Obituaries (November 3)

Frank Fosgate

Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, June 29, 1892

The first six months of the year 1892 have chronicled more wrecks on the Ontario & Western than any other similar time since the road was started.  Sunday night a fitting climax of the series was reached in a head end collision at Red Hill, about 18 miles north of Middletown, early Sunday evening.  Train No. 10, the milk, which makes the fastest time on the road, was running south at full speed in charge of Conductor Thomas Leddy and with Engineer Andrew O'Neil, of this place, and Fireman John V. Scott, of Carbondale, on the engine.  The train was first-class and had the right of track.  Light engine No. 73, in charge of Engineer Wheeler and Fireman Frank Fosgate, both of this place, was running north "extra."  In running extra, Engineer Wheeler was supposed to look out for regular trains and to his carelessness the accident is probably due.

When nearing Red Hill switch the engines coming around a horseshoe curve met.  Both engineers saw the threatened danger, reversed their engines and jumped.  Probably the firemen did not see the danger in time to save themselves but whether they did or not will never be positively known.  At any rate, if they made the attempt, they were unsuccessful.  

The engines were completely demolished and wreckage strewed on to the sides of the track.  Engineer Wheeler escaped uninjured.  Engineer O'Neil was at first thought to have escaped with a compound fracture of the leg, a crushed rib and several severe bruises, but is now feared that he has sustained internal injuries which may prove fatal.  He is lying in the hospital at Middletown and his wife and family are with him.

Fireman Frank Fosgate was found in what was left of the tender of his engine, apparently instantly killed by a fracture of the skull at the base of the brain, no other injuries being found on him.  Fireman Scott was thrown under the wheels or under the wreckage and was found caught between the engine and boiler and mangled almost beyond recognition.  The remains of fireman Scott were taken to Carbondale and those of Fireman Fosgate brought to this place [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] at 3:30 Tuesday morning.  Undertaker Breese has charge of the deceased in Davis street.  Both of the firemen leave a wife surviving and Fosgate leaves besides three small children.

Frank M. Fosgate

Chenango Telegraph, January 30, 1912

A dispatch from mobile, Ala., January 25th, says that the mutilated body of a white man was found Thursday above the tracks on a fast mail train on the Louisville and Nashville railroad.  Other parts of the body were found at Hurricane Bayou, 17 miles north of that place.  A search of the clothing of the dead body revealed papers which showed that the man was Frank M. Fosgate of Preston [Chenango Co., NY].  It is thought that he was attempting to leave the train and fell under the wheels.  The relatives of Fosgate at Preston were informed of the accident immediately by telegraph.  William Breese, local undertaker, was informed that the body would arrive in Norwich in a few days. Burial will be made in Mt. Hope [Norwich, NY].  According to the statements of the relatives, Fosgate has been traveling in the southern states for the past year.  He was a recent purchaser of land in Baldwin county in Alabama.  

It has been learned that the Frank M. Fosgate mentioned in the telegram from Alabama, was a youth some nineteen years of age, who left his home in Preston last October for a trip south.  The affair is distinguished by a series of coincidences that make it more gruesome than ever.  The lad's father, Frank Fosgate, Sr. was also  killed on the railroad just before the boy was born.  Monroe Fosgate, who, it is believed, committed suicide in the St. James hotel at Oxford Wednesday night, was a cousin of the youth's father.  The unfortunate man is survived by a sister, Mrs. Daniel Downey of Preston, and two brothers, Cecil and Claude Fosgate, who also reside in Preston.
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Cecil Fosgate of Preston received a telegram yesterday afternoon from mobile, Ala., stating that the body of his brother, Frank M. Fosgate, was found on the railroad tracks at Hurricane, north of Mobile, he having been killed by a train.  Papers in his pocket showed that he had a land deal with the Sibley Land Company. The message asked as to what disposition should be made of the body.  Last October, Mr. Fosgate, who was a young man, purchased a mustang from a drove in Norwich, broke the horse to harness, packed his belongings and started to drive overland to Alabama.  A few weeks later he was reported in the Review as having reached Oil City, Pa.  Previous to departing he had purchased land in Alabama on a contract to the amount of $1000, by paying $10 monthly.  His father, Frank Fosgate worked on the O.&W. railroad 19 years.  Having taken a firemen's place,  he met his death on his first day's work.

Frank M. Mantel

January 1912

Frank M. Mantel, a Madison county [NY] farmhand, lost his life in the bed of the Erie canal near Kirkville, at noon Tuesday, in what doubtless was one of the strangest storm accidents on record in Onondaga county.  Driving home along the towpath, when the wind was blowing at a 40-mile velocity and a blinding snow was coming down with a vengeance, upon the open countryside, Mantel's bobsleigh, horses and all, was blown into the canal bed and the young man with the equipage on top of him was suffocated in the snow.  Death in two forms leered at Mantel before he yielded.  Upon one side he faced being frozen to death.  On the other he faced suffocation.  His body, embedded firmly in the snow bank and with the weight of the sleigh holding him down, there was no escape for the young man, and eventually he gave up.  Suffocation claimed him, but his body was badly frozen before the last spark of life went out.  An hour later after the accident, Mantel was found head first in the snow and the sleigh on top of him. After some work the body was removed, the horses were unharmed.

Sarah E. (Smith) Kendall

1842 - 1912

Mrs. Sarah E. Kendall died in St. Paul, Minn., at 11:15 last Friday evening.  She was the widow of J.P. Kendall, and was born at East Greene (Brisbin) [Chenango Co., NY] in 1842, the daughter of David and Rhoda Smith.  After the close of the Civil War, with her husband, who was a member of Co. E, 114th Regiment, she removed to the west, going first to Wisconsin and later taking up their residence at Akron, S.D., where he died a few years ago.  She then removed to St. Paul, where she has since resided.  She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. R.E. Squires of Westphalia, Kansas, and Miss Celia Kendall and Mrs. F.R. Hotchkiss of St. Paul.  The remains were taken to Akron for interment.

Death Notices

Chenango Union, January 5, 1870

GLEASON:  In Oxford [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 23d, Mr. John R. Gleason, aged 55 years.

WILLOUGHBY:  In Oxford [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 23d, Mr. Russell Willoughby, aged 65 years.

MILLER:  In South Oxford [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 8th, Miss Sarah Miller, aged 18 years, daughter of James Miller, of Woodhull, Steuben Co.

FLANAGHEN:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 26th, Francis [Flanaghen], son of Barney Flanaghen, aged 2 years.

SKILLEN:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 25th, Lucie E. [Skillen], daughter of Hugh Skillen, Jr. aged 9 months, 9 days.

JUDD:  In Coventry [Chenango Co., NY], Dec. 27th, Mr. Harvey P. Judd, aged 64 years and 6 months.

PORTER:  In Lawrence, Kansas, recently, Electa [Porter], wife of B.B. Porter, formerly of this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY].

TYLER:  In Waukesha, Wis., Dec. 18th, Mr. John Tyler, formerly of South New Berlin [Chenango Co., NY].