140 Years Ago - 1884

Prof. I.D. Barnes, a former principal of the Damascus Union Academy, was recently married to Miss Hattie Armstrong of Cochecton, one of his pupils.

The first postal note issued by our postmaster, Mr. John Beck, was for the sum of $1.00 and given to S.W. Miles of Fremont.

J.C. Anderson, heretofore the efficient general freight and ticket agent for the N.Y. O&W Railroad, is relieved from the passenger agency and is assigned to be general freight manager, by Circular No. 1 from the general traffic manager’s office.

A very large influx of strangers was observed last Monday. Among the many that we saw we remember Charles Stanton of Mongaup Valley, O. Cootsoff, Bethel; R. Moffet of Liberty; H.C. Moot of North Branch; Leander Hill of Youngsville; A.I. Barton of Poughkeepsie; Mr. Swinton of Swinton, Schmier & Co. of Port Jervis; W.W. Staiv of Monticello; H. Helck of New York City and many others whose names escape us.

With pleasure we chronicle the marriage of J.W. Zwingli of the firm of J.W.Z. & Co. of Paterson, N.J., and Miss Rose Schlucke of Jeffersonville. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. F. H. Bernhardt at the residence of the bride’s parents, near Jeff on Tuesday, September 4th. The bride is a daughter of Mr. Schlucke, a well-to-do farmer, who has trained up his children in habits of honesty and economy. Mr. Zwingli’s parents at one time lived in this village and at this time he is doing a fine business as commission merchant in Paterson, N.J. and New York City. Our best wishes for a long and happy life for each.

Frank Harding Esq., left for Binghamton on Monday to engage in his legal business. He has entered the office of a law firm there.

130 Years Ago - 1894

At a special town meeting held at Livingston Manor, August 30, to decide whether the Town of Rockland should pay for the iron bridge across the Little Beaverkill at Livingston Manor, resulted in a total of 424 votes being cast of which 165 were for repudiation and 259 votes against it.

The net receipts at the toll gate near Dohrmann’s on the Liberty and White Lake Turnpike amounted to $135 during the month of August. At the toll gate beyond Stevensville the receipts for the same period were $90.

W.K. Lain has been re-engaged as principal of the Livingston Manor School. Miss Belle Ernhout in the intermediate department and Miss Grace Cochrane in the primary department.

Kenoza Lake: Miss Louise Wales left Monday for Middletown where she expects to attend school this winter. Miss Martha Wales will teach near Liberty and Miss Harriet Wales will commence teaching at Birch Ridge next week.

North Branch: I notice the genial face of Dr. Platz of Jeffersonville in our village quite frequently. The doctor drives two horses now. 

William Miller of Youngsville was doctoring pianos in town Wednesday. He knows how.

Charles Scheidell is increasing the capacity of his feed and grain store house by building a twelve foot addition. This must mean more business.

Thereon Potts, who was recently graduated at the New Paltz state normal school, will leave next week to attend Amherst College.

120 Years Ago - 1904

The fair here Monday was without a doubt the best one held in Jeffersonville for some years. The weather was fine, the attendance was larger; the exhibits were more varied and interesting; the ladies were prettier and more charming; the city boarders gave evidence of better feed; the boarding house keepers turned out with fatter pocketbooks; the noisy elements were much more quiet and peaceable, showing either a decrease in appetite for the disturbing liquids or a great capacity for the same; the gambling man, thank goodness, did a starvation business.

C. Metzger Jr. is having his house piped for gas.

The Eagle Hotel is now illuminated with gas, a grand improvement.

W.J. Grishaber has begun excavating for his new home on Center Street.

School reopened on Tuesday with E. V. McDermott, principal, and Miss Grace Anderson of Beechwoods as primary teacher.

Mrs. Fred Faubel and sister, Miss Julia B. Kautz, gave a lawn social to a few friends Sunday afternoon at the Faubel home. Supper was served at 5 o’clock on the lawn, where decorations were made with Japanese lanterns, flowers and ferns. The guests were Mrs. Charles P. Kautz of Callicoon Depot, Miss M.E. Schumacher and Mrs. G.A. Weber and daughter of New York, Charles P. Durr and family, Wm. Pfeiffle and family and John von Bergen and family of Jeffersonville.

Youngsville: H.C. Peterson is having a sun parlor put on the second story of his house, extending entirely over the porch. Solon and Main Stoddard are doing the work.

110 Years Ago - 1914

Dr. Charles E. MacDonald of Salem, N.J., formerly of Jeffersonville, sailed yesterday for Germany and Austria, where he goes as chief surgeon with the American Red Cross Relief Corps. His headquarters will be at the American Embassy in Austria.

Rev. John E. Jenkins will leave the Kenoza Lake M.E. charge on September 21 after enjoying a year and six months of hard but happy work in the rural church field. He will be succeeded at once by the Rev. George Oliver Read of the Reformed Church at Newburgh.

One of the largest crowds of people ever in attendance at a fair here was in Jeffersonville last Monday at the fall street fair. Automobiles in particular were here in great numbers. The crowd was happy and contented, apparently satisfied at meeting and watching each other, in the absence of any special attractions.

Wm. Maus, son of Conrad Maus of Fremont Center, and Miss Sophia Dick of the same place, but formerly of Brooklyn, were married at the Callicoon Center parsonage by Rev. J.E. Straub Wednesday afternoon. They were attended by Mr. and Mrs. F. O’Connor of Brooklyn, the brother-in-law and sister of the bride. The couple left the same day on a honeymoon for Binghamton in the groom’s Ford car.

Ernest Fimpel of Brooklyn joined his family at Mrs. B. Wagner’s last Thursday and all returned to the city Tuesday.

Harry Mathern and Miss Clara Cochran and Miss Hazel Mathern and Brian Schmmering of New York were married at a double ceremony performed by the Rev. K.K. Stadelman on Sunday, August 16th, at the parsonage in Jeffersonville.

Otto Bollenbach is home from the Singer Sewing Machine Works at Elizabethport, where he was employed. Many hands have been laid off at the Singer factory on account of the war hurting the export trade.

100 Years Ago - 1924

The registration at the high school in Jeff is 72, larger than ever before. Quite a number of outsiders are attending.

A cement floor has been put in the school auditorium as wood floors have proven short lived on account of the moisture.

Ed Brand has recovered his pet dog, Toby, which was taken from Koelsch’s dance hall one night last week. The dog was located in Liberty.

Frank Hess has completed on the North Branch Road, the erection of a new 8-room house, which he will lease as a whole or in part.

G. Krumm of Port Richmond, S.I., who bought the Justin lot on Terrace Avenue, has broken ground for a house, which will be erected by Contractor L.J. Dietrich. Frank Neuberger is constructing the cellar. Mr. Krumm, who is a barrel manufacturer, expects to occupy the house here several months of the year. 

Maj. Charles E. MacDonald of the United States Medical Corps, who for several years past has been the surgeon of the 98th Division Organized Reserves, stationed in Buffalo, called on friends in town yesterday during his brief stay having come over from Liberty with his brother-in-law, Harry B. McLaughlin, with whom he and his wife and child are stopping for a few days.

Donald Boyer, son of George Boyer of Liberty, won the annual spelling contest in the Sullivan County Fair on Thursday. There were twenty-nine contestants. Donald is a pupil in the seventh grade of the Liberty High School. As a reward he is attending the state fair this week.

90 Years Ago - 1934

Robbers who were familiar with the situation entered the bedroom of George Upton, restaurant owner of Cochecton, during the daytime in the fore part of this week, cutting the screen to unlatch a rear door and extracted $300 from Mr. Upton’s trousers in his bedroom. A watch was not taken and a purse of Mrs. Upton, containing $200 also was not disturbed. The robbers evidently knew the money was in Mr. Upton’s trousers and that’s what they went after.

Mr. and Mrs. Ray Shaara, who built a home on one of Fred Dedling’s lots on the Beechwoods Road, will return to the city this week for the winter. They would like to live here right along, but business is business.

Miss Helen Keeser, who relinquished her job in the bank September 1st, has gone to the city this week to pick out an apartment for her next job, that of housekeeper. She will be married on September 15 at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Callicoon. Mrs. Edith Gareiss has taken her place in the bank.

Mr. and Mrs. Lyle K. VanBuren continues with the Victory chain. They came from Oneonta just one year ago and built up a large Victory trade by their genial and accommodating ways.

Philip Bietz of Jeffersonville and Miss Charlotte Diehl of Beechwoods were married at Hortonville by Rev. Samuel Muery fifty years ago Saturday, September 8th. The anniversary will be quietly observed at their home on Maple Avenue.

James Robisch, aged 92, of Beechwoods, celebrated Labor Day by digging potatoes in the field.

Arthur Bird, editor of the Sidney Record, and Mrs. Bird visited relatives and friends in Jeffersonville over the weekend. Mr. Bird was editor and publisher of the Jeffersonville Record for a few years in the 1870s, taking the paper from Arthur P. Childs who removed to Nebraska. In 1877, Mr. Bird sold the paper to John Beck and went to Puerto Rico as U.S. vice consul by appointment by Secretary of State William M. Evarts, under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

80 Years Ago - 1944

The Jeff Central School was reopened on Tuesday with a registration of 358, of which nearly fifty are new students.

Mrs. Katherine Cucci is back in the Victory store after convalescing from an appendix operation.

Fred Luchs, after a few weeks on his brother Art’s farm here, returned to New York yesterday. Shortly he and brother Albert of Plainfield will go on a trip to visit relatives at Rochester and Coudersport, Pa. Next spring, if transportation permits, Fred will go to San Diego, Calif., to visit brother John, who will return with him to visit the old home and folks here.

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Fresennius and daughter, Theo, will return to New York today, after vacationing at the Breen house on East Main Street.

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Rittershausen gave a dinner party Monday evening in honor of Miss Jane Taylor’s birthday. Other guests were Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Erskine and Mrs. Louise Muller of Brooklyn and Miss Velda Abel of this village.

Syracuse, August 27, Miss Ruth Cross, daughter of Robert N. Cross, was married to Seaman First Class Kenneth Robertson of Youngsville, the night of August 7 at 8 o’clock in Brown Memorial Church, with the Rev. C.A. Rosencrans officiating at the double ring ceremony.

Callicoon Center: The Misses Sally, Dorothy and Harriet Hiat, children of Fred Hiat of New York who spent the summer with Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Kastner, have planned to remain here for the winter and will attend school.

Mrs. Mathilda Wagner, widow of Charles F., has sold her 49 acre farm on Sixteen to Theodore G. Ficke of Flushing. She was asking $2500 for the place. Other parties were also after the farm, one of them Dr. J.B. Torre of Long Island, brother-in-law of acting principal Kenneth C. Fuller.

70 Years Ago - 1954

Miss Irene Cross of Loch Sheldrake became the bride of Donald Hill of the U.S. Navy at a ceremony Saturday in the Methodist Church in Hurleyville.

Richard Krongel of Beechwood Road, Jeffersonville, was among the 87 persons who passed the examinations held in New York City on August 19 for licenses as life insurance agents. He also passed an examination for accident and health insurance agents.

One additional non-resident case of polio has been reported in Sullivan County during the past week. A New York City woman visiting in Fallsburg brought the 1954 total to three county residents and two non-residents.

Avery Welch, 39, of Livingston Manor, was sent to the Liberty-Loomis Hospital on Tuesday morning in critical condition when the rear end of a tractor-trailer smashed in the front of his car on Mussman Hill.

James H. Allen, Executive Secretary of the Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin, has announced that less water flowed into the tidal section of the Delaware River at Trenton-Morrisville during last August than in any previous August during the past 41 years.

Mr. and Mrs. David B. Ward of Livingston Manor have announced the engagement of their daughter, Agnes “Dolly” Ward, to Private David William Hoag, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hoag, also of Livingston Manor.

Phil Schaefer, who represented Sullivan County in a chicken barbecuing contest at the State Fair in Syracuse, finished 4th in the culinary contest.

60 Years Ago - 1964

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. George Hecker of Jeffersonville on the birth of their seventh child, a daughter, born August 29th at the Callicoon Hospital.

Thirty friends attended a stork shower for Mrs. Dorothea Brooks on August 29th at the Arthur Hassis home.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bihler attended graduation ceremonies at Laughlen Air Force Base. Their son, Richard, received his project wings. They plan to spend a week with him.

Paul Schultz, a resident of Cochecton Center, died of a heart attack Thursday, August 27th while on a big game hunt at Klutina Lake, Alaska. He and George Schaefer of Jeffersonville were in Alaska to hunt mountain sheep and bear.

Sullivan County telephone customers will be among the first in the nation to be served by a new Bell System development that speeds many types of long distance calls. The new development is the Traffic Service Position, a sleek push-button console for telephone operators. It will be introduced here by New York Telephone as part of its mammoth program to convert telephone service in Sullivan County and nearby Ellenville and Kerhonkson from manual to dial.

Raymond C. Herbert is spending a fourteen day leave at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Weiss of North Branch. Dennis Mauer of Callicoon has also completed his boot training at Great Lakes, Ill., and he too is spending a leave with his parents.

50 Years Ago - 1974

Jonathan Mears, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Mears of Livingston Manor, is on a month’s cruise up the East Coast to Maine, now working his way to Salem, Mass., and Rhode Island. He is with the U.S. Navy on the USS Nespelen.

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Oettinger Jr. announce the arrival of their first child, a son, Jared Atkins Oettinger, on August 18 at Green Co. Memorial Hospital, Catskill. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Atkins, former Callicoon residents and now of Catskill, are the proud grandparents.

Connie Crary and Robert Glasser were married August 17 at the home of the bride in Liberty. The bride is the daughter of Mrs. Sylvia Crary and the late William R . Crary of Liberty. The bridegroom is from Averill Park.

Out of 27 steers entered in the Delaware County Fair, Amy Andersen of Long Eddy won the championship of all breeds with her Polled Hereford Steer. The same steer was champion steer at the Wayne County Fair in Honesdale, Pa., at a previous showing. Amy was the only girl in the six finalists and did herself proud.

Michael L. Last of Parksville and John Muldoon of Bloomingburg have been selected as recipients of the newly created State Regents War Service Scholarships for Veterans in the program authorized in 1974 by the State Legislature.

40 Years Ago - 1984

An open house featuring musical performances by several local artists was held last Saturday in Bloomingburg to celebrate the recent restoration of the village’s historic Dutch Reformed Church. The church was built in 1821 and was used as a place of worship until the early 1970s. Several plexiglass sheets have been acquired to cover the aging stained glass windows.

A celebration in honor of Ed and Lou Banach, Olympic Gold Medalist Greco Wrestlers from Port Jervis was held September 1. A parade was followed by ceremonies to unveil a plaque in honor of the brothers at Banach Olympic Circle. A private party was held at the Tri-States Naval Ship VFW post home in the evening.

Mr. and Mrs. Wally Fraser, he is a former Town of Thompson highway superintendent, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a gathering of family and friends at their home in Monticello.

Miss Elizabeth Knapp, 93, was the oldest area resident, with ancestors dating back to the early days of the Town of Bethel, attending the 175th anniversary celebration. Miss Knapp retired as a school teacher 18 years ago.

30 Years Ago - 1994

It’s official! Royal Airlines, the Liberty-based airlines that wanted to use Sullivan County International Airport as the headquarters for a regional network, will operate from Wilkes-Barre, Pa. instead, according to a letter received by Linda Green, county administrator, on August 22.  Royal had been working with Sullivan County, the Sullivan County Partnership and the county’s Industrial Development Agency on a funding plan which would have resulted in a new hangar-office complex and up to 7,000 jobs at the airport in Bethel, but was able to secure a better deal from the Pennsylvania city.

Cameron Roberts, 2-1/2-year-old son of Linda and Ron Roberts of Cochecton, was found, dirty but in good condition, after a three-hour search by volunteer and firematic units of a 100-acre family cornfield and surrounding area, bordering the Delaware River. His family was grateful for the community support.

The new $4.9 million school in Glen Spey is moving right along and should be ready to accept students by the end of December. The building will consist of 21 classrooms and should allow all the elementary students of the Eldred Central School District to be housed under one roof.

Debbie Rosenberger Owens, a 1976 graduate of Delaware Valley Central School, has been named the athletic director of her alma mater. She has been an assistant professor in the physical education department at Sullivan County Community College since 1986. In addition to her AD position, she will also be teaching classes in phys ed and health.

20 Years Ago - 2004

Back to school time is upon us, all county schools will open this week.

An historical marker was erected recently by the Bailey-Richman VFW Post #9588 at the gravesite of David Handy, a Revolutionary War veteran and a scout for Gen’l. George Washington. He is buried on the Hartwood Road in Forestburgh. Handy was one of the first settlers, settling in Handytown because of a spring of water that bubbled up from the white sand there.

U.S. Congressman Maurice Hinchey arrived in Wurtsboro Friday to view the destruction caused by floods last week. The estimated cost of damage is over $11 million.

Monticello’s Bicentennial Court was composed of essay winners Denise Allen, 12; Jonathan Bryant, 15; Amanda DeLuca, 14; Maryjane Donato, 13; Richard Donato, 17; Christian Giunta, 14; Jennifer Jones, 15; Rikheil Patel, 14; Isadore Velez, Jr., 12; Rosalyn Velez, 14; and Alexandra King, 12; and N’Kosi Wallace, 11. Chairing the court committee was Oliver King.

Charles E. Mills, long-time Callicoon businessman and volunteer, will be honored at a banquet on Sept. 19 at the Delaware Youth Center. Mills owned and operated C.E. Mills Chevrolet for half a century in the hamlet of Callicoon, and is a dedicated public servant.

Johnathan Peters, a 7-year-old of White Sulphur Springs, recently caught a 23-inch 6 lb. trout while fishing with his father Brian at one of the county’s private lakes.

10 Years Ago - 2014

Members of the volunteer emergency services turned out in style on Saturday to celebrate the Callicoon Center Fire Department’s 100th anniversary. A parade down the main drag, accompanied by the playing of the Callicoon Center Band, made way for an afternoon of celebrating on the firemen’s field.

A group of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers are revitalizing Poplar Grove Cemetery, a long neglected, centuries-old treasure located in the historic Canal-era hamlet of Phillipsport.  Inspired and aided by a grant from Sullivan Renaissance and donations from friends of the cemetery, volunteers are working together with members of the Phillipsport Community Center (PCC) and the Phillipsport Methodist Church. Participants in this effort include members of the Lybolt, Denman, Walker, and Santacroce families, along with Andy Weil, Earl Thornton, Buddy Platt, Pamela Phelps, Tim Butler, John Brown, Jack Weiser, the Boys and Girls Club, Kohl’s Volunteer Crew, PCC members,  expert gardener Bob Speziale and hard-working intern Colin Frost.