From the January, 1917 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
(Garry Iseman, who ran a wood-burning locomotive on the Erie Railroad in 1847, is still alive and well at the age of 92, living on a farm near Sparkill, where he is thoroughly enjoying life. He is as lively as a cricket, digs potatoes as a pastime and votes the Democrativ ticket. We present herewith a picture of Mr. Iseman along with a photo of engine 343, which he ran in the '60s. The portrait of Mr. Iseman was taken when he was 45 years old and still handling an Erie throttle. The article following was written by Mr. Iseman's long-time friend.)
Garret ("Garry") Iseman was born at Palisades, one mile from Piermont, May 18, 1824. When twelve years of age he saw the beginning of the construction of the New York and Erie railroad at Piermont, in 1836. Shortly after that, for his father, he drove a horse and dirt cart for the contractor who had the contract to grade the roadbed between Sparkill and Orangeburgh, a distance of one mile. John White was the contractor, and boarded with Iseman's father. Before the contract was finished, White left the place, and many unpaid bills, including what he owed Iseman's father for several months� work and board. The debt was never paid.
Iseman says that shortly after the rails were laid (1840) between Sparkill and the end of the pier, a distance of two miles, a horse car, drawn by one horse and driven by David Clark, ran from Sparkill to the end of the pier, twice each day, where passengers were taken to and from the steamboats stopping there on their trips up and down the Hudson river. That was before there were any locomotives on the Erie, and that was the occasion when passengers were first carried on the Erie.
On Oct. 28, 1845, when Iseman was twenty-three years old, and when there were but five locomotives on the Erie, and the western terminus was at Middletown, he was made a fireman for Underhill Merritt. engineer, on the Piermont No. 2. He fired until February, 1847, when he was promoted to engineer. During the time he was fireman he also fired for "Josh" Martin, on the New York, No. 9.
The first engine he ran was No. 9, on a gravel train. Afterward he ran a wood train, and then was detailed to take the locomotives from the round house to the end of the pier (one mile) and deliver the engine and train to the engineer at Piermont. On one of these occasions when he delivered the Allegheny, No. 18, at the station at Piermont. the regular engineer failed to report for duty, when he, Iseman, was ordered to take charge of the engine and proceed to Middletown.
Several months before the opening of the road to Dunkirk, in May, 185l, Iseman ran the Allegheny from Suffern to Port Jervis in connection with the Paterson and Ramapo railroad, whose western terminus was at Suffern. When the Erie acquired that road, and a third rail was laid, he ran the first train from Port Jervis to Paterson, with Supt. Charles Minot on the engine (Allegheny, No. 18)
from Suffern. When the third rail was laid from Paterson to Jersey City he ran the same engine there. The terminus was then where the Pennsylvania terminus in Jersey City is now. He was the first engineer to run a regular train from Piermont to Port Jervis.
In the sixties he ran No. 343, (The "Robert H. Berdell"), a wood-burner, the handsomest engine on tlie road. When Fisk was vice-president of the road he many times rode on the engine with Iseman. And on more than one occasion both Fisk and Josie Mansfield rode on his engine to Turners, where they went to dine.
Iseman fired but three lomocotives: Piermont No. 2; Rockland No. 3; and New York No. 9. Six drivers, no front truck; a hook motion.
Iseman was in the employ of the company about forty years, and was a pastmaster of a locomotive.
I drove to Sparkill on election day and took Mr. Iseman to the polls, where he cast a vote for Woodrow Wilson.
Some of the best engineers on the Erie, at one time, fired for "Garry" Iseman -- that is the name by which he is best known.
For a man of his age (he is now past 92) he has a remarkable memory. It must seem very strange to him when he stops to think that very few men, if any, are now living, that were on the road when he first began firing. During the time he was in the employ of the company the Erie had three different eastern terminals, namely: Piermont, Jersey City and Long Dock (Pavonia Ferry).
There is not a locomotive, passenger or freight car in use, or a rail or a cross-tie, a bridge or repair shop, or a signal switch (and I don't believe there is even a station) on the old Erie that was there when "Garry" Iseman was first employed on the Erie.
"Garry" Iseman has lived about all his life in the open, either on a farm, or in the engine cab. In his case it is "Back to the farm." Thc first twenty-one years of his life he spent on a farm; then forty years in the engine cab, after which he has spent thirty-one years on a farm.
On one occasion, in the early fifties, I think it was the 100 or 101, after the failure of several engineers to make time, Iseman took this engine out on a trip from Piermont to Port Jervis and return and discovered the trouble. He spent the whole of the next day in adjusting something in the smokestack, and when he finished the job the master mechanic asked Iseman if he thought that would do the trick. Iseman replied: "There is nothing the matter with her; she will steam all right."
But the master mechanic thought differently. The next day on the run the fireman wanted to know what was the matter with the engine; When Iseman said: "I don't see anything the matter with her, do you?" The fireman said: "The darned thing would never make steam before, only enough for a way-freight, and hardly that." Iseman said: "You keep on firing wood, don't worry about the engine making too much steam. You worried several weeks before I took the engine about not having enough steam, now you are worrying because she has too much."
And they went into Port Jervis two minutes ahead of time, and could have gone in fifteen minutes ahead, if they were allowed to. It was the only time in weeks that the conductor announced to the passengers: *'This train stops at Turners�twenty minutes for dinner."
When Iseman returned to Piermont the master mechanic said: "Iseman, how did the old thing act today." Iseman replied: "If you can't get twenty minutes cut off our time the old 'she devil' will run away from us."
Nothing pleased Iseman better than when he could take some engine, that other engineers condemned, and in some cases refused to run. and bring it around all right. And it frequently happened, when such things occurred, some engineer, not interested, would say: "Give her to Iseman; he'll fix her."
The "Robert H. Berdell" (No. 343) was built by the Grant Locomotive Works, Paterson, N.J., and came to the Erie in 1865. She was a wood-burning locomotive. "Garry" Iseman was given charge of the engine, and ran her for many years. During the time he ran her she was changed to a coal burner.
When she came to the road she was the handsomest locomotive I ever saw. She was run on the best trains, then on the Eastern division. Iseman was then 41 years of age, and in the prime of manhood; and what he didn't know about a locomotive was not worth knowing.
He never looked so well to me as when he pulled out of the station on that handsome engine, pulling the best train on the road. And how I envied him! Many times, when Iseman's train was coming in the yard limits, have I said: ''There comes Iseman, with that peach of an engine, and he's on time, too." He could make up more time coming East than any other engineer I ever knew on the Erie. The engineer and the engine seemed to work in such complete harmony; she knew her master, and he knew her.
She always looked to me like a well fed, well cared for dog looks to his master. The difference was, she couldn't wag her tail.
No better engineer ever pulled a throttle on the Erie, than "Garry" Iseman. In the fifties and sixties, especially in the fifties, when new engines were coming to the Erie in great numbers, made by several different locomotive builders, namely; Rogers & Cook of Paterson, Taunton Locomotive Works, Taunton, Mass., Baldwin of Philadelphia, and Norris of Philadelphia, and steamed poorly, or when different engineers could not make the time, "Garry" Iseman would take them and, after a few trips, and in some cases the first trip he ran them, they would make all the steam necessary. And he had no difficulty in making time. All locomotives looked alike to him. He was their master, and it seemed as though they knew it.
From the May, 1918 issue of Erie Magazine:
�GARRY" ISEMAN, veteran engineer of the Erie railroad, has passed his ninety-fourth birthday, and still hale and hearty enjoys life at his home in Nyack, N.Y.
This old-timer, whose railroad career was some time ago given in the pages of this MAGAZINE, in connection with other veterans, is still so active that he is able to wield an axe, and cuts all the wood necessary for his household use. When he isn't employed in this way he hies himself to the banks of the Hudson and there inveigles fish to the elusive bait that dangles from his hook.
One would not expect so much activity from one of his ripe age, but he is the exception to the rule, and appears to be as spry as the proverbial kitten. He delights in entertaining those who call with stories of the olden days of the Erie when he ran one of the five wood-burning engines that hauled trains. He is as cheery as a schoolboy, and what he says about his past life is an inspiration for the youngsters of his home town, to work hard, be honest and upright and face with fortitude the discouragements of everyday life.
The picture of this youth of 94 summers was taken somewhat over a year ago. He is standing in his yard with axe in hand ready to tackle some hardwood, a pile of which reaching several feet above the ground and already split was the result of his labor.
From the February, 1919 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
There is nothing I know of that keeps its youth
Half so well as a tree and truth.
Thus philosophized good Dr. Holmes in his time, but we may now add the Erie railroad employe to this youthful list, particularly if he has the good fortune to live among the healthful green hills of old Rockland county, New York, where at Sparkill, within a mile of Piermont, the terminus of the original line of the Erie, there live the two oldest Erie veterans, "Cassie" Mabie and "Garry" Iseman.
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.
A neighborly little walk over the hills from the Mabie home will bring us to
see "Garry" Iseman, where the latch-string is always out and a characteristic welcome awaits one. "Garry" is unique in Erie annals, being the oldest engineer now living. He was born near Piermont on May 18, 1824, and is now 95 years young and running strong.
"Garry" was five years old when Horatio Allen ran the "Stourbridge Lion," the first locomotive on this continent, on the D. & H., in 1829; but in 1836, when but a lad of 12 years, he was driving a dirt cart in the construction work in the building of the Piermont "branch."
In 1845 "Garry" entered the Erie employ as a fireman. There were at that time only five old wood-burning engines, and "Garry" fired on No. 2.
In 1847 he was made an engineer, and ran on the first regular run from Piermont to Port Jervis. So far as known he is the last survivor of that historic event.
"Garry" is very much of a man; he is very human, and one might say sui generis; and his humor, unstudied and spontaneous, enlivens his reminiscences, which are a delight to his callers.
On a recent visit we found him enjoying his usual good health. Of course, we had to inspect his famous wood-pile, for "Garry" keeps fit by chopping wood, and he has a pile of it as big as a house. He also finds time to go fishing in the Hudson frequently, and his many friends confidently expect him to continue to nourish like a green old oak when a hundred years have gone.
From the June, 1919 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
Garret Iseman, known among his railroad friends as "Garry," celebrated his ninety-fifth birthday, May 18 (1919), at his home in Sparkill, NY.
This old-timer, who was an Erie engineer in the railroad's early history, helped lay the first mile of Erie track in 1836, and was an engineer for 40 years, beginning with a wood-burning engine in 1847. He believes he is the oldest railroad man in the world.
Mr. Iseman still retains all his faculties, and attributes his long lease on life to recreation and exercise. He chops wood every day, and when the weather is conducive to the sport, he spends much time in fishing. He was born in Sparkill and resides there with his adopted daughter.
From the January, 1920 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
At his home in Sparkill, N.Y., on December 8 last (1919), Garret Iseman, retired Erie railroad engineer, passed away at the ripe age of 96 years. He was born May 23, 1823, near Piermont, N.Y., and when a boy became fireman. He was promoted to engineer in 1847. His first work in life was driving a dirt cart in railroad construction.
For forty years Engineer Iseman was master of an engine, and ran the first regular train between Piermont, then the eastern terminus of the Erie, to Port Jervis, N.Y. His engine was one of five wood burners that did service on the Erie. In the early sixties he was given engine 343, called the handsomest engine in the world, and he was the proudest man on the road. As a fireman he tossed cord wood for two years only, then in 1847 he was promoted to engineer. His record during the long period in which he ran engines was a clean one, and he belonged to that element who set an example for loyalty and faithful service that was handed down to Erie men, and today is religiously followed. In the early eighties he ran a modern coal-burning engine that hauled trains 4 and 5, the Chicago express, between Jersey City and Port Jervis, and he was one of the well-known and familiar figures on the then Eastern division.
After his retirement Engineer Iseman contented himself about his home doing odd jobs and cutting wood. He had a large pile near his house, as may be seen in the picture, and he was very proud that in his advanced years he could perform such strenuous work and find little effort in the undertaking. He was also fond of fishing, and when the sky was bright and fish biting well it was his wont to go down to the shore of the Hudson river and drop in his line. He knew the old Erie by heart and derived much pleasure telling of its early history and what the boys did in the wood-burning days.
It has been said that "Garry" Iseman was the oldest among the living active and retired railroad engineers in this country, but it is true that "Cassie" Mabie, another retired Erie engineer, also a resident of Sparkill, is living out his declining years at the unusual age of 103 years.