His course has steadily advanced since that time: Third assistant physician, 1895; second assistant physician, May, 1898; first assistant physician, April, 1900; acting superintendent, June 15, 1902, and superintendent since July, 1902, when he received the appointment to the position left vacant by his predecessor's death.
Dr. Ashley was married August 30, 1888, to Miss Harriet Meade, of Johnson, Orange County, N. Y. He has two daughters in their early 'teens.
Dr. Ashley was a member of the National Guard, serving in the medical department for nearly twenty years. He resigned his position as captain and assistant surgeon of the 1st New York Regiment in 1907, receiving full and honorable discharge.
In May, 1898, Dr. Ashley, then second assistant physician in the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, was granted a leave of absence by the Civil Service Commission' and Superintendent Talcott, and was commissioned by Governor Frank S. Black as captain and assistant surgeon of the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry, and accompanied the regiment to Hawaii.
He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, of the American Medico-Psychological Association, and the New York Psychiatric Society, of the Hoffman Lodge No. 412, Midland Chapter No. 240, Cyprus Commandery No. 67, and Mecca Temple, New York City, the University Club of Middletown, and various other medical and social organizations. He has contributed many medical papers from time to time to the various medical publications.
CHARLES P. AU, son of the late Charles and Ellen (McGrisken) Au, was born in 1877 on the farm of J. Pierpont Morgan in the town of Highland, where his father was engaged as a carpenter. After finishing his schooling he learned the barber's trade, in which business he has met with much success. In 1898 he received the appointment as barber in the United States Cadet Barracks at West Point and has retained the position continuously to the present time. He also conducted a shop at Highland Falls for a period of five years. Mr. Au is active in the support of the republican party. In 1906 he was nominated for supervisor and in an unusual election was defeated by the close margin of twenty-four votes. Mr. Au is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the A. O. H. He married Miss Katherine Powers and they are the parents of two boys and one girl.
CLARENCE AYRES was born in the town and village of Mount Hope, November 27, 1875, and was educated in the district school and public school of Middletown, where his parents moved when he was nine years old. He learned the printer's trade, at which he worked three years. When he was seventeen he became lineman in telephone construction, and worked at it in Middletown six years and in Newburgh two years. In 1904 he went to Warwick, became connected with the Warwick Valley Telephone Company, and is now manager of general construction in the mechanical department. He married Anna Collonton, of Goshen, and they have one child, Francis, born in December, 1889. Mr. Ayres is a member of the Congregational Church, and adheres to the democratic party. His father was a sailor on a whaling vessel eight years, and circumnavigated the earth four times. He also served as sailor during the civil war.
[FRED BAILEY,] a merchant of Otisville, N. Y., was born June 4, 1854. His early education was acquired at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., at the district school. He was identified with the American Express Company at Ellicottville for a period of nine years. In December, 1892, he came to Orange County and located at Otisville. Removing to Newburgh in 1894, he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business for one year, after which he returned to Otisville and purchased the grocery store of A. J. Craig, which he conducted eight years. He then conducted a store in partnership with George Smith until the fall of 1906, when he purchased Mr. Smith's interest in the store and real estate, and has since conducted it alone.
Mr. Bailey was united in marriage, September 4, 1876, to Miss Chloe Mary Vaughan, of Ellicottville, N. Y. One child died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey are members of the Otisville Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a republican. Mr. Bailey was for five years a member of the Tenth Separate Company, National Guard, State of New York.
THE BAIRD FAMILY—Among the earliest settlers of the town of Warwick there came Francis Baird, prior to 1766. He was of Scotch or Scotch-Irish ancestry, and according to a tradition of the family he, or his father before him, sailed from Bally Castle, County Antrim, in the north of Ireland. This was a shipping port in that early date, and is just across from Scotland. A recent writer has said: "Francis Baird (never Beard) may have been Irish by nativity, but not by ancestry. The Bairds of Avondale were an ancient and powerful Berg Scots clan, and as long ago as the wild days of the struggles between Robert Bruce and John Baliol for the Scottish crown (1309), gave brave account of themselves on the side of the Lord of Lome against the finally victorious Bruce. The name, originally (Norman-French) Bayard, was shortened into Baird by neighbors after the family passed into Scotland from France at a very early date. Francis was an offshoot and clansman of this stock."