USA > New York > Ulster County > History of Ulster County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Vol. I > Part 31
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lle was also honored as a ruling elder in the Second Reformed Church of Kingston, of which he was a member, and as such at times took active and responsible parts in the Classis and Synods of the Reformed Church in America.
Dr. Crispell was twice married. His first wife was Cath- arine, daughter of Coruelius Eltinge, of Hurley, and the youngest sister of Wilhelmus Eltinge, D.D., of New Jersey. Six children were the issue of this marriage, -- one daughter, Jane Hasbrouck, who became the wife of Rich- and Lounsbery, brother of Hon. William Lounsbery, of Kingston, and five sons, three of whom are farmers and two professional men,-Abraham Crispell, M.D., a skillful and energetic physician at Rondont, and Cornelius Eltinge Crispell, D.D., at one time Professor of History in Rutgers College, New Jersey, afterwards Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy in Hope College, Mich- igan, and for ten years Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology of the Reformed Church in America at said college.
His second wife, who snivives him, wa . May C. Oakley, of Marbletown. Four sons were the issue of this marriage, the first of whom died in infancy, and the three surviving ones have not yet chosen their occupations for life.
RICHARD ELLING, M.D.,
was a lineal descendant from Roelif Elting, who came from Holland with the Dutch, and settled in the town of Kings- ton, then called Wiltwyck. His son Roelif married Sarah, the daughter of Abraham Du Bois. June 19. 1703. Abra- has Du Bois settled on the site of New Paltz, and was the son of Louis Du Bois, who, with his wife, Catherine Le Fevre, and others, fled from France about 1650, on ac- count of religious persecutions. They went to Germany, stopped a short time at a place called the Paltz. situated ou the Rhine, from whence, about the year 1660, they came to Wiltwyck, now Kingston.
Richard Elting, son of Josiah Elting and Hester Brod- head, was born at New Pahz, Ulster Co., May 8, 1795. He spent most of his minority in his native town, where he received a good English education. While a young man he eame to Kingston, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. H. Van Hoevenburg, a prominent phy- sician of that place. Ile subsequently attended medical lectures in New York City, and settled in the practice of his profession at what is now Ulster Park, in the town of Esopus, where, however, he only remained about one year, and settled on a beautiful upland place on the bank of the Hudson, wear Port Ewen, in the same town, now owned
and occupied by his daughter, Mrs. A. L. Anderson. Here he resided until about 1859, having an extensive and lucrative practice, reaching to the remotest parts of the county, when he located in Rondout, where he remained in constant practice until nearly the time of his death, which occurred Sept. 28, 1878. His practice extended through a period of about threescore years, and he was familiarly known as " Dr. Dick Elting." He was well known as one of the best-skilled physicians of his day. His large expe- rience and varied practice made his counsel of great value in cases of complicated disease, and his quick perception and ready diagnosis of a difficult case commanded the confi- denee of not only the people, but of the medical fraternity.
His knowledge of medicine and surgery was due more largely to his experience and observation than to his early preliminary medical education, and such was the retention of his memory that at the age of eighty-two he would re- late in detail the causes, effeets, and complications of cases of disease that he attended forty years before. This special characteristie enabled him to utilize such knowledge in all subsequent practice, and gave him high rank in his profession. He was known as the best bedside physician in the county, where, in serious cases, he often gave his whole attention to the patient until a change was wrought.
Hle was a man of indomitable perseverance. and pos- sessed of that resolution which overeomes every difficulty. His likes and dislikes were strong, his action was independ- ent, yet always guided by good judgment, and his genial and unassuming ways won him many friends, and led him to be universally esteemed by all who knew him.
He married, March, JSI8, Elizabeth, danghter of Hon. Abraham Hasbrouck, of Kingston Landing. His children are Helen, wife of Charles Anderson; Hester, wife of Abraham Sleght; Catherine A. L., wife of Capt. A. L. Anderson ; and Frances Eliza, wife of William M. Silkman. The mother of these children died Nov. 6, 1865, aged sixty-five years.
DAVID WURTS, M.D.,
was born in the town of New Paltz, July 27, 1813. His father was Dr. Jacob Wurts, and his mother Catharine Du Bois. Dr. Jacob Wurts was the son of Dr. George Warts, whose wife was Esther Hasbrouck, sister of the late Jacob J. Hasbrouck. Dr. George Wurts was the son of the Rev. Coenraad Warts, whose wife was Anna Goetschius, sister of Rev. Johannes Mauritius Goetschius.
Dr. David Wurts was educated at New Paltz Academy, studied medicine with his father, and graduated at Fairfield Medical College, in Fairfield, N. Y., Feb. 2, 1836. He followed his profession in his native town until his decease, July 25, 1862. His practice extended through all the Northern Ulster towns. Ile married, July 21, 1811, Albina Hasbrouck, daughter of Jacob J. Hasbrouck, of New Paltz. HIe represented his town several times on the Board of Su- pervisors, was a man well read in his profession, and a safe counselor in complicated cases of disease.
His children were Marianna C., Anna and Cornelia (twins), the latter the wife of Dr. Deyo, cashier of the Huguenot Bank at New Paltz, Anna W., Elizabeth, Mau- rice, and Charles. Jacob D. Wurts, M.D., was born May
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
11, 1846, is a practicing physician at New Paltz ; married Arabella Bloomer, by whom he has five children living,- Cornelia, Louise, Irene, Arabella, and Albina. He has
DAVID WURTS.
been twice elected to the State Legislature, and has been several times supervisor of the town of New Paltz.
DR. S. SCHOONMAKER
is of Holland descent, and was bore in Marbletown, Ulster Co., N. Y., June 16, 1827. His forefathers emigrated to this country prior to the Revolution. They were chiefly agriculturists, and patentees of the soil on which was reared their unmerous descendants. Ilis father was Jacob L., born in Rochester, Cister Co., N. Y., Jan. 22, 1789, and, like his ancestors in patriotism, served his country in the capacity of a soldier in the war of 1812. Ilis mother was Sarah Snyder, of Marbletown, Vister Co., born Jan. 20, 1794. They were married June 16, 1813.
The issne of this marriage was four sons aud three daugh- teis, of wlann the doctor was the fifth in the line. The mother died when he was only eight years old. thus leaving his early education solely to the supervision of his father. Ilis education at this carly age was carefully guarded by the father till his death, ou Jan. 23, 1842, leaving the boy an orphan at the early age of fourteen years. He was then placed in a classical school by his guardian, in which lie made rapid advances in mathematics and the Latin and Greek languages. He commeneed the study of medicine at the age of seventeen, and graduated from the University of the City of New York before he was twenty-one years of age, with the highest honors of that institution of learn- ing, spending his last patrimonial dollar for his medical ednention, and when supplied with the necessary outfit to commence his professional career, found himself' five hun- dred dollars in debt. He commeneed the practice of medi- eine in Rosendale, Ulster Co., April 1, 1848, in partnership with Dr. James H. Bogardos. One month from that date the partnership was dissolved by mitual consent, by reason
of Dr. Bogardus removing to Kingston, in said county, when he took sole control of a large and arduous but In- crative practice. Thoroughly posted in the theories of medicine and surgery, and the minute details of his profes- sion, as then taught in the best institutions of the country, he was able to cope with the best minds in the profession with whom he came in contact, and thus maintain the dig- nity of the " Alma Mater." At this time the Medical So- ciety of Ulster County had become defunct ; had been without organization or meetings for more than a score of years ; he was active in helping reorganize the same. Has since then been its president, and twice its vice-president, and from its reorganization to the present time, from year to year, served on its most important committees.
He married, Sept. 19, 1853, Deborah Wood, daughter of Andrew S. Wood and Aun Eliza (Snyder ) Wood, both of said town. Has no children.
Hle is a Republican by choice and association. Organized the Republican party, in 1856, in the town of Rosendale, and was the first president of the organization. Never aspired to office or eraved its emoluments. When the war of the Rebellion commenced, in 1860, he made great profes- sional sacrifices in time and labor to fill up the ranks of the Union army with new recruits and raise bounties for the soldiers' families, and by word and peu labored unceasingly to maintain the oldl flag, the Union unbroken, and the faith of our Pilgrim Fathers over the mistaken advocates of negro slavery, having full faith in the final triumph of the Union cause, claiming that the result would be a test of the " truths of God against the frauds of man."
In 1867, Ulster County was without a railroad, and the proposition was made to build the Wallkill Valley Railroad, starting from Montgomery, in Orange County, and to ter- minate at Kingston, in Ulster County, and thus open up the beantitul valley of the Wallkill to easy trade and com- meree with the traffic of the Hudson River and the city of New York. Dr. Schoonmaker was made a director of said road, oue of its executive committee, and clerk of the same, and remained in those positions till the road was completed to Kingston.
His choice of church is the Dutch Reformed, in which he was reared, and of which his parents were communicants. Believes in the trinity of the Godhead, salvation by faith, and the atouement. Hlas no love for Calvinistie theology or the Heidelberg Catechism. llas no denominational prejudices ; believes the Jew and the Gentile alike will be gathered into that universal church whose throne is in the heavens, and whose wisdom, power, and mercy is over all, and sufficient for all.
He has a passion for the pleasures of forest and stream. Ilis fishing-rod and gun are his chief delights for sea-ons of recreation and amusement. Spends his winters in Florida, partly engaged in the practice of bis profession among Northern visitors who seek that land of flowers to recuperate their wasted powers, and partly to enjoy that complete relaxation from toil and study to be found in the orange-groves and in her pine and pahnetto forests.
Has practiced the profession of his choice uninterrupt- edly for twenty-two years, and for all that time has enjoyed the confidence of the large community of his patients, and
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
the good will of his professional brethren with whom he has had occasion to associate in consultations. Has always been a elose student of medicine, and is well informed on all the new theories in the practice of medicine and surgery, and reads extensively on other subjects. Has ideas of his own in regard to all abnormal actions of the human system, their causes and consequences, and the treatinent necessary to overcome the same. Is an uncompromising enemy of quackery in every forin, and treats it with that contempt that true seienee waves over the pretender. Is positive in all his orders and directions about the sick-room, and will not tolerate the least interference from strangers or ne- gleet on the part of the nurse. Is a man of independent will, quick perceptive powers, and great determination of character ; and from the commencement of his professional career to the present time, in every vicissitude of life, amid the dark waves of frowning fate or the luring sunshine of smiling fortune, amid the riot and din of despairing storms or the peace of serene and happier skies, has " paddled his own canoe." Has taste and love for literature, and had his life been less active and busy he might have distinguished himself in the fields of polemical warfare. His writings on poetry, fiction, and scientific subjects are sufficient to make a volume. He has now partially retired from active prac- tice, and takes great delight in contemplation and study, and in writing on various subjects.
DR. DE WITT HASBROUCK,
son of Roelof Hasbrouck, was born in the town of New Paltz, Oct. 7, 1904. Following his collegiate course he studied medicine with Dr. Barnes, of Poughkeepsie, and
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was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. He commenced the practice of medicine in the town of New Paltz (now Lloyd ), where he continued to prosecute the duties of his profession with zeal and energy during the remainder of his life. As a physician, Dr.
Hasbronek was skillful, and his counsels were respected and adhered to by his professional brethren. In him were combined the characteristics of the conscientions physician and a gentleman. His integrity in his chosen profession and all business relations led others to repose confidence in him, and he enjoyed through life a large and lucrative practice. Ile died April 1, 1874.
He married, Oct. 1, 1831, Miss P. A. Elting, of his native town. Their children are Abram E., De Witt Clin- ton, Mary E., Luther H., Mary Elizabeth (wife of Isaae G. Jackson, of Michigan), and Albert J.
G. S. LA MOREE, M.D.,
was born in the town of Wawarsing, Ulster Co., N. Y., Jan. 14, 1949, the second child of Iliram V. and. Catha- rine (Terwilliger) La Moree. His father and mother were natives of Ulster County. Their children were Manriee (died in infancy). George S., and Ella. The latter is wife of Augustus T. Williamis, of New Hamburg, Dutchess Co., N. Y. She died February, 1879, leaving one child, -- Leonard. His father and mother are still living and resi- dents of Wawarsing.
When the doctor was six years of age the family moved from Wawarsing to Grahamsville, Sullivan Co., where his father engaged in milling. His primary educa- tion was received in the common schools of these places. At the age of seventeen, his father meeting with financial reverses, he was thrown on his own resources. . Ile was first employed as clerk in N. C. Clark & Co.'s store in Grahamsville; then at Ellenville, with Rose & Lepold; on a farm one summer; and, finally, as clerk in the store of his uncle, H. 11. Terwilliger, at Ellenville.
By savings from his carnings in these positions he paid his expenses at Monticello Academy for three terms. For the purpose of raising funds for the prosecution of his studies in medicine he kept books for a firm in Waterboro', and during the progress of his study served as an officer in the General Assembly of 1872. He attended three courses of lectures at the Albany Medical College. from which he took a diploma in the fall of 1872. First located for the practice of his profession at Claryville, Sullivan Co., where he remained nine months. He next opened an office in Grahamsville, where he remained about three years and six months, being for two years in company with his uncle, Dr. James L. La Morce. In June, 1875, moved to Highland, and has followed his profession there with a successful and increasing practice every year.
In politics the doctor is a Demhoerat. Was elected super- visor of the town of Lloyd in 187S. In the election of 1879 he was tied with C. W. Elting. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Highland. He was married, Oct. 6, 1874, to Mary E. Corwin, daughter of David and Charlotte (Mullennix) Corwin. They have two children, -- Charlotte and Lena.
JOHN N. MILLER
was born in Albany Co., N. Y., of an old Knickerbocker family, whose descendants have filled many honorable posi- tions in the city and county of Albany, as well as in many of the Western States.
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
The father of the subject of this sketch was a peculiar man, and manifested an absorbing interest in the subject of eduention. He sent his eldest son (John N.), the subject of our sketch, to boarding-school at the early age of twelve years, after his mastering all that the private schools in the vicinity could afford. After a long course in the natural sciences and the languages, he was entered in the State Normal School at Albany, and completed the course before
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he was of a lawful age for graduation. In the interval he taught in an academy in Maryland and at other places until of proper age, and then returned and graduated from the institution.
From this school he entered the Troy, N. Y., Polytechuie School, then one of the most celebrated schools in this country. After completing the course there lo imbibed such a love for chemistry and the kindred sciences that he fitted up a private laboratory at home, and pursued his re- searches alone, with ouly the best authors for his companions, for still another year.
It now became time for him to choose that pursuit in life which he was to follow, and the science of medicine coming nearer to subjects in which he had been so deeply interested, was consequently chosen. Accordingly, he registered in that department of the Union University, of Albany, N. Y., and entered the office of the late Prof. James H. Armsby, filling then the chair of anatomy and surgery in that university. After remaining in the pro- fessor's office for three years, and attending three courses of lectures at the medical college, he graduated. After spending some time as house-surgeon of the Albany Alus- Hlouse Hospital, he finally settled in Highland, N. Y. Although a comparatively young man, and against the weli-meaning advice of old citizens of that place, and in the face of the failure of several predecessors, he commeneed
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business there. The circumstances and surroundings were all discouraging, but with that keenness of judgment which marked his every undertaking through life he foresaw a progressive future, and, as events turned out, it was fully realized. The straggling, sleepy village soon grew into a populous, busy town, and the doctor's business soon grew accordingly, and included nearly all the best, most wealthy, and intelligent people in that locality.
About this time Fort Sumter was fired upon, and a thrill went through the length and breadth of this country. shaking it to its foundations. War-meetings were held. and Dr. Miller's patriotism induced him to address many of these assemblages. A company was raised in the town, which joined the 120th Regiment, and partly through his love of the Union cause, and partly through the solicitation of the parents of these volunteers, Dr. Miller was induced to leave his luerative practice, being carnestly promised ou his return to be sustained and reinstated in his praetice, which was afterwards more than fully done.
He accepted the position of assistant surgeon in the 120th Regiment, and ou short notice proceeded to the scene of strife. This was soon after the battle of Chantilly, and Washington City was filled with wounded soldiers, and surgical help deficient. On reporting to the surgeon-gen- eral he was immediately detached from his regimeut, and put in charge of two hundred wounded men in the rotunda of the Capitol of Washington. After doing duty in several other hospitals about Washington, he was finally detailed as surgeon on the steamship . Daniel Webster," carrying wounded to various Northern ports. An application was made about this time to the surgeon-general by the com- manding officer of the 120th Regiment for the return of its assistant surgeon (the other medical officers of the regi- ment being sick). This was refused, and application was then made directly to Gen. Burnside, in command of the Union army, who i-sued a peremptory order granting the request.
From this time forward Dr. Miller did duty in the front, being an eye-witness to the most severe battles of the Army of the Potomae. It was while in this service he was captured by the rebels, while on picket with about two hundred of his regiment, near James City, Va., being out four miles from the main army. The detachment had ample notice of a charge by Stuart's rebel cavalry, but they had no orders to fall back. Dr. Miller anticipated the result of the charge, and sent his horses and equipments to the rear, preferring to share the fate of the detachment. After enduring the horrors, suffering, and privations of Libby Prison for three mouths he was exchanged. He subsequently narrowly escaped a second capture, below Petersburg, Va., where, in the thick pines, the brigade be- came detached and surrounded by a large rebel force. Shell and riffe-balls wore pouring in from every quarter, frout. rear, and both flanks. The regiment, by charging in various directions, held about three acres of ground in the centre until nightfall, when they successfully broke through. Dr. Miller was the only surgeon of the brigade who ventured inside this ring, and attended the wounded under fire, wany of them being wounded the second time as they lay upon the field. Gen. Mott, commander of the brigade, person-
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
ally, afterwards, highly complimented Dr. Miller for this intrepid service, and subsequently strongly recommended him for promotion, which occurred during the last year of the war, when he was commissioned by Governor Morgan as first surgeon of the Sist New York Volunteers, with the rank of major, and transferred to the Army of the James. On the morning of the surrender of Richmond his regi- ment was the first to enter that city, and the bursting bombs in the Tredegar Tron-Works, the blowing up of rebel gunboats, the explosion of various magazines, and the roar and smoke of the conflagration of the doomed city, as the troops exultingly marehed through the darkened streets, was a scene never to be forgotten. The doctor has often remarked that two of the happiest periods of his life were one on leaving Richmond a paroled prisoner, the cther on entering that city with the victorious Union army.
Soon after entering the city Dr. Miller was detailed to visit all the rebel hospitals, and collect all surgical instru- ments, flags, ete., and take an account of stores in the same. Libby Prison was soon filled up, not with Union prisoners this time, but with rebel soldiers and officers, among them Turner and others, formerly rebel officers of this same prison, who occupied the very cells where many a poor Union soldier had been consigned by them. Dr. Miller was put in medieal charge of this prison, and re- minded these former prison officials of many of their brutal and inhuman deeds while he himself was a prisoner there. The only answer coming through the grates was a suppli- cation for merey, and such was their fear and anxiety that in some eases their hair became gray in a surprisingly short time.
After the close of the war, Dr. Miller resumed his prae- tice in Highland, Ulster Co., and for years, night and day, was subjected to such labors as to be almost beyond human endurance ; but secing he was prematurely sacrificing him- self' in his profession, he received and accepted an advan- tageous offer for his practice, and temporarily retired. But one year of inactivity was more than he could bear, being the first and ouly year of his life which was not fully and absorbingly devoted to hard work. This idleness proving irksome, he established a drug store in Mailborough, U'lster Co., which many of his friends pronounced futile, but with his usnał good judgment he persevered, and built up a trade and an establishment there so successfully as to surprise the "oldest inhabitants." His health began failing him at this time. Ile sold out to a New York gentleman, and soon after moved to the city of New York, where he purchased a property; and also at the scene of his earlier trials and tri- umphs, Highland, he is the owner and proprietor of the Music Hall buildings; between which places he summers and winters, having finally retired from active life, and secured by honest industry and integrity a sufficient com- peteney to soothe and smooth his pathway through declining life.
Itis history has been a busy and an eventful one, and is remarkable for absence of ostentatiousness and vanity,- certain marks of a cultivated mind. He has always with great reserve avoided notoriety, and invariably refused political preferment with that modesty which is commend- able yet so seldom met with in men of his attainments.
He has also been outspoken against fanaticism and all isms, fearlessly and publicly eensuring wrong-doing. A man of firm convictions, which from an innate feeling of right he fearlessly and freely expresses, and as a man of wind, fine intellect, excellent judgment, and a superior education, he will be remembered by many of the people of Ulster County long after he has passed away from scenes of carth.
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