Cornelius Mabie [37201] ⁵⁴⁶

   Other names for Cornelius were Casey and Cassie.

  General Notes:

From the Maybee Society files. Not all data is verified. Say dates are estimates and are probably within 20 years. The Maybee Society keeps its data on The Master Genealogist�, and has been modified by Gary Hester?s WIT2NOTE� to form the GedCom file. This information is also available in a TMG file.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Anecdote. ¹⁰³⁰⁷ Mr. Mabie, who is now in the 103d year of his age, is probably
one of the oldest men now living. He was born on a farm within
300 yards of the spot where he now and always has lived, on
August 4, 1816. He is the son of Adolphus Mabie and Rachel
Bell, families that have their roots in the earliest
settlements. His sire was a Revolutionary patriot, and "Cassie"
treasures the old flint-lock musket with which his dad fought
at the battle of Haarlem Heights.
A more gruesome relic is an old tomahawk given him by his
grandmother, who had it from her Indian neighbors, and "Cassie"
remembers well hearing his father-in-law, Ralph Ver Bryck, tell
how he melted up his pewter plates for bullets.
"Cassie" was a young man when construction was begun of the
ten-mile section of the Piermont end of the route on August 15,
1838, but his memory still recalls virile pictures of those
pioneer days when he drove an ox-cart during the building of
it.
For several years past he has been blind, and does not leave
his room, but his mind is active, and his general health good,
and he likes to have the current events, particularly of the
great war, read to him.

• Baptism, 28 Sep 1816, Reformed Church, Tappan, Orange (now Rockland) County, New York. ⁵⁴⁶

• No Name, 1820, Orange Town, Rockland County, New York. ¹¹⁰ Cornelius Mabie appeared on the census of 1820 in the household
of Adolphus L Mabie and Rachel Bell Orange Town, Rockland
County, New York

• No Name, 1830, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ¹¹¹ Cornelius Mabie appeared on the census of 1830 in the household
of Adolphus L Mabie and Rachel Bell Orange, Rockland County,
New York

• No Name, 1840, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ³⁶⁴ Cornelius Mabie and Sarah Verbryck appeared on the census of
1840 Orange, Rockland County, New YorkMabie, Cornelius, one man
and one woman 20-29, and one boy under 10

• Occupation: Carpenter with the Piermont, NY division of the New York and, Aft 1840. ¹⁰³⁰⁸
Erie Railroad, starting in 1840

• No Name, 1850, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ⁴⁸⁸ Cornelius Mabie and Sarah Verbryck appeared on the census of
1850 Orange, Rockland County, New YorkCornelius A. Mabie, 34,
M, Carpenter, NY
Sarah Mabie, 34, F, NY
Adolphus Mabie, 12, M, NY
Allesta L. Mabie, 4, F, NY

• No Name, 15 Oct 1857, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁷⁷¹⁴ Cornelius Mabie was mentioned in the will of Adolphus L Mabie
15 Oct 1857 Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. "Will of
Adolphus L. Mabie, of Orangetown, Rockland County, dated
10/15/1857, proved 1/18/1858, mentions wife Rachel, "my three
children" Elizabeth, William A. Mabie and Cornelius A. Mabie,
and grandson Adolphus, son of Cornelius."

• No Name, 1860, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ¹¹⁶ Cornelius Mabie and Sarah Verbryck appeared on the census of
1860 Orange, Rockland County, New YorkCornelius Mabie, 44 , M,
Farmer, NY, $5000, $100
Sarah Mabie, 45 , F, , NY
Adolphus Mabie, 22 , M, Lumber Dealer, NY
Sarah J. Mabie, 18 , F, , NY
Elesta Mabie, 14 , F, , NY
Susan Mabie, 10 , F, , NY
John W. Mabie, 4 , F, , NY

• No Name, 1870, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹¹ Cornelius Mabie and Sarah Verbryck appeared on the census of
1870 Orangetown, Rockland County, New YorkCornelius Mabie, 55,
M, Carpenter, 10000, NY
Sarah L. Mabie, 55, F, Keeping House, NY
Senora Mabie, 19, F, NY
William Mabie, 13, M, NY
John Vervalen, 64, M, Farmer

• No Name, 1880, District 1, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹⁰ Cornelius Mabie and Sarah Verbryck appeared on the census of
1880 District 1, Orangetown, Rockland County, New YorkCornelius
Mabie, Head, M, M, W, 65, NY, Carpenter, Fa: NY, Mo: NY
Sarah Mabie, Wife, F, M, W, 65, NY, Keeping House, Fa: NY, Mo:
NY
William Mabie, Son, M, S, W, 22, NY, Farmer, Fa: NY, Mo: NY

• No Name, 13 Jun 1900, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹² Cornelius Mabie appeared on the census of 13 Jun 1900 in the
household of John William Mabie and Sophia Kunzie Orangetown,
Rockland County, New York

• No Name, Apr 1910, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹³ Cornelius Mabie appeared on the census of Apr 1910 in the
household of John William Mabie and Sophia Kunzie Orangetown,
Rockland County, New York

• No Name, Jan 1920, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹⁴ Cornelius Mabie appeared on the census of Jan 1920 in the
household of John William Mabie and Sophia Kunzie Orangetown,
Rockland County, New York

• Obituary, Oct 1920. ¹⁰³⁰⁹ Cornelius Mabie, known far and wide among railroad men as the
oldest living man of his craft, died August 20 (1920) at
Sparkill, N.Y., aged 104 years. He was born within a few
hundred yards of his last home, August 4, 1816. When oxen were
doing the freighting business in the 30's, preceding most of
the canals, "Casey" Mabie wielded a whip; when canals were
built he helped build the lock houses along the banks; and when
work on the Erie railroad was begun he turned his hand on this
job, too, for he was a good carpenter. He helped build many of
the first stations west of Piermont.
Of late years Mr. Mabie had been blind and confined rather
closely to his home. A sketch of his life, written for the Erie
Railroad Magazine by the late Col. John S. Bell, contains the
following:
"Casey" (Cornelius) Mabie was born at Tappan, Rockland county,
New York, August 4, 1816. He is still living in the house he
built in the early forties, a few hundred feet from where he
was born.
At the age of 24, in 1840, he began work - a carpenter for the
New York & Erie Railroad. He helped construct the freight depot
at the end of the pier, and also the shops at Piermont; and
with my father (five years older than he), they built what
stations the railroad had between Piermont and Suffern, which
didn't amount to much.
He worked for the company many years. For the past twelve years
he has been blind, otherwise in excellent health. I visited him
once, and sometimes twice, each year. I have known him since I
was big enough to remember anybody. Notwithstanding I am much
younger than he, he is exceedingly glad to have me call on him.
These visits of mine began five or six years ago. Until that
time I hadn't seen him in many years. There is no one now
living whom he knew when he was a boy.
After the opening of the road in 1861 to Dunkirk he and a few
others, including my father, were given passes by the then
president of the road for a trip over the Erie. They were gone
about a week. I remember the occasion. He spoke of that to me a
short time ago. That was the first and only time he was ever so
far away from home. He practically lived and worked in the
neighborhood of where he lived and Piermont for eighty-five
years.
Mr. Mabie three years ago sent a letter to the editor of the
ERIE RAILROAD MAGAZINE, in which he said he had had read to him
from the November, 1916, Magazine an article entitled "Freight
Trains Without Rails." He said he was much interested in the
story. He took occasion also to say that he had passed the
century mark, making reference to what was contained in the
following lines:
"I'm growing fonder of my staff;
I'm growing dimmer in my eyes;
I'm growing fainter in my laugh;
I'm growing deeper in my sighs;
I'm growing careless in my dress;
I'm growing frugal in my gold;
I'm growing wise-I'm growing-yes,
I'm growing old."
These lines impelled Mr. Mabie to write as follows:
"I fill that bill with the exception that for the past dozen
years or more I am blind. I, too, have driven oxen when the
wagon was filled, sometimes with apples, corn, potatoes, wood,
cider and many other things; also the plow, but never in a
country where there were Indians, deer and antelope or sage
hens. But I have driven them where there were no railroads, and
before there were any railroads in the world. I first worked on
the old New York & Erie seventy-seven years ago, when I was but
twenty-three years old, and I doubt if there is another man now
living that worked on the "Old Erie" when I first worked on the
road."

Cornelius married Sarah Verbryck [33260] [MRIN: 551605218] on 3 Nov 1836 in Reformed Church, Tappan, Orange (now Rockland) County, New York.⁵⁷⁶¹ (Sarah Verbryck [33260] was born on 24 Apr 1815 in England ^5761,7530 and died before Jun 1898.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Census, 1840, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ³⁶⁴ Mabie, Cornelius, one man and one woman 20-29, and one boy
under 10

• Census, 1850, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ⁴⁸⁸ Cornelius A. Mabie, 34, M, Carpenter, NY
Sarah Mabie, 34, F, NY
Adolphus Mabie, 12, M, NY
Allesta L. Mabie, 4, F, NY

• Census, 1860, Orange, Rockland County, New York. ¹¹⁶ Cornelius Mabie, 44 , M, Farmer, NY, $5000, $100
Sarah Mabie, 45 , F, , NY
Adolphus Mabie, 22 , M, Lumber Dealer, NY
Sarah J. Mabie, 18 , F, , NY
Elesta Mabie, 14 , F, , NY
Susan Mabie, 10 , F, , NY
John W. Mabie, 4 , F, , NY

• Census, 1870, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹¹ Cornelius Mabie, 55, M, Carpenter, 10000, NY
Sarah L. Mabie, 55, F, Keeping House, NY
Senora Mabie, 19, F, NY
William Mabie, 13, M, NY
John Vervalen, 64, M, Farmer

• Census, 1880, District 1, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. ⁶¹⁹⁰ Cornelius Mabie, Head, M, M, W, 65, NY, Carpenter, Fa: NY, Mo:
NY
Sarah Mabie, Wife, F, M, W, 65, NY, Keeping House, Fa: NY, Mo:
NY
William Mabie, Son, M, S, W, 22, NY, Farmer, Fa: NY, Mo: NY