WILLIAM VAN NESS was born April 26, 1836, at Pompton, N. J. His father was Peter S. and mother Eliza Jane (Brown) Van Ness. There were twelve children in his parents' family. William came with his parents to Warwick, this county, when three years of age. The father was a farmer and took an interest in matters pertaining to the democratic party. He acquired his early education at the district school and Warwick Academy. At an early age he learned the butchers' trade and followed the business for thirty-two years. He married Miss Jane Stidworthy, of Warwick. She was of English parentage and came to America with her parents when three years old. There were two children born to this union, Emma B., wife of Harry J. Bogart, of Passaic, N. J., and Sarah Ann, wife of Burt Edsall, of Goshen. In 1900 Mr. Van Ness sold his business and removed to Goshen, where he purchased the Orange Hotel, which he still conducts.
SAMUEL C. VAN VLIET, JR., was born in the town of Blooming Grove, December 29, 1833, and reared upon a farm until seventeen years of age. Subsequently he was a clerk and later was in business in a general store under the firm name of Seaman & Van Vliet, of Monroe. In March, 1861, he came to Oxford Depot and has been engaged in merchandising, being the principal business man of the vicinity. On December 29, 1858, Mr. Van Vliet married Miss Euphenia Jenkins, of Monroe, the youngest daughter of Ira and Millie (Smith) Jenkins. Two daughters have been born to them. Elsie J. is the wife of S. G. Lent and has one child, Helen Grace, now the wife of William H. Smith, of Chester. Effie is the wife of Fred L. Conklin, of Chester, N. Y. The Van Vliet family originated in Holland. Politically Mr. Van Vliet is a republican. For thirty years he was postmaster and is now agent for the Erie Railroad. From 1868 to 1872 he was a member of the board of supervisors of Orange County, and for twenty years an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Monroe.
DR. EDWIN R. VARCOE, one of the leading dentists of Orange County, located at Goshen, was born near Honesdale, Pa., November 4, 1850. His parents, Francis and Mary (Hocken) Varcoe, were natives of England and descendants of a long line of substantial English ancestry. Both were educated near Liskeard, in the county of Cornwall, where they grew to maturity and were married in 1846. They came to America on their wedding tour, settling in Honesdale, Pa. They engaged in farming pursuits, and remained there until their death, the father dying in 1895 and the mother in 1865. Both were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their eight children, three sons and five daughters, are all living.
The father of Francis Varcoe, Samuel Varcoe, was an English gentleman and a landed proprietor in the county of Cornwall. The maternal grandfather of Francis Varcoe was Rev. Charles Hicks, of the Church of England. One of Samuel's sons, Rev. R. Varcoe, came to this country and filled several important charges in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, where he died. The father of Mrs. Varcoe was Rev. Edward Hocken, a minister of the Church of England, who for fifty years filled important pulpits in his native land. He reared a family of seven children, of whom Edward, Jr., became a clergyman under the celebrated John Wesley in the Methodist Church, during the pioneer era of that organization.
The great-grandfather of our subject on the maternal side was Rev. William Geake, of the Church of England. The children of Francis and Mary Varcoe are as follows: Lavenia, wife of Isaiah Scudder, of Middletown, N. Y., died May, 27, 1908; Sophia, widow of Ira S. Baxter, of Wallingford, Conn.; Edwin R.; Elizabeth, wife of Frank Sagendorph, of Jersey City, died February 22, 1896; Selina; Mrs. T. Edson Harding, of Howells, N. Y.; William F., a practicing physician in New York City; Carrie, who married Herman Groffell, of Jersey City; and Charles W., a dentist of Walden, N. Y.
In 1875 Francis Varcoe married for his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth (Onger) Glenn, and they had one daughter, Kittie, now the wife of Charles Webb., of Bethany, Pa. Politically Mr. Varcoe was a republican, and was a staunch Union man during the Civil War. He was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died September 6, 1895, aged eighty years, near Honesdale, Pa.
The subject of this sketch, Dr. E. R. Varcoe, received his literary education in the schools of Wayne County and Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pa. At the age of twenty-one he began the study of his profession under Dr. J. W. Kesler, of Honesdale, Pa., with whom he remained for two years. He then practiced at different places in Orange County for five years. In 1880 he was graduated from the Philadelphia Dental College, carrying off the highest honors of his class and receiving the prize awarded, an S. S. White dental engine. In June, 1880, he established himself in practice in Goshen, where he has since remained.
The doctor is a trustee and member of the Presbyterian Church of Goshen. He is also an honorary member of the Second District Dental Association, the Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Encampment of Patriarchs. In politics he is a republican. He has made several trips to Europe, visiting Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, Cuba and Sandwich Islands, besides traveling in all the States and Territories in this country. For the benefit of the church and charitable interests he has frequently lectured on his travels.
HENRY O. VELTMAN, of the town of Mount Hope, was born December 31, 1847, in the town of Wallkill. His father Albert and mother Eunice (Howell) Veltman had ten children, seven girls and three boys. They are all living but one son. His father was a mason by trade. He attended the district school, where he acquired his education while assisting at home on the farm. He was in Jersey City, N. J., three years in the milk business and was engaged in teaming there for two years, when he returned to the farm. He married Miss Helen Kennedy, of Howells, Orange County. She is of Scotch descent and came to America when seventeen years of age. Mr. Veltman is a member of the Grange and a republican in politics; both he and his wife are members of the Otisville Methodist Church.
MONTGOMERY H. VERNON was born April 7, 1846, in the town of Monroe, Orange County, N. Y. His parents were Elvin and Catherine Vernon, and they had ten children. He was the ninth child, and he attended school at Satterleytown schoolhouse and Sugar Loaf, meanwhile working for his board. He worked on a farm until he was nineteen years of age, and then clerked for D. H. Roe, of Chester, one year, and Burchard & Smith nearly three years. He then engaged in the meat business at Washingtonville with W. H. Hallock. Mr. Vernon was united in marriage to Mary A. Goble, of Florida, December 20, 1870. To this union six children were born, two died in infancy. The other children are Russell M., attorney at Middletown, N. Y.; Emma A., wife of Robert W. Anderson; Sarah L., wife of Richard M. Ferries, an attorney of New York City, and George Herbert, residing at home. After Mr. Vernon's marriage he continued in the meat business and the manufacturing of brick for seventeen years, and in 1888 he disposed of the meat business. He is a large shipper of onions to all parts of the United States. Mrs. Vernon died April 27, 1906.