|
(VI) James
Henry, son of James and Ann Matilda
(Carpenter) Van Nostrand, was born about
1830. He married Jane C. MacManus, daughter
of Captain John and Sarah (Weeks) MacManus,
who were married in Brooklyn, January 17,
1824. Children: 1. Nellie. 2. Charles
B., mentioned below.
(VII)
Charles B., son of James Henry and Jane C (MacManus)
Van Nostrand, was born in New York County,
New York, March, 1863. He was educated at
the Polytechnic Institute. He married, at
Bangor, Maine, 1892, Robina Howell. He is
president and director of the Van Nostrand
Company and vie-president of the United
Mines Company; treasurer of the New York &
Richmond Gas Company and treasurer and
director of the Journal of Commerce.
He is a member of the St. Nicholas Society,
Holland Society and
Page 272
the Racquet and Tennis,
Riding, City, Midday, Downtown, Tuxedo, and
Hamilton clubs.
BARNES.
(VI) Matthew Barnes, son of Isaac (3)
Barnes (q.v.), was born in Cooperstown, New
York, in 1800, died in Cornwall, New York,
in May 1860. He received his early
education in the public schools of his
native town, and at the age of eighteen
years engaged with an elder brother inroad
building, continuing until his marriage,
when he settled on a farm in Cornwall
township, which he cultivated until his
death. He married, in 1822, Mary, daughter
of Benjamin Van Duser, of Cornwall, born in
1800, died in 1886. Children: 1. Mary E.,
married Joel Pinckney. 2. Isaac, married
Sarah J. Rumsey. 3. Van Duser, married
Ruth Martin. 4. William, married Hannah
Belcher. 5. Sarah, married Joshua Fritts.
6. Hiram, died in 1875, married Mary A.
Fowler. 7. Samuel, died young. 8.
Nathaniel, married Anna Wright. 9. Phoebe,
married Andrew J. Thorn. 10. Ann, married
Samuel Quackenbush. 11. James H., married
Anna Taylor. 12. J. Milton, referred to
below.
(VII) J.
Milton, son of Matthew and Mary (Van Duser)
Barnes, was born on the old family homestead
in Cornwall township, Orange County, New
York, October 9, 1844, and is now living in
Central Valley, New York. He received his
early education in the public school at
Mountainville, New York, and then learned
the trade of a carpenter, in which he
engaged until 1876, when he settled in
Central Valley, and formed a partnership
with A, H. Cooper in the general merchandise
business, which continued until 1884, when
Mr. cooper disposed of his interest to Henry
C. Thorn, and the firm continued until
1886. In that year Mr. Thorn sold out to
Ambrose Dorn and the firm continued for
three years until 1889, when Mr. Barnes
purchased the interest of his partner and
became sole proprietor of the business,
which he conducted until 1897, when he
disposed of it and established a feed, coal
and agricultural implement business, which
he conducted until October 1, 1911, when he
admitted to partnership his nephew, Morgan
S. Elmer, and the firm became J. M. Barnes &
Company, which it still continues. He was
appointed postmaster of Central Valley in
1885 and again in 1892, and was the
commissioner of highways in 1893-94-95. He
is now one of the trustees of the Central
Valley Methodist Episcopal Church. He is
treasurer of the Central Valley Land and
Improvement Company, and has been for
fifteen years treasurer of the Union
building and Loan Association of the town of
Woodbury, New York. He is vice-president of
the Central Valley National Bank. He is a
Democrat in politics. He married, November
6, 1884, Hannah M., daughter of Hon. Morgan
Shuit, of Central Valley, New York. Her
father was for over thirty years supervisor
of Monroe Township, and he also served one
term as member of assembly. Mr. Barnes has
no children.
GRIGGS.
This surname is usually given as Scotch in
origin, but the bearers of the name in
Washingtonville, Orange County, New York,
are stated to have come from Germany or
Holland. Concerning the name, August
Frederick Pott has this to say: "Familiennamen
Greger, Graeger, Kragermann, vielleicht aus
Gregoriius, woraus auch Engl. Gregorson,
Gregson, Grigg, Griggs, und Grocock," which
being interpreted is to the effect that the
German family names Gregor, Graeger and
Kragermann, as well as the English names
Gregerson, Gregson, Grigg, Griggs, and
Grocock, are derived from the Latin personal
name Gregorius, which was in its turn
derived from the Gregg Gregorios. Pott, who
is the great German authority on surnames,
is mistaken in so far as he believes that
Griggs and its allied names in the United
Kingdom are English in origin. They are
really an English rendering of ancient
Scotch or Gaelic names. The well-known
personal name of Gregorius has not only
become itself a surname, but has given rise
to various others, especially Gregorson,
Gregg, Gregson Griggs, Grigson, Greig, Grix
and possibly Grier and Grierson, not to
mention Mac Gregor, are entirely so. The
family of Gregory of Warwickshire, England,
is traced to John Gregory, lord of the manor
of Freneley and Asfordby, county Leicester,
England, in the thirteenth century. Gregg
of Northcliffe Hall, county Chester,
England, is regarded as being descended from
the Clan Mac Gregor of Scotland. King James
VI, and Charles I, issued edicts against the
Clan Gregor, denouncing the whole clan or
sept, and forbidding the use of
Page 273
the name. In
consequence many of the race became
Campbells, Gregs, Greigs and Griggs, the
termination "son: or "s" standing for the
Gaelic prefix "Mac" (son). It may therefore
be presumed that the first ancestor of the
German or Dutch Griggs inthis country bore
some name like Gregers, Grasegers, and that
this name became gradually transformed to
the more familiar Griggs. Colonial settlers
of the name of Griggs came to New England to
the number of abut ten before the year 1700,
and some of them have been traced back to
Scotland, and some as of record in England
at Lavenham and Ipswich, and others of them
in Ireland. One branch of the family bore
the arms thus heraldically described: Gules
three ostrich feathers argent. Crest: A
sword in pale enfiled with a leopard's face
proper.
The Griggs
family of Massachusetts was established by
Thomas Griggs, of Roxbury (now Boston), who
came with his wife Mary and sons Joseph and
John and daughter Mary, and was of record a
land owner as early as 1639 in the town of
Roxbury, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Most of the persons bearing the name of
Griggs in America trace their descent to
this Thomas Griggs, of Roxbury. The
colonial records of New Jersey mentioned
among the first settlers of the name
Benjamin, Daniel Samuel and Thomas Griggs.
The present Griggstown was founded by
Benjamin Griggs and his brothers on the
banks of the Millstone River, where he
settled and built a grist mill as early as
1733. These four brothers established the
Griggs family in New Jersey, and their
descendants are numerous and widely
scattered through the west.
(I)
Alexander Griggs, the immigrant ancestor of
the Griggs family of Washingtonville, Orange
county, New York, was born in Baden-Baden,
Germany died in the village of Marlboro,
Ulster county, New York. Soon after his
arrival here he took up patents in Ulster
County, where the village of Marlboro now
stands. He was one of the first to do so,
and soon stood high among the pioneer
settles of that region. He had several
children. There is some doubt as to his
baptismal name, but it is presumed to be
Alexander. Little is known as to the
details of his life, but he seems to have
been a well-informed man of worthy
character, and to have been a capable
agriculturist and business man. He came to
America probably in the year 1712, and the
fate of the patent granted to him at
Marlboro is February 14, 1714.
(II)
Alexander (2), son of Alexander (1) Griggs,
was probably born in Marlboro, Ulster
County, New York, and died there, having
lived in the same neighborhood nearly all
his life. Even less is known regarding the
events of his career than regarding those of
his father, and there is doubt also as to
his baptismal name. He was a farmer,
engaging also to some extent in commercial
pursuits. He married and brought up a
family of children.
(III)
Ferdinand, son of Alexander (2), Griggs, was
born about the year 1771 on the paternal
farm at Marlboro, Ulster county, New York,
and died at Milton, Ulster County, New
York. His boyhood was spent in his native
place, and afterwards he took up his
residence at Milton, where he followed
blacksmithing and farming, owning at Milton
a tract of land comprising about
seventy-five acres. He was a man of much
ability, and was greatly respected at
Milton, where the greater part of his life
was passed. He proved to a successful
agriculturist, working as far as he could
in a scientific and business-like way, and in
course of time built up a valuable
property. In politics he was an old-line
Whig, and in religious belief he was a
Presbyterian. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of a Mr. Fowler, who lived about
six miles from Milton, and who was probably
descended from Pennsylvania Quaker
ancestry. Children: 1. Fowler G., who
followed farming in Cornwall, Orange County,
New York. 2. Martha, married James Hait,
who operated the old family homestead. 3.
Daniel, who died when he attained his
thirtieth year. 4. Harvey H., mentioned
below. 5. Henry Crawford, mentioned
below. 6. Lewis,. 7. Thomas. 8. Katura
Maria, married Samuel Halsey.
(IV) Harvey
H., third son of Ferdinand and Elizabeth
(Fowler) Griggs, was born February 13, 1806,
on the old homestead at Milton, New York.
He became a well-known farmer and business
man of the county. he showed a great
eagerness for study of a practical kind, and
he made farming his life work; he prospered
as an agriculturist, accumulating a
considerable property, owning eighty-five
acres in Plattekill township and eighty
acres in Marlboro township. His political
support was give to the Whig Party in early
life, and he
Page 274
voted for William Henry
Harrison, but on the organization of the
Republican party he joined its rank and was
ever afterwards one of its stalwart
supporters. In the year 1885 he sold his
farm and removed to Poughkeepsie, where he
spent his remaining days. In religion he
was a Methodist, and regularly attended the
services of that church. He married, in
1830, Susan Smith, who was of Holland-Dutch
descent, tracing her ancestry to Peter
Stuyvesant. Her parents were Eben and
Susanna (Delamater) smith, residing at
Milton, Ulster County, New York, where the
father owned an extensive farm. There were
several members of the Smith family who
became prominent, including Friend W., a
Methodist minister, who twice served as
pastor of St. James church, Kingston; James
M., who was a well-known physician; Jane L.,
who married Peter De Bois, a carpenter of
New York. To Harvey H. Griggs, and his wife
were born eight children, most of whom grew
to manhood and womanhood and had families.
(IV) Henry
Crawford, fourth son of Ferdinand and
Elizabeth (Fowler) Griggs, was born at
Milton, Ulster County, New York, died March
19, 1902, at Washingtonville, Orange County,
New York.. he was educated in the district
schools of Milton and learned the tanner's
trade at Cornwall, Orange County, New York,
where he resided for a period of about
sixteen years. About the year 1841 he
purchased the old Moffatt farm of one
hundred twelve acres, which he built up into
a valuable property, holding it for a period
of twenty-five years. In 1869 he went to
Washingtonville, Orange County, New York,
and purchased a home in the neighborhood,
where he lived a retired life until his
death. Mr. Griggs came of good stock, and
showed the traits that had distinguished the
family from its first settlement in this
country during the long life, which lasted
upwards of ninety years. He was a man of
great ability and decisive character, but he
was content to turn that ability and the
force of his character into the laborious
work connected with an agricultural life.
He was successful in that work, as he would
have made a success of almost any work to
which he might have laid his land. Amid the
circle of is friends and acquaintances he
was respected for his manly qualities of
head and heart, for his upright life, and
for the sterling honesty of his character.
He took considerable interest in public
affairs even to the day of his death, and as
he had in early life been a Whig, he joined
the Republican Party on its organization,
believing firmly in the principles on which
it was formed. He was a Quaker in religion,
and as long as he was able was a fairly
regular attendant at the Quaker meeting
place. He married (first), in 1841,
Catherine Sayer. She died in 1853. He
married (second), in 1854, Eliza Harcourt.
Children by first marriage: 1. Mary
Elizabeth. 2. Martha Hait, married Charles
Cooper. 3. Louis, married Mary Bodle.
Child by second marriage: 4. Henrietta,
married Bradner Cameron. All the children
are now living in Washingtonville, New York.
SCHOONMAKER.
Like many of the Dutch names, this was
not adopted as a surname until after its
arrival in America. Its descendants have
been conspicuously identified with the
history of New York from a very early
period, and are sill found in the leading
occupations and social positions of the
state. It was first founded at Albany and
thence spread throughout this and other
states.
(I) The
first now known was Kendrick Jochemsen (Schoonmaker),
who came to America from Holland in 1654 in
the military service, Dutch East India
Company, as lieutenant and sent to Fort
Orange with his company. He first appears
on the records at Albany, where he was
residing as early as 1654. On April 10,
1655, the authorities at Albany wrote to
Governor Stuyvesant that Hendrick Jochemsen,
with others, had advanced money to the
governor in time of need in the previous
year, and requested him to make restitution,
or forward a duly executed obligation, as he
had promised to do. Hendrick Jochemsen
owned a lot on the east course of State
street and Broadway, in Albany which he sold
to Abraham Staats. In April, 1655, he
bought for three florins the sign of Stephen
Janse Conick, an innkeeper, thereupon he
engaged in the business of keeping an inn,
and during the same year was lieutenant of
the Burgher Company. In April of the same
year the farming out of the wine and strong
beer excise was sold at public sale at the
house of Hendrick Jochemsen Schoonmaker. On
June 18, 1659, he bought a gar-
page 275
den in Beaverwyck,
behind Fort Orange, which had been patented
to Jan Roeloffse in 1654. July 16, 1659,
Hendrick Jochemsen bought at public sale a
blue coat for forty-two florins. July 20,
1661, he sold his house and lot outside of
Fort Orange, and on June 19, 1666, he sold
his garden to Philip peter Schuyler, and
July 12, 1669, he sold his house in Albany
to Abraham Staats. He enlisted when
Governor Stuyvesant called for recruits to
subdue the Indians at Esopus, and proceeded
to that place in 1659. He appears in the
records, March 28, 1660, as a soldier in the
"Netherlandish service in the company of his
Noble Honor, the Director General," then
stationed at Esopus (Kingston). Soon after
this the governor curtailed the military
establishment and induced several of the
soldiers to settle at Esopus by giving them
grants of land. Among these were Hendrick
Jochemsen Schoonmaker. He appears as a
resident of Wiltwyck (Kingston), October 24,
1661, paying an excise tax of seventy-five
florins, and in the following year, No. 1 of
the "new lots" was assigned to him. May 30,
1662, the militia was organized with
Hendrick Jochemsen as lieutenant. At the
massacre and burning of Kingston, June 7,
1663, he took an active part in the defence
against the savages; was twice wounded while
defending his house at he first onset. He
fought bravely until the arrival of Captain
Chambers, and the Indians were put to rout
and the gates closed. At t his time his
eldest son, Jochem Hendrick, was captured by
the Indians. When the English gained
possession of the Dutch colony in New York,
and stationed soldiers at Kingston, a very
natural friction arose between the residents
and the garrison, and Lieutenant Hendrick
Jochemsen was a leader in the demonstration
known as the "Esopus Meeting of 1667." With
him were all the Burgher guard arrayed in
arms. Captain Chambers of the guard being
an Englishman naturally refused to take side
with the Burghers, and ordered them to
disarm and return to their homes. This
demonstration had been precipitated by the
arrest and imprisonment of Cornelis
Barentsen Sleight, who afterwards married
the widow of Hendrick Jochemsen. At the
time of the latter's marriage to her she was
Elsie Janse Brustede, widow of Adrian
Pietersen Van Alemer, and the marriage
probably took place a few years before his
removal to Kingston. He is said to have
died in 1681. She was the daughter of Jan
Jansen Breestede and Engeltje Janse Van
Breestede. Children of Hendrick Jochemsen
Schoonmaker: 1. Jochem Hendrick. 2. Egbert.
3. Engeltje (Angelina). 4. Hillitje. 5.
Volkeet.
(II) Jochem
Hendrick Schoonmaker, eldest son of Hendrick
Jochemsen and his wife Elsie, was born in
1658 at Fort orange, and became one of the
pioneer settlers of what is not the town of
Rochester, Ulster County, New York. In
1703 he was one of the three trustees of the
patent on which the settlement was made and
remained in that connection until his death
in 1713. From 1709 to 1712 he was
supervisor of the town of Rochester, and was
captain of a volunteer military company
raised for defence against the Indians. He
married (first), August 1, 1679, Petronella
Sleight, daughter of Barentsen Sleight and
his wife, Tryntje Tysee Boz. She died
before 1689. He married (second), April 26,
1689, Ann, daughter of Frederick and
Margaret (Box) Hussey. There were two
children of first wife: 1. Cornelius
Barentsen and 2. Hendrick. Children of the
second wife: 3. Rebecca. 4. Frederick.
5. Jan. 6. Margaret. 7. Jacob. 8.
Jochem. 9. Benjamin. 10. Antje. 11.
Sarah. 12. Daniel.
(III)
Cornelius Barentsen, eldest child of Jochem
Hendrick and Petronella (Sleight)
Schoonmaker, was born January 15, 1682, in
Rochester, where he passed his life, and
died October 14, 1757. He married, December
19, 1711, Engeltje Roosa, of Hurley,
baptized September 3, 1685, in Kingston,
granddaughter of Albert Heyman Roose (see
Roosa) Arie, eldest son of Albert H. Roosa,
was born in Holland before 1650, probably as
early as 1645, and came with his father to
America. His name appears on the list of
those who took the oath of allegiance in
Ulster County, September 1, 1680, and he was
captain of a foot company in that place. In
1686, with five others, he received a grant
of land along the east side of the Hudson
River opposite the mouth of Rondout Creek,
and there he subsequently made his home.
This was first called the Arie Roosa Patent
and is now Rhinebeck. He married Maria Pels,
daughter of Magistrate Evert Pels, and his
wife, Jannetje Symens. Children: 1.
Jannetje, born about 1670. 2. Evert,
baptized October 26, 1679. 3. Weyntie,
June 4, 1682. 4. Engeltje, above
mentioned. 5. Annetje, December 22, 1867.
6. Arrien, June 3.
Page 276
1694. 7. Mary, August
28, 1698. Children of Cornelius B.
Schoonmaker: 1. Catryntjen, baptized
October 12, 1712. 2. Petronella, June 3,
1716. 3. Cornelius, June 25, 1721. 4.
Elizabeth, May 7, 1727.
(IV)
Cornelius, only son of Cornelius Barentsen
and Engeltje (Roosa) Schoonmaker, settled on
a large tract of land on the north line of
the town of Shawangunk, which he purchased
from the James Henderson Patent, and which
lay south of and adjoining the Zachariah
Hoffman Patent. He died there January 21,
1778, leaving three sons and a daughter. As
he died intestate the law at that time
provided that his eldest son receive the
estate. Deeds on record show that the
latter was magnanimous with his brothers and
made a division of the real estate with
them, in consideration that they maintain
their mother during her life and pay a
certain sum to their sister Maria. This
division of the real estate was made by a
commission consisting of Johannes Bruyn and
James Kain. He married, May 22, 1746,
Arriantie Hornbeck, a native of Rochester
township. Children: 1. Cornelius C.,
mentioned below. 2. Abraham, mentioned
below, with descendants. 3. & 4. Isaac
and Maria, baptized December 31, 1749, at
Kingston.
(V)
Cornelius C., eldest son of Cornelius and
Arriantie (Hornbeck) Schoonmaker, was born
in Shawangunk, and received the estate of
his father as above noted. He was an
intelligent and prosperous farmer and was
also a surveyor. He was a member of the
first assembly gathered under the state
constitution, which met at Kingston in 1777
and continued in that service eleven
sessions, including the year 1790. He was a
member of the committee of safety during the
Revolution. In the latter year he was
elected a member of the second United States
congress, and in 1775 was again a member of
the state legislature. The convention of
1778, which adopted the constitution for the
state, counted him among its members. He
married (first) Sarah Hoffman, probably a
daughter of Zachariah Hoffman, proprietor of
the Hoffman Patent. He married (second) at
Kingston, July 4, 1759, Arriantje
Terwilliger. They had a son, Jacob,
baptized July 12, 1761, at Kingston.
(VI)
Zachariah, youngest child of Cornelius C.
and Arriantje (Terwilliger) Schoonmaker, was
born about 1782, in Shawangunk. He became a
prominent citizen of Kingston, New York. he
graduated from Union college, read law, was
admitted to the bar, and practiced his
profession in Kingston, New York, until his
death, in 1818. He married, November 29,
1808, at Kingston, Cornelia Marius, daughter
of Peter Marius Groen, who was a
great-grandson of Jacob Marius Groen, who
went from Holland to England in 1670 and
there married Letitia, daughter of Admiral,
the Earl of Salisbury. He returned to
Holland and between 1725 and 1735 came to
America. Peter M. Groen married Catharina
Louw, and their daughter, Cornelia Marius
was baptized at Kingston, April 20, 1783.
No record of her children appears at
Kingston Dutch church.
(VII)
Marius, son of Zachariah and Cornelia Marius
(Groen) Schoonmaker, was born April 24,
1811, in Kingston, where he died January 5,
1894. He prepared for college at Kingston
Academy and graduated at Yale in 1830.
After pursuing a course of law studies with
Ruggles & Hasbrouck in Kingston, he was
admitted to the bar in 1833. About this
time Mr. Ruggles was elected a judge, and
Mr. Schoonmaker became a partner of
Hasbrouck in the law practice and this
arrangement continued until 1840, when Mr.
Hasbrouck became president of Rutgers
College. Following this Mr. Schoonmaker
continued the practice of law independently
until his death. He was elected a member of
the state senate in 1840, and in 1850 was
chosen to represent the then tenth
congressional district serving in the
thirty-second congress. He was one of the
seventeen Whigs in the state senate who
barely controlled that body, and did not
resign his seat to go to congress until the
election of a Untied States senator had been
settled. Although his district was strongly
Democratic, his personal popularity secured
his election to congress. He declined a
reelection and continued in the practice of
his profession until he was appointed in
January, 1850, auditor of the canal
department of the State. After one year in
this position he was transferred to the
banking department, of which he was made
superintendent, from which he resigned to
again resume the practice of law. He was a
member of the convention of 1867 to revise
the state constitution, was active in the
public interest and especially in securing
the system of free and graded
Page 277
schools which is still
in use. For nine years he served as
president of the Kingston Board of
Education, beginning with its organization.
In 1866-69-70, he was president of the
village of Kingston. Everywhere he was
known as a safe counsellor, an honest
attorney and upright and valuable citizen.
He married, December 13, 1837, Elizabeth Van
Wyck, daughter of Rev. Cornelius Depew
Westbrook, D.D., and his wife, Hannah (Van
Wyck) Westbrook, of Kingston. Children:
1. Cornelius Marius, who graduated from the
U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, June,
1859, and received a commission in the
United States navy during the Civil War. He
was drowned in the great tidal wave disaster
at Apia, Samoa, March 16, 1889, while in
command of the U. S. S. "Vandalia." 2.
Henry Barnard, who studied law with his
father, and died in 1867, aged twenty-three
years, at the opening of what promised to be
a brilliant legal career. 3. Julius,
mentioned below. 4. Ella, wife of Henry D.
Darrow, deceased, of Kingston.
(VIII)
Julius, third son of Marius and Elizabeth V.
W. (Westbrook) Schoonmaker, was born January
6, 1847, in Kingston. He as associated with
his father until he was appointed to succeed
his father as custodian of the senate house
at Kingston, a position he still retains.
(V) Abraham,
second son of Cornelius and Arrianthe
(Hornbeck) Schoonmaker, was born April 26,
1752, in Shawangunk, where he resided, and
died January 10, 1814. He was adjutant on
Colonel Hasbrouck's staff during the
Revolutionary War. He married Sarah
Adriance, born in 1755, died in 1837,
supposed to have been a native of Long
Island. Children: 1. John, died in
infancy. 2. Cornelius. 3. David. 4.
John A. 5. George. 6. Dr. Albert. 7.
Abraham. 8. Moses. 9. Selah.
(VI) John A.,
fourth son of Abraham and Sarah ((Adriance)
Schoonmaker, was born May 21, 1786, in
Shawangunk, died in that town, July 26,
1863. He married Rachel Sammons, born
January 26, 1788, who survived him nearly
fifteen years, dying March 19, 1878.
Children: 1. Abraham, born November 10,
1808, died at Moore Park, Michigan, February
4, 1882. 2. Hiram, July 16, 1811, resided
in Moore Park, Michigan. 3. Rachel, May
28, 1813, married Johannes LeFever, and died
at Climax, Michigan, in 1873. 4. Sarah,
twin of Rachel, died young. 5. Maria
Katharine, married Selah Tuthill Jordan, and
died in Newburg, 1892. 6. Eliza, October
15, 1817, married James Schoonmaker, and
resided in Shawangunk, afterward in Newburg,
died October 15, 1904. 7. Isaac, March 10,
1820, resided in Gardiner, New York,
afterward Paducah, Kentucky, and later at
Wallkill, Ulster County, where he died in
1904. 8. Margaret, November 6, 1822,
married DuBois LeFever, and lived in
Shawangunk. 9. Jacob, August 9, 1825,
resided in Gardiner, drowned on the "Henry
Clay", July 26, 1852. 10. John, mentioned
below.
(VII) John,
youngest child of John A. and Rachel
(Sammons) Schoonmaker, was born January 25,
1830, in what is now Gardiner, Ulster
County, New York, died January 1, 1904, in
Newburg, New York. He was educated in the
district schools of Shawangunk, and in the
Seminary at Armenia, Dutchess County, New
York. In 1852 he opened a general store at
Tuthilltown in partnership with his brother,
Jacob. The business was but fairly
established when the elder brother was
drowned at the destruction of the ill-fated
steamer "Henry Clay" on the Hudson, during a
trip to New York. John Schoonmaker then
sold out the business and removed to
Newburg, where he became a clerk in the
general store of Isaac Wood. In January,
1863, he formed a partnership with Samuel C.
Mills and A. Y. Weller, and they conducted
a dry goods business at No. 80 Water Street,
Newburg, which is now the largest dry goods
establishment in Newburg, Mr. Mills retired
July 1, 1885, and the firm became
Schoonmaker & Weller, continuing thus until
June 1, 1898, when Mr. Weller retired.
Following this Mr. Schoonmaker's son, Samuel
V., was associated with him in the business
and this arrangement continued until the
death of the father. The latter was a
trustee of the Newburg Savings Bank.
Politically he was a Democrat and joined the
Republican party upon its formation. His
first presidential vote was cast for
Franklin Pierce,. He was long an elder of
the First Presbyterian Church and was
superintendent of Bethel Mission until
failing health compelled him to abandon this
position. He married Mary A. Vail, born
April, 1831, daughter of Simon Raymond
Vail. Children: 1. Anna. 2. Elizabeth
M. 3. Samuel V. 4. Margaret LeFever,
wife of William Clement Scott.
Page 278
(VIII)
Samuel V., only son of John and Mary A.
(Vail) Schoonmaker, was born March 13, 1867,
in Newburg. He attended the public schools
of his native town and graduated from
Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New
Hampshire, with the class of 1885. On
leaving school he became associated with his
father in business, and in 1888 opened a
branch store on Broadway, Newburg, in
association with Frank S. Weller. This
business was closed in 1891 and Mr.
Schoonmaker formed a partnership with A. B.
D. Remillard and Frank S. Weller, conducting
a dry goods store until 1895, when he
disposed of his interest and entered the
employ of the firm of Schoonmaker and
Weller. In 1898 Mr. Weller retired and S.
V. Schoonmaker acquired his interest and the
firm became John Schoonmaker & Son. After
the death of John in 1904 the daughters,
Elizabeth M. and Mrs. W. C. Scott, became
interest in the business, Samuel V., being
the only active member. He married,
February 1, 1899, Lillian West Wardell,
daughter of Robert L. and Elizabeth
(Henderson) Wardell, and they have two sons,
John, born June 10, 1900, and Samuel CV.,
Jr., born May 23. 1902.
|
