USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 53
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JOHN P. COX, of Ellenville, was born in 1843, in Fallsburgh, Sullivan County, N. Y. His elementary education was obtained at home, under the instruction of his parents, and later he attended the Academy at Ellenville, and Claverack College. In 1859 he began teaching school during the winters and in the summer months operated a canal boat. He taught in Homowack and Spring Glen, Ulster County, and Phillipsport, Sullivan County, for about four years, and then embarked in the mercantile business at Ellenville and Homowack, in connection with his wholesale trade, running a boat, carrying commodities from Albany to Wurtsboro, returning laden with lumber. For one year he carried on this business alone, and then his brother Isaac joined him and took charge of the interests of the firm, in Ellen- ville. Other forms of business were taken up; they did general contracting, sup- plied railroads with ties; dealt in lumber and built and conducted a grist-mill.
Mr. John P. Cox has managed the New York end of the business and has spent the greater part of his life in that city. In February, 1865, he was elected Captain of Company B, Ninety-third, N. F. & I., but this company was not sent to the front. In 1871 Mr. Cox married Miss Harriet Buchanan. They have three chil- dren, Frank B., Eliza and John.
WALTER S. COX, Ellenville, N. Y., was born June 15, 1856, in Mountain Dale, Sullivan County, and lived there until he was fifteen years of age. He attended the Monticello Academy, Ellenville High School and Fort Edward's Collegiate In- stitute. When about eighteen years old he began teaching school. For three years
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he was a lumber and freight boatman on the Delaware & Hudson Canal. In De- cember, 1872, he became associated with his brothers, John and Isaac, in the firm at Ellenville. Mr. Cox married in 1879 Miss Eliza A. Goodsir, and to them have been born three children, Raymond G., Catherine M. and Fred H. Mr. Cox was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1888 and re-elected in '89-'90 and '91. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor Flower as member of a Commission to locate the Eastern New York Reformatory, and through his influence the site was finally selected at Napanoch, Ulster County.
Mr. Cox is a member of the F. & A. M., Ellenville Lodge No. 582, and I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 352, of Ellenville, of which he has been Master and Noble Grand.
CRAGSMOOR INN, one of the largest mountain hotels in the county, is situ- ated on the Cliff Farm, a tract of three hundred acres, comprising a large part of the Cragsmoor plateau, about four miles from the village of Ellenville. The Inn is a comparatively new structure, large and commodious with modern conveniences, and stands at a distance from the main road, the approach being through a private park.
Cragsmoor Inn stands on an elevation of eighteen hundred and fifty feet above sea level and fifteen hundred feet above the level of the surrounding valleys. Nature here combines all the requisites of a summer home, pure water, exhilarating mountain breezes and scenery unsurpassed. The geologic make-up of the Shawan- gunks presents much of rare beauty and intense interest, and in the very heart of this romantic range of mountains lies Cragsmoor. Among the places of interest both historic and natural in the vicinity, may be mentioned Sam's Point, and the wonderful Ice Caves, containing snow and ice through the entire year, attracting many hundreds of visitors. The present owner of the Cragsmoor Inn is Mrs. A. D. Sturdevant, who purchased the property three years ago, since which time she has made many extensive improvements.
The house accommodates about 125 guests. An especial feature worthy of mention is the excellent Cliff Farm Dairy. This is in every sense a model dairy, where scientific methods of milking and storing are in use; the buildings and equipments are in a perfect state of sanitation and the product undergoes a steriliz- ing process, insuring absolutely clean, pure milk.
The lessee and manager of this valuable property is Mrs. Robin Dale Compton, a successful hotel proprietor of New York.
THE CRISPELL FAMILY .- This family originated in Artois, France, whence they fled to Holland to escape religious persecution, and was founded in America by Anthony Crispell, who arrived in New York on the Gilded Otter, April, 1860, and shortly thereafter located in the village of New Paltz, of which he became one of the original twelve patentees.
Peter Crispell, who represented the sixth generation, was a practicing physician, and in 1837 located in Hurley, where he remained until his death in 1880, at the age of eighty-four. He was a prominent Republican and served as United States loan commissioner at different times, and as a member of the General Assembly of
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New York. His business was that of banking, and he was an officer in the Ulster County Bank a number of years. He married Catherine Elting of Hurley, who died in 1856. Their son, Abraham Crispell, chose the profession of his father, and graduated with honors from the University of New York. In 1849 he began prac- tice in Rondout during the cholera epidemic. At the beginning of the Civil War Dr. Crispell left home and joined the Union Army as Surgeon in the Twentieth Regiment. He was afterwards detailed as Health Officer at Hilton Head, S. C., where he remained two years, and was then detailed to take charge of the United States Hospitals at Buffalo, continuing until the close of the war, when he returned to Rondout. Dr. Crispell was twice married. His first wife was Miss Adeline Barber. They had one daughter, Kate A., who became the wife of the late Dr. George C. Smith. In 1855 Dr. Crispell married Jane A. Catlin and two sons were born to them, Henry S., now President of the H. S. Crispell Drug Company, and Charles W., physician and surgeon, both residing in Kingston. Dr. Crispell died November 4, 1881, in his fifty-ninth year. Of his skill in his profession it is unnecessary to speak, as his talents were known and appreciated for a period of thirty years in this city and in adjoining portions of the State, as well as in the Army.
Charles W. Crispell was born in Kingston, N. Y., in 1860, and graduated from the Kingston Academy in 1881. He then entered the University of Vermont, from which he received the degree of M. D., which was supplemented by a post- graduate course at Bellevue. He is a member of the New York State Medical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, St. Nicholas Society (New York), the Holland Society, and has taken the various chairs in Masonry. Dr. Crispell's practice is limited to consultation and microscopical examinations, and he has recently spent much time abroad visiting the famous medical institutions of Europe in order to perfect his education in his chosen specialty.
In 1904 Dr. Crispell married Mrs. Emma K. Booth, widow of Dr. Wilbur H. Booth of Utica.
BENJAMIN F. CRUMP, a well known citizen of Saugerties, was born, January I, 1853, in that village and received his education in its public schools. He began his business career in the paper mills of J. B. Sheffield & Son at the age of eighteen, since which time he has been almost continuously identified with the paper interests. In 1894 the Sheffield Paper Company acquired the mills which were later sold to the Diamond Mills Paper Company, under the management of Col. G. W. Thompson, Mr. Crump becoming assistant manager and Col. Thomp- son, president. The diamond Mills Paper Company also owns and operates three other paper mill plants in this State and New Jersey. In 1901 The American Novelty Paper Company was organized in Saugerties, as an auxiliary to the Diamond Mills Paper Company, for the manufacture of crepe and other fancy tissue papers, and Mr. Crump was chosen its Treasurer and Manager, which position he still holds.
In politics Mr. Crump has always been an ardent Republican and an earnest
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party worker. He is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church and is affiliated with Ulster Lodge No. 193, F. & A. M., and Confidence Lodge No. 51, I. O. O. F. He has always been willing to put forth any effort in the support of any project having for its object the welfare and improvement of his native town.
WILLIAM D. CUNNINGHAM, Republican, who represents the Second Assem- bly District of Ulster County in the Assembly, was born in Ellenville, Ulster County, New York, May 4, 1879. He is a grandson of Lieutenant Frederick Freileweh of the 120th Regiment, N. Y. Vol. Inf., who was killed at Gettysburg.
His earlier education was obtained in the common schools and the High School of Ellenville. In 1896, in competition, he won one of the two Cornell University Scholarships from Ulster County, entitling him to four years' free tuition in the University. In order to obtain the wherewithal to support himself during a part of the course at least, he then taught school for about a year at Tobasco, N. Y., and Socannissing, entering the College of Law of Cornell in 1897. He acted as tutor much of the time, preparing a number of students for the bar examinations with success. He was graduated from the College of Law in 1900, with the degree of LL. B., being awarded by unanimous vote of the Law Faculty the Judge Boardman Scholarship Prize of $100, for the highest standing in the class throughout three years.
After a year spent in practice in New York City, he opened an office for the practice of law in Ellenville, where he is at present successfully engaged. Mr. Cunningham has also done some law writing, being co-author of a hand-book of every-day law for laymen.
Unanimously nominated by the Republicans for Assembly in 1903, Mr. Cunning- ham received 4,946 votes and his opponent, Joseph A. Smith, received 4,278 votes for that office.
Speaker Nixon in 1904 appointed Mr. Cunningham a member of the following Assembly Committees: Codes, Federal Relations, and State Prisons.
Unanimously renominated in 1904, Mr. Cunningham received 5,617 votes to 4,735 votes for his Democratic opponent, William Lounsbery, Jr.
In 1905 Mr. Cunningham was appointed a member of the following Assembly Committees : Judiciary, Public Printing, and State Prisons.
Unanimously renominated in 1905, Mr. Cunningham received 5,313 votes to 3,872 for his Democratic opponent, Fred H. Smith.
In 1906 Speaker Wadsworth appointed Mr. Cunningham a member of the fol- lowing Assembly Committees: Chairman of State Prisons; member of Judiciary and Public Education.
Unanimously renominated in 1906, Mr. Cunningham received 4,759 votes to 3,365 votes for his Democratic opponent, Charles E. Meeker. For the session of 1907 Speaker Wadsworth appointed Mr. Cunningham, Chairman of the Committee on Education and a member of the Committee on Judiciary, and the Committee on Charitable and Religious Societies.
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U. S. GRANT CURE, editor and proprietor of the Pine Hill Sentinel, was born at Pine Hill, Ulster County, December 24, 1864. There he spent his boyhood days, attending the public schools. In 1891 he purchased the Pine Mill Sentinel, entered upon his editorial duties in 1892. The paper supports Republican principles and is outspoken and fearless in advancing all measures which will promote the public welfare. Under the able management of Mr. Cure, it has become a most popular journal and has the patronage of the best people in the community. In addition to his editorial work, Mr. Cure is engaged in the fire insurance and real estate business. In 1902 President Roosevelt appointed him Postmaster of Pine Hill and he is administering the affairs of that office in a highly satisfactory manner.
Fraternally he is a member of Shandaken Lodge, K. of P. of Phoenicia, and F. & A. M. No. 389, of Margaretville,
Mr. Cure was married at Pine Hill, December 28, 1888, to Mary Dales, who was born October 16, 1869. To them have been born three children, Fred D., born April 20, 1890; U. S. Grant, Jr., born December 19, 1895, and Elizabeth G., born January II, 1899. His father. Jacob W. Cure, was a native of Shandaken. He died February 9, 1875, aged fifty-five years. He was a farmer in his earlier days and later engaged in general merchandising, and was a man of considerable importance in the community.
PETER D. CURLEY was born in Saugerties in 1881. After completing his edu- cation at the public schools of his native place, he engaged with his father in the grocery and liquor business. In 1901 he assumed control of the business, which he has since conducted, and enjoys an extensive wholesale trade in Saugerties and surrounding towns.
Mr. Curley is a member of Arion Lodge of Eagles and is numbered among the substantial business men of Saugerties. He was united in marriage to Margaret A. Jordan, of Albany, and they have four children. Daniel Curley, father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Delhi, Greene County, and was engaged in the tanning business there previous to locating in Saugerties. During his residence in Saugerties he took an active interest in public affairs, serving as director of the village and two terms as Coroner.
THOMAS J. CUSACK, who has been a resident of Kingston since 1883, is prominent in business and political circles of the city. Born in New York in 1855, he removed with his parents to Poughkeepsie in 1861 and spent his boyhood days attending the public schools of that place, and serving his apprenticeship as plumber. In 1874 he accompanied his father to California, where he remained until 1882. Returning East, he embarked in the plumbing business in Kingston and has built up an extensive trade.
Mr. Cusack is President of the City Plumbing Board and has served four years as Alderman. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the B. P. O. E. Politically, he is a Democrat. He married Miss Morgan of Poughkeepsie, and they have five children. Their eldest son, Thomas J., Jr., is at present a student at Rutgers College
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HON. CHARLES DAVIS, the present Surrogate of Ulster County, is a de- scendant of an honored old Colonial family. He was born in the village of Sau- gerties, September 9, 1853, and is a son of John Winne and Cornelia Cooper Davis. His preliminary education was obtained in his native village, where he graduated with honor from the Saugerties Academy. He then entered Rutgers College, from which he graduated in the class of 1874. He studied two years at the Albany Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1876, and at once entered upon the active prac- tice of his profession in Saugerties, where he has been ever since.
In 1885 he was elected Counsel to the Ulster County Board of Supervisors, and this marked his formal entrance upon public life. He soon developed a taste for the political arena, showing a fondness and aptitude for participation in the local contests and conflicts of his party. Being always an enthusiastic and energetic Re- publican, he was favorably received into the inner circle of party management in his native county and soon won his way to party control. He became chairman of the County Central Committee some years ago and has been prominently connected with that organization ever since.
He was elected to the New York State Senate from his district in 1895, where he served upon many important committees until 1899. He was first elected to the office of Surrogate of his county in 1898, and re-elected to that office in 1904.
Upon the creation of the State Water Supply Commission by the Legislature of 1905 he was appointed on that commission by Governor Higgins, for the short term of one year. To this position he was reappointed in 1906 for the full term of five years. Judge Davis is a member of the Saugerties Club, the Kingston Club and the University Club of New York. He is now in the prime of life and is numbered among the more prominent men of his county.
JOHN C. DAVIS was born June 6, 1856, in Saugerties, N. Y. His great-great- grandfather, Sampson Davis, came from the city of Philadelphia to Ulster County in the year 1740 and settled in the town of Kingston, was a signer of the articles of association at Kingston in 1775, and served in one of the three regiments furnished by Ulster County in the war for Independence. He was a Sergeant in Captain Wyncoop's Company. Sampson's son, Joseph Davis, who was born at Flatbush in 1761, was also a soldier in the same company, father and son both serving their country for seven years. They were of the army that forced Burgoyne to surrender at Saratoga and helped to thrash the Hessians at Bemis Heights.
Sampson Davis had two children, John and Joseph, the latter from whom John C. Davis is descended by his first wife, Sarah Turk, being a grandson of Sampson the second, youngest son of Joseph.
Sampson Davis, the second, was born at Flatbush, April 13, 1793, married Sarah Myer, and to them were born nine children, John W. Davis, father of John C. Davis, being the second son.
John W. Davis was born February 5, 1819, at Flatbush. He left the farm early in life and after being engaged as clerk in the village of Kingston, and in business at Madalin, Dutchess County, took up his residence in Saugerties in 1846, and
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engaged in the boot and shoe business, which he continued till the year 1873, when he retired, having accumulated a handsome competence.
John C. Davis was educated at Saugerties Academy and the Eastman Business College of Poughkeepsie; at the age of sixteen he entered into partnership with his father and so continued until 1877, when his father retired, leaving him sole owner of the concern.
Mr. Davis conducted the business alone until 1889, when Mr. William Burhans became a partner, and in 1893 Mr. Davis organized the Davis Clothing Company. President Roosevelt appointed him Postmaster of Saugerties during his first administration, in which position Mr. Davis served four years. He was married in 1879 to Miss Kate S. Freleigh, a daughter of Hon. Benjamin M. and Elizabeth (Mynderse) Freleigh of Saugerties, and eight children have been born to this union. John C. Davis has been and is identified financially and socially with Saugerties' leading interests. He has served upon the village Board of Education and Board of Directors.
WILLIAM MADISON DAVIS, of the firm of Forsyth & Davis, the Wall Street stationers, was born in Kingston, New York, in 1868. After finishing his studies at the Ulster Academy, he engaged as bookkeeper with the Newark Lime and Cement Company, where he remained two years. He was then for ten years with Forsyth & Wilson, as bookkeeper and salesman, and in 1895 accepted a position with the Remington Typewriter Company, in their New York office, which he occupied until 1897, when he returned to Kingston and the above part- nership was formed.
Mr. Davis is a member of No. 10 Lodge, F. & A. M., and the Kingston and Twaafskill Clubs. In 1906, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Dr. C. W. Deyo, of Kingston.
RICHARD DAWE, was born in Devon County, England, in 1852, and obtained his education at the public schools of that place. In 1873 he came to America and located in Rondout, entering the employ of the Newark Lime & Cement Com- pany, and with the exception of the year 1876, when he went to Colorado to inspect gold and silver mines, was continuously identified with that concern for thirty years, or until it was dissolved in 1903.
Mr. Dawe is a member of the I. O. O. F., No. 413, and the Knights of Pythias, No. 76. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Rondout, in which he has been a choir singer for twenty-one years. He has been identified with church choir and choral societies of the city for many years. Mr. Dawe has been twice married. His first wife, Maria Bonds of England, died in 1877. He took for his second wife Mrs. Davis, sister of Enoch Carter, in 1878. They have two children living, Richard Carter and LeRoy.
Enoch Carter was born in Newburgh, N. Y., November 10, 1841. Early in life he removed with his parents to Kingston, where he obtained his education and learned the trade of tinsmith. In 1877 he embarked in the stove and tin business, which he conducted until his death in June, 1900, since which time the business has
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been carried on by his son Enoch. He was a grandson of Jonathan and Jane (Linderman) Carter, who was engaged in the manufacture and sale of tobacco in Newburgh from 1799 to 1820, the year of his death. Charles Carter, the father of Enoch, was born in Newburgh, June 10, 1819, and died July 16, 1868. In 1839 he married Martha A. Schrieder. They had eight children, all now deceased except Eleanor Jane, wife of Richard Dawe. Enoch Carter was a prominent and influential citizen of Kingston. He was twice elected Alderman, and also served as Supervisor. He was a member of the Knights of Honor, the American Legion, the Sons of Veterans, and was President of the Merchants' Association. The Carter family of Newburgh were prominent in the political and social history of that place, and the public are indebted to them for the valuable collection of manuscript and other relics, which are deposited in Washington's Headquarters there.
MARY GAGE DAY, M. D., daughter of Henry Van Tassell and Lucy (Grover) Gage, was born in Worcester, N. Y., in 1857. She attended the public schools of her native town and the Charlotteville Seminary, and later had a year's work in the medical preparatory course at Cornell University. She was graduated from the department of medicine and surgery of the University of Michigan in 1888 and was Resident Physician of the Michigan State School for Dependent Children ten months. She then took a course in the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital. She practiced medicine in Wichita, Kansas, six years, and in 1897 received a license to practice medicine and surgery in New York from the Regents' and the New York State Board of Medical Examiners, and has practised in Kingston since August, 1897.
Dr. Gage Day takes an active interest in all matters pertaining to the advancement of her chosen profession. She is Secretary of the Medical Society of the County of Ulster, a member of the Medical Society of the State of New York and the American Medical Association. She is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a permanent member of the Alumni Associa- tion of the University of Michigan. She is the Medical Gynecologist of the Kingston City Hospital.
ALBERT DECKER, Supervisor of the town of Gardiner, and a coal and lumber dealer of that place, was born in the town of Shawangunk, January 4, 1839. When twenty-two years of age he came to the town where he now resides, and remained there until 1870. He then engaged in farming in Orange County, and in 1883 returned to Gardiner and bought the LeFever farm, which he still owns. In 1889 he moved to the village of Gardiner and entered into partnership with W. J. Goodgion in the coal and lumber business, which was continued five years, when Mr. Decker purchased his partner's interest and has since conducted the business alone.
Mr. Decker is a Republican, has served two terms as Highway Commissioner and held the office of Town Assessor three terms. At the fall elections of 1905 he was nominated to the office of Supervisor of the town and was elected by ninety-seven
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majority, that being the largest majority ever secured by a candidate in the town of Gardiner since the organization of the town.
He married Mary E. Goodgion, of Gardiner, and they have one daughter, Susan E., now the wife of George Harrison, an artificial stone manufacturer of New York City, residing in Hackensack, N. J.
HENRY DECKHOUT of Saugerties was born in Albany, N. Y., September 2, 1861. He attended school there and early in life began learning the industry in which he has since become so proficient. He first engaged with the Adams & Bolt Company of Albany as a helper; was advanced rapidly, and in three years was considered so skillful that he was offered a position with the Whitmore Manu- facturing Company of Holyoke, Mass., to take charge of a department in the works. This position he held for ten years, when he came to the Martin Cantine Company as Superintendent of the entire plant, a position he still retains. Mr. Deckhout was married to Anna Bartell of Albany, and they have a family of six children, three boys and three girls, Stephan J., who married Sarah E. Krout, Maggie, married Clifford Abell, Anna married Charles W. Brice, Henry J., May and Charles. Stephan J. has one son, Henry. Mrs. Abell has one daughter, Anna, and Mrs. Brice has one son, Charles. Henry and Stephan Deckhout hold excellent positions under their father with the Martin Cantine Company. Mr. Deckhout is a member of Ulster Lodge, F. & A. M., and also of the Saugerties Club.
J. A. DECKER, M. D., of Ulster Park, was born in Kerhonkson, Ulster County, June 5, 1850. He attended the district schools of that place and Fort Edward Academy. He then entered the Michigan University and graduated from the Literary and Medical department of that institution in 1872. He came to Ulster Park in August of the year following and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession at that place. He is a member of the Ulster County Medical Society, the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows, having occupied all offices in the latter order.
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