The History of Orange County New York

by Unknown

SALMON, FRED R.—Fred R. Salmon, the present business manager of the New York Farmer and the Port Jervis Daily Union and Tri-States Union plants, was born at Susquehanna, Pa., January 18, 1858. His parents were Charles M. and Jeannette Russell Salmon. The family removed to Port Jervis and then to Honesdale, in both of which places Mr. Salmon attended schools, graduating from the Honesdale High School. He entered the office of the Port Jervis Union in April, 1877, as bookkeeper for his brother-in-law, Charles St. John. In 1884 he entered into partnership with Mr. St. John under the firm name of St. John & Salmon. In 1895 they organized the Tri-States Publishing Company, as its sole owners. This concern continued until October 1, 1907, when Mr. Salmon purchased Mr. St. John's interest, and became the sole owner of the stock. October 6, 1889, Mr. Salmon married Miss Flora Dunning, daughter of Joseph and Clara Owen Dunning, of near Middletown. For several years Mr. Salmon was secretary of the Republican County Committee and prominent in the councils of his party. He is now a member of the Civil Service Commission of the new city of Port Jervis; is a member of the Board of Education; is trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, and a trustee of the Port Jervis Board of Trade.

DRAKE, FRANK M.—The present editor of the Goshen Independent Republican is Frank Drake, who became connected therewith as part owner January 1, 1883, and sole owner in March, 1892. Mr. Drake is a practical printer, an able writer, and is a "worthy son of a worthy sire." His father was Victor M. Drake, one of the Nestors of Orange County journalism, and the son is giving in the semi-weekly issues of his Independent Republican evidence that the "journalistic instincts" of the father have descended to the son. He is a Democrat of the conservative type; is sprightly in his treatment of all subjects, and deftly sprinkles a bit of attic salt in much of the palatable literary provender that he sets before his readers. Mr. Drake was born at Newton, N. J., in 1855, and after his school days he entered the office of the Independent Republican, after his parents removed to Goshen, and became an apprentice in 1874, at the age of nineteen years. He never found it necessary or advisable to migrate, and it is fitting that he should find his life work in the very office in which the genius of his gifted father for so many long years was exercised for the public good. Mr. Drake is unmarried.

KETCHUM, GEORGE F.—With the establishment at Warwick in 1885 of the Warwick Valley Dispatch there entered the arena of Orange County journalism a champion who has proven his right to become a leader. George F. Ketchum, who founded the Dispatch, is the son of the late George W. Ketchum and Elizabeth Strang Wright. George F. Ketchum has made his Dispatch the leading Democratic paper in the county, by reason of his unquestioned honesty of purpose, his fearless but always fair and courteous advocacy of principles which he believed conducive to the public weal, his persistent, aggressive efforts, and his fair treatment of all opponents. Mr. Ketchum has been for more than a decade the chairman of the Democratic County Committee—a position that he has not held through mere favoritism, but by reason of the force of character and the indomitable energy that has characterized his whole public career.

BOYD, CHARLES J.—About 1880 Charles J. Boyd became interested in newspaper work through partnership with John W. Slauson, under the the name of Slauson & Boyd, as publishers of the Middletown Press. Mr. Boyd remained with the Press until it was merged with the Times in 1906, when he retired from the work, to engage in insurance and real estate business. Mr. Boyd was a first-class newspaper man in every particular. He wrote a good article, had neat descriptive powers, good judgment, clear discernment and discrimination, and his work was ever in evidence on the Press. It would seem that one so clever, so well endowed by nature for newspaper work, should have remained in the field. Mr. Boyd was supervisor of his ward for a number of years, and made one of the most efficient members of the county legislature. He was also by appointment one of the Prison Commissioners of the State.

STIVERS, JOHN D.—In 1891 John D. Stivers entered actively into journalistic duties, though he had been connected therewith more or less all his life. In that year the Middletown Times came into existence, and he became its normal editor. Since the lamented death of his father, the Hon. Moses D. Stivers, in February, 1895, John D. Stivers has been the real head and front of the establishment. Mr. Stivers is a young man who deservedly stands well with his party and the public. Through its well-written editorials, its daily supply of the local and general news served in the most concise and acceptable manner, the Times is a power in politics and in general thought that needs to be reckoned with by politicians and caterers to the public in any form whatever. John Dunning Stivers was born August 30, 1861, at Middletown, N. Y., the second son of the Hon. Moses D. and Mary Elizabeth Stewart Stivers. He attended the public schools of Middletown and Wallkill Academy, where the rudiments of his education were obtained, and later Peekskill Military Academy, from which institution he was graduated in 1878, at the age of seventeen years. He then began his journalistic career, entering the office of the Middletown Press as bookkeeper and later filling the position of city editor. Resigning from the Press, Mr. Stivers became private secretary to his father, the Hon. Moses D. Stivers, during his term as Member of Congress from this district. Upon the latter's retirement from office, John D. Stivers returned to Middletown, and, with his brother, Lewis S. Stivers, established the Middletown Times. After the death of his father, he was elected to take the latter's place as trustee of the Orange County Trust Company. Mr. Stivers was appointed a member of the Board of Managers of the Middletown State Hospital by Governor Morton, and was secretary of the Board for several years, and until the reorganization of the asylum management throughout the State by Governor Odell.

NICKINSON, ALBERT E.—Albert E. Nickinson, the present treasurer and general business manager of the Middletown Argus and Mercury, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 8, 1863. He was a son of John Nickinson and Elizabeth J. Phillips. Albert E. was educated in the public schools of Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Suffern, N. Y. He entered the employ of the Argus and Mercury in 1888, remained until 1901, and returned to the office upon its reorganization as a new company in 1906. Mr. Nickinson is a good business man, and when necessary can wield a descriptive pen. On November 28, 1889, Mr. Nickinson and Miss Penelope Macardell were married.

SPEIDEL, MERRITT C.—The present efficient associate business manager of the Port Jervis Daily Union, Tri-States Union and New York Farmer is Merritt C. Speidel. He was born May 19, 1879, in Port Jervis, son of Martin and Hannah M. Patterson Speidel, members of well-known Deerpark families. During his student days he frequently wrote for the local newspapers, and on October 25, 1897, he became employed in the business department of the Tri-States Publishing Company, and several months later became reporter for the Port Jervis Daily Union, and then successively city editor, associate editor, and editor. January 1, 1904, he became associate business manager of the Tri-States Publishing Co., and in January, 1908, became secretary and a director of the company. Mr. Speidel, though a young man, has been much identified with local public affairs and is now serving his seventh year as secretary of the Port Jervis Board of Trade; is one of the Health Commissioners; is president of the Deerpark organization of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

POWERS, HENRY P.—Henry P. Powers, city editor and desk man of the Middletown Daily Argus and semi-weekly Mercury, was born at Groton, Tompkins County, N. Y., June 30, 1857, a son of Jacob B. Powers and Nancy G. Bouton. He early developed a love for the printing trade and entered the office of the Groton Journal, when a lad, as apprentice, serving there seven years, and about eighteen years ago he came into Orange County and located at Middletown. For a year and a half he was employed as city editor of the Middletown Daily Press. In January, 1903, he became reporter for and then city editor of the Daily Argus. Mr. Powers is a thoroughly good newspaper man; active, reliable, a ready writer, of good discrimination, and he is a valuable addition to Orange County journalism. Mr. Powers was twice married. His first wife died at Groton twenty-two years ago. His second wife was Miss Minnie L. Hill, daughter of John W. Hill, of Middletown.

GREGG, GEORGE F.—In January, 1903, George F. Gregg, in company with John B. Scott, became part owner of the Goshen Democrat, and September 1, 1905, he became sole owner of the same. To say that he has made the Democrat a bright, newsy, weekly paper is to express the fact mildly but justly. He is a vigorous writer, with a fervor and animation that is born of the intensity of earnestness and zeal, and he is surely making the Democrat read by friends and political foes. In 1906 Mr. Gregg was elected supervisor of the town of Goshen, and again in 1907, and brings to this public office the same earnestness, push and capacity that characterizes his work as an editor. Mr. Gregg is yet a young man, and he is in a fair way to be one of the leaders of thought and action in Orange County. George F. Gregg was born at Walden, N. Y., April 30, 1875. His parents were Edgar M. Gregg, of Walden, and Rose L. Faron, of Corning, N. Y. His education was at the public schools. He passed several years in Chenango County, this State. For a short time he was connected with the advertising department of the New York Times. He was also in the Ordnance Department of the United States Navy, in the naval magazine at Fort Lafayette. Mr. Gregg seemed to have an "intuitive leaning" to journalistic work, for in addition to his service on the New York Times, we find he was fifteen years in newspaper work, several of which were in the office of the "now esteemed contemporary," the Independent Republican. For two years he was city editor of the Middletown Argus, immediately prior to purchasing an interest in the Goshen Democrat. The good work he is doing in the columns of that old paper, and the esteem in which he is held by the people of Goshen, as shown by his being twice chosen as supervisor of the town, is evidence that he has found his life's work and its field. Mr. Gregg and Miss Jane A. Brundage, of Newark, N. J., were married July 11, 1900.

TAFT, LYMAN H.—One of the most thoroughly independent editors in the county is Lyman H. Taft, of the Montgomery Standard-Reporter, who was born December 5, 1865, at Oneida Valley, Madison County, N. Y. His father was Thomas J. Taft, and his mother was Jane Baum, whose father, Rev. John Baum, was a Methodist minister at Mendenville, N. Y. The parents went to the Pennsylvania oil country, when Lyman was but three months old, and settled at Warren, Pa. He attended the Warren high school, leaving the same to enter the office of the Warren Ledger (1877), where he served an apprenticeship of three years, and then traveled over the country, working as a journeyman printer, and visited forty States of the Union. September 1, 1888, he arrived at Montgomery, purchased the Recorder and in 1898 the Standard, and consolidated the two papers under the title of the Standard and Reporter.