From the August 24, 1890 issue of The New York Times:
Middletown, NY, Aug. 23 -- There are seventeen members of the Port Jervis Lodge of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers who have been employed on the Erie Railroad for periods of from twenty-five to thirty-five consecutive years, the average term of service being within a fraction of thirty years. The oldest in continuous service are H.L. Carlough and S.A. Ronk, both of whom began running on the road Jan. 1, 1855. The oldest in actual length of service is Benjamin Hoffner, who entered the employ of the company as an engineer in 1848, but was off the road from 1854 to 1858. Mr. Hoffner is still doing duty at seventy years of age, and in the thirty-eighth year of his work on the road, as engineer of the train between Port Jervis and Otisville.

The seventeen veterans referred to in the order of seniority of continuous service are: H.L. Carlough, S.A. Ronk, Charles Frayer, Albert Johnson, David Henderson, William Dooley, Benjamin Hoffner, Edward Kent, G.H. Cooper, Samuel S. Walker, David Wilson, J.H. Cookson, A.H. Goodale, E.H. Cox, A.P. Brady, G.H. Johnson, and John Ackerman.