GEORGE S. WELLER, wholesale and retail coal dealer of Newburgh, was born in that city July, 1871, and is a son of A. Y. Weller. He graduated from the academy in 1888 and entered the employ of J. W. Matthews & Co., with whom he remained as shipping clerk until he started his present business in 1890. He is also president of the Highland Drug Co. Mr. Weller married Miss Constance, daughter of Rev. J. A. Farrar.
JOSEPH H. WELLER, a prominent merchant of New York City, was born in Montgomery, Orange County, in 1846, and died at his home in New York, November 14, 1886. At the age of fourteen he came to Newburgh to clerk in the dry goods firm of A. K. Chandler & Co. He went to New York in 1868 to become salesman for the firm of Wentz, Hartley & Co., afterward becoming a member of the firm of J. M. Wentz & Co. He remained a member of this firm until its dissolution. In 1879 he became member of the firm of Teffts, Griswold & Co., and three years later of the new firm of Tefft, Weller & Co., wholesale dry goods merchants of New York. In 1876 Mr. Weller married Miss Frances Cronkright, of Elizabeth, N. J., whose death occurred five weeks prior to that of her husband. The loss of his beloved wife prostrated Mr. Weller with grief and contributed largely to his death. Mr. Weller is buried in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. Weller left surviving four children, Lillian C. Weller, who is now the wife of Ralph S. Tompkins, of Fishkill-on-Hudson, N. Y.; Edith M. Weller, who is the wife of Mr. Leonard M. Hills, of New York City; Alfred E. Weller, who resides in Newburgh, N. Y.; and Joseph Francis Weller, who is a student at Yale University.
The New York Dry Goods Chronicle of November 20, 1886, paid the following tribute to the memory of Mr. Weller:
"His sudden death has created a profound feeling of grief and sorrow, not only throughout the dry goods trade in which he was so prominent, but to all commercial circles in this great commercial city. Seldom has a man so young been so universally mourned. He left his impress on the trade and commerce of the metropolis. He did this by the force of his ability, his energy and affability. He was a superior man in business and in the charm and gentleness of his manner. His judgment was sound, his executive ability rare, his energy wonderful, and his mastery of details complete. He possessed to an eminent degree the qualities of a great merchant. He was ambitious but not at the expense of others. He was helpful—never harmful. In his ascent to success and distinction he never crowded others from the path but rather encouraged them with sympathy and cheer. His crowning glory was his charity, his kindness. It shone in the family, in the social circle, at the store and elsewhere that business duties called him.
"In the brief career of Joseph H. Weller there is the history of a busy life. It was not length of days that gave him opportunity to rise, it was what he did and how he did it that gave him prominence. He acted nobly and well his part."
THEODORE A. WELLER, retired merchant of Middletown, N. Y., was born in the town of Wallkill, Orange County. He was educated at the district schools and Middletown Academy. His dry goods career in Middletown began with a clerkship for the firm of Hayt & Adams. At the end of six years he purchased Mr. Hayt's interest, and the firm of Adams & Weller was formed in 1876, which continued ten years. This was succeeded by Weller, Demarest & Swayze, and in 1888 the well-known store of Weller & Demarest was established, which continued until January, 1908, when Mr. Weller's health caused him to retire from active business.
Mr. Weller is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, including membership in Hoffman Lodge, Midland Chapter, Cypress Commandery and Mecca Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
FRANKLIN JOSEPH WELLES, an artist, for twenty-six years a resident of Greenwood Lake, has taken a deep interest in its legendary history. His wife Annie Estelle is a daughter of the late Professor Henri Appy, of Rochester, N. Y. the distinguished violinist and teacher, who at the age of twelve years graduated with the highest honors of any pupil from the Royal Conservatory of Amsterdam, Holland. He was given a laurel wreath decoration by William of Orange, grandfather of Wilhelmena, the present Queen of Holland. Some years after the death of Jean Appy, who conducted the King's Orchestra, his son Henri Appy succeeded to the position. He later came to America and played with Jenny Lind in concerts at Castle Garden, and the piano owned and used by her is now in the Welles home at Greenwood Lake. Professor Appy made many concert tours, conducted the orchestra at the old Niblo Garden in Newport, and taught at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. His wife was Annie Paine, a singer at Grace Church, N. Y. He later moved to Rochester, N. Y., to conduct the Philharmonic Society there. Two children survive him, Annie E. and Ernest Frederic, professor of music in the college at Xenia and Granville, the latter of Newark, Ohio. He is a musician and teacher of marked ability and has purchased land and expects to reside permanently at Greenwood Lake. Henri Appy died in Rochester, N. Y., November 16, 1903, at the age of seventy-nine.
THOMAS WELLING was born April 28, 1864, on the homestead farm at Warwick, N. Y., which has been in the family continuously for one hundred and fifty-four years. His early education was obtained at the Warwick High School and Polytechnic Institute at Brooklyn, N. Y. After his schooling he returned to Warwick and took the management of the farm where he has since resided. He married Marie L. Van Duzer, of Warwick, May 17, 1893, daughter of James Harvey and Sarah (Taylor) Van Duzer. Their one son, Thomas, Jr., was born April 3, 1896. Mr. Welling is a director of the First National Bank, second vice-president of the Warwick Savings Bank and is a trustee of the Warwick Cemetery Association. He is identified with the Grange and attends the Dutch Reformed Church of Warwick. His father, Thomas Welling, was one of Warwick's representative men. He took an active interest in matters pertaining to the town, was a director in the First National Bank and the Warwick Savings Bank and served as president of the Warwick Valley Milk Association. He died November 9, 1898.