140 Years Ago - 1882

James Meyers of Michigan is visiting his brother, William, at Eldred. The remarkable thing is that he left that section in 1829 and has not seen his brother since. Fifty-three years is a long time between visits.

Reports have it that J.F. Sherwood of Livingston Manor is to rebuild his manufactory at that place.

A flock of nine bears were seen near Claryville last week and nine hunters started after them with guns and dogs and succeeded in killing one.

130 years ago - 1892

The suits of the Excise Board of the Town of Rockland against seven hotel keepers for selling liquor without a license were brought up for trial before Esq. Hawkins at Roscoe on Monday. The first case called was that of W.L. McPherson of Livingston Manor. It was 4 o’clock before the jury was selected. Then the trial was begun and finished that evening. The jury, at first stood for acquittal and two against but finally brought in a verdict of “no cause for action.” Lawyers Maybee and Carpenter are counsel for the hotel keepers.

Peter Wagner of Roscoe has sold out his stone quarry and real estate and it is said he will purchase the Misner Hotel at Woodbourne.

John Hogencamp of Marshalltown, Iowa, is visiting relatives, friends and comrades. He enlisted in Company F of the 56th Regiment and served until 1865, acted on Horace Greeley’s advice, and is now a big properous farmer.

Married at St. Mary’s Church in Obernburg on December 13 by Rev. Montgomery were William LaPolt of White Lake and Mary Scott of Cochecton Center.

Married in New York City December 14 were Harry Keser and Lizzie Durr.

Died at Sand Pond December 12, Conrad Walter, aged 22 years, 10 months and 10 days. Interment in St. Paul’s Cemetery December 15.

There is talk of reviving the roller skating fad in this place. That is not necessary, people can get “a skate on” without going to a skating rink.

Wanted: 200 bushels of buckwheat at Meyer and Coventry’s.

120 years ago - 1902

The Keegan bridge across the Callicoon Creek near Falls Mills is about to be rebuilt and will be constructed of steel and iron. This is the bridge that went down with Joseph Townsend and wife of Fosterdale 10 years ago, causing the death of both these old people.

The Port Jervis, Monticello and Summitville Railroad Company was incorporated at Albany the other day.

J.M. Schmidt & Sons of North Branch have commenced excavating for a large cold storage building to be erected in Callicoon Depot near Blauvelt’s Creamery. The building will be used for the storage of apples. Forty by one hundred and six feet, it is expected to hold 10,000 bushels.

The establishment of Porker House at or near Callicoon Depot on the Callicoon Creek is now being considered. The idea is to get sufficient water power to light that and all adjoining villages within a radius of ten miles.

John Beiling of Youngsville has been selected as the winner of the handsome trophy in the Police Gazette physical culture contest. The Police Gazette diamond medal was presented to Mr. Beiling at Waldman’s Opera House, Neward, December 10. He is a clever scientific boxer, a good puncher and unusually good at weight lifting. His measurements are height, 5 feet, 6 inches; weight 143 lbs., chest 40, expanded 44; neck 15 1/2; forearm 12 3/4. Mr Beiling is 22 years old.

110 years ago - 1912

N.B. Alfast of Tyler Hill, Pa., has just finished making cider for this season, using between 7,000 and 8,000 bushels of apples, paying for them 12¢ a bushel, delivered at his mill.

Thomas A. McLarney of Monticello has secured a position as wireless inspector at Colon, Panama. He learned the trade of telegraphing at Monticello several years ago. Mr. McLarney earned some notoriety as a wireless operator three or four years ago when he was booked to sail on a large ocean liner, and his mother, having an inspiration that there would be an accident, pursued him to cancel his engagement. The accident happened as she saw it.

It is reported that oil pros-pectors out on the Bunting farm near Monticello, in drilling for oil, have struck several veins of coal and it may turn out to be a good paying coal mine instead of an oil property.

100 Years Ago - 1922

Alvin Stickles and Charles Matzinger of Liberty this week paid $4,500 for three pair of silver black foxes with which they plan to start a fox farm there.

The new M.E. Church at White Sulphur Springs will be dedicated on December 17. This replaced the historic old edifice that was destroyed by a terrific lightning and wind storm early last summer.

Doyle Vannatta won the wagon which was given away by Bennett Bros.

90 Years Ago - 1932

Leslie Botsford, for more than a year a contractor and builder at Callicoon, has left Callicoon due to some threatening circumstances. He recently constructed the Callicoon High School auditorium and the Olympia Hotel. Last fall he was married to Kathryn Cochrane and she accompanied him yesterday.

A son, James, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin of Livingston Manor early Saturday at the Callicoon Hospital.

Because of the nationwide depression which has cast its dark shadows into many homes, the Callicoon High School teachers unanimously decided to refuse Christmas gifts this year.

Youngsville firemen have two projects for the new year. One is the purchase of a $4,000 pump. The village has only a hose truck. The second is support of the Boy Scout Troop organized this week with Harold Deutsch as master.

Eric R. Karg announces the opening of the Olympia Hotel on December 17. Special music will be provided for the occasion and invitations have been sent out. The old hotel was destroyed by fire last April.

Sheriff Benjamin Gerow announced last week he would sell at auction on December 20th, all copper stills and equipment and all the slot machines that have been seized and wrecked. Only junk dealers probably would be interested.

The large importations of Christmas trees into New York State would indicate that there is an opportunity for supply, at least part of this demand through local sources. In 1931 there were 567 carloads of Christmas trees shipped in N.Y. City; 372 from Canada; 65 from Maine; 37 from New Hampshire; 61 from Vermont and 10 from New York state. A large quantity of trees used in New York upstate cities were brought to market by truck, of which there is no record.

80 Years Ago - 1942

Friends of Miss Kathleen Milk and Donald Haight were pleased to hear of the announcement of their engagement.

At the Callicoon Hospital: it was a baby boy, December 8, for Mr. and Mrs. Orville Meyers of Shohola, Pa. Mrs. Grace Vogler and infant of North Branch were discharged.

Lieut. M.J. Freda, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Freda of Callicoon, is now stationed at LaGuardia Airport, New York City, where he is flying big passenger airliners, presumably being trained as a transport pilot.

Mr. and Mrs. Leland Silvieus of Monticello celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary November 29 by a dinner at the Homes Farm, given in their honor by their daughters.

Mr. and Mrs. Preston Theiss of Fosterdale celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Merchant B.L. Cargin has closed his store in Mileses after disposing of the merchandise which remained. He left for Binghamton Sunday and will be employed there by Spaulding Bakeries. About 80 of his friends from the grocery routes, which he operated the past several years, gave him and Mrs. Cargin a surprise farewell party Saturday night.

Memorial services were held Sunday night in tribute to PFC Ralph L. Bailey, first soldier from this area to give his life to the North African campaign. His mother, Mrs. Eula Bailey, who a month ago had unveiled the service flag in the church, again unveiled it Sunday night, revealing that a group of new stars, including one of gold, had since been added. On the platform sat Mrs. Stephen Trowbridge whose son, Ruddick, was the first Monticello soldier killed in action during the last war.

The girls of the Damascus Methodist Sunday School were hostesses at a variety shower in honor of the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Turner, nee Pearle Hinaman, Saturday. Miss Doris Welch made the delicious bride’s cake.

70 Years Ago - 1952

Henry Kuhner is expected home any day after serving a tour of duty in Korea of thirteen months.

Double tragedy struck at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Granville Prince, Swan Lake. The barn and stock burned to the ground and his father, Walter G. Prince, 86, died from a heart attack as the result of shock from the fire.

A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Allen Quinn of Rileyville, Pa. A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kuebler of Callicoon Center, both at the Callicoon Hospital this week.

Funeral services for PFC David Sarino, who was killed in action June 15, in North Korea, were held Wednesday at the Wurtsboro Methodist Church.

Irmgard Tuleweit, Kenoza Lake, became the bride of Werner Schroeder of Youngsville, at a ceremony performed at the Lutheran Church in Jeffersonville on December 6.

“Sweet Sue of Saigon” is the title of a story in the December Cosmopolitan magazine, about Miss Sue Allen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Allen, Sullivan County natives. Mr. Allen is an agricultural expert for the mutual Security Agency. The Allens were formerly in Korea but were transferred to Indo-China after the outbreak of the Korean War.

Miss Janet McDonald, a student at SUNY Albany, has been awarded a certificate for donating 10 pints of blood.

While gathering eggs from their flock of Leghorn chickens one day last week, Mrs. James Baker was surprised to find one that weighed one-half pound and measured eight inches around the middle and nine inches around the long way. — Cochecton Corresp.

Close to 170 members and friends of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Narrowsburg attended the services marking the dedication of the new chancel and parish hall last Wednesday evening.

Raymond P. Miller, 29-year-old Naval veteran and funeral director of Ramsay’s Funeral Home in Liberty is suffering from polio and has been transferred to Haverstraw for treatment.

The Monticello village board voted to purchase a $22,569 fire truck for the Monticello Fire Department Wednesday night. The truck, a 1,000 gallon American LaFrance pumper, will replace the 24-year-old pumper, one of five apparatuses in the department.

60 Years Ago - 1962

Albert Hessinger of Hortonville, 70, died early Wednesday morning, December 12, the victim of an automobile-truck accident Monday at noon. Mr. Hessinger was the passenger in a Town of Delaware truck when the accident occurred near the George Kohl residence, east of Callicoon. The truck overturned after being struck by a car that went into a skid, pinning Mr. Hessinger beneath it.

Susan Ruth of Liberty, Marc Kross of Woodbourne and Peter Diehl of Kenoza Lake will represent 4-H club members at the Honor Award Tip this year in New York City.

Christmas toys, a project started by Msgr. Wilkins at the Woodbourne Correctional Institution some 20 years ago, is under full swing. Hundreds of toys have been repaired and repainted by the inmates for distribution in Sullivan County. G. Allison Worden is supervisor of the shop where much of the work is done.

The Methodist Youth Choir of Calicoon will present a program of Christmas music and poetry on December 15 over WVOS.

Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hill of Jeffersonville became the parents of a son Thursday at the Callicoon Hospital.

50 years ago - 1972

The week-long observance of the centennial of St. Peter’s Church of Liberty reached its climax Sunday afternoon when Terence Cardinal Cooke, Archbishop of the Diocese of New York, celebrated Mass in the thronged edifice. St. Peter’s was the first Roman Catholic Church to be established in Sullivan County. Prior to 1872, the faithful were administered to by priests who traveled on horseback from Ellenville to Liberty.

Robert C. Edwards Jr., 29, of Youngsville, was killed in a one-car accident December 7 when his car ran off the Ferndale-Loomis Road near the Liberty Town Barn and crashed into a tree. He was a former chief of the White Sulphur Springs Fire Department and was employed by the Town of Liberty Highway Department.

Patrick Clifford, line foreman with the New York State Electric and Gas Corp. at Liberty, has completed 25 years of service with the utility.

Dave Hubert of Hankins won $25 worth of groceries in the second Christmas drawing of merchants in Callicoon. He won at the Victory Store.

Mary Ann Smithers and Craig E. Atkins of Liberty were wed in the Memorial United Methodist Church of Shandaken. She is the daughter Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Estel Smithers of Shandaken. The wedding took place in October.

Caroline Naughton has opened a new business, called Buttons and Bows, in the lower level of the former Olympia Hotel. She will carry a complete line of sewing and knitting supplies. “We’ve lost our buttons,” she said, in adding that the first shipment of buttons has been detained in shipping.

Born at the Liberty-Loomis Hospital, a girl to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Smith of Swan Lake and to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Sammann of White Sulphur Springs, both December 7; on December 8, a boy to Mr. and Mrs. Jay Meddaugh of Kauneonga Lake and also to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Cardenas of Monticello.

Buddy Rich and his orchestra will appear at the Monticello Raceway, December 18.

40 Years Ago - 1982

J. Blake Winter, who served as supervisor of the Town of Mamakating and a man whose name conjures a former era in the Town of Mamakating and Sullivan /Orange farming and political affairs, died Saturday, December 11, at the Montgomery Nursing Home in Montgomery. He was 86 years old. A prominent dairy farmer, he owned Wintermede Farm on Winterdon Road in Winterton.

NYC Transit Police Officer Vincent Giordano, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Giordano are permanent residents of Callicoon (Pennsylvania side), has received the Combat Cross, a hero’s award, in recognition of his apprehension of an armed hold-up man in a Freeport Bank June 1, 1981. At the time of capture of the robber, Giordano was 21, and had been out of the police academy just a few weeks. He was off-duty at the time.

Claire Schultz of Callicoon, who recently retired after 30 years service as a bookkeeper to the Town of Delaware Board, received a plaque and pin in recognition of her efforts from Supervisor Craig Stewart and the three supervisors with whom she had worked, Michael J. Reddy, John Eschenberg and William Dirie, at the last town board meeting.

30 Years Ago - 1992

Patrick M. Tobin, son of Vera Tobin of Callicoon and the late Neil Tobin, a deputy regional administrator of the southeast region of the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recently received the Meritorious Executive Award of the U.S. Senior Executive Service (SES) in a ceremony held in Tysons Corner, Va. The SES’s second highest award recognizes high quality accomplishments of SES career members.

Rayot DiFate of Obernburg shot a huge tundra grizzly bear while hunting in upper north Alaska in September. The bear measured 7 1/2 feet high and had nails that measured as much as 10 inches. These bears can reach up to 8 1/2 feet in height and weigh between 500-600 pounds. He also bagged a moose with a rack which measured 68 inches across. By law, all the meat must be taken back to base camp. DiFate and his fellow hunter, guide Jordy McAuley, needed to make three trips of three hours each back to their tent, then wait for the plane to bring them back to the base camp. It took three plane trips to get all the meat (about 1,000 pounds) and the equipment out. The expense of shipping the meat home was prohibitive so DiFate donated it to a local church in Deadhorse for charitable use. He did however, bring the skin and skull back and it is being mounted by Kurt Fox of Cold Spring. These are definitely the biggest of trophies of the several dozen mounts on display at DiFate’s home.

Following through on its plans to promote Sullivan County and to enhance its economy by helping to produce a 25th anniversary celebration of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival on the original site in Bethel, the Sullivan County Board of Supervisors prepared to approve a Woodstock Advisory Commission to give it direction. At a key Finance Committee meeting last month, members voted to “explore acquisition” of the 28-acre site on a “willing buyer-willing seller” basis from the owner or owners and to create a Woodstock Advisory Commission to help the board use the site to the “county’s fullest advantage.” According to Walter Sipple, chairman of the board of Supervisors, the committee would consist of representatives from county agencies that would be involved as well as key members of the Bethel Town Board and members of the public.

A 48-hour winter snowstorm pummeled Sullivan County with more than two feet of the white stuff falling in some places. All schools and the college were closed Friday, 10,000 households were suffering power outages and nearly all non-essential services were closed or cancelled. (All this a week before the official arrival of winter.)

Ted Niforatos accepted the keys to a 1993 Dodge Caravan which he won at the Roscoe-Rockland Chamber of Commerce’s  5th Annual Raffle Party held Sunday at the Rockland House in Roscoe.

20 Years Ago - 2002

Karen and Robert Stewart of Forestburgh announce the engagement of their daughter, Heather Ann Stewart, to Todd Steven Wolownik, son of Arden and Thomas Wolownik of Honeybrook, Pa. A September 7, 2003 wedding is planned.

The experiences of a local author and a Civil War soldier share some strange parallels, as the light of history flickers across the stages of their lives. Charles “Chuck” Young, author of the new book, “The Soldier’s Wealth is Honor,” feels an almost spiritual kinship with Sgt. Thomas Collins, a soldier from Livingston Manor who is the subject of this volume chronicling Collins’ experiences during the War Between the States. As his interest in reliving the nation’s history grew, in 1985 Young founded the re-incarnated 143rd New York Volunteer Infantry (NYVI) as a mirror image of the local regiment created in the summer of 1862. Thomas Collins was the only Medal of Honor recipient in the 143rd.

Maurice Martin, a 1982 graduate of Liberty Central School, played his collegiate career at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Martin made All-America status at St. Joseph’s and then went on to play basketball in the NBA. 

The Youngsville Beautification and Preservation Committee, part of the Sullivan Renaissance, got together and made holiday hanging baskets. The group of about 35 worked under the direction of Jane Rasmussen Doughty, and the finished baskets were hung along Main Street and Shandelee Road in Youngsville.

Several local football players were recently selected to the Section IX All-Star teams by the section’s football coaches. Livingston Manor running back George Thomas, who rushed for 1,845 yards and 24 touchdowns this past season and led the Wildcats to the Section IX Class D championship, was chosen as the Player of the Year. Manor Coach Scott Branning was named the Class C/D Coach of the Year and Section IX Coach of the Year. Thomas was also chosen as the Class C/D Back of the Year and teammate Remington Parker, a senior offensive guard/defensive tackle, was named the Class C/D Lineman of the Year.

10 Years Ago - 2012

Sullivan County will get a cut of the state’s $700 million economic development funds to be released in 2013. Regional economic development councils – including one for the mid-Hudson – competed statewide for the funding pool, and winners were announced on Wednesday. Local successful applicants include the Center for Discovery in Harris, which will receive $2.5 million to launch a Regional Children’s Assessment Center for young people dealing with autism, severe developmental disabilities and complex medical conditions. Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development CEO Allan Scott said the Center for Discovery project alone will bump up the Center’s employment to nearly 2,000.

DEATHS: John Langseder of Wurtsboro, died Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at his home in Yankee Lake. He was 65... Ruth “Ruthie” Berman, longtime private executive secretary to the Parker/Winarick family at the famed Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake, NY, died December 17, 2012 at age 88... Katherine Kurpil Somesla passed away on December 6, 2012. She was the daughter of John and Mary Kurpil and grew up in Parksville, and lived in Fairfield for the past 64 years... Clinton George “Snookie” Robertson, 74, of White Sulphur Springs, died on Sunday, December 16, 2012.

The  SUNY Sullivan Foundation recently held its inaugural Lights For Learning tree lighting ceremony, at which Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs Dr. Robert Schultz spoke. Lights For Learning is a giving campaign put together by Maria Ingrassia and gives an opportunity for college staff, faculty, students, alumni, and outside donors to add a light to the Lights For Learning holiday. Many donors gave in honor and/or in memory of others; the Lights For Learning tree was dedicated to them. Each light also represents a contribution to “College in the Classroom,” a program for Sullivan County high school juniors and seniors. This inaugural event raised more than $1,600.

Ninety Janice Center students performed at the Villa Roma nightclub on Sunday, December 16 as part of the Jeffersonville arts center’s Holiday Recital. A receptive audience estimated at 400 watched instrumentalists in clarinet, drums, flute, guitar, piano, saxophone and violin; vocalists; ballet dancers, hip hop dancers and gymnasts showcase their talents on the resort’s nightclub stage. The Villa Roma generously provided complimentary soft drinks, coffee, pretzels and chips to all attendees and participants.