150 Years Ago - 1873

District Attorney Alpheus Potts, assisted by E.H. Pinney, moved last Wednesday that the indictment against Jerome Masten for assault on the person of James Collins of Jeffersonville, be tried. Collins on the witness stand in County Court testified that on September 28 last he saw the prisoner, Masten, on the stoop of the Sherwood Hotel, along with his brother-in-law, Hall Collins, and a short time later started on his way home. He was overtaken by Masten and Hall, who were together in a buckboard and driving at high speed. Collins recommended to him to moderate his speed, whereupon Masten shot Collins, inflicting a flesh wound. Frank McDermott of Jeffersonville was the chief corroborating witness. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty and the judge sentenced the prisoner to one month in the county jail.

The names of the supervisors for the County of Sullivan are: R. Morrison, A.E. Wenzel, Geo. F. Knapp, Wm. W. Smith, Edward Hartwell, Levi Harding, Albert Stage, U.S. Messiter, A.M. Edsall, Geo. B. Childs, A.S. Rockwell, C.T. Kilbourne, L.N. Stanton and Peter McCullom.

Callicoon Center has organized a brass band which promises to succeed. They meet and practice twice a week.

The donation held at Homer’s in Youngsville was very successful. The sum of $70 was handed to the pastor.

140 Years Ago - 1883

J.D. Sherwood will soon move into the Bogardus house recently purchased by him and leave the hotel in charge of his son, Webster.

Again we notice the fact of an English Sabbath School in this village and will add that we find it deserving of special attention. The workers find great need of some funds to aid the enterprise. The school is perfectly nonsectarian and we believe the ladies are seeking only the good of the children. Coming as it does at 2 p.m., it does not interfere with any other schools, and it is composed of both nationalities, so that all objects to it are removed. Push it along.

Among our many callers we notice Spencer Hardenburgh of Youngsville. Pen has a new process of keeping eggs for which he has constructed at great cost a suitable building, the details of which we will publish soon.

W.B. Townsend, familiarly known as “Beaty” Townsend, will sell his farm near Briscoe on February 5, 1883, 7 cows, 1 yoke 4 year old steers, well broke, 1 yoke heavy oxen, young and other stock, tools, etc. Also his farm of 50 acres.

130 Years Ago - 1893

The Sullivan County jail at Monticello contains one prisoner.

Never in the memory of the oldest inhabitant has there been such thick ice on the Delaware River.

George Hartman of North Branch has been hired as night watchman for that village at a salary of $30 per month.

Joseph Kille, Fred Sator, A. Kimmes and P. Gerhardt of Fremont Center visited Rev. Wm. Eckerth at Ellenville last week.

The project of building on their big boarding house in Liberty next Spring is now on foot and there is a good prospect of the project materializing.

A local branch of the Cooperative Building Bank was organized at Livingston Manor by L.W. Carr, organizer. The bank is established for the purpose of advancing money to its members to enable them to purchase homes. C.B.N. Hull is president; J.G. Stevens, vice president; Cyrus Mott, secretary; G.H. Lathrop, treasurer. The directors are S.S. Purvis, George B. Cotter, C.H. Lathrop, Cyrus Mott, M.H. Wright, I.G. Stevens, C.B.N. Hull, Gilbert DuBois, R.A. DeKay, E.M. Hubbard and Stanley Sprague.

Calvert Hogencamp, who resides near Youngsville, was picked up on the stoop of the Maple Grove Hotel in that place on Wednesday night of last week with his right leg broken above the ankle. He does not know how it happened.

Casper Killian died at his home near Youngsville Monday night, aged 66. He was stricken while building the kitchen fire in the morning. He leaves a son, Edward, and a daughter, Eliza.

Poles are being distributed between Jeffersonville and Callicoon for the purpose of running a telephone line to connect at that place with the Western Union line running from that place to Callicoon Depot. This is done because the line that runs directly from Jeff to the depot cannot be kept in repair. The latter will be taken up unless it can be used for a line from Jeffersonville to Kenoza Lake which there is some talk of.

Three directors of the CAMFRA went to Liberty to adjust the fire loss of Mr. Danzer on Monday, whose house burned last week. They allowed him $950.

120 Years Ago - 1903

John McQue, an aged man living near Milanville, Pa., had been in the habit of taking a swig of whiskey now and then when doctoring a cold. By mistake the other night he hit the wrong bottle and got the carbolic acid bottle instead and swallowed a good dose of it. At first it was thought he would not recover, but he is getting along well. The cold is gone.

Alfred Ditmar cut a black cherry tree on his timber lot near Mitchell Pond which measured four feet across the stump and had only one and a half inches of sap wood in it. He cut this tree into five logs without limbs – 14 feet long, one 12 feet long and one 10 feet long. He is having it sawed into 4 inch planks for a Scranton firm.

The oldest person in Sullivan County is Mrs. Wm. Donaldson of Bethel, who is said to be 102 years old and physically and mentally sound and well, and cares for herself.

A very jolly party was given at the residence of William Delveaux, 401 East 86th St., N.Y.C., last Thursday in honor of John Lowe of North Branch, nephew of Mrs. Delveaux, it being Mr. Lowe’s first visit to the city. Among the young people present were Misses Julia and Maggie Schmidt and Tillie, Emily and Clara Hornung of North Branch. Misses Lulu Delveaux, Maggie Bechert and Ida Koehl, Mrs. Jos. Delveaux, Geo. Seyler, Harry Ackerman, Fred Huff, Adam Schmidt, David Eagin, N. Barthel, Frank and Ernst Lowe. The guests departed after midnight with praises for the hospitality of the host and hostess.

The “Summer Homes” book annually prepared by the NY O&W Railway Co. is now in the course of preparation. Those who desire to entertain summer guests and wish to be represented in the O&W “Summer Homes” should send their advertisement at once.

George B. Abplanalp and Miss Anna Kehrley were married at Hortonville on January 25 by Rev. S. Muery. Wm. Abplanalp and Clara Kohler were the witnesses.

110 Years Ago - 1913

A public meeting was held at Eagle Hall Tuesday night for the purpose of securing extension of one year of the subscriptions of stock of the Liberty-Callicoon railroad which expired on January 31 this year. H.B. Mingle of New York, attorney for the company, was present and explained how the project had been held up for a long time by the public service commission and that now the company had finally secured a certificate.

From White Sulphur Springs to Jeffersonville, a distance of eight miles, the tracks are to run entirely on the south side of the  highway. Eighty percent of the rights of way for the road have been obtained.

Edward F. Misner, formerly of the Eagle Hotel, will open a saloon in the Eriff building he owns. He has bought the liquor license and bar fixtures of Wm. H. Lixfield in the Baum building. The latter will again take up the harness making business which his brother, George, has been conducting.

Fred Frey was arrested by officer Segar and brought before Justice Mauer at the law offices of Robert B. McGinn on a charge of assault brought by Chas. Whitendale, a neighbor. Justice Mauer held Frey for the Grand Jury under a bond of $500.

The Jeffersonville Gas Co. plans and preparations for the great Hackledam project on the Neversink River near Monticello are steadily going on. The dam will be 140 feet high and 800 feet long and will make a lake one mile wide and 10 miles long. While the object of the dam has not been given out it is believed to electrify the Erie Railroad.

100 Years Ago - 1923

Justice Glassel on Tuesday issued a final order giving possession of the Methodist Church property in this village to the Methodist Episcopal Church of Jeffersonville. The property was originally that of the German Methodist Church Society here, under the jurisdiction of the German M.E. East Conference. After German services were discontinued some years ago, the German Conference claimed title to the property. A year ago the trustees of the German Society here transferred the property to the Methodist Episcopal Church of Jeffersonville. Known as the English Society, and the latter by the present action, sought to dispossess the former claimants and occupants.

Elmer C. Knack, Callicoon Center contractor and builder, was in town driving his car “around the horn.” Elmer had to suspend building operations on account of the closeness of the winter but is getting ready to start in March 1 and is advertising for 30 carpenters. He has three schoolhouse jobs at White Sulphur Springs and has contracted to build a large boarding house with 42 bedrooms for Miss Kitty Holpp at Tennanah Lake.

Jacob T. Menges and Amelia Deutsch were married at St. Joseph’s Seminary on Thursday, January 25. They were attended by William A. Menges and Miss Rose Menges. Mr. Menges runs a feed store having bought Lou Many’s business.

John William Dirie and Alma Julia Werlau of Hortonville were married at Callicoon Center last Sunday by Rev. John E. Straub.

Justice Staley of the Supreme Court has handed down a decision confirming the award of the commission in the condemnation proceedings of the Ontario & Western against Charles Victor Livingston, together with costs and $1,000 extra allowance to Mr. Livingston.

Maurice H. Hershenson, whose Jewish weekly at Liberty, “The Mountain Echo,” suspended not long ago, is about to launch another paper, “The Mountain Jewish Gazette.”

A birthday party was given Alice T. Hardenburg on Monday night in honor of her 19th birthday. The guests were Rose Menges, Alfreda Hick, Lillian Reinheimer, Frances Hick, William Menges and Frank Kearns.

90 Years Ago - 1933

Kenneth L. Rutherford of the Monticello School suggests to the taxpayers that they seek the aid of the emergency relief law to reconstruct a new and much needed building at Monticello at a cost of $400,000.

Ernest H.A. Kiel, former supervisor of the Town of Bethel, died at his home at Horseshoe Pond on January 25. Mr. Kiel was born in Germany 65 years ago. In addition to his dairy farm he conducted a summer boarding house and was very successful in that line of business.

Arthur F. Schaefer, 51, a native of Jeffersonville, died at his home in Yonkers January 30. He was the son of Henry Schaefer and Christina Knack. He is survived by his wife, who is at the present time, seriously ill; a son and a daughter. Three sisters and three brothers also survive.

Martha Maltby, 66, wife of Lewis Shuman of near Kenoza Lake in the Town of Bethel, died January 25 …John W. Starr, 72, a native of Bethel, died January 21 at his farm in Little Ireland, near Livingston Manor.

80 Years Ago - 1943

John E. Abplanalp, 62, postmaster in Youngsville since 1935, died at the Liberty hospital. He was a son of Andrew Abplanalp and Rose Eggler.

Fred W. Stabbert, publisher of the Democrat, has purchased the Roscoe Review, which had been in the Hones family for many years. Edward Hones, the last publisher of the Review, leased the place a couple of weeks ago and went to Sidney where his wife has been employed in defense work for several months.

Adolph Frankel, hardware dealer in Jeffersonville, has bought a six-room house on Woodlawn Ave., in the northern section of Liberty. The purchase was made for the use of his son, Sidney, who ran the Frankel store in Liberty and is now employed by the government at St. Louis. The Frankel building here was sold recently to George W. Peters of North Branch.

Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Pond Cooke, mother of County Court Judge Cooke, died at Tucson, Ariz., on Monday after a long illness. She came to Monticello as a teacher of Latin and mathematics in 1918 and two years later married Judge Cooke.

Jean Inderlied, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Inderlied, and Val Ernst, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Ernst of the Bronx, were married January 30.

Warren Hess of Jeffersonville, cook with the Army road builders in Alaska, is expected home on a furlough. Edwin Neuberger is also with the engineers in the Yukon.

Over a foot of snow fell here last week.

Mr. and Mrs. John F. Glassel of Beechwoods celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on January 31 at the home of their daughter, Mrs. George Stephenson in Bethel.

Mrs. Josephine Berberich, 74, died January 2 at the Liberty Hospital.

70 Years Ago - 1953

William F. Wehner died January 26 at the Callicoon Hospital where he had been a patient for the past six weeks. Born near Callicoon Center on September 10, 1864, he was the son of Stephen Wehner and Margaret Miller.

Mrs. Gertrude Huff celebrated her 87th birthday last Saturday at the home of her son, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Huff with whom she makes her home.

A daughter was born January 22 at the Goshen Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Tonjes She has been named Mary.

Just before the Harold Menges family started for Florida the family of four generations gathered together. They are great-grandmother, 86-year-old Mrs. Margaret Menges; grandfather Albert W. Menges; father, Harold A. Menges; and infant Thomas Harold Menges. The Menges family springs from Peter Menges who came to Youngsville from Germany about 1848 as a young man.

60 Years Ago - 1963

The Youth Choir of the Callicoon Methodist Church will be seen on WNBF-TV Sunday, January 27, when they offer a donation to the March of Dimes’ Tele-athon. Making an appearance will be Kathy Stabbert, Elaine Callahan, Nadine Ford, Linda Ohls, Anne Marie and Elaine Robisch, Sandra and Rhonda Hermann, Ruth Rumble, Eileen Euker and Patricia Dudley. Mrs. Paul Hermann is director of the group.

Miss Mary Weyrauch of Callicoon Center was honored on the occasion of her 100th birthday January 19 with a party by the Willing Workers.

More than 100 friends and relatives gatehered to bid farewell to five local youths who have enlisted in the armed forces. Honored at the Hankins House were Edward Sykes Jr., Claude Neer, Gary Peake, Fred Bishop and Paul Gillow.

William Forsbach of Jeffersonville has been named to the statewide Public Relations Committee of the Civil Service Employees Association.

Miss Joyce Benton is queen of the 1963 Ice Carnival at Livingston Manor this weekend.

A son was born Saturday to Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Bush of Callicoon RD.

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Barley of Monticello were given a family dinner on the 64th wedding anniversary at the Lenape Hotel Thursday night. Mr. Barley is 85 and his wife is a year younger.

Mrs. Robert Buehl of Hankins was guest of honor at a baby shower hosted by Mrs. Allen Kraft on Saturday evening.

Hilary Schultz, field representative of the Local Government Division of Fire Safety at Albany, will be among the speakers at the meeting in Forestburgh Thursday for the purpose of forming a fire district for fire protection in Forestburgh.

50 years ago - 1973

Carl Daub Jr. and Carl Daub Sr. have donated a piece of land to the Grover Martin Hermann Division of Community General Hospital, located on Route 97 south of Callicoon. The land will give the local hospital considerable frontage on the highway.

L/Cpl. Robert A. Hyde Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hyde of Hankins, has been chosen as one of the servicemen to stand guard Wednesday in the Rotunda at the Capitol where the late former President Lyndon Baines Johnson will lie in state. Johnson died less than a month after the demise of Harry S Truman, 33rd president of the United States. With the death of Johnson the United States is without a living ex-President, for only the fourth time in history.

Joseph E. Fersch, was re-elected chairman of the board and president of the Sullivan County National Bank in Liberty at the annual meeting on January 9. The re-election of Fersch marks more than 51 years of continuous service with the bank.

A. Bruce Denny, son of John and Helen Denny, Narrowsburg, was found dead January 22 in Frackville, Pa., near Rt. 81. He was president of the student senate at Gettysburg College. Mystery surrounded the tragic discovery when laboratory analysis revealed that Denny, a college senior, died from a fractured skull.

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Deighton of RD 2, Callicoon, have announced the engagement of their daughter, Gertrude, to William J. Gager, also of RD 2, Callicoon. A spring wedding is planned.

40 Years Ago - 1983

Sullivan County American Legion Commander Louis Ratner said Wednesday that he will propose to the County Board of Supervisors that it establish a veterans cemetery on county-owned property at the Department of Social Services in Liberty. There are no federal or state funds available for the development and maintenance of the cemetery, he said, but it would require little care and a minimal amount of construction. The proposal will be made at the February 3 meeting of the supervisors.

Community General Hospital has been selected by the State University of New York College at New Paltz as one of two facilities to be used this spring semester for clinical training in the college’s new program in nursing for registered nurses. The other facility to be used is the Kingston Hospital in Kingston.

An Ice Festival for the Town of Cochecton will be held on Lake Huntington on Sunday, February 20.

Rev. and Mrs. Robert Bowers are rejoicing over the arrival of a girl born Sunday at Community General Hospital in Harris. He is the pastor of the Liberty Presbyterian Church… Mr. and Mrs. Leo Rosenberger of Hortonville have announced the arrival of their 17th grandchild, a boy, to James and Barbara McCleary on January 25 at the Oswego Hospital in Oswego. He has three sisters at home… Mrs. William Diehl and infant son returned home from the Horton Memorial Hospital last week.

Tammy Reiss of Eldred made a fine showing at the Junior Olympics, placing 4th in a field of 240 nationwide competitors.

30 Years Ago - 1993

Ruth Griffin of the Jeffersonville law office of Schadt and Schadt started her 30th year on the job as secretary the 12th of this month. She entered this position after graduation from high school and served as secretary of the late Frederick W.V. Schadt Sr. who set a state record when he was mayor of the village of Jeffersonville for 47 years. During her years on the job, Mrs. Griffin first served as secretary to the Hon. William Deckelman, both before and after he became a state Supreme Court Justice.

Seven Sullivan County residents, including the deputy director and a driver, are bidding to become the county’s next director of the Veterans Service Agency to replace Warren Knapp who retired in November. They are John L. Bridges of Liberty, William Bunce of Monticello, A. Etkin of Rock Hill, William Kapito of Monticello, Donald Allen of Roscoe, William Munday of Mamakating and Howard Goldsmith of Kauneonga Lake. The supervisors rely on recommendations from the major veterans groups in the county. The job is an important one as the director supervises a staff of six and manages a budget of more than $243,000 a year. He and his staff assist more than 6,000 veterans in the county, arranging for medical care and other benefits for them and their families.

A special winter opening of the Zane Grey Museum in Lackawaxen, Pa., on Sunday, January 31, will be held to observe the 121st anniversary of the birth of the famous author. Known as the “father of the Western novel,” Grey resided in Lackawaxen from 1905 to 1918 and it was during that time that he established his place as a popular author.

20 Years Ago - 2003

Grover Hermann Hospital is back in the black. Four years after officials in Harris talked about closing down the Callicoon division of Catskill Regional Medical Center, the facility has turned a profit – the first in 25 years.

Elsa Greenwald of Greenville, a fixture of the Wurtsboro community for decades, was killed Friday when the car her husband, Dennis, was driving was struck by another vehicle near her hometown. She was 63.

Three superintendents have announced their retirement from county districts in the past few months and another has moved on to an upstate school system. According to BOCES Superintendent Dr. Martin Handler, it’s just coincidence that many of the folks at the helm of our area schools have reached retirement age at about the same time.

History was made along the banks of Lake Huntington on January 18 when Pete’s Pub celebrated 30 years in business in the hamlet named after the lake. In 1972, Pete and Anita Toscano purchased the cute little pub with a dream to be successful and a nice country atmosphere in which to raise their three children.

On December 28, Priscilla Andrewski of Narrowsburg was told the news every wife dreads: her husband, Mark, had died in a tragic car accident. The Lava Fire Department is raising funds to help Mark’s widow and two children.

10 Years Ago - 2013

Dan and Shelby Weyandt bought their first house as a couple on High St. in Monticello three years ago. That house, destined to be called home by the couple and their 3-year-old daughter Sophia, was just a few short projects away from being certified for occupancy when disaster struck, coming in the form of a destructive and deadly fire. An official cause has not yet been determined.

Shortly after 4 p.m. on January 21, Richard  Davis was playing with  his grandson in the living room of his house in Swan Lake, when the walls of his house began to shake violently as an extremely loud noise sounded overhead. When Richard looked out his living room window to see what was causing the commotion, Davis caught a glimpse of a single engine airplane making a descent into his brother’s cornfield, which has been in the family’s possession since the 1920s.  A plane, its pilot and a passenger were all unscathed, a remarkable feat considering the field’s uneven terrain, and the fact that the plane traversed a dirt road running through the corn field – Davis Road – that sits several feet lower than the field itself, creating a treacherous obstacle for the plane. The Piper Cherokee Warrior departed Rutland Regional Airport in Rutland, VT and was en route to Schuylkill County Airport in Pottsville when it experienced mechanical problems. The pilot was trying to reach Sullivan County International Airport several miles away. According to state police, the airplane did not sustain any damage. The FAA is conducting an investigation into the cause of the mechanical problems and landing.