110 Years Ago - 1912

Oscar Robisch, the 10-year-old son of Walter Robisch of Hortonville, had his leg broken just above the ankle on Thursday afternoon while sliding down hill near the schoolhouse at Hortonville. The little boy, in company with several other boys, had a large set of bobs. Peter Roeh­mer was steering, and in coming down the hill, he lost control of the bobs and ran into the bank. The Robisch boy’s leg was caught between the running board and the bank and broken.
On Christmas Day at the Callicoon Center Parsonage, Charles H. Gorr of North Branch and Miss Ruby M. Ebert of Callicoon were married by Rev. J.E. Straub. They were attended by Frank Hartz and Miss Bertha L. Lahm.
Arthur A. Neumann of Fremont Center and Miss Hattie E. Graby of North Branch were married at the parsonage, Callicoon Center, December 28. They were attended by Wm. Graby and Miss Carrie Neumann… At the home of the bride, Miss Clara Anna, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Brey near Callicoon Center, was married January 1 to Wesley Mansfield Dorrer of North Branch by Rev. J.E. Straub. They were attended by her sister, Helen, and Frank Lowe of North Branch.
Because she is being boarded at the expense of Wayne County, Mrs. Leona Lord demands that the county also do her laundry work. Coupled with this demand is one from Samuel Reed, also confined in the Wayne County Jail, that he be given mince pie with his meals. The insistence with which his prisoners are standing upon their alleged rights is giving Sheriff Braman considerable concern.
The annual meeting of the Callicoon Bridge Company was held at the Olympia Hotel on January 2 and the following directors were elected for the ensuing year: C.T. Curtis, president; Charles A. Thorwalle, secretary and treasurer; Jacob Knight, John Dering, Martin Hermann, Charles F. Starck and Charles G. Curtis.
The annual meeting of the Callicoon National Bank was held on Tuesday, January 3, with the following directors present: Charles A. Thorwelle, Frank S. Anderson, Edward Kenney, James Hall, Elias Mitchell and Charles P. Kautz. The sum of $2,500 was taken from the earnings of the bank and deposited in the surplus fund, making that total now $7,500.
Merchant A.J. Porr is wearing a broad smile. A fine young son arrived at his home last week. All are doing fine… Born to Mr. and Mrs. George Just of East Cochecton, a son last week. — Cochecton Corresp.

100 Years Ago - 1922

John Steinhauser, who was thought dead, returned after a 30 year absence. — Callicoon Center Corresp.
The Erie Railroad and the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) have announced that they have closed contracts with the Aetna and Metropolitan Life Insurance companies for the protection of the lives and limbs of their employees under the group insurance plan. Beginning January 1, the Erie will pay for the full cost of insurance amounting to $3,000 each for its engineers, conductors and yardmasters; $2,000 for trainmen, firemen and assistant yardmasters; and amounts between $1,000 and $2,000, varying according to the amount of their annual compensation, for all other transportation employees. After February 1, Erie’s employees will pay premiums varying between 1 cent and 2 cents a day for each $1,000 of insurance, the remainder of the cost to be borne by the railroad. The Erie plan is calculated to cover 30,000 employees, divided equally between two insurance companies, while the D&H employees are covered by a blanket contract with one of the companies. D&H coverage will be in the amount of $500 with the option of further protection in larger sums up to $5,000 at the rate of 60 cents a month for each $1,000 carried for coverage against accident and illness.
At the annual meeting of the Callicoon National Bank on Tuesday, all directors were re-elected. W.L. Dodge, cash­ier, also became a member of the board to serve with Chas. A. Thorwelle, Fred Hessinger, Chas P. Kautz, John Dycker, Adam Metzger, Wm. Kohler, M.T. Clark, Dr. W.W. Appley Jr., P.J. Kenney and W.H. Manny.
The soldiers from New York State who lost their lives in the World War number 12,276 or 3,000 more than credited by the War Department.

90 Years Ago - 1932

Henry Knack of White Sulphur Springs and Adella Ray LeRoy of Loomis were united in marriage on January 2 at the home of the groom’s son, Harry Knack, at White Sulphur Springs.
Miss Hilda M. Orth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Orth of Callicoon, was married at the Presbyterian manse at Cochecton to Charles Meeks of Hoboken, N.J. They will make their home in Paterson, N.J.
At a meeting of the Dela­ware Hose Co. No. 2, held last evening, it was decided that the company furnish a room in the Callicoon Hospital which will be presented to Dr. George R. Mills this evening by a committee.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Eller of Callicoon celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their home on January 4. Following a bountiful turkey dinner to 22 guests, they were given an old-fashioned skimmelton.
“Bill the Barber” who has been employed by Kenneth Bernhardt of Callicoon for the past few summers, has now established a first class barber shop in one of the rooms adjoining the Delaware Valley Inn in Hankins and will be at your service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
A party of hunters, consisting of Supervisor George Raum, Otto Meyer, Leonard Hess and Arthur Meyer, while rabbit hunting in the vicinity of Mud Pond in the town of Bethel, shot a wild cat. The wild cat was on display at the store of Meyer and Royce in Jeffersonville. It weighed 23 pounds.
Roy C. Johnston, new coun­ty treasurer, and William Deckelman, district attorney who took office January 1, were formally sworn in Thurs­day by County Clerk J. Bruce Lindsley.

80 Years Ago - 1942

At the Callicoon Hospital it was a daughter, Lois Arline, born January 6 to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Orr of Milanville. Mrs. Bertram Medlar and infant daughter were discharged to return to their home in Goulds.
Bill Schuster, son of Mr. and Mrs. Steven W. Schuster of Callicoon Center, will start very soon training Air Force pilots for Great Britain at an airport in Alabama.
Mayor Luis deHoyos of Monticello accepted the invitation of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York City to speak on Latin American Affairs at a conference in Washington, D.C., January 12. Mayor deHoyos recently returned from an air trip from South and Central America.
Miss Georgina Dexter, daughter of Mrs. Russell Dexter of Narrowsburg, and Dr. Stuart Dyer of Binghamton were married in New York City December 26.
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hubbert of Fremont Center are the proud parents of a baby girl, born December 24, at the Roscoe Hospital. She has been named Regina Mary.
Born at the Monticello Hospital, a boy to Mr. and Mrs. William Gasko of Lake Huntington, January 3.

70 Years Ago - 1952

Mr. and Mrs. C.P. Kautz will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on January 6 by holding an open house at their home on Church Street, Callicoon. They were married in New York City and have spent their entire life in Callicoon.
Miss Ellen Hysop became the bride of Carl Knapp, son of Mr. and Mr. Harold Knapp of Hortonville.
Announcement has been made of the engagement of Betty Ray to Burgess Peters. A summer wedding is planned.
Announcement is also made of the engagement of Shirley Marie Kohl to Raymond A. Olsen of Lake Huntington. The bride-elect is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Kohl of Callicoon.
Mrs. Cassie Lawrence, native of Hurleyville and for many years a resident of Youngsville, celebrated her 100th birthday on New Year’s Day.
The Callicoon Hospital has four babies. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Olsen of Callicoon are the parents of a girl, born Friday; Mr. and Mrs. Michael Esolen of Long Eddy are the parents of a son, born Friday; Mr. and Mrs. William Theysohn of Callicoon RD are the parents of a daughter, born Saturday; Mr. and Mrs. Seale Hawker of Narrowsburg are the parents of a son born Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Cranston Dauch of White Lake have announced the engagement of their daughter, Joan, to Ernie Keesler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Keesler of Pennsylvania.
The Curtis Nurseries of Callicoon celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding this year.
George Hunter of Liberty has been a member of the Hoffman Masonic Lodge of Middletown for sixty-nine years and was honored recently at a meeting of Mongaup Lodge in Liberty.
The engagement of Clarice Elflein and Rudy Hermann, Mileses, has been announced as has the engagement of Edith Knack of Callicoon and James Brown of Mileses.

60 Years Ago - 1962

Former County Clerk and Mrs. J. Bruce Lindsley of White Sulphur Springs celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary New Year’s with an open house at the White Sulphur Springs Firehouse. An estimated 350 friends and relatives dropped in during the afternoon and evening event. Their five sons and a daughter were present at the celebration.
Beverly Ann McKay, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl McKay of Liberty was the first baby born in any of the six county hospitals when she arrived at 8:20 a.m. New Year’s Day.
Miss Irmgard Depta and Kurt Englehardt, both of Callicoon, were married on December 30 at the First Lutheran Church in Jeffersonville.
Mrs. Mary Ort of Eldred celebrated her 103rd birthday on Sunday. She is believed to be Sullivan County’s oldest resident.
A baby girl, Lisa Jean, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Priebe of North Branch on December 30 at the Liberty Loomis Hospital.
Mrs. Henry Zehner was seated as the first lady member of the Sullivan County Board of Supervisors at the December 19 special meeting of the board. She was one of the 15 members voting to make application for a community college for the county.
World barrel jumping champion Jim Waldo, 27, of Portland, Oregon., will defend his title Saturday, January 6, when the 12th Annual World Barrel Jumping Championship is held at the outdoor artificial ice skating rink at Grossinger’s. The contest will be taped by ABC-TV and will be shown January 14 on “Wide World of Sports.” The public is invited to watch the contest at Grossinger’s.

50 years ago - 1972

Tanya Marie Hoyniak, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Val Hoyniak, was the first baby born in the New Year at Sullivan County hospitals. She arrived at 3:27 a.m. at Community General in Monticello, on January 1.
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Robisch of Callicoon have announced the engagement of their daughter, Anne Marie, to Thomas E. Willi of Liberty. An April wedding is planned.
Mr. and Mrs. John Cortese of Narrowsburg have announced the engagement of two daughters: Luanne to Donald Cole of Equinunk, PA., and Kathleen to Philip Cole of Equinunk, PA. The young men are the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Cole.
Sullivan County Supreme Court Justice Lawrence H. Cooke of Monticello was named as a permanent member of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Third Judicial Department, in an announcement made by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in Albany on Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Knack of Callicoon Center became the parents of a baby girl on January 2.
The Gries family of the area had the right idea when they chartered an Avery bus to take the family to the wedding of Gary Gries and Miss Carol Mathie in Hempstead, L.I., on December 18. All could enjoy the party without thoughts of the long drive home or concern about the weather.
Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Thompkins of Livingston Manor celebrated 50 years of marriage with a party at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Edward Hoos. Six of their seven children were able to help them celebrate.

40 Years Ago - 1982

Jack Danchak of Fosterdale is the winner of $75 in the Genesee Fishing contest for 1981. He tied for first place in the largemouth bass category with Kim T. Purcell of N. Bellmore. The fish that took first place weighed 8 lb. 10 oz. Jack took his trophy fish at Hunter Lake in Bethel while Kim caught his at Bailey’s Lake near Monticello.
The Eldred Lady Yellowjackets finished the regular season undefeated and then won the Section 9 Class D playoffs and the first Intersectional game between Section 9 and Section 4 in soccer.
Firemen from Eldred, Yulan, Highland Lake and Shohola, PA., responded to a storage building fire on Tuesday morning at Barryville. The building contained thousands of dollars worth of canoeing equipment and antiques.
A new 48’ by 148’ structure will soon house a new milling unit and the Lookout, PA., business of Raymond LaBar will once again be supplying area contractors with lumber for all their building needs. The structure, together with a 30’x40’ sawdust bin, is located on the site of buildings destroyed when a spark ignited a gas tank on a forklift truck on November 22. Mr. LaBar has kept his workforce employed with the rebuilding of the sawmill.
Donna Dexheimer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Dexheimer of Neversink, and William Myers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Myers of Liberty were married at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Liberty on November 28.
Mr. and Mrs. Lowell Little of Wurtsboro have announced the engagement of their daughter, Judy, to Richard J. Kaiser, son of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Kaiser of Monticello. A July wedding is planned.

30 Years Ago - 1992

Justin Stage, a fifth grade student at the Duggan Elementary School in White Lake, won the school-level competition of the National Geography Bee and is now eligible to be in the running for its $25,000 college scholarship.
More than 30 entries are expected in the Mongaup Dog Sled Races scheduled to be held January 11 and 12 at Mongaup State Park in Livingston Manor. Spectators are strongly urged not to bring their pet dogs to the races.
Claude Davis of Livingston Manor won the Democrat’s Big Buck contest with an 8-pointer buck shot in Turnwood. The rack measured 73 3/4 inches. Runners-up were Mike Woods of Monticello, an 8-pointer with a 71 1/4 inch rack, taken in Tusten, and Mark Andrewski of Narrowsburg, who shot an 8-pointer with a rack that measured 61 inches in Narrowsburg.
Fremont Supervisor Walter Sipple was sworn in as chairman of the Sullivan County Board of Supervisors.
Danielle Lynn Ketch became Wayne County’s first baby for 1992 when she arrived at 6 a.m. on January 1. She is the daughter of Linda and Peter Ketch of Greentown, PA. Whitney Canales, daughter of Sol Ortiz and Schuyler Canales of Loch Sheldrake, heralded in the New Year at Community General Hospital in Harris at 6:04 a.m. on January 1 to take the honors in Sullivan County.
Work on the new visitors module at the Sullivan County Jail in Monticello has started early because of the unseasonably warm weather and the complete absence of any frost in the ground.
Elsie Winterberger, a retired teacher, the Town of Forestburgh historian and a columnist for the Democrat, died January 2, 1992, at the age of 81.
Charles “Bud” and Mary Etta Hornicek were guests of honor at a 35th anniversary party held at the Hortonville Firehouse in November. She is the former Mary Etta Buddenhagen and is an elementary teacher at the Delaware Valley Central School. Bud is an electrician.

20 Years Ago - 2002

She had the smile of an angel and the heart of someone beyond her years. Ten-year-old Lauren Hughson of Jeffersonville died Saturday in the Children’s Hospital of Phila­delphia, the facility which was like a second home to her since Nov. 5 after a bone marrow transplant. She is survived by her parents, Jim and Diane Hughson of Jeffersonville, and her sister Jamie.
The first snowstorm of the winter proved deadly for Anthony Colosimo, 71, of Loch Sheldrake, who lost control of his vehicle in the town of Thompson Monday morning. The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation as is the cause of death.
The Best Western Paramount Hotel was gutted by a fire in 2000, but the hotel’s owners are still busy rebuilding. Though there is no set date for its reopening, the resort is eager to again serve travelers, according to General Manager Bella Farquhar.
Kathy and Allen Werlau of Swan Lake announce the engagement of their daughter, Brenna Rae, to Christopher Darling, son of Sally and Glenn Darling of Cochecton. A May 2003 wedding is being planned.

10 Years Ago - 2012

Sullivan County Manager David Fanslau announced that the Commissioner of the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services announced $20 million in funding to sixteen counties to improve first responder communications, including nearly $1.2 million to Sullivan County.
Just like his friend and predecessor, Jordan “The (original) Kid” Stratton, who rose to the head of the class at The Mighty M and is a well-respected talent throughout the industry, young Joey Bongiorno is working towards similar goals and his early accomplishments are outstanding. Just 18 years of age and still in high school, Bongiorno, who is the grandson of Harold “Sonny” Dancer Jr., knew right from the start that all he wanted to do was to be a harness driver. While still a junior at Colts Neck (N.J.) High School last season, “the new kid in town” joined a few amateur driving clubs and gained needed experience and then became a member of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Series, where he not only showed his elders that he knew how to handle a horse but went on to win the “National Amateur Driver of the Year Award” from the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA). Bongiorno began the 2011 campaign in the amateur driver ranks, but when he reached the golden age of 18 on Sept. 23 he became a professional. And his talent was immediately recognized by the local scribes. In late October, they presented him with their “Rising Star Award” at their annual awards banquet. And the youngster is making the Monticello-Goshen Chapter USHWA look good. On Tuesday, Dec. 6 at The Mighty M, Bongiorno reined his 11th winner here when he guided his mother’s Eastern Photo to a gate-to-wire triumph over a muddy racetrack in a time of 2:00.4.
Doug Cauthers, Woodridge postal clerk, retires after 50 years; a job he’s held since 1961 (longer if you count temporary summer work): distribution and window clerk. Long before he logged 50 years as Woodridge’s beloved postal clerk, Cauthers had become the village’s icon, a gentle, modest man who seemed to know just about everything and everyone. “You needed something, you asked Doug,” Candy Weigand explained. She’s known him all her life and had the privilege of working alongside him in the Woodridge Post Office for the past 22 years.