USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 64
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Mr. Rose has always been an active member of the Prohibition party and in 1881 was elected Excise Commissioner, and was returned to the office at two subsequent elections, serving in all five years. Mr. Rose is numbered among the leading manufacturers of Ulster County.
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J. GRAHAM ROSE was born in Philipsport, Sullivan County, N. Y., August 15, 1866. He attended the district schools of the neighborhood and Delaware Academy at Delhi, New York. In 1886 he came to Kingston and entered the employ of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company as clerk. His promotion was rapid and he was given charge of general outside work, acting as Superintendent of Docks. He continued in this position until the canal was abandoned. In 1899 his services were secured by S. D. Coykendall and he was given charge of various interests. He is at present Treasurer of the Consolidated Rosendale Cement Company.
Mr. Rose is a member of the Kingston, Twaalfskill and Rondout Clubs. Politically he is a Republican. His father, William R. Rose, is President of the Home National Bank of Ellenville, New York.
W. C. ROSE, hardware dealer of Ellenville, N. Y., was born at Phillipsport, Sul- livan County, N. Y., November 28, 1868. He attended the local schools and Claverack College. After leaving college Mr. Rose was engaged as division foreman of the Delaware & Hudson Canal for eight years. Upon the canal being aban- doned, he established himself in the hardware business (in 1898), which he has built up until, today, it is the most extensive in this section of the county, embracing a full line of hardware and all branches usually carried under this head. He also does heating, roofing, plumbing, etc., and employs about ten hands constantly. He is prominently identified with the best business and social interest of Ellenville, and is Vice-President of the Scoresby Hose Company.
Mr. Rose married Miss Amy Bradley Childs, a daughter of George B. Childs, late Secretary and Treasurer of the Ellenville Savings Institution. They have three children, George B., born in 1900, Eliasur, born in 1902, and William R., born in 1905.
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W. R. ROSE of Ellenville, N. Y., President of the Home National Bank, was born at Cuddebackville in the town of Deer Park, Orange County, N. Y., in 1834. He received his education in the schools of Goshen and Bethany. His father was for forty years Superintendent of the D. & H. Canal, which he helped construct, and his brother was its General Superintendent at the time the canal was abandoned.
Mr. Rose conducted a mercantile business in Sullivan County for many years. He represented that county in the Assembly for one term, and was for nine years Superintendent of the Poor for Sullivan County. In 1892 Mr. Rose was elected President of the Home National Bank of Ellenville, and has since made his home in that village. His family consists of three children, Kate L., Graham and W. C. Rose. In politics Mr. Rose is a Republican. He has always been regarded as a most energetic and successful business man and valued citizen.
GEORGE W. ROSS, M.D., was born in Albany County, New York, July I, 1876. After finishing his studies at the Albany High School, he entered the Albany Medical College, graduating as a physician and surgeon in 1899. He located in Port Ewen, Ulster County, New York, the same year, where he enjoys an extensive general practice.
Dr. Ross is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, and is identified with the Masonic Order, including the Mystic Shrine. He was joined in marriage with Miss Dulcie Holt of Ulster County.
ALBERT ROWE, President of the Village of Saugerties, was born in Albany, May 14, 1846. He attended the Albany schools, and was engaged in farming, stone cutting, and the meat market business up to the time he entered the employ of Swartzchild & Sulzburger, wholesale meat dealers, as their local representative and manager. Mr. Rowe has lived in Ulster County since 1861, and has been manager for the above firm for the past ten years. He was elected President of the village of Saugerties in 1896, and has served in that office continuously since that time. He is a staunch Republican. He was elected Excise Commissioner as the candidate of both parties, and has served upon the Board of Health.
Mr. Rowe's family consists of wife, Sarah C. (Whittaker) Rowe, and six children, Herbert, Frank, Harry, Albert, Jr., Benjamin and Anna. Mr. Rowe is accredited with being one of the most practical officials that Saugerties has ever had, and has served longer than any other in the office of President of the village.
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GUSTAVE C. RUNDEL, Superintendent of the Kingston City Almshouse, was born in Kingston, N. Y., in 1863. After finishing his studies at the Ulster Academy he engaged in the barber business and has conducted a shop on the Strand since 1889. He also manufactures a hair tonic which is extensively sold throughout Ulster County and adjacent territory.
Mr. Rundel is a staunch Republican and takes an active part in promoting the interests of his party. He has served five years as City Committeeman of the Sixth Ward and was appointed to his present office, May, 1906. Mr. Rundel is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Knights of Pythias, I. O. O. F., and Knights and
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Ladies of Honor. He married Miss Martha Dittus of Kingston. Two children, Helen Carrie and Raymond John, have been born to them.
JOHN RUSK, attorney of Marlborough, was born in Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York, November 21, 1861. He attended the schools of that place, Wappingers Falls and Marlborough. He studied law wth his father, John Rusk, Sr., was admitted to the bar in 1890, and has since been engaged in practice in Marlborough, where he also conducts an insurance business. He has served as Justice of the Peace for many years until a few months since, when he resigned that office.
John Rusk, Sr., was born in 1838, near Belfast, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents. He came to America when seven years of age, was educated at the Fort Edward Institute, studied law with Samuel John Owen, then District Attorney of Putnam County, and was admitted to the bar at Brooklyn, New York, December 15, 1871. He practiced first in Cold Spring, then in Wappingers Falls, and in 1877 came to Marlborough, where he conducted a law practice until his death, May 9, 1905. In 1898 he purchased the farm on the banks of the Hudson, where his son now resides. This is the historical Major Lewis DuBois property. The house, built in 175I, was fired on by the British during their sail up the Hudson, a more extended mention of which appears in another part of this volume.
It is also supposed that the Masons met in this house and expelled Benedict Arnold from the order soon after his act of treason.
DR. CHARLES OLIVER SAHLER of Kingston-on-Hudson, Ulster County, New York, is a descendant of Abraham von Sahler, who came to this country in 1736, from Saxony, where his immediate family were in the diplomatic service, and his ancestry one of the most ancient in the nobility; the ancestor being Henry von der Sahle, who participated in the great German tournaments of the tenth century. The American ancestor settled on a large estate, on the banks of the Perkiomen, in the town of the same name, twenty-five miles from the city of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, and was one of the most prominent men in that region. He was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth DuBois, who was a double descendant of Louis DuBois, a Huguenot, descended from one of the most ancient families of France. Abraham von Sahler was the father of several children, of whom Abraham, the second, the forefather of the elder branch, and Daniel, settled among their mother's family in Ulster County, and both resided in the town of Rochester. Abraham, the second, married Trynje van Wagenen, and their eldest son, Solomon, married Eleanor Per- rine, whose ancestors went over from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror, settling on the island of Jersey and participated in the Crusades; her American ancestor was Daniel Perrine, who came to New Jersey with his kinsman, Governor Philip de Cartaret, a cousin of Sir George de Cartaret, Baronet. Abra- ham, the fourth, married Catherine, only child of Judge Richard Davis and Wyntje Robinson, and their son Solomon married Caroline Winfield, daughter of Casperus and Jane Van Aken Winfield, and they became the parents of Dr. Charles Oliver Sahler. Caroline Winfield Sahler was a descendant of the De Graffs, Van Nos-
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trands, Frelinghuysens, Van Berghs, Terhunes and Kools, and her grandfather and great-grandfather participated in the Revolutionary War.
Dr. Charles Oliver Sahler, only son of Solomon and Caroline (Winfield) Sahler, was born June 23, 1854, at Ulster Park, in the town of Esopus, the home of his maternal grandparents. When he was only a few months old he was removed to his father's farm, which was formerly his grandfather's home, at Kyserike, in the Rondout valley. His elementary education was acquired in the district school, where he had the extreme good fortune of having a teacher of wide experience, John H. van Wagenen, who was formerly a principal of the University of Northern Pennsylvania. At the age of fourteen he decided to study medicine, and at the age of seventeen he began teaching school during the winter months, continuing this occupation until he was twenty years old. He then entered the medical department of Columbia University (College of Physicians and Surgeons), of New York City, and after taking the usual three-years' course he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1878. He returned to Kyserike and commenced the practice of his profession, where his ability as a physician being quickly recognized, he soon had a large and lucrative country practice. After thirteen years of experience in medical work he opened an office in Kingston. Two years later Dr. Sahler pur- chased a beautiful spacious mansion with ample grounds in the outskirts of the city, and converted it into a sanitarium for the treatment of mental, nervous and functional diseases. It was about this time that he began to devote much time and thought to psycho-therapeutics. During the last few years Dr. Sahler's skill and fame in this branch of therapeutics have spread in all directions; the sanitarium has been twice enlarged and cottages built, and yet is inadequate to accommodate the number of patients, many of whom are sent there by their family physicians. This sanitarium is unique in its remedial methods, it being the only one in the United States where psycho-therapeutics is the agent principally used, although there are several prominent American physicians who are decided exponents of it.
Dr. Sahler has contributed to several magazines, and for a time he occupied the chair of nervous diseases and suggestive therapeutics of the Post-Graduate School, the Eastern College of Electro-Therapeutics and Psychological Medicine at Phila- delphia. He is also one of the vice-presidents of the American Association of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, and a member of the American Psychological, Medical and Surgical Society, and the Medico-Legal Society. We frequently hear Dr. Sah- ler's name mentioned as lecturer before the Phrenological Institute, and medical and psychic study societies in New York and New Jersey.
In 1880, Dr. Sahler joined in marriage with Miss Jennie Sahler, daughter of James and Sarah (Alliger) Sahler. They have no children of their own, but have one by adoption, Miss Nellie Sahler.
J. LEONARD SALTZMANN was born in Kingston, April 2, 1866, and obtained his education at the public schools. He spent five years in New Haven, Conn., in the meat business with his uncle. In 1885 he returned to Kingston and became associated with his father in the management of his bakery establishment, which was continued until his father's death in 1902, when he purchased the estate and se-
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cured sole ownership of the business, which has developed rapidly in the past four years.
Mr. Saltzmann married Emma Weislogel of Elizabeth, N. J., and they have two children living. Socially he is identified with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights and Ladies of Honor. He is numbered among the substantial business men of Rondout and his friends are legion.
John W. Saltzmann, father of our subject, was born in Germany in 1834, and located in Rondout in 1853. He was employed with local cement companies about seven years and in 1860 established his bakery, which achieved such well-merited success. Mr. Saltzmann was a member of the Kingston Board of Trade and its first vice-president. He was a director of the Rondout Savings Bank and affiliated with various fraternal organizations of the city. He was one of the organizers of the English Lutheran Church of Rondout and was an officer in the church from its organization until his death.
WARREN SAMMONS of Rosendale, N. Y., was born in that village December 23, 1858. After receiving a liberal education he entered business as an assistant to his father, with whom he has always been associated. They conduct a distillery and wholesale and retail liquor business. They also conducted Rosendale's leading hotel up to the time it was destroyed by fire. The elder Sammons served as Super- intendent of the Poor for nine terms and their establishment has for many years been the headquarters for political gatherings of the town.
Warren Sammons is one of Rosendale's most energetic citizens and is success- fully managing a thriving establishment.
JOHN SAUER, Hotel Keeper on the Kingston and Saugerties Road, eight miles from Kingston and four from Saugerties, erected this hotel in 1903. He can accom- modate thirty-five guests. The scenery here is unexcelled and there is excellent fishing and boating, while the hotel accommodations and service are all that can be desired. Mr. Sauer is a German by birth and a most genial and accommodating host. He has been in this country for thirty-five years and has a family of three children, Josephine, Augusta and John.
PHILIP SCHANTZ, of Highland, has for a number of years been intimately associated with the business and political interests of Ulster County. He was born in Lloyd Township, June 6, 1858, was educated in the district school and the Fort Edward Institute in Washington County. He learned the trade of miller with his father, afterward working for Geo. W. Pratt of Lloyd for some seven years as a journeyman miller, and the next four years he was in partnership with him. In 1884 he started what is now the Highland Ice Company. In 1888 he added to his other enterprises the grist mills formerly managed by Mr. Eckert, and in 1890 secured control of the Highland Cold Storage House. In 1890 he purchased the merchant mill of Z. Eckert on the New Paltz Turnpike. He is President of the Poughkeepsie Elevator Company and President and organizer of the Highland Knitting Mills.
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From this it may readily be inferred that Mr. Schantz has ever been a busy man, yet he has always found time to devote to the interests of the public and was but twenty-one years of age when he was elected one of the Collectors of his town. In 1888 he was elected Supervisor and re-elected annually until elected Sheriff in 1894 by a majority of 1,285 votes. He has frequently been a delegate to the County and State Republican Conventions and is at present serving in his old position as Supervisor.
Mr. Schantz was married on March 9, 1892, to Martha S. Cluett of Poughkeepsie and they have one son, Cluett Schantz, born in 1900. Mr. Schantz is identified with the F. and A. M., Mystic Shrine, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Odd Fellows, Loyal Americans, Red Men and an honorary member of the G. A. R.
REV. A. SCHMIDTKONZ, son of Mathias and Barbara (Weis) Schmidtkonz, was born at Ettenstadt, Bavaria, Germany, in 1858, and obtained his classical and theological education at the famous institutions of his native country. In 1878 he came to America, and attended for a year the Theological Seminary of the Lutheran Synod of Iowa, to perfect himself in the English language. He was ordained at Cedar Falls, Iowa, July 2, 1879, and was then sent to Kansas to engage in mission work, where he remained until 1882, establishing a number of German Lutheran congregations. He was then transferred to Port Chester, New York, where he had charge of St. Paul's Church until 1888, when he was removed to Rondout to become pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, ministering to his congregation in the German language.
Mr. Schmidtkonz has been identified with many important offices of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Ministerium of the State of New York and from 1889 to 1899 was President of the Albany Conference of that organization. September 12, 1881, he was united in marriage at Tipton, Kansas, to Anna Berkemeier, daughter of the well-known Rev. W. Berkemeier, who founded the German Lutheran Emigrant Home of New York. Five children have blessed this union.
JULIUS SCHMITT, of Malden, is a native of New York City. He is conduct- ing a hotel in Malden of which he has been proprietor for the past eight years. Prior to taking the Malden Hotel he was engaged in the same business elsewhere for a number of years, and is thoroughly proficient in the art of catering to the public. Mr. Schmitt is a popular and conscientious business man and is identified with various local institutions. His family consists of wife, Bertha (Botchtold) Schmitt, and four children, Margaret, Robert C., Anthony J. and Wilminia B.
THE GLENERIE FALLS HOTEL .- This noted hostelry is one of the old Ulster landmarks. Located on the King's Highway, a few miles south of the vil- lage of Saugerties, it has for years been a summer resort for New Yorkers and a favorite stopping place for tourists. A century and more ago this was one of the prominent taverns between New York and Albany and has no doubt entertained many distinguished visitors. Its present proprietor, Mr. C. Schoentag, purchased the property in 1890, and previous to that time it had for nearly a hundred years been in the possession of the Martin family.
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Mr. Schoentag has successfully conducted this hostelry for sixteen years and entertains during the summer months from seventy-five to one hundred guests.
JOHN D. SCHOONMAKER .- The progenitor of the Schoonmaker family in America was Hendrick Jochemsen Schoonmaker, a native of Hamburg, Ger- many. He came to this country in the military service of Holland, and first settled at Albany, as shown by the records, previous to 1655. In these records frequent mention of his name appears, indicating his standing and showing him to have been a man of considerable wealth and importance. He loaned money to Governor Stuyvesant "in time of need," and was active in the military duties made necessary by the troublous times, being a lieutenant "in the Company of His Noble Honor the Director-General."
In 1659 this company was ordered to Esopus (Kingston) to assist the settlers in their defense of the Indians. The company was soon disbanded and the members received from the government grants of land lying in the vicinity of Esopus. Hendrick Jochemsen sold his Albany property and became a resident of Wiltwyck, where he became as prominent as at Albany, his military experience being fre- quently called in requisition in their dealings with the Indians.
When the Indians destroyed Hurley (the new village) in 1663 and attacked Wilt- wyck he fought bravely in its defense and was severely wounded.
He married Elsie Janse Van Brustede, of New Amsterdam. The court records of Kingston say "he was recently deceased, November 7, 1682."
Jochem, their eldest son, became one of the first settlers in Rochester town- ship, and was one of the first trustees under letters patent from Queen Anne. At the time of the burning of Hurley he was taken captive by the Indians, but after- ward succeeded in effecting his escape.
Captain Frederick Schoonmaker, third in descent from Hendrick Jochemsen, was one of the patriots and soldiers of the Revolution, who gave himself and his prop- erty to his country in its struggle for freedom from the Briitsh yoke. He raised two companies of soldiers, one of mounted volunteers, which he as captain com- manded, and bore their expenses through the entire war. He owned some forty improved farms in Marbletown and all but one of these, together with his personal estate, were freely sacrificed in furnishing funds for the men and provisions for the Continental Army. As a result of his patriotism a price was set upon his head, and he had many narrow escapes from Tories and Indians. He fitted up his resi- dence in Kingston as a fort and it became a refuge of safety for women and chil- dren, and harbored many families after the burning of the city.
John D. Schoonmaker, son of Hiram and great-grandson of Captain Frederick Schoonmaker, was born in Kingston in 1864. After finishing his studies at the Ulster Academy, he was connected with the Cornell Steamboat Co. until 1901. From 1902 to 1905 he was president of the American Ice Co. and is now largely interested in the ice and transportation business.
Mr. Schoonmaker is a member of Kingston, Knollwood, Twaalfskill and New York Athletic Clubs.
In 1898 he was united in marriage to Miss Alberta L., daughter of Hon. Thomas
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E. Benedict, of Ellenville, N. Y. They have three children, Dorothy, Louise and John D., Jr.
Mr. Schoonmaker is one of Kingston's most highly respected citizens and with his family occupies a beautiful residence on Chestnut street, overlooking the Hudson.
JULIUS SCHOONMAKER, Custodian of the Old Senate House, Kingston, N. Y., was born and educated in Kingston. His father, the late Marius Schoon- maker, who preceded him as custodian of this historic structure, was born in Kings- ton, April 24, 1811, and died January 5, 1894. He was a son of Zachariah and Cornelia Marius (Groen) Schoonmaker, and sixth in descent from Hendrick Jochemsen Schoonmaker, who came to America from Hamburg in 1654 in the mili- tary service of the Dutch West India Company, being a Lieutenant in the "Company of his Noble Honor, the Director General." The record shows he advanced money, in 1654, to Governor Stuyvesant "in time of need." He died in Kingston in 1681.
Marius Schoonmaker was one of Ulster's representative men. A graduate of Yale College in 1830, he took up the study of law, and in 1833 was admitted to the Bar. He opened an office in Kingston and his long and successful legal and political career has been equaled by few of Ulster's native sons.
Mr. Schoonmaker was elected to the State Senate in the fall of 1849. In 1850 he was elected to Congress from the Tenth Congressional District by the Whigs. Declining a renomination he returned to his law practice.
In January, 1854, he was appointed Auditor of the Canal Department of the State of New York, and one year later, by the appointment of the Governor and approval of the Senate, was transferred to the office of Superintendent of Banking. He resigned that office the year following. In 1867 he was a member of the Committee on Canals in the convention for the revision of the Constitution of New York.
He was president of the Kingston Board of Education nine years, and president of the village three years. He was secretary of the Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery at the time of his death. Mr. Schoonmaker wrote the "History of Kingston from its early settlement down to 1820," which was published in 1888. This is a most authentic and valuable work, and it clearly entitles him to be regarded as the Historian of Kingston. He was also writing the life of the celebrated artist, John Vanderlyn, at the time of his death.
On December 13, 1837, he married Elizabeth Van Wyck, daughter of Rev. Cor- nelius D. Westbrook, D. D., of Kingston. Four children were born to them, as follows: Capt. Cornelius Marius, a noted Commander in the U. S. Navy, who was drowned at Apia, Samoa, during the hurricane of March 15, 1889; Henry Barnard, a talented young attorney, who died in 1867 at the age of twenty-three; Julius, the present Custodian of the Senate House, and Ella, the wife of Henry D. Darrow, of Kingston.
Cornelius C., the grandfather of Marius, was a man of national reputation and a native of Shawangunk, Ulster County. He was a member of the first State As- sembly at Kingston in 1777, and held that office through eleven sessions. In 1790 he was elected to the U. S. Congress, and was a member of the State Legislature
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in 1795. He was also a member of the convention of 1788 to deliberate upon the Federal Constitution.
J. U. SCHOONMAKER, of Ellenville, of the well-known drug firm of Patterson & Schoonmaker, is a native of Onondaga County. He was born in 1878, educated in the Ellenville schools and the Ulster Academy, and studied pharmacy. He passed his examination before the State Board in 1899, and in 1902 formed a partnership with Mr. Patterson. Mr. Schoonmaker is a member of one of Ulster County's pioneer families, which has borne its full share in public affairs since Colonial days. He was married October 3, 1905, to Anna F. Dutcher, a daughter of George H. Dutcher, who was for many years treasurer of the Ellenville Savings Bank, and who is now living retired. Upon July 8, 1906, Mrs. Schoonmaker departed this life, deeply mourned by her husband and friends. She was an accomplished lady of most pleasing address and her memory is highly cherished by all who were honored by her acquaintance.
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