Surnames: Bellinger, Cook, Getman, Iles, Myers, Page,
Quackenbush, VanAlstyne, Weber, Whitney, Witzel
Towns and Villages: Columbia, Fonda, Ilion, Litchfield, Marcy, Mohawk, West Winfield.
Source: History of the Mohawk Valley - Gateway to the
West - 1614-1925
Covering The Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie,
Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer and Oneida.
Volume IV Illustrated; Page
281
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1925
In this industrial age the character of almost every community can be accurately estimated through a survey of the manufacturing establishments that furnish a means of earning a livelihood to the majority of the inhabitants. Thus in a mill town, where large quantities of unskilled labor is used, one expects to find a low level of culture and a lack of interest in civic progress. Other cities owe their progress and prosperity to industries employing chiefly skilled workmen whose high standards of living and intelligence make for advancement along every line. Ilion is an unusually progressive town for its size and maintains pleasant living conditions for the mass of its population, chiefly because the dominant industries are of the high type just referred to. Perhaps the Remington concerns have done more for the community than any other single agency. At all events the men at their head, their departmental executives and many of their skilled operatives have been and are men whose value to the village is more than economic. Among the men who are at present associated with the Remington Typewriter Company, Harry Eugene Van Alstyne stands out as a person representative of this type of citizen. He has been with the firm ever since he was a boy and has a record of more than thirty-five years of able and loyal service in the aligning department of which he is now the head. During this period he and his family have made a place for themselves in the life of the village as progressive citizens who are ready to support the various movements for the general welfare along civic, social and moral lines.
Mr. Van Alstyne was born in Ilion; August 10, 1871 the son of Lucius and Wealthy Alcelia (Getman) Van Alstyne, natives of the village. His grandfather was Archibald Van Alstyne, a carpenter and builder whose death took place in South Ilion a good many years ago. His father, who was born in 1846 and died here August 25, 1890, was also a carpenter and builder by occupation. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church of Ilion, was active in democratic politics and a member of Ilion Lodge, No. 400,1. 0. 0. F. Wealthy A. (Getman) Van Alstyne is the daughter of John and Emerancy Getman. The former, a carpenter and builder, was born in the town of Columbia, September 30, 1819, and died in West Winfield, Herkimer County, in March, 1904. His wife was born in Litchfield, New York, and died there May 3, 1886. Mrs. Van Alstyne is living in Ilion at the age of seventy-four, her birth having occurred September 12, 1850.
Harry Eugene Van Alstyne grew to manhood in Ilion, where he was educated in the public and high schools, graduating from the latter in the class of 1889. Two years before he completed his high school course, in 1887, he began his business career with the Remington Typewriter Company as an aligner. From this early start has worked himself up to his present responsible position as head of his department. Mr. Van Alstyne possesses the skill and efficiency that is born only of long experience and the actual performance of the processes done under his supervision. There are few, if any, men in the country engaged in this particular line of work who can boast a better knowledge of it than he. His high standing among the other men in the industry is indicated by his position as president of the Foremen's Association. Mr. Van Alstyne attends the Episcopal church of Ilion, of which his wife is a member. In fraternal circles he is known as a member of Ilion Lodge, No.591, A. F. & A. M.; and Ilion Lodge, No. 1444, B. P. 0. E. His political affiliations are with the democratic party, to which he has given his loyal support ever since he became of age. During the World war Mr. Van Alstyne substantially aided in promoting the cause of our army and navy on the "home front" and as captain of one of the Red Cross teams in the Remington factory enlisted the hearty cooperation of all the workmen in his section.
Mr. Van Alstyne was married to Miss Maude Bellinger, on December 30, 1892, the ceremony being read in the Episcopal church of Mohawk, New York. Mrs. Van Alstyne's father was the late Arthur F. Bellinger of Mohawk and Ilion, whose death occurred in Mohawk, on January 21, 1916. He was born there on January 15, 1851, the son of Frederick A. and Susan Maria Quackenbush Bellinger A toolmaker by trade, Mr. Bellinger was at the time of his death foreman in the Remington Arms of Ilion. He was master of Mohawk Lodge, No. 376, F & A M , at different times, serving in all three years, and held the office of president of the village of Mohawk for three terms. A republican in his views, he was always much interested in politics, both local and national. His religious affiliations were with the Episcopal church. Mr. Bellinger was a lineal descendant of Lieutenant Colonel Frederick P. Bellinger, an officer of the Revolutionary war who fought in the battle of Oriskany, and his wife, Catherine (Weber,) Bellinger. Lieutenant Bellinger was a brother of Colonel Peter Bellinger who was with General Herkimer at Oriskany. Frederick Bellinger, (II), son of Frederick P. and Catherine (Weber) Bellinger, was born in Herkimer, September 9, 1789, shortly after the close of the Revolution, and died in Mohawk, in February, 1848. A farmer by occupation, he was an influential and wealthy man in the community, possessing large real estate holdings in the villages of Herkimer and Mohawk, and was also distinguished as a veteran of the War of 1812. He married Stella Cook who was born in Marcy, New York, June 3, 1793, and died in Mohawk, October 3, 1834. They had a son, Frederick A. Bellinger, who was born in Mohawk, April 22, 1817, and died there July 18, 1886. During the greater art of his active life he kept a general store on the Erie Canal in that village. [his wife, who bore the maiden name of Susan Maria Quackenbush, was a native and died in Mohawk on April 23, 1901, at the age of eighty-one, her birth having occurred March 15, 1820.) They were the parents of Arthur F. Bellinger. The second wife of Frederick A. Bellinger, (II), was Eliza Myers, who was born in Mohawk, July 23, 1803, and died November 6, 1873.
Mrs. Van Alstyne's mother was Miss Pheanie Iles before her marriage to Arthur F. Bellinger. She was born in Mohawk, August 15, 1851, of English parentage and died in Ilion, March 3, 1916. Mrs. Bellinger was the youngest of a family of nine children born to Thomas R. and Sara Iles, who came to this country with their family in 1841 and settled in Mohawk, where the father plied his trade as a brick mason. Thomas Iles died in Mohawk in 1883, at the age of seventy-six, his birth having taken place March 18, 1807, while his wife, who likewise passed away in Mohawk, lived to be seventy-two. She was born January 5, 1806, and died in 1878.
Maude (Bellinger) Van Alstyne was born Baltimore, Maryland, April 7, 1874. She was educated in Mohawk, however, and attended the high school there. For two years prior to her marriage she was an accountant in the county clerk's office in Herkimer. Through her distinguished Revolutionary ancestry Mrs. Van Alstyne has been admitted to the membership of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was formerly first vice regent of Mohawk Valley Chapter, No. 319, D. A. R. She is also past matron and present secretary of Evening Star Chapter, No. 82, O.E.S. of Ilion; past district deputy, Order of the Eastern Star; member of Past and Present Matrons Association, Order of the Eastern Star; a member of Oriental Court of Amaranth, No. 97, of Ilion; and a member of Calvary Shrine. No. 10, of Utica. Mrs. Van Alstyne is a capable woman, of unusual executive ability and that her talents in this direction have been recognized by her associates and friends is indicated in the many times she has been chosen to fill responsible offices in the organizations of which she is a member.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne are the parents of three daughters: Helen M. was born in Ilion, May 29, 1894, and graduated from the local high school in 1912. She completed the normal course at the Oswego Normal School in 1915 and taught for two years, after which she was married, on October 24, 1918, to. Dr. A. Witzel, a physician at the Utica State Hospital. They have one child, Patricia Ann Witzel, born June 3, 1923; Miss Esther B. Van Alstyne, who was born here June 6, 1896, graduated from the Ilion high school in 1915 and from the Emerson College of Boston in 1919. She is now teaching oral English in a parochial school in Little Falls; the youngest daughter, L. Catherine Van Alstyne, is a student at Cornell University, class of 1925. She was born in Ilion; November 9, 1903, and graduated from high school in 1921. (Variations of the surname: Van Alstine, VanAlstyne)
