USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 76
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term. He was elected supervisor in 1903, re-elected in 1905 and again in 1907. Socially Mr. Clark is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Minisink Grange.
William H. Clark, father of our subject, was born in 1829 and died in 1907. He represented the Second District of Orange County in the New York Legislature in 1881-82. He was supervisor of the town of Minisink a number of terms and chair- man of the board in 1876. He was one of the incorporators of the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad, and held the office of treasurer many years. He also served twelve years as trustee of the Middletown Asylum and was promi- nently identified with public and business affairs of his native town and county, enjoying the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens.
WILLARD M. CLARK, supervisor of the town of Wallkill, was born at Salem, N. J., August 23, 1861. Shortly after his birth his father removed to Greenville, Orange County, and in the district schools of that town Willard received his early educational training. He later attended the Albany Normal College, from which he was graduated in 1884. Mr. Clark has taught school continuously since 1880, and served six years as school commissioner, following his election to that office in 1890. Mr. Clark also owns and conducts a farm on the state road near Middletown, to which he removed in 1890, coming from Greenville. He was elected a member of the county board of supervisors in the fall of 1907. He mar- ried Mamie Clark, of Greenville, and they have a daughter, Ethel. William L. Clark, the father of our subject, was prominent in the social and political life of Greenville. He served as county supervisor for fourteen years and for many years as town clerk.
HENRY P. CLAUSON, who for a quarter of a century has been prominently identified with public affairs in Orange County, was born in New Jersey in 1842. He came to Newburgh in 1868 and located on a farm a few miles northwest of that city, where he has achieved much success in dairying and fruit growing, his farm lands covering over three hundred and fifty acres.
Firmly believing in the principles of the democratic party. Mr. Clauson was elected supervisor of the town of Newburgh in 1878, and re-elected in 1879 and 1880. In 1885 he was elected to the office of sheriff, serving through the years 1886, 1887 and 1888. In the latter year he was a delegate to the national democratic convention at St. Louis, which nominated Grover Cleveland. In 1900 Mr. Clauson was again elected supervisor, serving continuously until 1906. In 1907 he received the democratic nomination for the office of county treasurer.
Mr. Clauson married Miss Mary E. Monell. They have three children living : John, Charlotte (now the wife of V. J. Kohl) and Harry.
ISAAC COCHRAN, son of Alexander and Margaret (Greery) Cochran, was born in the town of Newburgh, October 20, 1823. Te was educated in the schools and academy of Newburgh. In 1839 he accompanied his parents to New York City and engaged with his father in a grocery and tea business on Broadway and
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Twenty-first street, where he remained until 1860. He then embarked in the manufacture of carriages in New York, where for a number of years he carried on a successful business. In 1866 he returned to Newburgh and settled on a farm adjoining the place of his birth. In 1887 he removed to his present home, corner of Powell avenue and North street, where he lives in comparative retirement. Mr. Cochran assisted in the organization of the Columbus Trust Company in 1892, of which he has since been a director. In 1850 Mr. Cochran married Miss Rachel Sommerville. She died in 1891. Seven children blessed this union. Mr. Cochran has been an elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church since 1868 and has served as superintendent of the Sunday-school over thirty years.
CHARLES C. COCKS, senior member of the grocery firm of C. E. Cocks Sons, was born in Cornwall, N. Y., where he has always resided. He is a son of Charles E. and Margaret (Campbell) Cocks, natives of the town of Monroe, Orange County. The business was established by his father at Cornwall Landing in 1850, and our subject has been interested in it since 1870. In 1900 he and his brother, Isaac M., succeeded to the business. Mr. Cocks has served as trustee of the village and school boards and is a director of the Cornwall Savings Bank, of which his father was the president for many years. He is also vice-president of the Corn- wall Realty and Improvement Company.
WILLIAM HENRY CODDINGTON was born in Ulsterville, Ulster County, N. Y., June 15, 1872, and was one of five children, whose parents were William Henry and Susan Coddington. After attending the district school he assisted his father on the farm and was engaged at blacksmithing for six months. In 1893 he became connected with the New York Condensed Milk Company, now known as the Borden Condensed Milk Company, and was gradually promoted from the po- sition of helper to foreman, at Johnsons, N. Y. In 1905 he was transferred to the Burnside Creamery and is now its superintendent. In politics he is a democrat and is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M., of Middletown. He married Miss Della Louise Bennett, of South Centerville, June 26, 1901, and they have three children, Frank M., Florence Elizabeth, and Ralph B. Mrs. Coddington is a member of the Presbyterian Church, of South Centerville.
THOMAS COLDWELL, who at the time of his death in 1905 was the oldest manufacturer of Lawn Mowers in America, was born in Staleybridge, Lancashire, England, in 1838, and came to this country at a very early age. His first employ- ment was with John and William Rothery, who operated a file shop in Matteawan, N. Y. He was later employed by H. W. Swift, who had a machine shop at Wic- capee, in the town of Fishkill, and who was experimenting in the manufacture of lawn mowers, fashioned after Budding's grass cutters manufactured in England. Mr. Coldwell, who was endowed with genius for invention, actually made the first lawn mower produced by Mr. Swift. He became associated with Mr. George L. Chadborn, who was also in the employ of Mr. Swift, and in 1868 Mr. Coldwell, with
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the assistance of Mr. Chadborn, invented a new lawn mower, resulting in the for- mation of the Chadborn & Coldwell Mig. Co., at Newburgh, N. Y., with Mr. Cold- well as president, which continued until 1891, when Mr. Coldwell organized the Coldwell Lawn Mower Co., mention of which appears elsewhere in this work. Suf- fice it to say that their daily output approximates seven hundred complete mowers for each working day in the year and it is the largest plant in the world devoted to the manufacture of these machines.
In this connection it is interesting to note briefly the history of lawn mowers. There is some doubt who was the original inventor. An old document has been found in the United States Patent Office, dated 1825, which shows that one James Ten Eyk, of Bridgewater, N. J., invented a mowing machine. It was simple, hav- ing a box like a wagon box, with the forward end open, furnished with two shafts, one at the front end, on which were placed the revolving cutters, and the other above the center of the box on which were the driving wheels, and on which the box was hung. The driving shaft had on it two drive pulleys corresponding with two smaller ones on the cutter shaft and the two were connected by means of two rope belts. It was a revolving-cutter field mower, and is the first revolving cutter of which any record can be found, but the inventor did not claim that it was a lawn mower. The next authentic record of a revolving-cutter mower was one invented by Edwin Budding, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Budding was born near Stroud in 1796. He was evidently an inventor, draftsman and mechanic of con- siderable ability. He invented the Budding wrench and various machines for use in the manufacture of woolen cloth. He was superintendent for the late George Lister, a manufacturer of Dursley, England. P. A. Lister (son of George), who succeeded his father (and from whom many of these facts regarding Budding emanate), stated that there was no doubt but that Budding took the idea of the lawn mower from a cloth clipping machine. He was granted a patent for his new invention, dated October 25, 1830, and a circular owned by Mr. Budding's daughter, dated 1830, shows that he sold three sizes of lawn mowers, manufactured by John Farrabee near Stroud. These facts leave no doubt that to Budding belongs the credit of producing the first lawn mower.
Previous to 1855 probably all lawn mowers used in America were of English make. A few years prior to this Mr. H. W. Sargent, of Fishkill, received a mower from England and sent it to Mr. Swift to be repaired, and it was upon Mr. Sar- gent's suggestion that Mr. Swift began the manufacture of these machines. His circular, dated 1855, states that he made four sizes ranging in price from $30 to $80. For a number of years Mr. Swift had a monopoly of the lawn mower trade in this country.
About 1868 the Hills Lawn Mower Co. was started in Hartford, Conn. They made the Archimedian Mower. It was the first machine made with only two re- volving cutter blades, and sold for $45. Other manufacturers were Graham, Emlen & Passmore, of Philadelphia, who produced the first side-wheel mower. In 1885 some patents on the best mowers expired and many small manufacturers sprang up in all parts of the country, who have contented themselves by making the
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cheaper grades. A few lawn mowers are made in Canada, Germany and France, but the United States produces four-fifths of all lawn mowers made in the world, and they are exported to every part of the globe.
The business established by Thomas Coldwell is now continued by his two sons. William H. and Harry T., both of whom were brought up in the lawn mower business by their father. He is also survived by a widow and daughter, the latter the wife of Mr. E. C. Ross, who is associated with the Coldwell Brothers in the lawn mower industry.
GALEN COLEMAN was born near Mount Hope, Orange County, N. Y., December 31, 1859. His parents were Alfred and Catherine Coleman. His educa- tion was obtained at Mount Hope, and at an early age he learned the trade of black- sınith, which he followed some time. He removed to Middletown, and learned the machinist trade, which business he has since followed. He married Mary Alice Coleman, of Wantage, N. J., who was born March 19, 1852. Their marriage oc- curred at Spartanburg, S. C., January 7, 1880. Their one child, Frank Edson, was born August 29, 1882. He married Eva M. Birtwistle, of Middletown, June 5, 1907. Father and son are independent in politics and members of Lodge No. 169, K. of r'., of Middletown.
WILLIAM M. COLLARD was born in the town of Warwick, Orange County, N. Y., August 14, 1857. His father was Jerome and mother Mary E. (Hallock) Collard. The subject of this sketch attended the district school at Greenwood Lake, and afterward worked on his father's farm. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for ten years. He was married to Mary E. Robets, of Bull's Mills, in 1879. Socially, he is a member of Wallkill Grange, and Protective Home Circle. He was previously a member of the Maccabees. He is a democrat, taking an active interest in local politics. Mr. Collard has been in the grocery business for some years. He owns two hundred acres of land near Greenwood Lake, and recently there has been discovered a fine grade of mica on his farm, which has been leased to parties, who have commenced operating the mines.
EDWARD J. COLLINS, attorney of Newburgh, was born in Port Jervis, N. Y., 1876. He was educated at Port Jervis Academy and the law department of Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1898. Then he entered the law office of Hon. A. H. F. Seeger, and was admitted to the bar in 1899. In November, 1905, Mr. Collins was elected on the republican ticket member of the common council, of which he was later president. Mr. Collins is a member of various social and fraternal organizations, including the City and Powelton Clubs and New York State Bar Association.
H. D. COMFORT, manufacturer of ice cream at Newburgh, was born in the town of Crawford, Orange County, N. Y., and is a son of the late Daniel H. Com- fort. Mr. Comfort was formerly engaged in the creamery and ice cream business
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in New York City, and in 1900 established his business in Newburgh, in which he has been very successful. His plant is located on an acre and a half of ground on South street near West street, and covers an area of 170 by 75 feet. Steam and electric power are utilized, and machines with a capacity of forty quarts of ice cream every six minutes are in operation. A plant on Robinson avenue is operated during the winter months. Mr. Comfort gives employment to ten men and his product finds a ready market throughout the Hudson Valley. Socially he is iden- tified with the F. and A. M. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Schaefer, daughter of Jacob Schaefer, of Montgomery, N. Y. Two boys and two girls have been born to them. J. Edmund is engaged in business with his father.
DANIEL G. COMINGS, of Middletown, was born May 17, 1850, in Sussex County, N. J. His parents were Gilman Taylor and Rhoda (Worthington) Com- ings. To this union were born six children, two of whom are living, Daniel G. and Mrs. Elvira La Forge, who resides at Metuchen, N. J. Daniel attended the district school, where he acquired his education. When he was thirteen years of age he commenced working on a farm until he was twenty-one years old. He then learned the millright trade, which he followed for twenty-two years. In November, 1878. he removed to Orange County, locating at Middletown, and followed his trade, also engaging in the wholesale and retail ice business and retail coal business, which he has conducted for sixteen years. He married Louisa C. Smith, of Newark, N. J., July 9, 1884. Their four children are Mary Viola, Bertha L., Florence A. and William D. Bertha is a pupil at the Oswego Normal School; the others reside at home. In politics Mr. Comings is a prohibitionist and he and his wife are members of St. Paul's Methodist Church at Middletown, N. Y.
THOMAS CONDON, who for many years has been identified with the public af- fairs of Walden, was born in the town of Montgomery in 1865. He attended the schools of his native place and has been a resident of Walden thirty years, during which time he has served as assessor of the town of Montgomery seven years. assessor of the village three years, trustee six years, and president of the village in 1902, under the old charter by appointment of the board of trustees. He was elected to this office in 1906, and re-elected without opposition in 1907. He is a member of the Red Men, Foresters of America and Elks. Mr. Condon is regarded as a faithful official and public-spirited citizen.
GEORGE RENSSELAER CONKLIN, one of Orange County's representative citizens and merchants, residing at Monroe, N. Y., was born in this town in 1843. a son of Rensselaer C. and Mary E. ( Howzer) Conklin. After finishing his studies Mr. Conklin went to New York in 1860, where he was engaged in business until 1865. He then spent two years in the Lake Superior iron district, and in 1868 returned to Monroe and has been engaged mainly in the coal and feed business. He is senior partner in the firms of Conklin & Roe, of Chester : Conklin & Cum- mins, of Goshen; Conklin & Strong, of Warwick; Paddleford & Co., of Monroe,
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and C. T. Nott, of Vernon, N. J. He is president of the Groves Product Com- pany, of Jersey City ; president of the Monroe Lake Realty Company, secretary of the Warwick, Monroe and Chester Building and Loan Association, and a director of the Highland Telephone Company. Mr. Conklin has served as a member of the Monroe board of education for some twenty years. Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity. He has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Isabella Roberts, whom he married in 1869. In 1885 he chose for his second wife Miss Mary E., daughter of the late Chauncey B. Knight. By his enterprise and energy Mr. Conklin has achieved a large measure of financial success and, coupled with a genial disposition, he retains the highest esteem of his fellow-citizens.
MILTON C. CONNER, M.D., was born on a farm near Scotchtown, town of Wallkill, September 6, 1853. He attended the Wallkill Academy at Middletown, and then entered the Fort Edward Institute, and later was a student in the Caze- novia Seminary, spending two years in each institution. Meantime he taught school at Fort Ann, N. Y. Dr. Conner entered the Detroit Medical College, remaining there two years, after which he became a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, and graduated in 1883 with the degree of M.D. Shortly afterwards he opened an office in Middletown, N. Y., where he has since resided. He is a member of the State and County Medical Society and has been a member for the past eighteen years of the American Medical Association. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., of Middletown, and Midland Chapter No. 240, R. A. M. In politics he is a republican. Dr. Conner was united in marriage with Miss Frances Adelaide Cox, of Middletown.
MATHIEW GRANT COOPER was born February 4, 1865, at Glenwood, N. J., and, after his district school education, followed the occupation of farming six years, after which he engaged in the meat business for eight years. He then worked at Franklin Furnace, N. J., two years. He returned to Eden Station, Orange County, in 1900, and was engaged at the Empire State Dairy Company three years, and three years more for the Haynes Milk Company. The latter was absorbed by the Borden Company, when Mr. Cooper was appointed superintendent, and has continued in the position since. His wife's maiden name was Clara (Van Sickle) Slaughter, of Eden, and they were married December 14, 1904. Their one child is Gerald Frank, born June 29, 1005. Mr. Cooper is a member of Minisink Council No. 53, Jr. O. U. A. M.
PROFESSOR SANFORD A. CORTRIGHT, of Westtown, N. Y., was born in the town of Greenville, Orange County, in 1858. He is a son of Alfred and Margaret (Elston) Cortright. He attended the district schools of his native town, which was supplemented by four years of private tutoring. He graduated from the Albany Normal School and has been engaged in educational work twenty-four years. He has been principal of the Westtown school since 1890. Professor Cort- right is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of American Mechanics
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and the Minisink Grange. In 1893 he was united in marriage with Miss Emma, daughter of Rensselaer and Rachael (Weygant) McKelvey. One child, Alfred, has blessed this union.
JOHN B. CORWIN, attorney of Newburgh, was born at Middletown, N. Y., February 3, 1876, and removed from there to the Corwin homestead, Balmville, in 1884. He graduated from the Newburgh Academy in 1892, supplemented with a course at the Spencerian Business College. Mr. Corwin read law with the late L. WV. Y. McCroskery for two years, and in 1896 entered the office of the late L. S. Sterrit. He was admitted to the bar in 1897. He has also been admitted to prac- tice in the Federal Courts. Mr. Corwin was managing clerk for Mr. Sterrit ten years, and following the death of Mr. Sterrit in April, 1907, he succeeded to his practice.
JOHN ISAAC COTTER, M.D., although only twenty-six years of age, has an established and growing practice at Campbell Hall, where he resides, and is well known to the medical profession both within and outside of Orange County. He was born at Jackson's Corners, Dutchess County, August 22, 1881. When he left the district school at the age of twelve, he went to Poughkeepsie, and there at- tended the grammar and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1900. He took a course of four years in the Albany Medical College, from which he graduated in 1904, and then devoted one year to work in the Albany Hospital. After this thorough preparation he started professional practice at Campbell Hall in 1905. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus No. 304, Florentine Council, of Poughkeepsie, the Nu Sigma Nu Medical Fraternity, the Orange County Medical Society, the Newburgh Bay Medical Society, the Middletown Medical Society, the M. P. S. of Northern Dutchess and Southern Columbia Counties, the New York State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Cotter is a lover of good horses, and owns several, among them Bessie H., whose trial mark is 2:201/2. His father, John H. Cotter, is a practicing physician in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and has another son Lawrence and daughter Mary, both of whom are at- tending the Poughkeepsie high school.
DANIEL J. COUTANT, of Newburgh, N. Y., bears the distinction of occupying a public office a greater length of time than any official in Orange County. He is a native of Newburgh and a son of Zachariah Coutant. After completing his studies at Claverack Institute, he became bookkeeper for the freight line of Alsdorf & Skidmore. In 1872 he was appointed city clerk by the common council, and re- gardless of party has been re-appointed by each succeeding mayor, covering a period of thirty-six years. Mr. Coutant is a member of Trinity M. E. Church. His father was of direct French Huguenot descent.
JOHN P. COVERT .- When our Civil War came, early in 1861, John P. Covert, then a mere youth in the South, enlisted in the famous fighting regiment of "Lou-
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isiana Tigers," and fought with them. He saw the hardest service and was severely wounded in battle. When the war ended he went to Chicago, and became a successful manufacturer of tinware specialties, and after a few years retired. Soon afterward he moved to Orange County, bought the Quackenbos farm near Neelytown, now known as the Beaver Dam Farm, and proceeded to improve it so that it became one of the most attractive places in the state. The farm is rich and highly cultivated, the palatial home is surrounded by a fine grove of hundreds of sugar maples. Here Mr. Covert lived for thirty years, and became a famous breeder of the best Holstein-Friesan cattle. He sold the farm in 1901 to A. Von Kilch, and established a home in Goshen. He was a charter member of the Wall- kill Farmers' Association, for several years was its vice-president and always one of its directors. Mr. Covert married Miss Jennie Ketcham, of New York City, a daughter of Enoch Ketcham, one of the leading tin and hardware dealers of the metropolis. There have been few more striking contrasts in separate periods of individual lives than that of Mr. Covert's severe service and sufferings in the bloody civil war with that of his peaceful and happy life in Orange County.
WILLIAM CRABTREE & SONS, manufacturers of worsted yarns, with fac- tories at Montgomery and Newburgh, N. Y., is numbered among the leading in- dustries of Orange County. The business is now conducted by Harry, Edmund, John A., William E. and Charles B., sons of the late William Crabtree, who estab- lished this business at Montgomery in 1880 in company with Mr. Arthur Patchett, under the firm name of Crabtree & Patchett. In 1897 the Newburgh plant was established. In 1902 the present firm name was adopted. Over one million pounds of wool are used annually resulting in a finished product of a half million pounds of yarn shipped to all parts of the United States. About 200 hands are given steady employment in the plants of this firm. Mr. William Crabtree was born in England in 1840 and died in England while on a visit to his old home, June, 1903. He came to America in 1864, locating at Philadelphia, where he remained until 1880. Mr. Crabtree was identified with the Masonic fraternity and member of the Reformed church. In 1867 he married Miss Harriet Patchett, daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth (Robertshaw) Patchett, all natives of England.
GEORGE W. CRIST was born February 22, 1875, on the homestead farm in the town of Hamptonburgh, and is a son of Theodore J. and Cecelia (Mapes) Crist. His early education was obtained at the Grove Street District School, and the Montgomery Academy. He has always been identified with farm- ing. In politics Mr. Crist gives his hearty support to the democratic party and always takes an active interest in local affairs. He is at present supervisor of the town. He is past master of Goshen Lodge No. 365, F. and A. M., a member of the Midland Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Middletown, No. 240; honorary member of the Montgomery fire department, and past chief ranger of Wallkill Lodge No. 69, Foresters of America. His father Theodore was born on the same farm April 22, 1844. Five children were born in his father's
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