
Charles A. Weygant of Co. A.

The pursuit of Lee began, but he was too swift for Meade, and escaped
across the Potomac. After various movements on both sides of the
Potomac, which was crossed July 17th, the 124th bivouacked at
Manassas Gap July 22nd, in sight of the place of its first skirmish.
Then the regiment had 700 rank and file, a full field staff and
twenty-five line officers. Now, although about thirty convalescents
had returned, it had less than 200 men in all. The corps, commanded
by Major General French had been strengthened since Gettysburg by
about 8,000 new troops. General Ward still commanded the division.

There were some undecisive {_sic_} movements and skirmishing in which the
124th participated. Lieutenant Colonel Cummins, having recovered,
returned and took command of the regiment July 28th. It was soon
established in camp near Sulphur Springs and remained there six
weeks. September 10th, in consequence of the backward movement of
Lee's army, General Meade pushed a heavy cavalry force across the
Rapidan, and soon the entire army was transferred to the region
between the Rapidan and Rappahannock. The 124th broke camp September
15th, and next encamped near Culpepper. October 2nd Lieutenant
Colonel Cummins was given a leave of absence for five days, and left
Captain Weygant in command. There were some uncertain movements, one
of which followed a retrograde movement of Lee, October 19th, but he
was found to be out of reach and General Meade gave up the pursuit
until twenty miles of railroad could be re-built. Next came the fight
at Kelly's Ford of November 7th, in which the 124th supported the
10th Massachusetts Battery, and the Confederates were defeated.
Ward's division took possession of the ford and captured over 500
prisoners. The Union loss was only about fifty. Sedgwick's right wing
attacked works on the bank of the Rappahannock, carried them by
a brilliant _coup de main,_ and captured 1,500 prisoners, his loss
being about 300. In the march next day toward Beverly Station, with
Ward's division in front, the 124th was deployed as flankers and was
under fire for some time. There was no more fighting until November
27th, when the fight at Locust Grove took place, followed by that
at Mine Run. The 124th took part in both, and lost one killed, eight
wounded and three captured. December 1st Meade ordered a retrograde
movement, and the regiment settled down to a long stay at Brandy
Station and Culpepper. March 17 General Birney sent an order to
Colonel Cummins stating that to equalize the brigades the 124th would
be transferred to the Third Brigade. This was so displeasing that
fourteen officers of the regiment petitioned General Birney to allow
them to remain under Brigadier General Ward. Major General Birney
replied that "the request of the officers of this gallant regiment
would be fully considered," and he would try to grant it. This was
done, and the 124th remained in Ward's Brigade. Meanwhile it had
received considerable additions in volunteers from Orange County,
although not half as many as had been mustered out and transferred to
the veteran reserve corps in consequence of physical disability.

Early in March U. S. Grant had been made Lieutenant General and
invested by the President with the chief command of all the armies
of the United States. In the latter part of March and the month of
April he caused a radical reorganization of the Army of the Potomac,
and the "Old Third" became a part of the Second Corps.

An advance was ordered May 3d, and that night Birney's division
struck tents and began its march. Two days afterward the memorable
Battle of the Wilderness was begun. Ward's command in this battle
consisted of eight infantry regiments, including the 124th and the
Second U. S. Sharpshooters, constituting one of the largest brigades
in the army. The leading officers of the 124th were now Colonel
Cummins, Lieutenant-Colonel Weygant and Acting Major H. S. Murray.
The brigade and regiment did their allotted share in the two-days'
battle, but the regiment was less exposed than at Chancellorsville
and Gettysburg, and came out with a loss of three killed and
fifty-seven wounded, Colonel Cummins being among the wounded.

The battle of Spottsylvania Court House came a week later. On the 9th
the 124th N. Y. and 20th Ind. Regiments were thrown out as
skirmishers for General Birney's division as it marched forward.
Near Po River a Confederate battery opened on them, but fired too
high, and soon had to flee. In the battle the next day for a while
the 124th supported a battery on the extreme right of Hancock's line,
and then marched with the division towards the left, where it was
soon engaged, and assisted in an unsuccessful charge on the rebel
line. It was in General Hancock's famous charge of May 12th. Birney's
division was in four lines, with Ward's Brigade in front, the 124th
composing the right center of the first line, Lieutenant Colonel
Weygant in command. When the clash came there were hand-to-hand
encounters so fierce and desperate as to defy description. There was
an "unparalleled struggle of eighteen hours' duration." Hancock's men
captured the enemy's works, and he finally abandoned his efforts to
retake them. The 124th had been so actively engaged or under fire so
much that the men writing home as late as May 18th spoke of the
battle as having been raging since May 4th. Its losses were fifteen
killed, fifty-two wounded and two captured. Colonel Weygant was one
of the wounded. After the battle the regiment was so small that it
was found necessary to consolidate it into five and then into three
companies, and the 124th and 86th acted together, first under
Lieutenant Colonel Lansing and then Major Stafford, both of the 86th.
This union lasted until they settled down in front of Petersburg.

On the evening of May 20th the movement of the army from
Spottsylvania Court House began in earnest. The 124th was in various
movements, and on June 1st seven of its men on picket duty were
captured. In the bloody battle of Cold Harbor, June 3d, Birney's
command was in reserve, and the men of the 124th were lookers-on.

Offensive operations were suspended for a time, and General Grant
decided to transfer his army to the James River. On the evening of
June 12th, after a march of fifty-five miles, Hancock's corps reached
Wilcox Landing and was transferred to waiting steamboats. On June
15th the advance of the rest of the army was resumed, Birney's
command leading the column down the Prince George Court House road
towards Petersburg. The brigade encamped in a grove of pines on City
Point. There were only about 100 men left in the 124th. Between May
18th and June 22nd it lost three killed, twenty-four wounded and
eight captured. Every third day from the 4th to the 24th of July the
remnant was on the picket line. There were no engagements, but some
skirmishing.

General Birney had been assigned to the command of the Tenth Corps,
and the veterans of the "Old Third" were consolidated into one
division under General Mott, and General De Trobriand became
commander of the brigade, which included the 124th, now commanded by
Lieutenant Colonel Weygant. When offensive operations were resumed on
the last day of September, the regiment could muster sixteen officers
and 230 fighting men, and two months later had been reinforced so
that it numbered nineteen officers and 362 enlisted men, a few of
whom were raw recruits. It had some active and hazardous work during
the fall, before the army settled down in winter quarters. October
26 Hancock's command moved to the Weldon road, and the next day
De Trobriand's brigade marched with Mott's division to Hatcher's Run,
where General Eagan was having a skirmish, and preparing to force the
passage of the stream. This was done, and presently De Trobriand's
brigade was ordered to the front to relieve the brigade on the left
of Eagan's line. In the afternoon the enemy advanced in force, and
there was some furious fighting, in which the 124th brought to a halt
a flanking force of dismounted cavalry with a battery of rifled guns
and sent them into the edge of a neighboring wood. The battle
continued, and a bullet struck Colonel Weygant in the side, so that
he had to leave the field. Finally the Confederates fled. This was
called the Battle of Boydton road. Three of the 124th were killed,
fourteen wounded and six captured including two of the wounded. The
regiment also took part in the raid of a week, beginning November
6th, to destroy the Weldon railroad, when its loss was only one
killed and one wounded.

[Illustration: Richard Wisner]

During the winter the Union lines tightened around Richmond, but
apart from preparations for the spring campaign not much was done on
either side. In February however, De Trobriand's brigade was in a
short fight at Hatcher's Run, across which the Union line was
permanently extended.

Confederate leaders did not allow Grant to open the spring campaign,
and on March 26th attacked his lines, east of Petersburg, but were
repulsed. The previous day the 124th was in an engagement with 500
Confederates, and in a gallant charge captured six officers and 164
men. Private George W. Tompkins shot the Confederate Commander,
Colonel Troy, and carried off the battle flag of his regiment which
he bore. Not a man of the 124th was injured. Private Tompkins was
given a medal of honor from the Secretary of War, the thanks of
Congress and a brevet commission.

The storming of Petersburg began April 2nd with all the artillery.
That night the 124th and two other regiments were ordered to advance,
and got into a fight in which several men were seriously wounded. The
object of this move was to delay the return of some of Lee's troops,
and was successful. The grand assault on the Confederate lines was
made at the appointed time, and a part of De Trobriand's brigade led
by the 124th moved at double-quick over one of the main roads leading
into Petersburg, the Confederates fleeing before them, but wheeling
and firing as they ran. Lee was quick to see the inevitable result of
the assault, and ordered the evacuation of Richmond. During April 3d
the 124th, which had the advance of the Second Corps, marched twenty
miles, and gathered in 200 dismounted Confederate cavalrymen. On the
6th it came up with Lee's rear guard, and in the fighting of the
march along Sailor's Creek up to this date the regiment lost four
killed, seventeen wounded and one missing. The pursuit was resumed on
the 7th, and on the 9th came the great surrender of Lee to Grant,
when our "men shouted until they could shout no longer."

After the momentous event at Appomattox the 124th encamped at
Burkesville Junction. In the night the men were awakened and
horrified by the news that President Lincoln and Secretary Seward
had been assassinated. On May 1st Meade's army took up its line of
march for Washington, and came in sight of it about the middle of
May. On June 5th, after participating in the grand review of the
whole Union army, the 124th received its last marching orders. It
reached home June 13th, and received a wonderful welcome from
assembled thousands at Newburgh.

The Newburgh Daily Union published the truth when it said the next
day that it "had made as noble a record as any regiment in the
field." It praised Colonels Ellis, Cummins and Weygant, and said of
the regiment: "Slowly they filed past; and now the people's
enthusiasm burst out over all bounds. Our scanty police and watch
force were swallowed up and overwhelmed, and the eager multitudes
seemed as if they would throw themselves upon the soldiers. On they
marched with steady and resistless step, their paces and uniforms
telling of the fearful scenes they had passed through. Their battle
flag, as it was borne aloft, awakened intense emotion; hardly a
strip of its frayed and bullet-torn silk was left; yet it was more
precious to the men and to the people than if it were made of cloth
of gold."

Judge Taylor made the address of welcome, in which he said: "You are
the life-guards of the nation, and we look upon you with something of
the same reverence which we feel toward the fathers of our country.
And we cherish the memory of those who fought, bled and died, and of
those who survived the carnage of Fredericksburg, of Chancellorsville,
of Beverly's Ford, of Gettysburg, of the Wilderness, of Spottsylvania,
of Boydton Road, of Sailor's Creek and the many battlefields around
Richmond."

The following is the official record of the commissioned officers of
the 124th, in which the date of commission is followed by the date of
rank:

     _REGIMENTAL AND COMPANY OFFICERS._

     Colonels.

A. Van Horn Ellis, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; killed in action
at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.

Francis M. Cummins, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; discharged, Sept.
19, 1864.

Charles H. Weygant, Jan. 11, 1865; Sept. 19, 1864; not mustered.

[Illustration: Yelverton Inn, Chester, Erected 1765]

     Lieutenant Colonels.

Francis M. Cummins, Sept. 10, 1863; Aug. 16, 1862; promoted to
Colonel, Oct. 10, 1863.

Charles H. Weygant, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865 (Brevet Colonel, U. S. V.)

Henry S. Murray, Jan. 11, 1865; Sept. 19, 1864; not mustered.

    Majors.

James Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; killed in action at
Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.

Charles H. Weygant, Sept. 14, 1863; July 2, 1863; promoted to
Lieutenant Colonel, Oct. 10, 1863.

Henry S. Murray, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

James W. Benedict, Jan. 11, 1865: Sept. 19, 1864; not mustered.

     Adjutants.

William Silliman, Sept. 10, 1862; July 16, 1862; promoted to
Captain, Oct. 3, 1862.

C. Depeyster Arden, Oct. 3, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; discharged, Jan. 14,
1863.

William Brownson, Feb. 20, 1863; Dec. 31, 1863; resigned, Sept. 17,
1863.

William B. Van Houten, Oct. 10, 1863; Sept. 17, 1863; discharged,
Jan. 23, 1865.

Wines E. Weygant, Jan. 31, 1865; Jan. 31, 1865; not mustered.

     Quartermasters.

Augustus Denniston, Sept. 10, 1862; July 15, 1862; resigned, Jan. 14,
1863.

Henry F. Travis, Feb. 27, 1863; Jan. 14, 1863; promoted to Captain,
Aug. 20, 1863.

Ellis Post, Aug. 20, 1863; April 21, 1863; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

     Surgeons.

John H. Thompson, Sept. 10, 1862; July 26, 1862; dismissed Nov. 25,
1864; disability removed by order of the President, Jan. 14, 1865.

John H. Thompson, Feb. 15, 1865; Feb. 15, 1865; failed to muster.

Robert V. K. Montfort, March 22, 1865; March 22, 1865; mustered out
with regiment, June 3, 1865.

     Assistant Surgeons.

Edward G. Marshall, Sept. 10, 1862; Sept. 5, 1862; dismissed, Aug.
7, 1863.

Robert V. K. Montfort, Sept. 10, 1862; Sept. 10, 1862: promoted to
surgeon, March 22, 1865.

Edward C. Fox, April 6, 1865; April 7, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

     Chaplain.

Thomas Scott Bradner, Oct. 21, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; mustered out
with regiment, June 3, 1865.

     Captains.

Charles H. Weygant, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 12, 1862; promoted to major,
Sept. 14, 1863.

Charles B. Wood, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; discharged, Sept. 21,
1864.

Thomas Taft, Nov. 15, 1864; Sept. 21, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Henry S. Murray, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 14, 1862; promoted to major,
Oct. 10, 1863.

William E. Mapes, Dec. 17, 1863; July 2, 1863; discharged, Dec. 15,
1864.

Robert J. Malone, Dec. 17, 1864; Sept. is, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3. 1865.

James Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 15, 1862; promoted to major,
Sept. 10, 1862.

William Silliman, Oct. 3, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; promoted to colonel,
26th U. S. C. T., Feb. 1, 1864.

James Finnegan, Feb. 9, 1864; Feb. 1, 1864; died of wounds, Oct. 28,
1864.

James A. Grier, Nov. 15, 1864; Oct. 27, 1864; not mustered.

James W. Benedict, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 16, 1862; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

John C. Wood, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

William A. McBurney, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 19, 1862; resigned, March
9, 1863.

Daniel Sayer, Dec. 17, 1863; March 6, 1863; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Isaac Nicoll Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; killed in action at
Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.

James O. Denniston, Aug. 20, 1863; July 2, 1862; not mustered.

Henry P. Ramsdell, Dec. 12, 1863; Oct. 7, 1863; not mustered.

Thomas J. Quick, Dec. 17, 1863; Dec. 10, 1863; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Ira S. Bush, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, June 21, 1864.

John W. Houston, July 15, 1864; June 21, 1864; not mustered.

Edward J. Cormick, Nov. 15, 1864; Aug. 10, 1864; killed in action
near Petersburg, Va., April 1, 1865.

Lander Clark, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, May 13, 1863.

Henry F. Travis, Aug. 20, 1863; April 21, 1863; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

William A. Jackson, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; killed in action
near Petersburg, Va., June 18, 1864.

Lewis M. Wisner, July 15, 1864; July 14, 1864; not mustered as
captain.

Thomas Bradley, Nov. 15, 1864; Aug. 2, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

David Crist, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; killed in action. May
30, 1864.

Theodore M. Roberson, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

     First Lieutenants.

Charles B. Wood, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 12, 1862; promoted to captain,
Oct. 10, 1863.

Charles T. Cressy, April 19, 1864; May 1, 1864; not mustered.

Thomas Taft, Aug. 2, 1864; July 20, 1864; promoted to captain, Nov.
15, 1864.

David U. Quick, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Wines E. Weygant, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 14, 1862; resigned, Feb. 8,
1863.

William E. Mapes, Feb. 27, 1863; Feb. 8, 1863; promoted to captain,
Feb. 27, 1863.

Edward J. Cormick, March 23, 1864; March 17, 1864; promoted to
captain, Nov. 15, 1864.

Abram P. Francisco, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

William Brownson, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 15, 1862; promoted to
adjutant, Feb. 20, 1863.

Henry P. Ramsdell, Feb. 20, 1863; Dec. 31, 1862; discharged, Dec. 13,
1863.

Daniel Sayer, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 16, 1862; promoted to captain,
Dec. 17, 1863.

John W. Houston, Dec. 17, 1862; March 6, 1863; discharged, Dec. 13,
1863.

Ebenezer Holbert, July 15, 1864; June 21, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Wm. A. Verplanck, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 10, 1862; discharged, Sept.
23, 1863.

Theodore M. Roberson, Dec. 17, 1863; Sept. 25, 1863; promoted to
captain, Feb. 18, 1865.

Woodward T. Ogden, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; not mustered.

James O. Denniston, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; discharged, Oct.
17, 1863.

William H. Benjamin, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Thomas J. Quick, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; promoted to captain,
Dec. 17, 1863.

James A. Grier, Dec. 24, 1863; Dec. 10, 1863; not mustered.

John B. Stanbrough, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, Nov.
12, 1862.

Isaac M. Martin, Dec. 30, 1862; Nov. 12, 1862; dismissed, May 15,
1863.

Wm. B. Van Houten, Aug. 20, 1863; May 15, 1863; promoted to
adjutant, Oct. 10, 1863.

Charles Stuart, Oct. 10, 1863; Sept. 17, 1863; discharged, May 15,
1865.

James H. Roosa, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; resigned, March 7,
1863.

James Finnegan, May 26, 1863; March 7, 1863; promoted to captain,
Feb. 9, 1864.

Lewis M. Wisner, Feb. 23, 1864: Feb. 1, 1864; discharged, Aug. 5,
1864.

John C. Wood, Nov. 15, 1864; Aug. 1, 1864; promoted to captain, Feb.
18, 1865.

Thomas Hart, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment,
June 3, 1865.

Henry Gowdy, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 22, 1863; died, May 11, 1864, of
wounds.

John R. Hayes, Dec. 17, 1863; May 10, 1863; not mustered.

Thomas Bradley, Sept. 27, 1864; Aug. 1, 1864; promoted to captain,
Nov. 15, 1864.

John S. King, Dec. 17, 1864; Sept. 15, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

     Second Lieutenants.

Charles T. Cressy, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 12, 1862; promoted to first
lieutenant, April 19, 1864.

Jonathan Birdsall, Aug. 2, 1864; July 20, 1864; killed in action
near Petersburg, Va., Oct. 22, 1864.

Gabriel Tuthill, Feb. 27, 1863; Feb. 8, 1863; discharged, Feb. 23,
1864.

Henry P. Ramsdell, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 15, 1862: promoted to first
lieutenant, Feb. 27, 1863.

James A. Grier, Feb. 20, 1863; Dec. 31, 1862; promoted to first
lieutenant, Dec. 24, 1863.

Thomas Hart, Nov. 15, 1864; July 21, 1864; promoted to first
lieutenant, Feb. 18, 1865.

John W. Houston, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 16, 1862; promoted to first
lieutenant, Dec. 17, 1863.

Ebenezer Holbert, April 2, 1864; July 20, 1864: promoted to first
lieutenant, July 15, 1864.

Thomas G. Mabie, Nov. 15, 1864; July 26, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Adolphus Wittenbeecher, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 19, 1862; dismissed,
March 19, 1863.

Theodore M. Roberson, May 26, 1863; March 6, 1863; promoted to first
lieutenant, Dec. 17, 1863.

Woodward T. Ogden, Nov. 15, 1864; July 21, 1864; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Sylvester Lawson, March 14, 1865; March 3, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

David Gibbs, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, Feb. 25, 1863.

Wm. H. Benjamin, May 26, 1863; Feb. 25. 1863; promoted to first
lieutenant, Feb. 18, 1865.

Joshua V. Cole, Feb. 18. 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; not mustered.

Samuel W. Hotchkiss, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, April
2, 1864.

David U. Quick, Nov. 15, 1864; July 21, 1864; promoted to first
lieutenant, Feb. 18, 1865.

Lewis T. Schultz, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with
regiment, June 3, 1865.

Isaac M. Martin, Sept. 10. 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; promoted to first
lieutenant, Dec. 20, 1862.

Milnor Brown, Dec. 30, 1862; Dec. 30, 1862; killed in action at
Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.

Charles Stuart, Aug. 20, 1863; July 2, 1863; promoted to first
lieutenant, Oct. 10, 1863.

William W. Smith, April 19, 1864; Sept. 17, 1863; not mustered.

James Finnegan, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; promoted to first
lieutenant, May 26, 1863.

Jacob Denton, May 26, 1863; March 7, 1863; not mustered; killed in
action, May 3, 1863.

Lewis M. Wisner, Aug. 20, 1863; May 3, 1863; promoted to first
lieutenant, Feb. 23, 1864.

John R. Hayes, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 22, 1862; discharged, April 8,
1864.

[Illustration: Henry Wisner]

      OTHER MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.

Company I, 71st Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., was recruited in Newburgh,
mostly from Co. L, 19th Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., between May 20 and
31, 1861, by Captain A. Van Horne Ellis. Governor Morgan refused to
permit the company to leave the State, and thereupon Captain Ellis
took it to New York on his own responsibility. It was furnished with
transportation to Washington, was accepted through the influence of
Secretary Seward, and mustered in for three months. It was stationed
at the Washington Navy Yard, sent to Chapel Point and Point Tobacco,
June 28, returned, and on July 16 was brigaded with Rhode Island and
New Hampshire regiments under Colonel Burnside. It went to the Bull
Run battlefield dragging two twelve-pound boat howitzers on July 4th,
and returned with them. Soon it went back, arriving on the Bull Run
battlefield July 21st, and in the battle fired 232 shots of shrapnel
and canister. It drew out of the conflict by order at 3 P. M. with
the loss of one killed and two wounded, and returned to Washington.
It was soon back in Newburgh, where it was mustered out July 30th.
The officers during this service were:

A. Van Horne Ellis, captain; George W. Hawkins, second lieutenant;
Wm. H. Garrison, second sergeant; John McMeekin, third sergeant;
James D. Hamilton, fourth sergeant; Charles Decker, first corporal;
Marshal M. Van Zile, second corporal; Henry T. Travis, third
sergeant; Thomas Riley, fourth sergeant.

May 28th, 1862, within seven hours, the company was again recruited
for three months, and during that period was on guard duty in and
around Washington. The officers were:

A. Van Horne Ellis, captain; Wm. H. Garrison, first lieutenant; James
C. Taggart, second lieutenant; John W. Forsyth, first sergeant;
Henry F. Travis, second sergeant; John McMeekin, third sergeant;
James B. Montgomery, fourth sergeant; Thomas Riley, fifth sergeant;
Robert Acheson, David M. De Witt, Wm. M. Verplanck and Edward J. Hall,
corporals.

Captain Ellis afterward became colonel of the 124th, and several
other members of the company became captains and lieutenants in the
124th, 56th and other regiments.

In May, 1862, the 19th regiment of militia, commanded by Colonel Wm.
R. Brown, was ordered to Washington, and after recruiting its ranks,
which had been depleted by volunteer enlistments, left Newburgh June
4. Arriving in Baltimore, it was ordered to Stuart Hill, and remained
there until July 2nd, when two of its companies were ordered to Fort
McHenrv and the rest of the regiment to Fort Marshall. On July 14
four companies were ordered to Fort Delaware, and remained there
until August 10th, when they were sent to Havre de Grace to guard the
railroad between there and Baltimore. The whole regiment went back to
Newburgh the last of August, and was mustered out of the U. S.
service September 6.

Officers during this expedition were: William J. Brown, colonel;
James Low, lieutenant colonel; David Jagger, major; George Weller,
quartermaster; William J. Hathaway, adjutant.

In August Colonel Brown twice offered the services of the regiment
for nine months, but the offers were refused by Governor Morgan. He
offered them again September 17, when they were accepted. Recruiting
for it was complicated by the efforts of Colonel Isaac Wood to raise
an authorized regiment of three years' men in the county at the same
time, but he stopped after enlisting 272 men, who were consolidated
with the 176th N. Y. V. and mustered in November 20th.

Colonel Brown continued to enroll volunteers until February 2nd, when
his regiment, known as the 168th, left Newburgh with 750 men, and
New York City eleven days later with 835 men. It went to Yorktown,
and remained there on garrison duty during nearly its whole term of
service. Once a detachment of 140 men under Captain Daniel Torbush
was sent with detachments from other regiments up York and Mattapony
Rivers, and the Torbush detachment was placed to guard the Richmond
road. Here it was attacked by a force of Confederate cavalry, and
repulsed them, killing fourteen, and losing one killed, five wounded
and two captured. September 16th the regiment was sent to Bridgeport,
Ala., and remained there on guard duty until October 14th, when it
went back to Newburgh, and was mustered out October 31st. During its
nine months of service it lost one killed, eighteen died, thirteen
captured and 184 deserters. Its commissioned officers were:

 Colonel: William R. Brown.
 Lieutenant-Colonels: James Low, James C. Rennison.
 Majors: George Waller (dismissed), James C. Rennison, Daniel
   Torbush.
 Adjutant: Wm. R. Hathway.
 Quartermasters: James H. Anderson, George C. Spencer.
 Surgeon: Jacob M. Leighton.
 Assistant Surgeon: Edward B. Root.
 Chaplain: R. Howard Wallace.
 Captains: Wm. H. Terwilliger, Daniel Torbush, James H. Anderson,
   Isaac Jenkinson, Bennett Gilbert, George McCleary, Samuel Hunter,
   John D. Wood, James C. Rennison, Myron A. Tappan, Marshal Van
   Zile.
 First Lieutenants: Nathan Hubbard, Oliver Taylor, Jacob K. R.
   Oakley, Archibald Ferguson, James H. Searles, Lawrence Brennan,
   James T. Chase, De Witt C. Wilkin, Wm. D. Dickey, Marshal Van
   Tile, George R. Brainsted.
 Second Lieutenants: Thomas P. Terwilliger, Isaac N. Morehouse, James
   H. Anderson, Geo. C. Marvin, Andrew J. Gilbert, Samuel C. Wilson,
   Paul Terwilliger, Geo. W. Hennion, Daniel Low, Jr., Geo. R.
   Brainsted, Bartley Brown, Lester Genung.

[Illustration: J. N. Weed]

The 176th regiment, with which Colonel Wood's 272 recruits were
consolidated, was sent to the Department of the Gulf as a part of the
Nineteenth Corps, and was in the Red River campaign in 1864, in
General Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign the same year, and in
Georgia and North Carolina in the early months of 1865. In the Red
River campaign it did some fighting and lost many men in killed,
wounded and prisoners. Of its Orange County officers, T. Henry
Edsall was adjutant, Sprague K. Wood rose from sergeant to captain,
and Joseph Goodsell from second lieutenant to captain.

The company of cavalry recruited in the fall of 1861 by Morris I.
McCormal as a part of Colonel Van Wyck's "Tenth Legion," when it was
detached from this regiment was mustered in as Co. C, First Mounted
Rifles, and had ninety-five men. The company served three years.
Officers were: Morris I. McCormal, captain; Charles F. Allen, first
lieutenant; Arthur Hagen, second lieutenant; Ardice Robbins, orderly
sergeant; C. R. Smith, quartermaster sergeant. Captain McCormal
resigned in 1862, but re-entered the service in the Fifteenth
Cavalry in 1863. Quartermaster Smith and Sergeants James Eaton,
Frank Mills and Fred Penney were promoted to lieutenants.

Orange County was represented in the Seventh, afterward Second,
regiment of Cavalry, its volunteers being mostly in Co. B, under
Captain Charles E. Morton of New Windsor. Alanson Randall, U. S. A.,
a native of Newburgh, was colonel of the regiment from November,
1864, to the muster out, June 5, 1865. The regiment was also known as
the Harris Light Cavalry.

Recruits were obtained in Orange County for the Fifteenth Cavalry in
the winter of 1863-4 by Captain Morris I. McCormal of Middletown, and
Lieutenant Charles H. Lyon of Newburgh.

The Fifteenth Heavy Artillery's Co. M was mostly recruited in Orange
County in the winter of 1863-4. The regiment was mustered in at Fort
Lyon, Va., February 3, 1864, remained there until March 27th, when
it went to Beverly Station and was assigned to duty in the Artillery
Reserve of the Army of the Potomac, and did creditable service in
several bloody battles. When Co. M was organized its officers were:
Wm. D. Dickey of Newburgh, captain; Alfred Newbatt and Julius
Niebergall, first lieutenants; John Ritchie and Robert B. Keeler,
second lieutenants. August 15th Captain Dickey was placed in command
of the Third Battalion and Lieutenant Ritchie took command of the
company, leading it through the engagements in the struggle for the
Weldon railroad, in one of which it lost in killed and wounded a
third of its men. For the regiment's good work here and in a
previous fight at Haines' Tavern it was complimented in the general
orders of Meade. Co. M was mustered out in July, 1865. It lost during
its year of service three officers and ninety-five privates. The
promotions were: Captain Dickey to major, Second Lieutenants Keeler
and Ritchie to first lieutenants, and Sergeants Joseph M. Dickey and
Riemann to second lieutenants.

This Seventeenth Independent Battery was recruited in Orange to be a
part of Colonel Van Wyck's "Tenth Legion" or 56th Regiment. It
arrived in Washington November 11, 1861, and was organized as an
independent battery January 10, 1862. It was first assigned to
Casey's, afterwards Peek's division. It also served in the Seventh
Corps, then in the Second division of the Eighteenth Corps, at
Bermuda Hundred a short time in the Tenth Corps, and when mustered
out formed a part of the artillery brigade of the Twenty-fourth
Corps. It was in the siege of Yorktown, the battles of Williamsburg,
Savage's Station, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, the siege of Suffolk, and
was in action at Petersburg, Dutch Gap, Fort Harrison, Hatcher's Run
and Port Walthal. It was in the investment of Petersburg and
Richmond. It suffered most severely at Fair Oaks. Its record was good
throughout. Its commissioned officers were:

 Captain: Peter C. Regan.
 First Lieutenants: Eugene Scheibner, Abram Kniffin, Martin V.
   McIntyre, John S. Bennett.
 Second Lieutenants: Abram Kniffin, Charles S. Harvell, Abram Smith,
   Wm. H. Lee, Edward Kelly, John B. Brosen, Jr.

The First Regiment of Engineers, known as Serrell's, had in its
ranks, it was said, 300 or 400 men from Orange County. Its
detachments were mustered in between September 10, 1861, and February
12, 1862. The regiment retained its organization until June 30, 1865,
when it was mustered out, but there were various changes in its
composition. It was an important regiment in the engineering part of
the service.

Company C of the 98th N. Y. S. V., was mostly recruited in Newburgh
in the winter of 1863-4 by Captain James H. Anderson and Lieutenant
J. K. R. Oakley, who had been in the 168th Regiment. They went to
Riker's Island in February, 1864, and here consolidation requirements
caused Co. C to consist of ninety-five Orange County men under
Captain Anderson and Lieutenants Oakley and Sneed, and twenty-four
were assigned to Co. I under Captain E. M. Allen. The record of the
regiment was one of the best. It fought at Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor
and Petersburg. At Drury's Bluff it saved General Buller's army from
a flank attack: at Cold Harbor it lost in killed and wounded 100 men;
at Petersburg it charged the outer line of the enemy's works and was
almost constantly under fire. Its colors were the first to be planted
at Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864, and it was the first regiment
to enter Richmond after the evacuation. After the surrender of Lee
it was on post and garrison duty in several places, and was mustered
out at Richmond August 31, 1865. Of the men who went out with Captain
Anderson, thirteen were killed or died of wounds, twenty-three
wounded, and five died of disease.

[Illustration: Jas. D. Benedict]

     MONEY RAISED FOR THE WAR.

The following totals were raised by official action from town taxes,
loans, state cash and bonds, for the towns named for war purposes:

Blooming Grove, $60,900; Chester, $54,192.67; Cornwall, $69,200;
Crawford, $84,187.12; Deer Park, $242,981.83; Goshen, $83,233.05;
Greenville, $54,016.45; Hamptonburgh, $21,000; Minisink, $57,271.62;
Monroe, $160,968.65; Montgomery, $57,250; Mount Hope, $62,888.24;
Newburgh, $455,637; New Windsor, $48,715,55; Wallkill, $95,100;
Warwick, $201,070; Wawayanda, $51,750.

By the County: From taxes, 1864, $1,800; 1865, $90,649.50; from
loans, 1864, $421,000; total, $513,449.50.

Towns and County: From taxes, 1862, $31,931; 1863, $2,000; 1864,
$350,434.95; 1865, $257,581.82; from loans, 1862, $31,950; 1863,
$35,318.70; 1864, $1,113,761.82; 1865, $229,278.41.

From State: Cash, $76,000; bonds, $252,000.53; interest on bonds,
$3,473.51; other sources, $105.

Full total: $2,384,801.74.

The donations, cash subscriptions and draft exemption moneys,
amounting to a very large sum, are not included in the foregoing
figures.




CHAPTER XI.

TOWN OF BLOOMING GROVE

By Benjamin C. Sears.



This is one of the older towns of Orange County, lying somewhat
northwest of the geographical center. The towns of Hamptonburgh and
New Windsor are on the north, Cornwall on the east, Monroe and
Woodbury on the south and Goshen and Chester on the west. It covers
an area of 21,759 acres.

The title to all the territory of this town conveyed by the various
original patents, upon which rests the deed of every property-holder
to-day has been carefully preserved. The names and dates of the first
settlers are also pretty fully recorded.

The oldest grant of land seems to be the Mompesson Patent, which is
dated March 4, 1709, and confirmed May 31, 1712. This covered 1,000
acres. The next grant in order of time is that known as the Rip Van
Dam patent, which is dated March 23, 1907 {_sic_} and covered some
3,000 acres. This was granted to Rip Van Dam, Adolph Phillips, David
Provost, Jr., Lancaster Symes and Thomas Jones, each having an equal
share in the tract. This is described as "beginning at a station
bearing west 24 degrees north, and 85 chains from the wigwam of the
Indian Maringamus," which was on the southwest bank of Murderer's
Creek just across the railroad track from the Catholic Church of St.
Mary. The present village of Salisbury Mills is on the east end of
this patent so far as the village lies in the town. In the northeast
corner of the town on the old county line is the 1,000 acre tract of
Roger Van Dam which is dated June 30, 1720, although a portion of
this tract extends over into the present town of New Windsor. The
next patent was granted to Ann Hoagland, May 24, 1723, and it
contained 2,000 acres in the western part of the town. In the
southeastern part of the town, adjoining the Rip Van Dam patent, and
west of the Schunnemunk Mountains was the 2,000 acre grant of Edward
Blagg and Johannes Hey, dated March 28, 1726. This valley has been
known ever since as Blagg's Clove. West of this was the irregular
tract of 2,440 acres granted to Nathaniel Hazzard January 11, 1727.
This was south of Washingtonville. Still further west was the Joseph
Sackett 2,000-acre tract, to which 222 acres were afterward added on
the south. This patent was dated July 7, 1736, and the tract adjoins
the present village of Oxford. Sackett got another grant of 149 acres
September 1, 1737, on the west.

On August 10, 1723 a patent covering 2,600 acres was granted to
Richard Gerard and William Bull.

[Illustration: Benjamin C. Sears.]

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

The surface of this town is varied by the long range of Schunnemunk
Mountains, forming the eastern boundary, with its level ridges
reaching to the height of about 1,600 feet, and the beautiful
foothills of Woodcock, Round Hill, Mosquito, Raynor and Peddler. The
last two have deposits of magnetic iron ore, which mixed with the
ores from other parts of the county was used in making the Parott
guns during the War of the Rebellion. The cultivated land is also
broken and rolling, some upon quite high hills, whose sides were not
cultivated, and are covered with luxuriant blue grass pastures, and
along the streams and the lower lands are beautiful natural meadows,
which bring their annual tribute of hay into the barns, and add very
much to the beauty of the scenery.

The Greycourt or Cromeline Creek runs from Walton Lake by the base of
Goose Pond Mountain, through the Greycourt meadows and the
picturesque falls at Craigville, through Farmingdale and Hulsetown,
and is joined near the Hamptonburgh line by the Otterkill; near
Washingtonville by the Tappan or Schunnemunk Creek, flowing from
Sattterly's Mills; also by the Silver stream draining a portion of
Blagg's Clove, and furnishing at the old Coleman Mills, the excellent
water supply of Washingtonville. The united stream is called
Murdner's or Murderer's Creek, to which N. P. Willis gave the more
poetical name of "Moodna," where it entered the Hudson near Idlewild.
These streams have along their bank beautiful natural meadows dotted
with fine old trees, and the hill-tops are covered in places with
sugar maple and chestnut trees, making in the early spring time a
beautiful picture of varied green, and in the autumn a glorious
variety of colors, which, together with the fine apple orchards
crowning the hillsides, justifies the name of Blooming Grove.

EARLY SETTLERS.

Vincent Mathews seems to have been the first settler according to the
record. He bought the Rip Van Dam Patent, August 22, 1721, and built
a grist mill at the place since known as Salisbury. He named this
estate "Mathewsfield." Thomas Goldsmith came next, about ten years
later, and he took the Mompesson Patent. He built a house on the
north bank of the Otterkill, now known as the "Walnut Grove Farm,"
near the present Washingtonville. Edward Blagg also settled upon
this tract, known as "Blagg's Clove" about this time. Mathews sold
his mill to John J. Carpenter, which was turned into a powder mill
under a State contract in 1776, when under the kindling fires of
patriotism the demand for powder became very active.

In 1753 Jesse Woodhull settled in Blagg's Clove, although he seems to
have purchased the Richard Van Dam Patent upon which the Moffatt
family afterward settled. Mr. Mathews, the original settler, was an
attorney, and took an active part in the early history of the town.
He sold 1,500 of his acres to Louis Du Bois, of New Paltz, who built
a tavern upon it which was kept by Zachariah Du Bois in Revolutionary
times.

Prior to 1764 the territory of this town was a part of the Goshen
precinct. From that time to 1799 it formed a part of the town of
Cornwall. The other prominent settlers of the town are believed to be
included in the following list:

John Brewster, Edward, Francis, Isaac, Jesse and Nathan Brewster,
Daniel Brewster, George Duryea, Richard Goldsmith, Benjamin Gregory,
John Hudson, Henry Hudson, William Hudson, Archibald Little, Timothy,
James and Solomon Little; James Mapes, and his sons Wines, Jesse,
Robert, James, Barney, David, William and Thomas; Elihu Marvin, a
member of the Committee of Safety in 1775, also judge of the county
in 1778; Seth, Nathan, James, Jesse and John Marvin; Samuel Moffatt;
James and Fletcher Mathews, sons of Vincent Mathews, who was a
colonel in the Revolution and a leading citizen; Thomas Moffatt,
member of the Committee of Safety from 1778 to 1794; Josiah, Samuel,
Jacob, Stephen and Peter Reeder; Israel, Thaddeus, John, Jesse,
Josiah and Samuel Seely; Bezaliel Seeley; Selah Strong, the first
supervisor of the town; Major Samuel and Captain Nathan Strong;
Nathaniel Satterly, member of Committee of Safety in 1775, and
proprietor of Satterly's Mills in 1765; John and Selah Satterly;
James, Nathaniel and John Sayer; Nathaniel Strong, member of
Committee of Safety, who was shot at his door by Claudius Smith,
October 6, 1778; Captain Jesse Woodhull, delegate to the first
Provincial Convention, and member of the State Convention that
revised the federal constitution in 1778; Abner Woodhull, George and
Benjamin Whittaker; Silas, Reuben and Birdseye Young; Stephen
Mathews, Gilbert, Zachariah and John Du Bois; Hezekiah, Isaiah,
Stephen, Isaac, Paul, Zepheniah, Charles, Aaron, Silas and Jeremiah
Howell; Benjamin and Thomas Goldsmith; David Coleman, Caleb, Joab,
Asahel, Micah, Silas, Richard and Jeremiah Coleman; Thomas, John,
Francis and Richard Drake; Nathaniel Coleman; Daniel Curtis; John
Chandler; Henry and Oliver Davenport.

Among other family names recorded are those of Carpenter, Moffatt,
Owens, Gregg and Wooley. It is said of the Woodhull family that its
ancestry is distinctly traced to the individual who came to England
from Normandy with William the Conqueror in 1066.

CIVIL ORGANIZATIONS.

The town of Blooming Grove was organized March 23, 1799, the
territory being taken from the more ancient Cornwall township. The
name Blooming Grove had long been in use for this part of Cornwall,
being the name of the old village which was given to distinguish it
from Hunting Grove, a locality then in New Windsor.

The first town meeting was held at the house of John Chandler, the
first Tuesday of April, 1799. Selah Strong was then elected
supervisor and Daniel Brewster town clerk. Two hundred dollars were
raised for the support of the poor that year, and a $10 bounty was
voted for each wolf killed within the town. Mr. Brewster served as
town clerk for thirty-seven years without intermission. There was
little personal politics in those times, and public office was
probably regarded as a public trust.

In April, 1830, a part of the town was taken off in the formation of
Hamptonburgh. In March, 1845, another small portion was set off to
the town of Chester.

Charles W. Hull has been town clerk since 1874, and has just been
reelected, so that his term will be nearly as long as John
Brewster's.

The house of John Brewster, at which the town meetings were held,
1765 to 1799, was kept as a hotel and was said to be the homestead of
the Cooper family, upon which is now situated the Blooming Grove
station and post-office.

When the present town of Blooming Grove was formed, the principal
center was at Blooming Grove, where the old church was erected, 1759.
The first town meeting was held in the spring of 1759, at the house
of John Chandler, who kept a general country store here several years
previous to this, also at Edenville, near Warwick, taking in wheat
and other grain which was carted to New Windsor, ground at the old
mill on Quassaic Creek, and shipped to the West Indies and exchanged
for sugar, molasses and other products of the tropics, which were
brought back to Orange County by the Hudson River to New Windsor,
and exchanged again for grain and other farm products. John Chandler
purchased in 1793 a small farm, upon which his great-grandson, B. C.
Sears, now resides. He was president of the Newburgh and New Windsor
Turnpike Co., and of the Blooming Grove and Greycourt Turnpike Co.,
built by his son-in-law, Hector Craig. He was an elder in the
Blooming Grove Church and a large land owner in this part of the
county.

The village of Blooming Grove then consisted of the old church and
the old Blooming Grove academy, built about 1810, to which many of
the students came from the neighboring towns, boarding with the
neighbors about. A part of it was used as a district school until
1857, when the present building was built upon the old academy site.
A blacksmith-shop, kept later by Pierson Genung, a drug store, a
cooper shop, the old toll-gate, the country store, and the hotel kept
by Benjamin Thompson, where were held the town meetings, general
trainings, etc., and the public were entertained, were on this the
main thoroughfare from Warwick to New Windsor and later Newburgh.
This property was conveyed to Samuel Moffatt, Jr., merchant, by the
executors of Rev. Benoni Bradner, and by him to Seth Marvin in 1810,
who built a store-house on a lot purchased of Charles Howell, 1810.
Blooming Grove now consists only of the old church, the parsonage and
the schoolhouse, and half a mile away the station, store and
post-office, kept by C. C. Gerow, and the creamery owned by the
Sheffield, Slawson, Decker Co.

[Illustration: Charles R. Bull.]

VARIOUS RESIDENTS

In 1810, Samuel Moffatt, Jr., having sold his place in Blooming
Grove, moved to a new settlement at Washingtonville, building the old
corner store, now owned by George A. Owen. Across the highway Moses
Ely, the father of the late Dr. Ely, of Newburgh, had a tannery, and
John Jaques, then a young man, opened here a shoe-shop. The old
corner store, built in the woods almost, there being only two other
dwellings, (a log house owned by James Giles and the private school
of Jane Sweezey), was carried on by Samuel Moffatt and his son David,
either alone or as members of the firm, from 1812 to 1832; then John
S. Bull, 1832-1839; Walter Halsey and Apollis Halsey, 1839-1850; and
the Warners and Williams Howell, 1850 to 1890, and George A. Owen,
1890, to this date. This store has always been, and is still, a
prominent landmark in Washingtonville. In 1813, Jedediah Breed came
to Washingtonville from Dutchess County, and built a harness shop
adjoining the dwelling house now owned by his grandson, George A.
Owen, and which has been occupied as a harness shop for nearly 100
years. Here Henry F. Breed kept the Blooming Grove post-office for
forty years, nearly continuously; after his death the post-office was
removed to the building of Alexander Moore, where, in 1872, the name
was changed from Blooming Grove to Washingtonville.

Alexander Moore and his brother-in-law, Albert G. Owen, the father of
George A. Owen, carried on a furniture and paint business here from
1830 to 1850, Moore being the postmaster and Owen, supervisor and
justice for many years, and a member of the Assembly, 1849-1850. This
village soon grew to be important, and is now one of the finest
villages of its size in Orange County, having a beautiful shaded
avenue of maples and many handsome residences. There are the
Presbyterian and Methodist churches, Catholic Church of St. Mary, and
the beautiful Moffatt Library, given to the village by David H.
Moffatt, of Denver, and erected under the careful supervision of
John Newton Moffatt, having a fine collection of books and a
beautiful hall which is the convenient center for much social
enjoyment; the large feed mill, originally built by David H. Moffatt,
the father of David H., and now carried on by the Thomas Fulton Co.,
together with a large coal and lumber business; a similar
establishment carried on by Hector Moffatt & Son, and the very large
wine vaults of the Brotherhood Wine Co., successors to the James
brothers' vineyard established in 1838. The Bordens also have here a
large creamery, and there is also the Farmers' Creamery, now operated
by the Mutual Milk and Cream Co., making this the most important
station upon the Newburgh Branch of the Erie Railroad. It is
surrounded by beautiful homes and thrifty farms. Within the
corporation line are the home and farm of William H. Hallock, who
owns several of the old ancestral homes throughout the town, which he
has improved, and still runs with great business ability; also the
ancestral homes of the Brooks family, descendants of Fletcher
Mathews, one of the original settlers, and also the old Nicoll
homestead, now occupied by Charles Nicoll.

Northwest of Washingtonville is the old Joseph Moffatt homestead, now
held by his grandsons, C. R. Shons and S. L. Moffatt, who have
beautiful orchards, which, with that of Jesse Hulse, crown the
beautiful hilltop and have made "Blooming Grove apples" famous both
at home and abroad; also the Walnut Grove farm, upon which the first
Goldsmiths settled, and made famous by Alden Goldsmith and his sons,
James and John A., now in the hands of the widow of John A. and her
husband, Mr. O. B. Stillman; also the home of the late Captain Thomas
N. Hulse, so long and so favorably known years ago to all travelers
upon the Hudson River, now the home of his niece, Mrs. James A.
Knapp, daughter of Benjamin Moffatt. Two and a half miles east of the
village of Washingtonville is the village of Salisbury Mills, the
oldest settlement of the town, where, on the falls of Murderer's
Creek, Vincent Mathews built his mill, which later was owned by
Captain Richard Caldwell, by Peter Van Allen, by Isaac Oakly, and is
now the Arlington paper mills, owned and operated on a very large
scale by Henry Ramsdell. Here in 1803 came John Caldwell, and with
him his three sons, John, Andrew J. and Richard. Richard, then a
mere lad, had been at the head of a company in the Emmet Rebellion,
and through the clemency of Lord Cornwallis his sentence of death was
commuted to banishment for himself and his father's family. He came
to Salisbury with his father, and in 1808 married a daughter of John
Chandler. He had the mill and a store at Salisbury. When the war with
England in 1812 became a certainty, Richard Caldwell raised the 25th
Co. Infantry of soldiers, was elected their captain, and led them
toward Canada, crossing Lake Champlain in open boats, in a severe
storm. He divided his extra clothing with his soldiers, and
contracted a severe cold, resulting in pneumonia, and he died
December 11, 1812, and is buried at Champlain, near Plattsburgh. His
name is perpetuated by the beautiful monument erected in Salisbury
Mills by his nephew, Richard Caldwell, to his memory and the memory
of those who perished with him in that ill-advised and ill-equipped
expedition; also to the memory of Captain Isaac Nicoll and those who
died with him, in the War of the Rebellion. Captain Richard Caldwell
left two children, John R. Caldwell, long well known as a prominent
citizen of New Windsor, and Mary, the wife of Marcus Sears, M.D. The
old house erected by John Caldwell in 1803 is still standing, long
known as the home of Andrew J. Caldwell and his son, Richard
Caldwell, both of whom stood firm for righteousness and temperance.
In a part of the same grounds was the home of a sister, Mrs.
Chambers, now occupied by the widow of Richard Caldwell, and from
which still emanates a powerful influence for good to the whole
village. Also the old home of the oldest son, John Caldwell, who was
a merchant in New York, and on retiring came to live with his kindred
in Salisbury, was the first president of the Orange County
Agricultural Society, and was much interested in keeping silk worms
and actually produced silk from the mulberry trees growing on his
grounds in Salisbury.

Near the village stands a part of the old stone house, the home of
Major Du Bois, who was a prominent man in the War of the Revolution,
as major in Colonel Woodhull's regiment, who was a prisoner for ten
months in the hands of the British, and who lost his extensive lands
by the depreciation of the Colonial money and his enforced absence
from home; also the beautiful home of the family of Hon. Robert
Denniston. The ancestor of the Denniston family was Alexander
Denniston, the brother-in-law of Charles Clinton, who with many of
his friends and neighbors, all being Scotch Presbyterians, and tired
of the exactions and demands of the crown, emigrated from the town of
Edgeworth, county of Longford, Ireland, in the early summer of 1729.
After a long, tedious voyage of nearly five months, they landed on
Cape Cod; thence two years later they came to Little Britain. A
family legend is, that these pioneers stood upon a hilltop about two
miles northeast of Washingtonville and called the land in sight to
the north, Little Britain, and there they settled. Alexander had six
sons, James, George, Alexander, William, John, Charles, and four
daughters. They were all stern patriots devoted to their country. The
father was a member of Colonel Ellison's New Windsor regiment in
1738, and on frontier service in 1755. The six sons were all members
of the Third Ulster County regiment, which was called out many times
during the dark days of the Revolution. Two were members of the
Committee of Safety and one served in the line during the whole war.
Of these sons James was the only one that settled in the town of
Blooming Grove, the others settling elsewhere, New Windsor, Cornwall,
etc. He purchased, in 1790, the farm one mile east of Washingtonville,
which still remains in the family. He had three sons, James,
Alexander, Abraham, and two daughters. He died in 1805, leaving the
homestead to his son James. The latter had one son, Robert, and four
daughters. Dying in 1825, the homestead was inherited by his son
Robert. The latter served as an officer of the militia, was justice of
the peace in his native town, judge of the Court of Common Pleas in
Orange County, was elected member of the New York State Assembly in
1835, and again in 1839 and 1840, and was State senator from 1841-1847
and State comptroller in 1860 and 1861. He was very active and
energetic in his endeavors to maintain the Union during the War of the
Rebellion, and was chairman of the military commission in the Orange
and Sullivan Counties district. He had five sons, William Scott, James
Otis, Robert, Henry Martyn, Augustus, and six daughters. These sons,
like their ancestors, were all interested in the war for the
preservation of the Union, and served either in the army or navy.
William Scott was a surgeon in the volunteer army and died of fever,
July, 1862. James Otis was first lieutenant and captain, Company G,
124th N. Y. State Volunteers, July 2, 1862, to September 3, 1863,
when, on account of wounds, he was mustered out. He afterwards studied
theology and retired from active church work in 1905. Augustus was
first lieutenant and quartermaster in the same regiment from July 15,
1862, to February 3, 1863, resigning on account of physical debility.
Henry Martyn entered the pay corps of the U. S. Navy in September,
1861, and after serving over forty years, on reaching the age of
sixty-two years was placed on the retired list with the rank of rear
admiral. Robert served as his assistant from March, 1863, to October,
1863, resigning on account of ill health, and died August, 1864.
Augustus was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1874-1875, and
president of Orange County Agricultural Society, 1879, to date; also
president of Highland National Bank, and resides on the old homestead,
which he owns.

West of Blooming Grove about two miles is located the village of
Craigville, upon the falls of the Greycourt Creek, which formerly
allowed three dams, all now gone, the combined power of which,
together with the fact that the stream may be replenished from Walton
Lake, or Long Pond, will at some future date be of value, as it was
in the past. On the upper fall was located in the early days a forge,
and some of the old slag is still in evidence. In later years a
saw-mill and grist-mill were erected by Hector Craig, used afterward
as the first manufactory of Hornby's Oats--H. O. The machinery has
been removed since to Buffalo. The second fall was utilized by James
Craig and his son, Hector Craig, for a paper mill in 1790.

After the death of Hector Craig, Barrett Ames, a son-in-law of
Hector Craig, who had been a cotton merchant in Mobile, and his
son-in-law, E. Peet, erected here a cotton factory, which was
operated successfully for a number of years, but after the death of
Mr. Ames, the property passed into other hands, and the cotton
factory was burned down. Later the high dam was swept away and
nothing remains but the ruins and the old house, which was once
surrounded by beautiful gardens and was the scene of much social life
when the home of Hector Craig, Barrett Ames and Irving Van Wart, who
was a son-in-law of Mr. Ames. At this home Washington Irving, an
uncle of Irving Van Wart, made one of his last visits, if not his
last visit, far away from Sunnyside. To this old home came James
Craig, in 1790, from Paisley, Scotland, bringing with him his family.
His son, Hector Craig, born in Scotland, 1775, married a daughter of
John Chandler, 1796. He was a member of Congress, 1823-1825 and
1829-1830. He was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, is said to
have cast the first vote in Congress for Andrew Jackson for
President, and was by him appointed surveyor of the port in 1830, and
U. S. commissioner of bankruptcy in 1832. Hector Craig carried on the
paper mill during his life, and also for a time the manufacture of
hemp from the Chester meadows, which had been drained by act of
Legislature in 1790. The old storehouse built by him is still carried
on by Edwin Duryea, and the old hotel is still standing, a part of
the Hornby property. The third fall, much lower, turned the mill of
Uncle Silas Seaman and his son, Valentine Seaman, but is now out of
use, and the property of H. S. Ramsdell. Just beyond the terminus of
the Blooming Grove and Greycourt turnpike is the old Greycourt
Cemetery, the burial place of many respected citizens of this and
adjoining towns.

[Illustration: The Abimal Youngs House, Oxford Depot, Built 1733]

Two miles south of Craigville is situated Oxford Depot, on the Erie
Railroad, with a general country store, kept formerly by Peter B.
Taylor, but for many years the store and post-office have been in
charge of S. C. Van Vliet, who has also served the town as
supervisor, justice, etc. Here is also a creamery run by the
Alexander Campbell Co. The old settlement of Satterly's Mills and the
adjacent Campbell Tillotson property are now the beautiful country
residence of William Crawford, a well-known New York merchant, who is
doing much to improve that part of the town. Near Oxford Depot is the
beautiful home of Judge Charles R. Bull, supervisor from 1899 to
1903, and associate judge of County Court, and a lineal descendant of
Sarah Wells. The old-time homes of the Seelys and Marvins and the
Fletcher Woodhull families, for a long time famous for their
well-tilled farms, and in the old times well finished fat cattle,
have passed from their hands, with the single exception of that of
Courtland Marvin, still in the hands of his grand-daughter, Fannie
Marvin, regent of Blooming Grove Chapter, D. A. R., and
granddaughter of Fannie Woodhull Marvin, mentioned by Eager in his
sketch of Claudius Smith as being used by her mother, wife of Captain
Woodhull, in saving the family silver. The stone house built under
the supervision of William S. Woodhull is still the property of the
widow of his son, Jesse Woodhull, who was a daughter of Marcus Sears
and Mary Caldwell. And the Youngs homesteads are still held by their
descendants, Joseph W. Young, Mrs. Durland and the family of William
B. Hunter. The Bulls in the southern part of the town near Monroe,
still dwell upon the old homestead. John Brewster, the town clerk of
Cornwall, 1765-1799, lived near Blooming Grove, and a part of his old
homestead remains in the hands of his descendants, Thomas C. and
Walter H. Brewster, who have both been supervisors of the town, and
whose beautiful homes are beside the Tappan on Satterly's Creek, and
near the ancestral home of Selah E. Strong, supervisor of Blooming
Grove, 1875-1882, and sheriff of Orange County, 1888-1889-1890, and
is now the home of his widow and their son, Sherwood Strong. This
fine, old home was built by his grandfather, Selah Strong, the first
supervisor of the new town of Blooming Grove, having been justice of
the peace for the town of Cornwall for ten years. His father, Major
Nathaniel Strong, came to this farm with the Howells and Woodhulls
from Long Island, and married Hannah, daughter of Major Nathaniel
Woodhull. He was a prominent citizen, a major in the Continental
Army, and was murdered in his home on his farm, by the notorious
Claudius Smith, October 6, 1778. This homestead adjoins that of the
Strong family, now occupied by Charles F. Bull, from which came:
Major Samuel Strong and Captain Nathan Strong, who was at Valley
Forge with the Continental Army. The descendants of Samuel Strong now
live in Blooming Grove on the Benjamin Strong farm, near the
Blooming Grove church, and Charles Strong in Blagg's Clove. This
homestead adjoins that of Colonel Jesse Woodhull, who settled here on
500 acres of land in 1753, aged eighteen years, a part of which still
remains in the family of N. D. Woodhull. The Woodhull family were
descendants from Richard Woodhull, born in North Hampton, England,
1620. Zealous for English liberty during the Protectorate, he sought
freedom here. His grandson, Nathaniel, married into the Smith family,
who were large proprietors of St. George's Manor, L. I. His daughter,
Hannah, married Major Nathaniel Strong. His son, General Nathaniel
Woodhull, remained upon the old homestead at Mastic, Long Island, and
took an active part in opposing British oppression, and was killed by
a British officer, September 2, 1776, tradition says because he would
not say, "God save the King." Jesse settled in Blagg's Clove, and his
son Richard married Hannah, daughter of Judge William Smith, of Long
Island, and was the father of William Smith and Nathaniel Du Bois.
William Smith was the father of William Henry Howell and Jesse
Woodhull, and Nathaniel was the father of Richard and Francis
Mandeville and grandfather of Nathaniel D. Woodhull, well known in
Orange County as a leader of the New York milk business. Adjoining
the Woodhull tract is the old Howell homestead to which Hezekiah
Howell came from Long Island about 1730, and tradition says that as
they came over Schunnemunk Mountain they were obliged to stand by
their horses to prevent the wild turkeys from eating up their oats.
He with Sylvanus White and others took up the patent of 2,000 acres
called Blagg's Clove, and he married a daughter of Job Sayre in 1735.
His son, Hezekiah 2d, was born here, 1741, and married Juliana,
daughter of Nathaniel Woodhull, of Mastic, L. I. His son, Charles
Howell, was born in 1752, married a daughter of Major Nathaniel
Strong, and after her death, Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Board,
and, settled near the Blooming Grove church, upon a farm of 150
acres, which still remains in the hands of the family of his son,
Edmund S. Howell. He served in the Independent Corps under General
George Clinton in building Fort Putnam, and was on guard after the
burning of Kingston. Hezekiah Howell was the first supervisor of the
old town of Cornwall, and was sheriff of Orange County during the
Revolution. His son, Hezekiah 3d, married Frances, daughter of Major
Tuthill, of Orange County. His grandson, Nathaniel W., graduated from
Williams in the year 1853, was supervisor of Blooming Grove, 1871 and
1872, and a member of Assembly, 1863-1864. He has lived upon the old
Howell homestead, and also inherited his father's farm, and has just
conveyed the whole Howell tract of 700 acres to C. T. Purdy, who is
as closely connected with Sheriff Howell as Nathaniel W. Sylvanus
White, Jr., was born on Long Island, Southampton, and was son of
Sylvanus and Phoebe Howell. They came with the Howells and Woodhulls
and Strongs and Moffatts, to Blagg's Clove, and settled upon 300
acres of land. His daughter married Anselm Helme, and the family
still retain the old Helme homestead, near Coleman's Mills. His son,
Nathan H. White, was born in 1770, entered Columbia College at the
age of eighteen, and graduated in 1781 in the same class as John
Randolph of Roanoke. He taught a classical school in Montgomery for
six years, and was principal of the Newburgh Academy two years.
Returning to the old home in 1802, he married Frances, daughter of
Hezekiah and Juliana Woodhull Howell and added 200 acres to the old
homestead. He was elected first judge of Orange County, and was the
friend and associate of Judges Kent, Van Ness, Platt and others; in
1806 was commissioned by Governor Morgan Lewis, captain of an Orange
County Company of Militia. His son, Albert S. White, went to Indiana
about 1825, was a member of Congress from Indiana two terms, and
U. S. Senator contemporary with Clay, Calhoun and Webster. One
daughter married Harvey Denniston, and after his death, John Nicoll,
of Washingtonville, and the old White homestead is still held by her
son, Charles Nicoll; and from this union of the Woodhulls with the
Strongs and the Howells and from the Woodhull family came the
numerous descendants who, together with the Seelys, Tuthills and
Moffatts, Hulses, Hudsons, Duryeas, etc., have combined to make the
old town well known, both at home and in very many distant States,
as one after another has left his ancestral acres to seek a home, if
not a fortune, in other parts of our native land. Those who remained
at home have kept the ancestral acres up to the standard of
productiveness set by their fathers, have been the supporters of the
old church and of the schools, and have erected beautiful homes.

Instead of the droves of fatted cattle which slowly wended their way
through the Ramapo Valley to the Christmas market in the city, and
the county butter, now the Erie Railroad carries its daily freight of
milk, and the accustomed leisure, the good old-fashioned all-day
visits, and early teas, have given way to the daily rush to the
trains, or creameries, and the more elaborate, though no more
enjoyable festal occasions, with formal invitations and great
preparations.

Who shall succeed these old families who have so loyally supported
the Church, the State and the School? Shall their fine residences,
which now crown the hilltops, with their beautiful views, and the
valleys with their peaceful streams, attract the residents of the
nearby cities, as the neighboring town of Monroe is doing? Or will
these homes pass into the hands of those who have to labor for their
daily bread, day by day, and neither the one nor the other caring for
the traditions of the past, caring not for the old churches, the old
burial grounds, nor anything of the past.

This question comes home to many of us, as we see the changes going
on about us, and we cannot answer.

CHURCHES AND PASTORS.

The first house of worship was erected in Blooming Grove, 1759. The
old church stood until 1823, when the present building was erected.
The first pastor was Rev. Enos Ayres, who stood first on the roll of
the first class graduated at Princeton College. He died in 1762 and
was buried in the old burial ground, a part of which, including his
grave and the graves of Rev. Samuel Parkhurst and Rev. Benoni
Bradner, was covered by the new church building. In 1764 he was
succeeded by Rev. Abner Reeve, father of the celebrated Judge Reeve,
who founded the law school at Litchfield, Conn. Rev. Abner Reeve
resigned about 1786. In 1786, Rev. Samuel Parkhurst came as a supply
and soon died here, and his grave is also under the present church.
Then followed, in 1770, Rev. Anasiah Lewis, Rev. Case, Rev. Green
and Rev. Silas Constant, as stated supplies for a time. Rev. Benoni
Bradner filled the pulpit from 1786 until 1892, dying in 1804. He was
buried here, his stone still standing erect under the church. After
his retirement Rev. Joel T. Benedict preached a few months, Rev. Noah
Crane, 1803 to 1811. He was succeeded by Rev. William Rafferty, who
married a daughter of John Chandler and resigned in 1815, to become
president of St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland. Returning on a
visit in 1830, he died here, and is buried in the old Chandler family
burial ground on the old homestead now occupied by B. C. Sears.
August 7, 1816, Rev. Luther Halsey was installed as pastor. The
church was admitted under the care of the Presbytery, with the
reservation of its form of government, and remained in the
Presbytery of Hudson until 1833, but has always been in fact
Congregational. Rev. Luther Halsey served the church with great
acceptance. Great revivals blessed his ministry, at one time nearly
one hundred being added to the church. The present church building
was erected under his ministry, and frequently filled. He resigned
in 1824 to accept a professorship in Nassau Hall; later became
professor of theology in Allegheny, in Auburn, and in Union
Seminaries. He died in Pittsburgh on November 2, 1880, aged
eighty-seven years. He was succeeded at Blooming Grove by James
Arbuckle, then pastor of the Eighth Presbyterian Church of
Philadelphia, who was pastor of the church until his death, July,
1847. In 1847, Rev. Ebenezer Mason, son of the celebrated John M.
Mason, D.D., of New York City, became pastor, who died here the next
year. After his death the pulpit was supplied until April, 1851, when
Rev. Austin Craig was called, and served this church for fourteen
years, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Antioch College,
Ohio, and later was president of the Biblical School at
Stanfordville, Dutchess County, N. Y., where he died, but is still
held in loving remembrance by many of the congregation and in the
town. He was succeeded in April, 1866, by Rev. Warren Hathaway, D.D.,
who still occupies the pulpit. Although he has had frequent calls to
what seems to have been more attractive fields of labor, he still
remains loyal to his old congregation and they to him. Both Eager and
Ruttenber, to whom we are indebted for part of the facts herein
stated, excuse a lengthy report of this old church, because of its
being one of the landmarks of the town, and it still stands for
righteousness, temperance, and charity toward all those laboring for
the good of their fellowmen, but the congregation is greatly changed.
In the place of the Marvins, and Seelys, Moffatts and Roes, who came
in large loads containing the whole families, come very few of those
still left of the Woodhulls and Marvins. Although the Tuthills and
the Shons, who represent the old Moffatt family, the Hulses and
Hudsons, Gerows and Sears, and Howells and Brewsters, still
contribute their quotas toward the congregation, there are many
vacant pews, and very many who trooped up the long aisles, and
listened attentively to the instructive and eloquent sermons, and
visited upon the old door stones, are seen there no more. In place of
the tall form of David H. Moffatt, Jr., who used to lead the choir in
the old gallery, stands the handsome pipe organ erected to his
father's memory by David H. Moffatt, of Denver. And the church has a
fund in memory of David Wright, given by his daughter Susan Wright.

In 1830, an effort was made to start an Episcopal church in
Washingtonville, but met with no success. August 21, 1851, under the
leadership of Rev. Henry Belden, a Congregational church was
organized, and a building erected, which was afterward sold to the
Methodist congregation, incorporated 1855. The First Presbyterian
Church of Washingtonville was organized 1841. Connected with the
Hudson Presbytery under the charge of Rev. Henry Belden the church
grew to a membership of 121, when Rev. Henry Belden was succeeded by
Rev. Phineas Robinson. A church building was erected in 1847, and
Rev. Luther Halsey was called to succeed him and occupied the pulpit
until October, 1856. Rev. Daniel Higbee served the church from
August, 1858, until his death, October, 1867. He was succeeded by
John Griswold, who served until April, 1871, when he was succeeded by
Rev. James B. Beaumont, 1871 to 1881, George W. Morrill from 1882 to
1884, when an effort to unite the congregations of the First and
Second Churches was made, but failed. In 1886, Rev. Joseph Greenleaf
was called, and died in 1888. William M. Yeoman was pastor from 1898
to October, 1902. John A. McCallum, installed 1903, resigned June 20,
1907, leaving the church without a pastor at this date. Their church
property has been increased by a new parsonage, 1872, and a handsome
chapel and Sunday schoolroom, to the memory of Mary Scott Denniston,
the widow of Hon. Robert Denniston, erected by her children.

In 1855, Dr. Luther Halsey, having a matter of difference with the
New School Assembly, did not feel he could any longer remain under
its care, and many of his congregation joining with him, they formed
the Old School Presbyterian Church of Washingtonville. The church was
organized in 1857, a house of worship built in 1858, and a parsonage
added in 1871. Dr. Luther Halsey occupied the pulpit until April,
1862, when Rev. Arthur Harlow was called and ordained and installed,
September, 1863; resigned in October, 1871, and died June 19, 1883.
In 1872, B. G. Benedict became stated supply until 1875, when on
account of ill health he resigned and was succeeded by Rev. N. M.
Sherwood, who served the church ten years, resigning in 1885 in
order that his occupying the pulpit might not embarrass the effort
to unite the two Presbyterian churches. This effort failing, Rev.
Eugene L. Mapes was called, April, 1886; installed 1887, and resigned
a year later, having received a call to the Presbyterian church of
Carlisle, Pa. The church was then supplied for some time, and then
sold its property, and divided the proceeds between the Foreign and
Home Mission Boards of the Presbyterian Church, part of the
congregation giving to the First Presbyterian Church and part to the
old Blooming Grove Church, and part to Bethlehem and Little Britain.

_The Blooming Grove Methodist Episcopal Church_ was incorporated
December 3, 1855. This is now the _Washingtonville Methodist Church._
It was for a long time on the circuit of Monroe, Oxford, Craigville
and Highland Mills, but now is associated with the church at
Salisbury Mills, has a fine church property, kept in very good
repair, and has recently installed electric lights in connection with
other improvements.

_The Catholic Church of St. Mary_ is near Washingtonville on the
State road, the first building erected in 1872, has been of late much
enlarged and beautified under the direction and by the effort of Rev.
Father Tetrau, and now has a fine property consisting of the enlarged
church and rectory.

_The Methodist Church of Salisbury Mills_ was incorporated in 1854,
was connected with the New Windsor circuit until 1898, when it was
connected with Washingtonville. It has a convenient and finely
located building.

In Salisbury, largely through the efforts of Richard Caldwell and his
wife, Sarah Beattie Caldwell, the Hope Chapel, connected with the
_Bethlehem Presbyterian Congregation,_ was built, and has been an
active organization ever since, and its Sunday school, supported by
its founders, is large and active, and Sunday evening and other
services well attended.

_The Satterly Town Methodist Church_ was organized in 1855, a house
built and services held for some time, but its supporters,
withdrawing or moving from the neighborhood, the building was
removed. Also about 1850 a church was erected at Craigville, for the
use of that village and neighborhood, which soon passed into the
hands of the Methodist organization, and was on the circuit with
Washingtonville for many years, but service has for a long time been
discontinued, though the building still stands in fair repair and is
beautifully situated. Still another Methodist church was built about
one mile south of Oxford Depot and used for the purpose of worship,
but now has been turned to secular use; also near this was the
Friends meeting house, now used as a dwelling.




CHAPTER XII.

TOWN OF CHESTER.

By Frank Durland.




Chester is one of the interior towns of Orange County, situated on
the main line Erie Railroad, which together with the Newburgh branch,
Lehigh and Hudson and Orange County Railroads, make up the chief
commercial outlets to the ports on the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.

It consists of over sixteen thousand acres of fine farming land and
is a noted dairy and stock farming section of the Empire State.
Considerable enterprise has been shown in recent years in the
culture of onions, celery and lettuce on the Greycourt meadows, which
are among the most fertile of all the alluvial deposits of the
country.

The title of most of the land of the township is from the famous
Wawayanda patent, which covered the land deeded by the twelve native
Indian proprietors, who signed a deed, March 5, 1703, for all the
land from the high hills of the Hudson to the Shawangunk Mountains
and the Jersey line. The highest points of vantage in Chester
township, from which magnificent views may be obtained of the whole
Wawayanda country, are Sugar Loaf Mountain, 1,220 feet elevation, and
Goose Pond Mountain, 826 feet above the sea level. From these
pinnacles may be seen the Catskills, which are much higher and
further removed than the Shawangunk range of mountains.

The elevation in Chester village at Durland Square is 485 feet, and
on the ridge back of the Presbyterian Church, extending toward
Craigville, may be obtained extended views of a large portion of
Orange County, spread out in every direction.

The H. W. Wood hills at East Chester, the T. S. Durland ridge at
Greycourt, and the Guy Miller gravel hill, each have a magnificent
outlook over a large scope of the country from Schunnemunk to
Shawangunk. In the valleys between these ridges are the old highways
following in some instances, Indian trails. It is but natural that
along these roads the present village should have grown up.

[Illustration: Frank Durland]

The road from Newburgh through Chester to Trenton and Morristown,
N. J., is often spoken of in the Clinton papers and in more recent
years it has been known as the King's Highway. It has been a noted
road since Colonial days, having often been used by General
Washington during the Revolutionary War. It is the natural avenue for
intercourse between Newburgh and New Jersey. Crossing this road at
Durland's Square is the old Albany and New York stage road, which
enters the town of Chester at the Goshen line and to the metropolis
continues its course southward near Greycourt. Leaving this old stage
road at Nanowitt Park, which has been recently donated to the town of
Chester by Rev. E. T. Sanford, pastor of the North Baptist Church of
New York City, is the old Indian trail, which became a popular road
during the Colonial days and leads to Greenwood Lake and to the
ancient Sterling Iron Works. This road was traveled by Peter
Townsend, one of the owners of the Sterling Iron Works, who lived in
Chester during the Revolution, and whose descendants continued to
reside here for many years.

There is also the new State road, No. 600, following quite closely
the old Albany and New York road, excepting the course from Monroe
to Chester is changed from the east to the west side of the Erie
Railroad. The famous Glenmere Lake, formerly known as Thompson's
Pond, is partly in the town of Chester, and is noted for its pickerel
and bass fishing. Its area is about 400 acres.

The streams of the town are known as the Otter Kill, which flows
through West Chester and is joined at Lincolndale by the Cromeline
Creek, which was known in Colonial days as the "River."

The Cromeline has its sources of supply near the northern headwaters
of Greenwood Lake in the watershed known as "Dutch Hollow;" also from
the outlet of Walton Lake, known in Colonial days as the "Little
Long Pond" to distinguish it from Greenwood Lake, which in the early
period of our history was known as Long Pond. Along the Cromeline
Creek are the fertile meadows formerly known as the Great Beaver
meadows.

Since the erection of the Cromeline house in the year 1716, which
stood on the south side of the road opposite the present home of
W. R. Conklin, the meadows have been known as the Greycourt meadows,
from the fact that this Cromeline house was known as the Greycourt
Inn. This name was also given to the cemetery, near this old inn, and when
the Erie Railroad was built in 1841, this name was applied to the
junction of the Erie Railroad with the Newburgh branch and the
Warwick Valley, first called East and West Junction, afterwards
Chesterville, and finally the euphonious name of Greycourt was
decided upon as the name appropriate for the station adjoining these
famous Greycourt meadows.

COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.

On the 22nd of August, 1775, the Provincial Congress of New York
passed a law under which the militia of the Revolution was organized.

The several companies so formed were directed to be joined into
regiments to consist of not less than five nor more than ten
companies. When the organization was perfected, the companies of
Orange formed the Fourth Brigade under Brigadier General George
Clinton. This brigade was composed of four companies of Ulster and
five of Orange County, commanded respectively by Colonel Allison,
whose regimental district included Goshen, of which Chester was then
a part, and the western part of the county. There were Colonel
Hathorn, whose district embraced Warwick and the settlements; Colonel
Woodhull, the district which is now Monroe and Blooming Grove;
Colonel Hasbrouck's district, embracing Newburgh and vicinity;
Colonel Clinton's of New Windsor, Montgomery and Wallkill.

During the early years of the war our people (located, as they were,
not far removed from the Hudson) were almost constantly under arms
or engaged in the construction of the forts of the Highlands, or
preparing the obstructions to navigation through these Highlands.

The contract for the making of the last chain drawn across the
Hudson at West Point, on April 30, 1778, was awarded at the home of
Mr. Peter Townsend, who resided at this time in the old homestead
opposite the Presbyterian Church, in Chester village, by Secretary
of War, Mr. Pickering. Mr. Townsend, of the firm of Townsend & Noble,
at this time was one of the owners of the Sterling furnace, where the
chain was made.

During the years 1776 to 1779 our troops were very active and were
kept informed by the aid of cannon firing by day and beacon fires by
night. From December, 1776, to April, 1778, our militia was called
out no less than twelve times and spent 292 days in the field.

At a meeting of the County Delegates called to meet at the Yelverton
Inn (still standing in Chester), on September 17, 1774, Henry Wisner
was elected and sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress at
Philadelphia, "to protest against the unjust taxation." On December
9, 1776, General Clinton was ordered to co-operate with Generals
Lee and Gates to harass the enemy, who had then entered northern
New Jersey. The resolution read as follows: "That all the militia of
Orange and Ulster Counties be forthwith ordered to march properly
armed and accoutered with four days' provision to Chester, Orange
County, N. Y."

This fixes the date of the encampment of these troops on the hill
where the present new modern school-house is being erected, as being
about the latter part of December, 1776, or January, 1777. The
encampment probably consisted of part of the four regiments, under
Colonels Allison, Hathorn, Woodhull and Clinton. An order was issued
on January 4, 1777, dismissing part of these troops, leaving about
300 men in the above camp for the winter.

One of the first engagements in which our Chester patriots took part,
occurred at Suffern, October 3, 1777, when Major Thomas Moffatt
ordered Captain Wood and twenty men to cover the pass through the
mountains at this point, where they intercepted a band of Tories,
with the result of one robber killed and three wounded.

Our company was engaged under Colonel Allison later on at Forts
Montgomery and Clinton. While these events were transpiring on the
Hudson, the western frontier was harassed by the incursions of the
Indians and Tories under the leadership of the educated half-breed
Brant, together with Butler the Tory. Our troops becoming alarmed by
the fugitives' accounts of the massacres and burnings taking place on
the frontier, Colonel Hathorn, together with Lieutenant Colonel
Tusten, of Colonel Allison's Goshen Regiment, and with such numbers
of the commands as could be brought together in so brief a time,
proceeded at once to Minisink, on July 22, 1779, to take part in that
bloody battle on this date. Several of our Chester Company were
among the brave troops.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORICAL INCIDENTS.

After the Revolutionary War and until 1845, the village of Chester
was a part of the township of Goshen, and had become quite an
important trading center, being at the junction of the two leading
State roads. Up to the time of the building of the Warwick Valley
road, in 1863, now the Lehigh and Hudson, the pig iron from Wawayanda
Lake forge was carted to Chester for shipment on the Erie, the butter
and other farm produce from the Vernon Valley, extending as far as
Newton, N. J., was also brought to this point for shipment. It was
but natural that the trial to decide the boundaries of the Chesekook
and Wawayanda Indian patents should have been held at this place. In
the year 1785, in the barn connected with the Yelverton Inn, erected
in the year 1765, still standing, in good state of preservation, and
owned by Joseph Durland, some of the older inhabitants and pioneers
of Orange County met with the nation's most famous lawyers,
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. The Wawayanda patentees were
fortunate in securing these men during this trial, and many
historical facts were brought out, through the witnesses sworn at
this trial. In their testimony concerning what they knew about the
early settlement of the country and the relations of the whites to
the native Indians, the evidence was set forth. The burden of the
testimony seemed to prove that Schunnemunk was not considered by the
pioneers as the high hills of the Hudson. On this trial, Judge Elihu
Marvin stated "that he was born in 1719 and moved in what is now
known as the town of Chester in 1742. Whenever he visited Haverstraw
and returned as far as the Ramapo River, it was always called beyond
the High Hills of the Hudson."

Hugh Dobbin, aged seventy-six, stated "that he lived near Sugar Loaf
Mountain since 1738."

Deliverance Conkling, who lived near Wickham's Pond, stated "that he
was 71 years old, and has known personally Lancaster Symes, one of
the Wawayanda patentees, and the pond at Goose Pond Mountain used to
be called Cromeline Pond, and abounded in wild geese."

Samuel Gale was born in 1737, and testified "that the Chesekooks
line had always been disputed."

William Thompson was born in 1723, was chain bearer for Colonel
Clinton and usually stopped, when surveying the Chesekook patent,
at Perry's near Wickham's Pond. He had talked with the Indians and
remained at times in their wigwams.

Ebenezer Holly, born 1698, stated that he knew Captain Symes,
Captain Aske, Christopher Denn and Daniel Cromeline. In dispute with
the Indians, Governor Burnet had decided that the Indians must move
off the land; among the Indians who still claimed land were Rondout,
Hons and Romer. He stated that Cromeline made his first improvement
at Greycourt.

[Illustration: S. Headden]

John Kinner, a Chester resident, held land in this disputed tract
under Mr. Wisner, Dr. Baird and Mr. Scott.

James Board, aged sixty-five, born in England in 1720, came to this
country with his father, Cornelius, and brother, David, in 1730;
sent by Alexander, Lord Sterling, to discover copper mines;
discovered iron ore deposits at Sterling, built there a forge in
1735, and in the year of 1740 removed to Ringwood. The mountains west
toward Warwick were called by that name. The Sugar Loaf Mountain was
called by that name as long as he remembered.

Soon after the forge was going it was sold by Cornelius Board & Sons
to Coldon & Ward.

During this trial Burr and Hamilton were guests at the old Yelverton
Inn. The court adjourned to meet again at Chester, in Yelverton barn,
in October, 1785, at which session it was decided that Chesekook
patent should comprise all the land east of Goose Pond Mountain and
the great Beaver Meadows, to the western line of Evans patent and the
Hudson River.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, living in and about West
Chester, were Joseph Durland, born in 1762, Benjamin Dunning, Daniel
Denton, James Roe and Michael Renton. On the Florida road lived
Thaddeus Seely and Major Holbert. At Chester lived Asa Vail opposite
the second academy, Edmund Seely, Seth Satterly and Dr. Townsend
Seely. Peter Townsend lived opposite the Presbyterian church. Isaac
and William Townsend on the C. B. Wood ridge, Elmer Cooper and Dr.
Dodd, Aaron Cox, the hatter, and Stephen Cooper, born in 1788; David
G. Drake, born in 1760. The old Samuel Satterly house stood on the
brow of the hill, nearly opposite the joining of Old New York road,
near the new State road; from this point at the bridge, which was
called in these early days the "Purgatory Bridge," the most popular
amusement was running races. The course lay from this bridge to the
oak tree, which is still standing near H. W. Wood's residence. On
special days, July 4, and in the autumn, the people from miles around
fairly lined the short course in numbers from three to four hundred
people. In fact, nearly double the number of our whole population at
that period. Purses were usually made up at such times at the course,
and great horses contested. Among them were Webber's "Kentucky Whip,"
a great running sire from Kentucky; Tom Thumb and Saltrum. The
visitation of such noted running stock to Chester was the beginning
of an improvement in the racing stock of this section. This
development found its climax in the birth of Hambletonian, the
progenitor of the American trotter.

When the old "Hero of Chester" died in 1876, he was buried on the
hill on the W. M. Rysdyck place. Since that time a granite shaft
costing $3,000, has been erected, to mark the resting place of this
notable sire.

About 100 years ago Isaac Kinner and Daniel Cooley lived on the
western foothills of the Goose Pond Mountains.

On the Craigville road lived Dr. John Boulton, Birdseye Young,
Albert Seely, Samuel Denton, Hezekiah Moffatt and Jesse Carpenter.

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

About 1721, we find John Yelverton, of New Windsor, in this section.
The deed recorded, 1765, by his grandson and executor, Abijah
Yelverton, who kept the Yelverton Inn, in old Chester village,
conveys three parcels of land in 1721 in Goshen to John Yelverton,
in trust "for a parsonage, minister's house and burying place; also
to build a meeting house thereon or a public edifice for the worship
of God in the way and manner of those of the Presbyterian
persuasion," signed by twenty-four land owners in the different parts
of the Wawayanda patent. This has reference to the Goshen
Presbyterian church. During this period Chester, with the rest of this
part of the county, was included in the precinct of Goshen.

Richard Edsall's survey, made in 1741, mentions William Seely and
Rulof Swartwout as living in this neighborhood.

The township of Chester is well arranged for the transaction of
public business, and is the practical outcome of the ambitions of a
progressive century. In 1845 from the towns of Goshen, Warwick,
Blooming Grove and Monroe, the township was organized with James
Gray as its first supervisor, 1845.

[Illustration: C. B. Wood]

The first deed that we find made mention of was John Beers as owning
120 acres of the Cromeline patent; he sold the same June 16, 1751, to
John Ensign, who in turn sold 42-3/4 acres of the tract, on May 19,
1755, to John Yelverton, gentleman, for the sum of 97L. and 4S.
current money. Upon this land the village of Chester is located.

Many familiar names of the families living in our township to-day are
found on the assessment rolls of dist. No. 4, town of Goshen, of
September, 1775, signed by Nathaniel Roe.

This district may be described as running from Greycourt to
Satterlytown, Sugar Loaf to Summerville, to Fort Hill, with no less
than 119 land owners with an assessed valuation of 370L. 8S. 17D.

Abijah Yelverton, in the year of 1783, gave an acre of ground for
church purposes. The year 1797 saw the beginning of the first meeting
house. In 1708 the first minister began his labors in the
Presbyterian church at $75 per annum, "with the privilege of teaching
to piece out his support." This meeting house stood on the high
ground in the rear of the residence of Dr. S. G. Carpenter, in the
old village of Chester. It was commodious for the time, with square
pews, but was used without being heated. The next church was built
in 1829, and was located about the center of the present cemetery at
East Chester.

Our earliest district school-house stood opposite the Dr. Edmonston
home in the old village. It was erected during the latter part of
1700. Another was located on the Goshen road near Dr. A. T. Sanden's
residence. Long before the noise of railroads disturbed the quiet of
our hamlet, the mails were brought by the old stage coach.

Chester was favorably situated for the exchange of mails, the Goshen
stage running through here to meet the Newburgh and New York stage
line at Southfield and the Warwick stage line, using our road to
connect with the same line at Washingtonville.

The first post-office was established in Chester in 1794. Joseph
Wickham being the first postmaster located at West Chester, then and
now a part of Chester village, afterward it was moved to the old
village and in 1842 was removed to the building opposite the present
Erie Railroad tower at Chester Station. The idea of offering fresh
milk from the country to the distant consumer in the city originated
with a road contractor named Selleck who interested some of our
leading farmers in the project and succeeded in getting a supply
sent by the Erie in the spring of 1842. It was shipped in the blue
pyramid churns of that day. The first shipment were about six cans
per day and freight charges were by weight, twenty cents per hundred
pounds. The price paid the producer was two cents per quart, placed
on the cars at Chester. The farmers soon finding that there was more
money to be made from milk at two cents per quart than butter at
fifteen cents per pound, began sending milk to Selleck. Thus the
milk business of the county was born, and in spite of the many
difficulties, this business has alone been the means of building four
railroads in Orange County and returned to it over $100,000,000.

In 1784 mention is made of a saw-mill on the trout brook, on the
Sterling road. These mills are now known as Bull's Mills. A
grist-mill was then operated on the opposite side of the stream. The
old flouring mill at West Chester was established soon after the
settlement was made. As late as the year 1820, an old mill stood upon
the ground just above the present Chester mills. During these times
they used two run of stone and never were compelled to shut down for
lack of water.

Chester's first library was incorporated November 17, 1779, with
seven trustees, and was verified before Judge Wickham and recorded
the same year. Abijah Yelverton was the first librarian.

The war of 1861 occasioned a great demand for onions and our onion
culture on the black meadows began about that time. Our average
yearly production has been about 60,000 bushels. During revolutionary
times a part of these meadows were cultivated for raising hemp;
later on, potatoes and corn.

INCORPORATION.

The movement for both our present water supply and for the
incorporation of the village first took effective shape in the year
1891, when a few public-spirited citizens of the village subscribed
to a fund to be expended in a survey to determine whether the water
of Little Long Pond, now known as "Walton Lake," could be brought to
the village under such pressure as would make it available for fire
protection. The preliminary survey was made under the direction of
Joseph Board and George M. Roe. The facts were convincing that this
was a most favorable project for a water supply. First, the
organization of a private company was proposed, and from this
developed the incorporation of our village, the citizens realizing
that if we were to have a water supply it must be owned by the
village. Accordingly this was done with the happy result that has
made us the envy of our neighboring villages.

[Illustration: Joseph Board]

On October 17, 1892, Mr. Joseph Board was appointed as resident
superintendent in the construction of the water works, and when the
water was turned on, in exactly a year, October 17, 1893, the
inhabitants of our village had the satisfaction of knowing that each
length of pipe so laid had been under the inspection of our
superintendent.

The village of Chester was incorporated June 23, 1892. having a
population of 1,400; 125 voters favored the incorporation and only
the small number of thirteen opposed the proposition. At the first
caucus, held July 12, 1892, were nominated W. A. Lawrence as
president; Joseph Durland, George M. Roe and Thad. S. Durland,
trustees. At the first election, held July 20, 1892, the above
citizens were elected to their respective offices. The village board
was organized on the same date, naming Joseph Board as village clerk.

The board of water commissioners was organized August 15, 1892, with
Messrs. W. A. Lawrence, Joseph Durland, George M. Roe and T. S.
Durland as commissioners, and Joseph Board, clerk. A taxpayers'
meeting was called September 2, 1892, to vote on the question of
assessment for water-works, with the following results: Sixty-eight
in favor, against seven. Contract was executed at a total cost of
$53,000 at their final completion.

This water supply for the village of Chester is one of the best in
the State. The source is Walton Lake, formerly known as Little Long
Pond, a beautiful sheet of spring water, covering an area of 127
acres, with a storage capacity of 3-1/2 feet, each foot of water
giving a supply of over 40,000,000 gallons. This supply is a gravity
system. From this lake, at an elevation of 250 feet above the level
of Main street, at Chester Station, giving a working pressure of 80
to 90 pounds, there was laid for water-mains, 8,197 feet of 12-in.
pipe, 6,978 feet of 19-in. pipe, 14,820 feet of 8-in. pipe, 5,748
feet of 6-in. pipe, 6,312 feet of 4-in. pipe.

Since the introduction of Walton Lake water, both the Walton Hose
Company and Hook and Ladder Company have been organized.

After the incorporation the present municipal brick building was
erected at a cost of $5,000. In this building rooms for village
officers and parlors used by the fire department are located. In
connection with our fire department, there is an annual inspection at
which time the Chester military band of twenty-five members, under
the leadership of George W. Ball, adds greatly to the village life.

In the year 1905, the Orange and Rockland Electric Company was
organized, with R. W. Smith as president, and G. M. Roe as
vice-president; Zael Paddleford, secretary; Frank Durland, treasurer.
This company was organized and stock subscribed for by the citizens
of Chester and Monroe.

The streets of the village, which were formerly lighted by kerosene,
are now illuminated by electric current, generated by this company.
Our Telford streets were laid in the year 1901, at a cost of $17,000.
A distance of two and one-quarter miles were constructed through the
main streets of the village.

CHURCHES.

_The Presbyterian Church of Chester,_ while it had been ministering
to the spiritual needs of the community for more than a quarter of a
century, effected its legal organization December 26, 1826, with
David Roe, Henry Seely, James Holbert, Elnathan Satterly, Joseph
Sherwood and Townsend Seely as trustees.

The present house of worship, being the third erected by this
congregation, was dedicated January 4, 1854. The present chapel was
added in the year 1884. The church was remodeled and memorial windows
added in the year 1898. In the year 1898 the church celebrated the
centennial of its existence with impressive services and the
publication of an interesting history of its century of church life.

The commodious parsonage adjoining the church was erected in 1895 at
a cost of about $8,000.

_Methodist Episcopal Church, Sugar Loaf._--Rev. Isaac Condee was the
first Methodist preacher to visit Sugar Loaf, which he did in the
year 1803 or 1804, and first preached in the home of John D. Conklin.

In the fall of 1804 he organized the first class and appointed John
D. Conklin, leader. It is the mother of all the Methodist churches
within a radius of ten or twelve miles.

The certificate of incorporation was executed on August 6, 1809. The
trustees then chosen were Henry Wisner, Jr., Joseph Beach, Andrew
Cunningham, Benjamin Wells, Richard Wisner, Horace Ketchem, Elijah
Stevens, John D. Conklin and Benjamin Horton.

A subscription was taken and the first church was built in year 1810.
Ten years later, in the year 1820, the Sunday school was established.
The parsonage was erected in the year 1832. The second church, the
present building, was built in 1852, and at three separate times it
has undergone repairs. Rev. J. B. Wakeley, D.D., preached the sermon
at the dedication of the church in the year 1852, and following the
extensive repairs to the church, made in 1872, Bishop Cyrus D. Foss
preached the dedication sermon. The church celebrated the centennial
of its existence in the fall of 1904, at which time many of the
former pastors were present to participate in the services, when
Bishop Foss was again present.

A long list of worthy men have served this church as pastors. Rev.
P. N. Chase, Ph.D., is at present in charge; M. D. Stevens,
superintendent of the Sunday school; Miss Alice Turfler, president of
the Epworth league.

_The Methodist Episcopal Church of Chester_ was organized in the year
1837, and for some time used the academy for worship; afterwards used
the "Ball Room" of Yelverton Inn. In the year 1852 the present
property was purchased and the church, edifice erected in charge of
the following trustees:

C. B. Wood, W. L. Foster, Daniel Conklin, S. R. Banker, John T.
Johnson, William Masterson, G. B. McCabe.

In 1867 the church was enlarged and in 1878 the present parsonage was
purchased. In the year 1879 the sum of $3,000 was expended in
beautifying the church building.

_St. Paul's Episcopal Church._--The organization of St. Paul's
Episcopal Mission was effected on May 25, 1897, at which time Samuel
Wilkins and James A. Parkin were elected trustees. Services were held
in various places until the summer of 1898, when land was purchased
and the present church edifice on Main street was erected. The church
was dedicated by Archdeacon William R. Thomas, D.D., on August 6,
1898. The church was consecrated by Bishop Henry Cadman Potter on
July 25, 1899. Prior to this, the usual organization of the
Episcopal Church was effected. Mr. Samuel Wilkin and R. W.
Chamberlain, wardens, were elected. J. A. Parkin, E. T. Jackson and
W. F. Depew, vestrymen. Articles of incorporation were filed on
February 27, 1899.

The clergyman, Rev. J. Holmes McGuinness, D.D., at this time was
elected.

_St. John's African Union Chapel._--This church was organized on June
22, 1904, under the auspices of the African Union First Colored
Methodist Protestant Church in America and Canada, with five members
and Rev. Edward Nicholas as pastor. The church and Sunday School has
at present a total membership of eighty-eight.

Rev. Mr. Nicholas was assigned to this field of labor by the
ninetieth annual conference of the above named denomination, held at
the mother church in Wilmington, Delaware County, May 18, 1904.

The citizens of the place have done much to encourage this well
begun work.

ORGANIZATIONS.

Chester Lodge No. 363, Knights of Pythias, was organized in the year
1894, and the lodge charter is dated July 25 of that year. The lodge
was started with a membership of twenty-one, which has increased to
forty Knights. The lodge conventions are held every Thursday evening
at Castle Hall, in the Wilkin building. The sums paid to members in
sick benefits since the organization amount to $1,000.

Standard Lodge No. 711, F. & A. M., was instituted July 27, 1871, and
continued to meet in this place, where many of its members resided
until a few years ago, when a majority decided to change its place of
meeting to Monroe.

The Chester National Bank was organized in the year 1845 as a State
bank, and became a national bank on June 6, 1865.

The bank occupies the up-to-date quarters in its new building,
erected in 1896, on Main street. The building is of brick, with
Quincy granite facing, built at a cost of $10,000, its fire and
burglar-proof vault containing 100 safe-deposit boxes, at an added
cost of $8,000.

Chester free library, organized through the effort of Chester Library
and Social Club, was chartered by the University of the State of New
York, December 19, 1901. The original trustees were Hiram Tuthill,
president; Charles W. Kerner, secretary and treasurer; Joseph Board,
Joseph Durland and Roswell W. Chamberlain, trustees. Mrs. Abbie
Masters is librarian. The library owns about 800 volumes, and in 1907
circulated 3,543 books. It is supported by voluntary contributions
and entertainments. The reading room, which is well supplied with
periodicals and the library, are open to the public on Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday evening's and Saturday afternoons.

[Illustration: Joseph Durland]

The Young Men's Christian Association was organized March 1, 1907,
with 110 members. The members occupy the rooms in the Lawrence
building. The society started in a very flourishing condition.

There have been various organizations from time to time in Chester
to advance its interests. The Board of Trade was organized October 1,
1900, with Frank Durland, president; W. A. Lawrence, vice-president;
Charles W. Kerner, secretary; Hiram Tuthill, treasurer. Directors,
Joseph Board, William Osborne, George Vail, G. M. Roe.

The Board of Trade represents the spirit that has effected
co-operation in many ways for advancing the interests of the town.
Among them are the incorporation of our village and the securing of
the water supply from Walton Lake, and the Telford streets. At
present the officers are looking forward to the development of the
suburban idea on the beautiful site that our village affords, and
will welcome desirable manufacturing interests.

From a small beginning in the year 1874, the manufacture of
Neufchatel and square cream cheese has grown until at the present
time the Lawrence & Son's cheese factory is using over 300 cans or
12,000 quarts of milk daily, employing a daily average of twenty-five
men. This factory, consuming such a large amount of milk, together
with Borden's large receiving station, with a receiving average of
100 cans daily, proves the high productiveness of the land in this
section.

The Sugar Milk factory is located adjoining this cheese plant for the
manufacture of milk sugar.

This sugar is made from the whey, a by-product delivered by the
cheese factory.

MILITARY.

The military record of Chester is a worthy one. Quite a number of
Chester residents made up a company during the Revolutionary War,
under Colonel Allison, and were attached to the Goshen regiment.

In the second war with England there was a representation of hardy
men of this town to endure the hardships of the war. Some of them
survived until the year 1880.

During the general training days that followed the second war with
England, Captain John Yelverton, whose sword is still prized as a
relic of those days of patriotic zeal, led the men of the town to
Durland's Square, where the volunteer militia were inspected.

During the Civil War nearly 200 men represented this town in
defending the Union. Many of them suffered upon the battlefield. A
few citizens from the young men of the town enlisted in the Spanish
American War.

SUGAR LOAF.

Sugar Loaf is one of the oldest communities of Orange County and as
a trading center was established shortly after the settlement of
Goshen.

It is one of the villages of Chester township to which we may look
with interest in these early times. It was named by these pioneer
settlers from the cone-like mountain which towers above the quiet
village to an elevation of 1,226 feet above sea level. The mountain,
which consists mostly of greywacke slate, resembles in appearance, as
viewed from the village, a loaf of sugar, such as was used in the
homes of the early settlers before the day of granulated sugar as an
article of commerce. This sublime eminence, the highest in the
county, affords from its summit one of the most commanding views in
the county. This view is best secured by entering the field near
George H. Mapes's place on the road to Sugar Loaf Valley and walking,
as it were, from the tail to the head of the lion-like mountain, for
this is the shape of the mountain as viewed from Chester depot.

N. P. Willis, the American poet and literary genius, who loved old
Orange County's hills from Butler Hill on the Hudson, which he
renamed Storm King, to Adam and Eve in the drowned lands, speaks of
Sugar Loaf Mountain when viewed from the Chester Hills as being like
a crouching lion ready to spring upon its prey.

The earliest record of inhabitants includes Hugh Dobbin, who lived
near Sugar Loaf Mountain in 1738. Mr. Perry lived near the pond,
which bore his name and later was called Wickham Pond. This was
prior to the middle of the eighteenth century, when Clinton, the
surveyor, marked the Chesekook claim line, which extended from the
base of Goose Pond Mountain to Bellevale and thence to the Jersey
line.

Stephen W. Perry, who lived in the Sugar Loaf Valley a century ago,
was probably related to the Perry with whom the surveyors stopped in
those Colonial days when the Indians still lived in the mountains and
the surveyors were accustomed to use the Indian wigwams for shelter
during their journey, blazing the trees on the Chesekook line
through the trackless forest.

[Illustration: Fred B. Seely]

Nathaniel Knapp lived for a time on the Levi Geer place, and a
headstone with the date 1804, the initials N. K., aged sixty-four
years, marks the place of his burial. For some sentimental reason he
was buried under a great oak on the farm upon which Hugh Dobbin
probably lived in the year 1738. According to tradition the old log
house of this early pioneer was at the curve of the road near the
entrance to the meadow. Among other men that have been prominent
about Sugar Loaf were Henry Wisner, Horace Ketchum, Squire James
Hallock, Jesse H. Knapp, Vincent Wood, who lived on the Asa Dolson
farm, and John Holbert, born 1773, who lived on the farm now
occupied by his grandson, Samuel Holbert.

The Knapp family came from Connecticut, and settled on three
different farms. Some of the family emigrated later through a
trackless forest to the Butternut Creek in Otsego County.

The Nicholas Demerest family, of Chester, descended from James
Demerest's family, who came from Bergen County, New Jersey, and
settled on the ridge near Sugar Loaf, occupying a farm of five
hundred acres. John Bigger is mentioned by John Wood, the assessor,
in 1775, as a taxpayer, together with David Rumsey, Samuel Wickham,
Jacobus Bertholf and Barnabas Horton.

In Sugar Loaf Valley, east of the mountain, John King settled soon
after his marriage in 1784, upon a farm of two hundred acres. Among
his neighbors were Cornelius Board and George Davis. Thomas
Fitzgerald lived near the line of the town of Warwick. More recently
in the community life of Sugar Loaf the following men may be
mentioned: Joseph Cooper, Crinis Laroe, David Dyer, Lewis Rhodes,
Jesse Wood, John D. Conklin, John Bertholf, Silas Rose, David W.
Stevens, Charles Fitzgerald and Elisha Stevens.

Miss Martha Odell, of Chester, now ninety-four years of age,
remembers the visits of "Frank Forrester" and his companion, "Tom
Draw," passing through the village and over the hills to the valley
and beyond for game and fish.

The school of Sugar Loaf village in the past century has educated
many bright boys and girls. The old school-house stood on the road
that leads from the village to the northwest. The house was on the
westerly side of the road. Reeder Feagles and Lieutenant Wood were
among the teachers in the early part of the nineteenth century.

The fact that men with patriotic zeal have been identified with
Sugar Loaf may be summarized by the statement that in the home of
Mrs. H. C. Baker are mementos of her husband's service in the Civil
War, Jesse H. Knapp, who was an officer in the second war with
England, and Caleb Knapp, who served in the American Revolution.

The Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War included other
patriots like Jacobus and Gillion Bertholf, David Rumsey, father of
Royal Rumsey, and Captain Henry Wisner. Jacob, John and Josiah
Feagles were patriotic citizens of this section during these times.

The interesting story is told of Hugh Dobbin, the pioneer of Sugar
Loaf, that during the Revolution he was exempt from service, but
pointed with pride to the fact that in 1757, in the struggle with
the French and Indians, he assisted the Government by pasturing one
hundred and fifteen horses belonging to Captain John Wisner's
company.

We cannot turn from the story of this section without alluding to
the loss of one of its interesting objects, now only a tradition. Mr.
Thomas Burt, of Warwick, at the age of eighty-seven, remembers the
time when on the side of Sugar Loaf Mountain there was an eminence
upon which was the profile of a man with broad shoulders, narrow neck
and enlarged head with hat on. This was called the "Old Giant," and
near it was a fissure in the rock called the "Giant's Cellar."
Tradition says that Claudius Smith, after his depredations through
the county, hid in this cleft of the rock.

[Illustration: George E. Brink.]




CHAPTER XIII.

TOWN OF CORNWALL.

By E. M. V. McClean.



The first view of Cornwall is not attractive. Two rugged hills rise
before us, their sides not even clothed with virgin soil, for the
loose soil sends down sand and boulders to the street below. They are
separated by a rocky ravine, at the bottom of which runs a brook,
scarcely visible in summer's drought, but fed in the spring by the
melting snow from the hills, becomes a torrent that sweeps away
bridges and roads that form its banks. A narrow highway has been cut
at the base of each hill, but merges into one road just where the
stream is spanned by a pretty stone bridge.

The landing itself is simply a business place without any pretense of
beauty. Nathan Clark's store stands as it did in 1824. Some small
houses shelter a few families, storehouses line the docks. Taft,
Howell & Company's mill has only the attractiveness of utility if we
except the emerald velvet robe of Ampelopsis, which almost covers the
entire front. The West Shore depot is a more modern structure and
past this the black rails sweep north and south.

We will take the right hand road past the post-office, presided over
by Miss Young, and ascend a rather steep hill. After we leave the
little bridge we are shut out from the sight of civilization. At our
right rises an almost perpendicular hill darkly clothed in fir, pine
and hemlock. On the left is a substantial hand rail protecting us
from the rocky gorge below. It is cool and dark here and we will stay
long enough to review a little of Cornwall's early history.

As the _Half Moon_ anchored in the broad bay south of Newburgh, the
swift canoes of the Indians shot out from the shore to investigate
what kind of a bird their white winged visitors might be. They were
of the tribe Warwaronecks, afterwards known as the Murderer's Kill
Indians.

On April 15, 1685, Governor Dongan purchased the tract claimed by
this tribe, extending from Murderer's Creek to Stony Point, the river
forming the eastern boundary. A year previous to this a Scotchman
named McGregorie had brought his own and several families to settle
here. A document is extant in which Margaret McGregorie states:

"They were not only the first Christians that had settled thereon but
also peaceably and quietly and enjoyed their land during the term of
their natural lives."

McGregorie was placed in command of the militia and marched with his
men to fight the Indians. Before he left he was assured by Governor
Dongan the patent for his land should be issued. It never was. He was
killed in 1691 and during the trouble with the Leisler government and
that of Governor Fletcher his property was sold to Captain Evans.
After a great deal of trouble in getting back to his family, who held
it until 1727, it was sold to Thomas Ellison.

There is no record of the names of any of his family after his death
except his and that of his wife's brother Tosusk, the Laird of
Minnevard. The boundaries of this tract were very indefinite until in
1799 when Monroe and Blooming Grove were erected into separate towns.
Buttermilk Falls still formed part of our territory, but the mountain
made business intercourse so very inconvenient that in 1872 a
petition was granted by the Legislature severing this connection,
the new village taking the name of Highland Falls.

FREIGHTING.

There were still many hundred acres and those were divided into large
farms where cattle, horses and small stock were raised in great
quantities. Orange County milk and butter had become famous and
Cornwall contributed her full share. Not only the products of our
own neighborhood but those of the other counties reached New York by
the way of Cornwall landing. A friend recently gone from us, Miss
Maria Conser, who was a child at that time, gives the following
graphic description: "How we children liked to stop on our way to the
old schoolhouse to watch the loaded wagons drawn by three mules
abreast lumbering over the rough roads. We were frightened when we
met the droves of cattle. The tossing of their wild horns sent us
scrambling upon the stone wall until they had passed. Hours would
elapse while tubs of butter, forests of hoop-poles, cows, calves,
sheep and lambs were placed on board of the night boat. The
passengers went to their berths but alas, for their hope of rest; the
lowing of cattle, the bleating of lambs and the noise of the crew
forbade sleep. About midnight a lull would come; the boat gliding
through the softly murmuring water made sleep possible."

[Illustration: Charles Ketcham.]

In 1805 Isaac Tobias constructed a dock at New Windsor where he built
the sloop _Hector_ and sailed it from the landing. A few years later
Captain Nathaniel Ketchum ran the _Revenge_ between here and the
city. In 1828 the _Experiment,_ the first steamboat that sailed from
the landing, was built by Silas Corwin of New Windsor and commanded
by Captain Isaac Vanduzer. She had four smokestacks and was but
little more speedy than the sloops. After a few years she was sold to
Weeks & Griffin who in turn disposed of her to Bertholf & Co. She was
finally converted into a barge. Two others, the _Wave_ and _General
Jackson,_ were put on, and in 1855 Captain Joseph Ketchum and Henry
M. Clark purchased the _Orange County_ and ran her between here and
New York. The building of the Erie Railroad to Piermont sent a large
part of the freight by that route and we have never recovered our
lost prestige. But just about this time a new industry sprang up
which partially made up for the freight that had been carried
elsewhere. The land was found to be especially adapted to the
raising of small fruits--the Hudson River Antwerp raspberries and
strawberries being the most successful, and thousands were shipped
every night during the fruit season. This too fell off when it was
discovered that we had a home market for all we could raise. This
was due to the personality of one man, N. P. Willis.

IDLEWILD.

Those who visit Idlewild today and note the miles of gravel walk
sweeping where the vista that opens is most beautiful: the rare trees
brought from many lands--the acres of lawn, smooth as velvet--the
profusion of flowers that meets one at every turn--the luxurious
mansion crowned to its eaves with blossoms and vines, can hardly
realize the wild grandeur of the scene that appealed to the poet soul
of N. P. Willis, and drew from the owner, Mr. Daniel Ward, the
question, "What do you want with such an idle wild?"

An unbroken woodland lying about the bank of the river, whose
romantic beauty was as yet unappreciated; bisected by a dark ravine
at the bottom of which ran a brook only revealed by the music of its
waters and thrown into spray by huge boulders obstructing its course.
Pines, hemlocks and forest trees centuries old sprang towards the
sunlight but at their base grew impenetrable underbrush.

The name has become a household word not only among our own people,
but in the lands beyond the sea, and thousands of readers followed
with delight every step that was taken to change the scene from
barbarism to civilization. "A letter from Idlewild" was published
every week in the _Home Journal_ of which Willis and George P.
Morris were editors.

While still a boy in college the publication of his Scriptural poems
attracted much attention. These were followed by "Pencilings by the
Way," a brilliant record of a trip through Europe.

In 1851 he was sent to Cornwall by his physician in hopes of
prolonging his life. He was threatened with consumption and had
already been warned by the danger signal of several hemorrhages. The
medicine prescribed was rest, nourishment and every hour possible
spent out of doors. He boarded with a gentle Quaker lady, Mrs.
Southerland, over whose home the dove of Peace was brooding. Slowly
but sometimes almost imperceptibly came returning strength, but to
make it permanent he must remain here and so came the purchase of a
home. The Civil War brought financial reverses, for a majority of his
subscribers were in The South, but he turned again to work in order
to recoup some of his losses, but his health again broke down and he
died on his 60th birthday, 1867, in the home he loved so well.

Mr. Willis was twice married--first to a sweet-faced English girl,
who only lived for a few years. His second wife was Miss Cornelia
Grinnell, daughter of one of our merchant princes. She sold the
estate, which passed into the hands of Judge George, a gentleman of
culture and refined taste, who carried out many of the improvements
planned by his predecessor. He sold it to the late Mr. Courtney, who
was then President of the West Shore Railroad. After Mr. Courtney's
death it passed into the hands of Mr. Charles Curie, the present
owner.

In Mr. Willis's "letters from an invalid," he described the beautiful
walks and drives in the neighborhood where he spent his days and the
description brought summer visitors seeking for board. Every room was
occupied and hundreds went away for lack of accommodation. The next
season saw new houses built and others were enlarged, and there
seemed no limit to our prosperity. A paper published here in 1874
contained the advertisements of twenty-five houses that were public
boarding-houses, besides all that were accommodated in private
families. Many who came as visitors purchased building sites and
erected summer homes. One of these was Mr. Harvey, of Brooklyn, who
built Homeland, adjoining Idlewild. Mr. E. A. Mattheissen secured the
next site where Mattheissen Park is now. Mr. Solomon, of New York,
chose Land's End for his beautiful home. Mr. Bellows's residence was
on Bayview Avenue. Mr. James Stillman and his mother each have a
summer cottage here.

BOARDING-HOUSES.

Among all the houses opened for guests the Mountain House stood
first, from the fact of its position twelve hundred feet above
tide-water in the heart of pine woods, where the visitors found
health as well as recreation. The building itself was also
attractive. In the early sixties Dr. Champlin, who had been traveling
in the East, saw some marvelous cures performed on consumptive
patients by the use of kourmis.

Property on the mountain was at this time nearly all held by two
families--John Losee Wood and Christian Vought; so when the doctor
erected two houses as a sanitarium, no one objected. The architecture
was oriental--windows and doors were surmounted by round arches, and
the second story was built over the broad piazza which surrounded it
on three sides. A number of goats were installed in what is now the
Chalet across the road, and two physicians, Doctors Pellatier and
Boyd, had charge of the houses, but the enterprise was a failure and
it became a boarding-house, numbering among its patrons some of the
most exclusive families of New York and Philadelphia.

Many of the wealthier guests who saw that there was a possibility of
forming a colony similar to that of Tuxedo, joined in a syndicate to
purchase land, to lay out roads and develop its resources. Later it
was found desirable to have a place of meeting for themselves, and
the clubhouse was built. It was incorporated under the title of the
Deer Hill Company in 1890. Besides being able to accommodate many
guests cottages were built in the grounds and the Mountain House
found its days of prosperity gone. Mr. J. W. Meagher surrendered his
lease and fire destroyed two-thirds of the building, when it passed
into the hands of Mr. James Stillman. One of the next houses in
point of numbers was Mr. James G. Roe's. It has sheltered three
hundred guests. The Elmer, had nearly two hundred; the Smith was
almost the length of a city block. The Wiley House had ninety feet of
broad piazzas. Grand View, owned by Mrs. Alott, is the only one at
present that is still in the business. There were many others, and
nearly every private family was willing to accommodate city guests.
Recently the club has surrendered its charter, and it has passed into
private hands.

ROUND TOP.

While we are in the mountain we will stand for a few minutes on
Round Top, the home of the late Miss Hussey. Near us is a small
chalet, consisting of three rooms with a cedar rail portico in front.
Here for sixty years a woman, refined, cultured, and of marked
literary ability, dwelt alone. There came a break in her seclusion,
when in 1861 she entered the army as a nurse, where she remained
until the close of the war. She was a fine raconteur, and many a
story of those days entertained her visitors, and she had many, for
she and her romantic home attracted nearly everyone who came to
Cornwall. She kept a visitors' book, and there were 5,000 names in it
before mine. In 1876 she, with two other ladies, Miss McClean and
Miss Hayes, edited the first newspaper printed in the town, but it
was not a success after the first year, when she abandoned it. She
received a pension from the Government, and died about four years
ago.

E. P. ROE.

As we have been dealing with personal history, a modest residence
with large grounds suggests another name, that of E. P. Roe, the
novelist. His childhood was passed in Moodna and the home and
surrounding scenery in the background of the picture drawn in
"Nature's Serial Story." He studied in Williams College and then
entered a theological seminary, but in 1862 resigned to become
chaplain in the Harris Light Cavalry. He participated in several
engagements, but on being appointed Hospital Chaplain, was granted a
furlough, came home and was married to Miss Sands, who accompanied
him back to the seat of war. He retained his position until the close
of hostilities, when he took charge of the Presbyterian Church at
Highland Falls. He visited Chicago after the fire, and that suggested
the plot of "Barriers Burned Away." The success of this was
phenomenal, several editions following in quick succession. Feeling
he could reach a larger congregation by his pen than by his voice,
he resigned his charge and came to Cornwall. His mornings were spent
in his garden, where his success in fruit raising equaled that in
literary work. The afternoons in his study resulted in volume after
volume being given to the public in quick succession. His books sold
well and his royalties were large, but through the misfortunes of
others he became financially embarrassed and sold the royalties of
his then published novels for $30,000. He still found ready sale for
all he produced, which soon enabled him to liquidate his obligation,
and the "children of his fancy were his own again." But the strain
told on him, and in 1887 he went to Santa Barbara for rest and
recuperation. There he wrote "The Earth Trembled," a story of the
Charleston earthquake. He returned in 1887 and began his last work,
"Miss Lou," which was never finished. In August, 1888, he was
reading aloud in his library, when he was seized with sharp pains in
his heart. Two physicians were summoned, but failed to give relief
and half an hour after his first attack, E. P. Roe was no more. After
his death several gentlemen, among others Mr. Thomas Taft, Mr.
Valentine and the Rev. Lyman Abbott, consulted as to what shape a
permanent memorial to him would take. A Roe Memorial Park was decided
upon, the location being near his home on the side of Round Top,
bounded by the Boulevard. It consists of a little more than two acres
and is heavily wooded. None of the trees have been disturbed, only
the underbrush cleared up and paths made through the grounds. At the
top is a large boulder and on top of this was placed a bronze tablet,
on which was engraved two branches of chestnuts with their foliage
and burrs, some open. Above this is inscribed: "In Memory of Edward
Payson Roe," and under this, "Near to Nature's Heart." The tablet was
unveiled on May 30, 1894, with very impressive ceremonies and was
presented to the village.

COLONEL DUNCAN.

Another name very dear to Cornwall, but one almost forgotten by the
present generation, was that of Colonel James Duncan. He was born at
Cold Springs, but his parents moved here when he was a small boy, and
settled on a farm a little out of the village. He graduated from West
Point in 1835, and was appointed Lieutenant of the Fourth Cavalry. In
1838 he perfected an arm of the service called "The flying
artillery," and this first brought him into notice. During the
Mexican War he rose from the rank of Lieutenant to that of Colonel.
He received the appointment of Inspector General of the United States
Army, and during one of his visitations at Mobile he contracted the
yellow fever and died there in 1849. His body was brought on and
buried near his home, but some years later it was removed to the
cemetery at West Point.

CANTERBURY.

That part of the town known as Canterbury was probably the first
portion settled. Old records give names of path masters who resided
here previous to the Revolutionary War, but seemed to have left no
descendants. As far back as 1820 we have the name of John Chadeayne,
one of whose sons, Mr. Henry F. Chadeayne, was the father of our
present supervisor. The early physicians all located in that end of
the town. Dr. Tobias was the first one of which we have any record.
Dr. Clinton came next, and then Dr. Elisha Hedges, dying a young man
in 1824. The house where he lived was occupied until recently by his
daughter. His successors were Dr. Heaton and his son-in-law, Dr.
Gough, and they cared for all the sick in the radius of many miles.
But as the population increased there was found work for others, and
Dr. Beattie came to us and died among us in his eightieth year. Dr.
Thomas Heaton also lies in one of our cemeteries, one of the most
beloved and trusted of doctors. He was a grandson of the first one
of that name. Dr. Hotchkiss represented homeopathy, and at his death
was succeeded by Dr. Bergen, to be followed by Dr. Chandler of that
cult. Beside the latter we have Drs. Winter and Bowdish, of the
upper village, and Drs. Shirk and Bayard, of the lower one, at
present with us.

CHURCHES.

_Presbyterian._--The earliest record of religious worship came from
Bethlehem, which was at first the name of the church, and then
extended to the neighborhood. It was Presbyterian in form and
ministered to by the Rev. Mr. Challoner, who had charge also in
Cornwall, New Windsor and Blooming Grove. The building was erected in
1730. In point of seniority it was the third oldest congregation west
of the Hudson and north of the Highlands. The second incumbent was
the Rev. Enos Ayres, who was followed by Mr. Close in 1764. He
remained for forty years, and was chaplain during the Revolutionary
War to soldiers stationed in the vicinity. The Rev. Artemus Dean was
installed in 1813 and served for twenty-nine years. During his
pastorate the church that had stood for ninety-six years was torn
down and replaced by the present edifice. In 1872 the Rev. Mr.
Atwater was appointed. In 1827 the Rev. James Thorn, of Canterbury,
gathered some members of other churches together and, obtaining
letters of dismissal from their several organizations, formed them
into a congregation. A small church was erected, and in 1828 he was
installed by the Presbytery of the North River as pastor for New
Windsor and Canterbury. He was succeeded in 1835 by Jonathan
Silliman, who remained pastor for twenty-six years. The Rev. Messrs.
Baker, Eddy and Clarke succeeded each other for short terms, but in
1872 the Rev. Lyman Abbott took charge. He labored faithfully for
many years, and only severed his connection when the call came from
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. His place was filled by Mr. Egbert, who
proved to be a thoroughly live man, leaving the impress of his
personality not only on his church but the whole neighborhood. A call
to a larger field took him away, and his mantle fell on the Rev. Mr.
Beattie, who had been taught in that Sunday School. He too gave up
and was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Allen.

[Illustration: John Orr.]

_Cornwall-on-Hudson Presbyterian Church._--As early as 1855 some
families residing in what is now known as Cornwall-on-Hudson, felt
the need of a church at this place. They held their first meeting in
the school-room of Alfred C. Roe, in the building now occupied by the
Gold Cure, and "depending on divine aid resolved to erect a house of
Worship," and one year later the present building was dedicated.
There were only seventeen members and eight of them belonged to the
Roe family. Their names were Peter Roe, Mrs. Susan Roe, Alfred C.
Roe, Mrs. Caroline Roe, James G. Roe and wife, Mrs. Roe Caldwell,
Milton Wiley and wife, Mrs. Mary Jackson, Miss Amanda Adams, Mrs.
Mary A. Clark, Mrs. Rachael Bruen, Phebe Greegs, Mary Johnson,
Angeline Clark, and John P. Roe. In 1899 there were four survivors,
but Mrs. Sarah Wiley died that year, Mr. Milton Wiley following three
years later. In 1906 Mrs. Mary Jackson passed away, but was able to
be present part of the time in the church at the celebration of its
fiftieth anniversary. Her sister, Miss Amanda Adams, still survives.

The first elders chosen were Milton Wiley and James G. Roe, James O.
Adams was elected later. The first stated supply was the Rev. Dr.
Deyo, who was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph Robinson, who died in
1858. Dr. Ledoux followed, who resigned when Mr. Teal was appointed.
He was called to a larger field and the Rev. George P. Noble came. In
1891 he dissolved his connection with the church and Mr. Hugh
Frasier, the present incumbent, was installed.

The next church in point of age is the plain Quaker meeting house in
Canterbury. Previous to its erection, service was held in the house
occupied by David Sands, who was a noted Friend preacher, but as the
congregation grew it was found a place of worship was needed. About
1790 the present edifice was built and Catherine Sands, a girl of
twelve years old, carried the nails for the workmen from New Windsor
on horseback.

A division in doctrine caused a separation in the society in 1827.
The part retaining the buildings was called the orthodox and the
seceders Hicksites, from a member called Elias Hicks, who had
promulgated the new belief. These held meetings in private houses for
some months, when a brick building was erected in the rear of what is
now John Chatfield's stable. Both Mr. Beach and Mr. Ruttenber mention
a coincidence in the two buildings. The first marriage in the first
house was Catherine Sands to Squire Ring, and the first one in the
new building was that of her son, Robert Ring, nearly forty years
later.

_Methodist._--The early Methodists held their meetings in a
school-house, which stood for many years at the Corners, but in 1830
erected the present building on a knoll in Canterbury. It has been
almost rebuilt and modernized, and now is a very handsome church. The
first pastor was the Rev. Phineas Rice, who had charge in New
Windsor, and what is now Vails Gate, Salisbury and Mountainville. In
1863 it became self-supporting, and was detached from the other
missions, and the Rev. J. H. Gregory was appointed by the Conference.
It has always since had a resident pastor and the present incumbent,
Rev. Angelo Ostrander is justly popular and has been returned by the
unanimous request of the congregation three successive terms.

_Episcopal._--Previous to 1858 there was no separate organization of
the Episcopal Church in Cornwall. Those who could do so drove to New
Windsor, and those who were unable, joined in the worship with other
religious bodies. Many of the strangers coming here at that time were
of that faith, and in conjunction with some of the residents took the
necessary steps for the incorporation of a parish. On July 17th,
1858, a meeting was held and officers were elected to serve until the
following Easter. Alonzo Alvord and William Bayard were chosen
wardens, and N. P. Willis, Thos. Cummings, Daniel Birdsall, James
Crissey, Nicholas Chatfield, Jr., Francis Barton, Chas. H. Mead and
John Chatfield were elected vestrymen. A lot was purchased and a
contract for the building made with Messrs. Shaw & Sons, of Newburgh,
and on May 10th, 1829, the corner-stone was laid by the Right Rev.
Dr. Potter. By the 20th of November of the same year it was opened
for divine service. Until 1864, the services were conducted by the
resident minister at New Windsor, but in November of that year the
Rev. John Webster was installed, who was succeeded in January, 1866,
by the Rev. W. G. French. In 1869. the tower and spire was completed,
one of our wealthy residents who was a vestryman, Mr. Sherwood,
contributing $2,000. The ladies' auxiliary, an organization that has
shown the greatest success in collecting funds for church purposes,
contributed the clock. Mr. Snowden was the next minister, who died in
office. The Rev, Mr. Huntington succeeded him, and was succeeded by
Mr. Cleveling, who gave place to Dr. Page, who has charge at present.

_The Catholic._--Previous to 1857 the members of the Catholic Church
met for service in the home of Mrs. McQuade, in Canterbury, and at
the corners in what was then known as the Weaver house. Three
gentlemen, John Diffendale, Daniel O. Callahan and John McClean
started a building fund, each contributing one hundred dollars. The
next on the list was a non-Catholic, Mr. Henry F. Chadeayne with
fifty dollars. Mr. Stephen Gillis gave 50,000 bricks from his yard.
But a few weeks elapsed before there was money enough to justify
their purpose of building a church, and a lot was purchased at the
top of River avenue, which commanded a magnificent view of mountains
and river. The building was erected by Messrs. Little Brothers & Co.,
of Newburgh, and would seat about 150. About twenty families
represented the entire congregation. But only a few years elapsed
when it was found wholly inadequate to accommodate the resident
population, and the summer visitors would have filled one three times
as large. It was supplied from St. Patrick's, Newburgh, a priest
driving down on Sunday morning, and returning after service. After
A. E. Mattheissen and the Harvey and Sherwood families settled here,
steps were taken to build a larger edifice. The present lot was
purchased for $1,000 and nearly $2,000 more was in the savings bank,
when an application was made for a resident clergyman, and in 1870
Father Ambrose Keogh was sent by the Archbishop of New York. His
health was very delicate, and at first it seemed a task beyond his
strength to attempt to erect a church, but the present fine building
is a monument of his perseverance and energy. The corner-stone was
laid in 1871 by Bishop McQuade, of Rochester, and the following year
services were held in the basement. A handsome rectory was built and
furnished at the same time. It was connected with a mission at
Washingtonville. After five years' service Father Keogh was
transferred to Tuckahoe, and was succeeded by Father Mackin. There
was a mortgage of $13,000 on the property and Cornwall prosperity had
begun to wane, and the churches were among the first to feel it.
Meeting the annual interest and current expenses were nearly all
that was attempted at that time, with the exception of the purchase
of a cemetery for $2,000. At the end of five years Father Ward
succeeded to the pastorate, and immediately took steps to complete
the upper part. This he did, at a cost of about $8,000, without
increasing the mortgage. He was succeeded by Father Gordon, who paid
$8,000 of the debt during the five years of his incumbency. His
promotion to a large city parish was followed by the Rev. Phillip
Ahearn, who was in turn succeeded by the Rev. James Curry. A heating
plant, electric light and village water were installed at this time
into both church and rectory. Two handsome side altars were built
with three costly statues. In 1901 he was appointed to St. James'
Parish, New York, and was succeeded by the Rev. James S. Fenton.
Under his management the remainder of the mortgage has been paid and
plans drawn for a parochial school to be erected on the grounds in
the rear of the church. A large Sunday school has always been an
important part of the work. In 1907 Father Fenton went abroad for his
health, and the Rev. Father Brosan has charge.

FIRE PROTECTION.

As early as 1830 means were taken for fire protection in Canterbury,
and each man who contributed $2.50 could become a member. The names
of the first trustees were Nathan Westcott, Elias Hand, W. T. Cocks,
Geo. Marriott and John M Gough. Soon others joined it, and it was
created a body corporate under the name of the Canterbury Fire
Company. A hand engine was purchased at an expense of $125. About
1836 a second-hand suction engine was purchased in New York, but as
the population increased they realized how important it would be to
check any serious conflagration, so in October, 1869, a meeting of
property owners was held, which made arrangements for purchasing a
lot and engine house. A committee was appointed who finally bought
the premises where Hunter & McClean had their market for $2,000. A
new engine was bought and called Highland Engine No. 1. During 1905 a
very tasteful brick building costing $5,000 was erected. There were
sixty members in good standing and many applications for membership
when a vacancy occurs. The same year, 1869, that the engine was
purchased in Canterbury, a similar project was started at the
Corners, and a subscription paper was sent out, but failed to get
any definite pledges, each person approached being unwilling to be
the first to sign. A public meeting was called, and thirty-five
young men responded, each promising to give five dollars. In a few
days nearly $700 was secured, and Messrs. Titus, Wiley and John
McClean went to New York to see what could be obtained for their
money. Steamers had been introduced into the New York and Brooklyn
districts, so they found an article that suited them in Engine
Goodwill 4 of Brooklyn and it was bought and shipped on the _Orange
County_ for Cornwall. They had no house, but procured the use of
Carswell's barn. A company had been organized with Wm. J. Quigley,
foreman, John K. Oliver, assistant and John McClean, Jr., secretary.
A charter was procured in 1870, March 30th, in which A. E.
Mattheissen, Stephen Gillis, Hamilton Salmon, David Clark, Jas.
Hitchcock and E. H. Champlin, constituting themselves a body
corporate, under the name of the Storm King Engine No. 2. Another
subscription was solicited, which met with such a generous response
that a lot was purchased and a two-story building erected on Duncan
avenue. The dues of members supplemented by entertainments, furnished
their rooms and met their expenses, but in 1900 they surrendered
their charter to the village corporation and were henceforth a public
charge. A lot was bought on Main street and a handsome building
costing $6,000 was erected. They have a reception room, pool room,
and public meeting room, and a large space down stairs for their
engine house. Their charter allows only sixty members, and there are
always candidates waiting for any vacancy. A company was organized at
the Landing and some hundred feet of hose purchased, but it soon
disbanded. Last year a hose company was formed on the heights for
fire protection.

SCHOOLS.

Public schools were established soon after the Revolutionary War, and
each village had its schoolhouse and teacher, for at least the winter
months, and as the instruction was confined to the three R's several
private schools were started, but were only moderately successful.
The earliest of these was that of Madame Rutkai, the sister of the
famous Hungarian, Louis Kossuth. Mr. Alfred Roe taught one in
Canterbury for a time and in the spring of 1853 purchased the Fowler
Griggs property, where he conducted a boarding and day school for
young men. It was very successful, but in 1863 he gave it up,
entered the ministry and joined the army as the chaplain of the
Eighty-third Volunteers. In 1877 he again came to Cornwall and opened
a school for young ladies, following the Harvard standard, but the
patronage did not warrant its continuance and it was closed in the
third year. Dr. Ledoux succeeded in founding a permanent institution.
While he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church, he was taken very
sick with typhoid fever, and at times was delirious, and then spoke
only French, it being his native language. Mr. McCreery, the New York
merchant, who was boarding in the neighborhood, was looking for a
school for his sons, and after the Doctor's recovery arranged with
him to receive his boys into his family. He soon had as many as he
could teach, resigned his living, purchased a tract of land on the
Heights, and began a most successful career. He sold out to Mr. Cobb,
who after a few years sold in turn to the present proprietor, Rev.
Charles Stone.

Down to 1869 our public school was taught just long enough every year
to obtain the public money, and then some one would continue it as a
private enterprise for three or four months. But in that year, some
of our summer residents, including E. A. Mattheissen, Chas. Bellows,
Mr. Solomon, Stephen C. Gillis, James Dunn, Mr. Hitchcock, James
Couser, John McKibben and Dr. Vail, formed a board of education. A
lot was purchased from Mr. Hitchcock near the Corners, and a
substantial building erected. The school was opened on May 24th,
1869, with Mr. Williamson as principal, Miss McClean and Miss Frances
Marvel as assistants. There were then about 80 pupils. In 1896 it was
found an addition was needed and a large building was erected across
the front at a cost of $8,000. There are fourteen teachers in the
building now, and one in the annex on the Heights, and the census of
this year shows 500 children of school age. The training school under
Mr. Aldrich, turns out wonderful work for boys and girls, and the
sewing class in charge of Miss Murray, which has only been
established a year, shows how little hands can be trained. The
present board of education consists of Mr. Townsend D. Wood,
president; Mr. P. Bevins, J. J. Hall, Louis Velton, Carlos H.
Stone, George Mailler, Jas. H. Ward, John Noe, and Harris Cox.

[Illustration: Thomas Taft.]

VILLAGE OF CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON.

The village of Cornwall-on-Hudson was incorporated in March, 1885,
the first officers being: Thos. Taft, president; trustees: Wm.
Fogarty, Charles W. Clark and Oren Cobb; treasurer, H. N. Clark;
collector, Charles E. Cocks, and clerk, Daniel E. Pope.

In 1891 an excise board was elected, that refused to grant licenses,
and since then the town has remained dry. Two reservoirs were built
on the mountain, and the pure spring water carried through the town.
The outlay was $67,000, but at present the water rents defray all
expenses for interest. In 1906 a proposition was made to unite the
two villages of Canterbury and Cornwall, but was defeated. The
present board of trustees are: John Clarkson, president; Louis
Velton, Charles Smith, Norman Chatfield and Ralph Quackenbush; clerk,
James H. Ward; collector, John Noe.

CANTERBURY SCHOOLS.

A small building on one of the side roads was used for many years,
after it was evident the days of its usefulness as a schoolhouse was
over. In 1905 the people voted to raise $30,000 for a new
schoolhouse. A lot on Willow avenue was purchased, and a building,
complete in all modern appliances has been the result. There are
twelve teachers under a most efficient principal, Mr. Woodworth.
Both this and the one at the Corners, are high schools under the
regents.

VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY.

The Village Improvement Society was organized in 1900, when a public
meeting was called in Mattheissen Hall. Dr. Harrison was chairman,
and introduced the Rev. Lyman Abbott, who explained the object of the
association, which was that each one should pledge themselves to take
care of their premises, and use their influence to abate anything
that would detract from the beauty and order of the village. Nearly
everyone present agreed to become a member. The following day a
meeting was held and officers elected. Mrs. Lyman Abbott was chosen
president; Mrs. Seaman, first vice-president; Mrs. Hunter, second
vice-president; Mrs. Furey, secretary; Miss Laura Currie,
corresponding secretary, and Mrs. Dr. Harrison, treasurer. A handsome
loving cup was purchased to be given to the person who, in the
estimation of the judges, should show the best kept garden for the
year. Anyone who should win it three years in succession would own
it. Mrs. John Noe held it the first year, Mrs. Milton Couser the
second, but the three following seasons it was held by Mrs. John Noe,
who then became its permanent possessor. Almost the first work done
by the society was offering ten cents a hundred for the nests of the
tent worm. Seventy-two thousand were brought in by the school
children, with the result that while the neighboring villages lost
hundreds of trees the place was free from the pests. Trash cans were
placed in different parts of the village, and thirteen hundred
posters were removed from trees, fences and telegraph poles.

Many friends have made generous donations; among others Mr. Weeks
who, during the past four years, has offered $50 each year as
door-yard prizes. A boys' horticultural club has been formed, land
rented and a portion assigned to each boy who owns all he raises.
The two most successful receive prizes. Enough money has been
subscribed to meet the expenses of this work for five years. The
second year of the organization, it lost by death the efficient
treasurer, Mrs. Dr. Harrison, and last summer the loved president,
Mrs. Lyman Abbott, died beyond the ocean and sleeps in a little
German graveyard. The present officers are: Mrs. Ernest Abbott,
president; Miss Cocks, vice-president; Mrs. Seaman, second
vice-president; Mrs. Fleming, secretary; Miss Josephine Youngs,
treasurer, and Miss E. M. V. McClean, corresponding secretary.

PAPERS.

In 1877 Mr. John Lee, author of stories of the Hudson, started the
Cornwall _Mirror,_ but he died within the year. He was succeeded by Mr.
Snelling, who changed the name to the Cornwall _Reflector._ Mr. Pendell
succeeded him as editor, when the title was changed to Cornwall
_Local,_ the name which it retained when it passed into the hands of
the present proprietor, Mr. Goodenough. Three or four efforts have
been made to run a second village paper, but they have all proved a
failure. Mr. Morehouse started the _Courier,_ which passed into the
hands of Creswell McLaughlin but it came to grief. It was
resuscitated in 1905, but only lived a year.

INDUSTRIES.

With the introduction of the mountain water into the village, it was
hoped that with the fine freighting facilities, manufacturers might
be induced to settle here, but such has not been the case. Several
applications have been received from outsiders, but when negotiations
reached a certain point, they have been quietly withdrawn, and it has
been surmised that some of the wealthier neighbors object to the
class such work would bring among them. The stream known as
Murderer's Creek, and later on as the Moodna, at one time had several
factories along its banks. The late John Orr's flour mill is still in
business, and about a mile from Canterbury is a settlement known as
Firthcliff. In 1869 Mr. Broadhead had a large woolen mill there which
after a few years, passed into the hands of an English carpet
company. These brought many of their skilled employees with them, and
they in turn induced friends and neighbors to come out, so that one
corner of the town is an English village. The home works are in
England, but the proprietors frequently cross the Atlantic to visit
their factory here. Still farther down the stream are the mills of
John Orr, at a railroad station that bears his name. A piano factory,
owned by John E. Ryder has disappeared, and as the brook nears the
Hudson, it passes through a valley which was once filled with homes
of the work people employed in the Valley Forge paper mill, owned by
Carson & Ide, and the Leonard linen mill. The latter stopped during
the war, but the former under different owners produced some
material, until a freshet tore away bridge, dam and race and forced
the stream into another channel that left the building practically
without water.

VOLUNTEERS.

Mr. Ruttenber gives a list of 172 volunteers who went from here
during the Civil War, but he has omitted three names, Frederick Lamb,
Wm. Couser and George Chatfield. Emslie Post contains the names of
some of the surviving on its roster, and on Memorial Day they
decorate eighty graves of comrades who have passed over to the great
majority. But there are others who sleep on Southern battlefields,
and still others who passed from the weary anguish of the hospitals
to the "low green tent, whose curtain never outward swings." Captain
Thomas Taft is probably the youngest surviving veteran; and among the
revered names of those "who came not back" stand Captain Silliman,
Major Cromwell and William Emslie, who died in Andersonville. Through
the efforts of Mr. Charles Curie, of Idlewild, a soldiers' monument
has been erected in the village.

NEW YORK MILITARY ACADEMY.

One of the institutions of Cornwall is the New York Military Academy.
In the '70s it was a large boarding house, capable of accommodating
two hundred guests. The grounds cover a large plateau, skirting a
ravine, and was called Glen Ridge. It was owned by Mr. James G. Roe,
brother of the novelist, who when the boarding business failed in
Cornwall, sold to Colonel Wright, who opened a boys' school. He was
succeeded by Mr. Jones, who has enlarged the already capacious
buildings. There are always over 100 young men and boys in the
institution, and a large corps of capable teachers. The discipline
is secured more by rewards than punishments. The pupils, when
visiting the village, are always quiet and gentlemanly. Officers from
West Point train them in military tactics, and it is marvelous what a
proficiency they attain in a few months.




CHAPTER XIV.

TOWN OF CRAWFORD.

By J. Erskine Ward.



This triangular township, some eighteen or twenty miles west of the
Hudson River, is in the northwest corner of Orange County, bordering
upon the counties of Sullivan and Ulster. It carries a point of
Orange County land well up into old Ulster County and contains the
northernmost soil of the county.

It is bounded on the north by Sullivan and Ulster, on the east by
Ulster and the town of Montgomery, south by Montgomery and Wallkill,
and on the west by the town of Wallkill and Sullivan County.

The area of the town, as given in the last report of the Orange
Supervisors, is 24,769 acres. Upon this land the Crawford assessors
for 1906 placed a valuation of $664,531, and returned personal
property of its residents to the value of $15,300. The total tax
raised in the town that year was $8,617.89. This amount was made up
as follows: General fund, $2,668.14; poor fund, $600; town audits,
$2,287.12; roads and bridges, $400; railroad purposes, $2,107.50;
temporary relief, $250; sworn off taxes, $185.45; treasurer's
credits, $115.33.

The name Crawford came from a numerous and respectable family of
Irish descent who were among the first settlers of the locality. The
land was a part of the original John Evans patent referred to in
other parts of this work. When this great tract was set aside the
territory of this section was disposed of in many smaller grants to
Philip Schuyler and others. Among the many other tracts mentioned in
the Crawford titles were the 8,000-acre tract which now includes the
village of Pine Bush, and the 10,000-acre tract next on the south.
The following separate patents were included in the Crawford
township; Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, November 12, 1750;
Frederick Morris and Samuel Heath, January 24, 1736; Jacobus Bruyn
and Henry Wileman, April 25, 1722; Philip Schuyler and others, 8,000
acres, July 7, 1720; part of the patent to Jeremiah Schuyler and
others, January 22, 1719; part of Thomas Noxon's patent February 21,
1737.

NATURAL FEATURES OF THE TOWN.

The general altitude of the town is somewhat higher than that of
Montgomery. The general surface is a hilly upland broken by high
ridges, which extend northeast and southwest. It is in fact separated
from Montgomery by one of these elevated ridges known as the
Collaburgh and Comfort Hills, which at times rise 200 feet above the
valley. While the land is somewhat more difficult to cultivate
because of the stony hills and undulating surface, the soil is very
strong and productive, yielding fine crops of grass, grain and fruits
and responding well to tillage. These slopes and elevations have been
found particularly well adapted to the growth of fruit of a superior
quality. The proximity of the mountain range is said to have a
favorable influence upon the general rainfall of the region. Showers
are frequent in summer and the effects of drought are less severe than
in other sections not so favored.

The Shawangunk Kill or river is the principal stream, and it forms
the western boundary of the town between it and Sullivan County, and
afterward it also separates the town from Ulster County until the
northern limit of the town is reached. This is a rapid flowing stream
and affords much valuable water power at different points, which has
been utilized to some extent in a variety of ways. The early settlers
were quick to see the value and importance of these privileges, and
they began to make use of them in their primitive manner at once.

Among the numerous tributaries to the Shawangunk in the town is the
Paughcaughnaughsinque. The name is of Indian origin. There are in
fact two of these subsidiary streams, the Big and the Little
Paughcaughnaughsinque. They flow northward and afford additional
water power at different points.

In the eastern portion of the town is a more important stream known
now as the Dwaarskill. This, too, has enjoyed a great variety of
orthographic nomenclature, such as "Dwaaskill," "Dwarf'skill," etc.
Of course the original was bestowed by the Indians, and, it is said,
was given in honor of a Chief of a small tribe which dwelt upon its
banks. One of the old settlers in that region is credited with having
seen this Indian Chief, who was called "Dwaase," and who had his
wigwam near the old turnpike gate No. 3. Others claim, however, that
the name is clearly Low or Holland Dutch, and signifies perverse or
contrary because it flows north. The stream begins somewhere near the
center of the town of Wallkill, not far from the Crawford Railway
junction, flows through the valley parallel to that of the
Shawangunk Kill, and finally leaves the town at the northeast corner.

[Illustration: Joel Whitten]

This town also has its share of swamps, of which the historian
Ruttenber says Orange County has over 40,000 acres. One of these
swamps is northwest of the Sinsabaugh neighborhood, and another is
southwest of Searsburgh.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS.

This being among the newer towns of the county, the specific details
of its settlement are so blended with the early history of the old
Wallkill precinct and that of the town of Montgomery, from which
Crawford was set off, that it is quite impossible to separate them
for this place.

The Weller settlement was partly upon this territory. Johannes
Snyder started a small settlement in the vicinity of Searsville,
where he bought a large tract of land on both sides of the
Dwaarskill. He built a primitive log mill there at once, and this is
down in the records of 1768 as Snyder's Mill. He seems to have been
a man of means and influence, as he also built a log church soon
after settling there, which was known as Snyder's Church. This
Snyder family was Dutch and made the first settlement here in 1740,
if not earlier. All the services in this little church was in the
Dutch language, and it is recorded that the church was worn out or
outgrown even before the Revolution.

Somewhere about the same time Robert Milliken built a saw mill on
the Shawangunk Kill. This is referred to as Milliken's mill in the
records of 1768, and this is the earliest mention of a saw mill on
that stream in the records. Other mills were built there, however,
in later years. First was the old flour mill of Pat. Boice, next
below the Milliken mill was the Sear's grist mill, then Abraham
Bruyn's flour mill, and finally Cornelius Slott's saw and grist mill
combined. The latter was continued by Arthur Slott after the death of
his father, and he soon built a small collection of houses there for
his employees. This Slott ancestry were among the oldest settlers in
the State. The family came from Holland in 1670, as the family
record shows. They located first at Hackensack, N. J., and after a
few years there they removed to Rockland County, and soon after that
they came to Montgomery and settled on the Tinn Brook at a point
afterward known as Slott Tow. Cornelius Slott engaged in farming. In
1777, while serving as an orderly sergeant with his military company,
in the active defense of Fort Montgomery, he was taken prisoner and
confined in the old Sugar House, New York, by the British forces for
ten months. In 1785, on regaining his liberty, he sold his farm and
lived in New York for the next five years. Then he bought the mill
site in Pine Bush and erected his saw mill just below the mouth of
the Paughcaughnaughsinque stream. The next year he also built a
grist mill. There was no public road leading to his mill at the time,
but he soon secured one from Hopewell.

A small early settlement near Graham's Church was made by Abraham
Dickerson, an Irishman, John Robinson and Philip Decker. Philip
Decker's ancestors came from Holland. When sixteen years old he
drove a team from Ward's Bridge to Valley Forge with a load of corn
for Washington's army. Dickerson built a saw mill on a small stream
near there which was operated successfully for a time and then fell
into decay. The portion of the Wallkill valley in this town was the
site of the earliest settlement. These old pioneers consisted of
Germans, Hollanders and Huguenots. Many of them came from the older
settlements in Ulster County, and others were directly from their
native land.

Robert Jordan came here from Ireland in 1771. About 1784 he settled
at Bullville in this town. His brother John seems to have settled
there in 1767, having arrived in this country some years ahead of
Robert. Among his neighbors there about that time or a few years
later, were Joseph Elder, James Barclay, Samuel Barclay, John Martin
and Daniel Bull. Thomas Turner was also a land owner in the Bullville
settlement to the extent of 300 acres.

In the Searsville neighborhood William Snider was among the pioneers.
He purchased a large tract of land there upon which he lived many
years before the Revolution. He seems to have been a man of some
wealth, for at the outbreak of hostilities with Great Britain he
buried a considerable sum of money in a secret place upon his
property, the location of which was known only to a faithful Negro
slave. After the war this Negro was awarded by his master with his
personal freedom because of his loyalty and faithfulness.

An old apple orchard planted before the Revolution near Bullville,
died out long years since. Nathan Johnson was the village shoemaker,
going around from house to house with his kit of tools strapped upon
his back. This occupation was then known as "whipping the cat" for
some reason not very clear at this time. Johnson was an old
shoemaker who had been employed making army shoes during the war. It
was the custom at that period for those cobblers to go about at
stated periods and do the family cobbling and shoe-making for the
year.

William Jordan, son of Robert, became colonel of the Shawangunk
regiment of militia, and he lived under every President of the United
States until his death, having voted the Democratic ticket for 66
years.

Benjamin Sears is mentioned in the records as a remarkable man in
many respects among the settlers in that region. Coupled with rare
native talent he had a most remarkable memory of details. Nothing
ever escaped him when once his mind grasped it. All his accounts were
accurately kept in his mind. But his education is said to have been
very limited. He served as constable in the town of Montgomery during
his early life, where he had five brothers from whom there has been a
long line of descendants. He also served as sheriff of Orange County
for a time. And the small hamlet of Searsburgh, near the center of
the town, on the Dwaarskill stream, was named for him. He established
a flour and saw mill there at an early date.

Joseph Elder was of Irish descent and came into this region some
years before the Revolution. He lived upon a very stony farm, and it
is recorded of him that being a man of giant frame, robust and
vigorous, he would gather up these stones in a leathern apron girded
about his loins and carry them to the place where they were used for
fence walls, instead of carting them in a wagon. Though also scantily
educated, he served some years as magistrate of his town with much
satisfaction, being a man of strong common sense and good judgment.
He seems also to have been a pioneer pedestrian, the original
Weston, apparently; for it is recorded that on a certain occasion,
missing his sloop at Newburgh, which was already out of sight above
the Danskammer Point, running with a fair wind, on the Hudson, on its
way to Albany, young Elder started off at a rattling pace, with his
musket and knapsack, to join his military company at the Capital in
time or be denounced as a traitor. It is said he beat the sloop by
several hours, though the precise time made is not given.

Dr. Joseph Whalen, another well known Irish pioneer, was among the
early physicians practicing his profession in this region. He came at
the close of the war, settled in this town for a few years, and
afterward practiced in Montgomery for over fifty years. It is worthy
of note in this connection that in those days no doctor ever expected
to collect for his services from his patient in person. The doctor's
claim was always presented to the executor or administrator, as the
case might he, after the patient's death. There were obvious reasons
for this custom then, as there often are even in these later times,
but the reader must be left to draw his own conclusions. This noted
doctor had a most extensive practice, and he was also a famous
horseman and equestrian, owning much fine horseflesh. He even rivaled
the celebrated Count Pulaski, the Polish general in the Revolution,
who would throw his hat before him on the road while under full speed
on his horse and so far dismount as to take it up. Dr. Whalen could
take a glass of liquid in his hand, mount his horse, ride away a
quarter of a mile and return without spilling a drop.

Daniel Bull was another prominent settler of this region. He came
some years before the Revolution and settled upon an extensive tract
of newly cleared land which was rough and stony and had been owned by
his father, Thomas Bull, who lived in the old stone house in
Hamptonburgh. This land was then valued at $2.50 per acre. In 1780 he
married Miss Miller at Goshen, where the bride and groom were
snowbound for two weeks of their honeymoon. They had thirteen
children and the family became one of the most prominent and numerous
in the town. Mr. Bull was a most successful farmer, and he reclaimed
a vast acreage of wild land and brought it under good and profitable
tillage. He amassed wealth and became a valued citizen, being long
regarded as a patriarch of the town. In 1821, the record shows, that
fifty-two grandchildren had been born of this parentage, making a
family total of seventy-six. All were then alive except two who died
in infancy, and on a certain day in June of that year seventy-four
members of this noted family were gathered in the family homestead
near Bullville for a grand reunion. The farm is now owned by
Theodore Roberson.

The Crawford family, after which the town was named, were descendants
of John Crawford, who settled in New Windsor in 1737. The names of
John, William, James and Samuel are found upon the old military roll
of 1738 for the Wallkill. Robert I. Crawford was a prominent citizen
here early in the last century, and he lived near the old Hopewell
church.

The Thompson brothers, Alexander, Andrew, and Robert, came from
Ireland about 1770. They bought 500 acres of land on what became
afterward known as Thompson's Ridge, and divided the plot equally
among themselves. One of these farms then included the site of the
Hopewell church, and all this property has been kept in the Thompson
family.

David Rainey was another ante-revolutionary settler in this locality,
and he established what was afterward known as the "brick-house
farm," near Pine Bush. He erected the first brick house between
Newburgh and Ellenville. Although only a boy during the Revolution,
he served for a short time in the Continental Army under Clinton.
The ancestor of Jacob Whitten was also among the pioneers there.

Among the early physicians of the town were Dr. Crosby, who lived
near the Hopewell church and practiced during the early part of the
last century; Dr. Charles Winfield, who lived near Pine Bush; Dr.
Hunter, of Searsville, who later served as school inspector for that
time; Dr. Griffith, also of Pine Bush, who died in 1855, and Dr.
Durkee, who lived a mile south of Pine Bush.

TOWN ORGANIZATION.

The town of Crawford was formed from the town of Montgomery, March 4,
1823. That older town covered such a large extent of territory that
it was found inconvenient and expensive to conduct the public
business to advantage. A convenient and practicable arrangement of
boundary lines for a division of the town was found possible whereby
there might be a central point convenient of access for the citizens
of each town. The name Crawford was given in honor of that pioneer
family, as before stated, many of its descendants having become so
closely identified with the local interests of the region.

The first town meeting was held at the house of Edward Schoonmaker,
April 1, 1823. William W. Crawford was then chosen the first
supervisor; Oliver Mills, town clerk, and a full list of officials
was selected. Every man was authorized to act as his own pound-master,
and every farm was regarded as a pound. A bounty of $25 was voted for
every wolf killed in the town, which shows that these hungry animals
were still roaming through the forests at that time. At a special
meeting held later in the month, $460 was voted to be raised for the
support of the poor for that year. There were then thirty-nine road
districts in that little town, and each district had its accredited
road-master. But the records are not clear as to the character or
extent of the road work done in that early period. Of course every
male citizen was required to appear for service upon the road at such
time or times as the master of his district would designate, and put
in such number of days' work as his property possessions called for
under the prevailing provisions of the State road laws. The
road-master was the boss, and if he said the roadway must be highly
rounded in the center, a plow was run deeply along each side of the
track and the loose mud or dirt was scraped up into the road with
hoes or shovels. Then the wagon wheels would throw out this mud
during the rest of the year when it was not frozen, where the workers
of the succeeding year would find it again, waiting to be scraped
back into the roadway. This was the old process of road repair for
two hundred years, and there seems to have been general satisfaction
with the curious method as far as the records disclose. In fact, the
public highways were not regarded of great importance in those days
in spite of the fact that they were the leading if not the only
arteries of transportation throughout the country before the advent
of railways and cheap water-line shipment. These observations are
made in this connection because of the recent dawn of a new era in
roads and road work, when the great importance of public roads and
their proper repair and maintenance has at last been more nearly
recognized. Very soon these antiquated methods will be among the
curious events in history.

When the Middletown and Crawford Railway was projected through this
town the sum of $80,000 was raised by the town authorities in aid of
its construction. This was in July, 1868. The interest upon this
debt has been paid annually since that time, but in 1880 no part of
this principal sum had yet been paid. This was a severe tax upon the
town which bore rather heavily upon the farmers especially, a class
that rarely escapes the lion's share of these burdens of modern
civilization. But the railway has been of great value to every
resident as a developing factor of that entire region and none now
regrets its cost.

VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.

_Hopewell._--This village is in the western portion of the town, not
far from the Shawangunk River. The name was taken from the old
Hopewell church, which was an offshoot from the Goodwill Presbyterian
congregation at Montgomery, where the Congregational section had been
squeezed out, as it were. They were thus in need of hope at the time,
and thus the name "Hopewell" was suggested by some of the more
thoughtful members, and it was very promptly adopted for the church
name, as it afterward was also for the little village which gathered
about it. It does not appear that any important business or
mercantile trade was ever conducted there, however. It is merely a
fertile farm section where the residents have gathered to make their
homes. The postal facilities for these people are at Thompson's
Ridge, a station on the Crawford branch of the Erie Railway.

_Bullville._--This is in the southwestern portion of the town near
the Wallkill line. It was named in honor of Thomas Bull, who lived
there many years and engaged in various business enterprises, and in
fact founded the place. While the name of the hamlet is not
especially felicitous, nor even euphonious, the location is
attractive and pleasing, it being upon high ground with a fine view
of the surrounding landscape. A fine commodious Methodist church was
built there many years ago and there is a most attractive cluster of
fine dwellings. In 1880 a hotel was conducted by Silas Dickerson and
a general store by Charles Roe. There were also a creamery, two
blacksmith shops, a flour and feed store, a coal yard and even a
distillery. The place is seven miles west of Montgomery village.

_Searsville._--This was formerly known as Searsburgh. It is another
small village, near the center of the town, on the Dwaarskill. It was
named for, and practically founded by, Benjamin Sears, already
mentioned at some length. He built the mills there at an early date,
and his more distant neighbors soon gathered about him and built
their homes there. It was formerly a trading point of some
importance, but the advent of the railway brought other neighboring
hamlets into greater prominence and left this place somewhat
isolated. But in 1880 there were a hotel, two blacksmith and wagon
shops, a grist mill and a saw mill still in operation. There is also
a post-office. The location being central, the town meetings were
usually held there in past years, and the general official business
was transacted there.

_Thompson's Ridge._--A short distance west of Searsville, on the
Crawford Branch Railway, is this hamlet, as before stated. In former
years it was mainly composed of the Thompson family, for which it was
originally named. Daniel Thompson, the railway superintendent, lived
near there. The station is quite an important one both for its
passenger business and the large shipments of milk which are made
from it. A small store, the post-office, and the various railway
structures make up the business part of the hamlet. It is in the
midst of the finest farming section of Orange County, the farms of
the Thompson family and others in that neighborhood being the most
productive in the county.

_Collaburg._--This is in the southern section of the town, and the
name is now printed "Collabar" on the modern map of the county. The
locality is somewhat thickly settled. It was formerly an important
point on the Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike, with a hotel and many
other buildings of a varied character. But the new railway did not
touch the place and travel was soon diverted to other points, which
stopped all further development there.

_Pine Bush._--This is located near the Shawangunk River, in the
northern part of the town, near the Ulster County line, and it is a
thriving business village, the most important in the town. It is the
northern terminus of the Crawford Branch Railway, and its post-office
serves a large section of country on both sides of the river in that
region. The village site is generally level and attractive, upon the
high bank of the stream at that point, and the land environment
comprises a most fertile farming section. The old grist mill there
belongs to the Revolutionary period, and the Shawangunk Mountains
rise in rugged, frowning peaks which overlook the valley and form a
background of rare beauty. The heights of the Hudson River are seen
in the distant horizon toward the east and north, and there is a rare
combination of upland, valley, mountain and stream, forest slopes and
well tilled farms which charms the beholder and forms a most
attractive and beautiful landscape. Summer visitors are attracted
here in large numbers, and they find much to admire and enjoy.

Among the early tradesmen here was James Thompson, who opened a store
in 1824. He was succeeded by Hezekiah Watkins, Tarbosch & Weller,
Louis Wisner, Elijah Smith and George Oakley. Dr. Ewan came in 1830,
and built a hotel and also conducted a drug store. Abraham Mould
began a tannery plant in 1825, but after a few years he was killed by
James Mitchell in a violent personal quarrel, for which Mitchell was
finally acquitted on the ground of self defense.

The old Ellenville and Newburgh plank road--a wicked production of a
benighted period--passed through Pine Bush. This, however, marked the
beginning of the modern growth of the place. There were then only
three or four dwelling houses. In 1880 there were in addition to the
various railway structures, two hotels, several stores, many shops of
various kinds, a restaurant, grist mill and saw mill, meat market,
photograph gallery, livery stable, distillery, marble works, and a
great variety of other business enterprises. The post-office was
originally known as Crawford, and Arthur Slott was probably the
first postmaster. The name of the village was bestowed on account of
the dense growth of pine trees which formerly covered that entire
tract of land. The opening of the railway was of course a great
event for Pine Bush and had much to do with its subsequent
development and progress. Mr. A. R. Taylor, a leading business man,
came from Ulsterville in 1848 and proved a most progressive citizen,
opening many new stores and taking an active part in all village
improvements. He was a civil engineer and was credited with having
driven the first stake in Chicago during an engagement in the west
many years ago, which if true is a well merited distinction.

SCHOOLS OF THE TOWN.

Oliver Mills, Alexander Thompson and Hieromous Weller were the first
school commissioners chosen at the formation of the town. From 1843
to 1856 the public schools were under the control of town
superintendents chosen at each annual election. There were ten school
districts in 1823, and 655 children between the ages of five and
fifteen in the town, small portions of the towns of Wallkill and
Montgomery being then included in this enumeration. The amount of
public money received was $264.44. Among the early school teachers of
this town were John Hardcastle, William Brown, Mr. Reed and Mr.
Crosby. And they are said to have been firm believers in the free
use of the rod in the inculcation of a thorough knowledge of the
three "Rs" and the maintenance of proper discipline.

THE CRAWFORD CHURCHES.

The first effort to build a church in Hopewell was made in 1779 by
the Presbyterian association. But they succeeded only in completing
the exterior of the building and very little was done toward
finishing the inside of the structure. And yet for the next three
years those devoted Christian people were content to worship in this
unfinished building with all its discomforts. They went to church
faithfully and regularly. In 1792 they united in a corporate body and
selected a full board of trustees, as follows: William Cross, Robert
Milliken, Jonathan Crawford, Daniel Bull, Andrew Thompson, Nathan
Crawford, Abraham Caldwell, Robert Thompson and Robert McCreery. Soon
after this they finished their church and called the Rev. Jonathan
Freeman as their pastor, who was installed August 28, 1793. This may
be regarded therefore as the date of the organization of this church,
which began with twenty-one members. Mr. Freeman multiplied this
number by five during the next five years and then resigned for
another field of labor. The next five years this little pulpit
remained vacant. Rev. Isaac Van Doren took up the work there in 1803
and labored most successfully for 21 years, adding some 152 members
to the little flock of worshipers during that period. Then, after
further changes in the pastorate, a new and more commodious church
building was built of stone on another site, which was completed in
1832. Rev. John H. Leggett was then the pastor for the next
twenty-three years, when he went to Middletown. His ministerial work
in this Hopewell church is highly spoken of in the records, he being
a powerful preacher and a man of great activity and influence.

What was known as _Graham's Church,_ associated Reformed, was
established by Robert Graham in 1799. A house of worship was erected
at once and it was opened for use in August of the same year. Mr.
Graham died a few weeks later, but he devised 100 acres of land to
this church organization for its pastor. This church was merely a
branch of the older organization at Neeleytown until 1802, when it
became independent, with Samuel Gillespie and Andrew Thompson as
elders. There were then only 28 regular members, and the Rev. John
McJimsey still served both this and the Neeleytown church. He left in
1809 but returned ten years later and remained until his death in
1854. Robert Graham, the founder of this church, was a staunch
Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and he left a lasting impress for good
upon this people.

_The Crawford Methodist Church_ is located at Bullville and it was
incorporated April 20, 1859. The trustees named were Jacob M.
Shorter, Robert Hill and Herman S. Shorter. The original church
structure was completed in the summer of 1861 at a cost of $8,000,
which was donated by Mrs. Mary Shorter. Rev. John Wardle was the
first pastor, being assigned there in response to a request of Mrs.
Shorter.

_The Methodist Church of Pine Bush_ was incorporated November 28,
1870. with the following trustees: William B. Barnes, John Walker,
Samuel Armstrong, William H. Cowley and Francis M. Bodine. But there
had been religious services there many years before this, especially
in the school house. The old Reformed Church over the river at
Shawangunk, in Ulster County, had many members in the Pine Bush
village, and there was preaching in the little school house nearly
every Sunday, either by the pastor of that church or by the Methodist
preacher from Bullville. But the Methodist people were not satisfied
with this arrangement and they finally built a church for themselves,
completing it in the spring of 1871 at a total cost of $8,000, of
which only half had been paid. But the balance was pledged at the
dedication ceremonies held on the night of April 24, 1871. This
building was repaired and improved some ten years later.

HISTORIC POINTS OF INTEREST.

Near the site of the old Slott grist mill on the bank of the river is
an old log hut which is said to date back to the ante-Revolutionary
period. During that war this hut was on the Van Amburg property, and
that family was somewhat closely connected with the noted Anneke
Jans, who once owned the ground now covered by the vast estates of
Trinity Church in New York City, in which her myriad heirs, scattered
all over America to-day, still claim an equitable share, and justly
so, perhaps. In this old log structure once lived a stalwart female
member of the Van Amburg family, and the story is that during the
Revolution a big reward was offered by the British officers for her
capture. "Shanks Ben," a noted Ulster County Tory, like Claudius
Smith of Orange County, being attracted by this rich reward, planned
her capture. He concealed himself in one of the farm haystacks where
he knew she would come to feed her cattle at a certain time. But when
he saw the huge old-fashioned hay-fork in her hand, he concluded that
discretion was the better part of valor, and was in fact glad to
escape with his own life, fearing she might chance to puncture his
brave anatomy in reaching for the required hay-fodder. If this
somewhat noted woman was ever captured by the redcoats the records
fail to disclose it.

Aside from the pursuit of farming and lumbering, this town has never
been able to boast of any very important industries. Nearly every
citizen was engaged in the cultivation of the soil during its early
history at least. As already noted, the town was famed for its
production of the choicest grade of Orange County butter. In later
years, under the changed condition of transportation facilities, the
manufactured products of the dairy were almost entirely discontinued
and gave way to the natural product of milk, which was shipped to the
New York markets in large quantities.

The growth of apples, peaches and other fruits, for which the land is
so well adapted, has meanwhile increased in extent and importance,
and many of the Crawford orchards that were properly cultivated and
cared for have become sources of large profit to their owners.

While many of the more ancient grist and saw mills of the town have
now disappeared, some have been greatly improved and modernized and
new ones have been built.

MILITARY HISTORY.

On this topic little can be said with reference to the early history
of this separate section, as the town came into existence some time
after the close of the wars with foreign nations. All such data is
hopelessly buried in the ancient annals of Wallkill and Montgomery
so far as the Crawford chronicler is concerned. There were doubtless
patriots of this section who served in the Continental army of
Washington, and others who went out in the military company during
the second outbreak in 1812. But the records contain no separate
lists of these and this roll of honor cannot therefore be presented
here. Philip Decker, David Rainey and Joseph Elder, the only names
we can positively identify as being residents of what is now the town
of Crawford, who served in the Revolution.

But in the War of the Rebellion the record is more complete. While,
like most other towns in nearly every county in the northern States,
there were misguided men in Crawford, partisans, politicians and
abject followers of that class, servile men with little principle and
less brains, who opposed the war on political principle, or through
ignorance of the situation, without regard to the safety of the
American Union of States, the great majority of the citizens, here as
elsewhere, were loyal Union men. And when the first secession gun
belched forth on Fort Sumter the old spirit of patriotism which had
animated their ancestors was fired anew. The town furnished 188 men
for the Union army and navy under the various calls of President
Lincoln and the draft. Sixty-nine men went forward at once under
Captain Samuel Hunter, who organized a company of volunteers in the
town known as Co. H, which was attached to the 124th Regiment. The
sum of $525 was raised by subscription in 1862 for bounties paid to
21 volunteers who enlisted in the 168th Regiment, and $50 was raised
for a like purpose in connection with the regiment first named. In
1863 $3,000 was raised and $27,610 the following year. Then, under
the last call, $16,500 was added to these cash contributions from
this town, making the total sum $47,685. On the final settlement with
the State after the war, $11,700 of this amount was returned to the
town for excess of years and bounties. A tax of $30,000 was
authorized in January, 1865, but as is seen above only a portion of
this amount was required.

The record contains a detailed list of the men furnished by the town
from which it appears that ten enlisted in the 56th Regiment in 1861,
one in the 18th, five in the 19th, and twelve in other regiments
during the first year. Then in 1862, twenty-one went out in the
124th, and thirty in the 168th. Twenty-nine enlisted in various other
organizations in 1863 and 1864, and twenty-nine others were drafted
into the service, most of whom furnished substitutes.

As showing who were among the leading farmers in this town in the
early part of the 19th century, it will be of interest perhaps to
quote a few items from an old list of agricultural premiums awarded
at the county fairs held in that period. In 1820 Daniel Bull was
awarded $20, for the best farm of 100 acres in the town. He also had
the second best fat oxen. The next year Henry Bull got $10 for the
second best farm, and Daniel Bull $15 for the best working oxen. In
1822 Henry Bull had the best three acres of winter wheat, for which
he was awarded a prize of $10. Moses Crawford then received a like
award for 2,051 pounds of butter from twenty cows. In 1823 Moses
Crawford received a four-dollar prize for the third best piece of
dressed woolen cloth, also various other prizes for white flannel,
linen, etc. William Gillespie then had a fine exhibit of sewing-silk,
for which he received a prize. These items are taken at random from
an old record which, strangely enough, does not contain the first
awards in many cases.

The population of Crawford, according to the national census of 1880,
was 1,951, which was a decrease from that of 1870 of seventy-three.

The Pine Bush Library Association was organized November 10, 1899, at
a meeting held in Wallace Hall for the purpose of considering the
practicability of establishing a public library in the village. H. J.
McKinney, Mrs. Joel Whitten, J. E. Ward, Mrs. J. L. Acheson, D. T.
Bowen, Miss Emma B. Shaper, S. K. Seybolt and Mrs. Nelson Van Keuren
were chosen trustees. H. J. McKinney was elected president, retaining
the office until his death, September 24, 1907. While ably
discharging the duties of the position, he was a liberal contributor
to the support of the library. He supervised the construction of the
building it now occupies.

The library was incorporated December 21, 1899, receiving from the
State University a provisional charter. December 1, 1904, a permanent
charter was granted.

Through the kindness of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of
Pine Bush the library was kept in the rooms of that organization
without cost to the association, until the summer of 1907, when it
was removed to its present home. This was remodeled from a building
presented to the Library Association by H. P. Taylor, a resident of
the village, and is a substantial edifice with an attractive
interior, admirably arranged for library purposes.

The library, which is free, now numbers more than 2,000 well selected
books. The funds for its support are derived from the membership
dues, contributions, lectures or entertainments, and the State
appropriation.




CHAPTER XV

TOWN OF DEER PARK.



LOCATION, AREA AND TITLE.

This town is located in the extreme western angle of Orange County.
In outline the territory forms nearly a perfect triangle. It is one
of the larger towns in the county, having an area of 37,020 acres,
according to the latest tax tables of the Orange supervisors, being
exceeded only in extent by the town of Warwick. It is also next to
the largest in population, having 11,562 inhabitants, according to
the State census of 1905. It is also a most important town in
several other respects, as will be seen from the comprehensive
outline presented in the succeeding pages.

It contains the point of land where three States intersect--New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This precise point is known as the
"Tri-States Rock." This solid rock is at the extreme point of the
tongue of land lying at the mouth of the Neversink River and between
that stream and the Delaware River. A copper bolt has been sunk in
this rock to mark the spot which has been agreed upon by the
authorities of these States. By standing over this bolt one is
therefore in three different States at the same time.

Whether or not the full legal import of this strategic point of
vantage has been well understood by certain classes, or made use of
in critical emergencies, is not definitely known. It is, however, one
of the show places of Port Jervis, and visitors may easily find it by
a short walk through Laurel Grove Cemetery.

In 1880 the town assessors reported a total value of taxable property
of $2,431,680, upon which a tax of $37,374.27 was levied. These
amounts have been increased to $2,509,003, and $41,378.65
respectively, the valuation of the two banks not included, $379,706,
on which their tax is levied.

With the exception of the small tracts known as the Arent Schuyler
patent, the Tietsort 400 acre patent, and the Cuddeback patent, the
title to all the land of Deer Park comes from the Minisink patent.
This name was originally spelled "Minnisink." The tribal Indian
occupants were first known as the Minquas, and subsequently as the
Minsis, from which the present name seems to have been evolved.

Captain Arent Schuyler visited this region in 1694, during that
turbulent period of war with the savages, in order to determine how
far the influence of the French had effected the aborigines.

The town is bounded on the north by Sullivan County, on the southeast
by Mount Hope and Cornwall, {_sic_} and on the southwest by New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the County of Sullivan.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The topographical features of Deer Park are peculiarly marked. There
is the broad valley of the Neversink on the east, reaching from
northeast to southwest. This soil is exceptionally fertile, and here
it was that the early settlers began to build their cabins and blaze
their way into the thick forests.

A short, distance from the Neversink stream the old Delaware & Hudson
Canal was constructed and operated for many years, the line being
nearly parallel to the river. This great coal artery from the mines
to the Hudson was, however, abandoned in 1898 after seventy years of
successful operation, and the new Ellenville & Kingston Railway took
its place.

The Neversink stream has no important tributaries from the east. On
the west the Old Dam Kill comes into the main stream at Huguenot.
This drains a large portion of the central territory and gives some
valuable water power. Basha's Kill is the largest branch entering
from the east near Cuddebackville.

The Delaware River separates the town from Pennsylvania on the
southwest, and the Mongaup branch of the Delaware divides the town
from Sullivan County. Tributaries of this Mongaup stream drain the
higher central portions of the town. Still other tributaries of the
Delaware flow through the Honesdale region.

The general surface of the town is a mountainous upland broken by
many small streams which often flow through rocky ravines. There are
steep declivities along the Delaware, Mount William and Point Peter
being the most attractive features near Port Jervis. Along Basha's
Kill the bottoms are known as the Mamakating valley. Those along the
Neversink constitute the Suckapack valley, until the junction with
Basha's Kill is reached, when it is called the Neversink valley
proper, although also known as the Peenpack. This valley extends to
the mouth of the Neversink at Carpenter's Point. If space permitted
it would be interesting to trace the origin and significance of these
quaint names.

[Illustration: S. H. Gariss]

EARLY SETTLEMENT

In 1689 the old town of Schenectady in New York State was captured by
the Indians after a bloody fight. Among the residents there who fled
from the place was one William Tietsort (now written Titsworth), who
came to the land of Esopus first, but soon afterward went to this
Minisink region and settled in these forests. After a residence there
of some years he sought the right to purchase a tract of land there.
This was in 1698, and he succeeded in obtaining the land. His title
to this tract, though in dispute for a time, was finally confirmed,
and it was excepted from the Minisink patent. This tract was
afterward sold to John Decker, and the location is thought to have
been near Port Jervis. Thus the honor of being the first settler
seems to belong to this William Tietsort.

Other pioneer settlers came into the Peenpack valley and also in
Mamakating Hollow. Most of these old pioneers seem to have taken such
lands as suited their fancy with very little regard to who the owner
might be. Many of these came in from the famous Esopus region, and
these were mostly of that thrifty Dutch stock which made that
ancient region so famous and important in the formative period of the
State and national history. Nearly all settled along the streams
where the advantages of fertile soil and level land seemed most
attractive and important.

In 1697 Arent Schuyler received his patent, which covered a large
tract in the Minisink country called by the natives Sankheheneck,
otherwise Mayhawaem, also another tract called "Warinsayskmeck,
upon the river Mennessincks before an island called Menagnock, which
was near the Maghaghkemek tract and contained 1,000 acres and no
more." About the same time another grant of land containing 1200
acres was given to Jacob Codebeck, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony
Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout, Jan Tys, Peter Gimar and David
Jamison.

Both these patents were in the Peenpack valley, and they were so
imperfectly described in the titles that it was impossible to fix
their precise location or boundaries. They were therefore regarded as
"floating" patents or tracts, and the grantees were inclined to take
possession of most any unappropriated lands in that valley and settle
where they saw fit. This led to much difficulty in the succeeding
years, and when it became necessary to divide this Minisink patent
the commissioners found no end of trouble.

The patentees Codebeck and Gimar were French and came here after a
brief sojourn in Maryland. They married into the Swartwout family,
which was a sturdy, vigorous stock, well able to cope with the
warlike natives and ferocious wild animals and dense forests as
pioneers.

The seven joint owners of this patent are said to have come into this
region in 1690, although there is no authentic record of any white
people there until 1694. The land covered by this patent laid along
the Neversink River and Basha's Kill. Mamakating Hollow was then the
nearest settlement, some twenty-five or thirty miles north.

In those days the settlement of a new country was indeed a herculean
task with the meager facilities then existing. And this was
preeminently true of this town, which was still slumbering in a
dense primeval forest. Plows and all other implements were of the
crudest description. What little grain was grown by these ancient
farmers had to be cut with a knife or rude sickle, and then the grain
was separated from the straw by the tramp of horses upon the
threshing floor. It was afterward winnowed from the chaff by
hand-fans made of willow rods. This was the universal practice in
this region down to 1760. The first fanning mill was brought in here
just previous to this by Peter Gumaer. The wagons were made almost
entirely of wood and the harness of flax and tow. During the long
winter evenings while the men were making these things the women
were spinning and reeling yarn. Not the yarn of the idle gossiper,
as now, but the fiber and fabric of utility which went into their
clothing.

The old Esopus region was some fifty or sixty miles north and the
roads were left to the vagaries of Dame Nature. But these pioneers
had to cart their corn and other produce there for sale. Wheat was
the staple crop, and Jacob Codebeck of this town was the first to
attempt grinding it in a small mill. One of these millstones, about
two feet in diameter and three inches thick, is still in the Gumaer
cellar near where the old mill stood. This was afterward followed by
two other grist mills on the "Old Dam Brook." Then came the De Witt
mill in 1770, on the Neversink River near Cuddebackville, and others
in later years. These ancient mills had no devices for bolting the
flour as now; thus after the grinding process, the whole had to be
sifted by hand in order to secure the fine flour for bread-making and
other culinary uses.

One of the earliest saw mills was erected in this town soon after
1760.

It should be said in this connection that there is some traditionary
{_sic_}evidence of a still earlier settlement in this Minisink region
which takes the date back even to 1650. Most of these claims, however,
seem based upon certain letters written by Samuel Preston of
Stockport, Penn., in 1828. In these letters he gave the recollections
of John Lukens, Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, as to this very
ancient settlement. His memory extended back to 1730. On this rather
hazy authority it is claimed that the first settlement was prior to
1664, when the region was still in the possession of the Dutch, and
that the settlement was abandoned at the English conquest. But there
are no existing documents to substantiate any such claim, and the
entire weight of evidence seems to clearly disprove it.

The records show that in 1714 the only freeholders in Maghaghkemek
were Thomas Swartwout, Harmon Barentsen, Jacob Cuddeback, Peter
Gumaer and Jacobus Swartwout. To these were added, fourteen years
later, the names of John Van Vliet, Jr., Samuel Swartwout and
Bernardus Swartwout, Jr. This would show a very small increase in 38
years, assuming that the settlement began in 1690.

This town became important also because of the long dispute over the
boundary line between the States of New York and New Jersey. The
variance of this line over which the conflict arose was in this
township. The owners of the Minisink and the 1,200 acre patents were
much disturbed for years by the New Jersey State authorities, who
claimed the line ran considerably farther north of the Delaware River
than the Deer Park people had established it. The New Jersey people
claimed a large portion of this 1,200 acre patent through which they
insisted the line ran, they procured a colony title to this disputed
portion of that patent. The precise location of the line being vague
and uncertain, no action at law could be maintained by either side,
but a bitter struggle ensued and lasted for many years. The trouble
seems to have arisen over the meaning of the phrase "the northernmost
branch of the Delaware River," which was the language used in the
description of title. There was a big triangular gore of land in
dispute. This conflict lasted nearly seventy-five years, and then it
was finally settled by an equitable division of the land in question.

Among the residents on this disputed land was Major Swartwout, and
the Jersey claimants planned to oust him from the property by force.
He was prepared for such an attack, but in spite of all his loaded
guns it seems that about 1730 the Jerseyites routed him from the
house and threw out all his goods. But with the assistance of friends
in Goshen the major was reinstated, and he afterward successfully
repelled another attack made about ten years later. He was, however,
captured and imprisoned, together with Johannes Westbrook, another
resident of the battleground, some time between 1764 and 1767, by a
strong force of Jersey men who surrounded his church on the Sabbath,
and seized the two men at the close of the service, after a fierce
struggle.

Soon after this a new line was agreed upon and the fight ended by the
passage of a royal edict at the Court of St. James in September,
1773. Commissioners of the two States afterward ran the line in
accordance with that agreement.

In 1874, one hundred years later, commissioners representing the two
States made a resurvey with the assistance of the United States
Coast Survey officials, which finally settled the great controversy
for all time.

In 1775, an old assessment roll of district No. 3, which was the
southern portion of Deer Park, comprising the present territory of
Port Jervis and vicinity, contained forty-eight names of property
holders. The largest of these was Johannes Decker, who was assessed
for 17 pounds 8 shillings and 7 pence. Next in order was Anthony
Van Etten, John Wells, Abraham Van Auken and Johannes Decker, Jr.

The De Witt family of this town were descendants of Tjerck Clausson
De Witt, who came from Holland and settled in Wiltwyck, now Kingston,
at a very early date. It was a very prominent family here and many of
its members achieved distinction.

Among other prominent settlers in this region were Peter Gumaer, Jan
Tyse, Bernardus Swartwout, Jacob Cuddeback, Anthony Swartwout, David
Jameson, and Hermanns Van Inwegen.

The very earliest physician in this region was Doctor Chattle, and he
settled near Carpenter's Point and practiced there until his death,
many years later. He came in at the opening of the nineteenth
century.

CIVIL ORGANIZATION.

Just when the civil organization of Deer Park was formed is not
definitely known. The Legislative act of October 18, 1701, provided
that the "people of Maghachemeck, the Great and Little Minisink,
should vote in the County of Ulster." This would imply that they were
outside of that county. This territory covered what is since known as
Cuddebackville and vicinity. Eight years later the boundary between
the counties was more definitely fixed by the Legislature. Soon after
this the territory went under the name of Maghachemeck, remaining
under this jaw-breaking title until 1743, when the precinct of
Mamakating was erected, which was at least a slight improvement upon
the old name.

This continued until 1798 when the town of Deer Park was organized.
The first Mamakating precinct meeting was held at the house of Samuel
Swartwout. This territory then included "all the land to the
southward of the town of Rochester as far as the County of Ulster
extends, and to the westward to the precincts of Wallkill and
Shawangunk."

While the name Minisink was applied to the territory above named, it
has been contended by some writers that there was in addition a
precinct of Minisink, and there are documents which seem, to
establish this fact even as early as 1739. But this precinct seems
to have been erected along the Delaware River below what afterward
became Carpenter's Point.

The territory now in Deer Park south of the old county line
comprising Port Jervis and vicinity was a part of the town of
Minisink from 1789 to 1825.

The first supervisor of the Mamakating precinct elected in April,
1774, was Benjamin Dupuy. The first supervisor of Deer Park elected
in April, 1798, was James Finch, and he remained in that office by
successive elections until 1810, when Peter E. Gumaer succeeded him.
But Mr. Finch was again selected to serve the town in that capacity
on three different occasions.

The earliest assessment roll of the town now preserved in the town
clerk's office, which was the first roll of Deer Park after the
division of the territory, is that of 1825. This shows a total
valuation of $114,820, and there were fifteen persons on the list
for over $2,000, the highest being Peter E. Gumaer at $6,230.

CENTERS.

With the exception of Port Jervis the centers of population in the
town are small and unimportant. Among them may be mentioned
Westbrookville on the line of the old canal, northeast of
Cuddebackville; Port Orange, a short distance south on the canal
line; Cuddebackville, in the northeastern part of the town, named in
honor of the pioneer settler, Jacob Cuddeback; Rose Point, a station
on the Monticello Railway; Port Clinton, still further down the
valley; Gumaers, also on the old canal line, and Huguenot, between
this and Port Jervis. Near this point are valuable mineral springs,
discovered in 1860. In 1880 a pipe line for the transmission of
petroleum oil to tide water was constructed through this section,
with stationary engines and a power plant for forcing this oil to
market.

Carpenter's Point is a very old locality, named for an early settler,
who established a ferry across the Delaware River there at a very
early period. It is near Port Jervis on the south and the famous
"Tri-States rock" is located here at the extreme point. This rock
marks the junction of the States of New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania. There are several stores, an old grist mill, and many
dwellings. A bridge here spans the Neversink River which was built in
1868.

Sparrowbush is another hamlet and post-office on the old canal line.
Bushkill is in the western part of the town, and Quarryhill is a
local mining district still farther west. Shin Hollow is a
neighborhood on the slope of the Shawangunk Mountain where the Erie
Railway crosses the town line into Mount Hope. Paradise is a small
hamlet on the Sullivan border northeast of Cuddebackville, and
Honesville and Bolton are other small hamlets born of the canal
enterprise.

CEMETERIES.

The Gumaer graveyard is believed to be the oldest burial place in the
town. Some of the old stones have inscriptions which show that
burials were made there very early in the eighteenth century.

The old Maghachemeck graveyard is in the southern section of the
town at Port Jervis. Previous to 1907 this ground was much neglected,
and its condition was anything but creditable to the citizens of that
growing village. Interments were made there long prior to the
Revolution.

[Illustration: Dr. J. J. Mills.]

The Laurel Grove cemetery is situated in the extreme southeastern
part of Port Jervis. This was established in 1856 by John Conklin,
who owned the site, and it is the modern cemetery now in use. It
contains many fine monuments and the lots and drives are well kept.
The name Laurel Grove was most appropriately bestowed because of the
thick natural growth of the American laurel on the ground. In 1857
the Weeping Willow cemetery was begun in Port Jervis. This is St.
John's burial ground next the Reformed church. Among other cemeteries
are that of the Reformed church, started in 1833, the Catholic
cemetery, also in Port Jervis, and the Rural Valley cemetery in
Cuddebackville, opened in 1867. In the early eighties the Weeping
Willow cemetery was purchased by the village of Port Jervis and
converted into a site for a school building, the bodies being removed
to other cemeteries.

MILITARY HISTORY.

At the beginning of the French war of 1775 there were only about
thirty families within the present limits of Deer Park township. It
was then divided into upper and lower neighborhoods. In the upper or
northern part, near the old county line, three small forts were
built; one on the Neversink, another at the house of Peter Gumaer,
and the third near the home of Peter Swartwout. There were also three
forts in the lower neighborhood on the south.

It is believed, however, that most of the Indian occupants of this
region had left before the opening of this French war. But they
returned in force when the Revolution began and attacked some of the
early settlers in 1777. These attacks soon became more frequent and
alarming, and the Committee of Safety was obliged to resort to very
vigilant methods in repelling the ferocious savages. Three other
forts were built in the Peenpack section, and these were manned by
soldiers known as the nine-months' men. Many of the women and
children were sent out of the town to more safe quarters. About this
time there were some fifty families in the town and they moved into
the forts for protection. But the settlement was attacked by a force
of Indians and Tories about that time and afterward, and many were
killed in the conflicts. Many of the houses and barns were burned and
much of the crops were destroyed during these Indian raids.

Many stirring incidents of those days are recorded, but much of this
record is merely traditional and lacks authentic documentary evidence
in its support.

At the close of the war the people were practically in a destitute
condition, and it took them a long time, with the very meager
facilities at hand, to reinstate themselves. Even the Continental
paper currency had greatly depreciated in value, and it was necessary
to build mills to make material for rebuilding their homes and barns.

At the opening of the Revolution Major John Decker was one of the
most prominent citizens in the Minisink valley, and it is said that
one of the objects of these Indian raids was to secure the scalp of
Major Decker. They succeeded in burning his house to the ground and
destroyed all his property during his absence from home at night,
driving out his family to sleep on the banks of the Neversink River,
but they didn't get the Major's scalp, though he was wounded while
riding his horse homeward, and barely escaped with his life by hiding
in a cave.

The Brandt raid of what was known as the lower neighborhood occurred
in July, 1779. News of the atrocities perpetrated by the Mohawk chief
and his savage followers was conveyed to Goshen, where a pursuing
force of militia was organized by Colonels Tusten and Hathorn. They
overtook Brandt at the ford of the Delaware at Lackawaxen, Pa., and
in the sanguinary struggle which took place on the heights above
Lackawaxen on the New York side of the river, the Indians were
completely victorious. The force under Hathorn and Tusten was almost
annihilated, but few escaping to tell the tale of the disaster. Of
these men were Captain Abraham Cuddeback of Deer Park, and Daniel
Meyers of Minisink, who is said to have killed more Indians than any
other man during the engagement.

The town took its full patriotic share in the struggle to save the
Union of States. Dr. John Conklin presided at the first meeting of
citizens, April 18, 1861, and prompt measures were adopted. Nearly
$1,000 was raised, and there were many donations for the soldiers and
their families. The Ladies' Aid Society was formed with Mrs. H. H.
Farnum as president, in September, 1862, and this association of
patriotic women forwarded supplies to the front amounting to $843.63.
Under the call of President Lincoln for 500,000 men in 1864 a tax of
$48,600 was raised by the town to pay bounties for soldiers of $300
each. An additional tax of $155,300 was afterwards raised for a like
purpose.

The Deer Park roll of honor in that war numbers 428. Of these some
forty-five lost their lives in the service of their country.

In the Spanish-American war of 1898 eighty-two volunteers for
service in Cuba were recruited in Port Jervis by Captain Benham and
others under the auspices of Lafayette Post, G. A. R., of the city of
New York. Of these, forty-four were attached to Company I of the
Second U. S. Infantry; thirty-five to the 42d U. S. Infantry, and the
remainder entered the Artillery and Cavalry arms of the service. The
recruits for this war came mainly from Port Jervis, but a few came
from surrounding districts.

BONDED DEBT.

Under the act of May 4, 1868, the town of Deer Park was bonded for
the sum of $200,000 to aid in the construction of the Monticello and
Port Jervis Railroad. These bonds drew 7% and ran thirty years to
their maturity. In 1898 they were refunded at 4% and provision made
for the gradual payment of the principal. There is now (1908)
outstanding in these bonds $161,000.

THE MONTICELLO R. R.

The Monticello and Port Jervis Railroad Company was incorporated
Sept. 3, 1868. It ran between Port Jervis and Monticello and opened
for traffic January 3, 1871. It was sold in foreclosure July 8, 1875,
and subsequently reorganized as the Port Jervis and Monticello
Railroad Co. Its history has been a checkered one. It is now operated
by the Ontario & Western Railroad as a part of its system.

THE CITY OF PORT JERVIS.

Port Jervis had its beginning in 1826 when the building of the
D. & H. Canal became a certainty. It was named in honor of John B.
Jervis, of Rome, N. Y.. a distinguished civil engineer, who
superintended the construction of the canal. As late as 1846 a
writer thus describes Port Jervis:

"It is a small village on the canal where it first approaches the
Delaware. It is just above Carpenter's Point (Tri-States) and the
junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers. It owes its population
and its importance to its position about midway between Honesdale,
Pa., and Kingston, N. Y., the two terminals of the D. & H. Canal.
There are five stores in the village; three taverns in spacious
buildings; one three-story grist mill, built by Dr. Ball, of
Brooklyn, N. Y., being a stone building with five run of stone in it;
three churches, a Dutch Reformed, Baptist, and Methodist, and one
large school house. Coal and lumber are sold in considerable
quantities. A mail route from Kingston, N. Y., to Milford, Pa., and
thence to Philadelphia, passes through the village."

At this time the population of the village was small, and Port Jervis
was equaled if not exceeded in importance by the neighboring hamlet
of Carpenter's Point, where the post-office was located and courts
were held.

The completion of the Erie Railroad to Port Jervis, January 1, 1848,
gave a wonderful impetus to its growth. The directors of the company
celebrated the event by an official trip over the road from Piermont
on the Hudson River, its eastern terminus, to Port Jervis, where the
entire population of the surrounding country were gathered to
celebrate their arrival. Cannon boomed and flags and bunting floated
from every house top. A banquet was served at the hotel of Samuel
Truex on the southwestern corner of Pike and Main streets, during
which the president of the road, Benjamin Loder, made an address
congratulating all concerned in the successful completion of the
great enterprise as far as Port Jervis. The subsequent growth of the
place was rapid. Its position as the headquarters of the Delaware
division of the road and the terminus of its eastern division and the
location here of extensive machine and car shops gave it a large
railroad population, which has been and still is the principal
contributing element to its prosperity.

In 1853 the village was incorporated and the first charter election
was held in August following. The total village expenses for the
first year was $1,350. Samuel Fowler was the first president.

Port Jervis became a city by an act of the Legislature of the date of
June 26, 1907, and at the first election under the city charter, held
in the ensuing November, the following city officials were elected:
Mayor, Dr. H. B. Swartwout; aldermen, Joseph Johnson (at large),
F. N. Mason, Andrew Hensel, A. F. Brown. P. C. Rutan, C. F. Van
Inwegen, Thomas Mulhearn, James Howell and James I. Delaney. The
first five named are republicans, the others democrats. The following
appointments were made by the Common Council: City clerk, A. P.
Altemeier; city engineer, Irving Righter; commissioner of charters,
John M. Snook; superintendent of streets and sewers, Theodore
Ludlum; chief of police, William Wilkin. Supervisors from the four
wards were elected as follows: First Ward, S. S. Garriss, dem.;
Second Ward, Henry Farnum, rep.; Third Ward, J. J. Toth, rep.;
Fourth Ward, J. P. Gillen, dem.

The population of Port Jervis in 1907, according to the census of the
State excise department, taken in that year for the purpose of
furnishing a basis upon which to adjust license rates, was 10,035.
But as the census was not intended to be exhaustive and practically
stopped when the 10,000 limit was reached, leaving certain sections
uncounted, it is fair to presume that the actual population was
considerably in excess of the figure named.

The assessed valuation of the city of Port Jervis for the year 1907
was $2,000,000; for the town of Deer Park about $500,000.

The city has eighty-two industrial establishments including the car
and machine shops of the Erie Railroad, employing over 1,000
operatives. The principal manufactured commodities are saws,
glassware, silk, gloves and mittens, shirt and ladies' collars. These
industries give employment to many skilled operatives who receive
good wages. The city has three hardware stores and two iron
foundries.

Among the important industries of Port Jervis is the Deer Park
Brewery Co., located on Reservoir avenue. The company was organized
in 1902 with George F. Ott, of Philadelphia, as president. The plant
of the insolvent Deer Park Brewery Co. was purchased and greatly
improved and enlarged.

STREET RAILROAD.

The Port Jervis Electric Street Railway Company was organized in
1895 with Hon. W. C. Richardson, of Goshen, as the first president.
The work of construction began November 15, 1897, and the road went
into operation January 15, 1898. The road is now known as the Port
Jervis Electric Railroad Co. It has about 4 1/3 miles of track and
runs three cars.

BANKS.

The oldest of the two banking establishments of this place, the
National Bank of Port Jervis, was organized under the State law as
the Bank of Port Jervis, in March, 1853. Business was opened in the
Delaware House. The original capital was $120,000, afterwards
increased to $130,000. Its first president was Thomas King, who
served until his death in 1857, when he was succeeded by H. H.
Farnum, who served until his death in 1879. The late Charles St.
John succeeded him and the late Francis Marvin became president in
1892 on the death of Mr. St. John. The present incumbent of the
office is W. L. Cuddeback.

The heavy defalcation of the assistant cashier led to a
reorganization of the institution in 1899 with Dr. W. L. Cuddeback
as president. The last annual report, December 5, 1907, showed
deposits amounting to $550,738.04. The present dividend rate is 7-1/2
per cent, per annum.

The First National Bank was organized in 1870 with a capital of
$100,000. Jacob Hornbeck was the first president. The late Martin
C. Everett succeeded him. The present head of this prosperous
institution is Chas. F. Van Inwegen. Its last report, on December 3,
1907, showed total deposits of $1,001,621.46. The stock pays 16 per
cent. dividends to stockholders.

The Port Jervis Savings Bank, organized under the State law, began
business in March, 1870, with Eli Van Inwegen as president. It
discontinued business in the later seventies.

THE POST-OFFICE.

The post-office was removed from Carpenter's Point to Port Jervis in
1829, and John Slauson was the postmaster. He was succeeded by Dr.
John Conklin in 1833, followed by Dr. Charles Hardenburgh in 1845,
who was soon displaced by Thomas J. Lyon. Then came Dr. Conklin again
in 1849, Francis Marvin in 1851, Thomas J. Lyon again in 1853, James
Van Fleet in 1855, George Brodhead in 1857, Augustus E. Goodale in
1861, Charles St. John, Jr., in 1879, Benjamin Ryall in 1885,
Stephen St. John in 1889; George A. Elston in 1893; S. D. Boyce in
1897. Mr. Boyce still (in 1908) continues in office.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

The Port Jervis fire department was long regarded among the best in
the State outside the large cities, and few destructive fires were
ever allowed to gain much headway. The introduction of the
water-works system gave ample hydrant pressure to cope with any
conflagration, and the old hand engines were long since abandoned.
There are seven different fire companies with a force of considerably
over 200 effective fire fighters. The equipment included a steamer
and hook and ladder apparatus. P. C. Rutan is chief engineer of the
department.

PORT JERVIS FREE LIBRARY.

In 1892 was organized the Port Jervis Free Library, with W. L.
Cuddeback, W. H. Nearpass, Maria B. Van Etten, Minnie C. Brox
and E. H. Gordon, trustees. This board has continued in charge of the
library until the present time except that, in 1896, Mrs. Brox
resigned and was succeeded by Mrs. M. I. Coonrod. In 1901 a gift of
$20,000 was received from Mr. Carnegie for the construction of a
library building, which was subsequently increased to $30,000, and
with this fund a large, handsome, commodious building was constructed
on Pike street hill on a site given by Peter E. Farnum. The building
is constructed of light colored pressed brick with native blue stone
trimmings. It will house 40,000 volumes. The number at present on
the shelves is 15,000; added during the year 1907 by purchase, 1,062;
the number lent for home use during the current year, 33,706. It is
rich in encyclopedias and valuable works of reference, including the
Congressional Record and Globe, and reports of the departments of the
Federal and State governments. The valuable collection of books and
documents of the Minisink Valley Historical Society is also housed in
this building, a separate room on the second floor having been set
apart for the accommodation thereof. This building contains two
spacious, well equipped reading rooms, in which may be found all the
leading reviews, magazines, and weekly periodicals, with complete
files of many of them handsomely bound and ranged about the walls for
convenient reference.

The present librarian is Miss Elizabeth G. Thorne; assistants, Miss
Charlotte Nearpass and Miss Anna G. Wells.

SEWERS.

Port Jervis has an excellent system of public sewers, established in
1891 at a cost of about $85,000, for which the bonds of the village
were issued. The original sewer commissioners were Francis Marvin,
L. E. Carr, George Schoonover, W. A. Drake, M. D. Graham, with Ed.
Whitner, clerk. Its establishment has resulted in a lowering of the
death rate and a notable diminution in zymotic diseases within the
city limits.

CHURCHES.

Port Jervis has eight churches, which in the order of their
establishment are as follows: _The Reformed Church of Deer Park,_
founded August 23, 1737, under the name of the _Reformed Dutch
Church_ of Mahackemech; _Drew Methodist Episcopal Church_ and the
_Baptist Church,_ both founded in 1838; _First Presbyterian,_
incorporated July 15, 1851; _Grace Episcopal Church,_ incorporated
September 3, 1853; the _Church of the Immaculate Conception,_
incorporated January 10, 1860; _German Lutheran Protestant,_ Port
Jervis, incorporated January 1, 1861; the _Second Reformed Church,_
whose house of worship on West Main street (in Germantown), was
dedicated November 29, 1896, with Rev. David T. Harris as pastor;
the _Church of Sacred Heart_ (in Germantown), whose handsome church
edifice of brick was dedicated in November, 1899, with Rev. B. J.
Duffy, ordained in Rome, as first pastor.

The colored people also have a church organization known as the
_Wickham A. U. M. P. Church,_ in honor of the late Dr. D. T. Wickham,
the principal contributor to their church building.

ST. MARY'S HOME.

A religious, educational and charitable institution of great merit
and usefulness is St. Mary's Home, founded in 1871 by the late Rev.
Father Nelan, its object being to provide a home for orphan children
and to train and instruct them for a useful place in society. For
over twenty years this institution has been in charge of Sister
Theophelia, a woman whose motherly instincts and marked
administrative abilities peculiarly fit her for this highly
important work.

MINISINK VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

An event of great importance to the residents of this town was the
organization of the Minisink Valley Historical Society in 1888. Among
the active promoters of this undertaking were Rev. Dr. S. W.
Mills, Francis Marvin, Dr. John Conkling, O. P. Howell, Dr. Sol Van
Etten, C. E. and W. L. Cuddeback, W. H. Nearpass and C. F. Van
Inwegen. Its collection of relics and manuscripts is large and of
great value to the genealogist and historian. Its library numbers
more than 1,500 volumes of books and pamphlets. Its manuscripts
exceed 1,000 in number. With the facilities offered by its new home
in the Carnegie Library building and protection and safety provided
by its fireproof vaults, it will in time become the repository of
all valuable documents and manuscripts in this vicinity.

OLD BURYING GROUND RESTORED.

During the summer of 1907 a notable work was accomplished by the
Machackemech Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of
which Mrs. Charles F. Van Inwegen is the president, in clearing and
beautifying the grounds of the old historic Machackcmech cemetery on
East Main street next to the Catholic cemetery. Through long neglect
the cemetery had fallen into a condition of utter decay and ruin. The
ground was covered with a dense growth of weeds, briars and
underbrush, and the memorial stones, some of them dating back to a
period anterior to the Revolution, were for the most part so weather
beaten and moss-grown that their inscription was difficult to
decipher, in some cases were totally illegible. All this has been
changed, and now this hallowed ground "Where the rude forefathers of
the hamlet sleep" has been restored to order and beauty and no longer
offends by its wild and neglected appearance.

SOLDIERS MONUMENT.

A conspicuous ornament to the public square of the city (Orange
Square) is the soldiers' monument, erected in 1886 through the
liberality and public spirit of Diana Farnum, widow of H. H. Farnum,
whose gift of $10,000 defrayed the cost thereof. It commemorates the
valor and patriotism of the soldiers from Deer Park who took part in
the great struggle for the preservation of the Union in 1861-5. It
was unveiled to the public on July 4, 1886, in the presence of a
vast multitude of spectators. L. F. Carr, Esq., of Port Jervis, and
General Stewart L. Woodford, of Brooklyn, N. Y. were the orators of
the occasion. The ceremonies were in charge of Carroll Post,
G. A. R., of Port Jervis.

FLOODS IN PORT JERVIS.

The situation of Port Jervis near the confluence of the Delaware and
Neversink Rivers exposes its low-lying parts to occasional overflows
of these streams in times of heavy rainfall and more especially
during the break-up of ice at the end of the winter season.

The channel of the Delaware at this place is shallow and obstructed
by rapids and islands against which descending masses of ice become
lodged, damming back the water and producing what is known as an
ice-gorge. Such an event occurred in the latter part of February,
1875, when the channel of the river for several miles in extent was
filled with a gigantic accumulation of broken ice. For several weeks
the village was threatened with inundation and various unsuccessful
expedients were resorted to to start the ice moving. The excitement
culminated on March 17, when the "gorge" gave way, carrying with it
the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware above Sparrowbush, which
in descending the stream on top of the moving ice, struck and swept
away the Barrett suspension bridge at Port Jervis. For a short time
just before the break-up of the "gorge" the lower part of the village
as far as the Erie tracks was flooded with water.

On October 10, 1903, a ten-inch rainfall in forty hours caused both
rivers to overflow their banks, submerging the low-lying parts of the
town. Barrett bridge across the Delaware was again carried away, and
five persons who were on it at the time lost their lives.

On March 8, 1904, a flood caused by an ice gorge destroyed the iron
railroad bridge across the Delaware at this place and the suspension
bridge across the Neversink. The lower section, of the village was
submerged to a depth of three feet and the portion across the Erie
tracks to a depth of from seven to ten feet.

This succession of disasters emphasized the necessity for protective
measures of some kind, and the matter was taken in hand by the
village Board of Trade, as a result of whose deliberations a bill
was presented and passed at the ensuing session of the Legislature,
appropriating the sum of $35,000 for diking the Delaware at Port
Jervis. This money was used to excellent purpose and a substantial
dike was built under the direction of the State engineer, extending
from the upper part of Germantown to Barrett bridge. To afford the
needed protection, however, this work should be extended down the
river bank to Laurel Grove cemetery. Bills for the necessary
appropriation have been introduced at the successive sessions of the
Legislature, but for various reasons have failed to pass. A more
fortunate issue is expected from the one introduced by Senator
Taylor at the present session. Another State appropriation of
$10,000 was spent in strengthening and clearing the channel of the
Clove Brook at Tri-States and a pumping station has been established
at the foot of Wagner Place, by means of which accumulated surface
water is drained off in times of flood. An effort is also being made
through Representative Thos. W. Bradley to secure the aid of the
Federal government in clearing and deepening the channel of the
Delaware and removing obstructions from Storm Island, about a mile
below the city.

CANAL ABANDONED.

The canal of the Delaware & Hudson Company was abandoned in 1878.
Samuel D. Coykendall, of Kingston, purchased the right of way, and
sold it to the Pennsylvania Coal Company, by whom a coal carrying
road from the anthracite field to tide water along the old canal
route was projected. The enterprise was defeated by the purchase by
the Erie Railroad Company of the stock of the Pennsylvania Coal
Company, which carried with it ownership and control of the old
right of way and blocked threatened competition in the carriage of
coal to tide water.

ERIE CHANGES.

In the spring of 1890 the Erie removed its passenger station from
the foot of Pike street to the Brown building in Jersey avenue,
near its junction with Fowler street. This building was remodeled and
enlarged and made over into one of the finest depots along the line
of the Erie road. It was destroyed by fire on Christmas night of the
same year and the present handsome structure erected on its site.

On Easter Sunday, 1905, the company transferred the headquarters of
the principal Delaware division official from Port Jervis to
Susquehanna. This involved the removal of thirty officials and
assistants, including the superintendent, train master, division
engineer, division plumber, and division carpenter.

GOOD ROADS.

This section will benefit by the good roads movement lately adopted
by the State, and Port Jervis may naturally expect considerable
increase of trade and perhaps of population from the three State
roads now in process of construction which converge in this city. One
of these begins in Middletown, passes through Wawayanda and
Greenville and comes out upon the road leading from Tappentown to
Tri-States. Another starts from Middletown and passes through
Otisville and Cuddebackville, taking at the last named place the old
road pronounced by the State inspector to be one of the finest in the
State. A third leads from the Sullivan County line at Rio on the west
to Port Jervis.

CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

The year just passed has witnessed the organization of a City
Improvement Association composed of ladies, the object of which is
sufficiently indicated by its name. It has an active corps of
officers and members animated by a praiseworthy spirit of civic
pride. Mrs. Maria B. Van Etten is the president.

PLACES OF SPECIAL NOTE.

Tri-States Rock, situated at the confluence of the Delaware and
Neversink Rivers, at which the boundary lines of three States--New
York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey--intersect, is one of the show
places of the town. The rock is at the extreme point of the narrow
tongue of land lying between the two rivers and at the mouth of the
Neversink. The geological formation is rocky and will stand the wear
of the floods for centuries to come as it has for centuries past. A
small monument now marks the spot.

The site of the old Dutch church on the Van Inwegen land directly
opposite the old Machackemech cemetery on Main street is suggestive
of historic memories. Here assembled for worship in the old log
"meeting house" of 1743 the pioneer families of this section. The
house was burned by Brandt and his savages in the historic raid of
July, 1779.

The Van Etten schoolhouse, from which the teacher, Jeremiah Van
Auken, was taken out and cruelly murdered in the same raid, was
located on the old Levi Van Etten farm, afterwards owned by Mark
Van Etten, on the east side of the Neversink River about one-fourth
of a mile north of Black Rock cut on the Erie.

The forts mentioned in the early annals gather about themselves most
of the traditions of Indian attack. In the upper neighborhood there
was one at the house of Jacob Rutsen De Witt. This was near
Cuddebackville, on the west side of the Neversink. Another fort was
at the Gumaer place, now the Godeffroy estate. The old stone
building is still standing and in excellent preservation.

In the accounts of incidents occurring during the old French War, it
is stated that on one occasion the Indians lay in ambush "to take the
lower fort at Mr. Westfall's." This was probably the old stone house
at Germantown. A local writer says: "The present structure, rebuilt
in 1793, occupied the site of a fort or blockhouse built anterior to
the Revolution and occupied as a dwelling and trading post by a
family of the name of Haynes, who carried on a thriving trade with
the Indians for many years." Captain Westfall, who married one of Mr.
Haynes's daughters, lived in the house during the Brandt invasion of
1779. He was away on a scouting expedition at the time, and a trusty
Negro buried the valuables and assisted the escape of the captain's
wife to the high hills of the Jersey shore near Carpenter's point.

It is said that Brandt's expedition first attacked "the fort at
Major Decker's." This was on the old George Cuddeback place on the
east side of the Neversink River, about three miles from Port Jervis.
Another fort was near the residence of the late James D. Swartwout.
Still another is mentioned by Peter E. Gumaer "at the house of Peter
Coykendall, in the present village of Port Jervis."




CHAPTER XVI.

TOWN OF GOSHEN.

By George F. Gregg.



Northwest, sixty miles by rail from New York City, sixteen miles in
an air line west from the Hudson River, lies Goshen, the county seat
of Orange County, located in the geographical center of that civic
sub-division. The town derives its name from the Goshen of Biblical
memory. Almost two centuries ago the first of the settlers came. The
native beauty of the place appealed to the calm and dauntless spirits
of these men, who had plunged boldly into a benighted and unknown
country. They stood upon the wooded hills and looked with glad eyes
upon the fertile, fruitful valley. All around about them lay the land
of their desire, and they called it Goshen, the "promised land" of
the Scriptures.

The town, which was first known by this name in 1714, was originally
much larger than at present. Its boundaries were defined by law in
1788. A part of Hamptonburgh was taken from it in 1830, and a part of
Chester in 1845. Other changes of boundaries were made at different
times, as recited elsewhere in this article. It has a population
to-day in town and village slightly in excess of 5,000.

The section is known for the great fertility of its soil. It is in
the heart of a noted dairying country, and as long ago as
Revolutionary days Goshen butter was widely famed. Butter making has
practically ceased now, but the milk production is large. The town
is also noted for the onions and celery raised on its black dirt
meadows, as well as for the grass crops grown on its fertile farms.

The village is located on the main line of the Erie Railroad, and has
direct connection with New England cities by way of the N. Y.,
N. H. & H. R. R. It is also the terminus of the Montgomery & Erie,
the Goshen & Deckertown, and the Lehigh & New England Railroads.
It is handsomely laid out with broad, well-kept and well-shaded
streets of smooth macadam. It has three public school buildings, and
Garr Institute, a parochial school, conducted under the direction of
St. John's Church. It has six churches: The First Presbyterian,
organized in 1720; St. James' Episcopal, dating back to 1796;
St. John the Evangelist, Roman Catholic, founded in 1820; the
Methodist Episcopal, organized in 1847; the A. U. M. P. Church, and
Olivet Chapel, a Presbyterian colored mission. It has two national
banks and a savings bank, two newspapers, gas and electric lighting
companies, a waterworks system, and first-class hotels and clubs. Its
fire department is made up of three volunteer companies, Cataract
Engine and Hose, organized in 1843; Dikeman Hose, organized in 1872,
and Minisink Hook and Ladder, organized in 1906, upon the disbanding
of Elliott H. and L., which was organized in 1871. Leading to the
village from almost every direction are improved roads, maintained
under State supervision.

[Illustration: George F. Gregg.]

No mention of the town, past or present, would be complete, without
reference to the trotting-horse industry. It began in 1803, when
Imp. Messenger, acknowledged head of the trotting family, stood at
Goshen Down through all the years trotting horses were bred and
raised there, and even in this day and generation the horse
interests are chief among the interests of the town. In the center of
the village is located the finest half-mile track in the country and
many famous horses are trained there.

Every foot of its ground is historic. In the far-gone years red men
roamed its landscape and predatory beasts lurked in the shadows of
its primeval timber lands. It was one of the early settlements made
on that vast tract to which Governor Nicolls referred when he wrote
in 1664: "The lands which I intend shall be first planted are those
upon the west bank of Hudson's River." Shortly after the first
settlement a bounty was placed on wolves and the Governor recommended
its payment to the House of Lords. Chapter 302 of the laws of 1715,
was an act for the destroying of wolves in this section. This act
expired July 21, 1717, and on October 29, 1742, the General Assembly
found it necessary to pass a law placing a bounty of a shilling and
sixpence on "wolves, whelps and panthers."

Noah Webster, of dictionary renown, taught the first academy in
Goshen. Dewitt Clinton attended school there, and William H. Seward
studied law in the office of Judge Duer. The first newspaper of the
county, _The Goshen Repository,_ was published at Goshen in 1788, by
David Mandeville.

In the article which follows, the writer has endeavored to furnish a
concise history in limited space. As nearly as possible, events are
set down in chronological order. Much of interest concerning the town
that is based only upon tradition is left out and the space devoted
to historical facts that can be authenticated and verified by
records, maps, parchments and the writings of earlier and wiser men.

The County of Orange dates its existence by legal enactment from
October 1, 1691, in the third year of the reign of King William and
Queen Mary, and in the administration of Henry Sloughter, Esq.,
Governor. The First Assembly convened the 9th of April that year. On
October 1 it passed an act, Chapter 17, entitled "An Act to divide
the province and dependencies into shires and counties." Section VII
of this act provided: "The County of Orange to begin from the limits
or bounds of East and West Jersey, on the west side of Hudson's
River, along the said river to the Murderer's Creek, or bounds of the
County of Ulster; and westward into the woods as far as the Delaware
River."

Chapter 94, which became a law October 18, 1701, added to the lands
embraced in the county those of "Magachemeck and Great and Little
Minisinck."

On November 12, 1709, during the administration of Richard
Ingoldsby, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, the Eighth Assembly passed an
act, Chapter, 202, "to determine, settle and ascertain the bounds and
limits of the County of Orange." This act repealed the clause added
by Chapter 94, and fixed the bounds as follows: "That the County of
Orange shall extend from the limits and confines of the Province of
New Jersey on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said river
to the line of the County of Ulster, and westward so far as the
Delaware River."

The county derives its name from the Prince of Orange, who married
Mary, and came to the throne in 1689, under the name of King William.

Goshen is a part of the tract known as the Wawayanda Patent, acquired
of the red men by John Bridges & Company, on March 5, 1703, and
confirmed by royal decree of Queen Anne. Twelve Indian sachems
conveyed the land. They were Rapingonick, Wawastawa, Moghopuck,
Comelawaw, Nanawitt, Arawinack, Rombout, Claus, Chouckhass,
Chingapaw, Oshasquememus and Quilapaw. The patent was granted April
29. There were twelve patentees, namely, John Bridges, LL.D.,
Hendrick Tenyck, Derrick Vanderburgh, John Chotwell, Christopher
Denn, Lancaster Syms, Daniel Herran, Philip Rockeby, John Meredith,
Benjamin Aske, Peter Matthews, and Christian Christianse. The grant
was supposed to contain 60,000 acres, but surveys later showed that
it contained nearly 160,000. These twelve patentees held the land in
common until 1706, when it was divided into twelve parts. Only eight
of the original shareholders retained their interests at that time,
Bridges having died in 1704, and others having transferred their
holdings.

The tract was unoccupied until 1712, when Christopher Denn made
settlement upon it, to be followed shortly by Benjamin Aske; Daniel
Cromline, who became a shareholder in 1704; Christian Snedeker, of
Long Island; Samuel Staats, who came into record as a thirteenth
shareholder in 1713; and John Everett and Samuel Clowes, who in 1714,
acquired a tract equal to four of the thirteen shares. The township
of Goshen came that year, and the precinct of Goshen, comprising the
outlying settlements came later, and remained until 1788 when the
township was expanded to take its place.

In 1712, Christopher Denn, a carpenter by trade and resident of New
York City, paid a visit to the patent and determined to make a
settlement upon it. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were childless, but
had adopted an orphan girl, Sarah Wells.

Denn selected a spot along the Otterkill, as it is now known, about
two miles or more from the present village. He returned to New York,
equipped an expedition, which he sent up the Hudson River in charge
of his adopted daughter, accompanied by two white men and some
Indians whom he had taken to New York when returning from his first
visit. A raft was used for the voyage and a landing safely made near
Cornwall. The journey to the spot selected by Denn was through a
trackless forest, but was made without mishap and a rough cabin was
built. After the starting of the expedition Denn was remorseful
because he sent the girl into unknown dangers, and within a short
time he started for the new settlement, with his wife. The journey
was made on horseback. They arrived safely and took up permanent
residence there.

It appears from an old map that Denn's share of the patent was a
triangular tract, containing about 2,000 acres. The presence of this
family soon brought other settlers and the woodman's axe resounded
far and near. The merciless push of immigration began and the native
red men were driven further into the wilderness. In the course of a
few years Sarah Wells became the wife of William Bull, of
Wolverhampton, England, who came to this country and was employed by
Daniel Cromline in 1716 to build the masonry of a dwelling, later
known to fame for nearly a century as the Greycourt House. History
records this as the first marriage within the limits of the town of
Goshen.

The lands in the vicinity of the present village were settled to
some extent soon after Denn's arrival. There were on record deeds
showing the conveyance of lots in the village in 1714. On July 10,
1721, a deed in trust was made to John Yelverton by John Everett,
John Carpenter, John Gale, William Ludlum, Nathaniel Higby, John
Carpenter, Jr., G. McNish, James Sandys, Thomas Watson, Hope Rodes,
John Holly, James Jackson, Isaac Finch, Solomon Carpenter, John
Beers, Michael Dunning, Samuel Seely, John Nichols, William Jackson,
Alexander Moore, John Knapp, Samuel Webb, John Alsop and Richard
Halsted, setting forth that a conveyance had been "lately" made to
John Everett and Samuel Clowes, giving them one-sixth part of all the
lands for the purpose of laying out a township, establishing a church
and settling a minister.

The Goshen Presbyterian Church was organized in 1720, and Rev. John
Bradner, to whom more extended reference is made later in this
article, became its pastor in 1721. Two hundred acres of land were
deeded to him on April 17, 1722, and recorded at the request of his
widow on April 8, 1742. In 1724 the erection of a house of worship
was begun on the spot where now stands the court house. The first
court was convened in Goshen in 1727, and on December 16, of that
year an act was passed providing for the building of a court house
and jail, which were erected and completed in 1740, on the site of
the present Orange Hotel. On October 24, 1754, the General Assembly
appropriated 100 pounds for an addition to it, and in 1775 it was
demolished and a new one built at a point where now stands the
county clerk's office. The arms of King George III were placed upon
its front, but were torn down by indignant citizens.

A schoolhouse was built in 1801 on the church plot, the same spot
where the public school building on Greenwich street now stands. Here
Noah Webster taught for a time before he published his first
dictionary in 1806.

[Illustration: Jno. Pleovert]

Goshen, after its original settlement, soon became the most important
and populous district of the county, and a census taken in 1738
showed a total of 319 males above the age of ten. These were
stirring times for the people and most of the affairs were of a
warlike nature. There was frequent trouble with the Indians. The
frontier was only four miles away. Block houses were built at
Dolsontown and Scotchtown, and tradition has it that a block house
once stood back of the present race course on the property known
to-day as the Parkway Farm. In those days the settlers west of the
Wallkill made Goshen their rendezvous when Indian raids were feared.

In the reign of George II, when Hon. George Clinton was Governor, the
General Assembly passed an act to enable the inhabitants of Goshen in
the County of Orange to elect two additional constables. This act
explained that the inhabitants of the Precinct of Goshen had liberty
to elect only one constable and as the precinct had considerably
increased in numbers of inhabitants and settlements, it was
necessary that an increased number be elected. The act was passed
December 17, 1743, and provided that one of the constables "be
elected and chosen from and out of such of the inhabitants as have
habitations in the south part of Goshen, commonly called Wawayanda,
and the other from and out of such of the inhabitants as have
habitations northward near the meeting house, commonly called the
Water-Side Meeting House."

On September 21, 1744, the General Assembly passed an act to
authorize justices of the peace in the counties of Dutchess and
Orange to "direct so many constables and overseers of the highways to
be chosen, in the several precincts as to them shall seem meet." On
the same day an act was passed for the relief of the poor in the
counties of Orange and Suffolk.

     Covenant Chain Treaty.

During these years the settlers had as allies two tribes of Indians,
sometimes known as the Cashigton Indians, whose principal lodges were
located near where now stands the village of Cochecton in Sullivan
County, They formed a part of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware
Confederacy, once powerful, but at that time reduced in numbers. From
time immemorial Western Orange had been their hunting ground, but
late in the year 1744 they showed signs of distrust and retired to
their lodges on the upper Delaware. The colonists were loath to lose
these faithful allies, for their withdrawal left the outlying
settlements on the frontiers exposed to attack of hostile savages,
incited to rapine and murder by the French.

The attention of the Colonial Government was called to this matter
and Colonel DeKay was ordered to take a party and visit the Indians
in the hope that friendly relations might be restored and the red men
induced to return to their old hunting grounds. As a result of this
visit the Indian Treaty of Orange County was enacted and the ceremony
of the Covenant Chain performed at Goshen. Colonel Thomas De Kay took
with him, upon this expedition, Major Swartwout, Ensign Coleman, Adam
Weisner, who acted as interpreter, Benjamin Thompson, and two
Minisink Indians as guides. The pilgrimage was made in the depth of
winter. The Indians were found and agreed to come back, claiming that
they left because they were afraid of the people of Orange County,
who were always under arms. When it was explained that this was by
order of the Governor and for protection against the French and their
allies, the Indians rejoiced. They explained that they were of two
tribes, using for totems the signs of Minsi, or Wolf, and Uralachtgo,
or Turkey, and that their sachem had recently died. They were about
to choose a new sachem to govern all, and they promised that when he
had been chosen they would send representatives to make a treaty.
New Year's Day was fixed upon as the date.

On January 3, 1745, two days late, the Wolves and Turkeys, a dozen of
the head men in all, led by the new sachem, came into the village of
Goshen and marched in savage bravery up its main street. Just where
the ceremony took place is unknown, but the old manuscript record
says that the weather was severe, and it is probable that the meeting
was held in the rude court house. The Indians by their spokesman
explained that they had brought a Belt of Wampum that friendship and
brotherhood might be restored. They asked that some one be appointed
to enact with them the ceremony of the Covenant Chain.

Colonel De Kay informed them that the Governor alone had power to make
such an appointment and that as there was not time to communicate
with him, it would be best for the Indians to select a man. They
chose the colonel and he was then chained to them for an hour or more
as a token of their being united again in the bonds of friendship.
Speeches were made by the Indians and they solemnly pledged
themselves to be true "as long as the sun and moon endured," and
promised to send in runners at once if they learned of any plots
against the English. They also agreed to join in fighting the enemy
and asked that aid be given them in case of attack by the French.
This was freely promised and while the Colonel was still chained to
the Indians they gave him the Belt of Wampum to be sent to the
Governor. The Indians, according to the record, "again rejoiced with
three huzzahs and departed very much pleased." The Belt of Wampum, so
states the books of the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London, was
taken to the Colonial Council in New York by Colonel DeKay a
fortnight later and delivered to the Council, which in turn sent it
to the Governor, who recommended that one be given in return to the
Indians. This was the only occasion on record when the ceremony of
the Covenant Chain was enacted in Orange County.

[Illustration: James Edward Wells.]

On April 18, 1748, an act was passed by the General Assembly
providing that "for the time to come, all elections of representatives
of the County of Orange to serve in the present or any future General
Assembly shall begin and be first opened at the court house in Orange
Town, or at the court house or some other convenient place in the town
of Goshen."

About this time settlers who had dealings with the sheriff began to
find considerable fault with the manner in which mileage charges
were computed. On April 8, 1748, an act was passed providing that for
all writs and process papers served on inhabitants on the north side
of the mountain range called the Highlands, mileage should be
computed by the sheriff from the court house in Goshen, and for all
papers served on the south side from the court house in Orange Town.
The preamble to this act fully explained the situation. It stated:
"Whereas the County of Orange is very extensive in length, and by
reason of a ridge of mountains across the same, and for the better
accommodation of inhabitants, it was found necessary to have two
court houses, the one at Goshen on the north, and the other at
Orange Town on the south thereof; yet by the sheriff having his
residence sometimes at the one and sometimes at the other extreme of
the said county, the computation of his fees for mileage in the
service of writs hath hitherto been made from the place of the
sheriff's abode, which has been found to be very inconvenient and
burdensome to the parties concerned."

    Military Matters.

When the French and Indian War began in 1756 the men of Goshen were
continually under arms. The old Journal of the Assembly relates the
services of Captain George De Kay as express between Goshen and
Minisink. It mentions as his guards Peter Carter, David Benjamin,
Philip Reid and Francis Armstrong. It tells also of the payment of
nearly 100 pounds to Colonel Vincent Mathews for furnishing guides to
regulars posted at Goshen from October, 1757, to February, 1758, and
refers to the work of Colonels Clinton and De Kay in laying out block
houses for the settlers' defense. Mention is also made of the payment
of 56 pounds to Samuel Gale for provisions furnished troops on the
frontiers near Goshen; and of reimbursing Colonel Benj. Tusten,
Captain Daniel Case and Captain J. Bull for money advanced in
building block houses Nos. 1 and 2 on the western frontier in
January, 1757.

In 1763, Lieutenant-Governor Cadwallader Colden appealed to the
General Assembly for troops to relieve the militia on the borders of
Orange and Ulster which were infested by the enemy. At this time the
town of Goshen extended from the Hudson to New Jersey. In 1764 a bill
was passed dividing the precinct of Goshen into two precincts, to be
called Goshen and Cornwall. After this division Cornwall embraced the
present towns of Cornwall, Monroe and Blooming Grove, while Goshen
included the present town of Warwick.

During the years prior to the Revolution when the colonists were
growing desperate under the exactions of King George, patriotism and
valor were manifested to a marked degree in Goshen. On June 8, 1775,
over 360 men signed the Revolutionary pledge at Goshen and the name
of Henry Wisner headed the list. The Reverend Nathan Ker, an ardent
patriot, and the fourth pastor of the Goshen Presbyterian Church, who
came to Goshen in the fall of 1766, and remained until his death,
December 14, 1804, on one occasion is said to have dismissed his
congregation in the midst of a Sunday service to prepare food for a
troop of horse that had halted on the way to Philadelphia. Once
General George Washington, riding eastward on the Florida road
towards his headquarters at Newburgh, stopped with his staff to chat
awhile with the children at the old school house near the stone
quarry.

NOTABLE EARLY RESIDENTS.

Many of the old families of Goshen to-day are descendants of the
patriots who fought in the colonial service and whose names appear on
the roster of the Goshen regiment at the battles of Long Island and
White Plains, at the struggle in the Highlands, and the capture of
Fort Montgomery, as well as in the memorable slaughter of Minisink.

[Illustration: Frederick W. Duvard]

The highway between Goshen and Florida, over which Washington rode,
is a historic thoroughfare and in Revolutionary days was lined with
the homes of famous men. Goshen was then the stronghold of the Whigs.
In a stone house nearly opposite the present Sayer homestead, lived
Moses Hatfield, a captain, afterwards a major, in the Goshen
regiment, who was taken prisoner at a night assault on what is now
Randall's Island, on September 23, 1776, and was kept a captive until
1778.

A little further along the way lived Henry Wisner, the elder. He and
his son of the same name were makers of powder for the Continental
Army at Phillipsburg, between the highway as it now stands and the
grist mill near by. Traces of the old raceway and mill can still be
seen. Another on the opposite side of the stream, and one at
Craigville, operated in conjunction with John Carpenter, were also
erected by Henry Wisner. The Sons of the Revolution arranged some
years ago to mark the site of the Phillipsburg powder mill by an
historical tablet.

Henry Wisner stood foremost among those who advocated the
independence of the colonies. He represented Orange County in the
Continental Congress which declared that "these States are, and of
right ought to be, free." His son Gabriel, hardly past his majority,
was slain in the slaughter of Minisink. On the 16th of August, 1774,
Henry Wisner was chosen as one of the delegates to represent Orange
County in the Continental Congress held in Philadelphia in September
of that year. The election was by the committee of the county held at
the house of Stephen Slot and the purpose was for the delegate to
attend at Philadelphia "to consult on proper measures to be taken for
procuring the redress of our grievances."

A question was raised as to the regularity of this election and a
meeting of the inhabitants of the precincts of Goshen and Cornwall
was held at Chester on September 3, 1774, at which Henry Wisner was
chosen to go to Philadelphia "in order to meet the rest of the
delegates and consult on proper measures to be taken with respect to
the claims made by the British Parliament of taxing America in all
cases whatsoever."

William Wickham was a prominent citizen of Goshen, and his attitude
was one of extreme loyalty to the crown. With other adherents of the
king he attempted to set aside the election of Wisner. The
correspondence, which still exists, shows that political feeling was
very bitter. The scheme came to naught and Wisner took his seat. In
April, 1776, he was elected by a convention held at New York City, as
a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in which he took part,
leaving it for the purpose of manufacturing powder for Washington's
tattered army.

Mr. Wisner's signature may still be found in the list at Carpenter's
Hall in Philadelphia. He continued in Congress until the memorable
2nd of July, 1776, when the "Resolution of Independency" {_sic_} was
passed. He was heartily in favor of the measure and remained for the
purpose of casting his vote for its final passage, had the Provincial
Congress of New York given such instructions to its delegates.
Tradition affirms that he actually did vote for the "independency"
that day. He was not present to sign the Declaration. He had proposed
in Congress "a method for the manufacture of saltpeter and gunpowder"
which had been approved, and in agreement with which he was requested
or appointed to build works and prepare powder for the "Army of the
North." To do this he left Philadelphia on the third of July and
applied himself to the making of powder. For three years, and until
his mill was burned and his fortune exhausted, he continued to supply
powder to the American forts and thus beyond any man in the
Continental Congress of 1776 contributed to his country's triumph.

On the square at St. James' Place in the village of Goshen stands a
monument of native Pochuck granite erected to the memory of Henry
Wisner by his great granddaughter, Mrs. Frances Wisner Murray, widow
of Ambrose Spencer Murray, of Goshen. The monument was dedicated on
July 22, 1897, by Dr. John H. Thompson, who presided and Harrison W.
Nenny, Esq., who made the dedicatory address.

Adjoining the residence of Henry Wisner, and separated from it by
what is now known as Steward's lane, was the home of John Steward,
an ardent patriot. He was one of two brothers, John and Walter
Stewart, or Steward, the name having been spelled both ways, who came
from Ireland to New England about 1740. Walter settled in Rhode
Island, where he started a snuff-mill and became the father of
Gilbert Stuart, the noted portrait painter, whose unfinished picture
of Washington is the likeness that the world knows best to-day.
Gilbert after reaching manhood, wrote his name Stuart, because by
reason of the fact that his ancestry was by tradition connected with
the Jacobite cause, he had a great admiration for "Bonny Prince
Charlie."

[Illustration: E. R. Varcoe, D.D.S.]

The tradition was that, at the time of one of the early Jacobite
risings, a nurse in charge of two young children appeared in Belfast,
Ireland. They came from Scotland and the woman immediately on
arriving fell ill of small-pox and died refusing to tell anything
about the children except that their names were John and Walter
Stewart, and that they were the sons of a man of rank who would soon
come for them. She had with her no money but some fine jewels, no one
ever came to claim the children, but as it is recorded in history
that some Jacobite families are known to have been exterminated in
their bloody and unfortunate battles, this may have been the fate of
the relatives of these boys, too young to tell anything about
themselves. They were brought up by a man, appointed their guardian.
He treated them harshly and as soon as grown they left him and came
to try their fortune in a new land. John first acquired some property
in Boston, which he left in his will to his son Nathan, but soon came
to Goshen and settled there, buying in 1744 eighty acres of land,
"and the houses thereon" from William Jayne. From this it appears
that the Steward house may have been erected previous to 1744, but
"houses thereon" may have been a mere legal term, and the house was
probably built by John Steward. It is certain, however, that it has
been standing since 1744. He bought more land, about 120 acres in
all, at a later date. To farming John Steward joined the occupation
of blacksmith, erecting a little to the left of his house a forge,
which was in operation as early as 1758, the family having still in
their possession, a deed of sale bearing that date of a slave named
Tite, warranted to be a good blacksmith. Later at this forge, John
Steward II, during the Revolutionary war made sabers and bayonets for
the Continental Army.

John Steward I, married Elizabeth Bradner, the daughter of Rev. John
Bradner, first settled clergyman in Goshen. As John Bradner was the
father of nine children, viz., Calvin, John, Benoni, Gilbert,
Susanna, Mary, Sarah, Christian and Elizabeth, and to him many
families in Orange County trace their descent, the following may be
thought worthy of record. When a young divinity student in Edinburgh,
Scotland, John Bradner was employed by a gentleman called Colvill, a
Huguenot refugee, as a tutor to his sons. His daughter Christiana
shared her brothers' studies and she and the tutor fell in love with
each other, but Colvill thought the tutor no match for his daughter,
and told her if she married him he would never speak to her again.
She put love before duty and having married John Bradner they sailed
for America. The voyage occupied six months. Violent storms in which
the ship nearly foundered were encountered. These Mrs. Bradner
thought were sent by Heaven to punish her for her disregard of her
father's wishes. Rev. John Bradner received the degree M.A. from
the University of Edinburgh, February 23rd, 1712, was licensed to
preach March, 1714, ordained May 6, 1715, pastor of Cold Spring
Presbyterian Church, Cape May, N. J., before being called to the
church in Goshen, 1721. He died 1732. His widow died 1759. She was
well educated in the classics and assisted in preparing her son, Rev.
Benoni, for Princeton College. He graduated 1755, was settled in
Jamaica, L. I., 1760, and two years after was called to Church Nine
Partners, Dutchess County. There is now in the possession of Mrs.
M. H. C. Gardner, of Middletown, a piece of a quilt brought from
Scotland by Mrs. John Bradner. The colors of the design, birds,
fruit and flowers, are as bright as though it was new. John
Steward I had eight children and their mother used to relate with
pride that never once during their infancy or childhood was she
obliged by reason of the illness of one of them to strike a light
during the night. John Steward I died in 1770, of a fever then
epidemic. In his will he left to his widow, as long as she remained
his widow, the use of the best room and the "salon" room. The small
adjoining room, now a store closet, was her prayer closet, where she
used to retire to pray, as was the good custom of those times.

Her eldest son, John Steward II, although holding no commission in
the Continental Army was an ardent patriot, mention being made in
_Rivington's New York Gazette,_ the Tory organ, that "rebellion in
Orange County was continually fomented by those two firebrands,
Squire Steward and Old Wisner," the latter being Henry Wisner, member
of the Continental Congress and John Steward's friend and neighbor.

John Steward II, who was thirty years younger than Henry Wisner, was
a justice of the peace, and a number of Hessian prisoners passing
southward through Goshen, probably after the battle of Saratoga,
were quartered over night at his house. The common soldiers slept in
the barn, but the officers, of whom there were several, were
accommodated in the house and on leaving the next morning told Mrs.
Steward that the coffee made by her black cook was the best they had
tasted since leaving Germany.

[Illustration: General Alfred Neafie.]

In a house that stood about 100 feet east of the present residence of
Campbell Steward, Esq., lived General Reuben Hopkins, whose son,
Hanibal, married Elizabeth Steward, daughter of John Steward II.
General Hopkins's portrait and his appointment as attorney-at-law
dated 1771 and signed by Lord Dunmore, now hang on the walls of the
Steward house, which contains other objects of interest, among which
may be mentioned an original broadside of the Declaration of
Independence addressed to John Steward, Esq., his commission as
Major No. 1 of the regiment of militia in the County of Orange,
signed by Geo. Clinton in 1798, and a bag of old counterfeit silver
Spanish dollars. A band of counterfeiters was arrested in Orange
County about the time of the Revolution and they were tried at
Goshen, their judges, among whom was Judge Steward, keeping some of
the coins as curiosities. In the house can also be seen a small stone
hammer presented to the wife of John Steward I, as a token of
friendship by a member of a band of Indians who, at the time Steward
settled in Goshen, and for some years after, lived in a hickory grove
at the rear of his house. His family always made a point of
maintaining friendly relations with their savage neighbors, and were
never troubled by them, although once during the French and Indian
War on an alarm being given that Indians on the war path were
approaching Goshen, the family fled to the cedar swamp. It is said
that on leaving they looked back for what they feared might be a
last look at their house, but the alarm proved a false one. Goshen
was spared an Indian massacre and they returned to find their house
still standing. The main body of the house, with some minor
alterations, is the same to-day as it was in those old Indian days,
its cedar shingles, oak beams and large stone chimneys seeming still
sound and strong. The house being too small for modern requirements,
two wings have been added at different times and the chimney tops
rebuilt, but care has been taken to preserve as far as possible every
antique feature of the house in its original condition.

During Revolutionary days the inhabitants of Orange County were
terrorized by the depredations of Claudius Smith, a notorious outlaw,
and his gang of ruffians, who were known as cowboys. Smith was
indicted on three charges, one of which was the murder of Major
Strong. Rewards were offered by Governor Clinton, and Smith was taken
captive at Smithtown, L. I., by Major Brush. He was given into the
custody of Colonel Isaac Nichol, sheriff of Orange County, and on
January 22, 1779, was publicly executed at the west corner of church
park in Goshen, with two other criminals, De La Alar, a burglar, and
Gordon, a horse thief. On the gallows near the same spot forty years
later two others were publicly put to death for murder.

BATTLE OF MINISINK.

On July 22, 1779, occurred the battle of Minisink, in which the
Goshen regiment, under Colonel Tusten, met almost complete
annihilation at the hands of nearly 500 Indians and Tories under
Joseph Brant, the half-breed chieftain, who was known as
Thayendanegea, the Scourge, and held a colonel's commission from
George III. The Goshen regiment marched against Brant's forces to
avenge a raid made by Brant upon the settlers near Minisink on the
20th of the month. They were joined by a small reinforcement, under
Colonel Hathorn, of the Warwick regiment, and the latter assumed
command. While marching along the west bank of the Delaware at nine
o'clock on the morning of July 22, the Indians were discovered about
three-quarters of a mile away and Colonel Hathorn hastened his
command in pursuit. Brant, taking advantage of intervening woods and
hills made a detour which enabled him to gain the rear of the
attacking party, and in the battle which followed the savages
completely routed the small force that opposed them. The colonists
had little ammunition and this was soon exhausted. A part of them
fled, and more were killed in flight than in battle. Colonel Tusten,
who was a skillful surgeon, dressed the wounds of his men, and refused
to abandon them, staying on the field until he fell. Of the eighty
men in the engagement, 44 were killed outright and others died later
of their wounds.

Colonel Benjamin Tusten, who was a physician and surgeon by
profession, came originally from Southold, L. I., in 1746, at the age
of three years. His parents located on the banks of the Otterkill on
the patent granted to Elizabeth Denn. His father, Benjamin Tusten,
was appointed one of the judges of the courts of the county and also
a colonel in the Orange County regiment of militia. The son,
Benjamin, was sent to an academy at Jamaica, L. I., and at the age of
nineteen returned to Goshen and studied medicine with Doctor Thomas
Wiskham. He afterwards studied in Newark, N. J., and New York City,
returning in 1769 to practice medicine in Goshen, where two other
physicians, Doctor John Gale and Doctor Pierson, had already located.
He was very successful and was widely known as a surgeon. He married
Miss Brown, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. In 1777 he
was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Goshen regiment of militia
under General Allison, and in 1778 was appointed surrogate of Orange
County, which office he held when he lost his life at Minisink.

[Illustration: Alexander C. Sutherland]

Captain John Wood, of Colonel Tusten's regiment, was captured in the
battle of Minisink, his life being spared by Brant, who in the thick
of the battle, thought he saw Wood give a masonic sign. Wood was
taken captive and transported to Canada. He left a journal of events
following the battle which throws considerable light on the life and
character of Brant.

On July 22, 1822, by the influence of Dr. David R. Arnell of Goshen,
a monument was erected in the village to the memory of the men who
fell at Minisink. It was set up over the bones of the patriots which
had been gathered from the battlefield forty-three years after the
massacre. On July 22, 1862. a more pretentious monument was dedicated
and unveiled, provision for the cost of the same having been made in
the will of Dr. Merritt H. Cash, of Minisink.

Goshen village was originally laid out in four lots of eighty acres
each. Its original boundaries are not definitely known, as a
disastrous fire in 1843 destroyed the town clerk's office, burning up
the map of the town and village lots, together with deeds dating from
1714. After these records had been destroyed a new charter was
granted on April 18, 1843, fixing the boundaries of the village,
which remained under this charter until 1878, when it was abandoned
and the village reorganized under the general act. Goshen was
incorporated a town on March 28, 1809.

At one time Orange County embraced nearly all the southern part of
New York, bordering on the Hudson River. Courts were then held at
Orange Town, now in Rockland County. In 1827 they were removed to
Goshen. In 1839 the board of supervisors made application to the
Legislature to erect a new court house at Goshen. There was
considerable opposition from the southern end of the county, which
was anxious to secure increased judicial conveniences. As a result,
the Legislature effected a compromise, making Goshen and Newburgh
joint capitals, and in April, 1841, passed an act authorizing the
building of a court house and jail at Goshen and a court house and
cells at Newburgh.

IN THE CIVIL WAR.

On July 1, 1862, President Lincoln issued a call for 300,000
volunteers, and Governor Morgan appointed a military committee for
Orange County. Hon. Ambrose S. Murray was the Goshen member. As a
result of this call the 124th Regiment, afterwards famed as the
"Orange Blossoms" was organized. During the period of organization it
was encamped at Goshen, where Murray avenue is now located.
Enlistments came rapidly and by August 23 it was ready for the field.

The military committee recommended A. Van Home Ellis, of New Windsor,
for colonel of the regiment and he accepted the commission. Henry S.
Murray was made captain of Co. B, which was composed of Goshen men.
On August 26, 1862, the regiment was presented with a stand of
colors by the women of Orange County. Hon. Charles H. Winfield made
the presentation speech. Afterwards, on behalf of the women of
Wawayanda, Miss Charlotte E. Coulter presented the regiment with a
pair of embroidered silk guidons.

On-Friday, September 5, the regiment was mustered in and on the
following day departed for the front. It fought in many engagements
from Manassas Gap to Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and was disbanded
at Washington's headquarters in Newburgh, June 16, 1865, leaving a
record of 208 service dead and 609 casualties in action.

When the Civil War was at its height and drafts were necessary to
supply the depleted ranks of the Union Army, one interesting
incident took place at Goshen. The provost marshal general had
ordered a draft for the Eleventh District, comprising the counties of
Orange and Sullivan, calling for 1,932 men, with 50% added, making a
total of 2,898. This draft was to begin at Goshen on Wednesday
morning, October 7, 1863. Trouble was feared by certain of the
leading citizens, and they asked that troops be sent to the village
to prevent rioting. Accordingly on Tuesday evening, October 6, the
Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, under Colonel Allen, arrived in town. The
regiment, which originally numbered 1,300, had been reduced by hard
service to 450 men. They made their camp on the elevation which is
now Prospect avenue, and during the night, trained their cannon to
cover the points where crowds would gather in case of rioting. The
drawing began on Wednesday and lasted until Saturday and there was no
serious disorder. The names were drawn from the wheel by Gabriel
Coleman, an aged blind man of the village. Orange County's quota was
2,131, and Sullivan's 767. Goshen furnished 62, of whom three were
colored men.

[Illustration: D. Jackson Steward]

A table of military statistics compiled just before the close of the
war showed that Goshen had furnished men as follows at the
Government's call: 30 men in 1861; 113 men in 1862; 104 men in 1863;
51 men in 1864.

On Thursday, September 5, 1907, there was dedicated at Goshen a
monument to the service dead of the 124th Regiment. The monument,
which weighs nineteen tons, is a bronze figure, "The Standard
Bearer," designed by Theo. Alice Ruggles Kitson, a noted sculptress.
The figure, eighteen feet in height, stands upon a pedestal of Stony
Creek granite, fourteen feet high. The monument was presented to the
people of Orange County by Hon. Thomas W. Bradley, of Walden, N. Y.,
Member of Congress from the Twentieth New York District, in memory of
his comrades who died in the service of their country. Mr. Bradley
enlisted as a private in the "Orange Blossoms," was promoted to
captain, and brevetted major for meritorious service, and was awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry at Chancellorsville,
May 3, 1863, when he volunteered in response to a call, and alone,
in the face of a heavy fire of musketry and canister, went across the
field of battle and procured ammunition for his comrades.

The presentation was made by Colonel Charles H. Weygant, who
commanded the regiment after the commander, Colonel F. M. Cummins,
fell wounded. It was accepted for the people by Mr. John J. E.
Harrison, chairman of the board of supervisors, a veteran of Co. B,
56th Regiment, U. S. V., who was wounded at Devon's Neck, S. C.,
December 7, 1864, and who rendered before and after that time valiant
service in the Union's cause. It was accepted also by Captain Robert
B. Hock, who was the village president, and was then serving his
eighteenth consecutive term in that office. He also had been a
soldier with a long and honorable record. He enlisted in the regular
army as a bugler, some years before the war, and was assigned to the
Tenth U. S. Infantry, and sent to Fort Snelling, Minn. He took part
in many expeditions against the Mormons, under General Albert Sidney
Johnson, afterwards the confederate general killed at Shiloh. Mr.
Hock was later sent to the scene of the Mount Meadow massacre and
fought in the battle of Ash Hollow under General Hardy. In 1860 he
was a pony express rider when Denver was only a tented village. After
Fort Sumter was fired on, his old commander General Tracy, asked him
to drill recruits at Staten Island. He did this and later performed
the same service at Washington. In 1861 he was commissioned
lieutenant of Co. E, 12th New York Cavalry, and in 1863 was made
captain of Co. F. He was on the Burnside expedition, at Ball's Bluff
and in the second battle of Bull Run. On April 17, 1864, he was taken
prisoner at Plymouth, N. C., and confined for three weeks in
Andersonville, four months at Macon, one month at Savannah, and one
month at Charleston. With six brother officers he escaped from prison
at Columbia, S. C, and was tracked by bloodhounds. All the others
were recaptured, but he, after suffering terribly by privation and
exposure, reached the Union lines and was cared for by the Third
Tennessee, until able to report to General Dix in New York. In 1865
in a skirmish with General Bragg's troops his horse was shot from
under him, and he was caught by Bragg's men and sent to Danville, Va.
He made a break for liberty and escaped to the brush, rejoining the
Union forces just before Lee's surrender. At Bentonville, in a
cavalry charge, his horse was killed and he was thrown among the
rebel infantry and captured. The same night he escaped, covering
himself with dead leaves, and reporting at his company headquarters
in the morning. His comrade in rebel prisons, Lieutenant A. Cooper,
dedicated a book of his experiences to Captain Hock.

[Illustration: Charles E. Stickney.]




CHAPTER XVII.

TOWN OF GREENVILLE.

By Charles E. Stickney.



The number of acres of land in the town assessed in 1865, was 18,287,
at a valuation of $385,600. Personal property $49,850. The number of
acres assessed in 1907 is 17,829 at a valuation of $269,485. Personal
property, $19,850. A loss in 42 years of 458 acres of land, $116,115
in assessed valuation of real estate, and of $30,000 assessed
personal property. The town expenses (town audits) were $619.37,
besides $807 for roads and bridges.

In 1855 the town had a population of 1,218. Ten years later it had a
population of 1,147; while in 1905 it had only 672 inhabitants,
a loss of nearly half compared with its first-named census.

The name was undoubtedly suggested by the beautiful green summer
verdure the eastern part of the town exhibits, lying to the sun on
the eastern declivity of Shawangunk mountain.

Its boundaries are: Beginning at the corner of the town of Wawayanda
line with that of Mount Hope, thence almost due west along the Mount
Hope line to that of the town of Deer Park; thence along the Deer
Park town line southwest to the New Jersey State line; thence
easterly along the said State line to the corner of the Minisink
town line; thence northeasterly along the Minisink town line to a
point on Castle High Hill near South Centerville; thence
northwesterly along the town of Wawayanda town line to a corner;
thence northeasterly by north along the said line to the place of
beginning.

The first town meeting was held at the house of Jonathan Wood, in
Bushville, March 28th, 1854. Bushville then was a village of some
importance, but since the near advent of railroads its trade has gone
to other places.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

The oldest village in the town is no doubt the settlement at Smith's
Corners. It was situated on the road which leads along the eastern
slope of the Shawangunk mountain from Coleville, N. J., to Otisville,
and in early times was a place of some business. Elijah Smith was
its founder about the close of the Revolution. Joseph Smith, justice
of the peace (see Minisink civil list), in 1813 was a noted man in
his day. After the Goshen and Minisink turnpike road was built, and
later when (about 1820) a mail route was established through there,
the post-office was located at a store which stood where the village
of Greenville now is. The post-office was named Minisink, because
there was somewhere in the State a post-office already known as
Greenville, and this was the nearest post-office to the real
Minisink west of the mountain. Two churches, a store and a hotel are
located there. The village of Smith's Corner has this year of 1907
been made convenient to travel on account of the new macadam road
just built throughout it from Slate Hill to Carpenter's Point.

Lake Maretange, upon which one of the great land patents (Evans)
cornered in Colonial days, is now known as Binnewater Pond. It covers
about twenty acres of land, and is now so filled with aquatic
growths and mud that it has less than half of its original extent. It
was once reported to be of great depth. It in early times was famous
for its excellent fishing. Its original name was undoubtedly an
Indian one. The name Binnewater is a corruption of the German
Beninwasser (Inland water). Boudinot creek is its outlet.

The great swamps which once stretched north and east of Smith's
Corners were known to early records as "Pakadasink Swamp." They have
been largely cleared, drained, and are coming rapidly under
cultivation. The Shawangunk Kill whose Indian name was the same as
that of the swamp, "Pakadasink" or "Peakadasink," originates from
springs in the swamps, and flows northward along the base of the
Shawangunk mountain toward Ulster County.

Rutger's creek originates in the watershed south of Greenville
village.

EARLY SETTLERS.

Jonathan Wood, justice of the peace as early as 1796, and Timothy
Wood (see civil list) resided in Bushville in this town.

John W. Eaton (see civil list) is a descendant of Robert, who came to
the town, shortly after the Revolution. Robert had sons, John,
William, Robert, and Samuel. There was also an Alexander in the town
of about the same generation as Robert's sons, who had a son Thomas.
John, the eldest son of Robert, had two sons, Gabriel and Daniel H.
The latter during the later years of his life, owned the former David
Moore farm now owned by William Creeden, in Wawayanda, where he died.
Gabriel, during the later years of his life retired from active life
to Unionville, where he owned property and where he died. There seems
to have been a James Eaton in the town contemporary with Robert.
Their farms constituted what was called Eatontown.

Charles Durland of Long Island settled near Bushville in this town
prior to 1800, and it is probable that Moses came into the town soon
after he did. Moses lived and died in the town, but Charles bought
land, about a mile and a half south of Ridgeberry, where he made a
permanent settlement and died there. Thomas T., Steward T., Daniel
and Addison were sons of Charles. Steward T. and Daniel became
residents of Greenville (see civil list). Garret, John and George A.
Durland, descendants of Moses, also resided in Greenville. George A.
and Steward T. were justices of the peace for many terms in the town
(see civil list). Addison settled near Westtown where he died.
Thomas T. Durland succeeded to the old homestead near Ridgeberry, and
later in life bought the former Phineas Howell farm near Slate Hill,
where he died. His widow (whose father, George Jackson, in his
lifetime owned the farms now owned by William Ralston, of the lower
road) and son George, and daughters Alice L. and Etta H., now reside
on the Slate Hill homestead; while a son, Charles, resides in
Middletown and a daughter, Elizabeth Van Orden, lives in Pompton
Lakes.

John, Joseph and Hiram Manning were early settlers in the town.
Joseph's children were Joseph, Jr., John, Isaac, Richard, Walter,
Benjamin, Mrs. Isaac Finch, Mrs. E. Hurlbut, Mrs. John Ferguson.
Hiram Manning at one time owned the grist, saw and cider mills at
Millsburg. His son, John R. Manning, resides in Gardnersville in
Wawayanda, and the latter's son, Hiram, Jr., is in business in
Johnsons.

Abraham Elston was a very early settler in the town and many of his
descendants are still in it.

Harvey H., Alfred, W. L. and W. W. Clark (see civil list) were
descendants of the David Clark mentioned in a sketch of the family in
the town of Minisink.

Under an old school law teachers were formerly licensed by town
superintendents which prevailed up to 1856. Geo. A. Durland held the
office of superintendent for some time. Samuel S. Graham was elected
to the position in 1856, but the law was repealed that year and he
was never sworn into office.

CHURCHES.

_The Baptist Church of Greenville_ was incorporated January 27th,
1816, and was supplied by the pastors of Brookfield church until July
31st, 1822, when the church was dedicated as a separate one. It was
constituted by thirty-one members. Elder Zelotes Grenell preached the
sermon, August 3d. That year twenty-three more members were set off
from the Brookfield church to it. Elder Henry Ball was pastor for
eleven years. Elder D. Bennet supplied it from Unionville for four
years. W. H. Jurton, D. Benett, C. Brinkerhoff and Joseph Haughwout
supplied it to 1848. Rev. Stephen Case became pastor of it in May,
1848, and continued there to his death in 1895. It was said of him
that he married and buried probably more Orange and Sussex County
people than any other minister has. He was a son of John and Mary
(Mead) Case. The father is alleged to have come from New England,
while his mother was a daughter of Ebenezer Mead of near Waterloo
Mills in Minisink. John and Mary (Mead) Case had four sons, Joseph
M., E. Inman, John B. and Stephen.

Joseph M. was justice of the peace from 1850 to 1874 in Minisink and
held other offices (see civil list). The Case homestead was on the
ridge west of Westtown where John died in 1844 and Rev. Ralph Bull
preached the funeral sermon. His wife died in 1847. Joseph M. was
unmarried. E. Inman died in 1888. He had five sons and one daughter,
John, Jr., Joseph, Ira L., Jefferson, Anson and Amelia. Ira L.,
became a resident of Middletown and was elected school commissioner
of the second district of Orange County for a term. John B. studied
for the ministry and became a clergyman of much influence. He died in
1886. He had seven children: John B., Jr., Stephen J., Joseph M.,
Tisdale, Joshua I., Sarah and Flora.

Stephen, son of John, after his primary studies were over, attended
and graduated at Madison University in 1840. He began preaching the
next year, and supplied the pulpit of the Orange Baptist Church six
months. Then he preached for three years in what was called the
Broadway Baptist Church, which we incline to think was located near
Wykertown in Wantage township, N. J., probably the one built by Job
Cosad. In May, 1848, he became pastor of the Mount Salem and
Greenville churches. He was then about thirty years old, and he
labored there for over sixty years until his death. He was survived
by three sons: John E., Joshua, Jr. and Joseph M. Joshua, Jr., is a
famous auctioneer residing in Unionville.

_The Methodist Church of Greenville_ was incorporated December 23rd,
1850. There had been preaching for about twenty years before that by
ministers of the M. E. denomination. The church edifice was built
before the church was incorporated. Rev. Henry Litts, who died a few
years ago in Deckertown, was pastor there for some time, succeeding
Revs. Andrews, Grace and Rusling.

Besides the cemeteries connected with the churches, there are a
number of family burial places in the town; notably those of the
Manning, Seybolt, Seeley, Courtright, Vanbuskirk, Mulock, Remey and
Jenks families.

MISCELLANEOUS.

During the Civil War the town issued in August, 1864, bonds for
$25,159; they were all paid by February 11th, 1871.

Its officials have from the formation of the town proved worthy men.
It has been universally Democratic by a small majority.

Nathaniel Reeves Quick, justice of the peace from 1868 to 1873, was
a tall pleasant man, a descendant of the Quick family of
Pennsylvania. He was well posted on the history of the famous Tom
Quick, who was a member of the same family. The traditions which Mr.
Quick, of Greenville, had instilled into his mind from accounts
handed down to him by his grandfather, no doubt truthful, were not
altogether complimentary to the old Indian hunter. His grandfather
said (told by Nathaniel R. himself), that Tom, when hard pressed for
something to eat, would come to his house and stay till the good
housewife would absolutely refuse to cook for him any longer, and his
grandfather would inform Tom that he must either go to work or leave.
That, he said, always started him, for if there was anything in this
world that Tom hated it was to work. Then he would shoulder his gun
and tramp off in the forest for two or three months before he
ventured to show himself again at the house. In truth, his
grandfather did not put much dependence on the stories told by Tom
of his adventures, because he thought Tom was merely whiling the time
away with something to wheedle him with, in fact, a sort of "stand
off" for lodging.

The old Goshen and Minisink turnpike road of the last century,
crossing Shawangunk Mountain just west of Greenville village, was
changed by the State to a macadam road constructed or, nearly so, in
1907. It takes a new route across the mountain and has greatly
reduced the grade. The Goshen end of the road to Dolsentown was
completed a few years ago, and the one from Dolsentown through
Wawayanda and Minisink to the State line about two years ago. The new
road through Greenville connects with the Wawayanda line at Slate
Hill.

Of the Tory element in the town during the Revolution, it is
traditionally remembered that Brant is said to have, after his first
raid in 1778, contemplated a more extensive one. For that purpose he
came to Greenville secretly to get information of the surroundings.
He hid himself in the Pakadasink swamp below Smith's Corners, and
explored the vicinity by night. Certain Tories of the neighborhood
were suspected at the time of furnishing food to some tramp in the
swamp, and one of them was caught returning from the swamp where he
had been to take a portion of a sheep which he had killed, as it was
later found out. Excitement ran high at once and a party visited his
premises and found that he had slaughtered a sheep and had taken a
part of it to the swamp to feed a hidden Tory as was supposed. A
committee improvised a fife and drum corps, wrapped the bloody
sheepskin about him, and marched him at the point of a bayonet on
foot to Goshen followed by the music of the fife and drum.

This was on a broiling hot day in summer, and, as may well be
supposed, that march of sixteen miles, bothered as he was by the
flies and the jokes of the people they met, made the victim very
uncomfortable. Later when Brant swooped down on Minisink in 1779, he
did not cross the mountain into the Greenville neighborhood as the
settlers then thought he intended to do at first. Then they
ascertained the kind of a tramp that the Tory had been furnishing
with mutton in Pakadasink swamp, and rejoiced to think that their
prompt action in treating their Tory neighbor to that arrest probably
saved their homes from the invasion planned.

Before the days of railroads the people who lived in these
neighborhoods generally went to Newburgh, and if they desired to go
to New York took from thence passage on a sailing vessel for that
place. Sometimes the passage occupied three or four days between
those two cities, dependent on the weather. In windy weather the
sloops often had to anchor under some protecting high shore, and in
dark nights they generally anchored until daylight. A disaster which
made a great sensation throughout the county and elsewhere, happened
November 24th, 1824, to a sloop of this kind, near Pollopel's Island,
in lower Newburgh bay. The sloop _Neptune_ was on its way up the
river under command of its first deck hand, John Decker, the captain
(Halstead) having been left in New York sick. About twenty tons of
plaster were in its hold and about twenty more tons piled on deck,
together with eight or ten tons of other goods. There was a strong
wind prevailing and the boat was coming up near the island with a
double reef in the mainsail and all precautions taken for safety,
when there came a sudden blast of wind which caused the sloop to dip
and the plaster on deck to shift its weight. This shifting of the
deck plaster caused the sloop to dip so violently that the water came
pouring into the scuttle of the forecastle, and into the cabin where
some ten or twelve women and a number of children were gathered.
Besides the crew about twenty-six male passengers were on the deck.
Instead of righting, the boat went right down without further
warning. All in the cabin were drowned. It was about noon, and
several boats that saw the sloop go down hurried to the scene, and
were so successful as to rescue seventeen of the passengers.

Joshua Mulock, of Minisink (now Greenville) was one of the men on
deck, and he said that when he first heard the women and children
scream in the cabin, he tried to break a grating in the deck to let
them out and the boat went down so quick that it carried a part of
his vest with it which caught fast. That held him and he went down
under the boat. Luckily his vest tore loose, and he floated out from
under the boat and came to the surface, where he was rescued. Jesse
Green from present Greenville, and a man named Carey from present
Wawayanda neighborhood, were also saved. Among those drowned were
John Greenleaf, George Evertson, Matilda Helms and William Kelly and
child from Minisink. The next year the bodies of Matilda Helms and
Mr. Greenleaf were found among others at Cold Spring some distance
down the river. They were buried by the coroner of Putnam County. The
sloop was afterwards raised by its owners.

Next to the battle of Minisink this disaster furnished the greatest
sensation of those early times. Mr. Mulock was a great humorist. On
one occasion, a Mr. and Mrs. Lee, of Greenville, made Mr. and Mrs.
Mulock an evening visit. When the visitors were seated in their wagon
ready to start for home, one of them said to their host and hostess,
"Now you must come and see us as soon as you can." "We'll promise to
do so, sure!" said Mr. Mulock.

When Mr. and Mrs. Lee had arrived home, and she was in the house with
a lighted candle looking at the clock and wondering how they came to
stay until after midnight, and he was returning from the stables
where he had placed the horse, they were surprised to hear a wagon
driving up to the door. How much greater was their surprise when they
both went to the gate to see who it was, and saw there Mr. and Mrs.
Mulock. "You told us," said the former, "that we must come and see
you as soon as we could, and here we are." Then after a laugh at Mr.
and Mrs. Lee's apparent discomfiture, they went home, and told the
joke round about to their friends. We give it to illustrate the
jollity of those times.

From the years 1836 to 1854 the post office regulations for the
three towns, under the name of Minisink, were a mail delivery
Tuesdays and Fridays of each week. The mail was carried by a
contractor, who left Goshen on those days in the morning in a one
horse sulky or gig which easily carried the driver and mail bags. He
came across the Wallkill at Pellet's Island to Ridgeberry; thence to
Westtown, Unionville, Minisink (Greenville) and back through
Bushville, South Centerville, Brookfield, Slate Hill, Denton and to
Goshen. The trip was made in one day. Sometimes the carrier would
have a young woman on the seat with him which invariably made him
late and caused lots of grumbling among the people waiting for the
mail. Few letters were received, and the only newspapers taken
generally were the Goshen Democrat and Independent Republican, of
Goshen. Not a daily paper then found its way in this region except
at intervals. The rates of postage were, up to 1845, for a letter of
a single sheet, not exceeding thirty miles, six cents; over thirty
and not exceeding eighty miles, ten cents; over eighty and not over
150, twelve and one-half cents; over 150 and not over 400 miles,
eighteen and three-quarter cents; over 400 miles, twenty-five cents.
If the letter had two sheets of paper it was charged double, and if
three sheets, triple rates; for each newspaper carried not over 100
miles, one cent; to any office in the State where printed, one cent;
otherwise over 100 miles, one and a half cents. Pamphlets 100 miles,
one and a half cents a sheet; over 100 miles, two and a half cents a
sheet; if not published periodically, four and six cents a sheet, as
to distance. Everything else was paid at letter postage at a quarter
ounce rate. The letters then were sent without envelopes, folded so
as to conceal the writing, and sealed with wax usually. The postage
was collected on delivery. In 1854 the rates were reduced
considerably, but all other features retained. In 1855, the writer,
then a boy, was left temporarily in charge of the post-office at
Slate Hill, which then paid the postmaster, a storekeeper, about $10
a year percentage. He then kept a store and the keeper of the office
was considered a help to the store trade. A woman came in and asked
if there was a letter for her. There was. She asked how much postage
was due on it. There was eighteen cents. Then she asked to look at
it. The verdant young man handed it to her. She opened it, glanced
over the contents, then handed it back, saying, "I won't take it.
There's nothing in it worth the money." The postmaster when informed
of the incident later, said, "Boy, next time don't you hand out the
letter till they hand over the money."

In 1852 the postage was reduced and a little later envelopes came in
fashion. The Middletown, Unionville and Watergap Railroad was
completed from Middletown to Unionville, June 2nd, 1868. That changed
mail arrangements throughout the three towns. Slate Hill, Johnsons,
Westtown and Unionville got a daily mail. Waterloo Mills, Denton and
Bushville were abandoned, and Ridgeberry and South Centerville were
supplied from Slate Hill. The railroad is now known as the New York,
Susquehanna & Western, under control of the Erie. The increase in
the amount of mail matter handled has been wonderful, and the offices
which once had their mail matter carried on a two-wheel sulky twice a
week easily, would now require a team of horses and a big wagon to
move it every day.

The 4th and 5th days of January, 1835, were remarkably cold days and
that winter was a terribly severe one. We have no thermometer records
for our three towns of those days, but in New York City it was 5
degrees, in Newark 13 and Elizabethtown 18 degrees below zero for
both days. In 1857 the 23rd of January was a remarkably cold day, the
thermometer standing at 23 below in the early morning, 17 at noon,
and 12 at night, when it began to snow and a deep snow came.

Orange County gave 3,541 votes for Van Buren and 2,242 for Harrison
for President in 1836.

The local option law in our three towns has resulted in a continual
no-license majority for about twenty-five years in Wawayanda;
occasional no-license in Greenville and Minisink. The result of the
election in 1907 gave no-license a majority in Minisink.

In ancient times elections were held in the spring for local
officers, and in the fall for county, State and national officers.
All the officers in the State are now elected in November on one day.
In 1837, the States held election: Maine, 2nd Monday of September;
Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, 1st
Monday in August; Delaware, 1st Tuesday of October; Louisiana, 1st
Monday of July; Tennessee and North Carolina, 1st Thursday in August;
Vermont, 1st Tuesday in September; Georgia and Maryland, 1st Monday
in October; New York, 1st Monday in November; Massachusetts, 2nd
Monday in November; New Hampshire, 2nd Tuesday in March; Virginia and
Connecticut in April; Rhode Island in August; South Carolina, 2nd
Monday in October.

During the first early years of our history, where farmers kept large
dairies, they made butter, which was the mainstay of their farming.
They used a tread-wheel about twelve feet in diameter set at a steep
incline, on one side of which a horse or bull climbed to furnish the
power for churning. Similar dairies used sheep or calves. About 1834
to 1840 (tradition) George F. Reeve, of near Middletown, invented an
endless chain-power on which a good-sized dog would furnish as much
power as an animal twice as large.

Lights for many years were furnished of dip tallow candles. These
were made by melting a wash boiler full of tallow, into which six
candle-wicks hung on a stick were dipped and hung on a rack to cool.
Enough sticks were used so that by the time the last one was dipped
the first one was cool enough to dip again, and so the process was
continued until the candles had accumulated enough tallow to be of
the right size. Whenever the tallow in the boiler began to get low
hot water was added to make the tallow float to the top of the
boiler. When beeves were killed in the fall the good housewives were
careful to dip candles for a whole year's supply. About 1852
camphene began to be used for lights, and in some instances alcohol
and some other dangerous compounds. About 1860 the use of kerosene
came into family and public lighting, and is still the great
illuminant.

In 1777 a real estate ownership of one hundred pounds value was a
necessary qualification for a voter who desired to vote for a
Governor, Senator and Assemblyman, while only twenty pounds worth of
real estate was requisite in order to qualify a person to vote for a
representative in Congress. For town officials and resolutions all
male citizens were allowed to vote, and this was generally done at
town meetings viva voce, or by division to the right and left. A
Governor then held office three years and had to be a real estate
owner. Senators held office four years and had to be owners of one
hundred pounds worth of real estate. Judges were appointed by the
Governor and council and held office during good behavior, but were
disqualified when sixty years old. They could be removed by the
Governor when requested by a two-thirds vote of the legislature.
Clergymen were then excluded from holding office, and from the
legislature. In 1821 a new State constitution was framed and the
property qualifications removed. Ballots were then introduced
generally in town elections.




CHAPTER XVIII.

TOWN OF HAMPTONBURGH.

By Margaret Crawford Jackson.



On March 5, 1703, in the reign of Queen Anne, the Wawayanda patent
was signed. The grantors were twelve Indians named Rapingonick,
Wawastawa, Moghopuck, Comelawaw, Manawitt, Ariwimack, Rumbout,
Clauss, Chonckhass, Chingapaw, Oshaquemonus and Quiliapaw, and among
the twelve patentees was Christofer Denn. He was a Frenchman and a
carpenter, then living on the eastern shore of Staten Island with his
wife, Elizabeth, and a young girl sixteen years of age, Sarah Wells,
who had been taken by them as an infant and brought up as their own,
although she did not receive their name, nor at their deaths did they
mention her in their wills, probably because she had received one
hundred acres after her marriage.

Christofer Denn, as his name is spelled by Mr. Eager in his history,
or "Denne," as spelled by Mr. Ruttenber, the latter says, was a
resident of New York in 1701, and one of the signers of the
"Protestant Petition" to William III, in that year. In 1702 his name
appears appended to the congratulatory address to Lord Cornbury as
one "of the chiefest inhabitants of the City and County on New York."
And in 1705 he was one of the signers of a petition by the merchants
of that city. He was still a resident of New York in 1722-1723, and
it was in that city his wife Elizabeth died. It should be noticed
that it is said Denn was a resident of the county of New York, even
when not living in the city.

SARAH WELLS.

Around Sarah Wells much of the history of Hamptonburgh is woven. She
was born in New Jersey, opposite Staten Island, April 6, 1694, and
died April 21, 1796, aged 102 years, leaving 355 living descendants.
Her husband was William Bull, an Englishman from Wolverhampton. The
family left there for Dublin in February, 1689. At Wolverhampton the
church register shows the records of the family back to 900 A. D. The
late claim is that William Bull, son of John Bull, and grandson of
Josias Bull, of Kingshurst Hall, who emigrated in 1715, settling at
Hamptonburgh, Orange County, New York, is identical with the husband
of Sarah Wells. But whether Kingshurst Hall is in Wolverhampton we
cannot say at this moment. However, the coat-of-arms belonging to the
Bulls of Kingshurst Hall has been engraved and virtually accepted by
Mr. Ebenezer Bull, of Hamptonburgh, as that of his ancestors.

Christofer Denn's share of 2,000 acres in the Wawayanda patent having
been set apart, he visited the location and made friends with the
Indians living there. The claim was surveyed by Peter Berian and lay
touching the northeasterly bounds of the town lots of the village of
Goshen. Its bounds run thus: "Beginning at a stake and stones about
east of and ten chains from the dwelling-house of General Abraham
Vail in East Division; thence northwesterly along the northeasterly
bounds of the Goshen town lots, and until it meets with a line
supposed to divide the old counties of Ulster and Orange; thence east
along the same to a stake and stones known to be standing near the
top of the highland, or mountain above Charles Heard's in
Hamptonburgh; thence on a course about thirty-six degrees west to the
place of beginning."

Some difficulty arose later in running the survey of other lines
which interfered with Denn's claim.

To settle it a grant was made after his death in the name of his
wife, Elizabeth "Denne," of 1,140 acres, December 12, 1734. Although
the patent had been signed there was a condition that unless a
settlement was made on the Wawayanda patent by the end of May, 1712,
the title was to lapse. Add to this that six hundred acres were to be
given to the first settler and we may find a sufficient motive for
Christofer Denn to become the needed pioneer.

His affairs were embarrassed at the time, and this change from the
city to the wilderness probably offered a much needed retreat for a
time at least. He took with him on his return to the city after his
inspection of the land, three young Indians, sons of those whom he
had visited and of the tribe which had parted with their land to the
patentees. They had befriended the surveyors while running out the
patent and had kindly volunteered their services to help him remove
from the city to the patent. All accounts say that three young
Indians went with him to the city and helped to direct the party.

It was Sarah Wells, this slender, dark-eyed little girl of sixteen,
whom Denn chose to go forth alone with the men to conquer the
wilderness. When he told her, she was sick with terror at the
thought that in the latter part of her journey her only companions
would be the carpenters and half-naked savages, who might attack her
at any moment.

The carpenters sent to build the log house, of whom there were two,
knew nothing of the country, and had treachery been intended the
whites must have been defenseless.

Denn, being in straitened circumstances at the time, the other
patentees came to his assistance and supplied the sloop and crew and
cows and horses to assist in the settlement which, according to
Eager, was to hold the Wawayanda Patent.

The present family believe him to have been correct in regard to
their history, for he was a descendant on his mother's side. He gives
a full and romantic account of this journey, from which we can only
give extracts.

He says: "As this portion of our narrative was derived from Sarah in
after life, we purpose to place an inventory of the various articles
of outfit before the reader, that he may judge of its nature, extent
and value, which are as follows: Two pack horses with bells on, two
milk cows with bells, two dogs, two Irish Brahmas, one spade, two
pails, two beds and bedding, one small and one large kettle, wood
trenchers and bowls, candlesticks and candles, a pair of trammels, a
frying pan, small tin plates for saucers, coffee pot with coffee,
teapot, chocolate, tin canister with tea, silver teaspoons and sugar
tongs, small china teacups and saucers, bundle of cloths, saddlebags,
pillow saddles, knives and forks, some potatoes, wallets, medical
cordials in vials, refined sugar in small pieces, brown sugar in
rolls, flour, biscuit, ham in small sacks, some trinkets, ribbons and
small knives for the Indians."

There may have been other articles not enumerated. As Denn bade Sarah
good-bye in a subdued voice and tones of affectionate regard, he
said: "Sarah, you have been kind and dutiful to us thus far, and your
present conduct confirms us in your kindness. The duty you have to
perform is new and may be fatiguing, but must if possible be
accomplished now or the season may be lost. The workmen will take
care of you while on the boat and afterwards, while the Indians, of
whose friendship I have no doubt, will guide you through the woods
to the place selected for our dwelling. This work is very important
and what you do for Madam Denn and me is also done for the benefit of
the company." He ended thus: "God save and bless you, Sarah."

[Illustration: William Bull.]

The Indians faithfully performed their part and the one who was given
especial charge over Sarah's horse (after the party landed on the
banks of the Hudson near Cornwall), although half-naked, as were the
other two, watched carefully her comfort. Their eyes were piercing,
their voices harsh and grating, yet Sarah's attendant showed a
deference; and gentle anxiety to please that many white men of to-day
might envy.

Sarah mounted on the second horse, sat upon beds and bedding with
many small articles around her and managed her horse with great
difficulty. The Indian marched close by her side, helped her on and
off her horse, and pointed out many things in the woods calculated
to interest her attention and draw her out in conversation. Not
infrequently he plucked an early flower as it sprang up by the
wayside, and calling her attention to it, tasted its leaves and then
presented it for acceptance.

They arrived on the bank of the stream, now the Otterkill, opposite
the spot which Christofer Denn had selected as the place of his
residence. Thus the journey in full twenty miles of pathless forest,
with occasional thick underwood, was performed in a single day.

They built a fire beneath a tree whose branches guarded them from
dampness. They put boughs of trees upon forked sticks driven into the
ground and laid the beds there to escape the snakes, and the
carpenters lay down and slept well till morning, but Sarah dreamed
and slept fitfully, while the Indians threw themselves on the ground
with their feet to the fire and slept all night. Whenever Sarah
roused herself to look about, "her Indian" made signs to her that all
was well and he was guarding her. The next day the carpenters built a
wigwam of split logs resting on end against a frame of poles 16 by 18
feet with a ditch about it to carry off rain. It had a slanting roof
with a hole three feet square in the peak for the escape of smoke,
the fireplace being below it.

The goods were first unpacked and plates set on the table for supper
the second evening of their arrival, when one of the Indians saw two
people at a distance, and going to reconnoiter, found Madam Denn and
her husband. They had been so overcome by the parting from Sarah and
the enormity of their conduct in sending her on such a perilous
adventure, that they had followed her on horseback up through New
Jersey as fast as they could, and arrived in time for the first meal
in the new wigwam. On seeing them at the door she fainted at their
feet.

It is only just to say that the friendship thus begun between Sarah
and the Indians continued to the end.

When the Indians were most hostile to others in the neighborhood the
family could always give a safe refuge to the many who sought a
shelter under their roof when night came.

WILLIAM BULL.

In 1716 William Bull entered on the scene. Born in Wolverhampton,
England, February, 1689, his youth was, however, passed in Dublin,
where his father moved when he was small.

He was apprenticed to learn the trade of a mason and stone cutter.
When his apprenticeship ended he and a young friend took the
contract to build a large arch for a bridge being constructed near
Dublin. Tradition says: One Saturday night the work was nearly done
and the arch finished but for the keystone. He begged the men to
remain and put it in place, so completing the work, but they refused.
On going down to see it on the next morning he found it fallen and
his fortunes with it. It had carried with it his all and
imprisonment for debt--as far as he knew it might be for life--stared
him in the face.

There was a ship lying at the dock which he knew was sailing that day
for New York. He searched his pockets and discovered five guineas
with which and a few books he boarded the vessel. The captain on
being asked if that much money would take him to America, answered it
would. On reaching New York the captain told him the money had
brought him, but had not paid his full passage and he must be sold
for the balance. Bull was highly indignant and refused to leave the
ship. He replied that he would return to Ireland and face his debts.
Daniel Cromline, who also had a share in the Wawayanda patent, heard
that an Irish ship was in dock, and hoping to procure some workmen
had it proclaimed on board the ship. Bull felt that Providence and
strangers would help him, and on telling his story to Mr. Cromline
the money was advanced and they traveled together as far as
Greycourt. Here he did the mason work on the old stone Greycourt
house in 1716.

This was long a public inn on the way from the Hudson to New Jersey,
and was a famous resort for the people around.

William Bull lived in the Cromline family, whose patent was not far
from that part of the Wawayanda patent on which Mr. Denn had settled.
They were in fact neighboring families, and so William Bull met
Sarah Wells. They loved each other and were married in 1718.

The ceremony took place in the new double log house of Christofer
Denn, and as Bull was an Episcopalian and desired to be married by
the rites of his church they did not know how to proceed. There was
no church nor a clergyman who could proclaim the banns three weeks,
but courts of justice had been established and a magistrate was in
the neighborhood.

They decided that circumstances alter cases and summoned their
guests. All being assembled the magistrate carrying the prayer book
proceeded first to the front door and proclaimed the banns to the
trees of the forest, then through the hall to the back door where he
proclaimed it to the cattle and the outbuildings. He made
proclamation then once more from the front door to the wilderness at
large and then performed the marriage ceremony. The wedding dress was
of homespun linen delicately embroidered by the bride, and is now in
the possession of one of her descendants, who has exhibited it at the
family picnic held each year on the last Wednesday in August in the
grove at Campbell Hall.

Later Sarah Wells Bull asked for and received the promised reward of
100 acres from Christofer Denn for having gone alone at his bidding
to settle his claim and save his title.

William Bull and Richard Gerard received a grant joining Denn's of
2,600 acres, August 10, 1723.

On the 100 acres given to Sarah, Bull built a barn of hand-sawed
planks. These were of ash, rived, and the shingles of split pine and
put on each with two pegs. This barn is still in use and never has
been painted. Afterwards he built the stone house in 1727 on his own
land near by, and it is still occupied by the family and probably
will stand for generations to come. It is built on a rock, with a
spring in the cellar, and before the house was quite finished in
September, 1727, an earthquake which was felt for 1,500 miles,
cracked the east side of the house and the crack can still be seen.
The lightning struck it in 1767-8, but only slight damage was done to
its thick stone walls. The house has two stories of eleven feet each,
with basement and a good-sized garret. It is a truly fine house for
those times. Mr. Bull called his place Hamptonburgh, from
Wolverhampton where he was born. There were eight children born to
him.

FEATURES AND SETTLERS.

 Stephen Jayne.
 Daniel Jayne.
 Joseph Hildreth.
 Adam Miller.
 Isaac Tobias.
 David Bloomfield.
 Gilbert Roberts.
 Lawrence Ferguson.
 Daniel Harrison.
 Daniel Miller.
 Joseph Gold.
 Henry Davenport.
 Israel Osmun.
 Ezekiel Osmun.
 Henry Hall.
 William Cooper.
 Samuel Lows.
 Jacob Lows.

Hamptonburgh township as it now stands was set apart in 1830 from the
towns bounding it. It is in the form of an irregular hexagon, its
northern extremity a point and Montgomery bounding it on the
northeast and northwest, with the Wallkill river running between
Wallkill township on the west and Montgomery on the northwest, while
Goshen is on the southwest, Blooming Grove the southeast and New
Windsor on the east.

The Otterkill circles through the town adding picturesqueness to the
fields it waters, while high ridges and fertile valleys vary the
scene. The Goshen and Montgomery State road runs northeast through
the western part of the town and the Little Britain State road joins
it at Clark's Crossing. Mr. Clark's farm, once the Denniston Bull
farm, is now in the hands of the New York and New Jersey Railroad,
and the road is being constructed. It is claimed that this will put
Campbell Hall within one hour of New York City, instead of the three
days' journey by sloop and horseback which Sarah Wells had to
undergo.

At Campbell Hall Junction four railroads center, the Ontario and
Western, the Central New England, the Wallkill Valley Division of the
N. Y. C. & H. R. and the Erie, while the Lehigh and New England runs
through the eastern part of the town from north to south, with
stations at Hamptonburgh, Girard and Burnside, thus making this
small town of more than proportionate interest in the county.

There are six rural schools and one church now in the town. This is
the Presbyterian church at Campbell Hall, where also are the stores
of Alexander Brothers and C. B. Howell, a meat market, a creamery and
a blacksmith's shop, and the surrounding houses with neat lawns make
an attractive hamlet.

The two-room schoolhouse stands in a grove of oaks on a hill
overlooking the Otterkill where the old church stood before it was
moved to Hamptonburgh proper. Now that building stands empty and only
the graveyard tells the old story. The name Campbell Hall came from a
Colonel Campbell who lived there. His house was back of what is now
the Bertholf house. "Col. Campbell was a Scotchman, the father of
Mrs. Margaret Eustace, who was the mother of Gen. Eustace of the
Revolutionary army of France, both of whom, we believe, died in the
vicinity of Newburgh thirty or thirty-five years since." (Eager in
1846-7.) In speaking of Mrs. Eustace he notes her dignity of manner
when she resided at Campbell Hall; also of her husband, Doctor
Eustace, who was from the South, he says there was a secret not fully
understood which embittered the last years of her life and her
father's.

[Illustration: The Bull House, Hamptonburgh, Erected 1722.]

Campbell Hall owes much to Mrs. Matilda Booth Gouge. Her husband,
Mr. George Gouge, conducted a large creamery business there for
years, and on his death he left his widow more than comfortably
provided for. There were no children and Mrs. Gouge did many kind
things for her neighbors before her death. She gave the ground on
which the church was built and a large house for a parsonage close to
the church. She also educated a colored man for the ministry. On her
death she willed her large residence with its furniture for a more
comfortable home for the pastor and her farm of 100 acres to the
church with $5,000 in bonds. Most of the buildings in the village are
built on land purchased from her. Her birthplace was near and is now
owned by Mr. C. B. Howell.

Burnside has a sawmill, a store and a Borden's creamery. Post offices
are in each place and the R. F. D. comes out from Montgomery. This
closes the helpful public activities of the town, but fine hotels,
with bars, make an addition not to be omitted. It is impossible to
follow closely all the different family fortunes of those who make
the records of to-day; our allotted space is too small.

There are two of the original grants on which the descendants of the
patentees are still living. These are the Richard Gerard and William
Bull grants.

The one of 2,600 acres was dated August 10, 1723, on which, by a
mistake of calculation, the carpenters erected the first wigwam in
1712, followed by the William Bull stone house.

The second grant lay partly in Wallkill, partly in Hamptonburgh,
divided unevenly by the Wallkill River, William Bull, Esq., the
great-great-grandson of the first one of the name here, lives upon
the western portion, and the stone house known as Hill-Hold on the
eastern part, belongs to the descendants of the third son of William
Bull--Thomas Bull, Robert McLeod Jackson and Margaret Eleanor Jackson
and their mother, Margaret Crawford Jackson, wife of Robert McDowell
Jackson, son of William Wickham Jackson.

The stones in the house were cut in the fields by the builder, Thomas
Bull, as he had time for the work between planting and reaping. It
was years before he was ready to build. Paneling was brought from
England for the east and west sides of the two large first-floor
rooms. Also solid mahogany balls for the newels and mahogany
balusters. The walls are two feet thick, with open fireplaces
throughout the house and massive chimney stacks on the east and west.
This house also stands on a rock, is in good repair and has a
beautiful situation on a hill.

Thirty years ago Mr. Charles Backman bought the road house by Stony
Ford bridge, known as the Sutton House, with race track, and began to
improve Orange County's fine trotting stock. Little by little he
bought the adjoining farm land until he owned 640 acres and remade
the mile of road from Stony Ford to La Grange into as fine a highway
as are the best State roads to-day.

His house was visited by many noted people, among them General Grant
when President, and General Benjamin F. Tracy, now ex-Secretary of
the Navy. Mr. J. Howard Force now owns the place. General Tracy owned
for a few years a farm in Goosetown or LaGrange, which he named
Marshland and greatly improved. This also was a stock farm for fine
horses; it is now in other hands. Mr. Backman bought part of the
Valentine Hill farm originally belonging to Andrew Wilson, who was a
private in Colonel James McClaughrey's regiment of Little Britain. In
October, 1777, he was one of the hundred men sent out from Fort
Montgomery to intercept the British, who were 5,000 strong and
commanded by Sir Henry Clinton in person.

Here is a dispatch from Governor Clinton, dated October 7, 1777, the
day after the fort was taken: "We received intelligence that the
enemy were advancing on the west side of the mountain with design to
attack us in the rear. Upon this ordered out Colonels Bruyer and
McClaughrey with upwards of 100 men towards Doodletown with a brass
field piece, with a detachment of sixty men on every advantageous
post on the road to the furnace. They were not long out before they
were attacked by the enemy with their whole force; our people behaved
with spirit and must have made great slaughter of the enemy."

[Illustration: George W. Carpenter.]

Andrew Wilson was here taken prisoner and when an English soldier
ordered him to take off his silver shoe buckles he refused and was
knocked down by the butt of a musket and his buckles taken. He lay
on the sugar hulk for two years and believed he was treated with
greater indignity than others because of his refusal.

After his release he lived on the farm mentioned on the east bank of
the Wallkill. His son James died first, he himself in 1804. He left
two sons and a daughter. John lived and died in Goshen. His son,
Andrew, raised two companies in 1812, the first he turned over to his
intimate friend, Burnett of Little Britain, that they might not be
separated; the second gave him a commission as lieutenant in the
regular army. Afterwards he became captain and was in charge at
Governor's Island. He married a daughter of William Bull, of
Wallkill, Milinda Ann, and made a home in Goshen. He was sent to the
Legislature from there in 1819. He was prominent in the temperance
movement, also the Bible society and the church life of Hamptonburgh.

The first pastor settled at Hamptonburgh was the Rev. James R.
Johnson, formerly of Goshen. The tide of prosperity in the town was
expected to set to the east, about the new church, but the hopes were
not fulfilled, and little by little Campbell Hall became the
established center. The Rev. Slater C. Hepburn was called after Mr.
Johnson and was installed July 2, 1850, and died in Campbell Hall
after serving his people forty-five years.

Able B. Watkins was an early settler near the Denns and had a family
of ten children.

In 1749 Silas Pierson came from Long Island and took possession of
what long was known as the old shingle house on the Pierson farm,
a mile northeast of Hamptonburgh church. This house was burned this
spring of 1907, April 13th. The eastern half was built of squared
logs up to the eaves.

On the 8th day of July, 1760, James De Laney, Esq., his Majesty's
lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief in and over the province
of New York and the territories depending thereon, signed a
commission appointing Silas Pierson to be captain of the company of
militia foot lately commanded by John Bull, Esq. This was near the
close of the French and Indian War, when England had determined to
destroy the power of France in America. The militia was liable to be
called out at any time to defend the settlements against the attacks
of the Indians and to avenge their wrongs.

In 1775 Silas Pierson was captain in Jesse Woodhull's regiment; later
he was captain of a light horse company in the Revolution. Silas
Pierson and Silas Pierson, Jr., were among the many signers of the
pledge in the Cornwall precincts, in which they declared that they
would never become slaves and would aid the Continental Congress in
opposing the arbitrary acts of the British Parliament. Joshua
Pierson, grandfather of George Pierson, Sr., was a private in Col.
Jesse Woodhull's regiment in 1777 at the age of sixteen, and went
with the regiment under the command of Major Zachariah Du Bois to
assist in the defense of Fort Montgomery.

The family of Mr. William Henry Pierson still resides on the old
farm. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Bull of the "stone house." His
daughter Lucile married Harry Bull, of Wallkill, who, like his
father, is justice of the peace. It thus appears that in a large
degree the history of Hamptonburgh township is the history of the
Bulls, for marriage has linked the family with so many other
well-known names.

We would like to give a list of the men who have served as
supervisors and also as elders of the church. Indeed our story could
well lengthen itself into a small volume were all to be told which
is of interest in our little town. We have tried to keep a class of
facts which hold more than a passing and local interest.

We have drawn for our material upon such published records as have
been within our reach, and have consulted with persons who have
knowledge of such points as may have been in dispute.

Let us hope we have wronged no one in anything said or left unsaid,
and have disseminated no more false facts than are unavoidable with
the most conscientious historians.




CHAPTER XIX.

TOWN OF HIGHLANDS.

By Captain Theodore Faurot.



This is one of the younger towns of Orange County, only those of
Tuxedo and Woodbury having been born later. It is, in fact, only
about thirty-five years old. But for scenic beauty and native charm
it easily outranks every other town in this county, if not all
others on the Hudson River. The fame of the Hudson River Highlands
is worldwide, and it is in this little town that the culmination of
this native grandeur and picturesque beauty is reached. No one who
has ever sailed up or down the Hudson, and who has not, will spend a
moment wondering why this township was thus named.

The general shape or contour of the town, laterally, may be roughly
classed as triangular. But the topographical surface is far more
difficult to classify. It has the most extended river frontage of any
town in the country, it being some nine or ten miles, beginning at
Cro' Nest, in the town of Cornwall on the north, and reaching below
Fort Montgomery, to the Rockland County line.

It is bounded on the north by the town of Cornwall, on the east by
the Hudson River, on the south by Rockland county and the town of
Woodbury, and on the west by Woodbury.

The area of this young town, as now estimated by the Orange
supervisors, is 15,514 acres. In 1879 it was placed at 9,324-1/2
acres. This fractional total would seem to indicate that a very
careful survey had been made previous to that time. But nobody has
been quite able to explain just how this unique engineering feat was
accomplished. Looking at the town from the river, the task presents
many features of serious import, even to the mountain engineer.

The whole thing was valued at $330,600 by the assessors of 1879. But
of course there was nothing allowed for sentiment or native grandeur
in that cold, business estimate. Perhaps such things really had no
cash value at that time, if indeed they have now. The tax of the town
that year amounted to $2,896.67. In 1906 the total value of this real
estate was placed at $857,112. Upon this amount a tax of $8,610.67
was levied. This was made up as follows: $3,474.20, general fund;
$4,423.37, town audits; $250.02, sworn off taxes; and $0.33,
treasurer's credits.

TITLE TO THE LANDS.

Concerning these, previous to the Revolution, little is definitely
known. The lands around the Point, from which West Point takes its
name, and to the north and west thereof, were originally granted by
the British Crown to Captain John Evans. In 1723 these lands, having
been re-assumed by the Crown, the larger portion was granted to
Charles Congreve upon condition that he, or his heirs and assigns,
should settle there and cultivate at least three acres out of every
fifty acres of land conveyed to him in the grant. The inference is,
therefore, that the first buildings at West Point were erected about
that time.

This Congreve tract comprised some 1,463 acres, which included the
northern portion of the Point. But the records do not give the names
of these early white settlers. In March, 1747, another portion of
this John Evans tract, covering 332 acres, was granted to John Moore,
on the same conditions contained in the first grant to Congreve. This
tract adjoined the southwest corner of the Congreve Patent. John
Moore afterward purchased the Congreve tract and thus became the
owner of 1,790 acres in the vicinity of the Point. This he
subsequently devised to his son, Stephen Moore, a merchant of
Caswell, N. C. Then after a forty-year tenure of this land by the
Moore family it was finally sold to the United States Government,
pursuant to an act of Congress passed July 5, 1790. The deed of
transfer was executed by Moore, December 10, of the same year. The
price paid was $11,085. The necessity of this purchase was urged upon
Congress by Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, and
also by Henry Knox, who was then Secretary of War, who finally
conducted the negotiations for the purchase for the Government.

Captain John Evans obtained his original grant on petition, March,
1694, from Governor Dongan, who had purchased the land from the
Esopus Indians. It was described as extending "from Murderer's Creek
back," This stream finds the Hudson at Cornwall. Captain Gee, of the
ancient sloop Federal, who brought stores to West Point between 1790
and 1810, seems to have owned a dwelling house near the Point about
that time, when it was known as Gee's Point.

Adjoining the Congreve Patent on the south was one of the six tracts
originally granted to Gabriel and William Ludlow, October 18, 1731,
under the conditions of settlement already named. This tract seems to
have passed to many successive owners, as follows:

Richard Williams, of Cornwall; Robert Armstrong, of Sussex County,
N. J.; Benjamin Rose, December 1, 1785; John Dunlap, of Ulster
County, September 6, 1788; and Thomas North, of Cornwall, November
22, 1704. North also purchased an adjoining tract on the south from
Isaiah Smith, June 3, 1790, and he held the whole tract for nearly
thirty years. Then it passed to Oliver Gridley, of Bergen County,
N. J., December 28, 1819. who deeded the same to the United States,
May 13, 1824, in accordance with the act of Congress, approved March
10, of that year.

At the time of the purchase of the Congreve and Moore grants by the
Government, Hugh McClellan, a Revolutionary soldier, occupied a small
house on the property. In recognition of his patriotic services in
that war he was permitted to remain and cultivate his garden by
Secretary of War John Knox. The old soldier spent the rest of his
life there, leaving a wife and a daughter on the premises. They
finally claimed the domicile by right of undisputed possession under
the laws of the State. But they were finally dispossessed by the
National Government in 1830, in an action for ejectment. {_sic_}

In addition to the patents already named the following list of
grants, covering other parts of this town of Highlands, are found on
the record: Gabriel and William Ludlow, 991 acres, October 13, 1731;
Alexander Phoenix, 1,000 acres, July 13, 1750; Thomas Moore and Lewis
Pintard, 1,100 acres, December 27, 1762; Samuel Staats, 400 acres,
June 5, 1712; Thomas Ellison, 770 acres, November 12, 1750; Richard
Bradley, 800 acres, July 30, 1743; Gabriel and William Ludlow, 407
acres, October 18, 1731; Vincent and David Matthews, 1,000 acres,
November 26, 1761; Gabriel and William Ludlow, 1,437 acres, October
18, 1731; Bradley children, 4,290 acres, October 30, 1749; Vincent
and David Matthews, 800 acres, November 26, 1768; William and Edward
Wilkin, 1,305 acres, April 15, 1768; John Osborne, 1,850 acres, March
14, 1775; Thomas Moore and Lewis Pintard 2,900 acres, December 23,
1762; Smith and Wilkin 100 acres, April 15, 1768; Moore and Osborne,
150 acres, March 14, 1775; Smith and Wilkin, 190 acres, April 15,
1768; John Nelson, 550 acres, October 4, 1752; Henry Townsend, 2,000
acres; Thomas Smith, 250 acres, June 14, 1750; the Hassenclever &
Co.'s tract, 1,000 acres, 1705.

Captain Horace M. Reeve, of the general staff of the United States
Army, in his history of West Point during the Revolution, says:
"Until the American troops began to cut timber for military purposes,
and to crown the surrounding hills with forts and redoubts, West
Point and the neighboring Highlands were little else than a
wilderness of rugged hills and virgin forests, presenting about the
same appearance as first greeted Hendrik Hudson when, in 1609, he
sailed up the river which now bears his name."

Hudson anchored near West Point September 14, 1609, and he was
probably the first European that ever saw that section.

Continuing, Captain Reeve says: "Although this tract of country could
never lend itself kindly to the agriculturist, yet before the advent
of the American soldier there were several houses standing at or near
West Point, which were subsequently used for purposes very foreign
to the peaceful intentions of their builders. Two of these became
noted. One was 'Moore's House' at West Point, used by Washington as
his headquarters during the whole, or a part, of the time he was
stationed at West Point--from July 21, 1779, until November 28. The
other was the 'Robinson House,' and was situated on the eastern shore
of the Hudson, about two miles below West Point. It was used as a
military hospital and afterward as the headquarters of several
successive general officers, among whom was Benedict Arnold, who was
in this house when apprised of Andre's capture. It was from this
house that Arnold made his escape."

The Moore house stood in Washington Valley, near the river, a short
distance from the northeast corner of the present cemetery. It was
built prior to 1749, and was a pretentious structure for that period,
being known as "Moore's Folly."

Every foot of land in these Highlands has its memories of the
Revolutionary War, and this town contains the culminating features of
native grandeur not only, but also the vital strategic point on the
famous river which figured so conspicuously in the war for
independence, and will continue to fill so many important pages of
our national history for all time to come.

These great hills of grandeur and beauty extend along the entire
river front from Stony Point on the south to old Storm King on the
north. Scientists tell us that these vast mountains of primitive rock
are composed of granite, gneiss and syenite, with veins of trap. But
regarding the formation of these towering masses of rock both
geologists and laymen have only speculated and guessed for more than
a century, as their descendants and successors will continue to do
for ages to come, and leave the maze of mystery as dark and deep as
ever. We can only wonder and admire, while scientists wrestle with
the mighty problem of creation here presented.

Just now, as the writer is gathering these data for this connected
record, he finds that the great mystery concerning the formation of
this particular region has become even more obscure than ever through
the developments of the vast engineering project now under way off
Storm King Mountain. In the effort to find a solid rock bottom
beneath the Hudson at this gate of the Highlands, through which to
construct the great aqueduct which is to convey the Catskill Mountain
water to New York City, the engineers have bored the river bottom to
a depth of 700 feet, and are still baffled. Geologists predicted that
this rock would be found at least at 500 feet. But now they are all
at sea and frankly admit that their supposed knowledge as to the bed
of the Hudson at this point was totally wrong. Some expected that
rock would be reached even at 100 feet. But now the engineers say
they may have to go down 4,000 feet before they can find proper rock
through which to build their aqueduct which is to carry 800,000,000
gallons of water daily at a pressure of 200 feet per square inch.
{_sic_}  The old bed of the river is evidently covered with the
drift and silt of ages. And who will say when and how this vast body
of water broke through these adamantine hills, or by what Cyclopean
process of upheaval they were formed?

There are several small streams that flow into the Hudson at
different points in this town; one just south of Cro' Nest, others at
Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery. The pretty cataract, called
"Buttermilk Falls," from its characteristic resemblance to that
acidulous fluid, as it tumbles over the rocky shelves in fantastic
glee in its haste to reach the river, is admired by every tourist.
There are also other streams which become tributaries of Popolopen's
Creek, which finds the Hudson at Fort Montgomery.

The town also contains many inland ponds or small lakes, such as Bog
Meadow Pond, Round Pond, Long Pond, Cranberry Pond, Mine Pond,
Popolopen Lake and Highland Lake. Strangely enough, many of these
ponds have been left without more appropriate names. This Highland
Lake, just south of Fort Montgomery, is about 150 feet above the
Hudson, and about half a mile long by one-eighth of a mile wide, and
is fed by its own springs. "Blood Lake" and "Hessian Lake" are some
of its more ancient appellations, bestowed, according to
Revolutionary tradition, because of a company of Hessians who were
slain there when Sir Henry Clinton captured Fort Montgomery.

It is now proposed by the New York authorities to locate a new State
Prison in the vicinity of this lake, which is northwest of Iona
Island in the Hudson. Most of the region in that immediate section is
a wild rocky forest, and sparsely populated. Half a mile or more west
of the river, however, there is a comparatively level plateau, some
200 acres in extent, from which a fine view of both reaches of the
Hudson is obtained. This is included in the site which has been
selected for the prison. Part of it, however, extends over into
Rockland County.

This property, which consists of some 500 acres, was purchased by the
State for this prison site, in December, 1907, at a cost of $75,000.
It is about six miles below Highland Falls, and it includes Highland
Lake and its entire watershed. Whether the name of this new prison
will be selected from the classic nomenclature which prevails in that
locality, such as "Doodletown," or "Popolopen," remains to be seen.

"Doodletown Bight," is the classic name handed down from the
Colonial period, which is here applied to a small bay in the Hudson
where small water craft find a safe and pleasant harbor. The new
State road which is to run from the New Jersey line to Albany, will
pass through the eastern side of this new prison tract. Bear
Mountain, on the west, has an inexhaustible supply of granite well
suited for building purposes.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

As before stated, the ancient records are almost devoid of names of
early settlers in this immediate region, and the presumption is that
these settlers were comparatively few. Major Boynton, in his history
of West point says: "The interval between the granting of the patents
and the transfer of the titles, down to the period at which the
American Revolution commenced, are blanks in historical literature.
No traditions even of early settlers are extant, and the
probabilities are that, beyond a settlement made to secure a site or
grant, West Point, being in a region of stratified rocks, heavily
covered with drift deposits, and without a suitable soil for
cultivation, remained a mere woodland tract, possessing no higher
value than attaches to similar adjoining points in the Highlands
which have remained unsettled and uncultivated to this day."

It seems well settled, however, that John Moore, the patentee, really
located upon his purchase about 1725. This homestead stood in what
has since been known as Washington Valley, from the fact that
Washington once occupied the same dwelling for a time. The original
house, and even the second one, which replaced it, have long since
disappeared, but the remains of the old cellar were visible for many
years afterward. This, then, may be regarded as the first point of
settlement in the town of Highlands. The Moore descendants, though
inclined toward loyalism, at the outbreak of the war, could not have
been outspoken or turbulent in their opposition to the American
cause, as their lands were not confiscated. They, however, soon fled
to Nova Scotia, but afterward returned to the State of North
Carolina, where some of them became prominent, one being elected
Governor of the State; and Stephen Moore sold the West Point
reservation to the Government, as already stated. A daughter of John
Moore married Hugh McClellan about the time the war broke out.
Although not in the army, as a soldier, McClellan seems to have
fought bravely against the invaders on his own hook, as it were, for
the records contain many instances of his personal prowess. He was
employed in hauling stone for the erection of Fort Putnam, and on one
occasion he crossed the river alone and brought powder for the
Continental Army at West Point at the risk of his life or capture.

James Denton, who came from Newburgh, seems to have settled at the
Point some time afterward. He had married into the McClellan family
and became active in pressing the claim against the Government for
the title to the old homestead there by reason of possession. These
descendants also claimed certain rights which came from the Moore
family direct and were not reserved in the deed to the Government,
although antedating that transaction, as they contended. Then, too,
it may be added in their behalf, the suit for ejectment was
terminated by a compromise, the widow of McClellan being paid a
certain sum to surrender her claim.

In the vicinity of Highland Falls Cornelius Swim seems to have been
the pioneer settler. This family originally came from England about
1686 and settled on the east side of the Hudson opposite West Point,
forming part of a colony there. They were offered an extensive tract
of land there at that time for ten cents an acre. But not being
possessed even of this modest amount of money, they were afterward
obliged to leave when a more fortunate immigrant took the tract at
fifteen cents per acre. The Swims, Faurots and Roses came to
Highlands in 1725. Cornelius Swim had six sons and six daughters,
most of whom settled in the vicinity. He was finally killed by a
British scout for refusing to tell where certain army supplies were
hidden.

Cornelius Gee was another ante-Revolutionary settler at West Point,
who came from the Colony opposite. He afterward established a ferry
from West Point, then known as "Gee's Point," to Constitution Island
opposite, being associated with Jacob Nelson in the enterprise. This
was called "Nelson's Ferry." Nelson also lived in the colony on the
east shore of the river opposite the Point and he had seven children.
Only one of these, however, seems to have settled on the west side of
the river. This ancient ferry is frequently mentioned in the
Revolutionary annals; and Nelson's Point opposite Fort Arnold,
afterward Fort Clinton, was regarded as a most important strategic
point by Washington, which he carefully guarded.

Tradition has a pleasant little Highland "tea story" connected with
this Gee family which may as well be perpetuated here. "Aunt Sally
Gee" was the happy possessor of half-a-pound of this most delectable
and very scarce beverage that caused so much trouble between the
mother country and her dependent Colonies on this side of the
Atlantic, at the outbreak of hostilities. It is said that while the
flames that were destroying Fort Montgomery illuminated this entire
region, announcing the triumph of the British forces, "Aunt Sally",
giving up all as lost, resolved upon having a final cup of tea to
assuage her grief before fleeing for her life. Grabbing the old
teapot from the shelf, she tossed the entire, half-pound of tea into
it in her haste, determined that none should be left for the
redcoats. But the decoction proved all too strong and bitter even for
her tea-stained palate.

An early pioneer in the West Grove section was John Kronkhite, who
came, about the opening of the war, from Westchester County, N. Y.
Some of his descendants are still in that region. Moses Clark was
another early settler there, whose name appears in the Cornwall
records between 1765 and 1775, which would indicate that he arrived
some years before the war. Tobias Weygant is also mentioned as an
early West Grove settler. Among other early settlers in the town were
Thomas and Joseph Collins, William Cooper, who lived near Fort
Montgomery, Thomas Cooper, Isaac Garrison, who lived in the Middle
Highlands section, Jonas Garrison, William Horton, Zaccheus Horton,
Maurice Havens, David June, who lived near the Rockland county line,
D. Lancaster, John Parker, Israel Rose, Samuel Rockwell, S. Sheldon,
Birdseye Young and James Stout. Isaac Faurot was also an ancient
resident in the Highland Falls section, who was a deckhand on the
first steamboat "Cleremont" that went up the Hudson under Captain
Wiswell in 1807. Captain Faurot, a descendant, is still a resident of
Highland Falls.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.

Like several other of the younger towns in Orange county, Highlands
was the offspring of convenience and expediency. Its formation became
in fact almost a matter of public necessity owing to the peculiar
conditions prevailing. The old town of Cornwall consisted of a
thickly settled region north of the mountains, and the widely
separated localities of Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery far to the
south. Communication between these two ends of the township was in
those days very slow and inconvenient. The transaction of official
business of the town was very expensive and almost impracticable.
Boats had to be chartered to carry voters to the town meetings. Thus
the division of the town, which was authorized by the county
supervisors in 1872, met with little opposition.

The first town meeting of the new town was held at the house of
Charles Engleskircher, March 4, 1873. William Avery was then chosen
the first Supervisor, and a full list of town officials was selected.
Avery was succeeded by Jeremiah Drew in 1874, who continued in the
office several years. John A. Cook held the office one term and was
followed by Hon. Louis F. Goodsell, who was supervisor eighteen
years. Jacob L. Hicks was elected in 1905 and was succeeded by John
F. Pierce in the closely contested election of 1907.

VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.

Of these, West Point, if it can be called a village, is the more
important. A post-office was established here at an early period of
the nation's history. Major Roger Alden was the postmaster for some
years, and was followed by Mr. Hoh. In 1835 Prof. Claudius Berard
succeeded to the office and held it until his death in 1848. His
widow was then appointed and remained in office until 1870 when she
was succeeded by A. B. Berard, who was still there in 1880.

The place is composed almost entirely of the great Military School
of the nation in all its varied departments and imposing structures.
Aside from this there is very little business, except that arising
from the extensive improvements now in progress by the government.
The noted old West Point hotel is still standing, and in operation,
although even this is soon to be demolished under the plans for the
modern reconstruction of the post, which are being carried out on a
vast scale and at great expense.

The importance of West Point during the Revolutionary period is too
well understood by every student of our national history to need any
further emphasis or exemplification in this connection. It is visited
by thousands from every land annually as the great show-place of the
nation and river. And the rare native charm of its location enshrines
it as the beauty spot of America.

Busy Highland Falls, adjoining West Point on the south, was
incorporated in 1907. It is located on the Big Meadow Brook which
tumbles over the rocks into the Hudson at this point in a most
attractive cataract, which gave the village its name. It was first
known as "Buttermilk Falls," under which name the post-office was
established there July 14, 1849. Cornelius Nelson was the first
postmaster, but President Buchanan removed him and appointed Timothy
O'Leary in his place. He was reinstated, however, at the close of
Buchanan's term, and held the office in all about thirty years.
Joseph F. Stephens, the present postmaster was appointed in 1901.
Although still invested with much historic charm because of its 200
years' existence, the village now presents a pleasing modern aspect.
There are many business houses, stores and shops. There are two
national banks, both organized in 1907. A library and reading room,
and a village improvement society. A weekly newspaper was established
in 1891. South of the village overlooking the Hudson are some
charming private residences including those of John Bigelow, Major
General Roe, ex-Senator Goodsell and J. Pierpont Morgan. The place is
a favored summer region because of its picturesque natural
environment. The most imposing structure in the village is
Ladycliff Academy conducted by the Franciscan Sisters. This property
was originally Cozzen's and later Cranston's Hotel, and was purchased
and opened for its present purpose in 1900. Extensive additions and
improvements have since been made. The enclosed grounds cover an area
of twenty-two acres. There is an average attendance of one hundred
and ninety pupils, and the regular courses give the education
acquired in advanced high schools.

The old Revolutionary Fort Montgomery, which stood on Popolopen's
Creek, where the stream empties into the Hudson, is perpetuated by a
small hamlet with the same name. It makes no boast of its business
importance and points only to its patriotic history. It is, however,
the shipping point of large quantities of iron ore from the Forest of
Dean Mines some six miles west of this point.

West Grove is a pretty hamlet in the mountain section northwest of
Highland Falls. It was settled at an early date and the environment
is among some of the attractive lakes and ponds of the town.

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

For the school records pertaining to this specific region between
1813 and 1856, the reader is referred to the parent town of Cornwall.
There are three common school districts in the present town, in
addition to the Post school at West Point which is maintained for the
children of the soldiers and officers of the post. District No. 2
comprises the Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery schools. George
W. Flood, school commissioner for the eastern district of Orange
County, is a resident of Highland Falls.

The First Presbyterian Society was incorporated October 12, 1830,
with William Howe, of Buttermilk Falls, Samuel Spencer of West Point
and Peter Meeks of West Grove as trustees. It was decided to erect
two churches for the better convenience of the separate settlements,
one near Buttermilk Falls, and the other in the Fort Montgomery
section. These churches were open to other denominations under
certain regulations. In 1850 the society was reorganized under the
name of "The First Presbyterian Church of the Highlands." The
following trustees were then chosen: David Parry, Cornelius Nelson,
Charles P. Smith, Alexander Mearns, and John M. Hall. The Rev. E. P.
Roe, the famous novelist, who then lived on his fruit farm in
Cornwall, was the pastor of this church for several years, being
succeeded by Rev. Mr. Williams.

_The First Methodist Church at Fort Montgomery_ was incorporated
January 11, 1831, with the following trustees: Thomas Potter,
Ebenezer Bull, Michael Jaquish, Hiram Tyler and Silas Rockwell. A
comfortable house of worship was built soon afterward.

_The First Methodist Church_ at Buttermilk Falls began its career
March 4, 1845, with Andrew Swim, David Parry, James Thackara,
Charles P. Smith and Wright Dusenbury as trustees. But for some
reason the society disbanded soon afterward and the members united
with other churches.

The present Methodist Church at the Falls came into existence some
years later, and it continues in a flourishing condition.

_The Church of the Holy Innocents_ (Episcopal), at Highland Falls,
was incorporated September 13, 1850, Robert W. Weir and Thomas Webb
being chosen wardens, and Dennis M. Mahar, W. H. C. Bartlett, A. E.
Church, Francis Rider, R. S. Agnew, Thomas Corris, B. R. Alden and
R. S. Smith, vestrymen. The church building, which was erected
largely through the liberality of Prof. Weir of the Military Academy,
was completed in July, 1847, being constructed of the native granite.

_The Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart_ was erected opposite the
old Cozzens Hotel, at the Falls, in 1875, at a cost of $19,000. Rev.
T. J. Early became the first settled pastor.

"MOLLY PITCHER."

The oft-told story of this stout, freckle-faced young Irish patriot
of the Revolution is so closely identified with the ancient history
of this locality, where she lived and died, that its omission here,
even in this modern history, would be noted with regret.

At the capture of Fort Clinton by the British in October, 1777,
"Molly" was "in at the finish." When the enemy scaled the parapet,
her husband, an artilleryman, dropped his portfire and fled. But
Molly caught it up and discharged the last gun fired. Nine months
later, at the Monmouth battle, while she was devotedly bringing
water to her husband, who was serving a gun, he fell dead at her feet
from a British shot. Although the officer in command ordered the
piece withdrawn, Molly dropped her water-bucket, seized the rammer,
and vowed she would fill her husband's place at the gun and thus
avenge his death. Next morning, covered with dirt and blood, she was
presented to Washington by General Greene, and was appointed a
sergeant and placed upon the half-pay list for life. She became a
universal favorite with the army and usually appeared in artillery
dress, with a cocked hat. She was afterward provided for at the
Point by the Government authorities and died in that vicinity about
the age of thirty-three.

WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY.

Colonel Henry Knox, who was appointed chief of artillery by
Washington in November, 1775, was the first to propose the
establishment of a military academy, of the Woolwich type, in this
country. In a letter to his wife, dated September 5, 1776, he said:
"We must have a standing army. The militia get sick, or think
themselves so, and run home." Later in the same month, in a letter
to Adams, he wrote: "Military academies must be instituted at any
expense. We are fighting against a people well acquainted with the
theory and practice of war, and brave by discipline and habit."

Here was the germ of the Military Academy of this nation. In the
following October a committee was appointed to "prepare and bring in
a plan of a military academy at the army." The Post of West Point
received its first garrison January 20, 1778, and work on Fort
Clinton was begun at once. There seems no room for doubt that in the
very midst of the Revolutionary War, at least as early as 1780, and
possibly two years before, an engineer school was in operation at
West Point. There were also a laboratory and library, which was the
parent of the present Academy Library, the oldest Government library
in the United States. It is clear that military instruction of some
sort had then begun. Early in 1783, when the success of the American
Revolution was apparent, the necessity for this permanent school of
military education was still recognized. General Washington and his
officers were agreed upon the importance of some such school, and
West Point was generally regarded as the "key to the United States."
In 1783 the necessity of retaining West Point for this purpose was
urged upon Congress. General Knox, Secretary of War in 1790, again
advocated the scheme in his report, which was approved by Washington.
But it was not until March 16, 1802, that the organic act for the
establishment of the United States Military Academy was finally
passed. This authorized the President to organize and establish a
corps of engineers at West Point which should constitute a Military
Academy.

Thus in 1802 ten Cadets of engineers were stationed at West Point
with their officers, which constituted the Military Academy there
until 1812. This force was increased from time to time, and the sum
of $25,000 was finally appropriated for the erection of suitable
buildings, and the provision of the library, apparatus and necessary
instruments for the use of the school.

Previous to this, however, while Washington, Randolph, Knox and
Hamilton strongly favored the West Point Academy plan, Jefferson
doubted the constitutionality of the scheme. But Washington was
inclined to take the risk, and at his recommendation the West Point
School was practically started in 1794, it being then held in the old
provost prison building, which was burned in April, 1796. The school
seems to have begun in earnest, however, in February of that year.
The fire, which had destroyed all the books and apparatus, was
thought to have been of incendiary origin, induced perhaps by
opposition to the school. In the following May a parapet for the
practice of field pieces, and some of the early wooden fortifications
were constructed.

In September, 1799, the superintendency of this academy, which
however had not yet been legally established, was offered by
President Adams to Count Rumford, the founder of the Royal Military
Academy of Munich. But nothing came of this ill-advised proposition.
For nearly 25 years Washington had labored to establish a National
Military Academy, which he considered of primary importance.

On December 14, 1801, Major Williams, a grand-nephew of Benjamin
Franklin, took charge of the school as superintendent. Cadet John
Lillie, writing of his life there from 1801 to 1805, said: "All
order and regulation, either moral or religious, gave way to
idleness, dissipation and irreligion. No control over the conduct of
the officers and cadets was exercised."

As already stated the academy was legally instituted March 16, 1802,
and the school went into full operation on the 4th of the following
July. But its ancient history really dates from 1776. The act of 1812
established its present form, the main features of which have been
practically adhered to to this day. Washington is still regarded as
its founder, while Knox first proposed and strongly advocated a
military school of this very type, and Hamilton outlined the
well-considered plan of military education that was finally adopted
and has been pursued ever since.




CHAPTER XX.

TOWN OF MINISINK.

By Charles E. Stickney.



DERIVATION OF THE NAME.

The derivation of the name Minisink is undoubtedly from the Delaware
valley, which was the "Minisink" country of its Indian owners. They
had a large village and castle on the Jersey side of the Delaware
River, opposite a large island in the river, both that and the
village being known to them and to the early white settlers by the
name "Minisink." They were a sub-division of the Lenni-Lenape tribe
that somehow became known later by the name of Delaware, from an
English lord, who visited the mouth of the river about five minutes
once, and left his unmerited name to the river and its valley as well
as to the tribe of Indians about it. In truth a most foolish freak
upon the part of the white people, who had far more deserving names
to give, if they wished to observe and reward more daring explorers.
Foolish, too, because the Indian names were just as beautiful, even
more so than that of the old lord.

This sub-division of the Lenni-Lenape Indians was called the Minsi
(wolf), and they were easily recognized from other tribes by the
white people. In 1663 when Wiltwyck (now Esopus or Rondout) was
attacked, its white settlers declared that they saw the Munsey
(Minsi) Indians among their assailants.

In front of their village on the river flats south of the island lay
their great national cemetery covering acres of ground, where many
generations of their nation lay entombed. Some of them were buried so
close to the river that the sweep of its current often washed away
the dirt and exposed their bones as the writer saw them. The early
white people in the valley, all German, at first assumed that the
name Minsi, pronounced by them "munsey," was derived from the fact
that the water had at some time been drained by the Water Gap from
the lands in the valley and that the name was derived from "the water
is gone." We have never found any corroboration of that theory. The
village was the source of the name, but what is meant in the
Lenni-Lenape language we probably shall never know. From their
village the white settlers applied it to the whole valley.

William Tietsort, whom they induced to settle among them near present
Port Jervis, and do their blacksmithing, in 1690, found the name
there. Arent Schuyler, who has left on record his diary of the visit
he made there to find whether the French spies had been there from
Canada, said of it: "1694 ye 6th, Tuesday, I continued my journey to
Maghackemeck (Indian name for the neighborhood of the junction of the
Neversink with the Delaware) and from thence to within half-a-day's
journey of the Minisink." A half-day's journey would about represent
the distance to the village and castle of the tribe mentioned, and
where he was bound.

The Indians who occupied the territory in these three towns were one
of the three divisions of the Lenni-Lenapes. On the first map of the
country made they were called Maquas, which was later corrected to
Munseys and by the English to Minsies. The name of their
headquarters, Minisink, has come down to us from all the various
languages spoken by white settlers as Minisink. That corroborates it
as an original Indian word. Every clan or sub-division of the tribes
used an accent of their own, so that they were easily distinguished,
but the difference was not so radical but that the whole Lenni-Lenape
people could understand each other. Therefore the name Minisink was a
name known over a vast region before the white people came here. Its
meaning is a mystery which all linguists can guess at with some
probability of nearness.

ORGANIZATION AND BOUNDARIES.

June 23rd, 1664, this region belonged to Holland, at least that
country claimed it; but Charles, then King of England, deeded that
day, to his brother, James, Duke of York, a tract "to the northward
as far as the northernmost branch of the Delaware River in 41
degrees and 40 minutes north latitude, thence in a straight line to
Hudson's River, to be called 'Nova Cesaria' or New Jersey." England
sent over a fleet and captured the whole country in this vicinity a
little later the same year, and that made the Duke's patent valid.

The region under consideration was then a dreary forest, but land
speculators soon began to deal in tracts of it, and New York Province
claimed that the line, 41.40 latitude north to the northernmost
branch of the Delaware River, ran from its beginning on Hudson's
River to the mouth of the Lehigh River (which they asserted was the
branch of the Delaware referred to in the deed) where is now Easton,
Pa.

On the other side the owners of New Jersey claimed that the branch
referred to in the deed was a tributary of the Delaware River at what
is now Cochecton, N. Y. It will be seen that this disputed territory
was of great extent, the apex of the triangle on the Hudson River
widening out to a base of near 50 miles from present Easton to
present Cochecton. In this triangle was comprised nearly all of what
we now call Sussex County, N. J., and, according to the New Jersey
claim, taking in the present city of Port Jervis and about all of the
present towns of Greenville and Minisink. The great dispute as to the
ownership of this triangle lasted for a hundred years and its tales
of warfare and contests in courts are of great interest, but not
altogether pertinent to our subject. The start upon Hudson's River is
thus mentioned in N. J. Archives, Vol. I, page 531, in 1685-6:
"Gawen Lawrie of New Jersey, Governor Dongan of New York and others"
fixed at a point nigh Colonel William Merrit's house (see mention in
first census of Orange County) on the west side of the Hudson River
and "marked with a penknife on a beech tree standing by a small run."
How different surveyors could locate the degree of latitude from
thence to such widely different points was explained in old documents
to be the fault of the crude quadrants then used.

In 1704 Queen Anne of England granted 23 persons a patent (deed), for
a tract of land which was named "Minisink," because it embraced the
land in Minisink along the Delaware River down as far as Big Minisink
island, and as far north as Peenpack (a nickname for the Gumaer
settlement on the Neversink). March 20th, 1765, Alexander Colden, of
New York, said of this patent, Vol. III, p. 988, Documentary History
of New York: "It contains not less than 250,000 acres, under the very
small Quit-rent of nine pounds current money of this Province."

The Wawayanda patent had been granted the previous year (1703) to 12
men and the Minisink patent lapped upon it, hence we may well
conclude that the quarrel between the Provinces of New York, New
Jersey, the owners of the Minisink patent and those of the Wawayanda
patent made a very mixed question of title. There does not appear to
have been any severe contests in the three towns of which we write
between individual land owners, except those of the large patents. In
1767 the Provinces of New York and New Jersey appointed commissioners
to run out a compromise line settled upon to run from the apex of the
triangle on Hudson River to the present station at Tri-states, which
was done and that line has since remained as the boundary between the
two States. Titles derived from the Minisink patent south of that
line were void, but the titles of landholders in the three towns were
all derived from the New York patentees, hence there followed no
confusion.

During the Revolution there were few changes in county matters, but
March 7th, 1788, the legislature of the State enacted that
subdivisions of counties should be called towns instead of precincts.
By that act Orange County was divided into the towns of Haverstraw,
Orangetown, Goshen, New Cornwall, Warwick and Minisink. The southern
boundary of the latter was the State line of New York and New Jersey.

The town of Minisink under that formation was bounded on the east by
the Wallkill River, northeast and north by the town of Wallkill and
the Ulster County line around on the northwest to the Delaware River,
and the State line.

In 1798 the town of Deer Park was created and it cut off from
Minisink its over-mountain lands, which had belonged to old
Minisink and thus cut off the base whence the name had been derived.
Since then the town has held to the name, a reminder of its old
associations and of being once the home of a part of the Minsi Indian
tribe.

In 1825 the town of Calhoun was formed principally from Deer Park and
Wallkill, and formed part of the boundary of Minisink on the north.
In 1833 the name of Calhoun was changed to Mount Hope.

In 1840 the town of Wawayanda was erected from the northeastern
portion of Minisink, and took the place of Wallkill in the boundary
of the former.

In 1853 the town of Greenville was taken from the westerly portion of
Minisink, and fixed the boundaries of the latter as they now are.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

The line between the States previously referred to on a westerly
course has set-offs to avoid great obstacles in some places, but
where it bounds Minisink it is a straight line. It crosses the
Wallkill a short distance south of Unionville.

Millsburg, is a small village, named from the large mills once
located on Bodinot's Creek at that place. Extensive saw-mills,
grist, cider, and plaster mills, were for a long time kept there by
John Racine, and did a very large business for years after his death.
They are now gone. Down stream a short distance were other grist and
saw mills, of which one, a grist mill, is still in existence and
managed by Frank Mead. A little farther down the stream were once
very large woolen carding and fulling mills, where cloth was made of
the finest quality. These are now in ruins.

Boudinot's Creek has gone by various names, such as Indegot and
Bandegot, but antiquarians have now settled upon the derivation of
the name from Elias Boudinot, and the probabilities are that they are
right. Elias was a merchant in New York City, and speculated in the
lands out in the wilderness, as many others were doing in those
times. The records show that he bought, June 10th, 1704, of Philip
Rokeby, one-third of his share in the Wawayanda patent; also, August
8th, 1707, a twelfth part of the patent. He soon sold out his
interests in the patent and so far as we have been able to find,
never saw the creek in question, and he certainly never made a
settlement in this county.

Rutger's Creek was undoubtedly named from the circumstance of Anthony
Rutger's buying of the widow and son of John Merrit, one-half of the
one-twelfth of the Wawayanda patent allotted to Daniel Honan, who had
in 1705 sold it to Merrit.

The creek in question rises in the town of Greenville and flows
eastward near Unionville, where it takes a northeasterly course
through Waterloo Mills, Westtown, Johnson's, and then southerly
through Gardnersville to the Wallkill. Its Indian name is not known.

Tunkamoose Creek, a small tributary of the Wallkill near Unionville,
has what is claimed to be an Indian name, but we cannot verify it.

The Wallkill is said by Haines to have drawn its name from some
families of Walloons who settled by it, and it has also had various
other derivations alleged. Its Indian name is well known. In the very
early surveys about Franklin Furnace, N. J., in 1712-15, the
surveyors have written the name plainly, Twischsawkin. That this name
was not of a mere local application is shown by the fact that on a
map accompanying Smith's History of New Jersey, made and published in
London, Charing Cross, by Wilham Faden, December 1st, 1777, from
surveys made in 1769 by the commissioners who ran the State line, the
name Twischsawkin is applied to the stream. On that map there is not
a settlement marked from Goshen to Mackhackemeck in this county. In
Sussex County the settlement of the Walling brothers, where Joseph
Walling kept an inn, now Hamburg, N. J., is marked "Wallins." They
were located there somewhere about 1725-1730, and a brother settled
in this town of Minisink at about the same time, by the river. We
take him to have been the first settler in the town, and mention is
made of him later. The true derivation of the name Wallkill is due to
their settlements. The name "Wallins" was known far and wide to the
stragglers who first came into the neighborhood and the river that
ran by their locations, first called by visitors, Wallinskill, about
1750 got abbreviated to "Wallkill." The Walloons spoken of by Haines
were undoubtedly "Wallins." The Indian name Twischsawkin has been
interpreted to mean "abundance of wild plums." A land abounding in
snakes comes nearer its true meaning in our study of the Minsi
language.

Unionville village, assumed to be derived from the union of good
feelings following the settlement of the line between the States of
New York and New Jersey, is near that line, and is believed to have
been settled about 1738. It now has three stores, two hotels, coal
and feed stores, a system of waterworks owned by a private company,
three churches, and other places of business. It was incorporated as
a village in 1871, September 26th. Isaac Swift was the first
president.

Westtown, a village so named because it was situated at the western
limit of the settlements when Goshen was headquarters of civilization
in the county, has three stores, two churches, one hotel.

Johnsons, so-named after William Johnson who gave the land for the
Middletown, Unionville & Water Gap Railroad when it passed through
the town where the depot is now located, has three good stores, two
feed and coal stores, one hotel, and Borden's large milk and cream
plant, and is a place of considerable business.

Gardnersville, on Rutger's Creek, about two and a half miles
southeast of Johnsons, is mostly in the town of Wawayanda, and
derived its name from the Gardner family who once owned extensive
grist, saw and cider mills there. It is now mainly known from the
feed mills of John R. Manning, at present its principal industry. In
the early settlement of the country there was a defensive place near,
known as Fort Gardner. Its location is not precisely known. In some
records it is spoken of as being southward from where Westtown now
is. It was most probably at Gardnersville. An old stone building on
the late Lain farm is the "Fort Gardner," says one tradition.

Waterloo Mills (derivation of name unknown) since the decline of the
milling industry has nothing now to show of its former important
grist mills but the ruins.

FIRST SETTLEMENT AND POPULATION.

Of the first settler in the present territory of this county, Patrick
Mac Gregorie, whose brother-in-law, David Toshuck, is spoken of in
Ruttenber & Clark's History of Orange County (p. 13) as having
"closed his earthly career in the bosom of his family at Plum Point,"
we desire to mention. In New Jersey Archives, Vol. I, p. 460, it
says: "David Toshuck, of Moneyweard, partner with James, Earl of
Perth, Captain Patrick Mac Gregorie, all sharers in Proprieties," were
so mentioned in 1864. In a note on Vol. IX, p. 337, mention is made
of the will of Edward Antill proven in New York, April 7th, 1725,
wherein he gives his wife all his interest in a "certain
proprietorship formerly purchased of David Toshuck, laird of
Minnevarre." On p. 338 it is stated that "Edward Antill, Jr., came
into the possession of the laird of Minnevarre's broad acres at
Raritan landing in Middlesex County where he spent the most of his
life." Donald Macquirrish, of Murderer's Creek, is mentioned with
David Toshuck, of Minnevarre, Scotland, in a deed dated March 13th,
1687. From all which we have doubts as to the death of the aforesaid
David Toshuck at Plum Point.

Governor Dongan bought, October 25, 1684, of three Indians, one of
whom was Joghem or Keghgekapowell, for ninety pounds and eleven
shillings in goods, all the land from the mouth of Murderer's Creek
on the Hudson, to a "water pond upon the said hills called
Meretange." The latter is the present Binnewater pond in Greenville.
This purchase embraced about thirty by forty miles of the territory
of Orange precinct, and a part of the lands in three towns. It lapped
on other grants also. September 12, 1694, he sold it to Captain John
Evans. In the latter sale went a house on Plum Point, which Captain
Mac Gregorie had built there on his land by advice of that very
Governor, who also sold the land without any scruple.

Lord Bellomont, in reviewing the transaction afterwards in writing
January 2, 1701, to the Lords of Trade, said:

"Capt. Evans's great grant of 40 miles one way and 30 another, has
but one house on it, or rather a hut, where a poor man lives, built
by Patrick Mac Gregorie, a Scotchman, who was killed at the time of
the Revolution here, and his widow compelled to sell her house and
land to Capt. Evans for 30 or 35 pounds."

The foregoing was not only a concise history of the first settlement
in this county, but it was in reality the first census, and shows
that then, 1701, there was not a single person in the limits of our
three towns as a permanent settler. It may be said in apparent
contradiction that a census taken by Bellomont in 1698 showed this
county to have in it 29 men, 31 women, 140 children and 19 Negroes.
They were all located along the Hudson River, in what is now Rockland
County. Yet there was at that time a blacksmith, William Tietsort
(Titsworth), in Minisink, near where Port Jervis now stands, who had
settled there in 1698 at the request of the Indians to work at his
trade for them. In 1703, the county had 268 people in it; in 1712,
439. The Gumaer patent was settled on in the Neversink valley by this
time, but there is no record of any settler in our three towns at
that time. In 1723 the census showed 1,097 white and 147 colored
people in the county. The owners of the big patents used great
inducements to get settlers to locate on their land, and it is
probable that some were in our territory but not of record. In 1737
there were 2,840; and in 1746, 3,268 people in the county.

Inman Walling was a settler, probably 1725-1730, by the Wallkill,
east of present Westtown, and John Whitaker died in 1742 near where
Unionville now is, and had been a resident there, no one knows how
long. His will on record in the surrogate's office in Goshen, liber
A. page 221, mentions his wife Eve, sons Richard, Peter and John,
and daughters Jean and Elizabeth. Their descendants are yet
residents of the town and of Sussex County adjoining. Those two
families were probably the first permanent ones in this town of
Minisink. There were others in the limits of what is now Wawayanda
at or about the same time.

There were two Smith families early in the precinct of Minisink. One
of them, Benjamin, settled near the present Slate Hill village, and
the other on the farm now owned by J. Cadigan near Johnsons, where he
kept an inn, the place being known as Smith's Village for at least
seventy-five years.

Other settlers came in rapidly. William Stenard in 1749; Captain John
Wisner from Warwick in 1776; George Kimber in 1750; Caleb Clark in
1800; William Lane in 1760. In an assessment roll made for Goshen
precinct in 1775 Godfrey Lutes, Peter Middagh, Daniel Rosencrans,
Inman Walling, Peter Walling, Increase Mather, John Whitaker, Jr.,
and Ebenezer Beers were shown to reside in this town besides the
other first settlers mentioned.

The census of the county in 1756 showed it to have a population of
4,446 whites and 430 slaves. In 1771 there were 9,430 whites and 662
Negroes.

The Horton family were early residents of this territory, but we have
no positive data of their first advent. October 20, 1764, a line run
to divide the county into two precincts was described as "beginning
near the new dwelling house of John Manno, and thence on a course
which will leave the house of Barnabus Horton, Jr., ten chains to the
westward." His house we do not think was in this town. A Barnabus
Horton in 1813 lived near what is now South Centerville in Wawayanda.
Gabriel Horton, justice of the peace, 1839-1843, lived about a mile
and a half west of present Slate Hill in Wawayanda. William Horton in
this town was a holder of important local offices, and his son
Charles W. Horton, former supervisor, is now one of the leading
citizens, as is also his neighbor, Reeves Horton.

In 1835, ten years after the town of Calhoun (Mount Hope) had been
set off, the remainder of the territory in old Minisink had 4,439
inhabitants, and the present limits of this town about 1,000.

In 1850 the town of Wawayanda was taken off, and in 1853 the town of
Greenville. In 1855, by the first census after their elimination,
this town had a population of 1,295.

Since then its limits have remained unchanged. In 1860 its population
was 1,266; in 1865, 1,209, a decrease owing to the civil war; in
1880, 1,360, including the incorporated village of Unionville, which
had 316; in 1905, the last census taken, 1,354, including
Unionville--a gain in 50 years of 59, which may be mainly said to be
in Unionville.

The first incorporated company to do business in the town was the
Goshen and Westtown Turnpike Company, chartered June 1, 1812,
consisting of Reuben Hopkins, Freegift Tuthill, Benjamin Strong,
Stephen Jackson, James Carpenter, D. M. Westcott, "and such other
persons as they shall associate with them." The purpose was to build
a turnpike road from the State line to Rutger's Kill near the mill of
Jones & Vancleft (at Gardnersville). Thence it ran to Pellet's round
hill and the Goshen and Minisink turnpike.

The Middletown, Unionville & Watergap Railroad Company was
incorporated and completed ready for business by June 10, 1868, from
Unionville to Middletown. Later it was leased to the Oswego Midland
Railway, and still later its 13.30 miles of track were leased by the
New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad Company, by which it is now
operated, under Erie Railroad supervision.

MILITARY.

There appear to have been no conflicts with the Indian owners of the
territory of the three towns under consideration, and its white
settlers, previous to the Minisink war, or as some historians call
it, "The French and Indian War" of 1754-1758. We call it the Minisink
war, because the Minsi tribe, at the outset of the war between France
and England, which led to the great struggle between Canada for
France and the colonies of our country for England, got permission to
take up the hatchet against the settlers in Pennsylvania Minisink
from their (the Minsis') masters, the Six Nations, to avenge their
wrongs in that region. The wrongs were alleged to be that the
proprietors of Pennsylvania had cheated the Indian owners of the
lands there, and there is now no doubt that the allegation was true.
There was no redress to be had for an Indian wrong in those years.
Teedyuscung and the leaders of the Indians issued imperative orders
that the war should be confined to Pennsylvania and they were pretty
generally obeyed. Occasional straggling parties of them, however, in
small numbers, disobeyed orders in order to avenge some injury to
some person or clan, and passed through east of Shawangunk Mountains
on marauding expeditions. They were vagrant Indians who had no
standing as warriors in their tribe and they perpetrated wanton
murders without the knowledge or sanction of their leaders. Of this
class no doubt were the ones who surprised a man named Owens at work
in Dolsen's meadow, in what was then Dolsentown, now in Wawayanda,
near Middletown, in 1756, and shot him. David Cooley, who is believed
then to have had a settlement at what is now the Charles O.
Carpenter farm near Pine Hill cemetery, about a mile south of where
Dolsen was located, alarmed at the murder of Owens, moved his family
to Goshen. The next spring he moved back. That summer a party of
Indians, in passing by his place, shot a woman of his household who
at the time was passing from the outdoor oven to the house.

A company of militia had been organized in 1738 in the county called
the "Company of the Wallakill (Willinskill)"; but none of the 144
names of its members appear to belong to our territory, except it may
be those of John Monell, Lieutenant William Borland, Benjamin Haines,
James Monell, Johannis Crane and James Davis. John Bayard was its
captain.

The murder of the widow Walling in 1758 was mentioned in the
Philadelphia _Gazette_ and in New York papers in that year and made
a profound impression throughout the colonies.

In the Revolutionary War, Colonel Allison's Goshen regiment contained
some names belonging to this territory. The officers of its Wawayanda
company were: Captain, William Blair; lieutenants, Thomas Wisner and
Thomas Sayre, Jr.; ensign, Richard Johnson; of the Drowned Lands
company--captain, Samuel Jones; lieutenants, Peter Gale and Jacob
Dunning; ensign, Samuel Webb; of the Pochuck company--captain,
Ebenezer Owen; lieutenants, Increase Holley and John Bronson; ensign,
David Rogers; of Minisink company--captain, Moses Courtright;
lieutenants, John Van Tile and Johannes Decker; ensign, Ephraim
Middaugh. The latter lived in the township of Wantage in 1764, where
he was commissioned as an ensign of Captain Kirkendal's company by
Governor William Franklin. The late S. M. Stoddard of that township
had and exhibited to the writer the last named commission. Middaugh
went with General Hathorn to the battle of Minisink, where he was
killed.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The town of Minisink was bonded in 1869, for $75,000 to aid in
extending the New York Midland Railroad from Unionville farther
south. This has not been paid in full yet. The sum of $3,280 was
ordered to be raised by tax on the town of Minisink by the board of
supervisors on the 22nd of November, 1907, to pay principal and
interest on those bonds.

The first town meeting after the town of Minisink was organized, took
place at the house of John Van Tuyl, April 1, 1789. Its territory
then covered the three towns, and that house supposed to be the old
stone house now in Greenville, on the former Jonathan Van Tuyl farm,
later the Hallock house, was a convenient place for the gathering.

August 11, 1864, the present town was bonded for $25,000 to pay
bounties for volunteers in the Civil War. It was paid off, principal
and interest, in eight equal installments as they fell due.

Hulet Clark bought land in Minisink in 1828 in the present town of
Minisink, where he died March 31, 1857. His son, William Harvey
Clark, early gave evidence of the good judgment and business ability
which his future life carried out. He married Emily Robertson of
Wawayanda and they lived on the old homestead near Westtown, where he
died in 1907. His son, Robert H. Clark, is the present supervisor of
this town, resides on the old homestead, and is establishing a
business reputation as popular and able as that which distinguished
his father and which will make his name long remembered in local
annals.

In March, 1799, the Legislature of the State passed an act for the
gradual abolition of slavery. All slaves were to become free at a
certain age. As an instance of its working, there was Frank Bounty,
a colored man, for whom Joseph Davis of Wawayanda had traded a pair
of oxen when Frank was a young man. When the time arrived at which
the law gave Frank his liberty he was called up by Mr. Davis and told
that he was then a free man. Frank asked him if he could not stay on
with him, but Mr. Davis said he could not, for the reason that people
would then say that he was being coerced. Mr. Davis gave him some
money and told him he must go and do for himself, and Frank told the
Writer that was one of the saddest days of his life.

Mr. Davis also gave him the use of a house and lot in Brookfield or
Slate Hill which he might, and did, enjoy for life by paying the
taxes on it. It was the last house on the west side of the street in
the west end of the village at that time. There he raised a large
family.

Not all Negroes were so lucky. Some of them were old and worn out and
their masters were glad to get rid of caring for them.

In the early history of the town in all its farming communities, the
farmers raised sheep, and made a double use of them. The rams were
used to churn with on the big wheel and on endless chain churning
machines then used, and the wool sheared from all the sheep was
carded, sometimes by hand, at other times in factories, and woven or
spun into stockings, mittens, and cloth, to furnish wearing apparel.
Up to 1850, butter was the chief product of the dairies in the town.
Then selling milk came into general practice, and making butter,
milling flour for home use, and traveling on horseback went out of
fashion.

The farmers universally kept sheep, raised the wool to make the
clothes for the members of the family, and at the same time used the
large sheep to churn with upon a tread or sweep power. Up to 1850
butter and hogs were the chief products. It is less than 200 years
since the first squatters settled in the limits of the three towns of
which we write. The first customs to pass away were their friendly
associations with the few Indians who clung to their old hunting
grounds with death-like tenacity. Then the hostilities engendered by
the helplessness of the Indians and the consequent overbearing
attitude of the settlers passed by, leaving a trail of traditions and
savage memories. Then followed the old logging, stone picking,
mowing, husking and quilting bees or frolics in which whiskey was
used as a general beverage. Then came the passing of the use of
whiskey for the universal medicine and social welcome. Next passed
the days when women carded the wool and spun and wove it, and knit
everywhere, knit, knit, knit. Next passed the days when the young
ladies worked samplers, and helped in the harvest and hay fields,
and grew up vigorous, stout and healthy. Next passed the fishing with
fikes {_sic_} and racks and the hunting for wolves and foxes. Now have
arrived the days when fish and game are about extinct.

Now are the days when the farmers sell their milk and buy their
butter; when they sell little else than milk and have become a great
generation of buyers; when social visits are about unknown; when the
old time good-natured sports and merriment are frowned upon; when men
no longer meet on the streets and argue politics, but bury themselves
in a newspaper on the trains or in any resting place and read, read,
read; when women no longer knit and spin; when the girls no longer
will do outdoor work and dreadfully dislike to do indoor work; when,
instead of the big boys and girls going to school a few months in the
winter season, they all go away to boarding school. In noting these
and other changes which have taken place in the towns as the years
have fled, it is noticeable that the people generally live better,
even luxuriously, compared with former years, but are their public
and domestic relations happier?




CHAPTER XXI.

TOWN OF MONROE.

By M. N. Kane.

The territory comprising the present town of Monroe is part of the
Chesekook Patent granted by Queen Anne, March 25, 1707. The
Chesekook tract was surveyed by Charles Clinton, father of George
and James Clinton, and grandfather of Dewitt Clinton. His field book,
the original of which is in the possession of Hon. MacGrane Cox, of
Southfield, N. Y. (Mr. Fred J. Knight, Civil Engineer, of Monroe,
N. Y., having a copy), contains much information and many interesting
incidents of the early history of this section.

The town was set off from the precinct of Goshen in 1764 and named
Chesekook. This name continued until 1801, when it was changed to
Southfield. On April 6th, 1808, it took the present name Monroe, in
honor of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States.

In 1863, the town (like ancient Gaul), was divided into three parts
by the erection of the three towns of Monroe, Highland and
Southfield, which division was the same as the present towns of
Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo, except that the then town of Monroe
embraced a small portion of the present town of Woodbury.

In 1865 the three towns were dissolved and the whole original
territory restored to the town of Monroe. In 1889 it again underwent
the Gaelic operation resulting in the creation of the present towns
of Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo. Monroe contains an area of 11,500
acres, Woodbury 23,000 acres and Tuxedo 50,000 acres.

The history of this town was written by Rev. Daniel Niles Freeland,
who was the beloved and scholarly pastor of the Presbyterian Church
from 1847 to 1881, and his volume of two hundred and fifty pages,
entitled "Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Times," is a history of
the town up to 1898.

LAKES AND MOUNTAINS.

Monroe has in recent years, because of its rugged beauties, its
beautiful lakes and mountain scenery, its high altitude, pure water
and healthfulness, and its proximity to the Metropolitan district,
become a favorite resort for the people of New York and nearby
cities, and has made very rapid growth. It is the lake region of the
county and located on the crest of the mountain divide, the village
being the highest station except Otisville on the Erie Railroad
between Jersey City and Port Jervis. There are four beautiful natural
lakes, located from one to three miles from the village, namely,
Mombasha, having an area of 340 acres and an elevation of 860 feet,
from which Monroe village gets it water supply; Walton Lake, having
an area of 125 acres and an elevation of 720 feet, from which Chester
obtains its water supply; Round Island Lake, ninety acres in area and
660 feet elevation, upon the eastern bluff of which Mr. W. M.
Haight's beautiful Cedar Cliff Inn is located, and Cromwell Lake with
an area of fifty-three acres and an elevation of 740 feet. There are
a number of smaller lakes which add to the beauty of this region.
Among them should be mentioned, the Mountain Lake recently built to
the east of the village, with an area of twenty acres and an
elevation of 550 feet, and Lake Winape, a most charming mountain lake
near Mombasha Lake, with an area of eleven acres and an elevation of
760 feet, just completed by Mr. George R. Conklin. The construction
of other lakes is contemplated.

[Illustration: M. N. Kane.]

The village of Monroe is in the pass on the mountain crest, the
waters from the northern part of the village flowing northeast into
the Hudson near Newburgh, and from the southern part of the village
flowing southeast through the Ramapo, which rises in Round Island
Lake, into the Passaic River.

Eager, in his early history of Orange County, with prophetic vision,
saw the beauties of this section. He wrote as follows: "These are the
Grampian hills of Orange. While this elevated range is severed by
many deep glens and valleys, the Alpine heights hold within their
rocky crests, ponds and lakes of pure water, which glitter like
diamonds in the noontide sun. Rude and forbidding as this region of
hills and rocks and mountain crags may at first sight appear to the
eye of a superficial observer, yet, to the true lover of nature in
the exhibition of her noblest works, and to the practical mind of the
really utilitarian, for a thousand purposes, the whole is well
arranged and unsurpassed by anything of the kind in the county. Here
are found without stint or measure, granite, mica or isinglass stone,
and every quality of iron ore, with other minerals, treasures of
present and future wealth to the nation. As early as 1778, during the
war of the Revolution, the great chain passed across the Hudson at
West Point, was made from the mineral of this region. In this
respect as regards quality and quantity, the county of Orange stands
unrivaled by any other in the State.

"The time will come when these hills, mountains, deep glens and
sparkling lakes, shall be the descriptive themes of some native bard,
who like Scott or Burns, caught up in spirit and wrapped in poetic
fire, will harmoniously weave them, one and all, into the thrilling
lays of the lowland and mountain muse. The time will come, when these
elevated heights of dreary aspect, these hills overhung and darkened
with vines and forest trees, and these lakes of picturesque beauty,
unknown to the common mind, decorated with the wildest garniture of
nature, and visited by the wing of the wild bird, shall be associated
in the minds of our children's children with all that is pastoral,
pleasing and heroic. True, Monroe cannot be made equal in
agricultural beauty to other more charming localities, and wave with
a golden harvest; for though her hills and mountains may be denuded
of their vegetable ornaments, they cannot be leveled down nor driven
over by the plough-share; yet the time will come, when every nook and
corner throughout the broad and variegated mass shall hold a
freeman's cottage, teeming with life and highland cheer, whose
tenants, honest and hardy, will sleep amidst the thunders which rock
them to rest, and the lightnings that play around and gleam up their
mountain dwellings."

The Rev. Mr. Freeland in writing of its mountains says: "As the
mountains were round about Jerusalem," so are the mountains round
about Monroe. On the east are the Highlands, like the mountains of
Moab, seen whenever its citizens look toward sunrise. Ten miles of
rock ridges, with many a peak, defend them on that side. Only one or
two passes give access in that direction--one over Bull Hill, the
other up to the Stockbridge Hotel. Either of these could easily be
defended against an enemy. On the south are Forshee Hill and the
Southfield Mountains. On the west, the Bellvale Mountains and
Sugar Loaf, standing like a sentinel, overlooking the valley below.
Schunnemunk guards the northwest. It has a bastion on the eastern
corner. High Point is a weather signal-tower to the observing. When
it wears its night-cap late in the morning, it indicates falling
weather; when the cap is early doffed, it betokens a serene day. The
black rocks loom up from the mountain-top, and from their summit a
wonderful scene presents itself. The eye sweeps the entire horizon,
taking in the Catskills, Butter Hill, the Fishkill Hills, Bull and
Pine Hills, Mount Bashan, Sugar Loaf, Bellvale and Goose Pond
Mountains, with lakes, farms, mines, mills and villages galore. The
Devil's Racecourse lies on the northern slope of old Schunnemunk, but
the visitor needs none of his counsel or company, for he who climbs
these steeps can find sweeter communion nearer to the heart of
nature.

"One other landmark is Bald Hill, very dear to us because at its foot
we first hung the crane. Here we toiled and studied, and here the
sunshine lingers in our memory longest and our children fell asleep.
It is the Acropolis of the village."

And in writing of its valleys he says: "Soils of great fertility
were laid down here; yes, brought from distant hills to furnish slope
and meadow. Here are alluvions of great depth and good grain lands;
but the town is best adapted to grazing. The grasses, like those of
the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, contain just those elements which
yield fattening and milk-producing qualities. Had the mountains of
Monroe been only a mass of rock, like some parts of Scotland, they
might have been abandoned to the heather and become great solitary
sheep-walks; or if they had been only picturesque vales and quiet
nooks, there would have been a temptation to some lord of the manor
to make it his park and country-seat. Heaven had a better destiny in
store for it, hence mingled rocks and soils so as to invite the plow,
scooped out the water courses to attract the loom and forge, hid away
such materials as would bring hither the herd-man and artisan, the
abhorrence of lordly pretension and elegant leisure. Monroe, from its
very physical constitution, was predestined to be the home of honest
toil and frugal industry. In the vicinity of what was to be the
greatest city of the New World, and on the route of its best
approaches from west to north, wealth and prosperity ought to be its
sure reward, and doubtless will when the wisdom of men is able to
master the situation."

MONROE VILLAGE.

But the growth and development of Monroe depends not alone upon its
picturesque mountains, beautiful valleys and charming lakes, which
attract so many city people, who are fast dotting the available lake
and mountain sites with charming villas and country homes, beautiful
inns, hotels and boarding houses, for the village itself is becoming
one of the most progressive and bustling of modern towns. Its growth
during the past five years being much more rapid than any other
village of the county.

Monroe village, incorporated in 1894, with a population of 781, now
has about 1,200. The incorporation was due in a large degree to a
disastrous fire occurring in November, 1892, which showed the
necessity of fire protection.

On July 31, 1894, a vote on the question of incorporation was taken,
resulting in favor of incorporation 111 for, and 45 against. On
August 21, 1894, an election for officers was held. Henry Mapes was
elected president; George R. Conklin, Gilbert Carpenter and Henry
Morehouse, trustees, and J. Lester Gregory, treasurer. On August
28th the Board organized as a board of water commissioners with
Gilbert Carpenter, president. At the election held November 10, 1894,
to vote for waterworks, there were fifty-eight for and fifteen
against the proposition. The board of water commissioners took the
necessary steps to acquire water for the village, and the village of
Monroe is largely indebted to this first board of water commissioners
for its splendid water plant which is contributing so largely to its
development.

The village purchased from the Sterling Iron & Railway Company the
right to raise the dam and store additional water at Mombasha Lake.
This lake affords one of the purest and finest water supplies to be
found in the State. About one mile of 14 inch pipe and two miles of
10 inch pipe bring the water to the center of the village with a head
of about 250 feet, and distribution is made with 8, 6 and 4 inch
pipes. The water was turned on October 10, 1895. No fire has since
extended beyond the building in which it originated. The cost of the
works was about $46,000, which is probably about two-thirds of what
it would cost at present, owing to the increased cost of labor and
material. The works are now not only self-sustaining but are
producing a comfortable surplus, and it is estimated that in not many
years the plant will pay for itself and will then produce sufficient
revenue to light and keep in repair the village streets--a splendid
example of municipal ownership of public utilities.

The town of Monroe has no bonded indebtedness and the village none
other than its water bonds, except that Union Free School District
No. 1, which includes the village, has issued $4,375, on account of
the purchase of a seven acre school site on a commanding height
overlooking the village.

The Warwick, Monroe and Chester Building and Loan Association has
been a potent factor in Monroe's development. It was organized in
April, 1890.

Standard Lodge No. 711 F. & A. M., instituted at Chester, N. Y.,
June 30, 1871, was, with consent of the Grand Lodge, moved to Monroe
in 1884, and has a membership of 180.

The Monroe National Bank, U. S. No. 7,563, although in its infancy,
is a flourishing institution. It was chartered by the Treasury
Department January 18th, 1905 and it was opened for business, March
1st, 1905.

Monroe has a very excellent fire department. The Mombasha Hose
Company was organized July 24th, 1895, and the Mombasha Fire Company,
April 5th, 1898.

The Orange and Rockland Electric Light and Power Company, which
furnishes light and power to the villages and communities in the
eastern end of the county, is located at Monroe and is now erecting
a very large plant. The Newbury Foundry Company is also located here.

Monroe has a fine telephone system, an athletic association, and is
now putting down cement walks in the village, and it is confidently
predicted that it will be the leading center of the eastern end of
the county within a short period.

A Methodist society existed in the neighborhood of Monroe prior to
1839, the M. E. Church at Oxford (near Quaker Hill) having been built
some time before, but in the year above mentioned Matthew B. Sweezy
deeded to the Trustees of the recently organized M. E. Church of
Monroe the land upon which the church now stands. In the following
year, 1840, the church was built. The first board of trustees was the
following: Stephen Post, Isaac Compton, Jeremiah Knight, Thomas D.
Tannery, John King, Samuel Smith and Peter Ball. Others who served
the church in its early history as trustees were Jonathan Mapes,
John S. Gregory, Matthew B. Sweezy, Solomon W. Esray, Townsend Mapes,
Job Mapes, William Hudson, George K. Smith, William Johnston, Martin
Konnight, Daniel Secord, Nathan Strong and Walter Roberts. John S.
Gregory was elected trustee in 1843 and served in this capacity until
his death in 1905, a period of sixty-two years.

The Rev. Mr. Bancroft is said to have been the first minister. Others
who followed him were the Rev. William Van Duzen, Rev. A. C. Fields,
Rev. Mr. Newmans, Rev. J. H. Hawkshurst, Rev. Mr. Blake, Rev. Mr.
Croft, Rev. N. Messiter, Rev. D. D. Gillespie.

Matthew B. Sweezy was chorister for a time. There was no organ in the
early days of the church, but the congregation was frequently led in
singing by the violin and the violoncello, though there were some who
objected to the use of so ungodly a thing as the "fiddle."

At first the Monroe church was a part of the circuit under the charge
of a pastor and his assistants. This circuit in the early days
comprised, besides Monroe, the churches at Highland Mills,
Washingtonville, Craigville and Turner. Finally, Monroe and Turner
comprised the charge, and this relationship was dissolved in 1895.

In 1875 it was voted to enlarge and repair the church, and the
pastor, Rev. David McCartney, and Mr. H. H. Lawrence, were appointed
a committee to solicit subscriptions for this purpose. Their efforts
were successful and the church was remodeled, and stands to-day
practically the same as they left it.

The church has reason to hold the memory of Mr. James Smith, Mrs.
James Smith and Sara Smith, their daughter, in lasting remembrance,
as they respectively left substantial legacies to the trustees of the
church, to the Ladies' Aid Society, and to the Sunday school, said
legacies to be held in trust for their use.

The church has a Sunday school and Epworth league. The
superintendents of the Sunday school during the last twenty-five
years or more have been Franklin Bull and Orville Eichenberg, the
latter having held the position for the last nineteen years.

The first available records of the schools of the town of Monroe are
dated January 7, 1819. These are receipts given by the trustees of
several of the school districts for State moneys received from the
commissioners of common schools. These moneys were for the benefit of
their respective districts and were in all cases small, the
apportionments ranging from eight to twenty-five dollars. At this
time the town's educational interests were in the hands of three
commissioners of common schools. The incumbents of these offices in
the town of Monroe in 1819 were Israel Green, Lewis H. Roe and George
Wilks.

In 1843 the office of town superintendent was instituted, thus doing
away with the board of three commissioners of common schools. The
duties of this officer were probably the same as those exercised by
the board which he had taken the place of. The first person to hold
this new town office was Joseph R. Andrews, who had been a member of
the last board of commissioners of common schools. The office of town
superintendent ceased to exist in 1857, when the office of school
commissioner was created. The new official assumed the powers of
licensing teachers, altering school district boundaries, etc., while
the care of the school moneys from the State was given to the
supervisor of the town. The office of town superintendent was held
for a short time by Morgan Shuit, and afterward for a period of
about ten years by Archibald Campbell, whose term was concluded in
1857, when the office was abolished.

In 1819, as they did in subsequent years, the commissioners reported
the text-books in use. This list varied little for many years and was
given in the following order: Webster's Spelling Book, Murray's
Grammar, Johnson's Dictionary, Scott's Lessons, English Reader,
American Selections, American Reader, Columbian Orator, Daball's and
Dilworth's Arithmetic. Later on a new and inexperienced board of
commissioners enumerates the above list with one exception, and
concludes with the information, "all of which are American
selections."

The commissioners of common schools in 1819 rearranged the boundaries
of the school districts of the town, and recorded these boundaries
somewhat definitely. The number at that time was thirteen, but since
that date the number has been changed many times and their boundaries
have frequently been altered.

Of the schools of the former town of Monroe four have become union
schools, having high school departments, viz: Central Valley, in
February, 1895; Monroe, in December, 1896; Turner, in May, 1902, and
Tuxedo, in December, 1902.

District No. 1 is the district that includes the village of Monroe.
Though it contains practically the territory of District No. 1, as
recorded in 1819, its boundaries have been materially changed. The
Rev. D. N. Freeland says, in his history of the town of Monroe, that
the first mention of a school in this neighborhood is of one held in
the Presbyterian church building at Seamanville. After that a log
school-house was built just west of the church. The old stone
school-house on the road to Mombasha followed, and this in turn gave
way to another built a few rods further south. In 1857 a two-story
building near the Presbyterian church was constructed and this was
made to answer the purpose until 1884, when the building now in use
(1907) was erected at a cost of $10,000. This building has now become
too small and the people of the district have purchased, during the
past year, a new site just north of the Episcopal chapel, containing
nearly seven acres, at a cost of $5,000. They have also appropriated
the sum of $40,000 for the erection of a suitable building, the
foundations of which are at this time completed.

Of the persons serving the district in an official relation the
following have rendered the longest continuous service; Henry Mapes,
as clerk, thirty-four years; George R. Conklin, trustee, twenty
years; A. B. Hulse, trustee, fifteen years.

The school of District No. 1 was admitted as a member of the
University of the State of New York December 17, 1896, having been
created a union school the preceding year. The following are the
names of the trustees appearing upon the certificate of admission as
petitioners: Eugene McGarrah, George R. Conklin, L. H. Marvin,
Solomon Fairchild.

The present board of education is: Fletcher B. Brooks, Solomon
Fairchild, Millard Mapes, Frank F. Griffin, and Clarence S. Knight.
In addition to the usual work of a board of education, this board has
the additional responsibility of building a modern school-house.

TURNER VILLAGE.

Many changes have to be recorded in the thriving village of Turner,
in the eastern part of the town of Monroe. By common consent the name
has been changed from "Turners" to "Turner," and this seems to be a
most reasonable change.

No longer do the trains of the Erie Railroad Company sweep
majestically into the depot, there to stand impatiently while its
hungry passengers regale themselves in that famous restaurant founded
by Peter Turner. The now common, every-day dining-car attached to
nearly every train, has crowded out that famous business. The large
brick building was destroyed by fire and the restaurant moved to the
wooden building on the opposite side of the track. This property is
now owned by the Ramapo Mountain Realty Company, but is fast falling
into decay. One end alone is used as a depot. Below the hill stands
the famous grist mill which receives its power from the village pond
near by. Across the street from the mill stands the old hotel of
stage coach days, now renovated into a modern hotel, known as
"Silver Fox Inn." This property and the farm connected therewith are
owned by the Ramapo Mountain Realty Company.

[Illustration: Geo. R. Conklin]

The old smithy, where Cortland Rumsey's hammer caused the anvil to
ring, has long since become a business house. The village blacksmith,
J. B. Hallock, has built a modern shop near by and causes the same
old anvils to ring as hearty and strong as ever.

The little old stone school-house where our fathers learned their
"three R's," is now a dwelling and a magnificent school-house stands
on a hill overlooking the entire village. There, four learned
instructors hold forth, where a few short years ago one was
sufficient.

The few rambling houses that constituted the little village of a few
years ago have given way to modern dwellings and business places,
constituting a thriving village of some eight hundred people, all
busy and prosperous.

Surrounding the village on every hillside stand the beautiful summer
homes of some wealthy New Yorkers. Among these are the homes of W. R.
Barr, "Stony Wolde"; Mrs. John Brower, "Blythlea"; and the homes of
E. H. Harriman, Ward Brower, Farrand Brower, Max Jagerhuber, Orrin
S. Wood and William L. Strout. Where once our farmers tilled the soil
beautiful lawns appear. To the east, where once hunters and trappers
alone journeyed, on the highest peak of the Ramapo Mountains, rises
the mansion of E. H. Harriman. Inch by inch and foot by foot this
great stone structure rises into view above the trees that surround
it. A railway has been hewn out of the side of the mountain and a
cable railroad operates cars that hoist workmen and materials to the
summit.

The village maintains two churches--a Methodist Episcopal and a
Catholic. Both have excellent sanctuaries and congregations of
earnest, sincere, right-living people. They have done yeoman work in
their territory and their influence has been widespread. Connected
with the Methodist Church is a Sunday school and Epworth league.

The famous old store of Thomas Earl has been torn down and the
village now has five stores. The old "Bombeetel" house still stands
at the cross-roads in the center of the village and now contains the
village market run by J. R. Brooks.

Time has indeed dealt kindly with Turner. The latest item to be
accredited her is electricity. Nightly the village streets are
brilliantly lighted and business goes on as busily as by daylight.
The magic current is introduced to the houses and brings light and
cheerfulness to the homes.

The old village of Centerville would scarcely recognize the village
of Turner, which is but the village of Centerville under a new name.

[Illustration: David A. Morrison.]




CHAPTER XXII.

TOWN OF MONTGOMERY.

By David A. Morrison.



This important town is in the northern part of Orange County,
bordering upon Ulster. It lies between the towns of Newburgh on the
east, and Crawford on the west. Each of these towns has a large
tongue of land that extends much further toward the north than the
territory of Montgomery, the northern bounds of which form nearly a
straight line. On the south are the towns of New Windsor,
Hamptonburgh and Wallkill, from which it is separated by rather
irregular rectangular lines. The area of the town as shown by the
last Supervisors' report, is 30,578 acres. The assessed valuation of
property taxable in the town and found by the Assessors in 1906
aggregated $2,094,640. The total taxes for that year amounted to
$23,953.01.

TITLES.

The territory of Montgomery is a part of the original John Evans
Patent, which seems to have been set aside subsequently for various
reasons. In 1714 it was in the precinct of Shawangunk, in Ulster
County, where it remained until 1743. when it became part of the
Wallkill precinct. At that time it embraced the following patents:

 Cadwallader Colden, April 9, 1719                   2,000 acres
 John Johnson, Jr., February 3, 1720                 1,000   "
 Thomas Brazier, March 17, 1720                      2,000   "
 Henry Wileman, June 30, 1712                        3,000   "
 David Gallatian, June 4, 1719                       1,000   "
 Edward Gatehouse, January, 1719                     1,000   "
 James Alexander, April 9, 1719                      2,000   "
 Archibald Kennedy, April 9, 1719                    2,000   "
 James Smith, December 15, 1722                      2,000   "
 Patrick McKnight, April 9, 1719                     2,000   "
 Thomas Noxon, May 28, 1720                          2,000   "
 Francis Harrison & Co., July 7, 1720                5,000   "
 Jeremiah Schuyler & Co., January 22, 1719          10,000   "
 Phillip Schuyler and others, July 20, 1720          8,000   "
 Jacobus Bruyn and Henry Wileman, April 25, 1722     2,500   "
 Frederick Morris and Samuel Heath, January 24, 1736.
 Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, Nov. 12, 1750
 Cadwallader Colden, Jr. and David Colden, June 20, 1761--720 A.

In 1772 Wallkill Precinct was divided and the eastern part named the
precinct of Hanover. In 1782 this name was changed to the precinct
of Montgomery, which was erected as the town of Montgomery in 1788.
Ten years afterwards it was, with other towns, taken from Ulster
County and annexed to Orange County. In 1823 the town of Montgomery
was divided and the western part containing about 25,000 acres
constituted and named the town of Crawford. In 1830 the southern
part of Montgomery was detached to form (in part) the town of
Hamptonburgh. The last alteration in its boundaries was made in 1842,
when four farms containing nearly 600 acres were taken from the town
of New Windsor and annexed to Montgomery.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The fertile valley of the Wallkill, which extends through the town on
a northeasterly course, dividing it nearly into equal parts, is a
distinguishing characteristic. For nearly a third of the way, where
the stream enters Ulster County, it flows very nearly north in a
straight line. Then it deflects toward the southwest to the village
of Montgomery, when there is a sharp bend, which afterward turns
nearly at right angles toward the east and finally leaves the town in
nearly a straight course again, forming a part of the eastern
boundary of the town and dividing it from Hamptonburgh. The most
important tributary of the Wallkill is the Tinn Brook, which begins
in the town of New Windsor, pursues a sinuous career, and finally
tumbles into the Wallkill near the village of Walden. The Beaver Dam
stream rises in the southeastern part of the town and flows nearly
south into the Otterkill, in the town of Hamptonburgh. The source of
this stream is a large spring of great depth. McKnight's Kill also
rises in the southeasterly part of the town, and flows southerly into
the Otterkill near Burnside. The Muddy Kill rises in the western
part of the town, drains that section in a sluggish way, and ends
near the village of Montgomery. The surface of the town is
diversified with hills, rolling and meadow land. Comfort's Hills on
the west rise from 600 to 800 feet above tide and are much the
highest elevation. For adaptation to varied agriculture the town is
not excelled by any other town in the county. The uplands are warm,
fertile, and comparatively easy to cultivate. The meadows generally
produce large crops of grass, and afford excellent pasturage.
Numerous springs and small streams furnish an abundant supply of pure
water. Dairying is the predominant agricultural industry.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

On the east bank of the Wallkill, on the old Rogers farm, there was
an old Indian settlement. The red men had made a goodly clearing in
the forest here and, tradition says, had planted fruit trees, and
when the white man first set foot in this region he found full-grown
bearing apple trees on this ancient clearing. An Indian settlement
was found on the flat above the bridge over the Wallkill, near the
old Miller stone house. Another had its wigwams on the old
Christoffel (or Stuffell) Moul (Mould) farm about two miles north of
Montgomery on the main highway afterwards known as the stage road
from Goshen to Albany. These left for more remote regions in 1775.

Near the present village of Walden the settlement of Henry Wileman
was made. His patent contained 3,000 acres, and he settled upon it
very soon after its purchase in 1712. What was known as the Harrison
Patent was granted May 25, 1721. This was given to the following
persons: Francis Harrison, Allan Jarrat, Adolphus Phillips, George
Clarke, Johanes Lansing, Henry Wileman, Jacobus Bruyn and William
Sharpas. This entire tract was surveyed and a large village laid out,
and deeds were given to all actual settlers. Among these the
following were named: Hans Newkirk, Hendrick Newkirk, Matthias
Slimmer, Peter Kysler, ____ Kraus, ____ Brandos. These ancient
settlers upon this land were Palatines, and after a few years they
erected a small log church within the village, the site of which is
still fairly indicated by the old graveyard on the east side of the
Goshen road, a short distance south of Montgomery. This old village
was known as Germantown.

About a mile farther south on this patent Johannes Miller, a German,
made a settlement in 1727. The next year he built a stone house where
Mr. Elmer Miller afterwards lived. His grandson, Johannes Miller, was
a leading citizen of the town in later years--a progressive man,
prominent in promoting several important public enterprises, and
especially active in the construction of the Newburgh and Cochecton
Turnpike Road. His services towards establishing and maintaining the
Montgomery Academy have always been held in grateful remembrance.

The 5,000-acre tract granted to Schuyler & Co., was first settled by
Jeronimous Weller & Co., in 1721. Another grant of 10,000 acres was
settled by a company consisting of Johannes Mingus, his son
Jeronimous, Mattias Miltzbagh, and others whose names are not
definitely known. It was agreed by this company that a tract of 100
acres would be granted to each family that would locate permanently
upon it. Mingus built a mill, around which the old village of Ward's
Bridge soon clustered. But Mingus lost his life in this mill by
accident soon afterward, which resulted in considerable dispute over
the property.

The Wallkill or Goodwill settlement is supposed to date from 1724-25.
John Mackneel and Adam Graham were among the first settlers. When
they came into the Precinct is not definitely known. The former owned
a part of what is now known as the Downs farm; the latter settled on
what is now the Parsonage farm. In 1727 Archibald, James and Robert
Hunter purchased 200 acres of land, on which a house had then been
built, from James Alexander, the patentee; this purchase included the
Henry Suydam farm. In 1731 James Munnel settled on, or near, the
Charles Miller farm, now owned by Mr. William Y. Dennison. Alexander
Kidd settled on what is still known as the Kidd Homestead, about
2-1/2 miles north of the Church in 1736. Benjamin Haines came into
the neighborhood in 1739, and the Rev. Joseph Houston was installed
pastor of the Goodwill Church in 1740. Other early settlers were
James Barkley, on the James W. Bowne farm; the Rev. Joseph Moffat,
1758; John Blake who bought 475 acres of land in 1761, part of which
is owned and occupied by his great grandson, Mr. John P. M. Blake,
and whose son, John Blake, Jr., was in after years, a prominent man,
being supervisor sixteen years, and a member of assembly several
terms, sheriff and congressman; Samuel Miller, who came from Canada
previous to 1764; Peter Hill in 1767; Captain Hendrichs Van Keuren
in 1768; Colonel John Nicholson; John Morrison; Gideon Pelton, and
Tunis Van Arsdale, whose blacksmith shop is mentioned in the early
records of the town.

[Illustration: Robert Young.]

Adjoining the Goodwill settlement on the east, Cadwallader Colden had
been granted a patent for 2,000 acres and was settled in 1728 where
Mr. George W. Pimm now resides. The locality was named Coldenham in
his honor. He was one of the most prominent of the early settlers,
being surveyor-general of the Province, lieutenant-governor and
several limes acting governor. As a man he was esteemed for his
great learning, benevolence and strict honesty. As a public officer
he was distinguished for his unblemished integrity. Several buildings
were erected in that vicinity by members of the Colden family, some
of which are still standing.

The Neelytown section adjoins the Goodwill neighborhood on the south,
and was so called from a large and influential family which appears
to have been active in bringing in the early settlers, but whose name
has entirely disappeared from the community, it was settled before
1726. In that year the names of John Neely and Thomas Neely appear as
actual settlers. At that time Charles Booth who purchased 1,000 acres
of land had built his first house near where Mr. William Conning
lived in later years--his two sons, Charles and George Booth, were
with him. A defective list of freeholders made in 1728 contains the
name of Alexander Neely. William and Robert Neely were witnesses to a
will in 1731, and the name of John Neely, Jr., is seen in an old
record. William Eager with his sons, William and Thomas, came to
Neelytown in 1741. He built a log house where the residence of Mr.
Samuel W. Eager now stands. His second house was of stone and was
situated a short distance south of the first and built before the
Revolution. His descendants are very numerous and are widely
scattered. Samuel W. Eager, Orange County's first historian, was one
of them. Other early settlers in this section were James McCobb, who
located at a very early date on the Sherwood farm, now "Nestledown";
William Jackson, James Jackson, James Houston, William Young, Captain
Alexander Trimble, 1764; Patrick Barber, 1764; Captain James McBride
and Rev. Robert Annan, 1765.

A settlement across the Wallkill opposite the present village of
Montgomery, was made by Henry Crist, Stevanus Crist, Mathias
Millspaugh and others. This land was then considered the best in the
town. These Germans were a vigorous and hearty people, and they went
to work boldly to cultivate the land and establish comfortable homes,
with a determination to succeed. They soon began to extend their
farms to the Comfort Hills slopes, and into the section now embraced
in the town of Crawford. Their success attracted many representatives
of the sturdy Scotch-Irish race, who joined them soon afterward.
Among the more progressive pioneer settlers was Henry Crist, from
whom descended many active men and women who became leading and
influential citizens of the town. Jacob Crist is said to have been
drowned in the Hudson River on his return from New Amsterdam with his
wedding outfit. Henry Crist, the early immigrant, built near the foot
of the hill east of the old Dutch church. His son, Jacob, planted his
home on the hill opposite Montgomery village near the mill.

Among other early settlers were David Bookstaver, Jacob Bookstaver,
Frederick Sinsabaugh, and Johannes Youngblood who bought an 800 acre
tract. It is recorded of these pioneer German settlers that they were
even unable to build so much as a log cabin at first, and were
obliged to make excavations in the hillside in which to pass the
winter. This they did in the gravelly hill east of the old Brick
church. In these primitive dugouts they waited patiently for the
snowdrifts to melt away in the springtime, when they might renew
their labors and provide more comfortable shelter for their families.

Johannes Miller came to America in 1700, lived in Ulster County for
a time, and about 1727 settled upon a portion of the Harrison patent.
Frederick Shafer, a tanner by trade, was also among these old
settlers, and soon established a tannery, which was afterward
improved by his son Daniel.

Charles Booth purchased 1,000 acres of land in Neelytown, and this
tract remained in the Booth family for a long series of years
afterward. This family came into the town from Long Island, and
George Booth became a leading citizen and was so regarded all through
his life.

MILITARY NOTES.

In 1738 a company of militia of the Wallkill was organized under
Captain John Byard, and formed part of a regiment of which A.
Gaasbeck Chambers was Colonel and Wessel Ten Broeck Lieutenant-Colonel,
to protect the early settlers against the incursions of the Indians.
Among those whose names were enrolled in this company the following are
known to have been residents of what is now the town of Montgomery:
John Newkirk, sergeant; James Gillespie, Thomas Gillespie, Alexander
Milligan, Alexander Kidd, Archibald Hunter, James Hunter, John Mingus,
Stephanus Crist, James Munell, John Munell, George Munell, John McNeill,
John McNeill, Jr., Robert Hunter, Richard Gatehouse, Joseph Sutter,
Philip Milsbaugh, Cronimus Mingus, Stoffel Moul, Johannes Crans,
Matthias Meltzbagh, Hendrix Newkirk, Hendrick Crist, Benjamin Hains,
John Neely, Jr., Frederick Sanzabah.

In 1755 the regiment was divided into two regiments. The first
embraced Kingston and the northern part of the county; the second
embraced the Precincts of Highlands, Wallkill and Shawangunk, and in
this form took part in the French and Indian War. The roster of
officers in the second regiment included the names of the following
persons who then resided in what is now the town of Montgomery: Jacob
Newkirk, Captain; Cadwallader C. Colden, Captain; David Gallatin,
Captain; Matthew Rea, Lieutenant.

The militia of the Revolution was organized by an act of the
Provincial Convention passed August 22, 1775. Ulster County was
divided into four regimental districts. The second district comprised
the precincts of New Windsor, Hanover and Wallkill. At first there
were twelve companies in the regiment, of which Hanover furnished
five, commanded by Captain Matthew Felter, William Jackson,
James Milliken, John J. Graham and John Gillespie. In 1777 the
number of companies was reduced to nine, four of which were in
Hanover, under Captains Felter, Milliken, Hendrik Van Keuren and
James McBride.

An eminent historian said of the second regiment of Ulster County
militia that "it gave, perhaps, more fighting men than were drawn
from other similar organizations," and that "no other regiment of
militia was more active from the beginning until the end of the war."
There was fight in it from start to finish. "As a rule circumstances
would not admit of the calling out of an entire company from its beat
at one time; some must remain at home; but portions of this regiment
were in almost constant motion, some going, others returning." From
December, 1876, to April 12, 1778, less than 16 months, the militia
of Hanover and adjoining precincts were called out twelve times and
spent 202 days in the field.

Although the records of churches and traditions give glimpses of
controversies, the inhabitants of Hanover precinct acted with great
unanimity and showed an intense patriotic spirit during the War for
Independence. The pledge of association, dated May 8, 1775, in which
they pledged their "support to the Continental Congress in resisting
the oppressive acts of the British Parliament," and in the most
solemn manner resolved "never to become slaves," was signed first by
Dr. Charles Clinton and received 342 signatures.

The history of the men of Montgomery in the Revolution, who they
were, and what they did, if it could be written, would be a story of
toils, privation and exposure of great interest to the present
generation. In few sections of the State did the burden of the war
bear more heavily than in the valleys of the Wallkill and the Hudson,
and in no portion was it borne with more unflinching determination.
But this history cannot be written. The names of many of these men
and their deeds have sunk into oblivion. A few of those preserved by
history and tradition, together with the places where they lived, are
mentioned. To locate the places definitely the names of the owners at
the present (1908), are given.

Arthur Parks lived at Ward's Bridge (now Montgomery), on what was
afterwards known as the L'Hommedieu farm, now occupied by Mr. H. H.
Hallett. He was a member of the Committee of Safety in 1775 and 1776,
first Lieutenant in Captain William Jackson's company of militia,
Major of a battalion of minute men in 1776, member of the first
Provincial Convention, member of the convention that framed our first
State Constitution and of the convention that amended it, and State
Senator for eleven years.

Jacob Newkirk was captain under Colonel Thomas Ellison in the French
and Indian War, member of the Committee of Safety, Major, and
afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel of the second regiment Ulster County
militia, and commanded the regiment during the years that Colonel
James McClaughry was a prisoner and was recovering from his wounds
received at the capture of Fort Montgomery.

Henry Smith was also a member of the Committee of Safety for the
precinct and was first Lieutenant in Captain Matthew Felter's
company; he lived nearly two miles north of Montgomery on the farm
now owned and occupied by his descendant, Mr. James Smith.

Hugh Lindsay was a private in Colonel John Lamb's Artillery, and was
taken prisoner at the capture of Fort Montgomery; he lived at Ward's
Bridge and afterwards built and lived in the house on Bridge street
now owned by the estate of the late Jonathan M. Morrison.

[Illustration: W. T. Lodge.]

Alexander Trimble was quarter-master of the Second Ulster Regiment in
the War of the Revolution, and also a member of the Committee of
Safety; he lived about two miles south of Goodwill Church on the farm
now owned and occupied by Mr. George Van Alst.

Johannes Moul (Mould), who lived about two miles north of Montgomery,
where his great-great-grandson, Mr. John D. Mould, now lives, was a
sergeant in the French and Indian War, and with his son, Johannes
Moul, Jr., and his brother, Christopher Moul, were privates in
Colonel McClaughry's Regiment in the Revolution. These three patriots
also evinced their patriotism by loaning money to the Government when
it was urgently needed to equip the army for the capture of
Cornwallis.

James Milliken, a member of the Committee of Safety, lived on the
east side of the Wallkill, where Mr. Harvey N. Smith now resides, was
captain of one of the Hanover companies, and was killed at Fort
Montgomery.

Hendricus Van Keuren was a veteran of the French and Indian War, who
served throughout the Revolution as Captain, and according to family
tradition, gratuitously lived on what is known as the Downs farm,
between Montgomery and Goodwill church.

John Nicholson was Colonel of the Third N. Y. Regiment of the
Continental Line, which was brigaded under General Richard
Montgomery, and took part in the assault on Quebec when the brave
Montgomery was killed. The privations and exposures of that
campaign were so great that with impaired health he returned to his
farm, near Maybrook, which is now divided, and owned by Mr. John
Wiley and Mr. William H. Jewell.

Hamilton Morrison enlisted as soon as he was old enough, and served
first as a private and then as a sergeant in Captain James McBride's
company, Second Ulster County Militia. He lived about a mile south of
Goodwill Church on what is known as the Morrison Homestead, now owned
and occupied by his grandsons, Mr. George H. Morrison and Mr. John
G. Morrison.

Tunis Van Arsdale lived on the adjoining farm (now a part of the
homestead), and was a blacksmith. His shop was the rendezvous of the
patriots in that vicinity. He was also a private in Captain Van
Keuren's company and saved his life at Fort Montgomery by slipping
between the legs of a British soldier who was holding an American
bayoneted against the wall of the fort, and escaped in the darkness.

John Van Arsdale, who lived with his elder brother, Tunis, enlisted
in the Continental Army at the beginning of the war, and served
faithfully until its close. He suffered intensely from cold and
hardship in the Canada expedition, was severely wounded and taken
prisoner at Fort Montgomery, languished many weary months in the
"old sugar house" and in the foul hold of the "Jersey prison ship,"
was finally exchanged, and then braved the perils of Indian warfare
in several campaigns. On November 25, 1783, he witnessed the
evacuation of New York City by the British, which was the final
triumph of the cause for which he and others had fought and suffered
seven long years, and was present when the advancing Americans,
following closely upon the retiring British, reached the Battery to
perform the last formality in repossessing the city, which was to
unfurl the American flag over Fort George, but found the royal
ensign still floating as usual over the Fort. The British had nailed
their colors to the staff and taken away the halyards. In this
dilemma John Van Arsdale ascended the flag-staff, partly by ladder,
but mainly by shinning, tore down the British flag and rove the new
halyards by which the Star Spangled Banner was quickly run up while
the assembled thousands cheered, and the artillery boomed forth a
national salute. While other localities may boast of those who
struck the first blow for American freedom, Montgomery may justly
claim for one of her sons the glory of removing the last vestige of
British authority from this country.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.

The town was originally organized under the name of Hanover Precinct
in 1772. The present territory of Crawford was then included, the
whole having been taken from the old Wallkill Precinct. In 1782 the
name was changed to Montgomery Precinct, and seven years later it was
finally changed to the town of Montgomery. This title was bestowed in
honor of General Montgomery, who was killed in the assault upon
Quebec in 1775. Major Colden was the supervisor of the old Wallkill
precinct in 1768-69.

The record of the first town meeting, now on file in the town clerk's
office, is of April 5, 1803. Reuben Neely was then chosen supervisor,
and Arthur Parks, town clerk. There were fifty-five overseers of
highways in the town that year. But the laborers were few, the system
of road-working was sadly defective, as in fact it remained for
nearly a hundred years afterwards, and the results were primitive and
unsatisfactory, although, of course, far less was required of a
public road in those days than is now demanded, and the people
accepted the situation without complaint, so far as the record shows.

The following is a list of supervisors of the town to 1908: David
Galatian, 1798; John Blake, 1799; Reuben Neely, 1800 to 1810; John
Blake, Jr., to 1826; Samuel W. Eager, to 1833; Nathaniel P. Hill,
1834; Edward Blake, to 1839; James Galatian, to 1841; William Blake,
to 1844; William Graham, to 1846; Stephen Rapalje, 1847; Joshua G.
Hallock, to 1849; Lindley M. Ferris, 1850; Johannes M. Hunter, to
1852; Stephen Rapalje, to 1863; Marcus K. Hill, 1864; Stephen
Rapalje, to 1873; Daniel M. Wade, to 1875; Marcus K. Hill, to 1877;
Charles J. Van Alst, to 1879; Robert Young, to 1886; Andrew K. Wade,
to 1889; Robert Young, 1890; Irving H. Loughran, to 1900; William H.
Didsburg, to 1905; Hector W. Millspaugh, to 1907; William G. Decker,
1908.

VILLAGES.

The old village of Montgomery is on the bank of the Wallkill in the
southern part of the town. It was here that Henry Crist, Stephen
Crist and Matthias Millspaugh settled at an early date, on the west
bank of the river. Johannes Mingus built a grist-mill there, which
was afterwards sold to James Ward with 200 acres of land, upon which
the village was built. Mr. Ward built a rude bridge across the
Wallkill in order that his customers might reach his mill. This was
really the first road bridge of any kind known in that vicinity for
years afterward. In fact, the place took its name from this important
structure, as well as the post-office itself, it being known as
Ward's Bridge for many years.

James Clinton and William Crist, having obtained an interest in the
Kennedy patent, upon which the village stands, laid out "a small town
called Montgomery town," which gave the village that name. Among
other early settlers there were John McFaugh, David Crist, John
McKinstry, Matthew Hunter, Samuel Smith, Arthur Parks and Oolis
Shulp. James Ward, the pioneer, lived in a log cabin.

The village was incorporated by a special act dated February 17,
1810. Hugh Lindsey was the first president. The first village tax
aggregated $60. Two years later $100 was raised to build a market
house, and in 1814, $200 was appropriated for a fire engine. But it
was not until seven years later that four professional firemen were
appointed. In 1880 this village tax had increased to over $1,200.

The location of Montgomery on a placid stretch of the Wallkill, with
its slightly elevated banks, affording a fine natural drainage, is
peculiarly healthful, and there are many attractive and commodious
private residences. Among the leading manufacturing industries is the
worsted mills of William Crabtree & Sons. The people of Montgomery
are noted for their hospitality and public spirit. The place is
surrounded by fine State roads, and ranks as one of the important
historic villages of Orange County.

Walden is the most thriving and important village. It is on the
Wallkill River at the high falls, by which indefinite name it was
known for years. The settlement began many years before the
Revolution. Of course, the first structure was the inevitable
grist-mill, as in nearly every instance in this region. James Kidd
built a mill at the foot of the falls on the east side of the stream,
though the precise date is not definitely known. In any event, the
records show that in 1768 this old mill had already fallen into the
possession of Johannes Decker. In 1789 it belonged to Cadwallader
Colden, Jr. The plant was afterward converted into a cotton factory.

Mr. Walden, the founder of this village, is said to have struggled
manfully under adverse influences and suffered defeat at the end in
his old age, causing him to retire ultimately from the scene of his
labors. Leaving the refinements of city life to establish
manufacturing interests in this sparsely settled region, and without
adequate protection, he spent his fortune and his active energies
here practically without reward. There being no railways, raw
material had to be drawn in sleighs in winter to these factories.

Mr. Walden was a prosperous New York merchant. While summering in the
Highlands, he extended his drive with Mrs. Walden many miles further,
and came upon this charming valley of the Wallkill, through which a
broad stream flowed. They saw the old mill at the very foot of the
cataract, and a tiny cottage in a grove of locusts further down the
stream. The old merchant perceived the wonderful possibilities of
this picturesque spot, and he lost no time in developing the place.
He purchased large tracts of land covering the region, closed up his
extensive city business and moved here. The place grew very slowly in
the earlier years, even after its incorporation in 1855. Down to 1868
the population of the village did not exceed 600 souls. Of course,
the manufacturing interests had not been fully developed at that
time. The people were still largely employed in trades and farm work.
The New York Knife Company began business in 1856 by purchasing the
cloth mills of Scofield, Capron & Gowdy.

[Illustration: Edward Whitehead.]

There are two fine iron bridges over the Wallkill at this point, many
handsome private residences on the heights on either side of the
river, several busy factories, churches, schools, newspapers,
numerous stores and shops of every kind, and there is a general
aspect of thrill and progress all through the pretty village. Most of
this growth is modern; nearly all the more substantial structures are
less than forty years old. The act of incorporation was passed April
9, 1855, and the first village meeting was held the following week.
Augustus F. Scofield was the first president, and continued six
years. Previous to the incorporation of the village the fire company
had been in existence some time. This organization was known as "The
Walden Fire Incorporation," and it constituted the Fire Department of
the village for years afterwards. In 1865 Daniel Torbush was the
chief engineer, and in 1880, when the company was known as
"Enterprise No. 1," the chief engineer was Granville Crist.

A new comer in Walden in 1859 says there were then only three
prominent business houses, those of Marcus K. Hill, Ebenezer Knapp,
and Joseph Millspaugh. It seemed to him then that about nine-tenths
of the inhabitants there were named either Millspaugh or Kidd.
Augustus F. Scofield was then the leading citizen of wealth and
influence, having a large shawl factory. The hotels were the Eagle
and the St. Nicholas, as they are at present. Scofield Hall was used
for public assemblies and such eminent lecturers as John G. Saxe,
Rev. Edward K. Beecher, Park Benjamin and Fanny Fern appeared there.
The much loved village parson was old "Dominie" Schoonmaker, who
labored there faithfully for many years. The industries of Walden
were then confined to the shawl factory, the satinette factory of
Giles Andrews, and the knife factory. James Todd was widely known as
"the model farmer of Orange County." George Weller was a prominent
resident greatly devoted to all the village interests, and his home
was regarded as a scene of unbounded hospitality and good cheer.

The first introduction of gas in Walden many years ago was not a
financial success, and the company abandoned the project. A public
water system was introduced in 1892. Previous to that time water for
fires had to be taken through long hose from the Wallkill and Tinn
Brook streams. The electric fire alarm system was installed about
fifteen years ago. The newspaper known as the _Walden Herald_ was
established about 1869, and the _Walden Citizen_ is in its twentieth
year.

Near the line of Newburgh, in the northeastern part of the town, is
the old hamlet of St. Andrews, which was left behind in the later
development of Walden with its great water-power facilities. It was
named for the ancient Episcopal church there, which is now located at
Walden.

Maybrook is an important railway junction, in the extreme southeast
corner of the town. The population, which numbers about four hundred,
is composed principally of railroad employees.

Coldenham is near the New Windsor boundary, but in the southeastern
part of the town. The title came from the Colden family and the
hamlet was the home of the Lieutenant Governor and acting Chief
Magistrate of the New York Colony.

Allard's Corners on the northwest border, and Scott's Corners, east
of Montgomery village, are other small hamlets of minor importance.

BANKS.

Le Fevre and De Garmo were the first bankers, beginning business in
Walden in 1870. They continued but a short time, and in 1873 the
Exchange Bank was organized with George W. Stoddard in active charge.
This was merged into the Walden National Bank in 1877 and was
succeeded in 1897 by the National Bank of Walden, the name of the
present institution. The Walden Savings Bank, the oldest and largest
financial institution in the town, began business June 1, 1872, with
the following officers: Seth M. Capron, president; Thomas W. Bradley,
vice-president; and Peter LeFevre, secretary and treasurer.

The Montgomery National Bank began business November 1, 1905, with
the following officers: William H. Senior, president; John A.
Crabtree, vice-president; E. I. Emerson, cashier. Directors: William
Eager, John J. Vanderoef, John A. Crabtree, Clunks D. Wait, J.
Harvey Harris, Dr. E. Ross Elliott, William F. Lodge, Harvey Tuttle,
William H. Senior, Walter R. Comfort, Fred W. Tower.

INDUSTRIES.

Nearly all the soil of this town is well adapted to successful
agriculture in its varied forms. While much of the land has been
devoted to meadows and grass, fine crops of grain were grown, wheat
especially, in the earlier years of the settlement. Fruit is also
grown to a considerable extent in some localities with profit.
Orchards were planted in the town nearly a hundred years ago by
Robert Griffith, John Miller, Andrew Graham, Hamilton Morrison and
others.

The bonding of the town in aid of the Wallkill Valley and other
railway construction had a depressing effect upon the people and
their property for a time, and there was much opposition to the
scheme, among the farmers especially. But the advantages of the
railways became apparent in a few years, and probably no one would
now care to abolish the present traffic facilities afforded or longer
regrets the cost.

The opening of the Wallkill Valley Railway to Montgomery, in 1866 was
a most important event for the town and county.

The Walden Woolen Factory was established in 1823 by Jesse Scofield
and Dr. Coburn. It was at first known as the "Franklin Company."
There were frequent changes in the firm and management in the
succeeding years. But for over fifty years this old plant was the
most important business feature of Walden, and it had much to do with
its early growth and development. The buildings were of stone and of
the most durable character, and the water-power ample.

The New York Knife Company has long been regarded among the largest
cutlery plants in the United States. It was organized in 1852 and
operated at Matteawan, Dutchess County, until 1856, when it was moved
to Walden to the building formerly used as a cotton factory. Table
and pocket cutlery of every kind and quality are made in this
establishment, which has achieved world-wide fame in the hardware
trade, domestic and foreign. Thomas W. Bradley was long the leading
spirit of the concern, being the active superintendent as well as the
president of the company. He served with valor and distinction in the
Civil War, and became prominent in the military affairs of the State
afterwards. He also served in the State Assembly in 1875-76, and at
present represents this district in Congress.

The Walden Condensed Milk Company was organized in 1864 with a
proposed capital of $50,000. But it was reorganized three years later
under the name of the Highland Condensed Milk Company. The
enterprise was finally abandoned soon afterward and the buildings
were used by the Walden Soap Works. The Walden Brickyard began
operations in 1868 with James Gowdy at its head. The Walden Knife
Company was established in 1870 with W. E. Gowdy as president. It is
entirely devoted to pocket cutlery. In 1891 Mr. Edward Whitehead
became its president, since which time the industry has forged
rapidly ahead, with the annual payroll exceeding a quarter of a
million dollars. The Schrade Cutlery Company was organized in 1904.
It is under the direct management of George Schrade and his brother,
J. Louis Schrade. The Rider-Ericsson Engine Company, manufacturers of
hot air pumping engines, is also a very important industry, giving
employment to 125 men. The Wooster Manufacturing Company, makers of
pants and overalls, conducts an extensive and increasing business.
The firm of William Crabtree & Sons, manufacturers of worsted yarns
with plants in Montgomery village and Newburgh, conducts an
important industry. This was established in 1880 by William Crabtree
and Arthur Patchett, both now deceased. Two hundred persons are given
employment by this progressive firm.

The New York Condensed Milk Company established a very extensive
branch of its business just north of Walden in 1880, at an initial
cost of $200,000, and the buildings and entire plant have been
greatly enlarged and improved since that time. It was intended to
receive the milk from 5,000 cows at the outset. John G. Borden, who
became one of the most prominent and progressive men in that region
in after years, was the first president of this important plant.
Since his death the great enterprise, with its model farms, has been
carried on most successfully by his daughters, and it is still one of
the great show places of this region of the State. The farms, though
mainly in Ulster County, are highly cultivated and operated under the
most modern methods.

HISTORIC HOMES.

The Colden house, on the Montgomery and Newburgh State road, at
Coldenham, was built in 1765 by Cadwallader Colden, Jr. His father,
Dr. Cadwallader Colden settled in Coldenham in 1728 on his patent of
3,000 acres of land--he was the surveyor general of the province for
eleven years, lieutenant governor for thirteen years and acting
governor in 1761, 1763, 1769 and 1774. He gave to Cadwallader, Jr.,
on his marriage, five hundred acres of land, including the site on
which this house stands. The land was all in woods, and Cadwallader,
Jr., began at once to clear part of it for farming purposes; with his
own hands he felled the first tree, and up-rooted the first stub.
After a few years the first dwelling he erected gave place to this
permanent stone structure, then, one of the finest dwellings of the
period. In it he lived a useful life, esteemed by all who knew him,
and in it he died mourned as a public benefactor. Some years ago an
addition to the house was built in the rear, and more recently a
mansard roof and other improvements were added. The date of the
erection of the building, and the names of its builders, are cut on a
stone in the upper front center. Its historical associations, past
and present, cover a period of one hundred and seventy-five years.

The Thomas Colden mansion was built by Cadwallader Colden, Jr., for
one of his sons. It is situated about a mile north of Coldenham, at
Colden Hill, near what was the Newburgh and Ellenville plank road.
It is a frame building with hipped-roof and is kept in excellent
condition. After the death of Thomas Colden it was occupied by
Cadwallader C. Colden, and more recently by Messrs. John and Joseph
Kelly.

The Haines house is situated about a mile east of the Goodwill
Church, and a short distance south of the highway known as the
Hadden road. It was built by Benjamin Haines who came into the
precinct in 1739. The year in which the house was erected is not
known, but it is probably the oldest house in the town. During recent
years it has been occupied only for short intervals, and the walls
are crumbling. This house is known as the Old Hadden house, having
been in the possession of successive generations of that family for
more than one hundred years.

The Hill Brick house situated about three miles east of Montgomery on
the State road was built by Nathaniel Hill in 1774 and occupied by
his son, Peter, who was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. At
his death the ownership and occupancy of the homestead passed to his
son, Nathaniel P. Hill, who was a prominent man--was sheriff, member
of congress, and filled other important positions. One of his sons,
Nathaniel P., had also attained prominence as U. S. senator from
Colorado.

The Van Keuren Stone house, now generally known as the Downs House,
about a mile west of Goodwill church, on the road to Montgomery, was
built in part by Hendricus Van Keuren in 1768, and in part by a
previous owner probably John McNeal. The house is in excellent
condition and is, perhaps, the oldest unchanged occupied house in the
town.

The Beemer house, situated on the old Stage road from Goshen to
Albany, nearly three miles north of Montgomery and about two miles
west of Walden, was built by Adam Beemer in 1770. It is a framed
building and has been recovered and repaired, but otherwise not
materially changed. It is now in fair condition.

The Hans Youngblood house is situated on the road leading from the
Searsville road north to the former site of Graham's church on the
Pine Bush road. Tradition says it was built before the French and
Indian War. It was used for a German school in 1761, and is not
occupied at present.

The Kidd house in the extreme southeasterly part of Walden was
probably built in part by Alexander Kidd, who settled there in 1736.
The year it was built is not known. Alexander Kidd was among the
first elders of Goodwill Church. His descendants are numerous.

SCHOOLS.

One of the ancient landmarks is the Montgomery High School, formerly
known as the Montgomery Academy. This noted school is as old as our
National Government. It had its inception in 1787, the year that the
National Constitution was framed. It was the fourth oldest academy in
the State, having been incorporated in 1791. Before 1787 the
inhabitants of the village and surrounding country felt the need of a
school of a high grade, and during that year erected a school
building on lots reserved in part for school purposes, when the
village was first surveyed and laid out. In the autumn of 1787
teachers were employed and the school opened for pupils. During 1790
steps were taken to incorporate the institution and place it under
the care of the regents of the State University, as appears from the
following application and petition:

"To the Regents of the University of the State of New York: Be it
known that a certain tract of land pleasantly situated in the town of
Montgomery, in the county of Ulster, in the center of a populous,
fertile and wealthy country, hath lately been purchased, and a large
and convenient building of two stories high erected and completed
thereon, for the use of a public academy for the instruction of youth
in the learned languages and other branches of useful knowledge,
that the expense of the undertaking hath been defrayed by the free
and liberal benefactions of individuals, of whom the subscribers
constitute more than one-half with respect to the contributions
raised and collected to found said academy, and that a gentleman of
liberal education, of very competent abilities and irreproachable
moral character has been procured, with a tutor, to teach in said
academy.

"The subscribers, pursuant to an act of the Legislature of the State
of New York entitled an act to institute a university within this
State, and for other purposes, passed April 13, 1787, respectfully
make the application to the regents of said University requiring
that the said academy may be incorporated agreeably to the said law,
and be subject to the visitation of the said regents, and they do
hereby nominate Arthur Parks, Matthew Hunter, Benjamin Sears, Henry
Van Keuren, Solomon Slight, Joseph Barber, James Clinton, Moses
Freleigh, Daniel Bull, James Hunter, Peter Hill, David Galatian,
Johannes Miller, Severyn T. Brown, Henry Smith, Ebenezer Clark and
William Cross to be the first trustees of the said academy, declaring
it to be their desire that the said trustees be called and
distinguished by the name of the trustees of the Montgomery Academy
in the County of Ulster.

 "Andrew King.           John McKinstry.
 Nathan W. Howell.       James Moore.
 L. Sleght.              William Jackson.
 Matthew Hunter.         Matthew Gillespie.
 Stephen Goldsmith.      David Jagger.
 John Nicholson.         Hugh Milliken.
 Benjamin Sears.         Andrew Graham.
 James Clinton.          Thomas Greggs.
 Hamilton Morrison.      Jacob Meltzberg.
 Gideon Pelton.          Alexander Leeds.
 Patrick Barber.         Robert Kidd.
 Jacob Newkirk.          James Mackay.
 David Galatian.         Thomas Barkley.
 William Cross.          Stephen Ross.
 Severyn T. Bruyn.       Stephen Crist.
 Johannes Mould.         John Wilkin.
 Christian Rockefeller.  A. M. McCord.
 Jacob Linderman.        William Wilkin.
 Jacob Bookstaver.       Robert Sewall.
 William Booth.          David Miller.
 Alexander P. Anderson.  B. Hopkins.
 John Clark.             Samuel Boyd.
 James W. Wilkin.        Adam J. Doll.
 Johannes Miller.        Martimus Crist.
 William Weller.         William Johnston.
 Jacob F. Bookstaver.    Daniel Cahill.
 Henry J. Smith.         John Millspaugh.
 Neal Diggie.            Solomon Sleght.
 Henry Sinsabaugh.       John Robinson.
 Henry Van Keuren.       John C. Millyberg.
 Peter Crans.            Henry Nealy.
 Henry Smith.            Benjamin Cradit.
 James Jackson, Jr.      Frederick Bookstaver.
 Philip Millspaugh.      Moses Latta.
 John Linderman.         Jacob Smedes.
 William Cross.          John A. Newkirk.
 David Smith.            James Hunter.
 James Hunter.           William Crist.
 Jacob Pitts.            Johannes Yerkes.
 Henry German.           Christopher Moule.
 John Barber.            George Monnell.
 Daniel Bull.            Joseph Burrows.
 James M. Claghen.       William Hill.
 John Puff.              Thomas McKissock.
 John Pool.              Alexander Dorcus.
 John Sears.             Charles Young.
 John Barclay.           Andrew Hart.
 John Scott.             James Kidd.
 Jeremiah Smith.         William Erwin.
 Jane Crage.             John Hunter.
 James T. Graham.        John P. Haines.
 John Haines.            Peter Hill.
 Thomas Beallie.         Robert Hunter.
 Tunis Van Arsdale.      David Crist.
 John Dunlap.            James Fitzgerald.
 Caleb Dill.             Samuel P. Gale.
 Andrew Embler.          William Faulkner, Jr.
 Jason Wilkin.           James Sutton.
 William Faulkner.       John Barber.
 D. G. Rogers.           Jonathan Miller.
 James Preston.          David Comfort.
 Cornelius Schoonmaker.  Matthew M. Rowe.
 William Miller."

The petition was dated January 3, 1791, and the act of incorporation
was passed the 23rd of April following. The school prospered and
greater accommodations became necessary. In 1823 the main part of the
present brick building was erected at a cost of about $5,400. Nearly
two-thirds of the cost was paid by State moneys; the remaining third
was raised by subscription through the activity and persistence of
Johannes Miller.

The academy continued to prosper until the free school system was
adopted, when it began to decline. In 1881 it was transferred by the
trustees to the Board of Education of the Montgomery Union Free
School, of which it is now (1908) the academical department. The
following is a list of principals of the academy since it was
incorporated: Rev. Alexander Miller, Nathaniel Howell, Nathan H.
White, Reuben Neely, James King, Prof. Stansbury, William H. Weller,
Rev. John McJimsay, Prof. Wilson, Jacob C. Tooker, twenty years,
Silas S. Harmon, seven years, Rev Samuel B. Bell, D. D., Joseph M.
Wilkins, three years, Robert Simpson, Daniel K. Bull, Prof. Lasher,
Prof. Graham, Prof. Gunnison, Theron Little, Prof. Stevens, Prof.
Beardsley, Prof. Cone, Benjamin C. Nevins, Prof. Demarest, Prof.
Rouse. This famous academy reached the zenith of its prosperity
under Professors Tooker and Harmon.

The town is divided into thirteen school districts and parts of
districts; of these, twelve have school-houses in the town. These
district schools will compare favorably with those of any other town.
It appears from trustees' reports for 1907 that the whole number of
children of school age (between five and eighteen), residing in the
town that year was 1,337; of these 1,299 attended school. The average
daily attendance of these children was 850. The number of teachers
employed at the same time was thirty-four. The total cost of
sustaining these schools was $25,330; of this sum $17,892 was raised
by district tax. The value of school-houses and sites was $42,450.
Two of the districts (Montgomery and Walden), are union free school
districts. The former was established in 1881 and now (1908), employs
six teachers. The first principal was Reuben Fraser. The present
board of education is: Dr. E. Ross Elliott, William Eager, William H.
Senior, John A. Crabtree and William S. Hanlon. The latter was
organized in 1859 and now employs eighteen teachers. The Board of
Education in 1908 is: Sanford Abrams, Henry E. Williams. Frank
Benedict, Benjamin S. French, Harry Hollingsworth, Dewitt C.
Dominick. There is one parochial school in the town.

CHURCHES.

There are many ancient churches in this town. It was a sturdy
Christian people that first settled in this region. After building
their grist mills and providing themselves and families with
log-cabins, or other rude shelter from the storm and cold of the
severe winters which then prevailed, their next thought was for the
church, where they might enjoy religious worship, hear the Scripture
expounded and meet together in praise and song.

The oldest and best known of these churches in those early days was
the _Good Will Presbyterian Church._ This was established by the
Scotch-Irish settlers who came into the region in 1724. The earliest
records of this old church seem to have been lost. But the
organization was represented in the Synod of Philadelphia in 1729 by
John McNeal as commissioner. This date has, therefore, been taken for
the establishment of the church, although it was doubtless in
existence there some years earlier. The settlers of the region being
long known as "the people of Wallkill," this church went under the
name of the Wallkill Church, though incorporated under the name first
mentioned. The first church structure is believed to have been
erected in 1735, although there was some rude building set apart for
religious worship some years before this. The building was improved
and enlarged from time to time, some $8,000 having been expended upon
it in this way in 1871. During the one hundred and seventy-nine years
of its existence it has had but nine pastors: Rev. Joseph Houston,
John Moffatt, Andrew King, Robert W. Condit, William Blain, David M.
Maclise, D.D., James M. Dixon, D.D., David F. Bonner, D.D., and the
present pastor, Rev. John H. Thompson, who has served the church for
seventeen years.

_The Reformed Church of Montgomery_ was founded mainly by the German
element in 1732. As the population increased divisions arose in this
church and several other churches were formed from it. The first
house of worship was a log structure built in 1732. And it is said
that the entrance of this old church was by means of a ladder placed
on the outside. All these early records were kept in the Dutch
language, and the services were also conducted in Dutch for the first
fifty years. Then for a time each alternate Sunday the English
language was used. Rev. John Michael Kern seems to have been the
first settled pastor. He came in 1772 and resigned in 1776. Rev.
G. W. Mancius, of the old parent _Kingston Dutch Church,_ had been
acting as a supply previous to that date, until his death in 1762.
Three different church buildings have occupied the site since the old
block house was taken down in 1760. The first was a frame structure
erected immediately thereafter. The church contained sixty-eight
pews, forty-six of which were occupied at a rental of 96L 8S. Pews
for the elders and deacons were on the right and left of the
old-fashioned pulpit. Among the names of the pew-holders are found
those of Rockefeller, Youngblood, Mould, Decker, Weller, Robinson,
etc., ancestors of many well-known families. The modern name of the
church for years has been "the Brick Church of Montgomery." The
present pastor is Peter Crispell.

[Illustration: Diagram of Pews of the Old Dutch Church at Montgomery,
erected in 1760.]

_The St. Andrew's Church_ at Walden, before alluded to, is another
ancient religious society. This people passed through a troublous
{_sic_} existence during the Revolution, and the parish was left
vacant for some years until 1790. Finally, after emerging from a
heavy debt, a new church was erected in the village of Walden in 1827.
Then after many changes in rectors, another new church was decided
upon in 1870. This with the parsonage cost $18,000, and in 1880 the
church was finally consecrated free from debt.

_The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Coldenham_ was organized in
1795, and a house of worship built four years later. This was
replaced by a new structure in 1838. Dr. Alexander McLeod was the
pastor from 1800 to 1812. The present pastor, Rev. Thomas Patton,
was installed in 1893.

_The Reformed Dutch Church of Berea,_ which came as a secession from
the _Goodwill Church,_ got its first pastor in 1823, Rev. James Ten
Eyck, the congregation having been incorporated two years before.
When the first little church was built it was surrounded by a forest,
the timber for the building being cut from the site itself.

_The First Reformed Church of Walden_ was incorporated in 1870,
although the society was formed forty years before, and the church
building was completed in 1838 at a cost of $12,000. Some $5,000 more
was afterward spent upon the parsonage. Rev. M. V. Schoonmaker was
the minister from 1849 to 1888. The present minister, Rev. W. W.
Schomp, was installed in 1897.

_The First Presbyterian Church of Montgomery_ was incorporated in
1832 and Rev. James O. Stokes was the first pastor. There were many
changes in this pastorate in the succeeding years, and the debt piled
up gradually until it reached $2,300 in 1848, a parsonage having been
built meanwhile. This debt was, however, fully met that year under
the pastorate of Rev. E. R. Fairchild, whose health soon failed,
however. Rev. J. C. Forsyth was installed in 1875 and he continued in
that field for many years.

_The Methodist Church of Montgomery,_ was organized in 1829 with Rev.
B. Howe and J. W. Lefever as priests. The "table expenses" of Mr.
Howe were $100 and those of Lefever $50, which was in addition to the
disciplinary allowance. A small church was built that year and a
parsonage four years later.

In 1906 an Episcopal mission was established in Montgomery.

_The Walden Methodist Church_ was incorporated in 1850. Previous to
that the "classes" there were under the pastoral care of the
Montgomery preachers. In fact, it was not until 1866 that the Walden
Church became an independent charge. Then a parsonage was built and
the church building was enlarged and improved in 1870 at a cost of
$6,000. In 1893 it was removed to the east side of the church lot and
remodeled.

_The Church of the Holy Name_ in the village of Montgomery was
incorporated in 1870. Rev. Hugh S. O'Hare was the pastor.

The inception of the _Church of the Most Precious Blood_ in Walden
was in 1887. Services were held in Lustig's and later in Condon's
hall. The church was dedicated by Bishop Farley July 5, 1896. The
officiating priests have been Rev. C. A. Meredith, Rev. P. Morris and
Rev. F. C. Lenes.

Among the recent church organizations of the town is the _People's
Baptist Church_ at Maybrook, erected in 1906. No settled pastor.

Several of the old cities of the dead date back to 1725. The Wallkill
Valley Cemetery Association was organized in 1865 and the first
burial made May 1, 1867. This cemetery commands general admiration in
the beauty and grandeur of its location. It comprises forty-one acres
and the interments exceed 2,000. In 1905 Colonel Thomas Bradley
erected here a bronze statue, "The Volunteer," memorial to Company H,
124th Regiment. Other burial places are Goodwill, St. Mary's,
Riverside, Berea, Brick Church and Coldenham.

[Illustration: Wickham T. Shaw.]




CHAPTER XXIII.

TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE.

By Wickham T. Shaw.



LOCATION, AREA, ETC.

This is one of the smaller towns of Orange County and it is located
in the acute angle of the western boundary line of the county formed
by the indentation of Sullivan County. The territory of the town is
diamond-shaped. The Shawangunk stream, which flows through the town
lengthwise toward the northeast, leaves it in the apex of the angle
and then forms the boundary line separating Orange from Sullivan, as
well as the northwestern bounds of the towns of Wallkill and
Crawford.

It is bounded on the north by Sullivan County and a very small part
of the town of Wallkill, east by that town, south by the towns of
Wawayanda and Greenville, and west by the town of Deer Park.

The area of the town is now placed at 16,104 acres. The assessed
valuation of all the real and personal property, as reported by the
assessors in 1906, was $632,075, upon which the tax levy for that
year was $3,903.36. In 1880 this land was valued at $673,470, and the
annual tax was $5,157.79. But it would be manifestly unfair to assume
that the land is less valuable now than it was twenty-five years ago.
The average town assessor in the State of New York, under the
prevailing political conditions and customs, is largely a creature of
circumstance, with strange vagaries in judgment, if indeed he is
called upon to exercise any judgment at all under the official
limitations of his position. Then, too, standards of value have
greatly changed during that time.

This Mount Hope territory lies wholly north of the old county line
which originally divided Orange from Ulster County.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The Shawangunk mountain range in the western border of the town is
the most important topographical feature. This northern spur of the
Alleghenies is known as the Blue Mountains in New Jersey and the
Kittatiny Mountains in the State of Pennsylvania. Beginning in the
central part of Ulster County the general trend of the range is
toward the southwest for some 250 miles. There are few isolated
peaks, and the greatest altitude reached is about 1,800 feet above
tide. The more notable elevations of this range are Sam's Point, near
Ellenville, Sky Top and Eagle's Cliff at Lake Mohonk, all of which
are in Ulster County. The Indian word Shawangunk, which has been used
to designate this range since the settlement of the region,
signifies "great wall" in the aboriginal vernacular, which in fact
seems especially appropriate as a descriptive title.

The eastern slopes of these mountains are uniform and well adapted to
cultivation, even to their summits, in most instances. But on the
western side they are broken and precipitous. The approach from the
east has been fitly described by an old writer in the following
language: "The eye rests upon fields of grain and grass, upturned
furrows, the verdure of waving trees and the homes of thrifty
hospitality, spread out from valley to crest, over the south and the
far north, in unwearying {_sic_} panoramic beauty--a patchwork of
gold and green, of brown and gray, of white and red."

The Shawangunk River is another dominating feature in this Mount Hope
township. Rising in the adjoining town of Greenville on the south,
this stream enters the Mount Hope territory near the middle of the
southern boundary line and flows northeasterly through the central
portion of the town, leaving the north boundary line at the apex of
Sullivan County, as before stated.

The Little Shawangunk rises at Shawangunk Lake, on the eastern border
of the town, flows northward along the line some four or five miles,
then crosses over into the town of Wallkill, anon reentering Mount
Hope in the northeast corner, and finally unites with the parent
stream in the western bounds of Wallkill. There are several small
tributaries which enter the Shawangunk from the west and drain the
mountain slopes effectually.

This territory also presents many geological features of interest
which have attracted considerable attention in past years. Here, as
elsewhere in this mountain range, rich mineral deposits have been
found. Lead, copper and zinc ores were discovered many years ago, and
numerous mining companies have been formed in the town.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

This being one of the newer towns of the County, having been taken
from the towns of Wallkill and Deer Park in 1825, the details
pertaining to its early settlement are of course embodied in the
history of those towns and cannot well be treated separately in this
place at much length.

Among the early pioneers in this section was John Finch, who settled
in what was afterward known as Finchville. The records show he was
there in 1733 at least. He came from Horseneck, Conn., settling first
at Goshen, where it was said in after years he was the first adult
person to receive burial in the Goshen churchyard.

Jasper Writer came from Germany, and after spending a few years in
Philadelphia he removed to this section and settled on what was
afterward known as the Writer farm. This was probably before 1763, as
he was over a hundred years old when he died in 1842.

Ashbel Cadwell was another early settler here, and his grandson,
Harvey R. Cadwell, in later years became a prominent citizen of
Otisville.

The Green family was also among the early settlers here. Israel
Green, the pioneer, started at Middletown, and he had many children,
some of whom lived in the Otisville section. Daniel Green, his
brother, settled near Finchville. William Shaw must also be numbered
with the well known Mount Hope pioneers, and he settled near Howells
some years before the Revolution and left many worthy descendants in
that region.

Stephen St. John was another enterprising and public spirited citizen
of that little village. James Finch served in the militia during the
Revolution for more than three months, and also in the French and
Indian war in 1755 and 1756. In his youthful days he served as valet
to General Abercrombie at Fort Stanwix.

Benjamin Woodward, already mentioned, came into the section in 1773
from Stonington, Conn. He served several sessions in the Legislature,
was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1821, and was state
senator from 1827 to 1830. His son Charles also represented his town
in the Legislature in 1863 and 1864.

Joshua Corwin was another Mount Hope pioneer who came there sometime
before the Revolution, coming from Southold, L. I. He had eight
children, who settled on an extensive tract of land in that region.

Jacob Wiggins came very soon after the Revolution and settled two
miles south of Otisville.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.

The act of incorporation of Mount Hope was passed in 1825, as before
stated. But the new town was then named "Calhoun" in honor of the
distinguished South Carolina Senator, John C. Calhoun, whose
patriotic course as secretary of war during the contest with Great
Britain in 1812 won him great favor with the people of this entire
region. But they soon regretted this action and the honor conferred
because of Calhoun's course and policy during the nullification
discussions of 1831 and 1832. There was a violent revulsion of public
opinion and everybody wanted to drop this now unpopular name of the
town without ceremony, thus showing their open disapproval of the new
policy of the Southern statesman. A public meeting was held, the old
name was dropped with a heavy thud and the present title of "Mount
Hope" was unanimously adopted with much enthusiasm. In response to a
popular petition sent to the Legislature in 1833 a law was passed
March 14 of that year discarding the old name and ratifying the new
one. The plan of thus honoring a political favorite of the hour,
however distinguished and popular he might be, had proved a dangerous
experiment even in those eight short years, and the people were now
resolved to adopt some title for their town which could not be
affected by the sands of time or the progress of human events.

While all the earlier records of this town were destroyed by fire in
1848, the account of the first town meeting, which was held at the
house of Joseph Conklin, April 5, 1825, is happily preserved in the
books of Deer Park. Joseph Chattle and Richard Penny were the
presiding justices of the peace. One hundred and fifty dollars were
raised for the support of the poor for the ensuing year and $35 for
the maintenance of bridges. Joseph Chattle was chosen the first
supervisor and Joseph Conklin town clerk. While many of the principal
officers were chosen by ballot, all the minor town officials were
selected by the primitive method of raising of hands. Four constables
were chosen, six fire masters, four fence viewers and forty-one
highway masters. Just what the duties of the latter were can only be
conjectured, as very little attention was paid to the public roads of
that period or their repair, and fortunately so, perhaps, because of
the primitive and defective methods in vogue. The official list of
the town included also three assessors, two overseers of the poor,
three commissioners of highways, three school commissioners and three
school inspectors.

The first town meeting after the fire was in 1849. At that time the
rather extravagant civil list of the town had been somewhat reduced
in number. One hundred dollars were then raised for repairs to roads
and bridges.

It is interesting to note in passing that in 1906 the sum raised for
the maintenance of public roads alone in the town under the money
system of road work was $2,743.33. Of this amount $933.12 was
received from the State and $260 from the poll tax.

LITTLE SHAWANGUNK KILL.

Heretofore it has been said that the little Shawangunk Kill, in this
town, was of such little importance that historians declined to
mention it, yet this stream, lying practically all in the town, was
at one time the scene of five thriving saw-mills in operation, but
which have since disappeared. Yet the city of Middletown in 1890 saw
a basis of great water works in this stream, and just from the line
at the headwaters of this kill in the town of Wallkill, erected a
reservoir which was known as Highland Lake, containing about
500,000,000 gallons of water. On April 22, 1901, just below Highland
Lake and in the town of Mount Hope, the city of Middletown decided to
erect another lake, and the contract was let to Charles Sundstrom of
the city of Middletown, who, by the erection of what was known as
Shawangunk, Greenleaf and Steward dams, impounded a large quantity of
water, which was to form a part of the Middletown system.

This work was at the cost of something like $57,000, and was
connected with Monhagen Lake by a twenty-inch conduit, and also a
twenty-four-inch conduit was extended in a westerly direction to a
point in the Shawangunk Kill, above Mount Hope, from which it was
intended to take water at high times, and conduct it to what was
called Shawangunk reservoir.

This reservoir when full contains over 434,000,000 gallons of water,
and has an acreage of about 102 acres, on what was formerly known as
the Greenleaf farm. It will be observed that Highland Lake had been
erected some fourteen years, but since Shawangunk Lake was erected,
litigation sprang up from the mill owners on the big Shawangunk Kill,
as far north as Pine Bush, and all the farmers on the line of the
little Shawangunk Kill were brought into proceedings for
condemnation, and the payment of damages for the taking of this
water, and this litigation, which continued some two or three years,
was finally settled in the year 1907, when all water rights to both
kills were finally determined, but the city of Middletown had paid in
expenses and damages something like $25,000.

VILLAGES.

The village of Mount Hope is in the southwestern part of the town.
This name was bestowed long before the formation of the town itself,
which was evidently named after the old village. The site of the
hamlet is a commanding elevation, and there is a charming view of the
surrounding landscape on all sides far and near.

Benjamin Woodward and Dr. Benjamin Newkirk are credited with the
establishment of the place in May, 1807. On the eighth day of that
month, after the "raising bee" was over, James Finch, the old
settler, called the assembly to order and made a very enthusiastic
speech, during which he christened the place "Mount Hope" with proper
ceremony.

Otisville was settled in 1816 by Isaac Otis, a merchant from New
York, and named for him. There were but three houses on the upper
street, and probably but little more than a dozen buildings comprised
the entire village when the Erie Railroad was opened on November 3,
1846.

The officials of the road who arrived on the first train dined at the
hotel of Ambrose W. Green, who for many years was one of the leading
citizens of Otisville. At this time, 1846, Dr. Avery Cook lived and
had his office near where the depot stands. Galen Otis owned the only
store which stood where he later built a large square house. Ezra
Coleman lived and had his wagon-making shop where Dr. Writer now
lives. Samuel K. Wheat was the harness-maker, and lived where later
Judson Van Duzer lived. Stanford Harding was the blacksmith, and
Squire Baker had a cooper shop. Harvey R. Cadwell, a member of
Assembly in 1862, owned the farm on the north, and Smith Loomis,
father of Supervisor Charles Loomis, owned the farm on the western
boundary of the village.

[Illustration: Garrett H. Tymeson.]

The schoolhouse in 1840 was nearly a mile south of the village on the
plains, the present site of the cemetery. A church was also there.
This same year Algernon Sidney Dodge, son of Benjamin Dodge, of Mount
Hope, came to Otisville and leased the store of Galen Otis. Alsop
Woodward Dodge, son of Algernon Sidney Dodge, now resides in
Middletown, and from him we learned some of the facts contained here.

Ambrose Woodward Green, mentioned above, was born in the town of
Greenville in 1813. His father was Charles S. Green, and his
grandfather was Daniel Green, a soldier of the Revolution from Orange
County.

Ambrose W. Green settled in Otisville in 1835, and for a time carried
on the tailoring business, which he discontinued, and built the
Washington Hotel, now the Greenleaf Hotel, conducting it for some
time in connection with other business.

Before the Erie came to Otisville, Mr. Green owned a market wagon
route to Newburgh, going twice a week by way of Bloomingburg. While
Otisville remained the western terminal of the Erie, Mr. Green also
owned a stage line to Forestburgh, Sullivan County, connecting with
lines into Pennsylvania for Honesdale and other western points. He
was interested in building the Otisville and Wurtsboro turnpike. Mr.
Green sold the Washington Hotel and about 1850 built the hotel near
the railroad track. While conducting this hotel, he was engaged in
the lumber and coal business. From 1863 to 1870 he was extensively
interested in the lead mining operations on Shawangunk Mountain. The
decline in the value of lead after our Civil War caused the mines to
be discontinued, and Mr. Green later sold his hotel and removed to a
farm a couple of miles north of Otisville, where he died in July,
1888.

The coming of the Erie boomed Otisville for the next few years. A
Methodist and a Presbyterian church were built and a little later a
Catholic church. Several stores and many dwellings were erected.
Market wagons came here twice a week with farmers' produce for
shipment to New York. Previous to the building of the Midland
Railroad hundreds of teams throughout the winter, while the Delaware
and Hudson Canal was closed, came to Otisville from Sullivan and
western Ulster Counties, with leather from the tanneries, and
returned with the green hides for tanning. For many years, until the
introduction of refrigerator cars, Otisville was the western terminal
of the milk train.

George Strickland and Joel D. Northrup, residents of Otisville, were
the conductors--the latter for many years. The Orange County Express
for several years went no further west than Otisville. The gravel and
construction train for this section, with nearly a hundred employees,
had its headquarters at Otisville. Until coal was used as the fuel
for the engines of the Erie, Otisville for many years was the
principal point where the thousands of cords of wood were received
which the Erie consumed yearly. This wood was all sawed by hand, and
many men were employed. Many citizens of Otisville found various
kinds of employment with the Erie during these years, and much of the
prosperity of the village came from the dollars left here by the
monthly pay-car of the Erie.

TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

To the historian of the future the name Otisville will be associated
with one of the great sanitary advances made in this country, namely,
the establishment, by a municipality, of a tuberculosis sanatorium
outside the political limits of that municipality.

The establishment of such a sanatorium was first suggested in 1889.
At that time, however, not even a medical sentiment was ripe for
such a movement. In the succeeding fifteen years, little progress was
made toward a realization of these plans, and it was not until Dr.
Thomas Darlington became commissioner of health that any tangible
results were achieved. He proved an aggressive and resourceful
champion. With political, corporate, and private interests leagued
together to prevent the city from acquiring a site, it was largely
owing to the indefatigable labors of Dr. Darlington that the most
determined opposition to the plan was overcome.

After carefully examining many sites, it was finally determined to
establish the sanatorium at Otisville, a little village lying in the
Shawangunk Mountains, and about seventy-five miles from New York
City. As a southern exposure was desired, the grounds, covering an
area of over 1,400 acres, were selected on the southeastern slope of
one of the most picturesque and most favorably situated mountains of
the entire range. The grounds have an altitude varying from about
800 feet to 1,500 feet above sea level. The sanatorium property
consists of what were formerly thirteen separate farms, which were
purchased at different times during the years 1905 and 1906, the
health department first taking possession for the city of New York on
December 1, 1905.

To avoid delay in establishing the institution on a working basis, it
was deemed best to renovate and remodel the buildings on the
property, and use them until such time as the needs of the sanatorium
would require the erection of new ones. By July, 1906, the
institution was ready to receive its first patients, and a year after
that date had accommodations for about 100.

Since the sanatorium is designed for the treatment of those ill with
tuberculosis in the early stages of the disease, there is only a
small building for hospital accommodations. The rest of the
buildings, in which the patients practically live outdoors, are
portable houses and shacks. All the frills and ruffles so universally
connected with the construction of public buildings have been
omitted; everything has been subordinated to that which is best for
the patients.

There are six portable houses, which are set on posts and can be
taken apart and transferred to any location desired. The houses all
measure ten by sixty feet, and are divided into five rooms. The
center room, heated on cold days, is used as a bathing and dressing
room, as well as a sitting room in inclement weather. Those on
either side are used as bed rooms. Each room has four windows, two of
which are always open and so arranged as to avoid all draughts. Each
room contains one bed. The two rooms on either end are entirely open
on the three sides, a fine screen only enclosing to keep out insects,
etc. Heavy canvas curtains are folded in a roll outside, and can be
dropped in stormy weather. These end rooms each accommodates two
patients, thus making a capacity of six to each house.

In the latter part of 1906 a one-story and a two-story shack were
erected for the additional accommodation of patients; and during 1907
two single-story shacks and one small house were built.

The shacks are built in the form of the letter T. The stem of the T
consists of a room containing the washstands, lockers for each
patient, and toilets and baths. In front of this is a sitting room,
and opening from either side of this are the sleeping rooms. The
latter are practically only verandas, being open in front and on the
side, while for protection against storms and severe winds there is a
similar provision to that used on the portable houses; that is, the
curtains ordinarily rolled up are lowered, shutting off the verandas
from the outside. A single-story shack accommodates twelve patients,
six on each veranda. The two-story shack accommodates just double
that number, being exactly alike in its two stories.

A feature of considerable importance in an institution of this kind
is the manner in which the different patients are segregated. As
nearly as possible patients in the same physical condition as well as
those who are apt to be congenial are assigned to the same quarters.

Every patient is closely observed for about ten days after admission.
The amount and frequency of rest, exercise and work is determined at
all times by the condition of the patients. They are assigned to work
according to their strength and capabilities. All dining-room duties,
such as waiting on the table, washing dishes, and preparing
vegetables, are performed by selected patients who show but slight
lesions, negative sputum, and have no cough. Many of the patients are
able to do farm work, and this keeps them out in the air and relieves
their ennui.

In a large institution of this kind the problem of sewage disposal is
not an easy matter. But by the aid of expert sanitary engineers this
has been satisfactorily overcome. Thousands of feet of pipe have been
laid, and an up-to-date disposal plant has been erected. The effluent
from this plant will have been so purified as to be practically
indistinguishable from pure water.

An abundance of pure water has also been provided, and is supplied at
a high pressure to all the buildings. Fire plugs are scattered about
the sanatorium grounds, and a fire-fighting system has been
organized.

The sanatorium has its own dairy, for the patients are encouraged to
drink considerable milk. The cow barn and the milk handling rooms in
connection with this, are immaculately clean, and this condition is
reflected by the milk, which is of the highest possible purity.

The one fact which stands out prominently at the sanatorium is the
broad foundation on which the whole work has been planned. The work
is being directed with admirable foresight, and will yield immense
returns in the fight against tuberculosis in New York City. The
sanatorium was established in order to provide a place for treating
these consumptives of New York who are unable to pay, the large army
who until now have had merely the clinics and dispensaries, but for
whom country treatment is most desirable. The city maintains the
patients absolutely free, the only condition being that the disease
is not too far advanced.

The present capacity of the institution, about 150, is only a small
fraction of what it will be five or ten years hence. Yet even these
small numbers are an immense potential for good when they return to
the city cured or improved, for they carry with them habits of
cleanliness and personal hygiene and a knowledge of the value of
fresh air, which are of incalculable value not only to them, but to
all with whom they come in contact.

The present officers of the institution are: Dr. Thomas Darlington,
commissioner of health; Dr. Hermann M. Biggs, general medical
officer; Dr. Irving D. Williams, superintendent; Dr. Edward J.
McSweenv, resident physician, and Dr. Frank P. Hauser, assistant
resident physician.

RAILROADS, HAMLETS, MINES.

_Erie & Jersey Railroad._--In the year 1904 a corporation was
organized, known as the Erie and Jersey Railroad Company, which
ostensibly was an independent line, to be built from a point on the
Erie railroad west of Guymard, on a circuitous route, to the north of
the present Erie railroad, to Turner. It was well understood that
this road was a part of the Erie system, and was to be a double-track
road, the projectors of which alleged that it would be used for
freight, but as it shortened the route of the road and was a much
easier grade, when completed, undoubtedly would be used by many fast
express trains.

The condemnation laws of this State were not elastic enough to permit
of taking property along the line of this route through the courts,
and the greater part of the right of way had to be bought by the
company, and fabulous prices were paid for its right of way, which
was 130 feet wide. About eleven miles of this road is in the town of
Mount Hope.

_The Erie & Jersey Railroad Tunnel._--On August 10, 1905, Bennett &
Talbott, contractors, of Greensburg, Pa., contracted with the Erie &
Jersey Railroad Company to build twelve miles of railroad, eleven
miles of grading, which would require about 1,500,000 cubic yards of
excavation, and about 15,000 yards of concrete masonry, and one mile,
three hundred and three feet of tunnel through the Shawangunk
Mountains, between Guymard and Howells, N. Y. The road was to be
completed within a period of two years. Work was commenced on
September 4, 1905, by sinking a shaft at the center of the tunnel to
a depth of 117 feet. Owing to a delay in getting the right of way,
however, they were compelled to sink another shaft at the east
portal of the tunnel to expedite the work, beginning on or about
October 1, 1905. The west portal of the tunnel was begun on or about
November 15 of the same year. The completion of the work was delayed
somewhat on account of the suspension of work April, 1907. The
excavation of the tunnel will now be completed on or about the first
of March, 1908, while the arching will be finished some time in July,
1908. The excavation of solid rock required for this work was 180,000
cubic yards. The timber required to support the roof was 1,700,000
feet, while the amount of concrete sidewall was 8,000 cubic yards.
The number of brick required was 8,000,000. The machinery used in the
construction of this tunnel was two improved Style A Marion
steam-shovels, known as the "45-ton." Alpha Portland cement was used
for the masonry. Francis Lee Stuart was chief engineer of this work.

_Finchville._--This hamlet is in the southwestern part of the town at
the eastern base of the Shawangunk Mountains. It was founded by
James Finch, the old settler, in whose honor the name was bestowed.
But the precise date of this settlement is not accurately disclosed
by the records. It was to this place that many terror-stricken women
and children fled for refuge from the Mamakating Valley during the
Indian troubles there.

_New Vernon._--This is a small hamlet in the northern border of the
town. In fact, part of it is in Sullivan County. It was named thus to
distinguish it from Vernon in New Jersey. It had one church and some
twenty dwellings in 1860, and has shown no very material increase in
recent years.

_Guymard,_ in the western part of the town of Mount Hope, was the
culmination of the plan of the Gumaer brothers to have a railroad
station nearer Gumaer's, which was on the Delaware & Hudson Canal.
After the strenuous times of 1857, labor could be obtained at
sixty-five cents per day, and the Gumaer brothers decided to build a
road from the canal to the Erie railroad, and then the station was
named Guymard.

About 1862 they concluded to extend the new road to the old turnpike
on top of the mountain. While constructing that part of the road,
lead was discovered. As a result of this discovery, many mines were
prospected on the Shawangunk Mountain and were operated more or less
from 1863 to 1870. Among these was the mine of the Guymard Lead &
Zinc Co., from which several carloads of lead were shipped weekly.
After the close of the Civil War the price of lead declined, and
considering the crude mining methods and the cost involved,
eventually the mines were abandoned.

Of the Gumaer brothers, Peter and Jackson are now living at Guymard.
Chauncey Gumaer, son of Peter, having had nearly twenty-five years'
mining experience in Colorado and the West, has returned and is now
working the old mine at Guymard. With the improved methods of mining,
he believes his new venture will prove successful.

An incident of considerable local historical interest occurred here
in the spring of 1863. The mine at Guymard was being worked by its
owners, when one day one George H. Servoss, an Englishman, arrived
and claimed that he owned the mine and all the mineral rights in this
section through a grant by Queen Anne of England. He erected a small
building on the grounds and his miners began operations. The rightful
owners were wild with excitement and the news was soon communicated
to others interested in mining in this section at that time. A day
was appointed, when between 100 and 200 men assembled and tumbled
Servoss's building over into the gully below the railroad track and
drove him and his miners from the mine. This was probably the last
attempt of a subject of Great Britain to claim territory or granted
rights in the United States which had been so definitely decided
nearly a hundred years before by the ancestors of some who took part
in driving this Englishman from his false claim.

A singular incident in connection was this: Ambrose W. Green, who
kept a hotel at Otisville, and was much interested in mining, was one
of the men who assembled and helped to drive Servoss from his claim
at Guymard. Servoss came to Otisville that night and with some of his
miners stopped at Mr. Green's hotel. Being convinced that Yankee
blood still predominated in this section, Servoss gave up his claim.
While stopping with Mr. Green he began prospecting and on June 13,
1863, leased the mineral right of Thomas Hawk of his farm situated
less than a mile above Otisville. Ambrose W. Green witnessed the
document and Servoss formed what was known as the Otisville Copper
Mining Company, which he worked for some time. Servoss died in New
York City on December 10, 1907.

The Farmers' Library was incorporated in October, 1807, just a
century ago. Its first meeting was held at the home of Benjamin
Woodward. The original trustees were Benjamin B. Newkirk, Benjamin
Woodward, William Mulock, James Finch, Jr., Peter E. Gumaer, Daniel
Green, William Shaw, Jr., Stephen Farnum and Peleg Pelton. The
library was established at once and it is said to have contained a
valuable collection of historical works which were doubtless the only
available books for such use at that early period of library
literature. This old library was maintained there some thirty years,
which certainly speaks well for the people of that region at that
time. The educational influences of this old library upon the young
people of that section during that period are said to have been most
wholesome and of incalculable value.

POINTS OF HISTORIC INTEREST.

Of course the Shawangunk Mountain range is always interesting to the
geologist and historian. The pass through these mountains at
Otisville is well worth visiting. It was the only break the Erie
engineers could find when they laid out the railway, and they went
over ten miles north of Port Jervis to utilize it.

The old Finch homestead at Finchville has long been an object of
interest, although the old house itself was burned many years ago. It
was here that the militia halted on their way to the fatal Minisink
battlefield and took a hurried meal. Resuming their march over the
mountains, it is said very few of the soldiers survived the terrible
encounter and lived to recross those hills and again enjoy Mr.
Finch's hospitality.

The huge bones of a noted mastodon, which awakened much popular
interest at the time, were found deeply embedded in the soil on the
old Allison farm, a short distance from Otisville, nearly fifty years
ago. This remarkable find took the imagination back to the primitive
era when these mammoth creatures roamed at will over this western
continent.

INDUSTRIES.

Of course the primary and paramount interest of the people in this
town from its early settlement even to the present day, has been
agriculture. The cultivation of the land attracted the settlers
thither and the raising of crops, together with lumbering, were the
leading pursuits in which the residents engaged for over a hundred
years. The sunny mountain slopes and the alluvial bottoms along the
rivers were well adapted to plant growth, and the farmer obtained
good results from his labor. Nearly all the ordinary crops to which
the latitude and climate were suited could be grown with profit. The
town had its full share in the production of the famous "Orange
County butter," which was made in large quantities for a time. But
for many years past, with the ample railway facilities afforded for
prompt shipment, nearly all the milk produced has been shipped to
New York direct and the butter-making branch of the dairy interest
has been almost entirely discontinued. In fact, many of the farmers
have been buying butter elsewhere for their own use, finding it more
profitable to sell their milk, which of course has been produced to
a far larger extent than ever before.

MILITARY HISTORY.

This town east of the mountain range was long regarded as a place of
refuge for those fleeing from the frequent Indian attacks in the
Mamakating Valley. Historic records contain many thrilling and
pathetic incidents of this nature, and they are presented in much
graphic detail, although doubtless based largely upon traditionary
authority.

As to the history of Mount Hope during the Revolution, there is none,
apart from the annals embraced in the records of the parent towns of
Deer Park and Wallkill, from which Mount Hope was taken forty-five
years after the settlement of that little dispute with a tyrannical
nation over certain questions regarding human rights and personal
liberty. Concerning the roll of honor, belonging to this territory in
that war for independence the reader is referred to the records of
Deer Park and Wallkill, found on other pages of this work.

In the War of 1812 the Wallkill Regiment was ordered out in full
force, while the 128th Regiment of Sullivan was drafted into the
service. This organization then included many men from this Mount
Hope section. Those who served in that secondary struggle from here,
mentioned in the records, are Joseph Stanton, Amzi Mapes, John
Mulock, Zebulon Giffen, Frederick A. Seybolt, Richard Penny and
Captain William Mulock.

During the war of the rebellion the town was of course an integral
factor of the county, and it bore an honored share in that memorable
struggle. The population being small the number who enlisted in the
service of the government was not very large. Under the various
calls of President Lincoln in 1862-1863-1864 some 330 men went forth
from this town to serve their country. In addition to this,
fifty-eight were drafted into the service.

At a special town meeting held August 9, 1864, and ratified on the
twentieth of the same month, a tax of $37,000 was ordered for the
payment of bounties at the rate of $800 per man. In February, 1865,
another tax of $10,000 was authorized for a similar purpose. The
town was afterward reimbursed by the Government for bounties paid to
the amount of $11,400. In addition to this, voluntary subscriptions
and contributions amounting to $913 were sent forward at different
times. Of the Mount Hope soldiers four were reported killed in
action. The record also contains the names of forty-one other men who
enlisted during 1863 and 1864.




CHAPTER XXIV.

TOWN OF NEWBURGH.



EARLY PATENTS.

While Newburgh is the most important and impressive place in Orange
County, Newburgh Town, outside of the city, has its facts and points
of interest.

After the annulment, in 1669, of the patent purchased of the Indians
by Governor Dongan, and conveyed by him to Captain John Evans in 1684
in which patent was included the territory of the Newburgh precinct,
the entire district was conveyed, between 1703 and 1705, in small
patents, ten of which were in the Newburgh precinct, and a list of
which is given in the chapter on Newburgh city.

All patents were conditioned upon a payment of quit-rent, sometimes
in money, sometimes in wheat or other commodity.

The Palatine settlement, including a portion of the present city of
Newburgh and a portion of the town, is elsewhere considered. So are
the changes and troubles that followed the coming of the new Dutch
and English settlers, resulting in a decision of the council which
practically terminated "The Palatine Parish by Quassaick." Ruttenber
says that when this decision was rendered the original members of the
parish had long previously removed from it or been laid away in the
quiet church-yard, and adds: "As a people they were earnest, good men
and women. Wherever their neighbors of subsequent migrations are met,
their record compares favorably with that of immigrants from any
other country. No citizens of more substantial worth are found under
the flag of this, their native land, than their descendants; no
braver men were in the armies of the Revolution than Herkimer and
Muhlenberg. Had they done nothing in the parish but made clearings in
its forests and planted fields they would be entitled to grateful
remembrance. They did more; they gave to it its first church and its
first government; and in all subsequent history their descendants
have had a part."

As to the other patents: The Baird patent included the settlement of
Belknap's Ridge, later classed at Coldenham. It was issued to
Alexander Baird, Abraham Van Vleque and Hermans Johnson, and was sold
to Governor William Burnet. The Kipp patent included the district
east, north and west of Orange Lake, and adjoined the Baird patent on
the south. It was issued to Jacobus Kipp, John Conger, Philip
Cortlandt, David Prevost, Oliver Schuyler and John Schuyler. It was
divided into six parts, and these were subdivided into farms. About
1791 a company of Friends from Westchester County settled on the
patent. They were Daniel, Zephaniah and Bazak Birdsall, John Sutton
and John Thorne. The first purchasers on the Bradley patent are
supposed to have been Johannes Snyder and John Crowell. The Wallace
patent, issued to James Wallace alone, was afterwards purchased by
John Penny, who sold 200 acres of it to Robert Ross, and settled,
with his seven sons, upon the remainder. The Bradley patent was to
Sarah, Catherine, George, Elizabeth and Mary Bradley, and was taken
in their name by their father, Richard Bradley, who thus secured six
tracts, of which that in Newburgh was one. The Harrison patent was to
Francis Harrison, Mary Fatham, Thomas Brazier, James Graham and John
Haskell. It included the present district of Middlehope, and its
settlers were influential in the control of the town during its early
history. The Spratt patent was in two parcels, 1,000 acres in
Newburgh and 2,000 acres in Ulster. It was issued to Andrew Marschalk
and John Spratt, the latter taking the Newburgh tract. This was
purchased in 1760 by Joseph Gidney, and took the name of Gidneytown.
The Gulch patent was to Melichor Gulch and his wife and children of
the original company of Palatines. The Johnson or Jansen patent
adjoined the Gulch patent, and was the first occupied land in the
northwestern part of the town.

The settlement of these patents resulted in dividing the old precinct
of the Highlands in 1762 into the precincts of Newburgh and New
Windsor, the former embracing the towns of Marlborough and Plattekill
in Ulster County with the present town and city of Newburgh, and the
latter covering substantially the same territory as now.

GOVERNMENT BEGINNINGS.

The next April, 1763, Newburgh's first town meeting was held at the
house of Jonathan Hasbrouck, now known as Washington's Headquarters,
and these officers were chosen: Jonathan Hasbrouck, supervisor;
Samuel Sands, clerk; Richard Harper, John Winfield and Samuel Wyatt,
assessors; Daniel Gedney and Benjamin Woolsey, poor masters; Jonathan
McCrary, John Wandel, Burras Holmes, Isaac Fowler, Muphrey Merritt
and Thomas Woolsey, path masters; Nathan Purdy and Isaac Fowler,
fence viewers and appraisers.

[Illustration: N. Barns]

Ten years later Marlborough and Plattekill settlements were set off
as New Marlborough, and left Newburgh with almost the same territory
as that of the present town and city. The first supervisor of this
reduced town was John Flewwelling and the first clerk was Samuel
Sands.

The territory of the present town embraces 26,882 acres in the
extreme northeast portion of the county. The soil along the river
front for a distance of five miles is warm, productive and well
cultivated. The rock formations are largely slate and lime. In 1875
its population was 3,538, and the census of 1905 places it at 4,885
persons.

Subsequent to the incorporation of the city of Newburgh, April 25,
1865, the town of Newburgh was invested with the government of its
own officers. The following supervisors have been elected:

Nathaniel Barns, 1866; C. Gilbert Fowler, 1867; Nathaniel Barns,
1868 to 1870; W. A. Pressler, 1871; John W. Bushfield, 1872 to 1877;
Henry P. Clauson, 1878 to 1880; W. A. Pressler, 1881 to 1885; Oliver
Lozier, 1886; John W. Bushfield, 1887; Oliver Lozier, 1888 to 1801;
William H. Post, 1892 to 1899; Henry P. Clauson, 1900 to 1906; Fred
S. McDowell, 1907 and 1908.

EARLY PATRIOTISM.

But little need be added to what has elsewhere been sketched
regarding Newburgh's part in the war for independence. Its people
were prompt in patriotic response to the non-importation resolutions
of the Continental Congress. It was one of the five precincts to
publicly burn the pamphlet assailing those resolutions, entitled,
"Free Thoughts on the Resolves of Congress," and on June 27, 1775,
at a public meeting, appointed a Committee of Safety: Wolvert Acker,
Jonathan Hasbrouck, Thomas Palmer, John Belknap, Joseph Coleman,
Moses Higby, Samuel Sands, Stephen Case, Isaac Belknap, Benjamin
Birdsall, John Robinson and others. When the pledge to support the
acts of the Continental and Provincial Congress was ready 174 names
were voluntarily signed to it and twenty-one of the fifty-four men
who refused to sign afterward made affidavit that they also would
abide by the measures of Congress and pay their quota of all
expenses. Some of the thirty-three Tories who stood out were
imprisoned and some were executed. The Newburgh patriots as promptly
reorganized the militia of the precinct. They furnished two companies
for a new regiment in September, and in December helped to
constitute a regiment of minute men, and provided its colonel in the
person of Thomas Palmer. They also, in 1776, organized as rangers or
scouts to prevent attacks from hostile Indians. Throughout the war
the citizens of Newburgh were conspicuous as volunteers in the
regular army and as local militiamen in the cause of the Revolution,
and were subjected to much inconvenience and many privations in
consequence of the presence of other troops, as elsewhere stated.
Many of them were killed and many more taken prisoners in the defense
of the Highland forts, after which the poor taxes were increased from
50L to 800L and special donations were collected for those who had
been deprived of their husbands or parents.

The history of Washington's doings and sayings in and near Newburgh
is so familiar that they need not be repeated here.

EARLY ORGANIZATIONS.

The Benevolent Society of the County of Orange was formed in January,
1805, with the following officers: Hugh Walsh, president; Gen. John
Skey Eustace, vice-president; John McAuley, treasurer; William
Gardner, Secretary.

In the sketch of Newburgh village and city mention has been made of
the charter provision for a Glebe fair. This fair is believed to have
been held occasionally as late as 1805, as there has been found in an
old newspaper notice of one to be held in October of that year, with
an offer of $125 as a premium to the jockey riding the best horse on
the course of Benjamin Case, $50 to another jockey riding the best
horse on the following day, and $25 to the jockey riding the best
filly on the third day.

The Newburgh Bible Society was organized September 9, 1818, at a
meeting held in the Presbyterian Church of Newburgh village, after a
discourse by Rev. James R. Wilson. The first article of the
constitution declared that its "sole object shall be to encourage a
wider circulation of the Scriptures, without note or comment." The
following officers were elected: Jonas Story, president; Isaac
Belknap and Joseph Clark, vice-presidents; Rev. John Johnston,
corresponding secretary; Charles Miller, recording secretary;
Benjamin J. Lewis, treasurer.

In 1823 the Newburgh Society for Aiding Missions was formed. The
report said: "Its design is to be auxiliary to the cause of missions
in general; its funds, at the disposal of a board of managers, are to
be appropriated from time to time to such societies or other
missionary objects as may seem to have the most pressing claim to
assistance."

The Newburgh Sabbath School Society was organized in 1816, and the
following officers are found recorded, as chosen in 1823, sixteen
years afterward: Superintendents, Mrs. Agnes Van Vleeck, Mrs. Mary
G. Belknap, Mrs. Harriet M. Bate, Miss Joanna Schultz; secretary,
Miss Louisa Lewis; treasurer, Miss Jane Carpenter. The secretary, in
her report, stated that the school then consisted of more than 300
scholars, the average attendance being 200, and that there were
thirty-two classes instructed by forty-six teachers and assistants.
She stated that the number of verses committed to memory during the
year was 21,440 and of divine songs 8,684.

Eager reports a meeting of the Orange County Medical Society in
Newburgh in October, 1823, which invited the members of the Newburgh
Lyceum to attend. Medical and scientific essays were read by Drs.
John M. Gough, Francis L. Beattie and Arnell, other essays by George
W. Benedict and Rev. James R. Wilson, and "the merits of each
underwent an able discussion."

LOCALITIES.

Just outside the legal boundary line north of the city of Newburgh is
the fashionable suburb of Balmville, named after a large Balm of
Gilead tree, which is estimated to be one hundred and fifty or more
years old, and nearly twenty-five feet in circumference. The
population is large and wealthy, inhabiting charming country seats.
Continuing northward about two miles is the village of Middlehope,
formerly known as Middletown. It is the center of a prosperous fruit
section where many varieties of fruit originated with men foremost in
pomology. North of this settlement is Cedar Hill Cemetery. The
grounds are from the design of August Hepp, and are under the control
of the Cedar Hill Cemetery Association, which was organized in 1870,
mainly through efforts of Enoch Carter. Roseton, four miles north of
Newburgh, on the banks of the Hudson, was named after John C. Rose,
who established extensive brick yards here in 1883. Brick yards have
multiplied in this section, and destroyed the natural attractions of
a once pretty cove. The Dans Kammer, a promontory just beyond, marks
the northern extremity of Newburgh Bay. Hampton, now known as Cedar
Cliff Post-office, is a landing on the Hudson, adjoining the Ulster
County boundary line. Savilton, formerly Rossville, is a small
district eight miles northwest of Newburgh city, named from
Alexander Ross. Gardnertown is a small settlement four miles
northwest of the city, and was named from the old and numerous family
of Gardners who settled there.

Orange Lake, now a noted summer resort, was called by the early
settlers Dutch Bennin Water, and later Machen's Pond, from Captain
Machen, an engineer employed by Congress in 1777 in erecting
fortifications in the Highlands and stretching the huge obstructing
chain across the Hudson. It was also called Big Pond as distinct from
Little Pond in New Windsor. The lake covers about four hundred acres
and is kept well fed by creeks and large springs. Numerous cottages
dot its shores, and an amusement park is conducted under the
management of the Orange County Traction Company. Extensive
improvements were made in 1907, including the erection of a large
theatre and other buildings.

Quassaick Creek is a fine stream entering the Hudson between Newburgh
city and New Windsor, and is formed by the united waters of Orange
Lake outlet and Fostertown and Gidney's Creeks. It has supplied many
mills and factories with power.

King's Hill is a high boundary elevation in the northwest part of the
town affording an extensive view in all directions. Bacon Hill is
another, north from King's Hill, at the edge of the town. Limestone
Hill is a ridge running north and south two miles northwest of the
city.

Fostertown Creek, one of the tributaries of Quassaick Creek, is a
small stream which rises in Ulster County and drains a narrow valley
several miles in extent. Bushfield Creek also rises in Ulster and is
one of the streams which feed Orange Lake.

EARLY INCIDENTS.

Among the "remarkable incidents" of early times mentioned by Eager,
are the following: In 1803 the formation of a Druid society,
composed, it was said, wholly of deists, whose proceedings were
secret. In January, 1805, a son of Warren Scott, 14 years old, was
torn in pieces by wolves in the west part of the town while feeding
his father's sheep. The wolves at this time also came down and killed
sheep near the village of Newburgh. In 1816 the owners of the
Newburgh ferry first used a horse boat, and on August 13th of that
year the boat _Jason Rogers_ crossed the river with two horses
attached to a coach and a wagon, seventeen chaises and horses,
another horse and fifty passengers. In 1817 government officers
inspected ninety tons of cannon made by Mr. Townsend on Chamber's
Creek, and all proved good. They were the first manufactured in the
State, and were of sterling ore from the town of Monroe. November 24,
1824, the schooner _Neptune,_ on the way from New York to Newburgh,
was upset and sunk, and the most of her fifty or more passengers were
drowned. She had forty or fifty tons of plaster on board, and the
heavy wind shifted it, which caused the accident.

[Illustration: Aymar Van Buren.]




CHAPTER XXV.
CITY OF NEWBURGH.



Newburgh, the chief city of Orange County, with a population of
nearly 27,000, is also the largest commercial city on the Hudson
between New York and Albany. It is located on the side hill of a bay,
57 miles from the river's mouth, has a deep and spacious harbor, with
good docks, and its scenic views and contiguous territory are
peculiarly attractive. The inviting bay and river are in front, and
the mountains southward and westward have been characterized as
"Nature's arm thrown lovingly about us." In the landward distance
mountains are visible in several directions from the upper town, and
adjacent are fruit and dairy farms on undulating fields, with a
ten-mile plain known as "Highland Terrace." A recent local pamphlet
says of the City of Newburgh: "As a home-city there is little to be
desired. It is metropolitan and suburban. It has broad thoroughfares,
good streets, and provision is now perfected for having $100,000
expended annually in new pavements. There are numerous breathing
spots. One of the most magnificent views obtainable anywhere in the
Hudson Valley is from Downing Park, where from the observatory the
city appears to be almost beneath your feet. The Hudson River
presents an unobstructed view for miles, and a half dozen ranges of
mountains appear to view. The Catskills at the north, Fishkill and
the Beacons on the east, Storm King and Crow Nest on the south,
Schunnemunk at the southwest, and the Shawangunk range far to the
west. At the north end of the city is LeRoy Place, one of the
coziest and most inviting of the city's little parks. It is
especially referred to as a resting place for those who find it
convenient to take a walk to the famed 'Balm of Gilead' tree, one of
the oldest monarchs of its class to be found for many miles around."

The near suburban villages tributary to the city have a population of
nearly 50,000, as follows: Fishkill and Matteawan, 1 mile, 13,016;
Cornwall, 1 mile, 4,258; Marlborough, 6 miles 3,478; Milton 10 miles,
1,500; Walden, 10 miles, 5,939; Highland Falls, 10 miles, 4,519;
Cold Spring, 8 miles, 2,067; New Hamburgh, 10 miles, 500;
Washingtonville, 10 miles, 1,118; New Windsor, 3 miles, 2,392;
Newburgh Town, 3 miles, 4,246. The little hamlets in the vicinity
probably have a population of 3,000 more.

THE EARLIEST DAYS.

The territory embraced in the town and city was a part of the lands
purchased from the Indians by Governor Dongan in 1864, [_sic_] and
conveyed by him to Captain John Evans in 1694. The conveying patent
was annulled in 1699, and the district was afterward conveyed in
small tracts at different periods, of which ten were included in the
precinct of Newburgh as it was constituted in 1762. These were: No.
1, German patent, 2,190 acres, issued December 18, 1719; No. 2,
Alexander Baird & Co., 6,000 acres, February 28, 1719; No. 3,
Jacobus Kip & Co., 7000 acres, October 17, 1720; No. 4, Ricard
Bradley and William Jamison, 1,800 acres, May 17, 1729; No. 5,
James Wallace, 2,000 acres, January 25, 1732; No. 6, Bradley
children, 817 acres, March 26, 1739; No. 7, Francis Harrison & Co.,
5,600 acres, July 10, 1714; No. 8, John Spratt & Co., 1,000 acres,
April 12, 1728; No. 9, Melchior Gulch 300 acres, October 8, 1719; No.
10, Peter Johnson, 300 acres, October 8, 1719.

The original settlement was in 1709 by a party of Germans from the
Palatinate--a strip of German territory along the middle Rhine. In
1708 Louis XIV gave warning to the people of the Palatinate that it
was to be devastated in order to cripple the enemies of France, and
this caused a company of twelve families and two bachelors--fifty-three
persons in all--to flee to London. Here Queen Anne interested herself
in their welfare, and sent them to New York, with a guaranty of 9 pence
each for twelve months, and of a grant of land on which to settle.
From New York they were moved in the spring to "Quassaick Creek and
Thau-hammer." Of the heads of families there were seven husbandmen, a
minister, a stocking maker, a smith, a carpenter and a cloth weaver.
One of the bachelors was a clerk and the other a husbandman. They were
Protestants and of "good character." as certified by officials in the
villages where they had lived. Their promised land patent was not
issued until 1719, when it granted to each of the different families
from 100 to 300 acres, with 500 acres set apart for the support of the
minister. The settlement was generally called "The German Patent," but
its official title was "The Glebe." The lands for each family extended
from the Hudson River west one mile. No. 1 was bounded on the south by
Quassaick Creek, and covered the present site of Newburgh.

The immigrants erected a church, cultivated portions of their lands
and maintained their settlement several years. Then sales were made
to newcomers, and there were changes in ownership and population.
After twenty or thirty years the later Dutch and English comers were
largely in the majority, and in 1747 elected trustees of the Glebe,
closed the church to the Lutheran minister, and in 1752 obtained from
the governor and council a new charter whereby the revenues might be
applied to the support of a minister of the Church of England, with
the title of "Palatine Parish of Quassaick" changed to "The Parish of
Newburgh." At this time there were forty-three real estate lease
holders in the settlement. Ruttenber characterizes as prominent among
them the following: Alexander Colden, son of Lieutenant-Governor
Colden; Duncan Alexander, brother of William Alexander, the Lord
Sterling of the Revolution; James Denton, son of Daniel Denton, the
first historian of New York; Jonathan Hasbrouck, from the Huguenot
settlement of New Paltz. Colden, Denton and Hasbrouck erected grist
mills, and in 1743 Colden obtained a charter for the Newburgh ferry.
"The names of Hasbrouck and Colden have never been absent from the
list of inhabitants since 1750," says Ruttenber.

The trustees elected in 1747 were Alexander Colden and Richard
Albertson. When the first service was held after the Church of
England was substituted, the Lutheran minister and his flock made
public protest at the door, and afterward went away and had service
in a private house. Tradition says that the Lutherans attempted a
forcible entry, and there was a fight in which the church door was
torn from its hinges and one Lutheran was killed. This was after the
election of trustees in 1847, and previous to the receipt of the new
charter.

The new trustees, Colden and Albertson, established a public landing,
started agricultural fairs, took temporal charge of the church,
erected a parsonage, a residence and school-house combined for the
schoolmaster, and did much other work which contributed to the growth
of the settlement.

In 1762 Newburgh was set off from the precinct of the Highlands and
made a precinct by itself. In 1767 a petition was granted for
licenses for more taverns, as being necessary "to accommodate the
country people, travelers and passengers." In 1769 a petition asking
for a charter of lands for the Newburgh mission, signed by
missionary, vestrymen and wardens, was granted. In 1770 another
petition to the governor for "a royal charter of incorporation of
St. George's Church" was granted.

[Illustration: John Schoonmaker]

The old patent of the Highlands, after serving its purpose 50 years,
had given way in 1762 to the precincts of Newburgh and New Windsor,
the latter being constituted nearly as now, and the former embracing
the towns of Marlborough and Plattekill in Ulster County as well as
the present town and city of Newburgh.

In 1776 the Glebe hamlet comprised about a score of houses, and three
boats owned in town made trips between it and New York.

TROUBLE AND REVOLUTION.

Passing to the events just preceding the War of the Revolution, when
the bold and significant non-importation agreement was adopted by the
Continental Congress, and a pledge of association in its support was
opened in every town and precinct, supervised by committees, Wolvert
Acker was chairman of the committee for the precinct of Newburgh.
When the signing was finished he made return of 195 signatures and
names of thirty-nine who had refused to sign. The names of the
signers follow:

_Non-Importation Pledge Signers of 1776._

 Richard Albertson       Caleb Chase
 Stephen Albertson       Daniel Denton
 William Albertson       Daniel Denton, Jr.
 Joseph Albertson        Nehemiah Denton
 Daniel Aldridge         Samuel Denton
 Isaac Brown, M.D.       Nathaniel Denton
 Isaac Brown, Jr.        Peter Donelly
 Joseph Brown            Benj. Darby
 Abel Belknap            John Donaghey
 Isaac Belknap           Isaac Demott
 Isaac Belknap, Jr.      Hugh Ferguson
 Wm. Bowdish             Wm. Ferguson
 John Becket             Elnathan Foster
 Solomon Buckingham      Morris Flewwelling
 Richard Buckingham      James Flewwelling
 Benjamin Birdsall       Jonathan Hasbrouck
 Daniel Birdsall         Cornelius Hasbrouck
 James Burns             Moses Higby, M.D.
 Benj. Coffin            James Harris
 Caleb Coffin            John Nathan Hutchins
 Wm. Collard             George Harding
 Nathaniel Coleman       Thomas Ireland
 Henry Cropsey           George Jackson
 Wm. Carskadden          Wm. Lawrence
 Benjamin Lawrence       Thomas Smith
 Aaron Linn              Thaddeus Smith
 Solomon Lane            Samuel Sands
 George Leonard          Hugh Stevenson
 Silas Leonard           Stephen Stephenson
 Robert Morrison, M.D.   William Thurston
 John Morrel             Burger Weigand
 Thomas Palmer           Martin Weigand
 Thomas Patterson        Monson Ward
 Harmanus Rikeman        Richard Ward
 Thomas Rhodes           William Ward
 Albertson Smith         Timothy Wood
 Benjamin Smith          Jeremiah Wool
 Henry Smith             Charles Willett
 Leonard Smith           John Wandel
 Leonard Smith, Jr.

The lists of those who signed and those refusing to sign embraced all
males over 16 years old.

The "old town" was at this time a forlorn looking place, and the side
hill was mostly covered by orchards. A tavern built in this year of
1776 by Adolph De Grove, on the southwest corner of Water and Third
streets became Lafayette's headquarters.

When the war became a certainty the control of Hudson River
navigation became important, and to this end Forts Montgomery,
Clinton and Constitution were built. Two out of every five of the
male population became militiamen, were almost constantly in service,
and levies _en masse_ were frequent. In 1779 Washington established
his headquarters at New Windsor in the William Ellison house, and
here they remained until the movement which resulted in the siege of
Yorktown in 1781. After its surrender his army returned to the
Highlands, and Washington then made the Hasbrouck house in Newburgh
his headquarters, retaining them as such until August, 1783.

Before the beginning of hostilities in the Revolution two companies
were organized in Newburgh for a regiment formed in the southern
district of Ulster County, of which Jonathan Hasbrouck, of Newburgh,
was colonel, and Arthur Smith and Samuel Clark captains of the
companies. In the next December a regiment of minute men was
organized, of which Thomas Palmer, of Newburgh, was the colonel. In
the summer of 1776 a convention directed the general committee to
organize three companies (201 men) of rangers to guard against and
fight Indians. Of one of these Isaac Belknap, of Newburgh, was
captain. At this time the aged and those who ordinarily would be
regarded as exempts were pressed into the service. In 1778 the people
were asked to form companies to repel invasions and suppress
insurrections, and a company of this kind was formed, with Samuel
Edmonds as captain. Figures show that the militia of Newburgh was not
sleeping during the Revolution, for in 1776 they were called out on
alarms twenty-seven days, and between that time and April, 1788,
305 days. Newburgh was made a general rendezvous for troops, and
frequently the soldiers were billeted on the inhabitants. Although
the precinct escaped direct devastation, many of the men were killed
or taken prisoners in defense of the Highland forts.

When the British sailed up the river in 1777, and burnt Kingston,
after capturing the Highland forts, the Newburgh women hid their
valuables in the woods, nearly all the men having gone to the defense
of the forts.

While Washington's headquarters were at New Windsor his main army was
in and near the Hudson River forts, and in 1782, after the surrender
of Yorktown, was again encamped along the Hudson, numbering about
8,000 men. Washington at Newburgh, meanwhile, during the progress of
peace negotiations, kept careful watch of Sir Henry Clinton's
movements. Many interesting stories have been told about Washington
during his long stay at New Windsor and Newburgh. At Newburgh he
battled with discontent, and even mutiny, in the army, and here he
proclaimed the cessation of hostilities. This was on April 19, 1783,
eight years after the beginning of the war, when general rejoicing
followed. The first battalion marched southward June 5th, and the
last June 23d. On July 12th Washington went up the Hudson to Albany,
where he was joined by Governor Clinton and a small party. On August
17th he issued the last general orders from army headquarters,
announcing his intention to depart and meet Congress at Princeton,
and left West Point the next day. July 4, 1850, the ancient house
that had been his headquarters in Newburgh was dedicated as a
monument of the events of the war. General Winfield Scott was present
to raise the flag, and Judge Monell made an address. The building is
owned by the State and controlled by trustees appointed by the
Governor.

For some time after the war the Newburgh people were almost
poverty-stricken. Their Continental money was almost worthless; they
lacked means for the cultivation of their lands, and business was at
a standstill. In 1785 they petitioned the Legislature for relief,
giving as reasons the supplies they had provided for the war, their
many losses caused by the war, their large personal service, and the
depreciation of the paper currency, all of which rendered it
impossible for them to cultivate their farms or pay their just debts,
while many families were reduced to want for the necessities of life.

Soon, however, the vigorous population recuperated, was increased by
newcomers, and the period of prolonged prosperity began in earnest.
From the position of the lowest in 1780 the precinct passed to the
fourth in 1790, with a population of 2,365, and in a quarter of a
century to the first rank in population.

LATER EARLY DAYS.

The charter of 1752 of the Glebe was complied with down to 1793. From
1793 to 1815 there was only a temporary church organization, and no
regular minister. Then a legislative enactment was obtained dividing
the income from the Glebe between the Newburgh Academy and such other
schools as existed or might exist in the territory. It is remarkable
that the early academy instituted by the Glebe served the community
educationally for nearly a century.

The "old town," situated on a plot opened by Cadwallader Colden
before 1730, was located between present Front street and Broadway,
and named Newburgh. This was extended by Benjamin Smith in 1782, who
laid out streets and lots from a part of his farm lying east of
Montgomery street and between First and South streets. After the
disbandment of the army in 1783 Newburgh's population increased
somewhat rapidly by the settlement there of some of the soldiers of
the dissolved army and of families who had fled from New York City
when it was captured by the British. But up to 1790 it was a
disjointed settlement, the three township plots of which it was
composed having no connection except through Liberty street and a few
cross-lot roads. None of the lateral streets intersected each other,
and in 1790 other highway commissioners formally connected them. The
general legislative act of 1788 changed the name "precinct" to
"town."

Newburgh quickly became the first shipping point of importance on the
west bank of the Hudson north of New York, because of its fine
harbor, and of being the natural outlet for the trade of a vast
section of country previous to the advent of the canals and
railroads. South of the Highlands the Palisades and other mountain
ranges were a barrier to easy access to the river. Therefore in the
early days transportation became the most important business of
Newburgh. The lumber business was especially heavy, and large
quantities of ship timber, planks and staves were forwarded to New
York. Shipbuilding was also carried on, and Newburgh ships entered
into the Liverpool and West Indies trade. Ruttenber mentions many
mills that were erected in Newburgh and vicinity after the war, and
says: "Besides mills and hamlets there were many well-cultivated
farms, and substantial dwellings which had supplanted rude log
cabins."

[Illustration: Samuel Grimes]

The early millers and boatmen of Newburgh kept goods of various kinds
to sell to the farmers. The first regular store was opened by
Benjamin and David Birdsall, and the second, immediately after the
Revolution, by John McAuley. Hugh Walsh opened a store about the
same time. The other principal merchants up to 1801 were Wm. Seymour,
Leonard Carpenter, John Anderson, Cooper & Son, George Gardner, James
Hamilton, James Burns, Robert Gourley, Robert Gardiner, George
Monell, Robert W. Jones, Denniston & Abercrombie, Wm. W. Sackett,
Alexander Falls, John Shaw and John Brown. A considerable number of
these were connected with the forwarding business, among them John
Anderson, John Anderson, Jr., Hugh Walsh, Benjamin Case, Jr., Jacob
and Thomas Powell, Jacob and Leonard Carpenter and George Gardner.
Trade on the river was conducted by sloops until 1830, when the first
steamer, the _Baltimore,_ was purchased and started on regular trips
by Christopher Reeve.

Before the war Great Britain would not allow the colonists to engage
in much manufacturing, requiring them to import or supply themselves
by domestic substitutes. Therefore, there was much spinning and
weaving by wives and daughters, and making soap from refuse fats, and
dipping for candles, while the farmer made his own sleds and carts
and generally constructed his own dwelling and outhouses. These
practices were continued to some extent long after the war for
economical reasons.

Some of the first men to start things in Newburgh are here named:

John Haines, hat manufacturer, 1795; Richard and Joseph Albertson,
shoe making, before the Revolution; Cooper, tailor, at the close of
the war; Joseph Reeves, watchmaker, 1798, took up whip-making in
1804, and was followed in watch-making by George Gorden and Ebenezer
Ayres; Hugh Spier, cabinet-maker and undertaker, 1798; Selah Reeve,
earthenware manufacturer, 1799; James Patterson, tin plate worker and
coppersmith, 1797; Mrs. DeGrove, baking, 1791, and succeeded by John
and Joseph Hoffman; Peter Bannen, soap and candle making, 1804,
preceded by Abel Belknap; Matthew DuBois, tobacconist, 1799; James
Renwick distiller, 1790; John Cooper, father of the famous Peter
Cooper, ale brewer, 1794; Benjamin Roe, saddle and harness maker,
before 1800; Phineas Howell, tanner, before 1800; Sylvester Roe,
painting and glazing, 1804; Henry B. Carpenter, iron and brass
foundry, 1821; Richard B. Phillips, brush manufacturer, 1831,
preceded by Daniel Berrian; Henry B. Ames, fancy and family soaps,
1852; stock company, with Hiram Bennett, president, cotton goods
manufactory, 1844; George Gardner, Jason Rogers, William Seymour,
Richard Hill, earliest ship builders, and Walter Burling, Daniel
Bailey, Wm. Holmes, Samuel Wright, earliest ship carpenters; Drs.
Isaac Brown and Robert Morrison, regular physicians in 1776; Phineas
Bowman, first lawyer, settled in Newburgh at close of Revolution, and
his contemporary lawyers were Thomas Cooper, Solomon Slight and
Jonathan Fisk; Lucius Carey; first newspaper, Newburgh _Packet,_
1775, bought by David Denniston, and name changed to _Mirror;_ E. W.
Gray, first daily, _News,_ 1856; Hezekiah Watkins, schoolmaster,
1752; John Nathan, teacher during Revolution and founder of
"Hutchin's Family Almanac"; Rev. Jonathan Freeman and Sylvanus
Haight, private school, 1801.

When the second war with England came, Newburgh was paying nearly
one-fourth of the taxes of the county. Again she was prominent in
zeal for the national cause. A convention was held in which it was
resolved to resist "the attacks of domestic enemies and the insolent
aggressions of foreign powers." Local military companies were ordered
on duty at Staten Island, and later Newburgh was made temporarily the
rendezvous for grenadiers, light infantry and riflemen of the 34th
Brigade. Its citizens celebrated Perry's victory on Lake Erie with
enthusiasm. The embargo act detained Newburgh vessels, among others,
in foreign ports, and Newburgh merchantmen were captured and confined
in Dartmour prison.

Colden's first dock was built in 1730. Isaac Belknap sailed a sloop
from Newburgh before the Revolution which made trips to the West
Indies. William Harding, Richard Buckingham and Lewis Clark also
sailed sloops before the war, and later conveyed troops on them for
the Revolutionists. As early as 1798 there were four lines of sloops
from Newburgh.

[Illustration: Arthur Young.]

In the thirties Newburgh's river and land trade was very large. The
streets were frequently blocked for hours with farmers' loaded
wagons. The completion of the Erie canal diverted the most of this
trade, and later the Delaware and Hudson canal cut off another source
of wealth. Then the construction of the Erie Railroad from Goshen to
Piermont, and its subsequent extension in other directions, finished
the old transportation business of Newburgh, and it has taken many
years to bring about the present prosperity, with railroads extending
from many directions, large and varied manufactures, superior public
institutions and other conditions to correspond.

AFTER INCORPORATION.

The village of Newburgh was incorporated March 25, 1800, by an Act of
the Legislature, and in May seven trustees, three assessors, three
fire wardens, a collector and a treasurer, were elected. John
Anderson was chosen president of the board of trustees. In 1801, the
Newburgh and Colchester turnpike was incorporated, with a capital of
$125,000. "Both measures," says Ruttenber, "were largely instrumental
in influencing the prosperity of the village." The latter, by
opening a new route of travel westward, brought a trade which in the
main had previously reached the Hudson by way of New Windsor, as up
to that time nearly all the wagon roads led to this place. The
turnpike so reversed conditions, by giving to the western part of
Orange County and Sullivan County a better and shorter route of
travel, that Newburgh came up and New Windsor went down, and the
merchants of the latter place moved their stocks of goods to
Newburgh. Other turnpikes followed, and the village grew rapidly.
From the close of the Revolutionary War to 1825 its population
increased 1,100 in each decade, and its commerce was proportionately
extended. Connecting turnpikes stretched to Canandaigua Lake, and
were traversed by lines of stages, and a steamer on Cayuga Lake
facilitated travel. Subsequently connections with Buffalo permitted
a trip of sixty-five hours between that place and New York, and this
was advertised as "the shortest and most expeditious route from the
Hudson River to the western country."

INTERESTING PUBLIC EVENTS.

The city of Newburgh was incorporated in 1865. Of its patriotic
celebrations two were of surpassing enthusiasm and interest. These
were the Centennial celebration of 1876 and the Centennial
celebrating the close of the Revolutionary War, of October 18, 1883.
In the former there was a great nocturnal parade, and the noise and
commotion were unprecedented in Newburgh from cannon firing, engine
whistling, fireworks, band playing, songs and shouts. At Washington's
headquarters the procession paused awhile and sang, "My Country 'tis
of Thee."

The celebration of 1883 was less noisy, but more imposing. The
memorial monument or "Tower of Victory," at Washington's
headquarters, had been completed at a cost of $67,000, and the event
was of national and State as well as local significance. Congress had
appropriated $25,000, the State Legislature $15,000, the Common
Council of Newburgh $7,500, and the citizens of Newburgh had
subscribed $5,000. Many thousands of people came from far and near on
railroads, steamboats and wagons. The river front was lined with
steamers. The procession of the military, firemen, and societies was
three miles long, and included quite forty brass bands and a score of
drum corps. It was headed by a company of New York City police, and
within it rode Peter Ward, mayor of Newburgh; Joel T. Headley,
president of the Washington Headquarters Commission; Thomas Bayard,
president of the day; William M. Evarts, orator, and William Bruce,
poet. The inscription on the monument gives the sufficient reason for
the parade and accompanying ceremonies:

"This monument was erected under the authority of the Congress of the
United States and the State of New York, in commemoration of the
disbandment under proclamation of the Continental Congress of October
18, 1783, of the armies by whose patriotic and military virtue our
national independence and sovereignty were established."

Another noteworthy celebration was the unveiling of the statute of
General George Clinton, October 6, 1896. The exercises consisted of a
military and civic parade. The presentation address was delivered by
Rev. William K. Hall, D.D. and Mayor Odell, in behalf of the city,
made the address of acceptance. The statue stands in Clinton Gore, at
the junction of Water and Colden Streets. It shows General Clinton
resting on his sword, which he holds in his right hand. It was
modeled by the late eminent sculptor, Henry K. Brown, and his nephew,
Mr. Bush-Brown, had the statue cast and the pedestal carved. The cost
to the people of Newburgh was only $3,000, raised by subscriptions
undertaken by the local Historical Society, and finished by Mayor
Odell. Upon the granite pedestal is this inscription:

    GEORGE CLINTON
 _Member of Continental Congress, 1775-1777. Brigadier-General
 Continental Army, 1777. Governor of the State of New York,
 1777-1795, 1801-1804. Vice-President of the United States,
 1804-1812. Cara Patria Carioe Libertas._

[Illustration: George T. Barnes.]

The Newburgh Municipal Centennial was fittingly observed May, 1900.
The parade, in which about twenty-eight hundred persons took part,
marched through the city's principal thoroughfares, after which the
people assembled at Washington's Headquarters, and Mayor Wilson
called the gathering to order. The Rev. W. K. Hall, D.D., eloquently
reviewed the events of a century in this village and city.
Benediction was pronounced by Rev. Father Salley.

Another event of unusual interest was the visit of Lafayette, in
1824, to Newburgh, the place of his headquarters in the Revolution.
He was given a great reception, Francis Crawford, President of the
village, presented him to the corporation in a brief address, and he
was afterwards received with Masonic honors by Hiram Lodge,
F. & A. M., where he replied eloquently to an address by Rev. Dr.
John Brown. He was banqueted at the Crawford Hotel, with about 100
citizens at the table.

Newburgh's growth has been steady and healthy in recent years, in
consequence of civic enterprise and better knowledge of the
advantages and attractions of her location. Her compact buildings,
mostly of brick, her charming suburbs, with fine country seats, the
good and delightful roads extending into the country for carriage
drives and automobiles, her excellent harbor and easy access to the
Metropolis by rail and steamer, her good schools and churches and her
busy manufactories, are enticements which are drawing many new
residents. Apart from its population it is the center of trade for
many thousands of people.



MANUFACTURES.

The following is a partial list of leading industries:

Newburgh Bleachery, bleachers and finishers of fine cotton fabrics;
Sweet, Orr & Co., overalls and working-men's garments; Coldwell Lawn
Mower Co.; Coldwell-Wilcox Co., iron founders and machinists; T. S.
Marvel & Co., iron shipbuilding and engineering works; Newburgh Steam
Boiler Works; Fabrikoid Company, imitation leathers; Newburgh Ice
Machine and Engine Co.; Newburgh Lumber Co.; Newburgh Planing Mill
Co.; Belknap & McCann, soap; Lackey Manufacturing Co., lace curtains;
Harrison & Gore Silk Co.; Hudson River Woolen Mills; Staples &
Hanford, wire goods; Newburgh Reed Co., reed chairs; Stroock Plush
Co.; Stroock Felt Co.; Little Falls Paper Co.; Granite City Soap Co.;
Newburgh Steam Mills, cotton goods; John Turl's Sons, iron works;
Cleveland & Whitehill, overalls; Ferry, Weber & Co., hats; Abendroth
& Root, spiral pipe, etc., automobiles; Muchattoes Lake Ice Co.;
Higginson Manufacturing Co., cement; Newburgh Light, Heat & Power
Co.; Pennsylvania Coal Co.

Of the industries which have been listed, some should be more fully
noticed. The Newburgh Ice Machine and Engine Company was known at the
time of its establishment, in 1824, as the Newburgh Steam Engine
Works. The present company was organized in 1890 with a capital of
$500,000 to manufacture Whitehill-Corliss engines and ice-making and
refrigerating machines. Extensive shops were completed that year, to
which additions have recently been made. Mr. Edgar Penney is
vice-president and general manager.

The Muchattoes Lake Ice Company's business was started in the winter
of 1859-1860 by James R. Dickson, and was bought in 1863 by Benjamin
B. Odell, when he organized the company named. The officers are:
B. B. Odell, president; B. B. Odell, Jr., secretary and treasurer;
H. B. Odell, superintendent.

Sweet, Orr & Co. are the pioneers and most extensive manufacturers
in the country of overalls and other working-men's garments. In 1876
their weekly product was about a thousand dozen pairs at their
Wappinger's Falls factory, where they kept 250 employees busy.
Seeking increased quarters they started another factory in Newburgh
in 1880. The factory has a frontage of 150 feet on Broadway and 275
feet on Concord street. In 1882 they opened a factory in Chicago, and
in 1900 another at Joliet, Ill. Sixty traveling salesmen cover the
entire United States with their product. Mr. Clayton E. Sweet, head
of this concern, resides in Newburgh.

[Illustration: Wesley Wait]

To Captain Thomas S. Marvel is due the success of the immense
shipyard of the T. S. Marvel Shipbuilding Company. Soon after the
failure of Ward, Stanton & Co., Captain Marvel, who had been their
superintendent, began business on his own account. The shipyard has
been enlarged from time to time, and building after building erected
for their business. Over 200 men are employed in the building and
repairing of iron and wooden steamboats and other water craft. Among
their notable products are the steamers _Homer Ramsdell,_ _Hendrick
Hudson,_ numerous ferryboats, and fire-boats for the New York Fire
Department.

The Higginson Manufacturing Company have a very extensive plant for
the production of plaster, gypsum, etc., with steamers and barges to
transport it to New York and other points. The business was begun by
William R. Brown in 1868. Mr. Henry C. Higginson has been proprietor
of the plant for many years.

The Newburgh Bleachery is owned and managed by Joseph Chadwick &
Sons. It is one of the largest and best equipped manufactories of its
kind. The Chadwicks in 1871 purchased the present site, and combined
with it a factory which they owned in Rutherford, N. J.,
concentrating their whole business in the Newburgh establishment.
They employ about 300 hands in bleaching and finishing various kinds
of cotton goods.

The Fabrikoid Company's industry was moved to Newburgh in 1902. The
plant covers about fifteen acres, and consists of twenty-eight
buildings. The product is chiefly an imitation leather and the
manufactory has a capacity of over 6,000 yards a day. Mr. John
Aspinwall is president, and Mr. George H. May, secretary and
treasurer.

Coldwell Lawn Mower Company, manufacturers of hand, horse and motor
lawn mowers, is the largest concern in the world devoted exclusively
to the production of these machines. The firm is composed of William
H. Coldwell, president and general manager; E. C. Ross, treasurer;
H. T. Coldwell, assistant treasurer, and A. W. Mapes, secretary. Mr.
Thomas Coldwell, the parent of this industry, organized the company
in 1891, and the plant was built on the most modern principles.
Their annual output, shipped to all parts of the globe, exceeds one
hundred thousand mowers, which is over one-fifth of the entire
production in the country.

H. Powell Ramsdell, of Newburgh, is the proprietor of the Arlington
Paper Mill at Salisbury's Mills, eight miles southwest of the city on
Murderer's Creek and the Newburgh branch of the Erie. The mill is the
principal industrial element of the hamlet. It is picturesquely
situated on the edge of a rocky gorge. The oldest part of the mill
was built about 1840, by Isaac K. Oakley. It forms but a small part
of the present plant, the main building of which is 480 feet long and
from one to three stories high, with capacity for the employment of
150 hands, and the production of over 24,000 pounds of paper daily.
It is a progressive institution and up to date in its machinery and
other equipment. There are several detached buildings in addition to
a connected series of brick and stone buildings, and twenty or more
cottages for the families of the employees. The Arlington Mill
manufactures the best grades of book paper and French folios, white
and colored. These go to the great publishing houses of New York and
other American cities, and some of them to England and even to
Australia.

EXTENSIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Washington Heights, formerly the homestead of Captain Henry
Robinson--a tract of nearly 100 acres in the southern part of the
city--was made a valuable addition to the resident portion of the
city by its purchase from the heirs, division into streets and lots
and their improvements started twenty years ago. The part of the
plateau east of Lander street, about forty acres, was purchased by
Henry T. McConn, and he arranged with Colonel Charles H. Weygant for
its development. The macadam streets are broad and straight, the
houses must set twelve feet back from the sidewalk, which is lined
with shade trees. A little later, in October, 1887, William D. and
Joseph M. Dickey purchased the part of the Robinson farm west of
Lander street, forty-two acres, and there inaugurated similar
improvements. Many lots have been sold and houses erected on both
plots.

The Newburgh Street Railway Company obtained a franchise early in
1886 to build a surface road from a point near the western end of the
city to the Union depot, and then another to extend the line from the
corner of Water and Third streets along Water street to near the
northerly line of the city. On December 23d, of the same year, the
road was formally opened between West Newburgh and the Union depot.
Later the road was extended to Orange Lake, and the name was changed
to the Orange County Traction Company. In 1906 it was purchased by
Ex-Governor Odell, and desirable improvements in equipment were made.

[Illustration: E. C. Barnes]

On recommendation of Mayor Odell, in his annual message of 1887, the
people voted $30,000 for the purchase of additional lands to the
former Smith estate, owned by the city, to be improved and laid out
into the beautiful and sightly Downing Park, in honor of Andrew J.
Downing.

Of buildings for public use the Newburgh Academy of Music is
conspicuous. It was projected in 1886 by J. P. Andrews and E. S.
Turner, and the construction was commenced in the spring of 1887.
It has a frontage on Broadway of 85 feet and a depth of 140 feet. The
auditorium is 80 feet long by 45 feet deep, 40 feet high, and will
seat 1,300 people. The stage is 80 by 35 feet, and there are 12
dressing rooms, 2 balconies and 4 boxes. In all its appointments it
is thoroughly modern.

Of school buildings two deserve particular notice. The Free Academy
was erected in 1885-1886, and cost $67,000. The material is brick
with stone trimmings. It is 112 by 68 feet, and three stories high,
with basement. It has an assembly room 88 by 64 feet, which will seat
700 persons, and 12 class rooms each 31 by 23 feet. There are 21
rooms in all. Without and within it is a good specimen of school
architecture. Another is the Grammar School building, erected in 1891
at a cost of $30,000. This is 74 by 76 feet, with eight class rooms
28 by 23 feet each, and each containing desks for 40 pupils. The
assembly room is in the third story.

Another noteworthy building is that of the Y. M. C. A., constructed
in 1882-1883, and costing $24,000. It is 31 by 77 feet, three stories
high, and has a seating capacity in its assembly room for 300
persons.

In 1896-1897 a handsome Government building was erected. Congress
having appropriated $100,000 for this purpose, and this has since
been the home of the post-office, the business of which has already
almost outgrown it.

The water with which Newburgh is supplied is drawn from Washington
Lake, three and a third miles from the Hudson and 276 feet above it.
The lake is fed by internal springs and an artificial channel with
Silver stream. Chemical analysis has shown that this water is so pure
that it needs no filtering, and it is agreeably palatable, without
any mineral flavors. It has been healthy Newburgh's drinking water
for more than fifty years. The lake's area is about 140 acres, and it
has a storage capacity of 300,000,000 gallons. Newburgh is now so
thoroughly piped that the water is universally accessible to its
citizens, and is an invaluable protection against fire as well as
promoter of cleanliness, health and happiness.

PROTECTION AND EDUCATION.

Newburgh has been remarkably free from crime, which is in part due to
the character of its citizens and in part to its uniformly excellent
police force, which now consists of one marshal, two sergeants, two
roundsmen and fifteen patrolmen.

The Volunteer Fire Department of Newburgh is one of the oldest in the
State, and also one of the most efficient. Therefore there have been
few very damaging fires, and the insurance rates are low. From its
organization, over a hundred years ago, until now, it has had on its
records of membership some of the leading business and professional
men in the community, and they have promptly responded to the call
for service when their service was required.

The department was started, by authority of an act of Legislature, in
the spring of 1797. This was three years before the village was
incorporated, and the five trustees which the act required to be
elected annually for controlling managers were the first form of
government in the village. Their power was transferred to the village
trustees by the incorporating act. There were at first a suction
engine and a bucket brigade to keep it supplied with water. In 1805
a company of "bagmen" was formed, whose duty it was to take charge of
goods. The first engine house was erected about the same time, and a
record of the two engine companies of 1806 furnishes the following
names:

No. 1--William I. Smith, Enoch E. Tilton, Walter Burling, Henry
Tudor, Ward M. Gazlay, Gilbert N. Clement, Minard Harris, John
Carskaden, Caleb Sutton, George E. Hulse, John Coleman, John
Hoagland, William Adee, Andrew Preston, Nicholas Wright, John
Forsyth, Walter Case.

No. 2--John Harris, Jonathan Fisk, John Anderson, Jr., Leonard
Carpenter, Selah Reeve, James Hamilton, Samuel I. Gregory, William
Gardiner, Nathaniel Burling, Solomon Sleight, Jonathan Carter, Hiram
Weller, Samuel Wright, Hugh Spier, Thomas Powell, Cornelius De Witt,
Joseph Hoffman. Cadwallader Roe, Daniel Niven, Jr., Benoni H. Howell,
Sylvanus Jessup, Joseph Reeve, John Richardson.

[Illustration: John Dales.]

The interesting history of the department from its interesting
beginnings cannot be followed here. Coming down to the present time
its heads consist of a chief engineer and two assistant engineers,
the foreman and assistant foreman of the various companies, and the
trustees of the Fire Department fund. The names of the companies are:
Highland Steamer Co. No. 3, Washington Steamer Co. No. 4, Brewster
Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, Ringgold Hose Co. No. 1, Columbian Hose
Co. No. 2, C. M. Leonard Steamer Co. No. 2, Chapman Steamer Co. No.
1, Lawson Hose Co. No. 5, Washington Heights Chemical Engine Co. No.
3.

The city is divided into five fire districts, and thirty-two alarm
boxes connect with the engine houses.

Newburgh is essentially progressive and modern in its educational
system, now made free, from the primary to the end of the academic
course. Its Board of Education consists of nine members. It has seven
public school buildings and one public library building. Other
officers besides the board, are its president, vice-president, clerk,
who is also superintendent, librarian, counsel and attendance
officer. There are also three Glebe trustees and three Glebe
auditors. The courses of study are similar to those in other city
schools, and the graduate from the Free Academy may be prepared to
enter one of the leading colleges, while the Manual Training School
is a physical safeguard as well as a means for harmonious muscular
development. For reading helps apart from text-books the good library
of nearly 35,000 volumes is an opening into general literature.

The reason for the Glebe trustees and auditors referred to dates back
to ancient conditions which have been mentioned. The act to amend the
charter of the Glebe passed by the Legislature in 1803, directed that
$200 should be paid annually to the trustees of the academy, and that
the remainder of the money from the Glebe income should be paid to
the other schools on the Glebe lands, as the inhabitants should
direct. It was applied to the juvenile school which was established
in the old Lutheran church in 1803, the last teacher of which was
John L. Lyon, who taught from 1843 to 1845, when the school was
removed to the academy. In 1849, after the Clinton street school
building was erected and became officially known as the Glebe school,
it received the revenues of the Glebe above the sum required by law
to be paid to the academy. The High school was incorporated in 1829,
and opened the next year. The number of pupils registered in this
1851-1852 was 348, and the number in the Glebe school about 120.
During the first year of the new order of things, provided for in the
act of 1852, the number of pupils was doubled.

Besides the present public schools there are several parish and
private schools, the former being under the care of the Roman
Catholic Church. Of these St. Mary's Academy, founded in 1883, has
become very prominent and useful.

The library, with its 35,000 volumes, is free to the people of
Newburgh, and the building includes a teachers' reading room supplied
with books adapted to the professional needs of the teachers, and may
also be used by citizens and strangers for study and literary work.
The library was started in 1852, and is among the oldest of the free
circulating libraries. Previous to 1850 there were but four in the
State, ten in the New England States, six besides these in the
United States, and none in Great Britain, and but one of the
libraries then organized has as many books or as large a circulation
as the Newburgh library. In September, 1852, the Board of Education
resolved that all the school libraries in the village should be
consolidated and placed together in the academy room, then ready to
receive them, and William N. Reid, first principal of the academy
under the new system, was appointed librarian. There were 924 volumes
from the high school, 737 from the Glebe and 418 from the academy. In
1862 the books of the Mechanics' Library Association were transferred
to the Board of Education, which added 2,801 volumes to the library.
Other donations and the purchases have brought the library to its
present valuable condition in the number and quality of its books.
The fine building which now contains them was completed in 1877.

CHURCHES.

Of Newburgh's churches the oldest is the _First Presbyterian,_ whose
legal existence began a few months after the close of the
Revolutionary War, although its informal existence had started a
score of years before, and been kept up in an irregular and feeble
way. The formal organization as a Presbyterian society under the laws
of the Slate took place July 12, 1884, with these trustees: Adolph
Degrove, Daniel Hudson, Thomas Palmer, Joseph Coleman, Isaac Belknap.
The first stated supply was Rev. John Close, who served from 1785 to
1796. His successor was Rev. Isaac Lewis, who continued until 1800
and was followed by Rev. John Freeman, and Mr. Freeman by Rev.
Eleazer Burnet. Then came the long and very successful pastorate of
Rev. John Johnston, which lasted from July 5, 1807, until his death,
August 23, 1855. Nearly a thousand members were added to the church
roll during his ministry.

[Illustration: Thomas Coldwell.]

The congregation of the _First Associate Reformed Church_ was formed
in 1798, and the society was legally incorporated February 7, 1803.
The first pastor, Rev. Robert Kerr, was installed April 6, 1799. The
first trustees were: Derick Amerman, Hugh Walsh, Daniel Niven, Robert
Gourley, Robert Boyd, John Brown, Isaac Belknap, Jr., John Coulter
and Robert W. Jones. The ruling elders were John Currie, Samuel
Belknap, Hugh Speir and John Shaw.

_The First Reformed Presbyterian Church_ was planted in Newburgh
by several families of the Covenanter faith in 1793, who held
services in their homes on Sundays, and, with others, organized a
Covenanter society in 1802. This became a branch of the Coldenham
congregation, and the connection was continued until 1824, when it
separated, and James Clark, Samuel Wright and John Lawson were
chosen elders and John Crawford, deacon.

_Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church_ was organized in 1808, when Rev.
Samuel Fowler became the first pastor.

_St. George's Episcopal Church_ has been elsewhere referred to in the
early history of Newburgh. The parish was reincorporated, after a
long period of adversity, in 1805, and the minister who more than any
one else built it up afterward in the early years of the nineteenth
century was Rev. John Brown. He became its regular rector in the fall
of 1815.

_The African M. E. Church_ was organized in 1827, by Rev. George
Matthews.

A Baptist Church was organized in 1821, and after a feeble existence,
ending in dissolution in 1828, was formally reorganized in December,
1834.

Of the later churches the organizations were as follows:

_American Reformed Church,_ September 24, 1835; _St. Patrick's Roman
Catholic Church,_ 1838; _Union Church,_ July 13, 1837; _Shiloh
Baptist Church,_ 1848; _St. John's M. E. Church,_ May 23, 1852;
_Westminstcr Reformed Presbyterian Church,_ November 12, 1854;
_Calvary Presbyterian Church,_ September 1, 1856; _First United
Presbyterian Church,_ December 6, 1859; _Congregation Beth Jacob,_
about 1860; _St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church,_ May, 1860;
_Grace M. E. Church,_ April 25, 1868; _Church of our Father_
(Unitarian), 1855; _St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church,_ May 19, 1875;
_Church of the Corner Stone_ (Reformed Episcopal), December 2, 1873;
_German Evangelical Lutheran Church,_ spring of 1876; _Church of the
Good Shepard_ (Episcopal), June, 1871; _First Congregational Church,_
January 3, 1889.

OTHER HELPFUL ORGANIZATIONS.

A Young Men's Christian Association of Newburgh was organized
September 17, 1858, and the next week officers were elected. The time
of organization was less than six years after the Y. M. C. A.
movement started. The association dissolved about 1861, and after the
lapse of seven years the present association was organized. It did
not have a vigorous existence for several years, and was reorganized
in January, 1879. A few months later General Secretary J. T. Browne
came to Newburgh and put new life into it, and it has been prosperous
and progressive since. Its president, E. S. Tanner, was largely
instrumental in raising the money for the new building, first
occupied in 1883, and costing $17,000.

At a public meeting held April 24, 1888, after an address by the
national secretary, Miss Nettie Dunn, Newburgh's Young Women's
Christian Association was organized, and 105 members enrolled. The
elected officers were: President, Mrs. Susan McMasters;
vice-presidents, Mrs. Isaac Garrison, Miss Mary E. Gouldy and Mrs.
Charles S. Jenkins; recording secretary, Miss Augusta Lester;
treasurer, Mrs. M. C. Belknap. The association has been prosperous
and useful.

St. Luke's Home and Hospital was incorporated in 1876. Its object is
to provide for the care and medical treatment of the sick and
disabled, and also a home for aged women. It has a training school
for nurses, established in 1893, and a medical board of nearly a
score of physicians and specialists.

[Illustration: Valentine Kohl.]

There are two institutions under the care of Alms House
Commissioners--the City and Town Home and Children's Home. The
former is on a farm in the southwestern corner of the city, and the
latter is a building in High Street. These are city benefactions,
well managed and helpful to the aged and orphaned.

An office and employment bureau was organized in 1875, and
reorganized in 1886. It is primarily an organization to help the poor
to help themselves. Members pay $5 annually and agree to abstain from
indiscriminate alms giving. The society is otherwise supported by
voluntary contributions.

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Young Women's Christian
Temperance Union labor to teach the boys and younger men the
principles of temperance and morality, and have restrained and
reformed many of them.

There are two military companies in Newburgh--the Fifth Separate and
Tenth Separate Companies, originating in the Seventeenth Battalion,
which was organized in 1878. Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Hayt,
commanding. January 11, 1882, Companies B, C and D were mustered out
and Company A, Captain James T. Chase, continued as Fifth Separate
Company, and Company E, Captain James M. Dickey, continued as Tenth
Separate Company.

The Lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows are Acme No. 469;
Bismarck No. 420; Highland No. 65 and Mount Olive Encampment No. 65.

The Elks have Lodge No. 247, B. P. O. E.

The Grand Army of the Republic is represented in Newburgh by Ellis
Post No. 52. and Fullerton Post No. 589. The Sons of Veterans have
A. S. Cassedy Post No. 18.

The Knights of Pythias have Storm King Lodge No. 11, Olive Branch
Lodge No. 133, Endowment Rank Section No. 206 and Charles T. Goodrich
Division No. 25, Uniform Rank.

The Knights of Honor have Hudson River Lodge No. 1218.

The Ancient Order of Foresters has Court Newburgh No. 7256 and Court
Pride of the Hudson No. 7718.

The Improved Order of Red Men has Muchattoes Tribe No. 54, and Orange
Council No. 50, Degree of Pocahontas.

Of temperance societies there are Orange Council No. 186, Royal
Templars of Temperance, Prohibition Alliance; Junior Prohibition
Club, St. George's Company No. 62, Knights of Temperance, St. Paul's
Company No. 62. Mission Lodge No. 639 I. O. of G. T., Newburgh Lodge
No. 282 I. O. of G. T., and Victory Lodge I. O. of G. T.

Among the many other societies are United Friends, Sons of St.
George, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Royal Arcanum, Order of United
American Mechanics, Sexennial League, Knights and Ladies of the
Golden Star, Knights of Honor, Orange Men, several Catholic
societies, labor and trade unions, Newburgh Bible Society,
Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Society for Instruction in First
Aid to the Injured, and Horse Thief Detecting Society.

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

Newburgh has solid financial institutions. Highland Bank was
chartered April 26, 1834, with a capital of $200,000. In January,
1865, the capital was increased to $350,000, and the following April
was reorganized as a National Bank with a capital of $450,000, which
was reduced to $300,000 in 1888. The first president was Gilbert O.
Fowler.

Quassaick National Bank was organized March 31, 1852, and began
business with a capital of $130,000. The first president was E. W.
Farrington, and the first cashier Jonathan N. Weed. In June of the
year of organization the capital stock was increased to $200,000, and
in June of 1853 to $300,000. In 1895 Mr. Weed was chosen president.

The National Bank of Newburgh is the successor of the Bank of
Newburgh, incorporated March 22, 1811. The capital of the first bank
was $120,000. The first president was Isaac Belknap, Jr., and the
first cashier was John S. Hunn. In February, 1820, a branch bank was
opened at Ithaca and continued till 1830, when its charter expired.
The Bank of Newburgh was then reorganized under the Safety Fund law
with a capital of $140,000. In 1851 it was again reorganized under
the general banking law with a capital of $200,000, which was
increased the next year to $300,000. July 3, 1864, the bank divided
its capital and 60 per cent, profits among its stockholders, and
closed business, and two days afterward the National Bank of Newburgh
more than took its place in the business community, with the large
capital of $800,000, the stock of which was promptly taken. June 3,
1890, the stockholders voted to reduce the capital to $400,000, and
the additional $400,000 with 40 per cent profits was divided among
them. The bank has continued to prosper.

[Illustration: Jos. H. Wetler]

The Newburgh Savings Hank was chartered April 13, 1852, and was
opened January 1, 1853. Its present building was completed in 1868,
and cost $115,527. It has been a helpful institution to the people of
Newburgh and vicinity. Its first president was Robert L. Case.
Joseph Chadwick is now its president.

The Columbus Trust Company began to do business March 1, 1893, at No.
82 Broadway, with a capital stock of $100,000 divided among 144
shareholders. Semi-annual dividends of 3 per cent, have been
regularly paid since 1895. In 1901 the directors decided to purchase
No. 78 Broadway for a banking house. The building was remodeled, and
April 20, 1902, the company moved to its present quarters. This
company has prospered beyond the reasonable expectations of its
friends. The statement of December 31, 1893, showed $117,249.17 on
deposit, and $20,238.36 surplus and undivided profits. June 29, 1907,
deposits amounted to $2,941,587.13 and surplus and undivided profits
to $121,527.26. The total number of accounts is 5,300. The present
officers are: Joseph Van Cleft, president; David A. Morrison, first
vice-president; Charles K. Bull, second vice-president; Henry M.
Leonard, treasurer; Barclay Van Cleft, secretary; Walter C. Anthony,
counsel.

The Board of Trade was organized February 22, 1882, Mayor A. S.
Cassedy presiding at the meeting. Daniel S. Waring was chosen
president and the other officers were: vice-presidents, William B.
Brockaw and John Schoonmaker; treasurer, Jonathan N. Weed. This
organization helped in many ways to advance the city's interests. It
was succeeded by the Business Men's Association, organized October
16, 1900, with the following officers: Samuel V. Schoonmaker,
president; James Chadwick, W. C. Belknap, Hiram B. Odell,
vice-presidents; John F. Tucker, secretary: H. A. Bartlett,
treasurer. It was incorporated March 30, 1904. Among the larger
plants it has secured for Newburgh may be mentioned (1901) the
Abendroth & Root Co., of Brooklyn manufacturers of spiral pipe,
automobiles, etc.; (1901-1902) the Fabrikoid Co., formerly doing
business in New Jersey, which purchased the property known as Haigh
Mills at West Newburgh. Their products are shipped to all parts of
the world; (1903) William C. Gregg Co., of Minneapolis, Minn.,
manufacturers of sugar plantation machinery. William Johnston McKay
was chosen president of the association in 1907. This organization is
in charge of Newburgh's portion of the Ter-Centenary celebration of
the discovery of the Hudson River, and has already arranged for
special exercises, September 25, 26 and 27, 1909.

TRANSPORTATION AVENUES.

The transportation facilities of Newburgh are almost unsurpassed.

In front is its fine harbor, bay and river, with steamship lines up
and down and across. These lines are a restraint upon the tendencies
of the railroads towards high freight rates. The river trade is large
and within a few miles of Newburgh are about fifteen village ports
which are more or less tributary to it. The local traffic of the
Hudson is mostly by lines of steamers, some of which carry both
freight and passengers and others only passengers. Sloops and
schooners, which long ago did nearly all the carrying trade, still do
service.

The Central Hudson Steamboat Company has two night lines of steamers
to New York, which carry passengers and freight. Boats of this line
leave Newburgh and New York in the evening and afford charming water
trips to residents and others. The company also provides the
Newburgh, Albany and Troy line, the steamers of which leave Newburgh
for the upward trips every morning, except Sundays, and arrive from
Albany in the evening. The captains of the boats on the Newburgh and
New York lines are Zach Roosa, William Meakim, Weston L. Dennis and
E. N. Gage. Those on the Newburgh, Albany & Troy line are Fred L.
Simpson and Egbert Van Wagner.

The Newburgh and Fishkill ferry, for which a line of steamers was
started in 1835, continues business, its steamers leaving Newburgh
about every half hour between 5.45 a. m. and 10.45 p. m.
H. Stockbridge Ramsdell is the agent.

Newburgh and Haverstraw Steamboat Company has the steamer _Emeline,_
Captain D. C. Woolsey, which starts for Haverstraw and intermediate
landings each mid-afternoon and Haverstraw for Newburgh in the
evening.

Newburgh and Poughkeepsie line's steamer _Hudson Taylor,_ Captain
George Walker, leaves Newburgh for Poughkeepsie every morning.

Wappinger's Falls and Newburgh line's steamer _Messenger_ leaves
Newburgh forenoons and early evenings.

The West Shore Railroad, which extends north and west to Albany and
Buffalo and south to New York, connects at Newburgh with the line and
the New York and the New England systems, and at Buffalo with the
Grand Trunk and the Lake Shore Railroads. Over thirty trains a day
arrive and depart on this road. It has facilities for transporting
cars across the river.

One Erie Railroad branch extends to a junction with the main line at
Greycourt, eighteen miles distant, and affords a direct route to the
Pennsylvania coal fields and across the southern tier of New York
counties to the west. Another Erie branch connects with the main line
at Newburgh Junction, fifteen miles distant, and passes through a
number of Orange County villages. About twenty passenger trains a day
arrive and depart over these branches.

The New York Central's Hudson River line of railroad across the river
from Newburgh is reached by the ferry, the boats of which make close
connection with all through passenger trains.

The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway extends from a junction with the
Newburgh branch and the Erie's main line at Greycourt to Belvedere.
The Newburgh branch is operated as a part of the system controlled by
the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

There is also the line of the Orange County Traction Company,
extending to Walden.

Newburgh is the principal gateway for the coal traffic between
Pennsylvania fields and the New England States, which consume six
million tons of coal annually. The loaded cars on reaching the river
front are quickly ferried across to Fishkill on the transfer boat,
and the roads coming to Fishkill distribute them. Much coal is also
shipped from Newburgh by water to all parts of the northern country,
and to the ports of Long Island and the New England coast.

CEMETERIES.

Newburgh has six cemeteries--the Newburgh, or Old Town, St. George's,
St. Patrick's, the Hebrew, and in the suburbs, Woodlawn and Cedar
Hill.

The Newburgh has many old headstones, and is in the block where stood
the church of the old Palatine settlers.

St. George's is under the care of St. George's Protestant Episcopal
Church.

St. Patrick's is for the remains of the Roman Catholic dead and the
Hebrew for the Jewish dead.

Woodlawn Cemetery is controlled by the Newburgh Woodlawn Cemetery
Association, which was incorporated October 22, 1870. It is in the
town of New Windsor, a mile from the city, and is reached by a
delightful avenue. It is an ideal location for a cemetery, with
extended river and mountain views. Quassaick avenue, leading from the
city to Woodlawn, is lined with elegant country residences in the
midst of spacious grounds studded with fine trees and beautified in
the warm season with wide lawns and varieties of beautiful flowers.
The cemetery grounds contain fifty acres, laid out with excellent
artistic taste and skill, and carefully looked after and kept in
order by the superintendent, MacLeod Rogers, who has occupied the
position from the beginning. Some of its features are a row of fine
cedars along the northern boundary, a dense grove on the western
side, scattered ancient oaks, also maples, pines, elms and other
kinds of trees, varieties of shrubs and flowers, and a natural
stream. There are several imposing monuments and many fine designs
in sculptured marble and granite.

Cedar Hill Cemetery is about five miles north of the center of the
city, and contains 100 acres in the midst of a picturesque landscape.
It has about three miles of driveways through its park-like grounds,
there is a stream of spring water which supplies a little lake of two
and one-half acres, and there are many handsome monuments. The Cedar
Hill Cemetery Association was organized in 1870.

THE CIVIL WAR.

Regarding enlistments from Newburgh and the money raised for the
Civil War, the recapitulation in Ruttenber and Clark's History is
here quoted:

"1. Company B. 3d Regiment, recruited in March and April, 1861. 2.
Company B, 36th Regiment, recruited in May and June. 1861. 3. Company
I, 71st Regiment Militia, recruited principally from Company I, 19th
Regiment. 4. Companies A and B., and parts of C, D and G, 56th
Regiment, recruited between July and October, 1861. 5. Seventh
Independent Battery, in part, recruited with 56th Regiment. 6.
Companies D, E, F, I and L, 19th Regiment Militia; miscellaneous
enlistments prior to July, 1862, 111. Under the calls of July and
August, 1862, 470 men were required from the town, and 501 furnished,
217 of whom were enrolled in the 124th and 106 in the 168th
Regiments. The call of July, 1863 required 443 men, of whom ninety
were furnished; but it was merged in the calls of October 1863, and
of February, March and July, 1864, requiring 756; number furnished,
827, of whom seventy-one were not credited. The total of enlistments,
including re-enlistments, was 2,250; the total of men required,
1,226. The public subscriptions and loans of the town, including at
that time the village, for the promotion of enlistments and for
bounties were: 1861, by individual subscriptions, $7,385; bonds of
the village, $5,000; 1862, individual subscriptions, $17,512; 1864,
town bonds, $175,100; total, $204,997. In addition to this sum the
town expended for special relief--1863-1864--$1,075.50; expended by
aid society, and in contributions to the Christian Commission,
$12,387.31; raising the total to $218,459.81, and the further sum of
$321,320 (partly estimated) for special income and internal revenue
taxes to January 1, 1865--a grand total of $539.779.81."

[Illustration: James J. Leonard.]

POST-OFFICE.

The Newburgh post-office was the first to be established in this part
of the State, and passed the centennial of its organization in
December, 1895. Prior to that date letters and other articles which
now go by mail were carried by post riders, who delivered and
deposited letters at appointed stations. The first post-carrier
station in this district is supposed to have been what was known as
"the glass house" in the ancient village of New Windsor, where
letters were addressed as early as 1755. One of the early stations
was the tavern of Michael Wiegand on present Liberty street, and the
regular accounting post-office of 1895 was its successor. At that
time, we are told, the Newburgh office included in its deliveries
Marlborough, Montgomery, Plattekill, New Windsor and other nearby
settlements, and received mails by carriers on the established post
roads, the main trunk lines being the old King's Highway, now Liberty
street, the old road from Kingston to Goshen, running through
Montgomery, from which a cross mail was carried through Coldenham to
Newburgh, and there was a main cross mail running east through
Fishkill into New England and to Boston, which intersected a cross
line on the east side of the river extending from New York to Albany.

The Newburgh post-office had various locations in town until 1897,
when it was moved into its permanent home in the new Government
building, then just completed. The equipment here was modern and
complete and the space sufficient, but the rapid growth of the city's
industrial business and other changing conditions have been such that
the building is already too small for the increased and increasing
post-office business. Note the changes in five years. On March 1,
1900, there were connected with the office eight clerks, thirteen
letter carriers and one substitute carrier, and in 1905 there were
thirteen clerks, two substitute clerks, sixteen carriers, four
substitute carriers, and four rural delivery carriers. The receipts
of the office for the year ending March 31, 1901, were $52,263.12,
and for the year ending March 31, 1906, they were $73,232.79, an
increase of $20,969.37. or 40.12 per cent.

A list of postmasters from the beginning until now, with the dates of
their appointment, follows:

Ebenezer Foote, appointed January 1, 1796; Harry Caldwell, October 1,
1797; Daniel Birdsall, October 1, 1802; Chester Clark, July 1, 1810;
Aaron Belknap, March 26, 1812; Tooker Wygant, November 26, 1830;
A. C. Mullin, May 23, 1833; B. H. Mace, November 23, 1836; Oliver
Davis, June 11, 1841; James Belknap, May 18, 1843; Samuel W. Eager,
August 6, 1849; Joseph Casterline, Jr., May 4, 1853; Ezre Farrington,
May 22, 1861; James H. Reeve, November 1, 1866; Henry Major, May 7,
1867; Joseph Lomas, August 22, 1867; Ezra Farrington, July 19, 1869;
John C. Adams, April 1, 1875; Joseph M. Dickey, March 21, 1883;
William R. Brown, April 8, 1877; William G. Taggart, April 2, 1891;
Joseph A. Sneed, February 1, 1892; Lewis W. S. McCroskery, March 1,
1896; Hiram B. Odell, March 1, 1900, reappointed 1904 and January,
1908.

[Illustration: Henry P. Clauson.]

CITY OFFICERS.

A list of the mayors, etc., of Newburgh with their terms of service
since its incorporation as a city in 1865 are here given:

    _Mayors._

George Clark, four terms, from March 11, 1860, to March 8, 1870.

Robert Sterling, from March 8, 1870. Died April 30, 1870.

Alexander McCann, president of the common council, acting mayor the
rest of term, to March 7, 1871.

William W. Carson, from March 7, 1871, to March 6, 1872.

Samuel E. Shutes, two terms, from March 6, 1872, to March 10. 1874.

Chauncey M. Leonard, from March 10, 1874. Died December 3, 1874.
Nathaniel B. Hayt, acting mayor rest of term, to March 10, 1875.

John S. McCroskery, three terms, from March 10, 1875, to March 12,
1878.

Charles H. Weygant, two terms, from March 12, 1878, to March 8, 1880.

Abram S. Cassedy, two terms, from March 8, 1880, to March 13, 1882.

Peter Ward, two terms, from March 13, 1882, to March 11, 1884.

Benjamin B. Odell, six terms, from March 11, 1884, to March 11, 1890.

Michael Doyle, two terms, from March 11, 1890, to March 11, 1894.

Benjamin B. Odell, six terms, from 1894 to 1900.

Jonathan D. Wilson, six terms, from 1900 to 1906.

Charles D. Robinson, 1906 to 1908.

Benjamin McClung, 1908. Term expires March, 1910.


    _Treasurers._

Francis Scott, 1866-1868, 1870, 1873-1875.

Lewis M. Smith, 1869-1870.

James N. Dickey, 1872, 1879-1891.

Ring A. Smith, 1876-1878.

Jonathan N. Weed, 1891-1894.

J. N. Dickey, 1894-1906.

H. M. Leonard, 1906. Term expires March, 1909.


    _Recorders._

Joseph D. Shafer, 1866-1870.

Charles B. Titus, 1871-1874

John B. Kerr, 1875-1878.

Cornelius L. Waring, 1879-1890.

L. W. Y. McCroskery, 1891-1895.

W. H. Hyndman, 1895. Term expires December 31, 1910.


   _Corporation Counsel._

James W. Taylor, 1865-1869.

John H. Fenton, 1870-1871.

William D. Dickey, 1872, 1878-1880.

J. G. Graham, 1873-1874, 1885-1890.

Abram S. Cassedy, 1875-1876.

George H. Clark, 1880-1881.

Russel Headley, 1881-1884.

Eugene A. Brewster, 1890-1892.

C. L. Waring, 1892. Resigned 1907.

W. F. Cassedy, 1907-1908.


     _City Surveyor._

Charles Caldwell, 1866-1902.

Everett Garrison, 1902-1906.

William J. Blake, Jr., 1907 to present time.


    _Supervisors._

Supervisors from 1763 to inauguration of first city officers, March
12, 1866: Jonathan Hasbrouck, 1763; Lewis Du Bois, 1764; John Wandal,
1765; Benjamin Carpenter, 1766; Lewis Du Bois, 1767; Edward Hallock,
1768; Latting Carpenter, 1769-1771; Jonathan Hasbrouck, 1772; John
Flewwelling, 1773; Samuel Prowler, 1774; Wolvert Acker, 1775; Morris
Flewwelling, 1776; Wolvert Acker, 1777-1780; Thomas Palmer,
1781-1786; John Robinson, 1787-1788; Isaac Fowler, Jr., 1789; John
Robinson, 1790-1791; Isaac Fowler, 1792-1795; Reuben Tooker,
1796-1807; Isaac Belknap, Jr., 1808; William Ross, 1809-1810;
Jonathan Fisk, 1811; Leonard Smith, 1812-1818; Daniel Tooker,
1819-1820; Leonard Smith, 1822; William Wear, Jr., 1823; William
Walsh, 1824-1831; Robert Lawson, 1832-1833; William Walsh, 1834;
James G. Clinton, 1835-1836; Daniel Tooker, 1837; David W. Bate,
1838; Jackson Oakley, 1839; David W. Bate, 1840-1844: John W. Brown,
1842; David W. Bate, 1843-1846; Odell S. Hathaway, 1847-1849; Enoch
Carter, 1850; Odell S. Hathaway, 1851; Enoch Carter, 1852; Samuel J.
Farnum, 1853; Henry Walsh, 1854; Stephen W. Fullerton, 1855; Odell S.
Hathaway, 1856; Albert Noe, 1857; Enoch Carter, 1838; Albert Noe,
1850-1860; Odell S. Hathaway, 1861-1863; William H. Beede, 1864;
George W. Underhill, 1865; C. Gilbert Fowler, 1866.

[Illustration: William D. Barnes.]

A Few Briefs.

August 3, 1809, two acres were added to the grounds of Washington's
Headquarters.

November 20, 1870, unparalleled rainstorm and destructive hurricane.

In 1870 population, 17,094.

November 4, 1871, Newburgh's contribution to Chicago's relief fund
over $5,500.

January 1, 1872, Newburgh's first steam fire engine tested.

May 11, 1873, board of trustees created for Washington's
Headquarters.

February 13, 1878, new public library opened.

May 30, 1878, first exhibition of the phonograph in Newburgh.

September 25, 1878, Newburgh's contribution for relief of yellow
fever sufferers in the South, $2,613.

July 5, 1879, mastodon unearthed at Little Britain.

July 28, 1879, movement to erect poles for first Newburgh telephone.

June 25, 1880, armory opened.

In 1880 population 18,049.

May 30, 1881, soldiers' and sailors' monument at Woodlawn Cemetery
unveiled.

June 4, 1883, first train on West Shore Railroad from Newburgh to
New York.

October 1, 1884, beginning of free mail delivery.

October 31, 1885, Moody and Sankey evangelistic meetings.

November 24, 1885, West Shore Railroad sold at Newburgh courthouse
for $22,000,000.

September 2, 1886, new academy dedicated.

December 23, 1886, street railroad opened.

March 12, 1888, unprecedented snowstorm and blizzard.

September 17, 1888, Academy of Music opened.

March 19, 1889, electric fire alarm system adopted.

July 1, 1889, Newburgh's contribution for relief of Johnstown flood
sufferers, $5,164.

September 27, 1889, display of national flag over the school
buildings began.

In 1890 population 23,087.

October 6, 1896, unveiling of General George Clinton statue.

May 9, 1900, centennial celebration of Newburgh municipality.

[Illustration: Dr. C. A. Gorse.]




CHAPTER XXVI.

TOWN OF NEW WINDSOR.

By Dr. C. A. Gorse.

Less than three centuries ago, to be accurate in 1609, Hendrick
Hudson sailed up the beautiful river to which he gave his name, and
anchored in the broad bay above the Highlands to trade with the
aboriginal inhabitants, who then inhabited the primeval forests which
lined its banks.

It is probable that he and some portion of his crew were the first
men who set foot upon the virgin soil of New Windsor, but it was not
until more than half a century later, in 1685, that a company of
Scotch and Irish emigrants to the number of twenty-five families,
with their servants, under the leadership of Colonel Patrick
McGregorie, accompanied by his sons-in-law, David Foshack and
Captain Evens, settled upon the extreme eastern extremity of the
town, now known as Plum Point, an elevation of 118 feet above the
river and consisting of eighty acres at the mouth of the Moodna
Creek.

Here they erected a commodious cabin and established a trading post;
this is the earliest recorded settlement in the county. Colonel
McGregorie was appointed muster general of the militia of the
province and after his death, in 1691, in an endeavor to suppress an
insurrection by the Leister party, his sons-in-law and their families
continued to reside here until 1789. The patent which the Colonel
obtained to the land passed into the possession of his son, Patrick
McGregorie, Jr.

The town is wedge-shaped, its sharp edge of about five miles in
extent resting upon the river. There is but a small extent of
comparatively level land along the river bank upon which the village
of New Windsor stands, back of which there rises a steep bluff with a
surface of sand and gravel, and a substratum of clay, which is used
in the manufacture of an excellent quality of brick, which at the
present time is the principal industry of the place. The township is
bounded on the north by the city and town of Newburgh, from which it
is separated by Quassaick Creek, an outlet of Washington Lake,
formerly known as Little Pond, also a portion of the town of
Montgomery; on the west by the towns of Montgomery and Hamptonburgh;
on the south by Blooming Grove and Cornwall. From the latter town it
is separated by Moodna Creek, near its mouth. On the east it is
bounded by the Hudson River.

The soil is of a sandy and gravelly nature, interspersed in some
portions by rocks and large stones, of a diversified surface, being
rolling and hilly. After leaving the river the surface gradually
ascends for a distance of two or three miles, interspersed with
gentle elevations which have been utilized by retired business men
of New York for sightly country residences, most of which command a
magnificent view of the noble Hudson, and the picturesque Highlands
in the distance.

On the northern edge of the town rises Snake Hill, or more recently
called Muchattoes Hill, an elevation of 600 feet above the river. It
lies north and south and is almost perpendicular on its eastern
extremity, but slopes gradually on the west, from which the surface
is again rolling and adapted to agricultural purposes. At the
distance of about five miles from the river the town is crossed north
and south by two ridges, rising in amphitheatre form, from whose
summit is obtained a most elegant view of the surrounding country.
The Highlands on the south, the Fishkill Mountains on the east, the
Shawangunk Mountains on the north, and the Sugar Loaf and Schunnemunk
Mountains on the west.

PATENTS.

The earliest recorded patent was issued to Patrick McGregorie in
1685. Others were as follows: 1,000 acres to William Chambers and
William Southerland, September 2, 1709; 4,000 acres (in part) to
Charles Huddy and Phillip Brooks, February 20, 1709; this included
subsequently a portion granted to Mary Ingoldsby and her daughter,
Mary Pinkhorn, August 12, 1720; 4,000 acres to John Haskell of the
dates of April 9, 1719, and April 24, 1721; 800 acres to Vincent
Matthews, June 17, 1720; 1,000 acres to John Johnson, February 3,
1720; 1184 acres to James Henderson, February 12, 1722; 1,000 acres
to Vincent Price (in part), July 21, 1721; 2,000 acres to Andrew
Johnson, July 19, 1719; 1,000 acres to Louis Morris, July 21, 1721;
2,000 acres to Patrick Hume, November 29, 1721; 3,292 acres to
Cornelius Low & Co. (mainly), March 20, 1720; 1,000 acres to Richard
Van Dam (in part), June 30, 1720; 2,000 acres to Phineas Mcintosh
(mainly) April 9, 1719, and some portions of the patent granted to
Cadwallader Colden, April 9, 1719, some portions of which and the Low
& McIntosh patents were cut off in 1830, when the town of
Hamptonburgh was created.

On the 7th of October, 1734, Dr. John Nicoll, of New York, purchased
of John Waldron, Cornelius Van Horn and James Livingston 7,500 acres.

The Chamber and Southerland patents were divided November 7, 1723,
into three equal parts. Chambers occupying the northern part,
Matthews the central Part and Southerland the southern part, on the
death of the latter in 1738, his portion passed to his two sons,
William and John. On the death of William, without issue, John
inherited and also obtained, in 1753, the water front from the
village of New Windsor to Quassaick Creek. He sold this to Nathaniel
Smith, of Kingston in 1738, together with a portion of the Ingoldsby
patent, purchased by his father in 1726; also a portion of the
German patent purchased by himself in 1742. Smith sold a portion to
Robert Boyd, Jr., and another to George Clinton upon which the latter
erected a house in 1769, and resided here until elected Governor in
1777, when he removed to Poughkeepsie. From him was purchased what is
known as the Walsh farm on the Quassaick Creek, recently in the
possession of his grandson, E. J. Dewitt Walsh. On this portion of
the tract was Admiral William Chambers; Associate Judge John
Chambers, 1751; Governor George Clinton, 1776; Captain Charles
Ludlow, U. S. N. The central portion held by Matthews was purchased
by John Aslop, 1724, whose son John Aslop, Jr., was prominent in the
Revolution, and grandfather of Governor John Aslop King, in 1749. He
also sold that portion on which the village of New Windsor stands to
the company called the "Proprietors" of New Windsor, September 9,
1749. Their names were Vincent Matthews, Ebenezer Seely, Michael
Jackson, Joseph Sackett, David Marvin, Evan Jones and Brant Schuyler.

The Southerlands tract came into the possession of Thomas Ellison in
May, 1723, who erected a stone mansion on the bluff overlooking the
river; also a storehouse and dock on the river, and conducted a
prosperous business for over a century. His mansion was the
headquarters of General Washington from 1779; until he moved to the
Hasbrouck House in Newburgh.

He also purchased the Vincent Matthews patent, adjoining, at Vail's
Gate, in May, 1724, upon which his son, Thomas Ellison, Jr., erected
in 1754 the stone mansion and a mill, which subsequently came into
the possession of his son John, and is now known as General Knox
headquarters.

The fourth patent was on the Ingoldsby patent in 1726, by John Gate,
who sold to Thomas Ellison in 1736. He sold a portion to James
Edmonston in 1727, upon which the latter erected a stone house in
1754, just west of Vail's Gate, which figured conspicuously in the
Revolution.

Dr. John Nicoll came into possession of a considerable tract, from
one Peter Post in 1738, which extended from New Windsor village to
the base of Snake Hill; his great-grandson now resides upon a portion
of it on the river road.

David Mandeville purchased the Mary Ingoldsby patent May 1st, 1728,
and sold to Samuel and Nathaniel Hazard who erected a mill which is
still standing.

A patent was granted to Colonel John Haskell in 1719 of 2,000 acres
and another 2,000 acres in 1721 upon which he settled in 1726. He
erected a log cabin on what was known as the Dusenberry farm, upon
which the army erected the Temple when encamped there. Other early
settlers upon this tract were: Even Jones, Samuel Brewster, Elizabeth
Stollard, Andrew Crawford and Neil McArthur.

The first settler upon the McIntosh patent was John Davis, July 5th,
1726; others about this time were Robert Boyd and the Dill families.
Through his wife, Sarah McIntosh, Nathan Smith came into possession
of a considerable portion of this tract and erected thereon a grist
mill, a fulling mill and a store.

The first settler upon the Andrew Johnson patent upon which Little
Britain now stands was John Humphrey, 1724; Peter Mullinder, 1729;
also Mary McClaughry, John Read, Robert Burnett, in the same year;
Charles Clinton, Alexander Denniston, John Young, Andrew McDowell,
1731.

The Mailler family were here prior to 1730, who sold to Robert
Carscadden. Among others who settled here with the Clintons were the
Armstrongs, Beatty, Barkly, Brooks, Denniston, Davis, Dunlap, Frazer,
Gordon, Gray, Hamilton, Little, Mitchell, McDowell, McClaughry,
Oliver, Nicholson, Thompson, Wilson and Young, whose descendants are
numerous in the county.

The Low and Co.'s patent of 3,292 acres was granted to Peter Low,
Garret Schuyler and John Schuyler and was divided among them. The
third portion of John Schuyler passed by will to his nephews, Brant
and Samuel Schuyler. Brant Schuyler eventually becoming sole
possessor. Low and Garret Schuyler sold a considerable portion to
Allen Jarrett, April 5th, 1720, Low sold 600 acres to John Vance,
September 1st, 1734, and 200 acres to Jarvis Tompkins, May 22, 1738.
Other settlers on this patent were: John Slaughter, 1720; Thomas
Shaw, 1729; William Miller, 200 acres, November 12th, 1746: Charles
Beatty, 200 acres of Brant Schuyler's, August 22nd, 1744, which he
sold to James McClaughry, July 14th, 1749, the latter the colonel of
the 3rd Regiment of Militia, who fought at the Highland forts in
1777. Beatty, the son of a sister of Charles Clinton, became a
distinguished clergyman, some of whose descendants still reside at
Salisbury Mills in this county.

James Gambell and John Humphrey purchased of the Hume patent 300
acres, April 6, 1730, and divided it equally between them. Gambell
sold to Patrick Byrne, March 12, 1744, and Humphrey sold to Patrick
McClaughry, February 22, 1769. The remaining portion of this patent
was sold by James Ludlow, a nephew of the patentee, to James Neely,
Henry M. Neely, William Young and Patrick McClaughry. William Young
sold to Samuel Sly 233 acres, and Gambell and Humphrey sold their
portion to William Tilford and Samuel Falls.

Cadwallader Colden became the owner of the John Johnson patent of
2,000 acres at the date of its issue. A portion of the Belknap family
settled upon it in 1750.

The Van Dam patent of 5,000 acres passed into the possession of
Jessie Woodhull in 1753, also a portion to Peter Gallatin, John
Moffat and the Walling Brothers. This tract is now included in the
present town of Blooming Grove.

The small Henderson patent early passed into the possession of John
Wandel and David Edmonston.

The Lewis Morris patent of 1,000 acres was owned by Alexander
Denniston, Francis Crawford, Thomas Cook and William Denniston in
1786, purchased from earlier settlers.

We have already mentioned under the head of patents, many of the
early settlers. The earliest were those of Colonel McGregorie at Plum
Point in 1685, and the Reverend Richard Charlton, sent out by the
London Missionary Society in 1732, for the parish of New Windsor,
which was connected with the Church of England. Among the names of
the owners of the village were: Ebenezer Seeley, Brant Schuyler,
Henry Case, Vincent Matthews, Michael Jackson, Daniel Everet, Even
Jones, Hezekiah Howell, Joseph Sackett, Jr., James Tuthill, John
Sackett, Jr., Colonel Charles Clinton, 1731; Dr. John Nicoll, 1734;
William Ellison, 1732; John Ellison, Captain Jas. Jackson, William
Jackson, Thomas Ellison, Isaac Shultz, Messrs. Logan, Bryam,
Halstead, Denniston and others. At Little Britain, John Humphrey,
1724; Peter Mulliner, 1729, who gave it the name from Windsor Castle
in England; Robert Burnett, John Reid, 1729; Charles Clinton, John
and James McClaughry, Alexander Denniston and John Young in 1731.
Among those who came from Ireland were James Edmonston, 1720; the
Clintons, Alsop, Chambers, Lawrence, Haskins, etc., 1731, who settled
in the eastern portion of the town, while the Coldens, Matthews,
Wileman, Mcintosh, Bulls, settled in the more western portion.

NOTED RESIDENTS.

The most noted residents of this town were those of the Clinton
family. Charles Clinton, the father of James and George, was a native
of Langford, Ireland, of Scotch-English descent. He sailed with a
company of relatives and friends in 1729, to escape persecution.
Having espoused the cause of the Stewarts at the accession of the
House of Hanover in 1689, he settled at Little Britain in 1731. He
was a highly educated man and gave his sons a good education. He was
a surveyor and a judge of the court of common pleas and fought in the
French and Indian Wars, 1759 to 1763, was public spirited, had five
sons and two daughters, lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three and
died at home, November 19th, 1773.

One son and a daughter died at sea. Two of his oldest sons, Alexander
and Charles, were physicians. James and George figured conspicuously
in the early history of the Empire State. James, born in 1756,
preferred the army to politics. He served with his father in the
taking of Fort Frontenac in Canada, also in the invasion by the
Indians of Orange and Ulster Counties, rose to major-general in the
war of the Revolution, was in charge of the northern department, led
an expedition against the Iroquois, cut a road from the Mohawk to
Lake Otsego, dammed the outlet of the lake and floated the boats over
the upper Susquehanna to reach the lower country with his command,
was at the siege of Yorktown, member of the assembly, ratified the
Constitution of the United Slates, and was a member of the convention
of 1804 to amend the State Constitution; died at his home December
12th, 1812, 75 years of age; was buried in the family burying ground
by the side of his father.

[Illustration: Rev. Charles Gorse.]

George Clinton, while a very young man, sailed in a privateer in the
French War, was with his father and brother at the siege of Fort
Frontenac, studied law under Judge William Smith, was clerk of Ulster
County in 1759, member of the assembly in 1780, elected to the
Continental Congress in 1775, Brigadier-General in 1776, first
Governor of New York in 1777; commanded a brigade at the defense of
New York City in 1776. He was in command of the forts in the
Highlands which he nobly defended with 600 raw militia against 5,000
veteran British troops, and was overwhelmed and obliged to surrender
in 1777; was Governor of the State for eighteen years, administering
its trying duties with conspicuous ability; was president of the
convention which met at Poughkeepsie in 1788; Vice-President of the
United States in 1804; died soon after his re-election in 1808; has
been designated as the father of the State. On the beautiful monument
in the old Dutch Churchyard in Kingston, N. Y., is the following:
"To the memory of George Clinton, born in the State of New York, 26th
day of July, 1738, died at the City of Washington the 20th of April,
1812, in the 73rd year of his age. Soldier and Statesman of the
Revolution, eminent in council, distinguished in war, he filled with
unexampled usefulness, purity and ability, among other high offices
those of Governor of his native State, and Vice-President of the
United States. While he lived, his virtue, wisdom and valor were the
pride, the ornament and security of his country, and when he died he
left an illustrious instance and example of a well-spent life, worthy
of all imitation."

DeWitt Clinton, a son of James, was born March 2nd, 1769, the exact
place, being in dispute, some authorities claim at Fort DeWitt in
Deer Park, while his mother was there on a visit; others claim at the
home of his father, either at Little Britain or while he was residing
in the village of New Windsor. Perhaps it doesn't matter so much
where a man is born as what he may make of himself by strenuous
efforts, as was the case with the illustrious Lincoln and the subject
of this sketch. After graduation at Columbia College in 1786, he
studied law with Samuel Jones; was admitted to the bar in 1789;
became soon after secretary to the Governor, his uncle, and became
devoted to politics; subsequently filled with great ability the
following honorable positions: Member of the Assembly, State Senator,
member of the council of appointment, United States Senator, Mayor of
the City of New York, many times member of the council board,
Governor of the State for two terms, candidate for President of the
United States, being defeated by Madison, and was invited by Mr.
Adams to serve as minister to England, and was the author of
twenty-six acts which became incorporated in the laws of the State
and nation. The following panegyric was given by William H. Seward,
the political successor to the Clintons in New York State, in 1871.

"Only next after Alexander Hamilton, DeWitt Clinton was the wisest
statesman, the greatest public benefactor, that in all her history
the State of New York has produced." This was from the man who ten
years after sat in his chair and persevered in carrying out his
policies which established for New York the political leadership of
the land.

Alexander Denniston came over with Charles Clinton and settled at
Little Britain in 1731.

Robert Burnett came from Scotland in 1725, and purchased 200 acres at
Little Britain in 1729.

Colonel James McClaughry, born in Philadelphia, when nine years old
was brought by his uncle, John McClaughry, to Little Britain, all the
way behind his uncle on horseback. He married Kate, a sister of
Governor Clinton, received a colonel's commission at the commencement
of the war, commanded a regiment at Fort Montgomery, 1777, where he
was taken prisoner and sent to a hospital in New York, where he would
have perished but for the extra care and comforts provided by his
good wife, who ministered also to many others there. He returned to
his farm at the close of the war and lived until 1790, dying at the
age of 69.

Martin Dubois, a neighbor of Robert Burnett and General James
Clinton, was an assistant quarter-master during the war.

Cadwallader Colden, Jr., of Coldenham, who married Betsy, a daughter
of Thomas Ellison, of New Windsor, was a son of Cadwallader Colden,
Sr. He was lieutenant-governor of the State from 1760 to 1770. He was
arrested as a Tory in June, 1776, by the council of safety of the
towns of New Windsor and Newburgh, and after due trial was confined
in jail at Kingston, where he remained, for over a year, after which
he was liberated on parole. The town of Coldenham is named after his
family.

REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.

This town is rich in Revolutionary lore. A portion of the troops of
Colonel James Clinton were organized here in 1775. A battery of
fourteen guns were mounted at Plum Point in 1776. The militia were
rallied here in 1777, after the fall of the Highland forts and during
the winter of 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783, nine brigades under
command of General Heath, were encamped at the foot of the ridge just
west of Snake Hill and just south of the square at Little Britain.

Washington concentrated his forces here in 1779 and made his
headquarters at the William Ellison house at New Windsor village, and
remained there until 1782, when he removed to the Hasbrouck House in
Newburgh and remained there until the army was disbanded in 1783.
Other generals of the army were quartered at John Ellison's. Here
were Generals Knox and Greene, while Gates and St. Claire were at the
Edmonston House, Wayne at Newburgh and Baron Stuben at Fishkill,
Lafayette at William Ellison's at the foot of Forge Hill. Other
generals were quartered at the old Stone Hotel just west of
Edmonston's. When Washington brought his army from New Jersey in
1779, he probably marched over the road from Goshen or Chester to New
Windsor now known as the Vail's Gate-Chester State road, but which at
that time must have been in a very rough and primitive condition, for
a hill just west of Vail's Gate derives its name of Pork Hill from
the fact that one of the commissary wagons loaded with salt pork was
overturned on this hill, a conspicuous example how names will stick
to places as well as to individuals. When Colonel Morgan marched
through New Windsor with his three thousand riflemen to join
Washington at Boston, a man preceded him who represented himself as
Colonel Morgan to Mr. John Ellison, but when the Colonel himself
arrived soon afterwards, the impostor was detected and was given over
to his men for punishment, who gave him an effectual coat of tar and
feathers.

At the camp grounds between Vail's Gate and Little Britain, the
writer has traced the foundations of many of the huts in which the
army was encamped from 1779 to 1782. The foundations were of stone,
surmounted by hewn logs. A level meadow in front of the barracks was
cleared for this purpose and utilized as a parade ground, but was of
so marshy a character that for marching and drilling it required
paving with flat stones, many of which are still in evidence. This
must have been a labor of infinite difficulty and shows of what
sturdy material these men were made. At the lower border of this
parade ground was also constructed a causeway to the ridge opposite,
upon which was erected a temple or public building, near which were
also the barracks for some of the minor officers, a hospital, bakery,
and a little further east the burying ground. To commemorate the site
of this temple the Newburgh Revolutionary Monument Association has
erected a rough stone monument on the farm of the late William L.
McGill, now owned and occupied by his married daughter, Mrs. Richard
Smith. It commands an uninterrupted view of the Hudson Highlands and
the majestic river rolling between, offering exceptional advantages
for watching the approach of any vessel on the river or of any
considerable body of men from that direction.

NOTED BUILDINGS.

At Plum Point, formerly a portion of the Nicholl estate, still stands
the stately mansion of the late Phillips Verplank. On the river side
is the earthwork for the protection of the Chevaux-de-frise, one of
five obstructions placed in the river at various points to prevent
the ascent of the British fleet, but which proved ineffectual, as the
ships of the enemy broke them all, and ascended the river to
Kingston, which it burned.

Some portion of this boom and chain are now to be seen at
Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh. A Scotchman by the name of
McEvers, also located here, built a log cabin or tenement long prior
to the Revolution; the excavation for the cellar, as well as the
embankment, are still plainly visible.

The point is approached by a natural causeway from the river road,
upon the opposite side of which stands the old-fashioned homestead of
Dr. Nicoll, who purchased 500 acres of Peter Post and settled here in
1730.

On the bluff just south of the village of New Windsor stood the stone
house erected and occupied by William Ellison and also by Washington
as his headquarters from 1779 to 1782. This is now replaced by a
modern Queen Anne building the residence of his grandson, Thomas
Ellison.

Martha Washington is said to have visited the General while here.
His estrangement from Hamilton also occurred here in 1781.

The Brewster House, known as Lafayette's headquarters, is situated
just across the Moodna at the foot of Forge Hill.

The steep hill which ascends from this point to Vail's Gate derives
its name from this circumstance. The iron used in its construction
was transported on the backs of mules or horses from the forests of
Dean Mines in Monroe. As you ascend Forge Hill just at its top you
come to the most noted Revolutionary building now in existence in the
town, known as General Knox's headquarters. It was built for Mr. John
Ellison in 1735, and was in the possession of the Morton family for a
number of years, who endeavored to change the name of the place to
Mortonville, and for a time the post-office was known by this name,
but on the death of the major it reverted back to the old name of
Vail's Gate, from the toll gate stationed here, kept by the Vail
family, father and son, for many years; this gate was still in
existence in 1872.

Generals Knox and Greene, Colonels Riddle and Wadsworih were
quartered here in 1779 to 1781 and General Rochambeau was also a
visitor here to Washington.

The Edmonston building near the short cut crossing on the Erie at
Vail's Gate, was built by James Edmonston in 1755. During the
encampment of the Continental Army in this vicinity, it was made the
headquarters of Generals Gates and St. Claire, and some of the other
officers; also the hospital and military stores were kept here. When
Washington arrived here with his army, he consulted with Edmonston as
to the best place to locate his camp and was conducted over a bridle
path by his son William to the Square which became their camp.

At the Square, so-called from being surrounded by four roads, is the
Falls' House, occupied by the Widow Falls in 1777, when it was the
rallying point for the scattered militia by General Clinton after the
fall of the Highland forts. It is a wooden structure just opposite
the Silver Stream school-house, now occupied by Mr. Charles Merritt.
It was while General Clinton was here that the incident of the silver
ball occurred. Major Daniel Taylor had been sent with dispatches
concealed in a small silver ball by Sir Henry Clinton for Burgoyne.
He was captured October 10th, 1777. After he had been conducted to
the presence of General George Clinton, instead of Sir Henry, as he
supposed, he swallowed the ball. Dr. Moses Higby, who was in the
neighborhood, administered an emetic and it was soon disgorged. It
contained the following on very thin paper:

    Fort Montgomery, Oct. 8th. 1777.

 "_Nous y, voici_, and nothing now between us but Gates. I sincerely
hope this little success of ours will facilitate your operations. In
answer to your letter of September 28th by C. C., I shall only say,
I cannot presume to order or even advise, for obvious reasons. I
heartily wish you success.

     "Faithfully, yours,

           "H. Clinton."

Taylor was tried, condemned and executed as a spy.

THE TEMPLE.

It was upon what was then known as the Dusenberry farm, formerly a
portion of the General Haskins' estate, an English officer who
settled 4,000 acres, during the old French War, that this building
was erected under the supervision of General Heath, for the use of
the army and for Masonic meetings.

It was here that General Lafayette was made a Mason by the American
Union League, which accompanied the army. It was built of hewn logs,
80 X 40 ft., with a barrack roof, first known as the Temple of
Virtues, but on account of a carousal of the officers after the
departure of Washington, on the night of its dedication, it was
afterwards known simply as the temple.

It was also used for public services on the Sabbath. At the close of
the war, a proclamation by Congress of the cessation of hostilities
was read from its door and a celebration on a grand scale was held.
Here also was held the meeting to consider the Newburgh letters,
written by a Major Armstrong, to determine, "whether the army should
rise superior to the grievances under which it had long suffered, and
precipitate a separation between the military and civil powers." It
was a vital crisis in the history of the republic, and a tragic
ending prevented by an address of Washington to the officers at this
time, which is a lasting monument to his unselfish patriotism,
profound wisdom, superior ability and marked discretion. The Society
of the Cincinnati was founded here in 1783. "To perpetuate among the
officers of the army and their descendants, the memory of their
toils, trials, friendships and triumphs, for succeeding ages." The
following were among the signers: Lieutenant Robert Burnett,
Brigadier James Clinton, Lieutenant Alexander Clinton, Lieutenant
Daniel Denniston, Lieutenant George J. Denniston, Captain James
Gregg, Captain Jonathan Lawrence, Major Samuel Logan, Ensign Joseph
Morrell, Lieutenant William Stranahan, Lieutenant William Scudder,
many of whose descendants are residents of the county.

On the northern side of the monument spoken of as marking the site of
the temple, is the following inscription: "Erected by the Newburgh
Revolutionary Monument Association, 1891. E. M. Ruttenber, president;
James M. Dickey, vice-president; A. A. McLean, treasurer; Russell
Headley, secretary."

On the western face is the following: "_Omnia reliquit servere
rempublicam._ On this site the Society of the Cincinnati was born May
10th, 1783, at the last cantonment occupied by the American Army, and
it still lives to perpetuate the memories of the Revolution.
Committee of the New York State Society of the Cincinnati, Fourth of
July, 1802. T. M L. Christy, chairman, William Simm Keese, John
Shayler."

On the southern face: "On this ground was erected the temple or
public building by the army of the Revolution, 1782-1783--the
birthplace of the republic. This tablet is inscribed by the Masonic
Fraternity of Newburgh, and its Masonic confreres under whose
direction and plans the temple was constructed, and in which
communications of the fraternity were held, 1783."

The Clinton homestead was situated about two miles north of
Washingtonville, on the road to Little Britain.

VILLAGES.

New Windsor, in its early history, was the scene of great commercial
activity and the outlet by the river for the produce of the country
for miles around and promised to be the site of a flourishing town,
but the limited extent of land between the river and the high bluff,
of about 120 feet in length, but a short distance from the river,
precluded the possibility of building any large towns between. This
high bluff is composed of clay which is utilized in the manufacture
of a fine quality of brick. Mr. William Lahey, who has two
brick yards, is the leading manufacturer. Mr. Hugh Davidson and the
late Mr. Walsh each owned one. The remains of several docks on the
river front are still in evidence of its former business activity. A
ferry to Fishkill was maintained for a number of years and until
Newburgh sprang up and superseded it in commercial life it was a
flourishing town. At the present time there are some thirty houses,
stores and saloons, scattered along the river bank, occupied by about
two hundred inhabitants. The first glass factory in this country was
also built here.

Moodna, formerly called Orangeville, situated at the mouth of the
Moodna Creek, is a small hamlet of perhaps thirty houses. There are
also two factories at this place, a paper mill, formerly that of
Townsend, now owned by the Hemmingway Paper Co., and a cotton mill
owned by Mr. John Broadhead, of Firthcliffe, which is now closed.
Plum Point, of Revolutionary fame, juts out into the river just north
of the village and is frequently visited by tourists.

Vail's Gate, four and a half miles from Newburgh, contains about
thirty-five houses, a Methodist Episcopal church, three hotels, and a
general store, where Mr. Thomas Gushing has a new building.

The General Knox headquarters, the Edmonston house, and the old hotel
buildings of stone are the most noted Revolutionary relics. The
population is probably about four hundred.

Little Britain, made famous as the home of the Clintons, extends from
the Square to the Little Britain creamery. At the Square are a dozen
houses, most prominent among which is the Alexander Falls house. Here
General Washington was a frequent visitor during the encampment of
the army just south.

Rocklet, a small hamlet in the extreme western part of town, has a
store and post-office, kept by Mr. Frank Mulliner.

The Ontario and Western railroad intersects the township for a
distance of seven miles and is taxed for $85,000; Erie, six miles,
assessed for $42,000; West Shore, five miles, assessed for $22,000.

The schools are--District No. 1, New Windsor; No. 2, Moodna; No. 3,
Vail's Gate; No. 4, Mount Arie; No. 5, Silver Stream; No. 6, Little
Britain; No. 7, Alexander Neighborhood; No. 8, Rocklet.

CHURCHES.

_St. Thomas._--By the will of Thomas Ettson, Jr., fifty-six acres of
land and the sum of six thousand pounds, English money, was
bequeathed to his brother, William, and nephew Thomas, to be held in
trust for the maintenance of a Glebe and minister under the
jurisdiction of the Protestant Episcopal Church at New Windsor, the
interest of said lands and sum to be paid yearly to the minister when
in active service; when there was no service the interest therefrom
was to be added to the principal. When a religious organization
should be effected, the said lands and sum were to be conveyed to it.
Such an organization was established, April 18, 1818, under the title
of St. Thomas' Church, and the Rev. John Brown, then a resident of
New Windsor, also serving St. George's Church at Newburgh, became its
rector and continued so up to 1847.

In 1844, the old church having been destroyed by fire, a new one was
started in 1847, and the present church completed in 1849. The old
rectory having been burned, a new one was built in 1849. The value of
the church property is estimated at $13,000. Among the prominent
members who have been here for a good many years are, Messrs. Aymar
Van Buren, J. Abner Harper, John Harper, F. W. Senff, R. D. Jeffreys,
W. C. Gregg, the Misses Morton, Mrs. Leonard F. Nicol and others.

_New Windsor Presbyterian._--This church was organized in 1794. It
was associated with Newburgh or Bethlehem churches. From 1828 to 1834
the Rev. J. H. Thomas, of the Canterbury Presbyterian Church, served
also this church, and from 1834 to 1835 he served this church
exclusively. The first building was used by the Continentals as a
hospital. This was subsequently destroyed by fire and the present
structure was erected in 1807.

_M. E. Church at Vail's Gate._--This church celebrated the centennial
of its existence in the fall of 1806. the present building having
been erected in 1706, and is the oldest church edifice. Its society
originated from a union class started by John Ellison in 1789, and
was conducted in one of his tenements for a quarter of a century.

_Little Britain M. E. Church_ was erected in 1853 and occupied in
1854, and has been associated with other churches mostly during its
existence. Services were held here up to 1885, since which it has
remained closed.

_Little Britain Presbyterian Church_ was organized in 1760 as
Associated Reformed by Scotch and Irish emigrants. The first edifice
was erected in 1765, and rebuilt in 1826. Its first pastor, Robert
Annan, was installed in 1768, and served until 1783. Rev. Thomas J.
Smith was his successor in 1791, who served until 1812, when Rev.
James Schringeour, a Scotchman, was installed, and served until his
death in 1825.

CEMETERIES.

The two principal cemeteries in this town are "Calvary," at the
junction of Quassaic avenue and the Walsh road, established within
the last decade by the Catholics, and "Woodlawn," a half mile further
west, which contains about thirty acres and has been in existence
about twenty-five years.

In the ancient burying ground connected with the Presbyterian church
at the village of New Windsor, are the graves of James Williams and
wife, Abigale Brewster; John Yelverton, one of the original settlers,
who died in 1767 at the age of 74; Joseph Morrell, one of the heroes
of the Revolution. Other early settlers whose names are recorded on
tombstones are the Moores, Walshes, Logans, Brewsters and others. In
connection with the M. E. Church at Vail's Gate is also another old
burial ground. Here are the Mortons, the Stills, the Vails and many
others of the forefathers of the hamlet who "rest from their labors
and their works do follow them."

James Clinton, the father of DeWitt Clinton, was buried in the
family burying ground on the Clinton estate. When the patriotic
citizens of Newburgh thought to remove his remains to Woodlawn and
erect a monument to his memory, all that could be found was the
coffin plate. The following epitaph to the memory of his father was
written by his son, DeWitt: "He had filled with fidelity and honor
several distinguished civil offices, was an officer of the
Revolutionary War, and the war preceding, and at the close of the
former was a major general in the army of the United States. He was a
good man and a sincere patriot, performing in a most exemplary manner
all the duties of life, and he died as he lived, without fear and
without reproach."




CHAPTER XXVII.

TOWN OF TUXEDO.



This triangular township is in the southeast corner of Orange County.
It is bounded on the north by the towns of Monroe and Woodbury, on
the east and south by Rockland County and on the west by the town of
Warwick. Its area as given in the latest supervisors' report is
27,839 acres, and the assessed valuation of real estate is placed at
$2,510,500. The title to the soil is derived from the Chesekook
patent.

The general topographical features are invested with peculiar charm.
The towering mountain crags and scattered bits of valley, the
wildwood and forests primeval, are dimpled with beautiful lakes and
threaded with purling streams. The Ramapo, which is made up wholly by
the surplus waters of these lakes, has its head in Round Island Pond
and flows thence southerly, through the valley which bears its name,
into Rockland County.

The name Tuxedo is, undoubtedly, the corruption of one or more Indian
words. In the language of the Algonquins, who occupied this region,
it is found that to or tough mean "a place." A frequent habit of the
Indians was to name a place after the chief whose tribe occupied it,
and there was a sachem named P'tauk-seet, "the bear," who, in the
seventeenth century, ruled over a tract of country including the
present town of Tuxedo. Uniting his name with tough, the Algonquin
for place, we should infer the original spelling to have been
P'tauk-seet-tough, and its meaning "Place of Bears." The earliest
mention of the name occurs in Sargeant's survey of 1754 where
reference is made to Tuxedo Pond. In Chesekook's patent of 1769 it is
written Potuckett. Erskine, in his survey of 1778-1779, writes it
Tuxedo and Toxedo. In Eager's and Ruttenber's histories written
respectively in 1847 and 1875 the name is corrupted to Duck Cedar,
with the explanation that its margin is over-thrown with cedars and
that it is a favorite haunt of wild ducks.

The first description of this region is written by the Marquis de
Chastellux, a French officer who came to America with Lafayette, and
who, on December 19, 1780, following the Continental road through
the gorge south of the lake, then called "The Clove," presently came
in view of Tuxedo. He mentions that at Ringwood he stopped to ask his
way, and that at Erskine's house they gave him full information about
the roads and wood-paths, and also "a glass of Madeira, in accordance
with a custom of the country, which will not allow you to leave a
house without taking something." Having been thus refreshed, he says:
"I got on horseback and penetrated afresh into the woods, mounting
and descending precipitous hills until I found myself at the edge of
a lake so secluded that it is hardly visible from the surrounding
thicket. Its banks are so steep that if a deer made a false step on
the top he would infallibly roll into the lake. This lake, which is
not marked upon the charts, and is called Duck Sider, is about three
miles long and two miles wide (sic!), and is in the wildest and most
deserted country I have yet passed through. My poetic imagination was
enjoying the solitude, when, at a distance, I perceived in an open
spot, a quadruped, which a nearer observation showed to be not the
elk or caribou, for which I at first mistook him, but a horse grazing
peaceably in a field belonging to a new settlement."

SETTLEMENT.

Following the grant of the Chesekook patent in 1702 there was no
settlement in this territory for many years. The families who came
were mostly of English ancestry and moved from Long Island and the
Eastern States. The Smiths are supposed to have explored this region
as early as 1727. The first settlement in the vicinity of Tuxedo Lake
was made at the northern extremity of this body of water. Prior to
1765, a woodcutter named Hasenclever enclosed a ten-acre tract lying
equally on both sides of the outlet. On a survey made in 1778 is
shown his enclosure and the dam built by him, and also the position
of the house, situated fifty yards northeasterly from the dam, and
built by a man named Howard, who was probably "the original settler."
During the Revolution, when the iron works on the Ramapo were liable
to interruption by the British, Hasenclever's dam was raised several
feet, and the overflow turned southwest to supply the Ringwood
furnaces in New Jersey. During this period, Tuxedo Lake was the
resort of a band of cowboys who at times found shelter among some
rocks which they named after their leader, "Claudius Smith's Cave."
(See general history.)

Vicent Helms was chosen constable in 1775. Phineas and Brewster Helms
are also mentioned in the records of the old Town of Cornwall of
which this locality was then a part. The hamlet Helmsburgh indicates
the place where the families of that name lived before the
Revolution. Moses Cunningham was a member of the first board of
assessors of the town of Monroe erected in 1709. He lived at
Greenwood Iron Works. Richard Wilkes, school commissioner in 1709,
also lived here. Adam Belcher, school commissioner in 1800, lived at
Southfields.

The survey and construction of the Continental road was performed by
the military engineers of the Continental Army in 1778. It entered
the park at the present south gate and followed the east lake shore
at a somewhat lower level than the present road. From the Hoffman
corner it continued up to the east slope of the Alexander place to
the top of Tower Hill, where it crossed to the Coster place, thence
to the Griswold place, which it crossed to the end of what is now the
Wee Wah Lake and left the park near the present north gate where it
joined the main turnpike road of the Ramapo valley. There was also a
wood road from the present east gate to the Continental road at the
Hoffman corner.

CHANGING CONDITIONS.

Up to 1864 the territory now embraced in the town of Tuxedo belonged
to the town of Monroe. In the fall of 1883 a petition was sent to the
board of supervisors requesting that the town be divided into three
towns. The request was granted and the new towns were named
respectively Monroe, Southfield and Highland. Monroe held its town
meeting March 22, 1864, electing Chauncey B. Knight, supervisor.
Southfield did likewise, electing Josiah Patterson, supervisor, while
Highland chose its old favorite Morgan Smith. This piece of political
surgery did not prove satisfactory, and in 1865 the Legislature
overruled the action of the board of supervisors and restored to its
citizens the old town of Monroe.

Again in December of 1889 the board of supervisors were prevailed
upon to effect a triple division of the town. The reason advanced for
this re-division was that the town was too large and its interests too
diverse for harmonious government. It was resolved that the division
should be made on the old lines, but that the names Tuxedo and
Woodbury should be substituted for Southfield and Highland. This was
duly passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. The lines
were run so as to give Monroe 12,101 acres, Tuxedo 27,839 acres and
Woodbury 23,839 acres. However, the boundary line between Monroe and
Tuxedo had not been clearly determined or marked by monuments. When
the Heine Club desired to build a road from Mombasha to Southfield,
it became a practical question how much of this road must be paid for
by each town. Hence the question as to the dividing line. The men who
were with the 1863 surveyor said: "It crossed Mombasha Pond, but they
did not know where." A survey was then made by F. J. Knight, who
established a true line, demonstrating that the line of 1863 had been
a trial or random line. This decision placed Mombasha in the
territory of Monroe.

In January 1890, J. Spencer Ford represented the town of Tuxedo in
the board of supervisors; in 1894, Paul Tuckerman was elected
supervisor; Mahlon J. Brooks filled the office in 1896 and 1897, and
Charles S. Patterson, the present incumbent, has served continuously
since 1898. Daniel F. Clark, the veteran bookkeeper, has held the
office of town clerk since 1890. Gillmore O. Bush, the present
postmaster and captain of the park police, held the office of town
collector in 1890 and from 1894 to 1899. The assessors for 1907 are
M. J. Brooks, Joseph W. Conklin and Benjamin Moffatt. The highway
commissioners are George Griswold, Benjamin Moffatt and William
Viner. District schools are located at Arden, Southfields, Eagle
Valley, Scott Mines, and in Tuxedo Village are the primary and union
free schools. Of the latter institutions, Mr. James Cronon has been
the efficient clerk of the board since 1891. A private preparatory
school is conducted within the limits of the park.

Episcopal churches are located at Arden and Tuxedo, Methodist
Episcopal churches at Southfields, Tuxedo and Scott Mines. The Roman
Catholic church is in Tuxedo village.

The main line of the Erie Railroad parallels the Ramapo river through
the entire length of the town, and was opened in September, 1841. In
this valley are the hamlets that took part in the iron industry of a
century ago. Augusta was the seat of the "Augusta Works" founded at
the close of the Revolution, 1783-1784, by Solomon Townsend of New
York, to make bar iron and anchors. It was an important enterprise
but not permanently successful. In later years the works came into
the ownership of P. Lorillard, who allowed them to remain idle.
Thirteen thousand acres of land were attached to the works.
Southfield was the name of the locality of the "Southfield" and
"Monroe" works. These enterprises were established about 1805 to make
pig iron. The early proprietors were William and Peter Townsend.
Stirling Furnace, of which the Southfield plant became an important
branch, was in operation a century and a half ago. (See Warwick). The
Sterling Iron & Railway Company filed their annual report with the
county clerk January 17, 1865. They purchased mines, manufactories and
other property in southern Orange. Greenwood Iron Works was
established in 1811 by the Messrs. Cunningham to make pig-iron. Mr.
P. P. Parrott became the subsequent owner. The Parrott Iron Company
was formed by a certificate verified June 23, 1880. It engaged in
mining and selling of iron ore and the manufacture of pig iron and
steel. The capital stock was stated as $500,000. The trustees named
were Peter P., Edward M., and R. D. A. Parrott. The locality is now
known as Arden, and is the headquarters of the Arden Dairy Farms, of
which Mr. William A. McClellan is manager. A short distance
northeast, bordering Echo Lake, is the home of Mr. E. H. Harriman,
who owns vast tracts of land throughout this region. Helmsburgh is a
rural mountain locality west of Southfields. Eagle Valley is a
station on the Erie Railroad, in the extreme southern angle of the
town, near the New Jersey line.

TUXEDO PARK.

The tract of land containing this park consists of 7,000 acres, and
came into the possession of the Lorillard family in 1812. Shafts were
sunk in various places in an attempt to find iron ore, but the
property was otherwise undeveloped until the advent of the Erie
Railroad in 1841. The locomotives burned wood in those days, and an
arrangement was made to supply the railroad with fuel. The hills and
valleys were covered with large forest trees, all of which were
sacrificed, excepting a few along the Continental road. The station
here was for years known as the "Wood Pile."

About 1860 Tuxedo Lake was stocked with black bass, and from that
time the fishing was carefully preserved for the Lorillard family and
their friends. Up to 1885 no better bass fishing could be found
anywhere than that afforded by this beautiful lake. This suggested to
Mr. P. Lorillard (deceased, 1901), the idea of establishing here a
shooting and fishing club. He bought out the other members of the
family, and acquired a clear title to the whole tract. Five thousand
acres were enclosed in a wire fence eight feet high. Deer were bought
and turned loose. English pheasant eggs were procured in large
quantities and several pheasant hatcheries were located. A fine trout
hatchery was also built.

Having made a start on the preserve, Mr. Lorillard proceeded to
organize the club. He gave a dinner to his sporting friends at the
Union Club, New York, and his idea met with an enthusiastic
reception. Twenty gentlemen were appointed a board of governors.
Invitations to join the club were sent out, and temporary
headquarters secured in New York.

The foundations of the clubhouse were laid, and about 1,800 men were
employed in road-making. Before the new work was begun there was but
the Continental road through the park. The first park road
constructed was the Station road. The construction of the road around
the lake was then undertaken. As the work progressed Mr. Lorillard
decided, instead of a mere game preserve, to lay out a residential
park. This plan involved enormous expense. Many roads were required
to develop the building sites. A complete sewer and water system was
constructed. A village for shops and employees and a large livery
stable were built. An office in the village for the transaction of
the park business was opened. At the same time Mr. Lorillard formed a
stock company called the Tuxedo Park Association, to which he turned
over all the lands and other assets of the park. The officers chosen
were: Mr. P. Lorillard, president; P. Lorillard, Jr., vice-president;
George D. Findley, treasurer, and William Kent, secretary. This
company leased the clubhouse and grounds to the members for
twenty-one years, and guaranteed the new club against loss for the
first ten years of its existence and subsequently during the term of
the lease. Fourteen houses were built and advertised for sale or
rent. Twelve were located on Tower Hill and two across the dam at the
foot of the lake.

The first sale of park property to a resident was made in February,
1886, when Dr. Morris H. Henry, Mr. Lorillard's personal physician,
purchased Lot No. 101 on the map of Tuxedo Park. This was followed
in March, the same year, by the purchase of Lot No. 120 by Allen T.
Rice, the editor of the _North American Review,_ and the same year
Lot No. 121 was sold to William Waldorf Astor, Lot No. 123 to
Pierre Lorillard and Lot. No. 103 to Travis C. Van Buren, all of
which persons are now deceased, the land having in every instance
passed into other hands.

That same year, Francis D. Carley, James L. Breese, Josephine Lee
Price, James Brown Potter, Margaret S. E. Cameron and Mary L. Barbey
also purchased land in the order named. Of these Mrs. Price, Mrs.
Barbey and Mr. Potter still hold interests in the real estate.

The first person actually to take up his residence at Tuxedo with his
family was Mr. Grenville Kane, who leased the cottage he subsequently
purchased and is now the oldest resident of the park proper. Mrs.
Price and William Kent, in the order named, being the next arrivals.

Thus the park as a place of residence became an accomplished fact,
through the indomitable pluck and energy of Mr. Lorillard. Each year
has shown a steady and substantial gain in residents. The present
officers of the association are: P. Lorillard, president; George
Griswold, vice-president; George D. Findley, treasurer; and William
Kent, secretary.

As an organization the Tuxedo Club is very strong. The club book of
1908 shows a membership of 374, of which seventy-seven were resident
members. Among them are found the family names of those not only
prominent in business and financial circles, but also who have been
identified with the society of the State since the earliest periods.
The club is self-supporting, has renewed its lease with the Tuxedo
Park Association for a term of years, and bids fair to become a great
center of social life.

TUXEDO VALLEY.

So comprehensive was the scope of the original plan of development,
that a whole village was created at the time of the founding, near
the entrance gate, containing stores, cottages, and subsequently a
town hall, schoolhouses, churches, library, and a $30,000 hospital
now in course of construction.

The Tuxedo Stores Company was organized March, 1894. Each resident of
the park was invited to subscribe to the stock, and the company began
business April 1, 1894.

The Tuxedo electric light plant was organized in 1899, and is owned
and controlled by the residents of Tuxedo.

_St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo._--In 1887 Mr. Henry T. Barbey obtained from
the association a grant of land, on which he erected the first church
building at Tuxedo, since which time it has been greatly enlarged by
additions from time to time including a large parish house--until it
had grown into the present beautiful church edifice. It was
consecrated October 14, 1888, and the Rev. Mr. Colston placed in
charge. The present rector is the Rev. William Fitzsimon.

_Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel._--The cornerstone of this church
was laid June, 1895. The edifice cost $7,000. Rev. James Quinn was
the first pastor. In July, 1899, the church and rectory were
completely destroyed by fire. A year later it was rebuilt, and on
September 23, 1900, was solemnly dedicated by the Most Rev.
Archbishop Corrigan.

The Tuxedo police force was organized May 1, 1886. John Pederson was
captain until 1891, when he was succeeded by Gillmore O. Bush. The
residential part of the park is patrolled regularly day and night.

[Illustration: William B. Royce]




CHAPTER XXVIII.

TOWN OF WALLKILL.

By William B. Royce.



The town of Wallkill is the second largest town in the county of
Orange, and, exclusive of the area in the city of Middletown,
contains 38,030 acres, as shown by the equalization table of the
board of supervisors for the year 1906. This area would be
considerably increased if an accurate estimate could be obtained of
the amount of land not included in farm and lot descriptions and
being used for church, cemetery, school and road purposes.

The town is bounded northerly by Crawford and Montgomery, easterly by
Hamptonburgh, southerly by Goshen and Wawayanda, and westerly by
Mount Hope and the Shawangunk Kill, which separates it, for about
half the distance, on its westerly border, from the town of
Mamakating, Sullivan County. The Wallkill River forms part of its
easterly boundary, dividing it from the town of Hamptonburgh. This
stream also passes through the southeast corner of the town, and is
the only large stream flowing within its borders. Both the Wallkill
and Shawangunk Kill flow in a northerly direction and find their way
into the Hudson River at Rondout. The other streams in the town of
Wallkill are small; the principal ones being Monhagen Creek, flowing
through the city of Middletown; the Bullhack, rising near Circleville
and emptying into the Wallkill near Phillipsburgh; and the Mayunk,
flowing through the easterly portion of the town and emptying into
the Wallkill in the town of Montgomery. Notwithstanding the fact that
there are no important streams, the town is well watered by small
streams and springs, so that there is never danger to agriculture
from this source.

The topography of the town of Wallkill is very irregular, varying in
elevation from 335 feet above sea level in the easterly portion of
the town along the Wallkill to 1,035 feet in the westerly, about
three miles west of the city of Middletown and about half a mile
north of the old Mount Hope turnpike. All the principal ridges and
valleys of the town run in a northerly and southerly direction.

EARLY CHANGES AND GOVERNMENT.

The precinct of Wallkill, of which the present town is the legal
successor, was erected December 17, 1743, by an act of the Colonial
Legislature. The three towns of Crawford, Montgomery and Wallkill,
and portions of Mount Hope and Hamptonburgh, were embraced in the
area of this precinct. In 1772 the precinct of Hanover was erected,
or set off, from the precinct of Wallkill, and included the towns of
Crawford and Montgomery and a portion of Hamptonburgh, and, while it
was generally supposed that Wallkill became a new precinct, legally
Hanover was set off from the old precinct, and the statute directed
that the rest of the territory "should remain" the precinct of
Wallkill. It is also a fact that the town records of the precinct of
Wallkill were left with, and became a part of, the records of
Hanover, and, from the date of the separation, the precinct of
Wallkill opened a new record, which is still preserved. Up to the
time of the erection of the precinct of Hanover, the town or precinct
meetings were held for the whole precinct, including all territory
originally forming the precinct of Wallkill.

The first town meeting in the precinct of Wallkill, after the
division, was held at the house of Samuel Watkins, April 7, 1772, and
the following is the record of the officers chosen:

William Dunn, clerk and supervisor; Benjamin Booth, James Wilkins,
Elijah Reeve, commissioners for regulating and laying out public
highways; Stephen Harlow, William Watkins, David Moore, commissioners
for laying out the money raised by act of Assembly on the highways;
David Crawford, Moses Phillips, assessors; John McGarrah, John
Patterson, constables and collectors; Abel Wells, George Booth,
poor-masters; Jonathan Smith, Esq., Isaiah Vail, John Ketchum,
Benjamin Vail, Jr., fence viewers and damage appraisers. Fences were
to be four and one-half feet high, staked and ridered; five rails
high or otherwise equivalent as the fence viewers shall judge.

Many items of interest could be gleaned from these old records, one
of the principal being the fact that many of the persons in Wallkill
to-day, occupying prominent social, business and official positions,
are the direct descendants of these sturdy pioneers of earlier days.

The construction and care of the roads then, as now, seemed to be one
of the principal subjects in which the people were interested. In
order to demonstrate this, and at the same time preserve the names of
many of those who then assumed the long-enduring business of road
building in Wallkill, we make the following quotations from the
records:

"Precinct to be divided in three districts, viz: The east side of the
Wallkill, one; the west side, two, to be divided by the new northwest
line."

"Samuel Watkins, from the Widow McBride's corner to Thomas Simeril's,
and thence along the road to Campbell's bridge."

"William Bodle, from Esquire Smith's to the Minisink road, and from
the schoolhouse on the road to Hezekiah Gale's; from thence to John
McGarrah's, and thence to the schoolhouse; to work also on David
Crawford's road to the bridge one day."

"John Hill, from Esquire Smith's road along the Minisink road to the
middle of Connor's bridge; also a piece of road leading from the
Minisink road to Orange County."

"James Rogers, Jr., from the precinct line to the Widow McCord's
north gate."

"Captain William Faulkner, from his own house to Thomas Simeril's."

"Henry Savage, from the Widow McCord's north gate to Arzuble
McCurdy's house."

"Daniel Tears, from the precinct line to John McHenry's house."

"Edward Campbell, from the John McHenry's to Arzuble McCurdy's, and
Peter McLaughlin, from the corner of Edward McNeal's lot to Phillips
house."

"Tilton Eastman, from Connor's bridge to the Pine Swamp."

"Stacy Beakes, from Minisink road to Dunning's road that leads to
Pine Swamp."

"George Smith, from the middle of the white-oak bridge to the top of
the round hill beyond Corey's."

"John Ketchum, from the top of round hill to the west end of the
precinct."

"Abraham Taylor and John Daily, Jr., from the white-oak bridge by
Elijah Reeve's to the precinct line."

"There was raised by direct taxation for the following purposes:"

                 "L.  S.  D.
  "For the poor   10   0  0
  "For highways   46  16  0"

For the year 1906 there was raised by direct taxation in the town of
Wallkill, which contains only about one-third of the acreage of the
precinct of Wallkill, for the support of the poor, $1,000, and there
was expended in the town for road purposes, exclusive of the care of
State roads, and exclusive of the territory embraced in the City of
Middletown, about $4,500. Presumably many of our taxpayers would
prefer the olden days so far as taxes are concerned.

SOME EARLY HISTORY.

Very little is known of the aboriginal days of the town of Wallkill.
While various tribes of Indians occupied different parts of Orange
County, from the names of certain of the streams in the town of
Wallkill, it is evident that they made their home, at least part of
the time, in this town. However, outside of tradition and a few
individual cases of contact with them, which had very little, if any,
influence on the future history of the town, nothing reliable is
known that would be of interest at the present time.

The earliest record of the patenting of lands, now included within
the town of Wallkill, was some time before the year 1724, and seems
to have been embraced in two patents, one known as the Minisink
Angle, and the other a part of what is known as the John Evans
patent. The latter tract was subsequently re-patented at dates
commencing December 14, 1724, and ending May 13, 1761. The actual
settlement of the town did not occur until about the close of the
period mentioned, and therefore, Wallkill was not settled as early as
a number of the other towns in the county.

It is only necessary to refer to the assessment roll of the town of
Wallkill of to-day to find many property owners whose names are the
same as those of their ancestors who subdued the wilderness and made
Wallkill one of the most attractive and wealthy towns in the county.
When we mention such names as Bull, Harlow, Borland, Wisner, Houston,
Carpenter, Reeve, Mills, Green, Wickham, Connor, Mapes and Horton,
taken from the assessment rolls of to-day, we could almost imagine we
were reading a roll call of the names of the sturdy pioneers who
subdued the wilderness and caused the valleys of this town to blossom
as the rose.

Previous histories of this town and the numerous writings of other
persons have made all these facts so familiar that it would seem
idle to burden these pages with any repetition of the history of the
early settlement of the town and its inhabitants.

[Illustration: Samuel Wickham Mills, D.D.]

From the time of settlement, during the entire Colonial period to the
Revolutionary War, there was little of moment that happened here. The
settlements gradually progressed in different directions, but, as
before stated, not as rapidly as in some other towns. During the
Revolutionary War, a number of its citizens were with the army at
various times, but the town, by its location, was far removed from
the din and strife of participation in any events of the struggle;
no battles occurred within its limits, and it is not known that any
organized bodies of the British or their allies ever set foot within
its borders. From the close of the Revolutionary War until 1803,
there was a steady growth in population, so that the assessment roll
for that year contained 462 names of those who were assessed for
either real or personal property, or both.

On March 29, 1799, the State Legislature passed an act for the
gradual abolition of slavery, and a number of citizens recorded a
formal act of freeing Negroes held by them. The first one of these
seems to have been made in 1800, and is in the following form:

"I do hereby certify that I have manumitted and set free my Negro
slave, Otis, as fully and amply as I am authorized by the act of the
Legislature entitled, 'An act for the gradual abolition of slavery,'
passed the 29th day of March, 1799."

"Given under my hand and seal this 1st day of November, 1800."

                       "Tabetha Borland."

Similar acts of manumission were entered by Jonathan Smith, Stephen
Smith, Henry G. Wisner, John Wilkin, William Phillips and Israel
Wickham, and it is a fact that the descendants of these people,
bearing in many cases the identical names, were the strongest
opponents of slavery, and the most loyal supporters of the government
during the Civil War.

As early as 1828, the temperance question began to agitate the people
of the town of Wallkill, possibly more thoroughly than it is doing in
the present day, for the reason that, in 1824, there were just three
times as many taverns (as they were called in that day) within the
limits of the town as there are hotels at present (1908). Many of the
questions involved in the temperance agitation of that time are the
chief object of argument at present, and we have only to quote a
resolution passed at a meeting of the town of Wallkill, held in that
year, to show this fact conclusively:

"Whereas, pauperism has increased in the town of Wallkill to an
alarming extent; and whereas intemperance is one of the greatest
progressing causes, inasmuch as more than three-fourths of the
paupers emanate directly or indirectly from that source, and whereas
tippling-houses, dram-shops, and groceries have a direct tendency to
increase the evils; therefore,

"Resolved, (as the sense of this town meeting), That the board of
excise be requested to refuse granting licenses to those persons
whose principal object is to retail intoxicating liquors and not
having suitable accommodations for public entertainment."

"Resolved, that the foregoing be entered on the records of said town
and published in two newspapers printed in Goshen."

"Dated Wallkill, this 1st day of April, 1828."

The town of Wallkill continued to grow steadily, without any change
in territorial boundaries, until 1848, when the village of Middletown
was incorporated within its limits, but, outside of certain local
matters, such as schools, streets, police, and a few other minor
matters, the village continued to form a part of the town until the
erection of the city of Middletown, in 1889. All the town officers
were elected to represent the village and town in all things,
excepting the purely local matters, applicable especially to the
village.

IN THE CIVIL WAR.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, the fires of patriotism
seemed to burn as brightly in the town of Wallkill and village of
Middletown as in any corresponding section of the country. Meetings
were called, resolutions adopted, and steps immediately taken to form
a company for the defense of the Union. Aid societies were
established by the women, supplies sent forward to suffering
soldiers, and everything was done that love and patriotism could
suggest for the care of those in the army and for the preservation of
the Union.

As near as can be estimated, Wallkill and Middletown combined sent to
the front some 787 soldiers. Liberal bounties were paid to those who
went, either as volunteers or substitutes, and the best of care was
taken of the families of the absent soldiers. When we take into
consideration the fact that, at the beginning of the war, the
population of the town of Wallkill and village of Middletown,
combined, was less than 7,000, it will be seen that more than, 10
per cent. of the entire population proved its loyalty by going to the
front, and the percentage who went and never returned was far
greater than the proportion, in comparison to population. That
Wallkill proved its loyalty by devotion and blood, this record most
amply proves.

In the year 1879, the citizens of Wallkill and Middletown erected to
the memory of the soldiers of Wallkill, a most graceful and
impressive monument. It was first located at the junction of North
and Orchard streets, but subsequently removed to Thrall Park, on the
corner of Wickham avenue and Grove street, which is a much better
location than the original. Mrs. Thrall, who generously donated and
bequeathed the money for the erection of Thrall Library and Thrall
Hospital, also gave the city the land for Thrall Park, which is
situated north of and adjoining the hospital.

HAMLETS.

The present town of Wallkill contains no incorporated village, and
only four hamlets, which might be dignified by the name of village,
as follows: Circleville, Howells, Scotchtown and Mechanicstown. The
rest of the town is entirely devoted to agriculture, and, since the
erection of the city of Middletown, has not shown any increase in
population. Its farms are largely occupied by the owners, in many
cases heirs and descendants of original and colonial possessors, and
it possibly shows a less number of farms under rental than do many
other towns in the county.

CHURCHES.

There are three churches and one chapel at present in the town of
Wallkill. A Congregational church is located at Howells, and was
incorporated under its present name on July 6, 1847. This church had
existed for many years previous to this, under other names, and at
different locations.

The Presbyterian church at Scotchtown was organized some time before
1798, but the precise date seems to be unknown. The first official
record that a church was regularly organized seems to be in the
minutes of the Presbytery of Hudson, when, on April 19, 1798, Jacob
Mills and George Houston appeared as commissioners from the
Presbyterian church in the town of Wallkill and requested that said
church be taken under the care of the Presbytery, and that supplies
might be appointed them. This request was granted and the services of
the church continued, under supplies, until June 30, 1803, when Rev.
Methuselah Baldwin became pastor. Previous, however, to the
appearance of the commissioners before the Presbytery, a meeting had
been held, on December 24, 1795, at the house of George Houston,
apparently for the organization of a church, and at this meeting it
was resolved that a subscription be opened for building a
meeting-house at the corner of the roads above the house of George
Houston, and that the new congregation should be under the care of
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. This church was
erected, enclosed and painted in 1797, and thus remained, without
plastering, pews, pulpit or stoves, until 1806, when it was finished,
at a cost of $515. This building was used for about fifty-seven
years, when it was succeeded by the present church edifice. The
church was, for many years, a leading one in the Presbytery of
Hudson, and is still doing active work.

_The Circleville Presbyterian Church_ was organized on January 4,
1842, and became a part of the Presbytery of Hudson. Its house of
worship was erected in 1842, and a large part of the expense of such
erection seems to have been contributed by donations in the way of
labor, timber, lumber and mason work. The land, consisting of five
acres, was donated by Samuel Bull, who, in addition to his gift of
land, contributed much in labor, material and money, and to him the
community is largely indebted for benefits derived from this church
through its past years and at the present time.

The chapel previously referred to was erected near Rockville through
the liberality of Robert A. Harrat and his neighbors in the immediate
vicinity, and is used for Sunday-schools and special church services
by clergymen from any denomination who desire to preach within its
walls.

RAILROADS.

Wallkill has excellent railroad facilities. The Erie runs through
from Howells Depot, passing out at its southern border. The Ontario
& Western comes in at the northwesterly end of the town, running
thence in a general southeasterly direction to the city of
Middletown, thence easterly through the town of Wallkill, passing out
into the town of Hamptonburgh near Stony Ford. The Middletown &
Crawford branch diverges from the Ontario & Western Railroad about
two miles north of Middletown, passes through the town in a
northeasterly direction to the town of Crawford near Bullville and
runs thence to Pine Bush. The Susquehanna & Western Railroad passes
into the town from the southerly border of the city of Middletown and
runs in a southwesterly direction in the town of Wawayanda. In
addition to the above, the Erie & Jersey Railroad Company is now
building a low-grade road which enters the town near Howells and runs
in a general easterly direction through the town, passing about one
mile north of the city of Middletown, thence leaving the town and
passing into the town of Hamptonburgh in the vicinity of Stony Ford.

[Illustration: Theo. D. Mills, M. D.]

There is also a trolley line owned by the Wallkill Transit Company,
which is operated in the city of Middletown and extends from the
city, through the town of Wallkill, to the town of Goshen, and thence
to the village of Goshen.

An example of the enterprise of the town of Wallkill was manifested
when the question of raising money for the construction of the New
York & Oswego Midland Railroad came up in 1867. Its citizens, under
the wise leadership and guided by the excellent judgment of Senator
Henry R. Low, Captain James N. Pronk, Elisha P. Wheeler, William J.
Groo, and others, was induced to bond the town for the sum of three
hundred thousand dollars and subscribe to the stock of the new road
for that amount. The bonds were issued for a period of twenty years,
with interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, payable
semi-annually, with a provision that after ten years an annual
sinking fund of five per cent, of the total issue of bonds should be
raised. Within a few years the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad
Company went into the hands of a receiver, and its stock became
comparatively worthless. The three-hundred thousand dollars of stock
owned by the town was sold for $15,000. When the bonds matured in
1888, William B. Royce, the sole railroad commissioner, had
accumulated from the sinking fund, sale of stock, interest and other
sources, the sum of $180,000, with which bonds to that amount were
paid. To provide for the payment of the balance of said bonds,
amounting to $120,000, the railroad commissioner issued, under
authority of law, bonds to that amount, payable in installments, the
last of said bonds maturing on April 1, 1907, with interest payable
semi-annually, at the rate of three and one-half per cent, per annum.
As provided by the bonds, the last installment of principal and
interest was paid April 1, 1907, the town and city of Middletown
having paid the whole of said principal sum by direct tax, excepting
the $15,000 for which the stock was sold. The New York, Ontario &
Western Railway Company was organized and took over the property of
the old New York & Oswego Midland Railroad Company. As a result of
the construction of this road, to which the town of Wallkill and
city of Middletown have contributed so largely, the railroad shops
were located at Middletown, which brought a very large influx to the
population of the town and city, and added largely to their taxable
value. It also resulted in building the road from Middletown to
Cornwall, and the extension of what was known as the Middletown,
Unionville and Water Gap Railroad through to New York under the
original name of the New Jersey Midland Railroad, which subsequently
became the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad, thus giving
Middletown three direct lines of railroad to New York City, and
making northern and western communications, which largely added to
its transportation facilities.

HIGHWAYS.

The highways of the town of Wallkill are in fair condition, and are
maintained under the money system. The town has a portion of three
State roads; one branching off from the Middletown-Bloomingburg plank
road, about three miles north of Middletown, and running in a general
northerly direction to the town line of Crawford and thence to the
village of Pine Bush. Another road starts from the southern corporate
limits of the city of Middletown and runs in a southerly direction to
the town line of Wawayanda, and thence to the village of Goshen. This
road branches off in a southwesterly direction in the town of
Wawayanda and extends to Unionville, and by another branch is being
extended to Port Jervis. Another State road, known as the
Middletown-Cuddebackville road, starts from the northwesterly line of
the city of Middletown and runs through the town to the line of the
town of Mount Hope, thence through Mount Hope and Deer Park to
Cuddebackville. Under existing laws the State roads are in the first
instance maintained under direction of and at the expense of the
State.

[Illustration: A. D. Mills]

SCHOOLS.

The town of Wallkill has seventeen school districts, in which are
maintained the usual form of district schools under the State law.
These are being gradually improved under the efficient system of
State supervision, but are not yet at the standard to which they
should be raised.

MIDDLETOWN.

The precise time when the first settlement was made in this village
is uncertain, though it is believed to have been shortly after the
erection of the town. John Green purchased some land of Delancey, a
patentee under the crown of Great Britain, and that purchase included
land in the southern part of the village and the ground where the
First Congregational church now stands. Mr. Green donated the lot for
the purpose of having a house of worship erected. When the citizens
assembled to put up the frame of the old Congregational church, it
was concluded that the locality should have a name. "What shall it
be? There is Dolsontown on the south, Goshen on the east, Scotchtown
on the north, and a locality not defined, on the west, called
Shawangunk. We will call it Middletown, it being the center." In
1829, the name of the village was changed to South Middletown to
prevent confusion in the transmission of mail matter, there being
another place styled "Middletown" north of Newburgh, but in 1849 the
prefix of "South" was left off.

The Minisink road which passes through the city of Middletown is
mentioned by a Mr. Clinton, a surveyor employed by the owner of lot
No. 35 of the Minisink Angle, as early as 1742, and the second store
in Middletown was started by Isaiah Vail at a place called Monhagen,
opposite the white oak bridge on the old Minisink road, near the
westerly limits of the present city of Middletown. The first store in
Middletown was kept by Abel Woodhull, previous to the place being
called Middletown.

The western portion of Middletown was included in lot No. 36 in the
Minisink Angle, owned by Delancey, and as he espoused the Royalist
cause his land, except what was sold to Mr. Green before the
Revolution, was confiscated by the State of New York. Three
appraisers were appointed by the State to put a value on the land,
two of whom were Israel Wickham and Henry Wisner. It is stated that
an earnest debate occurred on the subject of valuation, whether to
call it six shillings or a dollar per acre. Mr. Wickham insisted that
it would never be worth a dollar, so it was put down at six shillings
an acre. The land confiscated takes in the western portion of the
village and present city, and includes the real estate formerly owned
by John B. Hanford, Henry Little and George Houston. Part of this
land could not now be bought for $10,000 an acre.

The New York & Erie Railroad seems to have been built on the
installment plan in the county of Orange; first to Monroe, then to
Chester, then to Goshen, and finally by large contributions from the
people of Middletown, it was extended to that place. The building of
this road seemed to give an impetus to the business of the village
and induced manufacturers to locate there, which soon made it one of
the most flourishing villages in southern New York.

The actual incorporation of the village did not occur until April 7,
1848, when the preliminary proceedings in regard to the incorporation
were approved by Judge D. W. Bates. The first president of the
village was Stacey Beakes, and associated with him as trustees were
Coe Dill, William Hoyt, Israel Hoyt, Israel O. Beattie and Daniel C.
Dusenberry. John B. Friend was clerk. Of the above named trustees,
Daniel C. Dusenberry is still living (1908).

The growth of Middletown has always been gradual, and it has never
been what might be called a "boom town." In 1807 the population was
forty-five; in 1838 it had increased to 433; in 1848, at the time of
its incorporation, it had increased to 1,360; and in 1857, to 2,190.
At the time of its incorporation as a city, in 1888, its population
had increased to 11,977, and at the close of 1907 it was about
16,000.

The post-office in the village of Middletown was first established on
the 22nd of October, 1816. Stacey Beakes was appointed the first
postmaster and held the office for about ten years. The first
quarter's receipts in 1817, as rendered by the postmaster, were
$0.69; in 1826, the receipts had risen to $16.12 a quarter; and in
1854, to $257.79. The annual receipts of the Middletown post-office
are now upwards of $50,000.

[Illustration: Charles H. Smith.]

The citizens of Middletown were always ambitious for its growth, and
in all that was done, the future as well as the present, interests of
the village were carefully looked after. Manufacturers were induced
to locate there, and the village, and afterward the city, has always
been recognized as a manufacturing center for this part of the State.
Some of the largest manufactories in the old village of Middletown
were the Monhagen Saw Works, Eagle File Works, Matthews Brothers'
Carpet Bag Factory, Draper's Hat Factory, Babcock's Hat Works, and a
large tannery, which was afterward merged in the leather manufactory
of Howell-Hinchman Company. As before mentioned, the New York,
Ontario & Western Railway Company located its shops here, and from
that time, the village and city have had a steady growth.

CHURCHES.

Middletown as a village and city has always been well supplied with
churches.

The first, the _Congregational Church,_ was organized June 10, 1785,
and incorporated August 12, 1786, and so far as organization and
incorporation are concerned, it is the oldest church in Middletown.

_The first Presbyterian Church_ of Middletown, as such, was organized
March 31, 1828.

_The Methodist Episcopal Church_ of Middletown effected a legal
organization on July 11, 1838.

_Grace Episcopal Church_ was incorporated on February 18, 1845.

_The First Baptist Church_ filed its certificate of incorporation
October 28, 1849.

_The Second Presbyterian Church_ (now Westminster church) was
incorporated December 5, 1854.

_The Primitive Baptist Church_ of Middletown was incorporated May
29, 1871.

_The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church_ was incorporated
November 20, 1861.

_St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church_ was established in 1866.

_Calvary Baptist Church_ was incorporated in 1902.

_North Congregational Church_ was incorporated in 1890.

_Christ Church_ (Universalist) was incorporated in 1897.

_St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church_ (German) was incorporated
in 1897.

_Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church_ was incorporated in 1875.

_Faith Mission_ was incorporated in 1889.

_The Christian Science Church_ was incorporated in 1903.

It will be seen from the above that the churches of Middletown
average one to every 1,000 people of the present population.

SCHOOLS.

The school system of Middletown was originated by the holding of a
meeting April 6, 1813, to take steps to comply with the statute of
1812, for the organization of the common school system of the State.
The first commissioners elected were William Hurtin, Jacob Dunning
and Benjamin Woodward. In 1844 a system of supervision by town
superintendents was inaugurated. Previous to that several citizens
were selected who decided upon the qualifications of the teacher.
John G. Wilkin, afterward county judge of Orange County, was the
first town superintendent of Wallkill, which included the village of
Middletown. About the year 1856 a law was passed providing for the
election of superintendents for assembly districts, thus doing away
with the town system, and this system has ever since been continued.

On the 30th of January, 1841, a meeting was held to initiate the
work of founding Wallkill Academy. It was started as a private
enterprise, stock to the amount of $3,656.75 was subscribed by 115
stockholders, the shares being $5.00 each. Application was made to
the Legislature for an act of incorporation, which was passed in May,
1841. The building was completed in October, 1842, and soon
thereafter school sessions were opened, the first teacher being Rev.
Phineas Robinson, who remained in charge for two years. For a number
of years Wallkill Academy was continued under the plan of its first
incorporation, but subsequently passed over to the village of
Middletown as a part of its school system. The school system of the
village of Middletown was always well managed and excellent results
were attained. This system was afterward merged in the city school
system upon the incorporation of the city of Middletown in 1888.

The management is now under a board of education consisting of nine
members, with superintendent of schools. There are now eight schools
in the educational system of Middletown. The high school was erected
on the site formerly occupied by the Wallkill Academy, and is a very
imposing building with all modern facilities and conveniences. It
employs thirteen teachers in the academic department, and eight in
the grammar grades. The seven primary schools are located in various
parts of the city, so as to accommodate the pupils, but upon
graduation in the primary grades all of the pupils are promoted to
the high school in its various grades.

The free public library of Middletown, known as the Thrall Library
Building, is architecturally an ornament to the city, and is fitted
up in the most modern style for library purposes. The lot was
formerly used as a location for the village school. Mrs. S.
Maretta Thrall left a legacy of $30,000 to the city, with which the
library was built. Mrs. Thrall, by her liberality, provided
Middletown with a library of which its citizens are justly proud,
and erected for herself a monument in our city and in the hearts of
its people which will be as enduring as time. The library at present
contains 10,500 volumes. The legacy bequeathed by Mrs. Thrall was to
be used exclusively for the building, and was so used.

CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS.

In the year 1880, the matter of establishing a Children's Home for
Orange County was brought up in the board of supervisors. A
committee, consisting of the Hon. William H. Clark, Selah E. Strong
and William B. Royce, was appointed to take the matter under
consideration and report. After a careful investigation and
examination of a large number of properties, the committee reported
that in its judgment the property known as the Israel O. Beattie
property in the village of Middletown was better adapted for the
purpose than any other property that had been brought to the notice
of the committee. The property, at the time, was owned by the Mutual
Life Insurance Company of the city of New York, and after
negotiations, a price was fixed by the company at $8,000. The price
was approved by the board and the committee was ordered to purchase
the property, which was subsequently done. The sum of $2,000 was
appropriated for the use of the committee in making such necessary
repairs and changes as might be deemed necessary to fit the property
for immediate use. The committee, having completed its duties,
reported to the board on the 21st of November, 1881, that its work
was completed and that there had been expended $9,910.05, leaving a
balance of $89.95 in the hands of the committee.

Previous to the making of this report, the property had been turned
over to the county superintendent of the poor, and it was formally
opened on February 7, 1881. On the first day of January, 1882,
forty-four children were being cared for in the home. This number has
fluctuated during the intervening years, sometimes the number of
children being as low as sixteen, and at other times approximating
the original number reported.

The Orange County Home for Aged Women is located at No. 27 South
street, in the city of Middletown, and like the Children's Home, is
not limited to the city of Middletown with regard to the territory
from which its inmates are received. It was incorporated in 1884, the
idea emanating from the fertile brain of Dr. Julia E. Bradner. The
home now has become a well-known institution, not only in the city of
Middletown, but in the county of Orange.

It is difficult to realize that Thrall Hospital, so much an integral
part of the civic life of Middletown to-day, was not dreamed of a
quarter of a century since. It is not an easy matter to make plain to
the lay mind just what is behind the bald statistic, "One
typhoid--discharged." Statistics may number the bandages and weigh
out the drugs, but they never take reckoning of the anxieties, the
heartaches, that broad utilitarianism which under the name of the
Middletown Hospital Association began its beneficent work.

It was twenty years ago last November (1907) that Dr. Julia E.
Bradner called together, at her residence, a few of the women of
Middletown to discuss the project of having a hospital in their own
home town.

At the first informal meeting in November, 1887, nine women, led on
by the indomitable spirit of Dr. Julia E. Bradner, voted to have a
charter legally drawn and to meet again at her home, on Orchard
street, on the 22nd of November.

The charter was presented at this second meeting and signed before
Notary Henry W. Wiggins by the following women: Julia E. Bradner,
president; Ella S. Hanford, first vice-president; Lutie M. Clemson,
second vice-president; Clara S. Finn, treasurer; Harriet L. Clark,
secretary; Sarah Orr Sliter, Jennie E. Prior, Frances W. Wilcox,
Florence Horton.

[Illustration: Charles A. Evans.]

The organization effected on this November day and incorporated
December 6, of the same year, was named "The Middletown Hospital
Association," its object "to build and maintain a hospital in the
village of Middletown."

The day of the second meeting was big in history, for not only was
the matter of the charter settled, but an advisory board of
physicians was elected, consisting of William E. Eager, M.D.;
William H. Dorrance, M.D.; Selden H. Talcott, M.D.; Burke Pillsbury,
M.D.; and Ira S. Bradner, M.D.--all of whom have passed away.

In the spring of 1891, seeing the need and the opportunity to supply
that need, Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall gave to the association the lot on
the south side of what is now Thrall Park. Plans were made for a
building to cost over $13,000, but their execution would have been
put off indefinitely had not Mrs. Thrall come forward with a gift of
money sufficient to cover the cost of the planned building, making,
with the estimated value of the lot, a total gift of over $16,000.
Work on the foundation was begun immediately.

The association, which in various ways, during the four years which
elapsed after the foundation was laid, had raised $5,000, now used
that amount to furnish and equip the building in a practical and
up-to-date manner. On the tenth day of May, one year after the gift
of the lot, the hospital, having a capacity of twenty-six beds, was
thrown open for the reception of patients.

MIDDLETOWN STATE HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.

Nearly forty years ago, or, to be exact, in 1869, several of the
citizens of what was then the village of Middletown decided that a
hospital for the insane was needed in this vicinity. Funds were
collected and a farm was purchased on the western border of the
village for a site for an asylum, as such institutions were then
called. Dr. George F. Foote endeavored to raise money by subscription
for a private asylum. To this end $75,000 were subscribed, the amount
expended for a site and to build part of the institution, all of
which was finally accepted by the commonwealth as a free-will
offering from a comparatively few generous subscribers.

The first appropriation by the State for the institution was made in
1870. The original board of trustees numbered twenty-one, appointed
by the Governor. The first superintendent, Dr. Foote, having
resigned, Dr. Henry R. Stiles was appointed in his stead. He served
until February 9, 1877, and then resigned. He was succeeded by the
late Selden H. Talcott, who served until his death in 1902, when the
present incumbent, Dr. Maurice C. Ashley, was appointed to succeed
him, and is now in charge of the institution.

Among the early trustees, who were residents of Orange County, may be
recalled the well-known names of Daniel Thompson, John G. Wilin,
Moses D. Stivers, James G. Graham, Henry R. Low, Elisha P. Wheeler,
Dr. Joshua A. Draper, James B. Hulse, James H. Norton, Nathaniel W.
Vail, and Uzal T. Hayes.

The hospital was incorporated in 1869, opened for the reception of
patients on the 20th of April, 1874, and the first patient was
admitted May 7, 1874.

To give an idea of the present magnitude of this great public
charity, it seems fitting that a few figures should go on record
where they will be permanently preserved.

The farm and grounds comprise nearly 300 acres, on which there are
thirty buildings; the value of the real and personal property is over
$1,500,000; the present annual expenses for all purposes, excepting
the new building, are about $245,000, of which nearly $60,000 are
received from private and reimbursing patients; about $110,000 is
required for salaries and wages. Since the opening of the
institution, over 7,000 patients have been received and treated. Of
this number 2,600 have been discharged recovered and returned to
their homes and to society, and 900 others have been sufficiently
restored or improved to enable them to return to their families. The
number of patients under treatment at the present time is 1,350.

The present normal capacity of the hospital for patients is 1,222.
Buildings are now under construction for about 550 more patients and
the necessary employees, making a total capacity for 1,850 patients
and 450 employees.

The hospital district comprises Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Rockland
Counties, but those desiring homeopathic treatment are received from
any part of the State.

During all the years, the hospital has been conducted upon
homeopathic principles, following strictly the practice and
principles of homeopathy in the selection of medicines and treatment
of patients. This is a compliance with the law under which the
hospital was first incorporated, and the results, in all respects,
would seem to warrant the continuance of the present form of
treatment and management.

In compliance with the law, a training school for nurses and
attendants has been established and maintained for some years with
the most satisfactory results.

A few years since all the asylums were placed under State control,
and a board of local managers with modified duties took the place of
the old boards of trustees.

The board of managers of the asylum, as at present constituted,
consists of William H. Rogers of Middletown, N. Y., president; Ira L.
Case, of Middletown, N. Y., secretary; Newbold Morris, of New York
City, N. Y., Miss Alice Larkin, New York City; Mrs. Harriet A.
Dillingham, New York City; George B. Adams, Middletown, N. Y.; and
James B. Carson, Middletown, N. Y. The attorney for the hospital is
William B. Royce, of Middletown, N. Y.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The city of Middletown is located on the Erie, the New York, Ontario
& Western and the Susquehanna & Western railroads, about sixty-seven
miles from New York City, and is the legal successor of the village
of Middletown, in the county of Orange. The city was incorporated by
an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, known as Chapter
535 of the Laws of 1888, and John E. Iseman became its first mayor.
The city, as now incorporated, contains 2,330-1/2 acres.

The city is divided into four wards. The general city officers are:
A Mayor, Robert Lawrence, now holding the office; president of the
common council, two aldermen from each ward, city clerk and
collector, city treasurer, corporation counsel, city engineer and
surveyor, superintendent of streets, recorder, two justices of the
peace, and three assessors. Each ward also elects one supervisor, the
duties of whose office are the same as those of town supervisors.

Middletown has a most excellent and efficient fire department, of
which Charles Higham is chief. The force, as now organized, consists
of one hook and ladder company, truck drawn by horses; five hose
companies, two of them having chemical wagons drawn by horses; one
engine company, new steamer drawn by horses. The city has a complete
system of electric fire alarms, with forty-two boxes in service.

Middletown has about forty-seven regularly organized charitable,
benevolent, fraternal and social organizations and clubs, exclusive
of labor-organizations, societies and organizations connected with
its railroads. Of the latter there are nine, and of the labor
organizations, twenty.

A fine State armory is located here, which is the headquarters of the
First Battalion, First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., A. E. Mclntyre, Major,
commanding. This armory is also the home of Company I (24th Separate
Company), First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., of which Abraham L. Decker is
captain.

There are two Grand Army Posts in Middletown, viz: General Lyon Post,
No. 266; Captain William A. Jackson Post, No. 301.

Middletown has a very efficient Business Men's Association, which was
incorporated November 20, 1902.

The banking interests of Middletown are represented by the following
banks: First National Bank, capital $100,000; Merchants' National
Bank, capital $100,000; Orange County Trust Company, capital
$100,000; and the Middletown Savings Bank. These institutions are all
in a healthy and prosperous condition and have, in the aggregate,
deposits amounting to about the sum of $8,000,000.

There are, in addition to the above, thirty-five incorporated
companies in Middletown, representing manufacturing, mercantile,
mechanical and financial enterprises. The largest employers of labor
are the Borden's Condensed Milk Company, the New York, Ontario &
Western Railway Company shops, Howell-Hinchman Company, and the
Union Hat Company.

The cemetery grounds of the Hillside Cemetery Corporation, formerly
Hillside Cemetery Association, are located in the southwest part of
the city. The cemetery had many natural advantages from contour of
the land, virgin forests and running streams. To these have been
added about twelve miles of macadamized roads and drives, with
gracefully curving paths and winding walks. A great deal of shrubbery
and many flowering plants have been set out and in the summer the
scene is a most lovely one. Surely Hillside Cemetery is a beautiful
resting place for the dead.

[Illustration: Samuel C. Howell.]

Middletown has a most complete water system supplied by three
reservoirs, located in the towns of Wallkill and Mount Hope, and
named respectively, Monhagen, Highland and Shawangunk. All water for
domestic use is thoroughly filtered before being conveyed to the
city.

The city has several miles of well paved streets, and is lighted by
both gas and electricity.

The telephone system consists of two companies. The Orange County
Telephone Company has about 1,600 telephones in use, and also does
the long-distance business in the city for the Hudson River Telephone
Company. The Middletown Telephone Company has about a score of
subscribers in the city. It also has connection with several outside
independent companies.

With its location, financial ability, numerous business enterprises,
its many social, benevolent, charitable and religious associations
and institutions, its splendid school system, and with the
enterprise, energy and business ability of its citizens, the
Middletown of to-day is only a beginning of the greater Middletown
which will occupy this central part of Orange County in the years to
come.

To sum up the history of the town of Wallkill were an easy task, and
so saying is to speak in the highest praise of the town. Its course
has been peaceful, quiet, serene; its politics have never been
infected by scandal and corruption; the red glare of warfare--aboriginal
or otherwise--has not shone athwart its pages; it has been a history
in which the husbandman has dominated the scene and has been the
central actor. Agriculture has been the mainstay of a people pious and
God-fearing, the descendants of those sturdy New England and Long
Island ancestors, who built the meeting-house and the school as soon
as ever the settlement was made.

We dwellers in the Wallkill of to-day have every reason to be
thankful that our history has been what it has; if it has lacked
romance or excitement, it has likewise abounded in a peace that has
meant prosperity.

Of late years the flood of immigration has sent its waves to our
thresh-olds, and we find in our villages, on our farms, and toiling
along our railroads the children of Italy, of Hungary, of Austria, of
Russia and the more remote East. What the picture will be a century
hence, what sort of an amalgamation will have taken place, we cannot
foresee. Certain it is that, if he is to remain with us, we must
educate the alien, teach him our ways, prepare him for citizenship,
and do all we can for him morally and intellectually, and that will
surely involve amalgamation. At any rate, this is a force that is
bound to change our town's history, in the next hundred years, from
anything that has gone before it. We should face the problem--meet it
with those most forcible of weapons, Education and Law.

For the rest, acting the role of prophet is not difficult. Wallkill's
lines have been cast in pleasant places and will probably so continue
to be cast. We anticipate nothing marvelous, look forward to naught
phenomenal, expect no revolutions. Our townspeople will pursue the
even tenor of their way on their pleasant farms and in their quiet
villages; they will know neither the bleak necessities of poverty nor
the anxieties of extreme wealth; all will be medium, which is the
happiest state of all. We are content with that. Our Wallkill is well
beloved; we would not trade it for anything different or more
brilliant; we would have it as it has been, not meaning stagnation,
of course, yet not longing for the "boom" which newer and less firmly
established and less well-grounded communities are forever invoking.

Wallkill, in many ways, realizes one's ideal of a rural
township--well governed, knowing neither financial extreme, and with
a people contented, and at peace.

[Illustration: Ferdinand V. Sanford]




CHAPTER XXIX.

TOWN OF WARWICK.

By Ferdinand V. Sanford.



The derivation of Warwick, according to Mr. Thomas Kemp, mayor of
Warwick, England, who has written a "History of Warwick and Its
People," is from the Saxon "Wara" which in that tongue signifies
inhabitants, and "wic"--a town or castle, or hamlet, a bank or crook
of a river. So that Warawic, or Warwick, signifies no more than the
inhabitants of the town or castle upon the bank of the river. Other
Saxon forms of the name found are Werhica, Wyrengewyk, Woerincwic,
and Weringwic.

The history of our Warwick from the earliest times has been written
by Eager and Ruttenber in their publications--that of the last-named
writer coming down to the year 1880.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The present sketch is intended rather to supplement these earlier
accounts than to re-write all of the past history, by recording
principally the events which have occurred since 1880.

The town or township of Warwick was erected from the precinct of
Goshen in 1788, and derived its name from the plantation of Benjamin
Aske, one of the original grantees of the Wawayanda patent. Upon the
sub-division of the patent among twelve patentees, Aske's share was
a tract nearly in the form of a parallelogram, which extended from
Wickham's or Clark's Lake, on the northeast, to the farm now owned by
Townsend W. Sanford, on the southwest, with an average width of a
mile, and containing 2,200 acres of land. Aske named this tract,
"Warwick," from which fact it is supposed that he came from
Warwickshire, England. The date of the Wawayanda patent is March 5,
1702-1703, which was the peculiar style of writing year date a
couple of centuries ago. The document is signed by the twelve
chiefs, all making their mark in the presence of witnesses, one of
them Chuckhass, the chief who lived in this town and for whom Chuck's
Hill is named. This patent embraced at that time practically all of
Orange County as it existed in 1703.

By deed dated February 28, 1719, Aske sold to Lawrence Decker,
yeoman, for 50 pounds, 100 acres, in the deed described as "being
part of the 2,200 acres of land, called Warwick," showing that
previous to that date Aske had bestowed the name of Warwick upon his
tract. Later deeds to Thomas Blaine and Thomas DeKay contain similar
recitals.

The pioneers of Warwick were principally English families who came
hither from Long Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Among them we
find the names of Armstrong, Baird, Benedict, Blaine, Bradner, Burt,
DeKay, Decker, Demarest, Ketchum, Knapp, McCambley, Post, Roe, Sayer,
Sly, Sanford, Welling, Wheeler, Wisner, Wood and Van Duzer. Most of
these settlers have left descendants who still live in the town or
village.

During the Revolution there were a few Tories near Warwick, but the
majority of the people were loyal to the country of their adoption,
and many of them enlisted for service.

John Hathorn, colonel of the Warwick and Florida regiment, Captains
Charles Beardsley, John Minthorn, Henry Wisner, Jr., Abram Dolson,
Jr., John Norman, Henry Townsend, Nathaniel Elmer, John Saver;
Lieutenants Richard Welling, Samuel Lobdell, Nathaniel Ketchum,
George Vance, Peter Bartholf, Matthew Dolson, John Hopper, John
DeBow, Anthony Finn, John Popino, Jr., Richard Bailey, John Kennedy,
John Wood, and many others rendered valuable services during the
Revolution.

While New York City was in the hands of the British, the most
traveled road between the Hudson River and the Delaware ran through
Warwick. It is said that Washington passed through Warwick twice
during the war, and was entertained by Colonel Hathorn at the Pierson
E. Sanford stone house near the village, on one of these occasions,
at least.

For some time after the Revolution there were not more than thirty
houses in the village. In 1765 Daniel Burt built the shingle house,
now owned by Mrs. Sallie A. F. Servin, the oldest house in the
village. In 1766 Francis Baird built the stone house now owned by
William B. Sayer, which was at one time used as a tavern, and in
some of the old maps Warwick is called "Baird's Tavern."

[Illustration: James W. Knapp.]

DEVELOPMENT.

The town of Warwick is the largest in area of any of the towns of the
county, containing 61,763 acres, or nearly double that of any of the
others, and being a little more than one-eighth of the area of the
whole county. Its assessed valuation of real and personal property in
1906, was $2,863,010. The taxes levied upon that valuation for last
year were $22,745.12. Population according to State census of 1905
was 6,691.

Within the last generation the town has greatly improved its public
highways and bridges. With the advent of the bicycle, automobile and
other motor vehicles, the demand for better road facilities has been
felt, and this demand has been and is now being supplied. Under the
State law providing for the construction and improvement of the
highways at the joint expense of the State and county, the sum of
$15,387.40 has been expended by the county, and the additional sum of
$1,602.60 by the State, up to the year 1905, for acquisition of
rights of way, engineering and cost of construction of 4.67 miles of
road from Florida to Warwick, known as Road No. 93, so that under the
good roads law (Chap. 115, Laws 1898) we have nearly five miles of
finished work done. Plans have also been approved by the county and
its share of the cost appropriated for the building of 6.92 miles of
road from Warwick to Greenwood Lake at a total estimated cost of
$54,250, which will undoubtedly be built as soon as the Legislature
makes appropriation for the State's share of the cost.

Since 1883 the town has constructed several new iron bridges, viz: on
the east arm of Greenwood Lake, at Main, South, Lake, Elm and Bank
streets in the village of Warwick; also at Florida, Kimball's Point,
Garners' Island across the Pochuck Creek, one between the towns of
Goshen and Warwick, and one between the towns of Minisink and
Warwick; also at Bellvale and New Milford, these substantial
structures replacing the old wooden bridges of the past. An elevated
bridge across the tracks of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway
Company was constructed to avoid the grade crossing at Stone Bridge
at the joint expense of the railway company and the town, costing
nearly $8,000, of which the town's share was one-quarter of the whole
cost, made a most desirable improvement in this part of the town.

The town constructed a new road along the east side of Greenwood
Lake in 1889, the land being donated by Alexander Brandon, trustee,
and others, to the town, and the latter building the same at a cost
of over $7,000. This improvement opens up a large tract of land for
building purposes, the road extending to State line of New York and
New Jersey.

In 1902, by a vote of the taxpayers, a change was made in the manner
of working the highways from the labor to the money system. Under the
old system something over 5,000 days would be assessed for labor, but
a considerable portion would never be worked and in consequence our
highways would suffer. Under the present method the sum of $5,593 was
expended by the town in 1906, in cash upon our highways, and the
additional sum of $2,000 State aid, with uniformly better results
everywhere.

The total mileage of public roads is nearly 200 in the town, and the
sum of $25 per mile was expended upon every mile in that year and
additional sums of $10 per mile upon those roads more frequently
traveled.

This amount was for all the road districts outside of the
incorporated village of Warwick, which is a separate road district
maintained by the corporation. The valuation for 1907 was $1 of tax
for every $300 of assessed value.

Town boards of health have been maintained since 1881 and consist of
the supervisor, town clerk, justices of the peace, a citizen member
and a physician, known as the health officer. Rules and regulations
governing the proper observance of health are published each year by
this official body, and prompt action taken in case of any outbreak
of disease, and measures instituted to control and prevent the spread
of the same. As a result of the labors of these organizations and
those in the incorporated villages of our towns, the public health
has been safeguarded, and no serious epidemics have been experienced.

The town has seventeen separate school districts, where the common
school is maintained, and two union free schools at Florida and
Warwick, under the supervision of the Regents of the University at
Albany. In these latter schools our young people are graduated,
prepared for the different walks of life, and many entering colleges
to prosecute their studies further for the learned professions. Under
the present State law education is compulsory, between the ages of
eight and sixteen, and parents, guardians and employers detaining the
child between those ages are liable to fine and imprisonment.

Under the compulsory education law our town appoints annually for
each of the school districts an officer known as the truant officer,
whose duty it is to look after the interests of those who will not
look after their own, and compel all children within the school age
to be in attendance upon the public school during the required
period. The State apportionment of school funds for 1907 for the town
was $4,300.

The town has six election or polling places, known as Districts Nos.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. No. 1 includes the voters in the Amity and Pine
Island district; No. 2, those in Florida and vicinity; Nos. 3, 4 and
5, the village of Warwick, Bellvale and New Milford; No. 6. Greenwood
Lake and Sterling. The total vote polled for Governor in the town in
1900 was 1,218.

The principal farm products are dairying, onions, peaches, apples,
hay and potatoes. Milk is condensed at several places in the town.
The mineral products are iron, granite, mica, white and blue
limestone. The white limestone is very valuable for fluxing purposes
and in the manufacture of Portland cement. Large deposits of the same
are found in the western part of the town, running from near Florida
to the Vernon Valley. The blue limestone is valuable for building
purposes and is found very generally in different parts of the town.
Clay beds also exist at Florida and at Durland's, from which brick
have been manufactured.

The present bonded debt of the town (1907) is $4,950, bearing 4 per
cent. interest, which is very small considering the amounts expended
in the construction of the new iron bridges in the town during the
last thirty years--nearly twenty--and the cost of new road
construction and for damages to the town roads and bridges caused by
the great flood of 1903, when one bridge was completely destroyed,
and nine were damaged, besides the damages to many of the public
roads, and other small bridges.

VILLAGES AND HAMLETS.

                        _Warwick_

The village of Warwick was known as early as 1719, but was not
settled until about 1764. It is the largest village in the town and
the only one incorporated. Its area is 395 acres, and its population
(1905) was 1,767. It was incorporated under a special act of the
Legislature in 1867, and re-incorporated under the general village
law in 1901. Built on rolling land in the valley west of the Warwick
Mountains, it is an ideal spot for country homes. The land is well
drained, the Wawayanda Creek flowing through the center of the town
in a southeasterly direction. The mean elevation of the valley is
550 feet, and the nearby mountains rise to a height of 1,200 to 1,400
feet. The varied pastoral scenes of wood, stream and meadow, with
here and there a lake, and the tall peaks of the Catskills in the
distance greeting the eye from these heights, are said by travelers
to equal, if not surpass, anything else of the kind in all the wide
world.

Fine roads, affording delightful drives, extend from Warwick, in
every direction, some among the neatly kept farms in the valley and
others through winding ways among the hills. With such an unrivaled
environment, Warwick has grown famous for its own peculiar beauties.
One cannot say that our village is quaint or old-fashioned, with
swinging gates, grassy lanes, and moss-covered roofs; rather, it has
an air of smartness, blended with polished repose. It is a pretty
park with velvety lawns, showing to vast advantage groups of
flowering shrubs, unmarred by fences, and with the houses well apart,
giving an air of freedom from cramped conditions.

Not only the fine mansions that have been built by prosperous country
merchants, professional men and city folk, but also the modest homes
of the village mechanics and artisans, all show the same individual
public spirit, not to be outdone in keeping things spruced up and
freshly painted. Here and there are old homesteads where son has
succeeded father for generations, yet the old homes look well and
becoming in their new and airy clothes. The advent of broad avenues
and flag walks have forever effaced the winding trails, and with them
much of the sweet Indian legendary has been obliterated. For all
these rolling hills were once covered with chestnut, birch, maple and
pine trees. There is something pathetic in the passing of the red man,
the type of years gone by, as the impress of civilization
unrelentingly, step by step, has crowded upon his tepee and forced
him westward.

Yet the maples, as planted by our fathers, forming bowers over
streets, are more beautiful than the pine tree. We have no "Unter den
Linden," but we might claim an "Unter den Maples."

Warwick has been called the Queen Village, also a Village of Homes.
If she is not truly the former, she is easily and far away a village
of homes.

[Illustration: William Moore Sanford.]

As early as 1830 Henry William Herbert, an English gentleman and
writer, better known as Frank Forester, visited the village and
stopped at the old inn, known as Tom Ward's, now and then called the
Wawayanda House. Forester has celebrated us in his famous book of
sporting tales and adventures called "Warwick Woodlands," in which
he tells many a quaint tale of the doings of himself and mine host
Ward, (whom he cleverly calls Draw by simply inverting the letters of
the name), and of many other sportsmen of that early day.

No one has ever paid our vale and village a higher tribute than
Forester, when he said:

"In all the river counties of New York there is none to my mind which
presents such a combination of all natural beauties, pastoral, rural,
sylvan and at times almost sublime, as old Orange, nor any part of it
to me so picturesque, or so much endeared by early recollections, as
the fair vale of Warwick. . . . Throughout its length and breadth, it
is one of the most fertile and beautiful, and the most Arcadian
regions of the United States; poverty in its lower and more squalid
aspects, if not in any real or tangible shape, is unknown within its
precincts; its farmers, the genuine old solid yeoman of the land, the
backbone and bulwark of the country, rich as their teeming pastures,
hospitable as their warm hearts and ever open doors, stanch and firm
as the everlasting hills among which in truly pleasant places their
lines have fallen, would be the pride of any nation, kingdom or
republic; its women are among the fairest daughters of a country
where beauty is the rule rather than the exception. . . . Sweet vale
of Warwick, sweet Warwick, loveliest village of the vale, it may be
I shall never see you more, for the silver cord is loosened, the
golden bowl is broken, which most attached me to your quiet and
sequestered shades. . . . May blessings be about you, beautiful
Warwick; may your fields be as green, your waters as bright, the
cattle upon your hundred hills as fruitful, as in the days of old."

In 1883 the village voted the sum of $600 to lay the sidewalks over
the Main street bridge. In 1886 the sum of $4,200 was voted by the
tax-payers to buy the lot and build the brick building occupied by
Excelsior Hose Company. In 1889 an application was made to the
trustees for the organization of the Goodwill Hook and Ladder
Company. In 1891 a truck was bought for said ladder company at a cost
of $600. The system for working the village streets was changed in
this year to the money system. In 1895 a number of the citizens
contributed the sum of $433.03 for the purchase of a sprinkling cart,
a proposition previously submitted to the taxpayers for the purchase
of the same having been defeated at a special election. In 1896,
Raymond Hose Company No. 2, to look after the interests of the
village in the west end, was organized by consent of the trustees.

In 1897, the sum of $500 was voted for the purpose of a fire alarm.
In this year the first and only franchise ever granted by the village
was given to Sharp & Chapman for a term of fifty years, for an
electric light plant.

These parties having failed to carry out their agreement, the village
the next year granted a franchise for the same purpose to the Warwick
Valley Light and Power Company, of the same duration.

Since 1898 the village has been lighted with electric light at a cost
of about $2,000 per year, the present plant consisting of
ninety-seven incandescent electric lights and six 2,000 candle power
arc lamps.

In 1900 the taxpayers voted the sum of $1,600 for the purchase of a
lot and the building of a hose house for the Raymond Hose Company.

In 1901 a proposition to reincorporate the village under the general
village law was carried. A special election held the same year to
vote upon the proposition of paving our streets with Telford pavement
and asking for the sum of $10,000 for that purpose, was defeated by
only three votes.

In 1902 the heirs of the late George W. Sanford donated the sum of
$1,250 to the village for the purpose of a drinking fountain, which
has been erected and is placed at Fountain Square, corner of Main and
East Main streets.

In July, 1906, Warwick, England, celebrated the two thousand years of
her past history in a great historical pageant upon the grounds of
Warwick Castle. Invitations were issued to all the Warwicks of the
world--fourteen in all--to be present and participate in these
festivities. Our board appointed its president, Ferdinand V. Sanford,
as its representative, who attended the celebration, and delivered in
person the following resolutions of greeting and congratulation:

[Illustration: Henry A. Benedict.]



Honorable Thomas Kemp,

    Mayor of the Corporation of Warwick, England

Sir:

Accept congratulations and greetings from your daughter and namesake
across the sea, on the occasion of your great historical pageant,
wherein somewhat of your ancient and honorable past is reproduced,
not merely in centuries, but in millenniums of time.

As Americans we are proud of our English ancestry, and of that mighty
nation, on whose empire the sun never sets, whose history is the
history of everything that makes for progress, a higher civilization
and the enlightenment and uplifting of mankind.

May God continue to bless England and America, the leading Christian
nations of the earth, whose history teaches the world of the
transcendent value of the life, liberty and happiness of man.

Done at Warwick, New York, United States of America, on the
twenty-sixth day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and
six.

     The Village of Warwick.

             By

 (Seal.)     Ferdinand V. Sanford, President,
             Charles Wutke,
             George H. Strong,
                                   Trustees
  F. C. Cary,
    Clerk of the Corporation.

To which the mayor replied officially as follows:

Borough of Warwick, to-wit:

At a meeting of the mayor, aldermen and councilors of the said
borough in Council assembled, on the 13th day of July, 1906,

It was resolved: That the congratulatory address from the corporation
of the village of Warwick, in the State of New York, United States of
America, presented to the mayor on the occasion of the recent
Historical Pageant, be entered on the minutes of the Council, and
that a cordial vote of thanks for their sympathetic greetings be
accorded to the sister municipality with an earnest hope for its
continued prosperity.

And that a copy of the resolution be sealed and transmitted to the
president of the corporation.

                 Thomas Kemp,
                         Mayor,

                 Brabazon Campbell,
                         Town Clerk.           (Seal.)

During the present year (1907) the village has been the recipient of
a fine town clock, presented by Mr. Pierson E. Sanford. The clock is
stationed in the tower of the Methodist church on Main street.

At a special election held this year the sum of $4,200 was voted to
purchase the building and lots formerly owned by John A. Dator and
others, on Main street and Wheeler avenue. It is the purpose of the
trustees to change the building, and adapt it for village purposes,
such as a village hall, office for records, maps and files, and the
rooms of Goodwill Hook and Ladder Company.

                       _New Milford._

The hamlet of New Milford lies southwest of Warwick, and forms a part
of the boundary line between New York and New Jersey. It was formerly
called Jockey Hollow. It comprises an area of a little more than
2,000 acres of the most fertile and well watered land in Warwick
Valley. When the Wawayanda patent was deeded by the Indians to twelve
white men in 1702, the twelfth part deed to Cornelius Christiance
included what is now known as New Milford. Cornelius Christiance sold
his share to Derrick Vanderburgh in 1704, and the latter sold to
Everett & Glows, land speculators, in 1714, for a little more than
$500. In 1724, the land was purchased by Thomas DeKay and Benjamin
Aske. Settlers now began to come and they were quick to take
advantage of the superior water facilities. The land was intersected
by Wawayanda Creek, and flowing into this stream were four rushing
mountain streams, all capable of furnishing fine water power, the
largest of which was the Doublekill, so named because it is the
outlet of Double Pond, or Wawayanda Lake. But not until about the
year 1770 were any mills operated, excepting a saw mill and the
forge on Wawayanda Creek on the farm recently owned by the Edward L.
Davis heirs. During the year 1780, we find among the settlers the
DeKays, the Davises, the Demarests, the Lazears, and Wood. The first
excise money was paid into the treasury from the New Milford tavern
in 1790 by Cornelius Lazear. A grist mill was built that year on the
west side of the Doublekill, on the farm known as the Kiernan farm,
and much further up the stream than the present mill. This mill was
operated many years.

In 1802 John Lazear built a grist mill on the site of the present
mill. In connection with the mill he had a factory for manufacturing
axe and shovel handles. Between the years 1805 and 1825 New Milford
was an exceedingly busy place. The original and only town at the time
was where the post-office is at present.

There were six mills on the Doublekill, and four on the stream
covered by the arch bridge, near the post-office, known as Green Mine
Brook. On the Doublekill there were the grist mill, or axe handle
factory, and tannery owned by S. W. Clason, now owned by E. M.
Bahrmann; further down the stream a feed mill, a saw mill and a
fulling or wool-carding mill. Then on the Green Mine stream there
were a clover seed mill, plaster mill, cider mill with distillery,
and about where William T. Vandervort's barn is located there was a
large saw mill run by David Demarest. A very good schoolhouse was
situated just west of the present Methodist church. A post-office was
established in 1815--the first postmaster was Merritt Coleman. The
turnpike running between New York and Port Jervis left the main road
near the present home of Darius Fancher, crossed the E. L. Davis
farm, continued northward over a bridge which was east of the present
site of Borden's creamery, and up the hill to the road which now
passes west of the house known as Peachblow. This was the main road
to the northwest. Mr. E. L. Davis built a fulling and carding mill
near the bridge and operated that as well as a saw mill.

Further down on Wawayanda Creek there were a saw mill, cider mill and
distillery owned by John Ryerson. The "covered bridge" was built
about 1830. In 1835, a boarding school for young ladies was opened in
the house now occupied by John Lines. The principal, Charles G.
Winfield, was a man of profound learning. Here the best people of
Warwick and vicinity sent their daughters to be educated. It was a
classical school of the highest order. The Methodist church was
opened in 1838. In 1861, When there was a call for volunteers. New
Milford, with a population of only 150 persons, responded with
twenty-eight men.

With the growth of the dairy business in Orange County, less
attention was paid to milling interests. In 1866, a factory for
condensing milk was built where the Kiernan fulling and carding mill
stood. This was abandoned after the railroad was built in 1879. In
1898 a fire swept away the business portion of New Milford, and it
has not been entirely rebuilt.

At present the town is regaining some of the business prosperity it
enjoyed one hundred years ago. There are two grist mills and a saw
mill, and one of the largest creameries for bottling and condensing
milk in the county, owned by Borden's Milk Company, where 4,500
gallons of milk are received and shipped daily. There are several
old cemeteries scattered throughout New Milford, where one may read
the names of those who lived when the "years were young."

                          _Pine Island._

Pine Island is a village lying two miles northwest of Amity at the
terminus of the Goshen and Deckertown railroad, leased by the Erie.
It has a public school, a hotel, a store and post-office.

                     _Greenwood Lake and Sterling._

The Chesekook's patent, confirmed by letters patent of Queen Anne,
which embraced this district, was granted March 25, 1707, by
Manngomack and other Indians, whose names are unpronounceable, and
who signed by their marks, representatives of the sub-tribes of the
Minsis, whose totem was the wolf, a branch of the Lenni-Lenapes,
whose totem was the turkey, a branch of the great Algonkin or
Algonquin tribe, or nation, which held sway over them.

This deed was dated December 30, 1702, and recorded in the Orange
County clerk's office, June 1, 1736. The original patent, bearing
Queen Anne's seal, is in the possession of the Sterling Iron and
Railway Company. Sterling and Greenwood Lake are now embraced in the
sixth election district of the town of Warwick.

Charles Clinton surveyed this patent for the owners in common,
beginning April 1, 1735, and ending December 13, 1749. He mentions in
his field book, as early as 1745, that iron works were in operation
at Sterling, but to what extent is not stated. The old furnace at
Sterling, now in ruins, is said to have been built in 1751, and from
it was drawn the iron from which the great chain was made to cross
the Hudson River in Revolutionary days from West Point to
Constitution Island. This chain was built by Abel Noble & Co., Peter
Townsend signing the contract for said firm for its construction
February 2, 1778, to be finished by April 1, 1778. This chain was
drawn across the river April 30, 1778. A bronze tablet commemorating
the building of Sterling furnace was unveiled at the foot of the
furnace on June 23, 1906. Iron mining is still in active operation,
a shaft extending diagonally under Sterling Lake a distance of over
2,000 feet, but the ore is all shipped to other furnaces. The iron
industry created a need for charcoal, and from Revolutionary times
until about 1865 cutting wood and burning charcoal was an industry
extending all over this section, and through the mountains of
Greenwood Lake and Sterling is a network of wood roads and many
foundations where formerly stood the dwellings of collieries.
Sterling Mountain rises about 600 feet above the surface of Greenwood
Lake, which is about nine miles long and 700 feet elevation above sea
level.

[Illustration: Frank A. Campbell]

The map of this section made by Robert Erskine for General Washington
gives it the name of Long pond. About midway on the west side and
about 300 feet from the shore of Greenwood Lake stands an old furnace
on the furnace brook, which was built about seventy-five years ago
by William Noble of Bellvale. The furnace was a failure from the
start, as the stream of water furnished insufficient power for the
blast. About 1845 Wanaque Creek, at the outlet of Greenwood Lake, was
crossed by a dam, which raised the lake about eight feet, resulting
in the overflow of about a mile of low land at both the north and
south ends of the lake, forming a reservoir for the use of the Morris
and Essex Canal, nine miles long and a mile wide. The New York and
Greenwood Lake railroad reached here in 1876. The terminal station at
the line between New York and New Jersey on the east shore, called
then "State Line" (now Sterling Forest), was accessible by boats
only, there being no public road until 1889, when one was built by
the town of Warwick, the contract being taken by Conrad Diehl of
Goshen. The steamboat _Montclair,_ capable of carrying 400 passengers
or more, was built and launched in 1876, to accommodate travelers
from the railroad. Smaller boats had been previously built, first the
_Pioneer,_ a sail boat, then the _Sylph,_ then the _Montclair,_ and
later the _Anita,_ and at present several small steamers and
naphtha launches without number are in use.

Prior to the completion of the railroad visitors reached here by
stage from Monks on the south or from Monroe on the north. Religious
services were held in a log schoolhouse one mile north of Greenwood
Lake prior to 1850, when under the pastorate of Rev. J. H.
Haunhurst, the first Methodist church of Greenwood Lake was built,
where services were regularly held until 1898, when the settlement
concentrating about two miles farther south, it was deemed expedient
to build a new Methodist Episcopal church on land donated for the
purpose by M. V. Wilson, opposite the new schoolhouse, which for the
same reason was built about two and one-quarter miles south of its
former site, and now has an attendance of sixty-three pupils. The
school at Sterling mines has about the same number of pupils,
children of the miners, religious services being held in the
schoolhouse under Methodist supervision.

The new Methodist Episcopal church of Greenwood Lake was built under
the supervision of Pastor Cranston, and now in 1907 Rev. J. H.
Calyer is pastor. For fifty-seven years the church has never been
without a pastor in charge of regular services.

In about the year 1880 a summer school of Christian philosophy, under
the supervision of William O. McDowell, was begun in a fine
auditorium erected for the purpose at Warwick Woodlands on the west
shore of the lake, and, for the accommodation of visitors, an
encampment hotel in connection with the Greenwood Lake Association
clubhouse was under the supervision of Lyndon Y. Jenness. Dr. Charles
H. Deems, Dr. Lyman Abbott and many other speakers on religious,
social and philosophical themes, spoke to the assembled multitudes.
This club house for a time was Greenwood Lake's center of interest,
but for lack of support financially it was finally abandoned to the
uses and amusements of excursionists. In 1906 the dilapidated
building was demolished.

About 1880 a movement took form to inaugurate a church on what was
known as the lime rocks, and under the management of Rev. Mr.
Bradford, of Montclair, assisted by local friends, a tent was erected
here where services from time to time were held. Now a stone church
occupying this most picturesque spot is under construction and the
supervision of E. G. Lewis, of New York City, representing the
Episcopal church.

Civilization's onward march is taking strong form here, and over the
old Indian camping grounds, where numberless arrow heads, spear
points, stone axes and beautifully ornamented fragments of pottery
bear testimony to the race that has departed, leaving only here and
there a name that claims relationship, stand to-day spacious hotels,
towering churches, palatial homes, and the last society formed for
their protection is the Pioneer Fire Company of Greenwood Lake, which
was formed May 3, 1907.

                        _Little York._

The hamlet of Little York is about a mile east from Pine Island, in
the town of Warwick. The first settler, Conrad Luft, came from Russia
and settled there in 1886. About five years later Henry Lust, another
Russian, came and located. Then followed in 1897 Peter Miller, Conrad
Schmick, and August Youngmann. The next year eight more families came
from Russia, buying land and building homes. Their industry is
onion raising, for which the black meadow land which they cultivate
is admirably adapted. They are Russians, but speak the German
language and are Lutherans in religion. They are very industrious and
thrifty, and nearly all have their homes and the land all paid for.
In 1907 there were twenty-four houses, and one church, the
Evangelical Lutheran, of which Rev. Gerhard Rademacher is the rector.
There are about 200 in population, 100 communicant members of said
church, and thirty-three voters.

[Illustration: The William Wisner House, Wisner, Erected, 1770.]

A parochial school is maintained in connection with the church and
has thirty-nine children in attendance. The church was built in 1898,
finished in 1901, and incorporated in 1904. Rev. George Kaestner
served the church until 1904. It was under his ministry that the
church was begun and completed. He was followed by the present
pastor, Rev. Gerhard Rademacher, during whose ministry the parsonage
was built and the cemetery of three acres acquired.

Other Russians are expected the present year to come and settle here.

                            _Amity._

Amity is the western portion of the town of Warwick, extending about
three miles in radius from the Presbyterian church, the only house of
worship in the village.

The church was organized by a committee of the Presbytery of Hudson
on September 15, 1809, but the first building had been erected and
dedicated thirteen years previous, August 1, 1796. The building
stands on a lovely eminence 500 feet above sea level and commands a
splendid view in every direction.

The two conical mountains, Adam and Eve, some four miles distant,
stand to the northeast and are about 800 feet above the level of the
sea. These granite mountains are rough and rocky, and are covered
with impenetrable brush and bramble.

The chief occupation of the people is extensive farming. Peach
growing, however, became a popular and profitable industry about
1885, and continued for twenty years, during which time all the
principal farmers turned their best land into orchards, from which
they shipped thousands of baskets of delicious fruit to New York
City and other towns, where there was great demand and high prices.

It was not uncommon for a successful orchardist to realize from
$5,000 to $10,000 for his crop in a single season. The land soon
became exhausted, however, the San Jose scale attacked and killed the
trees, and the business declined as rapidly as it had sprung up.
About the present date (1907) a new find in the land is receiving
much attention--limestone in unlimited quantity in most of the farms.
Prospectors are finding zinc and other valuable minerals, which
indicate wealth for those who still possess the soil.

                            _Bellvale._

Bellvale village, known in Colonial times as Wawayanda, is situated
on the lower rapids of Longhouse Creek, which here enters the meadows
and flows a mile and one-half to Stone Bridge station, where it
enters the Wawayanda, which has its source in Clark's Lake, and then
loses its name when merged in the smaller stream. Longhouse Creek has
its source in a swamp in New Jersey a short distance east from
Wawayanda Lake. It has a large watershed at an elevation above tide
water of about 1,100 feet, and in its descent of six or seven miles
runs through several fine storage basins and down numerous rapids and
falls. For a distance of 500 feet options were taken on some of the
storage basins by the Ramapo Water Company during its active days,
with a view to conducting the water into the headquarters of the
Ramapo River.

This stream is well adapted for the generation of water power for
electrical or manufacturing purposes, and we learn from colonial
history, was utilized by Lawrence Scrauley in 1745 to operate a forge
of tilt-hammer for a plating and slitting mill. This was the only
mill of this kind in the State of New York, and in 1750 was not in
operation. Under the Crown we were not allowed to advance the
manufacturing stage of iron beyond the pig and bar iron stages. It
seems Scrauley took his chances in this secluded portion of the
valley to furnish more convenient sizes of iron to meet the wants of
the blacksmiths and builders of that day, and thus avoid paying
tribute to the manufacturers of the mother country. The ruins of the
hearth where the ore was melted, the raceway, and the pit for the
wheel that operated the tilt-hammer, are still visible, as well as
the mudsill of the foundation of the dam.

During the War of 1812, a Mr. Peck had an establishment upon the
stream, near the home of William M. Mann, where he manufactured
bridle-bits, stirrups, buckles and saddle trees for our cavalry. As
well as agricultural implements generally.

[Illustration: William C. Eager.]

The old forge site and the lands along the rapids up to the line of
the Chesekook patent were bought by Daniel Burt in 1760, and soon
after he built a flouring mill and a saw mill, both of which were
washed away by the breaking away of the dam during a very unusually
heavy shower of rain. The present flouring mill is situated near the
site of the earlier one. A saw mill was built in 1812, by John
Bradner and Brower Robinson, and rebuilt by Thomas Burt, who operated
it and a turning shop for about twenty years. The dam has been washed
away and the mill is in ruins. A wool carding factory was built by
Nathaniel Jones about 1810. and subsequently enlarged for the
manufacture of broadcloths by Joseph Brooks, but is not now in
operation. James, the son of Daniel Burt, about 1812 settled three of
his sons at Bellvale in the milling and mercantile business. They
established shops for a blacksmith, carpenter, wagon-maker, cooper,
tailor, shoemaker and the manufacture of red earthen pottery.
Benjamin Bradner had a tannery before 1812 where the ruins of the old
saw mill are situated. The vats were located where is now the old
raceway, and the bark was ground in a circular curb upon the flat
rock back of the saw mill rolling a heavy mill-stone over the bark,
as at one time apples were reduced to pumice by cider makers.

About 1808 the Bellvale and Monroe turnpike was built to make a
shorter route to the markets along the Ramapo for the produce of the
farmers of Warwick. It was nine miles long and shortened the distance
previously traveled by about one-half.

The road was maintained above fifty years and the charter then
surrendered to the State, and the road divided into districts--a fund
on hand of about $500 was spent in putting the road in order before
the charter was surrendered. The stockholders never received any
money for their investment. The massive stone bridge over the channel
at Bellvale was built in 1832, to take the place of the old wooden
one then unsafe for travel. Recently the old bridge site, as well as
nearly all the land along the Longhouse Creek for four or five miles,
has passed into the hands of one owner, also all the mills and about
3,000 acres of land lying along the stream. The probable development
of the water power for electrical purposes and an early completion of
the State road from Pine Island to Tuxedo promises a brighter future.
Tradition accounts for the name of the stream from the long house
that stood on its bank near the residence of the late C. R. Cline.
The Indians that settled there built their houses end to end and, as
their families became more numerous, a long house was built instead
of the isolated circular wigwams of many tribes. That there was an
Indian settlement at this place is highly probable from the nearby
streams for fishing, swamp and mountain for hunting, and the fertile
prairie-like land for their crops of corn and tobacco. In the part
where the land has been cultivated plenty of flint arrow heads and
large chips of flint with sharp edges have been found. The flint
chips were used by the squaws in cultivating corn and tobacco.

In 1841, in digging a cellar for an addition to the house, the
skeleton of an Indian of immense size was found, if the writer
mistakes not, in a sitting posture. This may have been only one of a
great many buried there and might have been their chief.

Out of a population of only about 330, at the time of the Civil War,
forty-two were enrolled from Bellvale and the immediate vicinity. In
1907 the population of the place is estimated at about 300.

                            _Edenville._

Edenville, known in the early annals of local history as Postville,
in honor of Colonel Jacobus Post, one of its pioneer settlers, enjoys
a picturesque location three miles west of Warwick, with which place
it is closely connected in its postal facilities and commercial
interests.

Doubtless its early progenitors, because of the establishment of this
little hamlet within a radius of great agricultural fertility,
predicted its growth to be vastly greater than its actual development
proved, but as one by one the railroads on either side were
established Edenville was left to its primitive means of
transportation.

Nearly north of the village of about one hundred inhabitants are
located the isolated peaks of Mts. Adam and Eve, interest in the
mineral deposits of which has increased with time. In the decades
past, specimens of granite, syenite, granular quartz, hornblende,
arsenical iron, and white limestone were gathered by the seeker of
mineralogical specimens. Later the quarrying of granite was
undertaken by the Orange County Granite Company and the Empire State
Granite Company. The quality of the granite found within the mountain
confines is of a high order, but the difficulty of transportation
forbids an extensive output.

[Illustration: J. E. Sanford]

The oldest home of Postville, known as the "Shingle House," was built
in 1734, and remained an object of much interest to visitors of the
village until destroyed by fire in the winter of 1907.

This was the home of Col. Jacobus Post and is said to have been a
haven for travelers on their early tours across the Netherland
country.

The Edenville Methodist Church was organized on September 11th, 1822.

The school district known as Purling Brook district was organized in
1813.

                      _Florida._

Probably no village of our county presents so great a contrast in its
local interests of to-day as compared with the early incentives of
its development, as does Florida, or Floridus, land of the red
flowers, situated six miles south of Goshen, six miles north of
Warwick, which points are connected by a recently constructed State
road.

In records relating to the early settlement of the village in the
latter part of the eighteenth century we find the names of Seward,
Armstrong, Wisner, Carr, Poppino, Randall, Thompson and Roe as
actively identified with its early interests.

Although in the heart of a prolific agricultural section, recently
developed to its full extent, political and scholastic ambition
actuated the impulses of many of its earlier settlers, still to the
steadfast, sterling qualities of those engaged in agricultural
pursuits must be attributed its constant development.

During the governorship of George Clinton, 1777-1795, Florida was
represented in the Legislature, and was prominent in the
Revolutionary struggle. Later, in the political arena, we recall the
career of William H. Seward, elected as state senator in 1831,
Governor in 1838, United States Senator in 1849, and appointed
Secretary of State in 1861.

Florida to-day shows marked changes in its church history. The
Methodist Church was established in 1868. As early as 1742 a
Presbyterian Church was organized. In 1837 the church edifice was
consumed by fire. The present structure was erected in June, 1838. In
1839 a second Presbyterian Church was founded, but in 1878, the two
churches were united. Two flourishing church organizations of the
Catholic faith exist, St. Edwards and the St. Joseph's Polish
Catholic Church.

Educational matters early claimed the attention of the settlers of
Florida, Samuel S. Seward, De Witt C. Jayne, Robert Armstrong and
Jonas Seely serving respectively as school commissioners from 1813 to
1843. Judge Samuel S. Seward founded the S. S. Seward Institute in
1848 as a classical school, endowing it with the sum of $20,000. This
school was held in the old Randolph hotel. After Judge Seward's
death, a young ladies' seminary was established, opposite the
original school building, and for years Florida was noted for its
superior boarding school.

With the improved common school advantages of later years came the
desire of the citizens to widen the influence of the school as
originally designed, and accordingly a new edifice was erected
bearing the name of S. S. Seward Institute, receiving the benefit of
the reserve fund, and also the State appropriation for high schools,
thus fulfilling in a greater sense the beneficent plans of the
original founder.

A prominent factor in agricultural development has been the influx of
many Poles and Germans of thrifty type, whose business, at first
confined to onion and celery growth, is gradually reaching out to
other industries and professions. Under their management largely the
value of the black dirt land during the past thirty years has
increased from $10 to $200 per acre.

Within the last year brick making has been revived. In July, 1905,
the Florida Civic Improvement Club was organized.

A sketch of Florida would hardly be complete, without mention of
Glenmere, a beautiful sheet of water, furnishing the village water
supply, located one mile east of the village.

From the date of its early christening as Thompson's Pond, its clear
waters have furnished pleasure to the boatman and fisherman.

                            CHURCHES.

_The Reformed Church of Warwick_ was organized by a committee of the
Classis of Paramus in 1804, and was duly incorporated on March 18,
1807, under the corporate name and title of "The Consistory of the
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and Congregation of Warwick." It was
the successor of the Presbyterian Church and occupies the same site
of the earlier society. In 1904 it celebrated its centennial.

During Mr. Crispell's ministry the present stone church was built and
furnished at a cost of about $40,000. The new edifice was begun in
1889, and dedicated June 26, 1890.

[Illustration: Stott Mills.]

_Union African Methodist Episcopal Church._--This organization was
begun in the winter of 1906. The church was incorporated under the
above name on March 12, 1906. Rev. Joseph Stiles was the first
pastor. During the year that Rev. Stiles had charge a new church was
built on McEwan street at a cost of something like $2,000.

_The Roman Catholic Church of St. Stephen._--In Shea's history we
read, Father Steinmeyer, S. J., better known as Father Farmer,
crossed over from his New Jersey missions into Orange County and
baptized seven near Warwick. After his death, other priests may have
visited the neighborhood, but there is no record of the fact.

In 1849, Father Ward was appointed resident pastor at Goshen, with,
charge of all Orange County, except the strip along the Hudson. The
building formerly occupied by the Methodist church in Church street
was purchased by the denomination, but was not taken possession of
until 1867.

In June, 1887, the Presbyterian church at Florida was purchased.

In May, 1887, the cemetery ground was purchased at Warwick for $350,
about an acre and a half.

Father Minogue erected the present church on South street in the year
1903, at a cost of $16,000.

_The Calvary Baptist Church of Warwick._--This church was formed on
the 4th of January, 1866. Very soon after its organization, measures
were taken to erect a house of worship. A lot was purchased on West
street, in the village of Warwick, in 1867, and the edifice was
dedicated August 26, 1868. The parsonage was built the following
year--1869. Total expenditure about $20,000. In 1902 the house of
worship was remodeled and a large addition made to the eastern side
for the use of the Sunday school. Total expenditure, including new
seats and pipe organ, about $10,000. Society incorporated February,
1872.

_The Methodist Episcopal Church of Warwick._--The list of pastors
since 1880 is as follows: William Colden, 1880-1882; Cyrus W.
McPherson, 1883-1884; E. S. Bishop, 1885-1887; Philip M. Waters,
1888-1889; Arthur Thompson, 1800-1894; Frank Heale, 1895-1896; Edwin
H. Carr, 1897-1899; Elmer E. Count, 1900-1902; David McCartney,
1903-1904; J. C. Codington, 1905-1906; E. Stirling Potter, 1907.

In 1891, $5,500 was expended on improving church and parsonage. In
1906, $7,250 additional was expended, increasing the value of the
property to nearly $13,000. The present membership is 240, an
increase of 102.

_The Old School Baptist Church in Warwick._--The principal historical
events since 1880, when a history of the church was published in
Ruttenber's history of the county, are as follows: Elder James
Benedict resigned his charge on June 29, 1786, instead of 1777, as
stated in the published history. A centennial celebration of the
organization of the church was held on October 5, 1865. Elder
Lebbeus Lathrop preached the first sermon in the meeting house still
standing on May 19, 1811. The burying ground belonging to the church
and still in use was started in 1795, and lies nearly opposite the
former burying ground, on the road from Warwick to Bellvale.

_Christ Church (Episcopal)._--The first attempt to start an Episcopal
church in Warwick was in 1804, but the plan was not consummated. In
1854 another effort was made, and services were held in the former
Methodist Episcopal church until 1859, under the Rev. W. H. Carter,
when again the project was abandoned.

In 1862 the Rev. George Zabriskie Gray, then in deacon's orders, held
services in Warwick for about six months, when he was called to
another charge.

In 1864 Rev. N. F. Ludlum was called, and a certificate of
incorporation of the parish was executed under the name of Christ
Church, Warwick, N. Y. In 1865 a building committee was appointed,
composed of Grinnell Burt, John Cowdrey and J. Mason McJimsey. The
building was opened for divine worship the ensuing year, 1866.

_The Y. M. C. A. of Warwick._--This organization was begun in 1879,
incorporated in 1885, and in 1907 owns a building and lot on Main
street, with a new gymnasium, costing about $6,000, entirely free of
debt. It also owns a library of over 1,200 volumes, part donated and
part purchased by the association. The library is registered at
Albany, and is the only free public library in the village.

                          BURIAL PLACES.

For over a century the tract of land lying to the north of the
Reformed church was used as a burying ground. The deeds of conveyance
to the then trustees of the Presbyterian church, the predecessor of
the Reformed church--Francis Baird, John Simson and George Nance,
dated January 11, and April 23, 1793--recite that in still earlier
conveyances from William Wickham and John Morin Scott, one of which
was dated March 14, 1770, to William Wisner, of forty-five acres of
land, "one acre thereof was excepted and reserved there-out for a
burial ground for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church of
Warwick." In 1889, at the time when the new stone church was built,
there had been no interments here for perhaps twenty years, and
accordingly a consent was obtained from at least three-fourths of the
congregations of the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch Churches for the
removal of all the remains interred therein, as required by law. The
Reformed Church purchased a lot in the Warwick Cemetery and received
deed from the latter, dated June 15, 1889, to which lot the remains
of all those interred in the church burying ground were removed, and
also the headstones marking the graves. There are 116 of these
stones; doubtless there were many buried there without any stones to
mark them, and there were other burials there which were afterwards
removed to family lots in the Warwick Cemetery when the latter was
dedicated in 1867. The oldest stone is one erected to the memory of
Anna, the wife of William Eagles, who departed this life July 8,
1771. There are interred there Revolutionary soldiers, members of
consistory and many prominent citizens. To William Culver, a donor to
the church, was erected by the church a monument, bearing this
inscription: "Sacred to the memory of William Culver, who departed
this life, at South Hampton, Long Island, October 27, 1822, aged 37
years, in hope of a blessed immortality."

[Illustration: William B. Sayer]

The last interment of which there is a gravestone is that of Daniel
Sinsabaugh, who died November 19, 1869, aged thirty-eight years. It
is believed that there were later interments than this, but if so
there are no stones marking the graves.

It is said that Jacob Gaul, a colored man, the sexton of the church
for over twenty years, was one of the last burials in the old church
graveyard.

The Old School Baptist burying ground, situated at the corner of
Galloway road and Lake street, was first used for burial purposes in
about 1774, when the meeting house was built there.

This plot of land was given to the Baptist Church by Elder James
Benedict, by deed dated September 12, 1791. The trustees of the said
church at that time were James Burt, John Morris Foght and John
Sutton; consideration mentioned in deed, forty shillings current
money; contains seventy-nine perches of land.

Elder James Benedict died September 9, 1792, aged seventy-two years,
six months, eighteen days, and was buried in this plot of ground, but
no stone marks the spot. This plot was used as a burial ground until
1795.

                              SCHOOLS.

The Warwick Institute continued as an academy until October 1, 1868,
when the entire property was transferred to the board of education of
Union Free School District No. 12. The district at that time
consisted of the school districts Nos. 11 and 12. Since 1880 two
other districts have been annexed, Nos. 10 and 23.

In 1893 the board of education built a new brick school house, in the
place of the old wooden structure and upon the same site, at a total
cost of $23,000. Again in 1901, another brick building was built, at
a cost of about $16,000, to take care of the increased demands for
more school facilities. The latter building was erected upon a new
site and is called the High School.

According to the last census (1906) there are 512 children of school
age in the district; the actual number enrolled is 450.

                   MISCELLANEOUS.

_Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company._--This company was first
organized under the name of the Warwick Valley Railroad Company,
April 20, 1859, for the purpose of building a road from the village
of Warwick to the line of the New York & Erie Railroad, at or near
the village of Chester.

May, 1879, steps were taken to extend this road to McAfee, Sussex
County, and in December, 1880, the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway
Company was formed for the purpose of extending it to Belvedere,
N. J., on the Delaware River, and connecting with the Pennsylvania
Railroad at that point. The line was built and the road opened for
business through to Belvedere in August, 1882.

In 1889 an extension was built from a point near Greycourt, N. Y., to
Maybrook, N. Y., connecting at that place with the Poughkeepsie
Bridge Road. Arrangements were made to use the tracks of the
Pennsylvania Railroad to Phillipsburgh, N. J. A bridge was built
across the Delaware River at that point to Easton, making a
continuous line from Easton. Pa., to Maybrook, N. Y.

[Illustration: George W. Sanford]

_The First National Bank of Warwick._--This bank was organized at a
meeting of citizens held in January, 1864, at the Warwick Valley
House. After a canvass for subscriptions to its stock, which was to
be $75,000, on January 21, 1864, its articles of association were
adopted. On January 28, the first board of directors was chosen. On
January 29, John L. Welling was chosen president, and on February 6,
John Cowdrey was chosen vice-president. On March 11 it was voted to
increase its capital stock by $25,000, making it $100,000 as it
stands to-day. At the same date Grinnell Burt was sent to Washington
to have this bank made a depository for the internal revenue of this
Congressional District. The bank commenced business April 1, 1864.

_The Warwick Savings Bank_ was the first one incorporated under the
general law of 1875. It commenced business January 3, 1876. James H.
Holly has been president since January 7, 1879. Thomas Burt has
served as secretary and treasurer from the organization to the
present time, and has had the general care and management. There has
been a steady increase in deposits year by year, and there is now
(July 1, 1907) on deposit $1,264,636.24 belonging to 3,483
depositors, and a surplus of $40,683.97.

_The Warwick Cemetery Association_ was incorporated in 1865. The land
purchased, graded, surveyed and plotted in 1866, was dedicated July
2, 1867, Leonard Cox delivering an appropriate poetical address, and
Rev. Cyrus G. Van Derveer the oration on that occasion. The
twenty-seven acres of ground have a pleasing elevated contour, which
were plotted by Mr. B. F. Hatheway, of Stamford, Conn.

The lands cost about $7,000 and improvements about $5,000. The funds
were provided by citizens' notes of $100 and $200, which were
canceled by deeds for lots to the makers of notes. The purchase of a
cottage, building a vault and entrance gates and bringing in the
public water for fountains were accomplished in the few following
years and the Association was free from debt, and in 1881 had $2,000
invested. In 1907 its investments in bonds and mortgages and
Government bonds are over $30,000.

George W. Sanford was president from its organization until his
death in 1900--for thirty-five years. He was succeeded by Sidney H.
Sanford and the latter by Nicholas L. Furman.

Nearly all lot enclosures have been removed, graves leveled and a
fine sward maintained and treated as a lawn, without expense to the
lot owners. Its picturesque appearance, fine monuments and well kept
grounds command the admiration of its visitors.

_Water-Works._--The village was first supplied with water in 1872.
The brook running north through the Thomas Welling and P. E. Sanford
farms to the Wawayanda creek furnishes the supply, and is called
Mistucky. This name is an Indian one, from an Indian village located
near the reservoirs, originally called Miskoutucky, signifying red
hills or plains.

In 1871 preparations were made for the building of a dam of 131 feet
across this brook, which when completed made a reservoir of 1 90/100
acres on the Welling farm and 1 50/100 acres on the Sanford farm,
both of which pieces of land were acquired by the village. Upon the
completion of the work and the introduction of water in the village,
a celebration took place in honor of the event in January, 1872.

This reservoir is situated one and a half miles south from the
center of the village and covers over three acres of land, with a
capacity of eight million gallons of water. The works were
constructed at a cost of $25,000.

In 1890 the village had outgrown the old supply and steps were taken
to increase the same. Accordingly a second reservoir was constructed
about a quarter of a mile to the south of the first dam, with a
capacity of thirty million gallons.

In 1903 the sum of $23,000 was appropriated for the enlargement of
water mains and the construction of new ones.

_Fire Department._--The fire department consists of two hose
companies--Excelsior No. 1 and Raymond Hose Company, and the Goodwill
Hook and Ladder Company. The fire council consists of the chief
engineer and two warders elected from each of the companies.
Inspection day is held each year in the month of September, at which
time the rooms and apparatus of the various companies are inspected
by the president and trustees of the village, and a parade of the
whole department takes place.

_Grand Army of the Republic._--A post of the Grand Army of the
Republic was organized at Warwick on November 16, 1885, with
thirty-three charter members. James W. Mullery was commander, and the
post was named for Michael Mullery, a brother of the commander, who
served in a New Jersey regiment. The number of the post is 575.

Some years after its organization the name was changed to John J.
Wheeler Post, in honor of Colonel John J. Wheeler, a native of the
town of Warwick, who served with honor and distinction in the 56th
New York Regiment.

[Illustration: Wm. B. Sayer House, Warwick, Erected, 1766]




CHAPTER XXX. TOWN OF WAWAYANDA.

By Charles E. Stickney.



The name Wawayanda is a corruption of the general salutation between
white settlers and Indians in pioneer times. This we take to be
illustrated by the example given in Gabriel Thomas' "East and West
Jersey," published in 1698. He evidently was familiar with the Indian
language and lived in Philadelphia where he was a frequent
participant in the conversations when a white man and an Indian met.
He reports it as follows: "When meeting, the white man would say in
the Indian language 'Hitah takoman?' (Whence comest thou?) The Indian
would reply, 'Andagowa a nee weekin' (over yonder). Then the white
man, 'Tony andagowa a kee weekin?' (Where yonder?) The broad Indian
accent coupled with the recurrence of the words 'over yonder' was
very probably the true derivation of the word 'Wawayanda.'"

There is not much doubt that the town of Wawayanda was formed out of
Minisink for political reasons. In 1849 the board of supervisors in
Orange County was Whig by a considerable majority. The town of
Minisink was and had been considered Democratic for a long time.
Nevertheless that year Daniel Fullerton, a Whig, was elected
Supervisor of Minisink. By taking off the northern part of Minisink
the Whigs hoped to be able to elect the officials in the new town
universally. Dr. D. C. Hallock made a survey for it. The signers of
the petition were mostly Whigs. November 27th, Mr. Fullerton made the
motion in the board of supervisors for the division of the town and
the creation of the new town to be called Wawayanda. The motion
carried by a strict party vote of ten Whigs for, to five Democrats
against it. The name was selected from the old Wawayanda patent, with
out any particular reference to its meaning. The town has ever since
been mostly Democratic in its elections. At the first election in the
spring of 1850, $200 was ordered raised for roads and bridges.

The population of the town in 1855, the first census taken after it
was formed, showed it to contain 2,069 inhabitants. Ten years later
it had 1,906, a decrease of 163. In 1905, the last census taken, it
had 1,574, a decrease since the first census of 1855 (fifty years) of
495. There were only 34 aliens in the last census.

The assessment of this town in 1865 was 19,677 acres, valued at
$706,250. and in 1906, forty-one years later, its assessment was
20,175 acres, valued at $695,060, and in 1907 it was the same. The
town expenses in 1907 were $1,067.88, besides $2,250 for highways and
$400 for bridges.

                   THE DROWNED LAND WAR.

A feature of the towns of Minisink and Wawayanda is the Drowned
Lands. These comprise the valley of the Wallkill, or, as named by the
Indians, the "Twischsawkin," extending from Hamburg, N. J., to Denton
in this State. The westerly part of that valley is the part of it in
the territory of which we write. When the Wallings, who, so far as we
can ascertain were the first permanent settlers at the head and on
the west shore of these drowned lands, located here, they found them
covered with water the greater part of each year, and of little value
except for grazing purposes, and for the wood upon them. Their total
acreage was about 40,000 acres, of which 10,000 acres were in New
Jersey. From the high grounds of the west shore to the river the
distance will average about half a mile. The great Cedar Swamp on the
eastern shore of the lands comprised about 15,000 acres. It was
covered with water more or less the year round, and, when the ice was
strong enough in winter, farmers drove for many miles to it to get a
supply of rails and wood. In spring floods the water was often from
eight to twenty feet deep over the entire drowned lands. They were
the homes of innumerable flocks of wild geese and ducks, and the
flocks were often composed of thousands of members. They raised
their young by thousands in the great swamps. Fish were also very
abundant.

In 1804 the farmers who owned lands along this vast morass, as well
as the rich speculators who had bought, for a trifle, huge tracts of
it, agitated the plan for a drainage. They got up petitions and
appealed to the legislature for help so persistently, that, in 1807,
that body passed an act authorizing money to be raised to drain the
drowned lands. The act empowered five commissioners to be elected
annually in Goshen. They were to assess property owners along the
drowned lands for expenses.

A large ditch was dug by them from Turtle Bay (a wide and deep place
in the river opposite the present farm of Reeves B. Wickham and the
former Van Bomel farm), to the junction of Rutger's Creek with the
Wallkill, a distance of about two miles in a direct line up stream.
The intention was for this ditch to carry the river's water mainly,
especially at high tides. Other work was done, so that in nineteen
years it is estimated that $40,000 had been expended. Little good
resulted from it, for the ditches rapidly filled with mud. The ruins
of this ditch are easily traced at this time.

Gabriel N. Phillips was then the owner of the great woolen factory
and an immense dam at what is now called New Hampton, but which was
then called Phillipses'.

                      MISCELLANEOUS.

The Erie Railroad, completed through New Hampton in 1835, caused that
village to become a business place. Many farmers who then brought
their produce to Goshen for shipment, changed to New Hampton and some
large business houses started up. The large manufactories which soon
started in Middletown and the completion of railroads from Sussex
County, N. J., to New York, drew off trade and New Hampton is to-day
of less importance than it was in former days.

Denton, named from the family that founded it, has been subject to
much the same influences as New Hampton. It is about three-quarters
of a mile southwest of the latter place. Once there were drug stores,
hotels and a vigorous church there. Under the local option law there
have been no licenses for hotels issued in Wawayanda for the past
twenty-five years. The business of Denton has, like other villages,
drifted away from it.

Centerville, now called South Centerville, was named from its central
location in the old town of Minisink. Its trade has, much like that
of other villages in proximity to Middletown, very much lessened of
late years.

Slate Hill is one of the very early settled places in this town. It
was before the days of post-offices called Brookfield. Some say that
this name was adapted from the circumstance of a brook winding around
the village.

Ridgeberry, named from the high ridge east of it, famous for berries,
was an early settled place and once had two hotels, two stores, two
churches and was quite a business place. Owing to the same causes
which have taken away the trade of many other villages, Ridgeberry
has now only one good store.

The Old School Baptist Church at Slate Hill deserves more than a
passing notice. Built over 100 years ago it stands there to-day as it
was built, but its congregation has nearly melted away. We give it a
more extended notice elsewhere. The Methodists have a chapel in the
village and conduct services weekly. The Presbyterians have purchased
a site for a church in the village and it is only a question of time
when an edifice will be built upon it. Millsburg on Boudinot's Creek,
and Gardnersville on Rutger's Creek, are shorn to a great extent of
their former glory. The Manning Company has feed and saw mills at the
latter place, while in the former place the mills of Frank Mead are
its distinguishing features.

The first town meeting held in the town after its organization was at
the hotel of D. C. Hallock in Brookfield-Slate Hill in the spring of
1850. This was in the building now occupied by Kinney Skinner as a
store. The other hotel, then kept in the place, was on the opposite
corner now owned by Dr. F. D. Myers as a private dwelling. That hotel
was then kept by William Bell. There was then no fence in the space
between the hotels and the square was often the scene of lively
scraps in the good old days.

An Indian, Keghgekapowell, one of the granters of the Evans patent
under Governor Dongan, was commonly called by the whites "Jo-Gee."
After signing away his rights to the lands under that patent he moved
to the foot of the hill, about a mile and a half west of what is now
Brookfield-Slate Hill, and resided there for some years. The hill in
the rear of his wigwam became known as "Jo-Gee" from that
circumstance. A spring by his wigwam furnished him water, and an
apple tree which he is said to have set there, bore fruit for several
generations after his departure. The fruit was of a peculiar variety
and excellent. He is reported to have been a good old man and kept up
his friendship for the whites until a party of his tribe came on a
visit and coaxed him to go away with them, which was the last seen of
him in this town.

The manufacture of pot and pearl ashes was an important industry in
the early history of the town. Benjamin Smith was engaged in it
during and after the Revolution.

Tanneries were once of much importance in the industries of the town.
There were at least two in Greenville at one time, one in Minisink,
and a large one for those times, in Brookfield-Slate Hill, in the
eighteenth century. The one in Slate Hill was where Elijah Cock now
has his Creamery and where Samuel Hornbeck resides. The last
proprietor of it was Holloway W. Stephens. He was a justice of the
peace in 1851.

In those early days it took a full year to tan a cow skin, an art now
performed in a few days.

There is not a tannery in existence in this locality now.

Besides tanning, previously mentioned, two other important industries
have passed out of existence in these towns--milling and distilling.
When the white settlers first invaded this country they did as the
Indians did, pounded their corn and grain into flour by means of
wooden mortars and stone pestles which the Indians taught them to
use; but in a short time grist mills were erected and a little later
milling grew to be a great part of the work of part of the
population. Large mills were at one time in Gardnersville,
Dolsontown, Waterloo Mills, Unionville, Brookfield, and Millsburg.
Old millers remembered were: The Gardners, Christian Schultz, Peter
Kimber, John Racine, James C. and Adirondam Austin. The course of
trade has now caused all the flour to be purchased of western
millers, and the old mills are now closed or simply used to grind
cow and horse feed. Frank Mead's, at Millsburg, is now the only
flouring mill in the town. In those first days whiskey was a common
beverage in almost every family, and when visitors came it was
considered a breach of hospitality to neglect to set out a glass of
it for the guests. It sold then, as we find from old account books,
at about seventy-five cents a gallon. Distilleries abounded
everywhere. But there came a time when taxes were laid heavily on
distillers, and the price of liquor was put up by the action of the
taxes. In consequence the distilleries dropped out one by one, until
now only one remains in Wawayanda, near Centreville; and one in
Minisink, near Johnson's.

                     WAWAYANDA CHURCHES.

The Baptist church of Brookfield (now Slate Hill) executed a
certificate of organization at the house of Lebbeu Lathrop, which,
we have been informed, was then in the village, December 15, 1791.
Isaac Finch, John Fenton and Benjamin Smith were the trustees.
Previous to that date several members had, in July, 1783, stated to
the Warwick church, in an application, that they lived west of the
Wallkill and desired to be set off as a separate church. August 28,
1783, Elder Benedict, of Warwick, with two brethren named Sillshee,
came west of the Wallkill, baptized seven members, and constituted
the church. A brother named Clark was ordained the next day to preach
for the new church. The meetings of the congregation were held at
private houses and in barns to suit convenience until 1792.

In December, 1791. John Hallock, whose lands extended from his
residence, a mile south of Ridgeberry, across the flats and to
Brookfield, deeded a lot to the church for its use. In 1792 the new
meeting house was erected on the lot. In those days the difference
between the meaning of church (an organization for religious worship)
and the building used for meeting purposes was clearly defined, and
the edifice was called a meeting house invariably. The building at
first was without a steeple and just as it stands to this day,
except it now has a steeple. The steeple was added to it in 1828. The
church interior is to-day just as it was first built and should be
preserved as an excellent specimen of old-time architecture.

A Congregational church was organized in Ridgeberry in 1792, which
held until 1817, when it was changed to Presbyterian. The regular
organization of the church dates from November 27, 1805, when a
certificate of it was filed at the house of Jonathan Bailey in
Ridgeberry.

The next oldest church organization to Ridgeberry was the
Presbyterian as Centerville. This was incorporated April 5, 1827. The
church edifice was built and dedicated in 1829.

The Presbyterian church of Denton was organized and dedicated in
1839.

The Methodist Episcopal church, at what is now called South
Centerville, was incorporated September 8, 1873.




CHAPTER XXXI.

TOWN OF WOODBURY.



The town of Woodbury is located in the southeast section of Orange
County. Bounded on the north by the towns of Blooming Grove and
Cornwall, on the east by the town of Highland, on the south by
Rockland County and the town of Tuxedo, while the town of Monroe
forms its western boundary. It has an area of 23,839 acres, and the
title to the soil is mainly derived through the Chesekook patent. The
assessed valuation of real estate in the town in 1907 was $802,371.

_Topography._--A striking feature of the town is the continuous
valley extending from the northern to the southern boundary which
divides the town into nearly equal parts, and which has been made the
line of the Newburgh short-cut branch of the Erie railroad, and of
the new State road. Through this valley flows Woodbury Creek
northward, uniting in the town of Cornwall with Moodna Creek. Not far
south of the sources of Woodbury Creek are the headwaters of the
Ramapo, which flows southward through the town of Tuxedo. The summit
between these two valleys is low, and the rivulets of the two streams
flowing in opposite directions are found very near to each other. The
eastern portion of the town is drained by Popolopen Creek in the town
of Highlands. Numerous ponds of surpassing beauty are within the town
limits, of which Cromwell, Forest and Cranberry Lakes are the
largest.

The Schunnemunk Mountains, appropriately described as the "high hills
to the west of the Highlands," extend along the northwestern boundary
of the town and are divided longitudinally by the boundary line of
Blooming Grove and Woodbury. This was the original dividing line
between the Wawayanda and Chesekook patents, and also one of the
monuments in the line of the Evans patent. This range has an
elevation of from 1,300 to 1,600 feet. Eastward across the valley
filling out to a section of the southeast border of the county and
forming a portion of the Highlands, is a battlement of mountainous
elevations, including Pine Hill, Black Cap, Cranberry Hill,
Stockbridge, Stevens, Goshen, Letter-rock and Black Mountains.

                EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

The southeastern portion of Orange County was settled mostly from the
Eastern States and Long Island. The families were generally of
English ancestry. All accounts of Revolutionary times indicate a
population of considerable numbers in this territory. The Chesekook
patent was granted in 1702, and there was no settlement for some
years following that date. The Smiths were in this region as early as
1727, and the name Smith's Clove near the present village of Highland
Mills appears in the town records of Cornwall of 1765. The records of
Cornwall having been preserved, the following names are taken from
them as having belonged to what is now the territory of Woodbury.
Solomon Cromwell and Jonathan Hallock were among the earliest
settlers. John Earle in 1765 was a chosen fence-viewer for Woodbury
Clove. He lived near Highland Mills. His sons were Peter, John and
Solomon. Isaac and John Lamoreux are both mentioned in Cornwall
records before the Revolution. Thomas Smith was overseer of highways
in 1765. William Thorn was a justice of the peace in 1770 and lived
at Highland Mills. Captain Austin Smith was chosen assessor in 1775.
Nicholas Townsend came from Long Island previous to the Revolution.
Tobias Weygant was a town officer of Monroe at the first town meeting
in 1799. Jonathan Taylor, one of the first school commissioners,
lived near Highland Mills, and Linus Rider lived on the "Ridge" west
of the same hamlet. Patrick Ford lived near Woodbury Falls. His son,
David Ford, was the father of ten children, of whom Charles T. was
the eldest. Further reference to the early settlement of this
locality is made in the historical sketch of the old town of Monroe.

                    ORGANIZATION.

In the year 1863 a movement was set on foot to divide the town of
Monroe into three towns. A petition was sent to the board of
supervisors, which was granted at its usual meeting. The names of the
new towns were respectively Monroe, Highland and Southfield. Monroe
held its town meeting March 22, 1864, electing Chauncey B. Knight,
supervisor. Highland did likewise, choosing its old favorite, Morgan
Shuit. The town of Southfield organized in the same manner, elected
Josiah Patterson, supervisor. This triple division was at length
disapproved, and in 1865 the Legislature was asked to overrule the
action of the board and reorganize the old town of Monroe. This
movement was successful.

December 19, 1889, the board of supervisors, upon representation of
the diverse interests of different parts of the town, resolved to
redivide the same into three parts. The three new towns erected were
named respectively, Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo. The lines were run
so as to give Monroe 12,101 acres, Woodbury 23,839 acres and Tuxedo
27,839 acres. It was further resolved that the division of the town
should be made on the old lines, but that the names Woodbury and
Tuxedo should be substituted for Highland and Southfield. The reason
advanced for this re-division was that the town was too large and its
interests too diverse for harmonious government. In January, 1890,
John A. Patterson represented the newly created town of Woodbury in
the board of supervisors. James Seaman was the second supervisor from
this town, Alexander Thompson the third, and William E. Ferguson, who
was elected November, 1907, the fourth. The town hall is located at
Highland Mills, where the present town clerk, B. S. Pembleton,
resides. The assessors in 1907 are Charles Jones and William Wilson,
of Highland Mills, and Richard Bullwinkle, of Central Valley. The
highway commissioners are E. C. Cunningham, of Central Valley, N. B.
Hunter, of Highland Mills, and John H. Hunter, of Woodbury Falls. The
justices of the peace are W. M. Gildersleeve and John Rodgers, of
Central Valley, Amos W. Sutherland, of Highland Mills, and Charles E.
Hand, of Mountainville. The town is divided into four school
districts, of which the Free School at Central Valley is the most
important. A new school building is in course of construction at
Highland Mills at a cost of $18,000. Places of worship include the
Friends' churches at Woodbury Falls and Highland Mills, a Methodist
Episcopal church at Highland Mills and another of the same
denomination at Central Valley. A Roman Catholic church is now being
erected midway between Central Valley and Highland Mills. The Society
of Friends had a meeting house in Cornwall, built before 1788, and
it was the only meeting house or church in that town until 1825. The
meeting house at Smith's Clove was built in 1799. After the
separation of the society in 1828, a meeting house one and a half
miles easterly of Highland Mills was built. The first Methodist
Episcopal church in the old town of Monroe was organized and duly
incorporated May 2, 1829, and a church edifice soon afterward erected
at Highland Mills.

[Illustration: Charles T. Ford.]

                       VILLAGES.

Central Valley, a noted summer resort, is the most thriving and
populous village in the town, on the Newburgh branch of the Erie
railroad. A post-office was established here December 27, 1871.
Alfred Cooper was appointed postmaster and held the position many
years. Mr. J. M. Barnes received the appointment of postmaster in
1885 and again in 1892. Henry T. Ford, the present incumbent,
received the appointment July 15, 1899. Among the leading industries
of the village is the Bamboo fishing Rod factory of which Reuben
Leonard is superintendent. This was established by the late Hiram L.
Leonard, who came to Central Valley in 1881. The Leonard rods are
shipped to all parts of the world where fly-fishing is pursued. The
carriage factory of R. F. Weygant's Sons is another important
industry. It was established in 1867 by Robert F. Weygant, who died
September 3, 1902. He was a descendant of Michael Weigand of the
Rhine Palatinate, who settled at Newburgh in 1709. The sons, Frank E.
and Fred, conduct the Central Valley establishment, and William M.
operates the blacksmith shop and garage at Tuxedo. The flour and
grain warehouse of J. M. Barnes had an extensive trade. Mr. Barnes
located in Central Valley in 1876, engaging in the mercantile
business with Alfred Cooper. In this village is located the office of
the superintendent of the Good Roads Construction Company, Mr.
Charles T. Ford, who in his sixty-third year is one of the most
active citizens in the county. Many miles of good roads in Orange
County are evidence of the splendid work accomplished under his
direction. Here also is a branch of the Arden Farms Dairy Company.
Both these enterprises are the product of Mr. E. H. Harriman, who
owns extensive farms throughout this section. Mr. Isaac L. Noxon
erected many of the beautiful homes and other substantial structures
in and adjoining the village. He also conducted for a time a
classical boarding school. Here also was the home of the Cornell
Institute, a high-class boarding and day school of which Mr. David
Cornell was principal. In the fall of 1885 Tomas Estrada Palma
established the Palma Institute over which he presided. It was a
school for boys in which they were prepared for college, English,
French and Spanish being taught. Mr. Palma was a Cuban and in 1868
joined the Revolutionists. After fighting nine years he was captured
and taken to Spain, where he spent a year in prison. His first visit
to Central Valley was in 1879, making his home here with Mr. David
Cornell. "Falkirk," an institution designed and built for the special
care of patients suffering from nervous diseases, was founded by Dr.
James Francis Ferguson in 1889. Its elevated location, a mile and a
half from the village, and the beautiful surroundings, contribute to
make an ideal home for such patients. Following the death of Dr.
Ferguson in 1904, the sanitarium was conducted for two years by Dr.
Henry A. Ferguson and William E. Ferguson, when it was purchased by
Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald, who has associated with him Dr. Clarence J.
Slocum as resident physician. Among the New Yorkers who occupy their
homes here during the entire year may be mentioned Mr. Edward
Cornell, Mr. W. E. Ferguson, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Theboldt and Mr.
Bullwinkle.

Highland Mills is situated about a mile north of Central Valley, and
is the home of the descendants of some of the earliest settlers in
this region, notably the Cromwells, Townsends and Hallocks. The place
grew up around the mills established at this point. The Townsend
tannery and the Townsend flour mill were in operation many years ago.
The place was formerly known as Orange and a post-office was
established here under that name in 1828. Mr. Vail was the first
postmaster. He was succeeded by Peter Lent in 1844, and a few years
later Morgan Shuit received the appointment. It was about this time
that Mr. Shuit began taking an active interest in local politics in
which he soon became a leader. For thirty-one years he was
supervisor of the town, and for a like period justice of the peace.
From 1879-1880 and 1880-1881 he was a member of the State
Legislature; retiring from a mercantile career in 1864, he purchased
large tracts of farm land, and followed this vocation to the time of
his death in 1884. Among the business enterprises of the village is
the fishing line factory; the high-class livery of Tannery & Hull,
whose stables contain forty head of horses; the fish rod factory of
Edward Paine, and the firms of Jarnes & Terry and Harding & Eames,
building contractors. The leading mercantile establishments are
those of George Cromwell, B. S. Pembleton and Albert Fitch. The
present postmaster is Henry Hallock. The only hotel in the village is
conducted by George Lamoreux. Hill Crest, a fashionable summer hotel,
is a mile and a half west of the village. It has accommodations for
two hundred and fifty guests. The Cromwell Lake House, bordering on
this beautiful sheet of water, accommodates one hundred and fifty
guests, and is conducted by Oliver Cromwell. The water supply for the
villages of Highland Mills and Central Valley is obtained from
Cromwell Lake.

[Illustration: James F. Ferguson, M.D.]

Woodbury Falls is a hamlet in the north part of the town, taking its
name from the falls in Woodbury Creek. It was formerly the seat of a
furnace. A post-office was established here August 11, 1874, and
Lewis A. Van Cleft was the first postmaster. James Seaman is the
present incumbent.

The specific details of the settlement of this region are blended
with the histories of the towns of Cornwall and Monroe, to which the
reader is referred.




CHAPTER XXXII.

THE BENCH AND BAR.

By William Vanamee.



At the unveiling in Goshen, September 5th, 1907, of the monument in
memory of the gallant soldiers of the 124th Regiment, erected by that
modern exemplar of medieval knighthood, that truest of men, of
gentlemen and of heroes, Thomas W. Bradley, it was mentioned by one
of the speakers that just forty-five years before, upon that very
spot, as the regiment was about to start for the front, the stand of
colors destined to be carried by it through many a battle, was
presented to it in behalf of the Daughters of Orange by Charles H.
Winfield.

His noble, inspiring speech upon that occasion was fitly responded to
in behalf of the regiment by David F. Gedney, then Mr. Winfield's
only rival at the Goshen bar and his acknowledged equal. The highest
praise that can be bestowed upon either is that each feared for the
success of his cause when opposed by the other. Indeed they were
nearly always opposed, for what timid, anxious client, learning that
his adversary had engaged the services of one, ever failed to suggest
to his local attorney the importance of averting prospective defeat
by the employment of the other. This remark of course applies chiefly
to litigations arising in the Western end of the county, in which the
trials were usually held at Goshen, for in Newburgh, Stephen W.
Fullerton, who was admitted to the bar in 1844, just one year before
Mr. Gedney was admitted and two years before Mr. Winfield, had from
the first successfully challenged their supremacy in the county at
large. Well might he do so, for while he was not the equal of
Winfield in magnetism and force or of Gedney in scholarship and
style, yet he excelled them both in acuteness, in industry and in
mastery of the rules of evidence. This, then, was the great
triumvirate that forty years ago reigned supreme throughout the
county of Orange in the affection of their associates, in the
admiration of juries and in the plaudits of the multitude--Winfield,
Gedney, Fullerton. All three possessed genius of an uncommon order
and no court, however insensible to the graces of oratory, could
wholly restrain its flights or direct its course. When the vexatious
details of the testimony were over--for in those days the testimony
was regarded by the public as a tedious formality preparatory to the
great event of the trial, the summing up--and when it was understood
that the addresses to the jury were to begin, the courtroom was
quickly filled by people from all parts of the county, eager for the
intellectual treat that was sure to follow. Winfield was wont to
begin his closing argument somewhat slowly and even laboriously. This
was due partly to the habit of his mind, which required the stimulus
of exercise to quicken it to its highest exertions, but partly also
to rhetorical design, by which he sought to make his subsequent
outbursts of impassioned eloquence seem wholly unstudied, spontaneous
and irrepressible. Indeed, they usually were. As the thought of his
client's wrongs surged in upon him, as he dwelt upon his client's
right to protection or relief, or contemplated the disaster involved
in defeat, his words could scarcely keep pace with the torrent of
impetuous, sincere and deep emotion on which they were upborne. He
always struck the human note which the case presented. To him a trial
did not involve a mere application of legal principles to an
ascertained state of facts, but to him every case, however dry,
barren or abstract, was a human drama. He saw, with the eye of
imagination and the insight of genius, those forces of hate and
revenge, of greed and falsehood, of cunning and cruelty, of devotion
and affection, of honor and truth, which in one form or another,
surcharge every trial, and project their palpitating figures upon the
most intensely vital, vibrant stage for which the scenes were ever
set--the conscious court-room, the austere judge, the impassioned
advocates, the enthralled spectators; human life or liberty, human
happiness or despair, human rights or relations, hanging in the
balance upon a jury's nod. All this Winfield saw. In every trial the
panorama of human life unfolded itself to his inspired vision. He
took the broken, confused fragments of human testimony and subjecting
them to the kaleidoscope of his own fervent, symmetrizing, mirroring
imagination, they were transformed into pictures of beauty or shapes
of evil, as he willed.

[Illustration: William Vanamee]

It can easily be imagined that his power over juries was well nigh
irresistible. If David F. Gedney, who was so often pitted against
him, had sought to counteract his influence by the exercise of
similar gifts, he might well have despaired of success. But happily
for himself and for the delight of juries and the bar, no advocates
were ever more unlike each other in method of argument, in point of
attack, in form of expression, in appeal to the sentiments, than
Winfield and Gedney. Winfield filled the eye; Gedney charmed the ear.
Winfield visited upon wrong or duplicity the bludgeon blows of
invective. Gedney pierced it with the envenomed shaft of sarcasm.
Winfield sought to break the armor of his adversary with the broad
axe of denunciation. Gedney penetrated it with the slender arrow of
wit and the fatal spear of ridicule. To Winfield language was a
necessary vehicle of thought, a familiar medium of expression. To
Gedney language was a divine instrument, over the responsive chords
of which his master touch swept with unerring taste and classic
grace, evoking notes of exquisite harmony and images of surpassing
beauty. The words that flowed unbidden from his enchrismed lips were
music indeed. His sentences, chaste and polished as though chiseled
in the very laboratory of thought, were but the unconscious
reflection of a mind steeped in the literature of every age and
tongue. Even Winfield often found to his dismay that those weapons of
solid argument which would have defied all the onslaughts of the
gladiator, were powerless before the arts of the magician. Not indeed
that Gedney elevated style above matter or sacrificed strength to
beauty. But in him style and matter were so delicately balanced,
beauty and strength so discreetly blended, that each borrowed from
the other and none was poorer for the exchange.

The personal characteristics of the two men were also different.
Winfield loved the approbation and applause of his fellows and
aspired to political honors. Gedney looked out upon the world with
philosophic calm, undisturbed by its clamors and untempted by its
baubles. The only offices which he held were strictly in the line of
his profession--district attorney and county judge--while Winfield
acquired a conspicuous position in Congress at a time of intense
public interest and excitement. Winfield bore defeat with impatience,
Gedney with equanimity. Winfield, who especially could not endure the
thought of defeat by a younger adversary, often treated him with
unnecessary severity; always, however, taking care to express his
regret afterwards that the heat and zeal of conflict had carried him
too far. Gedney, on the other hand, never suffered to arise the
occasion for apology or regret. He disdained to use his unrivaled
powers of sarcasm and ridicule at the expense of a weaker adversary,
and throughout the entire course of a trial, he was scrupulous not to
say one word which might in any degree wound the sensibilities of a
younger member of the bar. Moreover, he always look pains to speak a
word of encouragement and praise to the younger lawyers whenever
their maiden efforts justified interest or respect.

Gedney's happiest hours were passed at his own fireside, while
Winfield loved to mingle freely with his fellow men. But Winfield's
children had died, one by one, in childhood, and it is pathetic to
recall that he sank to his long sleep while addressing little
children on a peaceful Sunday afternoon in June, just sixty-six years
after his eyes had opened not far away on a world in which he was
destined to reap many cruel sorrows, some substantial rewards, and
all the mocking, delusive delights of a transient fame.

His friend, Judge Gedney, followed him only a month later as he sat
upon the porch of his home in Goshen. As together they had journeyed
through life, sharing its burdens and its conflicts, so in death they
were not long separated, and in the manner of their summons they were
alike blessed, for to neither did it come upon a bed of lingering
illness.

Their lifelong friend, Judge Stephen W. Fullerton, was not so
fortunate. Surviving his old associates fourteen years, he lived to
see the world march past him and to realize the bitter truth that
it takes but little interest in a lawyer, however prominent, popular
or useful he may have been, after his activities and usefulness have
ceased. And yet Judge Fullerton possessed some traits of character
which should have ensured him, above all his fellows, from the sharp
tooth of either ingratitude or neglect. He actually gave away three
fortunes. His generosity knew no bounds. An appeal to his sympathies
was never made in vain. A claim put forward in the name of friendship
was to him sacred and admitted of no hesitation. Every consideration
of selfishness or even of prudence went down before the spectacle of
a friend in need. It was inevitable that a nature so generous and so
confiding should often be imposed upon by unworthy claims, but to
these he never referred with bitterness or even regret. A few dear
friends, including especially Judge Hirsch berg and Walter C. Anthony,
were true and faithful to the last, and it must be a satisfaction to
them to know that their loyal, undeviating attachment cheered and
consoled the last hours of a lawyer who once shared with Winfield and
Gedney undisputed preeminence at the bar of Orange County.

For never were tender, affectionate and generous traits of
character--often assumed to be inconsistent with the coldness and
sternness of the law--joined to a more severe, patient, thorough,
comprehensive training in the law than in the case of Judge
Fullerton. To him the law was a science and the practice of it an
art demanding the sleepless pursuit and worship of its votaries. To
the principles of such a science and the rules of such an art, having
for their object the most exalted end of all organized society, the
establishment of truth and the maintenance of justice, he was willing
to consecrate the noblest energies of his mind and heart. To him no
labor was too hard, no sacrifice too great to deter him from
mastering the minutest details of a complicated case or from
ascertaining and applying the principles by which it should be
governed. When he came to court to present it every form in which
difficulty might be apprehended or obstacles interposed had been
anticipated and provided for. He always tried the case on both sides
before he went to court, and his opponents never raised many of the
points which he, in his anxious survey, had most dreaded. His
thorough knowledge of the rules of evidence enabled him to introduce
testimony upon some minor issue in the case which was afterwards used
with telling effect upon the main issue. In his addresses to the jury
he discarded every appeal to mere sentiment and sought to impress
only their reason and their judgment. His analysis of the evidence
was so close and perfect, his presentation of it so clear and
convincing that the jury were led to think that his was the view they
had taken of it all the time it was being given. Gathering up the
different threads of narrative in the case he wove them together in a
strand of pitiless, impervious, cohesive logic that not all the
frantic efforts of his adversary could avail to unwind. Such was the
man who, like Gedney, had also been county judge and district
attorney of the county, to whom Mr. Marsh, as the spokesman of the
Orange County bar, paid fitting tribute at the Newburgh court house
in June, 1902--Luther R. Marsh who at the time of his own death in
1903, constituted the last lingering tie between the present and the
past.

No history of Orange County is complete that fails to chronicle the
twelve years' residence of Luther R. Marsh, who imparted luster to
every scene in which he mingled, dignity to every spot in which he
lingered. He spent in Middletown the closing years of a life which
had been marked by the most intense ardor and activity in his
profession, and, though he had retired from active practice when he
settled in Orange County, he was drawn into court after that upon two
occasions in litigations arising in the county. The intimate friend
all his life of Orange County's ablest sons, from the Hoffmans to the
Fullertons, he became the friend, the companion, the idol of a new
generation of its lawyers when he came to Middletown in 1889, being
then nearly eighty years of age. For though he lived to be ninety, he
never became old, worn or feeble in spirit. In a public speech
delivered a few months before his death, he declared that to be the
happiest period of his life. In his daily walk and conversation he
exemplified the philosophy of Rabbi Ben Ezra, as expressed by
Browning:

                 "Grow old along with me!
                     The best is yet to be,
           The last of life, for which the first was made;
                   Our times are in His hand
                   Who saith 'A whole I planned,
                  Youth shows but half;' trust God; see all,
                        Nor be afraid!"

Nor was he afraid. His daring vision sought to pierce the secrets of
the hereafter. For a long time before his death he was deeply
interested in spiritual phenomena and in the investigation of those
manifestations of persistent personal energy after death, the
authenticity of which constitutes the only proof we can ever obtain
of the doctrine of immortality. Trained to estimate the weight and
value of evidence, engaged during his entire professional career in
convincing arguments as to its proper construction and effect, he
accepted as sufficient and satisfactory the evidence adduced to him
of communications and impressions still conveyed, as the church even
now maintains they were of old, from those who have passed on to the
spirit world.

But, though during his later years he clearly saw how trivial were
the ordinary ambitions and pursuits of men; though his thoughts
became more and more centered upon things spiritual and eternal, yet
he never lost his interest in the sterling values and, above all, in
the beautiful friendships of life. Childhood, youth and manhood held
each its claim upon his tender regard, his ready understanding, his
never-failing sympathy. To him more than to any man I ever knew do
Goldsmith's immortal lines apply:

       "E'en children followed, with endearing wile,
        And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile.
        His ready smile a parent's warmth exprest;
        Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest;
        To them his heart, his love, his griefs, were given,
        But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven:
        As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
        Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm.
        Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
        Eternal sunshine settles on its head."

Luther R. Marsh was unquestionably the most original, brilliant,
fascinating, prolific, versatile genius that ever dwelt in Orange
County during the years in which in him it "entertained an angel
unawares." He mingled on equal terms with the greatest men of his
generation. He was a partner of Daniel Webster. Among my most
cherished possessions is the tin sign which Mr. Marsh had framed and
hanging for many years in his study, bearing in his own handwriting
the inscription:

                       "Luther R. Marsh.

"In 1845, on Mr. Webster's retirement from business to return to the
Senate of the United States, I took this sign off from our office
door, 44 Wall Street, New York, where it had been during our
partnership."

When Webster was dying in 1852, Henry J. Raymond, the gifted editor
of the New York Times, wrote:

"My Dear Marsh:--We hear from Marshfield that Mr. Webster cannot live
through the day. I want from you, if it is possible, for to-morrow
morning, an article--of what kind you know a good deal better than I
can tell you. . . . No man in this city certainly can do it so well.
Nine o'clock this evening, or even ten, will be early enough to have
it here.

               "Yours as ever,
                   H. J. Raymond."

The article, occupying over four columns, was there on time. Mr.
Marsh, that afternoon, upon a moment's notice, at a single stroke,
threw off an estimate of Webster's genius and achievements that never
was excelled later, even in the glowing, studied periods of Everett,
Winthrop, and Curtis.

When in 1869, Henry J. Raymond died, Mr. Marsh was invited to become
his successor, but he declined the honor fearing that the position,
though congenial to his tastes, would be too exacting in its demands.
When we consider that at this time Mr. Marsh was besieged by clients
and immersed in cases; when we consider, too, that a busy lawyer is
the last one to whom a publisher would naturally turn (for there is
no class of men in whom the truly literary instinct combined with the
gift of literary expression is so rare as among successful lawyers),
this recognition of the unique literary distinction which Mr. Marsh
had attained, even while engaged in the fiercest legal contests with
such hard-headed lawyers as David Dudley Field, John Van Buren,
Charles O'Conor, James T. Brady, John K. Porter and Judge Comstock is
most impressive and conclusive. But in his forensic contests the
lawyer dominated the _litterateur._ Any opponent who thought that
because of Mr. Marsh's finished, faultless, elegant literary style he
would escape hard blows and sturdy onslaughts soon learned his
mistake. He was, at about the time he received this offer from the
_Times,_ in the very zenith of his powers and his fame. Mr. Hunt, then
the superintendent of public schools in Massachusetts, thus wrote in
1873, of a trial he had just attended, in which Mr. Marsh was opposed
to Joseph H. Choate:

[Illustration: John C. R. Dayton]

"I shall never forget the spectacle of that trial; from the opening
to the close, it was the most perfect thing I ever saw. Having
entered upon the study of law in the late William Pitt Fessenden's
office; having seen many able lawyers conduct cases in court--Fessenden
and Evans in Maine, Rufus Choate and other great lawyers in Boston,
and, in the South, Yancey and others--allow me to say that I never saw
anything to be compared with the ease, dignity and power with which Mr.
Marsh managed everything."

But his splendid gifts and varied powers could not be restricted in
their exercise to the energies of the law and the graces of
literature. Equally fitted to shine in society or among scholars, in
pulpit or press, on the rostrum or in the forum; always _facile
princeps_ as poet or preacher, essayist or journalist, publicist or
philanthropist, advocate or orator, his un-approached range and
versatility mark him indisputably as the Admirable Crichton of his
land and age.

During the period covered by Mr. Marsh's impressive eulogy upon the
character and attainments of his friend Stephen W. Fullerton, the
Orange County bar was enriched by the weight, the influence and the
learning of a group of lawyers whose temperament disinclined them to
the fierce excitements, the rude conflicts, the temporary triumphs of
the forum. Foremost among them was Eugene A. Brewster, who, though he
personally argued his cases with great ability and success before the
appellate courts, where reason and reserve count for more than fervor
and fluency, was unskilled in the art of swaying a jury against its
will or snatching a verdict against the evidence. Mr. Brewster's warm
admiration for his great preceptor, Judge John W. Brown, may have
unconsciously influenced his bearing, but his moral and intellectual
equipment was entirely his own. This embraced a deep sense of the
responsibility resting upon every lawyer to sustain the honor and
dignity of an ancient and honorable profession. He scrupulously
maintained throughout a busy and active career the high ideals with
which he started out. His aim was to ascertain the truth, not to
circumvent it; to apply the law, not to evade it; to draw from the
fountains of justice, not to pollute them. He enjoyed the respect of
the courts, of his brethren and of the public because of his
character as well as his ability, his virtues as well as his talents.
His whole life was a steady influence working for honesty in the
moral fibre of the community; a persistent power making for
righteousness; a never-failing light guiding to the path of safety
and of honor. In him were incarnated those conserving principles,
those formative influences, those stimulating ideals, those ennobling
traditions which impart dignity to human life, strength to human
character, stability to human society.

David A. Scott was another eminent member of the same group. As
surrogate of the county for two terms his administration was
distinguished by an unusual display of those qualities of breadth,
wisdom, patience, knowledge of human nature and capacity for affairs
so peculiarly requisite in a probate judge exercising jurisdiction
over the saddest controversies, disclosures and scenes ever presented
for adjudication--contested wills, disputed claims, angry
accountings, recrimination between brother and sister, calumniation
of the dead, sordid passions and petty avarice disrupting old
friendships and family ties. In calming these dissensions whenever
possible and in deciding them whenever necessary Judge Scott
manifested that happy blending of tact, temper, common sense, sound
judgment, practical sagacity and professional learning so essential
in the office of surrogate. I say judge because the title surrogate
is a most unfortunate one. The office is known in other commonwealths
as that of probate judge. People are so influenced by mere names that
if such were the title here the claims of an able surrogate to public
respect would be more fully understood. When it is considered that
once in every generation the entire wealth of the county, including
vast fortunes amassed elsewhere by those who die residing in it, is
administered upon in this court and that nearly all the intricate and
perplexing questions involved in its distribution are passed upon by
the surrogate, it will readily be seen that the duties and
responsibilities of this office are among the most important,
extensive and onerous that can devolve upon judicial officers.

It is now nearly fifty years since David A. Scott entered upon the
duties of this office. There are those who still remember the dignity
and grace with which he discharged them. It is forty years since he
laid them down. One year after the close of his second official term
and one year after Judge Michael H. Hirschberg had been admitted to
the bar, they entered into a partnership under the name of Scott &
Hirschberg, which continued until Mr. Scott's death. What this long,
close association meant to the younger member of the firm he alone
fully knows. Surely he would be the last to repel the suggestion that
it doubtless profoundly influenced a character still sensitive and
impressionable when the intimacy began. Indeed he himself bore
affectionate testimony to this impress when, in the court
proceedings, held to honor his dead friend's memory, he said: "For
more than twenty-one years we have labored together side by side in
the perfect intimacy and union of the partnership relation, and
realizing how very much I am indebted to his precepts, his example
and his support; with only sweet and grateful memories of that
connection now remaining, wholly unalloyed by even the momentary
shadow of doubt or distrust, and un-vexed by even an occasional
suggestion of discord or dissension--indeed one long and unbroken
period of harmonious intercourse, of joint and cheerful endeavor, and
of undisturbed confidence and esteem, I deem it a duty no less than a
privilege to add my humble meed of praise to the chorus of eulogy
which I am sure will greet his memory to-day."

In closing his tribute Judge Hirschberg said, with the heartfelt
concurrence of the entire bar:

"And so passed away forever an honorable lawyer, a faithful friend, a
loving father, an estimable citizen, a good man. We will all miss his
familiar form, his friendly greeting, and his kindly presence. Let
his virtues be commemorated in the records of the court. Let the
sweet and wholesome fragrance of his memory remain, to inspire
lawyers, living and to come, to emulate his upright deeds, and to con
the lasting lessons of his pure and simple life."

And now as we pause in the contemplation of this fine and beautiful
character there rises before the mind another figure associated with
the days of Winfield and Gedney in Goshen; of Fullerton, Brewster and
Scott in Newburgh--the figure of James G. Graham. It is difficult to
classify him in either group to which reference has been made. A
constitution naturally delicate led him to shrink from the strife and
turmoil of sharply contested trials and to prefer the seclusion of
his office and his library. Yet no lawyer of the period under
consideration approached him in the kind of oratory adapted to
public and ceremonious occasions. Indeed James G. Graham stands in a
group or class alone. None but himself could be his counterpart, for
he was compacted of every creature's best. In serenity he was equal
to Scott, in strength to Winfield. In counsel he was as wise as
Brewster, in speech as gifted as Gedney. While in vigor of expression
he may be compared to Winfield and in felicity of style to Gedney,
yet he excelled them both in a certain tender grace, a poetic touch,
a romantic spell, an iridescent play of fancy and sentiment which
were the spontaneous reflection of an ardent, imaginative, spiritual
temperament, united to and controlled by exquisite literary taste.

He never received, either in life or in death, the public recognition
due to his splendid gifts and exalted character. He was ever generous
in his own praise of substantial worth. His tributes to his departed
brethren were marked by peculiar elevation of thought and tenderness
of sentiment. A work professing to be history, seeking to readjust
the balances in which the superficial judgment of contemporaries is
corrected by the tardy recognition of posterity, should not fail to
register the star of James G. Graham in that brilliant constellation
from which Marsh and Winfield, Gedney and Fullerton, Brewster and
Scott shed undying refulgence upon the traditions and memories of the
Orange County bar. Let a garland of affectionate, reverent homage
entwine the memory of one who never failed himself to lay a chaplet
of rosemary upon the grave of friendship.

To this period also belongs Abram S. Cassedy. Admitted to practice
just fifty years ago, his rise from the time that he settled in
Newburgh was so rapid that he came into professional relations with
the members of both groups which have been considered, though they
were all admitted to the bar several years before. Indeed he belonged
to both groups. He was emphatically what is meant by the expression
"an all-'round lawyer." He could work patiently and assiduously in
his office drawing contracts and giving counsel and then proceed to
the courtroom to try his cases. His knowledge of the law commanded
the respect of the courts, while his earnestness and sincerity
produced a favorable impression upon juries. He was essentially a
man of affairs, equally at home in the bank directors' meeting, the
common council, the mayor's office and the board of education. He was
corporation counsel of his city and district attorney of the county.
He was the executor of large estates and the trustee of great
interests, one of the most important of his transactions being his
sale of the West Shore Railroad for the sum of $22,000,000, and his
distribution of the fund. In all the positions that he occupied and
all the capacities that he filled he was animated by the very highest
ideals of professional honor and personal probity. In many ways the
influence of his life and the force of his example have been more
persistent and abiding in Newburgh than in the case of lawyers whose
fame has been exclusively in the courts. His interesting and
stainless career affords a striking illustration of the results which
may be accomplished by an acute and active mind concentrated upon one
leading object and directed in its energies by a simple, sincere,
straightforward, undeviating devotion to the noblest standards of
public duty and private honor.

Looming large and masterful in the second group of lawyers, the
friend and associate of Winfield, Gedney and Fullerton, who always
valued highly his legal opinions and who frequently were influenced
by them, though he distrusted his own ability to cope with them in
court, comes the figure of John G. Wilkin. Twice elected county
judge, the first time in 1851 and the second time in 1883, the
interval between these elections was marked by the presence and the
power of his persistent, aggressive, dominating, yet at the same time
winning, gracious, picturesque personality. Born to command, the
exciting times in which he lived, covering the most painful period of
our national history, tended to develop his natural powers of
leadership. He had a talent for friendship. His absolute devotion to
his friends in times of adversity and defeat confirmed a leadership
which, however, was constantly challenged by those who, because they
could not control him, sought to crush him. He tasted many a time the
bitter truth of Joubert's epigram that a man who by the same act
creates a friend and an enemy plays a losing game, because revenge is
a stronger principle than gratitude. But Judge Wilkin never knew
that he had lost. He never accepted defeat. Like his old friend
Halstead Sweet, who always began the day after election to prepare
for the next election, the hour of Judge Wilkin's defeat was the most
dangerous one for his enemies. In the case of such a character,
deeply implanted with the love of power for its own sake as well as
for its rewards, it was inevitable that it should pass through many
periods of storm and trial. But if Judge Wilkin perforce bent to the
storm he never quailed before it. The deepest trial of his life was
one that he never foresaw. This was the failure in 1884 of the
Middletown National Bank of which he was the attorney and nominally
the vice-president. This failure, which was precipitated by the
unsuspected acts of the president in giving up to a grain shipper who
had acquired a hypnotic control over his mind, two hundred thousand
dollars' worth of bills of lading without the payment of the drafts
to which the bills of lading were attached, came to Judge Wilkin with
all the force of a cruel and crushing accident. The spirit which no
opposition could daunt recoiled for a moment under the stab of
treachery. But only for a moment. Quickly recovering himself--though
deeply pained and humiliated that such a disaster should come to an
institution with which he was connected and especially to friends who
might have been influenced by his name--the strength, the courage,
the manliness of his royal character were never more strikingly
exemplified, were never shown to greater advantage than at this very
time. He never flinched from any obligation which this or any other
relation, business, political, social or professional entailed upon
him. His devotion to his clients, his determination to relieve them
from the consequences of their own folly or imprudence was absolute
and fearless, never taking any note of whether they could have
avoided the plight they were in. If they were in trouble through no
fault of their own, of course anybody would be glad to help them. But
if they were in trouble through their own fault the very addition to
their troubles which this reflection caused them only created a
double claim upon Judge Wilkin's sympathies and energy. This is the
spirit of the true lawyer, who, when appealed to in distress, has no
more right to arrogate to himself the functions of court and jury and
decree that his client must take his punishment than a physician has
to refuse to cure a disease which his patient has incurred through a
violation of the laws of health or morality.

[Illustration: William Fullerton]

Judge Wilkin's interest in the young men who grew up about him never
deserted him. He welcomed their advances, he reciprocated their
esteem, he enjoyed their companionship. His reminiscences of the
older bar were lively and entertaining, his sense of humor keen, his
exultation in life and all its activities throbbing and intense. He
was not ready to go when the summons came and he made no hypocritical
pretense of resignation to it. His was a life so full of promise and
performance, passion and power, persuasiveness and preeminence that
well may we exclaim with the poet:

               "But what rich life--what energy and glow!
                Cordial to friend and chivalrous to foe!
                Concede all foibles harshness would reprove,
                And what choice attributes remain to love."

If James N. Pronk had given the thought and attention to his own
interests that he gave to the interests of the public and to the
development of his city he would have died wealthy and famous. In his
early manhood when, as the only lawyer in Middletown, except Judge
Wilkin, he acquired a large practice, he quickly accumulated a
fortune sufficient to enable him to build and wholly pay for what
still remains the finest store and office block in Middletown. He had
nothing to do then, in order to a successful life, but to take his
ease and accept such work as he might enjoy. But this was not his
nature. He simply could not take his ease. He was possessed by the
desire to originate and carry forward every public enterprise that
might benefit the town. He lived plainly and simply, had no personal
indulgences, spent nothing upon himself, denied himself every
pleasure in order that he might give himself wholly to the service of
the public. Every pleasure indeed except that of friends and books.
He loved the society of congenial spirits and he dwelt much among
books. But he was not selfish even in this. Instead of putting the
books he bought into his own library he put them into a public
library. He established the Lyceum, the fine circulating library of
which gave to Middletown its first literary impetus. In connection
with this he organized debates in which the ablest men of the
community discussed every moral, social and political question of the
day. These debates brought out the native talent and debating powers
of many men who otherwise might have been silent, notable among them
Israel O. Beattie, whose wide information, keen reasoning and
sparkling wit are well remembered by those who know how naturally his
distinguished son, Judge John J. Beattie, comes by these qualities.

Moreover, Mr. Pronk brought to the platform of the Lyceum the
foremost intellects of his time--Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell
Phillips, Horace Greeley, Edward H. Chapin, Theodore L. Cuyler and
many others. I well remember when, a few years ago at Mohonk, Judge
Beattie and I introduced ourselves to Dr. Cuyler and mentioned
Middletown, he at once exclaimed: "How's my old friend Pronk?" though
they had not met for forty years and he had not heard of his death.

The great mistake of Mr. Pronk's life was when he mortgaged his fine
building, on the income of which he might easily have lived, in order
to establish what became the passion and the idol of his life,
Hillside Cemetery. But was it a mistake? Is it not success, after
all, to live in lasting institutions? This cemetery is to-day the
most beautiful resting place of the dead in Orange County. Over this
sacred spot where he himself was laid, broods ever the sentiment
inscribed over the tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral of Sir Christopher
Wren, its architect--"If you would behold his monument look about
 you." (_Si monumentum quaeris circumspice._)

Younger than any of the lawyers thus far considered, but entering
upon his professional life while theirs was still active, and dying
prematurely before the close of those careers with which his own was
strictly contemporaneous, was William F. O'Neill. Perhaps no career
was ever more of a surprise to the public and to the profession than
that of Mr. O'Neill. From Winfield, Gedney and Fullerton with their
distinguished lineage, family influence, county connections, social
position, superior education, wide culture, courtly address and
imposing presence much was expected and expectation was always
satisfied. But here was a young man, who coming from Monticello to
study law in Middletown with Judge Groo and entering upon his career
without any of these advantages, boldly flung himself into the courts
to try conclusions with the ablest of Orange County's advocates and
began at once to captivate juries and to win his cases. Small in
stature, unimpressive in appearance, deficient in culture, unformed
in style, averse to application, trying his cases with very
inadequate preparation, the lawyers were puzzled at first to know the
secret of his immediate and enormous success at the bar. It lay, as
they soon learned, in his faculty of making the jury think that he
always happened to be on the right side. It was like the case of the
juror who was descanting enthusiastically upon the magnificent,
unrivaled powers of Brougham as an advocate. "But," said a bystander,
"I see that you always give the verdict to Scarlett." "Scarlett, O
yes," said the juror. "Well, you see Scarlett is always on the right
side."

Mr. O'Neill was a natural verdict getter. He never went over the
heads of the jury. He talked with them on their own plane of thought,
sentiment and experience. Juries liked him personally. They felt
interested in his success. I remember a trial in which he obtained a
verdict of $2,000 against the village of Port Jervis for a woman who
had fallen upon a defective sidewalk, but who did not appear to have
been much injured. After the verdict, one of the jurors, Coe Goble,
of Greenville, asked me what I thought of the verdict, to which I
replied that they probably gave as much as the evidence justified,
since she did not seem to be hurt much. "Well," said Goble, "it was
this way--we thought the woman ought to have $1,000 and we thought
Billy ought to have $1,000."

This familiar, affectionate reference to him as "Billy" indicates his
place as a popular idol. Indeed the boyishness of his appearance and
stature seemed to help him. People who saw him for the first time and
who had not expected much from him, went out of the courtroom saying,
"Did you see how little Billy O'Neill laid him out?"

Mr. O'Neill made negligence cases a specialty, and he became known
far and wide as a negligence lawyer. Those who deprecate the rise of
the negligence lawyer and the increase in negligence cases during the
last forty years fail to make sufficient allowance for those changed
conditions in the business of the world under which its various
currents of capital and industry converge in one swollen stream of
corporate enterprise and control. This tends, on the one hand, to
encourage professional alertness in protecting the individual from
corporate greed or neglect and, on the other hand, to create extreme
devotion to corporate interests seeking the aid of professional skill
and judgment. While the zeal of attorneys in behalf of corporations
is rarely condemned it is somewhat the fashion to deprecate the
negligence lawyer who takes the case of a client against a
corporation upon a contingent fee. As the client is usually destitute
it is difficult to see how his case is to be presented at all unless
the attorney takes his chances upon success. As courts and juries
must determine that the claim is a worthy one before it can succeed,
the whole criterion seems to resolve itself into the position that
worthy causes and clients should be deprived of a hearing. This
feeling can be well understood on the part of corporations constantly
compelled to pay damages on account of their carelessness, but the
expression of it comes with poor grace from lawyers who receive large
retainers and liberal fees from wealthy clients. It is at least as
fair to a client to wait for compensation until the work is done as
it is to insist on a retainer before any work at all is done. It is
noticeable that the criticism upon the contingent fee at the
conclusion of the case comes usually from the lawyer who expects a
large fee at the beginning of the case.

It is simple truth and justice to say that human life and limb are
safer to-day in Orange County because that sturdy fighter and
dangerous opponent, William F. O'Neill, caring not whether his
client was poor or rich, never allowed a case of negligence, once
brought to his attention, to pass unchallenged and un-presented to a
court of justice. And if his example and his influence have
encouraged others, as indeed they have, in the same path of
professional honor and public duty, then he, too, has not lived in
vain.

The advent of Mr. O'Neill was coincident with the rise of a new
generation of advocates who were confronted at first with a supremacy
in the older bar which never could have been ousted by superior
talent. It yielded at last to the only rivals it could not resist,
decay and death, even as now the lawyers I am about to name will soon
surrender to a still later generation their coveted place and
prominence in the courts. I say about to name because, notwithstanding
the considerations which suggest the omission of any reference to
the living, it seems to be inartistic and it ought to be unnecessary
to break off a narrative in the middle because some of its characters
are still living. Caution and delicacy may indeed discourage, if not
wholly forbid such un-stinted praise as may be properly bestowed upon
a finished, rounded career, far removed from possible marring by some
late and regrettable error. But, on the other hand, the opinion of
his contemporaries by one who has freely mingled with them and
frequently been pitted against them ought to be accurate, and, if
accurate, then interesting and valuable. How we would all enjoy now
Winfield's own characterization of Samuel J. Wilkin and William F.
Sharpe, his partner; of Benjamin F. Duryea and Joseph W. Gott, the
senior; of David F. Gedney and Stephen W. Fullerton. There are
histories of our own times and this is one of them. Let me proceed
then, diffidently, indeed, but still unflinchingly, to perform the
task assigned to me before the subjects and the generation chiefly
interested in them have all alike passed away; appealing to the
judgment of those still able to decide, upon the candor, fairness and
impartiality of the estimates. Indeed, if we wait until all
contemporaries have passed away, who is left to determine whether the
estimates are just?

William J. Groo is older than the lawyers who came to the bar in the
late sixties, but he falls naturally in this group, because he came
to Orange County in 1866, when he at once took a foremost place among
its trial lawyers, his reputation having preceded him. He had already
become leader of the bar of Sullivan County, where in 1856 he was
elected its district attorney. This leadership was, in itself,
evidence of great ability, for he had to win his spurs against such
intellectual giants as General Niven, Judge Bush, Senator Low and
James L. Stewart. It is not strange, then, that in him Winfield,
Gedney and Fullerton found a match for all their powers and an equal
in all the arts and accomplishment of the advocate. His perfect
self-possession, his readiness in retort, his firm grasp of the
points in controversy, his unfailing memory enabling him to marshal
the testimony with crushing effect, his severe logic, his scathing
enunciation, his intrepid spirit, and, above all, his moral
earnestness combined to make him a dreaded and formidable adversary.

Judge Groo (for he acquired the title through his election as special
county judge of Orange County in the year 1868) has carried this
quality of moral earnestness, which so largely contributed to his
success at the bar, into all the interests and relations of life. He
early espoused the cause of temperance and has long been one of the
most prominent members of the prohibition party, which at different
times has bestowed upon him its complimentary but unsubstantial
nomination for governor and judge of the Court of Appeals. He has
always insisted that the absolute prohibition of the sale of liquors
in the State of New York is not only a righteous and necessary
reform, but an entirely feasible one. The remarkable strength of this
movement in the South, followed as it has been by recent prohibitory
legislation in several of the States, is one of the cheering rewards
for unselfish, life-long devotion to principle which he is permitted
to enjoy in his declining years. There is no doubt whatever that his
sacrifices in behalf of this cause seriously interfered with his
later eminence at the bar, for such eminence, even when once
achieved, can be maintained only by sedulous, un-relaxed devotion; by
steady, unqualified, undivided allegiance to that most exacting of
all masters--the law.

This consecration to higher duties and nobler aims than those
involved in mere professional success does not, however, constitute
the sole reason why Judge Groo ceased to be a familiar and prominent
figure in the courts of Orange County. This was due primarily to the
removal of his office to New York, where he continued to win many
notable legal triumphs until failing health compelled him to retire
from active practice. His dignified and honorable repose is divided
between his home in Middletown and his summer retreat in his native
county of Sullivan at Grooville, so named in honor of one of his
Revolutionary ancestors.

Though Lewis E. Carr has transferred his professional activities to
a wider field, yet he acquired and developed in Orange County those
transcendent qualities as a trial lawyer which have since, in nearly
every county of the State, excited the astonishment of the bar and
the admiration of the courts. From the very first he produced a
profound impression upon Winfield, Gedney and Fullerton, with whom he
engaged in vigorous, courageous contest at a time when it was
difficult, indeed, to stand up against their powerful and almost
irresistible influence. But it was when he came to be associated with
them in some most important trials that they were even more impressed
with his knowledge of fundamental principles, his wisdom in
consultation, his mature and unerring judgment. Judge Gedney once
remarked in a public tribute to Mr. Carr in his early life that it
was possible to gain a far more accurate measurement of a lawyer's
real ability through association with him than in opposition to him.
He added that it was after enjoying such opportunities to become
acquainted with Mr. Carr that he was the better able to express
admiration of his surpassing talents as well as confidence in his
brilliant future. Mr. Carr has since then enjoyed many honors and
some supreme triumphs, but it is doubtful that any encomium has ever
given him deeper pleasure than this now amply verified prediction by
so competent an authority.

Nothing more surely attests the eminence which Mr. Carr has attained
in the State than the recognition of it by the Assembly of the State
of New York in inviting him to pronounce in its chamber the eulogy
upon its beloved speaker, S. Frederick Nixon, upon the memorial
occasion dignified by the attendance of the Governor, the Senate and
the judges of the Court of Appeals. In that august presence Mr. Carr,
defending the prerogatives of the State, said:

"However much we take pride in the nation's greatness and power we
cannot shut our eyes to the fact that in some way, not easy to
understand, the Federal Government of which we constitute no mean
part, has been steadily encroaching upon the province of the State,
and year by year the waves of its rising power are biting away some
part of the shore on which our feet should rest. . . . Preservation
of the rights of the State, as the framers of the Constitution
intended and provided, is as essential to the safety, security and
perpetuity of the sisterhood of States as the armies that carry and
defend the flag and the navies that patrol the sea and protect our
harbors against the dangers of attack. Our State is an empire in and
of itself. Dominion over it and control of its priceless interests
are all our own, save to the narrow extent they were expressly
yielded to give needed strength and requisite power for the
protection of the whole."

This extract gives some idea of the force and clearness which
characterize all Mr. Carr's public utterances, but no extract can
give any conception of his extraordinary powers as an advocate. The
assembly indeed had already enjoyed an unusual opportunity to
witness their display, for Mr. Carr was easily the most conspicuous
and imposing figure in a public trial of great importance conducted
before it, in which he made the principal and prevailing argument.
But it is perhaps in the appellate courts that Mr. Carr's abilities
find their most congenial field of exercise. There his ready command
of all the resources of a trained, vigorous and richly stored
intellect enables him to discuss every proposition propounded by the
court, or advanced by his opponent, with a breadth of reasoning, a
fertility of illustration, an array of authority which never fail to
arouse admiration and delight. Indeed in every argument or trial in
which he engages he organizes from the outset an intellectual duel.
One who is not prepared to cope with him on equal terms, or with a
cause so strong that it overcomes the intellectual handicap, will
find it prudent not to enter the lists with him.

When Mr. Carr resided in Port Jervis before going to Albany, where he
is the general counsel for the Delaware and Hudson Company and where
he is called as senior counsel into many important cases not at all
connected with railroad litigation, such was his devotion to his
profession that it was only in exciting political campaigns that he
could yield himself to the demands of the platform. But in Albany so
insistent and repeated have been the demands upon him that he has
been compelled to yield more frequently, until now his reputation is
firmly established as a platform speaker of rare attractiveness. A
fair example of his after-dinner oratory may be found, in fit company
and enduring form, in the book entitled "Modern Eloquence," edited by
Speaker Thomas B. Reed; it being a response, at the banquet of the
State Bar Association, in which, with a fine blending of humor and
seriousness, he commends that recent revival of an ancient custom
which has done so much already to revive and promote the dignity of
the bench--the wearing by judges of the robe of office.

The Orange County Bar has contributed to the bar of the State many
gifted sons of whom it has been, indeed, proud--Ogden Hoffman,
William H. Seward, William Fullerton and others--but it has never
contributed one of whose character, ability and fame it is more
justly and universally proud than it is of the character, ability and
fame of Lewis E. Carr.

Henry Bacon is now, indisputably, the leader of the Orange County
Bar. His career has been marked by a singleness of devotion to his
profession rarely equaled. It was interrupted at one time by his
service for five years in the House of Representatives, in the
debates of which he bore an honorable part, impressing himself most
favorably upon the leaders of his own party and those of the
opposition. But his heart was all the time in the law, which he
keenly enjoys as a science and reveres as a master. Returning to
Goshen at the expiration of his congressional service he threw
himself with renewed ardor into the practice of his profession to
which he has since applied himself with undeviating purpose,
persistence and power. The position of leadership now held by him is
the natural, inevitable and only consistent result of high endeavor
and unfaltering purpose united to intellectual gifts and legal
qualifications of a superior order. Mr. Bacon has the legal instinct.
He is not content until he has penetrated to the heart of the
mystery. He revels in a perplexing and complicated case. He loves to
unravel its intricacies and explore its mazes.

Mr. Bacon has in the past twenty years tried more cases than any
lawyer in the county. He is retained in nearly every important trial.
His manifest knowledge of every principle of the law involved in the
case always commands the respect of the court and of the bar. In
presenting his views to the jury he relies upon logic rather than
eloquence, upon consecutive force of argument rather than the arts of
persuasion. In the celebrated case of Magar vs. Hammond his opening
address to the jury upon the second trial was a masterpiece of
clear, coherent, cumulative and convincing statement.

[Illustration: A. H. L. Secor]

Mr. Bacon is never more interested than when he is confronted with
some grave question of constitutional construction. His attack upon
the constitutionality of the drainage law, which was declared
invalid by the Court of Appeals upon the arguments advanced by him,
and in which he was opposed by the eminent advocate John G. Milburn,
will be long remembered.

All lawyers are true to their clients, but Mr. Bacon's inflexibility
in the assertion or defense of his client's rights is uncompromising
to the last degree. It has even been said that, in his zeal and
ardor, he is willing to trample upon all the ties of private
friendship and all the claims of personal courtesy. But no client was
ever heard to complain of this and, after all, the fact remains that
no lawyer can serve his clients with absolute fidelity without, at
times, wounding his neighbors and his friends. An honest lawyer can
know no one but his client and him crucified. His standard of
morality and manners, of duty and decorum is expressed in the
sentiment, "Stop pursuing my client and I have no further quarrel
with you." Mr. Bacon typifies this spirit and embodies this principle
in his professional life more strikingly than any lawyer who has ever
practiced at the bar of Orange County.

On the other hand Mr. Bacon's social gifts and graces are in the
highest degree winning and attractive. One would never suspect, in
the velvet palm that greets him at his threshold, the iron hand that
crushed him but the day before in court. One would never recognize in
the beaming, graceful host the hard-headed lawyer who, with stern,
unflinching purpose, will destroy him to-morrow. United in marriage
to the brilliant and accomplished daughter of one of America's
purest and noblest statesmen, Samuel J. Randall, his home is a center
of charming, courtly and gracious hospitality dispensed with lavish,
refined and unaffected generosity. Mr. Bacon is the only lawyer in
Orange County who has ever both recognized and fulfilled his social
duty to his brethren of the bar by throwing open his home to them in
receptions intended to bring the judges and the lawyers together in
social relations. In olden days and in other counties this custom
once prevailed. Possibly it is because Orange County labors under the
misfortune of being a half-shire county--a calamity to any bar for
the reason, besides many others, that it effectually destroys the
possibility of having a suitable court house--that a spirit of
comradeship among its lawyers has never grown up. It is noticeable
that in counties where the legal interests converge in one central
county seat the brotherly spirit is more active. But, however that
may be, Mr. Bacon is entitled to the grateful acknowledgment of his
efforts to suspend the asperities of professional conflict in the
solvent of social converse. In this, as in every other respect, his
leadership of the bar is supreme.

Walter C. Anthony preceded Mr. Bacon a few months in their student
life with Judge Gedney at Goshen. No one has painted so perfect and
beautiful a picture as he of those halcyon days in that country law
office. In his memorial tribute he said:

"But of all the delightful hours spent with Judge Gedney I recall,
with most pleasure, our afternoon talks at the office. As the day was
wearing late and he began to make preparations to leave, he usually
seemed to want to draw me into conversation. Frequently it took the
form of an examination as to those branches of the law which I was
then reading upon. Occasionally he would draw me into the discussion
of some legal question, in which he would maintain an opinion opposed
to that which I expressed, and in which after combating me, with all
his ingenuity and acuteness and frequently discomfiting me, he would
in the end explain the whole question and point out the errors of
either side of the argument. At times some event of the day's work
would be used as a foundation for an explanation of the legal
questions involved. In whatever way the conversation was begun his
evident purpose was that it should be profitable to me in connection
with the studies I was pursuing; and when that end had been
accomplished our conversation would wander on 'at its own sweet
will,' touching on many and varied themes which all developed new
beauties and suggestiveness beneath the light of his varied learning
and fertile fancy. Is it to be wondered at that I recall them with a
chastened delight? Judge Gedney was then in the very prime of his
remarkable powers. His mind was a storehouse of varied and
interesting knowledge, and his conversational and descriptive skill
were not only very great, but quite unique.

"I shall always regard it as one of the most fortunate circumstances
of my life that 1 was brought into such intimate association with
David F. Gedney. And as my life passes on into the 'sere and yellow
leaf and I sit among the lengthening shadows of its afternoon looking
back upon the friends and friendships of my youth, I shall very, very
often recall Judge Gedney--the slender, erect figure; the strongly
marked face; the scant but expressive gesture; the wonderfully
melodious and well modulated voice; the words so deftly chosen from
a vocabulary surpassingly rich and full, that they always reminded me
of the sentence in holy writ: 'words fitly spoken are like apples of
gold in pictures of silver;' and above all I shall recall his kind
and generous deeds, the fit exponents of a loving, loyal heart; and,
thus recalling him, I shall often in the future exclaim--as I have
already in the past--in no empty phrase and with no exaggeration of
speech:

          "'Oh for the touch of a vanished hand
           And the sound of a voice that is still!'"

This extract is made not solely to embellish the portrait of Judge
Gedney, the man--though I indeed left it unfinished intending thus to
invoke Mr. Anthony's aid in completing it--but also to illustrate Mr.
Anthony's own cast of mind, character and literary style. Mr. Anthony
is by nature and inclination, a scholar and a recluse. If he were
rich he would shut up his office and browse in his library; but not
selfishly, for no one has been more generous than he in responding to
demands for public and literary addresses. I heard him once, before
the Chautauqua Assembly, give a purely extemporaneous lecture upon
wit and humor which for range of reading, wealth of information,
critical analysis and brilliant characterization has never been
surpassed by our most famous lecturers; and yet it was delivered with
a modesty, sweetness and simplicity which seemed to deprecate the
suggestion that it was anything out of the ordinary.

His memory of Judge Gedney unconsciously reveals how deep was the
impression made in youth upon a mind singularly susceptible to the
charms and graces of literature and upon a nature no less susceptible
to the beauties and joys of friendship. As in the case of all such
natures, the books must be choice and the friends fit but few. Not,
indeed, that Mr. Anthony is deficient in the elements of personal
popularity. His election twice to the office of district attorney of
the county, the duties of which he most ably discharged, attests his
popular strength. But it is undeniable that his predilection for the
society of the great and wise of every age, to be found in his
well-filled library, has tended more and more to withdraw him from
the society of the shallow, the superficial, the frivolous. He stands
to-day a lonely but alluring figure, on whose heights those who
choose to follow may find in him the charming companion, the
accomplished scholar, the earnest inquirer, the inspiring instructor.

Let no captious reader take cynical exception to the note of honest
praise sounded in these memoirs. Let it be remembered that, out of
hundreds of lawyers, only a few of those entitled to admiration and
praise have been selected for extended mention. While personal
memoirs should be accurate they need not be exhaustive. In those rare
instances in which conspicuous talent has yielded to temptation and,
in weakness or dishonor, forfeited public respect, it has seemed to
be the truest kindness to pass over it in silence. Indeed, as one
surveys the procession down half a century of those who have become
notable in the law he is profoundly impressed that not by infirm,
invertebrate character have they gained their prominence but only by
firm resolution, high endeavor, moral purpose and intellectual power.
One is led to wonder not that there should be so few entitled to
praise, but that there should be so many. Impartial criticism will
demand of the contemporary chronicler not that his praise be stinted,
but only that it be discriminating.

Indeed only the most un-stinted, unqualified praise would be either
just or appropriate in summoning from that stately procession of
great and honored lawyers the lofty, imposing figure of Judge John J.
Beattie, who for eighteen years--1889 to 1907--presided over the
County Court of Orange County, having been elected for three
successive terms. His dignity of presence, weight of character and
wealth of learning amply sustained the traditions of a bench once
occupied by Gedney and Fullerton. Many of Judge Beattie's decisions
have been in cases of far-reaching public importance--notably the
case involving the construction of the eight-hour law in which Judge
Beattie decided that the provision prohibiting a contractor from
allowing his men to work over eight hours a day on a public
improvement was unconstitutional and void. The Appellate Division
reversed but the Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Beattie in an
opinion sustaining every position which Judge Beattie had taken in
his opinion.

Judge Beattie is grounded in the principles of the law. In all that
he does he is thorough, going to the very bottom of the case whether
as to the law or the facts. This quality was strikingly brought out
in the case tried by him for eight days before Judge Maddox involving
the liability of a railroad company for the damage resulting from the
explosion of a locomotive boiler. There was absolutely nothing about
a boiler that Judge Beattie did not understand. One would have
supposed that he had been brought up in boiler works and had then run
an engine on the road. He succeeded in dividing the jury and Judge
Maddox said after the trial that he had never seen a finer display of
sheer intellectuality than Judge Beattie's management of the defense.

He is an omnivorous reader and his marvelous memory retains all that
he ever read. His conversation is an intellectual feast, for he pours
out a never-failing stream of literary anecdote, historic incident
and choice passages from the classics of every age, all ready to gush
forth from his well-stored memory as the conversation glances from
one subject to another.

Judge Beattie carries into his retirement from the County Court the
gratitude and respect of the bar and of the public for the fine
example of judicial dignity and learning which he has given for
eighteen years--an example which may well be followed not only by all
who succeed him in the County Court, but by all who administer in the
same court houses and from the same bench the wider jurisdiction of
the Supreme Court.

Having considered several leaders of the bar who came into practice
in the late sixties, but who, like their predecessors, Winfield,
Gedney and Fullerton, were never invited to the bench of the Supreme
Court, we come now naturally to that group of their early associates
who have achieved judicial honors, those honors which have always
held a glittering fascination for the bar whether in the wearing or
the recounting of them. There never have been enough judgeships to go
around and the long tenure now established wholly excludes rotation
among the leaders of the bar in respect to judicial position. Hence
the prospect that any member of the bar, however able, will ever
attain judicial honors is so remote and dependent upon so many
unforeseen conditions that when they do descend and repose upon the
modest brow of some highly favored but always unenvied brother, the
circumstances combining to produce such a fortuitous selection
possess all the charm of romance and all the fascination of a fairy
tale. While it is true that many unforeseen conditions must always
unite in determining the destination of this coveted prize, there
still seems to be one inexorable condition to which all Orange County
aspirants must conform. They must not reside in the interior of the
county. They must practice in the old, historic city of Newburgh--a
city which has always taken a deep, honorable, patriotic pride in its
Revolutionary associations and in the land they represent, but which
has no more pride in, no more sense of connection with, Orange County
as a whole than West Point has. Its bar has always been distinguished
for great ability and high character.

The Supreme Court of the State of New York, the wide jurisdiction of
which extends from Long Island to the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, was
never more fortunate than in the acquisition to its bench from the
Newburgh bar of the two Browns, father and son--John W. Brown and
Charles F. Brown--the elder having ascended the bench in 1850 and the
younger in 1883.

It is Charles F. Brown who belongs to the period we are now
considering. Graduated from Yale College in 1866, admitted to
practice in 1868, elected district attorney in 1874 and county judge
in 1877, he resigned in 1882 the position of county judge to assume
the duties of supreme court judge.

Mr. Winfield had always ardently desired a position upon the bench of
the Supreme Court. It was one of the bitterest disappointments of his
life that he so narrowly missed this object of his ambition in 1875,
when Judge Dykman was elected. In that year the widespread revolt
among the bar and public against the re-election of that most
unpopular official, Judge Tappen, who had received the regular
democratic nomination, made it evident that any independent
democratic candidate who should receive the endorsement of the
republican convention would be elected. Mr. Winfield's hopes of
receiving this endorsement rose high and were on the point of being
realized when an unexpected influence intervened to dash them.
General Benjamin F. Tracy, who had a longstanding personal feud with
William Fullerton, the brother of Stephen W. Fullerton, suddenly came
to the conclusion that he did not want upon the bench an intimate
friend of the Fullertons. He therefore threw his influence in favor
of Jackson O. Dykman, then a prominent democratic lawyer of
Westchester County, who thus received the nomination. His election by
a large democratic and republican vote confirmed the prediction that
such a coalition would easily accomplish the defeat of Judge Tappen.
Orange County, notwithstanding that it shared Mr. Winfield's
disappointment, followed his generous lead in supporting Judge
Dykman and gave him a majority of 10,000. No one labored for Mr.
Winfield's nomination at this time more earnestly than Charles F.
Brown himself.

In 1882 Mr. Winfield's hopes of obtaining a nomination revived, but
Charles F. Brown, who cherished the natural and honorable ambition to
emulate his father's noble example and distinguished career as a
jurist, felt that he ought not to stand aside again. He of course
secured the delegate from his own assembly district without
opposition. Overcoming the opposition offered by Mr. Winfield's
friends in the second assembly district, he secured its delegate
also. By thus presenting a united front Orange County was able to
successfully assert its claims in the judicial convention and to
secure for Judge Brown the nomination that was followed by his
election.

No one was more gratified by Judge Brown's election than Mr. Winfield
himself, especially as it involved the defeat of General Tracy, the
very man who, seven years before, had snatched from him the same
prize when almost within his grasp. When General Tracy, of Kings
County, was nominated by the republican convention against Judge
Brown, of Orange County, he confidently expected to defeat Judge
Brown, whose greatness was then unknown to the district at large,
through the promised support of many large Brooklyn interests. But
all his calculations were confounded by a wholly unexpected event.
This was the cataclysm in which Grover Cleveland, with whom Judge
Brown was running, carried the State by the enormous, unprecedented
majority of 200,000.

Thus was Orange County enabled to contribute to the bench of the
Supreme Court a jurist who, in the fourteen years of his incumbency,
made a profound, a lasting impression upon the jurisprudence not only
of his State but of his country.

After serving for six years with great acceptance in the trial and
special terms, he was, upon the formation of the second division of
the Court of Appeals, promoted to its bench. His services during the
four years' existence of that court were of the highest value, his
luminous opinions being still quoted and followed in every State in
the Union. Some of the litigations which came before him were in the
highest degree difficult and complicated; one of the most important
being the case involving the construction of the Tilden will, in
which the opinion of Judge Brown, declaring the trusts invalid, was
adopted by the court. His opinions rendered in this court constitute
an imperishable monument to his learning and ability.

Judge Brown's manner upon the bench, at trial and special term, was a
happy mingling of simplicity and dignity. His most noticeable
personal trait was his entire lack of self-consciousness. He never
thought about himself or about the impression which he might be
making upon the bar or the public. His mind was wholly upon the case
and upon the principles involved in it. He was considerate of the
feelings of counsel and rarely rebuked them for imperfect
presentation of their views. When they wandered from the point he
thought about the case and when they came back to the case he
followed them again. It is simply the truth of history to say that
the members of the bar, not only of Orange County but of the entire
State, do not expect to see in this generation a nearer approach to
the ideal judge than they were permitted to behold during the
fourteen years of Judge Brown's incumbency.

There was one marked characteristic of Judge Brown while upon the
bench which deserves more than a passing mention. After a case was
submitted to him and while it was still under consideration he was
never afraid to enter upon a discussion of the principles involved
in it, with either of the counsel he might happen to meet, if he felt
that such a discussion might prove profitable. In this respect he
differed from some of his colleagues who were perfectly aghast at the
thought of counsel conversing with them upon any phase of a pending
case in the absence of opposing counsel. This of course was due to
their high sense of the importance of preserving not only real
impartiality but the strictest appearance of impartiality. But there
was something in Judge Brown's character which did not need the
protection of such a rule; something in the very atmosphere which he
threw out; something in the impression which he gave of being simply
a thinking, working, impersonal, intellectual machine, which left no
room for misunderstanding on the part of any lawyer thus admitted to
a share in his deliberations and which left his judicial independence
and impartiality absolutely untouched. This capacity at once
constitutes the highest test and the consummate type of the strictly
judicial temperament. To this test Judge Brown easily responded and
of this type he was the perfect embodiment.

[Illustration: O. P. Howell]

No one can be accused of sycophancy in awarding to a judge long since
retired from the bench his merited meed of praise and gratitude for
distinguished public services. Nor even in the case of judges still
occupying the bench can such a charge fairly lie when the faithful
historian surveying and reviewing, from the serene heights of
retirement and rejection, the stirring scenes in which once he bore
an active part, is now as indifferent to, as independent of, the
opinions of judges as they are of his. It would indeed be far more
entertaining if there could be contributed to this volume the
opinions which the judges hold of each other, thrown into literary
form instead of merely being promulgated from the bench or
disseminated by the press. When, upon the occasion of Queen
Victoria's jubilee, the judges met in London to prepare an address to
Her Majesty, the proposed draught submitted to them began with the
words, "Conscious as we are of our shortcomings," whereupon Lord
Bowen gravely suggested, as an amendment, "Conscious as we are of
_each other's_ shortcomings." Human nature is very much the same
here and in England; very much the same, in its manifestations, among
judges and among lawyers.

Judge William D. Dickey ascended the bench in 1896, one year before
Judge Brown's retirement from it. The second judicial district, of
which Orange County then formed a part, was for many years democratic
and it was not unusual for the republican conventions to endorse the
democratic nominations. But in 1895 there seemed to be such a fair
prospect for success that the republicans put forward a full ticket
of judicial nominees, including Judge Dickey, who was elected, though
one of his associates upon the ticket, Hugo Hirsch, of Brooklyn, was
defeated by Judge Martin J. Keogh, whose court ought to be attended
every year by visiting delegations of judges from all parts of the
State as a training school and object lesson, illustrating how a busy
judge may at all times, in all circumstances and under all
provocations still be the model, faultless, consummate gentleman.

Although Judge Dickey removed from Newburgh to Brooklyn soon after
his election and is counted as a judge of the second judicial
district, while Orange County is now a part of the ninth judicial
district, still Orange County is where he was born; where his
professional life was passed; where he rose to prominence and power,
and where he lived when he was elevated to the bench. He exhibited
even in boyhood the qualities which have marked his public career,
his patriotic ardor inspiring him to enlist in the Union Army when
only seventeen years of age; his promotion being so rapid that before
he was twenty years old he had been brevetted colonel in recognition
of conspicuous gallantry.

Admitted to practice soon after the close of the Civil War he threw
himself with characteristic energy not merely into the legal contests
which arose in his city, but into all the public and political
controversies of the day. Ardent in his affections and implacable
in his hatreds, loyal to his friends and relentless to his enemies,
he soon acquired an extensive influence and attracted to himself a
devoted following, both personal and political.

The public spirit and civic pride shown by Judge Dickey in promoting
every enterprise tending to beautify or benefit his native city was
generally recognized and his election to the constitutional
convention of 1893 was a distinct turning point in his career. His
ability, vigilance, authority, force of character and readiness in
debate, soon gave him a dominant influence in the deliberations of
that highly intellectual body--an influence aided by his commanding
presence and resonant voice, advantages not without value in that
most difficult of all auditoriums, the assembly chamber in the
Capitol at Albany. Among the many far-reaching reforms which he
proposed or advocated in the convention he undoubtedly looks back
with special satisfaction upon the provision incorporated, with his
active support, in the new constitution prohibiting any legislative
limitation upon the amount of recovery for death occasioned by
negligence, since he has had abundant occasion in his experience upon
the bench to verify his convictions of the justice, necessity and
public policy of this amendment.

Judge Dickey displays upon the bench the same sterling qualities
which marked his active professional career. Among them none is more
pronounced than his remembrance of and kindness to old and valued
friends. The exercise by a judge of the patronage necessarily
pertaining to his office has always been a trying question for him.
But since one lawyer has no natural, superior claim over any other
lawyer upon the fruits of patronage, there seems to be no reason why
a judge should not be permitted to gratify his feelings of friendship
and esteem in the appointment of referees whom he knows to be not
only estimable but entirely capable. No one questioned this
sentiment or principle of conduct when Judge Brown appointed his old
friend and partner, Mr. Cassedy referee to sell the West Shore
railroad, or when he appointed his old friend, William Harvey Clark,
of Minisink, receiver of the Port Jervis and Monticello railroad;
Mr. Clark, by the way, proving to be so capable a receiver that he
not only paid its debts but surprised the stockholders by handing
over to them a large amount of money.

But in the distribution of patronage Judge Dickey has not only been
loyal to the claims of private friendship; he has nobly used it in
the recognition of the debt which the public owes to distinguished
public services and sacrifices. I know one able lawyer whose physical
infirmities disqualify him from active practice at the bar, but whose
eye is still as clear, whose judgment as alert as when, from the
heights of Gettysburg, he directed the Federal forces on the first
day of the battle and saved the fortunes of the day till they could
be turned and redeemed upon the morrow. In appointing this old hero
to important service in various public condemnation proceedings, in
which his sound judgment and wide experience have been utilized to
the public benefit. Judge Dickey has entitled himself to the
gratitude of all who believe that conspicuous worth and patriotic
service should not be forgotten and neglected by judges any more than
by governors or presidents. And personal gratitude is no less due to
Judge Dickey from all those whose appointment by him to positions of
trust and responsibility has enabled them to justify his own unerring
judgment as to their fitness and capacity.

It was in the autumn of 1902 that Judge Dickey was called upon to
pass through the first deep sorrow of his life in the loss of his
only son, Frank R. Dickey, cut off in his young manhood at the very
beginning of his promising career at the bar. Born and educated in
Newburgh he had followed his father to Brooklyn, where he established
himself in practice and where he soon won a large and growing
clientage. His solid abilities; his pure, lofty character; his open,
sincere nature; his refined, engaging manners; his gentle, amiable
disposition united to create a personality of singular charm and
interest. Troops of new friends, attracted to him by the graces of a
sweet and beautiful character, joined with those who had always known
and loved him in heartfelt sorrow over the untimely grave of Frank R.
Dickey.

Judge Dickey's wide experience in affairs, with his knowledge of
human nature, its secret springs and devious ways, enables him to
arrive at decisions always prompt and usually just. His influence
upon the bench has always been powerfully exerted in support of the
domestic virtues and social purity. Gambling, which is fast becoming
one of the most threatening of our national dangers, as it is already
one of the most degrading and corrupting of our social vices, whether
practiced by men in policy shops, or by women at bridge parties,
finds in him, whenever it comes within his judicial purview, neither
countenance nor toleration.

There is one trait of Judge Dickey upon the bench which calls for
special mention. When, in an action which has been tried and decided
by him, without a jury, the attorneys come before him for settlement
of the case upon appeal, he does not seek to emasculate the appeal,
as some judges in their weakness and vanity do, by striking out the
exceptions designed to bring up sharply for review the points of
difference between him and the defeated counsel. He always gives the
unsuccessful and dissatisfied litigant a fair opportunity to review
every issuable ruling and to get a reversal if he can. He is not
hyper-sensitive upon the subject of being sustained by the appellate
courts. Indeed, his mental attitude toward them is doubtless
reflected in the remark once made by the famous judge, Lord Young,
when he was told that one of his decisions had been affirmed upon
appeal by the House of Lords, "Well, I may have been right,
notwithstanding," said Lord Young.

As Judge Dickey has never been assigned to the Appellate Division and
much prefers the close contact with the bar and with vital human
interests which is enjoyed by judges constantly engaged in trial
term and special term, he has never felt called upon to accompany his
decisions with opinions of any length. When he does write, his
opinions are clear, terse and sententious. Indeed there is very
little satisfaction for a judge at special term in writing elaborate
opinions, only to find them arrested and archived in that mere
vestibule of fame, that hall of unmerited but predestined and
pathetic oblivion known as the Miscellaneous Reports.

But the waters of a cruel, though often kindly, oblivion can never
wholly submerge the fine superstructure of judicial fame reared by
Judge Michael H. Hirschberg upon a foundation of singularly
exclusive, concentrated, severe, professional, intellectual and
literary training. Born and reared in Newburgh, but coming to
practice at the bar without those intermediate college advantages
enjoyed by his life-long friend and associate, Judge Brown, whom he
succeeded upon the bench, he has, nevertheless, strikingly verified
the saying of Carlyle that, after all, books are the best university.
During all the years of his professional activity in Orange County
he sedulously, patiently wrought out, cultivated and perfected a
crisp, nervous, virile, epigrammatic, yet withal, polished,
mellifluous, ornate and opulent English style which constituted an
admirable discipline and equipment for the very field of juristic
service in which he was later destined to engage.

Elected in 1890 to a seat upon the bench, he was, after a brief
period of service at trial and special terms, assigned to the
Appellate Division, and later, upon the retirement of Judge Goodrich,
he was appointed the presiding justice of the court. This was the
opportunity for which his slumbering, but not unready, accomplishments
long had waited. Then ensued the disclosure to his judicial
associates and to the bar of the State of those attainments as a
writer and as a jurist, which had long been known to the bench and
bar of his county and his district. While comparisons are often more
dangerous than odious his career almost inevitably reminds one of
that literary lawyer, known then chiefly for his writing of "The Blue
and the Grey," who was summoned by his friend, Governor Cornell, from
his scholarly seclusion at Ithaca to take a seat upon the bench of
the Court of Appeals; and who thereupon enriched the literature of
the law with a body of opinions, unrivaled for English style and
judicial learning, which have entranced and instructed two
generations of lawyers. Equally true is it of Judge Hirschberg that
already has he permanently enriched the Reports of the Appellate
Division with a series of opinions which, for lucidity of statement,
force of reasoning, felicity of style, and perfect command of the
literary implements adapted to the expression of exact distinctions
or delicate discriminations, stand unrivaled in the pages of these
imposing volumes, which will long perpetuate his fame as a judicial
writer.

One characteristic of Judge Hirschberg during his brief service in
holding trial terms should be mentioned, because no ponderous tomes
can reveal character. Contemporary history must transfix for
posterity the personal traits and manners of a judge. When Judge
Hirschberg was elected even his intimate friends supposed, from long
familiarity with his extraordinary quickness of mental action, his
scintillations of repartee in social life and his swift rejoinder at
the bar, that he would show some impatience with the slowness,
dullness and density due to imperfect preparation or inherent
ineptitude, which every judge is called upon, more or less
frequently, to endure; that he would find it difficult to restrain
the bubbling of wit and sarcasm at the expense of ignorance or
incapacity. But on the contrary, he proved to be the most gentle,
indulgent and long-suffering of judges. The wearisome lawyers might
drone on, he made no effort to take the trial of the case out of
their hands and try it himself, he could try it better than they, but
he felt it his duty to let them try it in their own way. No one could
tell what he was thinking of them or their methods. He might be a
maelstrom of seething disgust or amusement within; but he wore the
impassive, inscrutable, uncommunicative exterior of a sphinx. Under
the responsibility of his great office he unconsciously developed and
en-grafted that quality which Judge Jenks in his impressive eulogy
upon Judge Wilmot M. Smith declared to be almost the greatest
attribute of a judge--infinite patience.

And since the entire bar of Orange County regarded with peculiar
affection the character of Judge Smith and now holds in deepest
veneration his sacred memory, it is not amiss to incorporate in this
record that expression of its feelings by Judge Hirschberg himself,
which sheds a reflected light upon his own standards of duty and with
which this attempt to limn his portrait for succeeding generations
may fitly close:

"Judge Smith was truly an ideal jurist, profound as a lawyer,
estimable as a citizen, lovable as a man. The mortal part of each
life ends necessarily in nothing but an insignificant contribution to
an immense volume of pathetic dust, but the spiritual sense is
satisfied when, as in this instance, the ashes are sanctified with
the memory of a noble life devoted to duty and glorified with the
love of God, of justice and of humanity."

And now, having sought to project upon the canvas a faithful
portraiture of the judges who were drawn into the public service from
the Orange County bar, within the period embraced in these personal
recollections, it is convenient and fitting at this time to briefly
outline the conditions of practice which prevailed in Orange County
at the time they came to the bar--Judge Dickey in 1866 and Judges
Brown and Hirschberg in 1868--when Winfield, Gedney and Fullerton
were at the zenith of their powers and their reputation. It is a
great mistake to assume that the older members of the bar were
satisfied with these conditions. On the contrary, they bitterly
chafed under them. The number of judges was wholly inadequate to the
needs of the district, as will readily be seen when it is considered
that twenty-five judges are now required to serve the same territory
then covered by only four judges upon whom devolved all the motions,
trials and appeals arising and heard within it. The ever-increasing
volume of business created by the rapid growth of Brooklyn made it
impossible for the judges to hold a trial term--then called the
"circuit term"--longer than five days. The judges were indeed upon a
circuit, for they were always under assignment to open court in some
other county on the following Monday. Every Thursday afternoon or
Friday morning the judge marked off the calendar every case which
could not be tried in time to enable him to leave on Friday afternoon
in order to hold his Saturday special term. This arbitrary,
inexorable limitation of time, which was equivalent to shutting out
many cases that had been carefully prepared, was most cruel to the
younger members of the bar whose sole chance of either emolument or
distinction lay in getting their cases tried; while to say that these
conditions were satisfactory to the older members of the bar of that
period would violate the truth of history. They always unduly and
often indecently accelerated the trial of important cases in which
advocates like Winfield and Gedney were spurred to an undignified
celerity which was not merely distasteful but detestable to them.
Both Winfield and Gedney were tenacious of dignity, deliberation and
decorum in the administration of justice. They disliked extremely to
be told. "Go on with the case, gentlemen," or to be asked, "What are
you waiting for?" They could not share the glee manifested by the
judge when he succeeded in having three juries "out" at one time, and
boasted to the justices of Sessions at his side how he was
"expediting the business." They, too, wanted the business advanced,
but they wanted it done with due regard to the traditions and the
usages of the bar. Winfield was especially the distinct
representative in this county of the old Websterian school of
advocates. He believed earnestly in the maintenance of all that form
and dignity, of all those ancient usages and proprieties which once
uniformly marked the relations to each other of the bench and bar.
When in 1874 I met him in Albany to argue my first case in the Court
of Appeals, then presided over by that most urbane jurist, Judge
Sanford E. Church, Mr. Winfield carefully attired himself on the
morning of the argument in a full-dress black suit with its broad
expanse of shirt front, now used only for evening wear, but regarded
at that time as a suitable uniform for appearance before the highest
court in the State; just as, at a slightly earlier period, Webster
and Pinckney appeared before the Supreme Court at Washington in blue
coat and brass buttons, with buff waistcoat. How different from the
present when able lawyers in short sack coats of gray, looking like
commercial travelers, hasten from the Albany station to the two
o'clock sessions of the court without stopping to even remove the
dust of travel before launching into their keen and brilliant
arguments.

When Judge Joseph F. Barnard, of Poughkeepsie, upon the transfer of
judge Lott to the Court of Appeals in 1869, became the presiding
judge of the old general term, he became also the presiding genius,
the dominating, all-pervading spirit of the second judicial district.
He was opposed to any increase in the number of judges. With his
insatiable voracity for work and his preternatural velocity of
thought, enabling him to accomplish as much alone as the other three
judges combined, he thought that four judges ought to be fully able
to keep up with all the business of the district; as indeed they were
if the administration of justice, involving the most profound issues
of human life and society, had been merely a matter of getting the
business out of the way, as on a wharf, to make room for the next
cargo.

The judges, fresh from their several circuit terms, met in the
general term and proceeded to hear appeals from the decisions made by
themselves at special and trial term. It was, indeed, an impressive,
inspiring and solemn spectacle to see Judge Tappen and Judge Gilbert
gravely considering whether they would reverse Judge Barnard; and in
the next case Judge Tappen and Judge Barnard sitting upon Judge
Gilbert. Of course the tacit challenge, "You reverse me, I'll
reverse you," pervaded all the proceedings. Nothing else could be
expected of human nature. It has never been pretended that the State
supplies lawyers with any superior, exclusive brand of human nature
when it gives them their diploma, and judges are simply lawyers upon
the bench. That an appellate system should ever have been devised so
exquisitely adapted to defeat its object and destroy respect for its
operations was not, of course, the fault of the judges of the second
district.

When the general term sat in Poughkeepsie, as it did every May, to
accommodate Judge Barnard, the business was disposed of even more
rapidly than in Brooklyn, Judge Barnard greeting with delight any
lawyers who would appear at eight o'clock in the morning, both ready
to argue their appeal in advance of the regular session. The judges
constantly interrupted the attorneys to assure them that they could
not possibly remember what they said but that they would read their
briefs. It was of course true that no human mind could retain or even
grasp the arguments discharged at the court as from a catapult by
attorneys gasping for breath in the mad race against time.

[Illustration: Wm. O. Piorshalf]

Some amelioration of the intolerable conditions under which circuit
terms were held in Newburgh and Goshen was effected through the
election in 1870 of Judge Calvin E. Pratt, whose conservatism,
affability and dignity won for him universal respect. This
improvement was extended by the election in 1880 of Judge Edgar M.
Cullen, whose high sense of absolute fairness to all suitors alike
led him to devote as much time and thought to a case involving a
trifling amount as to one involving large interests; though even he
was merciless in his infliction of night sessions upon the attorneys
during the hot June term at Goshen, a course to which he felt
impelled because of his inability to remain longer than one week and
his desire to crowd as much work as possible into that wholly
inadequate time.

The comfort and convenience of the Orange County bar and the
interests of litigants were served to a still greater degree by the
election in 1882 of Judge Charles F. Brown. Though he could not
extend the trial terms beyond two weeks, on account of his
assignments to other counties, still he held a special term every
Saturday at Newburgh where, by consent of counsel, many cases were
tried that otherwise would have been tried before a jury, thus
affording great relief to the overtaxed calendars of the trial terms.

From that time to the present there has been a steady reaction
against feverishness and ferment as a suitable atmosphere for
judicial proceedings and a gradual return to calm, neutral,
deliberate, dignified, decorous methods of judicial procedure, until
finally, for the first time in the history of the county, a
four-weeks' term of court was held in February, 1907; this being one
of the first fruits of the formation of the ninth judicial district,
consisting of the river counties alone--a change which was opposed by
some Orange County lawyers but which is now generally recognized as,
in the highest degree, conducive to the convenience and interests
of the bar and of the public, though it does involve some additional
burdens upon jurors.

Forty years ago the familiar excuse made by judges for dispatching
business with unseemly haste was their solicitude for the time and
convenience of the jurors. Indeed there never was a judge more
popular than Judge Barnard among jurors, witnesses, spectators and
the public. They admired the celerity of his movements and they were
vastly entertained by his caustic remarks to counsel. But his remarks
about counsel and witnesses during the progress of the trial were far
more entertaining and racy than any the public was permitted to hear.
The favored persons privileged to hear these were his associates upon
the bench of the old Oyer and Terminer, since abolished and now
merged in the Supreme Court. They were drawn from the justices of the
peace of the county and with the presiding judge constituted the
criminal branch of the court. Squire George A. Durland, of the town
of Greenville, who sat in this capacity next to Judge Barnard at many
terms of court, never tired of telling about the trenchant, scathing,
witty commentary kept up by the judge upon every incident of the
trial, the counsel engaged in it and the witnesses sworn upon it.

During Judge Barnard's entire tenure of office the plea of not taking
up the time of the jurors was invoked to override every other
consideration. Not even death itself was superior to it or sacred
from it. When Mr. Winfield died on the tenth of June, 1888, and court
convened at Goshen on Monday, the eighteenth of June, Judge Cullen
suspended the regular business of the court at four o'clock to allow
a suitable tribute to his memory, including several addresses in
addition to the resolutions. But when Judge Gedney died, a month
later, there was no opportunity to take formal action upon his death
at a trial term until the regular November term. Accordingly, when
court convened at Newburgh the twelfth of November an informal
request was made to Judge Barnard for an opportunity to pursue the
same course in respect to Judge Gedney's memory that had been adopted
at Goshen in respect to Mr. Winfield. Judge Barnard promptly and
firmly refused to allow the time of the jurors to be taken up in this
way, adding: "Why, he's been dead some time, hasn't he?" So it became
necessary to change the plan and to offer simply a motion "that a
committee be appointed to present at a meeting of the bar of Orange
County to be hereafter called suitable resolutions." That there
should be further delay in honoring the memory of this great lawyer
and brilliant advocate, after there had already been a necessary
delay of four months, is not a reproach that rests upon the bar of
Orange County. As the motion occupied only two minutes it was
promptly granted and the committee purposed to present the
resolutions at the following term of court to be held at Goshen in
January, 1889, which was expected to be presided over by Judge Brown.
But when Judge Brown was transferred to the Court of Appeals he
became disqualified from holding the term and Judge Barnard
unexpectedly took his place. Admonished by previous experience no
attempt was made to present the resolutions at that time or to apply
for permission to make addresses in honor of Judge John G. Wilkin,
who, also, had meantime died. So the tributes of the Orange County
bar to Judge Gedney, Judge Wilkin and Surrogate Henry A. Wadsworth,
whose death also had occurred, were massed together at a meeting of
the bar presided over by Judge Brown on Saturday, the second day of
February, 1889, seven months after the death of Judge Gedney, without
those customary adjuncts to the dignity of the occasion--the crowded
court room; the attendance of litigants, jurors and witnesses from
all parts of the county; the solemn pause in the business of the
court; the impressive silence; the strained, eager attention of old
friends in the audience to the last tributes of respect for one they
loved; all of which were not only appropriate but, indeed, imperative
in honoring one who had so often held that very court room silent,
captive, enthralled by the spell of his genius.

If Judge Gedney's brethren had felt, in the first instance, that a
tribute to his memory at a mere meeting of the bar would be
appropriate and adequate, it would not have been delayed seven
months, as such a meeting could have been called at any time after
his death. That it was not so called shows the strength of a
sentiment which was ruthlessly trampled upon by judicial contempt not
merely for all the traditions of the bar but for all the sacredness
of love and death.

At the same time the bar always recognized with gratitude the earnest
desire on the part of Judge Barnard to transact all the business that
he could and to accommodate the bar as much as possible. It was this
disposition that led to his constant signing of _ex parte_ orders
without looking at them, trusting to the honor of the bar not to
impose upon him and, also, to a motion by the other side to vacate
any improvident order. The lawyers, through long custom, so came to
prefer this system that they resented any departure from it by new
judges who could not take this view of their duties. When Judge
Brown's transfer to the second division of the Court of Appeals led
to the Newburgh special terms being taken by Judges Cullen and
Bartlett, the bar practically boycotted them in favor of Judge
Barnard's Saturday term at Poughkeepsie, merely because both Judge
Cullen and Judge Bartlett manifested a very decided preference to
know what they were signing. Gradually, however, the lawyers learned
that this course was not intended as a reflection upon the bar, but as
a help to it, in preventing any such mistake or oversight as might
lead afterwards to serious consequences. Of this I once witnessed a
striking illustration. An attorney desired an order to examine a
party before trial in a case in which the examination of his
adversary was absolutely essential to his success in the litigation.
Judge Bartlett sent the affidavit back to him three times for
correction and the order was finally sustained in the Court of
Appeals because of the sufficiency of the affidavit. All this
involved to Judge Bartlett conscientious labor and minute examination
which he might well have shirked and which judges generally consider
counsel have no right to expect of them or to impose upon them.

Judge Barnard was the most conspicuous of all the judges in his
anxiety to save the lawyers the trouble of travel in order to
transact their business. He instructed the Orange County attorneys to
mail to him an order designating a referee of their own choice, to
compute the amount due in foreclosure cases, with the report of the
referee signed by him in anticipation of his appointment, together
with the judgment of foreclosure; whereupon he signed at the same
time both the order of reference and the judgment of foreclosure,
promptly mailing them back, although it was physically impossible
that the referee should have acted in the interval between his
appointment and the judgment. This practice, which is now regarded as
irregular and which even the most accommodating judges now
discountenance, resulted in no harm, for it rested upon the most
implicit good faith on the part of the attorneys, while the
confidence of the judge was never, in a single instance, abused. An
incident strongly illustrating this trait of Judge Barnard also grew
indirectly out of Judge Brown's transfer to the Court of Appeals.
Judgments of foreclosure in cases in Sullivan County had usually been
taken before Judge Brown at Newburgh because, though in another
judicial district, Orange County is an adjoining county and this is
permitted by the code. But soon after judge Brown left Newburgh an
attorney, overlooking the fact that Dutchess County does not adjoin
Sullivan, sent the papers in a Sullivan County foreclosure case to
Judge Barnard to be signed by him on Saturday at Poughkeepsie. His
eagle eye at once noticed that the action was in Sullivan County and
that he had no jurisdiction to act in the case in Dutchess County.
Any other judge would have returned the papers, calling attention to
the difficulty. But did this satisfy Judge Barnard? Not at all. This
would not have advanced the business. This would not have "helped out
the boys." So he struck out the word "Poughkeepsie" in the order and
judgment and in his own handwriting substituted the word "Newburgh,"
thus making himself, by a legal fiction, sit in an adjoining county
for five minutes, for the purposes of that case, though he was
actually in Poughkeepsie all that day, and though he never held a
Saturday special term in Newburgh in all his life. Judge Cullen and
Judge Bartlett would have felt that they were inviting impeachment by
such an act, and yet Judge Barnard was moved solely by the desire to
facilitate the business of the attorneys in every possible way. To
him an irregularity meant nothing unless it meant also a wrong. But
those days have passed and have been succeeded by better days, in
which it is recognized by the courts and the lawyers alike that they
should co-operate in making even their routine practice so regular as
to exclude any possibility of error.

There will be no sigh in this retrospect over the better days of long
ago, no wail about the "good old times." The better days are now and
the good times have come at last. The new generation of lawyers now
entering upon their active career has reason for gratification that
the facilities for the orderly, deliberate, tranquil trial and
hearing of their causes, with the prospect that even and exact
justice will be rendered in them, are greater to-day than at any
previous period in the history of the county. There never was so good
an opportunity for a young, ambitious, able advocate to win fame at
the bar of Orange County as there is to-day. While the subjects of
litigation and the conditions of business have somewhat changed in
the last fifty years, human nature has never changed. Juries respond
to-day as readily as then to the touch of a master spirit. When
jurors ask nowadays why they do not hear such speeches at court as
their fathers have told them about the answer generally given is that
judges frown upon anything like display and hold the lawyers down to
business. The business of an advocate is to make a good speech and no
judge ever was able to stop a good speech. Let no young lawyer seek
indolent refuge in the pretext that the judges will not give him a
chance. Let him not, with difficulty, fold his restless pinions lest
they be arrested in their soaring flight by judicial insensibility.
No, the reason that forensic eloquence has so lamentably declined in
Orange County lies not in the hostility of judges, but in the
absorption of lawyers themselves in the merely material, sordid
aspects of life, to the exclusion of any interest in those liberal
arts and erudite pursuits which alone can anoint the hesitating lips
with the honey of eloquent discourse. The field is clear for another
Winfield or Gedney.

It is the fashion to say that the influence of the bar has
declined--that the legal profession, as a body, does not enjoy the
same measure of public respect which was paid to it in the early days
of the republic, or exercise now that ascendancy over public opinion
which once it exerted so powerfully and so naturally. It is true,
indeed, that coincidently with the stealthy, sinister growth in the
Northern States of the modern machine methods of party management the
lawyer has been gradually and inevitably displaced as a leader of
public opinion. It is only in the South that the influence of the
lawyer among the masses is still unshaken because there the appeal of
candidates is still made directly to the people who, through their
primaries and in other republican ways familiar to the fathers and
founders of the nation, express their preference and give effect to
their choice.

But it is significant that, even in the North, whenever the people at
large resolve to destroy long-standing abuses or odious machines, as,
at stated intervals, they always proceed to do, they turn
instinctively, as of old, to the plain, simple, honest, busy,
practicing lawyer. Among the lawyers elected to the high office of
governor of our State the three governors whose homely, direct,
straightforward methods have most captivated the imagination and
impressed the conscience of the passing generation are Tilden,
Cleveland and Hughes, who simply brought to their duties the habits,
the instincts, the training and the ideals of the old-fashioned
country lawyer, whose first aim is always to protect the interests
committed to his charge without any thought as to the effect of his
course upon his own interests, popularity or future. This training,
this tradition, this character of the true lawyer still happily
survives all changes in political methods or party management and
still constitutes the highest security the people have for the
faithful administration of their laws, wholly un-swerved by selfish,
ulterior or sinister purposes.

At the time, now forty years ago, to which my memory of the Orange
County bar runs back, these honorable traditions were wholly
maintained by a bar, the members of which still enjoyed a high place
in the public esteem and exercised a profound influence upon public
opinion, based upon the dignity and importance of their profession as
well as upon their personal talents and character. The relations
between the lawyers and the farmers were particularly close,
confidential and agreeable. The soil was still largely occupied by
men of character, education and intelligence who freely sought the
counsel and society of their friends among the lawyers at whose
offices and homes they were as cordially welcomed on a social or
political call as upon a professional visit. The reason that the sons
and successors of the lawyers of that day have, to some extent, lost
touch with the interests of the soil is that the farmers of that day
were not able to persuade their sons to become their successors. The
saddest change that has overtaken Orange County in the last forty
years is not in the character of its professional men, but in the
character of its farming population.

Identified with the period included in the personal recollections
here but partially preserved are several groups of fathers and sons
who may for convenience be considered together; especially as a
sufficiently consecutive view of the period has now been presented to
admit, henceforth, of greater latitude in respect to time and order.

Joseph W. Gott, senior, died in 1869 after twenty-seven years
continuous practice in Goshen, where he established the enviable
reputation throughout the county of being one of the most honorable
and high-minded men, as well as one of the most able and successful
lawyers, known to his generation. His premature and deeply regretted
death occurred before his only son could be admitted to practice.

Joseph W. Gott, Jr., was admitted in 1875 and since then, like his
father, has practiced continuously in Goshen. No higher praise can be
bestowed upon him than to say, that while he has, by his own vigorous
intellect and independent character, won for himself prominence at
the bar, he has never lost sight of the high ideals which animated
his father.

The general confidence in his supreme honor and integrity which he
has always enjoyed corresponds most touchingly to the confidence and
respect always inspired by his honored father. With him is now
associated in practice his own son, Percy Van Duzer Gott. These two
are mentioned first in the group of fathers and sons because they are
the only lawyers in Orange County, thus associated, who constitute
and represent four generations of Orange County lawyers. For in them
flows not only the blood of the elder Gott, but the blood of the Van
Duzers and the Gedneys.

Isaac R. Van Duzer, who married in 1826 the older sister of Judge
Gedney--their daughter, Charlotte, being married to Joseph W. Gott in
1847--was, undoubtedly, the most brilliant advocate, with the single
exception of Ogden Hoffman, who ever addressed an Orange County jury.
All the accounts of contemporaries and all the traditions of the bar
unite in this verdict. Often have I heard Judge Wilkin, who as a boy
heard him in Goshen, expatiate upon his transcendent powers. He died
prematurely in his fortieth year, but the opinion entertained by his
generation was that, had he lived, his name would have gone down to
history with the foremost orators of his age. Of their distinguished
ancestry at the bar of Orange County the Gotts may well be proud; for
the junior member in the present firm is now the fourth in a line of
lawyers whose practice and residence at Goshen have extended over a
period of eighty-five years--from 1823 to the present time.

John W. Brown was admitted to practice in 1822, just one year before
Mr. Van Duzer, to whom he was related, Judge Brown having married a
Reeve, which was the family name of Mr. Van Duzer's mother. It is
remarkable that if the practice of Judge Brown and of his own son,
Charles F. Brown, had not been interrupted by extended terms of
judicial service in the life of each--sixteen years in the life of
the elder Brown and fourteen years in the life of the younger--the
continuous practice of the two Browns would now cover a period of
eighty-six years. As it is, their contributions in two generations to
the jurisprudence of the State, at the bar and on the bench, cover a
longer period than that embraced in the careers of any father and son
associated with the legal annals of Orange County. I say still
associated because, although Judge Charles F. Brown is now one of the
two or three acknowledged leaders of the bar of the State, with his
office in New York City, where his practice is largely in the
Appellate Courts, he still retains his residence in Orange County and
a nominal connection with the firm established in Newburgh by his
former partner, Mr. Cassedy.

[Illustration: Stph. Fullerton]

His own career has already been sufficiently treated in its
appropriate place in this commentary. It only remains to add that his
life-long veneration for his father's memory and his consistent
emulation of his father's example supply an element of interest to
his career and of filial tenderness to his character not appreciated
by the thousands of his admirers, among the judges and lawyers of the
country, who know him only through the cold medium of his published
judicial opinions.

Judge John W. Brown was undoubtedly a great man. Serving two terms in
Congress from 1833 to 1837; a prominent member of the Constitutional
Convention of 1846; elected in 1849 to the Supreme Court and again in
1857, his life was one of unceasing activity, influence and power.
His greatness as a judge may be inferred from the remarkable
circumstance that no decision made by him was ever reversed by the
Court of Appeals, of which court he was himself a member, under the
system then prevailing, during the last years of his successive terms
as a judge of the Supreme Court.

It is not strange that one who was born to the heritage of such a
name should have sought to add, as indeed he has added, to its luster
in a succeeding generation.

It was while Charles F. Brown was district attorney of Orange County
that John W. Lyon became an official of the county through his
appointment to the office of assistant district attorney. The career
of the Lyons, father and son, now covers a practice of sixty-one
years in Port Jervis, the longest period of continuous practice at
the bar carried over from father to son, in Orange County.

Thomas J. Lyon, or, as his friends affectionately preferred to call
him, Tom Lyon, was a man of great native talent and marked
originality. Beginning life as a Methodist preacher, but coming to
prefer the more extended opportunities for usefulness afforded by the
law, his fame in the fifties soon spread from the Delaware to the
Hudson. Throwing himself with ardor into the exciting political
contests which marked this period, he was in constant demand as a
campaign speaker and his political services were recognized by a
lucrative appointment under the administration of President Franklin
Pierce. Twice elected to the Assembly and once a candidate of his
party for the Senate, his abilities always received the cordial
recognition of the public with whom he kept constantly on good terms.
The announcement that he was to speak at a political gathering was
always sure to attract a large attendance of adherents of the
opposite party for they knew they would be entertained by his sallies
though they might not be seduced by his arguments.

His control over juries was due to a mingling of magnetism and humor.
He could touch the chord of sentiment and the response was immediate.
He could cover his opponent with ridicule and the result was
contagious and convulsive laughter. No weapon is more powerful at any
time than gentle banter and no one knew better how to employ its
arts to the discomfiture of an adversary than Thomas J. Lyon.

His son, John W., inherits his ability and much of his originality.
He, too, has always taken a deep interest in politics and he has been
heard on the platform in every campaign since 1872.

He was the pioneer of the bar in that branch of the practice which
has since assumed such proportions, railway litigation. He was the
first to carry to the Court of Appeals many important questions,
relating to the liability of the master for injury to the employee,
which were settled by that court in favor of the positions contended
for by him.

A most interesting feature in the genealogy of the profession is the
fact that the daughter of John W. Lyon, Frances D. Lyon, is also a
lawyer duly admitted to practice, having supplemented her studies in
her father's office by a course at the Cornell Law School from which
she graduated with honor, subsequently passing her examinations
before the State Board. She is now engaged in practice with her
father, to whom her aid is invaluable in the office, while she has
also shown marked ability in her appearances at court.

Thus we have in the Lyons the only family in Orange County, except
the Gott family, in which there have been three successive
generations of lawyers bearing the same name.

Eugene A. Brewster and George R. Brewster cover a period of sixty
years' continuous practice, the elder Brewster having been admitted
in 1848. The judgment of his associates, placing Eugene A. Brewster
in the front rank of the lawyers of his time, has already been
expressed. Upon his death his son, George R., succeeded to his
practice in the same office to which for so many years the friends of
his father were accustomed to bend their steps and where they never
received any but the most wise and judicious counsel. George R.
Brewster inherits the sound judgment and conservative instincts of
his father and well maintains the dignity and responsibilities of his
honorable name and lineage. His public spirit and devotion to every
worthy cause are among the most conspicuous of his traits of
character. Possessed of ample means and under no spur of necessity he
gives freely to the public all the time he can spare from a practice
which has been attended with great success, one of the most notable
of his recent legal victories having been gained in restraining the
building of a railroad across his client's property.

His sense of civic duty has been strikingly exemplified in the
conscientious performance of his duties as supervisor, though his
acceptance of the office involved great inconvenience and sacrifice.
His labors in behalf of St. Luke's Hospital have been of inestimable
value to that noble benefaction.

In a community as conservative as Newburgh, where one minister is
still acceptably serving his congregation for the fifty-second year
and another for the thirty-fifth, it counts for something, and very
properly so, that a man should be the son and successor of an
honored, respected father. When Mr. Brewster died his son was made a
director of the Newburgh Bank in his father's place and when Abram S.
Cassedy died the same course was taken in the Quassaick Bank in
respect to his son, William F. Cassedy.

The Cassedys, father and son, cover a period of fifty-one years'
continuous practice, the elder Cassedy having been admitted in 1857.
The high place gained by him in the esteem of the bar and in the
confidence of the public has already been set forth at length. This
confidence has been transferred to his son, William F. Cassedy, to a
degree almost unprecedented in the career of a young practitioner but
in every sense justified by his high character and brilliant talents.
Mr. Cassedy has during the last few years managed and represented
estates of as great magnitude as the estates represented by all the
other lawyers of Orange County combined. He has a special talent for
this important branch of the practice, but, like his father, can drop
his papers and go to court with his case well prepared for trial. The
ability with which he uniformly presents it to a jury is well
reinforced by the same winning manner and pleasing personality which
has endeared him to so many friends.

When Judge Charles F. Brown was in 1883 elevated to the bench of the
Supreme Court, the firm of Cassedy & Brown, of which Abram S. Cassedy
was then the senior member, was, of course, dissolved. When Judge
Brown retired from the bench in 1897, Mr. Cassedy having meantime
died, the names became transposed, the firm of Brown & Cassedy then
formed, and still continuing, being composed of Judge Brown and
William F. Cassedy. That this association of his name with that of
his old partner's son should be pleasing to Judge Brown is a
distinguished mark of that great jurist's confidence, esteem and
affection which indeed, are shared by all, bar and public alike, who
come to know the pure and lofty character of William F. Cassedy.

William B. Royce who with his son, Herbert B. Royce, is engaged in
practice in Middletown, was admitted forty years ago, but being
persuaded, while in the full tide of active practice, to accept the
position of president of the First National Bank in 1875, his career
as a lawyer was interrupted for seventeen years. Resigning this
position, however, at the end of this period, he soon recovered his
scattered practice and upon the admission to the bar of his son the
firm of William B. and Herbert B. Royce was formed. This continued
until the autumn of 1906 when, John C. R. Taylor, having been elected
to the Senate, the firm of Taylor, Royce & Royce was formed.

Mr. Royce has greater capacity for public business than any lawyer
who ever practiced at the bar in Orange County. His mind grasps
readily, his tastes run naturally to, every phase and variety of
town, county and municipal relations, improvements and enterprises,
with all the important questions involved in them in respect to the
proper distribution of public burdens. He is an authority upon
corporation law in respect both to the organization and management of
corporations. His power of clear statement, in respect to any
involved or intricate situation, is very great.

There is one characteristic of Mr. Royce which is fully appreciated
only by those who have been in a position to see its frequent
effective exercise. He loves to settle disputes among neighbors and
litigants. He has genuine talent for making each party see how it
would benefit him to make some concession and even greater tact in
pointing out how certain concessions necessary to the settlement will
still leave the pride and dignity of the parties uncompromised. He
absolutely has never failed in bringing about an agreement which he
started out to compass. Sometimes, indeed, the perverseness of the
parties has seemed to make the difficulties insuperable, but this
has only spurred him on to renewed exertions. Those who know how
unprofitable and unwise for both parties is any litigation which can
possibly be avoided and, especially, any litigation representing only
an honest difference of opinion, will realize the indebtedness of the
public to Mr. Royce for those unselfish exertions and that salutary
influence which, throughout his entire professional career, have been
steadily, consistently and successfully directed to the promotion of
peace and the soothing of angry controversy.

His son, Herbert B. Royce, who enjoyed the advantages of both the
classical and law course at Cornell University, was launched from the
first into the activities of a busy office. Having been elected
special county judge he has enjoyed an opportunity, in presiding over
the trial terms of the County Court, to impress his abilities upon
the bar and the public to a degree and in a manner never before
enjoyed by a special county judge in the entire history of the
county. Before Judge Beattie's time the county judges were never very
considerate to the special county judges. They regarded them as
officers provided merely for the convenience of the bar in signing
orders and they affected to think that there might be some serious
question of jurisdiction involved in their trying and sentencing
criminals, even Judge Hirschberg and Judge Beattie were never
invited, as special county judges, to hold a term of court, but the
judges, when they could not act themselves, always brought in a
county judge of a neighboring county. Judge Beattie acted more
generously to his official coadjutor and when it became necessary for
him to surrender two terms of court. Judge Royce was requested to
hold them. This service was performed by him with such marked ability
and so greatly to the satisfaction of the entire bar and the public,
that Judge Seeger, who succeeded Judge Beattie in 1907, and who was
disqualified from sitting in any cases in which he, as district
attorney, had procured the indictments, again summoned Judge Royce
to the bench, when again he was enabled to give a public
demonstration of his judicial fitness and capacity and to prove that
it will never be necessary to call in a judge from a neighboring
county as long as Judge Royce remains special county judge.

Finn & Finn is the name of the firm of which Daniel Finn was the
senior member until it was ruthlessly dissolved by the untimely hand
of death, which overtook him without warning in the very midst of an
unusually active and prosperous career. Admitted to the bar in 1870
he began and, for thirty-five years continued his practice in
Middletown, becoming one of the most respected and influential of its
citizens as well as one of the ablest and most trusted of its bar. He
was especially versed in the law of wills. Nothing appealed more
strongly to his interest than the ambiguous provisions of a will and
the difficult questions raised as to their proper construction. His
opinions upon these were often submitted to the court with the result
that his judgment was invariably sustained.

He was the most imperturbable of men. Nothing agitated or even
ruffled him. He could lay down his pen to engage in an interview with
some irascible client and, after it was over, calmly resume work upon
his thoughtful brief at the very point at which it had been
interrupted. This faculty, the result of training as well as of
temperament, enabled him to accomplish a great deal of work. The day
was never spoiled for him by some untoward incident, unpleasant
letter or peevish client. Each day marked distinct progress in some
appointed task.

Mr. Finn, who drew the will of Mrs. Thrall, was deeply interested in
the noble institutions founded by her--the hospital and the library
in addition to the park--and it was largely through his influence
that her thoughts were directed to these beneficent objects. It was
also through his careful prevision that her testamentary wishes in
respect to an additional endowment for the hospital were not defeated
by statutory precautions. Mr. Finn foresaw that she might die within
the two months set apart, arbitrarily and without respect to
testamentary capacity, by the inscrutable wisdom of the legislature
as the fluctuating hiatus, that may or may not turn out to be the
vitiated period, within which testamentary benevolence must be
suspended; within which all tardy attempts of the passing soul to
make its peace with God or restitution to mankind must be overruled
and nullified in favor of worthless or distant relatives; but still
within the last day of which the cunning physician seeking to cheat
death of its prey and rapacity of its spoils, might so galvanize into
convulsive life the dissolving frame, might so fan into flickering
flame the vital spark that, in the race between greedy kindred and
melting charity, rapacity will lose by a single hour. In the case of
Mrs. Thrall there was no such dramatic suspense. She died twenty days
after the execution of her will; so that the bequests in her will and
codicil of twenty thousand dollars to Thrall Hospital, already
founded by her, were declared void. But Mr. Flinn also advised her to
give to her executors, Isaac R. Clements and Nathan M. Hallock,
individually, absolutely and outright all legacies which might for
any reason be declared void or ineffectual, and this provision was
incorporated in her codicil. After this provision had withstood in
the courts the attacks of relatives who claimed that it represented a
secret trust, equally as abhorrent to legislative solicitude for
relatives as a direct charitable bequest, Mr. Clements and Mr.
Hallock, in honorable recognition of Mrs. Thrall's wishes, as
expressed in her defeated bequests, but under no legal compulsion so
to do, turned over to Thrall Hospital the twenty thousand dollars
which came to them absolutely under this alternative provision. Thus
were Mr. Finn's wisdom and foresight, not only in respect to his
client's provision for the hospital but in respect to her bequest to
the city of Middletown for its library, amply justified by the event.
The bequest of $30,000, for the library was sustained by the courts.
These noble foundations--the library and the hospital--constitute an
enduring monument to the generosity of S. Maretta Thrall but are no
less a monument to the learning, skill and prescience of Daniel Finn.
The people of Middletown, though they have always recognized his
virtues and his abilities, but imperfectly understand the full
measure and extent of their indebtedness to his guiding hand and
public spirit. It is simple justice to his memory that the incidents
of his professional career bearing upon the public welfare should be
embraced in any work professing to be history.

Mr. Finn's intense affection for and loyalty to his _alma mater,_
Hamilton College, was a very pronounced and interesting trait of his
character. His only son, Frank H. Finn, also graduated from this
classic institution of learning which numbers among its alumni that
most intellectual of all living American statesmen, Elihu Root.

Frank H. Finn, upon being admitted to practice, entered into
partnership with his father under the firm name of Finn &
Finn--the name under which, notwithstanding his father's death, he
and his present partner, Arthur H. Payne, himself also a graduate of
Hamilton College, conduct their business. Every writ and process
issued by the present firm runs in the name of Finn & Finn, thus
perpetuating the potent influence, the fine example and the gentle
memory of one of the purest and ablest of Orange County lawyers. It
is unusual among lawyers to preserve the name, in a firm, of a
deceased partner. The only instance I recall is that of James C.
Carter, whose surviving partner, Lewis Cass Ledyard, has always, with
a tenderness and delicacy of sentiment so in consonance with his own
noble nature and chivalric character, kept Mr. Carter's name at the
head of his firm, through all ensuing changes. The filial reverence
shown by Frank H. Finn for his father's memory, his unwillingness to
let his father's name disappear at once beneath the cold waters of
swift forgetfulness, illuminates his own strong and sterling
character. Called upon suddenly to assume charge of many intricate
and involved cases pending in the office at the time of his father's
death he accepted and discharged the painful responsibility with a
dignity, firmness, manliness, courage and ability which commanded the
admiration and won the affection of the community. Though he owes
much indeed to his noble father, he has given abundant evidence of
his capacity to stand alone. He and his brilliant partner, Mr. Payne,
will bring no reproach upon the honored name still in their pious
keeping.

Henry W. Wiggins came to the bar two years later than Daniel Finn.
The business established by him in Middletown in 1872 is now carried
on by the firm of Henry W. & Russell Wiggins, father and son.

Henry W. Wiggins is especially distinguished for his knowledge of the
law of real estate, but his practice has always covered a wide range.
I well remember an important litigation between mill owners in which
Mr. Wiggins established the right of the upper owner to substitute a
turbine for an overshot wheel and to take water at a lower depth,
provided he did not use a greater quantity of water than before. His
success was the more notable and gratifying because he was opposed by
both Mr. Brewster and Mr. Winfield. But it has been in litigations
involving the liability of the city of Middletown for damages that
Mr. Wiggins has won many of his most conspicuous triumphs. He was, at
intervals, its corporation counsel for many years, his son Russell
now holding the position. It is safe to say that no city was ever
more ably served and carefully protected than the city of Middletown
was by Mr. Wiggins. No expensive condemnation proceeding in his
charge ever proved ineffective because of some flaw or oversight. No
suit for damages defended by him ever terminated in an extreme or
excessive verdict. His caution, vigilance and conscientiousness
combined with his sturdy independence in always standing his ground,
in always adhering inflexibly to any position once, after due
consideration, taken by him, have been of incalculable service to his
clientage and have resulted in saving to the city of Middletown alone
many thousands of dollars.

[Illustration: Charles G. Dill.]

Russell Wiggins also has enjoyed marked success in defending the
interests of the city. His recent victory in a case involving the
validity of the provision in the charter of the city of Middletown
making notice to the common council of snow or ice upon a sidewalk
prerequisite to an action for injuries sustained in consequence of
it, has attracted wide attention. Mr. Wiggins was overruled by the
special term and by the appellate division which held that this
provision exceeded the powers of the legislature and was, therefore,
unconstitutional. But Mr. Wiggins succeeded in convincing the Court
of Appeals, which, in an opinion embodying the arguments advanced by
him, sustained the validity of this provision of the charter, with
the result that all actions of this class are practically done away
with, it is not surprising that all the cities of the State have been
so impressed with the importance of Mr. Wiggins' victory that they
are now trying to secure a similar provision in their own charters.
It seems, indeed, somewhat hard that a total stranger, alighting from
a train on a dark night, should be compelled to proceed at his peril
along a city street, under conditions which physically exclude his
either having or giving notice, but Mr. Wiggins ingeniously persuaded
the Court of Appeals to say that this is a question for the
legislature and not for the courts, thus establishing a new
precedent, if not a new principle, in constitutional construction, in
a case sure to become a leading one; sure to be cited for many years
to come, in the courts of the entire country. In thus linking his
name at the very outset of his career, to a leading authority, Mr.
Wiggins has set for himself a hard task. He must now live up to his
own reputation--which there is abundant reason to believe he is
entirely able to do.

Cornelius E. Cuddeback, admitted to the bar in 1873, immediately
established in Port Jervis the business now carried on under the
firm name of C. E. & S. M. Cuddeback, his son Samuel M. having become
associated with him.

Mr. Cuddeback early became prominent in all the interests of the
community, social, business, legal and public--a position which he
maintains by virtue of his unquestioned integrity, great ability and
enormous industry. He was largely instrumental in straightening out
the affairs of the Port Jervis & Monticello Railroad Company, and he
has for many years been the attorney for the town of Deer Park and
the village (now the city) of Port Jervis. He has also been the
attorney for many public service corporations. His defense of the
Barrett Bridge Company in a test case tried at Goshen in June, 1905,
to determine the liability of the company for the deaths occasioned
by the sweeping away of the bridge over the Delaware River in a
freshet, furnishes a fine example of his characteristics as a lawyer.
The defense was prepared with a thoroughness, exhaustiveness and
comprehensiveness and conducted with a verve, vigor and vivacity
which carried everything before it, sweeping away the case of the
plaintiff as ruthlessly as the freshet swept away the bridge; leaving
little for the jury to do but to register the fact that the defense
had been completely successful.

Mr. Cuddeback finds in his son a lawyer well qualified to assume the
burdens of his practice when he shall be prepared to lay them down.

All the living lawyers thus far considered, except the sons and
daughter, will very soon be passing from the scene. The pages that
bear this imprint will scarcely be flung from the press before the
lawyers whose now familiar names they carry forward to a generation
that knows them not, will drop away, one by one, from their
accustomed places. So true is this, so strong is the author's sense
that only, by slight anticipation, do these pages commemorate the
departed, that nothing has been set down here which could not be
truthfully and becomingly said if they had gone before who yet, for a
little, linger. This, indeed, suggests the chief reason why the
present record, to be of any value, should include the living; for
long before this publication is superseded by a rival or a successor
the figures it portrays will have passed from action to remembrance.

In connection with this thought it is proper to point out that the
sketches and estimates now published bear this further resemblance to
veracious and posthumous biography--they have not been edited by the
subjects. The system adopted in some modern compilations of
permitting prominent men to write their own biographies, or of
procuring from them the data for less sympathetic treatment, has not
been followed here. Indeed, with a single accidental and
insignificant exception, not one lawyer has any knowledge of the
scope or purpose of this undertaking or has furnished any information
available for use in it. He who carelessly takes up this volume to
read about others will be covered with modest confusion to find
himself included in it. This is an attempt not to let a man speak for
himself, but to collect and crystallize in definite forms of
expression the floating particles of contemporary judgment upon his
character. It is for this reason, besides others, that so few
specific dates and irrelevant facts are given. They have not been
asked for. They are not needed. They do not fit with the scheme of
this work, which aims, perhaps presumptuously, but still
consistently, to be a gallery of portraits, not a table of
statistics. Of what possible interest is it to know the number of a
lawyer's children, or the building in which his office is located?
Character and achievement are the things that count.

It will be convenient at this point to return to the consideration of
the leading advocates now at the bar of the county. No one recognizes
more than advocates themselves their frequent indebtedness to the
great lawyers who, undisturbed by absorbing, distracting and
exhausting trials, apply to life's complex and varying conditions the
immutable principles of the common law. It implies no disparagement
of Winfield and Gedney to assume that the one often leaned upon the
judgment of his partner, William F. Sharpe, and that the other often
sought the wise counsel of his esteemed relative, Joseph W. Gott. At
the same time it cannot be doubted that public interest has always
centered upon the trial lawyer, for the obvious reason that the open
field, the public challenge, the combat of intellectual athletes, the
palm of victory appeal strongly to the imagination and dramatic
sense. There need, therefore, be no apology for making prominent in a
popular work those who engage the larger share of merely popular
interest.

There is no man at the bar of Orange County, or indeed anywhere, for
whom the term colorless would be so inept as it would be for Judge
Albert H. F. Seeger. He radiates color. He is the incarnation of
sunshine. He is the forerunner of gladness, sounding a proclamation
of hope and good cheer wherever he goes. No one would suppose that he
ever had a care or sorrow. Yet he must have had his share. He
performs more perfectly than any man I ever knew that mission which
Robert Louis Stevenson glorifies when he says:

"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. A
happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note.
He or she is a radiating focus of good will; and their entrance into
a room is as though another candle had been lighted. We need not care
whether they could prove the forty-seventh proposition; they do a
better thing than that, they practically demonstrate the great
theorem of the livableness of life."

But Judge Seeger can also prove the forty-seventh proposition. He can
usually prove anything he sets out to prove, as lawyers opposed to
him have often found to their dismay. And even when the law and the
facts are all against him and you have him thoroughly beaten,
according, to all the rules of the game, there will still be three to
six jurors who strangely refuse to believe that anything but
infallible argument could emanate from a personality so radiant. Not
that his propositions always need the support of his personality,
upon which, indeed, he never consciously presumes. He always builds
up a strong, solid, telling, convincing argument, delivered with
unaffected earnestness and artless sincerity.

And his sincerity really is artless. While he is personally the most
popular man in Orange County and while such preeminence can only be
attained by the use of popular arts, yet in his case they are
entirely legitimate and unstudied. He really does feel kindness when
he seems to. He really is interested in the things which interest
others. He really does love their babies, their dogs, their
horses--anything, in fact, but their automobiles. His bubbling
spirits and effervescent mirth, his ready wit and sparkling sally,
the ring of his laughter and the spell of his bonhomie are all the
genuine expression of a rich, ardent and impressionable nature.

It might be thought that such a man would be a time-server. Far from
it. There is not a trace of the demagogue in his composition. Much as
he would naturally desire to retain his remarkable popularity he
would fling it all away, if necessary, in the performance of his duty
or in the defense of law and order. He showed this unmistakably when
as district attorney he boldly held at bay the lawless mob, at a
personal risk which his official duties did not call upon him to
incur. Knowing then that he would soon be a candidate for a higher
office he cared not whether he made friends or enemies, whether he
lost votes or gained them; he simply saw his duty and went straight
for it. As it was, the very forces he antagonized respected him. When
this genial friend, this blithe companion became transformed into the
stern, unyielding, inexorable officer of the law the very mob he awed
retired to worship him, and when the time came it voted for him.

This mingling in Judge Seeger's character of the sterner and softer
elements, of courage and tenderness, manliness and simplicity,
firmness and forgiveness, has inspired in the people of Orange County
a respect and affection such as rarely attends upon a public man. His
election to the office of county judge was inevitable whether the
"organization" had been friendly or not. If it constitutes high
qualifications for this responsible position to possess a character
noble and sincere, a disposition just and fair, a judgment sound and
true, a mind well trained and informed, a knowledge of the law wide
and various, a knowledge of human nature keen and close, a sense of
public duty deep and earnest, then is the county of Orange indeed
fortunate that a judge as respected as John J. Beattie should be
followed by a successor so worthy as Albert H. F. Seeger.

From painting to stenography; from stenography to the law; from the
law to the recovery of a judgment for eight hundred thousand dollars
in 1906--that is the condensed history of Thomas Watts. As the
painting was, not of pictures but, of houses, it will readily be seen
that he is the most consummate embodiment of that familiar phrase,
the self-made man, that the Orange County bar possesses. After
working all day painting, often walking back several miles to his
home, he spent his evenings studying stenography. After acquiring
this art and while pursuing its practice as a court stenographer he
studied law assiduously, following carefully also the course of every
case that came under his notice in court and drawing out the able
judges and lawyers whom he met in conversation that was not less
instructive than edifying.

Born in England, about the same time that Judge Seeger was born in
Germany, and brought to this country at an early age by his parents,
as Judge Seeger was also, the career of both men is a striking
illustration of what may be accomplished in this land of opportunity,
without the social influence of generations of local ancestry, by
sheer pluck, perseverance, energy and ability.

Mr. Watts is a very nucleus of abounding and super-abounding energy.
He generates energy by a process of spontaneous mental combustion.
His mental activity is more continuous and intense than any I have
ever known. His mind never goes fallow, but seems to be constantly
fructified by the floating pollen in the business, legal or
intellectual atmosphere surrounding him. It is of course inevitable
that, with such a temperament, he should repeatedly cross the path of
people who would like to have him keep out of their way. But Mr.
Watts is so constituted that where other people are there would he be
also; and he is always willing to keep out of their way by letting
them step aside.

Yet, despite all his initiative, aggressiveness and combativeness
with respect to those who can meet him upon equal terms, he is
tenderness and generosity itself to the weak, the helpless and the
dependent. He has been known to pour out his bounty for years upon
those who appealed to his sympathy or invoked his aid. He has, in a
marked degree, the English love of fair play and is as ready to
acknowledge a mistake as he is to resent an injury. Often brusque and
impulsive in his manner when no offense is intended, and quick to
regret when it is, he is always surprised to find that others are not
so ready to forget as he is to forgive.

The fighting qualities of Mr. Watts are never shown to better
advantage than when he is asserting the rights of the poor and weak
against all the resources of corporate or individual wealth. He never
tires. His tenacity cannot be shaken. No reversal of the first
judgment dismays him. He enters upon the second or third trial with
as much vigor and vim as upon the first. In one case he more than
doubled upon the second trial the verdict obtained upon the first
trial. Indeed he has led in the securing of large verdicts, having
obtained the largest verdict in a death case ever rendered in the
county and the largest verdict, with one exception, ever rendered for
personal injuries.

The judgment for eight hundred thousand dollars to which reference
has been made was obtained by Mr. Watts in an action brought by him
for a contractor against a railroad company for extra work in the
building of a branch, disputed by the company. Mr. Watts examined and
cross-examined all the witnesses and, with the aid of his office
force, prepared the final argument. He was opposed by the finest
legal talent in the State and the case was tried before that learned,
eminent and profoundly respected judge, the Honorable Alton B.
Parker, sitting as referee. The case involved many intricate
questions of which Mr. Watts exhibited entire mastery. His management
of this case marks the zenith of his ability and reputation as a
trial lawyer. A lawyer who, before such a tribunal, wins such a case,
involving such large interests and attended with results of such
magnitude, for the judgment was not only obtained but settled, has
established his place, beyond all question, in the very front rank of
the trial lawyers of the State.

Mr. Watts excels in cross-examination. In a case brought by him for
injuries resulting from the explosion of a locomotive boiler, the
judge hesitated at the close of his case about letting it proceed,
but finally ruled that the railroad company should go on with its
proof, reserving the questions that troubled him. Mr. Watts thereupon
took the defendant's witnesses in hand and on cross-examination he
so completely established the liability of the company out of the
mouths of its own witnesses that all thought, not merely of non-suit,
but of defense even was abandoned and the company was thrown into a
panic. It made an offer in the recess and when the court convened
again to resume the case it was announced as settled.

Mr. Watts' addresses to the jury are marked by pith, point and
piquancy. He emphasizes the salient features of the case and lets all
minor or subordinate issues take care of themselves. His sturdy
defense of his client's rights, his strong individuality and his
intellectual force combine to make him a formidable opponent.

Perhaps no lawyer at the bar of Orange County ever received a more
emphatic, pronounced, unmistakable tribute of personal regard than
John C. R. Taylor, of Middletown, received at the election of 1906,
when, in a district opposed to him politically, he ran over four
thousand ahead of his ticket and was elected Senator by a majority of
over twelve hundred. The good opinion of him thus expressed by his
fellow citizens has been confirmed by his broad, patriotic,
statesmanlike course at Albany, which has attracted the attention and
commended him to the approbation, of the entire State, without
respect to party lines. The purity of his character, the singleness
of his motives, the soundness of his judgment and the independence of
his action carried him in a single session to a position of weight
and influence usually acquired only after several terms of
legislative service. Senator Taylor is one of those public servants
who believe that the State is a great business corporation of which
the Governor is president and each Senator a trustee. Under this
conviction he refuses to consider either party advantage or private
interests but seeks to ascertain solely what is best for the welfare
of the people and the cause of good government. Whether he can
repeat his phenomenal success at the polls under less favorable
conditions is of course uncertain. But whether he does or not he has
set an example of clean, straightforward, high-minded methods in
politics and legislation which will long be remembered in his
district. He has set a standard of political morals which will have
to be satisfied by any successor who hopes to retain the mandate of a
now aroused, vigilant, exacting and independent public conscience.

Senator Taylor's success at the bar was almost as immediate as his
later success in the Senate. Early in his practice he went to
Kingston to try a case against one of the leaders of the famous
Ulster County bar and obtained a verdict of $10,000 in an action
against the town of Shawangunk for damages resulting from a defective
bridge, a verdict which was subsequently paid after passing the
ordeal of all the courts. Judge Clearwater who presided over the
trial and whose qualifications as a critic will be conceded, since he
has himself made both the bar and bench illustrious, told me that he
had never seen a case more ably tried and presented than this case
was by Mr. Taylor.

Senator Taylor has the courage of the true lawyer. When a few years
ago he was engaged to defend a client accused of a shocking offense,
people went to him and said, "Why, you will be ruined if you defend
that man." He simply replied, "He is my client and I shall stand by
him to the end." Senator Taylor not only was not "ruined" but he
completely reversed public sentiment which had been misled from the
start, and established his client's entire innocence of the charge
against him in a crushing cross-examination of the first witness
which demonstrated its complete falsity.

Senator Taylor's professional ideals are as high as his political
ideals. He is an honorable foe, a straight lawyer, a cultured
gentleman.

Michael N. Kane, of Warwick, the most beautiful village in the
county, if not in the State, also received at the election of 1906 a
vote for the office of supreme court judge which strikingly attested
the admiration and regard in which he is held by his fellow citizens
in the county and district. He ran several thousand ahead of his
ticket but this was not sufficient to overcome the adverse majority
caused by the creation of the new ninth judicial district out of the
river counties. Mr. Kane has securely established his reputation as a
trial lawyer of conspicuous ability and success. He is frequently
employed as counsel in important cases and has never failed to
satisfy the expectations of both attorney and client. His preparation
of cases for trial is complete and masterly.

In the appellate courts his arguments are marked by a learning,
lucidity and power which always command attention and usually assent.

The breadth of character and fineness of moral fibre which have
contributed so largely to his professional success are displaced in
all his relations to his professional brethren, in which he is the
pattern and exemplar of uniform courtesy, consideration and
indulgence. While never imperiling the interests of a client to
accommodate a professional brother he is always able to find a way to
accommodate him without injuring his client. He never takes refuge in
the transparent pretext that his client will not consent, which is
the customary formula used to cover, though it does not conceal,
professional churlishness. In the very cases in which Mr. Kane has
been most generous to his opponents he has had the most complete
ultimate success; thus furnishing to his brethren of the bar an
object lesson from which they may learn that courtesy to each other
is entirely consistent with perfect loyalty to their client.

Mr. Kane's public spirit has always been a noticeable phase of his
character. His pride in and devotion to the interests of Warwick have
endeared him to his community which not only respects him as a lawyer
but esteems him as a neighbor and honors him as a citizen.

Ferdinand V. Sanford is another citizen of Warwick whose abilities
entitle him to rank among the trial lawyers of the county. Fluent in
speech, cultivated in manner and refined in character, his personal
charm imparts weight to his opinion and impulsion to his utterances.
He, too, is deeply interested in his beautiful village, the citizens
of which have bestowed upon him many marks of their favor and
confidence. His prominence in its affairs led to a most interesting
experience in the summer of 1906 when he represented his village at
the brilliant and imposing pageant held In old Warwick in England at
which he upheld the reputation abroad of American oratory in a most
graceful, felicitous and eloquent address.

Darwin W. Esmond, of Newburgh, prepares his cases for trial more
thoroughly than any lawyer I ever knew. His trial brief is
comprehensive, elaborate, and minute, even containing instructions in
reference to the cross-examination of the witnesses expected to be
called by his opponent. Every case likely to be cited by his opponent
is discussed and distinguished. Every pitfall into which his opponent
might seek to draw him is pointed out and provided against. If he
should die the day before a case is set down for trial and it should
be thought best, notwithstanding, to go on with the trial, any
experienced trial lawyer could, on a moment's notice, take his brief
and try the case without consulting an authority, seeing a witness,
or even talking with the client. He would find his opening to the
jury outlined for him, the statements of the witnesses arranged in
the order in which they should be adduced, the authorities bearing
upon a motion for non-suit carefully analyzed and, finally, the
points to be dwelt upon in the submission to the jury clearly
emphasized.

It is needless to say that such painstaking industry implies the most
conscientious devotion on the part of Mr. Esmond to his client's
cause--a devotion as earnest and intense when the amount involved is
small as when it is large. His theory is that a small case is just as
important to a poor man as a large case is to a rich one and that the
measure of duty, of fidelity and of devotion should be the same in
each.

But mere industry is of little avail in the law unless directed by
ability. It is a valuable supplement to ability, never a substitute
for it. Mr. Esmond has all the qualifications of an able trial
lawyer. I once saw him in Kingston pitted against one of the leaders
of the Ulster County bar overturn by the sheer force of his ability
and address, all the prejudices first formed against his client, the
defendant, in the mind of both court and jury, in a case in which the
plaintiff, an old man, was seeking the restoration of property turned
over by him to his son. I heard Judge Chester say that in the
beginning of the trial he thought the plaintiff was right but that as
the case proceeded his mind changed. This result was due solely to
the splendid defense made by Mr. Esmond in a case which from the
start was full of elements of danger and defeat.

Mr. Esmond has always taken a prominent part in the literary life of
the community and in the discussion of public topics. His services to
the Chautauqua society have been most valuable, while his own
addresses upon a large variety of topics have been a distinct
contribution to the literature of the subject.

It is fortunate indeed for Mr. Esmond at this time that he has all
these resources to fall back upon; else might he have been wholly
crushed by the cruel sorrow that came to him and his devoted wile in
the recent loss of their only child, Paul Warner Esmond, one of the
most precocious, promising and brilliant boys who ever lived. His
poems, dealing with the problems of life and death, are as mature,
reflective and suggestive as though written by a man of fifty. That
such a child of genius should be snatched away when the angel of
death leaves untouched so many circles from which one could be better
spared, is a mystery that has never ceased to perplex mankind.

[Illustration: E. A. Brewster]

Howard Thornton, of Newburgh, _bel-esprit,_ _bon-vivant_ and
raconteur, the favorite of society and the delight of dinner tables,
is not one whit less a good lawyer because he can smooth away the
difficulties of a hostess in entertaining her guests as easily as he
can glide over the difficulties of his client's case in court. The
best lawyers have always shone in society, from Hamilton to Choate,
and Mr. Thornton's social gifts have never interfered with his
devotion to his profession. Every morning, year in and year out, the
early riser can see Mr. Thornton at seven o'clock wending his way to
his office where by ten o'clock he has already accomplished a day's
work and is ready to talk with his clients.

Mr. Thornton has always found his chief pleasure in some abstruse
question arising out of the law of wills or of real estate. He has
been drawn into some very important litigations involving the
construction of the transfer tax law and his contentions have been
uniformly sustained by the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Thornton's service in the Assembly, of which he was for three
years a member, showed his capacity for public affairs. He was
chairman of the judiciary committee and took high rank in legislation
and politics. But his tastes incline him to the more arduous and less
devious duties of his profession in which he has gained the
reputation of an honorable, talented and brilliant lawyer.

Russel Headley, of Newburgh, is the son of the eminent historian Joel
T. Headley from whom, doubtless, he inherits those literary gifts
which account in part for the direction of his energies into the
field of legal authorship. But this is not the only reason. It is but
justice to him that it should be known that Mr. Headley was
interrupted in the very midst of a brilliant career at the bar by the
coming on of that most disqualifying of all infirmities for an
advocate--deafness. This naturally had the effect of turning Mr.
Headley to the labors of authorship for which his inherited tastes
and acquired accomplishments so well fitted him. His works upon
assignments, witnesses and criminal justice are well known to and
widely read by the profession.

Mr. Headley filled the position of district attorney of Orange County
for two terms. He especially distinguished himself at this time by
his abilities as a trial lawyer.

Mr. Headley accepted in 1902 and still holds a position in the legal
division of the State Excise Department at Albany. His research, his
faculty for writing sound, able, exhaustive opinions and his
knowledge of the law of pleadings make him a most valuable member of
the legal staff of that very important branch of the public service,
in which questions are constantly arising which could scarcely be
expected to come within the purview of an arm of the service devoted
to the enforcement of a single law. In this work Mr. Headley is able
to reconcile himself to the surrender of those more spectacular
triumphs of the court room in which his activities and his ambition
once found a more congenial field.

Cornelius L. Waring, of Newburgh, is an authority in the law of
municipal corporations. He was for many years the attorney for the
city, the interests of which he always most zealously and
successfully protected. He has a large general practice including
among his clients some wealthy business corporations.

Mr. Waring has had wide experience in the trial of cases. His manner
in court is marked by dignity, determination and persistence. He
never yields a point on his own side and he never fails to seize upon
the weak point in the case of his adversary. His arguments are terse,
direct and forceful, always commanding ready and respectful
attention.

Elmer E. Roosa, of the Newburgh bar, who was associated with Judge
Hirschberg at the time he ascended the bench, succeeded in large part
to the prestige of an office which had been established for nearly
thirty years. The confidence always reposed in him by Judge
Hirschberg is shared by a large body of devoted clients who find in
him a safe, discreet and honorable counselor.

Edward J. Collins, of Newburgh, who is associated in practice with
Judge Seeger, possesses in a high degree that dignity of bearing and
of character which well supports professional attainments of a
superior order. He has been honored by his fellow citizens by
repeated marks of their confidence. He was for some years president
of the common council of the city of Newburgh, a position which
brought into prominence his fine qualities of mind and character.

Henry R. Lydecker, of Newburgh, has the most amiable disposition of
any lawyer at the bar. If he were more self-assertive his abilities
would be more widely appreciated. He showed marked ability in his
service four successive winters in the attorney general's office at
Albany in the work of reviewing for constitutional and other
objections, the bills sent by the Legislature to the Governor. This
appointment was made each year and would not have been repeatedly
conferred unless the discharge of his important duties had proved to
be able and satisfactory.

Mr. Lydecker has recently received, at the instance of Presiding
Justice Hirschberg, an appointment upon the clerical force of the
Appellate Division--another evidence of the high opinion entertained
of him by governors, attorneys general and judges alike.

J. Renwick Thompson, Jr., of Newburgh, is still permitted to write
"junior" to a noble and conspicuous senior, who now for more than
fifty years has ministered over one of the most important churches
and congregations in Newburgh. Mr. Thompson's character and standing
wholly contradict the adage about "ministers' sons." In his keeping
all the traditions of an honorable lineage are safe, while a large
and increasing clientage can testify that in his hands are equally
safe all the interests committed to him.

Elwood C. Smith, who has an office in Turner as well as in Newburgh,
has advanced rapidly in reputation and standing. His agreeable
manners and attractive personality always create a favorable
impression sure to be confirmed by future acquaintance with his
character and abilities. He enjoys the respect of the community and
the confidence of a very considerable clientage.

N. Deyo Belknap, of Newburgh. has shown great talent in all his
appearances in court and is a rising aspirant for professional
honors. In an action brought by him for the construction of a will he
exhibited all the qualities of a mature and experienced practitioner.
His success at the bar has been immediate and pronounced.

R. H. Barnett, of Newburgh. has made a specialty of negligence
actions. Like his great exemplar, John M. Gardner, he never concedes
that he is beaten. He always renews the argument to the court, after
being non-suited, so undauntedly that the court often reverses itself
and lets the case go to the jury, before which Mr. Barnett meets with
unvarying success. A jury always admires pluck and pertinacity and
these qualities Mr. Barnett possesses in a marked degree.

Graham Witschief, of Newburgh, would attract attention in any
assembly for the intellectual cast of his features, which clearly
betoken unusual talent. This impression is at once confirmed when he
addresses the court. He so excels in the power of lucid statement
that by the time he has informed the court of the nature of the
controversy he has already produced the effect of an argument. This
faculty of seizing upon the crucial, controlling points of the case,
of applying the philosophical rather than the historical method, is
one of the rarest among lawyers, who usually narrate the facts in the
order in which they occurred, leaving the court to pick out the
essential, determining elements from a mass of more or less related
matter. This gift Mr. Witschief possesses to a degree so unusual that
it constitutes a large factor in the success which he has so rapidly
attained. He is a rising advocate, taking his place easily among the
leaders of the Orange County bar.

Benjamin McClung, of Newburgh, obtained, early in his practice, a
foremost position at the bar of the county. One of his first and most
notable victories, which attracted wide attention at the time, was
won in a proceeding instituted by him in 1892 to require the registry
board of the town of Highlands to strike from the register the names
of over a hundred soldiers quartered at West Point, who claimed the
right to vote in the village of Highland Falls, adjoining the
Government reservation. Mr. McClung took the position that the West
Point reservation is not a part of the territory of the State of New
York; that upon the cession of the territory by the State the general
government became invested with exclusive jurisdiction over it and
that persons resident within it are not entitled to vote. Mr.
McClung, notwithstanding the limited time at his disposal, upon the
very eve of an exciting election, made a most exhaustive and
convincing argument, collating all the authorities and relying
chiefly upon the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Fort
Leavenworth Railroad Company vs. Lowe, which involved the character
of Government property at Fort Leavenworth. Though he was opposed by
such eminent counsel as Judge Hirschberg, Walter C. Anthony and
Howard Thornton, his argument was sustained by the court and the law
upon the subject was finally established in this State.

His stubborn defense a few years ago of an unpopular client will be
long remembered. So strong was the public sentiment against his
client and so thoroughly had the court room been surcharged with this
sentiment that it was impossible for Mr. McClung to prevent his
client's conviction of the offense of receiving stolen property,
knowing it to be stolen. But, nothing daunted, Mr. McClung procured a
stay of the sentence, reversed the conviction on appeal, and on the
second trial cleared his client triumphantly, the court saying that
the proof for the prosecution did not make the slightest progress
toward fastening guilt upon the defendant. This case affords a
striking illustration of the dangers that often surround innocent men
in the artificially superheated atmosphere of a court room created by
an excited and credulous public opinion eager for a victim. Had it
not been for Mr. McClung's steadfast, stalwart and fearless exertions
in this case, in the face of much hostile criticism, an absolutely
innocent man, as subsequently ascertained by the court, would have
been consigned to the ignominy of a term in State prison. Mr.
McClung's action in thus stemming the tide of adverse, powerful and
malignant influences bent upon crushing and ruining his client cannot
be overestimated. It attests his place at the Orange County bar not
merely for intellectual ability but for that moral courage which
constitutes the very highest attribute, the noblest equipment of the
advocate.

That Mr. McClung's manly, independent and intrepid character is
understood and admired by the public was strikingly shown in the fall
of 1907 by his election to the office of mayor of the city of
Newburgh by a majority of over five hundred votes, overcoming an
adverse majority of about five hundred usually cast in that city
against the candidate of his party. The people evidently believed
that Mr. McClung is imbued with the idea that a municipal corporation
is, in its last analysis, simply a business corporation in which each
taxpayer is a stockholder, the aldermen its directors and the mayor
its business manager.

Mr. McClung has already shown that this confidence in his character
and aims is well founded. He may be relied upon to give the people a
purely business administration unfettered by political obligations
and uninfluenced by the desire to build up a personal machine or to
reward a band of hungry parasites.

Henry Kohl, of Newburgh, now the partner of Mr. McClung, is also a
fighter. His tastes and his sympathies incline him to espouse the
weaker cause, and he is often assigned by the court to defend those
who are unable to employ counsel. I remember a notable case in which
he was thus assigned arising out of the killing of a motorman by the
alleged criminal negligence of another motorman in causing a
collision. The indictment was for manslaughter and the trolley
company refused to give any assistance to the accused motorman, who
languished several months in the county jail while his case was being
tossed back and forth between the supreme and county courts. Mr. Kohl
took hold of the case and so stoutly convinced several jurors that
the fault was that of the company in not providing the motorman with
proper appliances that a disagreement was secured and the motorman
discharged on his own recognizance. This illustrates the quality of
Mr. Kohl's work--earnest, strong, enthusiastic, courageous, loyal.
Nothing dismays him. The more able and astute his opponent, the
better he is satisfied, since it proportionately increases his credit
in beating him, as he always expects to do, and frequently does.

Mr. Kohl is a verdict getter. His recent success in getting a verdict
for $9,000 in a negligence case was a gratifying one, while he also
recently secured a favorable settlement in a case against the city
growing out of the fall of a tree in a high wind, causing the death
of a young lady. The lawyers who start in to try a case against
Henry Kohl know that in him they will find an opponent equipped at
every point and with every art to sway a jury and to save his client.
He has forged his way ahead until now he is in the front rank of
Orange County's trial lawyers.

J. Bradley Scott, of Newburgh, is the son of that noble lawyer. David
A. Scott, whose precious legacy of an honorable name is guarded well
by the son, who came to the bar several years after his father's
death. He has developed far more fondness for the trial of cases than
his father had and has already achieved a distinct standing as a
trial lawyer. His recent success before the appellate courts, in the
case involving the right of a soda water establishment to refuse to
furnish soda water upon request to a colored person, has attracted
great attention. The case involves grave questions and far-reaching
consequences. Mr. Scott's broad, powerful and convincing argument in
it shows that he inherits not only the good name but also the fine
intellectual, discriminating qualities of his distinguished father.

George H. Decker, of Middletown, is the dean of its trial lawyers. He
is the one first asked upon every public occasion to voice its
spirit, or its purpose, filling in this respect the part so often
taken by Mr. Winfield, who was, by the way, until his death, always
one of Mr. Decker's warmest friends and admirers.

Possessed of a highly sensitive, responsive nature, a poetic,
imaginative temperament, an exquisitely nervous organization, his
fibre is almost too fine for the buffetings and shocks of the court
room. While his brilliant mind, his legal attainments and his
oratorical powers have always been exhibited in the court room to
great advantage and with marked success, yet he has often declined
conflicts in which, if he had entered upon them, not he, but his
opponent, would have had occasion to regret it. Mr. Decker has always
placed a far more modest estimate upon his own abilities than he
should have done, and a far lower estimate than that of the public,
by which he is unreservedly admired and respected.

Mr. Decker's gifts as a public speaker, his scholarly tastes and his
literary attainments are never shown to greater advantage than upon
the lecture platform, from which he has often instructed and
delighted a cultured audience. His recent series of brilliant
lectures upon Edgar Allan Poe will be long remembered.

Soon after Mr. Decker's admission to the bar in 1870 he formed a
partnership, under the name of McQuoid & Decker, with Henry M.
McQuoid, who died a few years later. Mr. McQuoid's portrait hangs in
Mr. Decker's office, but there is little else to remind us now of one
who once occupied a large place in the interest and attention of the
public. Mr. McQuoid was distinguished for bold, dashing, sparkling
qualities as a trial lawyer. Soon after Judge Groo moved from
Monticello to Middletown in 1866 he and Mr. McQuoid were opposed to
each other in a trial in which Mr. McQuoid disputed all of Judge
Groo's legal propositions with the prefatory remark, "That may be
good law in Sullivan County but it won't go in Orange County." After
Judge Groo had stood this as long as he thought he ought to, he
remarked, "I want you to understand that there are just as good
lawyers in Sullivan County as in Orange County." "Oh, yes," said
McQuoid, "I know that, but they all stay there."

Judge Groo himself enjoyed the sally and was himself very quick at a
retort. Once upon a trial in Goshen in which he was opposed by Judge
George W. Greene, who at one time occupied a prominent place at the
Orange County bar, subsequently living in New York, where he died,
Judge Greene asked the jurors the usual question, whether any of them
had ever done any business with Judge Groo, saying that if so he
would excuse them, whereupon Judge Groo said. "Are there any
gentlemen in the box who have ever done any business with Judge
Greene; if so I would like to have them remain."

Mr. McQuoid had a wonderful memory. He could entertain his friends by
the hour repeating passages from famous orations or works of poetry.
His memory treasured even a fugitive poem read once in a newspaper.
I recall an instance of this. One day when I was driving back with
him in a buggy from Circleville, where we had tried a case against
each other it was the local custom for the lawyers to drive out
together for their justice's court trials, he repeated to me a poem
he had seen in a newspaper written by Prime, the well known Eastern
traveler, in memory of a young girl, Claude Brownrigg, who had died
soon after he had told her of his travels in Palestine, as they
walked the beach one night in the moonlight. I told Mr. McQuoid I
would like a copy of it. So as soon as he got back to Middletown he
wrote it off for me. I have preserved it these thirty years and more.
Here are some of the lines:

               "All this I wished as on the beach
                Beside the sea I walked,
                And to a young and white-robed girl,
                As thus I wished I talked.
                Talked of far travel, wanderings long,
                And scenes in many lands,
                And all the while the golden path
                Led eastward from the sands.

               "And she has crossed the shining path,
                The path where moonbeams quiver,
                And she is in Jerusalem,
                Forever, yes, forever."

That lines like these should be repeated by him in coming back from a
commonplace suit in justice's court shows how thirty-five years ago
lawyers thought and talked of something besides law and politics,
money and stock markets.

The name of the McQuoids should not be permitted to fade from the
memory of the passing generation. His brother, Charles C. McQuoid,
who died in 1866, attained even greater prominence at the bar. He
enjoyed great personal popularity and his premature death at the age
of thirty-six from typhoid fever, contracted at the home of a client,
whose will he had been asked to draw, removed from the bar one of its
most conspicuous figures. His popularity is shown by his success in
defeating judge Gedney for district attorney by a narrow majority in
1859. He served as district attorney until 1862. Being succeeded by
Abram S. Cassedy, who in 1865 was succeeded by J. Hallock Drake,
another brilliant member of the Orange County bar who practiced in
Newburgh for some years but who subsequently settled in New York.

Charles G. Dill, now the Nestor of the Middletown bar, studied law
with Charles C. McQuoid, whose memory he holds in deep veneration.
Mr. Dill at one time enjoyed the largest practice in Middletown. It
is only lately that he has relaxed his devotion to business, now
spending several months each year in Florida, where he has extensive
interests.

Mr. Dill is the very soul of honor and integrity in all the relations
of life. The kindness of his heart is often obscured by the
brusqueness of his manner which sometimes gives strangers a wholly
erroneous impression of a disposition singularly generous, open and
buoyant. He is the precise opposite of the type represented by the
traditional cow that gives a good pail of milk and then kicks it
over. Mr. Dill kicks over the pail first and then proceeds to fill it
with the milk of human kindness. He generally explains at the
beginning how impossible it is for him to do anything for you and
ends by doing more for you than you asked or expected.

Mr. Dill's miscellaneous library is the best in Orange County. He is
a born, inveterate, irreclaimable bibliophile. A week that passes by
without his buying some old, rare or scarce volume is to him a
failure. The question of price is never considered. If he wants it he
gets it and that is all there is of it. He has built several
additions to his home to accommodate his treasures, but they
constantly overtax its capacity. They overflow and regurgitate in a
confusion that drives to despair the order fiend and the dust hunter.

Rosslyn M. Cox, who was for many years the partner of Mr. Dill and
who recently has entered into partnership with Mr. Watts, is one of
the most successful lawyers in Middletown. He is an expert in
accountings before the surrogate and before the bankruptcy courts,
but he is equally at home in a trial or in an argument before the
court. The esteem in which he is held is shown by his nomination in
1906 for the office of county judge.

Associated with Mr. Cox is Elmer N. Oakes, whose abilities in the
preparation of a case for trial are unique and remarkable. He is a
natural mechanic, understanding with ease the most difficult
adjustments, functions and forms of complicated machinery. The
knowledge displayed by him in respect to the construction and
operation of a locomotive boiler was an important element in the
success of several actions growing out of an explosion.

After preparing the case for trial Mr. Oakes is entirely competent to
try it. He has often examined and cross examined the witnesses but
distrusts his own powers when it comes to summing up the case to the
jury. When his modesty shall be replaced by greater assurance he will
be better known for his really solid attainments and fine abilities.

Abram F. Servin will probably never overcome his timidity at the
sound of his own voice in the presence of a jury, though he can
furnish enough law to other lawyers to keep them busy expounding it
to the courts. He has argued and won cases in the Court of Appeals
but his chief victories are carried off by other lawyers who argue
from the learned and exhaustive briefs prepared by him. He is an
expert in the preparation of a brief for the appellate courts. He
can take the printed record of a case of which he never heard and
construct from it a perfectly convincing brief upon either side.

Allen W. Corwin, who occupies the position of recorder of Middletown,
has displayed in the performance of his duties firmness tempered by
forbearance, judgment informed by conscience, justice controlled by
wisdom. His broad and humane policy in dealing with minor offenses,
united to his stern and rigid enforcement of the law in serious
cases, largely accounts for the almost entire freedom of Middletown
from crimes of pillage and violence.

Recorder William H. Hyndman, of Newburgh, has also succeeded during
the last few years in greatly reducing the number of crimes committed
in and about a city which was at one time infested by bold and
desperate criminals. A river town is always subject to greater
danger, through its opportunities for access and escape, but Recorder
Hyndman has earned the gratitude of the public for an administration
of the criminal law which has resulted in a marked improvement of the
conditions once prevalent in his jurisdiction.

Of course the discouragement of crime rests largely in the vigilance
of the district attorney of the county. Thomas C. Rogers, of
Middletown, the son of William H. Rogers, who himself could easily
have attained eminence at the bar if he had so chosen, was elected to
this office in 1906. He has already shown that in his hands the wise,
faithful and efficient enforcement of the criminal law may be
confidently depended upon. His previous administration for three
years of the office of assistant district attorney was distinguished
for unusual ability. He is amply qualified to uphold the traditions
of an office always ably filled by such men as Fullerton and Carr,
Brown and Hirschberg, Anthony and Headley, Powelson and Seeger.

J. D. Wilson, Jr., of Newburgh, who received the appointment as
assistant district attorney, to serve with Mr. Rogers, is well
qualified to sustain the burdens of the position, which are
necessarily very considerable when it is considered that he is
expected to exercise special vigilance in the entire eastern part of
the county, including Newburgh itself.

Wickham T. Shaw was one of the most alert assistant district
attorneys that Orange County ever had. He served in that capacity
under Judge Fullerton from 1868 to 1871, trying many of the cases.
His career at the bar of Middletown has afforded many opportunities
for the display of his knowledge of the criminal law, gained in that
association with one of the foremost lawyers of his time.

Abram V. N. Powelson never satisfied the expectations of his friends
until he came to the office of district attorney in 1897, a position
which he filled for seven years. They always knew that he had ability
and they always regretted that his retention of the office of justice
of the peace, for many years, prevented that recognition of his
abilities to which they were entitled. But the opportunity to show
his solid worth both as a lawyer and as a law officer came with his
entrance into a wider field of county administration in which he
acquitted himself with credit and distinction.

John F. Bradner, of Middletown, was also at one time closely
connected with the administration of the criminal law, having been
the recorder of Middletown for many years; a position in which he
presided with great dignity over many important and exciting trials.
Mr. Bradner is an advocate who enters upon a trial with all the
ardor and enthusiasm born of absolute conviction in the justice of
his cause, and he never fails to make a strong impression upon a
jury.

John L. Wiggins, of Middletown, son-in-law of Judge Groo and brother
of Willis H. Wiggins, an eminent member of the Ohio judiciary, is
distinguished for the earnestness, energy and enthusiasm with which
he espouses every cause committed to him. He is original and
resourceful. In an action brought once against his client for a
violation of the law in respect of adulterated milk, Mr. Wiggins
gravely argued to the jury that in his judgment the law was
unconstitutional. As the facts were clearly against his client, the
judge did not take the trouble to interrupt him, but was astonished
when the jury rendered a verdict in favor of Mr. Wiggins' client,
based wholly upon the constitutional argument.

The next day Mr. O'Neill, encouraged by Mr. Wiggins' tactics, entered
upon the same line of defense, but Judge Gaynor admonished by the
miscarriage of the day before, promptly suppressed it, and Mr.
O'Neill's client was convicted.

Alton J. Vail, of Middletown, is a lawyer whose modesty often
conceals his merits, which, however, are well known to his clients.
Mr. Vail has for many years transacted the business of the Middletown
Savings Bank. He is an authority upon titles and upon all questions
involving the law of real estate, his opinion upon these and kindred
questions having frequently been sustained by the courts. Wide
experience, sound judgment, conservative instincts, elevated
character, absolute probity and intense loyalty in friendship unite
in Alton J. Vail, the able lawyer, the honorable man, the upright
citizen.

A. C. N. Thompson, of Middletown, who is in partnership with Mr.
Dill, has abundant inspiration in his name. He is the son of John A.
Thompson, once a prominent lawyer of Monticello who, on account of
his admiration for one of the greatest lawyers of his day named him
after Archibald C. Niven.

Mr. Thompson has already shown one quality conspicuous in his
distinguished godfather--that of capacity for hard work. His energy
and self-denial in preparing himself for the bar while engaged in the
exacting duties of another calling, give promise of abundant success
in the career now opening before him.

Charles T. Vail, who entered upon a career of high promise at the
bar was cut down upon its threshold. No lawyer in Middletown ever had
the faculty of winning friends as easily as he. His sunny
disposition, affectionate nature and engaging manners won for him a
host of admirers, adherents and clients. Undimmed affection in many
hearts still sheds a tear over the untimely grave of Charlie Vail.

Dewitt Van Zandt, of the Middletown bar, was the son of that gifted
divine, Dr. Van Zandt, so long the beloved pastor of the brick church
at Montgomery. Coming to Middletown fresh from college, his sparkling
wit and ready repartee endeared him to a large circle of admiring
friends. But soon he was overtaken by broken health, which paralyzed
his energies and crumbled his ambitions. Through all the experiences
of a life that failed to fulfill its early promise, he maintained the
instincts, the manners and the bearing of the true gentleman. He
never lost the sweetness, serenity and gentleness of his disposition,
or the high standard of personal honor inherited from his revered
father. Fond meditation still tenderly dwells upon the fadeless
memory of DeWitt Van Zandt.

John G. Mills, of the Goshen bar, removed to Washington, where he
died in April, 1883. While necessity chained him to the law
inclination led him along the flowery paths of literature, his
talents and accomplishments brought him into relations with the great
and the gifted, one of his dearest friends being Robert G. Ingersoll,
who pronounced the oration at his funeral. Mr. Ingersoll said:

"My friends: Again we are face to face with the great mystery that
shrouds the world. We question, but there is no reply. Out on the
wide waste seas there drifts no spar. Over the desert of death the
sphinx gazes forever, but never speaks.

"In the very May of life another heart has ceased to beat. Night has
fallen upon noon. But he lived, he loved, he was loved. Wife and
children pressed their kisses on his lips. This is enough. The
longest life contains no more. This fills the vase of joy.

"He who lies here, clothed with the perfect peace of death, was a
kind and loving husband, a good father, a generous neighbor, an
honest man,--and these words build a monument of glory above the
humblest grave. He was always a child, sincere and frank, as full of
hope as spring. He divided all time into to-day and to-morrow.
To-morrow was without a cloud and of to-morrow he borrowed sunshine
for to-day. He was my friend. He will remain so. The living oft
become estranged; the dead are true. . . .

"With him immortality was the eternal consequences of his own acts.
He believed that every pure thought, every disinterested deed,
hastens the harvest of universal good. This is a religion that
enriches poverty; that enables us to bear the sorrows of the saddest
life; that peoples even solitude with happy millions yet to live,--a
religion born not of selfishness and fear, but of love, of gratitude
and hope,--a religion that digs wells to slake the thirst of others,
and gladly bears the burdens of the unborn.

"But in the presence of death how beliefs and dogmas wither and
decay! How loving words and deeds burst into blossom! Pluck from the
tree of any life these flowers, and there remain but the barren
thorns of bigotry and creed.

"All wish for happiness beyond this life. All hope to meet again the
loved and lost. In every heart there grows this sacred flower.
Immortality is a word that Hope through all the ages has been
whispering to Love. The miracle of thought we cannot comprehend. The
mystery of life and death we cannot comprehend. This chaos called the
world has never been explained. The golden bridge of life from gloom
emerges and on shadow rests. Beyond this we do not know. Fate is
speechless, destiny is dumb, and the secret of the future has never
yet been told. We love; we wait; we hope. The more we love, the more
we fear. Upon the tenderest heart the deepest shadows fall. All
paths, whether filled with thorns or flowers, end here. Here success
and failure are the same. The rag of wretchedness and the purple robe
of power all difference and distinction lose in the democracy of
death. Character survives; goodness lives; love is immortal."

Harrison W. Nanny, of Goshen, had a pathetic career. Possessed of
unusual talent and capacity he was handicapped in the practice of his
profession by an accident which paralyzed his energies, embittered
his solitary life and pressed to his rebellious lips the chalice of
mocking irony.

But while he was not resigned he was courageous. Some of the work
which he performed in suffering and illness is marked by a high
degree of intellectual power. Only his misfortunes prevented his
attaining prominence at the bar.

No one has a deeper affection for the memory of Mr. Nanny than his
old friend and partner, Charles L. Mead, who now lives in retirement
from the activities of his profession at his home in Middletown. Mr.
Mead has the unprecedented record of having served three terms in
succession as county treasurer--a striking proof of his influence,
his popularity and his qualifications for public office. During his
entire period of service not one of his political acts was ever
questioned and he surrendered the office crowned with the respect and
confidence of the public.

Bradford R. Champion, of the Goshen bar, was a contemporary of
Winfield and Gedney. While his talents were not brilliant or showy he
still possessed those solid, sterling qualities of mind and heart
which impart strength and vigor to individual character; which
inspire confidence in the community at large; which uphold the very
structure of society; which confer blessings upon every relation in
life and which bring peace and honor, repose and happiness to their
possessor.

The recent death of William H. Wyker removed one who, while not
prominent in the trial courts, possessed many endearing traits of
character and occupied a large place in the social and civil life of
Goshen. He was also in great favor and request as a speaker in
political campaigns. He could have taken his place among the trial
lawyers of the county, had he so chosen, but, he, too, suffered under
the disadvantage of having accepted the office of justice of the
peace--that abyss in which talent has so often found its unmarked
grave.

The late Benjamin F. Low, of the Middletown bar, was one of the most
genial spirits ever drawn into social relations with his fellow-men.
He fairly oozed companionship and good fellowship. He was also a good
lawyer, coming from a family of which Senator Henry A. Low, his
brother, was the most able and conspicuous member.

He had some notable successes at the bar. In the case of Josie Teets
against the city of Middletown he obtained a verdict for considerably
more than he would have got if it had not been for the mistake of his
opponent in the cross-examination of the plaintiff's physician. Dr.
William H. Dorrance, who, on the direct, had testified to only
moderate injuries to his patient as the result of her being thrown
over the dashboard on account of an obstruction in the street. But he
became nettled by the cross-examination and when he was finally
asked: "Now, doctor, tell me just what is the matter with this young
lady," he replied: "Why, Mr. O'Neill, there is not one organ or
function of that woman's body that works healthfully or naturally."

This brought up the verdict from $1,000, all that Mr. Low expected to
get, to $3,000. It was a lesson to all who heard it as to the danger
of giving a hostile witness too good an opening. As a matter of fact,
the woman is still living in vigorous health.

Louis S. Sterrit, of Newburgh, who died in April, 1907, left a void
in the hearts of a large and intimate circle. He enjoyed an extensive
clientage and the confidence of the entire community. He was the
attorney of that old, strong and conservative institution, the
Newburgh Savings Bank, and of many other institutions and societies.
His dignified presence, his affable manners, his substantial worth,
his sincerely religious character, his mental poise combined to
produce an impression upon the community which the corrosion of time
will, with difficulty, efface.

Mr. Sterrit was eminently public-spirited. In 1904 he erected at the
entrance of Woodlawn Cemetery, New Windsor, two very fine gates. He
also placed in the Union Presbyterian church of Newburgh a tablet in
memory of the late Rev. Alexander B. Jack, one of its pastors.

His generosity was unbounded. No client, however poor or humble,
ever failed of help or counsel because he lacked a fee.

The death in 1906 of Lewis W. Y. McCroskery, of the Newburgh bar,
created a general feeling of sorrow and a distinct sense of personal
loss. He had filled many offices which brought him into individual
relations with the entire community, and it is safe to assert that he
had not a single enemy. His appointment as postmaster by President
Cleveland was filled with credit to himself and usefulness to the
public service. His professional career was interrupted by this
service, but when he resumed his practice at the expiration of his
term his clients gathered about him again, for they and the bar alike
always appreciated deeply his amiable disposition, his spotless
character, his solid ability.

Joseph M. Leeper, of the Newburgh bar, also passed away in 1906. A
veteran of the Civil War his health did not permit him to engage in
active practice, but he took an honorable pride in his membership of
a profession which he never did one act to discredit.

The mention of Mr. Leeper suggests the name of one who should not be
suffered to fall into oblivion, for it was one of the strongest
passions of his own life to perpetuate the memory of the leaders of
the Orange County bar, by which he was especially deputed to prepare
and publish the memorial to Mr. Winfield. No one will dissent from a
passing tribute to the generous instincts and throbbing heart of
John K. Goldsmith.

Henry W. Chadeayne, elected in 1906 supervisor of the town of
Cornwall, but practicing in Newburgh, stands out as one of the few
men who always says what he thinks. You can always tell where to find
him, and that is just where he says he is. You do not have to go to
any one else to learn where he stands. Just ask him and you will
know. He has no patience with trimmers and time-servers. He always
takes the most straight road possible to any given end.

This rugged intellectual honesty constitutes a positive force and a
sterling asset. The public service and the legal profession have no
purer representative than Henry W. Chadeayne.

Among the members of the Newburgh bar who have risen rapidly to
prominence is James G. Graham, the son of the gifted lawyer already
referred to, whose full name he bears. Mr. Graham, after four years'
experience in public affairs at Albany, in the executive chamber,
accepted the office of deputy attorney-general, which he held two
years. This position, which has always been a most exacting one,
involving the trial and argument of cases of great magnitude, was
filled by Mr. Graham with marked ability and to the entire
satisfaction of the public. It was during his incumbency of this
position that Mr. Graham was chiefly instrumental in bringing about
the creation of the new ninth judicial district--a service for which
the Orange County bar can never be sufficiently grateful to him. It
is to his untiring and influential exertions that we are chiefly
indebted for the creation of a natural, homogeneous judicial
district, free from the blight and incubus of Kings County--a
district in which the accession to the bench of Judges Mills,
Tompkins and Morschauser insures the preservation of those standards
of judicial dignity, decorum, deliberation and, above all,
consideration for the rights and feelings of the bar, which have been
so nobly maintained by their distinguished colleague, Judge Keogh.

The Newburgh bar has many members of varying degrees of prominence
and experience, including the venerable Jesse F. Shafer, who was born
in 1828; Samuel E. Dimmick, who comes from a family of able lawyers;
Seward U. Round, who worthily bears the famous name bestowed upon him
at the time his father was principal of the Seward Institute at
Florida; Caleb H. Baumes, who is idolized by his brethren of the Odd
Fellows; Peter Cantline, aggressive, ambitious and rising, destined
to take his place among the foremost members of the Orange County
bar; James M. H. Wallace, earnest, forcible, unflinching,
indefatigable and intellectual; Charles W. U. Sneed, modest,
interesting and well informed; David C. Scott, patient, devoted and
industrious; Leroy Dickerson, engaging and efficient; John B. Corwin,
the fit successor of Louis S. Sterrit as attorney for the Newburgh
Savings Bank and, like him, retiring and reserved until the occasion
calls for action, when he is eloquent, convincing and powerful; Frank
W. Tompkins, popular and respected; George W. May, refined and
gentlemanly; Martin G. Mould, courteous and affable; W. J. Wygant,
unassuming and competent; Reeve Ketcham, faithful and energetic;
Reuben H. Hilton, U. S. Collector of the Port of Newburgh; Russell S.
Coutant, accomplished and scholarly; Nehemiah Fowler, solid and
dignified; A. D. and A. W. Lent, father and son, educated, amiable
and conscientious.

The Walden bar is adorned by the ardent, impulsive, enthusiastic,
brilliant A. S. Embler; by the earnest, thoughtful, learned Irving H.
Loughran; by the bustling, energetic, ambitious Anson J. Fowler, and
by the fine natural abilities of Caleb B. Birch, Jr.

Joseph M. Wilkin, of the Montgomery bar, bears an honored name--that
of his father, who for several years occupied a prominent position at
the bar of Tennessee, returning to Orange County at the opening of
the war on account of his pronounced Union sentiments. He was the
brother of Judge John G. Wilkin, already referred to, and the two had
many traits of character in common derived from their sterling
ancestry. It is not strange that the younger Joseph M. Wilkin should
exhibit in his present administration of the duties of special
surrogate the qualities which have always distinguished the members
of his famous and honorable family.

The bar of Montgomery is also strengthened by the high character and
unquestioned capacity of William L. Dickerson. But Montgomery has
ceased to be the center of legal interest which it was in the days
when Edward Van Orsdall organized a suit there at least once a week
and where he and that once well known member of the Goshen bar,
George W. Millspaugh, frequently tried out the issues before a jury
packed to beat one or the other.

The Middletown bar includes, among its well known members, Henry T.
Crist, whose personal popularity led to his election as coroner;
Russell M. Vernon, who has acquired a large practice in the
Surrogate's Court; Howard M. Starr, who is performing the duties of
justice of the peace; John Bright, whose alertness, readiness and
general information predestines him to an active career; Jeremiah E.
Barnes, who served most acceptably for several years as the recorder
of the city of Middletown; and Charles C. Elston, who has manfully
overcome many difficulties in establishing and maintaining his
position at the bar.

The Goshen bar includes among its honored members Charles W. Coleman,
who notwithstanding that he is a martyr to ill health and is
compelled to spend the winters in Florida, retains the confidence and
business of a host of personal friends; also William D. Mills, who
has learning enough to equip a dozen lawyers for successful practice.

Louis Bedell, of the Goshen bar, secured at Albany in the Assembly a
more powerful personal influence than any member from his district
ever enjoyed, with the exception of his former partner, George W.
Greene. This was, of course, partly due to the wisdom of the
electors in keeping him there. But Mr. Bedell's many qualifications
for success in public life accounted in a large degree for the extent
of his influence. A lawyer is always needed in either the Assembly or
the Senate and no amount of good fellowship or general intelligence
can make up for the lack of legal training and experience.

Joseph Merritt, of Goshen, whose diffidence prevents his coming into
prominence before the public is, however, unable to conceal from his
professional brethren his very superior legal attainments. He is a
lawyer of the very first rank. His opinion is respected and followed
in many instances in which the court is unaware that it is he who has
guided it to a correct conclusion.

Philip A. Rorty, of the Goshen bar, has gone rapidly to the front.
The wide experience gained by him in the extensive business
established by the firm of Bacon & Merritt, in which he is a partner,
has been used by him to great advantage. He is entrusted with the
preparation of important cases, in the trial of which also he takes a
considerable and highly creditable part. He is an expert in railroad
law and in the law of negligence.

T. Floyd Halstead, of Goshen, is the son of one of the most
warmhearted, noble, honorable men who ever lived--the late John R.
Halstead of Unionville. If he will but emulate in private and
professional life the virtues of his most estimable father he will be
sure to continue and confirm the success which has already in a large
measure attended upon him.

J. V. D. Benedict, of Warwick, represented his district in the
Assembly in the year 1877. His suavity of manner and moderation of
speech are the sincere reflection of a kind, generous and
affectionate nature.

His interest in various pursuits has interfered with the singleness
of his devotion to the law, but his opinion upon difficult questions
has often been sought and followed with the most satisfactory results
to himself and to his clients.

Clifford S. Beattie, of Warwick, who is associated in business with
his father, Judge Beattie, settled in his old home after a most valuable
and enlightening experience as one of the legal staff of the
Metropolitan Railway system in New York. He possesses an
individuality, an independence and a strength of character which
prevent his being overshadowed by the great reputation of his father.
But if he did not have these qualities he would not be a Beattie.

Lewis J. Stage, of Warwick, who is associated in business with Mr.
Kane, under the name of Kane & Stage, had the good sense to
voluntarily resign the office of justice of the peace--that grave of
professional ambition; that rock upon which so many a professional
career has foundered. Since then he has made strides in reputation
and influence.

Mr. Stage has always taken an active part in the educational,
philanthropic, historical and religious interests of the community.
His sincerity in this is manifest and unquestioned. He is free from
all forms of cant and pretense, sham and affectation.

John Miller, of Cornwall-on-Hudson, whose memory goes back to the
days of McKissock, is a veritable encyclopedia of the law; a
storehouse of principles and authorities; a reservoir of unlimited
capacity; a fountain of perennial flow. If he had been as able to
apply, discriminate and assimilate as he has been to accumulate
stores of knowledge his abilities would undoubtedly have been more
widely recognized.

Thomas S. Hulse, of Westtown, has long enjoyed the advantage of being
the only lawyer in town. He is often consulted upon the
controversies arising in it and his influence is always for peace
rather than strife, for settlement rather than litigation. His solid
worth of character commands for him universal and unchallenged
respect.

Frank R. Gump, of Highland Falls, signalized his entrance into
practice at the Orange County Bar by bringing the unusual action of a
man against a woman for her breach of promise in refusing to marry
him. He has been the attorney for some most important interests
involved in actions brought to determine priority of water rights.
The ability shown by him in the management of these cases and
especially in the examination and cross-examination of the witnesses
in several trials has given him a recognized position at the bar of
the county.

Frank Lybolt, of Port Jervis, who filled most competently a term of
office as special county judge, has tried some cases in the Supreme
Court with an intelligence, earnestness and spirit which attracted
the attention of his professional brethren.

Wilton Bennet, of Port Jervis, has given special attention to the
trial of criminal cases in which his zeal, earnestness, boldness and
eloquence have given to him many professional victories and to his
clients many occasions for profound and lasting gratitude.

William P. Gregg, of the Port Jervis bar, has, by his straightforward
and manly character, impressed himself most favorably upon the
community, this ability as a lawyer received deserved recognition in
January, 1907, when he was appointed the tax appraiser of Orange
County.

Henry B. Fullerton, of Port Jervis, greatly resembles in character
and ability his relative, Daniel Fullerton, who, though he did not
attain the eminence of his brothers, William and Stephen W.
Fullerton, possessed more original gifts and natural eloquence than
either of them.

The Port Jervis bar is also enriched by the fine character and
sterling abilities of Alfred Marvin and R. Edward Schofield.

William A. Parshall, of Port Jervis, who was at one time associated
with Mr. Carr in the protection of the interests of the Erie Railroad
Company, has won the respect of the community and of his professional
brethren by the high-minded, honorable, sincere and manly course
which he has always pursued in every walk of life, private, public
and professional.

His splendid vote in the autumn of 1907 for the office of surrogate
attests the popular esteem in which he is held.

John B. Swezey, his successful competitor, entered upon the duties of
the office of surrogate in January, 1908.

He was for many years the attorney for the Middletown State Hospital
and he has occupied many other positions of responsibility, the
duties of which he has always discharged with fidelity and ability.
His service as special surrogate brought the bar of the county into
close acquaintance with his superior judicial qualifications and
prepared it to expect his elevation to still higher judicial station.

Orange County has always been fortunate in its surrogates and the
friends of Judge Swezey confidently expect him to maintain unsullied
the traditions and the standards set by such predecessors as Scott
and Coleman, Wadsworth and Howell.

Obadiah P. Howell retired from the office of surrogate on the first
of January, 1908, after an incumbency of twelve years, with the
profound respect of the bar and of the public for both his character
and his attainments. Judge Howell possesses an evenly balanced, well
poised character which admirably fitted him for the duties of this
position.

His abilities as a lawyer were also brought into constant requisition
during his terms of office on account of the many new questions which
arose under the operation of the transfer tax statutes. These
questions were disposed of by him with rigid impartiality, zealous
regard for every interest represented, and deep anxiety to arrive at
a just and sound conclusion. His careful discrimination in applying
the principles of law involved has resulted in a body of decisions
which command the respect of both the bar and the judiciary.

Judge Howell was always most conservative. Such was his veneration
for the last wishes of a dying testator that if he ever felt it his
duty to set aside a will, the fact is not generally known. He gave no
encouragement to those frivolous and often merely speculative or
intimidating contests which have done so much to bring probate
administration into reproach in many jurisdictions.

Judge Howell always exhibited one characteristic which commands
special commendation. He never tolerated the merely perfunctory
performance of their duties by guardians appointed to represent the
interests of minors or incompetents. He exacted the most careful
investigation of their rights to the end that they should be fully
protected and he so exercised his authority in making appointments as
to insure this result. His administration will go down to history as
one of the purest and ablest in the annals of the county.

Roswell C. Coleman, who preceded Judge Howell in the office of
surrogate, occupying it for twelve years (1883-1895), entered upon
his duties with peculiar qualifications for their successful
discharge. His professional bent had always been in the direction of
practice in the Surrogate's Court and of interest in all the
questions arising in the construction of wills. Moreover he began his
practice with the senior Joseph W. Gott, an association from which he
could not fail to derive benefit as well as pleasure.

His eminently judicial temperament was early recognized by the judges
and by his associates with the result that, in the days when
references were far more common than they are now, owing to the
inadequacy of the judicial force and the necessity for auxiliary
requisitions upon the profession, Mr. Coleman was constantly
designated by the court and by consent of counsel to serve in
important references. His absolute fairness, his love of justice, his
freedom from influence and his unerring judgment made him the
favorite referee in the county during that entire period of
imperfect judicial service which was supplemented in him by an
ability fully equal to that of the judge appointing him. I remember
an occasion when judge Barnard, in announcing the selection of Mr.
Coleman as referee, remarked to the attorney, "Don't let him get
after you with his gun," referring to his well-known experience in
1875 as a member of the first American rifle team that ever went
abroad, Mr. Coleman returning with several prizes for his skillful
marksmanship.

Mr. Coleman's tenure of the office of surrogate was distinguished for
the display of those high judicial qualities with which the entire
bar had become acquainted in his frequent exercise of them as
referee. Indeed, so great was the respect in which they were held
that in many contests involving large interests, the parties
acquiesced in his decision as final, the defeated party taking no
appeal. This was notably the case in the matter of the will of John
S. Sammons, in which all his property was given to a church upon the
condition that it should care perpetually for his tomb. The church
took no appeal from the decision of Surrogate Coleman refusing to
admit the will to probate. The opinion of the surrogate is a masterly
review of the law of insane delusions as affecting testamentary
capacity, pointing out that a will may often be upheld notwithstanding
the presence of insane delusions when those delusions do not tend to
produce the will. But in this case the will was rejected because the
delusion under which the testator labored did govern him in the
disposition of his property, he having formed the delusion that his
body was to be preserved to the end of time and having given his
property to the church to secure the protection of his tomb from
disturbance. The opinion contains a very subtle, acute and interesting
discussion of other delusions cherished by the testator which would
not in themselves have invalidated the will, but which are considered
as bearing upon the liability of the testator to form a delusion by
which he was controlled in the disposition of his property.

Although the case attracted great attention, the opinion of the
surrogate never was reported. For this reason it is especially
appropriate that a partial report of it should be preserved in this
all too perishable record. The case constitutes, also, one of the
notable legal victories of Henry W. Wiggins, who appeared for the
contestants.

Mr. Coleman since his retirement from the bench has been honored with
many marks of continued confidence in his judicial qualifications.
No lawyer now living commands greater respect for the simplicity of
his life, the purity of his character, the force of his example, the
vigor of his manhood, the solidity of his attainments and the
genuineness of his learning than does Roswell C. Coleman.

Henry A. Wadsworth, who preceded Mr. Coleman in twelve years'
incumbency of the office of surrogate, brought to its duties a large
fund of practical knowledge, common sense and capacity for affairs.
His legal attainments were ample and he was deeply anxious in every
case to arrive at a sound and just decision. His place in the
affections of the bar was accurately as well as touchingly set forth
in the memorial address of Judge Hirschberg, in which he said:

"The sweetness and gentleness of his nature, his genial and frank
spirit, the generous impulses of his heart, and the broad and
engaging charity of his views are known best to the favored few who
rejoiced in his intimate companionship. His hand was open as the day
to melting charity. His dealings were ever plain, straightforward and
direct. He despised all shams and affectations. To his friends he was
the very soul of unselfish loyalty, and to the party which honored
both him and itself in his elevation, and in whose counsels he was
ever a trusted leader, he rendered always a manly and unfaltering
allegiance. A loving husband, an affectionate and indulgent father, a
wise, honest and safe adviser, an unstained lawyer, an incorruptible
judge, and a loyal friend are buried in his grave. And if amid the
good of his great nature there was mingled any blemish or alloy of
human fault or folly, let us to whom his name is now but a sweet and
tender memory:

          "'No further seek his merits to disclose
           Nor draw his frailties from their dread abode,
           (There they alike in trembling hope repose)
           The bosom of his Father and his God.'"

Gilbert O. Hulse, who preceded Mr. Wadsworth in the office of
surrogate, still survives at the age of eighty-four to relate his
reminiscences of the bench and bar of a previous generation. Before
coming to this office in 1868 he had enjoyed a large professional
experience which fully qualified him for his duties. He was engaged
in many notable cases, in one of which, attracting great attention at
the time, he established a lost will many years after it had been
wrongfully destroyed and secured the property till then denied to its
rightful owners, his clients. Much of his professional life has been
passed in the city of New York but he retains his residence in Orange
County, in which he was born in 1824, and with which his ancestors
had been identified since 1775.

The early part of the last century was marked by the rise in Orange
County of an able and progressive bar, whose courage and public
spirit contributed to keep alive the fires of exalted patriotism.
Jonathan Fisk, who removed to Newburgh in 1800, became one of the
most influential citizens of the county, being elected twice to
congress and being appointed twice United States attorney for the
Southern District of New York.

Henry G. Wisner, who was admitted in 1802, settled in Goshen in 1810,
where for thirty years he stood forth as its most prominent citizen,
its most active philanthropist and one of its foremost lawyers.

Walter Case, who also was admitted in 1802, settled in Newburgh,
serving in Congress and becoming the surrogate of the county in 1823
for a term of four years. His scholarly tastes and literary gifts
still find inherited expression through the cultured mind of his
descendant, Walter Case Anthony.

David W. Bate and Thomas McKissock, who were associated under the
name of Bate & McKissock, were strong and able men, exercising a wide
and potent influence. Judge Bate was elected county judge in 1847.
Judge McKissock was appointed supreme court judge to serve for a few
months and was elected to Congress in 1849.

William C. Hasbrouck, who studied with Mr. Wisner, was admitted in
1826 and began his practice in Newburgh. where he resided until his
death. He was speaker of the Assembly in 1847 and attracted attention
and admiration abroad as well as at home by a courtly presence and
charming address, united to robust manhood and sturdy principles. He
enjoyed the personal friendship of many prominent men of every shade
of opinion, including Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson and William H.
Seward. He died in 1870.

Benjamin F. Duryea filled a large place in the life of the county.
Admitted in 1839, he became surrogate in 1847 and county judge in
1855. His opinion upon any state of facts submitted to him was
regarded by his associates of the bar as conclusive upon the
questions of law involved. His son, Henry C. Duryea, whose career was
marred by precarious health, survived him until 1906.

Of all the able lawyers who have kept bright the fame of the Goshen
bar, perhaps no one ever exhibited greater force of character or made
a deeper impression upon his fellow citizens than Samuel J. Wilkin,
who was admitted to the bar in 1815 and who practiced in Goshen from
that time until his death in 1866. He served with distinction in
Congress and in the Senate of the State. His fiery eloquence,
commanding presence and lofty character live in traditions that will
long preserve his name from indifference or his memory from neglect.
His daughter Sara became the wife of ex-Surrogate Roswell C. Coleman.
His father, General James W. Wilkin, was also a distinguished man,
serving in the Senate, Assembly and Congress, and coming within one
vote of being elected to the United States Senate.

Oliver Young rose to conspicuous influence and weight in Port Jervis
soon after his removal there in 1849. He lived during the period of
political unrest which soon afterwards set in, and he was the
foremost champion of anti-slavery principles in the county at a time
when his sentiments were highly unpopular. He survived to see the
once decried abolitionists acclaimed by the arbitrament of war and
the verdict of history the most advanced statesmen of their century.
He died in 1871.

This brings our narrative to the point of time from which the direct
connection of the Orange County bar with the events of that stirring
period and with the subsequent history of the county has been traced.

When it is considered that, in the sixty years preceding the
publication of Eager's History of Orange County in 1847, no less than
one hundred and seventy-five lawyers were admitted to practice in
Orange County, their names appearing in the appendix to that volume;
and that, in the sixty years now elapsed since its publication, fully
as many more have been added to the number, it will readily be seen
how impossible it is to undertake, in one department of a general
county history, a sketch of many, among the living and the dead,
whose estimable career it would be a pleasure to follow and depict.
The purpose of this review and the treatment of its themes are
entirely different from the plan and method adopted in Ruttenber's
History of Orange County published in 1881, to which the reader is
referred for such dates as may not be accessible here in respect to
some of the lawyers who nourished before that time; while to Eager's
history is referred the reader who may seek simply the names of those
who were admitted to practice before 1847.

The bar of Orange County has also contributed to wider fields of
activity many who have reflected high honor upon the place of their
professional nativity. One of these was Benjamin F. Dunning, who,
when he was in practice in Goshen in 1853, was invited by the leader
of the New York bar, Charles O'Conor, to become associated with him.
That veteran of the Orange County clerk's office, Charles G. Elliot,
who has seen three generations of lawyers come upon the scene, told
me that he was in the clerk's office when Mr. Dunning received the
letter from Mr. O'Conor containing this proposition and saw him show
it to Nathan Westcott, then a leading lawyer of the county and once
its district attorney, whose brilliant career was interrupted by
paralysis resulting from a fall from a wagon. Mr. Westcott handed the
letter back to Mr. Dunning with the remark that Mr. Dunning would
never live to receive a higher honor than this evidence of Mr.
O'Conor's admiration and confidence. This confidence was abundantly
justified in the long years of Mr. Dunning's association with Mr.
O'Conor, which continued until Mr. O'Conor retired from practice.

William Fullerton also was invited by Charles O'Conor to New York,
where he soon established a reputation as the most superb
cross-examiner of his generation and as an advocate of remarkable
gifts. He retained until his death his residence in Newburgh, where
he had originally been associated in practice with James W. Fowler,
whose honorable service as the surrogate of Orange County from 1851
to 1855 is still remembered.

John Duer, after several years of practice in Goshen, went in 1820
to New York, where he became a justice of the Superior Court and the
author of several Valuable textbooks. His fame is preserved in his
writings, though these give no conception of the effect of his noble
presence and impassioned oratory.

Of course, the reputation which towers above that of any man ever
born in Orange County is that of William H. Seward, who studied law
in Goshen with John Duer and Ogden Hoffman. This is not because he
was a greater lawyer than either of his preceptors but because his
career as a United States senator in the period of excitement before
the Civil War, his valuable services as Secretary of State in the
crisis of our national life and his farseeing statesmanship in
acquiring the territory of Alaska, have written his name large upon
the roll of everlasting fame.

Ogden Hoffman, indeed, excelled him in all the attributes of a great
lawyer. Admitted to the bar in 1818 and elected district attorney of
Orange County in 1823, his transcendent abilities soon drew him to
New York, where he transfixed the wondering gaze of its brilliant
bar, which welcomed into its firmament this star of first magnitude.
Benjamin D. Silliman, one of its leaders, in an address made in 1889,
thus refers to him: "the fascinating Ogden Hoffman, the Erskine of
our bar, at which he became powerful and eminent and captivated all
by his art and his wonderful eloquence; his voice was music from the
note of a lute to the blast of a bugle." Luther R. Marsh, when
opposed to him once upon a trial, sought to forestall the dreaded
effect of the speech in which Hoffman was to follow by describing him
as one who "could rise upon the heaving exigencies of the moment, and
at whose bidding instant creations and mighty embodying of thought
and argument, sublime conceptions, glowing analogies and living
imagery burst as by miracle from the deep of mind in overshadowing
forms of majesty and power."

George Clinton and his nephew, DeWitt Clinton, are claimed by Ulster
County, because New Windsor, the town in which they were born was, at
the time, a part of Ulster County, it not having been set off to
Orange County until 1799. But their fame has passed beyond the
trivial rivalries of county pride. It belongs to the State and to the
Nation. George Clinton died in 1812, vice-president of the United
States. DeWitt Clinton died in 1828, governor of the State of New
York.

In our own time, too. Orange County has contributed to the bar of the
State many distinguished ornaments. The brilliant career of Lewis E.
Carr, once its district attorney, but now a member of the Albany bar,
has already been outlined.

George W. McElroy is a member of the Orange County bar, now
representing it at Albany, of which the bar is particularly proud. In
the intervals of his official duties in the Transfer Tax Bureau he
prepared a work upon the transfer tax law which affords abundant
evidence of his industry, research and learning.

Mr. McElroy's service as special surrogate of the county at the time
that he resided in Warwick, was distinguished for some opinions which
showed his marked qualifications for judicial station. He wrote an
opinion in a case involving the question whether the statute of
limitations runs in favor of an administrator, in which the doctrine
maintained by him was not generally accepted by the courts; but later
the courts adopted and enforced the view which he, at one time, was
almost alone in asserting.

Mr. McElroy is assured of a warm welcome from his brethren of the
Orange County bar when he is ready to exchange the weary, dreary,
depressing treadmill of department officialism for the pleasant,
refreshing, verdured paths of general practice.

John B. Kerr, of the Newburgh bar, is another lawyer of whom Orange
County is indeed proud, though he has now been separated for some
years from its personal associations and activities, having accepted
the position of general counsel for the New York, Ontario & Western
Railroad Company. In this responsible position he finds unusual
opportunity to exercise and develop those qualities of sound
judgment, rare foresight, steady poise and intellectual grasp in
which he so excels and of which his early career at the bar gave
abundant promise.

Thomas P. Fowler, whose home is in Warwick, and who was at one time a
member of the firm led by his distinguished father-in-law, Benjamin
F. Dunning, has acquired a position in the railroad and financial
world which reconciles him to his withdrawal from the activities of
his profession. The masterly ability shown by him in making the New
York, Ontario & Western Railroad Company one of the most important
and valuable railroad properties of the country has given him
national prominence and reputation.

John M. Gardner, formerly of the Newburgh bar, settled in New York,
where his chief reputation has been gained in actions against
corporations. He is a recognized authority in the law of negligence,
having won many important cases and having edited for some years a
series of reports specially devoted to cases of negligence. Mr.
Gardner was born in Warwick, to which lovely spot he frequently
returns. His career in Newburgh was distinguished by the same
qualities which have commanded success in a broader field. His fine
presence, unfailing resources, entire self-possession, tireless
energy, dauntless courage and impressive delivery combine to make him
one of the most formidable trial lawyers of the State.

Amos Van Etten, who began his practice in Port Jervis, removed to
Kingston, where he very soon established his title to recognition as
one of the leaders of the Ulster County bar, a position which he now
holds by general acknowledgment of both the bar and the public.

Mr. Van Etten, as the attorney for the New York Central Railroad, and
of other public service corporations, has been compelled to give his
chief attention to railroad and negligence law, though he commands
also a wide general practice. His success has been emphatic,
pronounced and permanent.

William H. Stoddard, formerly of the Middletown bar, has become a
prominent member of the Buffalo bar. He is original, independent and
entertaining in his addresses to juries, while his conversation is
full of wit, sally and anecdote.

One day there came to his office on old client whose wife had just
left him to take up her abode with another man. His client was in
deep dejection and wanted comfort. This is the way "Stod"--as he was
familiarly called by his friends--gave it to him. He said: "Cheer up,
John, brace up; why, there are a dozen men in Middletown who would be
glad to be in your shoes to-day."

Referring once to the wife of a friend, who was known to be a
termagant, he said: "She's the most even-tempered woman I ever
knew--always mad."

This faculty of bold, rapid characterization has always prevented him
from being dull either in his speeches or in social life. He is
nothing if not interesting. His rare qualities of mind and heart
endeared him to a large Orange County circle, which still
affectionately remembers him.

William S. Bennett, formerly of the Port Jervis bar, removed to New
York, where his career has been one of uninterrupted prosperity and
promotion. He is now representing his district in Congress, where he
has already achieved distinction in that most difficult of all places
in which to compel immediate recognition.

His abilities have been so conspicuous and the esteem of his
colleagues has been so unmistakably manifested that the attention of
the entire country has been fixed upon this still cherished son of
Orange County.

Not only has Orange County sent forth many lawyers whose names have
become famous throughout the world, but Orange County is the Mecca to
which many of the country's ablest lawyers repair to spend their
declining years, attracted by its beauty and invigorated by its
atmosphere. Benjamin F. Tracy, once secretary of the navy and long
one of the leading advocates of the bar of Brooklyn and New York, now
spends much of his time upon his beloved farm near Goshen. General
Henry L. Burnett, prominent in Ohio and New York, whose life of high
adventure and brilliant achievement possesses all the interest of
romance, also finds upon his Goshen estate the leisure in which to
charm a choice circle of friends old and new with reminiscences of
the famous men with whom he has been associated on equal terms and of
the stirring scenes in which he has so honorably and conspicuously
mingled.

Orange County, which has in days gone by attracted to itself the
sensitive poet, Nathaniel P. Willis, the scholarly historian, Joel T.
Headley, the gifted lawyer, Luther R. Marsh, and the still vigorous
publicist, John Bigelow, will never cease to have a charm for the
retired veteran of letters and the law. It should never cease to
interest also the active and alert practitioner who, on its rugged
hills and in its peaceful valleys and by its murmuring streams and
from its bracing atmosphere can draw vitality, inspiration and
delight--strength for the duties of each succeeding hour as he seeks
to emulate the lofty virtues and resplendent talents of those whose
eyes, like his, once wandered with rapture over its entrancing
prospects.

                NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

The Editor deeply regrets that since the modesty of the author has
forbidden any reference to himself this review of the period in which
Mr. Vanamee himself has borne so honorable and conspicuous a part
contains no description of his own brilliant career as an advocate.
But though it is thus unavoidable that his signal talents and
accomplishments should not be specifically portrayed in these pages,
still the intelligent reader will not fail to perceive in these
graphic estimates of his contemporaries an unconscious reflection of
his own commanding character, lofty ideals and acknowledged
abilities.




CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.

By John T. Howell, M.D.



The early history of Orange County is intimately connected with the
physicians who practiced there, and had they undertaken the task, it
is logical to assume that no citizens could have narrated the history
of their day and locality better than they. Unfortunately the duties
and hardships then attendant upon the practice of medicine so limited
outside literary work as to have left even the annals of medicine
bare of many important facts which it would seem ought to have been
recorded. It is stated that at one time Dr. David R. Arnell expressed
his intention to write a history of Orange County, but he failed to
carry out this undertaking which he was so well qualified to perform.

In the earlier periods of the county's existence medical education
began to feel the impulse of independence and the wider knowledge
resulting therefrom, developed a higher standard of practice.

This advancement was undoubtedly favored by the self-dependence
brought out in practice through widely separated settlements, and
Orange County early established a reputation for skillful physicians.
The renowned traits and ability of many of these physicians remain
only in tradition, but the anecdotes told of some of them show that
they were men of more than ordinary attainments. Among those
physicians best known in the early history of the county are Dr.
Cadwallader Colden, who, besides being a medical author of note, was
honored with the title of Lieutenant-Colonial Governor; Dr. Moses
Higby, who is remembered by his successful use of an emetic in the
case of a British spy, and Dr. Benjamin Tusten for his heroism at the
battle of Minisink. Other physicians have no doubt rendered equally
meritorious services in less conspicuous ways, but being unrecorded
remain uncredited in history.

Some interesting statistics have been collected by Dr. W. L.
Cuddeback regarding the average length of stay of about ninety
physicians who settled in Port Jervis and vicinity. Of these,
sixty-five per cent, removed or died within five years; eighty per
cent, before ten years; eighty-five per cent, before fifteen years,
and ninety per cent, before the end of twenty years of practice
there. The reasons for this well known lack of permanency and short
longevity of physicians are best understood by those who really know
the peculiar trials, dangers and discouragements of the daily life of
a doctor. The character developed by the experiences of thirty or
forty years of medical practice is logically one worthy of admiration
and emulation and this is proven by the appreciative and unshaken
position uniformly held by the old family physician "Our doctor."

[Illustration: John T. Howell, M.D.]

A perusal of the older records reveal many interesting customs and
practices of the physicians of those days. Travel was generally on
horseback and the distances were often so great that meal hour or
nightfall compelled the weary doctor to accept the proffered
hospitality of his patients. Saddle bags were made to hold a
veritable armamentum and the doctor must tarry long enough to put up
his own prescriptions. Bloodletting, blistering and emetics were
remedies often employed and were, perhaps, as potent for good as some
other extreme measures which were later substituted with greater
confidence and found after all to have but a limited field of
usefulness. The average physician has but little time for public
affairs, but a number of the Orange County doctors have held public
offices both in the County and as representatives in the State and
National legislatures. In times of war, too, our doctors names are
found enrolled in the military lists and their records there have
been most creditable. Other physicians seem to have found time for
literary pursuits; but these efforts have been mostly along medical
lines. The patriotic gift of the Minisink Monument by one of their
number is a matter of great pride and satisfaction to the physicians
of this county.

The records of the _Orange County Medical Society,_ although
abbreviated, present the local history of medicine more fully than it
is to be found elsewhere. Even here we may search in vain for data
which the busy physicians who have acted as secretaries have failed
to record. However, extending as they do over nearly the whole of the
last century we can find many facts of interest, especially in the
earlier years of its existence. No county society was formed until
after the passage of an act of the Legislature, April 4, 1806. This
law, under which the Orange County and twelve other county societies
were soon incorporated, permitted each licensed physician in the
county to become a charter member and each society to elect a
representative to the State society, which was to be composed of such
delegates. The county society had the right to examine both
physicians desiring to practice in the county and students of
medicine who applied for licenses.

Upon the first pages of the minutes is found a concise report of the
organization of the Medical Society of the County of Orange, with the
names of the founders and officers elected. It reads in part as
follows:

"Agreeable to a law of the State of New York, passed the fourth day
of April, 1806, entitled 'An Act to incorporate Medical Societies for
the purpose of regulating the practice of Physic and Surgery in this
State,' the physicians and surgeons of Orange County met at the
Court House in Goshen on Tuesday, the first day of July, 1806.

"Drs. Jonathan Swezy, Chairman (pro tem), Thomas Wickham, Clerk (pro
tem), Elijah Randall, William Elmer, William Elliott, Samuel S.
Seward, Benjamin S. Hoyt, Nathaniel Elmer, Elisha Du Bois, Charles
Fowler, David R. Arnell, Samuel Warner, William McCoppin, Aaron M.
Smith, William Gourley, Elihu Hedges, Eleazer Gedney, Ethan Watson,
Cornelius Roosa, James Bradner, Henry I. Hornbeck and Elijah Welch
were present and produced their several licenses to practice physic.
The Society then proceeded to organize and elect officers when the
following gentlemen were elected for the ensuing year: Dr. Jonathan
Swezy, President; Dr. Samuel S. Seward, Vice-President; Dr. Nathaniel
Elmer, Secretary; and Dr. Thomas Wickham, Treasurer.

"Drs. Anthony Davis, Joseph Houston, Joseph Whelan and Jonathan
Hedges were, upon examination, licensed to practice physic and
surgery in this State and admitted members to this Society. Dr. David
R. Arnell was elected delegate to the Medical Society of the State of
New York.

"Drs. Anthony Davis, Elisha Du Bois, Charles Fowler, Joseph Whelan and
Cornelius Davis were appointed censors."

The minutes of the earlier meetings were admirably kept and are still
in an excellent state of preservation.

The autographs of the founders and other members who signed the
by-laws form an interesting and valuable collection. The by-laws were
carefully drawn and consisted of twenty-six articles. Meetings were
held semi-annually or quarterly, and, as indicated by the titles, the
papers read and discussed were of a high order. Notwithstanding such
evidences of proficiency I find that these physicians were very
poorly paid. In a rate list adopted by the society in 1807, the
charge for a visit of less than one mile was but twenty-five cents,
with a corresponding low charge for medicines furnished, and, the
largest fee asked for any operation was one hundred dollars.

Dr. Arnell, who may be called the father of the Orange County Medical
Society, was elected president of the society eight times and was a
charter member of the State Society. In 1818 he presented a library
to the society. It contained fifty volumes, which, with five of the
best medical periodicals, were circulated among the members
throughout the county. This collection formed a nucleus for
subsequent additions and a valuable and useful library was maintained
for many years.

In 1830 the membership of the society numbered sixty, of whom
twenty-five attended the annual meeting.

Among notable resolutions passed was one in 1830 endorsing the
American Temperance Society and the tenets of temperance in general;
in 1832 the formation of health boards in each town; and in 1839 a
resolution recommending a change in the method of examining and
licensing students of medicine, the whole to be placed in the hands
of the Regents, was forwarded to the State Medical Society. Such
efforts were highly creditable and progressive, as is shown by the
fact that the law providing for the last named recommendation was
not passed until 1893.

An important amendment to the by-laws adopted at a meeting in 1840
marks the beginning of a prolonged and troublesome epoch of
controversy over medical ethics, especially in regard to sectarian
forms of practice, including homeopathy, then being introduced in
this vicinity.

The status of practice among the members of the society having always
been regular (_i. e.,_ belonging to the general school of scientific
medicine and not restricted by any sect or pathy), much criticism was
aroused by the attempt of some of the local physicians to practice
according to Hahnemann's Laws of "Like cures like." "Medicinal
potency increased by dilution," etc.

An application for membership to the society from a physician who
practiced that system was promptly rejected at the next meeting and
much discussion ensued. The subject was frequently referred to in the
minutes of the meetings for a number of subsequent years, and in 1851
several members were expelled from the society for practicing
homeopathy. Rules forbidding members to consult with homeopathic
physicians were passed, and in 1856 there was prepared and printed
for public information a system of popular ethics, explaining fully
the position of the society regarding the whole subject of ethics.
Feeling ran high over the matter for a long time, as is shown by the
lengthy discussions and resolutions devoted to the subject in the
minutes, year after year. Gradually, as it became evident that there
was an increasing abandonment of sectarian practice, a reaction came;
but it was not until 1883 that this society, following the lead of
the State Society, adopted a new code which permitted, under
reasonable restrictions, consultations between regular and sectarian
practitioners.

Dr. Merritt H. Cash, by his will in 1861, left a legacy to the State
Society of five hundred dollars which is known as "The Merritt H.
Cash Fund." The fund now amounts to seven hundred and fifty dollars
and the interest is devoted to a prize essay written by members of
the county medical societies throughout the State. Dr. Cash also
left four thousand dollars for the monument erected at Goshen in
honor of those who fell at the battle of Minisink. The society was,
of course, much interested in this event and was accorded a prominent
place at the unveiling of the monument July 22, 1862.

Four members represented this society and served as surgeons with
credit and distinction during the Civil War: Dr. R. V. K. Montfort
and Dr. J. H. Thompson in the 124th, Dr. Solomon Van Etten in the
56th, and Dr. Theodore Cooper (assistant surgeon) in the 156th
regiment of volunteers.

In 1879 the society received a special invitation to attend the
celebration of the centennial of the battle of Minisink. This
invitation was in recognition of the county's obligation to the
donor, Dr. Merritt H. Cash, and for the patriotic and heroic services
rendered by Dr. Benjamin Tusten at the battle of Minisink, July 22,
1779, where his life was sacrificed in the actual performance of his
professional duties.

The last quarter of the century is notable in the history of the
society for a renewal of interest and increased literary work. This
was the developmental era of antiseptic and aseptic surgery, and the
records, as shown by the papers read and the cases reported, were
creditable to the progressive spirit and practice of the members of
the society.

A resolution to the effect that all members of the society, in good
standing for thirty years, be constituted honorary members was
adopted in June, 1887. This honor was accordingly bestowed upon Dr.
Bartow Wright, whose membership dated from 1834, and upon Dr. Harvey
Everett, who joined the society in 1839. The former died in 1890 and
the latter April 8, 1899, having been a member of the society for
sixty years.

In 1895 revised by-laws were adopted, one of which admitted to
membership any licensed physician who declared his full abnegation of
sectarian principles and practice. This invitation was an expression
of a principle and belief which it is hoped will in the near future
rally all physicians to a broad standard of practice, and the recent
law enacted, which provides but one board of examiners to grant State
licenses to physicians of all schools, is another hopeful sign of
medical unity.

In 1898, at the breaking out of the war with Spain, Dr. James R.
Wood, a member of this society, volunteered and accompanied the
101st Regiment to Cuba. There he afterwards died in the performance
of his duties, which were those of endeavoring to render sanitary the
almost impossible conditions at Guanajay.

In February, 1901, the Orange County Medical Association was
organized, about which time a successful effort was made to complete
the organization of associations in those counties where they had not
been formed when the State Association split off from the State
Society, because of the code question in 1882. The two sets of
organizations had not been long maintained, however, when a
comparison of their ethical standards revealed the fact that twenty
years had so modified opinions as to have practically removed the
differences. The associations, however, had the advantage of the
recognition of the American Medical Association, which had never been
accorded the societies since their adoption of the new code of
ethics. In order to avail themselves of membership in the national
association many of the members of the societies joined the
associations, too, and the barriers between the two organizations
eventually became completely broken down.

The first meeting of the amalgamated county societies was held at
Newburgh, January 25, 1906, the combined membership being
seventy-nine.

The society had three hundred and thirty-eight members and
forty-eight honorary members during one hundred years. Of these
sixty-two were elected to the office of president one or more times,
twenty-three to the office of secretary, and twenty-three to the
office of treasurer.

The centennial celebration of the society was held at Goshen, Monday,
July 2, 1906. The first part of the exercises consisting of addresses
and an historical sketch--were conducted in the board of supervisors
room in the County Building, which stands on the same ground once
occupied by the old Court House, in which the society was organized,
July 1, 1806. A collation, followed by short speeches, was afterwards
held in Music Hall, which had been decorated for the occasion with
flags and bunting. Eighty-five members and guests were present.

(A list of the officers and members of this society will be found in
the chronological table.)

The second medical society formed in the county was the _Homeopathic
Medical Society of Orange County._

This society was organized November 12, 1851, at the time when
considerable local interest had been awakened in this system of
practice and the controversy heretofore mentioned was going on
between the new and old schools. The first meeting was held in
Newburgh when by-laws were adopted and the following officers
elected:

Drs. A. Gerald Hull, president; Dewitt C. Jayne, vice-president;
Ira T. Bradner, secretary and treasurer; and W. A. M. Culbert,
corresponding secretary. A committee was also appointed to prepare an
address to the public in answer to that on ethics published by the
Orange County Medical Society.

Quarterly meetings were held during the first year, but no records of
subsequent meetings are again found until January 11, 1870. The
meetings were at first resumed semi-annually, but after three years,
more interest seems to have been taken and the society met every
three months. From time to time papers were read by members of the
society bearing upon important topics and the society continued
active for a number of years. After 1888 the meetings were held but
twice a year, and interest waned until 1891, when they were
discontinued.

(A list of the officers and members of this society will be found in
the chronological table.)

_The Tri-States Medical Society._--This society was organized in
September, 1871, by a number of physicians living in Port Jervis and
the adjacent counties of the three States, New York, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, which join near there. Drs. Solomon Van Etten, Isaac S.
Hunt, O. A. Carroll and P. G. McCabe represented Orange County in the
formation of the society.

Quarterly meetings were held and fifty physicians became members
during the first ten years. The society flourished for about eighteen
years but was finally discontinued, probably because of a renewed
interest in the county societies. Several Orange County physicians
served as officers of the society.

(A list of the officers and members of this society residing in
Orange County will be found in the chronological table.)

[Illustration: W. L. Cuddeback. M.D.]

_The Newburgh Bay Medical Society._--This society was organized
September 10, 1895. The first meeting was held at the Palatine
Hotel, Newburgh.

There were present Drs. A. E. Adams, John Deyo, A. V. Jova, C. E.
Townsend and J. T. Howell. Dr. Adams was elected temporary chairman
and Dr. Townsend, secretary. Committees were appointed to secure
additional members and draft a constitution and by-laws, after which
the meeting adjourned until October 8th next. At that meeting there
were present, besides the above mentioned, Drs. E. H. Borst, W. L.
Carr, E. F. Brooks, W. S. Gleason, R. V. K. Monfort, G. Garlzman and
M. C. Stone.

The society was named and by-laws adopted. The object of the
society was declared to be the banding together of congenial
physicians residing in Newburgh and vicinity for the purpose of study
and discussion of medical and surgical topics and scientific subjects
relative thereto, and the promotion of social intercourse among its
members.

The society was incorporated November 8, 1897, and at that time had
twenty-nine members. Since then interest in the society has been
fully maintained, as is evidenced by the unusual record of individual
work and attendance on the part of the members. The present
membership numbers forty-two, of whom twenty-six are residents of
this county. The meetings are held bi-monthly and are usually at
Newburgh.

(A list of the officers and members of this society will be found in
the chronological table.)

_The Orange County Medical Association_ was organized February 12,
1901, in Middletown, by Drs. M. C. Connor, W. E. Douglas, A. W.
Preston. C. I. Redfield, William Evans, E. A. Nugent, L. G. Distlar
and F. D. Myers. The following officers were elected: Drs. M. C.
Connor, president; F. W. Dennis, vice-president; Charles I. Redfield,
secretary and treasurer. A committee on by-laws was appointed and the
meeting adjourned until March 12, 1901, to perfect the organization.
At the adjourned meeting the appointment of committees was completed
and the membership found to be sixteen, including those already
belonging to the New York State Association. The additional members
not mentioned above were: Drs. E. F. Brooks, J. B. Hulett, W. L.
Purdy, R. A. Taylor, C. E. Townsend, H. E. Wise, and E. D. Woodhull.
Meetings were held monthly in the different larger places of the
county and much interest was maintained by securing the uniform
presence of some recognized authority on a special subject for each
meeting.

On December 9, 1905, the New York State Medical Association and
Medical Society were amalgamated and the formal union of the
corresponding county organizations took place, as heretofore stated,
at Newburgh, January 25, 1906. The association at that time had
thirty-seven members, a number of whom belonged also to the county
society.

(A list of the officers and members of this association will be found
in the chronological table.)

_Homeopathic Medical Society of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster
Counties._--The above-named society was formed in response to a
suggestion of the Dutchess County Homeopathic Society. The first
meeting was held in Poughkeepsie, but the society was not regularly
organized until a meeting held at Newburgh June 24, 1902. Since that
time the members have met regularly at Newburgh in the months of May
and October each year, and much interest has been manifested. The
present number of members is twenty-four, eighteen of whom reside in
Orange County. Dr. William E. Reed, of Washingtonville, is now
president, and Dr. F. A. Jacobson, of Newburgh, secretary and
treasurer of the society.

(A list of the officers and members of this society residing in
Orange County will be found in the chronological table.)

                MIDDLETOWN STATE HOSPITAL.

During the past thirty-seven years several hospitals have been built
and conducted in the different larger places of the county. First
among these was the Middletown State Hospital (homeopathic) for the
care and treatment of the insane, which was incorporated in 1869.
Funds were collected by Dr. George F. Foote, and a farm purchased
near Middletown as a site for the present hospital. About
seventy-five thousand dollars was raised by private subscription, a
part of which was used in hospital construction. The following year,
1870, the first appropriation was made by the State and the main
building was opened for the reception of patients in the spring of
1874, with Dr. Foote as superintendent. After a brief service Dr.
Foote resigned and Dr. Henry R. Stiles was appointed superintendent,
which position he held until 1877, when he resigned, and Dr. Selden
H. Talcott was appointed to fill the vacancy. Dr. Talcott served for
twenty-five years until his death, June 15, 1902, and under his
management the institution developed nearly to its present
proportions. The present superintendent, Dr. Maurice L. Ashley, was
appointed his successor.

The farm and grounds comprise nearly three hundred acres, on which
there are thirty buildings, the value of the real and personal
property being over $1,500,000. The present annual expenses for all
purposes are about $245,000. Since the opening of the institution the
reports show seven thousand patients received and treated. Of this
number two thousand six hundred have been discharged recovered, and
nine hundred improved. The number of patients under treatment at
present is one thousand three hundred. Buildings planned and under
construction will increase the accommodations to a capacity of one
thousand eight hundred and fifty patients and four hundred and fifty
employees.

The medical staff consists of nine members: Maurice C. Ashley, M.D.,
medical superintendent; Robert C. Woodman, M.D., first assistant
physician; George F. Brewster, M.D., second assistant physician; Roy
E. Mitchell, M.D., third assistant physician; Arthur S. Moore, M.D.,
junior assistant physician; Clara Barrus, M.D., woman assistant
physician, and their interns.

                  ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL, NEWBURGH.

This institution was founded as a "Home for the aged, the indigent,
and the infirm and a Hospital for the sick and disabled." The
hospital work for a number of years was of secondary importance, but
during the latter half of its existence that has been the principal
work of the institution, until now both the name and the work of the
Home are discontinued.

The society was organized July 21, 1874, by representative members of
the Protestant Episcopal parishes of Newburgh and New Windsor, which
influence has until recently predominated in the management, although
the work has been wholly non-sectarian in character. A constitution was
adopted November 4, 1874, and the institution became incorporated.
January 5, 1876. The corporation originally leased different places
until the present reservoir site on Carpenter avenue was purchased.
On March 23, 1886, the property on Liberty street was secured, where
various buildings were erected and changes made from time to time.
Recently, March 29, 1907, the seminary building and large grounds on
Dubois street have been secured, where the fine elevation and
surroundings will better accommodate the increasing needs of the
hospital.

During the past fiscal year there were treated seven hundred and
seventy-four patients. There are forty-eight beds. A training school
for nurses was established in 1893, which now numbers twenty.

The society is a membership corporation and by a change in the
constitution adopted November 22, 1906, has become non-sectarian in
its management. It derives its income from the charges paid by
patients, from voluntary contributions and from the interest received
from an endowment fund of $47,415.21. Among the pioneer workers was
Dr. Smith Ely, whose interest and zeal had much to do with
establishing the hospital.

The present staff consists of four consulting and eleven attending
members:

Consulting Staff--Robert Abbe, M.D., surgeon; Stephen D. Harrison,
M.D., physician; Henry D. Nicoll, M.D., gynecologist; Henry L.
Winter, M.D., neurologist.

Attending Staff--John T Howell, M.D., and Charles E. Townsend, M.D.,
surgeons; William J. Carr, M.D., and E. C. Thompson, M.D., assistant
surgeons; Andrew V. Jova, M.D., and W. Stanton Gleason. M.D.,
physicians; John Deyo, M.D., and William H. Snyder, M.D., assistant
physicians; Alpheus E. Adams, M.D., ophthalmologist and otologist;
Louis R. Pierce, M.D., obstetrician; A. Judson Benedict, M.D.,
rhinologist and laryngologist.

                   THE PORT JERVIS HOSPITAL.

This hospital was established January 1, 1887, by Dr. J. H. Hunt as a
memorial to his father, Dr. J. S. Hunt. It accommodated twenty
patients and was located on the corner of Ball and Sussex streets.

On March 8, 1892, the hospital was purchased by Drs. W. L. Cuddeback
and H. B. Swartwout, who enlarged and remodeled it, providing
additional private rooms, the use of which was extended to outside
physicians. The hospital was again sold on September 1, 1895, the
purchasers beings several physicians living in Port Jervis and
vicinity, who formed a corporation for that purpose. The hospital,
besides doing general work, has always especially provided for the
care of the injured employees of the Erie Railroad Company.

A training school for nurses was established in 1896, which now
numbers five nurses. The number of beds in the present hospital is
twenty-five. The number of patients treated during the fiscal year
ending 1907 was one hundred and thirty-four. The present attending
staff consists of Drs. Cuddeback and Swartwout.

                 THRALL HOSPITAL, MIDDLETOWN.

This institution was organized largely through the efforts of Dr.
Julia E. Bradner and eight other ladies representing different
churches, who raised a fund of over five thousand dollars toward the
project. Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall subsequently came to their assistance
and donated not only the grounds but the building, thus placing the
hospital upon a firm basis in the early days of its history. The fund
already collected was used for furnishing and equipment.

The hospital was opened May 10, 1892. A training school for nurses
was established in 1894, which now numbers ten. The number of beds in
the hospital, including those in private rooms, is thirty-five. The
number of patients treated during the fiscal year ending 1907 was
four hundred and fifty-five. The present staff has six consulting and
nine attending members:

Consulting Staff---Dr. M. C. Ashley, neurologist; Dr. Francis Walk,
Dr. J. I. Lent, ophthalmologists; Dr. W. E. Douglas, Dr. E. L.
Fancher, Dr. C. W. Dennis, physicians.

Visiting Staff--Dr. T. D. Mills, Dr. J. B. Hulett, Dr. W. L. Purdy,
surgeons; Dr. Julia E. Bradner, Dr. J. L. Hammer, Dr. D. B.
Hardenburgh, Dr. M. A. Stivers, Dr. C. I. Redfield. Dr. E. M.
Schultz, physicians.

                   THE DR. MacDONALD HOUSE.

The Dr. MacDonald House at Central Valley, formerly known as
"Falkirk," was founded by Dr. James Francis Ferguson in 1889.

This institution was designed and built for the special care of
patients suffering from nervous diseases. Originally it accommodated
but fifteen patients, but it was enlarged by the construction of
another large cottage called the "Stanleigh," and now can care for
twice that number. Its beautiful location and surroundings contribute
to make it an ideal home for such patients.

Following the death of Dr. Ferguson, in 1904, the sanitarium was
conducted for two years by Dr. Henry A. Ferguson and William E.
Ferguson, when it was purchased by its present proprietor and
physician in charge, Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald, who has associated with
him Dr. Clarence J. Slocum as a resident physician.

                        INTERPINES.

This sanitarium is located at Goshen and was established in June,
1890, by Dr. F. W. Seward. It then had fourteen beds for patients,
but in 1897 the capacity of the institution was increased by
commodious additions, to fifty-six patients. The institution affords
all the advantages of a modern home for invalids especially for the
treatment of disorders of the nervous system.

It is conducted by Dr. Seward and his son, Dr. F. W Seward, Jr., who
has been associated with his father for the past eight years.

                              * * * * *

The limitations of space allotted this article not allowing the
presentation of biographies, I have collected and arranged the
following data relating to the physicians who have settled in Orange
County and practiced there since 1728.

The dates include the period of practice in this county, terminating
either by removal or death. The residences designated generally
refer to villages or larger places, but sometimes only the townships
are known. The last column contains the names of the medical college
or society granting the diploma or license, memberships and offices
in county medical societies and positions or connections with local
hospitals, etc. In all cases every endeavor has been made to obtain
the full data, and careful verification made of all information
received. In a number of cases it has been impossible to determine
the dates, and even the residences of some of the practitioners could
not be ascertained. In other cases the source of their diploma or
license cannot be found in any of the records. Special mention has
been made in a comparatively few instances where physicians are known
to have held distinguished positions or have been otherwise honored,
but omissions should not be construed to indicate inferiority of the
standing of those worthy physicians who labored on in dignified
silence, although conscious of many a triumph in the art of life
saving.

I am greatly indebted to those physicians and other interested
friends who have furnished information and data and especially to Dr.
L. R. Pierce who assisted in the compilation of this table.

[Illustration: C. W. Many]

  A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PHYSICIANS WHO HAVE PRACTICED IN ORANGE
    COUNTY. [fn]

     [fn] For explanation of abbreviations, see last page.

            * * * * *
 Years of          Name              Location    Medical College
 Practice                                        or Society Granting
                                                 Diploma; Memberships
                                                 in County Medical
                                                 Societies--Public
                                                 Service, etc.
 1728--p.1758 Cadwallader Colden  Coldenham      Univ. of Edinburgh,
                                                 1708; Medical Author
                                                 Historian, Lieut.
                                                 Colonial Governor,
                                                 Died 1776.
 d.1758       Alexander Clinton   Montgomery     Studied medicine in
                                                 N. Y. City.
                                                 Died of smallpox at
                                                 Shawangunk.
 d.1768       John Barnes         Cornwall
 d.1791       Charles Clinton     Montgomery     Studied medicine in
                                                 N. Y. City.
                                                 Served in British
                                                 Navy as Surgeon's
                                                 Mate.
 P.1749--d.1763 Evans Jones       New Windsor    One of the
                                  and little     proprietors of the
                                  Britain        New Windsor township
                                                 plot. Lived in the
                                                 "Brewster house."
 P. 1754       William Tunis      Florida
 1760--d. 1837 Eleazer Gedney     Gedneytown,    Inc. O. C. M. S. and
                                  Newburgh       Pres., '28. Resided
                                                 on present site
                                                 Quassaick Bank,
                                                 Newburgh.
 P.1764        ____ De Pee        New Windsor
 P.1768        Thos. Clark        Little Britain
 P.1769        John Gale          Goshen
 P.1769--d.1779 Benj. Tusten      Goshen          Surrogate, 1778.
                                                  Introduced practice
                                                  of inoculation with
                                                  smallpox in this
                                                  vicinity. Lieut.
                                                  Col.  Goshen Reg.,
                                                  1777. Killed in
                                                  Battle of Minisink.
 P.1769        John Pierson       Goshen
 P.1769        Elisha Dubois      Warwick         Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1769--d.1782 Daniel Rosencrans Minisink
 P.1769--d.1784 Henry White       Minisink
 P.1769.       ____ Chandler      Blooming Grove
 P.1769        Thos. Wickham      Goshen          Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1769        Isaac Brown        Newburgh
 P.1769        Isaac Tobias       Cornwall
 P.1770        John Hill          Montgomery
 P.1770        Jacob Everett      Port Jervis
 P.1770        ____ Smith         Montgomery
 P.1776--d.1821 Jonathan Bailey   New Windsor     Served in War of
                                                  Revolution
 P.1776--d.1813 Jonathan Swezy    Goshen          Inc. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Pres., '06-'10,
                                                  Born 1752.
 P.1776        William Gourley    New Windsor
 P.1776        Elias Winfield     Newburgh
 P.1776        Daniel Wood        Warwick, New
                                  Windsor
 P.1776--d.1797 Nathaniel Elmer   Florida          Capt. Co. Florida
                                                   Soldiers, 1775.
 P.1776--d.1823 Moses Higby       Newburgh and     Contemporary Dr.
                                  New Windsor      Charles Clinton.
                                                   Administered
                                                   emetic to British
                                                   spy and thereby
                                                   recovered silver
                                                   bullet containing
                                                   important dispatch
 P.1776        Joseph Young       Newburgh         With Revolutionary
                                                   Army
 P.1776        Thomas Young       Newburgh         With Revolutionary
                                                   Army.
 P.1776        Robt. Morrison     Newburgh
 P.1776        Hugh Morrison      Newburgh
 P.1776        James Stukney      Newburgh
 P.1780-1810   William Elliott    Montgomery
 P.1783        John Smedes        Montgomery(?)    Contemporary Dr.
                                                   Chas. Clinton,
                                                   Probably practiced
                                                   in nearby locality
 P.1784--d.1799 Phineas Hedges    Newburgh
 P.1786--d.1835 David Fowler, Jr  Newburgh         Surgeon 2d Reg.
                                                   Loyalists, 1776,
                                                   Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                   and Pres. '15.
 P.1786        Wm. Gale           Goshen
 P.1786        Chas. Tusten       Montgomery
 P.1788--d.1830 Eusebius Austin   Unionville       Hon. Mem.
                                                   O. C. M. S.
 P.1788-1808   Jos. Whelan       Crawford and      Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                 Montgomery        and Mem. id.
 1795--d.1849  Samuel S. Seward  Florida           Mem. Assembly, '04
                                                   County Judge, '15,
                                                   Inc. O. C. M. S.,
                                                   and 1st Vice-Pres.
                                                   Est. S. S. Seward
                                                   Institute at
                                                   Florida, '46.
 1878--d.1898  Matthew C. Lyon    New Windsor
 P.1798        Samuel Gale        Goshen
 P.1798        Benjamin S. Hoyt   New Windsor      Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1798--d.1845 Increase Crosby   Crawford         Lic. M. S. S. C.
                                                   Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1799--d.1844 Benj. Newkirk     Mt. Hope         Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P. 1799--d.1826 Israel Sayre
 1802--d.1859   Jacob Hornbeck    Port Jervis     Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.
 1806--d.1867   Jacob Van Dusen   Port Jervis     Univ. N. Y.
 P.1806         Elijah Randall    Monroe (?)      Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--d.1816 William Elmer     Goshen          Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--d.1810 Nathaniel Elmer, Jr. Denton       Inc. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and 1st Sec'y.
 P.1806        Charles Fowler     Montgomery      Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--d.1826 David R. Arnell   Scotchtown and  Inc. O. C. M. S.
                                  Goshen          and Pres., '10,
                                                  '11, '12, '13, '19,
                                                  '21, '22, '23.
                                                  Organized movement
                                                  which recovered
                                                  bones of heroes of
                                                  Minisink.
 P.1806--r.1846 Samuel Warner                     Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--r.1817 Wm. McCoppin                      Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--r.    Aaron M. Smith                     Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--d.1824 Elihu Hedges      Cornwall        Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P 1806--r.    Ethan Watson                       Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806--r.    Cornelius Roosa                    Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P 1806--d.1823 James Bradner     Goshen          Inc. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Born 1762.
 P.1806        Henry I. Hornbeck  Port Jervis(?)  Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806        Elijah Welch       Newburgh(?)     Inc. O. C. M. S.
 P.1806        Anthony Davis      Goshen          Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Mem. and Pres.
                                                  id., '07-'08-'09.
 P.1806        Joseph Houston     Edenville       Lic. O. M. S. and
                                                  Mem. id.
 1806          Jonathan Hedges    Little Britain  Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1807          Charles Frazer, Jr.                Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1807          Gabriel N. Phillips Phillipsburgh  Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Mem. and Pres. id.,
                                                  '14; also Hon. Mem.
 P.1807        Nathaniel Gillespie Goshen(?)      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1807--d.1815 David Gallatian Precinct of       Lic. N. Y. C. M. S.
                                Hanover, near     1789. One of first
                                Walden            Supervisors. Mem.
                                                  Assembly, 1785.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1807--d.1843 Baltus Van Kleeck Newburgh        Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres., '20.
 P.1807--r.1846 Heman Allen                       Lic. O. C. M. S.
 P.1807         Sylvester Austin
 P.1808--d.1836 Silas Loomis      Otisville       Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1808           Joseph R. Andrews                 Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1808           Andrew J. Miller                  Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1808--d.1849  Chichester Brown   Newburgh        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1809--d.1814  Jesse Arnell       Goshen          Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 P.1809--d.1837 Daniel Corwin     Hopewell,
                                  Middletown and
                                  Minisink        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1809--r.1819   Francis Fowler                    Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Mem. id., and
                                                  Pres.. '18.
 1809           Walter Watson                     Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1809           Albert Schoonmaker                Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1810--d.1846   William Townsend  Goshen          Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1810--d.1844   David Hanford     Middletown      Yale, '07. Mem.
                                                  O. C. M. S. One of
                                                  the founders
                                                  Wallkill Academy.
 1810--r.       Chas. Parks                       Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1810--d. 1848  Robt. Shaw        Mt. Hope        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1810           William Hedges    Newburgh(?)     Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1810           James Fowler                      Lic. O. C. M. S.
 P.1810         Jno. Gasherie                     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 p. 1811        Jno. T. Jansen    Minisink        Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres., '20,'29.
 1812--d.1858   Joshua Hornbeck   Scotchtown      Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres. id., '27,
                                                  43, '44, '45, '47,
                                                  '48.
 p.1813        Peter A. Millspaugh Montgomery     Lic. M. S. C. N. Y.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres., '18,'24,
                                                  '26.
 1814--d.1858   Jas. M. Gardner   Newburgh        Lic. N. Y. S. M. S.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres. id., '34,
                                                  '37, '40, '41.
 1814           Thos. G. Evans    Goshen          Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1814--d.1866   Thos. McKissock   Newburgh        Lic. O. C M. S.
                                                  admitted to the Bar
                                                  1817; Supreme Court
                                                  Judge, 47, and Rep.
                                                  in Congress, '49.
 1814--r.       Jno. S. Swezy     Minisink        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1814           Jas. Heron        Warwick         Lic. O. C. M. S.,
                                                  Mem. id., and
                                                  Pres., '33,'36,'39
 1814--d.1838   Jas. P. Youngs    Edenville       Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1814           Marcus Ostrander  Port Jervis(?)  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1815--d.1824   Thomas Chattle    Port Jervis     Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1815           Jesse Bodle                       Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1815--r.1831   Peter P. Galatian Walden          N. Y. Hosp., '13,
                                                  '14, '15. Lic.
                                                  O. C. M. S. and
                                                  Mem. id. Born 1794;
                                                  died 1862.
 1815--d.1843   Robt. C. Hunter   Hamptonburgh    Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1815--r.       Jacob Ostrum, Jr.                 Lic. M. S. D. C.;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1816           George Eager      Montgomery and  Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                  Newburgh        Mem. id., and
                                                  Pres., '32
 P.1816         Joseph Hallock    Ridgebury(?)    Mem. O. C. M. S.
 p.1816         Wm. H. Newkirk    Unionville      Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 p.1816--r.1832 Israel Green      Monroe(?)       Lic. M. S. U. C.;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 p.1816--r.     Jno. W. Montrose  Crawford        Lic. M. S. S. N. J.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1817           James Ray                         Lic. O. C. M. S.
 P.1817--r.1847 Hiram K. Chapman  Newburgh        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1818--d.1824   Charles Miller    Newburgh        Yale;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1818--d.1844  William Horton, Jr. Goshen         Lic. O. C. M, S.,
                                                  Mem. id., and Pres.
                                                  '33
 1818--d.1834   Egbert Jansen     Goshen          Lic. O. C. M. S.,
                                                  Mem. id., and
                                                  Pres., '29.
 1818--d.1851  Nathaniel P. Church Greenville     Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1818--d.1872   Jno. J. Linderman Port Jervis     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1819--r.       Peter McGivney
 1819--d.1847   John W. Drury     New Windsor     V. M. C.;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  Served in War
                                                  1812-'14.
 1819--r.       Stephen Hasbrouck Walden or       Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                  Newburgh
 1819--d.1868   Chas. Winfield    Crawford        Lic. O. C. M. S.,
                                                  Mem. id., and Pres.
                                                  '36, '37, '42, '46;
                                                  Rep. in Congress,
                                                  '60-67.
 1819--d.1840   Geo. Hedges       Newburgh        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1821--d.1875   John S. Crane     Goshen          Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.;
                                                  Surgeon's Mate,
                                                  19th Brigade N.Y.S.
                                                  '25; County Clerk,
                                                  '26.
 1821           Theodore  Wells   Goshen(?)       Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1821           Jonathan Sears    Montgomery(?)   Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1821--r.       Townsend Seely    Goshen          P. S. N. Y.,'15;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1821--d.1870   George Hunter     Searsville      Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1822--d.1848   Robert Shaw       Mt. Hope        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 1822--r.       Francis Beattie                   Mem. O. C. M. S
 1822           John M. Gough     Cornwall        Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres. id., '38.
 1822--r.       Thos. Royce       Minisink        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1823--d.1849 Isaac Garrison    Newburgh        V. M. C, '23;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1823--d.1835 Jos. Halstead     Minisink        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
                                                  Born 1798
 P.1824--d.1874 Charles Harden-   Pt. Jervis      P. & S. N. Y.,
                        burgh                     Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Mem. id.
 P.1824--r.     Isaac D. Dodd     Goshen          Lic. M. S. S. N. J.
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1824       John J. Wheeler     Warwick(?)      P. & S. N. Y.;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1825--d.1861 Merritt H. Cash     Ridgebury       N. Y. M. C, '25;
                                                  Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                  and Pres. id., '50,
                                                  '51, 52; Mem.
                                                  Assembly. Erected
                                                  "Minisink Monument."
                                                  at Goshen.
 P.1825        Adna Hayden                       Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1825          Andrew King       Washingtonville Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                 and Newburgh    and Mem. id.
 1825          Harris Edmonston  Newburgh        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 1825--r.      Gabriel Corwin                    Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1825--r.      Wynans Rush       Pine Bush(?)    Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1825          Samuel Harlow     Monroe          Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1825          Dewitt Strong     Washingtonville Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1825--d.1866  Marcus Sears      Montgomery and  Univ. N. Y.;
                                 Craigville      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1825--r.      Horace G. Bradner                 Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1825         Dewitt C. Edmonston Newburgh
 1826-1828    ____ Dickerson      Pt. Jervis
 1826--d.1886 G. M. Millspaugh    Walden         C. M. C., '20;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1826          James C. Fitch                    Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 1826          Jacob P. Stickle                  Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1826--r.1858  Jno. P. Tarbell    Newburgh       Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 1826          Asa R. Howell                     Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1827--d.1869  Jno. B. McMunn      Middletown    Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                 and Port Jervis Originator of
                                                 "McMunn's Elixir of
                                                 Opium."
 1827          Lewis Dunning      Goshen         Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 P.1827        Jas. B. McGill                    Lic. O. C. M. S.
 P.1827        David H. Brewster  New Windsor    Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1829--d.1838  Adam B. Gedney     Newburgh       Lic. M. S. H. C.
 1829--d.1852  Thos. S. Edmonston Chester        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 P.1829        Jno. P. Kennedy                   Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1829        Chas. Arnell                      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1829        J. W. Cooper       Blooming Grove Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1829--r.    Jno. N. Pruyn      Blooming Grove P. & S. N. Y., '28;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1830--d.1888  John W. Fenton     Newburgh and   Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                   Middlehope    and Mem. id.;
                                                 Health Officer, City
                                                 Newburgh, '70, '71.
 1830--r.      A. Clinton         Cornwall
 P.1830        Jas. Van Kuren     Little Britain Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1830        ____ Hart          Port Jervis    Died in service
                                                 U. S. Army.
 1830--d.1890  Bartow Wright      Hamptonburgh   P. & S. W. D. N. Y.,
                                                '30; Mem.O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Pres., '55, and Hon.
                                                 Mem.
 P. 1830       ____ Ball          Port Jervis
 1830--d.1892 Jno. Conkling       Port Jervis    P. & S.
 1831--d.1839 Jerome Wells        Blooming Grove Lic. O. C M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
                                                 Born 1810.
 1831--d.1893 Jno. L. Foster      Newburgh       Rutgers, '30;
                                   (1836)        Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 Ret. to farm.
 1831--r.      Phillip S. Timlow  Amity          Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 1831          Jas. C. Horton     Craigville     Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 P.1831--d.1855 William Morrison  Cornwall       P. & S. W. D. N. Y.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1832          Abel Lybolt        Port Jervis(?) Lic. O. C. M. S.
 P.1832        Leander W. Lynn
 P.1833        H. P. Benham       Newburgh
 P.1833        H. W. Hornbeck     Scotchtown     Mem. O. C. M. S.

[Illustration: Dr. P. M. Barclay.]

 Years of          Name              Location    Medical College
 Practice                                        or Society Granting
                                                 Diploma; Memberships
                                                 in County Medical
                                                 Societies--Public
                                                 Service, etc.
 1833--ret.1853 E. B. Carpenter   Monroe         P. & S. N. Y., '33;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Member Assembly,
                                                 1853.
 P.1833        Harvey Hallock     Minisink       Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1834--d.1864  Dewitt C. Hallock  Greenville     V. M. C.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1834--d.1899  Harvey Everett     Middletown     V. M. C, '34;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.,
                                                 and Hon. Mem. id.
 P.1834        R. Austin Webb     Ridgebury      M. M. C.
 P.1834        Edward H.S. Holden
 P.1834--d.1890 Avery Cook        Otisville      Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id..
                                                 '58 and '59.
 P.1834        Wm. Murphv
 P.1834--r.1841 Samuel B. Barlow  Florida        Yale, '22;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Prof. Materia Medica
                                                 N. H. M. Col., '63.
 P.1834        Samuel D. Holly    Warwick        Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '56.
 P.1834        George Brown       Newburgh       Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '57
 1833--d.1875  Bushrod Millspaugh Montgomery     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1835          William Everett    Goshen(?)      Lic. O. C. M. S.
 P.1835--d.1890 Daniel Wells      Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '35.
 1835          Horace W. Johnson                 Lic. O. C. M. S.
 1836--d.1866  Elias Peck         Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '35;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1836--d.1886 Samuel M. Crawford Crawford and    Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.,
                                 Montgomery      '36; Mem. O.C. M. S.
 P.1836--d.1859 Chas. G. Fowler  Town of         Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                 Montgomery      Born 1779.
 P.1836        Grant M. Roe      Monroe          Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1836--d.1855 Harvey Horton    Minisink        P. & S. N. Y., '29;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1836        Joseph R. Andrews Monroe          Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1836        A. M. Brewster    Blooming Grove  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1836        Daniel G. Durkee  Crawford        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1837--d.1891  Alpheus Goodman   Salisbury Mills C. M. C, '37;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '60,
                                                 '61.
 P.1837        John W. Rafferts  Westtown        Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1838--d.1841 Adam W. Mills-   Scotchtown and  M. I. F.;
                        paugh    Middletown      Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 First Dentist in
                                                 Middletown. Born
                                                 1812.
 P. 1838      Abraham L. Reynolds Warwick        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1838--d.1881  Nathaniel Deyo     Newburgh       J. M. C.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1839--d.1890  Henry C. Seely     Amity          Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.
                                                 '38 and O. C. M. S.
                                                 Mem. and Pres. id.,
                                                 '67.
 P.1839--d.1898 D. C. Jayne       Florida        Yale, '39;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '54.
 P.1839--d.1865 Chas. B. Howell  New Windsor and Lic. O. C. M. S.;
                                 Washingtonville Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1839           John S. Crawford
 P.1839--r.1857 Jonathan D. Bevier Sugar Loaf    J. M. C.;
                                  and Warwick    Lic. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 Served in Civil
                                                 War last two yrs.
 P.1840         Alfred H. Lee                    Lic. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1840--r.1845 Gilbert C. Monell Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '39;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '53,
                                                 '54.
 P.1840         William H. Johnson               Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1840--d.1878   David C. Winfield Middletown     A. M. C, '40;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '65,
                                                 '66; County Clerk,
                                                 '59-'65.
 1840--d.1842   Charles F. Gray
 P.1841         D. Bethune                       Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1841         D. B. McCartee    Newburgh       Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1841--r.1842 William A. Westcott Goshen       A. M. C.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 afterwards graduated
                                                 from Princeton
                                                 Theological Seminary
                                                 and preached at
                                                 Florida and S.
                                                 Centerville.
                                                 D. 1876.
 1841--d.1870   M. S. Hayne       Unionville     G. M. C.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1841--d.1890   Alex. Barclay     Newburgh       Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1841        Jesse T. Hotchkiss Cornwall       Univ. Pa.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1841--d.1889  Jos. D. Friend     Middletown     Lic. Bot. M. S., 42,
                                                 and afterward grad.
                                                 Met. M. C. (Ec).
                                                 Editor local papers;
                                                 also of Med. _Jour.
                                                 of Reform;_ Prof.
                                                 Obstetrics; Met.
                                                 M. C, 52-'4;
                                                 Assemblyman, '77.
 1842--d.1892  Jno. C. Boyd       Monroe         T. M. C. '41;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '62,
                                                 '72, '73, '78.
 1842--d.1886  J. D. Johnson      Middletown     St. T. M. C. & H.
                                                 Lon.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 N. Y. M. C, '55.
 P.1842--d.1849 Thos. W. Newman   Goshen         P. & S. N. Y., '41;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Sec'y, '42-'48.
                                                 Born 1821.
 1842--r        Benj. Dunning     Goshen(?)      P. & S. N. Y., '41;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1843--d.1867   Peter E. Conklin  Cornwall       P.& S. W. D. N. Y.,
                                                 '38; Mem. O. C M. S.
 1843--d.1891   Thos. Millspaugh  Walden and     A. M. C, '43;
                                  Montgomery     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1843--d.1894   Ira S. Bradner    Scotchtown and Univ. N. Y., '43;
                                  Middletown     Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.;
                                                 Surg. 56th Reg.,'65.
 P.1843--d.1874 S. W. Esray       Monroe         Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1843--r      Jas. A. Young     Scotchtown     Lic. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1843--r.1856 G. C. Blackman    Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '41;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Surg. U. S. V., '61
                                                 and '62. Medical
                                                 Author and Editor
                                                 of note. Later
                                                 Professor of
                                                 Surgery, Cincinnati
                                                 Medical Col.
 P.1843        Ashel Houghton     St. Andrew's   Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                  and Cornwall   Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1844--d.1880  S. C. Smith        Walden and     Lic. M. S. C. N. Y.,
                                  Montgomery     '39; Mem. O. C.
                                                 M. S.
 1844--d.1896  Lewis Y. Wiggins   Newburgh       Univ. N. Y., '44.
 P.1844        Philander Mix      Blooming Grove Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1844--d.1900 Lewis Armstrong   Minisink,      Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                  Middletown     Retired and engaged
                                                 in hardware business
                                                 many years. Born
                                                 1819.
 1845--d.1876   Wm. P. Townsend   Goshen         Harvard, '45;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Sec, Treas. and
                                                 Pres. id., '68; Mem.
                                                 T. S. M. S.
 1845--r.1890  Saml. P. Church    Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '45;
                                                 Ex-Visiting Phys.
                                                 St. Luke's Hospl.,
                                                 Newbg.
 P.1845        Jno. Patterson                    Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1845        Henry L. W. Burritt               Yale;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1845--r.1850 Abraham Crowell   East Coldenham A. M. C, '43;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 Died in N. Y. C, '59
 1845--d.1899  Sol. G. Carpenter  Chester        Univ. N. Y., '45;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id., '77.
 1846--d.1882   Wm. Dorrance      Middletown     Univ. N. Y., '45.
 1846--d.1888   Wm. A. M. Culbert Newburgh       Univ. N. Y., '46;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and 1st Sec'y of id.
 1847--d.1870   Thos. Cuddeback   Port Jervis    Yale.
 1847           George Eager, Jr. Montgomery     P. & S. N. Y., '47;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1848--d.1863   Chas. Drake       Newburgh       P. & S. (?);
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1849         Isaac Carey       Warwick        V. M. C.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1848--r.1854  Benj. W. Thompson Goshen          Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1849--d.1886  Chas. M. Lawrence Port Jervis    Univ. N. Y., '49;
                                                Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                and Pres. id.,'71-77.
 1850--r.1856  A. W. Dufrene      Port Jervis   Germany.
 1850--d.1882  Geo. E. Putney     Howells       C. M. C., '50;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Sec. and Pres. id.,
                                                '74; Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1850--d.1885  Wm. A. Loughran    Walden        G. M. C., '50.
 P.1850        Isaac Reeve        Goshen        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1850--d.1854 Nelson McBride    Mt. Hope      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1850--d.1903  W. F. C. Beattie   Cornwall      G. M. C., '50;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1850--r.      Geo. H. Fossard    Port Jervis   A. M. C, '59;
                                                Surgeon 56th Reg.
                                                1864-5;
                                                Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                O. C. M. S.,'75
 1850--d.1889  Jas. H. Smiley     Scotchtown    A. M. C., '50;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                and Pres. id., '76;
                                                Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1851--d.1880  Robt. Slone        Middletown    Univ. N. Y., '51;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1851--1884    David F. Robertson Unionville    Univ. N. Y.
 1851--d.1894  Chas. P. Smith     Chester       C. M. C., '51;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                and Pres. id., '75.
 1851--r.1864  Abraham Deyo      Gidney's Mills Univ. N. Y., '51.
                                 and Newburgh
 1851--r.1853  G. P. Reeves       Goshen        Univ. N. Y.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1851--r.    Wm. S. Halsey      Chester(?)    Mem. O. C. M. S.
 p.1851--r     M. Stevenson       Newburgh      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1851--d.1896 Wilmot C. Terry   Otisville and C. M. C., '51;
                                  Ridgebury     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1851--d.1859 A. Gerald Hull    Newburgh      Rutgers, '32;
                                                Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                and Pres. id., '51.
                                                Editor several
                                                homeopathic journals
                                                and books.
 1852--d.1888  Thos. Walsh        Port Jervis   Univ. N. Y., '48;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1852--d.1902  Joshua W. Ostrum   Goshen        Lic. M. S. S. N. Y.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                Sec'y;
                                                Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                and Pres. id.,'52,
                                                '76, '78.
 p.1852--d.1866 James Low         Newburgh and  P. & S. N. Y.;
                                  Coldenham     Lieut.-Col. 19th
                                                Reg.
 1852--d.1866  Thomas Heaton      Cornwall      P. & S. N. Y., '52.
 1852          A. H. Thompson     Walden        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1853--r.1860  Geo. S. Little     Walden        Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1854--d.1896  Wm. H. Woodruff    Pine Bush     A. M. C, '54;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 p.1854--r.    L. F. Pelton       Florida and   Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                  Warwick
 1855--d.1901  Peter M. Barclay   Newburgh      Univ. N. Y., '41.
 1855--r.1856  J. C. Garland      Port Jervis   T. M. C., Dublin.
 1855-1863     Benj. Carpenter    Port Jervis   Univ. Mich.
 1855--d.1894  Solomon Van Etten  Port Jervis   A. M. C, '55;
                                                Surgeon 56th Reg.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                Pres., '69;
                                                Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                Pres., '72.
 1855--d.1888  Theodore H. Cooper Warwick       P. & S. N. Y., '55;
                                                Ass. Surgeon 156th
                                                Reg.; Supervisor and
                                                Assemblyman;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1855        Nelson Newton      Mt. Hope      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1855        ____ Griffith      Pine Bush
 1856--d.1903  R. V. K. Montfort  Newburgh     A. M. C., '56;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                               and Pres. id.,'71,'82;
                                               Ass. Surg. and Surgeon
                                               124th Reg., '65;
                                               Supt. Public Schools
                                               Newburgh 25 yrs.;
                                               Health Officer City
                                               Newbg., '66, '69;
                                               ex-Vis. Phys.;
                                               St. Luke's Hosp.
 1856--d.1906  Webb D. Cooper     Unionville   Univ. N. Y.
 1856--d.1896  William Jones      Newburgh     E. M. C. N. Y., '69.
 1856--r.1859  Harvey Addison     Middletown   A. M. C., '56.
               Horton
 1856--d.1870  Elisha Hawkins     Newburgh
 1857--P.1907  J. H. Thompson     Goshen       P. & S. N. Y., '57;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '86;
                                               Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '79;
                                               Surg. 124th Reg.,
                                               '62-'65.
 1857--p.1907  Wm. B. Bradner     Warwick      P. & S. N. Y., '57;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '81;
                                               Surg. 166th Reg.
 P.1857       Jonathan L. Whittaker Unionville P. C. M.;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1858--d.1867  Jno. N. Taylor     Middletown   A. M. C.;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id.. '63-'64.
 1858--r.1864 Carroll Dunham      Newburgh     P. & S. N. Y., '50;
                                               later Dean
                                               N. Y. H. M. C. P.
 1858--d.1894  Jos. P. Thompson   Newburgh     P. U. M., '58.
 1858--r.1861  James McClaury     Newburgh
 1858--d.1896  Smith Ely          Newburgh     V. M. C., '50;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '89;
                                               First Surg. of St.
                                               Luke's Hospital.
 1859--r.1871  G. H. Sears      Blooming Grove Univ. Pa.;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1859--r.    Theo. Martine      Warwick      N. Y. M. C.
 1859--P.1907  Henry Hardenburgh  Port Jervis  P. & S. N. Y., '50;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '98;
                                               Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '83.
 1860--ret.1907 H. H. Robinson     Goshen      Univ. N. Y., '60:
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id.,'89 and '93;
                                               Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1860--r.1861   A. S. Lines        Edenville
 1860--d.1885   John S. Heard      Newburgh    P. & S. N. Y., '37;
                                               Pres. Board of Health
                                               Newburgh, 1867 to '83.
 P.1862--r.     Maria S. Plumb     Otisville   M. M. C.
 1862--r.1870   Wm. B. Pierson     Goshen
 1863-1867      N. F. Marsh        Port Jervis
 1864-1870      David A. Gorton    Newburgh    Hy. T. C. N. Y., '59;
                                               author and contributor
                                               to homeopathic lit.
 1863--r.1865   Francis H. Roof    Newburgh    P. & S. N. Y., '62;
                                               Ass. Surg. 39th Reg.
 1863--p.1907   Jas. C. Coleman    Goshen      A. M. C., '63;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1864--d.1897   Simeon D. Dubois Blooming Grove B. H. M. C., '64;
                                               Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1864--d.1901   Joseph Moffat      Washington- Univ. Mich., '52;
                                   ville       Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                               Pres. id., '70.
 1864--d.1871   Edward E. Lee      Newburgh    N. Y. M. C., '59.
 1864--p.1907   C. H. Gorse    Salisbury Mills Univ. N. Y., '64.
 1864--r.1868   S. G. Dimmick      Newburgh
 1864--r.1870   R. W. Heurtley     Newburgh    (Homeo.)
 1865--r.1866   Robt. Farries      Greenville   L. I. C. H.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1865--r.1870   Geo. W. Kerr       Newburgh     Univ. Glasgow, '63.
 1865--d.1875   Isaac S. Hunt      Port Jervis  Yale Univ., '65;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1865--r.1883   J. D. F. Nichols   Newburgh     B. M. C, '65.
 1865--r.1867   N. Roe Bradner, Jr. Warwick     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1865--r.1894 Hiram A. Pooler    Goshen       B. H. M. C, '65;
                                                Mem. O. C.  M. S.
 1865--d.1905   Adam P. Farries    Florida      Univ. Mich., '65;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                Mem. id., '79.
 1865--p.1907   Clarence Ormsbee East Coldenham Univ. N. Y., '65;
                                 and Newburgh   Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1866--d.1883   Darwin Everitt     Middletown   P. & S. N. Y., '64.
 1866--p.1907   Theo. Writer       Otisville    B. H. M. C, '66;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                Pres. id., '84;
                                                Mem. T. S. M. S., and
                                                Pres., '82.
 1866--p.1907   Jas. G. Birch      Newburgh     Harvard, '66.
 1866--p.1907   James Gordon       Newburgh     J. M. C, '66;
                                                Health Officer City
                                                Newburgh, '72-'7 and
                                                '82-'93; ex-Visiting
                                                Phys. St. Luke's
                                                Hospl.
 1866--p.1907   Fredk. W. Seward   Goshen       Univ. Vt., '66;
                                                Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                and Pres., '89 and
                                                '90; Mem. H. M. S. D.
                                                O. & M. U.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Prop. Interpines
                                                Sanitarium; ex-Health
                                                Officer.
 1867--ret.1907 Grenville A. Emory Middletown   A. M. C., '67;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1867--d.1904   Geo. B. L. Mitchell Newburgh     N. Y. H. M. C., '67.

[Illustration: Milton C. Conner, M.D.]

 Years of          Name              Location    Medical College
 Practice                                        or Society Granting
                                                 Diploma; Memberships
                                                 in County Medical
                                                 Societies--Public
                                                 Service, etc.
 1867--p.1907  J. D. Malone        Newburgh      D. M. C., '67.
 1867--r.1875  David Van Dyke      Newburgh      A. M. C., '52;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1867--r.1871  James A. Mills      Newburgh
 1868--r.1895  Moses C. Stone      Newburgh      Univ. N. Y., '68;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 ex-Phys. St. Luke's
                                                 Hosp.; Health
                                                 Officer City
                                                 Newburgh '78-'79.
 1868--d.1897  Chas. N. Wooley     Newburgh      L. I. C. H.,'68;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1868--d.1899  Jno. R. Monroe     Highland Falls L. I. C. H., '68.
 1868--r.1870  ____ Ward          Goshen
 1869--p.1907  John J. Mitchell   Newburgh       N. Y. M. C, '57;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '73,
                                                 '74, '75.
 1869-1875     M. E. Jones         Port Jervis
 1869--d.1904  D. D. Wickham       Port Jervis   Syracuse Univ., '76.
 P.1869--r.1886 Wm. H. Vail        Cornwall      P. & S. N. Y., '69.
 1870--d.1893  A. J. Jessup        Westtown and  P. & S. N. Y., '69;
                                   Goshen        Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1870--d.1897  Jerome A. Maubey    Newburgh      Lic. Or. H. M. S.,
                                                 '60;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.;
                                                 literary and
                                                 poetical contributor
 1870--d.1879  Oris A. Carroll     Port Jervis   C. M. C., '55;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id., '75
                                                 Surg. 143d Reg.,'63.
 1871--d.1880  Fred H. Bradner     Middletown    N. Y. H. M. C., '71;
                                                 Mem O. C. H. M. S.
 P.1871--r.1877 S. W. Clauson     Blooming Grove Univ. N. Y., '67;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1871--r.1872 C. H. Yerrington    Craigville    Univ. N. Y.,'71;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1871--r.1885 Jno. H. Le Grange  Newburgh
 P.1871--r.1881 Arthur Woodruff    Goshen        C. H. M. C., '73;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. C.
                                                 and Pres. id., '79,
                                                 '80, '81.
 P.1872--d.1907 Henry K. Bradner Monroe, Warwick Univ. Pa., '72;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
 P.1872--r.1877 Isaac Curtis       Sugar Loaf    M. S. M.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 P.1872--r.    A. W. Jackson       Newburgh      Lic. M. S. U. C.
 1872--r.1906  K. R. Post          Newburgh      P. & S. N. Y., '67;
                                                 Druggist.
 1873--r.1874  C. S. Van Etten     Sparrowbush   Univ. Pa.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1873--d.1897  K. S. Elmer         Monroe and    Univ. Mich., '73;
                                   Cornwall      Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1873--d.1896  Gustav Gartzmann    Newburgh      B. M. C., '71;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1873--r.1878  B. G. McCabe        Middletown    Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id.
 P.1875--r.    H. P. Chase        Highland Falls P. & S. N. Y., '73.
 1874--r.1874  George F. Foote     Middletown    Organizer and 1st
                                                 Supt. Middletown
                                                 State Hospital. '74.
 1874--r.1883  Wm. M. Butler       Middletown    P. & S. N. Y., '73:
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '82;
                                                 1st Asst. Supt.
                                                 State Hospital.
 1874--d.1881  F. D. Owens         Westtown and  Lic. O. C. M. S. and
                                   Unionville    Mem. id.
 1874--r.1883  J. T. Potter        Port Jervis   Syracuse Univ.
 1874--r.1888  Clarence Conant     Middletown    N. Y. H. M. C., '73;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1874--r.1888  Allen P. McDonald   Port Jervis   H. M. C. Ch.
 1874--d.1900  T. Burke Pillsbury  Middletown    Harvard, '72;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres., '94; also
                                                 Sec. id., '79-'90;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres., '86; Visiting
                                                 Surg. Thrall
                                                 Hospital.
 1874--d.1892  J. H. Hunt          Port Jervis   B. M. C., '72;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
                                                 Erected Hunt
                                                 Memorial Hospital.
 1874--p.1907  D. T. Condict      Searsville and A. M. C., '74;
                                  Goshen         Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '87;
                                                 Health Officer.
 1874--p.1907  E. Ross Elliott     Montgomery    Univ. N. Y., '74;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id. '03-'06;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1874--r.      E. H. Gillette      Turners       E. M. C. N. Y., '74.
 1874--d.1884  Jno. D. Stokem      Turners       E. M. C. N. Y., '74.
 1874--r.      Emory G. Drake      Cornwall      L. I. C. H.
 1874--p.1907  W. W. Wendover      Warwick       P. & S. N. Y., '74;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1874--r.1877  Henry R. Stiles     Middletown    2d Supt. State
                                                 Hospl.
 1875--r.      C. H. Wilson        New Milford   Univ. N. Y., '75;
                                                 Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem. id.
 1875--p.1907  W. T. Seeley        Amity and     Yale, '75;
                                   Warwick       Lic. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Mem.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1876-1880     H. C. Mueller       Port Jervis   P. & S. N. Y., '73.;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1876--d.1890  Wm. B. Eager        Middletown    P. & S. N. Y., '48;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres., '80;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres.
 1876--r.1892  Arthur Pell         Goshen        B. M. C., '75;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id., '90.
 1876--r.1900  Alex. H. Goodman Salisbury Mills  Univ. N. Y., '76;
                                   and Cornwall  Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1876--p.1907  R. J. Kingston      Newburgh      P. & S. N. Y., '77,
                                                 and N. Y. Col.
                                                 Pharmacy.
 1876          Alex. B. Leggett    Montgomery    Lic. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Mem. id.
 1877--d.1888  Henry C. Smith      Montgomery    N. Y. H. M. C., '74;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1877--r.1895  Leon Devanoye       Port Jervis   France.
 1877--d.1900  W. H. Edsall      Otisville and   A. M. C., '77;
                                 Highland Falls  Mem. O. C. M. C.
 1877--r.1878  R. C. Irving       Campbell Hall  B. M. C., '77;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1877--r.1883  R. S. Stansborough  Newburgh      Univ. N. Y., '74.
 1877--d.1902  S. H. Talcott       Middletown    N. Y. H. M. C., '72;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id.,
                                                 '79-'80; 3rd Supt.
                                                 State Hospl.,
                                                 '77-'02; Lecturer
                                                 N. Y. H. M. C.
 1877--p.1907  Theo. D. Mills    Port Jervis and P. & S. N. Y., '76;
                                 Middletown      Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Sec. and Pres., '83;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres., '78; Visiting
                                                 Surg. Thrall
                                                 Hospital.
 1877--p.1907  Elizabeth G. Meyer  Turners       W. M. C. N. Y. I.,
                                                '77; Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1877--P.1907  John Deyo           Newburgh      B. H. M. C., '77;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 Treas. id.; Ass.
                                                 Phys., St. Luke's
                                                 Hospl.
 1877--r.1880  N. Emmons Payne     Middletown    A. M. C., '75;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.;
                                                 2nd Asst. Supt.
                                                 State Hospital.
 1878--r.1888  Aloysius Kesseler   Newburgh      Univ. N. Y., '78.
 1878--p.1907  W. L. Cuddeback     Port Jervis   B. H. M. C., '76;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id., 91;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id., '78;
                                                 Visiting Surg. Port
                                                 Jervis Hospital.
 1878--d.1898  Chas. Collin        Middletown    Lic. N. Ecl. M. S.,
                                                 '78.
 1878--p.1907  Julia Bradner       Middletown    N. Y. C. & H. for W.
                                                (Hom.), '72; Mem.
                                                 H. M. S. D. O. & U.;
                                                 Visiting Phys. Thrall
                                                 Hospital.
 1878--r.1907  K. T. Jones        Newburgh and   H. R. Ecl. Soc.
                                  Walden
 1878--r.1896  A. L. Leonard      Central Valley Univ. Pa.
 1878--r.1879  C. H. Stanley      Warwick        Boston Univ. (Hom.).
 P.1879--r.    W. H. Hanford      Sparrowbush
 P.1879--r.    A. A. Seymour      Westtown
 1879--r.1900  C. S. Kinney       Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '79;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.;
                                                 1st Asst. Supt.
                                                 State Hospl.
 P.1879--r.    J. S. Vreeland     Westtown
 P.1879--r.    H. B. Shaw         Cornwall-on-   P. & S. N. Y., '77.
                                  Hudson
 1880--r.1889  Floyd P. Sheldon   Newburgh       Univ. Mich. (H.);
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Sec. id.
 1880          Jno. F. Higgins    Port Jervis    B. H. M. C., '80;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1880--d.1897  H. D. Struble      Unionville and Univ. Pa.. '75;
                                  Middletown     Mem. T. S. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Health Officer,
                                                 '91-'92.
 1880--r.1889  E. J. Birmingham   Cornwall-on-   P. & S. N. Y., '71.
                                  Hudson
 1881--r.1882  Simon C. Bradley   Middletown     P. & S. N. Y., '80.
 1881--d.1905  David B. Smilev   Scotchtown and  P. & S. N. Y., '81;
                                  Middletown     Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1881--r.      Wm. B. DeWitt       Pine Bush     Univ. N. Y.
 1881--r.      Edw. R. Bowden      Turners       L. I. C. H.
 1881--r.1884  Millard Brockway   Cornwall and   E. M. C.
                                   Newburgh
 1881--p.1907  Wm. E. Douglass     Middletown    B. H. M. C., '76;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M.S. and
                                                 Pres., '88;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 Pres., '03 and '04;
                                                 Visiting Phys.
                                                 Thrall Hospl.
 1881--p.1907  Wm. H. Faulkner     Walden        N. Y. H. M. C, '81;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. C.
 1881--r.      E. J. Westfall      Middletown    P. & S. N. Y., '71.
 1882--r.1888  R. E. Asher         Sparrowbush   N. Y. H. M. C., '82.
 1882--r.1892  Sarah Clock         Newburgh      N. Y. M. C. & H.
                                                 for W., 82;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1882--d.1893  Arthur P. Olney     Middletown    Univ. Buffalo, '82.
 1882--r.1882  Arthur W. Condict   Howells       Univ. Mich., '82;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
 1882--d.1901  Geo. H. Dav         Monroe        U. S. M. C. (Ecl.)
 1882--p.1907  E. B. Lambert       Port Jervis   N. Y. H. M. C., '82;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1882--r.1904  James O. Davis      Howells       A. M. C., '75;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S.
                                                 and Pres., '87;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1883--d.1905  D. G. Lippincott    Campbell Hall J. M. C., '83;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1883--p.1907  Milton C. Conner    Middletown    P. & S. N. Y., '83;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M A. and
                                                 Pres., '01-'03;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 ex-Health Officer.
 1883--r.      Felix Carren        Middletown    E. M. C. N. Y.
 1883--p.1907  George S. Bond    Washingtonville P. & S. N. Y., '83;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1883--r.      Maria B. Patterson  Turners       W. M. C. N. Y. I.
 1883--r.1890  Alonzo P. Williamson Middletown   H. M. C. Pa., '76;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '83,
                                                 '85, '87; 1st Asst.
                                                 Supt. State Hospl.,
                                                 '83-90.
 1884--d.1904  James F. Ferguson  Central Valley Univ. N. Y., 1860.
                                                 Founder and Prop.
                                                 Falkirk Sanitarium.
 1884--r.1894  W. H. Illman        Port Jervis   P. & S., '84.
 1884--p.1907  W. L Purdy           Westtown and Univ. N. Y., '82;
                                    Middletown   Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Treas. and Pres.
                                                 id., '00;
                                                 Mem. T. S. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id., '88;
                                                 Visiting Surg.
                                                 Thrall Hospl.;
                                                 Health Officer, '94,
                                                 '95, 96.
 1884--r.     William I. Wallace Washingtonville Univ. Mich
 1884--r.1898 Lemuel G. Roberts  Newburgh        Univ. N. Y., '82.
 1887--p.1907 E. Fancher         Middletown      Univ. Boston (H.);
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.,
                                                 H. M. S. D. O. & U.,
                                                 O. C. M. A. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Visiting Phys.
                                                 Thrall Hospl.
 1884--r.     Gordon B. Barnes    Montgomery     Univ. N. Y., '84.
 1884--r.     William Scheide     Middletown     B. H. M. C. '66.
 1885--d.1902 Charles W. Butler   Cornwall       Univ. N. Y., '85;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1885--d.1906 Louis E. Hanmore    Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '84;
                                                 also Ph.G. N. Y. C.
                                                 Ph.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 ex-Visiting Phys.
                                                 St. Luke's Hospl.
 1885--r.     Frank Whitaker      Otisville      Univ. N. Y., '83.
 1885--r.     Edward W. Harriman  Middletown     Univ. N. Y., '84.
 1885--p.1907 H. B. Swartwout      Port Jervis    B. H. M. C., '85;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Vis. Surg. P. J.
                                                 Hospital; Mayor
                                                 Port Jervis.
 1885--r.1887 Geo. F. Rice        Chester        Univ. N. Y.
 1886--r.1889 Charles N. Payne    Port Jervis    N. Y. H. M. C., '85;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1886--r.1888 Louis Bertine       Middletown     B. H. M. C., '86.
 1886--d.1901 A. L. Brown     Cornwall-on-Hudson A. M. C., '86;
                                                 also Ph.G.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1886--p.1907 F. W. Dennis        Unionville     Univ. Mich. '81;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1886--r.     E. O. Eckart        Cornwall       Boston Univ. (H.).
 1886--p.1907 F. W. Best          Port Jervis    N. Y. H. M. C. '85;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1886--p.1907 Clinton C. Cooley   Montgomery     A. M. C., '84
                                 and Pine Bush   Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1886--p.1907 Jacob B. Peters     Walden         Univ. N. Y., '85;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id.. '99;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.;
                                                 ex-Health Officer.
 1887--r.1891  W. Coe McKeeby     Otisville      Univ. Md., '87.
 1887--r.1898  L. L. Gillette     Turners        Univ. W., '87;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1887--r.     Homer A. Hitchcock  Goshen and     Univ. N. Y., '80.
                                 Highland Falls
 1887--r.1900 W. Frank Ross       Cornwall       P. & S. Balt., and
                                                 N. Y. H. M. C., '87.
 1887--p.1907 John T. Howell      Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y.. '85;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id.. '92;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id.. '97;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Visiting Surg.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.
 1887--r.     J. A. Bush          Middletown     P. & S. Balt., '85.
 1887--p.1907 A. C. Santee        Scotchtown     J. M. C., '86;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1887--r.     John P. Henry       Montgomery     Univ. N. Y.
 1887--p.1907 Edward C. Rushmore  Tuxedo Park    P. & S. N. Y., '86;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1887--r.1906 F. D. Meyers        Slate Hill     Univ. Mich., '93;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1887--r.1889 Jos. O. Reed        Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '87;
                                                 Asst. Phys.  State
                                                 Hosp.
 1887--P.1907 W. Stanton Gleason  Newburgh       Univ. N. Y., '86;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres.. '01;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
                                                 and Pres.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Visiting Phys.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.
 1887--d.1907 Louis A. Harris     Newburgh       A. M. C., '84.
 1887--r.1898 Daniel H. Arthur    Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '87;
                                                 2d Ass. Supt. State
                                                 Hosp., '97;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1888--r.1896 Howard E. Winans    Newburgh       N. Y. H. M. C., '88.
 1888--d.1899 W. J. Nelson        Middletown     Univ. Md.. '83;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Health Officer, '97.
 1888--d.1907 Jas. E. O'Malley    Newburgh       Univ. N. Y., '88;
                                                 ex-Visiting Phys.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.
 1888--p.1907 Edgar Potts         Port Jervis    Univ. N. Y., '88;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1888--p.1907 J. B. Hulett        Middletown     P. & S. N. Y., '87;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres., '96;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Visiting Surg.
                                                 Thrall Hospl.
 1888--p.1907 Frank M. Cummins    Warwick        N. Y. H. M. C., '88;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.
 1888--p.1907 Alpheus E. Adams    Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '79;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '95;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id., '96;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Consl. Ophth.& Otol.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.
 1888-r.1906  Stephen D. Harrison Cornwall-on-   P. & S. N. Y., '79;
                                    Hudson       Mem. N. B. M. S.
                                                 and Pres. id.. '03;
                                                 Consl.  Phys.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.
 1889--r.1891 Jos. W. McCready    Goshen         B. M. C, '88;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1889--d.1899 J. L. Kortright     Middletown     P. & S. N. Y., '80;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1889--p.1907 Frank A. Jacobson   Newburgh       N. Y. H. M. C., '88;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
                                                 and Sec. '90; Mem.
                                                 H. M. S. D. O. & U.
                                                 and Sec. and Treas.
                                                 id.

[Illustration: Henry B. Swartwout, M.D.]

 Years of          Name              Location    Medical College
 Practice                                        or Society Granting
                                                 Diploma; Memberships
                                                 in County Medical
                                                 Societies--Public
                                                 Service, etc.

 1889--d.1900  A. Winfield Bergen Cornwall       N. Y. H. M. C., '87;
                                                 Mem. O. C. H. M. S.
 1889--r.      Jacob Walter       Newburgh       H. M. C. Pa., '87.
 1889--p.1907  J. H. Hanmer       Middletown     E. M. C. N. Y., '83;
                                                 Health Officer,
                                                 1898-'08.
 1889--p.1907  David H. Sprague  Middletown and  Univ. N. Y., '86;
                                 Central Valley  Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1889--r.1899  Wm. G. Birdsall    Cornwall       N. Y. H., '88;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D.
                                                 O. & U.
 1890--r.1891  F. S. Cole         Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '90;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1890--r.1894  E. W. Hitchcock    Goshen         N. Y. H. M. C, '90;
                                                 ex-Health Officer.
 1890--d.1895  E. H. Borst        Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '90;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.;
                                                 Visiting Surg.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.
 1890--r.1902  G. H. Brown        Highland Falls P. & S. N. Y., '89;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1890--r.1906  H. Martyn Brace    Port Jervis    P. & S. N. Y., '81.
 1890--r.1890  Nathan B. Van Etten Port Jervis   B. H. M. C., '90.
 1890--r.      T. C. Vandeveer    Monroe         L. I. C. H., '90.
 1890--r.1903  William Evans      Westtown       P. & S. N. Y., '90;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.
 1890--d.1907  Louis R. Pierce    Newburgh       L. I. C. H., '89;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. .A.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.;
                                                 Sec. and Pres. id.,
                                                 '00: Visiting Obst.
                                                 St. Luke's Hospl.;
                                                 died Dec, 1907.
 1890--r.      F. A. Carpenter    Slate Hill     Ecl. Univ. Cinn.,'89
 1890--r      Andrew T. Carpenter Slate Hill     E. M. C. N. Y., '86.
 1890--p.1907  Robert Kearns      Montgomery     P. & S. N. Y., '88.
 1890--r.1897  George Allen       Middletown     H. M. C. Pa., 77;
                                                 1st Asst. Supt.
                                                 State Hosp.
 1891--r.1893  Edward F. Smith    Goshen         B. H. M. C.
 1891--p.1907  S. L. Sweeney      Newburgh       Univ. N. Y., '90.
 1891--p.1907  Thos. L. Gilson    Middletown     L. I. C. H., '91;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Health Officer, '93.
 1891--p.1907  I. D. Brownell     Walden         L. I. C. H., '91;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.:
                                                 ex-Health Officer.
 1891--p.1907  Wm. E. Reed       Washingtonville N. Y. H. M. C., '84;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.; Pres., '07.
 1891--p.1907  E. A. Nugent       Unionville     B. H. M. C., '91;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.
 1892--r.1902  Chas. W. Banks     Port Jervis    B. M. M. C., '92;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. C.;
                                                 Health Officer,
                                                 1893-'96 and
 1892--r.1907  Chas. E. Skinner   Port Jervis    B. H. M. C, 92;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Health Officer,
                                                 1893-'95 and '96-'97.
 1892--r.1894  Mary Beattie       Newburgh
 1892--p.1907  Chas. P. Smith     Chester        L. I. C. H., 92;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1892--p.1907  M. C. Ashley       Middletown     H. M. C. Pa., '92;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.; former Asst.
                                                 and since '02 Supt.
                                                 State Hospital.
 1893--r.1895  Jas. E. Spiegel    Middletown     Univ. Buffalo.
 1893--r.1895  Josiah M. Ward     Goshen         B. H. M. C.;
                                                 ex-Health Officer.
 1895--r.1897  Wm. E. Sebring     Searsville     A. M. C., '93;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1893--p.1907  Thos. K. Burke     Newburgh       Niagara Univ., '91.
 1893--p.1907  Chas. E. Townsend  Newburgh       B. H. M. C., '92;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres., '03;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 Sec'y, '95; Visiting
                                                 Surg. St. Luke's
                                                 Hospital.
 1893--P.1907  Robt. A. Taylor    Port Jervis    B. H. M. C., '93;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.
 1893--p.1907  W. S. Russell      Highland Mills Univ. N. Y., '93;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A.
 1893--p.1907  M. H. Dubois      Washingtonville B. H. M. C., '93;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1893--p.1907  J. S. Cummins      Warwick        H. M. C. Chic., '91;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.
 1893--p.1907  E. O. Mitchell     Newburgh       Harvard Univ., '92.
 1893--p.1907  Clara Barrus       Middletown     Univ. Bost.(H.),'88;
                                                 Woman Phys. State
                                                 Hosp.; Mem. H. M.
                                                 S. D. O. & U.
 1893--p.1907  Andrew V. Jova     Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., 84;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                Pres. id., '99;
                                                Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                Pres. id., '00;
                                                Visiting Phys.
                                                St. Luke's Hospl.
 1894--r.1896  Mortimer W. Shaw   Middletown    L. I. C. H., '92;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1894--r.1899  H. B. Masten       Chester       P. & S. N. Y., '94.
 1894--r.      Walter S. Elliott  Port Jervis   P. & S. Balt., '78.
 1894--p.1907  D. B. Hardenburgh  Middletown    P. & S. N. Y., '91;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                Pres. id., '02;
                                                Visiting Phys.
                                                Thrall Hosp.
 1894--P.1907  Chas. H. Hall      Monroe        P. & S. Balt., '91;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1894--P.1907  C. Willis Many     Florida       L. I. C. H., '94;
                                                Mem: O. C. M. S.
 1894--P.1907  F. M. Phillips     Newburgh      Univ. N. Y., '94.
 1894--p.1907  Chas. N. Knapp     Port Jervis   B. H. M. C., '94;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Health Officer,
                                                1902 to '03.
 1894--p.1907  Geo. F. Pitts      Warwick       Univ. N. Y., '77;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1894--P.1907  Edward F. Brooks   Newburgh      Univ. N. Y., '94;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1894--P.1907  John E. Leemon     Middletown    Univ. N. Y., '94.
 1894--p.1907 Arthur P. Powelson Middletown and N. Y. H. M. C, '94;
                                   Walden       Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                & U.; Asst. Phys.
                                                State Hosp., '96-'01.
 1894--P.1907  R. L. Geoch        Goshen        N. Y. H. M. C., 94;
                                                Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                & U.
 1894--p.1907  Henry Wilson       Newburgh      R. C. P. & S. Eng.'79
 1895--d.1899  James Wood         Newburgh      B. H. M. C., '91;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                Mem. N. B. M. S.
                                                Died in service
                                                U. S. A., Cuba, '99.
 1895--r.1897  A. F. Hardlicka    Middletown    E. M. C. N. Y.;
                                                Asst. Phys. State
                                                Hosp.
 1895--p.1907  Hilton J. Shelley  Middletown    E. I. Lines;
                                                Univ. N. Y., '89;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1895--p.1907  C. I. Redfield     Middletown    Univ. Pa., '94;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                and Pres. id., '04;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                ex-Sec. N. Y. State
                                                Med. Assn.; Health
                                                Officer, 1898.
 1895--P.1907  William J. Carr    Newburgh      B. H. M. C.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                and Treas. id.;
                                                Mem. O. C. M. A.;
                                                Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                Pres. id., '06:
                                                Health Officer City
                                                Newburgh, '97-'04;
                                                Ass. Visiting Surg.
                                                St. Luke's Hosp.
 1895--p.1907  E. J. Leahy        Port Jervis   Queen's Col. Ontario,
                                                '93.
 1895--p.1907  Lysander M. Jones  Port Jervis   Medico-Chir. Phila.,
                                                '93; Health Officer,
                                                '97 to '01.
 1895--p.1907  Raphael F. Medrick Port Jervis    Univ. Pa.. '95;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Health Officer,
                                                 1903 to 1907.
 1895--P.1907  H. E. Wise         Turners and    Univ. N. Y., '95;
                                  Tuxedo Park.   Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.
 1895--p.1907  Isabelle M. Wilson Middletown     N. Y. M. C. for W.,
                                                 94; Mem. H. M. C. D.
                                                 O. & U.
 1895--p.1907  W. H. Snyder       Newburgh       N. Y. H. M. C., '93;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.; also
                                                 N. B. M. S.; Asst.
                                                 Visiting Phys.
                                                 St. Luke's Hosp.;
                                                 Health Officer
                                                 City Newburgh.
 1895--p.1907  E. M. Shultz       Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C.
                                                 N. Y., '93;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.
 1895--p.1907  Fred A. Hadley     Walden         P. & S. Balt., '95;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1895--p.1907  W. H. F. Burke     Middletown     B. H. M. C., '82;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1895--p.1907  Warren Worcester   Middletown     P. & S. Balt.;
                                                 also D.D.S., '88;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 Practices Dentistry.
 1896--r.1897  Julius A. Winter   Port Jervis    L. I. C. H.
 1896--p.1907  William Hollinger  Newburgh       Univ. N. Y., '92;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 N. B. M. S.
 1896--r.      Norman W. Currie   Searsville     Univ. N. Y.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1896--r.1899  E. M. Devol        Goshen         Univ. N. Y., '96.
 1896--p.1907  I. H. Lent         Middletown     A. M. C, '74;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Cons. Ophth. Thrall
                                                 Hosp.
 1896--p.1907  E. D. Woodhull     Monroe         D. M. C, '95;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 Pres., '04.
 1896--r.1907  D. E. Francisco    Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '96;
                                                 Asst. Phys. State
                                                 Hosp.
 1896--r.      Mary G. Cummins    Goshen         H. M. C. N. Y., '96.
 1896--r.1907  Frank A. Augur     Newburgh and   P. & S. Balt., '86.
                                  Searsville
 1897--r.1898  Geo. B. Brown     East Coldenham  B. H. M. C, '97;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1897--p.1907  F. W. Gerecke      Newburgh       B. H. M. C., '97;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1897--p.1907  L. J. Merritt      Pine Bush and  Univ. Md., '97;
                                  Maybrook       Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1897--p.1907  Ira C. Whitehead   Walden         B. M. C. Mass., '55;
                                                 Health Officer since
                                                 '03.
 1897--p.1907  Mary Ella Dunning  Newburgh       W. M. C. Phil., '96;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.
 1897--p.1907  M. A. Stivers      Middletown     P. & S. N. Y., '94;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.;
                                                 Visiting Phys.
                                                 Thrall Hosp.
 1897--p.1907  H. J. Powelson     Middletown     H. M. C. Phila.,'94.
 1897--r.      Clarence Klar      Florida        H. M. C. Phila.,'96.
 1897--r.1905  Edward A. Everitt  Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '97;
                                                 2d Asst. Supt. State
                                                 Hosp.
 1897--r.1899  Clarence A. Potter Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '97;
                                                 Junior Phys. State
                                                 Hosp.
 1897--r.1900  Harry P. Dawe      Chester        Univ. N. Y., '03.
 1898--r.1900  H. S. Cooley       Newburgh       B. H. M. C., '98.
 1898--r.1904  Geo. A. H. Smith  East Coldenham  L. I. C. H., 98;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1898--p.1907  H. A. Waldron      Newburgh       A. M. C., '77;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.;
                                                 Pres., '04.
 1898--p.1907  H. S. Trigg        Cornwall       Univ. Vt., '81.
 1898--p.1907  W. L. Dunning      Newburgh       B. H. M. C., '92;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 N. B. M. S.
 1898--p.1907  Robt. C. Woodman   Middletown     H. M. C. Phila.,'95;
                                                 1st Asst. Supt.
                                                 State Hospl.;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.
 1898--p.1907   A. H. Bayard      Cornwall       A. M. C., '89;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
                                                 and N. B. M. S.

[Illustration: J. B. Hulett, M.D.]

 Years of          Name              Location    Medical College
 Practice                                        or Society Granting
                                                 Diploma; Memberships
                                                 in County Medical
                                                 Societies--Public
                                                 Service, etc.
 1898--r.      Edward H. Sharp    Central Valley Univ. Buffalo, '98.
 1899--r.1902  M. V. Wilkie       Deerpark       P. & S. N. Y., '94.
 1899--p.1907  Albert W. Preston  Middletown     P. & S. N. Y., 96;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.
 1899--r.1902  Effie W. Banks     Port Jervis    Cornell Univ., '99.
 1899--r.      W. R. Tubbs        Port Jervis    H. M. C. Phila.
 1899--p.1907 Lawrence G. Distler Middletown     B. H. M. C., '09;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 Sec. id.;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1899--p.1907  Chas. W. Dennis    Goshen         R. M. C. '83;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 Sec. id.; Consl.
                                                 Phys. Thrall Hosp.
 1899--p.1907  H. T. Kurtz        Highland Falls Cornell Univ.
 1899--r.1905  Reeve Turner       Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '99;
                                                 Asst. Phys. State
                                                 Hosp., '99-'05.
 1900--r.      B. V. E. Dolph     Port Jervis    Syracuse Univ., '00.
 1900-1907     Hiram D. Walker    Newburgh       Univ. Buffalo, '64;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
                                                 Discovered that
                                                 earthworms convey
                                                 the parasite of
                                                 "gapes" to fowls.
 1900--p.1907  F. W. Seward, Jr.  Goshen         N. Y. H. M. C., '98;
                                                 Mem. H. M. S. D. O.
                                                 & U.; Asst. Phys.
                                                 Interpines.
 1900--r.1902  Emory G. Drake     Cornwall       L. I. C. H.
 1900--p.1907  David H. Chandler  Cornwall       N. Y. H. M. C., 92;
                                                 Mem. H. M. C. D. O.
                                                 & U.
 1900--r.1903  C. A. Canfield     Middletown     Univ. N. Y., '86.
 1900--r.1906  J. Austin Kelly    Chester        L. I. C. H., 95;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1901--r.1905  E. R. Smith       Washingtonville L. I. C. H.. '01.
 1901--r.1906  H. A. Ferguson     Central Valley Univ. N. Y. Prop.;
                                                 Falkirk Sanitarium,
                                                 '04-'06.
 1901--p.1907  Geo. W. Blanchard  Highland Falls M. S .M., '95;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 N. B. M. S.; Phys.
                                                 to Convent.
 1901--p.1907  Merritt I. Beers   Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '01;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1901--p.1907  Julia F. Fish      Middletown     Pulte Med. Col.,'01;
                                                 Intern State Hosp.
 1902--p.1907  George E. Brewster Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C, '00;
                                                 2d Asst. Supt. State
                                                 Hospl.; Mem. H. M.
                                                 S. D. O. & U. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1902--r.1904  Fred I. Savage     Chester        B. H. M. C., '70.
 1902--p.1907 Elizabeth J. Jaeger Cornwall       W. M. C. Phil., 02.
 1902--p.1907  Henry I. Winter    Cornwall       Univ. N. Y., 92;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 Pres. id.;
                                                 Mem. O. C M. A. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.; Cons.
                                                 Neurol. St. Luke's
                                                 Hospl. Newburgh.
 1902--p.1907  Thos. D. McMenamin Highland Falls Cornell Univ., '01;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1902--r.1907  Francis H. Dreyer  Searsville     N. Y. H. M. C., '94.
 1902--p.1907  Albert Brinkman    Central Valley Univ. N. Y., '83.
                                  and Brooklyn
 1903--r.1907  Aaron D. Davidow   Florida        P. & S. Chicago,'94;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1903--p.1907  F. P. Howser       Otisville      B. H. M. C., 91;
                                                 Mem. O. C.  M. S.
 1903--p.1907  Roy E. Mitchell    Middletown     Univ. Minn. (H.), '01;
                                                 Asst. Phys. State
                                                 Hospl.; Mem. H. M.
                                                 S. D. O. & U.;
                                                 Mem. O. C M. A. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1903--p.1907  Max H. Skou        Slate Hill     N. Y. Ecl., '01.
 1904--p.1907  Geo. O. Pobe       Port Jervis    L. I. C. H., 01;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1904--p.1907  Frank E. Gessner   Port Jervis    B. H. M. C., 03;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1904--p.1907  Palmer R. Bowdish  Cornwall       A. M. C., '04.
 1904--r.1906  Henry F. Parker    Newburgh       J. M. C., '83.
 1904--p.1907  E. C. Thompson     Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '01;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. A. and
                                                 N. B. M. S.; Sec.
                                                 id.; Asst. Visiting
                                                 Surg. St. Luke's
                                                 Hosp.
 1904--p.1907  Percy E. Banks     East Coldenham L. I. C. H., 04;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.
 1904--r.      A. S. Moore        Middletown     Univ. Mich.(H.).'01;
                                                 Asst. Phys. State
                                                 Hospl.
 1904--r.      Leroy James Smith  Turners       U. & B. H. M. C., '05.
 1905--p.1907  A. Judson Benedict Newburgh       Univ. Buffalo;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S.;
                                                 Visiting Rhin. and
                                                 Otol. St. Luke's
                                                 Hospl.
 1905--p.1907  Elijah Osterhout   Newburgh       Syracuse Univ., '96;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. A.; Mem.
                                                 N. B. M. S.
 1905--p.1907  W. B. Andrews      Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '03;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 N. B. M. S.
 1905--p.1907  W. W. Davis        Chester        Syracuse Univ., '03;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1905--p.1907  John I. Cotter     Campbell Hall  A. M. C., '04;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S. and
                                                 N. B. M. S.
 1905--p.1907  Jesse D. Mars      Florida Univ.  Mich., '04;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1905--p.1907  F. W. H. Massey    Unionville     Univ. N. Y., '84.
 1905--r.1907  LeRoy J. Smith     Turners        Univ. & B. H. M. C.,
                                                '04.
 1905--p.1907  Nelson W. Thompson Middletown     Univ. Mich.(H.), '05;
                                                 Intern State Hospl.
 1905--p.1907  H. V. Bingham      Middletown     N. Y. H. M. C., '05;
                                                 Junior Ass. Phys.
                                                 State Hospl.
 1906--p.1907 Carlos F. MacDonald Central Valley B. H. M. C, '69;
                                  and New York   Propr. and Phys. in
                                  City           charge The Dr.
                                                 MacDonald House;
                                                 also N. Y. C.
 1906--p.1907  Lillian Morgan     Middletown     N. Y. M. C. & H. for
                                                 W., '06; ex-Supt.
                                                 Thrall Hosp., '07.
 1906--p.1907  Fred B. Colby      Highland Falls B. M. C., '06.
 1906--p.1907 Clarence J. Slocum  Central Valley A. M. C., '97: Supt.
                                                 of The Dr.
                                                 MacDonald House.
 1906--p.1907  Geo. W. Shirk      Cornwall       R. M. C., '97;
                                                 Mem. N. B. M. S. and
                                                 O. C. M. S.
 1906--p.1907  Henry B. Ballon    Middletown     Univ. Mich.(H.),'05;
                                                 Intern State Hospl.
 1906--p.1907  Benj. Ver Nooy     Middletown     Univ. & B. H. M. C.,
                                                 '96.
 1906--p.1907  Robt. Cordner      Middletown     P. & S. N. Y., '99;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1907--p.1907  H. G. Hubbell      Cornwall       L. I. C. H., '06.
 1907--p.1907  Talcott O. Vanamer Newburgh       P. & S. N. Y., '04;
                                                 Mem. O. C. M. S.
 1907--p.1907  B. F. Seaman       Newburgh       A. M. C., '05.
 1907--p.1907  Burke Hamilton     Goshen         Syracuse Univ., '05.

               EXPLANATION OF ABBREVIATIONS.
                       *****
 Blank space--Information could not be ascertained.
 D.--Died in Orange County.
 Hon.--Honorary.
 Id.--The same.
 Inc.--Incorporator.
 Lic.--Licentiate of Medical Society named.
 Mem.--Member.
 Pres.--President.
 P.--Practicing at the time named.
 R.--Removed from the county.
 Ret.--Retired.
 A. M. C.--Albany Medical College (Union Univ.).
 B. H. M. C.--Bellevue Hospital Medical College (Consolidated with
    Univ. N. Y. '98).
 B. M. C.--Berkshire Medical College (Mass.).
 B. M. S.--Botanical Medical Society (N. Y.).
 C. M. C.--Castleton Medical College (Vt.) (Extinct 1861.)
 C. H. M. C.--Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College.
 Cornell Univ.--Cornell University, Medical Dept. (N. Y. C).
 D. M. C.--Dartmouth Medical College (N. H.).
 E. M. C. N. Y.--Eclectic Medical College of New York City.
 G. M. C.--Geneva Medical College, N. Y.
 Harvard Univ.--Harvard University, Medical Dept. (Boston).
 Hy. T. C. N. Y.--Hygiene-Therapeutic College, N. Y. City.
 H. M. C.--Hahnemann Medical College (Phila. or Chicago).
 H. M. S. D. O. & U.--Homeopathic Medical Society of Dutchess,
    Orange and Ulster Counties.
 J. M. C--Jefferson Medical College (Phila.).
 L. I. C. H.--Long Island College Hospital (Brooklyn).
 M. M. C.--Middlebury Medical College (Vt.). (Extinct 1856.)
 Met. M. C. Ec.--Metropolitan Medical College, Eclectic (Chicago).
   (Extinct 1862.)
 M. S. M.--Medical School of Maine (Bowdoin).
 M. S. S. N. Y.--Medical Society of State of New York.
 M. S. C. N. Y.--Medical Society of City of New York.
 M. S. D. C.--Medical Society of Dutchess County.
 M. S. U. C.--Medical Society of Ulster County.
 M. S. H. C.--Medical Society of Herkimer County.
 M. S. M. C.--Medical Society of Montgomery County.
 N. Y. H. M. C.--New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital.
 N. Y. C. & H. for W.--New. York College and Hospital for Women
   (Homeopathic).
 Niagara Univ.--Niagara University--Medical Dept. (Buffalo).
 N. Y. H.--New York Hospital.
 N. B. M. S.--Newburgh Bay Medical Society.
 N. E. M. S.--Newburgh Eclectic Medical Society. (Extinct.)
 O. C. M. A.--Orange County Medical Association. (Extinct.)
 O. C. M. S.--Orange County Medical Society.
 O. C. H. M. S.--Orange County Homeopathic Medical Society.(Extinct.)
 O. H. M. S.--Oneida Homeopathic Medical Society.
 P. & S. N. Y.--College of Physicians and Surgeons N. Y. (Columbia
  Univ.).
 P. & S. W. D. N. Y.--College of Physicians and Surgeons, Western
    District N. Y.
 P. C. M.--Philadelphia College of Medicine. (Extinct 1859.)
 P. U. M.--Philadelphia University of Medicine. (Extinct 1880.)
 P. & S. Balt.--College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore.
 R. C. P. S. Eng. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (England).
 R. M. C.--Rush Medical College (Chicago).
 Rutgers--Rutgers Medical College, N. Y. C. (Extinct 1830.)
 St. T. M. C. & H. Lon.--St. Thomas' Medical College and Hospital
   (London, Eng.).
 Syracuse Univ.--Syracuse University, Medical Dept.
 T. M. C.--Trinity College, Medical Dept. (Dublin, Ireland).
 T. S. M. S.--Tri-States Medical Society of New York, New Jersey and
   Pennsylvania.
 Univ. Pa.--University of Pennsylvania. Medical Dept. (Phila.).
 Univ. Mich.--University of Michigan, Medical Dept. (Ann Arbor).
   (Both Schools.)
 Univ. Vt.--University of Vermont, Medical Dept.
 Univ. Buffalo--University of Buffalo, Medical Dept.
 Univ. W.--University of Wooster, Ohio. (Extinct 1870.)
 Univ. Md.--University of Maryland, Baltimore.
 Univ. Minn.--University of Minnesota. (Both Schools.)
 Univ. N. Y.--University of New York, Med. Dept. (Consolidated with
   B. H. M. C.)
 Univ. & B. H. M. C--University and Bellevue Hospital Medical
   College.
 Univ. Glas.--University of Glasgow, Med. Dept. (Scotland).
 U. S. M. C.--United States Medical College, New York City
   (Eclectic). (Extinct 1882.)
 V. M. C.--Vermont Medical College.
 W. M. C. N. Y. I.--Woman's Medical College of the N. Y. Infirmary.
 W. M. C. Pa.--Woman's Medical College of Pa. (Phila.). (Extinct
   1861.)
 Yale--Yale University, Medical Dept. (New Haven).




CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE SCHOOLS OF ORANGE COUNTY.

By John M. Dolph.



The eastern part of the State of New York, including all those
portions which were settled in the seventeenth century or in the early
part of the eighteenth, have this common feature in their educational
history. They all show three periods of development, separate and
distinct from each other, and these periods are characterized,
largely, by the initiative under which the schools were organized and
maintained.

The first of these periods, which we may call the colonial period,
reaches from the first settlement of the country down to the time of
the Revolutionary War. During this time, about seventy-five years,
whatever schools there were in Orange County, were organized and
supported entirely by the settlers in the different neighborhoods,
for the instruction of their own children.

There were no large villages in Orange County at that time. The
communities were purely agricultural, with small hamlets scattered
here and there, such as are found in agricultural districts to-day,
and the educational advantages were very limited. This period
culminated in the struggle for independence, during which even these
limited advantages were almost entirely swept away.

During the war of the Revolution, the settled portions of the State
were overrun by armed bands again and again. The valley of the Hudson
was harried by the contending armies, back and forth for years, and,
even where there were no armies, the virulence of the feeling which
existed between the patriots and the Tories, was such that there was
little more safety for life and property in those localities than
there was at the very seat of war.

Under these circumstances, the schools were generally closed and the
generation which grew up during the Revolution was largely without
regular instruction.

[Illustration: John M. Dolph.]

Toward the end of the war, when actual hostilities had largely
ceased, there was a great awakening throughout the State to the
necessity for more and better schools than had ever existed
heretofore. Mingling with those who had enjoyed better educational
advantages, in the camp and on the field, had taught the pioneers the
value of education, and they determined to make it possible for their
children to become better equipped, educationally, than they had
been.

Private academies, for classical training, were established in the
small towns and villages and a new period, which we may call the
period of the private schools, began.

In response to this sentiment in favor of higher education, the
Legislature passed the University law in 1784, establishing the
University of the State of New York and giving the authority and the
aid of the State to the academies which had already been established
and encouraging the establishment of others. The object of this
movement by the Legislature, as defined in the act establishing the
University, was "to encourage and promote education in advance of the
common, elementary branches."

It is a characteristic feature of the thought and feeling of this
period that the State should give its aid and authority to private
institutions for secondary instruction long years before it
recognized in any way, its duty to the common school and elementary
instruction.

Soon the private academies became so numerous that the opportunity
for higher education reached to every part of the State. These
schools did a grand work. For three-quarters of a century they opened
up opportunities for the ambitious boys and girls whose parents were
able to pay for their tuition.

Then, a new idea appeared in educational matters--the idea that the
child of the poor man has as much right to the opportunity for
education as the child of the rich, and that it is the duty of the
State to provide this opportunity for rich and poor alike. So the
period of the free schools followed that of the private academies.

                      THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

The first settlements in what is now Orange County were made not far
from the same time in both the eastern and western extremities. The
county then included what is now Rockland County, and was bounded on
the north by the line separating the counties of Orange and Ulster.
This line ran from the mouth of Murderer's Creek (now Moodna)
"westward into the woods as far as the Delaware River." These
settlements were made previous to 1700, but the time is not
absolutely certain with respect to either of them.

In the western part of the county, in what is now the town of
Deerpark, the first settlers were Dutch and Huguenot families, who
came from Kingston and New Paltz. In the eastern part the settlers
came up the Hudson River and consisted almost entirely of English
speaking people from New York and the Long Island towns. In fact, so
close was the association with New York, that for some years the New
York reports included Orange and our county had no independent county
government.

In 1693, according to the report of Governor Fletcher, made by
Matthew Clarkson, secretary of the province, there were in "Orange
County not above twenty families, for the present under the care of
New York."

In 1698 there were reported to Governor Bellomont about thirty
families and 140 children in Orange.

These children were scattered over a wide district, in pioneer homes,
where luxuries were unknown and where even the necessaries of life
were difficult of attainment. There were no schools for their
instruction at this time, nor for a number of years afterward, but it
is evident that many of them at least did secure the elements of an
education, either from their parents or from some other source, for
we find them later, in the Dutch and Huguenot settlements at any
rate, as the men of affairs, prominent in the church and in the
community, able to read and write and to transact business in a
business-like manner.

By 1723 a second generation had grown up and new settlers had come
into the county. In that year 543 children are reported. By this time
the pioneers had overcome the greater difficulties of the early
settlement. Their farms yielded abundant supplies and there was
opportunity to make provision for the instruction of their children.
That this opportunity was made use of and that some provision was
made, in most parts of the settlements, for the instruction of the
boys and girls, there is little reason to doubt.

The young people of this generation learned "to read and write and
cast accounts," at any rate. There were few, if any, schoolhouses,
and tradition has it that the teachers, like the tailors and the
shoemakers, went about from house to house, giving instruction in the
three R's.

At this time no text-books had been published in America and books of
all kinds were very scarce in the frontier settlements, so that the
few books attainable were quite generally provided by the teacher as
the tools of his profession. The hornbook was used for teaching
beginners. This was a flat piece of wood with a handle. On the flat
part of this there was fastened a piece of horn, scraped thin to make
it transparent. A strip of paper on which the lesson was written or
printed, was placed between the horn and the wood. These lessons,
protected by the horn, would last a long time and could be used by
many different pupils. The hornbook was used for teaching the
letters, some of the combinations of vowels and consonants and either
the Lord's Prayer or some other verses of easy reading. A copy of the
Bible was often the only printed book in the school and was used as a
reading book.

The material for the instruction in arithmetic, in language and the
more difficult words in spelling were contained in the teacher's
note-book, which he had carefully prepared, under the direction of
some other teacher, similarly equipped. These note-books contained
the rules and tables in arithmetic, many problems, lists of words for
spelling and selections for memorizing. In fact, the teacher's
note-book was his tool-chest, and its size and completeness were his
recommendations. The possession of a Bible, a psalm book, a copy of
Dillingham's arithmetic or some other English work, and a few books
of general literature were sufficient to mark the pioneer pedagogue
as a man of great distinction in his profession.

On the hornbook the letters of the alphabet were usually followed by
the character &, to which were added the Latin words _per se_ and the
English word _and,_ making _& per se and._ Many of the teachers knew
no Latin and condensed this into "Ampersand," and this word has come
down to us meaningless, except as we know its origin.

When the pupils had learned to use the quill pen, which the teacher
fashioned for them with his penknife, they were provided with a few
sheets of paper, bound together in strong covers, and they proceeded
to make, more or less carefully, a note-book like the teacher's. Some
of these note-books, still preserved, show the character of the work
done in these early schools. Besides the matters enumerated above
some have riddles and anecdotes, evidently intended as practice in
language. One which I have seen, written by a young lady, has the
following exercise for punctuation:

    "There is a lad in this land
    Hath twenty nails upon each hand
    Five and twenty on hands and feet
    And this is true without deceit."

Much attention was paid to penmanship, and the copies prepared by the
teacher were often as perfect as the engraved copies of the modern
copy-book. These copies were kept by the pupil and practiced with
painstaking care. A reproduction of a copy written by Joseph Dolph,
with a quill pen of his own make is given to show the skill in
lettering with which some of these old schoolmasters prepared their
copies.

[Illustration: Copy Book]

It would be of great interest if we could know more of these pioneers
of the teacher's profession and their work. But there are few records
of them left. They were generally men, in the early days always men,
and probably few of them possessed much learning beyond the rudiments
which they taught.

There was no opportunity for higher studies and the few young men who
desired to enter college had to find a tutor, usually a clergyman,
who could give him instruction in the preparatory studies.

When the first schoolhouse in Orange County was built I do not know.
It is possible that there was a building used for this purpose on the
Quassaick, now Newburgh, during the occupancy of the Palatinate
colony, previous to 1730. It is certain that a building for school
purposes was erected there soon after 1752, although it is not
possible to determine when this school was opened. There is reason to
suppose that a teacher was installed soon after the transfer of the
Glebe lands to Alexander Colden and Richard Atherton "as trustees
thereof, for the sole use and behoof of a minister of the Church of
England, as by law established, and a school-master, to have the care
of souls and the instruction of the children of the neighboring
inhabitants." This transfer was made in 1752.

The land known as the Glebe was part of a grant of 2190 acres on the
west side of the Hudson River, "beginning on the north side of
Quassaic Creek and extending up the Hudson 219 chains and into the
woods 100 chains," made for the benefit of a colony of Lutheran,
refugees from the Palatinate of the Rhine. They had crossed over to
England and Queen Anne directed that this grant be made for them.
From this tract 500 acres were set apart, "according to the queen's
pleasure," for the support of their minister and 100 acres for the
schoolmaster's lot. Although the Queens interest had been manifested
in 1708, the patent was not issued until 1719, and then the land soon
passed into other hands.

After the transfer of the Glebe lands in 1752 as mentioned above, a
house was built for the schoolmaster, "with a school-room in the
rear." Little is known of this school. Ruttenber, in his history of
Orange County, gives the names of some of the teachers who were in
charge of it at different times before the Revolution, as follows:
Lewis Donveur, in 1768; Joseph Penney, in 1769; Thomas Gregory, in
1773. In 1774 John Nathan Hutchinson became the teacher and continued
in the school until shortly before his death, which occurred in 1782.

There were other schools in various parts of the county, previous to
the Revolution. One James Carpenter, a teacher at or near Goshen, is
mentioned in certain records in 1762.

In the town of Deerpark, as it is now constituted, there were at
least two school buildings which were erected before the war. One of
these was located about a mile from the boundary of the city of Port
Jervis. on the east side of the Neversink River, and the other where
the village of Cuddebackville now stands. In this latter building
Thomas Kyte taught for some time. In 1775 he married Lea Keator and
removed from the valley to the town of Wantage, Sussex County, New
Jersey, where he became a prosperous farmer and where some of his
descendants still remain. In 1776 Thomas White, an Englishman, was
employed as teacher in the same district. He came, with his wife
Elizabeth, and lived at the home of Ezechiel Gumaer near the
Neversink River. The school was also conducted in one of the rooms of
the Gumaer house. Later, when the house was reconstructed as a fort,
for the better protection of the people of the neighborhood, and
several families had gathered there, the school was continued in the
fort. Mr. White remained throughout the entire period of the war, and
the children who were so fortunate as to be his pupils, enjoyed
advantages which very few could have at that time. He was a man of
some literary attainments, small in stature, but quick and active in
body and mind.

Mr. Peter E. Gumaer (1770 to 1869) who was one of his pupils, says of
him, in his history of Deerpark: "I conclude that Mr. White had been
taught in one of the best of the common schools of England, and in a
very perfect manner so far as he had progressed. He was a very
eloquent reader and could perform the same with an air suitable to
the nature of the subject on which the reading treated. I have always
considered him as the equal of the best readers I have ever heard."

Commenting on the advantages which Mr. White gave his pupils and the
value of his services to the community, Mr. Gumaer says, "This man's
services have been a greater benefit to the third generation of the
descendants of this neighborhood than those of any other individual,
in consequence of which he ought to be held in remembrance by our
descendants and be incorporated in our history, as the first
important originator of education among us."

Mr. White spent his old age on a farm in the town of Wallkill and is
buried in the churchyard of the Presbyterian church at Otisville. In
his will he left a sum of money from the proceeds of which there
should be paid $10 each year, to the minister of each of four
different churches, for preaching a special sermon, to be known as
The White Sermon. The four churches benefited are the Dutch
Reformed church of Port Jervis, the Congregational church of
Middletown, and the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches of Goshen.

The school on the east side of the Neversink River, near Port Jervis,
was in session at the time of Brant's raid on Tuesday, July 20, 1779.
The Indians and Tories under Thayandanega, or, as the whites called
him, Joseph Brant, came down the Delaware valley and separated into
two divisions. One party followed the river and the other crossed the
point of land between the two rivers, keeping near the base of the
mountain and crossed the Neversink near the old Indian burying
ground. The object of the raid, as stated by Brant in his report to
the commanding officer, was to secure booty, especially beef cattle.
But it would appear from the method of attack that there was another
object, that of capturing or killing Major Decker.

The attack was made simultaneously upon the home of Major Decker and
upon the farms four miles down the river across the State line, in
New Jersey. The men of the Major's family were away attending a
funeral and the house, although it was surrounded by a stockade, was
easily taken and burned. It is probable that the most of the men were
attending the funeral when the attack was made. This funeral, or at
least the burial, was held at the meeting house of the Dutch Reformed
church, which stood on East Main street, near the culvert over which
the Erie Railroad crossed that street. This also was burned later in
the same raid. One of these bands came upon the school house with the
school in session. The teacher, Jeremiah Van Auken, grandson of James
Van Auken, who was the first magistrate of the Minisink region, was
killed and scalped and the children scattered. According to the
deposition of Mehary Owen, one of the Tories who accompanied Brant on
this raid, that chieftain had issued strict orders that no women nor
children should be injured. This deposition was taken by Henry
Wisner, Esq., at Goshen, and, while there is little dependence to be
put upon the word of such a renegade, there is no proof that any of
the children were harmed.

The story so often told and sometimes discredited, that Brant himself
came upon the party that had killed Van Auken, and put paint upon the
clothing of the children to protect them, is too well authenticated
to be rejected. It is more than tradition.

There are persons still living who have heard the story told by those
who were there, on that day. Among others, Margaret Decker, daughter
of Major Johannes Decker, horn in 1770, was there at school that day.
She afterward married Benjamin Carpenter and left many descendants.
She told the story many times to children and grandchildren,
substantially as it has been told by the people of the valley since
1779. Several of these grandchildren are still living and agree in
all the main points of the story as she told it to them. This is only
one of many cases where the story is a family tradition.

Peter E. Gumaer was a lad nine years old, at the time this occurred.
He was a neighbor and playfellow of those children in the other
district who were in school that day. He grew up with them and knew
them intimately all their lives, for he outlived them all, dying
beyond the middle of his ninety-ninth year. In his account of Brant's
raid, given with slight alterations in Eager's History of Orange
County, he tells the story substantially as it is told by the
descendants of these children. The addition of a brush and the color
of the paint are touches not found in the original story.

This sketch of the schools in colonial times is fragmentary and
unsatisfactory, but, there is so little that has been preserved
concerning them, that no account can be other than fragmentary.

               THE PERIOD OF THE PRIVATE ACADEMIES.

The movement for the establishment of schools of higher grade began
with the people themselves. They knew what they wanted and proceeded
to obtain it in the most direct way. The method was much the same all
over the State. The farmers and other well-to-do people of a
considerable section subscribed the money necessary to put up a
building and to provide the furniture and equipment needed. Then,
when the building was ready for occupancy, it was leased to some
teacher, whose compensation was the fees for tuition, paid by the
students who attended. More than 300 of these institutions were
established in the State.

In this movement for improved schools, the county of Orange was one
of the first in the State to act. There were two other schools of
this type which were incorporated before The Farmers' Hall Academy in
Goshen, but the incorporation was not until several years after these
schools had been in operation. The Clinton Academy at Easthampton and
the Erasmus Hall Academy in Brooklyn, were both chartered by the
Board of Regents in 1787, while the Goshen school was not chartered
until April first, 1790.

The building for the Farmers' Hall was erected in 1773 and the school
was maintained as a school for instruction in academic subjects
during the Revolution, with some interruptions.

To this school, in 1781, there came a man who was to do more for the
cause of education in this county than any who had preceded him. Noah
Webster had graduated from Yale in 1778 and had begun the study of
law at Hartford. The invasion of New York from the north, by
Burgoyne, called for the services of every able bodied man, and young
Webster marched to the valley of the Mohawk, as a private in his
father's company of Connecticut militia. After the campaign was over,
he returned to the study of law and was admitted to the bar in
Hartford in 1781. Instead of waiting at Hartford for a practice, he
decided to enter the profession of teaching and probably came to
Goshen in the fall of the same year.

The following letter of introduction, written by Henry Wisner, Esq.,
a magistrate of Goshen, would seem to indicate that Mr. Webster was
not a new comer in Goshen at that time and he had probably completed
his first year in the school when it was written:

                                    Goshen, N. Y., August 26th, 1782.
Sir:

The bearer, Mr. Noah Webster, has taught a grammar school for some
time past, in this place, much to the satisfaction of his employers.

He is now doing some business in the literary way, which, in the
opinion of good judges, will be of great service to posterity. He,
being a stranger in New Jersey, may stand in need of the assistance
of some gentlemen with whom you are acquainted. He is a young
gentleman whose moral as well as political character is such as will
render him worthy of your notice.

Any favor which you may do him will be serving the public and
accepted as a favor done your friend and very humble servant,

                                                        Henry Wisner.

  His Excellency, Governor Livingston.

During the preceding year, Prof. Webster had prepared the manuscript
of the first part of his "Grammatical Institute of the English
Language," the first text-book for the use of schools published in
this country. This first part was the Webster Speller, not only the
first school book published in this country, but also the most
popular one.

Mr. Webster's object in leaving Goshen at this time, was to show
these manuscripts to people acquainted with the educational situation
throughout the country and to get their opinions on the probable
demand for the work.

He visited Philadelphia and met a number of the members of Congress,
among whom was James Madison, afterward president of the United
States. Mr. Madison was himself, a thorough linguist and deeply
interested in the subject of schools. He also showed much interest in
Mr. Webster and his proposed work. From Philadelphia, Mr. Webster
went to Princeton and showed his work to the Rev. S. S. Smith, then a
professor and afterward president of Princeton College. Everywhere
the project was enthusiastically received and the young author
returned to Goshen, greatly encouraged to complete his series of
texts and to publish it.

As we have already stated, no text books had been published in
America. Moreover, at this time a widespread awakening to the
importance of education was manifest throughout the country and the
demand for books suitable for the instruction of the children, both
in the elementary schools and in the academies was great.
Accordingly, Prof. Webster returned to Goshen, continued his work
there another year, during which he revised and completed his
manuscripts, and in 1783, returned to Hartford and began their
publication. The Grammatical Institution of the English Language was
published in three volumes. The first was the speller, the second the
grammar, and the third, the reader.

They seem poor and printed with wretched type, when compared with the
workmanship of modern text-books, but these little volumes, produced
by an Orange County teacher, while teaching in its earliest academy,
were most enthusiastically received and the demand for them taxed the
capacity of the publishers to the fullest extent.

The speller, the first part published, was an immediate success. In
fifty years, about twenty-five million copies were sold, and for a
part of this time the sales exceeded a million copies a year. The
royalty on this book was one cent a copy, and, for many years this
royalty yielded the author a very comfortable income. The other parts
of the work never had so large a demand as the speller, but the
reception accorded them and the demand for them which followed,
induced the young author to devote his entire time to authorship, so
that his two years in the Farmers' Hall Academy, at Goshen, comprised
his entire work as a teacher.

What other teachers conducted this school before the date of its
incorporation under the university law, is not definitely known. The
charter was issued April 1st "in the fourteenth year of American
independence," or 1790. The school, however, had been in operation at
least sixteen years, before this date, and ten years before the
university law was passed.

The first principal of the school, after its incorporation was
Benjamin Carpenter, who remained only one year, and then removed to
the Minisink valley where he established a ferry over the Delaware
and gave his name to the village of Carpenter's Point. A Mr. Minor
succeeded him and he in turn, was followed by John K. Joline, who was
said to have been a soldier of fortune, and, as such, had visited the
Spanish Main and several of the Central and South American States. He
was not a young man at the time of assuming the principal-ship and
tradition tells many stories of his eccentricities. He had charge of
the school for several years and when he retired from the
principal-ship, he remained in Goshen, living at one of the hotels
until the time of his death. By a benevolent fiction he was supposed
to deliver a course of lectures each year. The tickets were purchased
by those who had been his pupils and by others who were benevolently
inclined, and the proceeds were generally sufficient to defray his
expenses, but few of the lectures were delivered, and these to very
small audiences. Occasionally he would fill an engagement to teach
for a few weeks, away from his beloved Goshen, but he could not be
persuaded to stay away long. He taught at different times, in the
Minisink valley, in what is now the town of Deerpark, but for short
periods only. He was erratic, leaving without notice, and returning
when he pleased, and always going back to Goshen when he had earned
money enough to relieve his present necessities.

There he would sit in his chair, on the porch of the hotel, always
ready to tell of the many and varied experiences of his life to any
who cared to listen.

One day he did not respond to the call of the gong which announced
that dinner was ready, and they found him, sitting in his chair,
dead. He had died without a struggle and unnoticed, sitting in his
accustomed place.

Some time previous to 1820, the Female Academy was established and
became a part of the institution, controlled by the same board of
trustees as the Farmer's Hall. William Ewen was the first principal
in this department. Among the many teachers who had charge of this
school during the earlier half of the nineteenth century were:
Nathan Stark, Horace Sweezy, Victor M. Watkins, Rev. B. Y. Morse,
David E. Fowler, Stephen D. Bross and Nathaniel Webb.

The last mentioned, Nathaniel Webb, became principal of both
departments about 1833. Mr. Webb's influence, not only in this
school, but also in the educational interests of the entire county,
was such that he is worth of more than a cursory notice in any
account of educational matters in this county.

He was a graduate of Union College and had caught some of the
enthusiasm of Dr. Nott in the cause of education. He had prepared for
the ministry, but, on the completion of his studies at Union, he
found his health so impaired that he had to give up work and spend
some time in the South, recovering his lost vitality. He never
became robust, but enjoyed a fair degree of health and was an
indefatigable worker.

After leaving the principal-ship of Farmers' Hall, Mr. Webb
established a boarding school for young ladies at Goshen, which had,
for many years, a wide reputation and patronage. It was noted for its
thoroughness, its high moral tone, and for the real culture of its
graduates. This school, which was later known as the Goshen Female
Seminary, under the efficient management of Professor Webb, became
one of the best schools of its kind in the State, and sent out many
cultured women into the homes and schools of this section.

In connection with his school work, Mr. Webb was also one of the
proprietors and editorial writers of the _Democrat and Whig,_ a local
paper published in Goshen, and continued his connection with that
paper until the time of his death, which occurred in 1855. As an
editorial writer for a political paper, he was so fair and impartial
that he frequently became the trusted friend and adviser of both
sides of a political controversy and his judgment had great weight
on all political questions. As a teacher, as a man of affairs in both
the social and political world, as a Christian gentleman, interested
in every good work in the community in which he lived and as an
exemplar of true living and Christian manhood, he was a worthy
example of what the teacher should be in any community.

Various other teachers as principals and instructors carried on the
work of this school until well on in the second half of the
nineteenth century, when, like most of the other private academies,
it was replaced by the public school.

Whatever the facts may be concerning the priority of the
establishment of Clinton Academy and the Farmers' Hall, there seems
to be no doubt that the Montgomery Academy, another Orange County
institution, incorporated in 1792, was the fourth of these schools in
the State.

The progressive character of the people of our county is shown by
this fact, that two of the first four academies of the State should
have been founded by them. The subscription list for the Montgomery
Academy is dated in 1787 and was probably circulated and signed at
that time. The village of Montgomery was only a small hamlet in a
farming community. The people were, not wealthy, but they were in
earnest in their determination to secure for their children the
advantages of a good school.

Two hundred and seventy-seven names appear on the list, almost all of
them heads of families, residing within eight or ten miles of the
village. The amounts were small individually, but the sum obtained
was sufficient for the modest beginning which they were to make. The
trustees appointed by the subscribers, to take charge of the
undertaking, were thirteen in number and were generally the most
prominent and intelligent men of the section.

The story of how these farmers helped themselves to what they wanted
in school accommodations is told by both Eager and Ruttenber in
their histories of Orange County. This story illustrates so well the
method of the founding of these schools in rural communities
throughout the State that I quote from Ruttenber the story, entire:

"The trustees purchased a frame, already put up, several miles
distant, as they could get it for some small sum, made a frolic to
which the farmers came with their teams and carted it down to the
village. This was but the work of a day, in these patriotic and
freewill times. So, at very little expense, the building was entirely
put up and finished.

"The teacher they wished to employ (the Rev. Alexander Miller, of New
Jersey), was married, had a family and a horse and could not come
unless the family and the horse could be accommodated. So, the
trustees redoubled their exertions, built a kitchen adjoining the
academy, put up a stable and permitted the Reverend Mr. Miller to
live on the ground floor. They tendered him 80 pounds for the first
year, and, after that, all he could make. This offer was accepted and
the Reverend Mr. Miller became the first principal of the new
institution. The tuition fees paid by the pupils varied from 2 L. to
5 L. a year, according to the subjects studied." The pound in New
York currency was $2.50.

The old building was used about twenty years and was then replaced by
a substantial brick building, in which the old academy maintained its
existence for many years, after most of the private schools had been
absorbed by the public school system. In 1891, after more than a
hundred years of existence as a private school, it became the
academic department of the Montgomery public schools.

The Newburgh Academy was projected by the Reverend Mr. Spierin,
pastor of the Episcopal church. After some delay a building was
erected and a school opened "for the instruction of youth in the
Greek and Latin languages and in other branches of literature." The
peculiar relation of this school to the Church of England and its
control by the trustees of the Glebe, seem to have been a source of
trouble. In 1804, a public meeting of the inhabitants of the
original patent was held and nine trustees were elected "to take
charge of the school in the academy." The new trustees evidently did
take charge, for the school was incorporated under the University of
the State of New York in 1806 as "The Newburgh Academy." This school
had a long and successful career. Many of its teachers were men of
learning and ability and the school enjoyed a reputation second to
none in this section of the State. It is impossible to give its full
history or to name all of its teachers. Mr. Ruttenber mentions Samuel
Nicholson as principal in 1799, James Larrimore in 1802 and a long
line of successors. The academy continued its work as a private
school until the special act establishing the free schools of
Newburgh was passed in 1852, when it became a part of the public
school system of the village.

The Washington Academy, of Florida, had its inception in a meeting of
the inhabitants of that village held on February 14th, 1809. The
meeting was enthusiastic and decided to erect a school building and
establish a school "for the instruction of the young."

A two-story brick building was erected, but it was not conducted as a
private academy long. When, in response to the law of 1812, the towns
were divided into school districts, in 1813, the building became the
school house of District No. 15, of the town of Warwick.

Samuel S. Seward was one of the first movers for the establishment of
this school and was a member of its first board of trustees. His son,
William H. Seward, afterward governor of the State of New York,
United States Senator and Secretary of State under President Lincoln,
was one of its early pupils.

Mr. Seward was never satisfied with the fate of the Washington
Academy and later gave a site and erected a building for a private
school which was known as the S. S. Seward Institute.

He left $20,000 in his will for a permanent endowment of this school.
For nearly half a century it was maintained as a high class boarding
school. The endowment and the active interest of the Seward family
kept it in operation long after most of the schools of its kind had
been closed by the competition of the public school. But in 1891, it
was turned over to the board of education of the village of Florida
and it has, since that time, been the academic department of the
Florida public schools.

The Wallkill Academy, Middletown, like a number of other places along
the line of the Erie Railroad, owes its initial development to that
road. In 1840 it was a small village. The people were alive to the
interests of their children, however, and in 1841, they organized a
company with 115 stockholders, for the purpose of establishing an
academy to provide the children of the village with better
opportunities for education than could be had in the district school.
The result of this movement was the building of a school house and
the establishment of the Wallkill Academy.

The Reverend Phineas Robinson was the first teacher, and the school
took high rank as a classical or grammar school from the first.

He was succeeded by Patrick McGregor, who was principal for five
years. Henry Freeman was in charge for a like period, and the
Reverend P. Teller Babbitt was in charge for a year and half. Then D.
Kerr Bull became principal and continued in charge of the academy
until it became a part of the public school system of the village of
Middletown, at its organization under special act of the legislature
in 1867.

The Chester Academy was chartered by the regents of the university on
February 27th, 1844. The first principal was William Bross, who was
assisted by his brother, Stephen D. Bross, mentioned above as one of
the principals of Farmers' Hall Academy at Goshen.

William Bross prepared for college at Milford, Pa., and graduated
from Williams College in 1838. He taught in several places before
going to Chester, and, in 1848, he went to Chicago and engaged in
newspaper work. For a number of years, he was president of the
Chicago Tribune Company and he was lieutenant-governor of the State
of Illinois from 1865 to 1869.

The Reverend Phineas Robinson, who was the first principal of
Wallkill Academy at Middletown, was in charge of this school for
eight years, and Edward Orton, who was later a professor in the Ohio
State University, was principal for six years. Like the others, the
Chester Academy became, later, a part of the public school system,
and the old academy building was used for public school purposes
until it was burned in 1905. A new building has been erected to take
its place and has been in use since September, 1907.

The Warwick Institute was organized in 1852. The building was erected
in the spring of 1853 and the school opened the same year. D. F.
Drew was engaged as principal but left during the first year, and was
succeeded by William A. Carter. The institute and its property were
turned over to the board of education in 1868, that board agreeing to
forever maintain a school for instruction in the higher studies.

The West Point Military Academy--This school, while in the county,
is not of it. It is the United States government school for training
officers for the command of its armies.

The Military Academy is located on a government reservation at West
Point, one of the most picturesque and beautiful spots on the Hudson.
The establishment of such a school was recommended by Washington in
his last message to Congress and it is known that even from the time
of the Revolution, West Point had been looked upon by him as a most
suitable place for its location.

The recommendation of Washington was acted upon and some provision
made for the instruction of cadets, but it was not until after the
war of 1812 had shown the necessity for such training, that the
military academy was fully established.

From that time to the present it has grown in importance and
efficiency. Many millions of dollars have been spent in utilizing the
natural advantages of the reservation and in providing the equipment
needed. The reservation contains nearly two hundred buildings of
various kinds, and its attractiveness on account of its natural
scenery, its buildings and its well-kept lawns, make it a popular
place for tourists.

The academies which I have mentioned, with the exception of the
military academy, which is brought in here simply because of its
location, were of a semi-public character. While not maintained by
taxation, they were organized by popular movements and existed only
for the benefit of the people.

There have been many other schools in the county, which were entirely
private in character. Many of these have been important factors in
the progress of education in our county, and have done much to uphold
a high standard of school work, but we shall be able to mention only
those which now exist and which hold charter relations with the
educational system of the State.

             THE PERIOD OF THE FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

There had been elementary schools in most of the scattered
communities of the county before the Revolution, as we have seen, and
they continued after that war, increasing in numbers and in
efficiency. The academies provided better teachers for those schools,
and they also stimulated the children in them to prepare themselves
for the higher studies of the academies. They were public schools
also, but they were entirely dependent upon local initiative and
supported entirely by the people of the neighborhoods in which they
were maintained. The State had shown its interest in secondary
education by the establishment of the university, in 1784, by
chartering the academies and by grants of money in aid of these
schools, but it was not until 1795 that it showed any interest in the
common schools.

In that year, acting on the recommendation of Governor Clinton, the
legislature appropriated the sum of 20,000 L. ($50,000) a year, for
the succeeding five years, "for the encouragement of the common
schools."

The act provided, also, for the election of two commissioners of
schools, in each town, of the counties of the State, to supervise the
schools of the town and to make arrangements for the proper
distribution of this grant. The chaotic condition of the schools,
with no system of records and accounts, and, in some instances, the
local pride and resentment, occasioned by this State interference in
what was considered an entirely local institution, rendered the just
apportionment of this fund difficult, and, after three years it was
abandoned.

In 1805 the State began the accumulation of a fund, the interest of
which should be used to aid the public schools. This fund, to which
additions are made from year to year, now amounts to considerably
over $4,000,000, and the United States deposit fund, an overflow of
the treasury of the United States, distributed to the States in
1836-7, which has been reserved for school purposes, amounts to a
like sum. By the laws of 1812, the State definitely assumed control
of the public schools. During the succeeding year, 1813, under the
provisions of this act, the townships, in all the counties of the
State, were divided into school districts and public schools were
established, supported partly by State aid and the balance made up by
a rate bill, an amount assessed upon the parents of the children
attending, proportioned upon the number of days they were in
attendance.

The districts, as formed in Orange County, in 1813, have not greatly
changed since that date. The rate bill was continued as the method of
school support until the passage of the Free School Act, in 1853,
and, in many places it was continued until 1867 when it was finally
abolished and the schools, supported entirely by public funds, became
free to the children of rich and poor alike.

The supervision of the public schools by township commissioners,
under the law of 1795, and abandoned in most of the towns in 1798,
was restored by the law of 1812, and thereafter, until 1844, what
supervision of the schools there was, in the various towns, was
vested in three commissioners and three inspectors. In 1844, the
supervision of the schools was vested in a town superintendent of
schools and so continued until the office of school commissioner in
the assembly districts, was created in 1856. Since that time, the
work of inspection and supervision has been performed by these
officers.

The commissioners of the two assembly districts of Orange County,
since 1856, have been in the first assembly district, George K.
Smith, David A. Morrison, Charles N. Gedney, Jonathan Silliman,
James M. Monell, Charles Rivenburg and George W. Flood. In the second
assembly district, George N. Green, Harvey H. Clark, John J. Barr,
Benjamin F. Hill, John W. Slauson, Asa Morehouse, Oliver N.
Goldsmith, William H. Shaw, Ira L. Case, Willard M. Clark, William P.
Kaufmann.

Since the operation of the free school act began, the educational
progress of the county has been continuous. The enrollment has
increased with the population. The average daily attendance has
increased more rapidly than the enrollment, and the efficiency of the
schools, as indicated by the number of the institutions which are
doing academic or high school work together with the number of pupils
of high school grade, shows the most marked advancement. The number
of such schools in our county has increased from half a dozen to
twenty-two and the percentage of high school pupils to the enrollment
has increased from less than one per cent, to about eight per cent.

To demonstrate more clearly this progress of the schools. I have
prepared a table showing the population, enrollment, average
attendance and high school pupils for each decade of the free
schools.

      Table Showing Progress of the Schools by Decades.

                       1860     1870   1880   1890   1900    1906
 Population           63,812   80,002 88,220 97,859 103,859 108,267
 Enrollment           12,750   18,210 19,615 17,955  18,302  18,193
 Average attendance   No data   8,300 10,262 10,963  12,868  13,617
 In high schools      No data     129    298    320     843   1,369

   The schools doing high school work in 1906 were the following:

                                       Principal.        No. of H. S.
                                                              Pupils.
 Newburgh High School                William H. Doty              412
 Middletown High School              James F. Tuthill             179
 Port Jervis High School             Charles A. Benedict          235
 Walden High School                  A. H. Courtenay               61
 Highland Falls High School          S. H. McIlroy                 60
 Warwick Institute High School       Frank M. Edson                56
 Chester High School                 Frank J. Squires              52
 Cornwall-on-the-Hudson High School  E. Everitt Cortright          45
 Goshen High School                  Montgomery C. Smith           44
 S. S. Seward Institute, Florida     Levi R. Tubbs                 40
 Cornwall High School                Herman C. Woodworth           30
 Montgomery High School              F. W. Whitney                 25
 Monroe Union School                 Orville Eichenberg            24
 Central Valley Union School         T. L. McKnight                 7


              And the following private schools:

                                      Principal.        No. of H. S.
                                                             Pupils.
 N. Y. Military Academy,              Sebastian C. Jones          67
   Cornwall-on-the-Hudson
 Garr Institute, Goshen               Rose Sanders                27
 Ursuline Academic School, Middletown Mother M. Lucy              17
 St. Mary's Academy, Newburgh                                     11

The three cities, Newburgh, Middletown and Port Jervis, with 40 per
cent. of the population of the county, furnished 52 per cent, of the
average attendance and nearly 65 per cent, of the high school pupils.
The school systems of these cities are well organized and the schools
are thoroughly graded, and rank high among the schools of the State.

The Newburgh Schools--The school system of the city of Newburgh was
established in 1852 by special act of the legislature, before the
general free school law was passed. At that time, sixteen teachers
were employed and about 500 pupils were enrolled. By 1865, when
Newburgh became a city, and had a population of 13,905, the average
attendance had increased to nearly 1,200, and thirty-one teachers
were employed. Since that time, the growth in population has been
gradual and the schools have more than kept pace with that growth.

New buildings have been erected from time to time to provide room for
the constantly increasing enrollment, until there are now seven
buildings with sittings for more than 4,000 pupils. These buildings
are all fully equipped with the modern improvements and all the
appliances needed for the most efficient school work.

There are 109 teachers employed and the enrollment for 1906 was
4,230.

The city is doing more in the line of manual training than is done in
any other part of the county. A five years' course is given the boys
who reach the higher grammar grades and the girls, from the third to
the sixth year, are taught to sew.

The following superintendents have had charge of the schools of the
city since 1852:

    Nathaniel Jones         1852-57
    Hugh Banks              1857-59
    Dr. R. V. K. Montfort   1859-63
    E. M. Ruttenber         1863-64
    Hiram A. Jones          1864-72
    Dr. R. V. K. Montfort   1872-83
    John Miller             1883-87
    Dr. R. V. K. Montfort   1887-1900
    James M. Crane          1900


The Middletown Schools--The school system of the city of Middletown
was organized under a special act of the legislature passed in 1867.
At that time, about 500 pupils were enrolled in all the schools. The
schools have grown with the growth of the city, making necessary the
erection of new buildings at frequent intervals.

There are now eight school buildings, all built of brick, well
distributed for the convenience of the pupils attending and
excellently adapted to the needs of the city. The new high school
building is the finest and most costly school building in the county.
Sixty-two teachers were employed in 1906, and the number of pupils
enrolled was 2,557.

The following named gentlemen have been the superintendents of the
schools since their organization:

    A. V. N. Powelson    1867-69
    A. H. Farnham        1869-70
    Hiram Warren         1870-74
    Henry R. Sanford     1874-85
    George T. Church     1885-86
    A. B. Wilbur         1886-91
    James F. Tuthill     1891

The Middletown schools have a reputation for excellent work and the
school rooms, especially those in the new high school, are models of
convenience and furnishing.


The Port Jervis Schools--The village of Port Jervis came into being
soon after the completion of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and took
its name from that of the engineer in charge of that work.

It was only a small hamlet, however, until the building of the Erie
Railroad, near the middle of the last century. In 1850, there were
only 270 children of school age in the district. The coming of the
railroad caused a rapid increase in population and by 1853, the date
of the free school act, the number had increased to 562. It was not
until 1862 that the district was organized under the general law as
Union Free School District Number One of the town of Deerpark. By
1866, the number of children of school age had increased to 1,816.

The high school was organized in 1863, with David Beatty as teacher.
This school was admitted under the Regents in 1867. There are
forty-nine teachers employed and an enrollment of over 2,000 pupils.

There are six buildings used for school purposes, three of them
substantial brick buildings, constructed within the past few years.
A very noticeable feature of the schools in Port Jervis is the large
enrollment in proportion to the population. More than 20 per cent, of
the entire population was registered in the public schools, and more
than one-ninth of this registration was in the high school in 1906.

The superintendents of the schools, in Port Jervis. since their
organization in 1862, have been:

    K. W. Manning          1862-63
    David Beatty           1863-65
    Isaac M. Wellington    1865-69
    Edward A. Kingsley     1869-70
    A. B. Wilbur           1870-83
    F. W. Best             1883-84
    J. M. Dolph            1884


By the courtesy of School Commissioners George W. Flood, of the First
Assembly District and William P. Kaufmann of the Second, and of the
Superintendents of schools in Newburgh and Middletown, I am permitted
to present the principal facts of the school reports for the year
1907.

                Abstract of School Reports for 1907.

                 School Number Children of Entire  Average Expendi-
              Buildings  of    School Age  Enroll- Attend- tures
                        Teach- in  Dis-     ment    ance   for All
                         ers   trict                       School
                                                           Purposes
 Newburgh City        7  110     5,773     4,257   3,291  $101,577.97
 Middletown City      8   64     2,648     2,440   1,962    65,457.29
 Blooming Grove Town 10   16       463       503     299     8,188.70
 Cornwall             7   26     1,014       971     704    23,541.76
 Crawford            11   13       276       305     230     4,983.17
 Hamptonburgh         6    7       249       230     145     3,368.36
 Highland             3   19       843       730     593    17,666.24
 Monroe               5   14       491       515     360    10,653.14
 Montgomery          13   34     1,337     1,394     852    24,593.10
 Newburgh            13   19       753       724     447    12,228.41
 New Windsor          8   11       421       352     189     4,911.79
 Chester              5   14       461       461     365    19,549.67
 Deerpark            14   60     2,358     2,369   1,754    45,553.98
 Goshen              11   20       701       691     463    14,847.64
 Greenville           7    7       148       173      79     2,717.39
 Minisink             8   10       262       335     185     5,181.39
 Mount Hope           5    6       250       250     120     2,952.37
 Tuxedo               6   16       618       615     416    17,140.34
 Wallkill            18   18       498       511     300     7,175.70
 Wawayanda           10   10       276       299     171     4,204.28
 Norwich             18   36     1,336     1,374     950    28,387.84
 Woodbury             5    9       314       300     221     6,618.42
                   ____  ____   ______    ______  ______   __________
                    198  530    21,490    19,707  14,086  $431,499.39

[Illustration: Rev. Francis Washburn.]




CHAPTER XXXV

THE CHURCHES OF ORANGE COUNTY.

By Rev. Francis Washburn.



The prevailing religion of Orange County is still nominally
Christian, differentiated in forms of worship and principles of
faith. As yet few representatives of other religions have formed any
settlement within its boundaries.

The organized religious bodies are numerous and strong, exercising
still against many adverse agencies a controlling influence over the
lives of the people. Those first established in the county in the
Colonial epoch still maintain the predominance they then secured.
Although the confessions of faith of some of them have been modified
somewhat, yet they all with a few minor exceptions hold to the creeds
Apostolic and Nicene. With more general diffusion of education
amongst the people has come to prevail a more genial and less
dogmatic form of enunciating the great truths of the Gospel of
Christ. The churches or associations of religious people are becoming
more conservative of all that is good and wholesome for human beings
both here and hereafter.

Faith in the parental love of God the Father, and brotherly love of
Christ are being taught by the Church of Christ as the mother of the
world's children and the bride of Christ, whose spirit is more and
more the atmosphere of a heavenly home for us all. The ministry of
the church is coming to be a ministry over us everywhere in all
places and at all times. She is extending her work of sponsorship
into every sphere of human activity. And the time seems to be
rapidly approaching when she will guard us all from the cradle to the
grave from every agency of ill that would deprive us of the love and
approbation of God.

The different religious bodies bearing the name of Christian are all
seeking the good of humankind, animated by the same spirit which
actuated the Christ when He went to Golgotha and when He ascended at
Olivet. They are agreed in their aim and are united in their
sympathy. They work in agreement and will not contend with each
other. Christian charity to-day is prevailing to the elimination of
denominational pride.

The Christians of Orange County are becoming assimilated to the
spirit of those on whom the Holy Ghost fell in the day of Pentecost.
For years since the earliest settlement of this country they have
been known as Presbyterians, Lutherans, Reformed Dutch,
Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, etc.,
and are still connected with organizations bearing these names, but
they are coming to bear in their membership the same characteristic
devotion to humanity and God.

We cannot be to-day what our ancestors were who came from Europe.
They were unaware of a vast deal we know. Their knowledge of the
world and its peoples was infinitely little, ours is infinitely
large. They came and settled here amid dense forests and interpreted
God's word by and through their limited experience, but God's word to
them was a sealed book; they could not interpret it at all. They came
from different countries of Western Europe, and brought with them
their theories religious and secular. The Dutch came to the mouth of
a great stream that ran north, and settled on an island, and called
their settlement New Amsterdam. Some of them sailed up this great
river, now known as the Hudson, and established homes in the
neighborhood of the present city of Kingston, at the confluence of
two streams, known to us as the Wallkill and Rondout. Their
expression of the Christian religion exists in their descendants
to-day as the Reformed, known to me in my boyhood as the Dutch
Reformed. The churches of this denomination in Orange County owe
their origin to the missionary zeal of Rev. Petrus Vas and the Rev.
George W. Marcius, pastors of the church at Kingston. The _Montgomery
Reformed Church_ was first organized as the _German Reformed Church
of the Wallkill_ in 1782. The _Warwick Church_ was organized October
24, 1694, at Orangetown. In 1764 its congregation united with the
Presbyterians, and remained thus united until 1803, when the
congregation determined that as the deed of the property was to the
Presbyterians it should continue to be held by them as trustees,
while the Reformed Dutch Consistory should control the spiritual
interests. At the present time there are ten churches of this type in
the county, as follows:

 Location.         Pastor.           Membership.

 Newburgh          A. T. Brook       308
 Walden            W. W. Schomp      420
 Montgomery        Peter Crispell    312
 Port Jervis, 1st  Willard Conger    418
 Port Jervis, 2nd  J. B. Appel        99
 Minisink          Vacant             60
 Warwick           Faber Knox        347
 Pine Bush         H. K. Post        169
 Cuddebackville    W. W. Whitney      70
 Unionville        Vacant             20
                                  ______
                   Total           2,223

There are hundreds if not thousands of people living in this county
to-day, who do not understand why there are so many Christian
societies bearing different names and worshiping apart. There are
almost as many, in all probability who are ignorant of the doctrines
wherein they differ from other Christian bodies.

The last generation arriving at adult age has heard so infrequently
doctrinal and controversial preaching as to know not why they are of
one denomination rather than another. On this line the men who
established Presbyterian bodies in this county, away back in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were well informed.

The differences between the Presbyterians of the various schools are
equally beyond the knowledge of the great majority. I am not going to
attempt to enlighten myself or my readers by any research of old
pamphlets, etc., of the Presbyterian denomination. Life is too short
and the matter too immaterial to the issue in which we are
interested.

In 1752, says Ruttenber, the Associate Presbytery of Scotland sent
the Rev. John Culbertson to America, who organized in the Wallkill
valley a praying society in 1753, which eventually became the
_Reformed Presbyterian Church_ at Coldenham.

In 1816 or 1817 a praying society established in Newburgh became the
first _Presbyterian Church_ there.

In 1765 the _Associated Reformed Church_ of Little Britain and
Neelytown began their corporate existence.

In 1831 the _Graham Church_ of Crawford, organized in 1800, united
with the church at Hamptonburgh.

The first _Associate Reformed Church_ of Newburgh was organized in
1797, and the _Union Associate Reformed_ in 1837.

The _Presbyterian Church_ at Goshen was the first of this
denomination established in Orange County. Its first edifice stood at
the site now occupied by the Court House.

The second _Presbyterian Church_ was that at Goodwill. It was
originally established for the use of immigrants principally from
County Londonderry, Ireland. Its first pastor was Rev. John Houston.
Out of this organization rose not less than five others, namely:
Neelytown, Hamptonburgh, Hopewell, Graham, Berea and Montgomery. Its
first house of worship is said to have been erected in 1735.

The third _Presbyterian Church of Cornwall_ at Bethlehem, was
organized in 1730. From it sprang into existence the first
_Presbyterian Church_ of Newburgh, and the first of New Windsor (now
defunct).

The following statement was prepared by the Rev. Charles O. Hammer:

 Churches.             Pastors.              Membership     Money
                                             1902  1906     Raised
 Amity                 R. H. Craig, LL.D.      92   102     $1,086.80
 Denton                J. L. Harrington        45    33        725.60
 Chester               R. H. McCready, Ph.D.  284   278      3,378.56
 Goshen                F. S. Haines           630   393      7,792.92
 Montgomery            T. D. Elder            186   205      4,416.72
 Port Jervis           Vacant                 410   335      3,635.86
 Scotchtown              "                    126   119      1,156.70
 Goodwill              J. H. Thompson         143   152      1,811.48
 Ramapo                R. B. Marble           320   304      5,674.00
 Hopewell              J. S. E. Erskine       142   128      1,136.32
 Westtown              F. H. Bisbee           160   169      1,638.72
 Middletown, 1st       W. R. Ferris           465   465      7,328.00
 Monroe                Vacant                 111   114      1,870.00
 Suffern               Pastor Elect           ___   166      2,225.40
 Hamptonburgh          W. B. Johnson          127   162      2,085.32
 Ridgebury             F. A. Gates             82    86      1,381.24
 Washingtonville       J. A. McCallum         126   146      2,102.44
 Florida               Vacant                 155   170      2,699.90
 Centerville             "                     43    40        412.00
 Circleville             "                    105   118      1,137.44
 Middletown, 2nd       Pastor Elect           400   486      6,408.72
 Mt. Hope              Vacant                  29    26        290.24
 Otisville               "                    114   109      1,010.24
 Slate Hill              "                    ___    44        786.96
 Calvary, N. B. City   J. Searles             282   284     10,840.50
 First,   "  "   "     Vacant                 506   490      9,700.59
 Union,   "  "   "     S. K. Piercy           400   400      7,044.03
 Grand St.," "   "     R. H. Barr             ___   ___      ________
 Bethlehem S'l'y Mills I. Maxwell             174   196      2,274.25
 Cornwall              H. R. Fraser           185   201      2,035.58
 Little Britain        J. S. King             129   130      1,817.25
 Highland Falls        A. R. Barron           113   135      1,880.25
 Canterbury            Supplied                41    73      1,022.88
                                            _____ _____    __________
                                            6,134 6,259    $99,715.52

 Churches                         33
 Vacant                            8
 Membership increase, 1902-1906  125


_Reformed Presbyterian._ The Reformed Presbyterians are the
ecclesiastical descendants of the Covenanters of Scotland. In the
latter half of the eighteenth century some of them who had come to
Orange County, organized as a church society in Coldenham, and called
as pastor, Rev. Dr. Alexander McLeod, who afterward became famous as
a preacher in New York City. For five years, from 1812, Rev. James
Mulligan was pastor, and he was followed by the eloquent J. R.
Williams, who delivered the famous address at Goshen when the bones
of the patriots who fell in the battle of Minisink were buried. The
present pastor is Rev. Thomas Patton.

A society of Reformed Presbyterians was formed in Newburgh in 1802,
and services were held for a time at the residence of James Clarke.
This was a part of the Coldenham congregation until 1824, when it was
organized as a separate society and called for its first pastor Rev.
J. R. Johnston, who afterward joined the _Presbyterian Church._ The
present pastor, Rev. J. W. V. Carlisle, is the successor of his
father, who died in 1887.

December 12, 1854, a second Reformed Presbyterian society was
organized in Newburgh, which is known as the _Westminster Church._ It
has had but one pastor, Rev. J. R. Thompson, whose ministrations in
December, 1907, had extended through the long period of fifty-two
years. He has said of his church: "The motto of Harvard College is
'Pro Christo et Ecclesia'; but that of Reformed Presbyterians is,
'Pro Christo et Ecclesia et Patria.' Their aim is to Christianize the
National government as well as the church."

_The Protestant Episcopal Church._ This branch of the Church
Catholic now represented in Orange County is shown by the following
statistical report. A brief general history of the Protestant
Episcopal Church may be appreciated. Prior and up to the war of
Independence, there were several places in the county where worship
was maintained by the Church of England Society, for the propagation
of the gospel in foreign parts, namely, at Newburgh on the Glebe,
granted to them by King George; at St. David's in the vicinity of the
present village of Washingtonville, and at St. Andrews west of
Newburgh some twelve miles.

The success of the colonists in the above war took these and other
churches from the jurisdiction of the Church of England. To meet the
new situation measures were immediately taken by the ordained clergy
of the colonies, who had accepted the results of the Revolutionary
War for the restoration of the government and worship of that church.
The church in the United States was without a head, that is to say
without a Bishop. Those who constituted it could not continue without
such. All English Bishops were so sworn to the Crown of England that
they were unable to act in an independent state such as this. No
priest could be elevated to the office of Bishop in England without
subscribing to the following article, _i. e._ That the King's Majesty
under God is the only Supreme Governor of this realm and of all other
of His Highness's dominions and countries as well as in all
spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal. In the
American church no ordination or confirmations could take place. In
1780 a conference of the clergy and laity assembled at the call of
the Rev. Dr. William Smith, president of Washington College. The
purpose was to unite the separated parts into a body corporate. A
second conference was called in 1783. There were present at this
eighteen clergymen.

When the Revolutionary War closed there were in Connecticut forty
Episcopal congregations, fourteen clergymen and forty thousand
members, ten of the fourteen met at Woodbury in Litchfield County,
and chose two men either of whom they thought would be suitable for
the office of Bishop, namely, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Leaming, and
Samuel Seabury. Dr. Seabury accepted, went to England and laid before
the Bishop his credentials submitting to him the fact which in the
judgment of the Connecticut people made the appointment of an
American Bishop an immediate necessity. In case of failure in England
he was to go to Scotland and endeavor to secure consecration of the
non-juring Bishops. To these Bishops Seabury was finally compelled to
resort for consecration. In a private chapel of a modest house in
Aberdine he was consecrated by Robert Kilgour, Arthur Petrie and John
Skinner. He came home to America the first Bishop of the church here.

In May, 1784, at a meeting held in New Brunswick, N. Y., by the
managers of the society for the relief of the widows and orphans of
clergymen the general condition of the church came up for discussion,
the result of which was a call for a conference of churchmen from all
the States to be held in October. It met. There were present
delegates from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia and Connecticut. A call was issued summoning the
churches in the several States to send delegates to a constitutional
convention. This was held in Philadelphia on St. Michael's Day in
1785, with the following result: A constitution for the church.
Having made it they proceeded to consider the Episcopate; they drew
up an address to the Archbishop and Bishops of England. Upon the
receipt of the answer they met in October, 1786, for its
consideration. In reply they informed the English Bishops that the
Nicene and Apostles' Creeds were retained and that in fact the
English prayer book was kept intact. They then called the roll of
States present to ascertain if any had chosen men for Bishops. New
York delegates presented the name of Dr. Provoost. Pennsylvania
presented the name of White. Maryland had already chosen Dr. Smith.
White and Provoost went to England and were consecrated in Lambeth
Chapel, February 4, 1786. On their return to this country they were
met by the Bishop of Connecticut and with him consulted on terms of
union. The result of their deliberation was the adoption of
resolutions which it was thought would harmonize both sides. In these
resolutions they recognized the validity of Seabury's consecration
and that together with Provoost and White they had all the power
which belongs to the Episcopal office limited only by such canons or
laws as the entire church of the United States might fix. They then
adjourned to meet again in Connecticut in convention of the whole
church. When the constitution was altered, the Bishops became a
separate house, the other house was to be composed of representatives,
lay and clerical (not Bishops). They also revised the English prayer
book to make it harmonize with the government of these States. These
things being satisfactorily adjusted the organization of the
Protestant Episcopal church of the United States of North America
became an established fact.

The Protestant Episcopal churches of this section, with those of
other sections of New York State, first came under the superintendence
of Bishop Samuel Provoost, Rector of _Trinity Parish_ in the city of
New York; at which time, _St. Andrews Parish,_ Walden, then in Ulster
County and _St. George's,_ Newburgh, were the only ones surviving the
ravages of the Revolutionary period. These churches with _St. David's_
had been organized under an act of incorporation granted by King
George the Third, dated July 23, 1770, at which time the Rev. John
Sayre was in charge of missionary work at Newburgh and parts adjacent.

There do not appear to have been any Episcopal duties performed in
either Ulster or Orange Counties until 1700, from the time of the
superintendency of Bishop Provoost when Rev. George H. Spierin
became the minister and schoolmaster of St. George's Glebe School and
Church in Newburgh and the rector of _St. Andrews,_ Walden. There is
no record of any visitations of the parishes by Provoost.

In 1804 when Rev. Frederick Van Horn was rector of _St. Andrew's,_ it
and _St. George's_ were members of the Diocesan convention. Bishop
Moore was then in charge of the diocese. During his Episcopate _St.
James' Church,_ Goshen, was received into union with the convention,
1808, and _Christ's Church,_ Warwick, 1804. Although there are no
records of any Episcopal visitations in this section of the State
there probably were such. February, 1816, Bishop Moore died, and was
succeeded by Bishop John Henry Hobart, who became the third Bishop of
New York. _Trinity Church,_ from which the bishops were selected down
to the time of Bishop Horatio Potter, furnished not only the Bishops
but the financial means for the maintenance of church work throughout
the whole country. The Episcopal Church in the United States, when
Dr. Hobart assumed Episcopal jurisdiction, was apparently dying. He
revived hope in the hearts of its adherents. With him the church
began to live and grow. He established a Churchman's magazine in New
York, provided for a learned clergy by establishing a college at
Geneva, did much for the endowment of the college in New York and was
also the real founder of the Theological Seminary there. It was while
he was bishop that the Rev. John Brown became rector of _St. George's
Parish,_ Newburgh (1816) and _St. Thomas',_ New Windsor, 1818.

The original diocese of New York is now divided into five. The names
of successful Bishops of New York from Hobart's time to this are
Right Rev. Treadwell Onderdonk, who was consecrated in 1830; Bishop
Wainwright, Bishop Horatio Potter, Bishop Henry C. Potter and Bishop
Greer. In 1838 the diocese of western New York was created. _Grace
Church,_ Middletown, was organized under Onderdonk's Episcopate.
During which also the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright was consecrated
to perform the Episcopal duties in the diocese provisionally. Bishop
Wainwright died on the feast of St. Matthew, Thursday, September
21st, 1854, in the sixty-third year of his age. Dr. Horatio Potter
became Bishop, November 22, 1854, and served provisionally until the
death of Bishop Onderdonk in 1861, and wholly from that time until
the twelfth day of September, 1883, when he withdrew, having
faithfully served the church as Bishop of New York for twenty-nine
years. His Episcopate was the most successful and satisfactory from
the beginning; Hobart's was brilliant, but his was masterful and
complete. He was a great man, master of himself and others. He ruled
with ease and equity the variant elements that composed the ministry
and membership of the church. With clear perception of character he
indulged idiosyncrasies in men whom he saw were sincere and earnest.
A perfect gentleman, a true Christian, a sound churchman, unobtrusive
and inoffensive. He handed the administration of the church to his
successor affluent and strong, socially, spiritually, intellectually
and financially. He was succeeded by his nephew, the Right Rev. Henry
C. Potter. When he resigned his diocese there were in Orange County
the following flourishing parishes: _St. George's,_ Newburgh; _St.
Pauls,_ Newburgh; _St. John's,_ Canterbury; _St. James',_ Goshen;
_Grace Church,_ Middletown; _St. Andrew's_ Walden; _St. John's,_
Arden; _St. George's Mission,_ Newburgh; _Grace Church,_ Monroe.
Under the present administration of his successor the growth of the
church in this county has been continuous since 1904, being greatly
aided by the Right Rev. David Hummel Greer, D.D., L.L.D., Bishop
coadjutor. Orange County is united for missionary work with Sullivan
County and Ulster County under the Rev. W. R. Thomas, D.D., Rector of
Highland Falls, Arch-Deacon.

              THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

_Grace Church,_ Monroe. Minister in charge, J. H. McGinnis, D.D.
Number of communicants in 1905, fifty-six. Income, 1905, between
five and six hundred dollars.

_St. Paul's Church,_ Chester. Rector, J. H. McGinnis, D.D. Income,
1905, $901.39. Number of communicants in 1899, thirty-three.

_St. Daniel's Church,_ pre-Revolutionary, near Washingtonville,
(extinct).

_Christ's Church,_ Warwick. Rev. W. M. Pickslay, Rector. This parish
was admitted into union with convention, in 1866. Number of
communicants in 1905, 130. Income, 1905, $4,305.47.

_St. Mary's Church,_ Tuxedo. Rev. Wm. FitzSimons, Rector. Number of
communicants in 1905, 242. Income, 1905, $18,654.20.

_St. John's Church,_ Arden, N. Y. Rev. J. H. McGinnis, Minister.
Received into union with convention, in 1868. In the year of 1885
communicants, fifty-seven, in 1905, forty. Income, 1905, $1,167.25.

_St. Johns Church,_ Canterbury. Rev. W. W. Page, D.D., Rector.
Organized, 1858, church edifices erected and opened for divine
service, advent, 1859. A rectory was given to the parish by Miss
E. C. Purdy in 1876. Number of communicants in 1858, three, in 1863,
thirty-three, in 1879, fifty-nine, in 1885, 104, in 1905, 200.
Income, 1905, $1,559.

_Holy Innocents,_ Highland Falls, Rev. W. R. Thomas, D.D.
Receipts for 1905, $2,387. Communicants, 112.

_St. Thomas' Church,_ New Windsor. Rev. Creighton Spensor.
Organized, April 8, 1818. Church built in 1848. Number of
communicants in 1905, thirty-three. Receipts, $1,441.71.

_St. Andrew's Church,_ Walden. Rev. Thomas G. Losee, Rector. Present
number of communicants over 142. Incorporated in 1770, escaped
dissolution during the Revolution.

_Good Shepherd,_ Greenwood Lake. Rev. W. R. Thomas, D.D. In 1905
number of communicants, forty. Receipts, 1905, $1,902.80.

_Good Shepherd Church,_ Newburgh. Rector, Rev. J. M. Chew. Organized
in 1872. Number of communicants, 1905, 813. Rev. Francis Washburn.
Receipts, 1905, about $4,000.

_St. Paul's Church,_ Newburgh. Organized 1860. Rev. James Calhoun
Elliott, Rector. Number of communicants, 1905, 193. Receipts, 1905,
$6,671.76.

_St. George's Church,_ Newburgh. Rev. John Huske, Rector.
Incorporated by Royal charter, July 30, 1770. Present church built
1819. Number of communicants, 1905, 558. Receipts between seven and
eight thousand dollars.

_St. Agnes' Chapel,_ Balmville. Rev. Frederick Everet Whitney,
minister in charge. Built by Mr. and Mrs. Whitney, and maintained by
gifts from the communicants and members of the congregation. Number
of communicants, 1905, fifty-eight.

_St. Andrew's Chapel,_ Montgomery. T. G. Losee, Rector. Number of
communicants, 1905, twenty-nine.

_St. James' Church,_ Goshen. Parish organized June 25, 1803. Church
built about 1804, and rebuilt, 1852. Rector. Rev. George William
Dumbell, D.D. In 1812, there were six communicants, and in 1905, 222.
Income about $4,000. It appears from the records that there was an
Episcopal Church before the Revolution, at Decker's Corners. In 1843,
the Rev. W. W. Page, of Goshen, preached occasionally at Middletown.

_Grace Church,_ Middletown. Rector, Rev. F, J. Simthers, Jr. Parish
organized, February 8, 1845. Church built, 1847. Number of
communicants in 1885, 272, in 1905, 350. Income between seven and
eight thousand dollars.

_Grace Church,_ Port Jervis. Rector, Rev. Uriah Symonds. Income in
1905, between eight and nine hundred dollars. Parish organized in
1854. First church built in 1856, and the present edifice in 1870.
Number of communicants in 1871, twenty-seven, in 1905, 117.

              THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

The Rev. George W. Grinton, secretary of the New York Conference,
reports that there are at present thirty-six churches of this
denomination in Orange County, with a total membership of 5,900.
Detailed reference to each appears in the various town histories of
this publication.

Methodism began its existence on this continent and in this county,
contemporaneously with the Republic of the United States, John
Wesley, the founder of it, began his zealous propaganda in England,
among the un-churched masses, in the year 1739, the year that
Whitefield began his second tour of America. Independent of any
effort of his, the first society of Methodists was formed in the city
of New York by some of the German Palatines from Ireland. At the
conference held by Wesley, at London, in 1770, two letters were
received from New York reporting a society there of about one hundred
members and a chapel.

In 1784 Wesley appointed Cooke superintendent of the Methodist
societies in the United States, giving the following reasons for
doing so--"that as the Revolution had separated the United States
from the mother country and the Episcopal establishment was utterly
abolished in the States it became his duty as providently at the head
of the Methodist societies to obey their demand and furnish them the
means of Grace. Recognized as their founder by the American
Methodists; required by them to provide for their new necessities,
and unable to induce the English prelates to do so, he ordained Cooke
that he might go to America and ordain preachers." Cooke arrived in
America and "ordained" Francis Ashbury first, as a presbyter and
finally as a superintendent. Says Stevens, the Methodist historian:
"The Colonial English Church being dissolved by the Revolution, its
fragments were yet floating as had been the Methodist societies amid
the stirring tide of events. When Ashbury began his superintendency
there was small membership and but a few itinerant preachers. When he
died there were seven hundred itinerants, 2,000 local preachers and
240,000 lay members."

The first services held in this country by a Methodist itinerant,
Mr. Cooper, was held in the house of Colonel Daniel McCauley at
Warwick in 1706. The second at that of Mrs. A. Smith, a sister of the
colonel, situated at Middlehope. Mr. Cooper also visited John Woolsey
near Milton. Six weeks later, accompanied by a Mr. John McCloskey,
John Cooper passed through the same section, going as far north as
New Paltz, holding services at the homes of Hendrick Deyo and
Andries Du Bois.

In 1787 Ezekiel Cooper visited the town of Newburgh and held
religious services at Samuel Fowler's in Middlehope, where he
established a preaching station which remained such until 1813.

In 1788 the Methodist Conference established the Flanders circuit,
which embraced a portion of this county, and put James O. Cooper in
charge, with Jesse Lee, Orin Hutchins and John Lee as assistants.

In 1789 the circuit of Newburgh was created, with James D. Cromwell
as presiding elder, and Nathaniel B. Mills and Andrew Humphrey as
preachers. The following classes composed the circuit:

Samuel Fowler, Middlehope; Munson Wards, Fostertown; Jacob Daytons,
Lattingtown; Mr. Schultz, Dolsentown; Mr. Warwick, Warwick; Luff
Smith, Marlborough; Daniel Stephens, in the Clove; Richard Garrison,
in the Clove; Elnathan Foster, Newburgh; Daniel Holmes, Middlehope;
Samuel Wyatts, Keytown; Winslow Allison, Pochunk; John Ellisons, New
Windsor; Daniel Ostrander, Plattekill; Samuel Ketcham, Sugar Loaf.

The first class to be organized (1807) as a church was the one at
Vail's Gate under the name of the _Union M. E. Church of New
Windsor._ In 1819 the Newburgh circuit was divided and another
circuit created, including the societies at Bethel, Bloomingburgh,
Middletown, Montgomery, Walden, Burlingham, Sam's Point and Walker
Valley.

In 1837 Sugar Loaf circuit came into existence. This embraced Sugar
Loaf, Florida, Ellenville, Bellevale, Chester. Monroe, Oxford,
Satterlytown, Washingtonville, Blagg's Corner, Highland Mills, Little
Long Pond and Greenwood Lake.

                  THE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

The Baptist denomination, we are informed by Dr. A. R Fuller of the
_First Baptist Church,_ Newburgh, N. Y., has at the present time,
March, 1907, eleven churches. One in Cornwall, Unionville, Port
Jervis, Warwick, Walden, Maybrook, two in Middletown and three in
Newburgh. It has church property valued at $162,500.

The first minister of this persuasion to preach its tenets in the
county was Mr. Halstead, pastor of a society at Fishkill, Dutchess
County. April 24, 1790, a society was organized in Newburgh. In 1806
another society erected a place of worship at Luptondale, and
established a burying ground.

The Baptist congregation at Warwick originated with the settlers from
Connecticut. These organized what has since been known as the Old
School Baptist Body. The first place of worship was erected on what
is now the junction of the road leading from the village of Warwick,
and the road leading from the Welling schoolhouse to Bellevale. In
1809 and 1810 the society bought land in Warwick, and erected the
building which it now occupies.

                      THE LUTHERAN CHURCHES.

The Lutheran churches are _St. Peters,_ Port Jervis, and _St.
Paul's,_ Newburgh. This society was founded by the immigrants from
the Palatine, who were sent here in the reign of Queen Anne.

                      THE UNITARIAN CHURCH.

A Unitarian church, named the _Church of Our Father,_ was organized
at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson in 1847, at a private residence. The first
meetings were held at the De Witt homestead, and afterward in the
public hall of the village. The congregation included men and women
of culture, public spirit and unquestioned high character. It was
ministered to by such men of repute for ability and piety as Revs.
William H. Channing, Edward Turner, F. A. Farley and H. W. Bellows
among others. Occasional services were held at Low Point,
Channingville and other points in the neighborhood of Fishkill for
eight years. About 1855, in consequence of the increasing attendance
from Newburgh, the church was reorganized in that city, where
services were held in the court house and the Universalist church,
and there was preaching by some of the ablest ministers of the
denomination. There were so many accessions to the church that in
1869 a committee was chosen to consider the subject of building a
house of worship. This consisted of William W. Carson, John Heron,
George Lamey, Benjamin Dumville, George H. Southard, J. N. Dichey,
George W. Peters and William Stocker. Warren Delano was afterwards
added, and made chairman. The deliberations and resulting efforts
brought about the erection of the present building at a cost of
$16,000, and it was consecrated in 1870. The first pastor was Rev.
F. W. Holland, and the present pastor is Rev. Alson H. Robinson.

                 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ORANGE.

The first Catholic missions in Orange County seem to have been
established in 1817 and 1818. The Rev. Dr. French came in 1817, and
the Rev. Father Langdill arrived about a year later.

The first Catholic church, _St. Patrick's,_ was organized at Newburgh
in 1826, and the parochial school in connection with that church was
started soon afterward.

The introduction of Roman Catholicism in this State during the
colonial period is fraught with much interest. The history of these
initial efforts covers the incidents of the French and Indian wars,
beginning in 1687 and terminating in the French domination of Canada.
Even as far back as 1608, the work was begun among some of the
northern Indian tribes. But the conversion of the Six Nations met
with little success until after the accession of James II to the
English throne. He instructed the province governors to aid the
French missionaries and grant them every facility in the prosecution
of their work.

But these privileges were also used to advance their national cause
among the Iroquois, and the King was compelled to modify his zeal for
the propagation of the Catholic faith, which he professed.

This policy of the English government was entirely changed, however,
on the accession of William and Mary. Trade with the Indians had been
seriously affected by the influence of these French priests, and the
alliance between the English and the Iroquois was greatly weakened in
consequence. Even the toleration of Catholicism was now forbidden;
not from any hostility to the faith in itself, but for political
reasons which affected the nation and its interests. Severe measures
of repression were adopted. Catholic priests who came into the
provinces voluntarily were subject to the death penalty.

This practically was the state of affairs until after the breaking
out of the Revolutionary War. Then, by the terms of the first State
constitution, freedom of opinion was permitted to all who subscribed
to the oath of allegiance. When Ireland was appealed to for aid in
the war, and the subsequent assistance of Catholic France was asked,
the prejudices of the people were materially affected. This made it
possible to engraft upon the federal constitution of 1787 the full
and complete equality of all religious faiths. This of course opened
the door to Catholicism, and yet the church authorities seem to have
made little effort to extend their faith until after the Irish
rebellion of 1798. Then the Catholic immigrants began to arrive in
America.

The first priest stationed in New York City was the Rev. Charles
Whalen, an Irish Franciscan, who had been a chaplain in the French
fleet. He settled here after the war, and his brother, Dr. Joseph
Whalen, purchased a plot of land from the Schuyler patent in
Montgomery in April, 1788. The Rev. Luke Concanen was the first
Bishop of New York, but he died before entering upon his duties. The
Rev. John Conelly, his successor, was consecrated in 1814. And the
first thing he did was to establish missions in the Hudson River
valley. He is said to have sought "to prevent the children of
Catholics conforming to the persuasions of their neighbors."




CHAPTER XXXVI.

ORANGE COUNTY AGRICULTURE.

By David A. Morrison.



The success and well-being of the American farmer is always a matter
of vital concern to the entire country. The agricultural interest of
any country, any State, or any county, being the fundamental
condition upon which all other branches of human effort are based and
must depend, is therefore of paramount concern to all classes.

In the county of Orange in 1899 the figures of the national census
show there were 13,584 acres devoted to corn, which yielded 589,730
bushels of this cereal that year. Two thousand eight hundred and
forty-four acres were sown to wheat and 42,430 bushels were gathered.
The acreage of rye was 4,453, and the total yield was 79,980 bushels.
Oats were grown upon 5,156 acres and the product was 126,540 bushels.
One thousand three hundred and eighty-three acres were in buckwheat,
and the pancake crop that year was 23,640 bushels.

The decrease in the rural population of Orange County homes is
smaller than most other counties of the State, and the depreciation
of farm lands is not so apparent. In fact the general property
valuation of the county seems to be increasing something like two and
one-half million dollars per year, being rated at $43,804,861.40 for
1907.

The population of the county, according to the State enumeration of
1905, was 107,267. This was an increase over the report of the
national census for 1900 of 3,408. Of this number, 41,014 lived in
the cities of Newburgh and Middletown. In 1880 the county ranked
eleventh in the State for population, ninth in the value of its
farms, and third in the value of its farm buildings. It was second in
the yield of hay, second also in corn, and third in wheat and
potatoes. In the dairy department it stood right at the head, being
first in cows and also in the average yield per cow. Even in its
production of wool the county had fourth place.

Samuel W. Eager, the early and conscientious historian of Orange
County, speaking of the agricultural aspect of the county in 1847,
says:

"The soil is above medium character for all agricultural purposes,
and while the agriculture of the county is above mediocrity, the soil
may be considered worn out and exhausted, as respects growing large
or profitable crops of wheat, without manuring too expensively. That
article must be purchased of the western farmer, who yet drives his
ploughshare through a strong and virgin soil. That this crop must be
abandoned for the present, and the land employed to raise grass, or
other grains, is a dictate of common sense, and we trust our farmers
are wise enough to see it, and not struggle in an unequal contest
against the easy culture and large crops of the West."

While this advice was doubtless justified, statistics show it was not
followed. The wheat crop of 1874 was greater than that of 1840, and
the yield per acre was better under the improved culture. No attempt
is made to compete with the vast wheat fields of the far West in the
production of this great staple grain, which in fact is only grown to
a very limited extent in this county to-day.

Small fruits, peaches, apples and other orchard fruits are
extensively grown in some parts of the county, especially in the
upper river section, about Newburgh and Cornwall. The peach industry
began in the Newburgh district about 1880, and in the Pine Island
section about 1895, and for a time some fine crops were gathered when
the winters were not too severe. But of late the orchards are less
promising because of the devastations of the San Jose scale, which,
together with the severe winters, make peach growing a precarious
business in this section. The leaf curl and peach yellows are other
discouraging features, and it takes an intelligent and industrious
grower to succeed in the business. He must spray and spray, and also
dig the borers from the base of the tree trunks diligently.

Among the largest peach growers in the Warwick, New Milford and Pine
Island districts are E. G. Stiebeling, 6,000 trees; J. B. Rhodes,
4,000; J. R. Feagles, 4,000; Harvey Vail, 6,000; E. D. Waterbury,
3,000; J. C. Drew, 2,000; G. W. Hyatt, 6,000; W. S. Layton, 4,000;
Henry Demorest, 4,000; Barry Walch, 3,000; Henry Patton, 2,000;
Thomas Willing, 2,000; H. F. Wheeler, 2,000; Knapp & Husted, 1,500;
George Benedict, 1,000; J. E. Sanford, 2,000. Florida District: J. O.
Gable, 3,000; H. D. Jessup, 3,000; Charles Jessup, 3,000; John
Houston, 2,000; E. Lovett, 2,000. Chester District: E. N. Demorest,
2,000. The largest fruit growers in the Middlehope section are E. D.
Barns, Nathaniel Barns, Nat. C. Barns, John W. Bingham, W. J. Fowler,
V. J. Kohl and many others. Barnyard manure, muriate of potash and
ground bone are the fertilizers used. It is found by these growers
that the peach can only be grown upon high, dry land with profit.
The flavor of the fruit produced here is like that of the lower
Ulster and northern Orange section, of high quality, and it brings
the best price.

Red raspberries and strawberries were very successfully grown in
different parts of the county some years ago, especially about
Cornwall and Newburgh, and the northern river section. And both these
popular fruits are still produced to a large extent. Among these
small fruit enthusiasts there were the late Rev. E. P. Roe and N. P.
Willis, of Cornwall. North of Newburgh was the home of Andrew J.
Downing and Charles Downing, his brother, whose standard work on
"The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America" has been the recognized
authority upon nomenclature and description of fruits in America,
ever since it was written.

             THE ORANGE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

This society is one of the oldest and best known organizations in the
county. It had its beginning at a meeting of citizens called pursuant
to law by Lebbeus L. Vail, county clerk, to organize a county
agricultural society, and held in the Old Stone Court House at
Goshen, September 11, 1841. Of the persons who attended that meeting
the names of the following have been rescued from oblivion: John
Caldwell, Jesse Bull, Nicholas Dederer, Blooming Grove; William
Sayer, Cornwall; Alexander Thompson, Crawford; Aaron Van Duzer,
Charles Monell, John Wilson, Hezekiah H. Strong, Phineas Rumsey,
James W. Carpenter, Goshen; Hamilton Morrison, Samuel Wait, Jr.,
John Wait, Gideon Pelton, John A. Smith, Montgomery; Frederic J.
Betts, Charles Downing, Henry Robinson, Newburgh; Leonard Lee, John
R. Caldwell, New Windsor; William Hurtin, Israel H. Wickham,
Wallkill; Jeffrey Wisner, Warwick.

At that meeting a constitution and by-laws were adopted, and at the
adjourned meeting, held at the same place, October 13, 1841, the
organization of the society was completed by the election of the
following officers: President, John Caldwell, Blooming Grove;
Vice-presidents, Captain Henry Robinson, Newburgh; John R. Caldwell,
New Windsor; William Sayer, Cornwall; Jeffrey Wisner, Warwick;
Lewis H. Roe, Monroe; Hulet Clark, Minisink; James D. Bull,
Hamptonburgh; Richard Sears, Goshen; Gideon Pelton, Montgomery; David
C. Bull, Crawford; William Hurtin, Wallkill; William S. Little,
Mount Hope; Thomas Van Etten, Deer Park. Recording secretary, John
Wilson, Goshen. Corresponding secretary, Joseph W. Gott, Goshen.
Treasurer, Charles Monell, Goshen. Executive committee, Frederic J.
Retts, Samuel Wait, Jr., Leonard Lee, Phineas Rumsey, Alexander
Thompson, Charles Dill, Thomas W. Bradner.

Of the officers then elected not one survives. So long has been the
time that has passed, and so many and so great the changes that have
taken place since its organization, that the management of the
society is now in the hands of men, few of whom knew any of its
founders. Although they were prominent men, well-known in their day
and generation, even their names are not familiar to a majority of
its members to-day.

The first fair was held at Goshen, November 17, 1841; and although it
was very late in the season, and there had been but little time for
preparation, it gave such general satisfaction that the success of
the society was assured. The cattle, sheep and swine were shown on
the grounds adjacent to the Presbyterian church; the horses were
exhibited on Main street, and the other exhibits in the Old court
house. Ninety-seven premiums were awarded amounting to $210, besides
twenty-one agricultural periodicals.

The second fair was held at Goshen, October 12, 1842. The premiums
offered amounted to $333, exclusive of thirty-five agricultural books
and papers, distributed as follows: Farms, $45; cattle, $113; horses,
$38; sheep, $31; swine, $8; butter, $44; agricultural products, $54.
The county newspapers of that time said "The exhibition was in the
highest degree creditable to the agricultural interests of the
county. The people assembled in thousands to witness the exhibition,
and thronged the streets in numbers equaled on but few occasions
before. The exhibition of domestic manufactures graced the interior
of the new court house."

The third fair was held October 4, 1843. Five thousand persons were
estimated to have been in attendance. One hundred and thirteen
premiums were awarded amounting to $325, besides twenty-eight
publications. The following extract from the annual report of the
president, Hon. Frederic J. Retts, is a reminder of changed
conditions: "About thirty samples of butter were exhibited, and the
committee of judges announced that twenty-six of the specimens they
believed could not be beat in the world. In superlatives there is no
comparative degree, and it is difficult to say, therefore, who stands
first in such a category. Our wives and our daughters are our
dairy-women, and while they so ably sustain the agricultural
reputation of the county, Old Orange need have no fears for her rank
as a farming county."

In 1846 the society for the first time held its fair on two days. In
that year the first plowing match took place and was an interesting
feature of the exhibition. Each competitor was required to plow
one-fourth of an acre in seventy-five minutes, including two rests of
five minutes each.

At the annual meeting in 1847, mainly through the efforts of the
Newburgh members, the constitution of the society was so amended that
the annual fair was thereafter to be held at Goshen every alternate
year and the rest of the time at other places.

In 1848 it was held at Newburgh. The mechanical display was made on
the porch of the court house, the grain and vegetables in the main
hall, the fruit and domestic manufactures in the court room and
within the railing, the horses were shown on Liberty street, and the
cattle on a lot west of it. The plowing match took place on the farm
of Captain Robinson. County Judge A. M. Sherman was one of the
competitors--he held his own plow, performed his work in the shortest
time, and received one of the premiums.

In 1850 the fair was held at Montgomery. The articles were exhibited
under a tent, the cattle were loose in an adjoining field, the horses
were shown on Union street; $95 were awarded in premiums on cattle,
$57 on horses, $60 on sheep and swine, $14 on butter and $27 on
plowing.

At Middletown in 1852, the fair grounds were located in the eastern
part of the village and were known as the Ogden Track. At the
suggestion of Colonel Israel H. Wickham (then president), the society
had purchased a large tent, in which all articles were exhibited.
Nearly all the cattle were tied to posts, and the horses for the
first time were exhibited on a track.

The fourteenth fair was held at Chester.

The second fair held at Newburgh, October 8 and 9, 1856, was a great
success. The society's tent was erected on grounds attached to
Washington's Headquarters, north of which were posts with ties for
cattle and pens for other animals, the adjacent lot on the south was
used for loose cattle. Arrangements were made with the trustees of
the village, and with the owners of property on South William,
Liberty and other streets, for the exclusive use of portions of these
streets for the exhibition of horses. The plowing match and a trial
of plows took place a short distance south of Headquarters. Special
attractions were for the first time provided--there was a parade of
the entire fire department of the village and a boat race under the
auspices of the Newburgh Regatta Association.

In 1858 the second fair at Montgomery was said to have been one of
the best then held in the county. One hundred and ninety-seven
premiums were awarded.

In 1860 the fair was again held at Middletown. The published accounts
represent it to have been still more successful than it had been
eight years before.

During these first twenty years of the society's existence it was
customary for the executive committee to meet at an early day, fix a
date for the fair, prepare a premium list, select judges, and have
all published gratuitously in the newspapers of the county. These
early fairs were generally satisfactory. The grounds not being
enclosed, no admission fee was charged. Articles were exhibited in
public halls until 1850, and after that in a tent. The expenses were
light, the premiums few and payment was obtained from membership fees
and the State appropriation, supplemented by private contributions
procured by personal importunity.

At the annual meeting in 1861 the executive committee was empowered
to raise by stock subscription a sum of money sufficient to purchase
or lease suitable grounds, and to erect buildings and fences
thereon--the grounds to be in the vicinity of Goshen. The committee
leased the grounds known as the Goshen Driving Park and issued
certificates of stock, in shares of $25 each, bearing interest at the
rate of ten per cent, per annum. The number of shares was fixed at
100, and no person was permitted to subscribe for more than one
share. All the stock was promptly taken, and the building
(Agricultural Hall) occupied by the society from 1862 to 1874. During
this period the interests of the turf were predominant and not
entirely regarded as creditable exhibitions of the products of the
farm, the workshop, or the home.

In 1866 the society was reorganized and incorporated. Having failed
to secure a renewal of the lease for the grounds, it was determined
that the fair building should be sold at auction, and on the 20th of
December it was sold for $300. The proceeds of the sale were in part
applied to the payment of debts, the balance was divided pro rata
among the stockholders, who, as an element of the society, then
ceased to exist.

In 1874 the society was therefore composed only of members. It was
without grounds. It was out of funds and out of debt--having neither
assets nor liabilities. Its exhibitions held many years at Goshen,
the residents of that village had tired of them, and the people in
other sections of the county took but little interest in them.
Several of its leading managers were so absorbed in horse trotting
that other departments had been neglected. The number of entries had
been reduced to less than 400. The attendance of visitors was
comparatively small, and the membership had dwindled to about
seventy.

Under these discouraging circumstances, such of the officers as
continued to take an interest in the society accepted the invitation
of citizens of Montgomery to hold the thirty-fourth fair in that
village. The result fully vindicated the wisdom of their action. More
than 1,000 entries were made. Many new members were enrolled,
prominent among whom was the Rev. L. L. Comfort, whose influence and
example did much to elevate it from the condition into which it had
fallen. The fairs continued to be held at Montgomery for four years,
during which time the treasury was replenished and a surplus fund
formed which in 1887 amounted to about $8,000.

The memorable fair in 1878, held at Washingtonville, was the
beginning of a new era. For the first time in twenty years no
trotting or racing was seen on the grounds. It was in all respects a
legitimate and successful exhibition, and was only excelled by that
of the following year, held at the same place, when nearly 2,600
entries were made, and 800 premiums, amounting to more than $1,500,
awarded. During these two years the Orange County fair was raised to
the high plane that it has since occupied.

At Warwick in 1880 and 1881 the excellence of its exhibitions were
fully maintained. The additions then made to the society's membership
rolls, and to its council board, were of great value, and were
largely instrumental in securing the successes of subsequent years.

In 1882 the fair was located at Middletown, where it remained three
years, exceeding in magnitude of display all former ones. The record
of over 1,100 membership fees received, and of 379 entries of horses
the third year, have not since been broken.

The status of the society not being in harmony with the articles of
association, at the annual meeting in 1884, new articles of
association were adopted and signed, and a new certificate of
incorporation and reorganization filed with the secretary of state
and with the county clerk.

The next three fairs held at Newburgh witnessed such exhibitions of
the results of industry and skill as had never before been seen in
this county. The visit of Governor Hill in 1887, was the first time
the society bad been honored with the presence of the chief
executive of the State on its fair grounds.

In 1888 and 1889 the fairs were held at Goshen. The number of entries
was fully up to the average of recent fairs, while the quality of the
exhibits in several departments had never been better. At the first
of these fairs the society was honored with an address by the Hon.
Norman J. Coleman, United States Commissioner of Agriculture.

The semi-centennial fair at Port Jervis in 1890, and that of 1891,
were in all respects, very successful. In the latter year the whole
number of entries was 5,120, nearly 700 more than at any former fair.
In the domestic department nearly 1,200 entries were made, evincing
in many ways woman's inventive genius and patient industry. The
exhibition of articles of historic interest has never been equaled in
this county.

The society's second visit to Warwick was in 1892 and 1893. The
presence of Governor Flower, with the 5th and 10th Separate Companies
of Newburgh as his military escort, was a noteworthy event.

The fairs of 1894, 1895 and 1896, held at Newburgh, are said to have
been the greatest the Society has ever held. The number of entries in
certain classes will give some idea of its magnitude. Cattle, 272
entries; horses, 116; poultry, 1,502; bench shows, 208; mechanical,
238; grain and vegetables, 849; fruit, 1,144; flowers, 204; culinary,
310; domestic 990; miscellaneous, 223. Total in all classes, 6,084.
The exhibition of school work not entered for competition was a
revelation to thousands of visitors of the work now being done by the
pupils of public, private and parochial schools.

After the fair of 1896, the managers of the society being unable to
obtain a satisfactory lease of the grounds for a term of years,
purchased the Campbell Track Grounds at Middletown, April 16, 1897.
These grounds are well adapted to fair purposes, and when
contemplated improvements are made they will compare favorably, in
convenience and beauty, with any fair grounds in the State.

The last eleven fairs have been held on these grounds. They are
events of such recent occurrence that historic interest does not yet
attach to them. It may, however, be well to say that these eleven
exhibitions have been in magnitude and excellence highly creditable
to the society.

The society occupies a prominent place in the front rank of the
agricultural societies of the State. Organized to promote
agriculture, horticulture, the mechanic and household arts, it has
not lost sight of these objects. During the sixty-eight years of its
existence, in times of prosperity and seasons of adversity, in peace
and in war, it has never failed to hold its annual fair. It is a
society whose reputation is unblemished, whose honor is bright, whose
record is clean; a society that has not sacrificed right for
expediency nor won temporary success at the expense of principle; a
society that has never repudiated its debts but has honorably
discharged all its obligations; a society that has always paid its
premiums in full and never paid them pro rata; a society whose fair
grounds have not been noisy with the voices of fakirs, defiled with
the devices of gamblers nor desecrated by immoral shows, but have
been consecrated to legitimate exhibitions; a society whose
management during the years that are gone has been such that no rival
society (town or district) has ever been organized within the limits
of the county, to sap the sources of its prosperity, limit the sphere
of its operations, or lessen the extent of its influence--a fact
without a parallel in the State.

   Presidents, Secretaries and Treasurers of The Orange County
          Agricultural Society from 1841 to 1908.

     _Presidents._

 John Caldwell, Blooming Grove 1841
 Frederic J. Betts, Newburgh 1842-1846
 William Murray, Jr., Goshen 1847
 Henry Robinson, Newburgh 1848
 Robert Denniston, Blooming Grove 1849
 Allen M. Sherman, Newburgh 1850
 Edward. L. Welling, Warwick 1851
 Israel H. Wickham, Wallkill 1852
 John J. Heard, Goshen 1853
 Seely C. Roe, Chester 1854
 John H. Morris, Goshen 1855
 Henry Robinson, Newburgh 1856
 Seely C. Roe, Chester 1857
 Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery 1858
 Alden Goldsmith, Blooming Grove 1859
 William H. Houston, Warwick 1860
 James S. Hopkins, Hamptonburgh 1861
 Alfred B. Post, Goshen 1862
 Thomas Edsall, Goshen 1863
 Alanson Gillespie, Goshen 1864
 Charles M. Shons, Blooming Grove 1865

    _Vice-Presidents._

 One from each town 1841-1861
 Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery 1862-1865

    _Corresponding Secretaries._

 Samuel Wait, Jr., Montgomery 1841
 Joseph W. Gott, Goshen 1841-1847
 Daniel D. Boice, Newburgh 1848
 Benjamin F. Dunning, Goshen 1849
 William F. Sharpe, Goshen 1850
 Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery 1851-1857
 David A. Morrison, Montgomery 1858-1865

    _Treasurers._

 Charles Monell, Goshen 1841
 Charles Downing, Newburgh 1842-1846
 John J. Heard, Goshen 1847
 Charles Downing, Newburgh 1848
 Benjamin F. Duryea, Goshen 1849
 Charles Downing, Newburgh 1850
 David F. Gedney, Goshen 1851
 William M. Graham, Goshen 1852
 William M. Beakes, Goshen 1853
 George W. Roe, Chester 1854
 William M. Sayer, Goshen 1855-1859
 Archibald L. Beyea, Goshen 1860
 William M. Sayer, Goshen 1861-1865

        Reorganization--1866.

   _Presidents._

 Ellis A. Post, Goshen 1866-1872
 Alden Goldsmith, Blooming Grove 1873
 Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery 1874
 Alden Goldsmith, Blooming Grove 1875-1877
 Rev. L. L. Comfort, Montgomery 1878
 Hon. A. Dennison, Blooming Grove 1879-1908

   _Vice-Presidents._

 Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery 1866-1873
 Alfred B. Post, Goshen 1870-1874
 Hamilton Morrison, Montgomery 1875-1881
 Virgil Thompson, Wallkill 1875-1881
 Aug. Denniston, Blooming Grove 1877-1878
 Henry C. Weir, Chester 1879-1884
 W. Egbert Arnout, Wawayanda 1880
 Grinnell Burt, Warwick 1880-1882
 Henry E. Alvord, Cornwall 1884
 Moses D. Stivers, Wallkill 1881-1888
 Lawson Valentine, Cornwall 1887-1888
 Benjamin C. Sears, Blooming Grove 1889-1901
 William D. Barns, Newburgh 1889-1898
 Edward A. Brown, Middletown 1899-1908

   _Secretaries._

 David A. Morrison, Montgomery 1866
 Roswell C. Goleman, Goshen 1867
 George W. Millspaugh, Goshen 1868
 David A. Morrison, Montgomery 1869-1908

   _Treasurers._

 George W. Greene, Goshen 1866-1867
 Jason W. Corwin, Goshen 1868-1876
 Benjamin B. Johnston, Montgomery 1877-1880
 Samuel S. Van Saun, Warwick 1881-1882
 William B. Royce, Wallkill 1882-1892
 Samuel S. Van Saun, Warwick 1893-1894
 Harry M. Waring, Newburgh 1895-1897
 Henry M. Howell, Middletown 1898-1908

   _Directors._

 Alden Goldsmith 1866-1873
 James S. Hopkins 1866-1867
 Charles B. Seely 1866-1872
 Virgil Thompson 1866-1868
 Nathaniel Van Sickle 1866-1878
 William H. Ward 1866-1870
 Alfred B. Post 1868
 Charles M. Thompson 1869-1874
 William H. Houston 1869-1871
 John S. Edsall 1871-1873
 Virgil Thompson 1872-1874
 Alfred Wells 1873-1875
 Daniel M. Wade 1874-1875
 Alfred B. Post 1874-1878
 Augustus Denniston 1875-1877
 Ebenezer Van Alst 1875-1892
 Rev. L. L. Comfort 1876-1877
 John C. Shafer 1877-1879
 Benjamin C. Sears 1878-1888
 William H. Hallock 1878-1908
 Daniel Smith 1879-1883
 Pierson E. Sanford 1880-1890
 J. Edward Wells 1880-1905
 W. Egbert Arnout 1882-1889
 Leander Clark, Jr. 1883-1897
 Horace McBride 1883-1889
 Henry M. Howell 1883-1899
 Joseph Van Cleft 1885-1898
 Daniel S. Waring 1885-1890
 John M. Burt 1886-1893
 Charles E. Johnson 1889-1897
 E. G. Fowler 1890-1892
 Samuel B. Hill 1890-1898
 Theodore Moore 1891-1896
 Edward B. Sanford 1891-1895
 William H. Nearpass 1893-1895
 Joseph S. Dunning 1893-1895
 Edwin T. Skidmore 1894-1896
 Sidney H. Sanford 1896-1905
 Edwin L. Requa 1896-1897
 C. Emmet Crawford 1896
 E. G. Fowler 1896-1898
 George A. Swayze 1897-1900
 Horace D. Thompson 1897-1905
 Emmet E. Wood 1898
 Oscar W. Mapes 1898
 William H. Clark 1898-1903
 Charles Mapes 1899-1905
 Samuel D. Roberson 1899-1901
 V. Edgar Hill 1899-1908
 W. A. Lawrence 1899-1908
 Joel W. Houston 1900-1908
 Charles L. Elwood 1900-1902
 John I. Bradley 1901-1908
 William B. Royce 1901-1908
 Leander Clark, Jr. 1902-1906
 W. G. Davis 1903-1905
 William H. Nearpass 1903-1908
 William C. Hart 1904-1908
 W. O. Minturn 1904-1908
 John W. Sanford 1906-1908
 Rev. Andrew Schriver 1906-1908
 Dr. M. A. Stivers 1906-1908
 Howard D. Seely 1906-1908
 A. F. Storey 1907-1908


Wallkill Valley Farmers' Association--The following brief sketch was
furnished by Mr. William C. Hart, Secretary of the Association. In
1889, the late Chauncey A. Reed suggested to the writer the
advisability of the farmers of the Wallkill valley uniting in an
effort to secure the appointment of a Farmers' Institute, to be held
under the auspices of the New York State Department of Farmers'
Institutes. An hour later, in consultation with Nicholas J. Fowler,
it was decided to invite representative agriculturists to meet at his
office on the evening of November 11, at which time a local society
would be formed. The result of this meeting was highly satisfactory.
William C. Weller was appointed chairman, William C. Hart, secretary,
and Nicholas J. Fowler, treasurer, with committees on finance, music,
addresses, etc. On November 25, at an adjourned meeting, the
executive committee reported an enrollment of one hundred and
sixty-eight members, with liberal responses in contributions to
defray expenses.

The Institute held at Scofield Hall, December 19, 20 and 21, proved
successful beyond the anticipation of its promoters and immediately
suggested the desirability of forming a permanent organization. The
idea was greatly strengthened on February 10 at Coldenham, N. Y.,
when Mr. George T. Powell, of Ghent, N. Y., gave a stirring address
on the importance of carrying forward the movement, which appealed
strongly to all. Thus started the movement which has resulted in the
present organization--an association that has done more to unfold the
beauty and charm of the Wallkill Valley and spread its fair name to
remote localities than all efforts put forth by similar attempts in
this direction.

                      OBJECTS OF ORGANIZATION.

The realization of the inestimable majesty; the unspeakable goodness
of God as revealed in this marvelous valley, thus indirectly leading
the thought of humanity into the valleys and rivers of life eternal.

The attainment of knowledge which comes of well ordered discussion.
Increased skill in the methods of labor.

The mutual improvement of its members by disseminating reliable and
valuable information tending to promote the best interests of the
Wallkill valley.

Such advantages as may be derived through associated effort to
promote a higher degree of excellence in farm, garden and
agricultural affairs generally. The introduction and testing of
flowers, shrubs, forest and ornamental trees.

It is the primary object of the Society to awaken interest in and
promote the progress of that noblest of all human callings,
agriculture, and it is the policy of the board of managers to
interest all in its annual outing--not only as an exhibition of the
prosperity and progress of the farming section, of the growths of
field and orchard and garden, of intelligent competition in
stock-breeding and dairy interests, but as a demonstration of the
public spirit, intelligence and prosperity of the entire productive
and business community.

                THE OUTING DAYS AND OLD HOME WEEK.

As the society grew and prospered it was decided to establish a
social side to the many interests represented. Arrangements were made
with much enthusiasm on the part of its membership to hold beneath
the open sky an outing that would have a tendency to attract the
farming community with their guests and friends that might prove
advantageous to all.

MEMORIAL DAYS--DATES AND LOCATIONS OF THE OUTINGS OF THE ASSOCIATION.

 1893--August 25, at Woodlawn Farm
 1894--August 15, at Borden's Home Farm.
 1895--August 21, at Woodlawn Farm.
 1896--August 13, at Woodlawn Farm.
 1897--August 26, at Woodlawn Farm, Walden.
 1898--August 10, at Scofield's Grove, Walden.
 1899--August 9, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving Park.
 1900--August 8, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving Park.
 1901--August 14, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving Park.
 1902--August 13, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving Park.
 1903--August 12 and 13, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving
   Park.
 1904--August 17 and 18, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving
   Park.
 1905--August 16 and 17, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving
   Park.
 1906--August 15, 16 and 17, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving
   Park.
 1907--August 14 and 15, at Gillespie's Grove and Walden Driving
   Park.

Highly artistic booklets have been issued since 1894, under the
supervision of William C. Hart. The fifteen volumes are classified
as follows:

 1894--Borden's Home Farm.        1904--Gems from the Hudson. Famous
 1895--Historical "   "                 Horses of Orange County.
 1896--Tributary Streams of the   1905--The Hudson and Wallkill
       Wallkill.                        Rivers. City of Middletown,
 1897--Indian Localities and            In Art and Story.
       Hostilities.
 1898--Battle of Minisink.        1906--Lake Mohonk, profusely
 1899--Churches of the Wallkill         illustrated. Orange Blossoms
      Valley.                           and guests at Gettysburg.
 1900--Beautiful Landscape Views.       Walden in Profile. The
 1901--The Wallkill Valley at           Catskills and Queenly Hudson.
       Gettysburg, Orange County
       Agricultural Society,      1907--Wallkill Valley Farmers'
       Mountain  Drives of Mohonk.      Association. Lake Mohonk Snow
 1902--Through the Valley of the        bound.
       Wallkill,  profusely
       illustrated.               1908--The Hudson River.
 1903--Companion Volume of 1902.

                    Officers, 1889-1907.

        President.       Vice-President. Secretary.
 1889  W. C. Weller, Chairman.            W. C. Hart.
 1890  W. C. Weller.    J. K. Brown.        "    "
 1891    "    "          "      "           "    "
 1892    "    "          "      "         W. H. Gillespie
 1893    "    "         R. B. Crowell     W. C. Hart
 1894  J. B. Hadden.    G. W. Folsom.       "     "
 1895    "     "        J. D. Mould.        "     "
 1896    "     "        J. P. Covert.       "     "
 1897    "     "        H. N. Smith.        "     "
 1898    "     "          "      "          "     "
 1899    "     "          "      "          "     "
 1900  I. W. Decker.      "      "          "     "
 1901    "     "          "      "          "     "
 1902  F. B. Walker.    W. H. Dunn.         "     "
 1903  L. M. Borden.    J. W. Decker.       "     "
 1904  I. W. Decker.    A. Wiley.           "     "
 1905    "     "        J. K. Brown.        "     "
 1906    "     "          "    "            "     "
 1907    "     "          "    "            "     "

        Treasurer.       Superintendent.
 1889  N. J. Fowler.    I. W. Decker.
 1890    "     "          "     "
 1891    "     "          "     "
 1892    "     "          "     "
 1893    "     "          "     "
 1894    "     "          "     "
 1895    "     "          "     "
 1896  C. R. Fowler       "     "
 1897  A. S. Embler       "     "
 1898  A. J. Fowler       "     "
 1899    "     "        S. H. Knapp
 1900    "     "          "     "
 1901    "     "          "     "
 1902    "     "          "     "
 1903    "     "          "     "
 1904    "     "          "     "
 1905    "     "        A. Wiley
 1906    "     "        "    "


                 THE GRANGE IN ORANGE COUNTY.

This modern organization in the rural districts of New York State is
strongly represented in this county. There are twenty-two subordinate
Granges with a total membership of 2,470 in the county, as reported
by delegate John Y. Gerow at the last annual session of the State
Grange, and all are in a most prosperous condition. A Pomona Grange,
which is the link between the subordinate granges and the State
organization, was formed at Washingtonville, April 18, 1903, with 118
members. This has now about 600 members. Mr. Gerow was the chairman
for three years and was presented with a gold badge at his
resignation. Albert Manning is now the master. Five of the
subordinate granges in the county own their halls, three own
buildings and conduct cooperative stores successfully.

The first Grange organized in the county was at Unionville, June 27,
1901, with thirty-four charter members. It is known as the Minisink
No. 907. W. A. Lain was the first master. The membership has
increased to 168. Alva Case is the present master. The Monroe Grange
was the second in order of date, beginning December 12, 1901. It is
No. 911; there were only eighteen charter members, which was
increased lo 147. George S. Bull was the first master and James
Seaman is now at the head. Grange No. 912 started at Washingtonville,
with John W. Gerow as master. This Grange now operates a general
store. Little Britain, Grange No. 913 was next started with twenty
members, Charles E. Knapp being the first master. This has now 115
members and William D. Moores is the present master. The Brookside
Grange No. 936, began November 18, 1902, with a membership of
twenty-two, which has been increased to 173. Clarence O. Warford is
the present master. The Mountainville Grange, No. 946, was started
December 12, 1902, with twenty-two members. C. E. Hand is now the
master. The Warwick Grange, No. 948, was organized January 6, 1903
with twenty-nine members, which has since been increased to
ninety-six. C. M. Houston is the master, and a general feed, coal and
farmers' supply store is operated. The Hamptonburgh Grange, No. 950,
began January 7, 1903, with thirty-nine members, which has been
increased to 115, with S. P. Watkins as master. The Stony Ford
Grange, No. 951, was organized with twenty-one members, January 8,
1903, Ebenezer Bull having been the master from the first, the
present membership being forty-five. The Goshen Grange, No. 975,
began March 25, 1903, with nineteen members, which has been increased
to 137. William Hughes is the master, and a general store is operated
with an extensive trade. The Cronomer Valley Grange, No. 982, built
a large meeting hall in 1907; Nat C. Barnes is the master. This
Grange was organized, June 20, 1903, with twenty charter members.
Mr. Dewitt C. Osborn was the first master. There are now 151 members.
Grange No. 916 was organized at Montgomery, February 11, 1902, with
thirteen charter members. George Van Alst was the first master. The
present membership is 148, and Harry Tweddle is master. The following
additional Granges in the county were organized in the order
indicated by the number of each:

     Present Master
  983 G. L. Sayer,       Middletown.
  984 A. C. Bull,        Chester.
 1001 J. R. Feagles,     Pine Island.
 1002 W. E. Weller,      Bloomingburgh.
 1003 Frank Remey,       Slate Hill.
 1004 H. T. Baker,       Thompson's.
 1014 W. H. Burger,      Pine Bush.
 1018 J. W. Eaton,       Westtown.
 1020 J. G. Fuller,      Otisville.
 1053 J. O. Goble,       Florida.

The Patrons' Fire Insurance Company of Orange and Ulster counties,
has issued policies to the amount of $3,600,000, and it is said to
have saved the policy holders $250,000 in the past four years.

[Illustration: W. T. Doty]




CHAPTER XXXVII.

JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY

By W. T. Doty.



                   FIRST APPEARANCE.

From the accessible records it seems that the "art preservative"
entered Orange County by way of Goshen in 1788. It appeared next in
Newburgh in 1895, {_sic_} at New Windsor in 1799, at Montgomery in
1806, New Vernon in 1833, Slate Hill in 1834, Middletown, in 1840,
Port Jervis in 1850, Warwick in 1845, Pine Bush in 1868, Walden in
1869, Cornwall 1871, Monroe 1882, Cornwall-on-Hudson in 1888, Chester
1888, Highland Falls 1891, Washingtonville 1899.

At first thought it appears more probable that Newburgh was the first
port of entry, from the fact that the latter early felt the contact
of the civilization advancing up the Hudson--practically the only
highway into the great unknown interior prior to, during and
immediately following the American Revolution; and also as, during
the Revolution, Samuel Louden followed the retreating footsteps of
the American forces from New York City to Fishkill, printing or
issuing, at convenient times, the _New York Packet._ This was issued,
it appears, at Fishkill. Why not in Newburgh, where so many great
events in connection with the Revolutionary period occurred?

However, Goshen seems to have been a hamlet or village as early as
1714, while Newburgh's first settlement was about 1719, and the
records accord to the old county seat the honor of housing the first
printing office in Orange County.

In 1788 David Mandeville and David M. Wescott issued the _Goshen
Repository._ That they were men of some literary ability is surmised
from the fact that they were connected with the Goshen Academy--that
ancient and honorable seat of learning--an institution of which,
also, Goshen should feel a thrill of pride.

The office of the _Repository_ was, in 1793, near the court house.
The _Repository_ was sold to John G. and William Heurtin, in 1800,
at which time its name was changed to the _Orange County Patriot._
In 1801 Gabriel Denton secured the interest of William Heurtin, and
in 1803 Denton sold his interest to William A. Carpenter, and the
name of the paper was changed to that of _The Friend of Truth._ The
year following it again changed owners and names, when Ward M. Gazlay
became its publisher and it became the _Orange Eagle._ The next year
(1805) the office was burned and Mr. Gazlay removed the remains to
Newburgh, where the paper, in union with _The Recorder of the Times,_
which Mr. Gazlay purchased, became the _Political Index,_ and this
lived until 1829.

According to the record the second journalistic venture in the county
was in 1795, when the _Newburgh Packet_ appeared, printed at Newburgh
by Lucius Carey, and in 1797 it became _The Mirror_ under David
Denniston. Denniston had purchased the paper of Carey (1797), in
which year it was announced that the paper was printed by Philip Van
Home. In 1798 Joseph W. Barber was the printer, and he advertised,
"also, Printing and Book Binding carried on by David Denniston." _The
Mirror_ was absorbed (1804) by the _Rights of Man,_ and the latter by
_The Recorder of the Times_ in 1805.

In 1799 we hear of the _New Windsor Gazette,_ through the removal of
a paper of that name from New Windsor to Newburgh, by Jacob Schultz.
How long it had existed at New Windsor is now purely conjectural, but
as most of the newspapers of that early period were sort of birds of
passage, it is assumed that the year 1799 witnessed the _Gazette's_
hatching at New Windsor and its fledgling flight to Newburgh, where
it became the _Orange County Gazette._ It became _The Citizen_ when
later purchased by David Denniston.

The year 1799 also brought forth at Newburgh another publication,
_The Rights of Man,_ with Dr. Elias Winfield as its sponsor, for whom
it was "printed by Benoni H. Howell." David Denniston purchased this
paper and merged in it the _Orange County Gazette._ We learn that the
_Mirror_ of 1797 was absorbed by _The Rights of Man_ in 1804, and
then the _Packet,_ the _Mirror,_ and the _Gazette_ disappear. The
_Mirror_ and the _Citizen_ espoused the patriotic political works and
probably the religious doctrines of Thomas Paine, who wrote "The
Crisis," "Common Sense," and "The Rights of Man," while the _Gazette_
advocated opposite theories. The paper, _The Rights of Man,_ which
absorbed the _Mirror_ and the _Citizen,_ represented the Jeffersonian
branch of the Republican party, while the _Recorder of the Times,_
claiming to be Republican in politics, represented the Federalists
and Burr, then a Federalist.

In 1803 appeared at Newburgh the _Recorder of the Times,_ by Dennis
Coles. Then at Goshen the same year, _The Friend of Truth,_ under the
management of Ward M. Gazlay, and in 1804 at Goshen the _Orange
County Gazette,_ conducted by Gabriel Denton. It will be seen there
were, within five years, two _Orange County Gazettes_ in the
county--one at Newburgh, one at Goshen. As the former metamorphosed
itself into the _Public Index,_ the _Orange Telegraph,_ the
_Newhurgh Telegraph_ and the _Newburgh Register,_ with short pauses
between, it may be that it had thrown off the first epidermis and was
emerging in new form when its Goshen namesake burst into the
sunlight.

Montgomery was looming up from its settlement in 1721, or soon
thereafter, and in 1810 it was large enough, or felt important
enough, to become incorporated as a village. But as early as 1806 the
printer or publisher saw an "aching void" in the growing hamlet, to
pervade which the _Orange County Republican_ was called into
existence that year. It was "published for the Proprietors by Cyrus
Beach and Luther Pratt." Who the "Proprietors" were is not in
evidence.

It is worthy of record right here that this Montgomery journalistic
venture is the only one, up to that date, that lives to-day. Through
migration and other changes this _Orange County Republican_
ultimately became the _Independent Republican,_ with a permanent
abiding place in Goshen.

That venerable editor and historian, Edward M. Ruttenber, says the
_Orange County Republican_ was first published "at Ward's Bridge,"
the title of the first post-office in Montgomery, so called from the
fact that it was located and kept at James Ward's gristmill, where
he had thrown a bridge across the Wallkill, constituting it one of
the most convenient locations for the delivery of mail matter.

The money to start the paper was advanced in equal shares by
twenty-four "Patriotic citizens of this county, consisting chiefly of
respectable farmers and mostly inhabitants of the town of
Montgomery." This excerpt is from a statement in the paper itself of
the issue of June 9, 1806. The paper "admitted there was some honesty
among Federalists," but was bitterly opposed to Dewitt Clinton.
January 18, 1812, Luther Pratt, the publisher then, changed its name
to the _Independent Republican_ as more clearly indicating its
political policy and views. It was not until 1822 that it was removed
to Goshen, four years after James A. Cheevey became its proprietor.
He was a Frenchman and a practical printer.

In 1806 appeared another publication, the _Political Index,_ at
Newburgh, by Ward M. Gazlay. The latter's _Orange Eagle_ plant at
Goshen was burned in 1805, and he had removed the remnants to
Newburgh, the Phoenix emerging from these ashes being the _Political
Index._ The _Index_ is credited with having, some years later,
"apparently consolidated the interests of the Republican party." It
gave a "hearty support to the administration of Jefferson and
Madison, and to the war of 1812." It is further stated that "its
political articles were mainly from the pen of Jonathan Fisk, one of
the most able men of the period."

In 1829 the _Index_ passed into the ownership of Charles M. Cushman,
who changed its name to the _Orange Telegraph,_ and later to the
_Newburgh Telegraph._ In 1839 Mr. Cushman sold it to Henry H. Van
Dyck, who, in 1840, sold it to Elias Pitts, who, in 1850, disposed of
it to Edward M. Ruttenber. The latter sold it in 1857 to Joseph
Lawson, repurchased it in 1859, resold it in 1861 to E. W. Gray, who
sold it, in 1864, to George M. Warren, he to Isaac V. Montanye in the
same year; he to E. M. Ruttenber in 1865; he to A. A. Bensel in 1867;
he to J. J. McNally in 1869, who, in 1874, sold it to Dr. Cooper, of
Warwick. In 1876 E. M. Ruttenber again became its owner, and changed
its name to the _Newburgh Register._ February 24, 1908, the
publication of the _Register_ was suspended.

Here, then, appears the second paper to come down to us from that
early period, though only after many ups and down and with
kaleidoscopic changes of titles and owners. Mr. Ruttenber assures us
that "_The Telegraph,_ although Democratic at all times, opposed the
Albany Regency--a fact which led to its purchase by H. H. Van Dyck,
or rather the purchase for him. Mr. Pitts, who had been sent to take
Mr. Van Dyck's place, very soon fell into the line of thought of his
local supporters, and not only approved the Regency, but upheld the
'Free Soil' banner of 1848 with marked ability. In the subsequent
changes and revolutions," adds Mr. Ruttenber, "in politics it has
maintained the Democratic faith."

An ambitious effort appeared at Goshen in 1808 when Gabriel Denton
launched the _Orange County Patriot and Spirit of Seventy-six._ In
this publication we recognize the third journalistic venture with
sufficient tenacity of life to come down to our own day, though it,
too, had to change its title and character somewhat ere it became the
present well-known _Goshen Democrat._

From 1808 to 1820 there seems to be a hiatus. There does not appear
a single new journalistic venture in that time, although it was in
this period, in 1812-13, that the _Orange County Republican_ became
the _Independent Republican,_ and in 1822 was removed from Montgomery
to Goshen. The war of 1812, impending, progressing and ending, with
war's all-demoralizing effects, may account for this cooling of the
journalistic ardor for twelve long years.

At any rate, the next new publication to appear in the
field--figuratively if not literally--was the _Orange Farmer,_ in
1820, at Goshen. Its founders, Williams and Farrand, were graduates,
Mr. Ruttenber says, of the _Albany Plow-Boy_ publication. How long
the _Orange Farmer_ ploughed through the journalistic heather of
Orange County is not now known, but we never hear of it again. Mr.
Ruttenber records that "Samuel Williams, the associate of Mr.
Farrand, died at Rondout, June 16, 1878, in his ninetieth year--the
oldest printer in the State, and for forty years a member of the
Baptist denomination."

In June, 1822, John D. Spaulding began, at Newburgh, the publication
of the _Newburgh Gazette._ This passed through many owners' hands,
appearing in 1856, under the management of Eugene W. Gray as the
_Daily News._ Later it passed a somewhat checkered career in
alliances with the _Gazette,_ the _Telegraph,_ the _Daily Telegraph_
(1864), _Daily Union,_ same year, the _Press_ (1866), and the
_Register_ in 1876.

The Rev. J. R. Wilson began at Newburgh, in 1824, the publication of
a religious monthly of forty-eight pages, under the title of the
_Evangelical Witness._ It was devoted to the exposition of the
doctrines of the Reformed Presbyterian church, and was continued four
years, to be succeeded (1828) by the _Christian Statesman,_ which
gave up the ghost after one year's struggle in this cruel, cold
world.

An anti-Jackson paper appeared in Newburgh during the campaign of
1828. It was called _The Beacon._ Its editor was Judge William B.
Wright.

In 1829 the _Orange Telegraph_ appeared at Newburgh. It was merely
our old friend, the _Political Index,_ in a new guise, under the
tutelage of Charles M. Cushman, who subsequently named it the
_Newburgh Telegraph._

A monthly quarterly appeared next in Newburgh in May, 1832, as
_Tablets of Rural Economy._ John W. Knevels was the editor. The
people then, as too often now, had no use for rural or other economy,
and the quarterly died after a few issues.

In 1832 appeared another publication--one that time has dealt with
so kindly that we find it to-day brandishing, as of old, "The sword
of the Lord and of Gideon." The _Signs of the Times_ was started at
Goshen in this year by Lebbeus L. Vail as an exponent or expounder of
the Old School Baptist theology. The first numbers were printed at
the office of the _Independent Republican._ Mr. Vail, though born a
Congregationalist--his father, Isaiah Vail, being one of the founders
of the present First Congregationalist church of Middletown--became
an enthusiastic Old School Baptist through the influence of his wife,
Sally, daughter of Wilmot Moore, and her father's family. Like most
neophytes, Mr. Vail became very earnest, and gave freely of his
purse, his time, and his energies, and the _Signs of the Times_ soon
became a recognized factor in Old School Baptist work. This
publication was only one of the forms of his contributions to the
cause, with no hope of material reward. Two years later Mr. Vail
became county clerk. Recognizing in a young enthusiast in the Old
School Baptist faith an Elijah in the cause and fit to wear the
mantle, he was forced by civic duties to lay aside, he turned over to
Elder Gilbert Beebe the entire plant and good will of the _Signs of
the Times._ Mr. Beebe removed the office to New Vernon, then a
somewhat thriving hamlet with a well-appointed Old School Baptist
church, with store, post-office, hotel, blacksmith shop, and the
accessories of a live community. The place is on the Shawangunk Kill,
on the Orange and Sullivan County line, about four miles northwest of
Middletown. Mr. Beebe removed the plant again, this time to
Alexandria, Va., whence he returned with it to New Vernon, and in
1847 or 1848 removed it to Middletown, where it still oscillates, as
of old, the sword of Gideon. Elder Beebe preached to congregations in
Middletown, Brookfield (Slate Hill), Bloomingburg, Van Burenville or
Wallkill, and New Vernon. He was an energetic, tireless worker, and
built up an immense circulation for the _Signs of the Times._ It
became a power in Old School Baptist faith throughout the United
States, and was for years--and is yet--the leading publication in
this faith. In the sixties Elder Beebe reprinted sermons and Old
School Baptist verses in book form, taken from files of the _Signs._
Two volumes were printed and they had great sale. The _Signs of the
Times,_ first published as a monthly, became a semi-monthly, which it
is now, with thirty pages and covers. It is one of the remarkable and
quaint publications in this country to-day. Its contents are a study
for the historian, whether of religious or secular subjects. Whatever
its other merits, its very quaintness should preserve it from the
vandalism of time, the sacrilege of events, and the blasphemy of
environment. It stands as a monument to the enterprise, the religious
feelings, enthusiasm, aims and forces of a period and a propagandism
that seem slowly but surely fading into the twilight of the ages. It
is now "Published the first and fifteenth of each month by J. E.
Beebe & Co., Middletown, N. Y.," with Elder F. A. Chick, Hopewell,
N. J., and Elder H. C. Ker, Middletown, as editors.

The _Newburgh Daily Journal_ was started in 1833 or 1834 by John D.
Spalding, which he continued until 1843, when he changed the name to
the _Highland Courier._ After his death, August 22, 1853, Mrs.
Spalding, his widow, published it until 1855, when she sold it to
William E. Smiley. Edward Nixon became its proprietor in 1858, and
Rufus A. Reed in 1859, who changed its name to the _Highland
Chieftain._

The name was afterwards changed to the _Newburgh Daily Journal,_
which it retains to the present day. On June 1, 1861, Cyrus B. Martin
became the owner and its whole character at once radically changed
for the better. Mr. Martin was peculiarly fitted for editorial duties
and under his able management the paper soon attained a large
circulation and eventually gained that high standing and wide sphere
of influence, which under the wise control of his successors it has
ever since retained.

Mr. Martin remained the owner of the _Journal_ until 1877, when he
sold out to the Messrs. Samuel Ritchie, Lawrence C. Bodine and Frank
S. Hull. Before the year was up, Mr. Bodine disposed of his interests
to his partners, and those two gentlemen have managed the paper ever
since, although their interests are merged in the corporation known
as the Newburgh Journal Company.

The _Journal_ is housed in a building owned by itself, a handsome,
spacious structure, located on the corner of Smith and Third streets,
where it maintains one of the most complete printing establishments
and book bindery plants to be found in the county.

The _Republican Banner_ existed in Montgomery in 1833 or 1834. or in
both those years, with Calvin F. S. Thomas as its publisher, but that
is all that seems to be known about it.

In 1834 a handsomely printed weekly appeared in the thriving locality
of Brookfield or Slate Hill, known as the _Republican Sentinel,_ or
"the _Farmers' Protests Against Political Speculation and
Dictation."_

The writer has a few copies of the _Sentinel,_ which show it to have
been a highly creditable publication, in its make-up, its
typographical appearance, and in its literary features. The issue for
April 12, 1834, was No. 6, of Vol. I, and it was "Printed by Tho's
P. Evans for the Publisher." May 17 the issue was No. 10, and
announced that "The _Republican Sentinel_ is printed every Saturday
by D. Yokum for the Proprietor." The issue for June 28 was No. 16,
and contained the same announcement as to the printer, but in no
issue does it appear who the editor or publisher was. The _Sentinel_
was a five-column folio, improving typographically with each issue,
and printed from clean-faced brevier or possibly minion type. When it
ceased to exist no one now living seems to know.

In 1834, in Newburgh, Wallace T. Sweet issued the _National
Advertiser,_ which was merged into the _Newburgh Telegraph,_ though
in what year is not stated.

The _Reformed Presbyterian_ appeared in Newburgh March 1, 1836, with
Rev. Moses Roney as editor. It was a monthly of thirty-two pages. In
1849 he removed it to Pittsburgh, Pa.

In 1840 A. A. Bensel began the publication of Middletown's first
recorded newspaper venture. He called it the _Middletown Courier._
It was a weekly paper, democratic in politics. In April, 1846, he
removed the entire plant to Kingston, N. Y., where he started the
_Ulster Democrat._

In 1845, in Newburgh, the Rev. David L. Proudfit began issuing the
_Christian Instructor,_ a monthly of thirty-two pages. Two years
later he sold it to the Rev. J. B. Dales, who removed it to
Philadelphia.

So far as records can be found the first publication to appear in
Warwick was an Old School Baptist journal, the _Doctrinal Advocate
and Monitor._ This was in 1845 or 1846, possibly earlier. It was
published and probably edited by Elder Jewett. In 1846 it was merged
with Elder Gilbert Beebe's _Signs of the Times._

Middletown was without a paper from April to July, in 1846. At the
latter date John S. Brown began there the publication of the
_Orange County News._ It was neutral in politics, and Mr. Ruttenber
says it was hardly deserving the name of a newspaper. It died in
1849, the material being purchased by Gilbert J. Beebe for his new
paper.

[Illustration: Frederick W. Wilson]

In August, 1848, Gilbert J. Beebe started in Middletown the
publication of the _Banner of Liberty._ It was issued monthly as a
conservative journal--opposing all the modern ideas of reform in
politics, in religion, in laws and in temperance. In 1856 it became
a weekly, and espoused the cause of the democratic party. In 1856
Mr. Beebe issued the _Campaign Banner_--a sort of auxiliary to the
_Banner of Liberty._ Both were more or less pro-slavery in all their
utterances; the particular limb of the democracy to which they clung
being known as "Hunkerism" prior to the Civil War, as "Copperheadish"
during and after the Civil War. In ante-bellum days both papers
attained a big circulation for those times--"fully 27,000 copies,"
Mr. Ruttenber says. _The Banner of Liberty_ was taken everywhere in
the South and Southwest, and below Mason and Dixon's line it was
all-powerful. And even north of that line there were many who swore
by the Great Horn Spoon and the _Banner of Liberty._ The income was
great, and had Mr. Beebe been as astute a business man as he was
aggressive in polemics, he would have been numbered with the
exclusive few of that day known as millionaires. But Gilbert Judson
Beebe was a different type of man. Like his venerable father, he had
a principle--right or wrong, but right as he saw it--and pelf was
powerless against his adamantine purposes.

His father, Elder Gilbert Beebe, was in position to "roll in wealth."
He had a great income from his _Signs of the Times,_ and from his
writings and books; he had the machinery of his church to manipulate
for his own aggrandizement, if he so willed; he was almost an idol
wherever the Old School Baptists had an abiding place in this
country; but he disdained all sordid allurements, and, armed with his
own peculiar interpretation of the Scriptures, he lived frugally and
pounded his theorems and theological dogmas for three and four
straight hours every Sunday in one of his pulpits, and during the
fortnight in the columns of his _Signs._

The writer of this knew him well; set type a long time in his office
in Orchard street, Middletown; fed his presses; helped get out one of
his book of songs and sermons, and always held the venerable
editor-preacher in respect if not in absolute awe. Looking back at
those days from the year 1908, the writer understands better the
magnetism which gave Elder Beebe his great power among the people.

This peculiar personality was not lost in his children. In Gilbert
Judson Beebe--who made the _Banner of Liberty_ the most powerful
pro-slavery journal for years in ante-bellum days--individuality,
aggressiveness, polemics, even the most violent dogmatism, were
constantly in evidence. Not only did he wield a most trenchant,
bitter pen, ever dipped in the wormwood of invective and the gall of
expletives--he was an orator as well; and could work his hearers up
to a pitch of frenzy or tears. The writer, yet in his teens, was
employed on the _Banner of Liberty_ as a "compositor" for a
considerable time, and had much opportunity for learning the
characteristics of the man.

The _Banner of Liberty_ lost much of its power when the Civil War
boomed its terrors over the land. Its circulation fell off daily, but
the editor every week just as religiously sailed into the "Lincoln
hirelings" with a venom that came near landing him in Fort Lafayette.
The writer was one of those "hirelings," and, while "sticking type"
in his office had many doubtless indiscreet arguments with the
aggressive editor on the issues of the day. Mr. Beebe seemed rather
pleased, not to say amused, at the temerity of the boy-printer, and
gave him opportunity to expound his "abolition heresies."

As the Civil War went on, the paper continually lost prestige, and
when the venerable editor--broken-hearted in the lost cause--died in
1872, the _Banner of Liberty_ became homeless. It was bought by the
Benedict brothers, Thomas E. and Gilbert H., and was removed to
Ellenville. The writer's recollection is that it was later
transferred to Brooklyn, L. I., where it ceased to exist. On this
point, however, he may err; however, it did not long survive its
talented founder.

Gilbert J. Beebe also, in 1848, started another paper--the
_Middletown Mercury._ This paper was less virulent than his _Banner
of Liberty,_ and being devoted to local news, attained a considerable
circulation. In 1860 Mr. Beebe sold the _Mercury_ to James H. Norton,
who had been conducting the _Tri-States Union_ at Port Jervis. Mr.
Norton associated with him in this purchase a young printer and ready
writer, Isaac F. Guiwits. The two were thoroughly practical men, and
soon made their personality and their good taste vividly apparent in
their work. The _Mercury_ was enlarged, new type and machinery were
installed, and it was not many months before the paper began to grow
in circulation and in power. It got better and neater with each
issue; its managers seemed to vie with each other in this work.
Within five years the _Middletown Mercury_ became famous for being
the handsomest newspaper in the United States. For those days, it was
a model of beauty. What is more, it became a leading newspaper; its
local news was gotten up the best, much attention being paid to this
feature--practically an innovation in journalism, strange as this
statement may appear to newspaper men and readers to-day. Mr. Norton
was a democrat of the pro-slavery type, and his editorial utterances
during the war were often vitriolic, notwithstanding which the paper
flourished, many paid-up republican subscribers contributing to its
success, admiring its journalistic features while cursing its
politics. In 1867 Isaac V. Montanye purchased an interest in the
paper, and in 1868 became sole proprietor. In 1869 S. M. Boyd became
its owner. In 1873 the _Middletown Mail_ was merged in the _Mercury,_
when Dr. Joseph D. Friend and George H. Thompson became its editors
and owners. Dr. Friend retired in 1874. In 1878 the _Weekly Argus_
consolidated with the _Mercury,_ which became the _Mercury and
Argus._ In 1876 Cornelius Macardell and George H. Thompson became
proprietors, with Mr. Thompson as editor, who continued thus until
his death in May, 1904. The _Mercury and Argus_ plant remains in the
Macardell family, known as the Argus and Mercury Publishing Company,
with Cornelius Macardell, president; A. B. Macardell, vice-president
and secretary; A. E. Nickinson, treasurer and general manager; A. B.
Macardell, editor; Henry P. Powers and Horace A. MacGowan, city
editors.

In 1849 Thomas George began in Newburgh the publication of the
_Newburgh Excelsior._ E. M. Ruttenber purchased this paper in May,
1851, and merged it with his _Telegraph._

In January, 1850, appeared the first newspaper in Port Jervis, the
_Port Jervis Express._ This journalistic venture deserves especial
notice from the fact that it was started by a colored man. P. H.
Miller--the first publication of such distinction in Orange County,
and possibly in the State. The _Express_ was well printed, and ably
edited. But it died in October the same year.

The _Middletown Advertiser_ was started in Middletown in 1850 by
G. J. Beebe. It was a monthly advertising sheet, and lived two years.

In November, 1850, Colonel Samuel Fowler--a leading citizen--started
the _Tri-States Union_ in Port Jervis. It was a democratic paper,
with John I. Mumford as editor. Lucius F. Barnes, a rising young
lawyer of Milford, Pa., purchased the paper and edited it until
August 10, 1854, when he sold it to James H. Norton. The latter sold
the paper in 1861, to G. W. Allen, of Honesdale, Pa., and Wallace W.
Farnum, a deaf mute, of Port Jervis. The latter was a practical
printer, and remained in the office many years. It was under Allen
and Farnum that the politics of the paper changed from democratic to
republican. In 1862 Allen's interest in the paper was purchased by
Daniel Holbrook, a recent graduate of Harvard College and fresh from
the position of principal of the school at the House of Refuge,
Randall's Island, N. Y. Mr. Holbrook made it a lively republican
paper, ably maintaining the Union cause during the Civil War then
waging. September 27, 1869, Mr. Holbrook sold the paper to Foster
& Mitchell, of Chambersburg, Pa. In 1871 the paper was purchased by
Charles St. John, Jr., William T. Doty, and Alfred E. Spooner. In
1872 Mr. Spooner's interest was purchased by Erwin G. Fowler. All
through this year the _Union_ was one of the foremost supporters of
the liberal republican movement that led to the nomination at
Cincinnati of the lamented Horace Greeley for President. Soon after
Greeley's nomination the Union's proprietors issued _The
Wood-Chopper,_ a campaign paper which was full of fire and
enthusiasm, but died with the ambitions of its martyred presidential
candidate. In January, 1873, Mr. Doty retired from the firm to take
charge of the _Gazette._ Mr. Fowler retired from the paper later in
the same year. In April, 1877, Fred R. Salmon, Mr. St. John's
brother-in-law, young and fresh from a commercial school, entered the
office as bookkeeper. He displayed aptitude and business qualities
from the start--points Mr. St. John quickly recognized--and in 1884
he was made a member of the firm, which became St. John & Salmon, and
thus remained until 1894, when the same members became the Tri-States
Printing Co. In May, 1895, the firm was incorporated as the
Tri-States Publishing Co., which it remains, though on October 1,
1907, Mr. Salmon purchased Mr. St. John's interest and became sole
owner.

In 1878 the _Tri-States Union_ was changed from a weekly to
semi-weekly issue, but within a year or two was changed back to the
weekly issue, which it continues. In 1871 it was changed from a folio
to a quarto, which it remains.

In January, 1873, Mr. St. John started the _Port Jervis Daily Union._ It
was issued as a morning paper for a year or two, since which time it
has been an afternoon paper. It has been edited successively by Ed.
H. Mott, E. A. Brown, Henry A. Van Fredenberg, E. G. Fowler, Fred R.
Salmon, Charles O. Young, James Bennet, Charles A. Starr, Merritt C.
Speidel, and at present by W. T. Doty.

On November 26, 1851, John W. Hasbrouck issued at Middletown the
first number of the weekly _Whig Press._ In March, 1868, Mr.
Hasbrouck sold the plant to Moses D. Stivers. In 1870 Albert
Kessinger bought a half interest in the paper, and the firm was
Stivers & Kessinger until August, 1872, when the junior member died.
In October, 1872, Mr. Stivers sold the plant to F. Stanhope Hill, who
sold an interest to John W. Slauson, and the firm became Hill &
Slauson. Mr. Hill sold his interest to Mr. Stivers July 1, 1873, and
the firm became Stivers & Slauson. In 1880 Mr. Stivers sold his
interest to Mr. Slauson, and Charles J. Boyd entered the firm under
the firm name of Slauson & Boyd. This continued until February, 1906,
when the whole plant was sold to the Middletown Times Publishing Co.,
and the familiar old _Press_ lost its identity in the _Times-Press._
It seemed lamentable to see this staunch old paper die. It was the
pet of that venerable and conscientious laborer in the literary
field, John W. Hasbrouck, and his estimable wife, Dr. Lydia Sayer
Hasbrouck. Both labored for years, literally side by side, in the
editorial room and in the work-shop of the establishment, and they
had built up a fine property. Under its successive changes, in the
hands of Messrs. Stivers, Slauson and Boyd the _Press_ had become one
of the best country newspapers in the State. Its plant was very
valuable, with the most improved machinery, and the whole
establishment was shrewdly managed, the paper ably edited, and
nothing but the menace of a distinguished rival could ever have
induced Messrs. Slauson and Boyd to consent to the disposal of so
valuable a plant.

The temperance agitation evidently struck Port Jervis heavily early
in the fifties, for in June, 1852, J. L. Barlow and John Dow began
the publication of the _Mirror of Temperance._ This lived about
eighteen months.

In 1853 another temperance paper appeared in Port Jervis, when John
Williams issued _The Sentinel._ It died in 1855. Mr. Williams was a
pugnacious Englishman, and while his _Sentinel_ was still on guard,
he issued another temperance paper, in the fall of 1854, which he
called _The Precursor of Temperance._

With the demise of the latter publication and the _Sentinel,_ in
1855, the starting of temperance papers in Port Jervis ceased
entirely. Whether this was due to the complete and perpetual
reclamation of the place by the army of temperance agitators that
swooped down upon it in the fifties, or to the belief that the
warfare was utterly hopeless, is not certain. Any way, the vanquished
(or conquering?) John Williams shook the dust of the town from his
heels and tarried long enough in Middletown to start the
_Hardwareman's Newspaper,_ later the _Iron Age,_ in the office of the
_Whig Press._

In 1855 the _Newburgh American_ was issued by R. P. L. Shafer. It had
a life of only three or four weeks.

In 1855, at the office of the _Whig Press_ in Middletown, John
Williams, who had wrestled with the liquor question in Port Jervis
for a few years, started out in a new line. He had Mr. and Mrs.
Hasbrouck print for him a trade journal--one of the earliest ventures
of this kind in the country. He called it the _Hardwareman's
Newspaper,_ and published it monthly. After three years its name was
changed to the _Iron Age,_ and it is published yet in New York by
David Williams, son of its founder, and is one of the leading trade
journals.

A monthly of forty-eight pages was started in Newburgh in 1855 by
R. B. Denton. It was called the _Literary Scrapbook._ Its life was
short.

If the temperance workers had abandoned the western end of the county
as wholly reclaimed or as irreclaimable, they had an eye or two on
the eastern end of the district, and in March, 1856, Royal B.
Hancock, "as agent for an association of gentlemen," started in
Newburgh a temperance paper which he called the _Newburgh Times._ It
passed into the hands of R. Bloomer & Son, who sold it to Alexander
Wilson, he to Charles Blanchard, and the latter, in 1867, turned it
into the _Newburgh Daily Democrat._ The latter failed in a few
months.

In 1856 in the Middletown _Whig Press_ office Mr. and Mrs. Hasbrouck
began the publication of _The Sybil,_ a fortnightly quarto. It was
edited by Mrs. Hasbrouck, and was a particularly bright, able,
fearless publication. It was continued eight years.

An association of students in Domanski's school in Newburgh, in 1857
started _The Acorn,_ a small but pretentious monthly of a literary
character. It lived about one year.

In the early part of the winter of 1864 Eugene W. Gray began printing
the _Daily Union_ at Newburgh. It was really the _Daily Telegraph,_
which had been suspended for a short time. In 1866 the title of both
the weekly and daily was changed to the _Press._ In 1869 the title of
_Telegraph_ was restored, and in 1876 it became the _Register,_ which
continued until February 24, 1908, when it suspended under financial
difficulties, and, as one paper expressed it, "Too much
anti-Bryanism."

January 27, 1866, Elder Leonard Cox, a practical printer, began
printing Warwick's second paper, which he called the _Warwick
Advertiser._ It was a five or six-column folio, neatly printed, well
edited and newsy. To-day it is one of the best edited weekly
newspapers in the county. It is republican in politics--in fact, has
practically always been so. January, 1869, Elder Cox sold the paper
to John L. Servin, and moved to Virginia. April, 1874, it was
purchased by Daniel F. Welling. He sold it to Stewart & Wilson
(August 5, 1876), who sold it to Stewart & Demerest. The office was
burned out January 24, 1879, after which it was published by Stewart
& Co. Samuel J. Stewart was its editor until Hiram Tate came into
possession of the property. Mr. Tate was a practical printer, and
was fresh from the office of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hasbrouck's _Whig
Press,_ and had good ideas of what a neat, live newspaper should
be--as generally had the graduates of Mr. and Mrs. Hasbrouck's school
of practical journalism. It is still in Mr. Tate's possession.

Though short-lived, a bright little specimen of ambitious young
journalism appeared in Middletown in September, 1866. It was called
_The Rising Sun,_ and was the first venture in this field by Stephen
H. Sayer, a recent apprentice in the _Whig Press_ office. _The Rising
Sun_ was a literary effort--it might almost be claimed as one of the
earliest of the amateur publications, except that its ambitious young
editor had higher and more mature aims when, out of the environing
nebulae he called into existence his little star of hope. It was a
four-column folio, printed from long primer and nonpareil type--the
two tolerable extremes--and was listed at fifty cents a year. It was
printed in Coe Finch's job printing office at Franklin square in the
third floor of the building now occupied by the Middletown Savings
Bank. Mr. Sayer announced that "_The Rising Sun_ is not a local
paper, but will circulate throughout Maine, Kansas, Iowa, etc., with
as much profit to subscribers there as in the State of New York." The
writer set type on the first issue of _The Rising Sun,_ and had a
sort of god-fatherly interest in this promising luminary, and regrets
that one of the too common cataclysms in the journalistic empyrean
over whelmed the bright little orb ere its rays had scintillated a
single scintillation on either rock-ribbed Maine or bleeding Kansas.

But Mr. Sayer was not extinguished, even if the light of his little
_Rising Sun_ was dimmed forever. He was ambitious, and, what is more,
determined. When he emerged from this celestial crash, he cast his
optics over the universe, and discovered Montgomery, and forthwith
hied him hither, and in April, 1868, issued the first number of the
_Wallkill Valley Times,_ a seven or eight-column folio, of good
appearance, newsy, and well edited. In 1869 he issued the _Dollar
Weekly._ Both publications passed into the hands of Lester Winfield
in 1871.

In 1869 Mr. Sayer also started the _Walden Recorder,_ at Walden.
Chauncey B. Reed took it in 1870, and issued it as the _Walden
Recorder-Herald._ Later he dropped the Recorder, and the paper has
since appeared as the Walden Herald.

From these ventures Mr. Sayer went to Deckertown (now Sussex), N. J.,
and started the _Sussex Independent,_ which has always been one of
the brightest newspapers in New Jersey. After retiring from the
_Independent,_ Mr. Sayer joined the Texas colony of the seventies,
and spent some years in the Lone Star State, farming, writing,
editing, and making himself generally useful to the inhabitants of
the far-away empire of the southwest. He and his estimable family
returned to the north in the eighties, and he is now living in
well-earned retirement on the old farm, near New Vernon, surrounded
by his amiable wife and remarkably bright children--the latter now
grown to maturity as useful and honored members of the community.

One of the marvels of success, for a few years, was Wood's _Household
Advocate,_ a monthly magazine, started in Newburgh by S. S. Wood in
1867. Later the name was changed to _Household Magazine,_ and it
attained a circulation of 60,000 copies. It died in 1874.

Lester Winfield started a paper at Galesville Mills, Ulster County,
in May, 1864, which he removed to Pine Bush in September, 1868, under
the name of the _Pine Bush Weekly Casket._ The same month (September,
1868), he continued the journey to Montgomery, and called the paper
the _Montgomery Republican._ Mr. Winfield succeeded in uniting his
_Casket,_ his _Republican_ and Mr. Smith's _Standard_ into one
publication, May 1, 1869, which he called the _Republican and
Standard,_ which is continued to this day, as the _Montgomery
Standard and Reporter._

Early in 1869 A. A. Bensel started at Newburgh the _Home, Farm and
Orchard,_ an eight-page weekly. It was a bright, useful journal,
devoted to farm topics, and deserved the widest circulation, but it
died in the spring of 1876.

April 22, 1869, James H. Norton, of Middletown late of the _Mercury,_
and William H. Nearpass, of Port Jervis, began the publication in
Port Jervis of the first tri-weekly paper in this county. It was
called The _Evening Gazette._ It was a five-column folio, printed
from new bourgeois type. It was newsy, bright, chatty, and
entertaining from the start. Within a few weeks The _Family Gazette_
appeared from the same office, and was issued weekly. Within a year
the latter was enlarged and became the _Port Jervis Weekly Gazette._
The _Evening_ and the _Weekly Gazette_ soon attained big
circulations, and have since continued to reach a large class of
readers. Both were neutral in politics for years. Mr. Norton retired
from the concern in 1871. Ed. H. Mott, of Honesdale, becoming
associated with Mr. Nearpass in the publishing and editing of the
paper. October 1, 1872, George A. Clement, a young New York lawyer,
purchased the establishment, and turned it into a Republican organ,
supporting General Grant in his second presidential campaign. July 1,
1873, William T. Doty, of Port Jervis, and William R. Waller, of
Monticello, leased the plant. Mr. Doty becoming editor and business
manager, and Mr. Waller taking charge of the mechanical department.
In 1874, Mr. Clement sold the plant to Jesse M. Connor, a Port Jervis
merchant, who, in turn, disposed of it to Hon. Charles St. John,
ex-congressman from this district. Soon afterward Mr. St. John sold
the plant to Ezra J. Horton, of Peekskill, and William T. Doty, and
the paper became democratic. In 1875 the co-partnership between Mr.
Horton and Mr. Doty ended, Mr. Horton retiring, and in October, 1876,
Mr. St. John again became owner of the plant for two issues, when he
disposed of it to William H. Nearpass. The paper has since been
democratic. W. T. Doty continued as editor for several years, being
succeeded by James J. Shier, of Middletown, and since his death, by
Mr. Nearpass as editor. Associated with Mr. Nearpass in the
management and ownership of the paper was Abram Shinier, A. M. May,
James J. Shier, and since the eighties the paper has been conducted
by the Gazette Publishing Co., with W. H. Nearpass as president and
editor, Evi Shinier as secretary and treasurer and business manager,
with Mark V. Richards as associate editor, and James Skellenger as
city editor. The tri-weekly edition was changed to an afternoon daily
issue (except Sunday), and to an eight-column folio, January 17,
1881.

In January, 1869, Isaac F. Guiwits started the first daily newspaper
in Middletown. It was issued at four o'clock every afternoon, except
Sunday, and was printed at the office of the _Middletown Mercury,_
then located over what is now Hanford & Horton's news store on North
street. It was a five-column folio, printed from brevier type, and
was a model of neatness, sprightliness, and paid much attention to
local news. Mr. Guiwits was an elegant writer, brimful of wit--a
thorough all-round printer and "newspaper man," an apt pupil of the
master journalistic mind, James H. Norton, and he made the _Daily
Mail_ a bright paper. But it didn't pay, as a daily, and April 28,
1869, Mr. Guiwits issued the _Middletown Mail,_ a weekly publication
of six columns (folio), this succeeding the _Daily Mail._
Some months later Mr. Guiwits sold the _Mail_ plant to Evander B.
Willis, a printer, stenographer, and reporter. A year or two later
Dr. Joseph D. Friend became the owner of the _Mail._ In 1873 he made
an arrangement by which the _Mail_ was consolidated with the
_Mercury,_ when Dr. Friend and George H. Thompson became the
proprietors of the combined publication. The _Mail_ was a local
newspaper, with democratic tendencies, but it never cut much of a
figure in the newspaper life in the county, after it ceased to be a
daily, though Mr. Guiwits and Dr. Friend were both fine writers, and
Mr. Willis was popular. Dr. Friend, the genial, the easy-going, the
friend, has long since passed away, but his memory is ever green with
the few who yet linger--aye few--who associated with him in
journalism in those early days. Mr. Guiwits went to Kansas City, and
Mr. Willis to California.

The second experiment of publishing a tri-weekly paper in Orange
County began in the office of the _Orange County Press_ when Stivers &
Kessinger (Moses D. Stivers and Albert Kessinger), on May 24, 1870,
issued the first number of the _Middletown Evening Press._ October
26, 1872, the tri-weekly became a daily under the name of the
_Middletown Daily Press,_ and continued until merged with the
_Middletown Times_ in February, 1906, under the name of the
_Middletown Times-Press._

The first journal to be issued at Cornwall, or Cornwall-on-the-Hudson
was called _The Cornwall Paper, a Local Record of Things New and
Old._ It was published by P. P. Hazen, of Cornwall, in conjunction
with A. A. Bensel, of Newburgh, issue No. 1 appearing April 15, 1871.
So far as known no other issue of the paper ever appeared.

May 24, 1875, Miss S. J. A. Hussey started the _Cornwall Times,_
which, lived six years.

In 1875 Isaac V. Montanye started the _Middletown Argus,_ a weekly
paper. It was merged with the _Mercury_ in 1876, and January 27,
1876, the _Daily Argus_ came forth and still does valiant service.
The _Daily Argus_ was started by Cornelius Macardell, Sr., who had
money as well as brains, and he made the _Argus_ and the _Mercury_
live democratic papers. George H. Thompson, who soon after leaving
college became connected with the concern, and his ready pen and many
other good newspaper qualities, soon won the attention of Mr.
Macardell, who installed him as editor, which position he retained to
his death. The present editor is A. B. Macardell.

An association of printers in Newburgh in October, 1875, started the
_Daily Penny Post,_ as a representative of labor and union interests.
While the _Post_ was struggling for existence the _Daily Mail_ was
started by a rival organization, in 1876. In June of the latter year
the _Post_ was discontinued, and having evidently accomplished its
purpose, the _Mail_ merged, in 1877, with the _Register._

It was in 1876 that the _Newburgh Register_ came into existence,
with many vicissitudes and owners, as previously explained, but
finally emerging from the _Telegraph_ under the able management of
the lamented Edward M. Ruttenber. The _Register_ later passed into
the hands of Herbert P. Kimber & Co., who made of it a bright, newsy,
democratic paper. Succeeding Mr. Kimber as editor were John A. Mason,
Francis Willard and A. L. Moffatt, the latter of whom fought the
Bryan element of the democratic party so vigorously that his
retirement from the paper in 1907 was a matter of much rejoicing in
the ranks of the reigning element of the party in Orange County. The
recent editor of the _Register_ was John V. Tucker, whose utterances
were evidently more in harmony with the views of the democratic
county committee. But the _Register_ suspended publication February
24, 1908.

In 1877 the _Cornwall Reflector_ was started by John Lee. Later H. H.
Snelling became editor. The paper lived until the latter part of
1888.

In 1879 James C. Merritt started the _Cornwall Mirror_ at Highland
Falls. In 1895 it was merged with the _Cornwall Local._

On April 4, 1880, appeared in Port Jervis the first number of the
_Sunday Morning Call._ It was a five-column quarto, neatly printed,
ably edited, and destined, as its first number indicated, to make a
stir in local social, political and religious circles. It was
published by Erwin G. Fowler and A. L. Moffatt, with Mr. Fowler as
editor. The latter was bright, witty, ready and fearless, and he
girded on his editorial armor and leaped into the arena of local
polemics with an ardor and a fearlessness that, for a time, set the
town in a furor. He attacked the validity of the bond issue for the
Monticello railroad, and came near having the bonds repudiated by the
people in accordance with court decisions in similar cases. His
iconoclasm aroused the frenzy of those most exposed to his vitriolic
assaults, and they sought to muzzle his _Call,_ with the result that
the last issue of his fearless paper appeared in December of the
same year.

April 23, 1881, appeared in Middletown the _Liberal Sentinel,_ an
independent weekly quarto, with John W. and Mrs. Lydia Hasbrouck as
editors. The paper was never profitable to them, but it enabled these
two benevolent people to again take up, for a time, the battle for
human rights--a struggle in which they had practically sacrificed the
bloom of their youth and the fruition of years. Mr. Hasbrouck has
gone to his reward, after a life of struggle, in his own quiet,
unassuming way, with the adverse forces of environment for the
betterment of humanity. His noble, self-sacrificing companion through
years, yet lives, a martyr to conventionality, a lover of the good,
the pure, the true. May her declining days be as peaceful and as
beautiful as the summer flowers that shed their fragrance and their
luster around her own beautiful habitation on Linden avenue's fair
lawn.

On the eighth of September, 1881, was issued at Port Jervis in the
office of the Tri-States Publishing Co., the first number of the
_Orange County Farmer._ It was a six-column quarto, and, as its name
indicates, was devoted to the interests of the farmer, dairyman, and
pomologist. The idea was one of the many conceptions of the fertile
brain of Charles St. John, Jr., then the head of the Tri-States
Publishing Co., a former supervisor of the town of Deer Park, a son
of former Congressman Hon. Charles St. John, a young man who, ere he
was out of his teens, was a leader in all the athletic sports of his
native village, Port Jervis, active, energetic in business, and
brimful of plans and ideas. He was one of the leaders in the county
in the liberal republican movement that, in 1872, led to the
nomination of Horace Greeley for President, and made the _Tri-States
Union_ and the campaign publication, _The Woodchopper,_ red-hot
champions of the Sage of Chappaqua. In starting the _Orange County
Farmer_ Mr. St. John built far better than he knew, as subsequent
events proved. The first number was, editorially, the joint
production of himself and his brother-in-law, Fred R. Salmon, then a
bookkeeper in the office of the _Tri-States Union._ Mr. Salmon had
been active in the business department, but developed talent in
connection with reportorial and editorial lines, and did some clever
agricultural work for the first and for many succeeding issues of the
_Farmer._ He was for some time known as managing editor of _The
Farmer,_ though after the first issue Erwin G. Fowler, late of the
_Sunday Call,_ and a former editor of the _Daily Union_ and of the
_Middletown Press,_ and a lover of horticultural matters, became the
active editor of _The Farmer,_ with Mr. Salmon as the business
manager. Under this joint control, with more or less supervision of
Mr. St. John, _The Farmer_ rapidly grew in popularity, in
circulation, and in influence. In 1890 Mr. Fowler and John J. Dillon,
then connected with the office and now manager of the _Rural New
Yorker,_ purchased _The Husbandman,_ an agricultural paper at Elmira,
and both retired from _The Farmer._ Mr. Fowler's successor was
William T. Doty, and Mr. Dillon's successor in the business
department was William F. Wade, now of the _Rural New Yorker._ In
1894 Mr. Fowler was again on _The Farmer's_ editorial staff and
remained until 1897, when declining health forced his retirement--and
his death in 1904 deprived the literary and agricultural world of one
of its brightest workers, the social world of one of the most
amiable, lovable, benevolent members, and Orange County's musical set
an able leader.

Mr. Fowler's successor on _The Farmer_ was Henry A. Van Fredenberg,
for years editor of the _Milling World_ and the _Lumber World,_ both
of Buffalo. Mr. Van Fredenberg was born in Montague, N. J., was
educated in the schools of Port Jervis, early became a school
teacher, and had charge of the schools at Sussex (then Deckertown),
N. J., when he entered the editorial harness on the _Sussex
Independent,_ and developed rare talent, which quickly secured his
recognition as a writer, a paragrapher, reporter, and editor. When
he was called to the editorial chair of the _Orange County Farmer_ he
had years of editorial experience, was a botanical scholar, a
marvelous linguist, a proficient mathematician, had a rare knowledge
of chemistry, geology and pomology, and was a careful student in
dairy and agricultural matters generally. That _The Farmer_ has
prospered beyond all expectations under his wise and able editorial
management is not saying too much. Started as a county agricultural
paper, it steadily grew out of its local bounds into State
reputation, and then into national and now into international
importance, with a circulation now (March, 1908), quoted at 25,000,
with subscribers in almost every civilized country in the world,
besides going into every State in the Union. It is quoted everywhere,
its editorial utterances and contributions are transferred to other
tongues, and it is recognized as one of the leading dairy journals of
the world. This marvelous growth and influence outside its own county
led its managers to change its title in 1897, when it became
_The New York Farmer,_ as more expressive of its character and the
scope of its work and operations. At this time (March, 1908), Mr.
Van Fredenberg is still the editor, and _The Farmer_ is now a
seven-column quarto, issued on Wednesday of each week.

In 1882 James J. McNally, the veteran newspaper man of Orange County,
started at Monroe a weekly seven-column folio, the _Monroe Herald._
In 1888 he started at Goshen the _Goshen News,_ and printed both
papers at Goshen until the spring of 1892, when he died, and both
publications ceased.

In 1883 _The News_ was started in Middletown as a Sunday paper by
that veteran journalist, James H. Norton. Associated with him was
Charles H. Conkling, a practical printer, and later W. T. Doty, whom
Mr. Norton induced to take a hand in the editorial work. _The News_
took an active interest in exploiting the farmer's interests during
the famous "milk war" which waged in that year, when milk was spilled
copiously in the Middletown streets and elsewhere, when encountered
in surreptitious transfer to some unpopular dealer. _The News_ was
an eight-column folio, nicely printed, and attained a considerable
circulation. Mr. Norton, and later Mr. Doty, retired from the
concern, and the material was sold to Mrs. Hasbrouck, later to
Lawyer Reid, who issued a few copies of _The Jeffersonian,_ then to
Isaac V. Montanye, who issued a few numbers of a labor paper, and
finally the material was purchased by James J. McNally, to be merged
with the _Monroe Herald_ and the _Goshen News._

In 1885 St. John & Salmon issued at Port Jervis _The Farm Guide,_ a
monthly of eight, twelve and sixteen pages. It did not live long.

In June, 1885, George F. Ketchum started at Warwick the _Warwick
Valley Dispatch._ It was an eight-column folio at first, and was
afterward enlarged to a nine-column folio which it is at present. In
1889 a half interest in the paper was sold to I. W. Litchfield, Mr.
Ketchum retaining control of the editorial policy. In 1894 Mr.
Litchfield engaged in other business, Mr. Ketchum taking over his
interest, which he still retains as sole controller of the paper and
its policy. The _Dispatch_ has always been democratic in its politics,
and for some years has been the leading--in fact, the main or
only--exponent of the aggressive democracy represented by the Bryan
forces in that party. Mr. Ketchum has been for several years chairman
of the democratic county committee, and that he has proven himself an
able editor and sagacious, fearless leader is evidenced by the growth
in popularity of his paper, and the endorsement in growing
aggressiveness of his course as leader of the democracy of the county
and chairman of the county committee.

_The Daily News_ was started in Newburgh as a penny daily, in 1885,
by William H. Keefe, who had been for many years the city editor of
the _Newburgh Daily Journal._ The paper had its inception amid modest
surroundings, but what its founder lacked in material resources,
however, he made up for in aggressiveness, enterprise and
versatility. The vigorous style of the newcomer in the journalistic
field caught the public fancy at the very start, and the paper soon
attained a large circulation and became a financial success.

William H. Keefe died in February, 1901, and the business was carried
on by the Newburgh News Printing and Publishing Co., which had been
organized several years prior to his death. Mr. F. W. Wilson is its
present able editor.

_The News_ soon outgrew the meager mechanical facilities and
restricted surroundings amid which it first saw the light, and in
1902 the plant was moved to its present home in the handsome building
at 40 and 42 Grand street, which it purchased and remodeled for its
own purpose. The installation of a still more modern and up-to-date
equipment marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the
paper, and successful as it had been up to that time, it has been
still more so since.

The _Newburgh Daily News_ of to-day is concededly one of the leading
newspapers of the Hudson River valley, not only in circulation, but
also in influence. It is splendidly equipped, and is not surpassed by
any newspaper in a city of equal size anywhere. Its plant represents
a large investment of capital and it carries on its pay-roll upwards
of fifty employees.

The handsome building, the modernly equipped plant, the large
circulation and volume of advertising all indicate that the _News_
enjoys the support and large patronage of the community in which it
is published and to which it is a distinct credit.

_The Daily Evening Press_ was established in Newburgh in 1888, as a
democratic organ, by James G. Dunphy. Mr. Dunphy was born in
Newburgh, August 21, 1842, and learned his trade under the late E. M.
Ruttenber. For many years he conducted the _Press_ with an ability
which brought success and secured it a great influence throughout the
county. After a considerable period of prosperity, however, a blight
seemed to fall upon the printing plant, and although for some time
Mr. Dunphy struggled bravely against ever-increasing obstacles, he
was finally obliged to give up the losing fight, and the _Press_
joined the large company of other Orange County organs which had
flourished for a season and then passed silently from the scene.

In 1887 St. John & Salmon started in Port Jervis a small quarto
called _Sunbeams._ It was a semi-humorous publication, but the
quality or quantity of its revelry failed somehow to attack the
risibles of a sufficient clientele of the American public, and its
weary publishers concluded to let the prosaic citizens plod on in
their own dull, flat, Boeotian way.

In 1888 N. E. Conkling & Co. started at Chester the _Orange County
News,_ a weekly, six-column folio, with N. E. Conkling as editor. It
was an independent paper, giving much attention to local news. At
times the paper published editions for Unionville and Pine Bush. In
February, 1908, the plant was sold to J. B. Gregory, and removed to
Monroe, where the latter started the _Ramapo Valley Gazette,_ March,
1908.

In April, 1888, the _Cornwall Local_ appeared at Cornwall-on-Hudson,
under the management of H. A. Gates. In September, 1889, he disposed
of the plant to C. P. Brate, of Albany, who installed his
brother-in-law, Thomas Pendall, a practical printer and bright
writer, as editor and publisher. In June, 1892, the _Local_ came
under the management of Lynn G. Goodenough, by whom it is still
conducted. The paper was classed as independent politically until it
came into Mr. Goodenough's possession. In 1896 he made the _Local_ a
republican paper, and as such it became a useful and influential
member of Orange County republican newspaperdom. Recently the name
of the paper became the _Local-Press,_ as more significant of a
newspaper than the name _Local._ In 1895 Mr. Goodenough purchased Mr.
Merritt's right, title and good will in the _Cornwall Mirror,_ and
consolidated that publication with the _Local._

In 1887 the _Walden Citizen_ came into existence. It is a six-column
quarto, republican in politics, well edited by J. H. Reed, and is a
newsy and meritorious publication.

A valuable monthly publication was begun in Port Jervis in 1888, when
_Church Life_ was issued. It was printed under the auspices of the
Reformed church of that place. It usually appeared in eight pages,
with two and three broad columns to a page. Its work was largely that
of gathering up local historical matters, and one of its most
valuable contributors was William H. Nearpass, whose penchant in that
direction enabled him to furnish much valuable historical
information that otherwise might have been lost to all generations.
Another contributor was the Rev. S. W. Mills, D.D., for many years
pastor of the Reformed Church of Deer Park. The paper was issued for
about fifteen years, but why it was allowed to cease no one connected
with the church seems to know. It was printed at the _Gazette_
office.

The _Orange County Dairyman_ was started at Middletown in the office
of the _Mercury and Argus,_ in December, 1888. The publishers were
Macardell, Thompson and Barrett (Cornelius Macardell, Sr., George H.
Thompson, and Leon Barrett, the artist.) Its editor was W. C. Cairns,
of Rockland, Sullivan County, better known as "Rusticus." The
_Dairyman_ was a five or six-column quarto. It never became
profitable, and went out of existence in January, 1890.

The only Sunday paper of the four or more started in this county that
seemed to have vitality enough to come down to our day was the
_Telegram_ of Newburgh. It was started in 1889 by Edward M.
Ruttenber, the venerable and learned printer, editor, author and
historian, who lately passed to his great reward, mourned by all, and
beloved and revered by those who knew him best. The _Telegram_ is now
published by J. W. F. Ruttenber, son of its founder. Though started
as a Sunday paper, it is now issued on Saturday, and is known as _The
Newburgh Telegram._ It is ably conducted, as it always has been. A
free lance in principle, it is fearless in its assaults, and
sometimes makes things very interesting for residents of the
Hillside city and its purlieus.

One of the publications that made a sensation at its starting, and
during its entire career was a subject of wide interest, was called
_The Conglomerate._ It was started June 15, 1890, by patients in the
State Homeopathic Hospital at Middletown. The first number was a
four-column folio, but it soon grew to a quarto, and its circulation
increased until, at its zenith, over 3,000 copies were issued. It
circulated in all parts of America, had subscribers in New Zealand,
and in fact in nearly every country, and its articles were copied
everywhere. _The Conglomerate_ stood for reform in lunacy matters,
and for this reason, and because of its too outspoken policy against
the State's lunacy commission, the authorities caused its suspension.
It was gotten out entirely at the State Hospital, where a
fully-equipped newspaper and job-printing office was established by
the patients under whose tutelage it was called into existence. Its
pages were full of bright things. Not only were its editorials able,
but its contributions were from brilliant minds, the names of whose
writers, for obvious reasons, are withheld. It ceased publication in
1897, after a brilliant career, during which it was eagerly sought,
read with avidity, and was a force for good throughout its whole
brief career.

On the afternoon of April 29, 1881, appeared in Middletown one of the
county's--aye, one of the State's--marvels of journalistic success
under the title of the _Middletown Daily Times._ The first numbers
were issued from the Hasbrouck printing office in the Hasbrouck
block, corner of North and Depot streets, and was a seven-column
folio. While it announced that Lewis S. Stivers and John D. Stivers
were editors and proprietors, it was understood that ex-Congressman
the Hon. Moses Dunning Stivers, their father, stood sponsor for the
publication, and this able writer and shrewd politician soon made his
personality evident in every issue of the _Times._ Rapidly did the
paper gain in circulation, in influence, and in popular confidence.
Congressman Stivers was a man of pronounced personality, had a way of
winning friends and retaining them, and with the recent expiration of
a successful term in Congress he was in position to build up a
powerful country newspaper plant. And that is just what he did. In
this work he was most ably assisted by his two sons, whose names
appeared at the head of the editorial columns. Lewis S. Stivers was a
practical printer, a pressman, and a thorough, all-round mechanical
expert; young, with a love for the trade--credited by all printers as
being not only practical but one of the most capable men in the
State. His brother, John D. Stivers, had been his father's private
secretary all through his congressional career, had acquitted himself
with entire credit, and having been "brought up" in a printing
office, was well qualified to enter the editorial department of the
establishment. As a reporter, as one ready and quick to grasp the
importance of legitimate news, he proved his fitness for the position
by keeping the _Times_ in the lead in its local and general news
departments. It was under such auspicious conditions that _The
Middletown Daily News_ presented itself to the public every afternoon
in the week, except Sunday, and its rapid growth in favor was the
fulfillment of the auguries of those who best knew its esteemed
sponsor and its managers. Within a short time the establishment was
removed to the first floor on the James and Henry street corner of
the Casino block. Here it remained until it was removed to its
present quarters at the corner of King and Center streets, in the
handsome four-story brick building of its own, and known as the Times
building or Stivers block. Here are fast presses, three Mergenthaler
Linotype machines and all the necessary accouterments to enable the
management to issue one of the best daily newspapers in this country,
outside of the larger cities. Its circulation is now daily
considerably over 5,000 copies. The death of the Hon. M. D. Stivers
and later of his son, Louis S. Stivers, removed two of the brightest
members of the Orange County newspaperdom, and necessitated
reorganization of the Times Publishing Co., which is now known as the
Stivers Printing Company, with John D. Stivers as president and Dr.
M. A. Stivers as secretary and treasurer. On February 11, 1906, the
_Middletown Daily Press_ merged with the _Times_ and the combination
has since issued as the _Middletown Times-Press._ The editorial
writer on the _Times_ and _Times-Press_ since November 1, 1905, has
been A. W. Russell, whose bright, well-put comments are one of the
features that commend this widely-read journal.

The _News of Highlands_ was started at Highland Falls in 1891. It is
published on Saturdays by F. F. & A. G. Tripp, and is politically
independent or neutral.

In February, 1892, appeared in Port Jervis the _Port Jervis Morning
Index,_ the second attempt in that place to establish a morning
daily. It was started by Isaac V. Montanye, of Goshen, and Sherwood
Rightmyer, his nephew; was an eight-column folio, independent, or
rather neutral, in politics, Mr. Montanye being a democrat and Mr.
Rightmyer a republican. The _Index_ was newsy, and well edited, but
ceased publication in August of the same year.

Middletown seems to have been the theatre of the sensational in
Orange County journalism. The _Banner of Liberty,_ the _Whig Press_
(whose editor was once caned in the streets for a bit of
facetiousness); the _Sybil,_ the _Mercury,_ the _Mail,_ the
_Standard,_ the _News,_ the _Liberal Sentinel,_ the _Labor Advocate,_
the _Conglomerate_--each had its day of riotous jest or caustic
invective that set the town "by the ears" for a time.

The latest one to enter this field of humor, sarcasm and expletive
was _The Forum,_ the first number of which was issued February 28,
1897, by W. T. Doty and H. W. Corey, and which, within a few weeks,
expanded into the _Middletown Sunday Forum._ The first few numbers
were printed in New York for the publishers by one of the "patent
inside" concerns, and the warmth of its reception was such that its
proprietors felt justified in putting in a plant of their own. The
office at first was in the business office of the Casino building,
in the second floor, but was later transferred to the first floor of
the rear of the same building on Henry street. From the unique
"greeting" in the first issue, the following excerpt is made as
characteristic of the purposes, course and whole conduct of the
publication:

"There are a number of reasons why we have concluded to publish _The
Forum._ First, we want to publish it. Second, there are a number of
people who don't want us to publish it. Third, there seems need of a
publication in this city that will call a spade a spade. Fourth, we
can stop it when we want to. Being able to stop publishing it, if we
want to, encouraged us in the idea of starting."

And so it was started, and with a pace that took the whole county by
storm. It was exultant, exuberant, jocular, sarcastic, hilarious, but
never whining, simpering, brawling or lachrymose. It had features
such as no other paper in the county had, and all these peculiarities
brought it into wider and wider notoriety, and the editions printed
almost invariably fell short of supplying the demand. A leading
feature was the "sermons" of "Pastor" Corey. There was a vein of the
keenest irony in them, generally of more or less local application,
and the demand for these lively satires extended to all classes of
citizens--those the severest hit as well as those who, from a safe
"coign of vantage," liked to watch the unique assaults. Another of
its peculiar features was the holding up to ridicule of the driveling
"items" and personals sent in by so many cross-roads correspondents
of country papers, and which were generally the clever work of
"Deacon" Peter F. Kaufman, a local real estate man who always looked
on the "funny side" of all events. The unfortunate and severe illness
of Mr. Corey necessitated the abandonment of the "sermons." The
concern was sold (December, 1897), to Frank L. Blanchard, of New
York, and later (1898) to W. T. Doty and Thomas Pendell, of Cornwall.
The latter two ran out a daily, _The Morning Forum,_ for some months,
in 1898. Then Mr. Pendall purchased the outfit, and transferred it to
Massena, N. Y. During the two or three years in which _The Forum_
lived in Middletown it "cut a wide swath," and kept the whole
surrounding country wondering "what next?" and, had it continued as
it began, would have landed its proprietors--who were getting a pile
of fun out of the proceeding--in the ranks of the multi-millionaires
or in the penitentiary. A unique financial feature of the experiment
was the fact that the paper more than paid its own way from the very
first issue.

In October, 1898, S. T. Morehouse started at Cornwall-on-Hudson the
_Cornwall Courier._ This was conducted by various parties, including
Mr. Morehouse and his son, Claude, by the well-known writer Creswell
McLaughlin, Bernard Call, Clark J. Brown, Clayton Brown, and William
Clark, and in 1906, ceased to exist.

The _Orange County Record_ was started at Washingtonville, May 17,
1899, by the Hon. Isaac V. Montanye (since deceased, December 26,
1906) and his nephew, Montanye Rightmyer. Since the death of Mr.
Montanye, Mr. Rightmyer is the editor and publisher. The paper is
devoted to local news.

In March, 1908, J. B. Gregory started at Monroe the _Ramapo Valley
Gazette._ The plant was that of the _Orange County News_ at Chester,
the paper started in 1888 by N. E. Conkling.

                       MISCELLANEOUS.

In addition to the above-mentioned so-called "regular publications,"
there have been numerous amateur, church, society, labor,
semi-literary, and other more or less sporadic productions
throughout the county from the time of the introduction of printing
into the county at Goshen in 1788 to the present time.

An enterprise of importance that may be classed under this heading
was that of the Franklin Printing Company, starting in Middletown, in
1879. At the head of the concern were James H. Norton, Isaac F.
Guiwits, of Middletown and William H. Nearpass, of Port Jervis. A
considerable building was erected on Mill street, Middletown, next to
the residence of Mr. Norton, and several presses and a finely
equipped printing establishment was installed, to print "patent
insides." A big business was there built up, and continued until the
purchase and absorption of the plant by the New York Newspaper Union,
and the transfer of the same to that city.

From 1884 to 1886 the United States Official Postal Guide for New
York City was printed by W. H. Nearpass at the Port Jervis _Gazette_
office. Anthony M. May & Co. had the contract for this work.

About 1886-7 lawyer T. A. Reid, of Middletown, amused himself for a
few months with a paper he called _The Jeffersonian._

Soon after, the Rev. Charles M. Winchester, a Free Methodist, came to
Middletown, probably in 1879, he started a daily paper which he
called _The Standard_ or _The Standard-Bearer._ It was published in
the interests of the temperance cause, and made a considerable
excitement during the eight or ten months of its existence.

The Pine Bush _Herald_ is a lateral production of the Walden
_Herald,_ and dates from 1904, with George W. Jamison as editor.

_Town Life_ was a weekly issued in Middletown from June, 1904, to
January, 1905, by Nelson W. Dix. It was a humorous publication with
illustrations by the young publisher, who has a taste and a
remarkable aptitude for drawing and cartoon work.

The _Orange County Magazine_ was started in Newburgh in 1906, and in
the same year the Goshen _Independent Republican_ issued a side
edition called the _Chester Independent Republican,_ with George W.
Ball as editor.

The first number of the _St. Paul's Herald_ was issued in August,
1892, and each month thereafter for about one year. It contained
eight pages, 9 by 12 inches to a page, and a cover. The _Herald_ was
issued in the interest of St. Paul's M. E. Church, and Middletown
Methodism. The editor and proprietor was Henry P. Powers, the present
City Editor of the Middletown _Argus,_ and it was printed at the
_Times_ office.

_The Worker's Advocate_ was started in Middletown about 1903, and
conducted several years by W. H. McCarter, as an independent weekly
paper.

_The Church Helper_ was issued under auspices of Drew M. E. Church in
Port Jervis, for about one year. The first number appeared in June,
1889. It was a monthly, devoted almost exclusively to church and
temperance work.

_The Parish Monthly_ has been issued since 1906 by sanction of the
Rev. John J. Morris, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate
Conception in Port Jervis. It is a two-column folio, printed by P. J.
Gaudy, Port Jervis, for the dissemination of local church news.

_The Golden Rod_ is a monthly issued by Frederick Arthur Gates, M.A.,
pastor of the Ridgebury Presbyterian church, and printed at the
office of the Middletown _Times-Press._ The Associate Editor is Mary
C. Clark, with a corps of correspondents. It contains 10 pages and a
cover, with two columns to a page, and with a subscription price of
25 cents a year. It has some local news and advertisements, but is
devoted mainly to church and temperance work. It was started in
January, 1907.

                      AMATEUR PUBLICATIONS.

The county has seen the birth and death of many amateur publications.
The first in the county, so far as now known, and believed to be one
of the first in the whole country, was issued in Port Jervis in 1862.
It was called _The Tiger._ It was a diminutive production of four
small pages, and was printed on one of the Adams Amateur presses, one
of the first made, and the type, furnished by the same concern, was
set by the energetic young publisher, William Henry Nearpass. _The
Tiger_ was issued semi-occasionally, to suit the whim or convenience
of the publisher, for two or three years. Mr. Nearpass was then a
clerk in the grocery and dry goods store of Charles St. John, at the
corner of Pike and West Main streets. Mr. Nearpass was then about
twenty-two years of age.

Newburgh has had many of these amateur prints, beginning in 1875.
Among them may be mentioned the following: _Union Jack, American
Eagle, The Comet, The Index, The Collector, The Packet, The Laurel,
The Amateur Herald._

In 1877 Port Jervis had the _Amateur Guide,_ and in 1880 _The
Cricket._

_Academy Miscellany_ was started by the Port Jervis high school
students in March, 1889, and was discontinued in May, 1895. It was a
monthly publication, of eight pages, with two broad columns to a
page, was devoted to school matters almost exclusively, and was a
bright publication.

_The Owl_ is a bright twenty-page monthly issued by the Middletown
high school students, and printed at the office of the _Times-Press._
It has been issued for several years, and is a particularly
commendable school publication, both for the neatness with which it
is gotten out, the literary character of its contents, and the
business-like character of the publication. The present editor is
James A. Rorty, the business manager, E. C. Faulkner.

During 1897 _The Union School Journal_ was published by Merritt C.
Speidel, now of the Tri-States Publishing Co., Port Jervis, and Hugh
M. Cox, now a practicing physician in New York City, who were the
editors and managers. It had 12 pages of 10 by 12 inches, three
columns to a page, and had a circulation of 500. The publication was
devoted to the interests of the schools and to matters of a general
educational nature. The paper had the official sanction of the school
authorities, and many prominent Orange County writers contributed to
it.

                 The Publications of the County.

                         IN ANCIENT GOSHEN.

The _Goshen Repository_ was issued in 1788, by David Mandeville and
David M. Westcott, at the Goshen Academy. The nature of the
publication seems now unknown; nor is the size of the publication,
or its character. In 1793 its office was near the court house. In
1800 it was sold to John G. and William Heurtin, thus showing a life
of twelve years--a much better showing than that made by many of its
successors there and elsewhere. Messrs. Heurtin changed its name to
the _Orange County Patriot,_ and in 1801 William Heurtin sold his
interest to William A. Carpenter, when the name was changed to _The
Friend of Truth._ In 1804 it passed to the ownership of Ward M.
Gazlay or Gazley, and again its name was changed. This time it became
the _Orange Eagle._ A fire in 1805 in the office singed the _Eagle's_
feathers, but it was enabled to move about, and took its flight to
Newburgh, where it became the _Political Index._

Taking its name from an extinct Newburgh paper, Gabriel Denton, in
1804, issued the _Orange County Gazette._ Edward M. Ruttenber traces
its history to Elliott Hopkins in 1807, to Elliott Hopkins & Co. in
1811, to Elliott Hopkins in 1812. to F. J. & A. D. Houghton in 1813,
and to 1818, when it was "printed and published for the proprietor."
How long after this it lasted is not known.

In 1808 Gabriel Denton started the _Orange County Patriot and Spirit
of Seventy-six._ It was doubtless a patriotic publication, probably a
jingo organ firing the American heart for another struggle with Great
Britain, which came in 1812. In 1811 it was removed to Newburgh by
Lewis & Crowell, where it was published as a "new series." T. B.
Crowell became its publisher, and announced that its columns were
"open to all parties" but were "influenced by none." In 1822 Mr.
Crowell moved the paper back to Goshen, and sold it to R. C. S.
Hendrie, who, February 22, 1834, sold it to F. T. Parson, who changed
its name to the _Goshen Democrat._ In 1842 Charles Mead associated
with Mr. Parson. Nathaniel Webb secured Mr. Parson's interest, and
the firm became Mead & Webb, and later Charles Mead & Son, after the
death of Mr. Webb. In 1843 R. C. S. Hendrie started the _True Whig,_
two years later selling it to Charles Mead, who merged it with his
paper under the title of _The Goshen Democrat and Whig._ Later the
name _Whig_ was dropped, and the paper remains to this day the
_Goshen Democrat._ The firm of Mead & Son came into existence January
1, 1865, and continued until January 1, 1892, when the elder Mead
sold his interest to Edwin L. Roys. William W. Mead and Edwin L.
conducted the establishment under the firm name of Mead & Roys until
September 1, 1902, on which date they sold the concern to J. R.
Colburn, of Washington, D. C. Two months later (November 1, 1902),
John F. Barringer, of Walden, bought the plant and, two months later
(January 1, 1903), sold it to John B. Scott and George V. Gregg, who
conducted the same under the firm name of Scott & Gregg, until
September 1, 1905. on which date Mr. Scott sold his interest to
George F. Gregg, who has since been its proprietor.

In 1820 Williams & Farrand started the _Orange Farmer._ Mr. Ruttenber
speaks of this as the _Orange County Farmer,_ but as the copies now
in existence bear the title _Orange Farmer,_ the writer is inclined
to believe the word "County" is a slip of the usually very accurate
pen of Mr. Ruttenber. Its founders were graduates of the Albany
_Plow-Boy,_ and aimed to make the _Farmer_ an agricultural
publication. How long it lasted is not known. A well-preserved copy
of this _Farmer_ is now in possession of Dr. James J. Mills, of Port
Jervis. It is volume IV, No. 195, dated November 17, 1823.

About 1822 there moved into Goshen a lusty young pioneer, sixteen
years of age, under the patronymic of _The Independent Republican._
This stripling was born at Montgomery, May 6, 1806, and there
christened the _Orange County Republican._ Under the tutelage of
Luther Pratt in 1812, in its sixth year, its name was changed to that
of the _Independent Republican,_ and in 1818 James A. Cheevey became
its sponsor, and removed it to Goshen about 1822. In 1832 the
_Independent Republican_ plant was sold to Henry H. Van Dyck, who
sold it in 1836 when he became State Senator, to Victor M. Drake,
then a young printer twenty-seven years of age, who had for some time
been employed in the office, as apprentice and journeyman printer. In
1841 Mr. Drake sold the establishment to Moses Swezey, who came to
Goshen from Long Island in 1834 as a violinist and dancing master. He
was a fine penman, a good bookkeeper, and an excellent accountant,
and became the head clerk for County Clerk Lebbeus L. Vail. As editor
of the _Independent Republican_ he wielded a powerful and caustic
pen, and became a power in Orange County politics. He was the father
of the present Surrogate, John B. Swezey.

In 1846 Mr. Swezey sold the plant to Clark & Montanye. It continued,
as it long had been, the local organ of the "Hunker" faction of the
Democracy. Late in the '50's Mr. Clark went to Iowa and started a
Republican paper. James J. McNally purchased the plant in 1853, and
sold it to Isaac V. Montanye in 1857, only to repurchase it, selling
it again in 1869 to Edward M. Ruttenber and H. P. Kimber. Mr.
Ruttenber retired, and in 1874 Mr. Kimber sold it to Thomas P.
McElrath, an ambitious New Yorker, who had some fond illusions which
he hoped to engraft into Orange County journalism. He made friends
and foes fast and furious--particularly the foes--and in 1876 retired
to New York, utterly disgusted with journalism in Orange County.

Then Hon. I. V. Montanye and his son, Lucien, secured the paper. In
1883 the former retired, and Frank Drake secured an interest in the
concern, under the firm name of Montanye & Drake. In March, 1892, Mr.
Drake became sole owner, and remains such to-day (March, 1908).

The present proprietor of the _Independent Republican,_ Frank Drake,
is a son of that veteran Orange County journalist, Victor M. Drake,
and is a "chip of the old block," a good newspaper man. He is making
the paper newsy, keen, merry and bright. He changed it from a weekly
to a semi-weekly edition, issued on Tuesdays and Fridays. It is a
five-column quarto.

The _Independent Republican_ has not always had things its own way in
Goshen Democratic politics. In 1843 Hector Vail, son of County Clerk
Lebbeus L. Vail, and T. W. Donovan started the _Democratic Standard_
under the firm name of Vail & Donovan. The _Standard_ represented the
"Barn-Burners" or Free Soil element in the Democratic party, and in
antagonism to the interests represented the "Hunkers" and the
_Independent Republican._ In 1844 Mr. Donovan retired, and Hector
Vail changed its name to the _Goshen Clarion._ The Democratic
factional fight became stronger, and the _Clarion_ had such backers
as Lebbeus L. Vail, Asa D. Jansen, James H. Jansen, John B. Booth of
Goshen; Merritt H. Cash, Minisink, and Francis Tuthill of Chester. On
the death of Lebbeus Vail, the _Clarion,_ in 1879 was discontinued,
the subscription list going to the _Independent Republican_ and the
material to Milford, Pa., having been purchased by John M. Heller or
James J. McNally, or both, and where it became the _Pike County
Democrat_ and later the _Milford Herald._

One paper devoted exclusively to theological subjects had its origin
in Goshen, and lives to-day to tell the tale. In 1832 the _Signs of
the Times_ was started, by Lebbeus L. Vail, a convert from
Congregationalism to the Old School Baptist tenets. Between politics
and theology Mr. Vail was kept pretty busy. He was a candidate for
county clerk on the Democratic ticket, and in 1834 was elected. About
this time an earnest young expounder of Mr. Vail's new-grounded faith
appeared on the scene. Mr. Vail could not very well run a religious
journal and the county clerk's office at the same time, so he turned
the _Signs of the Times_ over, body and soul, to the youthful
preacher, and Elder Gilbert Beebe took his prize in a wagon, and
landed it in New Vernon, near Middletown. Thence he moved it to
Alexandria, Va., whence it came to Middletown, where it is domiciled
to-day.

During the fight in the Democratic party between the "Hard-Shell"
faction, representing the pro-slavery element, and the "Soft-Shell,"
representing the Douglas, Squatter-Sovereignty, or Anti-Nebraska
element in the party, in 1854, the _Democratic Recorder_ was started
by A. G. Tucker. The _Recorder_ had a short life, and the
subscription list and materials were purchased by James J. McNally
and absorbed by his _Independent Republican._

The next and last paper to appear in Goshen was the _Goshen News,_ in
1888, under James J. McNally, which, as already told, passed into
that ever-open haven of refuge, the portals of the _Independent
Republican,_ on the death of Mr. McNally, in 1892.

                    NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR.

When New Windsor leaps into the arena of contest with a journal of
uncertain antiquity, but clearly at the daybreak of journalistic
chronology in Orange County, she has grounds for contesting the
concession that Newburgh was second, or Goshen even first, in the
honors due to pioneerism in the printing art.

E. M. Ruttenber says: "In 1799 Jacob Schultz removed to Newburgh the
_New Windsor Gazette,_ the name of which he changed to _Orange County
Gazette._" It is not in evidence when this New Windsor paper began
and it may have been immediately or long prior to its removal to
Newburgh.

But Mr. Ruttenber says the first paper published in Newburgh was the
_Newburgh Packet_ in 1795. The proprietor was Lucius Carey,
son-in-law of Rev. John Close, Presbyterian minister at Newburgh and
New Windsor. Carey sold the paper to David Denniston in 1797, who
changed its name to _The Mirror,_ Philip Van Home (1797) and Joseph
W. Barber (1798) appearing as proprietors.

In 1796 a pamphlet entitled, "An Apology for the Bible," was printed
in Newburgh, by David Denniston. It was written by R. Watson, D.D.,
F.R.S. It is said it was creditably printed and bound.

When the _Orange County Gazette_ emerged from the _New Windsor
Gazette_ in 1799, Newburgh had two printing shops where books as well
as papers were printed, and the legend is that the _Gazette_ became
_The Citizen,_ though Mr. Ruttenber questions this, as none of the
issues are to be found. As Mr. Denniston was, about this time,
connected with the _American Citizen,_ of New York City, this fact
may have given rise to the belief that a local _Citizen_ had existed.

_The Rights of Man_ was started in 1799 by Dr. Elias Winfield. Mr.
Denniston also purchased this paper, evidently merging it with his
_Orange County Gazette._

_The Recorder of the Times_ was started by Dennis Cole, in 1803. _The
Mirror_ was absorbed by the _Rights of Man_ in 1804, and the latter
by _The Times,_ in 1805. Ward M. Gazlay, this year, drove into town
with the remnants of his _Orange Eagle,_ whose office had been burned
in Goshen, purchased the _Recorder of the Times,_ in 1806, and
changed the name to the _Political Index,_ and it lived until 1829,
when it became the _Orange Telegraph_ and the _Newburgh Telegraph_
under Charles M. Cushman. Under many changes it lived to become,
under E. M. Ruttenber, in 1876, the _Newburgh Register._

In June, 1822, John D. Spaulding started the _Newburgh Gazette._
Through a succession of owners it came, in 1856, to Eugene W. Gray,
who, in connection with the _Gazette,_ began the publication of a
political paper which he called the _Daily News._ In 1864 the name of
the _News_ was dropped and _Daily Telegraph_ substituted, and later
in the same year it became the _Daily Union,_ in 1866 all the
previous titles were dropped and that of _The Press_ substituted, in
1869 the title of _Telegraph_ restored, and in 1876 that of
_Register._

The _Newburgh Journal,_ started in 1833-4 by John D. Spaulding,
became the _Highland Courier_ in 1843, and in 1859, under Rufus A.
Reed, it became the _Highland Chieftain._ The establishment came into
the possession of Cyrus B. Martin, who resumed the name of _Newburgh
Journal,_ and in 1863 began the publication of the _Daily Journal,_
which is continued to-day by Ritchie & Hull.

_The Beacon,_ an anti-Jackson paper, was commenced in 1828 by Judge
William B. Wright. Wallace & Sweet, in 1834, published the _National
Advertiser,_ and later merged it in the _Gazette._ In 1849 Thomas
George issued the _Newburgh Excelsior,_ which was purchased by E. M.
Ruttenber (May, 1851), who merged it in the _Telegraph._ For three or
four weeks in 1855 R. P. L. Shafer published the _Newburgh American._
_The Newburgh Times,_ a temperance paper, was started in March, 1856,
by Royal B. Hancock, "as agent for an association of gentlemen."
After passing into the ownership of R. Bloomer & Son, Alexander
Wilson and Charles Blanchard, it became, under the latter, the
_Newburgh Daily Democrat,_ and lived thus only a few months.

An association of printers, in October, 1875, started the _Daily
Penny Post,_ and in 1876 a rival association started the _Daily
Mail._ The _Post_ died in 1876, and in 1877 the _Mail_ was absorbed
by the _Register._

Newburgh's theological serial publications began in 1824, when the
Rev. J. R. Wilson started the _Evangelical Witness,_ a religious
monthly of forty-eight pages, devoted to the interests of the
Reformed Presbyterian church. In four years (1828), it was succeeded
by the _Christian Statesman,_ which lived one year. Authorized by
the Synod of the same church, the Rev. Moses Roney, March 1, 1836,
began the publication of the _Reformed Presbyterian,_ a monthly of
thirty-two pages. In 1849 Mr. Roney removed the magazine to
Pittsburgh, Pa., where he died in 1854, and his widow continued its
publication until succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Sproul. For one year
the _Family Visitor_ lived, a monthly quarto, conducted by the Rev.
David L. Proudfit. Beginning in 1845 he published the _Christian
Instructor,_ a thirty-two page monthly. Two years later the Rev.
J. B. Dales bought it and removed it to Philadelphia. The _Catholic
Library Magazine_ was begun in 1856 by the Catholic Library
Association, with John Ashhurst as editor. It was published monthly,
and lived until August, 1860.

Newburgh has been a fertile field for the production of newspapers
and periodicals of all sorts, as seen above, the religious as well as
the secular press felt the popular pulse, and then passed away.

There were also literary ventures more or less pretentious, each
budding, blossoming and fading in a short season.

_Tables of Rural Economy_ was issued in May, 1832, by John Knevels.
It was a monthly quarto and lived less than a year. The _Literary
Scrap-Book_ was a monthly of forty-eight pages, started in 1855 by
R. B. Denton. Its life was short. In 1857 Domaski's School began the
publication of _The Acorn,_ which lived until 1859. Some time
afterward the title was rescued in a publication by the students of
the Newburgh Institute under charge of Mr. Siglar, and again it died.

One of the most profitable of all these literary ventures in Newburgh
was that of the _Household Advocate,_ by S. S. Wood, begun in 1867.
It was an eight-page monthly and soon secured a large circulation.
Mr. Wood later changed its name to the _Household Magazine._ It
attained a circulation of 60,000, and the writer is one of the many
who read its pages with eagerness until it failed in 1874.

Another publication which the writer remembers reading with much
pleasure was _Home, Farm and Orchard,_ an eight-page weekly started
in 1869 by A. A. Bensel. It lived until the spring of 1876.

During the years of 1872 and 1873 Demorest & Burr issued the _Musical
Bulletin,_ a monthly quarto.

In amateur papers there were several. Among them: _The Union Jack,_
by Master A. Ludlow Case (1865 to 1873); the _American Eagle,_ by
Frank S. Hull, aged twelve years (1865); _The Comet,_ by Henri Gerard
(1871); _The Index,_ by J. Walker F. Ruttenber (1871); _The
Collector,_ by D. W. Jagger (1871); _The Packet,_ by W. H. Wood and
D. W. Corwin (1872); _The Laurel,_ by a Milligan (1872); the _Amateur
Herald,_ by T. R. Balf (1872).

                            AT MONTGOMERY.

Montgomery seems to have come forth into the journalistic arena.

The _Orange County Republican_ was printed there from 1806 to 1818.
It was begun May 6, 1806, and was printed by Cyrus Beach and Luther
Pratt. This publication, as already shown in the Goshen notes, was
removed to Goshen and became the _Independent Republican._

In 1833-1834 the _Republican Banner_ was printed there by Calvin
F. S. Thomas. In June, 1859, William H. Smith started the _Montgomery
Standard._ The _Montgomery Republican_ was issued in September, 1868,
by Lester Winfield, being a continuation of a publication he started
at Galeville Mills, Ulster County, in May, 1864, and which he removed
to Pine Bush and called the _Pine Bush Weekly Casket,_ in November,
1867. May 1, 1869, the _Standard_ and the _Republican_ united their
forces and became the _Republican and Standard,_ under Lester
Winfield. In 1896 Lyman H. Taft started the _Reporter._ Later the
_Reporter_ and the _Republican and Standard_ united, and became the
_Montgomery Standard and Reporter,_ which it is now (March, 1908),
with Lyman H. Taft as editor and proprietor, and Charles M. Miller,
associate editor. It is a large nine-column folio, republican in
politics, with a decided tendency to be independent.

In April, 1868, Stephen H. Sayer started the _Wallkill Valley Times,_
a large seven-column folio. It was neatly printed, and the office
well-equipped, with a cylinder press--a rare acquisition in those
days. In 1869 Mr. Sayer issued the _Dollar Weekly._ In 1871 Lester
Winfield purchased the _Times_ and the _Weekly_ outfit, and remained
in Montgomery until his death a few years ago.

                           AT SLATE HILL.

Reference has already been made to a well-printed paper issued in
Slate Hill or Brookfield, in 1834, the _Republican Sentinel._ The
writer has several well-preserved copies of this neat publication,
but when it passed out of existence is not now known. The name of the
editor does not appear, nor of the publisher.

Slate Hill in that day was a thriving settlement, and doubtless would
have continued to grow had not the Erie railroad come to Goshen in
1842 and to Middletown two or three years later.

                             IN MIDDLETOWN.

It was in 1840 that the first printing outfit landed in Middletown.
In that year A. A. Bensel started the _Middletown Courier,_ a
democratic weekly, which he continued until April, 1846, when,
apparently scared by the entrance of the Erie railroad, he "pulled up
stakes" and never stopped until his outfit was landed in Kingston,
N. Y., where he started the _Ulster Democrat._

The _Orange County News_ was the second venture in Middletown. This
was started in July, 1846, by John S. Brown, and it lived until 1849.
It was neutral in politics and evidently in almost everything else,
and, it is said, hardly deserved the name of a newspaper.

About 1847 Elder Gilbert Beebe came into town with his Old School
Baptist _Signs of the Times,_ which he removed from Alexandria, Va.,
as already explained. This publication continues, changed somewhat in
form but not in method or substance, and remains a monument to the
peculiar tenets of the faithful band of adherents of a sturdy
theological doctrine. For many years it was printed in the "meeting
house" on Orchard street, where the Denton residence now stands, and
directly opposite the residence of Elder Beebe. A few years ago, and
some time after the death of Elder Beebe, the plant was removed to
the upper floor of the brick building at the west corner of East Main
and Roberts streets, and the "meeting-house," a plain brick
structure, stands on the corner of Roberts and Cottage streets. The
_Signs_ is published by J. E. Beebe & Co., and is edited by Elder
F. A. Chick, of Hopewell, N. J., and Elder H. C. Kerr, of Middletown.

In 1848 Gilbert Judson Beebe started the _Banner of Liberty._ It was
at first published monthly, eight pages with four columns to a page.
After 1856 it became a weekly publication, the same size. It was a
rank pro-slavery paper, and opposed and assaulted all lines of modern
thought or suggestion of innovation or iconoclasm. This style of
polemics met a hearty response in the South and Southwest, and the
paper attained a circulation of 27,000 copies. For years it was
printed in the old frame structure then known as the Pinkus Building
on East Main street, next to the Holding House. When the Civil War
broke out its circulation and income were greatly cut down by the
interruption of mail communication between the North and the South,
and the death of the talented but obdurate and intractable editor,
after the war, left nothing for the _Banner of Liberty_ to do but to
go somewhere and expire. It did. It went to Ellenville, and shortly
was heard of no more.

In 1856 Mr. Beebe published a _Campaign Banner._

Gilbert J. Beebe also started in 1848, and in this case may fairly be
said to have "established" the _Middletown Mercury_ which as
elsewhere stated, became one of the brightest country newspapers in
the United States under James H. Norton and Isaac F. Guiwits.

Mr. Beebe printed another paper in his early and more ambitious days.
From 1850 to 1852 he ran out an advertising monthly for gratuitous
circulation. It was called the _Middletown Advertiser._

The next paper to appear in Middletown was _The Whig Press._ It was
started November 26, 1851, by John Whitbeck Hasbrouck, a young man
from Ulster County. In 1866 he changed its name to the _Orange County
Press._ This concern, always prosperous and influential, but which
finally merged with the _Times_ and became a part of the
_Times-Press_ (February 1, 1906), had an eventful career, which is
best summed up in the following brevities taken from the last issue
of the _Daily Press,_ February 28, 1906:

Established November 26, 1851, by John W. Hasbrouck, and conducted by
him for about seventeen years.

April 9, 1868, purchased by Moses D. Stivers and conducted by him
for twenty months.

December 3, 1869, firm of Stivers & Kessinger formed, the junior
member being Albert Kessinger, who died in the summer of 1872.

May 24, 1870, a tri-weekly edition was started, issued Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays.

October 15, 1872, F. Stanhope Hill and John Whiting Slauson bought
the paper under the firm name of Hill & Slauson.

October 26, 1872. this firm discontinued the tri-weekly known as the
_Evening Press,_ and started in its place the _Middletown Daily
Press,_ issued afternoons.

July 1, 1873, M. D. Stivers bought Mr. Hill's interest, and the firm
of Stivers & Slauson was formed and continued seven and one-half
years.

December 14, 1880, Mr. Stivers sold his interest to Charles J. Boyd,
and the firm of Slauson & Boyd was formed.

July 24, 1883, Slauson & Boyd issued the first number of the _Orange
County Semi-Weekly Press_--the first semi-weekly local paper in this
section, and a pronounced success from the start.

August 1, 1883, M. D. Stivers again became part owner of the _Press,_
and the firm became Stivers, Slauson & Boyd, continuing for about
seven and one-half years.

March 1, 1891, Mr. Stivers sold his interest to his partners, and the
firm of Slauson & Boyd for the second time came into existence.

February 1, 1906, merged into the _Times-Press,_ after an honored and
prosperous record of more than fifty-four years.

The term of service with the _Press_ of each proprietor in round
numbers is: John W. Hasbrouck, seventeen years; Moses D. Stivers,
nineteen years; John W. Slauson, thirty-three years; Charles J.
Boyd, twenty-five years; Albert Kessinger, three years; F. Stanhope
Hill, one year.

Reference has already been made to _The Hardwareman's Newspaper_
(1855), _The Sybil_ (1856), _The Iron Age_ (1858), _The Rising Sun_
(1866), _The Mail,_ daily and weekly (1869), _The Standard_ (1874?),
_The Argus,_ weekly (1875), daily (1876), _The Liberal Sentinel_
(1881), _The News_ (1883), _The Jeffersonian_ (1886?), _The Forum_
(1897), and the _Worker's Advocate_ (1899?).

                       THE PRESS IN PORT JERVIS.

Printing was introduced into Port Jervis by a colored man, P. H.
Miller. Of his personality the writer is unable, at this day, to
learn a thing--whence he came or whither he departed. He began the
printing here of an independent Whig paper, which he called the _Port
Jervis Express,_ early in 1850. It was neatly printed, a five or
six-column folio, and reflected credit on its founder. It was printed
in an office on West Main street, on the west side of the canal. That
section was then about all there was of Port Jervis, though the Erie
had arrived, and started a station near the Delaware River which it
called Delaware. The people of "the Port" objected to this name, and
for a long time strife was keen between the residents and the Erie
company over the name, the advocates of "the Port" finally winning.

The _Express_ saw the tail end of this fight, before its life of nine
months drew to a close.

In November of the year (1850) when the Express passed away, the
_Tri-States Union_ was started. Its founder was Col. Sam Fowler, a
Jersey-man who had acquired considerable land in the village, all
within the boundaries of the present city. He was ambitious, had
money, vim and a purpose. He built a palatial home on the banks of
the Neversink, erected the Fowler House, and was proceeding to make
Port Jervis the booming town of the east, when financial disaster
overtook him, and, to the great loss of the town, he left it never to
return, his vast interests involved in hopeless encumbrances.

But before he left he started the _Tri-States Union,_ and it lives
to-day. It was a Democratic newspaper, with John I. Mumford editor.
_The Union_ has had a number of owners, and had its ups and downs,
but it always managed to appear on schedule time, and in usual form,
though at times during the Civil War it was sorely pressed to
imitate many of its exchanges--when it was almost impossible to buy,
beg or steal white paper--and appear in wrapping paper, or in "any
old thing." It is now a six-column quarto, with a large circulation,
has an afternoon edition of the _Port Jervis Daily Union,_
seven-column folio, has two of the latest Mergenthaler Linotype
machines, and is of the concern that issues one of the leading
agricultural papers of the country, _The New York Farmer._

The _Tri-States Union_ was first issued in a small building somewhere
near where the Hubbard Building now stands, opposite the Fowler House
and the present Erie depot (1908). Later it was removed to the old
frame building Nos. 55-57 Pike street, now the four-story brick
structure built by George Lea and occupied by Mason & Son, druggists.
The early 60's found it located on Pike street, over the Union store,
in the second floor of the two-story frame structure at No. 100 Pike
street now (March, 1908) occupied as the Central or Northrup's meat
market. Thence it was removed by Foster & Mitchell (1870) to the
Creegan Block, No. 76 Pike street, over what is now Laidley's drug
store. Next (1872) it was removed to the rear of St. John & Malven's,
now the Gordon Company foundry building, on Sussex street. In 1873
it was removed to No. 81 Pike street, now Collin's news and
confectionery store, and in 1882 to its present location No. 112
Pike street, in the Farnum Block.

Port Jervis has survived many severe temperance agitations. The most
acute stage seems to have been in the extreme youth of the
place--when impressions ought to be most lasting and beneficial.
Between 1852 and 1855, it had three papers devoted to the cause of
temperance. The first was the _Mirror of Temperance_ started in June,
1852, by J. L. Barlow and John Dow. This _Mirror_ reflected its
surroundings for about eighteen months, and then faded away. It was a
handsome paper, well printed and ably edited.

In 1853 an Englishman, John Williams, took up the fight where the
_Mirror_ dropped it, and started _The Sentinel._ With the proverbial
pugnacity of a "Johnny Bull," Mr. Williams thought he needed more
paper weapons with which to fight the "drink evil," and so, in the
autumn of 1854 he issued a campaign paper which he called _The
Precursor of Temperance,_ and which died with the fall campaign. _The
Sentinel_ lived until 1855, in which year Mr. Williams went to
Middletown and in the _Whig Press_ office began issuing the
_Hardwareman's Newspaper,_ the precursor of the _Iron Age,_ the
leading organ to-day of the iron industry in this country, and which
is now---or was recently--published by his son, David Williams, in
New York City.

April 22, 1869, James Henry Norton and William Henry Nearpass began
the publication of the _Evening Gazette._ It was a five-column folio,
set in bourgeois type, was published tri-weekly, Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays. Soon afterward appeared the weekly edition,
_The Family Gazette,_ afterward changed to _The Port Jervis Weekly
Gazette._ It was started on the third floor of the brick building
then just built by Cook & Burrell as an umbrella factory at No. 92
Pike street, now (March, 1908), occupied by Johnson & Stoll's
furniture store. Thence it moved to Westbrook's Hall, the third floor
of the building now occupied by the J. W. Dalley Co., Nos. 66-68 Pike
street; thence to its present quarters in the Mondon Building, 90
Pike street, corner of Pike and Ball streets. The tri-weekly became a
daily afternoon issue, January 17, 1881. It is now a well-equipped
office, has a Mergenthaler Linotype machine, and all the accessories
of a good country newspaper.

E. G. Fowler's _Morning Call_ appeared on Sunday morning, April 4,
1880. It was printed in the Masterson Building, No. 10 Ball street.
The _Morning Index_ appeared in an upper floor of the Hornbeck
Building, now the Swift Beef House on Jersey avenue. The _Sunbeams_
and _Farm Guide_ were issued from _The Union_ office, and _Church
Life_ and _Academy Miscellany_ from _The Gazette_ office. _The
Bulletin_ is the name of a two-column folio that is issued
occasionally in political and exciting local campaigns, from the
press of printer P. J. Gaudy, on Ball street. It doesn't appear very
often, but when it does it makes a sensation.

                           AT WARWICK.

The beautiful village of Warwick, the "Queen Village" of New York
State, has two well-established, ably-edited, well-printed and
influential weekly newspapers, reflecting with no exaggeration the
sentiment and conditions of the Warwick valley--a land rich in
nature's bounties, lavishly endowed with all the charms of rural
romanticism and pastoral fervency.

The first paper published in Warwick, so far as present records are
obtainable, was the _Doctrinal Advocate and Monitor._ It was probably
started as early as 1845--possibly earlier--and was edited or
conducted by Elder Jewett as an exponent of the Old School Baptist
doctrine. In 1846 this _Monitor_ was merged with Elder Gilbert
Beebe's _Signs of the Times,_ and for a while the latter paper was
published under both titles.

The second paper started there was the _Warwick Advertiser,_ the
first number of which made its appearance January 27, 1866. It was a
well-printed, neat, newsy, and bright paper from the first, and age
not only does not dim its luster, but seems to add to its
sprightliness. Its first editor and proprietor was Leonard Cox, who
was an elder in the Old School Baptist church of Warwick for a few
years. It was independent, or rather neutral, in politics, but
catered to the religious and moral sentiment as well as the local
interests of the community, from its inception, and has never ceased
to act as a propagandist theological, political, social and formal.
Within three years Elder Cox sold the plant to John L. Servin, a
local lawyer and farmer, a man of high standing and education. In
1873 Mr. Servin transferred the business to his associate editor,
Daniel F. Welling, a practical printer, but took back the concern
within the year and soon afterward sold the same to Samuel J.
Stewart and Joshua C. Wilson. A few years later Mr. Wilson sold his
interest to Dewitt C. Demorest, a workman in the office, who, after
a year or two, transferred his share back to Mr. Stewart, who
remained sole proprietor until April 1, 1882, when the plant was
purchased by its present owner and able editor, Hiram Tate. Under Mr.
Tate's management the _Advertiser_ became an advocate of the
politics of the republican party, of which it has since remained a
staunch and fearless supporter. The _Advertiser_ has been a factor of
no little importance in the growth and general well-being of the
village and Warwick valley. After a careful campaign of education on
that special subject, it was largely instrumental in bringing about
the now very popular and certainly sensible style of fenceless
dooryards and lawns, so prevalent in Warwick as to excite the
admiration of all tasteful visitors, and one of the distinguishing
factors in earning for the place the well-merited title of the
"Queen Village." It was also largely through the efforts of the
_Advertiser_ that a teacher in music and elocution has been added to
the Warwick schools. Other betterments in local affairs have been
brought about by this paper's efforts, and the _Advertiser_ is
certainly a paper of high tone and a credit to the Warwick valley.

The third newspaper to make its appearance in Warwick was the
_Warwick Valley Dispatch,_ which has been a success from its start.
It was established in June, 1885, by George F. Ketchum, who has since
been its fearless editor and publisher. The _Dispatch_ has prospered
under Mr. Ketchum's continuous and wise management of nearly
twenty-three years, and has been a potent factor in shaping the
progressive development of the village and town of Warwick. Its
columns have been especially devoted to school improvement, the
_Dispatch_ and its editor taking a leading part in the movement for
two modern brick school houses--primary and high school--during the
twelve years that Mr. Ketchum served as a member of the Warwick board
of education, he being president of the board when the high school
was built. It is generally acknowledged that the successful outcome
of this agitation was largely due to the influence of the _Dispatch_
and its editor. The paper has been a leader in all efforts to secure
improvements for the village and the valley, especially for increased
water supply, fine streets, and roads, and the development of Warwick
as a summer resort. The paper also heartily advanced the formation of
the Warwick Valley Telephone Company, the Warwick Realty Company and
the Warwick Knife Company. Politically the Dispatch is democratic,
and is recognized as the most influential exponent of democracy in
this section of the State. For a dozen years its editor has been
chairman of the democratic county committee, during which time the
influence of the Dispatch has been markedly shown in shaping the
policy of the party in Orange County, and in the favorable results
achieved for its candidates at the polls, although the county has a
normal republican majority. The paper has gained a large local
circulation because of its newsy features, and is respected for its
fairness and fearlessness in controversy. The Dispatch was started
as a nine-column four-page newspaper, and was first printed in a
small frame building on Main street, adjoining the Warwick Valley
Hotel. Since 1889 it has been comfortably housed in a brick structure
known as "The Dispatch Building," which was erected on Main street by
Thomas Burd, and is equipped with modern presses and a Simplex
typesetting machine. Although Mr. Ketchum has always personally
controlled the editorial policy of the Dispatch, Isaac W. Litchfield
was a partner with him in its business from 1889 to 1894, and much of
the reputation of the _Dispatch_ is due to his bright humor and
facile pen.

                          CORNWALL PAPERS.

Cornwall, or rather Cornwall-on-Hudson, has had its full share of
journalistic ups and downs. Through the courtesy of L. G. Goodenough,
editor and proprietor of the _Local-Press_ of that place, the writer
learns that the first paper, probably, issued in that interesting old
town appeared April 15, 1871. It was called _The Cornwall Paper:_ "A
Local Record of Things New and Old." It was published by P. P. Hazen,
of Cornwall, in conjunction with A. A. Bensel, Ferry Building,
Newburgh. It was stipulated, in the editorial announcement, that
unless the necessary support in the way of subscriptions, etc., was
received, the project would have to be abandoned. Mr. Goodenough has
a copy of Volume 1, No. 1, of _The Cornwall Paper,_ and as no other
number seems to be in existence, it is assumed the requisite
"support" never materialized, and that the paper practically "died
aborning."

To a woman belongs the credit of having started the first regularly
issued paper in this village. _The Cornwall Times_ appeared May 24,
1875, with Miss S. J. A. Hussey, a highly educated woman, as editor
and proprietor. The _Times_ was continued for at least six years, and
with credit to herself and to Cornwall. Miss Hussey died February 21,
1898, aged seventy-nine years. Her declining days were passed
practically as a recluse in a cabin on Round Top Mountain, which she
owned, and where she seemed to be happiest, efforts of relatives to
persuade her to live with them proving unavailing.

The _Cornwall Reflector_ was started about 1877 by John Lee, and
later was edited by H. H. Snelling, an elderly gentleman of ability
and a forceful writer. He continued as editor for ten years, and
until failing eyesight forced him to retire, and he went to a St.
Louis home for the blind, where he died in the early nineties, after
having become totally blind.

In 1879 appeared the _Cornwall Mirror._ It was published at Highland
Falls by James C. Merritt, and was represented in Cornwall by various
persons at different times.

In April, 1888, the _Cornwall Local_ appeared, under the management
of H. A. Gates, and was an excellent paper. In September, 1889, he
disposed of the _Local_ plant to C. P. Brate, of Albany, who induced
his brother-in-law, Thomas Pendell, to become its editor and
publisher. In June, 1892, the paper came under the present efficient
management of L. G. Goodenough. Mr. Pendell became connected with the
New York _Herald,_ later with the Middletown _Sunday Forum,_ which he
removed to Massena, N. Y., whence he went to Peekskill and then to
Poughkeepsie. For the past fifteen years the _Local_ has been
conducted by L. G. Goodenough, and is a particularly handsome, bright
and ably-edited local journal. Practically the paper's former
politics was classed as "independent." In 1896 Mr. Goodenough made it
distinctly and avowedly republican, and, as such, it has become an
influential member of the county's republican press. In 1859 Mr.
Goodenough purchased Mr. Merritt's _Cornwall Mirror,_ merging it with
the _Local._ Recently the name _Local-Press_ was adopted as more
significant of a newspaper than the name _Local._ The _Local-Press_
is an eight-page weekly, issued Thursdays at $1.50 a year, and with
an average circulation for the year 1907 of 1,225 copies.

In October, 1898, S. T. Morehouse started a paper known as the
_Cornwall Courier._ It was conducted by Mr. Morehouse, by his son
Claude, by the well-known writer Creswell MacLaughlin, Bernard Call,
Clark J. Brown, Clayton Brown, and William Clark. It lived until
1906.

                              WALDEN NEWSPAPERS.

Walden has two good, newsy weekly papers. So far as the writer can
ascertain the first paper started there was by Stephen H. Sayer, who,
at Middletown, in 1866, started the _Rising Sun,_ and at Montgomery
the _Wallkill Valley Times_ (1868), and the _Dollar Weekly_ (1869).
Mr. Sayer started at Walden in 1869 the _Walden Recorder,_ but
suffered it to go down. In 1870 Chauncey B. Reed resumed its
publication and called it the _Walden Recorder and Herald,_ but
subsequently dropped the _Recorder,_ and it has since appeared as the
_Walden Herald._ It is now edited by Ward Winfield. It is a
well-printed seven-column folio, and devoted entirely to local and
general news.

The _Walden Citizen was_ established in 1887 by Jacob Sears, and had
its first home over John Simpson's cigar store. The outfit consisted
of a Washington hand press and a small quantity of type. After
struggling a year, the ownership passed into the hands of a Mr.
Scudder, and the plant was removed to the top floor of what is now
the Fowler building. Soon afterward Eugen Abel, a practical printer,
and Prof. D. C. Dominick, principal of the high school, purchased the
concern, enlarged the paper and plant, and were getting the business
on a profitable basis when, in 1898, a fire swept everything away.
The paper was revived, however, and soon afterward Whitfield Gibbs
became owner of the plant and speedily put the paper on solid footing
and made it a leading republican paper. John Barringer succeeded Mr.
Gibbs, and since March, 1903, the Rev. J. H. Reid has been editor and
publisher. The paper is republican in politics, and Mr. Reid makes it
a lively publication.

                            MISCELLANEOUS.

It is not generally known that for two years (1884-1886) the _United
States Official Postal Guide_ for New York City was printed in Orange
County. A. M. May & Co. had the contract and the printing was done by
William H. Nearpass at the _Port Jervis Gazette_ office.

Of the papers at Pine Bush, Monroe, Washingtonville and Chester,
mention has already been made.

In the number of publications Newburgh leads with about forty
publications or changes from one to another; Middletown comes next
with 22, Port Jervis with 15, Goshen with 13, and Montgomery with 7.

Bloomingburg is in Sullivan County. So is New Vernon. But each is on
the south slope of the Shawangunk range and on the Shawangunk Kill,
which divides the counties of Orange and Sullivan. In each place
there was once a paper that practically was an Orange County
production, and depended to a greater or less extent on this county
for its support. The first was the _Signs of the Times_ in about
1883. The other was the _Sullivan Whig_ at Bloomingburg, in 1846. The
former was Elder Beebe's Old School Baptist organ; the latter John W.
Hasbrouck found at Bloomingburg in 1846, where he began to learn the
printing trade.

                           INCIDENTS.

As an auxiliary incident of Orange County journalism, it may not be
entirely out of place to record some facts regarding journalism in
Pike County, Pa., opposite Port Jervis. In 1846 or 1847 James J.
McNally removed the material of the _Goshen Sentinel_ to Milford, in
Pike County, and started the _Pike County Democrat,_ July 14, 1849.
It was a seven-column folio. In 1852 he changed its name to the
_Milford Herald._ Some time afterward John M. Heller purchased the
plant, and put in charge John B. Adams and Harry Heller, the son of
J. M. Heller. It passed to several owners, and when O. H. Mott took
it, in January 1, 1878, he for some unknown reason changed its name
to the _Milford Dispatch,_ which it remains, and now, 1908, it is
edited by Josiah F. Terwilliger.

But the first paper in Milford was _The Eagle of the North,_ in 1827,
with T. A. Wells, printer. In 1828 it became _The Northern Eagle and
Milford Monitor,_ under Benjamin A. Bidwell. Somewhere between 1831
and 1840 the paper disappeared. A second _Northern Eagle_ appeared
February 6, 1864, started by Dr. Edward Halliday. It was a red-hot
republican journal, and, as might be inferred, had a small
constituency in that land of 991 democratic and only a few republican
voters, and it died January 1, 1866.

                    MORE OR LESS PERSONAL.

Orange County's pioneer journalists have been gathered to their
fathers. Of the second generation there remains one--as if to link
the memories of the first with the fast-reclining activities of the
third generation of newspaper workers. And that one relic of the dead
past is a woman, now in the sunset of life. Dr. Lydia Saver Hasbrouck
is with us yet; a landmark in Orange County journalism--honored by
those who know her best, beloved by kindred, respected by all. The
twilight of her years is closing pleasantly at her beautiful home on
Linden avenue, Middletown.

Of the third generation but few remain of printers, reporters,
editors, publishers. The frosts of many winters have silvered their
heads, but the "strength of years" finds a few of them still
struggling with the insatiable demand of modern type-setting
appliances for "copy" and the bustle and rush of daily newspaper
life.

At this point it is interesting to take a look at the individuals,
the characters--the men and women who have been on the scene of
action, and who are there now. We have examined their work--the news
and other papers and publications they have produced; we have scanned
them in the best light afforded, refracted and reflected, and to know
somewhat of those who, in their own and often crude way wrought these
paper tablets of thought, let us again look over the field.

MANDEVILLE AND WESTCOTT--The first names to appear--the first
characters to attract our attention--are those of David Mandeville
and David M. Westcott as publishers of the _Goshen Repository_
(1788), "at the Academy." What relations they had with the old
Goshen Academy, or why the _Repository_ was started "at the Academy"
is not apparent. Victor M. Drake wrote from his recollections that
David M. Westcott "was a practical printer and editor, who served a
portion of his time in Benjamin Franklin's old printing office in
Philadelphia, though, of course, not under Franklin's mastership. He
was born in Cornwall of humble parentage, and in early life was
apprenticed to a farmer, and afterward learned the printer's trade.
His wife was the daughter of Coe Gale, one of the early settlers of
Goshen, by whom he had five daughters and three sons, Mandeville,
Nathan, and William. Nathan was clerk of Orange County from 1844 to
1855. David M. Prescott," continues Mr. Drake's recollections, "was
not only a good practical printer, but a good merchant and farmer,
an able editor, and a trustworthy public servant; he was county clerk
in 1815 and 1821, member of assembly in 1828, state senator in
1831-34, and filled many other stations of honor and trust. He acted
as editor of the _Independent Republican_ for a long time after Mr.
Cheevey was struck down with paralysis. I have repeatedly called him
from his labors on the farm to write editorials for the _Republican_,"
says Mr. Drake, "for such was the high state of party feeling that
its public would trust no other man than 'little Dave Westcott' with
the responsibility of editing that paper in critical election times."
Such, then, was the character and standing of the first editor in
Orange County. That he was a man whose character, whose personality,
and whose extraordinary abilities stand clearly silhouetted against
Time's somber background, is apparent to the reader and the student
of history.

CAREY, LUCIUS--The name of Lucius Carey appears next as the printer
of the _Newburgh Packet_ in 1795. Beyond the announcement that he was
the son-in-law of the Rev. John Close, he cuts no illustrious figure.

DENNISTON, DAVID--David Denniston appears on the scene in 1797 as
the purchaser of the _Packet_ from Carey, and as changing the name to
that of _The Mirror._ He was early in the field as a printer, having
a shop in Newburgh in 1796, when he got out a bound pamphlet or book
for the Rev. R. Watson, entitled "An Apology for the Bible." Mr.
Ruttenber says he was of the New Windsor stock of Dennistons. Mr.
Denniston was certainly a busy man, and a thinker. He died in
Newburgh, December 13, 1803, of malignant fever, having up to that
time been connected, at different times, from 1796 or earlier, to
1803, with the _American Citizen and Watch-Tower,_ of New York City,
and _The Mirror, The Citizen,_ and the _Rights of Man,_ in Newburgh.

SCHULTZ, JACOB--A local contemporary of Mr. Denniston was Jacob
Schultz, also of New Windsor, where he was born April 23, 1776, and
February 14, 1799, married Anna, daughter of John Denniston, of that
town. He first appears in the journalistic field as editor and
proprietor of the _New Windsor Gazette._ When this paper came into
existence is not known, though it was as early as, and probably some
time prior to, 1799, for in that year he moved the paper and plant to
Newburgh. In 1818 he retired to a small farm in the town of New
Windsor, where he erected a substantial stone house, and where, in
rural pursuits and pleasures, he passed the remainder of his days,
and was gathered to his fathers in 1859, aged eighty-three years.

WINFIELD, DR. ELIAS--Next on the scene is Dr. Elias Winfield, who,
in 1799, started the _Rights of Man,_ and later removed to Kingston,
and was lost to subsequent Orange County history.

HEURTIN, JOHN G. AND WILLIAM--John G. and William Heurtin are heard
of in 1800 as purchasers of the _Goshen Repository,_ the name of
which they changed to that of the _Orange County Patriot._ They seem
to have retired from public view after 1803, when the _Patriot_
passed into the hands of Gabriel Denton and William A. Carpenter, and
became _The Friend of Truth._

DENTON, GABRIEL--Gabriel Denton appears in 1801 as purchaser of the
interest of William Heurtin in the _Orange County Patriot._ In 1803
Mr. Denton sold his interest to William A. Carpenter. In 1804 Mr.
Denton began the publication of the _Orange County Gazette_ at
Goshen. In 1808 he started in Goshen the _Orange County Patriot and
Spirit of Seventy-six._ Mr. Denton seems to have been industrious as
a founder of newspapers, but others must have reaped the reward, for
his last days were passed in the Orange County poorhouse.

COLES, DENNIS--The name of Dennis Coles appears in 1803 as starting
the _Recorder of the Times,_ in Newburgh.

GAZLAY, WARD M--In 1804 Ward M. Gazlay appears on the scene for the
first time. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and became engaged in
the printing business at Goshen as the purchaser of the _Friend of
Truth,_ the successor of the _Repository_ and the _Patriot._ He
changed its name to that of the _Orange Eagle._ His office was
destroyed by fire in 1805, and with the remnants he drove into
Newburgh, purchased the _Recorder of the Times,_ of Dennis Coles, and
changed its name to the _Political Index,_ under which name it
continued until 1829. The _Recorder_ claimed to be Republican in
politics, but was generally regarded as representing the Federalists
and Burrites. When Mr. Gazlay merged the _Times_ with his Goshen
paper, and evolved therefrom, at Newburgh the _Political Index,_ the
interests of the Republican party were apparently consolidated. It
supported Jefferson and Madison, and the War of 1812. Jonathan Fisk
wrote the editorials for the _Index,_ and with the inspiration of
this able man's articles, the _Index_ cared little for its only
contemporary, the _Orange County Patriot,_ a Federalist paper, and
the latter retired to Goshen, whence it came, to become the
_Goshen Democrat._ He sold his _Index_ to Charles M. Cushman, in
1829. Mr. Gazlay served as a magistrate in the village of Newburgh
for some years, and died there in April, 1836, aged fifty-four years.
His wife was Bridget, daughter of Jonathan and Bridget Carter, by
whom he had three sons.

BEACH, CYRUS; PRATT, LUTHER--At Montgomery, May 6, 1806, appeared
the names of Cyrus Beach and Luther Pratt, as printers, or rather
publishers, "for the proprietors," of the _Orange County Republican._
The proprietors were twenty-four "patriotic citizens of the county."
Pratt's name remained connected with the paper until 1818, when it
became the _Independent Republican,_ with James A. Cheevey as its
proprietor.

HENDRIE, R. C. S--The name of R. C. S. Hendrie appears in Goshen
between 1822 and 1834, through coming into proprietorship of the
_Patriot._ He sold it to F. T. Parsons, who changed its name to the
_Goshen Democrat,_ February 22, 1834. In 1843 Mr. Hendrie started the
_True Whig,_ and two years later sold it to Mead & Son, who united
it with the _Democrat_ under the name of the _Democrat and Whig._

CROWELL, T. B--T. B. Crowell appeared in 1812 as the publisher of
the _Patriot,_ and in 1822 as its proprietor. Then he passed from the
scene.

VANDYCK, HENRY H.--In 1832 the name of Henry H. Vandyck appears, in
connection with the purchase of the _Independent Republican_ at
Goshen. In 1836 he was elected to the State Senate. In October, 1839,
he became proprietor of the _Newburgh Telegraph._ His course in
favoring the building of the Erie Railroad--a terrible commercial
blow to Newburgh--was so displeasing to the people of Newburgh that
he disposed of the paper to Elias Pitts, and left. He went to Albany,
and became editor of the _Albany Atlas,_ and was later elected
Comptroller of the State. He was a Democrat of the Jackson school.

VAIL, LEBBEUS L.--Lebbeus Lothrop Vail was born at Middletown, in
1793. His father was Squire Izaiah Vail, a farmer and miller, and his
mother, Azuba Horton. Mr. Vail, after engaging in various
occupations, finally started at Goshen the _Signs of the Times_ in
1832. In 1843 Vail and Denton started the _Democratic Standard,_
which afterwards came into the possession of his son Hector, who
changed its name to the _Goshen Clarion._

Mr. Vail was a highly popular citizen, and was elected county clerk
for two terms by handsome majorities. He died in 1849, and was buried
in Middletown, but the remains were afterwards transferred to Goshen.
Mr. Vail was married to Sally Moon, who lived until 1876.

CUSHMAN, CHARLES M.--Charles M. Cushman in 1829 purchased Gazlay's
_Political Index_ at Newburgh. He changed it to the _Orange
Telegraph_ and later to the _Newburgh Telegraph._ Mr. Ruttenber says
of him that he was a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the
original company of Pilgrims who sailed for the New World August 5,
1620 (O. S.) He was born in Washington County, N. Y., March 20, 1802,
served as an apprentice in Rutland, Vt., and subsequently in Boston;
and retired from printing in 1839. He was one of the founders of the
Newburgh public libraries, and also helped to establish the Quassaic
Bank, and also the Newburgh Savings Bank. In 1853 he was chosen to
represent the first assembly district of Orange County in the
legislature. In June, 1832, he married Mary, fourth daughter of
Captain John Birdsall. He died without issue at Rhinebeck, June 1,
1859.

SPALDING, JOHN D.--A contemporary of Mr. Cushman was John D. Spalding
or Spaulding. He was born in Salem, Mass., January, 1800, and came to
Newburgh in 1815 with his father, the Rev. Joshua Spaulding, of the
Presbyterian Church. He served an apprenticeship as "devil" with Ward
M. Gazlay, was subsequently connected with the _Newburgh Gazette_ and
the _Journal,_ for about thirty-eight years. He married Elizabeth L.,
daughter of Rev. John Johnston, D.D., of Newburgh, and died August
22, 1853, in his fifty-fourth year. He was survived by several
children.

PITTS, ELIAS--Elias Pitts practically succeeded Mr. Cushman in
Newburgh journalism. He was born in Columbia County, N. Y., in 1810,
graduated at the Kinderhook Academy, served an apprenticeship in the
_Kinderhook Sentinel,_ and became interested in the paper. Later he
was in the editorial department of the _Rochester Advertiser,_ and
succeeded Mr. VanDyck on the _Newburgh Telegraph_ in the winter of
1840, which continued until 1850. He was next heard of at
Poughkeepsie as editor of the _Poughkeepsie American._ Soon after
1853 he received an appointment to a clerkship in the State
Department at Washington, which continued until his death at
Washington, July 21, 1854. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of
John Jamieson, of Newburgh. His second wife was Margaret, daughter of
John Whited.

It is practically at this point that we come to the parting of the
ways--the passing of the real pioneers in Orange County journalism.
The generation has come and gone, so far as activity is concerned,
and we find coming on the stage new actors. They were, however,
evidently of the same mould of character, infusing into their work
their personality, and stamping on their productions the ineffable
marks of strong individuality.

                 SECOND GENERATION JOURNALISTS.

DRAKE, VICTOR M.--First and clearly foremost in the second generation
of early journalists was Victor M. Drake. He was born at Milford,
Pa., March 20, 1813. His father was Rufus J., a son of Francis Drake,
of Blooming Grove, Orange County, N. Y. From the seventeenth century
the family had lived in Orange County, in the towns of Goshen and
Chester. His great-grandfather, Joseph Drake, was said to be a
lineal descendant of Sir Francis Drake, of England, who died in 1794.
The mother of V. M. Drake was Rhoda Pierson, a daughter of Rachel
Bull, whose mother was a sister of Mary DeWitt, the mother of DeWitt
Clinton. At the age of eleven years, Victor M. Drake entered the
office of the Goshen _Independent Republican,_ where he served as
apprentice, journeyman, editor and proprietor of the paper, and in
1846 he became connected with the _New Jersey Herald,_ at Newton, as
reporter, editor and proprietor, remaining there until 1871. Mr.
Drake lived an abstemious, careful, circumspect life, and died in
Goshen in 1894, and his remains repose in the cemetery at that place.

Frank M. Drake, the present able and dignified editor and proprietor
of the Goshen _Independent Republican,_ is a son of this venerable
and respected journalist, who infused a high standard in local
journalism, and left a name that should ever be revered in Orange
County newspaper circles.

BEEBE, ELDER GILBERT--Elder Gilbert Beebe, the editor of the
old-school Baptist publication, the _Signs of the Times,_ of
Middletown, for nearly half a century, was the son of David Beebe and
Eunice Case. He was born at Norwich, Conn., November 25, 1800, and
died May 2, 1881 at his home in Middletown, N. Y. He was of the
old-school Baptist faith and was licensed to preach in 1818. In 1823
he married at New York City, Miss Phoebe A. Cunningham, and the same
year he was ordained pastor of the Baptist Church at Ramapo, N. Y.
After serving pastorates in this church and the Baptist Church at
New Vernon, he moved to Middletown, N. Y., in 1847, which place
henceforth became his home, where the remainder of his life was
passed in editorial work on the _Signs,_ which he moved there in
1848, and in expounding the Baptist faith as stated supply for
several nearby churches.

When Elder Gilbert Beebe became editor of the _Signs of the Times,_ a
David had entered the theological field, armed with the slings of
regeneration, the rocks of inspiration, and the strength of
devoutness--backed by a printing press and waiting shrines. He was a
worker, and became a power in the land. When Elder Beebe passed away
the old-school Baptist creed lost its leader, and no one seems to
have risen to take his place; the stage of Orange County journalism
lost one of its most picturesque figures, the field one of its unique
landmarks--a type of preacher and editor that has already passed,
never to return.

MEAD, CHARLES--A contemporary of Victor M. Drake was Charles Mead,
though born six years later, November 19, 1819, at Newburgh. His
father was Xenophon Mead, and his mother was Abigail, daughter of
Moses Burr, a relative of Aaron Burr. Charles Mead was educated
under the then well-known Goshen teacher, Nathaniel Webb. At the age
of fifteen years he was apprenticed in the office of the _Orange
County Patriot,_ under William B. Wright, who afterward became judge
of the supreme court of New York State. He went to Carbondale, Pa.,
in 1839, and remained one year as editor of the _Carbondale Journal._
In 1841-42 he was employed on _Graham's Magazine,_ in Philadelphia.
May 9, 1842, he married Caroline A., daughter of Daniel Worden, of
Goshen, who died November 11, 1880. Shortly after his marriage he
purchased the _Goshen Democrat_ of the heirs of Frederick T. Parsons.
In 1865 he associated with him his son, William B. Mead, and January
1, 1892, sold his interest to Edwin L. Roys. His second wife was
Miss Fannie Jackson, of Goshen. Mr. Mead lived a quiet, unobtrusive
life, and made his paper a handsomely printed, model conservative
Republican journal. He died April 22, 1893, and his remains repose in
St. John's cemetery, Goshen.

McNALLY, JAMES J.--One of the men who left their impress on the
printing art in Orange County, as well as in Sussex and Pike
Counties, was the venerable James J. McNally. He learned the printing
trade in the office of the _Signs of the Times_ at New Vernon. Thence
he went to Newton, N. J., and worked on the _New Jersey Herald._ From
there he went to Milford, Pa., where, it is believed, he started the
_Pike County Democrat,_ which became the _Milford Herald,_ now the
_Dispatch._ In the spring of 1852 he went to Goshen and bought the
_Independent Republican,_ which, seven years later, he sold to Isaac
V. Montanye. In the spring of 1859 he again went to Newton, N. J.,
this time as the editor and proprietor of the _New Jersey Herald._
This paper he finally sold and returned to Goshen, and again became
owner of the _Independent Republican._ In 1869 he sold the same to
Edward M. Ruttenber. The same year he became owner of the _Newburgh
Telegraph,_ daily and weekly, purchasing the same of A. A. Bensel. In
1874 he sold it to Dr. Cooper, of Warwick. For a short time he
conducted a grocery store in Middletown, then became connected with
the _Carmel Courier._ In 1882 he went to Monroe and started the
_Monroe Herald._ In 1888 he started at Goshen the _Goshen News,_ and
for a time conducted both of these publications, printing them at
Goshen. This he continued until the spring of 1892, when he died, and
both publications ceased. Mr. McNally was a good printer, a sharp,
witty writer, and an energetic worker. His son, William C. McNally,
is the owner and editor of the Ellenville (Ulster County) _Press._

RUTTENBER, EDWARD M.--Edward M. Ruttenber was born in Bennington, Vt.,
July 17, 1824, entered the office of the _Vermont Gazette_ in 1837,
as a "printer's devil," came to Newburgh in 1838, as an apprentice
to Charles M. Cushman, an old friend of his father, on the _Newburgh
Telegraph._ Three years later he entered the office of the _Newburgh
Gazette,_ where he remained until 1845, when he became foreman of the
_Telegraph,_ then owned by Elias Pitts. In May, 1850, he purchased
the _Newburgh Telegraph,_ and successfully conducted the same until
1857. It was a weekly, printed on a hand-press. To Mr. Ruttenber
belongs the honor of bringing to Orange County the first steam-power
press, on which the _Telegraph_ was printed in 1853. In 1851 the
_Telegraph_ absorbed the _Newburgh Excelsior,_ and the _Gazette_ in
1857. Early in 1857 Mr. Ruttenber and E. W. Gray began issuing the
_Daily News_ from the office of the _Telegraph._ Mr. Ruttenber sold
the plant late in 1857, repurchased it in 1859, sold it in 1861,
repurchased it in 1866, and in 1867 sold it to A. A. Bensel. In 1869
he and James J. McNally became owners of the plant. In the autumn of
that year Mr. Ruttenber retired, to become part owner of the
_Goshen Independent Republican,_ which in 1870, he sold to H. P.
Kimber. After leaving that paper he and a younger son started a job
printing office in Newburgh. From July, 1863, to January, 1865, when
he resigned, Mr. Ruttenber was engaged in the Bureau of Military
Records at Albany. Added to his other accomplishments Mr. Ruttenber
delved deeply and learnedly into historical lore, and became the
first authority on Indian nomenclature and the author of four or five
valuable historical works. The first was a "History of Newburgh"
(1859); the next was a work entitled "Obstructions to Navigation of
Hudson's River": next "A History of the Flags of the Volunteer
Regiments of the State of New York." A "History of the Indian Tribes
of Hudson's River" followed, and is a work that is now in great
demand. In 1875 he began in serial form a "History of Orange County."
His last work was "Footprints of the Red Men," containing Indian
geographical names in the valleys of the Hudson, Mohawk and Delaware,
their location and probable meaning. This was issued in 1906, and was
published under the auspices of the New York State Historical
Association. In addition to his journalistic and historical work, Mr.
Ruttenber found time to work in local educational matters, and in
1870 had served twelve years as a member of the Newburgh board of
education. In 1846 Mr. Ruttenber married Matilda A., daughter of Mark
McIntyre, of Newburgh, to whom two sons were born: Charles B., who
became a musician of considerable repute, and Walker F., associated
with his father in the printing business, and editor and publisher of
the _Newburgh Telegram._ Edward M. Ruttenber died in December, 1907,
aged eighty-three years, deeply loved by his family and those who
knew him best, and respected and honored by all. He was a man of
genial temperament, companionable, and the evening of life found him
amiable, courteous, warm-hearted, lovable. Orange County was greatly
enriched by his coming, and impoverished by his going. His grave on
the banks of the historic Hudson, in the hillside city of his
adoption, should ever be kept green.

HASBROUCK, JOHN W.--John Whitbeck Hasbrouck, the son of Richard
Hasbrouck and Mary Johnson, was born at Woodstock, Ulster County,
N. Y., November 20, 1821. In 1834 the parents of John W. Hasbrouck
removed from Woodstock to Kingston, where the subject of this sketch
completed his education at the famous Kingston Academy, and began his
journalistic career in 1845 with the _Kingston Journal._ In the
spring of 1846 Mr. Hasbrouck purchased the _Sullivan Whig_ at
Bloomingburg, Sullivan County, but disposed of it in 1851, and the
same year went to Middletown, where he started the _Whig Press,_
which later became the _Orange County Press,_ merging finally into
the _Times-Press_ in 1906. Mr. Hasbrouck retired both from his paper
and active journalism in 1868, though his graceful pen was never
entirely idle until stilled by the Great Destroyer in 1907.

Mr. Hasbrouck married Miss Lydia Sayer, M.D., of Warwick, N. Y.,
July 27, 1856, who still survives him. He found in this cultured
lady a true help meet, one with ready brain and brawn, and together,
hand in hand, they traveled down life's pathway, with a harmony
seldom paralleled, and the parting of the ways found them with
silvered heads and the harvest of autumn goldened by the rays of
life's declining sun.

HASBROUCK, DR. LYDIA SAYER, was born December 20, 1827, in the town
of Warwick, N. Y. She early determined to fit herself for a
professional life, and graduated at the Hygiea Therapeutic College in
New York, with the degree of doctor of medicine. Mrs. Hasbrouck's
life-work has been chiefly that of an educator, lecturer and
physician, and her connection with Orange County journalism was of
brief duration. For eight years she was editor of her husband's
paper, the _Sybil,_ a semi-monthly reform paper, and she started a
paper called the _Liberal Sentinel._

MONTANYE, ISAAC V.--Isaac V. Montanye was born May 3, 1825, on the
eastern slope of the Shawangunk Mountain near New Vernon, and died
December 26, 1906, in the eighty-second year of his age. He entered
the office of the Goshen _Independent Republican_ in the early
forties, as an apprentice under Victor M. Drake. In 1846 Mr. Montanye
and John S. Clark purchased the _Independent_ of the late Moses B.
Swezey, who had succeeded V. M. Drake. Later Mr. Montanye purchased
Mr. Clark's interest, and, in 1853, sold the paper to James J.
McNally, and in 1875 became, for the second time, the owner of the
_Independent Republican._ A few years later he again sold the plant
to James J. McNally. In 1876 he became owner of the plant for the
third time, having this time purchased it of T. P. McElrath. In 1883
he disposed of his interest to his son Lucien Montanye, and Frank
Drake. He had been connected with the _State Journal_ in Madison,
Wis., the _Mercury_ at Middletown, the _Telegraph_ at Newburgh, the
_Index_ at Port Jervis, and the _Record_ at Washingtonville. He
started the latter two papers, and was connected with the _Record_
when he died. Mr. Montanye installed the first cylinder press,
turned by hand, in Orange County, which he set up in the office of
the _Independent Republican_ in 1850, replacing the old hand-press.
He also installed the first newspaper folding machine in the
_Middletown Mercury._ In 1870 Mr. Montanye was elected member of
assembly from the second district of Orange County, and later secured
an appointment in the New York custom-house. In 1899 he resigned this
position, and, with his grandson, Montanye Rightmyer, established the
_Orange County Record_ at Washingtonville.

MARTIN, CYRUS B.--Cyrus B. Martin appeared in the field in 1861,
when he became the purchaser of the _Highland Chieftain,_ and changed
its name to the _Newburgh Daily Journal,_ which it retains to this
day.

Mr. Martin was born in Argyle, Washington County, N. Y., September 6,
1830, and having early learned the printer's trade, was employed as a
compositor on the _Albany Journal,_ where he remained from 1850 to
1855, when he became one of the editors of the _Chenango Telegraph,_
published at Norwich, N. Y. He continued on this paper until he
purchased the present _Newburgh Daily Journal_ in 1861. Upon severing
his connection with the latter publication in 1877, he returned to
Norwich, where various interests demanded his care and attention. He
became president of that great industry known as the David Maydole
Hammer Company, and also president of the Chenango County Bank. He
departed this life some years ago while still actively engaged in
business duties.

RITCHIE, SAMUEL--Samuel Ritchie, who as editor and part proprietor
of the _Newburgh Daily Journal,_ and president of the Newburgh
Journal Company, has been connected with that paper for over
thirty-one years, was born at Larne, Ireland, July 3, 1836. He was
the son of Robert L. and Sarah E. Ritchie, and came to Newburgh in
1839, where, with the exception of one year, he has resided ever
since. He was for many years connected with the _Newburgh Daily
Journal_ in a reportorial capacity and as city editor, and on March
1, 1877, with Messrs. Hull and Rodine, he purchased that paper from
Cyrus B. Martin, and became its editor, remaining such to the present
time.

Mr. Ritchie has long been recognized as an able editorial writer, and
being possessed of a keen wit, he wields a trenchant pen. His kindly
nature, however, has ever rendered him cautious against wantonly
injuring the feelings of others, and now, in the evening of life, he
reaps the reward of his upright conduct, in the regard and esteem of
his fellow-men.

HULL, FRANK S--Frank S. Hull, for many years part proprietor of the
_Newburgh Daily Journal,_ and at present the vice-president and
treasurer of the Newburgh Journal Company, was born in Newburgh, June
6, 1853. He became while a boy highly interested in printing and
successfully carried on several amateur periodicals. Upon the
retirement of Cyrus B. Martin, in 1877, from the management of the
_Newburgh Daily Journal,_ he was one of the three gentlemen who
purchased the former's interest, and has remained connected with that
paper ever since.

TUCKER, JOHN F.--John F. Tucker was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., on
July 3, 1850, and after leaving school became connected with the
_Poughkeepsie Eagle._ He left that paper in 1872 to take charge of
the Government printing office at West Point, where he remained for
twelve years, resigning in 1884 to become city editor of the
_Newburgh Register._ With that paper he remained connected as city
editor, part proprietor and sole editor, until its suspension in
February, 1908. Mr. Tucker has been one of the hardest workers among
newspaper men, and ever noted for the conscientious manner in which
he discharged the various duties allotted to him. For many years he
has been the secretary of the Newburgh Board of Trade, and to his
efficiency in office, and active interest in every movement likely to
benefit his city, is due a great part of the success attained by the
Board of Trade.

                   THIRD GENERATION JOURNALISTS.

The most recent of the old school of second generation journalists to
pass away was the Hon. Isaac V. Montanye, of the _Orange County
Record,_ at Washingtonville, who died December 6, 1906, and in
December, 1907, Edward Ruttenber of Newburgh.

There now remains on the stage of life only Mrs. Hasbrouck of the
second generation; and of the third generation, Gilbert Van Sciver,
Middletown; Isaac F. Guiwits, Kansas City; Samuel Ritchie, Newburgh;
William H. Nearpass, Port Jervis; William T. Doty, Port Jervis;
Evander B. Willis, California. These are named in the order of their
appearance in the journalistic field of Orange County, rather than
with reference to their ages.

VAN SCIVER, GILBERT--Probably the oldest male printer in the county
to-day is Gilbert Van Sciver, of Middletown. He has been almost
continuously "in the harness" since 1852 until two years ago (1906),
when the _Press_ and _Times_ of that city united. He became an
apprentice in the office of John W. Hasbrouck's _Whig Press_ in 1852,
when the office was located in the building on North and Depot
streets, opposite the carpet-bag factory. In 1857 he went to New York
and was there employed as a journeyman for eight years. In 1865 he
returned to Middletown, and was re-employed in the _Press_ office,
and there remained until the paper lost its identity and merged with
the _Times._

NORTON, JAMES H.--August 10, 1854, the name of James H. Norton first
appeared in Orange County journalism. On that date Mr. Norton
purchased the _Tri-States Union_ of Port Jervis, of Lucius F. Barnes,
and there then entered Orange County a journalistic genius--a talent
that was destined to cut a most important figure in the newspaper
life of the county and far beyond its boundaries. James Henry Norton
was born at Goshen, Connecticut, in May, 1823, and after a common
school education in his native town, he was admitted to the bar
before he was twenty-one years old, and was appointed District
Attorney of Wayne County, Pa. He finally decided to abandon the law
for journalism, and purchased and edited the _Wayne County Herald_
at Honesdale, and some years later sold the plant and went to
Boonville, Oneida County, N. Y., where he started the _Boonville
Ledger_ in partnership with H. B. Beardsley. From Boonville he came
to Port Jervis in 1854 and purchased the _Tri-States Union,_ which
he edited until 1861. In 1862 he removed to Middletown and purchased
G. J. Beebe's _Middletown Mercury,_ which he and Isaac F. Guiwits
made the brightest country newspaper in the United States. In 1867
he disposed of his interest in the _Mercury_ to Isaac V. Montanye,
and April 22, 1869, he and William H. Nearpass started the _Evening
Gazette,_ tri-weekly, at Port Jervis. A few years later, in company
with W. H. Nearpass and I. F. Guiwits, he organized a concern known
as the Franklin Printing Company, for printing "patent insides" for
country newspapers, and in 1882-3 started _The News_ at Middletown,
which he sold to Charles Conkling. His later work was as
correspondent for the _Sun, Herald_ and _Times._ In 1847 he married
Miss Elizabeth Monson at Bethany, Pa. He died January 20, 1894, at
his home in Middletown, and his remains rest in Hillside Cemetery.

GUIWITS, ISAAC F.--Shortly after Mr. Norton came to Orange County, he
induced a bright young printer from "up State" to join him in Port
Jervis as a journeyman, and Isaac F. Guiwits came, then a mere boy.
But he had talents, and Mr. Norton knew it. Young Guiwits accompanied
Mr. Norton to Middletown, and the two made the _Middletown Mercury_
the great country newspaper that it became in the '60's. In 1869 Mr.
Guiwits started the first daily newspaper in Middletown, the _Daily
Mail._ Later he was connected with the Franklin Printing Company, and
when that merged with the New York Newspaper Union, and became the
Union Printing Company, Mr. Guiwits still retained an interest and a
position, and he was sent to St. Louis and later to Kansas City to
manage a branch of the concern. His wife, who was a Miss Mackey, of
Middletown, died four years ago, since which time Mr. Guiwits's
health has steadily declined. Three years ago he went to Los Angeles,
California, where he died at the age of sixty-nine, March 25, 1908.
Mr. Guiwits was one of the most graceful writers that ever adorned
the Orange County press.

FRIEND, DR. JOSEPH D.--One of the able editorial writers on the
Democratic papers in Middletown from about 1860 to his death in the
'80's, was Dr. Joseph D. Friend. He was a regular medical
practitioner, but preferred newspaper work, and many of the stirring
editorials in the _Mercury,_ the _Mail_ and the _Argus_ were from his
trenchant pen. For a time he owned the _Mail,_ and when it was merged
with the _Mercury,_ he became a partner with George H. Thompson, from
which he retired in 1874. Dr. Friend was a genial, whole-souled man,
and the writer remembers him as one who gave him encouragement, kind
words, and good advice at a time when such were needed and did the
most good.

NEARPASS, WILLIAM H.--William Henry Nearpass was born in Montague
township, Sussex County, N. J., May 9, 1840, being the son of Michael
Nearpass and Charlotte E. Stewart. He removed with his parents to
Port Jervis in 1856, and attended the schools there until he was
nineteen, when he embarked in mercantile pursuits which he
successfully pursued until he retired from business to devote himself
to journalism. With Evi Shinier he became the proprietor of the
_Gazette,_ and has retained his interest in that successful
publication ever since.

Mr. Nearpass has always been an active Democrat and very influential
in his party's counsels, having held various village offices, and
elected supervisor of the county nineteen times.

Mr. Nearpass has always enjoyed the highest esteem of his fellow
citizens, for his character has ever been above reproach, while every
public duty has been faithfully and ably discharged. During the many
years he has been the editor of the _Gazette,_ he has never used its
columns for the gratification of private spite or the furtherance of
selfish interests, but has always hewed close to the Golden Rule in
all his walks of life; and now the afternoon of his career finds him
with a blameless life, a clear conscience, a love for his fellow
mortals that no faults of others, injuries, assaults or
misconceptions have ever chilled.

Mr. Nearpass was twice married, his first wife being Miss Anna W.
Newman, of Brooklyn, L. I., who died in 1879. On September 8, 1881,
he married Miss Josephine Westfall near Port Jervis.

DOTY, WILLIAM T.--Mr. Doty was born at Crabtree's Corner, Sussex
County, N. J., March 11, 1847. His parents were Jonathan Fisk Doty
and Phoebe Jane Van Wert Doty. Mr. Doty is a descendant of Edward
Doten or Doty, who came over in the Mayflower and settled at
Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. His mother was one of the Van Wert or Van
Wart family, one of whom assisted in the capture of Major Andre. Mr.
Doty received a good education in the public and best private schools
of that day.

Mr. Doty's first connection with Orange County journalism was at the
early age of sixteen, when he became attached to the _Tri-States
Union_ at Port Jervis, in which latter city he is yet. He afterwards
became connected with the _Middletown Mercury,_ the _Banner of
Liberty,_ the _Whig Press,_ the _Signs of the Times,_ and in Col.
Finch's job printing office on Franklin Square when in 1866 S. H.
Sayer's _Rising Sun_ flickered above the horizon a few times and
disappeared. The _Mercury_ and the _Banner of Liberty_ each had
offices in the frame building (now a brick block) next to the
Holding House, on East Main street. When Isaac F. Guiwits started his
_Daily Mail_ in 1869, Mr. Doty set type on it. He was employed on the
_Whig Press_ in 1866, when John W. and Mrs. Lydia Hasbrouck changed
its name to the _Orange County Press._ He was also on the _Press,_
though not continuously, when, in 1868, it was purchased by Moses D.
and Jesse Lewis Stivers. In the meantime he was employed for several
months on the _Warwick Advertiser_ while it was yet conducted by
Elder Leonard Cox. It was not until April, 1869, that he returned to
Port Jervis, this time to become foreman of the _Evening Gazette,_ at
the time James H. Norton and William H. Nearpass started that paper.
Except for short intervals in Port Jervis and a few months in
Warwick, he was continuously employed in the various Middletown
offices from 1865 to 1869. His personal recollections of the older
inhabitants of that place, and particularly of the newspaper men and
women--John W. and Dr. Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck, Elder Gilbert Beebe and
his sons, G. J. and Benton Beebe, James H. Norton, Isaac F. Guiwits,
Hon. Moses D. Stivers, Dr. Joseph D. Friend, Hon. Isaac V. Montanye,
Evander B. Willis, Gilbert Van Sciver, Elder Cox of Warwick, Coe
Finch, E. Malcolm Norton, "Doxy," Charles Coleman and others, is
pleasant to recall after half a century's flight of changing years.
Leaving the _Gazette,_ Mr. Doty was a compositor on the New York
_Tribune_ soon after the present structure replaced the squatty old
home of the office on Printing House Square, and when the
composing-room was in the wonderful "Tall Tower" overlooking City
Hall Park--which structure used to amuse the _Sun_ so much that it
never tired of being facetious over the Tribune's "Tall Tower." He
was also a compositor on the _Times_ and the _World_ in those days.
In 1871 he, in company with Charles St. John, Jr., and Alfred E.
Spooner, bought the _Tri-States Union,_ of Port Jervis, of Foster &
Mitchell. They made many changes in the _Union,_ and in politics they
heartily supported Horace Greeley in his candidacy for the
Presidency. They also issued as a campaign paper _The Woodchopper._
In 1873 he associated with William H. Waller, of Monticello, in
leasing the _Gazette_ of George A. Clement. Some years later he again
went to New York City, this time as printer in charge of the issuing
of a little Liberal or Free Thought paper called _Man,_ published at
744 Broadway by Thaddeus B. Wakeman and Thoron C. Leland. Later he
became reporter on the New York _Star,_ then the Tammany organ, and
printed at North William street just off of Chatham street (now Park
Row). In the latter part of the '80's he was employed as editor of
the Port Jervis _Daily Union_ until 1888, when in obedience to a
telegraphic offer from Morris Koch, manager of William A. Clark's
_Daily Miner,_ he was called to Butte City, Montana, to become
editor of that paper in the interests of the Montana Democrats. He
went there in June of that year, and in the fall moved his family
there. In the fall of 1889 he went to the Pacific Coast, with the
intention of going into business in Seattle. He was accompanied by
his son Vernon, and they spent some time in Portland, Salem, Tacoma,
and Seattle, the lad attending school in this latter city.
Unfortunately Seattle was then a city of tents, a great fire having,
late in that summer, devastated the whole lower and business section
of the city. In the winter of 1890 Mr. Doty returned East with his
family, and became editor of the Middletown _Daily Press_ under
Stivers, Slauson & Boyd. The following year he became editor of the
_Orange County Farmer_ of Port Jervis, and remained in that position
until 1897, when he returned to Middletown, and associated with
Horace W. Corey in the publishing of the _Sunday Forum._ When that
paper was sold to Thomas Pendell, Mr. Doty returned to Port Jervis as
editor of the _Daily Union,_ which position he occupies at this time
(March, 1908).

William T. Doty and Catharine Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew W.
Dickert, of Youngsville, Warren County, Pa., were married October 6,
1875. Three children bless that union: Gwendolen, the wife of John S.
Hatch, Jr., of near Scotchtown, this county; Vernon Dickert Doty,
train dispatcher on the Panama R. R. at Colon; Louaine, wife of
Charles A. Miller, of Midland Lake, near Middletown. A fourth child,
Wentworth Doty, died in Port Jervis, March 12, 1888, aged thirteen
months. There are four grandchildren: Helen and Louaine Miller, and
Naomi and Llewellyn Hatch. Mr. Doty's home is at Circleville, this
county, where he has a "little farm well tilled" that affords him
more comfort and pleasure than all that the cities or town can offer.
During his many years of residence in Port Jervis, and where his
children were born, he was for twelve years a more or less active
fireman and a member of Delaware Engine, and later, Hose Company No.
2, which he joined in 1863, and of which he was foreman two years.
Later he was first assistant chief engineer two years, acting as
chief one year, after the removal of Leopold Fuerth, the chief, to
Honesdale. He is a member of Port Jervis Lodge No. 328, F. A. M.,
and Neversink Chapter 186, R. A. M., of which he joined the former in
1871 and the latter in 1872. He is also a member of Delaware
Commandery No. 44, Knights Templar, and of Mecca Temple A. A. O. N.
M. S., of New York City; past grand of Utsayantha Lodge of Odd
Fellows and past chief patron of Deerpark Encampment, I. O. O. F.,
and was the first chancellor commander of Mount William Lodge 105,
K. of P.; is a member of Orange Chapter No. 33, O. E. S., and of
Port Jervis Lodge No. 645, B. P. O. Elks.

COX, ELDER LEONARD--Elder Leonard Cox came to Warwick early in the
'60's as an Old School Baptist preacher and started the _Warwick
Advertiser._ The _Advertiser_ not only lives, but after 42 years of
useful existence is to-day a monument to the preacher-editor's
judgment, force of character and early craftsmanship. In 1868 or 1869
Mr. Cox returned to Virginia, where he is still living and editing,
in connection with his son, the _Charlotte Gazette,_ at Charlotte
Court-House, Va., and still active at the age of ninety years. The
writer has very pleasant personal recollections of this venerable
worker, having for a time been employed in his office in Warwick as a
journeyman printer.

STIVERS, HON. MOSES D.--The name of Moses Dunning Stivers deserves
an important niche in the county's journalistic gallery, for, after
he began to take part in newspaper work, he was an active, energetic,
progressive and leading factor. He was an able writer--incisive and
wonderfully effective. He was well educated, ever affable and
courteous, a clean-cut gentleman. He first appeared in active
connection with journalism in March, 1868, when he purchased of John
W. Hasbrouck the _Orange County Press_ in association with his
brother, Lieutenant Jesse L. Stivers. The latter was a practical
printer, had twice enlisted in the army in the Civil War, and died in
New York City, April 30, 1871, aged thirty years. Hon. M. D. Stivers
was with the _Press_ when the _Evening Press_ (tri-weekly) was
started, and later when the tri-weekly became a daily edition. He was
instrumental in making it one of the leading country Republican
papers of the State. Associated with him, at different times, in the
business and editorial departments of the Press, were John W.
Slauson, Charles J. Boyd, Albert Kessinger, and F. Stanhope Hill. In
December, 1880, Mr. Stivers sold his interest in the concern to John
W. Slauson, and retired.

In 1891, in conjunction with his two sons, Lewis S. and John D.
Stivers, Mr. Stivers started the _Middletown Times._ From the first
this paper was a success, and the popularity it attained at its
inception has never waned, but continued after the death of their
father in February, 1895. Moses D. Stivers was born near Bennerville,
Sussex County, N. J., December 30, 1828, and was the son of John
Stivers and Margaret Dunning, his wife. In 1845 the family purchased
and removed to the Deacon Hallock farm at Ridgebury in this county.
Mr. Stivers attended both the public and private schools, finishing
his education at the Ridgebury Academy, after leaving which, for
several years, he taught school winters and worked his fathers farm
summers.

On September 26, 1855, he married Mary Elizabeth Stewart, of
Wawayanda, and then for two years kept a store at Ridgebury, and in
1859 engaged in the mercantile business in Middletown, first under
the firm name of Evans & Stivers, and then under that of Stivers &
Wallace. In 1864 Mr. Stivers was elected county clerk, and in 1868 he
became connected with journalism by the purchase of the _Orange
County Press._

Mr. Stivers held several political offices besides that of county
clerk, being postmaster at Ridgebury under President Pierce, was
appointed collector of internal revenue in 1868 for this district,
and was elected to Congress. Mr. Stivers was also active in civic
affairs, being a director of the Unionville and Water Gap Railroad,
a trustee of the Middletown Asylum for the Insane, and of the
Hillside Cemetery; also a trustee of the Middletown Savings Bank. He
also took a keen interest in firemanic affairs, and filled the
highest offices in the lodges of the Free Masons and Odd Fellows.

Mr. Stivers was a man of strong personality, indomitable will-power,
and diplomatic and statesmanlike qualities, which made him a
commanding figure in Orange County politics and journalism.

ST. JOHN, CHARLES.--When he was in the work there was no more
enthusiastic or energetic newspaper man in Orange County than Charles
St. John, Jr., the founder of the Port Jervis _Daily Union_ (1873),
and the _New York Farmer_ (1881). He entered the journalistic field
in 1871 in company with W. T. Doty and A. E. Spooner, when the three
purchased the _Tri-States Union_ at Port Jervis. For years he was
more or less active in the work, and retained an interest in the
_Union_ and the _Farmer,_ until October, 1907, when his partner and
brother-in-law, Fred R. Salmon, purchased his entire interest in the
two papers. While Mr. St. John could write energetically and with
much effect, it was as an organizer, solicitor and business hustler
that he shone brightest. Mr. St. John was a graduate of the famous
old Mt. Retirement Seminary in Sussex County, N. J., near Deckertown,
and of the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie. He was born in
Port Jervis, August 30, 1849, a son of Hon. Charles St. John, of Port
Jervis, and Ellen S. Thompson, of near Marlboro, Ulster County. The
St. Johns were an old family, that early came from Connecticut to
New York State, and nearly a century ago Stephen St. John came to
Port Jervis and purchased nearly all the land where Port Jervis now
stands. In 1870 Charles St. John, Jr., married Miss Mary Salmon at
Honesdale, Pa., a daughter of Conductor Charles M. Salmon and
Jeannette Russell.

FOWLER, ERWIN GALLATIN.--Erwin Gallatin Fowler, who started the
_Sunday Call_ in Port Jervis, and for several years edited the
_Daily Union_ and the _Orange County Farmer,_ was born at Walden,
N. Y., November 28, 1837, and died April 3, 1904. His parents were
Charles Fowler and Millie Ann Lehman. He attended the schools at
Walden, became a teacher, enlisted in the Duryea Zouaves, went to the
front in the Civil War and became first lieutenant. After the war he
was employed in Newburgh for a while, part of the time on the
_Journal._ In 1870 he removed to Huguenot, and in 1872 became
connected with the _Port Jervis Union._ Later he started the _Sunday
Call,_ and was called hence to Middletown to edit the _Daily Press._
September 8, 1881, he became editor of the _Orange County Farmer,_
just started, and remained with this paper until he and John J.
Dillon bought the Elmira _Husbandman,_ going thence to the _Rural
New-Yorker_ and later to the _American Agriculturist._ The last work
that he did in the editorial line was as editor of the _Orange County
Farmer,_ when fatal illness stilled forever his able pen. During the
World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 he had charge of the New York
horticultural exhibit. Mr. Fowler, in addition to his editorial work,
interested himself considerably in musical matters, and was president
of the Orange County Musical Union. As a writer Mr. Fowler was able,
ready, and facile. His homilies were not long-drawn-out, but were
wonderfully effective, and his descriptive powers were fine. He had
an extensive knowledge of agricultural matters, and when in charge of
the _Orange County Farmer_ put that paper on a high plane, and made
it popular and its circulation grew to large proportions. Personally,
Mr. Fowler was genial, the soul of good-nature, philanthropic and
benevolent to the last degree. Mr. Fowler and Miss Fannie F. Dunning
were married March 19, 1862.

MOTT, ED. H.--Though not directly connected with Orange County
journalism, Ed. H. Mott, the well-known writer and correspondent of
the New York _Sun,_ was for a time, in 1871, editor of the _Gazette,_
and after that the _Daily Union_ at Port Jervis. Mr. Mott was too
restless to be tied down to the drudgery of the daily grind on a
newspaper, and in time he found himself in the regular employ of the
New York _Sun,_ with a desk in that office, grinding out Pike County
tale's and character delineations that brought him notoriety and
shekels galore. He is at present located in Goshen, and yet writing
for the New York _Sun._ He also wrote a history of the Erie Railroad,
which is valuable and a high-priced production. Mr. Mott is a gifted
writer. His witticisms, character sketches, and stories generally are
original, unique, and clever.

VAN FREDENBERG, HENRY ABSALOM--One of the ablest writers in the
State to-day; one who has such command of words that they are as
playthings to a child; a remarkable linguist; mathematician,
botanist, chemist, geologist, and all-round naturalist, with
abilities which his own modesty and lack of self-appreciation prevent
him from fully recognizing--is the genius who is doing editorial work
on an Orange County paper to-day. The writer of these lines has for
many years known the gentleman, worked side by side with him, tried
to fathom the depth and height, the breadth and length of his
marvelous mentality. While it is a pleasure to make record of these
facts, it is done with hesitation for fear of misconception,
misconstruction, and misinterpretation. Henry Absalom Van Fredenberg
was born in the town of Montague, Sussex County, N. J., December 30,
1849. His parents were the late Aaron Van Fredenberg and Marie De Witt
Van Fredenberg. His parents, in 1850, moved from Montague, N. J., to
Sparrowbush, N. Y., where his youth was passed. He was educated in
the public schools and in Professor A. B. Wilbur's seminary in Port
Jervis, and at an early age became a school teacher. He taught in
Sparrowbush, Sanfordville, Mount Hope, Otisville, Slate Hill, and
Deckertown (now Sussex), N. J. In Deckertown he became interested in
journalism and edited the _Sussex Independent_ for several years. He
edited the Port Jervis _Daily Union,_ the Washington (N. J.) _Star,_
and the Mauch Chunk (Pa.) _Coal Gazette_ and _Daily Times_ in
succession. In 1885 he went to Buffalo, N. Y., where he served as
editor-in-chief of the _Lumber World, Milling World, The American
Tanner,_ the _Iron Industry Gazette,_ the _American Woodworker,_ and
the _Factory and Dealers' Supply World._ In that city he served as
associate editor of _The Magazine of Poetry,_ now merged with _Poet
Lore,_ of Boston, Mass. In 1898 he returned to Orange County, making
his home in Sparrowbush. Mr. Van Fredenberg succeeded the late Erwin
G. Fowler as editor of the _Orange County Farmer_ in 1899 (now the
_New York Farmer_), and is in that position at this date (March,
1908), making the _New York Farmer_ an authority on all dairy
matters, and quoted extensively wherever dairy interests have an
intelligent force.

STIVERS, LEWIS STEWART--Lewis Stewart Stivers was born in the town
of Wawayanda, Orange County, April 20, 1859, the oldest son of Hon.
Moses D. and Mary Elizabeth Stewart Stivers. After his parents
removed to Middletown he attended the public schools in that city and
the Wallkill Academy, and then entered Peekskill Military Academy,
from which he graduated in 1876. On concluding his studies, he
entered the office of the _Middletown Press,_ of which his father was
then editor and part owner and in 1891 he and his brother, John D.
Stivers, began the publication of the _Middletown Daily Times_ and
the _Orange County Times,_ the latter a semi-weekly issue. He was
united in marriage, in Middletown, with Miss Cora D. Mackey, daughter
of John Mackey, who, for many years, was connected with the Orange
County Foundry Company. Mr. Stivers died October 30, 1905, deeply
lamented by everyone who knew him, for he was the soul of honor, the
friend of all; courteous, amiable, generous.

SLAUSON, JOHN WHITING--Many bright minds have been engaged in the
field of Orange County journalism. It is not vaunting to say that one
of the keenest of these was he who made his entrance into active
newspaper life October 15, 1872, by the purchase of the _Orange
County Press_ of Stivers & Kessinger at Middletown, and under him the
_Press,_ already influential and highly respected, became one of the
leading Republican journals of the State. Mr. Slauson remained with
the _Press_ thirty-three years, associating in its management with F.
Stanhope Hill one year, the Hon. Moses D. Stivers seven years, and
Charles J. Boyd twenty-five years, retiring from the printing
business in 1906. In all these years the _Press_ property became very
valuable, owning one of the finest locations in Middletown, and
conducted in such a manner that it was a positive pleasure to be
employed therein. Mr. Slauson is a writer of ability, using the
choicest language in diction, structure in phrasing, and style
enriched with the higher graces of composition. John Whiting Slauson
was born September 18, 1846, in the town of Greenville, this county.
His father was David Slauson, and his mother was Antoinette, daughter
of John Whiting, a member of a prominent Connecticut family. Mr.
Slauson attended the Westtown Academy and the Dolbear School for
Young Men in New York City, and at the age of twenty began teaching
in the public schools of the county, and after filling an unexpired
term as school commissioner of the Second District of Orange County,
he purchased an interest in the _Press_ and thenceforth devoted
himself to journalism. In 1875 Mr. Slauson married Miss Olivia,
daughter of Horatio R. Wilcox, of Middletown. For over twenty-five
years Mr. Slauson has been a member of the New York State Press
Association, was one of its vice-presidents in 1894, and is still an
active member of the Republican Editorial Association of this State.

Mr. Slauson's reputation for fair dealing and steady adherence to the
principles of the Golden Rule in all relations of life, have earned
for him the merited esteem of his townsmen generally, and the highest
regard of those who know him best--a pleasure falling to the writer
many years ago, and he cherishes the friendship thus formed as one of
the pleasantest incidents in his life.

MACARDELL, CORNELIUS--An important factor in Orange County
journalism entered when Cornelius Macardell came, and a distinct loss
when he passed away. He founded the _Daily Argus_ in 1876 at
Middletown and in 1878 consolidated the _Argus_ and _Mercury._ In
1896 he turned the control of the paper over to his son, Cornelius,
and his official connection with journalism ceased from that date.

Cornelius Macardell was born at Darien, Georgia, October 24, 1837,
the son of Cornelius and Rebecca Campbell Macardell, and returned
with his family to New York in 1841. He was educated in the public
schools of Brooklyn, and then, after a few years of reporting for the
city papers, became interested in a newspaper venture in New Orleans.
In 1861 he came North, entered Wall street, New York, and in 1866
became a member of the Stock Exchange. A few years later he retired
from the street and bought a farm near Mount Hope in Orange County.
In 1877 be again became active in Wall street, but he sold out his
seat in the Stock Exchange a number of years ago. For years Mr.
Macardell was interested in banking in Middletown, and was elected
president of the First National Bank in 1891. He was also interested
in many ways with other business institutions in Middletown, and his
business life was full of activities. In 1860 Mr. Macardell married
Esther, daughter of Oliver and Penelope Crawford, of near Middletown.
Mr. Macardell died April 9. 1904, lamented by everyone who knew the
genial, kindly old gentleman.

THOMPSON, GEORGE H.--An able journalist of the fourth generation in
Orange County was George H. Thompson, whose work began on the
_Middletown Mercury_ about 1873. He was educated at Williams College,
had a good style in writing, and was one of the brightest and most
satirical writers in the county. He also made a good editor and until
his death, a few years ago, kept the columns of the _Argus_ and the
_Mercury_ alive with his bright sayings and well-rounded sentences.
Mr. Thompson was at one time president of the Board of Education of
Middletown, and for a short time was postmaster under President
Cleveland. His wife was a daughter of Colonel D. C. Dusenberry, but
both have passed away, leaving one daughter, Maysie Thompson.

WINCHESTER, REV. CHARLES M.--About 1874 the Rev. Charles M.
Winchester, who came to Middletown from one of the New England States
to preach temperance and the Gospel according to the Free Christian
Church, started the _Standard,_ an afternoon paper, and forthwith
engaged in newspaper work of the most lively character. To say that
affairs grew hot in Middletown for a year or two, is to state facts
very moderately. Mr. Winchester was bubbling over with his ideas of
theology, temperance and morals, and his powers of invective seemed
unlimited. He preached Sundays and through the week in tents and
other places, and hurled his javelins of wit, of satire, of
denunciation, of imprecation, and execration orally from the pulpit,
and daily through his paper. The _Standard_ was finally purchased by
the _Mercury_ people, and Mr. Winchester went to New York, where he
died a year or two ago.

SALMON, FRED R.--Fred R. Salmon, the present business manager of the
_New York Farmer_ and the Port Jervis _Daily Union_ and _Tri-States
Union_ plants, was born at Susquehanna, Pa., January 18, 1858. His
parents were Charles M. and Jeannette Russell Salmon. The family
removed to Port Jervis and then to Honesdale, in both of which places
Mr. Salmon attended schools, graduating from the Honesdale High
School. He entered the office of the Port Jervis _Union_ in April,
1877, as bookkeeper for his brother-in-law, Charles St. John. In 1884
he entered into partnership with Mr. St. John under the firm name of
St. John & Salmon. In 1895 they organized the Tri-States Publishing
Company, as its sole owners. This concern continued until October 1,
1907, when Mr. Salmon purchased Mr. St. John's interest, and became
the sole owner of the stock. October 6, 1889, Mr. Salmon married
Miss Flora Dunning, daughter of Joseph and Clara Owen Dunning, of
near Middletown. For several years Mr. Salmon was secretary of the
Republican County Committee and prominent in the councils of his
party. He is now a member of the Civil Service Commission of the new
city of Port Jervis; is a member of the Board of Education; is
trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, and a trustee of the Port
Jervis Board of Trade.

DRAKE, FRANK M.--The present editor of the Goshen _Independent
Republican_ is Frank Drake, who became connected therewith as part
owner January 1, 1883, and sole owner in March, 1892. Mr. Drake is a
practical printer, an able writer, and is a "worthy son of a worthy
sire." His father was Victor M. Drake, one of the Nestors of Orange
County journalism, and the son is giving in the semi-weekly issues of
his _Independent Republican_ evidence that the "journalistic
instincts" of the father have descended to the son. He is a Democrat
of the conservative type; is sprightly in his treatment of all
subjects, and deftly sprinkles a bit of attic salt in much of the
palatable literary provender that he sets before his readers. Mr.
Drake was born at Newton, N. J., in 1855, and after his school days
he entered the office of the _Independent Republican,_ after his
parents removed to Goshen, and became an apprentice in 1874, at the
age of nineteen years. He never found it necessary or advisable to
migrate, and it is fitting that he should find his life work in the
very office in which the genius of his gifted father for so many long
years was exercised for the public good. Mr. Drake is unmarried.

KETCHUM, GEORGE F.--With the establishment at Warwick in 1885 of the
_Warwick Valley Dispatch_ there entered the arena of Orange County
journalism a champion who has proven his right to become a leader.
George F. Ketchum, who founded the _Dispatch,_ is the son of the late
George W. Ketchum and Elizabeth Strang Wright. George F. Ketchum has
made his _Dispatch_ the leading Democratic paper in the county, by
reason of his unquestioned honesty of purpose, his fearless but
always fair and courteous advocacy of principles which he believed
conducive to the public weal, his persistent, aggressive efforts, and
his fair treatment of all opponents. Mr. Ketchum has been for more
than a decade the chairman of the Democratic County Committee--a
position that he has not held through mere favoritism, but by reason
of the force of character and the indomitable energy that has
characterized his whole public career.

BOYD, CHARLES J.--About 1880 Charles J. Boyd became interested in
newspaper work through partnership with John W. Slauson, under the
the name of Slauson & Boyd, as publishers of the _Middletown Press._
Mr. Boyd remained with the _Press_ until it was merged with the
_Times_ in 1906, when he retired from the work, to engage in
insurance and real estate business. Mr. Boyd was a first-class
newspaper man in every particular. He wrote a good article, had neat
descriptive powers, good judgment, clear discernment and
discrimination, and his work was ever in evidence on the Press. It
would seem that one so clever, so well endowed by nature for
newspaper work, should have remained in the field. Mr. Boyd was
supervisor of his ward for a number of years, and made one of the
most efficient members of the county legislature. He was also by
appointment one of the Prison Commissioners of the State.

STIVERS, JOHN D.--In 1891 John D. Stivers entered actively into
journalistic duties, though he had been connected therewith more or
less all his life. In that year the _Middletown Times_ came into
existence, and he became its normal editor. Since the lamented death
of his father, the Hon. Moses D. Stivers, in February, 1895, John D.
Stivers has been the real head and front of the establishment. Mr.
Stivers is a young man who deservedly stands well with his party and
the public. Through its well-written editorials, its daily supply of
the local and general news served in the most concise and acceptable
manner, the _Times_ is a power in politics and in general thought
that needs to be reckoned with by politicians and caterers to the
public in any form whatever. John Dunning Stivers was born August 30,
1861, at Middletown, N. Y., the second son of the Hon. Moses D. and
Mary Elizabeth Stewart Stivers. He attended the public schools of
Middletown and Wallkill Academy, where the rudiments of his education
were obtained, and later Peekskill Military Academy, from which
institution he was graduated in 1878, at the age of seventeen years.
He then began his journalistic career, entering the office of the
Middletown _Press_ as bookkeeper and later filling the position of
city editor. Resigning from the _Press,_ Mr. Stivers became private
secretary to his father, the Hon. Moses D. Stivers, during his term
as Member of Congress from this district. Upon the latter's
retirement from office, John D. Stivers returned to Middletown, and,
with his brother, Lewis S. Stivers, established the _Middletown
Times._ After the death of his father, he was elected to take the
latter's place as trustee of the Orange County Trust Company. Mr.
Stivers was appointed a member of the Board of Managers of the
Middletown State Hospital by Governor Morton, and was secretary of
the Board for several years, and until the reorganization of the
asylum management throughout the State by Governor Odell.

NICKINSON, ALBERT E.--Albert E. Nickinson, the present treasurer and
general business manager of the Middletown _Argus_ and _Mercury,_ was
born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 8, 1863. He was a son of John
Nickinson and Elizabeth J. Phillips. Albert E. was educated in the
public schools of Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Suffern, N. Y. He
entered the employ of the _Argus_ and _Mercury_ in 1888, remained
until 1901, and returned to the office upon its reorganization as a
new company in 1906. Mr. Nickinson is a good business man, and when
necessary can wield a descriptive pen. On November 28, 1889, Mr.
Nickinson and Miss Penelope Macardell were married.

SPEIDEL, MERRITT C.--The present efficient associate business manager
of the Port Jervis _Daily Union, Tri-States Union_ and _New York
Farmer_ is Merritt C. Speidel. He was born May 19, 1879, in Port
Jervis, son of Martin and Hannah M. Patterson Speidel, members of
well-known Deerpark families. During his student days he frequently
wrote for the local newspapers, and on October 25, 1897, he became
employed in the business department of the Tri-States Publishing
Company, and several months later became reporter for the Port Jervis
_Daily Union,_ and then successively city editor, associate editor,
and editor. January 1, 1904, he became associate business manager of
the Tri-States Publishing Co., and in January, 1908, became secretary
and a director of the company. Mr. Speidel, though a young man, has
been much identified with local public affairs and is now serving his
seventh year as secretary of the Port Jervis Board of Trade; is one
of the Health Commissioners; is president of the Deerpark
organization of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

POWERS, HENRY P.--Henry P. Powers, city editor and desk man of the
Middletown _Daily Argus_ and semi-weekly _Mercury,_ was born at
Groton, Tompkins County, N. Y., June 30, 1857, a son of Jacob B.
Powers and Nancy G. Bouton. He early developed a love for the
printing trade and entered the office of the _Groton Journal,_ when a
lad, as apprentice, serving there seven years, and about eighteen
years ago he came into Orange County and located at Middletown. For a
year and a half he was employed as city editor of the Middletown
_Daily Press._ In January, 1903, he became reporter for and then
city editor of the _Daily Argus._ Mr. Powers is a thoroughly good
newspaper man; active, reliable, a ready writer, of good
discrimination, and he is a valuable addition to Orange County
journalism. Mr. Powers was twice married. His first wife died at
Groton twenty-two years ago. His second wife was Miss Minnie L. Hill,
daughter of John W. Hill, of Middletown.

GREGG, GEORGE F.--In January, 1903, George F. Gregg, in company with
John B. Scott, became part owner of the _Goshen Democrat,_ and
September 1, 1905, he became sole owner of the same. To say that he
has made the _Democrat_ a bright, newsy, weekly paper is to express
the fact mildly but justly. He is a vigorous writer, with a fervor
and animation that is born of the intensity of earnestness and zeal,
and he is surely making the _Democrat_ read by friends and political
foes. In 1906 Mr. Gregg was elected supervisor of the town of Goshen,
and again in 1907, and brings to this public office the same
earnestness, push and capacity that characterizes his work as an
editor. Mr. Gregg is yet a young man, and he is in a fair way to be
one of the leaders of thought and action in Orange County. George F.
Gregg was born at Walden, N. Y., April 30, 1875. His parents were
Edgar M. Gregg, of Walden, and Rose L. Faron, of Corning, N. Y. His
education was at the public schools. He passed several years in
Chenango County, this State. For a short time he was connected with
the advertising department of the New York _Times._ He was also in
the Ordnance Department of the United States Navy, in the naval
magazine at Fort Lafayette. Mr. Gregg seemed to have an "intuitive
leaning" to journalistic work, for in addition to his service on the
New York _Times,_ we find he was fifteen years in newspaper work,
several of which were in the office of the "now esteemed
contemporary," the _Independent Republican._ For two years he was
city editor of the _Middletown Argus,_ immediately prior to
purchasing an interest in the _Goshen Democrat._ The good work he is
doing in the columns of that old paper, and the esteem in which he is
held by the people of Goshen, as shown by his being twice chosen as
supervisor of the town, is evidence that he has found his life's work
and its field. Mr. Gregg and Miss Jane A. Brundage, of Newark, N. J.,
were married July 11, 1900.

TAFT, LYMAN H.--One of the most thoroughly independent editors in the
county is Lyman H. Taft, of the Montgomery _Standard-Reporter,_ who
was born December 5, 1865, at Oneida Valley, Madison County, N. Y.
His father was Thomas J. Taft, and his mother was Jane Baum, whose
father, Rev. John Baum, was a Methodist minister at Mendenville,
N. Y. The parents went to the Pennsylvania oil country, when Lyman
was but three months old, and settled at Warren, Pa. He attended the
Warren high school, leaving the same to enter the office of the
Warren _Ledger_ (1877), where he served an apprenticeship of three
years, and then traveled over the country, working as a journeyman
printer, and visited forty States of the Union. September 1, 1888, he
arrived at Montgomery, purchased the _Recorder_ and in 1898 the
_Standard,_ and consolidated the two papers under the title of the
_Standard and Reporter._

MacGOWAN, HORACE A.--Horace A. MacGowan, city editor of the
Middletown _Daily Argus,_ was born January 7, 1877, near Circleville,
this county, a son of John Nelson and Julia Woodruff MacGowan, and
of Scotch ancestry. His parents removed to Middletown when Horace was
but four years of age, and he attended the schools until thirteen
years of age, when (July, 1891) he entered the employ of the
Middletown _Daily Press,_ where he remained fifteen years. When the
_Press_ was merged with the _Times,_ Mr. MacGowan, February 1, 1906,
became city editor of the Middletown _Daily Argus,_ which position he
still holds. Mr. MacGowan has time and again proven his capability as
a good writer and newspaper man by work of recognized merit. April
23, 1903, he married Miss Elizabeth Tappan, daughter of Mrs.
Catherine Tappan, of Middletown.

MACARDELL, CORNELIUS, JR.--Cornelius Macardell was educated in the
public schools of Middletown, and entered the office of the _Argus_
in 1891, becoming publisher of the _Argus_ and _Mercury_ in 1896, and
continuing in that capacity until the formation of the corporation in
March, 1906. He is president of the Argus and Mercury Company.

RICHARDS, MARK V.--The city editor of the Port Jervis _Gazette_ since
1905 is Mark V. Richards, an industrious, alert reporter, a
descriptive writer, and a conscientious, painstaking worker. Mr.
Richards was born in Port Jervis, February 24, 1880, the son of David
S. and Martha Isadore Bunting Richards. Mark V. Richards graduated
from the Port Jervis High School, June 24, 1898. He began newspaper
work, January 2, 1897, as a paper carrier for the _Gazette._ In the
year and a half thus employed he was constantly picking up bits of
news for the _Gazette,_ often writing them out in such readable form
that he attracted the attention of Editors Nearpass and Bennet, with
the result that at the first opportunity he was engaged as reporter
for the _Gazette._ This work he began in September, 1898, and
continued until 1905, when he became city editor. July 7, 1903, he
married Miss Bertha E. Lobb, of Honesdale, Pa.

SHIMER, EVI--The present business manager of the Port Jervis
_Gazette_ is Evi Shimer. He has held that position since April 1,
1886. Mr. Shimer was born December 8, 1860, on the old Shimer
homestead in Montague, Sussex County, N. J. His parents were Abram
and Adaline Cuddeback Shimer. When Evi was about seven years of age,
the family moved to Port Jervis, where he attended the public
schools. Later he graduated from the Binghamton Business College.
After that he was ten years in the wholesale hardware business in
New York City. April 1, 1886, he returned to Port Jervis and became
business manager of the _Gazette_ establishment, which position he
still holds. Mr. Shimer was for four years one of the trustees of the
village of Port Jervis. In November, 1888, Mr. Shimer and Miss Susan
A. Donaldson were married.

BROWN, MELVIN H.--The present city editor of the Middletown
_Times-Press_ is Melvin Halstead Brown, an alert worker and ready
writer. He was born at Otisville, N. Y., December 25, 1867, a son of
Orville and Emeline Ketcham Brown. Melvin H. attended the public
schools at Paterson, N. J., and later in Middletown and the Wallkill
Academy. He learned the printer's trade in the _Argus_ office,
beginning at the age of fifteen years. When the Middletown _Times_
was started he became a compositor thereon, later foreman of the
composing room, and twelve years ago became a reporter, which
position, and that of city editor, he has since filled. His wife was
Miss Anaina, daughter of Alderman and Mrs. George Miller.

RUSSELL, ALEXANDER W.--One of the ablest editorial writers on the
country press of to-day is the young man who is on the staff of the
Middletown _Times-Press,_ Alexander W. Russell. He is alert to
events of local as well as of State, national and international
importance, and treats them in a most able manner, in language that
is choice, pleasing and expressive. Mr. Russell was born at New
Berlin, Chenango County, N. Y., April 14, 1865. His parents were
Edward and Elinor Tillinghast Russell. He learned the trade of a
printer in the office of the Brookfield _Courier,_ at Brookfield,
Madison County, N. Y. Later, he attended Hobart College at Geneva,
N. Y., leaving there in 1886, to become city editor of the Oneida
_Union,_ Oneida, N. Y., which position he filled for ten years, at
the end of which time he became city editor of the Brockton, Mass.,
_Gazette,_ where he remained two years. Soon after this he came to
Middletown, N. Y., where he has since remained, and has been on the
_Times-Press_ editorial staff since 1906.

MACARDELL, ABRAM B.--Abram Bennet Macardell, the editor of the
_Argus_ and _Mercury,_ and vice-president and secretary of the
Argus and Mercury Publishing Company, was born at Mount Hope, this
county, a son of Cornelius and Esther Crawford Macardell. In January,
1886, the family removed to Middletown, and he was educated in the
public schools there and graduated from Wallkill Academy in 1897, a
member of the last class to graduate from that time-honored and
historic institution, which, after that year, became the Middletown
High School. He entered Hamilton College and graduated in 1901. In
November, 1902, he entered the _Argus_ office and succeeded George H.
Thompson as editor at his death in May, 1904. He was active in the
formation of the Argus and Mercury Company in March, 1906. Mr.
Macardell is an easy, graceful writer, and, while "young in the
harness," is doing good editorial work.

STAGE, ALBERT L.--The present city editor of the Port Jervis _Daily
Union_ is Albert Louis Stage. He was born in the town of Lumberland,
Sullivan County, N. Y., June 8, 1876. His parents were Albert and
Caroline Cowen Stage. He attended the public schools at Barryville,
N. Y., and Equinunk, Pa., qualified himself for teaching, and for
several years was thus engaged in the public schools at Blooming
Grove, Greeley, Mast Hope, and Flagstone, Pa. Later, for a time, he
was a salesman for Rand, McNally & Co., educational and book
publishers, of New York City. During 1904 he was employed in the
wholesale house of E. P. & E. Kinney, spices, coffees, teas and
groceries, in Binghamton, N. Y. In March, 1905, he became city editor
of the Port Jervis _Union,_ which position he has since most
acceptably filled.

STIVERS, DR. MOSES A.--Moses Asby Stivers was born in Middletown,
November 14, 1872, the youngest son of the Hon. Moses D. and Mary
Elizabeth Stewart Stivers. He graduated in the Middletown schools,
and became bookkeeper in the Middletown _Times_ when it was first
started. Later he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in
New York City in 1894. Dr. Stivers is a practicing physician in
Middletown, is connected with Thrall Hospital, and is now secretary
and treasurer of the Stivers Printing Company, of which his brother,
John D. Stivers, is president, printing the _Daily Times-Press._ He
is a young man of superior mental qualities and ever amiable and
courteous.

                        CALLED ELSEWHERE.

Among the newspaper men, aside from those already mentioned, who have
come and gone--some to their final reward, others to new or different
fields of labor--who were more or less important actors on this stage
of life's industry, were some who were peculiarly adapted to
journalistic work and had rendered highly satisfactory service in
their day. Among such were:

HOLBROOK, DANIEL--Daniel Holbrook, who, in 1862, bought the
_Tri-States Union_ in Port Jervis--a college graduate, a linguist,
scholar, and able writer, a native of Boston. After less than a
decade of newspaper work, he sold the plant, and has since been
engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Port Jervis, and
is now justice of the peace and police justice in the city of Port
Jervis.

SLAWSON, WILLIAM G.--William G. Slawson was, in the '70's, one of the
liveliest reporters that ever labored in Middletown, and he kept the
columns of the _Press_ teeming with his clever work. He has been for
several years in other work, lately at Cleveland, Ohio.

SHIER, JAMES J.--James J. Shier, a graduate of the Middletown
_Mercury and Argus,_ was city editor there some time, and in the
'80's went to Port Jervis and secured an interest in the _Gazette,_
where he remained until he died, June 2, 1893.

HELLER, BURRELL--An old Milford and Port Jervis printer and a good
writer and reporter was Burrell Heller, who died late in the '80's.
He was employed in various capacities on the Port Jervis papers,
latterly as reporter on the Port Jervis _Gazette._

YOUNG, CHARLES O.--Charles O. Young, of Port Jervis, admitted to the
bar as a lawyer in the '80's, son of the late Oliver Young (a
prominent lawyer of Port Jervis), edited the Port Jervis _Daily
Union_ several years. He is a most accomplished writer, highly
educated, a scholar, a linguist, and a man of high literary tastes.
He prefers literature to law, and the Port Jervis papers are
occasionally favored with emanations from his gifted pen.

WILLIS, EVANDER B.--Evander B. Willis appeared in Middletown early in
the '60's, and learned the printer's trade, later becoming an expert
stenographer, then reporter and editor, and for a time conducted the
Middletown _Mail._ He was born at Unionville. Early in the '70's he
went to California and became court stenographer.

BENNET, JAMES--One of the men who figured prominently in the
western end of orange County newspaper circles for about a quarter of
a century was James Bennet, of Port Jervis. He was a good newspaper
man and had a knack for seeing the droll side of events and for
putting the same into print, and some of his "yarns" were extremely
witty. Mr. Bennet is the youngest son of James and Sarah Westfall
Bennet, and he was born at Carpenter's Point (now Tri-States, and a
part of the Fourth Ward of the city of Port Jervis). James Bennet
graduated at the famous old Mount Retirement Seminary in Sussex
County, N. J., near Deckertown (now Sussex), in 1863. He studied
medicine two years, and abandoned the same to go into the flour and
feed business in Port Jervis. In 1886 he accepted a position in the
business and editorial department of the Port Jervis _Gazette,_ and
became associate editor. In 1889 he went with the _Union,_ remaining
there fifteen months, and then returned to his former position with
the _Gazette,_ where he remained until 1906, when he resigned to go
into the insurance business--the retreat of so many old newspaper
men. His wife was Alice Stiles, daughter of the late Edward A.
Stiles, for so many useful years the principal and proprietor of the
Mount Retirement Seminary.

BARRET, LEON--One of the brightest cartoonists of the metropolis,
Leon Barret, began his work in Orange County, having come to
Middletown in the '70's, where he conducted a book and stationery
store at the corner of James and King streets. He soon developed a
talent for drawing that attracted the notice of newspaper men, and
Messrs. Macardell and Thompson found a place for him on the _Argus
and Mercury,_ and eventually took him into partnership. His artistic
ability so rapidly improved, however, as to receive recognition from
the New York press, and severing his connection with the _Argus_ he
went to the metropolis, where a wider field was afforded for the
exercise of his remarkable talents, and where he has won fame and
standing.

WHEAT, WALLACE B.--Wallace B. Wheat, for the past twenty-five or
thirty years, has been connected with the Port Jervis _Gazette_ as
typesetter and reporter, and for many years has been the local
representative of the New York _World._

BENNET, JAMES EDWARD--James Edward Bennet was the son of James
Bennet, and for four years was a reporter for and city editor of the
Port Jervis _Gazette,_ and is now a practicing lawyer in New York
City.

PINE, COL. CHARLES N.--Col. Charles N. Pine was an old Philadelphia
journalist who, in the '90's, passed his last years on the Port
Jervis _Gazette,_ going there from Milford. He was brainy and
brilliant. He died in Port Jervis, October 26, 1894.

BAILEY, WILLIAM P.--William F. Bailey through the '90's was one of
the most alert reporters that Middletown ever had. He was a graduate
of the _Press_ office, and his work was always in the lead. He is now
in the insurance business in New York City.

GIBBS, WHITFIELD--Whitfield Gibbs was, for a short time, in Orange
County journalism, having been the owner of the _Walden Citizen_ late
in the '90's. Mr. Gibbs now resides at Hackettstown, N. J. He is an
able writer, and a good newspaper man.

CRANE, STEPHEN--Stephen Crane, the gifted author of "The Red Badge
of Courage" and other tales, and magazine and newspaper articles,
began his literary career in Port Jervis, and did reporting a short
time on the _Daily Union._ His father was a resident of that city,
pastor of Drew M. E. Church, and died in that city.

COREY, HORACE W.--Though connected with journalism only briefly and
through his interest in the Middletown _Sunday Forum_ (1897-99),
Horace W. Corey gave evidence of unique ability in that work which,
pursued, would have brought reward and fame. His "sermons" and other
satires were features that "pointed morals" where much needed.

PENDELL, THOMAS--Thomas Pendell came into Orange County through
Cornwall (1889) and to Middletown in 1898-99 on the _Forum;_ later on
the _Argus,_ and again on the _Forum,_ which he removed to Massena,
N. Y. He is a ready writer, a rapid worker, a practical printer, and
one of the best all-round newspaper men that have ever tarried in
Orange County. He is now publishing a paper at Peekskill.

BLANCHARD, FRANK L.--Frank L. Blanchard, of New York, was connected
with the Middletown _Forum_ from December, 1907, to March or April,
1908. He is a good writer.

                          IN THE HARNESS.

Connected with the newspapers at the present time one finds an array
of rising talent, the fourth generation of workers since journalism
gained a foothold in Orange County.

WILSON, FREDERICK WILLIAM--In Newburgh the Newburgh _Daily News_ has
as editor Frederick William Wilson. To the energy and ability of
Frederick W. Wilson, editor of the Newburgh _Daily News_ and
president and treasurer of the Newburgh News Printing and Publishing
Co., is due in great measure the success that newspaper has achieved
as a business proposition, and also its recognized standing among the
leading newspapers of the State.

Mr. Wilson's connection with the _News_ dates almost from its
inception, when as a lad in his teens he entered the business office
of the paper in its second year of publication as bookkeeper. The
founder of the _News,_ the late William H. Keefe, was not slow to
recognize the aptitude of the young man for the business, and in his
twentieth year he practically had the entire business management of
the then very modest _News_ establishment in his hands, Mr. Keefe
confining himself principally to the editorial conduct of the young
and rapidly growing paper.

Mr. Wilson was born October 8, 1869, near Brighton, the renowned
watering-place in the south of England. His father, Henry Wilson, was
a surgeon in the British navy and saw service in the Crimean War. He
died when the subject of this biography was but ten years old. After
his death his widow, Sarah Jane Cleaver, daughter of a prominent
woolen goods manufacturer and former mayor of Northampton, came to
Newburgh, where an older son, Dr. Henry Wilson, was established in
the practice of medicine. Other relatives lived in New York and the
New England States. She died here in 1894, leaving, besides the two
sons mentioned, two daughters, Kathryn and Maude, both of whom are
married and live in New York City.

Young Wilson evinced an early aptitude for literary work, and having
completed his education, frequently contributed to the _News,_ which
about that time was started by its founder.

In 1896 a company was organized to conduct the _News._ Mr. Wilson was
one of the incorporators and directors, and at the meeting of the
board of directors was chosen secretary and treasurer. Mr. Keefe was
elected president. On the latter's death, in 1901, Mr. Wilson
succeeded to the presidency of the company. He immediately set on
foot plans for the enlargement of the paper and the betterment of its
mechanical equipment. One of these was the introduction of
typesetting machines. Next the large double brick building, Nos. 40
and 42 Grand street, was purchased and remodeled into an up-to-date
newspaper and printing plant at an outlay for alterations alone
exceeding $15,000. A perfecting press (the first in the city) was
installed therein, and the building was equipped with every known
contrivance to facilitate the work of production of a modern
newspaper. The plant and equipment to-day represent an investment of
over $100,000, and the home of the _News_ is regarded as one of the
most complete and handsome newspaper establishments in the State.
Simultaneously with the removal of the _News_ to its new home (in the
spring of 1902), Mr. Wilson changed the appearance of the paper by
discarding the old-fashioned nine-column "blanket" sheet for the
modern seven-column folio form--an innovation at that time for small
city dailies, but now generally in vogue. The history of the paper
under his direction has been one of evolution, progress and marked
success.

Besides being a fluent and forceful writer, Mr. Wilson possesses rare
business tact and executive ability--a combination seldom found in
newspaper men.

He is a moving spirit in all that makes for the welfare and growth of
Newburgh and is an earnest advocate both through his paper and
orally, of progress and enterprise in municipal matters. He is
actively identified with the work of the Business Men's Association
for a "greater Newburgh," and is the chairman of the committee which
has in hand the arrangements for Newburgh's part in the celebration
of the tercentenary of the discovery of the Hudson River and the
centennial of the navigation of its waters by Robert Fulton's
Clermont, to be held in September, 1909.

Mr. Wilson early displayed a liking for politics, his first
inclination in that direction finding vent in the organization of a
juvenile "Tippecanoe Club," which participated in the local parades
of the Harrison campaign of 1888. Later he took part in the
organization of a club of young voters known as the Union League
Club. The one hundred and fifty members unanimously elected him
president.

He has always been an admirer and earnest supporter of former
Governor Odell. He was a delegate to the State convention at Saratoga
in 1900, when Mr. Odell was first nominated for the governorship, and
again in 1902, when he was renominated. He was also a delegate to the
convention of 1904, which nominated Higgins, and to that of 1906,
when Governor Hughes was nominated. He has himself never desired or
held public office, but has been a factor in putting many of his
friends in elective and appointive positions of trust.

Mr. Wilson enlisted in the Tenth Separate Company at the age of
eighteen and served six years. He volunteered to return to the ranks
at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and was offered a
commission, but the company was not ordered to the front.

He is active in social as well as business life, being a member of
the Powelton Club, City Club and Newburgh Wheelmen, the Old Orchard
Club of Middletown, and the Press Club and Republican Club of New
York. He is a past exalted ruler of Newburgh Lodge of Elks; a member
of Continental Lodge No. 287, F. and A. M.; Jerusalem Chapter No. 8,
R. A. M.; Palestine Commandery No. 18, K. T.; New York Consistory,
Scottish Rite, 32nd deg; Mecca Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine;
president of the Wilbur H. Weston Shriners' Association; president of
the Newburgh Automobile Club, and a member of the New York State and
American Automobile Associations.

Mr. Wilson resides in a handsome residence owned by him at 268
Liberty street, Newburgh.

RUTTENBER, J. W. F.--The editor of the Newburgh _Telegram_ is
J. W. F. Ruttenber, who was born at Newburgh, N. Y., December 14,
1857. After receiving a good education in the public schools of his
native city, he became associated in business for several years with
his father, E. M. Ruttenber. Subsequently he embarked in several
newspaper ventures, and finally started the Newburgh _Sunday
Telegram_ in 1889. This is a non-partisan paper, and is especially
devoted to local events and local characters, in the discussion of
which a full opportunity is afforded the editor for the exercise of
that wit and caustic humor, with which he is well equipped. The
_Telegram_ was a success financially from the start and has now
developed into a very valuable newspaper plant.

In Middletown the _Times-Press_ has as editor John D. Stivers; as
editorial writer Alexander W. Russell, and as city editor Melvin
W. Brown. On the _Argus_ the editor is A. B. Macardell, ably assisted
by Henry P. Powers and Horace A. MacGowan as city editors. The _Signs
of the Times_ is published by Gilbert Beebe's Son, with Elders F. A.
Chick and H. C. Ker as editors.

On the Port Jervis _Union_ is Fred R. Salmon, business manager;
Merritt C. Speidel, assistant and formerly city editor; W. T. Doty
as editor, and Albert L. Stage, city editor. On the _Gazette_ is Evi
Shimer, business manager; William H. Nearpass, editor; Mark V.
Richards, city editor, and James Skellinger, assistant. The _New York
Farmer_ is edited by Henry A. Van Fredenberg.

In Goshen Frank Drake is editor and manager of the oldest newspaper
in Orange County, the _Independent Republican;_ and George F. Gregg,
the editor and manager of the next oldest paper, the _Goshen
Democrat._

At Warwick the _Advertiser's_ business manager and editor is Hiram
Tate; while the _Valley Dispatch_ has George F. Ketchum as editor and
business manager.

At Montgomery the old _Standard and Reporter_ has Lyman Taft as
editor and proprietor, with Charles H. Miller as associate editor.

The _Walden Herald's_ editor and proprietor is Ward Winfield; and the
_Citizen_ has a clergyman editor and publisher in the Rev. J. H.
Reid.

At Cornwall-on-Hudson is the _Local-Press,_ with L. G. Goodenough
editor and proprietor.

The _Pine Bush Herald's_ editor and proprietor is George W. Jamison,
a former school teacher and an educated man and good writer.

Monroe has the _Ramapo Valley Gazette_ (started March, 1908), with
J. B. Gregory as publisher and proprietor.

The _Orange County Record_ at Washingtonville has Montanye Rightmyer
as editor and manager.

                     JUST A FEW REFLECTIONS.

Inspecting the field of Orange County journalism one sees the Glebe
strewn with wrecks of ambitious effort, and sympathy goes out to the
disappointed strugglers, they of tattered aims and ambitions; of
immolated hopes and desires.

Looking at the files and samples of the papers of to-day and the
relics of early journalism in Orange County, one's pride over
progress in certain lines is mixed with humiliation. The old papers
were printed with artistic ideals. The type was neat, the page was
pleasing to the eye, and the printer showed evidence of intelligence.
Words were divided at the ends of lines with some idea of method and
reason; the break-lines were made neat. The old-time compositor who
would have divided "campaign" on the "p" and run "aign" over, or
worse yet, made a break-line of "ed," "ly," or a single or even two
numerals, would have been laughed out of the office by his
companions. The writer will never forget an incident in his own very
early career at the "case," when he divided "Messrs," running the
"srs." over into the next line. It was a long time before he heard
the last of that break, and it was never repeated. To-day one sees
all sorts of divisions--anywhere, everywhere; it matters not whether
it is on the vowel or the syllable or between--it all goes. The
outrage on neatness of a single numeral making a full break-line is
no longer confined to the "blacksmith" who was aiming to gel a "phat
line," but is seen in the work turned out from the marvelous
Mergenthaler Linotype, the excuse being that it "takes too much time"
to space and adjust the line neatly. This same excuse is given for a
lot of other abominations--really intolerable and vexatious--that one
sees in the machine-set newspaper. Really, if modern mechanical
appliances are sweeping the "art preservative" back to the most crude
and primitive specimens of workmanship, there is cause for deep
regret. Neatness should go hand in hand with improved methods and
aids.

The old-time newspaper was not a hand-bill. It was a model of taste
and neatness. The idea of the average editor, publisher and printer
today seems to be how he can make his paper the most hideous to the
eye, and to the aesthetic senses. Big, black type for headlines, and
glaring, sensational, spectacular, flaring "big heads" are the order
of the day.

Compare these modern newspapers with almost any of those printed one
hundred, fifty, forty, thirty years ago. The contrast is so markedly
in favor of the papers printed under the old regime that one who
really loves the art is disgusted with modern printers and printing
as applied to newspapers.

This criticism, it should be borne in mind, is made with reference to
newspapers, and not of "job work." The man who is getting out
bill-heads, letter-heads, etc., is constantly striving for neatness,
and his work is a great advance over that done by his predecessors in
the "job department." This is as it should be.

The modern job printer is an artist; the modern newspaper printer a
botch. The printer may blame the editor or publisher, but that does
not excuse his vile distortions and caricatures on the art. The
publisher or editor may blame the "popular demand" for his efforts to
cater to the sensational and hideous; but that does not help the
matter any, nor does it tend to elevate the art of newspaper
printing.

Journalism, indeed, seems to have fallen, or wandered, into dangerous
or demoralizing ways. This, also, is laid at the door of "popular
demand," etc. The old-time editor had a personality, and this he
infused into the columns of his paper. He was not always right, of
course, but the general tendency of such journalism was to breed a
spirit of independence, of character, of research. The consensus thus
evolved by the masses was wholesome.

To-day the editor is a mere machine. His individuality is suppressed,
and the effort is to keep him entirely under the thumb and rack-screw
of the publisher, who manipulates the finances, the "business" end of
the concern. This publisher generally gets his "cue" from his banker,
who may be his backer, and, who, at any rate, sets the pace for
editorials, news--and in fact the whole tone of the paper. In all
this there is concert. From some great business center the word goes
out, and the newspapers catch up the echo. In this way the
individual, the great personality that once made the newspaper a
power for good, is lost; instead, the press has become a mob--the
most dangerous mob that ever existed, for it comes in the guise of
instruction, of morals, of culture, of learning. Thus masquerading,
journalism to-day is fast lapsing--or rather plunging--into a vortex
that is positively appalling in its aspects. How and when the remedy
will come is of grave concern. The mob may, in sheer desperation,
rend itself, commit hari-kari; or it may go on until in frenzy, the
long-deluded and outraged populace shall rise and revolutionize
newspaperdom.




CHAPTER XXXVIII.

FREEMASONRY.

By Charles H. Halstead.



The earliest authentic record of masonry in New York, or in fact in
the American colonies, is the deputation appointing Daniel Coxe, of
New Jersey, to be provincial grand master of New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, signed by the Duke of Norfolk, grand master of the
grand lodge of England, and dated "this fifth day of June, 1730, and
of Masonry 5730."

From that date and until 1781 there were five different masonic
deputations granted to provincial grand masters for New York, by the
grand lodge of England.

During this period there were two provincial grand lodges in the
State of New York, organized at different periods by authority of
rival grand lodges in England, which were termed the "Moderns" and
"Ancients."

In 1813 these two grand bodies united into what is now the "United
Grand Lodge of England."

The provincial grand lodge authorized by the Atholl warrant, dated
September 5, 1781, existed from December 5, 1782, to September 19,
1783. when the British troops evacuated New York City, and as the
grand lodge was essentially a royalist institution, and a majority of
its officers and members were connected with the evacuating army, the
brethren were in a quandary, the solution of which we find in the
minutes of a grand lodge of emergency, held on the nineteenth of
September, 1783, when "The propriety of leaving the grand warrant by
which this lodge is established in the province of New York, being
fully discussed, it was resolved, that the same should be left and
remain in the care of such brethren as may hereafter be appointed to
succeed the present grand officers, the most of whom being under the
necessity of leaving New York upon the removal of his majesty's
troops."

This necessitated the election of a complete new set of officers,
which was immediately done.

The lodges throughout the State, which had received charters from the
"Modern" provincial grand lodge, in the interim between the
dissolution of that body and the organization of the "Ancient"
Provincial grand lodge had pursued an independent existence and
naturally under their existing conditions, were loath to surrender
their warrants to the new body; therefore, it was a number of years
before all the lodges were brought under the control of the new
grand lodge.

This provincial grand lodge, so far as existing records show, made no
returns to the parent grand body, and in all matters acted as an
independent grand lodge.

This state of affairs caused some of the lodges to question the
legality of its proceedings, and the propriety of paying grand lodge
dues.

This question was settled for all time on the sixth of June, 1787, by
the grand lodge adopting the report of a committee which reported:
"Your committee appointed at the last quarterly communication, in
consequence of certain resolutions of St. John's lodge, respecting
the warrant under which the grand lodge is established, report their
opinion as follows, viz.: That the grand lodge of this State is
established, according to ancient and universal usages of masonry,
upon a constitution formed by the representatives of the regular
lodges, convened under a legal warrant from the grand lodge of
England, dated the fifth day of September, in the year of masonry
five thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, the most noble Prince
John the Third, Duke of Atholl, being the then grand master, and your
committee further beg leave to report that, in their opinion, nothing
is necessary or essential in the future proceedings of the grand
lodge upon the subject matter referred to them, but that a committee
be appointed to prepare a draft of the style of warrant to be
hereafter granted by the grand lodge, conformable to the said
constitution. All of which is, nevertheless, most respectfully
submitted to the wisdom of the most worshipful grand lodge." In this
manner the grand lodge declared itself an independent grand body,
supreme within its own jurisdiction. The date of transition of the
grand lodge from a provincial to an independent State masonic
organization might be a subject of difference of opinion, but the
grand lodge, however, numbers its annual communications from the
earlier date, viz., 1781, under the charter issued by the "Ancients."

The grand lodge of the State of New York, under this charter,
guarantees certain rights and privileges to 775 masonic lodges having
a membership (December 31, 1906), of 146,026 master masons.

At different times the grand lodge has been disrupted by internal
strife and schisms which continued several years, but since June,
1858, peace and harmony have prevailed among the fraternity.

The severest trial that freemasonry has had to endure was the
anti-masonic crusade that began in 1826, which assailed the
fraternity throughout the land and resulted in many of the lodges
having their charters forfeited.

A political party was founded at the time on prejudice and hatred.
Politicians mounted the whirlwind, and rode into power on the storm.
Fanatics in the forum, at the bar and in the pulpit inflamed the
passions of men and aroused the bitterest enmity against freemasonry.
Men of the highest social and masonic standing were threatened with
political ostracism; to be a mason was to be an object of suspicion
and often of persecution; the lodge rooms were deserted, charters
were surrendered, and the craft became disheartened at the situation.
Some members of the fraternity openly declared their withdrawal and
were known as "seceding masons" in the community. After ten years of
bitter feeling and hatred against the society of Free and Accepted
Masons, the storm of persecution began to subside; the calmer and
better judgment of men prevailed; the craft took courage and masonic
lodges again opened their doors and resumed labor. In 1840 there was
not a masonic lodge in Orange County.

It would appear from the meager information given in the proceedings
of grand lodge or in the minutes of subordinate lodges in the early
days that the brethren were imbued with the idea that the very
existence of the fraternity depended upon shrouding with great
secrecy their every act and surroundings, consequently very few
details can be gathered concerning matters that would make history.

_Steuben Lodge, No. 18._--The first mention of a masonic lodge in
Orange County is found in the proceedings of grand lodge on the
fourth of June, 1788, where we find this minute: "A petition from
F. A. Morris and nine others praying for a warrant to hold a lodge at
Newburgh, under the name of Steuben. Granted."

The charter was issued to Ebenezer Foote, master; Francis Anderson
Morris, senior warden, and Peter Nestell, junior warden, and was
dated September 27, 1788. It was signed by Robert R. Livingston,
grand master; Richard Harrison, deputy grand master, and Jacob
Morton, grand secretary. Baron de Steuben was an honorary member of
the lodge. The minutes embrace the period between the thirteenth of
November, 1788, and the twenty-seventh of December, 1792. Doubtless
the charter was surrendered soon after 1800, as at the communication
of grand lodge of that year report was made of the irregularities
that prevailed in Steuben lodge. This lodge is among the number whose
charter cannot be revived by resolution of grand lodge.

The charter and minute book of Steuben Lodge, No. 18, are in the
keeping of Hudson River Lodge, No. 607, as custodian.

_St. John's Lodge, No. 21._--Subsequent to the disbandment of the
troops in the war of the Revolution the warrant of St. John's
regimental lodge--the first military lodge warranted by New York or
any provincial masonic power--was taken by some of its members to
Clark's Town, in the county of Orange, and here it remained until
interest was revived in masonry by some of its officers in 1784, who
came at that time under the jurisdiction of the grand lodge.

Lodge meetings were held under this warrant at Warwick as well as at
Clark's Town, when on the twenty-third of December, 1789, a petition
signed by John Smith, David Miller and Thomas Wing, was made to grand
lodge stating that they were the presiding officers of a lodge now
held at Warwick, working under an old warrant and known by the name
of St. John's Lodge, and formerly held at Clark's Town, and praying
that, as the warrant properly belonged to the brethren at Clark's
Town, "a new warrant be issued to them as officers of a lodge to be
held in the county of Orange, on the west side of the mountain, by
the name of St. John's Lodge." The petition was granted and the
warrant dated the twenty-sixth March, 1790. On December 4, 1793, the
proxy of St. John's Lodge stated to grand lodge the low condition of
the funds and offered as a compromise for the amount due the grand
lodge the sum of 10 pounds, which was accepted.

The lodge was represented by proxy in grand lodge as late as 1802,
but does not appear thereafter until June 4, 1819, when "the
numerical designation of St. John's Lodge, No. 19, held at Warwick,
was changed to No. 18." On June 12, 1822, "all lodges in arrears for
dues for three years and upwards were summoned to show cause why
their warrants should not be surrendered," and among the number was
St. John's, No. 18. The charter was declared forfeited on the eighth
of June, 1832, by grand lodge.

_Orange Lodge, No. 45._--At a meeting of grand lodge held on the
second of March, 1796, petitions for warrants were read and among the
number was one "for a lodge to be held in the town of Goshen, by the
name of Orange Lodge." The warrant was dated April 12, 1796.

The lodge was represented by proxy in the grand lodge at the
communication of January 2, 1799, but thereafter we find no mention
of it except in the "list of lodges whose charters cannot be revived
conformable to resolution of grand lodge adopted on the fourth of
June, 1819."

_James' Lodge, No. 65._ On the 6th of September, 1797, a petition was
presented to grand lodge "From Adam I. Doll and others, to hold a
lodge in the town of Middletown, county of Ulster, by the name of
James' Lodge, and the same was referred to the grand officers." At
that time Middletown was embraced in the county of Ulster. The
warrant was dated January 6th, 1798, No other information is
obtainable concerning this lodge, but it appears as one of the
lodges whose charters cannot be revived.

_Montgomery Lodge, No. 71._ The minutes of grand lodge of December
7th, 1796, read: "The petition of Brother John Schmidt and sundry
other brethren, for a warrant to erect and hold a lodge in the town
of Montgomery, county of Ulster, with some accompanying papers, were
then severally read, and referred to the presiding officers of the
grand lodge, with powers to order a warrant to be issued if they find
the applicants deserving." The warrant was not issued, however, until
the 6th of June, 1798, when the dispensation was returned to grand
lodge. The lodge was represented by proxy in grand lodge up to the
4th of March, 1812. The warrant was doubtless forfeited some years
later.

_Olive Branch Lodge, No. 102._ At the communication of grand lodge,
held on the 7th of December, 1803, we find this minute: "A similar
petition from sundry brethren residing in the town of Minisink,
Orange County, praying a warrant for a lodge to be held in said town,
to be known by the name of Olive Branch Lodge, was read and referred
to the grand officers." The lodge was located in the village of West
Town, and its meetings were held on the upper floor of the academy
building. On December 4th, 1811, "Olive Branch Lodge, No. 102, prayed
that the payment of their dues (to grand lodge) might be postponed
until the next year on account of several losses sustained by the
lodge the present year, which was granted." The lodge was reported as
being in arrears for dues for two years and upwards in 1822. The
charter was declared forfeited, June 8, 1832.

_Hiram Lodge, No. 131._ At the communication of grand lodge, held on
the 19th of February, 1806, "A petition from sundry brethren to
establish a lodge at Newburgh, by the name of Hiram Lodge, was read
and the prayer thereof granted." The first officers of the lodge
named in the charter were Jonathan Fisk, master; Charles Baker,
senior warden; John R. Drake, junior warden.

General Lafayette was the guest of Hiram Lodge on the occasion of his
visit to Newburgh on the 14th of September, 1824.

The charter was surrendered to grand lodge in 1835.

The anti-masonic furor having subsided, the brethren sought to reopen
the lodge, and to that end presented a petition to grand lodge that
the charter might be restored to them, which was granted in June,
1842, but the number of the lodge was changed to 92. The first
officers under the revived charter were Peter F. Hunn, master; Minard
Harris, senior warden; James Belknap, junior warden. The last record
of the lodge is dated June 16. 1845, and we infer that the charter
was soon thereafter surrendered to grand lodge. The charter of Hiram
Lodge is now in the keeping of Hudson River Lodge, No. 607, as
custodian.

_Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 180._ A petition was presented to grand
lodge to establish: "A lodge in the town of Wallkill, its meetings to
be holden at the house of Thomas Everson or others in the said town
of Wallkill." A charter was granted under date of December 9th, 1809.
Doubtless the lodge was held for some years in private dwellings as
on the 2nd of December, 1812, at the communication of grand lodge: "A
petition from Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 189, held at Wallkill, Orange
County, praying for a remission of dues in consideration of its
having built a commodious lodge room, for the expenses of which it
was still in arrears, was presented and read, and the prayer of the
petitioner refused." Doubtless the lodge at that time was held in the
upper room of the school building in the village of Mount Hope, as at
a later date masonic emblems, carved in wood, were to be seen in the
room then used for school purposes.

Returns were made to grand lodge as from Wallkill, and also, "Return
of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 189, held at Mount Hope, Wallkill, county
of Orange, and State of New York." The charter of this lodge was
declared forfeited on the 4th of June, 1835.

_Corner-Stone Lodge, No. 231._ At the communication of grand lodge,
held on the 2d of March, 1812, "A petition for a warrant to hold a
lodge in the town of Monroe, in the county of Orange, to be called
Cornerstone Lodge; recommended by Washington Lodge, No. 220, was read
and granted." The warrant was dated May 26, 1814. This lodge is
among the number in arrears for dues for two years and upwards on the
24th of June, 1822. The charter was declared forfeited on the 24th of
June, 1832.

_Jerusalem Temple Lodge, No. 247._ At the communication of grand
lodge, held on the 6th of September, 1815: "A petition from a number
of the brethren to hold a lodge in the town of Cornwall, in the
county of Orange, to be called Jerusalem Temple Lodge; recommended by
Hiram Lodge, No. 131, was read and granted."

The lodge was constituted at the house of Ebenezer Crissey, in the
village of Canterbury on the 5th of October of the same year; James
B. Reynolds, master of Hiram Lodge, No. 131, performed the ceremony.
The first officers named in the charter were Wyatt Carr, master;
Abraham Mead, senior warden; Southerland Moore, junior warden. The
charter was declared forfeited June 8th, 1832.

_Washington Lodge, No. 220._ This lodge was located at Blooming Grove.
The charter was dated June 10th, 1813. No record of its work is
extant, but it was one of those lodges that went down in the
anti-masonic period, and its charter was declared forfeited by grand
lodge on the 5th of June, 1834.

_Lawrence Lodge, No. 230._ On the 1st of December, 1812, the
proceedings of grand lodge read: "A petition for a warrant to hold a
lodge at Ward's Bridge, in the county of Orange, to be called
Lawrence Lodge, recommended by Hiram Lodge, No. 131," was read and
granted.

Ward's Bridge was afterwards known as Montgomery. The lodge was
doubtless named in honor of the gallant Captain James Lawrence, who,
being mortally wounded in the engagement with the _Shannon,_ uttered:
"Don't give up the ship!" which have become household words in this
country. The lodge was reported as inoperative on the 4th of June,
1819.

_Hoffman Lodge, No. 300._ At the communication of grand lodge on the
4th of March, 1818, the grand secretary stated that a warrant had
been issued "on the 3d of December, 1817, to John Kirby, Stacey
Beecher and Isaac Otis, to hold a lodge at Wallkill, in the county of
Orange, by the name of Hoffman Lodge, No. 300." The lodge held its
meetings in the house of Isaac Otis, at Mechanicstown, which at that
time was a more pretentious place than Middletown. The lodge was
named in honor of Martin Hoffman who was grand master of the (city)
grand lodge during 1823, 1824 and 1825. He presented the lodge with a
copy of the Holy Bible which is still in use by Hoffman Lodge, No.
412. The charter of this lodge was declared forfeited by grand lodge
on the 7th of June. 1833.

_Union Lodge, No. 309._ The minutes of grand lodge under date of July
9, 1828, read: "A dispensation granted by the Rt. Worshipful Richard
Hatfield, late D. G. M., to hold a lodge in the town of Montgomery,
county of Orange, by the name and style of Union Lodge, recommended
by Hiram Lodge, No. 131, at Newburgh, was presented, whereupon the
grand secretary was ordered to issue a warrant appointing William
Williamson, the first master, Daniel Cozens, the first senior warden
and Samuel Bookstaver, the first junior warden."

It is rather remarkable that in the midst of the anti-masonic
excitement a new masonic lodge should have been established in that
locality, but it did not long continue, as we note that the charter
was declared forfeited on the 4th of June, 1835.

_Mount William Lodge, No. 762._ A charter was granted by grand lodge
on the 4th of June, 1875. to hold a lodge at Port Jervis, to be known
as Mount William Lodge, No. 762. From the report of the district
deputy we find that the reason given for surrendering the charter was
that the numerous societies in that village was a hindrance to
increasing its membership. The warrant was surrendered to grand lodge
on the 20th of June, 1882.

The lodges above enumerated have all ceased to exist, and their
records, with few exceptions, have been lost. In some instances the
charters have been given to lodges that have since been organized in
the same locality and they are prized for the association connected
with them.

The thirteenth masonic district, as now formed, embraces the counties
of Orange and Rockland, and contains sixteen masonic lodges within
its jurisdiction. The county of Orange has ten masonic lodges within
its borders, and it is with these we now have to do.

_Newburgh Lodge, No. 309._--This lodge is located at Newburgh. The
charter is dated June 11th, 1853, and was issued to John Gray,
master; Andrew Lawson, senior warden, and Henry O. Heustis, junior
warden. The lodge held its communications in a building situated on
the southwest corner of Front and Third streets, known as Crawford's
Hall, from the 28th of July, 1853, at which date the hall was
dedicated to masonic purposes. Here it continued until the 24th of
June, 1863, when it was moved to the new building erected on the
northwest corner of Colden street and Western avenue--afterwards
known as Broadway. In this hall all the masonic bodies in Newburgh
met for the succeeding twenty-five years. These quarters becoming
inadequate for the membership, a lease of the two upper floors in the
new Academy of Music, situated on the northwest corner of Broadway
and Grand street, was secured. This hall was dedicated on the 11th of
September, 1888. The membership of Newburgh Lodge on the 1st of June,
1907, was 370 master masons. The officers were Charles B. Gilchrist,
master; Thomas George Courtney, senior warden; Peter Cantline, junior
warden; James D. McGiffert, secretary.

_Port Jervis Lodge, No. 328._--This lodge is located at Port Jervis.
The charter is dated June 30th, 1854, and was issued to Alfred
Barkley, master; John M. Heller, senior warden; and O. H. Mott,
junior warden. William H. Stewart was the first secretary.

The membership of Port Jervis Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was 252
master masons. The officers were Jacob Miller, master; Fred
Terwilliger, senior warden; L. C. Senger, Jr., junior warden; Emmet
A. Browne, secretary.

_Goshen Lodge, No. 365._--This lodge is located at Goshen. The
charter is dated June 26th, 1855, and was issued to Alvin Pease,
master; Charles Monell, senior warden; and Elias Peck, junior warden.
Benjamin C. Jackson was the first secretary. The membership of Goshen
Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was 107 master masons. The officers
were John F. Halstead, master; William N. Hoffman, senior warden;
Charles H. Thompson, junior warden; George Mullenix, secretary.

_Hoffman Lodge, No. 412._--This lodge is located at Middletown. The
charter is dated June 16th, 1857, and was issued to Alexander Wilson,
master; Silas R. Martine, senior warden, and Daniel C. Dusenberry,
junior warden. E. B. Graham was the first secretary. The membership
of Hoffman Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was 487 master masons. The
officers were Nathan D. Mills, master; John H. Galloway, senior
warden; Burton L. LaMonte, junior warden; Isaac B. A. Taylor,
secretary.

_Warwick Lodge, No. 514._--This lodge is located at Warwick. The
charter is dated July 19, 1864, and was issued to E. M. Smith,
master; Benjamin Corwin, senior warden; Charles W. Douglass, junior
warden. John N. Wood was the first secretary. The membership of
Warwick Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was ninety-eight master
masons. The officers were Calvin C. Crawford, master: Frank Holbert,
senior warden; John Mullinbrink, junior warden; Harry Vail,
secretary.

_Hudson River Lodge, No. 607._--This lodge is located at Newburgh.
The charter is dated July 12th, 1866, and was issued to David A.
Scott, master; G. Frederick Wiltsie, senior warden; Samuel Stanton,
junior warden. John Alsdorf was the first secretary. The membership
of Hudson River Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907 was 415 master masons.
The officers were Milton D. Seymour, master; Walter S. Carvey, senior
warden; Cyrus J. Johnston, junior warden; Charles H. Halstead,
secretary.

_Wallkill Lodge, No. 627._--This lodge is located at Walden. The
charter is dated June 24, 1867, and was issued to Hugh B. Bull,
master; Constant W. Wadsworth, senior warden; and Robert Young,
junior warden. W. J. Welsh was the first secretary. The lodge was
instituted at Montgomery, but by permission of grand lodge, under
date of June 7th, 1878, was moved to Walden. The membership of
Wallkill Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was 159 master masons. The
officers were George L. Sharp, master; Benjamin S. French, senior
warden; Edgar C. Mullen, junior warden; Charles K. Holden, secretary.

_Standard Lodge, No. 711._--This lodge is located at Monroe. The
charter is dated July 27, 1871, and was issued to John F. Mackie,
master; Nicholas Demerest, senior warden, and Thomas H. Bryan, junior
warden. Ezra T. Jackson was the first secretary. The lodge was
instituted at Chester, but held its meetings at East Chester. As many
of the members resided in the vicinity of Monroe a petition was made
to grand lodge that the lodge might be moved to that village, which
was done by dispensation the 8th of February, 1884. The membership of
Standard Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was 200 master masons. The
officers were Edward D. Woodhull, master; Charles N. Walton, senior
warden; Bernard W. Tench, junior warden; Stacy Gaunt, secretary.

_Jerusalem Temple Lodge, No. 721._--This lodge is located at
Cornwall-on-Hudson. The charter is dated June 14th, 1872, and was
issued to Charles McClean, master; Gustavus H. Black, senior warden;
and Henry Rodermond, junior warden. Charles C. Van Duzer was the
first secretary. The lodge was instituted in the village of
Canterbury, where meetings were held until September, 1883, when it
was moved to Cornwall-on-Hudson. The membership of Jerusalem Temple
Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was seventy master masons. The
officers were Harvey A. Call, master; Arthur H. Walker, senior
warden; Walter S. Babcock, junior warden; John M. Noe, secretary.

_Lorillard Lodge, No. 858._--This lodge is located at Tuxedo. The
charter was granted by grand lodge on the 9th of May, 1907. The lodge
was instituted on the 4th of June, 1907. The membership of Lorillard
Lodge on the 1st of June, 1907, was fifty master masons. The officers
were Charles W. Cooley, master; Edwin C. Rushmore, senior warden;
Newton D. Phillips, junior warden; John J. Strudwik, secretary.

The early history of the grand chapter of Royal Arch Masons in the
State of New York is so obscure that but little information
concerning its subordinates is obtainable.

It is a well established fact, however, that the Royal Arch degree
was conferred in the State of New York under lodge charters prior to
the formation of the grand chapter of New York in 1798. On the 14th
of March, 1798, five chapters organized and established a deputy
grand chapter subordinate to the grand chapter of the Northern
States for the State of New York.

Companion DeWitt Clinton was elected deputy grand high priest. The
prefix "deputy" was dropped in 1799, and thereafter they were
designated "grand chapters." At one period mark lodges were a
distinct organization yet subject to, and received authority from,
the grand chapter. The degree of mark master is now conferred in a
chapter of Royal Arch Masons, and the charters of mark lodges in this
State have been surrendered to the grand chapter. But two mark lodges
are known to have been organized in the county of Orange.

_Orange Mark Lodge, No. 57._--This lodge was located at Goshen. A
charter was granted on the 8th of February, 1809, to William Elliott,
William A. Thompson and Edward Ely.

_Hiram Mark Lodge, No. 7._--This lodge was located at Newburgh. A
charter was granted on the 3d of February, 1813, to Sylvanus Jessup,
James Williams, and George Gordon.

_Orange Chapter, No. 33._--This chapter of Royal Arch Masons was
located at Minisink. A charter was granted on the 6th of February,
1812, to Uriah Hulse, James D. Wadsworth and Malcomb Campbell.

_Jerusalem Temple Chapter, No. 52._--At the annual convocation of
grand chapter, held on the 6th of February, 1817, a charter was
granted: "To Comps. James Reynolds, William Ross and William P. Lott,
to hold a chapter at Newburgh, county of Orange, by the name of
Jerusalem Temple Chapter, No. 52." The last written record of a
convocation is dated May 1st, 1828. The seal, record book and ledger
of Jerusalem Temple Chapter are now in possession of Highland
Chapter, No. 52, Newburgh, N. Y.

The charters of these organizations have either been surrendered or
forfeited, as they are no longer in existence.

There are but three chapters of Royal Arch Masons at present located
in Orange County.

_Highland Chapter, No. 52._--This chapter is located at Newburgh. At
the annual convocation of grand chapter held on the 3d of February,
1864, "A warrant was granted to Comp. John P. Stanbrough, high
priest; Comp. Joseph H. H. Chapman, king; Comp. George C. Pennell,
scribe, and others, to hold a chapter at Newburgh, to be known as
Highland Chapter, No. 52." In the application for a warrant the
request was made that the old number affixed to Jerusalem Temple
Chapter, "52," be assigned to the new chapter, and the request was
granted. The membership of Highland Chapter on the 1st of June, 1907,
was 340 Royal Arch Masons. The officers were James D. McGiffert, high
priest; William  D. Traphagen, king; John T. Swann, scribe: Charles
H. Halstead, secretary.

_Neversink Chapter. No. 186._--This chapter is located at Port
Jervis. The officers named in the charter, dated February 8th, 1865,
were Philip Lee, high priest; Charles W. Douglas, king; Lewis L.
Adams, scribe. The chapter was instituted on the 16th of March, 1865.
The membership of Neversink Chapter on the 1st of June, 1907, was
sixty-six Royal Arch Masons. The officers were S. G. McDonald, high
priest; Jacob Miller, king; John Stoll, Jr., scribe; Herbert Senger,
secretary.

_Midland Chapter, No. 240._--This chapter is located at Middletown.
The charter is dated February 3d, 1870, and was issued to Alexander
Wilson, high priest; Elisha P. Wheeler, king; Moses D. Stivers,
scribe. The first secretary was George H. Decker. The membership of
Midland Chapter on the 1st of June, 1907, was 170 Royal Arch Masons.
The officers were Charles V. Pedmore, high priest; William L.
Mitchell, king; Frank H. Finn, scribe; John A. Wallace, secretary.

The commencement of the Templar Order in New York is involved in
great obscurity; yet there were several bodies, having no authority
whatever, which were organized at an early date. The grand encampment
(commandery) of New York was formed on the 22d of January, 1814, by
the sovereign grand consistory, which decreed the establishment of
the grand encampment of Sir Knights Templars and appendant orders for
the State of New York, and immediately proceeded to elect officers
who were all members of said consistory. In 1816 a warrant was
granted to Columbia Commandery in New York City; and a warrant on the
same day was issued to a new commandery in New Orleans.

The numerous encampments of Knights Templar existing in the State at
that time were self-created bodies, governed by their own private
laws, acknowledging no superior authority, because, in fact, none
heretofore existed.

The grand encampment of New York by its representatives assisted in
forming the general grand encampment of the United States of America
on the 11th of December, 1820.

There are but three commanderies of Knights Templar in the county of
Orange.

_Hudson River Commandery, No. 35._--This commandery is located at
Newburgh. The charter is dated September 27, 1865, and was issued to
Hugh McCutcheon, eminent commander; Lendon S. Straw, generalissimo;
Isaac C. Chapman, captain general. The membership on the 1st of June,
1907, was 295 sir knights. The officers were Samuel F. Brown,
eminent commander; Harry L. Barnum, generalissimo; Charles J. Stones,
captain general; Sylvester W. Holdredge, recorder.

_Delaware Commandery. No 44._--This commandery is located at Port
Jervis. The charter is dated October 6th, 1869, and was issued to
Charles B. Gray, eminent commander; Joseph W. Weed, generalissimo;
Abraham Kirkman, captain general. Charles T. Branch was the first
recorder. The membership on the 1st of June, 1907, was eighty-one
sir knights. The officers were Theodore Mackrell, eminent commander;
John Stoll, Jr., generalissimo; Harry J. Pippitt, captain general;
Lewis C. Seager, recorder.

_Cyprus Commandery, No. 67._--This commandery is located at
Middletown. The charter is dated October 5th, 1904, and was issued to
Charles Reeve Smith, eminent commander; Ira Lee Case, generalissimo;
Frank Olin Tompkins, captain general. Isaac B. A. Taylor was the
first recorder. The membership on the 1st of June, 1907, was 114 sir
knights. The officers were Charles Chester Bogart, eminent commander;
Charles Wesley Rodgers, generalissimo; Ames Everett Mclntyre,
captain general; Isaac B. A. Taylor, recorder.

Cryptic Masonry has been recognized as a part of the American system
of freemasonry in the State of New York since 1807, when a grand
council of Royal and Select Masters was duly organized.

This branch of freemasonry has never been popular with the craft in
this State, as the degrees, of which there are three, conferred in a
council, have not been made prerequisite to admission to a
commandery of Knights Templar, although several attempts have been
made to that end.

_King Solomon Council, No. 31._--This council is at this date located
at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. On the 10th of December, 1867, a council of
Royal and Select Masters was opened under dispensation at
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., which was known as "Union Council." The first
officers were E. H. Parker, T. I. M.; G. Fred Wiltsie, R. I. M.;
A. B. Smith, P. C. W. At the annual assembly of the grand council,
held on the 4th of February, 1868, a warrant was issued, and the
name changed to King Solomon Council, No. 31, and the jurisdiction
extended to include the city of Newburgh, N. Y. King Solomon Council
held stated assemblies at Newburgh from the 18th of March, 1869, to
the 8th of December, 1879, when it was deemed for the interest of the
organization that it be removed to Poughkeepsie, where it holds
assemblies at the call of the thrice illustrious master.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was introduced in the State of
New York in 1813, by the formation, in the city of New York, of a
supreme council for the northern jurisdiction. For some time previous
a lodge of perfection of this rite existed at Albany, N. Y.

_Adouai Lodge of Perfection,_ located at Newburgh, N. Y., was granted
a charter in September, 1873. The lodge conferred the degrees from
the fourth to the fourteenth inclusive. In 1880 the lodge ceased to
meet, but the charter was not surrendered, being held in abeyance
subject to the action of the members in this locality.

What is known as the American Adoptive Rite, called the "Order of the
Eastern Star," was created by Robert Morris, a distinguished
Freemason. It sought to provide an organization that would be of
benefit to the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of master masons
by introducing signs, grips and pass-word that would be recognized by
the craft generally. For a time it was a popular institution, then
came a season of depression, until finally the degrees were rewritten
and the ritual made less complex. While this order has not been
recognized in this State as a masonic body by the grand lodge, still
it does receive recognition and support from a large number of the
craft who feel that it is a valuable adjunct to freemasonry.

The grand chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star was organized
thirty-eight years ago. There are at this date over 350 subordinate
chapters in the State, embracing a membership of over 26,000. There
are five chapters in Orange County.

Orange Chapter. No. 33, is located at Port Jervis; Queen Esther
Chapter, No. 163, is located at Middletown; Hawthorne Chapter, No.
163, is located at Monroe; A. J. Moor Chapter, No. 398, is located at
Goshen. At this date (June, 1907), these chapters are in a
flourishing condition.

[Illustration: Guy Miller.]




CHAPTER XXXIX.

HORSE BREEDING IN ORANGE COUNTY.

By Guy Miller.



The lay of the land in Orange County, hills and valleys, with the
farms divided in such a manner that each one has a proportion of high
uplands, as well as low meadows, enables the breeder to tide over wet
as well as dry seasons.

If the season is wet for the low meadows, the uplands make luxuriant
growth, and in a season of drought the lowland pastures and meadows
can be depended upon for a good supply. The writer has farmed
forty-two years at his home farm and there has never been a season
when grass has really failed for animals at pasture or for hay
making.

In seeding land in Orange County, timothy, red-top and the clovers
have been the principal seeds used in the past. In time these run
out, giving way to grasses that appear natural to this section, viz.,
June grass, white clover and Seneca grass. These varieties start
growing early and continue late, thus making the pasturing season a
long one. Cut for hay, the quantity of the latter is not equal to
that first mentioned, yet the quality is considered far superior.

Orange County being well watered in addition to its abundant supply
of the best natural grasses, makes it an ideal horse-breeding
section.

Imported Messenger appears to have been the fountain-head of the
highest type of the American light harness horse.

Imp. Messenger was in service at Goshen in 1801. Jonas Seely, Sr., of
Oxford, had a large strong mare of great endurance known as Black
Jin, and this mare bred to Imp. Messenger produced Silver Tail.

In 1814, the son of Imp. Messenger, known as Hambletonian, made the
season in Goshen, yet on certain days of each week was taken to
Florida for service. Silver Tail was bred to Hambletonian and
produced One Eye, the latter a grand animal and fast trotter for her
day.

When Imp. Belfounder was in service at Washingtonville, the season of
1832, Josiah Jackson, of Oxford, owned One Eye, and bred her to that
horse, producing a mare that was a high-class trotter, and is known
as the Charles Kent mare.

The Charles Kent mare had passed through the hands of several owners
to Jonas Seely, of Sugar Loaf. On June 5, 1848, he bred her to
Abdallah and on May 5, 1849, a bay colt with a small star and white
hind ankles, was born.

In the fall of that year the Charles Kent mare and her foal were
purchased by Wm. M. Rysdyk, a farmer of Chester.

Mr. Rysdyk was born on a farm between Florida and Goshen. He
frequently saw the son of Imp. Messenger (known later as Bishop's
Hambletonian), pass his home on trips between the above villages,
and, although very young, was so impressed by the rare qualities of
the horse, that he chose his name for his own colt, now known as the
"great progenitor of trotters," Rysdyk's Hambletonian.

It will be observed that this colt was by Abdallah, a grandson of
Imp. Messenger. His grandam was by Bishop's Hambletonian, a son of
Imp. Messenger and his great grandam a daughter of Imp. Messenger.
The blood of this imported horse had given great results in the
localities where he had been in service, and the same was true
relative to his descendants, particularly so in the case of his son,
Bishop's Hambletonian and his grandson, Abdallah.

Imp. Belfounder's individuality, his beautiful trotting action and
strong-inclination to stick to that gait, commanded the admiration of
horse lovers. His daughter, the Chas. Kent mare, produced
Hambletonian, a daughter of his son, King's Belfounder, produced the
race winning trotter Sir Walter, record 2.27, also by Abdallah.
Another daughter produced to Cassius M. Clay, Jr., Harry Clay,
record 2.29. the greatest of the Clay family as a brood mare sire.

Rysdyk's Hambletonian carried three crosses of Imp. Messenger blood,
concentrated in the first four generations. It was this unparalleled
wealth of Messenger blood, his rare temperament and individuality,
and the fact that Mr. Rysdyk had driven him, the third time harnessed
to a sulky, a mile in 2.48, on the Union Course, Long Island, the
fall he was three years old, that gave his owner unbounded confidence
in the colt's future. This, the breeding public must have shared, as
at four years of age he served one hundred and one mares, producing
seventy-eight colts at $25.00 each, thus earning for his owner
$1,950.

In the late fall of that year two Virginia gentlemen, looking for a
stock horse, visited Mr. Rysdyk's place, and after examining
Hambletonian, stood ready to buy him at $10,000, yet Mr. Rysdyk would
not sell.

How well this confidence in the horse's value was borne out in after
years, for as soon as Hambletonian's colts had become two and three
years old and were placed on exhibition at the fairs, their high
quality, fine general characteristics, superb trotting action and
being almost uniform in rich bay colors, won them nearly all the
prizes.

                  At the Orange County Fair, Fall of 1853.

                         _In Show Class._

 First prize was awarded to Hambletonian by Abdallah.
 Second prize--Rattler.

            At the Orange County Fair, September 21st, 22nd, 1858.

                       _In Show Class for Aged Stallions._

 First prize was awarded to Edsall's Hambletonian (Alexander's
   Abdallah) by Hambletonian                 J. S. Edsall
 Second prize--Washington                    J. D. Veruol
 Third prize--Harry Clay by Cassius M. Clay  J. D. Sayer

                    _In the Speed Classes for 4 Yr. Old Mares._

 First prize--Lady Howard by Hambletonian. J. W. Hoyt    Time, 3.02
 Second prize--Alida by Hambletonian.      M. F. Ten Eyck  "   3.03

                        _Best 5 Yr. Olds._

 First prize--Lady Banker by Hambletonian.  R. Galloway   Time, 2.31
 Second prize--Frank Dickerson by Hambletonian. Geo. Payne " 2.53-1/2
 Third prize--Jenny Hawkins by American Star. J. J. McNally "   2.54

                      _Best 3 Yr. Old Stallion._

 First prize--Guy Miller by Hambletonian. R. F. Galloway  Time,  3.00
 Second prize--Young Abdallah.            Geo Payne         "    3.24
 Third prize--Index.                      Seely C. Roe      "    3.26

                      _Best 4 Yr. Old Stallion._

 First prize--Hambletonian 2nd (Volunteer) by Hambletonian
                                            Joseph Hetzel Time, 2.57
 Second prize--Abdallah by Hambletonian.    Wm. M. Rysdyk  " 3.04-1/2
 Third prize--Tom Thumb (Wild Warrior).     Robt. Carr     " 3.10

                       _Best 5 Yr. Old Stallion._

 First prize--Harry Clay by Cassius M. Clay. J. P. Sayer   Time. 2.56
 Second prize--C. M. Clay                    C. J. Brown     "   3.14

                        _Stallions Free for All._

 First prize--American Star.                  Edmund Seely Time, 2.50
 Second prize--Harry Clay by Cassius M. Clay. J. P. Sayer     "  2.53
 Third prize--Edsall's Hambletonian (Alexander's Abdallah) by
              Hambletonian.                   J. S. Edsall    "  2.54

                         _Mares Free for All._

 First prize--Mary Hoyt by American Star    J. W. Hoyt Time, 2.36-1/2
 Second prize--Goshen Maid by American Star Edmund Seely  "  2.44-1/2
 Third prize--Lyd by Bolivar.               Amos Ryerson  "  2.52

The above summaries show that in every speed class for colts, the
get of Hambletonian were the winners and one of the very first of
that horse's get, Edsall's Hambletonian (Alexander's Abdallah) in
stallion class for show, was awarded first prize.

It is of interest to note that in the class for mares of all ages,
Mary Hoyt's record of 2.36-1/2 was the first record performance
better than 2.40 on the Goshen track and she was in the hands of the
best horseman of his time, J. W. Hoyt. This performance shows the
real value of the colt records, they having no track education and
no modern appliances such as boots, etc.

Mr. Joseph Hetzel, a farmer near Florida, related to the writer years
later, that he had no idea of competing in the speed class with his
colt Hambletonian 2nd (Volunteer), and so informed inquirers at
Goshen, yet when it was confided to him that it had been said "he
dare not," "his Dutch was aroused," he borrowed a skeleton wagon and
harness and at his request the judges permitted him to start behind
the other entries. Mr. Hetzel made no attempt for the lead until
passing the stand the second time when he gave his colt his head,
soon obtaining a commanding lead and finishing more than seven
seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Such an ovation as this
church deacon and his colt received from an enthusiastic and admiring
assemblage is seldom witnessed.

Mr. Hetzel sold his colt soon after to Sheriff Underhill, of
Brooklyn, for $2,500. The writer sold his colt, the afternoon of his
winning performance at a handsome price. Lady Howard passed to
Governor Amsa Sprague, of Rhode Island. In fact, everyone of these
colts by Hambletonian was soon sold at good prices, yet none were
from trotting-bred mares and but one (Alexander's Abdallah) from a
fast trotting mare.

[Illustration: Hambletonian 10.]

It is particularly interesting to note the summary of the trotting
stallions, as American Star and Harry Clay produced the dams of the
record breakers of later years.

As illustrative of Hambletonian's great worth (earning capacity), the
writer will mention an over-night visit at Mr. Rysdyk's home as early
as 1865, the latter part of June. The next morning Mr. Rysdyk drove
home behind Lady McClellan to a farm that he had recently purchased
for the overflow of stock from his home farm. The new purchase was
made from an up-to-date painstaking man, and good buildings and
fencings, also fertile fields were in evidence; brood mares and foals
and young stock were distributed about in the pastures. Mr. Rysdyk's
son, William, had already commenced the hay making of the season's
crop. Starting on the drive homeward Mr. Rysdyk inquired, "How do you
like the Seely farm, my new purchase?" The writer could only reply in
laudatory terms. "Well," said Mr. Rysdyk, "That farm cost me nearly
twenty-two thousand dollars and Hambletonian earned the purchase
price in three months." The record on file in the county clerk's
office in Goshen, gives the seller as Charles B. Seely to Wm. M.
Rysdyk. The deed calls for 218 98/100 acres, consideration $21,048,
dated April 1, 1865. No world's records had been won by the get of
Hambletonian at this time.

George Wilkes, under the name of Robert Eillingham, started in his
first race on Long Island, August 1, 1861. He made a record of 2.22
at Providence in a race that he won October 18, 1868, making him the
champion trotting stallion of the world. Jay Gould reduced this
world's champion stallion record at Buffalo August 7, 1872, to
2.21-1/2. Dexter began trotting May 4, 1864 and at Buffalo, N. Y.,
on August 14, 1867, became the world's champion by trotting to a
record of 2.17-1/4. George Wilkes, Jay Gould and Dexter were sons of
Hambletonian, the last two from daughters of American Star.

Added to the marvelous performances of Hambletonian's immediate
progeny, those of his sons began to come forward. The daughter of
Edsall's Hambletonian (Alexander's Abdallah) Goldsmith Maid, began
trotting September 7, 1865, at Goshen, N. Y., and at Mystic Park,
Boston, September 2, 1874, reduced the world's record to 2.14.

St. Julian by Volunteer made a world's record of 2.11-1/4 at
Hartford, Conn.

These performers attracted great attention and made a demand for the
products of the breeding farms at remunerative prices, stock being
purchased and taken to almost every section of the United States.

Therow Felter was keeping a summer resort at Greenwood Lake and bred
a brown mare to Hambletonian April 22, 1855, the product being George
Wilkes, who after his career on the turf, was placed in the stud in
Kentucky.

Charles Backman established a breeding farm at Stony Ford about 1865.
At this time the blood of American Star and Cassius M. Clay, Jr.,
particularly that of his son, Harry Clay, was very popular and Mr.
Backman stocked his farm with many mares by these great sires. He
sold to the Hon. Chas. Stanford, of California, Electioneer, a son of
Hambletonian, whose dam was Green Mountain Maid, by Harry Clay; also
a small band of brood mares. George Wilkes and Electioneer became
great sires and in considering the relative merits of the two
families, it is a debatable question which should be placed first.
Mr. Backman's farm, Stony Ford, in the matter of brood acres and
splendid equipment was unrivaled. The farm turned out race winning
and record-breaking youngsters, splendid roadsters, horses celebrated
as sires, also brood mares of a high order. Many of the first men of
the country, including General U. S. Grant, enjoyed Mr. Backman's
hospitality. Stony Ford Stock Farm passed to the ownership of Mr. J.
Howard Ford, who, with Austral (winner of the blue ribbon in Madison
Square Garden), a progenitor of beauty and extreme speed at the head
of a band of choice brood mares, is breeding colts of rare quality.

Samuel Hill, in this locality, followed by his son, Ed. Hill, bred
horses in fashionable lines of blood. Jonas Hawkins began breeding
to Hambletonian when he bred the McKinstry mare May 16, 1853,
producing Shark, record 2.30-1/2, to saddle 2.27-3/4, a winner at
one, two and three miles on Long Island tracks. The McKinstry mare
produced by American Star, Clara, and on May 8, 1857, Mr. Hawkins
bred Clara to Hambletonian, producing the renowned Dexter, record
2.17-1/4. The breeding was continued by Mr. Hawkins's son, Jonathan,
who bred Dictator, a wonderful sire and several sisters, also
Kearsarge by Volunteer. This family is truly great judged by the
recognized test of greatness, extreme speed and race winning
qualities.

Alden Goldsmith's Walnut Grove Farm near Washingtonville, became
famous as the home of Volunteer, a horse that attained great
prominence in the stud. Mr. Goldsmith, with his sons, James and John,
showed rare judgment and skill in the selection and development of
great turf performers and as professional drivers the sons were at
the very top. During the many years that Alden Goldsmith campaigned a
stable of trotters on the Grand Circuit, his horses were the grandest
in existence and his success was brilliant. In this vicinity were the
Brooks, the Moffatts, the Hulses, the Hallocks, the Thompsons, who
bred fine horses and profited thereby.

The Mills family of Bullville had been patrons of American Star and
when the superiority of the Hambletonian American Star cross was made
evident by the performances of Dexter, they were enabled to breed in
this fashionable line. Harrison Mills, from Hambletonian and his
American Star mare, Emma Mills, produced Independent and Sweepstakes.
The former a fine animal that sired speed. The latter a beautifully
shaded bay, individually most perfect in action, really a grand
horse. Sweepstakes, considering his opportunities was an excellent
sire. James M. Mills bred Chosroes, Imperial and Fisk's Hambletonian,
all by Hambletonian, the latter from Lady Irwin by American Star.
Fisk's Hambletonian became quite noted as a sire in Michigan.

At Middletown, John E. Wood bred many fine horses, the most prominent
being Knickerbocker, son of Hambletonian, and Lady Patchen by George
M. Patchen. J. D. Willis, with Harry Clay, 2.29, at the height of his
stud career, other fine stallions, and a band of choice brood mares,
bred, developed and trained youngsters evidently with pleasure and
satisfaction.

At Florida, Jefferson Post bred Middletown by Hambletonian from a
mare whose sire, Vivian Grey, was a grandson of the great American
Eclipse. Nearby, Joseph Hetzel bred the great Volunteer and his two
full brothers. Nathaniel Roe, also of Florida, bred Florida, son of
Hambletonian and a daughter of Volunteer, a most excellent sire. Mr.
Roe purchased in Kentucky colts, at least three, by famous sons of
George Wilkes, and kept them for service at his farm. William Roe, a
son, inherited his father's estate and is following the paternal
footsteps in horse-breeding.

About Warwick were the Wellings, the Sanfords, the Wisners, and just
over the county line in New Jersey were the De Kays and Givens. All
breeders of fine horses. At Bellvale was W. H. Wisner, breeder of
Woeful.

The Sayer families at Westtown, bred fine horses, Decater Sayer's
farm being the center of attraction when that grand individual and
phenomenally gaited horse Harry Clay was broken to harness at four
years of age and was owned and kept for public service till sold, to
Harry Dater and removed to Long Island, May 8, 1862.

At Monroe works, Mr. Peter Townsend, who with his brothers owned the
vast Sterling tract with its two blast furnaces (where the great
chain that spanned the Hudson River, during the war of the
Revolution, was made at his grandfather's Sterling Iron Works), had
near his house a farm, "The Old Fields," which was mainly used to
breed horses for the pleasure and use of his family. He first had a
daughter of American Eclipse, a daughter of Young Engineer (sire of
the dam of Gideon). From the latter he bred a pair by Abdallah, also
a pair by Hambletonian. Mr. Townsend purchased of Lieutenant General
Manry (while Professor of Tactics at West Point), Saline, a
thoroughbred mare brought from the latter's home in Virginia, that,
bred to Hambletonian, produced Jas. H. Coleman, quite a trotter for
his day; and Lord Sterling, that had the thoroughbred finish yet
beautiful trotting action; also Young Selene by Guy Miller, that by
Iron Duke produced Monroe, 2.27-1/2. A sister, Miss Monroe, was the
dam of Fergus McGregor. Young Selene produced by Volunteer, St.
Patrick, 2.14-1/2.

In the early morning shadows of Schunnemunk Mountains is "Glen Lea,"
the charming home of Mr. William Crawford. Here may be found Alto
McKinney, by that great sire of race horses of extreme speed,
McKinney, 2.11-1/4, dam Cresida, 2.18-1/4 at three years, by Palo
Alto, 2.08-1/4, champion trotting stallion of 1901.

At Turner, Thos. Lewis bred Dandy, a daughter of Young Engineer, to
Hambletonian, producing Gideon, that sired the dam of the great
performer Nelson, also from Dandy and Iron Duke, Silver Duke,
2.28-1/4.

The late Mr. Pierre Lorillard (the only American who has attained the
distinction of winning the classic event of the world, the English
Derby, with a horse of his own breeding), was a patron of
Hambletonian--the youngsters being raised on one of his Tuxedo farms.
R. F. Galloway near Turner was a breeder to Abdallah and
Hambletonian. Guy Wilkes cost him $500 at three years, at seven years
he dealt this horse to E. W. Teakle, receiving the famous Princess,
2.30 and $3,500. Princess had been bred to Hambletonian and the next
spring (1863), gave birth to Happy Medium, 2.32-1/2, that in February
of 1871, was sold to Robert Steel of Philadelphia, Pa., for $25,000.

Near Newburgh, Mr. Jas. Hasbrouck bred horses, and on his half-mile
track, Judge Fullerton, Mountain Boy, Music and others received their
harness education and acquired great speed. Mr. Aymar Van Buren,
always a horse lover, procured from Wm. M. Rysdyk, Molly, daughter of
Long Island Black Hawk and Betsy by Imp. Belfounder, from
Hambletonian and Molly, Mr. Van Buren bred Effie Deans, 2.25-1/2 and
Lottie, 2.28, placing Molly in the great brood mare list. This was
in the seventies and Mr. Van Buren is still breeding and finding
pleasure with his horses. Mr. J. A. P. Ramsdell is breeding The Arab,
that retains the beautiful type, great courage and endurance of his
desert ancestry.

At Goshen in the early days of trotting horses were J. S. Edsall,
owner of the famous Alexander's Abdallah, also breeder of Fleetwing
(dam of Stamboul. 2.07-1/2). John Minchen, later owned a stock farm
at Stony Ford with Young Woeful and Tom Mare for stud service. This
John Minchen farm was later purchased by General Benjamin F. Tracy
and called Marshland stud. It was stocked with trotters impotent
blood: Advertiser, 2.15, sire of the world's fastest yearling
trotter, Adbell, 2.23 and others; Lord of the Manor, by Mambrino King
"handsomest horse in the world," and Kiosk, a son of Kremlin,
champion trotting stallion of 1892. The brood mares were choice and
it was a great loss to Orange County when General Tracy discontinued
breeding at this farm.

Mr. Geo. S. Wisner bred Samson and other most excellent horses at his
farm. Edmund Seely owned American Star, a horse that by his unique,
open, stride, great courage, quality of endurance that served him
through great hardship to the end of his days, without blemish, made
the breeding on qualities of his progeny a wonderful contribution to
our American trotters.

Parkway Farm, made one of the real beauty spots of Goshen by the late
owner, Senator McCarty, takes the highest rank as a breeding
establishment, with the great Joe Patchen (the iron horse), sire of
the wonderful horse, Dan Patch and other performers. The form of Joe
Patchen is such that his services are sought from every section in
this country.

When Mr. E. H. Harriman paid $41,000 for Stamboul to place at the
head of his Arden Farms Breeding establishment at Goshen, he became
the owner of a champion, whether on the turf or in the show ring.
When Elsie S. by Stamboul (bred by Mr. Harriman) defeated Mr. Marcus
Daly's Limerick in the $5,000 match race at Goshen, 1898, the joy of
Orange County breeders was complete.

Mr. Harriman's patronage has had a wonderful influence in uplifting
and popularizing the sport of competition of the light harness horse
in Orange County.




CHAPTER XL

DAIRYING



For some seventy-five years past the most important crops produced on
the Orange County farm has been, and is to-day, milk. This alone
exceeds the combined value of all else the farmer produces. All other
crops are gathered once a year only, but a new crop of milk is in
evidence every day, Sundays and holidays included. Under existing
conditions the producer has no difficulty in disposing of all he can
make at a market so close at hand that it can be delivered within an
hour from the time it is drawn from the cow. Thus it is a continual
source of ready and regular revenue.

Prior to 1842 the total, and for many years later a large majority,
of the output was turned into butter right at the farmer's home. As a
rule the farmer's wife personally attended to churning, working and
packing the butter into the tub, all ready to be sent to market.

Orange County butter was a trademark that achieved a wide reputation
as denoting an article of superior quality, and the yellow bills
issued by the Bank of Orange County were known far and wide as
"butter money."

But the Orange County farmer no longer makes such disposition of his
milk. To both himself and his wife, butter-making is a lost art.
Besides he is no longer a farmer but a "dairyman"' or "milk
producer," for his principal business is to supply the market with
milk, What farming he does is merely a side issue.

The beginning of these changed conditions dates back to 1842, when
the Erie railroad, then hardly out of its swaddling clothes, carried
to New York the first consignment of milk that ever reached that city
by way of a transportation line.

In 1842 the city of New York contained, approximately, a population
of 315,000 and used about 30,000 gallons (3,000 cans, forty quarts
each), of milk daily. A large proportion of this was produced within
the city limits, very much (probably a large majority) of which was
the output of cows kept in stables connected with and fed on the
refuse of distilleries and breweries. Very aptly this was termed
"swill milk," for it was all that the name implies. The balance was
brought in by wagons from the surrounding farms.

Early in the summer of 1842 Philo Gregory, a milk producer at
Chester, N. Y., was induced to try the experiment of shipping milk to
the New York market. At this time the road was in operation as far
west as Goshen, with its eastern rail terminus at Piermont, on the
Hudson River, twenty-four miles from New York and forty-one miles
from Chester. At this point all passengers and freight were
transferred and reached the city by boat. There were many doubting
Thomases who contended that it was impossible to carry milk this
distance and deliver it in good condition. But the experiment was a
success from the start, so much so that there was a continual call
for more dairies and a gradual increase in the number of shippers.
Orange County milk soon gained as favorable a reputation in the New
York market as Orange County butter had previously achieved. More or
less sour milk was in evidence from time to time, enough at least to
give excuse for the aforementioned doubters to exclaim: "I told you
so." Comparatively little trouble arose from this source, however,
as nearly all shipments were in merchantable condition when received.
If otherwise this was not due to the distance hauled, but the lack of
proper care.

In the first few shipments wooden churns were used, these being the
most convenient vessels at hand. But tin cans soon came into use.
These were of five sizes, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty and sixty
quarts each. Although milk was shipped twice a day, morning and
evening, it was not considered safe to send what was left over from
any one milking. For this reason every shipper provided himself with
all these sizes as a means of cleaning out as closely as possible.
At this time an ice house was an institution unknown to the farm. To
the milk producer of to-day an ice house is regarded as almost as
much of a necessity as the milk can or the cow. But in 1842 and for
some years later, natural facilities for keeping milk from day to day
could be found on nearly every farm. Flowing springs, the temperature
of which never rose above about fifty degrees, were then plentiful in
Orange County, much more common than now. It was some time after Mr.
Gregory made his first shipment that farmers learned to use these
springs, and discontinue the morning shipment. It was later still
when the majority ceased yarding their cows early in the afternoon
and shipping this milking the same evening. Since these early days
much has been learned about how to keep milk in good condition for a
long time. But even now the great possibilities in this direction are
not suspected by the average producer.

In 1843 the road was operated as far west as Middletown, in 1846 to
Otisville, and in 1848 to Port Jervis. The only portion of the
territory thus traversed that was well adapted to the production of
milk lay between Otisville and Greenwood (now Arden) a distance of
thirty-one miles. The total amount of milk shipped in 1842 averaged
about forty-five; in 1843, 275 cans, and in 1844 some 420 cans daily.

The first regular milk train was run on the 3d day of May, 1847. It
ran morning and evening, leaving Otisville at 6.30 A. M. and 4.15
P. M., scheduled to reach New York at 11.30 A. M. and 9.15 P. M.
Otisville continued to be the western terminus for the run of the
milk train until 1868, when it was extended to Port Jervis. Not until
1884 was any attempt made to develop any of the extensive and
excellent milk territory lying west of Port Jervis. All efforts in
the direction of securing increased supplies were centered on the
eastern (now New York) division. Here, by its branches and connecting
lines, it made practically every can of milk produced in Orange
County available to the New York market. Prior to twenty-five years
ago nearly every producer shipped his milk direct to the dealer.
While these conditions prevailed the milk manifest at any station
where a large amount of milk was loaded contained so many names of
shippers and consignees that it resembled the poll list of an
election district. At these same stations now, although loading more
milk than formerly, it is unusual to find more than two or three
shippers. While the list of consignees has not decreased to the same
extent, still it is very short as compared with the former period.
The one time shippers are now patrons of the local creamery, from one
to three of which may be found at every station.

The first butter and cheese factory, or creamery, started in the
State of New York was located near what is now the Crystal Run
Station of the Ontario and Western Railway. This was about 1856. It
was cooperative, owned and operated by the farmers of the
neighborhood. The object was to lessen the labor at the household and
also make a more uniform quality of butter than was possible when
churned at each individual home. The cream was made into butter, the
skimmed milk into cheese and the whey mixed with grain turned into
pork. Thus nothing was wasted and the venture proved successful.
Other similar factories were started in different sections and
inside of ten years Orange County was dotted over with such
establishments.

Generally they were operated as co-operative concerns, and quite as
generally, due to lack of proper management, were unsuccessful. As a
consequence they were either abandoned or passed into the possession
of private parties and were no longer used exclusively for
manufacturing. More money could be realized by shipping milk. Only
such as could not be disposed of in this way was turned into butter
and cheese.

This Crystal Run factory was the progenitor of the present day
shipping stations from which the New York market now receives
approximately ninety-eight per cent, of its milk supply and
practically all its cream.

Prior to the foundation of the New York milk exchange, in October,
1887, the price paid for milk delivered at these factories, or
shipping stations, was determined by the highest market price of
butter. Stockholders in the co-operative factory were paid whatever
might be earned, but when milk was purchased outright the producer
received the price of one pound of butter for every twelve (or
12-1/2 as might be agreed) quarts of milk delivered.

When the milk exchange began to announce prices (which prevail until
otherwise announced) the stations accepted these as a basis and
bought at a discount that ranged from ten to twenty cents per can of
forty quarts. Later these discounts were lowered from time to time
and now range from ten cents to nothing.

Nearly all of these stations are now operated by dealers who use them
as a source of supply for their city trade, the balance conducted by
parties who have no interest in the city business, but supply such
dealers as do not care to operate a place in the country.

In the county of Orange are (including its three condenseries)
seventy milk shipping stations, every township being represented by
from one to twelve. Mount Hope has the one, Warwick the twelve.

In addition are two cheese and one butter and cheese factory, the
latter the celebrated Neufchatel cheese factory of William E.
Lawrence & Son, at Chester. In 1906 this establishment turned out
7,000 pounds of butter, 600,000 pounds of Neufchatel and 273,000
pounds of square cream cheese.

From January 1st to December 31st, 1907, the daily average output of
milk in the county approximated 9,400 cans of forty quarts each.
This was disposed of about as follows:

 Shipped to the New York market    6,000 cans, 40 quarts each.
 Consumed in the county            1,850  "     "    "     "
 Condensed                           750  "     "    "     "
 Turned into butter and cheese       400  "     "    "     "
 Skimmed or cream                    400  "     "    "     "
                                  ______
 Daily average production          9,400 cans,  40 quarts each.

For milk shipped from 1842 to 1854 or 1855 producers received the
following prices:

       Months.                      Cents per Quart.
 May, June, July and August                 2
 March, April, September and October        3
 November, December, January and February   4
                                           __
 Yearly average                             3

In 1854 or 1855 the Milk Dealers' Union was organized for the avowed
purpose of determining future prices. This body proposed to (and did)
meet on the tenth day of every month and "make a price" for the
preceding month. Thus, the producer did not know how much he would
receive for his milk until ten days after it had been shipped,
distributed and consumed.

This was so palpably unjust and one-sided that producers were
indignant and since then have formed many counter organizations and
combinations for the purpose of taking the price-making power out of
the hands of dealers. All these were failures.

The present system of fixing prices, in vogue since 1882, is more
equitable. It is the producer's own fault that it is not the best
that could be devised. The Consolidated Milk Exchange, an
incorporated stock company, announces prices in advance of delivery.
This is merely an offer to pay a specified price until otherwise
announced. This constitutes a legal price, inasmuch as no one is
under any obligation to deliver any milk, provided the offer is not
satisfactory.

With one added feature it would be a perfect way of satisfactorily
settling the matter of price, a problem that has for fifty years
puzzled the brains of the wisest milk producers in Orange County.
That this feature is lacking, milk producers alone are responsible.

When the milk exchange was incorporated and before organization was
completed, producers were invited, urged and pleaded with, both by
dealers and the more progressive, level-headed producers, to
subscribe for half of the capital stock and thus be entitled to equal
representation on the price committee. But this they refused. Had the
offer been accepted producers would have a voice in deciding prices,
a conceded right which for fifty years they have been striving to
secure but voluntarily surrendered, when once within their grasp.

Of all the movements for gaining control of prices, the action of
March, 1883, was the most notable. Very few members of the numerous
associations organized for this purpose were willing to admit that
supply and demand had, or should have, any influence in determining
the market price of milk. Nevertheless, the keystone of every effort
to advance prices was by curtailing the supply. This was to be
accomplished by persuading producers to withdraw part or all of their
shipments until dealers were brought to terms.

But it was difficult to find anybody willing to keep his milk home
and thereby realize two cents a quart, while his neighbors continued
to ship and were paid three cents. For this reason every scheme of
this kind was doomed to failure.

Early in March, 1883, the managers of the Milk Producers' Association
of Orange County, reinforced by their brethren of Sussex County,
N. J., notified the dealers that the market price of milk for that
month would be three and one-half cents a quart. This brought about
a conference of the opposing forces. Dealers offered three cents for
the first and three and one-half cents for the last half of the
month. Neither party would recede from its position and both resolved
to fight it out on these lines.

Producers proposed to withhold all shipments, commencing about the
15th, until dealers were starved into submission. Experience had
shown that something more powerful than moral suasion would be
required to induce producers to discontinue shipping.

Hence the leaders in this movement determined to use force where
persuasion failed. For this purpose a "spilling committee" was
appointed for each station and instructed to be where it could do the
most good about the time a milk train was due. The orders were not to
allow a can of milk to pass into the possession of the railway
company. This was to be done peaceably, if possible--forcibly, if
necessary.

Pursuant to these instructions, would-be shippers were halted on the
highway and ordered to take their milk back home. Some protested
mildly, but finally obeyed orders. Some objected strongly and their
milk was poured into the street.

But there were still others who were determined to ship or fight.
They gave the "spillers" to understand that they would not tamely
submit to highway robbery, that they intended to ship their milk, and
that an undertaker would be needed to care for any one who attempted
to prevent it.

Many drove to cross-roads between stations where by previous
arrangement the train would stop and load the milk. It was useless
to appeal to local authorities for protection from the "spillers," as
they were either afraid or too indifferent to take action.

It was reported that the Governor had been appealed to, and was about
to issue orders to the sheriff of Orange County to quell the
rebellion, but the blockade was voluntarily raised after a
three-days' struggle.

Shipments of dairy milk in Orange and Sussex Counties fell off about
twenty per cent., but creameries shipped more than usual, presumably
enough to reduce the net falling off to about fifteen per cent.
Fortunately no blood was shed in this war, but much milk fell by the
wayside. It was not a victory for producers, as bills were settled on
the terms originally offered by dealers, three cents for the first
and three and one-half cents for the last half of March.




PART II.

BIOGRAPHICAL



LEWIS D. ADAMS was born at Sussex, New Jersey, June 15, 1839. Mr.
Adams' early education was limited, but he attended the district
school at Florida, and Middletown, N. Y., for a short period. He
worked on the farm for his father until he was eighteen years old.
He then took up the tinner's trade and worked at that business until
1862, when he enlisted in the 124th Regiment, Co. F, New York
Volunteer Infantry, and served as one of the color guards six months
and as left general guide two and one-half years. When the war was
over he resumed his business at Warwick. Six years later he came to
Florida, this county, and purchased the hardware store which he
continued to operate until he retired in 1898. Mr. Adams married Miss
Marietta Ackerman, of Warwick, September 28, 1870. In politics he is
a republican, and served the town as collector one year. Mr. Adams
wife died December 24, 1900. Our subject is an honorary member of
Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. & A. M.; Cummings Post, G. A. R., and is an
honorary member of Highland Fire and Hose Company, which he organized
in the '70s.

THOMAS J. ADERTON, merchant, postmaster, and farmer at Savilton, in
the town of Newburgh, was born at the homestead in 1847. His
grandfather, Thomas Aderton, a seafaring man, settled here from New
York City in 1828. Our subject is a son of Captain John L. and
Isabella (Swain) Aderton, who engaged in farming here, after
following the sea ten years. Thomas J. was educated at the district
schools and Monticello Academy. In 1891 he purchased his store and
was appointed postmaster. Mr. Aderton has served as town clerk nine
years, and excise commissioner twelve years. He married Mary Lockwood
and two children have been born to them. One son, A. L. Aderton, is
general delivery clerk in the Newburgh post-office.

JOSEPH H. ADOLPH, who has been engaged in the meat business at
Highland Falls since 1886, is numbered among the representative and
progressive citizens of that village, where he was born in 1857. His
opportunities for schooling were limited, and at the age of eleven
years he entered the employ of a grocer, with whom he remained ten
years. He then Spent two years in Milwaukee and six years in
Connecticut, when he returned to his native village and engaged in
business for himself, in which he has been unusually successful.
Socially Mr. Adolph is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the
Holy Name Society. In 1885 he married Miss Mary Campion, of Hartford,
Conn. They have three children, two sons and one daughter.

GEO. B. ALEXANDER is the son of Harvey and Amanda (Kernaghan)
Alexander, and was born in the village of Cornwall, Orange County,
N. Y., November 5, 1843. His parents removed to Little Britain in the
spring of 1844. At an early age he learned the carpenter's trade,
with his father, living at home until the fall of 1886, when he went
to California, where he was employed on the Raymond Hotel, which was
then in course of erection at Pasadena. On his return home he took up
his trade and again visited California in 1891. On his return home he
was appointed under sheriff of Orange County, having charge of the
Newburgh Court House. His brother, Joseph K. Alexander was sheriff
at that time. In 1895 he married Elvira S. Scott, daughter of William
J. and Maria (Newkirk) Scott, and niece of David A. Scott. Their son,
Harvey, now ten years old, resides at home. Mr. Alexander is a member
of Hudson River Lodge No. 607, F. and A. M., of Newburgh, N. Y. In
the spring of 1895 he moved to Campbell Hall, where he is associated
with his brother, Joseph K. Alexander, in a general store. He was
supervisor of the town of Hamptonburgh for two terms, having
previously served three terms as town clerk. He is postmaster of
Campbell Hall, which office he has held for ten years.

SAMUEL ANDREWS, who has been general superintendent of the Walden
Knife Works for twenty-five years and secretary of the company since
1904, was born in England in 1858, a son of William and Sarah
(Harrison) Andrews. He came to America with his parents in infancy
and in 1872 entered the employ of the Walden Knife Company to learn
the cutlery trade. In 1881 he became a director of the company and
has been closely identified with the growth and progress of that
important industry. Mr. Andrews is a director of the Wallkill Valley
Cemetery Association and a member of the Order of Foresters. He has
been twice married; his first wife was Miss Clara Ashbury. Two
daughters, Ethel and Alice, were born to them. For his second wife
Mr. Andrews chose Miss Alfa Mussey.

WALTER CASE ANTHONY, attorney, of Newburgh, was born in Fishkill,
N. Y., August 24, 1842. A son of Theodore Van Wyck and Mary H.
(Case) Anthony. He was educated at Fishkill Academy and Union
College, where he graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1864. He read
law at Goshen, N. Y., in the office of David F. Gedney, and later
with Stephen W. Fullerton, and was admitted to the bar in 1865.

Mr. Anthony was elected district attorney in 1877, and re-elected in
1880. In 1898 he was appointed referee in bankruptcy for Orange
County. Mr. Anthony is a director and counsel of the Columbus Trust
Co. of Newburgh. He is vice-president of the Historical Society of
Newburgh Bay and the Highlands.

CHARLES W. ARKILLS was born in Fallsburgh, Sullivan County, October
4, 1867. He was educated in the District School and Liberty Academy.
At an early age he learned the trade of decorator and painter, and
became so proficient that he was foreman for the Ontario & Western
Railroad in Newburgh three years, and afterward assistant foreman in
the Kilmes Wire Works at Newburgh. He is a democrat, and has several
times been chosen a delegate to democratic county conventions. He
married Julietta Rose, of Grahamsville, Sullivan County, June 20,
1888, and their children are Laura, Lelia, Sadie L., Viola K., and
John I. C. He is a member of the Reformed Dutch Church at
Grahamsville, and was superintendent of its Sunday-school for four
years. His home is now on a farm near Campbell Hall, with his father.
The latter, Darwin Arkills, was born in Scotchtown, Orange County,
and married Minerva Gray, of Thompsonville. Their children's names
are Laura N., Fred J., and Charles W.

SAMUEL ARMSTRONG was born at Thompson's Ridge, Orange County, N.Y.,
May 14, 1878. After his district schooling at Thompson's Ridge and
Pine Bush he attended the preparatory school of the Misses Porter at
Middletown and the Albany College of Pharmacy, from which he
graduated in 1902. He removed to Warwick and clerked for S. S. Van
Saun, after which he purchased the Warwick Drug Store, which he now
owns. He has been deputy town clerk about three years, and is a
member of the following societies: Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. & A. M.;
Highland Chapter No. 240, R. A. M., and Cypress Commandery No. 67 of
Middletown. He married Emma Faith McNeal, of Montgomery, Orange
County. His father and mother were natives of the town of Crawford,
Orange County, N. Y. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth J.
Shafer. The father was a practical farmer, fond of his home, and
devoted to the interests of his church and the republican party.

DR. MAURICE CAVILEER ASHLEY, the present superintendent of the
Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, has occupied that position
since July, 1902, succeeding Dr. Selden H. Talcott, who died June 15,
1902.

Dr. Ashley was born in Port Republic, New Jersey, July 3, 1863. He
received his education in the public schools of that town, and in
1884 began his work with the insane, by taking a position as
attendant in the asylum in Trenton, N. J., where he remained for two
years, then came to Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital in the same
capacity. In a year's time he was appointed as assistant supervisor
in the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, and later was promoted
to the position of pharmacist.

In 1889 he entered the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, and
graduated in April, 1892. In August, 1892, he was appointed junior
assistant physician in the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital.

His course has steadily advanced since that time: Third assistant
physician, 1895; second assistant physician, May, 1898; first
assistant physician, April, 1900; acting superintendent, June 15,
1902, and superintendent since July, 1902, when he received the
appointment to the position left vacant by his predecessor's death.

Dr. Ashley was married August 30, 1888, to Miss Harriet Meade, of
Johnson, Orange County, N. Y. He has two daughters in their early
'teens.

Dr. Ashley was a member of the National Guard, serving in the medical
department for nearly twenty years. He resigned his position as
captain and assistant surgeon of the 1st New York Regiment in 1907,
receiving full and honorable discharge.

In May, 1898, Dr. Ashley, then second assistant physician in the
Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, was granted a leave of absence
by the Civil Service Commission' and Superintendent Talcott, and was
commissioned by Governor Frank S. Black as captain and assistant
surgeon of the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry, and accompanied the
regiment to Hawaii.

He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, of the
American Medico-Psychological Association, and the New York
Psychiatric Society, of the Hoffman Lodge No. 412, Midland Chapter
No. 240, Cyprus Commandery No. 67, and Mecca Temple, New York City,
the University Club of Middletown, and various other medical and
social organizations. He has contributed many medical papers from
time to time to the various medical publications.

CHARLES P. AU, son of the late Charles and Ellen (McGrisken) Au, was
born in 1877 on the farm of J. Pierpont Morgan in the town of
Highland, where his father was engaged as a carpenter. After
finishing his schooling he learned the barber's trade, in which
business he has met with much success. In 1898 he received the
appointment as barber in the United States Cadet Barracks at West
Point and has retained the position continuously to the present time.
He also conducted a shop at Highland Falls for a period of five
years. Mr. Au is active in the support of the republican party. In
1906 he was nominated for supervisor and in an unusual election was
defeated by the close margin of twenty-four votes. Mr. Au is a member
of the Knights of Columbus and the A. O. H. He married Miss Katherine
Powers and they are the parents of two boys and one girl.

CLARENCE AYRES was born in the town and village of Mount Hope,
November 27, 1875, and was educated in the district school and public
school of Middletown, where his parents moved when he was nine years
old. He learned the printer's trade, at which he worked three years.
When he was seventeen he became lineman in telephone construction,
and worked at it in Middletown six years and in Newburgh two years.
In 1904 he went to Warwick, became connected with the Warwick Valley
Telephone Company, and is now manager of general construction in the
mechanical department. He married Anna Collonton, of Goshen, and they
have one child, Francis, born in December, 1889. Mr. Ayres is a
member of the Congregational Church, and adheres to the democratic
party. His father was a sailor on a whaling vessel eight years, and
circumnavigated the earth four times. He also served as sailor during
the civil war.

FRED BAILEY, a merchant of Otisville, N. Y., was born June 4, 1854.
His early education was acquired at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus
County, N. Y., at the district school. He was identified with the
American Express Company at Ellicottville for a period of nine years.
In December, 1892, he came to Orange County and located at Otisville.
Removing to Newburgh in 1894, he was engaged in the wholesale grocery
business for one year, after which he returned to Otisville and
purchased the grocery store of A. J. Craig, which he conducted eight
years. He then conducted a store in partnership with George Smith
until the fall of 1906, when he purchased Mr. Smith's interest in the
store and real estate, and has since conducted it alone.

Mr. Bailey was united in marriage, September 4, 1876, to Miss Chloe
Mary Vaughan, of Ellicottville, N. Y. One child died in infancy. Mr.
and Mrs. Bailey are members of the Otisville Presbyterian Church. In
politics he is a republican. Mr. Bailey was for five years a member
of the Tenth Separate Company, National Guard, State of New York.

THE BAIRD FAMILY--Among the earliest settlers of the town of Warwick
there came Francis Baird, prior to 1766. He was of Scotch or
Scotch-Irish ancestry, and according to a tradition of the family he,
or his father before him, sailed from Bally Castle, County Antrim, in
the north of Ireland. This was a shipping port in that early date,
and is just across from Scotland. A recent writer has said: "Francis
Baird (never Beard) may have been Irish by nativity, but not by
ancestry. The Bairds of Avondale were an ancient and powerful Berg
Scots clan, and as long ago as the wild days of the struggles between
Robert Bruce and John Baliol for the Scottish crown (1309), gave
brave account of themselves on the side of the Lord of Lome against
the finally victorious Bruce. The name, originally (Norman-French)
Bayard, was shortened into Baird by neighbors after the family passed
into Scotland from France at a very early date. Francis was an
offshoot and clansman of this stock."

He built the stone house on Main street in 1766.

Mr. Baird was a man of intelligence and comparative wealth. He was a
signer of the non-importation pledge of 1775, and lived and died in
Warwick in warm esteem.

He died in the latter part of 1799 or the first part of 1800, and
left a will disposing of his property. His children were William
Eagles, Samuel, John, Abia Francis, Anna and Margaret (wife of
Joseph Walling).

The last named are the ancestors of the Walling family in this town.

William Eagles Baird married Sarah De Kay, a daughter of Thomas De
Kay, and from this marriage were the following: Nathaniel Wheeler,
Abia Francis, Fanny (married Blain), Mary (or Polly, married Thomas
Hathorn Burt), Jane, Sally (married Nathaniel Pelton), Christine
(married David Barclay).

The descendants of Nathaniel Wheeler Baird, who married Abigail
Denton, reside principally in this town. They are: John Baird
(married Mary De Kay), Julia (married Thomas E. De Kay), Samuel
Denton (married Sarah Parks), Mary (married Ogden Howell), Frances
Amelia (married George W. Sanford, 1847), Sarah (married Thomas J.
Taylor), William Henry (married Mary ____), Charles Roe (married
Anna M. Jayne).

In 1819, William Eagles Baird, oldest son of Francis, built the stone
house between Warwick and New Milford, which is still in excellent
preservation and is owned by a descendant, William Parks Baird, a son
of Samuel Denton Baird, deceased, who resides there with his mother,
Sarah. The other descendants of Samuel D., who were also born here,
are Samuel D., Jr., Nathaniel Wheeler, Susan (married Pierre
Demerest), Fred J. and George M.

FRED BAKER, who since 1883 has been manager of the Newburgh branch of
Swift & Company, is one of Orange County's popular citizens. He was
born in Germany in 1834, and came to America in 1853. He was engaged
for many years with his father in the conduct of a slaughter house on
the Plank road, and since his connection with Swift & Company has
built up an extensive trade in Newburgh and vicinity. Fred, his
eldest son, conducts a farm at Marlboro. His son William conducts a
meat market at 52 Water street, and another at 127 Smith street,
Newburgh, and John J. has a meat market on South Street. Mr. Baker
is prominent in Masonic circles, a member of Hudson River Lodge, the
Chapter, Commandery and Shrine.

GEORGE W. BALL was born May 13, 1868, in Monroe, Orange County. He
was educated in the public school and Chester Academy. Then he was
clerk for David Roe at Bellvale, N. Y., and for Frank Hall, of
Greenwood Lake. In 1888 he became station agent at Allamuchy, N. J.,
and Buttsville, N. J., for the Lehigh & Hudson Railroad, and was
transferred to Greycourt, N. Y. In 1891 he became clerk in the Erie
Railroad office at Bergen, N. J., and went from there back to
Greycourt to be station agent for the Erie. He left the employment of
this road July 15, 1904, and started a real estate and insurance
business at Chester. He also started and still publishes a weekly
paper, the _Independent._

Mr. Ball has been village trustee four years, justice of the peace
four years, and village clerk two years. He has been a member of the
Chester Band twenty years, and is at present its leader. He was chief
of the Chester fire department from 1894 to 1896. He is a charter
member of the Chester K. of P. Lodge No. 363, and a member of the
Standard Lodge No. 711, F. & A. M. His wife was Anna M. Smith, and a
daughter of the late C. P. Smith, of Chester. Their children are Mae
T., Susan R., Katheryn M. and Caroline P.

PETER MOIR BARCLAY, M.D.--Of the physicians and surgeons in Orange
County who built up an extensive practice, special mention should be
made of the late Dr. Barclay, of Newburgh. He was a son of Dr.
Alexander and Mary J. Fraser (Watt) Barclay, and was born in
Aberdeen, Scotland, April 20, 1834. His parents came to America in
1835, settling in Newburgh. Here Peter M. received his preliminary
education, graduating from the Academy in 1848. In 1850 he began the
study of medicine under his father, and graduated from the University
of New York in 1854. July 9, 1866, Governor Fenton appointed him
surgeon to the 19th Infantry of New York, with the rank of captain.
Dr. Barclay was a nonresident member of the Medico-Legal Society of
New York, and was prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity,
including the Knights Templar.

He was united in marriage, June 19, 1872, with Miss Harriet E.,
daughter of Captain C. B. Armstrong. They had one daughter, Maude,
now the wife of Mr. John B. Rose, a leading brick manufacturer and
representative citizen of Newburgh.

Of Dr. Barclay's skill in his profession it is unnecessary to speak,
as his talents were known and appreciated for nearly half a century
in this city and adjoining portions of the State. He was also
recognized as a leading citizen, performing in a plain and courteous
manner the various social duties that devolved upon him. His death
occurred in Newburgh, February 10, 1901.

ARTHUR BARNES, senior member of the firm of Barnes & Atkins, is a son
of Edgar C. Barnes, and was born and educated in Newburgh. They
occupy one of the oldest business houses of its kind in the city;
established in 1874 by Matthews & Barnes; succeeded in 1883 by Barnes
& Mapes; and in 1890 by E. C. Barnes, and again in 1898 by Barnes &
Monell. The present firm purchased the business in 1905. They are
smokers and packers of B. & M. Newburgh meats and give employment to
twelve men. They are extensive dealers in butter, eggs and cheese.

EDGAR C. BARNES was born in Orange County, N. Y., July 16, 1834. His
parents removed to New York City when he was seven years of age, and
he received his education in the schools of that city. From 1851 to
1854 Mr. Barnes was employed in the store of A. R. & O. Taylor at
Pine Bush, Orange County. He then came to Newburgh and entered the
employ of William K. Mailler & Co. as shipping clerk on the barge
Newburgh. He filled various positions in the office of the barge
until 1874, becoming familiar with the produce commission business.
In 1874 he formed a partnership with James H. Mathews under the firm
name of Mathews & Barnes, wholesale provision and produce merchants.
In 1883 Mr. Mathews retired from the firm and Mr. Albert W. Mapes was
admitted thereto, under the firm name of Barnes & Mapes, and so
continued until December, 1890. Mr. Barnes continued the business
alone until 1898, but removed to a substantial brick building he had
erected at 42 South Water street, specially adapted to cold storage.
In March of 1898 Mr. Barnes retired from active business life. He is
vice-president of the Highland National Bank of Newburgh. Mr. Barnes
has not sought prominence in public life, but rather has devoted
himself to his business, in which he was eminently successful, and to
the work of the church and Sunday-school with which he is connected.
He has been twice married, his first wife being M. Theresa Pack, of
New York, who died, leaving four children, three of whom are living.
Anna, Minnie, and Arthur, his business successor. In 1870 he married
Sophie H. Parsons, of Newburgh, N. Y.

GEORGE T. BARNES, son of Gordon and Esther A. (Tate) Barnes, was born
in Montgomery, Orange County. He attended school but a short period
and in 1881 began his apprenticeship as a tinsmith and plumber,
serving seven years. He was employed several years at Middletown by
the late George A. Swalm and has resided in Newburgh since 1889. In
1892 he established his present business as a contractor for
plumbing, ventilating, steam and hot water heating. Mr. Barnes has
given a great deal of study to the most improved and economical
systems of heating and ventilating large buildings and his plans have
been accepted and installed in many of the palatial homes in the
Hudson Valley, Long Island, and Rhode Island. Among the important
plants he has equipped may be mentioned those of the Light, Heat and
Power Companies of Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, the Chatham, Coxsackie
and Rhinebeck electrical stations, and he now has the contract for
heating the United States Government buildings at West Point, N. Y.
Mr. Barnes' success may be attributed to his close attention to
business and fulfilling his contracts to the letter. From a humble
beginning he has built up a business in the space of fifteen years,
exceeding all others in his line in Orange County. His show rooms at
107 Broadway will compare favorably with any in New York State. In
1895 he married Miss Cory, of Rhode Island, and one daughter has been
born to them.

J. MILTON BARNES, flour and grain merchant, of Central Valley, was
born in Cornwall, Orange County, in 1844, a son of Matthew and Mary
(Van Duser) Barnes. As a young man he learned the carpenter's trade,
which he followed until 1876, when he located in Central Valley and
engaged in the mercantile business with Alfred Cooper. This
partnership continued eight years and was succeeded by Barnes &
Thorn, Barnes & Duran, and J. M. Barnes & Co. Mr. Barnes was
appointed postmaster of the village in 1885 and again in 1892.
Politically he has always been a democrat. In 1884 Mr. Barnes married
Miss Hannah, daughter of the late Hon. Morgan Shuit.

ROBERT HIRAM BARNETT, of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in the City of
Gloversville, Fulton County, N. Y., on June 13, 1870, being the son
of Alfred A. and Bessie Rowell Barnett. His father was born in
London, England, and came to this country in the early sixties. The
Barnett family is descended from English ancestors who commanded in
the battle of Barnett. Through his mother, Mr. Barnett is a Mayflower
descendant and is connected with the Fields and Morses, Warren
Rowell, the New York inventor, being his maternal great-uncle. Mr.
Barnett received his education in the city of Johnstown, N. Y., and
graduated from the Johnstown High School and the Johnstown Academy,
which was founded by Sir William Johnson. Owing to ill-health he was
unable to enter college, but continued his studies for three years
under a tutor and read law with Andrew J. Nellis, of Johnstown,
N. Y., and acted as his managing clerk for several years and
thereafter went to New York City and entered the New York Law School
as a student thereof. While pursuing his course at the New York Law
School he was connected with ex-Deputy Attorney General Colonel
Dennison, of the firm of Dennison & Hartridge, of New York City. Mr.
Barnett graduated from the New York Law School in 1895, with the
degree of bachelor of laws, and was admitted to the bar at Albany in
December, 1895.

He practiced law in the city of Johnstown for a short time and then
removed to Mechanicsville, N. Y., where he remained for about three
years, and while there was corporation counsel of the village and
acted as attorney and counsel for the boards of health and water
commissioners. From Mechanicsville Mr. Barnett removed to the city of
New York and engaged in the practice of his profession, but owing to
ill-health and inability to become acclimated to the salt air he
removed to the city of Newburgh in 1901, where he has since
continuously followed his profession, having largely confined his
efforts to the practice of negligence law.

DANIEL D. BARNS, the third son of Nathaniel and Effie (Dusenberre)
Barns, previously referred to, was born in Middle Hope in 1833. He
now lives in retirement on his valuable fruit farm, adjoining his
birthplace. In 1857 he married Miss Hester D., daughter of Captain L.
S. Carpenter, of Marlboro. They became the parents of three daughters
and one son, Nathaniel C., who continues the management of the farm
cultivated so many years by his father. Mr. Daniel D. Barns always
manifested a great interest in public affairs of Orange County, and
was well known as a breeder of fast trotting horses for which Orange
County is noted.

Nathaniel C. Barns was born in Middle Hope in 1863. Since completing
his studies in the Newburgh schools he has been largely engaged in
fruit growing with much success. He has served as justice of the
peace, and is the present master of Cronomer Valley Grange No. 982.

In 1888 he married Miss Mary E., daughter of Dr. Kidd, of Newburgh;
she died in 1889, leaving one daughter, Natalie C.

NATHANIEL BARNS--Among the representative agriculturalists and fruit
growers of Orange County, Mr. Nathaniel Barns, of the town of
Newburgh, is worthy of special notice. Born in Middle Hope, February
20, 1831, he has been for nearly half a century actively engaged in
the cultivation of a large and valuable farm, mostly devoted to
fruit. He is the second son and namesake of the late Nathaniel and
Effie (Dusenberre) Barns, previously mentioned.

Mr. Barns attended a select school at Marlboro, and subsequently
taught school one winter. When twenty-three years of age he married
Miss Martha Waring, and four sons and one daughter were born to them,
of whom James and Charles are living--the former a dry goods merchant
of Newburgh, and the latter in the produce business in New York. Mr.
Barns has been actively identified with public affairs of his native
town. He was elected assessor for a period of nine years, excise
commissioner for two years, and from 1865 to 1870 held the office of
supervisor and chairman of the board in 1870. Mr. Barns was the first
supervisor from the present town of Newburgh and is the only
surviving member of that honorable body of 1866. Mr. Barns was
recognized as a leader and placed on important committees. He is at
present one of the trustees of Cedar Hill Cemetery, and member of
Cronomer Valley Grange.

WILLIAM D. BARNS, widely known for many years as one of the most
prominent and successful agriculturists, fruit growers and
horticulturists in the State of New York, pursued his vocation at
Middle Hope, Orange County, where he was born October 16, 1828. He
was the descendant of an old and honored New England family. His
father, Nathaniel Barns, was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1782, and
settled in Middle Hope shortly after his marriage to Miss Effie
Dusenberre in 1828. Four children were born to them, namely, William
D., Nathaniel, Daniel D., and Mary E.

Nathaniel Barns became a prosperous farmer, and at the time of his
death in 1879 was the owner of 300 acres of the choicest farm land in
Orange County. These farms became the property of the sons above
mentioned. William D. continued the homestead farm, and for
thirty-five years previous to his death devoted his attention largely
to the cultivation of fruit. He was vice-president of the Orange
County Agricultural Society from 1888 to 1897, and superintendent of
the fruit department at the annual fairs of this organization. He was
a member and exhibitor at the Newburgh Bay Horticultural Society. He
was connected with the Eastern New York Horticultural Society since
its organization, and a member of the Western New York Horticultural
Society. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor Flower a member of the
board of control of the New York State Experiment Station at Geneva.
He was also appointed by Governor Odell a State delegate to the
National Farmers' Congress at Sioux Falls, S. D., in 1901. As a
citizen of the town of Newburgh, he was the incumbent of many offices
of trust and honor. As almshouse commissioner he was prominent in
securing many improvements on the farm attached to that institution.
He was largely instrumental in the establishment of the Children's
Home, and the plans for its management have been conducted
substantially as he advocated. Mr. Barnes' death occurred in
October, 1904. In 1860 he married Miss Elizabeth A. Carpenter, and
five children were born, of whom four are living, Edwin W., Mary,
George D., John S., and Nathaniel H. (deceased).

The homestead farm is now conducted under the management and firm
name of Edwin W. Barns & Son. Over seventy acres are devoted to the
culture of fruit, and all specimens adapted to this section, from the
earliest strawberry to the latest apples, are here grown.

CHARLES W. BARTRUM, general superintendent of the Newburgh plant of
Sweet, Orr & Co., was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., and educated at
the Rhinebeck Academy. He taught school for a time and was later
associated with the clothing industry at Ossining, N. Y., for a
period of nine years. In 1881 his services were secured by the above
firm, first in the sales department and then in charge of the general
office. In 1883 he was appointed superintendent.

Mr. Bartrum married Miss Hannah E. Willsea, of Tarrytown, and they
are the parents of two children, Dr. William C. and Miss Nellie E.

WILLIAM R. BEAL, president of the Newburgh Light, Heat and Power
Company, was born in Newark, N. J., in 1838. His father, Joseph
Reynolds, a gentleman by birth and education, and his mother,
Elizabeth Austen, came to this country from England about 1830.

Left an orphan at an early age, he first engaged in a fifteen hour a
day business for nearly two years and then commenced his career with
gas companies. His experience in the latter line of business was with
the Newark, N. J., Gas Light Co. and then with the gas company at
Elizabeth. In 1855 he became manager of the Yonkers Gas Light Co.,
leaving it in 1866 to take the same position in the territory now
known as the Twenty-third Ward, New York City. In 1870 he organized
the company and built the works now controlling the sale of gas in
the Twenty-fourth Ward, New York City. In 1895, and as president of
these companies, he sold them to the New Amsterdam Gas Company of New
York City, now controlled by the Consolidated Gas Company, New York
City.

While living in the Twenty-third Ward, he was actively identified in
church and Sunday-schools and church construction and management, and
for twelve years with the public school system of New York as trustee
and chairman.

Mr. Beal was president of the American Gas Light Association in 1902,
and is now a trustee and treasurer of its educational fund. In 1900
he became president of the Newburgh Light, Heat and Power Co., and a
little later of the Poughkeepsie L., H. & P. Co. His policy
throughout his career of more than half a century with gas
enterprises has been to use the best manufacturing and distributing
apparatus and to give the best possible service at equitable rates.

For many years Mr. Beal has been largely identified with real estate
and building operations and in the organization and management of
incorporated enterprises. He is a warden of Holy Trinity Church, New
York, is an officer of Christian associations, a Free Mason and a
Grand Army man, as well as a member of several clubs, church and
benevolent institutions.

In 1863 Mr. Beal was united in marriage to Eleanor Louise Bell. Their
living children, Reynolds and Gifford are artists, Thaddeus R. is
manager of the Poughkeepsie L., H. & P. Co., Albert R. is manager of
the gas department, Newburgh L., H. & P. Co., Mrs. Charles E. Acker
and Miss Mary Reynolds Beal.

OSCAR W. BELCHER, who recently purchased the Lee farm in the town of
Cornwall, has resided in Orange County nearly half a century. He was
born in Passaic County, N. J., in 1844, where he remained until 1859.
With the exception of two and a half years spent in Michigan, Mr.
Belcher has been engaged in farming in what is now the town of
Tuxedo. In 1907 he disposed of his property there and removed to his
present home.

THE BELKNAP FAMILY--Abraham Belknap, from whom the Belknap family in
this country trace their descent, emigrated from England and settled
in Lynn, Mass., in 1637. Samuel Belknap, the immediate ancestor of
the family in Orange County, was born in 1707, came to Newburgh in
1749, and died in 1771. His son Isaac, during the struggle for
independence, was appointed a captain of a company of rangers, and
later in the regular service as assistant deputy quartermaster-general.
Another son, Abel, was chairman of the committee of safety for the
Newburgh precinct during the Revolution. At the close of the war he
engaged in the manufacture of soap. This became an important industry,
and has extended from father to son for four generations as follows:
Abel Belknap, 1783 to 1804; his sons, Abel and Moses Higby Belknap,
1804 to 1855; Moses Cook Belknap and Belknap & McCann, 1855 to 1892,
and William Cook Belknap, 1892 to the present.

Moses Higby Belknap was born in Newburgh, N. Y., September 23, 1787,
and died January 4, 1855. He was president of the village of Newburgh
in 1832-33-34-38-39-41-43-44. He was one of the founders of the
Newburgh High School.

Moses Cook Belknap was born in Newburgh, February 2, 1832, a son of
Moses H. and Ruth P. (Cook) Belknap. In 1867 he was appointed cashier
of the Highland National Bank and January 9, 1883, was elected its
president, continuing in this office until he retired on account of
ill health in 1892. He died at Newburgh, October 3, 1892. Upon the
death of his father in 1855, Mr. Belknap formed a co-partnership with
Thomas M. McCann to continue the soap manufacturing business of
A. & M. H. Belknap, Mr. Belknap managing the finances of the concern.
He served as clerk and treasurer of the board of trustees of the
First Presbyterian Church from 1855 to the time of his death. He was
one of the founders of the local Y. M. C. A. and was connected
therewith after its reorganization. In 1877 he served as alderman
from the Third Ward and in 1884 was elected a member of the Board of
Education and re-elected in 1888. In 1887 he was chosen its
president.

In 1857 Mr. Belknap married Mary H., daughter of William K. Mailler,
who died May 31, 1858. In 1862 he married Marietta, daughter of David
McCamly, of Warwick, N. Y. She died in 1873, leaving three sons and
one daughter. In 1875 he married Evelina, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel
Deyo, by whom he had a son and a daughter, now living.

WILLIAM COOK BELKNAP, son of Moses Cook and Marietta (McCamly)
Belknap, was born at Newburgh, N. Y., July 15, 1864. He was educated
in the private and public schools of that city and at Williston
Seminary, East Hampton, Mass. He married Helen, daughter of the late
George W. and Margaret (Brown) Kerr, December 15, 1890. Two children
have been born to them, William Kerr, born December 10, 1897,
and Helen Kerr, born April 8, 1899.

Mr. Belknap is engaged in the manufacture of soap under the firm name
of Belknap & McCann, carrying on the business established by Abel
Belknap about 1783. He is also engaged in other enterprises in
Newburgh. Mr. Belknap has served as a member of the board of park
commissioners of Newburgh since 1897. He is a member of the board of
trustees of Washington's Headquarters (under appointment by Governor
Higgins), corresponding secretary of the Historical Society of
Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, member of the board of trustees of
St. Luke's Hospital, a trustee of the Cedar Hill Cemetery Association
and a vestryman of St. George's Church.

THE BENEDICT FAMILY--The first of the Benedict family to come to
Orange County was Elder James Benedict, a great grandson of Thomas
Benedict, who came from England and settled on Long Island about
1638. Elder James Benedict came to Warwick in 1765 and made his home
in a log house near Chonck's Hill--he had separated from the church
in Ridgefield, Conn., because of unjust demands of the tithe-master
and very soon after coming to Warwick lent his efforts toward
establishing the First Baptist Church. The first house built for
worship was one over which he was pastor and stood at the fork of the
road nearly opposite the church burying ground--on an angle which
still continues to be church property. He left Warwick in the year
1773, and moved to Wyoming, Pa., because of difficulty arising in the
church through prejudice toward the Order of Free Masons, of which he
was a member and which connection saved the lives of himself and
family at the fearful Wyoming massacre when a secret signal from
Brandt brought mercy and safe escort to peaceful territory, he
returned to Warwick at once and died here, September 9, 1792, aged
seventy-two years. He is buried beside his wife, Mary, near where the
church stood. The stone house just east of Warwick village was built
by his oldest son, James, in 1779, and has descended through
succeeding generations to the present owners--the children of Captain
Jas. W. Benedict.

JAMES D. BENEDICT was born in the stone house about one mile from
Warwick, Orange County, September 2, 1834. His father, William Smith
Benedict, purchased the Wickham farm about 1839 and continued to
operate it for many years. He removed to Warwick in April, 1867, and
remained there until his death, September 22, 1883. James attended the
district school and the Florida Institute. He assisted his father on
the farm during his younger days and has always made farming his
occupation. He removed to Warwick in 1871. remaining there about nine
years, when he again took up his residence on the Wickham farm, where
he resided until his death, which occurred February 17, 1898. He was
a member of the Grange, a prosperous farmer and a good citizen. Mrs.
Benedict has presented the International Sunshine Society with a plot
of land on her farm near Wisner, on which the society will erect a
bungalow costing about $2,000. The plot is beautifully located,
presenting a fine view of the surrounding country. On it is a spring
that never freezes, supplying an abundance of pure water. The place
is to be known as "The James D. Benedict Sunshine Rest Home."

JAMES H. BENEDICT was born on the Benedict homestead in the old stone
house at Stone Bridge, February 13, 1854. and lived there with his
father thirty-five years. November 14, 1888, he married Miss Ada
Pitts, and they had two children--Laura, born in October, 1889, and
W. Smith, born in December, 1890. He has a large dairy farm, is a
member of the Grange, and a democrat.

JOHN VAN DUZER BENEDICT--The Benedict family in America dates back
to A. D. 1638, when Thomas Benedict and his wife, Mary (Bridgum)
Benedict, the first of the name to come to America, settled at the
colony of Massachusetts Bay.

The subject of this sketch is in the eighth line of descent from
Thomas, the first settler, and in the fifth line from Elder James
Benedict, the first of the name in Orange County. Our subject was
born in the town of Warwick, on January 1, 1837, in the stone house,
now standing and for many years known as the "John Blain" house. His
parents were Abner Benedict and Julia A. (Van Duzer) Benedict, who
were each in equal lines of descent from both Thomas, the first
settler, and from the "old Elder," as he was familiarly called. He
first attended school in the old stone schoolhouse, at that time
standing opposite the forks of the highway near Stonebridge,
afterwards at the district school in the village of Edenville,
entered the academy known as the "Warwick Institute," at Warwick,
N. Y., on December 5, 1853, its opening day, and was also a student
at the S. S. Seward Institute at Florida, N. Y., during the spring
term in 1857, under the direction of Professor John W. Round, then
principal of that institution. He entered the freshman class of Union
College at Schenectady on the opening of the school year in
September, 1857, and completing the full classical course, graduated
on the 25th day of July, 1861. Returning home, he lived with his
parents at their home near Edenville, Orange County, N. Y.

JOHN W. BENEDICT--His parents were Henry A. and Laura T. Benedict,
and he was born on the homestead farm, August 16, 1855. After his
school days he became a farmer, and has not changed his occupation.
His dairy farm consists of 230 acres, and has belonged to the
Benedicts since 1817. His father, born in 1818, died April 3, 1900,
and his mother, born in 1826, is still living. They had ten children,
eight of whom are living.

CHARLES F. BENNETT, of Middletown, N. Y., was born in the Bennett
homestead near Middletown, October 15, 1869. His early life was spent
principally on his father's farm. His father, John F. Bennett,
removed to Bloomingburgh, Sullivan County, and engaged in the hotel
and livery business. Charles Bennett is a member of numerous social
and fraternal societies, including the Masons, Royal Arcanum, Elks
and Eagles. For over two years he served as postmaster at
Bloomingburgh. He engaged in the livery business at Middletown in
1900 and now has one of the largest livery establishments in the
city. He recently purchased of his father the homestead farm at
Springside, near Middletown. This farm has been in the possession of
the family over one hundred years. Mr. Bennett was joined in marriage
with Kittie Bertholf, daughter of Andrew T. Bertholf, of Howells,
N. Y., January 25, 1892. They have one son, Mortimer W., a student at
the Middletown High School.

JOHN BIGELOW--The following data taken from "Who's Who in America,"
covers in concise form the career of this distinguished citizen whose
country seat is at Highland Falls, N. Y.:

"John Bigelow, author; born Maiden, Ulster County, N. Y., November
25, 1817. Graduated from Union College, 1835 (LL.D., Union and Racine
Colleges, 1886; University of the City of New York, 1889); admitted
to bar; inspector Sing Sing prison, 1845 to 1846; one of the editors
New York Evening Post, 1849-61. Consul at Paris, France, 1861-64.
United States Minister to France, 1864-67. Chairman of Governor
Tilden's canal investigating committee, 1875. Secretary of State of
New York, 1875-77. Executor and trustee of will of late Samuel J.
Tilden. President board of trustees, New York Public Library, Astor,
Lenox and Tilden's foundations. Author: Molinos the Quietist; France
and the Confederate Navy; Life of William Cullen Bryant; Life of
Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols.). A life of Franklin (3 vols.) from his
pen, and the complete writings of Franklin which he edited (10
vols.)."

JOHN W. BINGHAM, whose fruit farm of sixty acres is located in the
town of Newburgh near the county line, was born in the town of
Marlborough, Ulster County, in 1852. His education was obtained in
the Marlborough schools and the public schools of New York City, and
he then engaged with his father in the management of the farm, which
was purchased in 1867. Mr. Bingham is an elder in the Marlborough
Presbyterian Church and identified with the I. O. O. F. He married
Miss Mary Bloomer and three children have been born to them. He is a
son of Charles E. and Amelia (Holmes) Bingham, who were prominent in
church and social circles of Marlborough.

JOHN JACOB BIPPUS, a successful merchant of Port Jervis, was born at
Bearville, Pa. His parents removed to Port Jervis when he was a
child, and in the schools of that place he received his education. He
has been engaged in the grocery business since 1891, and is one of
the leading merchants of Port Jervis. Mr. Bippus is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, the K. of P., Elks, and is an officer in the
Building and Loan Association. He is vice-president of the board of
trade, has been town collector and was one of the first aldermen
elected after Port Jervis received its charter as a city.

CALEB BIRCH--Among the representative merchants of Orange County is
Mr. Birch, who has conducted a boot and shoe establishment in Walden
for a period of thirty-three years. Mr. Birch is a native of the town
of Plattekill, Ulster County, N. Y., and his younger days were spent
in farming. In 1872 he opened his store in Walden and in 1875 erected
the building he now occupies. Mr. Birch is a member of the American
Mechanics and the Knights of Honor. He married Miss Abbie Gale and
the following children have been born to them: Caleb, George, Marcus
and Leuella. George, who is in business with his father, is clerk of
the town of Montgomery, a member of the Masonic fraternity and one of
Walden's progressive young citizens.

HILAND H. BLANCHARD was born in Acra, Greene County, N. Y., February
18, 1850. His father, Justus Blanchard, was for a time engaged in the
hotel business, after which he settled on a farm. He died at the age
of thirty-five years. His wife, Emeline, daughter of Miles Darby, was
born in Greene County and survived her husband's death many years,
passing away at the age of seventy. The only surviving member of the
family is the subject of our sketch. He attained his early education
at the district school and afterwards attended the Wallkill Academy.
In the fall of 1868 he identified himself with Wheeler Madden &
Clemson, saw manufacturers, of Middletown, N. Y., and for the past
twenty years has filled the office of superintendent of that concern.
Mr. Blanchard married Miss Sarah Biggin, of Middletown; four children
were born to this union. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412,
F. & A. M., of Middletown, and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he
is a democrat and has served on city and county committees, is a
member of the board of water commissioners and president of the Old
Orchard Club.

FRED P. BLIVEN was born February 22, 1871, at Michigan Corners,
Orange County. His parents were Ulysses and Caroline Bliven. There
were six children in the parents' family. Fred attained his early
education at the district school, and at an early age worked on a
farm, which occupation he has always followed. He married Nettie
Clara, of Middletown, March 22, 1897. Their one child, Pearl, resides
at home. His father died in 1888 and the mother in 1880.

JOSEPH BOARD, merchant, was born at Chester, N. Y., November 9, 1842,
son of Peter Seeley and Madeline C. (Conklin) Board, grandson of
General Charles Board, of Boardville, N. J., and great-grandson of
Captain Joseph Board, of the Revolutionary Army. He was graduated
from Amherst College as A.B., with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1867. He
has been a merchant, selling coal, feed and lumber since January 1,
1868, and is a member of the firm of Board & Bryan. He is a director
of the Watertown Water, Light and Power Company of Watertown, South
Dakota; director and secretary of the Chester (New York) Telephone
Company, and director of the Chester National Bank (and secretary of
the board). Since 1868 he has acted as executor or administrator of
over twenty different estates of deceased persons. He was excise
commissioner of the town of Chester, N. Y., in 1876; member of the
board of supervisors of Orange County, New York, from 1878 to 1880,
and 1883 and 1884; candidate for member of assembly, 1884, but
defeated; and member of over twenty years and president five years of
the Board of Education of Chester Village; clerk of village of
Chester, from 1892 to 1894. He was superintendent of construction of
the Chester Waterworks in 1892 and 1893, trustee of Chester Village
one year, and he is trustee of the Chester Free Library of Chester,
N. Y. He made summer tours of the Pacific Coast, in 1869, Texas,
Mexico, New Mexico and Wyoming in 1883, British Isles and Continent
of Europe in 1887. Arkansas and Missouri in 1904, Dakotas and
Minnesota in 1905; also frequent summer journeys through New England.
He is a republican in politics and a Presbyterian in religion
(Liberal School). He is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Society,
Amherst College, Delta Kappa Epsilon Club of New York City, member of
the Sons of the Revolution, also a member of the American
Geographical Society. Mr. Board married twice, first, June 1, 1868,
Josephine Bradbury Curry, and second, October 2, 1870, Hannah A.
Curry (both of Tilton, N. H.), and they have three children: Joseph
Orton, born in 1873; Anna Tebbetts, born in 1880, and Josephine
Clough, born in 1885.

JAMES BONNYMAN was born September 1, 1854, in Batriphnie, Banffshire
County, Scotland. He received a common school education in Scotland,
and came to America in 1872. He located in Philadelphia and worked at
his trade as florist nearly nine years. He moved to Warwick in 1880,
and after working for J. E. Cropsey for some time, started for
himself in floriculture. He is a large grower of roses and
carnations, which are mostly sold in the home market. He is a member
of the Reformed Dutch Church, has been one of its deacons eight
years, and is a member of the Y. M. C. A. He is an earnest church
worker, and active in public affairs. In politics he is a republican.
He married Miss Catherine Amelia McPeek, daughter of Lewis and Sarah
McPeek, September 16, 1883. They have four children living, one
having died while young. Those living are: Alexander M., born May 17,
1885, a graduate of Columbia College of Pharmacy; Amy R., born May
31, 1887, a graduate of the Warwick Institute, and Douglass, born
May 27, 1893.

FRED BOOTH, secretary and general manager of the Firth Carpet Company
at Firthcliffe, Orange County, N. Y., is a native of Yorkshire,
England, and came to America in 1884 to superintend the plant of this
company, then located in Philadelphia. In March, 1886, they purchased
the Broadhead Woolen Mills, transferred their machinery to the new
location and continued the manufacture of worsted yarns, tapestry and
Brussels carpet. The concern, of which Mr. Booth is the active head,
is one of the leading industries in Orange County. The capital stock
is $1,000,000 and employment is given to four hundred persons.

The officers of the company are: F. F. Firth, president; A. F. Firth,
vice-president; B. H. Tobey, treasurer, and Fred Booth, secretary and
general manager.

JESSE BOOTH was born at Campbell Hall, May 8, 1853. His father was
Alfred Booth and mother Dolle Watkins (Reeve) Booth. His parents had
a family of four children: Matilda Roe, wife of W. H. D. Blake, of
New Paltz, N. Y., died October, 1904; Hanna Caroline, wife of George
Slaughter, of Campbell Hall, N. Y.; Marianna, wife of Lewis H.
Woolsey, of New Paltz, N. Y.; Sarah Reeve Booth, wife of Samuel B.
Hepburn, of East Orange, N. J., and Jesse. Jesse's early education
was obtained at the district school at Campbell Hall after attending
the Claverack School near Hudson, N. Y. Mr. Booth has always been
identified with agricultural pursuits. He married Keturah Crowell, of
St. Andrews, N. Y., January 7, 1885. There were born to them five
children: Anna Louise, born September 28, 1885, died at the age of
sixteen months; Dollie Watkins, born October 26, 1888; Pierson, born
January 12, 1890; Alfred, born October 22, 1893, and Wellington, born
September 26, 1896. Mr. Booth is a member of the Presbyterian Church
of Hamptonburgh. In politics he is a republican and he is a member of
the Hamptonburgh Grange No. 950. The farm which he owns has been in
the family for a period of two hundred years. At present Mr. Booth
resides on Highland avenue, Middletown, N. Y.

JOHN GAIL BORDEN, the youngest son of the late Gail Borden, who was
famous as an inventor and public benefactor, was born in Galveston,
Texas, January 4, 1844. Coming North when but a lad of thirteen, he
entered one of the Brooklyn public schools, and later attended the
Winchester Academy in Winchester Center, Conn., where he remained for
two years. From the time when he left the academy until he entered a
business college, young Borden assisted his father in establishing
the condensed milk business, then in its infancy.

The call for volunteers in 1861 interrupted the business college
course, and Mr. Borden, then but nineteen years of age, enlisted at
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., under Colonel (the late General) John Henry
Ketcham, in the 150th N. Y. Volunteers, serving in his regiment for
two years and a half, and attaining the rank of second lieutenant
during that time. Just before his regiment started for the front, the
young patriot presented himself for baptism and membership in the
Armenia, N. Y., Baptist Church, and in the years following gave every
evidence of a consistent Christian life.

His service in the "150th" was terminated by a serious illness,
caused by the severe strain and exposure of army life, and Mr. Borden
was compelled to return to his home for rest and recuperation. When
sufficiently recovered, he was transferred to the 47th N. Y.
Volunteers, and remained with that regiment until the close of the
war. Returning to his home in Brewsters, N. Y., Mr. Borden became
actively identified with the Borden Condensed Milk Co., and upon the
death of his father, in 1874, succeeded him as its president.

During his connection with the company, he made many valuable
improvements in the methods of manufacturing condensed milk, and
otherwise firmly established the reputation of the Borden Condensed
Milk Co.

Removing in 1881 from Brewsters to Wallkill, N. Y., he purchased the
property known as the "John P. Andrews farm," comprising about two
hundred acres, and by acquiring adjacent lands from time to time, the
"Borden Home Farm" was made to cover an area of some fifteen hundred
acres. Most, if not all, of this property was a part of an original
grant of land deeded by Queen Anne, in 1709, to "her true and loving
subjects." Here Mr. Borden built a large condensery for the Borden
Condensed Milk Co., continuing the management of the business until
1884, when failing health compelled him to retire from an active
business life. From that time until his death, Mr. Borden gave his
whole attention to the improving and beautifying of his "Home Farm,"
trying, as he expressed it, to "make two blades of grass grow where
but one grew before." With all the improvements made upon the farm,
he did not indulge in what is known as "fancy farming," but aimed
rather to make his improvements on a practical basis, furnishing
object lessons which any energetic farmer might easily put into
practice.

In politics Mr. Borden was a staunch Republican, firmly believing in
every citizen taking an Active part in the politics of his town, and
conscientiously performing his duty at the primaries and the polls.

Mr. Borden's patriotism increased with years, and he was one, if not
the first, of the pioneers who labored to impress upon the minds of
the children a strong love for country and "the Stars and Stripes,"
and each Decoration Day he presented to every child in the public
schools in his vicinity, a small American flag; continuing this
practice until his death. Among Mr. Borden's characteristics, none
were stronger than his devotion to home and country. Courtesy and
gentleness were also marked characteristics with him, and his hat was
removed as quickly for a little girl as for a lady. He was a true
disciple of the "gospel of labor," and one of his unwritten mottoes
was, that "what was worth doing at all was worth doing well," which
rule was followed out in all his undertakings. He worked incessantly
and was old before his time. Mr. Borden died in October, 1891, at
Ormond, Fla., where, as well as in the North, he left an enviable and
lasting record of practical Christian living. He lived but
forty-seven years--a short life, but one so filled with work for God
and humanity, that its value cannot be estimated by the number of
years alone.

CHARLES CLAYTON BOURNE, brick manufacturer, was born in Brooklyn,
N. Y., in 1865 and has resided in Newburgh since 1889, when he began
the manufacture of brick at Fishkill Landing, Dutchess County,
shortly after completing his education at the University of the
City of New York. Mr. Bourne is identified with the Masonic
fraternity; member of the Powelton Club and a director of the City
Club of Newburgh. He married Miss Anna, daughter of James Fullager.
Their mansion overlooking the Hudson was erected by Mr. Bourne in
1905.

EDWARD C. BOYNTON, son of the late Major E. C. and Mary J. (Hubbard)
Boynton, was born at West Point, N. Y., in 1864. Graduate Newburgh
Academy, and Cornell University in 1887, with the degree of ME; was
assistant in the laboratory of Thomas Edison two years; was then
engaged as superintendent with various firms in the manufacture of
electrical machinery. In 1895 was appointed chief electrical engineer
of the N. Y., N. H. & H. Ry. Co., with whom he remained six years.
In 1901 accepted position of mechanical engineer of Chicago & Great
Western Railroad, with headquarters at St. Paul, Minn., remaining two
years. From 1903 to September, 1906, he acted as consulting and
testing engineer in New York City, when he was appointed manager of
the Orange County Traction Co., where he remained one and a half
years and is now consulting engineer in Newburgh. Member American
Institute of Electrical Engineers; the National Geographic Society;
New York Railroad Club; ex-member of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers; contributes special articles to the street
railway journals; author of "American Electrical Railway Practice."

THOMAS W. BRADLEY, Walden, was born April 6, 1844; was for fifty
years in the employ of the New York Knife Co., serving the last
twenty-five years as president and treasurer, during which time he
made the plant of this company the largest and most successful of its
kind in the United States; was for some time president of the Walden
National Bank and has been for many years a director and
vice-president thereof; was one of the original trustees of the
Columbus Trust Co. of Newburgh; has been for many years a trustee of
the Walden Savings Bank; was a member of the State Assembly in 1876,
chairman of the committee on military affairs and assistant inspector
general of the National Guard; was a delegate to the national
republican conventions of 1892, 1896, 1900 and 1908; was elected to
the national house of representatives for the 58th, 59th and 60th
Congresses, and served with the committee on military affairs, and
the committee on invalid pensions; was married in 1867 to Josephine
Denniston, daughter of Colonel James Denniston, of Little Britain;
entered the Union Army as a private soldier, September 5, 1862; was
promoted through every intermediate grade, and became a captain in
the 124th New York Infantry Volunteers, served as personal
aid-de-camp to Major General Gershom Mott, 3d Division, 2d Army
Corps, was brevetted major United States Volunteers "for meritorious
service," and was awarded the congressional medal of honor for
gallantry at Chancellorsville, where he "volunteered in response to a
call, and alone, in the face of a heavy fire of musketry and
canister, went out and procured ammunition for the use of his
comrades;" was severely wounded in action at Gettysburg, July 2,
1863, was wounded in action at The Wilderness, May 6, 1864, and
wounded in action at Boydton Plank Road, October 27, 1864; is a
member of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, a companion of the
first class in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United
States, and a member of the New York Chattanooga-Gettysburg Battle
Fields Commission; is affiliated with Wallkill Lodge, F. and A. M.,
Highland Chapter and Hudson River Commandery; is a member of the City
Club, Newburgh, and the Army and Navy Club, New York City; he has for
many years been connected with the First Reformed Church of Walden;
is a member of the Bradley Hose Co. of Walden, and of Enterprise
Steamer Co., of which he was for some time the first foreman.

JOHN B. BRADNER, of Bellvale, Orange County, N. Y., was born in 1849.
His early education was acquired at the district school in Bellvale.
At the age of fourteen he began working on the farm. When eighteen
years of age he clerked in a general store at Bellvale and after a
period of seven years was taken into partnership, the firm being Burt
& Bradner. This partnership continued for about three years, when Mr.
Bradner withdrew and erected the first store at Greenwood Lake, where
he continued in business for nine years. Mr. Bradner also owns a
productive and valuable orange grove in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was
united in marriage to Miss Clara R. Hunt in 1873. There were four
children to bless this union, only two of whom are now living.
In politics a democrat, Mr. Bradner has served as postmaster at
Bellvale, was school trustee and has acted as trustee of the Warwick
Savings Bank.

WILLIAM A. BRADNER is one of the six children of Jacob Howe Bradner
and Sarah C. Vandervoort Bradner, four of whom are living. He was
born on a farm near Warwick, May 23, 1867. The other living children
are John H., of Olean, N. Y.; William A., of Warwick: Carrie, wife of
S. D. Tilt, of Warwick, and Samuel Blain Dolson, of Bowie, Arizona.
William A., after his schooling, which ended in Warwick Institute,
assisted his father on the farm until his father's death in 1901. It
is a dairy farm of one hundred acres, with one thousand peach trees,
on which the Indians camped in pioneer days and near which
Washington's army was camped for awhile. The house was built in 1810
of timber brought from Connecticut, and Mr. Bradner's grandfather
bought the place of James Bell. Mr. Bradner is a skillful farmer, and
in practical matters generally is up with the times.

GEORGE RICHARD BREWSTER, attorney, of Newburgh, was born in Newburgh,
N. Y., November 17, 1873. He is a son of Eugene Augustus and Anna W.
(Brown) Brewster. The family ancestry is traced through the Brewsters
of Long Island and Connecticut, to Nathaniel Brewster, a member of
the class graduated from Harvard (1642), whose father, Francis
Brewster, came to America from London, England, and settled in New
Haven, Conn. Mr. Brewster was educated at Siglar's Preparatory
School, Newburgh, and Yale University, from which he graduated in
1894 with the degree of Ph.B. He read law in the office of his
father, the late Hon. Eugene A. Brewster, and was admitted to the bar
in 1896. He is a member of the Democratic Club of New York; Yale Club
of New York; Transportation Club, New York; a director of the City
and Powelton Clubs, Newburgh; director of the National Bank of
Newburgh, and vestryman of St. George's Church; he is also a director
of a number of local corporations.

Mr. Brewster was married January 18, 1899, to Margaret Conley Orr,
daughter of the late James Orr, of Newburgh.

NATHANIAL R. BREWSTER, whose farm is situated at East Coldenham in
the town of Newburgh, is a descendant of one of Orange County's old
and prominent families. His ancestry dates back to William Brewster,
who came over in the Mayflower and was the progenitor of the
Brewsters in America. He is a son of William C. and a grandson of
Nathaniel Brewster, who previously cultivated this property.
Considerable interest is attached to this farm from the fact that
Nathaniel Brewster near his home unearthed the skeleton of a
mastodon, which was purchased by Dr. Warren, of Boston, and later
sold to J. Pierpont Morgan, who presented it to the New York Museum
of Natural History.

In 1896 Mr. Brewster established here a school for nervous and
backward children, and the methods of training adopted have proved
very successful.

WALTER H. BREWSTER, supervisor of the town of Blooming Grove, is a
descendant of one of Orange County's old families. He is a son of
Henry S. and Harriet (Halsey) Brewster and was born on his father's
farm in Blooming Grove in 1869. He has always been engaged in
agricultural pursuits, in which he has achieved much success. He was
appointed a member of the board of supervisors to fill a vacancy in
1902 and in 1903 was elected to the office and re-elected in 1905 and
1907. Mr. Brewster married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Warren
Hathaway, and they have one son, Henry.

GEORGE E. BRINK, agent, L. & H. R. Ry., at East Chester Station,
village of Chester, N. Y., son of Geo. E. Brink, of Franklin, N. J.,
and Lucretia Trusdell, of Vernon, N. J., was born December 7, 1879,
at Franklin Furnace, N. J. His mother moved to Warwick, N. Y., when
he was three years old. He got a common school education, and after
working at odd jobs entered railway service as clerk in the general
office, November 1, 1898. He also learned telegraphy, proved a good
operator and has held various positions on different railroads in the
capacity of agent, yard master, assistant train master, operator and
train dispatcher. For the last two years and over he has been at East
Chester, N. Y., where he has built up business in one year from $300
to $1,200 monthly. Mr. Brink has many friends in the vicinity and is
well known by all as a thorough all-around railroad man.

LEANDER BRINK was born in the town of Shawangunk, Ulster County,
N. Y., January 30, 1833. He is a son of James Brink, who was born in
the town of Wallkill, Orange County, N. Y., in 1804. The family is of
Dutch lineage. At the age of two years Mr. Brink's parents removed to
Schuyler County, and his younger days were spent on the farm. In 1854
he came to Middletown and clerked for his uncle, Hiram Brink, a
furniture dealer, with whom he remained until October, 1857. He was
then taken in the firm as partner, the firm name becoming H. & L.
Brink. In 1864 he went to Saginaw, Michigan, engaging in the
manufacture of salt, Mr. Brink being superintendent of the works.

He continued in that business until 1867, when he returned to
Middletown, retaining his interest in the salt works until 1876. In
politics Mr. Brink is a republican and is a man of strong temperance
sentiment. He was married to Miss Mary Horton in 1857, daughter of
Hiram Horton, of Wallkill township.

T. HUNT BROCK, proprietor of the Hotel Erie at Port Jervis, was born
at Scranton, Pa., in 1870, at which place he obtained his education.
He first became identified with the hotel business in 1881 at the
Hotel Windsor at Scranton, Pa., where he remained for a period of ten
years. He removed to Port Jervis, N. Y., in 1901 and purchased the
Erie Hotel, which he still conducts.

Mr. Brock is a member of the following social and fraternal
organizations: F. and A. M. No. 291, of Scranton, Pa.; Neversink
Chapter, Delaware Commandery, and Mecca Temple, Mystic Shrine of
N. Y.; B. P. O. E. No. 645, of Port Jervis, and the Sons of Veterans,
Camp No. 8.

CHAUNCY BROOKS, contractor and builder, of the village of Montgomery,
N. Y., was born in 1842 at Eagle Valley in what was then the town of
Monroe. His father traded Monroe Village, depot and all, for four
hundred acres of land at what is now called Tuxedo. He still has a
brother, Malcom Brooks, there, who is ex-supervisor of Tuxedo. As a
young man he taught school for a while in his home district, and then
learned to be an architect and builder. In 1867 he came to
Montgomery, where he has achieved much prominence both as a
contractor and in the affairs of the village. He was president of the
board of water commissioners for six years during the time of its
construction, and a member of the school board for nine years. In
1869 Mr. Brooks married Martha, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Mould)
Wait, and three children have been born to them. Charles W., a civil
engineer and graduate of Brown's University and also of Philadelphia
University, resides at Washington and is in the employ of the
government in the War and Navy Department. Alida W. is a graduate of
the Emerson College of Boston and of the College of Albany, and is
still attending the University of New York City and teaching at
Bayonne, N. J. She is a teacher of elocution and physical culture.
His youngest daughter, Minnie M., is a graduate of Montgomery High
School, also of the Metropolitan College of Music. She resides at
Montgomery, where she is giving instruction in music. Mr. Brooks has
erected most of the substantial buildings in Montgomery and vicinity
and gives employment regularly to a large force of men.

F. B. BROOKS, bookkeeper for C. T. Knight and assistant postmaster at
Monroe, N. Y., was born in this village in 1872. He has been
associated with Mr. Knight for the past eleven years and is actively
identified with public affairs of his native place. He is president
of the board of education and director and treasurer of the Fire
Company. He is also director of the local building and loan
association. Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr.
Brooks deals extensively in real estate and has effected the sales of
many valuable farms and choice country seats in Orange County.

GEORGE H. BROOKS was born at Mountainville, and his education was in
the district school. From his youth until nineteen years of age he
assisted his father on the farm. In 1875 he went to Turners, N. Y.,
and worked at blacksmithing four years, came to Chester in 1879, and
was with Joseph Gavin two years; then went to Sugar Loaf, Orange
County, and opened a shop there, which he conducted ten years. In
1891 he came to Chester and purchased of S. Hadden the establishment
in which he had been manufacturing buggies for thirty-five years. He
enlarged it, added new and improved machinery, making of it one of
the best appointed manufactories in the county. He is a Methodist in
religion and a republican in politics. In September, 1885, he was
married to Eliza Litchult. Their seven children's names are Dora L.,
Lena C, Elsie, Helen, Merry, Clarence and Phoebe J. Mr. Brooks'
father is still living at the age of ninety at Little Britain in the
town of New Windsor.

DAVID BROWN, who is engaged in the express business in New York City,
maintains a country place in the town of Newburgh, situated on the
State road, known as the Cochecton turnpike. Mr. Brown purchased this
farm, which comprises forty acres, in 1903. Commencing in a small
way, Mr. Brown by industry, enterprise and the wise counsel of his
wife has built up a very prosperous business in the metropolis. He
married Miss Mary J. Baxter and they have one daughter, Genevieve.

EBER L. BROWN, owner of a seven-hundred-acre farm in the town of
Minisink, and much valuable real estate in the village of Unionville
and the cities of Middletown and New York, was born in Sussex County,
N. J., in 1828. As a boy he clerked for a number of years and
subsequently became a member of the wholesale grocery firm of
Stillwell, Brown & Co., of New York City, for five years. In 1848 he
went to California and engaged in mining with much success. On his
return East he was connected with a wholesale dry goods house in New
York and a wholesale grocery house.

Business cares affected his health and he came to Unionville and
settled on the farm where his father was born. There he made his home
and supervised the farm for twenty years. He then opened a wholesale
and retail feed store in Unionville, and here organized a silk
manufacturing establishment, giving employment to fifty hands. The
plant was destroyed by fire in 1894. Mr. Brown now devotes his time
principally to his real estate holdings in Unionville and Middletown.
He is one of the directors of the Sussex Bank and has served as
supervisor of the town.

Mr. Brown was twice married, his first wife being Miss Sarah E.
Lewis. His second wife was Miss Caroline M. Lain, and they became the
parents of twelve children, of whom five are living.

EDWARD ALLEN BROWN, proprietor of the Brown Hotel at Middletown, is a
native of Orange County, having been born in the town of Greenville
on December 7, 1840. His residence in Middletown dates from 1888,
when he purchased the Russell House and conducted it under that name
until the spring of 1908, when the new brick building, erected on the
site of the old structure, was completed. This hotel now known as the
"Brown," is one of the largest and best equipped hostelries in
eastern New York, and has a large patronage. Mr. Brown has owned and
conducted hotels in New York City, New Orleans, La., Logansport,
Ind., and Port Jervis, N. Y. For two years he held the office of
under sheriff of Orange County; was sergeant-at-arms in the Assembly
during a part of the Tilden administration; was assistant journal
clerk the first year of Cleveland's administration, and was
purchasing agent for the New York State Prison under Warden W. R.
Brown.

R. T. BROWN, senior member of the firm of Brown & Whitten, merchants
at Pine Bush, N. Y., is a native of New York City. The firm continued
the business established by Taylor & Howell. Mr. Brown was associated
for two years with Mr. Howell under the firm name of Howell & Brown.
Mr. Brown then conducted the business alone five years, and in 1907
the present partnership was formed.

Socially Mr. Brown is a member of the Knights of Pythias, he married
Miss Elizabeth Decker and they are the parents of three children.

U. GRANT BROWN is of Welsh descent, his ancestors coming from Wales
to America in 1650, settled on Long Island at a place then called
Oyster Bonds and now Glen Port. He was born July 28, 1863, at
Burnside, Orange County, and farming has always been his occupation.
His education was obtained at the district school of Burnside. His
parents were Daniel T. and Lucretia Brown. Of their five children
only two are living, U. Grant and Linus W. The latter resides in New
Orleans, La. U. Grant was married to Anna Sinsabaugh, of Cornwall,
N. Y., March 27, 1889, and three children have been born to
them--Edna, Josephine and Helen.

WILLIAM WISNER BUCKBEE has the distinction of having been born at
Wisner, Orange County, in the old stone house, which has been in the
family one hundred and forty years. The date of his birth was July
12, 1861. He was educated in the district school, began active life
as a farmer, and remained a farmer until his death, November 19,
1886. He also dealt in coal and feed at Wisner. He was postmaster
there twenty years, was treasurer of Locust Hill Cemetery, and being
a popular republican and good citizen, held several town offices at
various times. He was a grandson of Captain John Wisner. He was
married to H. Elizabeth Wisner, October 7, 1885, and their seven
children are all living--Emma, Albert, Anna Buckbee, William,
Francis, Henry and Louise.

AUSTIN C. BULL, who was born in the Governor Clinton homestead in the
town of New Windsor in 1855, has always made his home at this
historic spot, superintending his farm of three hundred and nine
acres. He is a descendant of an old and honored Orange County family.
William Bull, the first of that name in this county, was born at
Wolverhampton, England, in 1689. He came to America in 1715 and a
year later married Sarah Wells, of Goshen, which was the first
marriage ceremony performed in the old town of Goshen. He died in
1755 and she died in 1796, aged one hundred and two years. In 1868
an appropriate monument was erected over the remains of the venerable
couple near Hamptonburgh Church by their descendants. The father of
Austin C. was John Springstead Bull, a son of Isaac and grandson of
John Bull, a native of Hamptonburgh. J. S. Bull was born in the town
of Monroe in 1809. When a boy he entered the employ of David H.
Moffat, a merchant of Washingtonville, and in 1832 purchased the
business. He married the daughter of Samuel and Bethiah (Reeder)
Moffat, of the town of Blooming Grove. He purchased the Clinton
property in 1840 and the couple resided there until their death, the
former in 1876 and the latter in 1889. Mr. Austin C. Bull is a member
of Blooming Grove Congregational Church and is identified with
Washingtonville Grange.

CHARLES R. BULL, a prominent citizen of Orange County, residing near
Oxford Depot, is a descendant in the fifth generation of William Bull
and Sarah Wells, the pioneers who settled in this county in the
middle of the eighteenth century, to whom frequent reference is made
in this history.

Charles R. was born at the Blooming Grove homestead in 1838 and is a
son of Jesse and Caroline (Board) Bull. After completing his studies
at Chester Academy he attended a private school at Bloomfield, N. J.,
for three years. He then engaged in the management of his farms,
which comprise four hundred and forty-eight acres. In public life Mr.
Bull has served as supervisor four years. He was appointed by
Governor Odell, during his second term, loan commissioner of Orange
County and is the present incumbent of that office.

Mr. Bull is a director of the Chester National Bank, of which his
father was one of the incorporators. He is also a director of the
Columbus Trust Company, Newburgh, and vice-president of the Orange
and Rockland Electric Company of Monroe.

Mr. Bull married Harriet, daughter of Jesse Roe, of Chester, and they
are the parents of one son and two daughters: Jesse, who resides at
home; Caroline, now the wife of Clarence S. Knight; Mary, the wife of
S. B. Patterson.

EBENEZER BULL was born March 3, 1846, in the old stone house at
Hamptonburgh, Orange County, erected in 1722, which is still
standing. Mr. Bull is the fifth direct descendant who has resided in
this house. After his schooling he returned home and assisted in farm
work and has always been identified with farming. He married Anna,
daughter of Byard Walling, of Middletown, N. Y., October 17, 1894.
Mr. Bull's parents were Ebenezer and Jane Bull. There were thirteen
children born by this union. He is a member of Hamptonburgh Grange
No. 950 and largely identified in the dairy business. Tradition says
the barn on Mr. Bull's farm is older than the stone house, but the
date of erection cannot be verified. Purgatory swamp, near the Bull
stone house, derived its name from a messenger of the revolutionary
period, who was sent from the army of New Jersey with papers to
Washington's headquarters at Newburgh. He had instructions to stop
over night at this historic stone house of William Bull, became
confused and stopped at William Bull's son's house opposite the
swamp. In getting through at night he made the remark "out of
Purgatory," and it has always maintained this name.

HARRY BULL--The parents of Harry Bull were William and Phoebe Bull,
of Stony Ford, Orange County, and here he was born on the old Bull
homestead, May 25, 1872. There were eight children, five of whom are
living. He attended the district school at Franklin Square and
Friends Academy at Locust Valley, and then took a three months'
course in the Agricultural College at Cornell University, Ithaca, as
a preparation for the farming to which he has always devoted himself.
He is a republican, and has been justice of the peace for the past
eight years. He is a member of Hamptonburgh Grange No. 950, of which
he was one of the organizers, and of the Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Bull married Miss Lucille Pierson, of Hamptonburgh, daughter of
W. H. and Elizabeth Pierson. They have two children, Keturah, aged
seven, and Henry, aged six.

IRVING CRAWFORD BULL was born in Middletown, Orange County, N. Y.,
January 24, 1879. Father's name was Albert Bull and mother's name was
Ella B. Crawford. Father was druggist for thirty years. Graduated
from Middletown High School in 1898 and was president of his class.
Graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, in
1901, receiving the degree of bachelor of philosophy. Graduated from
Columbia University Post-Graduate, in 1902, receiving the degree of
master of arts. Dividing the years of 1902-1903 was assistant to
Professor Henry M. Howe, professor of metallurgy, Columbia
University, assisting in the experimental works in connection with
publications by Professor Howe, also giving frequent lectures at the
University. In October, 1903, he formed a partnership with Alfred E.
Roberts, of Hartford, Conn., under the firm name of Bull & Roberts,
analytical and consulting chemists and metallurgists, with offices
and laboratories at 100 Maiden Lane, New York City; also branch
offices and laboratories at Middletown, N. Y. They are the consulting
chemists and metallurgists for many transportation companies
centering in New York, also for large contracting companies. He is
also a member of the Yale Club, New York City; honorary member of the
Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company, Middletown, N. Y.; member of the
Society of Chemical Industry, American Chemical Society, American
Leather Chemists' Association, America's Institute of Mining
Engineers. He has been chemist to the board of water commissioners,
Middletown, N. Y., for five years; he is also a Son of the
Revolution, and a member of the University Club, Middletown, N. Y.

On April 20, 1904, he married Mabel Dorothy Horton, youngest daughter
of the late James Horton, Middletown, N. Y., former president of the
United States Leather Company. On July 7, 1905, a son was born, whose
name is Irving Horton Bull.

RICHARD BULL, son of Daniel Harlow Bull and Mary Ann Board, was born
in the homestead at Campbell Hall, the house being built previous to
1800; no record can be found of anyone having occupied it but the
Bull family. Mr. Bull's late school education was at Farmer's Hall
and Montgomery Academy, two years in each. He has always been
identified with farming and is a member of Hamptonburgh Grange No.
950, and also a member of National Grange, and also of the New York
Mill Exchange. He is one of the trustees of the Burial Hill Cemetery
Association at Hamptonburgh. The Bull family have held an annual
picnic for forty years on the one-hundred-acre tract granted to
William Bull and Sarah Wells by Christopher Denn, who were the first
settlers in Orange County. Mr. Bull was treasurer of the picnic for a
number of years, and president for one term.

He married Annie Wells, of Newburgh, whose mother was the daughter of
Mehetable Bull, and her father was Captain William Bull, who was an
officer in the Revolutionary War. Their one child, Charles Wells
Bull, is a wholesale jeweler in Maiden Lane, New York City. He is the
sixth generation on his father's side from the first William, and
seventh on his mother's.

STEPHEN M. BULL, wholesale grocer and representative citizen of
Newburgh, N. Y., was born in the Clinton homestead. Little Britain,
N. Y., July 14, 1844; he was educated at district schools and by a
private tutor. In 1864 he located in Newburgh and was engaged
successfully with Johnston & Alsdorf and Thomas H. Skidmore & Son as
bookkeeper and salesman. In 1879 the wholesale grocery house of
Skidmore, Bull & Co. was formed. Since 1891 Mr. Bull has been sole
proprietor. Married May 26, 1869, Martha, daughter of Samuel Oakley.
Two children have been born--Emily Grace and John Springstead. Mr.
Bull is a direct descendant of William Bull, who was born in England,
February, 1689, and came to America in 1715. The family occupied a
prominent place in the early history of Orange County.

THE BULLS OF SOUTH CAROLINA--Stephen Bull and Barnaby Bull, sons of
Josias Bull, of Kingshurst Hall, emigrated to South Carolina in 1670
in a ship named Carolina. They were uncles of William Bull, who
emigrated in 1715, settling at Hamptonburgh, Orange County, N. Y.

From Mrs. Haxtum's Genealogical Column in the New York Mail and
Express we read:

"The Bulls were among the very earliest settlers of South Carolina,
and have always borne a high record in the public life and in social
relation. Stephen Bull, the founder of the family, was deputy
proprietor for Lord Ashley in 1674 to 1682. After that date he
represented various other proprietors until 1699. He was almost
continuously in the grand council, where his discreet judgment and
high personal character were greatly esteemed. He held in turn and
together many high offices, civil and military, and was an
adventurous explorer and trader among the Indians. He was buried at
his beautiful seat, Ashley Hall, still in its decadence, one of the
chief attractions of the historic river. His son, the Hon. William
Bull, saw service as an officer in both the early Indian wars, and in
civil life was active in the commons and council. He assisted General
Oglethorpe in laying out Savannah, and was lieutenant-governor,
acting from 1738 to 1744. His home in Charleston was the old 'Hayne
House,' now owned by Mr. Henry Picken. His son, Stephen Bull, was
distinguished in military and civil public life, and was the father
of General Stephen Bull, of the Revolution. His home was Sheldon, one
of the old family estates. The Hon. William Bull, of Ashley Hall, was
the first American to graduate in medicine, which he did at Leyden,
in 1734. Returning, he served the province in various capacities,
civil and military, until appointed lieutenant-governor in 1759. He
administered the province with great vigor and ability at various
intervals, acting five times as governor. Loyal to the crown, but
without creating animosity, he left Charleston with the royal troops
in 1782, dying in London in 1791, an exile for conscience sake from
the land he loved and served so well."

A few miles beyond the Ashley River is the Bull dominion, where once
stood Ashley Hall, the country home of Governor Bull, the last
colonial governor of South Carolina. A large monument of marble
appropriately inscribed and bearing the Bull coat-of-arms stands on
the grounds, commemorative to his memory.

WILLIAM BULL was born July 25, 1830, on the homestead farm near Stony
Ford, Orange County, N. Y. The present owner, William Bull, of this
historic old house, which was built in 1791, is the fifth of that
name to occupy the homestead. The third William Bull, who erected the
house, was with Washington at Valley Forge and at the battle of
Monmouth. Our subject acquired his education at Mount Pleasant
Academy at Ossining. He entered Princeton College in 1847 and
graduated in 1851. He returned to the farm and has always followed
agricultural pursuits. He married Phoebe Bull, one of eight daughters
of Ebenezer Bull, of Hamptonburgh, November 22, 1859. Their children
are: Elizabeth Green; Sarah, wife of Charles F. Wells, of Newburgh,
N. Y.; Ebenezer Henry, and Bartow W. In politics Mr. Bull is a
republican and has served the town as justice of peace for fourteen
years, has been post master at Stony Ford, and held other town
offices. He is a member of the Zeta Psi college fraternity, Stony
Ford Grange No. 951, and Pomona Grange. He attends the Presbyterian
Church of Campbell Hall.

WILLIAM EDGAR BULL, of Charleston, S. C, is a son of Edmund Llewellyn
and Mary Evelina (Bruen) Bull. Edmund Bull was born in Orange County
in 1817, removed to Charleston in 1832, and died there in 1892. His
marriage with Mary Evelina Bruen occurred in March, 1844, and fifteen
children were born to them. The progenitor of this branch of the Bull
family was William Bull, who emigrated from Kingshurst Hall,
Wolverhampton, England, in 1715, settling at Hamptonburgh, Orange
County. William was a nephew of Stephen and Barnaby Bull, who
emigrated to America in 1670, and was the progenitor of the Bull
family of South Carolina. Edmund Bull was a son of James D. Bull and
Nancy Rogers. James D. was a son of Chrisie Bull and Elizabeth Case.
Chrisie was a son of John Bull and Hannah Holley. John was a son of
William Bull and Sarah Wells. The marriage of William Bull and Sarah
Wells was the first ceremony performed in the old town of Goshen.
They made their home in a log house from 1719 until 1722, when they
built the stone house which is still standing. A view of this old
house appears on another page in this volume.

ISAIAH BUNN was born at North Church, N. J., July 22, 1808, and is
one of six children, all living, of Obadiah Bunn and Hanna I. Wilson
Bunn. He attended the district school, mostly in the winters, until
he was twenty-two years of age, when he operated a threshing machine
for four years. He then went to New York City, worked there a year,
and went from there to Hamburgh, N. J., where he engaged in the
bottling business. He came to Warwick in 1887, and started a small
bottling plant. The business was so successful that he now has one of
the most up-to-date bottling plants in this section of the State. He
is the owner of a well producing the purest water for carbonated
drinks, and is manager of the Spring Lake Ice Company. His wife was
Miss Minnie Vanderhoff, of Warwick, and their children are Minnie and
Howard, who are living at home. He is a member of Deckertown Lodge
No. 98, F. & A. M.

E. R. BURROUGHS, president and manager of the Abendroth & Root
Manufacturing Company, has resided in Newburgh since 1901, when the
plant was moved from Greenpoint, N. Y., to this city. The factory
buildings are distributed over twelve acres of land and have a total
floor space of four acres, modern in every way, and thoroughly
equipped for the work produced. The property has a frontage of 800
feet on the Hudson River, with deep water docking facilities. A
private switch from the West Shore Railroad bisects the plant,
enabling connections with the New York Central, the Erie and N. Y.,
N. H. and H. Railroads. Machinery utilizing 600 horse-power of Root
water tube boilers are in operation. Among the departments are a gray
iron and brass foundry, forge shops, boiler erecting department,
spiral pipe mill, sheet iron, plate metal and drum shop. The company
has recently placed on the market the Frontenac touring car, which
ranks among the foremost makes of automobiles in this country.
Branches are maintained in New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago.

W. J. BURROWS, son of Alexander and Jennette (Todd) Burrows, was born
in New York City in 1856. When he was two years of age his parents
removed to the town of Newburgh, and it was here he received his
schooling. He then engaged in farming with Fenton Cosman, where he
remained eight years and then purchased his present fruit farm of
twenty-two acres. Mr. Burrows has been trustee of the Marlborough
Presbyterian Church fifteen years, elder two years and superintendent
of the Sunday-school two years. He is a member of Cronomer Valley
Grange and has served as its secretary. He married Miss Nancy E.
Morrow and five children have been born to them.

GRINNELL BURT was born in Bellvale, Orange County, N. Y., on November
7, 1822. He was a grandson of James Burt, who for twenty years was a
prominent legislator of the State. An orphan at fourteen, he was
thrown on his own resources. With unusual ability for mechanical
construction, and a mind that quickly grasped all opportunities for
developing the resources of the country, he became interested in
railroad projects. Meanwhile his love for the law prompted a course
of reading and study which proved of great value when corporate
interests were committed to his charge.

With others he organized, in 1859, the Warwick Valley Railroad. The
growing needs of the valley called for various extensions of the
line. Mr. Burt's pluck and rare executive ability served his
constituents well. By the last consolidation the road was merged into
and known as the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company. He was its
continuous and only president forty-two years, dying in office. He
was identified with various projects for bridging the Hudson. His was
the vision to project the Orange County Railroad--"the missing
link"--between the West and Southwest and New England, via the
Poughkeepsie Bridge. This dream of his old age he pushed through
with indomitable energy, enduring many anxious hours in its
consummation, but which to-day justifies all his sagacious commercial
foresight. The record of this Warwick railroad, while under his care,
was that it never had a strike, never was in the hands of a receiver,
never defaulted in the payment of the interest on its bonds, and no
passenger lost his life during Mr. Burt's long administration. He
selected his subordinates with rare judgment. At his death the new
president retained to a man the entire corps that had served under
Mr. Burt. No better choice could be made.

The other roads he served for varying terms as director, reorganizer,
superintendent or president, were the Pittsburgh & Western;
Cincinnati, Van Wert & Michigan (now the Cincinnati, Jackson &
Mackinaw); New Jersey Midland (now the New York, Susquehanna &
Western); Kanawha & Ohio; New York & Greenwood Lake; Middletown,
Unionville & Water Gap, which he brought out of its chaotic condition
and placed on a sound footing, and the Toledo & Ohio Central,
generally conceded to be one of the most successful reorganizations
of a bankrupt company ever effected.

In 1875 Governor Tilden appointed him one of three commissioners to
remove obstructions from the Delaware River. The commission served
without pay, and after their work was thoroughly done a balance was
returned to the State treasury--a result so unusual in the
expenditure of public money that it excited no little comment.

No public work was ever dearer to Mr. Burt than the establishment of
the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital. Serving as chairman of the
building committee he saved the State much money by his watchful
care. He was appointed by Governor Dix on the first board of trustees
of this noble institution, and gave twenty-seven years of ungrudging
service; acting first as vice-president, he eventually became
president for the eleven successive years before his death. All this
he did amid the stress and strain of conflicting business cares in
behalf of suffering humanity.

In Warwick his name was coincident with its progress. He was one of
the agitators for incorporating it under a special charter; an
incorporator of Warwick Institute, serving thirty-two consecutive
years on the board of education; one of the founders of Christ
Church; on the committee of three to bond the town to pay volunteers
in the late rebellion; on the first board of trustees of the Warwick
Cemetery Association, active in building the reservoir and
water-works; on the first board of directors of the First National
Bank, where he served as vice-president for fifteen years.

The American Trossachs trip, which he inaugurated, was one of his
many-schemes to bring our valley's beauties into a wider recognition.
This excursion as planned by him would challenge comparison for
varied interest and charm with any one day's excursion taken in any
part of the world. Mr. Burt also did much for the development of
Greenwood Lake. The artistic station and his own stately home, both
built under his direction and out of our native McAfee limestone,
are evidence that Grinnell Burt was a man of taste and culture as
well. If you would see his monument, look about you in the little
village he so loyally loved and served.

In 1849 he married Miss Jane S. Van Duzer, daughter of Isaac Van
Duzer, of Warwick, by whom he had one son and four daughters: Frank
Howard, who died in infancy; Kate V. D., who married Charles
Caldwell, of Newburgh; Lily, wife of Frederick Halstead, of Brooklyn;
Jane, who died in 1903, and Mary Herrick Burt, who resides in the old
homestead. Mrs. Burt died in 1870. In 1886 he married Miss Louise
Pierson, daughter of Samuel V. Pierson, of Middletown, N. Y. By this
marriage he had twin sons, Grinnell, Jr., and Howard Pierson. Mr.
Burt died August 3, 1901.

Surely a few words of tribute should be added in honor of this man
whose unfaltering honesty, ability and enthusiasm called to his side
noble helpers and the capital necessary to carry out these difficult
public works. Personally he was possessed of most genial social
traits--to see him in his home was to see him at his best. Here he
dispensed the widest hospitality. He held high national ideals free
from party lines. He was capable of long hours of unremitting
physical and mental toil. He did not waste his energy talking about
things he would like to do--he did them. He was acknowledged to be a
winning and witty public speaker, and, when occasion demanded, a
formidable antagonist, as he was absolutely fearless and not to be
shaken from his convictions; and yet being {?} so fair withal that
his warmest personal friends were among those with whom he differed
on many occasions. In every walk of life he was a man.

When death came it seemed only a momentary interruption and to point
back triumphantly to his long and honorable life of service.

THOMAS BURT, of Warwick, was born January 5, 1821. Both of his
parents died when he was about fifteen years of age. He then lived
with his uncle, Thomas M. Burt, in Albany, who sent him to an academy
for one year. The next year he was employed in the printing office of
Packer and Van Benthuysen. The next three years, he was employed in
farming in central Ohio. In 1841 he returned to his native place,
Bellvale, and soon after bought his father's farm and sawmill, which
he operated until 1868, when he moved to his farm in Warwick, where
he now lives. In 1846, he married Hannah Sayer, and lived a married
life with her over fifty-four years. His surviving children are
Elizabeth, Lydia, Annie, and Mrs. Vernon B. Carroll.

The next seven years he was in the lumber and coal business in the
firm of Taylor, Burt and Pierson. In 1876 he organized the Warwick
Savings Bank and has served as secretary and treasurer to the present
time. As secretary and treasurer of the Warwick Cemetery Association
he has had the care of its records and funds for twenty-six years. He
was one of the commissioners who introduced public water into the
village. He has served as trustee in the district school, academy,
and Union Free School for many years, and as executor and
administrator of estates and of trust funds.

He is independent in politics, has never held public office, has
supported free soil, anti-slavery, and republican candidates, as well
as Grover Cleveland.

FRANK V. BURTON--Among the many private residences which grace the
banks of the Hudson River at Balmville, none is more imposing in
appearance than "Woodbine," the beautiful summer home of Mr. Frank V.
Burton, located on Big Hill on the river road. In 1850 Mr. Josiah H.
Burton, who is now in his eighty-second year and father of the
present owner, purchased a tract of land of about one hundred acres
and resided in a handsome home nearer the river than the present
mansion is situated. The property was afterward purchased by his son,
Frank V., who in 1895 constructed his present ideal residence. The
building is a three-story structure, 125 by 40 feet in dimensions and
of Normandy style of architecture, with a covered piazza extending
the whole length of the east side. The residence is surrounded by
spacious lawns, filled with the choicest flowers and ornamental
shrubs, while the river view from the house is one of the most
magnificent to be found in the country, extending a distance of ten
miles.

GILLMORE O. BUSH, who has held various public offices in what is now
the town of Tuxedo, was born at Arden, Orange County, in 1863. After
attending the district and parish schools he took a commercial course
at the Paterson Business College. Mr. Bush then spent five years in
Connecticut, and in 1886 came to Tuxedo Park and was appointed a
member of the newly organized police force. After serving four years
as patrolman he was promoted to chief of the department, which
position he still retains. He has been deputy sheriff of the county
of Orange since 1886. In 1899 Mr. Bush received the appointment of
postmaster at Tuxedo Park and was reappointed in 1904. He has acted
as assistant chief of the fire department since 1901. He is a charter
member of Lorillard Lodge, F. and A. M.

Mr. Bush is a son of James S. and Eliza J. (Minerly) Bush, old
residents of Orange County.

HORACE G. BUSH, son of Peter B. and Harriet (Ford) Bush, was born in the
town of Monroe, Orange County, N. Y., March 13, 1863, on the farm
where he has always resided. The Bush family have long been prominent
in the affairs of Orange County and in 1905 Horace G. was elected a
member of the board of supervisors. Socially he is identified with
the Masonic fraternity. He married Mary F. Smith, and two sons, Peter
and Horace S., have been born to them.

The early representatives of the Bush family emigrated from Holland.
Henry, the great-grandfather of Horace G., was a native of Orange
County. He was the father of five sons, of whom Peter H., by his
marriage to Abigail Smith, became the father of Peter B., referred to
above.

CHARLES CALDWELL was born in the town of New Windsor, March 31, 1839,
the son of John R. and Ruth Nicoll Caldwell, and grandson of Richard
Caldwell, the Irish patriot.

After graduating from Albert Roe's School of Surveying and Civil
Engineering at Cornwall, Mr. Caldwell opened an office in Newburgh,
and in 1863 was appointed corporation surveyor, and later was
annually appointed city surveyor, holding the office for nearly forty
years. He was known to be a republican in politics, having no
influence with democratic mayors or boards of aldermen.

Mr. Caldwell laid out all the streets of Newburgh opened since 1867,
planned and superintended the building of twenty miles of sewers,
laying the twenty-four-inch conduit from Washington Lake and building
the large stone arch bridge spanning Quassaick Creek.

Mr. Caldwell's reputation as an expert surveyor and engineer was well
known throughout the State, and his services in important and
complicated surveys were always in demand, especially where suits
were brought before the court for decision. He planned and
superintended the building of the dams and water-works of Goshen and
Warwick, building the large stone skew arch bridge at Wappingers
Falls; was in 1876 engineer in charge of the work done by the State
in removing obstructions from the Delaware River; did much careful
work at the Hudson River, Matteawan and Long Island State Hospitals,
did the grading and designed and constructed the water supply system
for the State Camp Ground at Peekskill.

He was also for many years chief engineer of the Lehigh and Hudson
River Railroad. He was a trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank,
vice-president of the Woodlawn Cemetery and Historical Society, and a
vestryman of St. George's Church.

Mr. Caldwell was the generous promoter of every public and
philanthropic work undertaken in his home city, a genial, lovable man
who made friends wherever he traveled. Being himself absolutely
incorruptible, he was intolerant of any dishonesty or unfaithfulness
in others, particularly in the discharge of public trusts.

In 1874, Mr. Caldwell married Miss Kate Van Duzer Burt, daughter of
Grinnell Burt, of Warwick, N. Y.

For twenty-eight years he was associated in business with Mr. Everett
Garrison.

Mr. Caldwell died May 8, 1902.

DANIEL G. CAMERON, lumber merchant, Newburgh, N. Y., is a son of the
late William T. Cameron, who for a quarter of a century was engaged
in the lumber trade in that city under the firm name of Cameron &
Sloat, established in 1866. Daniel G. entered the employ of his
father's firm and upon the retirement of Mr. Sloat was entrusted with
the management, becoming proprietor at his father's death in 1899.

Kenneth M. Cameron is associated with his father in this business.

FRANK H. CAMPBELL was a man of honored lineage; he was the only son
of William and Grace Hamlinton Campbell, and was born in Vernon,
N. J., February 9, 1850. He was educated at the Newton Collegiate
Institute and a private military school in Poughkeepsie. He married
Miss Emma Jayne, only daughter of Lewis Jayne, of Florida, Orange
County. Mr. Campbell was one of the largest farmers of the county. He
owned and controlled ten farms, aggregating twenty-five hundred
acres, in the town of Warwick and northern New Jersey. He was long a
buyer of cattle for dairy purposes, and was at times in the
mercantile and feed business. More recently he was engaged in a
wholesale milk business in New York, in which he received the
products of eight creameries. He was a director of the First National
Bank of Warwick, and the board paid him a high tribute as a citizen
and business man after his death. He was an ardent sportsman, making
hunting trips annually to the Adirondacks, or Maine woods. He was an
active Mason, in politics a democrat, and in local improvements a
zealous helper.

Mr. and Mrs. Campbell had three children--Lewis Jayne, Grace
Hamlinton and Frances Edith. When Mr. Campbell died the son was in
the Philippines, having enlisted in the United States Army.

PETER CANTLINE, a prominent young attorney of Newburgh, N. Y., was
born in that city, November 8, 1882. After graduating from the
Newburgh Academy in 1900, he entered the law office of Hon. A. H. F.
Seeger, where he pursued his professional studies and was admitted to
the bar in May, 1904.

Mr. Cantline served as special deputy county clerk in 1904 and 1905.
Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, St. George's
Church and the Wheelmen's Club of Newburgh.

GEORGE WICKHAM CARPENTER was born January 15, 1847, and resides on
the homestead farm, which has been in the possession of the family
since 1764. His parents were Oliver R. and Phoebe J. Carpenter; of
their seven children George Wickham was the eldest. He was educated
in the Middletown High School and Academy, a private school and the
Fort Edward Institute. He married Hattie Bennett, of Middletown, in
1882, and both are members of the First Congregational Church of
Middletown. In politics Mr. Carpenter is a democrat, but never
aspired to office.

GILBERT CARPENTER, a progressive citizen of Monroe, was born here in
1850. In 1867 he was a member of the grain, feed and coal firm of
Carpenter, Webb & Company, which was later merged into the firm of
Carpenter Brothers. Since the death of his brother William, in 1877,
Mr. Carpenter has continued the business alone. He is a director of
the National Bank of Monroe, trustee of the Dairy Association and
trustee of the school board. Mr. Carpenter has always taken an active
part in matters pertaining to the welfare and progress of his native
place. His energy and foresight as president of the board of water
commissioners during the construction of the plant has furnished to
Monroe a water system that is un-excelled. He organized the first
telephone system in the village and his son Louis erected the line.
Mr. Carpenter married Irene, daughter of John K. Roe, and three sons
and one daughter have been born to them, of whom Lewis R. is cashier
of the Monroe Bank. He is a son of Dr. Ethan B. Carpenter, who served
as member of Assembly in 1853.

SOLOMON CARPENTER--In 1714 Solomon Carpenter, one of the pioneers of
Orange County, settled at Goshen on Main street, at the intersection
of the Newburgh and Montgomery roads, which became known as
Carpenter's Corners, and is now called Johnson's Corners. He was one
of the company who bought the Minisink patent from England. He was
made captain of the Goshen Colonial Militia in 1724 and was afterward
made colonel. His royal commissions are still retained by his
descendants. The old colonial house at Carpenter's Corners was built
about 1724 and was remodeled by James Carpenter before the
Revolutionary War. The property has remained in the family ever
since. Jeromus Johnson, brother of General Jeremiah Johnson, of Long
Island, married Mary Carpenter in 1802. The property has descended to
its present owner, Mary E. Johnson, who married Seymour S. Peloubet,
a law book publisher, of New York. The house contains some fine old
mahogany furniture, which was brought from England in colonial times
in sailing vessels owned by James Carpenter. These vessels sailed
from Newburgh to all parts of the world, bringing wine and spices
from Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea; cloth, dishes
and furniture from England, and molasses and sugar from the West
Indies.

Nehemiah Carpenter, a son of Solomon, was quartermaster in the 5th
Brigade, New York State, during the Revolutionary War. He was at the
siege of Yorktown and his letters, written just before the battle,
are now in possession of the family. After the war, because of
ill-health, he went to the West Indies on one of his brother's ships
and has left a very interesting diary of his journey.

James W. Carpenter, son of James Carpenter, was major in the War of
1812, and S. S. Peloubet, who now lives in the old home, was in the
Civil War.

FRED C. CARY--Isaac Cary, the father of Fred C. was a descendant of
John Cary, who came from Somerset, England, in 1634, and joined the
Plymouth Colony, was born in Mendham, N. J., March 22, 1823, and died
October 13, 1893. He was educated in the district school, the
Fairchild Private School and later took a course in the Medical
Department of Harvard College, from which he graduated. He practiced
medicine in Brooklyn for some time, removing from there to Warwick,
Orange County, in 1853, where he became one of its leading physicians
and continued his professional practice until his death. He was a
member of the Reformed Dutch Church, and in politics a democrat. He
was a member of Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. & A. M. He married Harriet
Roe, of Warwick, in 1854. Their children were a daughter, who died in
infancy, and two sons--Frank W. and Fred C. The former is in the
office of the N. Y. C. & H. R. Railroad in New York.

Fred C. Cary, the younger son of Dr. Isaac Cary, is a resident of
Warwick, and prominent in its business and public affairs. He was
educated in Warwick and a few weeks before the graduation of his
class in Warwick Institute was offered a clerkship in the First
National Bank of Warwick. This was in 1881, and he was then only
sixteen years of age. His faithfulness and ability in the bank are
attested by the facts that in 1890, at the age of twenty-five, he was
made its cashier, and later one of its directors, which office he
still holds to the satisfaction of business associates and bank
patrons. The year that he was promoted to cashier he was also
appointed clerk of the village and clerk of the water-works, and
these positions he has continuously retained. He has been a member of
Warwick's board of education several years and served as president
two years, and is a director in the Warwick Valley Telephone Company
and the Warwick, Monroe and Chester Building and Loan Association.

ADELBERT L. CASE--Plattsburgh, Erie County, N. Y., February 3, 1877,
were the place and time of Mr. Case's birth. His parents were Dell
and Sarah J. Case, and they had one other child, Pearl. A part of the
son's education was obtained in the Franklin Institute in Delaware
County. For some years he assisted his father in his hotel, and then
engaged in the restaurant business in Greenville, Pa. He has been
landlord of the Burnside Inn near Burnside, Orange County, since
July 2, 1904. He is a zealous and active democrat, a member of the
B. P. O. E. No. 145, of Greenville, Pa., and of No. 805 Chenango
F. O. Eagles, of the same place. He is a lover of good horses and is
owner of Fleetwood, No. 37,907, trial 2:30, when two years old, and
of Baron Sturdy. Mr. Case is a Methodist and his wife an
Episcopalian. He married, at East Sidney, Delaware County, February
28, 1903, Miss Jennie A. Floyd. Their son, Howard L., is two years of
age.

WILLIAM F. CASSEDY, attorney, was born in Newburgh. N. Y.. October 4,
1862; he graduated from the Newburgh Academy in 1880; graduate of
Cornell University in 1884; entered law office of A. S. Cassedy in
the same year, and was admitted to the bar in 1886. January, 1887, he
became a member of the firm of A. S. and W. F. Cassedy, which
continued until the death of A. S. Cassedy, April 29, 1896. Formed
partnership with Hon. Charles F. Brown, ex-justice Supreme Court,
under firm name of Brown & Cassedy, January, 1897, which partnership
is now existing. Mr. Cassedy is local counsel for the West Shore
Division N. Y. C. &. H. R. R. Co. He is a director of the Quassaick
National Bank of Newburgh; a trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank; of
Washington's Headquarters and Cedar Hill Cemetery Association; member
of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands; member
of vestry of St. George's Church; ex-president and now director and
vice-president of the Powelton Club; director of Newburgh City Club;
non-resident member of the University and Transportation Clubs, New
York City. Mr. Cassedy married Miss Frances M., daughter of James A.
Townsend. They have two children--J. Townsend and William F., Jr.

CHARLES E. CASTERLIN was born at Rockport, Sussex County, N. J., May
25, 1854, and received his schooling at Unionville, Orange County,
where his parents lived many years. About 1875 he went to Middletown
and worked two years in the dry goods store of B. C. Woodward & Co.,
removing to Little Falls, Passaic County, N. J., where he clerked in
a grocery store, after which he conducted a grocery of his own until
1888, when he returned to Unionville and managed the Minisink Hotel
two years. While in Little Falls he served as town clerk for five
terms. He purchased the American House at High Bridge, N. J.,
remained there one and a half years, and in October, 1893, returned
to Orange County and purchased the Aspell Hotel in Florida, which he
still operates, and which is said to be the oldest hotel in Orange
County. He is a member of Star Lodge No. 113, K. of P., of Clinton,
N. J., and of Shabbekong Tribe No. 46, of Junction, N. J.

January 14, 1880, he married Mary E. Kellogg, of Little Falls. Of
their three children one only is living--Harold M., born October 15,
1887.

Richard Casterlin, his father, was born at Rockport, N. J., August
10, 1828, conducted a large wagon shop at Unionville, N. Y., and in
1874 opened the Minisink Hotel, which he still conducts. His mother,
whose maiden name was Mahala Rogers, was born in Rockport, June 7,
1830. They had five children, three of whom are dead. The father is
living in Butler, N. J., with his other son, Fred, who conducts a
hotel.

R. HARRY CATHCART, JR., president and treasurer of the Yuess Gardens
Company, was born in Newburgh, N. Y., in 1884. After graduating from
the Newburgh Academy he attended the Wilson Preparatory School and
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907 with the degree
of B. S. C. Mr. Cathcart is a member of Delta Upsilon Fraternity and
of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Consistory and Mecca Temple of the
Masonic Order; Lawson Hose Company No. 5; Company E, First Regiment;
Atena Boat Club.

The greenhouses of the Yuess Gardens Company have a glass roofage of
some 35,000 square feet and are the most pretentious in Orange
County.

JOSEPH CHADWICK, manufacturer and bank president, Newburgh, N. Y.,
born Heywood, Lancashire, England, October 24, 1841; educated at
Townhead, Rochdale, Lancashire. He acquired a practical knowledge of
the present business in Manchester and at his father's cotton
spinning mill at Rochdale. In 1865 he came to America and secured a
position with the Boiling Spring Bleaching, Dyeing & Finishing
Company, Rutherford, N. J., and soon afterward arranged for a lease
of the concern and was in charge of the plant from 1868 to 1878. He
was identified with educational, church and public affairs of the
community. In 1871 the site of the Newburgh Bleachery was purchased
by the Messrs. Chadwick and the present buildings successively
appeared, which are among the largest and best equipped of the kind
in the country, bleaching and finishing the finest cotton fabrics
made. Mr. Chadwick is president of the company and head of the firm
of Joseph Chadwick & Sons.

Mr. Chadwick has been a resident of Newburgh since 1878, occupying a
prominent position in business and social circles; for many years a
trustee and vice-president of the Newburgh Savings Bank. He was
elected president of that institution in 1906. Member of the
Merchants' Club of New York and the Powelton and Wheelmen's Club of
Newburgh, and one of the incorporators of the Newburgh City Club. Mr.
Chadwick married Margaret, daughter of William Smith, of Manchester,
England, a prominent bleacher, dyer and finisher of cotton goods.
Four sons and one daughter have been born to them.

GEORGE W. CHRISTIE was born on a farm near Unionville, October 17,
1836, and died at his home at Pine Island, April 19, 1907. His early
education was obtained in district and private schools, and he
assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty-eight, being one
of eleven children born to Samuel and Jane Elston Christie. He
conducted a summer hotel at Rutherford, N. J., and afterward became
manager of creameries at Unionville, Slate Hill and New Milford. He
continued in this service eight years when, his health becoming
impaired, in 1885 he purchased a farm at Pine Island, where he lived
the remaining twenty-three years of his life. He was a member of the
Presbyterian Church of Amity. In politics he was a republican. He was
married to Miss Elizabeth Kelly, of Port Jervis, November 15, 1865.
Their two children are Sarah Adele, born August 19, 1872, and Samuel
Hayne, born March 20, 1874. Samuel's education, after he left the
district school, was obtained in the Peddie Institute, of
Heightstown, N. J., Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, from
which he graduated, and the New York Law School, where he studied two
years. He was also in Judge John J. Beattie's office at Warwick one
year. He was admitted to the bar in 1900, and practiced law in New
York City two years.

CLARK BROTHERS, general merchants at Thompson's Ridge, town of
Crawford, purchased in 1897 the business of J. Erskine Ward. In
addition to a general store they are also dealers in coal and feed.
The firm is composed of Theodore G. and George H. Clark, sons of
Joseph H. and Mary (Hunter) Clark.

Joseph Clark was for many years actively identified with local
affairs, holding the office of town clerk and justice of the peace.
His father, Ira Clark, married Eliza Barkley. He taught school for a
time at Searsville, and then purchased the farm which became the
family homestead. For thirteen years he was superintendent of
schools. He also held the office of town clerk and served as justice
of the peace. Religiously he was a member of the Presbyterian Church,
and for years was a trustee of the same. His death occurred in 1883,
in his eighty-sixth year.

H. N. CLARK, who is a native of Cornwall and has been engaged in the
retail drug trade in that village since 1877, is one of its most
substantial and honored citizens. He purchased the business from
Clark and Vail, who established the store in 1870. Mr. Clark has for
many years been prominently identified with public affairs in
Cornwall. He has served as treasurer of the village since 1885 and is
also treasurer of the school board. He is one of the trustees of
Cornwall Savings Bank. Socially he is connected with the Knights of
Pythias.

HULET D. CLARK, for many years a progressive farmer and
representative business man of the town of Minisink, was born in
Sussex County, N. J., in 1835 and died April 2, 1897.

In 1860 he purchased a farm in Mount Hope, and six years later bought
one hundred and fifteen acres in the town of Minisink, near Westtown,
where he resided to the time of his death. In 1885 his son, Clarence,
established a flour and feed store in the village of Johnson under
the firm name of C. G. Clark & Co. The venture proved successful and
branches were started at Unionville, Slate Hill and Westtown.

In 1867 Mr. Clark married Margaret, daughter of James G. Swartwout,
of Port Jervis, a direct descendant of Roeloff Swartwout, who came
from Holland and settled at Kingston, N. Y., in 1655. Five children
were born, of whom Clarence G. was the third in order of birth. He
resides in Westtown, conducting an extensive flour, feed and coal
business, in addition to a three-hundred-acre farm. He married Mary,
daughter of H. Reeves Horton. They are the parents of two children,
Hulet D. and Julia K.

JAMES ALONZO CLARK was born March 26, 1845, at Middletown, Orange
County. His early education was acquired at the public school and at
the age of fifteen he began his business career by clerking for
Alexander Wilson, of Middletown, remaining there two years. In June,
1862, he became clerk in the hardware store of Scott Brothers,
remaining with this concern through various changes until he became
a member of the firm in 1879. The firm at that period was Vail, Brink
& Clark. In 1884 the senior member of the firm sold out and the firm
then became Brink & Clark, which name it has since retained. He
married Mrs. Emma (Cole) Dunning in 1887. One child was born to this
union, Mildred Murray, born October 23, 1888. Mr. Clark is a member
of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. & A. M.; Midland Chapter, R. A. M.;
Cyprus Commandery No. 67, and the Knights of Pythias. He takes an
interest in the Sons of the Revolution and is identified with the
Middletown Savings Bank as trustee. Since 1865 he has been connected
with the Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company, of Middletown.

ROBERT H. CLARK, supervisor of the town of Minisink, was born near
Westtown. He is a son of Hon. William Harvey and Emily A. (Robertson)
Clark. He has always engaged in the management of his farm of one
hundred and sixty-seven acres. Politically he is a firm believer in
the principles of the democratic party. His first public office was
that of postmaster, during Cleveland's second term. He was elected
supervisor in 1903, re-elected in 1905 and again in 1907. Socially
Mr. Clark is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Minisink Grange.

William H. Clark, father of our subject, was born in 1829 and died in
1907. He represented the Second District of Orange County in the New
York Legislature in 1881-82. He was supervisor of the town of
Minisink a number of terms and chairman of the board in 1876. He was
one of the incorporators of the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap
Railroad, and held the office of treasurer many years. He also served
twelve years as trustee of the Middletown Asylum and was prominently
identified with public and business affairs of his native town and
county, enjoying the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow
citizens.

WILLARD M. CLARK, supervisor of the town of Wallkill, was born at
Salem, N. J., August 23, 1861. Shortly after his birth his father
removed to Greenville, Orange County, and in the district schools of
that town Willard received his early educational training. He later
attended the Albany Normal College, from which he was graduated in
1884. Mr. Clark has taught school continuously since 1880, and served
six years as school commissioner, following his election to that
office in 1890. Mr. Clark also owns and conducts a farm on the state
road near Middletown, to which he removed in 1890, coming from
Greenville. He was elected a member of the county board of
supervisors in the fall of 1907. He married Mamie Clark, of
Greenville, and they have a daughter, Ethel. William L. Clark, the
father of our subject, was prominent in the social and political life
of Greenville. He served as county supervisor for fourteen years and
for many years as town clerk.

HENRY P. CLAUSON, who for a quarter of a century has been prominently
identified with public affairs in Orange County, was born in New
Jersey in 1842. He came to Newburgh in 1868 and located on a farm a
few miles northwest of that city, where he has achieved much success
in dairying and fruit growing, his farm lands covering over three
hundred and fifty acres.

Firmly believing in the principles of the democratic party, Mr.
Clauson was elected supervisor of the town of Newburgh in 1878, and
re-elected in 1879 and 1880. In 1885 he was elected to the office of
sheriff, serving through the years 1886, 1887 and 1888. In the latter
year he was a delegate to the national democratic convention at St.
Louis, which nominated Grover Cleveland. In 1900 Mr. Clauson was
again elected supervisor, serving continuously until 1906. In 1907 he
received the democratic nomination for the office of county
treasurer.

Mr. Clauson married Miss Mary E. Monell. They have three children
living: John, Charlotte (now the wife of V. J. Kohl) and Harry.

ISAAC COCHRAN, son of Alexander and Margaret (Greery) Cochran, was
born in the town of Newburgh, October 29, 1823. He was educated in
the schools and academy of Newburgh. In 1839 he accompanied his
parents to New York City and engaged with his father in a grocery and
tea business on Broadway and Twenty-first street, where he remained
until 1860. He then embarked in the manufacture of carriages in New
York, where for a number of years he carried on a successful
business. In 1866 he returned to Newburgh and settled on a farm
adjoining the place of his birth. In 1887 he removed to his present
home, corner of Powell avenue and North street, where he lives in
comparative retirement. Mr. Cochran assisted in the organization of
the Columbus Trust Company in 1892, of which he has since been a
director. In 1850 Mr. Cochran married Miss Rachel Sommerville. She
died in 1891. Seven children blessed this union. Mr. Cochran has been
an elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church since 1868 and has
served as superintendent of the Sunday-school over thirty years.

CHARLES C. COCKS, senior member of the grocery firm of C. E. Cocks
Sons, was born in Cornwall, N. Y., where he has always resided. He is
a son of Charles E. and Margaret (Campbell) Cocks, natives of the
town of Monroe, Orange County. The business was established by his
father at Cornwall Landing in 1850, and our subject has been
interested in it since 1870. In 1900 he and his brother, Isaac M.,
succeeded to the business. Mr. Cocks has served as trustee of the
village and school boards and is a director of the Cornwall Savings
Bank, of which his father was the president for many years. He is
also vice-president of the Cornwall Realty and Improvement Company.

WILLIAM HENRY CODDINGTON was born in Ulsterville, Ulster County,
N. Y., June 15, 1872, and was one of five children, whose parents
were William Henry and Susan Coddington. After attending the district
school he assisted his father on the farm and was engaged at
blacksmithing for six months. In 1893 he became connected with the
New York Condensed Milk Company, now known as the Borden Condensed
Milk Company, and was gradually promoted from the position of helper
to foreman, at Johnsons, N. Y. In 1905 he was transferred to the
Burnside Creamery and is now its superintendent. In politics he is a
democrat and is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M., of Middletown. He
married Miss Delia Louise Bennett, of South Centerville, June 26,
1901, and they have three children, Frank M., Florence Elizabeth, and
Ralph B. Mrs. Coddington is a member of the Presbyterian Church, of
South Centerville.

THOMAS COLDWELL, who at the time of his death in 1905 was the oldest
manufacturer of Lawn Mowers in America, was born in Staleybridge,
Lancashire, England, in 1838, and came to this country at a very
early age. His first employment was with John and William Rothery,
who operated a file shop in Matteawan, N. Y. He was later employed by
H. W. Swift, who had a machine shop at Wiccapee, in the town of
Fishkill, and who was experimenting in the manufacture of lawn
mowers fashioned after Budding's grass cutters manufactured in
England. Mr. Coldwell, who was endowed with genius for invention,
actually made the first lawn mower produced by Mr. Swift. He became
associated with Mr. George L. Chadborn, who was also in the employ of
Mr. Swift, and in 1868 Mr. Coldwell, with the assistance of Mr.
Chadborn, invented a new lawn mower, resulting in the formation of
the Chadborn & Coldwell Mfg. Co., at Newburgh, N. Y., with Mr.
Coldwell as president, which continued until 1891, when Mr. Coldwell
organized the Coldwell Lawn Mower Co., mention of which appears
elsewhere in this work. Suffice it to say that their daily output
approximates seven hundred complete mowers for each working day in
the year and it is the largest plant in the world devoted to the
manufacture of these machines.

In this connection it is interesting to note briefly the history of
lawn mowers. There is some doubt who was the original inventor. An
old document has been found in the United States Patent Office, dated
1825, which shows that one James Ten Eyk, of Bridgewater, N. J.,
invented a mowing machine. It was simple, having a box like a wagon
box, with the forward end open, furnished with two shafts, one at the
front end, on which were placed the revolving cutters, and the other
above the center of the box on which were the driving wheels, and on
which the box was hung. The driving shaft had on it two drive pulleys
corresponding with two smaller ones on the cutter shaft and the two
were connected by means of two rope belts. It was a revolving-cutter
field mower, and is the first revolving cutter of which any record
can be found, but the inventor did not claim that it was a lawn
mower. The next authentic record of a revolving-cutter mower was one
invented by Edwin Budding, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.
Budding was born near Stroud in 1796. He was evidently an inventor,
draftsman and mechanic of considerable ability. He invented the
Budding wrench and various machines for use in the manufacture of
woolen cloth. He was superintendent for the late George Lister, a
manufacturer of Dursley, England. P. A. Lister (son of George), who
succeeded his father (and from whom many of these facts regarding
Budding emanate), stated that there was no doubt but that Budding
took the idea of the lawn mower from a cloth clipping machine. He was
granted a patent for his new invention, dated October 25, 1830, and a
circular owned by Mr. Budding's daughter, dated 1830, shows that he
sold three sizes of lawn mowers, manufactured by John Farrabee near
Stroud. These facts leave no doubt that to Budding belongs the credit
of producing the first lawn mower.

Previous to 1855 probably all lawn mowers used in America were of
English make. A few years prior to this Mr. H. W. Sargent, of
Fishkill, received a mower from England and sent it to Mr. Swift to
be repaired, and it was upon Mr. Sargent's suggestion that Mr. Swift
began the manufacture of these machines. His circular, dated 1835,
states that he made four sizes ranging in price from $30 to $80. For
a number of years Mr. Swift had a monopoly of the lawn mower trade in
this country.

About 1868 the Hills Lawn Mower Co. was started in Hartford, Conn.
They made the Archimedian Mower. It was the first machine made with
only two revolving cutter blades, and sold for $45. Other
manufacturers were Graham, Emlen & Passmore, of Philadelphia, who
produced the first side-wheel mower. In 1885 some patents on the best
mowers expired and many small manufacturers sprang up in all parts of
the country, who have contented themselves by making the cheaper
grades. A few lawn mowers are made in Canada, Germany and France, but
the United States produces four-fifths of all lawn mowers made in the
world, and they are exported to every part of the globe.

The business established by Thomas Coldwell is now continued by his
two sons, William H. and Harry T., both of whom were brought up in
the lawn mower business by their father. He is also survived by a
widow and daughter, the latter the wife of Mr. E. C. Ross, who is
associated with the Coldwell Brothers in the lawn mower industry.

GALEN COLEMAN was born near Mount Hope, Orange County, N. Y.,
December 31, 1859. His parents were Alfred and Catherine Coleman.
His education was obtained at Mount Hope, and at an early age he
learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed some time. He
removed to Middletown, and learned the machinist trade, which
business he has since followed. He married Mary Alice Coleman, of
Wantage, N. J., who was born March 19, 1852. Their marriage occurred
at Spartanburg, S. C., January 7, 1880. Their one child, Frank Edson,
was born August 29, 1882. He married Eva M. Birtwistle, of
Middletown, June 5, 1907. Father and son are independent in politics
and members of Lodge No. 169, K. of P., of Middletown.

WILLIAM M. COLLARD was born in the town of Warwick, Orange County,
N. Y., August 14, 1857. His father was Jerome and mother Mary E.
(Hallock) Collard. The subject of this sketch attended the district
school at Greenwood Lake, and afterward worked on his father's farm.
He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for ten years. He
was married to Mary E. Robets, of Bull's Mills, in 1879. Socially, he
is a member of Wallkill Grange, and Protective Home Circle. He was
previously a member of the Maccabees. He is a democrat, taking an
active interest in local politics. Mr. Collard has been in the
grocery business for some years. He owns two hundred acres of land
near Greenwood Lake, and recently there has been discovered a fine
grade of mica on his farm, which has been leased to parties, who have
commenced operating the mines.

EDWARD J. COLLINS, attorney of Newburgh, was born in Port Jervis,
N. Y., 1876. He was educated at Port Jervis Academy and the law
department of Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1898.
Then he entered the law office of Hon. A. H. F. Seeger, and was
admitted to the bar in 1899. In November, 1905, Mr. Collins was
elected on the republican ticket member of the common council, of
which he was later president. Mr. Collins is a member of various
social and fraternal organizations, including the City and Powelton
Clubs and New York State Bar Association.

H. D. COMFORT, manufacturer of ice cream at Newburgh, was born in the
town of Crawford, Orange County, N. Y., and is a son of the late
Daniel H. Comfort. Mr. Comfort was formerly engaged in the creamery
and ice cream business in New York City, and in 1900 established his
business in Newburgh, in which he has been very successful. His plant
is located on an acre and a half of ground on South street near West
street, and covers an area of 170 by 75 feet. Steam and electric
power are utilized, and machines with a capacity of forty quarts of
ice cream every six minutes are in operation. A plant on Robinson
avenue is operated during the winter months. Mr. Comfort gives
employment to ten men and his product finds a ready market throughout
the Hudson Valley. Socially he is identified with the F. and A. M. He
was united in marriage to Miss Mary Schaefer, daughter of Jacob
Schaefer, of Montgomery, N. Y. Two boys and two girls have been born
to them. J. Edmund is engaged in business with his father.

DANIEL G. COMINGS, of Middletown, was born May 17, 1850, in Sussex
County, N. J. His parents were Gilman Taylor and Rhoda (Worthington)
Comings. To this union were born six children, two of whom are
living, Daniel G. and Mrs. Elvira La Forge, who resides at Metuchen,
N. J. Daniel attended the district school, where he acquired his
education. When he was thirteen years of age he commenced working on
a farm until he was twenty-one years old. He then learned the
millwright trade, which he followed for twenty-two years. In
November, 1878, he removed to Orange County, locating at Middletown,
and followed his trade, also engaging in the wholesale and retail ice
business and retail coal business, which he has conducted for sixteen
years. He married Louisa C. Smith, of Newark, N. J., July 9, 1884.
Their four children are Mary Viola, Bertha L., Florence A. and
William D. Bertha is a pupil at the Oswego Normal School; the others
reside at home. In politics Mr. Comings is a prohibitionist and he
and his wife are members of St. Paul's Methodist Church at
Middletown, N. Y.

THOMAS CONDON, who for many years has been identified with the public
affairs of Walden, was born in the town of Montgomery in 1865. He
attended the schools of his native place and has been a resident of
Walden thirty years, during which time he has served as assessor of
the town of Montgomery seven years, assessor of the village three
years, trustee six years, and president of the village in 1902, under
the old charter by appointment of the board of trustees. He was
elected to this office in 1906, and re-elected without opposition in
1907. He is a member of the Red Men, Foresters of America and Elks.
Mr. Condon is regarded as a faithful official and public-spirited
citizen.

GEORGE RENSSELAER CONKLIN, one of Orange County's representative
citizens and merchants, residing at Monroe, N. Y., was born in this
town in 1843, a son of Rensselaer C. and Mary E. (Howzer) Conklin.
After finishing his studies Mr. Conklin went to New York in 1860,
where he was engaged in business until 1865. He then spent two years
in the Lake Superior iron district, and in 1868 returned to Monroe
and has been engaged mainly in the coal and feed business. He is
senior partner in the firms of Conklin & Roe, of Chester; Conklin &
Cummins, of Goshen; Conklin & Strong, of Warwick; Paddleford & Co.,
of Monroe, and C. T. Nott, of Vernon, N. J. He is president of the
Groves Product Company, of Jersey City; president of the Monroe Lake
Realty Company, secretary of the Warwick, Monroe and Chester Building
and Loan Association, and a director of the Highland Telephone
Company. Mr. Conklin has served as a member of the Monroe board of
education for some twenty years. Socially he is identified with the
Masonic fraternity. He has been twice married, his first wife being
Miss Isabella Roberts, whom he married in 1869. In 1885 he chose for
his second wife Miss Mary E., daughter of the late Chauncey B.
Knight. By his enterprise and energy Mr. Conklin has achieved a large
measure of financial success and, coupled with a genial disposition,
he retains the highest esteem of his fellow-citizens.

MILTON C. CONNER, M.D., was born on a farm near Scotchtown, town of
Wallkill, September 6, 1853. He attended the Wallkill Academy at
Middletown, and then entered the Fort Edward Institute, and later was
a student in the Caze-novia Seminary, spending two years in each
institution. Meantime he taught school at Fort Ann, N. Y. Dr. Conner
entered the Detroit Medical College, remaining there two years, after
which he became a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons
of New York City, and graduated in 1883 with the degree of M.D.
Shortly afterwards he opened an office in Middletown, N. Y., where he
has since resided. He is a member of the State and County Medical
Society and has been a member for the past eighteen years of the
American Medical Association. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No.
412, F. and A. M., of Middletown, and Midland Chapter No. 240,
R. A. M. In politics he is a republican. Dr. Conner was united in
marriage with Miss Frances Adelaide Cox, of Middletown.

MATHIEW GRANT COOPER was born February 4, 1865, at Glenwood, N. J.,
and, after his district school education, followed the occupation of
farming six years, after which he engaged in the meat business for
eight years. He then worked at Franklin Furnace, N. J., two years. He
returned to Eden Station, Orange County, in 1900, and was engaged at
the Empire State Dairy Company three years, and three years more for
the Haynes Milk Company. The latter was absorbed by the Borden
Company, when Mr. Cooper was appointed superintendent, and has
continued in the position since. His wife's maiden name was Clara
(Van Sickle) Slaughter, of Eden, and they were married December 14,
1904. Their one child is Gerald Frank, born June 29, 1905. Mr. Cooper
is a member of Minisink Council No. 53, Jr. O. U. A. M.

PROFESSOR SANFORD A. CORTRIGHT, of Westtown, N. Y., was born in the
town of Greenville, Orange County, in 1858. He is a son of Alfred and
Margaret (Elston) Cortright. He attended the district schools of his
native town, which was supplemented by four years of private
tutoring. He graduated from the Albany Normal School and has been
engaged in educational work twenty-four years. He has been principal
of the Westtown school since 1890. Professor Cortright is a member of
the Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of American Mechanics and the
Minisink Grange. In 1893 he was united in marriage with Miss Emma,
daughter of Rensselaer and Rachael (Weygant) McKelvey. One child,
Alfred, has blessed this union.

JOHN B. CORWIN, attorney of Newburgh, was born at Middletown, N. Y.,
February 3, 1876, and removed from there to the Corwin homestead,
Balmville, in 1884. He graduated from the Newburgh Academy in 1892,
supplemented with a course at the Spencerian Business College. Mr.
Corwin read law with the late L. W. Y. McCroskery for two years, and
in 1896 entered the office of the late L. S. Sterrit. He was admitted
to the bar in 1897. He has also been admitted to practice in the
Federal Courts. Mr. Corwin was managing clerk for Mr. Sterrit ten
years, and following the death of Mr. Sterrit in April, 1907, he
succeeded to his practice.

JOHN ISAAC COTTER, M.D., although only twenty-six years of age, has
an established and growing practice at Campbell Hall, where he
resides, and is well known to the medical profession both within and
outside of Orange County. He was born at Jackson's Corners, Dutchess
County, August 22, 1881. When he left the district school at the age
of twelve, he went to Poughkeepsie, and there attended the grammar
and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1900. He took a
course of four years in the Albany Medical College, from which he
graduated in 1904, and then devoted one year to work in the Albany
Hospital. After this thorough preparation he started professional
practice at Campbell Hall in 1905. He is a member of the Knights of
Columbus No. 304, Florentine Council, of Poughkeepsie, the Nu Sigma
Nu Medical Fraternity, the Orange County Medical Society, the
Newburgh Bay Medical Society, the Middletown Medical Society, the
M. P. S. of Northern Dutchess and Southern Columbia Counties, the New
York State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Dr.
Cotter is a lover of good horses, and owns several, among them
Bessie H., whose trial mark is 2:201/2. His father, John H. Cotter,
is a practicing physician in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and has another son
Lawrence and daughter Mary, both of whom are attending the
Poughkeepsie high school.

DANIEL J. COUTANT, of Newburgh, N. Y., bears the distinction of
occupying a public office a greater length of time than any official
in Orange County. He is a native of Newburgh and a son of Zachariah
Coutant. After completing his studies at Claverack Institute, he
became bookkeeper for the freight line of Alsdorf & Skidmore. In 1872
he was appointed city clerk by the common council, and regardless of
party has been re-appointed by each succeeding mayor, covering a
period of thirty-six years. Mr. Coutant is a member of Trinity M. E.
Church. His father was of direct French Huguenot descent.

JOHN P. COVERT--When our Civil War came, early in 1861, John P.
Covert, then a mere youth in the South, enlisted in the famous
fighting regiment of "Louisiana Tigers," and fought with them. He saw
the hardest service and was severely wounded in battle. When the war
ended he went to Chicago, and became a successful manufacturer of
tinware specialties, and after a few years retired. Soon afterward he
moved to Orange County, bought the Quackenbos farm near Neelytown,
now known as the Beaver Dam Farm, and proceeded to improve it so that
it became one of the most attractive places in the state. The farm is
rich and highly cultivated, the palatial home is surrounded by a fine
grove of hundreds of sugar maples. Here Mr. Covert lived for thirty
years, and became a famous breeder of the best Holstein-Friesian
cattle. He sold the farm in 1901 to A. Von Kilch, and established a
home in Goshen. He was a charter member of the Wallkill Farmers'
Association, for several years was its vice-president and always one
of its directors. Mr. Covert married Miss Jennie Ketcham, of New York
City, a daughter of Enoch Ketcham, one of the leading tin and
hardware dealers of the metropolis. There have been few more striking
contrasts in separate periods of individual lives than that of Mr.
Covert's severe service and sufferings in the bloody civil war with
that of his peaceful and happy life in Orange County.

WILLIAM CRABTREE & SONS, manufacturers of worsted yarns, with
factories at Montgomery and Newburgh, N. Y., is numbered among the
leading industries of Orange County. The business is now conducted by
Harry, Edmund, John A., William E. and Charles B., sons of the late
William Crabtree, who established this business at Montgomery in 1880
in company with Mr. Arthur Patchett, under the firm name of Crabtree
& Patchett. In 1897 the Newburgh plant was established. In 1902 the
present firm name was adopted. Over one million pounds of wool are
used annually resulting in a finished product of a half million
pounds of yarn shipped to all parts of the United States. About 200
hands are given steady employment in the plants of this firm. Mr.
William Crabtree was born in England in 1840 and died in England
while on a visit to his old home, June, 1903. He came to America in
1864, locating at Philadelphia, where he remained until 1880. Mr.
Crabtree was identified with the Masonic fraternity and member of the
Reformed church. In 1867 he married Miss Harriet Patchett, daughter
of Edmund and Elizabeth (Robertshaw) Patchett, all natives of
England.

GEORGE W. CRIST was born February 22, 1875, on the homestead farm in
the town of Hamptonburgh, and is a son of Theodore J. and Cecelia
(Mapes) Crist. His early education was obtained at the Grove Street
District School, and the Montgomery Academy. He has always been
identified with farming. In politics Mr. Crist gives his hearty
support to the democratic party and always takes an active interest
in local affairs. He is at present supervisor of the town. He is past
master of Goshen Lodge No. 365., F. and A. M., a member of the
Midland Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Middletown, No. 240; honorary
member of the Montgomery fire department, and past chief ranger of
Wallkill Lodge No. 69, Foresters of America. His father Theodore was
born on the same farm April 22, 1844. Five children were born in his
father's family. Grant died in December, 1875; Clara L. resided at
home; George, our subject; Abigail B., residing at home; Frank M.
married Emily Mortimer, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and is a member of Goshen
Lodge No. 365, F. and A. M. Mary Belle married Frank M. Cox, of
Middletown, and died in July, 1898. The great grandfather of our
subject was Nelson Crist, son of Philip Crist. Philip Crist was
engaged in driving the stage coach between Goshen and Kingston in the
early days.

CHARLES E. CROFTS, who has held the position as superintendent of the
New York Knife Company, of Walden, since 1876, was born in Sheffield,
England, where he learned the cutlery trade. In 1872 he came to
America and located at Walden, where he has since devoted his time to
the success of the knife works. Mr. Crofts has served as village
trustee for a period of two years and as a member of the board of
water and highway commissioners five years. He married Miss Emma
Marsden, and twelve children have been born to them, of which three
are now living. His son Arthur is engaged in business in New York
City, and Emma L. is a student of the Northfield Seminary.

HARRY A. CRONK was born May 20, 1877, at Binghamton, N. Y. He
attended the public schools and after his school days associated
himself with H. H. Bishop, of Binghamton, in the milk business,
during which time he learned the trades of cheese and butter making.
He afterwards connected himself with the Standard Butter Co., of
Oswego, N. Y., and was soon given charge of one of their largest
factories, situated at Truxton, Cortland County, N. Y., and remained
in their employ four years. He then took charge of a co-operative
butter factory at Brisben, N. Y., for one year.

In 1902 he associated himself with Borden's Condensed Milk Co., and
was soon promoted to the position of inspector and then to the
position of superintendent of their Brisben branch; he afterwards was
promoted to superintendent of the Florida branch, and is now
traveling superintendent for a number of factories in Orange and
Sussex counties. He married Miss Ora J. Whitlock, of Ithaca, N. Y.,
March 24, 1897. They have one child, Camilla Eleanor, four years old.
Mr. Cronk is a member of Eastern Light Lodge No. 126, F. & A. M.

JAMES CRONON, a representative business man of Tuxedo Park, N. Y.,
was born and educated in New York City, and has resided in Orange
County since 1876. He conducted a general store at Turners for a
number of years, and was the pioneer merchant in Tuxedo village. In
1886 he established his present bakery and now carries on an
extensive trade. Mr. Cronon has been clerk of the Tuxedo school
district since 1891. During this period new and commodious school
buildings have been erected, marking the progress of education in a
modern community.

Mr. Cronon has served eighteen years as justice of the peace and one
year as justice of sessions. He was collector of the old town of
Monroe for two terms and also served as town clerk of that town
several years. He is a charter member of Lorillard Lodge, F. and
A. M.; a member of Highland Chapter and Hudson River Commandery.

It was with the aid of Josiah Patterson and his wife, Mr. Cronon had
religious services held in the town hall on Sunday afternoons, the
preaching being by the Methodist minister of the Sloatsburg church.
This mission service finally culminated in the establishing of a
Methodist congregation here.

WILLIAM L. CUDDEBACK, M.D., of Port Jervis, N. Y., is a descendant of
the French-Huguenots of that name who settled in Deer Park in 1690,
coming from Caudebec, on the Seine, in that part of France known in
ancient days as Normandy.

Dr. Cuddeback was born in the town of Deer Park, April 26, 1854, and
is the son of Elting and Ann Bevier (Elting) Cuddeback, who were the
parents of six children. He received his primary education in the
district schools, and later took a special two years' course in
Cornell University. He took up the study of medicine in the office of
Dr. Solomon Van Etten, of Port Jervis, after which he entered
Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, from which he was
graduated in 1876. He served as intern in Bellevue Hospital for two
years, and then opened his present office in Port Jervis. In 1892,
with Dr. H. B. Swartwout, he purchased the hospital in Port Jervis,
and together they have conducted it to the present time. This is a
general hospital and is patronized largely by Erie Railroad patients.

Dr. Cuddeback was joined in marriage with Miss Alice D. Malven on
October 16, 1880. She is a daughter of George and Philenda (St. John)
Malven, of Port Jervis. To our subject and wife five children have
been born: Frank E., Edgar C., Elizabeth M., Alice M. and Philenda.
Dr. Cuddeback is a member of the Orange County Medical Society, the
National Association of Railroad Surgeons, the New York State Medical
Society, and has served as pension examiner. He was president of the
Board of Education from 1887 to 1892, during which time the Main
street school house was erected. He has been president of the Library
Board since the establishment of the Free Public Library and has
served as president of the National Bank of Port Jervis since 1900.

THOMAS P. CUSHING, clerk of the town of New Windsor, and postmaster
at Vail's Gate, was born in New York City, December 31, 1863. His
father, James Cushing, moved to Orange County in 1871 and shortly
after established a general store at Vail's Gate. He served as
justice of the peace for thirty years and as postmaster eight years.
By his death, which occurred in 1903, Orange County lost a prominent
and useful citizen. Thomas P., after finishing his schooling, was
engaged by the Erie Railroad as agent and operator, where he remained
fifteen years. He was deputy postmaster seven years under his father,
and in 1905 erected the building in which he continues the business
established by his father.

JOHN DALES, senior member of the real estate and insurance firm of
John Dales & Co., Newburgh, N. Y., was born in Delaware County in
1820, a son of John and Sarah (Cavin) Dales. In 1839 Mr. Dales came
to Newburgh and entered the employ of Crawford Mailler & Co. He was
engaged in mercantile pursuits at Memphis, Tenn., New York City, and
Jordan, N. Y., conducting a flour mill at the latter place fifteen
years.

In 1865 Mr. Dales returned to Newburgh and in company with W. O.
Mailler engaged in the wholesale grocery and freighting business for
several years. Since 1870 his attention has been devoted largely to
real estate. In 1884 Hon. Charles D. Robinson, mayor of Newburgh,
1906 to 1908, became his business partner and is now the active head
of the firm, Mr. Dales having gradually withdrawn from arduous
duties.

Mr. Dales was one of the original members of the Board of Trade, a
director in Quassaick National Bank, secretary of Woodlawn Cemetery
Association and secretary of the Newburgh & Midland Railway Company
in former years. He has also served many years as elder, trustee and
treasurer of Calvary Presbyterian Church. He is prominently
identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a charter member of
Hudson River Lodge No. 607, a Royal Arch Mason, and also belongs to
Hudson River Commandery No. 35, K. T.

In 1845 Mr. Dales married Susan, daughter of Jacob Oakley. There were
two children born of this marriage: William M. Dales, who died
November 1, 1883, leaving a daughter, Helen M. Dales, and Mary
Belknap Dales, who died January 14, 1900, leaving a daughter, Julia,
from her marriage with Chas. D. Robinson.

Mrs. Susan Dales died November 24, 1890. Mr. Dales died March 26,
1908.

HERBERT S. DANA, agent for the Erie Railroad at Craigsville, N. Y.,
was born in Gardner, Maine, where he obtained his education at the
public schools. Mr. Dana has resided in Orange County since 1893,
being employed as telegraph operator in the office of the
Pennsylvania Coal Company at Newburgh. He accepted his present
position, January, 1907, and December of the same year was appointed
postmaster. Mr. Dana is well informed on the subject of horses and
has contributed news and comments to the _Western Horseman_ for a
quarter of a century, and to the _Newburgh News_ and _Goshen
Independent and Republican_ for the past fifteen years.

Mr. Dana married Miss Nellie Robinson Wheaton, of Connecticut, and
they are the parents of two sons, George Stephen and Frederick
Wheaton.

HENRY D'ARCY, who was associated with his brother Thomas in
conducting the United States Hotel in Newburgh for some years, is a
native of the town of Highland and now conducts a real estate and
fire insurance business in Highland Falls. Mr. D'Arcy was the first
town clerk at the time the town of Highland was divided from
Cornwall. He has served at various times as assessor and road
commissioner and president of the Board of Education six years.

Mr. D'Arcy has been twice married. A son was born by his first wife
and a son and daughter by his second wife.

THOMAS DARLINGTON was born at Salisbury Mills, Orange County, N. Y.,
August 29, 1826, the son of Peter and Maria Wilde Darlington. Through
his mother many lines of colonial ancestry met in him. A descendant
of Deputy Governor Bishop, of Connecticut, who was secretary of that
colony from 1661 to 1665; of Daniel Rayneau, the first freeholder of
the Huguenot colony of New Rochelle; of Richard Wilde, Esq., of
Flushing, N. Y.; and from Edward Griffin, of the Virginia colony, on
his father's side he was from the Darlingtons of Yorkshire, England,
and Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, who was one of the first paper
manufacturers in this country, died January 21, 1851, but his mother
lived to be over one hundred years of age, until August 20, 1900. He
acquired his education in the local schools near at hand, graduating
with highest honors, and at seventeen, by his own choice, was
principal of a school in a neighboring village. Resigning his school
position he went to New York City and studied law in the office of
Mr. Taggart, reciting at the same time in the evenings to private
tutors in Latin and philosophy. He was of a very religious
temperament, being a constant attendant at church and having a
Sunday-school class, of which he was very fond.

Soon after becoming an attorney and counselor-at-law he started in
business for himself, and achieved a most rapid success. The firm
name was Darlington, Spring & Russell, and some most important cases
were entrusted to their care. When Mr. Spring died, Mr. Russell went
to Cornell University as dean, and a new firm was formed of
Darlington, Irving & Hoffman.

His interest in all games and amusements was great, being the
amateur editor of the chess column in a New York weekly paper for
some years.

In politics he was a strong abolitionist, and took an active part in
the anti-slavery movement. So pronounced was his position and so well
known, that on July 13, 1863, during the draft riots in New York
City, a mob broke into his law offices and smashed all the furniture.
Mr. Darlington afterward sued the municipality for the damage
wrought, and was the first to recover in an action of this sort, the
case being referred to to-day as marking a new line of municipal
responsibility. As the mob was killing returned Union soldiers and
hanging colored people to the lamp-posts, at his own expense he sent
down a whole colored family that had been pursued, to his country
home in Kingston, N. J., and kept them there some months until the
danger was over.

At the time of the renomination of General Grant for a second term as
President, one of the general's friends offered Mr. Darlington the
appointment of chief justice of the then territory of Colorado, but
he was most devoted and adhered to his friend of many years, Horace
Greeley, who was the nominee of the liberal republican and democratic
parties, and so the appointment was not made. He resolutely and
consistently declined to engage in politics, but blamed himself for
over-leniency in the case of Guiteau, who afterward shot President
Garfield. Having a criminal suit against Guiteau, he had him shut up
in prison, but after being there some months Guiteau wrote a most
pitiful letter, saying that longer confinement meant his death, and
Mr. Darlington, thinking that he had been punished enough, signed a
paper consenting to his discharge. It was only a month or two after
his release that he murdered President Garfield, and Mr. Darlington
appeared against him as a witness at his trial.

In his religious life Mr. Darlington always attended the Presbyterian
Church, and was teacher of the Bible class in the Mulberry Street
Mission of the South Park Church in Newark, N. J., for years.

On August 1, 1850, he married Hannah Anne Goodliffe, daughter of
James Yarrow Goodliffe, and the issue was eight children; two, Alfred
Ernest and Alice, deceased, and six, James, now Protestant Episcopal
bishop of Harrisburg, Pa.; Thomas, J., now president of the board of
health of New York City; Charles Francis, counselor-at-law; Gustavus
C., a physician; Marion Goodliffe, and Mrs. Margaret Darlington-Wilde,
living. His death came suddenly, on the 18th day of May, 1903, and he
was buried from the same church in which he was married, the
University Place Presbyterian Church, University place and Eleventh
street, New York City, from which his wife was also buried about two
years before.

THOMAS DARLINGTON, M.D., was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., September 24,
1858; son of Thomas Darlington and Hannah A. (Goodliffe) Darlington.
His education began in the public schools of New York and Newark,
N. J., followed by a three years' scientific and engineering course
at the University of the City of New York. After his graduation, he
entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, from which
he was graduated as M.D. in 1880. He engaged in the practice of
medicine at Newark, N. J., for two years, holding several hospital
appointments. In 1882 he located at Kingsbridge, N. Y., and practiced
there until 1904, except for two years spent in Arizona, where he was
surgeon to several mining companies. He was appointed commissioner of
health for the city of New York in 1904, and was reappointed for the
second term in 1906. His administration has been thoroughly
efficient and has demonstrated the wisdom of the selection of a
trained medical man as head of the department of health of a great
metropolis like New York, where the sanitary problems are necessarily
very complex, and their proper solution of vital importance. Dr.
Darlington has been an extensive contributor to medical literature.
He is ex-president of the American Climatological Society, a member
of the American Medical Association, the New York State Medical
Society, the New York County Medical Society, the Medico-Legal
Society, Association of the Alumni of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, American Public Health Association, Harlem Medical
Association, New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Association, Medical
Society of the Borough of the Bronx, Medical Association of Greater
New York, Yonkers Practitioners' Society, Society of Medical
Jurisprudence and Academy of Medicine; and until his appointment as
health commissioner of New York, he was visiting physician to several
of the hospitals of the city and consulting physician to the French
Hospital. He is also a member of the Archdeaconry of New York, the
Church Club of New York, Chamber of Commerce, Chemists' Club, The
Thomas Hunter Association of Grammar School No. 53, the Commission on
the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the Charity Organization of the
City of New York, Sons of the Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars,
New York University Alumni Association, Kingsbridge Council No. 1082,
Royal Arcanum; the Parish Club, Church Temperance Society, trustee of
the Bronx Savings Bank, the Huguenot Society of America, Pilgrim
Society, Fordham Club, North Side Board of Trade, the National
Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, New York
Athletic Club, Seabury Society, Jefferson Tammany Hall, director
Crippled Children's Driving Fund, and the National Geographic
Society, Lotos Club, American Geographical Society and Society of
Tropical Medicine. Address, 48 West 59th street. New York City.

GEORGE DART, general manager of the Tuxedo Stores Company at Tuxedo
Park, N. Y., is a native of Ulster County, N. Y., and has resided at
Tuxedo since 1886, when he established his pharmacy. Mr. Dart had
previously been engaged in the drug business at 30th street and
Broadway, New York City. He discontinued that store in 1888.

Mr. Dart was instrumental in the establishment of the Tuxedo Stores
Company, and has been identified with various movements for the
improvement and advancement of Tuxedo in material, moral and
religious matters. He is president of the Board of Education,
director of the Tuxedo Library and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal
Church.

THOMAS WESLEY DAVEY was born in the town of Greenville, N. Y., on
January 6, 1850. Mr. Davey received his early education at the
Chester Academy. His first work after leaving school was on a farm
where he worked for three years. He was associated with various
factories in Middletown and spent two years in the oil fields of
Pennsylvania. Returning to his native State, Mr. Davey located in the
metropolis and engaged in the milk business for two years. Since that
time he was with the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital for
fourteen years as assistant engineer. Here in Middletown he has
labored effectively for the past ten years as superintendent of the
Middletown Water-Works. He married Miss Maria Wood, of Haverstraw,
N. Y. Three children have been born to them, Irving W., Mina May and
Lewis Jacob. Mr. Davey belongs to a number of societies, among them
being Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. & A. M.; Middletown Lodge, I. O. O. F.,
No. 112; Orange Encampment, I. O. O. F., No. 93. He is a member of
the American Water-Works Association and honorary member of Eagle
Hose & Chemical Co. No. 2, of Middletown.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN DECKER was born at Newburgh, Orange County, January
16, 1865. His parents were John H. and Elsie (Fullerton) Decker. He
attended the schools in Middletown until twelve years of age, when
his father died and Mr. Decker went to work in a drug store at
Paterson, N. J., where he remained six years. He was identified with
the _Times_ at Middletown as city editor for a period of twelve
years. He enlisted in the 1st N. Y. Vol. Inf. in 1898 during the
Spanish-American war, and accompanied his regiment to Honolulu as
first lieutenant of Company I. He returned to Middletown and took up
newspaper work on the _Press,_ remaining until the _Times_ and
_Press_ were merged. He was coroner for twelve years, and in 1907 was
elected sheriff of Orange Comity. Mr. Decker was united in marriage
to Miss Natalie Weygant, October 31, 1890. To this union two children
were born, Richard Stivers, born 1892, and John Weygant, born 1896.
Mr. Decker is a republican in politics. Socially he is a member of
Hoffman Lodge No. 412, of Middletown. He is captain of Company I,
1st Inf. (24th Sep. Co.), National Guards of New York.

ISAIAH W. DECKER, president of the Wallkill Valley Farmers'
Association is now retired from active agricultural pursuits and
makes his home in Walden, N. Y. Mr. Decker's ancestors were of Dutch
extraction and at an early period sought the rich lands of Orange and
Ulster counties. He is a grandson of Levi Decker and a son of William
D. and Ellen Jane (Crans) Decker and was born in the town of
Montgomery, Orange County, N. Y. In his younger days he rented farms
upon which he fully demonstrated that success could be won in this as
well as in other pursuits. He later purchased a desirable farm near
Walden which he provided with modern equipment.

Mr. Decker is identified with social and public affairs of his native
town and has occupied different positions of trust and responsibility.

JOHN E. DECKER was born May 1, 1860, at Dwaarskill, Ulster County,
N. Y. His parents were Ezekiel and Anna Decker. Our subject attained
his education at the district school in his locality. He married
Martha Jane, daughter of Abraham Vernooy, April 2, 1895. Their one
son, Adrian Vernooy Decker, was born August 11, 1897. Mr. and Mrs.
Decker are members of the First Congregational Church of Middletown,
N. Y., and both are active members of Wallkill River Grange. Mr.
Decker is a member of I. O. O. F., of Gardner, Ulster County, N. Y.
He occupies the C. H. C. Beck's farm near Middletown, N. Y., and has
always been an agriculturist.

SAMUEL DECKER was born March 12, 1851, on his father's farm near the
village of Amity, Orange County, N. Y. His parents were John and
Maria (Smith) Decker. John Decker was a descendant of a Holland Dutch
emigrant who located and became a large land owner at what is now
Glenwood, N. J., but who late in life removed to central New York,
leaving a son at Glenwood. Maria Smith's father, Abram Smith, was a
school teacher of Orange County for fifty years and her two
grand sires were Revolutionary soldiers. Mr. Decker's school days were
passed at Amity, and upon reaching his majority he removed to the
town of Greenville, N. Y., and purchased a farm of one hundred and
forty acres in the upper Shawangunk valley. He has since added an
adjoining farm to his original purchase. For about ten years he
conducted the farm and taught school. On October 16, 1878, he married
Cornelia Sergeant, only daughter of Jeremiah Sergeant, a well-known
cattle dealer and farmer at Gardenersville. Shortly after this he
began dealing in cattle, which in connection with his farming he
engaged in continuously for twenty years. Mr. Decker is a democrat
and has held a number of public offices. At present he is filling his
second term as justice of the peace. Their children number four:
Margaret, wife of Frank Neail, of Mount Hope; Phebe, wife of Hiram
Tyler, of New York City; Frank and Effa, at home. In spite of his
many enterprises Mr. Decker has found time to devote several hours
each day to reading and study, is a fine Shakespearian scholar and,
having a phenomenal memory, is an authority on ancient and modern
history and literature.

JOHN DEISSEROTH, supervisor of the Fifth Ward, Newburgh, N. Y., was
born in that city, January 17, 1876. After finishing his studies at
the public schools he learned the blacksmith and horseshoeing trade
and has been engaged in business for himself for the past ten years.

A firm believer in the principles of the democratic party, Mr.
Deisseroth was elected to the office of supervisor in 1907 by a
majority of 96. Socially he is a member of the Knights of the
Maccabees and Columbian Hose Company, and vestryman in the Church of
the Good Shepherd.

FRANK H. DE KAY was born in the town of Warwick at New Milford, August
11, 1866. He is a son of Francis M. and Nellie (Sisson) De Kay. There
were three children in his parents' family: One died in infancy;
Lucille, wife of James H. Vealey, and Frank H. The subject of our
sketch acquired his early education at the district school at New
Milford and Warwick public school, later attending Eastman's Business
College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. At an early age he identified himself
in the furniture and undertaking business with Mr. Burt, the firm
being Burt and De Kay. In 1893 Mr. De Kay, taking over Mr. Burt's
interest, continued the business until 1899. At this period James H.
Vealey took an interest in the establishment, the firm being then
known as De Kay & Vealey, which continued until 1903, when Mr. De Kay
retired. He married Miss Marguerite Pelser, of Paterson, N. J., April
14, 1891. To them were born two children, Elwood Frank, born March 5,
1893, died July 10, 1902, and Doris Pelser, born June 5, 1896. He is
an honorary member of Excelsior Hose Company No. 1 and treasurer of
Christ Episcopal Church, of Warwick. In politics he is independent.

CORNELIUS HENRY DEMAREST was born in Warwick, June 25, 1820, and died
December 10, 1889. He lived all his life on the farm he inherited
from his father, Cornelius C. Demarest, which now belongs to his son,
Henry Pelton Demarest. He was for thirty years presiding officer of
the board which controlled the Warwick Academy and the public school.
He was one of the original stockholders of the First National Bank of
the village and its president from 1878 until his death. He was also
a founder of the Warwick Valley Farmers' Milk Association and an
officer of the Warwick Valley R. R., and of its successor, the Lehigh
and Hudson River Road. He was a consistent Christian and for some
years before his death was a member of the Consistory of the Reformed
Church. In 1845 he married Elizabeth A. Pelton, daughter of Henry
Pelton, of Warwick, and seven children survived him: Charles M., who
was born February 5, 1848, and died January 8, 1905 (he married Annie
E. Armstrong, daughter of Rensselaer Armstrong, of Warwick); DeWitt
Clinton, born February 18, 1852, who married Hattie Hudson, of
Denver, and lives at Passaic, N. J.; Mary Elizabeth, born April 29,
1854, who married Christie Romaine, of Hackensack, N. J.; Henry
Pelton, born October 25, 1856, who married Ella J. Toland, of
Florida, N. Y.; Julia, born May 29, 1858, unmarried, living at
Warwick; David, born February 27, 1860, unmarried, and living in
Boston, Mass.; Anna, born April 24, 1862, unmarried, and living at
Warwick.

The Demarests are of Huguenot extraction. David Demarest, a native of
Beauchamp, a little village of Picardy in France, with his wife,
Marie Soheir, and five children sailed from Amsterdam, April 16,
1663, on the ship _Bouchoc_ (Spotted Cow) for New Amsterdam. For two
years he resided with the Huguenot colony on Staten Island; from
there he moved to Harlem, where for twelve and a half years he was
one of the first citizens of the place. He purchased of the Indians
several thousand acres of land in New Jersey, in the vicinity of
Hackensack. Just before and during the Revolution a number of
Demarest families left New Jersey and went to Orange County, N. Y.
Among these was Cornelius Demarest, the grandfather of Cornelius H.
He settled on a ridge a few miles out of Warwick on the Florida road,
but during his later years he purchased the farm now owned by his
great-grandsons, Henry Pelton and Henry Pelton Demarest. Cornelius
Demarest fought in the war of the Revolution under Col. John Hathorn
in a company of Major Wisner's Scouts. He was one of the organizers
of the Reformed Church of Warwick and a member of its first
Consistory.

GEORGE HOUSTON DEMAREST, always a farmer, was born at the homestead
about two miles from Wisner, June 26, 1873. He is of the seventh
generation on this farm, which is now chiefly devoted to dairying. He
is active in local matters, politically he is a republican and
belongs to the Grange. His wife was Miss Edith May Stevens, of Sugar
Loaf, and they were married November 2, 1898. They have had four
children, only two of whom are living, namely, James Henry, six years
old, and Agnes Wood, three months old.

HON. AUGUSTUS DENNISTON, president Orange County Agricultural
Society, was born in the town of Blooming Grove, the youngest son of
Robert and Mary Denniston. His farm of about two hundred and thirty
acres has come down to him by inheritance from his great-grandfather,
James Denniston, son of Alexander Denniston, who arrived in this
country from Ireland in 1729 and settled on a farm in the town of
New Windsor, about two miles north of Washingtonville. The
grandfather of Augustus was James Denniston, who died in 1825,
leaving several large farms, most of which was bequeathed to his son
Robert, who died in 1867, and who was the owner of about six hundred
acres of land, beside a large estate, all of which was managed by his
son Augustus, for the benefit of his mother until her death in 1898.
Augustus was educated at home by tutors in a private school. When his
father was elected State comptroller in 1860, he went to Albany and
served for two years as his confidential clerk. In 1862 he went to
war, and was appointed by Col. Ellis quartermaster of the 124th
Regiment, N. Y. S. Volunteers. After a few months' service he was
taken sick, and after months of illness in hospital and at home he
resigned. In 1893-94 he represented the First Assembly District of
Orange County in the Legislature. Afterwards for two years he was
State cattle commissioner, having been appointed by Governor Cornell.
In 1893 he was elected a director of the Orange County Agricultural
Society, and since that time has been continuously connected with it
officially, four years as director, two as vice-president, and since
1899 its president. He has been a director of the Highland National
Bank of Newburgh since 1873, and for seven years was its president.
In 1901 he was appointed by Governor Odell one of the State Fair
commissioners. He resides in the old home, which was built by his
father in 1824, is engaged extensively in the milk business on his
large farm and has been president of the Washingtonville Farmers'
Creamery Association since its organization in 1876.

WALTER DENNISTON, supervisor of the town of New Windsor, is engaged
in farming near Rocklet. He was born in this township in 1857, and is
a son of George and Agnes (Stewart) Denniston. He has been identified
with public affairs of the town and county since 1884, when he served
as justice of the peace until 1892. With the exception of the
1896-1897 term he has been continuously elected a member of the Board
of Supervisors since 1891. Mr. Denniston is a member of Little
Britain Grange and takes an active interest in all matters pertaining
to the welfare of Orange County.

WILLIAM L. DICKERSON, attorney, of Montgomery, is a son of Jacob and
John B. (Millspaugh) Dickerson. His ancestors settled in Orange
County previous to the Revolutionary war. Mr. Dickerson attended
Montgomery Academy and Cornell University, following which he read
law in the office of Hon. A. S. Cassedy and was admitted to the bar
in 1892. His legal studies were supplemented by a course of lectures
at the University of Minnesota. He has enjoyed an extensive practice
in Montgomery since 1895. Mr. Dickerson is secretary and a director
of the Montgomery & Erie Railroad and secretary and a director of the
Riverside Cemetery. He is a member of Walden Lodge, F. & A. M.; past
assistant grand lecturer of the Thirteenth Masonic District; a member
of Midland Chapter, R. A. M., of Middletown, and a member of the
First Presbyterian Church of Montgomery.

JAMES NATHANIEL DICKEY, bank cashier, Newburgh; son of William and
Esther (James) Dickey. Born at Newburgh, July 12, 1840. After
finishing his studies at Newburgh Academy entered office of Judge
J. J. Monell as clerk, remaining two years. In 1856 accepted
clerkship with Quassaick National Bank; was promoted to teller and in
1895 became cashier. Served as city treasurer of Newburgh for thirty
years. First vice-president Newburgh Historical Society; member City
Club and the Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association. He married Miss
Eve Brown in 1866 and three daughters have been born to them.

EDWIN J. DIKEMAN, a successful pharmacist of Goshen, N. Y., was born
in that place in 1876. After graduating from the Goshen High School
he entered Columbia University and graduated from the Department of
Pharmacy of that institution in 1897. He is a son of Edwin and
Elizabeth (Jay) Dikeman. Edwin, the father, was a native of Goshen.
He established the drug store now owned by Edwin J. in the early
fifties and was one of the prominent business men of that place. He
served the village as president for several years. His death occurred
July 19, 1895.

Edwin J. married Henrietta Coleman, daughter of Hon. Roswell C.
Coleman, of Newburgh, N. Y., and they have a son, Edwin J., Jr.

Mr. Dikeman is a member of Goshen Lodge No. 365, F. & A. M.; the
Goshen Club, an honorary member of Cataract Engine and Hose Company
No. 1, and a member of the New York State Pharmaceutical Association.
He is also secretary of the Orange County Chapter, Sons of the
Revolution.

BRICE L. DREW was born at Vernon, Sussex County, N. J., March 6,
1866. His parents were Gilbert and Elizabeth Drew, and they had five
children. Mr. Drew is a practical farmer, and now conducts the Eden
fruit and dairy farm of one hundred and forty-two acres. He is a
member of Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. & A. M.; Wawayanda Lodge No. 34,
I. O. O. F., and Junior O. U. A. M. No. 207. He is a member of the
Glenwood Methodist Church. Politically he is independent. He married
Miss Lillie Morehouse, of Amity, daughter of Linn and Emily
Morehouse. Their three children are: Ernest, born June 24, 1892;
Emily, born July 17, 1895, and Albert George, born May 1, 1902.

WILLIAM J. DUFFY, vice-president and a director of the First National
Bank of Highland Falls, N. Y., was born in Providence, R. I., in
1867. He was educated in the city of Rochester, N. Y., and has been a
resident of Orange County since 1897. Mr. Duffy is endowed with
characteristic New England enterprise and his spirit has exerted a
healthy influence in public affairs at Highland Falls, where he is
president of the Village Improvement Society. He is superintendent of
the U. S. Government Stables at West Point and is proprietor of the
entire livery. He is district deputy of the Knights of Columbus. His
wife was formerly Miss Fanny Au, of Highland Falls.

WALTER DUMVILLE, farmer and dairyman, was born in the town of
Newburgh, May 9, 1843. His father, Benjamin Dumville, was a native of
England and came to America in 1827, a few years later locating in
Newburgh, where he married Miriam Harris. He was the first wholesale
butcher in Newburgh. After Walter finished his education he engaged
with his father in that business, and later conducted it alone
successfully for many years. He at one time served as collector of
the town of Newburgh. Mr. Dumville is a director of the Columbus
Trust Co., also the Milk Producers' Association and the Horse Thief
Detecting Society. July 16, 1873, he married Josephine, daughter of
John and Catherine O'Brien, of New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Dumville
are members of the Unitarian Church.

WILLIAM FULLERTON DUNNING, a member of the New York City Bar
Association and for several years immediately preceding his death a
member of its committee on admissions, died on April 1, 1907, after
an illness lasting only a few days. He was born in the city of New
York on May 29, 1856. His father was the late Benjamin F. Dunning,
for many years the law partner of Charles O'Conor, and his mother was
Ruth Seely, of Orange County, New York.

From his father Mr. Dunning inherited a predilection for the law, and
doubtless his early association with his father's firm helped to
develop in him his high ideals of professional ethics.

He was prepared for college in Dresden, Saxony, and was graduated
from Princeton University in the class of 1877. He devoted himself
with more than usual assiduity to his studies, and was particularly
interested in the classics. He was graduated from the Columbia
College Law School and admitted to the bar of this State in 1879.
Upon his admission to the bar he entered the firm of Dunning, Edsall,
Hart & Fowler, of which firm his father was senior partner. In 1883,
upon the death of Mr. Hart, the firm of Dunning, Edsall & Fowler was
organized, and in 1886, upon the retirement of Mr. Edsall, the firm
became Dunning & Fowler. Of these three firms William Fullerton
Dunning was a member. In 1900, upon the dissolution of the firm of
Dunning & Fowler, Mr. Dunning joined the firm of Boardman, Platt &
Soley; on Mr. Soley's retirement from the firm in 1906, the firm
Boardman, Platt & Dunning was organized and continued until November,
1906, when Judge Morgan J. O'Brien became one of the members, the
name being changed to O'Brien, Boardman, Platt & Dunning.

William Fullerton Dunning was a man of modest and retiring
disposition. Although a learned and sound lawyer, he did not seek
the contention and strife of the courts, but preferred office
practice. His faithfulness and devotion to his clients' interests
gained for him their confidence, and many of them became his warm
friends. He had a cheerful, happy disposition. His relations with his
professional brethren were always marked with great consideration,
and while he jealously guarded the interests of his clients, an
opposing attorney could never justly complain that Mr. Dunning had
not shown to him the courtesy demanded by the most exacting
professional etiquette. While not ambitious for position or office
which would bring him prominently before the public, he was greatly
interested in his professional work and desirous that it should be
well done. His relations with the various partners with whom he was
associated during his career have always been most cordial and
friendly.

In 1883 he married Clara Frost, of New Orleans, La., and the years
that followed were filled with domestic happiness. His wife and six
daughters who survive him mourn the loss of a kind and loving husband
and a wise and affectionate father. His life is a continuous record
of high ideals and work well done. He died in the prime of life,
respected by all who knew him, and loved by those who knew him best.
In this age of excitement and greed, such a life as his should be an
example and an inspiration.

THE DUNNING FAMILY--General Benj. Dunning (married Isabel Wilson);
Benjamin Franklin Dunning, Esq. (married Ruth Seely); William
Fullerton Dunning, Esq. (married Clara Frost).

These three Dunnings were descended from an old and well-known
English family and were closely interested in Orange County.

General Dunning's children: Virgil, Benjamin Franklin, William T.,
Angeline.

Benjamin Franklin Dunning's children: Isabel (Mrs. Thos. P. Fowler),
Frank, William Fullerton (dead), Frederick Clark (dead), Alice (Mrs.
M. Allen Starr).

William Fullerton Dunning's children: Aline Frost (dead), Ruth Seely,
Marceline Randolph, Clara Frost, Isabel Fowler, Elizabeth Belcher,
Willielmine.

FRANK DURLAND was born in the Yelverton Inn in the old village of
Chester, N. Y., on March 25, 1860. The family sprang from the
emigrant Jan Garretse Dorlandt, who came from Holland to the New
Netherlands in the year 1652, settling in Brooklyn, later, in the
year 1657, removing to Bedford, of which village he was for many
years a commissioner.

His father, Joseph Durland, is the great-grandson of Charles Durland,
who came from Long Island and settled in Chester in the year 1754.

His mother, Nancy Kingsland Board, was a daughter of Major James J.
Board, of Boardville, N. J., afterward residing in Sugar Loaf valley,
Chester, N. Y.

He attended the Chester Academy until 1877, leaving school at the age
of seventeen, he began life's activities in Durland's store. In the
year 1885 he entered the firm of J. Durland & Son, and on February 1,
1908, he purchased the entire interest in the mercantile business of
his father, Joseph Durland. with whom he had been associated for
twenty-three years. He was married April 22, 1891, to Mary Burt
Sanford, of Warwick, N. Y., daughter of William Moore Sanford and
Sarah Burt, who was the daughter of James Burt, for many years
president of the Chester National Bank. By her he has two children,
William Sanford Durland, born July 13, 1892, now a student in
Nazareth Hall Military Academy, Nazareth, Pa., and Nancy Board
Durland, born March 29, 1898, now a student in Chester Academy.

Mr. and Mrs. Durland are both members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr.
Durland is president of its board of trustees, president of the board
of trade, director of the Chester Telephone Co., trustee of Walton
Hose Co., treasurer of the Orange & Rockland Electric Co., member of
Standard Lodge, No. 711, F. & A. M., of Monroe, N. Y.

JOSEPH DURLAND was born on the Durland homestead, now occupied by his
brother, Samuel S. Durland, March 16, 1832. He received his education
at Chester Academy and at Bloomfield, N. J. He began business life as
a clerk in Masterson's store at West Chester when a young man. He was
a partner with his stepfather, James Durland, at Chester Mills, for
some time. On February 1, 1859, he purchased the interest of James J.
Board in the old store conducted under the name, Board, Pierson & Co.
This new firm of Pierson, Bell & Durland continued at the old store
until February, 1862, when his brother, Samuel S. Durland, was
admitted into partnership with him, the other members of the firm
having sold to them their interest. For ten years this partnership of
the brothers continued successfully and then S. S. Durland retired
from the business and Joseph continued as sole proprietor until 1855,
when Frank Durland, his son, purchased an interest in the business
and the firm name became Durland & Son. This relation continued until
February 1, 1908, when he sold his interest to Frank Durland, the
present proprietor, having completed 49 years of business life in the
old store.

During all his business career Joseph Durland has been a wise
counselor for his fellow citizens in business and political matters.
This has been possible through his knowledge gained by keen
observation and opportunities for travel which have enabled him to
visit and study business conditions in nearly every state in the
Union. For a number of years he has served as trustee of the savings
banks at Warwick and Goshen, and also as a director of the Durland
Trust Co., of Norfolk, Nebraska. For twenty years he has served as a
director of the Chester National Bank, and for two years was its
president and is at present its vice-president. He was the first
Republican supervisor for the town of Chester and served in 1867 and
1868. He was influential in establishing the present Union free
school, and in 1869 was elected clerk of the first Board of Education
of Chester, which position he held for seven years. He strongly urged
the incorporation of the village of Chester in November, 1898, and
was a member of its first board of trustees. When the question of
water for the village arose he served on the board of water
commissioners which introduced the present system of water supply. In
offices of trust, he has served as executor and administrator of many
estates. In 1855 he united with the Presbyterian Church, of which he
and Mrs. Durland are still active members. He was elected to the
office of deacon in this church in 1889, and since 1890 has continued
to serve the church of his choice as an elder. He was married
February 25, 1857, to Nancy Kingsland Board, daughter of Major James
J. Board. The fiftieth anniversary of this happy event was fittingly
celebrated. The children of this marriage now living are two sons,
James Board, who married Sarah Andrews, and Frank, who married Mary
B. Sanford, and two daughters, Amelia Vernon, and Nettie Eugenia,
wife of William T. Moffatt of New York City. One daughter, Marion,
died May 21, 1903.

J. SEELY DURLAND was born in New York City, March 15, 1856. He is a
son of Oscar and Matilda C. Durland. Mr. Durland's father was engaged
in the milk business in New York City, later removing to Chester,
N. Y., purchasing the Marvin property, about two miles from Chester.
Here he developed a natural love for the country and has remained a
farmer. J. Seely Durland received his education at the district
school and Chester Academy, he married Fannie R. Hunter, of Monroe,
October 26, 1894, and two children have been born to them, Anna T.,
living, and Stanley, who died in 1895. Mr. Durland is a member of the
Chester Grange, and in politics a Republican.

JOHN E. DURYEA, son of Samuel C. and Emily (Tuthill) Duryea, was born
September 6, 1840, on the farm in the town of Crawford which his
father had purchased in 1838. He assisted his father in the
management of the farm until he removed to Pine Bush in November,
1905.

Mr. Duryea's paternal ancestors were French Huguenots. Joost Duryea,
the founder of the family in America, came to Long Island from
Holland in 1675, and from Jamaica, Queens County, Yost or George, our
subject's great-great-grandfather, came to Orange County and settled
in the town of Blooming Grove, of which he was a pioneer. He died in
1760 and was buried at Greycourt. His son, George, during the
Revolution, was in active service in the cavalry department of the
Colonial Army. He married Miss Hannah Hudson, of Goshen. Five sons
and four daughters were born to them, of whom John, grandfather of
our subject, married in 1800, Mary, daughter of Samuel and Jeannette
(McCurdy) Crawford, of the town of Montgomery. They settled on a farm
near Bloomingburg in the town of Wallkill. Six children were born, of
whom Samuel C. was the youngest.

John E. Duryea married, in 1863, Miss Jane Frances Hunter, who died
in 1883, leaving four daughters, Emily C., Mary F., Edna H., Anna Z.
Politically Mr. Duryea is a Republican and has occupied a prominent
place in public affairs. He was justice of the peace twelve years and
justice of sessions four years. Socially he is identified with the
Masonic fraternity.

SAMUEL T. DUSENBERRY, assistant postmaster at Tuxedo Park, N. Y., was
born at Stony Ford, Orange County, in 1873. He is a son of William B.
and S. E. (Wallace) Dusenberry. He received his education at the
schools of Goshen. In 1899 Mr. Dusenberry came to Tuxedo and accepted
the appointment of assistant postmaster. Socially he is identified
with Standard Lodge, No. 711, F. & A. M. He married Miss Leonor
Clark, of Monroe. N. Y. They have one child, William Wallace.

JOHN L. D. EAGER has been engaged in the hide and tallow business at
Montgomery since 1875. He was born in Walden in 1850. A son of Isaac
L. and Fannie M. (Bodine) Eager. At the age of twenty he entered the
employ of Homer Ramsdell & Co., of Newburgh, where he remained eight
years. On returning to Montgomery he engaged in the coal business,
also conducting his hide and tallow establishment. Mr. Eager has
served as police justice twenty years and justice of the peace
sixteen years. He now has charge of the pumping station of the
Montgomery Water Works. He married Miss Emma Decker in 1876 and three
sons have been born to them, Leonard, Clarence and Ray. Leonard is
now in charge of his father's hide and tallow plant. He had
previously been employed as engineer at Randall's Island and engineer
for the firm of Tiffany & Co., New York.

JOSEPH C. EAGER was born August 21, 1859, on a farm near
Hamptonburgh, where he now resides. His father, Joseph Case Eager,
died in 1903. He had been a town justice of the peace for thirty
years, and from his dairy farm of 150 acres was one of the first
shippers of milk to the New York market over the Erie Railroad.
Besides Joseph there was a daughter, Caroline, who married Cornelius
Zabriskie, of Newark, N. J. Joseph's education in the district school
was supplemented by a course in the private boarding school of Prof.
S. S. Hartwell, of Unionville, N. J. From this he returned to the
farm, which has always been his home. Since 1890 he has been station
agent at Hamptonburgh for the Lehigh and Hudson Railroad, and also
conducted a feed business at the same station. He followed the
political inclinations of his father and has been one of the active
Democrats of his town.

WILLIAM CASE EAGER, the descendant of one of the first settlers of
the county, was born December 9, 1865, in Warwick, and died suddenly
as the result of an accident, February 11, 1904. His parents were
William C. and Mary C. Eager, whose children were this one son and
four daughters, Mary L., Jennie, Belle and Fannie. The father,
William C. Eager, Sr., died in 1878, April 18th. The subject of our
sketch acquired his early education in the Warwick school, remaining
in school until 19 years of age. He then entered the general store
which was managed and owned by his mother until he reached the age of
21, at which time he assumed control of the store and managed it
successfully until his death. In 1899 he married Hattie J. Aldrich, a
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Still, of Warwick. He was one of the
most popular young men of Warwick, having a warm heart, a sunny
nature and much natural magnetism, seasoned with genial humor and
entire honesty. It was said of him that he had not one enemy, and was
esteemed by the people of all classes. He was fond of athletic sports
and all lively diversions. He was pitcher in the champion baseball
team, a leading official in the Warwick Athletic Association, an
enthusiastic hunter and fisher and lover of wild nature, liked music
and was at one time a player in the village band. He was so good and
popular a fireman that he rose to be foreman of Excelsior Hose and
then to be chief of the fire department, to which he was elected
three times and refused to be reelected. He was once elected town
collector, and once nominated for president of the village, but
resolutely declined the nomination.

On the day of his funeral all the business places in the village were
closed, the whole fire department and the members of the Warwick Club
attended in a body, and one of the largest gatherings ever seen in
the Reformed church listened to the funeral services.

His earliest ancestor in Orange County lived on a farm near what is
now called Neelytown, and some of his ancestors still reside there.
His great uncle was Samuel W. Eager, the first historian of the
county.

THOMAS HORTON EASTON was born January 25, 1853, on the homestead farm
near Otisville. He attended the district school, and assisted in the
general store operated by his father at Otisville for many years. He
engaged with the Erie Railroad as a brakeman and was promoted to
conductor, serving from 1868 to 1882, after which he returned to the
farm, where he has since remained. He was married to Miss Frances N.,
daughter of Dimmick and Sylvia A. (Cadwell) Wilkin, March 14, 1875.
By this union there were three children born, all living: Harriet D.,
born February 11, 1877; Nellie W., born June 14, 1881; Sylvia E.,
born September 10, 1885. Harriet is the wife of Henry A. Holley, of
Otisville, and they have three children, Henry E., born August 26,
1898; Elizabeth C, born April 30, 1901; James Easton, born September
20, 1905. Nellie W. is the wife of Joseph K. Corwin. They have two
children, S. Gilbert, born July 19, 1905, and Francis Horton, born
March 2, 1907. In politics Mr. Easton is a democrat, and has served
as inspector of elections since 1884. His father, James Easton, was
born January 15, 1824, at Milford, Pa. February 24, 1849, he married
Hannah E. Corwin, of New Vernon, and three children were born to
them, Nellie R., born November 21, 1849, married Schuyler D. Frazer,
of Otisville; Ada, born February 23, 1855, died March, 1856. He was
at Dunkirk, N. Y., in 1851, when the opening of the Erie Railroad
occurred. In 1853 he returned to Howells and opened a general store,
continuing there until 1861. In 1863 he went to Saginaw, Michigan,
remaining there one year, returning to Orange County in 1864,
opening a general store at Otisville, which in May, 1884, was
destroyed by fire. He immediately rebuilt and continued until 1905,
when he retired after a career of fifty years of active life.

ALVA WISNER EDSALL, a lifelong resident of the town of Warwick, was
born at Edenville, N. Y., January 8, 1861, and after attending the
public schools commenced the study of dentistry at the age of
eighteen years, graduating from the Philadelphia Dental College. In
1883 took up the practice of his chosen profession in Warwick, N. Y.,
where he has since been actively engaged in business, forming a
partnership with Dr. J. H. Wood in 1884, which partnership still
exists. A son of Thomas S. and Phoebe Miller Edsall, he represents
the seventh generation of a long line of English ancestry, who were
among the early settlers of New Amsterdam (now New York City), in
1637, they being large owners of timber lands where Hackensack,
N. J., is now located. They afterwards moved to Northern New Jersey
about the time the De Kays settled there, and numerous branches of the
family are now to be found in this locality. Dr. Edsall was married,
in 1891, to Caroline Welling, of Warwick, having a daughter and son,
Marian and Maurice, aged respectively twelve and five years. He is a
member of the board of education and interested in Warwick's various
business enterprises.

JOHN EGAN, retired dairyman, Newburgh, N. Y., was born in 1847 on a
farm in West Newburgh. In 1876 he embarked in the milk and cream
business and in 1883 his trade had assumed such proportions that he
erected a creamery on First street, where the milk was received,
which he equipped with modern appliances. He retired from the dairy
business a few years ago and now devotes his attention to his
extensive real estate holdings.

EDWARD R. ELLIOTT, M.D., of Montgomery, N. Y., was born in Dutchess
County in 1854, a son of Rev. Jos. and Harriet (Andrews) Elliott. His
education was obtained at Claverack Institute and Stamford Seminary.
He graduated in medicine in 1874 from the University of New York and
has enjoyed an extensive practice in Montgomery since 1878. Dr.
Elliott is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the
Newburgh Bay Medical Society. He is also identified with the Masonic
fraternity. He is a director of the Montgomery National Bank. Dr.
Elliott married Miss Lydia Wright and a son, Clyde, has been born to
them.

E. J. EMERSON, cashier of the Montgomery National Bank, has been a
resident of Orange County for some twenty years. He is a native of
Sullivan County and began life by entering the employ of Albert Bull,
wholesale druggist of Middletown, where he remained twelve years. Mr.
Emerson's banking experience covers a period of six years, four of
which were spent with the First National and the Merchants National
Bank of Middletown. He accepted his present position in 1905.

CHARLES A. EVANS--Soldier, newspaper man, ranch man and farmer
successively the career of Charles A. Evans has been one of
strenuous activity and varied experience. He was born September 11,
1845, in New York City, obtained his early education in New York
schools, and when a mere boy, sixteen years old, enlisted in New York
with the 12th Regular Infantry for service in the Civil War. This was
in May, 1862. He could only be accepted as a drummer boy, but soon
exchanged drum for musket, and carried it for three years. He was
wounded and taken prisoner in the battle of Cedar Mountain, and was
confined on Belle Island about two months. Communications which he
wrote for Northern papers pleased the editor of the Chicago _Times,_
and in the fall of 1865 the young soldier was invited to join the
staff of that paper. He remained with it until 1878, and then getting
the Western fever, went to a point in Southern Kansas, on the Walnut
River, and established a ranch on which he and his family lived until
1883. Then, in order that his children might have opportunities for
education, he returned to Chicago and resumed work on the _Times,_
and after a little was appointed its New York correspondent. So he
again became a resident of the metropolis, and was correspondent of
the Chicago _Times_ and St. Louis _Republican_ five years, when
trouble with his eyes caused him to quit newspaper work. In 1888 he
came to Orange County and purchased the farm near Howells on which he
lives. In 1900 he purchased at Mt. Vernon another farm, and now
manages both. In 1895 he was supervisor for the town of Wallkill,
and against much opposition pushed through the board the resolution
offering a reward for the capture of Charles H. Rogers, the murderer
of the Olney brothers and Alice Ingerick. In 1907 he was the
Democratic candidate for member of assembly. Mr. Evans was married to
Miss Jennie E. Morrill, of Brandon, Vt., in 1867. They have four
children--a son living in Chicago, Mrs. F. L. Andrews, of Whitehall,
Miss Frances, a graduate of Cornell University, and Austin, now a
student in Cornell.

GEORGE W. EVANS, a prominent citizen of the town of Crawford, resides
at Bullville and carries on an extensive trade in cattle and horses.
He is a son of John A. and Marie (Walker) Evans, and was born at
Walker Valley, Ulster County. Although but in his 'teens he went to
the front during the Civil War, enlisting in the 56th Regiment. He
was discharged in 1865 at Charlestown, S. C. On his return home he
engaged with his father in the meat business at Bullville, in which
he continued fourteen years, and then began trading in cattle.

Mr. Evans was united in marriage with Miss Anna L. Relyea, January 6,
1869, a daughter of Christopher and Sarah B. (Sprague) Relyea.
Socially he is identified with Hoffman Lodge, No. 412, F. and A. M.,
of Middletown, N. Y.

WILLIAM EVANS, now living in retirement at Westtown, N. Y., has been
prominently identified with the commercial and financial development
of Middletown. He is a son of William and Rosetta (Corwin) Evans and
was born at the homestead in the town of Minisink. His mercantile
career began in 1849, when, under the firm name of Little & Evans, a
dry goods store was started at Middletown. At the end of eight years
Mr. Evans continued the business alone for four years, when Mr. M. D.
Stivers became his partner as Evans & Stivers. In 1864 Mr. Evans sold
out his interest and took up the organization of the First National
Bank, of which he was elected president. After a period of eleven
years he resigned the office, retaining his directorship. In 1866 he
assisted in the organization of the Middletown, Unionville and Water
Gap R. R., and at his suggestion the railroad was given that name. He
was a director of the company and served as its treasurer a number of
years. In 1874 he engaged for two years in the manufacture of horse
clothing. He then went to New York and was engaged for four years in
the real estate and insurance business. He then retired from active
pursuits and traveled extensively in company with his daughter.

Mr. Evans married Miss Julia Denton, daughter of Theodore B. Denton,
of Denton, N. Y. Two children were born. His daughter is now the wife
of Mr. Albert H. Horton, of Johnson, N. Y., and his son, Sydney
Denton, is engaged in business in Salt Lake City.

THE FABRIKOID COMPANY of Newburgh is among the most important
industries of Orange County. It was established in 1902 and
incorporated under the present title with the following officials:
John Aspinwall, president; George H. May, secretary and treasurer;
J. Kearney Rodgers, general sales manager. The product of the plant
is chiefly an imitation leather called Fabrikoid, which finds a ready
market all over the world. Bronze paint and lacquers are also
manufactured. The growth of this business has been very rapid and the
plant now covers twenty-five acres and consists of forty-nine
buildings.

THE FANCHER FAMILY--Elias Fancher, who was born in Darien, Conn.,
January 19, 1793, came to Warwick in early boyhood with his father,
who bought the Van Houghton farm with the stone house, which is still
standing, was built in 1795. He married Miss Sarah Jones, who was
born in Warwick September 10, 1795. They had eight children, only two
of whom are living, Darius and Julia. The latter, born December 15,
1831, is the wife of Wisner Wood, of Paterson, N. J. Darius was born
March 22, 1836, and has always been identified with agriculture since
he left the district school. He married Sarah Catharine Sayer, of
Warwick. The names of their live children are, Edwin, Sayer, Clinton
W., Frank and Lillie. Edwin is a practicing physician in Middletown,
N. Y., and Sayer is in a wholesale grocery in the same place. Clinton
conducts a dry goods store and Frank is in the feed business in
Goshen. Lillie is the wife of Wilham A. Bradner, of Warwick. Their
father, Darius, remains the good farmer and esteemed citizen that he
has been since his young manhood.

HENRY H. FARNUM, of Port Jervis, member of the board of supervisors,
was born and educated in this city. He is a son of Peter E. and Mary
R. (Conkling) Farnum, and conducts an extensive business in real
estate and insurance. Following the incorporation of Port Jervis as a
city in 1907. Mr. Farnum was nominated and elected on the Republican
ticket a member of the board of supervisors. He takes an active
interest in public affairs of Orange County, is a member of the Deer
Park Club, of which he is a treasurer. Mr. Farnum married Ruth Smith,
of Port Jervis, and they have one son, Henry H., Jr.

JACOB R. FEAGLES was born on the Feagles homestead March 31, 1863,
and since his school days has been a farmer. His first wife's maiden
name was Miss Belle Hyatt, of Warwick, and they were married December
5, 1889. His second marriage was to Mrs. Emma J. Vealy, of Amity,
October 25, 1893. Five children have been the fruit of the second
marriage--Jacob H., George W., Mary Elizabeth, Henry Barney and Emma.
Mr. Feagles has been on his present farm twenty-one years, and is an
extensive peach grower and a dairy farmer. He belongs to Amity Grange
No. 1001.

DR. JAMES FRANCIS FERGUSON, founder of the widely known sanitarium
"Falkirk," was born in New York City October 10, 1830, and died at
his home near Central Valley, Orange County, N. Y., January 6, 1904.
He graduated from the medical department of the University of New
York in 1861 and from Bellevue Medical College in 1862.

Dr. Ferguson served with the Second New York Militia during the Civil
War. At Blackburn's Ford, at the first battle of Bull Run, he was
wounded and taken to Libby Prison, but was later released on parole
through the efforts of his mother. As major and surgeon of the 165th
New York Volunteers (Second Duryea Zouaves), he was again mustered
into the service September 9, 1862, served with General Banks in
Louisiana, was present at the battle of Pine Stores, and at the siege
of Port Hudson was in charge of a field hospital. He was afterward
provost surgeon in New Orleans and served in the campaigns in the
Teche country, and was discharged at Franklin, La., in 1864. He was
brevetted lieutenant-colonel of New York Volunteers.

The professional appointments of Dr. Ferguson were as follows:
Attending surgeon, Bellevue, 1870-1871; visiting surgeon to
Blackwell's Island Hospital, 1872-1892; visiting physician to the
Hospital for Nervous Diseases, 1886-1892, and consulting physician of
the Charity (now City) Hospital, from 1892 to the time of his death.

Dr. Ferguson was a member of the Bellevue Hospital Alumni, the
Medical Society of the County of New York, the New York Academy of
Medicine, New York Neurological Society, Military Order of the Loyal
Legion, the Army and Navy Club, Lotus Club, Kane Lodge, No. 454,
F. & A. M., Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, R. A. M., Coeur de Lion
Commandery, No. 23, K. T., and a thirty-third degree Scottish Rite
Mason.

JOHN H. FLANAGAN, who for many years has been extensively engaged in
the cultivation of choice vegetables for the New York market, has
achieved much success in this line of business. He was born in
Ireland in 1843, came to America in 1851, and seven years later
engaged in truck farming. Mr. Flanagan is actively interested in
business affairs at Newburgh. He was one of the promoters of the
Columbus Trust Company and has been a member of the board of
directors since the organization of this solid financial institution.
He has also acquired much real estate in Newburgh and has served four
years as a member of the board of public works.

Mr. Flanagan was united in marriage with Miss Shields and seven
children were born to them.

CHARLES T. FORD--Among the citizens of Orange County who by their own
efforts have achieved unusual success, Mr. Ford, of Central Valley,
occupies a prominent place. He is a son of Charles T. and Martha
(Weygant) Ford and was born at Southfield in 1844. He attended public
and private schools, supplemented by a course at Claverack Institute
and Poughkeepsie Business College. In 1867 he was manager of the iron
works at Southfield and four years later was conducting a charcoal
furnace in Michigan. Losing heavily in the panic of 1873 he returned
to Orange County and was appointed station agent at Turners. In 1881
he began his career as a railroad contractor, his first work being
for the West Shore Railroad, excavating and building the retaining
wall through the city of Newburgh between North and South streets.
From Newburgh he went to Albany, and thence to Rochester, building
five miles of road. He received the contract for grading on the Port
Jervis Railroad from Rhodesdale to Huguenot, and also laid the track
and ballasted the entire line. His next work was building the North
Dam of Tuxedo Park, after which he graded eleven miles of the
Baltimore and Eastern Shore Railroad. Mr. Ford continued construction
for many years for various railroads.

Since 1898 he has personally superintended the construction of all
improvements for Mr. E. H. Harriman on his Arden property, including
the erection of his mansion, not yet completed. During this time
there were constructed a drainage canal three miles long and the
course of the Ramapo straightened from Turners to Arden. Not the
least of these improvements has been the Panchot system of forestry,
the building of an incline railway 3,300 feet long from Arden to Mr.
Harriman's house and twenty-five miles of roads for driving about the
estate.

Mr. Ford has also built over one hundred miles of state roads in
Orange County and has charge of maintaining of all the state roads in
the county limited by yearly appropriations.

Mr. Ford is a director on the board of the Arden Farms Dairy Co., and
as Mr. Harriman's confidential man here his duties are multitudinous.
The Arden property comprises some 20,000 acres of land and there are
650 men employed thereon.

In 1868 Mr. Ford married Miss Josephine McKelvey. Three children were
born, J. Barlow, Bertha and Harriet Louise.

Active in republican politics, Mr. Ford is a recognized leader in
public affairs of his town and county.

HENRY T. FORD, merchant and postmaster at Central Valley, N. Y., was
born in 1866, a son of Benjamin and Frances C. (Denniston) Ford.
After finishing his schooling he conducted a store at Woodbury for
six years, and in 1897 purchased the grocery business of George D.
Wood at Central Valley, which he has continued with much success. Mr.
Ford was appointed postmaster July 15, 1899.

WILLIAM FOSTER, retired manufacturer and prominent citizen of
Newburgh, was born in England in 1841. He was engaged as a school
teacher in his native country for a period of five years, and in
1867 came to America as selling agent for James Taylor, who was
subsequently proprietor of the Newburgh Woolen Mills. He continued in
this capacity until 1888, when upon the death of James Taylor, Mr.
Foster and James S. Taylor purchased the plant and conducted the
business with much success until 1902. The establishment was then
incorporated as the Stroock Plush Company, Mr. Foster holding the
office of vice-president. He was also vice-president of the Stroock
Felt Company until 1906. He has been a director of the National Bank
of Newburgh since 1895.

Mr. Foster takes an active part in promoting the welfare of
Newburgh's charitable institutions. He is president of the Associated
Charities, trustee of the home for the Friendless, and member of the
board of managers of St. Luke's Hospital. In religious affiliations
he is identified with the Church of the Good Shepherd, holding the
office of warden.

Mr. Foster married Mary Ann Taylor and seven children were born to
them, of whom four are living.

ANSON J. FOWLER, attorney of Walden and Newburgh, was born in Walden,
N. Y., in 1878. He was educated at New Paltz Normal School and was
engaged in the mercantile business at Walden, five years. He read law
in Newburgh, and was admitted to the bar in 1905.

Mr. Fowler is president of the Electric Light Co., Walden, and a
director of the Walden National Bank. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and I. O. O. F. He is a son of Nicholas J. and Elizabeth
(Millspaugh) Fowler.

NICHOLAS JANSEN FOWLER, of English and Welsh descent, son of Peter
Hill Fowler and Anna Jansen Fowler, was born on the ancestral
homestead near the village of Montgomery, N. Y., May 9, 1847. He
attended the famous Montgomery Academy, also the Monticello Academy.
After graduating, he was associated with G. Fred Wiltsie, in business
at Newburgh-on-Hudson. In 1868, Mr. Fowler located at Walden, N. Y.,
opening the first hardware store in the village, which he continued
for thirty years.

He was the original organizer of the Wallkill Valley Electric Light
and Power Company, of which for many years he was president; was one
of the original incorporators of the National Bank of Walden and one
of its officers until recent years. For many years he has been
vice-president of the Walden Savings Bank; is connected with the
First Reformed Church of Walden and Wallkill Lodge, F. and A. M., of
which he was treasurer for over twenty years. He was a charter member
of the Wallkill Valley Farmers' Association, serving many years as
its treasurer and doing much to establish it.

Mr. Fowler married Miss Elizabeth Millspaugh, daughter of the late
Joseph G. Millspaugh, of Walden, N. Y., May 29, 1872, Three sons were
born to them. The eldest, Joseph M., of Kingston, an attorney of
distinction, who has represented his district in the legislative hall
at Albany; Anson J., an attorney having offices at Newburgh and
Walden, who enjoys a large legal business; Fred, who has been highly
successful in the electric light and telephone interests of Walden
and adjacent villages. Mr. Fowler has been confined to his home for
several years.

THOMAS POWELL FOWLER, president of the New York, Ontario and Western
Railway Company, was born in Newburgh, October 26, 1851. His father,
Isaac Sebring Fowler, was a descendant of Isaac Fowler, who settled
near that city in 1747. His mother, Mary Ludlow Powell, was the
daughter of Robert Ludlow Powell, who was the son of Thomas Powell,
long prominent in the affairs of the Empire State, and one of the
most successful men of his time.

Mr. Fowler's childhood was spent at Newburgh. He received his early
education at Siglar's School, Newburgh, and College Hill,
Poughkeepsie, after which he studied abroad for nearly two years,
spending most of his time in Germany. Returning to New York, he
entered the banking house of Morton, Bliss & Co., then Morton, Burns
& Co, where he acquired a general knowledge of financial affairs. He
studied law under Prof. Theo. D. Dwight, at the Columbia College law
school, entering the junior class of that institution October 21,
1872. He graduated in May, 1874, receiving the degree of Bachelor of
Laws.

In 1881 Mr. Fowler was elected director of the Chenango and Allegheny
Railroad. In 1884 we find him a director of the West Pennsylvania and
Chenango Connecting Railroads. On March 15 of the same year he was
appointed receiver of the Chenango and Allegheny Railroad and the
Mercer Coal and Iron Co. On March 31 following Mr. Fowler was elected
director of the New York, Ontario and Western. In 1886 he was elected
president. He has also served as director in the boards of the East
Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad and other corporations.

Mr. Fowler occupies his country place in the village of Warwick
during the summer months. In 1876 he married Isabelle, eldest
daughter of Benjamin F. Dunning, an eminent New York lawyer and for
many years a partner of Charles O'Conor.

WILLIAM J. FOWLER, a prominent and progressive fruit farmer of the
town of Newburgh, resides at the homestead where his grandfather,
Peter V. B. Fowler, was born in 1800. He is a son of Henry D. and
Anna (Du Bois) Fowler, who for many years cultivated this valuable
property and were prominent in church and social affairs. W. J.
Fowler was born in 1862. He attended the schools of Middlehope and
then took the English course at Tivoli Military School, from which he
graduated. He spent two years at Newburgh in Eli Hasbrouck's dry
goods establishment, and in 1881 purchased his farm of forty-two
acres and undertook the cultivation of fruit, in which he has been
uniformly successful. In 1905 he purchased his father's farm of
fifty-six acres. Mr. Fowler was school trustee twelve years, highway
commissioner eight years, and has served as town collector. He is
treasurer of Cronomer Valley Grange.

JAMES FULLAGAR, contractor and builder, Newburgh, N. Y., was born in
England in 1828, Attended the schools at Headcorn and learned the
carpenter's trade there. He lived for a number of years in the West
End of London, where he and his brother conducted an artists' lodging
house. In 1850 he sailed for America, coming directly to Newburgh,
where he engaged in his trade with his uncle, with whom he later
formed a partnership which existed four years. He then engaged in
real estate and building on his own account, and in the period from
1855 to 1902 erected for himself one hundred homes in Newburgh. He
has since disposed of these with the exception of thirty houses. Mr.
Fullagar is possessed of deep religious convictions and for forty
years has devoted a portion of his time to preaching the gospel.

December 20, 1860, he married Miss Elizabeth Hoase, of New Windsor.
Four children have been born to them, three of whom are still living.

NICHOLAS I. FURMAN was born at Spring Valley, town of Ramapo,
Rockland County, N. Y., March 29, 1835, and died at Warwick, N. Y.,
April 3, 1908. He was in school and on the farm until eighteen years
of age, when he engaged in the lumber business. His railroad career
began as a switchman for the Erie Railroad at Suffern, N. Y., where
he was soon promoted from track to train service. In 1860 he went to
Port Jervis, N. Y., was in Newburgh a year, and in 1869 moved to
Warwick, N. Y., continuing in train service until 1882. In that year
he was assistant superintendent for a short time, and superintendent
of the Lehigh & Hudson from 1882 to 1893. Mr. Furman has been an
influential Republican. He was a member of the Republican county
committee three years during the McKinley administration, and was a
delegate to the state convention that nominated the late Governor
Higgins. He was a member of Port Jervis Lodge, No. 328, F. & A. M.,
Warwick Chapter, No. 186, and Delaware Commandery, No. 44. He was
president of the Warwick Cemetery Association, second vice-president
of the Warwick Savings Bank, and, in general terms, a wide-awake,
helpful and highly esteemed citizen. He attended the Reformed Dutch
Church. Mr. Furman's first wife was Rachel A. Westervelt, who died in
1872. His second wife was Mary E. Hynard, of Warwick. He has had no
children.

FRANCIS K. GAFFNEY was born in New York City in 1871. At the age of
seventeen he became the youngest fireman, probably, on the New York
& New Haven Railroad. After stoking over its rails for a year or
more, he was placed in charge of a switch engine in the yard. He left
the railroad and went at stationary engineering in New York City for
three years. Then he accepted a position in Jacksonville, Fla., and
set up two engines for the Street Railroad Co., thus driving out the
old mule tramway from the city of Jacksonville. At the completion of
this southern plant he returned to New York and assisted at the
erection of the large Allis engines for the Lexington Avenue cable
road. From there he was ordered to Detroit to assist at the building
of the plant of the Detroit Citizens' Street Railway. He was then
employed as engineer of the plant after it was completed, later as
chief engineer in charge. This plant was at that time one of the
largest in the West. After two years services here, in which time he
was married, he resigned and came east, accepted a position with the
Kingston Consolidated Traction Co. as chief engineer. He was in this
position for five years, then accepted a position as chief engineer
for the Queens Borough Gas & Electric Co., New York City, also in
charge of the new construction at this plant. After the completion of
this new work he went in the employ of the Floy Engineering Co., of
New York, and took charge of the electrical end of the construction
of a new hydro-electric plant on the Neversink River. At the
completion of this work he went with the Public Service Corporation
of New Jersey as chief of their Morristown Division. He was then
employed as electrical construction expert for the New York & New
Jersey Tile Co., and is now identified with the Orange County
Lighting Co. Under his management the plant has largely improved.

WILLIAM T. GALLAWAY was born in the town of Newburgh, Orange County,
N. Y., August 13, 1826. He attended the district school in Newburgh
and at an early age went on the farm and has always been identified
in agricultural pursuits. His father was Zachariah D. and mother
Catherine (Thompson) Gallaway. Mr. Gallaway operated a hotel at
Scotchtown and Circleville for several years, and also one in
Minnesota.

He married Elizabeth Fondy, of Montgomery, who is still living. To
this union were born four children. Albert died in infancy, William
S., Abraham and Mary K., wife of James Hamm, of Brooklyn, N. Y.,
died in 1907. In politics Mr. Gallaway is a Democrat.

IRA M. GARDNER was born at Johnson, Orange County, December 20, 1883.
His parents were Merit H. C. Gardner (deceased), and Belle (Howell)
Gardner. He attended country schools at Stewarttown and Westtown
during his early years; later, having removed to Middletown, he
entered the public schools of that city, graduating with the class of
1903.

He studied law in the office of Henry W. and Russell Wiggins until
October, 1904, when he entered the New York Law School, graduating in
1906, and being admitted to the bar in the same year.

He has spent one year in practice in New York City, connected with
the Lawyers' Title Insurance Company.

SAMUEL H. GARISS, ex-president of the village of Port Jervis, was
born in Sussex County, N. J., in 1849, and died at his home, December
10, 1907. At the age of nineteen he came to Tri-States and entered
the employ of W. A. Drake as bookkeeper. During the twenty-two years
that he occupied this position he was able to conduct a livery
business in partnership with Hiram Marion, also operating a grist and
saw mill in Flatbrookville. From 1884 to 1888 he was postmaster of
Tri-States. In 1890 Mr. Gariss came to Germantown and established a
grocery store. In 1901 he retired from this business and it became
the property of his son, Samuel Emmet Gariss and S. G. Blackman.

Politically Mr. Gariss was a staunch Democrat; he served as trustee
of Port Jervis village and in 1903 was elected village president and
re-elected in 1905. He was elected a member of the board of
supervisors in 1907 by a large majority and would have assumed his
duties January 1, 1908. He was one of the elders of the Second
Reformed Church since its organization.

In 1875 Mr. Gariss married Charity Estelle Cole, and they were the
parents of two children, Samuel Emmet and Olive Zadie.

ASAHEL B. GARRISON, dealer in coal, feed, farm implements, etc., at
Walden. N. Y., is numbered among the progressive young business men
of Orange County. He is a son of Gerow and Elnora (Seymour) Garrison,
residents of the town of Newburgh, where Asahel B. was born in 1884.
His education was obtained at Claverack Institute and Hackettstown
Seminary. The business to which Mr. Garrison succeeded was
established by Taylor & Bateman early in the 70's. They were followed
by Hasbrouck & Sloan, who disposed of their interests to Mr. Garrison
January 1, 1907.

JOHN Y. GEROW, son of Justis Cooley and Phoebe H. (Young) Gerow, was
born in 1856 in Ulster County. N. Y. When he was three years of age
his parents removed to the Thomas Pope farm in the town of New
Windsor, Orange County. It was here John Y. grew to manhood, aiding
his father on the farm. He is now the owner of the Pope farm of 170
acres, the Barnet farm of 125 acres and the David Wright farm of 100
acres at Washingtonville, where he has resided since 1904. Mr. Gerow
is senior member of the firm of Gerow & Felter, large cattle dealers.
As past master of Pomona Grange Mr. Gerow enjoys a wide acquaintance
throughout the state, and the flourishing condition of that
organization in Orange County to-day is largely due to his untiring
efforts as an organizer and promoter, demonstrating clearly to the
farmer wherein he can better his condition. A review of the Grange
in Orange County, which appears elsewhere in this work, was furnished
by Mr. Gerow.

JOSEPH C. GEROW, a representative citizen of the town of Blooming
Grove, was born in the town of Hamptonburgh, Orange County, in 1854.
He is the youngest son of the late Elias and Sarah M. (Cooper) Gerow.
The ancestors of the Gerow family settled in Plattekill, Ulster
County, N. Y. Gilbert H. Gerow, grandfather of Joseph C, was the
first of that name whose birth occurred in Orange County. His parents
had located on what is known as the Crawford farm in the town of
Blooming Grove. It was here that Gilbert H. grew to manhood and
married Annie Cooley. Seven children were born to them, of whom Elias
was the eldest. He was born in 1813 and lived to the advanced age of
ninety-two years. He resided for a time in Hamptonburgh, but most of
his life was spent in his native town, where he was successfully
engaged in farming. Joseph C. Gerow, after finishing his studies at
public and select schools, remained on the farm assisting his father.
His farm of 150 acres is located in one of the best agricultural
regions of Orange County. He deals extensively in agricultural
implements, wind mills, etc. By appointment of the court he has
charge of the George Washington Tuthill estate. He married Miss
Jennie, daughter of Rev. Warren Hathaway, and they have eight
children living. Their son, Percy, assists his father in the
management of his business. As school trustee Mr. Gerow has been
active in promoting educational interests in the town of Blooming
Grove.

THOMAS B. GIBSON, who is serving his third term as postmaster of the
village of Walden, was born in Newburgh, N. Y., in 1859; a son of
Thomas and Sarah (Eager) Gibson. He learned the tailor's trade and in
1883 accepted the position of cutter for the firm of Wooster &
Stoddard at Walden. In 1895 he was elected town clerk and re-elected
in 1897, resigning to accept the postmaster-ship under President
McKinley's administration. He has been twice reappointed by President
Roosevelt. He is a member of the Republican County Committee and
active in promoting the interest of his party. Socially Mr. Gibson is
a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Order of American
Mechanics.

WILLIAM H. GILLESPIE, of Walden, is a descendant of one of Orange
County's old families. He was born May 28, 1855, a son of Renwick and
Caroline Augusta (Smith) Gillespie and is engaged in the cultivation
of the farm which was a portion of the Gatehouse patent. This farm
contains the trotting course and part of the land has been divided
into building lots. Renwick Gillespie, who died in 1904 in his
eightieth year, was one of Walden's most respected and influential
citizens. He was born in the town of Montgomery, a son of Abram
Gillespie and grandson of Samuel Gillespie, who with his father David
came from Scotland and settled near Pine Bush, Orange County,
previous to the Revolutionary war. David Smith, who was the first
settler on the Gatehouse patent, was grandfather of Mr. Renwick
Gillespie's wife, and in 1859 Renwick Gillespie purchased
seventy-three acres of this land and erected a commodious home. He is
survived by his wife and three children.

W. STANTON GLEASON, M.D., was born at Sag Harbor, L. I., July 24,
1860; academic education at Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass.,
and at Amherst College; graduate University of New York, 1866; he
began practice, Newburgh, N. Y., 1887; member County, Newburgh Bay
and State Medical Societies; American Medical Association and New
York Academy of Medicine. Attending physician St. Luke's Hospital;
consulting physician Highland Hospital; president Board Pension
Examining Surgeons; member Masonic fraternity and Knights Templar;
ex-member Newburgh Board of Education. He is a son of Rev. W. H.
Gleason, D.D., for several years pastor of American Reformed Church,
Newburgh. In 1888 Dr. Gleason married Grace, daughter of the late
Senator J. W. Hoysradt, of Hudson, N. Y. He has one child, Charles B.
Gleason, born June 22, 1900.

J. OGDEN GOBLE was born May 30, 1865, on the homestead farm, one mile
from Florida. His father was William Timelo and mother Jane Miller.
There was one child, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Coble's father
died February 19, 1883, and his mother died October 3, 1905. J. Ogden
attended the Washington Academy and Seward Institute, and at the age
of eighteen, upon the death of his father, took charge of the home
farm, which he has since conducted. He married Miss Carrie Stevens,
of Florida, April 17, 1889. They had one child, who died in infancy.
Mr. Goble has served as inspector of election for a period of
twenty-three years. He was master of Florida Grange No. 1053 for two
years and is now its secretary.

CHARLES T. GOODRICH, born Newburgh, N. Y., December 5, 1846; learned
machinist's trade in Washington Iron Works, and engaged for a time
with Erie Railroad in various positions. In 1865 was victim of
railroad wreck, which physically disabled him for life. Studied
telegraphy and was employed by the Western Union Co. in New York,
Newburgh and elsewhere. Has acted as correspondent for New York
dailies for many years and also connected with local papers. Since
1870 Mr. Goodrich has been engaged in real estate and fire insurance
business, and interested in several local business institutions. He
is prominently identified with Knights of Pythias. In 1881 he married
Hattie F., daughter of Capt. Isaac Jenkinson.

HON. LOUIS F. GOODSELL, of Highland Falls, who was State senator from
the Twenty-third New York District, 1898 to 1906, was born January
30, 1846. His education was obtained at Tracey's (now Holbrook's)
Military Academy, at Sing Sing, N. Y. While at school and but
seventeen years of age, Mr. Goodsell enlisted in Company F,
Forty-seventh New York Volunteers, and went to war. He was mustered
out with the regiment, August 30, 1865. He then re-entered school,
and in May, 1867, graduated from the Poughkeepsie Business College.

After spending two years in Omaha, Neb., he was a resident of
Newburgh from 1869 to 1878. He spent five years in Savannah, Ga., and
in 1885 was engaged in the oil business in Chicago, and the lumber
business in Ottumwa, Iowa. He disposed of his interests in both
places in 1887 to his partners and returned to his native town.

Early in life Mr. Goodsell became a firm believer in the principles
of the Republican party, and has always fought with the greatest
enthusiasm for the party's success at the polls. His superior ability
as a political leader soon became recognized. He was a member of the
Board of Supervisors eighteen years, and in 1894 was elected a member
of assembly from the First District of Orange County. He was
re-elected to the Assembly in 1895, 1896 and 1897. In 1898 he was
elected State senator from the Twenty-third District, and was
re-elected to that office in 1900, 1902 and 1904.

Mr. Goodsell's career as a legislator was eminently successful. A
tireless worker, he devoted his efforts to furthering the interests
of this district. Since his retirement from political life, he has
cheerfully extended a helping hand to republican aspirants for public
office. Mr. Goodsell married Miss Frances A. Parry, and two children,
Harry and Edith, were born, both residents of Highland Falls.

EDGAR M. GORDON, of the hardware firm of Malven & Gordon, of Port
Jervis, N. Y., was born December 22, 1850, at Cuddebackville, Orange
County, N. Y. He obtained his early education at the district school
in his locality and at Port Clinton, N. Y. He started at an early age
as clerk in the canal store at Neversink Locks, where he remained for
three years. He then served two years at the same place as telegraph
operator. September 1, 1869, he came to Port Jervis, and clerked for
St. John & Malven. About 1875 he purchased a half interest in the
hardware store of George Malven. Mr. Gordon was married to Miss Ann
Amelia Malven, daughter of George Malven, in June, 1877. Three
children were born to this union, George M., Wilbur and Samuel, all
residing at home. Mr. Gordon is a republican and in 1900 was elected
supervisor of census of his congressional district. He is a member of
the Mt. William Lodge, K. of P., is identified with the Reformed
Dutch Church and is superintendent of the Sunday-school.

REV. C. GORSE was born in the town of Fulton, Schoharie County,
N. Y., June 4, 1815. He was the eldest of four children of Robert and
Mary Gorse, who owned a large farm in that township. The father of
Robert Gorse was Ephraim, who spelled the name Goss, being of English
extraction, a descendant of Sir John Goss, and a soldier of the
Revolution who, having been wounded, perished in the rigors of the
encampment at Valley Forge. Having acquired a common school
education, he taught school during the winters, laying the foundation
of a rugged constitution by working for his father on the farm during
the summers, until having attained the age of manhood, he went to the
theological seminary at Albany, joining the New York Conference in
1840. He resided in Newburgh at the time of his death, May 31, 1892,
at the ripe age of seventy-nine. He was married on August 31, 1836,
to Eleanor Louise Ireland, a daughter of Rev. Thomas Ireland, a
descendant of Sir John Ireland, the former being a pioneer in the
Albany circuit and a resident of Ireland Corners, New Albany. Of this
marriage there were born three children: Dr. C. A. Gorse, of
Cornwall; Mrs. Conrad Russ, of Albany, and Miss Louisa Virginia, for
fifteen years organist of the Church of the Corner Stone and music
teacher of Newburgh during the residence of her parents there and
subsequently of Poughkeepsie, and organist of the Reformed Church at
New Paltz. Rev. and Mrs. Gorse celebrated their golden wedding in
Newburgh in 1886, when there was a distinguished company of the
clergy with friends and relatives present, who expressed their high
esteem for his moral and religious, character.

DR. CHARLES ASBURY GORSE was born at Roxbury, Delaware County. N. Y.,
July 12, 1841. He was the only son of the Rev. Charles Gorse and
Eleanor Louise Ireland, his wife. By this union there were also two
sisters, Eleanor Victoria, wife of Conrad Russ, of Albany, N. Y., and
Louisa Virginia, single, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The doctor was
educated at Poultney, Vermont, Charlotteville, Amenia, and
Warnerville seminaries in this State, after which he taught schools
at Stamford, Conn., Patchogue, L. I., Margaretville and Prattsville,
N. Y., the last three being very successful private schools. He went
from the latter place in 1861 to attend the Medical Department of the
New York University, from which he graduated March 4, 1864. He
practiced at Barngall, Dutchess County, Brooklyn, L. I., New
Providence, N. J., Newark, N. J., about two years at each, prior to
coming to Vail's Gate, N. Y., in 1872, where he remained until his
marriage on June 12, 1878, to Sarah Elizabeth Brooks, only daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brooks, of Bethlehem, where he has practiced
his profession ever since. Of this union there were born three
children, Charles Victor, Virginia Elizabeth and Robert Sylvester.
The doctor has served as town physician for the towns of Cornwall and
New Windsor for several years at various periods, and also as health
officer for the latter town. One of his ancestors, Ephraim Goss, was
a soldier of the Revolution. The doctor has always been a staunch
republican, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln on his second
election.

JOHN H. GRAHAM, who for many years was one of the representative
farmers and dairymen of the town of Montgomery, was born there in
1822 and died in 1906. He was a son of William and Hannah (Houston)
Graham, natives of Orange County. William Graham was an active
democrat and served his town as assessor and supervisor. He was also
a member of assembly and declined the nomination for State Senator.
John H. Graham remained at home until the death of his father, when
he inherited a part of the homestead and subsequently purchased the
interest of the other heirs. He was a man well read and much
interested in public affairs, always taking an active part in
promoting the welfare of the democratic party. Though not an
office-seeker, he was at one time nominated for member of assembly.
In 1856 he was united in marriage to Miss Isabella Young, of
Neelytown. The farm, which comprises one hundred and eighty acres, is
now conducted by his nephew, Mr. Charles H. Graham, who is numbered
among the progressive citizens of Orange County.

EDWARD DAVIS GREEN was born July 18, 1856, at Chester, N. Y. His
parents were Edward and Elizabeth Davis. To this union were born four
sons and four daughters, only two of whom are now living, Edward D.
and Charles.

Our subject obtained his education at the Chester Academy and at
Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Mr. Green has always
been identified with agricultural pursuits. He married Clara Hadden,
of Chester, N. Y., November 20, 1877. Their one child died in
infancy, and the wife died in 1888.

In politics Mr. Green is a republican and has served as road
commissioner four years. He is a member of the Chester Grange and the
Presbyterian Church.

GEORGE W. GREEN--Among the older business houses of Newburgh is the
book and stationery store of George W. Green, which was established
at 47 Water street by Mr. Green, November 1, 1869. May 1, 1886, he
moved to his present quarters at 65 and 67 Water street. Mr. Green
was born in Newburgh in 1840. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank.

ISRAEL Y. GREEN was born April 30, 1817, and died August 20, 1876.
His early education was acquired at the district school. He was a
democrat and served the town as supervisor for several years. Mr.
Green was married to Mary Jane (McBride) Drake, of Minisink, widow of
Joshua Drake, who died November 21, 1857. There were four children
born to them: Sarah F., wife of John Fields, Jr., of Otisville; Myra,
wife of Thomas F. Knapp, of Jersey City; Israel, who died at Staten
Island in 1901, and one child, who died in infancy.

SAMUEL GREEN was born at Ringwood, Passaic County, N. J., December
18, 1840, being the second of six children of Henry and Mary Green.
He attended the district school at Edenville, Orange County, and for
three years attended the Seward Institute, Florida. He then learned
the trade of blacksmithing in his father's shop. He was a village
trustee from 1864 to 1879. He is now an active member of the Florida
fire department, which he helped organize in 1885, and was one of the
incorporators of the Florida water system, which cost $23,000.

He is a member of Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. and A. M., of which he
was master two years; member of Midland Chapter No. 240, of
Middletown, and Cypress Commandery No. 67.

Mr. Green's wife is Mary E. Miller, of Florida, to whom he was
married September 6, 1866. They have had eight children, five of whom
are living. Addie, wife of Fred Roe; Jeanette, wife of William
Creeden; Elizabeth, wife of Frank Kortright; Edith, wife of William
Boyd; and Fred, who resides at home.

WILLIAM H. GREEN, postmaster and merchant at Slate Hill, N. Y., is a
native of the town of Warwick, N. Y., and established his present
business in 1883. He was appointed postmaster under Cleveland in
1884; had charge of the post-office under Harrison, and was
re-appointed postmaster in 1892, during Cleveland's second term. His
present appointment dates from June 25, 1900. Mr. Green has served
two terms as town collector, and one term as poor master. Green's
Hall is utilized for the transaction of the affairs of the town of
Wawayanda.

WILLIAM R. GREEN was born January 12, 1859, on the homestead farm
between Chester and Florida. He attended school at the Somerville
district school, Chester Academy and Eastman's College, Poughkeepsie,
N. Y. He married Anna May Dill, of Burnside, N. Y., November 12,
1890. Their one child, Josephine, was born February 29, 1892. Mr.
Green was twice married, his first wife having died May 27, 1894. He
married for a second wife Clara B. Tuthill, of Goshen, June 1, 1898.
To this union were born two children, Irene Tuthill, and William R.,
Jr. In politics Mr. Green is a republican. He is a member of the
Grange and the Chester Presbyterian church.

OSCAR S. GREENLEAF, proprietor of the Greenleaf Hotel of Otisville,
N. Y., was born July 16, 1876. He is a son of John E. Greenleaf, born
September 15, 1852, and Sarah Jennie (Shaw) Greenleaf, born August
16, 1853. In 1884 John E. Greenleaf rented the hotel, then known as
the Blizzard House, and conducted it two years, after which he
purchased the Washington Hotel, which he continued until his death,
April 22, 1894. His wife died March 25, 1905.

There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. John E. Greenleaf,
Charles D., born September 28, 1874, superintendent of the Borden
Creamery at Thompson, Pa.; Grace M., wife of Charles Hoyt, of Mount
Hope, born March 15, 1878; Edwin H. born July 22, 1880, residing at
Newburgh, N. Y., plant superintendent of the Hudson River Telephone
Company; Lillian, born May 22, 1882, residing in New York City;
Frank B., born August 8, 1884, assistant agent of Erie Railroad at
Otisville, N. Y.; James Acker, born June 6, 1886, and Oscar S.

The primary education of our subject was obtained at the district
school at Mapledale in the town of Wallkill, after which he assisted
his father in the hotel until his death. He then assumed the
management of the hotel. Mr. Greenleaf was united in marriage to Miss
Mary E. Craig, daughter of A. J. and Mary Etta Craig, of Otisville,
N. Y., May 6, 1903. One child has blessed this union, Oscar B., born
March 27, 1905. Socially Mr. Greenleaf is a member of Hoffman Lodge
No. 412, F. and A. M., of Middletown, N. Y., and Midland Chapter No.
240, R. A. M. In politics he is a republican.

JOHN L. GREGORY, one of Middletown's representative and esteemed
citizens, was born September 28, 1841, at Monroe, Orange County,
N. Y. His father was John S. and mother Nancy R. (Strong) Gregory.
Mr. Gregory attained his early education at the academy at Monroe.
After his schooling he learned the harness trade with his father, who
died in 1906 at the age of eighty-eight years. The son assumed
control of the business, which he conducted successfully for twenty
years. His mother died in 1905 at the age of sixty-five years. Mr.
Gregory came to Middletown and erected a handsome flat building
called the "Gregorian," and is largely identified in real estate
interests in the city. He married Angeline Babcock, of Monroe,
November 27, 1877. Five children have been born to this union, Anna
Louise, born August 17, 1878; Ruth B., born July 31, 1880; C. Alice,
born June 18, 1886; and Marguerite, born August 18, 1896. Mr. Gregory
and his estimable wife are members of St. Paul's church. In politics
he is a republican.

ANDREW J. GUMAER was born at Godeffroy, Orange County, N. Y.,
November 4, 1833. His parents were Peter E. Gumaer and Ester
Cuddeback. Our subject obtained his education at the district school
and the Goshen Academy. After his schooling he worked in a general
store and on the farm at Godeffroy. In 1872 he removed to Guymard,
this county, and opened a general store, which he has since
continued.

He married for his first wife Anna E. Strong, October 8, 1862,
daughter of Augustus and Mary (Comstock) Strong. They had one child,
who died in infancy. Mr. Gumaer chose for his second wife Adelia P.
Strong, January 4, 1868. To this union were born three children,
William J., Andrew and Annie E. In politics Mr. Gumaer is
independent. The family attend the Dutch Reformed Church.

CHAUNCEY I. GUMAER was born February 20, 1860, at Godeffroy, Orange
County, N. Y. He attended the district school, after which he removed
to Alma, Colorado, in 1879, engaging in the general mercantile
business for a period of twenty-three years. He was also identified
with mining at the same place. He returned to Orange County in 1902,
and has since been engaged in mining at Guymard, for the Guymard
Lead and Zinc Mining Company, of which Mr. Gumaer is president, he
married Miss Bell Graham, of Westtown, for his first wife, and she
died in Colorado. For his second wife he married Alma G. Petterson,
of Alma, Colorado. Their three children are Lucile G.. Helen J. and
Alma M. In politics Mr. Gumaer is independent. His father, Peter L.
Gumaer, was born January 29, 1827, in the old stone house near
Godeffroy, Orange County, N. Y. When he became fifteen years of age
he engaged in the general merchandise business with his brother,
which they conducted for a period of twenty years. He afterward
removed to Guymard and opened a general store and conducted a summer
hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 1892. He has been postmaster at
Guymard since 1865. Mr. Gumaer married Sarah Jane Mulock, of
Greenville, N. Y., in 1853, and she died November 30, 1907. There
were six children born to them, Georgeina I., Laertes W., Chauncey
I., Franklin P., George S. and Marie Louise. Mr. Gumaer was formerly
a member of Hoffman Lodge, F. and A. M. Peter L. Gumaer with his
brothers, built the road connecting the Neversink Valley road with
the Newburgh, Goshen and Carpenter's Point turnpike. They also
constructed the suspension bridge across the Neversink River. It was
through this movement the lead and zinc mines at Guymard were
discovered, which has produced twenty million tons of lead and zinc
ore.

SAMUEL HADDEN, a well known citizen of Chester, N. Y., (a portrait of
whom appears in another part of this volume), is of French Huguenot
descent, and was born in Rockland County, March 19, 1828. His father
died of cholera in 1832, and in 1835 his mother married Edward
Bellamy. They removed to Florida, Orange County, in 1839, where
Samuel attended school and also assisted on the farm. When eighteen
years of age he learned the trade of carriage making at Vail's Gate,
Orange County. On April 12, 1852, he accepted the position of foreman
of James Hallock & Sons carriage manufactory at Sugar Loaf. March 8,
1854, he removed to Chester Depot and purchased the business of Henry
Wood, which he conducted until 1888. He was president of the village
of Chester two terms, has been town collector and supervisor five
terms and for twenty-five years has served as inspector of election.
He joined the Presbyterian Church March 17, 1849, and since that time
has been a consistent and active member, serving as elder of the
church for thirty years. He is a member of the local grange. He
married Eliza Jane McGill, of Cornwall, May 7, 1851, and they have
had three children, Alice J., Clara and Eugene. Clara died at the age
of thirty years. Mr. Hadden's wife died March 10, 1903. His mother's
children, two sons and two daughters by her first husband, and one
son and a daughter by her second, are all dead, excepting Samuel and
John. The mother died in her eighty-first year. Mr. Hadden's farm of
one hundred acres is the farm on which the ancestors of Secretary
Seward were born and raised. This locality was at that time called
Sommerville. He exhibited vehicles at the state fair held in Elmira,
N. Y., in 1855, and secured second premium. His exhibits at the
Orange County fair have always taken first premium.

JESSE HALBERT was born on a farm near Lake, Orange County, August 20,
1842. He and a brother, Albert Ruggles, are the only two living of
the six children of Ezra and Phila Ann Halbert. His mother died in
1844 and his father in 1873. Jesse acquired his education at the
district school, after which he followed agricultural pursuits and
has remained a farmer. He has a dairy farm of two hundred and sixteen
acres and is a breeder of Holstein cattle. He married Miss Emily
Bates, of Morristown, N. J., May 29, 1878, and their two living
children are Ezra, horn May 5, 1879, and Clarence, born July 25,
1881. Another son, Alfred, born January 13, 1883, died January 11,
1900. Ezra and Clarence have three hundred and seventy acres. Ezra is
a member of Warwick Grange, a Republican and an energetic and
progressive farmer.

DR. CHARLES H. HALL, a practicing physician at Monroe, N. Y., was
born in Warwick, Orange County, in 1861. He was educated at the
State Normal School at Albany and received his medical training from
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York and the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore. He graduated in 1891 and has
since practiced at Monroe. In 1901 he was appointed surgeon to the
Erie Railroad. Dr. Hall is a member of the county and state medical
societies and enjoys an extensive practice. He married Miss Tillie J.
Mitchell, of New York and three daughters have been born to them. Dr.
Hall is a son of Alva and Dermeda (Hunter) Hall. His ancestors
settled in Orange County previous to the Revolution and took an
active part in the nation's struggle for liberty, his great-grandfather,
John Hall, being a Revolutionary soldier, who, it is supposed, was a
son of Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence.

GEORGE E. HALLIDAY, of Newburgh, was born in Dutchess County, N. Y.,
in 1874. He has resided in Newburgh since infancy, and was educated
at the schools of this city. In 1887 he associated himself in the
shoe business with J. M. Stoutenburgh, with whom he remained five
years; later with Sol. Cohen, and in 1905 the shoe firm of Halliday
and Van Buren was organized, which continued two years, and in May of
1907 Mr. Halliday opened his present emporium.

Mr. Halliday is identified with the Masonic fraternity, a member of
the Wheelmen's Club, the Canoe and Boating Association and the Orange
Lake Yacht Club.

In 1907 he was united in marriage with Miss Marion, daughter of the
late John Gail Borden, for many years president of the widely known
Borden Condensed Milk Company.

CHARLES E. HAND, a prominent farmer, who resided for many years near
Mountainville, Orange County, N Y., was born in the town of Cornwall
in 1852, and died suddenly February 20, 1908. After finishing his
education at the district and Newburgh schools, he learned the
carpenter's trade. Following his marriage to Miss Emma C Smith, he
purchased a farm in the town of Woodbury. This consisted originally
of three hundred and fifty acres. A portion of this land he sold to
the Erie Railroad for the construction of their new branch.

Politically Mr. Hand was a Republican and took a very active part in
local public matters. He served as school trustee many years, and in
1904 was elected justice of the peace. He was master of the
Mountainville Grange and past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias.

Our subject was a son of Edward S. and Charity (Mailler) Hand. He is
survived by his wife and three children. One son is senior member of
the firm of Hand & Brooks, real estate brokers, of Newburgh, N. Y.

WILLIAM HARER, who conducts a billiard, pool, bowling and cigar
establishment in Highland Falls, purchased this business in 1906
from his uncle, Edward F. Farrell, continuing it with much success.
His father, William Harer, and his mother, who was formerly Miss
Farrell, were old residents of this locality. Our subject was born in
this village in 1882, where he received his education at the public
schools. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and enjoys an
unusual degree of popularity among his fellow citizens.

JAMES HARRISON (deceased), senior member of the firm of Harrison &
Gore, silk manufacturers, Newburgh, N. Y., born Yorkshire, England,
1840. At the age of six years he came with his parents to Newburgh.
After finishing his studies, he engaged with his father in the
manufacture of woolen goods. In 1877 he owned the business, operating
two mills and continued therein until 1892, when he changed his
product to silk and formed a partnership with his son-in-law, Mr.
Gore, and his sons, F. J. Harrison and Jas. Harrison, Jr. Mr.
Harrison was one of the original directors of the Y. M. C. A. and
trustee of Grace M. E. Church. He was twice married; his first wife,
who was Miss Lull, died in 1898. In 1899 he married Mrs. Caroline A.
Foreman (nee Ely), principal of a New York school. Mr. Harrison was a
son of Joshua and Mary A. (Emsley) Harrison, both natives of England.
Mr. Harrison died June 13, 1907.

JOHN J. E. HARRISON, manufacturer, Newburgh, and ex-supervisor Sixth
ward; born Rock City, Dutchess County, May 30, 1846; graduated from
Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie; opened a general store in
West Broadway, Newburgh, 1876, also dealing extensively in fleece
wool. In 1897 he succeeded to the business of the Brown Lime Company,
in which he is at present engaged. Mr. Harrison is a veteran of the
Civil War, was wounded at Devoe's Neck in a skirmish; served in
Company B, Fifty-sixth New York State Volunteers (Tenth Legion);
member Fullerton Post, G. A. R.; identified with Masonic fraternity
and I. O. O. F. In politics Republican. In 1907 he was chosen
chairman of the board of supervisors of Orange County.

WILLIAM C. HART, a prominent agriculturist of East Walden, was born
in the town of Montgomery, December 18, 1843; the only son of Henry
C. and Hannah Jane (Overheiser) Hart. He has resided since childhood
on the well-known farm "Sycamore Place."

November 18, 1869, he married Elizabeth Mould, daughter of the late
Hamilton Morrison. Two sons, Henry Melvin and Robert Clarence, have
been born to them.

Mr. Hart is a member of the First Reformed Church at Walden; a
director of the Orange County Agricultural Society; one of the
founders and secretary of the Wallkill Valley Farmers' Association.
In 1894, Mr. Hart originated and has since published the _Annual
Souvenir_ of this organization--a publication of much artistic merit.

GENERAL HENRY C. HASBROUCK was born in Newburgh, N. Y., October 26,
1839, and is a son of William C. and Mary E. (Roe) Hasbrouck. He was
appointed a cadet of the Military Academy, July 1, 1856; second
lieutenant, Fourth Artillery, May 6, 1861; first lieutenant, May 14,
1861; captain, July 26, 1866; major, March 5, 1887; lieutenant-colonel,
October 29, 1896; colonel, February 13, 1899. In 1898 he was appointed
brigadier-general, U. S. V., commanding the second division of the
Second Army Corps, and appointed brigadier-general of the regular army
December 1, 1902. He retired January 5, 1903. General Hasbrouck was
commandant of cadets United States Military Academy at West Point,
N. Y., from 1882 to 1888. He was a member of the board in 1888 that
prepared the infantry, cavalry and artillery drill regulations adopted
by the War Department for use in the United States Army. General
Hasbrouck married Miss Laetitia Viele Warren, October 26, 1882. They
now reside in Newburgh.

General Hasbrouck is a direct descendant of Abraham Hasbrouck, one of
the twelve New Paltz patentees. He married Mary Deyo; their son
Joseph married Elsie Schoonmaker; their son Benjamin married Elidia
Schoonmaker, and their son Cornelius married Janet Keho, who became
the parents of William C. as noted above.

PHILLIP HASBROUCK, a retired citizen of Walden, N. Y., who has served
Orange County as Superintendent of the Poor for a period of nine
years, is a descendant of the old Ulster County family of Hasbroucks
who settled in New Paltz previous to 1677. He is a son of Joseph and
Sarah (Le Fever) Hasbrouck and was born in the village of New Paltz
and educated at the schools of that place. His younger days were
spent in farming, after which he conducted a lumber, coal and feed
business with much success in Walden. He is now vice-president of the
Schrade Cutlery Company. Politically, Mr. Hasbrouck is a Republican
and has been very active in promoting the interests of his party. Mr.
Hasbrouck married Miss Mary Matthews, daughter of the late George
Matthews, who, up to the time of his death, was vice-president of the
New York Knife Works.

WILLIAM GEORGE HASTINGS, son of James and Mary J. (Brown) Hastings,
was born in Newburgh, N. Y., and died at Albany, June 28, 1907. Mr.
Hastings was educated at the public schools of Newburgh and Siglar's
Preparatory School.

From early manhood he was identified with the Republican party, and
was an earnest worker for its success. He served as deputy postmaster
under Joseph A. Sneed and was later private secretary to ex-Governor
Odell while the latter was congressman.

In 1904 Mr. Hastings was elected member of assembly from the First
District of Orange County, and re-elected in 1905 and again in 1906,
and at each term of the legislature was appointed to important
committees.

Mr. Hastings was prominent in Masonic circles; he was a veteran of
the Tenth Separate Company; a member of the Odd Fellows, Ringgold
Hose Company, Newburgh Wheelmen and Newburgh City Club.

In 1891 Mr. Hastings was united in marriage with Miss May E. Moore,
of Newburgh. One daughter, Mildred, was born to them.

Few men of Orange County were so popular as Mr. Hastings, and much
sorrow was felt by his fellow citizens when it became known that
their brilliant genial representative at Albany had been called from
earth.

REV. WARREN HATHAWAY, D. D., who has held the pastorate of the
Blooming Grove Congregational Church for forty years, was born in
Saratoga County, N. Y., in 1828, a son of Rev. Levi and Rhoda
(Miller) Hathaway. His education was obtained at Oberlin College,
Ohio, and it was there he began his clerical studies. He was ordained
in Connecticut and his first charge was in the town of Lebanon,
Conn., where he remained a year and a half. He was then transferred
to Fall River for a period of six years, following which he held a
pastorate at Medway, Greene County, N. Y., until 1866, when he came
to Blooming Grove. By his first wife, who was Miss Cornelia Day, Dr.
Hathaway had five children, three of whom are living. For his second
wife he chose Miss Elizabeth H. Miller. Although nearly four score
years of age. Dr. Hathaway is very active in the affairs of the
church, with which he has been identified so many years.

IRA A. HAWKINS. The Hawkins family traces its origin far back into
England's earliest history. The first to come to America were Robert
Hawkins and his wife, Mary, who came over in the good ship
"Elizabeth and Ann," Captain Cooper, master, in 1635, and settled in
Charlestown, Mass.

Moses Hawkins was born October 8, 1763, and came to Orange County in
1790. He married Phebe Harlow, and settled in East Division, town of
Goshen, on the farm now occupied by his great grandson, Frank T.
Hawkins. They had three sons, Benjamin, Ira and Samuel, and one
daughter, Mary, who married Joshua Howell.

Ira, born January 31, 1796, married May 17, 1821, Hannah, daughter of
General Abram and Esther Rockwell Vail. They settled on a farm near
Chester, where they lived fifty years. They had six children. Their
eldest son, James, born June 3, 1822, married Adaline Green, daughter
of John and Julia Roe Green, in 1844. In the following year they
removed to Hamptonburgh, at which place he established his home, and
remained on the same farm until his death in 1887. He was trustee and
elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Hamptonburgh. Their
children were William Green; James R. V. Iraeneus, who died in
infancy; Adaline Green, married Alfred E. Ivers, of Allendale, N. J.;
Charles Francis; M. Jennie, married James L. Price, of Hamptonburgh
and Ira A.

Having become a widower in 1865, on October 28, 1868, he married
Emily A., daughter of George W. and Hester A. (Sanford) Price, of
Hamptonburgh. They had one son, George W. P., and one daughter, Emma
Antoinette, married John Budd Gregory, who now occupy the homestead
farm.

Ira A. Hawkins, born August 4, 1864, at the death of his father in
1887, came with his brother George into possession of the farm, where
he resided until 1894, when he sold his interests in the place to his
brother and purchased the C. L. Morehouse farm, near Warwick, on the
Edenville road, where he now resides. Besides successfully carrying
on his farm, he is also engaged in the insurance business. He is now
serving as treasurer and elder of the Dutch Reformed Church of
Warwick.

On October 24, 1888, he married Anna, daughter of Valentine and
Hannah (Seaman) Seaman, of Blooming Grove, who were both lineal
descendants of Captain John Seaman, who settled at Long Island in
1660.

Their children are: Valentine Seaman, born December 1, 1889, died
September 7, 1893; Charles Francis, born March 9, 1892; Ira Alden, born
December 30, 1894, and Harold James, born November 20, 1896.

IRWIN E. HAWKINS was born and reared on the homestead farm near
Otisville. He acquired his early education at the district school,
and at an early age identified himself with farming. When he attained
the age of thirty-two years he engaged in the milk business at
Middletown and Mount Vernon, Westchester County, N. Y. He has served
as town collector for three years, school collector six years and
commissioner of highways. In politics he is a republican. He followed
the carpenter trade for two years and is now identified with the
Otisville Sanatorium. He married Miss Harriet Smith, daughter of
Frank and Hannah (Bell) Smith, October 19, 1892. Mr. Hawkins is a
member of the Otisville Grange No. 1020. He and his wife are members
of the Otisville Methodist Church and are liberal contributors to its
support.

UZAL T. HAYES was born at Bloomfield, N. J., February 5, 1834. His
early education was acquired at the Bloomfield Free School, which was
the first in New Jersey, after which he attended the Seymour
Institute. In 1856 he engaged in the leather business in Newark,
N. J., and in December, 1865, became a partner in the firm of T. P.
Howell & Co., which afterward took the name of Howell, Hinchman &
Co. In 1880 the company was incorporated and Mr. Hayes was made its
treasurer and general manager.

He married Miss Caroline A. Morris, of Bloomfield, N. J., in 1860.
She died July 3, 1888. Their four children are Harry M., Thomas E.,
Caroline and Mabel. Mr. Hayes has served as a member of the board of
education and president of the board of water commissioners. Socially
he is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the I. O. O. F. of Newark,
N. J. In politics he is a republican.

JOHN HAZEN was born at Greenwood Lake, Orange County, March 18, 1835;
died December 19, 1907. As a democrat he was chosen tax collector for
one term and a constable for two years. He was owner of the Hotel
Boulevard at Greenwood Lake, and also proprietor of the Windemere
Hotel, which accommodates seventy-five guests, and of the Brandon
House. He owned many good horses, among them "Peaches," with a record
of 2:12, and "Stately Dame," with a record of 2:27. His wife, who was
Sarah A. Merritt, of Sloatsburg, died in 1906. Two of their four
children are living, Mary, wife of John Van Ness, and Daisy, wife of
William Wright.

Mr. Hazen became a guide for sportsmen who came to the Waterstone and
Brandon Houses for their vacations, to fish and hunt, and without
educational or financial advantages, took on the tastes and manners
of associates who had them. The friends he made of business men whom
he guided over mountains and lakes after game in his younger days
remained his friends all their lives. Such attachments tell, probably
better than anything else we might write, of the genial, modest and
thoroughly reliable traits of the departed.

JOEL T. HEADLEY was born December 30, 1813, at Walton, Delaware
County, N. Y., where his father was settled for many years as the
Presbyterian clergyman. Mr. Headley early determined to make his
father's vocation his own, and after graduating from Union College,
in 1839, he took a course in theology at the Auburn Theological
Seminary.

After being ordained he was settled over a church at Stockbridge,
Mass., and immediately entered with enthusiasm upon the discharge of
the numerous duties inseparably connected with the sacred office. He
soon found, however, that his constitution, already undermined by
many years of unceasing application and incessant study, was unable
to stand the further strain imposed upon it, and he was reluctantly
compelled to relinquish his chosen profession, and in 1842 went to
Europe.

While abroad he occasionally contributed articles to the press and
periodicals, and the favorable manner in which they were received
encouraged him to offer to the public his "Letters from Italy." The
gratifying reception at once accorded to this work first turned his
mind seriously toward literary pursuits, and soon after his return
from Europe he yielded to the solicitations of his friend Horace
Greeley, and became the associate editor of the _New York Tribune._
The confining duties necessarily connected with the duties of an
editor soon became irksome to him, and at the end of a year he
severed his connection with that paper and henceforth pursued the
path of authorship. In 1846 "Napoleon and His' Marshals" appeared,
and was followed at various periods by "Washington and His Generals,"
"History of the War of 1812," "Life of Cromwell," "Life of Havelock,"
"Life of Scott and Jackson," "Sacred Mountains," "Sacred Scenes and
Characters," "Sacred Heroes and Martyrs," "Headley's Miscellanys,"
"The Imperial Guard," "Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution," "The
Great Rebellion," "Grant and Sherman," "Life of Farragut, and Our
Naval Commanders," and "History of the Great Riots," besides other
works of lesser note.

Mr. Headley's literary work suffered a few year's interruption when,
in 1854, he was elected to the New York assembly from the First
District of Orange County, and the year following was chosen
secretary of the State of New York. Mr. Headley did not lay down his
busy pen until late in life, and the popular favor which was accorded
him at the outset of his career never entirely left him, and all his
books were remunerative.

Mr. Headley's passionate love for nature in all her various moods led
him nearly forty years ago to seek those great solitudes which the
Adirondacks had at that time kept concealed from all men save the
trapper or woodsman. He was so enamored of that Switzerland of
America that for over thirty years he made yearly pilgrimages for
health and pleasure to that beautiful region. He was probably the
first tourist to visit that section, and his descriptions of its
charms and health-giving powers soon induced large numbers to visit
it, and thus led to its becoming the great fashionable resort it is
to-day.

For over thirty years Mr. Headley resided in Newburgh and vicinity,
and always took an active interest in the historic scenes and acts
with which our locality abounds. The patriotic attempts of several of
our citizens to secure the preservation of that venerated building,
Washington's Headquarters, received his hearty support, and for many
years he was president of the trustees of the headquarters.

Believing in the importance of fixing in the minds of the people all
those events which are vitally connected with the fate of our
republic, he early conceived the idea of celebrating in some public
manner those historic events which have made Newburgh famous in
American history. To him more than any other individual is due, not
only the inception, but also the successful carrying out of our
centennial celebration in 1883.

Mr. Headley passed the allotted span of life, dying at Newburgh,
December 30, 1897, in his eighty-fourth year.

JACOB L. HICKS, formerly supervisor of the town of Highland, was born
in Orange County, N. Y., in 1874. From 1893 to 1896 he was stationed
at West Point with the United States Army. When war was declared with
Spain, in 1898, Mr. Hicks went to the front with the Seventy-first
New York Regiment. After he was mustered out he established his
present grocery store at Highland Falls, in which he has been very
successful. Mr. Hicks, who is a staunch democrat, was elected
supervisor November, 1905. In 1907 he was again a candidate for the
office and was elected by four votes, which is now being contested in
the Supreme Court.

Mr. Hicks is a member of the Army and Navy Union and of the Knights
of Columbus. He married Miss Frances G. Hager, and three children
have been born to them. He was instrumental in the establishment of
the First National Bank of Highland Falls, and is connected with all
movements pertaining to the advancement of the village.

HENRY C. HIGGINSON, president of the Higginson Manufacturing Co., of
Newburgh, occupies an important position in the industrial life of
the Hudson Valley. The company owns the Windsor Gypsum Company and
Lenox Gypsum Company of Nova Scotia; also half owners of the Sing
Sing Lime Company, Ossining, N. Y., operating a line of four freight
steamers between Ossining and New York City.

Mr. Higginson was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1852, and came to
Newburgh at the age of twelve years. After finishing his studies he
engaged in his present business, then known as W. R. Brown & Co.,
manufacturers of Rosendale Cement. The business was established in
1865, and in 1872 was merged into the Newburgh Cement & Plaster
Company. In 1875, Mr. Higginson became sole proprietor of the
business, and in 1899 the firm name was changed to Higginson
Manufacturing Company.

CHARLES HIGHAM. Nine months after Charles Higham's birth at
Manchester, England, April 6, 1867, he was brought to America by his
parents, who settled in Middletown in January, 1868. In Manchester
his father had been a fancy silk weaver. Here he became proprietor of
the Wallkill House, and conducted it until his death, in 1872. He was
married twice, his second wife before marriage being Elizabeth
Redfield, of Manchester. Charles was the youngest of their two
children, and finished his school education at the Wallkill Academy.
His mother assumed the responsibilities of the hotel management after
her husband's death, and conducted the Wallkill House ten years,
when, in 1882, she became proprietor of the Commercial Hotel. In
April of that year her son Charles, although but fifteen years of
age, became controlling manager, and is now the proprietor of this
hotel. He is now chief for the eleventh time of the Middletown fire
department, with which he has been actively identified twenty-five
years. He is a member and treasurer of the Firemen's Relief and
Benefit Association and president of the board of representatives of
the Middletown fire department. The societies of which he is a member
are Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M.; Midland Chapter No. 240;
Cypress Commandery, No. 67: Mecca Shrine of New York City; Wilbur H.
Weston Shrine of Newburgh, and Port Jervis B. P. O. E., No. 645. He
organized, maintains and is president of the Charles Higham fife and
drum corps of twenty-five members.

GEORGE S. HILL, son of William and Ruth Augusta (Hovey) Hill, was
born at Bullville, Orange County, N. Y., in 1854. In 1865, his father
moved to the town of Newburgh and purchased the Henry Miller
property, consisting of thirty-eight acres. George S. obtained his
education at the district schools of this locality and finished his
studies at the Claverack Institute. He has since been engaged in
farming and is identified with the Little Britain Grange. He married
Miss Sarah E. Waugh, and their home is pleasantly situated on the
State road, near Coldenham.

REUBEN HILTON, attorney of Newburgh, is a son of William H. and Mary
A. (Colwell) Hilton. He was born in Newburgh, 1877. Mr. Hilton
graduated from the Andover preparatory school in 1896 and spent two
and a half years at Yale University. He is a graduate from the New
York Law School in 1901, and has since practiced in Newburgh, where
he was appointed collector of the port, May, 1906. He is a member of
the Andover Alumni Association and the Wheelmen's Club of Newburgh.
He married Miss Minnie Dawes, of Washington, D. C.

WILLIAM T. HILTON, son of John and Anna L. (Turner) Hilton, was born
in Newburgh, July 18, 1866. His education was obtained at the
Newburgh Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N. H. Since his
father's death he has acted as executor and manager of the numerous
properties which his father left. Mr. Hilton is treasurer of the
Newburgh Brick Company and a member of the board of health.

The opportunities which Newburgh presents to men of intelligence and
perseverance have a striking illustration in the career of John
Hilton, who, commencing as a poor boy, amassed a large fortune solely
through the channels of real estate, becoming one of the largest
individual property owners in the city.

JOHN H. HINCHMAN, deceased, was born September 5, 1820, at Paterson,
N. J. He conducted a livery business at Sussex, N. J., later removing
to Orange County, and purchased the Quackenbush and Sherwood farms at
Neelytown. Mr. Hinchman resided in Neelytown some time and finally
sold the Quackenbush farm to John P. Covert and the Sherwood farm to
R. J. Fisher. He then purchased the Orange Hotel, at Goshen, which he
conducted six years. He was married to Eliza Hopper, of Paterson,
N. J. He was a democrat and took an active interest in local affairs.
John H. Hinchman, Jr., attained his early education at Waters'
Academy and Miller's Business Institute, Paterson, N. J. He married
Miss Maggie Gray, of Port Jervis, February, 1883. Their children are
Catherine G., born January 29, 1884, and Florence M., born November
7, 1898. Mr. Hinchman is identified with the democratic party and
attends the Episcopal Church.

FRANK HOLBERT, son of Albert Ruggles and Mary (Wisner) Holbert, was
born at Lake, Warwick Township. His education was acquired at the
district school and Warwick high school, from which he graduated. He
was for a time employed in a restaurant in New York City, and in 1899
engaged in the business for himself in Park Place, New York, which
was afterward destroyed by fire. He then opened a similar
establishment at 12-14 Warren street, which he has since conducted.
This is a large establishment, catering to the better class of
people. Mr. Holbert married Miss Grace Pelton, December 17, 1890. She
is the eldest daughter of William W. and Alemeda (Knapp) Pelton, of
Warwick, N. Y. Three children have been born to this union: Resmem
Wisner, born October 26, 1891; Albert Ruggles, born April 12, 1805,
and Grace Pelton, born June 24, 1904. Mr. Holbert is a member of
Warwick Lodge, No. 544, F. and A. M.

D. M. HOLLENBECK, a retired merchant of Turner, N. Y., was born in
1844 in Herkimer County. After finishing his schooling he occupied
the position of wholesale agent in New York City five years. In 1873
he established a general store at Turners, which he conducted with
much success for thirty-three years. He disposed of the business in
1906 and has since lived in retirement. Mr. Hollenbeck served as
postmaster two terms during Cleveland's administrations. He also held
the office of town clerk for four years. He has been twice married.
His first wife was Matilda Bush, who left one son, Arthur O.

In 1881 he married Elizabeth Barnes. They have four children: Mary
H., wife of Peter H. Bush, of Brewster, N. Y.; Cora, the wife of
H. F. Pembleton, of Central Valley; Grace B. and Alan W., at home.

HENRY A. HOLLEY, of Otisville, N. Y., was born October 7, 1873. He
married Harriet Easton, October 7, 1896, and three children were born
to them: Henry B., born August 26, 1898; Elizabeth Corwin, born April
30, 1900, and J. Easton, born September 20, 1905. He is a member of
Standard Lodge, No. 711, F. and A. M., of Monroe, N. Y.; past
chancellor of Chester Lodge, No. 363, K. of P., and member of the
Modern Woodmen of America, Otisville Lodge, No. 1083. In politics he
is a republican, and was nominated on the republican ticket in the
fall of 1907 for justice of the peace. His father, David A., was born
in Ulster County, N. Y., February 2, 1850, and attended the district
school, where he obtained his early education. At an early age he
associated himself with his father, learning the wheelwright trade,
which vocation he has always followed. He married Annie Arnoys, of
Ellenville, N. Y., September 2, 1873. Three children were born to
this union: Henry A.; Nellie B., born July 19, 1876, wife of
Alexander Mitchell, of Hopewell, N. Y., and Emma G., born February
22, 1880, wife of James Hawkins, of Otisville, N. Y. In politics he
is a republican, but was elected as overseer of the poor by both
parties for a period of twelve years. His wife died October, 1893. He
is a member of Hoffman Lodge, No. 412, F. and A. M.

CHARLES HORTON, deceased, was born at Colchester, Delaware County,
N. Y., February 25, 1815. He engaged in the tanning business at
Callicoon, Sullivan County, and ultimately became the leader in that
industry, owning and operating more tanning establishments than any
other one man in the country. He was also the first to engage in that
business in Sullivan County.

He married Betsy Grant, daughter of Joseph Grant, of Sullivan County,
and six children were born to them: Lucinda, Gordon B., Melvin,
Francis E., Louise and Florence. Mr. Horton resided in Middletown for
many years, and was one of its most progressive and useful citizens.
The family attended Grace Episcopal Church.

WEBB HORTON who has been an active, progressive and extensive
business man, is now eighty-two years old, having been born February
24, 1826, at Colchester, Delaware County. His parents, Isaac and
Prudence Knapp Horton, were married in 1807, and had ten children.
Mr. Horton's early education was in the district school, between
which and his father's farm he divided his time, until he was fifteen
years of age, when he learned the trade of wood turning and worked at
it ten years. In 1854 he built the tannery at Narrowsburgh, N. Y.,
which he operated for ten years. In 1864 he went to Warren County,
Pa., and engaged in tanning--a business with which he has since been
connected until recent years. He married Miss Elizabeth A. Radeker,
of the town of Montgomery, in 1855, and they have had three children:
Junius, who died in 1879, while a cadet at the Bisbee Military
Academy in Poughkeepsie; Eugene, associated with the United States
Leather Company, of New York City, and Carrie, residing at home. Mr.
Horton has been one of the representative men of Middletown and his
comprehensive grasp of large business affairs is shown in the
remarkable success he has achieved. He is now living retired in the
enjoyment of a peaceful old age in one of the finest residences in
the state, overlooking Middletown, which he recently built. His wife
is a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, and both are
highly esteemed by their neighbors and acquaintances.

CARLETON P. HOTALING, merchant, at Tuxedo Park, N. Y., was born and
educated in Delaware County. He has resided in Orange County since
1890, and twelve years ago engaged in his present bicycle and
photographic supply establishment.

Mr. Hotaling has served nine years as justice of the peace and six
years as collector of Tuxedo town. He is prominently identified with
the Masonic fraternity, including Highland Chapter, Hudson River
Commandery and Mecca Temple.

JAMES EDWARD HOUSTON is of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born on the
homestead three miles from Florida, Orange County, September 22,
1862, and was one of the six children cf William H. and Ann Houston.
He attended the district school at Union Corners and the Seward
Institute at Florida. After working on his father's farm several
years he bought the Thomas Jackson farm of 130 acres, and has made
farming his life occupation. His dairy cows are of Holstein breed,
and his fruit specialty is peach growing. He is active in local
matters and his family antecedents are of the best. He married
Kissie Armstrong, of Florida, June 17, 1884.

JOEL W. HOUSTON was born March 28, 1856, on the old homestead, two
and one-half miles from Florida. His father was William H. and mother
Anna E. Wheeler. There were six children in parents' family. Joel W.
was the fourth child. He attended the district school and assisted on
the farm. Mr Houston has always been identified with agricultural
pursuits. He married Anna Jessup, June 29, 1881. He is a republican,
and one of the elders of the Presbyterian Church at Florida. He has been
a director of the Orange County Agricultural Society for six years
and superintendent of crates and tickets.

CAPTAIN JOHN W. HOUSTON was born March 20, 1842, on the homestead
farm at Bellvale, Orange County, N. Y. When nineteen years of age he
enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, New York
Volunteers, and went forth to fight for the Union in the Civil War.
He was made second lieutenant. In the battle of Chancellorsville, in
1863, he was severely wounded, and again at Spotsylvania, in May,
1864, which led to his honorable discharge. When the war ended he
was brevetted captain. He married Miss Julia Baird, who died in 1880,
leaving four sons and one daughter: Floyd, George, James, Frank and
Clara. February 12, 1892, Captain Houston chose for his second wife
Miss Margaret B. Neely, of Bellvale, N. Y., who survives him. He is
also survived by a brother, Henry W., of Bellvale, and two sisters,
Mrs. Mary Francisco, of Little Falls, N. J., and Mrs. J. H. Bertholf.
Captain Houston was a member of Warwick Lodge, No. 544, F. and A. M.,
and of G. A. R. Post, No. 575. He died January 11, 1905.

SAMUEL B. HOUSTON was born December 5, 1845. He attended the district
school and Warwick Institute. He conducted a retail boot and shoe
business in Warwick for seven years, and has always been engaged in
agricultural pursuits. He married Salona S. Palmer, of Warwick,
October 25, 1871. Three children were born to this union, two of whom
are living: Charles B., who resides in Brooklyn and is engaged in the
manufacturing business; Anna G., wife of J. Arthur Knapp, of Florida,
this county, and Edna K., who died in 1898 in her twenty-third year.
Mr. Houston has taken an active interest in public matters pertaining
to his locality and served on the no-license commission of Warwick.
In 1903 he was appointed to fill the vacancy of superintendent of
poor of Orange County. He is a republican and a member of the
Methodist Church at Edenville. Socially he is a member of Warwick
Lodge, No. 544, F. and A. M.

CLARENCE J. HOWELL was born on the Howell homestead near Florida,
Orange County, N. Y., December 30, 1868, and died March 30, 1905. He
was a son of Asa Howell. Clarence rented his father's farm after his
marriage and continued on the homestead until the death of his mother
in 1897, when the farm was left to him. His father continued to make
his home with his son until his death in 1900. Clarence obtained his
education at the S. S. Seward Institute at Florida. He was united in
marriage to Minnie Sinsabaugh, daughter of Daniel and Ellen A.
Sinsabaugh, of Liberty Corners, Orange County, November 19, 1891. The
children are Floyd Van Duzer, born October 19, 1892; Clara Adams,
born February 4, 1894; William Sinsabaugh, born November 24, 1895;
Thomas Wheeler, born December 3, 1898; Jennie Jessup, born May 27,
1904. The Howell homestead comprises one hundred and twenty-five
acres and has been in the family since 1790. It is one of the best
dairy farms in Orange County, and considerable of the low ground is
devoted to onion growing.

DAVID H. HOWELL, clerk of the town of Crawford, Orange County, was
born in this township in 1868. He is a son of Harvey and Emeline
(Decker) Howell. After finishing his education at the public schools,
he learned the tinsmith's trade and established his present hardware
business at Bullville, in 1893, in which he has acquired much
success.

Politically Mr. Howell is a democrat and was elected town clerk in
1905. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

D. BREWSTER HOWELL, a prominent farmer in the town of Newburgh, near
East Coldenham, is a son of John C. and a grandson of Rensselaer
Howell. It is ascertained that Silas Howell was born in Long Island,
but moved to Orange County at an early day. He was a millwright by
trade and became the owner of a large tract of land in the town of
Newburgh. He was the father of four children, of whom Rensselaer
bought one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the old homestead, and
married Alice Belknap. They settled and built their home in what was
then a forest, but what is now as fine and well cultivated a farm as
can be found in the country. The following children were born: David
B., Rensselaer, Jr., John Colvin and Mary F. Of these John C.
continued the management of the farm, which is now conducted by D.
Brewster Howell, who married Miss Katherine McCartney. They are the
parents of two children: Elwood B. and Gertrude May.

JAMES T. HOWELL was born on the homestead farm about one mile from
Howells station in the town of Mount Hope, Orange County, August 25,
1845. He was a son of Samuel C. and Sallie Jane (Beakes) Howell and
attended the district school in the neighborhood; after his schooling
he remained on the farm, and April 1, 1869, he purchased the farm of
his father. He lived in New York City for twenty years, where he was
identified with the milk business. Mr. Howell is extensively engaged
in breeding and dealing in Holstein Friesian cattle.

He married Ester Caroline Harding, November 25, 1869. To this union
were born three children, one dying in infancy. The others are Lucy
J., wife of Maxwell R. Wright, of Jersey City, born September 16,
1876, and Charles A., born August 26, 1882, residing at home. In
politics Mr. Howell is a republican. His son, Charles A., is a member
of the Wallkill Grange, and of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M.,
of Middletown, N. Y.

JOHN T. HOWELL, M.D., Newburgh, born Middletown, N. Y., April 23,
1862, son of Abraham P. and Hannah (Smith) Howell. Educated Wallkill
Academy; graduated medical department Columbia University, New York,
1884; appointed resident surgeon Bellevue Hospital, 1884-1886; since
engaged in practice at Newburgh. In 1892, president Orange County
Medical Society; member State Society, American Medical Association
and New York Academy of Medicine. In 1889 married Miss Sarah T.,
daughter of Robert Steele. Three children have been born to them.

HON. NATHANIEL W. HOWELL, who has held the office of justice of the
peace in his native town for half a century, is a son of Mathew H.
Howell and Julia (Brewster) Howell and great grandson of Major
Hezekiah Howell, an officer in the Continental Army and first sheriff
of Orange County and supervisor of the town of Blooming Grove, and
son of Hezekiah Howell, who came to Orange County in seventeen
hundred and thirty-seven (1737) from South Hampton, L. I., and
settled in Blagg's Clove, so-called from Blagg's patent, a tract of
land of one thousand (1,000) acres, lying in the valley between
Schunnemunk Mountain and Round Hill, which, in company with other
early settlers, he purchased, and of his proportionate share made his
farm, to which Major Hezekiah Howell and his son, Hezekiah, added, by
purchase of lands adjoining, sufficient to make the whole seven
hundred and fifty (750) acres. Nathaniel W. has lived upon and
managed the estate since 1886, until 1908, when he sold the whole
estate to Corydon S. Purdy, of Montclair, N. J., a descendant of
Susan Howell, daughter of Major Hezekiah Howell.

Mr. Purdy is remodeling the whole estate, erecting extensive
buildings and adding equipments, fitting it for a modern up-to-date
sanitary dairy farm, also fruits and vegetables and also modernizing
the dwelling erected by Major Hezekiah Howell in 1797. In the
cemetery or family burying-ground, in the original purchase, are the
remains of four (4) Hezekiah Howells, lineal descendants of
Lieutenant Hezekiah Howell of South Hampton, L. I., who in succession
owned and occupied the original estate. Nathaniel W. was graduated
from Williams College in 1853 with the degree of A.B., and afterwards
received the degree of A.M., read law in Chicago in the office of
Grant Goodrich, and was admitted to the bar in 1857; was member of
the legislature of New York in 1863-4, and supervisor of the town of
Blooming Grove. He married Mary Halsey, daughter of Walter and
Caroline (Marvin) Halsey, and has a daughter, Joanna B., and son,
Hezekiah.

SAMUEL C. HOWELL was born in the town of Wallkill, May 21, 1807,
being the only son of William A. and Elizabeth (Calander) Howell. The
maternal grandfather of Samuel C. Howell was a Virginian by birth,
and a lieutenant of the Light Horse Cavalry during the Revolutionary
War. Our subject at the time of his marriage purchased a small farm
in the town of Mount Hope, and to this he added, from time to time,
until he owned four hundred acres of valuable land in this and
Wallkill towns. When the Erie Railroad was constructed he built the
depot and later constructed a hotel and other buildings, and thus the
village of Howells was established in his honor. He was the railroad
agent and postmaster at this place. He was a liberal contributor to
the church and other enterprises. For a number of years he served as
assessor, and took a prominent part in the local work of the
republican party.

WILLIAM J. HUDSON, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Davis) Hudson, was
born in 1861 on the farm where he now resides in the town of
Blooming Grove. His great great grandfather, William Hudson, settled
in this locality about two centuries ago, purchasing a tract of land
some two miles in length. William J. is the fifth generation to
occupy the ancestral homestead. He married Miss Grace A. Wright and
they are the parents of five children: Ethel, David, Grace Alma,
Clare and William Reeves. He is one of the representative farmers of
his native town, a member of the grange and a director of the grange
store at Washingtonville, also a director of the National Bank in
Washingtonville.

JOSEPH B. HULETT, M.D., a prominent physician of Middletown, N. Y.,
is a surgeon who by his enlightened skill has secured a wide
reputation, and won a place in the front rank of his profession. He
was born August 4, 1858, at Barton, Tioga County, N. Y., a son of
Cyrus B. and Ruth Emily (Slawson) Hulett. His education was obtained
in the schools of New York City and Wallkill Academy. He began the
study of medicine under Dr. Darwin Everett, of Middletown, and later
had as his preceptors Drs. T. D. Mills, of Middletown, and Charles L.
Wilkin, of New York. He entered Columbia University and graduated
from the medical department of that institution May 12, 1887. He also
took a post-graduate course in Manhattan Hospital. In 1888 he entered
upon the practice of his profession at Middletown. Dr. Hulett is a
member and ex-president of the Orange County Medical Society, a
member of the New York State Medical Society, the American Medical
Association, and is ex-vice-president of the International
Association of Railway Engineers. He is attending surgeon for Thrall
Hospital, of Middletown, and has been surgeon for the Twenty-fourth
Separate Company for the past five years. He was secretary and one of
the organizers of the State Association of Railway Surgeons, surgeon
for the N. Y., O. & W. Railway, ex-military surgeon attached to Third
Brigade, New York National Guard, and is an honorary member of the
Association of Medical Officers of the Naval and Militia Association,
State of New York. Socially he holds membership in the Knights of
Pythias, of Middletown; Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. & A. M.; Middletown
Chapter, R. A. M.; Cypress Commandery, and the Mystic Shrine of New
York City, and is an honorary member of Excelsior Hook and Ladder
Company of Middletown. Dr. Hulett takes a deep interest in electrical
matters, to which he has devoted much study. He is an honorary member
of the Corliss Engineers' Association. He married Lottie B. Hulse,
daughter of Hudson E. and Anna (Thompson) Hulse, of Wallkill, Orange
County, on June 27, 1889, and they have one son, J. Leslie, born
April 1, 1891. His father, Cyrus B. Hulett, was born in Waverly,
N. Y., and died February 25, 1875. His mother was a native of Orange
County, and died in November, 1889.

WILLIAM A. HULSE. The living children of John H. and Mary Hulse are:
Mrs. Annie Thurston, of Stoneham, Mass.; William A., of Warwick, and
Robert Emmett, of Middletown. William A. was born in Middletown,
April 1, 1853, and after his education in the public schools worked
for Wilson H. Provost in the first milk establishment to manufacture
condensed cream for the army and the southern trade. He was quite
young when he learned the plumbing trade in Keyport, N. J., where he
remained four years, then in Newark several months, and from there
came to Warwick, March 19, 1875. Here he was in the employ of Finch
& Coldwell several years, and then opened a shop for himself in
plumbing, heating and tin work, and is still in the business. He is a
member of Wawayanda Lodge, No. 34, I. O. O. F., and of the Warwick
Excelsior Hose Company. He was water commissioner and superintendent
of the water works from 1887 to 1903. In politics he is independent.
Mr. Hulse was married to Miss Clara, daughter of John L., and Julia
Finch, of Warwick, January 12, 1882. They have five children: Elbert
L., born September 5, 1882; Everett B., born September 12, 1884;
Addie B., born September 21, 1886; William A., born October 9, 1888,
and Janet P., born July 6, 1890.

ROBERT O. HUNT, manager of the Westtown plant of the Borden Condensed
Milk Company, was born in the town of Minisink in 1866. He is a son
of Robert and Catura (Osborn) Hunt. He attended the district schools,
and after farming for a time went to Middletown and learned the
machinists' trade. He has been associated with the Borden industries
since 1892, and was appointed to his present position in 1904. He is
a member of Hoffman Lodge, No. 412, F. and A. M., and of the
I. O. O. F. In 1907 he was elected a member of the board of assessors
of the town of Minisink.

Mr. Hunt married Miss Lydia Winters, and they are the parents of two
sons and four daughters.

WILLIAM HUGH HYNDMAN, attorney and recorder of Newburgh, N. Y., was
born in Newburgh, October 13, 1861, a son of Robert and Elizabeth
(Gibb) Hyndman. He prepared for college at Newburgh Academy with the
late Professor Hugh S. Banks, and graduated from Yale University in
1884 with the degree of A. B. Mr. Hyndman studied law in the office
of Messrs. Scott and Hirschberg, and was admitted to the bar May 16,
1889. He was elected recorder of the city of Newburgh in 1865 on the
republican ticket, and has been successively re-elected four times.

Recorder Hyndman married Miss Betsey Leighton Marden, of Newburgh.

The late Robert Hyndman was one of Newburgh's successful merchants,
conducting a grocery store on Broadway for forty years.

JOHN E. ISEMAN was born in Wurttemburg, Germany, in 1835. He came to
America in the spring of 1853, locating in New York City, where he
operated a bakery. He removed to Chester, N. Y., and engaged in
business for a period of four years. In 1861 he located in
Middletown, where he has since remained, conducting a bakery business
at the same location since that period. He married Josephine
Stoddard, daughter of Ira L. and Mary Jane Stoddard. Their five
children are: Charles Wesley, engaged in business in New York;
George H., of Middletown; Catherine, wife of W. D. McQueen,
superintendent of the Scranton division of the New York, Ontario &
Western Railroad; Christine, residing at home, a graduate of the New
England Conservatory of Music, of Boston, who taught two years at
Holland, Va.; John E., a graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, who has
been assigned to the battleship Montana. In politics Mr. Iseman is a
republican. He served as one of the first trustees of the village for
four years and was Middletown's first mayor. He served continuously
since 1891 as a member of the board of supervisors. He is a director
of the Merchants' National Bank, trustee of the Middletown Savings
Bank, vice-president of the Hillside Cemetery Association, and
ex-president of the Phoenix Fire Company. He is a member and
president of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F. of Middletown.

EZRA T. JACKSON was born August 23, 1843, at Chester, Orange County,
N. Y., and was instructed at the Chester Academy. At the age of
twenty-one he succeeded his father in the store at Chester, and on
June 15, 1881, married Margaret Douglas Davidson, of Blooming Grove.
Their only son, William Lewis, graduated from Lafayette College, at
Easton, Pa., in the class of 1908, and is a member of the Fraternity
Alpha Chi Rho. The subject of this sketch is a member of the New York
Genealogical and Biographical Society, became a member of Goshen
Lodge, No. 365, F. and A. M., in 1868, and a charter member of
Standard Lodge, No. 711, F. and A. M., of Monroe, in 1871. He is also
a member of the Orange County Chapter, Sons of the Revolution, and
was commissioned first lieutenant in the Nineteenth New York
Infantry, March 25, 1866. He was supervisor of the town of Chester in
1882, and served on the board of education from 1902 to 1908. The
store in Chester has been in the Jackson family for sixty-one years.
His father's name was Thomas Jefferson Jackson. Ezra T. is a grandson
of Captain John Jackson of the Revolutionary Army. He was
commissioned February 28, 1776, and re-appointed February 26, 1778.
In the proceedings of the provincial congress, April 25, 1776, in the
report on the state of the companies of the New York regiments,
Captain Jackson reported with a full company at the fortifications of
the Highlands, and on April 27, 1776, he was appointed to Colonel
Clinton's regiment. A return of the officers and men in garrison at
Fort Montgomery, January 18, 1777, shows that Captain Jackson's
Second New York regiment reported with twenty-nine men. Captain
Jackson was with his regiment at the battles of Harlem Heights and
White Plains. He resigned from the army March 12, 1783.

FRANK AIKENS JACOBSON, M. D.. born Hackensack, N. J., 1864: educated
at Hackensack Academy and scientific department Columbia College;
graduated New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, 1888;
one year at Homeopathic Dispensary and Hospital, Brooklyn. He has
practiced in Newburgh, N. Y., since 1890; is a member American
Institute of Homeopathy, New York State Homeopathic Society,
ex-member Newburgh board of health, Scottish Rite Mason and member of
the Shriners.

GEORGE W. JAMISON, publisher of the Pine Bush _Herald,_ is a native
of the town of Crawford, and attended the schools here and at
Montgomery Academy. He was engaged for a number of years as a school
teacher and was for a time in the insurance business in Walden. The
_Herald,_ in 1904, became the successor of the Pine Bush _News,_
established in 1899. The paper is a clean, lively sheet of eight
pages, independent in politics and devoted to local affairs. Mr.
Jamison, the publisher, is also engaged in the real estate and fire
insurance business.

Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a charter
member of Walden Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He married Miss Julia N.
Crist, of Montgomery, and they are the parents of one child, Hilda.

JOHN JAQUES, who founded what is now known as the Brotherhood Wine
Company, at Washingtonville, came from New Jersey with his mother
when a boy, locating in Washingtonville in 1812. He established the
first grape vineyard in Orange County in 1839, and began the
manufacture of pure wines. In 1858 his three sons, John, Orin and
Charles, purchased the business from their father and continued it as
partners until 1865, when John died. The two remaining brothers,
conducted it until 1885, when Orin died, and a year later Charles
disposed of it to Mr. Emerson, the present proprietor. Charles has
since lived in retirement on the old homestead in the center of the
village, and although in his eighty-fourth year, is actively
interested in the affairs of the village. He has been an elder of the
Presbyterian Church since 1878.

GEORGE FREDERICK JAYNE was born on the Jayne homestead, near Florida,
called the "View Farm," February 23, 1854. His parents were Charles
Marcus and Anna Eliza (Thompson) Jayne, and their children were Anna
M., born July 25, 1843, wife of Charles R. Baird, of Warwick; Sarah
Augusta, born July 10, 1848, wife of J. A. Seward, of Florida; Mary
Caroline, who died December 25, 1875, was the wife of Nathaniel
Seeley, of Hamburg, N. J., and Wells Thompson, born in January, 1852,
of Brooklyn, N. Y.

George Frederick Jayne obtained his education in Washington Academy,
S. S. Seward Institute and one term in Yorkville, Ill. He returned
from school to the farm and assumed its management when only fifteen
years old. It is a dairy farm of 180 acres, which has been in the
Jayne family since 1730. Mr. Jayne is a democrat, and attends the
Presbyterian Church in Florida. He married Julia E. Seward of
Florida, February 14, 1877. They have six children: Fred Seward, born
November 10, 1877; Belle Clayton, born December 2, 1878, wife of John
K. Roe, of Florida; Lewis Marcus, born September 17, 1880, married
Nellie Waite Smith, of Montgomery, December 18, 1907, and resides at
Gardiner, Ulster County; Anna Mary, born December 3, 1883; Carrie
Louise, born February 17, 1886, and George Vanderoef, born March 19,
1890.

CHARLES L. JESSUP was born May 25, 1843, on the homestead farm, two
miles from Florida, and was educated in the district school at Union
Corners and the S. S. Seward Institute. He was one of thirteen
children. He worked on his father's farm, and at the outbreak of the
Civil War enlisted in the Ninety-first Regiment, Company H. After his
army experience he resumed farming. He has two hundred and sixteen
acres of land, a large dairy and peach orchard, and is a breeder of
Holstein cattle. He has been town assessor and is an elder and active
member of the Florida Presbyterian Church. His parents were Samuel
and Martha Jessup. His wife was Sarah Jane Duryea, of Craigsville,
Orange County, a daughter of Alfred and Mary Duryea. They were
married October 18, 1865, and have four children living. Alpheus,
born August 26, 1886; Julia B., born March 12, 1868; Charles W.,
born June 10, 1871, and Helen, born February 14, 1886. Charles
married Elizabeth Wheeler, of Florida; Julia married Alton J. Vail,
of Middletown, and Alpheus married Sadie Durland, of Chester.

SENECA JESSUP was born June 11, 1817, in the town of Warwick, Orange
County, and obtained his education in the Seward Institute, Florida.
His parents were Samuel and Hannah (Steinmetz) Jessup. The Jessups,
of Orange County, are descended from John Jessup, who emigrated from
Broomhall, Yorkshire County, England, in 1630. He lived for a time in
Boston, and afterward removed to Hartford, and from there to
Southampton, Long Island, in 1640, helping to plant the first English
settlement in the state of New York. The Jessup family in Orange
County came from Long Island in 1784, and located at Florida, town of
Warwick. Seneca Jessup married Jennie A. McCain in 1868. She was born
July 27, 1850, and was a daughter of John Edsall and Abigail
(McCamly) McCain, both being from pioneer families, prominent in
Colonial and Revolutionary times. Mrs. Jessup's parents removed to
Goshen in 1853 and purchased the farm where she now resides. She
received her education in the young ladies' school in Goshen. Mr.
and Mrs. Jessup are the parents of four children, only one of whom,
John Seward Jessup, survives and he resided with them. Mrs. Seneca
Jessup is descended from William McCain, a soldier in the Revolution,
who came from the north of Ireland in 1728 and located in the town of
Warwick.

WALTER WARE JOHONNOTT, D. O., born Burlington, Vermont, 1882; son of
Fred and Harriet (Glover) Johonnott; Huguenot ancestry; classical
education at University of Vermont and Amherst College. He graduated
from the American School of Osteopathy, Kirksville, Mo., 1904; took
post-graduate course Massachusetts College of Osteopathy, and engaged
in practice in Newburgh, N. Y., 1905. Member of the American and New
York State Osteopathic Societies, Newburgh City Club, Powelton Club
and Church of Our Father (Unitarian).

L. A. JOHNSON, who conducts a general mercantile business at
Sparrowbush, N. Y., also dealing extensively in mining supplies and
lumber, is a native of Tompkins County, N. Y. He enjoyed the
advantages of a liberal education and was graduated from Cornell
University in 1890 with the degree of A. B.

Mr. Johnson married Lillian A., daughter of the late Henry F. West,
of Sparrowbush, and they are the parents of three sons. Mr. West was
for many years a prominent business man in this community. He built
the store now occupied by Mr. Johnson and also carried on an
extensive business in lumber, owning some twenty-eight hundred acres
of timber land in Delaware County. In 1873 Mr. West married Miss Mary
Stanton, of Forestburgh, N. Y.

ROBERT JOHNSTON, county treasurer, was born in Newburgh, Orange
County, N. Y. He is the son of William C. Johnston, one of Newburgh's
oldest business men. The subject of our sketch has climbed the ladder
of business success, rising from a position as bookkeeper in the
hardware store of the late Mayor Charles J. Lawson to the presidency
of a new corporation, the Johnston Hardware and Iron Co., successor
of Charles H. Daughty. Mr. Johnston's business attainments strongly
commend him for the responsibilities of the county treasurership. He
is forty years of age, and an enthusiastic worker for the republican
party. For six years he served as a member of the board of public
works.

WILLIAM C. JOHNSTON, who is numbered among the prominent merchants of
Newburgh, has conducted a high-class harness and leather store in
Water street for over half a century. Mr. Johnston was born and
educated in Newburgh and learned the harness maker's trade with John
R. Woolsey. He established his store January 1, 1857, at its present
location. He married Miss Margaret L. Campbell, and they became the
parents of ten children. Three sons are in business in Newburgh:
Robert, the present county treasurer, is a hardware merchant; W.
Charles, who has a carriage repository on Broadway, and Renwick, who
is engaged in the livery business. In religious affiliations Mr.
Johnston is a member of the Westminster Reformed Church.

EVAN E. JONES was born at Turin, Lewis County, N. Y., June 10, 1856.
He attended the Union school at Turin, after which he engaged in
farming, and continued until June, 1902, when he came to Orange
County and conducted the Johnston Hotel at Newburgh. In April, 1906,
he removed to Hamptonburgh, where he is now engaged in the hotel
business.

He married Emma M. Peck, of Turin, N. Y., January 12, 1886. They have
no children. In politics Mr. Jones is a republican.

ANDREW V. JOVA, M.D., Newburgh, N. Y., was born at Santa Clara, Cuba,
March 23, 1859. He came to the United States in 1870, and entered St.
John's College, New York, graduating in 1880 with the degree of A.B.
In 1883 he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New
York, which was supplemented by a two years' hospital course in
Paris, one year in Berlin and eight months at the clinics in Vienna.
He then returned to America and was for eighteen months on the staff
of the French Hospital, New York City. In 1891 he located in
Newburgh, where he has built up an extensive practice. Dr. Jova is
attending physician to St. Luke's Hospital, has been chairman of the
medical board and is now a member of the board of managers of the
same institution. He is a member of the various state and national
medical societies.

ISAAC KELLS, who was one of the most successful farmers in the town
of Montgomery, Orange County, was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was
born in the North of Ireland in 1833 and died at his home, October 1,
1907. He resided in Montgomery for nearly thirty-five years,
cultivating a valuable farm of one hundred and fifty acres. Mr.
Kells was actively identified with the Goodwill church, in which he
was an officer. He was twice married; by his first wife, who was Miss
Elizabeth Ferguson, two daughters were born, Mrs. William Whigam and
Mrs. Ella Hyndman, both residents of Montgomery. His second wife was
Miss Delia Boyd, who died in 1905. Industrious and energetic the
success of Mr. Kells was due entirely to his own efforts and he
enjoyed in a high degree the esteem of his fellow-citizens.

GEORGE W. KERR, who for more than half a century was an officer of
one of Orange County's strongest financial institutions, was born in
Warren County, N. J., February 15, 1810. His ancestors were
originally from Scotland, but Mr. Kerr's father was born at Freehold,
N. J. His parents removed to Ithaca, N. Y., where he obtained a
position in the branch of the Bank of Newburgh. In 1830, when the
branch was withdrawn, and the Bank of Ithaca established, Mr. Kerr
entered the new bank and remained there until October, 1831, when a
position was offered him in the Bank of Newburgh, with the officials
of which he had become acquainted through his connection with the
branch bank.

In 1836 Mr. Kerr was promoted to the position of cashier, and in 1854
he was elected president to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
John Chambers. In 1864, when the old Bank of Newburgh was closed and
the National Bank of Newburgh organized, Mr. Kerr was again honored
with the presidency. He continued in that position till his death,
having been cashier of the bank for eighteen years, and president for
thirty-seven years. He died June 3, 1890.

Mr. Kerr was a trustee and vice-president of the village in 1856, and
a member of the board of education in 1852-1854. For forty-seven
years he was a vestryman of St. George's Protestant Episcopal church,
and for thirty-one years treasurer of the board.

Upon his death the directors of the bank adopted the following
minute: "His sound judgment, perfect integrity and eminent ability
have been long recognized in financial circles, and his excellence
in all the relations of life will long be remembered in this
community. By us his immediate associates, and by all in any capacity
attached to this bank, his memory will always be cherished. He has
left to his family and this community, where he has spent so many
years of a long and useful life, a legacy better than earthly
riches--a good name."

The vestry of St. George's church adopted resolutions recording
"their very high esteem for his character and his lifelong devotion
to the church and her interests. It is with grateful feeling that we
remember the steady consistency of his Christian walk, his
uprightness as a business man, his value as a citizen, his zeal as a
churchman. We owe him no slight debt for his faithful service as our
treasurer for thirty-one years, during which time his unflagging
attention to the affairs of the parish has contributed essentially
and in a large degree to its stability and prosperity."

Mr. Kerr was twice married. His first wife was Emeline Ross, his
second, Margaret T. L., daughter of the Rev. John Brown, D.D.

CHARLES KETCHAM, merchant and postmaster for many years at
Mountainville, and representative citizen of the town of Cornwall,
Orange County, is a son of Benjamin S. and Mercy (Brown) Ketcham, and
was born on the homestead farm in 1847. He established his present
store in 1871. Mr. Ketcham has for many years been prominently
identified with the public affairs of Cornwall. He has served
fourteen terms as supervisor, including a chairmanship of the board.
He also held the office of justice of the peace twelve years. Mr.
Ketcham was the opposing candidate of Judge Dickey, as a delegate to
the constitutional convention. He was also the nominee of the
democratic party for county clerk. He married Miss Ida, daughter of
Captain Jacob Smith, of Cornwall. They are the parents of two sons
and six daughters.

The Ketcham family is one of the oldest in the town of Cornwall.
Long previous to the Revolution, Samuel Ketcham, the
great-great-grandfather of Charles, located here and was engaged in
farming and the operation of a grist mill. His descendants through
several generations settled around him, and the place was known as
Ketchamtown, until the opening of the railroad, when the post-office
was changed to Mountainville.

THE KETCHAM FAMILY of the town of Mount Hope had for their progenitor
the pioneer farmer and mechanic, John Ketcham, born at Huntington,
L. I., January 24, 1716. A lineal descendant of Edward Ketcham, the
progenitor, in America, of all bearing the name Ketcham or
Ketchum--who settled at Ipswich, Mass., in 1635; Southold, L. I., in
1653. Edward died at Stratford, Conn., in 1655, leaving in all seven
children. John Ketcham (sixth generation in America) married Miss
Sarah Matthews, of Morristown, N. J., came to Orange County, N. Y.,
and settled for a time in Hamptonburgh and Goshen, respectively,
removed in 1774 to the present town of Mount Hope. He was the
founder of Ketcham's Mills, near Mount Hope village. Here John
Ketcham died April 21, 1794, and Sarah, his widow, departed this life
in 1802. The homestead passing to the son Joseph, has continuously
(1774-1907) been occupied by a Ketcham, present occupant, Isaac
Emmett Ketcham, being a great grandson of Joseph. Last surviving
grandson of said Joseph, bearing the family name, was the late John
L. Ketcham, son of Joseph, Jr. (farmer, mechanic and inventor), and
like his ancestors also a mechanic of ability and prominence. Born
February 22, 1820, he married November 14, 1844, Miss Harriette
Writer, also of the town of Mount Hope. She died August 30, 1870.
John L. died June 10, 1898, is survived by their only child, Electa
J. Ketcham-Penney, at present residing near Finchville.

Less than a dozen families representative of this once large and
widely influential family, are now living within their native town,
Mount Hope.

JOHN EGBERT KIDD, a retired farmer residing near Walden, N. Y., is a
descendant of an old Orange County family. Going back over a century
and a half, it is ascertained that three brothers, Alexander, Robert
and Andrew Kidd, came from the North of Ireland in 1736, and secured
a large tract of land in the vicinity of the present village of
Walden. Alexander, the direct ancestor of our subject, married Jane
Calderwood. Robert, their eldest son, married Mary McGowan, and their
son Andrew in 1802 married a Miss Margaret Kidd and became the
parents of six children, of whom John, the eldest, was born October
26, 1803, at the parental homestead. He followed the occupation of a
farmer and was prominent in public affairs of the town. He was
highway commissioner a great many years, was a director of the Walden
National Bank and held the office of railroad commissioner.

In 1826 he married Miss Cornelia, daughter of Charles Haines, of
Montgomery. Six children were born, Andrew, Mirza, John, Egbert,
David L., Margaret A. and Victor. During the Civil War, John Egbert
Kidd enlisted with the "Orange Blossoms," the famous 124th Regiment,
a review of which appears in the Military History in this volume.

John E. Kidd was twice married. His first wife was Alice Decker, and
the following children were born: Cornelia (now the wife of George
Wait), and one son John. Mr. Kidd's second wife was Maria Adeline
Decker.

BENJAMIN B. KINNE, M.D., is a native of Kirkville, Onondaga County,
N. Y., where he was born March 28, 1877. He was educated in the
public schools of the state, including the high school at East
Syracuse. He was a teacher in the county for four years, and studied
for his profession in the American Medical Missionary College of
Battle Creek, Mich., and Chicago. For nearly a year he was on the
medical staff of the Pennsylvania Sanitarium at Philadelphia.

Dr. Kinne came to Middletown in 1905, and took the management of the
Battle Creek Sanitarium Treatment Rooms on East Main street. Later
these were removed to the Middletown Sanitarium on Benton avenue,
where better facilities are offered for the accommodation of
patients. The present building is large and pleasant, having all of
the modern improvements, and is fully equipped with all the
facilities for baths of various kinds, massage, electricity, x-ray,
Swedish movements, and the care of surgical cases.

GEORGE A. KIPP was born July 31, 1871, at Goshen, Orange County,
N. Y., and attended the public school at that place. At the age of
fifteen he learned the carpenter's trade with his father, and has
always continued the business. He was united in marriage to Clara
Baker, of Middletown, N. Y., April 26, 1899. Four children were born
to this union; two died in infancy. The living are Allerton, born
June 9, 1905, and Dorothy, born August 27, 1907. In politics Mr.
Kipp is a democrat. His parents were Richard A., born March 3, 1838,
and Mary Ann (Dailey) Kipp. They had six children, one dying in
infancy. Richard was also engaged in contracting and carpenter
business in Goshen, and conducted a milk business in New York
previous to the Civil War. About 1862 he returned to Goshen, taking
up his trade. He erected many of the best residences in and around
Goshen, and died July 26, 1897.

CHARLES ALBERT KNAPP occupies a farm of two hundred and seventy acres
in the town of Goshen, which was first settled by William Knapp in
1749. Mr. Knapp's ancestry in this country is traced to Nicholas
Knapp, who with his brothers, William and Roger, emigrated to America
from Sussex, England, in 1630. His ancestors were prominent in
military affairs during the colonial period. One, Isaac Knapp, was
in the expedition to Canada under Sir William Phips in 1690. John
Knapp, born 1664, died 1749 of Stamford, Conn., was captain of the
train band in 1716. Nathaniel Knapp, of Newburgh, was in the second
Louisburg expedition, 1758-1759. Samuel Knapp, born 1695, died 1751,
had a son Samuel, born 1722, and his son William and wife Margaret
came to Goshen, N. Y., in 1749. They had nine children, of whom James
and Samuel were killed in the Battle of Minisink, July 22, 1779.
James was forty-three years old and left a widow, whose maiden name
was Hester Drake, and nine children, born between the years
1761-1779. Of these John Knapp (born August 24, 1765, died 1854),
married Eunice Smith, of Goshen, and of their eleven children Virgil,
the youngest, was the father of Charles Albert, who married Emma
Linderman, and are the parents of three children, Jesse, Louis and
Mabel. Jesse married Addie Crawford and Louis married Catherine Bull.
The two sons are engaged in business in New York City.

JAMES W. KNAPP was born at Pine Island, Orange County, December 22,
1831, and died at the age of seventy-six. His wife was a daughter of
Peter N. Ryerson, of Glenwood, N. J., and they were married October
21, 1855. Their six children are Mary, wife of F. E. Tither, of
Florida, N. Y.; Nicholas, of Belmont, N. Y.; Charles, of Goshen,
N. Y.; William, of Pine Island; J. Arthur, of Florida, N. Y., and
Elizabeth, wife of Walter S. Seeley, of Middletown, N. Y.

Mr. Knapp's father, William Knapp, died at the age of eighty-five.
Peter N. Ryerson was born at New Vernon, N. J., September 9, 1814.
His grandfather, Nicholas Ryerson, emigrated from Amsterdam, Holland,
in 1801, and settled on Long Island. Mr. Knapp was a member of the
Presbyterian church of Amity, and for six years served as town
assessor.

SAMUEL L. KNIFFIN, of Goshen, N. Y., was born at Chester in 1843. In
1863 he came to Goshen with his parents, and learned the tinsmith
trade under the tuition of his father, who for many years had charge
of the tinning department for J. W. Corwin & Co. Mr. Kniffin has
remained in the same store, now owned by Kniffin & Hopkins, and for
many years has served as foreman of the tin shop. He married Sarah,
daughter of Gabriel Bennett, of Goshen, and they have a daughter
Carrie, who married Charles B. Coleman, of Goshen. Mr. Kniffin is a
democrat and has served as town clerk of Goshen and for many years
has been village trustee.

WILLIAM KNIFFIN, hardware merchant, of Goshen, N. Y., was born in
Chester, Orange County, in 1855. In 1863 his parents removed to
Goshen, and his father, Samuel M., was tinner for J. W. Corwin & Co.,
there for many years. William secured employment in the same store in
1871, and in 1892 purchased a half interest in the business, the firm
being known as Corwin & Kniffin. In 1902 Edward A. Hopkins purchased
Mr. Corwin's interest and since that time the firm name has been
Kniffin & Hopkins. In politics Mr. Kniffin is a democrat, and has
served the town of Goshen as collector one term.

CHARLES T. KNIGHT, a prominent citizen of Monroe, was born here in
1847. He is a son of Chauncey B. and Mary (Thompson) Knight; the
latter a daughter of Rev. J. J. Thompson, died in 1908. As a young
man Mr. Knight engaged with his father in the feed, coal and lumber
business, and was a member of the firm of C. B. Knight & Co.,
organized in 1868, continuing until 1877, when he was associated for
two years with the provision house of James A. Townsend at Newburgh.
In 1879 the firm of Knight & Conklin was formed and continued the
flour and feed business until 1899. Mr. Knight is now engaged in the
business alone. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster of the village
which was then a fourth-class office. He was reappointed in 1900,
when the office was placed in the third class, and was reappointed to
the position in 1904 and 1908. Mr. Knight served one term as
supervisor of the old town of Monroe and two terms of the new town.

GEORGE KOHL, son of Valentine and Mary Ann (Zeigler) Kohl, natives of
Germany, was born at Middlehope in 1876. After finishing his studies
at the Newburgh schools he entered the general store established in
1869 by his father at Middlehope. In 1898 he engaged in his present
mercantile business and a year later was appointed postmaster of the
village, holding the position continuously to the present time. Mr.
Kohl was collector of the town of Newburgh in 1902 and 1903 and
collector of the school district for seven years. He is accounted not
only a thoroughly trustworthy official, but one of the best citizens
of Middlehope. Socially he is identified with the Newburgh Wheelmen.

HENRY KOHL, corporation counsel of the city of Newburgh and member of
the law firm of McClung & Kohl, was born in Middlehope in 1871, a son
of Valentine and Mary A. (Ziegler) Kohl. After finishing his
preliminary studies he read law in the office of Judge Seeger and was
admitted to the bar in 1894. Mr. Kohl has built up a large clientage
and has acquired especial success and prominence in criminal cases.

Politically Mr. Kohl is a democrat and an ardent worker for the
success of his party, which has honored him with the nomination for
state and county offices.

VALENTINE J. KOHL who is engaged in fruit farming at Middlehope, was
born in the town of Newburgh in 1868, and was educated at the
district schools. In 1897 he purchased his present farm of twenty
acres, all of which is under cultivation, in connection with which he
operates a cider mill, turning out 50,000 gallons annually. Mr. Kohl
held the office of town clerk four years and also served as school
trustee. He is a member of the Grange and the Masonic Lodge No. 309,
Newburgh, and I. O. O. F. He married Charlotte P. Clauson and two
children have been born to them. Valentine Kohl, father of our
subject, was a prosperous merchant and farmer of Middlehope. He died
in 1890.

VALENTINE KOHL, for many years a prosperous merchant of Middle Hope,
N. Y., was born at St. Martens-on-the-Rhine, Germany, where he
received his schooling and learned the shoemaker's trade. Shortly
after his marriage he sailed for America; here he plied his trade for
a few years, and then became interested in the mercantile business at
Middlehope, remaining thus engaged until his death, which occurred in
1890, while he was serving as postmaster. He was appointed to this
office by President Arthur and reappointed by President Harrison, his
term of service in this capacity extending from 1883 until 1890. He
was accounted not only a thoroughly trustworthy official, but one of
the best citizens of Middlehope.

Mr. Kohl was reared in the Catholic faith, but in mature life became
convinced of the truth of protestantism and inclined toward the
Methodist Episcopal tenets, being a regular attendant at the services
of this church. His wife, who was Miss Mary A. Ziegler, was also a
native of Germany. They became the parents of seven children, of whom
four sons are prominent citizens of Orange County, whose personal
sketches are recorded in this history.

WILLIAM J. KOHL, president of the Newburgh city council and former
alderman, of the Third ward, Newburgh, was born in Middlehope, Orange
County, N. Y., May 17, 1874. He attended the public schools and
graduated from the Spencerian Business College, Newburgh. He was
employed for a time in the wholesale provision house of Coles,
Marshall & Co., of that city, and in 1903 established his grocery
store in South street, where he has met with much success. Mr. Kohl
is identified with the Masonic fraternity, the Maccabees, Ringgold
Hose Company, a member of the Newburgh Wheelmen and the Mannerchor.
He has always taken an active interest in the affairs of the
democratic party.

WILLIAM ALBERT KORTRIGHT was born at Phillipsburgh, Orange County,
March 4, 1866, and educated at the Port Jervis and Campbell Hall
schools. He left his father's farm and began learning the blacksmith
trade in 1881, engaging in that business at Centerville in 1886,
where he continued one year, and then started at Slate Hill, which he
operated three years. In 1890 he started business in Florida, where
he has since resided. He is a member of Wawayanda Lodge No. 34,
I. O. O. F., the Florida Grange, and of the Methodist church.

Mr. Kortright married Alice Halstead, of South Centerville, and they
have one child, Wardell, who is eighteen years of age.

W. FRANK LAIN--In the annals of the town of Minisink the name of
Lain is a familiar one, as the various generations of this family
have borne an honorable part in the town's development. The first
member to locate in Orange County was William Lain, who came from
Long Island in 1770 and settled in the town of Minisink. His wife was
Keziah, daughter of Increase Mather. Among their children was David,
born in 1791. He spent his entire life on the home farm and died in
his seventy-ninth year.

Gideon Lain, father of W. Frank Lain, died in 1906. He married Mary
Dunning and three sons and one daughter were born to them. W. F.
Lain, who continues the homestead farm of one hundred and seventy
acres near Westtown, was born here in 1859; he finished his studies
at the high school in Cincinnati. He is a member of the Grange, the
Masonic fraternity and republican committeeman from the town of
Minisink.

ROBERT LAWRENCE was born in the city of Birmingham, England, in 1849,
and he acquired his education at the public schools in Birmingham.
His parents came to America in 1864 and settled in Middletown, Orange
County. He was married to Amelia Thornton, of Spring Glenn, Ulster
County, in 1872. They have three children living, Howard R., Cora B.
and Ethel A. Mr. Lawrence has served the city in an efficient manner
as alderman for several years and was president of the common council
during the same period. He is a member of the I. O. O. F.; was
elected mayor in November, 1906, and is still occupying that office.
Mr. Lawrence is a member of St. Paul's church and was superintendent
of the Sunday-school fourteen years.

WILLIAM S. LAYTON was born in Amity, Orange County, January 18, 1871.
After completing his education he assisted on the farm, and has
remained a farmer. His father was one of the first peach growers, for
shipping in the town of Warwick, and his son William now has on his
dairy and fruit farm of one hundred and fifty-seven acres, peach
orchards containing four thousand trees of the best varieties. He is
a republican, a school trustee, a member of Amity Grange No. 1001, of
Warwick, Lodge No. 544, F. and A. M.. and Wawayanda Lodge No. 34,
I. O. O. F. He married Gertrude H., daughter of James H. and
Catherine Miller, of Florida. February 3, 1892. Their five children,
all at home, are Lawrence, born June 6, 1893; Edgar, born January 3,
1895; Lillian, born October 3, 1896; Helen, born December 8, 1898;
and William Gerald, born September 12, 1901. The father had one
sister, Nettie E., wife of James A. Sammis, of Glenwood, N. J. She
died in 1892.

WILBUR C. LAZEAR was born in 1854 on his father's farm three miles
from Warwick, near New Milford. His father was Cornelius Jones
Lazear, and his mother's maiden name was Elmira Ferrier. In 1867 his
father removed to Warwick and became a partner of Walter Knapp, with
the firm name of Knapp & Lazear, in the undertaking and furniture
business. In 1872 he purchased Mr. Knapp's interest, and when his son
Wilbur's schooling was finished, made him his partner. The father
died January 10, 1892, and Wilbur has continued the business since.
He married Miss Jennie Smith November 5, 1884. Their children are
Cornelius S., Belle, and Ida May. Mr. Lazear is a member of Warwick
Lodge No. 554, F. and A. M., and the Odd Fellows. Mrs. Lazear died
February 11, 1906.

MARTIN E. LEE, a retired farmer, and leading citizen of Westtown, was
born in the town of Minisink in 1846. He is a son of Lewis and
Experience (Teasdale) Lee. His mother was a daughter of ex-Judge
Teasdale, of Sussex, N. J. Of his paternal ancestors his grandfather,
Daniel Lee, participated in the War of 1812, and his great
grandfather, Paul Lee, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mr.
Lee's life was devoted to the cultivation of a farm of one hundred
and forty acres, which he now rents. He has always taken an active
part in public affairs and is a member of the republican committee of
the town of Minisink. He married Miss Alice, daughter of Dr. A. A.
Seymour. One daughter, Rose, was born to them. She is now the wife of
Philip H. Du Bois, of New Paltz.

ANDREW WRIGHT LENT, attorney of Newburgh and Highland, N. Y., is a
junior member of the law firm of A. D. and A. W. Lent. He is a native
of Highland, N. Y., and was educated at Union College, from which he
graduated in 1904 with the degree of Ph.B. He read law in the office
of his father, Abraham D. Lent and at Albany Law School, was admitted
to the bar in 1906, and has since practiced in Newburgh.

Abraham D. Lent was born at Clinton, Dutchess County in 1850,
attended the Albany Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1874.
Mr. Lent practices at Highland, Ulster County, and has conducted a
law office in Newburgh since 1903.

NELSON BURTON LENT, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers
of Westchester County, N. Y., author and publisher of the "History of
the Lent Family in the United States, from 1638 to 1902," was born in
the town of Courtlandt, Westchester County, N. Y., May 1, 1856, and
educated in the public schools of his native town. His father was
Nathaniel D. Lent, and his mother's maiden name was Rachel Lent.

Among the families of Westchester County there is none stronger or
more widely distributed than the old Dutch family of Lents. Abraham
De Ryck, who emigrated to the United States from Amsterdam, Holland,
to the Island of Manhattan, in the year 1638, was the father of Ryck
Abrahamson, who took the name of Van Lent. The name is supposed to
have originated from a place called "Lent" in Holland.

Mr. N. B. Lent learned the trade of a compositor with the _Highland
Democrat_ in Peekskill, N. Y. He left Peekskill in 1880, and
associated with his cousin, William C. Tunstall, established and
edited _The Providence Register,_ a weekly newspaper at Scranton, Pa.
He later sold out his interest to Mr. Tunstall, and returned to
Peekskill. He was soon afterward called by the life-long printer and
historian, E. M. Ruttenber, Esq., to Newburgh, N. Y., and was
employed by him in his job printing office. Since 1884 he has been
connected with _The Newburgh Journal._

Mr. Lent was instrumental in instituting the first Patriotic Order of
the Sons of America in Newburgh, N. Y. He represented the order in
the state and national conventions. He was a member of Acme Lodge of
Odd Fellows of Newburgh, and its representative in the Grand Lodge in
1888. He was one of fourteen to organize Canton Woodward No. 32,
Patriarchs Militant, and held the office of clerk, and was
commissioned an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Otis Woodward,
of the Division of Niagara, with rank of captain. He held all the
offices of his lodge to district deputy grand master; has been for
the past twenty-one years a member of Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and
A. M.; the Historical Society of the Newburgh Bay and the Highlands;
the Empire State Society, Sons of the American Revolution; and the
American Institute of Civics.

Mr. Lent in politics is a republican. He was one of the United States
Census Enumerators for the city of Newburgh in 1900, and clerk to the
engrossing committee in the State Assembly at Albany, in 1901-1902.

He married Miss Viola Frances, daughter of Herman and Mary Stone, of
Danbury, Conn., December 23, 1881. They have six children, Bertram
Nelson, Winfred Foss, Roland Depew, Hobart Townsend, Sebring Round
and Mildred Stone, all born at Newburgh, N. Y. Mr. Lent in religion
is a Methodist, and a member of Trinity M. E. Church, Newburgh.

CHAUNCEY M. LEONARD was born in Newburgh in the year 1825, and in a
house that occupied the site of the Bigler building at the corner of
Third and Smith streets. He resided here until sixteen years of age,
receiving his education at the Newburgh Academy. In early manhood he
became a member of the old volunteer fire department of New York
while learning his trade of painter. He was elected assistant foreman
of the engine company. At the age of nineteen he married Miss Rebecca
Smith, of New York City, who died two years afterward, leaving a
daughter, who married Thomas K. Rheutan. In 1848 he married Miss Hope
Smith, a sister of his first wife, and had several children.

In 1850 he returned to his native city and continued to reside here
till his death. He was employed as a painter by E. T. Comstock, and
on Mr. Comstock's death in 1859, the firm of Ward & Leonard (Peter
Ward and Chauncey M. Leonard) was formed. James J. Logan afterward
being received into the partnership, the firm became Ward, Leonard &
Co.

Mr. Leonard joined Ringgold Hose Company, No. 1, in 1853. He was
elected assistant foreman, but his ability and experience as a
fireman were such that he was called to fill a position of greater
prominence. In 1861 he was elected chief engineer of the Newburgh
fire department, and at each successive election thereafter was
re-elected to the same office, till March, 1874, when he was called
to take the higher position of mayor of the city.

In 1873 he was a delegate to the democratic state convention, and was
an honorary member of the National Association of Chief Engineers. He
was a member of the Masonic fraternity and well advanced in the
degrees of the order. He died at his residence, 82 Ann street,
Thursday, December 3, 1874.

JAMES J. LEONARD, son of the late Chauncey M. Leonard, was born in
Newburgh, N. Y., October 16, 1872. After graduating from the academy
he entered the office of the Newburgh Register as bookkeeper, and
from 1888 to 1907 was connected with the wholesale grocery house of
Stephen M. Bull, when he formed a partnership with W. E. Doyle, and
under the firm name of Doyle & Leonard is engaged in the wholesale
grocery trade, continuing the business of Mailler & Doyle. Mr.
Leonard has always manifested an active interest in politics and in
1903 was elected to the office of county clerk, serving until 1906.
He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, president and director
of the Wheelmen's Club, member of the City Club and the Ringgold Hose
and Veteran Association and Newburgh Volunteer Association. He
married Mary T. McQuillan, of Newburgh. They have two children,
Chauncey M. and Marion H.

EDWARD G. LITTELL was born in Elmira, N. Y., July 5, 1851. From his
birthplace he went to Rahway, N. J., remained there several years,
and then came to Greycourt, Orange County. He was a fireman on the
Erie Railroad eleven years, had charge of the steam pumps twelve
years, and later operated a sawmill and general store. His great
grandfather was Captain Pratt Littell and he was in the first
skirmish against the British in the War of the Revolution. He lived
in New Jersey at a place called Short Hills.

Edward G. married Ida Bronk Hyte, of Greycourt. Their children are
Elizabeth A., Edward D., of Los Angeles, Cal., William J., Harry M.,
Andrew H., Hattie L., Ida M. and Alfred K. The father is a member of
Standard Lodge No. 711, F. and A. M.; K. of P. Lodge No. 363, of
Chester, and the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. Mr. Littell
has held the office of postmaster at Greycourt for nine years. He is
a member of the Chester Horse Thief Association, and has served twice
on the republican town board.

WILLIAM T. LODGE, who has conducted the Empire House at Montgomery,
N. Y., for thirty-seven years, is one of the representative and
highly respected citizens of Orange County. Mr. Lodge was born in
Ireland, March 26, 1836, and came to America when a lad of fifteen.
He was engaged in farming from 1849 to 1871, when he purchased his
present hotel property. In politics Mr. Lodge is a democrat, and has
for years exerted a great influence in the promotion of its
interests.

Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity, and is a
director in the First National Bank of Montgomery. He was one of the
organizers and is a supporter of the Episcopal Chapel, organized
about six years ago in Montgomery. This chapel is a branch of the St.
Andrew's Episcopal Church of Walden.

Mr. Lodge married Miss Catherine Doyle in 1863, and three sons and
three daughters have been born to them--William T. Jr., manager of
the Empire House; Martin D. conducts a gents' furnishing store, and
James A., proprietor of a sales stable for horses and cattle, all
residing in Montgomery.

WILLIAM LOEVEN was born at Honesdale, Pa., September 8, 1861. His
early education was acquired at the public school. He removed to
Orange County in March, 1891, and located at Middletown.

He engaged in business on Fulton street, after which he removed to
Otisville, in January, 1906, and purchased the hotel known as the
Writer Hotel, which he still continues. He married Frances Gehrer, of
Honesdale, Pa., October 16, 1889. Their four children are William,
Jr., Robert, Edward and Elizabeth, all residing at home. In politics
Mr. Loeven is a democrat, and is a member of the F. O. E. Mr. and
Mrs. Loeven are members of the Church of the Holy Name, of Otisville.

CHARLES W. LOOMIS was born at Otisville, Orange County, N. Y. He is a
son of Ephraim Smith Loomis, who was born May 22, 1801, and died
February 27, 1869. His mother died November 19, 1891. Charles W.
attended the district school and assisted his father on the farm,
which has been the Loomis homestead for over a century. He married
Miss Phoebe A. Dunlap, daughter of Riley and Sarah E. Dunlap,
November 28, 1886. Five children were born to this union, Iva Pamela,
born February 17, 1887, died May 19, 1904; Antoinette Evelyn, born
April 17, 1888; Ephraim Smith, born November 9, 1890; Frank Kaufmann,
born October 2, 1894; and Sarah Irene, born February 14, 1898.

In politics Mr. Loomis is a republican. He has held several local
offices, being supervisor of the town fourteen years and justice of
the peace ten years. He is a member of the Otisville Presbyterian
Church and active in religious duties. He is identified with Hoffman
Lodge No. 412, of Middletown, as a member. Mr. Loomis has a good
dairy farm and makes a specialty of truck gardening.

EPHRAIM BEEMER LOTT was born August 25, 1862, at Sussex, N. J. He
attended the district school, after which he worked on a farm until
1887. He then identified himself with the Warwick Valley Milk
Association, where he remained for sixteen years. He is now foreman
of the Warwick branch of the Mutual Milk and Cream Co. He married
Miss Emma Barrett, of Warwick, October 31, 1888. Two children were
born by this union, Mary Lavina, living at home, and one who died in
infancy. Mr. Lott is a member of Wawayanda Lodge No. 34, Odd Fellows,
Independent Order of Red Men, Tuxedo Tribe, No. 322, and Orange
Council No. 112, Jr. O. U. A. M. He is a member of the Methodist
Church of Warwick. In politics he is a democrat. His father, John
Hathorn Lott, died August 11, 1906, at the age of one hundred years
eleven months and five days. There were ten children in his family by
the first wife and nine by his second wife. He was a cooper by trade,
and a great hunter of wild game.

IRVING K. LOUGHRAN, attorney of Walden, N. Y., has for many years
been prominently identified with commercial and public affairs of
Orange County. He is a native of New York and read law with Henry H.
Hustis, of Fishkill-on-Hudson. Since his admission to the bar in 1882
he has practiced law continuously in Walden. Mr. Loughran has held
all the judicial offices in the town of Montgomery and for fourteen
years was justice of the peace. He served for twelve years on the
board of supervisors and two terms as chairman of the board. He is
secretary and director of the Wallkill Valley Electric Co., secretary
of the Wallkill Valley Cemetery Association, secretary and director
of the Schrade Cutlery Co. of Walden, and a member of the New York
Bar Association. He has taken the various chairs in Masonry,
including the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the Newburgh Lodge of
Elks and Walden Lodge, K. of P.

JAMES B. LOVE, who in 1906 purchased the Dr. Ormsbee farm on the
State road midway between Newburgh and the village of Montgomery, was
born in New York City, and engaged in business there for many years.
He married Miss Maggie Urey and they have two sons, James B., Jr.,
born January, 1905, and John Robert, born March, 1908. Mr. Love and
his family, like many retired New Yorkers, enjoy the freedom of rural
life in Orange County.

HENRY C. LOVELAND was born October 13, 1853, at Chester, Pa. His
father was William W. and mother, Lucinda M. (Atkins) Loveland.
Twelve children were born to this union, nine boys and three girls.
He obtained his early education at the district school at Chester,
and later attended the public school at Napanoch. After his schooling
he was employed in the rolling mills and in 1872 came to Middletown,
learning the machinist trade. In 1878 he associated himself with the
Wheeler, Madden and Clemson Mfg. Co., of Middletown, remaining with
this firm until 1890, then with Clemson Bros. for a period of
seventeen years, after which he has been connected with the National
Saw Co. He was married to Josephine Decker, March 29, 1877. They have
two children.

Stephen D., who married Nellie Clark, of Middletown, have two
children, one son and one daughter, and Hattie, wife of George C.
Brundage. Mr. Loveland is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and
A. M.; Wallkill Council No. 92, Jr. O. U. A. M., and Olympia Council
No. 14, D. of A. In politics he is a republican, and has served the
city faithfully as councilman. The Loveland family are of English
descent and dates back to 1635 in America.

WARREN LOWELL was born in Troy, N. Y., and educated in Albany and New
York City. He was engaged in the milk business for a time and was
later employed by the Union Pacific Railroad. About 1876 he returned
to New York City and associated himself with the Orange County Milk
Co., of which he is now a director, and holds the offices of
secretary and superintendent. The plant at Goshen has facilities for
handling four hundred cans of milk daily. The various creameries
owned by this company have up-to-date machinery for the condensing of
cream. This company was organized in 1860. Mr. Lowell is a member of
Pyramid Lodge No. 490, F. and A. M.; Union Chapter No. 180, York
Commandery No. 55, and the Consistory, all of New York City.
Politically he is a republican. He married Matilda D. Senior, of New
York, September 16, 1885.

OLIVER LOZIER, who is engaged in farming near Savilton, Orange
County, was born in the town of Newburgh in 1837. He attended
district school and the Newburgh Academy and engaged in farming until
1857, when he accepted a position as captain on the Newburgh ferry.
In 1868 he removed to Savilton and purchased his farm of seventy-five
acres. He has served as collector of the town one year and as
supervisor six years. He married Elizabeth Hanmore and five children
were born to them. His son, Frank E., is engaged in the management of
the farm with his father. He married Miss May Palmer, of Ulster
County; they have two children, one son, Elmore, and a daughter.

HARRY ROSS LYDECKER, attorney of Newburgh and Brooklyn, was born in
Yonkers, N. Y., March 4, 1869. Son of Albert and Martha B. (Morrison)
Lydecker; graduated 1887 from Mount St. Mary's Academy; read law in
the office of Colonel William Dickey (now justice of the supreme
court); admitted to the bar in 1893. He has served as counsel of the
Newburgh Electric Railway Co.; corporation counsel of the town of
New Windsor; town counsel of the town of Blooming Grove.

In 1906 Mr. Lydecker opened a law office in Brooklyn, N. Y. In
January, 1907, the law firm of Lydecker and Smith was formed with
offices in Newburgh. Mr. Lydecker is a member of the commandery and
chapter, F. and A. M.; member of the Tenth Separate Company, the
Canoe and Boating Association, the Royal Arcanum, Ringgold Hose and
the Y. M. C. A. In 1891 he married Miss Minnie A. Brown, of Newburgh.
Five children have been born to them.

JOHN McCARTY was born of Irish parentage in Westchester County,
N. Y., and moved to Brooklyn when eighteen years of age. His early
desires were for mercantile pursuits, but he eventually entered the
service of the city of Brooklyn in the municipal board of health. He
later became a clerk to Justice Walsh, which position he retained for
some years, relinquishing this eventually to become alderman, serving
on important committees while remaining in the board, and becoming
also its presiding officer. He has dealt largely in Brooklyn real
estate. He was nominated in 1891 to succeed John C. Jacobs, and was
elected by over 16,000 plurality. Mr. McCarty was also a member of
the committee on railroads, committee on insurance, manufactures, and
was chairman of the committee on state prisons, and of the committee
on public buildings. In politics he was a staunch democrat and
represented the second senatorial district. He was a great admirer
and owner of many fine horses, among them being Joe Patchen, which he
purchased in 1889, since which time that noted horse has been kept at
his stables at Goshen, N. Y. John McCarty was a son of Hugh McCarty,
born in 1815 at County Down, Ireland, where he received a common
school education. He came to America in February, 1834, and learned
the mason trade at an early age. Returning to his native country he
married Sarah Rogers, also of County Down, Ireland. He at once
returned to America, settling in Westchester County, N. Y. He was
largely identified with the building of High Bridge connecting New
York and Harlem. Mr. McCarty was contractor for the masonry and
personally laid the corner stone of the bridge. The trowel used in
laying the cornerstone is now in possession of his daughter. Mr.
McCarty owned his own quarries and the stone used in the High Bridge
was transported on his own sloops for this as well as the Brooklyn
navy yard and other contracts. He was a philanthropic man and gave
large contributions to St. Mary's-on-the-Hudson at Cold Spring. There
were five children born to the union, Ellen, John, Mary, Thomas and
Sarah A. The latter now resides at their summer home in Goshen and in
Brooklyn during the winter months. He married Marguerite I. Murphy,
of New York City, and died October 20, 1905.

HON. BENJAMIN McCLUNG, mayor of the city of Newburgh, N. Y., and a
prominent member of the Orange County Bar, was born in the town of
New Windsor in 1867, a son of Samuel and Margaret (Upright) McClung.
After finishing his preliminary education at the Newburgh Academy and
Siglar's Preparatory School, he entered the law department of the
University of New York, graduating in 1891 with the degree of LL.B.
Mr. McClung practiced law in New York City for a short time, and in
the same year, 1891, opened an office in Newburgh. He was for a time
associated in practice with Hon. Russell Headley and in 1906 the law
firm of McClung & Kohl was formed.

For many years Mr. McClung has been prominently identified with the
affairs of the democratic party, which nominated him for member of
assembly. In 1907 he was selected to head the democratic ticket in
Newburgh, and November 5 was elected mayor by the substantial
majority of 574 votes. Mayor McClung was inaugurated March, 1908, the
first democrat to occupy that office in a period of eighteen years.

Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity, the Elks,
Foresters and the City Club.

JOHN D. McCOACH, chief of police of the city of Middletown, was born
in Bethel, Sullivan County, N. Y., in 1876 and educated at the public
schools in Bethel, where he graduated. He came to Middletown in June,
1896, in his twenty-first year, and after serving six years as driver
of a mail wagon, which duty he faithfully performed, he was appointed
patrolman on the Middletown police force. In 1907 he was appointed
chief of the Middletown police, which position he now holds.
Politically he is a republican. Socially he is a member of Hoffman
Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., and Midland Chapter No. 240, R. A. M. He
married Miss Lucy Barber, of Monticello, Sullivan County, and of this
union two children have been born, Elmer E., born June 21, 1904, and
Mildred O., born October 10, 1905. As befits one in his position Mr.
McCoach is a man of varied learning and accomplishments, and withal a
man of affairs, of keen perception and fair-minded. He is
particularly well informed in local and Masonic matters.

ROBERT WORKMAN McCREADY, a prominent contractor at Tuxedo Park, is a
resident of Sloatsburg, Rockland County. Mr. McCready was born at
Belfast, in the North of Ireland, in 1862, a son of James and Mary
(McIlveen) McCready, of Scotch descent. He attended the schools of
Belfast and in 1882 received his certificate from the Government
School of Art. He then spent a year with Harland & Wolf,
shipbuilders, obtaining his certificate as joiner. In 1884 he came to
Fall River, Mass., where he was employed as a carpenter one year.
After a visit to his native place he again came to America in 1886
and was employed by Mead & Taft at Tuxedo. Two years later he formed
a co-partnership with William M. Finch to conduct a general
contracting and building business under the firm name of McCready &
Finch. Their business developed rapidly and employment given to from
three to four hundred men, erecting many of the most substantial
buildings in Tuxedo Park, including the homes of Ambrose Monell,
W. B. Densmore, W. B. Garrison, J. Henry Smith, a private school in
the Park costing $35,000, and the $30,000 school in the village. He
also rebuilt the Episcopal church. In 1905 Mr. McCready purchased Mr.
Finch's interest in the business and is now conducting it alone. Mr.
McCready has now under contract to erect in Tuxedo Park a residence
for C. W. Clinton, of the firm of Clinton & Russell, architects, of
Nassau street, New York; a Methodist church at Sloatsburg, an
extension to William M. V. Hoffman's house, and alterations to A. D.
Julliard's house, Tuxedo Park.

Mr. McCready is a member of numerous fraternal organizations,
including Scottish Rite Masons and the Mystic Shrine. In 1889 he
married Mary, daughter of John Finch, of Sloatsburg. They have two
children--Olive and Robert Halsey.

JOHN W. McCULLOUGH, who for many years was engaged in the tobacco
business in Water street, was born in Newburgh in 1819 and died in
1892. After finishing his studies at the high school he learned the
tobacconist trade and engaged in the wholesale and retail business
for himself at 93 Front street, in 1845, where he continued until
1873, when he purchased the premises at 68 and 70 Water street, where
the business was continued by his son, John R. McCullough, up to the
time of his death, July 31, 1907. Mr. McCullough was for many years
an elder in the First Reformed Presbyterian Church, and also
performed the duties of treasurer. In his long business career in his
native place Mr. McCullough's name was a synonym for integrity and
honorable dealings. John R. McCullough was born July 15, 1846. He was
engaged in the drug business for a few years on Broadway, previous to
engaging in the tobacco business with his father. He was a director
of Quassaick National Bank, and Woodlawn Cemetery Association. He was
treasurer of Union Church, and president of the board of water
commissioners. He married Miss Marion Muir, who died September 18,
1900. Four children were born to them. John W., Jr., died November 6,
1888. Frederick R. continues the tobacco business in Water street.

FRED S. McDOWELL, supervisor of the town of Newburgh, was born in
Newburgh in 1865; a son of James and Agnes (Frew) McDowell. As a
young man he was engaged in the butchering business with his father
and then entered the employ of Armour & Co. for two years as
salesman, following which he conducted a meat market on Broadway
three years. Since 1893 he has been one of the proprietors of the
Newburgh Rendering Co.

Mr. McDowell is prominent in fraternal organizations. He is past
master of Newburgh Lodge, F. and A. M., a member of Highland Chapter,
Hudson River Commandery and the Mecca Temple. He is also past grand
of Acme Lodge, I. O. O. F., and in 1907 was chosen district deputy of
Orange District No. 1 of the Odd Fellows. He married Miss Jennie
Whitaker, of New Windsor.

RALPH L. McGEOCH, M.D., a successful physician, residing and
practicing in Goshen, N. Y., was born at Shushan, Washington County,
N. Y., December 1, 1867. He was educated at Cambridge Washington
Academy and Fort Edward Collegiate Institute. He entered the New York
Homeopathic College in 1891 and graduated May 3, 1894, after which he
came to Goshen, where he has since practiced. Dr. McGeoch is a member
of the New York State Homeopathic Medical Society, the Tri-County
Homeopathic Medical Society, the Orange County Medical Society, the
New York State Medical Association, and the New York Homeopathic
Alumni Association. On June 9, 1897, he was joined in marriage with
Sarah W. Coleman.

JAMES D. McGIFFERT, clerk of Orange County, N. Y., was born and
educated in Newburgh. As a young man he was employed by the Oakley
Soap Co., in Washington street. Since he became a voter he has
manifested an active interest in politics, the first office to which
he was elected being that of assessor from the First Ward. He served
as city collector of Newburgh from 1897 to 1906. In his dealings with
the public in this capacity he was uniformly courteous and
considerate. He was for two years master of Newburgh Lodge No. 309,
F. and A. M., and its secretary ten years. He is excellent high
priest of Highland Chapter No. 52, R. A. M.; also a member of Hudson
River Commandery No. 35, Knights Templar. He is prominently
identified with the Odd Fellows and firemanic circles. He was elected
to the office of county clerk November, 1906, running over a thousand
votes ahead of his ticket.

HENRY JAMES McKINNEY, was born at the family homestead in the town of
Crawford, Orange County, April 10, 1854, and died at his residence in
Pine Bush, N. Y., September 24, 1907. He was the third son of Luther
and Maria (Morrison) McKinney. Following the death of his father he
bought the homestead and continued thereon until 1892, when he
removed to Pine Bush. In 1895 he engaged in the lumber, feed and coal
business, which he conducted with much success for nearly twelve
years, his business career being marked by courtesy and sterling
honesty. On September 7, 1892, he married Miss Kate Woodworth
Kapelye, who with three daughters survive him.

Mr. McKinney always manifested an active interest in the moral and
intellectual advancement of his community. His death entailed the
loss of a public-spirited citizen and Christian gentleman.

JOHN L. McKINNEY, postmaster at Pine Bush, was born on the homestead
farm in the town of Crawford, Orange County, March 6, 1856; a son of
Luther and Maria (Morrison) McKinney. He attended the schools of his
native town and two terms at Professor Bank's private school in
Newburgh. He has been engaged in business at Pine Bush since 1886.
His first venture there was in conducting the flour mill, in which he
continued five years. In 1891 he became a member of the firm of
Armstrong & McKinney, dealers in general merchandise and drugs, where
he remained about eight years. He then formed a partnership with Mr.
J. E. Ward in the conduct of a hardware store. In 1904 he purchased
Mr. Ward's interest and continues the business alone. Mr. McKinney,
who is prominent in republican politics, received the appointment of
postmaster under President McKinley, June 28, 1897. He is a member of
the Presbyterian Church, in which he has served as elder for many
years.

WILLIAM L. McKINNEY, a respected citizen of Montgomery, N. Y., has
been identified with the affairs of that village for nearly half a
century. He was born in the town of Montgomery in 1825, a son of
Benjamin W. and Hannah (Hunt) McKinney. He has resided in the village
since 1845 and in 1854 married Eliza Tindall, a member of one of
Orange County's old families. One child, who died in infancy, was
born to them. In 1860 Mr. McKinney was elected trustee of the village
and in 1862 was appointed president of the corporation, holding that
office three years, when he was appointed clerk of the village, which
position he faithfully occupied for thirty-six years, resigning in
1901, since which time he has lived in retirement. His counsel is
frequently sought in matters pertaining to the village. Mr. McKinney
has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since 1867.

ROBERT J. McVOY, deceased, was one of the prominent agriculturists of
Orange County. He was of Irish parentage. His father Hugh and mother
Martha (Glascow) McVoy came from Ireland at an early period. Robert
was born July 12, 1847, at Jackson's Corners, what was then Goshen.
He attended the district and public school at Goshen, and assisted
his father on the farm until the age of eighteen years. He rented
farms at Bullville, Stony Ford, and Hamptonburgh successively for
twenty-one years. He then purchased the late Theodore Jackson's farm,
remaining there until his death, which occurred April 26, 1895. Mr.
McVoy was united in marriage to Miss Alnetta Pierson Gillespie, of
Montgomery, June 10, 1885. Two children were born by this union,
Charles Felter, born August 21, 1886, and Sarah Maretta, born
September 14, 1888, both residing at home. Mr. McVoy was a member of
Wallkill Lodge, F. and A. M., and Court Wallkill, Foresters of
America. He was a democrat and served as town collector several
terms.

EDWARD MAIDMENT, of Warwick, was born at Shropshire, England, in
1840, and came to America with his parents when six years of age. The
family located in Albany, where his father, Edward, established a
bakery and confectionery business. He built up a large business and
during the Civil War supplied the government with his goods.

Edward graduated from the Seward Institute as a civil engineer and
for many years was in the engineering department of the N. Y. C.
R. R. He later became manager for the Raritan Woolen Mills Co. and
resided in Chicago. Since 1904 he has lived in retirement on his
farm, the old Galloway homestead, in Warwick. He married Louisa
Galloway and has three children, Alexander H. G., a lawyer of
Hackensack, N. J.; Edward P., manager for Krause Milling Co.,
Milwaukee, Wis., for eastern New York and northern New Jersey, who
resides at the homestead and also conducts a dairy business.

Alexander H. Galloway, Mrs. Maidment's father, was for many years one
of Warwick's most important and progressive citizens, and promoted
many financial institutions. He established the first creamery in
Warwick, known as the Warwick Valley Milk Association. He was also
interested in all social and religious projects. He died in 1884,
survived by his wife, Hannah Louisa, who died March 9, 1907, aged
ninety years.

W. H. MAILLER, senior member of the firm of W. H. & G. B. Mailler,
was born in Cornwall in 1861. His father, Charles C. Mailler, was
engaged in farming at Mountainville. After W. H. finished his
schooling he spent two years in Brooklyn, and for a like period was
in the employ of Samuel Ramsay. On April 1, 1886, he established his
present meat market and in 1888 his brother George B. became a
partner. Mr. W. H. Mailler married Miss Sophia J. Preston and three
sons have been born to them. He has served as trustee of the village
and school boards; also of the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of
the Knights of Pythias, and the Order of American Mechanics. For
twenty years he has been trustee of the local fire company. George B.
Mailler is also actively identified with affairs of Cornwall village,
and is a director of the Cornwall Savings Bank.

CHARLES E. MANCE, member of assembly from this district, was born in
Ulster County, November 28, 1852, the place of his birth being then
called Mance Settlement and now Cragsmoor. He came to Middletown with
his parents when fourteen years of age, and has since that time made
that city his home. After his district school education he attended
the Middletown Public School. He served an apprenticeship in sign and
ornamental painting, and later became a partner of H. J. Randall,
with the firm name of Randall & Mance, which ended in 1878, when he
was made assistant foreman in the painting department of the New
York, Ontario & Western Railroad, and in June, 1883, was appointed
master painter. His public service began with his election on the
republican ticket as alderman from Middletown's Second ward in 1892.
He was chosen president of the common council, and as such became
acting mayor, after the death of Mayor Berry in 1897, for one year
and four months. In 1900 he was elected mayor and served two terms.
In 1906 the republicans elected him member of assembly and Speaker
Wadsworth appointed him on the committees of agriculture, federal
relations and fish and game. He is a member of Lancelot Lodge No.
169, K. of P., the Old Orchard Club, and an honorary member of Eagle
Chemical Engine Co., of which he was foreman four years, and was
first assistant chief of the Middletown Fire Department two years. He
married Miss Augusta, daughter of Angus and Maria Taylor, May 28,
1874. They have two children, Frank A., who married Miss Belle
Forrester, of Providence, R. I., and Mabel, wife of D. H. Ackerman,
of Passaic, N. J. Charles E. is the only living of the seven children
of John S. and Margaret Wilkinson Mance.

HIRAM G. MANN was born in 1839, July 11, at Florida, Orange County.
His father was Hiram, and mother, Phoebe Cherry. They had eleven
children. When Mr. Mann was ten years old his parents moved to
Bellvale, Orange County, locating on a farm. Mr. Mann, in connection
with farming, does pruning and rustic work, and his work may be seen
at many of the finest places in Warwick and vicinity. He married
Anna Royce, of Bellvale in 1863, March 18. Seven children have been
born to this union and only one is living, Charles Mann, residing in
New York, who follows civil engineering as a profession.

Mr. Mann takes an active part in local affairs and has been an ardent
worker in politics. He is a republican, but never aspired to office.
He served his country in the Civil War from September 10, 1861, to
December 9, 1865. He is a member of the G. A. R.

ALBERT MANNING was born in the town of Greenville, Orange County,
February 2, 1864. He attended the district school and graduated from
the Port Jervis Academy in 1883. He taught school for three years,
after which he was engaged in New York City for a period of six years
in the manufacturing of bank and office fixtures. In 1897 he returned
to the homestead, and assumed the management of the farm. Mr. Manning
married Miss Hattie E. Green, daughter of Osmer B. Green and Harriet
A. Thorn, of Otisville, N. Y., September 20, 1888. To this union one
son, Frank LeRoy, was born, March 4, 1898.

Socially Mr. Manning is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and
A. M., of Middletown, Concordia Council, Royal Arcanum and Modern
Woodmen of America. He is master of Pomona Grange of Orange County.
His father, Ephraim Manning, was born in the town of Greenville, this
county, December 11, 1839, on the old homestead, which was purchased
by Benjamin Manning, his grandfather, who was of English descent.
After completing his studies in the common school Ephraim attended
the academy at Mount Rose, Pa.

He married Miss Caroline A. Rundle, of Greenville, November 21, 1861.
To this union were born two children, Albert and Eva K., wife of
Abraham Wyekoff, residing in New Jersey.

HULET MANNING, a successful agriculturist residing in the town of
Greenville, was born in that town August 2, 1843. He is a son of John
and Mary Ann (Smith) Manning, and has always resided on the farm
formerly owned by his father. Mr. Manning is a member of Shawangunk
Grange of Greenville, and a director of the Patrons of Husbandry,
Fire Relief Association of Orange and Ulster Counties. In politics he
is a republican and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He
married Elizabeth M., daughter of Alexander Remey, of Greenville, on
December 23, 1864. Four children were born to this union, Hattie A.,
married Clement Van Etten, a farmer in Greenville; J. Edgar married
Elsie Roberts, of Montclair, N. J., and is in business in New York;
Mary A. married Bartow W. Bull, a farmer at Stony Ford, N. Y., and
Clara D. married Theron Shute, a farmer in Greenville.

CHARLES WILLIS MANY, M.D., born May 10, 1868, at Goshen, Orange
County, N. Y., is the son of Charles Matthews Many and Eliza Anna
Francisco; grandson of John Vicary Many and Jane Howell Johnson,
great grandson of Peter Johnson and Bethia Horton, and great-great-grandson
of Thomas Horton and Susana Conklin. Thomas Horton acted as captain in
Lieutenant-Colonel Marvin's regiment. Mr. Many is also great grandson
of Barnabas Many and Mary Vicary and great-great-grandson of Annie
Everet and Barnabas Many; the latter was a private soldier in the
Revolutionary War. He assisted in signing articles of association in
1775 and served on the committee of safety and observation. When Mr.
Many was one year old his family moved to Brooklyn, where he received
his early training in the public schools and in Stafford private
school. His mother died when he was sixteen, after which time he
traveled extensively with his father. He began to read medicine very
early in life and after leaving Brooklyn attended school at Wesleyan
Academy, Wilbraham, Mass. He also attended the Long Island College
Hospital, from which he graduated in the year 1894. On his graduation
from the medical college he received a special diploma in physical
diagnosis. He began practice immediately. In 1888 he married Miss
Wilhelmina Martin, of Liberty, N. Y., whose ancestors were among the
first to settle in Sullivan County. They soon afterward took up their
residence in Florida, N. Y., where they have since remained. His three
children are Lillian Grace, Clinton Alpheus and Myrtle June Many. Dr.
Many has become medical examiner for the leading life insurance
companies and in 1905 was appointed town physician. He is a member of
the State Medical Association and the Orange County Medical Society.
He is also a member of the Empire State Society of the Sons of American
Revolution. In 1889 Dr. Many joined the Warwick Masonic Lodge,
serving as senior deacon in 1900, senior warden in 1901, master in
1902-1903, assistant grand lecturer in 1904, and district deputy
grand master in 1905-1906. It was during the last-named period that
initiative steps were taken for the establishment of Lorillard Lodge
at Tuxedo Park, a matter in which he was greatly interested and for
which he labored diligently. In 1903 he was admitted to membership in
Highland Chapter No. 52, R. A. M., Newburgh, N. Y.

A. W. MAPES, secretary of the Coldwell Lawn Mower Co., of Newburgh,
was born in the town of Blooming Grove, his father, the late Edward
Mapes, removing to Newburgh in 1854. Mr. Mapes is a graduate of the
Newburgh Academy, class of 1857. His business education was acquired
in the Highland Bank of Newburgh. While so employed he married Sarah
E., daughter of the late John Parsons. This was at the beginning of
the Rebellion, and soon after marriage he entered the United States
Navy as paymaster's clerk. His war record runs from March 10, 1862,
until September 30, 1866. A portion of this time was spent at the
Brooklyn Navy yard, to which he was detailed because of his thorough
knowledge of accounts.

During the later years of the war, and for over a year after its
close he was attached to the United States frigate "Susquehanna."
Upon resigning from the Navy he engaged in the mercantile business in
New York City until 1883, when he returned to Newburgh as a member of
the firm of Barnes & Mapes, provision dealers, at 62 and 64 Water
street.

Mr. Mapes's health having become impaired, this partnership was
dissolved in December, 1890. After a year's rest, Mr. Mapes again
entered business life by assisting in the organization of the
Coldwell Lawn Mower Co., of Newburgh. From the beginning of this
business he has been a director and has taken an active part in
building up a large trade. He attends especially to the New England
and foreign branches of the business, spending the autumn months
traveling throughout the eastern states and about four months each
winter and spring in Europe.

ELMER L. MAPES was born on the homestead farm near Middletown,
October 27, 1885. He attended the public school at Middletown, after
which he worked at the glass cutting trade for two years. In
connection with A. M. Horton he purchased the retail cigar and
tobacco business of G. W. Bross. This partnership continued until
November, 1907, when Mr. Mapes purchased Mr. Horton's interest and
has since conducted the business. He married Miss Grace M. Wells, of
Elmira, N. Y., June 27, 1907. Their one child, Erdean Harriett, was
born June 13, 1908. Mr. Mapes is a member of Wallkill Council No. 92,
Jr. O. U. A. M., and the Wallkill River Grange. In politics he is
independent.

NELSON B. MAPES, who for the past fifty years has held the position
of station agent for the Erie Railroad at Howells, Orange County, was
born in the town of Wallkill, March 19, 1829. His father was John V.
and mother Mary (Reeves) Mapes. Of their children Jeannette married
Stephen Mapes, of Mount Hope, N. Y.; Albert Mapes living in
Middletown, N. Y.; Nelson B. married Lucinda Mapes in 1853. Mr.
Mapes served as justice of the peace in District No. 2 in the town of
Wallkill for thirty years. With the Congregational Church our subject
holds membership and has been an active member of the Howells Church
for sixty years. Mr. Mapes was born on the farm and owned a farm
previous to entering the employ of the Erie Railroad.

His father was an agriculturist and belonged to the Whig party.
During the Civil War Mr. Mapes read the papers and dispatches to the
crowd that always congregated at the depot to receive news from the
front.

ROBERT D. MAPES was born at Howells Depot, Orange County, N. Y.,
September 14, 1862. He was reared on the home farm where he remained
until 1886. In 1877 he engaged in the milk business in Middletown
with his father, which partnership continued until 1886. He then
purchased the interest of his father and continued the business alone
until 1901. He is now in the livery business which he established in
1900. He married Miss Margaret Isabella Axford, of Howells, in 1886.
She died March 24, 1901. He was again married June 15, 1902, to
Hannah Eleanor Thompson, of Akron, Ohio. In politics he is a
republican and takes an interest in matters pertaining to the town.
He has served at different times as inspector of election.

SAMUEL MAPES, SR., on the 14th day of February, 1735, came to this
town and settled on a portion of a tract of land of six hundred and
forty acres, a portion of which the railroad station at Howells is
now located on. He descended from a family originally immigrants from
Wales, and since his settlement here the different generations have
been noted for the great longevity of the members of the various
families. It was nothing unusual to hear that many of them lived
beyond eighty years, and frequently beyond ninety, and Selah R.
Corwin, of Middletown, whose mother was Priscilla Mapes, was born
December 29, 1809, and is now active and can be seen upon the streets
almost any clear day at this time.

The name carried with it the characteristics of sturdiness, honesty
and piety, and not inclined to seek public office.

At one time the family was so numerous that a portion of the town of
Mount Hope was called Mapestown, but that name long since
disappeared; however, there are many of their descendants yet living
in this vicinity, although a large number are engaged in business in
various other states.

JESSE DURLAND MARS, a successful medical practitioner, and one of the
youngest in this profession in the county, was born September 7,
1880, at Bellvale, Orange County, N. Y. His parents, when the boy was
still at an early age, removed to Florida, N. Y., where they reside
at the present time. He first attended school at the Florida Academy,
later entering the S. S. Seward Institute, from which he graduated in
1898. The two years immediately following were spent in teaching in
order to prepare himself financially for college. In the fall of 1900
the young man entered the medical department of the University of
Michigan. He always maintained a high average in his medical course
and at his graduation in June, 1904, stood among the first in a class
of one hundred. He successfully competed for an internship in the
University Hospital at Ann Arbor, Mich., and spent the year 1904-1905
in that capacity. In order to further round cut his medical knowledge
and experience a six-months' course in the Metropolitan Hospital in
New York City was entered upon. Later on he was resident physician in
the Jamaica Hospital, at Jamaica, Long Island.

At the beginning of the year 1906 Dr. Mars returned to Florida, where
he had spent his youth, and began the practice of his chosen
profession. He soon identified himself with the Orange County Medical
Society, the New York Medical Society, and the American Medical
Association, in all of which he is actively interested.

His father, Stephen Mars, was born in Germany in 1843. When
twenty-two years of age he came to America, located in Orange County,
and engaged in farming. In 1872 he married Annie Mary DeGraw, a
native of Orange County. Eight children were born to this couple,
Jesse D., the subject of this sketch, being the fifth.

On December 10, 1907, Dr. Mars married Estelle Otis, the second
youngest daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth W. Otis. The Otis family is
among the earliest residents of Orange County, the ancestors of Mrs.
Mars having come over in the Mayflower. Dr. and Mrs. Mars now occupy
the property of the late James A. Boyd.

JAMES G. MARTIN, of Middletown, was born of Irish parentage in
Dublin, Ireland, February 1, 1852. He is a son of John and Ann
Martin. His father and also his grandfather were architects and
builders in the old country. His father died in Australia about 1880.
The subject of this sketch was educated at Clongeswood College in
Dublin, Ireland. He came to America in 1869, settling in Middletown,
Orange County. He identified himself with Howell Hinchman & Co.,
remaining there a brief period, and then worked as journeyman at the
moulder's trade for four years. In 1891 he formed a partnership with
Thomas H. Butler and under the firm name of Butler & Martin built the
present commodious shops. After a year Mr. Martin purchased his
partner's interest and has since continued the business alone. In
November, 1871, he married Miss Mary A. Cunningham, of Middletown;
her death occurred in October, 1886. Five children were born by this
union. He chose for his second wife Mrs. Annie (Houston) Kilbride, of
Middletown, and they are the parents of two children. In local
politics Mr. Martin takes an active part. He is a democrat and has
served as supervisor. He is a member of the Port Jervis B. P. O. E.
No. 645, the Knights of Columbus, and is an active member of St.
Joseph's Catholic Church of Middletown.

CAPTAIN THOMAS S. MARVEL, head of the iron shipbuilding and
engineering works which bears his name, was born in New York City,
May 16, 1834. His father, who was a shipbuilder, came to Newburgh in
1836 and established a ship yard. Thomas S. was apprenticed to the
trade of ship carpentry and at the age of twenty-one began business
for himself. When the Civil War was declared he quited his business
and raised a company which was mustered in October 28, 1861, as
Company A, 56th New York Volunteers, with Captain Marvel in command.
After serving fifteen months he resumed business in Newburgh, and
with the exception of a few years spent in Staten Island has
continued to make that city his home. In 1877 he engaged with Ward,
Stanton & Co., to superintend the construction of their vessels.
After the failure of this firm, Captain Marvel formed a partnership
with John Delany to operate a ship yard. The business developed
rapidly and has for years been one of the most important industries
in Newburgh, giving employment to about two hundred and fifty men.
The present officers of the company are: Thomas S. Marvel, president;
Harry A. Marvel, vice-president and treasurer, and T. S. Marvel, Jr.,
secretary. The capital of the concern is $300,000.

Captain Marvel in 1861 married Hattie, daughter of John Burns, of
Monroe, N. Y. They became the parents of two sons and two daughters.

HARRY A. MARVEL, superintendent of the T. S. Marvel Shipbuilding Co.,
a sketch of which appears elsewhere, was born in 1865 at Staten
Island, and is a son of Captain Thomas S. and Hattie (Burns) Marvel.
Since finishing his studies at the Newburgh Academy Harry has been
associated with his father in the important industry of steel
shipbuilding. Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity
of Newburgh. He married Miss Katherine Vought, of Cornwall, and two
children have been born to them.

F. N. MASON, a prominent business man of Port Jervis, N. Y., has
resided there since 1860. After finishing his studies at the public
schools he engaged with Mr. George Lea in the drug business and in
1875 entered the New York College of Pharmacy. He was subsequently in
the employ of Mr. Lea, until 1888, when he became his partner, and in
1891 bought Mr. Lea's interest and continued the business alone until
1902, when his son became his partner.

Mr. Mason is a director of the National Bank of Port Jervis;
president of the Port Jervis Telephone Co., and director of the Port
Jervis Real Estate and Loan Association. He served two terms as
trustee of the village and is now alderman of the city. In fraternal
circles he is identified with the Masons, Elks and Odd Fellows. Mr.
Mason married Miss Phoebe C. Everett and their son Mariner H. is the
only child.

MICHAEL MAYER, manufacturer of cut glass in Port Jervis, N. Y., was
born in the French province of Alsace-Lorraine in 1849 and came to
America in 1866, locating in Brooklyn, N. Y. He operated a cut glass
factory in that city until 1895, when he moved his plant to Port
Jervis, N. Y., in the building formerly occupied by the Orange County
Flint Glass Works. This concern is now one of the most important
industries in the county. In 1871 Mr. Mayer was joined in marriage
with Madeline Miller, a native of the same province as himself. The
ceremony was performed in Brooklyn. Mrs. Mayer died in 1900. He chose
for his second wife Mrs. Eva Krell in 1904, who died in 1906. By his
first wife Mr. Mayer had four children: George, of Brooklyn, N. Y.;
Edward, associated with his father as manager of the factory;
Madeline, wife of John W. Kelley, of Port Jervis, and Josephine,
wife of Wm. P. Gregg, of Port Jervis. In politics Mr. Mayer is a
republican and holds the office of supervisor of the First Ward. He
is a member of Port Jervis Lodge No. 645, B. P. O. E., and a director
of the Port Jervis B. & L. Association No. 1. The family attends the
Church of the Sacred Heart of Port Jervis.

CHARLES L. MEAD, LL.B., was born August 27, 1851, in the town of
Wawayanda, Orange County, N. Y. His father, William H. Mead, was also
a native of the town. The subject of this sketch, the eldest of the
family, remained at home until fourteen years of age, when he became
a student at the Wallkill Academy. He took a course at Claverack
College, Columbia County, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1873. He
then entered Princeton with the class of '77, where he was a student
for two years. He entered Columbia Law School in New York in 1875,
graduating in 1877 with the degree of LL.B., after which he opened a
law office at Goshen, N. Y. In 1892 he was elected county treasurer.

Mr. Mead married Miss Fannie Tuthill, of Middletown, N. Y., June 5,
1878. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution and a republican.
He has represented his party in various conventions and was
councilman for several years.

WALTER J. MEAD, president of the Montgomery & Erie Railroad, was born
in Montgomery, February 16, 1824, a son of Walter and Elsie (Monell)
Mead. As a young man he engaged in the grist mill business with his
father and continued in that industry for forty or fifty years. Mr.
Mead has been closely identified with the Montgomery and Erie
Railroad, holding the office of superintendent, secretary,
vice-president and president. He has also been very active in
promoting educational matters in the village and served many years as
trustee of the village school board, and president of the village
board of trustees. Mr. Mead has been twice married; by his first
wife, who was Laura C. Benedict, he had three children. For his
second wife he chose Mrs. Ketura M. Miller, daughter of Henry W.
Thompson, a prominent citizen of Goshen.

ALEXANDER MERRITT, a well-known undertaker and embalmer of
Middletown, was born in the town of Blooming Grove, June 30, 1847.
When fourteen years of age he came to Middletown and learned the
carpenters' trade, which he followed seven years. In 1874 he engaged
with his father-in-law, W. H. Knapp, as an assistant in his
undertaking establishment, remaining with him until 1881, when he
embarked in the cabinet manufacturing business. On March 1, 1891, he
entered into partnership with W. Nelson Knapp in the establishment of
an undertaking business, and eleven years from that time purchased
Mr. Knapp's interest, and has since conducted the business alone. He
is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. & A. M.; Middletown Lodge
No. 112, I. O. O. F.; Concord Council No. 1077; Royal Arcanum and
Launcelot Lodge No. 169, K. O. P.

Mr. Merritt married Miss May A. Knapp, September 3, 1873, and they
have three children: Clarence N., married Ella Groo, and resides in
Paterson, N. J.; Lulu May, married Robert Terhune, resides at East
Orange, N. J., and Walter K., who married Frances H. Darbee, of
Middletown. Walter assists his father in the management of the
undertaking business.

THEODORE MERRITT represents the fifth generation of George Merritt
and Glorianna Purday, who located in the town of Newburgh, 1747.
Homestead at Middlehope, purchased by Humphry Merritt, 1758, now in
possession of Daniel H. Merritt. Theodore in 1853 entered employ of
John R. Gorham as druggist's clerk. In 1859 he purchased the business
of John F. Van Nort and became his successor. In 1866 he purchased
the property at 40 Water street, where the wholesale and retail drug
business has since been conducted. In 1898 Mr. Merritt retired from
active management and the firm of Theodore Merritt & Sons continued,
composed of George H., Hiram and Theodore A. Merritt.

On July 17, 1907, George H. and Hiram purchased the interest of
Theodore A. in the business, and now conduct it under the name of
Theodore Merritt's Sons.

CHARLES S. MILES was born July 19, 1870, near Lake Station, Orange
County. His father was William J., and his mother Elizabeth (Doty)
Miles. Four children were born to this union: George E., born 1862;
Edward D., born 1867; Charles S., and Mary E., born 1874, the wife of
James Fintze, of Newark, Ohio. Mr. Miles acquired his education at
the Warwick public school, after which he learned the printers'
trade. He was identified with the county newspapers, also papers in
New York and Brooklyn. He has been connected with the O. & W. Motive
Power Department and the Road Department. He was married December 7,
1892, to Miss Minnie E. Shove, of Middletown, daughter of George and
Julia Shove. Two children have blessed this union: Victor Edward,
died at the age of thirteen months, and George W., born September 17,
1895. Socially he belongs to the O. & W. Shop Employees' Relief and
Benefit Association, and is recording secretary of the Jr. O. U.
A. M., Wallkill Council No. 92. He is a member and usher of the
Methodist Church of Middletown. Mr. Miles was elected city treasurer
in 1907.

Dr. JAMES J. MILLS is a native of Orange County, N. Y., and one of
its leading professional men. He was born at Mount Hope, May 9, 1851.
He is a son of Hon. Andrew J. Mills and Maria (Green) Mills and a
descendant of Timothy Mills, an early settler of Long Island, whose
son Ebenezer, born in 1757, was probably the first of the family to
settle in Orange County. He is of Revolutionary ancestry. His
maternal grandfather was related to Nathaniel Green, and his maternal
grandmother was related to Nathan Hale, the patriot who was executed
by the British as a spy, and whose statue adorns the City Hall Park,
New York. At an early age Dr. Mills clerked in New York City for
Alex. Hudnut, and in the Astor House drug store. He afterwards turned
his attention to dentistry, and since April 8, 1878, has followed his
profession in Port Jervis, N. Y. The doctor has been influential in
promoting public improvements and establishing business enterprises.
He was a member of the Board of Education, Board of Health, village
trustee, town assessor, and held various other offices. In 1902-1904
he received the democratic nomination for member of assembly. Dr.
Mills is a member of the New York State Dental Society, the Dental
Society of the Ninth Assembly District, No. 328 F. and A. M. of Port
Jervis, Chapter No. 86 and the Mecca Temple, Knights of Pythias,
B. P. O. E., Minisink Valley Historical Society as an officer; served
in Delaware Hose Company No. 2 of the Port Jervis fire department
twenty years.

NATHAN D. MILLS, a manufacturer of Middletown, N. Y., was born at
Circleville. Orange County, November 3, 1867. He acquired his
education at the district school and Middletown Academy. During one
year he was in New York City with Crawford & Valentine, contractors,
who constructed the Brooklyn waterworks. After returning to Orange
County he managed a farm for three years, and in 1895 purchased the
wholesale and retail cigar business of Robert Sayer. In two years'
time the volume of business was such that Mr. Mills found it
necessary to erect a large factory building, 36 x 60 feet. The
concern now gives employment to forty-five men. Mr. Mills was twice
nominated for sheriff by the democrats of Orange County. In his first
candidacy he carried Middletown by 861 majority and in his second by
415 majority. It was not expected that he would overcome the
continuous republican majority in the county. He was master of
Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. & A. M., two years; is a member of Midland
Chapter No. 240, Cypress Commandery No. 67, Mecca Temple of New York,
Jr. O. U. A. M., and B. P. O. E. of Port Jervis. He is an honorary
member of the Middletown Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company, worthy
president of the Eagles of Middletown, and is identified with the
Middletown Athletic Association, Old Orchard Club, Middletown Club,
Newburgh City Club and Orange County Golf Club. He was married to
Miss Mary Beakes, of Fair Oaks, N. Y., daughter of Howell and Anna J.
Beakes, March 2, 1892. Their one child, Maurice, died when two and
one-half years old. Mr. Mills' parents were Nathan J. and Julia
Elizabeth Mills, and they had seven children, two of whom died in
infancy and one at fourteen years of age. Those living are Anna M.,
wife of Charles E. Haight, of New York City; Lizzie J., wife of
Virgil K. Carpenter, of Fair Oaks, N. Y., and Frank P. a resident of
Bullville, Orange County. Mr. Mills is a descendant of an honored
family and has achieved a success which ranks him with the solid
financial men of his city and county.

SAMUEL CRAWFORD MILLS, for many years one of the leading business men
of Newburgh, was born in Bloomingburg, Sullivan County, N. Y., March
9, 1839. He died at his home in Newburgh in 1904. Mr. Mills came to
this city in 1857 and entered the dry-goods house of Stephen Hayt &
Co. as a salesman, continuing with this house for nearly six years.
In 1863 Mr. Mills formed a partnership with John Schoonmaker and
A. Y. Weller to conduct a dry-goods establishment. The enterprise
proved very successful, and Mr. Mills retired from the firm in 1885.
For many years he was a director of the Quassaick National Bank and a
trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank.

Mr. Mills was twice married. His first wife, Miss Elizabeth Vail,
died in 1868. For his second wife he chose Sarah, daughter of Hon.
Stephen McDonald, of Elmira. Two children were born, Stephen McDonald
and Mary Duryea. The latter is the only surviving member of this
family. She is a member of Quassaick Chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution.

In 1908 Miss Mills married Mr. Luther Winthrop Faulkner, of Lowell,
Mass., where she now resides.

SAMUEL WICKHAM MILLS, D.D., was a native of Orange County, born in
the town of Wallkill, April 5, 1820. The Mills family came to America
from England. At the age of fifteen he entered Rutgers College at New
Brunswick, N. J., where he graduated at the age of eighteen. In 1842
he graduated from the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick.

At Bloomingburg, Sullivan County, Dr. Mills began his pastoral work
in 1843. At the end of fifteen years he located at Port Jervis, where
he was engaged in preaching for fourteen years. He was married
January 17, 1844, to Miss Amelia J. Bailey, daughter of Nathaniel
Bailey, of Middletown, N. Y. She was born February 28, 1822, and died
March 12, 1867. By this union there were six children. On the 29th of
November, 1870, Rev. Dr. Mills was again married to Miss Amira St.
John, of Port Jervis. He died November 27, 1902.

STOTT MILLS, postmaster at Warwick, N. Y., was born at Paterson,
N. J., June 26, 1840. His parents were John and Sarah (Briarly)
Mills, and both were of English extraction. The subject of this
sketch acquired his education at the public school at Paterson. He
was identified with the Rogers Locomotive Works for a period of four
years. He enlisted in May, 1861, in Company A, Second Regiment,
N. J. Vols., and was honorably discharged. He participated in all the
important engagements in which his regiment was engaged, and became
first lieutenant. After the close of the war he removed to Port
Jervis, N. Y., and was connected with the Erie Railroad as foreman in
the shops for a period of fourteen years. He went west for three
years, after which he removed to Warwick, N. Y., and filled the
position of master mechanic of the Lehigh and Hudson Railroad for
sixteen years. In 1898 he was appointed postmaster at Warwick, which
position he still holds. He was united in marriage to Melvina
Jackson, of Amity, Orange County, May 17, 1865. To this union five
children were born--Sarah, Anna, Isabel, John and Charles. In
politics Mr. Mills is a republican. He is a member of Lincoln Post,
G. A. R., of Newark, N. J., and attends the Episcopal Church of
Warwick.

DR. THEODORE DENTON MILLS was born June 9, 1852, in Bloomingburgh,
Sullivan County, N. Y., and is the son of Dr. Samuel Wickham and
Almeda Jane (Bailey) Mills. The former, who was a clergyman, was
descended in a direct line from George Mills, who was born about
1605, came from Yorkshire, England, in 1665, and died in Jamaica,
Long Island, in 1694, at the age of eighty-nine. His son, Samuel, was
born in 1631, and died in Jamaica, L. I., in 1726, at the age of
ninety-five; he was the father of Jonathan, who was born in Jamaica,
L. I., and had four sons, Timothy, Samuel, Isaac and Jonathan.
Timothy, who was born at Jamaica in 1677, left that place and settled
at Mills Pond, L. I., in 1693; he died March 30, 1751, aged
seventy-four. His son Jonathan, who was born in 1710, at Mills Pond,
L. I., and died in 1798, at the age of eighty-eight, was the father
of Jacob, who was born in 1746 at Mills Pond, L. I. (near St. James);
he moved to New Windsor, Orange County, N. Y., in 1768 or 1770, and
soon after to the town of Wallkill, Orange County; he died in 1841,
aged ninety-five years. His son Samuel, who was born in 1776 and died
in 1860, at the age of eighty-four, was the father of the Rev. Samuel
Wickham, mentioned above, who was born in 1820 and died in 1902, aged
eighty-two. The maternal ancestors of Dr. Mills were old residents of
Orange County, New York, his grandfather, Nathaniel Bailey, having
been the son of Captain Daniel Bailey, a soldier in the Revolutionary
army.

Dr. Mills was prepared for college at the private school of Professor
A. B. Wilbur, of Port Jervis, N. Y., and in 1874 graduated as
bachelor of arts from Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., being
junior orator and commencement orator, and receiving, in 1877, from
the same institution, the degree of master of arts. He was a member
of the Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternities. He
studied medicine with Dr. Henry R. Baldwin, of New Brunswick, N. J.,
and Dr. Henry Hardenbergh, of Port Jervis, N. Y. In 1876 he graduated
from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University
with the degree of doctor of Medicine, and from April of that year to
October, 1877, was house surgeon in the first surgical division of
Bellevue Hospital. He practiced medicine at Port Jervis, N. Y., from
October, 1877, to January, 1881, when he removed to Middletown,
N. Y., where he has been located since. He is attending surgeon to
the Thrall Hospital and surgeon to the New York, Ontario and Western
Railroad Company. He has been a trustee of the Middletown Savings
Bank and of the Orange County Trust and Safe Deposit Company, and was
for six years president of the Orange County Telephone Company and is
a director of the Stivers Printing Company. He is a member of the
County and State Medical Societies, the American Medical Association,
the New York and New England Association of Railroad Surgeons and the
International Association of Railroad Surgeons. He is a member of the
Middletown Club and in politics independent. He is also a member of
the Sons of the Revolution.

Dr. Mills married Christina, daughter of Hon. M. D. Stivers, of
Middletown, October 20, 1867. They are the parents of the following
children: Theodore Denton, Jr., born November 10, 1888, died January
14, 1889; Samuel Wickham, born January 4, 1892, and Elizabeth
Stivers, born August 29, 1893.

GEORGE HENRY MILLSPAUGH was born in Goshen, Orange County, October 9,
1872. He received his education at the public school at Goshen, where
he has since resided. He engaged in the laundry business in 1897 and
now has the only steam laundry in Goshen, it being fully equipped
with every modern convenience. In politics he is a republican. He is
a member of Goshen Lodge No. 365, F. & A. M.; Goshen Social and
Athletic Association, Cataract Hose Company and the Knights of
Pythias. Mr. Millspaugh is active in all matters relating to the
highest interest of the town in which he lives.

HECTOR W. MILLSPAUGH was born January 29, 1866, at Wallkill, Ulster
County, N. Y. He was a son of Henry and Mary E. Millspaugh, there
being five children in his parents' family. He received his early
education at the district school. At an early age he identified
himself with the New York Knife Co., of Walden, N. Y., learning the
business in detail. He worked diligently for the interest of the
company, remaining there twenty-five years. He married Miss Rosina
Stickles, of Walden, daughter of Steven and Hanna Stickles, March 11,
1886. Two children were born to this union: Charles, born September
21, 1892; Etta, born April 4, 1888, both at home. In politics Mr.
Millspaugh is a republican. He is at present supervisor of the town
of Montgomery. Socially a member of No. 170 I. O. O. F., Freeman
Lodge No. 310, Mohonk Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, Henry Gowdy
Council, American Mechanics of Walden, Court Orange No. 8, Foresters
of America. His wife is a member of the Methodist Church of Walden.

THERON L. MILLSPAUGH, who has been engaged in the furniture and
undertaking business for fifty years, is an honored citizen of
Walden, N. Y. His ancestry in America dates back to Philip
Millspaugh, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Theron L. was
born in 1838, a son of Gilbert S. and Jane (Clineman) Millspaugh. At
the age of seventeen he began his apprenticeship as cabinetmaker and
in 1858 purchased the business from the widow of his former employer.
His floor space at present covers over 10,000 square feet and is one
of the finest furniture houses in Orange County. In 1862 he married
Miss Eleanor D., daughter of Hon. David H. Smith, of the town of
Montgomery. Two children have been born to them, Hattie C., now the
wife of Dr. J. E. Sadlier, of Poughkeepsie, and Gilbert S., in
business with his father. Mr. Millspaugh has served as deacon and
elder of the Reformed Church, also on the Board of Village Trustees.

JOHN CLINTON MINTURN, of Bellvale, was born in the town of Warwick in
1853. In 1876 he opened a general store at Bellvale, which he is
still conducting as well as one at Greenwood Lake, which he
established several years ago. On January 11, 1877, he married Mary
Ellen Hunter, of Greenwood Lake, and three children have been born to
them, two of whom are living, John C. and Mamie E. John C. is
assistant in his father's store. Mr. Minturn has served as school
trustee several years. His father, James Minturn, was a farmer and
mason and a descendant of Captain John Minturn, of Revolutionary
fame.

EDGAR O. MITCHELL, M.D., Newburgh, N. Y., was born in New York City
in 1864. When five years of age his parents removed to Newburgh. He
was educated at Siglar's Preparatory School, Phillips (Exeter)
Academy and Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard Medical
College in 1892 and has since practiced in Newburgh. He is a member
of the City and Powelton Clubs. Dr. Mitchell is a son of John James
Mitchell, M.D., who has been one of Newburgh's foremost physicians
for nearly forty years, and ex-president of the Homeopathic Medical
Society of New York State. The family is of Puritan ancestry and
direct descendants of Thomas Mitchell, who settled in Block Island,
R. I., and bought one-fourteenth of the original share of the Island
in 1677.

GEORGE R. MITCHELL, of Newburgh, who carries on an extensive business
as a plumber and tinsmith and dealer in stoves and tinware, was born
in Islip, L. I., in 1859. He came to Newburgh in 1871 and learned his
trade with J. D. Mabie. He started in business for himself in 1886,
opening a shop in Smith street. His present commodious quarters are
located at 73 Second street. Mr. Mitchell married Miss Anna E.
Campbell, of Newburgh, and has one son. He is trustee of the
Associate Reformed Church and a member of Hudson River Lodge,
F. & A. M.

BENJAMIN MOFFATT was born in the town of Blooming Grove, Orange
County, N. Y., a son of Nathaniel and grandson of Samuel Moffatt, the
first of the name who came from County of Antrim, Ireland, and
settled in Blagg's Clove, Orange County, where he died May, 1787, in
his eighty-second year.

Benjamin Moffatt, who inherited the strong, sterling characteristics
of his Scotch-Irish ancestors, moved in 1840 to the then far West,
Milwaukee, Wis., accompanied by his wife, who was Elizabeth Hulse,
and their two infant daughters. Later the family moved to Illinois,
where they resided many years and where the bright, beneficent
influence of Mr. Moffatt reflected on all around him. He was an
upright, honest, conscientious man, and every act of his life
manifested the religious teachings of his younger days. In his
hospitable home were entertained many travelers passing through the
then frontier line of our country.

Mr. Moffatt was a charter member of the First Congregational Church
of Milwaukee, Wis., and of the Second Congregational Church of
Rockford, Ill. He was influential in the establishment of Beloit
College, Beloit, Wis., and Rockford College, Rockford, Ill. He died
June 9, 1857, in his sixty-sixth year, leaving his wife and three
children, Melissa, Josephine and Gilbert, and the memory of a life
which had a moulding influence for good in the home of his adoption.

GEORGE E. MORAN, SR., superintendent of the paper mills owned by the
Diamond Mills Paper Company, located at New Hampton, N. Y., has been
engaged for fifty years in the manufacture of paper. The Diamond
Mills occupy the site of an industrial landmark in this section and
is the property of Col. G. W. Thompson, of New York City, who bought
it from E. Rosencrans in 1875. The plant has been greatly improved
and additions made from time to time, including a one-hundred-foot
addition across the creek in 1900. Employment is given to thirty
persons, and the product averages two tons of finished tissue paper
daily. An artesian well is on the premises and the plant is equipped
with large and modern machinery.

Mr. Moran, who is an expert in the manufacture of fine paper, entered
the employ of Col. Thompson some forty years ago and by energy and
industry acquired his present responsible position. He is assisted by
his son, George E., in the management of the business.

ARTHUR S. MOORE was born in Bay City, Mich., March 7, 1879. He
attended the public schools and graduated in that city, afterward
graduating from the Medical Department of the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor in 1901. He was surgical intern at Ann Arbor Hospital
one year, following which he was assistant at the Criminal Insane
Asylum at Ionia, Mich., removing to Middletown in October, 1903. He
is now connected with the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital. Dr.
Moore was married to Martha McCartney, of Bay City, Mich. He is a
member of Knights of Pythias of Ionia, Mich., and of Ann Arbor Lodge,
F. & A. M.

JONATHAN OWEN MOORE, son of Alexander and Hannah (Owen) Moore, was
born in Washingtonville, Christmas Day, 1833, at the Moore homestead.
As a young man he accepted a position in the Bank of Albany, where he
remained until his enlistment as a soldier in the Civil War. He had
the distinction of being the first man from New York State to receive
an army commission. He was promoted from time to time and at the
close of the war returned as captain of his regiment, known as the
Wide-Awakes. He then married Miss Helen, daughter of Van Rensselaer
Wilbur, of Albany. Returning to Washingtonville, he engaged in the
furniture business for a number of years, and was also elected to the
office of justice of the peace. Mr. Moore, familiarly known as
"Owenie" Moore, has been a life-long staunch republican, working
enthusiastically for the election of party candidates. In later years
he lived in retirement in New York City, devoting his time to the
settlement of estates. His daughter, Bertha, now Mrs. O. B. Stillman,
of New York, has her country place at what is known as the Goldsmith
homestead, near Washingtonville. Mr. Moore died in New York City in
1908.

JOHN W. MORLEY, son of James and Anna (Vought) Morley, was born at
Cornwall, Orange County, N. Y., in 1867. After finishing his studies
at the schools of Newburgh, he learned the hatter's trade, in which
he was engaged for twenty years. In 1904 he established a grocery
store at Gardnertown, which he is conducting with much success. Mr.
Morley takes an active interest in politics and in 1905 was elected
commissioner of the City and Town Home.

Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Junior Order
of American Mechanics and the International Hatters' Association. He
was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Van Buren.

DAVID A. MORRISON, secretary of the Orange County Agricultural
Society, 1858-1908, belongs to one of the old representative families
of Orange County, where his entire life has been passed. He is of
Scotch-Irish and Dutch ancestry. His paternal ancestors emigrated
from Scotland to the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century.
His great-great-grandfather, John Morrison, was born near Belfast,
Ireland, in the year 1700, and came to this country prior to the
Revolution. His son John, the founder of the family in America, had
preceded him several years and settled on what is now known as the
Morrison Homestead, in the town of Montgomery. He married Elizabeth
Scott. They had nine children, one of whom was Hamilton, the
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who inherited the home
farm. He married Lydia Beemer, who was of Dutch descent, whose
ancestors came from Beemersville, N. J., who lived to the advanced
age of one hundred and three years. They had eight children, of whom
Hamilton, the father of our subject, was the youngest but one.

Hamilton Morrison, the father of David A., was born August 24, 1804,
at the Old Homestead which he inherited, and which has descended from
father to son for five generations, or nearly one hundred and fifty
years. He was one of the founders of the Orange County Agricultural
Society, and continued to be one of its most devoted friends until
his death in 1881. He filled at different times every office in the
society except treasurer. He was elected a member of its executive
committee eight times, was corresponding secretary from 1851 to 1857
inclusive, was vice-president twenty years, and president twice. He
married Maria Mould, daughter of Jonathan Mould, of the town of
Montgomery, and a lineal descendant of Christoffel Mould, one of the
earliest Dutch settlers of the Wallkill Valley.

David A. Morrison is the second in a family of seven children.
Jonathan M., of Montgomery, who was widely known and highly esteemed
and who died in 1898; David A., George H. and John G., prominent and
intelligent farmers who reside on the Homestead Farm, which contains
nearly three hundred acres, and is now one of the best improved
estates in the town of Montgomery; William H. H., a well-known,
progressive and successful farmer on an adjoining farm; Mary J., who
married Elijah C. Thayer, of Hamptonburgh, and died in February,
1901; and Elizabeth M., wife of William C. Hart, of Walden, N. Y.

Mr. Morrison was educated in public schools and the Montgomery
Academy, and at the age of seventeen years became a teacher. He
taught district schools in the towns of Montgomery, Hamptonburgh and
Blooming Grove, and was principal of graded schools in the villages
of Walden and Montgomery--in all about thirty terms.

In 1867 he was elected school commissioner for the First District of
Orange County, serving until 1894--in all five terms, or fifteen
years, a record that has never been paralleled in the State.

He has been secretary of the Orange County Agricultural Society for
fifty years, and has attended every fair held by it since its
organization in 1841. He is one of the mainstays of the society, and
a man of education and ability.

In 1880 Mr. Morrison married Mary R. Lipsett, a daughter of the late
Robert and Mary A. (Morrison) Lipsett, of the town of Montgomery, and
granddaughter of Col. William Faulkner of Revolutionary fame.

In 1893 he removed to Newburgh, where he now resides.

He was nominated for Congress, against his earnest protests, in 1896,
and, although running far ahead of his ticket, he shared the fate of
his party, and was defeated by Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., since Governor
of the State.

Mr. Morrison was county correspondent of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture and Statistical Bureau of the Patent Office for forty
years. He was one of the incorporators of the Columbus Trust Company
of Newburgh, N. Y., and has been one of its directors and a member of
its executive committee since its organization, and is now its
vice-president.

He is president of the Board of Trustees of Union Presbyterian
Church, Newburgh, N. Y.; vice-president of the Historical Society of
Newburgh Bay and the Highlands; a trustee of Washington's
Headquarters, Newburgh, N. Y.; a member of the Empire State Society
of the Sons of the American Revolution, and president of Newburgh
Chapter, S. A. R.; and a life member of the New York State
Agricultural Society.

HAMILTON MORRISON was born August 24, 1804, at the old homestead,
which is now occupied by his sons, George H. and John G. This
property has been handed down from father to son since long before
the Revolution. It contains two hundred and sixty acres of land and
is one of the best improved estates in the town of Montgomery.

His paternal family included eight children, of whom our subject was
the youngest but one. His parents were Hamilton and Lydia (Beemer)
Morrison. The former, a native of Ireland, crossed the Atlantic and
landed on the American shore when a mere lad, accompanied by his
father, John. The latter took up the land which is still in the
Morrison family. Hamilton married January 10, 1827, Maria, daughter
of Jonathan and Elizabeth Mould; she died March 26, 1868. To our
subject and his wife the following children were born: Jonathan M.,
married Margaret Windfield; David A., married Mary R. Lipsett;
George H., unmarried; Mary J., married Elijah Carpenter Thayer; John
G., unmarried; William H. H., married Agnes Horton.

Hamilton Morrison passed his entire life on this farm in the town of
Montgomery. When a young man he taught school and after marriage gave
his attention to cultivating his broad acres.

He was very successful in his undertakings. He was foremost in
founding the Orange County Agricultural Society, of which he was
president for many years. He died October 25, 1881.

The family is progressive and one of the most influential in the
county. In politics it is democratic, as was also their father.

His son, George H. Morrison, has recently published a complete
genealogical chart of the family in America.

GEORGE MOSHIER, retired contractor, was born in Newburgh, N. Y.,
April 19, 1838. He learned the carpenters' trade and from 1866 to
1907 was engaged in the contracting and building business, having
erected many of the most substantial buildings in Newburgh and
vicinity.

He was a member of the Board of Water Commissioners from 1884 to
1889. In 1899 he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors,
and has been successively re-elected for five terms, serving two
terms as chairman. He is prominently identified with the Masonic
fraternity and president of the Masonic Veterans' Association; member
of the Newburgh Historical Society and an active member in Trinity
Church.

In 1862 he married Miss Caroline Tilton. Their children are Anna,
George, Jr., and Mabel. Mr. Moshier's ancestors resided in or near
Newburgh many years previous to the Revolution. Two of them were
soldiers in the Continental Army, serving with distinction.

EDWARD M. MURTFELDT, born Newburgh, 1853; entered employ of Peck &
Van Dalfsen's furniture house in 1869. In 1879 he purchased Joseph H.
Powell's undertaking and furniture establishment, which he conducted
on the same site until 1895. At present engaged as funeral director
at 77 Second street, Newburgh. In 1894 he assisted in organization
and became president of the Highland Furniture Mfg. Co.; served a
number of years as alderman and president of council and has served
as acting mayor; also was a member of the Board of Public Works. He
has taken all the chairs in Masonry and has been an officer in
Highland Chapter No. 52 and commander of H. R. Commandery No. 35. Mr.
Murtfeldt is of German descent; a son of Henry W. and Mary Frances
(Worden) Murtfeldt. In 1872 he married Miss Anna A. McCord; six
children have been born to them. He is at present the president of
the Masonic Veterans' Association, of Newburgh, N. Y., and has held
office in the Grand Commandery, State of New York. He is at present
the district deputy of the Thirteenth District of the Grand Lodge, a
Thirty-second Degree Mason and grand marshal of the Consistory of New
York City. He has been regent of Newburgh Council of the Royal
Arcanum and its treasurer for a number of years. Member of the City
Club.

FRANK D. MYERS, M.D., of Slate Hill, N. Y., is a descendant of one
of Orange County's oldest families. He was born in the town of
Greenville, N. Y.. where he attended public school. This was
supplemented by a course of private tutoring near Newburgh, after
which he taught school two years in the town of Minisink. Dr. Myers
graduated in medicine from the University of Michigan in 1887, and
has since been engaged in practice at Slate Hill. He is a member of
the County and State Medical Societies, and the American Medical
Association.

He married Miss Margaret Hall, of Ridgebury, and a son, Frank D., was
born to them in 1908.

Dr. Myers is a son of Samuel S. and Mary Elizabeth (Elston) Myers.
His grandfather was Daniel C. Myers, his great-grandfather Daniel
Van Auken Myers, and his great-great-grandfather Daniel, the first of
that name in this locality, who participated in the battle of
Minisink. The flint lock musket he carried is in the possession of
Dr. Myers. The homestead upon which this man settled has remained in
the possession of the family and is now owned and occupied by Floyd
E. Myers, a brother of the doctor.

GEN. ALFRED NEAFIE--Alfred Neafie was born in Walden, Orange County,
N. Y., January 8, 1832, being the son of Cornelius Neafie, a member
of one of the old Knickerbocker families, who came to New York in
1637.

Cornelius Neafie built the first cotton mill in Orange County and the
second in the State. As a boy Alfred Neafie, fond of hunting and
fishing and of an adventurous turn of mind, it is not strange that he
should at the age of nineteen, start for the newly discovered gold
fields of California.

It was in 1851 that he left in a sailing vessel, the _Grecian,_ for
the six months' voyage "'round the Horn."

His first vote was cast in the canyons of the North Yuba in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains. During his successful career in California
he was a member of the celebrated Vigilance Committee and was one of
those who helped to apprehend the famous outlaw "Yankee Sullivan,"
and was present at the trial and hanging of Juaquin Murat and
"Three-Fingered Jack."

Returning home at the death of his father and starting in business in
Ellenville, N. Y., yet at the outbreak of the war Mr. Neafie put
aside personal interests and went to the front. He was offered the
captaincy of the Walden Company of the 124th Regiment, but declined
it, as he had already raised nearly two companies of what became the
156th Infantry.

His military record is to be found in brief in the Historical
Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, Vol. 1, page 741,
as follows:

"Neafie, Alfred, N. Y., N. Y. Capt. 156th N. Y. Inf., 13th Sept.,
1862; Lt.-Col., 9th Jan., 1864; Lt.-Col. Vols., 13th March, 1865, for
gal. and meritorious services at Battle of Winchester and Fisher
Hill, Va., and Brig.-Gen. Vols., 13th March, 1865, for conspicuous
gallantry at Winchester, Va., 19th Sept., 1864. Mustered out 23d
Oct., 1865."

During the war Gen. Neafie was provost marshal of Alexandria, La.,
and Baton Rouge.

While at Savannah he held the offices of supervisor of trade,
collector of military taxes, relief commissioner and assisted in the
repatriation of the South, as by virtue of seniority of rank he was
chief of staff of the department.

A few of the brilliant and picturesque events of his military career
were:--

After the capture at Washington, Ga., of the archives of the
Confederacy, which included records of Generals Beauregard, Polk,
Joseph E. Johnston and Albert Sidney Johnston, $300,000,000 of cotton
bonds, $760,000 in gold and silver and thirty wagon loads of valuable
jewelry and personal articles, General Neafie, with two federal
officers and two treasury agents, inventoried and sent to their
proper owners, scattered all through the Southern States, all private
property, while all public property was turned over to the United
States Government. This was done in about two months.

As General Grover's chief of staff, General Neafie received Jefferson
Davis when he was captured and delivered him to Lieutenant-Commander
(now admiral, retired) Luce, in command of the double-ender _Pontiac,_
in Savannah River.

Jefferson Davis, Jr., a most lovable boy about ten years old, was a
guest in the house in Savannah where General Neafie lived, they drove
together daily and a great affection sprang up between the two.

His early death of yellow fever in Memphis was a sorrowful event for
all who knew him.

General Neafie with General Grover was present at the solemn and
thrilling raising of the flag at Fort Sumter, four years to a day
from the time it was lowered by Sergeant Hart.

It was taken from the sealed mail bag, where it had been placed by
Sergeant Hart, who now released it from its leathern prison, and once
more raised to its place of honor.

When this was done it was seen that the flag was pierced by at least
thirty shell fragments, and was ragged and torn; not a star had been
shot away.

When that fact was disclosed to the men who had been fighting four
years to keep the stars of our Union together, the emotion was too
great for expression.

But from outside came the noisy welcome from the battered and
indented ironclads and monitors, who had been circling around waiting
to give tongue with their cannon throats.

Since the close of the war, General Neafie has led a business life of
wide and varied interests, with homes in Ellenville and Goshen, N. Y.

MOSES F. NELSON, notary public, real estate and insurance broker of
the town of Highlands, Orange County, N. Y., was born at Highland
Falls in 1867, and for the past seventeen years has been identified
with public affairs of his native place, serving as tax collector,
clerk and member of the Board of Education and justice of the peace.
He is a son of the late Cornelius Nelson, who for thirty years was
postmaster at Highland Falls and who was also engaged in the fire
insurance and real estate business, which was conducted under the
firm name of Cornelius Nelson & Son, and to which he succeeded.

Socially Mr. Nelson is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He married
Miss Mary Adolph in 1893; they have three daughters.

THE NICOLL FAMILY--Within the corporate limits of Washingtonville,
N. Y., lies a farm of one hundred and forty-five acres which bears
evidence of the supervision of an energetic and capable family. This
place is known as the Nicoll homestead, and was occupied for over a
quarter of a century by John Nicoll, who died in 1874. As the name
indicates he was of Scotch descent. The progenitor of this family in
America was Dr. John Nicoll, who emigrated to this country in 1711
and settled in New York. He became one of the leading men of the
colony and acquired the ownership of a large amount of property,
having among his possessions fourteen thousand, five hundred acres of
land in the Minisink Patent. He died in 1743 at the age of
sixty-four.

John Nicoll was born in Hackensack, N. J., in 1799, and in early life
was engaged in the mercantile business in New York City, whence he
removed to Orange County in 1844. By his first marriage to Juliana
Thompson, one son, William, was born, who died at the age of
twenty-six. The second wife of Mr. Nicoll bore the maiden name of
Elizabeth H. White and was born in Blagg's Cove in 1808. She died in
1855. To this union eight children were born, of whom Charles and
Elizabeth White (now the wife of Andrew S. Glover) reside in
Washingtonville. Another son, Isaac, met death while leading his
company in the battle of Gettysburg in 1863. On the soldiers'
monument at Salisbury Mills is this inscription: "To the memory of
Captain Isaac Nicoll, Company G, 124th N. Y. S. V., and the men of
Blooming Grove who fought in the war for the unity of the Republic,
1861-1865."

REV. STANISLAUS J. NOWAK, rector of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic
Church, Florida, N. Y. In the year 1893 our Polish neighbors at
Florida, N. Y., after mature deliberation and consultation, concluded
to have their own church, and the necessary steps were taken to
secure the approval of the church authorities for their project.
Having demonstrated the feasibility of the idea, and the necessary
approval having been obtained, Messrs. John and Anton Dulski, Joseph
Andryszak, Joseph Wozniak, Ignatius Brink and John Majorowski were
appointed as collectors, and succeeded so well that within two years
over two thousand dollars were subscribed.

On July 2, 1895, Rev. Stanislaus J. Nowak was appointed and entered
on his work as rector of the new church. Father Nowak is a native of
Posen--Germany-Poland--studied at Germany and at Rome and came to
this country at the express wish of Archbishop M. A. Corrigan, and
finished his theological studies and was ordained priest at the
Provincial Seminary at Troy, N. Y., by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Tierney,
of Hartford. After spending a short while at Shokan, Ulster County,
Father Nowak was appointed as assistant to the Very Rev. Dean Sweeny,
of St. Joseph's Church, Kingston, N. Y., and while there Father
Nowak received his appointment as rector of the Polish Church. Since
coming to Florida, N. Y., Father Nowak has been a successful as well
as an indefatigable worker, and under his supervision the church was
ready for the dedication in November.

With all the pomp and ceremonial of the Catholic ritual, the new
church of the Polish congregation at Florida was dedicated on Sunday,
November 10, 1895, by Archbishop Corrigan, to the service of God
under the patronage of St. Joseph. The solemn high mass on that date
was celebrated by the Very Rev. E. M. Sweeny, of Kingston, N. Y.
(with whom Father Nowak lived as assistant before coming to Florida).
Father McCorry, of Goshen, acted as deacon, and Father Nowak as
sub-deacon, and Father Connolly, the archbishop's secretary, acted as
master of ceremonies.

After the gospel had been chanted by the deacon, his grace, the
archbishop ascended the steps of the altar and after a few very well
chosen words of congratulation to the pastor and people on the happy
culmination of their work in offering a church free of debt for the
purposes of divine worship, preached an able and scholarly sermon on
the holiness of the church, and during his remarks he was listened to
with rapt attention, showing that his words had made a very deep
impression. The Polish sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. M. Barabasz,
of Baltimore, Md.

The rectory was built the same year and occupied in December. St.
Joseph's congregation owns its own cemetery, which was blessed in
October, 1896, and is located at Union Corner.

In July, 1892, Father Nowak was transferred to New York City, where
he organized a new Polish congregation, and established St. Joseph's
Home for the Polish Immigrants on Broad street.

Father Michael Slupek was in charge of St. Joseph's Church at Florida
for nearly two years, and was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Kloss, who was
pastor of St. Joseph's until October, 1902. At that time Father Nowak
returned to St. Joseph's, and under his management the church is
freed from debt again.

The church will be enlarged this year, as it is too small for the
congregation. There are thirteen hundred Polish people in Florida and
vicinity. The Poles of Florida are showing a desire and aptness to
develop into a most industrious and desirable class of citizens.

ARTHUR E. O'CONNOR was born March 10, 1867, at Brooklyn, N. Y. He is
a son of John S. and Hanna (Marrett) O'Connor. To this union seven
children, one son and six daughters, were born. There are five
living: Anna, wife of Timothy O'Connell, of Honesdale, Pa.; Mary,
wife of Thomas Cusick, of Goshen, N. Y., and two daughters residing
at home and two are dead. The subject of our sketch attended the
public school at White Mills, Pa. His father was identified with C.
Dorfinger for twenty-five years at White Mills, Pa., and operated a
cut glass factory at Hawley, Pa. Arthur started the cut glass factory
at Goshen in 1900, which has enjoyed a prosperous business since. Mr.
O'Connor's father was the oldest practical cut glass man in the
world, and was sergeant in the 69th Regiment, New York Volunteer
Infantry, and his grandfather, Neal O'Connor, was a captain of the
New Orleans Rangers in the Mexican War. Arthur married Catherine
Langan, of Hawley, Pa., February 20, 1888, and to this union were
born three sons and one daughter, Mary, who holds the position of
bookkeeper at the Goshen factory. John graduated in 1907 at Hawley,
Pa., and is now foreman at the Goshen factory. William and Arthur are
attending school at Goshen. Mr. O'Connor employs forty men at his
factory.

HON. BENJAMIN B. ODELL--In reviewing the life of this venerable and
distinguished citizen of Newburgh, a few words regarding his ancestry
will not be amiss. The family is of French and English descent, but
has been represented in America for many generations. His
grandfather, William Odell, was born in New York City, and there for
some years he was proprietor of the Bull's Head Tavern. In 1835 he
moved to Orleans County, N. Y., where he bought a tract of land and
with the assistance of his two sons improved a valuable farm. His
death occurred there at the age of more than ninety years.

Isaac Odell, the father of our subject, was born in Tarrytown,
Westchester County, N. Y., and reared in New York City, whence, about
1820, he came to Orange County, settling on the DeWitt Clinton farm
at Little Britain, where he remained until 1830, when he removed to
Newburgh and was employed in the freighting business with the firm of
Powell, Wardrop & Johnson, with whom he remained until his retirement
from business. He died at the age of sixty-five. His wife, Mary A.,
was also a native of Westchester County. She died in New York City in
her eighty-first year. Their family consisted of two sons and two
daughters, of whom Benjamin B. was the second in order of birth. He
was born in the Governor Clinton homestead, New Windsor town,
September 10, 1825, and reared in Newburgh, where he attended the
public schools. In 1843 he entered the employ of B. W. Van Nort, in
the restaurant and hotel business where he remained until 1847, when
he embarked in business for himself, opening a restaurant in Third
street. Twenty years later he sold and abandoned the business
permanently.

Mr. Odell foresaw a promising field in the ice business, and in 1863
purchased from James R. Dixon the ice property now known as
Muchattoes Lake, and conducted the business personally until 1886,
when he organized the Muchattoes Lake Ice Company, of which he has
since remained president.

Mr. Odell was one of the organizers of the Columbus Trust Company in
1892, and was the first president, but resigned after one year in
office. He is president of the Central-Hudson Steamboat Company and a
director in the Orange County Traction Company.

For over sixty years Mr. Odell has been prominently identified with
the administration of public affairs of Newburgh and Orange County.
In 1863 he was trustee of the village; 1865, alderman from the Third
ward; 1879, supervisor of the town of New Windsor; 1880 to 1883,
sheriff of Orange County. In 1884 he was elected mayor of Newburgh,
continuing in that office until 1890, when he refused to be a
candidate for another term. In 1894, however, he was again nominated
and reelected mayor, serving until 1900. During the twelve years of
his administration the city witnessed the creation of many public
improvements and an era of great progress and increase in population.

Amid the multiplicity of his public and private affairs, Mr. Odell
has never allowed his religious duties to be neglected, in the
American Reformed Church he has been an official, serving at
different times as elder and deacon. In 1850 he married Miss Ophelia,
daughter of Hiram Bookstaver, of the town of Montgomery. Eleven
children were born to them, of whom four are living: Benjamin B.,
Jr., Governor of New York State (1900 to 1904); Hiram B., postmaster
of Newburgh; Clara, who resides with her father, and George C. D.,
professor in Columbia University, New York City.

By his energy and resolute character, coupled with a genial
disposition, Mr. Odell has not only advanced his own success, but
has given an impetus to the growth and prosperity of Newburgh by his
progressive spirit and enterprise.

HIRAM B. ODELL, postmaster, Newburgh, N. Y., is the son of Hon.
Benjamin B. and Ophelia (Bookstaver) Odell, and was born August 21,
1856. After finishing his studies he engaged with his father in the
conduct of a large ice business. In 1886 he was elected a director
and superintendent of the Muchattoes Lake Ice Co. In 1891 he was
appointed superintendent of the Newburgh Electric Light, Heat and
Power Co. From 1880 to 1882 he was under sheriff of the county, in
charge of the Goshen court-house, his father then being sheriff. He
received his present appointment March 1, 1900, and was reappointed
by President Roosevelt in 1904 and again in 1908. Mr. Odell married
Miss Edith Booth, of Kingston.

JAMES ALSOP OGDEN, only son of William L. and Louise Baker Ogden, was
born in the town of Mount Hope May 28, 1861. His entire home life has
been in Warwick, to which his father moved when the boy was only nine
months old. He died December 5, 1905.

Mr. Ogden was educated in Warwick Institute and at Hartwell's Private
School in Unionville. He married Miss Virginia R. Geraghty, of
Warwick, in 1889, and is survived by her and one daughter, Mary, who
is a graduate of the Warwick high school; also by two sisters,
Alveretta, wife of Maurice Pelton, and Mary, wife of Dr. S. E. Holly.
In 1889 he and his brother-in-law, Mr. Pelton, succeeded his father
in the hardware business with the firm name of Ogden & Pelton. His
father died in 1902. James Ogden was a member of the Warwick band for
many years. He was one of the founders of the Warwick Athletic
Association, and a member of the Warwick Club, in which last he
served as trustee and treasurer. He was one of the charter members of
the Warwick Gun Club, and a director in the First National Bank.

JOSHUA OLDROYD was born in Yorkshire, England, January 29, 1838. His
early education was acquired while working in the woolen mills of
that place, attending school one-half day and working the other half.
He also attended night school for several years. His trade was that
of a hand loom weaver. When eighteen years of age he came to America,
and was employed in the woolen mills at Mechanicstown, Orange County,
from 1856 to 1858. The following four years he was in charge of the
woolen mills at Millow, Wawayanda township. He was later employed in
mills at Newtown, Connecticut, and afterward owned woolen mills at
East Granby, Conn. In 1875 he removed to Newburgh and took charge of
a horse blanket printing machine manufactory, remaining there only a
few months, when he returned to Mechanicstown, and operated woolen
mills there for five years. He then conducted a felt boot manufactory
at Howells for a period of twenty-one years. He sold his business at
Howells, and went to Philadelphia and took the management of the
Watkinson Felt Boot Factory Co., remaining there two years. He was
obliged to remove back to Middletown owing to ill health, where he
has since resided in retirement. He married Miss Hanna Newsome,
daughter of James Newsome, of Mechanicstown, March 6, 1861. One child
was born to this union, who died in infancy. In the fall of 1905 his
townsmen of the Third ward nominated him for alderman. He was
victorious and has since held the office. He was a delegate to the
Republican state convention eight years. He attends the Episcopal
Church and is a member of Hoffman Lodge, No. 412, F. and A. M., of
Middletown, N. Y.

WILLIAM H. O'NEAL was born at Goshen, Orange County, N. Y., March 3,
1836. He acquired his education at various district schools in the
county. At the age of sixteen years Mr. O'Neal began learning the
painting and decorating trade. He married Sarah E. Stone, of Denton,
N. Y., December 31, 1855. They had three children, Sarah Louise,
Henry Lincoln and Charles Francis. His wife died February 9, 1881. He
afterward married Lydia F. Hall of Goshen, N. Y., July 27, 1882. She
died March 1, 1892.

Mr. O'Neal worked at his trade in New York City twenty years, going
there in 1856. He worked at the navy yard for eleven years. In
politics he is a Republican. He is a member of Goshen Lodge, No. 365,
F. and A. M., and served as master of lodge two years. At the
breaking out of the Civil War Mr. O'Neal enlisted in the 84th
Regiment, entering as private and later being promoted to captain. He
served in the defense of Washington and was honorably discharged. In
1863 he re-enlisted and served for some time in the Shenandoah
Valley.

HON. JOHN ORR, former assemblyman from the first district of Orange
County, was born in Cornwall, N. Y., March 5, 1859. He is a son of
William and Margaret (Elliott) Orr, and is engaged in the flour and
coal business at Orr's Mills, which is now one of the industrial
landmarks of the town of Cornwall. Mr. Orr was educated at public and
private schools, finishing with a three-year course at Leipsic,
Germany. On his return home he became a member of the firm of
William Orr & Sons, dealers in flour, feed and coal.

Politically Mr. Orr is a Republican, and has taken an active part in
promoting the welfare of his party, not only in his native town but
throughout the county. In addition to representing this district in
the state legislature for four years, he was elected a member of the
board of supervisors, where he served nine years. He has held public
office in the town of Cornwall for a period of twenty years. Mr. Orr
is particularly well posted on questions of taxation and
parliamentary usage, and in close touch with the farming community,
recognizing their needs and desires. He enjoys the reputation of
being a pleasant after-dinner speaker.

Mr. Orr is prominently identified with various fraternal
organizations, including Free Masonry. In August, 1900, he was
elected great sachem of the Improved Order of Red Men, state of New
York, and has also held the office of president of the Association of
Tribes of the Hudson Valley.

In 1888 Mr. Orr was united in marriage with Miss Angelique Veith, of
New York City. They are the parents of two children, Alice and
Walter.

HERMAN OTTO was born in Saxon, Germany, February 22, 1848. He came to
America in 1869 and married Emma Wolf, of New Britain, Conn. Nine
children were born to this union: One daughter died at the age of
seventeen years; Emma, wife of Ira Smith, of Monroe, N. Y.; Herman,
who resides in New York City; Frank, of Windham, Ohio; Charles, of
Monroe, N. Y.; Annie Mae, of New York City; Arlyne Elsie, Harry and
Paul, residing at home.

Mr. Otto is a member of Luther Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Middletown, and
of the Cigar Makers' Union of Middletown. His estate, comprising one
hundred and eighteen acres, is under substantial improvement. Mr.
Otto does not depend entirely on the products of his farm, for he has
a well established cigar manufacturing business, which he has carried
on successfully for many years. In politics he is a Republican and
takes an active interest in local affairs.

GEORGE A. OWEN, dealer in general merchandise at Washingtonville,
N. Y., was born in that village in 1842, a son of Hon. Albert G. and
Phoebe M. (Breed) Owen. His father was also a merchant here, and
actively identified with public affairs in Orange County. He was one
of a committee of three to organize the famous 124th Regiment. He
served several terms as supervisor of the town of Blooming Grove, and
was elected a member of the state assembly in 1849-1850. In 1890 Mr.
George Owen succeeded to a business that was established in 1812 by
Samuel Moffatt. The firm name was subsequently known as Samuel
Moffatt & Son, and David H. Moffatt, who disposed of it in 1832.
Various merchants conducted the store previous to Mr. Owen, who has
enlarged the original building and erected the adjoining post office.
In 1905 his son, Walter D., became a partner. Mr. Owen is a trustee
of the Moffatt Library and Presbyterian Church. He is also a charter
member of the fire company. In 1876 he married Miss Isabelle Board
and six children have been born to them.

OSCAR E. OWEN was born February 28, 1845, at Ridgebury, N. Y. His
early education was acquired at the old Wallkill Academy. After
finishing school he learned the monumental work and he was identified
in that business until 1902, when he retired. He married Emily F.
Mapledoram, of Monticello, Sullivan County, N. Y., July 28, 1868. One
son was born of this union, Clifford A., born June 7, 1872. He is
teller in the First National Bank of Middletown. Mr. Owen is a
Republican and has served the city two terms as alderman. He is a
member of the Universalist Church. His father, John C. Owen, was born
in the town of Minisink, Orange County, N. Y. He was born July 16,
1806, and died at his daughter's home, Mrs. W. W. Hartford, in
Middletown. He was a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Carpenter) Owen,
and was brought up on the farm. At the age of twenty-one he entered
the mercantile business at Huguenot, removing to Smith's Corners
after two years. He married Adeline, daughter of Moses Durland,
February 16, 1833. In 1837 he moved to Ridgebury and ran a general
store. In 1847 he moved to his farm left him by his uncle, Jesse
Parshall, Remaining on the farm a few years, he removed to Ridgebury,
where he started a marble yard, and he continued in that business
until 1866 in Ridgebury and Middletown. Then he engaged in the
grocery business in Middletown, which he continued for some years,
finally selling out to his son-in-law, W. W. Hartford. He afterward
purchased a residence at 177 North street and retired from active
business, remaining in the home until the death of his wife, February
16, 1892, the fifty-ninth anniversary of their marriage. He took an
active interest in church work and was a Republican in politics.

ZAEL PADDLEFORD, merchant, of Monroe, N. Y., was born in Broome
County, N. Y., in 1866. He came to Monroe in 1891 as foreman of the
creamery, occupying that position about four years. In 1894 he
established his present store, and a year later formed a partnership
with George R. Conklin, under the firm name of Paddleford & Company.
Mr. Paddleford has served six years as supervisor of the town and is
now president of the village. He is secretary of the Orange and
Rockland Electric Company. Socially Mr. Paddleford is identified with
the Masonic fraternity. He married Miss Isabella S. Kinney, of Iowa,
and their son, Bruce K., is attending school in New York City.

THE PALATINE HOTEL, H. N. and F. N. Bain, proprietors. The
appointments, accommodations and interior aspect of the Palatine are
ideal. It is the largest hotel in Orange County and conveniently
located in the heart of the city of Newburgh. The house contains one
hundred and sixteen rooms, about one-half of which are so arranged
that they may be used separately or en suite for families. The house,
was established in 1893 and is under the personal supervision of Mr.
F. N. Bain, who conducts it in accordance with the most modern
methods.

WILLIAM A. PARSHALL is a scion of an old and distinguished Orange
County family. Jonathan Parshall, his great great grandfather, moved
to Little Britain in the town of New Windsor, from Long Island, in
1737. His son David fought for American freedom in the Revolutionary
War. Mr. Parshall's father, Caleb Parshall, was born on the old
homestead, but when he reached man's estate he moved to the farm in
Walden, where William A. was born, December 9, 1865.

In 1870 the family moved to Port Jervis, and the boy was sent to the
public schools, graduating from the high school in the class of 1883.
The following year he entered Yale and was graduated in 1888. During
his senior year he was awarded the medal by the Cohden Club of
London, England, for work in political economy. Mr. Parshall went to
the Albany Law School and completed the course in 1889. Returning to
Port Jervis, he entered the law office of Hon. Lewis E. Carr and in
May, 1890, was admitted to the bar. The following October, he entered
into partnership with Hon. O. P. Howell and R. Ed. Schofield, and the
firm was known as Howell, Parshall & Schofield. On September 1, 1893,
he withdrew from the firm and has since been successfully engaged in
the practice of law in an office of his own. He has been a director
of the National Bank for fourteen years, is a director of the Port
Jervis Telephone Company, the Co-Operative Loan and Savings Society,
Orange County Building and Loan Association, No. 2, and is an auditor
of Port Jervis Building and Loan Association. He has also taken an
active interest in politics, and when a young lawyer served the town
of Deer Park in the office of town clerk. At present he is the
attorney for the city of Port Jervis, and for twelve terms was
corporation counsel for the village of Port Jervis. In 1903 Mr.
Parshall was elected a member of the board of education and since
1904 has been its president. For the past seventeen years he was a
trustee of the Presbyterian Church. On June 1, 1903, Mr. Parshall was
united in marriage with Miss Christine Senger, daughter of Lewis C.
and Florence Corwin Senger. They have three children.

ARTHUR PATCHETT, who for over twenty years was prominently identified
with business and social affairs of Orange County, was born in
England in 1847 and died at Montgomery, N. Y.. November 30, 1901. Mr.
Patchett came to America in 1872, locating at Philadelphia, where he
followed the business of worsted manufacturer. In 1880 he removed to
Montgomery and with the late William Crabtree established the yarn
plant which soon became one of the important industries of the
county. Mr. Patchett was a member of the board of water works
commissioners and exerted a wide influence in the affairs of his
adopted village. He was a member of Walden Lodge, F. and A. M., Royal
Arch Masons, Knights Templar and Mecca Shrine. In 1874 he married
Miss Alice M. Hayes, of Philadelphia. Two sons and a daughter were
born to them: Emma M., who resides in Montgomery; Joseph E. and
Arthur Allan are engaged in business at Kaiser, W. Va.

FRANK PATTERSON, supervisor of the town of Deer Park, who, with his
brother, George H., conducts a farm of one hundred acres and a
commodious summer boarding house known as "Eddy Farm," at
Sparrowbush, was born there in 1865, a son of J. R. and Mary E.
(Doty) Patterson. Since finishing his studies at the public schools
he has been engaged in the cultivation of the homestead farm.
Politically Mr. Patterson is a democrat and has always taken an
active interest in the welfare of his party. He has served as highway
commissioner and in 1907 was elected a member of the board of
supervisors.

Mr. Patterson married Miss Sarah Chambers and they are the parents of
three sons and two daughters: Ruth E., John R., Edward, Dudley and
Frances.

WILLIAM M. PATTON (deceased) was born in the town of New Windsor,
Orange County, N. Y., May 30, 1834. He was for many years engaged as
a farmer and cattle dealer, in which he was very successful. In 1895
he took up his residence in Newburgh, the details of his cattle
business being attended to by his only son, John R. Patton, who
resides on the Patton homestead, near Washington Lake. Mr. Patten was
for years a member of the board of directors of the Columbus Trust
Co., and a member of its finance committee. He was a careful man in
financial affairs and to him as one of its officers is due much of
the prosperity of the company.

Mr. Patton's first wife was Miss Robinson; she was the mother of John
R. Patton, who died many years ago. His second wife was formerly Miss
Anna F. Johnston, a daughter of the late Beverly K. Johnston, a
prominent business man of East Coldenham.

Mr. Patton died April 16, 1907, and is buried in the Wallkill Valley
cemetery, Walden, N. Y.

ALBERT S. PEIRCE, manufacturer, Newburgh. Born Orange County, March,
1860. Graduated from Newburgh Academy and was then engaged in
mercantile business in New York City for four years. In 1885 he
returned to Newburgh and became associated with Coldwell, Wilcox
& Co., iron founders and machinists. May, 1890, the firm was
incorporated as Coldwell-Wilcox & Co., of which Mr. Peirce has since
been treasurer. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the
City Club. In 1885 he married Edith, daughter of the late Dr. Heard,
ex-president of the board of health. The Peirce ancestry dates back
to the Commander of the Mayflower.

HENRY PELTON came to Warwick from Darien, Conn., in 1805. He was a
small boy at the time, and settled with his father on a farm just
west of the village. He was always looked upon as one of the most
public spirited citizens, foremost in every movement for the good of
the community, and for the support of his church. Many writings of
local historical interest, left by him, show him to have been
possessed of a mind capable of clear thinking, and the ability to
express himself in good English. He is remembered as having been one
of the pioneers in the temperance movement in the middle of the last
century. He died in 1873, at the age of eighty-two.

SAMUEL PELTON, son of Henry Pelton, spent his life as a farmer,
residing for over fifty years on the farm now owned by his son, and
dying in 1906, nearly eighty-eight years of age. Of quiet, gentle
disposition, he never aspired to public prominence, yet was ever
ready to help in any public-spirited undertaking. He served a term as
president of Warwick Institute and was one of the founders and for
many years a trustee of the Warwick Savings Bank.

HENRY PELTON, son of Samuel Pelton, resides on the farm formerly
owned by his father. He devotes most of his time to land surveying
and local engineering work. He succeeded the late G. W. Sayer as
president of the Warwick Valley Farmers' Milk Association, and held
that office until the sale and dissolution of the company in 1907. He
is also one of the trustees of the Warwick Savings Bank and a
director of the Warwick Building Association.

WILLIAM W. PELTON was born December 15, 1837, and died November 26,
1907, at his home near Warwick, N. Y. His early education was
acquired at the district school, and the Warwick Institute, when it
was a private school. He afterward became a teacher. He was a member
of the board of education when the Warwick Institute was made a free
school in 1867. He was engaged in business in Warwick and New York
City for a time. In December, 1867, he married Almeda Knapp, daughter
of the late John Knapp, of Sugar Loaf, Orange County, who survives
him. To this union were born four children, John, Grace, wife of
Frank Holbert of New York; Almeda, and Geraldine, wife of Selah
Durland; also two grandsons and two granddaughters. Mr. Pelton was
the last of his father's family. His brother, James, died in 1856,
and Richard in 1898.

EDGAR PENNEY, vice-president and general manager of the Newburgh Ice
Machine and Engine Co., is a native of Orange County, and has been
identified with this company since 1895. Before purchasing the
Newburgh plant he was for twelve years managing director and
mechanical engineer for the Frick Company, Waynesboro, Pa., which
built his ice machine, known as the "Frick"' or "Eclipse." Mr. Penney
invented this machine and retains full privilege of manufacture and
sale under his patents. Among the products of the present concern are
the Corliss steam engines, steam boilers, iron and brass castings,
etc. A force of two hundred and fifty men are employed. The main
buildings are 200 by 400 feet in dimensions and were built in 1883.
In 1907 a large addition was erected.

WILLIAM J. PENOYER began life in Columbia County, N. Y., and after
leaving the district school at the age of fifteen, he entered a
general store and remained there for ten years. When twenty-six years
of age he went to Albany, N. Y., and engaged in the grain business,
which he continued until appointed harbor master by Governor Hoffman.
He was supervisor several years and a director of two banks. He was a
leading spirit in many improvements in his native county. In politics
he was a Democrat.

Mr. Penoyer in 1883 married Anna M. Roe, of Chester, Orange County,
and they had one daughter, Fannie, born 1886. He died in January,
1904.

MILLS PEPPER, son of Elijah and Catura (Crowell) Pepper, is a
prosperous farmer in the town of Montgomery. The farm, which
comprises one hundred and forty acres, was purchased by his father,
who conducted it over sixty years. Mills Pepper, who resides at the
homestead with his sister, has conducted it ten years. He is a member
of Little Britain Grange and takes an active interest in public
affairs of this locality.

GEORGE W. PETERS (deceased), a prominent business man of Newburgh,
was born in Poughkeepsie in 1826, a son of Charles and Phoebe (Dean)
Peters. At the age of sixteen he engaged with his father in the meat
business in New York City, and in 1847 became a member of the firm of
Charles Peters & Son, which continued until 1863, when he sold the
business and moved to Newburgh, where he engaged in farming for two
and a half years. In 1869 he opened a meat market at 113 Water
street, which he conducted with his sons until 1882, when he retired.

Mr. Peters was actively identified with public affairs in Newburgh.
Under Mayor Doyle he was superintendent of streets for two terms. For
many years he was president of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals; also president of the Horse Thief Protective Society. He
joined the Masonic fraternity in 1852, and was a member of the board
of trustees of the Unitarian Church. He died in 1907.

ALBERT H. F. PHILLIPS was born at Oswego, N. Y., in 1866. His
education was acquired at Oswego and the old Middletown Academy,
graduating from the latter in 1880. His parents were John G. and Mary
(Fisher) Phillips. Mr. Phillips has been identified with the New
York, Ontario & Western Railroad as foreman for a period of fourteen
years. In 1904 he assumed the position of master painter of the
O. & W. shops, which position he still holds. He was married to
Elizabeth Anna Heckroth, of Delaware County, N. Y., October 18, 1888.
Their one child, Clara, was born April 8, 1893. In politics Mr.
Phillips is a Republican. He has served as inspector of elections at
various times and has been a delegate to assembly and city
conventions. Socially he is a member of Hoffman Lodge, No. 412,
F. and A. M., Lancelot Lodge, K. of P., and Wallkill Council, Jr.
O. U. A. M., of Middletown. He is a member of the North
Congregational Church and served as deacon and treasurer for the past
seventeen years.

JOHN EVERTSON PHILLIPS, of Goshen, N. Y., son of William and Sarah E.
Phillips, was born in Phillipsburgh, March 20, 1805. Graduated from
Williams College in 1825. He studied law with Henry G. Wilner and
after his admission to the bar in 1828 was associated with him in his
profession until his death, December 17, 1841. He was married March
1, 1832, to Elizabeth T. Wisner, daughter of his partner, Henry G.
Wisner. There were three daughters born of this union. Miss Harriet
H. is still residing at the home which has been, occupied by the
family since 1836.

JOHN F. PIERCE, supervisor of the town of Highlands, was born at
Fishkill Landing, N. Y., March 7, 1844. He attended school at
Wappingers Falls, and during the Civil War served on the schooner
Norma, carrying ammunition to the various ports. He was subsequently
at West Point eight years in the butcher business, and removed to
Highland Falls in 1873, where he continued his meat market and in
later years engaged in the livery business.

Politically Mr. Pierce is a Republican and has long been identified
with public affairs of the town and village. In 1889 he was elected
assessor, serving continuously until the fall of 1907, when he
resigned to fill the office of supervisor. Mr. Pierce has also served
about twelve years as school trustee.

GEORGE PIERSON, who has resided on his present estate for about sixty
years, in the town of Hamptonburgh, is well known in Orange County.
He came from one of the oldest and most respected families of the
state. His great-grandfather, Silas Pierson, who came to this county
from Long Island about 1750, and settled on the old Pierson farm in
Hamptonburgh, was the great-grandson of John Pierson, who emigrated
from England about 1650 and settled at South Hampton, Long Island,
where he died in 1669.

George Pierson was born January 1, 1824, and is the son of Henry
Pierson, also a native of the same place. His mother was Miss Mary
Shaw, a native of Orange County, and four of her eight children grew
to manhood and womanhood. Of these George was the eldest. Mr.
Pierson's father died in 1866 and his mother in 1853. George Pierson
obtained his early education at the district school and afterward
became a student of the Amherst Academy, at Amherst, Mass. He married
Miss Mary E. Thompson, daughter of Oliver Thompson, December 20,
1848. Their union resulted in the birth of four children. In 1849 Mr.
Pierson moved to his present farm where he has resided over fifty
years. He is interested in all public affairs and has held the office
of justice of the peace since 1869, having served continuously with
the exception of two years. He served as assessor from 1884 to 1899.
He is a member of Goshen Lodge, No. 365, F. and A. M. He was a
trustee of the Hamptonburgh Presbyterian Church for thirty-nine
years. At the time of Henry Clay's nomination for president, in 1844,
Mr. Pierson was not quite of age, but he attended the next town
meeting and has been in attendance ever since with one exception, in
1888. which was the only time he failed, and has attended every
general election since he was of age. He was a member of the old
Campbell Hall Grange, now out of existence. Mr. Pierson has a well
stocked dairy farm and is new retired.

JOHN PIERSON, of the town of Mount Hope, was born on the homestead
farm, near Otisville, Orange County, N. Y., in 1834. His father was
Silas G. and mother Salome B. (Cook) Pierson. Four children were born
of this union. Two died in infancy. Harriet N., wife of Alsop W.
Dodge, of Otisville, died July 20, 1897. John Pierson acquired his
early education at the district school in his locality and at the
public school at Middletown. He has resided on his present farm for
a period of over seventy years. He is a Republican in politics and
takes an active part in local affairs. He has been assessor for
twenty years, has served as inspector of election for the town of
Mount Hope about fifteen years, is a member of the Otisville
Presbyterian Church and the Otisville Grange. His children are Silas
G. and John M., of Denver, Colo.; Frank and Cora, at home; Helen G.,
wife of Ebenezer Bull; Saloma C., of Philadelphia, and Susan C, a
teacher at Amityville, Long Island.

GEORGE A. POST, a successful contractor and builder, of Port Jervis,
N. Y., was born at Saugerties, Ulster County, N. Y., and there
learned his trade of carpenter. In 1889 he engaged in the contracting
business at Port Jervis, and since that time has erected many of that
city's prominent business blocks and residences. Mr. Post is a member
of the Elks, and Confidence Lodge, No. 5, I. O. O. F., of Saugerties.
He has served as trustee of the village and was one of the first
aldermen when Port Jervis became a city. He married Hannah J. Bross,
of Ten Mile River, Sullivan County, and they have four children:
Fannie E., who married Charles Clark; George H., a mail carrier,
married Tillie Headley; Minnie, residing at home, and Lillie, a
school teacher at Westbrookville, this county.

A. E. POWERS, manager of the Port Jervis plant of Swift & Co., is a
native of Charleston, N. H., and has occupied this responsible
position for a period of eleven years. Mr. Powers is prominent in
business and social circles and is identified with the Masonic
fraternity, the Elks and Odd Fellows.

JAMES J. PROCTOR was born September 1, 1878, at Greycourt, Orange
County, N. Y. He acquired his early education in the schools of
Orange County and at an early age he became associated with his
father, John R. Proctor, in the management of the hotel at Greycourt.
His father was a charter member of the Walton Hose Company, of
Chester, N. Y., and a respected and energetic business man. James was
married June 12, 1906, to Mary Gardner, of Highland Falls, N. Y. Mr.
Proctor has been first assistant foreman of the Walton Hose Company,
of Chester, for over four years, and has been a member ten years. His
brother, Henry J., was born May 27, 1875, and is identified with him
in the hotel business at Greycourt. Their father died January 29,
1904.

CHARLES PURDY was born March 15, 1842, in Sullivan County, near New
Vernon, N. Y. His parents were Ebenezer and Hettie (Warner) Purdy.
There were nine children in the parents' family, of whom six are
still living. Charles attended the district schools in Sullivan
County, after which he worked at farming until 1864. He then engaged
with the Erie Railroad as brakeman and later had charge of a
construction and switch engine for some time.

He married Jessie A. Wardrop, of Goshen, N. Y., October 18, 1876. Mr.
Purdy is now baggage master at the Erie and has served since 1883.
His wife, who died December 22, 1905, was an active member of the
First Presbyterian Church of Middletown.

JOHN H. QUAID, who conducts a wholesale and retail grocery store in
Water street, Newburgh, succeeded to the business that was
established in 1834 by his father, John Quaid, a native of Limerick
County, Ireland, who came to Newburgh when a young man and began
business in Oldtown at the junction of what is now Liberty street and
Gidney avenue, where he remained until 1850, when he removed to the
present location, 136 Water street. In 1857 his eldest son, William,
became a partner and the firm was changed to John Quaid & Son. In
1871 John H. purchased his father's interest and the firm of William
Quaid & Brother was formed, continuing until 1881, when William
retired and John H. has since continued the business. Mr. Quaid has
acquired much valuable real estate in Newburgh.

The parents of their mother, whose maiden name was McGathern, settled
on a farm m the town of Blooming Grove in 1807. It is said of their
grandmother that she was awarded the first premium for butter making
for many years by the Agricultural Society.

Mr. John H. Quaid married Margaret Lord Fancher, daughter of Lewis
Fancher, of Cornwall. She was a Daughter of the Revolution and at the
time of her death in 1896 was president of St. Luke's Hospital, of
which her husband was a trustee. Mr. Quaid is a member of the City
Club, Newburgh Historical Society, and with his brother, William, a
vestryman of St. Paul's Church.

WILLIAM B. RAMAGE was born in Branchville, Sussex County, N. J.,
January 16, 1858, and was educated in the Branchville and Morristown
schools and the S. S. Seward Institute, of Florida, Orange County. In
1866 he learned the trade of carriage painting with Abraham Watts, of
Florida, worked for him three years, and in 1871 engaged in business
for himself in Florida, where he has continued during the thirty-six
years intervening. Being a zealous Republican and an active political
worker, he has held office for the past twelve years, and is now
overseer of the poor and constable. He is a member of Wawayanda
Lodge, No. 34, I. O. O. F., and of Warwick Lodge, No. 544, F. and
A. M. He married May Jane Givens, of Florida, June 3, 1870. They have
had ten children, only four of whom are living. Hattie, wife of
Charles Hall, of Paterson, N. J.; Frank P., at home; Jessie, wife of
M. Barry, of Florida, and Leon, at home. The mother is an earnest and
active Methodist.

Mr. Ramage's father came to this country from England when he was ten
years of age, went to Sussex County, N. J., and has resided there
since. His wife's name was Elizabeth and they were the parents of
fourteen children.

HOMER RAMSDELL, for a century the foremost citizen of Newburgh,
N. Y., was born at Warren, Mass., August 12. 1810. His father was
Joseph Ramsdell, the fourth of that name in descent from Joseph and
Martha (Bowker) Ramsdell, who emigrated from England to Plymouth,
Mass. in 1643. His mother was Ruth Stockbridge, of Hanover, Mass., a
descendant of John Stockbridge, who came from England in 1638. They
were married at Hanover February 3, 1800, and moved to Warren, where
the following children were born: Joseph, Mary and Homer. In 1829
Homer went to New York City, where he was employed in dry goods
houses. Three years later he began business there under the firm name
of Ramsdell & Brown, dealers in silks and fancy white goods. He
continued this mercantile career until 1840, when he took up his
permanent residence in Newburgh, superintending the various interests
of Mr. Thomas Powell, who was engaged in shipping and banking
business here. In 1844 Mr. Ramsdell became a member of the firm of
Thomas Powell & Co., and thenceforth until Mr. Powell's death in 1856
he was largely the administrator of Mr. Powell's affairs. By
purchase and consolidation Mr. Ramsdell added other forwarding lines
to his enterprises and soon stood at the head of the transportation
business on the Hudson. Details of Mr. Ramsdell's connection with the
Erie Railroad appear elsewhere. In 1845 he was elected a member of
the board of directors of this corporation and in 1853 was chosen
president of the company, resigning the office in July, 1857. He was
intimately identified with the various local institutions of Newburgh
and a prompt contributor to all progressive and elevating movements
of his day.

Mr. Ramsdell was married June 16, 1835, to Frances E. L., daughter of
Thomas Powell, of Newburgh, and the following children survive:
Frances J., widow of Major George W. Rains; James A. P., H. Powell
and Homer Stockbridge.

WILLIAM CHESTER RAMSDELL, the subject of this sketch, was born in the
town of Greenville, Greene County, N. Y., December 29, 1858. His
father was Luman S. Ramsdell, a nephew of Luman Ramsdell, of Norton
Hill, who was connected with the State Agricultural Society and has
had much to do with the agricultural interests of the state and also
with the co-operative or mutual insurance companies, he having
established practically the first mutual insurance company in the
state of New York.

The mother of William C. Ramsdell was Laura Ann Gedney before her
marriage, and a direct descendant from an officer of the
Revolutionary army.

When about seven years old the parents of William C. Ramsdell moved
to Albany County, where his life was spent upon a farm until after he
was of age. He attended the country schools and the academy which was
established at South Westerlo. Later he attended Starkey Seminary and
after teaching in the country schools for a few years he took the
three-year normal course at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio,
the institution made famous by Horace Mann, who was its first
president. After teaching a year or two in the public schools a
course was taken with the Albany Business College and a year spent as
teacher of commercial subjects in the high school at Attica, Indiana,
after which Mr. Ramsdell entered the regular business college work
with the Goldev College at Wilmington, Delaware.

At the close of the year's work the subject of this sketch was
married to Miss Elizabeth C. Van Trump, of Wilmington, Delaware. The
next four years were spent with the Drake Business School at Jersey
City, N. J.

In 1895 Mr. Ramsdell opened the Ramsdell School in Middletown, N. Y.,
and for the last twelve years has conducted the school on North
street. The school has continued to grow and has attained an
excellent reputation in Orange County and vicinity for thorough and
efficient work.

JAMES RAZEY, who resides near Florida, Orange County, is one of the
representative agriculturists of that section. He was born on a farm
near Harnell, Chemung County, N. Y., February 16, 1851. His education
was acquired at the district school and Alfred University. He removed
to Elmira, where he was engaged in art work for a period of ten
years. From Elmira he removed to Chester, N. Y., and purchased the
"Broadview" farm, which he successfully conducted for ten years. He
built the unique Razey cottage at Chester, which is one of the
artistic houses in the county. His father died August 6, 1864, of
yellow fever. His mother's name was Abigail Withey. There were four
children in his parents' family. Our subject married Susan, daughter
of David R. and Anna Feagles. Their three children are Ethel Denton,
aged twenty-three years; Danforth, aged twenty years, and James
Lester, aged seventeen years. Mr. Razey married for his second wife
Mrs. Phoebe J. Smith, of Florida, October 16, 1906. He occupies a
dairy farm of one hundred and sixty acres.

Mr. Razey is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Chester and in
politics is a republican.

CHARLES IRA REDFIELD, M. D., was born in the town of Wallkill, Orange
County, January 31, 1873. He is a son of Foster C., died February 6,
1875, and Sarah Louise (Fanning) Redfield, still living. The subject
of this sketch attained his early education at the Wallkill Academy
and graduated in 1891. He also attended the medical department of the
University of Pennsylvania of 1891-4, graduating June 7, 1894. In the
fall of 1894 he attended the Presbyterian Hospital outpatient
department of Philadelphia, Pa., until February, 1895. In the spring
of 1895 he opened an office in Middletown. He is now visiting
physician of the Thrall Hospital. He has served as secretary of the
New York State Medical Association 1904-5. Secretary Orange County
Medical Association 1901-4, and was president Orange County Medical
Society during 1905. He is a charter member of the B. C. Hirst
Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia, Pa. He is a member of Hoffman
Lodge, No. 412, F. and A. M.; Midland Chapter, R. A. M., No. 240, and
Cypress Commandery, No. 67. He was one of the organizers of the
physicians' club of Middletown; a member of Middletown University
Club, National Geographic Society, American Society of Sanitary and
Moral Prophylaxis, and a member of the board of education. He was
health officer in 1898 and is a member and a trustee of the Second
Presbyterian Church. Dr. Redfield married Miss Ira Anna Louise
Barker, of Roxbury, Mass., October 20, 1897.

GEORGE W. REED was born July, 1842, at South Centreville, in what was
then the town of Minisink, but now in the town of Wawayanda, Orange
County. Born of Scotch parentage he was reared on the homestead farm
and received a common school education. At the opening of the war he
enlisted in the Union Army, October, 1861, as a member of Company C,
First New York Mounted Rifles. He was sent with his company to
Virginia, participating in the battle of Petersburg and other
engagements of the war. He was mustered out at Albany as corporal in
December, 1865, having served more than four years. After the war he
returned to Middletown and worked at the carpenter's trade, and has
been identified with building and contracting business there for many
years. He is a charter member of Captain William A. Jackson Post, No.
301, G. A. R., and is its commander. He is a member of the First
Congregational Church of Middletown, N. Y. He is a republican and has
filled many local offices and is at present a member of the board of
education.

HENRY WILSON REED was born at Middletown, Orange County, N. Y.,
November 3, 1875. His education was acquired at the old Wallkill
Academy. After his schooling he became identified with Fort Wayne
Electric Light Co. for a period of seven years. From 1889 to 1891 he
was vice-president of the Enterprise Electric Co., of Middletown,
N. Y. In 1896 he engaged in the electrical construction business,
which business he still carries on. He has done the electrical work
in the best homes and public buildings in Orange County, and is
endorsed by the State Underwriters' Association. He married Helen K.
Biddlebrook, only daughter of William H. Wood, of Chester, N. Y.,
April 9, 1901.

In politics Mr. Reed is a republican. He is a member of the Wallkill
Engine Co. of Middletown and the National Electrical Contractors'
Association of America. He is a member of the First Congregational
Church of Middletown, N. Y.

MARK REEKS, president and treasurer of the John G. Wilkinson Company,
Newburgh, N. Y., wholesale and retail dealers in carriages, harness,
etc., was born in London in 1869. Came to America in 1888, and
entered the employ of John G. Wilkinson as bookkeeper. Following the
death of Mr. Wilkinson in 1905 Mr. Reeks became executor and manager
of the estate and in 1906 purchased the Wilkinson interest and the
present company was organized. The business of which Mr. Reeks is now
the head was established in 1867 and the trade extends throughout New
England, New Jersey and New York.

JOHN REILLY, assessor of the town of Highlands, Orange County, N. Y.,
has ably filled that office for the past twenty years. He is a native
of County Mayo, Ireland, and sailed for America in 1863 on the old
ship _France._ He was employed for a time at Poughkeepsie and Newburgh,
and in 1870 came to West Point and joined the United States Cavalry,
in which he served five years, including one year and a half in the
ordnance department. In 1875 Mr. Reilly established his hotel and
livery, which he has conducted with much success. He has always taken
an active interest in politics and is a member of the Republican
county committee. Socially he is a member of the Knights of Honor and
the A. O. H. He married Miss Jane Cook, daughter of ex-Supervisor
Cook. He was appointed postmaster of Highland Falls under President
McKinley's administration, but declined the office.

A. SMITH RING, for many years prominent in financial and public
affairs of Newburgh, was born in that city in 1838, a son of Thomas
C. and Catherine (Speir) Ring. After graduating from the academy, he
was employed by the Powell Bank until 1858, when he became connected
with the Newburgh Savings Bank, of which his father was treasurer.
The latter part of Mr. Ring's life was spent in retirement from
active business pursuits, devoting his attention to the management of
his large property interests.

A firm believer in the principles of the democratic party, he was
elected city treasurer in 1875. He was appointed one of the trustees
of Washington's headquarters and treasurer of the board. He was a
member of the board of managers of the Associated Charities and took
a deep and active interest in philanthropic work.

October 5, 1881, Mr. Ring was united in marriage with Miss Frances
Ludlow, daughter of the late George W. Kerr. One child, Thomas
Ludlow, was born to them.

In the death of Mr. Ring, which occurred July 8, 1893, Newburgh lost
a citizen of more than ordinary ability, who occupied a high place in
the regard of his associates.

SAMUEL D. ROBERSON, of Bullville, Orange County, N. Y., was born in
the town of Crawford in 1849, a son of Samuel and Margaret (Martin)
Roberson. His father was a native of Westchester County, and for many
years was proprietor of the Bullville Hotel. Our subject was educated
at the public schools and for three years managed the Bullville
Hotel. He then built a creamery and was also engaged in a general
mercantile business.

As a leader in democratic politics Mr. Roberson is widely known to
the voters of Orange County. He was chosen chairman of the democratic
county committee in 1896, and for twelve years was elected to the
office of supervisor in Crawford town.

In 1870 Mr. Roberson married Miss Hannah Powles of Newburgh. Seven
children were born to them, of whom four sons and one daughter are
living.

HON. CHARLES DWIGHT ROBINSON was born in Auburn, Cayuga County,
N. Y., February 6, 1860. He was educated in the public schools of his
native city.

Mr. Robinson is a descendant of George Robinson, who settled in
Rehoboth, in the State of Massachusetts, in 1645. His ancestry on
both sides was very active in the trying times of the American
Revolution. His father, William Philip Robinson, located in Auburn
in 1844; his mother was Louise E., daughter of William Clark Smith
and Amer Lewis. Mr. Smith was a grandson of Anning Smith, of Milton,
Ulster County, N. Y.. an officer in the Revolutionary War. On the
paternal side of Mr. Robinson, his ancestors, Zephaniah Robinson and
Philip Robinson, served in Massachusetts regiments, Philip being a
sergeant. William Robinson, a cousin of Philip, served in a
Connecticut regiment, in the Revolution.

Mr. Robinson, since leaving school, has been active in many lines of
usefulness, which he was well adapted for. Prior to 1883 he was
cashier for the Chicago branch of D. M. Osborne & Co., of Auburn. He
removed to Newburgh, N. Y., in November, 1883, and entered the firm
of John Dales & Co., real estate and insurance, where he has since
continued.

Mr. Robinson in politics is a republican. He has been identified with
municipal affairs of Newburgh since 1894, first serving as alderman
from his (Fourth) ward in 1894 and 1895; president of the common
council from March, 1895, to March, 1900, and from March, 1904, to
March, 1906. He became well informed as to the city's conditions and
needs, and being a thorough, economical business man, he was chosen
as its mayor in 1906-1907. He has been trustee of Washington's
headquarters since 1893, having been appointed by Governor Roswell P.
Flower, and reappointed by Governors Black, Odell and Hughes.

Mr. Robinson is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the
Historical Society of the Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, Hudson
River Lodge, No. 52; Hudson River Commandery, No. 35, Knight Templar;
the Robinson Genealogical Society, and the Newburgh City Club. He has
been married twice. His first marriage was to Mary B. Dales, February
16, 1882. They had one daughter, Julia. Mrs. Robinson died January
14, 1900. His second marriage was to Anna B. Colwell, January 30,
1902. They have one son, Charles D., Jr.

JAMES ROBERTSON was born December 6, 1846, at Liberty, Sullivan
County, N. Y. His parents were Bronson and Abigail (Stoddard)
Robertson. Our subject acquired his education at the public school.
At an early age he learned the carpenters' trade, which he followed
for some years. He joined the navy in 1864 and was assigned the
position as ship carpenter on the _Sweet Briar,_ one of the boats
that made up the South Atlantic blockading squadron. He served until
1866 and received an honorable discharge. After the war he resided in
Chicago for three years, after which he returned to Monticello,
Sullivan County, and followed his trade for a time. He was identified
with the Erie R. R. at Port Jervis for ten years as foreman of the
carpenters' department of the Delaware division. In 1902 he was
appointed manager of the bottling department of the Deer Park
Brewery, and in 1906 was made general manager, which position he
still holds. Mr. Robertson married Mary E. Kinne, of Monticello,
N. Y., March 2, 1871. Socially he is a member of the Port Jervis
Lodge No. 328, F. & A. M., Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

FREDERICK O. ROCKAFELLOW, one of the leading funeral directors and
embalmers of Middletown, N. Y., was born in that city May 14, 1864.
After graduating from the Middletown High School and Wallkill
Academy, he entered the undertaking establishment of his father, John
D. Rockafellow, and acquainted himself with every detail of the
business. Upon the death of his father, Frederick came into
possession of the business, which he has since conducted
successfully. This business was established by his father in 1861,
and is the oldest establishment of the kind in Middletown. John D.
Rockafellow was one of Middletown's most progressive and public
spirited citizens, he was chief of the fire department for many years
and always took a deep interest and lent ready aid in the furtherance
of projects benefiting the community. Frederick O. Rockafellow
married Marguerite R. Oliver, of Chicago, Ill., and to them have been
born two sons: Frederick O., Jr., and John D. Mr. Rockafellow is a
member of Lancelot Lodge, No. 169, K. of P.; an honorary member of
the Excelsior hook and ladder company and a member of the Middletown
Club. The family attend Westminster Church.

LEWIS N. L. ROCKWELL was born at Narrowsburg, Sullivan County, N. Y.,
May 12, 1875. He attained his education at the public school. He also
attended the Albany business college. In 1896 he accepted a position
as bookkeeper in New York City in a wholesale house. November 6,
1905, he removed to Otisville and purchased the general store of Joel
Northrop, where he has since continued the business. He married Miss
Irene Bloomberg, of Narrowsburg, January 10, 1900. In politics he is
a democrat. Socially he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
There were thirteen children in his parents' family and there are
still living four sons and two daughters. His brother, George W., has
served two terms as county clerk of Sullivan County.

ALFRED B. ROE, of Chester, N. Y., was born at that place June 9,
1880. He graduated from Chester Academy and later attended Lafayette
College, at Easton, Pa. Following his schooling he assisted his
father on the home farm. He married Frances A. Decker, of Chester,
April 3, 1902, and they have one son, Alfred Russell, born January
30, 1905.

Mr. Roe's parents were Alfred Booth and Martha (Durland) Roe. The
homestead farm has been in the possession of the family for about one
hundred and seventy-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Roe are members of the
First Presbyterian Church of Chester.

D. HOWELL ROE, of Florida, Orange County, was born October 25, 1838.
After he finished his district school education, at the age of
eighteen, he became clerk in William Vail's grocery store and worked
there several years, when he engaged in the livery business at
Chester, near the Erie Railroad station. He sold out a few years
later and opened a grocery and feed store in Chester, which he
conducted until his death, November 29, 1880. He was town clerk and
supervisor many years, holding the latter office until poor health
obliged him to decline a re-nomination by the democratic party, to
which he belonged. He went South, remained there a year, and
afterward spent two winters there for his health. He was a member of
the Standard Lodge of Chester and of the Methodist Church. He married
Elizabeth Rysdyk, of Chester, June 7, 1854. Their two children died
in infancy.

FRED ROGERS, manufacturer, of Middletown, N. Y., was born at
Brewster, Putnam County, N. Y., July 12, 1859. His parents were both
of English extraction, his father, Joseph, having been born near
Oxford, and his mother, Penelope Wilkin, near Bristol, England.
Joseph Rogers settled at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and engaged in the
manufacture of drums and banjo heads, afterward removing to
Bloomingburgh, Sullivan County, N. Y., where he learned his trade.
Fred obtained his education at the district school at Bloomingburg
and Snooks Academy at Monticello, N. Y. After leaving school he
entered the drum head manufactory of his father at Bloomingburg, and
continued with him until the death of the latter in 1901, when he
succeeded to the business. His mother died in 1896. Mr. Rogers
married Harriet Pellet Moore, of Middletown, N. Y., November 28,
1888, and four children were born to them: Penelope, Ruth Bradner,
died November 25, 1907; Helen Hyde and Clara Elizabeth. He is a
member of the Royal Arcanum and Knights of Pythias. His brother,
Joseph, now conducts the factory established by his father at
Bloomingburg. Mr. Rogers opened his present factory at Mechanicstown,
near Middletown, in 1897.

WILLIAM H. ROGERS was born December 29, 1845, in Sullivan County,
N. Y. He is a son of James and Elizabeth Rogers. In 1859 he moved to
Middletown, where he acquired his education, attending the old
Orchard street school and Wallkill Academy. He engaged in the drug
business in 1868, and is at present senior member of the drug firm of
McMonagle & Rogers, of Middletown. He married Miss Amelia Chattle, of
Middletown, May 19, 1869. To this union three children were born:
Fred S., Thomas C, district attorney of Orange County, and Elizabeth,
wife of Wickham Wisner Young, of Middletown. Mr. Rogers supports the
republican party. He is ex-president of the board of education,
ex-member of the board of water commissioners, and president of the
board of managers of Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital and
ex-president of the New York State Pharmaceutical Association,
charter member Monhagen hose company, member Royal Arcanum,
Concordia Council, No. 1077, and Hoffman Lodge, No. 412, F. and
A. M., of Middletown.

CHARLES W. ROSE was born September 9, 1836, at Canajoharie, N. Y. He
attended the district school at Amsterdam. At an early age he learned
the milling business, and has been identified with that for many
years. He worked at the Tivoli Railroad Mills, at Albany, which was
built previous to the Revolutionary War. In 1850 he operated the
Garden City Mill, at Chicago, for two years. He was an engineer on
the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad between Albany and
Syracuse. He returned to Albany and ran the engine in the same mill
for a period of four years after it was operated by steam. In 1863 he
went to New York City, taking charge of the William Tildert & Nephew
Varnish Works, which position he held for twelve years, after which
he spent two years abroad. Mr. Rose then came to Burnside, Orange
County, and purchased the saw and grist mill, which he operated for
eight years in connection with a general store. He has been
postmaster of Burnside for several years. In politics he is a
republican and served one term as supervisor, and as justice of the
peace several years.

He married Sophia Schweishelm, of Hanover, Germany. Three children
were born to this union. One died, by accident, aged twenty-one
years; Harry, with the Mead Morrison Manufacturing Company, of New
York, and Frieda Dorothy, residing at home. Mr. and Mrs. Rose are
members of the Presbyterian Church at Campbell Hall.

HENRY ELKANAH ROSE is one of nine children of Silas and Elmira Rose,
and was born at Sugar Loaf, Orange County, February 15, 1850. He
attended the district school and the Seward Institute at Florida,
after which he assisted his father on the farm until he was eighteen,
when he learned the wheelwright trade and, later, blacksmithing, and
has since been an industrious man in these occupations and farming.
He is a member of the Sugar Loaf Methodist Church and politically is
a democrat. September 23, 1878, he married Mary Fitzgerald of
Warwick, and they have three children: Nellie E., born April 11,
1880, wife of Henry Ames, of Stamford, N. Y.; Edith S., born March
10, 1883, wife of Fletcher A. Herrod, of Miami, Florida, and Floyd
William Dudley, born September 2, 1884, living in Maxwell, Neb. The
grandmother of Mrs. Rose was Mary Booth, a granddaughter of Sarah
Wells, reputed to be the first white woman who came to Orange County.

JOSEPH H. ROSE, retired brick manufacturer, Newburgh N. Y.; born at
Hamburg, N. Y., 1865; son of John C. and Phoebe (Myers) Rose; removed
with his parents to Haverstraw, N. Y., where he attended the academy;
has resided in Newburgh since 1883, when the Rose Brick Company was
established at Roseton, Orange County, N. Y., with which Joseph H.
was connected until 1902, when he retired from active business.

ELMER E. ROOSA, attorney, of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in New Paltz,
Ulster County, N. Y., in 1861. He is of Holland ancestry and came to
Newburgh with his parents in 1870. After graduating from the academy,
he read law in the office of Messrs. Scott & Hirschberg, and was
admitted to the bar in 1882. He continued in the office of his
preceptors, and when Mr. Hirschberg was advanced to a judicial
position, Mr. Roosa took up the extensive practice attending the
office. Mr. Roosa is vice-president of the Newburgh Planing Mill and
interested in various local enterprises. He is a member of the Hudson
River Lodge, F. and A. M.; Highland Chapter and Hudson River
Commandery.

EDWARD C. ROSS, treasurer of the Coldwell Lawn Mower Company, has
been identified with this important industry since its incorporation.
He is a native of Newburgh, a son of Henry and Jane (Cleland) Ross.
After graduating from the Newburgh Academy and Eastman Business
College he formed a partnership with his brother George H., to
continue the flour and grist mill established by their father. He
disposed of his interest in 1903 to devote his entire attention to
the manufacture of lawn mowers. For two years he represented the
company abroad, with headquarters in London, England. Mr. Ross was
for many years a member of the Newburgh board of education. He is
identified with the Masonic fraternity and a member of the City Club.
He married Miss Jennie M. Coldwell, and two sons and a daughter have
been born to them.

SEWARD U. ROUND, attorney, of Newburgh, was born in Florida, Orange
County, N. Y., in 1856. He was educated at Seward Institute, attended
Albany Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1880. Formed
partnership with Eugene A. Brewster, Jr., which was continued two
years, when the firm of Round & Chatterton was organized and
continued until the death of Mr. Chatterton.

Mr. Round is a member of the Chapter and Commandery in the Masonic
order, and is affiliated with Trinity M. E. Church.

John Wesley Round, the father of Seward U. Round, was born July 22,
1822, at Richfield, Otsego County, N. Y., and died at Florida, N. Y.,
January 5, 1862, aged thirty-nine years.

John W. Round graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.,
in the class of 1843, and after teaching at various points assumed
the principalship of S. S. Seward Institute at Florida, N. Y., where
he remained from 1851 to 1862, the date of his death. He was called
to other higher institutions of learning, but at the request and
desire of Wm. H. Seward, who was closely identified with the
institute, he was prevailed upon to remain and conduct the Seward
Institute, which was in a flourishing condition at his death. John W.
Round was a linguist, mastering no less than seven languages and also
a natural-born musician, playing several instruments skilfully.
Socially the whole community and those who knew him will give
constant testimony of his great success and attainments, and his
scholastic ability can be attested by many men now in prominent
public life.

JOSEPH W. ROWLAND, general superintendent of the New York Knife
Company, mention of which appears elsewhere in this work, was born in
Connecticut in 1849. He came with his father, Joseph Rowland, to
Walden, in 1856, and learned the cutlery trade. In 1884, upon the
death of his father, he was made general superintendent and
ultimately succeeded him as vice-president of the company, continuing
in that office until the reorganization of the company. Mr. Rowland
is a director of the Walden Savings Bank and trustee of the Wallkill
Valley Cemetery Association.

HENRY RUDOLPH, former supervisor of the Fifth ward, Newburgh, was
born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, in 1853, a son of Henry and Wilhelmina
(Helfinch) Rudolph, who were natives of the same province. At the age
of fifteen Mr. Rudolph was apprenticed to learn the baker's trade. In
1870 he sailed for New York, where he worked at his trade. He was for
a time in business in Matteawan, N. Y., and in 1880 came to
Newburgh, where he has built up an extensive wholesale and retail
bakery business.

Politically Mr. Rudolph is a republican and has always taken an
active part to advance the interests of his party. He has represented
his ward in the common council, and in 1902 was elected a member of
the board of supervisors and continuously re-elected to serve until
December 31, 1907.

ARCHIBALD E. RUGGLES was born at Windsor, Vt. His parents were Edgar
M. and Emma S. Ruggles. He acquired his early education at the public
school in his home town. At an early age Mr. Ruggles identified
himself with a clothing firm in Claremont, N. H., and was there
seven years, after going to New Berlin, N. Y., where he took the
management of a store. In April, 1902, he purchased the John E.
Adams store in Middletown, which he still operates. He was married to
Miss Minnie L. Ainsworth, of Claremont, N. H., October 18, 1899. In
politics Mr. Ruggles is a republican. Socially he is a member of
Phoebus Lodge, No. 82, F. and A. M., of New Berlin, N. Y., and of
Concordia Council, No. 1077, Royal Arcanum, of Middletown. He was
elected exalted ruler of the Elks' Lodge, No. 1097, of Middletown,
N. Y., at the institution of the lodge, December 31, 1907.

GEORGE M. SANFORD was the third son of the late Deacon Ezra Sanford,
and was born in the town of Warwick on November 5, 1821. His mother
was the late Adeline Terry. His brothers were Pierson Ezra (and only
survivor), Uriah Terry and William More. His sisters were Hester Ann
Price, Mary Elizabeth, Julia A. Morehouse, Abigail Gabriel and Emily
S. Tuttle. The two last named are still living. He married Frances
Amelia, a daughter of the late Captain Nathaniel Wheeler Baird. They
celebrated their golden wedding in 1897. Mr. Sanford died on January
6, 1900, and left surviving his widow and the following children:
Lansing Haight (who died the same year), Ferdinand Van Derveer,
George Alden, Mary Elizabeth, John Wheeler and Francis Baird. Lansing
Haight left one child, Mrs. Edward W. Everitt, of Newark, N. J.

Mr. Sanford was one of Warwick's most un-ostentatious and sterling
citizens. He was for many years prominent in business and associated
with the substantial and conservative institutions of the valley. He
was one of the organizers and directors of the First National Bank,
a promoter and director of the Warwick Valley Railroad Company,
succeeded by the present Lehigh and Hudson River Railway.

He was the first and continuous president of the Warwick Cemetery
Association, a model for success and careful methods. He was a
successful farmer and financier.

He was an ardent republican in politics and rarely missed voting.
Without being an office seeker he was at one time the supervisor of
the town. Being an ardent patriot and unable in the early sixties to
qualify as a soldier and go to the front, he aided by recruiting
between fifty and sixty men for service under his country's flag.

He had a most equable disposition; kindly and charitable. He took a
great interest in young men and loved to help them, and not a few in
the town owe much of success to the wise counsel and start in life he
gave them.

A quiet vein of humor was always ready to manifest itself when that
part of his nature was appealed to. He was also noted for his
hospitable traits, and many, far and near, will testify to sharing
the comforts and pleasantries of his attractive home.

JAMES EVERETT SANFORD was born at Sandfordville, near Warwick,
January 21, 1859. His education was obtained at the public school at
Warwick. After his schooling he was connected with the Demarest
creamery near Warwick for nearly two years. He then clerked for A. J.
Burt at Bellvale for two years, after which he took the management of
the home farm. During the summer of 1887 Mr. Sanford traveled in
Europe. In 1889 he became identified with R. C. Williams & Co.,
wholesale grocers, of New York, and continued with this firm nearly
twelve years as traveling salesman. In the fall of 1901 he was
elected county treasurer and served the county in an efficient manner
for six years. Socially he is a member of Warwick Lodge No. 544,
F. and A. M., Warwick Club and Sons of the Revolution. In politics he
is a republican. He is treasurer and director of the Warwick Knife
Co. and attends the Baptist Church of Warwick.

JOHN W. SANFORD. Among the leading business men of Warwick, none have
done more for the up building and advancement of the town than the
gentleman whose name heads this review. He was born May 13, 1864, at
Warwick, Orange County, N. Y. His parents were George W. and Frances
A. (Baird) Sanford. He obtained his early education at the public
school, graduating in 1883, after which he took an agricultural
course at Cornell. In 1889 he started in the insurance, real estate
and brokerage business at Warwick. Mr. Sanford gives his personal
attention to two farms, which are stocked with one hundred head of
the finest cattle.

He married Miss Bertha M. Furman, of Warwick, October 6, 1897. They
have two children: Frances Isabel, born February 11, 1900, and Bertha
Elizabeth, born January 29, 1905. In politics he is a republican, and
is identified with the Old Dutch Reformed Church of Warwick. He is a
director of the First National Bank, president of Warwick Cemetery
Association, director of Warwick Valley Telephone Company, director
and treasurer Warwick Inn. Company, director and treasurer Unionville
Water Works Company, director of the Florida Water Works Company and
trustee Warwick Savings Bank.

WILLIAM MOORE SANFORD was born August 17, 1827. His parents were Ezra
and Adaline (Terry) Sanford. He attended the district school in his
locality, after which he attended a private school at Poultney, Vt.,
and college at Ann Arbor Mich. The subject of this sketch and his
father were identified at Sandfordville, Orange County, in the
tanning business until 1880, when William M. continued the business
from that period until his death, which occurred August 17, 1887. He
was reared on the Sanford homestead, about two miles from Warwick. He
married Sarah Burt in October, 1856. They had seven children:
Charles, engaged in business in Warwick; William, of New York;
Everett, residing at home; Ezra, of New York; Mary, wife of Frank
Durland, of Chester, N. Y.; Addie, wife of William R. Welling, of
Warwick, and Emily, wife of A. M. Reynolds, of Newark, N. J. Mr.
Sanford is survived by one brother and two sisters. In politics he
was a republican and served as superintendent of the poor at the time
of his death.

BENJAMIN B. SAYER was born March 11, 1859, on the homestead farm,
near Warwick, N. Y., which has been in the family since 1768, and was
purchased by Daniel Sayer, his great-grandfather, of Henry Wisner,
who lived in the town of Goshen. He obtained his early education at
the Warwick Institute and has always been identified with farming. He
also operates a distillery on the farm, which was established in
1812. He married Miss Annie Wagoner, of Glenburnie, Ontario, Canada,
March 15, 1893. Three children were born to this union: Helen
Bennett, born December 18, 1893; Mary Eraser, born June 2, 1895, and
Benjamin Wagoner, born December 9, 1896. In politics Mr. Sayer is
independent. He is a member of Warwick Lodge, No. 544, F. and A. M.,
and the Warwick grange. The farm on which Mr. Sayer resides was the
place first settled on by the Warwick pioneers.

GEORGE S. SAYER, for many years a leading business man and farmer of
Westtown, N. Y., was born in 1812, and died in 1884. As a young man
he taught school a few years, and in 1836 went to Indiana, where he
remained ten years. In 1852 he resumed farming, near Westtown, and in
1872 built a store and home in the village. He married Emeline C.
Evans and six children were born, Jonathan Sayer, now the postmaster
at Westtown, being the second child. After finishing his schooling he
assisted his father on the farm.

He married Miss Sarah Owen and two sons were born: George O., a
lawyer in New York, and Robert E., who resides at Westtown. In 1902
Mr. Sayer was appointed postmaster, and the management of the farm,
passed to his son, Robert E., who was born in 1876, and educated at
the schools of Hackettstown. He chose for his wife Miss Frances
Horton.

WILLIAM BENJAMIN SAYER. The Sayer family is of English extraction and
is mentioned as living at Poddington, England, in 1309. This is the
line from which the Thomas Sayer descended, who came from
Bedfordshire, England, to Lynn, Mass., and from whom the Sayers in
this country are descended. He built the old Sayer single house in
1648 at Southampton, Long Island, New York, said to be the oldest
English house standing in New York State.

The Sayers came to Orange County in 1750. William Benjamin Sayer, a
descendant of the above mentioned Sayers, now owns and occupies the
stone house situated on Main street, Warwick, N. Y., which was built
by Francis Baird in 1766. It was called the Stone Tavern and was used
as one until 1830. The mechanics who built this house came from New
York City, and when completed it was considered the model house in
this section. The most of the timbers are hewed oak with wide pine
plank floors. This house has been in the Sayer family since 1858.
Among the distinguished persons who stopped at the house are General
George Washington and wife, and the room on the northwest corner on
the second story is said to have been the room where they slept. Here
are kept a number of old time relics to show to friends. The present
owner, W. B. Sayer, was born in this room, March 14, 1866, and has
always lived in the house with his sister, Miss M. Eva Sayer.

Rev. James Manning, a Baptist minister, and his wife, from
Providence, R. I., took dinner here Sunday, September 12, 1779. He
said in his diary: "We had an elegant dinner and were treated very
hospitably by Francis Baird."

Marquis De Chastelliux, major-general in the French army serving
under Count Rochambeau, stayed all night here with his aides,
December 6, 1781. He says: "I lodged at Warwick, at a very good inn
kept by Mr. Smith, who rented of Francis Baird, and had every reason
to be content with this establishment."

Henry Pelton, a prominent local historian and grandfather of our
surveyor of that name, when he first came here, in 1805, stayed his
first night in Warwick in this house. A picture of this house will be
found in this volume.

THE SCHRADE CUTLERY COMPANY, of Walden, N. Y., is the youngest of the
industries that have made that village the Sheffield of America.
Established in a modest way April 19, 1904, by George and J. Louis
Schrade, its growth has been very rapid and the value of their
product now exceeds $100,000 worth annually. The plant which the
company erected is a substantial frame structure, thirty by
eighty-five feet, three stories in height, equipped with modern
machinery and up-to-date methods of manufacture, employing about one
hundred hands. One hundred different styles of pen and pocket knives
are produced and the goods find a ready market all over the United
States. The Schrade brothers are natives of Williamsport, Pa. George,
the president of the company, has resided in Walden since 1894, and
is the inventor, patentee and for ten years the sole manufacturer of
the press button knife in connection with the Walden Knife Works. Mr.
J. Louis Schrade came to Walden in 1904. He had previously been
engaged in the manufacture of self-playing pianos in New York,
Boston, London and Paris. Both brothers are members of the Masonic
fraternity.

CHRISTIAN H. SCHARFF was born at Amsterdam, Holland, February 26,
1834. He came to America with his father, and the family settled in
Newark, N. J. He was graduated from Princeton College in 1853, and
studied law with Joseph P. Bradley (justice of supreme court). With
James Buchanan, Henry formed the law partnership of Henry & Scharff,
at No. 14 Wall street, New York City. Frances A. (Seward) Scharff was
born at Florida, N. Y., April 16, 1836. She attended the Seward
Institution at Florida and later the Grove Hall Seminary for young
ladies at New Haven, Conn. She was united in marriage to Christian
H. Scharff, January 27, 1859.

R. ED. SCHOFIELD was born at Port Jervis, N. Y., December 10, 1853.
His parents were James H. and Marguerite Cole (Elston) Schofield. His
early education was obtained at the public school and Port Jervis
Academy. After his schooling he read law in the office of Judge O. P.
Howell, and was admitted to the bar in 1885. October, 1890, he
entered into partnership with Judge O. P. Howell and Mr. Parshall,
the firm being Howell, Parshall & Schofield, which continued until
September, 1893, when Mr. Parshall withdrew from the firm. Mr.
Schofield continued with Judge Howell until January, 1896, and since
that time has continued alone. He married Miss Mary J. Finn, of Port
Jervis, N. Y., January 28, 1885. Their two children are James H. and
Anna C., residing at home. In politics Mr. Schofield is a republican
and has served the town in various offices. He has been clerk of the
board of education for twenty-five years and is now president of the
Co-Operative Loan and Savings Society. He and his wife are members of
the Presbyterian Church.

D. DEWITT SCHOONMAKER was born at Middletown, Orange County, N. Y.
His early education was acquired at the Wallkill Academy, where he
graduated in 1878. For two years he was engaged as traveling
salesman, and one year in the merchandise business in Goshen, N. Y.
Mr. Schoonmaker has not sought prominence in life, but has devoted
himself entirely to his business. In 1882 he associated himself with
the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co., holding the position of
bookkeeper for three years and assistant superintendent for seventeen
years. He has been identified with the Borden Condensed Milk Co.
since 1902, and for the past three years has held the position of
superintendent. April 21, 1897, he married Miss Mary J. McNish, of
Middletown, N. Y. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and
A. M., and served as foreman of Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company for
three years.

JOHN SCHOONMAKER, for nearly half a century the foremost dry goods
merchant in Orange County, was born in the town of Gardiner, Ulster
County, N. Y., January 25, 1830, and died at his home in Newburgh,
N. Y., January 1, 1904.

The Schoonmaker family is one of the oldest in this section of New
York State. The progenitor of the family in America was Hendrick
Jochemsen Schoonmaker, who came to America in 1654, in the military
service of the Dutch West India Company. The records show he loaned
money to Governor Stuyvesant "in time of need," and was active in the
military duties made necessary by the troublous times. His grandson,
Captain Frederick Schoonmaker, was one of the patriots and soldiers
of the Revolution, who gave himself and his property to his country
in its struggle for freedom from the British yoke.

John A. Schoonmaker, father of the subject of this sketch, was a son
of Major Abraham Schoonmaker of Revolutionary fame (Fourth Regiment,
Ulster County Militia). He married Rachel, eldest daughter of
Gustavis and Maria (Terwilliger) Sammons. Ten children were born to
them, of whom John was the tenth in order of birth. He was educated
at Amenia Seminary, Dutchess County. He began work upon his father's
farm and continued until he was twenty-two, teaching school at
Gardiner for the last winter that he remained at home. In March,
1852, with his brother Jacob, he opened a general store at
Tuttletown. Soon afterward his brother lost his life in the Henry
Clay disaster on the Hudson, and in a short time the Tuttletown store
was sold, Mr. Schoonmaker moving to Newburgh in the fall of 1853. His
first employment was with Stephen Hayt, on Water street, for his
board. In three months he took a clerkship with Isaac Wood, Jr., for
three years, after which he had a position for a year with Mr.
Parmalee, and again returned to the store of Isaac Wood, Jr., where,
under Mr. Wood's guidance, he received and acquired experience that
was invaluable to him in later years.

In 1863 Mr. Schoonmaker, with Samuel C. Mills and A. Y. Weiler,
purchased the dry goods business of Colonel Wood, at the northeast
corner of Water and Third streets. They conducted business under the
firm name of Schoonmaker, Mills & Weiler. Half a dozen lines of boats
between New York and Newburgh and market wagons from the surrounding
country made Newburgh an active business center, where stores were
open as early as five o'clock in the morning and frequently as late
as eleven o'clock at night. In 1878 the firm occupied its newly
completed building at Nos. 94 and 96 Water street. This was
considered a notable improvement and the firm even then had the
largest dry goods store in the city. Although at first only part of
the building was occupied, in a few years increased business made it
necessary to occupy the whole. Mr. Mills retired in 1885 and Mr.
Weiler January 1, 1898. Mr. Schoonmaker's son, Samuel V., purchased
Mr. Weller's interest and the firm became John Schoonmaker & Son.

Now the firm purchased the adjoining building on the north, still
further increasing its capacity for business. Mr. Schoonmaker took
an active interest in the affairs of the firm until his sudden
illness in the latter part of 1902, and after a protracted period of
hope and fear he died on January 1, 1904, at his home, 135 Grand
street. He had thus been for many years the head of Newburgh's dry
goods trade. His business acquaintance was very extensive and few men
enjoyed such a reputation for honor, integrity and probity, his
friends and acquaintances placing implicit confidence in him, which,
throughout his career, was never violated. He was a public spirited
citizen, always interested in the welfare and progress of Newburgh
and contributed generously to projects which promised well for its
advancement, yet he never sought public office or cared to appear
prominently in public. His increasing business prevented him from
entering politics, although he was a member of the board of health
from 1885 to 1888, in which he rendered conscientious service. He was
one of the organizers of the old Newburgh board of trade, and of its
successor, the Newburgh Business Men's Association, of which his son
was president. He earnestly aided by counsel and purse in the
building of the Palatine Hotel. For thirty-seven years he was a
trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank and for a number of years its
second vice-president. He was a member of the First Presbyterian
Church, in which he was active and efficient, serving for many terms
as trustee and elder. He was also deeply interested in Bethel Mission
and chapel, serving as superintendent of the chapel while health
permitted. He was a member of the Holland Society of New York from
1890 until the time of his death. He was married July 2, 1862, to
Mary A. Vail. The children of this marriage, Samuel V. Schoonmaker,
Mrs. W. Clement Scott and Miss Elizabeth M. Schoonmaker, are all
residents of Newburgh.

THEODORE D. SCHOONMAKER was born in the town of Crawford, in the
County of Orange, on the 28th day of December, 1836. He was the only
son of Levi Schoonmaker and Julia Ann, his wife. Levi was a son of
Edward Schoonmaker and Leah Rose, his wife, both of the town of
Shawangunk, Ulster County, N. Y. Julia Ann was the daughter of Samuel
Butler and Sarah, his wife, both of the town of Goshen, Orange
County, N. Y.

The subject of this sketch received a common school and academic
education, taught school in the counties of Chemung, Ulster and
Orange for several years, was brought up a farmer, which occupation
he followed till January 1, 1868, when he was appointed by the then
surrogate, Honorable Gilbert O. Hulse, his brother-in-law, clerk of
the surrogate's court of the county of Orange, which position he has
occupied ever since continuously, being appointed by the successive
surrogates to that office. He was stenographer to the surrogate's
court from 1870 till the year 1903, and was also for several years
assistant stenographer for the second judicial district of this
state, and also served as county court stenographer under County
Judges Honorables Stephen W. Fullerton and Charles F. Brown, and also
stenographer to the Dutchess County court under Honorables Henry M.
Taylor and B. Platt Carpenter. In 1889 he was elected one of the
trustees of the village of Goshen, after a bitter and arduous
campaign, to which office he has been reelected for six terms of two
years each, without any opposition, and is now one of such trustees.

He has four children living, two having died in infancy: Anna
Frances, wife of Thomas Mould, of the firm of Thompson & Mould;
Theodore F., of Hartford, Conn., traveling salesman; Mary Adele, at
home, and Charles B., civil and construction engineer.

ANDREW SCHRIVER, residing on a farm near Chester, N. Y., was born
December 16, 1840, at Lagrange, Dutchess County, N. Y. His early
education was obtained at the Unionville Seminary. He joined Company
A, One Hundred and Forty-fourth New York Volunteers, and served in
the Civil War for three years, after which he joined the New York
conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and actively followed
the ministry for thirty-seven years, and for six years was presiding
elder of the Newburgh district. Mr. Schriver is now retired and
resides on the Oak Lane farm of one hundred and forty acres, near
Chester, N. Y. He makes a specialty of breeding and exhibiting
Hampshire sheep, Guernsey cattle and fancy poultry. He married Alida
Wiltsie, of Albany County, April 24, 1877. Their five children are:
Hiram W., Newman E., Paul R., Charlotte and Frank. Mr. Schriver is a
republican and takes an active interest in politics. He is one of the
managers of the Orange County Agricultural Society.

FRANK A. SCOTT, architect and builder, of Newburgh, was born here
July 18, 1830, a son of John and Jane (Gedney) Scott. The Gedney
family is of French-Huguenot origin. David Gedney came from France
and located in Newburgh in 1754. Mr. Scott attended the old Glebe
School, of which some years ago he made a very accurate drawing from
memory. At the age of seventeen he went to New York City to learn the
builders' trade and study architecture. In 1863 Mr. Scott went west
and was engaged in business in Montana, Colorado and Missouri. Since
1872 he has made his home in his native city and has erected many
buildings in the Hudson Valley. In 1852 he married Miss Mary Banks,
of Ulster County. They have two daughters: Elsie Banks and Anna
Gedney. In 1894 Mr. Scott received from Mayor Odell the appointment
of excise commissioner and served as president of the board. He is a
member of the Masonic fraternity and trustee of the Unitarian Church.

W. CLEMENT SCOTT, secretary and treasurer of the Newburgh Planing
Mill, was born in Newburgh in 1869, and is a son of the late Hon.
David A. Scott. His education was obtained at Newburgh Academy and
Yale College, from which he graduated with the degree of A.B. in
1893. He has been connected with the above firm since 1899 and is
identified with local social organizations. In 1897 he married Miss
Mary L., daughter of John Schoonmaker. Two children have been born to
them: Elizabeth M. and William C., Jr.

FRANK H. SCUDDER, treasurer of Middletown, was born November 19,
1871, in Otisville, Orange County, and graduated from the Otisville
public school. He learned telegraphy and was operator for the Erie
Railroad from 1888 to 1892, and for the Ontario & Western Railroad
from the last date to 1900. He was then transferred to the traffic
department of the Ontario & Western as assistant to the traveling
freight agent, which position he still holds. He was elected city
treasurer of Middletown in 1904, and his third term in this office
expired January 1, 1908. He is a member of the Concordia Council,
Royal Arcanum, and also of the Monhagen Hose Company. Politically he
is a republican. He married Miss Elizabeth E. Scott, of Jersey City,
N. J., October 12, 1904, and both are members of the First
Presbyterian Church of Middletown.

HENRY SEACORD, republican, who represents the first assembly district
of Orange County in the assembly, was born September 19, 1829, at
Lincolndale (formerly known as St. David's Corners, or Decker's
Mills), and has resided there since. The Seacord family are direct
descendants of the French Huguenots that fled from Rochel, France, in
the year 1684, went to England, and from there to America in 1684,
and Amroise Sicard, a French Protestant refugee, of La Rochelle,
France, who fled to England in 1682, and from there came to America
in 1684, locating at New Rochelle, Westchester County, and in the
year 1692, on February 9, bought from William La Count land on which
is now the city of New Rochelle. Mr. Seacord's father represented
Orange County in the assembly in 1846, as a free soil democrat, but
when the republican party was organized he came out as a republican
and was made chairman of the mass meeting and appointed the committee
which organized the party in the county.

At an early age Mr. Seacord entered his father's blacksmith shop, to
learn the trade, which he followed until the year 1891, when he left
the forge and engaged in the real estate and insurance business,
which he still follows.

He was present and took part in the organization of the republican
party in Orange County in the year 1855, and has taken an active part
in its councils ever since. He has attended many of the state, county
and district conventions, and was acquainted with Horace Greeley,
Roscoe Conkling, President Arthur and many others of their time.

He was elected to represent his town in the board of supervisors in
1876, being the first republican supervisor elected from the town of
Hamptonburgh. In the fall of 1876 the town gave a democratic majority
of sixty-seven out of a total vote of two hundred and ninety-five.

He was elected to the assembly in 1907, receiving 5,625 votes, while
his democratic opponent received 4,871.

Speaker Wadsworth, in 1908, appointed Mr. Seacord a member of the
assembly committees on insurance and agriculture.

WILLIAM H. SEACORD was born at Lincolndale, Orange County. N. Y.,
formerly known as Decker's, July 17, 1860. After leaving the district
school he learned blacksmithing, and when twenty-one years old
engaged in business for himself.

He married Charlotte E. Crans, May 31, 1883. Their children are:
Barbara A., Andrew W., H. Stanley, Charlotte C. and Ralph P. Barbara
is a teacher in the Lincolndale school, and Andrew is taking a course
in mechanical engineering at Cornell University. Mr. Seacord, besides
his general blacksmithing business, conducts a carriage repository.
He is a member of Hamptonburgh Grange No. 950.

BENJAMIN CHANDLER SEARS was born in Montgomery, February, 1836, where
his father, Marcus Sears, M. D., then resided. His grandfather,
Benjamin Sears, was appointed sheriff of Ulster County by Governor
George Clinton, February, 1793. His mother was a daughter of Richard
Caldwell, captain of the Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, who, on
the march to the Canadian frontier, died from exposure, and was
buried at Champlain, N. Y., in 1812. Dr. Sears soon removed to
Blooming Grove, and Benjamin C. attended the public school there,
Chester Academy and Montgomery Academy, under Joseph M. Wilkin. He
entered the junior class of Rutgers College and graduated in 1857
with the Suydam prize for English composition, and the degree of
A. B., receiving later the degree of A. M.; was a charter member of
the Zeta Psi Club of New York and trustee of the chapter house of the
Sigma Psi fraternity at Rutgers.

On graduating he came to the farm upon which he now resides, which
was purchased by his great-grandfather, John Chandler, in 1793,
containing about forty acres, which, by purchase, he has increased to
four hundred acres. In carrying on the farm, he is associated with
James B. Howell and his son, Marcus Caldwell Sears, who graduated
from Rutgers in the class of '91 with first honor, taking also a
special course in agriculture. The firm kept a dairy of one hundred
or more cows, the milk from which is largely bottled on the farm, and
until March, 1906, was delivered directly to consumers from the
Blooming Grove Ayrshire Dairy, 445 West Nineteenth street, New York
City, but now is distributed by others.

In 1866 he married Phoebe E., daughter of Edmund S. Howell, of
Blooming Grove. In 1878 he was democratic candidate for state
senator. A year later he was appointed on the commission to appraise
damages to property in building the West Shore and Ontario & Western
Railroads. For five years he was superintendent of the farm attached
to Rutgers, the State Agricultural College of New Jersey, and
associate lecturer on farming. For several years he was
vice-president of the Ayrshire Breeders' Association. He was director
of the Orange County Agricultural Society from 1877 to 1899, and
vice-president from 1889 to 1901. He was an elder in the Second
Presbyterian Church of Washingtonville, until it was dissolved, and
since then has been deacon in the Blooming Grove Congregational
Church.

HON. ALBERT H. F. SEEGER, county judge of Orange County, N. Y., was
born in the city of Stuttgart, Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1859. His
parents came to America in 1861, settling in Goshen, N. Y. In 1867
the family moved to Newburgh, and it was here the subject of this
sketch obtained his education and has since resided. After graduating
from the academy in 1875, he read law in the office of Judge Dickey,
and was admitted to the bar in 1880.

Judge Seeger is a tireless worker and has built up a very extensive
and lucrative practice. For a number of years he was assistant
district attorney, and in 1903 was elected district attorney. In 1906
he was elected to the office of county judge.

GEORGE SEELY was born March 27, 1837. His parents were Edward and
Julia Ann (Satterly) Seely. Mr. Seely attained his education at the
district school and Old Chester Academy. He now occupies the
homestead in which his grandfather and great-grandfather lived. The
house is now over one hundred and fifty years old. George Seely was
united in marriage to Miss Helen M. Butler, of Rochester, N. Y.,
September 17, 1868. Their one child, Gaylord B., was born March 3,
1874. Mr. and Mrs. Seely are members of the Chester Presbyterian
Church and Mr. Seely is a member of the Chester Grange No. 984. In
politics he is a republican and has served the town in various
offices. His wife is a member of the board of managers of the Home
for Aged Women of Middletown, N. Y.

HOWARD DAVIS SEELY, who resides near Chester, was born January 27,
1878. He received his early education at the Chester Academy,
afterward attending for two years the Military Academy at
Cornwall-on-Hudson, graduating in 1898. His father, Fred B. Seely,
died in July, 1891. He was a man of sterling worth in the community.
Howard assumed control of the farm after his father's death, which is
located about two miles from Chester. He is a large breeder of
Holstein-Freisian cattle, has exhibited his stock on several occasions
at the Orange County Fair at Middletown, and secured first premium.
The foundation of this stock was purchased of H. D. Roe, of Augusta,
N. J. Mr. Roe has raised more world's champion stock than any one
breeder in this part of the country. Mr. Seely married Miss Carrie A.
Mills, daughter of George Mills, of Goshen, N. Y. They have one
child, Pauline Augusta. He is a member of the Chester Grange, a
republican and takes a lively interest in all questions of the day.

JOHN LANSING SERVIN--Mr. Servin, who spent the last years of his life
in Warwick, was born in Spring Valley, Rockland County, on September
6, 1835. After a course of study at Rutgers College, he was graduated
from the University of the City of New York in 1858. He then
commenced the study of law, and after obtaining his degree at the
Albany Law School, and being connected for a time with the law firm
of Hill, Cagger and Porter in Albany, removed to New York City, where
he practiced his profession until 1865. He married Miss Sallie Ann
Forshee, of Warwick, in 1864, and in 1865 removed to Warwick, where
he purchased the _Warwick Advertiser,_ which he conducted for some
years, when ill health forced him to give up all active pursuits.

He was one of the founders of the Y. M. C. A. at Warwick and
superintendent of the Sunday-school of the Reformed Dutch Church, and
withal a liberal, well-educated and public-spirited citizen.

He died at Warwick, on October 8, 1881, and is survived by three
children: Abraham Forshee, who is a practicing lawyer of Middletown,
N. Y.; Sara, wife of Dr. Stephen W. Perry, of Belchertown, Mass.; and
John Magie, of Warwick. A younger child, Walter Tinkey, died at an
early age. His widow still resides at Warwick in the family home.

FREDERICK W. SEWARD, M.D., a worthy member of a greatly honored
family, was born in Goshen, August  22, 1845. He prepared for college
in the Seward Institute, founded and endowed by his grandfather,
Judge S. S. Seward. He graduated at Union College, and studied
medicine in Bellevue Medical College and the New York Homeopathic
Medical College. He then settled in Middletown, where he had an
extensive practice, but on account of failing health went to New
Mexico in 1876. Returning in 1882, he made Goshen his home and
engaged in general practice until 1899, when he became a specialist
in nervous and mental diseases, and opened "Interpines," a sanatorium
for the cure of these diseases. He has long been president of the
Orange County Homeopathic Society, and is a member of the New York
State Homeopathic Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy;
also the Orange County and New York State Medical Societies and of
the National Medical Association. He is president of the Goshen Board
of Trade and for years was president of the Goshen Board of
Education. He is also a Mason. He was married to Ella Armstrong, of
Florida, Orange County, December 27, 1866. She died three years
later, leaving two children. Dr. Seward again married in 1875, his
second wife being Matie Corey, of Plainfield, N. J., by whom he has
three children. His three daughters, Ella, Matie and Bertha, are at
home. His eldest son, Edwin P., is a ranch man in New Mexico, and
Frederick W., Jr., a graduate of the New York Medical College, is
associated with his father at the "Interpines." Dr. Seward's father
was Edwin Pollodore Seward, of Florida, and his uncle was William H.
Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, and before the war United
States senator. Dr. Seward's great-great-grandfather was John Seward,
a colonel in the New Jersey militia during the Revolutionary war.

JOHN L. SEYBOLT, of the town of Mt. Hope, was born July 28, 1854, on
the homestead farm, about one-half mile from Otisville. He was reared
on the home farm and acquired his early education at the district
school, afterward attending the Otisville school. His principal
business is dairying, having one hundred and seventy-one acres of
land. His parents were Paul Lee, born August 18, 1830, died July 8,
1905, and Antoinette, born July 4, 1831, still living. To this union
four children were born: John, the subject of this sketch; Horace G.,
of New York City, engaged in the milk business; Alva, a prominent
attorney at Oneonta, Otsego County, N. Y., and Emma, wife of J. C.
Jordon, of Middletown, N. Y. Mr. Seybolt married Miss Alice W.
Riter, of Otisville, N. Y., December 18, 1878. She was born June 13,
1858. Two children were born to this union: Violet, wife of George
Kaufman, of Middletown, and Falter Lee, attending school at
Middletown. In politics Mr. Seybolt is a democrat and has served six
years as road commissioner. As a farmer he is very successful and for
many years has been a member of the Otisville Grange.

REV. JESSE F. SHAFER, an old and honored resident of Newburgh, was
born at Montgomery, Orange County, October 12, 1828. He graduated
from Montgomery Academy in 1848, read law with Hon. Hugh B. Bull and
attended the State and National Law School at Ballston Spa, N. Y. He
was admitted to the bar in 1852, and practiced in Goshen and Newburgh
until 1857, when he formed a partnership with his brother, Joseph D.,
district attorney of Ulster County, with offices in Kingston. In 1861
he enlisted in the 56th New York Volunteer Infantry, was promoted to
first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, resigning in 1864.
From 1869 to 1873 Mr. Shafer owned and operated the Youngblood farm.
In 1874 he decided to prepare for the ministry, and was ordained in
1877. He was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Audenried, Pa.,
five years. The failure of his voice caused his retirement. Mr.
Shafer is chaplain of Ellis Post No. 52, G. A. R.; also of the 56th
Regiment Veteran Association. In 1869 he married Miss Ann H.
Crawford, of Thompson's Ridge, Orange County. She died June 10, 1891,
leaving one daughter, Susie C., the wife of Walter Carvey.

WILLIAM H. SHANNON, prominent in business and public affairs at
Newburgh, N. Y., was born in Richmond, North Hampton County, Penn.,
April 22, 1840. His parents, Charles Shannon, a carpenter, and
Magdalen Gruver Shannon, were also natives of Richmond. He is a
descendant from Nathaniel Shannon, who was born in Londonderry,
Ireland, in 1655 of Scottish ancestry. Nathaniel came to America in
1687 as naval officer of the port of Boston, where he was a member of
the historic Old South Church. He served as naval officer of the port
for twenty-two years. From him sprang the various branches of the
family. Some of his descendants became pioneers in the South; one
accompanied the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. William H. Shannon's
grandfather, Langdon Shannon, was a major in the War of 1812.

Mr. Shannon received his education in the little log schoolhouse of
Richmond; that is, as much education as a lad can acquire up to the
early age of thirteen, when he went to work. He came to Newburgh in
1862 to take charge of the slating of Vassar College for the late
John Gait. He started in business the same year and in 1877 became
associated with Mr. Gait, who was interested in the firm of Shannon
& Co., until his death. Mr. Shannon then took his son, William H.,
Jr., into partnership. To the originally modest slate-roofing
business new branches were added from time to time until to-day an
extensive business is carried on--slate, tile and metal roofing
mantels, fireplaces marble and tiling.

Mr. Shannon is a member of the Masonic Veterans' Association, having
been raised in 1866. He is also a charter member of the Washington
Heights Chemical Engine Co. He has been a painstaking and efficient
member of the Water Board for fifteen years, three of which he served
as president.

THE SHAW FAMILY--The Shaw family was among the early settlers in the
northeastern part of the town, and until within a few years the
original tract Of land settled upon them was in the name of some of
the family. About 1750 William Shaw moved to the town and was agent
for a large tract of land owned by New York parties, with
instructions to take what he wanted, sell what he could and give some
away. The descendants of some of his friends to whom he gave farms
are living in Orange County. Soon after he came from Ireland and had
made a clearing, he sent for his intended wife (Mary Waldron). She
came from New York to New Windsor on a sloop and was met by him and
taken to his home on horseback, for at that time it was the only way
he could travel between the two points. They had children and many of
their descendants are still in that vicinity, among them being
Wickham T. Shaw, a great-grandson, practicing law at Middletown,
N. Y. William Shaw, who married Rachel Schoonover, son of William and
Mary W. Shaw, inherited the homestead and died there. Two of his
sons, Aaron and Howard, became quite distinguished. The former was
state attorney, judge of the Supreme Court and twice elected to
Congress in Illinois. The latter (Howard), who married Abby M. Tryon,
was a noted auctioneer, and Wickham T. Shaw, his son, who married
Clara A. Mapes, is the last male descendant in that line living. He
has three sons, Howard, Charles and H. James Aaron, and one daughter,
Florence.

HARRY E. SHAW, of Newburgh, member of the Board of Supervisors, was
born in this city in 1869. His father, the late Captain George W.
Shaw, was for years a leading business man of Newburgh, a member of
the widely known firm of Thomas Shaw's Sons. Harry E. was educated at
the Newburgh Academy and Siglar's Preparatory School, after which he
entered the planing mill business of his father. He subsequently
engaged in the feed business, being senior member of the firm of
Shaw Brothers.

Politically Mr. Shaw is a democrat and in 1907 was elected supervisor
of the Second Ward. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the
Elks, Ringgold Hose Company and the City Club.

SAMUEL E. SHIPP, son of Colonel Samuel Shipp, was born in 1850 at
Pleasant Ridge, Princess Ann County, Virginia. He was educated at
Columbian College, Washington, D. C. Mr. Shipp was deputy state
treasurer of Virginia several years, and for ten years connected with
the post-office in Richmond and Norfolk. He came to Newburgh and
organized the present real estate and insurance firm of Shipp &
Osborn in 1888, associating himself with Mr. David A. Osborn. This
business had been established in 1873 by E. S. Turner. Mr. Shipp is
also president of the Shipp & Osborn Realty Company. In 1900 he was
appointed by the governor of New York State a member of the Board of
Managers of the Middletown State Hospital and served four years as
president of the board. He was elected in 1898 a member of the Board
of Education of Newburgh and has been president of the board six
years. Mr. Shipp is prominent in club, social and business circles.
He is a member of Hudson River Lodge, a Knight Templar and was one of
the organizers of the Wilbur H. Weston Shriner Association and has
been its vice-president and president. He is a charter member and
director of the Newburgh City Club and for many years a member of the
Powelton (Country) Club. Mr. Shipp has always taken an active part in
all matters pertaining to the growth and prosperity of his home city.

HON. MORGAN SHUIT, who for more than a quarter of a century was a
prominent figure in political and business affairs of Orange County,
was born in Richfield, Conn., 1812, and died at Central Valley, July
29, 1884. Mr. Shuit was engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1864,
when he purchased large tracts of land and devoted his time to the
management of his farms. He was a leader in republican politics and
for thirty-one years represented the old town of Monroe in the Board
of Supervisors. He also filled the office of justice of the peace for
thirty-three years. In 1879 he was elected a member of the state
legislature and reelected in 1880. He was chosen executor for many
estates because of the confidence reposed in him by his fellow
citizens. In 1846 Mr. Shuit married Mary A. Titus and seven children
were born to them. Mrs. Shuit died and in 1870 he chose her sister,
Phebe B. Titus, for his second wife.

CHARLES N. SKINNER, M.D., of Port Jervis, was born in that city,
March 9, 1866. He obtained his education in the schools of that place
and Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. When twenty-two years of age he
took up the study of medicine in the office of Dr. W. L. Cuddeback
and completed his medical studies by a course of lectures at
Bellevue, New York, from which he was graduated in 1892. He at once
began the practice of medicine in Port Jervis. He is a member of the
Orange County Medical Society. Dr. Skinner married Mary B. Hiller, of
Tunkhannock, Pa., June 9, 1892, and both he and Mrs. Skinner are
consistent members of the Reformed Church of Port Jervis.

FRANK SLAUGHTER was born near Pine Island, N. Y., February 23, 1854,
attended college at Elmira N. Y., and assisted his grandfather on the
farm until he was thirty-two years old. He has since been a dairy
farmer and an extensive fruit grower. He has a farm of eighty acres,
and apart from this is engaged with the Empire Steel Company of
Catasauqua, Penn., in the limestone business. He married Annie Louise
Wilson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., December 16, 1885. Their six children are
Charles B., born September 20, 1886; Clara Van Sickle, born April 6,
1888, wife of Grant Cooper, of Pine Island; Fannie Louise, born April
5, 1891, wife of Russell S. Ferguson, of New Milford; Jerry, born
April 20, 1893; Lu Wilcox, born December 28, 1898, and Audrey Wilson,
born January 1, 1902. Mr. Slaughter attends the Presbyterian Church.
In politics he is a republican.

NORMAN C. SLY was a New York City policeman more than twenty years,
being appointed on the force May 8, 1882, and serving until September
16, 1902. He is now a practical farmer and good citizen who interests
himself in the public welfare as well as his private interests. He
was born June 22, 1858, and was one of the four children of Ross W.
and Marguerite E. Wilcox Sly. His early education was in the district
school.

CLARENCE J. SLOCUM, M.D., resident physician of Falkirk Sanitarium,
near Central Valley, graduated from the Albany Medical College in
1897. The following three years he was connected with the City
Hospital at Poughkeepsie and from 1900 to 1902 with the Utica State
Hospital. His services were then secured by Dr. Carlos MacDonald as
resident physician of his sanitarium, then located at Pleasantville.
In 1906 the institution was removed to Orange County. Dr. Slocum is a
member of the American Psychological Association and the Dutchess
County Medical Society.

CHARLES H. SMITH was born at Howells, Orange County, N. Y., in 1861.
After graduating from the Wallkill Academy he took up civil
engineering and spent two years in practical work under Chief
Engineer O. Chanute, of the Erie R. R. He then entered Lehigh
University, and for two years was a student in the department of
civil engineering. Later he was engineer on the Erie R. R. Mr. Smith
married Miss Minnie A. Holland, of Hornell, N. Y., in 1890. In 1889
he was appointed assistant chief engineer of the New York, Ontario
and Western R. R., with headquarters at Middletown, which position
he filled for three years. He resigned in 1893 and devoted his
attention entirely to civil engineering. The following year he opened
an office in Middletown and was appointed city engineer, in which
capacity he served ten years, at which time he was appointed county
engineer, which position he is now holding. He is a member of the
American Society of Civil Engineers and an honorary member of the
Excelsior Hook and Ladder Co.

ELWOOD C. SMITH, attorney, of Newburgh, was born in Monroe, N. Y.,
February 12, 1882. He graduated from the Newburgh Academy in 1900 and
from Columbia University in 1904 with the degree of LL.B. He
practiced his profession three years in New York City, and in
January, 1907, began the practice of law in Orange County, with
offices in Newburgh and Monroe. Mr. Smith was elected justice of the
peace of the latter town in 1906. He is a member of the Delta Upsilon
Fraternity; Greenwood Council No. 140, Junior Order American
Mechanics; Standard Lodge No. 711, F. & A. M.; Highland Chapter No.
52, R. A. M.; Hudson River Commandery No. 35, K. T., and Mecca
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.

GEORGE SMITH, one of the enterprising citizens of Otisville, was born
in the town of Mt. Hope, February 8, 1835, being sixth in order of
birth in his parents' family. He remained at home until he was
sixteen, when he learned the carpenters' trade. He clerked in a
general store at Otisville for a period of two years, when he
embarked in business for himself, forming a partnership with Mr.
Dunning. The firm was afterward Reed & Smith. Later Mr. Smith
purchased his partner's interest and continued alone for five years,
when he again sold to Mr. Reed a half interest. Mr. Smith is now
living retired. He married Miss Cynthia Green, of Otisville. In
politics he is a democrat and has served the town as supervisor for
seventeen years and as town clerk eight years.

NATHAN S. SMITH--Among the old business landmarks in Water street,
Newburgh, is the book and stationery store of Mr. Smith, which was
established in 1830. It is the oldest bookstore in the Hudson Valley
and was purchased by Mr. Daniel Smith in 1840. He was a native of
Connecticut, and after locating in Newburgh was engaged for a time in
the shoe business. Mr. N. S. Smith has been proprietor of this store
since 1882. Mr. Smith was born in Newburgh and for many years has
been prominent in the commercial and social circles of his native
city.

WILLIAM J. SMITH, who is engaged in general farming and dairying on a
historic tract of land in the town of Hamptonburgh, was born January
21, 1851, on the homestead farm about one mile from Neelytown. His
father was Foster and his mother Sarah W. (Waite) Smith. He was
married to Miss Lizzie Burns, of Newburgh, December 7, 1876. Two
children were born by this union: Frank W., who married the daughter
of John Maryhue, of Ulster County, N. Y., and Nellie, who resides at
home. He is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church of
Montgomery. In politics he is a democrat. The home in which Mr. Smith
resides is historic from the fact that Washington stopped here on one
occasion in crossing from the Delaware River to his headquarters at
Newburgh. Recently it was necessary to make repairs in the old
chimney and a brick with the date 1777 was taken from the fireplace.

JACOB B. STANABACK--His birthplace was Sparta, Sussex County, N. J.,
where he began life November 10, 1861, and attended the district
school. He worked awhile in a creamery in Stanford, Delaware County,
N. Y., and then was a clerk in Sparta and Ogdensburgh. All this was
before he was of age. When he was twenty-one he went to Newfoundland,
Morris County, N. J., and was there clerk in a general store. His
next move was to Florida, Orange County, where he worked for H. B.
Seeley, and his next to Newark, N. J., where in 1888 he went into
business for himself. In 1897 he went to New Milford, Orange County,
and worked for his cousin, Benjamin Scott, until he was burned out on
March 22, 1900. Then Mr. Stanaback erected a store on the location of
the old store and renewed business.

He was appointed postmaster in 1900 and still holds the office. He is
now erecting a brick building for store and residence to have steam
heat and other latest improvements. In connection with his general
mercantile business he sells the Osborn farm implements. He belongs
to Wawayanda Lodge No. 34, I. O. O. F., at Warwick and Encampment of
Mt. Olive Lodge No. 65, of Newburgh, N. Y.

JOSEPH F. STEVENS, the efficient postmaster of Highland Falls, N. Y.,
received this appointment in 1901. He was born in this village in
1864, and educated at schools in Pennsylvania and Manhattan College,
N. Y. Previous to his present office he was engaged in the hotel
business at Highland Falls, which was established by his father,
George Stephens, who built the hotel in 1864. He has held the office
of school trustee six years.

Mr. Stevens married Miss Lucetta Faurot, daughter of Captain Theodore
Faurot, a descendant of one of the oldest families in the town of
Highland.

L. S. STERRIT, son of Thomas and Jane Sterrit, was of Scotch-English
extraction. His parents emigrated to this country shortly after their
marriage and established a home beside the old Presbyterian Church at
Coldenham, where the subject of this sketch was born February 17,
1852.

His general education was gained at the Newburgh Academy and the
Collegiate Institute at Newton, N. J. He commenced his legal studies
at Newburgh in the office of George H. Clark, leaving this office to
enter that of Judge James W. Taylor, April 3, 1873. He was admitted
to the bar in 1876, and continued to occupy the position of managing
clerk for Judge Taylor, and upon the latter's death in 1883 succeeded
to his practice. At the time of his death, which occurred April 4,
1907, he had occupied the same suite of offices in the Savings Bank
Building for a period of thirty-five consecutive years.

Mr. Sterrit's practice was almost exclusively confined to equity and
probate work, in which he was an acknowledged expert. He conducted
some of the most important equity cases of recent years, and was
employed in the settlement of many large estates. His practice of his
profession was marked by untiring industry and strict integrity. He
was an eloquent speaker and a graceful writer, the productions of his
pen relating chiefly to local historical subjects, on which he was an
acknowledged authority.

Mr. Sterrit was past master of Hudson River Lodge, F. & A. M., and
delivered the oration at the celebration of its twenty-fifth
anniversary. For fifteen years he served as trustee and secretary of
the Glebe, and was a trustee of the Woodlawn Cemetery Association for
the same length of time. As a safe and trusted counselor he was
honored by his fellow practitioners at the bar; as a generous, public
spirited citizen he was held in high regard by those among whom he
lived, but as a noble-hearted friend, void of selfishness and without
guile, he was loved by those who knew him best. This, in his life,
served to bring him his most cherished reward, and, in his death,
will prove his most enduring monument.

DANIEL JACKSON STEWARD was the great-grandson of John Steward 1st,
who settled in Goshen in 1744, and the son of John Steward 3rd, who,
born in Goshen, subsequently moved to New York, where he was for
forty years engaged in the business of a wholesale dry goods merchant,
acquiring a fortune and distinguished by a reputation for unswerving
integrity and uprightness of character.

Daniel Jackson Steward, the subject of this sketch, was the second
son of John Steward 3rd, of Goshen, and was born in 1816. He was
descended, through his maternal ancestor, Isaac Townsend, of Oyster
Bay, L. I., from Capt. John Underbill, the famous fighter of Indians.
Though born in New York, Mr. Steward always felt himself to be by
inheritance and affection a son of Orange County.

He was a graduate of Princeton and a man of great mental powers and
wide learning, equally interested in science and art, a combination
of tastes rarely found in the same individual. He was never engaged
in active business, but devoted the greater part of his life to
scholarly pursuits. A fellow of the National Academy of Design, he
was himself an artist of merit, and delighted in his sketches and
paintings, to depict the scenery characteristic of Orange County, in
his estimation, of unsurpassed beauty. Its graceful elms, giant oaks
and chestnuts were his special study and admiration, and the reckless
destruction of the county's forests and groves, which during his
lifetime he was obliged to witness, occasioned him the deepest regret
for economic and climatic reasons, even more than from the standpoint
of the artist.

Mr. Steward was one of the incorporators and a patron of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, also of the American Museum of Natural
History, being first vice-president of the latter for many years. To
this museum he presented many fine fossils and Indian remains, some
of which were found in Orange County, and also his collection of
shells, he being a noted conchologist. This collection, though not
the largest, was said to contain rarer and more beautiful specimens
than any other private collection of shells in the world, and it can
now be seen intact in the museum.

Mr. Steward was widely interested in philanthropic and charitable
enterprises. It may be mentioned that he was instrumental in sending
to Japan in 1858, and personally supported there for five years, the
famous missionary, Dr. Verbeck, to whose influence with the emperor
is largely attributed the awakening of Japan, hitherto closed to the
world, and its opening to western civilization.

EDWIN F. STILL was born in Catskill, Greene County, N. Y., August 30,
1878, and educated in the public school. As a member of Company E,
2nd N. Y. V., he accompanied the regiment to Port Tampa, Fla., and
remained in the service about seven months in the war with Spain. He
came to Warwick in November, 1901, worked in Arnold's Photographic
Studio, and purchased the business the next year. He is first
assistant engineer of the Warwick Fire Department and is serving a
second term as police justice. He was elected November, 1907, to the
office of town clerk of Warwick. He is a member of the Christ
Episcopal Church. He married Miss Matilda Carson, daughter of Thomas
Carson, of Warwick.

MOSES A. STIVERS, M.D., was born in Middletown, Orange County, N. Y.,
November 14, 1872. He received his education at the Middletown High
School and attended Columbia College, New York City. Dr. Stivers has
been connected with the house staff of the New York Hospital and the
New York Cancer Hospital. He served as master of Hoffman Lodge No.
412, is a member of the National Guard and holds the position of
assistant surgeon at the present time. He was married to Lillian C.
Hummell, of Port Jervis, and they have one child, Mary Van Etten. Dr.
Stivers is at present attending physician at the Thrall Hospital,
vice-president of the Orange County Medical Society, and secretary
and treasurer of the Stivers Printing Co., of Middletown, N. Y.

GEORGE H. STRONG was born at Blooming Grove in August, 1867, was
educated in the district school and Monroe Academy, and at the age
of sixteen became associated in business with Knight & Conklin, and
remained with them eight years. October 1, 1891, Conklin & Strong
purchased the feed and grain business of H. K. Wood, of Warwick, and
in 1897, the business of W. S. Board & Co., of Vernon, N. J. In 1898
they built a store in New Milford and in 1906 bought the lumber and
coal business of B. S. Galloway, of Warwick. Mr. Strong is president
of the Warwick Telephone Company, a director of the Building and Loan
Association and Warwick Building Company, and a trustee of the
village. He is also a member of Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. & A. M. He
married Miss Emma, daughter of Henry Mapes, October 10, 1888. Stella,
Harry and Julia are the names of their three children.

SELAH E. STRONG, ex-sheriff of Orange County, was born at the Strong
homestead, "Maple Hurst," in the town of Blooming Grove in 1843, and
it was here his death occurred, July, 1905. The ancestry of the
Strongs in America dates back to John Strong, who came from England
in 1629 and settled in eastern Massachusetts. Major Nathaniel Strong,
who figured prominently in the early history of Orange County, was
shot October 6, 1778, by Claudius Smith at the homestead door in
Blooming Grove. He was the great-great-grandfather of the subject of
this sketch. Mr. Strong was educated at the schools of his native
place and engaged in farming as an occupation. At the age of
twenty-one he was elected highway commissioner, occupying that
position twelve years. In 1876 he was elected a member of the board
of supervisors, holding the office six years. From 1878 to 1884 he
was postmaster, receiving the appointment from President Hayes. In
1897 the people of Orange County, in recognition of his worth and
ability, elected him to the office of sheriff, where he administered
his duties in such a business-like and careful manner as to win
hearty commendation from the citizens of Orange County. In 1873 Mr.
Strong was united in marriage to Miss Stella K. Hetzel, of Florida,
a descendant of an old Revolutionary family. Two children were born
to them, H. Sherwood, who is engaged in business in New York City,
and Edith, now Mrs. A. J. Norton, of Saugerties, N. Y. Mrs. Strong
continues to reside at the homestead, which has sheltered seven
generations of this sterling family.

INGHAM STUBLEY, clerk of the Board of Supervisors, was born in
England in 1853, and has resided in Newburgh since 1868. For twelve
years he was bookkeeper for the firm of Haigh & Mellor, woolen
manufacturers. In 1880 he and his father, William Stubley,
established the rag, iron and metal business at its present location,
129 Broadway. Mr. Stubley has been continuously elected clerk of the
Board of Supervisors since 1892. He has been a member of Newburgh
Lodge No. 309, F. & A. M., for thirty-four years and for ten years
has served as its secretary. He has also passed through all the
chairs in Acme Lodge No. 469, I. O. O. F.; is a member of Mount Olive
Encampment No. 65 and Highland Chapter, R. A. M., of Newburgh. He
married Nancy J. Dickerson, of Orange County, in 1875, and has two
sons, William and Charles G., who are associated with him in
business.

GEORGE C. STULL was born June 7, 1864, at Belvedere, N. J. His
parents were Henry J. and Mary (Fine) Stull. Mr. Stull received his
early education at Belvedere, N. J. When he was fifteen years of age
he started in the milk business and continued for elven years, he
removed to Goshen, Orange County, N. Y., in 1890, and engaged in the
wholesale and retail candy and ice cream business, which business he
now conducts. In politics he is a republican. He attends the
Presbyterian Church of Goshen, N. Y. He is a member of the Cataract
Hose Company of Goshen, and an ex-member of I. O. O. F. of New York
City.

GEORGE W. STURR, of Florida, was born in Kerney, Hudson County,
N. J., October 26, 1845. His parents, Daniel R. and Sarah Sturr, had
five children, and George was the third son. When he was seven years
old he left home and went to Brooklyn, where he lived until he was
twenty-one, and was educated in the Brooklyn public schools. He then
became a clerk for about three years in Danbury, Conn., when he
embarked in business for himself and has been identified with several
business enterprises. In 1881 he became associated for several years
with the Metropolitan Manufacturing Company, of New York City. In
1894 he purchased a home in Florida, where he still resides.

Mr. Sturr married Mary Louise Gregory, of Ulster County, N. Y., in
1867, and they have had four children, two sons and two daughters.
Both sons are dead. The daughters are Alberta L. and Ada Cressie. The
wife and mother died April 25, 1906.

ALEXANDER C. SUTHERLAND, superintendent of the poor for Orange
County, was born at Central Valley, N. Y., June 9, 1855. His
education was obtained in the public school of that place,
supplemented by a short course in the Mount Vernon Institute, New
York City. Mr. Sutherland spent his early days on his father's farm
and has since made farming his occupation. He has held the office of
superintendent of the poor since January 1, 1896, and has during that
time inaugurated many important improvements in the county's
establishment. Previous to his election to that office he resided for
a number of years on his farm near Turners, and for years was
president of the Board of Education of that village, and also served
as town assessor.

Socially he is affiliated with Standard Lodge No. 711, F. & A. M., of
Monroe, of which he is past master; Midland Chapter, R. A. M., of
Middletown; Cyprus Commandery No. 67, K. T.; Mecca Temple, Mystic
Shrine of New York, and the Consistory. He has passed all chairs in
Knights of Pythias Lodge, and is a member of the Goshen Club and the
Old Orchard Club of Middletown.

He was joined in marriage on January 17, 1883, with Miss Elizabeth
Cooper, of Central Valley, and their family consists of four children
living: Harriet C., Martha C., Clara E. and Annie M.

Mr. Sutherland is one of the representative men of Orange County and
makes an efficient and thorough county officer.

MORRIS SWACKHAMMER was born April 15, 1877, at Mount Rose,
Susquehanna County, Pa. He has been identified with the Borden
Creameries five years and with the New Milford Branch two years,
where he is now the manager. This creamery has the best modern
appliances for the hygienic handling and care of milk, of which it
receives about 5,000 gallons annually. Mr. Swackhammer is a member of
Mount Rose Chapter No. 151, I. O. O. F. His wife's maiden name was
Miss Lottie Jones, of Mount Rose, Pa. Their only child is Roy, born
January 16, 1904.

HENRY B. SWARTWOUT, M.D., of Port Jervis, is a member of one of the
oldest families in America. He was born in Port Jervis, February 4,
1861, on the farm which is a part of the original tract of land
settled by the Swartwouts in 1690. His parents are Peter P. and
Hannah (Cuddeback) Swartwout. The family originated in Holland and
were among the early Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam.

Dr. Swartwout is the youngest of a family of nine children, five of
whom are living. He obtained his education at Port Jervis Academy,
supplemented by a two-year course at Cornell University. He began the
study of medicine in the office of Dr. W. L. Cuddeback, and later
entered Bellevue Medical College of New York, from which he graduated
in 1885. He remained one year, as intern, in the New York Chambers
Street Hospital.

His marriage with Miss Carrie B. Peck, daughter of George V. Peck, of
Port Jervis, occurred March 10, 1886, after which they spent six
months abroad, during the time taking a post-graduate course in the
Vienna Hospital. Upon his return home he took up the practice of
medicine, and in 1892, with Dr. W. L. Cuddeback, purchased the Hunt
Memorial Hospital, which they have since conducted.

Dr. Swartwout is a member of the Orange County, the State and the
American Medical Associations, and the Erie Railway Surgeons'
Association. He is also a member of the Deer Park Club and at the
present time is mayor of Port Jervis.

To Doctor and Mrs. Swartwout have been born four children. Henry
Lewis died at the age of one year. Those living are Florence,
Charlotte and Herbert B.

CLAYTON E. SWEET, of the firm of Sweet, Orr & Co., was born at
Wappingers Falls, N. Y., June 16, 1834, and after a large business
experience in that town he moved to Newburgh in 1887, to which city
the business offices of the company were changed that year. His
father was for many years a merchant and manufacturer in Wappingers
Falls, and for a period postmaster of the village. Mr. Sweet was
educated at the public schools of his native place and at the
Dutchess County Academy at Poughkeepsie. Then for three years he was
in the employ of Levi Cook & Co., merchants on Broadway, New York. He
returned to Wappingers Falls to enter his father's store, and ere
long was made a partner.

For many years Mr. Sweet was one of the leading business men of the
place and of great usefulness to the community. He was one of the
first trustees of the Wappingers Savings Bank, and acted as its
secretary and treasurer until it obtained a substantial footing; he
was afterwards elected vice-president of the institution. For seven
years he was postmaster of the village under President Grant. He was
also a director of the Fallkill National Bank of Poughkeepsie, and a
vestryman of the Zion Episcopal Church of Wappingers Falls. Since
1876 Mr. Sweet, as head of the firm of Sweet, Orr & Co., has given
his whole attention to the manufacture of overalls. This firm are the
pioneers in this business and their product the largest in the
country. Mr. Sweet has served as a trustee of the Newburgh Savings
Bank and vestryman of St. George's Episcopal Church. He is president
of the Newburgh City Club and a director of the Newburgh National
Bank. He married in 1860, Chattie Louise, daughter of Hon. James
Manning, of Bethany, Pa., and a lineal descendant of Captain Bazaliel
Tyler, a soldier of the Revolution, who was killed when leading the
advance guard at the battle of Minisink.

LYMAN H. TAFT, editor and proprietor of the _Montgomery Standard and
Reporter,_ has resided in Orange County since 1888. Previously he
made his home in Warren, Pa.

October 23, 1888, Mr. Taft bought the _Montgomery Reporter,_ a
four-page sheet, founded May 30, 1887, by George H. Young. January 1,
1899, Mr. Taft purchased the _Montgomery Standard_ from the Winfield
family, who had owned the paper since 1868. He consolidated it with
the _Reporter_ under the above title. It is a four-page blanket
paper, republican in politics. Mr. Taft, the popular editor, is a
member of the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees and the Foresters.

CAPTAIN THOMAS TAFT, senior member of the Taft-Howell Company,
successor to the firm of Mead & Taft, contractors, builders and
manufacturers, at Cornwall Landing, N. Y., is a lineal descendant of
the colonist, Robert Taft, who came from England to Massachusetts in
1677. He is the oldest son of Daniel Taft, the sixth in line of
descent from the colonist Robert and his wife Emeline Smith,
descendant of a family of Pennsylvania Quakers who, escaping the
massacre at Wyoming, settled near Woodbury Falls in Orange County.

Captain Taft was born in the town of Cornwall, September 28, 1840;
was educated in the A. C. Roe Collegiate School at Cornwall, and at
the outbreak of the Civil War was engaged in the building business
with his father and brother-in-law, C. H. Mead. In response to
Lincoln's appeal for three hundred thousand additional volunteers, he
enlisted as a private in Company C, 124th Regiment, New York
Volunteers, and in recognition of ability, fortitude and bravery
displayed in camp, on the march and in battle, was promoted from
grade to grade to the captaincy of his company.

In the desperate charge of the 124th at Devil's Den on the field of
Gettysburg, in which Colonel Ellis, Major Cromwell and so many of his
brave comrades were killed, he was disabled by wounds received at the
most advanced point readied, and was captured by the enemy. Four
months later he had been exchanged and was again on duty with his
regiment. With the exception of these and the battle of Boydton Road,
he was never absent from the 124th when it was under fire.

In 1866, the year after the close of the war, Captain Taft engaged in
the building business with his brother-in-law, Charles H. Mead, under
the firm name of Mead & Taft, employing from eighteen to twenty
hands. In 1906 the company had in its employ over five hundred men,
a majority of whom were skilled mechanics. Its plant at Cornwall
Landing, on the west bank of the Hudson, is one of the most complete
and extensive of its kind in the State. The building operations of
the firm have extended from Northern New Hampshire to San Antonio,
Texas. Since 1866 it has erected some eight hundred or nine hundred
buildings, nearly all of which have been expensive structures. In the
building up and successful management of this extensive business
Captain Taft has been the leading factor.

In 1883 a movement looking to the incorporation of the village of
Cornwall was defeated. Two years later the proposition was again
brought before the people and carried, and Captain Taft was elected
the first president of the newly incorporated village, and was
retained in office until 1889. Immediately on assuming office he put
in operation a system of road improvement which in less than two
years gave to Cornwall the reputation of having the best streets of
any village in the county. Under a changed administration the
taxpayers soon became dissatisfied, Captain Taft was petitioned to
again stand for president, and in 1891 was elected without
opposition, serving until 1895.

Realizing that the natural beauties of the Highlands of the Hudson
were at last awakening public interest, Captain Taft began several
years ago, as opportunity offered, the purchase of lands in the
Storm King region, where he now owns several rather extensive tracts,
which it is believed will at no distant day be so improved as to
enhance the attractiveness of his native town.

He was married in 1881 to Mary G., eldest daughter of Dr. James E.
Knapp, of Marlborough, Ulster County, N. Y. They have two sons,
Thomas Knapp Taft and Royal M. Taft.

WILLIAM G. TAGGART, for many years county clerk of Orange County, was
born in Newburgh, N. Y., November 20, 1856. After graduating from the
academy he engaged with his father, Archibald Taggart, in the meat
business. In 1891 he resigned the postmastership of Newburgh to
accept the office of clerk of Orange County, to which he had been
elected, and was re-elected in 1894, 1897 and 1900. He is a member of
several secret societies, including Newburgh Lodge, F. and A. M.;
Highland Chapter, R. A. M., and Hudson River Commandery, K. T.

Mr. Taggart is secretary of the Orange County Traction Company.

H. R. TAYLOR, of Pine Bush, N. Y., who conducts an extensive trade in
lumber, building materials, etc., established this business in 1895.
His father, Archibald R. Taylor, was a native of Ulster County, and
in 1849 located in Pine Bush, where he purchased a large tract of
land, and began the erection of buildings. He was largely identified
with the prosperity of this village and associated with its business
interests. In 1856 he married Miss Mary, daughter of John Colwell
Rainey, of Crawford. The following children were born: Archibald,
Hamilton R., Emily, Anne and John C, now state senator.

GEORGE W. TEN EYCK was born in Rockland County, N. Y., May 8, 1824.
His mother, Mary Youmans Ten Eyck, died December 4, 1884, in the
ninetieth year of her age. David Ten Eyck, his father, was a cooper
by trade, and a descendant of the early settlers by that name, who
came from Holland, locating in Rockland County, some of them serving
in the Revolutionary struggle. When George was a mere lad his father
died, and the boy was bound out to service until he was twenty-one
years old to a farmer near Sugar Loaf. He served his apprenticeship
and in the course of a few years the thrifty young farmer had
accumulated a fine farm of one hundred and thirty-two acres. It was
on this farm (known as Maple Grove farm for years) that he reared his
family, remaining there during the remainder of his life, nearly half
a century, his demise occurring December 13, 1900. Mr. Ten Eyck was a
self-made man, he secured an ordinary education, was noted for his
integrity and just dealing, was engaged in various enterprises
outside of his farm, and much of his means he lost by helping others,
endorsing notes, etc. He was endowed with great muscular strength,
having performed many lifting feats in his earlier life. He was
always a staunch republican, working hard for the cause. He married
Christien Peterson, of Warwick, January 11, 1850, a most estimable
woman, who passed away on her seventieth birthday, February 7, 1897.
Five children were the result of this union, Coe H., who owns the
Valley House, Greenwood Lake; Hutson G., deceased at thirty-eight,
was a noted architect for several years previous to his death at
Newark, N. J.; George W., a carpenter and builder at Elizabeth,
N. J.; Mary L., wife of Francis G. Knapp, and Andrew, both residing
at their home, "The Anchorage," at Middletown.

FLOYD E. TETHER was born February 22, 1872, on a farm between Amity
and Edenville, Orange County. He attended the Warwick Academy after
leaving the district school, and then took a course in Eastman's
Business College at Poughkeepsie. Soon afterward he became identified
with the Clyde Steamship Company of New York City, with which he
remained one year, and then clerked in a general store in Edenville
two years. He entered into a mercantile partnership in 1894 with
G. S. Everett at Florida, Orange County, where they conducted a
general store. In the fall of 1896 C. M. Knapp, of Goshen, purchased
Mr. Everett's interest and the firm became Tether & Knapp. This
partnership continued until March, 1900, when Mr. Tether became the
sole proprietor. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and of
Warwick Lodge No. 544, F. and A. M. Mr. Tether was married to Mary A.
Knapp, of Pine Island, Orange County, February 4, 1896. They have
four children, James E., Clifford F., Russell K. and Beatrice M. Mr.
Tether's parents were Edward J. and Sarah A. Tether. Their children
are Floyd E., Eva J., who married Louis B. Williams, of Florida, and
Harry L., who is a farmer on the homestead. A daughter, Hannah, died
in her sixteenth year. The father died July 17, 1907. The mother is
still living. They resided on the homestead over forty years.

REV. JOHN TETREAU is pastor of the Church of St. Mary,
Washingtonville, N. Y. Previous to 1872 this parish was under the
direction of Newburgh pastors, but in that year a small chapel was
built and Father Keogh paid monthly visits. He was followed by Father
Mackin, and then came Rev. William Ward, who was the real founder of
the congregation and continued until 1887, when Rev. Henry J. Gordon,
of Cornwall, was given charge of the mission until 1892. Fathers
Carr, Hannigan and Ward, of Chester, were the next pastors until
1898. The parish was then re-annexed to Cornwall, and Father Currie
given charge until May, 1901, to be followed by Father Fenton until
October 4, 1902, when Rev. John Tetreau became resident pastor, and
it is due to his energy and management that the parishioners now have
a beautiful place of worship. During his first year he enlarged the
home from one room to a commodious rectory. This was followed by the
erection of modern sheds with accommodations for forty carriages.
August 5, 1906, the cornerstone was laid by Father Sally, of
Newburgh, for the enlargement of the church from 40 by 23 feet to 76
by 41 feet--the dedication ceremonies occurring July 16, 1907. This
church is equipped with a fine pipe organ, comfortable pews and
heated by steam. Father Tetreau was born and educated in Canada.
Since 1889 his pastorates have been in the United States. For twelve
years he was connected with St. Jean Baptiste Church in New York. He
is much beloved by his parishioners, for whom he has accomplished
such extensive improvements. He also has charge of the Maybrook
mission.

WILLIAM THAYER was one of Newburgh's oldest and most successful
merchants. He came there from Brooklyn, Conn., in 1809. His ancestors
came from England in 1636 and settled in Massachusetts, where their
descendants have been among the most prominent men of that State. As
recorded in history this family dates back in England many centuries,
and were people of wealth and influence, holding offices of trust,
and having towns named in their honor.

John Thayer, William's brother, came with him to Newburgh. John never
married. William married in 1812 Elizabeth Carpenter, daughter of
Leonard and Bridget (Belknap) Carpenter, and grand-daughter of
Captain Isaac Belknap. Their children were William L., unmarried;
John S., married Catharine Stearns; Elijah Carpenter married Mary J.
Morrison, daughter of Hamilton Morrison, of Montgomery, N. Y.;
Charles F. married Anna F. Miller; Anna B. married Henry Dolson;
Elizabeth C. married O. L. Sypher; George A. and Caroline M.,
unmarried.

In 1826 William Thayer built a house on the corner of Montgomery and
Second streets, where he lived until 1837, when he retired from
active business life and removed to his large estate of three hundred
acres on the heights of Balmville. There he built a large stone
mansion, one of the finest and most substantial homes in that section
of the county; as it stood on a bluff it commanded a magnificent
river view for miles. There he lived until his death in 1855.

John Thayer died in 1861. Both of these men, having been very
fortunate in business, accumulated fortunes. They were progressive
and very influential in their time and place, and were held in the
highest esteem by all who knew them.

The descendants of William Thayer are his daughter, Mrs. O. L.
Sypher, the only member of the family now living; his grandchildren
are the children of John S., living in Los Angeles, Cal.; the
children of Charles F., living in Washington, D. C.; the Thayer
family at Burnside and Mrs. Elmer Tibbetts, of Newburgh; children of
Elijah C. and Mrs. Marsh, daughter of Mrs. Sypher, of East Orange,
N. J.

ALEXANDER THOMPSON, a prominent farmer in the town of Crawford,
Orange County, was a son of Augustus and Catherine (Hunter) Thompson,
was born on the homestead near Thompson Ridge in 1850, and died
January 17, 1908. He was afforded the opportunity to secure a good
education and in 1871 graduated from Williams College with the degree
of A.B.

Mr. Thompson married Miss Abbie Beattie and they are the parents of
seven children. He was for fifteen years an elder in the Hopewell
Presbyterian Church. The family resides on the ancestral acres.
Augustus Thompson, the father of our subject, was for many years
identified with public affairs in Orange County. He filled the
offices both of bank and railroad director and was one of the bonding
commissioners of the town of Crawford, until his death in 1874. In
1849 and 1850 he was supervisor and in 1865 was elected justice of
the peace.

CHARLES HUDSON THOMPSON was born November 11, 1877. His parents are
Horace Decker and Sarah (Millspaugh) Thompson. He received his early
education at a private school at Goshen, known as the Goshen
Institute of Professor William Galdthwaite, the Middletown High
School, and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the
dental department of the latter institution in 1900. After graduating
he returned to Goshen and was associated with Dr. Parker for three
years. In 1903 he was interested in business in Brooklyn, N. Y., and
returning to Goshen in 1904 opened a dental office. He is a member of
Goshen Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 365; Midland Chapter No. 240; Cypress
Commandery No. 67; and Ajamoore Chapter, Order Eastern Star. For
three years he has been a member of the board of governors of Goshen
Social Athletic Association, and is assistant foreman of the Cataract
Fire Company; member of Second District Dental Society; also a
charter member of the Ninth Judicial Dental Society. In politics Dr.
Thompson is a republican.

JAMES RENWICK THOMPSON, JR., attorney of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in
Newburgh, 1874. He is a graduate of the academy, and the law
department of Cornell University, with the degree of LL.B., in 1896,
and was admitted to the bar in 1897.

Mr. Thompson married Miss Julia, daughter of James Dickey, in 1906.
He is a son of Rev. J. R. and Mary F. (Lawson) Thompson. Rev. Dr.
Thompson has been pastor of Westminster Church, Newburgh, N. Y.,
since 1856.

WILLIAM M. THOMPSON was born in Hamptonburgh, September 20, 1865, on
what was known as the Charles M. Thompson farm. He married Mary H.
Corwin, daughter of W. S. and Cornelia Corwin, of New York City. Mr.
and Mrs. Thompson have had four children, one of whom died at the age
of four. Those living are: Ruth, aged fourteen; William M., Jr., and
Roland Harlon. Mr. Thompson is a democrat, and has been elected town
collector three times. He is a member of Grange No. 950 of
Hamptonburgh, trustee and clerk of the Presbyterian Church at
Campbell Hall, and trustee, secretary and treasurer of the
Hamptonburgh Cemetery Association. For ten years he has been
energetic and useful in local and church work.

JOHN W. THORN was born in Mount Hope, February 17, 1864. After his
education in the district and a private school, he engaged in the
feed and coal trade, and in 1894 started a creamery near Middletown,
which he recently sold, and is now conducting a creamery at Westtown,
N. Y. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M.; Midland
Chapter No. 420, R. A. M.; Cypress Commandery No. 67, K. T.; and of
the Commercial Travelers' Middletown Council. His father is A. D.
Thorn, a Mount Hope farmer, and his mother's maiden name was Lucinda
Moore.

HON. HOWARD THORNTON, attorney of Newburgh, N. Y., was born on
Governors' Island, New York Harbor, on February 25, 1849, where his
father, General William A. Thornton, was stationed at the time.

Mr. Thornton comes of old Revolutionary stock. His paternal
grandfather was Major John Thornton, of the Continental and
Revolutionary Army, and his paternal grandmother was a daughter of
Colonel Samuel Clyde, of Cherry Valley. Matthew Thornton, one of the
signers, was an uncle of his grandfather. On his mother's side his
ancestors run back to the De Witts, who were prominent in the
Revolutionary period in the Hudson Valley.

Mr. Thornton attended the public schools of New York City, and the
College of the City of New York. Later he entered Union College, from
which he graduated in 1872. He entered the office of Eugene A.
Brewster, of Newburgh, as a law student in the year of his
graduation, and subsequently the Albany Law School, from which he
graduated in 1874. Returning to the office of Mr. Brewster he
remained there until 1883, when he opened his present office.

A staunch republican, Mr. Thornton has long been identified with its
affairs in this city. In 1891 he was elected a member of assembly
from the first assembly district of Orange County, and re-elected in
1892 and 1893. During his third term he was chairman of the judiciary
committee of the assembly.

He has been prominently connected with the Masonic organizations of
Newburgh; is president of the board of trustees of Washington's
Headquarters in Newburgh; a member of the board of education of that
city, and vice-president of the National Bank of Newburgh.

SAMUEL V. TIDD was born February 1, 1842. His parents were John and
Hulda Tidd. Five children were born to this union. Samuel acquired
his education at the district school and in after years became a
mechanic. He enlisted in the 124th Regiment, the famous "Orange
Blossoms," September 2, 1862, and was engaged in many important
battles. He was taken prisoner in 1864 and confined in the
Andersonville prison for eleven months. He married Harriet Reeves, of
Howells, N. Y., March 6, 1866; five children were born to this union,
Addie L., born February 25, 1867; Harriet E., born August 26, 1868;
Nettie W., born March 17, 1870; Elizabeth, born February 10, 1872;
John S., born October 23, 1873. Nettie is the wife of Harry Miller,
of Middletown, N. Y., and John married Julia McWhinnie, of New York
City. Mr. Tidd is a republican, has been collector of the school
district four terms and constable one term. He is a member of Lyon
Post, G. A. R., No. 266, of Middletown, N. Y.

CHARLES E. TOWER, postmaster at Maybrook and member of the firm of
Tower Brothers, general merchants, is a native of Oneida County,
N. Y., where his brother Fred. W. was also born. Their father, Albert
Tower, moved to Orange County in 1870, locating at Campbell Hall,
where he was engaged in the milk business for twenty-five years. He
established the store at Maybrook in 1889, where he served as
postmaster fourteen years. He also held the office of justice of the
peace for three years. His death occurred in 1904. Inheriting the
industry and enterprise of their father the Tower brothers are
numbered among the progressive business men of Orange County. They
are members of the Order of United American Mechanics.

THOMAS POWELL TOWNSEND, son of Jacob P. and Mary Ann (Barrett)
Townsend, was born at Milton, Ulster County, N. Y., November 26,
1836. His father was a prosperous merchant of Milton, and young
Thomas remained in his employ acquiring the requisite training for a
successful business career until 1860, when he located in Newburgh
and engaged in wholesale merchandise and general freighting business
until 1876, when with the exception of a period in 1881, in which he
was interested in the wholesale grocery house of James A. Townsend &
Co., he has lived in comparative retirement. Mr. Townsend has
steadfastly declined to hold public office, directorships,
membership in clubs and fraternal organizations, preferring to enjoy
the seclusion and privacy of his home. He married Mary Augusta,
daughter of Hon. George Clark. They have one daughter, now Mrs.
Florence C., wife of Charles T. McKenzie, married October 22, 1890.

FRANK T. AND A. G. TRIPP, publishers of _The News of the Highlands_
at Highland Falls, N. Y., established this bright weekly eight-page
newspaper, March, 1891. A valuable feature of the paper is the
chronicling of the news of West Point. A modern job printing plant is
also conducted, and it has a large advertising patronage in Newburgh.

Messrs. Tripp are from the State of Ohio, and their progressive
western spirit is apparent in the management of the enterprise in
their adopted village.

JOHN TURL'S SONS--This company occupies the buildings in South Water
street, Newburgh, formerly known as the Washington Iron Works. The
business consists chiefly of general machine and boiler shop work.
The company deals extensively in sugar machinery, railroad tracks,
rails and industrial cars. They employ a force of one hundred men.
The industry was founded in New York City in 1845 by John Turl and
the works removed to Newburgh in 1905. The officers of the company
are Joseph H. Turl, president; Charles H. Pratt, secretary; Harry C.
Turl, treasurer.

HIRAM TUTHILL, born November 30, 1837, in Elmira, Chemung County,
N. Y., attended school there until sixteen years old, when he moved
to Chester, Orange County, and became clerk for Charles S. and J. B.
Tuthill. This was in February, 1854, and in May, 1855, he changed to
clerk in the Chester Bank, and remained there as bookkeeper and
teller thirteen years. He then went to his birthplace, Elmira, and
was in the dry goods business there a year, when he returned to
Chester and purchased the dry goods and grocery business of Tuthill
& Jackson, which he carried on from 1869 to 1900. In August of the
latter year he was elected president of the Chester Bank, and still
holds the responsible position. He married Miss Pauline W. Conklin,
of Elmira, February 24, 1869, and their only son, Leddra W. C.
Tuthill, is engaged in an advertising business in New York City.
There was another son, who died in December, 1879, at the age of ten.
Mrs. Tuthill died March 15, 1903. Mr. Tuthill has been active and
energetic in local public affairs as well as his more private
mercantile and banking pursuits.

HARRY TWEDDLE, son of John and Phoebe (Comfort) Tweddle, was born in
the town of Montgomery, Orange County, N. Y., in 1868. He obtained
his education at the schools of Montgomery, and is now engaged in the
cultivation of a farm of two hundred acres.

Mr. Tweddle is master of the Montgomery Grange, and a director of the
Patrons of Husbandry Fire Insurance Company of Ulster and Orange
Counties. Mr. Tweddle married Miss Mary E. Burch and they are the
parents of two children, John P. and Robert K.

GARRETT H. TYMESON, postmaster at Otisville, N. Y., was born February
22, 1847, at Wayne County, Pa. His parents were Truman and Elsie
Tymeson. His father was one of the pioneer lumbermen locating in
Pennsylvania when the lumber interests were at their best. He was
identified many years with this business, retiring in 1866. Garrett
attended the district school in his locality, after which he attended
the academy at Monticello. His early life was spent in the lumber
business, after which he entered the mercantile business. He was
married May 2, 1871, to Miss Mary Carey, of Middletown, N. Y. Four
children were born to this union, one still living. Howard, born
September 6, 1872, married Miss Mary Dempsey, and now resides in
Paterson, N. J.

Mr. Tymeson went west in the spring of 1877, settling at Frederick,
Kans., remaining there twenty years. He served eight years as
justice of the peace at that place. In 1897 he returned to New York
State, locating at Otisville, Orange County, was appointed postmaster
July 11, 1899, and still holds that position. In 1907 the Otisville
post-office was made a third-class office. In politics he is a
republican. He is a member of the Otisville Presbyterian Church.
Socially, he is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., of
Middletown, N. Y. His son Harry died in infancy; Arthur married
Helen Clark, of Middletown, and died March 31, 1905; and Elsie, wife
of Dr. L. A. Summers, of Wheaton, Kans., died August 2, 1902. Their
one son Waller resides with Mr. Tymeson.

BENJAMIN F. VAIL, supervisor of the town of Warwick, N. Y., was born
October 23, 1843, at Chester, Orange County. His early education was
obtained at the district school and the Seward Institute at Florida,
N. Y. He moved to Honesdale, Pa., where he remained for three years,
engaging in the dry goods business. In 1868 he removed to Warwick,
entering the grocery business, and later engaging in general
merchandise. He was postmaster at Warwick during the Cleveland
administration. In 1890 he purchased the business of R. and R. J.
Wisner, dealers in lumber, paints, etc. This concern was established
in 1884. Mr. Vail was married to Miss Jane C. Cline, December 31,
1868, of Warwick. Two children were born to this union, Cora C. and
Pauline F. Mr. Vail takes an active interest in matters pertaining to
Warwick. He is a member of Warwick Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 544.

HARRY VAIL was born at New Milford, Orange County, N. Y. He attended
the district school there and at Amity, and then engaged in the meat
business at Amity. He continued this two years, and bought a small
farm of thirty-five acres at New Milford, and leased the Sutton farm
of one hundred and sixty acres, which he purchased in 1903. He is one
of the most extensive peach growers in Orange County, having 9,000
trees. June 15, 1899, he married Miss Celia Utter, daughter of J. W.
Utter, of Amity. Their children's names are Harry, Jr., Roy and
Emily. Mr. Vail, in his specialty of fruit growing, has been
successful, and therefore prosperous. He is secretary of Warwick
Lodge No. 544, F. and A. M.

JOHN CARPENTER VAIL was born in Chester, Orange County, May 13, 1846,
and educated in the Chester district school and academy. He was clerk
for Dr. C. P. Smith about a year, and then at D. H. Roe's grocery two
years. Next he was in the commission business in New York City two
years, when he returned to Orange County, and in Warwick engaged in
the occupation of breeding high-class hunting dogs, for which, he
obtained a somewhat exclusive trade in the metropolis and elsewhere,
his specialty being English setters.

Some of his dogs are shipped to Cuba, Halifax, California, Florida
and other parts of the United States. He married Mary Reed Van Duzer,
of Warwick, April 6, 1864. Their three children are Hazel Clark,
Christine Reed and Robert Cornell.

WILLETT VAIL, of Florida, N. Y., was born at Hughsonville, Dutchess
County, now known as Fishkill-on-Hudson, July 11, 1848. He obtained
his early education at the district school, later attending a private
school at Hughsonville. He learned the mason trade at Poughkeepsie,
and later worked on the State Hospital at Middletown, N. Y. From
Middletown he came to Florida, where he has since resided and for
twenty years conducted his business. He married Georgiana Eliza
Thompson, of Florida, when twenty-seven years of age. Four children
have been born by this union; two died in infancy. Those surviving
are: Hattie E., wife of LeRoy Davis, of New York City, and Ira V. K.,
now of New York City. Mr. Vail is a member of the American Society of
Equity and was commissioner of highways of Warwick township one year.
He erected the Vail opera house at Florida in 1895, and this, the
only amusement place in Florida, enjoys a good business. Both his
father and mother died of old age, each being nearly eighty years of
age at their death. There are eight children in his parents' family
still living. Mr. Vail has taken an active interest in matters
pertaining to the welfare and betterment of the village of Florida.

AYMAR VAN BUREN, who has been a resident of New Windsor, Orange
County, since 1851, was born in New York City, January 10, 1837. Mr.
Van Buren, as his name indicates, is of Holland descent. His
great-grandfather, his grandfather and his father, Colonel John D.
Van Buren, were all natives of the American metropolis.

He was educated at public and private schools, and began business
life in 1862, by purchasing a portion of the farm property of Edmund
Morton, of the town of New Windsor. In 1863 he married Miss Margaret,
daughter of Mr. Morton. They resided on this farm of ninety acres
until 1882, when Mr. Van Buren sold out and became a resident of the
old Morton homestead.

He is a firm believer in the principles of the Democratic party, and
although not an office-seeker, he has for years been very active in
the public affairs of the town. He has been trustee of School
District No. 1 since 1871; has served as a member of the board of
health, and for many years was road master. In religious matters he
is a member of the Episcopal Church, serving as warden, vestryman and
treasurer.

JOSEPH VAN CLEFT, merchant and banker, Newburgh, N. Y., was born in
the town of New Windsor, Orange County, 1836. The Van Cleft family
were early settlers in Minisink Valley. His mother was a member of
the Cooper family of Blooming Grove. From 1855 to 1860 he was
employed in the hardware trade in New York City, and for two years
following pursued the same business in Kansas City, Mo. In 1863 he
returned to Newburgh and established his present hardware and
agricultural implement business. Upon the organization of the
Columbus Trust Company in 1892 he was chosen vice-president, and
since 1896 has served as president of that institution. He was one of
the original members of the board of trade and for a number of years
was member of the consistory of the American Reformed Church. In 1869
he married Edwina Storey Smith, grand-daughter of Judge Storey. She
died April, 1891.

ISAAC VAN DUSER, the Pioneer of the Ramapo Pass, by Elizabeth Crissey
Van Duzer--The beautiful country along the Ramapo River between
Sloatsburg and Suffern, is well known to Orange County people. It is
wild and beautiful still, though the mills have been running there
more than a century, and the Erie trains through the valley for
sixty-six years.

Nearly two hundred years, with their attendant changes, have passed
over that region since Isaac Van Duser--the first white man to settle
in the Ramapo Pass--came from Tappan and located with his family in
the "Throat of the Cloff," as that narrow part of the valley was then
called.

He bought four hundred acres that John Van Blarcum had recently
purchased of the Indians, and there built his homestead. East and
west rose the mountains densely wooded, and the narrow valley was
filled with the music of the little river. Here, he lived in the
midst of the forest, the Indians his only neighbors, and began his
work of opening up the Pass, which proved to be the natural entrance
to the Orange County of to-day.

His son, Isaac, Jr., and his wife, were living there in 1724. Isaac,
Jr., afterward purchased the Van Gelder tract which joined the Van
Duser land, and extended northward. When he came in possession of his
father's land, he became owner of the whole valley from the Romopock
line below Ramapo to Stony Brook, north of Sloatsburg.

He was living there with a large family just at the time the present
Orange County was being settled, principally by people from Southern
Orange County--now Rockland. As the young settlers came up through
the Pass, Isaac Van Duser was able to supply each one with a wife
until his ten daughters were all married. They were the maternal
ancestors of many old Orange County families.

Wieberch married Benjamin Demarest. Agnes married Samuel Sidman, to
whom Isaac Van Duzer deeded the original homestead--the Van Blarcum
tract. The valley was called "Sidman's Pass" during the Revolution,
and the fortifications there--"The Post at Sidman's."

Marietje married Steven Sloat, to whom Isaac transferred the Van
Colder tract, upon which they founded Sloatsburg. Their son John was
killed in the Revolution. His son, John Drake Sloat, was Rear Admiral
of the United States Navy. He took possession of the territory now
called California for the United States at the beginning of the
Mexican War. His monument stands at Monterey.

Leah married a Galloway and located further up the Pass. Autie
married Major Zachariah DuBois (Woodhull's Regiment). Mary was the
wife of Lieutenant William Roe (same regiment). Martha married Mr.
Rose; Elizabeth, a LaRoy; Catherine an exiled Polish nobleman named
Zobrisky; and Jane married Mr. Williams.

Before 1748 Isaac Van Duser bought the Andrew Nicolls patent at
Cornwall, and afterward moved there with his three sons, Isaac, Jr.,
Tjerck and Christopher. In 1772 he divided this land equally among
the three. The whole family appear to have been living on the patent
during the Revolution. Erskine's map, made for General Washington's
use, shows the location of Van Duzer's house at Cornwall. His son,
Isaac, Jr., had sons, Isaac 3rd, Adolphus and Benjamin. Alexander Van
Duser, of Gardiner, N. Y., is a descendant of Isaac 3rd, and Letitia
Mills. Adolphus moved to Sullivan County. Benjamin has descendants
near Cornwall.

Tjerck had wife Catherine. His family has not been traced.
Christopher was captain in Colonel Woodhull's Cornwall Regiment. He
was commissioned September, 1775, and served all through the war. He
was at Fort Montgomery at different times, served at Haverstraw,
Ramapo and in the Jerseys, at New Windsor, Butter Hill, Nicolls Point
and eight weeks at Fishkill. He was stationed at West Point
immediately after Arnold's treason was discovered. He was described
by his neighbors as "an ardent, zealous Whig." He married first
Juliana Strong, who left one child, the wife of Jacob Mandeville.
Their daughter married first Nathaniel DuBois Woodhull, second Joseph
Young.

Captain Van Duzer married second Juliana Tusten, sister of
Lieutenant-Colonel Tusten, who was killed at Minisink. In 1807 they
moved to Warwick, having purchased the farm where the fourth
generation of their descendants now live.

They had sons Isaac, Benjamin Tusten, William, John and Selah and six
daughters, Elizabeth, Ann, Mary and Susan were the wives of Selah
Reeve, Nathan Wescott, Ebenezer Crissey and John Dolson,
respectively.

Christopher's son Isaac was prominent in business at Cornwall.
Afterward located in Warwick, where his grand-daughter, Mary Burt,
now lives. His daughter Juliette, married Colonel Wheeler. He had a
son, Isaac Reve, a member of the Legislature, and a very gifted
lawyer of Goshen. J. W. Gott, of that place, is his descendant.
Benjamin has no descendants living. William moved to Chemung County
and left a large family. John was a member of the Legislature. He had
sons Joseph Benedict, of Bellvale; Charles Reeve, of Warwick, and
James, whose descendants live in Illinois. Of John's seven daughters
two died young. Lanor died unmarried. Harriet Fancher, Mary Lazear
and Nancy Fish left descendants in Dundee, N. Y. Julia Ann married
Abner Benedict, of Warwick.

Selah was a banker in New York. He left a large family. The late
S. R. Van Duzer, of Newburgh, was one of his sons.

The farm of Captain Christopher Van Duzer at Warwick, descending from
father to son, has been the home of Christopher, John, Charles Reeve
and George Morehouse (the present owner), who Has a son, Christopher
Tusten. At this old homestead on April 25, 1907, was celebrated the
one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Van Duzer family in
Warwick.

Shadrack Van Duzer lived in Cornwall during the Revolution. His two
sons, Isaac and Henry, served in Captain Van Duzer's company. Henry's
grandson, 'Squire Henry Van Duzer, of Cornwall, still lives on a part
of the land bought by Isaac Van Duzer in 1748, and has the original
patent in his possession.

Shadrack is supposed to be a descendant of Isaac of Ramapo, though
no proof can as yet be found. On the other hand, several
grandchildren of his son Isaac, who married Martha Tusten and moved
to Goshen, claim that Shadrack came from Holland when his son Isaac
was twelve years of age, that is, 1767. This may be true, as no
record of him in Cornwall or elsewhere has been found prior to that
date, though I have searched for it during the past ten years and
will now leave the question to his descendants, who are very numerous
in Orange County, to determine for themselves.

Isaac Van Duzer, of Ramapo, was a grandson of Abraham Pietersen Van
Deursen, the original ancestor of the Van Dusen and Van Duzer
families in America. We find him mentioned first in a Holland
document complaining of the English, which says: "They encroach
westerly below Cape Cod, on the Dutch limits, absorbing Rhode Island
and Martin's Vineyard, howbeit possession had been taken thereof for
this Company in 1636 by Abraham Pietersen Van Deursen."

He was the miller of New Amsterdam in 1638, one of the "Twelve Men"
in 1641, was afterward elected one of the "Eight Men," and was also a
Burgher. In 1664 he took the oath of Allegiance to England.

HENRY VAN DUZER, justice of the peace of the town of Cornwall,
resides on a farm near Cornwall Station. Mr. Van Duzer is a
descendant of one of Orange County's old and prominent families. His
great grandfather, Isaac Van Duzer, secured the patent to the
homestead farm in Cornwall in 1735. This document is in the
possession of Henry Van Duzer, who has been identified with public
affairs in his native town for thirty-five years. He was born in 1835
and educated at public and private schools. His father, John S. Van
Duzer, died in 1830 and Henry learned the trade of piano maker, which
he followed for a number of years both in this section and in the
west. He has served thirty years as justice of the peace; three years
justice of sessions; thirteen years as U. S. loan commissioner, and
one term as supervisor. In 1860 he married Miss Catherine Cox and
three children were born to them; his son, Henry J., is agent for the
Erie Railroad at Cornwall Station.

JAMES HARRY VAN DUZER, son of Isaac Van Duzer and Mary Case, was born
in the town of Chester, N. Y., December 12, 1839. At the age of
eighteen he entered as clerk in a general store with the firm of
Woodhull and Vandervort at the corner store, Warwick, N. Y.; he
became a member of that firm in 1864; he succeeded to the business in
1873, continuing until 1883; in 1884 he engaged in the wholesale
hardware business at Newburgh, N. Y.; in 1895 William E. Sayer and
F. Clinton Van Duzer (his son) became members of the firm, and it is
known as J. H. Van Duzer & Co. He was married to Sarah A. Taylor
December 20, 1865. daughter of Isaac Taylor and Margaret Smith,
Warwick, N. Y. Their children are Ella T. (deceased), F. Clinton and
Marie L., wife of Thomas Welling.

DR. SOLOMON VAN ETTEN, one of the most prominent physicians and
surgeons in the county, was born in the town of Deer Park, Orange
County, N. Y., July 30, 1829. He was the son of Levi Van Etten and
Eleanor Carpenter.

The family was of Dutch descent and the doctor was of the eighth
generation in the direct line, from Jacob Van Etten, who came from
North Brabant, Holland, about 1656, and located at Wiltwyck, now
Kingston, N. Y. He grew up on the farm, attended the district school,
and later the Farmers' Hall Academy at Goshen, and was graduated from
the Albany Medical College, June 12, 1855.

Locating in Port Jervis, he soon acquired a fine practice, but when
the Civil War broke out the traditions of the family and the staunch
loyalty and patriotism which had been its characteristic for
generations would not permit him to stay at home.

His two grandfathers, Levi Van Etten and Benjamin Carpenter, served
in the Third Orange County Regiment in the Revolution. His
great-grandfather, Anthony Van Etten, was so active a patriot that he
was killed by Tories in 1778. His great-grandfather, Johannes Decker,
was the famous Major Decker who protected the frontier of the
southern part of the State throughout the Revolution, and his
grandmother, Margaret Decker, was one of the children at school in
the old log schoolhouse, near the farm house where the doctor was
born, on that July day when Brandt surprised them at their lessons
and killed and scalped their teacher. He entered the service
September 3, 1861, as surgeon of the Fifty-sixth Regiment of New York
Volunteers. He rose step by step from regimental surgeon to the rank
of division surgeon of the Third Division of the Eighteenth Army
Corps. After the war he returned to Port Jervis.

On September 7, 1865, he was united in marriage with Maria, daughter
of Nathan Bristol, of Waverly, N. Y.

Two children were born of this union, Dr. Nathan B. Van Etten, a
practicing physician in New York City, and Eleanor B. Van Etten, who
resides with her mother in Port Jervis.

Dr. Van Etten died suddenly at his home in Port Jervis, July 7, 1894,
from concussion of the brain, the result of a fall.

CHARAC J. VAN INWEGAN was born April 14, 1851, in the town of Deer
Park. He has always followed merchandising, succeeding to the
business which his father established in Huguenot, which he still
carries on. In 1880 he opened a store in Port Jervis in connection
with his brother, John C., who took charge of the latter
establishment. Charac J. has dealt extensively in wood and each
season has shipped thousands of cords to New York. For a time he
owned the Huguenot Springs Hotel, and he owns two store buildings in
Port Jervis, N. Y. He has been twice married. His first wife was
Catherine, daughter of Isaac and Catherine (Rose) Cuddeback, and
after her death he married Ellen S., daughter of Peter P. Swartwout.
By the first union one son was born, Willard. The children of the
second marriage are Lyman C., Harold B., Allen J. and Ralph S. Mr.
Van Inwegan is a member of the Masonic Lodge of Port Jervis. In
politics he is a democrat and has served as postmaster at Huguenot
for some years. His wife is a member of the Reformed Church.

HENRY NEWTON VAN KEUREN, son of Henry L. and Eleanor (Crawford) Van
Keuren, was born in the town of Shawangunk, Ulster County, N. Y., in
1842. Mr. Van Keuren was educated at the district schools of his
native place, and at the age of twenty-seven engaged in business in
the town of Crawford, Orange County.

In 1869 Mr. Van Keuren married Helen, only daughter of John Hill, Jr.
She died in 1870. In 1873 he married Miss Catherine Ronk, of the town
of Crawford, who died in Newburgh in 1888. Mr. Van Keuren acquired a
competency in business and lived for many years in retirement in
Newburgh. He was fond of travel and visited all the countries of
Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land, and made a tour around the world in
1897-1898. He died in Germany in 1907.

Mr. Van Keuren's ancestors came from Holland in 1864, and were among
the early settlers of New York. The homestead in Ulster County, in
which four generations were born, was a house of shelter and refuge
in the days of contests with the Indians.

CLARENCE C. VAN NESS was born in Edenville, Orange County, March 28,
1869, and after finishing his schooling was in the meat business for
six years, and then engaged in the milk business. He has become a
breeder of fine horses. His father, John J. Van Ness, died in 1891,
aged seventy-three, and his mother, whose maiden name was Anna A.
Barrett, died in 1904, aged sixty-three. The father had been a hotel
man in Edenville twenty-seven years. A daughter, Mamie E., is the
wife of John F. Knapp, of Newark, N. J.

JOHN W. VAN NESS was born in Bellvale, Orange County, October 29,
1852; was educated in the district school, and then assisted his
father, Peter Van Ness, who was a wheelwright until he died in 1884,
when John continued the business. For eight years he was a partner of
John Hazen in the Hotel Windemere at Greenwood Lake, and was
postmaster four years by appointment of President Harrison. Hazen &
Van Ness purchased George E. Reed's general store in Warwick and
continued it four years. He then came to Warwick and leased the
Demorest Stables, and after seven years, in 1900, bought the
Campbell and Longwell Stables with five horses and is now running
them with forty-five horses and at the same time interesting himself
in agricultural pursuits. On December 9, 1880, he married Miss Mary
A. Hazen, of Greenwood Lake. They have one child, Maud, born
September 23, 1881, who is at home. Mr. Van Ness was collector of the
town of Warwick one year.

WILLIAM VAN NESS was born April 26, 1836, at Pompton, N. J. His
father was Peter S. and mother Eliza Jane (Brown) Van Ness. There
were twelve children in his parents' family. William came with his
parents to Warwick, this county, when three years of age. The father
was a farmer and took an interest in matters pertaining to the
democratic party. He acquired his early education at the district
school and Warwick Academy. At an early age he learned the butchers'
trade and followed the business for thirty-two years. He married
Miss Jane Stidworthy, of Warwick. She was of English parentage and
came to America with her parents when three years old. There were two
children born to this union, Emma B., wife of Harry J. Bogart, of
Passaic, N. J., and Sarah Ann, wife of Burt Edsall, of Goshen. In
1900 Mr. Van Ness sold his business and removed to Goshen, where he
purchased the Orange Hotel, which he still conducts.

SAMUEL C. VAN VLIET, JR., was born in the town of Blooming Grove,
December 29, 1833, and reared upon a farm until seventeen years of
age. Subsequently he was a clerk and later was in business in a
general store under the firm name of Seaman & Van Vliet, of Monroe.
In March, 1861, he came to Oxford Depot and has been engaged in
merchandising, being the principal business man of the vicinity. On
December 29, 1858, Mr. Van Vliet married Miss Euphenia Jenkins, of
Monroe, the youngest daughter of Ira and Millie (Smith) Jenkins. Two
daughters have been born to them. Elsie J. is the wife of S. G. Lent
and has one child, Helen Grace, now the wife of William H. Smith, of
Chester. Effie is the wife of Fred L. Conklin, of Chester, N. Y. The
Van Vliet family originated in Holland. Politically Mr. Van Vliet is
a republican. For thirty years he was postmaster and is now agent for
the Erie Railroad. From 1868 to 1872 he was a member of the board of
supervisors of Orange County, and for twenty years an elder of the
Presbyterian Church of Monroe.

DR. EDWIN R. VARCOE, one of the leading dentists of Orange County,
located at Goshen, was born near Honesdale, Pa., November 4, 1850.
His parents, Francis and Mary (Hocken) Varcoe, were natives of
England and descendants of a long line of substantial English
ancestry. Both were educated near Liskeard, in the county of
Cornwall, where they grew to maturity and were married in 1846. They
came to America on their wedding tour, settling in Honesdale, Pa.
They engaged in farming pursuits, and remained there until their
death, the father dying in 1895 and the mother in 1865. Both were
devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their eight
children, three sons and five daughters, are all living.

The father of Francis Varcoe, Samuel Varcoe, was an English gentleman
and a landed proprietor in the county of Cornwall. The maternal
grandfather of Francis Varcoe was Rev. Charles Hicks, of the Church
of England. One of Samuel's sons, Rev. R. Varcoe, came to this
country and filled several important charges in the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, where he died. The father of Mrs.
Varcoe was Rev. Edward Hocken, a minister of the Church of England,
who for fifty years filled important pulpits in his native land. He
reared a family of seven children, of whom Edward, Jr., became a
clergyman under the celebrated John Wesley in the Methodist Church,
during the pioneer era of that organization.

The great-grandfather of our subject on the maternal side was Rev.
William Geake, of the Church of England. The children of Francis and
Mary Varcoe are as follows: Lavenia, wife of Isaiah Scudder, of
Middletown, N. Y., died May, 27, 1908; Sophia, widow of Ira S.
Baxter, of Wallingford, Conn.; Edwin R.; Elizabeth, wife of Frank
Sagendorph, of Jersey City, died February 22, 1896; Selina; Mrs. T.
Edson Harding, of Howells, N. Y.; William F., a practicing physician
in New York City; Carrie, who married Herman Groffell, of Jersey
City; and Charles W., a dentist of Walden, N. Y.

In 1875 Francis Varcoe married for his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth
(Onger) Glenn, and they had one daughter, Kittie, now the wife of
Charles Webb., of Bethany, Pa. Politically Mr. Varcoe was a
republican, and was a staunch Union man during the Civil War. He was
identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died September 6,
1895, aged eighty years, near Honesdale, Pa.

The subject of this sketch, Dr. E. R. Varcoe, received his literary
education in the schools of Wayne County and Wyoming Seminary at
Kingston, Pa. At the age of twenty-one he began the study of his
profession under Dr. J. W. Kesler, of Honesdale, Pa., with whom he
remained for two years. He then practiced at different places in
Orange County for five years. In 1880 he was graduated from the
Philadelphia Dental College, carrying off the highest honors of his
class and receiving the prize awarded, an S. S. White dental engine.
In June, 1880, he established himself in practice in Goshen, where he
has since remained.

The doctor is a trustee and member of the Presbyterian Church of
Goshen. He is also an honorary member of the Second District Dental
Association, the Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and
Encampment of Patriarchs. In politics he is a republican. He has made
several trips to Europe, visiting Scotland, Ireland, England, France,
Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, Cuba and Sandwich Islands, besides
traveling in all the States and Territories in this country. For the
benefit of the church and charitable interests he has frequently
lectured on his travels.

HENRY O. VELTMAN, of the town of Mount Hope, was born December 31,
1847, in the town of Wallkill. His father Albert and mother Eunice
(Howell) Veltman had ten children, seven girls and three boys. They
are all living but one son. His father was a mason by trade. He
attended the district school, where he acquired his education while
assisting at home on the farm. He was in Jersey City, N. J., three
years in the milk business and was engaged in teaming there for two
years, when he returned to the farm. He married Miss Helen Kennedy,
of Howells, Orange County. She is of Scotch descent and came to
America when seventeen years of age. Mr. Veltman is a member of the
Grange and a republican in politics; both he and his wife are members
of the Otisville Methodist Church.

MONTGOMERY H. VERNON was born April 7, 1846, in the town of Monroe,
Orange County, N. Y. His parents were Elvin and Catherine Vernon, and
they had ten children. He was the ninth child, and he attended school
at Satterleytown schoolhouse and Sugar Loaf, meanwhile working for
his board. He worked on a farm until he was nineteen years of age,
and then clerked for D. H. Roe, of Chester, one year, and Burchard &
Smith nearly three years. He then engaged in the meat business at
Washingtonville with W. H. Hallock. Mr. Vernon was united in marriage
to Mary A. Goble, of Florida, December 20, 1870. To this union six
children were born, two died in infancy. The other children are
Russell M., attorney at Middletown, N. Y.; Emma A., wife of Robert W.
Anderson; Sarah L., wife of Richard M. Ferries, an attorney of New
York City, and George Herbert, residing at home. After Mr. Vernon's
marriage he continued in the meat business and the manufacturing of
brick for seventeen years, and in 1888 he disposed of the meat
business. He is a large shipper of onions to all parts of the United
States. Mrs. Vernon died April 27, 1906.

ANDREW K. WADE, of Walden, who conducts a stove and tinware
establishment, was born at Montgomery in 1845, a son of Jabez P. and
Susan (Millspaugh) Wade. This business was established by his
brother, Joseph G. Wade, in 1857, who died in 1862. E. B. Tears
continued the business until 1887, when our subject succeeded to it.
Mr. Wade has served three terms as supervisor, and also justice of
the peace and police justice. Politically he is a democrat, and a
member of the Knights of Pythias. In 1879 he married Sarah Frances
McVey. They have one daughter living, Frances Willard Wade.

CHARLES D. WAIT, a leading and very successful business man of
Montgomery, N. Y., is a descendant of one of Orange County's old and
respected families. He is a son of Thomas and Mary (Mould) Wait, and
was born at the Wait homestead in the town of Montgomery. In 1887 he
erected the buildings he now occupies for business purposes, dealing
extensively in flour, feed, coal, lumber and cattle, his cattle trade
exceeding ten carloads monthly, which he markets in New York, while
his trade in hay averages eighty carloads annually. Mr. Wait is a
director in the Montgomery National Bank, and an elder of the Dutch
Reformed Church. In June, 1897, he married Miss Eliza Seymour, of
Walden, daughter of James Seymour.

GEORGE W. WAIT, son of Thomas and Mary (Mould) Wait, was born at the
homestead, where he has always resided, in 1853. This farm, which was
the property of his grandfather, Samuel Wait, is situated some two
miles east of Montgomery village and comprises two hundred acres of
improved and valuable land. Mr. Wait has been engaged in its
cultivation since finishing his studies at the Montgomery schools,
and is one of the more prosperous and progressive agriculturists in
the county. He is also an extensive dealer in cattle. He married Miss
Cornelia, daughter of J. Egbert Kidd, a descendant of an old Orange
County family. They have had two children, Charles D., Jr., who died
at the age of five, and Helen Marguerite. Mr. Wait is a member of the
Montgomery Grange.

DR. WESLEY WAIT, surgeon dentist of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in the
Wait homestead near the village of Montgomery, Orange County, May 15,
1861. He is a son of Thomas and Mary (Mould) Wait, and a grandson of
Samuel Wait, who came from Somersetshire, England, in 1821, and
engaged in farming in Orange County. He married Miss Mary Welch
before leaving his native land, and they became the parents of nine
children, of whom Thomas was the fifth in order of birth.

Dr. Wait was educated at Montgomery Academy and a New York
preparatory school, and in 1881 entered the New York College of
Dentistry. Eight months later he was appointed first assistant to
Professor J. B. Littig. He graduated a year ahead of his class, and
has practiced continuously in Newburgh since 1885, becoming
identified with a number of local enterprises.

From 1890 to 1893 Dr. Wait represented New York State in the National
Association of Inventors and Manufacturers and in 1891 he represented
this Congressional District at the Patent Centennial at Washington,
D. C, being the inventor and owner of several valuable inventions.

In 1885 Dr. Wait married Emily S., daughter of General John A.
Pawlins, chief of staff to General U. S. Grant, and ex-secretary of
war. Mrs. Wait died March 25, 1897, leaving a daughter Lucille R.,
now the wife of Mr. John Springstead Bull. Mr. Wait chose in 1905
Miss Annie E. Knapp, daughter of Samuel T. Knapp, of New York City,
for his second wife. Their mansion is located at Grand avenue and
North street, overlooking the Hudson.

CHARLES N. WALTON, of Monroe, N. Y., who is engaged in the furniture
and undertaking business, is a native of Pennsylvania and has resided
in this village since 1901, when he purchased the business from J. T.
Horrick. This business was originally established by Charles Maples.
Mr. Walton is identified with many fraternal organizations, including
the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He married Miss Alice
Bond, also of Pennsylvania, and three children have been born to
them, Raymond, Minnie and Russell.

DR. GEORGE N. WARD, dentist of Walden, was born in the town of
Crawford, Orange County, N. Y., a son of James and Elizabeth (Crans)
Ward. He graduated from the Montgomery Academy in 1886 and acquired
his dental education in the University of Maryland. He has practiced
his profession in Walden since 1895. He married Miss Bradnack, of
Middletown, and they have one daughter. Possessed of literary and
historical inclinations, Dr. Ward has accumulated a valuable
collection of books and has many relics of aboriginal and
Revolutionary days. James Ward, Sr., his grandfather, was born in the
town of Newburgh in 1797. In 1826 he purchased the farm in Crawford
township, which has been the homestead for two generations.

J. ERSKINE WARD, supervisor of the town of Crawford, has for many
years been prominently identified with business and public affairs in
this part of Orange County. He was born in this township March 4,
1864, a son of James and Elizabeth (Crans) Ward. His education was
obtained at the schools of his native place and Middletown. In 1888
Mr. Ward engaged in the feed business at Thompson's Ridge, which he
continued successfully for a period of ten years, when he sold the
business and property to Messrs. Clark Bros. In 1898 he engaged in
the hardware business at Pine Bush, in partnership with Mr. J. L.
McKinney, disposing of his interest to Mr. McKinney in 1904, and
shortly thereafter established his present saw-mill, which gives
employment to about fifteen men. In political belief Mr. Ward is a
staunch democrat. In 1900 he was appointed supervisor of the town and
elected to the office in 1901, and has been continuously re-elected
to the present time. In January, 1908, he was chosen chairman of the
board. Socially Mr. Ward is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Sons
of the American Revolution, Knights of Pythias, Maccabees and
Grangers.

CORNELIUS L. WARING was born at Balmville, a suburb of Newburgh, in
1852. He read law with Judge Hirschberg, and was admitted to the bar
in 1873. Later he formed a partnership with ex-District Attorney
Russel Headley, which continued until 1878, when Mr. Waring was
elected recorder of the city of Newburgh. He was re-elected in 1882
and again in 1886, retiring from office December 31, 1890. He served
as corporation counsel of the city of Newburgh continuously from
1892, resigning the office February, 1907.

Mr. Waring is a director and attorney for many of Orange County's
leading corporations. He is a member of the City Club, Powelton Club
and Republican Club of the city of New York. Mr. Waring is unmarried
and resides at the Palatine Hotel.

WILLIAM SAYER WATKINS was born on the homestead farm in the town of
Hamptonburgh, August 3, 1820, and the date of his death was November
7, 1884. He was an energetic farmer, and lived for his neighbors as
well as himself, winning their respect and esteem by his kindly and
thoughtful interest in their welfare. He married Miss Emma Monell, of
Hamptonburgh, September 15, 1859, and their three children are all
living. Juliana B. was born July 12, 1860, and is the wife of B.
Seward Carr, of Chicago; William Sayer, born November 7, 1866, lives
on the homestead; John Evans, born December 25, 1867, married Anna
Eliza Blake, March 9, 1905, and they have two daughters, Elizabeth,
who was born January 2, 1906, and Emma Adeline, born October 1, 1907.
The house on the homestead was burned in 1886, and rebuilt in 1887.

J. N. WEED was born in the hamlet of Gardnertown, town of Newburgh,
November 20, 1825. He has always resided in the town, except when
away at school. On April 1, 1833, the family moved from Orange Lake
to North Newburgh on the west bank of the Hudson River, three and
one-half miles north of the village of Newburgh. It was found to be a
beautiful location, back from a fine sandy beach just far enough to
escape the highest tides, with a bay extending seven or eight miles
in front bounded by the mountains of the Highlands. April 1, 1833,
was one of the loveliest days imaginable and the house had been
reached by a road coming down from a hill, five hundred feet high, in
numerous zig-zags. Such hills were new to the life of our subject, as
also was the river bay and the river craft and naturally made an
impression.

This continued to be the home of Mr. Weed until May, 1845, when he
came to the village as a clerk of the Highland Bank. He left that
bank, of which he was then teller, in January, 1852, having been
appointed cashier of the Quassaick Bank, then organizing. Mr. Weed
was cashier of the latter bank during its entire history and of the
Quassaick National Bank of Newburgh, into which it was converted May
1, 1865, until February 4, 1895, when he was elected president and
now holds that position.

The principal business events of his life have been given heretofore
in the local histories. There is, however, a side to the life of this
man but little known, and we propose to say something about it.

As an amateur geologist he has thoroughly explored the territory
about Newburgh, a region rich in glacial and drift phenomena.

Scattered over its surface are huge blue sandstone boulders, some of
extraordinary size and sure to attract the attention of even the
un-observing. They are generally, but not always, scattered in
_groups._

At the time of the publication of the Natural History of New York, in
1843, these and other boulders were supposed to have been transported
from their source to their present place in icebergs, the glacial
theory at that time being undreamed of. Now it can safely be declared
established and readily explains many things involved in obscurity.

The glacial markings in the Hudson River valley are found from the
present surface of the water up to the mountain tops and afford an
index of some of the conditions existing on the earth at that time.

To illustrate: a surface now polished must have been a surface when
the glacier did that work. There are glacial polishings very near
Newburgh at the river surface and they also are found on the top of
the Palisades, a trap rock thrown up from below in a molten state at
some remote period of the earth's history. How long ago cannot be
told, but this can be confidently said, the catastrophe of the
Palisades antedated their being polished by the ice of the Great
Glacier. The polished slate rocks at the surface of the present river
show that the river valley then existed and that the Palisades were
then, also, a geological feature of the region, as the footprints of
the same artisan is left on both.

Our subject was attracted by the size and numbers of these blue stone
boulders about Newburgh, and persevered in an attempt to ascertain
from whence they came until success finally crowned his efforts with
the sure conclusion that their source was the Marlborough Mountains,
and that the explanation of their being found in groups was that they
came from the precipitous cliffs of the mountains from which they
were detached by the action of frost and gravity, and falling upon
the ice were slowly transported by it until the ice melted and
dropped its burden at the places where now found. The same natural
forces continuing to act, at long intervals the falls from the cliffs
would recur, the rocks take up their journey in the moving ice and
find their resting place where the ice melted, and the direction and
distance of these groups from the source would afford some clue to
the movements of the glacier itself.

Some of these boulders are found as far south as Central Valley, and
some high up on the slopes of the Cornwall Highlands, as high even as
one thousand feet. Two professional geologists have gone over this
ground with Mr. Weed and confirmed his conclusions. The basement
walls of the Imperial Flats in South street and the stone wall built
by B. Franklin Clark on the east side of the highway to Woodlawn
Cemetery are of big boulder origin. Specimens of other drift rocks
have been found near Newburgh and traced to their source as far north
as fifty miles.

A more interesting subject, however, to Mr. Weed, is the Aurora
Borealis. In the cold winter of 1837, a chum of his brother was
visiting at the house and in the early part of the evening had
started for home, but almost immediately came running back and in a
terrified manner declared "Granny Theall's barn is on fire!" The
entire household rushed to the door and confronted a scene that was
indeed alarming. The landscape was covered with snow, the snow was
as red as blood and the air filled with flames. The brother and his
chum ran for half a mile toward Granny Theall's barn to find when it
came into view that it was not the barn but the world that was on
fire, at least that was the impression of most of the persons who saw
this extraordinary display of the Aurora Borealis, the flames seemed
so real and the danger so imminent. It made such an impression on Mr.
Weed that ever since he has been a student and observer of the
phenomenon.

During the sun spot maximum of 1868-1873 the Aurora occurred so
frequently that in May, 1871, he resolved to keep a close nightly
watch and record of his observations, and this he kept up for seven
years.

In the first four months of observation forty-four Auroras were seen
by Mr. Weed. The whole number of days on which Auroras were seen in
the whole United States other than Newburgh was sixty-eight, and the
largest number reported from any one place was twenty-five, from
Duluth; followed by seventeen from Chicago, sixteen from Marquette,
fifteen from Boston, fourteen from Grand Haven, fourteen from Oswego,
twelve from Davenport, ten from Buffalo, ten from Burlington, nine
from Detroit, eight from Rochester, nine from St. Paul, seven from
Mount Washington, six from Cleveland, six from Milwaukee, six from
Toledo, three from Indianapolis, New London and Portland, Me., each,
two from New York, and one each from Cape May, Cheyenne, Escanala,
Leavenworth, San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington, D. C, and
Wilmington.

Special attention is called to the number reported at New York, only
sixty miles south of Newburgh, due in part no doubt to the artificial
lights of the great city.

One hundred years ago auroras were regarded as most abundant near the
poles, and as very rare in our latitude, but we now know that they
are most brilliant and probably most numerous in the medial zones
between the poles and the equator, that is in _the zones of the earth
having the greatest diurnal range of temperature,_ say, in the
temperate zones on their polar sides.

Mr. Weed has been led by his observations to believe that the
phenomenon is purely meteorological. In support of this view he has
witnessed many a time the aurora on the top of the clouds, and in one
instance on the top of a detached rain-cloud going southeast, the
existence of which was brought to his attention by the rain falling
upon him. It was then noticed that the cloud was surmounted by a fine
display of auroral streamers physically connected with it and
directed toward the coronal point.

The three features, cloud, rain and streamers, kept on together to
the horizon, affording the best possible conditions for establishing
their physical connection. In connection with this there occurred
another remarkable appearance and standing alone among his many cloud
observations.

When the auroral rain-cloud reached the mountains, on the area where
the rain fell the mountains were covered by an exceedingly brilliant
white fog blanket, conforming to all the irregular forms of the
slopes and passing when the cloud passed. During the same evening a
little later heavy showers occurred, the clouds going in the same
direction, and in the inter-cloud spaces auroral streamers were
abundant, but the openings were not large enough to determine their
physical connection with the clouds, but taken in connection with the
preceding cloud there can hardly be a doubt but that the same
relation existed between the rain, cloud and streamers.

On two different occasions a gleam of lightning appeared in the
middle of the dark segment north, half way between the horizon and
the crown of the segment, and in both cases, instantly, there rose
from that identical spot a single fine auroral streamer. The apparent
physical connection in these two cases is supported by the fact that
the streamers usually have their origin in the arch of light
surmounting the dark segment; that they do not ordinarily appear
singly even there, and that in a long experience our observer does
not remember ever having seen a single lonely streamer originate in
the dark-segment. Quite frequently sheet lightning is seen in the
south with an aurora in the north, and sometimes both are seen
together in the north, but they never seemed physically connected,
except in these two instances. The fact that both of these gleams had
the same position in the dark-segment, and were both instantly
followed by the rare eruption of a single streamer would seem to
remove the phenomenon from the possibility of having been a
coincidence.

On one occasion during a great aurora which lasted the whole night
and out into the full twilight of the morning, another observation
was made tending to show kinship of the aurora with meteorology.

First, let us mention that the crowning glory of the aurora and its
highest point is regarded as the corona, a point just south of the
zenith toward which all of the streamers converge when the aurora has
passed further to the south. Several times the corona formed under
the clouds during the night of this great exhibition, a singular
feature of the phenomenon being the invisibility of the clouds except
when illuminated by the light of the corona. The clouds were
cirro-stratus going rapidly southeast. They were specially looked for
at other times, but could not be seen. Does not this prove that the
whole of a first-class aurora was within the cloud-bearing regions of
the atmosphere? Its highest part was below the clouds, and therefore
it was below the clouds in its entirety. It was a great aurora, as
shown by the repeated formation of the corona. It was a great aurora
also because it continued through the entire night into the morning
twilight and it suggests a meteorological origin.

Another appearance occurring occasionally during an aurora is the
"Luminous White Cloud Band" crossing the sky from east to west,
cutting the horizon about east and some north of west, and when fully
formed crossing the meridian near the coronal point. Our observer has
seen this arch a number of times and regards it as one of the most
instructive features of the aurora. Some observers have doubted its
connection with the Aurora Borealis, but Mr. Weed does not share in
this doubt, he having, on April 13, 1871, witnessed its entire
formation, and having seen the most convincing evidence of its
connection with the aurora. This is what he saw: At 10 P. M. a dark
segment north by east crowned with the ordinary auroral arc of light
and with streamers above this; in other words, an Aurora Borealis.
Then another segment of seventy degrees altitude of the most
fascinating, bright, attractive luminosity, bounded by a perfectly
sharp outline. The sky was cloudless throughout, and south of this
line, of normal hue. The perfection of the line of demarcation
between the normal and auroral sky was a most extraordinary thing,
and it teaches this, that the aurora had a clearly defined and
definite border on its advancing side. Then, in this cloudless sky,
streamers-like cloudlets began to form on the upper side of this line
in the normal sky at both the east and west horizon, rapidly
succeeded by others until they met on or near the meridian completing
a white cloud band. The base of these cloud-streamers blended
together on the curved line and were pointed above and directed
toward the coronal point of the aurora. After the band was completed
it was noticed that it was moving south and this motion continued
until it came to rest at the star Delta Leonis in the region of the
coronal point of the ordinary auroral exhibitions. As the cloud arch
moved south from its initial point it brightened into an intense
luminosity, was much agitated internally, and showed a motion to the
west, as it always does, and, in dissolving, showed a wavelet
structure and cloud-like aspect.

Half of the journey of the band was made before the line separating
the base of the cloud-arch and the auroral sky was in the least
disturbed.

That this cloud arch formed on and moved with the luminous auroral
segment on its journey and rested at the coronal point proves it to
be auroral, and the formation of this luminous cloud in contact with
the aurora, in an otherwise cloudless sky, also proves the close
relationship of the aurora and clouds and here bring in actual
contact with cloud, that the aurora was in the cloud bearing region
of the atmosphere, and again suggests a meteorological paternity for
the Aurora Borealis.

BENJAMIN WELCH, of Little York, Orange County, was born October 11,
1832. His parents were Gabriel and Eliza Welch, and they had nine
children, three of whom are living--Benjamin; Susan, wife of Martin
V. B. Horton, of Warwick; and Mary, wife of Edsal Stage. Benjamin
learned the carpenter's trade when he was twenty years of age, and
followed that occupation several years. He was connected with the
Brown & Bailey Creameries of Amity and Edenville five years. On March
1, 1871, he removed to Pleasant Valley and managed his father's farm
until the death of the latter, when he became its owner. To this he
added by purchase the Rynear Stage farm of one hundred and twenty-six
acres, which increases his lands to two hundred and sixty acres. He
has a large dairy, and is one of the extensive peach growers in
Orange County.

July 9, 1863, he married Miss Mary E. Davenport, of Warwick. Their
three children, all living, are George, born March 26, 1864; Olive,
born October 8, 1865, and Daniel, born January 22, 1867. George was
married to Mary F. Feagles, of Pine Island, December 31, 1904. The
father was an Odd Fellow many years. His homestead farm has belonged
to the family since 1844.

ALANSON Y. WELLER, president of the Newburgh Planing Mill Co., was
born in the town of Crawford, Orange County, N. Y., in 1837. He was
educated at Montgomery Academy, and in 1857 became a clerk in the
store of the late A. K. Chandler, Newburgh, where he remained until
1863, when the dry goods firm of Schoonmaker, Mills & Weller was
formed. In 1886 Mr. Mills retired from the firm and the two remaining
members continued the business until January 1, 1898, when the
partnership was dissolved, Mr. Weller retiring from a mercantile
career which had proved very successful. In 1899 Mr. Weller succeeded
to the planing mill business of Thomas Shaw's Sons, which was
established in 1837, and which is among the important industries of
the city. Mr. Weller is a director of the National Bank of Newburgh,
trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank, and interested in many local
enterprises. Much of his time has been occupied in managing the
estate of his deceased brother, Joseph H. Weller.

GEORGE S. WELLER, wholesale and retail coal dealer of Newburgh, was
born in that city July, 1871, and is a son of A. Y. Weller. He
graduated from the academy in 1888 and entered the employ of J. W.
Matthews & Co., with whom he remained as shipping clerk until he
started his present business in 1890. He is also president of the
Highland Drug Co. Mr. Weller married Miss Constance, daughter of Rev.
J. A. Farrar.

JOSEPH H. WELLER, a prominent merchant of New York City, was born in
Montgomery, Orange County, in 1846, and died at his home in New York,
November 14, 1886. At the age of fourteen he came to Newburgh to
clerk in the dry goods firm of A. K. Chandler & Co. He went to New
York in 1868 to become salesman for the firm of Wentz, Hartley & Co.,
afterward becoming a member of the firm of J. M. Wentz & Co. He
remained a member of this firm until its dissolution. In 1879 he
became member of the firm of Teffts, Griswold & Co., and three years
later of the new firm of Tefft, Weller & Co., wholesale dry goods
merchants of New York. In 1876 Mr. Weller married Miss Frances
Cronkright, of Elizabeth, N. J., whose death occurred five weeks
prior to that of her husband. The loss of his beloved wife prostrated
Mr. Weller with grief and contributed largely to his death. Mr.
Weller is buried in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Mr. and Mrs. Weller left surviving four children, Lillian C. Weller,
who is now the wife of Ralph S. Tompkins, of Fishkill-on-Hudson,
N. Y.; Edith M. Weller, who is the wife of Mr. Leonard M. Hills, of
New York City; Alfred E. Weller, who resides in Newburgh, N. Y.; and
Joseph Francis Weller, who is a student at Yale University.

The New York Dry Goods Chronicle of November 20, 1886, paid the
following tribute to the memory of Mr. Weller:

"His sudden death has created a profound feeling of grief and sorrow,
not only throughout the dry goods trade in which he was so prominent,
but to all commercial circles in this great commercial city. Seldom
has a man so young been so universally mourned. He left his impress
on the trade and commerce of the metropolis. He did this by the force
of his ability, his energy and affability. He was a superior man in
business and in the charm and gentleness of his manner. His judgment
was sound, his executive ability rare, his energy wonderful, and his
mastery of details complete. He possessed to an eminent degree the
qualities of a great merchant. He was ambitious but not at the
expense of others. He was helpful--never harmful. In his ascent to
success and distinction he never crowded others from the path but
rather encouraged them with sympathy and cheer. His crowning glory
was his charity, his kindness. It shone in the family, in the social
circle, at the store and elsewhere that business duties called him.

"In the brief career of Joseph H. Weller there is the history of a
busy life. It was not length of days that gave him opportunity to
rise, it was what he did and how he did it that gave him prominence.
He acted nobly and well his part."

THEODORE A. WELLER, retired merchant of Middletown, N. Y., was born
in the town of Wallkill, Orange County. He was educated at the
district schools and Middletown Academy. His dry goods career in
Middletown began with a clerkship for the firm of Hayt & Adams. At
the end of six years he purchased Mr. Hayt's interest, and the firm
of Adams & Weller was formed in 1876, which continued ten years. This
was succeeded by Weller, Demarest & Swayze, and in 1888 the
well-known store of Weller & Demarest was established, which
continued until January, 1908, when Mr. Weller's health caused him to
retire from active business.

Mr. Weller is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity,
including membership in Hoffman Lodge, Midland Chapter, Cypress
Commandery and Mecca Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

FRANKLIN JOSEPH WELLES, an artist, for twenty-six years a resident of
Greenwood Lake, has taken a deep interest in its legendary history.
His wife Annie Estelle is a daughter of the late Professor Henri
Appy, of Rochester, N. Y. the distinguished violinist and teacher,
who at the age of twelve years graduated with the highest honors of
any pupil from the Royal Conservatory of Amsterdam, Holland. He was
given a laurel wreath decoration by William of Orange, grandfather of
Wilhelmena, the present Queen of Holland. Some years after the death
of Jean Appy, who conducted the King's Orchestra, his son Henri Appy
succeeded to the position. He later came to America and played with
Jenny Lind in concerts at Castle Garden, and the piano owned and used
by her is now in the Welles home at Greenwood Lake. Professor Appy
made many concert tours, conducted the orchestra at the old Niblo
Garden in Newport, and taught at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. His
wife was Annie Paine, a singer at Grace Church, N. Y. He later moved
to Rochester, N. Y., to conduct the Philharmonic Society there. Two
children survive him, Annie E. and Ernest Frederic, professor of
music in the college at Xenia and Granville, the latter of Newark,
Ohio. He is a musician and teacher of marked ability and has
purchased land and expects to reside permanently at Greenwood Lake.
Henri Appy died in Rochester, N. Y., November 16, 1903, at the age of
seventy-nine.

THOMAS WELLING was born April 28, 1864, on the homestead farm at
Warwick, N. Y., which has been in the family continuously for one
hundred and fifty-four years. His early education was obtained at the
Warwick High School and Polytechnic Institute at Brooklyn, N. Y.
After his schooling he returned to Warwick and took the management of
the farm where he has since resided. He married Marie L. Van Duzer,
of Warwick, May 17, 1893, daughter of James Harvey and Sarah (Taylor)
Van Duzer. Their one son, Thomas, Jr., was born April 3, 1896. Mr.
Welling is a director of the First National Bank, second
vice-president of the Warwick Savings Bank and is a trustee of the
Warwick Cemetery Association. He is identified with the Grange and
attends the Dutch Reformed Church of Warwick. His father, Thomas
Welling, was one of Warwick's representative men. He took an active
interest in matters pertaining to the town, was a director in the
First National Bank and the Warwick Savings Bank and served as
president of the Warwick Valley Milk Association. He died November 9,
1898.

JAMES EDWARD WELLS was born at Dingmans, Pa., in 1834, and died
suddenly at his home in Goshen, May 6, 1907. He married Miss Francis
E., daughter of William S. and Sarah T. (Wood) Conkling. He removed
from the farm to the village of Goshen in 1901, and lived a retired
life until his death. For years he was a director and superintendent
of grounds of the Orange County Agricultural Society, and was one of
the first members of the Goshen Grange. He was agent in New York and
Jersey City for the Orange County Farmers' Milk Company, a director
of the Milk Exchange, and a partner in the firm of Wells & Stage,
milk commission merchants, with offices in New York. In religion he
was a Presbyterian and in politics a republican. In 1894 he was
elected supervisor of Goshen, and was afterward re-elected twelve
times, which shows the confidence which his townsmen reposed in him.
He was the descendant of William Wells, who emigrated to America in
1635, whose father was the Rev. William Wells, rector of St. Peter's
Church at Norwich, England. His widow and two children survive him.
The son is William A. Wells, of the Goshen National Bank, and the
daughter Mrs. Cornelius Christie, of Watertown, N. Y. James Edward's
father, Alfred, was a native of Goshen, and his mother, Lydia W.
Nyce, was a Pennsylvanian.

FREDERICK WILLIAM WENZEL, assistant postmaster, Newburgh, N. Y., is a
son of George C. and Elizabeth A. Wenzel, and was born in Newburgh,
September 28, 1871. In 1890 he graduated with honors from the
academy; and in 1895 succeeded his father in the manufacture of plain
and fancy boxes. He was appointed to his present position March 1,
1900. Mr. Wenzel was master of Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and A. M.,
in 1899 and 1900; a trustee of Highland Chapter No. 52, R. A. M.;
member of Ringgold Hose Company No. 1; a member of St. George's
Church, and the Alumni of Newburgh Free Academy.

COLONEL CHARLES H. WEYGANT, ex-mayor of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in
Cornwall, July 8, 1839, and educated at Ashland and Claverack
Collegiate Institutes. In 1862 he was appointed senior captain of the
124th Regiment, N. Y. S. V., commanding Company A. He took active
part in every general engagement of the Army of the Potomac. At the
Battle of Gettysburg his superior officers were killed, leaving the
regiment in command of Captain Weygant. He was shortly after
commissioned major and July 2, 1863, was made lieutenant-colonel. In
1870 Colonel Weygant was elected sheriff of Orange County, and from
1878 to 1880 he served as mayor of the city of Newburgh. In 1886, in
company with Henry T. McCoun, he purchased and developed the property
now known as Washington Heights, Newburgh. He is trustee of Trinity
M. E. Church; ex-commander of Ellis Post, G. A. R., and the author of
the "History of the 124th Regiment, N. Y. S. V." Colonel Weygant
married Miss Charlotte Sackett in 1868 and they have one daughter.

FRANK E. WEYGANT, formerly of the firm of R. F. Weygant's Sons,
carriage manufacturers at Central Valley, N. Y., is a descendant of
one of Orange County's old and prominent families. His father, Robert
Francis Weygant, was the youngest child of Smith and Charity
(Lamoreaux) Weygant. The original progenitor of the family in America
was Michael, son of Rev. George Herman Weigand, a Lutheran minister
of the Rhine Palatinate, who received a grant of land in 1708 from
Queen Anne embraced in the territory now covered by the city of
Newburgh. In 1745 Tobias, son of Michael, bought an extensive tract
of land near the present village of Highland Mills. A number of his
descendants made their homes in this locality.

Robert F. Weygant, who died September 3, 1902, established the
carriage factory at Central Valley in 1867. This is now conducted by
his sons, Fred and William. Frank E. Weygant is at present engaged in
the automobile business at Ridgewood, N. J.

ANNIAS R. WHEELER was born August 31, 1846, in Craigville, town of
Blooming Grove, and after his school education worked five years as a
cotton spinner, then at farming, and then for the Erie Railroad. He
tried to enlist six times as a soldier for the Civil War, the first
time in 1861, and five times was rejected on account of his small
size and light weight, but was finally mustered in August 22, 1864,
in Company C, 56th N. Y. Infantry, when his weight was only ninety
pounds. He served until wounded on December 29, 1864, at the crossing
of the Tillafinny River, and was discharged in New York City, May 30,
1865. He then became a farmer until 1881, then was superintendent of
the Middletown Ice Company five years, in 1887 was appointed a U. S.
mail-carrier, and as such served the Government seven years, then was
a traveling salesman two years, then commissioner of highways for the
town of Wallkill two years, and has since been in the insurance and
brokerage business and a pension attorney in Middletown. He married
Miss Hanna Oldfield, of Amity, town of Warwick, May 30, 1869, and
they have had twelve children, only two boys and three girls
surviving--Joel B., president of the common council of Middletown;
Harrison W., driver for the Middletown Phoenix Engine Company No. 4;
Melissa, wife of D. H. Jones, of Rutherford, N. Y.; Emma E., wife of
John E. T. Clegborn, of Wellsburg, N. Y.; and Francis E., who lives
with Joel B. Mr. Wheeler's father William was born in 1815 in New
York City, and was a contractor. His mother, whose maiden name was
Sarah Braffett, was born in 1827, and died in 1896.

ISAAC V. WHEELER--The Wheeler family is of English lineage, and
originally embraced eleven brothers and three sisters, all of whom
were early residents of Long Island, and at a later period removed to
Orange County and made purchases of land. One of these brothers, Joel
by name, is the progenitor of the branch of the family from which
Isaac V. is descended. Isaac V. Wheeler was a native of Warwick, and
was born March 4, 1823. He was the son of Colonel William F. and
Juliet (Van Duzer) Wheeler, who were the parents of seven children.
On the death of his father he became the possessor of the ancestral
estate. He married June 21, 1853, Miss Phoebe, daughter of Jesse
Bull. He was the father of six children, Juliet V.; Caroline B.;
William F.; Jesse C., who died October 7, 1881; Anna M., married
William A. Hayward and died September 16, 1899 (two children survive
her, Alice W. and William H.); Frank A. (died in infancy); and Alice.
In politics Mr. Wheeler was a republican, having descended from whig
ancestry. He was one of the original incorporators of the Warwick
Valley Farmers' Milk Association, and of the Warwick Savings Bank.
His death occurred April 9, 1876, in the fifty-third year of his age.

Shortly after the marriage of her son William F., Mrs. Wheeler with
her four daughters left the farm and moved to the home in Warwick
village, now known as "The Columns," which she purchased in 1883, and
at her death bequeathed to her daughters, Juliet V. and Caroline B.
Mrs. Wheeler died January 21, 1904, in the seventy-sixth year of her
age. She was a devoted member of the Reformed Church. Her ancestor on
the maternal side, Cornelius Board, came from Sussex, England, in
1730; on her father's side she was a descendant of the historic
William Bull and Sarah Wells.

WILLIAM F. WHEELER was born May 22, 1859. He is the son of Isaac V.
and Phebe (Bull) Wheeler. He married May 22, 1882, Miss Tillie A.
Wisner, of Chester, Orange County, N. Y., and is the father of six
children, all of whom are living: William F. Wheeler, Jr., Charles
V., Jesse I., Mary A., Roe W., and Ralph. The loss of his father at
the age of sixteen necessitated his leaving school at an early age
and assuming the responsibilities of the farm, on which he now
resides. Mr. Wheeler is an ardent republican. Five generations have
lived upon the estate now owned by him, it having been in the name
for over one hundred years. The property, consisting of two hundred
and eighty-five acres, is at present known as Peach Grove Farm. The
house in which he and his family reside was built by Colonel William
F. Wheeler in 1850. The barn on this place was raised on the Fourth
of July, 1776, and was built by Samuel Ketchum, a Revolutionary
soldier, who took part in the battle of White Plains.

EDWARD WHITEHEAD, president of the Walden Knife Company, was born in
Halifax, Yorkshire, England, a son of John and Sarah (Hill)
Whitehead. His parents brought him to America when a child and at the
age of fifteen years he learned the cutlery trade.

When the Walden Knife Company was organized in 1870 as a co-operative
concern, Mr. Whitehead was one of the eighteen members, and held the
position of superintendent. In 1874 the company was incorporated, at
which time William G. Gowdy was elected president and Edward
Whitehead secretary. In 1891 Mr. Whitehead was chosen president and
the success of the industry since that time has been rapid. It is
interesting to note that he is the only member of the original
company now identified with this establishment, and his official
connection with the cutlery industry stretches over a longer period
than any other man connected with the business at the present time in
this Sheffield of America.

Mr. Whitehead also occupies a prominent position in social and
educational circles. In 1893 he was chosen school trustee and in 1896
president of the board of education, which position he held until his
resignation in 1905. He is a director in the National Bank of Walden
and of the Walden Savings Bank. Mr. Whitehead's success in life may,
in brief, be attributed to perseverance, energy, keenness of judgment
and constant devotion to an industry that has become one of the most
important in Orange County.

HENRY L. WHITFORD, of Johnson, N. Y., who is prominently identified
with the extensive creamery industries of Orange County, is a native
of Connecticut. As a young man he learned the machinist's trade. For
twenty-four years he has been connected with the Borden enterprises.
He came to Orange County in 1891, and in 1895 was appointed
superintendent of the plant at Johnson. He is now traveling
superintendent, in charge of nine creameries.

Mr. Whitford married Miss Clara Root, and they are the parents of
three sons and two daughters. Socially he is identified with the
Masonic fraternity.

JOEL WHITTEN, a highly respected citizen and retired merchant of Pine
Bush, was born in the town of Crawford, October 8, 1818. A son of
John and Mary (Moore) Whitten. He died at his residence in Pine Bush,
April 29, 1904. Mr. Whitten remained on the home farm for a few years
after his marriage to Miss M. Halstead Moore, of New York City, who
died in 1872. He was for a time engaged in the mercantile business in
New York City and also at Burlingham with his brother, Isaiah, until
the establishment of the Pine Bush store, where he continued with
Isaiah until his retirement from business in 1880. He served as
postmaster of the village a number of years. Mr. Whitten was a man of
keen discernment, sound judgment and sterling integrity. A firm
believer in the principles of the Democratic party, he took an active
interest in politics, but declined to hold public office. He united
with the New Prospect Church in 1844 and organized the Sunday-school,
in which he was active, either as a teacher or superintendent, for
over forty years.

September 14, 1881, Mr. Whitten married Miss A. Emily McGowan, of
Pine Bush, N. Y., daughter of Benjamin and Priscilla (Faulkner)
McGowan, who survives him.

SAMUEL R. WHITTEN, son of Francis and Ophelia (Rainey) Whitten, was
born in the town of Crawford in 1863. He was educated at the schools
of Middletown and the Troy Polytechnic Institute. In addition to
conducting a general store for eleven years, he was engaged in the
lumber business and management of a farm. In 1907 Mr. Whitten formed
a partnership with R. T. Brown, under the firm name of Brown &
Whitten, dealers in general merchandise, carrying on an extensive
trade at Pine Bush, N. Y.

GAVIN R. M. WILCOX, manufacturer, Newburgh, was born at Newtown
Stewart, Whitonshire, Scotland, May 16, 1849. He is of English and
Scotch ancestry, son of John and Jessie (McGregor) Wilcox, who came
to America in 1866, settling in Newburgh. Here Gavin R. M. entered
the employ of the Washington Iron Works, where he learned the trade
of pattern maker and was later employed by the Severance Paper
Machine Works; in 1871 he engaged with the Newburgh Steam Engine
Works, holding the position of foreman until 1883, when the firm of
Coldwell, Wilcox & Co. was organized, manufacturers of light
machinery, steam heating apparatus, etc. In May, 1890, the business
was incorporated as Coldwell-Wilcox Co., with a capital stock of
$53,000, and Mr. Wilcox became secretary and general manager, which
position he still occupies. He served three years as president of the
Business Men's Association, and in 1902 was appointed by Mayor Wilson
a member of the board of water commissioners, and at the following
election was elected to that office and re-elected in 1905 to another
five-year term. In 1872 he married Alice E., daughter of Henry O. Van
Duzer. Five children have been born to them.

WALTER C. WILCOX was born at Wurtsboro, Sullivan County, N. Y. He is
the son of Abraham and Marguerite (Lybolt) Wilcox, who had seven
children. Mr. Wilcox obtained his early education at the district
school at Wurtsboro and the high school at Monticello. After his
schooling he moved to Middletown and identified himself with the
Howell Hinchman Co., remaining with this firm about eight months. He
afterward worked at the same business in Newark, N. J., for three
years. In 1893 he removed to Middletown, and opened a grocery, which
he has continued since. Mr. Wilcox was married to Miss Jennie
Cameron, of Ellenville, N. Y., July 2, 1890. She is a direct
descendant of the Cameron family of Scotland. To this union one child
was born, Alonzo Potter Wilcox, born March 31, 1891, associated with
his father in business. In politics Mr. Wilcox is a democrat. His
brother Charles is a resident of Middletown, N. Y. Henry, of Port
Jervis, is identified with the Erie Railroad; Anna is the wife of
A. Dedrick, of Port Jervis; Ella, wife of Harry Miller, of Jersey
City; Ada, wife of James Monagham, of Jersey City.

VICTOR AUDUBON WILDER, the only son of Mariner Ayers Wilder and Mary
P. Smith, his wife, was born in Dennysville, Maine, on July 8, 1844,
which was also the birthplace of his father. When but a few years old
the son and his parents moved to Boston, Mass., where they lived
until the outbreak of the Civil War.

The son enlisted in the 44th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, and
served until the end of the war. During his absence, his parents
moved to Brooklyn, N. Y., and on receiving his discharge from the
service the son joined them there, where with the exception of about
seven years, spent in the west engaged in mining operations, he lived
until 1891, when he came to Warwick.

In 1875 he married Miss Lilian Macdonald. They have one child,
Donald Wilder, born in 1888.

Mr. Wilder, in his early business experience, was engaged in New York
in the foreign trade with South America and the West Indies, and
later in railroad operations in Mexico and in the United States, and
also in coal and timber lands in West Virginia.

In politics Mr. Wilder has always taken an active part. While a
republican in his political convictions and affiliations, he has
always been of an independent turn of mind. He was a candidate for
state comptroller of New York on the Henry George ticket, and in 1904
for Congress on the Independence League ticket for the twentieth
congressional district, being defeated by Colonel Thomas W. Bradley,
of Walden.

He was the president of the McKinley Club of Warwick, and the Central
Republican Club during the McKinley campaign. He was largely
instrumental in electing a republican supervisor of the town, the
first one in a generation. He is a member of the Reformed Church of
Warwick.

SAMUEL WILKEN was born in Monahan, Ireland, February 4, 1844, and
came to America with his mother and seven children, his father having
died. They settled on Staten Island, and some of the family are still
there. Samuel came to Chester, Orange County, May 11, 1866, and the
next year married Anna S. Salisbury. Their children are Fred W.,
Albert E. and Melvin R. Mr. Wilken was a partner of Charles Christ
sixteen years. When he disposed of his interest in the business he
started a blacksmith shop, with a carriage repository and
accessories. He has been a town officer several times, and is a
member of Standard Lodge No. 711, of Chester, as are also his sons
Fred and Albert, and Melvin R., the third son, is connected with the
Standard Milling Company of New York.

JOSEPH M. WILKIN, who was elected special surrogate of Orange County
in 1904 and re-elected in 1907, is a son of the late Joseph M. and
Catherine (Copley) Wilkin. He was born in the town of Montgomery in
1878. After graduating from the Montgomery Academy he read law with
his father for one year, and then entered the law office of Senator
John C. R. Taylor, Middletown, N. Y., where he remained three years.
He was admitted to the bar in 1899, and conducts his law office in
Montgomery village. Detailed reference to his father appears in the
chapter on the Bench and Bar in this history.

JONATHAN D. WILSON, JR., assistant district attorney of Orange
County, is a son of ex-Mayor J. D. Wilson. He was born in Newburgh in
1875 and graduated from Columbia University with the degree of A.B.,
1898. He attended the New York Law School, and was admitted to the
bar in 1900. Mr. Wilson has since practiced in Newburgh. He has
always taken an active interest in the welfare of the republican
party and began the duties of his present office January, 1907. He is
a member of the Masonic fraternity and local social organizations,
including the City Club. He married Miss Edith Van Buren, of this
city.

WARD WINFIELD, editor and proprietor of the Walden _Herald,_ was born
in Montgomery in 1868 and educated at the Academy of his native
place. He learned the printer's trade in the office of his father,
Lester Winfield, who conducted the Montgomery _Republican_ from 1864
to 1890. The paper then passed into the hands of Ward Winfield, who
continued it until 1900, when he disposed of the plant and became
manager of the Walden _Herald_ for John F. Lousdale for a period of
three years, purchasing the business January, 1904. He is a thorough
newspaper man; his paper is widely read and exerts a wholesome
influence in Walden and vicinity. He is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the Knights of Pythias, the American Mechanics and the Patriotic Sons
of America. During his residence in the village of Montgomery he
served a term as town collector. He married Miss Catherine Condon, of
Walden, and three children have been born to them. His son, Francis
Lester, assists him in the publication of the _Herald._

WINFIELD WRIGHT WINTER, who has for several years been identified
with the business interests of Middletown, was born at Winterton,
Sullivan County, N. Y., January 22, 1862. He was educated in the
schools of that place and Walden Academy, after which he was for
several years engaged in mercantile business in Winterton. In 1896
he established his present real estate and insurance business in
partnership with his brother, Clarence G., who was with him one year,
and has since conducted the business alone. In 1901 he disposed of
his business interests in Winterton and removed to Middletown. Mr.
Winter is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. & A. M., and
Concordia Council No. 1077, R. A. M. He was joined in marriage with
Flora A. Harding, of Winterton, and four children have been born to
them, two of whom are living: Harry, bookkeeper for the N. Y. O. &
W. R. R. at Middletown, and Jay W., manager of the creamery at
Winterton.

Mr. Winter resides a portion of the year at Winterton and has held
the office of postmaster of that place since 1891, when he received
the appointment from John Wanamaker under the Harrison administration.

THE WISNER FAMILY--One of the early pioneers in Orange County was
Johannes Weasner, a native of Switzerland, who came to Long Island
about the time that a special effort was being made to settle the
Wawayanda Patent--Johannes purchased land near Mount Eve, the deed
being granted June 23, 1714, making him one of the first settlers of
the county. His son, Hendrick Weasner settled near Goshen.

Henry, the son of Hendrick, was born in 1720, and served in the New
York Colonial Assembly, 1759-1769; was a member of the first
Continental Congress, 1774; a delegate to the New York Provincial
Convention, 1775-1777, and a delegate to the second Continental
Congress, 1775-1777. He voted for the Declaration of Independence,
but was called to New York before it was engrossed on parchment and
was ready for signing. He took an active part in the manufacture of
gunpowder, having mills in both Ulster and Orange Counties. He was
also made a senator of the first legislature of New York State in
1777, serving until 1782. He died in September, 1790, and was buried
in the family burying ground near Phillipsburgh, in the present town
of Wallkill. He had two sons, Henry, Jr., and Gabriel. His son,
Ensign Gabriel Wisner, was killed in the battle of Minisink, 1779.
Henry G. Wisner, a prominent lawyer of Goshen, was a son of Ensign
Gabriel Wisner and the ancestor of the Goshen branch of the family.

John, the second son of Hendrick Weasner, was a captain in the French
and Indian War, and served as a scout in 1757. He was also a captain
in the Revolutionary War under Colonel Nicoll, of Goshen. His early
home was at Mount Eve, but later he established his home near
Wickham's Pond, having received a grant of land, direct from the
crown, consisting of more than a thousand acres, a portion of which
included the present farm of Jesse Durland, which was the Wisner
homestead for several generations. John Wisner was the ancestor of
most of the Wisner families of Warwick.

His second son, Henry Wisner 3rd (sometimes written Jr.), was born
July 11, 1742, and lived on the homestead farm. In the Revolutionary
War he was made captain of the "Pond Company," under Colonel Hathorn,
September 22, 1775, and later was made lieutenant-colonel, February
19, 1778. He was a member of the first State Assembly under the
Constitution, serving from 1777-1778 and 1788-1789. He died May 29,
1812, and his remains now rest in the Warwick Cemetery by the side of
his son, Jeffrey Wisner.

Jeffrey Wisner was a man of remarkable energy and great force of
character. He represented the township as supervisor during 1812-1813
and 1819-1823, and for several years served as justice of the peace.
His sons, Gabriel, James, Richard and Jeffrey Amherst, have done much
toward building up the interests of Warwick, and his grandson,
Clinton W. Wisner, is well known throughout the town and county.

CLINTON WHEELER WISNER was born at West Pittston, Pa., July 30, 1856,
and died in the Adirondacks August 21, 1904. He was the son of
Jeffrey Amherst and Mary Wheeler Wisner, both members of old and
prominent families of the town of Warwick, where the first twelve and
last twenty years of Mr. Wisner's life were spent.

Actively engaged for a time in mercantile business, and later in the
management of large interests, he developed great talent for
leadership and was to be found in the forefront of every progressive
movement of his time. Endowed by nature with nobility of character,
with an artistic love for beauty, educated in the school of life's
activities by hard study and with the polish of extensive travel his
was a versatile and attractive personality.

A patriot, he ever listened to the calls of his fellows to serve them
as a public-spirited Christian citizen. For many years he was the
president of his well-beloved Warwick village, which owes, in large
measure, the present beauty of its homes, its churches, its Red Swan
Inn, as well as its increasing popularity as a resort, to Mr.
Wisner's interest and efforts. His favorite pastimes were shooting,
sketching and driving.

Mr. Wisner married Martha, daughter of the late Thomas Welling and
Caroline Van Duzer, in October, 1879, and he was survived by his
widow and his children, Mrs. Burton J. Berry, John Welling Wisner,
Jeffrey Amherst Wisner, Jr., Thomas Welling Wisner, Clinton W.
Wisner, Jr., and Gladys Wisner. Besides his family and friends he
made wherever he had been the whole community of Warwick mourned the
demise of its foremost citizen and endorsed the tribute of a
distinguished clergyman who had enjoyed the hospitality of Mr.
Wisner's ideal home.

HENRY WISNER, who is a resident of Sharon, Barber County, Kansas, is
a member of an old and honored family of the Empire State. The
parents of our subject were William Roe and Eliza (Miller) Wisner.
William Roe Wisner was born March 21, 1799, and died November 19,
1886; his estimable wife was born April 27, 1800, and died July 16,
1882. To this union were born ten children, John N., born February
15, 1820; David M., born November 27, 1821, died August 5, 1879;
Henry, born August 20, 1824; Andrew D., born January 8, 1827, died
May 24, 1828; Albert A., born April 29, 1829, died May 29, 1832;
James T., born October 4, 1831; Francis L., born December 21, 1832;
Albert, born November 26, 1835; Andrew H., born July 24, 1838, died
June 19, 1854; Mary Ann, born May 21, 1841. The old Wisner homestead
is located about one mile north of Bellvale, Orange County, and a
picture of this historic house will be found on another page of this
volume. It was built before the Revolutionary War by William Wisner,
one of four sons of Captain John Wisner, Jr. William Wisner died in
this house in 1803, and his son, William Roe Wisner, who succeeded to
the ownership of the farm, and other property by inheritance, was
born in this house and lived there continuously until his death at
the age of eighty-seven years. Few men in Orange County were better
known and none were more highly respected than Mr. Wisner. He was
progressive and liberal-minded. His son, whose name heads this
sketch, obtained his early education at the district school, two
winters at the private school of the learned John K. Joline in
Warwick, and at Chester Academy, of which William Bross was
principal. He organized and taught a class in physiology, of which
our subject was a member. This was probably the first teaching of
physiology outside the medical profession.

In the spring of 1844 he entered the university at East Hampton,
Mass., where he remained until the fall of 1845, when he commenced
lecturing on anatomy, physiology, hygiene and phrenology in the New
England States. He went to Ohio in 1846, and for five years lectured
in the west on his favorite subjects, introducing physiology in
schools. His then new subjects, his quaint and original style of
presenting them, together with his marvelous faculty of delineating
human character, drew immense audiences, crowning his efforts with
great success, financially and otherwise, as the press of the day
gave evidence. Quitting the business he had served, or which had
served him so well, he engaged in other pursuits with varied success.

On March 1, 1875, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah E. (Rowe)
Jackson, a graduate of Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago. In honor
of her that college conferred on our subject the honorary degree of
M.D. with two diplomas (having earned and received a diploma from the
"Old School" while lecturing), he declined to practice the healing
art. No children from this union.

He became interested in real estate in Iowa and Chicago. He later
removed to Kansas, engaged in cattle raising and finally settled on
one of the ranches (5,000 acres) in the State of Kansas, where he and
his wife have lived twenty-five years in the enjoyment of health and
prosperity.

In politics he is a republican, though not an office-seeker or
holder. In sentiment he is anti-war, liberal, progressive and
broad-minded.

By a former marriage he has two sons, Henry J., of Chicago, and
Charles H., of Barber County, Kansas.

RALPH WISNER belongs to one of the oldest families in the town of
Warwick. The first settler in this part of Orange County was Johannes
Weasner, and family, who settled on a tract of land near Mount Eve.
There his dust lies mingled with that of several generations of his
descendants. Johannes Weasner was a soldier in the Sioux Contingent,
in the days of Queen Anne. John Weasner was third in descent from
Johannes Weasner, being the son of Hendrick Weasner. His brother
Henry was a member of the Continental Congress, and voted for the
Declaration of Independence, and then came home to make gunpowder.
This was the most necessary thing to do, for without gunpowder the
Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, would have been of no
effect. John Weasner was a captain in Colonel Dekay's Regiment of
Orange County men in the French and Indian War of 1752. He and his
son John were captains in Colonel Isaac Nichols's Regiment of Minute
Men in 1776. The Wisner family was foremost in resisting the
encroachment of the British crown upon the rights of the people. John
Weasner died in 1778, his son John died in 1811, leaving a large
family, among whom was another John, whose son, George T. Wisner, was
the father of the subject of this sketch. Ralph Wisner was born at
Big Island, town of Goshen, March 2, 1859. Mr. Wisner is engaged in
farming. He is a resident of Florida.

He was married November 22, 1883, to Mary Greene, daughter of the
late Henry Greene. They have one son, Roy Greene Wisner. The family
are all members of the Presbyterian Church, William Wisner being
assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. Mr. Wisner is
identified with the best interests in the town. He has been a member
of the school board for twenty-four years, and is a corresponding
member of the Y. M. C. A. For one term he was assessor of the town of
Warwick. It was through Mr. Wisner's efforts that the beautiful
playground of the village was procured.

RICHARD WISNER was born on the homestead farm, in the town of
Warwick, February 4, 1824, and died January 3, 1908. He conducted a
farm in Warwick until 1883, when he purchased the beautiful residence
near the village where he lived, retired until his death. He was one
of the charter members of the First National Bank of Warwick and
served continuously as one of its directors. He was trustee of the
Warwick Savings Bank and for many years a director of the Lehigh and
Hudson Railroad. He was also trustee of the Cemetery Association and
at one time its treasurer. He was a member of the Sons of the
Revolution, and held membership in the Reformed Church of Warwick.
Mr. Wisner was a member of one of the oldest families in Orange
County and a descendant of the first permanent settler of what is
now Warwick township. He was a son of Jeffrey and Elizabeth
(Armstrong) Wisner, a man of quiet temperament, possessed of
indefatigable energy, with a genial spirit and lofty ideals. He was
twice married; his first wife was Euphelia, daughter of Thomas
Welling, to whom he was married December 20, 1853. She died in 1881.
He was again married in June, 1883, to Sarah Van Duzer. His children,
all by his first wife, are Charles E., Anne E. and Mary Euphelia,
residing in Warwick.

WILLIAM R. WISNER, one of the prominent and honored men of Orange
County, was born March 21, 1799, on the homestead farm near Wisner,
this county. He had always been identified in agricultural pursuits.
He married Eliza Miller, March 16, 1819, and resided until his death,
November 19, 1886, in the stone house now occupied by his
great-grandchildren. He was a grandson of Captain John Wisner. He was
an upright man, a good citizen and a prosperous farmer. He was a whig
and afterward a republican.

GRAHAM WITSCHIEF, attorney of Newburgh, was born in Port Jervis,
N. Y., 1875. He is a son of Peter and Florence (Graham) Witschief.
After graduating from the Port Jervis Academy in 1893, he attended
the Albany Law School one year, and then read law two years in the
office of Hon. O. P. Howell, former surrogate of Orange County. Mr.
Witschief was admitted to the bar October 29, 1896. Politically he is
a republican, and served one term as president of the common council
of Newburgh. He is past master of Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and
A. M. He married Miss Mary Farnum, of Port Jervis, N. Y. Mr.
Witschief has conducted some of the most important litigations in
Orange County, and is regarded as one of Newburgh's representative
attorneys.

ANDREW WOOD, station agent at Stony Ford, N. Y., was born at
Cornwell, Canada, June 7, 1850. His parents were William and Ann
(Jardine) Wood. Andrew attended the common school, after which he
assisted his father on the farm. He was connected with the Grand
Trunk Railroad as telegraph operator for a period, after which he
removed to New York State. In 1876 he served seven years at
Willsboro, N. Y., with the D. & H. R. R., as station agent. August 4,
1884, he removed to Stony Ford, Orange County, and became identified
with the

[Transcriber's Note: There appears to be some content missing from
the original at this point. (pp. 993-4)]

Kortright of Kortryk, Belgium, 1586. Casper Writer, with wife and
five children removed to the present town of Mount Hope in 1784. Here
he located and raised a family of eight children--three sons, Aaron,
John Falter and Jasper, Jr., and five daughters. Eve, the wife died
December 21, 1830; Casper's years overran the century mark. He died
November 15, 1842. His sons Aaron and Jasper were lifelong residents
of Mount Hope, where their descendants are perpetuating the family
name.

BENJAMIN F. WRITER was born on the homestead farm in the town of
Mount Hope, May 19, 1854. His parents were John F. and Phoebe
(Rosencrants) Writer. His father died in 1892 and the mother is still
living at the age of eighty years. Benjamin acquired his early
education at the district school, after which he followed
agricultural pursuits. He married Ella K. Dennis, of Sussex, N. J.,
November 8, 1882. Their four children are Coe, Frank, Elmo and Henry,
who died at the age of four years. Frank is identified with the
Borden Company at Otisville as assistant foreman, and is a member of
Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., of Middletown; Elmo is
connected with the Sanatorium at Otisville. The father is a member of
Otisville Grange No. 1020.

THEODORE WRITER, M.D., of Otisville, N. Y., was born in the town of
Mount Hope, Orange County, July 17, 1837. He acquired his early
education at the public schools and the Seward Institute of Florida,
Orange County. He later entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, New York, from which he graduated in March, 1866. He
remained for one year in New York in the practice of his profession,
then returned to Otisville, where he has since practiced. Dr. Writer
married Miss Helen A. Green, of Mount Hope, November 3, 1869. To this
union was born one son. Dr. Writer is a republican and has served the
town of Mount Hope as supervisor. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No.
412, F. and A. M., of Middletown.

JAMES A. WYLIE, manager of Katterman & Mitchell Co.'s silk mill at
Port Jervis, was born at Morristown, N. J. Soon after leaving school
he began work in a silk mill, and has learned the business thoroughly
under the tuition of his father, H. A. Wylie, who was manager of the
Port Jervis mill until his death in 1902.

This mill began operation in 1898, and is one of the important
industries of Port Jervis. It gives employment to about one hundred
skilled employees and produces over a quarter of a million yards of
silk annually. An addition to the factory has recently been erected,
making it possible to considerably enlarge the output.

FRANK N. YAGEL, who conducts a prosperous plumbing, roofing and
tinsmith establishment in the village of Highland Falls, N. Y., was
born in Germany in 1872. He came to America in 1883, and after four
years' schooling in this country served his apprenticeship with his
brothers, with whom he was later a partner for eight years. Since
1899 he has been engaged in business for himself. Mr. Yagel has
served as state and county tax collector and is now village trustee.
Socially he is identified with the I. O. O. F. He married Miss
Francis Wolklin and they are the parents of three children.

ARTHUR YOUNGS was born in Kingston, Ulster County, N. Y., March 10,
1872. His father, Addison Youngs, was a native of Kingston, and his
mother, Harriet E. Nestell, of Newburgh, N. Y. Mr. Youngs' family
can trace its ancestry back to the early settlers of this country.
His great-grandfather on both sides fought in the Revolutionary War
and War of 1812. His great-grandfather on his mother's side was a
member of the body guard to George Washington and a member of the
Society of Cincinnati. He was also prominently identified with
Masonic circles. When seventeen years of age he began working at
brass finishing and the moulding trade under the late G. L. Monell;
afterward he was identified with the Newburgh Ice Machine and Engine
Co. Later he was in charge of the motor mower department of the
Coldwell Lawn Mower Co., of Newburgh. Mr. Youngs is now secretary and
manager of the Newburgh Auto Shop, a company organized in 1905, which
sells, repairs and stores automobiles. Socially Mr. Youngs is
identified with the Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and A. M.; Newburgh
City Club, Business Men's Association, Newburgh Automobile Club, and
the Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association. He is a member of the
First Presbyterian Church.

CHARLES C. YOUNG was born in Elizabeth, N. J., January 21, 1871, and
was instructed in both public and private schools. He took a course
in a business college and quickly became connected with the Singer
Sewing Machine Co. at Elizabethport, N. J., starting as errand-boy
and rising to assistant timekeeper, in the invoice department.
Afterward he became identified with the Rising Sun Brewing Co. at
Elizabeth, N. J., and after acting as manager for the Orange County
Brewery for two years, purchased the business December 1, 1893. He is
recognized as an exceptionally capable business man. He was married
September 8, 1898, to Miss Wilhelmina Schauble, of Elizabeth, N. J.,
daughter of Philip and Marie Schauble. Their three children are
Charles Paul, William Joseph and Marguerite Marie. Mr. Young is a
member of Middletown's St. Joseph Church.

OLIVER YOUNG was born in the town of Mount Hope, Orange County,
N. Y., October 7, 1811. His family were of English extraction and
among the early settlers of the State of Connecticut in the
seventeenth century. At the age of sixteen he became a teacher and
later repaired to Milford, Pa., where, under the guidance of Richard
Eldred, Esq., and Melanethan Dimmick, he pursued the study of law,
being admitted to the bar of Pike County, Pa., in 1835, and soon
after to that of New York State, where he settled in practice in the
village of Port Jervis.

By application and fidelity to the trusts confided to him a large and
lucrative practice was soon gained. He speedily attained the
reputation of a safe and judicious counselor. He was especially
distinguished for his learning and skill in the equity branch of law.
He was also a proficient civil engineer and possessed an extended
knowledge of the boundaries and titles of much of the land embraced
in he western part of Orange County.

Mr. Young was a firm advocate of anti-slavery principles long before
any organized political opposition was manifested thereto, and
naturally affiliated with the republican party when it came into
existence in 1856, pledged to resist the extension of slavery to the
territories of the United States. Previous to that time his vote was
given to the candidates of the liberty and free soil parties, of
which he was the sole supporter in the town of Deer Park, his vote
being the only one in that town recorded for those candidates.

Mr. Young was married January 19, 1848, in Port Jervis, to Mrs. Lydia
Frances Wentworth, formerly Miss Sinclair, of Bartlett, N. H., and he
had two sons, Frank Sinclair, who died in early life, and Charles
Oliver. His death occurred October 3, 1871. The loss sustained by the
bar of Orange County was expressed in a series of resolutions,
commemorative of his career and marked abilities.

ROBERT YOUNG, one of the most prominent farmers of Orange County, was
born in the town of Montgomery in 1818, and died September 21, 1895.
He was a son of Johnson and Margaret (Barkley) Young, and for many
years was identified with the affairs of his native town, holding the
office of supervisor for eight consecutive years, 1879 to 1886, and
again for one term in 1890. He was a candidate for the Assembly on
two occasions, but the factions were against him. He was a charter
member of the Masonic Lodge of Montgomery and the last captain of a
company of state militia in this town under the old law.

In 1890 Mr. Young traveled abroad, visiting the home of his ancestors
in the North of Ireland, who were Scotch-Irish. In June, 1862, he
married Miss Emily Arnott, of Coldenham. Six children were born to
them, one of whom, David A., conducts the homestead farm of one
hundred and sixty acres. He was born in 1863 and educated at the
schools of Montgomery. He is a member of the Grange and numbered
among the most progressive citizens of the town.

FRANK J. ZINT, son of Daniel and Mary (Lorentz) Zint, was born in
Highland Falls, N. Y., in 1862. After finishing his schooling he
engaged with his father in the shoe and grocery business, also
handling coal. Politically Mr. Zint is a staunch democrat and active
in promoting the interest of that party. He is a member of the
Knights of Columbus, the C. B. L and a director in the First
National Bank of Highland Falls. In 1888 Mr. Zint was married to
Miss Nellie N. Conway, of Newburgh and four children have been born
to them. Daniel Zint, who died in 1892, was a native of Germany. He
came to America when a young man and shortly after the Civil War
established a boot and shoe store to which he soon added a stock of
groceries. This was the nucleus of his son's present extensive
business.





End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Orange County New York, by Various

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