Obituaries (February 10)

Dr. John W. Mitchell

Utica Saturday Globe, March 1919

 

Dr. John Waite Mitchell

1848 - 1919

Norwich Sun, March 5, 1919

Dr. John Waite Mitchell for nearly 50 years one of the leading physicians of this city [Providence, RI], known both for his work as a practitioner and at various hospitals, died of pneumonia Thursday morning.  February 27, 227 Benefit street after an illness of about three days.  He was 70 years old, but until a few days ago had been active in his profession.  Surviving Dr. Mitchell are his wife Mrs. Lydia Pearce Mitchell and one son, John Pearce Mitchell, who is a professor of chemistry in Leland Stanford university, California.  Mrs. Mitchell was visiting her son in California when the news of the doctor's death reached her.  She and Prof. Mitchell left immediately for Providence.  Dr. John Waite Mitchell was born on April 6, 1848 in Norwich, Chenango county, N.Y., of a family which came originally from Scotland and settled in Connecticut.  A maternal ancestor was Isaac Foote, who was one of Washington's officers at Valley Forge.  Having received a fundamental education in the public schools of his home village, he attended Williston academy at Easthampton, Mass. where he was graduated in 1868.  He then chose medicine for his profession and entered the Bellevue hospital medical college in New York city, where he received a diploma in 1871.  At Bellevue hospital he came under the instruction of Dr. James H. Wood, Dr. John J. Crane and other noted surgeons and physicians.  It was one of these men who advised him to start active practice in Providence.  He arrived in this city in October 1872, with letters of introduction.  Speedily Dr. Mitchell won friends through his skill and character.  For some time he was associated with Dr. George E. Mason.  During his first three years here he was an attending physician at the Rhode Island hospital; from 1875 until 1902 he was a visiting surgeon at that institution; and from 1903 until the present he was on the consulting staff.  In addition to his affiliations with the Rhode Island hospital, Dr. Mitchell was also consulting surgeon to the Catholic Orphan asylum, St. Joseph's hospital and St. Elizabeth's home.  He was one of the founders and incorporators of the Providence lying in hospital and was for 16 years its president.  Having become a member of the Providence medical association, in 1873, soon after his arrival here, he became its president in 1886, and held the office for three years.  He was also a member of the Rhode Island medical society and president of that body from 1879 to 1894.  In national work he was associated with the American Medical Association and the American Social Science Association and at various times throughout his career he contributed papers and articles on matters of scientific interest which received wide recognition.  Among the social organizations to which Dr. Mitchell belonged were the Friday Night club, the Squantum association, the University club, and the Hope club.  He is remembered equally for high standards in private and professional life.  Dr. Mitchell was married on April 15, 1875 to Miss Frances F. Mason who died in 1876.  In 1878 he married Miss Lydia Pearce, a daughter of the late Edward Douglass Pearce. They had one son Prof. John Pearce Mitchell of Leland Stanford university.  Prof. Mitchell married Miss Helen Waldo of Jamaica Plain, Boston---Providence Evening Bulletin, February 27th.

 

George Caulkins

South New Berlin Bee, January 21, 1922

The remains of George Caulkins, who passed away at his home near Greene [Chenango Co., NY], following a brief illness of pneumonia, on Saturday, were brought to White Store [Chenango Co., NY] for burial on Tuesday, funeral services being held from his late home.  Mr. Caulkins was about 69 years of age and a large part of his life had been spent in this locality.  He was twice married, the second wife, who was Elsie Hunt, survives him.  He had lived at Mt. Upton; then purchasing a farm on the east side of the river in the town of Butternuts, which he operated several years; disposing of that, he bought a large farm on the hill west from Holmesville, selling that two or three years ago to Mr. Jacobsen,  He purchased a home in the city of Norwich to which place he and his wife moved. Tiring of city life, they again purchased a large farm in the town of Greene where they moved last spring and where his death occurred. Mr. Caulkins was a hard working man and had many friends.

 

Edward P. Cheney

Otsego Journal, September 6, 1906

Mr. Cheney died at his home one and one-half miles west of White Store [Chenango Co., NY], on Monday morning last, after an illness which confined him to his bed but a short time, although his health had been in a precarious state for some years.  He was born at White Store sixty-one years ago and had always resided in the vicinity.  He was a respected citizen, and leaves many friends and a large circle of relatives who mourn his loss.  Surviving him he leaves his wife, four sons, Jasper and Herman, of White Store, Merton, of Plymouth, and Fred Cheney, of Guilford, also three daughters, Mrs. Dane, of Sidney, Ethel, of White Store, and one daughter in the State hospital at Binghamton.  Funeral services were conducted at the house on Wednesday at one o'clock by Rev. Mr. Triebel, of Norwich. They were largely attended, and many beautiful flowers were contributed. the burial was at Evergreen Cemetery, White Store.

 

Ada B. Cheney

Otsego Journal, November 2, 1911

The remains of Miss Ada Cheney, who died at the Binghamton State hospital on Thursday last, arrived here on Friday and were taken to the undertaking rooms of C.H. Graves pending funeral arrangements by the family.  Deceased was a daughter of Edward P. Cheney and had been an inmate of the hospital for about eight years, the necessity for her removal there arising from some constitutional trouble which resulted in the unbalancing of her mental faculties, a difficulty that was progressive and required expert attention that could not be given  her at home.  Miss Cheney was 26 years old and until overtaken by this misfortune seemed in every way fitted for a useful and happy life. She is survived by her mother, Mrs. Edward P. Cheney, three brothers and one sister. The family wish to express their appreciation of the care and attention which they are satisfied she received at the hospital, and the evident desire that her last illness, which was from tuberculosis, should be made as comfortable as possible. The funeral occurred from the White Store church on Saturday, Rev. M.H. Reid of this place officiating.  The burial was in the family lot in Evergreen cemetery [White Store, NY]

 

Charles W. Lynde

Otsego Journal, September 6, 1906

Babylon, NY [Suffolk Co.]:  Thrown from his automobile with such violence that his skull was fractured and his neck broken when he struck the hard roadbed, Charles W. Lynde was killed instantly in Islip [Suffolk Co., NY].  Miss Chandler, a friend, who was in the machine with him, suffered painful, but not mortal injury. The chauffeur, Earl Holme, escaped.  Lynde, who inherited a large fortune from his father and mother, had not been in business for several years.  His first wife obtained a divorce form him and now is living in New Jersey.  His second wife is in England.

 

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 4, 1906

Islip, L.I.:  In an automobile accident here, on the South road, yesterday afternoon, Charles W. Lynde, of Blue Point, and formerly of Brooklyn, a close relative of the Harpers, of Publishing fame, was instantly killed.  He ditched his machine, and the big car fell over on him.  The striking features of the mishap were extraordinarily gruesome.  Neither of the other occupants of the car, Mr. Lynde's housekeeper, Miss Irene Chandler, or his chauffeur, Earle Holmes, were seriously injured.  They were pitched out, and escaped with slight bruises. But the owner, Lynde, was first dashed to the ground, striking head foremost on the hard shell roadway.  Then, eyewitnesses say, the big car tilted over, rebounded and an edge of it sliced of the back of Lynde's skull, leaving nearly the entire brain cavity exposed.

 

At the Coroner's inquest this morning, Coroner Savage, after listening to the evidence of Earle Holmes, the chauffeur, decided that Lynde's death was due solely to his own carelessness, and exonerated the others in the car from blame. The verdict was to the effect that Lynde's death was due to accident caused by reckless driving.  Holmes was the only witness, and he confirmed the report that Lynde was in no condition to run the car. They were on their way from Patchogue to Amityville, and Lynde, who persisted in driving the car against Holmes' wishes, became confused in endeavoring to pass two vehicles and a car.  He got by the car and one vehicle safely, but in clearing the second wagon he lost control of the machine and the car overturned as stated.

 

Such was the dramatic ending of a dramatic life.  For Lynde has been unceasingly in the public prints.  Millionaire, once divorced, not living with his second wife, anxious to give up his American citizenship, a crier out against the "justice of America," he has lived tumultuously.  He drove his car erratically yesterday afternoon.  The Chauffeur was not allowed to handle it.  Witnesses say the car's progress was a mad careening down the South road. At last, the eccentric millionaire made a sharp turn to avoid a vehicle.  An instant and the heavy car was in the ditch and had rebounded. The man was dead.  All this happened almost opposite the summer home of Dr. H.B. Delatour of Brooklyn. Dr. Delatour was on his piazza at the time.  He made one leap for the roadway and found a horrible sight.  No medical skill was of the slightest avail for Lynde, and his companions needed little.

 

Lynde was the hero of escapade after escapade.  His life would make the lengthiest of romances. Practically he had never been in business;  his father having left him a fortune. But for years he was an adventurer, an army officer, a miner, an advertising agent and an orange grower.  In 1881 he was graduated from Princeton.  He father was Charles R. Lynde, of Brooklyn; his mother, Mrs. Augusta Harper Lynde. She was the daughter of George Wesley Harper of Harper & Bros., and is supposed to have committed suicide on April 28, 1903, by jumping from a Hudson River ferryboat.  The elder Harper died in 1894, leaving the son at least half a million.

 

At one time young Lynde was working for $12 a week, as a married man.  He was a cavalry trooper, then a wanderer.  He made a failure of an orange grove, and as an advertising specialist. Finally, at the lowest ebb of his fortunes, he went to Australia.  There he struggled for years and of a sudden won out. He struck a quartz mine, and it must have netted him half a million dollars.  Now he returned to America and then heard of his bequest from his father.  His two children were dead and his wife had divorced him on the ground of desertion.  It was at this time he found the Blue Point country place and bought it. Shortly after he married again, an actress, Mrs. Andrews, whose daughter, Connie Leslie was the wife of the aerobat Melville.  Since then this second wife has left him, it is reported.  At all events, she is now living in England.

 

In 1902, Lynde declared he would relinquish all his property, turn his securities into English gold, sail for abroad and become a British subject.  Columns were written about this at the time. But Lynde never made any definite move, taking it all out in talking.  He originated the idea because his first wife had reopened her divorce case in the courts and had been awarded nearly $50,000.  "There is no justice in these courts," said, four years ago, the man who was killed yesterday  "I speak from experience."

 

Patchogue, L.I.:  The news of the horrible death of Charles W. Lynde, at Islip yesterday came as a sudden shock to his many friends here.  Although he had one failing which made him his own worst enemy, he was a man of keen intellect and possessed many good traits. He will be remembered here for many philanthropic acts which never reached the public ears.  No arrangements have been made for the funeral.  Lawyer Butler of the firm of Ingraham & Butler, of Temple Bar, Brooklyn, Lynde's private counsel, who was expected here this morning had not arrived at noon.  Lynde, who inherited a half million from his father, had increased his fortune, it is understood to over a million dollars by shrewd Wall Street investments.  Lynde had always said he would give his fortune to the children of his brother, Lawyer Rollie H. Lynde of Brooklyn in accordance with the family plan to keep the family funds within their own circle.

 

Lynde's first wife, through whose divorce, Lynde became an international character, will not receive a penny of his fortune.  His second wife, whose whereabouts in England are only known to his lawyer, will probably come in for a share of the fortune.  The Long Island Bank and Trust Company, of Brooklyn, was Lynde's Bankers.  Lynde's body is now at Undertaker Rulan's morgue, where it was brought by his friend George Jones last night. The head is badly disfigured.  Aileen Chandler, Lynde's housekeeper, who was picked up unconscious from under the fated auto, is suffering from bruises and shock.  She is at the Lynde home here. The automobile is in possession of George Jones.