MacGOWAN, HORACE A.—Horace A. MacGowan, city editor of the Middletown Daily Argus, was born January 7, 1877, near Circleville, this county, a son of John Nelson and Julia Woodruff MacGowan, and of Scotch ancestry. His parents removed to Middletown when Horace was but four years of age, and he attended the schools until thirteen years of age, when (July, 1891) he entered the employ of the Middletown Daily Press, where he remained fifteen years. When the Press was merged with the Times, Mr. MacGowan, February 1, 1906, became city editor of the Middletown Daily Argus, which position he still holds. Mr. MacGowan has time and again proven his capability as a good writer and newspaper man by work of recognized merit. April 23, 1903, he married Miss Elizabeth Tappan, daughter of Mrs. Catherine Tappan, of Middletown.
MACARDELL, CORNELIUS, JR.—Cornelius Macardell was educated in the public schools of Middletown, and entered the office of the Argus in 1891, becoming publisher of the Argus and Mercury in 1896, and continuing in that capacity until the formation of the corporation in March, 1906. He is president of the Argus and Mercury Company.
RICHARDS, MARK V.—The city editor of the Port Jervis Gazette since 1905 is Mark V. Richards, an industrious, alert reporter, a descriptive writer, and a conscientious, painstaking worker. Mr. Richards was born in Port Jervis, February 24, 1880, the son of David S. and Martha Isadore Bunting Richards. Mark V. Richards graduated from the Port Jervis High School, June 24, 1898. He began newspaper work, January 2, 1897, as a paper carrier for the Gazette. In the year and a half thus employed he was constantly picking up bits of news for the Gazette, often writing them out in such readable form that he attracted the attention of Editors Nearpass and Bennet, with the result that at the first opportunity he was engaged as reporter for the Gazette. This work he began in September, 1898, and continued until 1905, when he became city editor. July 7, 1903, he married Miss Bertha E. Lobb, of Honesdale, Pa.
SHIMER, EVI—The present business manager of the Port Jervis Gazette is Evi Shimer. He has held that position since April 1, 1886. Mr. Shimer was born December 8, 1860, on the old Shimer homestead in Montague, Sussex County, N. J. His parents were Abram and Adaline Cuddeback Shimer. When Evi was about seven years of age, the family moved to Port Jervis, where he attended the public schools. Later he graduated from the Binghamton Business College. After that he was ten years in the wholesale hardware business in New York City. April 1, 1886, he returned to Port Jervis and became business manager of the Gazette establishment, which position he still holds. Mr. Shimer was for four years one of the trustees of the village of Port Jervis. In November, 1888, Mr. Shimer and Miss Susan A. Donaldson were married.
BROWN, MELVIN H.—The present city editor of the Middletown Times-Press is Melvin Halstead Brown, an alert worker and ready writer. He was born at Otisville, N. Y., December 25, 1867, a son of Orville and Emeline Ketcham Brown. Melvin H. attended the public schools at Paterson, N. J., and later in Middletown and the Wallkill Academy. He learned the printer's trade in the Argus office, beginning at the age of fifteen years. When the Middletown Times was started he became a compositor thereon, later foreman of the composing room, and twelve years ago became a reporter, which position, and that of city editor, he has since filled. His wife was Miss Anaina, daughter of Alderman and Mrs. George Miller.
RUSSELL, ALEXANDER W.—One of the ablest editorial writers on the country press of to-day is the young man who is on the staff of the Middletown Times-Press, Alexander W. Russell. He is alert to events of local as well as of State, national and international importance, and treats them in a most able manner, in language that is choice, pleasing and expressive. Mr. Russell was born at New Berlin, Chenango County, N. Y., April 14, 1865. His parents were Edward and Elinor Tillinghast Russell. He learned the trade of a printer in the office of the Brookfield Courier, at Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y. Later, he attended Hobart College at Geneva, N. Y., leaving there in 1886, to become city editor of the Oneida Union, Oneida, N. Y., which position he filled for ten years, at the end of which time he became city editor of the Brockton, Mass., Gazette, where he remained two years. Soon after this he came to Middletown, N. Y., where he has since remained, and has been on the Times-Press editorial staff since 1906.
MACARDELL, ABRAM B.—Abram Bennet Macardell, the editor of the Argus and Mercury, and vice-president and secretary of the Argus and Mercury Publishing Company, was born at Mount Hope, this county, a son of Cornelius and Esther Crawford Macardell. In January, 1886, the family removed to Middletown, and he was educated in the public schools there and graduated from Wallkill Academy in 1897, a member of the last class to graduate from that time-honored and historic institution, which, after that year, became the Middletown High School. He entered Hamilton College and graduated in 1901. In November, 1902, he entered the Argus office and succeeded George H. Thompson as editor at his death in May, 1904. He was active in the formation of the Argus and Mercury Company in March, 1906. Mr. Macardell is an easy, graceful writer, and, while "young in the harness," is doing good editorial work.
STAGE, ALBERT L.—The present city editor of the Port Jervis Daily Union is Albert Louis Stage. He was born in the town of Lumberland, Sullivan County, N. Y., June 8, 1876. His parents were Albert and Caroline Cowen Stage. He attended the public schools at Barryville, N. Y., and Equinunk, Pa., qualified himself for teaching, and for several years was thus engaged in the public schools at Blooming Grove, Greeley, Mast Hope, and Flagstone, Pa. Later, for a time, he was a salesman for Rand, McNally & Co., educational and book publishers, of New York City. During 1904 he was employed in the wholesale house of E. P. & E. Kinney, spices, coffees, teas and groceries, in Binghamton, N. Y. In March, 1905, he became city editor of the Port Jervis Union, which position he has since most acceptably filled.
STIVERS, DR. MOSES A.—Moses Asby Stivers was born in Middletown, November 14, 1872, the youngest son of the Hon. Moses D. and Mary Elizabeth Stewart Stivers. He graduated in the Middletown schools, and became bookkeeper in the Middletown Times when it was first started. Later he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1894. Dr. Stivers is a practicing physician in Middletown, is connected with Thrall Hospital, and is now secretary and treasurer of the Stivers Printing Company, of which his brother, John D. Stivers, is president, printing the Daily Times-Press. He is a young man of superior mental qualities and ever amiable and courteous.
CALLED ELSEWHERE.