The ‘‘Our towns’’ column is compiled each month by Carol Johnson of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. The entries have been copied from the March 1925 issues of the New Paltz Independent. To get a closer look at these newspapers of the past, visit the staff of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at the Elting Memorial Library at 93 Main Street in New Paltz, or call 255-5030.
On Saturday evening an earthquake was felt over a section extending east to New England, west to Wisconsin and south to Florida. In New England it was the severest known. New York City trembled, clocks were stopped, dishes rattled and several panic were narrowly escaped. The shock was not evenly distributed but was felt in spots. Nothing was felt in our village, but in Springtown Mr. and Mrs. Langwick were visiting at the home of Jesse Deyo. About nine in the evening the rocking chairs were set in motion, milk slopped over on the shelves, outside the house the sidewalk rose and fell like waves of the sea and the ice in the Wallkill cracked and snapped. Mr. and Mrs. Langwick hurried home to New Paltz thinking that the children might be hurt, but found our village quiet. In the business part of Poughkeepsie many people did not feel the shock at all, while at Vassar there was nearly a panic. In parts of Kingston a shock was felt equal to that caused by the passing of a large truck. Chairs were set rocking and plaster fell from the ceilings. In Canada many buildings were destroyed by the quake. Scientists say that the quake was caused by a setting of the rocks beneath the earth’s surface, probably near the mouth of the Saguenay River in Quebec. It is denied that there was any relation between the Earthquake and the eclipse. As to the prophecy that the quake is the forerunner of disaster, it is pointed out that in New England and the eastern seaboard there have been 230 earthquakes since the country was settled and that by none of them was any disaster foreshadowed.
Plans to establish a local unit of the American Legion Auxiliary have been inaugurated. A committee consisting of Charles Parker and Lewis Ackert has been appointed to canvass the Town of New Paltz. The qualifications for membership in the American Legion Auxiliary who is a wife, mother, sister or daughter of a man or a woman who is a member of the American Legion, or who was in the naval or military service of the United States at some time between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918, and who died in the line of duty or after honorable discharge; and to those women who are of their own right eligible to membership in the American Legion.
The New Paltz High School became radio enthused for the first time Wednesday afternoon, last week when they had the privilege of listening to the inauguration of President Coolidge. The thanks for this radio program go to Roland Weaver and Gilbert Barnes of the High School Department, who installed a Freshman Masterpiece radio set in the Study Hall where all could hear. School was dismissed at 11:45 and everybody returned before 12:45 so that all could hear the entire program. The High School being so crowded there was no general extended to outsiders. The program came through the air loud and clear and was thoroughly enjoyed by the radio audience. Everyone that was present thanked Roland and Gilbert for their efforts in trying to make the affair a success. [Note: Presidential inaugurations were moved from March 4th to January 20th by ratification of 20th Amendment in 1933.]
The second game of the series between the Normal School and the Fire Department teams was played last Friday night at the gym and resulted in a win for the firemen. The Normals, flushed with the recent victory over the firemen were over confident and expected to win easily, but after the game was under way it was clearly to be seen that the fire ladies were out for revenge and oh, how sweet, that stuff revenge tastes. The score: Firemen 30, Normal 21.Â
President Coolidge has signed the bill providing that $11,200.00 be spent on dredging a channel for sea going ships up the Hudson to Albany.
Work is progressing rapidly on the grounds of St. Joseph’s church. When it is finished, it will be a great improvement to that part of the village.
Ralph LeFevre, 1844-1925
On March 17, at eight o’clock in the morning Ralph LeFevre passed away in our village. He had reached his eighty-first year, was widely known and greatly respected, and until a few years ago when his natural energy was impaired by failing health, he had been one of the most active of our citizens.
He was born on the ancestral farm at Bontecoe, August 25, 1844, the son of Col. Josiah P. LeFevre and Elizabeth LeFevre. He was the direct descendant of Simon LeFevre the Patentee. His early education was received at the New Paltz Academy and at 17 he entered the Albany Normal School, but he was born of generations of farmers, the love of the country was in his blood, and he resolved to make farming his life work. On leaving Albany he wrote: “all hail the country, and home, and pleasant sunshine, and gentle breezes and perfect heath; green fields, and singing birds; and all hail the plow!”
He left the farm, however, for the teacher’s desk and at the age of 18 he became clerk in the Huguenot bank in our village. In his twenty-first year he went south, where he spent three years in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, teaching and employed on sugar and cotton plantations.
In the South, he recorded his resolutions on reaching man’s estate in lines written on his twenty-first birthday:
“Twenty-one today! I’m twenty-one years old.
Before me lies the world, its honors and bright gold.
To-day I am a man. Now childish thoughts, good-bye,
For manhood’s stern realities stand full before my eye..
Unshrinkingly and hoping much, I pass into the strife
Where daily struggles every man in the battle stern of life:
“My talents they are not the best, nor yet my education,
Resolved am I, at any rate, to mend my situation.”
What I may see, what I shall do, in years that are to come,
I know not, boast not: Wisdom says, “of future deeds be dumb.”
How far my feet shall wander, how soon my home I’ll see,
What friends shall smile or foes shall frown, is all unknown to me.
But in the search for earthy good of all the sorts we seek,
May I this wish, this earnest prayer with true desire still speak,
That God, our God, in whom we trust may still my footsteps guide,
That in the paths of wickedness they may never abide.
Returning from the South he spent some time teaching. About 1869 he became editor of the Independent, which continued to be his life work for his remaining 55 years. Several years before his death he bought the Times, thus effecting its consolidation with the Independent.
In 1873 he married Esther Margaret Oliver, daughter of Dr. James Oliver of Marbletown. The marriage continued to be an ideal one until Mrs. LeFevre’s death about 15 years ago. Three children and three grandchildren survive.
Mr. LeFevre was active in many ways for the good of the community. His interest in the teaching profession won for him three years’ term as school commissioner. He was prominent among the number of those whose united efforts brought our village the Normal School. But his especial interest was local history. He delved into the mine of our village history and brought thence treasures for the enrichment of all our people. It is largely due to his work that New Paltz is one of the few American towns that can vie with the legendary charm of the Old World. For many years his articles on local history appeared in the Independent. He received so many letters of inquiry about genealogy that to answer them all became impossible. Finally, in 1903 he brought out his book, New Paltz and its Old Families. It passed through two editions and had an international sale. Said Mr. LeFevre in the preface:
“It is natural for the people of any country or community to feel an interest in the history of their ancestors. Even the most savage nations have carefully cherished traditions of the deeds and prowess of their forefathers.
“To every man the honorable fame of his primogenitors is an incentive to emulate their noble deeds.
“In the early settlement of New Paltz, and its history for nearly a century afterwards, there is such a touch of romance, such a blending of the stern realities of frontier life with the harmony of the poet’s golden age, such noble examples of devotion to the cause of religious liberty, such brotherly kindness toward each other as exiles for a common cause, that the example should not be lost to posterity.
“Our old men are falling around us. The traditions which they cherished are perishing with them. What is to be saved from oblivion must be saved now — in this generation.
“With these feelings we have undertaken the task of gathering up the scattered links of history and joining them in a chain that should stretch down from the days of the Patentees.”
Mr. LeFevre helped to organize the New Paltz Patriotic, Historical and Monumental Society, which resulted in the purchase of the Memorial House and the erection of a monument. For a long term of years he was president of this society. His ability as a historian also won him a place as corresponding member in the Huguenot Society in America and in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
He was a member of the Reformed church of his fathers.
His kind, unassuming and unaffected manner won him many friends. He was disposed to forgive and forget injuries and to see the good in everyone.
“So we shall bear the image of the Heavenly.” As the writer gazes on his picture, the mysterious change called death seems to have left a new and spiritual beauty on the familiar face.
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