William Hall Penfold
The Parish Record, 1912Born: February 19, 1842
Died: September 18, 1912
William Hall Penfold owned a camp on Upper St. Regis Lake.
Malone Farmer, June 28, 1905
. . . E. H. Harriman, together with William Hall Penfold and Dr. E. L. Trudeau, has a new club property at Beaver River. . .
The Parish Record [1912, from the Donaldson scrapbooks, Saranac Lake Free Library]
In Memoriam W.H. Penfold
By Dr. E. L. Trudeau.
Mr. William Hall Penfold, one of the best known of that little colony of New Yorkers who for half a life-time have made the St. Regis Lakes their summer home, died on September 18th, after a brief illness. Mr. Penfold came to Paul Smith's for the first time fifty years ago, when it was a little inn patronized only by a few hunters and fishermen, and he and his family, consisting of a brother and sister, have made their summer home on the St. Regis Lakes ever since. Having acquired land and built their beautiful camp on the Upper St. Regis they spent each summer there, surrounded by many close friends whose friendship grew and strengthened as the years rolled by. It is hard to express what the Penfolds and their camp, where the sister and brothers vied with each other in dispensing a most gracious hospitality, meant to those who were privileged to be admitted to their friendship. For it was indeed a rare privilege to come in contact with their beautiful family life which ran on like a placid, sparkling stream through so many years, and touched and cheered so many lives; and when sorrow and death came suddenly to this abode of refinement, peace and happiness, the entire community was saddened and stricken as with an irreparable personal loss.
Miss Penfold died last spring in their New York home, and although the invalid sister whose gentle presence was the inspiration of their lives had gone and the brothers were stunned by the blow, they opened the St. Regis camp again as usual. There amid surrounding where everything spoke of the sister's gracious presence through many happy years, attended by the old servants whose service became more than ever one of respect and affection, amid the tried friends who rallied about them on every side, they bravely took up their lives again.
The peace of the saddened home. however, was of short duration. Early in September William Hall Penfold was suddenly stricken with a serious illness and removed to the city, where a consultation of physicians was called and the decision reached that the only hope for him lay in a serious operation. The operation was performed successfully, though it proved more formidable than had been anticipated. The patient never rallied from the shock, and passed away peacefully three days later.
William Hall Penfold's personality at once made an impression on all that met him, and his attractive presence spoke at a glance of the refinement, reserve and the spirituality of his sensitive nature. Under an unusually pleasing, dignified, and at times almost cold exterior, he hid from the world a wealth and depth of affection which he gave without stint and always without ostentation to his dear ones and to his friends. He made friends with difficulty, but his affection once won was never withdrawn. For forty years I have known the tenderness and constancy of his friendship.
The beautiful in art and nature touched him deeply. He was a cultivated musician and a keen critic and excellent judge of the best works of art, collecting as he could those which specially appealed to him. He loved nature in all her aspects, and his constant tramps through the mountains revealed to him on every side, what most of us… [remainder missing]
