USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 42
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Mr. Moshier is a Republican, and has rendered good service in behalf of the party. He rep- resented the Fourth PHOTO. BY MAPES. Ward for four GEORGE MOSHIER. years in the Board of Supervisors, and was Water Commissioner for the five years preceding 1889, serving as president of the Board in 1888. While always adhering to the principles of his party, he believes it should take a more advanced position on the temperance question. A member of Trinity Church, he is also an earnest worker of the Christian Mission in Water Street, and Assistant Superintendent of the Sabbath school. Soon after Ringgold Hose Company was or- ganized he became an active member and served till 1875, and for a period was Assistant Foreman of the Company. He was married in 1862 with Miss Caroline Tilton, of Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth County, N. J., and their children are: Anna, who married William C. Jones, a merchant, of Lynn, Mass .; George, jr., and Mabel.
ABRAHAM B. E. REMILLARD is the senior member of the firm of Remillard & Co., which was established in May, 1891. His partners are Samuel V. Schoonmaker and Frank S. Weller. They have a large dry goods house at No. 80 Water Street, corner of Third.
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For many years previously Mr. Remillard conducted a photograph gallery at No. 82 Water Street, and was very successful, being rated
high in financial circles. He owns the valuable busi- ness buildings Nos. 80 and 82 Water Street, and his resi- dence, No. 281 Grand Street. Mr. Remillard was born at Quebec, May 10, 1836. He received an aca- demic education, and his first em- ployment was with a dry goods firm in his native place. He has resided in Newburgh since he was nineteen years of age, with the exception of two years when he had a branch busi- ness in Quebec. Mr. Remillard mar- ried, first, Lenora Weygant, of New- A. B. E. REMILLARD. burgh, who died in 1873, by which union there were five children, viz .: Frank P., Minnie M., Thomas B., Lillian E. and Grace E. The two sons are now dead. His second wife is Malvina Lamontagne, formerly of Quebec.
J DeWITT WALSH is a grandson of Hugh Walsh, who emi- grated from the north of Ireland in 1764, and settled at Philadelphia. He subsequently removed to New York, where he married, in 1775, Catherine Armstrong. Dur- ing the closing years of the Revolution it is presumed that he was engaged in fur- nishing supplies to the Amer- ican army in this vicinity. On one of his visits here (February 22, 1782) he pur- chased from Benjamin Smith one-half of the block bounded by the river, north by Fourth Street and west by Smith Street, for which he paid $130. He did not take up his residence here till 1790, when he purchased from Governor George Clin- ton a large tract of land on the south side of Quassaick Creek, including the water front on the Hudson. In 1791 he purchased the north- east corner of Water and Third Streets, with lands J. DE WITT WALSH. under water, on which he built a dock and storehouse for a general merchandise and forwarding business. He ran sloops between Newburgh, New York and Albany. In 1792 he and James Craig built on the Quassaick Creek the paper mill which remained in the family till recently. Mr. Walsh was engaged in several other
business enterprises also. He retired from active business about 1804, and the closing years of his life were passed at his residence, No. 90 Western Avenue. He died in 1817, aged 71. His son, John H., inherited the mill property, married Elizabeth, daughter of John DeWitt, formerly of Dutchess County, and died in 1853, leaving seven children.
J. De Witt Walsh is the son of John H., and was born in the dwell- ing in which he has always lived in New Windsor. After working as a clerk in Newburgh for some two years, he entered the paper mill of his father in October, 1833, and continued in the business till 1880. Mr. Walsh never married, but he has a happy home-life with his bachelor-brother, the Rev. William, and an unmarried sister.
In 1835 the mill-owners on the Quassaick purchased the farm at the outlet of Orange Lake, and thereby gained the undisputed right to deepen the outlet for the benefit of the owners of the mills on the stream. About 1848 Mr. Walsh was appointed by the mill-owners a committee to take charge of the farm and of the works at the pond, which he continued to do until 1888, when he resigned on account of ill-health.
During the Rebellion Mr. Walsh was treasurer of the committee of the Town of New Windsor for raising money to pay bounties to volunteers. All the bounties were paid by him at his office. Bonds to the amount of $20,000 were issued for that purpose, all of which were negotiated and countersigned by him. Mr. Walsh was elected a trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank June 1, 1863, was president one year, and resigned in Angust, 1888. He was one of the organ- izers of the National Bank of Newburgh in July, 1864, and one of its directors until January, 1890, when he resigned. He was elected a trustee of School District No. 1 in the Town of New Windsor in October, 1866, and continued to act as such with great satisfaction to the people of the district until his resignation in August, 1891.
GEORGE WELLER, although not a resident of this city, is identified with one of its most substantial institutions, being a direc-
PHOTO, BY MAPES
GEORGE WELLER.
tor of the National Bank of Newburgh, where he attends the weekly meetings of the board with unusual regularity. Mr. Weller resides
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at Walden. He is a native of the Town of Montgomery, and was born June 11, 1802. He is a son of George and Mary (Dickerson) Weller. His early education was limited to that afforded by the or- dinary common-school. His business career began as a clerk in the general store of his uncle, William Hunter, Jr., in the Town of Mont- gomery, which position he relinquished to teach school for about one year. In 1824, with Erwin Galatian, he opened a general store in the Village of Walden on his own account, which business he continned abont twenty-five years, when he sold out and engaged in farming for five or six years. Mr. Weller was elected a director of the Na- tional Bank of Newburgh in 1879. In January, 1879, he was elected president of the Walden Savings Bank, which position he now fills. Mr. Weller is a remarkably well-preserved man, and bears the respect and high esteem of a wide acquaintance. He has been twice mar- ried. His first wife was Elizabeth Galatian, by which union there were three children, all of whom died in infancy; she died in October. 1840. His second wife was Adeline Crist, who died January 31, 1891, leaving two sons, George, Jr. and William C.
HON. AUGUSTUS DENNISTON is a son of Hon. Robert Den- niston, who was born in the Town of Blooming Grove and was for many years in public life. He was Justice of the Peace and Super- visor of the town, Member of Assembly and of the State Senate for several terms, and Comptroller of the State in 1860-61.
Angustus Denniston was born in the Town of Blooming Grove, May 25, 1842, educated at home, and was a clerk in the Comptroller's office at Albany during his father's administration. In June, 1862, he was appointed by Governor Morgan, on the recommendation of
M.N.Co.
HON. AUGUSTUS DENNISTON.
Colonel Ellis, to be Quartermaster of the 124th Regiment, N. Y. V. In September he went with the regiment to the front. After a few months' service he was taken ill and spent several weeks in hospital life. His health was so greatly impaired that he resigned.
Mr. Denniston was a member of the Assembly from this district in 1873-74. He was brought up on a farm and has always taken a
deep interest in agriculture. In 1876 he was elected First Vice-Presi- dent of the Orange County Agricultural Society, and in 1879, upon the death of the President, the Rev. L. L. Comfort, he was elected President, which position he has ever since held, and has seen this society, year after year, prosper and grow in public favor. Mr. Den- niston is also Vice-President of the Highland National Bank of New-
MNCO
DAVID A. MORRISON
burgh, a director of the Newburgh District Telegraph Company, an officer of Isaac Nicoll Post, G. A. R., of Washingtonville, and presi- dent of the Washingtonville Farmers' Creamery Association. He lives on a large farm near Washingtonville, and is a most useful man in that town. He is a bachelor.
DAVID A. MORRISON is of Scotch, Irish and Dutch ancestry. His paternal great-great-grandfather, John Morrison, was born in 1700, emigrated from the north of Ireland prior to the Revolution, and settled on what is now known as the Morrison homestead farm in the Town of Montgomery, Orange County; he died in 1783. Ham- ilton, the father of David A., inherited the homestead, and married Maria Mould, daughter of Jonathan Mould, of Montgomery, who was a lineal descendant of Christoffel Mould, one of the earliest Dutch settlers of the Wallkill Valley. He was one of the twelve who or- ganized the Orange County Agricultural Society in 1841, was its President twice, Vice-President many years, and Corresponding Sec- retary several times.
David A., one of a family of seven children, was born September 20, 1830, at the homestead. He attended the district schools and the Montgomery Academy, and at the age of seventeen became a teacher. He continued for a number of years to work on his father's farm in Summer and teach school in Winter. He taught in the villages of Walden and Montgomery, and in district schools in the Towns of Mont- gomery and Blooming Grove. In politics, originally a Whig, he joined the Republican party at its organization in 1856, and was an active supporter of the Union cause. During Grant's second term he be- came identified with the Democratic party.
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In 1867 he was elected School Commissioner for the First District of Orange County; was again elected in 1881, and now is serving his fifth term, an event without a parallel in the State. He has been the Secretary of the Orange County Agricultural Society for thirty-three years, and has attended every fair held by the society since its organ- ization. He is one of the main-stays of the society, a painstaking and tireless worker, gentle yet firm, and a man of education and ability. His long continuance in the office of commissioner and secretary is sufficient evidence of his qualification therefor. He still resides on the homestead farm. He married Mary R. Lipsett, daughter of Rob- ert Lipsett, of Montgomery.
JAMES HAMILTON has the distinction of being the oldest member of the Masonic fraternity in Newburgh, and, in a certain sense, he is also the oldest fireman. He became a member of old Hiram Lodge in 1843. Peter F. Hunt was then the Master, and the lodge room was in the Orange Hotel. In 1853 he wrote the petition to the Grand Lodge for the formation of Newburgh Lodge, and he is the oldest charter member now living. He prepared an interesting sketch of his recollections concerning the formation of Newburgh Lodge which was read at the thirty - seventh anniversary celebration in June, 1890. Mr. Hamilton became a member of Niagara Engine Company, No. 5, at its or- ganization in 1837, and con- tinued a member till its dis- bandment. He was born October 15, 1810, and came to Newburgh in 1830. As clerk and proprietor he con- ducted the grocery business at No. 68 Water Street for twenty-six years. In 1859 he was appointed Under-Sheriff by Sheriff John Cowdrey. His wife (now deceased) was PHOTO, BY ATKINSON, Harriet Bontecou, a Hugue- JAMES HAMILTON. not descendant, of La Ro- chelle, France. Out of a family of eight children three are now living-a son and two daughters, viz., Mrs. Charles F. Chapman and Mrs. Arthur Wilson, of Newburgh, and Robert J. Hamilton, of Long Island City, N. Y.
The ancestry of Harriet Bontecou has been traced back for forty successive generations, extending through thirteen centuries; and tliese data have been compiled and published by John E. Morris, of Hartford, Conn.
EPHRAIM BULLIS was born at Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, N. Y., October 13, 1820. His parents moved to near Mechanicville, and while living there he taught school several Winters, and subse- quently attended the Stillwater Academy for four years, and was graduated therefrom in 1844. While living at Mechanicville he was a member of Mott's Guards, of the 41st Regiment of the State militia, and was both second lieutenant and captain of the company at different periods. In 1845 he came to Newburgh and filled a clerk- ship under the employ of his uncle, Captain W. A. Bullis, who then ran a line of sloops between Newburgh and Albany and had a dock and storehouse at the foot of Fourth Street. Mr. Bullis remained there two years, when his uncle disposed of the business, and shortly afterward the storehouse was destroyed by fire. He then (in 1848) embarked in the lumber business on the same dock,
and became prominent in that line of trade, continuing therein until about 1862. During the two succeeding years he resided on a farm in the Town of Montgomery, and in 1865 moved to Cornwall and entered the coal and lumber busi- ness. While a res- ident of Cornwall he filled the office of justice of the peace for seven or eight years, and for two terms was justice of the Court of Sessions, Thom- as George then be- ing County Judge. He returned to Newburgh in 1876, and has since been engaged in the wholesale lumber trade. In 1847 he married Miss Effie Decker, daughter of Jacob P. Deck- er, of the Town of Montgomery, EPHRAIM BULLIS. PHOTO. BY ATKINSON. and has two sons
and two daughters. For a number of years he was a trustee of the First Baptist Church of this city.
JOHN CORWIN. The Corwin family is one of the oldest in this country, Matthias Corwin, its founder, having settled in Ipswich, Mass., as early as 1634. John Corwin was born in the Town of Wall- kill, August 4, 1826. He removed in 1833 to Newburgh, and his father (John H.) formed a partnership in the iron and brass foundry at the cor- ner of Grand Street and Broadway with John W. Wells. John learn- ed the machinist trade in his father's machine shop. In the year 1860 he changed his occu- pation to that of the stove and tin business, purchas- ing the stock of Francis W. Hunt, at No. 139 Water Street. In 1867 he joined the firm of Root & Shaver (Charles Root and John W. Shaver) in PHOTO. BY MAPES. the same business, JOHN CORWIN. also sending ped- dlers with tinware, etc., all through this and the surrounding counties in this State, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. During the years succeed-
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ing the War of the Rebellion they paid the largest internal revenue tax as peddlers and dealers of any firm in this section, amounting to several thousand dollars annnally. After the retirement of John W. Shaver from the firm Mr. Corwin continued with Mr. Root until the year 1878, when, having been appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenne, he withdrew from the firm. His official career has been a long one. Commencing as Inspector of Elections several years be- fore Newburgh became a city, he continued in that office eighteen years. From 1864 to 1872 inclusive, and again from 1877 to 1881 he was a member of the Board of Education. He was a member of the first Board of Aldermen in 1866, and again in 1885-86. He was elected Supervisor from the Second Ward in 1867, but served only a few months on account of his removal into the Third Ward, where he has since resided. In 1870 he was appointed U. S. Ganger for this district, and served till 1881. He was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenne in 1877, and resigned in 1884. He immediately purchased the furniture and anction business of R. Millspaugh & Co., and has continned it up to the present time. Mr. Corwin has the distinction of having conducted the largest auction sale on record, having in Novem- ber, 1885, sold the West Shore Railroad for twenty-two million dollars. He is one of the coroners of Orange County, having been elected in November, 1885, and re-elected in 1888.
CHARLES E. MOSCOW, one of our best known and popular citizens, has devoted his life to the study and cultivation of music, and has acquired wide reputation in his chosen profession. He is a musician, not an instrumentalist, and as a composer he has exerted a great influence in the profession. For eleven years he was a bands- man at the United States Military Post at West Point, where the music is of the highest or- der, established and conducted on sound principles and fixed laws. This was a discip- line and an ednca- tion that has color- ed and given direction to his subsequent life, which we will briefly outline.
Mr. Moscow was born on the 18th of August, 1835, in Muehlberg, near Gotha, Saxony. He came to America in 1846, and to Newburgh in the Spring of 1867, since which time PHOTO. BY ATKINSON, he has been con- CHARLES E. MOSCOW. stantly identified with the musical circles of this city and vicinity. For six years he was a mem- ber of the firm of Fielding & Moscow, wholesale and retail dealers in music and musical instruments; but it is as the re- cognized leader of the profession that he is best known and will be remembered. He had charge of the Nineteenth Regiment and Seven- teenth Battalion Bands respectively until those military organizations were disbanded. He was the leader of the Newburgh City Band for many years, for the success and perfection of which he was an inde- fatigable worker. In such work his whole being is interested, and his zeal and energy know no bonnds. He organized the Academy of Music Orchestra, of which he is director, and has furnished the theatre
and opera music in this city for many years. In this capacity he has had to serve a very fastidious and critical taste, and an intelligent public whose conception of the art and science of music is unqnes- tionably technical and exacting. But he has always given entire satisfaction in this trying position. His selections, whether bright, fantastic, emotive, ideal or diatonic, have invariably proved his won- derful capacity as a performer and won unstinted praise. Professor Moscow is a teacher of the violin, guitar, flute and cornet.
TILDEN H. WILSON was born in Delaware County, O., in 1846. The family moved to Newburgh in 1857, and Tilden attended Mr. Cavan's private school and the public schools. In 1862 he went into the army, and when he returned engaged with Frank Gerard to learn
PHOTO. BY ATKINSON.
TILDEN H. WILSON.
the mason trade. He served four years, and for two years following worked at his trade in New York City. Returning to Newburgh he formed a partnership with his brother, as masons and bnilders, that has continued ever since. Their operations in real estate on their own account have been large, notably in South Miller Street, where most of the honses, thirty or thirty-five in number, were erected for them- selves. Tilden H. Wilson is also a man of influence in the conncils of the Democratic party, and has rendered efficient service in its be- half. He was a member of the Board of Alms House Commissioners in 1883-86, the first Inspector of Buildings, and has been one of the Board of Water Commissioners since 1889. He is a stockholder and trustee of the Academy of Music, a member of Chapman Hose Com- pany, of the Board of Trade, of Acme Lodge of Odd Fellows, and has been through all the chairs in Newburgh Lodge of Free Masons.
JONATHAN D. WILSON is a member of one of our leading firms of masons and builders, which has in its career of twenty-one years built a considerable number of the houses that constitute the City of Newburgh. Mr. Wilson was born in Ohio in 1850, and came to Newburgh with the other members of his family in 1857. He
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learned his trade with Franklin Gerard, and was a journeyman at the age of nineteen. He worked one year in New York, and then in 1870 formed a partnership with his brother, Tilden H., in this city. They have erected some of our most prominent buildings, notably the Academy of Music, School No. 6, the Jewish Synagogue, Trinity parsonage, and the Schaefer, Turner, Dales and Carson business buildings, and many handsome private residences, in all about three hundred buildings. Many of these they erected on their own account; South Miller Street was almost entirely built up by them. Mr. Wilson is an important factor in the local Democratic party, has represented his district in numerous conventions, and was a member of the Board
PHOTO. BY ATKINSON.
JONATHAN D. WILSON.
of Assessors for six years. He is an Odd Fellow and a Free Mason, and was Master of Newburgh Lodge, F. & A. M., during the years 1884 and 1885. He married Kate A. Todd, of this city, in 1874, and has one son.
WILBUR H. WESTON was born February 11. 1851, at Man- chester, N. H. His paternal ancestors were of English extraction, and the early record shows that John Weston emigrated from Eng- land to America in 1644 and settled in New England. In his youth Mr. Weston availed himself of such educational advantages as were afforded in the common school of his native town, and after passing through a course of study at the New Hampshire Conference Semin- ary at Tilton, N. H., came to this State, March 11, 1871, and found employment in a minor position with the Erie Railroad Company in this city, where he remained until July, 1873. He then was appointed agent of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Com- pany, as well as the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad Company (now the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad). In 1882 he was appointed the agent of the New York and New England Railroad also.
Upon the opening of the West Shore Railroad in 1883, there were several points on that road that came in competition with the business of the New York Central, and Mr. Weston was selected by the Central management to establish offices at those points and to have a general
supervision of their business on the west side of the river, which duties he performed in such a satisfactory manner as to secure the approbation of his superior officers. About this time he organized the sys- tem of running ex- cursions at low rates over the New York Central to Saratoga Springs, Lake George, Mon- treal and other places, which be- came one of the features of that road, and caused Mr. Weston to be well known throughout this portion of the State.
In 1883 he took the contract for carrying the U. S. mails between this city and the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad station at Fishkill-on-Hud- son, and added a
FHOTO. BY WHIDDIT.
WILBUR H. WESTON.
small express route to that service, which he extended shortly after to Matteawan, absorbing two other express concerns. In
J. BLACKBURN MILLER.
1886 he purchased the stage line running between Fishkill Land- ing and Matteawan, and took measures at once to develop the
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business, which has uow grown to be one of the institutions on the other side of the river .. Mr. Weston saw that there was a de- mand for cheaper transportation than that afforded by liverymen, and, believing that by charging a fair price for carrying a passenger to any point in the city he would meet with encouragement, he, in 1887, started a cab line which carries passengers to any point in the city for twenty-five cents. In 1888 he took out a patent on an ım- proved cab which he uses in his business. The same year he estab- lished a cab service in Poughkeepsie, which has received very liberal patronage from the citizens of that place.
In military matters Mr. Weston in former years took an active in- terest. At the formation of the Seventeenth Battalion, N. G. S. N. Y., he was appointed quartermaster, then promoted to captain of Com- pany A, and afterwards was made major, which office he held until the battalion was disbanded by act of the Legislature. It is from this connection that he acquired the title of " Major," by which he is
or immediately after. According to the family tradition, he was a native of Bordeaux. It is almost certain that he went first to Eng- land, and thence sailed to America. He settled in New Paltz, Ulster County, N. Y., where he married Elizabeth Deyo Lefevre, daughter of Christian Deyo, one of the original patentees of that French settle- ment, and widow of Simon Lefevre. One child was the fruit of this union-a son, born in 1693, who was named Peter. This Peter Can- tine married Elizabeth Blansjan, the daughter of Mattys Blansjan of Hurley, Ulster County, N. Y., and grand-daughter of Mattys Blans- jan, a Huguenot refugee. They had twelve children, six sons and six daughters, one of the latter dying in infancy. From these six sons, unquestionably, are descended all the families in this country which bear the name of Cantine. The family have never been a large one in point of numbers, the most prolific branch being that descend- ed from Peter's son John, who was conspicuous as a general and as a legislator during the Revolutionary period. By marriage the Can-
"WOODBURN HALL" THE CHRISTOPHER B .- MILLER HOMESTEAD-New Windsor.
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