21 When visiting Ogdensburg with his son Ralph in February 1875, James fell ill at their hotel, the Seymour House, and died Sunday, February 21 at the age of 57. His obituary stated that during his career he had “amassed a fortune.” As far as his character, which was praised, he “uniformly wore the same pleasant smile and extended the same warm and friendly greeting” to the “thousands of friends” who knew him. 32 His body arrived in Fishkill by a train and his funeral was held Feburary 26 at St. Luke’s. That year, the Wades had one servant living in the house, Irish-born cook Margaret Powers. The children were now young adults and Louisa no longer required additional staff. In the cottage lived Thomas Bolton, a gardener, with his Irish wife Bridget and their two infant sons, James and John. 33 Thomas Kelly, an Irish coachman, boarded with the Boltons rather than living in the carriage house. Farming operations seem to have completely stopped by the 1880s, though farmer laborers lived close enough. Louisa witnessed the area become heavily urbanized as the brickmaking process introduced more competent machinery. Her children, who did not live luxuriously on the remnants of their father’s fortune, took up individual careers and could tolerate living on their own. The final impetus to sell the estate was probably the shock of a burglary that occurred in January 1886 at the hands of runaway criminals and their female accomplices from Newburgh. Perry King and William Fisher, Newburgh gang members, had convinced Norah Daly, a married young woman, and her neighbor, Ella Town, to leave Newburgh with them. King and Fisher promised to marry the women and find work somewhere along the river. The women obliged, and the four crossed on a January day for Fishkill Landing. With the intention of reaching Westchester, they walked along the Cold Spring Road until coming to the Wade’s house, which captured their attention. Town “objected to the two men going into the house” but nonetheless the women snatched the belongings that had been thieved on their behalf. These included a silk dress, brown leather valice, shawl, tambourine, rubber boots, and a
