EDWARD J. COLLINS, attorney of Newburgh, was born in Port Jervis, N. Y., 1876. He was educated at Port Jervis Academy and the law department of Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1898. Then he entered the law office of Hon. A. H. F. Seeger, and was admitted to the bar in 1899. In November, 1905, Mr. Collins was elected on the republican ticket member of the common council, of which he was later president. Mr. Collins is a member of various social and fraternal organizations, including the City and Powelton Clubs and New York State Bar Association.
H. D. COMFORT, manufacturer of ice cream at Newburgh, was born in the town of Crawford, Orange County, N. Y., and is a son of the late Daniel H. Comfort. Mr. Comfort was formerly engaged in the creamery and ice cream business in New York City, and in 1900 established his business in Newburgh, in which he has been very successful. His plant is located on an acre and a half of ground on South street near West street, and covers an area of 170 by 75 feet. Steam and electric power are utilized, and machines with a capacity of forty quarts of ice cream every six minutes are in operation. A plant on Robinson avenue is operated during the winter months. Mr. Comfort gives employment to ten men and his product finds a ready market throughout the Hudson Valley. Socially he is identified with the F. and A. M. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Schaefer, daughter of Jacob Schaefer, of Montgomery, N. Y. Two boys and two girls have been born to them. J. Edmund is engaged in business with his father.
DANIEL G. COMINGS, of Middletown, was born May 17, 1850, in Sussex County, N. J. His parents were Gilman Taylor and Rhoda (Worthington) Comings. To this union were born six children, two of whom are living, Daniel G. and Mrs. Elvira La Forge, who resides at Metuchen, N. J. Daniel attended the district school, where he acquired his education. When he was thirteen years of age he commenced working on a farm until he was twenty-one years old. He then learned the millwright trade, which he followed for twenty-two years. In November, 1878, he removed to Orange County, locating at Middletown, and followed his trade, also engaging in the wholesale and retail ice business and retail coal business, which he has conducted for sixteen years. He married Louisa C. Smith, of Newark, N. J., July 9, 1884. Their four children are Mary Viola, Bertha L., Florence A. and William D. Bertha is a pupil at the Oswego Normal School; the others reside at home. In politics Mr. Comings is a prohibitionist and he and his wife are members of St. Paul's Methodist Church at Middletown, N. Y.
THOMAS CONDON, who for many years has been identified with the public affairs of Walden, was born in the town of Montgomery in 1865. He attended the schools of his native place and has been a resident of Walden thirty years, during which time he has served as assessor of the town of Montgomery seven years, assessor of the village three years, trustee six years, and president of the village in 1902, under the old charter by appointment of the board of trustees. He was elected to this office in 1906, and re-elected without opposition in 1907. He is a member of the Red Men, Foresters of America and Elks. Mr. Condon is regarded as a faithful official and public-spirited citizen.
GEORGE RENSSELAER CONKLIN, one of Orange County's representative citizens and merchants, residing at Monroe, N. Y., was born in this town in 1843, a son of Rensselaer C. and Mary E. (Howzer) Conklin. After finishing his studies Mr. Conklin went to New York in 1860, where he was engaged in business until 1865. He then spent two years in the Lake Superior iron district, and in 1868 returned to Monroe and has been engaged mainly in the coal and feed business. He is senior partner in the firms of Conklin & Roe, of Chester; Conklin & Cummins, of Goshen; Conklin & Strong, of Warwick; Paddleford & Co., of Monroe, and C. T. Nott, of Vernon, N. J. He is president of the Groves Product Company, of Jersey City; president of the Monroe Lake Realty Company, secretary of the Warwick, Monroe and Chester Building and Loan Association, and a director of the Highland Telephone Company. Mr. Conklin has served as a member of the Monroe board of education for some twenty years. Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity. He has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Isabella Roberts, whom he married in 1869. In 1885 he chose for his second wife Miss Mary E., daughter of the late Chauncey B. Knight. By his enterprise and energy Mr. Conklin has achieved a large measure of financial success and, coupled with a genial disposition, he retains the highest esteem of his fellow-citizens.
MILTON C. CONNER, M.D., was born on a farm near Scotchtown, town of Wallkill, September 6, 1853. He attended the Wallkill Academy at Middletown, and then entered the Fort Edward Institute, and later was a student in the Caze-novia Seminary, spending two years in each institution. Meantime he taught school at Fort Ann, N. Y. Dr. Conner entered the Detroit Medical College, remaining there two years, after which he became a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, and graduated in 1883 with the degree of M.D. Shortly afterwards he opened an office in Middletown, N. Y., where he has since resided. He is a member of the State and County Medical Society and has been a member for the past eighteen years of the American Medical Association. He is a member of Hoffman Lodge No. 412, F. and A. M., of Middletown, and Midland Chapter No. 240, R. A. M. In politics he is a republican. Dr. Conner was united in marriage with Miss Frances Adelaide Cox, of Middletown.
MATHIEW GRANT COOPER was born February 4, 1865, at Glenwood, N. J., and, after his district school education, followed the occupation of farming six years, after which he engaged in the meat business for eight years. He then worked at Franklin Furnace, N. J., two years. He returned to Eden Station, Orange County, in 1900, and was engaged at the Empire State Dairy Company three years, and three years more for the Haynes Milk Company. The latter was absorbed by the Borden Company, when Mr. Cooper was appointed superintendent, and has continued in the position since. His wife's maiden name was Clara (Van Sickle) Slaughter, of Eden, and they were married December 14, 1904. Their one child is Gerald Frank, born June 29, 1905. Mr. Cooper is a member of Minisink Council No. 53, Jr. O. U. A. M.
PROFESSOR SANFORD A. CORTRIGHT, of Westtown, N. Y., was born in the town of Greenville, Orange County, in 1858. He is a son of Alfred and Margaret (Elston) Cortright. He attended the district schools of his native town, which was supplemented by four years of private tutoring. He graduated from the Albany Normal School and has been engaged in educational work twenty-four years. He has been principal of the Westtown school since 1890. Professor Cortright is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of American Mechanics and the Minisink Grange. In 1893 he was united in marriage with Miss Emma, daughter of Rensselaer and Rachael (Weygant) McKelvey. One child, Alfred, has blessed this union.
JOHN B. CORWIN, attorney of Newburgh, was born at Middletown, N. Y., February 3, 1876, and removed from there to the Corwin homestead, Balmville, in 1884. He graduated from the Newburgh Academy in 1892, supplemented with a course at the Spencerian Business College. Mr. Corwin read law with the late L. W. Y. McCroskery for two years, and in 1896 entered the office of the late L. S. Sterrit. He was admitted to the bar in 1897. He has also been admitted to practice in the Federal Courts. Mr. Corwin was managing clerk for Mr. Sterrit ten years, and following the death of Mr. Sterrit in April, 1907, he succeeded to his practice.
JOHN ISAAC COTTER, M.D., although only twenty-six years of age, has an established and growing practice at Campbell Hall, where he resides, and is well known to the medical profession both within and outside of Orange County. He was born at Jackson's Corners, Dutchess County, August 22, 1881. When he left the district school at the age of twelve, he went to Poughkeepsie, and there attended the grammar and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1900. He took a course of four years in the Albany Medical College, from which he graduated in 1904, and then devoted one year to work in the Albany Hospital. After this thorough preparation he started professional practice at Campbell Hall in 1905. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus No. 304, Florentine Council, of Poughkeepsie, the Nu Sigma Nu Medical Fraternity, the Orange County Medical Society, the Newburgh Bay Medical Society, the Middletown Medical Society, the M. P. S. of Northern Dutchess and Southern Columbia Counties, the New York State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Cotter is a lover of good horses, and owns several, among them Bessie H., whose trial mark is 2:201/2. His father, John H. Cotter, is a practicing physician in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and has another son Lawrence and daughter Mary, both of whom are attending the Poughkeepsie high school.