THIS BLOG IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE BE PATIENT. IF YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING IMAGES RELEVANT TO THE SUBJECT MATTER HERE PLEASE CONTACT Peter Ogden at: peterogden7x7@yahoo.com or 110 Genesee St., Ste. 707, Utica, N.Y., 13502. Posted April 28, 2014 C.E. peter ogden utica new york
NOTE ABOUT TEXT FORMAT: I do not know what's up with the text layout here. It looks fine until I post it and then much of it is all over the place. Hopefully I will eventually figures this out so I can make it neat and orderly.
John Ogden "The Pilgrim." 1609-1682.
Stonemason John Ogden, born in Lancashire [England] in 1609, brought his family to America in 1641 to accept a contract to build a dam and a mill for the newly founded settlement of Rippowam, now Stamford, Connecticut. In 1642 he and his brother, also a stonemason, built the first permanent stone church in New Amsterdam, now New York City.
Fort New Amsterdam [lower Manhattan] circa 1671.
17th Century Fort Amsterdam showing the early church.
Ogden helped found the settlements of Hempstead and North Sea, on Long Island, where he remained for 20 years. In 1651 he was granted the first commercial whaling license in America. He also built and operated grist and lumber mills, and a tannery, and operated a successful trading business throughout the colonies.
In 1665 John Ogden was the leading founder of Elizabethtown, the first permanent settlement in what would become the state of New Jersey. For the remaining 17 years of his life, he led the colony in their ongoing struggle against the attempted seizure of their lands and government by a succession of English proprietors. He died in 1682.
This account from the website abroadintheyard.com which is devoted to the scientific study of history. It is located on the site's page devoted to "10 Lancastrian Americans-notable Lancashire exports to the USA." One of the other 10 is George Washington.
www.abroadintheyard.com/10-lancastrian-americans/
The above described biography of John Ogden conforms to the oral tradition handed down in my branch of the Ogden family from my grandfather's aunt Genevieve Ogden [Jonathan Ogden's great granddaughter]to me which told of two stonemason brothers who came from England, built the first stone church in New York City and whose descendents settled in New Jersey.
More about John Ogden the Pilgrim is available in a booklet of the same name by Jack Harpster pub. 2006.
New Jersey Governor Aaron Ogden, 1756-1839. Elected Governor of New Jersey in 1812. Born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, was a cousin of Jonathan Ogden, Town of Minisink, 1790 census. Jonathan was the father of Daniel Ogden who, with his wife, Arminda Tryon Ogden founded Ogden Farm in 1832.
The Three Hundred and Seventy Five Year Legacy of an Olde New York-New Jersey Family.
A Collection of Some Photographs of Our Family Homestead, Ogden Farm, Pilgrims' Corner Road, Town of Wallkill, Orange County, New York. Founded in 1832 by my great, great, great grandparents Daniel Ogden and Arminda Tryon Ogden. You can click on any of these images to enlarge them.
Daniel Ogden, a cooper and farmer, was the son of Jonathan Ogden [ sometimes spelled Jonathan in genealogy recodrs ] and Sally or Sarah Howell Ogden. Jonathan's first wife was believed to have been Rachel [?]: [ a Brundage [?] or a Stewart[?] according to prominent 20th century Orange County, N.Y. genealogist Elizabth Horton, who was related to the Ogdens.
Jonathan migrated to the Town to Wallkill [then the Minisink wilderness] from New Jersey [ most likely Elizabethtown, aka Elizabeth- an Ogden family stronghold for over a century which at one time comprised nearly all of Union County] a few years after the American Revolution. Jonathan and Daniel were a cousins of New Jersey Governor Aaron Ogden. Arminda was a cousin of British Lord Governor William Tryon.
Royal Governor William Tryon, 1729-1788. Governor of the Colony of North Carolina
from 1765 to 1771 and of the Province of New York from 1765 to 1771.
Tryon County, New York, 1772-1784.
Above six images: The Tryon Palace, New Bern, North Carolina. Built 1767-1770. Residence of Royal Governor William Tryon and the first permanent capitol of the Colony of North Carolina.
Why did Jonathan Ogden moved away from his ancestral New Jersey family home? This is an important question because many people who trace back their roots to our Jonathan Ogden who was listed in the 1790 Census of Minisink rujn into difficultly because there are few if any other records of him in the "Minisink" wilderness before 1790. This is a bit of a mystery, especially for those who do not know the New Jersey connection.
An 18th century house in Orange County, N.Y.
What's curious is that after his death circa 1811 probably in our near the Town of Wallkill [Middletown, New York area] we find that his children have been scattered and are being
raised by various farmers, friends and neighbors in the Town of Wallkill. It appears that
when Jonathan died he had little of no adult family relations near by to take in his children. It
also appears that he was experiencing a severe financial crisis .
Why would Jonathan leave the Elizabethtown area after the Revolution with apparently very
little money and move to Minisink which was then very much a virtual wilderness frontier?
Why when he had an extensive very well connected family in Elizabethtown[to be continued************]
1. Elizabeth/Elizabethtown was very vulnerable to British raids during the Revolution,
especially destruction by fire to this region. A British raid in 1780 caused great devastation.
2. Some members of this branch of the Ogden family, including Robert Ogden, 1716-1787
[son of Robert Ogden and Hannah Crane Ogden] were Tories.
There is a significant possibility that Jonathan Ogden [ father of Daniel Ogden, Jacob
Howell Ogden, Thomas Purdy Ogden, Benjamin Ogden, Jonathan Graham Ogden, Gilbert
B. Ogden, Patty [m. Daniel Wheat-Howells, N.Y.] and Sally [m. George Graham] fled to
"The Minisink" [Orange County] from the post Revolutionary political strife and dev-
astation of his native Elizabeth for a fresh start.
It will take years to gather back together the many scattered images of Ogden Farm
but this is a start to begin publishing them to the Internet for posterity. -Peter Ogden,
January 5, 2014C.E.
[ABOVE]The two daughters of Daniel Ogden and Arminda Tryon Ogden: We are not
sure which one was which in these images. These daguerreotypes were taken circa 1850
and have been in the possession of the Ogden Family to this day. Fanny Jane Ogden:
1834-1859. Martha Ann Ogden 1836-1853. Both were almost certainly born at Ogden
Farm and probably died there. Family oral history says that both died of Scarlet Fever
which is likely the reason that we have found no record of either being married or producing
children. It is possible that they were both sick when these images were made if their parents
did not expect them to survive the illnesses and wanted images to remember them by. This,
including post mortem photos was a common practice of the period.
Undoubtedly these sisters had a hard working life on the mid 19th century dairy farm.
This family did not own slaves and would not have owned them could they have afforded to.
" Maple Lawn ", Town of Hamptonburgh, [near Goshen], Orange County, New York.
Carte de visite circa 1885. This photo is from the Ogden Farm Collection. Maple Lawn
was the ancestral homestead of Annie Elizabeth Jackson Ogden [1867-1948] who
was the daughter of Mary Anne Jones Jackson [1831-1911] and Thomas Borland
Jackson [1930-1881]; on October 23, 1890 Annie married Albert Clark Ogden I
[Sept. 8, 1864-Sept. 18, 1939] and was the mother of George Timlow Ogden II
[Jan. 30, 1897-July 13, 1981], Seward Jackson Ogden I, and M. Genevieve Ogden
[m. Clifford Wells] .
In this photo Annie is seated in the front row with light colored strapped blouse and dark
skirt to the immediate right of her mother, Mary [elderly lady in center of front row with
white hair and dark dress] and to the immediate left of the infant in a white dress.
I believe Mary's other two daughters are in this photo but I am not sure of the details
[one was Belle Jackson Houston ].
Mary Ann Jones Jackson [1831-1911] was a native of the Hamptonburgh vicinity
and she was the daughter of Anthony Denton Jones [Sept. 30, 1794-Dec. 1877
(Goshen, N.Y.) and Dollie Smith [1797-Mar. 1893]; ADJ and DS married. Jan.
28, 1819.
As yet unidentified man from the Estate of Annie Jackson Ogden said to be one of
her ancestors; a Jackson or Jones. Circa 1850 tintype. He is definitely an ancestor
of mine as one cousin noted: "He looks just like you." We might be able to eventually
identify this via the Orange County Historical Society or Jackson cousin Louis V. Mills,
Jr. whose mother had large antique oil portraits of members of our Jackson family.
Mary A. Jones Jackson? Tintype in a gutta-percha photo case circa 1850.
Collection of Peter G. Ogden.
Mary A. Jones Jackson? Carte de visite circa 1860. [this ID might be
wrong]
Anthony Denton Jones was the son of Sarah Denton Jones [July 12, 1767-Feb. 28,
1847 (Goshen, N.Y.)] and Andrew Jones [Jan. 10, 1771-Oct. 1, 1804 (Goshen, N.Y.)].
SDJ married AJ March 5, 1791.
Thomas Borland Jackson [April 30, 1830-Sept. 18, 1881 (Town of Hamptonburgh,
N.Y.)] was the son of Mary Tuthill [Nov. 1, 1799-Dec. 6-1883 (Orange County, N.Y.)
and William Jackson [July 10, 1786-June 30, 1860 (New York State)] who were
married ?.
Mary Tuthill was the daughter of Catherine Smith [Dec. 15, 1774-Mar. 31, 1861]
and Joshua Tuthill, Jr. [Nov. 2, 1771-Oct. 18, 1836]. CS and JT, Jr. married
May 30, 1797.
William Jackson was the son of Polly Armstrong [circa 1761-Mar. 4, 1843 (Orange
County, N.Y.)] and Enoch Jackson [1755-Feb. 11, 1834] who were married June 17,
1784 at Goshen, N.Y..
Enoch Jackson was the son of Elizabeth Jackson and Thomas Jackson [d. circa 1787,
Florida, Orange County, N.Y.]. Several decades ago the Enoch Jackson homestead, near
Goshen underwent a high quality restoration.
The above genealogical information was relayed to me circa 1980 by Middletown, N.Y.
historian Elizabeth Mills [mother of former Middletown Mayor Louis V. Mills]. Louis Mills
wife, Roberta is a cousin via her aunt Annie E. Jackson Ogden.
First Congregational Church, Middletown, New York circa 1870, from an approximately
8" x 10" original. Neo Gothic architecture. One of the main centers of social life in Middletown
for over a century. Daniel Ogden, his son George T. Ogden, I; and Daniel's grandson, Albert
Clark Ogden, I were all deacons of this church. My grandfather George T. Ogden, II was
offered a deaconship during the Prohibition era but he declined because at the time he was
producing and selling apple whiskey from the Ogden Farm apple orchard. I believe that this
split from the church led to ensuing family tragedies and a very important spirituality connection.
For my grandfather making money became paramount.
L: Annie Elizabeth Jackson Ogden with her sister, either Emma Belle Jackson
Houston? or Dollie Jackson Everett? Circa 1885.
Annie Elizabeth Jackson Ogden "The Gold Digger" from a circa 1888 carte de visite.
She married
Albert Clark Ogden I October 23, 1890.
Albert Clark Ogden I. From a circa 1888 carte de visite bt Osterhout Photographers,
Middletown, New York.
Ogden Farm panoramic view circa 1890. The original is approximately two feet long. The original is hand colored, most likely by Genevieve Blanche Ogden who had a hobby of coloring black and white prints. Left of the large pine trees is a grove of blossoming apple trees. The tiny house in this grove belonged to Sophronia Mott and was demolished not long after this photograph was made. Little is known of Mrs. Mott.
In the mid 20th century the big hundred year old pine trees were knocked over onto the house by a freak northeaster hurricane. The huge barn in the background replaced a smaller, earlier one. The Victorian barn in this photograph was destroyed by far circa 1960 when a part time employee had an accident with a stolen car and moved it into the barn which he set ablaze in hopes of hiding his theft. As the giant three story, L-shaped barn burned a passing bus load of Middletown High School students en route to their prom and in formal dress stopped to allow many of the young men in their Tuxedos to enter the barn and help rescue tethered cows as flaming bales of hay fell through the old wooden hay mow floor. the barn was rebuilt circa 1960. To the best of my knowledge all the cows survived.
Charlotte May Ogden Whitney [aka "Lotta" and "Lottie"] with her sister Genevieve
Blanche Ogden and Victorian bicycles at Ogden Farm circa 1900. Charlotte and Genevieve
were the daughters of George T. Ogden, I and Emeline Clark Ogden [ daughter of Judge Hulet
Clark from near Greenville, Orange County, New York.
My great, great grandfather George Timlow Ogden, I at Ogden Farm
circa 1900 with horse and buggy.
L: .Catherine Whitney Langdon. R: Addie Cuddeback feeding
chickens in the barnyard circa 1900.
Charlotte May Ogden Whitney ["Lottie"aka "Lotta"] Daughter of
George Timlow Ogden I and EmelineClark Ogden in front of the porch
of the main house, Ogden Farm, circa 1900.
Charlotte May Ogden Whitney [ aka "Lottie" and "Lotta" ] with her daughter
Catherine Whitney Langdon circa 1900.
Frank Tryon Ogden with his niece Catherine Whitney Langdon and
chickens in the barnyard at Ogden Farm circa 1900. I believe that Frank
became a pharmacist like his Middletown cousin Harry Ogden of Ogden
& Shimer, Middletown. Harry made early experiments with radium or
x-rays.Frank moved on to Owego, New York where he settled. I don't
believe that Frank ever married or had children.
Left to right: Marian Genevieve Ogden Wells, Albert Clark Ogden, I, Seward Jackson
Ogden, I, Annie Elizabeth Jackson Ogden, George Timlow Ogden, II. At their first home,
which was given to them by George T. Ogden, I. Circa 1900. This home was located on Monhagen
Avenue Extension [later Route 211 West] between the southeast corner of Pilgrims' Corner Road
[later County 78] and 211 West and the entrance to Pilgrim Estates. It included approximately
twenty acres and a gigantic barn which was associated with the Ogden Dairy Company.
Despite the ample comfort of their new home and its bucolic setting approximately one mile from
then booming downtown Middletown Annie was unhappy living so "far out in the country" away
from her "society lady friends". She coerced Albert to pull up stakes and relocate to 136 West Main
Street a short walk from the pretentious mansions and late Victorian parties and teas of Highland Avenue.
Albert Clark Ogden [left] with Ogden Farm Milk Dairy wagon and horse. Circa 1900.
Possibly taken directly across from his residence at 136 West Main Street, Middletown.
Genevieve Blanche Ogden and her sister Charlotte May Ogden Whitney at the
west end of the main house. Genevieve never married after the man she was engaged
to died of a heart attack the day before their scheduled wedding. This porch was later
replaced by a large flagstone patio circa 1956.
The Middletown Homeopathic or Insane Asylum circa 1905 lithograph. This institution, which was
one of the finest in the world during its first decades included a farm with over 100 acres where many
of the patients work with farm animals and horticultural projects as late as the 1960s as part of their
therapy. This farm adjoined the southern border of Ogden Farm.
On rare occasions of quiet nights when the moon was full the sound of the "mad ones" screaming
from the asylum were carried on the wind to the inhabitants of Ogden Farm. I remember hearing this a
few times in summer when I was a boy.
Primary residence of
Albert Clark Ogden I, and his wife,
Annie Elizabeth Jackson Ogden where
siblings
George, Seward and Marian [sp?] Genevieve Ogden Wells grew up. This house was designed
by Middletown's most prominent Victorian architect,
Frank Lindsey. From a "real photo postcard" circa 1906.
George and Lucile lived here for a few years before moving to Ogden Farm in 1925. Apparently
Annie had married Albert largely for material comfort and was not an easy woman to live with. Lucile sometimes would amusedly recall an incident in which she was riding in the back of an open vintage automobile with her snobbish "bitter pill" mother in law Annie when the rear wheels plunged through a
large mud puddle and drenched an infuriated Annie with a load of mud.
Annie belonged to Middletown's Lenten Sewing Club which was a very private social and gossip
club for ladies from Middletown's old and prominent families like the Horton's, Buttenheims, Clemsons, Morrisons, Wiggins and Beakes. These ladies gathered regularly to sew intricate decorative laces and other popular textiles of the late Victorian period.
"Queen of the Carnival, Old Home Week, Middletown, N.Y." circa 1908. This is a card
that I reissued circa 1981 of the original "real photo postcard" photo by C.A. Ketchum.
Frederick Dorrance Ogden circa 1910? Son of George T. Ogden, I and Emeline Clark
Ogden. Raised at Ogden Farm. I believe he and his wife, Florence Young Ogden sold
Ogden Farm to George T. Ogden, II in 1925. The price GTO paid for approximately
two hundred acres at that time was $10,000.00.
George T. Ogden, Jr. with horse drawn milk wagon in front of the dairy store established by his grandfather at the corner of Bonnell Place and West Main Street, Middletown, New York, circa 1915.
George Timlow Ogden II In his Mount Pleasant Military Academy uniform circa 1917.
Lucile Greenleaf Gumaer. Approximately seventeen years old from the Port Jervis [N.Y.]
High School Yearbook of 1920 or 1921. She was the editor of the yearbook. "...voted the
prettiest girl in the class."
George Timlow Ogden, II. With children in toy wagons and his oxen. Directly in front of
the Ogden Farm homestead in the middle of Pilgrims' Corner Road with the old Carpenter farm
house in the background. Circa 1935.
Left to right: 1. Unidentified infant held by: 2. Lucile Ogden. 3. Albert Ogden in plaid jacket. 4. Georgine Ogden Prokopov in dark coat. 5. George Ogden, III ["Tim"] in profile wearing dark knit
hat. 6. Anne Ogden Uldin wearing gray knit hat. Circa 1935.
Lucile told me that her family was relatively comfortable during the Great Depression because they
owned a farm where they could produce their own food and because they were in the dairy business
and people had to buy milk, if only for their children's health. She also told me that during that time they
had some friends in the piano business who found themselves in very difficult straights because there
was virtually no market for pianos in Orange County, New York during the depression. She was very grateful for the farm and the dairy business.
L:
George T. Ogden, II. Center:
Lucile G. Ogden. R: Unidentified man. On holiday at Atlantic
City,circa 1935. They appear to be seated in one of the classic popular canopied wicker tourist
pushcarts used for cruising the boardwalk.
Folk Art Flower Painting. Reverse painting under glass with tinfoil by Fannie[sp?]
Mulock circa 1855 for her sister Sarah Jane Mulock Gumaer [both from Town of
Greenville, Orange County, New York].; approximate size was 2' x 3'. It was in a large
gilt original antique frame and hung in the entry hall of themain house at Ogden Farm for
many decades. It was sold to Jenkinstown Antiques, New Paltz, N.Y. around 1992.
From the Estate of Lucile Greenleaf Gumaer Ogden.
Ice harvesting was a very dangerous past time. In this scene, had the ice given way Dr. Georgine Ogden Prokopov could have quickly plunged into the freezing water. Georgine's father, George, believed in the Yankee tradition that children should contribute work toward the prosperity of their family, that hard work builds character; yet he also placed a high value on education. Although when she was a youth Georgine did hard physical farm labor such as loading, unloading and carrying full 10 gallon milk cans she also was a proficient tennis player. George paid for her education at Columbia University and the University of London. Ultimately she obtained a PhD. with a specialty in Russian American relations and worked many years for the CIA. She also traveled in a wild 1950s Afghanistan alone. She published two books of poetry and another of Georgine's legacy was the donation of many acres of a high wooded section of the southwest portion of Ogden Farm above the Monhagen Reservoir to the Nature Conservancy.
George Ogden occasionally remarked, sarcastically: "You do everything for your children and when they grow up they return the favor by leaving you."
Lucile Greenleaf Gumaer Ogden circa 1940.
L to R: Girl ______ Heinrich? First boy: Clifford Wells, boy on pony:
George Timlow Ogden III ["Timmy"], adult: Richard Ogden Wells
[son of Genevieve Ogden Wells]. Circa 1945?
Ogden Farm. 1948 oil on canvas by family friend Alice Seward Brodie of
the prominent New York State Seward family which is associated with the Alaska Purchase.
Albert Clark Ogden II with his "buggy" circa 1950.
Ogden Farm Main House, front view after hurricane cleanup. Circa 1955-1956. I do not remember
whether this was the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel [1954] or Hurricane Diane [1955]. During this power-
ful storm the spruce trees on the lawn in front of the house, which were well over a century old were
knocked over toward the house. The Victorian gingerbread front porch was severely damaged by one or
more of these trees and had to be removed. The giant weeping birch caught one or more of the spruce
trees which would have crashed onto the southwest corner of the house and crushed it.
There are three cupolas in this photo on the right side. The higher two, with the pointed finials are on
top of the huge three story L-shaped dairy barn which was burned to the ground by an arsonist not long
after this photo was taken. The other cupola atop the wagon house [with large sliding door open] was
destroyed by a roof fire in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Peter Ogden had a new redwood cupola in the
"Steuben" style [after the traditional architecture of Steuben County, N.Y.] installed atop the wagon house
in the early 1990s when he had the entire wagon house restored and heavily reinforced.
Double Exposure. Unknown photographer. Circa 1954 after hurricane cleanup. The homestead is superimposed with circa 1825 neighbor's house and the huge "Mini Cooper" sized conglomerate boulder which was left behind by glaciers after the last ice age and had rested near the foundation under the two windows immediately to the right of the bay window, probably for thousands of years. "Tim" Ogden [George Timlow Ogden, III] took upon himself the project of single handedly, with the help of a tractor, excavating this behemoth and transporting it approximately fifty yards to the lower driveway as a decorative monument.
There was another huge conglomerate boulder left by the glaciers on the west side of the farm near the former police rifle range and atop a forested shale ridge which Tim also wrestled. He moved it to one of the highest spots on that ridge with a sweeping panorama of the back of the homestead and the Ramapo Mountains beyond, to the east. After his cremation some of Tim's ashes were scattered around this natural stone monument. When we were children this family shrine was described to us as "Uncle Tim's Rock". Often when we hiked there and heard the wind rustling the trees we thought we might have been visited by Tim's restless spirit.
Circa 1959 after a heated falling out with his father Tim drove to California to start a
new life but was killed in a foggy wreck when his speeding car slammed into the back
of a huge farm truck which had stopped along the side of the highway; probably 101,
in the agricultural belt of coastal southern California. My grandfather told me that the
California Patrol officer who was first on the scene of the crash had remarked that Tim
was "the most muscular young man" that he had ever seen. George responded that the
accident would never have happened if Tim had "just stayed home on the farm."
My distraught father, who was extremely devoted to Tim, and had never before shown
symptoms of mental illness disappeared after he learned of Tim's death. Several hours
later my father was detained by police after they rescued him from chasing headlights
on the New Jersey Turnpike.
1957 newspaper advertisement for the Lucile Gumaer Ogden School of Dancing which
operated for approximately thirty years. Headquartered on Middletown's North Street,
Lucile traveled throughout Orange County to teach a wide variety of dance including ballroom,
tap, ballet, folk and even the "Twist".
Lucile studied dance in Manhattan and traveled there frequently to attend world famous dance
performances at the Metropolitan Opera House and other venues. She founded the school with
her own funds for two primary reasons, the first being her great love of the dance and the second
being her strong desire to be financially independent of her extremely pragmatic and domineering
husband. One of her husband's favorite sarcastic comments about wives was: "Keep 'em
pregnant and tell 'em nothin'."
1958 Ticket to dance performance of Cinderella at the
Lucile Gumaer Ogden
School of Dance.
Classic American tourists: George and Lucile in Peru in the late 1960s. During this trip
they also toured Mexico and most countries of South and Central America.
George T. Ogden II in his cutter drawn his favorite pet "Dollie" who lived to the ripe old age of forty.
George and Lucile celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, 1972.
Lucile and George Ogden. 1977.
"Measure your dreams with accomplishment."-LGO
Historical origin of the name "Pilgrims' Corner", Town of Wallkill,
Orange County, New York.
Aerial view of Ogden Farm buildings complex circa 1978; obtained by
Albert C. Ogden II.
1979 obituary of Albert Clark Ogden, II from the Middletown Times Herald Record. Albert died in the driveway of the Ogden homestead as the result of a shotgun blast to his head. He was found by his mother, Lucile late at night when he was missing, she saw his car that night, opened the door and the ceiling lamp illuminated what remained of her last son.
1979.
George Timlow Ogden, II. Reading at The Patricia Inn, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,1980.
"Keep a stiff upper lip and makes the best of the situation." and: "Don't let your money
burn a hole in your pocket."-GTO
Circa 1980.
Ogden Farmstead south view with Holstein heifer. Circa 1980.
Obituary of George Timlow Ogden, II from the Wednesday, July 15, 1981 issue of the Middletown Times Herald Record.
Lucile Greenleaf Gumaer Ogden, 1981 in her kitchen at Ogden Farm. The circa 1860 Hitchcock chair to the left was one of a set inherited from Maple Lawn, the Jackson family homestead. "Measure your dreams with accomplishment."-LGO
Lucile Gumaer Ogden. Impromptu shot; caught off guard "genre scene". Defends herself from aggressive paparazzi with bottle of Palmolive dish soap. 1981. "Sometimes a kick is a boost."--LGO
Lucile G. Ogden. At the Port Washington [New York] Yacht Club wedding of cousin S.Ogden, 1982. Amusingly, in the mid 1900s S's grandfather, S.J. I, was discovered to be married to two women at the same time with one family in Middletown and another near New York City, each oblivious of the other until an amazing accidental meeting on the Manhattan subway. "Never intentionally hurt another person's feelings".-LGO
Peter and
Lucile preparing to examine proposed site for asparagus beds west of Highway 78 in
October 1982. Site is now the location of the new Middletown High School built in the 1990s on
approximately one hundred acres of former Ogden Farm lands which once belonged to the
State of New York Homeopathic Asylum.
"Doyenne of Ogden Farm". Article written by Lucile's friend, Chris Farlekas, and published in the November 13, 1983 issue of the Middletown Times Herald Record.
Nearly a century of Peter E. Gumaer's documents had been stored in the safe of the Minisink Valley Historical Society for many decades unbeknownst to Lucile until she was alerted to their existence by Cornelius Cuddeback who was very concerned for their preservation. This trove was the basis of her book. Peter E. Gumaer lived from 1771-1869 and died aged 99 years.
Ginger. Ogden Farm with north meadow in background. 1984.
Lucile G. Ogden brushing her faithful guardian "Crank" at Ogden Farm, 1984. The huge 100+ year old Weeping White Birch in the background was found by Albert Clark Ogden, I, when he was a boy. It had fallen off a nursery truck into the road in front of the farm and he planted it where it stands. This beautiful tree died in the early 1990's very soon after the last member of the Ogden family sold the homestead and moved away. "Be careful what you go out to get because it might get you."-LGO
January 23, 1987. The red ca. 1974 Buick Regal was Lucile's last car.
January 23, 1987.
It was a beautiful car with a very powerful engine but far too pretentious which is why it was soon replaced with a vehicle much better suited to the low key culture of the region. Also, a car like this parked in one's
driveway is like a billboard invitation to burglars.
Ogden Farm Ice House and farmer's tool shed. The ice house was originally built circa 1890. Underneath the tongue and groove sheathing was a hollow double wall of thick boards to act as insulation from the heat. Before the active restoration pictured here in this August 2000 photo there was a low, wood frame air vent that ran along the peak of the rood almost from gable to gable for facilitating the escape of heat and moist air from inside. This restoration was underwritten by Beth Jones Post and her husband, James Post. I believe that this photo was taken by Beth Post who has boundless energy. Oddly enough this couple, who were the first people outside our family to own the Ogden Homestead since 1832 reminded me very much of my grandparents, George and Lucile. I was very surprised when I learned that they were restorting this old ice house because it was beginning to show significant signs of deterioration.
The central buildings complex of the farm was located a few hundred yards east of the dam of the stone and earthen dam Monhagen Reservoir which was built out of the "Black Hole Tamarack Swamp" shortly after the Civil War. My grandparents told me that, in the winter, when ice blocks were being cut and "harvested" from the reservoir my grandfather had, for many winters, put together a portable wooden sluiceway from the reservoir to the ice house. This sluiceway ran from the dam over Pilgrims' Corner Road [aka "Reservoir Road], across the old Sophronia Mott lot and down behind the main house to the ice house. This sluiceway enabled the people cutting the ice block on the reservoir and those along its length to give the blocks a few good shoves and let gravity do the rest all the way to the ice house.
Once inside, the blocks of ice were covered with a layer of insulating sawdust once they were inside the ice house; the sawdust would also have help prevent the large blocks of ice from fusing together.
Because the Ogdens were in the dairy business since long before refrigeration was available ice houses were very busy. I believe there was another enormous ice house at the Albert Clark Ogden, I farm on Monhagen Avenue Extension [Route 211W] and another at the bottling plant and retail store on West Main Street.
I know that this ice house was used up until the 1930s and possibly as late as the 1940s.
In the late 1960s heat of America's first major, modern ecology / environmental movement a few of my middle school neighbors, especially Beth DeGeus, [now Reverend Beth DeGeus Titus], Timothy DeGeus and I formed a tiny "grass roots" environmental activist group named Ecologists United.We had our meetings in the upstairs of the ice house in good weather and in Lucile Ogden's basement in bad weather. Our primary activity was routinely walking about a mile along the main roads of our neighborhood with old burlap cow feed bags to pickup litter.
We saved up all the glass and aluminum we had removed from the road sides until we had enough to sell it to a recycler. When we had saved enough from these proceeds we had a pizza party. Some funds were also put toward publishing our newsletter "Roads to a Cleaner World". I think this group lasted for about one year.
We were a tiny early version of Green Peace and we were aware of one, and perhaps only major guerrilla act against a very toxic "municipal" water polluter of the Monhagen the Town of Wallkill that which for now, and perhaps forever shall remain a secret.
At the time so much was "old" around us that we largely took it for granted. Our upstairs "clubhouse" was furnished will antiques from the old Orange County families that were related to: There was a painted cabinet circa 1850 that had come down to us through the Houston family. This cabinet had been used for filing mail in Middletown's first post office. Apparently one of the Houstons was one of Middletown's earliest postmasters. I gave this cabinet to my Manhattan acquisitive actress cousin Grace Fields Woodard.
There were also a circa 1870 Eastlake couch with matching armchair from the J. Mulock homestead in the Town of Greenville. I gave the armchair to Gumaer cousin Peter Best. The couch was sold via Mark Vail. There was also a solid Oak incised Eastlake low dresser from Guymard circa 1875; and a tall Mission Oak dresser circa 1890 which belonged to Annie E. Jackson Ogden which I have on extended loan to her great grandson, Ward Ogden.
The downstairs was a jungle thicket into which you entered at considerable risk of breaking your neck or an ankle. It was crowded with a menagerie of old odds and ends which included milk cans, parts of antique furniture, fifteen foot long antique bamboo fishing poles on the ceiling, ladders, pipes, boards, and many antique doors. I gave my cousin Walter Fields of Jacklight Gallery several mid and early nineteenth century doors which he dismantled for their large beveled wood panels which he used for painting his fine art works.
West end of main house, Ogden Farm, 1996 as Cedar Ridge Quarter Horse Farm under the stewardship of James and Beth Jones Post. The Weeping European Cut Leaf White Birch tree was one of the largest specimens of its kind in the United States; it was approximately 140 years old and most likely a victim of climate change and air pollution from the engulfing NYC Metroplex--or a broken heart as it died shortly after the last Ogden family member sold the property.
East end of the Ogden homestead undergoing renovations in 1996 after water damage from
pipes sabotaged by a former disgruntled farm employee. This end of the house originally had
doors where the triptych windows are to admit horse drawn carriages. This part of the house
was also said to have been part "root cellar" and cooperage for Daniel Ogden.
The third floor attic, known as the "Hideaway" was a studio apartment for many years. When
George and Lucile first moved to the farm in 1925 after purchasing the house and 250 acres
from Frank Ogden for $10,000 they found Ogden and Tryon family daguerreotypes and some
of Daniel Ogden's 19th century cooper's tools in this attic. Unfortunately many of the daguerreo-
types were stolen in the 1950s.
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