130 Years Ago - 1896

Hurleyville, always up to the times, is to have a grand coach parade on Tuesday, August 18.

The Empire Steam Cider Mill of Youngsville will open on Saturday, August 29, for one day only, and every Saturday beginning September 12, until further notice.

City people stopping at Youngsville with the aid of local talent, will be given an entertainment and dance at Inderlied’s Hall, Youngsville, Monday, August 17, at 8 p.m. for the benefit of the Fresh Air and Free Ice Fund.

Surrogate Smith admitted the will of John Michael Roemer, late of the Town of Delaware, to probate last week. All of his real and personal property was left to his son, Frank Roemer.

John Schumacher of the Beechwoods has a lamb which has adopted a cow for a mother.

An Ontario and Western train ran into a flock of sheep belonging to L.W. Lawrence of Hurleyville the other day, killing six of them.

William Hartig Sr. of Livingston Manor has received from the Callicoon Fire Insurance Company $419.50 for loss by fire of his two barns about six weeks ago. The $19.50 was allowed on a pair of sleighs which were not insured.

The return game of ten pins between the North Branch and Jeff bowling clubs was played at the Maple Grove House Friday evening and was won by Jeff. Charlie Quick made the highest score, while Chris Schmidt made one of the hardest spares ever seen on this alley. After the match, games were rolled, a picked team from each place played a ten-frame game for a keg of “German water” which was won by North Branch.

120 Years Ago - 1906

Jacob Erff, a resident of Jeffersonville for forty-one years, died at his home in the village Monday noon in his 79th year.  He was born in Bingen on the Rhine, Germany, and came with his wife to New York in 1854, remaining there until 1865 when they moved to Jeffersonville.

Philip Schmidt, a North Branch boy, who was appointed to the New York police force at the age of 21 years, has been retired after serving 22 1/2 years. He will soon make his home in our thriving village, where he is now planning to build a residence on the lot he bought some time ago from F. Yager.

Chauncey A. Wheeler, an old and well-known resident of  Youngsville, was knocked down by a team of Charles Whitendale, at the turn in the road at Paterson’s store in the village at 8:30 Monday evening, and sustained injuries from which he died at 11:30 that night. Mr. Wheeler was a resident for many years in Youngsville and conducted a blacksmith shop there in his earlier days.

Will Lawrence attended the races at Equinunk with his horse Saturday and informs us that he captured first money in the 2:27 class.

J.H. Meyer will start this week on an auto trip into Pennsylvania. He recently made the trip from New York in five and a half hours with his 45 horsepower Cadillac.

The annual meeting of the school district was held at the schoolhouse Tuesday night. The vote for chairman of the meeting resulted in the election of Valentine Scheidell of the Improvement Party over John Back 30 to 16. The Improvement Party also won in the election of a trustee to fill the place of John Wilfert, William Knell defeating Christian Sander 34 to 21.

110 Years Ago - 1916

The first day of the widely heralded first annual community carnival in Jeffersonville was pulled off yesterday in the form of a coaching parade, which may be said to have been up to the expectations of many, but nothing to brag of, and gave evidence that the coaching business is pretty well frazzled out here. The attendance was estimated at about 2,000.

Two former Jeffersonville boys, Edward Moore and Ernest Bogert, came to town Saturday from Ridgeway, Pa., to visit the old home and friends here this week.

The final performance of the five-act domestic drama, “The Fruit of His Folly,” revised and staged by William Lieb, will be given by the local cast at Masonic Hall Friday evening, August 18. The performance is given for the benefit of the Presbyterian Willing Workers Society.

The State Highway Commission opened bids August 7 for the completion of the Fosterdale-Mongaup Valley State Road. There are 10.97 miles of road to be completed. Frank D. VanHorn of New York, whose price is $43,102.40, was the lowest bidder.

Henry Ford, the king of the automobile industry, has further increased the popularity of his product by again reducing the price. Forty-five dollars have been knocked off the price of the roadster and $50 off the price of the car, making them now $345 and $360.

The annual carnival and flag day celebration August 3 at Kenoza Lake eclipsed anything of its kind ever held in the county before. Every house was decorated within a radius of 3 miles and this display was only outclassed by a brilliant illumination of the lake and the surrounding country at night. Fully 2,000 people attended the carnival.

100 Years Ago - 1926

Three young cows and a two-year old bull belonging to Charles W. Wilfert, a leading farmer of this village, were killed by a bolt of lightning in the  storm that visited this section right after dinner last Saturday.

Fred Chelius of New York is spending  his vacation with his folks here.

Philip Ebert of Middletown is spending a week or so at the home of  his friends. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Katz, Phil and Charles were schoolmates in the Beechwoods in the good ole days long ago.

Next Wednesday night a dance will be given for the benefit of the local fire company, at the Delaware Inn. Don’t forget to come out and show a little warmth toward our firemen. It may help to prevent a roast for you at some time in the future.

William G. Birmingham, Liberty attorney, who was designated by the Republican County Committee at Monticello last Thursday as the party’s candidate for county judge and surrogate, has declined the designation. Another man will have to be put up to run against George L. Cooke, the Democratic candidate. Mr. Birmingham said, “I cannot work for the county at day laborer’s wages.”

Oswald Koelsch, the genial and generous proprietor of Union Park and Hotel, will run a clambake in his park on Labor Day, September 6 for the benefit of the Jeffersonville Fire Dept.

Contractor William J. Grishaber has started work on the improvement of the village water system on which about $25,000 will be spent.

The village trustees have about decided that if the drought continues and the village water supply decreases much more, the triplex pump will be moved from the Boltenbach grist mill to Lake Jefferson for pumping water from the lake into the village system.

90 Years Ago - 1936

Mr. and Mrs. William Leib attended a meeting and dinner of the Orange County Newspaper Association at Scheuplein’s resort near Montgomery Friday evening.

County Judge George L. Cooke and sons, George and Lawrence of Monticello, attended the ball game here Sunday.

The artesian well at Dr. Carl Maisel’s place has been completed at a 300 foot depth, and supplies ten gallons of water per minute.

An 8 3/4 pound daughter was born August 1st to Mr. and Mrs. Leo Rodriguez of New York City at the Hudson View Hospital, Riverside Drive. The mother, Anna, is the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Max Blitzer of Jeffersonville.

80 Years Ago - 1946

A son, Wayne, was born August 1st to Mr. and Mrs. John Kuhner of College Point, L.I. The mother is the former Anna Greis of the Beechwoods, graduate of Jeff High School. This is their second son and child.

Miss Ruth Wilson, daughter of Mrs. Anna Wilson of Jeffersonville, will be graduated from the New York School of Dietetics on August 17.

Senator Alben W. Barkley, majority leader of the U.S. Senate, was the principal speaker at an American Jewish Congress rally at the Grossinger Country Club, Liberty, Saturday night.

The Board of Supervisors, by a 12 to 3 vote on Tuesday, adopted a resolution placing the supervisors on salaries of $1,500 each with extra pay for certain committee work and eight cents a mile for travel.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles V. Mauer of Liberty and Rev. and Mrs. Ralph Haas of Scranton, Pa., formerly of Liberty, left on Sunday, July 28, for a motor trip to California. They expect to return some time in September.

Miss Agnes Schmidt, daughter of August Schmidt of this village, and employed by the New York Telephone Co. in Albany, recently was promoted to the telephone division and is now coaching a class of operators. Agnes is a graduate of Jeff High School.

Mahlon Groo, born near Grahamsville 88 years ago, died in Washington July 18th.

A 9 lb. daughter was born at the Liberty Hospital August 4 to Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Fulton of White Lake. Mrs. Fulton is the former Mabel Stephenson of Jeff RFD and she has another daughter eight years old.

70 Years Ago - 1956

Despite a thirteen state alarm and the discovery of his automobile Tuesday morning, Harry Rudelt, 27, who threatened the life of Mrs. Rebecca Kutsher Wasser, 65, and took a $10,000 payroll from Kutsher Country Club, is still at large.

Mr. and Mrs. William  Heller of Lake Hiawatha N.J., have announced the engagement of their daughter, Ethel Hull, to Burdett Armbrust, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Armbrust of Kenoza Lake, who is manager for Stanley Home Products.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Schumacher are the grandparents of a son born last Thursday at the Liberty-Loomis Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Schumacher of Liberty.

Mr. and Mrs. Basil Ames of Madison renewed old acquaintances in Youngsville.  He was a former principal in the school and now teaches Math in a school near Madison.

From the obituary column: Henry E. Townsend, lifelong resident of Jeffersonville, died at his home of a coronary ailment on August 3, at the age of  77; John Danzeisen, Jeffersonville resident for 45 years, died August 6 at Loomis Hospital, aged 83; James Edward Smith, a Roscoe resident for over 50 years, died at the Sickmiller Nursing Home, Jeff. He was a former Town of Callicoon Superintendent of High and president of the Jeffersonville Central School District Board of Education.

Telephone crews working day and night were able to restore the Monticello-White Lake toll cable by noon Friday. It was destroyed by fire in Visco’s Bar and Grill in Mongaup Valley last Thursday when the intense heat melted the cable. One hundred ninety-four White Lake telephones and 127 toll lines were out of operation.

John (Jack) Frost, owner of the Jeffersonia Boarding House, celebrated his 70th birthday with his family and friends from various points of New York and Long Island.

About 200 people attended the farewell party for Father Joseph D. Osterman, pastor of St. Aloysius Church in Livingston Manor for eight years, who will be going to Harrison.

A number of Sullivan County Democrats traveled to Albany to attend a “send-off” dinner for Governor Averill Harriman, who is seeking the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Duttweiler, Mrs. Violet Mase and Mrs. Ella Schmidt are on a vacation trip to Niagara Falls, Canada and the western states.

60 Years Ago - 1966

Mrs. Lucille Engert of Callicoon and C.P. Kraay of Hankins were recognized for their talent when judges of the Hancock Second Annual Art Festival awarded them prizes on Saturday, July 30, 1966. Mrs. Engert was awarded a first prize on her pastel “Reflections” and Mr. Kraay won a third prize for his pen and ink drawings of the Indonesian jungles.

President Lyndon B. Johnson now has an oil painting of “Him” – his beagle dog killed by a car recently – done by Patricia Lester Ferris of Equinunk, Pa. Pat takes pride in a note of thanks and appreciation received from the White House.

Callicoon Volunteer Firemen served a total of 560 customers at their fifth annual roast beef dinner Sunday at the firehouse.

A daylight robbery on Sunday netted a minimum of $14,000 in jewelry from Johnson and Elliott Jewelry Store at 250 Broadway, Monticello.

A total of 803 farms were counted in Sullivan County during the 1964 Census of Agriculture, a decrease from the 1034 reported in 1959.

Russ Hodge of Roscoe, son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Hodge, recently scored 8,230 points in the decathlon event in the Los Angeles Times International Games.  Hodge was voted the meet’s outstanding performer and won the javelin event, the discus, finished second in the pole vault and 110 meter hurdles and third in the 1500 meters. He missed by only .8 seconds the needed time for a new world record in the decathlon event. Both he and his roommate, Bill Tommey, are planning ahead for the 1967 Pan American Games and the 1968 Olympics.

Mr. Paul Bihler of Kenoza Lake reports that over 200 paperback books have been collected for our boys in Vietnam. “Keep them coming and we’ll keep sending them,” says Mrs. Bihler.

Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Winglovitz Jr. of Cochecton are the parents of a son, Ross Allen, on Tuesday, July 19. His sister and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sturdevant of Callicoon are the proud parents of a son, Marc, born July 20 at Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale, also.

50 Years Ago - 1976

One of the area’s favorite resorts, Blue Hill Lodge in Claryville, burned to the ground early Sunday morning, from a blaze that seems to have originated in the bar. Thirteen guests and several staff members were awakened by the alarm system and fled to safety.

More than 10,000 men, women and children from a half dozen Eastern states, made their way to Glen Spey last weekend and participated in the Ukrainian American Youth Festival which marked the centennial of the beginning of the first Ukrainian migration to the United States.

Terrence Roche, son of Marion Roche of Hortonville, has been promoted from major to Lt. Col. He is stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Donna Snyder Knise and Peter Silbert, both of Youngsville, were married on Sunday, August 1, at the Jeffersonville Lutheran Church.

Cheryl Huggler and William Hatton Jr., both of Youngsville, were married July 4 in the Free Methodist Church in Liberty. 

40 Years Ago - 1986

Holyrood Seminary will graduate its fifth class of seminarians to serve the Anglican Catholic Church on August 8.

For the second time in less than a week, torrential rain pelted western Sullivan County. No serious injuries were reported but state road crews assisted county and town crews in cleaning up the tons of silt that washed off Route 164 leading to the Villa Roma Country Club in the Beechwoods. More than a ton of fill was needed to fill in a part of Route 17B in Hortonville where traffic was reduced to one-way for about a 500-foot stretch of the highway. Two cars, which were presumably abandoned by their drivers, were parked along the road. 

Despite the rains, the Callicoon Center Band performed at its regularly scheduled Wednesday night concert. Organized in 1934 by Clarence Krantz who still plays clarinet in the band, the group has provided entertainment to generations of area residents in its 52 years of existence.

Penny Rosenberger, daughter of Gary and Carol Rosenberger of Hortonville, became the bride of Timothy Ackermann, son of William and Gloria Ackermann of Kenoza Lake on May 3.

“Fritz” Joyner, who with her husband John owned and operated Joyner’s Store in White Sulphur Springs, celebrated her 80th birthday with a gathering of the late William Leib, 60-year publisher of the  Sullivan County Record in Jeffersonville.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Whitmore of Conklin Hill, Pa., became the parents of a daughter, on July 15. She joins three siblings at home: twins, Jeffrey and Jennifer, both four and a one-year- old brother Ryan.

The J.C. Young Hose Co. #1 of the Liberty Fire Department is conducting a week-long 100th anniversary celebration. Harold Dexheimer, a Liberty resident for more than 89 years, is the oldest living member at age 91. Mr. Dexheimer’s grand nephew, Mark Nichols, is the youngest member of the fire department and hopes some day to be a professional firefighter. Celebration plans include a parade and carnival from July 30 to August 3 and fireworks both Friday and Saturday nights.

Sullivan County farmers are cooperating in donating hay for the dry south. More than 500 bales were loaded in a truck donated by Peck’s Markets for the first shipment on Friday.

30 Years Ago - 1996

Down-on-the-Farm Day was held at the Krantz Dairy Farm near Jeffersonville to help educate the public about the ins and outs of farming in New York State.

Dr. George Hahn and his wife Barbara were grand marshals of the parade preceding the sixth annual Jeffersonville Jamboree held at the Lions’ Field Saturday. Some 70 arts and crafts vendors and nine food vendors set up shop for the event despite intermittent sprinkles of rain.

A 25th birthday celebration and “Share the Health” festival will be held at the Grover M. Hermann Division of Community General Hospital on August 10.

Sullivan County Community College Science major Ken Armstrong of Hurleyville recently earned first prize with a paper he submitted to Beacon ‘96, a conference for scholars from two-year colleges. There were about 130 entrants in many subject areas at the competition this year from students in community colleges from six states.

The Old Reformed Dutch Church in Bloomingburg celebrates its 175th birthday this year with an evening of musical entertainment at the museum and cultural center.

Three Troop 102 Girl Scouts received Scouting’s highest award, the Gold Award in a ceremony held Wednesday night at the Elks’ Lodge in Liberty. LaToya Gavin, 18, Colleen Hamlin, 16, and Rebekah Lee-Cahill, 18, were rewarded for months of effort on “Our Little  Library” a new kindergarten library at the White Sulphur Springs School.

Georgia Miller and Richard Abplanalp were married 50 years ago on June 26, 1946 at the Reformed Presbyterian Church in White Lake.

Stacey Williams, daughter of Marilyn and Don Breese of Brewster, and Craig Panchyshyn, son of Hank and Rosa Panchyshyn of Monticello, were married June 8, 1996, in a 4:30 p.m. ceremony at St. Thomas Church in New Windsor.

Sheri Hibbard and James E. Minarsky exchanged wedding vows June 8, 1996 in a ceremony held at the Inn at Hunt’s Landing.

Tom Halchak and Sy Solomon were the first flight winners in the Sullivan County Democrat golf tourney last weekend.

20 Years Ago - 2006

Raising a child may take a village, but building a library takes an entire region. Nearly 30 members of Local 417, the Newburgh-based Hudson Valley ironworkers’ union, converged on the Daniel Pierce Library in Grahamsville this past weekend to erect the 108-year-old library’s 25,000-square-foot addition. The ironworkers spent Saturday and Sunday lifting and welding 80 tons of rebar and steel beams into place. For free. On their days off. And they’ll be back for at least two more weekends.

A sign dedicating the Roscoe bridge over the Willowemoc to the late Raymond Pomeroy was unveiled  by grandsons Peter and Rusty Pomeroy recently.

One hundred twelve of the finest amateur golfers teed off last weekend in the Silver Anniversary of the Sullivan County Democrat’s Golf Tournament. Of those, nine were former Democrat champions. The team of Sean Semenetz and Joe Winski Jr. defeated cousins Ben and Maxx Kleiner in the championship flight final, 3 and 1. All four finalists were not even born when the tournament began back in 1982. Maxx Kleiner, Semenetz and Winski are all 19 years old, while Ben Kleiner is 17.

A total of 217 tough-nosed runners placed their toes on the line Sunday morning for the Monticello Rotary Club’s 27th annual Monster 10K race. Mike Slinsky of Wappingers Falls emerged victorious in the Monster 10K.

10 Years Ago - 2016

The replacement of the Pond Eddy Bridge is underway as heavy machinery begins the removal of the old bridge. The new bridge will have a similar aesthetic appeal, however will be much stronger, increasing the weight limit from seven tons to 40 tons. The new bridge will also include a six-foot pedestrian sidewalk. The completion of the new bridge is estimated for winter 2018.

The only predictions which the Sullivan County Democrat is making for its 35th Annual Golf Tournament is that it is going to be hot – both temperature wise and competition wise. That combination will keep the water bottles flowing and the golfers limber as one of Sullivan County’s most competitive golf tournaments tees off. This year’s field is led by defending champions Kort Wheeler and Walter Herzog, who caught fire during last year’s championship run to win their first championship as a team.

The Town and Village of Liberty worked together in their beautification efforts, winning the $50,000 Silver Feather Municipal Partnership Grant from Sullivan Renaissance this year. Town of Liberty Supervisor Charlie Barbuti and Village of Liberty Mayor Ron Stabak accepted the award at the ceremonies held at Bethel Woods. The Golden Feather ($100,000 grant) was awarded to the Town of Bethel.