150 Years Ago - 1873

The Town of Callicoon may claim with no small degree of pride that it stands alone as the promoter of agricultural interests in our county. We know of no other section in this county where semi-annual fairs are regularly held for the display of choice stock. It is also encouraging to note that these “fetes” meet the approval of our rural population, for they are invariably well attended.

Charles M. Heath, pence collector at the toll gate on the Jeffersonville Turnpike, was thrown from a load of straw last week.

140 Years Ago - 1883

Adam Homer of Scranton has been at his Youngsville home on a visit. It seems Youngsville has some attraction for him.

On account of a partnership formed between myself and Martha J. Weyrauch in the publishing and printing business (see notice in another column) all persons indebted to me are requested to come and settle accounts.

We were agreeably surprised by a call from G. Pendell, our genial Department County Clerk. A good man in the right place, which he has occupied for 20 years.

130 Years Ago - 1893

The milk exchange has again dropped the price of milk and from May first the producer will receive two and one-half cents a quart.

Louis Poll of Beechwoods, who for some years has been in the harness making business with his brother in Elkland, Pa., has sold out his interest there to his brother and it is rumored will open a shop of his own recount in Liberty.

Edward Faubel and William Keener were arrested at Roscoe on Wednesday, charged with selling liquor without a license.

John M. Hick of Callicoon removed his family to Callicoon Depot last week. He is temporarily stopping there with his son-in-law, S.E. Wenzel, until he can find a lot on which to build.

Professor Stuchler will reopen his musical institute in Jeffersonville on June 1st. See his card elsewhere in this issue.

A brass band of about 16 pieces has been formed at Narrowsburg.

The Jeffersonville Creamery the first two weeks of this season has churned four times a week — 400 pounds of butter at a churning. This week they will begin to make butter every day.

Miss Mary Lawler of Callicoon Depot concludes her labor as preceptress of the Jeffersonville village school today. The Faubel district with Mary Hardenburgh as teacher closes today.

Harry Bosley of Kenoza Lake died suddenly in bed Sunday night or Monday morning. His wife went to the home of Joseph Welsh to attend sick children in the family. Arriving home half past five Monday morning she found her husband dead in bed. The doctor found death to have been due to heart trouble.

120 Years Ago - 1903

The celebrated road case of D.T. Eastman against the town of Callicoon in which Eastman sought to compel the town to repair and maintain a certain road near Livingston Manor, though never legally adopted by the town, is finally dead. The Court of Appeals on Tuesday affirmed the final decision giving the town a great and final victory.

The Erie Railroad officials have under advertisement the question of retaining and promoting their traffic interests in Jeffersonville and surrounding country, which they will lose if the trolley is completed from the O&W at Liberty to Jeffersonville. The Erie people have evidently come to believe the trolley will be built.

Last Friday R.A. VanHouten of Erie, Atty. Frank S. Anderson and Banker Charles P. Knapp of Deposit were in Jeffersonville to gather information on the amount of freight and passenger traffic to this section.

It is a question of only a short time when the trolley road already begun from Fallsburg to Monticello and White Lake will extend to Bethel, Kenoza Lake, Jeffersonville, Youngs-ville and Liberty. When this is done the Erie will find a very large amount of its patronage taken away.

110 Years Ago - 1913

The trustees of St. George’s Church have bought a 45x343 ft. strip of land from the Scheidell lot on the north side of the church grounds.

The Jeffersonville Union School will have its first graduation class this year. The exercise will be held in the Masonic Hall on June 20.

Franklin H. Neuberger of Jeffersonville will preach next Sunday in the Methodist Charge.

On Friday evening a surprise farewell party was given Carrie Huff of Jeffersonville at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Gabel. Present were Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yaun, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hogencamp, Carrie Hogencamp, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Boxberger, Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Calkins, Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Gabel, Miss Florence Breiner, Julia Breiner, Hattie Muranic, Irene Boxberger, Willie Walsh, Frank Eagin, Paul Gabel, Fred Menges, and Otto Hogencamp. Miss Huff closed her school in the Yaun district with a picnic on Friday. Next year she will teach at Swiss Hill.

Edward C. Neiger of Kenoza Lake left Monday to attend the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Ga. His expenses were paid by the Hudson Presbytery.

The people of Jeffersonville have petitioned the town board to establish a lighting district here. The service would come from the Livingston Manor Electric Light and Power Co.

100 Years Ago - 1923

John Abplanalp and Miss Katherine Abplanalp, both of Briscoe, were married at the Presbyterian parsonage on May 12.

James M. Holmes and bride returned from their wedding trip to Canada.

A daughter, Virginia Louise, was born May 10 to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Mathern of the village, weighing 10 3/4 pounds.

With the death of Mrs. Margaret Dietz Banuat at the home of Truman Kellam, near Callicoon, May 4, another of the old settlers of the western part of Sullivan County has passed away. She was born in Germany 81 years ago and at the age of 6 she came to America with her parents, who located near Trumansville, now Callicoon Center.

Wm. Wilson, aged 86, died at his home in Youngsville Sunday morning. Mr. Wilson was born in Germany on February 12, 1837, and came to America as a lad, an orphan. In 1869 he married Caroline Huth, at her home in Beechwoods, and bought the old Joseph Seibert farm.

90 Years Ago - 1933

Tomorrow the Jeffersonville High School orchestra, under the direction of Miss Telleta Bourne, music instructor, will play at the musical festival in Middletown. The orchestra has 29 now enrolled and 27 will make the trip. Thirty schools will be represented with bands and orchestras.

The Markson Dairy Products Corp. has embarked on the distribution of the Fairmont dairy products in Sullivan and adjoining counties.

Laborers employed on highways must be paid a minimum of 40¢ an hour, according to a new state law. The law was passed because some contractors paid their workers as low as 20¢ last year.

John H. Wagner, aged 73, died at his home Monday.

A county baseball league with teams representing Monticello, White Lake, Barryville, Lava, Mongaup Valley, Glen Spey, Jeffersonville and Callicoon Center has been formed.

The boards of education at Eldred and Narrowsburg announce that music will be dropped from the schools. Both announce a 10 percent cut in teacher’s wages and report that all the teachers have signed new contracts.

80 Years Ago - 1943

Nearly a thousand voted at the special school meeting and defeated the selection of the Hortonville school site by a majority of 48.

Policeman Edward E. Hick, who lives in the Bronx, was operated on for appendicitis this week.

The board of education has engaged Dorothy Gunderson of Middletown as music teacher to succeed Mrs. Alice Hotchkiss Slaver. Miss Gunderson’s mother was Hazel Town-send, a native of Bethel.

At the morning service in the Presbyterian Church Pastor Kovach announced the starting of a campaign to erect a new parish house in the rear of the church.

Fire destroyed the bungalow and contents of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Muller of the former Lightfoot place at Kenoza Lake.

Henry Wetzel, 51, dropped dead in the Brooklyn office of Burns Bros. Coal dealers. He lived in Jeffersonville for many years as a child and was the son of Emil Wetzel, a carriage painter.

The friends and neighbors and many of the firemen from Jeffersonville gathered last Sunday to clean up the wreckage of the Russell Norris barn, blown down in the storm last Tuesday. The Norris family narrowly escaped with their lives in the wreck.

70 Years Ago - 1953

Katherine H. Scheidell went to the city to attend the 70th anniversary of the Long Island City College of Nursing of which she is a graduate. The occasion was marked by a luncheon at the hospital last Saturday. At the same time the 50th anniversary of the organization of the alumni association was noted. Other Sullivan residents attending were Greta Yager of Liberty and Mary Johnston of Livingston Manor.

Mr. and Mrs. John Joyner gave a dinner party last Sunday at their White Sulphur Springs home in honor of Mrs. Joyner’s mother, Mrs. William Lieb of Jeffersonville. Alan Lieb and Mrs. Freda Blake also were guests. Mrs. Lieb’s birthday actually came the following day, Monday. She was born in Youngsville 79 years ago, a daughter of the late Henry Himmelreich, Youngsville merchant.

Richard B. Clifford, Jeffersonville Central School senior, and Marion M. Milk, senior at the Delaware Valley Central School, are among the 10 Sullivan County regent scholarship winners just released by the New York State Education Department.

George and Charles Neumann of New Rochelle, came to Jeffersonville on Tuesday and surprised their aunt, Mrs. Henry Bird.

Malcolm Back has resigned as manager of the Farmers Auction Barn. Mr. Back had asked some time ago to be relieved of the job but had remained to afford the directors an opportunity to find someone to take his place. Mr. Back has developed quite a poultry farm in the Birch Ridge section. This has taken more and more of his time as it developed and he found he had more work than he could do. So far his place has not been filled. Leonard Huff is temporarily managing the business.

The Post Office Department is inviting proposals to carry the mail on the Star Route from Callicoon to Liberty. Wm. Rosenberger of Hortonville has been carrying the Liberty mail now for some years.

60 Years Ago - 1963

A marathon session of the voters of Delaware Valley Central School ended at 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8, after three ballots for trustee had been cast. The annual school meeting saw an attendance of 350 voters, who re-elected Neil J. Tobin to a five-year term on the Board of Education. The budget was passed by a 67-19 tally.

Inspection of the facilities of the White Lake office of the Sullivan County National Bank will be preceded by a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday. Victoria Vassmer, five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Vassmer of Kauneonga Lake, will officially apply the shears to the ribbon.

Troop 115, Fosterdale Boy Scouts of America, recently had several of the boys represented in a service project in which 235 trees were planted at Alfred Stagl’s place on April 27.

Violet Evans of Roscoe participated in a beauty contest in Montgomery Saturday. To date the results are not known.

50 Years Ago - 1973

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Brehm of Fremont were feted April 28 with a party of 50 guests in commemoration of their 40th wedding anniversary at the Liberty Holiday Inn. It was hosted by their son, Kenneth, his wife Fran, and their two sons, Henry and Bradley, all of Coram, L.I.

The A&P Tea Co. which has been closing small stores all around this area, is planning a large new supermarket on Main St. in Livingston Manor.

Lee Currie, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Currie of Youngsville, has been designated a George F. Baker Scholar at Hope College where he is a sophomore.

Bert Eisenberg and Mrs. Shirley Diamond have been elected trustees of the Liberty School Board.

The Jeffersonville Junior Prom, “Nights in White Satin,” will be held on May 12. Candidates for Queen are Bonnie Burn, Linda Kohler, Patricia Hecker and Stephanie Labe; for King, Charles Schadt, Brian Mullally, Paul Grupp and Steve Clifford.

Wallace Brengle, 45, of Wilmington, Del., a member of the Million Mile Club for having driven that distance without an accident, is believed to have been killed when his disabled vehicle ran over him at the Quickway a week ago Tuesday night near Exit 99.

A strange snake found in Hortonville last week was the object of considerable curiosity. It is thought that it may have hitched a ride north from Florida on the car of William Moran, who, with his family, most recently enjoyed a vacation in the sunny south.

A daughter, Dana Lynn, was born to William and Ada (Hayes) Cole on May 16, at Liberty Loomis Hospital. She will go home soon to meet her brother William (Bill) and sister Colleen, as well as her grandmothers, Alice Cole and Ada Hayes.

40 Years Ago - 1983

Gloria Kantrowitz was named “Secretary of the Year for 1983” in a recent random drawing from the names of secretaries saluted in the Democrat’s Annual Secretary of the Year page. She is employed by Gai-man and Krutman in Woodridge as head bookkeeper.

The Monticello Kiwanians donated a new flagpole to the Monticello schools’ playing field adjacent to the high school.

Mr. and Mrs. Earle Poley entertained in honor of the 90th birthday of her mother, Mrs. Amanda Stewart.

Paul Zintel, former Jeffersonville-Youngsville basketball coach, will be honored at a testimonial dinner on June 4 at the Elks Club in Liberty. Zintel also coached football leaving an enviable 348-141 record which includes eight WLS championships. In addition, his 1971,  ‘72, ‘75, ‘77 and ‘81 teams posted the best defense records in Section 9 competition.

Robert J. Frings, a member of the Eldred Central High School Band, has been selected for membership in the Sousa National High School Honors Band. This is one of the highest honors in the nation which can come to a high school musician. He plays first chair trumpet in the school band.

The registered professional nurses of Community General Hospital of Sullivan, which has a main location in Harris and a satellite hospital in Callicoon, have rejected binding arbitration in the current wage and benefits negotiations, and have posted a strike notice. If negotiations have not come to a conclusion satisfactory to the nurses by May 20, the 175 RNs represented by the New York State Nurses Association will go out on strike, according to NYSNA representative William Norman.

Plans are underway for a fund-raiser, the First Annual Catskill Fly Fishing Center Banquet, to be held at King’s Catering House in Livingston Manor. John McDonald, editor of “The Complete Fly Fisherman,” will be guest speaker.

Roger Stauch of Callicoon accepted a check for $15 as winner of the Democrat’s Opening Month Trout Contest in the Running Water Division, for a 2 lb. 5 oz. brown trout which measured 19 inches. He caught the trophy fish in the Callicoon Creek. It totaled 56 points in the Democrat’s contest.

30 years ago - 1993

School budgets in the Roscoe and Livingston Manor school districts were defeated while six others, Eldred, Fallsburg, Jeffersonville-Youngsville, Monticello, Narrowsburg and Tri-Valley, all passed.

Dr. John Walter, who will retire as president of Sullivan County Community College in June, was presented a framed engraved photo of the college by Harold Gold, president of the college trustees. Dr. Walter will return to teaching mathematics in the fall.

More than 750 people attended the open house of Agway Energy on Route 52 near Liberty. The Moo Juicers 4-H Club of Callicoon had a petting zoo at the open house for the children.

Dr. John A. Petkus was honored upon his retirement after 46 years in the family medicine practice during which he has served those in the Town of Highland and Shohola, Pa., with a gathering of over 250 people at the Eldred Preserve. Supreme Court Justice Robert Williams was master of ceremonies.

Mr. and Mrs. Warren Miller of Hortonville attended the 2nd annual Former National POW  Recognition Day at Castle Point VA Hospital. Mr. Miler was held a prisoner of war during World War II and spent a year in a camp in Germany.

Sullivan County District Attorney Stephen Lungen has announced that he will seek a fourth term.

Robert and Sandee Pointer of Callicoon were presented plaques for distinguished service to the senior citizen art program in Sullivan County during ceremonies to officially open the 10th annual seniors art show at the Sullivan County Government Center in Monticello. The program allows for the art works of senior citizens to be displayed in the halls of the government center for all to see and enjoy and the honors celebrated the achievements of its founders and curators, the Pointers.

The theft of six Torahs from the Ohave Shalom Synagogue in Woodbourne was uncovered after New York City Police were alerted to a pair of men who attempted to sell two Torahs to a religious art dealer.

The village of Fremont Center will host the 109th annual Memorial Day Parade, slated for May 31. The parade will also mark the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Pledge of Allegiance as the national pledge.

20 Years Ago - 2003

One of the biggest obstacles to getting a casino in Sullivan County was cleared yesterday when New York State Governor George Pataki signed a compact with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. The compact was part of a larger deal reached between the tribe and the governor about a longstanding land claim.

Members of the staff of the Callicoon Post Office helped collect 619 pounds of food Saturday in the national Stamp Out Hunger food drive. The majority of the food was collected by carriers Linda Flynn and Carl Keesler and the collection is the second most ever (area folks donated 728 pounds in 2000).  The food will be donated to the food pantry in Callicoon.

Members of the Smallwood Civic Association have been fighting since last May to reopen Moscoe Road, a direct link to the Toronto Reservoir boat launch in the Town of Bethel. The federal government  decided that the gate erected by Mirant Corporation, an energy company from Suffern that uses the reservoir to produce power, has to go. The company has been instructed to open the gate as long as the Department of Homeland Security keeps the country’s terror code level at yellow or below.

Someone apparently took a BB gun and used it to shoot up the town of Jeffersonville last weekend, ruining much of the work done in the past few years to revitalize the village. Store owners came into town early Saturday morning to find windows blown out, holes in their moldings and the town in a general disarray. 

Erin Slaver and her father, John, of Liberty wowed the crowd at the recent Old Time Fiddlers Festival in Woodbourne held at the Woodbourne Firehouse.

The 30th annual High School Art Show will open Wednesday at the Catskill Art Society’s gallery at the Sullivan County Museum in Hurleyville.

10 Years Ago - 2013

One hundred and two fifth grade students at Sullivan West Elementary School took part in the fifth annual Trout Release Day recently. The district’s Trout in the Classroom program is sponsored by the Upper Delaware Chapter of Trout Unlimited and Jeff Bank, and the classes are taught by  Kelly Erlwein, Sue Mullally, Lisa Hoffmann and Joanne Mullally. Jim Hughson once again let the district make use of the stretch of property bordered by Route 52 and the Callicoon Creek, and maintained in memory of his beloved daughter Lauren.

Local residents named members of SUNY Delhi’s New York State Association of Veterinary Technicians for the 2012-13 academic year were Brianna Mir of Liberty  and Rae Polonsky of Grahamsville, who both earned an associate degree in Veterinary Science Technology.

The fourth grade students at George L. Cooke Elementary School in Monticello dissected owl pellets to see what an owl actually ate. They discovered everything from a rodent, a bird and a mole. All of the students really enjoyed this unique project.

After 26 years of guiding hundreds of students to success in dozens of championships, Monticello High School Assistant Debate Coach Rose Joyce-Turner was inducted into the New York State Debate Coach Association Hall of Fame during a reception at the Horace Mann High School in the Bronx. The longtime English language arts (ELA) teacher was honored because of her dedication of time, energy and expertise to help youngsters master the craft of debate, critical thinking and public speaking - all of which have helped them excel in their educational and career pursuits.