"The death of William J. Bridger, an aged and highly respected resident of this village for many years, occurred at 12:15 o'clock this morning at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital where he had been a patient since Saturday. His final illness of heart trouble was of only a week's duration. Mr. Bridger was the son of William and Mary Jane (Newkirk) Bridger and he was born June 17, 1860, at Clinton Heights, Rensselaer county, in a historic house which had been remodeled from barracks occupied by soldiers of the Revolutionary War. The family moved to Cherry Valley in his early life and Mr. Bridger remained in that village until 1887 when he came to Cooperstown where he made his home down to the time of his death. He was a mechanic by trade and was regarded as one of the most skillful of his time. For thirteen years he was employed by the Phoenix Knitting Mills near this village, and on one occasion Theodore Frelinghuysen of New York City, then the owner of the mills, declared that Mr. Bridger showed the best results in servicing the great amount of fine machinery in the plant, of any mechanic with whom he had come into contact ... Mr. Bridger was thrice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Houck of Utica whose death occurred in 1902. He then married Miss Nellie Quackenbush of Colliers who passed away in 1926. Later he was united in marriage with Mrs. Helen Fox Culver of Laurens, who survives, together with a daughter, Mrs. A. John Wedderspoon of Cooperstown; a son, Leonard W. Bridger of Oneonta, and two brothers, Jacob and Samuel Bridger of this village, besides a number of nieces and nephews ... Burial was made in the Hartwick Seminary cemetery." ["The Otsego Farmer & Republican" (Cooperstown, NY), Friday, July 14, 1939, Page Five]