USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol. III > Part 27
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In 1897, in Denver, Colorado, the Rev. Dr. John Lyon Caughey married Olive Strayer. They have two children: 1. Mrs. Dr. William Payne Thomp- son, of Brookdale, Red Bank, New Jersey. 2. John Lyon Caughey, Jr., M. D., on the staff of the Presbyterian Hospital and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City.
JOHN KINNIN-Since 1932 John Kinnin has been engaged in busi- ness at Greenwich as an undertaker and funeral director, continuing an old established enterprise founded almost sixty years ago. Coming to his present profession after wide experience in other fields, he was successful from the beginning and is today one of the leading figures in Greenwich business and civic life.
Mr. Kinnin was born in Greenwich, son of Isaac and Helen Stewart (Mac- Donald) Kinnin. His father, a steam engineer, now deceased, was born in Ireland but came to America in early life. His mother was born in Kirkaldy, Scotland. She also came to America when young and still makes her home in Greenwich.
John Kinnin was educated in the public schools of Greenwich, completing the high school course. He began his career as a drug clerk in this com- munity. Subsequently, he was an automobile salesman for some fifteen years and for a time was also engaged in the hosiery business. When he decided to become an undertaker, he studied under Renouard in New York City and subsequently was employed with an undertaking firm at Amsterdam, New York. In 1932 he purchased the business of W. S. Wilson in Greenwich, which was established between 1880 and 1885, and has since conducted it as sole owner.
Mr. Kinnin is a member of the National Funeral Directors' Association. He has had a leading part in the life of Greenwich for some years, serving his community in various capacities in connection with its institutions and civic enterprises, and at the present time is president of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. In this office his administration has been a vigorous and effective one. Mr. Kinnin is also affiliated with Ashlar Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, in Greenwich, and is a member of the Reformed Church in this com- munity. He is interested in all outdoor sports and turns to them for his prin- cipal recreation.
Mr. Kinnin married Ethel Boice, who was born in Amsterdam.
FRANK A. GARRETT-For the past quarter century, Frank A. Garrett has been identified with the furniture and undertaking business in Greenwich, New York. He was born in Glens Falls, the son of Dr. James S.
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and Annette ( Millington) Garrett, both deceased. Dr. Garrett, a native of Ballston Spa, was engaged for many years prior to his death in the general practice of dentistry. Annette (Millington) Garrett was born at Glens Falls.
Frank A. Garrett was educated in the Glens Falls public schools, and after completing his high school studies, he went to Washington, District of Colum- bia, where, for three years he was in the employ of Congressman Louis Emer- son of Warrensburg, New York. He then returned to Glens Falls, and worked as a clerk for approximately ten years for C. V. Peters. Afterwards he enrolled at the Renouard School of Undertaking in New York City, and in November, 1913, he took over the undertaking and furniture business in Greenwich, which had been established in 1830 by the late Calvin Fenton. The business was conducted successfully by the elder Mr. Fenton until his death, and thereafter, until 1913 by his son, the late Frederick H. Fenton. Upon the latter's death, Mr. Garrett assumed control of the business, and he has operated it to the present day. He has always been recognized as a pro- gressive business man and in his duties as a mortician, he has won high praise for the sympathetic and honest way in which he has served the many who required his services in their time of bereavement.
He is a vestryman in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Greenwich and the Union Village Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he also holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce, Battenkill Country Club and the Union Club. He also at one time was a mem- ber of Company K, Glens Falls National Guard.
He is married to Grace Taylor, a native of Blue Mountain Lake, New York, and they are the parents of two children : I. John T., a graduate of the public and high schools at Greenwich. 2. Shirley E., now a student in high school.
FRANK J. SCULLY-For many years successfully engaged in busi- ness in his native community of Greenwich, New York, Frank J. Scully is now superintendent of the Delaware and Hudson Railway. He holds many other posts that establish him prominently in the commercial life of his community and district, and he is respected, honored and trusted in every circle in which he is known.
Mr. Scully was born December 23, 1885, in Greenwich, New York, son of John and Ellen (Whalen) Scully. His father was born in Ireland, and served in the English Army with the Twelfth Lancers. Leaving his native land, he came to Cambridge, New York, and afterward settled in Greenwich, where he had lived more than sixty years at the time of his death. He was a beater man in a paper mill and worked for years for the Continental Paper
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Company, carrying on this work in Greenwich for twenty-six years. His wife, Ellen (Whalen) Scully, mother of Frank J. Scully, lived most of her life in Greenwich. She is now deceased.
Public schools in Greenwich provided Frank J. Scully's early education. Though he completed his high school studies he entered the business world even before graduation, being employed during school vacation periods in different knitting mills. Then he spent about a year with the New York Power and Light Company, afterward being associated with the New York Telephone and Telegraph Company for a year. He then came to work for the G. and J. Railway. In 1908 he associated himself with the Delaware and Hudson Railway as freight handler, so continuing until his appointment as general agent of the road in 1914. In 1917 he was made superintendent of the railway, so carrying forward his labors down to the time of writing.
In addition to his railway connections, Mr. Scully has participated exten- sively in the business life of his community and has contributed notably to the advancement of social and civic interests. He is president of the Green- wich Savings and Loan Association, to which office he was appointed in 1925. He is a director of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, of which he was formerly president. He is treasurer of the Union Club and a director of the Battenkill Country Club and a past president of each of these organizations. Since 1935 he has been chairman of the highway committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and in this capacity he was instrumental in bringing about the laying of the new road from Cambridge to Greenwich and the road from Greenwich to Schuylerville, New York. This highway has provided a new approach from the east to the north. He was also one of the few men who were instrumental in starting the Greenwich Savings and Loan Association. He is a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, in Greenwich, and is a grand knight of the Knights of Columbus. His favorite spare-time recrea- tions are those of an outdoor variety, and he particularly enjoys golf.
Frank J. Scully married Mary Barber, the ceremony taking place Sep- tember 13, 1914, in Greenwich. She was born in Vermont, but has lived practically all her life in Greenwich, here attending the high school. A daugh- ter, Patricia Scully, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Scully. She attended the public and high schools of Greenwich and prepared herself for Wells College, in Aurora, New York.
J. HAROLD RIPTON-Principal of the Greenwich High School, J. Harold Ripton, of Greenwich, is one of the leading secondary school educators in Washington County and also being well known in Warren County, where he was active before coming to Greenwich.
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J. Harold Ripton was born in Johnstown, Fulton County, April 13, 1905, son of James Hunter and Elizabeth ( Hunter) Ripton. James Hunter Ripton, who was a native of Johnstown, established himself in the grocery business, a field in which he was active up to the time of his death. Elizabeth (Hunter) Ripton, his wife, also deceased, was a native of Johnstown, too, spending most of her life in the community.
After passing through the Johnstown grade schools and graduating from the Johnstown High School, J. Harold Ripton entered Union College, Sche- nectady, graduating from the institution in 1926 with his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Then, selecting a career as an educator, Mr. Ripton attended the Teachers' College of Columbia University, winning his Master's degree there. Mr. Ripton's first employment as a teacher was in the Warrensburg High School where he began work in 1926, being made the principal of the school a year later and remaining in that office until 1937, when he was called to Greenwich to become the principal of the Greenwich High School, a post which he has occupied through the present time. Mr. Ripton, who is a member of Delta Phi Fraternity at Union College, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Phi Gamma Mu organization, the national social science fraternity, supports his profession by membership in the National Education Association and the New York State Teachers' Association. A member also of Warrensburg Lodge, No. 425, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Mr. Ripton worships at the First Methodist Church of Greenwich and devotes his leisure to reading and to most out-door sports, being particularly interested in fishing.
J. Harold Ripton married at Chestertown, New York, October 10, 1928, Leone Kettenbach, who is a native of Chestertown. Mr. and Mrs. Ripton are the parents of two children : I. James Cyrus, born in 1935. 2. Elizabeth Ann, born in 1938.
CHARLES F. SHELDON-Partner in the firm of Sheldon and Dun- ning, leading merchants of Greenwich, Charles F. Sheldon, who has been identified with the retail coal business in Washington County for more than twenty-five years, as well as being an outstanding retailer of various related lines of merchandise, is also an active citizen of his community, supporting all civic enterprises and giving generously of his time to public office.
Charles F. Sheldon was born in Rupert, Vermont, August 18, 1881, son of Fred A. and Elizabeth (Olcott) Sheldon. Fred A. Sheldon, a native of Rupert, Vermont, and now living in retirement at Schenectady, New York, was one of the outstanding citizens of his native town, being in business there for nearly fifty years while, at the same time, he served for forty-two years as postmaster as well as town clerk, town treasurer, trustee of public money, and local manager of the Granville Telephone Company. Elizabeth (Olcott)
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Sheldon, his wife, who is a native of Rome, New York, where she was born in 1857, is also living in Schenectady.
After attending Salem Academy, from which he graduated in 1900, and attending Hiram College, at Hiram, Ohio, where he was a member of the class of 1904, Mr. Sheldon found his first employment as a bookkeeper in Rutland, Vermont, where he worked for some six months for James H. Eita- pence. Then, after another association as a bookkeeper for the Troy Times Publishing Company of Troy, New York, Mr. Sheldon returned to Rupert, Vermont, and spent the following ten or twelve years in association with his father, Fred A. Sheldon, operating the family's general store. In 1914, how- ever, Mr. Sheldon came to Greenwich and purchased the business of the Leroy-Thompson Coal Company, an activity to which, in 1917, he added a partnership with Harry C. Gray, retailing feed and shipping hay and straw in carload loads to Boston and to New York City, an enterprise which was main- tained for five years, being terminated by the death of Mr. Gray. From 1922 until 1934 Mr. Sheldon operated the two establishments independently, form- ing a partnership in the latter year with Lewis C. Dunning, thus creating the present firm of Sheldon and Dunning, leading merchants of feed, coal, lumber, builders' supplies, hardware, fuel oils, electrical supplies, and gasoline.
Since establishing his residence in Greenwich, Mr. Sheldon has actively supported all community enterprises, being particularly interested in the Chamber of Commerce, of which he has been a director for years, and in educational problems, serving as a trustee of the Board of Education for some nine years. A member of the Church of Christ of West Rupert, Vermont, Mr. Sheldon finds recreation from his business responsibility in his two pastimes of golf and bridge.
Charles F. Sheldon married, in 1916, Annie Bosworth. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon are the parents of two children: I. Ruth, now is welfare investigator for Washington County, following her graduation from the Greenwich High School and from Middlebury College, where she received her degree of Bach- elor of Arts in 1938. 2. E. Louise, now preparing for a musical career (piano, organ and voice) at Skidmore College, following her graduation from the public and high schools of Greenwich.
LEWIS C. DUNNING-Partner in the firm of Sheldon and Dun- ning, Greenwich's leading merchants of feed, coal, fuel oils, lumber, builders' supplies and gasoline, Lewis C. Dunning is also one of the town's outstanding citizens, having served in public office and given generously of his time and talents for many years to various community enterprises.
Lewis C. Dunning was born in Dorset, Vermont, October 19, 1881, son of Richard L. and Marcia (Baldwin) Dunning. Richard L. Dunning, a native
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of Dorset, established himself in practice as a dentist in Dorset, a profession in which he was active up to the time of his death. Marcia (Baldwin) Dunning, his wife, also deceased, was a native of Dorset also.
After passing through the grade schools of Dorset and graduating from the Dorset High School, Lewis C. Dunning attended a business school in Poultney, Vermont, and then, coming to Greenwich, found employment as a clerk in the grocery store of Finch and Richards. After two years in this business, Mr. Dunning established himself in business as a feed merchant and, after building his present plant later in 1902 entered into partnership with Shandette Hoag, beginning an association which endured for twenty years, ending only with Mr. Hoag's death. For the following ten years after 1923 Mr. Dunning conducted the business alone, maintaining the firm until Feb- ruary of 1934, when he was joined by Charles F. Sheldon and the business continued as a partnership under the present name of Sheldon and Dunning. The firm through its years of existence added first a retail coal business to its original feed, hay, and grain lines and has successively added lumber, builders' supplies, fuel oils, hardware, electrical appliances and a gasoline station, mak- ing the firm outstanding among the mercantile establishments of Washington County. Always interested in community affairs, Mr. Dunning has been active for many years in the Republican party and has served for three terms as mayor of Greenwich. The prosperity of his native town has also always commanded Mr. Dunning's support and he has served his community in vari- ous capacities, including the Chamber of Commerce of which he has been the president. Finding recreation from his business responsibilities in golf and in bridge, Mr. Dunning is a member of Greenwich Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and belongs as well to the First Methodist Church of Greenwich, an institution which he serves as trustee.
Lewis Dunning married, in 1907, in Greenwich, Jessie Safford, who is a native of Greenwich. Mr. and Mrs. Dunning are the parents of a son, Richard L. who, after passing through the Greenwich public schools and graduating from the Greenwich High School, entered Northeastern University, in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1935 with his Bachelor's degree in Engineer- ing. He is now employed by the Beacon Oil Company in Boston, Massachu- setts.
DAVID MERKEL-A leading figure in the mercantile life of Platts- burg and vicinity for the past forty-five years is David Merkel, owner and operator of Merkel's "Store of Cheerful Service," the leading and largest department store in this vicinity. Mr. Merkel has owned and operated many other department stores located in Glens Falls, Troy, Lake George, Au Sable
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Forks, Hudson Falls, Whitehall, New York, Wilmington, Delaware and Springfield, Vermont.
Mr. Merkel is a native of Plattsburg, having been born on March 11, 1879, the son of Isaac and Jeanette (Kahner) Merkel, both natives of Germany, and both deceased. Isaac Merkel, one of the pioneers of Plattsburg, was a well-known and respected citizen and was the head of the firm, Isaac Merkel and Sons, rectifiers, wholesale liquor dealers and tobacco distributors from 1866-1919.
David Merkel completed his education at Plattsburg High School in 1894 and then went to New York City, where he was engaged in the cigar manu- facturing business. After two years, he returned to Plattsburg and became associated with his father, and in 1902 became a partner in the firm of Isaac Merkel & Sons, together with his brother, Aaron Merkel, now deceased. In 1910 Mr. Merkel engaged in the dry goods field, purchasing, in partnership with Louis Kempner, now deceased, the establishment of Solomon Kempner, owner of the Star Dry Goods Company, located at No. 76 Margaret Street. In 1912 Mr. Merkel, with Louis Kempner, purchased the Goodkind Company at Nos. 34-36 King Street, Troy, New York, at which time they took in as an associate Charles Gelman, who at that time was manager for Max Goodkind in Troy. In 1914 Mr. Merkel, with Mr. Kempner, purchased the Goodson Brothers Company department store at No. 36 Glen Street, Glens Falls, New York, and organized the firm of Kempner & Merkel. In 1918 this firm pur- chased the Greenebaum Company department store in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1912 Mr. Merkel organized the Dietade Spring Company of Keeseville, New York. which he subsequently disposed of six years later. In 1913 Mr. Merkel organized the firm of Merkel, Kempner and Goldwater, which estab- lished and operated the drug store known as the Owl Pharmacy at No. 72 Margaret Street. After the death of Mr. Kempner this establishment was sold in 1921, which was after the fire of that year, to the W. B. Jaques Company.
In 1919 Mr. Merkel, after the death of his father, gave up his interest in the wholesale liquor and tobacco business and since the death of Louis Kempner in 1920, the remaining stores have been under the direction of Mr. Merkel and Mr. Gelman. At the present time Mr. Merkel is operating the Plattsburg store and, together with Mr. Gelman, is operating stores at Glens Falls and Lake George. Due to the increased business, the Plattsburg store was enlarged in 1926 by taking the building at No. 74 Margaret Street, formerly occupied by A H. Marshall & Company, which doubled the floor space of the size of the original establishment and is now known as the largest and most complete department store in Northern New York.
Mr. Merkel has held several responsible positions in various organizations. He is now a member of the board of directors of the Merchants National
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Bank; past chief ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters; past presi- dent of Joel Lodge, I. O. O. B .; president, Beth Israel Temple; Past Exalted Ruler of Plattsburg Lodge, No. 621, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; and is affiliated with Clinton Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Order of Scottish Rite, Oriental Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Oriental Temple, Troy, New York. He is also a director of the Champlain Valley Hospital and Young Men's Christian Association ; chair- man of Clinton County Laboratory Board; president of Goodson Brothers Company of Glens Falls; and director of the Plattsburg Chamber of Com- merce. His great civic pride has been manifested by his contribution in 1921 by establishing the Merkel Memorial Laboratory in honor of his parents, at the Champlain Valley Hospital ; and in 1925 Mr. Merkel gave to the city of Platts- burg a tract of land on Cumberland Bay, which was the starting of the present Plattsburg Municipal Beach.
In 1910 Mr. Merkel was married to Meta London of New York City and they became the parents of four children: I. Jeanette Charlotte Merkel, a graduate in 1936 of Northwestern University with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, now engaged in social service work at Battle Creek, Michigan. 2. Marguerite Ruth Merkel, a graduate in 1936 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, and in 1937 with the degree of Master of Science in retailing from New York University. 3. Dorothea Ann Merkel, now deceased. 4. David Merkel, Jr., a student in Plattsburg High School.
GEORGE C. CLEVELAND-One of the leading members of the bar of Washington County, George C. Cleveland, of Greenwich, is also out- standing in community affairs, being the secretary of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce.
George C. Cleveland was born in Greenwich, Washington County, August 25, 1907, son of Fred R. and Gertrude M. (Haverley) Cleveland. Fred R. Cleveland, who was born in Jackson, Washington County, established himself as a hardware merchant in Greenwich, an enterprise in which he was engaged at the time of his death. Gertrude M. (Haverley) Cleveland, his wife, who was born in Schenectady, makes her home in Greenwich.
After passing through the Greenwich grade schools and graduating from the Greenwich High School, George C. Cleveland prepared for college at Burr and Burton Seminary, at Manchester, Vermont, and then, entering Colgate University, received his degree of Bachelor of Arts as a member of the class of 1930. Selecting the legal profession for his career, Mr. Cleveland spent the 1930-31 term at Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then, entering the Law School of New York University, obtained his Doctor's degree in 1934. In 1935 he passed his State of New
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York bar examinations at Albany and, returning home to Greenwich, estab- lished himself in general practice, after a preliminary association in the office of Paul Boyce, having previously spent a year between terms at Law School in the law office of the firm of Van Kirk and Dewell. Supporting his profes- sion by membership in the Washington County Bar Association, Mr. Cleveland has become active in community affairs of Greenwich since establishing himself in practice and gives generously of his time and talents to all worthy civic enterprises in addition to his duties as secretary of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. For recreation Mr. Cleveland devotes himself to most outdoor sports, being particularly interested in tennis, swimming and mountain climb- ing in the warmer months of the year and devoting himself to skiing in the winter.
HAROLD G. FULMER-It is seldom that one finds the manager of a long established and important company manufacturing agricultural imple- ments, a native of America's largest city, with an early background wholly urban. Yet this is but one of the interesting facts about Harold G. Fulmer, of Greenwich, New York, manager of the long established Eddy Plow Works at that place. He was born in New York City, July 5, 1894, son of William B. and Lillie Dale (Clifton) Fulmer. Both parents were natives of Penn- sylvania, the father born in Bucks County, the mother in the eastern part of the State. Mrs. Fulmer spent the most of her life in New York City, and is now living (August, 1938) in Park Ridge, New York, at the age of seventy- seven. William B. Fulmer came to the Nation's metropolis in 1883, after leaving the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. In the metropolis he was a trainmaster on the Sixth Avenue Elevated Railroad until 1910, when he went into the motion picture business. He is now deceased.
Harold G. Fulmer was sent to the New York City grammar and high schools and supplemented his academic education with courses in the Alex- ander Hamilton Institute. As a youth he became associated with his father in the motion picture business, and from 1910 to 1918, managed one of their theatres in Brooklyn, New York. He changed his occupation in 1918, when he entered the employ of the Charles Williams Stores, a large mail order house, but remained with the concern only about a year. He had, in the meanwhile, risen to assistant buyer of farm implements. Possibly his city background had something to do with his becoming keenly interested in the agricultural implement trade, and was one of the sources of his success in this field. At any rate, he left the Charles Williams Stores, to become bookkeeper for the old Eddy Plow Company, Incorporated. After a year's service he was pro- moted to cashier, and later was made auditor, the office he held when the com- pany was sold to its present owner, Mac F. Finn, of Saratoga, New York.
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