USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 95
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
On September 7, 1865, he was united in marriage with Maria, daughter of Nathan Bristol, of Waverly, N. Y.
Two children were born of this union, Dr. Nathan B. Van Etten, a practicing physician in New York City, and Eleanor B. Van Etten, who resides with her mother in Port Jervis.
Dr. Van Etten died suddenly at his home in Port Jervis, July 7, 1894, from concussion of the brain, the result of a fall.
CHARAC J. VAN INWEGAN was born April 14, 1851, in the town of Deer Park. He has always followed merchandising, succeeding to the business which his father established in Huguenot, which he still carries on. In 1880 he opened a store in Port Jervis in connection with his brother, John C., who took charge of the latter establishment. Charac J. has dealt extensively in wood and each season has shipped thousands of cords to New York. For a time he owned the Huguenot Springs Hotel, and he owns two store buildings in Port Jervis,
969
BIOGRAPHICAL.
N. Y. He has been twice married. His first wife was Catherine, daughter of Isaac and Catherine (Rose) Cuddeback, and after her death he married Ellen S., daughter of Peter P. Swartwout. By the first union one son was born, Willard. The children of the second marriage arc Lyman C., Harold B., Allen J. and Ralph S. Mr. Van Inwegan is a member of the Masonic Lodge of Port Jervis. In politics he is a democrat and lias served as postmaster at Huguenot for some years His wife is a member of the Reformed Church.
HENRY NEWTON VAN KEUREN, son of Henry L. ind Eleanor (Crawford) Van Keuren, was born in the town of Shawangunk, Ulster County, N. Y., in 1842. Mr. Van Keuren was educated at the district schools of his native place, and at the age of twenty-seven engaged in business in the town of Crawford, Orange County.
In 1869 Mr. Van Keuren married Helen, only daughter of John Hill, Jr. She died in 1870. In 1873 he married Miss Catherine Ronk, of the town of Crawford, who died in Newburgh in 1888. Mr. Van Keuren acquired a competency in busi- ness and lived for many years in retirement in Newburgh. He was fond of travel and visited all the countries of Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land, and made a tour around the world in 1897-1898. He died in Germany in 1907.
Mr. Van Keuren's ancestors came from Holland in 1864, and were among the early settlers of New York. The homestead in Ulster County, in which four generations were born, was a house of shelter and refuge in the days of contests with the Indians.
CLARENCE C. VAN NESS was born in Edenville, Orange County, March 28, 1869, and after finishing his schooling was in the meat business for six years, and then engaged in the milk business. He has become a breeder of fine horses. His father, John J. Van Ness, died in 1891, aged seventy-three, and his mother, whose maiden name was Anna A. Barrett, died in 1904, aged sixty-three. The father had been a hotel man in Edenville twenty-seven years. A daughter, Mamie E., is the wife of John F. Knapp, of Newark, N. J.
JOHN W. VAN NESS was born in Bellvale, Orange County, October 29, 1852; was educated in the district school, and then assisted his father, Peter Van Ness, who was a wheelwright until he died in 1884, when John continued the business. For eight years he was a partner of John Hazen in the Hotel Windemere at Greenwood Lake, and was postmaster four years by appointment of President Harrison. Hazen & Van Ness purchased George E. Reed's general store in Warwick and con- tinued it four years. He then came to Warwick and leased the Demorest Stables, and after seven years, in 1900, bought the Campbell and Longwell Stables with five horses and is now running them with forty-five horses and at the same time inter- esting himself in agricultural pursuits. On December 9. 18So, he married Miss Mary A. Hazen, of Greenwood Lake. They have one child, Mand, born September
970
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
23, 1881, who is at home. Mr. Van Ness was collector of the town of Warwick one year.
WILLIAM VAN NESS was born April 26, 1836, at Pompton, N. J. His father was Peter S. and mother Eliza Jane (Brown) Van Ness. There were twelve children in his parents' family. William came with his parents to Warwick, this county, when three years of age. The father was a farmer and took an interest in matters pertaining to the democratic party. He acquired his early educa- tion at the district school and Warwick Academy. At an early age he learned the butchers' trade and followed the business for thirty-two years. He married Miss Jane Stidworthy, of Warwick. She was of English parentage and came to America with her parents when three years old. There were two children born to this union, Emma B., wife of Harry J. Bogart, of Passaic, N. J., and Sarah Ann, wife of Burt Edsall, of Goshen. In 1900 Mr. Van Ness sold his business and removed to Goshen, where he purchased the Orange Hotel, which he still con- ducts.
SAMUEL C. VAN VLIET, JR., was born in the town of Blooming Grove, De- cember 29, 1833, and reared upon a farm until seventeen years of age. Subsequently he was a clerk and later was in business in a general store under the firm name of Seaman & Van Vliet, of Monroe. In March, 1861, he came to Oxford Depot and has been engaged in merchandising, being the principal business man of the vicinity. On December 29, 1858, Mr. Van Vliet married Miss Euphenia Jenkins, of Monroe, the youngest daughter of Ira and Millie (Smith) Jenkins. Two daughters have been born to them. Elsie J. is the wife of S. G. Lent and has one child, Helen Grace, now the wife of William H. Smith, of Chester. Effie is the wife of Fred L. Conklin, of Chester, N. Y. The Van Vliet family originated in Holland. Po- litically Mr. Van Vliet is a republican. For thirty years he was postmaster and is now agent for the Erie Railroad. From 1868 to 1872 he was a member of the board of supervisors of Orange County, and for twenty years an elder of the Presby- terian Church of Monroe.
DR. EDWIN R. VARCOE, one of the leading dentists of Orange County, located at Goshen, was born near Honesdale, Pa., November 4, 1850. His parents, Francis and Mary (Hocken) Varcoe, were natives of England and descendants of a long line of substantial English ancestry. Both were educated near Liskeard, in the county of Cornwall, where they grew to maturity and were married in 1846. They came to America on their wedding tour, settling in Honesdale, Pa. They engaged in farming pursuits, and remained there until their death, the father dying in 1895 and the mother in 1865. Both were devoted members of the Method- ist Episcopal Church. Their eight children, three sons and five daughters, are all living.
The father of Francis Varcoe, Samuel Varcoe, was an English gentleman and a landed proprietor in the county of Cornwall. The maternal grandfather of
971
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Francis Varcoe was Rev. Charles Hicks, of the Church of England. One of Samuel's sons, Rev. R. Varcoe, came to this country and filled several important charges in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, where he died. The father of Mrs. Varcoc was Rev. Edward Hocken, a minister of the Church of England, who for fifty years filled important pulpits in his native land. He reared a family of seven children, of whom Edward, Jr., became a clergyman under the celebrated John Wesley in the Methodist Church, during the pioneer era of that organization.
The great-grandfather of our subject on the maternal side was Rev. William Geake, of the Church of England. The children of Francis and Mary Varcoe are as follows: Lavenia, wife of Isaiah Scudder, of Middletown, N. Y., died May, 27. 1908; Sophia, widow of Ira S. Baxter, of Wallingford, Conn; Edwin R .; Eliza- beth, wife of Frank Sagendorph, of Jersey City, died February 22, 1896; Selina; Mrs. T. Edson Harding, of Howells, N. Y .; William F., a practicing physician in New York City; Carrie, who married Herman Groffell, of Jersey City; and Charles W., a dentist of Walden, N. Y.
In 1875 Francis Varcoe married for his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth (Onger) Glenn, and they had one daughter, Kittie, now the wife of Charles Webb., of Bethany, Pa. Politically Mr. Varcoe was a republican, and was a staunch Union man during the Civil War. He was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died September 6, 1895, aged eighty years, near Honesdale, Pa.
The subject of this sketch, Dr. E. R. Varcoe, received his literary education in the schools of Wayne County and Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pa. At the age of twenty-one he began the study of his profession under Dr. J. W. Kesler, of Honesdale, Pa., with whom he remained for two years. He then practiced at dif- ferent places in Orange County for five years. In 1880 he was graduated from the Philadelphia Dental College, carrying off the highest honors of his class and re- ceiving the prize awarded, an S. S. White dental engine. In June, 1880, he estab- lished himself in practice in Goshen, where he has since remained.
The doctor is a trustee and member of the Presbyterian Church of Goshen. He is also an honorary member of the Second District Dental Association, the Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Encampment of Patriarchs. In politics he is a republican. He has made several trips to Europe, visiting Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, Cuba and Sandwich Islands, besides traveling in all the States and Territories in this country. For the benefit of the church and charitable interests he has frequently lectured on his travels.
HENRY O. VELTMAN, of the town of Mount Hope, was born December 31. 1847, in the town of Wallkill. His father Albert and mother Eunice ( Howell ) Veltman had ten children, seven girls and three boys. They are all living but one son. His father was a mason by trade. Ile attended the district school, where he acquired his education while assisting at home on the farm. He was in Jersey City, N. J., three years in the milk business and was engaged in teaming there for two years, when he returned to the farm. He married Miss Helen
972
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
Kennedy, of Howells, Orange County. She is of Scotch descent and came to America when seventeen years of age. Mr. Veltman is a member of the Grange and a republican in politics; both he and his wife are members of the Otisville Methodist Church.
MONTGOMERY H. VERNON was born April 7, 1846, in the town of Monroe, Orange County, N. Y. His parents were Elvin and Catherine Ver- non, and they had ten children. He was the ninth child, and he attended school at Satterleytown schoolhouse and Sugar Loaf, meanwhile working for his board. He worked on a farm until he was nineteen years of age, and then clerked for D. H. Roe, of Chester, one year, and Burchard & Smith nearly three years. He then engaged in the meat business at Washingtonville with W. H. Hallock. Mr. Vernon was united in marriage to Mary A. Goble, of Florida, December 20, 1870. To this union six children were born, two died in infancy. The other children are Russell M., attorney at Middletown, N. Y .; Emma A., wife of Robert W. Anderson ; Sarah L., wife of Richard M. Ferries, an attorney of New York City, and George Herbert, residing at home. After Mr. Vernon's marriage he continued in the meat business and the manufacturing of brick for seventeen years, and in 1888 he disposed of the meat business. He is a large shipper of onions to all parts of the United States. Mrs. Vernon died April 27, 1906.
ANDREW K. WADE, of Walden, who conducts a stove and tinware establish- ment, was born at Montgomery in 1845, a son of Jabez P. and Susan (Millspaugh) Wade. This business was established by his brother, Joseph G. Wade, in 1857, who died in 1862. E. B. Tears continued the business until 1887, when our subject succeeded to it. Mr. Wade has served three terms as supervisor, and also justice of the peace and police justice. Politically he is a democrat, and a member of the Knights of Pythias. In 1879 he married Sarah Frances McVey. They have one daughter living, Frances Willard Wade.
CHARLES D. WAIT, a leading and very successful business man of Mont- gomery, N. Y., is a descendant of one of Orange County's old and respected fami- lies. He is a son of Thomas and Mary (Mould) Wait, and was born at the Wait homestead in the town of Montgomery. In 1887 he erected the buildings he now occupies for business purposes, dealing extensively in flour, feed, coal, lumber and cattle, his cattle trade exceeding ten carloads monthly, which he markets in New York, while his trade in hay averages eighty carloads annually. Mr. Wait is a director in the Montgomery National Bank, and an elder of the Dutch Reformed Church. In June, 1897, he married Miss Eliza Seymour, of Walden, daughter of James Seymour.
GEORGE W. WAIT, son of Thomas and Mary (Mould) Wait, was born at the homestead, where he has always resided, in 1853. This farm, which was the prop- erty of his grandfather, Samuel Wait, is situated some two miles east of Mont-
973
BIOGRAPHICAL.
gomery village and comprises two hundred acres of improved and valuable land. Mr. Wait has been engaged in its cultivation since finishing his studies at the Montgomery schools, and is one of the more prosperous and progressive agricul- turists in the county. He is also an extensive dealer in cattle. He married Miss Cornelia, daughter of J. Egbert Kidd, a descendant of an old Orange County family. They have had two children, Charles D., Jr., who died at the age of five, and Helen Marguerite. Mr. Wait is a member of the Montgomery Grange.
DR. WESLEY WAIT, surgeon dentist of Newburgh, N. Y., was born in the Wait homestead near the village of Montgomery, Orange County, May 15, 1861. He is a son of Thomas and Mary (Mould) Wait, and a grandson of Samuel Wait, who came from Somersetshire, England, in 1821, and engaged in farming in Orange County. He married Miss Mary Welch before leaving his native land, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom Thomas was the fifth in order of birth.
Dr. Wait was educated at Montgomery AAcademy and a New York preparatory school, and in 1881 entered the New York College of Dentistry. Eight months later he was appointed first assistant to Professor J. B. Littig. He graduated a year ahead of his class, and has practiced continuously in Newburgh since 1885, becoming identified with a number of local enterprises.
From 1890 to 1893 Dr. Wait represented New York State in the National Asso- ciation of Inventors and Manufacturers and in 1891 he represented this Congres- sional District at the Patent Centennial at Washington, D. C., being the inventor and owner of several valuable inventions.
In 1885 Dr. Wait married Emily S., daughter of General John A. Pawlins, chief of staff to General U. S. Grant, and ex-secretary of war. Mrs. Wait died March 25, 1897, leaving a daughter Lucille R., now the wife of Mr. John Springstead Bull. Mr. Wait chose in 1905 Miss Annie E. Knapp, daughter of Samuel T. Knapp, of New York City, for his second wife. Their mansion is located at Grand avenue and North street, overlooking the Hudson.
CHARLES N. WALTON, of Monroe, N. Y., who is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, is a native of Pennsylvania and has resided in this village since 1901, when he purchased the business from J. T. Horrick. This busi- ness was originally established by Charles Maples. Mr. Walton is identified with many fraternal organizations, including the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He married Miss Alice Bond, also of Pennsylvania, and three children have been born to them, Raymond, Minnie and Russell.
DR. GEORGE N. WARD, dentist of Walden, was born in the town of Craw- ford, Orange County, N. Y., a son of James and Elizabeth (Crans) Ward. He graduated from the Montgomery Academy in 1886 and acquired his dental educa- tion in the University of Maryland. He has practiced his profession in Walden since 1895. He married Miss Bradnack, of Middletown, and they have one
974
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
daughter. Possessed of literary and historical inclinations, Dr. Ward has accu- mulated a valuable collection of books and has many relics of aboriginal and Revolutionary days. James Ward, Sr., his grandfather, was born in the town of Newburgh in 1797. In 1826 he purchased the farm in Crawford township, which has been the homestead for two generations.
J. ERSKINE WARD, supervisor of the town of Crawford, has for many years been prominently identified with business and public affairs in this part of Orange County. He was born in this township March 4, 1864, a son of James and Eliza- beth (Crans) Ward. His education was obtained at the schools of his native place and Middletown. In 1888 Mr. Ward engaged in the feed business at Thomp- son's Ridge, which he continued successfully for a period of ten years, when he sold the business and property to Messrs. Clark Bros. In 1898 he engaged in the hardware business at Pine Bush, in partnership with Mr. J. L. Mckinney, dispos- ing of his interest to Mr. Mckinney in 1904, and shortly thereafter established his present saw-mill, which gives employment to about fifteen men. In political be- lief Mr. Ward is a staunch democrat. In 1900 he was appointed supervisor of the town and elected to the office in 1901, and has been continuously re-elected to the present time. In January, 1908, he was chosen chairman of the board. Socially Mr. Ward is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Sons of the American Revolu- tion, Knights of Pythias, Maccabees and Grangers.
CORNELIUS L. WARING was born at Balmville, a suburb of Newburgh, in 1852. He read law with Judge Hirschberg, and was admitted to the bar in 1873. Later he formed a partnership with ex-District Attorney Russel Headley, which continued until 1878, when Mr. Waring was elected recorder of the city of New- burgh. He was re-elected in 1882 and again in 1886, retiring from office December 31, 1890. He served as corporation counsel of the city of Newburgh continuously from 1892, resigning the office February, 1907.
Mr. Waring is a director and attorney for many of Orange County's leading corporations. He is a member of the City Club, Powelton Club and Republican Club of the city of New York. Mr. Waring is unmarried and resides at the Palatine Hotel.
WILLIAM SAYER WATKINS was born on the homestead farm in the town of Hamptonburgh, August 3, 1820, and the date of his death was November 7, 1884. He was an energetic farmer, and lived for his neighbors as well as himself, winning their respect and esteem by his kindly and thoughtful interest in their welfare. He married Miss Emma Monell, of Hamptonburgh, September 15, 1859, and their three children are all living. Juliana B. was born July 12, 1860, and is the wife of B. Seward Carr, of Chicago; William Sayer, born November 7, 1866, lives on the homestead; John Evans, born December 25, 1867, married Anna Eliza Blake, March 9, 1905, and they have two daughters, Elizabeth, who was born Jan-
973
BIOGRAPHICAL.
uary 2, 1906, and Emma Adeline, born October 1, 1907. The house on the home- stead was burned in 1886, and rebuilt in 1887.
J. N. WEED was born in the hamlet of Gardnertown, town of Newburgh, No- vember 20, 1825. He has always resided in the town, except when away at school. On April 1, 1833, the family moved from Orange Lake to North Newburgh on the west bank of the Hudson River, three and one-half miles north of the village of Newburgh. It was found to be a beautiful location, back from a fine sandy beach just far enough to escape the highest tides, with a bay extending seven or eight miles in front bounded by the mountains of the Highlands. April 1, 1833, was one of the loveliest days imaginable and the house had been reached by a road coming down from a hill, five hundred feet high, in numerous zig-zags. Such hills were new to the life of our subject, as also was the river bay and the river craft and naturally made an impression.
This continued to be the home of Mr. Weed until May, 1845, when he came to the village as a clerk of the Highland Bank. He left that bank, of which he was then teller, in January, 1852, having been appointed cashier of the Quassaick Bank, then organizing. Mr. Weed was cashier of the latter bank during its entire his- tory and of the Quassaick National Bank of Newburgh, into which it was con- verted May 1, 1865, until February 4, 1895, when he was elected president and now holds that position.
The principal business events of his life have been given heretofore in the local histories. There is, however, a side to the life of this man but little known, and we propose to say something about it.
As an amateur geologist he has thoroughly explored the territory about New- burgh, a region rich in glacial and drift phenomena.
Scattered over its surface are huge blue sandstone boulders, some of extraor- dinary size and sure to attract the attention of even the unobserving. They are generally, but not always, scattered in groups.
At the time of the publication of the Natural History of New York, in 1843, these and other boulders were supposed to have been transported from their source to their present place in icebergs, the glacial theory at that time being undreamed of. Now it can safely be declared established and readily explains many things in- volved in obscurity.
The glacial markings in the Hudson River valley are found from the present surface of the water up to the mountain tops and afford an index of some of the conditions existing on the earth at that time.
To illustrate : a surface now polished must have been a surface when the glacier did that work. There are glacial polishings very near Newburgh at the river surface and they also are found on the top of the Palisades, a trap rock thrown up from below in a molten state at some remote period of the earth's history. How long ago cannot be told, but this can be confidently said, the' catastrophe of the Palisades antedated their being polished by the ice of the Great Glacier. The pol- ished slate rocks at the surface of the present river show that the river valley
976
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
then existed and that the Palisades were then, also, a geological feature of the region, as the footprints of the same artisan is left on both.
Our subject was attracted by the size and numbers of these blue stone boulders about Newburgh, and persevered in an attempt to ascertain from whence they came until success finally crowned his efforts with the sure conclusion that their source was the Marlborough Mountains, and that the explanation of their being found in groups was that they came from the precipitous cliffs of the mountains from which they were detached by the action of frost and gravity, and falling upon the ice were slowly transported by it until the ice- melted and dropped its burden at the places where now found. The same natural forces continuing to act, at long intervals the falls from the cliffs would recur, the rocks take up their journey in the moving ice and find their resting place where the ice melted, and the direction and distance of these groups from the source would afford some clue to the movements of the glacier itself.
Some of these boulders are found as far south as Central Valley, and some high up on the slopes of the Cornwall Highlands, as high even as one thousand feet. Two professional geologists have gone over this ground with Mr. Weed and confirmed his conclusions. The basement walls of the Imperial Flats in South street and the stone wall built by B. Franklin Clark on the east side of the high- way to Woodlawn Cemetery are of big boulder origin. Specimens of other drift rocks have been found near Newburgh and traced to their source as far north as fifty miles.
A more interesting subject, however, to Mr. Weed, is the Aurora Borealis. In the cold winter of 1837, a chum of his brother was visiting at the house and in the early part of the evening had started for home, but almost immediately came run- ning back and in a terrified manner declared "Granny Theall's barn is on fire !" The entire household rushed to the door and confronted a scene that was in- deed alarming. The landscape was covered with snow, the snow was as red as blood and the air filled with flames. The brother and his chum ran for half a mile toward Granny Theall's barn to find when it came into view that it was not the barn but the world that was on fire, at least that was the impression of most of the persons who saw this extraordinary display of the Aurora Borealis, the flames seemed so real and the danger so imminent. It made such an impression on Mr. Weed that ever since he has been a student and observer of the phenomenon.
During the sun spot maximum of 1868-1873 the Aurora occurred so frequently that in May, 1871, he resolved to keep a close nightly watch and record of his ob- servations, and this he kept up for seven years.
In the first four months of observation forty-four Auroras were seen by Mr. Weed. The whole number of days on which Auroras were seen in the whole United States other than Newburgh was sixty-eight, and the largest number re- ported from any one place was twenty-five, from Duluth; followed by seventeen from Chicago, sixteen from Marquette, fifteen from Boston, fourteen from Grar -1 Haven, fourteen from Oswego, twelve from Davenport, ten from Buffalo, ten frou Burlington, nine from Detroit, eight from Rochester, nine from St. Paul, seven
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.