The Late Jos. Durland.
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His Dead Recalls Strenuous Days In Board Of Supervisors.
Oct. 24- The county papers have printed obituary notices of our friend and neighbor, the late Joseph Durland, of Chester. We could add a bit of reminiscence that might prove of interest. The decease of Mr. Durland has brought an echo from the chambers of the supervisors of Orange County, and We trust The Independent Republican and the members of Mr. Durland's family will pardon this short memoir of a fellow member of the County legislature. Forty-three years is a long time to look backward and is indeed a long step in any lifetime.
Joseph Durland was nominated for the office of supervisor by the Republicans of Chester in the Spring of 1867 and elected, being the first Republican supervisor of Chester and defeating that good old Democrat James B. Stevens, who for six years had so well his town in former boards, and it was almost a proverb that "Squire Stevens carried Chester in his vest pocket."
Mr. Durland was the youngest member of the board of 1867, being only thirty-five years of age. The board of 1867 was composed of seven Republicans and fourteen Democrats. With the decease of Mr. Durland there passes away the last member of that board, in whose membership there were very prominent men. Among these were Alden Goldsmith, of Blooming Grove, six years a member; Morgan Shuit, of Monroe, 34 years a member; Steven Ralpalje, of Montgomery, 20 years a member. All were, Republican. Among the Democratic members were Daniel Thompson, of Crawford, 28 years a member; Charles M. Thompson, of Hamptonburgh, 18 years George Smith, of Mount Hope, 17 years; Frank Brodhead, of Deerpark, 8 years; Frank Brodhead was chairman of the board for 1861 and 1868, and George W. Millspaugh, of Goshen, clerk for five years.
Mr. Durland was on the committee on printer's bills for 1867 and on three special committees to assess bridge and road moneys.
In 1868 Joseph Durland was again elected supervisor, and this was our first year as a member of the board. We were the youngest of the twenty-one. Mr. Durland being 36 and we 35. Of that board only two can answer roll call, Nathaniel Barnes, of the town of Newburgh, and the writer the member from Bloominq Grove.
Frank Brodhead was again the chairman and the lamented Bradford R. Champion, of Goshen, the clerk. The chairman in selecting the standing committees had noticed the aptitude, and ability in the former year of the young member from Chester and Mr. Durland was given the high honor of a place on the ratio committee. The committee on ratio was composed of Daniel Thompson, of Crawford; Ezra Farrington, of Newburgh City; C. M. Thompson, of Hamptonburgh; Stephen Rapelje, of Montgomery; George Smith of Mount Hope; Joseph Durland, of Chester. The report of the committee stirred up a hornets nest. George W. Millspaugh, who for fives years had been the clerk of the board, had been elected a member of the board for 1868 and 1869, and as the only lawyer of the board he soon ran up against some of the older members and he took the lead as star actor in the fight that followed the introduction of the ratio committee's report. Mr. Millspaugh offered another report on ratio as the report of the board. C. M. Thomspon moved that the Millspaugh report be laid on the table. The motion was lost, 9 to 11. Millspaugh moved for the adoption of the report but the motion was lost, 10 to 10. Messrs. Durland, Van Vliet D. Thompson, Brodhead, C. M. Thompson, Case, Rapelje Smith, Farrington and Hynard voting nay. Mr. Rapelje moved that the board adjourn until the following Monday, which was lost, 13 to 7. Mr. Durland voting with the majority. After some discussion a motion to adjourn until Monday was carried, 10 to 9, Mr. Durland voting with the majority. A special committee of three on ratio was appointed by chairman Brodhead. It was composed of Dickson, of Newburgh, Shuit, of Monroe, and Clark, of Greenville.
Mr. Horton, of Newburgh, called up the report of this special committee on ratio and moved its adoption. The motion was carried, 12 to 9, Mr. Durland voting in the majority. Mr. Millspaugh went to one of the younger members offering to take $5,000 off the assessment of the member's town if he would vote for his substitute ratio report. The offer was refused and then $10,000 was named as the sum. That offered was accepted, but in forty seconds it came to this member that the $10,000 was taken off Blooming Grove would be put on Chester, Mr. Durland's town. The deal was so raw that the acceptance was withdrawn.
There were strenuous times in the old board that sat about the long table of 21 members in the grand jury room at the court house in Goshen. Captain Ellis A. Post and R. M. Vail, not members of the board, called a Republican member from the room to the ante room and proposed that this member accept a place on the committee of three - one Republican and two Democrats - to settle the ratio question, but the young member was too timid, so the chairman appointed the old warhorse Morgan Shuit, of Monroe, on the minority side of the committee. But what percentage of a chance was there or ever will be when the odds are two to one against.
Joseph Durland declined the offer of the town Republicans to stand for another term, and John H. Vail, a Democrat, was his successor for six years, 1869-74.
Chester had four ex-supervisors: Joseph Board, five years; Erza T. Jackson, one year, 1882; Samuel Hadden, 1885-88; ,Nicholas Demerest, 1889-93.
We missed Joseph Durland from board in the years '69 to '72, but his successor, John H. Vail, a bright and eminently fair man. Mr. Barnes and your correspondent are the only surviving members of the board of 1871.
Many memories cluster about us as we write of the days of forty or more years now gone. The then actors on the stage have departed and many of them forgotten.
"The fathers where are they. And the prophets, do they live forever?"
