The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) is happy to announce that a new database of headstone inscriptions from the Margaretville Village Cemetery, and five more years of vintage Catskill Mountain News have been posted online.
Web users can find the cemetery listing and associated map at the Delaware County Genealogy and History website, www.dcnyhistory.org/MvilleCemIndex.html.
For the first time, web users can find more than 2,000 names arranged alphabetically. Entries include birth and date dates as recorded on the headstone, along with military service information, epitaphs and inscriptions about family members.
Some entries include clarifications or additional information gleaned from other sources if there were questions or discrepancies uncovered in the inventory process.
The field work was conducted by Friends of Middletown Cemeteries. The database was assembled by Trish Adams. It can be searched by name or subject, or browsed chronologically.
Researchers can now also search and browse the Margaretville-based Catskill Mountain News from July 13, 1902 to June 29, 1967. HSM is steadily working to have the News digitized through 1973. This ongoing project is made possible by several individual donors and the O’Connor Foundation. Visit http://history.catskill.net to find this treasure trove of history.
The newly added issues take readers back to a time when dial telephone service began (April 26, 1962), the Arkville School closed (August 16, 1962), Halcottsville Pond was eyed for a town park (Feb. 21, 1963), and, in the some-things-never-change department, a community pool was proposed for the Arkville flats (July 22, 1965).
There were many openings — the new lodge at Belleayre Ski Center ( March 1, 1962), the BOCES center at the former Rexmere Hotel in Stamford (Jan. 13, 1966), the A&P store on Bridge Street, Margaretville (Jan. 12, 1967), and Roxbury Run Village (late 1965).
The August 15, 1963 issue contains a special history section for the Bicentennial observance of Middletown’s settlement, and the Nov. 28, 1963 issue describes local reaction to President Kennedy’s assassination.