Chapter LXVII: Part II: Biographical (14)

RALPH WISNER belongs to one of the oldest families in the town of Warwick. The first settler in this part of Orange County was Johannes Weasner, and family, who settled on a tract of land near Mount Eve. There his dust lies mingled with that of several generations of his descendants. Johannes Weasner was a soldier in the Sioux Contingent, in the days of Queen Anne. John Weasner was third in descent from Johannes Weasner, being the son of Hendrick Weasner. His brother Henry was a member of the Continental Congress, and voted for the Declaration of Independence, and then came home to make gunpowder. This was the most necessary thing to do, for without gunpowder the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, would have been of no effect. John Weasner was a captain in Colonel Dekay's Regiment of Orange County men in the French and Indian War of 1752. He and his son John were captains in Colonel Isaac Nichols's Regiment of Minute Men in 1776. The Wisner family was foremost in resisting the encroachment of the British crown upon the rights of the people. John Weasner died in 1778, his son John died in 1811, leaving a large family, among whom was another John, whose son, George T. Wisner, was the father of the subject of this sketch. Ralph Wisner was born at Big Island, town of Goshen, March 2, 1859. Mr. Wisner is engaged in farming. He is a resident of Florida.

He was married November 22, 1883, to Mary Greene, daughter of the late Henry Greene. They have one son, Roy Greene Wisner. The family are all members of the Presbyterian Church, William Wisner being assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. Mr. Wisner is identified with the best interests in the town. He has been a member of the school board for twenty-four years, and is a corresponding member of the Y. M. C. A. For one term he was assessor of the town of Warwick. It was through Mr. Wisner's efforts that the beautiful playground of the village was procured.

RICHARD WISNER was born on the homestead farm, in the town of Warwick, February 4, 1824, and died January 3, 1908. He conducted a farm in Warwick until 1883, when he purchased the beautiful residence near the village where he lived, retired until his death. He was one of the charter members of the First National Bank of Warwick and served continuously as one of its directors. He was trustee of the Warwick Savings Bank and for many years a director of the Lehigh and Hudson Railroad. He was also trustee of the Cemetery Association and at one time its treasurer. He was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, and held membership in the Reformed Church of Warwick. Mr. Wisner was a member of one of the oldest families in Orange County and a descendant of the first permanent settler of what is now Warwick township. He was a son of Jeffrey and Elizabeth (Armstrong) Wisner, a man of quiet temperament, possessed of indefatigable energy, with a genial spirit and lofty ideals. He was twice married; his first wife was Euphelia, daughter of Thomas Welling, to whom he was married December 20, 1853. She died in 1881. He was again married in June, 1883, to Sarah Van Duzer. His children, all by his first wife, are Charles E., Anne E. and Mary Euphelia, residing in Warwick.

WILLIAM R. WISNER, one of the prominent and honored men of Orange County, was born March 21, 1799, on the homestead farm near Wisner, this county. He had always been identified in agricultural pursuits. He married Eliza Miller, March 16, 1819, and resided until his death, November 19, 1886, in the stone house now occupied by his great-grandchildren. He was a grandson of Captain John Wisner. He was an upright man, a good citizen and a prosperous farmer. He was a whig and afterward a republican.

GRAHAM WITSCHIEF, attorney of Newburgh, was born in Port Jervis, N. Y., 1875. He is a son of Peter and Florence (Graham) Witschief. After graduating from the Port Jervis Academy in 1893, he attended the Albany Law School one year, and then read law two years in the office of Hon. O. P. Howell, former surrogate of Orange County. Mr. Witschief was admitted to the bar October 29, 1896. Politically he is a republican, and served one term as president of the common council of Newburgh. He is past master of Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and A. M. He married Miss Mary Farnum, of Port Jervis, N. Y. Mr. Witschief has conducted some of the most important litigations in Orange County, and is regarded as one of Newburgh's representative attorneys.

ANDREW WOOD, station agent at Stony Ford, N. Y., was born at Cornwell, Canada, June 7, 1850. His parents were William and Ann (Jardine) Wood. Andrew attended the common school, after which he assisted his father on the farm. He was connected with the Grand Trunk Railroad as telegraph operator for a period, after which he removed to New York State. In 1876 he served seven years at Willsboro, N. Y., with the D. & H. R. R., as station agent. August 4, 1884, he removed to Stony Ford, Orange County, and became identified with the

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Kortright of Kortryk, Belgium, 1586. Casper Writer, with wife and five children removed to the present town of Mount Hope in 1784. Here he located and raised a family of eight children--three sons, Aaron, John Falter and Jasper, Jr., and five daughters. Eve, the wife died December 21, 1830; Casper's years overran the century mark. He died November 15, 1842. His sons Aaron and Jasper were lifelong residents of Mount Hope, where their descendants are perpetuating the family name.

BENJAMIN F. WRITER was born on the homestead farm in the town of Mount Hope, May 19, 1854. His parents were John F. and Phoebe (Rosencrants) Writer. His father died in 1892 and the mother is still living at the age of eighty years. Benjamin acquired his early education at the district school, after which he followed agricultural pursuits. He married Ella K. Dennis, of Sussex, N. J., November 8, 1882. Their four children are Coe, Frank, Elmo and Henry, who died at the age of four years. Frank is identified with the Borden Company at Otisville as assistant foreman, and is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., of Middletown; Elmo is connected with the Sanatorium at Otisville. The father is a member of Otisville Grange No. 1020.

THEODORE WRITER, M.D., of Otisville, N. Y., was born in the town of Mount Hope, Orange County, July 17, 1837. He acquired his early education at the public schools and the Seward Institute of Florida, Orange County. He later entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, from which he graduated in March, 1866. He remained for one year in New York in the practice of his profession, then returned to Otisville, where he has since practiced. Dr. Writer married Miss Helen A. Green, of Mount Hope, November 3, 1869. To this union was born one son. Dr. Writer is a republican and has served the town of Mount Hope as supervisor. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., of Middletown.

JAMES A. WYLIE, manager of Katterman & Mitchell Co.'s silk mill at Port Jervis, was born at Morristown, N. J. Soon after leaving school he began work in a silk mill, and has learned the business thoroughly under the tuition of his father, H. A. Wylie, who was manager of the Port Jervis mill until his death in 1902.

This mill began operation in 1898, and is one of the important industries of Port Jervis. It gives employment to about one hundred skilled employees and produces over a quarter of a million yards of silk annually. An addition to the factory has recently been erected, making it possible to considerably enlarge the output.

FRANK N. YAGEL, who conducts a prosperous plumbing, roofing and tinsmith establishment in the village of Highland Falls, N. Y., was born in Germany in 1872. He came to America in 1883, and after four years' schooling in this country served his apprenticeship with his brothers, with whom he was later a partner for eight years. Since 1899 he has been engaged in business for himself. Mr. Yagel has served as state and county tax collector and is now village trustee. Socially he is identified with the I. O. O. F. He married Miss Francis Wolklin and they are the parents of three children.

ARTHUR YOUNGS was born in Kingston, Ulster County, N. Y., March 10, 1872. His father, Addison Youngs, was a native of Kingston, and his mother, Harriet E. Nestell, of Newburgh, N. Y. Mr. Youngs' family can trace its ancestry back to the early settlers of this country. His great-grandfather on both sides fought in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. His great-grandfather on his mother's side was a member of the body guard to George Washington and a member of the Society of Cincinnati. He was also prominently identified with Masonic circles. When seventeen years of age he began working at brass finishing and the moulding trade under the late G. L. Monell; afterward he was identified with the Newburgh Ice Machine and Engine Co. Later he was in charge of the motor mower department of the Coldwell Lawn Mower Co., of Newburgh. Mr. Youngs is now secretary and manager of the Newburgh Auto Shop, a company organized in 1905, which sells, repairs and stores automobiles. Socially Mr. Youngs is identified with the Newburgh Lodge No. 309, F. and A. M.; Newburgh City Club, Business Men's Association, Newburgh Automobile Club, and the Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church.

CHARLES C. YOUNG was born in Elizabeth, N. J., January 21, 1871, and was instructed in both public and private schools. He took a course in a business college and quickly became connected with the Singer Sewing Machine Co. at Elizabethport, N. J., starting as errand-boy and rising to assistant timekeeper, in the invoice department. Afterward he became identified with the Rising Sun Brewing Co. at Elizabeth, N. J., and after acting as manager for the Orange County Brewery for two years, purchased the business December 1, 1893. He is recognized as an exceptionally capable business man. He was married September 8, 1898, to Miss Wilhelmina Schauble, of Elizabeth, N. J., daughter of Philip and Marie Schauble. Their three children are Charles Paul, William Joseph and Marguerite Marie. Mr. Young is a member of Middletown's St. Joseph Church.

OLIVER YOUNG was born in the town of Mount Hope, Orange County, N. Y., October 7, 1811. His family were of English extraction and among the early settlers of the State of Connecticut in the seventeenth century. At the age of sixteen he became a teacher and later repaired to Milford, Pa., where, under the guidance of Richard Eldred, Esq., and Melanethan Dimmick, he pursued the study of law, being admitted to the bar of Pike County, Pa., in 1835, and soon after to that of New York State, where he settled in practice in the village of Port Jervis.

By application and fidelity to the trusts confided to him a large and lucrative practice was soon gained. He speedily attained the reputation of a safe and judicious counselor. He was especially distinguished for his learning and skill in the equity branch of law. He was also a proficient civil engineer and possessed an extended knowledge of the boundaries and titles of much of the land embraced in he western part of Orange County.

Mr. Young was a firm advocate of anti-slavery principles long before any organized political opposition was manifested thereto, and naturally affiliated with the republican party when it came into existence in 1856, pledged to resist the extension of slavery to the territories of the United States. Previous to that time his vote was given to the candidates of the liberty and free soil parties, of which he was the sole supporter in the town of Deer Park, his vote being the only one in that town recorded for those candidates.

Mr. Young was married January 19, 1848, in Port Jervis, to Mrs. Lydia Frances Wentworth, formerly Miss Sinclair, of Bartlett, N. H., and he had two sons, Frank Sinclair, who died in early life, and Charles Oliver. His death occurred October 3, 1871. The loss sustained by the bar of Orange County was expressed in a series of resolutions, commemorative of his career and marked abilities.

ROBERT YOUNG, one of the most prominent farmers of Orange County, was born in the town of Montgomery in 1818, and died September 21, 1895. He was a son of Johnson and Margaret (Barkley) Young, and for many years was identified with the affairs of his native town, holding the office of supervisor for eight consecutive years, 1879 to 1886, and again for one term in 1890. He was a candidate for the Assembly on two occasions, but the factions were against him. He was a charter member of the Masonic Lodge of Montgomery and the last captain of a company of state militia in this town under the old law.

In 1890 Mr. Young traveled abroad, visiting the home of his ancestors in the North of Ireland, who were Scotch-Irish. In June, 1862, he married Miss Emily Arnott, of Coldenham. Six children were born to them, one of whom, David A., conducts the homestead farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He was born in 1863 and educated at the schools of Montgomery. He is a member of the Grange and numbered among the most progressive citizens of the town.

FRANK J. ZINT, son of Daniel and Mary (Lorentz) Zint, was born in Highland Falls, N. Y., in 1862. After finishing his schooling he engaged with his father in the shoe and grocery business, also handling coal. Politically Mr. Zint is a staunch democrat and active in promoting the interest of that party. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the C. B. L and a director in the First National Bank of Highland Falls. In 1888 Mr. Zint was married to Miss Nellie N. Conway, of Newburgh and four children have been born to them. Daniel Zint, who died in 1892, was a native of Germany. He came to America when a young man and shortly after the Civil War established a boot and shoe store to which he soon added a stock of groceries. This was the nucleus of his son's present extensive business.

End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Orange County New York, by Various