140 Years Ago - 1885

Last week the snowstorm throughout Sullivan County was so severe that many jurors could not reach Monticello in time to attend court. Some jurors who went by way of Port Jervis found that the cars on the P&M RR were stuck in the snow, and were obliged to go to Middletown and up on the Midland.

Fremont Center: As Sabbath School was about to close last Sunday there was a loud report heard in the church and plaster flew in all directions. Upon investigating the matter it was found to be a rifle ball that had passed over the heads of the congregation. Reports say that Mr. Gabriel has settled with the trustees for $25. So much for not regarding the Sabbath Day. Mike says a dog is not worth a cent to stop a ball.

130 Years Ago - 1895

S.S. Hunt has purchased the Hulda Annis farm of 55 acres located near White Sulphur Springs. Consideration $1,000.

Diphtheria is spreading in Roscoe. Two new cases have been reported in a family by the name of Elmore. The Smedes family in which two deaths have occurred, is now rid of the disease. Anti-toxin is being used with good results.

The Sullivan County Record has established a real estate bureau. It proposes to advertise in its columns, on terms of “no sale, no pay,” any real estate for sale or rent. If you wish to sell-rent, send a complete description of the premises, with terms of sale or rental, to this office and the same will be thoroughly advertised.

No foreign flags will hereafter float from any of New York’s public buildings, the legislature having enacted a law that only the national, state and municipal colors can be displayed.

The Maben hotel property at Kenoza Lake will be sold at referee sale at the Mansion House in Jeffersonville on April 9, on the application of Conrad Metzger, who holds a claim of $3,000 against the place. I understand there is a standing offer of $4,000 for the property.

VanFredenburgh’s sawmill was destroyed by fire last night. Nothing was saved from the building and the family barely escaped.

120 Years Ago - 1905

Henry E. Townsend, son of Isaac O. Townsend of Briscoe and Rosaline Clara Revoir of Kenoza Lake, were married under a large white bell. They will go to housekeeping at the groom’s home, the George Clark farm at Hurd, which he bought a couple years ago and had already furnished.

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union is agitating the curfew ordinances for Liberty. It is said this measure had been adopted by forty-two cities and towns in the state through the efforts of this group. The Gazette says that when the “curfew” ordinance is adopted to keep folks from going out nights we hope that it also includes cars, electric lights and the night line going south.

George Buddenhagen has bought J.H. Wagner’s hotel at Hortonville. He will take possession about the middle of April when he returns from his wedding trip to New York.

When Andrew Kohler, the Delaware Avenue merchant, closed up shop and went home last Friday night, he encountered a happy gathering of neighbors and friends, which his wife had arranged in honor of his 31st birthday.

The residence of John Mohn of Callicoon Center caught fire from a chimney in the second story at about 7 o’clock last Thursday evening and was destroyed with most of its contents.

The Empire State Dairy Co. has bought the creamery property at White Sulphur Springs.

Livingston Manor is now being lighted by electricity, the plant there having been completed last week.

110 Years Ago - 1915

School Supt. Charles S. Hick was at Albany this week on school matters. He presented to the department the petition of the residents of the Jeffersonville school district for the consolidation of the three adjoining districts with this district, and also the protest against consolidation by the outlying districts.

During the recent warm spell grasshoppers appeared here in considerable numbers.

100 Years Ago - 1925

The dam of the projected lake in Jeffersonville is to be completed by Spring.

Fred H. Duttweiler, the present carrier, has again secured the contract for carrying the mails between Jeffersonville and Liberty. Edwin Schultz of Callicoon again has the contract for the mails between that place and Kenoza Lake and Jeffersonville.

The Western Sullivan Telephone Co. bought from the Jeffersonville Development Co., the last house erected by the latter on Jefferson Ave., and will remove their exchange from the Ranft building as soon as possible. More room was needed for their increasing business.

Washington’s birthday was a beautiful Spring day. Today we are having a spring shower, but it is a white one.

Mrs. Harry D. Segar, aged 40, died at her home below this village last Thursday, from a malady supposed to have been contracted when she was a Red Cross nurse in France during the war. Mrs. Segar was the former Louise Georgianna Lehr of North Bergen, N.J.

On Thursday, February 12, Miss Hazel Stephenson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Stephenson of White Lake, was married to Albert Barber, mail carrier between Bethel and Monticello.

A bill to put hunters, trappers and anglers on an equal footing has been introduced in the legislature and provides for issuing joint hunting, trapping and angling licenses in place of the present hunting and trapping licenses.

Warren Benton, a highly respected citizen of Dahlia, died Friday.

90 Years Ago - 1935

The attic of the home of Jacob Fromm in Hortonville caught fire from some unknown cause recently but the local firemen put out the blaze before it got far.

New York State has a relief roll that represents one person in every six of its population according to a report for 1934.

John Amacher, aged 80, and a former resident of Kenoza Lake, died February 23 at the home of his daughter, Marie (Mrs. Lawrence) Mosher, in Belfast, Maine, where he had been living the past two years. Mr. Amacher was a native of Switzerland.

Lillian Anna Hermann, aged 33 and wife of George Glassel of Beechwoods, died February 22, in New York City.

Theresa Wehner, aged 14, Jeffersonville high school student and daughter of William H. Wehner and Helen Bertsch Wehner of East Cochecton died February 23 following a second operation for appendicitis within the past week.

The 17 youngsters whom Trooper Robert J. Flynn rounded up in Jeff recently for pilfering store goods  will be arraigned before Judge Cooke of Monticello in a children’s court to be held in Jeffersonville.

80 Years Ago - 1945

Narrowsburg, March 1 – Fire started in the rear of the general store of Claire L. Tegeler in the three-story frame building owned by L.G. Gebhardt in the center of this village at about 4 o’clock this morning and destroyed the entire building, along with all its contents.

Pvt. William H. Baum, who left for Fort Dix a couple weeks ago, is now in training at Fort Bragg, N.C.

With snow banks along the village and no manpower or equipment to remove them, car parking has been a problem and driving has been at times pretty much a one-way street order.

William VonDerLieth of Jeff and Alfred Noetzel of Callicoon Center, who finished high school here in January, went to New York Tuesday to be inducted in the Navy, in which they enlisted some time ago.

There will be no village tax sale this year, as all taxes have been taken care of.

The old horse shed in the rear of the Presbyterian Church collapsed one day last week from the heavy snow.

A daughter, Kathryn Ann, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Victor Napoliello on February 22. The mother, Ethel, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred J. Schwartz of Kenoza Lake.

The ice in the Delaware River backed up at Callicoon last night at 9:45 and there is now a jam extending from two miles down the river to some distance from here.

70 Years Ago - 1955

Miss Lottie Danzer of Youngsville is a patient at the Loomis Hospital suffering from a broken leg. Miss Danzer was struck by a car Monday evening near Cooper’s Service Station on Route 52. The car was driven by Charles Jankas of Youngsville.

Fire completely destroyed a brooder coop of Frank Fulton of Kenoza Lake on March 3. Mr. Fulton was expecting small chicks on the 4th and had been heating the coop. Sparks from the stove are thought to be the cause of the fire.

Miss Wilma Hanscom, presently employed at the Anderson Nursing Home, and Edwin Mueller, son of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Mueller of Kenoza Lake, have announced their engagement.

A gala celebration in honor of the 50th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Townsend was held Monday evening. About 250 friends, neighbors and relatives crowded the Mansion House to extend their best wishes and join the festivities.

The town water was shut off for a few hours Monday afternoon while the new chlorine plant was installed.

Kenneth Zieres, District Deputy Grand Master of Masons, made an official visit Wednesday night to Callicoon Lodge 52 in Jeffersonville.

Frank Knack, 78, a native of Hortonville and organizer of the former Callicoon Cooperative Dairymen’s Association died at Callicoon Hospital on February 27th.

60 Years Ago - 1965

The Ides of March brought us snow but Spring will not be denied. After a springlike weekend, snow fell Sunday night to a depth of four to five inches. Warm temperatures Monday soon disposed of the white stuff which returned Monday evening. Tuesday’s temperatures soon disposed of it and cleared the roads by noon. Wednesday skies are clear and sunshine is predicted for Irish marchers.

The 325-acre proposed Community College at Harris has officially been offered the College Board of Trustees.

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kazmark of Patchogue, L.I., became parents of a daughter on Sunday, March 14.

The New York State Department of Public Works will this summer begin a study of a connecting link between the New York State Thruway and Route 17 in the Roscoe area.

The chug of the steam engine is gone forever. The lathe sings no more. And only the whir-r-r of fast-turning motors fills the valley. This is the story of Roscoe, much of which is being torn down for the new Expressway. Gone is the row of eight or nine houses  on Railroad Avenue north of the Roscoe House. They have been flattened with bull dozers and will be burned. It all looks like a tornado or cyclone struck the area.

The state-wide petition campaign against a proposed five cents a pack increase in the state tax on cigarettes has been carried on in Sullivan County. Ben Goldin, an official of Miller Automatic, said that the petition had been distributed at cigarette machine places, candy stores and other retail cigarette outlets in the county.

50 years ago - 1975

The Delaware Division of the Erie-Lackawanna re-opened at 10:15 on Tuesday morning after it was closed for almost 48 hours because of a 21-car derailment which took place Sunday morning at about 11 o’clock, 2 1/2 miles west of Callicoon and about 1 1/2 miles east of Whitehouse Curve. Most of the derailed cars contained automobile parts destined for the Ford Assembly Plant in Mahwah, N.J., and were part of a 107-car eastbound freight. There were no injuries to the crew. The 21 cars that left the rails were scattered about in a massive pile-up that also ripped up about 1/4 mile track. Only 24 hours before the Callicoon derailment, another took place on Saturday at Hancock. There, four cars left the tracks momentarily blocking the Binghamton to Port Jervis line.

Mrs. Ida “Skippy” Frankel on Tuesday was elected as Liberty’s first woman mayor, and as only the second woman in the county annals to be chosen to head one of its villages. The first woman mayor in Sullivan County was Anne Kaplan, who easily achieved victory for her Democratic forces with the election of incumbent Trustee Norman Kaufman, to fill out the one-year remaining in the term she formerly held.

An early Monday morning fire in Mongaup Valley did extensive damage to the popular Antique Tavern on Route 17B and destroyed many of the antiques on show. Sid Westervelt, owner of the Antique, was vacationing in Arizona and the tavern was closed for the winter.

Twenty-two permanents, 10 cuts and 4 sets were given to women at the Sullivan County Home and Infirmary earlier this month when they received their annual Easter hair-dos from members of the Sullivan County Hairdressers and Cosmetologists Association.

Monticello Masonic Lodge recently presented a check for $1,500 to the Port Jervis Masonic Lodge who had to relocate when their lodge rooms were torn down as part of the Urban Renewal Program. Monticello’s gift will be used to purchase an illuminated sign.

40 Years Ago - 1985

James W. Anderson of New Paltz and Carol Sue Anderson of Paris, France, announce the engagement of their daughter, Shelly Lynne Anderson, to Barry L. Bliden, son of Robert and Bertha Bliden of Del Ray Beach, Fla. Miss Anderson is a 1982 graduate of Delaware Valley Central School in Callicoon. She is an advertising representative of the Sullivan County Democrat.

Mr. and Mrs. Roger Mohrmann of Liberty announce the engagement of their daughter, Sandra, to Daniel Kehrley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Allan Kehrley of Liberty.

 Workshops in Ukrainian Easter egg decorating will be offered by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance and folk artist, Isydora Bojarskyj, during the last two weeks of March.

The new pastor of St. Aloysius Church in Livingston Manor is the Rev. Alfred Gallant. He was a guest at a covered dish supper at the United Methodist Church.

Roscoe athlete, Lou Farragher, has been named the 1985 Sullivan County Democrat’s, WVOS radio and You’re Putting Us On, male winter athlete of the year.

Nelson Miller, a lifelong area resident and former owner of Miller’s Variety Store (now Lloyd’s Variety Store) in Callicoon died suddenly Sunday morning at the Wayne County Memorial Hospital in Honesdale. He was 67 ... Arnold Poley of Hortonville, a mail carrier, died last week at the Community General Hospital in Harris. He was 66.

The 14th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Yulan covered a distance of 2 miles of green-painted route through the Town of Highland Sunday afternoon.

The Weissman farm in Callicoon Center has been declared a Century Farm. To earn such an award, a farm must be owned and operated for at least 100 years by succeeding generations of the same family with consideration also given to the quality of farming done and the volunteer service by the family in the community.

30 Years Ago - 1995

A local law was passed by the Delaware Town Board on Wednesday which provides for the repair or demolition of unsafe buildings that are present within the town. One such building mentioned at the board meeting is the four-apartment structure on Fremont Street which was gutted by fire in 1991. A second building, a decaying barn on Route 97 north of Callicoon, was also listed.

The first known case of a rabid cow in Sullivan County was reported at the J&E Weissmann Farm in Callicoon Center when a one-year beef cow was discovered frothing at the mouth Sunday morning. The Weissmanns are undergoing a five-time series of immunizations which will take place over a month.

Jim Hughson Excavating Co. of Jeffersonville demolished the large chicken coop of H.H. Frank Farms in North Branch. The North Branch and Jeffersonville firemen were called to a control burning of the debris.

Mary Curtis, Town of Delaware historian, accepted the DeWitt Clinton Award for Outstanding Community Service Friday at a meeting of Delaware Lodge No. 561, F.&A.M. The award is presented to non-Masonic members. Three members of Miss Curtis’ family have been members of Lodge No. 561 and this was noted during the presentation, as well as the fact that her brother, Robert, is a current member of the Lodge.

Marissa Graby has been named Most Valuable Player of the Western Sullivan League girls basketball teams.

20 Years Ago - 2005

Tragedy has rocked the Barryville area since Thursday afternoon when a horrific car accident and subsequent fire took the lives of five local residents, including two young children.

Voters made their feelings loud and clear on a proposed expansion of the BOCES Liberty campus. Thursday, 3,221 county residents showed up at polling places in all eight county school districts to cast their ballots on a $17.2 million building project at the Liberty facility. Of those, 2,484 checked “no” on the paper ballot.

Easter came early for those kids who braved last Sunday’s snowstorm to head to the Jeffersonville Firehouse. The Leos Club, a group of teens from the Sullivan West High School who are affiliated with the Lions Club, turned the facility into a candyland for the day – hiding eggs and goodies around the firehouse for kids to find.

10 Years Ago - 2015

Liberty Police arrested a Liberty woman Sunday on a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge for failing to provide proper sustenance to her four-year-old pit bull, Tawny. Tawny was found unattended inside a car in Liberty over the weekend. The vehicle’s back window was broken, and there was no heat. According to the veterinarian that’s treating Tawny she was suffering from a variety of maladies, all stemming from neglect. Tawny’s prognosis is good – so long as she can get the care she needs.

The vision at the Friends of the Western Sullivan Public Library (WSPL) isn’t just to have a library in Jeffersonville, Callicoon and Narrowsburg but in every hamlet WSPL serves. That’s at least 15 communities spanning 255 square miles. How do they plan to do it? By creating “Little Libraries,” an idea that’s caught on around the country. Based on designs found at littlefreelibrary.org, the inaugural “Our Little Library” is a stout wooden box with a glass front, allowing glimpses of the books the library crew hopes to stock it with. While not intended to replace the much larger offerings and programming of the three main branches, these mini-libraries could save residents miles of travel if they just want an interesting book to read. But neither Friends of WSPL nor WSPL itself are soliciting locations. They want interested people and communities to approach them, and then they will build it. After that it’s up to a community member to ensure the Library remains used and unabused.