USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 87
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
HECTOR W. MILLSPAUGH was born January 29, 1866, at Wallkill, Ulster County, N. Y. He was a son of Henry and Mary E. Millspaugh, there being five children in his parents' family. He received his early education at the dis- trict school. At an early age he identified himself with the New York Knife Co., of Walden, N. Y., learning the business in detail. He worked diligently for the interest of the company, remaining there twenty-five years. He married Miss Rosina Stickles, of Walden, daughter of Steven and Hanna Stickles, March II, 1886. Two children were born to this union: Charles, born September 21, 1892; Etta, born April 4, 1888, both at home. In politics Mr. Millspaugh is a republican. He is at present supervisor of the town of Montgomery. Socially a member of No. 170 I. O. O. F., Freeman Lodge No. 310, Mohonk Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, Henry Gowdy Council, American Mechanics of Walden, Court Orange No. 8, Foresters of America. His wife is a member of the Methodist Church of Walden.
THERON L. MILLSPAUGH, who has been engaged in the furniture and un- dertaking business for fifty years, is an honored citizen of Walden, N. Y. His ancestry in America dates back to Philip Millspaugh, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Theron L. was born in 1838, a son of Gilbert S. and Jane (Clineman) Millspaugh. At the age of seventeen he began his apprenticeship as cabinetmaker and in 1858 purchased the business from the widow of his former employer. His floor space at present covers over 10,000 square feet and is one of the finest furniture houses in Orange County. In 1862 he married Miss Eleanor D., daughter of Hon. David H. Smith, of the town of Montgomery. Two children have been born to them, Hattie C., now the wife of Dr. J. E. Sadlier, of Pough- keepsie, and Gilbert S., in business with his father. Mr. Millspaugh has served as deacon and elder of the Reformed Church, also on the Board of Village Trustees.
903
BIOGRAPHICAL.
JOHN CLINTON MINTURN, of Bellvale, was born in the town of Warwick in 1853. In 1876 he opened a general store at Bellvale, which he is still conducting as well as one at Greenwood Lake, which he established several years ago. On January 11, 1877, he married Mary Ellen Hunter, of Greenwood Lake, and three children have been born to them, two of whom are living, John C. and Mamie E. John C. is assistant in his father's store. Mr. Minturn has served as school trustee several years. Ilis father, James Minturn, was a farmer and mason and a de- scendant of Captain John Minturn, of Revolutionary fame.
EDGAR O. MITCHELL, M.D., Newburgh, N. Y., was born in New York City in 1864. When five years of age his parents removed to Newburgh. He was educated at Siglar's Preparatory School, Phillips ( Exeter) Academy and Har- vard University. He graduated from Harvard Medical College in 1892 and has since practiced in Newburgh. He is a member of the City and Powelton Clubs. Dr. Mitchell is a son of John James Mitchell, M.D., who has been one of New- burgh's foremost physicians for nearly forty years, and ex-president of the Ho- meopathic Medical Society of New York State. The family is of Puritan an- cestry and direct descendants of Thomas Mitchell, who settled in Block Island, R. I., and bought one-fourteenth of the original share of the Island in 1677.
GEORGE R. MITCHELL, of Newburgh, who carries on an extensive business as a plumber and tinsmith and dealer in stoves and tinware, was born in Islip, L. I., in 1859. He came to Newburgh in 1871 and learned his trade with J. D. Mabie. He started in business for himself in 1886, opening a shop in Smith street. His present commodious quarters are located at 73 Second street. Mr. Mitchell married Miss Anna E. Campbell, of Newburgh, and has one son. He is trustee of the Associate Reformed Church and a member of Hudson River Lodge, F. & A. M.
BENJAMIN MOFFATT was born in the town of Blooming Grove, Orange County, N. Y., a son of Nathaniel and grandson of Samuel Moffatt, the first of the name who came from County of Antrim, Ireland, and settled in Blagg's Clove, Orange County, where he died May, 1787, in his eighty-second year.
Benjamin Moffatt, who inherited the strong, sterling characteristics of his Scotch-Irish ancestors, moved in 1840 to the then far West, Milwaukee, Wis., ac- companied by his wife, who was Elizabeth Hulse, and their two infant daughters. Later the family moved to Illinois, where they resided many years and where the bright, beneficent influence of Mr. Moffatt reflected on all around him. He was an upright, honest, conscientious man, and every act of his life manifested the re- ligious teachings of his younger days. In his hospitable home were entertained many travelers passing through the then frontier line of our country.
Mr. Moffatt was a charter member of the First Congregational Church of Mil- waukee, Wis., and of the Second Congregational Church of Rockford, Ill. He was influential in the establishment of Beloit College, Beloit, Wis., and Rockford
904
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
College, Rockford, Ill. He died June 9, 1857, in his sixty-sixth year, leaving his wife and three children, Melissa, Josephine and Gilbert, and the memory of a life which had a moulding influence for good in the home of his adoption.
GEORGE E. MORAN, SR., superintendent of the paper mills owned by the Diamond Mills Paper Company, located at New Hampton, N. Y., has been engaged for fifty years in the manufacture of paper. The Diamond Mills occupy the site of an industrial landmark in this section and is the property of Col. G. W. Thomp- son, of New York City, who bought it from E. Rosencrans in 1875. The plant has been greatly improved and additions made from time to time, including a one- hundred-foot addition across the creek in 1900. Employment is given to thirty persons, and the product averages two tons of finished tissue paper daily. An artesian well is on the premises and the plant is equipped with large and modern machinery.
Mr. Moran, who is an expert in the manufacture of fine paper, entered the em- ploy of Col. Thompson some forty years ago and by energy and industry acquired his present responsible position. He is assisted by his son, George E., in the man- agement of the business.
ARTHUR S. MOORE was born in Bay City, Mich., March 7, 1879. He attended the public schools and graduated in that city, afterward graduating from the Med- ical Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1901. He was surgical interne at Ann Arbor Hospital one year, following which he was assistant at the Criminal Insane Asylum at Ionia, Mich., removing to Middletown in Octo- ber, 1903. He is now connected with the Middletown State Homeopathic Hos- pital. Dr. Moore was married to Martha McCartney, of Bay City, Mich. He is a member of Knights of Pythias of Ionia, Mich., and of Ann Arbor Lodge, F. & A. M.
JONATHAN OWEN MOORE, son of Alexander and Hannah (Owen) Moore, was born in Washingtonville, Christmas Day, 1833, at the Moore homestead. As a young man he accepted a position in the Bank of Albany, where he remained until his enlistment as a soldier in the Civil War. He had the distinction of being the first man from New York State to receive an army commission. He was pro- moted from time to time and at the close of the war returned as captain of his regiment, known as the Wide-Awakes. He then married Miss Helen, daughter of Van Rensselaer Wilbur, of Albany. Returning to Washingtonville, he engaged in the furniture business for a number of years, and was also elected to the office of justice of the peace. Mr. Moore, familiarly known as "Owenie" Moore, has been a life-long staunch republican, working enthusiastically for the election of party candidates. In later years he lived in retirement in New York City, devoting his time to the settlement of estates. His daughter, Bertha, now Mrs. O. B. Still- man, of New York, has her country place at what is known as the Goldsmith homestead, near Washingtonville. Mr. Moore died in New York City in 1908.
90
BIOGRAPHICAL.
JOHN W. MORLEY, son of James and Anna (Vought) Morley, was born at Cornwall, Orange County, N. Y., in 1867. After finishing his studies at the schools of Newburgh, he learned the hatter's trade, in which he was engaged for twenty years. In 1904 he established a grocery store at Gardnertown, which he is conduct- ing with much success. Mr. Morley takes an active interest in politics and in 1905 was elected commissioner of the City and Town Home.
Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Junior Order of Amer- ican Mechanics and the International Hatters' Association. He was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Van Buren.
DAVID A. MORRISON, secretary of the Orange County Agricultural Society, 1858-1908, belongs to one of the old representative families of Orange County, where his entire life has been passed. He is of Scotch-Irish and Dutch ancestry. His pater- nal ancestors emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland during the seven- teenth century. His great-great-grandfather, John Morrison, was born near Belfast, Ireland, in the year 1700, and came to this country prior to the Revolution. His son John, the founder of the family in America, had preceded him several years and settled on what is now known as the Morrison Homestead, in the town of Mont- gomery. He married Elizabeth Scott. They had nine children, one of whom was Hamilton, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who inherited the home farm. He married Lydia Beemer, who was of Dutch descent, whose ancestors came from Beemersville, N. J., who lived to the advanced age of one hundred and three years. They had eight children, of whom Hamilton, the father of our sub- ject, was the youngest but one.
Hamilton Morrison, the father of David A., was born August 24, 1804, at the Old Homestead which he inherited, and which has descended from father to son for five generations, or nearly one hundred and fifty years. He was one of the founders of the Orange County Agricultural Society, and continued to be one of its most devoted friends until his death in 1881. He filled at different times every office in the society except treasurer. He was elected a member of its executive committee eight times, was corresponding secretary from 1851 to 1857 inclusive, was vice-president twenty years, and president twice. He married Maria Mould, daughter of Jonathan Mould, of the town of Montgomery, and a lineal descendant of Christoffel Mould, one of the earliest Dutch settlers of the Wallkill Valley.
David A. Morrison is the second in a family of seven children. Jonathan M., of Montgomery, who was widely known and highly esteemed and who died in 1898; David A., George H. and John G., prominent and intelligent farmers who re- side on the Homestead Farm, which contains nearly three hundred acres, and is now one of the best improved estates in the town of Montgomery; William H. H., a well-known, progressive and successful farmer on an adjoining farm; Mary J., who married Elijah C. Thayer, of Hamptonburgh, and died in February, 1901; and Elizabeth M., wife of William C. Hart, of Walden, N. Y.
Mr. Morrison was educated in public schools and the Montgomery Academy, and at the age of seventeen years became a teacher. He taught district schools
906
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
in the towns of Montgomery, Hamptonburgh and Blooming Grove, and was prin- cipal of graded schools in the villages of Walden and Montgomery-in all about thirty terms.
In 1867 he was elected school commissioner for the First District of Orange County, serving until 1894-in all five terms, or fifteen years, a record that has never been paralleled in the State.
He has been secretary of the Orange County Agricultural Society for fifty years, and has attended every fair held by it since its organization in 1841. He is one of the mainstays of the society, and a man of education and ability.
In 1880 Mr. Morrison married Mary R. Lipsett, a daughter of the late Robert and Mary A. (Morrison) Lipsett, of the town of Montgomery, and granddaughter of Col. Wiliam Faulkner of Revolutionary fame.
In 1893 he removed to Newburgh, where he now resides.
He was nominated for Congress, against his earnest protests, in 1896, and, al- though running far ahead of his ticket, he shared the fate of his party, and was defeated by Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., since Governor of the State.
Mr. Morrison was county correspondent of the U. S. Department of Agricul- ture and Statistical Bureau of the Patent Office for forty years. He was one of the incorporators of the Columbus Trust Company of Newburgh, N. Y., and has been one of its directors and a member of its executive committee since its organi- zation, and is now its vice-president.
He is president of the Board of Trustees of Union Presbyterian Church, New- burgh, N. Y .; vice-president of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands; a trustee of Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh, N. Y .; a mem- ber of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and presi- dent of Newburgh Chapter, S. A. R .; and a life member of the New York State Agricultural Society.
HAMILTON MORRISON was born August 24, 1804, at the old homestead, which is now occupied by his sons, George H. and John G. This property has been handed down from father to son since long before the Revolution. It contains two hundred and sixty acres of land and is one of the best improved estates in the town of Montgomery.
His paternal family included eight children, of whom our subject was the young- est but one. His parents were Hamilton and Lydia (Beemer) Morrison. The for- mer, a native of Ireland, crossed the Atlantic and landed on the American shore when a mere lad, accompanied by his father, John. The latter took up the land which is still in the Morrison family. Hamilton married January 10, 1827, Maria, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Mould; she died March 26, 1868. To our subject and his wife the following children were born: Jonathan M., married Mar- garet Windfield; David A., married Mary R. Lipsett; George H., unmarried; Mary J., married Elijah Carpenter Thayer; John G., unmarried; William H. H., married Agnes Horton.
Hamilton Morrison passed his entire life on this farm in the town of Mont-
907
BIOGRAPHICAL.
gomery. When a young man he taught school and after marriage gave his atten- tion to cultivating his broad acres.
He was very successful in his undertakings. He was foremost in founding the Orange County Agricultural Society, of which he was president for many years. He died October 25, 1881.
The family is progressive and one of the most influential in the county. In poli- ยท tics it is democratic, as was also their father.
His son, George H. Morrison, has recently published a complete genealogical chart of the family in America.
GEORGE MOSHIER, retired contractor, was born in Newburgh, N. Y., April 19, 1838. He learned the carpenters' trade and from 1866 to 1907 was engaged in the contracting and building business, having erected many of the most substan- tial buildings in Newburgh and vicinity.
He was a member of the Board of Water Commissioners from 1884 to 1889. In 1899 he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors, and has been suc- cessively re-elected for five terms, serving two terms as chairman. He is promi- nently identified with the Masonic fraternity and president of the Masonic Vet- erans' Association ; member of the Newburgh Historical Society and an active member in Trinity Church.
In 1862 he married Miss Caroline Tilton. Their children are Anna, George, Jr., and Mabel. Mr. Moshier's ancestors resided in or near Newburgh many years previous to the Revolution. Two of them were soldiers in the Continental Army, serving with distinction.
EDWARD M. MURTFELDT, born Newburgh, 1853; entered employ of Peck & Van Dalfsen's furniture house in 1869. In 1879 he purchased Joseph H. Powell's undertaking and furniture establishment, which he conducted on the same site until 1895. At present engaged as funeral director at 77 Second street, Newburgh. In 1894 he assisted in organization and became president of the Highland Furniture Mfg. Co .; served a number of years as alderman and president of council and has served as acting mayor ; also was a member of the Board of Public Works. He has taken all the chairs in Masonry and has been an officer in Highland Chapter No. 52 and commander of H. R. Commandery No. 35. Mr. Murtfeldt is of German descent ; a son of Henry W. and Mary Frances (Worden) Murtfeldt. In 1872 he married Miss Anna A. McCord; six children have been born to them. He is at present the president of the Masonic Veterans' Association, of Newburgh, N. Y., and has held office in the Grand Commandery, State of New York. He is at present the dis- trict deputy of the Thirteenth District of the Grand Lodge, a Thirty-second De- gree Mason and grand marshal of the Consistory of New York City. He has been regent of Newburgh Council of the Royal Arcanum and its treasurer for a num- ber of years. Member of the City Club.
FRANK D. MYERS, M.D., of Slate Hill, N. Y., is a descendant of one of
908
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
Orange County's oldest families. He was born in the town of Greenville, N. Y .. where he attended public school. This was supplemented by a course of private tutoring near Newburgh, after which he taught school two years in the town of Minisink. Dr. Myers graduated in medicine from the University of Michigan in 1887, and has since been engaged in practice at Slate Hill. He is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association.
He married Miss Margaret Hall, of Ridgebury, and a son, Frank D., was born to . them in 1908.
Dr. Myers is a son of Samuel S. and Mary Elizabeth (Elston) Myers. His grandfather was Daniel C. Myers, his great-grandfather Daniel Van Auker Myers, and his great-great-grandfather Daniel, the first of that name in this locality, who participated in the battle of Minisink. The flint lock musket he carried is in the possession of Dr. Myers. The homestead upon which this man settled has re- mained in the possession of the family and is now owned and occupied by Floyd E. Myers, a brother of the doctor.
GEN. ALFRED NEAFIE .- Alfred Neafie was born in Walden, Orange County, N. Y., January 8, 1832, being the son of Cornelius Neafie, a member of one of the old Knickerbocker families, who came to New York in 1637.
Cornelius Neafie built the first cotton mill in Orange County and the second in the State. As a boy Alfred Neafie, fond of hunting and fishing and of an ad- venturous turn of mind, it is not strange that he should at the age of nineteen, start for the newly discovered gold fields of California.
It was in 1851 that he left in a sailing vessel, the Grecian, for the six months' voyage "round the Horn."
His first vote was cast in the canyons of the North Yuba in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. During his successful career in California he was a member of the celebrated Vigilance Committee and was one of those who helped to apprehend the famous outlaw "Yankee Sullivan," and was present at the trial and hanging of Juaquin Murat and "Three-Fingered Jack."
Returning home at the death of his father and starting in business in Ellenville, N. Y., yet at the outbreak of the war Mr. Neafie put aside personal interests and went to the front. He was offered the captaincy of the Walden Company of the 124th Regiment, but declined it, as he had already raised nearly two companies of what became the 156th Infantry.
His military record is to be found in brief in the Historical Register and Dic- tionary of the United States Army, Vol. 1, page 741, as follows :
"Neafie, Alfred, N. Y., N. Y. Capt. 156th N. Y. Inf., 13th Sept., 1862; Lt .- Col., 9th Jan., 1864; Lt .- Col. Vols., 13th March, 1865, for gal. and meritorious services at Battle of Winchester and Fisher Hill, Va., and Brig .- Gen. Vols., 13th March, 1865, for conspicuous gallantry at Winchester, Va., 19th Sept., 1864. Mustered out 23d Oct., 1865."
During the war Gen. Neafie was provost marshal of Alexandria, La., and Baton Rouge.
909
BIOGRAPHICAL.
While at Savannah he held the offices of supervisor of trade, collector of military taxes, relief commissioner and assisted in the repatriation of the South, as by vir- tue of seniority of rank he was chief of staff of the department.
A few of the brilliant and picturesque events of his military career were :-
After the capture at Washington, Ga., of the archives of the Confederacy, which included records of Generals Beauregard, Polk, Joseph E. Johnston and Albert Sid- ney Johnston, $300.000,000 of cotton bonds, $760,000 in gold and silver and thirty wagon loads of valuable jewelry and personal articles, General Neafie, with two federal officers and two treasury agents, inventoried and sent to their proper own- ers, scattered all through the Southern States, all private property, while all public property was turned over to the United States Government. This was done in about two months.
As General Grover's chief of staff, General Neafie received Jefferson Davis when he was captured and delivered him to Lieutenant-Commander (now admiral, re- tired) Luce, in command of the double-ender Pontiac, in Savannah River.
Jefferson Davis, Jr., a most lovable boy about ten years old, was a guest in the house in Savannah where General Neafie lived, they drove together daily and a great affection sprang up between the two.
His early death of yellow fever in Memphis was a sorrowful event for all who knew him.
General Neafie with General Grover was present at the solemn and thrilling raising of the flag at Fort Sumter, four years to a day from the time it was low- ered by Sergeant Hart.
It was taken from the sealed mail bag, where it had been placed by Sergeant Hart, who now released it from its leathern prison, and once more raised to its place of honor.
When this was done it was seen that the flag was pierced by at least thirty shell fragments, and was ragged and torn; not a star had been shot away.
When that fact was disclosed to the men who had been fighting four years to keep the stars of our Union together, the emotion was too great for expression.
But from outside came the noisy welcome from the battered and indented iron- clads and monitors, who had been circling around waiting to give tongue with their cannon throats.
Since the close of the war, General Neafie has led a business life of wide and varied interests, with homes in Ellenville and Goshen, N. Y.
MOSES F. NELSON, notary public, real estate and insurance broker of the town of Highlands, Orange County, N. Y., was born at Highland Falls in 1867, and for the past seventeen years has been identified with public affairs of his na- tive place, serving as tax collector, clerk and member of the Board of Education and justice of the peace. He is a son of the late Cornelius Nelson, who for thirty years was postmaster at Highland Falls and who was also engaged in the fire in- surance and real estate business, which was conducted under the firm name of Cornelius Nelson & Son, and to which he succeeded.
910
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
Socially Mr. Nelson is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He married Miss Mary Adolph in 1893; they have three daughters.
THE NICOLL FAMILY .- Within the corporate limits of Washingtonville, N. Y., lies a farm of one hundred and forty-five acres which bears evidence of the supervision of an energetic and capable family. This place is known as the Nicoll homestead, and was occupied for over a quarter of a century by John Nicoll, who died in 1874. As the name indicates he was of Scotch descent. The progeni- tor of this family in America was Dr. John Nicoll, who emigrated to this country in 17II and settled in New York. He became one of the leading men of the colony and acquired the ownership of a large amount of property, having among his possessions fourteen thousand, five hundred acres of land in the Minisink Patent. He died in 1743 at the age of sixty-four.
John Nicoll was born in Hackensack, N. J., in 1799, and in early life was en- gaged in the mercantile business in New York City, whence he removed to Orange County in 1844. By his first marriage to Juliana Thompson, one son, William, was born, who died at the age of twenty-six. The second wife of Mr. Nicoll bore the maiden name of Elizabeth H. White and was born in Bagg's Cove in 1808. She died in 1855. To this union eight children were born, of whom Charles and Eliza- beth White (now the wife of Andrew S. Glover) reside in Washingtonville. An- other son, Isaac, met death while leading his company in the battle of Gettysburg in 1863. On the soldiers' monument at Salisbury Mills is this inscription : "To the memory of Captain Isaac Nicoll, Company G, 124th N. Y. S. V., and the men of Blooming Grove who fought in the war for the unity of the Republic, 1861-1865."
REV. STANISLAUS J. NOWAK, rector of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Florida, N. Y. In the year 1893 our Polish neighbors at Florida, N. Y., after mature deliberation and consultation, concluded to have their own church, and the necessary steps were taken to secure the approval of the church authorities for their project. Having demonstrated the feasibility of the idea, and the neces- sary approval having been obtained, Messrs. John and Anton Dulski, Joseph An- dryszak, Joseph Wozniak, Ignatius Brink and John Majorowski were appointed as collectors, and succeeded so well that within two years over two thousand dollars were subscribed.
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.