It will exist to serve and support
personal, scholarly and local interest."

Our First Annual History Event

On October 28th our event was a great success.

The featured speaker was Clara Gillow Clark ,a local author who writes children's books.

She led us through the process of the research that is necessary for writing a book and making it factual. Her most recent book is "Willie and the Rattle Snake King"

At 4 pm was our First annual history event with our residents being the speakers during the 'open mike' session.

First, Ron Rasmussen spoke on the history of his family when they first came to the area and the establishment of their business. This was followed by Kathleen (Hankins) Johnson, who told of
the start of Ford Motor Company in Narrowsburg. Ralph Huebner spoke on Luxton Lake Park in it's hey day, followed by Orvis Vannatta and other long time residents talking on the past.

Watch next fall for our Second Annual Tusten History Event., and bring your memories to share with us.

Genealogy Section
Genealogies in our collection are:
Sands of Time with a large section on Killie family; Dexter & related Families; Conklin Family; Keesler, Nearing and Conklin; Branningville Story, on Branning Family; LaBarr Family of Sullivan County, NY; plus some family histories compiled from genealogy research.

If your family history has been written up, please consider leaving a copy with our collection. This will make it searchable for generations to come.

In October we have added a will index for town of Tusten and Cochecton residents from 1909 to 1966. 

Coming as soon as they are transcribed will be wills of earlier years from mid 1800's to 1909.

These are being transcribed from the Surrogates court . This index is helpful to know if your ancestor has a will before you go out to Monticello and it will allow you to go directly to the right case where the original will can be found. Copies can be made from the original with the clerk on duty.

Queries
Seeking info on Calvin LaBarr from Beaver Brook who married Elizabeth Marie Rice, he died 11 Jan 1901 at age 45, of what? 

Edey Werman 
ll06 Wilton E.Hall Rd. 
Starr, SC 29684
Email: heyladyl3@juno.corn

I am looking for information on John A. Isner. Is he a son, nephew or brother to Henry Isner?  Isner's lived in the
Grassy Swamp area. 

Contact: Emily Hallock at:
Knechtkin@yahoo.com

From the Past
A Post Office was established at Lava, Sullivan County, NY on January 14, 1886 and was discontinued on January
31,1934.

When the time came to establish a post office, different people were asked to suggest a n appropriate name. One such name was Blumenthal (flower valley). This, however did not meet the requirements of the postal authorities. John F. Ropke suggested "Lava", however, it never could be learned what prompted him to suggest this unusual name, nevertheless it was approved.

The names of the postmasters who served Lava and the dates of their
appointment are:

Louis A. Kelz January 14, 1886

William Klein October 10, 1891

Louis A. Kelz July 12, 1897

Frank J. Reith December 22, 1914

Mrs . Emily Ropke February 5, 1923
(served through 1929.)


Above picture is a sculpture of Tom Quick, this was made for the Narrowsburg Central School some years ago by Herbert Strunk, a well known painter and sculptor who lived in Lava.

This statue can be viewed at Fort Delaware when they open in the summer months.

Many thanks to the following for recent donations this past fall.

Tom Kuen for history of Kuen family

Alien Reith for picture of Geo W.Englemann Hotel

Sue Hennig for 1944 Calendar from Fosterdale/ Lake Huntington

Dot & Tom Batchelor for a year book and pictures.

Jean Rutz for pictures of construction of interstate bridge.

Nancy Mohn for monetary gift.

Sue Wilson for monetary donation and a resource book to help with your German research.

John Barnes for never before seen rafting pictures in memory of his
Mom, Jeannette Barnes.

Bernie Sussman for CD's on Ten Mile River Scout History

Doris Mohn for loan of pictures to be scanned

Mary Murphy for loan of pictures to be scanned for our collection

David Malatzky for CD's on TMR Scout Museum

John Dowd for pencil sharpner, acid free photo holders, exterior zip drive.

Art & Beth Peck for monetary gift.

Special thanks to Linda Slocum for her assistance in obtaining for us the generous award of $500. from the Wayne, Pike, Sullivan County Antique Dealers Association

Thanks to the following:
N.C.S. for donation of many photos and year books.

Mary Murphy for helping cataloging school pictures.

John Dowd for his unending work on Narrowsburg history projects.

Betty Hawker for the great work of entering obits into a computer program, for easier access.

Wish List:
Missing year books, come in to see list.

Acid Free folders

Desk top copier

Mylar covers for photo's

Volunteers to help catalog items and to help with Room's hours.

UDHA Award
At the Upper Delaware Heritage Alliance yearly awards dinner, on 30 Sept 2001, the Local History Association received recognition for promoting local history. Acceptance speech was given by Grace Johansen, our President.

This house was originally built as a one story clapboard school house, circa 1840, on a site approximately 250' northeast of its present location on Kirk Road. In 1874, Michael Kirk purchased some land and moved it to its present
site. The second story and a porch were added a year later. It is an example of stucco over wood frame and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cleaning out the attic or selling your house? 

Please watch for any old
materials of historical interest on our area, such as; pictures, pamphlets, old year books, post cards, letters, newspaper articles on long ago residents or businesses. Consider donating them to our Local History Assoc., or if you prefer to keep them, allow us to make copies. Our area's history can be preserved in a safe environment with your help.

Last minute news:
Check out the
Town of Tusten web site at:
http://www.tusten-narrowsburg.org

Last week the webmaster, Tony Ritter added to the site
information compiled by Emily and arranged by John to further help those who have Tusten Roots and are at some distance to get into the room to research.

The information put on the site is that which is not readily available any other place. The New York State Census was transcribed for the Town of Tusten in the 1980's. Only the index is online for two of those years, at this time.

In our room we have available the complete information for Tusten in
1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1915 and 1925.

This should enable folks to locate their ancestors and write for further information.

In addition there is a Genealogy section, with biographies of earlier
Settlers as compiled from records within our files.

More plan to be added later, also keep checking the site in the near
future, as more info is added to some of the biographies already there.

A huge thanks to Tony for helping us in this way.