130 Years Ago - 1896

Miss Bertha Wilson held a rag bee on Wednesday of last week and in the evening she gave a grand social hop which was well attended in spite of snow and wind. There were 12 couples present. The Callicoon Cornet Band furnished music throughout the evening. All report a good time.

Henry Krantz of the Beechwoods will sell his stock, farming tools, household goods, etc., at public auction on Thursday, March 26th.

Mileses, March 9 – Rev. Muery of Hortonville is instructing a confirmation class of 9 pupils. Instructions are held every Friday at J. Baer Sr.’s place.

Black Lake, March 14 – Sherman McBride passed through this place on Friday. I imagine he found the sleighing quite bad in some places, as the roads are drifted very much.

Liberty, March 17 – The Lenape Fishing Club of Liberty, with George Young, J.C. Young and Edward Tompkins as directors, has or soon will be incorporated. The club will be limited to 10 members and they will have a lake and club house near Old Morsston. The members include Liberty, Middletown, Hancock and Rockland people besides a few more from elsewhere.

120 Years Ago - 1906

Monticello is to have a modern firehouse, where will be kept a team of horses ready to jump into harness at the sound of an alarm and take the hook and ladder truck to the fire.

The Callicoon  Water Company of Callicoon Depot on March 12 elected the following directors: Martin Hermann, Frank S. Anderson, Valentine Scheidell, Jacob Persbacker Jr., Wm. E. Halladay, Peter Hermann and C.A. Thorwelle.

In the national championship target championship held at Madison Square Garden in New York last week, Rudolph Gute of Jeffersonville came in second with a score of 2464 out of a possible 2500, 2 points less than last year when he was also second. The man who defeated Gute for the championship this year was a young fellow whom he tutored in the shooting.

Among the real estate transfers recently recorded was that of the farm of 90 acres of Henry Wolf near Callicoon to John Wolfgang Seifert for $1850.

Mr. and Mrs. John Hahner of Lake Huntington, formerly of Jeffersonville, will celebrate their silver wedding anniversary on March 23, and on the same day at the Hahner home, Mrs. Hahner’s parents, Christian and wife of Cochecton Center will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

Chas. M. Heidt, who recently sold his hotel at White Sulphur Springs, has bought the house and lot of Mrs. George Miller opposite the Halfway House at Kenoza Falls, and will open a hotel there.

110 Years Ago - 1916

The Jeffersonville Board of Education on Tuesday accepted the bid of $31.11 of Mrs. Rosina Benz for the Swiss Hill school building which has been abandoned on account of consolidation. It was the only bid received. No bid was received for the schoolhouse in the Faubel district.

The annual school meeting will be held on the first Tuesday in August, instead of in May, the reason being that the school  year ends on July 31.

The Democrats have designated Valentine Scheidell of Jeffersonville as State Committeeman to succeed himself. James H. Curtis and John Miller were designated as town committeemen for Delaware and Theo­dore Botens and Charles Kautz in Callicoon. On the Republican side there is a contest for state committeeman between Milton J. McGibbon of Liberty and Dr. Scott B. Schleier­macher of Wurtsboro. In Delaware Henry F. Gardner and Wm. J. Brown were named as town committeemen and in Callicoon the designees were Bert L. Stoddard and A.W. Eickhoff.

The Board of Supervisors has appropriated $1000 for the period of June 1 to December 31 for a farm bureau association, recently formed to cooperate with the State College of Agriculture. This is the first appropriation for a farm bureau.

100 Years Ago - 1926

The Jeffersonville Athletic Club had its get-together meeting on Tuesday night and made plans for the coming baseball season. Al Paolucci was again appointed manager to get together a team. The opening game will be played on Sunday, May 23.

John B. Warner of Franklin, the deputy grand master of the Delaware-Sullivan Masonic District, is making his official visit to Sullivan County lodges this week: Jeffersonville last night, Delaware Lodge at Callicoon tonight and Livingston Manor Saturday night.

The people who critics say are “trying to run the church” are merely the people who are willing to do the work.

Callicoon Center, March 23 – A dairy farmer’s meeting was held at Tumble Inn last Thursday evening for the purpose of forming a cooperative creamery company.

90 Years Ago - 1936

The ten school directors in the five towns of Callicoon, Delaware Fremont, Neversink and Rockland, comprising the second supervisory district, met at Jeff on Tuesday and organized by electing Andrew vonBergen and Edwin Weber of this town as chairman and clerk. Mrs. Cornelia Hones and Mrs. Lorraine Russell of Rockland were elected tellers for the election on April 21. The other eight directors are George N. Homer and Herbert G. Persbacker of Delaware, Charles J. Hoffmann and Anthony Schick of Fremont, and Ben W. Hill and Bruce Fuller of Neversink.

Nearly all of the householders along Main Street in Jeffersonville and the Delaware section have been kept on the jump or anxious seat during the past week by extra high waters overflowing the Callicoon Creek, which runs through the village. Cellars have been flooded and the furnace fires put out. Movable articles took to sea and when the water receded, found other resting places, if they were not removed in time. Each home had its own private bathing pool, but no patrons. Bathing in the winter is not relished here in the North.

Surrogate Cooke on Tuesday appointed Herbert Hassis administrator of the estate of the late Wm. P. Miller of Jeffersonville who was killed in an automobile accident on March 4.

80 Years Ago - 1946

Almost 300 attended the open installation of the newly formed  H. Russell Kenyon Post, VFW, in the central school auditorium in Jeffersonville last Sunday at 3 p.m. The installing officer was Raymond P. Rogers, past commander of Hudson Valley County Council of Newburgh. The charter list now contains 100 members. The post was named after H. Russell Kenyon of Narrowsburg who was killed in the Battle of Midway in 1942, while with the U.S. Navy torpedo squadron in the Pacific.

Miss Elvira Wormuth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Wormuth (Vera Essman) of Fosterdale, and Frank Reynolds, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Reynolds of Cochecton, were married at Owego on March 9th.

The marriage of Donald Krantz and Bernice Reum of the Beechwoods will take place Sunday at the Presbyterian Church.

Mrs. Ruth Thony of Jeffersonville has announced the engagement of her youngest daughter, Elma R. to Carl R. Hansen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hansen of Dyberry, Pa.

Seventy-two ballots were cast in the village election at the Jeff firehouse Tuesday night resulting in the election of Samuel H. Baer and Lester Gute as trustees for two years and Martin H. Fick as trustee for 1 year. The vote on the 2-year-term was Baer 53, Gute 56, Henry Schaefer 15, Si Sattinger 10. For the 1-year-term, the vote was Fick 48, Schaefer 4, Ed Weber 1.

Yvonne Herve Brustman, wife of George Brustman of Liberty, arrived on the USS Goethals in New York City on March 14. She is the first World War II war bride to arrive in Sullivan County. The Brustmans were married on May 19, 1945 in Le Mans, France while Staff Sgt. Brustman was serving with the U.S. Army in France.

70 Years Ago - 1956

John Wohltjen and Lester Gute were elected trustees for a two-year term at the village elections.

Members of the Jeffersonville “High on the Hill” staff attended the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Convention in New York and proudly brought back a third rating in the category of high schools of 300 or less who put out their own paper. This is the first year the school has been entered in this category.

Mrs. Sylvia Bodenstein spent several days at Maimonides Hospital due to a severe sprain after falling on the ice.

Mrs. John Hemmer is leaving for Germany to join her husband.

It may be spring on the calendar but we are buried beneath the snow banks left by sixteen inches of snow in two storms within the last few days.

Death came this week to William J. Luckey of Kenoza Lake, aged 66; Mrs. Wilhelmina Ebert, 83, of Youngsville; and Philip Cunningham, 74, of Roselle, N.J.,  husband of the former Alice Reum of the Beechwoods.

The Adler building on Main Street has been wired for TV for the convenience of its tenants, the first multi-family unit in the county with such an arrangement.

Forty-seven volunteer firemen from the county received certificates for completing a course in Single Company Operations.

Coach Joseph Strawbridge took his debators to the Youngsville P.T.A. meeting where they debated on the topic “Resolved that governmental subsidies should be granted according to need to high school graduates who qualify for additional training.”

Amber’s  celebrated its 1st anniversary by installing a new modern store front.

60 Years Ago - 1966

Frederick Starck, president of the Martin Hermann Lumber Company in Callicoon, was elected chairman of the Sullivan County Planning Board. Mr. Starck, a charter-member of the 10-year-old county planning board, is also a director of the regional planning group, Mid-Hudson Patterns for Progress.

Miss Sandra Lee Hermann, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hermann of Callicoon was capped and awarded a Certificate of Proficiency and membership in the American Registry of Medical Assistants and Medical Secretaries at ceremonies held recently at the Hotel Commodore in New York City. She has been attending Career Academy in New York City.

Rubin Katz, Monticello publisher, and Fred W. Stabbert, Callicoon publisher, were among the New York State weekly publishers invited to the Executive Mansion in Albany by Governor Rockefeller for dinner.

Weighted voting has been adopted by the County Board of Supervisors.

A 16-year-old Narrowsburg youth, Herbert A. Engelmann Jr., is in satisfactory condition in Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., after being wounded in the eye during pistol target practice. The youth was shooting at a bottle atop a rock when either the bullet or a fragment of rock ricocheted and struck him in the left eye, police disclosed.

Mike Kelly,  Liberty Highway Superintendent, was renamed to his seventh one-year term as president of the Sullivan Township Highway Superintendents Association Wednesday night of last week at the Chateau Restaurant in Monticello.

50 Years Ago - 1976

It was like the “bad old days” of Murder Inc. in Sullivan County, when area lakes became the final resting place for gangland murder victims, as State Police divers combed the murky bottom of Briscoe Lake seeking fragments of two sisters from Brooklyn who, reputedly, had been dismembered and then thrown in the pond. Charged with the double slaying was self-styled “Bishop” Vernon LeGrand, owner of LeGrand Acres in White Sulphur Springs, and long a thorn in the side for local law enforcement agencies. LeGrand, whose license plate LG-83 proclaimed his assertion that he was the father of that many children, maintained a summer camp here. On different occasions he has been charged with offenses ranging from child abuse, to mistreating animals, to rape. The home base for the “Bishop” was St. John’s Pentecostal Church of Our Lord in Brooklyn, where he maintained a stable of “nuns” who, it is alleged, served as prostitutes under LeGrand’s direction. Both LeGrand and his 20-year-old son, Nocanda, are in custody awaiting transportation to a state penitentiary, as a result of a conviction earlier this month, in a Brooklyn court. Both men were found guilty of rape, stemming from an accusation of one of the “nuns” who said that she had been imprisoned and raped by the pair.

Fire, fanned by chilling winds, severely damaged the Hillside Ranch Resort on Route 97, Narrowsburg, last Thursday afternoon. The Narrowsburg fire department was assisted by Yulan, Lava, Lake Huntington and the Liberty Rescue Unit.

The H. Russell Kenyon Post No. 5808, VFW, celebrated its 30th anniversary on March 17, with a spaghetti dinner hosted by the auxiliary to fifty-three members, wives and auxiliary members, together with several friends at the post home on Saturday evening, March 13. Arthur J. Flynn, a Vietnam veteran, and Mrs. Helen Luckey are in command of the post and auxiliary respectively. In concluding her remarks pertaining to the past history of the post, Mrs. Anne Mages, past District 2 president, said “Over the past 30 years friendships have been kept bright by the thoughtful little things we do for others – the cost of these gestures doesn’t matter – their value comes from the heart – from belonging to the H. Russell Kenyon Post No. 5808 and its Ladies Auxiliary.”

The engagement of Susan Kendall of Elmira to David Eichenauer of Liberty, has been announced by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Addison Kendall. The groom-elect is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Eichenauer of Liberty.

Rev. Roger Riley, pastor of the Livingston Manor Methodist Church, was honored by over 125 friends and relatives who gathered at the church Sunday afternoon to observe his 25th anniversary in the ministry. A “This is Your Life” theme was used in the program. Mr. Riley has missed one church service during his ministry due to illness.

Four Sullivan County residents, Jay Stewart of Narrowsburg, Clarence Loucks of Livingston Manor, Robert C. Bernhardt of Youngsville and James E. Vandervoort of Monticello have become quarter-century members of the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation, having completed 25  years with the utility company.

40 Years Ago - 1986

June B. Tegeler has been appointed vice-president and branch manager of the Jeffersonville office of the First National Bank of Jeffersonville. She began her banking career in 1971 as a teller trainer.

Incumbent Trustee Harry Wild and former Trustee Charles Prince were elected to the village board in Tuesday’s Village of Liberty election. Incumbent trustees Lucille Bradshaw and Ed McManus were re-elected to their positions on the Monticello Village Board. Village Justice Mark Schulman ran unopposed. Walter Rogers won his first two-year term as trustee, replacing William Fedun who did not seek re-election. Only 159 of the 3,560 registered voters in the village went to the polls… In Jeffersonville incumbent trustees Robert DuBois and Michael LaJoie received 27 and 26 votes respectively as they won re-election. Walter McKeen was elected to a fifth term as police justice... Harold Thompson was re-elected trustee for a second two-year term in the Village of Wurtsboro election, receiving 53 of the 54 votes cast. There are nearly 600 voters registered.

Nearly 100 skaters participated in the February 28 Skate-a-Thon at the Delaware Community Center. Nearly $4,700 was pledged.

According to Department of Public Works Superintendent Charles Myers, the Civil War cannon, which was a familiar sight at the Monticello Court House and most recently had disappeared, has been located in a shed at the County Highway Department and will be replaced on the lawn sometime this spring.

Al Etkin, a member and past commander of VFW Post 9588, Monticello, has been appointed a 1986 National Aide-de-Camp by National VFW Commander-in-Chief John Stamm who says, “I know Comrade Etkin will do an outstanding job for the VFW, the veteran, and the community.”

Ed DeCamp and Myron “Mickey” LaBarr, two World War II veterans who have been American Legion members 62 years of the Legion’s 67 years of organization, were honored Saturday night at Bernie’s Chateau in Monticello.

Gerry Davitt, J-YCS basketball coach, took over the duties as baseball coach as of March 9. The first president of the Sullivan County Baseball Umpires Association, Mr. Davitt says he still hopes to do some umpiring during the year. “I don’t anticipate any trouble with the umpires,” he said, “since I know what they have to go through.” The challenges of the baseball season begin for the Trojans on April 1 when the Western Sullivan League opens league play. “It’s been tough with no break in between. You get tired, but if you love the two sports like I do, then you catch your breath pretty fast,” Mr. Davitt said.

30 Years Ago - 1996

A U.S. District Court judge is refusing to dismiss a federal racketeering lawsuit brought against former Town of Delaware officials by real estate developer Joseph DeFalco.

Although the Catskill Cougars are scheduled to play their first home game at Baxter Field in Mountaindale on June 16, the franchise has yet to secure its required Certificate of Occupancy permit.

Republicans stormed the Village of Monticello election Tuesday, achieving apparent victory over their Democratic rivals in a race unfortunately marred by voter registration problems.

Peter and Alice Diehl felt lucky in a way that the two tall Northern Larch Tamarack trees that fell Tuesday evening narrowly missed damaging their Beechwoods home. A “twister” of sorts ripped and uprooted several trees on their farm in a direct path towards their house and tore several aluminum roof panels off their heifer barn.

LaVerne Black won the first Town of Thompson Photography Contest sponsored by the town’s Conservative Advisory Council.

Hertha B. Quick of Roscoe died Tuesday, March 19, 1996 at the age of 97. The daughter of Eli H. and Lyda Moore Bowers, she was born January 2, 1899, in Willowemoc.

20 Years Ago - 2006

Married on March 19, 1956, Mary and Arthur James raised 14 children at their home in Liberty. They provided for their six boys, four girls and four grandchildren. Mary and Arthur and their 10 children, 19 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, plus family and friends celebrated the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary at the Neversink Fire Department.

Eugene and Jean Clark Albrecht, formerly of Rock Hill and now of Jupiter, Florida, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary recently; their children hosted a surprise party at the home of their son, Ben.

DEATHS: Robert J. Nartoff, 75, formerly of Monticello, died March 14, 2006 in Leeds, Mass. Active in the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop, the Nartoff-Wells Theater was named in part in his honor... Dr. Abraham Pollack of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly of Liberty, a retired dentist, died March 13, 2006 at the age of 87.

The annual appreciation and awards dinner of the Youngsville Fire Department was held at the fire hall February 25. The 2006 Firefighter of the Year award was presented to Christopher Klein, a junior firefighter with many hours of dedication and time invested in the department.

10 Years Ago - 2016

A digital sign proposed for Mongaup Valley has split the Bethel Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and triggered debate about the Town of Bethel’s character. The electronic sign may only be 6 feet high and 9 feet wide, but it qualifies as a billboard under Bethel’s code, and because it’s planned to advertise more than just the restaurant property on whose land it may sit, it requires a variance from the existing zoning prohibition. The ZBA held a public hearing on the matter Monday.

Kenny Wiesen’s grandfather created Lansman’s Day Camp and a related co-op bungalow colony in the 1940s, intentionally straddling Murphy Road in Woodbourne to foment a sense of community. Wiesen, however, is now concerned that the facility’s future could be jeopardized by the traffic from residential developments proposed nearby. Land has been purchased along the east side of Lansman’s for two residential developments, the plans of which Wiesen learned about just 10 days prior to the developments’ first appearance before the Fallsburg Planning Board. 

Eldred girls’ basketball coach Ryan Jasper has had a lot to smile about over the past two years, amassing a 35-8 record over that span, two sectional titles and a trip to the State Final Four.