Mary E. Barner Preston

Born 9 July 1849 at Davenport, Delaware County, New York

Died 18 February 1904 at Stamford, Delaware County, New York

Mary was the daughter of Joseph H. Barner and Margaret Becker Barner. She was raised at Davenport where her father was the owner and operator of a farm. Mary married to Hamilton Smith Preston on 14 November 1866. They made their home first at Delhi, New York where her husband had been elected a sheriff of Delaware County. About 1871, they relocated to Stamford where he built a beautiful home that he named “Westholm”. Her husband was a hardware merchant at this place in 1875 and retired about 1880. Her husband died in 1893 and she opened their home to boarders; known as The Westholm Hotel, it was one of the finest hotels in the Catskills. Mary and Hamilton were the parents of four children; Margaret L. Preston, Cornelia Laraway Preston, Maude S. Preston, and Hattie Preston. Mary was buried next to her husband at Stamford Cemetery at Stamford. She was the wife of my second cousin four times removed.

 

Westholm Hotel about 1930

 This hotel postcard is included in The Tichnor Brothers Collection of New York Postcards at Boston Public Library.

©2016 Cindy Coffell