USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 67
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COL. G. W. THOMPSON, of Saugerties, manufacturer, is a veteran of the Civil War and one who signally distinguished himself in many a hard-fought battle. He was born in Pittsfield, Mass., February 12, 1830. Enlisted at the outbreak of hostilities in the 34th New York Volunteers as Adjutant, served with this regiment during the entire time for which he was enlisted, participating in numerous engage- ments, and upon its return home immediately raised another, the 152nd New York Volunteers, and returned to action as its Lieutenant-Colonel. He was soon pro- moted to Colonel and fought under General McClellan in all the engagements and battles under that renowned commander.
Among the many battles that Col. Thompson was engaged in with his regiment we mention : Spottsylvania Court House (the Battle of the Bloody Angle), where he was wounded in the ankle by grape shot, and the Battle of the Wilderness,
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during which he was reputably mentioned for exceptional bravery. At the close of the war Colonel Thompson engaged in the manufacture of tissue paper in Mil- burn, N. J., where he owned and operated the Diamond Mills Paper Company. He afterwards owned paper mills in Bloomfield and New Hampton, that State.
In 1905 he established his paper mills in Saugerties (No. I and No. 2). The Colonel makes his home in New York City.
R. F. THOMPSON, Hotel Keeper, Pine Hill, N. Y., was born in Lexington, N. Y., November 20, 1878. His parents moved to Pine Hill when our subject was eight years of age. His father was engaged in the livery business, in which the son assisted, and he later established a similar business in 1901. In May, 1906, he assumed charge of the "Avon Inn," at Pine Hill. This hotel accommodates twenty- five guests, and caters to the commercial trade.
Mr. Thompson is an energetic, progressive young business man and is very popular in Pine Hill. He was married to Miss Margaret Dutcher, a daughter of Byron Dutcher, of Oliverea, in 1889. He has no children.
JOHN A. TICE, Secretary of the Ellenville Savings Bank, is a descendant of Tice, who came to America upon the Mayflower. The descendants of the progenitor of this family are found in Dutchess and Sullivan Counties, from whence our subject's father came into Ulster, some sixty years ago.
John A. Tice was born at Ellenville, June 29, 1859. He attended the public schools and finished his education at the Wyoming Seminary, of Pennsylvania. After leaving school he was engaged in the jewelry business for a time and later in the shoe business with Burr Eaton. In April, 1883, he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the Savings Bank, where he has since continued and of which he was elected secretary in 1906. Mr. Tice married Miss Harriet I. Hoar, and to them has been born one son, Rodger DuBois Tice. Mr. Tice is a Mason, Knight . Templar, President of the Scoresby Hose Company for the past fifteen years, and one of Ellenville's most influential and trustworthy business men. He is highly regarded by all.
F. TOBEY, JR., was born at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, November 1, 1856. His education was obtained in the schools at New Bedford, Mass. He first took up the trade of pattern-making, which he followed for some time, and then entered the employ of the New Bedford Gas Company, with whom he worked, in all ca- pacities, from 1873 to 1890, when he tendered his resignation; he was at that time foreman of the piping and fixture department. He then came to Kingston and assumed the office of Superintendent of the Gas Department of the Kingston Gas and Electric Company. Four years later he was made Superintendent over the entire plant, both gas and electric, which position he now holds.
He was married to Susan F. Bunker, of New Bedford, Mass., and they have four children-Elihu Franklin, has charge of the fitting department of the Kingston Gas and Electric Company; James Philip, Olive Bunker, married J. H. Tremper, Jr., and Bessie L.
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GEORGE FREDERICK TOBEY, of Kingston, is a native of Fair Haven, Mass, where he was born in 1858. After completing his education at the public schools of New Bedford, he embarked in the plumbing business in that city with his father, where he remained until 1898, when he came to Kingston to act as Superintendent of the Gas Works. Mr. Tobey is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He has been twice married, his first wife being Emma B. Case, whom he wedded in 1885. Two children blessed this union, Louisa B. and Clarence B.
In November, 1901, Mr. Tobey married Martha Timperley. His father, Franklin. Tobey, and mother, Phoebe (Potter) Tobey, were descendants of old New England families.
WILLIAM H. TOWNSEND, JR., was born in Milton, N. Y., April 13, 1867. He attended a Hackensack select school and also one in Poughkeepsie. After leav- ing school he assisted his father, who conducted a grocery business. In 1892 Mr. Townsend established his present extensive manufacturing business, which consists of the manufacture of all kinds of fruit packages, and is located near the depot in Milton, on the banks of the Hudson. The product is shipped throughout the Middle States, and employment is given to about twenty-five hands. Mr. Townsend served one term as Postmaster of Milton under President Harrison. His family consists of a wife and two children, Charles Powell and Gladys V.
JOSEPH S. TRACY, Secretary of the New York Car and Truck Company, is a native of St. Louis, Mo. He located in Kingston, N. Y., in 1906, to take charge of the above industry, the other officers of which are O. F. Thomas, president, who resides in. New York, and Frederick Steigerwald, vice-president and treasurer, of Lyons, N. Y.
The Kingston plant manufactures street car trucks and rotary snow ploughs for electric service, and an area of over a quarter of a million square feet is occupied by the concern, the dimensions of the main building being 335 by 338 feet. The plant has been in operation since June, 1906, and at present gives employment to seventy-five men, with prospects of employing two hundred more. Mr. Tracy has been financial manager for many years of the O. F. Thomas enterprises, which are scattered throughout the United States. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the New York branch of the Society of Founders and Patriots of America.
JACOB H. TREMPER .- Success in life is rarely attained by a mere fortunate combination of favoring circumstances. It usually comes as the sequence of earnest, persistent labor, under the guidance of good management. Captain Tremper, who . retired from an active business career about seven years ago, gained his success in this legitimate manner.
He was born in Kingston, N. Y., of an excellent and sturdy parentage, June 17, 1849, and his whole life has been spent in that historic town. He attended the public schools and the Kingston Academy, and afterward spent a year at the Col- legiate Institute of Andes, Delaware County, and another at the Hudson River
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Institute at Claverack, N. Y. On leaving school he began his business career at an early age with his father, Captain Jacob H. Tremper, who was then conducting an extensive steamboat transportation business between Kingston and New York, and also between Newburgh and Albany. These lines, now owned by the Central- Hudson Steamboat Company, were established by his father in 1846; the firm being then known as the Romer & Tremper Steamboat Company. William F. Romer and Jacob H. Tremper were the owners and operators. After the death of Mr. Romer in 1884, and Captain Tremper, four years later, the subject of this sketch, in partnership with Myron Teller, of Kingston, took charge of this extensive pas- senger and freight traffic. Under their careful management the boats were greatly improved and kept in the best possible condition for service, and the business in- creased rapidly. For a time Captain Tremper took personal command of the James W. Baldwin, the largest of the New York night-line steamers, and both the passenger and freight traffic became very large and profitable. He was then President of the Company. About seven years ago the business was sold to the Central-Hudson Steamboat Company, and soon after this Captain Tremper gave up active business life. Previous to this, however, he conducted the large summer hotel in the Catskills at Phoenicia, known as the "Tremper House," for a number of years. This was among the first large summer hotels in the Ulster County Catskills. It was built by Captain Tremper in 1878. It was for some years one of the most popular resorts in that section of the mountains. The property was sold to other parties some years ago, and the house is still operated as a summer hotel, being known as the "Washington Inn."
In 1898 Captain Tremper was elected to the New York State Assembly from the first Ulster County District, by the Republicans. For several years he was a director of the Ulster & Delaware Railway Company, and he served in a like capacity in the First National Bank of Rondout and the National Bank of Rondout. He is now serving his eighteenth year as a trustee of the Industrial Home in Kingston. He is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity in Kingston, and the Mecca Temple and Scottish Rites in New York City. He served twelve years in the State Militia, receiving the appointment of Commissary of Subsistence under General Parker, of the Eighth Brigade, with the rank of Captain, and later as Inspector of Rifle Practice, with the rank of Major. After the dissolution of the Eighth Brigade he served five years as Inspector of Rifle Practice, under General Oliver, of the Fifth Brigade.
He married Catharine Elmendorf Ostrander, of Kingston, and they have one son, Jacob H. Tremper, Jr., who is now engaged in the insurance business on Fair Street in this city. Captain Tremper is a leading member of the old Dutch Church in Kingston, which he has served as Deacon and Elder in the past. He and Mrs. Tremper have been prominent in Kingston social circles for many years.
His father, Captain Jacob H. Tremper, was also a native of Kingston, and he rose steadily from a humble walk of life, and became one of the most prominent and influential citizens and business men in the county. He was widely known as a popular river steamboat man. He was a man of strong individuality and strict integrity of character; honest, sincere, energetic and persistent, and he left a
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wholesome and indelible impress upon the community in which he lived and labored. In his capacity as river steamboat owner and Captain he formed a vast number of acquaintances in different parts of the country. Few men of his time left so large a circle of friends at the close of life as did Captain Tremper. He married Catharine Louisa Hardenburgh, daughter of Thomas R. Hardenburgh, who held an original Land Patent conferred by Queen Anne.
WILLIAM J. TURCK, son of Solomon and Cornelia (Boies) Turck, was born at Red Hook, Dutchess County, New York, December 23, 1820. He learned the carpenter's trade in Kingston, where he has erected many public edifices, notably the German Catholic, the Trinity Methodist and the Church of The Holy Spirit. In 1864 he established his lumber yard, which is now the most extensive in the county. He also conducts a planing mill at Ponckhockie and a ship-building yard on the Rondout Creek. His various industries give employment to upwards of fifty men. In 1841 Mr. Turck married Miss Jane Scott, who died in 1858, leaving one child, Marius. For his second wife he married Miss Maria Dederick, by whom he had three children, William J., Jr., John and Ella. Mr. Turck is a member of the M. E. Church and has been identified with the Masonic fraternity for forty years. He is one of Ulster County's self-made men and has contributed largely to the development of the business interests of Rondout.
William J. Turck, Jr., was born in 1859, and since finishing his studies at the Rondout schools, has been associated with his father in business. He is now a partner and an officer in the stock company known as The William J. Turck Com- pany, and is widely known as an active business man.
In 1882 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Lewis, of Saugerties, and they had three children, Harry L., who died July 25, 1903, Hazel B. and Ella M.
GEORGE VAN AKEN, a well-known citizen of the town of Esopus, was born June 20, 1856. His boyhood days were passed on his father's farm and in attending the District School, and in 1898 he purchased the farm on which he now resides. He married Selena Terpening, a daughter of Selah Terpening, a member of an old Ulster County family.
Mr. Van Aken is one of Ulster County's representative farmers, and is a de- scendant of a family whose members have been prominently identified with the history of the county since pre-revolutionary times.
His father, Liverius Van Aken, was born at Ulster Park, March 14, 1832, and died May 27, 1897. He married Phoebe Ann Townsend, of Esopus, and had two children, George and Edwin. The latter still resides on their father's farm. Mr. Van Aken traces his ancestry to Peter Van Aken, who settled in Esopus, one mile from the mouth of the Rondout, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and became quite an extensive land owner.
AUGUSTUS H. VAN BUREN, of Kingston, a prominent member of the bar of Ulster County, was born at Marbletown in 1856. After completing his studies
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in the Kingston schools he read law in the office of Charles A. Fellows and was admitted to the bar in 1877.
Mr. Van Buren has served two terms as Alderman and has acted as counsel for the Board of Supervisors. From 1902 to 1906 he served as Corporation Coun- sel. Always a sterling Democrat, Mr. Van Buren as Chairman of the County Committee has accomplished much for his party. Since 1889 he has been asso- ciated with ex-Senator John J. Linson in the practice of law at Kingston.
Mr. Van Buren is Master of F. and A. M. Lodge No. 10 and High Priest of the Chapter. In 1879 he was joined in marriage to Miss Catherine M. Mckinstry. Three sons and one daughter have been born to them. The Van Burens in Ulster County are descended from Tobias and Helena (Bogardus) Van Buren, who came to Kingston in 1720.
DEWITT VAN BUREN, of Saugerties, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, was born at Kingston, N. Y., August 25, 1881, in the old stone house opposite the Eagle Hotel. He is a son of Augustus Van Buren, Esq., of Kingston, with whom he studied law and later graduated from Cornell University, Class of 1903. Mr. Van Buren begun the practice of his profession in March, 1904, at Pine Hill, where he became corporation counsel, continuing there for two years, and then removed to Saugerties and opened an office in the Seaman Block. He is identified with local organizations and bids fair to add new lustre to this most distinguished name, in the history of New York State.
AMOS VAN ETTEN .- The progenitor of the Van Etten family in America was Jacob Jansen Van Etten, who came from Etten in North Brabant, a province of Holland, to America some time prior to 1660. The exact date of his arrival is not known, but it is a record in the Reformed Church at Kingston, N. Y., that in 1665 he was married to the widow of Aert Pietersen Tack, of Amsterdam, by whom he had ten children, the oldest of whom was Jan, baptized, as appears from the records, January 3, 1666. Jan married Jannetje Roosa, daughter of Arien Roosa. One of their sons, Jacob, married Antjen Westbrook. They resided in the town of Rochester, Ulster County, N. Y., until about 1730, when they located in Sussex County, N. J., along the Delaware River. Johannes, one of Jacob's sons, married and settled in what is now Pike County, Pennsylvania. He was a Captain of the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolutionary War, and it is said that he served his country with honor and distinction. His son Cornelius was born and lived upon the farm of his father in Pike County until the time of his death in 1860. One of his sons wasAmos, Sr., the father of our subject. Amos Van Etten, Sr., was born in 1808. He began his business career as a merchant at Milford, Pa., afterwards located at Hainesville, Sussex County, N. J., where he resided until the year 1862, when he engaged in business at Port Jervis, N. Y., and lived there until the time of his death in 1889. He married Lydia C. Thrall, of Milford, Pa., and to them were born six children.
ยท Amos Van Etten, Jr., was born at Hainesville, N. J., August 31, 1852. Was graduated from Rutgers College in 1874. During his college course he began the
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study of law with Lewis E. Carr, then of the firm of Carr & Howell, at Port Jervis, and in the year 1875 entered the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in 1876. He began the practice of law at Port Jervis, where he remained until 1892, when he came to Kingston and continued in his profession, which then became largely Admiralty practice. While practicing in Port Jervis he was in the year 1884 elected Special County Judge of Orange County, and held the office one term, until 1887. He was then renominated for the office, which nomination he declined. Mr. Van Etten is now the legal representative of the Cornell Steamboat Company and The Ulster & Delaware Railroad Company, and is the local attorney for the New York Central Railroad. In 1898, when the Bankruptcy Law became effective, he was appointed Referee in Bankruptcy for Ulster County, and holds the position at the present time. He is a member of the Holland Society of America, the Transportation Club of New York, the Kingston Club and the Mystic Shrine of Albany. In 1879, he married Olive Caskey, of Port Jervis, daughter of Franklin Caskey, and their family consists of three daughters: Luella, Kate and Jennie.
JUDGE JOHN G. VAN ETTEN is a descendant of Jacob Jansen Van Etten, who emigrated to America about 1660. The name is derived from the village of Etten in the province of North Brabant, Holland, where Jacob Jansen was born, and there it is supposed he passed the early years of his life until he sailed for America. He settled in or near what is now the city of Kingston, N. Y., and was the progenitor of the entire Van Etten family in this country. John E. Van Etten, who represents the seventh generation, was born in what is now Woodstock town- ship, April 2, 1830. His education was obtained at Albany, under the distinguished author, George R. Perkins. He read law in Kingston with Erastus Cooke, late Justice of the Supreme Court, and in 1856 was admitted to the Bar of the State; in 1867 he was admitted to the United States Bar. Mr. Van Etten was in active practice until shortly before his death, April 30, 1904, and was one of the ablest and most distinguished members of the Ulster County and United States Bars, obtaining favorable decisions in some of the most intricate and noted cases tried in Ulster County, and for several years was in partnership with Hon. A. T. Clear- water. In 1858 he was united in marriage to Adelaide Greene, by whom he had two sons, John G. and Lawrence E., the latter a civil and landscape engineer of New Rochelle, N. Y., and one daughter Jessie, now the wife of Dr. J. L. Preston, of Kingston, N. Y.
Judge John G. Van Etten was born in Kingston, N. Y., August 7, 1863, and re- ceived his education at the Kingston Academy and Princeton University. He took up the study of law in his father's office, and in 1886 was admitted to the bar. In 1890 and 1891 he served as City Engineer, and in 1896 was a delegate to the Na- tional Democratic Convention from the Eighteenth Congressional District of New York. In 1898 he was elected Judge of Ulster County for a term of six years. He is a member of Kingston Lodge No. 10, F. & A. M., of which he is Past Mas- ter, and has held all offices in the Fourteenth Separate Company (now Company M, First Regiment), including that of Captain.
In 1888 he married Miss Anna, daughter of Mr. I. M. North, of Kingston, N. Y.
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GEORGE H. VAN GAASBEEK, M.D., was born at Olive, Ulster County, in 1863. His early education was obtained largely by self-instruction, until he quali- fied for a position as school-teacher. After teaching for two years, he entered the Albany Medical College and graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. in 1893. His medical education has been supplemented by frequent post- graduate courses at the University of the State of New York.
Dr. Van Gaasbeek is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, and is attending physician of the Benedictine Sanatarium. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the J. O. U. A. M. Politically he is a Republican.
He married Frances Johnson, a native of Ulster County, and they have one son. His father, Nathaniel Van Gaasbeek, for many years a Captain on the Hudson, was drowned in 1875 at the age of forty-one. His widow, Milinda Young, is still living.
JACOB VAN GELDER .- The history of the Van Gelder family in America is traced back to Peter Van Gelder, who came from New Jersey in 1765 or 1767 to Catskill, N. Y., where he bought a farm which remained in the possession of the family for over a century, and a portion of which is still owned by some of his de- scendants. Peter Van Gelder married Altie Hendricks, of Long Island, May 29, 1757, and they had three children, Abraham, Jacob and Peter. Jacob spent his whole life on the homestead, and there passed away May 5, 1835. He married Maria Mynderse in Saugerties and had two children, Peter, the father of our subject, and Henry. He carried on a large farm of over two hundred acres, and was one of the most successful and influential men in that part of the country. He was a Federalist, and took quite a prominent part in politics. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and was active in church work.
Peter Van Gelder, father of our subject, was born May 20. 1800, in Catskill, and was educated in the District Schools of that neighborhood, gaining a fair knowledge of the elementary branches which he added to by excessive reading, becoming a well-informed man. He was an old-line Whig, and was so popular with his fellow-citizens that he could have held any office within their gift; but preferring to attend to his private business refused many propositions looking to such an end. However, he served for a time both as Assessor and Road Commissioner. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church at Katsbaan, in which he was deacon and elder. His marriage to Sarah Myer, who was born November 23, 1800, daughter of William Myer of Saugerties, took place November 2, 1822, and five children were born to them, Rebecca, who died when thirteen years old; David H., deceased; Jacob, our subject; William, deceased; and James H., a lawyer. This excellent man passed to his final rest March 14, 1875, his wife dying December 22, 1874.
Jacob Van Gelder, the subject of this sketch, was born December 27, 1830, in Catskill, and there resided until twenty-three years of age. He acquired a good education in the District Schools. When twenty-one years old he began teaching, continuing the school for three terms, when in 1854, he came to Saugerties and was
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offered a school in that place. Since making his home in Saugerties he has devoted himself to horticulture and farming, and has become widely known throughout this section of the country as an authority on fruit culture. He has been since 1865 a member of the American Pomological Society, and in virtue of that fact has been made a life member. He has thoroughly mastered the science of pomology, and has been eminently successful in his horticultural work, having added much to the general information of fruit growing. Much of his time has been occupied settling up estates, and in the real estate and banking business. He is a director in the First National Bank and was vice-president of the Savings Bank of Sauger- ties, which office he held for years.
On June 29, 1854, Mr. Van Gelder was married to Eliza M. Van Etten, daughter of William Van Etten, of Saugerties, and they have had six children, three of whom died in infancy ; of the others, Harriet married Capt. Albert A. Thomas on January I, 1884, and died January 15, 1886; Anna married Capt. Albert A. Thomas on May 10, 1888; Lillie is living at home. Mr. Van Gelder is a member of the Reformed Dutch Church at Saugerties, in which he has been deacon, and takes an active part in church affairs. He belongs to Confidence Lodge No. 51, I. O. O. F., and has passed all the chairs.
Christian Myer, maternal great-grandfather of our subject, was born in the Palatinate, near the River Rhine, Germany, and when a young man went on board ship to bid farewell to a lady friend, Miss Anna Gertrude Overbaugh, a daughter of Dominie Overbaugh, who was about to sail for America. When he came on deck the vessel was under full sail. The Captain refused to turn about and put him on shore, and so he was obliged to take the voyage, which occupied all summer. A minister was on board, who made them man and wife, and thus unexpectedly did they begin life together in the New World. They came with the other emigrants from Holland up the river to Saugerties, arriving at West Camp in January, 1710, and there settled. Christian Myer built a log cabin on the old Dederick farm, just south of what is now the West Camp railroad station, and cleared land at Kondout, where a fort was built. He raised flax and wheat on his farm, and his wife often carried a bushel of wheat on her head from her farm to the mill at Rondout, where it was ground into flour, pulled flax while waiting, and then returned home. They were married, as above, in 1709, and had twelve children.
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