130 Years Ago - 1895

The extension of the telephone lines from Liberty to Livingston Manor is nearly completed. The line will also be extended from Monticello to Woodbourne in a couple of weeks.

Burglars entered the store of Campbell, Sprague & Co. at Roscoe last Friday and secured several hundred dollars worth of merchandise.

Louis Dietrich and George Smith, who went out to Minnesota over seven months ago, have returned. They say that Minnesota is all right in the summertime, but not in the winter.

Miss Maria Eggler, the young-est daughter of Casper Eggler, a former proprietor of the Jeffersonville House, was married in Jersey City November 20, to a young man of the latter place, Henry Martens.

The interior of the wigwam of Kolikoon Tribe has been greatly improved by putting matting on the floor and elevating and carpeting the stumps. Indians Grishaber, Baum, Miller and Brand performed the labor.

120 Years Ago - 1905

Balser Haeuser has laid a pipe of nearly two hundred feet from the pump in the house to the barn, to supply water to the barn when needed. The pipe also serves as a speaking tube between the two places.

Charles Starck has opened a cafe in the Kautz building at Callicoon Depot.

The wedding of Mrs. Carrie Phillips-Embler, formerly of Monticello, and George Olstead, formerly of Mongaup Valley, in New York City, on November 15, was the happy culmination of a love romance which began in Sullivan County many years ago.

The Oregon Indian Medicine Co. is billed for a week at Eagle Hall, beginning tonight.

An unusual settlement has been made between two candidates who received a tie vote at the last election in the Town of Franklin, Delaware County. Frederick Page, a Democrat, and George Musk, a Republican, received equal votes for collector. A plan was submitted to the town board to issue a certificate of election to Page for one year, at the end of which time the certificate is to be turned over to Musk for the remaining year term. It is said all agreed to the plan.

110 Years Ago - 1915

Victor, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Wesley M.  Dorrer of Hortonville, died of diphtheria yesterday. The child was ill only a few days. Mrs. Dorrer had the disease about six weeks ago but is entirely recovered.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Schneider Sr. of Narrowsburg celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their home November 29 after fifty years of happy wedded life. Mrs. Schneider is the former Catherine Stengel, daughter of Fred Stengel of Jeffersonville.

The several taxpayers in Delaware whose request for the transfer of their properties from the Jeffersonville Consolidated School District to Kenoza Lake School District, which did not receive the consent of the Board of Education here, have appealed to the State Education Department.

Clarence A. Royce returned to the Williams School of Expression at Ithaca Sunday. The school players will soon go out on the road with Shakespeare’s “Othello” in which Clarence will have the title role.

Edward Hahn, son of C. Hahn of Callicoon Center, and Miss Vera Dubic were married in New York on Thanksgiving Day. They now reside in Yonkers where the groom is employed.

Beginning next week, C.G. Mc-Kane will run his movies in Masonic Hall only one night a week. Tonight, Mary Pickford, the “Queen of the Movies,” will be seen in “The Eagle’s Mate” in five reels.

J.H. Keesler, the Maple Avenue merchant, and Fred W. Schadt, the creamery man, have just discovered that they are cousins. Mr. Keesler’s mother, Theresa Schadt, was a sister of Mr. Schadt’s father, Charles, who was a prominent citizen of Scranton, Pa.

100 Years Ago - 1925

On next Monday, the completion of the new double track concrete highway from Honesdale to the Delaware River at Narrowsburg, a distance of 10.6 miles, will be celebrated by the people at the terminals and along the route.

Miss Elizabeth Klein, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Klein of Jeffersonville, and Edwin Weiss, son of Chris Weiss of Callicoon, were married on Thanksgiving morning in New York City.

Inspector C.N. Cobb of the state education department, visited the Youngsville school in response to an application for a rise in the grades of the high school there, which is now of the middle grade. They want a full high school.

William McGrath of Liberty has gone to New York for a surgical operation. He was wounded in the World War and the doctors expect to remove a piece of shell from his shoulder.

“Who will be our next postmaster?” The commission of Mrs. Ida Kohler expired November 23. Fred J. Weiss, clerk and truck driver for the Liberty Coal and Feed Co., is after the job and has the endorsement of the Republican town committee.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Schreier of New York have leased the Henry Pless house on Jefferson Avenue. Mr. Schreier is a retired butcher.

Arthur Luchs moved his family to the city for the winter. Art will work for the Borden Milk company.

A little daughter, Florence Beatrice, was born to Frank Fulton and wife of Kenoza Lake, on November 15.

90 Years Ago - 1935

Harold Shue, business manager and co-publisher of the Liberty Register, and Eugene R. Rosch of the Sullivan County National Bank staff of Liberty, were badly injured shortly before midnight last Friday when the automobile in which they were riding  skidded in a flurry of snow on Jacktown Hill at Livingston Manor.

The bridge over the Cattail Creek near Burr Sherwood’s ten-pin factory in Livingston Manor collapsed Friday when a heavy truckload of maple logs on its way to the factory went down with the bridge.

Miss Dorothy Krantz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Krantz of Kenoza Lake, and Henry Fritz of Honesdale, Pa., were married at St. Joseph’s College by Rev. Harold Blake on November 25th.

The mortgage on the Maimonides Hospital at Liberty will be burned at a banquet at the Hotel Grossinger, Sunday, given by Harry and Jennie Grossinger, to aid in the campaign now on for funds for the hospital.

Sixty residents in the Town of Lumberland have petitioned Supervisor Walter A. Schwartz to take steps to regulate the speed of motor boats on Mohican Lake, formerly Long Pond, on the Chapin tract in that town. The complaint is that the high powered boats on the lake endanger children and others in rowboats and canoes and tend to destroy the spawn of fish and other aquatic life.

80 Years Ago - 1945

Jacob Wingert died at his home in North Branch Friday, November 23, aged 87. Mr. Wingert’s death recalls a great deal of the history of the village.

S2/C George Anderson of Jeff and Seabee Fred Reinheimer of Youngsville met in the mess hall at Hawaii just before Thanksgiving.

Miss Virginia Plaskin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Plaskin of Hortonville, and Alfred Crandall, son of Roy A. Crandall of Jeffersonville were married at St. Joseph’s Seminary November 24th.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Reilly of Bethel announce the engagement of their only daughter, Anne, to John E. Mages, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mages of Jeffersonville.

Charles Stewart and Ed Graby are engaged in baling hay for the market and have thus far baled 90 tons, each bale weighing 80 pounds. The hay is stored in barns until sold. The Fulton brothers, who have the baling machine, and others, are also employed in the work.

70 Years Ago - 1955

Frederick W.V. Schadt of Jeffersonville was re-elected president for the third year of the Liberty-Loomis Hospital at its annual meeting at the Lenape Hotel in Liberty.

Increases in motor fuel taxes are being advocated by the Route 17 Association as a fair method of financing improvement of the state highways.

Sullivan County has been named an emergency area due to the rains and flood of October 1955. 

A 28-mile stretch of the New York State Thruway will be opened to traffic on December 15th, from the Suffern interchange to Central Avenue, Yonkers, including the new Tappan Zee Bridge.

William Menges of Youngsville miraculously escaped serious injury last Friday when his car skidded on Green Hill and overturned several times, landing in a ditch. He sustained a bad gash on the head requiring several stitches.

Robert James, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Kohler, was baptized Sunday morning at the Presbyterian Church by the Rev. Leroy C. Hertzog.

Mrs. Antonie Stoff has returned to her home in Jeffersonville after a six months tour of Europe.

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Soloway were surprised on Sunday by a visit from their children and grandchildren who drove up from Brooklyn to help them celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary.

Real estate values have increased over five and a half million dollars in the last two years in Sullivan County.

60 Years Ago - 1965

The sheriff and the district attorney are each given an increase of $1,000 (to $9,500) in the tentative budget for 1966, but Welfare Commissioner Robert B. Travis is given only the five percent other top county employees receive. The tentative budget calls for expenditures of $7,282,010, $759,950 more than the $6,522,060 budget for 1965.

Reports Monday were that Daniel LaBarr of  Beaver Brook was improving in the Honesdale Hospital. He was accidentally shot in the legs while deer hunting at Beaver Brook.

Mr. and Mrs. Vernon T. Meyer of Long Eddy announce the engagement of their daughter, Nancy, to Philip A. Hillriegel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hillriegel,  Callicoon.

A Freeport man had admitted fatally shooting a fellow deer hunter on the first day of deer season, Ferndale State Police said. He is Clarence Clark, 41, a Freeport funeral director. The dead man was identified as Ronald A. Buck of Yonkers, president of the Tusten Rod and Gun Club, of which Clark was a member.

Sunny Terrace Kennels, Damascus, Pa., won many places at the Patroon Bassett Hound Match Show at Claryville. Naming the winners was Hollerhound Decorous, a bassett co-owned by Joan Elmore of Sunny Terrace Kennels and Bert Feldman.

50 Years Ago - 1975

The newest addition to the county’s scenery, the $4.5 million Sullivan County Government Center, actually in use since September, was officially dedicated in impressive ceremonies held Wednesday, November 19, on the front steps of the structure. About 175 people attended.

Volunteer firemen from Hortonville and Callicoon were called to the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Pippo of Hortonville as fire gutted that building last Thursday.

S. Harvey Fosner, who has had one of the most distinguished careers in North American harness racing management for the past 22 years, has been named president of Monticello Raceway. Fosner has just retired from Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury. He replaced Leon Greenberg who resigned two weeks ago.

Mr. and Mrs. Milton Klein of Delaware Ave., Callicoon, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last Saturday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. E. Langley, also of Delaware Ave.

A 556-pound dressed bear, claimed to be the largest ever shot in New York State since records have been kept, was taken by Al Long, Cedar Grove, N.J., as he hunted with Barber’s Eddy Gun Club in Oakland Valley in the Town of Forestburgh. A fifteen inch ruler placed on his head failed to reach from ear tip to ear tip. If wearing a collar, it would be a size 36; his belt a size 67. Setting a new local and state record, the bear tops the 500-pound bruin taken by Gus Knack of RD 1, Callicoon, in 1967, by more than 60 pounds. The bear was 15 years old and had been tagged by the Department of Environmental Conservation two years ago. At that time the bear had “Lum” tattooed on his lip. He put on 120 pounds since 1973 when he was trapped and tagged.

Miss Janet Santos became the bride of John Diehl on November 8 at St. George’s Church, Jeffersonville. They reside on the groom’s dairy farm, Callicoon RD. 

Miss Marie Kitson of North Branch and William Graby of Callicoon were married October 25 at Holy Cross.

40 Years Ago - 1985

The Family, a home for adolescents with drug and alcohol related problems, suffered the loss of a 14-bed 72x12 trailer late Saturday night when fire ripped through the structure causing total loss. No injuries were reported. Loss is estimated at over $20,000. An emergency fund has been set up.

Barbara Ann Siegel, competing in horse shows since age 2, and winning competitions since the age of 5, was acclaimed Reserve Champion All Around High Point Youth of the  Empire State Horsebreeders Association at the Empire State Association Convention and Year-end Awards Dinner held the first week in November at the Marriott in Syracuse. Competing in the 14 to 18 age group, she and her quarter horse gelding, StageBird Bill, won five championships. Last month they competed in the All-American Quarter Horse Congress show in Columbus, Ohio, where she was a semi-finalist with over 8,000 horses entered in the show.

Chet Scott and Lucille Haas of Tyler Hill were married last Saturday at the Smith Hill Methodist Church. A reception was held at Kuester’s Lounge in Beach Lake, Pa.

Men from the Woodbourne Rehabilitation Center are engaged in painting the interior of the Jeffersonville Methodist Church. Their next job will be to paint the interior of the local synagogue. The men are to be commended as they contribute to community services by making repairs and doing painting jobs through the county for non-profit organizations who furnish the material and the men furnish the labor.

The Liberty Pythians Sisters Lodge donated a check for $400 to the  Town of Liberty Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

30 Years Ago - 1995

Eric Karpeles’ 16-panel project dedicated to the AIDS community will be profiled on the national newsmagazine “CBS Sunday Morning” on December 3. It will be installed in Los Angeles on December 1,  World  AIDS Day. The Rutledgedale, Pa., resident began work on the artwork two years ago. It contains panels of 7 1/2 feet wide by eight and one-half high and are hung against each other to create a continuous painted service.

Ten years ago, Agway Energy Products offered 25 gallons of heating oil free, plus service that’s worry-free.

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Hellerer and Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hauschild, all of Jeffersonville, have announced the engagement of their children, Dawn Renee Hellerer to John Hauschild. A March 1997 wedding is planned.

Mr. and Mrs. William Wells of  De Leon Springs, Fla., former residents of Monticello, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary the week of September 6-13, with their children and families and  friends joining in the festivities. They were married in Birmingham, Ala., September 8, 1945.

Some nice deer are being entered in the Democrat Big Buck Contest. Leading in the heaviest deer category is Joe Barkley of Grahamsville who shot a 9 pointer that weighed 175 lbs. and was taken in the Town of Neversink. The rack measured 62 1/2 points. Ed Kestler of Callicoon shot a 9 pointer on opening day in Cochecton Center with a rack that measured 69 1/2 inches. Tony Abplanalp of Youngs-ville shot an 8-pointer with an impressive  22 3/8 and 21 1/2 inch beams that measured 69 in the contest and Scott Price of Beach Lake, Pa., shot a buck in Long Eddy measuring 70  1/2 with a 18 1/2 inch spread. They are all topped by Neil Bell Jr. of White Lake who bagged an 8 pointer on opening day in the Town of Bethel with a rack that measured 75 1/2 points with a 22 1/4 inch spread. The deer only weighed 130 pounds.

20 Years Ago - 2005

A girl, Corinne, was born to Chris and Katie Pierson of Round Lake on September 28, 2005 at the Albany Medical Center. She joins a sister, Riley Jean, at home. Bill and Pat Engle of Callicoon Center are the maternal grandparents. Joe and Jean Pierson of Ballston Spa are the paternal grandparents.

Beth Cogswell of Liberty, the daughter of Merilee Myers of Forest Hills and Kenneth Cogswell of Liberty was united in marriage with David Fisk on May 7, 2005 in Hawley, Pa. The bridegroom is the son of Mary Ellen Early and Robert Fisk of Miami, Florida.

Irene Dietz of Lake Huntington recently helped her uncle, Giordano Iellusich, celebrate his 100th birthday. He was born in Italy, and served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He attributes his long life to healthy eating, sleeping well, and exercising.

While looking through a catalog of sporting goods, Pat Salimeno of Wurtsboro discovered that a lure that is in his extensive collection of fishing lures, tackle and accessories, is a Chatauqua Minnow – made perhaps in the late 1800s. Salimeno recently found out that a similar (but probably a later period) Chautauqua Minnow was sold at auction for more than $35,000.

10 Years Ago - 2015

Thursday turned out to be one of those dark, rainy days that are great to spend curled up at home on the couch with a good movie.  Yet that didn’t stop family, friends, and locals from gathering together in the Sullivan County Legislative Chambers in Monticello to celebrate Gary Siegel. Siegel, who hails from Liberty, was selected to be the recipient of the 2015 SYDA Foundation Community Service Award, which includes a certificate of merit for outstanding service to the local community and a gift of $5,000.  The SYDA Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1973 to protect and preserve the Siddha Yoga philosophy and culture.  

The biggest honor of the evening was a loving toast of Coach Ron Bauer for his 50 years of ongoing mentorship of young athletes that included his years of coaching at Delaware Valley, Jeff-Youngsville and Sullivan West. Athletic Director David Franskevicz set the historical perspective by querying the audience if they could remember a year in which Lyndon Johnson was President, a home could be purchased for $23,000 dollars, you could take your favorite gal out to a dance in a miniskirt to do the twist or the monster mash. He then reeled off a series of quotes that were quite familiar to the audience from Bauer, whose coaching career dated back to the year in question, 1966. That year Bauer became an assistant coach at the Delaware Valley School District under the late, great Jim Brown. Now 50 years later, the beloved coach is still  doing what he loves best, devoting himself night and day, weekends and summers to the task of  forging character in his young charges through the rigors of athletics. Franskevicz noted Bauer still retains the drive and the passion he had a half century ago [and] people not only remember their days under Coach Bauer’s watch but credit what they derived from that experience as assets that have helped them navigate life’s challenges.