John H. Starin
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John Henry Starin (August 27, 1825 - March 21, 1909) was a U.S. Representative from New York, grandson of Thomas Sammons.
Born in Sammonsville, Fulton County (then a part of Montgomery County), New York, Starin pursued an academic course in Esperance, New York. Began the study of medicine in 1842. He established and conducted a drug and medicine business in Fultonville 1845-1858. Postmaster of Fultonville, New York from 1848 to 1852. Founder and president of the Starin City River &. Harbor Transportation Co.. He served as director of the North River Bank, New York City, and the Mohawk River National Bank. He was also interested in agriculture and stock raising.
Starin was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1881). He served as president of Fultonville National Bank 1883-1909. He engaged in railroading. He served as member of the New York City Rapid Transit Commission. He died in New York City March 21, 1909. He was interred in Starin mausoleum, Fultonville Cemetery, Fultonville, New York.
[edit] Glen Island
John Starin bought Glen Island in 1879 and opened a theme park there in 1881 which stayed open until 1905.
[edit] The Starin Mausoleum
The Starin Mausoleum was constructed in Fultonville Cemetery before 1889. The building was approximately 45 feet tall, 25 feet across, and 15 feet deep. The Starin mausoleum no longer stands in Fultonville Cemetery, yet remain ants of the foundation can still be found. When John H. Starin died in 1909, he left a sum of money to the village of Fultonville to take care of the mausoleum. In the 1970s the mausoleum began to fall into disrepair. Sometime around this time, it was also vandalized on Halloween by a group of teenagers, who destroyed most of the caskets and bodies. Between 1990 and 1995, the mausoleum was taken down and the remains that were left in the mausoleum were re-interred in front of where it once stood and markers were placed on the graves. At the point of the demolition, which Jake Stevens headed, there was very little left to the mausoleum. Today, a modest upright granite slab with a bronze face marks his grave as well as his family member's graves.
