"...John R Tompkins, father of Ross, was a drover and a great maple sugar maker. So much so that he was known in Monticello and Ellenville as Sugar John. John Low, Phoebe Low, and Vick Chamblin ran the hotel, afterwards owned and managed for many years by Henry Dean. This afterwards became a very important boarding hotel, and was lately burned.
"Adam Cross, grandfather of Guernsey and Eugene, was a sterling old character. He raised a house full of children, 21 of them, was a good farmer, and drove cattle to Bull's Head, in Dutchess County.
"Chester Gillett, a steadfast and solid farmer, ran a cider press and ground the apples by horse power. We kids thought it great fun to ride on the sweep. Elisha VanKeuren, blacksmith, came up from Neversink to drink cider and married Chester's charming daughter..."
Monroe Wright