USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 67
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
NICKINSON, ALBERT E .- Albert E. Nickinson, the present treasurer and gen- eral business manager of the Middletown Argus and Mercury, was born in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, July 8, 1863. He was a son of John Nickinson and Elizabeth J. Phil-
724
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
lips. Albert E. was educated in the public schools of Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Suffern, N. Y. He entered the employ of the Argus and Mercury in 1888, re- mained until 1901, and returned to the office upon its reorganization as a new com- pany in 1906. Mr. Nickinson is a good business man, and when necessary can wield a descriptive pen. On November 28, 1889, Mr. Nickinson and Miss Penelope Mac- ardell were married.
SPEIDEL, MERRITT C .- The present efficient associate business manager of the Port Jervis Daily Union, Tri-States Union and New York Farmer is Merritt C. Speidel. He was born May 19, 1879, in Port Jervis, son of Martin and Hannah M. Patterson Speidel, members of well-known Deerpark families. During his stu- dent days he frequently wrote for the local newspapers, and on October 25, 1897, he became employed in the business department of the Tri-States Publishing Com- pany, and several months later became reporter for the Port Jervis Daily Union, and then successively city editor, associate editor, and editor. January 1, 1904, he became associate business manager of the Tri-States Publishing Co., and in Janu- ary, 1908, became secretary and a director of the company. Mr. Speidel, though a young man, has been much identified with local public affairs and is now serving his seventh year as secretary of the Port Jervis Board of Trade; is one of the Health Commissioners; is president of the Deerpark organization of the Chau- tauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
POWERS, HENRY P .- Henry P. Powers, city editor and desk man of the Mid- dletown Daily Argus and semi-weekly Mercury, was born at Groton, Tompkins County, N. Y., June 30, 1857, a son of Jacob B. Powers and Nancy G. Bouton. He early developed a love for the printing trade and entered the office of the Groton Journal, when a lad, as apprentice, serving there seven years, and about eighteen years ago he came into Orange County and located at Middletown. For a year and a half he was employed as city editor of the Middletown Daily Press. In January, 1903, he became reporter for and then city editor of the Daily Argus. Mr. Powers is a thoroughly good newspaper man ; active, reliable, a ready writer, of goo:l dis- crimination, and he is a valuable addition to Orange County journalism. Mr. Pow- ers was twice married. His first wife died at Groton twenty-two years ago. His second wife was Miss Minnie L. Hill, daughter of John W. Hill, of Middletown.
GREGG, GEORGE F .- In January, 1903, George F. Gregg, in company with John B. Scott, became part owner of the Goshen Democrat, and September 1. 1905, he became sole owner of the same. To say that he has made the Democrat a bright, newsy, weekly paper is to express the fact mildly but justly. He is a vigorous writer, with a fervor and animation that is born of the intensity of earnestness and zeal, and he is surely making the Democrat read by friends and political foes. In 1906 Mr. Gregg was elected supervisor of the town of Goshen, and again in 1907, and brings to this public office the same earnestness, push and capacity that characterizes his work as an editor. Mr. Gregg is yet a young man, and he is in a fair way to be one of the leaders of thought and action in Orange County. George
725
JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
F. Gregg was born at Walden, N. Y., April 30, 1875. His parents were Edgar M. Gregg. of Walden, and Rose L. Faron, of Corning, N. Y. His education was at the public schools. He passed several years in Chenango County, this State. For a short time he was connected with the advertising department of the New York Times. He was also in the Ordnance Department of the United States Navy, in the naval magazine at Fort Lafayette. Mr. Gregg seemed to have an "intuitive leaning" to journalistic work, for in addition to his service on the New York Times, we find he was fifteen years in newspaper work, several of which were in the office of the "now esteemed contemporary," the Independent Republican. For two years he was city editor of the Middletown Argus, immediately prior to pur- chasing an interest in the Goshen Democrat. The good work he is doing in the columns of that old paper, and the esteem in which he is held by the people of Goshen, as shown by his being twice chosen as supervisor of the town, is evidence that he has found his life's work and its field. Mr. Gregg and Miss Jane .A. Brun- dage, of Newark, N. J., were married July 11, 1900.
TAFT, LYMAN H .- One of the most thoroughly independent editors in the county is Lyman H. Taft, of the Montgomery Standard-Reporter, who was born December 5, 1865, at Oncida Valley, Madison County, N. Y. His father was Thomas J. Taft, and his mother was Jane Baum, whose father, Rev. John Baum, was a Methodist minister at Mendenville, N. Y. The parents went to the Penn- sylvania oil country, when Lyman was but three months old, and settled at Warren, Pa. He attended the Warren high school, leaving the same to enter the office of the Warren Ledger ( 1877), where he served an apprenticeship of three years, and then traveled over the country, working as a journeyman printer, and visited forty States of the Union. September 1, 1888, he arrived at Montgomery, purchased the Recorder and in 1898 the Standard, and consolidated the two papers under the title of the Standard and Reporter.
MACGOWAN, HORACE A .- Horace A. MacGowan, city editor of the Middle- town Daily Argus, was born January 7, 1877, near Circleville, this county, a son of John Nelson and Julia Woodruff MacGowan, and of Scotch ancestry. His parents removed to Middletown when Horace was but four years of age, and he attended the schools until thirteen years of age, when ( July, 1891) he entered the employ of the Middletown Daily Press, where he remained fifteen years. When the Press was merged with the Times, Mr. MacGowan, February 1, 1906, became city editor of the Middletown Daily Argus, which position he still holds. Mr. MacGowan has time and again proven his capability as a good writer and newspaper man by work of recognized merit. April 23, 1903, he married Miss Elizabeth Tappan, daughter of Mrs. Catherine Tappan, of Middletown.
MACARDELL, CORNELIUS, JR .- Cornelius Macardell was educated in the public schools of Middletown, and entered the office of the . Irgus in 1891, becom- ing publisher of the Argus and Mercury in 1896, and continuing in that capacity
726
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
until the formation of the corporation in March, 1906. He is president of the Argus and Mercury Company.
RICHARDS, MARK V .- The city editor of the Port Jervis Gasette since 1905 is Mark V. Richards, an industrious, alert reporter, a descriptive writer, and a con- scientious, painstaking worker. Mr. Richards was born in Port Jervis, February 24, 1880, the son of David S. and Martha Isadore Bunting Richards. Mark V. Richards graduated from the Port Jervis High School, June 24, 1898. He began newspaper work, January 2, 1897, as a paper carrier for the Gasette. In the year and a half thus employed he was constantly picking up bits of news for the Gazette, often writing them out in such readable form that he attracted the attention of Editors Nearpass and Bennet, with the result that at the first opportunity he was engaged as reporter for the Gasette. This work he began in September, 1898, and continued until 1905, when he became city editor. July 7, 1903, he married Miss Bertha E. Lobb, of Honesdale, Pa.
SHIMER, EVI .- The present business manager of the Port Jervis Gazette 1S Evi Shimer. He has held that position since April 1, 1886. Mr. Shimer was born December 8, 1860, on the old Shimer homestead in Montague, Sussex County, N. J. His parents were Abram and Adaline Cuddeback Shimer. When Evi was about seven years of age, the family moved to Port Jervis, where he attended the public schools. Later he graduated from the Binghamton Business College. After that he was ten years in the wholesale hardware business in New York City. April I, 1886, he returned to Port Jervis and became business manager of the Gazette estab- lishment, which position he still holds. Mr. Shimer was for four years one of the trustees of the village of Port Jervis. In November, 1888, Mr. Shimer and Miss Susan A. Donaldson were married.
BROWN, MELVIN H .- The present city editor of the Middletown Times-Press is Melvin Halstead Brown, an alert worker and ready writer. He was born at Otisville, N. Y., December 25, 1867, a son or Orville and Emeline Ketcham Brown. Melvin H. attended the public schools at Paterson, N. J., and later in Middletown and the Wallkill Academy. He learned the printer's trade in the Argus office, be- ginning at the age of fifteen years. When the Middletown Times was started he became a compositor thereon, later foreman of the composing room, and twelve years ago became a reporter, which position, and that of city editor, he has since filled. His wife was Miss Anaina, daughter of Alderman and Mrs. George Miller.
RUSSELL, ALEXANDER W .- One of the ablest editorial writers on the coun- try press of to-day is the young man who is on the staff of the Middletown Times- Press, Alexander W. Russell. He is alert to events of local as well as of State, national and international importance, and treats them in a most able manner, in language that is choice, pleasing and expressive. Mr. Russell was born at New Berlin, Chenango County, N. Y., April 14, 1865. His parents were Edward and Elinor Tillinghast Russell. He learned the trade of a printer in the office of the
727
JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
Brookfield Courier, at Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y. Later, he attended IIo- bart College at Geneva, N. Y., leaving there in 1886, to become city editor of the Oneida Union, Oneida, N. Y., which position he filled for ten years, at the end of which time he became city editor of the Brockton, Mass., Gasette, where he re- mained two years. Soon after this he came to Middletown, N. Y., where he has since remained, and has been on the Times-Press editorial staff since 1906.
MACARDELL, ABRAM B .- Abram Bennet Macardell, the editor of the Argus und Mercury, and vice-president and secretary of the Argus and Mercury Pub- lishing Company, was born at Mount Hope, this county, a son of Cornelius and Esther Crawford Macardell. In January, 1886, the family removed to Middletown, and he was educated in the public schools there and graduated from Wallkill Acad- emy in 1897, a member of the last class to graduate from that time-honored and historic institution, which, after that year, became the Middletown High School. He entered Hamilton College and graduated in 1901. In November, 1902, he en- tered the Argus office and succeeded George H. Thompson as editor at his death in May, 1904. He was active in the formation of the Argus and Mercury Com- pany in March, 1906. Mr. Macardell is an easy, graceful writer, and, while "young in the harness," is doing good editorial work.
STAGE, ALBERT L .- The present city editor of the Port Jervis Daily Union is Albert Louis Stage. He was born in the town of Lumberland, Sullivan, County, .N. Y., June 8, 1876. His parents were Albert and Caroline Cowen Stage. He at- tended the public schools at Barryville, N. Y., and Equinunk, Pa., qualified himself for teaching, and for several years was thus engaged in the public schools at Blooming Grove, Greeley, Mast Hope, and Flagstone, Pa. Later, for a time, he was a salesman for Rand, McNally & Co., educational and book publishers, of New York City. During 1904 he was employed in the wholesale house of E. P. & E. Kinney, spices, coffees, teas and groceries, in Binghamton, N. Y. In March, 1905, he became city editor of the Port Jervis Union, which position he has since most acceptably filled.
STIVERS, DR. MOSES A .- Moses Asby Stivers was born in Middletown, No- vember 14, 1872, the youngest son of the Hon. Moses D. and Mary Elizabeth Stew- art Stivers. He graduated in the Middletown schools, and became bookkeeper in the Middletown Times when it was first started. Later he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1804. Dr. Stivers is a practicing physician in Middletown, is connected with Thrall Hospital, and is now secretary and treasurer of the Stivers Printing Company, of which his brother, John D. Stivers, is president, printing the Daily Times-Press. He is a young man of supe- rior mental qualities and ever amiable and courteous.
CALLED ELSEWHERE.
Among the newspaper men, aside from those already mentioned, who have come and gone-some to their final reward, others to new or differ-
728
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
ent fields of labor-who were more or less important actors on this stage of life's industry, were some who were peculiarly adapted to jour- nalistic work and had rendered highly satisfactory service in their day. Among such were :
HOLBROOK, DANIEL .- Daniel Holbrook, who, in 1862, bought the Tri-States Union in Port Jervis-a college graduate, a linguist, scholar, and able writer, a native of Boston. After less than a decade of newspaper work, he sold the plant, and has since been engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Port Jervis, and is now justice of the peace and police justice in the city of Port Jervis.
SLAWSON, WILLIAM G .- William G. Slawson was, in the '70's, one of the liveliest reporters that ever labored in Middletown, and he kept the columns of the Press teeming with his clever work. He has been for several years in other work, lately at Cleveland, Ohio.
SHIER, JAMES J .- James J. Shier, a graduate of the Middletown Mercury and Argus, was city editor there some time, and in the '80's went to Port Jervis and secured an interest in the Gazette, where he remained until he died, June 2, 1893.
HELLER, BURRELL .- An old Milford and Port Jervis printer and a good writer and reporter was Burrell Heller, who died late in the '80's. He was em- ployed in various capacities on the Port Jervis papers, latterly as reporter on the Port Jervis Gasette.
YOUNG, CHARLES O .- Charles O. Young, of Port Jervis, admitted to the bar as a lawyer in the '80's, son of the late Oliver Young (a prominent lawyer of Port Jervis), edited the Port Jervis Daily Union several years. He is a most accom- plished writer, highly educated, a scholar, a linguist, and a man of high literary tastes. He prefers literature to law, and the Port Jervis papers are occasionally favored with emanations from his gifted pen.
WILLIS, EVANDER B .- Evander B. Willis appeared in Middletown early in the '60's, and learned the printer's trade, later becoming an expert stenographer. then reporter and editor, and for a time conducted the Middletown Mail. He was born at Unionville. Early in the '70's he went to California and became court stenographer.
BENNET, JAMES .- One of the men who figured prominently in the western end of orange County newspaper circles for about a quarter of a century was James Bennet, of Port Jervis. He was a good newspaper man and had a knack for seeing the droll side of events and for putting the same into print, and some of his "yarns" were extremely witty. Mr. Bennet is the youngest son of James and Sarah Westfall Bennet, and he was born at Carpenter's Point (now Tri-States, and a part of the Fourth Ward of the city of Port Jervis). James Bennet gradu- ated at the famous old Mount Retirement Seminary in Sussex County, N. J., near
7 29
JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
Deckertown (now Sussex), in 1863. He studied medicine two years, and aban- doned the same to go into the flour and feed business in Port Jervis. In 1886 he accepted a position in the business and editorial department of the Port Jervis Gazette, and became associate editor. In 1889 he went with the Union, remaining there fifteen months, and then returned to his former position with the Gazette, where he remained until 1906, when he resigned to go into the insurance business- the retreat of so many old newspaper men. His wife was Alice Stiles, daughter of the late Edward A. Stiles, for so many useful years the principal and proprietor of the Mount Retirement Seminary.
BARRET, LEON .- One of the brightest cartoonists of the metropolis, Leon Barret, began his work in Orange County, having come to Middletown in the '70's, where he conducted a book and stationery store at the corner of James and King streets. He soon developed a talent for drawing that attracted the notice of news paper men, and Messrs. Macardell and Thompson found a place for him on the Argus and Mercury, and eventually took him into partnership. His artistic ability so rapidly improved, however, as to receive recognition from the New York press, and severing his connection with the Argus he went to the metropolis, where a wider field was afforded for the exercise of his remarkable talents, and where he has won fame and standing.
WHEAT, WALLACE B .- Wallace B. Wheat, for the past twenty-five or thirty years, has been connected with the Port Jervis Gasette as typesetter and reporter, and for many years has been the local representative of the New York Wl'orld.
BENNET, JAMES EDWARD .- James Edward Bennet was the son of James Bennet, and for four years was a reporter for and city editor of the Port Jervis Gazette, and is now a practicing lawyer in New York City.
PINE, COL. CHARLES N .- Col. Charles N. Pine was an old Philadelphia jour- nalist who, in the '90's, passed his last years on the Port Jervis Gasette, going there from Milford. He was brainy and brilliant. He died in Port Jervis, October 26, 1804.
BAILEY, WILLIAM F .- William F. Bailey through the 'go's was one of the most alert reporters that Middletown ever had. He was a graduate of the Press office, and his work was always in the lead. He is now in the insurance business in New York City.
GIBBS, WHITFIELD .- Whitfield Gibbs was, for a short time, in Orange County journalism, having been the owner of the Wl'alden Citizen late in the '90's. Mr. Gibbs now resides at Hackettstown, N. J. He is an able writer, and a good newspaper man.
CRANE, STEPHEN .- Stephen Crane, the gifted author of "The Red Badge of Courage" and other tales, and magazine and newspaper articles, began his literary career in Port Jervis, and did reporting a short time on the Daily Union. His
730
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
father was a resident of that city, pastor of Drew M. E. Church, and died in that city.
COREY, HORACE W .- Though connected with journalism only briefly and through his interest in the Middletown Sunday Forum (1897-99), Horace W. Corey gave evidence of unique ability in that work which, pursued, would have brought reward and fame. "His "sermons" and other satires were features that "pointed morals" where much needed.
PENDELL, THOMAS .- Thomas Pendell came into Orange County through Cornwall (1889) and to Middletown in 1898-99 on the Forum; later on the Argus, and again on the Forum, which he removed to Massena, N. Y. He is a ready writer, a rapid worker, a practical printer, and one of the best all-round newspaper men that have ever tarried in Orange County. He is now publishing a paper at Peekskill.
BLANCHARD, FRANK L .- Frank L. Blanchard, of New York, was connected with the Middletown Forum from December, 1907, to March or April, 1908. He is a good writer.
IN THE HARNESS.
Connected with the newspapers at the present time one finds an array of rising talent, the fourth generation of workers since journalism gained a foothold in Orange County.
WILSON, FREDERICK WILLIAM .- In Newburgh the Newburgh Daily News has as editor Frederick William Wilson. To the energy and ability of Frederick W. Wilson, editor of the Newburgh Daily News and president and treasurer of the Newburgh News Printing and Publishing Co., is due in great measure the suc- cess that newspaper has achieved as a business proposition, and also its recognized standing among the leading newspapers of the State.
Mr. Wilson's connection with the News dates almost from its inception, when as a lad in his teens he entered the business office of the paper in its second year of publication as bookkeeper. The founder of the News, the late William H. Keefe, was not slow to recognize the aptitude of the young man for the business, and in his twentieth year he practically had the entire business management of the then very modest News establishment in his hands, Mr. Keefe confining himself princi- pally to the editorial conduct of the young and rapidly growing paper.
Mr. Wilson was born October 8, 1869, near Brighton, the renowned watering- place in the south of England. His father, Henry Wilson, was a surgeon in the Britsh navy and saw service in the Crimean War. He died when the subject of this biography was but ten years old. After his death his widow, Sarah Jane Cleaver, daughter of a prominent woolen goods manufacturer and former mayor of North- ampton, came to Newburgh, where an older son, Dr. Henry Wilson, was established
731
JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
in the practice of medicine. Other relatives lived in New York and the New Eng- land States. She died here in 1894, leaving, besides the two sons mentioned, two daughters, Kathryn and Maude, both of whom are married and live in New York City.
Young Wilson evinced an early aptitude for literary work, and having completed his education, frequently contributed to the New's, which about that time was started by its founder.
In 1896 a company was organized to conduct the Newes. Mr. Wilson was one of the incorporators and directors, and at the meeting of the board of directors was chosen secretary and treasurer. Mr. Keefe was elected president. On the latter's death, in 1901, Mr. Wilson succeeded to the presidency of the company. He imme- diately set on foot plans for the enlargement of the paper and the betterment of its mechanical equipment. One of these was the introduction of typesetting ma- chines. Next the large double brick building, Nos. 40 and 42 Grand street, was pur- chased and remodeled into an up-to-date newspaper and printing plant at an outlay for alterations alone exceeding $15,000. A perfecting press (the first in the city) was installed therein, and the building was equipped with every known contrivance to facilitate the work of production of a modern newspaper. The plant and equip- ment to-day represent an investment of over $100,000, and the home of the News is regarded as one of the most complete and handsome newspaper establishments in the State. Simultaneously with the removal of the New's to its new home (in the spring of 1902), Mr. Wilson changed the appearance of the paper by discard- ing the old-fashioned nine-column "blanket" shect for the modern seven-column folio form-an innovation at that time for small city dailies, but now generally in vogue. The history of the paper under his direction has been one of evolution, progress and marked success.
Besides being a fluent and forceful writer, Mr. Wilson possesses rare business tact and executive ability-a combination seldom found in newspaper men.
He is a moving spirit in all that makes for the welfare and growth of Newburgh and is an earnest advocate both through his paper and orally, of progress and en- terprise in municipal matters. He is actively identified with the work of the Busi- ness Men's Association for a "greater Newburgh," and is the chairman of the committee which has in hand the arrangements for Newburgh's part in the cele- bration of the tercentenary of the discovery of the Hudson River and the centen- nial of the navigation of its waters by Robert Fulton's Clermont, to be held in September, 1909.
Mr. Wilson early displayed a liking for politics, his first inclination in that direc- tion finding vent in the organization of a juvenile "Tippecanoe Club," which par- ticipated in the local parades of the Harrison campaign of 1888. Later he took part in the organization of a club of young voters known as the Union League Club. The one hundred and fifty members unanimously elected him president.
He has always been an admirer and earnest supporter of former Governor Odell. He was a delegate to the State convention at Saratoga in 1900, when Mr. Odell was first nominated for the governorship, and again in 1902, when he was renominated.
732
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
He was also a delegate to the convention of 1904, which nominated Higgins, and to that of 1906, when Governor Hughes was nominated. He has himself never de- sired or held public office, but has been a factor in putting many of his friends in elective and appointive positions of trust.
Mr. Wilson enlisted in the Tenth Separate Company at the age of eighteen and served six years. He volunteered to return to the ranks at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and was offered a commission, but the company was not ordered to the front.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.