By Mary Lou Nahas
For Capital Region Independent Media
I ended the last Oak Hill and Vicinity column by saying next I would share the story of the Cheritree familyduring the life of Olive. I’ve learned a great deal more about them since then and want to add some of that information.
You may remember that Sheldon Cheritree (1794-1867) married Olive Botsworth (1796-1891) in Greenville; they had eight children (some sources say 11): Egbert (1822), Eliza Olive, John Henry (1828), Andrew (1830), Emily (1834), David (1839), William, and Walter (1836), while living in Greenville. Walter Cheritree’s obituary says he was born in Greenville in 1836 and then moved with his family to Middleburg and was living in Middleburg at the age of three.
“Beers’ History of Greenville” records: “The first building erected by the Presbyterian Society was moved and converted into a hotel run by Sheldon Cheritree. Sheldon also ran a shoe store in Greenville.”
Walter Cheritree’s obituary says Sheldon conducted an iron foundry in Middleburg and when he moved to Oak Hill, he engaged in the same business, being succeeded by his sons, John and Walter, under the firm name of Cheritree Bros., and who conducted the business for nearly 30 years. Sheldon and Olive were accepted into the Middleburg Reformed Church on May 1, 1843, and discharged April 22, 1848.
When Sheldon and Olive moved to Oak Hill c. 1843, most of the children moved with them: Egbert; Eliza Olive, who married Charles W. Pierce; John Henry Cheritree, who married Margaret DeWitt; Emily, who married Aaron Roggen; and Walter Cheritree.
Two of their sons apparently did not come to Oak Hill: Andrew Jackson Cheritree moved to Warren County in 1854, was supervisor of the town of Luzerne for several years, served as school commissioner for about two years, and was subsequently appointed collector of internal revenue. He was elected district attorney in 1871, and county judge in 1882. He and his family are buried in the Glen Falls Cemetery.
There are gaps to be filled in his story, but the real mystery is George Cheritree, another of Sheldon’s sons
According to “Olive Cheritree: A Brief Chronology of Her Life and Art (1852-1924),” published by Philip W. Jacobs of Newberry College: “George Cheritree of Middleburgh, N.Y., John’s brother, and thus, the uncle of Olive Cheritree, was reported to have become ‘clouded with melancholy’ in 1868. According to a newspaper report, he ‘changed from one of the most genial and jovial of men to an illustration of abject depression.’ His business became involved and Dr. Danforth (a friend and former partner of Cheritree) intervened, closed up the business and saved something for the wife, from its wreckage. Mr. Cheritree was committed to the Utica Asylum for the Insane in August 1884. Mr. Cheritree died at the Ovid Hospital for Incurables.”
I did not find the newspaper report he cites but I did find George on a list of people in Middleburg with an income of over $600 (George’s income was listed as $950). He was also listed as supervisor of Broom from 1849 to 1851.
Dr. Volney Danforth (1811-1880), of an old prominent family, began to practice in 1840 and continued until his death in 1882, was town supervisor in 1865, and a farmer with 350 acres. This is a story to research.
But back to the Cheritrees, who came to Oak Hill with Sheldon and Olive:
Egbert, a skilled wagon maker, had a house in Oak Hill and died young.
Eliza Olive married W. Pierce, pattern maker and iron molder with Cheritree Bros, a partner in the Furnace of Cheritree & Pierce. He died in 1909, aged 85.
John Henry married Margaret DeWitt in 1832; they had three surviving children: Olive, Emily Cheritree Ford, and Theodore. John died Feb. 5, 1891, age 63, of “brain difficulty,” leaving a widow and three children. Margaret died Jan. 10, 1910. Funeral services were at her home at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 12.
Emily (Mrs. Aaron Roggen 1834-1901), He was from Oak Hill and later kept the Roggen Mt. House in Tannersville.
Walter Cheritree died May 24, on the eve of his 79th birthday. Lifelong resident of Oak Hill, having been born in Greenville, living in Middleburg at the age of three where his father, Sheldon Cheritree, conducted an iron foundry, who soon removed to Oak Hill where he engaged in the same business being succeeded by his sons, John and Walter, under the firm name of Cheritree Bros, and who conducted the business for nearly 30 years. After the death of John Cheritree, the business known as the Empire Works was run by Cheritree and Pierce. He left a widow, one daughter, Mrs. P.T. Hoagland, one brother, a former judge of Warren County, Andrew J. Cheritree of Glens Falls. His funeral services were held Thursday from his late residence with Rev. W.W. Silliman of St. Paul’s Church, reading the church services. He was the last person living who was prominently identified with the iron business, which at the time made Oak Hill a prosperous community employing many persons in its four foundries.
On Sept. 4, 1895, P.T. Hoagland married Ella Cheritree, daughter of Walter S. Cheritree. A newspaper account gives a picture of the event: “A happy event at the residence of the bride’s parents. About twenty-five invited guests were present. At twelve o’clock Miss Carrie C. Tripp [who lived next door, played the wedding march]. The beautiful and impressive Episcopal marriage service was performed by Rev. T.A. Snyder, of Greenville, rector of St. Paul’s church, this village, of which the contracting parties are both members. They were the recipients of many beautiful and useful gifts. The rooms were profusely decorated with flowers, beautiful and fragrant. Among those present were Miss Olive Cheritree.
By now we have the picture of a prominent local family who married into other prominent local families, all living within half a mile of each other. They worked in the family business. Most of the girls married, had children, called on each other, attended church. Although clearly the Cheritrees had to have had life outside Oak Hill, I have not found much about anyone’s education except Olive, who was sent to a private boarding school in Poughkeepsie. She later wrote, “At boarding school I joined the church, not because I believed in it, but because I was so unhappy that I would try what efficacy there was in the church.” The church became an obsession for her.
In a letter Olive later explained that the church and religion, along with her painting, pretty much dominated her life. Olive several times mentions discussing with her family whether her brother Theodore should enter the ministry (he apparently attended Trinity College, an Episcopalian school in Connecticut, and became a lawyer and teacher in Niagara Falls). She wrote, “I had done, in most every way nearly all that I could; first, as means were limited, had educated myself, then my sister, and finally advising him to study for the ministry when he entered college. It seemed to be anything but practicable, as business was not going well at home. I had my own studies to continue, and everything else to attend to; but in faith, I finally gave all my influence in that direction, and from that moment on I found my way.”
We don’t know where Olive learned to paint but in 1880 one of her paintings was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York City. In 1881, she had a studio at 36 West 10th Street in New York City. She came back to Oak Hill to get ready to leave to continue studies in art in England, Scotland and the Continent, the Catskill Examinerreported in May 1881. Her paintings were exhibited in Paris, Albany, Brooklyn, New York. She came back to the United State where she “will continue her studies of animals and landscapes this summer among the Catskills,” a local newspaper reported. More paintings were exhibited in Paris and New York City. She established a studio in Paris
In Paris, she saw visions, corresponded with a Dr. Morgan, thought to have been a brother of J.P. Morgan, fell into a swoon, was taken to a mental hospital. Emily and Theodore were telegraphed to take her home; they came, packed up everything, arranged for sailing to America. She did not want to come home. They were shipwrecked. Later, she wrote, “Placed under my brother’s and sister’s care, I suppose as semi-unaccountable for myself, with special instruction from Dr. Morgan, that I was to be kept in America for two years, and that religious books and papers, pen, ink and pencil were to be kept away.” She appealed to her sister, father and mother; no one would listen to her, so she wrote to the bishop. And she then turned to painting again.
She continued to have studios and exhibits in Paris and New York. In 1888, the year I U Tripp built his big Victorian store in Oak Hill, she was writing part of her controversial theological book “Evolution.” In 1894, she bought property in Catskill on the corner of Harrison and Prospect for $3,500. The Catskill Recorder reported that Miss Cheritree will build a residence and studio on the property. In 1888 she was spending considerable time in Tannersville at the Roggen Mountain House. It was announced that she planned to winter in Washinton DC and Philadelphia. All this time she was painting and working on her book “Evolution,” published by Olive E. Cheritree, Catskill, NY, November 1888. Price 40 cents. By 1889, The Catskill Recordernotes that the book “has reached a second edition.” Olive and her mother were now occupying the cottage in Catskill. Emily came to spend the summer with her there. Her father John died Feb. 5, 1891, age 63, of “brain difficulty.”
In September 1895, Olive attended the wedding of Page Hoagland and Ella Cheritree in Oak Hill. She painted Ella in her wedding dress and also painted a portrait of Page.
In 1897, Olive was temporarily institutionalized at the request of her brother Theodore. Later it was stated that the recovery of her mental stability was doubtful and the institutionalization was made indefinite at the request of her brother Theodore. She remained in Poughkeepsie until her death at age 72 in 1924.She was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery.
This is not the complete story of the Cheritrees of Oak Hill. One day I will do more research. I think others are doing research also. If you are, I’d love to talk to you.
I want to thank Steve Lamont, the Middleburg historian, and Ann, who is in charge of the History/Archive Room at the Middleburg Library, for their help.
