130 Years Ago - 1896

George Untsch, who bought the Obernburg brewery of Mrs. Schwalb last November, has sold it to two New York gentlemen, and it is said that he made $1000 by the transaction.

Elmer Goodman of North Branch and Miss Ida Kimble of Callicoon were married at the home of the bride’s uncle, W.J. Harding, at the latter place on Wednesday afternoon by Rev. H. Unglaub.

Fred Robertson and Josephine Parks of White Sulphur Springs were married at the M.E. parsonage in Kenoza Lake by Rev. W.A. Fuller on January 22nd.

August A. Grouten, proprietor of the Jeffersonville House, died Friday, January 24th, at the age of 65.

Corn meal $14.50 a ton, if spot cash, at Byron Gray’s Mill at Livingston Manor.

The calendar of county court at Monticello this week contains 28 cases, some of which are important. A number of criminal cases will be tried.

The last will of the late John Fuhrer of this place leaves the farm of thirty-one acres and personal property to H.C. Wagner and wife, the latter being a granddaughter.

Charles Scheidell has purchased the large bay team of horses of Louis Winand of Falls Mills. He gave his large gray mare as part payment.

The Presbyterian Church Society held its annual meeting on Monday. Henry Welch and Henry Keim were elected trustees for three years, and the finances of the church were reported in balance for the last year.

Undertaker E.A. Brand has received a certificate from the Massachusetts School of Embalming of Brooklyn, showing him to be thoroughly qualified to do embalming in all its branches.

120 Years Ago - 1906

Wm. C. Short, aged about 45, living northeast of this village, was found dead in bed this morning.

The annual meeting of the members of the German Presbyterian Church of Jeffersonville was held Monday. Andrew M. Kohler was elected elder in place of Henry Armbrust, deceased, and Casper Weltsch and Wm. Bollenbach were re-elected trustees. The church is in a very healthy condition financially.

The 71-acre farm of the late Louis Hemmer between here and North Branch was sold this week to Wm. Schaefer, who gets possession in a week. The price is $2900 and includes stock and implements.

The movement to start a bank at Livingston Manor is meeting with success, and the stock is meeting with ready acceptance. The bank will be  capitalized at $5,000.

Ground was broken Tuesday for the new store and residence of Mr. and Mrs. E. Kleinberger on the lot they bought of Wm. Pfeifle opposite the Record building. The new building will be 22x55 feet and have all improvements. Wm. Kohler is the contractor.

The marriage of Chester G. Yager, a young merchant of this place, and Miss Rhoda K. Reymann, one of our finest young ladies, took place at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Reymann on Maple Avenue last Thursday evening.

Anthony Stenger Jr. of North Branch was initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry at the meeting of Callicoon Lodge in Jeff Saturday night.

Robins and bluebirds have been seen around here, and it is also declared that peepers have been heard.

People could not resist the temptation to be outdoors on the nice warm days during this past week.

110 Years Ago - 1916

The bowling alleys and buildings, gas house and chicken house of George DeLap, proprietor of the Kenoza Lake Hotel, and the M.E. Church Hall at Kenoza Lake went up in smoke last Saturday night in a fire that started in the pin pit end of the bowling alley shortly after the alleys had been closed for the night, and for a while the safety of the whole village was threatened.

John Roesner and James Holmes returned from the city Friday with a six-cylinder Ford car, which John got from an uncle on Long Island.

George DeLap of Kenoza Lake has bought the Saxon roadster of Mrs. Goubelman of Jeffersonville.

Margaret Schlappie, wife of Henry C. Wagner, died at her home in this village on Monday evening, in her 60th year after ailing for nearly 20 years.

John Alpy of New York came to town Monday and closed the deal for the sale of the Alpy garage and machine shop property to his brother, Joseph, and William J. Grishaber, the plumber, who have formed a partnership in the business.

Bruno John and Mrs. Carrie Cochran-Nearing, both of Fosterdale, were married yesterday at the Kenoza Lake M.E. parsonage.

Lawrence Hauschile, one of the Jeff young men who responded to the call for help at the Kenoza Lake fire last Saturday night, fractured his left elbow in falling off the roof of the DeLap barn where he was handling buckets of water to prevent the barn catching fire when the conflagration was at its height. 

100 Years Ago - 1926

We are getting the extreme of weather. Saturday was a regular spring day. Sunday there was enough rain for an April day. Ice harvesting was again halted. Monday Old Borealis came back and put us all on skids. A little more snow Tuesday, and last night – wow! – ten inches of the “beautiful” fell upon us; and it’s still snowing. Darn that groundhog anyway! Someone oughta fill him on “moonshine” so he can’t see the sunshine. Well, snow use, we gotta get out and shovel.

The will of John Mootz, late of Callicoon Center, was admitted to probate.

Twenty miles of macadam road will be built in Sullivan County this year.

The enrollment in  our high school is increasing daily. At present there are eighty registered.

W.H. Lawrence went to Binghamton yesterday on a horse deal.

The Lutheran Ladies Aid have their anniversary supper at the church Monday evening, which is a public affair this time.

Arthur Wilfert, one of our milkmen, is getting so he doesn’t look at a feller as he passes. He’s entertaining a series of carbuncles on the back of his neck.

Mr. and Mrs. William Lieb leave today to attend the annual meeting of the New York State Press Association at Syracuse on Friday and Saturday – if they can dig through the snow.

The firemen will realize about $160 from their annual supper and dance last week.

A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. William Weissmann of Callicoon Center on January 26. Mrs. Weissmann is the former Miss Gertrude Heller.

90 Years Ago - 1936

A new trial has been ordered in the William Pfeifle will contest by the Appellate Division. Surrogate Cooke had set aside a jury verdict that the testator was not of sound mind and had admitted the will to probate. The upper court said Judge Cooke was right in setting aside the verdict, but that a new trial should be had of the issue of competency. Oscar Will is the executor and one of the principal beneficiaries. His attorney is William Deckelman of Jeffersonville.

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Ebert will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary Friday night.

Protection Hose Co. cleared over $300 from their 15th annual supper and dance at the Lake Jefferson Hotel last Saturday night. Despite the heavy fall of snow that came and blocked the roads a few days before, 420 paid suppers were served.

Kenneth Lowe, son of Mrs. Sophie Lowe of Hortonville, and Miss Helen M. Milligan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Milligan of Lake Huntington, were married on January 25th.

Ernie Fimpel drove up from Brooklyn to attend the firemen’s supper and dance.

Beginning next week Arthur Budenhagen becomes manager of the Victory Store in Jeff, taking the place of Lester Houck of Clinton.

Because of the snowdrifts the Jeffersonville school band and orchestra had to postpone indefinitely the concert they were scheduled to give at Grahamsville last Friday night at the Dutch Reformed Church there.

George Spielmann, aged 77, a former New York piano manufacturer, died at the home of his sister, Mrs. William Ritterhausen on East Hill,  Youngsville, on January 28th.

80 Years Ago - 1946

Ida Brockner, daughter of Mrs. Minnie Brockner, and John Antosh, son of Mrs. Anna Antosh, both of Jeffersonville, were married at the Presbyterian Church on Sunday, January 27th, with Rev. Joseph C. Kovach officiating.

Lois Martha Ellmauer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Ellmauer of Youngsville, and Edward J. Korth, son of Mrs. Laura Korth, were married at the Reformed Church parsonage on Thursday, January 31st, by Pastor John E. Straub.

The betrothal of their daughter, Catherine M., to Harold R. Royce, son of Mrs. Catherine Royce of Curry, has been announced by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Brown of Jeffersonville Rd.

The partnership of Elliott Moran and Oscar Will of Jeffersonville, and Merton Calkin of Syracuse in the lumber business has been dissolved. Mr. Will will continue the business of getting lumber from a lumber tract in Tusten.

Manager Charles S. Hick of the Maple Theatre reports that $167.15 was contributed to the March of Dimes by patrons of the theatre.

Members of the Cherokee Game Club and their ladies enjoyed a bus trip to New York and a swell dinner at the Schnorrers Club in the Bronx as guests of Judge E.R. Koch and Judge Archie Morrison, city members of the club.

70 Years Ago - 1956

The school board has secured an option to purchase the 40-acre tract of Herman Behnken adjoining the present school site for $13,500. Approval of the purchase will be sought at a special meeting of the voters of the district.

A fire of undetermined origin completely destroyed the barn of Herman Nohtse in the  Beechwoods. Mr. Nohtse was able to get his cattle and tractor out of the barn and is presently keeping his cows in the Miersch barn.

In a unanimous decision the Appellate Division affirmed Judge Ellsworth’s order approving the appointment of Henry P. Furk as supervisor of the Town of Cochecton.

Carl Hassis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hassis, and a student at Union College, Schenectady, suffered severe lacerations and concussion when his car went out of control and crashed into a car parked at the curb near the bank. Carl is making satisfactory progress but will be in Liberty-Loomis Hospital for several weeks.

A birthday party was given to Mrs. Gertrude Huff on her 90th birthday by several members of the Lutheran Ladies Aid. Mrs. Huff is the only surviving charter member of the Aid.

Mrs. Ronald Cucci was tendered a bridal shower by friends at the Presbyterian Church.

About 70 people attended inspection and open house at the White Sulphur Springs firehouse.

A Boy Scout troop is forming under the sponsorship of the Lions Club with Willard Schadt as Scoutmaster. Fourteen boys have enrolled.

The Youngsville Explorer Group of the Boy Scouts, with their leader Al Berberich, were guests on Saturday of the 329th Fighter Group at Stewart Air Base, Newburgh, where the boys toured the field. Included in the group were Robert Boxberger, Frederick  Klumpp Jr., Bradley Harder, Raymond Hlavana, Michael Foley and Irving Taussig.

60 Years Ago - 1966

The first snowfall of the winter dumped eight inches of snow on Sullivan County Sunday. It slowed traffic, brought out plows, and generally made it miserable for everyone.

Assemblyman John S. McBride of Monticello will challenge Delaware Assemblyman Edwyn Mason of Hobart for the Republican nomination in the newly formed Sullivan-Delaware-Plus Assembly District.

Tusten Supervisor Carl Behling again renewed his questions of who is getting the poverty funds, the chiefs or the Indians. The question, unanswerable for the second time, was posted at the meeting of the county board of supervisors, Monday, when the board made a routine appropriation of $20,498 for the poverty program.

Mrs. Ernest Miller of Hortonville is retiring after many faithful years of service as Postmistress at the Hortonville Post Office. Her place is being filled by Henry Reimer of the same town. 

50 Years Ago - 1976

The Advisory Board of St. James Episcopal Church, Callicoon, announced that Rev. Christian Wolf will become its acting priest in charge on the first Sunday in February.

Eliza Hoffman, 77, died of injuries sustained when she was run down by a car on Main  Street Tuesday.

A new blood gas-analyzer has been put into service at the Grover M. Hermann Division of Community General Hospital at Callicoon. The $3,900 unit is the gift of the Grover M. Hermann Hospital Auxiliary.

Congressman Matthew F. McHugh announced his nominees for admission to the U.S. service academies. Two women, Lynn Marion Robinson and Elaine Charlotte Stratton, both of Grahamsville, were nominated to West Point, together with Thomas M. Arielly of Neversink, Daniel J. Mueller of Spring Glen, and Kurt Vincent Rojdat of Roscoe. Nominated to the U.S. Air Force Academy were Edward Francis Cassidy of Loch Sheldrake and Douglas A. Sommer of North Branch. Eric Lewis Dixon of Grahamsville was nominated in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

40 Years Ago - 1986

Carlton M. Williams, 31, of Loch Sheldrake told Fallsburg police that he slid on a patch of ice and lost control of his vehicle which overturned Tuesday morning on Route 52 in Loch Sheldrake.

Arlene and Robert Hillriegel were installed matron and patron of Kiamesha Chapter #309, Order of the Eastern Star, in Monticello on January 6.

Mr. and Mrs. John Mages of Jeffersonville were guests of honor at a surprise 40th wedding anniversary tendered them on December 21. They were married on December 25, 1945, in St. Peter’s R.C. Church in Monticello.

The Delaware Valley Booster Club presented a check of $210 to the Billy Moran Scholarship Fund during the half-time basketball game between Delaware Valley and J-YCS on Saturday evening.

The Sullivan County Insurance Agents Association (SCIAA) named a $3,500 scholarship in honor of Martha M. Scheidell, an insurance agent from Jeffersonville, because of her many years of dedication to the SCIJAA. The scholarship is for Sullivan County resident students taking the two-year insurance and risk management program at Sullivan County Community College. Miss Scheidell has been selling insurance since the early 1900s. “My father was in the insurance business. I didn’t know anything else,” she said as SCIAA President Dick Van Etten presented a plaque stating the honor to her.

30 Years Ago - 1996

Town and county officials can expect to be buried under “a flood of paperwork” in addition to all the other headaches growing out of the January 19 flood disaster.

Armed with more than 1,500 responses to its master plan survey, the Sullivan County Planning Board hopes to create an economic development strategy for each of the county’s 15 towns and will soon be asking the Sullivan County Legislature to underwrite the cost of a consultant to coordinate the effort.

Paul Gerry, a longtime Ferndale resident whose works on film and in sound chronicle the history and culture of Sullivan County, died January 30, 1996 in Ft. Myers, Florida. He was 69. He was well-known for his photographs of famous comedians and entertainers who performed at the major Catskill hotels. His most noted photograph, which received worldwide distribution, captured the youthful Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher at their wedding in the 1950s at Grossinger’s Resort. His aerial photographs of the 1969 Woodstock Festival also received wide distribution.

Cheryl Ann Harder, daughter of Bradley and Barbara Harder of Youngsville, and James Patrick “JP” Graham, son of James Graham of Youngsville and Joan Graham of Jeffersonville, were united in marriage on December 30, 1995 at St. Francis R.C. Church in Youngsville.

The Catskill Art Society’s Art in Public Places Program celebrates February, Black History Month, by installing a special exhibit in Sullivan County Community College’s deHoyos Gallery. Artists participating in this year’s exhibit include Helen Diehl, Elizabeth Jones, Agahudah Khanni, Ewart Thomas and others.

Cecilia Hulse, full-time rural carrier for the Long Eddy Post Office, retired on December 29, 1995 after serving her community for 28 years.

20 Years Ago - 2006

There may not be any contested elections this March in the Village of Monticello, but that won’t prevent local politics from being as fierce as ever. Trustee Gordon Jenkins has announced that he will switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party after the election. Democratic Trustee Scott Schoonmaker is considering doing the same.

The green and red trucks of the Monticello Fire Department left their home of 50 years for the last time yesterday, as they moved into their brand new $5 million station on Richardson Avenue.

Countdown to a curtain call: 150 days until the curtain rises on Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Three years after work was originally slated to begin on the Millenium pipeline, the plan is back on the table. The proposed pipeline will replace a smaller line that currently runs through Sullivan County, lines owned by Columbia Gas that were lain back in the 1940s.

The Town of Highland welcomed its first female justice with the swearing in of Judge Cathy Sweeny.

10 Years Ago - 2016

The idea of Rocky’s Refuge, Inc. came about some two years ago with the rescue of a very special pup that Founder and Chief Executive, Virginia Grant, named Rocky. Now a permanent resident of the refuge, Rocky  proudly serves as  their mascot and ambassador. The refuge became an official organization in May of 2015. It is a volunteer-run non-profit,  mainly funded by donations and fundraising. They are working hard with volunteers and members from the community to address the growing environmental and health concern of feral cats in the area.  As there are known feral colonies in Jeffersonville, Callicoon and Roscoe, the  mission is to stabilize these colonies by trapping, spaying or neutering, and then releasing (TNR). The trapped cats  that have the potential are socialized and adopted.

Rock Hill resident and longtime Assistant Sullivan County Attorney Cheryl McCausland garnered a unanimous vote Thursday to replace County Attorney Sam Yasgur. Eight of the nine legislators (Scott Samuelson was absent) gave their assent, and McCausland was quickly sworn in by County Clerk Dan Briggs. The 56-year-old officially starts on February 6 – the day after Yasgur’s retirement – but was already being referred to as the county attorney during Thursday’s committee meetings.

The Town of Tusten is breaking in the New Year in great fashion between the newly opened Narrowsburg Union and its outside lighting, the Ice Skating rink run by the Tusten Youth Commission, and now a recently awarded $75,000 grant to make some much needed repairs to the historic Town Hall building.