Delaware County, NY Genealogy and History Site

These Hills Are Not Barren by George D. Taylor
More CMNews OnlineMay 1
NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES - will be open on Saturdays starting Oct 16 2010
New Book - The Way It Was Grand Gorge, New York
Bennett Family Reunion held Sept 27, 2008
Archival Photographer needed
New Book Traces History of Delaware County
Flood Damaged Library
Missing Minutes of the Board of Supervisors Annual Meetings 1798-1812

More CMNEWS ONLINE

April 29, 2012
Contact: Diane Galusha, 845-586-4973

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) is happy to announce that five more years of vintage Catskill Mountain News have been posted online. Web users can now search and browse the Margaretville-based newspaper from July 13, 1902 to April 28, 1961. Visit http://history.catskill.net to find this treasure trove of history, made possible by several individual donors and the O'Connor Foundation. HSM is steadily working to have the News digitized through 1973. A sample newly posted front page, February 1, 1957, offers the following tidbits: Lawrence Gilmour, English teacher at Margaretville Central School, was named principal of Fleischmanns High School; Mrs. Sydney Silberstein was elected President of Congregation Bnai Israel's Auxiliary; polio shots were being given at Grand Gorge and Roxbury schools by Health Officer Dr. Julian Gaul; the US Air Force was planning to erect a radar tower on Craig Hill on the Gerry Estate in Andes; store owners in the Margaretville Chamber of Commerce decided against opening late Friday nights, but would keep the doors open on Saturday nights; a new architectural ornament - interlocking rings hung above the altar -- was a gift of Armand Erpf to Sacred Heart Church of Margaretville. There was also a story about George Graham, printer for the News, who suffered a bout of amnesia after hitting his head in a fall on Main Street, Margareville. He woke up two days later in a South Carolina hotel, with no idea how he'd gotten there. For details on upcoming programs, and more information on the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, visit http://www.mtownhistory.org.

THESE HILLS ARE NOT BARREN The Story of a Century Farm by George D. Taylor
In my further attempts to publicize that our Geo. D Taylor book is now accessible to them free-of-charge through this website, I have posted the following announcement on the STAMFORD Flickr Site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/stamfordny/discuss/72157625735549455/
--Donald A Danald 43783 Park Grove Court Northville MI 48167 - 9 March 2011

Book is on this website at: http://www.dcnyhistory.org/taylor_george_d-book.html

THE WAY IT WAS Grand Gorge, New York Mid 1940s-Mid 1970s

My name is Helen TEPFER Eckman. I was born and grew up in Grand Gorge. My dad was Dr. G.A. Tepfer and my mom Evelyn Burns Tepfer. They lived in Grand Gorge for more than thirty years. Recently I completed a book on Grand Gorge writing about the years mid 1940s to mid 1970s. I didn't have it officially published as that would have been very expensive and I knew there was a limited market for it. However I did attend the Grand Gorge Central School alumni banquet on 16 Aug 08 and took a limited number of books which sold out very quickly and since then have received and sent out about another 50 copies. The book was printed out by Kinkos with a nice cover with a picture of GG on it and is spiral bound and 8" X 11." The 44 pages with many photos recontructs the town as it was with pictures and includes a lot of memories about the special town that GG was: the school and its activities, the homes, the traditions, the businesses, etc etc etc. There are lots of pictures thoughout. I thought GG was such a special place as I look back now and wanted to record for history what was so unique about this small village. I have received a lot of notes from people who have purchased the book about the memories it has brought back and they were glad that I wrote it.

The name of the book is: THE WAY IT WAS Grand Gorge, New York Mid 1940s-Mid 1970s The cost is $15 and $4 for shipping. My contact information is: Helen Tepfer Eckman, 107 Magothy Lane, Chocowinity, NC 27817, 252-946-3044, eckmanh1@suddenlink.net

BENNETT FAMILY REUNION

On September 27, 2008 descendants of Tim and Lill Bennett, their daughter Nancy and sons William Ward, Almon and Amos and Ire (born in Connecticut), returned to their ancestral roots in Delaware County, NY, specifically in Delhi, NY.

Tim and Lill were freed from slavery by their master, Captain Joseph Bennett of Westport, Fairfield County, Connecticut. With the exception of Nancy (about whom there is no information), the family migrated to Delhi, where Tim leased land in the Hardenburgh Patent – Great Lot 40, Lot 13. Three additional children were born there – Abner, Alfred and Patience.

The Bennett descendants met at the Delaware County Historical Association at 10:00am, then moved to Maple Shade Farm and finally to the Bennett Family Cemetery on its lands before returning to the Historical Association. Call Shirley Houck at (607) 746-2857 for more information

ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHER NEEDED

The County Historian for Delaware County, Patrick Grimes, is looking for some help in a Photo Project that will cover all the towns of Delaware County.

The background needed is a knowledge of Digitizing, Scanning and captioning . Possibly someone who is attending such College courses might like to assist as an intern.

Pat can be reached at his e-mail trout7431@catskill.net
or his home phone 845-676-3790.

NEW BOOK TRACES HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

A new book written by Delaware County Historical Association Director Tim Duerden, is set to appear on store shelves this holiday season. The book, entitled: A History of Delaware County, New York, 1797 – 2007, is the first general history of the county since 1949.

Published by Purple Mountain Press, A History of Delaware County attempts to unravel the numerous strands of the region's past over the last 200 and more years and in so doing creates a general synopsis of those characters, issues and events that so affect our present. The land, and how it has been used, is at the fore of this tale of remote, upland Delaware County. Once the haunt of Native Americans, the county became home to hardy pioneer families, farmers and trades people - each group with its own particular needs to be derived from the land. Eventually, as Duerden shows, land-use issues come to dominate the local scene, as documented by the stories of the Anti-Rent War, the construction of railroads and highways and eventually the creation of the protected watershed for New York City's thirsty millions.

Exactly how our land is to be best utilized is still, of course, very much a part of our present and our future. As Duerden states, "It is my hope that a more thorough understanding of our county and our region's past will enable current generations to more completely understand some of those issues that affect us all today, such as water resources and the need to generate ever-more power for the urban northeast." Duerden also said, " Aside from this important aspect of needing to know about the past, I hope my book is just a plain good read. I do hope readers will enjoy our fascinating past as a story, too!"

In addition, the book also includes over 100 photographs, maps and other images, most from the archives of the Delaware County Historical Association. The retail price of A History of Delaware County is $20.00. For more information, contact the publisher at 1-800-325-2665.

Tim Duerden will be available to sign copies of his new book on Saturday, December 15, 2007 from 2pm to 4pm at the Delaware County Historical Association in Delhi.

FLOOD DAMAGED LIBRARY

Friends,

The library in Walton suffered extensive damage during the flood this summer, to the tune of about $380,000. Much of the damage was to the basement area, where the genealogy collection, microfilm collection, and microfilm readers were located. There is no FEMA assistance, and only a $5000 grant from NYS and another $1000 grant from the NY Library Association. I recently contacted the staff there to see if I could donate something. Below is their reply. I understand that they are relocating the genealogy collection to the attic area of the building, and that some of the collecton was saved by the staff before the flood waters reached the building. --Best wishes, Carolee Inskeep, October 2006

Sally Cranston, Director of the Ogden Library writes, "We had the most complete collection of Walton Reporters, Blade and Chronicle going back to the 1800s. The company we worked with, Proquest, has copies of what we lost. The cost of replacing these would be $26,235. What we really need is money ... If you find out any information about putting old copies of the Reporter etc. on CDs (as oppposed to microfilm) that would be useful ... Annie Sulger, who works in the Historical Room is going to e-mail you with more info. about specific books etc. that were lost."

Annie Sulger wrote, "At the present time I'm not sure what all we have and what we need to replace ... Any family genealogies are welcome ... For the last three months I've been working on drying books, copying what we had saved and now we are collecting as much as possible .... We can get dates of deaths and some of the stats up to 1996 from our indexes that some of us have compiled but not many obits ... We had a card file, but that was in the basement too and is gone."

If you would like to make a cash or genealogical donation, you can send it to:

William B. Ogden Free Library
42 Gardiner Place
Walton, New York 13856-1399
t: 607.865.5929

DELAWARE COUNTY, BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, MINUTES
OF THE ANNUAL MEETINGS FROM 1798 THRU 1812
from Delaware County Historian, Patrick Grimes

When I took over as Delaware County Historian, they told me that they were missing the minutes of the Board of Supervisors annual meeting. Some think they might have been destroyed in the 1922 jail fire but it's only a guess.

I've tried the Town Clerks of those towns that were part of Delaware County prior to 1813 but no luck.

Surprisingly they do have minutes of the first annual meeting in 1792 and every year from 1813 to the present. Maybe one of you had an ancestor who was a member of the Board of Supervisors during the missing 15 year period. ....maybe an ancestor with a historical collection. Please find that "Needle in the Hay Stack" so that our records will be complete.

Contact me via e-mail at: pat.grimes@co.delaware.us or my office address: Patrick Grimes, Delaware County Historian, 111 Main St., Delhi, NY 13740.