HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF BERNE, NEW YORK

The other day I was searching the Altamont Enterprise digital archives for obituaries. I found the following death notice in the Apr 17 1896 edition.

West Berne - Mr. George Smoke died Tuesday of
last week [April 6, 1896]. Funeral on Friday, Mr.
Smoke was-about 89 years old-and well
known in this section. He had been in
the employ of Mr. J. D. Haverly for
years.

Smoke was one of about four Negroes that lived in the Berne and Knox area in the latter half of the 19th Century. According to census records, George Smoke was single, and worked for John D. Haverly from before 1865. I can not find him in earlier census records.