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 ofThe News of the Highlandsat 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 ingroups.
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 inthe 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.