USA > New York > Orange County > Wallkill in Orange County > The Historic Wallkill and Hudson River Valleys > Part 7
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As a guide to those wishing to avail themselves of the provisions referred to, the form of bequest for insertion in wills, the form of a bill of sale or transfer of property, or receipts given for the payment of money to the Cemetery Association, will be gladly furnished by John C. Seymour, the President ; William C. Hart, Trustee, or the Secretary, Irving H. Loughran, who are a special Com- mittee appointed for that purpose.
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In Memoriam
J. EDWARD WELLS
J. Edward Wells was born in the town of Goshen, January I, 1834. His parental ancestor, Joshua Wells, one of the early settlers of the Wallkill Valley, came from Southold, L. I., about 1735, and settled on the Home- stead Farm containing two hun- dred and fifty acres, and situated about two miles west of the vil- lage of Goshen. The farm has been owned and occupied con- tinuously by members of the Wells family since it was first settled, and is now held by the fifth generation. Mr. Wells has been a farmer all his life, al- though at times he has carried on other business in connection with farming. He married Miss Frances E. Conkling, also of the town of Goshen. They have two children, William A., who resides with them, and Lena C., who married Mr. C. Christie of Ridge- field Park, N. J.
Mr. Wells was elected a director of the Orange County Agricultural Society at is annual meeting held at Washingtonville, October 4, 1879, and has been successively re-elected seven times. He is now filling his eighth term of three years each. He has served as superintendent of various depart- ments of the Society's Annual Exhibitions, and has been the general superintendent of the fair since it was permanently located at Middletown in 1897. The work of laying out and improving the Fair Grounds, the erection and arrangement of suitable buildings and other structures, has all been done under his supervision. The care and custody of the grounds, buildings, and other property of the Society were by resolution of the Board of Managers entrusted entirely to him.
His father, the late Alfred Wells, was also identified with the Society as a member for many years, an exhibitor at a number of its fairs, and as one of its directors during the years 1873, 1874 and 1875.
In March, 1894, Mr. Wells was elected Supervisor of the town of Goshen, and has since continued to represent that town in the County Legislature, serving as a member of the Committee on Public Buildings since 1896.
Mr. Wells died May 6, 1907; interment at Phillipsburgh cemetery.
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In Memoriam
HON. WM. GEORGE HASTINGS
Hon. William George Hastings, member of Assembly for the First District of Orange County, passed away at Albany June 28, 1907, in the forty-first year of his age. Mr. Hastings was stricken down in the full vigor of robust manhood without having yet at- tained the zenith of his political and busi- ness career. By his death a life replete with activities for the benefit of his fellow man, characterized by all the noblest and best at- tributes of sterling manhood, was cut short.
Few members of the lower branch of the Legislature were better known or better liked than he. A loyal friend, genial and whole- souled, he passed away, mourned by a legion of friends of all political parties and creeds, his memory unsullied by unworthy word or deed. his life-story a prized heritage for his stricken relatives, an inspiration for his co- workers.
Mr. Hastings was a member of an old Newburgh family. His father is School Trustee James Hastings, and his mother was Miss Mary A. Brown before her marriage. He was born in Newburgh and received his education in the Newburgh public schools and in Siglar's Preparatory School on Dubois street.
From early manhood he was identified with the Republican party, and was an earnest worker for its success. He served as Deputy Postmaster of Newburgh under Postmaster Joseph A. Sneed. He had charge of the the money-order department, and it was here that his alertness, his cheery disposition and his willingness-even eagerness-to oblige, first attracted general attention. Later he acted as private secretary for Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., when the latter was Congressman.
In 1891 Mr. Hastings married May E. Moore, daughter of Eugene Moore, who survives him with one daughter. He took interest in local military affairs and was a veteran of the Tenth Sepa- rate Company. He was a Past Master of Newburgh Lodge, No. 309, F. and A. M .; a member of Highland Chapter, R. A. M .; Hudson River Commandery, K. T .: Mecca Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .; Acme Lodge, I. O. O. F., Ringgold Hose Company, th Newburgh Wheelmen and the Newburgh City Club.
In November, 1904, Mr. Hastings was elected a member of the Assembly. Speaker Nixon the following winter appointed him to the committees on Insurance, Commerce and Navigation and Re- vision. Mr. Hastings was renominated and re-elected in the fall of 1905, and served under Speaker Wadsworth on the committees on Revision, General Laws and Public Health. He was renominated and re-elected a third time in 1906, and at the time of his death was serving as chairman of the Re- vision Committee and a member of the Committees on General Laws and Banks. In a business way Mr. Hastings was connected with a contracting firm.
Besides his wife and daughter and his parents, Mr. Hastings is survived by his brother, T. James Hastings, and three sisters, Miss Harriet B. Hastings, Mrs. Charles B. Gilcrist of Newburgh, and Mrs. John A. Wilson of Brooklyn. It will be many a long day before his memory dims in the affec- tions of his friends, and as for his record, it is already writ in the annals of Orange County as one who had accomplished much and was destined to do much more had he been spared.
IO2
In Memoriam
L. S. STERRIT
L. S. Sterrit, son of Thomas and Jane Sterrit, was of Scotch-English extraction. His parents emigrated to this country shortly after their marriage and established a home beside the old Presbyterian Church at Coldenham, where the subject of this sketch was born February 17, 1852. His boyhood days were spent in the shadow of this church; he was baptized within its walls, and in his later years often referred to it as his cradle.
His general education was gained at the Newburgh Academy and the Collegiate In- stitute at Newton, N. J. He commenced his legal studies at Newburgh in the office of George H. Clark, leaving this office to enter that of Judge James W. Taylor, April 3, 1873. He was admitted to the bar at a gen- eral term of the Supreme Court held at Brooklyn in September, 1876. After his ad- mission to the bar, he continued to occupy the position of managing clerk for Judge Taylor, and upon the latter's death in 1883, succeeded to his practice. At the time of his death, which occurred April 4, 1907, he had occupied the same suite of offices in the Sav- ings Bank Building for a period of thirty- four consecutive years.
His practice was almost exclusively con- fined to equity and probate work, in which he was an acknowledged expert. He con- ducted some of the most important equity cases of recent years, and was employed in the settlement of many large estates. His practice of his profession was marked by untiring industry and strict integrity; and these won him the confidence while the charm of his personality won him the firm affection and regard of a large circle of clients and friends.
He was an eloquent speaker and a graceful writer, many of the articles which he published in the local press possessing literary merit of a high order. The productions of his pen related chiefly to local historical subjects, on which he was an acknowledged authority.
He was prominent in the Masonic fraternity, having united with it early in life. He was a Past Master of Hudson River Lodge, of which he was a member, and delivered the oration at the cele- bration of its twenty-fifth anniversary. For fifteen years he served as a trustee and secretary of the Glebe, and was a trustee of the Woodlawn Cemetery Association for the same length of time.
As a safe and trusted counsellor, he was ho ored by his fellow-practitioners at the bar; as a gen erous, public-spirited citizen, he was held in high regard by those among whom he lived; but as a noble-hearted friend, void of selfishness and without guile, he was loved by those who knew him best. This, in his life, served to bring him his most cherished reward; and, in his death, will prove his most enduring monument.
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In Memoriam
ROBERT ASHBY
The ancestors of Mr. Ashby came from Ashby, England, about 1720, and settled in Dutchess County, N. Y. His father, Anthony Ashby, movel to Orange County in 1823, and in 1827 married Eliza Millspaugh, whose forefathers came from Holland in 1724, and settled on a farm west of Walden. Although born at Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, his earliest years were spent on a small place near the Millspaugh homestead. When fourteen years of age he went to live with his uncle, D. W. Wilkin, who resided on a farm three miles further west. In 1885 he purchased the farm, and in 1888 he sold it to Jonathan Falconer, the present owner, after living there forty years.
The same year he married Editha S., daughter of the late Joseph G. Millspaugh of Walden, N. Y. Realizing that a milder climate was essential for health, they decided to make their future home in the west. Mr. Ashby has traveled through many of the states from the Hudson River to the Rocky Mountains, and said that for beauty of scenery and the intelligence of its people he had found no place superior to the Wallkill Valley, and second to it, the Miami Valley, which was his home from 1894 to June, 1900. The following August Mrs. Ashby was called to the "Better World," while visiting friends on the Hudson, and in November Mr. Ashby went to visit his sister in Western Florida. He enjoyed the mild climate and also the kindhearted Southern people, with many of whom he formed lasting friendship, and was useful and happy among them. On March 12, 1907, the sum- mons of the Master came quietly and peacefu'ly. His work on earth was done, to be resumed on the heavenly shore.
S. M. ASHBY.
104
In Memoriam
CAPTAIN LEWIS S. WISNER
Captain Lewis S. Wisner, a veteran of the Civil War, and one of Middletown's oldest and best known residents, passed away at his residence, 169 Wisner avenue, Saturday afternoon, October 8, 1906, at 4:30 o'clock, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.
He was born in Middletown, August 11, 1841. His grand- father, Henry Barnet Wisner, was born in Orange County in 1772, and died in 1846. For many years he was a justice of the peace and started the first store in Middletown. He owned the land which was later purchased by the father of our subject and which is now part of the estate of Captain Wisner. Major Henry Wisner, his great grandfather, served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War, and later was commissioned Major of Colonel Hathorn's Warwick and Florida Regiment.
The great-great-grandfather of Captain Wisner was Hon. Henry Wisner, born in the town of Goshen in 1720. He was a dele- gate to the First, Second and Third Continental Congresses, and voted for the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776, but did rot wait to sign the document, for the reason that he was sent home to manufacture powder, which was needed to enforce that measure. He was one of the four commissioners who laid out West Point, and also assisted in selecting the site of Fort Putnam. Over the grave was recorded the following: "Sacred to the memory of Henry Wisner, who de- parted this life, March 4, 1790, a devoted friend to the liberties of his country. On account of the extensive aid furnished his country he died in poverty."
The great-great-great-grandfather of our subject, Hendrick Wisner, was born in 1698, and died in 1767. He came with his father from Switzerland and in 1719 married Mary Shaw of New England. He was a lieutenant in the Swiss contingent of Queen Anne's army, and is said to have been the first settler in Orange County on the Wawayanda patent. Captain Wisner had deeds of every one of his ancestors, except Johannis, as far back as 1703 and signed by Queen Anne. Daniel C. Wisner, the father of Captain Wisner, was by occupation a farmer. He was an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church, now the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Middletown. In politics he was originally a Whig and afterwards a Republican. He married Sarah M. Weed, who was born in 1831 at Stamford, Conn. Mrs. Wisner who died in 1885, was a relative of Uzal Knapp, one of Washington's body guards.
Captain Wisner was educated in the public schools and finished his course in Wallkill Academy. Until August 6, 1862, he remained at home engaged in farming with his father, but at that time he enlisted in Company K, 124th Regiment ( Orange Blossoms), as a private. Soon after he was pro- moted to Second Sergeant, then First Sergeant and in May, 1863, was commissioned Second Lieu- tenant. February 23, 1864, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and July 14, 1867, was commissioned Captain of his company.
Returning home he purchased the old homestead, where he died. It has a beautiful location on Wisner avenue, which was laid out and improved at his expense.
Mr. Wisner was married June 21, 1865, in Middletown to Miss Adelaide Robertson. To Captain and Mrs. Wisner were born four children, Mary R., wife of C. L. Stonaker of New York City; George R., who is in Mexico; Henry Barnet, a clerk in the First National Bank, and Theresa Weed, at home.
Besides his wife and children Captain Wisner is survived by one brother, Henry B. Wisner, of Berea, O. Captain Wisner was a charter member of Captain William A. Jackson Post, No. 301, G. A. R., and was also a member of the New York Sons of the Revolution. In politics he was a true blue Republican, and religiously was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1895 Cap- tain Wisner received a medal of honor tendered him by the United States Congress for gallantry at Spottsylvania, Va .. May 12, 1864. The medal, which is star-shaped, bears this inscription: "The Con- gress to Captain Lewis S. Wisner, Company K, 124th Regiment, New York Volunteers, for gallantry at Spottsylvania, Va., May 12, 1864."
The medal was awarded to Captain Wisner because of his daring courage when in charge as bri- gade engineer officer, on the staff of General Hobart Ward. Captain Wisner and his men had orders to cut out the top of a long breastworks, near the "Bloody Angle," so the artillery of the Union army could answer the hot fire of the Confederates, which act seemed certain death. The men in the detail hesitated and Captain Wisner seized an axe, sprang on the rampart and personally cut out the breastworks. Captain Wisner was complimented on the field at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, for gallant and meritorious conduct by Colonel A. Van Horn Ellis, just as the latter rode to his death.
105
In Memoriam
LEWIS W. Y. McCROSKERY
Lewis W. Y. McCroskery, born at Newburgh, N. Y .. November 8, 1860, is the son of ex-Mayor John J. S. MeCroskery and Henrietta Young. His mother was a direct descendant of Colonel Lewis Dubois, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary War. He was educated in the public schools, and graduated from the Newburgh Free Academy in June, 1876. He studied law in the office of Cassedy & Brown ( Hon. A. S. Cassedy, ex-Mayor of Newburgh, and Charles F. Brown, late Chief Justice of the Appellate Court, Second Division). After his admission to the bar, May 12, 1882, he remained in the office of the late MIr. Cassedy for several years, when he started practice for himself, in which he has continued to the present time.
Mr. McCroskery was elected Recorder of the city of Newburgh and served from 1891 to 1895. In the fall of 1895 he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for District Attorney of Orange County, but was defeated by Hon. Michael H. Hirschberg, who is at present one of the Justices of the Supreme Court. Although defeated, he ran several hundred ahead of the Democratic ticket in the county. He was appointed Postmaster of the city of Newburgh by President Cleveland on January 30, 1896, and served as such until March, 1900. He served fourteen years in the National Guard as a private and officer. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant of the Tenth Separate Company, on November 9, 1801, First Lieutenant on March 21, 1892, and Captain on December 12. 1893. After serving about one year as Captain, he resigned and was honorably discharged. At the time of the Spanish-American War he was again commissioned Captain and ordered to take charge of the One Hundred Fifth Separate Company, N. G., which company was mustered out on the return of the Fifth Separate Company.
He was for one year Master of Hudson River Lodge, No. 607. F. and A. M., is a member of Highland Chapter, No. 52, R. A. M., Hudson River Commandery, No. 35. K. T., and also of Lawson Hose Veteran Association and the Newburgh City Club.
Lewis W. Y. McCroskery died February 25, 1907. Interment at Cedar Hill Cemetery.
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In Memoriam
JAMES MITCHELL
James Mitchell was born in Wigtownshire, Scotland, in 1846, and came to Newburgh with his parents in 1857.
He attended the public schools and graduated from the Free Academy.
Entering the service of the Quassaick Bank in 1865 he remained there as clerk, bookkeeper and paying teller until stricken with his fatal illness, a continuous connection of over forty years of faith- ful, reliable service.
It is a remarkable fact that his was the first death since the organization of the Bank of any of its employes.
Necessarily from his position in the business world, Mr. Mitchell had a large circle of friends and acquaintances; but when released from business cares and responsibilities, his spare time was spent with his family and intimate friends, or in pursuing his favorite studies.
He took a deep interest in geology and mathematics, and found much pleasure in studying these branches of science.
His life was as an open book. Strict rectitude of conduct and absolute probity of character were his, and to those who knew him best his name was a synonym for honesty, fidelity and clean living.
Mr. Mitchell died August 29, 1906, and he is survived by his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Jennie Galt, and one daughter, Ethelyn G .; also one sister, Miss Jennie Mitchell.
107
In Memoriam
LEANDER CLARK, JR.
Leander Clark, Jr., is a descendant from one of the Pilgrim Fathers. The records of the family are found in the early histories of Connecticut and Mas- sachusetts, which especially show their loyalty to their adopted country. Lieu- tenant William Clark, from whom Leander, Jr., is descended, emigrated to New England. March 30, 1630, in the ship Mary and John. He had nine children one of whom was Deacon John Clark who had twelve children, one of whom was Deacon John Clark, Jr., who had twelve children, one of whom was Eliakim Clark, who had eleven children, Ashahel being one of the number. Ashahel Clark married Submit Clapp, daughter of Major Jonathan Clapp; they had twelve children, one of whom was Lucas Clark, who married Phila Avery, daughter of Abner Avery, a soldier of the Revolution. They had seven children, one of whom was Edson H. Clark, father of our subject. Leander Clark, Jr., though of New England ancestry, was born at Beattiesburgh, Sullivan County, N. Y. While a babe his parents moved to Newburgh, which place has been his home the greater part of his life. He was educated principally in private schools, graduating from the New- burgh Academy in 1853. At his father's foundry he became a master mechanic. At twenty-two years of age he abandoned what he thought would be his vocation for life, and became corres- ponding secretary and bookkeeper for Dr. C. W. Grant, an eminent horticulturalist at Iona Island, remaining there until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he received an appointment as pay- master's steward on board U. S. gunboat Somerset. In 1863 he was promoted to paymaster's clerk, which position he held when honorably discharged from the service in August, 1864. He was super- intendent of the Newburgh Water Works from 1866 to 1869, when he resigned to engage in brick- making. In 1888 he retired from business, but in 1898 he again entered into active business life with his son in plumbing and steam heating.
Ile was a leading director of the Orange County Agricultural Society for fifteen years, a signer of its certificate of incorporation and reorganization in 1884, and the genial and efficient general superintendent of its annual fairs for eleven years. He is a well-known horticulturist, has been a director of the Quassaick National Bank for many years, and is a trustee of Trinity M. E. Church. He died September 19, 1906. Interment at Cedar Ilill cemetery.
108
In Memoriam
WILLIAM JAMES EMBLER
William James Embler was born at Kaisertown on September 24, 1824. He was the son of William Embler, whose father, Andrew, came from Holland. His mother's name was Elizabeth Rockefeller, of Holland descent. His grandmother was Mary Tiers, born on the Rhine.
In his younger days he attended school at Goodwill, and, in early manhood moved to the saw- mill at Little Britain. After hard labor he was rewarded by prosperity, and, on November 26, 1851. married Frances M. Howell, who was the daughter of Charles and Sophia Howell, and who lived in the historic stone building on the turnpike, one mile east of the well-known B. K. Johnston property. From thence he came to Walden and entered the millinery business, which he continued until four years ago, when he retired from active life and spent his remaining days in peace and quietude at his home on Ulster avenue.
He is survived by one son, Charles W., who purchased the Dickson farm and now resides there, and one daughter, Estelle, who married Thomas R. Moore and lives in the beautiful home her father loved so well. But two grandchildren are left to remember him, Marjorie Moore and Charles Howse Embler.
Mr. Embler was one of the founders of the Wallkill Valley Cemetery Association, and among the first to rear upon one of its sightly elevations a beautiful monumental memorial, around which sleep in quiet rest members of his family.
During a long and active life he was always ready to lend a helping hand to the worthy poor and foster any project that would contribute to the advancement of public interest; a lifelong support of the Reformed Church, a man who loved his home and family and in the evening of life at an advanced age, after life's turmoil, quietly fell asleep. He died February 27, 1907. Interment in Wallkill Valley cemetery at Wallkill, N. Y.
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In Memoriam
REV. WILLIAM K. HALL, D.D.
Dr. Hall was born in Boston, Mass., November 4, 1836. He was fitted for college at the Boston Public Latin School and was graduated from Yale in the Class of '59. He then pursued his theological studies in New Haven and Germany. In October, 1862, he was or- dained Chaplain of the 17th Connecticut Volunteers. His first pastorate was the First Congregational Church of Strat- ford, Conn., into which he was installed in October, 1866. In February, 1873, he accepted the call of the First Presby- terian Church of Newburgh, and was installed the following May. In 1898 the ceremonies of the twenty-fifth anni- versary of his pastorate in Newburgh were celebrated at the church-partici- pated in by nearly all of the Newburgh pastors, together with many from other cities. The ceremonies lasted for three days. Undoubtedly Dr. Hall's life-work will be rounded out in his second pas- torate, as his congregation, among whom he has labored so faithfully, bap- tizing, marrying and burying their dead, would hardly listen to a proposition for a change.
Dr. Hall has been honored throughout his residence in Newburgh, in many ways, by his Synod and the Government of the Nation, State and Municipality. He is as popular in the community as he is with his congregation, and is ever foremost in the promotion of the best good of the city in which he lives.
The following is an extract from a notice of Dr. Hall in the Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church of the United States: "His sermons show marks of careful preparation, literary finish, rhetorical power and logical sequence of thought, and never lack the directness, earnestness and simplicity which distinguish his ordinary address. His manner in the pulpit is impressive. He com- bines breadth of sympathy with decision of character and thought. He is a man of public spirit, ready and efficient in the support of every public good."
Dr. Hall married Anna B. Bond of Boston, and they have living two daughters and one son, Mrs. William R. Galt, Mrs. Fred Bartlett, and Walter, who is yet in school.
Rev. William K. Hall, D.D., died September 17, 1906.
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PIMPLES-BOILS
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