Samuel Hadden

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="0a5d05a3.jpg"> <div> Orange County, New York</div> <div> American History and Genealogy Project</div> <div> Samuel Hadden</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="0a6d2123.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/orange/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/or"><U>Orange County AHGP/ALHN</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/state/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/state/"><U>New York AHGP/ALHN</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://ahgp.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://ahgp.org"><U>AHGP</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://alhn.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://alhn.org"><U>ALHN</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="623" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 909 WIDTH="617"><div> <B><IMG SRC="057c2230.jpg" border=0 width="194" height="291" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Old English Text MT" >T</FONT>HE President of the village of Chester is a descendant, on his father's side, of the staunch French Huguenots, and on his mother's side of the persistent, truth-loving, God-fearing Scotch.</div> <div> His parents, Bartholomew and Elizabeth Brown  Hadden, lived at Narrowneck, near Rye, N. Y.  They removed thence to Rockland Co., near Munsey's, where the subject of this sketch was born March 19th, 1828.</div> <div>       In 1846 he went to Vail's Gate to learn the carriage making trade.  He was married March 7th, 1851, to Eliza J. Magill, and settled permanently in Chester in 1854.</div> <div>       He began the carriage-making business here in the same year, and soon won a wide reputation throughout this and other counties for the quality and style of his carriage building.  There was strong competition, and many days during the civil war when people were more interested in cannon than in carriages, so that business was not brisk.  But the skies cleared.  The civil war had two effects upon his business.  It lessened competition and increased the demand for carriages.  As fortune influence and friends increased, he naturally took a greater interest in all that concerned the wellfare of Chester.</div> <div>      His personality has marked nearly every improvement about the Presbyterian Church of Chester.  The present building was dedicated the same year in which he settled in Chester.  This may account for his desire to see things about it to his liking.  He wanted good sheds, and in a proper place.  It was the same way in regard to securing the lecture room and the organ.</div> <div>      He has spared no pains in securing for the Church beautiful opalescent windows.  The individuals and societies who paid for them as memorial tributes are more than gratified with the improvement they have made in the Church.  About 1865 he was elected to the office of Trustee and served eleven years, or until he was made an Elder in 1876.  He attended the General Assembly in 1882, and has been a delegate to Synod and Presbytery several times.</div> <div>      Mr. Hadden has served as the Supervisor of the town five terms, and also as Collector and Inspector.</div> <div>      Not averse to politics, yet fully persuaded that he seeks no office, he has had thrust upon him many honors.  The last honor, which came to him unexpectedly, was his election to the Presidency of the village of Chester, in March, 1898.  He is recognized as a successful, progressive citizen, advocating the introduction of our water system, good roads, trolley system, and whatever else will make for the material welfare of the village.</div> <div>      He is not lacking, either, in his interest in the spiritual welfare of the people.  He constantly urges young and old to accept the Christ whose salvation is life eternal.</div> <div>      As to his home life, his companion still continues with him.  None of the three children born in their home are with them.  The eldest, Alice, married to Charles S. Wells, lives near Goshen.  The next, Clara, married to E. D. Green, died in 1888; and the youngest, Ellen Eugenia, married to John B. Otis, lives between Chester and Florida, on her father's farm, known as the Seward farm.  To these children who have gone out from his own home his love is ever increasing, as we would expect.  He is in the fullest sense a loving man.  Large, portly, politic, suave and genteel in address, he loves his home and all within.  He loves his neighbors: he loves the town of Chester; he loves the Presbyterian Church; he loves pure and undefiled religion; he loves the poor and the prosperous; he loves money, and loves to do good with it; he loves music and ministers and manliness.</div> <div>      While he has been somewhat in politics-and always a Republican-he has kept a clean record, because he loved honesty and truthfulness and integrity.</div> <div>      Standing, as he does to-day, the chosen head of the community in which he lives, he represents the best element of municipal life in one of the staid villages of our American commonwealth.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="pg28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Joseph Durland"><U>Next Page</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="pg1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Table of Contents"><U>Table of Contents</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>