Some of his dogs are shipped to Cuba, Halifax, California, Florida and other parts of the United States. He married Mary Reed Van Duzer, of Warwick, April 6, 1864. Their three children are Hazel Clark, Christine Reed and Robert Cornell.
WILLETT VAIL, of Florida, N. Y., was born at Hughsonville, Dutchess County, now known as Fishkill-on-Hudson, July 11, 1848. He obtained his early education at the district school, later attending a private school at Hughsonville. He learned the mason trade at Poughkeepsie, and later worked on the State Hospital at Middletown, N. Y. From Middletown he came to Florida, where he has since resided and for twenty years conducted his business. He married Georgiana Eliza Thompson, of Florida, when twenty-seven years of age. Four children have been born by this union; two died in infancy. Those surviving are: Hattie E., wife of LeRoy Davis, of New York City, and Ira V. K., now of New York City. Mr. Vail is a member of the American Society of Equity and was commissioner of highways of Warwick township one year. He erected the Vail opera house at Florida in 1895, and this, the only amusement place in Florida, enjoys a good business. Both his father and mother died of old age, each being nearly eighty years of age at their death. There are eight children in his parents' family still living. Mr. Vail has taken an active interest in matters pertaining to the welfare and betterment of the village of Florida.
AYMAR VAN BUREN, who has been a resident of New Windsor, Orange County, since 1851, was born in New York City, January 10, 1837. Mr. Van Buren, as his name indicates, is of Holland descent. His great-grandfather, his grandfather and his father, Colonel John D. Van Buren, were all natives of the American metropolis.
He was educated at public and private schools, and began business life in 1862, by purchasing a portion of the farm property of Edmund Morton, of the town of New Windsor. In 1863 he married Miss Margaret, daughter of Mr. Morton. They resided on this farm of ninety acres until 1882, when Mr. Van Buren sold out and became a resident of the old Morton homestead.
He is a firm believer in the principles of the Democratic party, and although not an office-seeker, he has for years been very active in the public affairs of the town. He has been trustee of School District No. 1 since 1871; has served as a member of the board of health, and for many years was road master. In religious matters he is a member of the Episcopal Church, serving as warden, vestryman and treasurer.
JOSEPH VAN CLEFT, merchant and banker, Newburgh, N. Y., was born in the town of New Windsor, Orange County, 1836. The Van Cleft family were early settlers in Minisink Valley. His mother was a member of the Cooper family of Blooming Grove. From 1855 to 1860 he was employed in the hardware trade in New York City, and for two years following pursued the same business in Kansas City, Mo. In 1863 he returned to Newburgh and established his present hardware and agricultural implement business. Upon the organization of the Columbus Trust Company in 1892 he was chosen vice-president, and since 1896 has served as president of that institution. He was one of the original members of the board of trade and for a number of years was member of the consistory of the American Reformed Church. In 1869 he married Edwina Storey Smith, grand-daughter of Judge Storey. She died April, 1891.
ISAAC VAN DUSER, the Pioneer of the Ramapo Pass, by Elizabeth Crissey Van Duzer—The beautiful country along the Ramapo River between Sloatsburg and Suffern, is well known to Orange County people. It is wild and beautiful still, though the mills have been running there more than a century, and the Erie trains through the valley for sixty-six years.
Nearly two hundred years, with their attendant changes, have passed over that region since Isaac Van Duser—the first white man to settle in the Ramapo Pass—came from Tappan and located with his family in the "Throat of the Cloff," as that narrow part of the valley was then called.
He bought four hundred acres that John Van Blarcum had recently purchased of the Indians, and there built his homestead. East and west rose the mountains densely wooded, and the narrow valley was filled with the music of the little river. Here, he lived in the midst of the forest, the Indians his only neighbors, and began his work of opening up the Pass, which proved to be the natural entrance to the Orange County of to-day.
His son, Isaac, Jr., and his wife, were living there in 1724. Isaac, Jr., afterward purchased the Van Gelder tract which joined the Van Duser land, and extended northward. When he came in possession of his father's land, he became owner of the whole valley from the Romopock line below Ramapo to Stony Brook, north of Sloatsburg.