Orange County NY

Biography of William Henry Seward

William H. Seward was born May 16, 1801, in the village of Florida, Town of Warwick, Orange County, New York. His father, Dr. Samuel S. Seward, was a physician of good standing and the first Vice-President of the County Medical Society. Dr. Seward was a farmer, as well as physician, and also the magistrate, storekeeper, banker and money-lender of the little village. He lived to a good old age, dying after his son’s election to the United States Senate, in 1849. The family was of New Jersey origin. John Seward, the grandfather of William Henry, served in the war of … Read more

Biography of Belden D. Burt

The subject of this sketch is one of the pioneer merchants of Riverside, and is the senior member of the firm of B. D. Burt & Brother. This is now the oldest mercantile firm in the city, having been established in 1875, and been continuously in business since that time. The first brick block erected in Riverside was that occupied by Mr. Burt, on the corner of Main and Eighth streets. For many years he conducted a general mercantile business, but in the later years, has confined his business to dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, etc. Mr. Burt’s partner … Read more

Biographical Sketch of L. F. Morse, M. D.

L. F. Morse, M. D., physician and surgeon, Mattoon; was born in Canterbury, N.Y. Feb. 5, 1839; his father was a farmer, and his early life was that of a farmer’s son; at the age of 14, he went to live with an uncle; in the winter of 1860, he began the study of medicine, under the supervision of Dr. L. T. Weeks, of Canterbury; after an extended course of reading, he attended a course of lectures in the Burlington Medical College, at Burlington, Vt.; in June, 1862, he was engaged in the Government hospital at Washington, as Contract Surgeon; … Read more

Biography of John Lane

Colonel John Lane, the senior member of the law firm of Lane & McDonald, has long resided on the Pacific coast, but has made his home in Lewiston for only two years. In that time, however, he has gained prestige as one of the ablest members of the bar of this locality, and is therefore a valued addition to the professional circles of the city. A native of the state of Indiana, Colonel Lane was born in Evansville, May 17, 1837. His ancestors were of Irish and French stock and were early settlers of North Carolina, where they founded the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert L. Ireland

Ireland, Robert L.; with M. A. Hanna & Co.; born, Stratford, Conn., Aug. 20, 1867; son of John B. and Adelia Duane Ireland; educated, Stamford, Conn., Newburgh, N. Y., and Yale, graduating in 1890; married, May 2, 1894, Kate Benedict Hanna; issue, Robert Livingston Ireland, Jr., born Feb. 2, 1895, and Elizabeth Ireland, born Oct. 30, 1898; business career, with the Cleveland Hardware Co., Hackney Bicycle Co., Globe Iron Works, Ship Owners Dry Dock Co., Cleveland Dry Dock Ca.; instrumental in the consolidation of the shipbuilding interests of the Great Lakes; organization being known as the American Ship Building Co.; … Read more

English and American Drakes

English and American Drakes

English and American Drakes : paper prepared and read at the Drake reunion / by Medora Corbett, Aug. 8, 1912. Also family record of two sons of Richard and Mary Wood Drake, born in Orange County, New York, by William T. Drake. The two sons are Timothy Drake (1788-1839) and Thomas Wood Drake (1794-1879).

Biography of Col. Granville O. Haller

COL. GRANVILLE O. HALLER, U.S.A., Retired. – Granville Owen Haller was born in York, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1819. His father, George Haller, died when he was but two years of age, leaving a pious and most devoted mother in charge of four young children, who, with limited means, but with industry and thrift, had the satisfaction of seeing her eldest son graduate at the Jefferson Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania. She was very desirous of sending Granville to the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to be fitted for the ministry, but conscientious doubts on his part prevented him … Read more

Biography of Job W. Massey

Job W. Massey, farming and stock; P. O. Charleston; the subject of this sketch was born in Cheshire, England, June 28, 1822. He married Miss Sarah Gould Dec. 4, 1847; she was born in North Molton, Devonshire, England, Feb. 23, 1827, and died Aug. 8, 1877. They had six children, viz., William H., now living; Job Francis died at the age of 17, child died in infancy, Nannie now living, George E. died at 18 months of age and Joseph Charles died in his 18th year, from the kick of a horse. He lived in England about six years, when, … Read more

Biography of Fred Robertson

Fred Robertson, the present United States district attorney for Kansas, with office and residence at Kansas City, Kansas, had been a resident of this state since 1885. It is only necessary to recall some of the early conditions of his life in Kansas to show that he had won his way to influential poaition over many obstacles. He was fourteen years old when his parents came to Kansas, and he had been born in Orange County, New York, and his early boyhood was spent on a farm, with an education in the district schools. His parents were John M. and … Read more

Biography of Thomas Ryan

Thomas Ryan, of Topeka, lawyer, soldier, congressman and diplomat. was born at Oxford, New York. November 25, 1837, but while he was an infant his parents moved to Bradford County; Pennsvlvania, where he was reared upon a farm and attended the country school. He had been admitted to the bar when the Civil war broke out, but enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, was chosen captain of his company, and served until 1864. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. In 1865, accompanied by his wife and son, he came to Kansas and located … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edward L. Harris

Harris, Edward L.; asst. supt. of schools, Cleveland; born, Delavin, Wis., December, 1852; son of David Franklin and Lucretia E. Rowley Harris; educated at Wayland Academy. Beaver Dam, Wis. and Syracuse University (A. B., Ph. B).; married, Beaver Dam, Wis., December, 1878, Eva E. Gould; issue, Fred Gould, Ray Gould, Eva Lucile (deceased, 1896); principal high school, Port Jervis, N. Y., 1878-1880; teacher in Cleveland High Schools, 1880-1887; principal West High School 1887-1889; principal Central High School, 1889-1912; asst. supt. of schools, September, 1912, to date; member National Education Ass’n (pres. secondary dept.); State Education Ass’n (pres. secondary dept.); North … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edward M. Ruttenber

Journalist and historian, was born in the Town of Bennington, Vt., July 17, 1824. He entered the office of the Vermont Gazette as an apprentice to the printing business in 1837, and removed to Newburgh in 1838, where he became an indentured apprentice in the office of the Newburgh Telegraph, of which he became the owner in 1850. He was thereafter connected with Newburgh journalism as editor and publisher during his entire life, dying at the advanced age of 83 years on December 4, 1907, at Newburgh, N. Y. As a historian he was thorough and exhaustive, and to him, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lewis S. Halsey

Lewis, L. Halsey, of Hyde Park, son of David and Julia (Smith) Lewis, was born in the town of Blooming Grove, N. Y., Dec. 2, 1853. He received his education in the schools of New York City and Michigan, and when his education was completed, learned the printer’s trade at Middletown, N. Y. August 18, 1878, he settled in Hyde Park and purchased the Lamoille News. Three years after he united that paper with the Vermont Citizen. Since that time he has conducted the combination of the two papers under the title of the “News and Citizen” with offices at … Read more

Biography of Ethel Lynn Eliot Beers

Ethel Lynn Eliot Beers. Goshen’s Sweet Singer, Mrs. Ethel Lynn Eliot Beers, who wrote under the nom de plume, of “Ethel Lynn,” was born at Goshen, Orange County, N. Y., in 1825 and died at Orange, N. J., in 1879. Mrs. Beers who was a woman of rare literary gifts, was a frequent contributor to the leading periodicals of her time. Perhaps her best known poem is “All Quiet Along the Potomac,” written during the civil war, which attracted wide attention, and occupies a permanent place in standard poetical literature. “All Quiet Along the Potomac” was first published in Harper’s … Read more

Biography of Frank L. Travis Hon.

Hon. Frank L. Travis. A resident of Kansas since early boyhood, Frank L. Travis had been a farmer, public official and insurance man at Iola, but his name is most familiarly known over the state at large through his active leadership in the Legislature of Kansas. During the recent session of the Lower House he was the accepted leader of his party, and some of the most beneficial legislation enacted in recent years had been largely shaped and influenced by Mr. Travis of Iola. The ancestry of the Travis family goes back to Ireland. There were men of the name … Read more

Free New York Genealogy Websites

1910 New York Census Map

For decades the world wide web has had individuals who have placed online abstractions, transcriptions, and images of genealogy information for specific counties. This collection of websites are the current ones we can find currently online.

Biography of Major Edward Carlisle Boynton

Major E. C. Boynton, a graduate of West Point Military Academy, and for many years an instructor in that institution, is chiefly distinguished as the author of the “History of West Point and the Origin and Progress of the U. S. Military Academy,” and several technical works, all of which are regarded as standard authorities on the subjects of which they treat. He was appointed as a cadet at the United States Military Academy, July 1, 1841. After graduation in 1846, he was assigned to the Second Artillery as Brevet Second Lieutenant and ordered to join the army in, Mexico, … Read more

Biography of Allen Becker Richards

Allen Becker Richards, a native of Pennsylvania, who served in a New York regiment during the civil war, is now (1910) a retired business man of Geneva where he has resided for nearly sixty years. Michael Richards, father of Allen B. Richards, was born in Maxatawny, Pennsylvania, in 1800, was a lifelong resident of that state and died in 1880. His wife, Ada Richards, was also a native of the Keystone state, born in 1809, died in 1899. Children: 1. Allen Becker, see forward. 2. Azuilla, born in 1832, now (1910) the widow of Unie Zeigler, who died in 1901 … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Nathaniel Parker Willis

Born in Portland, Maine, January 20, 1806, died at his country home, Idlewild, Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, January 20, 1867. His chief works are: Melanie, Lady Jane and other poems; Pencillings by the Way; Inklings of Adventure; Romance of Travel, comprising Tales of Five Lands; People I Have Met, or Pictures of Society and People of Mark; A Health Trip to the Tropics; Out of Doors at Idlewild; Paul Fane, or Parts of a life else Untold, a Novel. Edgar Allen Poe, in a review of the literary work of N. P. Willis said: “As a writer of `sketches’ properly so called, Mr. … Read more