At the bank of which he was president, he performed constant week-day duty, with a handwriting and figures equal to those of the best bookkeeper. He was a ready mental computor of the interest on notes, which made him of invaluable service to the bank clerks.

In politics Mr. Van Vorst was always a staunch Democrat. Besides being Mayor of Schenectady in 1853, 1854, 1869, 1870, 1882, and 1883, he has had considerable prominence in politics, having served in the Board of Aldermen and been a member of the Democratic county committee.

Mr. Van Vorst was very popular, and was a wellknown man in the many fraternal organizations of the city. He was the oldest Free Mason and also the oldest Odd Fellow in Schenectady, and was a charter member of St. George's Lodge, F. & A. M. He was also one of the first members of Mohawk Valley Lodge, No. 12, I. O. O. F.

He was long a devout and earnest worker in St. George's Episcopal Church, and was connected with the vestry of that church for over sixty years.

He was married in 1830 to Miss Amanda Hulbert, of Pennsylvania, who died in 1880, six months after the celebration of their golden wedding.

The local paper, referring to the funeral, said:

"Seldom or never in the history of the city has the loss of a private citizen occasioned such widespread lamentation. There were evidences of profound grief on every hand throughout the burial services, and it is almost superfluous to say that the sympathy of the entire community goes out to the members of the stricken family in their bereavement."

At a meeting of the Schenectady Branch of the Holland Society of New York, held Tuesday, December 5th, 1899, to take suitable action respecting the death of Hon. Abraham A. Van Vorst, the following resolutions of respect were unanimously adopted :

"Whereas, Death has recently removed from us our highly esteemed and oldest member, Hon. Abraham A. Van Vorst,

Resolved, That we take this occasion to express our appreciation of the many virtues of his character, displayed through a life of remarkable length and of almost unbroken activity. Especially would we record our admiration of his fidelity to all his responsibilities as a business man and a citizen, his unfailing cheerfulness of spirit, and his extreme winsomeness of manner in all his social relations.

"The Society has been fortunate in bearing upon its membership list from its formation until now the name of so worthy a representative, and while we deeply deplore the breaking of the earthly ties, we rejoice in the character of the memories that are left as the heritage of his associates.

JOHN L. SWITS, JAMES R. TRUAX, JACOB W. CLUTE,
"Committee."

JOSEPH C. HOAGLAND, founder of the Royal Baking Powder Company, who joined the Holland Society, June 30, 1892, died December 8, 1899, at his home, No. 27 West Fifty-first Street, at the age of fifty-eight years and five months. Last October Mr. Hoagland was stricken with paralysis at his country home on the Shrewsbury River, N. J., and was brought to his home in Manhattan.

Mr. Hoagland was born in the village of Troy, Ohio, and attended the village schools there. He was preparing to engage in mercantile pursuits when the war broke out, and he entered the Union army in 1861, serving mainly in the quartermaster's and subsistence departments, having been detailed by Governor Tod, of Ohio, to service at Camp Chase, Columbus. After the war he went to Fort Wayne, and was part proprietor of a drug store there when he conceived the idea of compounding a baking powder that would make housewives happy by producing certain results. He experimented till he got a powder that seemed to meet the necessary requirements, and then he began to sell it over the counter to local customers. That was the beginning of the Royal Baking Powder, and the young druggist, with his brother, Dr. Cornelius N. Hoagland, soon extended the business. The brothers finally moved to this city, and with William Ziegler successfully conducted the business of the Royal Baking Powder Company.

A dispute about business policy separated the brothers a few years ago, and Dr. Cornelius N. Hoagland purchased the Cleveland Baking Powder Company. After the death of Dr. Hoagland in Brooklyn about two years ago, Joseph C. Hoagland brought about a combination of the companies and retired from active business pursuits last spring.

Mr. Hoagland served as a Republican presidential elector in 1880. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Down Town, Lawyers', and Union League clubs of Manhattan. At one time he was commodore of the American Yacht Club, and owned the steam yacht Stranger. Until about three years ago Mr. Hoagland lived in Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, his house there being opposite Dr. Talmage's Tabernacle when it was burned in the summer of 1894. His country home on the Shrewsbury River was one of the handsomest places in New Jersey, the grounds having been laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted. collection of paintings was one of the most noteworthy in the city.

His

In 1865 he married Miss Caroline C. Matlack, of Dayton, Ohio, and they have had three children.

HOWARD OSTERHOUDT, one of the early members of the Society, having been elected December 20, 1886, died at his residence, "Eastwood," Kingston, N. Y., December 25, 1899.

Mr. Osterhoudt was born in Kingston, N. Y., December 9, 1842, and was descended from a long line of honorable Dutch ancestors. His early American ancestor was Jan Jansen Van Oosterhout, who married, February 18, 1663, Annetjen Jellis. Mr. Osterhoudt graduated from Columbia College in 1864, having taken the Classical Course, and from the Law School of the same College in 1866. The death of his father, Jacob P. Osterhoudt, in

1868, diverted him from his early ambition of being a lawyer in New York, and he returned to Kingston to take charge of his father's coal and lumber business, and later, in partnership with a brother, he became engaged in the blue-stone business, in which he continued until his death.

Mr. Osterhoudt was for many years a member of the old Dutch Church, the church of his forefathers, and was at the time of his death an elder, the Consistory acting as pall-bearers at his burial in Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery, Kingston, N. Y., De cember 28, 1899:

Mr. Osterhoudt was one of the oldest trustees of the Kingston Savings Bank, who in token of their esteem adopted the following minute, January 10, 1900.

"The Trustees of the Kingston Savings Bank feel that they have sustained an irreparable loss in the death of their associate, Howard Osterhoudt.

"His ideals were high, his integrity uncompromising, his courtesy unvarying, and his business judgment sound and conservative.

"His presence will be missed at the council table, but the memory of his irreproachable character, and genial gentle personality, will remain ever enshrined in the hearts of his fellows."

REV. MAUNSELL VAN RENSSELAER, D.D., LL.D., after a short illness, died February 17, 1900, at Lakewood, N. J., where he was temporarily residing.

Dr. Van Rensselaer was born in Albany, April 16, 1819. He was a son of John S. Van Rensselaer, of that city, being in direct line of descent from the founder of the Van Rensselaer family in this country. He was educated at the Albany Academy and at Union College. In 1838 he was graduated from the General Theological Seminary, and was admitted to holy orders on June 27, 1841. In 1859 he was president of Devoe College, Niagara City, N. Y., and in 1872 was elected president of Hobart College. He resigned the presi

dency of the last named institution in 1876, and went to Europe with his family.

During the last years of his life he made his home in New York. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Hobart College in 1860, and the degree of Doctor of Laws from Union College in 1874. He united with the Society, October 25, 1886. He leaves a wife, a daughter, and two sons, and eleven grandchildren.

BENJAMIN ALEXANDER VAN SCHAICK, who united with the Society March 31, 1892, died March 5, 1900. He was born in Jersey City, N. J., April 29, 1842, and was the son of Benjamin Van Schaick (a wholesale grocer of New York) and Matilda Schultz. He was educated at the Grammar School of Columbia College, New York, and Nazareth Hall, a noted Moravian School, at Nazareth, Pa. He entered the house of P. Lorillard & Co., of Jersey City, N. J., and continued with them for nearly forty years, being their sole agent for most of that period in Pennsylvania and adjacent territory.

SAMUEL BURHANS, JR., was the second son of Samuel Burhans and Mary Ann Corning. He was born in the Fifth Ward, New York City, October 26, 1825. July 11, 1850, he married, in New York, Sarah Elizabeth Daggitt, who died March 6, 1860. March 12, 1867, he married Miss Isabel Holden, who survives him.

Mr. Burhans entered the employ of Henry Crossman, umbrella manufacturer, immediately after leaving school, and afterward became a partner in the business, from which he retired in 1867. He was President of the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad Company for fifteen years. He was greatly interested in genealogical pursuits. One of the results of his labors in this field was a large number of MS. copies of records of early churches