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Note: 1865 NY State Census (from Dan Cashin)
Blooming Grove. ED 2, Page 2, Line 21
John Babcock age 28 Orange RR Foreman 176th NYVI 12/7/62. 1st Lt.
Christina age 25 Canada 1 child
Samuel age 23 Orange Laborer 18th NYVI 5/17/61. Pvt
Frank age 2 Orange
1870 Census - Blooming Grove, NY
John age 32 - foreman on RR
Agusta age 28 born in Canada
Frank age 6
Chas age 4
Tena age 1
Hanley, Kate age 12 b NY
1880 Census - Blooming Grove, NY
John age 42
Christina age 38
Frank age 16
Charles age 14
Tina age 11
Internet: Delaware County site.
Left home at the age of 17 to become a railroad man. Became a track man and stepped up to foreman. Became Div. Roadmaster on the O&W RR and finally made General Roadmaster.
1888, he resigned from the O&W to become a member of the firm of Ward & Lary, railroad contractors. Then came the firm of Babcock Lary & Co.
Civil War: Age 25, enrolled Sept. 19, 1862 at Middletown to serve 9 months. Mustered in as 1st Lieutenant, Co. C, 176th NY Volunteer Inf., Dec. 16, 1862. Captured in action, June 23, 1863 at Brashear City, La.; durance of 13 months at Camp Ford, Texas,
paroled, July 24, 1864; mustered out Aug. 8, 1864. Commissioned 1st Lieutenant, Dec. 31, 1862 with rank from Dec. 19, 1862.
1870 NY Census - Blooming Grove, Orange County, NY
1880 NY Census-Walton, Delaware County
President of the Walton Elec. Light co., President of the Walton Water Co., Director of the 1st National Bank, and President of the Delaware Savings and Trust Co.
Member of Hoffman Lodge F.A.M.
Royal Arch Chapter of Middletown
Ben Marvin Post
http://members.aol.com/kithquest/BabcockJohn.html
(This article was clipped from an unidentified newspaper dated 1896.)
John Babcock
John Babcock was born in Orange county, December 27, 1838. His grandfather Isaac Babcock, a life resident of Orange county, married a Miss Benjamin and they both lived to be eighty years of age, having reared a family of fourteen children, ten sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity and married.
John Babcock, Sr., one of the sons of Isaac, was married in 1834 to Catherine Secor, who bore him nine sons and three daughters, and of these seven sons and two daughters grew to adult life. Four sons and one daughter are now living. Samuel, of this town, Josiah and George, railroad men, living at Port Jervis, Isaac, a resident of Cornwall and Eliza, the widow of David Bowen. The father died in 1880 at that age of fifty-eight years, from the kick of an ox. The mother survived her husband thirteen years, dying in 1893 in the seventy-second year of her age. They are buried in a beautiful cemetery near Greenwood Lake in Orange county.
John Babcock, who received the name of his honored father, obtained a good common school education and not being content to spend his life as a tiller of the soil left the shelter of the parental roof when seventeen years old, to begin his career as a railroad man. His first employment was that of a track man, but advanced step by step until appointed a foreman.
Subsequently he became Division Roadmaster on the Ontario & Western Railway, and was finally made General Roadmaster, having full charge of all the lines and branches of this railway. In 1888, he resigned his position with the Ontario & Western to become a member of the firm of Ward & Lary, railway contractors. While in this firm one of his great achievements was the putting through of the zigzag tunnel, seven miles north of this village. Mr. Babcock has been interested in many other gigantic contracting and engineering schemes, notably of which was the water tunnel at Winsted, Conn. Although Mr. Babcock never made a special study of civil engineering, by his great native ability he has been the moving spirit in the firm of Babcock, Lary & Co.
Mr. Babcock was a volunteer in the late civil war, going to the front as 1st Lieutenant in Company C, 176th New York Volunteer Infantry, and took part in many engagements. He was made prisoner in June 1863, and remained in durance thirteen months at Camp Ford, Texas. He was finally exchanged and afterward promoted to the rank of Captain, but being taken sick was sent home and subsequently discharged.
On October 8, 1861, Mr. Babcock was united in marriage to Christina Miller, daughter of John and Agnes Miller, natives of Scotland. Mrs. Babcock was born at Utica, N.Y., but was reared to womanhood in Canada. Her death occurred at the city of Quebec, July 17th, 1892, while on a pleasure trip to that city. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Babcock, one of whom, Frank, an engineer on the West Shore Railroad, died at the age of twenty-eight. The two other children are a son, Charles, who lives in this village, and a daughter, Tina, the wife of C.E. Vosbury, an architect in New York city. Since the death of her mother Mrs. Vosbury has presided over the handsome house of her father.
Mr. Babcock was always a public spirited man in whom the interest of the town was always paramount. He was President of the Walton Electric Light Co., also President of the Walton Water Co., and a director of the First National Bank and the Delaware Loan and Trust Co. He was also prominent in Masonic circles being a member of Hoffman Lodge F.A.M. also of the Royal Arch Chapter, of Middletown. He has been identified with the Ben Marvin Post since its organization, being its first commander.
Mr. Babcock has been in declining health for more than a year but the serious nature of his malady was not known until about a month ago, when it became known that cancer of the liver was slowly sapping his life away. During all his suffering he was kind and patient, recognizing that his end was near. Everything that could be done by medical skill, a loving family and kind friends was done, but the hand of death could not be allayed. He passed away quietly Monday morning.
The funeral was held yesterday afternoon at the Congregational church. Rev. Mr. Nims preached an eloquent and touching sermon. The G.A.R. and Masonic fraternities attended in a body, there being more than one hundred of these two organizations alone, who, with many others followed the remains to the cemetery. The Masonic ceremonies at the grave were pronounced by H.C. Corwin, Master of the Middletown Lodge. The pall bearers were Judge Sewell, Daniel Lamont, H.R. Wheeler, L.S. Chace, Geo. Buckbee, and John Paine.
Graphics courtesy Susan E. Christoffersen and Gini Schmitz.
OBIT:
Goshen Independent
John Babcock, a contractor, at Walton, died yesterday morning. He was well known in the Eastern States, and was General Roadmaster of the Ontario and Western, R.R. for fifteen years. He also held a similar position on the Erie R.R. for a time.
After doing some research, John's father has to be Samuel Babcock.
John died from cancer of the liver.
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