USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 52
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George B. Childs received a fair education in the academies at Ellenville and Monticello. Being a great reader, he acquired a wide knowledge of the best litera- ture and kept himself well informed upon current topics. When seventeen years of age he began selling goods for N. C. Clark of Grahamsville, Sullivan County, and was with him as a partner for some twenty-four years. In 1877 he moved to the homestead farm in Grahamsville to care for his father, remaining there until 1886, when he came to Ellenville and took the position of Secretary and Treasurer of the Ellenville Savings Bank. He was one of the original trustees of that insti- tution, at its incorporation in 1869, and the present commodious building, now occupied by the bank, is a fitting monument to his efforts.
Mr. Childs was a Democrat, but did not take an active part in political affairs since residing in Ulster County. Previous to that he was a leader in party man- agement, and held a number of political positions. For five terms he was Super- visor of Neversink, Sullivan County. In 1882, and '83 he was elected to the Legis .. lature, served through both terms and was on the Committee on Banks and also on a Sub-Committee of the Whole.
In 1861 Mr. Childs married Miss Adelia Decker, who died in 1869. In 1872, he married Miss Nancy P. Smith, by whom he had two children, Amy Bradley, and Richard T. Mr. Childs was an active and influential member of the M. E. Church of
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Ellenville, of which he was trustee. Socially, as in business circles, he held a leading place. He was a member of Lodge No. 582, F. & A. M., Wawarsing. His death left a void in business and financial circles of Ellenville which was acutely felt.
JOHN N. CLARE, Attorney of Kingston, was born in this city, in 1858, and his education was obtained at St. Vincent's College, Westmoreland County, Pa., from which he graduated in 1876. He read law in the office of Schoonmaker and Linson, and was admitted to the bar in 1882. He remained in the office of his preceptors until 1891, and has since been engaged in general practice and in the real estate and insurance business. Politically, Mr. Clare is a Democrat and has filled various offices in the city. He was appointed City Recorder and in 1893 elected to the office. In 1896, he was elected Justice of the Peace. In 1899, he was Secretary of the Board of Health. Mr. Clare married Miss Anna E. Long, of Saugerties, and they have five children, Agnes Alecita, Leo Wenceslaus, Alysusis Frances, Mary Ernstine and Helen Marie.
FRANKLIN CLARK, proprietor of the Clark Crate & Basket Factory of Marl- borough, was born in that village in 1854. He was engaged with his father in fruit farming until 1892, when he established the above industry, which covers an area of 80x300 square feet. Upwards of 150,000 crates are turned out annually in addition to 2,000,000 fruit baskets, giving employment to about thirty people. Besides supplying the local trade Mr. Clark ships large quantities of his product to the outside market.
In 1904 Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Edith Vernon Merritt, of Marl- borough. They have one son, Lawton, born in 1906. His father, Augustus Clark, is also a native of Ulster County and was for many years identified with the great fruit farms of southern Ulster.
MARIUS E. CLARK, President of the First National Bank of Ellenville, was born in Grahamsville, Sullivan County, New York, August 12, 1863. His education was obtained in the schools of that place and later he attended the Seminary at Chappaqua, and the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute. In 1882 he, with his brother, engaged in mercantile business in Grahamsville, which they conducted five years. Mr. Clark then accepted a position as bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Ellenville and has since remained with that institution. He was elected President of the bank on June 22, 1897; previous to that time for a number of years held the position of cashier.
Mr. Clark married Lenora Terwilliger, a daughter of Jonathan Terwilliger of Ellenville. Nathan C. Clark, the father of Marius, held the office of Vice-President of the First National Bank for thirty-five years previous to his death, February 25, 1906.
R. D. CLARK, eldest son of Nathan C. and Clarissa A. (Childs) Clark, was born at Grahamsville, Sullivan County, N. Y., July II, 1857. He attended the Dis-
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trict School for several terms, and a term each at Eastman's Business College and the Monticello Academy. In 1876 he associated himself in business with his father at Grahamsville under the firm name of N. C. Clark & Son. In 1880 they built a modern store at Fallsburgh Station, and under the same firm name, conducted a large general business. In 1890 he purchased his father's interest, and in 1892 established a separate business, known as the R. D. Clark Feed, Coal & Lumber Plant, which proved successful from the start. In 1904, after a quarter of a cen- tury at Fallsburgh, he purchased a residence at Ellenville, moving there in October. The next year he bought the O. H. Harting & Co. coal and oil business, which he is now conducting with success, having disposed of his entire business interests at Fallsburgh.
In politics, Mr. Clark is a staunch Democrat. His church relations are with the Dutch Reformed, in which he is an Elder. In 1881 he married Harriet, the youngest daughter of Isaac N. Grant and Hannah Leroy. Their three children are Augusta C., Harry N. and Richard Eugene.
FREDERICK J. R. CLARKE, President of the National Ulster County Bank, of Kingston, is a native of Orleans County. His parents were Thomas S. Clarke, a banker of Albion, N. Y., and at one time Surrogate of the County of Orleans, and Caroline Isabella (Rathbun) Clarke.
He was born in Albion, N. Y., September 18, 1852. After leaving school Mr. Clarke accepted a position with Lane & Paine, Druggists, of Rochester, N. Y., with whom he remained as prescription clerk, until John Wyeth, the well-known jobber in druggist supplies of Philadelphia, offered him a position as traveling representative. This Mr. Clarke accepted and was engaged in up to 1875, when he established himself in the drug business in Kingston. In 1897 Mr. Clarke was elected President of the National Ulster County Bank, upon the death of Charles D. Bruyn, the former President. Besides attending to the interests of this bank he is also First Vice-President of the Ulster County Savings Institution, Manager of the City of Kingston Hospital (since its establishment), Trustee of the Industrial Home, Trustee of the Kingston Club, of which he was also President for two and one-half years, Treasurer of the local branch of the State's Charities Aid Associa- tion, and a vestryman in St. John's Church.
Mr. Clarke married Mrs. Kate (Wright) Adams, a daughter of the late Chief Judge Wm. B. Wright, of the Court of Appeals of this State, and they have one daughter, Isabella Wright Clarke. Mr. Clarke is one of the most enterprising and liberal minded citizens of Kingston, and is very highly regarded in both business and social circles.
ALPHONSO TRUMPBOUR CLEARWATER is a descendant on the paternal side of Theunis Jacobsen Klaarwater, one of the early Dutch settlers of Ulster County, and on the maternal side of Jean Baoudoin, the distinguished Huguenot exile from France. Born at West Point, N. Y., September 1I, 1848, son of Isaac Clearwater and Emily Baoudoin Trumpbour. Educated at the old Anthon Grammar School in the City of New York, and at the Kingston Academy. Studied law at
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Kingston with Senator Jacob Hardenburgh and Judge Augustus Schoonmaker. Admitted to the Bar November 14, 1871. Elected District Attorney of Ulster County 1877; re-elected 1880. Again elected to that office 1883. Declined Republi- can nomination for Member of Congress 1884; declined the same nomination 1886. Elected County Judge of Ulster County 1889; re-elected to that office 1895. Re- signed the County Judgeship 1898 to accept the appointment by the Governor of New York of Justice of the Supreme Court of the State in place of Alton B. Parker, then elected Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals. At the request of David Dudley Field he prepared many of the provisions of the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure of New York. Appointed Commissioner by the Board of Supervisors of Ulster County, 1895, to supervise the translation from Dutch into English of the Dutch Records of the county covering the period from 1661 to 1684. Completed that work in 1898. Was delegate of the New York State Bar Associa- tion to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, 1904; was appointed 1906, by the Governor of New York, one of the original members of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission. In 1903 Rutgers College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in recogni- tion of his many tributes to the character and achievements of the Dutch. He is a Trustee of Rutgers College, Trustee of the Kingston City Hospital, President of the Twaalfskill Club of Kingston, Trustee of the Old Senate House Association of Kingston, President of the Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery Association of that place, Vice-President of the Ulster Historical Society, was one of the founders and since its formation one of the Vice-Presidents of the Huguenot Society of America ; was one of the founders and the first Vice-President for Ulster County of the Holland Society, is a member of the Union League, Metropolitan and Grolier Clubs of New York, of the Mt. Desert Club and Swimming Pool Club of Bar Harbor, Maine; was one of the founders, has been President and is a Trustee of the Kingston Club, is a member of the Huguenot Society of London, of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, of the Huguenot Society of New Paltz, of the St. Nicholas Society of New York, of the Society of the Sons of the Revo- lution, of the American Bar Association, of the New York State Bar Association. Is an honorary member of the ancient and famous St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, South Carolina; of the Ulster County Bar Association, of the New York Historical Society, New York Genea- logical and Biographical Society, of the Ex Libris Society of London, of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands; of the Minnisink Historical Society, and is corresponding member of the Historical Societies of various States. On the visit of the Holland Society to Holland in 1888, he delivered on behalf of that Society the address in response to the address of welcome by the Burgo- master of Rotterdam; he delivered the address at the opening of the great Protestant Mission at Menilmontant, Paris, France, in June, 1888, and delivered an address upon the Disregard of Law at the request of the New York State Bar Association at its annual meeting at Albany in January, 1906. Has written many papers and de- livered frequent addresses upon the Influence of the Dutch and Huguenots in the
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formation of the American Republic; and has made a large collection of original and unpublished manuscripts relative to that subject. Is author of "The Influence of the Dutch and Huguenots in the Formation of the American Republic"; "Louis XIV and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes"; "The Huguenot Settlement at New Paltz in Ulster County"; "The Huguenot Medals in the British Museum"; "The Founders of New Amsterdam"; "The Dutch Governors of New York"; "The Dutchman of Albany and the Iroquois"; "The Dutch Settlement of Esopus"; "The Jurists of Holland"; "The Significance of Dutch Local Names"; "Lord North and the American Colonies"; "Ulster in the War of the Revolution"; "The Adoption of the First Constitution of New York at Kingston, 1777"; "The Struggle for the Highlands During the War of the Revolution"; "The Inaugural of George Clinton, First Constitutional Governor of New York, at Kingston"; "Memorial Address Upon the Life and Services of Abraham Lincoln"; "Memorial Address Upon the Life and Services of General Ulysses S. Grant"; "Memorial Address Upon the Life and Services of William Mckinley"; "Ulster in the War of the Rebellion"; "A Protest Against the Destruction of the City Hall of New York"; "The Antiquity of Free Masonry"; "Heredity and Criminal Propensity"; "Lom- broso and the Danger of Sentimental Criminology"; "The Moral Accountability of Criminals ;" "Goethe and the Sentimentalists"; "The Trial of Christ from the Standpoint of a Roman Lawyer of the Time of Tiberius." Has been and now is counsel in many important causes of far-reaching public consequence. Married in 1875 Anna Houghtaling, daughter of Colonel William D. Farrand and of Julia, daughter of Henry Houghtaling of Kingston.
BYRON CLEARWATER was born in the Town of Lloyd, November 16, 1863. He attended the local schools and in 1883 engaged as clerk with George W. Rose, and in 1889 he entered into partnership with him in the general merchandise business in Highland, becoming sole proprietor in January, 1900. In 1901, Mr. Clearwater was appointed Town Clerk, has been twice re-elected, and at present holds that office. He is a stanch Republican, is identified with the Masonic fra- ternity, the K. of P., and is Treasurer of the M. E. Church and Secretary of the Highland Fire Department.
Mr. Clearwater married Charlotte M. Breckenridge of Albany, and their family consists of three children, George Wilbur, Mabel Henrietta and James Brecken- ridge.
T. VAN BUREN COCKBURN was born in Kingston in 1852, and his education was obtained at the public schools and the Academy of this city. In 1876 he embarked in the hotel business at Mount Pleasant, Ulster County, and in 1893 purchased the property. This hotel for the past twenty years has been a favorite resort during the vacation season for people who have become acquainted with its advantages as a country home.
Mr. Cockburn is a member of the Elks and one of the most popular hotel men · in the Catskills. He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Idella Longyear, who died in 1888. For his second wife Mr. Cockburn married Miss
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Nettie Lamson of Rondout. They have five children, Marguerite, William Roscoe, Louise, Elizabeth P. and Susan.
Mr. Cockburn has always taken a great interest in the success of the Republican party, and in 1906 was selected as a delegate to the Senatorial Convention. He resides in Kingston during the winter months.
EDWARD B. CODWISE, civil engineer of Kingston, was born at Elizabeth, N. J., May 9, 1849. He attended the Brooklyn schools and graduated from the Brooklyn Polytechnic School in 1865. He spent two years in study in France, and upon his return to Brooklyn was appointed assistant engineer by the Com- missioners of Sewerage of Bergen, now a part of Jersey City, N. J. He was later engaged in engineering work for the Erie, and the New Jersey Southern railroads, and during the building of the Wallkill Valley R. R. he became assistant engineer and was engaged in its construction from the town of Gardiner to Kings- ton. In 1872 he was appointed to a position on the Callao, Lima & Orayo R. R. of Peru, South America. On his return to this country he was employed at various times in the capacity of engineer by the New Jersey Southern, Erie, Wallkill Valley, New York Elevated R. R. and other public enterprises. In 1881 he was appointed resident engineer of the West Shore R. R., which was constructed under his supervision from Highland to Kingston. He has since been employed as chief engineer of the Ulster & Delaware and the Delaware & Otsego Railroads, and for years has been City Engineer of Kingston.
In 1888 he was made a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Mr. Codwise was married March 28, 1872, to Emma Snyder of Rosendale, and three children have been born to them-Harriet F., Henry R. and George Wallace.
THEODORE COLE of Pine Hill, N. Y., is a descendant of an old and honored family, and is recognized as one of the valued citizens of Ulster County. He was born at Pine Hill, N. Y., March 27, 1868, attended school there and has always made that village his home. His father, George Cole, has been for the past thirty- five years engaged in conducting the leading hotel of the village, and our subject succeeded to the business in 1904. This hotel (The Pine Hill Hotel) accommo- dates forty guests and caters especially to the commercial trade.
HON. HENRY C. CONNELLY, of Kingston, was born in Phoenicia, town of Shandaken, September 25, 1832. He is of Dutch-Irish parentage and a great grand- son of Michael Connelly, the first of the family in America, who came from the North of Ireland and settled in New York State, prior to the Revolutionary period. His son William, born in Olive Township, Ulster County, became a phy- sician and also a Baptist preacher, following both vocations on horseback through the county.
Henry C. Connelly obtained his education in one of the District Schools of the town of Esopus, and Charlotteville Seminary, Schoharie County. In 1852 he took charge of a store in Eddyville, owned by his father and cousin, in which he became a partner two years later. He later bought his partner's interest and
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conducted the business alone until 1860, when Thomas W. Cornell purchased a half interest in the business. In January, 1872, Mr. Cornell sold his interest to C. B. Shafer, and the firm became known as Connelly & Shafer. They also took up the manufacture of Rosendale cement, which has since developed to such an extent that it is now one of the largest industries in the county.
Mr. Connelly has for many years been an active worker in the Republican party. In 1867 he was elected to the office of Supervisor of the Town of Esopus and served four terms. In 1873 he was elected State Senator to represent the Fourteenth District and served one term; and again in 1885 he was chosen and elected to a second term in the Senate.
He married Cornelia A. Aldrich of the town of Rochester, on April 12, 1854, and she died in March, 1857. He took for his second wife Lucinda Manning, of West Park, and nine children have been born to them.
Mr. Connelly was President of the Kingston Savings Bank for twenty-five years, a Director inthe Kingston National Bank for many years, and is now holding the office of Vice-President of the latter institution. His membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church dates back fifty-four years, and in 1880 he was a delegate to the M. E. General Conference at Cincinnati. He is a member of Rondout Lodge, F. & A. M., Royal Arch Masons and the Rondout Commandery. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1872.
HENRY C. CONNELLY, JR., of the Connelly Drug Company, is numbered among the progressive merchants of Kingston. Born at Port Ewen in 1870, he obtained his education at the public schools and Kingston Academy. He then entered the employ of the Ulster & Delaware R. R. Company as clerk to the Pas- senger Agent, where he remained ten years. In 1898 he purchased the store prop- erty at the corner of Broadway and East Strand, remodeled the building, and established a handsome modern pharmacy. In 1902 he purchased the drug busi- ness of Van Deusen Brothers, which was established over fifty years ago, and successfully managed both stores.
Mr. Connelly is Past Master of Rondout Lodge No. 343, F. & A. M., a member of Mount Horeb Chapter No. 75, Rondout Commandery No. 52, and Mecca Temple Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a Republican.
In 1896 he married Alice N., daughter of John B. Alliger of Kingston, and they have two children. His grandfather, William Connelly, was born at Olive and married Margaret Ann Terpening of Esopus. Their son, the father of Henry, married Mrs. Harriet A. Secor. He died at Port Ewen in 1890, in his fiftieth year.
BENJAMIN M. COON was born in Saugerties, New York, September 2, 1839, and received his preliminary education at the schools and Academy of that place, and the Fort Plain Seminary. He read law in the office of the late Peter Cantine and graduated from the Albany Law School in 1864. He was admitted to the bar . in December, 1864.
Mr. Coon has served as Justice of the Peace of Saugerties for some thirty years, was School Trustee nine years, and has held the office of Police Justice since
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1891. He has served the village as both Clerk and Corporation Counsel, and was President of the village several terms. Mr. Coon has always been actively identified with the Congregational Church of Saugerties and for the past twenty-nine years has filled the office of Clerk of that church. In 1864 he was united in marriage to Mary L., daughter of Colonel Samuel M. Post. Our subject is a son of Abraham and Eliza (Myer) Coon.
JAMES CHILSON CORNISH, Proprietor of the Cornish House, Pine Hill, N. Y., was born in New York City, October 15, 1829. After attending the public school there, he learned the carpenter's trade with his father. His first visit to Ulster County was in 1848. when his father built the Guigou cottage, he working with him, and afterwards erected a school-house. He was engaged in the con- tracting and building business for some thirty years, both in New York City and throughout the country, largely in Delaware County, and in that time constructed thirty-three churches, all under contract, in different sections of the country. In 1880 he built the hotel at Pine Hill, which he now conducts, a handsome structure, with accommodations for 125 guests. Mr. Cornish has always taken an active in- terest in public affairs. He has served as Trustee of the Village of Pine Hill, of which he is now President, and is also President of the Water Company. Socially, he is identified with the Masonic Fraternity. He is the father of the following children: Rev. James Marion, Matthew DeWitt, Francis Amelia and Jacob Miller Hasbrouck Cornish.
On July 1I, 1849, Mr. Cornish married Margaret Peters Hasbrouck, daughter of Jacob I. Hasbrouck. She was born April 28, 1827, and is still living.
Jacob Miller Cornish, father of our subject, was a native of Newtown, L. I., and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He married Miss Susan W. Patrick of Connecticut.
The Cornish family are descendants of Thomas Cornish, who died in Newtown in 1662. He had four sons and one daughter, John, James, Thomas, Benjamin and Elizabeth. Following the close of the Rebellion, Mr. Cornish lived for fifteen years in Delaware County, and was for nine years a member of the High School Board.
CHARLES B. COX, Cashier of the Saugerties Bank, was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., May 4, 1869. His parents removed from Poughkeepsie to Wallkill in 1875. Our subject attended the Saugerties Schools, graduating from St. Mary's Parochial School at the age of sixteen. He then entered the County Clerk's office as Re- cording Clerk, and served as Deputy Clerk for one year and a half, remaining in the Clerk's office for nearly eight years, when he resigned to accept a position as teller in the Saugerties Bank. Upon the death of James O. Carnwright, in 1896, three years after entering this institution, he was appointed cashier, which position he still most acceptably fills.
Mr. Cox is a son of Bernard Cox, who was for many years engaged with J. B. Sheffield & Co., in the manufacture of paper. His mother was Mary Jane (Bradley) Cox. He is unmarried.
During his business life in Saugerties, Mr. Cox has gained the confidence of the
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people of this vicinity to a marked degree. He is identified with the St. Mary's R. C. Church, Knights of St. John's, Saugerties Commandery No. 145, E. S., and also a member of Kingston Council No. 275, Knights of Columbus.
HON. ISAAC N. COX, of Ellenville, was born at Fallsburgh, August 1, 1846, and was but eight years of age at the time of his father's death. Mr. Cox, after successively engaging in boating upon the Canal and school-teaching, finally, to- gether with his brother, John P., established a mercantile business in Ellenville, which has grown from an humble beginning to one of the substantial enterprises of that region. On January 6, 1888, he married Lizzie M. Stoddard. In 1875 he was elected Supervisor, but declined a nomination for re-election. He was again elected in 1883, and served four terms, the last as Chairman of the Board.
In 1886 he was appointed by President Cleveland, Chairman of a Commission to examine and report upon the condition of the Northern Pacific R. R. before a subsidy would be granted by the Government.
In 1890 he was elected to Congress by over 2,000 majority in a district then strongly Republican. He was a member of several important committees. In 1894 Mr. Cox was appointed by Governor Flower one of the five Commissioners on Fisheries of the State, to serve five years. In local institutions he is a Trustee of the Ellenville Savings Bank, a Director of the Home Savings Bank of Ellenville and the Orange County Trust Company, and a vestryman in the Episcopal Church.
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