CoK'Tiglit]^'?- COPYRIGHT DEPOSm m'li'wns'H' (swi^^sm^o c^^ REPRESENTATIVE Men of New York A RECORD OF THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS Ami their distinction has lent lustre to the State." — Irving. VOLUME Jay Henry Mowbray, A.M., Ph.D. PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK PRESS NEW YORK CITY 1898 p ^ .f^ "b 14 380 CorvRiGHT, 1898, James S. McCartney ./// lig/ils reserved '"W^rCOPIrJ Sit) c :■?■.', 1890. INDEX TO VOLUME IL The Story of toe State — The Wars with England . . 5 BiscHOFF, Henry, Jr. ........... 27 Blanchard, Ja.mes a. ......... . 30 Brandreth, Willia.m ........... 33 Buckingham, C. L. .......... . 36 BuRSLEM, GonoLi'iiiN F. .......... 39 Butler, William Allen .......... 43 Clews, Henry ............ 46 Coudert, Frederr- R. ......... . 49 Dayton, Charles W. ........... 52 Dittenhoefer, a. J. .... ..... 55 Ewing, Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . • S'^ Fanning, William J. ......... . 61 GoEREL, Lewis S. ............ 64 Hall, A. Wilford 67 Hinsdale, Elizur B. ........... 70 Hoffman, Eugene A. 73 Holm & Smith 76 Howland, Henry E. .......... 79 James, E. C. ............ 82 JoLiNE, Adrian H 85 Jones, DeWitt Clinton .......... 8S Kellogg, L. I.. 91 KiscH, Seymour 94 Kisselburgh, W. E., Jr. . . . . . . . . . ■ 97 LivERMORE, Arthur L. .......... 100 Mackey, Charles W. 103 McCooK, John J 106 McGrath, William T 109 McKooN, D. D 112 Miller, Warner 115 Murtha, Thomas F. . . . . . . . . ■ ■ .118 Packard, S. S 121 Plympton, Gilbert M. 124 Powell, Henry A 127 3 4 INDEX TO VOLUME II. Redmond, Henrv S. . .......... 130 Sanders, Leon ............ 133 Simmons, J. Edw.ard ........... 136 Starin, John H. ........... 139 Steckler, Louis ............ 142 Stewart, Lispknard .......... 145 Stranahan, J. S. T. . . . . . . . . . . 148 Stump, Irwin C. •••.■•..... 151 Taylor, Howard -A.. .......... . 154 Turner, E. P 157 TuTHii.L, Theodore K. . 160 ViEi.i?, Egbert L ■ ■ . . 163 Warren, Ira D. ........... . [66 Weatherbee, E. H. . . . . . . . , • . . 169 Webb, Wm. H. ........... . 172 Wells, George W. .......... . lyj MAJOR ISE^-ElRj'VL PHELinP tj rBnnnL,iG]R . THE STORY OF THE STATE. Thh Wars with England. •1HE patriots who first gained a victory over English soldiers on the soil of New York were but a band of despised and persecuted outlaws. During the many boundary disputes which had arisen between the various colonies, the lands to the north-east of the present State boundaries had been declared to belong- to New York, whose Governor had thereupon unwisely attempted to exact from the settlers of the New Hampshire grants a second price for their farms. The sheriffs who were sent to enforce these manifestly unjust claims were met with armed resistance, and in a spirited skirmish at Westchester a man was killed and several wounded. In defence, the inhabitants raised a band of militia called the Green Mountain Boys, led by such men as Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, who were promptly outlawed by the Assembly of New York, which offered a reward of two hund- red and fifty dollars each for their capture. But just as war between the colonies seemed inevitable, news of Lexington came, and the brave bands which had been organized to fight other colonists turned against the common enemy. On the night of the loth of May, 1775, Ethan Allen took eighty-three of his men across Lake Champlain, completely surprised the English garrison, and took them prisoners " In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," thus easily possessing himself of great stores and of that fortress for which the armies of England and PVance had bitterly fought. The following day Crown Point surrendered to Seth Warner, and within a week Lake Champlain was in the hands of the patriotic army. This, Indeed, may justly be considered the first great triumph of the American forces. 6 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. The entire State was aroused by the glorious news, and on the very day of Allen's victory. John Jay, Robert R. Livingston and George Clinton represented New York in an assembly of deleo-ates gathering from the colonies in the Second Continental Congress, at Philadelphia. Volunteers were drilling all over the land, British troops were leaving New York for Boston, the seat of action, and Americans could no longer remain neutral — they were quickly forced to declare which side they chose. It soon became apparent that the bulk of New York's people sided against the British, although western Long Island did for a time appear to be under the dominion of the Tories, and in the valley of the Mohawk a company of royal militia was collected. But even there they were outnumbered by the patriots who, at Scho- harie, put to flight a band of men wearing red cockades. In this affray an Indian was killed, a truly unfortunate incident for the colonists, since the Iroquois were already inclined to side with the English, and only a portion of the Oneidas eventually joined the army of the revolutionists. Soon after the beginning of hostilities New York was called upon by the Continental Congress to furnish three thousand men for the war. That body chose George Washington, of Virginia, to be Commander-in-Chief of the patriot forces and, on the 25th day of June, eight days after the battle of Bunker Hill, the new leader passed through the City of New York on his way to take command of the company of armed men who were rapidly clus- tering around the City of Boston. Philip Schuyler and Richard Montgomery were also appointed Generals, and Schuyler was put in command of the forces of the North, with orders to prevent hostile invasion by way of the Canadian frontier. He was later unwisely directed by Congress to invade Canada but, falling sick, turned over the command to Montgomery, a young Irishman, who, after having gained renown in Europe, had married the daughter of Robert R. Livingston and settled in New York. Montgomery led his men over the well-beaten Lake Champlain route and took Montreal, joined Benedict Arnold, who had marched from Washington's camp at Cambridge, and on the last THE STORY OF THE STATE. 7 day of 1775 fell mortally wounded in a vain charge on Quebec. The first year of the Revolution thus ended with failure in the Canadian expedition, but, as the new year opened, Washington held the British tightly in Boston and the Americans began to talk boldly of independence. In the month of March the patriot forces drove the English from Massachusetts, and fully realizing that their next attempt would be to land in the spacious harbor of New York, Washing- ton accordingly hastened hither with his troops and, arriving in the city in April, began to fortify the poorly defended Island of Manhattan. Powder and muskets were made, the farmers were drilled ; the Tories were persecuted and ridden on rails till the families of those who were able to get away took what they could carry and tied before the wrath of the revolutionists. On the 9th of July, 1776, the State Assembly met at White Plains to consider the Declaration of Independence, appointed a commit- tee to form a State Constitution and melted the statue of the King into 48,000 bullets. Although with his seventeen thousand raw militia Washing- ton had little hope of keeping out Howe's twenty-five thousand veterans, he intended to make the capture as costly as possible. This occupation of the city by the American forces did not last long, for in the middle of the August following there assembled in New York Bay a lleet of four hundred and twenty-seven sail, consisting of men-of-war, transports and tenders, bearing the armies of Clinton, Howe, Cornwallis, the Royal Guard, and the Hessians under DeHeister, numbering 31,000, all told. The " Rose " and " Phicnix " which, pending the landing of the for- midable force, had sailed up the North River firing shells into the city as they passed, returned a few days later and amused themselves in the same fashion, destroying a number of buildings and wounding and killing many persons. To resist this army there were the forces already mentioned, besides some which had been mustered in the meantime, while the defences consisted of Fort George, and the Grand Battery with twenty-four guns, the Whitehall Battery, the field works at Coenties Slip, Catharine, 8 REPRESENTATrVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Madison, Pike, Clinton, Broome and Pitt streets, and barricades on the principal thoroughfares. General Putnam was encamped on Brooklyn Heights with 9,000 men, and was therefore, from a strategic point of view, in a position to assist the defenders of New York, but the British force, army and navy, turned out to be overwhelming. Before meddling with the metropolis itself, except in the instance mentioned, the British landed 21,000 men at Gravesend, and, on the 27th day of August, defeated the Ameri- can army under Generals Washington and Putnam at the battle of Brooklyn Heights. A fortnight later five English frigates, opening fire on the American works at Kip's Bay, now the foot of Thirty-fourth Street, destroyed them and put their defenders to Ihght in wild confusion, and the British having effected a landing under cover of the guns of the ileet, Putnam, under Washington, retreated by Bloomingdale road, making a stand on Harlem Heights, defeating the enemy in several minor engagements, but finally being forced to retreat to Westchester, where he was de- feated in an attempt to make a stand at White Plains. He was more successful, however, at North Castle. Learning then of the loss of Fort Washington and of the Island of Manhattan, the Commander-in-Chief determined to lead his troops towards Phila- delphia. Crossing the Hudson at King's Ferry, he turned south to begin the terrible retreat through New Jersey, closing the year with the brilliant capture of a thousand Hessians at Trenton. Washington did not again lead the main army into the State of New York, although he and his officers frequently returned thither on their way into New England. The Hudson River never fell completely into the hands of the British, and ever remained the connecting link between New Eng- land and the Southern States. The English, however, entrenched themselves at New York City, not only because they had been driven out of Boston, but because this was the great strategic point, and the first step in securing the Hudson Valley and thus cutting the colonies in two. To accomplish this latter object. General Burgoyne was sent from England to Canada and in- structed thence to march over the Champlain route to the THE STORY OF THE STATE. 9 Hudson. A second force under St. Leger was sent up the St. Lawrence over Lake Ontario and through the Mohawk Valley, while the English commander in the city was to have moved up the Hudson to meet Burgoyne and St. Leger at Albany. In the early spring Burgoyne's ten thousand regulars, Hes- sians, Tories and Indians captured Fort Ticonderoga and drove General Schuyler with his little army of the North back to Fort Edward. St. Leger was, meanwhile, laying waste central New York, and with about two thousand men was soon before Fort Stanwix, now Rome, besieging the garrison. The owners of the farms in the track of the army were mainly Germans and their commander of militia was General Herkimer, who promptly called for all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and, taking eight hundred recruits, hastily armed with muskets and spears, set forth to succor their beleagured countrymen at the fort. They had not quite reached it, however, when at Oriskany they fell into an ambush. For five hours the conflict raged, victory finally coming to the colonists, who lost two hundred of their number in this, the bloodiest battle in the Revolution, Herkimer being among the mortally wounded. This defeat, together with the rumor that Arnold also was leading his troops to meet them, terrified the invading army, who fled so hastily that they left their arms behind. Burgoyne's expedition was doomed, its fate being largely decided at Oriskany, the battle that of all the Revolution brings the most glory to New York, for here her farmers stopped the tide of invasion, and freed from fear on the west, turned eastward to defeat Burgoyne, who had already blundered in choosing the route by Fort Ann rather than over Lake George, and had spent a month climbing over the obstacles which Schuy- ler had left in his path to the Hudson. Meanwhile, the militia had been rapidly augmented by fresh recruits until the American army numbered quite ten thousand men. These met the British forces in two battles at Saratoga, where the forces of Burgoyne were first checked and then crip- pled. The credit of these victories, unfortunately, was not to go to Schuyler, for Congress, in a fit of ill-timed impatience, had lO REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. supplanted him with the inefficient Gates, who simply carried out the plans of his predecessor and closed in upon Burgoyne, who, cut off from supplies from the north, unable to secure succor from the south, and beaten back to Bennington on the east, surren- dered. The crisis of the Revolution was thus successfully passed on New York soil, and from this time success, if not absolutely cer- tain, was yet extremely probable, notwithstanding the dark days which came in the latter part of the year, when Washington met defeat at Brandywine and at Germantown, lost Philadelphia, and was thereby forced to pass the winter months, with great suffer- ing, at the camp at Valley Forge. This year, too, marked the beginning of an organized State government, for while during the two years following the fall of the Colonial administration, in 1775, the Provincial Congress had held meetings at various places along the Hudson and had conducted civil affairs, the temporary State Congress was not held until early in 1777, when it met at Kingston and adopted a constitution which was largely the work of John Jay, the people, soon after, electing George Clinton as the first Governor of the State of New York. Thus a territory governed for a century and a half by lawgivers chosen in Amsterdam and London passed under the rule of an Executive selected by its own inhabitants. In the following year the English changed their plan of war; they withdrew from Philadelphia and in their retreat to New York City were attacked and defeated by Washington at Monmouth. This was the last great battle in the North, and henceforth the English directed their activity towards the weaker Southern States, and while their army was overrunning Georgia and the Carolinas, the force at New York City was content to plunder the towns of the coast during the summer and spend the winters feasting and gaming with the Tory inhabitants of Manhattan ; Washington, with the little band of patriots which was camped on the heights of New Jersey, holding them in close check. The latter half of the war, however, brought widespread loss of life and property to the State. This was due to two kinds of warfare, one waged by THE STORY OF THE STATE. II the Indians west of the Catskills and in the Mohawk Valley; the other by the regular English Army about the lower waters of the Hudson. Early in 1778 the Iroquois, eager to avenge their loss at Oriskany, burst upon the interior settlements and, being joined by many New York Tories who had been expelled from their homes, destroyed the settlements about Otsego Lake, Cobleskill and German Flats, now Ilion, while the valley of the Schoharie was laid waste. At Cherry Valley, while they did not succeed in capturing the fort, they destroyed the village, killed nearly fifty people and carried away forty prisoners. The next year the patriots made an united effort to punish the savages, and from Fort Stanvvix a command marched westward and destroyed the Onondaga towns. Another expedition was sent by Washington himself up the Susquehanna and to these forces General James Clinton, a brother of the Governor, added a company of militia with whom he had marched from Albany. This combined force moved westward, met the enemy near the present site of Elmira and easily defeated them. Thence they turned north between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, destroying the orchards, cornfields and villages of the half-civilized Indians. Then crossing the Genesee River they returned, laying bare the country far and wide. This expedition, however, served no other purpose than to intensify the already fierce hatred of the Indians, and during the last year of the war the Iroquois and Tories terrorized the valley of the Mohawk as far as Fort Hunter and the Schoharie, leaving behind them a trail of bones and ashes until only three hundred widows and two thousand orphans remained to tell what the interior of New York State did to make possible the achievement of inde- pendence. After the English General, Clinton, had burned Kingston, during the Burgoyne campaign, and captured the forts, northern New York saw no operation of note until "Mad" Anthony Wayne appeared before the English fortifications at Stony Point, a cape reaching out into the river below the Highlands and commanding the stream. Wayne, in a brilliantly executed attack which had 12 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. been planned by Washington, captured the fort and, with a loss of but fifteen killed, took five hundred prisoners and destroyed the works. A year later came the saddest scene in New York's history. A few miles above the scene of Wayne's triumph, Washington had fortified West Point in order to hold the upper valley and to secure his line of communication between the South and the New England States. In command of this stronghold he placed Bene- dict Arnold, the hero of Quebec and Saratoga. What inspired Arnold's treasonable act, unless it was jealousy of the Commander- in-Chief, may never be known, but this trusted lieutenant turned traitor to his country and wrote to the British commandant at New York proposing to betray the works and the control of the Hudson. Andre was sent to meet him to complete the plans, but, a few miles further south, three farmers, David Williams, John Paulding and Isaac Wart, captured the British spy, and across the river at Tappan, he was hanged. Arnold fled to the British lines and escaped punishment, but West Point and the Hudson did not fall into English hands. The next year six thousand Frenchmen landed in Rhode Island, crossed the river and joined the forces of Washington. The British General was deceived by the movements of the latter and, expecting an attack, diligently fortified the Island of Man- hattan, while Washington with his French and American army was hastening south to capture Cornwallis, who, after devastating the Southern States, had marched into Virginia. Before Clinton realized the trick and could succor the southern army it had been forced to surrender, and Washington, confident of final suc- cess, led his troops to the north and, establishing his headquar- ters at Newburg, on the Hudson, waited for the declaration of peace. Early in the war each colony had formed a State govern- ment, but during the Revolution there was no confederation except that each State sent delegates to a Congress at Philadel- phia and allowed that body to do what it deemed necessary to continue hostilities. In the year in which Cornwallis surrendered THE STORY OF THE STATE. 1 3 at Yorktown the thirteen States united under one government with a lax and feeble constitution known as the " Articles of Confederation." While this document was prepared in 1777 and ratified by New York the following year, it did not go into effect until adopted by Maryland, the thirteenth State to subscribe thereto. The confederated States henceforth acted as one nation, although there was no President, and nothing but Congress which, while it could advise the States what to do, had conferred upon it no power to compel their obedience. Indeed, the general govern- ment was scarcely more than a league of friendship between thirteen separate nations. The power to levy import duties on goods brought from abroad, the control of the harbor of New York City and the right to coin money, which now belong to the United States Government, were then held by the Legislature of the State, which, however, was usually ready to do whatever the welfare of the country demanded, for New York has the distinc- tion of being the only one of the thirteen States which during the war met every request of Congress for men and money, giv- ing even more than was asked. With like spirit this State took the lead in giving up to the general government its claims over the western territory, the land from which the States of Ohio and Indiana have since been marked out having, at one time, been claimed not only by New York but, as well, by several other States. The difficulty was, however, completely and happily solved by the disputants' giving over to Congress the control of the territory in controversy. For two years after the surrender of Cornwallis, the Ameri- can commander waited at Newburg for the treaty of peace, his ill-paid army bitterly complaining of the treatment accorded it by Congress and being ready to make Washington king. At last, on the 25th day of November, 1783, ever since known in the city as Evacuation Day, the army of America marched down the Bowery road as the last English ship sailed away. During their absence the city had greatly changed. Shortly after the English forces captured the city a raging fire had wiped out nearly one-third of the town and houses and churches had 14 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. been used for barracks and stables. But with that indomitable spirit which has ever characterized the city, the returned citizens set to work to rebuild their homes from the blackened ruins. The population of the State at this time was a little over a quar- ter of a million ; on Manhattan there were twenty-five thousand people and the city then occupied but a small fraction of its present limits. A quick revival, however, followed the departure of the English, and the year following Congress, which had been meeting at Philadelphia, removed thither, and at the same time the State Legislature, after trying Poughkeepsie, Kingston and Albany, came to New York City and there remained for four years. During all this time George Clinton had remained Gov- ernor of the State, having been re-elected at the end of each term almost without opposition. THE CONFEDERATION. While the local government was fast gaining strength, the confederation of the States was slowly weakening. Washington was freely pointing out the frailty of the league, and Hamilton, too, was calling for a stronger government. Congress was de- spised and was no longer the able body which made the Declara- tion of Independence, since the really able men of New York and the other Commonwealths preferred to be elected to the State legislatures, where a voice and vote would mean something. Although the coffers of the State were amply filled, Congress could hardly pay its debts, and it made one last appeal to the States for the revenues of the ports ; all agreed except New York, which refused to give up its fast increasing profits. The condi- tion of things was becoming desperate, and England was looking gleefully on at the apparent failure of her rebellious offspring. At this juncture a convention of the delegates from the different States was called to meet at Philadelphia, in 1787, to revise the .A.rticles of Confederation. They soon found, however, that they must write an entirely new constitution. To this the Governor of New York and a majority of the Legislature were violently opposed, being unwilling to give up any of the sovereign rights THE STORY OF THE STATE. 1 5 they held. Two of the three delegates from New York accord- ingly left the convention, leaving Alexander Hamilton alone to represent the State. For months the convention labored and after much strife agreed to the present fundamental law. Then came the struggle for its adoption. While State after State was ratifying the con- stitution the opposition in New York was bitter, and it was with extreme diliiculty that a convention could even be called together to give the matter consideration. Such a meeting was finally convened, however, to meet at Poughkeepsie, in 1 788, with power to make a final decision. The opposition was clearly in the ma- jority, with Alexander Hamilton, Philip Schuyler, John Jay and Robert R. Livingston leading the Federalist Party. While New York was holding back, the other States, one by one, had ratified the document. In a three hours' speech at Poughkeepsie, Hamilton argued eloquently for its adoption. Tears were in the eyes of the listeners ; the opposition wavered, and enough came over to the side of the Federalists to make the final vote of fifty-seven, a bare majority of three. And thus was New York brought into the United States. The deed once done, all felt secure, since Washington was sure to be made President, and he possessed the unbounded con- fidence of all. When the 4th of March, 1 789, the day set for the beginning of the new government, arrived, however. Congress was not ready for the new order of things, and it was not until the 30th day of April that the first President was inaugurated. Washington stood in Federal Hall, in Wall Street, and there re- ceived the oath of office from Robert R. Livingston, and with this ceremony New York yielded up the sovereign power which it had held for fourteen years and became an inseparable part of the American Republic. THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. At the beginning of the last decade of the Eighteenth Cen- tury, New York was a nourishing place. The effects of the war were rapidly disappearing, the capitals of the State and nation l6 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. were here and its citizens were among the leaders of the new gov- ernment. Alexander Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury and the foremost man in Washington's administration. Indeed, it was his financial genius and plans for raising the national rev- enue that put the government upon a firm and enduring founda- tion. A favorable majority in Congress, however, was hard to obtain, and, in order to gain the support of a sufficient number, Hamilton was forced to concede to Jefferson, of Virginia, that the permanent capital of the Nation should be fixed on the Po- tomac River. This decided, Congress, after meeting for a little over a year at New York City, adjourned to Philadelphia, there to remain until the new City of Washington was ready. Politi- cally, this was something of a setback for New York, but commer- cially the removal of the capital was no loss, if, indeed, it was not a distinct gain. About these two men, Hamilton and Jefferson, the people of the new republic were gathering into contending political parties. The party of the former, under the name Federalists, favored the formation of a strong and enduring central government, and held to principles very similar to those of the Republican Party of to-day. JefTerson led the opposition, who then bore the name of Republicans. This party was composed of many who were still fearful of a return to a monarchy and the destruction of the new constitution. In New York the party of Jefferson was led by Gov. George Clinton and Aaron Burr, the latter a young and able man who was rapidly growing in popular favor, and who, after Schuyler's short term of two years, succeeded him in the Senate of the United States. Clinton had been Governor of New York for fifteen years when, in 1 792, the Federalists endeavored to defeat him with John Jay as their candidate. Clinton was, however, declared elected by a majority of 108, after throwing out the votes of three Federal counties on account of an alleged error in reporting the returns. A warm contest ensued and the State was in a tur- moil, party spirit running high and serious trouble being threat- ened until Jay, despite the fact that he had a plain majority of THE STORY OF THE STATE. 17 the votes, submitted calmly to the decision aud permitted Clinton to resume the office for another term of three years. In this same year Washington and Adams were elected President and Vice-President for their second term, although the latter was not chosen without opposition, for George Clinton received 50 of the 132 electoral votes for the Vice-Presidency. When the time for the next election rolled around, in 1795, the Federalists again nominated John Jay, seeking vindication at the hands of the people. Clinton wisely refused to again be a candidate for the position and Jay was elected by a large majority. When he was chosen Governor, the latter was on his way home from England, where he had just made the famous treaty which bears his name, by which document America surrendered much in order to keep peace with the mother country. While time has demonstrated that such a course was the better one. Jay's action was bitterly denounced, although the Federalist Party was still strong enough in the State to control the Legislature and to choose electors who voted for John Adams as Washington's successor. Important State questions, too, had arisen during the six years in which national matters were attracting so much attention. The old disputed Vermont trouble was settled soon after Wash- ington's inauguration. While it had broken out several times since the days of Warner and Allen, the right of New York over the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain had never been enforced, and, indeed, during the Revolution, Vermont had declared herself an independent State under the name of New Connecticut. The Empire State did not admit the justice of this, however, until after the constitution was adopted, when she finally consented to Vermont's coming in as a separate State, thus ending a long strug- gle and giving to Vermont the honor of being the first member of the Union received after the original thirteen. But there was quite enough territory left within the bound- aries of New York to occupy the attention of its legislators, and vast tracts were sold, either fraudulently or at a foolishly low figure, at one time five and one-half million acres of State land being disposed of at twenty cents an acre. New counties were fast 1 8 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. forming, altliough for nearly one hundred years after the organ- ization of the original ten counties there was no change in their number. A few years before the Revolution, two counties, now called Mont<:»-omery and Washington, were partitioned off, but no further division of the State was made until about 1790, when Clinton County in the north, Ontario in the west and Columbia and Rensselaer counties east of the Hudson were formed. Parts of Monto-omery, formerly Tryon, County, about the same time were laid out as Herkimer, Otsego, Saratoga and Schoharie coun- ties, while Tioga County was established along the Pennsylvania border. Just before the close of the century a number of interior counties with Indian names, Cayuga, Chenango, Delaware, Oneida and Onondaga were also formed by the legislative body. Steuben then marked the limit of settlement along the southern tier. Essex was laid out beside its northern neighbor, Clinton, and from the large original counties along the banks of the Hudson, Rockland and Greene were set ofT, so that the number of counties at the beo-inning of the Nineteenth Century had been increased to thirty. The counties that lay along the water course naturally were the first settled, and the western land of Ontario County was inhabited before the central part of Cortland, although the network of lakes and rivers throughout the State rendered these settlements valuable assistance. In the ten years between 1790 and the end of the century the population of the State almost doubled, and had risen, by 1800, to nearly 600,000. New York City was now growing faster than any other town in America, and lay principally on the east side of the island, although buildings extended from one river to the other. The length of the city on the east side was about two miles, but it extended for a much shorter distance on the banks of the North River. Along the Hudson, too, new life was gathering by the growth of the city and the development of the interior. Hudson and Troy, mere villages at the close of the Revolutionary War, were found to be outstripping older settlements, the former being made a port of entry in 1795, and once rivalling even New York JO!£ST JATc a v_. THE STORY OF THE STATE. I9 City ill the amount of its shipping. Troy was not settled until I 7S9, but before the new century had come in it held nearly a mil- lion dollars of taxable property. Just south of Troy, at Albany, the capital of the State was permanently fixed in 1797, and the seat of the State government has since remained there. The opening of the new century found the log cabins of the settlers extending along the southern banks of the St. Lawrence River, on the banks of the streams on the Pennsylvania border ; while Elmira, Bath and Canandaigua were little villages just inside the advance guard of settlers, and New York State had passed from the fifth to the third in population among the Com- monwealths comprising the United States. The Board of Regents organized Union College, at Schenec- tady, in 1795, and the following year reported fourteen academies under their control. One of these institutions was that founded by Samuel Kirkland, the missionary to Oneida, and which has since grown into Hamilton College. This year, also, marks the day of the beginning of the common public schools in New York, for the Legislature then voted $50,000 yearly for five years for public instruction. An equal amount was raised by local taxation in the counties which chose to share in the distribution of the State money. Thus one hundred thousand dollars was spent in public schools, the annual cost of which a century later had mounted up to twenty millions. It is not remarkable when we consider the little attention paid to education that human slavery still existed in the Empire Commonwealth. At this time there were about twenty thousand negro slaves in the State, or about one in every twenty-five of the people. This ratio was a large one, although not so great as in early colonial times, for the climate of New York did not foster slavery as did that of the South. John Jay was among the earliest abolitionists, and made many but futile efforts to prohibit slavery in the first constitution of the State. As Governor, he renewed his efforts, and when a can- didate for re-election, in 1798, his abolition tendencies were made the basis of opposition from the pro-slavery party. He was sue- 20 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. cessful, however, as he was the next year, in part, in his crusade against the institution, for he then secured the passage of a law for the gradual freeing of the negroes. State questions now gave way to the excitement caused by the threatened war with France. A few years before Genet had come from Paris, had excited much sympathy for his country and was heartily received by the Republicans of New York, where he married a daughter of Governor Clinton. In 1798, however, there was much less sympathy for the French government, which had so basely insulted the United States, and because of the action of our former ally it was decided to fortify New York City, which had fallen so easy a prey to the English army. A million dol- lars were spent and Hamilton, under the aged Washington, was to be the real leader of the troops. The army, however, was never needed and the mistakes of President Adams in dealing with France largely aided in bringing about the defeat of the Federalist party at the ensuing national election. The downfall of this party is marked by the year 1800, the death of Washing- ton and the ill-feeling between Hamilton and Adams hastening the defeat. The following year Jay refused to be a candidate for re- election and George Clinton, after six years spent in private life, was for the seventh term chosen Governor of New York. In the opening year of the century Clinton again became Executive, and at once discharged all who were not in sympathy with his polit- ical friends. This was the beginning of the spoils system in the politics of New York, since Jay had steadfastly refused to remove competent officers whom Clinton had left in office. Henceforth, party allegiance rather than ability was the first test of fitness for public service. The Republican Party was now in full control of the State, with Aaron Burr, Robert R. Livingston and DeWitt Clinton as party leaders. Burr had been Vice-President of the United States, but was viewed with distrust, largely because he had been willing that a defect in the national constitution should give him the Presi- dency, a post for which the people had selected Thomas Jefferson. THE STORY OF THE STATE. 21 Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, the Chief Judge of the Court of Chancery, an officer not named in the present constitution of the State, was appointed by the new President to be Minister to France, where he negotiated the purchase of Louisiana. Another distinguished citizen, Gouverneur Morris, of the State, had also represented the nation at Paris, and, just before the Federalist Party lost control of the State Legislature, had been elected to the United States Senate. The man destined to become the leader of his party was DeWitt Clinton, and as his uncle had been prominent in New York for a quarter of a century, so he held a like position for the twenty-five years following 1800. He began his political life as the secretary of his uncle. In 1802 he was chosen to represent New York in the Senate of the nation, resigning this post, however, soon after to accept the Mayoralty of New York City, a place in which at that time he had more political power. Party strife during the first few years of the century was ex- tremely bitter, and called forth the most vindictive personal hatred. The powerful Republican Party was soon divided up into factions, one known as the Burrites and the other as the Clinton and Liv- ingston faction. Burr, though strong in his own State, had received a national rebuke for his readiness, in 1800, to accept the Presidency to which JefYerson had been elected, by being left oH the ticket, when the latter was re-elected in 1804, and in his place George Clinton was chosen Vice-President, serving in this capacity until i8i2, and dying in office in that year, at the age of y^. Burr, smarting under his defeat and turning to his State for vindication, announced himself as an independent can- didate for Governor to succeed Clinton. His support by the Federalists was large, but he failed to poll the full strength of the party because of his opposition to Hamilton, and as a result was defeated, the regular Republican candidate, Morgan Lewis, being elected. Upon Hamilton the angry Burr now turned his hatred and sought a pretext to challenge him to a duel. Personal combat was then tolerated in the State and Hamilton was easily goaded into accepting Burr's challenge. One early July morning 22 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. in 1804, the two met on the Jersey shore across the river from New York City ; Hamilton fell and New York lost the greatest statesman it had ever given to the Union. It forever blasted the hopes of the ambitious politician, however, and caused duel- ling to be made a crime. Detested by the people. Burr fled the State, plotted treason against the government, was forced into exile and finally returned to New York in a soured and useless old age. Under Morgan Lewis, the third Governor of New York, the permanent school fund was begun. On his recommendation the proceeds of 500,000 acres of State land were set aside, the interest of which was forever to be used for the support of the schools of the State. These, however, were not free public schools, but at about this time a Pree School Society was formed in the City of New York by private subscriptions and State aid to give an education to poor children. In 1809 the first free school building in New York City was completed. It was, however, a charity school, and it was years before free schools were thrown open to all. New York City had at this time eight daily papers, and Washington Irving, the first master of American literature, was publishing Sahnagmtdi -Awd. catering to the humor of the people with his "Knickerbocker's History of New York." The most remark- able event of this period that occurred within the bounds of the State was the running of the first successful steamboat. In 1807 the " Clermont " steamed from New York to Albany, the boat having been built by Robert Fulton with the aid and encourage- ment of Robert R. Livingston. At that time sail boats made the trip from Albany to New York in from two to five days, according to the wind. The " Clermont " made the trip in 32 hours and soon after became a regular passenger boat. When England and France in their bitter quarrel with each other shut out our ships from their ports, the American govern- ment, hoping to force them to terms, decreed an embargo for- bidding foreign vessels from entering our harbors and preventing any ship from sailing to a foreign port. By this time New York City had in its transatlantic trade fairly outstripped its rivals. THE STORY OF THE STATE. 23 Boston and Philadelphia, and was the commercial centre of the continent. The Commonwealth had taken second rank in popu- lation among the States of the Union, but the embargo fell like a bli^^^ /r^ A. WILFORD HALL i fiMih^ ''■^-■^¥m • ' IE subject of this sketch was born August iSth, 1819, in Bath, Steuben County, New York. His early educational opportunities were very limited, for he was early driving mules on the Erie Canal tow-path. Here he met a clergyman who inspired ambition in the young man's mind, and persuaded him to go West. Through an accident which painfully sprained his ankle, he was brought under educational advantages in Ohio which were very largely responsible for his successful course in life. The first ten years of his manhood were occupied in the ex- citing religious movement which was at that time beginning in the States of Kentucky, West Virginia and those adjoining, and he sprang into prominence as the editor of a religious paper, and as a debater against infidelity and religious rationalism. But the life which had developed such intellectual strength seemed grad- ually to weaken through inherited pulmonary disorders, until at thirty Mr. Hall was regarded as an incurable consumptive. In this state of physical debility, when his weight was about 120 pounds, came his first discovery which made his name almost a reverential household word throughout the Continent, namely : A hygienic remedy for the prevention of disease, the prolonga- tion of health, without medicine of any kind, or as he terms it, "The art and philosophy of great longevity, or how to attain youthful and vigorous old age, without medicine." This remedy was published in a pamphlet, and fully 500,000 copies were sold in this country, England and Australia within five years, and that, too, without one dollar spent in ordinary newspaper advertising. 67 68 REPRESENTATrVE MEN OF NEW YORK. But while Dr. Hall and his friends are justly proud of his health discovery, their greatest satisfaction is in his scientific and philosophical research. Becoming dissatisfied in his early years with the atheistic tendency of the accepted scientific theories, he was led to examine them very critically as represented by such leading scientific exponents as Tyndall, Mclmholtz, Mayer, Darwin, Huxley and Haeckel and became satisfied that the theories of physical science which had been accepted without question since the days of Pythagoras were radically false in their foun- dations and that all the theoretic deductions from them were also necessarily false. To demostrate this error on the part of physic- ists was the herculean task undertaken by Dr. Hall in his book "The Problem of Human Life, Here and Hereafter." In opposi- tion to the then received scientific notion that every force of nature was simply a modc-of-motion of some material body, such force having no reality per se, either previous to such motion or after it ceased. Dr. Hall laid down the broad scientific basis of his new philosophy, that every force in nature, such as sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, gravitation, etc., is a real, sub- stantial, entity, not dependent on material substances for its gen- eration, but only for its manifestation. He divides substances into two departments, material and immaterial, the material sub- stance deriving its form and properties because of the action of the immaterial forces, such as cohesion, heat, etc., while on the other hand the immaterial forces or substances are dependent upon the material for the opportunity of manifesting themselves, this new departure in physical science forming the basis of Dr. Hall's system of philosophy called " Substantialism." The clergy and religious teachers of the world have not been slow to perceive the advantage of this new philosophy, which takes the fundamental principle of religion — the immortality of the soul — out of the domain of pure faith and places it on the same basis of demonstration as any other scientific problem in the universe. Thus, while the old theories of physical science consistently lead to atheism and annihilation at death, the Substantial Philosophy gives a reasonable scientific basis for eternal life. A. WILFORD HALL. 69 It may be noted here that no complete system of ethics, philosophy or physical science was ever before formulated as the work of a single mind, but has been a progressive development by numerous successive investigators. Witness the Copernican System, which was in reality the culmination of many succeeding steps in astronomical discovery from the days of the Ptolemies. Not so, however, with the philosophy of Substantialism, which so effectually destroys the system of physical science and revolution- izes the theory of the natural forces. This whole work owes its existence from its very inception to the single mind of one original thinker. In mechanics and invention Dr. Hall, too, has achieved renown. Among about eighty patents taken out for inventions may be specially noted that he is the original inventor of the cable-grip known as Colonel Paine's grip, which was used on the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. He also was given a patent for the duplex phonograph which is one of the basic and necessary patents upon which the Edison inventions have been made practicable. His latest invention promises a revolution in the manufacture of bicycles. The chain and sprocket, the crank with its monotonous and tiring motion, have been abandoned, and a ball-bearing clutch substituted, and many experts who have examined it and submitted it to practical road tests declare that the present crank wheel will soon be a thing of the past, the new invention of Dr. Hall taking its place and giving the pleasantest and speediest riding ever experienced. Dr. Hall holds the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and of Doctor of Laws, conferred on him by Lebanon Valley College, Pennsylvania, and the University of Florida. ^WVMW^L^^UR BRACE HINSDALE was born in Gene- 1 — < ^ see County, New York, on the 4th day of Decem- I ^ ber, 1 83 1, and traces his descent from that sturdy Puritan ancestry which located in what are now the New England States during the earliest colo- nial clays, and to whose efforts the region owes it that it was won from its savage inhabitants and made to be the most thriving sec- tion of the great American republic. The founder of the Hins- dale family in America arrived at Plymouth colony, Massachu- setts, in about the year 1650. Some of his descendants subse- quently removed to what has since become the State of Connec- ticut, where, within the boundaries of the present Litchfield County, the immediate ancestors of Judge Hinsdale were located for a number of generations. His grandfather, Jacob Hinsdale, with four brothers, were among the patriots who wrested the nation from the crushing dominion of their British oppressors, and his father, Elizur Hinsdale, was a captain in the second war with England, in 181 2, and was the founder of the edge-tool busi- ness in Winsted, Connecticut, where he became the proprietor of what was a very large manufactory for those early days. Later, he sold out this establishment and removed with his family to Leroy, Genesee County, New York, and became an extensive land-owner in the neighborhood. His family connections were notable, the famous Elihu Burritt being his cousin, while Judge Hinsdale's grandmother was a sister of Jonathan Brace, of Hart- ford, a leading figure in the State of Connecticut and a well- known member of the Bar in his day. Judge Hinsdale received his preliminary education in the 70 ^ ELIZUR B. HINSDALE. 71 common schools in the neighborhood of his home, afterwards tak- ing a course at a local academy. Choosing a profession and studying law, he was duly admitted to the Bar at Buffalo, New York, in May, 1S56. He at once began the active practice of his profession in Leroy, where he remained for five years. His prominence, even thus early, is illustrated by the fact that during the exciting campaign which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln, in i860, to the Presidency of the United States, he was Chairman of the Genesee County Republican Central Committee. Judge Hinsdale, however, craved a more extended field for his efforts, and, accordingly, removed to New York City in the year 1 86 1, and, making a specialty of corporation law and the settle- ment of financial difficulties, he soon gained a leading place among the members of his profession. Indeed, his practice has been most largely in litigated cases, in the settlement of which he has been a prominent figure in highly important contests in practically all the courts. In 1S70 he took a partner and organized the well-known firm of Hinsdale & Sprague. Judge Hinsdale was connected for more than a quarter of a century with the Long Island Railroad Company as General Counsel, having served as counsel for the several corporations prior to the amalgamation into the present organization. He was, for some time, Vice-President of the road and until recently was at the head of its law department, taking part in making all the contracts of the company with the result that not a single contract has ever been successfully assailed in the courts. He effected the final consolidation of the three independent roads which were located on Long Island and carried through, with noteworthy success, the litigations connected with the system from 1877 to their termination in the Court of Appeals in 1B95. Judge Hinsdale has long been a prominent member of the Republican Party, his activity being especially notable in connec- tion with the Union League Club. For many years he has been a member of the Committee on Political Reform of this organi- zation, and for a considerable period was its Chairman, in which capacity he took a particularly active part in the preparation of 72 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. the important addresses on public questions which were issued by the committee from time to time. Judge Hinsdale is also the author of a number of other valuable papers, one treating upon the reform of land transfers being especially notable. He was also the author of the legal opinion subsequently sustained by the Court of Appeals crediting the City of New York with power to issue bonds for the pur- pose of acquiring new public parks. Under the Magistrates' Act, reforming the Bench of New York City, he was, in 1895, appointed Judge of the Court of Special Sessions by Mayor Strong, and in recognition of his ability as an organizer and his effectiveness in securing the results of reform, was elected Presid- ing Justice by his fellow members of the Court. DJIAN OF ■nil': 'ii-.fiM-.-.i ■ i niMn.uuiL./uj jilvUNAKT NEWYORR, ^HE Very Rev. Eugene Augustus Hoffman, Dean of the General Theological Seminary, is the elder son of the late Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, and a member of a family whose name has been associated for more than a century with American aristocracy, brains and wealth. He was born in New York, March 21, 1829, and educated at Columbia Grammar School, Rutgers College and Harvard University, graduating from Rutgers in 1S47 '^^^^ from Harvard in 184S. In September, 1848, he entered the General Theological Seminary, graduating in 1S51. He was ordered deacon the same year, and at once entered on mission work in Elizabethport, New Jersey. In 1853 he was admitted to the priesthood, and accepted the rectorship of Christ Church, Elizabeth, New Jersey. Here he established one of the earliest free churches in this country with daily prayers, built a large stone church, a parish house and rectory, and established two successful parish schools, besides organizing a parish and building churches in Milburn and Woodbridge. In 1863 he became rector of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, New Jersey, then burdened with a debt of $23,000. With characteristic zeal and financial ability, in less than twelve months he succeeded in wiping out the debt and placing a large peal of bells in the church tower. In 1864 he accepted the rectorship of the large and important parish of Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights. During his rector- ship the fine parish building was erected, and the parish attained the highest degree of prosperity. In 1869, his health requiring that he should quit Brooklyn, he resigned the rectorship of Grace 73 74 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Church, amidst deep regrets and marks of respect and affection of his congregation, to become rector of St. Mark's Church, Phila- delphia. Here he remained, doing faithful service, for ten years, during which time the real power and efficiency of the parish were fully developed. The number of communicants increased from four hundred to one thousand and the offerings averaged $44,000 a year. IMany costly improvements were made in the parish church, a peal of fine bells was hung in the tower, and a commodious rectory secured for the parish. Dr. Hoffman also organized in the parish the first Working Men's Club in this country, which proved most successful, and opened the church for free Sunday evening services for the working classes. During his connection with the Dioceses of New Jersey, New York, Long Island and Pennsylvania, he occupied many diocesan positions of trust, being President or Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Dioceses, and trustee of various institutions. In 1879, after twice refusing to allow himself to be nomi- nated, he was elected to the eminent position which he now oc- cupies, and where he has erected a permanent monument of his work as Dean of the General Theological Seminary. The insti- tution had been for many years dragging along without sufficient endowment and with a steadily increasing debt, and it was felt that only a strong head and a devoted heart could save it from extinction. The high anticipations raised by Dr. Hoffman's elec- tion have been more than realized. Since he became Dean, over a million dollars have been secured to the Seminary by his efforts and the munificence of himself and family. A magnificent pile of buildings has sprung up in Chelsea Square, presenting an impos- ing front on Ninth Avenue and extending along Twenty-first Street half way towards Tenth Avenue. These buildings include a spacious deanery, five houses for professors, lecture rooms for the various departments, four dormitory buildings, a fire-proof library building, and the beautiful Memorial Chapel erected by the Dean's mother in memory of her husband, Samuel Verplanck Hoffman. During Dean Hoffman's tenure of office, also, two new professorships have been constituted, and three professorships EUGENE A. HOFFMAN. 75 amply endowed by himself and family, as has also the office of Dean, the income of which is at present accumulating for the benefit of the Seminary. The grounds of the Seminary have been greatly beautified, and the trim, well-kept lawns, shady trees and ivy-covered buildings make Chelsea Square one of the prettiest parks in New York City. Dean Hoffman is a trustee of most of the Church institutions of New York City and Diocese. He is Chairman of the Building Committee of the Cathedral, has represented the Diocese of New York in the last seven triennial General conventions, and has been for the last six years a member of the Commission for the Revision of the Constitution and Canons of the Church. He is a member of most of the learned societies of New York, and a fellow of the American Museum of Natural History, to which he lately presented a valuable collection of the butterllies of America. He has been honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rutgers College; Racine College; the General Theological Semi- nary; Columbia University; Trinity College, Hartford; and the University of Oxford. The degree of D. C. L. was conferred on him by King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia; and that of LL.D. by the University of the South and by Trinity University, Toronto, Canada. Dr. Hoffman married, in 1852, Miss Mary Crooke Elmen- dorf, and has four surviving children, one son and three daugh- ters, all of whom are married. He is an enthusiastic sportsman, passing his summers among the salmon streams of Canada, and during the Christmas vacation at the Seminary spending a few weeks at the Jekyl Island Club, in Georgia. He succeeded by inheritance to a large fortune, which he administers wisely and well, giving largely, though unostentatiously, to many charities. To the Church he is a tower of strength, not less by his teaching and consistent Christian life than by his munificent gifts, while those who enjoy the privilege of his closer intimacy know him best as the wise counsellor and faithful friend. With his fine physique and strong personality, his presence in the Sem- inary precincts is almost a benediction. NE of the best known firms of attorneys-at-law in the City of New York forms the subject of this sketch. It is composed of Charles F. Holm and Terry Smith, under the name of Holm & Smith, with a handsome suite of offices in the World Building. Charles F. Holm was born in New York in 1862 and, after a preliminary education here, was sent to Europe to complete his studies. Returning to this country he took a course at Columbia College and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then entered upon active practice, paying particular attention to the statutes governing corporations, and making that branch of legal ethics his specialty. Among the well-known organizations for which he is counsel are the Clausen & Price Brewing Com- pany, the Excelsior Brewing Company, Pain's Fireworks Com- pany, the Consumers' Brewing Company, the Photo-Engraving Company, the Artificial Ice Company, Manhattan Soda Water Trust, German Volksfest Verein and the Lawyers' Title Insur- ance Company, all large corporations, whose operations involve millions of dollars annually. In the preparation of cases for trial Mr. Holm has proven himself to be thorough and exhaustive, marshalling his facts in convincing order and applying the principles of law applicable thereto with clearness and force. He is especially effective in arguing legal points, and is a clear, logical and ready reasoner, bidding fair to take high rank among our foremost advocates, as was clearly evidenced in the Levi-Lehman case, which lasted three weeks before a New York court and jury, and which became 76 H-^-iA^-yCi, \ 0^ HOLM & SMITH. T] famous as involving- a distinction between desperate love and emotional insanity. After Mr. Holm had acquitted him, his client, Levi, (unaccountably) (led to Europe. In 1892 Mr. Holm founded Brooklyn's first and only morn- ing newspaper, the Chronicle, which stood alone against the McLaughlin ring, and which was the only one of the Brooklyn papers to advocate municipal consolidation. He was ahead of the times, however, and the paper succumbed. This is the only fail- ure, if it may be called so, which he mourns. In social life Mr. Holm is as popular as in his profession, and is a member of many civic societies, having attained the Thirty-second Degree in Masonry. Among the other prominent organizations with which he has allied himself are the Montauk Club, the Parkway Driving Club, and many others of the most exclusive social organizations of the city. While taking a lively and patriotic interest in the progress and welfare of the city. State and country, Mr. Holm has kept aloof from active participation in partisan politics, and has devoted himself exclusively to the practice of the profession in which he is achieving such brilliant rank. Terry Smith was born in Houston, Texas, September 9, 1864, and is the son of Benjamin J. and Laura (Stafford) Smith. Like so many of the younger generation in the South who were growing up during the reconstruction period, Mr. Smith was deprived of the many advantages of an early education and received but little schooling. At the age of twelve he started to work, his father having met business reverses at about that time, thus depriving him of the educational advantages which had fallen to his elder brothers. He worked first at the news business and continued this until his eighteenth year, when he entered the cotton business, buying and selling on his own account. His father died in 1886 and his mother in 1887. Then, having no ties to hold him to his native State, he came to New York, landing here with forty-five dollars in his pocket. Professor 78 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Theodore W. Dwight, the Dean of the College, reduced his tuition fee and he entered Columbia Law School, borrowing the money to pay for one year's instruction in advance. He obtained a clerkship in a law office, working from nine in the morning until four, and attending law lectures from 4:30 until six, studying at night to prepare for his lectures the following day. He graduated from Columbia College in 1891, and entered the office of Charles F. Holm as a clerk. He was admitted as a partner in August, 1895, his rise in this short time being attributable solely to his ability, energy and industry. He has since continued as a member of the firm of Holm & Smith, devoting all his energy to the steadily growing practice of that firm. Mr. Smith came prominently before the public in the num- erous cases instituted on behalf of the City of New York to re- move the newsdealers from their stands underneath the elevated railroads. He made an argument on behalf of the newsdealers before the City Council and also in the Supreme Court. He was opposed in these cases by the Corporation Counsel and the at- torneys for the elevated railroad. With all the means and enginery of these two great corporations, he carried his conten- tion to a successful termination. Mr. Smith's legal acumen is recognized by the judiciary and members of the Bar, and his character and strong personality has made for him an enviable place in his profession. He is a lover of literature and possesses a very fine library wherein he spends much of his leisure. He is also an enthusiastic sportsman, fond of hunting and fishing, and his vacations are largely spent in the wilds of Maine or Texas, engaging in his favorite sport. Mr. Smith is a Democrat, but does not take any active part in politics. He is a member of the Association of the Bar, the Western Society, and a member of the General Committee of Tammany Hall. He is a prominent Master Mason, and has many friends in that order. ..£r^^ ^i^f.^r^^f^'i^iSia'ns&^r^jy/^ ^f^TP'T'^r^^c^^- HE first American ancestor of the subject of this review was John Rowland, who came to Plymouth j= Rock with the Pilgrims on the " Mayflower," and was one of the men who signed the compact that served as a constitution for the first political com- munity founded in North America. In the settlement he took the part of a leader and furnished the first touch of romance to the new colony, for his marriage was among the earliest celebrated by the Pilgrims in their New England home, his wife being Elizabeth Tilley, who was also a passenger on the "Mayflower." John Howland lived to a ripe old age and was the last surviving member of the band who came to the New World on that memorable voyage. He and his wife had a large family and their descendants, both of the same name and through female lines, are numerous, forming a family of the highest worth and most substantial qualities, and one which has ever taken a progressive part in the development of this nation's wonderful resources. One of the great-grandchil- dren of the Pilgrim couple was the Rev. John Howland, who graduated from Harvard College in 1741, and, entering the min- istry, became one of the most distinguished pulpit orators in the country, for nearly sixty years holding the pastorate of the Con- gregational Church in the town of Carver, Massachusetts. Branches of the family were established in New Hampshire and New York long ago, and G. G. Howland and Samuel S. Howland, the old- time merchants of New York, trace their ancestry to this source. Judge Henry E. Howland is a member of the New Hampshire branch of this distinguished family, his father, Aaron Prentiss 79 8o REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Howland, being a direct descendant in the sixth generation from John Howland, the "Mayflower" pioneer, and a grandson of the Rev. John Howland, of Carver, Massachusetts. His mother, whose maiden name was Huldah Burke, numbers among her family connections many of the most distinguished men in New England, among them being the eminent New Hampshire politi- cian and Congressman, Edmund Burke, who, among other public offices which he filled during his life, was Commissioner of Pat- ents through the administrations of Presidents Pierce and Buch- anan. Henry Elias Howland, the eldest son of this marriage, was born at Walpole, New Hampshire, in 1835. His early education was acquired at the Kimball Union Academy, in Meriden, New Hampshire, from which he entered Yale College, where he pur- sued his studies, graduating with the class of 1854. He then took a course in the Law School of Harvard College and, in 1857, was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the Bar in the same year, and has since made his home in the metropolis of the nation, practicing here, except- ing for a period in 1873, when Gov. John A. Dix appointed him to the Bench of the Marine Court to fill an unexpired term. Judge Howland served in the Twenty-second Regiment of the National Guard of New York for seven years, and was a Captain in that command at the time it was mustered into the United States service in 1862 and 1863. In political circles, too, he has been active and prominent, holding the post of Alderman of the city in the years 1S75 and 1876 and, in 1880, being appointed by Mayor Cooper to the place of President of the Municipal Department of Taxes. The appreciation with which his party and the public regarded his services on the Bench and his high standing in the legal profession was evidenced when, in 1884, he was the Republican candidate for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and, in 1887, when he was nominated for the Bench of the Supreme Court. For a number of years Judge Howland has been a member of the Corporation of Yale University. He is President of the HENRY E. ROWLAND. 8l Society for the Relief of Destitute Blind and is also President of the Board of the Manhattan State Hospital, of New York City. Among the other notable organizations with which Judge How- land is allied are the National Society and the New York Society of the Mayflower Descendants, holding the position of Governor- General in the former and Governor in the latter. He is also President of the Jekyl Island Club, President of the New Eng- land Society, Secretary of the Century Association, President of the Meadow Club of Southampton, and one of the counsel of the University Club. His other social affiliations include membership in the Metropolitan Club, the Union League Club, the Players' Club, The Down Town Association, the Republican Club and the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, as well as of the New York Bar Association. In 1865 Judge Howland married Louise Miller, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah R. Miller and granddaughter of Edmund Blunt, the famous mathematician and author of " Blunt's Coast Pilot." Six children have been born to them : Mary M., Charles P., Katharine E., John, Julia Bryant and Frances L., of whom three survive. Besides his residence on West Ninth Street, in New York City, Judge Howland has a handsome country resi- dence at Southampton, Long Island, where he spends the heated term. As a lawyer. Judge Howland's extensive clientele proves his worth, while the uniformly high opinion with which he is regarded by the profession is ample evidence that he carried to the Bench not only all the ability he has displayed in his private practice, but those personal charms of manner which have made him a favorite in social circles. ^^HE great corporations and eminent financiers of the ,,".-, -sHlxuli City of New York, because of the immensity of oJl the sums involved in their litigated cases, must be particularly careful in their choice of a counsel to represent them before the courts. For this reason» to acquire an extensive practice of this kind is ample proof that the lawyer who serves the possessor of millions is a man not only of integrity and character, but is endowed with talents of the hiohest order, supplemented by energy and perseverance. On account of his possession of these qualities, not less than because of his remarkable strength as a pleader before Bench and jury, Col. Edward C. James, whose career forms the subject of this review, has won a foremost place at the Bar of New York. Edward Christopher James was born in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, May i, 1841. He is the son of Hon. Amaziah Bailey James and Lucia Williams Ripley, the latter a daughter of Capt. Christopher Ripley, a gallant soldier in the war of 1812. His father, grandfather, Samuel B. James, and great-grandfather, Amos James, were all lawyers, the latter being also a soldier in the Revolution. The family is originally Welsh, but settled in Rhode Island in early colonial days. The immigrant ancestor was Dr. Thomas James, one of the twelve companions of Roger Williams. Through his mother's line Mr. James is connected with Gov. Samuel Huntington, of Connecticut, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; the two governors, William Bradford, Sr., and Jr., of Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, Gen. Roswell S. Ripley, historian of the Mexican War, in which he won distinction, and Major-General in the Confederate Army, and 82 E. C. JAMES. 83 Gen. James W. Ripley, who gained fame in the War of 181 2 and against the Indians, was in charge of the armory at Spring- field, Massachusetts, and was Chief of Ordnance on the personal staff of President Lincoln. Mr. James' father was a Justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1853 to 1877, and from the latter date until near his death, July 6, 1883, a member of Congress. Mr. James received his early education in the common schools and attended the Ogdensburg Academy and Doctor Reed's Walnut Hill School, at Geneva, New York. He went to the front in the service of the nation in August, 1861, as Adjutant of the Fiftieth New York Volunteer Engineers. During the winter of 1861-1S62 he was Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Engineers' Brigade and during the Peninsula campaign (1862) was Aide-de-camp on the staff of General Woodbury. He was commissioned successively Major of the Sixtieth Regiment, Lieu- tenant-Colonel and Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixth Regi- ment New York Volunteers and at times was in command of a brigade. In August, 1863, he was honorably discharged on a surgeon's certificate for disability received in service. Returning to Ogdensburg, he was admitted to the Bar in October, 1863, and commenced the practice of his profession January i, 1864, when he formed a partnership with Hon. Stillman Foote, Surrogate of St. Lawrence County, under the firm name of Foote & James. This association continued until the retirement of Mr. Foote, July i, 1S74, after which, for seven years. Colonel James conducted his large practice alone. In November, 1881, he formed a partnership with Alric R. Herriman and, leaving the Ogdensburg office in his charge, established an office in New York City, where he secured ready recognition. Since January i, 1885, he has been special counsel for the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company and has been engaged as leading counsel in many of the most important cases which have been tried in the courts of this city during the last ten years. He was counsel for Inspector McLaughlin and Captain Dcvery, 84 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. of the police force, in the prosecutions which followed the Parkhurst Crusade and the Lexow Committee investigations and successfully defended his clients. Colonel James represented Russell Sage and the executors of Jay Gould in the recent action brought to recover $11,000,000 by the bondholders of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company, the complaint after a year's litigation being withdrawn. He is counsel for Russell Sage in the famous case of Laidlaw vs. Sage, arising out of the explosion of the dynamite bomb in Mr. Sage's office on December 4, 1891. Colonel James' practice being exclusively that of a counsel, requiring his presence only when the courts are in session, he is enabled to devote his long summer vacations to travel. In this way he has visited many of the most distant countries. He went to Japan during her recent war with China and has visited North Cape, in Norway, nearly every European country, including Russia, and all the more interesting parts of North America. He was married, November 16, 1864, to Sarah Welles, daughter of Edward H. Perkins, of Athens, Pennsylvania. She died Decem- ber 3, 1879, leaving two daughters, Lucia and Sarah Welles. Lucia is the wife of Dr. Grant C. Madill, of Ogdensburg, and Sarah Welles is the wife of Paulding Farnham, of Tiffany & Company, who resides at Great Neck, Long Island. :^ (f^ i:^- ^ ^e^^^^C^./i?^^^^^^-^ / ADRIAN H. JOLINE. .^^•^^^<^ '^^^^«'.^^.^.^^^,^^^^^^ '" te-qf^^ R ACTIC I NG chieHy in the Federal courts through- \^}*JS^ I f )JI out the country in cases involving corporations of which he is counsel, the name of Adrian H. Joline is one well known to the legal fraternity of almost the entire nation, and it is safe to say that few attorneys, by the successful conduct of the causes of their clients, have won more enviable reputations than him whose career forms the theme of this sketch. For many years he has practically devoted himself to that branch of legal practice which deals with corporations and has found ample means in the abun- dant practice that has come to him. Now in the prime of life, thoughtful, earnest and endowed by nature with rare perceptive faculties, few members of New York's Bar are more worthy of their high position, more honored in the profession, or more respected by the community. Adrian Hoffman Joline was born in Sing Sing, West- chester County, New York, on the 30th day of June, 1850. He is the son of Charles Oliver Joline, who served with marked dis- tinction in the Mexican and Civil wars. The father was a native of Princeton, New Jersey. Adrian H. Joline's mother, Mary Hoff- man, was the daughter of Dr. Adrian Kissam Hoffman, and a sister of the late Gov. John T. Hoffman. Doctor HofTman was the grandson of Martinus Hoffman, of Red Hook, and Alida Living- ston, whose father, Philip Livingston, was the son of Robert Livingston, " Lord of Livingston Manor." Mr. Joline was prepared for college at Mount Pleasant Academy, Sing Sing, and under the private tuition of the Rev. Dr. James L Helm. In the summer of 1863 he was clerk of the 85 86 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. military commission at Norfolk, Virginia, convened for the trial of Dr. Wright for the murder of Lieutenant Sanborn, one of the first officers of colored troops. In 1864 he was clerk of the mili- tary commission which sat at Fort Lafayette, for the trial of prisoners. In 1866 and 1867 he was a clerk in the Street Com- missioner's office and in the Mayor's office of the City of New York. He entered Princeton College in 1867 and was graduated in 1870. In 1869 he received the prize offered by the Nassau Literary Magazine for the best essay, winning, besides, the essay prize of the Cliosophic Society. Mr. Joline also wrote the class ode, and delivered the literary oration at the commencement. He was President of the Princeton Club of New York, in 1894, and established the C. O. Joline prize in American political history in 1890. After graduating from college Mr, Joline studied law in the ofifice of Brown, Hall & Vanderpoel, of New York City, at the same time taking up a course in Columbia College Law School, from which he was duly graduated in 1872. During the period spent at his legal studies he was the New York correspondent of the True Georgian, published at Atlanta and one of the foremost journals of the South. His course at Columbia completed, Mr. Joline was admitted to the Bar in May, 1872, In 1873 he formed a partnership with ex-Judge William H. Leonard, which continued until 1876; he then entered the firm of Butler, Stillman & Hubbard, becoming a partner in 1881. In 1896 he became a member of the successor firm of Butler, Notman, Joline & Mynderse. Since 1884 he has been engaged principally in business relating to railway and other corporations, and as one of the attorneys of the Central Trust Company, of New York, has had, since 1888, charge of most of that company's railroad litigations. He has been associated as leading or junior counsel with many corporate re-organizations, including the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, Nickel Plate, Rio Grande Western, Scioto Valley, Houston and Texas Central, Brooklyn Rapid Transit and Elevated ADRIAN H. JOLINE. 87 railroads, Minneapolis and St. Louis, Chicago Gas, Louisville, New Albany and Chicago, and other companies. He has also been counsel in a large number of suits relating to the foreclosure of railway mortgages. He was counsel for the American Contracting and Dredging Company, which had the contract for dredging the Panama Canal, and represents many other of the best known and most important corporations in the United States. Mr. Joline was, for two years, one of the examiners of applicants for admission to the Bar in New York City. He is a member of the New York Historical Society, and the Century, University, Grolier, Delta Phi, Morristown and Down Town clubs. In 1S76 he was married to Mary E., daughter of Francis Larkin, a leading lawyer in Westchester County. ^^ORN at No. 2 Bond Street, New York City, on June 30, 1834, DeWitt Clinton Jones comes of jjl old Colonial and Revolutionary stock. His paternal ^ ancestor, Thomas Jones, about 1690, settled at Massapequa, and erected the first brick house on Long Island. He held important offices under the Crown and was a man of position and influence. His grandson, Samuel Jones, a lawyer of Revolutionary times, and for some years sub- sequent thereto, was Recorder of New York City in 1797, and the first State Comptroller of New York. His son, Samuel Jones, Jr., was Chancellor of New York and for many years Presiding Justice of the Superior Court of New York City. His son, Sam- uel, was a lawyer. Judge and at the time of his death Clerk of the Superior Court. David S. Jones, father of our subject, and brother of the Chancellor, was also a lawyer, Corporation Counsel, and County Judge of Queens County. He died May 10, 1848. His third wife, Mary Clinton, mother of DeWitt Clinton Jones, was a daughter of DeWitt Clinton. On his mother's side Mr. Jones is descended from Charles Clinton, whose grandfather, William Clinton, was a Cadet of the English Clintons of whom the Duke of Newcastle is now the head. One of Charles Clinton's sons was George Clinton, the first State Governor of New York, twice Vice-President of the United States and a General in the Revolutionary Army. He was a delegate to the Convention which adopted the Declaration of Independence and voted for that instrument. Before it was ready for signature, however, he was obliged to hasten to New York to defend the Highlands of the Hudson against the British. DeWITT CLINTON JONES. 89 James Clinton, another son of Charles Clinton, the father of De- Witt Clinton, was a Major-General in the Revolutionary Army and one of the founders of the Cincinnati Society. DeWitt Clinton, one of his sons, was for several terms Governor of Newr York; Mayor of the city, and United States Senator. He was the father of Mary Clinton, Mr. Jones' mother, and married for his first wife, by whom alone he had issue, Maria, daughter of Walter Franklin, after whom Franklin Square is named. Mrs. Franklin's maiden name was Maria Bowne and she was a descend- ant of John Winthrop, father of the first Governor of Massachu- setts. The subject of our sketch, when nine years old, was sent to the boarding school of Rev. Dr. Carmichael, Saint Thomas' Hall, Flushing, Long Island. After about a year he attended, for several years. Dr. Muhlenberg's School at College Point, Long Island, and in the fall of 1848 went to Mr. Churchill's School, at Sing Sing, New York. In 1850 his mother purchased a country seat at Poughkeepsie and, in 1852, Mr. Jones entered the Junior Class of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, graduating in 1854. He then went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, where he spent two years. Before graduating he obtained a position, in 1857, on the St. Paul and Northwestern Railroad and was engaged in preliminary surveys from the Wis. consin State line to Marquette and Ontonagon, Michigan. Owino to the financial depression at that time, however, operations were soon suspended and Mr. Jones returned to Poughkeepsie. He then determined to study law and entered the ofiice of James Emott, then on the Supreme Court Bench. Subsequently he entered the office of Hand & Smith, at Poughkeepsie, and stayed with them until his admission to the Bar, in 1859. He then went to New York City and entered the office of John P. Crosby, with whom he continued until 1864, when he and P. W. Ostrander formed a partnership with Mr. Crosby under the name of Crosby, Ostrander & Jones. In 1871 he severed his connec- tions with the firm and with his family settled in Portland, Oregon, He remained there about two years, but being taken go REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. ill with typhoid fever, his family went East on a visit and Mr. Jones went with General Michler on a survey of San Juan Archipaelago. He remained there till the fall of 1873, when he, with a portion of the party, went to Astoria and conducted the survey of the channel and harbor. Late in the fall of 1873, Mr. Jones, then entirely recovered, went to San Francisco and after a few months became associ- ated in the practice of the law with Hon. DeLos Lake, with whom he remained until he entered into partnership with Hon. Nathaniel Bennett, (one of the first Judges of the Supreme Court of California), with whom he continued until 1S82, when he returned East. After returning to New York, Mr. Jones entered the office of Coudert Brothers, with whom he remained for about eighteen months, when he started again in business for himself. Mr. Jones' practice for the last few years has been principally real estate, in which branch he is particularly proficient. During his professional life he has been connected with many important cases and has won both here and in San Francisco a reputation as an able court lawyer. His arguments are always effective and his briefs exhaustive of the principles involved. Mr. Jones was married, in 1S60, to a daughter of William H. Crosby, son of William B. Crosby, grandnephew of Col. Henry Rutgers, through whom he inherited a large part of the Rutger farm in the Seventh Ward of the City, and brother of Rev, Dr. Howard Crosby. Mrs. Jones is descended from Dr. Ebenezer Crosby, one of the first professors in Columbia College after the Revolution, a surgeon on Washington's staff, and a member of the Cincinnati Society ; on her mother's side she is lineally descended from William Floyd, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Jones' family consists of his wife and four children. His eldest son is married and has two children, both boys. ^ A,..=". J in the legal profession but throughout the com- ""-"■■' munity in which he was born and in which he has spent the whole of his busy and useful life. A thorough gentle- man of the old school, intellectually equipped to battle with even the mental giants who teem in the New York Bar, he has won a place among the progressive men who have made New York the greatest city of the continent, and has proven his right to be ranked with the most able advocates of the city. William Thomas McGrath was born in the City of New York on the 9th day of May, 1840. Both his father, Michael McGrath, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Kelly, were born in Ireland, and came of that sturdy stock which has contributed to America so many men who have made their names memorable in the history of the nation. Realizing the limited opportunities afforded them in the land of their birth, they turned their eyes towards the Western World, and crossed the Atlantic, arriving in New York City in about the year 1820, making their residence for the balance of their lives in the city in which their son was later to make such a distinguished record. At a very early age William Thomas McGrath entered Orange, now Baxter, Street school, remaining in this institution about three years and progressed in his studies with a rapidity that gave early evidence of the possession of talents which were later to enable him to attract attention in the city of his birth. After some time the family removed uptown, and the son became 109 no REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. an attendant at the Twentieth Street school, which was then presided over by the late Prof. David B. Scott. After obtaining the best education that could be gathered in these institutions — an education that has since been largely added to by his inordinate tendency toward reading and study — Mr. McGrath entered the establishment of Levi L. Chapman, manufacturer of photographic materials, remaining with him until about the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he received an appointment in the City Inspector's office. Mr. McGrath was a protege of the late Samuel J. Tilden, and through the latter's influence, coupled with his own innate ability, he was afterwards Clerk of the Court and Inspector of Customs, being appointed, at Governor Tilden's personal solici- tation, during the administration of President Johnson. As might be expected of a protege of so eminent a leader of the party, Mr. McGrath has always been an ardent and enthusiastic Democrat and formerly took an active part in political affairs, ranking high in the councils of the Democracy of the State. Of late years, however, he has retired from active participation therein, and while still retaining all his love for the party of Jefferson and Jackson, has left the active management of the campaigns to other, though scarcely better qualified, hands. In all his political workings, however, Mr. McGrath has never permitted his name to be brought before a nominating con- vention nor accepted an elective office. Perhaps no New Yorker has taken a more prominent part in fraternal and social organizations than has Mr. McGrath. He is a member of a number of these societies, including the Knights of Honor, the Knights and Ladies of Honor, the Order of United Friends, the Royal Arcanum, the Loyal Additional Benefit Association, and has represented nearly all of these soci- eties in their several grand bodies, besides holding positions, either elective or appointive, in each of them. He formerly was a member of several of the best known clubs in the city, but becoming domesticated withdrew from all. He has been a mem- ber of the Columbian Order, or Tammany Society, for a quarter of a century. WILLIAM T. McGRATH. Ill Mr. McGrath studied law in the office of Alexander Johnson, and was admitted to practice in the courts of New York in 1868. With the ready wit and talents inherited from his Celtic ances- tors, backed by an indomitable perseverance and a thorough knowledge of the principles of statutory and common law, he has gathered about him an extensive practice. He has represented a number of the largest corporations in the city, and the legal affairs of a number of banks and insurance companies in the Eastern States are now in his hands. He devotes himself exclu- sively to his practice and ranks high in the legal fraternity in the city. In November, 186S, Mr. McGrath was married to Miss Mary A. Brady, the daughter of one of the most prominent families of Suffield, Connecticut. They have one daughter, who is married, and two grandchildren, Marie K. and Sadie C. Cunnintrham. ^;p^ IVIL law in New York has no more able nor dis- tinguished exponent than him of whom we write. Learned and schooled in every phase of legal pro- cedure, eminent as a Judge, respected as an attor- ney and honored as a man, it may truly be said that his more than three score years and ten have brought to him the unwavering confidence of all who have been intimately enough acquainted with him to have been afforded an opportunity of studying his manly character and his many estimable qualities of heart and mind, traits that have endeared him to all whom he has encountered. A native of the State and all his life a resi- dent within her borders, after a most successful career in other sections of the Commonwealth, for almost a quarter of a century he has been a foremost figure in that arena of intellectual giants, the New York Bar, gathering about him an extensive clientele that, perceiving the ability with which he cared for the interests that were entrusted to him have, with confidence, placed their legal affairs in his charge. Dennis Daniel McKoon was born in Ilion, Herkimer County, New York, on the 17th day of October, 1827. He is the son of Martin McKoon and Margaret Clapsaddle, and is descended from an old pioneer family of Herkimer County, his ancestors being of early Scotch origin with Norman antecedents. The first American representative of the family was James McKoon, who came from Scotland somewhere near the middle of the last century and set- tled in Herkimer County, taking a prominent part in the pro- gressive development of that thriving section of the State, with whose history his descendants have since been so actively identified. ^^^rX^// 0^-t^ D. D. McKOON. 113 Mr. McKoon, at seven years of age, removed with his par- ents to Oswego County, and after a preliminary course in minor schools in the neighborhood of his home, was admitted as a stu- dent in Fulton Academy, at Oswego. After completing the course of this institution, and having chosen the law for his profession, he studied the statutes in the office of Judge Ransom H. Tyler, of that place, being admitted to practice at the Bar in 1854. He thereupon removed to Phoenix, New York, where he opened offices and soon succeeded in building up a profitable business, rapidly becoming recognized as one of the most capable young attorneys at the Bar. It was not long before scarcely a case of prominence occurred in his section that did not have him as counsel on one side or the other. His abilities were manifest and he was selected as Judge of the Oswego County Court, serv- ing in this capacity for two terms. At the beginning of his third term, the Civil War having broken out, he resigned the position and enlisted in Company D of the One Hundred and Tenth New York Volunteers. He soon rose to the rank of First Lieutenant, serving also as the Adjutant of the regiment. He was, however, stricken with typhoid fever, which incapacitated him for further service in the army. Indeed, he was nearly three years in convalescing. In 1S67 he was sufficiently recovered to resume the practice of his profession and, removing from Oswego County to Middle- town, Orange County, became a member of the law firm of Foote, McKoon & Stoddard, which soon built up one of the most sat- isfactory practices in the region. In 1874, while retaining his office in Middletown, he also opened one in New York City. This arrangement continued for three years when, despite the immense amount of competition in the metropolis of the nation, his New York business forced the abandonment of the Middletown office. In New York City Judge McKoon has confined himself almost exclusively to the practice of civil law, making the department of real estate a special fea- ture, and one in which he has been eminently successful. In 1889, his son, D. Gilbert McKoon, and three years later 114 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. David B. Luckey, were taken into partnership, the firm thereupon taking the style and title of McKoon & Luckey. Outside of his legal practice Judge McKoon has interested himself in a number of business enterprises, in all of which he has taken high rank. He is Director and Treasurer of the Rich- mond Homestead Association, of New York, a Director and Vice- President of the Frontier Bank, of Niagara, and President of the Mannahasset Park Association, of Monmouth County, New Jersey, besides being actively identified with a number of other corpora- tions. In 1852, Judge McKoon was married to Mary, the daughter of Andrus Gilbert, a prominent citizen of Oswego County. ^^f^ njm>i WARNER MILLER. ^ARNER MILLER, statesman, manufacturer and public-spirited citizen, was born in Hannibal, Oswego County, New York, August 12, 1838. The family was a prominent one in the colonies, as it has since been in the days of the Republic, and traces its descent from that German ancestry whose sons have taken so active a part in the upbuilding and support of American institutions. Mr. Miller's great-grandfather was among the patriots in the Revolutionary struggle and rose to the rank of Colonel in the American Army. One of his uncles, too, rep- resented Westchester County in the State Assembly for fourteen successive years. Warner Miller obtained his early education in the common schools and was, after completing its course, graduated from Union College in i860, while the fires of secession were smolder- ing at the South. He taught for a while at Fort Edward Insti- tute. With all the ardor and patriotism of youth, he was one of those men to whom the call of their country had but one answer, and when the war broke out he promptly enlisted as a private in the Fifth New York Cavalry, serving under General Phil. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. His merits were quickly recognized and he was soon promoted to be a Lieuten- ant. At the battle of Winchester he was, however, captured by the Confederates and paroled. Soon after, his parole precludin'^ his further participation in the struggle, he was honorably dis- charged and went abroad, there becoming interested in paper mak- ing. On his return home he entered into that business in Herkimer, accumulating a large fortune in its manufacture from wood pulp. 115 Il6 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Mr. Miller's first active participation in politics was in 1872, when he was chosen as a Delegate to the National Republican Convention, at Philadelphia. His fellow citizens, in 1873, elected him a member of the Legislature, and he continued in this office until 1876. In 1878 his party honored him with a nomination for Congress. He was elected and, in 1880, re-elected by an increased majority. When the factional fight in the Republican Party occurred, and President Garfield selected a Collector for the Port of New York who was obnoxious to Senators Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Piatt, they resigned and an election became necessary. The struggle was a bitter one, but Mr. Miller was chosen to fill the unexpired term of the senior Senator, his col- league being Elbridge G. Lapham. Once a member of the Senate, Mr. Miller rapidly rose to even greater prominence and became known as one of its most active and able members. One of his most popular acts was his successful effort in securing the passage of the bill increasing the pensions of disabled veterans, although his eight-hour bill for the letter carriers is one for which he is still gratefully remembered. In 1882 Senator Miller was instru- mental in passing a bill regulating immigration, commonly known as the " Head Money " bill, which relieved the State of New York from the annual burden of taxes of almost a quarter of a million of dollars. In 1885 he reported, and caused to be passed by the Senate, the alien contract labor bill, which still remains upon the statute books. He did much to aid commerce by a movement for deepening the water at Sandy Hook Bar, and was also prominent in creating the departments of labor and agricul- ture. His term expired in 1887, and he was succeeded by Frank Hiscock. At the Republican Convention at Chicago, in 1888, Mr. Miller was one of the most conspicuous figures. In the same year he was nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor of New York, but as the contest was a very close one, and the control of the national administration was largely dependent on the action of this State, Mr. Miller sacrificed his chances for the Governorship to further the success of the national ticket, WARNER MILLER. 1 17 although he would doubtless have been elected, despite the fact, had it not been for the manipulations of his factional opponents. It is a regretable fact that great as were Mr. Miller's services in bringing about a Republican success, the administration never properly recognized his efforts. In his business life Mr. Miller has won enviable distinction as an inventor, having perfected machines for the manufacture of wood pulp. Instead, however, of keeping these in monopoly he sold his machines freely, although at first paper manufacturers were slow to buy them and for some years Mr. Miller was deeply in debt and with difficulty continued his business. He, however, pushed the use of his machine with indomitable perseverance and by hard work ultimately triumphed. How great his contribution has been to the world can best be illustrated by the fact that through his efforts the cost of paper used by newspapers was reduced from fifteen cents a pound to less than three. Mr. Miller's wife was formerly Miss Caroline Churchill, of Gloversville, Fulton County, New York, and they have had four sons and a daughter. Upon retiring from the political field Mr. Miller was one of the projectors of the great national enterprise of constructing a ship canal across the Central American Isthmus to connect the two oceans, being President of the Construction Company organized to carry on the work. He visited the site, inspected the canal and on his return to New York pushed its construction with vigor and with good prospects of eventual success — prospects that have been vastly increased by the develop- ments of the war with Spain and by the 15,000 mile voyage of the " Oregon," which would have been rendered unnecessary had a canal connected the oceans. _jj ...nr^-'r'TTT, EW YORK'S junior Bar has served as a vehicle 'I ^ T li for the promotion of some of the brightest men in the Commonwealth to positions of prominence in their respective communities, and has time and again marked their progress in no uncertain manner. Thomas F. Murtha, a review of whose career forms the subject of this sketch, although he has yet scarcely reached middle life, is to-day numbered among the progressive and representative of the younger members of the Bar of the Empire State. Coming from a well known family and educated at some of the most renowned institutions of learning in the country, when he entered the legal field he was especially well equipped to fight his way to success and he has done this in a manner which speaks well for his ability and for the splendid qualities of determination and the ambition which underlie it. While he has not limited his field of activity to any one line of professional work, the statutes relating to real estate and legislation affecting the interests of landholders in the metropolis have, of late years, occupied much of his attention and through his prominence in connection with the Real Estate Exchange he has gathered around him an extensive clientele not only in a general legal practice but in this field in particular. Thomas F. Murtha was born in the City of New York, in i860, and is the son of John Murtha and Cornelia B. Murtha, the former of whom was for many years a resident of the city and was a well known builder, and real estate owner therein and long prominent in the business and social world. After a prelim- inary schooling in the educational institutions of his native city, 118 THOMAS F. MURTHA. II9 the subject of this biog^raphy took a course at Seaton Hall College, located at South Orange, New Jersey, where he spent two years in study. After suitable preparation here he passed to St. Francis Xavier's College, of New York City, from which well-known institution he was graduated, in 1S78, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Animated by a desire to enter the legal profession, Mr. Murtha then took a course of study in the Law Department of Columbia College preparatory to admission to the Bar and, after finishing its course in a highly creditable manner, was duly grad- uated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1881, his pre- liminary preparation over, he entered the office of Owen, Gray & Sturges, at No. 71 Wall Street, New York City, where, for several years, he acted as managing clerk and junior counsel in the trial of admiralty and common law causes, and gained much experience that has stood him in good stead in the practice which he has since gathered about him. Upon the dissolution of this firm, however, in 1893, he entered upon the practice of his profession on his own account and has, in the years tliat have followed, by his vigorous and thorough conduct of the causes which have been entrusted to his care, acquired an extensive and rapidly increasing clientele. In 1884 Mr. Murtha became one of the organizing members of the Real Estate Exchange and Auction Rooms, Limited, and shortly after its formation his services in behalf of the Exchange were recognized in his appointment to membership on the Com- mittee on Legislation of the organization. So efficiently did he perform the duties thereby devolving upon him that he was soon chosen as chairman of the committee, succeeding W. Reynolds Brown and Col. James M. Varnum in that position. This post he held for six years, and the duties thus thrown upon him he performed with his usual care and efficiency. While he held the chairmanship of this Committee on Legislation he was fre- quently called before the Legislature of the State of New York in the advocacy of or opposition to measures pending before that body affecting real estate interests in New York City and thus I20 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. was able to have a deep and lasting impression on the statutes of the State. Among his colleagues on this committee at the time may be mentioned James M. Varnum, Robert Ray Hamil- ton, P. H. Dugro, Samuel McMillan, Elliott Roosevelt, Constant A. Andrews, John D. Crimmins and Richard Deeves. The management of estates and general litigated practice, as well as his interests in other branches of law, have demanded the greater part of the time and attention of Mr. Murtha, but he has still found opportunity to take a deep interest in athletic affairs and his activity and prominence in this field is well indi- cated by his service as Governor of the New York Athletic Club, the foremost organization of its kind in the United States. Besides this organization, Mr. Murtha is also identified with the Lawyer's Club, the Reform Club, the Catholic Club, St. Andrew's Golf Club and a number of others of the best known social organiza- tions in the city. OTHING has contributed more to the pre-eminence of our great city than the indomitable spirit that pervades her mercantile life. Go where you will, in any quarter of the globe, and New York is an accepted synonym for enthusiastic enterprise and progressive prosperity. This prominence in the world of trade may be directly traced to two causes, the first of which is our inborn determination to surpass all opponents ; the second, which follows as a logical sequence, is that our merchants and their subordinates are thoroughly equipped for the struggle for supremacy. Time was when the great masters of the art of trade served a long and weary apprenticeship at office work and had reached middle age before they were competent to enter business on their own account. To-day, how different ! New York holds thousands of successful merchants whose experience in the laws of trade and in the requirements and forms of business life were acquired in short but thorough courses in the great commercial colleges which have played so important a part in the development of the city — a part that though often overlooked can hardly be over- estimated. Of these institutions none is better known or more highly regarded than is that presided over by him of whose career this sketch is written and which, during its four decades of existence, has trained tens of thousands to commercial careers. S. S. Packard was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, and is the descendant of a Puritan family which has been for over two centuries and a half prominent in the affairs of New England, the ancestor of the American branch of the family being Samuel Packard, who came from Hingham, England, in 1638, and settled 122 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. at North Bridgewater, Massachusetts. When our subject was seven years old his father removed to Licking County, Ohio, and there the son attended school. His talent for penmanship was inherited and he began to teach writing when but twelve years of age, setting the copies for the boys and girls, since, as he expresses it, " I could usually write better than the teacher." At the age of fifteen he left the district school and attended an academy in the neighboring town of Granville. Professor Packard had a strong desire for a collegiate education, but was compelled to surrender this, since the little money that his father could spare was barely enough to keep him at the academy for two years, and this only because he worked for his board, taking care of the garden and a horse, sawing wood and making himself generally useful. At the age of seventeen he began to teach in a regular school, and has been teaching, in some form, ever since. In the fall of 1845 he bought a team of ponies and a buggy and, taking a partner, he set out for Kentucky to make his for- tune. He remained there two years, teaching writing and singing and painting portraits in oil. While there he wrote to a friend who was attending Bartlett's Commercial College, in Cincinnati. The letter was shown to Professor Bartlett, who was so much pleased with the penmanship that on January i, 1848, Professor Packard began his career as a teacher of penmanship in the then leading commercial college in the country. In 1850 he married and left Cincinnati, spending a year at Adrian, Michigan, teaching in Union College. The climate, how- ever, proved unhealthful, and in the autumn of 185 1 he removed to Lockport, New York, where he opened the Commercial Depart- ment of the Union School, establishing at the same time the Union School Miscellany. A year later he removed to Tonawanda, New York, taking charge of the business of the Cleveland Commercial Company and publishing a weekly paper known as the Niagara River Pilot. Mr. Packard has facetiously described his journal as "a live newspaper which sought to close the harbor of Buffalo by driving all the commerce down the river, ten miles, to Tona- wanda." He states that he worked on this scheme conscientiously S. S. PACKARD. 123 for three years witliout much success, finally compromising- the matter by removing to Buffalo himself and taking charge of Bryant & Strat- ton's Mercantile College, then just established. He was not long with Bryant «S: Stratton, however, before they discovered that they could make better use of him than to keep him at a teacher's desk. They had conceived the project of a chain of colleges, and sent Professor Packard West to open the "Chicago link." This was in the fall of 1856, and that city then had but 75,000 inhabi- tants. He remained in Chicago only six weeks, but when he left Bryant & Stratton had the largest school in the city. From Chi- cago he went to Albany where, on January i, 1857, he started unaided what is now known as the Albany Business College. From Albany he came to New York and, in the spring of 1S58, with Mr. Stratton's help, established the Bryant & Stratton Mer- cantile College, afterward the Packard Business College, in the then new Cooper Union Building. Professor Packard took charge of this school and began to prepare text books. During the two years following he produced the "Bryant & Stratton High School" and the "Bryant & Stratton Common School Bookkeeping," and in the fall of 1863 the " Counting House Bookkeeping," of the same series. In March, 1867, Mr. Stratton died and Professor Packard became sole owner of the college, changing its title to the Packard Business College, the name which it bears at the present time. To-day, two score of years after his advent in the city, Packard's College is one of the best known in the country, and occupies commodious quarters at Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue. Professor Packard is a pleasing speaker, a considerate, accurate teacher, and a man of wonderful personality. During the years in which he has taught the principles of business to the rising generations he has striven diligently and with marvellous success to give the mer- chants a better class of clerks and the community a bettf^r class of citizens. «-,iik^^..;; GILBERT M.PLYMPTON. ELDOM is it that one is able to gain signal dis- tinction in two such widely separate fields of endeavor as law and finance, but the subject of this review, after standing at the front as a mem- ber of the Bar, forsook that profession and, enter- ing busy Wall Street, was one of the founders of a firm that is in the first rank of bankers in that great financial centre. Gilbert Motier Plympton is the son of Col. Joseph Plympton, and was born January 15, 1835, at Fort Wood, Bed- loe's Island, New York Harbor, then a military post com- manded by his father, at that time a Captain in the Army of the United States. The Plympton family is of English origin, and came from the village of Plumpton, near Knaresborough, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Eldred de Plumpton was a land- holder there at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, and from him this family is descended. Its first representative in America was Thomas Plympton, who was born in England about 1620, and who married Abigail Noyes. Emigrating to this coun- try from Sudbury, England, he was one of the founders of the town of Sudbury, Massachusetts. From that day until the present time the family has been one of the most prominent in the coun- try, many of them holding high places in the military service of the nation. The education of the subject of this review began at Fort Snelling, Minneapolis, when he was five years old, his instructor being the Chaplain of the post. His studies were later continued in a private school at Sackett's Harbor, New York. At the breaking out of the War with Mexico his father's regi- ment was ordered to join General Scott's army, whereupon the 124 GILBERT M. PLYMPTON. 1 25 lad was sent to the home of his mother's brother, Gerard W. Livingston, and his aunt. Anna De Peyster, in New Jersey, where his studies were resumed. When his father, then Lieu- tenant-Colonel Plympton, returned from the front, he took his family to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where he had command of the post. The son, Gilbert, then entered ShurtlefT College, at Alton, Illinois, and remained there until he was promised an appointment at West Point as a cadet, when he accompanied his parents to New York and entered John Sedgwick's school to pre- pare for the Military Academy. The appointment, however, was never received and he entered a lawyer's office and read law, at his father's request, being admitted to practice in November, i860. Shortly after, in order to better equip himself for a professional career, he entered the Law Department of the University of the City of New York and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1863. While the son was still a student, in i860, his father, Colonel Plympton, died, but at the beginning of the Civil War his two brothers and the husbands of two of his sisters were in the Union Army. Being a student, our subject was exempt from the draft, but as he was thoroughly familiar with military duties, he offered his services gratuitously to the Government to instruct recruits and newly appointed officers, and he subsequently asked Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, for a commission in the regular army, but as all the other men of his family were already at the front, he was prevailed on not to press the matter under the circum- stances, especially as his mother and sisters were left in his care. For some years after his admission to the Bar Mr. Plympton had a general practice, but later it was confined almost exclusive- ly to the Federal courts. His clients continued to grow in number, and he soon acquired an extensive practice, and was engaged in much of the important litigation of the time. He, however, never really cared for a legal career, and having earned an independence and his health having suffered from overwork, he decided, in 1889, to retire from active practice. In 1892, he organized, with his present partners, the well known banking 126 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. house of Redmond, Kerr & Company, one of the most prosper- ous and stable houses in this country, with offices not only in New York but in several other cities. In 1863 Mr. Plympton was married to Mary S. Stevens, daughter of Linus W. Stevens, a well known merchant of this city, whose family was prominent in the State of Connecticut from an early period in its history, and who was among the organizers and was the first Colonel of the Seventh Regiment. Mr. and Mrs. Plympton have one child, a daughter, Mary Livingston Plympton, their son, Gilbert Livingston Plympton, having died an infant. Mr. Plympton has never consented to accept any official position, although frequently solicited to do so. He has, how- ever, been a director in a number of corporations, and was one of the founders and Vice-President of the St. Nicholas Club. He is a member of the Union, Metropolitan, St. Nicholas, Riding, Westchester Country and New York Yacht Clubs, Downtown Association, Sons of the Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of the War of 18 12, Colonial Order of the Acorn, St. Nicholas Society, New York Historical Society, American Historical Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Botanical Society, Zoological Society and Chamber of Commerce. His residence is at No. 30 West Fifty-second Street, New York, where he has a particularly fine library. The country home of the family is at East Gloucester, Massachusetts, where they usually spend a portion of the year. Mr. Plympton has been a frequent contributor to the papers and periodicals of the day, and is the author of several pamphlets, among them a monograph on the life and eminent services of his father, Col. Joseph Plympton, and a sketch of the Plympton family. OT frequent is it indeed that one raised and edu- cated for the jMilpit and for many years ranking high among New York's most eminent Doctors of Divinity, and one of the most forceful and eloquent orators in the church is able, after forsaking this profession, to enter the law and therein reap a success as great as had come to him as the fitting reward for efforts in his first great field of endeavor. Yet such, in short, is the career of Henry A. Powell, of whose busy life much more might be written than is possible to include within the short space at our command. Honored by all who know him. by reason not only of his personal charms of manner but because of his sterling integrity and manifest abilities, there are few members of the Bar of the City of New York who hold a higher place in the esteem of the public or of their brother members of the legal fraternity. Henry Alanson Powell was born at Chatham, Columbia County, New York, on the 13th day of September, 1851. His father is Jonathan Rider Powell, who comes from an old Welsh family whose first American representative was among the earliest settlers of Long Island. His wife, and the mother of the subject of this biography, was Elizabeth Starks Powell, the daughter of an old New York family. Henry A. Powell attended the district school in his early years and even then betrayed many evidences of the high qualities that have since become markedly conspicuous in his character. He was prepared for college at F"ort Edward Institute, Fort Edward, New York, entering Union College with the class of 1873, in vvhich year he graduated, entering Union Theological 127 128 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Seminary in 1874, and graduating therefrom in the spring of 1876. In 18S9 Union University of New York, in recognition of his high place in the religious world and because of his eminence as a theologian, conferred upon Mr. Powell the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. While engaged in his theological studies Dr. Powfjll for a year taught at the Monticello Academy, Monti- cello, New York, and for two years at Doctor Sach's Collegiate Institute, located in the City of New York. In the spring of 1876, after his graduation from Union Theological Seminar)', Doctor Powell was installed as pastor of Old Bushwick Reformed Church, of Brooklyn, New York, and remained in this capacity for seven years, by his forcible eloquence as well as his genial charm of manner increasing the membership of the church from 1 1 1 to over 600. Between the years 1883 and 1891 he was pastor of the Lee Avenue Congregational Church, of Brooklyn, and during the term of his pastorate there was an increase in the membership proportionately as large as that which rewarded his efforts at the Bushwick Church. While still engaged in religious work Doctor Powell, as a mental recreation, entered for a course in the Law School of the University of New York, graduating with the class of 1882, but not until 1S91 did he put his knowledge of the statutes into any practical use. In this year, however, desiring to retire from the pulpit and enter upon the active practice of the law, he became a member of the firm of Foley & Powell, with offices at 206 Broadway, New York City, where they have since remained. Dr. Powell, while in no sense a politician, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York which convened at Albany in 1S94 for the purpose of revising the Con- stitution of the State. While a member of this body his work upon the Charities and various other committees was of the most thorough and painstaking order, and many of the most sterling sections in the fundamental law of the State owe their places therein to his efforts. In 1896 Dr. Powell was appointed Regis- trar of Arrears of the City of Brooklyn, and held that position for two years. He was also Captain and Chaplain of the Forty- HENRY A. POWELL. 129 seventh Regiment of the National Guard of the State of New York during the years 18S9 and 1890. Dr. Powell is a member of Baltic Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; of DeWitt Clinton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of Senate Lodge, Knights of Honor; of Welcome Council, Royal Arcanum; and of the Union League Club, of Brooklyn; the Tri- angle Club, of Brooklyn ; the Invincible Republican Club of Brooklyn ; the Levi P. Morton Club, of Brooklyn, and the Amphion Musical Society. He was married, on the 22d day of May, 1875, to Julia R. Mygatt, daughter of Henry T. Mygatt, a lineal descendant of Eli Mygatt, who was a distinguished Colonel in the Revolutionary Army. Mrs. Powell was appointed a member of the Board of Education of Brooklyn in 1895 and still holds that position. They have no children. 2-17 [ENRY SMALLWOOD REDMOND was born at Orange, New Jersey, on the 13th of August, 1865. '(^ Through his father, Henry Redmond, he is des- cended from William Redmond and Goold Hoyt, who in the first half of this century were interested in the com- mercial and social growth and development of New York City. His o-randfather was an importer of linen fabrics manufactured in the North of Ireland, of which place he was a native. He took a prominent position in the importing, manufacturing and financial circles of the city, was an officer or director in several of the most prominent corporations of his day, and was one of the foun- ders of the Union Club. Goold Hoyt, whose eldest daughter William Redmond married, was one of the best and most honorably known East India merchants of his day, and through this branch of the family Mr. Redmond is connected with many of the most prominent families of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, His mother was Lydia Smallwood, daughter of Joseph L. Smallwood, a cotton merchant of New York. He was born in Maryland, but early in life went to Florida, where he owned a plantation. His principles, however, had always been strong a m^\hw\ i fi^ fe.'^Atl ^ NE of the most widely known financiers and bank presidents of New York is J. Edward Simmons, who is descended from combined Dutch, French and Scotch-Irish strains. Christian Simmons, his great-grandfather, came from Holland, near the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, and settled in Dutchess County, New York. He had four sons, all of whom eventually pushed on into the wilderness and became pioneers of Rensselaer County. One of them, Christian Simmons, had a son, Joseph Ferris Simmons, born in 1S17, in the town of Sandlake, now Poestenkill, who was the father of him of whom we write. Joseph Ferris Simmons early determined upon a mercantile career and, leaving his father's farm at sixteen, he went to Troy and engaged in business. He held many positions of trust and was a Director of the State Bank of Troy from the time of its organization until his death, June 6, 1879. ^^ 1S39 he married Mary Sophia, daughter of Captain Samuel Gleason, of Townshend, New Hamp- shire, who served in the War of 18 12, and granddaughter of Samuel Gleason, a soldier of the Revolution. Her mother was of French descent, of a family named Ober. Joseph Edward Simmons was born at Troy, New York, Sep- tember 9, 1 841, and was carefully educated in the city schools, at the old Troy Academy, and at a private school at Sandlake. Entering Williams College, he graduated in 1862 ; then attending the Albany Law School, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1863 and being admitted to the Bar of this State. He practiced law in Troy successfully until 1867, and then, removing to New York City, entered upon his career as a financier. He 136 (M^Uj'^yr/ G/^'^^i^c^ J. EDWARD SIMMONS. 1 37 became a member of a substantial old banking firm of Wall Street; was forced to retire through ill-health in 1872; during the following year traveled for his health and, returning to New York in 1874, was actively engaged in financiering enterprises for the next ten years. The panic of 1S84 l^ft the New York Stock Exchange with- out an executive head, through the failure of its President. The utmost caution was observed in selecting his successor, the result being the election of Mr. Simmons, June 2, 1S84, and he was afterwards elected for a second term. Although solicited to become a candidate for a third time, he refused on account of returning ill-health, and upon his retirement from the office made a tour of Europe. Mr. Simmons' connection with educational matters in New York is notable. He was appointed on the Board of Education by Mayor Grace, in 1881, and became one of the most earnest of the commissioners. A New England University, in 1S85, con- ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, in recognition of his advancement of the cause of education. Re-appointed as Com- missioner by Mayor Edson, in 1884, Mr. Simmons was elected and served five years as President of the Board, and was the author of the bill conferring collegiate rank upon the so-called Normal College. In 1886, at the time of his retirement from the Presidency of the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. Simmons had also deter- mined to withdraw wholly from Wall Street affairs, and his visit to Europe was accordingly made after closing up all his business matters. But a new field of enterprise was soon opened to him by his election to the Presidency of the Fourth National Bank of New York City, in January, 1888, under circumstances quite unusual, as he was unacquainted with any of the Board of Direc- tors, owned no stock in the corporation, and had never entered the bank. In December, 1887, just prior to his election, the net deposits of the bank were about $17,000,000. They have now reached the sum of $30,000,000. Notwithstanding these activities, it would be an error to sup- 138 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. pose that Mr. Simmons' energies are entirely taken up with busi- ness enterprises. He devotes not merely a considerable portion of his means, but much of his time to the conduct of import- ant philanthropic institutions and is the President of the New York Infant Asylum, which cares for about seven hundred patients ; is one of the Governors and Treasurer of the New York Hospital, a Trustee of the largest Savings Bank in the World (" The Bank for Savings ") and is interested in several similar institutions, in addition to private charities. Mr. Simmons is President of the Panama Railroad, and of the Columbia Steamship Line. He is Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and is President of the Clearing House Association, which is the highest financial position that any banker can hold in the United States. He is connected as Director with some of the largest corporations in this country. Mr. Simmons is a Democrat, and was a close personal friend of Samuel J. Tilden. He is not connected with any faction, but is an earnest and independent advocate of reforms in State and nation, although refusing all overtures looking to the pursuit of public office. He is a member of the Manhattan, Metropolitan, University, New York Athletic, Lawyers', Players', Tuxedo and Riding clubs ; of the New England and St. Nicholas societies, and of St. Thomas' Church. Mr. Simmons' accomplishments as a musician are well known to his friends; and he is a constant patron of the opera and all musical entertainments. He is an enthusiastic disciple of Izaak Walton, and during the summer jaunts has whipped all the trout streams of New England and the West. He has attained the highest honors in the Masonic fraternity. In 1883 he was unanimously elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York and in September, 1885, he received the Thirty-third, or highest degree in the Masonic Order. In 1866 Mr. Simmons was married to Julia, daughter of George Greer, of New York. They have two children, Joseph Ferris and Mable Simmons. =^^^' ■m^ ^ -----^ - - -t^fg^/'y; ~s^0ss^-^ ^ ^ ^^^>^*^ ;OHN HENRY STARIN was born in Sam- monsville, Montgomery (now Fulton) County, New York, August 27, 1825, and is descended from old Dutch stock which peopled the valley of the Mohawk when New York was still a province. Johannes Ster, the founder of the American family, came from Holland about 1648. His descendant, Nicholas Ster, at one time lived in Albany, but about 1720 located on a tract of land in the Mohawk Valley, near German Flats. He translated his name into Stern, which has the same signification in German as Ster has in Dutch. Subsequently the name was changed to Starin. Philip Starin, son of Nicholas, was born at German Flats and married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Ebertson, of Holland. John Starin, their seventh child, was born in Montgomery County in 1754. With ten other members of the Starin family he served in the Revolutionary Army. At the close of the war he established a tavern on the Mohawk, opposite Caughnawaga, and, in 1780, married Jane, daughter of Hendrick Wemple. Their third child, Myndert, born at Glen, Montgomery County, in 1786, was married to Rachel, daughter of Major Thomas Sammons, of Johnstown, New York. The fifth of their eight children was John Henry Starin. Myndert Starin, a man of force and business ability, founded the manufacturing interests of Sammonsville and laid out the town of Fultonville. His son, John Henry, early exhibited simi- lar traits. Graduating from the Esperance Academy, in Schoharie County, he studied medicine, but soon thereafter abandoned this pursuit as uncongenial, and accepted a clerkship in his brother's 139 I40 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. drug store in Fultonville. In 1856 he removed to New York City and established a store and manufactory for medicine and toilet articles, soon building up a profitable business. His business experience, acquired in looking after the trans- portation of his goods, led him to consider the project of estab- lishing a general freight agency in the city and a railroad official having offered him the patronage of one of the great trunk lines, Mr. Starin closed the contract and set to work to develop his new project. The Civil War gave him an opportunity to thoroughly establish himself and at the same time perform signal service to the Government by furnishing transportation for troops, provisions, and munitions of war at less cost and with greater dispatch and satisfaction than the Government with its own ves- sels could accomplish the work. By the close of the struggle Mr. Starin had won a high business reputation and established a system of railroad and steamboat connection of great value to commerce, since increasing his facilities and business to an enormous extent and making it the largest individual enterprise of the kind on the continent. His steamboat and freight lines ply the River and Sound ; his excursion barges and pleasure boats, his fleets of tugs and propellers, his lighters and car-boats, connecting the principal railroad lines with the island metropolis, dot the water of the bay and fill the rivers ; grain boats and floating elevators further the ends of commerce ; and dry-docks and great freighting depots and offices line the harbor. Always a Republican, Mr. Starin has held a number of official positions. From 1848 to 1852 he was Postmaster at Fulton- ville. In 1876 he was nominated for Congress from the Twentieth District, comprising Fulton, Montgomery, Hamilton, Saratoga and Schenectady counties, and was elected. He was re-nominated in 1878 and re-elected by a large plurality; but refused a third term. On October 7, 1890, a remarkable tribute was paid to Mr. Starin by a number of his friends. Taking advantage of his absence in Europe, they assembled at Starin Place, Fultonville, the magnificent home of our subject, and erected in his honor a JOHN H. STARIN. I41 bronze statue executed by the distinguished sculptor, George E. Bissell. The figure, eight feet high, surmounts a granite pedestal ornamented with four bronze reliefs representing " Commerce," "Legislation," "Agriculture" and "Public Works," the four directions in which Mr. Starin's energies have been most especially employed. Since 1874 Mr. Starin has been a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce. He succeeded Horatio Seymour, upon the latter's death, in 1880, as President of the Saratoga Monument Association, to provide a fitting memorial upon the field of this decisive battle of the Revolution. Mr. Starin turned his business energies to this enterprise and secured a Congressional appropri- ation of $30,000; himself contributed a liberal donation, and induced others of means to subscribe to the fund. As a result of his enterprise, the memorial, before doubtful and precarious, has been erected upon the spot where the British received their first decisive check in America. Mr. Starin is a Trustee of Union College and a member of a large number of clubs and social organizations. His benefactions have been many, his private charities rivalling even the objects of his public contributions. ROBABLY no city in the entire world numbers among its inhabitants so many of the members of the legal profession or such a number whose names are known, or who are regarded through- out the length and breadth of the land, as suc- cessful practitioners. This, of course, is in a very great degree due to the vast commercial interests which centre in the metrop- olis and make the second city of the world such a teeming hive of activity. This concentration of capital and corporations in the chief city of the continent has resulted in bringing to its courts many of the most important suits at law ever decided by legal tribunals, and has necessitated the services of many of the most capable attorneys that the nation has ever produced. The immediate result of this condition of affairs has been that the Bar of New York City to-day numbers among its members many of the most eminent lawyers of the nation, men who have con- centrated their efforts here because of the unbounded opportuni- ties the city has to offer to men possessed of energy and analytical minds. Prominent among those whom sister States have contributed to the Bar of New York City is the subject of this review, who, while a native of the distant State of California, has won an enviable reputation in the City of New York as a successful practitioner of the profession he has selected. Louis Steckler was born in San Francisco, California, on the 30th day of November, i860. He is the son of Ignatz E. and Rosa Steckler, both of whom were natives of Austria, but who had come to this country in their youth and were married here on the ist day of November, 1847. After a few years in 142 -^c-^^ LOUIS STECKLER. 143 the East, their ambition led them into crossing the plains to California during the gold excitement that swept over the coun- try during the early fifties. There they prospered, and there their son was born. In 1S65, however, Mrs. Steckler's health being poor, she, in company with the entire family, went to Europe, returning to the United States in September of the year 1872, soon after the close of the Franco-Prussian War. While the family were on the other side of the Atlantic the son attended the Real Schule, Stutgart, Germany, for five years and laid the foundation of his scholarly education. On their return to this country the family decided to settle in New York, where the son completed his education in American institutions, rising, in Public School No. 1 8, from the si.xth grade in two years and a half and graduating in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Steckler are both still living and in comparatively good health. His course in the public school having been completed, the son, determined to possess a thorough educational equipment, entered the College of the City of New York, where he pursued his studies with renewed assiduity and was graduated in 1S80. Having selected the law as his profession, he then attended the Law School of Columbia College for a term of two years and was graduated and admitted to the Bar in 1882. Immediately upon his admission to the Bar he entered upon the active practice of his profession and it has since claimed his time and attention, covering, as it does, the whole range of a civil, corporation and commercial clientele. As illustrating the devotion with which Mr. Steckler has adhered to his determination to let nothing interfere with his legal interests, it might be mentioned that he has steadfastly and resolutely declined to con- nect himself with any clubs or social organizations whatever, but has spent all his time, energy and ability in the upbuilding of his rapidly increasing practice. Among the well known corpor- ations which he has served in a legal capacity was the Pennsyl- vania, Slatington and New England Railroad Company. He also was counsel for the promoters of the Poughkeepsie Bridge and for the holders of the Receivers' Certificates of the Alabama and 144 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Chattanooga Railroad Company, these being the first Receivers' Certificates ever issued in this country. Mr. Steckler is also counsel for Fleischman's Vienna Model Bakery Company, Incor- porated, the Merz Universal Extractor and Construction Company and the Safety Third Rail Electric Company. These, however, are but a few of the many clients who have, with confidence, placed their legal affairs in his charge. In his political affiliations Mr. Steckler is an independent Democrat and has taken an active part in the political life of the city, notably in the election of ex-President Cleveland in 1892, when he assisted in the campaign management and on the stump, in which latter capacity his well known abilities as an orator stood him in as good stead as they have in his pleadings before Bench and jury. Mr. Steckler has also taken a deep interest in municipal politics, and his place in Democratic councils has been an important one, but he has never allowed his name to be used in connection with any political office whatever. WM£/lm/mA LISPENARD STEWART. '!^2SS>?'<>''^7®^^'Cx<^Vax5'cr''=Y/s'x^ ISPENARD STEWART, the second son of the late Lispenard Stewart and Mary Rogers Rhine- lander, was born at his father's country seat at Mount St. Vincent, in Westchester County (now a part of New York City), June 19, 1855. He received his early education at Anthon's and Charlier's famous schools in New York City, and later prepared for college at the boarding school of Dr. Morris, at Peekskill. He then entered Yale University, from which he graduated on his twenty-first birthday with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1S78 he received from the Law School of Columbia College its degree of Bachelor of Laws; and shortly afterwards the administration of large estates devolving upon him, he abandoned practice at the Bar and devoted his time to their management. Mr. Stewart is well known for his public spirit as a citizen of New York, and many times has been appointed by the Mayor to serve on committees of ofificial importance. He was one of the Committee of One Hundred prominent citizens which escorted General Grant's body from Saratoga to New York ; was one of the Committee of One Hundred to arrange the celebration of the Columbus quadricentennial, and was a member of the Citi- zens' Committee having in charge the celebration of the one hun- dredth anniversary of General Washington's inauguration as first President of the United States. He was a member of the Wash- ington Arch Committee, as also of the committee appointed by the Mayor to arrange for celebrating " Manhattan Day " at the World's Columbian Exposition. As a staunch and active Republican Mr. Stewart has been 2-19 145 146 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. prominent in politics and has figured conspicuously at State and County conventions. For many years a member of the New York Republican County Committee, he served for some time as its treasurer. Nominations as Congressman, State Assemblyman and City Alderman were frequently tendered him, but for a consider- able period he declined to run for public office. In 1888, how- ever, in recognition of his services to the party, he was placed on the Republican ticket as Presidential Elector, and, the Republi- cans being successful, when the Electoral College met he was honored by being made Secretary of that dignified body. Again, in 1889, the Republicans of the Eighth Senatorial District, in this city, persuaded him to accept a nomination for the State Senate. After a memorable contest, he carried the district by a small plu- rality, and was the only Republican Senator elected in that year from the City of New York. His career in the Senate was most creditable. He was a hard worker and made himself master of details. Among his more notable achievements was his introduction and success in passing through the Legislature the bill creating the Rapid Transit Commission for the City of New York. In 1893 he was tendered the office of Treasurer of the National League of Repub- lican Clubs, but declined to serve. Later on he was appointed one of the Committee of Thirty to re-organize the Republican Party in the City and County of New York. Again, in the fall of 1894, when the Committee of Seventy was making up its com- bination city ticket, Mr. Stewart's name was submitted, with the names of William L. Strong and Cornelius N. Bliss, as Republican candidates for the mayoralty. William L. Strong was chosen by the Committee and elected Mayor. In 1895 Governor Morton tendered him a position on his Staff, and later appointed him Prison Commissioner for the First Judicial District. In 1896 he was re-appointed Commissioner for a further term of eight years, and since his first appointment has been President of the Commis- sion. In March, 1896, he was elected a Delegate to the National Republican Convention. Outside his business and political duties, Mr. Stewart LISPENARD STEWART. 147 takes a prominent part in club life. He is a member of the Union, Metropolitan, Union League, University, Riding, Down Town and Republican clubs. Of two of these, the Union Club, and the Riding Club, he has been a Governor. He is a Trustee of the Real Estate Trust Company and of the Grant Monument Association. Notwithstanding his many duties, he has always found time for charitable work, and for many years has been on the Governing Board of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Prison Association of New York and the Protestant Episco- pal Missionary Society for Seamen. His holidays are generally passed in travel, or in shooting. Japan, China, Mexico, Algeria, Tunis, Egypt, Sweden, Russia and many other countries have been visited by him, and many fine heads of moose, elk, caribou, bear, manitou sheep and deer testify to his skill with the rifle. I J. S. T. STRANAHAN. k^^ J >«»t«Q»»»04 ^^|ROM Scotch-Irish stock have sprung many large minded and large hearted men, whose names are prominently identified with American progress ; among them, J. S. T. Stranahan. His ancestor, James Stranahan, born in 1699, settled in Scituate, Rhode Island, in 1725, and removed later to Plainfield, Connec- ticut, where he died at the advanced age of ninety-three. Samuel, the fifth son of James of the second generation, removed to Peter- boro, in Madison County, New York, then a wilderness, and there amid the rude surroundings of a pioneer's life, his son, James Samuel Thomas Stranahan, was born April 25, 1805. His boyhood was spent in school and upon the farm, but later he attended the local academies, the first money he ever earned coming from teaching. He fitted himself for the profes- sion of a civil engineer, but this pursuit he abandoned, in 1827- 28, to become a frontier trader, making a trip to the great lakes, then the far western wilderness. After several interviews with Hon. Lewis Cass, then Governor of the Territory of Michigan, and after several adventurous explorations of the forest regions, during which he found no desirable field for his enterprise, he resolved to return East. In 1832 Gerritt Smith invited young Stranahan to aid him in founding a manufacturing village in a town owned by the for- mer in Oneida County, the flourishing village of Florence to-day attesting Mr. Stranahan's success. From this village, in 1838, the tireless young founder was sent to the Assembly, having been elected on the Whig ticket from a Democratic county. In 1840 Mr. Stranahan removed to Newark, New Jersey, and 148 J. S. T. STRANAHAN. I49 engaged extensively in railroad construction, in which he was exceedingly successful, laying the foundation of a subsequent large fortune. In 1844 he removed to Brooklyn, where he has since resided and with whose interests he became intimately identified. A man of striking ability and exceptional popularity, he was elected to the Board of Aldermen in 1848; nominated but defeated for Mayor in 1850, and elected to Congress in 1854. He was a mem- ber of the Republican National Convention of i860 and urged the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. He was also a member of the Convention of 1864, again voting for Mr. Lincoln, and was later a Lincoln and Johnson Presidential Elector. The cause of the Union received his ardent support during the war and he was chosen for the position of President of the War Fund Committee of his city, his wife at the same time being President of the Woman's Relief Association. Since 1865 Mr. Stranahan has been identified with almost every important improvement in his adopted city. He was at the head of the Brooklyn Park Commission for twenty-two years, becoming its President by act of the Legislature in 1S60 and remaining at the head of the Commission until 1882. No man ever won an unsolicited tribute to his public services by labor more disinterested than Mr. Stranahan ; and it was no more than a proper recognition of hard endeavor in many lines of benefit for his city, that on June 6, 1891, a bronze statue of Mr. Stranahan, of heroic size, was unveiled at the entrance of Prospect Park. Mr. Stranahan also foresaw the future of Coney Island as a seaside resort ; and it was due to his energy and arguments, that, in spite of much opposition, Brooklyn claimed the Atlantic Ocean as her southern boundary. Coney Island Boulevard and the Concourse are tributes to his sagacity, judgment and public spirit. For many years he was President of the Union Ferry Company, which owned the ferry franchise between New York and Brooklyn and transacted an enormous business, being one of the most profitable companies of its class in the harbor of New York. The Atlantic Docks, on the lower water front of Brooklyn, and the warehouses surrounding the same were built at his sug- ISO REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. gestion and by a corporation which he was successful in organizing and in which he was the largest owner. It was always character- istic of the man that he should engage in operations which, while judiciously planned as commercial ventures, should confer upon the community in which he dwelt even larger benefits than upon the stockholders. Thus, appreciating the value of the enterprise to his adopted city, although its construction would be injurious to his own business interests, he was one of the first subscribers to the stock of the Brooklyn Bridge. He became a member of its first Board of Directors, and also served continu- ously as Trustee and President, after the bridge came under the more immediate control of the two cities, until 1885. Mr. Stranahan was married, in 1837, to Mariamne Fitch, daughter of Ebenezer R. Fitch, of Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York. Her noble nature and philanthropic toil hastened her death, which occurred in August, 1866. The present Mrs. Stranahan was Miss Clara C. Harrison, a native of Massachusetts. Possessed of fine natural powers developed by a most careful and thorough education, combined with great executive ability Mrs. Stranahan has filled important roles in philanthropic, civic and social relations. She has been a Trustee of Barnard College ; Vice-President of the Alumni Association of her Alma Mater, Troy Female Seminary ; President of the State Charities Aid Association for Kings County, and Vice-President General for New York of the Daughters of the Revolution. She was also Vice-President of the New York State Board of Woman Managers for the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Stranahan has also won honor as an author, her chief work, "A History of French Painting," having received complimentary notice in both Europe and America. ALIFORNIA has contributed to New York's pros- perity no man more prominent or more capable of taking a foremost place in the development of the Empire State than her distinguished citizen, Irwin C. Stump, through whose efforts she has secured the co-operation of many prominent New Yorkers in the develop- ment of the Golden State's wonderful mineral resources. Irwin C. Stump was born in Virginia on September 25, 1S40. His father was Major Henry Stump, a civil engineer and surveyor, long prominent in the political life of the Old Dominion, in whose General Assembly he twice served. His wife was Pamelia Regar Stump, also a member of an old Virginia family. The son early evidenced a natural brightness while a student in Virginia's excellent schools, and at the age of fifteen was made a Deputy in the County Clerk's office of Jackson County. When sixteen he accepted a position as clerk on a steamer running from Cincinnati to New Orleans. A year after- ward he entered the wholesale grocery house of A. Culbertson & Company, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. At eighteen he came to New York as the representative of the firm, remaining here until the house went out of business. In 1859 he returned to Penn- sylvania and entered the banking house of Alexander & Com- pany, at Monongahela City. The outbreak of the Civil War found Mr. Stump ready to fight for his country, and when Governor Curtin called for troops, he responded and joined the Union Army. Prior to this it had been thought that the Rebel- lion would be readily crushed with the forces then enrolled, but when the Southerners invaded Pennsylvania, Mr. Stump went to 151 152 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. the front as First Lieutenant of tlie celebrated Monongahela Guards, and had his baptism of fire at the bloody battle of Antietam. After the retreat of Lee and the mustering out of the Pennsylvania forces, Mr. Stump again entered the banking house of Alexander & Company, later resigning his position and going to Nashville, Tennessee, as chief clerk and cashier of the Quarter- master's Department, where he remained until the close of the War. In 1865 Mr. Stump went into the wholesale silk business in Louisville, Kentucky, under the title of Stump, Cresson & Com- pany, and remained a member of this firm until 1873, when he purchased a large tract of land on the San Joaquin River, Cali- fornia, removing thereto for the purpose of developing his prop- erty. In 1875 he removed to San Francisco and connected him- self with the commission house of Charles Clayton & Company, with whom he remained for three years. In 1880 he connected himself with Messrs. Haggin & Hearst, and in the management of the many important interests of these gentlemen he was closely identified. In connection with the great mining interests held by these parties, Mr. Stump visited all the important mineral districts on the coast and made a brilliant record for keen business judg- ment and close and searching investigation into the details of each project, soon becoming known as one of the best informed and most accomplished mining engineers on the Pacific Slope. Mr. Stump long took an active part in the destinies of the Republican Party in the West, and was Chairman of the Califor- nia State Central Committee in the years 1892 and 1893. He was prominently spoken of as Senator Stanford's successor, on the death of the latter, but positively refused to accept the appoint- ment at the hands of Governor Markham, on account of his extensive business interests. The Governorship also was within his grasp but this, too, he declined. As President of the Mechanics' Institute, of San Francisco, which contains the largest library on the Pacific coast, is free of debt and owns property to the value of over three millions of dollars ; as Director of the State Prisons of California, and as a IRWIN C. STUMP. 153 member of the Executive Committee and Treasurer of the CaHfornia Midwinter Exposition, he accomplished good work for the State of his adoption. Mr. Stump was one of the Directors and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Real Estate Development Company, of California, and in this capacity did much to bring about the prosperity in his section. Thus in the midst of a busy and eventful life Mr. Stump has always found time to devote himself to public interests, and although not making pretentions as a philanthropist, he has made himself conspicuous in enterprises which were of use and benefit to the whole people. His fine and discriminating judgment has been frequently shown in the management of many and conflicting interests in which the people were highly interested, but rarely has he been the subject of adverse criticism. As a political manager, too, he has proven himself to be wonderfully astute. His judgment of events and motives which control success in political affairs is always good and, in the management of the famous campaigns through which his party has passed in California, he has shown a keen appreciation of events and rose from the ordeal with a prestige vastly increased. Since coming to New York Mr. Stump has devoted himself to the mining and brokerage business, with a handsome suite of offices in the Mills Building. He is a member of the Colonial Club of the City of New York and of the Grand Army of the Republic, but still retains his love for California, where he is a member of the Pacific Union Club and a life member of the California Historical Society. He was married, in 1864, to Miss Emma Angell, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She died in 1887. Four years later he was united in marriage to Miss Evalyn Aull, of Sacramento, California. Mr. Stump has three daughters. F the great law firms who manage so large a pro- portion of the legal interests of the great com- mercial City of New York, few have acquired more enviable or wider reputations than that of Horn- blower, Byrne, Taylor & Miller, of which the sub- ject of this brief review is a member. Devoting himself heart and soul to his profession, Mr. Taylor has, within the past decade, risen in the esteem of the public until to-day he is rec- ognized as an astute, capable and, withal, faithful attorney who is winning fame in the great metropolis; and if, the past is a true index to the future, the years to come will find him enjoying a practice that can come to only the thoroughly equipped and keen- witted advocate. Howard Augustus Taylor was born in the City of New York on the 23d day of November, 1865. He is the son of Henry Augustus Taylor and his wife, who before her marriage was Miss Catherine Augusta Osborn. Mr. Taylor is of early colonial parentage on both sides, all of his ancestral lines having been established in the New England States during the Seven- teenth Century, the Osborns having settled in Salem, Massachu- setts, and the Taylors at Taylor Hill, Connecticut. The old Taylor Homestead, on the banks of the Connecticut River, below Middletown, has been in the family since 1648, and is still the summer home of our subject. From Taylor Hill Howard A. Taylor's father came to New York City in 1828. The son was prepared for college at St. Paul's School, at Concord, New Hamp- shire, which he entered when he was thirteen years of age, and after having pursued his course in this preparatory institution he 154 ^^U$-ou-eu^ CL. ^o^^^Jiyx ^ HOWARD A. TAYLOR. 155 matriculated at Harvard College, from which he was duly gradu- ated with the class of 18S6. At college he was prominent in athletics, notably excelling as a tennis player and repeatedly win- ning for his college the intercollegiate tennis championships. In 1884 he also won the National Association tennis matches at Newport, as well as proving victorious in many minor events. Since his professional career began, however, these athletics have been, for lack of time and opportunity, no longer pursued. After graduating from Massachusetts' noted educational insti- tution, Mr. Taylor followed the newspaper business for a short time, serving as a reporter on the New York Tribtcne, with marked success, exhibiting, as he did, a capacity that was remark- able in one of his experience. The work, however, was uncon- genial and not in line with his ambitions and hence, deserting the profession of journalism, he began the study of the law, but without attending a law school. He served his apprenticeship as a student in the office of his present partner, William B. Hornblower, and was admitted to practice at the Bar in 18S8, two years later becoming a member of the firm, the present style of which is Hornblower, Byrne, Taylor & Miller. Under Mr. Hornblower's able guidance Mr. Taylor early acquired an excep- tionally good working acquaintance with active practice, finding time after the day's work to lay the foundation of his present knowledge of legal principles. From the outset he displayed the quick and penetrative insight and the power of concentration that may be truly said to be the fundamental qualities in the composition of the true lawyer and for this reason the success he has achieved was no more than could reasonably be expected. His briefs are direct, simple and lucid. The first litigations in which he appeared prominently before the courts of the city were in connection with the Grant & Ward failure, in which with Mr. Hornblower he represented the receiver of the embarrassed firm. One suit was against the Aronsons, managers of the Casino Theatre and the defendants were eventually compelled to pay a large judgment, although not until after they had unsuccessfully carried the case to the State Court of Appeals. In the Lipman 156 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. case Mr. Taylor succeeded in both State and Federal courts in upholding the rights of the holders of "open" warehouse receipts as against " trust receipts " which had been fraudulently issued for the same goods. In the Saratoga Gas and Electric Light Company foreclosure cases, the court, in accordance with his con- tentions, have enforced the rights of the bondholders as rigorously as in any foreclosure on record in the State. The litigations conducted by him against Horace K. Thurber, too, were the subject of much comment in the press at the time, since that merchant was thought to have been unjustly and severely treated until the contrary had been proven in the courts. In the Fayerweather will contest, one of the most celebrated cases ever on the dockets of the courts of New York, Mr. Taylor was one of the counsel at the trial. In each Federal jury term he is to be found trying some case on a mercantile or corporation con- tract, the practice of his firm in the Circuit, District and Supreme courts of the United States being particularly extensive. In short, while he has been practicing at the Bar of New York but a comparatively few years, Mr. Taylor has won a high place among the legal fraternity of the city and has deservedly won the esteem of an extensive clientele by his astute and faith- ful management of all cases entrusted to his care. ^'. E. P. TURNER ERTAINLY no other profession deserves the grati- tude or is entitled to the appreciation of manlcind any more than the physician's. The world does not dream of the countless little, but valuable, benevolences of the medical men to the poor, the sick and the needy. There is hardly a practicing physician of any standing who will not confess that of all the cases that have come under his care, the ones that demand the most constant and patient attention have been those in which he could expect little or no remuneration for his labor. How much they have benefited the world at large is abundantly shown in the larger cities, and in the lengthening average of human life, which has been increased almost twenty-five per cent, within the last quarter of a century. In neither benevolence nor efiiciency are the prac- titioners of New York behind their brethren of other cities. Medical colleges of the highest class, and hospitals and public dispensaries innumerable have contributed largely to this end. The high scale of excellence set up by the old school is perhaps more largely responsible, but it is a standard that has been ably upheld by their successors in the healing art. One of the best known general practitioners in the city is Dr. Edward P. Turner, the subject of this biography, an earnest and devoted physician and one whose good works are not confined to the lines of his profession. Edward Pavson Turner was born in New Vineyard, Franklin County, Maine, on the i6th day of November, 1854, and is the descendent of a family long prominently identified with the progress of the New England States. He was the son of David 157 158 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Jr., and Lydia B. Turner. His great-grandfather, Capt. David Turner, who came from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, was one of the first settlers in the township. His son, David, was a clergyman and one of the most eloquent divines in his section. He was the founder and for thirty years the beloved pastor of the Congregational Church, at New Vineyard. He died in 1858. His son, who also bore the name of David, was married to Lydia B. Bray, of Anson. He died in 1861, when the son, Edward Payson, the subject of this review, was in his seventh year. Dr. Turner's mother lived until August 30, 1894, and had the satisfaction of seeing her son, to whom she had given the best education she could and wise counsel to guide him aright, reach manhood and become one of New York's most learned and successful physicians. Edward P. Turner having acquired such education as the schools of New Vineyard afforded, entered Westbrook Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1878. For a time thereafter he was a teacher and acting Assistant Superintendent of the Maine State Reform School, but soon began the study of medicine under Dr. C. W. Bray, and later entered the office of Doctors Tewkesbury and Bray, of Portland, remaining with them for a year, subsequently attending the Long Island College Hospital, from which he was graduated in 1882, having been chosen Presi- dent of his class. Doctor Turner at once located in New York city, where he has been successful in building up an extensive practice. He has associated with himself, as a partner in busi- ness, Dr. James D. Bryant, and they have a large general practice in the lower wards of the city. The worthy poor are never sent away from their office because of inability to pay for treatment, and their many deeds of charity have endeared them to all with whom they have come in contact. They have made a specialty of the treatment of diabetes, Bright's disease and rheumatism, and have investigated especially the influence of dieting on disease and health. Doctor Turner is now interested in the manufactur- ing of certain wheat food products and has originated several formulas which are favorably recognized by the medical profession and the general public. Among the organizations of which he is E. P. TURNER. 159 a member are Preble Council of the American Legion of Honor, of Portland, Maine, and the New York County Medical Associa- tion. Doctor Turner has always been affiliated with the Democratic Party with the exception of a vote cast for McKinley, in 1896. By appointment from the Mayor he is now a School Inspector for the First District of New York City. He was married, on the 19th day of April, 1898, to Miss Etta Hunnison Snow, of Westfield, Massachusetts. HEODORE KNAPP TUTHILL was born in Orange County, New York, on January 22, 1848. He is the son of the Rev. Nathaniel S. and Cath- erine Meade Vail Tuthill, descending on his pater- nal side form Puritan and Revolutionary ancestry. He is a typical New York man, his paternal ancestors on the Tuthill side having all been citizens of New York State since the landing of John Tuthill on Long Island in 1624. His great- great-grandfather was Major Solomon Tuthill, one of the officers in the patriot army during the revolutionary struggle for indepen- dence, and he is also descended on this side of the ancestral house from the Dickinsons and Knapps, prominent among the former of whom is Daniel S. Dickinson, the well known lawyer and legislator of New York during ajite bellnm days. On his maternal side he traces his descent from the Vails, a well known family of Welsh extraction and the Lamoreux, who were Hugue- nots. The early members of both of these families were pre- revolutionary settlers and participated in throwing off the yoke of the mother country, the four branches of his ancestry taking a prominent part also in the second war with England, in 18 12- 1815. Rev. Nathaniel S. Tuthill is a Methodist clergyman who, for forty-one years, was an active and able member of the New York Conference, retiring from active ministerial work in 1898. The education of the subject of this review was such as could be secured by the son of an itinerant minister, and during the period of his boyhood and youth he attended various public and private schools in whatever section of the State his father was stationed. His preparation for a college education, however, was 160 THEO. K. TUTHILL. l6l at the Bedford Academy, under the tutorship of Daniel S. Dusen- bury. At the age of eighteen Mr. Tuthill left Bedford Academy, prepared to enter the sophomore year in college according to the Yale standard, and then taught school for four years. Medicine, however, early presented many attractions to him and, determining to thoroughly ground himself in its rudiments, he began the study of pharmacy in Poughkeepsie, pursuing his investigations until 1872, when he entered the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, from which he was graduated in 1S75 and immediately engaged upon active practice, achieving a wide- spread reputation. Politically Dr. Tuthill has always been an active Republican, and has taken a deep interest in municipal politics, for many years serving as a member of the Republican County Committee. Dr. Tuthill was Pension Surgeon under Presidents Arthur and Har- rison, and gave a great deal of attention to the subject of nervous disorders resulting from army life, succeeding in interesting promi- nent neurologists in New York in this department of research and investigation, thereby materially adding to the literature of the subject. On March 26, 1896, Governor Morton recognized Dr. Tuthill's activity in politics and prominent place in his pro- fession by appointing him to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Coroner William O'Meagher, and at the election which was held in the November of the same year he was elected for the balance of the unexpired term on the Republican ticket, that being the only city and county office voted for that year, Doctor Tuthill being the only man ever elected to a municipal office on a straight Republican ticket against a united Democracy in New York City. On this fact the Doctor has always been modest, claiming that his triumph in this campaign was due to the tidal sound-money wave, this being also the first time the Republicans ever secured a majority in New York City for Governor and President. For many years Doctor Tuthill had been engaged in the study of criminology as an accomplishment, in connection with his classmate, Prof. R. A. Witthaus, the celebrated toxicologist and 1 62 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. criminologist, but without any idea of ever practically utilizing the result of these investigations. It was with a special fitness for the duties of the position, therefore, that Doctor Tuthill entered the office of Coroner, and but natural that he should have filled so important a part in the unfolding of the numerous criminal cases coming under the investigation of that office, nota- bly the historic Guldensuppe murder mystery, and the subsequent conviction of its perpetrators. Doctor Tuthill has taken strong grounds in opposition to the sentiment for the abolition of the office of Coroner, and has stead- fastly claimed that the office needs increased facilities along scien- tific lines far more than reform. He has always urged that the office of Coroner should he filled by appointment by the Governor subject to the approval of the State Board of Regents instead of being elective, a change which is now being widely agitated in medical and legal circles. Since the close of his term as Coroner Doctor Tuthill has retired from public life, and has devoted all of his time to the practice of his profession. He is a member of the New York County Medical Society, Society of Medical Jurisprudence, Medico- Surgical Society, Medical League, Physicians' Mutual Aid Asso- ciation, and the Republican Club of the City of New York. On the 14th day of August, 1883, Doctor Tuthill was married to Irene Pease, daughter of Edwin R. Pease, of Poughkeepsie. Mrs. Tuthill is directly descended on the maternal side from John Alden and Priscilla, and in both branches of her ancestral house numbers among her progenitors many men prominent in the early days of the Republic. /I/OZJ^' ^^(^^^^^^ENERAL VIELE'S family descent represents the historic New York ; his birth and mihtary educa- tion ally him to the State ; his services as soldier, scientist, and Congressman are a bright page in our national records ; and his professional labors and travels unite him with many learned societies at home and abroad, making his fifty years of effective manhood the record of a versatile, successful, and well-spent life. The London clubs and higher social circles on the continent claim him as warmly as the Association of Graduates of West Point, the Grand Army, the Loyal Legion, the Century and New York clubs, the Union League, the St. Nicholas, the Aztec, the Holland Society, the National Academy, and the Geographical and Genealogical soci- eties," are the terms in which Richard Henry Savage, the cele- brated author and journalist, refers to General Egbert L. Viele, in an extended biographical article in the New York Home Jo7irnal, on the career of this celebrated New Yorker. Egbert L. Viele was born at the old homestead, Waterford, New York, and is a descendant of an old colonial family who were among the earlier settlers in Manhattan Island, his father, John L. Viele, having been a member of the old Court of Errors, New York's highest tribunal, and a Senator of the State. His wife, and the mother of General Viele, was Kathalina Knicker- bocker, of the family that has given its name to the Dutch of New York. He is a descendant of an ancient Rhetia-Roman family who were prominent in the reign of Tiberius, the family seat being the ancient feudal castle of Rhazuns, where the present head of the European branch of the family resides. i6' l64 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. After receiving an academic education, General Viele was graduated from West Point in the class of 1847 and entered upon a military life. At the outbreak of the war with Mexico he was appointed to the First Infantry and served under Generals Scott and Taylor with the First Dragoons. After five years' campaign against the Indian tribes in the Southwest, the President recog- nized his executive ability by appointing him Military Governor of Laredo, Texas. His of^cial reports at that time were published with the President's Message. During the War of the Rebellion he planned the capture of Pulaski after the Navy had advised him of its inability to co- operate. By invitation, General Viele accompanied President Lincoln and Secretaries Stanton and Chase on the Revenue Cut- ter " Miami " to Fortress Monroe, and on this occasion he plan- ned the campaign that afterwards led to the advance on Norfolk and the capture of Portsmouth, a feat which resulted in the Confederate forces' blowing up the warship " Merrimac." He was subsequently Military Governor of Norfolk for three years. He was second in command of the Port Royal expedition and open- ed the Potomac when blockaded by the rebels at the first relief of Washington, being the first troops to reach the capital by water. Before the war his talents and accomplishments had won him the position of Engineer in Chief of Central Park, New York, and Prospect Park, Brooklyn, both of which he designed — two notable monuments to his name. He was later State Engineer of New Jersey and also conducted a geodetic survey of that State, besides being consulting engineer of many important rail- ways. His topographical atlas of the City of New York is a model of scientific research and has proved to be a source of last- ing benefit to the sanitation of the city. As the projector of the elevated railroad and cable systems of the city he has done more to develop the metropolis and to add to the comfort of the population than any other one man. In 1885 he was elected to Congress from the Thirteenth District and secured important legislation for the city, especially that con- EGBERT L. VIELE. 165 cerning the Harlem Ship Canal. Previous to this he was Com- missioner and President of the Department of Public Parks. His " Active Service Handbook," published at the opening of the War, in 1861, reached a circulation of over one hundred thousand copies. It was re-printed by the Confederates at Rich- mond and on two occasions during the war he captured copies of his own book within the Confederate lines. He is now writ- ing the " Life and Services of Major-General Robert Anderson," of Fort Sumter fame, and another work from his versatile pen is almost ready for the press. While in England, in 1895, at the request of a special com- mittee of the House of Lords, he attended meetings of the committee to give information as to the Municipal Laws in force in America. Fifteen peers, including Lord Salisbury, were pre- sent, with whom he subsequently took luncheon, and afterwards the Duke of York invited General Viele to St. James Palace, a special mark of honor seldom accorded to any American. In addition to his manifold duties. General Viele is actively interested in a number of corporations, but finds more real enjoyment, aside from business, in the well known clubs of which he is a member and which he finds a source of relaxation from business cares. His home is enriched with many curios which he has collected in his travels, and valuable works of art, which are witnesses of his love of culture. Socially he is one of the best of men to meet and to know him is to become his friend. ;|V^ PROMINENT figure at the New York Bar is found in the subject of this review, who has been one of the most active and able of counselors in the ranks of the legal fraternity of the city for almost half a century. Coming to the great finan- cial and commercial centre of the country when still a young man and entering an arena even then overcrowded, he has steadily gained prestige as the years have gone by until to-day his place in his profession is shoulder to shoulder with the fore- most. As a man, not less than as a lawyer, he is justly esteemed, not only for his pleasing personality and genial manner, but for his many acts of kindness to struggling students and newly admitted attorneys. Ira DeForest Warren was born in Albany, New York, on the 31st day of December, 1831. He is the son of Rev. Ira D. Warren, for forty years a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died in 1869. His wife, and the mother of the subject of this review, was Eliza Caldwell. Mr. Warren comes from one of the oldest families in the history of the New England colonies, the American progenitor of the family having settled in Dartmouth, Rhode Island, prior to the year 1740. Three brothers, Peleg Warren, Gabriel Warren and James Warren, came together from England. From one of these des- cended Gen. Joseph Warren. Ira D. Warren is one of three brothers, all of whom were lawyers, the other two being Lyman Eddy Warren, of New York City, and the late William H. Warren, of Cortland, New York. Ira D. received his education in the common schools and at 166 IRA D. WARREN. 1 67 Cazenovia Seminary. At the age of seventeen he commenced teaching school during the winter months, thus being enabled to pursue his studies during the balance of the year. Ambitious in the extreme, and selecting the law as the vehicle for his hopes, in 1851 Mr. Warren commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Horatio Bullard A. Cortland, of Cortland County, New York, and such rapid progress did he make that in the following year he was admitted to practice at the New York Bar, being admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States on the 4th day of April, 1872. On being licensed to practice, Mr. Warren immediately came to New York and entered the office of Edward Sandford, then one of the leading lawyers in the city. Mr. Sandford, however, died in 1854, and Mr. Warren commenced the practice of his profession on his own account, and has since practiced here, having been a member of the firm of Larned & Warren thirty-six years. For almost half a century he has devoted himself exclu- sively to his profession, never having sought or held any public position or enjoyed any political or court patronage of any description. Notwithstanding this, by sheer force of ability he has been one of the most successful lawyers in the city and has been engaged in many of the most important cases which appear in the reports of this State during the past thirty years. He has always extended a helping hand to young men at the Bar who, like himself, have started in the profession without money and without influence, and his deeds of kindness have won for him many close and devoted friends. Mr. Warren has been counsel for the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company ; is counsel for the Central Stock Yard and Transit Company ; was counsel for the New York Central Railroad, the National Stock Yard Company and the Central Stock Yard and Transit Company in the Congressional investigations into the relations of these corporations with one another. He was counsel for the defendant in the case of Hawkins vs. Pemberton, wherein the Court of Appeals reversed what had been the law for seventy years in regard to the application of the l68 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. doctrine of caveat emptor, where the buyer has an opportunity to see goods which were made up so that no examination could detect the quahty of the article offered without chemical analysis, the goods under investigation in this case being blue vitriol. The decision was an entire reversal of all former precedents. Mr, Warren was counsel for the defendant in the case of Allerton vs. Russell, in litigation for twelve years, three times before the Court of Appeals, on construction of charter party involving $ioo,- ooo. He was counsel in the case of Snowden vs. United States Lloyds, in the question of policy on marine insurance, the case being litigated for five years, with Joseph H. Choate as the opposing counsel. The case turned on the construction of the words " loss caused by the sea," which the lower court had held was only loss occasioned by direct contact with the sea. The Court of Appeals decided that it was an approximate loss even where property was not lost or damaged by absolute contact with the waters. Mr. Warren was also counsel for the defendant in twenty cases or more brought against John B. Ireland for damages caused by the fall of the Ireland Building, the decision being finally granted in favor of Mr. Warren's client on the ground that the contractor and not the owner was responsible for any defects in construction. Altogether, the long term of service which Mr. Warren has seen and his unqualified success as an attorney make him eligible to a place in any roster of representative citizens, even though he has never consented to accept political preferment. ^ £1 :r ">»£. - ROM the northern and eastern counties of England llowed the principal stream of Puritan settlers for the New World, and on the roll of distinguished Americans are to be found many of the descend- ants of John Witherby, who, in 1630-32, came thence to Sudbury and Marlboro, Massachusetts. The family name has been variously spelled and is met with, in dififerent parts of the country, in various forms, among them Weatherbee, Witherby, Wetherby, Witherbye, Witherbee and Witherbe ; but almost if not all of them trace their ancestry to this determined pilgrim of colonial times. The family is an ancient English one and is traceable back to the Norwegian and Danish conquest. The name is a territorial one and has given itself to the village of Wetherby, a picturesque market town of Yorkshire. The name, too, is found throughout early English history as that of a family of much distinction. In America its owners have upheld their traditions and as gallant warriors and members of colonial councils and legislative bodies have been distinguished in the affairs of the New England States. Edwin Henry Weatherbee was born at Chatham, New York, and is the son of Henry Micajah Weatherbee, lawyer and business man, also prominently identified with the earlier railroad enterprises in the West. His wife was Mary Angell, of an old Rhode Island family. Her father was John Angell, of Chatham, New York, a direct descendant of Dr. Thomas Angell, who accompanied Roger Williams from England and assisted in the establishment of Rhode Island. From that time members of the family have been distinguished in the history of the colony and 169 170 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. of New England during the colonial and Revolutionary epoch. Edwin H. Weatherbee's great-grandfather, Col. Joshua Angell, commanded a regiment of Continental troops under General Sul- livan, on Long Island. John Angell, his son, was a large land owner near Chatham, New York, and the Methodist Episcopal Church at Chatham, mainly erected by the family, has a beautiful chancel and windows contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Weatherbee as memorials. Mr. Weatherbee is also related to many prominent New England families, among whom may be mentioned those of Drake, Gillett, Manton, Marsh, Olney, Butler, Sprague, Tuttle, Whipple and Williams. Mr. Weatherbee's earlier training was at the Hudson River Institute, Clavarack, New York, Amenia Seminary and the Hop- kins Grammar School, New Haven, being honor man at the latter place in the class of 1871. He then entered Yale, graduating in 1875, but pursuing a post-graduate course. In 1877 he entered upon the study of law at Boston in the University Law School and afterwards in the Law Department of Columbia College, New York, graduating in 1879. ^^^ some years there- after he practiced his profession with Gen. Stewart L. Woodford, but soon entered upon the business career which now occupies his attention. In 1 88 1 Mr. Weatherbee married Amy Henrietta Constable, daughter of James M. Constable, a prominent New York merchant. Mrs. Weatherbee comes from a distinguished family, her maternal grandfather, Aaron Arnold, having come from the Isle of Wight, England, where his family had lived on one property for over two hundred years — Waytes Court, Brixton, where many gener- ations of his ancestors are interred. He established the famous business house of Arnold & Constable early in the century. Mrs. Weatherbee's father, James M. Constable, was a native of Storington, Surrey, England, and married Henrietta, daughter of Aaron Arnold. Mr. and Mrs. Weatherbee have three children, Henrietta Constable, Hicks Arnold and Mary Angell Weatherbee. Their city residence is at 240 Madison Avenue, but they have a beautiful country place at Waytes Court, at Orienta Point, KDWIN H. WEATHERBEK. I 71 Mamaroneck, New York, which was originally the property of the DeLancey family and part of a grant from Ouecn Anne. Mr. and Mrs. Weatherbee have visited all parts of the world and almost every year make a European trip, the furniture and decorations in their homes showing the fruits of many years' experience in travel. Mr. Weatherbee has a decided inclination for sports and athletics ; is devoted to yachting, riding and driving ; and is a highly successful exhibitor at many horse shows. His taste for literature is a discriminating one, and both his country and city houses hold many evidences of his taste as an art amateur and a collector of antiques. Mr. Weatherbee holds membership not only in the Chamber of Commerce but in the Metropolitan, Union League, University, Reform, City, Riding, Michaux Bicycle, Westchester Country, Knollwood, Suburban Riding and Driving, Jockey, New York Yacht, American Yacht and Larchmont Yacht clubs ; the Sons of the Revolution, the Yale Alumni, New England Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Historical Society, Westchester Horse Show Association, and many prominent social, literary and artistic organizations. Religious work occupies much of his attention, and he is a Director of the Young Men's Christian Association and a liberal supporter of many religious and benevolent bodies. Mrs. Weatherbee, with her father, brother and sister, in 1887 built and donated to the parish of the Episcopal Church at Mamaroneck, one of the finest church buildings in the country, designed as a memorial to Mrs. Weatherbee's mother, Henrietta Arnold, wife of James M. Constable. The font and altar and the exterior and interior of the structure are faultless. The church is built after the old English style of architecture and was conse- crated in 1S87. ANY have there been whose contributions for the benefit of their less fortunate brethren have reached millions, yet in few cases have the dollars been either as justly earned or so judiciously expended as have those of William H. Webb, whose latest great effort, Webb's Academy and Home for Ship- builders, is an enduring monument to his memory. William Henry Webb was born in New York, June 19, 1816, being descended from a famous New England family founded by Richard Webb, who came from the lowlands of Scot- land to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was made a citizen November 6, 1632. He removed with the company of Rev. Mr. Hooker and Governor Haynes, to Hartford, Connecticut, where he is named as one of the Grand Jury in 1643. Subsequently he removed to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he died in 1665. From Joseph, one of his five sons, our subject is descended. Joseph settled at Stamford, and his descendants were conspicuous in the French and Indian War, and in the Revolutionary struggle, two of them, Benjamin and Charles, being with the English under General Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. Charles was Selectman of his town nineteen times and represented it in the State Legislature twenty-three times. As Colonel he commanded the Nineteenth Regiment at the battle of Long Island, distin- guished himself at White Plains, and at White Marsh his regi- ment received the attack of the Hessian force, having eighty killed and many more wounded. His son, Charles, also in the service, was killed in a gunboat on Long Island Sound. Isaac Webb, the father of our subject, came to New York in boy- 172 'M<^f^ WIT.LIAIM H. WEBB. 173 hood, and died here in 1840. He learned the shipbuilding business with Henry Eckford, at first a sub-contractor and afterwards as partner of his preceptor. Mr. Webb intended his son, William, for a profession and educated him under private tutors and in the Columbia College Grammar School, but the boy evinced an attraction for his father's business and quietly determined to learn marine archi- tecture. From the age of fifteen, for six years, he devoted himself to study and experiment, taking in this time but one week's vacation, and that he gave to a critical study of the new dry dock at Boston. While still an apprentice he undertook the construction of five vessels by sub-contract, and completed them before he was twenty-three years of age. But his health became impaired by the severe strain of such responsibilities and he went abroad for a short stay, returning, upon the death of his father, and taking the latter's business. Within the period of thirty years he built more than one hundred and fifty vessels, averaging in tonnage higher than had ever been constructed by any shipbuilders in the world. He built warships for the government of the United States, Mexico, Russia, France and Italy. Those for the latter nation were so satisfactory that Victor Emanuel, by royal decree, conferred upon Mr. Webb the order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, the oldest order of knight- hood in Italy and one of the most prized in Europe. Though distinguished in this field, Mr. Webb's activity has not been confined to ship building. He established an indepen- dent line of steamships between New York and San Francisco; aided in establishing the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, in whose original Board of Directors he is the only surviving mem- ber ; contributed largely to the construction of the Panama Rail- road ; sustained a line of steamships for a long time in the European trade. He also established and sustained, at a loss, for two years a line of mail steamships between San Francisco and Australia, via Honolulu. He has three times been offered the nomination for Mayor of New York City at the hands of both the great political parties, but has invariably declined. 174 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. Mr. Webb has been an officer and director in various organi- zations, corporations and benevolent institutions, but the grandest act of his useful career was the appropriation of the larger por- tion of his fortune for the establishment and endowment of an institution, the Webb Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, occupying fourteen acres at Fordham Heights. The academy and home stand on a bluff opposite Fort George, overlooking the pic- turesque scenery of the Harlem River Valley and Hudson River. Here is furnished to poor and worthy young men from any part of the country an education in all branches of ship- building and marine engineering free of any expense whatever, even for board. The home also serves as a refuge for aged and infirm shipbuilders and enginebuilders, and there they spend their declining days in comfort. In the academic department the courses of instruction embrace advanced mathematics, physics, inorganic chemistry, theoretical and practical naval architecture and marine engineering, besides training the students in all the practical detail work of the drawing office and molding loft work- shop. Near the academy are several prominent shipyards and engine establishments which are also advantageously used by the students in connection with their studies. Applicants for admis- sion to the home must have been mechanics employed for a series of years in building vessels and marine engines in any part of the United States. They are received with their wives, if native born or naturalized, of good character and habits who are unable to earn a living and without relatives or friends able to support them. This noble institution, the only one in the world with these characteristics, the sole creation of Mr. Webb and supported by him, was incorporated by an act of the Legis- lature of New York, April 2, 1889. -<^ -z^'^ -te cc^t^ >>? 3^ 1 N nothing is the progressive tendency of the times better exemplified than in the progress which life insurance has latterly made. The principle involved is no new one, for early Roman history contains a number of examples of men who insured the safe arrival of vessels in foreign ports, and during all the centur- ies that have followed the plan has been gradually extended to cover not only indemnity against loss of property, but against loss of life. A thoroughly skilled medical practitioner, the foresight of Dr. Wells has led the companies to more fully appreciate how much their success is dependent upon an accurate diagnosis of the physical condition of those who sought policies, and he was one of the foremost of the medico-insurance experts who have gone deeply into such investigations. Before he began his researches the field of the life insurance company was a comparatively restricted one, but since it has been determined to almost a certainty how long the period of life should be with an afflicted man, thousands and hundreds of thousands have been able to secure protection for those dependent upon them. George William Wells was born in Tyrone, Steuben County, New York, June 5, 1841. His father was Alfred Wells, a lineal descendant of Justice William Welles (1664-1744) of Southold, Long Island. His father was Hon. Wm. Welles, born at Nor- wich, England, 1608, coming to America on the good ship True Love on June 16, 1625. William Welles was an eminent lawyer who died, after his removal to Southold, November 3, 1676. His father was Rev. William Welles, born 1566. He was rector 175 176 REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF NEW YORK. of St. Paul's Church, Norwich, England, from 1598 until his death. May 26, 1620. According to old English history the Welles or Wells family is of French origin and came to England from Normandy about 1068. They were then known as de Welles. Their descendants can be traced to 1635, when three branches came to America. William, the progenitor of the branch to which our subject belongs, spent a time in Connecticut, later settling on Long Island, some of his descendants settling in Orange County, New York, where they were among the first in developing the section. His mother's maiden name was Lydia Westbrook Nyce, daughter of John Nyce, of Pennsylvania, whose ancestors came from Germany in early days, and were large land- owners on the western banks of the Delaware. Dr. Wells studied at Farmers' Hall Academy, Goshen, New York, then passing under the private tutelage of the Rev. Daniel Wells, of Goshen, under whom he prepared for a college course, matriculating at Princeton University, then Princeton College, and graduating in 1865. He then commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. John Hudson Thompson, of Goshen, New York, and under his kinsman, Prof. L. A. Sayre, of New York City ; this preparation being succeeded by a regular full course of lectures at the Bellevue Medical College, New York, from which Dr. Wells graduated in 1868. Still not satisfied, he attended a course of post-graduate lectures at the Long Island College Hospital, where he was later made Assistant to the Chair of Throat and Nose, under Professor French. His thorough knowl- edge of his profession afterward led to his appointment to the post of Assistant Physician to the Out-Door Poor Department of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College and Department of Chest Diseases. He also occupied the position of Assistant Surgeon at the Old Seaman's Retreat Hospital, on Staten Island. Entering upon active practice in New York, he spent ten years as a physician in the metropolis and three years in Brook- lyn. It was during his career as a private practitioner that the relationship between the medical examiner and the life insurance companies became impressed upon him, and he began to devote GEORGE W. WELLS. 177 himself to this specialty. Prior to 1892 Dr. Wells was Medical Examiner at the home office of the Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of New York, and since that time has been the Medical Director of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, one of the most important corporations of its kind in the world. It is but justice to Dr. Wells to say that his clear insight into the respon- sibilities of this important post and the persistency with which he has urged it upon the profession, through his magazine, the New York Medical Examiner, founded in iSgi, has iiad much to do with opening up this broad field. Among the most notable articles which have appeared in this publication is a series of articles entitled "The Medical Examiner: What he Does and Why he Does it ;" while among his earlier treatises were "Alcohol, Narcotics and Tobacco as a Financial Issue in Life Insurance," which appeared in the Weekly Statement, the official organ of the Mutual Life. Besides these, many other articles on medico- insurance have emanated from his pen, and are already recognized as medical classics. Dr. Wells has been a member of the American Medical Association ; Secretary of the Yonkers M' dical Societ)' ; member of the New York County Medical Association ; Kings County Medical Society; for ten years was Secretary of the Medico- Legal Society of New York; and has been Secretary of the Society of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine in New York City. Dr. Wells married, June 29, 1865, Miss Emma Grant Hamilton, daughter of John Randolph and Virginia Hamilton, members of two of New Jersey's most notable families. Their two sons died in their infancy. They have, however, three living daughters, Grantina B. and Grace W. Wells, and Virginia Grant, now the wife of John Alfred Fasi, a banker at BSsle, Switzerland.