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 This is an obscure and unpublished, hand typed summary of various events in Denning, a rural Town in Ulster County in the Catskills, where a number of Hornbeck's have lived since about 1800.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