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Down the Decades

October 12, 2021

Compiled by Lee Hermann, Muse, & Ruth Huggler
Posted 10/12/21

130 Years Ago - 1891

The firm in Liberty known as Young and Messiter has been changed to Young, Messiter and Co. Frank Md. Dodge of Rockland and Charles Messiter have been taken in as …

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Down the Decades

October 12, 2021

Posted

130 Years Ago - 1891

The firm in Liberty known as Young and Messiter has been changed to Young, Messiter and Co. Frank Md. Dodge of Rockland and Charles Messiter have been taken in as partners.
W.H. Kays, Andrew Abplanalp and Lafayette Myers of Youngs­ville went on the Ontario and Western Rockway excursion last week.
Ormolo Segar of Briscoe has been canvassing this village with a petition to improve the highway to Briscoe between George Schalck’s place and George Berms.
Miss Florence Lieb is visiting her sister, Mrs. Edward Faubel at Roscoe.
George Matthews, Charles Wolfert and Simon Diehl of the town of Callicoon and Jacob Long, Jay Winsan, Charles Kohl and Martin Hermann of the town of Delaware have been drawn to serve as jurors.
The cemetery just below this village is indeed a wretched looking site. It is simply awful to think it necessary for persons to go there and work with the rake before being able to find a grave. — Youngsville Corresp.
“There is a rumor afloat that Dudley Edwards has been getting to a lady at or near Rockland.” — White Sulphur Springs Corresp.
Robert Hill and Miss Katie Morgan were married in Liberty last Sunday by Rev. Galbraith.
“Jack Frost” has visited this neighborhood to warn our farmers that winter is drawing near.
Mrs. John Fisher of Fosterdale was thrown from the wagon while descending the hill by Mr. Scotts and her arm was broken by the fall.

120 Years Ago - 1901

The Misses Mary Matzinger and Linda Diehl of this village will open a millinery establishment in the Diehl home on Maple Avenue in Jeff.
The Presbyterian Church was packed to the doors last Thursday by people who listened to the memorial service conducted in honor of the late President McKinley.
The marriage of Mary Elizabeth Haddock of Livingston Manor to Thomas F. Harrington of Hurleyville was celebrated on September 19.
Charles Scheidell began the work of opening a new street on the slope in back of his residence. The new street will run parallel with South Main Street and end at the North Branch Road below.
William Kohler, the architect and builder, has the contract to erect a new house for H.E. Stephenson on the old homestead at Hurd this fall.
A guest at a prominent Liberty hotel was fined $5 on the complaint of the Board of Health for spitting on the sidewalk. He repeated the offense and was fined another $25 which he has refused to pay and has taken counsel.
A bathtub and heater are being put in the jail at Monticello for the use of the prisoners — improvements much needed in the building.
George J. Yager is excavating for an addition to the upper side of his store building on Maple Avenue, which is to be occupied as a tinshop by his brother-in-law, W.J. Grishaber of this village.
Ed. Note: This section (120 years-110 years) was carried over from the October 4, 2011 issue.

110 Years Ago - 1911

Wesley Dorrer, the Callicoon Center stage driver, will leave for New York on Saturday where he has purchased an auto truck to be used on his route between Callicoon and Callicoon Center next summer. He will try it out for a few weeks this fall and next season expects to make two trips daily instead of one as heretofore.
Friday morning, Fred Brown cut a large piece of wire from his hand that has been in there for thirteen years. The hand had been bothering him all summer, having been swelled up so that whenever he touched anything it pained him. He went to the doctors but they failed to find the cause of the trouble and so about a week ago he cut the hand open and took out a piece of the wire and again Friday morning did the same thing. The hand is now healing up in good shape. Thirteen years ago he was working in a quarry at Hankins and a premature explosion occurred in which he was hurt.
Eighty years ago, in 1831, there were only seventeen postmasters in Sullivan County. Today there are over ninety-five postmasters, who have a large number of assistants. The smallest salary paid a postmaster is $45 a year and the largest is $2,400.
George S. Woolsey of Livingston Manor has taken the position of news gatherer and writer for the Liberty Register in place of George H. Lynch who has gone to college.
William Theodore Hubbert, the three-week-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Hubbert of Callicoon, died September 25 of inward convulsions.
With this issue, the Democrat is twenty-one years old. And that reminds us of an occurrence or rather a series of occurrences, the likes of which we believe no other newspaper advertiser in the United States can boast. Charles F. Starck, proprietor of Starck’s Bazaar, has appeared in the Callicoon Echo and the Sullivan County Democrat and has not missed an issue.

100 Years Ago - 1921

Arthur N. Meyers of Fremont, who left the Democrat last April to go to Jefferson, Schoharie County, to establish The Standard, has been nominated by the Republicans and endorsed by the Democrats for town clerk of the township of Jefferson.
Having sold their farm just above Callicoon, which for 57 years had been their home, Mr. and Mrs. Benj. Hartz today are moving to Cochecton. They moved to Callicoon from Germany shortly after the Civil War, Mr. Hartz first being employed by the Erie. He later served the New York Transit Co. for 25 years. They will live in their son Fred’s house.
Many things have happened the last few months and not the least is the redecorating of St. James’ Episcopal Church and rectory. Both structures have been entirely redecorated from top to bottom, inside and out. Electric lights have been installed in the church and house. The fixtures in the church are of unusual beauty, yet not only are they beautiful and ornamental, but they are also very lightful. A handsome new carpet has been laid and a larger and better furnace has been installed, which will be able to combat successfully the chilling days of winter. The work has been admirably supervised by Adam and Fred Metzger. The people of St. James have accomplished a notable piece of work and thus beautifying the church. The keynote of Sunday’s service will be “Thanksgiving,” and it is hoped by the rector (Rev. John W. Heritage) and trustees that it will be a rally day as well.
Pour hot coffee into the saucers of your geranium pots every morning, having it boiling if possible. It will be sufficiently cool before it reaches the roots of your plants and you will be astonished at the wealth of blossoms your plants will put forth.
Services in the Trinity Chapel in Long Eddy will be resumed Friday, October 14, at 8 p.m. The new rector, Rev. John Heritage, will hold the service.
The Board of Directors of the Callicoon National Bank, at its regular monthly meeting Friday, transferred to surplus $25,000 from individual profits. This makes a total surplus of $50,000, twice the amount of capital and a furtherance of the policy of the bank’s directors to increase the strength of the bank rather than to pay out earnings as dividends.

90 Years Ago - 1931

The O&W Railroad station and seven other buildings in the village of Mountaindale were destroyed or badly damaged early Saturday by fire which also cut off all telephone connections. Damage will run into several hundred thousand dollars it is said. The fire started shortly after 1 a.m. in the combination home and store of Aaron Anderman. Six outside fire companies, arriving in response to calls for more aid as the flames spread, worked until long after daylight to save the rest of the village.
Frank V. Wagner of Callicoon and Margaret Reardon of Jersey City were united in marriage September 30 in Jersey City. After a week’s honeymoon, the couple will reside in the new home built on the Wagner farm in Callicoon.
The hospital for Callicoon is about to become a reality. The contract for the building complete with heating and lighting was awarded today to K.L. Botsford of Callicoon, who was the low bidder at $9,260. Mr. Botsford states he will begin work at once to have the building in readiness sometime during the winter. The Callicoon Hospital was financed by a group of responsible citizens who have the interest of western Sullivan at heart. The building is to be complete by February 1932.
The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. A. Bauer of Hankins gave them a variety shower on September 18. There were fifty-two present… Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Weber Sr. celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary September 25. – Hankins Corresp.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. A. Feigenbutz of Obernburg, a son, September 26.
Eric R. Karg, proprietor of the Olympia Hotel, Callicoon, left yesterday afternoon to attend a preview and reception at the new Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, today. The hotel, the largest in the world, will be opened to the general public on Wednesday.
State surveyors of Route 3-A have arrived by now under the High Rock section in Cochecton and marks have a tendency to follow the old road from the pump station to near the schoolhouse, gradually cutting under the hill to ascertain if possibly a 60-foot wide road could be built on the hillside in back of the village, coming out on the uptown Cochecton road just around the turn.

80 Years Ago - 1941

The second vote on a site for the Delaware Valley Central School will be held October 8. The proposition is exactly the same as was presented to the voters last June 6, the result of which vote was declared a tie by the Commissioner of Education. The appropriation being voted for at this election is $500 for the purchase price of the 2 acre Reichmann site between Hankins and Callicoon.
Construction of the new school at Eldred will begin soon. Three bids totaling $196,957 were accepted recently by the school board.
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rutledge of Rutledgedale, PA., who were married at Blakely on September 7. Charles left for Army camp Monday morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Mootz of Callicoon Center are busy these days working in their cauliflower fields. They have about 18,000 plants on their farm besides about 10,000 plants they planted on the Albert Noetzel farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Francis Price of Long Eddy are the proud parents of a son, born Saturday, September 27, at their home.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Reed Sr. of Brooklyn have announced the engagement of their daughter, Grace, to August, son of Mrs. Bertha Merkenschlager of Cochecton. He is a foreman in road construction work.
Jeffersonville — The Kenoza Lake firemen are holding their 5th annual dinner on October 11 at the Kenoza Falls Lodge… Jesse Abel is one of the few lads that has three tickets for the World Series. He will go to New York on Wednesday. — Jeff Corresp.

70 Years Ago - 1951

St. Joseph’s Church in Troy was the scene of the September 29 wedding of Miss Elizabeth Popp to Robert Long, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Long of Hortonville.
At the Callicoon Hospital, it was a son, Monday, to Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Whitmore of Callicoon RFD, and a daughter, Friday, to Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Kraack of Cochecton. Mrs. Albert Heinrichs and infant daughter of Swan Lake were discharged as were Mrs. Lee Williams and infant daughter of Long Eddy.
Warren H. Ruppert of the Jeffersonville Cleaners, has been recalled to serve in the Air Force and will report October 11.
The Wayne Memorial Hospital will be dedicated with proper ceremony on October 11. More than 2,200 individual invitations have been mailed. A public inspection of the new hospital will be conducted following the ceremonies set for 1 p.m.
Friday evening, the Ladies Auxiliary of the North Branch Fire Department gave a community shower for Miss Rose Gagliardi who will become the bride of Howard Neuman in the near future. Mrs. Charles Carman Jr. was the chairman.
Fire of undetermined origin swept through two three-story buildings on the G. Henry Hocker chicken farm in Milanville, PA., early Monday morning, October 1, consuming the building and contents including approximately 2,000 chickens.
Mr. and Mrs. Karl Carlson of Narrowsburg have announced the engagement of their daughter, Ruth, to George M. Picht, son of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Picht, also of Narrowsburg.
The Sackman House in Kenoza Lake has one hundred and eight guests during the Jewish holidays. Mr. and Mrs. Hamberg are entertaining twenty-five guests over the holidays at the Kenoza Pine Lodge.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Siepp of Damascus, PA., were feted on the occasion of their 17th wedding anniversary Saturday evening.
The Golden Wedding Anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Monington will be held at the Galilee Grange Hall on October 7.

60 Years Ago - 1961

Mr. and Mrs. Leo Rosenberger of Hortonville have announced the engagement of their daughter, Ann, to Eugene G. Schildknecht of Asbury Park, N.J.
The barn on the Adolph Wagner property, Callicoon Center, burned to the ground last Friday. Callicoon Center and North Branch firemen responded to the alarm.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Meyer were pleasantly surprised Saturday evening when 32 of their friends and neighbors gave them a housewarming party. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have purchased the Fred Hubbert property on Route 97, Callicoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Bury of Roscoe became the parents of a son who arrived at the Liberty-Loomis Hospital Thursday evening... Mr. and Mrs. Donald Albee are grandparents to a boy, Mark Kohler, born to 2nd Lieut. and Mrs. Roger Albee in Hanau, Germany, on September 21.
At the Callicoon Hospital, it was a son to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Layton of Callicoon RFD on Saturday; a son, Wednesday to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rysdyke of Hankins. Discharged this week from the hospital were Mrs. Fred Daub Jr. and son, Narrowsburg, RFD; Mrs. Lawrence Tuttle and daughter of North Branch.
A Callicoon Center Jeep really gets around. Walt Clark of Callicoon Center had advertised it for sale in the columns of the Democrat. Bill Milk of Callicoon saw it and took the advertisement to Ken Roosa Liberty. Bill knew that Ken was looking for a Jeep for deer hunting transportation. When Ken saw the Jeep he discovered that it was one that he had owned himself formerly.

50 years ago - 1971

The $2,000,000 campaign for the Community General Hospital Building Fund will be launched on Thursday, October 14, at a sponsor’s dinner meeting at the Concord Hotel.
At the Liberty-Loomis Hospital, it was a boy September 21 for Mr. and Mrs. Michael Bard of Livingston Manor; a girl to Mr. and Mrs. Victor Budd of Woodridge on September 23.
Victoria Ann Scialabba became the bride of A1/c Hamlin Robertson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hamlin Robertson of Ferndale, at a ceremony performed in Las Vegas, Nev. The bridegroom is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lewis, son of the Kenneth Lewises of Callicoon, became the parents of a girl on September 22. They live in East Windsor.
The Upper Delaware Campgrounds, Callicoon, was visited by two men from MARS last week – not the little green kind, but rather representatives of Military Affiliated Radio System (MARS). The outfit is the property of Abe Green of Irvington, N.J., and is capable of transmitting radio messages to any point in the world. That, in fact, is precisely its function. Mr. Green and other members of MARS act as civilian aides of the military in establishing radio contact with United States military, naval and air units around the globe. One of their principal functions is to assist in phone-patching to enable servicemen to talk to their families at home. Mr. Green is no stranger to Callicoon. He was a “blaster” when Route 97 was being built in the ‘30s at which time he stayed at the Olympia Hotel.

40 Years Ago - 1981

Gorgeous Red Velvet, an Australian Shepherd owned and bred by Mrs. Ralph Williams of Long Eddy, was shown at the New York Australian Shepherd Club Specialty Match held last week near Monticello. She won Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Breed.
Another first for Zoanne Deckelman last weekend. The veteran driver of White Lake Speedway, who switched from the women’s Powder Puff division to open street stock competition in the men’s division last year, became the first woman ever to race in the Cam 2 Race of Champions at Pocono in the Street Stock Championship. Joe Scarborough was the other representative from this area. Of the 120 cars entered, Zoanne drove her #192 from a 36th starting position to a 22nd finish in the consolation race after distributor problems knocked her out of the qualifier.
More than 200 Job Corps Centers were represented at the annual National Arts and Crafts Contest held recently. Local winners from the Delaware Valley Job Corps Center in Callicoon were Dung Lam and Ha Noc, both former residents of Vietnam. Dung Lam took a second prize for painting with watercolors. Ha Noc won a third prize in the national contest with her embroidery of two tigers.
Nearly 1,000 people assembled at Kutsher’s Country Club on Tuesday night to salute Law­rence H. Cooke of Monticello who is chief judge of the Court of Appeals. N.Y. State District Attorney Robert Abrams was the principal speaker.
Twin boys, James and Jason, were born September 29, 1981, to Robert and Brenda (Minckler ) Sykes of North Branch. They also have a daughter, Rebecca. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Sykes of North Branch and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Minckler of Long Eddy are the proud grandparents… Twin girls, Jessica and Jennifer, were born to Mr. and Mrs. John Miller of Shandelee on September 12. Mr. and Mrs. John Mears of Livingston Manor and Mr. and Mrs. John Miller of Youngsville are the proud grandparents.

30 Years Ago - 1991

Five generations joined in the celebration of the 88th birthday of Crystal Zieres, formerly a resident of North Branch, and now a resident of Binghamton. Among those attending were Crystal, her daughter Edna Potts, granddaughter Patricia Boulton, great-granddaughter Teresa Hull and great-great-grandson Thomas Hull, 5 years of age. Crystal also has a son, Kenneth, and another daughter, Shirley.
Alfred “Flap” Ingber, developer and owner of Sullivan County’s only large scale shopping mall (the Apollo Plaza), died Tuesday, October 1, at New York University Hospital in New York City. He was 60 years of age.

20 Years Ago - 2001

Gordon MacKinnon was always described as a fighter. Before he came to Sullivan County, he was a New York City firefighter from Battalion 49 in Queens. He eventually was elected as the District 4 Legislator in Sullivan County and became one of the most beloved politicians in the county. But on Tuesday, the fighter that was Gordon MacKinnon lost his battle at age 70, passing away from natural causes at Horton Medical Center in Middletown. He leaves a wife, Joann, at home, a son Gordon J. Mackinnon, a daughter Barbara Magiera, and a large extended family and friends.
Melissa, daughter of Dianne and Leon Sigmund of Callicoon, became the bride of Antonio Sanabria on June 2, 2001.
Murial Fulton of Cochecton, daughter of the late George and Ida Just, and Theodore Lewis “Lew” Fredricks, son of the late Theodore and Mable Fredricks, were married at the Cochecton Fire Hall on September 15, 2001.

10 Years Ago - 2011

A short time ago, Debbie Molusky answered a phone call at the Sullivan West High School from Rob Silva, from the Liberty area, stating that he found a 2003 Jeffersonville-Youngsville class ring under a pulled out seat in a junk car at a junk yard about two years ago. Mrs. Molusky checked with Nina Verderber in the guidance department, who researched graduates from the year 2003 with the initials KAT. She came up with a few names that might fit, but a former graduate, Brent Rose, happened to be substituting that day and remembered a fellow student who went by the nickname of “Kat.” He contacted Katrina Meyer via Facebook and asked that she call the school if she had lost her ring. She called the next day and said she had lost her ring about five to six years ago. The ring was described and Katrina thought it could be hers. It was. And now, thanks to Rob, Katrina can wear her class ring again.
Local harness racing fans had the pleasure of seeing some of the best drivers in the world compete in the third leg of the 2011 World Driving Championship at Monticello Raceway. Despite a steady rainfall throughout the card, the drivers put on quite a show. They competed in four races on the 13-race card. Prior to the card, the drivers rode around the track in classic cars in a Parade of Champions. They then gathered in the winner’s circle, where each of them received a bouquet of flowers and a Monticello Casino and Raceway gift bag.
A circa 1950 EMD E8 locomotive, painted in Pennsylvania Railroad colors, thrilled onlookers as it chugged through downtown Callicoon. Hauling nearly a dozen passenger cars, the diesel beauty was on its way to Binghamton for a short stop, then upstate Bath for an overnight stay, before heading on west to an eventual destination of Youngstown, Ohio. Owner Bennett Levin of Philadelphia offered the rare excursion to those willing to pay the $5,000-per-person ticket price and retrace the longtime route of the former Erie Railroad. Original to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s prestigious Broadway Limited, the antique car – outfitted with plush chairs – continued to offer panoramic views of the countryside and the receding rails.

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