USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 74
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Business cares affected his health and he came to Unionville and settled on the farm where his father was born. There he made his home and supervised the farm for twenty years. He then opened a wholesale and retail feed store in Unionville, and here organized a silk manufacturing establishment, giving employment to fifty hands. The plant was destroyed by fire in 1894. Mr. Brown now devotes his time principally to his real estate holdings in Unionville and Middletown. He is one of the directors of the Sussex Bank and has served as supervisor of the town.
Mr. Brown was twice married, his first wife being Miss Sarah E. Lewis. His second wife was Miss Caroline M. Lain, and they became the parents of twelve children, of whom five are living.
EDWARD ALLEN BROWN, proprietor of the Brown Hotel at Middletown, is a native of Orange County, having been born in the town of Greenville on De- cember 7, 1840. His residence in Middletown dates from 1888, when he purchased the Russell House and conducted it under that name until the spring of 1908, when the new brick building, erected on the site of the old structure, was completed. This hotel now known as the "Brown," is one of the largest and best equipped hostelries in eastern New York, and has a large patronage. Mr. Brown has owned and conducted hotels in New York City, New Orleans, La., Logansport, Ind., and Port Jervis, N. Y. For two years he held the office of under sheriff of Orange County ; was sergeant-at-arms in the Assembly during a part of the Tilden administration; was assistant journal clerk the first year of Cleveland's
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administration, and was purchasing agent for the New York State Prison under Warden W. R. Brown.
R. T. BROWN, senior member of the firm of Brown & Whitten, merchants at Pine Bush, N. Y., is a native of New York City. The firm continued the business established by Taylor & Howell. Mr. Brown was associated for two years with Mr. Howell under the firm name of Howell & Brown. Mr. Brown then conducted the business alone five years, and in 1907 the present partnership was formed.
Socially Mr. Brown is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He married Miss Elizabeth Decker and they are the parents of three children.
U. GRANT BROWN is of Welsh descent, his ancestors coming from Wales to America in 1650, settled on Long Island at a place then called Oyster Bonds and now Glen Port. He was born July 28, 1863, at Burnside, Orange County, and farm- ing has always been his occupation. His education was obtained at the district school of Burnside. His parents were Daniel T. and Lucretia Brown. Of their five children only two are living, U. Grant and Linus W. The latter resides in New Orleans, La. U. Grant was married to Anna Sinsabaugh, of Cornwall, N. Y., March 27, 1889, and three children have been born to them-Edna, Josephine and Helen.
WILLIAM WISNER BUCKBEE has the distinction of having been born at Wisner, Orange County, in the old stone house, which has been in the family one hundred and forty years. The date of his birth was July 12, 1861. Ile was edu- cated in the district school, began active life as a farmer, and remained a farmer until his death, November 19, 1886. He also dealt in coal and feed at Wisner. He was postmaster there twenty years, was treasurer of Locust Hill Cemetery, and being a popular republican and good citizen, held several town offices at various times. He was a grandson of Captain John Wisner. He was married to H. Eliza- beth Wisner, October 7, 1885, and their seven children are all living-Emma, Al- bert, Anna Buckbee, William, Francis, Henry and Louise.
AUSTIN C. BULL, who was born in the Governor Clinton homestead in the town of New Windsor in 1855, has always made his home at this historic spot, superintending his farm of three hundred and nine acres. He is a descendant of an old and honored Orange County family. William Bull, the first of that name in this county, was born at Wolverhampton, England, in 1689. He came to America in 1715 and a year later married Sarah Wells, of Goshen, which was the first mar- riage ceremony performed in the old town of Goshen. He died in 1755 and she died in 1796, aged one hundred and two years. In 1868 an appropriate monument was erected over the remains of the venerable couple near Hamptonburgh Church by their descendants. The father of Austin C. was John Springstead Bull, a son of Isaac and grandson of John Bull, a native of Hamptonburgh. J. S. Bull was born in the town of Monroe in 1809. When a boy he entered the employ of David HI.
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Moffat, a merchant of Washingtonville, and in 1832 purchased the business. He married the daughter of Samuel and Bethiah (Reeder) Moffat, of the town of Blooming Grove. He purchased the Clinton property in 1840 and the couple re- sided there until their death, the former in 1876 and the latter in 1889. Mr. Austin C. Bull is a member of Blooming Grove Congregational Church and is identified with Washingtonville Grange.
CHARLES R. BULL, a prominent citizen of Orange County, residing near Ox- ford Depot, is a descendant in the fifth generation of William Bull and Sarah Wells, the pioneers who settled in this county in the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury, to whom frequent reference is made in this history.
Charles R. was born at the Blooming Grove homestead in 1838 and is a son of Jesse and Caroline (Board) Bull. After completing his studies at Chester Acad- emy he attended a private school at Bloomfield, N. J., for three years. He then engaged in the management of his farms, which comprise four hundred and forty- eight acres. In public life Mr. Bull has served as supervisor four years. He was appointed by Governor Odell, during his second term, loan commissioner of Orange County and is the present incumbent of that office.
Mr. Bull is a director of the Chester National Bank, of which his father was one of the incorporators. He is also a director of the Columbus Trust Company, New- burgh, and vice-president of the Orange and Rockland Electric Company of Monroe.
Mr. Bull married Harriet, daughter of Jesse Roe, of Chester, and they are the parents of one son and two daughters: Jesse, who resides at home; Caroline, now the wife of Clarence S. Knight; Mary, the wife of S. B. Patterson.
EBENEZER BULL was born March 3, 1846, in the old stone house at Hampton- burgh, Orange County, erected in 1722, which is still standing. Mr. Bull is the fifth direct descendant who has resided in this house. After his schooling he re- turned home and assisted in farm work and has always been identified with farm- ing. He married Anna, daughter of Byard Walling, of Middletown, N. Y., Octo- ber 17, 1894. Mr. Bull's parents were Ebenezer and Jane Bull. There were thir- teen children born by this union. He is a member of Hamptonburgh Grange No. 950 and largely identified in the dairy business. Tradition says the barn on Mr. Bull's farm is older than the stone house, but the date of erection cannot be verified. Purgatory swamp, near the Bull stone house, derived its name from a messenger of the revolutionary period, who was sent from the army of New Jersey with papers to Washington's headquarters at Newburgh. He had instructions to stop over night at this historic stone house of William Bull, became confused and stopped at William Bull's son's house opposite the swamp. In getting through at night he made the remark "out of Purgatory," and it has always maintained this name.
HARRY BULL .- The parents of Harry Bull were William and Phoebe Bull, of Stony Ford, Orange County, and here he was born on the old Bull homestead, May
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25, 1872. There were eight children, five of whom are living. He attended the dis- trict school at Franklin Square and Friends Academy at Locust Valley, and then took a three months' course in the Agricultural College at Cornell University, Ithaca, as a preparation for the farming to which he has always devoted himself. He is a republican, and has been justice of the peace for the past eight years. He is a member of Hamptonburgh Grange No. 950, of which he was one of the organ- izers, and of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Bull married Miss Lucille Pierson, of Hamptonburgh, daughter of W. H. and Elizabeth Pierson. They have two children, Keturah, aged seven, and Henry, aged six.
IRVING CRAWFORD BULL was born in Middletown, Orange County, N. Y., January 24, 1879. Father's name was Albert Bull and mother's name was Ella B. Crawford. Father was druggist for thirty years. Graduated from Middletown High School in 1898 and was president of his class. Graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, in 1901, receiving the degree of bachelor of philosophy. Graduated from Columbia University Post-Graduate, in 1902, receiving the degree of master of arts. Dividing the years of 1902-1903 was assistant to Pro- fessor Henry M. Howe, professor of metallurgy, Columbia University, assisting in the experimental works in connection with publications by Professor Howe, also giving frequent lectures at the University. In October, 1903, he formed a partner- ship with Alfred E. Roberts, of Hartford, Conn., under the firm name of Bull & Roberts, analytical and consulting chemists and metallurgists, with offices and labo- ratories at 100 Maiden Lane, New York City; also branch offices and laboratories at Middletown, N. Y. They are the consulting chemists and metallurgists for many transportation companies centering in New York, also for large contracting companies. He is also a member of the Yale Club, New York City ; honorary mem- ber of the Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company, Middletown, N. Y .; member of the Society of Chemical Industry, American Chemical Society, American Leather Chemists' Association, America's Institute of Mining Engineers. He has been chemist to the board of water commissioners, Middletown, N. Y., for five years; he is also a Son of the Revolution, and a member of the University Club, Middle- town, N. Y.
On April 20, 1904, he married Mabel Dorothy Horton, youngest daughter of the late James Horton, Middletown, N. Y., former president of the United States Leather Company. On July 7, 1905, a son was born, whose name is Irving Horton Bull.
RICHARD BULL, son of Daniel Harlow Bull and Mary Ann Board, was born in the homestead at Campbell Hall, the house being built previous to 1800; no record can be found of anyone having occupied it but the Bull family. Mr. Bull's late school education was at Farmer's Hall and Montgomery Academy, two years .in each. He has always been identified with farming and is a member of Hamp- tonburgh Grange No. 950, and also a member of National Grange, and also of the
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New York Mill Exchange. He is one of the trustees of the Burial Hill Cemetery Association at Hamptonburgh. The Bull family have held an annual picnic for forty years on the one-hundred-acre tract granted to William Bull and Sarah Wells by Christopher Denn, who were the first settlers in Orange County. Mr. Bull was treasurer of the picnic for a number of years, and president for one term.
He married Annie Wells, of Newburgh, whose mother was the daughter of Me- hetable Bull, and her father was Captain William Bull, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War. Their one child, Charles Wells Bull, is a wholesale jeweler in Maiden Lane, New York City. He is the sixth generation on his father's side from the first William, and seventh on his mother's.
STEPHEN M. BULL, wholesale grocer and representative citizen of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in the Clinton homestead, Little Britain, N. Y., July 14, 1844; he was educated at district schools and by a private tutor. In 1864 he located in Newburgh and was engaged successfully with Johnston & Alsdorf and Thomas H. Skidmore & Son as bookkeeper and salesman. In 1879 the wholesale grocery house of Skidmore, Bull & Co. was formed. Since 1891 Mr. Bull has been sole propri- etor. Married May 26, 1869, Martha, daughter of Samuel Oakley. Two children have been born-Emily Grace and John Springstead. Mr. Bull is a direct de- scendant of William Bull, who was born in England, February, 1689, and came to America in 1715. The family occupied a prominent place in the early history of Orange County.
THE BULLS OF SOUTH CAROLINA .- Stephen Bull and Barnaby Bull, sons of Josias Bull, of Kingshurst Hall, emigrated to South Carolina in 1670 in a ship named Carolina. They were uncles of William Bull, who emigrated in 1715, settling at Hamptonburgh, Orange County, N. Y.
From Mrs. Haxtum's Genealogical Column in the New York Mail and E ress we read :
"The Bulls were among the very earliest settlers of South Carolina, and have always borne a high record in the public life and in social relation. Stephen Bull, the founder of the family, was deputy proprietor for Lord Ashley in 1674 to 1682. After that date he represented various other proprietors until 1699. He was al- most continuously in the grand council, where his discreet judgment and high per- sonal character were greatly esteemed. He held in turn and together many high offices, civil and military, and was an adventurous explorer and trader among the Indians. He was buried at his beautiful seat, Ashley Hall, still in its decadence, one of the chief attractions of the historic river. His son, the Hon. William Bull, saw service as ar officer in both the early Indian wars, and in civil life was active in the commons and council. He assisted General Ogl,, norpe in laying out Savan- nah, and was lieutenant-governor, acting from 1738 to 1744. His home in Charles- ton was the old 'Hayne House,' now owned by Mr. Henry Ficken. His son, Ste- phen Bull, was distinguished in military and civil public life, and was the father of General Stephen Bull, of the Revolution. His home was Sheldon, one of the
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old family estates. The Hon. William Bull, of Ashley Hall, was the first American to graduate in medicine, which he did at Leyden, in 1734. Returning, he served the province in various capacities, civil and military, until appointed lieutenant-gov- ernor in 1759. He administered the province with great vigor and ablity at various intervals, acting five times as governor. Loyal to the crown, but without creating animosity, he left Charleston with the royal troops in 1782, dying in London in 1791, an exile for conscience sake from the land he loved and served so well."
A few miles beyond the Ashley River is the Bull dominion, where once stood Ashley Hall, the country home of Governor Bull, the last colonial governor of South Carolina. A large monument of marble appropriately inscribed and bearing the Bull coat-of-arms stands on the grounds, commemorative to his memory.
WILLIAM BULL was born July 25, 1830, on the homestead farm near Stony Ford, Orange County, N. Y. The present owner, William Bull, of this historic old house, which was built in 1791, is the fifth of that name to occupy the homestead. The third William Bull, who erected the house, was with Washington at Valley Forge and at the battle of Monmouth. Our subject acquired his education at Mount Pleasant Academy at Ossining. He entered Princeton College in 1847 and graduated in 1851. He returned to the farm and has always followed agricultural pursuits. He married Phoebe Bull, one of cight daughters of Ebenezer Bull, of Hamptonburgh, November 22, 1859. Their children are: Elizabeth Green; Sarah, wife of Charles F. Wells, of Newburgh, N. Y .: Ebenezer Henry, and Bartow W. In politics Mr. Bull is a republican and has served the town as justice of peace for fourteen years, has been past master at Stony Ford, and held other town offices. He is a member of the Zetapsi college fraternity, Stony Ford Grange No. 951, and Pomona Grange. He attends the Presbyterian Church of Campbell Hall.
WILLIAM EDGAR BULL, of Charleston, S. C., is a son of Edmund Llewellyn and Wry Evelina ( Bruen ) Bull. Edmund Bull was born in Orange County in 1817, i loved to Charleston in 1832, and died there in 1892. His marriage with Mary Evelina Bruen occurred in March, 1844, and fifteen children were born to them. The progenitor of this branch of the Bull family was William Bull, who emigrated from Kingshurst Hall, Wolverhampton, England, in 1715, settling at Ilamptonburgh, Orange County. William was a nephew of Stephen and Barnaby Bull, who emigrated to America in 1670, and was the progenitor of the Bull family of South Carolina. Edmund Bull was a son of James D. Bull and Nancy Rogers James D. was a son of Chrisie Bull and Elizabeth Case. Chrisie was a son of John Bull and Hannah Holley. John was a son of William Bull and Sarah Wells. The marriage of William Bull and Sarah Wells was the first ceremony performed in the old town of Goshen. They made their home in a log house from 1719 until 1722, when they built the stone house which is still standing. A view of this old house appears on another page in this volume.
ISMAH BUNN was born at North Church, N. J., July 22, 1858, and is one of
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six children, all living, of Obadiah Bunn and Hanna I. Wilson Bunn. He attended the district school, mostly in the winters, until he was twenty-two years of age, when he operated a threshing machine for four years. He then went to New York City, worked there a year, and went from there to Hamburgh, N. J., where he engaged in the bottling business. He came to Warwick in 1887, and started a small bottling plant. The business was so successful that he now has one of the most up-to-date bottling plants in this section of the State. He is the owner of a well producing the purest water for carbonated drinks, and is manager of the Spring Lake Ice Company. His wife was Miss Minnie Vanderhoff, of Warwick, and their children are Minnie and Howard, who are living at home. He is a member of Deckertown Lodge No. 98, F. & A. M.
E. R. BURROUGHS, president and manager of the Abendroth & Root Manu- facturing Company, has resided in Newburgh since 1901, when the plant was moved from Greenpoint, N. Y., to this city. The factory buildings are distributed over twelve acres of land and have a total floor space of four acres, modern in every way, and thoroughly equipped for the work produced. The property has a front- age of 800 feet on the Hudson River, with deep water docking facilities. A private switch from the West Shore Railroad bisects the plant, enabling connections with the New York Central, the Erie and N. Y., N. H. and H. Railroads. Machinery utilizing 600 horse-power of Root water tube boilers are in operation. Among the departments are a gray iron and brass foundry, forge shops, boiler erecting de- partment, spiral pipe mill, sheet iron, plate metal and drum shop. The com- pany has recently placed on the market the Frontenac touring car, which ranks among the foremost makes of automobiles in this country. Branches are main- tained in New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago.
W. J. BURROWS, son of Alexander and Jennette (Todd) Burrows, was born in New York City in 1856. When he was two years of age his parents removed to the town of Newburgh, and it was here he received his schooling. He then en- gaged in farming with Fenton Cosman, where he remained eight years and then purchased his present fruit farm of twenty-two acres. Mr. Burrows has been trustee of the Marlborough Presbyterian Church fifteen years, elder two years and superintendent of the Sunday-school two years. He is a member of Cronomer Valley Grange and has served as its secretary. He married Miss Nancy E. Mor- row and five children have been born to them.
GRINNELL BURT was born in Bellvale, Orange County, N. Y., on November 7, 1822. He was a grandson of James Burt, who for twenty years was a promi- nent legislator of the State. An orphan at fourteen, he was thrown on his own resources. With unusual ability for mechanical construction, and a mind that quickly grasped all opportunities for developing the resources of the country, he became interested in railroad projects. 'Meanwhile his love for the law prompted
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a course of reading and study which proved of great value when corporate inter- ests were committed to his charge.
With others he organized, in 1859, the Warwick Valley Railroad. The growing needs of the valley called for various extensions of the line. Mr. Burt's pluck and rare executive ability served his constituents well. By the last consolidation the road was merged into and known as the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company. He was its continuous and only president forty-two years, dying in office. He was identified with various projects for bridging the Hudson. His was the vision to project the Orange County Railroad-"the missing link"-between the West and Southwest and New England, via the Poughkeepsie Bridge. This dream of his old age he pushed through with indomitable energy, enduring many anxious hours in its consummation, but which to-day justifies all his sagacious commercial foresight. The record of this Warwick railroad, while under his care, was that it never had a strike, never was in the hands of a receiver, never defaulted in the payment of the interest on its bonds, and no passenger lost his life during Mr. Burt's long administration. Ile selected his subordinates with rare judgment. At his death the new president retained to a man the entire corps that had served under Mr. Burt. No better choice could be made.
The other roads he served for varying terms as director, reorganizer, superin- tendent or president, were the Pittsburg & Western ; Cincinnati, Van Wert & Michi- gan (now the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw) ; New Jersey Midland (now the New York, Susquehanna & Western ) ; Kanawha & Ohio; New York & Greenwood Lake; Middletown, Unionville & Water Gap, which he brought out of its chaotic condition and placed on a sound footing, and the Toledo & Ohio Central, generally conceded to be one of the most successful reorganizations of a bankrupt company ever effected.
In 1875 Governor Tilden appointed him one of three commissioners to remove obstructions from the Delaware River. The commission served without pay, and after their work was thoroughly done a balance was returned to the State treas- ury-a result so unusual in the expenditure of public money that it excited no little comment.
No public work was ever dearer to Mr. Burt than the establishment of the Mid- dletown State Homeopathic Hospital. Serving as chairman of the building com- mittee he saved the State much money by his watchful care. He was appointed by Governor Dix on the first board of trustees of this noble institution, and gave twenty-seven years of ungrudging service; acting first as vice-president, he even- tually became president for the eleven successive years before his death. All this he did amid the stress and strain of conflicting business cares in behalf of suffer- ing humanity.
In Warwick his name was coincident with its progress. He was one of the agi- tators for incorporating it under a special charter : an incorporator of Warwick Institute, serving thirty-two consecutive years on the board of education; one of the founders of Christ Church; on the committee of three to bond the town to pay volunteers in the late rebellion; on the first board of trustees of the War-
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wick Cemetery Association, active in building the reservoir and water-works; 01 the first board of directors of the First National Bank, where he served as vice- president for fifteen years.
The American Trossachs trip, which he inaugurated, was one of his many schemes to bring our valley's beauties into a wider recognition. This excursion as planned by him would challenge comparison for varied interest and charm with any one day's excursion taken in any part of the world. Mr. Burt also did much for the development of Greenwood Lake. The artistic station and his own stately home, both built under his direction and out of our native McAfee limestone, are evi- dence that Grinnell Burt was a man of taste and culture as well. If you would see his monument, look about you in the little village he so loyally loved and served.
In 1849 he married Miss Jane S. Van Duzer, daughter of Isaac Van Duzer, of Warwick, by whom he had one son and four daughters: Frank Howard, who died in infancy ; Kate V. D., who married Charles Caldwell, of Newburgh; Lily, wife of Frederick Halstead, of Brooklyn. Jane, who died in 1903, and Mary Herrick Burt, who resides in the old homestead. Mrs. Burt died in 1870. In 1886 he mar- ried Miss Louise Pierson, daughter of Samuel V. Pierson, of Middletown, N. Y. By this marriage he had twin sons, Grinnell, Jr., and Howard Pierson. Mr. Burt died August 3, 1901.
Surely a few words of tribute should be added in honor of this man whose un- faltering honesty, ability and enthusiasm called to his side noble helpers and the capital necessary to carry out these difficult public works. Personally he was pos- sessed of most genial social traits-to see him in his home was to see him at his best. Here he dispensed the widest hospitality. He held high national ideals free from party lines. He was capable of long hours of unremitting physical and men- tal toil. He did not waste his energy talking about things he would like to do- he did them. He was acknowledged to be a winning and witty public speaker, and, when occasion demanded, a formidable antagonist, as 'e was absolutely fearless and not to be shaken from his convictions; and yet h so fair withal that his warmest personal friends were among those with when he differed on many oc- casions. In every walk of life he was a man.
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