USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 54
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Returning to New Brunswick he formed a partnership with George Beggs, and in May, 1866, the business was taken to New- burgh. Mr. Moore has held various relations in public and social life. Shortly after coming to Newburgh he was elected First Lieu- tenant of the Ellis Guard (Co. I), and afterwards Captain; and when in 1873 Companies I and C were consolidated he was again elected Cap- tain. He has always been a staunch Republican. He served one term of four years in the Board of Education, beginning in 1872. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Common Council to fill a vacancy, and was re-elected in 1879, 1881 and 1883. In 1887 he was elected
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RESIDENCE OF E. R. POST-69 Grand Street.
Alderman-at-Large, being the first to fill the office. In 1879 and 1880 he was President of the Council. During the construction of the Quassaick Bridge he was the chairman of the building committee from the beginning to the end of the work; he was one of the repre- sentatives of the city in the purchase of Downing Park, and during the construction of the West Shore Railroad he was a guardian of the city's interests.
In society relations he is a past master and a member of New- burgh Lodge, F. & A. M .; he is also a member of Hudson River Com- mandery and Highland Chapter, and has been honored with numerous offices in those bodies; he is a member of Newburgh Lodge, K. of P., and also of the Knights of Honor, having been District Deputy for six years, and a delegate to the Grand Lodge four years. During two other years he was an officer of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, K. of H. Through the labors of George Beggs and Mr. Moore the Newburgh Building and Loan Association was established, and at its organization Mr. Moore was elected President, and has ably and conscientiously filled the position ever since. Mr. Moore is also Com- modore of the Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association.
EDWARD ROGERS POST was born May 2, 1842, at Sag Harbor, L. I, and removed in 1852 to the Village of Southampton, which has been the home of his family since the settlement of the town. One of the founders of the town and village was Richard Post, who was one of 47 Puritans who form- ed a compact at Lynn, Mass., in 1639 to form a set- tlement on Long Island. Their first attempt was a fail- ure, they being driven off by the Dutch authorities of the section where they landed; but returning to Connecticut and re- ceiving a new ยท grant, they landed again on the Island and colonized at the place which they named South- ampton (after the old Southampton, England). They also bought their E. R. POST. title from the Indians, recording the Indian deed in December of 1640.
The succession to the subject of the present sketch is from Richard: John Post, Ist, died 1687; Captain John Post, died 1741, aged 67; John Post, 3d, died 1792, aged 92; James Post, Ist, died 1813, aged 72; James Post, 2d, died 1855, aged 76; William R. Post, died 1889, aged 78.
E. R. Post, who spent his earlier years at Sag Harbor and South- ampton, received an academic education, spent a few months at New Brunswick, N. J., completing his preparation for college, entered at
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EST'0.1034
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E. R. POST'S STORE-34 and 36 Colden Street.
Princeton in 1859 and graduated in regular course in 1862. He passed one Winter in Southern Ohio as private tutor in a family of large wealth, and took a full course at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating in 1866. In 1865 he married the only
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daughter of the Rev. S. H. Jagger, then of Marlborough, Ulster County. He entered the drug business in 1868, and, after one or two changes, in 1873 secured an interest in his present store in this city. In association with the Rev. Mr. Jagger he continued the prosperous business formerly conduct- ed, in succession by Dr. Elias Peck, Thomas M. Peck, John E. Peck, and Peck Brothers. The business first established in 1834 by Dr. Elias Peck, grew through the successive changes from a very small beginning to a goodly volume, and amid many changes and increasing competition still holds its own as a popular, well- stocked, and well-conducted drug- store. The partnership with Mr. Jag- ger lasted until the death of that gentleman in 1889; since when the old firm style has been continued though no new partnership has been formed. The family of E. R. Post consists of his wife and three daughters, the only son having died in infancy in 1872.
STEPHEN M. BULL, wholesale grocer, Front Street, corner of Fifth. Mr. Bull is a direct descendant of William Bull, who was born in Eng- land in February, 1689, and came to America, sailing from Ireland, where
he spent his minority, about 1715. He married, in 1716, Sarah Wells, who was the first white woman in Goshen township, and they were the first couple of white people married in Goshen. He died in 1755, and she died in 1796, aged 102. In 1868 an ap- propriate monument was erected over the remains of the venerable couple near Hamptonburgh Church by their lineal descendants.
The father of Stephen M. Bull was John Springstead Bull, who was born in the Town of Monroe, November 26, 1809, and died November 17, 1876. When a boy he entered the employ of David H. Moffat, a merchant of Washingtonville, who afterward be- came his brother-in-law, and in 1832 purchased the business. About 1840 he bought the Clinton family home- stead at Little Britain, in the Town of New Windsor, and the remainder of his life was passed in agricultural pursuits. The mother of Stephen M. Bull was Currence Bostric, daughter of Samuel and Bethiah (Reeder) Mof- fat, of Blooming Grove.
Stephen M. Bull was born at the Clinton homestead July 14, 1844. He received his education at district schools and from a private tutor at his own home. On March 28, 1864, he came to Newburgh to work in a
PHOTO, BY ATKINSON.
STEPHEN M. BULL.
INTERIOR VIEW OF STEPHEN M. BULL'S STOREHOUSE-Corner of Front and Fifth Streets.
SOLE ABEHT FOR
WASHBURN CROSBY CO'S FLOUR
WHOLESALE GROCER.
S. M.BULL.
STEPHEN M. BULL'S STOREHOUSE-Corner of Front and Fifth Streets.
NEWBURGH.
STEPHEN M, B
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WASHBURN, CROSBY COMPANY'S EASTERN STOREHOUSE FOR FLOUR, AT FISHKILL-STEPHEN M. BULL AGENT.
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grocery store, and the following year he entered the office of Johnston & Alsdorf, who ran a line of steamboats between Newburgh and New York. For two years he was their assistant book-keeper and collector. In March, 1867, he went to work for Thomas H. Skid- more & Son, who had established themselves as wholesale grocers in the building in which Johnston & Alsdorf had their office. Mr. Bull was the book-keeper and head salesman for the firm, and in the course of time built up a large trade for the house, exhibiting in his work great business capacity and energy. In 1870 Thomas H. Skidmore purchased Captain Charles Johnston's interest in the forwarding firm, and sold his own interest in the wholesale house to his son Edwin T., who continued as the sole proprietor until 1879. In February, 1872, Alsdorf & Skidmore sold their steam- boat line to Homer Rams- dell. In 1879 E. T. Skid- more sold out to his father, Thomas H. Skidmore, Stephen M. Bull and John W. Matthews, who formed the firm of Skidmore, Bull & Co., which expired by limitation in 1884, when the new firm of Skidmore &. Bull (E. T. Skidmore and S. M. Bull) was formed. Since February 1, 1891, Mr. Bull has been the sole proprietor. 1
The storehouse is situ- ated conveniently to the railroads and the river, at the corner of Front and Fifth Streets, with a dock in the rear at which vessels of the largest tonnage may lie. The building covers an area of about 160 feet in width and 125 in depth. The north half is used ex- clusively for the storage of flour, and Mr. Bull has the use of the Washburn-Cros- 4 by storehouse for flour at the New York and New England Railroad dock on the opposite side of the river, so that he frequently carries about five thousand barrels, and his sales of flour alone average fifty carloads a month. He is the sole agent in this vicin- ity for the celebrated flour of the Washburn-Crosby Company of Minneapolis, 7 as well as for several other western millers. Every- thing belonging to the I-William F. Burke. grocery trade he carries in 2-Wilmer W. Schermerhorn. large lots. Buying only for 7-Samuel Sayer cash from first hands, he always gives his customers inside prices. He imports his salt direct in vessels which bring it from Turk's Island to his own wharf. He has many advantages for receiving and shipping goods by rail and water which New York houses do not possess. His trade extends throughout all the surrounding counties in this State, and into Con- necticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and along the Hudson from Yonkers to Hudson on the east shore, and from Nyack to Catskill
on the west shore. He employs fourteen men in the house and on the road.
In 1884-86 Mr. Bull owned a half-interest in the freight and passen- ger steamboat line, making daily trips between Newburgh and New York, the firm being known as Walter Brett & Co. After Mr. Bull's retirement from the firm, the steamboat was sold to Homer Ramsdell, and the business discontinued.
As a citizen and substantial business man no one stands higher in the community than Mr. Bull. Energetic and decisive, he has great capacity for business. As a salesman he had few equals in his line, and the success of the house from its earliest years was in a large measure owing to him. He is a trustee of Trinity Church and a worker in the Sabbath School. He mar- ried, May 26, 1869, Martha, daughter of Samuel Oakley (a prominent merchant of Newburgh, who died in May, 1850), and has two children, Emily Grace and John Springstead.
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PHOTOS. BY MAPES.
STEPHEN M. BULL'S BOOKKEEPERS AND SALESMEN,
3-Charles Plumsted.
4-James J. Leonard.
5-William R. Harrison. 6-James B. Montgomery.
8-Edward T. Bogardus.
GRANT E. EDGAR, born in New York City, December 24, 1822; died in Newburgh, May 11, 1890. His father, John, came from Scotland, and for a period prior and subse- quent to the birth of Grant E., resided in New York City. The latter was one of seven children-three sons and four danghters. In 1824 the family moved to Buenos Ayres, in South America, and on their re- turn to the United States, eight years later, came to Newburgh to live; the fath- er then engaged in cabinet- making. He was an excel- lent workman, and was President of the National Cabinet-makers' Associa- tion. When he was four- teen years old Grant went to sea, and cruised about the world for five years. In the Winter of 1841 he went with his father to Buffalo, where the latter was fore- man of the Cutler Desk Company's works, an im- portant concern. Grant worked at the trade under his father's instruction, and when they returned to Newburgh in the following year he started in business for himself.
The factory was the building in Front Street now occupied by John Delancy, built for Mr. Edgar's use by Homer Ramsdell. The elder Mr. Edgar died (1842) soon after the business was begun. The product of the factory was every description of household furniture, which found a ready sale. Warerooms were established in the build- ing Nos. 21 and 23 Water Street, purchased by Mr. Edgar from Mrs. Daniel Parish. It was then a small, two and a half story building, like
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the others that composed the row. Mr. Edgar enlarged it greatly- making it five stories in height-and combined therein, in 1856, both the manufactory and sales departments. For a long period he
GRANT E. EDGAR.
manufactured all the furniture he sold, giving em- ployment to a large number of artisans; but subsequently the factory was al- most exclusively employed in the production of sash, hlinds and doors. A local paper said of him:
"He was enterpris- ing in a degree that. astonished his con- temporaries in his younger days. We believe he was the first to erect in this city an immense building to carry on his particular line of business, and many shook their heads at his hardihood, but he persevered, and through all the fluc- tuations of trade he ever preserved the reputation of an hon- est man."
About 1875 he discontinued the sash, blind and door business, and again engaged in the retail furniture business; and his unflagging en- ergy, enterprise and forehandedness, which had earned success in the beginning of his career, ensured renewed prosperity. Mr. Edgar was admired not alone for the rectitude of his life, but especially for his striving to help others in the christian way, and his unremitting and conscientious zeal in mission work. For many years it was his custom on Sabbath mornings to visit the prisoners in the city jail, and show them the way to a better life. In this field, and in others, he was a tire-
THE GERARD HOUSE-71 Ann Street. One of the Oldest Dwellings in Newburgh.
less missioner. He seemed especially endowed for such work; certain it is that few other laymen have been so well received by those to whom he ministered, and so effective. In 1854 Mr. Edgar became a member
of the First Associate Reformed Church, but after Dr. McCarrell's death he joined the society of Calvary Church, and at the time of his death, and for many years prior thereto, was an Elder. He also taught a large primary class in the Sabbath School and was very popular with his pupils. In 1874 he was elected by the Republican party an. Alderman for the Third Ward. He married (1855) Mary Gerard, of Newburgh, and had three children, John, Margaret and Grant E., jr.
The Gerard honse, an illustration of which is printed herewith, is located on the southeast corner of Grand and Ann Streets, although Grand Street has been opened through there since the house was built. This is one of the oldest dwellings in the place, the main part of it having been erected in 1812. Two additions have since been made to it.
GRANT E. EDGAR, Jr., furniture, Nos. 21 and 23 Water Street. This is the largest house in the city dealing exclusively in furniture. The business was established in 1842, by Grant E. Edgar, who, at his
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GRANT E. EDGAR
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FURNITURE WAREROOMS.
GRANT E. EDGAR'S STORE-21 and 23 Water Street.
death, was succeeded by his son, Grant E. Edgar, jr. The building contains five stories, each one hundred feet in depth by thirty in width, with a large electric passenger elevator and other metropolitan ap- pointments. One beautiful show-window contains the largest plate- glass hitherto owned in the city, and the displays of fine furniture are always attractive spectacles. All the newest designs in parlor, cham- ber, dining-room, kitchen and office furniture are included in the stock, the parlor suites being obtainable in all the richest and latest styles of upholstery. Some very beautiful furniture may be seen here. Mr. Edgar has the exclusive sale in this city of the Hartford Woven-Wire Mattress Company's goods, the Indianapolis Cabinet Company's roll- top desks, and the D. N. Selleg fancy chairs. Mr. Edgar man- ufactures considerable of his own furniture. The stock comes to him
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in "the white," except lounges and bedding, which are made entirely in his mannfacturing department on the fifth floor. Mr. Edgar has es- tablished a reputation for a high grade of goods and reasonable prices.
JOHN DALES, senior member of the real estate and insurance firm of John Dales & Co., has long been one of our citizens, and his business career has been nniformly honorable and successful. He was born in the Town of Stamford, Delaware Coun- ty, N. Y., February 4, 1820. He re- EXPRESS ceived a common school education, and at the age of fifteen set ont to make his own way in the world. His first occupation was in a store at Monticello, N. Y. In the Spring of 1839 he entered the employ of Crawford, Mailler & Co., who ran a line of boats between Newburgh and New York. In 1843 he accom- panied W. H. Gerard to Memphis, Tenn., and was employed in Mr. Gerard's general store two years. For two years he was in New York City in a wholesale dry goods store. From 1847 to 1865 Mr. Dales conduct- ed a successful business at Jordan, N. Y. He then returned to Newburgh and formed a partnership with W. O. Mailler in the forwarding business, remaining in it four years.
Since that time Mr. Dales has been engaged in the real estate and insurance business in this city. For a long time he was also the pas-
senger agent of the Erie Railroad here. He has been identified with a number of the enterprises pro- jected for the benefit of the city, notably the Newburgh and Midland Railroad Company, of which he was secretary. He was one of the origi- nal members of the Board of Trade, and has long been a director of the Quassaick Bank, secretary of the Woodlawn Cemetery Association, and a manager of the Newburgh Bible Society.
For nearly twenty-five years he has been a ruling elder, trustee and treasurer of the Calvary Presbyter- ian Church. He married in 1845 Susan Oakley, sister of Jackson Oakley, and of Mrs. William K. Mailler. Mrs. Dales died November 24, 1890. Their only son, who was cashier of the Millerton National Bank, died November 1, 1883. Mrs. Charles D. Robinson is a daughter; her husband is Mr. Dales's partner in business.
GEORGE B. ADAMS, dry goods and carpets, Nos. 62 and 64 Water Street. The Newburgh store of George B. Adams is one of three owned by him. The other two are at Middletown, N. Y., and Olean, N. Y. The store in this city was opened in 1879 at No. 80 Water Street In the Fall of 1890 Mr. Adams leased the buildings Nos. 62 and 64 Water Street, and after they had been re-modeled and
PHOTO. BY MAPES
JOHN DALES.
FECEI
JOHN DALE'S &CO
THE DALES BUILDING-44 and 46 Third Street.
GEORGE B. ADAMS.
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fitted up at an expense of $10,000, he moved his business thereto, April 1, 1891. The premises are very attractive. They have a hand- some oak front, with two great plate-glass windows, one thirteen feet wide and the other eleven. The main floor is thirty-six feet in width and eighty-five in depth, with five long rows of shelves and counters. Near the center of the floor is the cashier's department, from which
The spacious salesrooms are metropolitan in all their appointments. The stock is large and comprehensive, and everything properly be- longing to the dry goods and carpet trades can be found there. For- eign as well as American goods are freely carried, and Mr. Adams has all his arrangements perfected for securing the freshest and choicest novelties as soon as they are ready for the trade. With three
CEO. B.ADAMS 64.62
DRYGOODS . CARPETS.
ALPDE PHOTOS. MAPES
ADAMS CARPETS. ADAMS
/ CLOAK.
CURD INS
Sco BAdams
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GEORGE B. ADAMS' STORE-62 and 64 Water Street.
radiates a system of cash railways. The woodwork is finished gen- erally in its natural colors. This floor is used exclusively for general and fancy dry goods and an immense stock is carried. In the base- ment are the domestic and cloak departments. The second and third floors are used for the carpet departments, and for curtains, rugs, window-shades, and such like. The building is heated by steam and lighted by electricity.
large houses to supply, and with ample resources, Mr. Adams is one of the heaviest buyers in the retail trade, and for that reason he can both buy and sell on the most reasonable terms. This year, for instance, he purchased personally in Europe and imported directly in the name of the firm, many thousand dollars worth of goods. The purchase of 1,600 dozen of plain, printed, embroidered and initial handkerchiefs alone, in Belfast, amounted to 6500 or $2,500. At
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Dunfermline he purchased {600 or $3,000 worth of linens, besides laces and lace handkerchiefs at Brussels, and dress goods and trim- mings at Paris. Mr. Adams' Newburgh store has a great patronage, not confined to the city alone, but drawn from all the surrounding country. The managers of the Newburgh branch are Alfred H. Lyon and J. C. Hanford.
Mr. Adams was born in Wantage, N. J., in 1843. His father, a Baptist clergyman, died when George was two years old, leaving three sons. George attended school until he was fifteen years old, and then found a place in the dry-goods store of Wallace & Hem- mingway, at Goshen, N. Y. In 1863 he came to Newburgh and en- gaged as clerk for Stephen Hayt & Co. Four years later he formed
ISAAC - CHAPMAN.
ISAAC - CHAPMAN.
WHOLESALE & RETAIL DRUGGIST. And Dealer in Glass. Olts.Putty. and Dye Stutts.
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GARDEN. FIELD & FLOWER SEEDS, hersene Sperm.Lard & Machinery Otis.
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ISAAC C. CHAPMAN.
ISAAC C. CHAPMAN'S STORE-III Water Street.
a partnership with Nathaniel B. Hayt, and opened a dry-goods store at Middletown. The enterprise was successful from the beginning. After five years Mr. Hayt sold his interest to T. A. Weller, and shortly afterward the firm erected and moved to the large business block, Nos. 33 and 35 North Street. Later, when an auspicious open- ing was presented for a branch house in Newburgh, the store No. 80 Water Street was leased and stocked with forty thousand dollars' worth of goods. At first the firm occupied one floor, but afterwards took in the basement also. In 1886 Mr. Adams became the sole pro- prietor of both stores, Mr. Weller retiring. In 1887 Mr. Adams bought the large dry goods and carpet establishment of N. S. Butler & Co., at Olean, N. Y., and since then has conducted the three stores.
Middletown is his place of residence. He is a trustee of the Middle- town Savings Bank, a director of the First National Bank, a director of the Middletown Street Railway Company, and a member of the Board of Directors of the First Pres- byterian Church. He married Lottie E., daughter of Edward Mapes, of Newburgh, and has two daughters.
I. C. CHAPMAN
was born in New- burgh, July 31, 1833. On the side of his father, Pad- dock Chapman, de- ceased, he is a lineal descendant of Ralph Chapman, a native of Eng- land, who settled in Duxbury, Mass., in 1635; while on the side of his mother, Mary,
PHOTO BY MAPES.
ISAAC C. CHAPMAN.
daughter of Joseph Hoffman, deceased, his descent runs back to the pure Holland stock of New York, and links him to a business career
RESIDENCE OF ISAAC C. CHAPMAN-164 Grand Street.
which was begun in Newburgh nearly one hundred years ago, the memory of whose founder is garlanded with a consistent record for
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integrity and kind acts. At about the age of thirteen years (1846), Mr. Chapman entered the employ of Dr. Elias Peck as a druggist's clerk, but subsequently returned to school and graduated at the Academy under Dr. B. R. Hall in 1848. Having a taste for the business in which he was first employed and a favorable opportunity for entering it, he then went to New York City with Dr. James Syme; from thence to Charleston, S. C. (1851), with Dr. J. A. Cleveland; from thence to New Orleans (1852) with Dr. Syme. He returned to New York in 1853, as clerk for Dr. Newman, and in 1855 purchased the druggist's stock and business of Henry O. Heustis, in Newburgh, to which he added, by purchase in 1860, the stock and business of Isaac Sebring Fowler, then at the store which he lias ever since occupied.
In other than business relations Mr. Chapman has had an active and useful part. He served as Clerk of the old Town of New- burgh, which then included the present city, in 1857, '58 and '59; was Supervisor from the Third Ward of the city in 1873; was for three years a director of the Warwick Valley Railroad as the representative of Newburgh interests; has been one of the trustees of the Newburgh Savings Bank since 1862, and is now the secretary of that institution; has been one of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Newburgh since 1886, and for many years has served as a member of the official board of the Union Presbyterian Church. In these and in
JAMES W MILLER:
JAMES W. MILLER'S STORE-29 Water Street.
other channels he has borne his part in advancing the interests of the community and afforded the most substantial evidence of an unblem- ished reputation for integrity. Mr. Chapman married, in 1856, Miss Letitia Kennedy, and has one son, John H., born in 1860.
JAMES W. MILLER is one of the numerous descendants of Johannes Miller the first and of William Bull the first, who in or about the year 1715 were the first two settlers in what is now the central part
of the County of Orange at a place now included within the towns of Montgomery and Hamptonburgh.
Mr. Miller was born in the village, now city, of Newburgh, August 14, 1830; was a pupil at the old Newburgh Academy in the years 1839, '40, and '41, and afterwards at the school attached to the Asso-
JAMES W. MILLER,
ciate Reformed Church Seminary at Newburgh. He then entered his father's store, at No. 29 Water Street, in this city, where he has ever since remained in business, succeeding his father, James W. Miller, at the same location where the business was commenced by his grand- father, David Miller, in the year 1804. In the year 1874 he was elect- ed a Member of Assembly from this the First Assembly District of Orange County.
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