HAMILTON NY GREAT FIRE POSTMASTER LETTER SIGNED CIVIL WAR KIA GETTYSBURG COLONEL For Sale
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HAMILTON NY GREAT FIRE POSTMASTER LETTER SIGNED CIVIL WAR KIA GETTYSBURG COLONEL:
$15.99
GEORGE BEAL
“Hamilton, NY’s Popular Postmaster”
(1850 – 1929)
HERO POSTMASTER OF HAMILTON, NEW YORK APPOINTED BYPRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND - SERVING DURING THE GREAT FIRE OF 1895 THATDESTROYED HAMILTON, NY,
ACQUAINTANCE OF CIVIL WAR KIA GETTYSBURG COLONEL GEORGEARROWSMITH, and
JUSTLY REGARDED AS ONE OF THEREPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF MADISON COUNTY, NY!
HERE’s A GOODCIVIL WAR-RELATED CONTENT AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY BEAL, 3pp., DATED AT HAMILTON,NY, SEPT. 16, 1896 TO
JOHNSTILLWELL APPLEGATE
(1837-1916)
INFLUENTIAL 1880s NJ STATE SENATOR, RED BANK, NJ LAWYER, GENEALOGIST, BANKPRESIDENT, and CIVIL WAR BIOGRAPHICAL AUTHOR OF HIS CLOSE FRIEND COLONEL GEORGEARROWSMITH, KIA AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG!!
IN THIS LETTER, BEAL DISCUSSES APPLEGATE’S BOOKABOUT HIS (HAMILTON) COLGATE COLLEGE FRIEND and ROOMATE, CIVIL WAR KIA COLONELGEORGE ARROWSMITH TITLED,
“REMINISCENCES…OF COL ARROWSMITH…”
Beal writes, in part:
“…I was a boywhen George Arrowsmith went to the front. I remember him well and he has alwaysbeen to me an ideal hero. It was a real pleasure to know that such a work hadbeen written and as one who held him in high esteem I thank you for the serviceyou have done the memory of a good and brave man”
NOTE: This letter came out of the John S.Applegate Red Bank, NJ Estate. JohnApplegate was a prominent State Senator and notable 19th century lawyer who didmuch legal work in connection with the Railroads and telegraph Companies. He worked with Civil War notables includingGeneral T. T. Eckert in railroad/telegraph company litigation. He also wrote a rare book about his friendColonel Arrowsmith who was killed in action at Gettysburg in 1893 Titled: “REMINISCENCES AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ARROWSMITH OF NEW JERSEY, LATELIEUTENANT-COLONEL OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT, NEW YORKSTATE VOLUNTEERS”
The document is 3pp.,each page measuring 3½” x 8½” and is in VERY FINE CONDITION. The ALS comes with its original postalstationary transmittal envelope cover (which also bears Beal’s signature), andHamilton, NY circular date stamp postmark (CDS).
BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE BEAL
In 1894, Beal was appointed Postmasterat Hamilton, New York by President Cleveland, and his conduct of the office washighly acceptable to both political elements. He gave his whole attention tothe duties of his office and, it is worthy of note, that when the great fire of1895 destroyed Hamilton, the post office building also being burned, the publicof Hamilton got their mail just as before with the slight exception that onlyone mail was delayed a few minutes.
Again, very little was lost. Toillustrate Beal\'s remarkable executive ability, business was resumed at once inPaterson\'s shoe shop on Lehanon street every mail was dispatched on time andbut one mail was delayed in distribution. After the fire, a temporary office wasestablished in Mr. Mott\'s residence on Broad street until a building waserected in Shanty Town, where business was transacted until Beal tookpossession of the elegantly equipped office now occupied in the Smith building.While the office was rated in the third class, the business transacted in moneyordrs alone was much larger than in many second class offices.
Beal was also a member of the HamiltonBoard of Education fourteen years and has also served as Loan Commissioner.
He married Elisa Agnes Wahu ofPreston, Onto., September 5, 1876; they have two sons, Frederick W., and GeorgeM. Beal was a prominent Mason and isjustly regarded as one of the representative citizens of Madison County.
Source:Our County and it\'s people; A Descriptive and Biographical Record of MadisonCounty, New York, Edited by: John E. Smith, The Boston History Co., Publishers1890.
Beal died on March 8, 1929 at Hamilton, NY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE HONORABLE
JOHN S. APPLEGATE
John Stillwell Applegate, LL.D., sonof Joseph Stillwell and Ann (Bray) Applegate, was bom at the home farm inMiddletown township, Monmouth county, New Jersey, August 6, 1837, and died athis home in Red Bank, New Jersey, November 10, 1916. He obtained a goodpreparatory education in county schools of note, and then entered ColgateUniversity, Hamilton, New York, whence he was graduated A. B., class of 1858.Forty-six years later, 1904, Colgate bestowed upon her son the honorary degreeof LL.D. Choosing the law as his profession, he studied under the direction ofthe eminent William L. Dayton, (Attorney-General of New Jersey) for a time, andin November, 1861, was admitted to the New Jersey bar, and in February, 1865,as a counsellor.
Thefarm in Middletown township was the family home until 1857, when Joseph S.Applegate built his residence in Red Bank, and moved therein, the son, John S.,beginning law practice there immediately after his admission to the bar inNovember, 1861. He practiced alone until 1875, then for five years wasassociated with Henry M. Nevius, who later was a circuit court judge. From 1884until 1901 he was in law partnership with Frederick W. Hope, and from 1901until his passing in 1916, he practiced with his son, John S. (2), as John S.Applegate & Son, 84-88 Broad Street. Red Bank. He was in turn admitted toall State courts, to the Circuit and District Federal courts, and was connectedwith many of the celebrated cases tried in the Monmouth courts during the morethan half a century he was in active practice. His practice had always beenlarge and he won a most honorable rank in the profession he loved.
In thebusiness life of his community, Mr. Applegate was also a conspicuous figure. Hewas one of the incorporators of the New York and Atlantic Highlands Railroad,and President of the RR Company until its taking over by the Central Railway,of New Jersey; was President of the first Building and Loan Association of theshore district of Monmouth County, 1871-1875; President of the Red Bank GasLight Company, 1872; a Founder and President of the Second National Bank of RedBank from its organization in 1875 until his resignation in 1886, his share inthe upbuilding of these now important
corporationsbeing their very life blood.
ARepublican in polices, Mr. Applegate from 1862 when he was elected schoolsuperintendent of Shrewsbury township, took a very active part in publicaffairs. He was three times reelected school superintendent.
Duringthe Civil War he was a member of the Governor\'s Light Guard, and aided inrecruiting and in the vigorous prosecution of the war.
He wasmade a special deputy of the Union League of America, and formed a number ofchapters in various parts of New Jersey. In 1865 he was a member of theRepublican State Central Committee, and in 1870, when Red Bank wasincorporated, he was elected a member of the first Municipal Council, and in1871 was elected President of the Council.
In1881 he was elected State Senator from Monmouth County, New Jersey the 1stRepublican to win that honor, carrying that then stronghold of Democracy by onethousand votes. Among the bills he introduced, championed and fought tosuccessful issue was one requiring the public printing of the State to beawarded to the lowest responsible buyer, a bill fought by the newspapers, whohad formerly held it in return for party service. He was also the father of thebill allowing smaller towns and villages to construct and maintain water works,and under that act Red Bank established the first city water system. SenatorApplegate becoming, in 1884, a member of the first Board of Water Commissionersever appointed in the city.
SenatorApplegate was President of the Monmouth County Bar Association; a member of theNew Jersey Bar Association; a member of the American Bar Association; a trusteeof the Monmouth Battle Monument Association: a member of the board of managersof the New Jersey Society, Sons of the American Revolution; a charter memberand trustee of the Monmouth County Historical Association; a member of Phi BetaKappa; Delta Kappa Epsilon; New York Genealogical and Biographical Society;honorary member of the One Hundred and Fifty-Seventh Regiment, New YorkVolunteer Infantry, and deeply interested in these organizations.
Inreligious faith he was a Baptist and served the First Church of Red Bank asPresident of its board of trustees for many years. In 1880 he delivered theannual Alumni address at Colgate University, and in 1893 he published amemorial volume commemorating the life and services of George Arrowsmith, whowas killed-in-action at the Civil War battle of Gettysburg, and whose memory isperpetuated by Arrowsmith Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Red Bank.
He wasmade supreme court commissioner in 1865, and a special master in chancery in1885. He was a member of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, and one ofthe men who could always be depended on to lead or forward any pressingmovement.
JohnS. Applegate married, October 5, 1865, Deborah Catherine Allen, daughter ofCharles Gordon and Catherine (Trafford) Allen, granddaughter of James and Mary(Gordon) Allen, of Scotch-English ancestry. Charles Gordon Allen, born inMiddletown township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, August 4, 1800, died in RedBank, March 31, 1885. He was an olden time merchant and vessel owner, thebuilder of the steamers, \"Golden Gate\" and \"Ocean Wave,\"which plied between Red Bank and New York. Mr. and Mrs. John S. Applegate werethe parents of three children: Annie, a graduate of Vassar, 1891, wife ofProfessor Charles H. A. Wager, of Oberlin College; John Stillwell (2), offurther mention; Katherine Trafford, a graduate of Vassar, 1897, wife ofFrancis J. Donald, and a resident of Broughty Ferry, Scotland.
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