THOMAS W. BRADLEY, Walden, was born April 6, 1844; was for fifty years in the employ of the New York Knife Co., serving the last twenty-five years as president and treasurer, during which time he made the plant of this company the largest and most successful of its kind in the United States; was for some time president of the Walden National Bank and has been for many years a director and vice-president thereof; was one of the original trustees of the Columbus Trust Co. of Newburgh; has been for many years a trustee of the Walden Savings Bank; was a member of the State Assembly in 1876, chairman of the committee on military affairs and assistant inspector general of the National Guard; was a delegate to the national republican conventions of 1892, 1896, 1900 and 1908; was elected to the national house of representatives for the 58th, 59th and 60th Congresses, and served with the committee on military affairs, and the committee on invalid pensions; was married in 1867 to Josephine Denniston, daughter of Colonel James Denniston, of Little Britain; entered the Union Army as a private soldier, September 5, 1862; was promoted through every intermediate grade, and became a captain in the 124th New York Infantry Volunteers, served as personal aid-de-camp to Major General Gershom Mott, 3d Division, 2d Army Corps, was brevetted major United States Volunteers "for meritorious service," and was awarded the congressional medal of honor for gallantry at Chancellorsville, where he "volunteered in response to a call, and alone, in the face of a heavy fire of musketry and canister, went out and procured ammunition for the use of his comrades;" was severely wounded in action at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, was wounded in action at The Wilderness, May 6, 1864, and wounded in action at Boydton Plank Road, October 27, 1864; is a member of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, a companion of the first class in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and a member of the New York Chattanooga-Gettysburg Battle Fields Commission; is affiliated with Wallkill Lodge, F. and A. M., Highland Chapter and Hudson River Commandery; is a member of the City Club, Newburgh, and the Army and Navy Club, New York City; he has for many years been connected with the First Reformed Church of Walden; is a member of the Bradley Hose Co. of Walden, and of Enterprise Steamer Co., of which he was for some time the first foreman.
JOHN B. BRADNER, of Bellvale, Orange County, N. Y., was born in 1849. His early education was acquired at the district school in Bellvale. At the age of fourteen he began working on the farm. When eighteen years of age he clerked in a general store at Bellvale and after a period of seven years was taken into partnership, the firm being Burt & Bradner. This partnership continued for about three years, when Mr. Bradner withdrew and erected the first store at Greenwood Lake, where he continued in business for nine years. Mr. Bradner also owns a productive and valuable orange grove in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was united in marriage to Miss Clara R. Hunt in 1873. There were four children to bless this union, only two of whom are now living. In politics a democrat, Mr. Bradner has served as postmaster at Bellvale, was school trustee and has acted as trustee of the Warwick Savings Bank.
WILLIAM A. BRADNER is one of the six children of Jacob Howe Bradner and Sarah C. Vandervoort Bradner, four of whom are living. He was born on a farm near Warwick, May 23, 1867. The other living children are John H., of Olean, N. Y.; William A., of Warwick: Carrie, wife of S. D. Tilt, of Warwick, and Samuel Blain Dolson, of Bowie, Arizona. William A., after his schooling, which ended in Warwick Institute, assisted his father on the farm until his father's death in 1901. It is a dairy farm of one hundred acres, with one thousand peach trees, on which the Indians camped in pioneer days and near which Washington's army was camped for awhile. The house was built in 1810 of timber brought from Connecticut, and Mr. Bradner's grandfather bought the place of James Bell. Mr. Bradner is a skillful farmer, and in practical matters generally is up with the times.
GEORGE RICHARD BREWSTER, attorney, of Newburgh, was born in Newburgh, N. Y., November 17, 1873. He is a son of Eugene Augustus and Anna W. (Brown) Brewster. The family ancestry is traced through the Brewsters of Long Island and Connecticut, to Nathaniel Brewster, a member of the class graduated from Harvard (1642), whose father, Francis Brewster, came to America from London, England, and settled in New Haven, Conn. Mr. Brewster was educated at Siglar's Preparatory School, Newburgh, and Yale University, from which he graduated in 1894 with the degree of Ph.B. He read law in the office of his father, the late Hon. Eugene A. Brewster, and was admitted to the bar in 1896. He is a member of the Democratic Club of New York; Yale Club of New York; Transportation Club, New York; a director of the City and Powelton Clubs, Newburgh; director of the National Bank of Newburgh, and vestryman of St. George's Church; he is also a director of a number of local corporations.
Mr. Brewster was married January 18, 1899, to Margaret Conley Orr, daughter of the late James Orr, of Newburgh.
NATHANIAL R. BREWSTER, whose farm is situated at East Coldenham in the town of Newburgh, is a descendant of one of Orange County's old and prominent families. His ancestry dates back to William Brewster, who came over in the Mayflower and was the progenitor of the Brewsters in America. He is a son of William C. and a grandson of Nathaniel Brewster, who previously cultivated this property. Considerable interest is attached to this farm from the fact that Nathaniel Brewster near his home unearthed the skeleton of a mastodon, which was purchased by Dr. Warren, of Boston, and later sold to J. Pierpont Morgan, who presented it to the New York Museum of Natural History.
In 1896 Mr. Brewster established here a school for nervous and backward children, and the methods of training adopted have proved very successful.
WALTER H. BREWSTER, supervisor of the town of Blooming Grove, is a descendant of one of Orange County's old families. He is a son of Henry S. and Harriet (Halsey) Brewster and was born on his father's farm in Blooming Grove in 1869. He has always been engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which he has achieved much success. He was appointed a member of the board of supervisors to fill a vacancy in 1902 and in 1903 was elected to the office and re-elected in 1905 and 1907. Mr. Brewster married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Warren Hathaway, and they have one son, Henry.
GEORGE E. BRINK, agent, L. & H. R. Ry., at East Chester Station, village of Chester, N. Y., son of Geo. E. Brink, of Franklin, N. J., and Lucretia Trusdell, of Vernon, N. J., was born December 7, 1879, at Franklin Furnace, N. J. His mother moved to Warwick, N. Y., when he was three years old. He got a common school education, and after working at odd jobs entered railway service as clerk in the general office, November 1, 1898. He also learned telegraphy, proved a good operator and has held various positions on different railroads in the capacity of agent, yard master, assistant train master, operator and train dispatcher. For the last two years and over he has been at East Chester, N. Y., where he has built up business in one year from $300 to $1,200 monthly. Mr. Brink has many friends in the vicinity and is well known by all as a thorough all-around railroad man.
LEANDER BRINK was born in the town of Shawangunk, Ulster County, N. Y., January 30, 1833. He is a son of James Brink, who was born in the town of Wallkill, Orange County, N. Y., in 1804. The family is of Dutch lineage. At the age of two years Mr. Brink's parents removed to Schuyler County, and his younger days were spent on the farm. In 1854 he came to Middletown and clerked for his uncle, Hiram Brink, a furniture dealer, with whom he remained until October, 1857. He was then taken in the firm as partner, the firm name becoming H. & L. Brink. In 1864 he went to Saginaw, Michigan, engaging in the manufacture of salt, Mr. Brink being superintendent of the works.