. From my earliest life we children were in
the habit of making frequent visits to my mother's relatives, the Roe
family, who resided there. We all eagerly looked forward to these trips
up the Hudson which were made upon the old _Thomas Powell_ and later
upon the _Mary Powell_. My mother's relative, Maria Hazard, married
William Roe, one of the most highly respected and prosperous citizens of
Newburgh. They lived in a stately mansion surrounded by several acres
of land in the heart of the city. Mrs. Roe was a remarkable woman. I
knew her only as an elderly matron; but, like women of advanced age in
China, where I spent a number of years of my early married life, she
controlled everyone who came within her "sphere of influence." I
remember, for example, that upon one occasion when I was visiting her,
Thomas Hazard Roe, her elder son, who at the time was over sixty years
of age and a bachelor and who desired to go upon some hunting
expedition, said to her: "Mother, have I your permission to go to the
Adirondacks?" She thought for a few moments and replied: "Well, Hazard,
I think you might go."

About the year 1840 Newburgh was recommended by two of the earliest
prominent homeopathic physicians of New York City, Doctors John F. Gray
and Amos G. Hull, as a locality well-adapted to people affected with
delicate lungs, and upon their advice many families built handsome
residences there. In my early recollection Newburgh had a fine hotel
called the Powelton, which bade fair to become a prominent resort for
New Yorkers. In the zenith of its prosperity, however, it was burned to
the ground and was never rebuilt. I hardly think that anyone will have
the assurance to dispute the healthfulness of this place when I state
that my cousin, Thomas Hazard Roe, of whom I have just spoken, died
there in 1907 after having more than rounded a full century of years. He
was in many ways a remarkable man with a mind well stored with
knowledge, and he retained all of his mental faculties unclouded until
the end of his life. His sister, Mary Elizabeth, the widow of the late
William C. Hasbrouck, a prominent Newburgh lawyer and a few years his
junior, also died quite recently in Newburgh at the age of ninety-seven.
Her son, General Henry C. Hasbrouck, U.S.A., also died but a short time
since, but her daughter, Miss Maria Hasbrouck, whose whole life has been
devoted to her family, still resides in the old homestead. The third
and youngest member of