Poughkeepsie New York

Biography of John Scales

John Scales, a resident of Wagontown, is a native of the Emerald Isle, his birth having occurred in Kilrush, County Clare, on the 6th of May 1840. At the time of the protectorate in England members of the Scales family, natives of that land, went to Ireland as soldiers of Oliver Cromwell, and for their services were paid in Irish estates, called “sword-lands.” The parents of our subject were Samuel and Rachel Scales, who were distant relatives. They came to America in 1855, bringing with them their family of five children, and took up their residence in the state of … Read more

Biography of Matthew Hale

MATTHEW HALE A MAN of fine legal attainments and of high personal character, who has been a steady resident of Albany for the past twenty-two years is the Hon. Matthew Hale, On the 20th of June, 1829, in the little town of Chelsea, in the state of Vermont, this well-known jurist first saw the light of day. His ancestry is in every respect a notable one – including admirable combinations of intellectual, moral and religious principles. His father, Harry Hale, was a descendant of one Thomas Hale, an English yeoman, who immigrated to this country in 1638, and settled in … Read more

From Poughkeepsie to Kingston along the Hudson River

Leaving the Poughkeepsie dock the steamer approaches the Poughkeepsie Bridge which, from Blue Point and miles below, has seemed to the traveler like a delicate bit of lace-work athwart the landscape, or like an old-fashioned “valance” which used to hang from Dutch bedsteads in the Hudson River farm houses. This great cantilever structure was begun in 1873, but abandoned for several years. The work was resumed in 1886 just in time to save the charter, and was finished by the Union Bridge Company in less than three years. The bridge is 12,608 feet in length (or about two miles and … Read more