Born: c. 1868 1
Died: April 9, 1922
Married: Carrie Strough, Anna Patterson
Children: LaVerne Strough, three others
Arthur Strough moved to Saranac Lake from Dolgeville, New York because his wife and daughter, Carrie and LaVerne Strough, had TB. His wife was ill for a year or so before they moved and may not have made it to Saranac Lake. He was a well-known home designer and builder in Dolgeville, and after moving to Saranac Lake, he worked with the J. J. O'Connell company.
Arthur remarried Anna (Patterson) Strough sometime between 1913 and 1918. Her sister and brother-in-law, Hazel Strough Paye and Robert Paye, also lived here for many years.
Arthur Strough and his friend Joseph LaBeau were killed in a tragic car accident in April 1922 on Bloomingdale Road near the Trudeau Sanatorium.
Source:
- Arthur Strough's great granddaughter, Colleen T. Bennett
Lake Placid News, April 14, 1922
TWO MEN DIE IN AUTO ACCIDENT
BOTH VICTIMS RESIDENTS OF SARANAC LAKE
NO KNOWN CAUSE FOR TRAGEDY
Arthur Strough Burned to Death Under Car—Joseph LeBeau, Extricated From Wreckage, Dies in General Hospital Two Hours After Accident —Two Women and Child Thrown From Car As It Rolls Over Bank.
Two men are dead, and their widows are suffering from shock, the result of an automobile accident which occurred at seven thirty o'clock Sunday evening on the Bloomingdale road near the dirt highway leading to Trudeau Sanitorium, Saranac Lake. The dead are Arthur Strough and Joseph LeBeau, both of Saranac Lake. The former was burned to death beneath the overturned car, and LeBeau died at the General Hospital, Saranac Lake, two hours after the accident.
The wives of the dead, and Henry Finnegan, police officer, among: the first to arrive on the scene, were forced to watch the struggles of LeBeau to extricate himself from the wreckage, unable to help the victim, pinned under the machine, which had broken into flames upon overturning. Later upon the arrival of rescuers, the man was dragged from beneath the automobile, and together with Mrs. Strough, Mrs. LeBeau, and the three year old child of the latter, was rushed to Saranac Lake.
As Mrs. Strough was carried into the apartment of her daughter in the Post office block she screamed, "My God, Daddy is burned to death under the car!"
This was the first intimation the rescuers had that a second man was in the wreckage. They hurried back to the scene. In the meanwhile the body of Strough had been discovered by Deputy Sheriff A. Bernard and the members of the fire department when the machine had been turned over. Strough's body was burned beyond recognition.
The women of the party cannot give a cause for the accident. It is believed that the fog confused the driver, who mistaking a dark blotch ahead for the road, drove the car over the bank. Mrs. Strough, Mrs. LeBeau and the LeBeau child who were occupying the rear seat were thrown from the car as it went over the bank, and were uninjured. However, they are still suffering from shock. There is no truth in the report that the LeBeau child has died since the accident.
The funeral of Arthur Strough was held Tuesday morning from the Methodist Episcopal church, Saranac Lake, services being conducted by Rev. E. B. Brownell, pastor. The body was removed to Dolgeville, the former home of the deceased, for burial. Strough was 54 years old.
The body of Joseph LeBeau was laid to rest in Pine Ridge cemetery, Saranac Lake, Wednesday morning. Services were at St. Bernard's Roman Catholic church, and conducted by Rev. E. R. Gallagher, assistant pastor. Both funerals were in charge of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the men having been carpenters by trade and members of that order.
LeBeau, who was 42 years of age, is survived by his parents, wife and five children, six sisters and two brothers. Strough, besides his widow, leaves four children.
See also: 6 Charles Street
Comments
2010-01-26 17:11:35 My great grandfather was the officer, Henry Finnegan. We would love to see a reunion organized for descendants of Michael Finnegan (Henry's dad). John Finnegan, Spokane, WA. —66.225.27.111
2011-08-07 16:59:32 You can contact me at [email protected] for more information that I have researched. I would love to connect with anyone who may have more information too! Best-Colleen Bennett- Sherrill, NY —184.153.198.204
Footnotes
1. Based on the April 14, 1922, Lake Placid News story quoted here that gives his age as 42. However, the April 14, 1922, Adirondack Post-Elizabethtown Record story on the event gives his age as 37, which would make his birth year 1885.
