130 Years Ago - 1895

Diphtheria is again raging at Roscoe. Five families have had it and four deaths have occurred from it within a few months.

Grocery Bargains: 7 lbs. sugar, 35¢; 7 lbs. choice raisins, 35¢; 7 lbs. rice, 35¢; 3 cans of extra corn, tomatoes or peas, 25¢. Krenrich.

The Liberty creamery is now receiving 105 cans of milk a day, besides from 65 to 70 cans from the Stevensville creamery.

The work of excavating for the foundation for the new sanitarium for tuberculosis on the Pierson farm near Liberty was commenced last week.

One of the buffalos of the wild west show, which stopped at Liberty Tuesday, got loose and killed a horse belonging to the same company. The show is now what it is advertised to be.

120 Years Ago - 1905

Francis M. Hartmann, a native of Cochecton who has been for the last five years instructor of physics and electricity in the Department of Sciences at Cooper Union, New York, was recently appointed to the chair of assistant professor of physics and electricity in the institution at a salary of $2,500 a year.

Steve Brodie, a son of the late Steve Brodie, the famous bridge jumper, is summering at the Mansion House, Liberty.

Improvements: William LeRoy is enlarging his house on the Doughty farm; work on the enlarged boarding houses of George C. Lixfield and Charles W. Wilfert is being shoved along rapidly.

Gernet Howland, who was assisting his cousin, Homer Howland, in the latter’s blacksmith shop here for several months, has gone to Sidney to take a job with the Cortland Wagon Co.

Our boys ought to give up playing ball on the streets. The practice not only results in damage to property, but people on the street are also in great danger of being injured. It is too bad that this place cannot afford a ball ground, where all could indulge in the national game without restraint.

110 Years Ago - 1915

The home of Peter Schultz, about two miles north of this village, was burned to the ground last Monday night and the family, who had retired, barely escaped with their lives.

Word was received at Youngsville last Wednesday of the death in San Francisco of Charles Smith of Youngsville and Brooklyn, who went to visit the Panama Exposition, sailing by way of the Panama Canal.

J. Balser Hauser, aged 80, but still active and outwardly rugged, was stricken down dead by heart trouble while ploughing in the field at his home about two miles north of here Monday afternoon.

Fred Hessinger has sold his general store at Callicoon Center to his son, Valentine, and the latter has sold the saloon in the same building to his son, Winfield. The post office is in the store, and Val is the postmaster.

Irving Edward, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Homer of this village, was christened at the Jeffersonville Presbyterian Church by Pastor Stadelman last Sunday morning.

A son was born last night to Mr. and Mrs. Grover Cleveland Segar of this village.

Josephine Helen, infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Duttweiler, was christened at the Presbyterian Church on May 23.

100 Years Ago - 1925

John Stewart of Eldred at 4 o’clock on Saturday morning was drowned in Sand Pond near Eldred, and his body was recovered four hours later. He had been fishing.

The Earl touring car, which was abandoned by two strange young men on the Moran hill below this village a week ago, was claimed here last Sunday by Henry Nienhaus, engineer of St. Michael’s Hospital, Newark, N.J.

Fosterdale, May 25 — During the storm last Saturday afternoon, John Essman of this place was knocked unconscious by lightning while standing at the doorway of the barn of William Kabat.

Fill up the coal bin and give the furnace another shakedown, for old man winter has come back to town.

The wrestling hour at Long Eddy May 10 between Elmer C. Knack of Callicoon Center, former lightweight champion of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, and Jack Niflot, retired featherweight champion, resulted in a draw, neither gaining a fall in an hour’s tussle.

William Lindt of Monticello, formerly of Kenoza Lake, sustained a broken leg last week when a scaffold on which he was working as a carpenter gave way.

Frank Wagner has been appointed rural carrier on RFD 2, out of Callicoon.

90 Years Ago - 1935

Mrs. Mary Geiger Alexander, aged 75, died suddenly of heart failure at 2:30 Saturday afternoon, May 25, while a few friends were at her bungalow to celebrate her birthday anniversary.

Robert H. Meyer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Meyer, will be graduated from Syracuse University on June 3.

Mrs. Philip Erdman celebrated her 82nd birthday anniversary Thursday, May 23, by entertaining a few relatives and friends.

Eight new street light globes with lamps of 250 candle power, have been installed on Main Street, Jeffersonville, by the electric company, under the new contract arrangement.

80 Years Ago - 1945

At a special meeting of the Jeffersonville Fire District Monday night there were 68 votes cast, all of which were for the purchase of new fire apparatus at a cost not to exceed $10,000, to be paid by tax in five annual installments.

Two sons of Elmer Wood of Parksville have been lost in the war. Pvt. Elwin was killed at Iwo Island, March 25, just a year from the time he joined the Army. Elmer was killed in action early in the war. A third son, Earl, is now in the Philippines and application will be made to have him returned home under the War Department rule.

Seaman William VonDerLieth returned to the Sampson Naval Station this week and will be sent to the Navy school at Bainbridge, Md., where he will take a course for electrician’s mate.

The large Gunshor building at White Lake, containing four stores was destroyed by fire Friday night, May 18, when it was hit by lightning during a heavy storm.

70 Years Ago - 1955

Mary Louise Von Deben of Jeff was one of 68 seniors of the graduating class of 1955 to receive degrees at the 24th commencement exercises of Hartwick College, Oneonta.

N.Y. State’s entire Civil Defense command structure at all levels, state, county and city, will go into continuous 24 hours operation.

The Route 17 Association has given its “unqualified support” to a proposal that would increase motor vehicle fuel taxes to provide money for rebuilding state highways. The purpose of the group, made up of representatives of the Southern Tier communities, is to promote improvement of state highways in the Southern Tier.

Lynn Matthews, commander of the Sullivan County American Legion, today released plans for the annual convention, scheduled to be held in the American Legion home at Fallsburg on Sunday afternoon, June 5th.

60 Years Ago - 1965

Sullivan County Assemblyman Hyman E.Mintz said that he would not be a candidate in the November election; blames ill health.

Democratic Chairman Francis A.  “Stretch” Hanofee, today announced that the 49th annual Jeffersonian Dinner will be held on June 30th at Grossinger’s.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fulton Sr. were tendered a surprise 25th wedding anniversary party by their daughter, Mrs. Ed Mootz, and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Frank Fulton Jr.

A Ford Mustang was being offered at Steinhauser’s Sales for $2589.

The centennial of the birth of one of the most controversial figures in the history of American exploration, Dr. Frederick A. Cook, will be observed at his birthplace in Hortonville.

Plans are being completed for a 20,000 square addition at Sullivan’s in Liberty.

Kathy Komencheck was crowned Dairy Princess at ceremonies at the Jeffersonville Firehouse. Congressman John Dow was present.

50 Years Ago - 1975

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Lindsley spent Saturday in Monticello and Saturday evening and Sunday at the Valley View House at Kenoza Lake, acting as hosts at the 12th annual Antique Car Meet of the Catskill Region AACA. Over 200 people participated.

Miss Kathy Stabbert and Miss Billie Stabbert of Callicoon, were the surprised guests of honor at a double bridal shower given by Mrs. Herbert Weiss and granddaughter, Miss Cindy Weiss, at the Weiss home in Wanaksink Lake. Kathy will become the bride of John Werner of Port Jervis in June and Billie will be married to Peter Finch in September.

The Jeff-Youngsville Central School Class of 1965 will hold a reunion at Lake Jefferson Hotel on May 24.

Scott Makela, son of Vilho and Ruth Makela of Hankins, has been named 1975 Senior Athlete of the Year by Rochester Institute of Technology, the college’s highest athletic award.

40 Years Ago - 1985

The search for a new superintendent for the Delaware Valley School District has ended with the selection of Charles E. Kozora, the principal of Hyde Park, Vermont, high school. He will fill the post effective July 1.

Miss Dina Hillriegel of Callicoon has been chosen Dairy Princess 1985. She will be attended by first runner-up Louise Swendsen of Narrowsburg.

Dr. William J. Perkins, emeritus member of the staff of Wayne County Memorial Hospital and a former staff member of the former Callicoon Hospital, the former Hamilton Avenue Hospital in Monticello and president of the Wayne County Fair  for thirty years, died Saturday, June 1, 1985, at the Wayne County Memorial Hospital in Honesdale, Pa. He was 78 years of age. An “old-fashioned country doctor who made house calls,” he had three loves: his family, horses and the Wayne County Fair. He has been awarded the first lifetime membership in the Callicoon Kiwanis as a result of his service to the local hospital. In 1967 he received the Good Guy award from the Monticello Harness Writers and received the same award in 1973 from the Northeastern Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association.

Ivan Katz, a 20-year resident of Monticello, recently became the 1985 Junior National Champion of Greco-Roman Wrestling. He has set his sights on being a competitor in the 1988 Olympics.

30 Years Ago - 1995

Bill Webbe of White Lake has been portraying his outdoorsman skills at Fort Delaware, the Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg for the past eight years. He will be on hand when Fort Delaware opens its stockade gates on May 15 with Student Days. Fort Delaware shows how the early Connecticut Yankees lived and worked during the period of 1754-1785, a time in American history spanning the Revolutionary War.

Julie Raymond of Bloomingburg has been  named ‘95 Sullivan County Dairy Princess.

Bob Longo of Woodridge has created the designs for two stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of two major events in World War II. An in-flight engineer and later a test pilot with the late Lt. Frank W. Schafer of Monticello, his stamps recalled the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 and the celebration of V-J Day in September of the same year. He has also been asked to prepare a mural of the famous warplane for the Marauder Museum at the University of Akron next month.

The Rev. William Robertson, pastor for the past seven years at the White  Sulphur  Springs United Methodist Church, will retire  after 32 years of service. A reception in honor of Rev. Robertson and his wife, Olive, will be held June 13 at the WSS Firehouse. They will retire in Walton to be near their family.

A veterans’ memorial stone was unveiled at St. Mary’s R.C. Church on Memorial Day. There are 52 veterans buried in the cemetery there. 

State Supreme Court Justice Robert C. Williams was the speaker at services held at the Sullivan County Veterans Cemetery where there are over 460 veterans buried.

20 Years Ago - 2005

At 7:59 on Friday morning, the emergency call went out that a barn was on fire about a quarter mile west along County Route 114 from the Fosterdale four-way intersection. But despite a rapid response by four local fire departments, the wooden structure was a pile of smoking rubble 20 minutes later. Mary Bellock, who works in Monticello, raced home only to discover the barn reduced to a burned-out shell, but luckily all the family’s livestock escaped the blaze, except four rabbits. Bellock credited the volunteer firefighters with doing a “fantastic job” in responding to the fire so rapidly and “hosing down the house so we didn’t lose it.”

Sullivan County historian John Conway and Liberty architect Robert Dadras are seeking to create an historic district in the Town of Liberty to preserve the remnants of the Loomis Memorial Sanitorium for Consumptives, arguably the most famous and important part of Liberty’s history.

Christopher T. Burke, formerly of Liberty, was named to the Capital Region Business Review’s 40 under 40, Class of 2005. Mr. Burke is currently the Interim Executive Director of the Northeastern Association of the Blind at Albany, which employs over 100 individuals and provides services across 11 counties in the greater Capital Region.

Helen Kutsher and her son, Mark Kutsher, owners of Kutsher’s Country Club, were recently honored with honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from St. Francis University in Pennsylvania for their family’s decades of fundraising efforts and donations to the Maurice Stokes Fund. Money raised for the fund helped pay the medical bills of Stokes, an NBA Hall of Famer who graduated from St. Francis and was left paralyzed from an injury during an NBA game.

A daughter, Jillian Rachel Sager, was born Thursday, June 9, 2005 to Jeanne (Eschenberg) and Jonathan Sager. She weighed 6 lbs. 14 1/2 ounces, and measured 19 1/2 inches. (Jillian’s mom is a reporter/photographer for the Sullivan County Democrat.) Welcome, Jillian!

10 Years Ago - 2015

It was their first official “thank you” dinner ever. Close to 40 Sullivan County men who fought in the Vietnam War gathered in the church hall at St. George’s Catholic Church in Jeffersonville on June 1 for a dinner hosted by Father Ignatius Vu, the pastor who is both an American citizen and Vietnamese-born. Men like Tony Wayne of Fremont Center, Frank Armstrong of Jeffersonville and Elijah Henderson of Glen Wild were in their late teens and early 20s when they landed in the lush, green country to help South Vietnam fight the Viet Cong, who were backed by North Vietnam. John Nielsen of Neversink served as a helicopter pilot with the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division. Soldier Dennis Finley recalled waking up in a hospital with a head wound; he would never forget the sight of nurses sitting quietly by the bedside of the critically ill soldiers.

A retirement dinner recently held at the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen was a sell-out event in honor of the hardest working publicist the standardbred sport has ever known: John Manzi. Manzi provided racing coverage for Monticello Raceway for four decades, but also wrote press releases for Goshen Historic Track, Delvin Miller Harness Drivers, North American Amateur Drivers, and the local chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association.