Gary: Thank you for posting the article. I have a Harvey Hoyt in my tree, but after checking, found that my Harvey's wife survived her husband, married again, and died at age 85. I have been disappointed in the traffic on this list and am also glad to see participation pick up. Regards, Ginny Byron -----Original Message----- From: Gary A. Dufel <duf@i84.net> To: NYULSTER-L@rootsweb.com <NYULSTER-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sunday, January 31, 1999 8:54 AM Subject: Tornado in Denning - 1858 >The traffic on this list has picked up considerably. I personally spend >time researching HORNBECK/DUNAGAN/TOMPKINS in the Ulster County area. I >posted the following news article on the Hornbeck roots list several months >ago, and thought others in Ulster County may be interested: > >I found the following news account in New Paltz entitled: "The History of >Denning, Ulster County, NY" by George Erts, 1975. This is an obscure and >unpublished, hand typed summary of various events in Denning, a rural Town >in Ulster County in the Catskills, where a number of Hornbeck's have lived >since about 1800. > >Claryville Aug 23rd, 1858 > >There was a dreadful hurricane on the Neversink Stream in the Town of >Denning near the Tannery of Johnson and Low about 2 miles from Dewitville >on Wed. the 18 inst which blew down the house and barn of John W. Smith and >the house and barn of Harvy Hoyt, also some small buildings, fences and the >roof of a saw mill near by. The wife of Mr. Hoyt being at the house was >instantly killed and the wife of Mr. Smith was so badly injured that she >died within a few hours. The wife of Mr. Hornbeck was somewhat injured and >one of the children of Mr. Hoyt was badly injured, its bones being broken >in several places. > >>From the Republican Watchman August 28 1858 > >Hurricane Aug 18, 1858 on a Wednesday at 5 p.m. > >Terrible Tornado > >Mr. Editor - I hasten to inform you, and through you the public of one of >the most dreadful tornadoes that has ever visited this part of the state. > It commenced, as I learn from others, in the Town of Rockland, in a >southwesterly direction from the scene I visited yesterday. As far as the >eye could reach, almost the entire forest through which it passed, from a >width varying from an eighth to a quarter of a mile was prostrated. Had >the destructive element been confined to the forest, or even to the >property alone, its effects would not have been so dreadful; but human life >became its victim. Its path over the town of Denning was near the tannery >of Johnson and Low, destroying every building within its path of fury. The >first house was that of Mr. Harvy Hoyt, vacant at the time, which together >with its contents and also his barn was in an instant of time completely >demolished, and his saw mill which stood a little out of the course of the >wind, unroofed. From thence, it proceeded to the dwelling of John W. Smith >Esq. in which were three women and five children at the time, viz Mrs. John >W. Smith, Mrs. Harvey Hoyt, and their two boys and a girl, and Mrs. James >Hornbeck and two children, all on a visit to Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Hoyt was >carried a distance of 8 rods and instantly killed, being very much cut and >lacerated by the timbers of the house. Mrs. Smith was carried about one >rod farther, and was still alive when found, but died in about four hours. > Mrs. Hornbeck still survived when I left, but was awfully bruised and >mangled. Her recovery is hardly hoped for. A little boy of about 7 years >of age had his leg broken above the knee; and a little girl about three >years old do dredfully cut about the head as to leave faint hopes of her >recovery. One of her feet was almost cut off. Mr. Smith was absent from >the home at the time, and Mr. Hoyt with his two children was passing from >the mill to the house. When the tempest met him, he seized the two >children, and prostrated them with him on the ground behind a log, and the >three were preserved uninjured. Its course here changed a trifle, thus >leaving the tannery and buildings uninjured. How far its ravages are yet >to be chronicled I cannot say. In a word the appearance here today, >compared with the bright, cheering hopes of yesterday, is beyond any >description I can give. August 21 1858 > > >[I know of two James Hornbeck's from this area. One the son of Eleazer >Hornbeck, b. 1823 and married to Lucy. The other was born abt 1832 and >married to Harriet. - I cannot discern from the article which Mrs. James >Hornbeck was injured. I do know that both Lucy and Harriet lived well >beyond 1858] > >Gary >duf@i84.net >