140 Years Ago - 1880

Mrs. Rachel E. Beach, wife of Hiram Beach, died at the age of 51 at Morsston on July 31.

Harriet, relict of the late Stephen H. Sherwood, died in her 78th year at the residence of her son, in Parksville.

Charlie, aged 5 months and 6 days, son of Melchior and Anna Moor, died on August 5th in Jeffersonville.

Callicoon — The ball was set rolling for the Democratic nominees for the Presidency of the U.S. by and through a mass meeting held here on the 7th inst. A large assembly was present. The principal speech of the evening was by Mr. J.M. Maybee of Westfield Flats. Mr. Maybee's legal training teaches him to leave no loopholes from which his adversary can escape. Mr. John M. Helck presided at the meeting.

Wurtsboro is to have a new depot.

Narrowsburg, this county, has a population of 270.

Daily, 360 cans of milk are carried out of Sullivan County by the NY O&W Railroad.

We noticed that Mrs. B.G. Wales of Pike Pond was among those who accompanied Gen. Garfield, Republican candidate for Presidency of the United States, from Port Jervis to Susquehanna.

The new acid factory at Morsston was started this week. Over 800 cords of wood are on the ground. After the acid is extracted, the wood is sold for charcoal.

Oscar Brand of New York City is in Jeffersonville visiting his father, Dr. William Brand.

Liberty — A Hancock and English club of about 30 members has been formed here … Steps are now quietly being taken for the purchase of a bell for St. Peter's Catholic Church… The cellar for Sarles & Purvis' new store is nearly excavated… The old Lamoreaux blacksmith shop has been sold to Mr. Wes Bedford, our butcher. consideration not known.

North Branch — Oats do not turn out very well, being heavily afflicted with rust… Joseph Mesler has been home on a short visit to his friends in this place.

Bethel — Mrs. R.H. Sloan is spending a few days looking after her property… White Lake is flooded with city people. D.B. Kinne has over one hundred at the present time.

Callicoon Depot — Charles F. Starck will represent Gustave Adolph Lodge at the Odd Fellows Grand Lodge meeting at Watertown, starting on the 17th of this month… Jack Driscoll, for the past two years telegraph operator here, has been transferred to Narrowsburg.

130 Years Ago - 1890

Ulysses E. Ray and Ella Cole, both of Stevensville, were married in Jeffersonville in the Presbyterian parsonage by Rev. H. Hansman.

On August 10th, at the residence of the bride's parents, Rose Hemmer of Jeffersonville was married to Anthony Shafer of New York City.

Livingston Manor, August 12th — Most of our farmers are through haying … New potatoes are selling here at 75¢ a bushel… T.A. Mills of Stony Fort is here today drawing ice from his ice house and loading it on cars for shipment to Middletown.

Maggie Weiss, 20-year-old daughter of John Weiss of Hortonville, died there on Friday.

The Crary Farm picnic, near Sand Pond, will be held on August 20.

The Beechwoods picnic and harvest fest will be held in Gaib's Grove (formerly Weher's Grove), on Thursday, August 21.

The Register says that 500 boarders arrived recently at Liberty in one day. There are now 5,000 boarders in the town of Liberty.

Mrs. Peter Wormuth, mother of Henry Wormuth, residing near Jeffersonville, fell on the floor of her house last Saturday and broke her thigh bone, She is aged about 70 years.

The arch bridge in Jeffersonville is about completed.

Louis P. Meyer of Youngsville in anticipation of a large apple crop this year, expended about $1000 for repairs and increasing the capacity of his distillery.

George Fillweber has sold his hotel property in North Branch now occupied by Ben Frey, to Fred Shaffer of Beechwoods, for $2,200.

There has been considerable stealing going on in the vicinity of the Lower Beech last week. The residences of Josiah Denner, John Glassel, Bauernfeind and one or two others, were entered and burglarized. Strong suspicion points to a young man well known in the neighborhood.

120 Years Ago - 1900

An order of Union Veterans will be soon organized in Livingston Manor. Over twenty ex-soldiers have signed an application for a charter.

The Mandville acid factory at Livingston Manor shut down last week on account of lack of water, which has been supplied by the Cattail stream.

Chris Beringer of North Branch has returned to his old position as clerk at the Beaverkill House in Roscoe in place of Elvin Sherwood.

John Laufersweiler of Liberty, a son of Frank Laufersweiler of Jeffersonville, while fishing at Stevensville Friday, saved a woman and a child from drowning.

It's a dull town that can't be stirred up by good advertising.

Andrew Crawford, one of the old 1840 bought a farm in the town of Highland, 2 miles southwest of what is now known as Eldred, where he resided until his death. His wife, Tura Rundle of Orange Co., died 23 years ago. Three sons and two daughters survive.

Conrad Kratz died at his home in Beechwoods Saturday at the age of 66. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and came to Amer­ica in 1852. After a short time in New York, he settled on a farm in Beechwoods. About 43 years ago he was married to Hannah Ludwig of North Branch who survives together with two sons, Charles at home and Henry at North Branch, and a daughter, Mrs. Henry W. Eller of Callicoon.

110 Years Ago - 1910

A daughter was born Tuesday to Mr. and Mrs. William A. Lixfield.

A.V. Borden continues in poor health and is confined to his home.

V.P. Scheidell has bought the fast horse and runabout of William Franklin, stopping at the Forest House in Youngsville.

Kenoza Lake, the popular summer resort just a few miles south of us, will hold another carnival on Saturday next, under the auspices of the improvement society, which is doing much to make that pretty hamlet more and more attractive. In the afternoon there will be sports and contests on land and water. A pretty new summer pavilion will be dedicated. The fete will close with a grand barn dance in the hall that evening. Music will be furnished by the Kenoza Lake Band and the Circle Orchestra of New York.

Twenty-five decorated rigs were in line at Jeffersonville's annual Coaching Day, witnessed by several thousand people here last Monday. Marshals for the parade, which started at 3:30 in the afternoon, were George Lixfield, Bill Miller and Pat Scheidell. Music was furnished by the Jeffersonville and Callicoon Center bands. For floats, George W. Baumgardt's Homestead won 1st prize, a silver coffee set. In double rigs, Charles Robisch's Beechwood Cottage took first place, a silver wine cooler. Single rigs were won by F. Yager's Pleasant View Cottage. Sherman Ernhout of Liberty, in a Rio, won first place for automobiles.

The fourth annual entertainment and dance of the Lake Huntington Social Club was held at Kraack's pavilion on August 10th.

Miss Amelia Geib of Brooklyn is spending two weeks with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Gabel Sr. in Beechwoods.

100 Years Ago - 1920

With the withdrawal of the Jeffersonville and Kenoza Lake members, the Callicoon Cooperative Dairy Association was re-organized at a special meeting held at Hortonville. Martin Hermann of Callicoon and L.J. Buddenhagen of Hortonville were elected directors in place of Andrew vonBergen of Jeffersonville and Walter Scardefield of Kenoza Lake, who resigned. At a director's meeting held later, Frank E. Knack of Hortonville was named president. Other officers are Millard Lord of Lookout, Pa., vice-president; L.J. Buddenhagen of Hortonville, secretary; and Grant Hawley of Galilee, Pa., treasurer.

The Republican Co. committee meeting at Liberty yesterday designated John C. Gray of Liberty, a farmer, to run for Assembly; Wm. F. Birmingham of Liberty, presently special county judge and surrogate, to run for county judge and the present county clerk to run for sheriff; and Maxwell J. Knapp, a Hurleyville attorney, to run for county clerk.

Democrats will meet at Monticello today to make their designations. It is expected that George H. Smith of Monticello will be named to succeed himself as County Judge and Surrogate and that Guernsey T. Cross, incumbent, of Callicoon, will be renamed for the Assembly. Elmer Winner of Liberty, who has twice before held the post, is the logical nominee for sheriff.

The Youngsville Presbyterian Willing Workers raised $200 at the fair held by them at the ME Church.

Mrs. M. Dycker, widow of a well-known North Branch farmer, Nicholas Dycker, died on Friday, August 5th, at the age of 86.

The South Fallsburg National Bank, largest capitalized banking institution in Sullivan County, opened for business on Monday. Officers of the new bank are: president J.M. Beck; vice president O.E. Leroy; cashier Archibald R. Rosenstrauss; assistant cashier Walter Bury.

Arthur Durr is home from New York for a vacation.

Victor Champlin, Civil War veteran of Liberty, died a few days ago at the National Soldiers Home at Johnson City, Tenn. He was 80 years of age on November 21, 1919. Born in Liberty on what is still known as the Champlin farm, which his father, “Squire” Champlin, owned for many years, when he was 22 he enlisted as a private in the Sullivan County Regiment, the 56th, and fought through to the end of the Civil War. Mustered out as a second lieutenant, he was Commander of Garrett Post G.A.R. at Liberty.

90 Years Ago - 1930

The home of Alf Berle, formerly the J. Bruetsch home on the Youngsville-Callicoon Center Road, just out of Youngsville, was destroyed by fire with about all of its contents last Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Berle and her daughters, Mrs. Harold Svenson and Mrs. Bodvar Rasmussen, were resting upstairs when they smelled smoke. Going downstairs, they found the kitchen so filled with smoke they could not enter it. They escaped from the house with whatever clothing they could grab. The fire was discovered by John Hess and his brother-in-law, Fred Kespert, both of Jeffersonville, who were visiting the latter's sister, Mrs. George Ellmauer, and were out hunting woodchucks nearby when they saw the smoke and fire coming from the Berle house. Kespert hurried to the house and tried to save what furniture he could, while Hess went to Youngsville to send in a call for the Jeffersonville firemen.

Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt will pass through Jeffersonville on Saturday, August 23rd, on his way from upstate to visit the Boy Scout Camp at Tusten.

The house and lot of August Hubert on Center Street has been sold to Mr. William Alexander of the Bronx, for about $5,600. The house is now occupied by Fred Kespert. Mrs. Alexander and her husband, who run a boarding house in the city, have been summer guests at the John Luchs farm here for the past six years.

Joe Pammer of Shandelee is going to try running dances at the Delaware Inn here starting next Tuesday.

Mrs. Godfrey Meusgeier, aged 67, of Roscoe, died on August 1st of tetanus or lockjaw, developed from a fall she took on July 23rd. She was born in Germany and came to Rockland in 1884. Her husband died two years ago. Surviving are a married son, Fred W., and a daughter, Mrs. Walter Bury, both of Roscoe.

Following a week's illness after an operation for appendicitis, Harry Will, aged 30, died at his home near Roscoe. He conducted a homestead farm and boarding house, and was a cousin of butcher Oscar Will of Jeffersonville.

80 Years Ago - 1940

Rev. Harold Blake, O.F.M., will be the guest of honor tonight at the schoolhouse in a testimonial dinner tendered by members and friends of St. George's R.C. Church, which he has served for the past eight years. It will be an open community affair. He is departing for Paterson where he has been made superior at the St. Bonaventure Monastery.

Sixty-three members of the Kohler clan met for their second annual reunion at Cherry Valley Grove in Galeton, Pa., last Sunday. This was 18 more than last year. Among those present were Mrs. Louis P. Ranft of Jeffersonville, Mrs. David Glass of Rutherford, NJ, and Miss Florence McCloskey of Weehawken, NJ. Rutherford has been selected for the reunion site next year. President of the group is Robert Kohler of Gaine, oldest living member of the Kohler family. The vice president is Davis Class who is married to the former Alice Berg of Jeffersonville.

70 Years Ago - 1950

Ferndale, August 10 — Eleven hundred persons gathered at the Grossinger Hotel here last Thursday to hear Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt as a representative of the United Nations.

The first Sullivan County casualty of Korea is Pvt. Howard R. Rode of Roscoe, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rode, who was hit by shrapnel on July 27th and is now in a hospital in Japan. He attended Roscoe Central School and enlisted in the fall of 1948. After serving in Germany, and on his return home, he re-enlisted.

60 Years Ago - 1960

Miss Judith Ann Gute, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Gute of Jeffersonville, was married Saturday morning, August 13, at 11 o'clock to Robert Kingsley House, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert House, also of Jeff, at a ceremony performed by Fr. Joel Munzing at St. George's R.C. Church.

Faced by double enrollment and double sessions the Liberty Central School Board of Education and administration went over preliminary plans for a new junior-senior high school. They hope to secure a vote on the proposal at the earliest date.

In the death of Anna Neiger, we have witnessed the passing of a Beechwoods stalwart. The wife of Walter Neiger, she was a daughter of Phillip Metzger and Catherine Lixfield Metzger, early settlers of this area. She was 76.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bury of Jeffersonville have announced the engagement of their daughter Judy L. Kastner, to Elbert M. VanKeuren of Monticello.

50 years ago - 1970

Miss Mary Margaret Tegeler, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edson J. Tegeler of Jeffersonville, was married August 22nd to Richard M. Kasiewicz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kasiewicz of Stamford, Conn., at a Nuptial Mass celebrated by Rev. Joel Munzing, OFM, at St. George's Roman Catholic Church in Jeffersonville.

Linda Carol Keesler and David E. Kresge were united in marriage on August 15 at the Galilee Church.

An open house on Sunday, August 30, will offer the public an opportunity to tour the new 85-bed Roscoe Community Nursing Home.

The Sullivan County Record at Jeffersonville, the second oldest newspaper in Sullivan County, will cease publication this week. The subscription list has been acquired by the Sullivan County Democrat in Callicoon. Also included in the transaction are the rights to print “Down the Decades,” a popular recording of events over the past years. The Record was started in 1868 at Youngsville and was next to the Republican Watchman in Monticello as the county's oldest paper. The Watchman was started at Bloomingburg in 1827.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Sullivan County Community College will be held at a location in the area of LeRoy Road in Loch Sheldrake at 3 p.m. on Thursday, according to Fallsburg Supervisor Mortimer Michaels.

Laura Stephenson of Jeffersonville and Frank Oliveira of White Sulphur Springs were married on August 5 at the Methodist Parsonage in Kenoza Lake by Rev. John Hill.… Miss Kathleen Ried, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ried of Callicoon, and Mr. Donald Meckle of Callicoon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Meckle of Sparrow Bush, were united in marriage at St. James Episcopal Church in Callicoon on August 22.

At the Liberty-Loomis Hospital, a 9 lb. boy for Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Hughson of Jeffersonville on August 9. The baby's name is Wil.

40 Years Ago - 1980

A resolution to start construction on the $3.2 million sewer district for the hamlet of Narrowsburg was unanimously passed by the Tusten Town Board Friday night at a special public hearing to air the public's view on the subject.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church of Wurtsboro will celebrate the 100th year of its founding this year and parishioners turned out August 23 for the third annual gala featuring an entertainment show, a block party and refreshments.

Henry Greenberg, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leon Greenberg of South Fallsburg, is one of 10 students selected to participate this school year in the Oxford Overseas Study Program in England.

Dorothy Shapiro of Liberty has received the Torch of Liberty Award of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in recognition of her years' long work for the group.

Vice President Walter F. Mondale was at the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake where he address­ed 2,000 AFL-CIO delegates from the State of New York. He secured the union endorsement for the Carter-Mondale ticket.

The 37th annual Hortonville Firemen's Field Day is scheduled for Sunday, August 31.

Dennis Greenwald, who is chairman of the Sullivan Board of Supervisors Human Services Committee and supervisor of the Town of Mamakating, said Friday that he will recommend construction of a new infirmary at the site of the old one in Liberty “if the town of Liberty will guarantee an adequate sewage system at this site within four or five years.”

30 Years Ago - 1990

The Monticello Postal Service Annex on Cold Spring Road will be closed as of September 1. All mail from the Sullivan County area will now be transported to the new mail distribution center at Stewart Field in Newburgh.

Area gas prices continue to climb in the wake of the Middle East crisis, rising from the $1.10s and $1.20s to $1.30 and more.

A new six-bay United Parcel Service (UPS) building, just off the Quickway between Ferndale and Harris is under construction, replacing a smaller facility in Parks­ville. Foundation work on the United Beverage Co. building, on the other side of the road in the same area, is expected to start next month.

Richard and Julia Edwards of Bridgeville were guests of honor Sunday to celebrate their 50th wedding annivesary. Family and friends gathered at their River Road home.

The 120th anniversary of the founding of the village of Liberty was recently celebrated with a dinner and dance at the Elks Club in Liberty.

The Monticello High School Class of 1960 held a three-day celebration in honor of their 30th reunion.

Herbert Alvarado took three gold medals, a bronze and a fourth place recently in the New York State Seniors Olympics, making a total of seven medals earned in two summer competitions. He plans to participate as a Sullivan County representative in the February 1991 scuba meet in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, sponsored by the Middletown Scuba Club.

It took nearly seven hours for firemen to contain a fire in a garage and storage building at the Ramsay's Funeral Home in Monticello Saturday night. Included in the loss was a new Cadillac hearse.

The Antrim Lodge in Roscoe, noted for fine food and fisherman hospitality, will celebrate its 100th year on September 1 and 2. Saturday will be proclaimed as “Antrim Lodge Day” by the Town of Rockland Town Board. “Trout Town USA” on Sunday will be celebrated with a variety of exhibits including works by local artist Francis Davis.

20 Years Ago - 2000

County Legislature Chairman Rusty Pomeroy made the an­nouncement everyone has been waiting for yesterday when he named Sullivan County Treasurer Dan Briggs as the new county manager. Briggs will not assume his new role in county government until October 1 at the earliest.

Lou Newman wandered the grounds of the Fosterdale Motor Lodge Saturday, entertaining anyone who would listen with stories of his youth in Brooklyn. A champion of the yo-yo, and now 76, the Liberty resident demonstrated his talent with precision at this past weekend's City Games in Fosterdale. And he watched with pride as 15-year-old Brad Bolte of New Jersey showed off nearly every trick in the book during the City Games' popular annual yo-yo contest. Bolte, a summer resident of North Branch, had learned some of those tricks from Newman two years ago when he first attended City Games, motor lodge owner Joe Tinari's way of bringing cherished street games to the rolling hills of the county. An estimated 400-600 people attended this year's event.

DEATHS - Floyd C. Sheard of Milanville, Pa., 90, a retired postmaster and owner of the former Boyds Mills General Store, died August 22, 2000 in Honesdale, Pa. He was the son of George W. and Blanche Crocker Sheard.… Marie R. Schalck of Narrowsburg, 88, a retired elementary school teacher, died August 23, 2000. She was the daughter of Chester and Mary Powell Robert and the widow of Henry Schalck.

Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Dowe of Ferndale announce the birth of a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, on August 3, 2000. She joins two sisters, Heather and Grace, and a brother, Benjamin, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Earl Myers of Jeffersonville are maternal grandparents. Paternal grandparents are Mr. Luther B. Dowe of Ferndale and the late Mrs. Doris F. Dowe.

10 Years Ago - 2010

Fitness Factory's 2010 softball season was very successful with a 14-1 record in the Sullivan County YMCA Softball League and two first place trophies - winning the New York State Men's Class B Modified Tournament and the Darder Stone Works/R&H Gorr Softball Tournament. The past three years Fitness Factory has won third place in the State Tournament but this year the team was determined to take first.

One of the hottest reality TV shows sent its crew to Hortonville recently to pick through Tom and Debbie Larsens' warehouse full of stuff. “American Pickers,” which is shown on the History Channel, is in its second season and follows hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz as they travel around the country seeking collectors and “hoarders” of all kinds for antiques and collectables.

In tribute to their forebears and those yet to come, the Hortonville Cemetery Association officially recognized its 150th Anniversary by unveiling an inscribed granite marker. Originally part of the Hortonville Dutch Reformed German Church in Hortonville, the Hortonville Cemetery was founded in 1860. According to historian Elaine Emmett, the 2.77 acre cemetery contains 1,200 gravesites and is located 1/4 mile past the Hortonville Presbyterian Church. One of the famous Hortonville residents who is believed to be buried there is famed Arctic explorer Frederick Cook.