COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
f* 
 
MAKERS 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 AN HISTORICAL WORK 
 
 GIVING PORTRAITS AND SKETCHES OF THE MOST EMINENT 
 
 CITIZENS OE NEW YORK. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 I 
 
 CHARLES MORRIS. 
 
 * 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 L. R. HAMERSLY & CO., 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 189^. 
 
 
No. 712 
 
 Coi'VRii;iir. 1S94. \:\ I.. R. Hameksly & Co. 
 
 -V^ 
 
 Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
 / 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The history of a city is, to a large extent, the history of the men who, through the exercise of 
 energy, ability, and public spirit, have made it what it is ; whose lives have not been solely 
 devoted to business and personal concerns, but who have had the interests of their city at heart; 
 and to whose earnestness of purpose and patriotic devotion to the good of the municipality its 
 institutions and public and industrial interests owe their origin and development. This may truly 
 be said of New York, the influence of whose leading citizens has been strongly felt in the 
 growth of its civic institutions, and to whose commercial and political activity it owes the high 
 standing which it has attained among the cities of the world. Men of this character have been, 
 in the truest sense, the " Makers of New York," and no men better deserve the honor that it 
 is here proposed to give them, of placing on record the story of their careers. Since to their 
 exertions the city owes its growth and prosperity, it is fitting that they should receive the high 
 measure of credit which is their due, and that the coming generations should have the oppor- 
 tunity of learning what has been the influence of the present and former citizens of New York 
 upon its evolution, and of profiting by their example. It is to this worthy end that the work 
 here offered is devoted. 
 
 Here may be read the life stories of those citizens of the American metropolis who have 
 been most eminent in commercial and productive enterprise, and of those whose professional, 
 legislative, and official careers have been most marked and valuable. Among them are included 
 many of the most prominent merchants, bankers, jurists, statesmen, theologians, physicians, 
 soldiers, authors, scientists, and pliilanthropists of our country ; men of leading influence in 
 colonial days, men who played well their parts in the great drama of Independence, men who 
 fought nobly for the cause of the Union in the civil war, men to whom is due the commercial 
 and industrial growth of our city, antl, in brief, the men who have lifted this city from its minor 
 position of a century or more ago and given it its high standing as one of the metropolitan 
 cities of the civilized world. 
 
 • 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To all those who take pride in the progress of a city which, in tlie brief space of two and 
 a half centuries, has far outgrown cities which were founded more than two thousand years ago, 
 and to-day has but one or two peers in the world, this work is ottered as, in an ample sense, 
 a history of that city, since it is the history of the men who have been its leading and inspiring 
 spirits, and of those who are now engaged in laying for it the foundations of a marked and 
 memorable future. We shall not here repeat the names of these eminent citizens. On every 
 page of the work may be seen their pictured lineaments and biographical sketches of their lives, 
 the whole forming a galaxy of merit of which any city might jusdy be proud. 
 
 This work, in truth, needs no eulogistic preface. It speaks tor itselt". Alike as a splendid 
 example of the art of hook-making and for the permanent value of its contents, it appeals to 
 every citizen of the metropolis, and must long be cherished as the roll of honor of those to 
 whom the city owes its fame, its development, and its prosperity. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 PETER COOPER. 
 
 Pktek Cooper, the builder of tlie first American loco- 
 motive and one of the most notable of American philan- 
 thropists, was a native of New York City, being born 
 there February 12, 1791. His grandfather and father 
 had both served in the Revolutionary War. His father 
 was not successful in business, and the boy had but one 
 year of poor schooling, being kept busy by" his father 
 at hat- and brick-making and ale-brewing. At the age 
 of seventeen he was apprenticed to Mr. Woodward, a 
 coach-builder, and here not only distinguished himself 
 for industry and integrit)', but constructed a machine for 
 mortising wheel-hubs which proved ver\- profitable to his 
 employer. 
 
 At the end of his apprenticeship Mr. Woodwaixl offered 
 to start him in business, but he declined, and entered 
 upon the manufacture of cloth-shearing machines at 
 Ilampstead, Long Island. He afterwards successively 
 became cabinet-maker, grocer, and gluc-makcr. the latter 
 pro\ing profitable. He did not, however, confine his 
 business to the glue manufacture, but in 1828 purchased 
 three thousand acres of Luul at Canton, a suburb of 
 l^altimore, for 5105,000, and erected there large iron- 
 works, to which he subsequently added a rolling-mill. 
 The building of railroads had then begun, and locomo- 
 tives had been imported, but the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad, then under construction, was believed to be 
 unfitted, by reason of its short curves, to these imported 
 engines. Mr. Cooper's inventive powers were enlisted 
 to meet this emergency, and in 1830 he produced the 
 first American-built locomotive. This, which was built 
 from his own designs, proved capable of overcoming the 
 difficult}', and rescued the compan)- frohi a \ery awkward 
 emergency. It was called the " Tom Thumb," and on 
 its trial trip ran thirteen miles in fift}--seven minutes. 
 
 Soon after this success Mr. Cooper sold his iron-works 
 in Baltimore, but two years afterwards built others in 
 New York, which, after leasing for a time, he took under 
 his own management. Here lie produced wire, and 
 successfully used anthracite coal in iron-puddling. In 
 1845 he removed his works to Trenton, wlierc they grew 
 in time into an extensive establishment, w ith subsidiary 
 furnaces in other places. For many years he employed 
 over two thousand fi\e hundred workmen. During his 
 business career he invented a number of usefid devices, 
 
 and among his business enterprises was an active interest 
 in telegraphy, of which he had been an early advocate 
 and promoter. About 1855 he became president of the 
 American Telegraph Company, and took part in the first 
 effort to laj' a cable across the Atlantic, while he assisted 
 liberally the subsequent efforts. 
 
 In his later life his benevolent instincts developed into 
 a resolve to assist the youth of the coming time to pro- 
 cure the advantages of education which had been denied 
 to himself. He conscquentl}' [)urchased the lots between 
 Third and I""ourth A\enues and Seventh and Eighth 
 Streets, New York, and in 1S53 began to build there the 
 brownstone edifice known as the Cooper Union. When 
 completed the building had cost 5634,000. To this Mr. 
 Cooper added other donations in aid of his purposes, 
 w hich were the establishment of free schools in various 
 arts and sciences, free reading-rooms, free courses of 
 scientific lectures, etc. The institution has proved of the 
 highest educational value. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Cooper in his later life advocated the 
 principles held by the Greenback party, and in 1876 was 
 nominated by this party for the Presidency, receiving 
 eight)-one thousand \otes. In private life he was 
 modest, affable, unassuming, and public-spirited, and was 
 always noted for charity and generosity. He died in 
 New York, April 4, 1883. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 
 Wasiiin(;ton IkviN(1, tlie first Aniciican to gain a 
 European reputation in the field of authorship, was bom 
 in the city of New York, April 3, 1783. Both his parents 
 had come from Great Britain, and his father, at the time 
 of Irving's birth, was a merchant of considerable stand- 
 ing. The son was placed at the study of law, but was 
 compelled to forego his studies and sail for Europe on 
 account of illness. During his stay abroad he proceeded 
 as far as Rome, where he made the acquaintance of 
 Washington Allston, an event whicii doubtless added 
 to his inclination towards literature. On his return to 
 New York he completed his studies and was admitted to 
 the bar, but showed no inclination to practice, spending 
 his time instead in literary ventures. 
 
 Mis first notable contribution to literature was as one 
 of the authors of the satirical miscellany called Sal- 
 iiiaa^iiiidi, which he wrote in association with his brother 
 William and J. K. Paulding, and in which his talent as a 
 humorist was first prominently displajx'd. His powers 
 in this direction were more ampl)' shown in his second 
 work, the notable " Knickerbt)cker's History of New 
 York," issued in 1809. His original purpose was to 
 burlesque certain pedantic local anti(|uaries, but the iilea 
 e.\panded into a work of striking quaintness and drollery, 
 the most original of Irving's productions, and in which 
 the solid and phlegmatic Dutch burgher was developed 
 into a distinct literary type. The word Knickerbocker 
 was coined by him for the occasion. 
 
 For several years afterwards Irving devoted himself to 
 business c<incerns as a i)arlncr in tlie commercial house 
 which his brother had estahlishetl after the death of their 
 fatlier. Tlie war seriously affected the prosperity of this 
 
 business, and the firm finally became bankrupt, a circum- 
 stance which compelled Irving to turn to his pen as a 
 means of subsistence. He had gone to England in 181 5 
 to look after the interests of the Liverpool branch of 
 the business, and there found awaiting him a reputation 
 which procured him admission into the highest literary 
 circles, in which his amiable disposition and polished 
 manners insured him popularity. 
 
 In 1820, Murray, the publisher, brought out his " Geof- 
 frej' Crayon's Sketch-Book," which was then appearing 
 in America in a periodical form. One of the most inter- 
 esting portions of this book is its description of an Eng- 
 lish Christmas, which is described with a delicate humor 
 worth)' of Addison. It also contains the striking legend 
 of Rip Van Winkle. This work met with the greatest 
 success on both sides of the Atlantic, and was followed 
 in 1822 by " Bracebridge Hall," a work purely English 
 in subject. The " Tales of a Traveller" appeared in 1824. 
 
 The success of his literarj- ventures hati now made 
 Irving easy in circumstances, anil he set out for a tour of 
 Europe. This ended at Madrid, Spain, where he began 
 the study of the Spanish archi\es, a labor w hich resulted 
 in his beautifully written " Life and Voyages of Christo- 
 pher Columbus," a work which achieved the greatest 
 success. It was followed b}' the " Companions of Colum- 
 bus," and somewhat later by two highly picturesque and 
 entertaining books, " The Conquest of Granada" and 
 "The Alhambra," among the best known of Irving's 
 works. 
 
 He returned to the United States in 1832, after an 
 absence of seventeen j-ears, and at once fouml himself 
 highly popular, being met w ith an enthusiastic succession 
 of fiites and public rece[5tions. After a journey West he 
 returned to New York, and built himself his delightful 
 residence on the Hudson, since known as " Sunnyside." 
 His subsequent works include "Astoria," a history of 
 Astor's fur-trading settlement in Oregon ; " Captain 
 Bonneville," from the memoirs of a veteran hunter; 
 "Oliver Goldsmith," "Mahomet ami his Successors," 
 and " The Life of George Washington." We need .say 
 nothing as to the character of these works ; the)' are too 
 well known to call for description. 
 
 Irving's home life was broken by a periotl of four 
 years' residence abroad, as minister to Spain. He died 
 at Sunnyside, November 28, 1859. Irving's works are 
 characteristically European in style, with the exception of 
 the " Knickerbocker," in which he tlispla)ed the power 
 of producing a distinctive national type. But they are 
 so polished in style, easy and flowing in narrative, and 
 ]>ictiMesque in ilescription, that they must long hokl a 
 high i)lace among the classical products of the American 
 pen. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 
 
 On November 3, 1794, at Cummington, Massachusetts, 
 was born one who was destined to become one of the 
 foremost figures in the literarj' history of our country, 
 William Cullcn Bryant, the distinguished poet of nature 
 and journalist. His maternal ancestrj' could be traced 
 back to John Alden and his wife Priscilla, whose story is 
 so beautifully told by Longfellow ; while his father, Dr. 
 Peter Bryant, came from equally remote American an- 
 cestry, which reached this country in 1632. The son 
 began his collegiate education at Williams College in 
 1 8 10, but, being dissatisfied with its course of study, left 
 there at the end of the year with the intention of enter- 
 ing Yale. He was not able, howe\er, to do so, owincr 
 to his father's limited means, and for some time pur- 
 sued his studies at home. It was at this time that 
 he produced that remarkable poem upon which his 
 fame as a poet chiefly rests, and which has scarcely a 
 rival in the whole annals of poctr}- to be produced by 
 one so young. 
 
 While still a child he had manifested poetic taste, and 
 many poems and poetic fragments are still extant w hich 
 he wrote between the ages of eight and sixteen, consist- 
 ing of odes, satires, scriptural paraphrases, etc. In 1807 
 he published "The Embargo, a Satire: by a Youth of 
 Thirteen," which was criticised as beyond the powers of 
 any boy of that age. These juvenile productions, while 
 showing a decided literary faculty, were of little value as 
 poetry, being principally imitations of the style of Pope, 
 then greatly admired. The suggestion of his great poem 
 " Thanatopsis" came to him one day when rambling 
 through the forest and mentally comparing Blair's poem 
 of " The Grave" with the similar poem by Bishop Porteus, 
 and having in mind also Kirke White's " Ode to the 
 Rosemary." The poem which came into being as a 
 result of this ramble and meditation on serious topics 
 was written out, put aside, and apparently forgotten in 
 the pressure of more immediatel}' practical thoughts con- 
 nected with his future life duties. 
 
 In 181 2 he began the study of law, and in 18 15 was 
 admitted to the bar as an attorney of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas. He began his life as a lawyer in Plainfield, 
 Massachusetts, but left there at the end of eight months i 
 for Great Barrington, where he continued to practice for 
 nine years. While at Plainfield he wrote his favorite 
 " Lines to a Waterfowl," and at Great Barrington was 
 more successful as an author than a lawyer, his ability 
 now becoming widel\- known. 1 lis father, then servincf as 
 State senator, accidentally disco\-cred the " Thanatopsis" 
 and a fragment of another poem and took them to Boston, 
 where they were published in the North American Review 
 of September, 1817. 
 
 " Thanatopsis" produced an immediate and deep im- 
 pression. No American poet had yet written anything 
 of equal beauty and grandeur. The author was solicited 
 to become a regular contributor to the Ri-z'icw, and in 
 the next year made his first appearance as a prose writer 
 in a review of Brown's "Collection of American Poetr\-." 
 From that time forward he continued his literary work, 
 contributing to Dana's Id/c Man and the United States 
 Literary Gazette, and publishing a thin volume of his 
 earlier pieces. His work was so favorably received that 
 in 1825 he abandoned the profession of the law and 
 made his way to New York, where he soon became ac- 
 quainted with a number of literary and artistic celebrities, 
 and was induced to accept the editorship of the New 
 York Review. This enterprise did not succeed, and he 
 obtained a place on the staff of the Evening Post, while 
 at the same time assisting in editing the Talisman, an 
 illustrated annual. 
 
 In 1829, on the death of the jjroprietor of the Evening 
 Post, Bryant was advanced to the position of editor-in- 
 chief and part proprietor. His duties in this position put 
 an end for a long time to any production of poetry, and 
 his later poems were not numerous, though all of choice 
 quality. He continued to edit the Post with great ability 
 till his death, which occurred on June 12, 1878. In 1832 
 a collection of his poems was published, and in 1850 his 
 " Letters of a Traveller," descriptive of se\'eral years of 
 journeying abroad. Other volumes of travel were after- 
 wards published, and in 1870 a noble translation of the 
 " Iliad," followed in 1872 by the " Odyssey." His poems 
 do not number more than one hundred and fifty in all, 
 most of them short, yet none of them lacking in that 
 rich spirit of meditation and profound reflection in which 
 he particularly excelled. 
 
MAKERS OF XEW YORK. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES WILKES. 
 
 Rear-Admiral Chaklks WiLKiis was bom in the city 
 of New York on the 3d of April, 1798. His family 
 were English, his great-uncle being John Wilkes, or 
 " Liberty" Wilkes, as he was called. In character he 
 was energetic, fearless, and unflinching ; when acting for 
 his country's good, never afraid to assume responsibility 
 when assured that it was the best thing to do. 
 
 On the 1st of Januar)-, 1818, he recei\ed his appoint- 
 ment as midshipman ; promoted to lieutenant .April 28, 
 1826. In 1830 he was ordered to duty in the Depart- 
 ment of Charts and Instruments. It was then that he 
 set uj) fixed astronomical instruments in a small house 
 on the grounds of his home on Capitol Hill, Washington, 
 D.C.and he was the first in the United States to observe 
 with them. 
 
 In 1838 he was ordered as commander of the United 
 States E.xploring E.xpcdition, and .sailed from Xorfolk, 
 Virginia, on the l8th of August of that \ear with five 
 vessels under his cummand. During the expedition he 
 visited the islands of the Pacific, explored and siirvc)^ed 
 the Samoan group, and then turned southward, where 
 he discovered the Antarctic Continent, coasting west- 
 ward along it for more than seventy degrees. 
 
 In 1840 the northwestern coast of Nortli America was 
 visited, also the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers. In 
 November, 1841, the expedition turned its face home- 
 ward, via the Cape of Good Hoi)c, and cast anchor in 
 New York harbor June 10, 1S42. 
 
 The contributions of this exiieditinn constitute part of 
 the world's history. In acknowledgment of his services 
 
 to science in this connection, the Geographical Society of 
 London presented Lieutenant Wilkes with a gold medal. 
 
 After this e.Kpedition charges were preferred against 
 Lieutenant Wilkes and a court-martial held. He was 
 acquitted of all charges, save that of illegally punishing 
 some of his crew. He served on the Coast Survey in 
 1 842-1 843. 
 
 He was promoted to commander July 13, 1843, and 
 was sent to bring home the African Squadron. He was 
 then employed in the report of the expedition until 1861. 
 When the civil war opened, having received his com- 
 mission as captain September 14, 1855, he was placed in 
 command of the cruiser " San Jacinto." He then sailed 
 in pursuit of the Confederate privateer " Sumter." 
 
 On the 8th of November, 1861, he interceptetl the rebel 
 commissioners bound for England on board Her Majesty's 
 steamer "Trent." Sending Lieutenant 1). .M. I'airfa.x on 
 board, Messrs. Mason and Slidell were brought to the 
 " San Jacinto," and the " Trent" proceeded on her way. 
 The officials w-ere taken to Fort Warren, Boston Harbor. 
 Wilkes was the hero of the North. Congress passed a 
 resolution of thanks, and the Secretary of the Navy sent 
 an emphatic commendation. It resulted, however, in an 
 international complication, and the Confederate ambas- 
 sadors were released at luigland's recjuest. It has been 
 claimed that Captain Wilkes should ha\-e made the case 
 impregnable by sending the " Trent" to the United States 
 as a prize. He was, however, justified in the course 
 which he pursued by English precedent, according to 
 Major George B. Davis's work on " International Law." 
 Cf. note, pp. 361, 362. 
 
 In 1862, Captain Wilkes commanded the James Ri\'er 
 Flotilla, and shelled City Point. He was promoted to 
 commodore July 16, 1862, and placed in conuiiand of 
 the FK'ing Scjuadron in the West Indies. 
 
 Of the officers under his command, Rear-Admiral 
 Stevens is among the few remaining. Commoilore Wilkes 
 was placed on the retired list, June 25, 1864, from age, 
 and promoted to rear-admiral, on the retired list, July 
 25, 1866. His contributions to literature were the nar- 
 rative of the expedition (four volumes), and the volumes 
 on meteorolog)- and hydrography. He is also the author 
 of "Western America," 1849, and "The Theory of the 
 Winds," 1856. 
 
 Admiral Wilkes lived until I'ebruary 8. 1877. He 
 died at his home in Washington. His later years were 
 spent in retirement, i)ut u|) tu a few days of his death 
 his one thought was his country, ami his regret that his 
 time of scr\in<' her was ended. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL AND BREVET MAJOR-GEN- 
 ERAL EMORY UPTON. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet ]\L\jor-General 
 Emorv Upton was born in New York, and graduated 
 from the Military Academy on RLay 6, 1861. He was 
 promoted second lieutenant, Fourth Artillery, the same 
 day, and first lieutenant, Fifth Artillery, May 14, 1861. 
 He served in drilling volunteers at Washington, D. C, 
 May 7-27, 1861 ; as aide-de-camp in the defences of 
 Washington and during the Manassas campaign ; and 
 was engaged in the action at Blackburn's Ford, July 
 18, and battle of Bull Run, Virginia, July 21, 1861, 
 where he was wounded. He was on sick-leave, on 
 account of wounds, to August 14, 1861, and then served 
 in the defences of Washington to March 22, 1862, at 
 which time he participated in the Virginia Peninsula 
 campaign with the Arni\- of the Potomac, commanding 
 a battery, and was engaged in the siege of Yorktown, 
 action at West Point, battle of Gaines' Mill, and Glen- 
 dale, 1862. Commanded artillery brigade of the First 
 Division of Sixth Corps in the Maryland campaign, and 
 engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. 
 
 Lieutenant Upton was commissioned colonel of the One 
 Hundred and Twenty-first New York Infantry on October 
 23, 1 862, and participated in the Rappahannock campaign, 
 being engaged in the battles of Fredericksburg and Salem 
 Heights. He participated in the Penn.sylvania campaign, 
 and was engaged, after a forced march of thirty-five miles, 
 in the battle of Gettysburg and the pursuit of the enemy 
 to Warrenton, in command of a brigade; was in the Rap- 
 idan campaign, commanding a brigade of the .Sixth Corps, 
 and engaged in the capture of the rebel works at Rap- 
 pahannock Station, November 7, 1863, and was in the 
 operations at Mine Run, from No\-ember 26 to December 
 3, 1863; was in the Richmond campaign, in command 
 of a brigade of the Sixth Corps, and engaged in the bat- 
 tles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, where he was 
 wounded on May 10, 1864, while commanding the assault- 
 ing column of twelve regiments of the Sixth Corps. 
 
 Colonel Upton was commissioned brigadier-general of 
 volunteers on May 12, 1864, and was engaged in the 
 battles and actions of Cold Harbor, June 1—23, 1864, and 
 siege of and battles about Petersburg to July 10, 1864, 
 when he was transferred with his command to Washing- 
 ton, and participated in the defence of the national capital, 
 July 11-12, 1864. He participated in the Shenandoah 
 campaign, August and September, 1864, and was engaged 
 in the battle of Winchester, September 19, where he was 
 wounded while commanding the First Division of the 
 Sixth Corps, which compelled him to leave the field, 
 and was absent sick until December 13, 1864. He 
 commanded the Fourth Cavalrj' Division in General J. 
 H. Wilson's operations in Alabama and Georgia, from 
 
 March to Ma\', 1865, and was engaged in the actions 
 at Montevallo and Plantersville, and assault and capture 
 of Columbus, Georgia, April 16, 1S65. He was then at 
 the Nashville Cavalry Depot, in command of the First 
 Cavalry Division, District of East Tennessee, and of the 
 District of Colorado, to April 30, 1866, when he was 
 mustered out of the volunteer service. He was bre- 
 vettcd major-general of volunteers, October 19, 1864, for 
 gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Win- 
 chester. He was also bre\'etted in the regular arm}' 
 for gallant and meritorious services, as follows : major, 
 November 8, 1863, at the battle of Rappahannock Sta- 
 tion; lieutenant-colonel, Ma\- 10, 1S64, at the battle of 
 Spottsj-lvania ; colonel, September 19, 1864, at the battle 
 of Winchester; brigadier-general, March 13, 1865, at the 
 battle and capture of Selma, and major-general, March 
 13, 1865, in the field during the Rebellion. 
 
 He was promoted captain. Fifth Artillery, Februar)- 
 22, 1865, and appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty- 
 fifth Infantr\-, July 28, 1866, but transferred to the Eigh- 
 teenth Infantry, March 15, 1869. He served, after the 
 war, with a board of officers at W^est Point, New York, 
 in examining his System of Infantry Tactics, from June 
 25, 1866, to February 4, 1867, which were adopted for 
 the army. September, 1867, assigned to the command 
 of Paducah, Kentucky, until November 12, 1867. He 
 was then in garrison at Memphis, Tennessee, and Atlanta, 
 Georgia, to May 30, 1870, when he was assigned to duty 
 at the Military Academy as commandant of cadets, which 
 position he retained until June 30, 1875. Was assigned to 
 the First Artillery, December 15, 1876, and transferred to 
 the Fourth Artillery, March 20, 1877. He was on profes- 
 sional duty in Europe and Asia from July, 1875, to March, 
 1877. Was at Fort Monroe and Presidio of San Fran- 
 cisco, California, from April, 1877, to March, 1S81, when 
 he died at the last-named post, aged forty-two years. 
 
lO 
 
 MAKERS OF XEW YORK. 
 
 I 
 
 .^' / 
 
 JOHN HRICSSON. 
 
 JuiiN Ekicssun, one of tlio ablest of American enj^i- 
 ncers and inventors, was a Swede by birth, being born 
 in Vermcland, a province of Sweden, in 1803. His 
 mechanical talent showed itself at a very early a<^e, and 
 in 18 14, when but eleven years of age, he was appointed 
 a cadet in the engineer corps and employed as a leveler 
 in constructing the grand canal between the Baltic Sea 
 and the (icrnian Ocean. He entered the army of Sweden 
 as an ensign in 1820, being employed in militarj- dut\- in 
 the north of the kingdom. By 1826 he had risen to the 
 rank of captain. During this period of military life his 
 inventive talent was by no means in abeyance, and in the 
 last-named year he resigned from the army and went to 
 I'jiglanil for the purpose of introducing a flame-engine 
 which he had iinented. It failed, however, not proving 
 suitable for coal fuel, tlKnigh it had been successfully 
 used with wood. 
 
 He now went vigorously into mechanical pursuits, 
 devising many new in\entions, among them an artificial 
 draft to improve the service of the steam-boiler. The 
 principle devised by him, though not his method, is still 
 in use. In 1829 various locomotive engines were oflered 
 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, in 
 competition for a prize which they had ]>roiioscd to gi\e. 
 Ericsson entered actively into this competition, and de- 
 vised and built an engine which was at once the lightest 
 one exhibited, and capable of a speed of fifiv miles an 
 hour. It took the prize. 
 
 The successful inventor now constructed a steam fire- 
 engine which ]3ro\eil an equal success, and in 1833 at- 
 tracted the attenti(jn of scientists and engineers in London 
 
 by his caloric or hot-air engine, then first exhibited. In 
 1836 he applied the screw to the propulsion of steam- 
 vessels. But the British admiralty failed to see the ad- 
 vantages of this admirable invention, and the disappointed 
 inventor made his way to New York, hoping to receive 
 greater encouragement in the nation of inventors beyond 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 In this country the United States steamer " Princeton" 
 was built under his direction in 1843. The fertility of 
 invention which he displayed in this undertaking was 
 remarkable. The steam-engine, though powerful, was 
 simple and compact, and the chimney could be raised or 
 lowered at pleasure, while all the propelling machinery 
 was placed below the water-line. The recoil of the guns 
 was counteracted b)- mechanical de\ices, and other im- 
 portant impro\ements were introduced. During the suc- 
 ceeding years ICricsson continued to produce inventions, 
 principally of a practical character, and in 1852 applied 
 his caloric engine in a new form as an agent in na\iga- 
 tion. This was first tried in the " Ericsson," a vessel of 
 two thousand tons, which attained a moderate speed at a 
 very small expense in fuel. The caloric engine proved 
 better adapted than steam for light work, and during the 
 remainder of his life Mr. Ericsson added manv improve- 
 ments to his original design. 
 
 After the outbreak of the ci\ il war the United States 
 emplo)-ed him to construct iron vessels with revoking 
 turrets, a form of war-vessel which Ericsson and others 
 had experimented with before, and which he now called 
 to the attention of the governmental authorities. The 
 first result of this contract was the production of the 
 famous " Monitor," which was built in one hundred days, 
 it being important that it should be ready to meet the iron- 
 clad " Merriniac," which the Confederate engineers were 
 rajiidly jireparing at Norfolk. The result of this contest 
 for speed is well known. The " Mcrrimac" was ready in 
 time to destroy several of the L'nitetl States frigates in 
 Hampton Roads, but was forced to retire, incurably hurt, 
 before tin- in\ incible " Monitor." 
 
 Ericsson constructed several other vessels for the 
 government on the " Monitor" plan, and after the war 
 produced manj- inventions, among them a pyrometer, an 
 alarm barometer, and a hydrostatic gauge. In his later 
 years he gave much time and thought to the construc- 
 tion of a solar engine, to work by the concentrated 
 heat of the sun. He had achieved a large measure 
 of success in this effort at the time of his death, which 
 took place March 8, 1889. At his request his body 
 was taken to Sweden for interment, while his admiring 
 fellow-countrymen erected a statue to his hmidr in 
 Stockholm. 
 
 I 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 II 
 
 WILLIAM E. DODGE. 
 
 William Earl Dodge was born at Hartford, Con- 
 necticut, September 4, 1805, the lineal descendant of a 
 Puritan ancestor, William Dodge, who landed at Salem 
 in 1629. His father was a merchant and manufacturer, 
 and the builder of the first cotton-mill in Connecticut. 
 His mother was Sarah Cleveland, whose father, in 1775, 
 introduced a bill in the Assembly of Connecticut for the 
 abolition of slaverj-. 
 
 Mr. Dodge began his business career in 18 18, as a 
 boy in a dry-goods store on Pearl Street, New York, his 
 father having removed to that city. In 18 19 the family 
 returned to Connecticut, and the youth became a clerk 
 in a store at Bozrahville in that State. Si.x years after- 
 wards his father opened a dry-goods store in New York 
 City, in which his son was employed as an assistant. 
 
 In 1828, Mr. Dodge married Melissa Phelps, daughter 
 of Anson G. Phelps, with whom in 1833 he entered into 
 partnership in the metal business, the firm-name being 
 Phelps, Dodge & Co. This firm still exists, and is widely 
 known in commercial circles. Mr. Dodge remained con- 
 nected with it throughout the remainder of his life, and 
 acquired a large fortune, partK' through the business of 
 the firm and partly from \-arious other business \entures. 
 In 1836 he made large in\estments in timber-lands near 
 Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and afterwards in Canada 
 and Georgia, and to a lesser extent in other localities. 
 As a recognition of the value of his services in the in- 
 dustrial development of the State, Georgia in 1870 made 
 a separate county to which it gave the name of Dodge. 
 He became interested also in the copper-mining interests 
 of Lake Superior and other regions. A rolling-mill was 
 established by the firm at Derby, Connecticut, and Mr. 
 Dodge, as a personal enterprise, founded the Lackawanna 
 Iron and Coal Company at Scranton, Pennsylvania, of 
 which he remained a director till his death. In addition 
 to these various business connections, he had large iron 
 and steel interests elsewhere. 
 
 His connection with the comnicrcial interests of New 
 York was close and e.xtended. For several terms he 
 served as president of the New York Chamber of Com- 
 merce, was one of the first directors of the Mutual Life 
 Insurance Company of New York, and was associated 
 with various other mercantile and financial enterprises. 
 He was one of the original subscribers to the Atlantic 
 telegraph cable, and did much to encourage Cyrus W. 
 Field in his persistent enterprise. His connection with 
 railroad affairs began early in his business life, and be- 
 came very e.xtensive in his later \ears. The New York 
 and Erie Railroad was the first to enlist his attention, and 
 he afterwards became largely concerned in the Central 
 Railroad of New Jersey and in several other roads. He 
 
 was one of the first to take stock in the elewated railways 
 of New York. 
 
 Outside of his business relations, Mr. Dodge was 
 earnestly active in all that took place in New York. He 
 became a life member of the New York Historical So- 
 ciet}-, and in 1853 became prominent in the mo\ement 
 for municipal reform in that cit)-. At the age of twenty- 
 one he became awakened ■ to deep religious con\ictions, 
 and ever afterwards took an active part in religious move- 
 ments. So great was his feeling in favor of the cessa- 
 tion of secular activity on Sunday that he severed his 
 connection with the Erie and the Central Railroads when, 
 in opposition to his objection, they decided upon Sunday 
 travel. He 'was a member of the Bible Society, of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association, of the City Mission, 
 and of other religious movements, and contributed lib- 
 erally to the support of missionary and other church 
 interests. He was a prominent advocate of temperance, 
 and did his utmost to promote it by voice, pen, and 
 money. The State Asj-lum for Inebriates, at Bingham- 
 ton, New York, and several similar institutions were 
 founded by him, and he was president of the National 
 Temperance Society from its origin till his death. 
 
 Politically he was a moderate Whig, and afterwards 
 an active Republican, and an earnest supporter of the 
 government during the war. He served as a Presiden- 
 tial elector in the second election of Grant", and as a 
 member of the Indian Commission by Grant's appoint- 
 ment. During the Thirty-fourth Congress he was a 
 member of the United States House of Representatives. 
 Privately Mr. Dodge was a man of wide benevolence, 
 his gifts for charitable purposes aggregating many 
 thousands of dollars yearly. He died at New York, 
 February 9, 1883. 
 
12 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL THOMAS H. RUGER. 
 
 Bki(;adiei<-Geni:kai, Thomas H. RixiEK was born in 
 New York, and graduated from the U. S. Military Acad- 
 cni)- Jul)" I, 1854, when lie was appointed brevet second 
 lieutenant Corps of Engineers. He served at New Or- 
 leans, Louisiana, in 1854-1S55, and resigned from the 
 service April i, 1855. 
 
 In civil life he was counsellor-at-law at Janesville, Wis- 
 consin, from 1856 to 1 86 1, when he again entered the ser- 
 vice as lieutenant-colonel of the Third Wisconsin Volun- 
 teers, serving in command of liis regiment in ojierations 
 in Marj'land and the Shenandoah Valley from July, 1861, 
 to August, 1862, in the mean time having been promoted 
 colonel of his regiment, to date from August 20, 1861. 
 
 Colonel Ruger was engaged in the movement to Har- 
 risonburg, Virginia, February, 1862; combat of Win- 
 chester, May 25, 1862; retreat to Willianisport, Marj- 
 land. May, 1862, and advance to Little Washington, 
 Virginia, July, 1862 ; in the Northern \'irginia campaign, 
 being engaged in the battle of Cedar Mountain, August 
 9, 1862; in the Maryland campaign (Ami)- of the Poto- 
 mac), being engaged in the battle of Antietam, and sub- 
 sequent march to Falmouth, V^irginia. 
 
 He was appointed brigadier-general U. S. Volunteers 
 November 29, 1862, and commanded a brigade in the 
 Twelfth Corps, Arm)- of the I'otnmac, in the Rai)|)ahan- 
 nock campaign, being engaged in the battle of Chancel- 
 lorsville. May 2-4, 1863; in the Pennsylvania campaign, 
 being engaged in the battle of Gettysburg (where he com- 
 manded a division), July 1-3, 1863; and subsequent march 
 to Warrentfin, Virginia. He partici[)ated in suppressing 
 the draft riots in New York City, August to September, 
 1863, and when that trouble ceased was on duty in Ten- 
 nessee, October, 1863, to April, 1864. He was then as- 
 signed to the command of a brigade of the Twentieth 
 Corps in the invasion of Georgia, being engaged in the 
 
 battles of Resaca, May 15, 1864, and New Hope Church, 
 May 25, 1864; action of Kulp House, June 22, 1864; 
 combat of Peach-Tree Creek, July 20, 1864, and in nu- 
 merous skirmishes on the march from Ma\- to July, 1864; 
 siege of Atlanta, July 22 to September 2, 1864, and oc- 
 cupation of Atlanta, September 2 to November 8, 1864. 
 He commanded a division of the Twenty-third Corps in 
 the Tennessee campaign against the rebel army of Gen- 
 eral Hood, November 15 to December 8, 1864, being 
 engaged in operations about Columbia and battle of 
 Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864. 
 
 He then organized the First Division of the Twenty- 
 third Corps, and was in command of his division in the 
 operations in North Carolina, being engaged in the move- 
 ment up the Neuse River, February to March, 1865; 
 action at Wier's Fork, near Kinston, ^L-lrch 10, 1865 ; sur- 
 render of the insurgent army under General J. E. Johns- 
 ton at Darien Station, April 26, 1865, and in command 
 of the Department and District of North Carolina, June 
 27, 1865, to September i, 1866, when he was mustered 
 out of the volunteer service, having been reappointed in 
 the U. S. Ami}-, with the rank of colonel of the Thirty- 
 third Infantry, July 28, 1866. 
 
 General Ruger was brevetted major-general L'. S. Vol- 
 unteers, November 30, 1864, for gallant and meritorious 
 services at the battle of Franklin, and bre\ct brigadier- 
 general U.S. Army, March 2, 1S67, for gallant and meri- 
 torious services at the battle of Gettysburg. While in 
 command of his regiment at Atlanta, he was made pro- 
 visional governor of the State of Georgia from January 
 13 to July 4, 1868, and was in command of the District 
 of Alabama to I'ebruary i, 1869. He was transferred 
 to the l'"ighteenth Infantry March 15, 1869. 
 
 General Ruger commanded the Department of the 
 South from March 5 to May 31, I S69, and, after .serv- 
 ing with his regiment until September 1, 1871. was de- 
 tailetl as superintendent of the U. S. Militar\- Acadcmj-, 
 where he remained until September 1, 1876; he was then 
 placed in conmiaiul of the Department of the South to 
 July I, 1878. He commanded Fort Assinaboine, to- 
 gether with the District of Montana, to October i, 1879, 
 and then conmianded the District of Montana to May 
 13, 1885. He commanded his regiment and the post of 
 P'ort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Infantrj- and Cavalry 
 School of Ajjplication from June 29, 1885, to April 8, 
 1 886, when he was appointetl brigadier-general \J. S. 
 Army March 19, 1S86, and a.ssigned to the conmiand 
 of the Department of the Missouri, remaining to May 4, 
 1886; and then transferred to the Department of Dakota, 
 which command he retained until April, 1 891, when he was 
 transferred to the command of the Military Divi.sion of 
 I the Pacific. The military divisions being discontinued in 
 ; July, 1 89 1, General Ruger was as.signed to the command 
 I of the Department of California, which he now retains. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 13 
 
 HAMILTON FISH. 
 
 Hamilton Fish, Governor of the State of New York, 
 and for two terms Secretary of State of the United 
 States, was a native of New York City, in which he was 
 born on August 3, 180S. He obtained his education in 
 Columbia College, from whicli he graduated in 1827, and 
 immediately began the study of the law. He was ad- 
 mitted to the New York bar in 1S30. His inclination, 
 however, led him rather to a political than a legal life, he 
 early manifesting a strong interest in State affairs, from 
 the stand-point of the Whig party. His first public ser- 
 vice was as commissioner of deeds, which post he filled 
 for several years. In 1834 he became a candidate for the 
 Assembly, but was defeated. In 1842 he was nominated 
 as the Whig candidate for Congress to represent the 
 Si.Kth District of New York, and was elected. 
 
 After serving one term in Congress he was nominated 
 for the lieutenant-governorship of the State, but was 
 defeated by the Anti-Renters, at that time a prominent 
 disturbing element in New York politics. In the suc- 
 ceeding year he was renominated for the same office, and 
 was now triumphantly elected, receiving a majority of 
 thirty thousand votes. After serving one year in this 
 office, he was, in 1848, nominated and elected to the 
 governorship, and served one term as Governor of New 
 York State. This was followed by an election, in 185 i, 
 to the high office of United States Senator, which he 
 filled during the stormy period intervening between that 
 date and 1857. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
 the opening step towards tlie war, was opposed by him. 
 On the formation of the Republican party, in 1856, he 
 joined its ranks, the old Whig party having vanished 
 from national politics. He took no prominent part, how- 
 ever, in Republican politics. 
 
 After the close of his senatorial term, in 1857, Mr. 
 Fish went to Europe, in which country he remained for 
 something over a year. On his return he retired from 
 activity in politics, though he worked earnestly for the 
 election of Lincoln to the Presidency. On the outbreak 
 of the civil war Mr. Fish's long experience in public 
 affairs rendered him highly useful in the State councils, 
 and he was appointed on the commission to work for the 
 conservation of law and order in New York. In this 
 service his energy, wisdom, and patriotism were con- 
 spicuously evident. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Fish and Bishop Ames were appointed 
 commissioners to visit the United States prisoners held 
 by the Confederacy, and to " relieve their necessities and 
 provide for their comfort." The authorities at Rich- 
 mond, however, refused them access to the Confederate 
 States, but made to them a proposition for the exchange 
 of prisoners, the result being the formation of a system 
 of exchange which continued till the end of the war. 
 During the remainder of the period of conflict Mr. Fish 
 
 was frequentl}- cmplo)-ed on delicate missions, and was 
 one of those on whom President Lincoln depended for 
 advice. His services were of much utility in the devel- 
 opment of a spirit of loyal public opinion in his native 
 city. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Fish retired from public 
 life, and during the several years that followed devoted 
 himself to the practice of his profession. To all ap- 
 pearance the remainder of his life was to be passed 
 outside the field of politics, and in that of quiet citizen- 
 ship and forensic labors. But destiny willed otherwise. 
 General Grant had made his acquaintance and felt the 
 highest respect for his abilities. On the election of the 
 successful warrior to the Presidency he appointed Elihu 
 B. Washburn Secretary of State. This was admittedly 
 a temporary appointment, Mr. Washburn's health being 
 so feeble that he was obliged to retire from the position 
 after a w-eek's incumbenc3\ Mr. Fish was appointed to 
 succeed him. This was an unlooked-for honor, which 
 his first inclination induced him to decline. He was, 
 however, induced to accept at the strong personal re- 
 quest of the President, and served as Secretary of State 
 during Grant's two terms, from 1869 to 1877. 
 
 In this elevated office Mr. Fish's statesmanlike ability 
 rendered his services of the highest importance to his 
 countrj-. Many important questions were settled by him 
 in a manner most honorable to the United States. He 
 was the warm personal friend and closest adviser and 
 confidant of the President, who had so high an opinion 
 of his abilities that he earnestly advocated his nomination 
 to the Presidency. The convention, however, thought 
 differently, and Mr. Fish again retired from public to 
 private life. He died in New York, September 7, 1893. 
 He was an ideal diplomatist and thorough gentleman of 
 the old school, agreeable and popular in his association 
 with all classes, and possessed of hosts of friends. 
 
14 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 RICHARD W DANA. 
 
 Richard Perkins Dana, bmn May 28, 1810, and wlio 
 died in tiiis city Februarys 17, 1894, a son of the Rev. 
 Samuel Dana, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, was a 
 direct descendant of Richard Dana, who came from 
 England and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 
 year 1640. He brought with him the coat of arms 
 still retained by the family. He was a man of means 
 and consideration, and, as the record reads, had his large 
 estate in Market Street (Cambridge), which street was 
 laid out wholly through his estate in 1656. This property 
 is still in the family. 
 
 Richard P. Dana, the subject of this notice, gave in- 
 dications in his early youth of the literary tastes, love of 
 research, and thirst for knowledge that developed greatly 
 later in life, and was preparing for college when he was 
 induced by his uncle, Mr. Israel Thorndikc, to enter the 
 counting-house of the latter in Boston, and subsequently 
 made several voyages for him in the capacity of super- 
 cargo, a position considered enviable bj- the young men 
 of that day. In these voj-ages tiiere was full scope for 
 his fondness for reading, and he kept minute journals, all 
 of which are interesting for truthful (lescri])tions of life 
 on the ocean, of the seamanship of those days, when 
 sailors were not merely painters and scrapers, and of 
 remote and then almost unknown places which he visited. 
 In these voyages he twice made the tour of the world, 
 and fourteen passages, by steamer, through the Red Sea, 
 his journals mentioning more particularly what came 
 
 under his observation in the Mediterranean ports and in 
 the principal cities of Chili and Peru. His travels made 
 him familiar also with the places of most interest in Egj'pt, 
 India, and other parts of Asia. His descriptions of 
 Cairo, Bombay, Calcutta, and other Oriental places are 
 interesting in that they show more acquaintance with life 
 under the conditions there existing than any books of 
 travel known to the writer of these lines. 
 
 In 1S35, Mr. Dana married Miss Juliette H. Starr, of 
 New York, of an old and well-known Connecticut family, 
 and he establishctl his residence in that cit)-. Having 
 before this formed business relations that compelled more 
 or less residence in China, he now passed much of his 
 time there, principally in Canton and Hong-Kong. His 
 journal and letters of this period comprise a comjjlete 
 history of the Chinese empire and its relations with 
 Western nations. The study Mr. Dana had made of the 
 Chinese character much interested Lord Elgin, when in 
 China in 1858, endeavoring, as English ambassador, to 
 settle the difficulties which had grown out of the seizure 
 of the lorcha "Arrow," at Canton, in 1856, and the 
 friendship then formeil was renewed in i860, when Lord 
 Elgin returned to China as ambassador to the court of 
 Pekin. 
 
 After Mr. Dana retired from business in 1862 and 
 returned to New York, he passed most of his time in his 
 well-selected library, with occasional visits to Europe. 
 
 He was for sixteen years a director in the New York 
 Juvenile Asylum, and at his resignation was made an 
 honorary member of that institution. For several )-ears 
 he was one of the governors of the Woman's Hospital, 
 New York, (^f conservative \ie\vs, he took a deep in- 
 terest in e\erything relating to the welfare of his country 
 and of mankind. A believer in the atl\-ancement of the 
 human race to the highest degree of intellectual devel- 
 opment, his own influence was always exerted to advance 
 what was good and noble and for the best interests of 
 mankind. With a remarkable memory and a surprising 
 knowledge of the noted men and events of all ages, his 
 character and actjuirements brought him into contact 
 with man)- men of note in the I'^ast and in Europe. He 
 particularly aiimired the character and energy of Gari- 
 baldi, with whom he was well acquainted. 
 
 Mr. Dana had three children, Richard Starr Dana, 
 William Starr Dana, Comnianiier U. S. Navy, deceased, 
 and Mrs. Egbert L. Viele. 
 
 In appearance Mr. Dana was tall, well made, witli 
 regular features ; the typical Norman. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 IS 
 
 JOHN BROUGHAM. 
 
 John Brougham, for many years one of the leading 
 actors and playwrights of New York, was of Irish origin, 
 being born in Dublin, May 9, 18 10. His father died 
 while he was still a child, but despite this he enjoyed 
 good educational advantages, being entered as a student 
 at Trinity College, Dublin, from which he graduated with 
 honor. After leaving college he took up the study of 
 medicine, but the family fortunes failing, he found himself 
 obliged to seek some more immediate source of liveli- 
 hood, and made his way to London, where for some time 
 he taught drawing, and then found his true vocation in 
 the life of an actor. 
 
 His first appearance on the stage was at Tottenham 
 Theatre in 1830, the play being " Tom and Jerry;" thence 
 he went to the Olj'mpic Theatre, and while engaged there 
 first tried his hand as a playwright, producing a burlesque, 
 entitled " Life in the Clouds," for W. E. Burton, then 
 comparativel}- new to the stage, but afterwards to become 
 famous as a comedian and a favorite on the New York 
 stage. He also lent his aid to Dion Boucicault in the 
 composition of the sparkling comedy of " London Assur- 
 ance " 
 
 Brougham's position in the theatrical world rapidly 
 improved, he soon after becoming manager of the London 
 L\xeum, for which he wrote a number of successful 
 plays. In his management, however, he proved unsuc- 
 cessful, and, finding himself involved in debt, he left 
 England for America in 1842, hoping in this new land to 
 retrieve his fallen fortunes. His late stage associate, Mr. 
 Burton, had preceded him to this country about eight 
 years before, and was now manager of a theatre in New 
 York, in which Brougham, after making a professional 
 tour through the leading cities of the country, settled 
 down for an extended engagement. While connected 
 with Burton's Theatre he wrote a number of telling 
 comedies, among them " The Irish Emigrant," " All's 
 Fair in Love," and others. 
 
 In 1850 he opened an establishment of his own, entitled 
 Brougham's Lyceum, which soon fell into the hands of 
 James William Wallack, and was thenceforth known as 
 Wallack's Theatre. In connection with this establish- 
 ment Brougham's industry as a dramatist continued, he 
 writing and bringing out several new plays, most of which 
 met with some fair measure of success. He continued at 
 Wallack's until the season of 1856-1857, during which 
 he assumed the management of the old Bowery Theatre. 
 At the end of the season, however, he returned to 
 Wallack's. 
 
 During all the years here rapidly passed over 
 Brougham's activity in the creation of new plays con- 
 tinued, dramas flowing in quick succession from his facile 
 
 pen, and all of them finding ready acceptance on the 
 stage. Some of these, such as " Pocahontas" and " Co- 
 lumbus," were extravagant burlesques ; but others, among 
 them " Romance and Reality" and " Playing with Fire," 
 were of a much higher order, and achieved merited 
 success. In 1861 he returned to London, and remained 
 there for five years, playing with much appreciation and 
 still busily producing new dramas, some of them being 
 dramatizations of Miss Braddon's novels. Chief among 
 these London productions was " The Duke's Motto," 
 written for Mr. Charles Fechter, and forming one of the 
 leading plays in that distinguished actor's repertory. 
 
 In 1866, Mr. Brougham found his way again to New 
 York, where he plajed three years of successful engage- 
 ments, and then, inspired with his old idea of conducting 
 a theatre of his own, opened Brougham's Theatre, which 
 he handled with his usual bad luck as a manager. Re- 
 ceding from his unprofitable enterprise, he set out on a 
 professional tour through the country, and for several 
 years continued in this line of business, being everywhere 
 well received by American audiences. He returned from 
 his last tour to New York in 1877, only to find that he 
 was penniless, his fortune having been lost through the 
 failure of his banker. His friends in this dilemma came 
 to the rescue of the old actor, and gave a series of enter- 
 tainments which realized $10,000, which was invested in 
 an annuity in his favor. He was not to enjoy it long, 
 dying in New York, June 7, 1 880. As an actor Brougham 
 was particularly successful in the delineation of Irish 
 characters, from the gentleman to the pea.sant. Through- 
 out life he manifested much versatility of talent, both as 
 an actor and a playwright. In addition to his plaj-s he 
 produced several volumes of miscellanies. 
 
i6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HORACE B. CLAFLIN. 
 
 Horace Bingham Clafijn was born at Milford, Massa- 
 chusetts, December i8, i8ii. At an early age he acted 
 as clerk for his father, who was a large land-owner and 
 keeper of a country store. In 1831, when twenty years 
 of age, young Claflin joined with his brother and brother- 
 in-law in buying out the business of his father (who pro- 
 vided iiis sons S3COO for tiiis purpose). At that time 
 intoxicating liquors were commonly sold in stores, but 
 the new proprietors at once set the liquor casks on tap 
 and let all the liquor run out. This radical step certainly 
 did not deter customers, for the business rapidly became 
 prosperous, and in a year's time they were able to open 
 a branch store in Worcester, which also was very suc- 
 cessful, and in time did the largest business in New 
 England outside of Boston. After a period of ten years 
 Horace withdrew from the Worcester business (he had 
 long before retired from the original store) with a capital 
 fund of §30,000. 
 
 In 1843 he removed to New York, where he formed 
 the firm of Bulkley & Claflin, to engage in the wholesale 
 dry-goods business. Here also he was very successful. 
 On the retirement of Mr. Bulkle)-, in 1851, he took in 
 other partners, the firm-name now becoming Claflin. 
 Mellen & Co. The business steadily increased until its ' 
 transactions covered the entire country, and particularly 
 ti)e Southern States, in which the house did a very large 
 trade. Yet, despite this, Mr. Claflin did not hesitate, in 
 1859, to attend a great anti-slavery gathering at Castle 
 Garden, where he announced himself as an uncompro- 
 mising friend of freedom and opponent of human skuery. 
 
 On the outbreak of the war the firm suddenly found 
 
 half its assets locked up in the Southern States, and was 
 forced to suspend. It readily obtained an extension from 
 most of its creditors, at a reduction of thirty per cent, in 
 their accounts, but a number of large creditors, to whom 
 ;S 1, 000,000 were owing, refused, and subsequently sold 
 their claims to Mr. Claflin's friends at fift\' per cent, dis- 
 count. The firm resumed business, and with such great 
 success that it soon began to redeem its extended paper, 
 and long before their maturity had paid all its notes, with 
 the additional thirty per cent, and full interest. Mr. 
 Claflin then sought those creditors who had sold their 
 claims, and paid them their fifty per cent, loss, with full 
 interest to date of settlement. It was an example of 
 scrupulous mercantile honor such as is seldom experi- 
 enced. 
 
 The business, fortunately, permitted this honorable 
 dealing, it growing to enormous proportions during the 
 war. In one year its sales are said to have reached the stu- 
 pendous total of $70,000,000. In 1864, Mr. Mellen with- 
 drew, the firm-name then becoming H. B. Claflin & Co. 
 Its business continued great, though not up to the 
 enormous war figures. In 1873, when the country experi- 
 enced another sharp financial crisis, the firm, though 
 holding a great quantity of good assets, was forced to ask 
 an extension of five months. At once Mr. Claflin reduced 
 the prices of his great stock of goods, and had such large 
 sales that he was able to pay every note before maturit\-. 
 
 His fortune continued to increase until it grew to great 
 proportions ; yet lie was aKva\-s generous and kindly in 
 disposition, and was so liberal with his business associates 
 and employes that not onl\- the former grew rich, but 
 man)' of the latter were able to retire from the cares of 
 business with ample fortunes. Nor was his beneficence 
 confined to those directly connected with him in business, 
 but nian\- struggling young business men outside were 
 assisted anti placed on their feet by his generous aid. 
 
 At one time an effort was made to blackmail him bj- a 
 party dealing largel)- in chea[) silks, some of which he 
 was induced to handle. The charge was made against 
 his and other firms that thc\- had defrauded the govern- 
 ment of duties. Several of the parties thus charged com- 
 promised with the blackmailers, but Claflin & Co. sternly 
 refused to be j)laced in any such false position, and suc- 
 cessfully defended themselves in three separate suits, in 
 which their honesty in the transactions was so fully de- 
 monstratetl that their opponents withdrew in dismay. 
 The house recei\ed the public thanks of the merchants 
 of New York for its vigorous resistance to this well- 
 organized scheme of villainy. 
 
 Mr. Claflin died at his residence in Brooklyn, November 
 14, 1885. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 17 
 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER. 
 
 Henrv Ward Beechek, the most famous of a family 
 widely noted for intellectual ability, was born at Litch- 
 field, Connecticut, June 24, i8i3,thc son of Rev. Lj-man 
 Beecher, one of the most notable pulpit orators of his 
 time. Hi.s education began in village and district schools, 
 in w hich, it is said, he showed a greater inclination to 
 mischief than to stud\-. Subsequently, on the removal 
 of the family to Boston, he entered the Boston Latin 
 School, and later Mount Pleasant School, Amherst. Li 
 1830 he entered Amherst College, in which he soon 
 gained a reputation for unusual ability. W'hile there his 
 thoughts turned strongly to religious subjects, and on 
 graduating, in 1834, he entered Lane Theological Semi- 
 nary, in Cincinnati, of which his father had become presi- 
 dent. After completing his studies there, he served for 
 a time as editor of the Cincinnati Journal, and in 1837 
 began his life in the ministry at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, 
 where he remained two years. 
 
 The young pastor's next field of duty was in Indian- 
 apolis, where he remained for a number of years, gain- 
 ing such reputation as a brilliant and original speaker 
 that in the end he was asked to accept the pastorage of 
 Ph-mouth Congregational Church, at Brooklyn, whither 
 he removed October 16, 1847. I" this pastoral charge 
 the remainder of his life was passed, and here his power 
 and originality as a preacher gained him such world-wide 
 fame as to overshadow his services and abilities in the 
 fields of secular oratory^ reform, journalism, and author- 
 ship, though in all these directions his power was notable. 
 His first published volume was entitled " Lectures to 
 Young Men," and consisted of a series of sermons 
 preached in his early ministry against intemperance and 
 kindred vices. In his early editorial duties he strongly 
 opposed slaver}', and in 1856 took an active part, b\- 
 writing and speaking, in support of the Republican candi- 
 date for President; while during the war (in 1863) he 
 used his oratorial powers in support of the cause of his 
 country before large audiences in England. 
 
 In addition to his editorship of the Cincinnati Journal, 
 Mr. Beecher served about 1840 as editor of the Western 
 Farmer and Gardener, and edited the Nez<j York Inde- 
 pendent {rom 1 86 1 to 1863, and the Christian Union from 
 1S70 to 1881. In 1874 a great scandal overshadow^ed 
 the popularit}- of Mr. Beecher and for years injuriously 
 affected his influence. Theodore Tiiton, a member of his 
 church, brought against him a charge of adultery with 
 his own wife. There followed an investigation of the 
 charge by a committee of the congregation, resulting in 
 an unanimous report that the charge was groundless. 
 Subsequently Mr. Beecher instituted legal proceedings 
 against Mr. Tiiton, which ended in a disagreement of 
 
 the jury, nine being for acquittal and three for con- 
 viction. Two ecclesiastical investigations followed, the 
 last by a great council of Congregational churches and 
 ministers. They both expressed their confidence in Mr. 
 Beecher's integrit}-, and the accused preacher gradually 
 regained the position of eminence he had temporarily 
 lost. 
 
 In addition to his editorial labors, Mr. Beecher was an 
 active writer, and published a considerable number of 
 works, principally composed of collections of lectures 
 and sermons, and embracing also a " Life of Christ" and 
 a novel named " Norwood," which is full of that spark- 
 ling play of thought and wit which gave such point to 
 his addresses. 
 
 Mr. Beecher's lectures and sermons were delivered 
 either extemporaneously or from \ery brief notes. The 
 elements of his power over his audiences consisted in a 
 warm poetic imagination, an earnest pathos, a ready 
 sense of humor, a rich and sj-mpathetic voice, a warm 
 sympathy with all mankind, dramatic vigor of utterance 
 and action, and a profound and living faith in God, 
 mingled with a liberalism concerning certain theological 
 tenets which won him the appreciation of the great bod)- 
 of liberal thinkers. He withdrew in 1882 from the Con- 
 gregational Association, giving as his reason for so doing 
 that he wished to relieve his brethren in the ministry from 
 all feeling of responsibility for his theological views, one 
 of which was that the first chapter of Genesis was legen- 
 dary, and that the doctrine of absolute inspiration of the 
 Scriptures could not be maintained. He visited Great 
 Britain in the summer of 1866, where he delivered 
 numerous addresses. He died soon after his return, on 
 March, 8, 1887. 
 
I8 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 SAMUHL J. riLDi;N. 
 
 Samuki. Jonks Tii.dkn, an Amciican statesman of 
 much celebrity, was born at New Lebanon, New York, 
 February 9, 1814, and was educated at Yale College and 
 the University of New York, though his studies were 
 interfered with by ill health, lie afterwards studied law, 
 and rose rapidly to a high rank before the bar of New 
 York, continuing actively in practice till the period of the 
 beginning of the war, when he first entered upon a 
 political career. 
 
 He had manifested a fondness for politics from boy- 
 hood, and soon after liis graduation from the University 
 of New York, in 1837, began writing political articles for 
 the press, from the Democratic stand-point, his attention 
 being given to financial and economical topics. Some of 
 these papers were circulated as campaign documents. 
 In 1844 he established the Moniiiii; Ncivs, a partisan 
 newspaper, which he edited through the Presidential 
 campaign of that year. This service as editor was 
 followed by a brief one as legislator, as a member of the 
 New York Assembly. At the end of this jieriod of 
 public .service Mr. Tilden entered again ujjon the active 
 practice of his profession, in which he gained the reputa- 
 tion of possessing rare analytical powers and of " perfec- 
 tion of method" in the handling of witnesses. 
 
 On the outbreak of the civil war he was accused of 
 disloyalty to the Union, but he proved his loyalty by the 
 declaration that Northern Democrats could not be ex- 
 pected to hold the government while the Southern ones 
 were seeking to destroy it, and that he would sustain 
 President Lincoln in case of hostilities as he would have 
 su.stained President Jack.son. After i860 he took an 
 active interest in the politics of the State, and in 1866 
 became chairman of the Democratic State committee. 
 
 He held this position undisturbed until 1869, when an 
 attempt was made to remove him from it by the Tweed 
 ring, then all-powerful in the city. A sharp contest en- 
 sued, Tilden becoming the soul of the legal attacks upon 
 the ring, to whose overthrow he devoted si.xteen months . 
 of time, " to the total surrender of professional business." 
 He worked \igorously for the remo\al of the corrupt 
 judges who were the tools of the ring, and in the " ring 
 trials" which followed he succeeded in successful!},- ascer- 
 taining, and demonstrating from bank-books, the principle 
 upon which the spoils of office had been dixided among 
 the villainous politicians who held New York so long in 
 their grasp. He afterwards published an account of the 
 steps he had taken for the overthrow of the ring in " The 
 New York City Ring: its Origin, Maturity, and Fall" 
 
 (>873)- 
 
 Tilden's strenuous efforts in this direction secured 
 
 him the Democratic nomination for goxernor in 1874, 
 and his election b\- a large majority over General Dix, 
 his opponent. In this position he found himself con- 
 fronted by another ring, that which for years had been 
 making money bj' corrupt practices out of the State 
 canals. This, too, he attacked, and succeedetl in breaking 
 it up. 
 
 In 1876 he recei\e<l the nomination of the Democratic 
 national convention for the Presidency, the Republicans 
 nominating General Haj-es, Governor of (^hio. The 
 election that followed was one memorable in the jiolitical 
 history of the countr}-. The result of the election was 
 disputed, each candidate ha\ing recci\ed about an equal 
 number of electoral votes outside the three contested 
 States of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. The 
 Democrats had a majority in these States on the face of 
 the returns, but the returning boards, by rejecting votes 
 which they claimed were the result of fraud or intimida- 
 tii III. ga\ e the States to the Republicans. The emergency 
 was one such as never before had occurred in the country, 
 feeling ran high between the two parties, and the dispute 
 was only finalh' settled In- the decision of an "electoral 
 commission," to whose a])pointment both jiarlies had 
 consented. The conmiission dccidetl all the disputed 
 cases in favor of the Republican candidate, and TiUlen 
 was defeated. 
 
 In the ensuing Presidential contest he refused to be a 
 candidate, and passed the remainder of his life on his 
 estate of Greystone, near Yonkers, New York, where he 
 died August 4, 18S6. Of the great fortune which he 
 had accumulated, he devised the greater part (about 
 jS6,000,000) to trustees for public purposes. I lis will, 
 however, was called in (juestion as being legalK' inaccu- 
 rate ; but of the sum invoked it is proposed to applj- 
 about $2,000,000 to the founding of a great public library 
 in New York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 19 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL PHILIP KEARNY. 
 
 Major-General Philip Kearny was born in New- 
 York on tlic 2d of June, 181 5, and died near Chantill\% 
 Virginia, September i, 1862. He was graduated at Co- 
 lumbia College in 1833, and then studied law. In 1837 
 he accepted a commission in the First Dragoons, and was 
 stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, serving on 
 General Henry Atkinson's staff He was sent to Europe 
 by the War Department in 1839 to examine the tactics 
 of the French cavalry service, and for the thorough accom- 
 plishment of this purpose entered the cavalry school in 
 Saunuir. After si.x months of this experience he went to 
 Algiers as a volunteer with the First Chasseurs d'Afrique, 
 and served with Colonel Lc Fays de Bourjolli. He made 
 the passage of the Atlas Mountains and participated in the 
 engagements at the Plains of Metidjah and of the Chelif 
 at the siege of Milianah, and passage of the Mousaia. 
 His daring exploits during these campaigns attracted the 
 attention of the French army. In the autumn of 1840 
 he returned to the United States, and was almost im- 
 mediately appointed aide-de-camp to General Alexander 
 Macomb, holding this appointment until the death of the 
 commander-in-chief For some months he served at the 
 cavalry barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but was soon 
 recalled to Washington to serve on the staff of General 
 Winfield Scott. In 1845 lie accompanied his uncle, 
 General Kearny, on the march to the South Pass, which 
 was the first expedition that penetrated so far from set- 
 tlements into the Indian country. During the Mexican 
 War, at the head of a magnificently-equipped company 
 of cavalry, he operated at first along the Rio Grande, but 
 later joined General Scott on his march to Mexico. His 
 command served as the body-guard of the general-in- 
 chief, and Kearny was promoted captain in December, 
 1846. 
 
 He took part in the battles of Contreras and Churu- 
 busco, and at the close of the latter, as the Mexicans 
 were retreating into the capital, Kearny, at the head of 
 his dragoons, charged the enemy and followed them into 
 the City of Mexico itself, but as he fell back he was 
 shot in the left arm, which necessitated amputation. 
 When General Oliver O. Howard lost his right arm at 
 the battle of Fair Oaks, Kearny happened to be present 
 when the amputation was performed, and Howard, look- 
 ing up, said, " We'll buy our gloves together hereafter." 
 A month later General Scott with his army entered the 
 City of Mexico, but the first man who entered the gate 
 
 of the captured capital, sword in hand, was Captain 
 Kearny, who was rewarded with the brevet of major. 
 Early in 185 i he went to California and was engaged in 
 the campaign against the Rogue River Indians, but re- 
 signed from the army in October, 185 1. He then made 
 a trip art)und the world, and in 1859 he returned to 
 France, joined the Chasseurs d'Afrique again, and par- 
 ticipated in the war in Italy. At Solferino he was in the 
 charge of the ca\alry. He recei\ed the cross of the 
 Legion of Honor, being tiie first American honored as 
 such for military service. In 1861, soon after the begin- 
 ning of the civil war, he returned to the United States 
 and tendered his services to the national government. 
 He was made brigadier-general on the 17th of May, 1861, 
 and assigned to the command of the First New Jersey 
 Brigade, Arnn- of the Potomac. He was present at the 
 battle of Williamsburg, wheic his timely arri\-al changed 
 the repulse into \ictory, and ser\cd through the engage- 
 ments in the Peninsula from the Rapidan to Warrenton. 
 In May, 1862, he was given command of the Third 
 Division, and was commissioned as major-general on the 
 7th of July, 1862. He fought at the second battle of 
 Bull Run. A few days later at Chantilly, while recon- 
 noitring after placing his division, he penetrated into the 
 Confederate lines and was shot. His remains were 
 sent by General Lee, under a flag of truce, to General 
 Hooker, and found their last resting-place in Trinity 
 church-yard, New^ York City. 
 
20 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 AUGUST BELMONT. 
 
 August Belmont, a proniiiKiit banker of New York, 
 was a native of Germany, being born at Alzey, a town of 
 Rhenish Ilcsse, on the Selz River, December 6, l8i6. 
 He was educated at Frankfort, but his school hfe ended 
 at an early age, he being, when fourteen years old, placed 
 in the Rothschild banking house at Frankfort, to gain 
 an education in the business to which his future life was 
 to be devoted. He proved an efficient aid, and in 1833, 
 when only seventeen years of age, was sent 1)\- his em- 
 |)loyers — who must ha\c recognized unusual aptitude for 
 financial business in their \outhful eniplo\e — to Naples, 
 to attend tn tiic interests of the fiiin in that Italian city. ! 
 In 1837, not yet having attainetl his majorit)', he was sent 
 to Havana on the same responsible duty. He remained , 
 there but a short period. The wrecking, by the loss of j 
 its charter, of the United States Hank, and the wild .spirit 
 of speculation which prevailed in tiie great American 
 republic, had at that time produced their natural effect, a 
 wide-spread financial panic, which imperiled all interests 
 in that country. The young man was, therefore, soon 
 after his arrival at Havana, instructed by the Rothschilds 
 to proceed to New York and look after tiie interests of 
 the firm in that city, which were threatened by the busi- 
 ness depression. 
 
 He was not long in New York before he (ieterniined 
 to make the American metr()[)olis his future place of 1 
 residence, a resolution of which he informed his em- 
 ployers, who thereupon appointed him the American , 
 representative of their banking business. With the Roths- 1 
 
 childs for backing, Mr. Belmont was quickly able to 
 establish a prosperous banking house, to which his 
 marked talent for business brought rapid success, and 
 eventuated in a steady growth of fortune. 
 
 In 1844, Mr. Belmont received the appointment of 
 consul-general of Austria for the port of New York, a 
 position which he retained until 1850, when he resigned 
 in consequence of his strong disapproval of the cruelties 
 shown by the Austrian army in Hungarj' after the suppres- 
 sion, with the aid of Russia, of the revolutionary revolt 
 in that country. In 1853 he was appointed by the 
 government of the United States its c/iarge d'ajfaiirs at 
 the Hague, and in the following year was made resident 
 minister in Holland. He retained this position of dignit)' 
 until 1858, and while in this post negotiated an important 
 consular convention and rendered other diplomatic service 
 of utility to the United States government. For his 
 valuable services thus rendered he received the special 
 thanks of the United States Department of State. 
 
 In i860 he was sent as a delegate to the Democratic 
 national convention at Charleston, and supported there 
 Stephen A. Douglas as the nominee of the party for the 
 Presidency. When a break took place in this convention, 
 in consecjuence of strong differences of opinion between 
 its Northern and Southern sections, resulting in the 
 withdrawal of the delegations from a number of the 
 Southern States, he took an active part in the adjourned 
 meeting of the convention at Baltimore which subse- 
 quenth' nominated Douglas. He was so active and effi- 
 cient on this occasion that he was chosen by the mem- 
 bers of the con\ention to fill the post of chairman of 
 the Democratic national committee, a highly important 
 position in the ])art\- organization. This post he held 
 until 187:!, satisfactoriK' fulfilling its duties, and remained 
 an influential worker in the party councils until after the 
 Presidential election of 1876, after which he withdrew 
 from an\' active participation in political affairs. 
 
 Mr. Belmont was interested in manj- of the local affairs 
 of New York, being a member of the Society for the 
 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other associations, 
 and widely known as a liberal ]5atron of the fine arts and 
 the turf He gathered one of the most notable collcc- 
 ticins of paintings in the United .States, in which -*^^c 
 numerous pictures of great value and imlicating^-vnnc 
 artistic taste in their possessor. In the direction of the 
 turf he was |)resiilent of the American Jockc)- Club for 
 man)' years, and owned several stables of racing and 
 breeding horses, taking the greatest interest in the develop- 
 ment of the American racer. Mr. Belmont died at New 
 York, November 24, 1890. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 21 
 
 WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 
 
 William Maxwell Evarts, eminent as a lawj'er and 
 statesman, was a native of Boston, where he was born, 
 February 6, 1818. His father, Jeremiah Evarts, was a 
 well-known philanthropist of that city and editor of The 
 Paiioplist, a religious monthh-, and for man)- j-ears was 
 secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions. The son was educated at Yale, where 
 he became noted for his application to study, particularly 
 to the classics, which had a fascination for liis mind. He 
 graduated in 1837, and in the following year entered 
 Harvard law school. After a \-ear's stud}' here he went 
 to New York, where he remained two years in the office 
 of Daniel Lord, after which he was admitted to the bar. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he entered the legal firm of J. 
 Prescott Hall. He quickly gained a reputation for 
 unusual ability, great industry, and much modest}-. He 
 was earnest and conscientious in the preparation of cases, 
 and was not long in securing a position among the rising 
 men of the bar. In 1849, when Mr. Hall was made 
 United States Attorne}'-General, Mr. Evarts acted as his 
 deput}-, and continued to do so till the winter of 1852— 
 1853. In this position he took part in many important 
 suits, gaining reputation in the "Cleopatra expedition," a 
 suit concerning a vessel which had been stopped when 
 preparing to sail for an invasion of Cuba. This he con- 
 ducted with much energy and ability. His conduct of 
 the " Lemmon slave case" also elicited admiration. Mr. 
 Lemmon had landed in New York with some slaves, 
 whom he proposed to take to Texas. Their release was 
 demanded, and Mr. Evarts, as their principal counsel, 
 was successful in gaining them their freedom. 
 
 In i860 he became prominent in the political world by 
 his advocacy of the name of William II. Seward before 
 the Republican national convention of that year as a 
 candidate for President. In 1861 he entered into a con- 
 test in the New York Legislature for the L^nited States 
 Senatorship, Horace Greeley being his opponent. The 
 contest was long continued, and finally ended in the with- 
 drawal of Mr. Plvarts and the election of Ira Harris. In 
 1862 he conducted before the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, on the side of the government, a case 
 concerning the treatment of captured vessels as maritime 
 prizes. 
 
 We have named but a few of the important suits at 
 law in which Mr. Evarts took part. But his greatest 
 opportunity for distinction took place in 1868, on the 
 occasion of the impeachment trial of President Johnson, 
 in which Mr. Evarts was retained as the principal counsel 
 of the defendant in this greatest of American cases. In 
 the conduct of this highly important trial he displayed 
 the greatest power and sagacit}-, while his speech for the 
 
 defence was a masterpiece of learning, research, satire, 
 and eloquence, such as has been rarel}' equaled in the 
 history of jurisprudence. President Johnson rewarded 
 him for his services in his acquittal by appointing him 
 Attorney-General of the L^nited States, which post he 
 filled till the end of the administration. 
 
 In 1 87 1 he became concerned in another affair of 
 world-wide import, being appointed by President Grant 
 one of the commissioners at the Geneva arbitration of the 
 " Alabama Claims." His able effort here is part of the 
 history of our country. His presentation of the case for 
 the United States was a masterpiece of clear exposition 
 and apt illustration. In 1 874-1 875 he acted as senior 
 counsel for Henry Ward Beecher in the famous Beecher- 
 Tilton libel suit. His summing up of the case for the de- 
 fence in this trial was remarkable for the endurance he 
 displayed for one of his age. It occupied eight days, at 
 the end of which time he appeared still fresh and vig- 
 orous, while most of the others concerned in the case 
 seemed worn out. In 1877 he was the advocate of the 
 Republican party before the electoral commission whose 
 verdict placed General Hayes in the Presidential chair. 
 In forming his cabinet the new President selected Mr. 
 Evarts as his Secretary of State. In this high office he 
 exhibited marked ability. He raised the standard of the 
 consular service, and originated the very useful series of 
 consular reports, which have since been kept up. In 
 1 88 1 he was sent to Paris as a delegate to the Interna- 
 tional Monetary Conference, and in 1885 became a mem- 
 ber of the Senate of the United States. Mr. Evarts has a 
 high reputation for his powers as an after-dinner orator, 
 in which his display of humor and pleasant satire is un- 
 usuallv fine. 
 
22 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. 
 
 The eminent jurist whose life history we lia\c now to 
 sketch was a brother of Cyrus W. Field, elsewhere de- 
 scribed in tills volume, and was born at Haddam, Con- 
 necticut, Februarj' 13, 1805. He j^raduated at Williams 
 College in 1825, studied law at Albany and New York, 
 and was admitted to the New York bar in 1828. He 
 early became prominent in practice, and continued an 
 enthusiastic student of law, to whose reform he was after- 
 wards to contribute so greatly. His public work in this 
 direction be;4an in 1839, when he published his "Letter 
 on the Reform of the Judiciary System," which was fol- 
 lowed by a full expression of his opinions on this subject 
 before a committee of the State Legislature. 
 
 In 1841 lie prepared and introduced into the Legisla- 
 ture three bills relating to the .same subject, but on these 
 no definite action was taken. Five years later appeared 
 his notable pamphlet, "The Reorganization of the Judi- 
 ciary." This was very widely distributed, and exercised 
 an important influence on the Constitutional Convention 
 of 1846, which recommended a general code and a re- 
 form of court practice in accordance with his suggestions. 
 In 1847 he published "What shall be done with the 
 Practice of the Courts? .Shall it be wholly reformed? 
 Questions addressed to Lawyers." The result of his 
 active advocacy of this subject was liis appointment as a 
 commissioner to reform the practice in the State of New 
 York, under which he immediately began to form a code 
 of procedure. The sections of this code were presented 
 from time to time to the Legislature until 1850, when his 
 
 completed " Codes of Ci\il and Criminal Practice" were 
 laid before that body and adopted b\- it. 
 
 The s\-stem of law thus formulated met with such 
 general approval that the New York code has since that 
 date been accepted by State after State, with minor vari- 
 ations to suit State requirements, until it is now in force 
 in twenty-one States and three Territories of the Union. 
 It also was made the basis of a legal reform in England, 
 and was adopted in several of the British colonies. In 
 1857, Mr. P'ield was appointed by the State Legislature 
 the head of a commission to codif\- the whole bod\- of 
 laws, and ])repare a political, a penal, and a civil code, 
 which was tlesigned to include the substance of all pre- 
 ceding enactments and also the unw ritten common law. 
 This was an inmiense task, to which the indefatigable 
 jurist devoted twenty-five years of persistent thought and 
 labor. Within this period he covered the whole legal 
 province, and eventually presented to the people in com- 
 pact and orderly form the whole bod\- of the laws of the 
 State. 
 
 Ill 1866, ^Ir. I'^ielil presented to the British Associa- 
 tion, during its session of that \ear, a proposition for a 
 general revision of the law of nations. The proposition 
 W'as favorably received, and a committee appointeil for 
 its consideration. The work of this committee, however, 
 was performed by Mr. Field, who, in 1873, after seven 
 years of thought and work on the subject, presented to 
 the Social Science Congress a complete code of interna- 
 tional law. This able production attracted the attention 
 of jurists ever)-whcre, and aroused an active international 
 interest, its result being the formation of an .\ssociation 
 for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations. 
 Mr. Field was elected its first presitlent. In the subse- 
 quent deliberations of this body the principal subject of 
 discussion has been the substitution of international arbi- 
 tration for war. If this important measure should prevail, 
 Mr. Field would deserve to be hailed as one of the great 
 forces in the ethical progress of the world. 
 
 Politically Mr. Field was a Democrat, but he worked 
 ardently for the election of I'remont to the Presidency, 
 and during the civil war was one of the most earnest 
 of Unionists. In 1876 he served two months in Con- 
 gress, filling the unexpired term of Smith P.ly. I le was a 
 ready speaker, and in his time delivered man\- addresses ; 
 was a contributor to periodical literature ; and, in addition 
 j to his numerous legal productions, published in 1836 a 
 volume entitled " Sketches o\'er the Sea," which was 
 widely read. Me died at New \'ork, .Ajiril 13, 1894, in 
 the ninetieth \'ear of his age. 
 
MAKERS OF XEW YORK. 
 
 23 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL STEPHEN DECATUR TRENCHARD. 
 
 Rkak-Admiral Stephen Decatur Tkexchard was 
 descended from the Trenchard f.miil\- of Dorset, Eng- 
 land. His great-grandfather, George Trenchard, was 
 attorney-general of West Jersey under the Crown, but 
 he drew his sword in favor of the Colonies. The ad- 
 miral's father. Captain Edward Trenchard, served in the 
 war with Tripoli, and was one of the commanders of 
 Commodore Chauncey's flag-ship " Madison" in the 
 War of 1812. Admiral Trenchard was born in Brook- 
 lyn, New York, in 1818. He received his appointment 
 as midshipman on October 23, 1834, having previously 
 made a cruise as acting midshipman under Commodore 
 Downes. His first cruise was on board the " Consti- 
 tution." In 1836 he served in the West Indies and 
 Florida War. He was promoted to master in 1842, and 
 served in the Coast Survey from 1845 to 1846. While 
 on this duty he was aboard the brig " Washington ' when 
 she was wrecked off the coast of North Carolina. Dur- 
 insf the Mexican War he was lieutenant on board the 
 U. S. S. " Saratoga." In 1856, while in command of the 
 U. S. surveying steamer " Vixen," he rescued the crew 
 of the British bark " Adieu," of Gloucester, Massachu- 
 setts, for which service he received a sword from Queen 
 Victoria. Admiral Trenchard was flag-lieutenant to 
 Commodore Tatnall, in tlic luist India Squadron, in 
 1858, and was wounded when the commodore visited 
 Sir Admiral Hope, at the battle of the Pei-ho River. 
 He had just returned from China when the war was 
 declared. On April 19, 1861, he sailed under sealed 
 orders from the Navy Department, in command of the 
 " Keystone State," destined for Norfolk, where she ren- 
 dered much assistance with the tug-boat " Yankee" in 
 towing out the " Cumberland" and taking the loyal 
 officers and men of the Norfolk station to Washington. 
 Lieutenant Trenchard received a letter of thanks from 
 Secretary Welles for this service. On Ma\- 25 following 
 he assumed command of the "^Rhode Island," which 
 was first used as a special despatch and supply steamer, 
 but was afterwards converted into a hea\ily-armed cruiser, 
 and ordered to the North Atlantic Squadron on Novem- 
 ber 28, 1862. While taking the "Monitor" from Fort 
 Monroe that noble vessel foundered off Cape Hatteras. 
 The " Rhode Island's" boats, notwithstanding the heavy 
 sea, succeeded in rescuing nearlj' all the " Monitor's" 
 crew. On February 12, 1863, Commander Trenchard 
 received orders to cruise after the " Alabama" and other 
 privateers. In May of the same year the " Rhode 
 Island" was attached to Admiral Walker's squadron, and 
 a short time to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. 
 
 In November following she was ordered to the North 
 Atlantic fleet, and became one of Admiral Porter's squad- 
 ron before Fort Fisher. The " Rhode Island" was one 
 of the vessels that assisted in landing General Terry's 
 siege-guns, and General Abbott sent a letter of thanks 
 for this service to Commander Trenchard and officers. 
 In the engagement at Fort Fisher the " Rhode Island's" 
 guns were trainetl on Batter}' Lamb, and shot awa\- the 
 flag-staff of the mound. After the reduction of Fort 
 Fisher, Commander Trenchard was ordered, as senior 
 officer, to command the convoy fleet which protected the 
 Pacific Mail steamers going through the Southwest Pass. 
 The " Rhode Island," as a cruiser, captured five blockade- 
 runners. 
 
 After the war Coinmamler Trenchard was on tlut\- at 
 the Brookl)-n Nav}--Yard. As captain he commanded 
 the flag-ship " Lancaster," of the South Atlantic Squad- 
 ron, 1 869-1 871. Returning to the United States, he re- 
 ceived his promotion to the grade of commodore, and 
 served as a member of the Board of Examiners at Wash- 
 ington. His ne.Kt duty was in charge of the Light-House 
 Department, head-quarters at Staten Island. In 1875 he 
 was promoted to rear-admiral, and, after serving as chair- 
 man of a special board at San Francisco, he was ordered 
 to command the North Atlantic Squadron, the historic 
 " Hartford" being his flag-ship. After serving on a spe- 
 cial board at Washington, he was retired, according to the 
 U. S. N. regulations, in Jul)-, iSSo, ha\-ing seen twenty- 
 eight years' sea-service out of forty-five years in the navy. 
 
 Admiral Trenchard was senior vice-commander of the 
 New York Comniandery, Loyal Legion, 1879- 1880. 
 He died in No\cmber, 1883. 
 
24 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 COLONEL AND BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL 
 FITZ-JOHN I^ORTER. 
 
 Colonel and Bkevist Bkujadikk-Gicnkkai, Fitz-John 
 PoKTKK was born in New Hampshire in 1.S22. Me grad- 
 uated from the Military Academy Jiil_\- i, 1S45, and 
 was promoted the same day brevet second lieutenant 
 Fourth Artiller)' ; second lieutenant June 18, 1846, and 
 first lieutenant May 29, 1847. He is a son of Captain 
 John Porter, U.S.N., and ncpiiew of Commodore David 
 Porter, of " Essex" renown. He served at West Point 
 as an assistant in the Department of Artillery and Ca\- 
 alr)', and engaged in instructing tlie cadets during en- 
 campment, and was later sent to join his regiment at Fort 
 Monroe. In July, 1846, he joined tlie army operating 
 against Mexico at Point Isabel, Texas, and .saw active 
 service at Saitiilo in the same year. In January, 1847, 
 he embarked at Brazos and accompanied General Scott's 
 army, performing more or less service during the siege of 
 Vera Cruz and the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, 
 Moh'no del Rey, and the siege of Chapultepec and tlic 
 capture of the cit)' of Mexico. At Contreras, Porter's 
 company recaptured two guns belonging to his regiment 
 wiiich liad been taken at Bucna Vista. General Scott then 
 mounted the company. At tiie last action during tlie war 
 — the .sanguinar)' fight at the capture of the Garita of 
 Belen — Porter was wounded, while tile other two officers 
 of liis comjjany were killed, and twenty-seven out of thirty 
 non-commissioned officers ami privates were killed or 
 wounded. In 1849 he was assigned to duty at the Mili- 
 tary Academy, wiiere he remained until 1855. Here lie 
 occupied the positions successively of assistant instructor 
 of natural and experimental philosophy, assistant instruc- 
 tor of artiller)-, adjutant of the Military Academy, antl, 
 finally, instructor of artillery anil cavalr_\-. I le served dur- 
 ing the Kansas troubles. In 1857, while on duty at the 
 head-quarters of the army in New N'ork City, i'orter was 
 
 assigned to dut\' on the staff of General Albert S\dney 
 Johnston, and accompanied that officer to Utah, enduring 
 with him the hardships and annoyances of that campaign 
 in the Rocky Mountains, and of two years' residence 
 among the resentful and murderous Mormons. 
 
 In the autumn of i860, Porter was assigned to ilut\- 
 at the head-quarters of the army, in New York City, as 
 assistant inspector-general, in which capacit)- in No\em- 
 ber he inspected, by order of the War Department, the 
 defences in Charleston harbor, and recommended that 
 they should be strengthened and supplied with addi- 
 tional force, ammunition, and provisions. As a result ot 
 this inspection and of Major Porter's recommendations. 
 Major Robert Anderson was placed in command of F'ort 
 Moultrie, and carried out the plans recommended bj- 
 Porter and arranged between them, to, at the proper 
 time, abandon Moultrie and take possession of Sumter. 
 The secession of the Southern States now began, and 
 Major Porter w'as sent to Texas and to re-enforce the 
 garrisons at Key West and Dry Tortugas, a task requir- 
 ing great judgment, patience, and tact. In .April, 1S61, 
 Portei' was on dut\- in the Adjutant-General's Office in 
 Washington, when he was chosen b_\- the Secretar_\- 
 of War, Hon. Simon Cameron, and General Scott, to 
 superintend the protection of the railroad between Bal- 
 timore and Harrisburg against Baltimore rioters, and 
 maintain communication through lialtimore to Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 Major Porter was now appointed colonel of the I'"if- 
 teenth Infantry, and shortl\- afterwards brigadier-general 
 of volunteers. He ser\ed with the Arm_\- of the Potomac 
 (commanding the I'ifth Corps) in the Peninsula, North- 
 ern Virginia, and Maryland campaigns, and engaged in 
 all the actions connected therewith. After passing 
 thiciiL;]! the latter campaign, and returning with the 
 army to l-"almoutli, Virginia, he was relieved from his 
 command November 12, 1862, and tried at Washington, 
 D. C, b)- a general court-martial, for disobedience of 
 orders and general misconduct on the battle-field, — 
 J offences said to h.i\e been connnitteil in the Northern 
 'Virginia campaign under General Pope the |ire\i()us 
 August in connection with the battle of second Bull 
 Run, Virginia. 
 
 The court-martial con\icted General Porter and sen- 
 tenced him to be cashiered and forever prohibited from 
 holding any office of profit or trust from the government. 
 For fifteen years General Porter languished under the 
 stigma of this sentence. At last he obtained a Board of 
 General Officers to examine the matter b>' order of Presi- 
 (1( lit I I.iycs. and this board fully exonerated him from all 
 blame. In 1S85 a bill passed by Congress authorized 
 the President to restore General Porter to the armj-, and 
 he was restored and retired as a colonel in the arm\-, with 
 his original commission dated May 14, 1861. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ABRAM S. HEWITT. 
 
 AnKAM Stevens Hewitt, ex-mayor of New York, was 
 born at Haverstraw, New York, July 31, 1822. His 
 mother's family, Garnier by name, were of old Huguenot 
 stock, who had settled in Rockland County, New York, 
 where their land was held b}' the family for five genera- 
 tions. His father was a machinist, an immigrant to this 
 country, where he assisted in putting up the first steam- 
 engine works and in building the first steam-engine made 
 wholly in America. For a time he was very successful 
 in business, but was ruined by a fire which destroyed his 
 works. He thereupon retired to his wife's ancestral 
 farm, and here, in the old lug house which still stood 
 upon the estate, the subject of our sketch was born. 
 
 The bo)- spent his youthful da\'s partly on the farm, 
 parti)- in New York, where his father was tr\'ing to re- 
 establish himself in business. He obtained a prize 
 scholarshiiJ in Columbia College, from a special exami- 
 nation of public school graduates, and while at college 
 supported himself by private teaching. He graduated 
 at length at the head of his class, but with health and 
 eyesight seriously impaired from over-intense applica- 
 tion. His sight was never afterwards perfect. 
 
 After his graduation he began the study of law, sup- 
 porting himself b\- teaching in the college as acting pro- 
 fessor of mathematics. He in this way saved about 
 SiOOO, and with this money, in 1844, niade a journey 
 to pAirope with a friend, Edward Cooper, son of Peter 
 Cooper. On their return they were wrecked, and floated 
 in an open boat for twelve hours before they were picked 
 up by a passing vessel, which brought them to New 
 York. 
 
 Mr. Hewitt was admitted to the bar in 1844, but the 
 imperfection of his sight forced him to give up this pro- 
 fession, and it was then settled that he and his friend 
 Edward Cooper shoukl embark in business together, 
 Peter Cooper giving up to them the iron branch of his 
 own business. In this new enterprise their success was 
 marked, the firm becoming a pioneer in the successful 
 manufacture of iron in the United States. They were the 
 first to make iron girders and supports for fire-proof 
 buildings, and employed a large force of workmen, at 
 one time as many as three thousand. In 1878, Mr. 
 Hewitt stated that since the panic year of 1873 his firm 
 had done business at an annual loss of S 100,000, yet had 
 kept their works in operation for the sake of keeping 
 their plant in good condition and of giving employment 
 to their hands. During their forty years of business 
 enterprise the firm claimed to have made no profit in the 
 business, and to have grown rich simpl)- b}- judicious 
 
 outside investment of their capital and by purchases in 
 anticipation of the future. Thus they made ^1,000,000 
 by a large purchase of iron just before its great rise in 
 value in 1879-1880. The works were never shut down, 
 though occasionally run on half-time, and it was tiie 
 policy of the firm to be always on the best terms with 
 trade unions and labor organizations. The\- finally 
 ow^ned and controlled large iron-works at Trenton ;uiil 
 at several other places in New Jersey. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Hewitt \Msited England to learn the 
 method of making gun-barrel iron, and the works were 
 able to supply the government with this material during 
 tlie remainder of the war. He also introduced the 
 Martins-Siemens open-hearth process of steel-making. 
 
 He was one of the trustees who devised the plan of the 
 Cooper Union, and as secretary of the board managed 
 its financial anil much of its educational affairs. In 1867 
 he was appointed by the President one of the commis- 
 sioners to \isit the Paris E.xposition to report on iron and 
 steel. His report was translated into nearlj- all the 
 European languages. In 1874 he became a member 
 of Congress, where, with the exception of one term, he 
 remained till 1 886. He was noted for his practical and 
 common-sense views, his moderate conceptions, and 
 advocacy of honest legislation regardless of party. In 
 1876 he was a strong supporter of Tilden in the contest 
 with Hayes, and advocated bold action by the Demo- 
 cratic party. In 1886 he was elected mayor of New 
 York, in opposition to Henry George and Theodore 
 Roosevelt. He made an excellent reform maj-or. After 
 his term of service he remained practicall}' out of politics. 
 
26 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GHNHRAl. UI.YSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 Gkmckal Gkant, tlioii^r], not a New \'()ikcr during 
 any loMjf period of liis life, has been prominently so since 
 his death, his noljje monument in Riverside Park being a 
 place of pilgrimage for the many admirers of one of the 
 most notable figures in American military history. This 
 circumstance, and the fact that he dwelt in his later years 
 in New York City, amply justify his admission to this 
 work. The life of General Grant, however, was so active 
 and eventful that we can gi\e it but in epitome here. 
 
 Born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, April 
 27, 1822, his boyhood days were spent in assisting his 
 father in farm work in summer and attending the village 
 school in winter, till i83(j, when he entered the West 
 Point Military Academy as a cadet. He graduated in 
 1S43, and, after performing some military duties, joined 
 General Taylor's army in September, 1845, ^^'^'^ the com- 
 mission of second lieutenant in the Fourth Infiintry. 
 After taking part in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca 
 de la Palma, anil the capture of Monterey, the Fourth 
 was sent to Vera Cruz to join the army of General Scott, 
 and Grant took part in all the battles of .Scott's successful 
 campaign. On his return to the United States, in 1848, 
 he married Julia T. Dent, of .St. Louis, and continued to 
 .serve in the army till 1854, when he resigned and settled 
 f>n a farm near .St. Louis. 
 
 lie continued in |)rivate life till the outbreak of the 
 civil war in 1861, when he innnediately offered his .ser- 
 vices to the government, and in June was ap|)ointed 
 colonel of the Twenty-fir.st Illinois Infantry. In August 
 he was made brigadier-general of volunteers and given 
 the command of a district, and in No\ember fought the 
 battle of Ik-lmont, Mis.souri. His remarkable ability was 
 soon to display itself in the .signal capture of Forts 
 Henry and Donelson (February, 1862) with more than 
 
 fourteen thousand prisoners, for which exploit he was 
 made major-general of \olunteers. In April he fought 
 the memorable two-days' battle at Shiloh, one of the 
 severest of the war, and in November began his cele- 
 brated series of operations against Vicksburg, which 
 resulted in the surrender of that stronghold on July 4, 
 1863, with thirty-one thousand six hundred prisoners and 
 one hundred and seventy-two cannon. By this exploit 
 the Mississippi was opened from its source to its mouth. 
 
 I'or this service he was made major-general in the 
 regular arm\-. His next field of duty was at Chatta- 
 nooga, where he defeated the enemy and drove him out 
 of Tennessee. In March, 1864, he was promoted to the 
 high grade of lieutenant-general, and made commaniier- 
 in-chief of all the armies of the United States, with his 
 head-quarters with the Army of the Potomac. 1 le at 
 once organized a plan of campaign under which all the 
 armies of the United States were to operate simulta- 
 neously against the enemy, General Sherman heading 
 the important aiKance against Atlanta, and Grant him- 
 self that against Richmond. The details of the re- 
 markable series of engagements between him and (len- 
 eral Lee, the persistent siege of Petersburg, antl the final 
 surrender of Lee on April 9, 1S65, need not here be 
 repeated. They are well-known matters of histor)\ 
 
 In July, 1866, Grant was raised to the grade of general, 
 the highest in the United States arni\-, and in 1868 re- 
 ceived the Republican nomination for the Presidencj'. 
 He was electetl in Nmember, receiving two huiulred and 
 fourteen electoral votes out of two hundred and ninet\'- 
 four. He was again elected in November, 1872, thus 
 ser\ing eight \'ears. Of the events of his administration 
 perhaps the most inipoi tant was the settlement, h)- peaceful 
 arbitration, of the perilous " Alabama Claims." 
 
 After retiring from the Presidency General Grant niaile 
 a tour of the world, which occupied two years, and in 
 which he received the most flattering attentions from 
 ' foreign rulers and dignitaries. His name was again 
 offered for nomination in 1880, but was opposed from 
 the traditional sentinmil against a third-term President. 
 In 1881 he purchased a house in New York, where he 
 afterwards spent his winters, his summers being s|)ent in 
 his sea-side cottage at Long Br.uicli. l'"inding his income 
 insufficient for his expenses, he became a partner in a 
 banking house in which one of his sons was interested, 
 investing all his available capital. In May, 1884, the 
 house sutldenly suspendetl, and it was then discovered 
 that two of the partners had robbed (leneral Grant of all 
 he ]5ossessed. To provide for his family he now yielded 
 to solicitations to write his personal memoirs. About the 
 same time cancer developeil at the root of his tongue, and 
 he lived barely long enough to com|)lete his work, dying 
 July 23, 1883. He was buried on August 8. with great 
 pomp, .It Riverside Park, overlooking the Huilson. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 27 
 
 HOWARD CROSBY, D.D. 
 
 The subject of our present sketch is of distinguished 
 ancestry, his great-grandfather, William Floyd, having 
 been one of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, while Ebenezer Crosby, his grandfather, was a sur- 
 geon in Washington's life-guards, and afterwards became 
 a professor in Cohunbia College. His father, William 
 R. Crosby, was among the richest men of his time in 
 New York, ha\ing inherited from Colonel Henry Rut- 
 gers nearly the whole of what is now the Seventh Ward 
 of the city. Until the great accumulations of John Jacob 
 Astor, he was one of the largest holders of real estate 
 in tills countr\-. He was a gentleman of quiet habits 
 and benevolent instincts, his time being devoted to the 
 care of his property and deeds of unostentatious charity. 
 
 Howard Crosby was born in New York City on Feb- 
 ruary 27, 1826. Though born to w'ealth, he did not 
 pursue the course of many rich men's sons, but devoted 
 his youth to earnest study and his manhood to works of 
 value to mankind, developing into one of the most public 
 spirited of the modern reform element of the metropolis. 
 He received his education at the Uni\'ersity of New 
 York, from which he gratluatetl at the age of eighteen. 
 His subsequent life was spent in educational and minis- 
 terial duties. At the age of twent}'-five he was appointed 
 Professor of Greek in the University of New York, and 
 in the next year became president of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association of that city. In 1859 he accepted 
 the position of Professor of Greek in Rutgers College, 
 , New Brunswick, New Jersey. While there he entered 
 upon the study of theology, to which he had long mani- 
 fested an inclination, and in 1861, having completed his 
 studies, was ordained in the ministr}', and became pastor 
 of the I*"irst Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick. 
 
 While thus engaged in ministerial duties, Mr. Crosby 
 retained his professorship, but in I S63 he resigned both 
 positions, having accepted a call to the pastorage of the 
 Fourth Presbyterian Church of New York. His remain- 
 ing years of life were spent in that city, in which his 
 activity in the field of public progress and educational 
 interests soon brought him into prominence. In 1864 
 he was elected a member of the council of the University 
 of New York, which position he occupied till his death. 
 In 1870 he was chosen as the chancellor of the Univer- 
 sity, and continued to perform the duties of this office 
 until 1881, though retaining his pastorship meanwhile. 
 
 During the period in question Mr. Crosby served on 
 the American commission of revisers of the Bible, and 
 at a later period was one of the learned commissioners 
 appointed to revise the New Testament, a work for 
 
 which his thorough acquaintance with Greek especially 
 fitted him. In 1.873 he was chosen Moderator of the 
 General Assembl\- of the Presb\^terian Church, and in 
 1877 served as a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian council 
 at P^dinburgh. In addition to these literary and theo- 
 logical labors he became also active in the work of 
 benevolence and reform, and in 1 877 founded and became 
 president of the Society for the Prevention of Crime. 
 The purpose of this society was principallj' to restrict 
 the use of spirituous liquors by repressive legislation, 
 and Mr. Crosby exerted himself efficiently for a re\ision 
 of the license laws of the State. His advocac)' of license 
 instead of prohibition gained him the ill will of ardent 
 prohibitionists, but there is no question but that his stand 
 was taken from his firm belief that prohibition was im- 
 practicable in a city like New York, and that effective 
 reform could only be attained through strict license laws. 
 His work in this direction brought him in 1888 an 
 appointment as a member of the State commission to 
 revise the excise laws. 
 
 These active public labors of Mr. Crosby were sup- 
 plemented by no less active literary labors, his works 
 including Commentaries on the books of Joshua and 
 Nehemiah and on the New Testament, a \olume of 
 Yale Lectures, and various others, together with a 
 large number of review articles, pamphlets, etc. He 
 also acted as editor of the last two volumes of the 
 " American Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica." 
 In 1859 Harvard conferred on him the degree of D.D., 
 and in 187 1 Columbia that of LL.D. He died in New 
 York, March 29, 1891. 
 
MAKERS OF NFJV YORK. 
 
 REV. MORGAN DIX. D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Morgan Dix, rector of Trinit\' I'arisli, was 
 born in New York, November i, 1827, the son of 
 General John A. Dix, e.x-governor of New York, a 
 sketcli of whose hfe we have elsewhere given. From 
 1830 to 1842 the family resided at Albaii)', after which 
 they traveled abroad, and it was not until young Di.\ 
 was seventeen years of age that he was able to begin 
 active preparations for a university education. In 1845 
 he entered Columbia College, from which he graduated 
 three years afterwards. lie then began the study of the 
 law, but not in response to his own inclinations, which 
 turned towards the ministry. He soon, in consetjueiice 
 of this jiredilection, gave up his legal studies and entered 
 the General Theological Seminary of New York, in 
 whicii he took the regular course, graduating in 1852. 
 
 Me was ordained during the same year in St. John's 
 Chapel, New York, by Hishop Chase, of New Hampshire, 
 anil in 1854 was admitted to the priesthood by Hishop 
 Alon/.o Potter, in St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia. 
 Here he remained for some time, as an assistant to the 
 rector, Rev. Joseph Wilnier, who was afterwards liishop 
 of Louisiana. Fie then went to Iuiro]je, where he spent 
 a year and a half in travel and study. On his return to 
 New York lie was elected assistant rector of Trinity 
 Parish. Dr. Herrian, the rector, died November 7, 1862, 
 and on November 10, Dr. Di.\ was elected his successor, 
 and was installed on the following day, in accordance 
 with a pre-revolutionary form of induction which is only 
 observed in Trinitv Parish. He was instituted on the 
 
 29th of the same month in the presence of a large con- 
 gregation. 
 
 During his incumbcnc\- as rector Dr. Di.K has done 
 much for the ad\ancemcnt of the parish, which in the 
 inter\'al has grown by the addition of five chapels, with 
 many other buildings needed in the parish work. The 
 old rectory has been converted into a j^arish hospital, anil 
 greatly enlarged for that purpose ; and a complete .system 
 of parochial schools has been established, including day 
 and night schools, kindergartens, manual training, cook- 
 ing, and house schools. l-"or these a number of school- 
 houses have been erected, and in addition there ha\e 
 been built se\eral parish and other buildings for the 
 extended needs of the parish work. 
 
 Dr. Dix has been active in promoting the growth of 
 sisterhoods, and was pastor of the Order of St. Mary at 
 its origin. He has taken great interest in church music, 
 and has been very successful in its improvement. He 
 was a member of the choral society under Dr. Hodges, 
 and took jiart in the first choral service ever held in New 
 ^'ork. ;\s rector he has had under his immediate direc- 
 tion se\'cn churches and eighteen clerg)-men, and yet 
 has found time to fill many other important positions. 
 Among these he acted as delegate to six general conven- 
 tions, in the last three of which he was president of the 
 House of Deputies. Since 1S69 he has been president of 
 the .standing committee of the diocese of New York, 
 and is al.so a trustee of Columbia College, of Sailors' 
 Snug Harbor, Watt's Orphan Asylum, etc. He is vice- 
 presiiient of the Protestant Episcopal Public School of 
 \ew "\'ork and of the .Society for the Pre\ention of 
 Cruelty to Animals. 
 
 In the midst of these multifarious ilnties Dr. Dix has 
 been able to do no small amount of literar\- labor. His 
 productions include " Commentary on -St. Paul's Papistic 
 to the Romans," " Commentary on the ICpistle to the 
 Galatians and Colossians," " Lecture on Pantheism," 
 " Lecture on the Two Estates : the Wedded in the Lord 
 and the Single for the Lord's Sake," " Sermons, Doctrinal 
 and Practical," " Memoirs of John A. Dix," etc. 
 
 As a preacher Dr. Dix is forcible, earnest, and coura- 
 geous. He does not confine himself to general issues, 
 and does not hesitate to denounce any social e\il in the 
 plainest and most vigoious language. I'ew ministers or 
 men are more respected. It may be said in conclusion 
 that he has been an ardent collector of rare books, manu- 
 scripts, etc., and that his library contains many highly 
 valuable examples of medi;eval literary treasures, together 
 with an extensive collection of Americana. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 29 
 
 ROSCOE CONKLING. 
 
 ROSCOE CoNKLiNG was born at Albany, October 30, 
 1829. His father, Albert Conkling, had been a member 
 of Congress and afterwards United States district judge 
 for Northern New York, and received in 1852 the diplo- 
 matic appointment of minister to Mexico. The son was 
 given an academic education, and in 1846 removed to 
 Utica, where he studied law, and obtained admission to the 
 bar in 1849. As a lawyer his progress was rapid, and in 
 1850, one year after his admission to practice, he was 
 made district attorne)' for Oneida County. 
 
 Politically he began life as an ardent Whig, in which 
 party he continued until its decadence and disappearance, 
 when he entered its successor, the Republican party, of 
 whose principles he became an earnest advocate. His 
 first political position was as mayor of Utica, to which 
 office he was elected in 1858. In the same year he 
 secured the Republican nomination to Congress, and was 
 elected to that bod\', being at that time the youngest 
 member of the House of Representatives. On the floor 
 of Congress the young member soon acquired a reputa- 
 tion for eloquence in debate and courage in the ex- 
 pression of his opinions, and in 1 860 he was again elected. 
 He was defeated, how-ever, in 1862, and returning again 
 to legal practice, was employed by the attorney-general 
 of the State in exposing the frauds which had been 
 practiced in New York in regard to the enlistments and 
 bounties of soldiers. In this field of duty his services 
 were valuable, and much of the secret peculation and 
 fraudulent devices of the law-breakers was laid bare 
 through his agency. In 1864 he was again elected to 
 Congress, and resumed his seat on the floor of the House, 
 in which he served as chairman of the Committee on the 
 District of Columbia and as member of a committee 
 appointed to consider a bankrupt law. He was also 
 appointed on the Committee of Ways and Means, 
 and on the special Reconstruction Committee of the 
 House. 
 
 In these fields of duty Mr. Conkling vigorously 
 opposed all measures whose operation would have given 
 the late secessionists a voice in national affairs. In 1866 
 his constituents returned him to Congress for another 
 term, but his period of duty as a member of the House 
 came to an end in the succeeding session, the New York 
 Legislature electing him to the Senate in January, 1867. 
 He took his seat in that august body in March of that 
 year. On the formation of the senatorial committees, 
 Mr. Conkling was placed on that on the Judiciarj', and 
 during the remainder of his senatorial career, from 1867 
 to 1 88 1, served on most of the leading committees of the 
 Senate. 
 
 In 1876 his name was prominently presented before 
 the Republican national convention as a candidate for 
 
 the Presidency, but it shared the fate of several other 
 prominent names, in the nomination of General Hayes. 
 The new President showed a disposition to adopt concili- 
 atory measures towards the South, in which he was 
 opposed by many members of his party, and strenuously 
 by Senator Conkling, who was one of the leaders in 
 opposition to such measures, and organized the" Stalwart" 
 faction of the Republican party from the sympathizers 
 with his views. As a political manager, both in New 
 York and in the Senate, he manifested unusual skill, not 
 only ruling the party in the State, but controlling in the 
 Senate, in a measure, the nominations to office by the 
 executive head of the government, and opposing the new 
 doctrines regarding the civil service. 
 
 In the Chicago national con\ention of 1880, Mr. Conk- 
 ling strongly advocated the nomination of General Grant 
 for a third term to the Presidency. In this effort he was 
 unsuccessful. At the opening of President Garfield's 
 administration he endeavored to retain the power he had 
 previously held, of controlling the nominations to office, 
 and particularly insisted on the withdrawal of the name 
 of W. H. Robertson as collector of the port of New 
 York. He met in Garfield, however, a man of vigor- 
 ous determination, and, finding his power of appoint- 
 ment gone, he and his colleague, Thomas C. Piatt, re- 
 signed their seats in the Senate and appealed to the New 
 York Legislature for re-election, as a \'indication of the 
 justice of their cause. In this they signally failed, the 
 Legislature, after a struggle that lasted for months, 
 appointing two successors in their places. Declining a 
 nomination as justice of the United States Supreme 
 Court, offered him by President Arthur, Mr. Conkling 
 entered upon the practice of law* in New York City, 
 where he died April 18, 1888. 
 
30 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR. 
 
 Chester Alan Aktiiuk, twenty-first President of the 
 United States, was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 
 5, 1830. His father. Rev. William Arthur, was a Baptist 
 minister who came to this country from Belfast, Ireland, 
 and preached at several localities in New York and Ver- 
 mont. The future President was born in a log cabin 
 which his father occupied while waiting for the erec- 
 tion of a parsonage. He was educated at Schenectady, 
 New York, at first in an academy there, and afterwards 
 in Union College, from whicli he graduated in 1848. 
 During part of his college career he supported himself 
 by teaching, and after graduation he continued to teach 
 while studj'ing law at Lansingburg, New York. Thence 
 he went to New York City, where he entered the law- 
 office of v.. D. Culver. He was admitted to the bar in 
 1853, and became junior member of the firm of Culver, 
 Parker & Arthur. 
 
 Early in the young barrister's career liis firm was con- 
 cerned in the celebrated Lemmon slave case, of which 
 wc have spoken in our sketch of William M. I'^varts, who 
 was selected by young Arthur as consulting counsel. 
 It ended in the freeing of the slaves, in which result the 
 young advocate took an active part, though all the honor 
 is usually given to Mr. Evarts. Mr. Arthur's firm after- 
 wards became the legal champions of the colored people, 
 and in 1856, by their successful handling of the Jennings 
 case, established the right of the African race to ride in 
 the street cars. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Arthur was in his earlier days a Whig, 
 but on the absorption of his party by the new Republican 
 party, he became one of its ardent members, and was 
 active in its local organization. In i860, Governor Mor- 
 gan appointed him engineer in-chief on his staff This 
 
 had previously been an office with nominal duties, but 
 the outbreak of the war made it important, and Mr. 
 Arthur's previous connection with the militia made his 
 services valuable. In April, 1861, he opened a branch 
 quartermaster's department in New York, at Governor 
 Morgan's request, and was soon after given the entire 
 task of preparing and equipping the regiments raised in 
 the State. This dut\- he continued to perform until the 
 end of the war, being appointed quartermaster-general 
 in 1862. 
 
 In January, 1862, he made an elaborate report of the 
 defences of New York harbor, and in February, being 
 appointed inspector-general, he visited the New York 
 regiments in the Army of the Potomac and saw that 
 their wants were supplied. On the election of Go\ernor 
 Sc}-mour in December, 1863, Mr. Arthur returned to 
 the practice of the law. But he continued active in 
 military and political affairs, was chairman of the Re- 
 publican executive committee of the State, and worked 
 actively for the nomination and election of President 
 Grant in 1868. On November 20, 1871, he was ap- 
 pointed by the President collector of the port of New 
 York, and at the expiration of his term, in 1875, was 
 renominated and unanimously confirmctl by the Senate. 
 He held this position until July 12, 1878, when he 
 was removed at the instance of Senator Sherman, who 
 brought against him charges of political mismanagement 
 of the office, which were indignantly and successfully 
 repelled. Collector Arthur proved that the removals 
 from office of his subordinates was in an unusually small 
 percentage, ami that many inipro\emcnts IkuI been intro- 
 duced. 
 
 In 1879 he was elected chairman of the Rc])ublican 
 State committee, and when, in Jul\-, 1880, General Gar- 
 field was nominated by the Republican convention at 
 Chicago for President, it was decided that the second 
 nominee should be taken from New York," and General 
 Arthur's name was offered and accepted. In November 
 he was elected Vice-President of the United States, and 
 in March, 1881, took his seat as President of the Senate. 
 On the retirement of Senator Conkling, Mr. Arthur 
 sought to procure his re-election by the .State Legislature, 
 but failed in this purpose. 
 
 The assassination of President Garfield raised the Vice- 
 President to the Presidential chair. President Arthur 
 took the oath of office privately in New York, Sei)temlxr 
 20, 1 88 1, and was publicly inaugurateil in Washington 
 on September 22. Of his acts in office we have no space 
 here to sjjeak. It will suffice to say that his administra- 
 tion won wide-spread commendation, even from those 
 who had at first predicted for him a weak or corrupt ex- 
 ecutive career. He did not long survive the conclusion 
 of his term of office, dying November 1 1, 18S6. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 31 
 
 BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL DANIEL BUTTERFIELD. 
 
 Brevet Major-General Daniel. Butterfield was 
 born in Utica, New York, October 31, 1S31 ; was grad- 
 uated at Union in 1849, and became a merchant in New 
 York City. He was colonel of the Twelfth New York 
 Militia when the civil war began. Accompanying his 
 regiment to Washington in July, 1861, he led the advance 
 into Virginia over the Long Bridge, joined General 
 Patterson on the Upper Potomac, and commanded a 
 brigade. 
 
 On the enlargement of the regular arnn- he was com- 
 missioned a lieutenant-colonel, and assigned to the 
 Twelfth Infantry May 14, 1861 ; appointed brigadier- 
 general of volunteers September 7, 1861, and ordered to 
 the corps of Fitz-John Porter, in which he made the 
 campaign of the Peninsula, taking a conspicuous part in 
 the actions at Hanover Court-House, Mechanicsville, 
 and Gaines's Mill, where he was wounded, and in the 
 battles fought during the retreat of McClellan's army to 
 Harrison's Landing, where he commanded a detachment 
 on the south side of the James River to cover the retreat. 
 He took part in the great battles under Pope and Mc- 
 Clellan in August and September, 1862, and near the 
 close of October took command of Morrell's division. 
 He became major-general of volunteers on November 29, 
 1862; was made colonel of the Fifth Infantry in the 
 regular army on July i, 1863, and commanded the Fifth 
 Corps at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia; was 
 chief of staff, Army of the Potomac, at Chancellorsville 
 and at Gettysburg, where he was wounded ; was ordered 
 to re-enforce Rosecrans's Arm\- of the Cumberland in 
 October, 1863 ; acting chief of staff to Hooker at Look- 
 out Mountain, Alission Ridge, Ringgold, and Pea- Vine 
 Creek, Georgia. He commanded a division of the 
 Twentieth Corps at the battles of Buzzards' Roost, 
 
 Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesavv, and Lost 
 Mountain, Georgia, and was brevetted brigadier-general 
 and major-general United States army " for gallant and 
 meritorious conduct." He is the author of " Camp and 
 Outpost Duty" (New York, 1862). He served after the 
 war as superintendent of the general recruiting service 
 of the United States army, with head-quarters in New 
 York, and in command of forces in New York harbor 
 from 1865 till 1869, when he resigned from the army, 
 and was appointed head of the Sub-Treasury of the 
 United States in New York. He filled this position 
 most creditably. 
 
 Few officers have a better military record than General 
 Butterfield. A man of fine, commanding presence, he 
 always inspired confidence to his men when leading them 
 to battle. His father was John Butterfield. 
 
32 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 Edwin Booth, America's most famous actor, was born 
 at Bel Air, near Baltimore, Marylaml, November 13, 
 1833, the son of the celebrated actor Junius Brutus 
 Booth. The boj' had few opportunities for education in 
 the life of active movement to which his father's profes- 
 sion subjected him, but his naturally studious disposition 
 caused him to make use of every ojiportunity in this 
 direction, and he grew up very well informed. A strong 
 .sympathy always existed between him and his father, 
 who took him with him on his profe-ssional tours while 
 he was still young, and whose occasional wayward and 
 passionate moods could only be controlled by the quiet- 
 ing influence possessed over him b)- his son. Young 
 Booth's first appearance was at the Boston Museum in 
 1849, in the minor part of Tressel, in " Richard III." It 
 is .said that his father objected to his going on liie stage. 
 However that was, no such objection was afterwards 
 indicated. The )-oung actor worked hard for professional 
 improvement, and a[)pcnred at Philadelphia, Providence, 
 and other cities, as Cassio in "Othello" and Wilford in 
 " The Iron Chest," being highly commended in the latter 
 character. He traveled for two years with his father, 
 and made his first appearance in New York, September 
 27, 1850, at the National Theatre, Chatham .Street, in 
 the character of Wilford. In 185 I, during a temporary 
 illness of his father, the son rcplaceil liiin in tlic char- 
 acter of Richard III., a performance tliat was criticised 
 as very creditable. In the same year the father and 
 son played together in San Francisco, in a theatre under 
 the management of Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. They 
 subsequently traveled through California until 1852, 
 when, during their return to the East, the elder Booth 
 died. 
 
 In his subsequent career Edwin Booth became famous 
 in the characters which had been played so successfully 
 by his father and in various others chosen by himself, 
 his early role including Shylock, Hamlet, Macbeth, and 
 Sir Edward Mortimer in the " Iron Chest." In 1854 he 
 was in Australia, plaj-ing with Laura Keene. On his 
 return to California he first pla\cd the character of Rich- 
 elieu, one of his greatest parts in later years. His subse- 
 quent return to the East was heralded by the fame he 
 had gained in the West, and his tour through the 
 Eastern cities met with the greatest success. In 1857 he 
 appeared again in New York, at the Metropolitan Theatre, 
 where he roused the utmost enthusiasm by his masterly 
 impersonations. In the spring of 1858 he played lago, 
 in a benefit at Wallack's Theatre, to E. L. Davenport's 
 Othello and Mrs. Hoey's Desdemona. 
 
 In i860, Mr. Booth married Mary Devlin, an actress, 
 with whom he took a trip to Europe, pla>-ing at the Hay- 
 market in London with poor support and slight success ; 
 but more successfully at Liverpool and Manchester. 
 His wife died in 1863. He now began his career as a 
 manager, assuming control of the Winter Garden Theatre, 
 New York. Here, in November, 1864, the three brothers 
 appeared together in "Julius C;esar," Edwin as Brutus, 
 Junius Brutus as Cassius, and John Wilkes as Antony. 
 He brought out plays here with unusual magnificence 
 and completeness, and gave to " Hamlet" the unprece- 
 dented run of one hundreil consecutive nights. He 
 afterwards became associated with John S. Clarke in the 
 management of the Winter Garden and the Walnut Street 
 Theatre, Philadelphia. 
 
 After the murder of President Lincoln by his brother 
 John Wilkes, lulwin retired from the stage for a year, 
 but subscqucntK' was iiuhuxtl to return, and was greeted 
 with all the old enthusiasm by his audiences. He now 
 determined to enter u[)on the production of plaj's on a 
 tiuly magnificent scale, and built the splendid structure 
 known as Booth's Theatre, at Si.xth A\'enue and Twent)-- 
 third Street, New Y<irk, which was opened P'ebruary 3, 
 1869, with " Romeo aiul Juliet." In the same year he 
 married Mary McVickar, a step-daughter of the manager, 
 J. H. McVickar. She died in 1S81. 
 
 In his new theatre Booth brought out all his old series 
 of plays in the mcst superb style, and with the greatest 
 success, until 1873, when the financial i^anic forced him 
 into bankruj)tc)'. He subsequently restored his fortunes 
 by a professional tour. In 1880 and 1S82 he acted in 
 Europe with the most distinguished success. He after- 
 wards associated himself with Lawrence Barrett, and 
 they starred together till the death of Barrett in 1891. 
 Booth did not long survive him, dying in New York, 
 June 7, 1893. Among his many acts of generosity is 
 the fine club-house built by him for actors, in Graniercy 
 Park, New York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 33 
 
 BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN T. LOCKMAN. 
 
 Brevet Brigadier-General John T. Locrman was 
 born in the city of New York on the 26th day of Sep- 
 tember, 1834. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he was 
 a student-at-law in the cit}- of his birth. On the 19th day 
 of April, 1 861, he enlisted as a private in Company C, 
 Ninth Rei^iment of New York State Militia. Having 
 recruited Company H for the Ninth Regiment, he was 
 elected its first lieutenant on ]\Ia\- 24, 1861. The regi- 
 ment left New York on the 27th day of May for Wash- 
 ington, arriving there on the e\ening of the 28th, relieving 
 the Seventh New York State Militia. Participated in the 
 Martinsburg campaign under General Robert Patterson, 
 and Ball's Bluff under General Charles P. Stone ; was 
 commissioned captain November 25, 1861, and partici- 
 pated in the movements terminating in the occupation of 
 Winchester, Virginia, in March, 1862; the campaign in 
 Virginia, July and August, 1862, under General Pope. 
 
 General Lockman was commissioned lieutenant-colonel 
 of the One Hundred and Nineteenth New York Volun- 
 teers August 13, 1862, and participated in the battle of 
 Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, and on the death of Colonel 
 Peisner in that battle succeeded to the command of the 
 regiment, and on the 3d of May was commissioned its 
 colonel. At the battle of Gettysburg he was severely 
 wounded during the first day's fight, July i, 1863. 
 
 On rejoining his regiment in September, 1863, the 
 Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were ordered to the South- 
 west to re-enforce General Thomas, and he there took part 
 in establishing communication with General Thomas ; or, 
 as it was usually stj'led, opening the "Cracker Line;" 
 participating in the battles of Wauhatchie and Missionary 
 Ridge, pursuit of General Bragg, and relief of Knoxville. 
 
 On April 27, 1864, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps 
 were consolidated and formed into the Twentieth Corps. 
 The One Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment was assigned 
 to the Second Brigade, Second Division of that corps, and 
 participated in the battles of Rocky-Faced Ridge and 
 Resaca, at which battle, by order of General Hooker, he 
 led three regiments to an assault on a rebel battery. He 
 participated in the battles of Cass\ille, Pine Hill, Kolb's 
 Farm, Dallas (where he commanded the Second Brigade), 
 Kenesaw Mountain, Peach-Trec Creek, and the siege of 
 
 Atlanta, entering that cit}- on September 2, 1 864. He also 
 participated in the March to the Sea, siege and occupation 
 of Saxannah, Georgia, where he was placed in command 
 of a provisional division to guard the captured cotton and 
 stores. He also participated in the march through the 
 Carolinas and movements resulting in tlie occupation of 
 Charleston, Columbia, Winsborough, and Cheraw, South 
 Carolina ; and Fayetteville, battle of Bentonville, occu- 
 pation of Raleigh, North Carolina, and surrender of Gen- 
 eral Joseph E. Johnston's army at Durham Station. 
 
 General Lockman was brevetted brigadier-general of 
 \-oluntcers "for meritorious services in the capture of 
 Atlanta." 
 
 At the close of the war he resumed the study of law, 
 graduating from the Columbia College Law-School with 
 the degree of B.L. in April, 1867, and was admitted to 
 the bar of the State of New York in the same month. 
 
 General Lockman served under the following, who were 
 commanders of armies : Generals Scott, McDowell, Pat- 
 terson, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, and Meade in the 
 Army of the Potomac ; Grant, Rosecrans, Thomas, and 
 Sherman in the Army of the Cumberland ; and Slocum, 
 Army of Georgia. Under corps commanders. Generals 
 Stone, Banks, Howard, Hooker, Slocum, Williams, and 
 Mower. 
 
34 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES W. BROOKE. 
 
 The ancestors of Charles Wallace Brooke, the emi- 
 nent lawyer and orator, emigrated from Ireland to this 
 country at an early date, though the notable Irish quali- 
 ties of geniality, wit, and eloquence are still retained by 
 the descendant of the family with whom we are at present 
 concerned. His grandfather, Charles J. Brooke, was an 
 intimate friend of Alexander Hamilton, whose name he 
 gave to his most promising son. This son, Alexander 
 Hamilton Brooke, was born in Virginia, in which State 
 the Brooke family is still one of note. He entered the 
 navy, but after a lime left it, moved to Philadelphia, 
 and became a sea-captain of that ])ort, commanding the 
 largest ship in the China trade. He married the ilaugli- 
 ter of Captain Jo.scph Berry, another famous Philadelphia 
 seaman, his son Charles being born A])ril lo, 1836, in 
 the then district of Sonthwark, near the Old Swedes' 
 Church. 
 
 Captain Brooke died when his son was but four years 
 of age, leaving his wife a small competency. Mrs. Brooke 
 took care that her children should receive a good educa- 
 tion, Charles being educated at the Protestant Episcopal 
 Acadenn- of Philadelphia, and afterwards at the Univer- 
 sity of Penn.sylvania. At the age of seventeen he left 
 the University to accept a clcrkshi|) in the Western Bank. 
 In this establishment he is credited with starting tlie 
 .system of striking ledger balance sheets for each day's 
 business, and also of inaugurating the clearing-house 
 system in Philadelphia. 
 
 Banking business, however, was not to his taste, and 
 
 he studied law in his leisure moments, Charles E. Lex 
 acting as his preceptor. He was adn^itted to the bar in 
 October, 1858, when twenty-two years '_ of age. The 
 office taken by him was near that of T^enjamin Harris 
 Brewster, who took a strong interest in him, and remained 
 during life his warm friend. The young lawyer quickly 
 made friends and gained clients through his winning 
 manners ami that gift of eloquence which had carl_\- dis- 
 played itself He had chosen the specialt\- of criminal 
 practice, and b\- the time he had been two years before 
 the bar he had gained a leading position in the Philadel- 
 phia criminal courts, many important cases coming into 
 his hands. In addition to his legal reputation, he quickly 
 became prominent in the social life of Philadelphia. He 
 was one of the originators of the Penn Club, one of the 
 prominent social institutions of the Quaker City. He 
 was fond of theatricals, and became an active member 
 of the Amateur Dramatic Society. He was president of 
 the Board of .School Directors, and during the war was a 
 [)rominent sustaincr of the Union cause as a member of 
 the P'irst City Troop, with which he marched, under the 
 leadership of Won. Samuel J. Randall, to the defence of 
 Gettysburg. At successive dates he was Democratic 
 candidate for district attorney and for Congress, but 
 was not elected, the Re[^ublican part\- being in a strong 
 majority. 
 
 Mr. Brooke's fine [)owers of orator}' and high sense of 
 humor were soon displayed in the lecture field, in which 
 the announcement of his name was sure to draw a 
 large audience. His lectures on " Irish Bards and Bal- 
 lads" and " Raie Okl Players" were highl)' populai', and 
 were delivered not onl)' in Philadelphia, but in \-arious 
 other cities. His sense of humor, in fact, won for him 
 the title of "The Wit of the Philadelphia Bar," and 
 couUl all the bright saj-ings that have fillen fiom his 
 tongue be gathered, they would make a \dlume of good 
 things. 
 
 In 187 1, Mr. Brooke removed from Philadelphia to 
 New York, in which wider field of practice he has since 
 been engaged. Among his manj- famous cases may be 
 named the Woodhull and Claflin libel suit in connection 
 with the Beecher and Tilton scandal, and his defence of 
 Henry S. Ives, "The Young Napoleon of iMnance." In 
 oratory, he has made his mark in New York by his 
 famous orations on Robert pjiimet and at the unveiling 
 of the statue of Tom Moore, in Prospect Park, Brooklj-n, 
 wliere twenty thousand [people listened to his eloquent 
 words. Another notable event was his memorial oration 
 on the " Manchester Martyrs," in the Cooper Institute. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 35 
 
 PAYMASTER-GENERAL EDWIN STEWART. 
 
 Paymaster-General Edwin Stewart was born in 
 New York City, May 5, 1837. He is a graduate of 
 Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and of Wil- 
 liams College, from which institution he has received the 
 degrees of B.A. and M.A. Had it not been for the war 
 he would have followed a profession ; in fact, had already 
 commenced the study of law, when, in September, 1861, 
 he was appointed an assistant paymaster in the navy. 
 His first duty was on board the gun-boat " Pembina," 
 then fitting out at New York. The " Pembina" joined 
 the expedition against Port Ro\al, and on November 7, 
 1 861, took part in the bombaidmcnt and capture of the 
 forts of that place. 
 
 In April, 1862, Assistant Paj-master Stewart was pro- 
 moted to the grade of paymaster, and ordered to the 
 " Richmond," in the South Atlantic Squadron. The 
 " Richmond," in company with the " Hartford," partici- 
 pated in that series of brilliant naval engagements which 
 made the name of Farragut famous. 
 
 Paymaster Stewart was attached to the " Richmond" 
 during the three most eventful years of her career, and 
 saw memorable service, both on the blockade and in the 
 battles in which she was engaged, notably at Port Hud- 
 son and at the passage and capture of the forts in Mobile 
 Bay. 
 
 At the close of the war lie was assigned to duty on the 
 Lakes, being attached to the steamer " Michigan" from 
 1865 to 1868. Much of the duty of the "Michigan" 
 during those years consisted in watching and endeavor- 
 ing to frustrate the persistent and repeated efforts of the 
 Fenians to effect a landing in Canada. 
 
 The " Michigan" finally succeeded in capturing the 
 whole party as they were making their way across the 
 Niagara River. 
 
 In i86g, Paymaster Stewart was ordered to Washing- 
 ton, where for three )-ears he was in charge of the Pur- 
 chasing Pay- Office. 
 
 In the spring of 1872 he was appointed a member of 
 the Board of \'isitors to the Naval Academy. 
 
 In the fall of 1872 he was ordered to the " Hartford" 
 as fleet-paymaster on the Asiatic Station. The " Hart- 
 ford" went to China by way of the Mediterranean and 
 the Suez Canal, stopping at various places of interest en 
 route. Tile cruise lasted three years, a large portion of 
 the time being spent in the seaport cities of China and 
 Japan. 
 
 When homeward bound in 1875 the "Hartford" re- 
 ceived at Messina telegraphic orders to go to Tripoli and 
 settle a difficulty growing out of an alleged indignity 
 offered to the United States consul. On her arrival at 
 Tripoli she found the " Congress" already there under 
 similar orders. An apology for the indignity was de- 
 
 manded from the Pasha, and forty-eight hours named as 
 the time within which it must be made. 
 
 The two ships steamed into position before the city, 
 and in this menacing attitude awaited the Pasha's reply. 
 It came within the time specified. A full and satisfactory 
 apology was made, and the " Hartford" steamed away 
 on her homeward voyage. 
 
 Paymaster Stewart was commissioned " pay-inspector" 
 March 8, 1880, and for three years was on duty as in- 
 spector at the nav\--\-ard. New York. In 1882 lie was 
 ordered to the " Lancaster," and for nearly three years 
 was fleet-paymaster on the European Station, visiting 
 during the cruise most of the seaport cities of Europe 
 from St. Petersburg to Alexandria and Palestine. An 
 interesting feature of this cruise was the visit to Russia, 
 the " Lancaster" having been ordered to Cronstadt to 
 represent the United States on the occasion of the coro- 
 nation of the Czar. 
 
 In 1886, Pay-Inspector Stewart was assigned to the 
 important position of purchasing pa}'-officer in New York 
 City, on which duty he was continued until May 16, 
 1 890, when he was made paymaster-general of the navy. 
 He was selected for this position while he was still a pay- 
 inspector, with thirteen pay-directors senior to him on 
 the list. 
 
 The bureau of which he is chief directs all purchases 
 for the nav}-, has custody of all supplies, keeps account 
 of all appropriations for the navy, and is the financial 
 and business bureau of the department. 
 
 General Stewart is a member of the Loyal Legion, of 
 the University Club in New York, and of the Metropol- 
 itan and Army and Navy Clubs in Washington. 
 
 He has for many years been a ^unday-school super- 
 intendent, and is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
 1 Church. 
 
36 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 THOMAS EWING. 
 
 BRiGAniKK- AND Bkkvkt Majok-Gknekai. Tiiomas 
 EwiNc. was born at Lancaster, Ohio, August 7, 1839. 
 He is tlic tliird son of the distinguished statesman and 
 lawyer of that name. He graduated at Brown Univer- 
 sity and at the Cincinnati Law School. In 1856 he 
 married Miss Ellen Cox, a daughter of the Rev. William 
 Cox, a graduate of Princeton Seminary, distinguished for 
 his zeal and eloquence. In 1856 he settled in Kansas 
 and took a strong hand in defeating the conspiracy to 
 force the pro-slavery constitution on Kansas. In 1858- 
 1S59 he jjracticed law at Leavenworth in partncrshi]) with 
 Captain (afterwards General) William T. Sherman and 
 his brother, Hugh Ewing. In i860 he was elected chief- 
 justice of the Supreme Court of the new State for six 
 years, and filled the office with marked ability until 1862, 
 when he recruited and was a]5pointed colonel of the 
 Eleventh Kansas Infantry. That fall he commanded his 
 regiment in the engagements fought by the Army of the 
 Frontier in Arkansas, and for conspicuous gallantry in 
 the desperate battle of Prairie Grove was commissioned 
 a brigadier-general by .special order of President Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 In June, 1863, he took command of the District of the 
 Border, comprising Western Missouri anil Kansas, where 
 the smouldering fires of the old free-state struggle had 
 burst into furious and insupprcssible flames when the great 
 war broke out. Outlaws on botli sides ravaged the border 
 until the Missouri side had been depopulated, wasted, and 
 burned to the subsoil. The \endetta reached its clima.x 
 in the horrible massacre at Lawrence, in Jui\-, 1 863, which 
 was followed by Ewing's Order No. 1 1, compelling the 
 few scattered inhabitants of parts of three bonier counties 
 of Missouri, who were serving as spies and purveyors for 
 the guerillas, to move to the nearest military posts or 
 
 eastward from the troubled border. This order was ap- 
 proved by General Schofield and President Lincoln. 
 Its results were most beneficent. It caused little hard- 
 ship to non-combatants, and the support of the guerillas 
 being withdrawn, the ferocious vendetta ended at once 
 and forever. 
 
 Early in 1864, General Ewing took command of the 
 District of St. Louis, comprising all of Southeast Mis- 
 souri. Soon after. General Sterling Price suddenly crossed 
 the Arkansas River and invaded Missouri with an army 
 of twenty-two thousand men. His objective point was 
 St. Louis, which had been stripped of its garrison. Time 
 was indispensable to collect troops to defend St. Louis 
 and drive Price from the State. On the 26th of Septem- 
 ber, 1864, Ewing was despatched b)- General Rosecrans, 
 then commanding the department, to check and delay 
 Price's army, if possible, at the terminus of the Iron 
 Mountain Railroad, ninety miles south of St. Louis. 
 He collected ten hundred and eight}' men and encoun- 
 tered Price's advance in a defile of the Boston Mountains, 
 four miles south of Pilot Knob. Ewing was slowly 
 forced back into Fort Davidson, a small earth-work at 
 the entl of the railroad. Price thereupon sent Shelby's 
 division to cut P'.wing off from retreating on St. Louis, 
 while with Marmaduke's and Pagan's divisions, on the 
 afternoon of the 27th of September, he assaulted the 
 fort, lie was repulsed with great slaughter, leaving on 
 the plain more killed and wounded than the entire num- 
 ber of luving's command. He then placed batteries on 
 Shepherd's Mountain, which o\erhangs the fort, and 
 ciimnienced to shell the garrison, when darkness sus- 
 [)cnilcii the conflict. 
 
 Late that night Ewing spiked his guns, except two 
 which he took with him, and, blowing up the magazine, 
 slipi^ed through the enemy's lines b\- an unfrequented 
 road and struck out for St. Louis. At daybreak he en- 
 countered Shelby's pickets, and thereupon turned west 
 and, marching rapidly all night, reached a ridge dividing 
 the Cortois from the Huzza, where the enemy overtook 
 him next morning. With his two field-guns he held the 
 [)ursucrs at ba\' until dark, when he had to descend to the 
 plain. Here he was heavilj' outnumbered and nearly 
 surrounded, but b\' desperate fighting and marching 
 reached Harrison Station, four miles distant, where, 
 finding a large ijuantity of railroad ties, he intrenched 
 his command so formidabh- that night that the next day 
 the enemy abandoned the pursuit. By this campaign he 
 so delayed and crippled the invading army as to secure 
 the -safety of St. Louis and contribute largely to Price's 
 expulsion from the State. 
 
 Since the war General Pawing has been conspicuous at 
 the bar anil in Congress and as Denxocratic candidate for 
 governor of Ohio, for ten years past practicing law suc- 
 cessfull)', chiefl}' in New York City. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 37 
 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, the ablest jurist and states- 
 man of the early period of the United States, and des- 
 tined long to be classed among the greatest men of 
 the great American republic, was born on the island of 
 Nevis, one of the Antilles, January ii, 1757, his father 
 being a Scotch emigrant to the West Indies, his mother 
 the daughter of a Huguenot physician. The opportu- 
 nities for school training afforded on the island were 
 very limited, and at the age of thirteen the boy entered 
 the counting-house of Mr. Nicholas Cruger, of the port 
 of Saint Croi.x, in which he remained for three years, 
 taking every opportunity to improve himself by reading, 
 and giving particular attention to the subjects of trade 
 and finance. During these years he was left for a period 
 in sole charge of the house, and managed it with a skill 
 and judgment which few men could have surpassed. 
 
 In 1773 he came to New York, an opportunity for a 
 more liberal education having opened to him. Here he 
 spent a year in the grammar school at Elizabethtown, 
 and in the spring of 1774 entered King's (now Columbia) 
 College as a student, being permitted by special privi- 
 lege to pursue his studies on a plan laid out by himself 
 On the outbreak of the troubles in Boston, Hamilton 
 set himself to stud\- the political question between the 
 colonics and the mother-country, applying himself to it 
 with his usual deep research and close reasoning. As 
 a result he felt it his dut\- to take part with the colonists 
 against the " omnipotence of Parliament." With the 
 ardor which was a constituent of his nature, he took an 
 active part in the public discussions of the day, and 
 before the end of his eighteenth year had established 
 his reputation as an orator and writer. 
 
 While still in college he joined the New York militia, 
 beginning his military life as captain of its first company 
 of artillery employed in the Continental service. He 
 c[ualified himself for this position by instruction under 
 an experienced officer and se\eral mcnths of daily drill 
 duty. W^ith his company he took acti\e part in the 
 battle of Long Island, and at Harlem Plains, Chatter- 
 ton's Hill, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Princeton. His 
 courage and skill as a soldier attracted the admiring 
 attention of Washington, and in January, 1777, he be- 
 came the private secretary of the commander-in-chief, 
 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He continued on 
 Washington's staff till April, 1781, and in 17S0 was 
 married to Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of the distin- 
 guished soldier and statesman, General Philip Schuyler. 
 After a short period of absence from the army, he 
 returned to it, distinguished himself by a brilliant attack, 
 and was present with a command at the surrender of 
 Lord Cornwallis. 
 
 During this period Hamilton's ability as a statesman 
 was clearly displayed. The defects of the existing con- 
 federation of States were exposed by him, and a letter 
 which he wrote in September, 1780, contained the first 
 suggestion towards a more permanent form of govern- 
 ment. In the following year, in a letter to Robert Morris, 
 he laid down a complete scheme of national finance, in- 
 cluding a plan for a United States bank. He was a 
 member of the convention of delegates at Annapolis in 
 1786, and was a very active agent in bringing about the 
 Constitutional Convention of 1787, over whose delibera- 
 tions he exercised an important influence. At this period 
 he contributed his profound political writings to the 
 Federalist. 
 
 In the following year it was the eloquence and political 
 sagacity of Hamilton that induced the New York con- 
 vention to ratif}' the Constitution, converting a minority 
 into a triumphant majority. On the formation of the 
 new government, Washington appointed him Secretary 
 of the Treasury. The appointment proved a most wise 
 one. Hamilton achieved an immediate success in adjust- 
 ing the fiscal affairs of the countrj' which is without 
 parallel, and prosperity quickly followed his judicious 
 measures. His state papers written during the two 
 periods of W^ashington's administration are regarded as 
 masterpieces in their particular line. In his later life 
 Hamilton rose to the highest level in the legal profession 
 in New York. While thus engaged, his active interest 
 in public affairs brought him the enmity of Aaron Burr. 
 An insult followed, a challenge, and a duel, and on 
 July II, 1804, Hamilton fell mortally wounded before 
 the pistol of Burr. Thus died one of the noblest of 
 American citizens bj' the hand of one of the most 
 despicable. 
 
38 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL STHl'HEN BLAKHR LUCE. 
 
 Reak-Admikal Stephen Blakek Luce has been 
 upon so many stations, and in so many different kinds 
 of duty, that it would be impossible, within our limited 
 space, to enumerate them. He was born in New York ; 
 entered the naval service as midshipman in 1 841, when 
 thirteen years and a half old. In 1889, by operation of 
 law, he was placed upon the retired list, having then a 
 total sea-.scrvice of thirty -three years; other duty, twelve 
 years and three months ; and " uncmplo)cd," one year, 
 eleven months. While a midshipman he served in the 
 Mediterranean and on the coast of Brazil ; and from 
 1845 to 1848, in the "Columbus," 74, circumnavigating 
 the globe, visiting Japan, and serving on the coa.st of 
 California during the Mexican War. He next went to 
 the Naval Academy, becoming passed midshipman in 
 1848. After a three years' cruise in the Pacific, he was 
 upon astronomical duty, the Home Squadron, and the 
 Coast Survey, up to September, 1855, when he was pro- 
 moted to be master, and to lieutenant the day after. 
 After a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and the West 
 Indies, he went to the Naval Academy as assistant in- 
 structor. While there the ci\il war broke out. Lieu- 
 tenant Luce was ordered to the frigate " Wabash," on 
 the Atlantic blockade, and in her took part in the actions 
 at Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal. He commanded a 
 howitzer launch of the " Wabash," in a reconnoissance in 
 force, and an engagement at Port Ro)-al Ferry, by com- 
 bined military and naval forces. In January, 1862, he 
 was ordered to the Naval Academy, which had been 
 removed to Newport during the war, and in July of that 
 
 year was commissioned lieutenant-commander. In the 
 summer of 1 863 he commanded the " Macedonian," on 
 her practice cruise to Europe, and, upon his return, was 
 ordered to the command of the monitor " Nantucket," 
 of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. 
 
 While in command of " Nantucket" he engaged Forts 
 Moultrie and Sumter a number of times. In August, 
 1864, he was ordered to coniniantl the "Sonoma," 
 double-cnder, of the North Atlantic Squadron, but was 
 almiist immcdiateK" transferred to the command of the 
 " Canandaigua," and from her to the " Pontiac," where 
 he remained until June, 1865. While in command of the 
 , " Pontiac" engaged Battery Marshall. In January, 1865, 
 reported to General Sherman, at Savannah, for duty in 
 connection with army operations. With great difficulty 
 got the " Pontiac" up to Sister's Ferr)-, fortj' miles above 
 Savannah, and guarded the pontoon bridge there while 
 Slocum's wing passed into South Carolina. Lieutenant- 
 Commander Luce next ser\cd as commandant of mid- 
 shipmen at Annapolis ; commanding, in 1 866, the 
 practice squadron of si.x vessels. In 1867 he com- 
 manded the practice cruise, which extended to European 
 waters, with three ships. In 1868 he took the same 
 squadron on a practice cruise, visiting West Point, and 
 then going to Europe. He had been commissioned as 
 commander in 1866; commanded the " Mohongo," on 
 the Pacific, and the "Juniata," of the European Squad- 
 ron. In September, 1872, he was serving as equipment 
 officer at the Boston Na\y-Vard, and was commissioneil 
 captain in December of that year. During the " \'ir- 
 ginius" excitement he was ordered to command the 
 " Minnesota," but returned to his former duty in a siiort 
 time. I lis next duty was the command of the " Hart- 
 ford," from w hich he went to that of inspector of train- 
 ing-ships, in which he has always shown an enlightened 
 interest and fostering care. From Januar)- i, 1878, to 
 January 1, 1881, he was in command of the "Minne- 
 sota" training-ship, on our coast. From .April, 188 1, to 
 January, 1884, he was in command of the Training 
 Scpiadron, constantly cruising. Commoilore in i88i,he 
 was the next year ordered as president of the Com- 
 mission on the Sale of the Nav\'- Yards. In July, 1884, 
 he was ordered to the command of the North Atlantic 
 Squadron, as acting rear-admiral ; and in September of 
 the same j-ear made president of the U. S. Naval War 
 College, at Coastus Harbor, Rhode Island. He was 
 promoted to rear-admiral in October, 1885. From June, 
 1S86, to Februaiy, 1889, he was in command of the 
 North .Atlantic Station. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 39 
 
 ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF GEORGE W. MELVILLE. 
 
 It is rare to find liigh professional ability and the ca- 
 pacity to attend scrupulously t<i office-work and details 
 combined in the same indi\idLial with the daring sjjirit 
 and dauntless courage which lead to gallant deeds in the 
 face of the most distressing conditions under w^hich men 
 can be placed. The " sound body" enabled the " sound 
 mind" to do such things as Melville has accomplished, — 
 for his life has been one of strange and stirring ad- 
 venture. 
 
 Although his name will ever be associated with the 
 " Jeannette Expedition," he was a volunteer for two other 
 well-known similar ventures to the far North, each of 
 which accomplished their mission " tiUo, cito, jiicniidc" — 
 owing, in great measure, to the knowledge which he had 
 of the things to be provided, — a complete outfit being 
 the necessary adjunct of success in undertakings of this 
 nature. 
 
 De Long, in his journals, bears full testimony to his 
 cheerful and steady co-operation during that trying drift 
 through entirely unknown seas. When the supreme 
 moment came, and w^ith there own resources cut down to 
 the lowest amount, the party had to make for an un- 
 known shore, over a vast extent of ice and water, Mel- 
 ville was equal to the occasion. He commanded one of the 
 three boats engaged in the retreat, and accomplished the 
 feat of bringing that whole btiat's-crew out alive, — while 
 the others perished, either in the icy waters of the Arctic 
 or the equally inhospitable waste about the Lena delta. 
 Most men would have thought that the}' had done 
 enough ; but, after a few days of rest to recuperate his 
 forces, he again took his life in his hands and led a 
 party which discov-ered, far down in that lonely, wintry 
 waste, the bodies of De Long, Dr. Ambler, and their 
 ill-starred companions. One boat, he rightly judged, 
 had been lost during a night of storm, as they were 
 approaching the land. In searching for the other boat's- 
 crew " he fought his perilous and painful way, mile by 
 mile, through the rigors of perpetual winter and floating 
 archipelagoes of ice along the Arctic coast for over five 
 hundred miles, surviving the privations which had been 
 fatal to so many, and persevered until his search was re- 
 warded by the recovery of all the records of the " Jean- 
 nette Expedition." In the face of obstacles presented by 
 the worst season, he penetrated to the mouth of the Lena 
 in his search, and left no doubt that the unfortunate crew 
 of the third boat had not succeedetl in reaching the shore. 
 As it was, he contributed to the geography of the world 
 a new' and important chart of that region. 
 
 It was under his charge that the rude but massive 
 tomb was built which sheltered the poor remains of 
 the lost, " and the rites of Christian burial w.ere per- 
 formed over these martyrs to science and humanity, 
 where perpetual winter had embalmed them." They 
 
 were, however, subsequently exhumed b}' order ot the 
 United States government and brought home, to be 
 laid among the dust of their kin, with impres.sive cere- 
 monies. The Russian government offered every assist- 
 ance to the officers who accomplished this pious mission, 
 while our own government conferred substantial rewards 
 upon those who had aided Melville in his extremity. 
 For his Arctic services Engineer Melville afterwards 
 received special promotion, with the approbation of the 
 whole navy and of the country at large. 
 
 Engineer-in-chief Melville was born in New York, of 
 Scottish lineage, on January lo, 1841, and his education 
 was acquired in the public schools, the school of the 
 Christian Brothers, and the Brooklyn Polytechnic School. 
 
 He entered the navy at the outbreak of the civil war, 
 and served well and faithfully, both during that ti->Mng 
 period and afterwards, — when peace came, — on our own 
 coast, in the West Indies, in Brazil, and on the East India 
 Station ; beside duty at navy->-ards. He was everywhere 
 a favorite, on account of his cheerful, modest, and unos- 
 tentatious deportment, as well as for the zeal, bravery, 
 and endurance which he showed on all occasions which 
 were calculated to bring forth those qualities, — and 
 they are not few, even in the ordinary course of service. 
 Melville was made engineer-in-chief of the navy and 
 chief of the Bureau of Steam-Engineering in August, 
 1887, and in January, 1892, was recommis.sioned in the 
 same office, with the entire approbation of the whole 
 navy, as well as that of the great industrial establish- 
 ments with which he necessarily comes in contact in 
 conducting a vast business. 
 
 As an instance of his ability to accomplish unusual 
 feats, and his capacity for extraordinary effort, we may 
 mention the fact that in the summer of 1887 he prepared 
 the general designs of the machinery of five vessels of 
 the new na\y. 
 
40 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MORIT/ r.lSNER. 
 
 MoKiTZ EisxF.K was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1850, 
 and after receiving his education in liis native cit)- became 
 an apprentice in a well-knnwn drug house of that place. 
 After acquiring some knowledge of tlie business, lie came 
 to America when nineteen years old, and settled in Phila- 
 delphia. Here he served as clerk for a short time with 
 a wholesale drug house, and afterwards with Cramer & 
 Small, whose establishment was famous at the time as 
 one of the best and most reliable stores not only in 
 Philadelphia but in the United States. Here he com- 
 pleted the education in the business he had begun in 
 Vienna, worked his \\i\y up to the position of first as- 
 sistant in a short time, and finall), in i8<So, purchased 
 the business of the firm, w ith the aid of his former em- 
 ployers, Messrs. Aschonbach & Miller, and became its 
 successor. In addition to his business interests, Mr. 
 Eisner became the regular correspondent ff)r a number 
 of German pharmaceutical journals. 
 
 In 1873, Mr. Eisner visited his native city for the first 
 time since leaving it as a youth, acting now as corre- 
 .spondcnt for the Pltilndclphia Dcmokrat during the 
 
 World's Exposition in that city. He was also attached 
 to the staff of the Xcic York Trihiiiu\\\\\\\ Ha\-ard Ta\-lor 
 and G. \ . Smallc}-, who were in \'ienna at the time. lie 
 acquired a taste for newspaper work there and also 
 upon his return home, and was connected with the 
 Pliiladclphia Dcmokrat for about one j'ear, a service 
 which went far to fit him for his later work. In De- 
 cember, 1874, Mr. Eisner married Miss Anna Zeitz, a 
 young lady born in Philadelphia, Returning at the 
 solicitation of his former employers to the drug trade, he 
 re-entered the employ of Cramer & Small, and succeeded 
 them in business in the year above stated. The drug 
 business, however, did not give him sufficient latitude for 
 the display of his cnerg)-, and, knowing that the treat- 
 ment with natural remedies was destined to increase in 
 the United States, he began to import the best-known 
 mineral waters of F.urope and introduce them to the 
 medical profession in the United States. After as.soci- 
 ating with himself Mr. Mcndelson, the firm of ICisner & 
 Mcndelson introduced the now celebrated Malt l-ixtract 
 of Johann Hoff in the United States. The demand for 
 this article soon increased to such an extent that the 
 manufacturer hatl to erect a large factory in the I'nitcd 
 States to sui^ply it. The firm removed its heatl-quarters 
 to New York in 1887, and became the representatives of 
 the city of Carlsbad, the celebrated mineral water resort 
 in Austria, for the sale of the products of said sjjring in 
 the United .States, also of the French Government Springs 
 of Vich)', Contrexeville Springs, Hunyad Matyas Spring, 
 and many of the mo.st famous springs of Europe and 
 America. In fact, this house is to-day known as the first 
 house in that line here and abroad. The mercantile and 
 financial part of the business is under Mr. Mendelsons 
 management, while Mr. lusner attemls to the advertising 
 department, a service to which his journalistic experience 
 well fits him. 
 
 Mr. lusner was a member of many German societies 
 in Philadelphia, and a director of the Philadelphia 
 Maenncrchor and of the German Club. Mr. Eisner 
 is also a director of the Freund.schaft Society of New 
 York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 41 
 
 JOSEPH MENDELSON. 
 
 Joseph Mendelson, of the well-known firm of Eisner 
 & Mendelson, is a native of Austria, having been born 
 at Hohenems, in that country, March 20, 1852. In July, 
 1859, he landed with his parents in Philadclpiiia, they 
 having joined the tide of emigration setting so strongly 
 towards the New World. The youthful emigrant was 
 entered as a student in the public schools of Philadelphia, 
 and continued in the grades of primary and grammar 
 schools till 1864, when, at twelve years of age, he was 
 removed from school to begin the business of life. His 
 father, Daniel Mendelson, had established a dry-goods 
 business at Second Street and Girard Avenue, and, 
 although not knowing the language, was one of the 
 pioneer advertisers of the dry-goods business in the daily 
 papers, and the first advertiser in that line in the Pliila- 
 delphia Dcinokrat. Young Mendelson entered his father's 
 store, his two brothers, who had taken part in the busi- 
 ness, having left it to join the army during the war. 
 At the end of two years, however, the business not 
 proving successful, he began trade for himself in the 
 line of selling notions, etc., to the small stores around 
 the city ; and in 1867 entered the wholesale notion house 
 which his brothers had opened on Market Street after 
 the war. 
 
 In 1869, being still but se\'entecn years of age, he 
 opened a retail store, in partnership with another brother, 
 at Tenth and South Streets. This was discontinued after 
 a year, and he continued in the jobbing business alone 
 till 1873, giving all his earnings up to that time to his 
 parents. In 1873 he left Philadelphia as a traveling 
 salesman for the firm of Feust & Rice, manufacturers of 
 fancy cabinet ware. His connection with this firm con- 
 tinued for five years, during which his journe\-s took him 
 to every section of the United States. 
 
 At the end of this period of service, ]\Ir. Mendelson 
 married Miss Hattie August, of New York, the daughter 
 of a gentleman who had been a resident of Warrington, 
 North Carolina, at the outbreak of the war, but, moved 
 by Union sentiments, had freed his sla\-es when Fort 
 Sumter was fired upon, and removed to New York. Mr. 
 Mendelson returned to Philadelphia after his marriage 
 and started there the firm of M. Elkin & Co., manufac- 
 turers of ladies' and children's fine shoes, a line of busi- 
 ness which proved very successful. The firm was dis- 
 solved, however, in 1881, and Mr. Mendelson then went 
 into partnership with Mr. H. Gardiner, with whom he 
 continued for a year. In 1882 he entered into the firm 
 with which he is at present connected, that of Eisner & 
 
 Mendelson, wholesale di'uggists and importers, situated 
 at 318-320 Race Street. Mr. Mendelson had, as will be 
 seen, for years actively tried one business after another, 
 with an energy which could not fail to command success 
 in the end. This has come to him in his present line of 
 business, in which he has been highly successful, the firm 
 being now engaged in the sale of the world-renowned 
 Johann Hoff's Malt Extract and various mineral waters. 
 In 1886 they started a branch store in New York, and 
 after a year there, finding that the branch had grown 
 larger than the original Philadelphia house, they con- 
 cluded to remove their entire business to that city. 
 It is now situated at 152-154 Franklin Street, New 
 York. 
 
 The business of this firm has grown until it is now 
 large and extensive, with important interests in Europe, 
 the house having an office in Berlin, Germany. The 
 mercantile and financial part of it is under Mr. Mendel- 
 son's management, while Mr. Eisner attends to the ad- 
 vertising department. During the past ten years, Mr. 
 Mendelson has tra\-elled widely in the interests of his 
 business and for other purposes, his tours having ex- 
 tended to every large city of the United States and to 
 most of the countries of Europe. He visited the Inter- 
 national Medical Congress held a few years ago in Ber- 
 lin, and has been an earnest and intelligent observer of 
 the people of foreign lands and their manners and cus- 
 toms. He is a member of several social clubs in New 
 York, and also of the Masonic Lodge, No. 206, and of 
 the Ancient Chapter, No. i. 
 
42 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 LIRUTHNANT-COLONhL AND BRHVHT MAiOR- 
 GENERAL GOUVERNEUR K. WARREN. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel and Bkevet Major-General 
 GouvERNEUR K. Wakren was born in New York, and 
 graduated from the Military Academy July i, 1850. He 
 was promoted brevet second lieutenant Topographical 
 Engineers the same day ; second lieutenant September i , 
 
 1854, antl first lieutenant July I, 1S56. He served on 
 topographical and li)-drographicai surve\- of the delta of 
 the Mississippi; on board for the iiniJniveniLiit of tiic 
 canal around the falls of the Ohio ; on surveys for the 
 improvement of Rock Island and Des Moines rapids, 
 Mississippi River; compiling general map and reports of 
 Pacific Railroad explorations ; on Sioux I'^xpedition of 
 
 1855, and engaged in the action of ]5Iue Water; prepar- 
 ing maps of Dakota and Nebraska, and at the Militarj- 
 Academy as assistant and principal assistant professor of 
 mathematics, to A])ril 27, 1861. 
 
 lie was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the E'ifth New 
 York Infantry (Zouaves) May 14, 1 861, and colonel of 
 the same August 31, 1861. He served in the Depart- 
 ment of Virginia from May to July, and was engaged in 
 the action at Hig Bethel, Virginia, June 10, 1861. He 
 was then in the defences of Haltimore, and constructing 
 fort on Federal Hill to March, 1862, being temporarilj- 
 detached on an expedition to Northam|>ton and Accomac 
 Counties, Virginia, in November and December, 1861. 
 He then participated with his regiment in all the cam- 
 paigns of the Ami)- of the Potomac until Maj- I, 1865, 
 and was engaged in the siege of ^'orktown, skirmish on 
 Pamunkey River, cajiture of liano\er Court-House, 
 battle of Gaines's Mill (wounded), Malvern Hill, and 
 skirmish at Harrison's Landing; battle of seconil Hull 
 Run, skirmish near Centreville, battle of Antietam, and 
 skirmish with the enemy's rear-guard on the Potomac. 
 
 He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers Sep- 
 
 tember 26, 1862, and was engaged with his brigade in 
 the march to Falmouth and the battle of Fredericksburg. 
 On the 4th of P^ebruary, 1863, he was chief topograph- 
 ical engineer of the Army of the Potomac, and was 
 engaged in action on Orange Pike, storming of Maiye 
 Heights, and battle of Salem. He was appointed major- 
 general of volunteers May 3, 1863, anil was engaged in 
 the battle of Gettysburg (wounded). Then he was em- 
 ployed in the construction of bridges and making recon- 
 noissances while pursuing the enemy from that place. 
 He was in temporar)- command of the Second Army 
 Corps from August 12, 1863, to March 24, 1864, and 
 participated in the movement to Culpepcr and the Rap- 
 idan, and engaged in the combat at Auburn and Bristoe 
 Station, skirmish at Bull Run and Kell)''s P^ord, opera- 
 tions of Mine Run, and demonstration upon the enem\- 
 across Morton's Ford, until I""ebruar\' 6, 1864, when he 
 was placed in command of the P'ifth Army Corps, with 
 which he was engaged in the battles of the Wilderness, 
 Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomy Creek, Bethesda 
 Church, Cold Harbor, White Oak Swamp, assaults on 
 Petersburg, siege of Petersburg, Mine Explosion, actions 
 for the occupation of the Weldon Railroad, combat of 
 Pecble's I'arni, Chapel House, skirmish near Hatcher's 
 Run, destruction of Weldon Railroad to Meherrin River, 
 combat near Dabney's Mill, movement to White Oak 
 Ridge, and battle of I'ive P'orks, Virginia, April i, 1865, 
 and then in citniniand of the defences of Petersburg to 
 May I, 1865. 
 
 General Warren resigned his volunteer connnission 
 May 27, 1865, and was brevetted for " gallant and meri- 
 torious services," lieutenant-colonel, June 27, 1862, at 
 the battle of Gaines's Mill ; colonel, July 4, 1863, at the 
 battle of Gett)'sburg, Pennsj-lvania ; brigadier-general, 
 March 13, 1865, at the battle of Bristoe Station; and 
 major-general, March 13, 1^63, in the field during the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 General Warren's career had been a remarkable one, 
 and he rose gradually in rank and trusted position until 
 relieved of his command by General Sheridan, just after 
 the battle of Imvc Forks, regarding which General Abbot, 
 in the summary of his case as established by testimony 
 before a court of inquiry, says : 
 
 "This charge had put an end to all lesistancc. Sur- 
 rounded by his captures and flushed with victory, Warren 
 sent back a staff officer to report to General Sheridan, 
 and asked for further orders. These orders came in 
 writing. They relieved him from the command of his 
 corps, and ordered him to report to (leiieral (jrant. " 
 
 General Warren was promoted lieuten.int-coloiiel of 
 engineers, March 4, 1 879, and served from the tiuK' the 
 war closed until his death upon many important duties 
 connected with the Coqis of pjigineers. He died Augu.st 
 2, 1882, at Newport, Rhode Island, aged fifty-two. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 43 
 
 RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. 
 
 Among the \-oungcr literary men of tin's countr\-, none 
 has attained a more rapiil or promising reputation than 
 the subject of our present sketch, Richard Harding 
 Davis, who was born in Philadelphia in 1864, and is 
 now, at thirty >-ears of age, classed among the leading 
 litt'eralciirs of the United States. He may be looked on 
 as an author by heredity, being the son of L. Clarke 
 Davis, the editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and 
 of Rebecca Harding Davis, one of the most distinguished 
 of the women authors of America. The literary career 
 of Mrs. Da\is is too well known to call for more than 
 passing mention. She was born at Wheeling, West 
 Virginia, about 1840, married j\Ir. Da\is in 1863, and is 
 the authoress of a number of highly original and effective 
 American novels, including " Life in the Iron Mills," 
 "Waiting for the Verdict," "Dallas Galbraith," "John 
 Andross," and others, which have given her a wide 
 reputation among the readers of the higher grade of 
 fictitious literature. 
 
 Mr. Davis received his education at Lehigh and the 
 Johns Hopkins LTniversities. After graduating from the 
 latter institution he turned his attention to literary work, 
 stimulated, doubtless, by the example and success of his 
 parents, and in 1887 began his journalistic labors as a 
 reporter on the Philadelphia Record. He continued en- 
 gaged in this line of literar\' labor for two years, part of 
 this time being spent in England as correspondent to the 
 home press. At the end of this time he went to New 
 York, under an engagement to write special articles for 
 the Evening Sun. 
 
 While thus actively engaged in journalistic labors, the 
 young seeker for literary fame aspired to higher honors 
 than were likely to come to the reporter or correspondent. 
 He had inherited an artistic imagination from both par- 
 ents, and showed promising powers in the line of fiction, 
 which were destined to bring him an early and merited 
 reputation. This came to him with the publication of 
 his rac}- and original story of " Gallagher," which proved 
 a complete and brilliant success, and brought the young 
 author into sudden prominence in the literary arena. The 
 story, as most readers will know, is that of a bo\' in a 
 newspaper office, wiio succeeds by quickness of resources, 
 agility, and indomitable pluck in bringing important news 
 to the paper under circumstances in which any boy with 
 less " go" in him than Gallagher would have failed. Mr. 
 Davis's knowledge of the inner life of the office served 
 him in good stead in this narrative, which is so bright 
 and breez)- that it took the reading world by storm. 
 
 His success won immediate recognition. He was 
 
 offered and accepted in 1890 the editorial management of 
 Harper's Weekly, and lield it successfully for a j'ear, wiien 
 he resigned it in order to devote his time wholly to 
 literary work of a more original and attractive class. 
 During the period of his editorial work he had been 
 producing from time to time short stories of marked 
 originalit}- of incident and handling, through nian\' of 
 which mo\es a character whom he has made famous in 
 recent fiction. This is the eas\'-going and clear-minded 
 aristocrat " Van Bibber," who in the hands of our word 
 artist has made his appearance in a quick succession of 
 amusing stories and striking situations. Mr. Da\is's 
 stories have been published in book form, including a 
 volume made up of " Gallagher" and other stories, " Van 
 Bibber and Others," and " Stories for Boys." 
 
 His literary work, however, has been by no means 
 confined to fiction. His experience abroad has given 
 rise to striking pictures of English life, published in 
 Harper's Magazine, and to his descriptive volume, " Our 
 English Cousins." He has published, besides, an his- 
 torical work, " The Rulers of the Mediterranean," and 
 " The E.xiles." 
 
 Mr. Davis is probabK- the most popular of the younger 
 corps of American writers. His books have been trans- 
 lated into French, German, and Italian ; while he has 
 received from the Sultan of Turkey the Order of the 
 Medjidie, in recognition of the justice of his descriptions 
 of Eastern affairs. He is still young in the art of litera- 
 ture, and there is a promising future before him in the 
 various fields of authorship to which he has devoted 
 himself. _ 
 
44 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN LHSTHR WAIJ.ACK. 
 
 The Wallacks were a family of dramatists. James 
 William Wallack, born in London in 1795, the son of a 
 prominent London actor, and father of the subject of 
 our sketch, was an actor of admired powers, higlily ver- 
 satile in ability, and particularly brilliant in light comedy. 
 His brother Henry, and iiis two sisters, Maiy and Eliza- 
 beth, were also prominent on the stage. He began his 
 stage life at the age of seven, and made his first appear- 
 ance in America in 1818, in the character of Macbeth, at 
 the Park Theatre, New York. His son, John Lester, 
 was born in New York, January 1, 1820. The father 
 soon after returned to London, where he became stage 
 manager of the Drurj- Lane Theatre, and the son was 
 brought up in that city till twenty jears of age, when 
 he received a commission in the Uritish army as lieu- 
 tenant. After two years' military .service he resigned, 
 moved by an hereditary predilection for the stage, and 
 made his first appearance at Dublin, in the character of 
 Don Pedro in " Much Ado about Nothing. " He pkned 
 here two seasons, then for a short time in Edinburgh, 
 and made his tiibid in London, November 16, 1846. Uj> 
 In this time he was known only as John W. Lester. 
 
 The rising young actor come to the city of his birth, 
 and of his subsetpient career, in 1S47, where he made 
 his first appearance, under the above name, at the Broad- 
 way Theatre, on September 27, as Sir Charles Cold- 
 stream in Houcicault's play of "Used Up." He re- 
 mained for two years at this theatre, jjlaying in a variety 
 of characters, then acted in succession at the Bowery, Bur- 
 ton's, and Niblo's Theatres, and afterwards at Brougham's 
 Lyceum, where he became ver>- favorably known, and 
 was cast in tiie leading parts. He had now appeared 
 
 in Hamlet, Romeo, and other Shakespearian parts, and 
 was rapidly acquiring a reputation as an actor of unusual 
 abilities. 
 
 In 1852 he made his first appearance, under his father's 
 auspices, in the theatre on Broome Street, then managed 
 by the elder Wallack, and afterwards known as Wallack's 
 Theatre. Here he took the leading parts, and acted as 
 stage manager, remaining with his father until 1862, 
 when the latter retired, and died in 1864. The elder 
 Wallack was an actor of great histrionic abilit}-, antl of 
 much success as a manager, owing to the excellence of 
 his stock companies, and his care as to propriety of 
 costume and scenery. He was eminent as Rolla in 
 " Pizarro," and in similar parts, being most popular in 
 comedy. 
 
 After the retirement of his father, Lester took his 
 place as proprietor, o[)ening soon after a second Wal- 
 lack's Theatre, — now known as the Star Theatre. He 
 continued his father's methods of management, keeping 
 a stock company of the highest grade, and doing his 
 utmost to make his house the liome of the legitimate 
 drama in the metropolis. His marked ability as an 
 actor, particularly in young men's parts and in light 
 comedy, and his unusual versatility, niaile him a great 
 favorite in New York, and also throughout the countr)-, 
 where he matle occasional starring excursions, which 
 were attended with remarkable success. His repertoire 
 of characters was one of the largest possessed by any 
 American actor, his most effective i)arts being Claude 
 Melnotte in " The Latly of Lyons," Harry Dornton 
 in " The Road to Ruin," Dan h'elix in " The Wonder," 
 Charles Surface in " The School for .Scandal," St. Pierre 
 in " The Wife, " Young Marlowe in " She Stoops to 
 Concjuer," and Sir Charles Coldstream in "Used Up." 
 He also became a favorite in " The Serious Family" and 
 " Rosedale," the latter a highly popular play of his own 
 production. 
 
 In the season of 1882-1883 the attractixe new Wal- 
 lack's Theatre, at Broadwaj- and Thirtieth Street, was 
 opened with the "School for Scandal," with a ver)- fine 
 cast. Yet despite Wallack's success as manager and 
 actor, he was not successful financially, partly from ex- 
 travagance and generosity, and on May 21, 1S88, when 
 he retired from the management of Wallack's Theatre, 
 he was almost penniless. His friends accorilingly got 
 up for iiim a benefit testimonial on a magnificent scale, 
 the |)lay being " Hamlet," the locality the Metropolitan 
 Opera House, the cast including most of the leading 
 American actors. It produced the large sum of $20,000, 
 unprecedented on such an occasion. Wallack did not 
 live long to enjoy it, dying at Stamford, Connecticut, 
 September 6, 18S8. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 45 
 
 GEORGE CLINTON. 
 
 George Clinton, fourth Vice-President of tlie United 
 States, was born in Ulster County, New York, July 26, 
 1739. He was the youngest son of Colonel Charles 
 Clinton, who had come to this country in 1729, and was 
 the grandson of an officer in the army of Charles I. 
 The son was trained b\- his father, and in earh- life 
 showed great enterprise, accompanj-ing his father in 
 Bradstreet's expedition against Fort Frontenac, in 1756, 
 and doing duty on a priwiteer during the French and 
 Indian War. At tiie age of twenty he was made clerk 
 of the Ulster County Court. Afterwards he studied law, 
 and in 1764 was admitted to the bar and appointed 
 surrogate. His political career began in 1768, when he 
 was elected to the Colonial Assembly, in which he soon 
 became prominent as a defender of the liberties of the 
 people. 
 
 At the period of the outbreak of the Revolutionary 
 War, in 1775, he was a member of the Continental Con- 
 gress, and as such, in 1776, voted for the Declaration of 
 Independence. Before this momentous document was 
 ready for his signature, however, he was called upon to 
 serve his country in another capacity, as commander 
 of a brigade of militia, a position which was confirmed 
 by Congress in the next year by his appointment to the 
 grade of brigadier-general. He rendered distinguished 
 service in this capacity, and became known as the 
 "champion of the Highlands," while in 1777 he de- 
 fended I'ort Montgomery against Sir Henry Clinton, 
 who attacked it for the purpose of opening communi- 
 cations with General Burgoyne. Though unsuccessful 
 in the defense of this post, General Chnton succeeded 
 in preventing the co-operation aimed at between the two 
 British commanders. 
 
 General Clinton's military career was soon changed 
 for a ci\il one. He served as a deputy to the New York 
 Provincial Congress which framed the first State con- 
 stitution in 1776, and at the first election held under 
 this constitution, April 20, 1777, he was elected to both 
 offices of governor and lieutenant-governor. He accepted 
 the former position, and continued to serve as governor 
 of New York till 1795, being five times re-elected. He 
 found himself much harassed in his administration during- 
 the war by the Tories, but his numerous re-elections 
 show the high regard in which he was held by the 
 people. In 1782, on the occasion of the evacuation of 
 New York by the British, Governor Clinton marched 
 in with Washington to take possession. In 1788 he 
 presided over the State convention for the adoption of 
 the Federal Constitution. To this instrument he was 
 opposed, on the ground that it too greatly restricted 
 the power of the States, but on learning that nine States 
 
 had adopted it, he and his party withdrew their opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1789, Governor Clinton urged the State Legislature 
 to encourage the establishment of common schools, by 
 setting aside lands in each county for their support, and 
 in 1 79 1 became an advocate of improvement of internal 
 communication by canals, thus inaugurating the move- 
 ment which was afterwards to be carried to completion 
 by his nephew, De Witt Clinton. 
 
 In 1792, on the occasion of the second election of 
 Washington to the Presidency, Clinton was nominated 
 by the Anti-Federal party for Vice-President, and re- 
 ceived fifty electoral votes to seventy-seven for John 
 Adams. John Jay opposed him as candidate for the 
 governorship of New York in 1792, and received a ma- 
 jority of the votes, but the votes of several counties 
 were rejected for some informality, and Clinton was 
 declared elected. In 1795 he declined a renomination, 
 on the plea that he had served the public in elective 
 offices for thirty years. Yet in 1801 Aaron Burr per- 
 suaded him to run again for the governorship, as candi- 
 date of the Anti-Federal party, and he was once more 
 elected. Burr's skillful management in this election 
 brought him into such prominence before the country 
 that he was elected to the Vice-Presidency. At the 
 next Presidential election, however, Burr had lost his 
 standing with the people, and Clinton was accepted as 
 the candidate of his party, and elected Vice-President 
 for Jefferson's second term. In 1808, on the election of 
 Madison, Clinton again became Vice-President, and in 
 181 1, while presiding in the Senate, gave the casting 
 vote against granting a new charter to the United States 
 Bank. He died April 20, i8i2. 
 
46 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 - -^ 
 
 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 John Jacob Astok, the first of the New York Astors, 
 now so prominent anion<^ tlie wcaltlu' inhabitants of that 
 city, was of German origin, his place of birtli being 
 Waldorf, near Heidelberg. Born there in 1763, he left 
 his father's farm at the age of sixteen and set out on 
 foot for the Rhine, in search of that good fortune which 
 was to come to him in such full measure. While resting 
 under a tree during this journey, he is said to ha\c made 
 three resolutions : " To be honest, to be industrious, and 
 never to gamble ;" wise resolves which he adhered to 
 throughout his long life. His elder brother was then in 
 business in London, in the manufacture of musical 
 instruments. He was joined here by John Jacob, who 
 entered into business with him, and continued thus 
 engaged for four years, wiien, in 1783, at the age of 
 twenty, he set .sail for this countrj-, landing in Baltimore 
 with a stock of musical instruments which he had brought 
 with him. 
 
 Making his way to New "^'ork, his future place of 
 residence, the far-seeing young merchant e.xchangetl his 
 instruments for furs, which he took to London, where he 
 disposed of them at great advantage. This success in 
 his first business venture determined the course of his 
 future proceedings. It was evident to him that there was 
 a fortune in furs, and he resolved to devote himself to this 
 branch of trade. To jjrcpare himself for it he made a 
 careful study of the different kinds of furs, while at the 
 same time acquainting himself with the demands of the 
 various European markets for gof)ds of this descri])tion. 
 Returning to America, he established himself in New 
 York and entered actively into the business of pur- 
 chasing and ship|)ing fiirs. Such was his enteqjrise 
 and thrift that he soon found himself able to ship his 
 furs in his own vessels, which brought back to him 
 
 cargoes of foreign produce, thus netting him a double 
 profit. 
 
 Fortune came to the young merchant with highly 
 encouraging rapidity. In sixteen years after first engag- 
 ing in trade his wealth had grown to a quarter million of 
 dollars, — a great sum for that period. Nor was this the 
 product of chance and good luck, but was largel\- due 
 to his diligent oversight and unusual adaptation to busi- 
 ness. It is said that when his commerce had grown 
 so largely as to cover the seas, he kept a minute 
 supervision over the doings of his shipmasters and 
 supercargoes, and rarely, if e\-er, failed in judgment or 
 erred through imperfect knowledge of the details of his 
 business. 
 
 As his trade increased in proportions his enterprise 
 correspondingh' developed. He conceived the ambitious 
 scheme of extending his fur trade to the Pacific b\' means 
 of a line of trading-posts extending from the great lakes 
 to the Missouri, along that stream to the head-waters of 
 the Columbia, and down the latter river to its mouth. 
 In April, 181 1, he founded the town of Astoria, at the 
 mouth of the Columbia, as a central depot from which, 
 by getting possession of one of the Sandwich Islands, 
 he hoped to be able to ship furs directly to China 
 and India. This great scheme proved unsuccessful 
 through disasters to two of his expeditions and the de- 
 sertion of one of his principal agents, who betrayed his 
 plans to the British Northwest Fur Company. The 
 latter was more innnediatch- on the ground, was some- 
 what unscrupulous in its methods, and succeeded in 
 preventing the consummation of Astor's scheme. The 
 war of I Si 2 also checked the ]Drosperity of Astoria for 
 a period. 
 
 Meanwhile, Astor's commercial connections increaseil 
 until his ships were found in c\ery .sea, while his wealth 
 grew with steady rapidit\-. He in\ested his monej' 
 largely in real estate, erected numerous buildings, public 
 and private, and, through the immense increase in value 
 of this kind of ]iroi)crty in New York during the first 
 iialf of the centur)', foimd himself by the )'ear 1848 
 possessed of an estate estimated at $20,000,000. He 
 died March 29, 1848, leaving the bulk of his estate to 
 his son William B., in whose hands it augmented till at 
 his death in 1875 it was estimated at $50,000,000. It has 
 continued to increase in the hamls of the )-ounger de- 
 scendants of the family. 
 
 Astor left one highl)- important public legacy, a sum 
 of $400,000 for the establishment of a public librar\- in 
 New York. To this beciuest his son ackled nearly as 
 much more, and in 1S81 his grandson still further in- 
 creased the endow nicnt, so tliat tjie Astor Library is now 
 one of the most liberallj- endowed institutions of its kind 
 on this continent, and among the most important institu- 
 tions in the city of New York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 A7 
 
 GENERAL JOHN A. DIX. 
 
 John Adajis Dix, a distinguished soldier and states- 
 man, was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, July 24, 
 1798. He was placed as a student in the college of the 
 Sulpicians, Montreal, but was removed from there when 
 fourteen years of age b\- his father in consequence of the 
 impending war, and employed as a cadet at Baltimore, in 
 aid of his father, who was a lieutenant-colonel in the 
 ami)' and then engaged there on recruiting service. The 
 boy while thus engaged continued his studies at St. 
 Mary's College, Baltimore, studying Latin, Greek, Span- 
 ish, and mathematics. In March, 1S13, he was made an 
 ensign in the Fourteenth Infantry, being then the youngest 
 officer in the United States army. 
 
 The young soldier began his army life under disastrous 
 circumstances. Rev'erses took place in the field, and 
 disease attacked tlie camp, to which his father fell a 
 victim, leaving a widow and eight children, while the 
 estate which he possessed had been long neglected 
 during his service to his country. 
 
 In Alarch, 18 14, the young officer became third lieu- 
 tenant, and in June was placed on the artillery staff of 
 the army. Near the close of the war he, as adjutant 
 of an independent battalion of nine companies, carried 
 through an expedition on the St. Lawrence River, with 
 the accompaniments of hardship, danger, and various 
 difficulties. In 18 16 he was promoted first lieutenant, in 
 1 8 19 became aide-de-camp to General Brown, and in 
 1825 became captain of the Third Artillery. In the 
 following \-ear, after fourteen years of militarj- service, he 
 witlidrew from the arm\-, married, and began the study 
 of law, being admitted to the bar in 1828. 
 
 In this new profession he made rapid progress, and, 
 entering the field of politics, was made secretary of state 
 for New York in 1833, and in 1842 was elected to the 
 State Legislature. In 1845 he became a member of 
 Congress, in 1853 ^^'i-'' appointed assistant treasurer of 
 the United States at New York, and in 1859 became 
 postmaster of New York. 
 
 In i860, when secession was threatening and the 
 countr)' on the \erge of civil war, he was made a member 
 of President Buchanan's cabinet, as Secretary of the 
 Treasur}-. In this position, and within a month after re- 
 ceiving the appointment, lie signalized his position as a 
 loyalist of the stanchest kind by his celebrated telegra- 
 phic order to the special treasury agent at New Orleans : 
 " If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, 
 shoot him on the spot." The ring of this soldier-like 
 message, in a time when indecision and inaction marked 
 all the movements of the government, was like the blast 
 
 of a trumpet to the lo\'al inhabitants of the North, and 
 did much to embolden the weak and stimulate the strong. 
 It became the watch-word of the countr\- during the 
 succeeding years. 
 
 When President Lincoln took his seat and war broke 
 out, the gallant Dix was quick to offer his services to his 
 country, and in 1861 was successively appointed brigadier- 
 general and major-general in the volunteer, and after- 
 wards in the regular ami)-. For some time he was in 
 command of the Department of Maryland, and was then 
 transferred to Fortress Monroe, with command of the 
 Seventh Army Corps. In June, 1863, while in command 
 in this quarter, he nio\ed an arnu' up the York River, 
 threatened Richmond, and cut Lee's communications. 
 Later in this year he was made military commandant of 
 the East, and was in command in New York during the 
 riots that arose from President Lincoln's draft order of 
 1864, and during the following year. 
 
 In September, 1866, General Di.x was sent as minister 
 to France, but resigned in 1868 and returned to New 
 York. In 1872 he was the Republican candidate for 
 governor of New York, and was elected by a majority of 
 more than fift)' thousand votes. He was a candidate 
 again in 1874, but was defeated. He died April 21, 
 1879. 
 
 General Dix was the author of several works, the best 
 known among them being his " Speeches and Addresses," 
 " Winter in Madeira," and " A Summer in Spain and Flor- 
 ence." He edited a literary journal called the Northern 
 Light, and published various translations of foreign works, 
 including one of the celebrated " Dies Irae." 
 
48 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES T. BRADY. 
 
 jANrics Toi'iiAM Brady, one of the most eminent lawyers 
 New York lias known, was born in that cit\- April 9, 
 1815, the son of Thomas S. Hracl\-, an accomplishctl 
 scholar who came to New Wirk from Irchuul in 1812, 
 taught the classics in that city, tiicn studied the law, and 
 died a judge of the District Court. The son was mainly 
 educated in his father's school, and afterwards studied 
 law in his office, gaining so much legal knowledge at an 
 early period that when but si.Kteen years of age he acted 
 as junior counsel for his father. He was admitted to the 
 bar in 1835, when but twenty years of age. \'i)ung as 
 he was, his legal genius was already evident, and he 
 sprang almost immediately to the front rank of his jjro- 
 fession, a position which he held ever afterwartls. To a 
 profound knowledge of the law he added a read)- tact, 
 extraordinar)' eloquence, genial and courteous manners, 
 and conspicuous ability in all tlepartments of legal 
 practice. 
 
 He was particularly successful in criminal cases, anil 
 for thirty j-ears there was scarcely an important case of 
 this character before the New York courts in which he 
 was not engaged. He was great also in civil suits, and 
 for many years won verdicts in great patent cases, like 
 that of Goodyear vs. Day ; in cases involving meilical 
 jurisprudence, like the Allaire and Parish will cases ; in 
 instances of the moral insanity plea, like the Huntington 
 and Cole cases; in great divorce contests, like that of 
 Mrs. Edwin Forrest, and in civil suits of other character. 
 But his greatest ability displayed itself in criminal suits, 
 in which he was usually on the side of the defendant. 
 At one time he successfully defended four clients charged 
 
 with murder in one week, and without fee or reward. 
 In this field of practice, perhaps his greatest case was 
 that in which he acted as counsel for Daniel E. Sickles, 
 charged, in 1859, with the murder of Philip B.uton Key 
 for the seduction of liis wife. He saved Sickles by his 
 great legal skill and overpowering elotjuencc, his manage- 
 ment of the case being held as one of the most splendid 
 achievements in American jurisprudence. 
 
 Mr. Brady's success before the courts was never secured 
 by chicanery, or by availing himself of those subterfuges 
 and legal artifices which most lawyers hold themselves 
 justified in employing. On the contrar\-, he was always 
 frank and honest in his management of a case, skillful 
 but invariabl}- courteous in cross-examination, but had 
 such tact in argument, was so lucid in his statement of a 
 case, and so elocjucnt anti impressive in his appeals, that 
 judge and jur\- w ere usuall\- made to see the case through 
 his eyes. It is said that he never lost a case where he 
 was before a jury for a week. By the end of that time 
 thc}- had no opinion but that which he had impressed 
 upon them. 
 
 Mr. ]^rad\- was a leader in political aflaiis, but no 
 aspirant for office, which, except in a single case, he 
 steadil)' refused. In 1843 he acted as district attorney 
 for New York, and in 1845 filled for a time the post of 
 corporation counsel, but would accept no official pc^sition 
 afterwards. PoIiticall\- he was Democratic in his \iews 
 and a strong States Rights achocate, but on the outbreak 
 of the war he earnestly supported Lincoln's administra- 
 tion and maile many strong speeches for the Union cause 
 during the war. In 1 861 the Tammany nonn'nation for 
 mayor was offered him, but he tleclined to run, and ever 
 afterwards refused to accept nominations for city, State, 
 or nation. il [)olitical jxisilioiis, though fre(iuenllv urged 
 to do so. Near the close of the war he was a|)pointeil 
 on a connnission to investigate the management of the 
 Department of the Gulf, under (".enerals Butler and 
 Banks. He prepared a report on this subject, but it was 
 not published, and has never since been maile public. 
 
 Mr. Brady was skilled in literary work, and was a 
 frequent contributor to the old Knickerbocker Magazine 
 and to other periodicals. One of these contributions, 
 entitled "A Christmas Dream," published in Park Benja- 
 min's literary paper The New World, was afterwaiils 
 issued as a beaulifiilly illustrated Christmas gift hook, 
 and had a large sale. It may be said in c<inclusion that 
 few men have had so clean a record as James T. Brady, 
 and that lie was so conscientious that he would never 
 accejJt a case in the court in which his brother was a 
 judge, lest some suspicion of partiality in decision might 
 appear. He tlied in New York, February 9, 1869. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 49 
 
 CYRUS W. FIHLD. 
 
 The subject of the present sketch was one of four 
 brothers, all of whom achie\'ecl ilistinction, including, 
 besides himself, Da\'id Dudley Field, the eminent jurist; 
 Stephen J. F'icld, Justice in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States ; and Henry M. Field, clergyman and 
 author. Of them all, however, C\'rus \\'est Field at- 
 tained the highest measure of human honor and is best 
 known to the world. He was the son of the Rev. David 
 D. Field, and was born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 
 November 30, 1819. Of the four brothers he was the 
 only one who did not receive a college education, but at 
 the age of fifteen, after some school training in his native 
 town, was sent to New York, where he obtained a posi- 
 tion in the establishment of A. T. Stewart & Co. 
 
 Before he was twenty-one the energetic youth was in 
 business for himself, in the manufacture and sale of paper, 
 in which, at the end of twelve years, he found himself 
 at the head of a prosperous business. In 1853 he parti}- 
 retired, and made a tour of several months in South 
 America. On his return to New York he had the for- 
 tune to meet Mr. F. N. Gisbourne, a Canadian inventor 
 and engineer, who had undertaken to lay an underground 
 telegraph line across Newfoundland. On talking with 
 him over his project, the idea at once came to Mr. Field's 
 mind that a telegraph line might be e.xtended across the 
 Atlantic, and with his characteristic energy he at once 
 took measures to carry out this idea. He held an inter- 
 view with four wealthy New Yorkers, Peter Cooper, 
 Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, and Chandler White, 
 and so interested them in his project that they sent him 
 at once to Newfocmdland, from the go\-cinincnt of which 
 lie obtained important concessions. On Maj- 6, 1854, a 
 companj- was organized, consisting of Mr. Field and iiis 
 four supporters, the indebtedness of the old (Gisbourne) 
 company was paid off, and work was actively begun. 
 
 For twelve years after this date Mr. F"ield's time was 
 exclusively devoted to the cable, in which service he had 
 to bear up against a weight of difficulty and discourage- 
 ment which would have crushed an ordinary man. He 
 spent much time in Newfoundland, across which island 
 a line four hundred miles long was being laid, and crossed 
 thirty times to England, where the cable-building work 
 was done and whence the capital came. The first effort 
 made was to lay a cable across the Gulf of St. Lawerence. 
 This cable parted after fortj- miles were laid, and a year's 
 delay occurred. Meanwhile the Atlantic had been 
 sounded, antl a table-land, now known as the " Tele- 
 graphic Plateau," traced from Newfoundland to Ireland. 
 
 While this was being done, Mr. Field was pressing the 
 claims of his project on the attention of British capitalists 
 with such energy and enthusiasm that a company was 
 soon formed, with a capital of ^350,000, three-quarters 
 of which was taken in England and one-fourth retained 
 
 by the projectors. On March 3, 1857, an approjjriation 
 in support of the project was obtained from Congress, 
 and work in cable-building actively entered upon. The 
 first effort at cable-laj-ing proved unfortunate, the cable 
 parting (Augu.st 1 1, 1857) after three hundred and thirty- 
 five miles had been laid. Field returned to England, 
 raised new capital, constructed more cable, and started 
 again on June 10, 1858, this time the work beginning in 
 mid-ocean. The cable again parted when one hundred 
 and eleven miles had been laid. The indefatigable ad- 
 venturer was not to be discouraged by failure. The di- 
 rectors were in despair, but he gave them new hope, and 
 on July 17 was again off, and this time succeeded, the 
 shore end of the cable being landed on Newfoundland, 
 August 5, 1858, and on the i6th a message flashed under 
 the ocean from Queen 'V^ictoria to President Buchanan. 
 
 World-wide enthusiasm greeted this great success and 
 a grand fclc in honor of Mr. Field was held in New 
 York ; but in the very midst of the celebration the cable 
 stopped working, and the whole long-drawn anxiety had 
 to be endured again. Seven years (mainly on account 
 of the civil war) elapsed before a new cable was ready 
 to lay, and this parted when si.x hundred miles from 
 shore. But there was no give up in Cyrus W. Field, 
 and on Jul)- 27, 1866, he was enabled to telegraph under 
 the ocean from New-foundland to Ireland, "Thank God, 
 the cable is laid, and is in perfect working order." 
 
 Honors were showered upon the successful projector 
 from all the ci\ilized world, and numerous gold medals 
 and other gifts conferred upon him. These, with his col- 
 lection of paintings relating to the laj-ing of the cable, are 
 deposited in the Metropolitan Museum, of New York. 
 In his after-life Mr. Field was cooperned in cable-laying 
 in other seas, and became interested in the elevated rail- 
 roads of New York. He died June 11, 1892. 
 
so 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HENRY J. RAYMOND. 
 
 Henry Jarvis Ravmond, one of New York's most 
 notable journalists, was born at Lima, in the State of 
 New York, on Januarj' 24, 1820. His early life was 
 spent on a farm, whence he was sent to the University of 
 Vermont, where he graduated in 1 840. After his gradu- 
 ation he made his way to New York City, with the 
 purpose of studying law. In that city, however, fortune 
 brought him into contact with Horace Greeley, and he 
 was inspired to write for the press. When the New York 
 Tribune was established in 1841, Raymond became as- 
 sociated with Greek-)- in the enterprise, acting as assistant 
 editor of the paper. In this connection he displaj-ed 
 great skill in the cf)l lection of important news, while his 
 reports of public addresses were of unusual excellence. 
 He differed with Greeley somewhat, ho\ve\er, in ])olitical 
 news, being more conservative in his sentiments, and 
 this difference of opinion in time led to the withdrawal 
 of Raymond from the Tribune and his acceptance, in 
 1 848, of the post of assistant editor on James Watson 
 Webb's Courier and Enquirer. At the same jicriod he 
 acted as literary adviser for the jniblishing firm of I larper 
 Brothers, and the founding in 1850 of Harper s Magazine 
 was due to his suggestion. 
 
 Ra)-mond did not confine his ambition to newspapers 
 and magazines. He had political desires as well, and in 
 1849 acce|>ted the Whig nomination as a candidate for 
 the State Legislature, and was elected. In 1850 he was 
 chosen Speaker of the Assembly. He afterwards visited 
 Europe, and on liis return determined to establish a 
 newspaper of his own. In response to this project the 
 New York Times made its first ai)[)earance on September 
 18, 1851, and was managed with such .skill and judgment 
 
 that it quickly i)ro\cd successful. It has steadily pro- 
 gressed from that period to the present. 
 
 In political opinion Raymond was a Whig with anti- 
 slavery sentiments, and in the national convention of the 
 party held at Baltimore in 1852 he declared this to be 
 the ])osition of the Northern Whigs. In the election 
 that followed his party was defeated, but his influence in 
 his .State was so great that he was chosen lieutcnant- 
 govcrniir in 1S54. His opposition to the designs of the 
 Southern sla\'e-holders grew more determined as time 
 went on, and he took an active part in the formation, of 
 the Republican part\' and wrote the " Address to the 
 People," which was issued by the first national conven- 
 tion of the new party at Pittsburg in 1856. Its first 
 candidate for the Presidency, John C. Fremont, being 
 defeated in the ensuing election, at the end of his term as 
 lieutenant-governor of New York Raymond declined a 
 renomination. 
 
 In 1859 he took a second trip to Euroi)c, and while 
 there accompanied the French arni\- in its campaign 
 against the Austrians in Northern Italy, as war cnrre- 
 spondent foi' his journal. After the end of the war he 
 returned to this countrj-, where he took an earnest part 
 in the Rejjublican national convention at Chicago in 
 i860. He advocated before this body the nomination of 
 Seward, but when Lincoln appeared to be the choice of 
 the convention, he acquiesced in its decision, and con- 
 tributed to his election bv the aid of the Times. In 
 1 86 1 he was again elected to the New York Legislature, 
 and was once more chosen Speaker of the AssembK-. 
 On the assemblage of the Re])ublican national conven- 
 tion at Haltiniore in 1864, Raymond was piesent as a 
 delegate, and gave his voice for the nonn'nation of Lincoln 
 for a second term. 
 
 In the same )-ear he was electetl to Congress, and 
 after the death of Lincoln and the development of 
 President Johnson's new policy towards the Southern 
 States, Raymond became one of his few supporters in 
 the ranks of his party, a sentiment in which he followed 
 the example of Secretary Seward. A convention was 
 held in Philadelphia in 1866 in aid of this movement, 
 whose "Address and Declaration of Principles" came 
 from Raymond's ready ])en. He found, however, that 
 the part}' was not with him in this movement, which 
 quickl)- endc<l in failuie, and, withdrawing from politics, 
 he resolved to devote himself thenceforth to journalism. 
 Overwork, however, tokl on him, with perhaps a degree 
 of disappointment and depression of spirit at the failure 
 of his |)olitical plans, and he died a premature death, 
 on June 18, 1869. In aiUlition to his contributions to 
 ])eriodicals, nearly his only iniblication was a " Life of 
 Abraham Lincoln," published in 1865. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 SI 
 
 WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 
 
 William Henry Vanderrilt, son, and successor in his 
 numerous enterprises, of the railroad potentate Cornehus 
 Vandcrbilt, was born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, on 
 May 8, 1821, during the time that his father was captain 
 of a steamboat plying between New York and that point, 
 and his mother had charge of a hotel in that city for the 
 accommodation of travelers from New York to Phila- 
 delphia, in the anti-railroad days. The father had been 
 without education, and had little regard for it, but saw 
 that ills son was not left unschooled. He had, however, 
 " a poor opinion of his capabilities," and left him to make 
 his own wa)- in the world, giving him no assistance and 
 very little encouragement. The boy, however, had far 
 greater ability than the father suspected, and pushed his 
 way with much of the same energy which the elder 
 Vanderbilt had displayed. 
 
 He beeran his business life as clerk in a bank, where 
 he worked assiduously, and at which he acquired habits 
 of careful toil and business system. His bank experience 
 was followed by a season of hard work as a farmer on 
 Staten Island, during part of which period he served as 
 receiver of the Staten Lslanil Railroad, and gained thence 
 some useful experience in. railroad management. His 
 pluck and enterprise as a farmer and his judgment as 
 a receiver at length convinced his father that there was 
 far more in his son than he had conjectured, that he was 
 a true " chip of the old block," and he showed his appre- 
 ciation of the young man's business energy by paying off 
 for him a six-thousand-dollar mortgage. But the old 
 gentleman kept him carefully outside his own vast enter- 
 prises until 1864, when, in his forty-third year, he was 
 admitted to a share in the management of the Harlem 
 Railroad, the original enterprise in this direction of the 
 railroad king. | 
 
 \\'illiani H. X'anderbilt, in this new field of duty, 
 quickly showed himself a worthy associate of his father, | 
 displaying an abilit}- and assiduity which won the confi- 
 dence of the latter, and proved the abilit}- of the son to 
 carry on the enterprises which the father hatl inaugurated, 
 and to retain and increase the wealth which the latter 
 had acquired. This once demonstrated, the father rapidly 
 advanced him in position. In 1872 he made him vice- 
 president of the Hudson River Railroad, and by his will, 
 in 1877, left him the bulk of his great estate, and made 
 him his sole successor in the nuuiagement of the vast 
 railroad s\-stem which he had built up. The younger 
 Vanderbilt was a better educated and much less rugged 
 and striking personalit)- than his self-made father, but 
 his wealth, his extensive railroad interests, and his daring 
 
 enterprise enabled him to fill no less a space in public 
 estimation. Like his father, he had a decided love for 
 fast horses, and to this he added an equal taste for 
 pictures, of which he collected an extensive gallery, 
 which occupied the walls of his magnificent mansion on 
 Fifth Avenue and Fifty-first Street. Year after year his 
 wealtii, and his power in the railroad world, increased, 
 until at the date of his death, which took place suddenly 
 on October 8, 1885, he had doubled his father's huge 
 accumulations, and possessed an estate estimated to be 
 worth not less than jS200,ooo,ooo. 
 
 His public benefactions out of his great wealth were 
 small in comparison with its vast sum. In October, 
 1884, he gave half a million dollars to the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons of New York. In 1877, on 
 the removal of the Egyptian obelisk (which originally 
 stood before the Temple of the Sim at Heiiopolis) from 
 Alexandria to New York, he bore the expense of its 
 transportation and erection at its present locality in 
 Central Park. As regards the great bulk of his estate, 
 he followed his father's example in seeking to keep it 
 intact, leaving nearly the whole of it to his two sons, 
 Cornelius and William Kissam, though making abun- 
 dant provision for the remainder of his family. 
 
 Of the estate as it now exists, Cornelius is the 
 principal manager, he ha\ing inherited his father's 
 business capacit)-. He manifests an active interest 
 in religious and charitable work, one of his acts of 
 benevolent good feeling being the erection of a fine 
 building for the benefit and con\-cnience of his railroad 
 employes. ^ 
 
52 
 
 MAKERS OF XEIV YORK. 
 
 ROSWELL 1'. FLOWER. 
 
 Among the self-made men of New \'(i!k, wc cannot 
 point to a more marked example than Rosweil Pettibone 
 Flower, late governor of the State, who began life at 
 Theresa, Jefferson County, New York, August 7, 1835. 
 His father, Nathan I-"lower, carried on the wool- carding 
 business at Coopcrstown, but died when his son Rosweil 
 was but eight years of age, leaving the mother with a 
 large family and sparse means of support. The family 
 possessed two farms, on which the bo\' labored in the 
 inter\'als of school life, and while attending in the winter 
 the village high school, he worked at intervals as a farm- 
 hand, in a country store, and in a brick-yard. 
 
 After graduating from the high school, at the age of 
 si.xteen, he obtained a situation as teacher of a countiy 
 school, in which he was obliged not only to tcacii, but 
 to con<[ucr b\- strength of arm scholars much older than 
 himself During the following years he served in various 
 capacities, being for a time in a store in Philadelphia, and 
 afterwards in one in Watertown, New ^'<)rk, which he 
 left to become deputy postmaster in that town. 
 
 Mr. Flower remained six years in this situation, saving 
 about ;SiC)00, with which he purchased an interest in a 
 jewelry business, the firm-name being Hitchcock & I""lower. 
 He quickly displayed here an excellent business aptitude, 
 and in two years was able to buy out his partner, con- 
 tinuing the business alone till 1869. While thus occu- 
 pied he became a i)romincnt Mason, and in 1859 married 
 .Sarah M. Woodruff, a young lady of the town. He also 
 gave much time to stud\% reading diligently the Fcdcr- 
 (rlist and other political and legal works. 
 
 In 1S69 fortune brought him into a very different posi- 
 tion. Henry Keep, one of New York's capitalists of 
 that date, who had married Fmma Woodruff, his wife's 
 sister, sent for him to the city. Mr. Keep was then on 
 
 his death-bed, and the possessor of an estate valued at 
 Si, 000,000, which he desired to leave to his wife, and of 
 which he requested Mr. Flower to assume the manage- 
 ment. That his trust was well placed is evident from 
 the fact that in Mr. Flower's hands the estate has ex- 
 panded to S4.ooo,O0O. 
 
 In this new duty Mr. Flower has had occasion to make 
 extended journexs over the United States, antl thiough 
 the knowledge thus gained of the resources and prospects 
 of different sections of the country, and judicious 
 purchases, he has himself accumulated a fortune which 
 is now estimated in the millions. In 1872 he pas.sed 
 through a dangerous illness, and afterwards dissolved 
 the brokerage and banking firm of Benedict, Flower & 
 Co., in which he had been interested, and devoted him- 
 self solely to the care of Mrs. Keep's property. At a 
 later date, however, he entered the commission business, 
 the firm-name being R. P. Flower & Co. He withdrew 
 from this business, which had become large, in 1 890, re- 
 taining only the interest of a special partner. 
 
 In politics Mr. Flower has always been a Democrat, 
 and has been an active worker for his party. His first 
 political position was attained in 1 88 1, w'hen he ran 
 against William Waldorf Astor as Representative for the 
 eleventh New York district, and was elected by a majority 
 of three thousand one hundred. During this term in 
 Congress he served on the Committee on lianking, and 
 took a prominent part in financial discussions. In 1882 
 there was a general demand through the State that he 
 should be nominated for go\ernor, but he withdrew 
 from the contest in fa\-or of Grover Cleveland. IK- 
 declined a subsequent nomination for Congress, antl in 
 1885, when nominated for lieutenant-go\ernor without 
 his knowledge, immediately declined the proffered honor. 
 
 In 1882, Mr. Flower served as chairman of the IDemo- 
 cratic Congressional Committee, and in 1888 was a delc- 
 gate-at-large to the national Democratic con\ention at 
 St. Louis, and was chosen chainii.ui of the ilelegation. 
 He now, against his wish, accepted a nomination to 
 Consiress, and was elected a member of the P'iftv-first 
 Congress, in w hich he served on the Committee on Ways 
 and Means, aiul also on that on the World's Fair. In 
 1890 he served as chairman of the Democratic Con- 
 gressional Committee, his work in which was so success- 
 ful that in 1892 he received the nomination for governor, 
 and was elected by a pluralit\- vote of fort)--seven 
 thousand nine hundreii and thirty-seven. 
 
 As regards Mr. Flower's career as governor, we need 
 but say that it would be well if all governors could leave 
 office with as excellent a record. His private life has 
 been marked by numerous charities, among them what 
 is known as St. Thomas's House on Second .Avenue, 
 New York, which is u.sed for Sunday-school and lil)rary 
 purposes. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 S3 
 
 ALEXANDER T. STEWART. 
 
 Alexander Turxey Stewart was born at Lisburn, 
 near Belfast, Ireland, October 12, 1803, the descendant 
 of a Scotch emigrant to the north of Ireland. His 
 father died when he was still a school-boy, leaving him 
 a small estate. He began his later education with the 
 idea of entering the ministry', but this proving little to 
 his taste he gave it up, with the consent of his guardian, 
 and in 1823 made his wa\' to New York, with no plans 
 as to his future life. For a time he was employed as a 
 teacher in a select school on Roosevelt Street near Pearl, 
 then one of the fashionable localities of New York. 
 While here the shrewd young man was wide-awake 
 in the observation of business opportunities, and on 
 his return to Ireland to obtain the moderate fortune 
 left him by his father, he bought a stock of laces 
 and linens at Belfast, with which he returned to New 
 York. 
 
 On September 2, 1825, he opened a store at 283 
 Broadway, with an invested capital of about $3000. He 
 shortl}' afterwards married Miss Cornelius Clinch, whose 
 father had gone his security for the rent of his store. 
 The new merchant was very frugal and economical in 
 his habits, sleeping in a room back of the store, and 
 paying unremitting attention to his business, which 
 quickly showed signs of growth. In 1826 he was able 
 to take a larger store, at 262 Broadway, and shortly 
 afterwards made a second removal, to 257 Broadway. 
 
 From the start he displa)'etl a genius for business, 
 and his success was remarkable, his business increasing 
 so enormously and his capital so greatly augmenting 
 that in 184S he was enabled to build the great marble 
 store— now the wholesale department of the business — 
 on Broadway between Chambers and Reade Streets. 
 Here the retail business was conducted till 1862, b\- 
 which time the northward growth of the city, and the 
 up-town movement of the shopping trade, had become 
 so declared, that he removed his retail business to the 
 immense iron store built by him on the block between 
 Broadway and Fourth Avenue, Ninth and Tenth Streets. 
 This store, five stories in height, and covering a great 
 ground space, was said to be at that time the largest 
 store in the world. It cost nearly 52,750,000, and 
 within its extensive confines about two thousand em- 
 ployes were gathered. The expense of conducting this 
 great business was over §1,000,000 yearly, while the 
 aggregate of sales in the two stores for the three years 
 before Mr. Stewart's death is given as about §203,000,000. 
 In addition to his New York establishments he had 
 branch houses in different parts of the world, and nu- 
 
 merous mills and factories, his annual income during the 
 war being nearly $2,000,000. 
 
 In 1867, Mr. Stewart was chairman of the United 
 States Commission to the Paris Exposition. In 1869 
 he was appointed by President Grant Secretary of the 
 Treasury. To this appointment the objection was made 
 that a law existed which prevented an importer of mer- 
 chandise from holding this office. The President asked 
 that the law should be repealed, and Mr. Stewart offered 
 to place his business in the hands of trustees, and devote 
 all its profits during his term of office to cliaritable pur- 
 poses. This, however, was not considered to remove 
 the objection ; the law was not repealed, and he failed to 
 enter the Cabinet. 
 
 During his life he did various deeds of charit)', among 
 them being the sending a shipload of provisions to Ire- 
 land during the famine of 1846, with instructions to 
 bring back as many emigrants free of cost as the ship 
 would carry. He sent a vessel-load of flour to France 
 after the Franco-German War, and sent §500,000 to 
 Chicago after the great fire. Among his latest benevo- 
 lent doings was the building of a large edifice on Fourth 
 Avenue between Thirty-second and Thirty-third Streets 
 as a home for working-girls. He also built Garden City, 
 on Hempstead Plains, Long Island, made up of airy and 
 comfortable homes at moderate cost. 
 
 He died April 10, 1876, leaving an estate estimated 
 at 540,000,000. The bulk of this was willed to his wife, 
 whom he requested by letter to provide for various 
 charities. His wishes in this direction were not carried 
 out, though his wife erected a cathedral at Garden City 
 as a memorial to him. 
 
54 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HORACE GREELKY. 
 
 Horace Gkeei.ev, the famous editor nf 77/c 'rribimc, 
 was a native of .Amherst. New Hampshire, wliere lie was 
 born February 3, 181 1, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, thout^'h 
 his progenitors had been in New England for several 
 generations. His father, Zaccheus Greeley, owned a farm 
 of fifty acres of sterile soil, yielding a bare support to 
 his large family. Hefore his son Horace was ten years of 
 age lie became bankrupt, and had to flee from the State 
 to escape arrest for debt, while his farm was sold \i\ the 
 sheriff 
 
 Horace as a chikl was feeble and precocious, learning 
 to read while little more than an infant, and (|uite noted 
 fur his accurate spelling. After the famil)- disaster a 
 new home was sought at West Haven, Vermont, where 
 the boy, who had a .strong desire to be a printer, tiied to 
 enter the village newspaper office as an ap|>rentice, but 
 was rejected as too young. For three years he worked 
 as a da)' laborer, and then, with his father's con.scnt, was 
 apprenticed in the office of the Xortlnrii Spectator, at 
 l^ast I'oultney, Vermont. 
 
 He soon became a good workman, developed a taste 
 for political statistics, and gradually became largely 
 depended ujjon for the editing of the ])ai)er, while he 
 made a figure in the village debating society. For his 
 services he received in money only ^40 a year, most of 
 which he sent to his father. When he was twenty years 
 of age the Northcnt ^/cr/rt/w suspended publication, and 
 the boy visited his parents, then on a farm in the wilds 
 of Western Pennsylvania. After working for a time on 
 the farm and in various printing-offices he started for 
 New York, making his way on foot and by canal-boat, 
 and reached that city in Augu.st, 1831, with Sio as his 
 sole capital. 
 
 Employment was not easily obtained, and his first 
 work was on a 32mo New Testament, so difficult from 
 its minute t)-pe that other printers refused it. He slowly 
 progressed, and in Januarv, 1S33, formed a business 
 partnership with I'rancis V. Story, a fellow-printer. 
 With a combined capital of Si 50 and a font of t}-pe 
 obtained on credit the\' began the printing of the first 
 cheap paper published in New York, the price being 
 fixed at two cents. It failed in three weeks. The 
 partners continued to work, however, and James G. 
 Bennett asked Greeley to join him in starting The Herald. 
 This Greelc\- declined, but soon after started The Nci.c 
 Yorker, which jiroved a losing venture, though it gained 
 a circulation of nearly ten thousand copies. It was 
 kept alive for seven j-ears, and gave Greelc)', who was 
 its sole eilitor, much reputation as a writer. He en- 
 gaged also in etlitorial work on other papers, and 
 during the Harrison campaign for the Presidency, in 
 1840, published The Log Cabin, whose circulation rose 
 to ninety tliousand. 
 
 On April i, 1841, he announced that on the following 
 .Saturday he would begin the publication of a daily news- 
 paper of the same general principles as the Log Cabin, 
 to be called Tlie Tribune. He was without money for 
 this venture, and borrowed $1000, on which and his 
 reputation as an able editor Tlte Tribune was founded. 
 The paper proved wiile-awake and aggressive, and rapiiily 
 increased in circulation, reaching eleven thousand in the 
 seventh week. From this time forward Greeley was 
 identified with this newspaper, and its history is his. It 
 gradually grew prosperous, and for many years paid him 
 an income of over SiS.OOO annually, and often as much 
 as j?35,ooo or more. Yet he lacked business thrift, and 
 frecpienth- fouiul himself in straits for money, so that he 
 gradually parteil with ni-.irly all his interest in the paper. 
 The Weekly Triluiiie, which he started in 1S51, became 
 highly prosperous, and attained a very large circulation, 
 proving an exceedingly profitable enterprise. 
 
 Greeley's political affiliations were at first with the 
 Whig, and afterwards w ith the Republican, party. 1 le 
 served on several Rejiublican conventions, but in 1867 
 injured his staniling with the party greatly by going on 
 the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis. Being dis.satisficd with 
 President Grant's administration, he sharpl}' criticised its 
 acts, ami in eonset[uence, in 1S7J, received a noiniii.ition 
 for the Presiilency from the Democrats, his life-long op- 
 ponents. The residt was a defeat, anil this, and his 
 labors during the cam[)aign, seem to have toKl on his 
 healtli, which rapidly declined, he dying on the 29th of 
 November, 1872. Despite the ridicule and contumely to 
 which he was occasionally exposed, no man was more 
 respected or admired for moral uprightness than Horace 
 Grce!e\'. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 55 
 
 MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 
 
 Mak.shall Owen Roberts was boin in the city of 
 New York, March 22, 18 14, his father being a Welsh 
 pliysician, wlio had settled in that cit\- in 1798. The 
 boy received a good preliminary education, and would 
 have gone through college and been trained for the 
 medical profession had the father's wishes prevailed. 
 Hut the son's inclinations were towards a mercantile life, 
 aiul he left school while still young and became clerk 
 in a grocery store in Coenties Slip, which he soon left 
 to take a position in a ship-chandler's establishment. 
 H\- the time he had reached his majority he had saved 
 money enough to begin business for himself, and went 
 into trade with an energy and ability that brought him 
 success from the start. In two years' time he was in a 
 position to make a contract with the United States gov- 
 ernment to supply the navy with whale oil, a \enture 
 which netted him a handsome profit. 
 
 I le was one of the first to recognize the advantage of 
 finely equipped river steamers on the Hudson, and built 
 the " Hendrick Hudson" for this purpose, then the largest 
 steamer on that stream. In 1 84 1, President Harrison 
 appointed him United States naval agent of New York, 
 and during the Mexican War he e.xecutcd an important 
 contract with the government, in which he laid the 
 foundation of his large fortune. 
 
 Turning his attention to the rapid development of the 
 railroad interests of the country, he became an early 
 ad\ocate and took an active interest in the building of 
 the Erie Railroad, of which he became a prominent 
 director. He next projected the Delaware, Lackawanna 
 and Western Railroad, in which he became deeply inter- 
 ested. When the California fever of 1849 broke out, 
 Mr. Roberts became actively concerned in the develop- 
 ment of the Aspinwall line of steamers between New 
 York and San Francisco, via the Isthmus of Panama, 
 and made a contract with the government to convey the 
 United States mails to California by this line. He was 
 one of the first capitalists to whom Cyrus W. Field 
 applied with his project of an Atlantic telegraph cable, 
 and lent substantial aid to the furtherance of this im- 
 j)ortant enterprise. 
 
 When war threatened the countr_\-, anil the belligerent 
 citizens of Charleston made threats of attacking Fort 
 Sumter, Mr. Roberts contracted with the government 
 to endeavor to provision that important post, and sent 
 one of his steamers, the " Star of the West," to Charleston 
 harbor for that purpose. Its errand, however, was dis- 
 covered by the belligerents, and it was forced to retire, 
 after ha\ing been fired upon seventeen times. The flag 
 borne by the " .Star of the West" on this occasion e\-er 
 after floated over Mr. Roberts's house. In the spring of 
 
 1 861, when Fortress Monroe was threatened by the 
 Confederate forces, he raised a force of one thousand 
 men at his own e.xpense, and sent them in his steamer 
 " America" to reinforce the garrison. Throughout the 
 war his stanch Union sentiment, thus signally displayed, 
 was manifested in other useful forms. 
 
 He was a particular friend of President Lincoln, 
 and after his assassination forwarded $10,000 to his 
 widow. 
 
 His railroad enterprise ne.xt led him to embark in 
 Southern interests, he becoming the controlling spirit 
 in the Tehuantepec Canal and Railroad Company, and 
 an active promoter of the Texas Pacific Railroad, in 
 which he invested nearly $2,000,000. He also became 
 largely interested in other railroad enterprises, both in 
 the United States and in Canada. 
 
 In 1852 he was nominated for Congress on the Whig 
 ticket, but was defeated. On the formation of the Re- 
 publican part}- he was quick to join it, and was one 
 of the delegates to the first Republican national con- 
 vention, held at Philadelphia in 1856, in which he 
 took part here in the nomination of John C. Fremont 
 for the Presidency. In 1865 he was nominated for 
 mayor of New York by the Union party, but was again 
 defeated. 
 
 For j'ears Mr. Roberts was a liberal patron of the fine 
 arts, and collected a gallerj- of paintings estimated to 
 be worth $750,000, which was always freely opened to 
 the public. He was three times married, Miss Endicott, 
 who became his second wife, being the founder of the 
 Young Woman's Christian Association, and the Home 
 for Girls, of New York. To the latter he gave about 
 $50,000. He died at Saratoga Sp^ngs, September 11, 
 1880. 
 
S6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GENERAL MARSHALL LEFFERTS. 
 
 Marshall LErFicurs, lont; known as the coliuul ^-^i 
 the famous Seventh Re<jinieiit and for his connection with 
 tlic development of teie<jrapii\', was born Januar\- 15, 
 1 82 1, on Long Lslami, a few miles from Brookhn, at that 
 time an unimportant villai^e. \'arious branches of his 
 ancestral familj- had settled in that reL;ion lony before the 
 Revolution, and in one of their suburban houses the sub- 
 ject of our sketch was born. 
 
 He was educated at the county school, and at the age 
 of fifteen became a clerk in a hardware store, a situation 
 which he was obliged to leave on account of delicate 
 health. He then entered the service of Mr. Stodard, 
 chief engineer in the survey of Brooklyn, a position 
 which at once gave him health and led him to the study 
 of civil engineering, a study which he continueil through 
 life. Persistent a])[)lication and natural ajititude ciuickly 
 acKanced him to the |)osition of assistant engineer, anti he 
 continued upon the sin\ey for three years, his service in 
 this field being commemorateil by the gi\ing of his name 
 " Marshall," to one of the streets laid out in the new civic 
 district. He was also connected with the survey of Green- 
 wood Cemetery, Brooklyn's beautiful " city of the dead." 
 
 On leaving the field of engineering, Mr. Lefferts re- 
 turned to mercantile life, entering as clerk one of the 
 oldest importing houses of the city, that of Morewood 
 & Co. In less than three years he was admitted to 
 partnershij) in this firm, and became manager of its .iffairs 
 in America, — it having branches in I.oiujon and I,i\er- 
 ]jool and in China. He remained thus engaged until 
 1852, when, seeing opportunities for more rapiil business 
 progress in other directions, he withdrew from the firm 
 and engaged in iron production, and also in the manu- 
 facture of galvanized iron. The latter was a compara- 
 tively new and small industry, but was perfected and 
 
 brought into large use by his agency. He remained 
 successfully engaged in it for several years. 
 
 In 1 849, however, a new channel for his energies opened 
 in the introduction of the chemical telegraph, an inven- 
 tion brought that year to this country 1)\' .Alexander 
 T^ain. the distinguished electrician. In association with a 
 number of capitalists Mr. Lefferts constructed telegra])h 
 lines between New York and Boston and New York and 
 Buffalo, and showed such skill and energy in the organi- 
 zation and direction of the business that, in 1850, the 
 stockholders and the Associated Press of New York 
 showed their appreciation i>\- [)resenting him a splendid 
 .service of silver. This is liie only instance in which the 
 Press has taken such action. 
 
 These lines were finally consolidated with the " Morse 
 lines," and Mr. Lefferts withdrew from telegra])!))- till 
 i860, when he took an active interest in the automatic 
 system of transmission. On the purchase of the patents 
 by the " American Telegra[)h Company" he entered its 
 service as electric engineer, and proceeded so actively in 
 organizing the line that when, in 1866, it was consolidated 
 with the " Western Union Telegraph Company," it was 
 the most com])lete and thoroughly organizeil telegraph 
 system in the world. He was the first to employ w (imen 
 in the telegraphic service, to api)l\- instruments for the tle- 
 tection of electric faults, and to introiluce various other 
 innovations. 
 
 For some time he acted as engineer of the Western 
 Union Company, but soon resigned to conduct its com- 
 mercial news department, and in 1869 became presitlent 
 of the Gold and Stock Telegrai)h Company, which posi- 
 tion he held until his ileatli. In 1S71, this conipau)' 
 purchasetl the coinniercial news department of the 
 Western Union, of which he resumed control. 
 
 His militar\- career began in 185 i, as a private in the 
 Seventh Regiment of New York City. In a \-ear he was 
 elected its lieutenant-colonel. Under his command the 
 regiment attained its high renown. In iSfii it was the 
 first regiment to leave the city for the .seat of war. 
 During the war its services were several times tendered 
 the government. It was stationed at Frederick, Mary- 
 land, in 1862, and again in 1863, its colonel (with the title 
 of general) being military governor of that district. It 
 was recalled to New \'ork during the tlr.ift riots in th.il 
 city. After the war General Lefferts resigned his com- 
 mission, but was induced to retain it until Jiuie, 1866, 
 \vhen his resignation was acce])led. lie was then chosen 
 C(jmmandanl of the Wteian Corps of the regiment, at 
 the head of which, on July 4, 1876, he lo(.)k the cars for 
 l'hiladel[)hia, U) take part in the great military procession 
 to be held that day. He was unwell on starting, and 
 before the train reached Newark he died. Thus suddenly 
 ended a career distinguished alike in civil and military 
 affairs. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 57 
 
 MORRIS PHILLIPS. 
 
 MuKKis Phillips, editor and proprietor of the New 
 York Home Jotinia/, is a self-made man, whose success 
 in journalism is due to his own indomitable industry, 
 enterprise, and energy. He was born Maj' 9, 1834, his 
 father, a highly res[jected merchant of New York, dying 
 when his son was but fi\'e years old, so that the future 
 editor had to consider the necessity of earning his own 
 living at an early period in life. He received a good 
 education, however, and was well equipped for a mercan- 
 tile life ; but his tastes led him strongly in another direc- 
 tion, and he entered the law firm of Brown, Hall & 
 Vanderpoel, with the purpose of preparing himself for 
 the bar. A. Oakey Hall was a member of this firm, 
 and the acquaintance then began between him and the 
 youthful student has continued uninterruptedly, they re- 
 maining fast friends up to the present day. 
 
 The young law student was enthusiastic in preparation 
 lor his chosen profession, but circumstances soon drew 
 him away from his books, — an excellent offer having been 
 made him to enter a large mercantile house in Cleveland, 
 Ohio. He remained thus engaged, however, for only a 
 few months, when he returned to the study of law, this 
 time in the office of an eminent legal fiiin in Buffalo, 
 New York. 
 
 In the year 1854, when he was yet but twenty years 
 of age, he had the good fortune to meet the poet George 
 P. Morris, at that time, in association with his fellow-poet 
 N. P. Willis, editor and proprietor of the Home Journal, 
 which had been founded by them in 1846, and had 
 become one of the leading literary and social papers of 
 the country. General Morris took a decided liking to 
 the young man, and offered him the position of private 
 secretary, or " right-hand man," as the poet designated 
 him. This offer was accepted by the young aspirant for 
 journalistic fame, and he began his literar}- career on the 
 munificent salarj' of five dollars a week, which was all the 
 poet felt disposed to offer his untried assistant. From 
 that time, with the exception of a brief interregnum in 
 1862, when he owned and edited the old Knickerbocker 
 Magazine, Mr. Phillips continued his connection with the 
 Home Journal. In 1863, on the death of General Morris, 
 he purchased the half interest which the poet had held; 
 and on the death of N. P. Willis, in 1867, he became sole 
 proprietor of the journal. In the same year he sold a 
 quarter of his interest to George Perry, who joined with 
 him in the editorship of the paper. Perry subsequently 
 died, and Phillips repurcha.sed the interest he had sold and 
 became again sole proprietor. 
 
 Concerning his record as a business man and editor, 
 we may quote from George Ellington, who wrote this 
 about him in 1870: "Morris Phillips commenced his 
 newspaper life at the vcr_\^ bottom round of the lad- 
 der, and has reacheil his present position by sheer hard 
 work, close attention to business, and, more than all, 
 by giving the verj' best of the most suitable kind of 
 literature antl news for the cultured world for which he 
 caters. 
 
 " He made his first appearance in print as correspond- 
 ent for the Western press many years ago, and has since 
 written considerably for New York, Boston, and other 
 periodicals. As a manager and editor he shows skill and 
 rare good taste. He may be called the father of society 
 news in this country, for he originated and started this 
 journalistic feature in 1867, and now scarcely a news- 
 paper in the country is without its department of ' society 
 news.' " 
 
 In 1865, Mr. Phillips was married to a New York 
 lady of great beauty and fine education, who died after 
 twelve years of married life, leaving him a family of 
 two daughters and a son. The latter, a graduate of 
 Columbia College, is now a member of the Home Journal 
 staff". Of the Home Journal little need be said. It 
 ranks to-day as one of the leading family new.spapers 
 of the countrj', — clean, dignified, and interesting, avoid- 
 ing scandal, while giving the news of the best society, 
 fostering literature and the kindred arts, and in ever\- 
 respect maintaining the highest standard of a journal for 
 the home. 
 
5S 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS P. COOKK. 
 
 Captain Augustus P. Cooke was burn in Coopers- 
 town, New York, February lo, i<S36; appointed to 
 the Na\al Academy in 1852, and graduated in 1856. 
 During his first sea-service, in tlie Home Squadron, he 
 participated in tlie capture of Walker, the filibuster, at 
 Greytown, Nicaragua. In 1S59 he received his warrant 
 as passed midshipman, and made a cruise on the coast 
 of Africa, in the " San Jacinto," assisting in the capture 
 of several slavers. He was commissioned lieutenant in 
 i860. When the Rebellion occurred, tiie ship, then under 
 the command of Captain Wilkes, returned to the United 
 States, capturing on the way the rebel commissioners, 
 M.ison and Slidcll. 
 
 In January, 1862, as executive-officer of the " Pinola,'' 
 captured the blockade-runner " Cora," and then the 
 " Pinola" ])rocceded to join Farragut's sipiadron. Lieu- 
 tenant Cooke was several times under fire in the " Pinola'' 
 while that vessel was assisting in breaking the cliain bar- 
 riers which obstructed the Mississippi, and was present at 
 the bombardment and passage of Forts Jackson and St. 
 Phili|), the destruction of the rebel flotilla, and the capture 
 of New Orleans. He was also present at the first bom- 
 barilment of Vicksburg ; the passage of the batteries there, 
 and the engagement with the rebel ram " Arkansas." 
 
 In August, 1862, he was made lieutenant-commander, 
 and ordered to command a vessel in Huchanan's fiotilla, 
 to operate, in conjunction with the army, in tlie Ha\'ou 
 Techc. In January, 1863, he went up the Tcclie, sup- 
 pijrling (ieiieral Weitzcl's brigade, antl assisted in the 
 destruction of the enemy's gun-boat "Cotton." Here 
 IJeutenant-Commander Buchanan was killed, and the 
 command of the flotilla devolved ujjon Lieutenant-Com- 
 mander Cooke. 
 
 During the Red River expedition, in 1863, he crossed 
 
 troops over Berwick Bay and transported General Gro- 
 ver's division through Grand Lake and landed it at 
 Indian Bend, under fire, without accident. Next morn- 
 ing, at da\-light, the flotilla under Cooke was attacked by 
 the ■' Queen of the West" and another gun-boat armed 
 with rifled cannon, and \\ ith sharp-shooters behind cot- 
 ton-bales. Cooke ver)- prompth' went to meet them, and 
 his shells soon set fire to the cotton-bales of the " CJuccn 
 of the West," which was soon in flames, with her people 
 leaping overboard to escape death from fire. Her con- 
 sort, seeing this, turned, and, having superior .speed and 
 lighter draft than Cooke's ves.sels, escaped. The officers 
 and ninety men of the " Queen of the West" were 
 picked up. About twenty were lost. There were no 
 casualties in the flotilla. 
 
 His next operation was the capture of Butte a la Rose, 
 on the Atchafalaya, driving off the supporting gun-boat, 
 and taking the garrison, with a large quantity of stores 
 and ammunition, clearing the Atchafalaya from the Gulf 
 to the Red River ; and by this route he proceeded to 
 join Admiral Farragut, then at the mouth of Red River. 
 General Banks made special acknowledgment to Lieu- 
 tenant-Commander Cooke for his success in tliese opera- 
 tions. 
 
 His next service was in the Red River with Porter's 
 fleet; followed, in the winter of 1S63-64, by blockading 
 Matagorda Ba\' antl the coast of Texas. 
 
 In July, 1S64, he was detached from duty in the Gulf 
 and ordered to the Na\al Acadeni)-, serving in the prac- 
 tice-ships " Marion" and " Savamiah." In May, 1867, he 
 was ordered as navigator of the steam-frigate " P"rank- 
 lin,"' Captain Pennock, which went to Europe as Admiral 
 P'arragut's flag-ship. This was a remarkable and inter- 
 esting crui.se, from the attentions shown the admiral in 
 every country he \isitetl. especially in Russia and Sweden. 
 In October, iS()8, he was detached from the " Franklin" 
 anil ordered as executive-officer of the " Ticonderoga, " 
 on the same station. Upon his return home he was, in 
 1869, appointed heail of the department of ordnance at 
 the Naval Academy, and published a text-book on gun- 
 nery, long u.sed by the cadets. 
 
 Lieutenant-Commander Cooke was commissioned com- 
 mander in 1870. Served at the Torpedo Station and 
 in command of torpedo-boat " Intrepid," and afterwards 
 the " Alarm." Later he commanded the steamer " Swa- 
 tara." He was made captain in 1881, while stationed at 
 Mare Island, California, and commaiuled the " Lacka- 
 wanna," on tJK- Pacific Station, in 1SS4-S5. He no.\t 
 serveil at the na\y-_\aril, Brooklyn, in connnand of the 
 " Vermont," and afterwards as captain of the yard. In 
 1888 he took command of the " Franklin, " at Norfolk. In 
 1890 he was relieved and ordered to New York as presi- 
 dent of the Board of Inspection of Merchant Vessels. 
 Captain Cooke retired from active service in 1 892. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 59 
 
 FERDINAND P. EARLE. 
 
 General Ferdinand Pinney Eaki-ew-.-is born in Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, in 1S39, and is particular!)- fortLuiate in 
 possessing a highly honorable record of ancestr}- on both 
 paternal and maternal sides. His father was the lineal 
 descendant of Edward E^arle, the youngest member of a 
 family who took a \-ery prominent part in the Parha- 
 mentary struggles in England ; his brother, Sir Walter 
 Karle, being the originator of the Habeas Corpus Act, 
 while another brother, Sir Michael Earle, was killed on 
 the Welsh marches diiring a night attack. 
 
 Edward Earle came to this country I'ia Ixubadoes, 
 and in 1676 purchased the island of Secancus, in New 
 Jersey, becoming the ancestor of the Earle family in that 
 State. Man\- other men of note in the colonial records 
 of this countr\- might be named among General Earle's 
 paternal ancestry, several of them being closely identified 
 with the early history of New York. Among those it 
 will suffice to name General Johannes de la Montagne, 
 a Huguenot, who for nineteen years was a member of the 
 councils of Governors Keift and Stuyvesant, eight }-ears 
 vice director at Fort Orange, and from 1640 to 1645 
 chief in military command on ^lanhattan Island. 
 
 On the maternal side General Earle's ancestry is 
 ecjually notable, his mother, I-llizabeth Pinney, having 
 been the daughter of Judge Benjamin Pinne\', of Elling- 
 ton, Connecticut, a veteran of the War of 18 12, and a 
 descendant of Humphrey Pinney, one of the first settlers 
 of Connecticut, who came from Elngland in the ship 
 " Mary and John" in 1630. 
 
 William P. Earle, the father of the subject of our sketch, 
 was long prominent in the hotel world, he ha\ing been 
 for many years proprietor of the famous Clinton House, 
 in Hartford, Connecticut, and at a later date of the 
 Lorillard House, in New York, which afterwards became 
 known as Earle's Hotel. While still quite j'oung, Fer- 
 dinand P. Plarle became engaged with his father in hotel 
 management, and in a few years after their remo\al to 
 New York became sole proprietor of the Ivarle's Hotel 
 propert}-, his father retiring from this enterjjrise to engage 
 in other business ventures. Mr. Earle's ambition soon 
 led him to desire a wider field, and he became the proprie- 
 tor of the magnificent Hotel Normandie, Broadway and 
 Thirt)-eighth Street ; and at a later date owner and pro- 
 prietor of Normandie-by-the-Sea, Seabright, New Jersej'. 
 
 General Earle's military career began October 3, 1862, 
 when he enlisted as a pri\ate in the Se\enth Regiment 
 of the National Guard of New York. He was honorablj- 
 discharged from this regiment in October, 1S69, and in 
 April, 1881, was elected captain of the Second Katteiy, 
 
 an organization which was thereafter known as Earle's 
 Battery, and under his command became one of the most 
 efficient military organizations in the National Guard. 
 On January i, 1889, Governor David B. Hill appointed 
 him on his staff to represent the artillerj- branch of the 
 State service, with the rank of bricradier-freneral, and 
 he was reappointed bj' Governor Flower. 
 
 For a number of years General liarle served as chair- 
 man and treasurer of the Citizens' Au.xiliary Committee 
 of the Grand Arm}' of the Republic; and in 1884 was 
 decorated by the Venezuelan government with the Order 
 of the Bust of the Liberator, in recognition of distinguished 
 services rendered by him to that government. 
 
 In 1 87 1 he was married to Mrs. Lillie Jones Tuttle 
 (Smith), whose ancestral tree includes a number of the 
 earliest settlers in New York and its \'icinit_\', and who is 
 also a descendant of the Winthrop. Downing, and Quincy 
 families of Massachusetts, also the Guions of Staten 
 Island. 
 
 For many years General Earle has been prominent in 
 church and charitable work, as a vestr\'man in the Epis- 
 copal Church and founder of the " Earle Guild" for the 
 relief of the needy. He is a member of numerous socie- 
 ties, including the Old Guard, the Huguenot Society of 
 America, the Society of Sons of the American Revolution, 
 Colonial Wars, Society War 181 2, and many others, mili- 
 tary, civil, scientific, etc. He resides with his family in 
 the old Roger Morris House, at Washington Heights, 
 historically known as Washington's Head-quarters during 
 the battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776. 
 
 Children — Ferdinand P., Jr., Victor de la Montagne, 
 Willie P. S., and Guion L. C. Earle. ^ 
 
6o 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES H. KIMBERLY. 
 
 Chakles H. Kimheki.v, prominent in New \'oik com- 
 mercial life, was born a native of the Soutlieni States, 
 his place of birth being Macon, GeorLjia, wiiere he was 
 b(jrn on February 13, 1840. lieing broii^Mit North while 
 younj^, he received his education in the military school 
 at Danbury, Connecticut, an institution in wliich instruc- 
 tion in military tactics was combined with a thorouj^di 
 course in the elements of an ordinary luiglish edu- 
 cation. Mis period of study in this institution was 
 not preliminary to an entrance into arm\' life, for lie 
 passed from school to mercantile business, as a clerk 
 in the bonded warehouse establishment of Squire & 
 Johnson, situated at Nos. 6, 8, and 10 IJridge Street, 
 New \'()rk, which city was thenceforth his ]}lace of resi- 
 dence. 
 
 Mr. Kimberl)''s business life in this establishment began 
 in August, 1862. It was the war era, and one in which 
 business of almost every description prospered exceed- 
 ingly in the cities of the North. He proved energetic 
 and efficient, quickly displaying an excellent business 
 ability, and rendered himself so valuable and necessary 
 to the firm that in September, 1 866, he was admitted to 
 
 partnership in the business, the name of the firm now 
 being changed to E. C. Johnson & Co. 
 
 On the subsequent death of Mr. E. C. Johnson, the 
 senior partner in the firm, new changes in its organization 
 took place, Mr. Kiniber!}-, who by this time had accumu- 
 lated considerable capital, purchasing all other interests 
 in the establishment, of which from that time to his death 
 he remained sole proprietor. I lis i)urchase included the 
 ownership of the stores Nos. 8 and lo ]5ridge Street, and 
 at a later date he bought No. 6, so that the w hole concern 
 fell into his sole proprietorship. 
 
 By this time, however, the activity of business during 
 and for some years after the war had declined, while the 
 growing competition in trade interfered materiall)- with 
 the trade and profits of the establishment. As a result, 
 Mr. Kimberly found himself forced to enter upon a severe 
 contest to retain the position in the conmiercial world his 
 energj- and abilit)- had ])reviously won. Indnniitable 
 perseverance and unllinching devotion to business became 
 necessary, but those qualities, fortunately for his success, 
 Mr. Kimberly possessed in a high degree, and during the 
 years that followed his assumption of sole proprietorship 
 it was only b\- a xigortnis and intense attention to busi- 
 ness that he was enabled to retain the position he iiad 
 won and to holil for the Kimberly stores their high 
 standing in the commercial arena. 
 
 All his business life, indectl, had been a periuel of 
 intense strain. He was a hard and earnest worker, in- 
 cessant in his devotion to business, active and inilefati- 
 gable, qualities which brought him ra[)id success in the 
 hard battle of business life, and to which alone he owed 
 his high mercantile position, Init which told severely on 
 his health and strength. In short, his health gave way 
 under the strain to w hicli he had so long been subjected, 
 and he sank into a prolonged illness, which ended in 
 death on March 26, 1S92. 
 
 Mr. Kimberl)' was much interested in man)' of the 
 municipal social relations of New York, and particularly 
 in P'reemasonry. He was long a Mason, and took the 
 greatest interest in everj-thing relating to Masonic affairs, 
 and in the principle of fraternitj- which underlies all the 
 operations of this time-honored societj*. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 6i 
 
 MAJOR DAVID B. DOUGLASS. 
 
 David Bates Douglass, civil and mining engineer, was 
 born at Pompton, New Jersey, March 21, 1790. He 
 graduated at Yale College, and on October i, 181 3, was 
 appointed second lieutenant in the Engineer corps of the 
 army, and placed on duty at West Point as commander 
 of the sappers and miners. Somewhat later he was made 
 commander of the post. In 18 14 he commanded his 
 company of sappers and miners on the northern frontier, 
 where he took part in the battle of Niagara and the siege 
 of Fort Erie. This was followed by the memorable sortie 
 from that work, in which the lines of the enemy were 
 broken and they were forced to retire. For " distin- 
 guished and meritorious service" on this occasion Mr. 
 Douglass was promoted first lieutenant and given the 
 brevet rank of captain. After the war he returned to 
 West Point, where during fifteen years he was engaged 
 in various duties, being successively professor of Natural 
 and Experimental Philosoph}-, of Mathematics, and of 
 Engineering. 
 
 In 183 1 he resigned from the arm\- to engage in the 
 duties of a civil engineer. During his army service he 
 had been employed on important inspections, surveys, and 
 estimates for canals and other works of internal improve- 
 ment, had acted as astronomer on the survey to determine 
 the United States boundary from Niagara to Detroit, and 
 had served as engineer of tlie board of commissioners of 
 internal improvements of Pennsylvania. On his retire- 
 ment from army service he accepted the position of chief 
 engineer of the Morris Canal Company, which had pre- 
 viously been offered him. He had become greatly inter- 
 ested in the question of the introduction of inclined 
 planes instead of locks on canals, and his resignation 
 from the army was for the purpose of devoting his time 
 to e.xperiments in this direction. He constructed such a 
 plane on the Morris Canal, which proved a success. At 
 a trial made of the new device, a boat containing two 
 hundred persons passed in six and a half minutes a 
 plane one thousand and forty feet long with a descent 
 of seventy feet. The canal was successfully completed 
 in 1832. 
 
 During the same year he was appointed professor of 
 Natural Philosoph)' and Civil Engineering in the Univer- 
 sitj- of the City of New York. This position he relin- 
 quished in 1833, though his name continued on the college 
 roll until 1840. In 1833 he surveyed the Brooklyn and 
 Jamaica Railroad, and from 1833 to 1835 served as one 
 of the engineers of the Croton Aqueduct, during which 
 period he made surveys, plans, and estimates in connec- 
 tion with the important project of suppl)-ing the city of 
 New York with fresh water from the Croton River. 
 This dut)- fell upon him solely, from the fact that his 
 
 associate engineer was full)- engaged in other labors. His 
 report showed so clearly the practicability of the pro- 
 jected works that the necessary legislation authorizing 
 them was procured in Ma\', 1834, and Major Douglass 
 was appointed chief engineer of the proposed aqueduct. 
 In this post of duty he prepared the plans and laid out 
 the line of the aqueduct, continuing thus engaged until 
 October, 1836, when a difference of opinion between him 
 and the commissioners caused his removal. But while 
 dispensing with his services they availed themselves of 
 his work, his reports and surveys being adopted and 
 followed in the construction of the aqueduct. 
 
 From 1837 to 1840 Major Douglass ser\ed as chief 
 engineer of Greenwood Cemetery, selecting the locality 
 and la)-ing out the plans for this " city of the dead" with 
 an engineering abilitj- aiul artistic skill which are amply 
 indicated in the cemetery as it now exists. He was en- 
 gaged in other duties in New York and its vicinity during 
 the same period, and in 1840 resigned the superintendence 
 of the cemetery work to become president of Kenyon 
 College, Ohio. 
 
 He remained here till 1844, when he returned to New 
 York, where until 1848 he was engaged as chief engineer 
 in planning and laj-ing out the Albany and Quebec ceme- 
 teries, and in important engineering work at Brooklyn, 
 such as pro\iding a supporting wall for Brooklyn Heights, 
 supph-ing the cit)- with water, developing the landscape 
 features of Staten Island, etc. In 1848 he became pro- 
 fessor of Mathematics at Geneva College, where he 
 remained until his death, which took place October 9, 
 1849. At his request his body was interred in Greenwood 
 Cemetery, a fitting place of sepulchre in view of his long 
 connection with that most beautiful «bode of those who 
 have passed the gates of death. 
 
62 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 THURLOW WEED. 
 
 Thl'RLOW Weed, a leading journalist and politician of 
 New York City, was born at Acra, Greene Count)', New 
 York, November 15, 1797. His education was of the 
 sparest, and hardsliip marked the story of his early life, 
 he being destitute of the youthful advantages which 
 have given so many leading men a fair start on the 
 journey of life. When only ten years of age he was 
 on dut)- as cabin-boy on the Hudson, and was put to 
 learn the printer's trade when at the age of twelve. A 
 printing-office, however, is a good school of practical 
 education, and the boy undoubtedly gained there much 
 of the knowledge and experience which stood him in 
 good stead in later life. He moved from one office to 
 another, and at the outbreak of the War of 18 12 did 
 duty as a soldier on the frontier, though still only a boy 
 of fifteen. 
 
 His twentieth year of age found the young printer 
 engaged in journalistic duties, as editor of the Ai^ricul- 
 lurist, a newspaper publisheil at Norwich, New York. 
 From this time forward he was always connected with 
 some newspaper, usually in an editorial capacity. In 
 1826 he was elected to the New York Legislature, and 
 during the succeeding years became an active member 
 of the Anti-Masonic party, and took part in the e.xcited 
 agitation of the period, stirred up by the Morgan murder, 
 instigated, as the public widely believed, by the Masonic 
 fraternity. A newspaper, the Anti-Masonic Inquirer, was 
 started at Rochester as the organ of the party. Weed 
 becoming its editor, and by his earnest advocacy of the 
 
 party tenets helping to re-elect Dc Witt Clinton to the 
 New York governorship. 
 
 In 1830 he was again elected to the Legislature, and 
 now became editor of the Albany Evening Journal. In 
 his hands this paper became an able organ of the Whig 
 party and a stalwart opponent of the Albanj- Regency, 
 a coalition which at that time ruled the State politics. 
 It also ojjposed the administration of President Jackson 
 and his second candidac)' for the Presidenc)'. 
 
 During the succeeding thirt}'-two years Mr. Weed 
 remained connected with this paper, and at its head be- 
 came a vigorous power in New York politics, in which 
 he took a most active part. He was a master of the 
 art of handling voters and managing conventions, and 
 the acknowledged leader in the councils of his party. 
 He is said to have once turned a State election by the 
 dexterous use of a moderate sum of money. Yet, 
 though ready to aid his political friends in this manner, 
 personally Thurlow Weed bore the reputation of being 
 disinterested and incorruptible. He was loyal to his 
 party and to the countrj-, but as regarded his own for- 
 tunes was so indifferent that his friends were obliged to 
 look after his financial affairs. This they did, however, 
 with much success. 
 
 I\Ir. Weed was an intimate associate with and adherent 
 of William H. Seward, and with him and Horace Greeley 
 formed a State triumvirate. During Seward's period 
 as governor (1839-43) \\'eed was looked upon as the 
 "power behind the throne." He was also acti\e in 
 national affairs, and used his political influence in the 
 campaigns for the Presidency of Harrison, Taylor, and 
 Scott. On the forinati<in of the Republican ])arly he 
 joined its ranks, and in iS56aiul again in i860 did his 
 utmost to have Seward nominated for President. Fail- 
 ing in this, he earnestly supported Fremont and Lincoln. 
 In 1 861 Lincoln sent him to Europe on an unacknowl- 
 edged mission. During the next \ear he withdrew from 
 his long connection with \.\\c Journal. 
 
 Mr. Weetl removed to New York City in 1865, where 
 for three )-ears he edited the Connnereial Advertiser. 
 In this he favored the policy of President Johnson in 
 1866-C7, but in 1868 supported General Grant for the 
 Presidency. During the remainder of his life he with- 
 drew from active interest in ]iolitical affairs, and in his 
 old age his sight almost failed. He died November 22, 
 1882. He published "Letters from Europe and the 
 West Indies" (1866), and on his death left an " Autobi- 
 ography," which was published in 1883, and was reissued 
 in 1884 with a " Memoir" by his grandson, T. W. Barnes. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 63 
 
 NATHANIEL P. WILLIS. 
 
 George Willis, a" Puritan of considerable distinction," 
 who emigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 1630, 
 was the ancestor of the subject of our sketch, whose 
 father, Nathaniel Willis, was a newspaper proprietor in 
 Boston. Nathaniel Parker, the eldest son, was born in 
 Portland, Maine, January- 20, icSo6, and received his early 
 education at the Boston Latin School and Andover 
 Academy, after which, in 1S23, he entered Yale College. 
 He was not specially distinguished as a student, but strong 
 literarj' tastes developed during his college life, and in 
 1827, immediately after his graduation from Yale, he pub- 
 lished a volume of " Poetical Sketches," which attracted 
 attention, although unfavorably received by the critics. 
 The author followed up this first effort by two other 
 volumes in the same vein, " Fugitive Poetry" (1829) and 
 " Poems" (1831). He also was a frequent contributor to 
 newspapers and periodicals. 
 
 He began his editorial work in 1827, on The Le- 
 gendary and Tlie Token, published by S. C. Goodrich 
 (Peter Parle\-), and in 1828 began the publication of the 
 Amerieein Monthly Jlagacine, which was continued for 
 two years, but proved unsuccessful. On its discontinu- 
 ance he went to Europe, where he acted as foreign editor 
 and correspondent of the New York Mirror, to which he 
 contributed a series of letters, afterwards published under 
 the title of " Pencillings by the Way." Their vivid 
 sketches of scenes and life incidents in the Old World 
 gained them instant popularit}-, though the author was 
 censured by critics for reporting conversations heard 
 as a guest at private gatherings. His style had its affec- 
 tations and fopperies, but these were accompanied by a 
 grace, ease, and artistic finish which won general recog- 
 nition. 
 
 This work was followed bj' " Slingsb}- Papers," con- 
 taining descriptions of life and adventures in America, 
 and republished in 1836 as "Inklings of Adventure," a 
 work which proved as successful in England as " Pencil- 
 lings by the Way" had in America. He also published 
 while in England " Melanie, and other Poems," with a 
 preface by Barry Cornwall. 
 
 On his return to America he settled on a small estate 
 on Owego Creek, bringing thither his wife, Mary Stace, 
 daughter of General Stace, of Woolwich, England, after 
 whom the estate \\as named Glenmary. He resided here 
 Ironi 1837 to 1842, writing " Letters from under a 
 Bridge," the most charming of all his works. Anotlier 
 
 work, written during a short visit to England, was entitled 
 " Two Ways of Dying for a Husband." 
 
 On his return to New York he associated himself with 
 George P. Morris, a brother poet, in the establishment of 
 a newspaper entitled the Evening Mirror. His wife dying, 
 he again visited England, and returning to America in the 
 spring of 1846, he again married, and established a literary 
 periodical called the National Press, afterwards named 
 the Home Journal, in which also he was associated with 
 George P. Morris. During this and the subsequent 
 period his pen continued actively engaged, there succes- 
 sively appearing " Dashes at Life" (1845), "Prose and 
 Poetical Works," a collected edition (1846), "Rural 
 Letters" (1849), and " Life Here and There" (1850). 
 
 In 1850 he settled at Idlewild, and spent the remainder 
 of his life chiefl}- in retirement in that retreat, his health 
 beginning to fail. Here he produced from time to time a 
 number of volumes, among which were " Hurrygraphs" 
 (1851), "Out-Doors at Idlewild" (1854), " Rag-Bag" 
 (1855), " Paul Fane," a novel, (1856), and " The Convales- 
 cent," published after his death, in 1859. He died January 
 20, 1867, and was buried in Mount .Vuburn Cemetery, 
 Boston. 
 
 During his life Willis occupied a high position among 
 American authors, but one which has proved far from 
 permanent. Few people read his prose works to-day, 
 and his only productions which seem likely to hold their 
 place in literature are some of his poems, particularly 
 those on Biblical subjects. 
 
.64 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 BRIGAUIER-GHNERAI. JUHN COCHRANE. 
 
 Brigadiek-Genekal John Cochrane was born at 
 Palatine, Montgomery County, New York, August 27, 
 1813. His father was Walter L. Cochran; grandfather, 
 John Cochran, surgeon-general and director of the Mili- 
 tary Hospitals of the Army of the Revolution ; mother, 
 Cornelia \V. Smith, daughter of Judge Peter Smith, of 
 Peterboro', Madison County, N. Y., and only sister of Ger- 
 rit Smith, of the same place; grandmother on the pater- 
 nal side, Gertrude Schuyler, only sister of Major-Gcneral 
 Philii) Scluij'ler, of Revolutionary fame; grandfather on 
 the maternal side. Judge Peter Smith, abo\e named ; 
 grandmother on the maternal side, Elizabeth Livingston, 
 oldest daughter of Colonel James Livingston, of the Ami)- 
 of the Revolution, who, by his timely shot, drove the 
 British sloop-of-war "Vulture" from her mooring in the 
 North River, thus securing the capture of Andre, effect- 
 ing the discomfiture of Arnold's treason, and assuring the 
 safety of West Pf)int, the key of the Revolution. 
 
 In 1827 General Cochrane entered Hamilton College, 
 Clinton, Oneida County, State of New York; in 1831 
 was graduated; in 1834 admitted to the practice of law 
 in the State of New York. 1846, removed to New York 
 City, where he has since continued to reside. 1853, 
 United Stiites Surveyor of the port of New York during 
 four years. 1 857-61 , representative in Congress from the 
 city of New York — two terms. 1 860, a member of the 
 Board of Visitors to West P(jint. 1858, ileputed b)- Com- 
 mon Council of the city of New York to deliver the re- 
 mains of James Monroe, Fourth President of the United 
 States, to his native State, Virginia. 1864, nominated for 
 Vice-President of the United States, with (icneral John 
 C. Fremont, candidate for President, i S61 , June 1 1 , com- 
 missioned to recruit and command a regiment to serve 
 during the war. 1861, August 27, regiment embarked 
 
 from New York City for Washington. 1861, November 
 2, commissioned by President Abraham Lincoln colonel 
 of the First United States Chasseurs, with rank from June 
 II, 1861, and 1862, July 19, brigadier of U. S. Volun- 
 teers, with rank from the 17th of July, 1862. 1863, 
 February 25, resigned because of severe and serious 
 physical disability ; resignation accepted by the Presi- 
 dent. Battles, — Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Antictam, 
 Willianisport, anil I'^redericksburg. 1863—65, attorney- 
 general of the State of New York. 1872, Ma)- i, 2, 3, 
 at the national con\ention in Cincinnati <if the Liberal 
 Republican party, was chicfl\' instrumental in the nom- 
 ination of Horace Greeley for President of the United 
 States. 1872, president of the Common Council of the 
 city of New York, and acting mayor of the city tempo- 
 rarily. i86g, tendered by the President, U. S. Grant, the 
 mission to Uruguay and Paraguay united ; declined. 
 1857, member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and now 
 vice-president of the Society in the State of New \'ork ; 
 member of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, 
 resigned; member of St. Nicholas Society of New York, 
 resigned ; sachem of Tammanj- Hall ; member of the 
 Historical Society of New York, resigned ; member of 
 the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and president 
 one year of the commandery of the State of New York ; 
 member of the Grand .\rniy of the Republic, of the 
 Society of the Army of the Potomac, and Sons of the 
 Revolution. 1870, appointed b\' the Secretar\- of the 
 Treasur\- unticr Presiticnl U. .S. Grant a collector of in- 
 ternal revenue for one of the revenue tlistricts of the citj- 
 of New York; declined. 1889, appointed police justice 
 of the city of New York for ten years ; resigned after 
 duty one year. 1861, November 13, historic speech be- 
 fore his regiment in camp near Washington, in the pres- 
 ence of and with the approbation of Simon Cameron, 
 Secretary of War, first insisting upon the arming of the 
 slaves. The contemporarj' press announced it as the 
 " ke)'-note of the war." Orders in regiments of the rebel 
 arm\- were given afterwards not to take Colonel Coch- 
 rane i)risoner, but to shoot him in battle. April 6, 1863, 
 came this despatch to the New York Tribune : "General 
 Thomas (U. S. adjutant-general) appearetl at Helena, 
 Arkansas, and enlisteil slaves ami formeil them into bat- 
 talions under the proclamation of the President, Januarj- 
 I. 1863." 
 
 While attorney-general of New York, General Coch- 
 rane discovered that throughout the whole colonial period 
 of the seventeenth century the waters now known as the 
 Kills and Raritan V>\\y were knnwn and accepted as part 
 of Hudson River. This discover)- of a most impoitant 
 historical fact was made know n by a paper read by the 
 general before the New \'ork Historical Society in 1863. 
 
 In 1894, General Cochrane was elected president of the 
 New York branch of the Societ\' of the Cincinnati. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 6S 
 
 GENERAL DANIEL E. SICKLES. 
 
 Daniel Edgar Sickles was boni in the city of New 
 York in 1823, and was educated in the University of New 
 York, which he left to learn the printer's trade. He 
 devoted himself to this business for a number of years, 
 but e\-entually entered upon the stuily of law, and was 
 admitted to practice in the courts of his native city in 
 the year 1844. Soon afterwards he engaged actively in 
 politics as a member of the Democratic party, and in 
 1847 was elected to the New York Legislature, where he 
 quickly became a leader in the councils of his party. 
 From that time forward his political progress was rapid. 
 In 1853 he accompanied James Buchanan to London as 
 secretary of legation, and on his return in 1855 was 
 elected to the State Senate. In the following year he 
 was sent to Congress to represent a district in New 
 York City, and remained there for two terms. 
 
 During his period of service in Congress, Mr. Sickles 
 became a prominent object of public interest through a 
 tragic incident in which he was the principal. He dis- 
 covered, in 1859, a guilty connection between his wife 
 and P. B. Key, United States attorney for the District of 
 Columbia, and taking the law into his own hands, he 
 shot Mr. Key dead on the street in Washington, Febru- 
 ary 27, 1859. There followed a trial for murder which 
 enlisted the attention of the whole American public. It 
 continued for twenty days and ended in an acquittal, a 
 verdict which met wide-spread approbation from that 
 great body of citizens who beliexe in the sanctit)- of 
 family life. 
 
 The legislati\e career of Mr. Sickles ended with the 
 outbreak of the civil war. Inspircci by patriotic fer\or, 
 he immediately began the work of enlistment, and suc- 
 ceeded in raising in New York City the Excelsior Bri- 
 gade, composed of fi\e regiments, of one of which he 
 was commissioned colonel. In September he was raised 
 to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, and took 
 an active part with his brigade, in the division of General 
 Hooker, throughout the campaign before Riclimond. 
 He particularl)' distinguished himself for courage and 
 ability at the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and 
 Mal\-ern Hill. In the Mar_\-land campaign, which suc- 
 ceeded the witlulrawal of the army from before Rich- 
 mond, General Sickles's brigade formed part of McClel- 
 lan's army, and was conspicuous for its services at the 
 hard-fought battle of Antietam. In the later campaign 
 of that year he was given command of the division, suc- 
 ceeding General Hooker, who had been raised to a higher 
 command. In this position he took an active part in the 
 severe and disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, in which 
 he distinguished himself for courage. 
 
 On the reorganization of the Arm\' of the Potomac, in 
 1863, General Sickles was commissioned major-general 
 and given the command of the Third Corps of the arm}-, 
 
 at whose head he played a prominent part in the battle 
 of Chancellorsville. The defeat of the Union army in 
 this engagement was followed, as is well known, by Lee's 
 invasion of Pennsylvania and the rapid march of tiie 
 Army of the Potomac to the defense of that Northern 
 State. General Sickles's command formed an essential 
 part of the line of defense at Gettysburg, being stationed 
 between Cemetery Hill and Little Round Top. Here it 
 fought with desperate valor for the retention of its posi- 
 tion, but was forced to yield to the onset of superior 
 numbers. In the desperate struggle for the position its 
 daring leader lost a leg, and was borne disabled from the 
 field. This disaster, however, did not end his militar\- 
 career. He left the hospital to rejoin the army, and con- 
 tinued in service till the close of the war in 1865. 
 
 After the war, General Sickles was sent by the go\ern- 
 ment on a mission to Colombia. In 1866, on his return, 
 he joined the regular army as colonel, and in the next 
 year was brevetted brigadier-general for his gallant con- 
 duct at Fredericksburg, and major-general for his similar 
 meritorious action at Gettysburg. During this perioil of 
 service with the regular arm\- he was in command of the 
 military department of the Carolinas, and was so \'igorous 
 in the work of reconstruction that President Johnson, 
 in 1867, relieved him from command. In April, i86g, 
 he was placed on the retired list of the United States 
 army with the full rank of major-general. 
 
 In May, 1869, General Sickles was appointed minister 
 to Spain. In 1873 he resigned and returned to his native 
 city, where he became president of the State board of 
 civil commissioners, and of the board for the erection of 
 New York monuments at Gettysburg. In 1892 he was 
 elected a member of the Fifty-thi«i Congress, — making 
 his third term, — serving with distinction, and taking rank 
 with the foremost men in public life. 
 
66 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HHNRY BKRGH. 
 
 Henry Bergh, the founclcr of the fust society or- 
 ganized in America for the prevention of cruelty to 
 animals, was a native of the city of New York, where he 
 was born in 1823. He was of German descent, the 
 fainil)- ha\ing come to America about 1740, where the\' 
 settled near Staatsburtj, on the Hudson. Christian Hcr^h, 
 the fatiier of the philanthropist, was a ship-huiidcr by 
 occupation, constructing, besides numerous merchant 
 vessels, some ships of war for the government. Henry 
 was educated at Columbia College, and after graduating 
 turned his attention to literary pursuits, producing several 
 talcs, sketches, and dramatic pieces. He afterwards en- 
 tered upon an extensive series of travels, spending in all 
 twelve )'ears abroad, during which he visited nianj' jjarts 
 of Europe and travelled widely through Asia. In 1862 
 he was appointed secretary of the American legation at 
 St. Petersburg, but found the climate too severe for his 
 constitution, and was compelled to resign. 
 
 It was while in this position that Mr. Hergh's attention 
 was first actively directed to the subject of the great 
 and unnecessary cruelty to which animals are freciuently 
 subjected, from what lie saw of the barbarous treatment 
 of hcl[)less creatures by the peasantry of Russia. The 
 cruelties observed there wrought so strongly upon his 
 benevolent instincts that lie determined to devote the 
 remainder of his life to the ])rotection of chnnb animals. 
 A society such as he afterwards founded in America 
 existed at that time in luigland, and on his return he 
 became acciuaintetl in London with the Ivarl of Har- 
 rowby, president of this institution (The Royal Society 
 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), w ho gave him 
 full information concerning the workings of that Society, 
 and encouraged him in his purpose of starting a similar 
 institution in the United States. 
 
 In 1864, Mr. Bergh landed in New York, where he 
 spent a year in maturing his plans, and then openly began 
 to work. The proposition which he made was so novel 
 to the people of this country that at first it met with 
 little encouragement. But on P'cbruary 8, 1866, he de- 
 livered a lecture in Clinton Hall on the unnecessary 
 cruelties to which animals are subjected c\en in civilized 
 lands, and succeeded in awakening so much s\-nipa- 
 thetic feeling, and calling forth so many offers of 
 assistance, that he was quickly enabled to organize a 
 society for the purpose intended. The press had spread 
 widely the report of the lecture, and aroused a wide- 
 spread favorable sentiment, and on April 10, 1866, 
 the State Legislature passed an act to incorporate the 
 American Societj- for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- 
 mals. 
 
 A meeting was held and a permanent organization 
 effected on April 22, 1866, Henry Bergh being chosen 
 president of the Society. The purpose of the associa- 
 tion was to enforce all laws passed for the protection of 
 animals, and to secure the arrest and punishment of all 
 persons found violating such laws. At that time, how- 
 ever, only one such law existed, which had been passed, 
 at the instance of Mr. Bergh, on April ig, just before 
 the organization of the Society. This made it a misde- 
 meanor for any [jerson. b)' act or neglect, to maliciously 
 kill, injure, or cruelU' beat any animal, whether belong- 
 ing to himself or another person. This act was amended 
 and made more stringent on April 12, 1S67. Other 
 amendments have since been added until cruelty to ani- 
 mals, in its every phase, is very thoroughly prohibited. 
 Branches of the Society have since been organized in 
 nearly all the States and Territories. 
 
 At first Mr. ]?ergh attended personall}' to the prosecu- 
 tion of cases in the courts, the State and the count\- alike 
 appointing him a special attorney for that purpose. He 
 constantlj- advocated the cause of animals b\- public 
 addresses and a]i[)eals to prominent men and ]iul)lic 
 bodies, and succeeded in ha\ing many reforms atloi)ted 
 in the methods of transporting animals and preparing 
 them for food, while through his efforts has grown up a 
 wide-felt sympathy with the lower animals which pre- 
 viously had little existence. 
 
 In 1875 he became the parent of another admirable 
 reform. An appeal was made to him in the case of the 
 cruel treatment of a child b)- its parents, in which none 
 of the existing societies could be induced to interfere. 
 Through his taking active stejis to redress this wrong, 
 similar complaints came to him from manj- i[uarters, and 
 he felt impelled to call a meeting of citizens, from whose 
 deliberations originated the Society for the Prevention of 
 Cruelty to Children, one which has become as widely 
 successful as its predecessor. Mr. Bergh died in New 
 York, March 12, 1888. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 67 
 
 WILLIAM G. DA VIES. 
 
 William Gilbert Davies was born in the city of 
 New York, March 21, 1842. He is descended from a 
 Welsh family, some members of which settled at Kington, 
 Herefordshire, England, whence John Davies, the an- 
 cestor in this country, moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, 
 in 1735. He was a devoted member of the Church of 
 England, and was largely instrumental in founding St. 
 Michael's Church in that town, which contains a tablet to 
 his memor}-, and is largely sustained from the proceeds of 
 land donated by him. His grandson, Thomas Davies, a 
 great-great-uncle of Mr. Davies, graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege, studied theology in England, was ordained deacon 
 and priest by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the 
 chapel in Lambeth Palace in August, 1761, and returned 
 to this country as a missionary of the Society for Propa- 
 gating the Gospel in Eoreign Parts. He died prema- 
 turely in 1766, but his influence upon his family, and 
 their ecclesiastical relations, were such that they remained 
 loyal to the English government throughout the Revolu- 
 tion, and suffered from the obloquy and persecution to 
 which Tories were subjected. Mr. Davies's grandfather, 
 Thomas John Davies, moved to New York in 1800 and 
 settled at Black Lake, in St. Lawrence County, where 
 he served for several terms as sheriff and county judge. 
 His son, Henry E. Davies, came to New York City 
 shortly after his admission to the bar in 1826, where 
 he occupied successively the positions of Corporation 
 Counsel, justice of the Supreme Court, and Chief Judge 
 of the Court of Appeals. He married Rebecca Waldo 
 Tappan, a descendant of Abraham Toppan, — as the name 
 was then spelled,— who came from England to New- 
 bur\'port, Massachusetts, in 1630. On his mother's side, 
 Mr. Da\ies traces his ancestry back to Anneke Jans, to 
 John Hull, master of the Mint and treasurer of the 
 Colony of Massachusetts Bay, who coined the famous 
 pine-tree shillings, and to Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, 
 who married the treasurer's daughter Hannah. It is a 
 family tradition that her dowry consisted of her own 
 weight in the coins from her father's mint. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that his ancestors of his own 
 name were Tories during the Revolutionary War, two of 
 Mr. Davies's great-grandfathers, John Foote and Ben- 
 jamin Tappan, bore arms on the popular and successful 
 side. 
 
 Mr. Davies graduated at Trinity College, Hartford, 
 Connecticut, in i860, and then went abroad to pursue 
 his studies in the University of Leipsic, Germany. On 
 his return he entered the law office of Messrs. Slosson, 
 Hutchins & Piatt. He was admitted to the bar in 
 May, 1863, and. after a partnership of a few years' dura- 
 tion with Henry H. Anderson, entered the service of 
 one of the large insurance companies, where he was for 
 many years office counsel, a position which he has 
 
 recently resigned in order to resume the actix'e practice 
 of his profession. He is a member of the State and 
 City Bar Associations, of the Lawyers' Club, and of the 
 Law Institute, and a Special Lecturer on the Law of 
 Life Insurance in the Law School of the University of 
 the City of New York. 
 
 He is, like his ancestors, a member of the Anglican 
 Church, and was for nearly twenty years one of the 
 vestry of Christ Church, of which he published an 
 historical sketch in the Magazine of Aiiicricaii History 
 some years ago. When that church moved to Sevent)-- 
 first Street, the distance from his residence compelled 
 him to sever his relations with it, and he thereupon con- 
 nected himself with the parish of St. Bartholomew. He 
 has always been interested in historical studies, and is 
 an active member of the New York anil Virginia His- 
 torical Societies, of the New York Biographical and 
 Genealogical Society, and a corresponding member of 
 the New England Historic-Genealogical Societ}-. He 
 is also a member of the Union, University, Century, 
 Tuxedo, Grolier, Liederkranz, and St. Nicholas Clubs, 
 of the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial 
 Wars, and the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association. 
 He is proud of the fact that his service with the Twenty- 
 second Regiment, N.G., S.N.Y., during the Gettysburg 
 campaign of 1863, entitles him to wear the bronze 
 button of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 Mr. Davies married on December 15, 1870, Lucie 
 Rice, daughter of the Hon. Alexander H. Rice, of 
 Boston, Massachusetts, one of the most distinguished 
 citizens of his State, having been mayor of Boston, 
 representative in Congress for several terms, and for 
 three terms governor of Massachusetts, a position 
 which he occupied during the Centennial celebrations in 
 1876. 
 
68 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 S. C. BECKWITH. 
 
 AnvERTisiNG iiia\' be saitl to be almost as much a 
 nineteenth century invention as tlie raihoad or the tele- 
 graph. It is at once an art and a business, — an art in 
 which has developed a Jiiicssc and tact that would ha\e 
 made the crude advertisers of past years stare in wonder; 
 a business that has grown to vast proportions within 
 recent decades, and is still rapidly expanding. And 
 prominent among the advertisers of the day is the gentle- 
 man a sketch of whose career is herewith given, and who 
 to-day stands at the head of the " special" advertising 
 agents of New York, and hence of the country at 
 large. 
 
 S. C. Ueckwitii was born in the .State of Marj-land 
 forty years ago, — in the j^ear 1854. He was educated 
 at Washington College, Chestcrtown, Maryland, from 
 which he graduated with honor, and at once began the 
 study of the law, having decided to adopt this as his 
 profession. He was first aroused to the fact that his 
 native ability lay in another direction through the applica- 
 tion for editorial aid from him by the publisher of a local 
 newspaper, who, recognizing his aptitude, induced him 
 to abandon the law in favor of journalism. Mr. Beckwith 
 was not long in the service of this paper before he dis- 
 covered the true bent of his faculties, and, with a com- 
 mendable ambition, sought a wider field for their display 
 than that afforded by the local sheet of a coiuitr)' town. 
 Making his way to Haitimore, he obtained a position on 
 the staff of the Evfiiitii^ IhilUtin, then under the manage- 
 ment of Mr. \V. M. Laffan, now the busine.ss manager 
 of the New York Sun. Here the young journalist re- 
 ceived a valuable training in newspaper work, and grad- 
 ually perceived the special direction in which his powers 
 led and the field of labor in which success was most 
 likely to come. 
 
 In 1879 he took the most important step of his life, 
 leaving Baltimore for New York, where he established 
 himself as the business representative of the Kansas City 
 Times. This was the foundation of the special agency 
 which he has since immensely extended, his present 
 advertising connections including, in aildition to the 
 Tillies, to which he still faithfullj- adheres, such well- 
 known newspapers as the Philadelphia Item, the St. 
 Louis Post-Dispateh, the Denver Republican, the Port- 
 land Oregonian, and many others. The list includes, 
 in fact, the largest and best special list of Dailies and 
 Weeklies ever representeil h\ one man exclusively in 
 New York City, with a total daily output of over si.x 
 hundred and fift)- thousand copies, or, counting one issue 
 each of Dail)-, Sunday, and Weekly, a combined circu- 
 lation of one million six hundred and si.xty thousand. 
 His connection with which brings a large quantity of 
 important business into his finely-equipped offices in the 
 Tribune Building, of New York, and in the " Rooker\-," 
 of Chicago. 
 
 Mr. Beckwith has not won his pronouncetl success in 
 this field of business opportunitv without the exercise of 
 those active qualities to which alone success is due. To 
 the possession of a native adaptation to the work he 
 ackls an encrgv, entlnisiasni, and capacit)- for unremitting 
 labor which cannot fail to carry well-directed ability to 
 fortune. In his )-outliful da\-s he was far from vigorous. 
 When he began his active business life his health was 
 still delicate, and his physical powers scarcely suitiible to 
 carry out the demands of his mental energy. But, by 
 a carefully regulated life and an earnest attention to 
 moderation in habits, he has built up his health step by 
 step with his business, and is to-tlay a physicalK- cajiable 
 man of forty, and one able to endure an amount of close 
 and unwearying application uniier which niatiy iiaturalK- 
 stronger men would sink. There is with him no lapse 
 of attention to business on hot summer afternoons, or 
 long vacations on yacht-board or at the sea-shore. His 
 attention to business is unremitting, and his success such 
 that his past customers all cling faithfully to him, and 
 new ones annually join the host. If business demands, 
 he does not hesitate to start on ten minutes' notice for a 
 flj-ing trip across the continent. Nothing can stop him 
 if an order is in sight. His scent for business is keen 
 and instinctive, and he is off like a cjclone whenever 
 occasion demands. 
 
 Personall)-, Mr. Beckwith is of a sunny, s\ inpatlutic, 
 and persuasive temperament, wilii nun ii of the magnetic 
 in his pleasant manner. He alwaj-s takes a ro.sy view of 
 j life. His apartments in the Tribune Building are palatial 
 in adornment and a study in the art of decoration. He 
 has expended upon them \shat many men would deem a 
 snug fortune, while his ])ri\ate office is a most alluring 
 I place for those who drop in to talk over business. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 69 
 
 LOUIS WINDMUELLER. 
 
 Louis Windmuellek, a prominent merchant and 
 reformer of New York, is a native of Westphalia, in 
 which country he received a collegiate education in a 
 college at Miinster which had the honor of being founded 
 by Charlemagne. He emigrated from his native country 
 to the United States in 1853, landing in New York, which 
 city has since remained his place of residence. Here he 
 entered into the mercantile business with much success, 
 while outside of his immediate business relations he 
 became in time widely known for his connection with 
 [)rominent financial institutions, his active labors in the 
 interests of reform and charity, and his connection with 
 man)' of the municipal and social institutions of the 
 metropolis. 
 
 The financial institutions with which he has been asso- 
 ciated, and which he took part in founding, are the Title 
 Guarantee and Trust Company, the German-American In- 
 surance Compan\', the Hide and Leather National Bank, 
 and the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Company. With 
 some of these companies he is still associated as director. 
 
 The Reform Club, of New York, is in part due to Mr. 
 W'indmueller, who was active among its founders, and 
 who has served as its treasurer since 1887, while the 
 comfortable home which the club now occupies it largely 
 owes to its treasurer's earnest interest in its affairs. He is 
 also a member of the German-American Reform Union, 
 and, as one of its Executive Committee, took an active 
 part in aiding the election of William L. Strong as reform 
 ma}'or of the city of New York. As a reformer he has 
 been indefatigable in the advocacy of a sound currency 
 and tariff, and civil service reform, his efforts in these 
 directions having been from time to time made known 
 to the public through the press. 
 
 Mr. Windmueller's interest in public affairs is also 
 shown in his membership and active work in several 
 other associations for municipal and State impro\ement. 
 Among these may be named the Chamber of Commerce 
 Committee on Internal Trade and Improvements, of 
 which he is chairman ; and the Executive Committee 
 for the Improvement of the State Canals, as a member 
 of which he agitated successfully for the amendment to 
 the constitution which authorizes the Legislature to 
 make the necessary appropriations. He is, in addition, 
 auditor of the Business Men's Relief Committee, and an 
 earnest member in a number of charitable institutions, to 
 whose work he lends efficient aid. Among these is the 
 German Legal Aid Society, which furnishes gratuitous 
 advice on points of law to the needy without regard to 
 their nationality. In this useful institution he is a mem- 
 ber of the board of directors. 
 
 Among the earnest and eftectiv^e efforts in behalf of 
 charity which have been made by Mr. Windmueller must 
 particularly be mentioned his valuable services for the 
 benefit of the German Hospital Fair in 1888. For this 
 he arranged a collection of paintings, which proved so 
 potent an attraction that over $100,000 were cleared for 
 this important charitable institution. 
 
 Outside his connection with bodies devoted to reform 
 and chanty, Mr. Windmueller is a member of many other 
 New York organizations, including the Merchants', Ger- 
 man, Lotos, Insurance, Athletic, and various other clubs, 
 and the New York Historical Society, of which he is a 
 life member. As regards specially German interests, it 
 ma}' be stated that he is treasurer of a fund for the erec- 
 tion of a monument to Goethe and vice-president of the 
 Heine Monument Society. 
 
 The various subjects in which he is interested have 
 called forth ably-written articles from his pen, contributed 
 to the Foriiin, Harper s Weekly, and other periodicals 
 whose pages are open to the liberal discussions of public 
 affairs. During his period of residence in New York he 
 has made frequent visits to Europe, where he is well 
 known, particular!)' in German)-, his native land. 
 
 Mr. Windmueller was married in 1859, and has since 
 lived a happ)' famil)' life. He has three children, and 
 possesses a beautiful home near the village of Woodside, 
 Long Island. He ranks among the founders of St. 
 Paul's Episcopal Church in this village, and is a member 
 of its vestry. He takes a warm and intelligent interest 
 in art and literature, and his home near Woodside is 
 adorned with a fine collection of modern paintings and 
 a valuable library of books, in which the subjects of art 
 and general literature are particularly represented. 
 
7° 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DE WITT CLINTON. 
 
 At Little Britain, New York, on Marcli 2, 1769, was 
 born the future projector of the Erie Canal, the most 
 notable and useful artificial water-way in this country. 
 His father was General James Clinton, of the Continental 
 army. His education began in an academy at Kingston, 
 and was completed, after the war, at Columbia College, 
 from which he graduated in 1786, the first graduate 
 under the new name of the college. It had formerlj' 
 been called King's College. After graduating he studied 
 law, and was admitted to the bar in New York Cit\- in 
 1788. 
 
 At that period the (juestion of the adoption of the 
 Constitution was uiuler hot debate. It was opposed by 
 Clinton in some published letters which he signed " A 
 Countryman." He became .soon after private secretary 
 to his uncle. Governor George Clinton, and held this 
 position till 1795, when Governor Clinton's term of service 
 ended. In 1797 he was elected a member of the State 
 Assembly, and in the following year of the State Senate. 
 Politically he was strongly in opposition to the measures 
 of President Adams's administration, particularly its hos- 
 tility to France, but when war seemed imminent he rai.sed 
 and equipped a company of artillery. He also found 
 himself in opposition to Governor Jay in regard to the 
 matter of appointing the governor's council, and suc- 
 ceeded in having an amendment added to the consti- 
 tution securing his object, though at the cost of bitter 
 political hostility to himself 
 
 As a member of the Legislature, he sought to improve 
 the laws of the State, introduce sanitary regulations, 
 foster the arts and sciences, promote agriculture, and aid 
 the efforts to apply steam to navigation. He was enthu- 
 siastic in favor of these objects, and gained the reputation 
 of one who had the public good earnestly at heart. In 
 
 1 80 1 he was elected to the Senate of the United States, 
 in which he maintained the high reputation which he had 
 secured in his native State. He resigned two years later 
 to accept the office of mayor of New York, to which he 
 was appointed by Governor Clinton and a Republican 
 council. During the succeeding twelve \-cars he was 
 twice removed from and twice reappointed to this office, 
 then held to be one of the most important in the 
 country. During part of this time he served also as State 
 senator and as lieutenant-governor of the State from 181 1 
 to 181 3. In 1812 he was made a candidate for the 
 Presidency, in opposition to Madison, and received eighty- 
 nine electoral votes to one hundred and twenty-eight for 
 Madison. He was now the most prominent Republican 
 in the State, but was so fiercely attacked !))• the Federal- 
 ists, and was so moderate in his views, as to lose favor 
 with both parties. 
 
 From an early period Clinton had been a warm advo- 
 cate of a project to connect Lake Erie by a canal with 
 the tide-water of the Hudson, and in 1 8 10 acted as one 
 of the commissioners who explored the route of the pro- 
 posed canal through the w ilderness. In 1 8 1 2 he requested 
 goxernmcnt aid for this enterprise, but the war with Great 
 Britain prevented, and nothing was done till 1815, when 
 Clinton, losing his position of ma)-or, entered actively 
 upon the work of advocating the Erie Canal. He pre- 
 pared a memorial and argument in favor of its immediate 
 construction, roused the peojile to a warm sentiment in 
 its favor, and brought it to the attention of the Legis- 
 lature, his activity in this direction making him so 
 popular that, when Governor Tompkins resigned his 
 office to become Vice-President of the United States, 
 Clinton was elected governor b\- both parties, and re- 
 elected in 1 8 19, though Mr. Tompkins was now again a 
 candidate. 
 
 On July 4, 1817, he broke the ground for the great 
 work he had .so strenuously advocated. In 1820 he wrote 
 a series of newspaper sketches of travel along the propo.sed 
 route of the canal, which were published in book form in 
 1822, as " Letters on the Natural History and Internal 
 Resources of the State of New York." In consequence 
 of some changes in the constitution, Clinton declined to 
 be again a candidate for governor, and in 1824 his 
 political opponents even removed him from the un- 
 salaried position of canal commissioner. Indignant 
 at this, the peo[)le again triumphantly elected him gov- 
 ernor, and he had the proud honor of presiding over 
 the com])letion of his great work, and being borne 
 trium])hantly on a barge from the waters of Lake Erie 
 to the harbor of New York, October 26, 1825. He did 
 not long survive this period of triumjjhant realization, 
 dying suddenly at Albany, February 11, 1828. His 
 monument remains in the continued utilitj' of the great 
 Erie Canal. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 71 
 
 SAMUEL F. B. MORSE. 
 
 Samuel Finlev Bkef.se Morse, notable at once for his 
 artistic and his inventive abilit}-, was born at Charles- 
 town, Massachusetts, April 27, 1791. His father was the 
 Re\-. Jcdediah Morse, author of the first geographical 
 works published in America. The son entered Yale 
 College at fourteen years of age, where he received the 
 first impulse towards those electrical studies which he 
 afterwards prosecuted so ardentl}-. He gratluated in 
 1810, and, his tastes turning towards art, became a pupil 
 of Washington Allston, then the greatest of American 
 artists. In 181 1 he accompanied his master to P2ngland, 
 where he remained four years engaged in the study of 
 painting under Benjamin West. 
 
 The young artist manifested fine abilit\-, and gained 
 considerable success; but after his return to America he 
 failed to obtain orders for historical paintings, to which 
 his taste inclined him, and engaged in the painting of 
 portraits. In this field of art he worked in several cities, 
 finally settling in New York, where, in 1825, he laid the 
 foundations of the National Acadeni)- of Design, and was 
 elected to its presidency, a position which he retained for 
 the succeeding twent\' years. 
 
 In 1829 he returned to Europe, where he spent several 
 years in the study of the old masters, making his way 
 back to America in October, 1832. During this voyage 
 the question of electro-magnetism arose in a conversa- 
 tion among the passengers, and Morse remarked, " If the 
 presence of electricity can be made visible in an\- part 
 of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence ma\' not 
 be transmitted b}- electricit\-." 
 
 The proposition was not a new one, but it roused new 
 ideas in his mind. During the remainder of the voyage 
 he occupied himself in thinking out how such intelligence 
 could best be transmitted, and before New York was 
 reached had worked out in his mind the details of the 
 future " Morse alphabet," and completed a rough draft 
 of the necessary apparatus, which he exhibited to his 
 fellow-passengers. 
 
 The twelve years that followed were years of painful 
 labor and discouraging disappointments. He was too 
 eager in the pursuit of his new idea to give much atten- 
 tion to art, and his artistic ambition was further discour- 
 aged b\- the refusal of the go\ernment to give him the 
 commission to paint one of the historical pictures in the 
 rotunda of the Capitol. He kept persistently engaged 
 on his new idea until 1836, laboring in poverty, and 
 meeting numerous delays and disheartening disappoint- 
 ments. In 1836 he first completed a workable appa- 
 ratus, and not until September, 1837, was he able to 
 exhibit his invention. This was done at his room at the 
 University Building, New York, where he sent the cur- 
 rent through seventeen hundred feet of wire, and trans- 
 mitted information with the most encoura<rine success. 
 
 Soon afterwards an application for a patent was made, 
 and Congress was petitioned to grant an appropriation 
 for the purpose of building a telegraph line of sufficient 
 length to demonstrate its value. 
 
 Congress adjourned without making the appropriation. 
 Morse had, meanwhile, sailed to England for the purpose 
 of taking out patents and pushing his invention there. 
 His trip was unsuccessful. A patent was refused him 
 in England on the ground that his invention was not 
 novel, — Wheatstone having invented his telegraphic sys- 
 tem in 1837. On his return to New York, Morse renewed 
 his ajjplication to Congress, but it was not until 1843 
 that the long-delayed appropriation was granted. This 
 was for $30,000, to enable him to construct a telegraph 
 line between Baltimore and Washington. Now the diffi- 
 culties of the practical application began. The wire was 
 at first laid underground and proved a failure, and the 
 appropriation was nearly exhausted before the device of 
 carrying it through the air was adopted. It was first 
 successfully used on the 24th of May, 1844. 
 
 The success was so striking, and the value of the 
 invention so assured, that companies for the construction 
 of telegraph lines were soon organized in all parts of the 
 country. In 1847 Morse was compelled to \indicate his 
 claim to the invention in the courts, and from that time 
 on tiie honor and emoluments which had been so long 
 deferred were poured in upon him. He received gold 
 medals and other marks of honor from European nations, 
 and in 1858 the representatives of several European 
 powers presented him the sum of 400,000 francs in 
 recompense for their use of his instruments. He took 
 an active part in the laying of the first Atlantic cable, in 
 1857, and died in New York, April », 1872. His system 
 of telegraphy is now used on nearly all the telegraph 
 lines of the world. 
 
72 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES KING. 
 
 Charles Kim; (LL.D.) was born in New York City_ 
 March i6, 1789. lie was tlic second son and child of 
 Hon. Rufus and Mary .\lsop King. In 1799, during 
 the residence of his fatlicr in London as United States 
 minister to the court of St. James, Charles and his older 
 brother, John Alsop, were sent to Harrow School, where 
 they met and were intimate with, as boys, those who 
 were afterwards known to the world as men of talent, 
 among others Lord Byron and Sir Robert Peel. In 
 1803 the "King brotliers" (as they were always known) 
 were sent from Marrow to Paris to stud)' mathematics 
 and French. There these two American youths dis- 
 tinguished themselves in their studies, taking with ease 
 tile higiiest prizes. 
 
 Charles being destined for a mercantile life, was sent 
 from Paris to Amsterdam under the care of the Messrs. 
 Hope. He remained tlierc until the year 1810, when he 
 returned to New York and was taken into the house of 
 Archibald Gracic & Sons, and soon after married Eliza, 
 Mr. Gracie's eldest daughter. Upon the breaking out 
 of hostilities with Great Britain, Mr. King, a Federalist, 
 hastened to give to the government his support, both in 
 the Legislature of New York, to which he was electeil 
 in 1813, and as a volunteer. He was made colonel of a 
 regiment in 1814, anti was stationed on Long Island, at 
 Brooklyn. The failure of Archibald Gracie & Sons in 
 1823 enabled Mr. King to embrace journalism, and with 
 Mr. Johnston Vcrplanck he became associated in the 
 publication of the New York American, a conservative 
 newspaper of much political influence and high literary 
 character. On the retirement of Mr. Wri^lanck Mr. 
 King became sole editor, and remained in charge of the 
 paper until its publication was discontinued. His bravery 
 of character and mind was often used to befriend those 
 
 whom he thought needed help. In the great fire in New 
 York City in 1836 the flames spread with great rapidity, 
 and the intense cold covered the firemen and their ap- 
 paratus with ice. Mr. King realized the tlanger, went 
 himself to the Brooklyn Navy-Yard and, obtaining 
 barrels of gunpowder, with his own hands placed the 
 powder and blew up the houses next the spreading flames, 
 and thus stayed the destruction. He remained at the 
 fire all day and the following niglit, and on returning to 
 his home a hatchet had to be used to release him from 
 his armor of ice. In 1845, Mr. King became one of the 
 editors of the Courier and Enquirer, writing fearlessly, 
 and expressing himself most earnestly upon all subjects. 
 He was elected in 1849 ])residcnt of Columbia College. 
 He heartil)' entered into all the duties of his new office, 
 advancing the interests of the college in every way by 
 his brilliant scholarship, his energy, and wise manage- 
 ment ; increasing both the wealth and usefulness of that 
 institution. During his presidency, Mr. King remained 
 no silent spectator of the various questions which were 
 agitating the countr)-, resulting in the civil war. He took 
 an earnest part in sustaining the principles which lu: had 
 inherited and which his convictions had made his own, 
 and threw himself warmly into the discussions which 
 arose, and, as far as compatible w ith his duties as presi- 
 dent, into active work to aid in pushing the fight against 
 slavery. The presentation of the national and regimental 
 flags to the first colored troops sent out to the seat of 
 war by New York City was his thought and act. This 
 presentation took place in Union Square, New York City, 
 in the presence of a vast concourse of people, with the 
 full regiment drawn up in line before him. I lis cleai", 
 ringing, and heart-stirring words on that occasion caused 
 him to be cheered to the echo. 
 
 His wife dying after a lingering illness, Mr. King some 
 years later was married to Miss Henrietta Low, of New 
 York City. 
 
 In 1S64, Mr. King resigned the presidency of Columbia 
 College, and with his family sailed the following year for 
 Europe to join his son. General Rufus King, then United 
 States minister to Rome. After traveling throughout 
 Europe this useful life ended at Frascati, Italy, on Sep- 
 tember 27, 1867. 
 
 Mr. King was busy ami fluent with his jjcn, writing 
 several most able reports, addresses, and articles. He 
 wrote the history of the New York Chamber of Com- 
 merce, of which he was at one time president ; also a 
 report on the construction, cost, and capacity of the 
 Croton Aqueduct, and many addresses before the 
 Mechanics' and Historical Societies. He was a man 
 who feared naught but wrong, was earnest, high- 
 minded, and impulsive, firm in his convictions and 
 fearless in expressing them, but just and courteous in 
 his bearing. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 73 
 
 RUFUS KING. 
 
 RuFUS King (son of Charles Kini;-, LL.D., and Eliza 
 Gracie, his wife) was born at No. 3 Pearl Street, New 
 York City, January 26, 18 14. His bo\'hood was spent 
 in New York, and his early education intrusted to an old 
 French soldier-scholar (M. Peugnet) who emigrated to 
 America after Waterloo. At the age of fifteen King 
 entered the Military Academy at West Point, and was 
 graduated when onl\- nineteen and commissioned in the 
 Corps of Engineers, United States army, standing number 
 four in a large and brilliant class, prominent in which 
 were John G. Barnard and George W. Cullum. King's 
 first duty was in the construction of Fortress Monroe, 
 where he was associated with Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, 
 of the Engineers, but he was soon transferred to duty in 
 connection with the improvement of the navigation of the 
 Hudson River, his office being in Albany. In September, 
 1836, he resigned from the army to become assistant 
 engineer of the New York and Erie Railwa\', then being 
 surveyed, and held this position until 1839, when, the new 
 enterprise becoming crippled in its finances, he returned 
 to Albany and accepted the adjutant-generalship of the 
 State, tendered him by Governor William H. Seward, who 
 was just entering upon his first term. This office, despite 
 his youth. General King discharged with marked credit 
 f >r the four j-ears of Seward's incumbency. Meantime 
 the inherent editorial stuff in him had attracted the atten- 
 tion of both Mr. Seward and his stanch friend Thurlow 
 Weed, and King became, under Weed's tutelage, associate 
 etlitor of the Albany Evening Journal, making his home 
 in that city, and becoming captain of the famous Bur- 
 gesses Corps. In 1836, King was married to Ellen, 
 daughter of Robert Elliot, Esq., of Albany, but she died 
 within the year. Eight years later he was married to 
 Susan Eliot, a }-ounger sister of his first wife, and in the 
 autumn of 1845 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
 where he became editor and proprietor of the Milwaukee 
 Sentinel and took a prominent and active part in building 
 up the infant city, which became the metropolis of \\'is- 
 consin. He served on the State constitutional conven- 
 tion, was for years member of the board of regents of 
 the State University, superintendent of public schools, 
 Milwaukee, and the leading officer of the State militia. 
 It was his paper that led the movement which resulted 
 
 in the formation of the Republican party in the Northwest. 
 In March, 1861, King was appointed by President Lincoln 
 minister resident at Rome, Ital\-, and was about to 
 embark with his family for his new post when Fort 
 Sumter fell. He at once sought service in the field, was 
 appointed brigadier-general of volunteers in May, 1861, 
 organized anil conmiandeil the brigade of Wisconsin anil 
 Indiana troops that won in the Arm\- of the Potomac the 
 name of" the Iron Brigade of the West ;" was promoted 
 to the command of a di\-ision in McDowell's corps, but 
 after Second Bull Run was prostrated by illness, from 
 which he never fully recovered. In February, 1863, he 
 was commanding the defenses of Yorktown, Virginia, 
 and later commanded a division in the defenses of Wash- 
 ington, but in the fall of that year he resigned his military 
 commission on account of continued ill health and re- 
 paired to Rome, where he remained on duty as mini.ster 
 of the United States until the abolition of the mission by 
 Congress in 1867. 
 
 Returning to New York, he spent there the last nine 
 years of his life, surrounded bj' friends and relatives, suc- 
 cumbing to an attack of pneumonia October 13, 1876. 
 He was buried in the old church-yard at Jamaica, Long 
 Island. General King was survived by his wife, son, and 
 daughter. 
 
74 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 SMITH HLY. 
 
 Smith Klv was born on April 17, 1825, at the resi- 
 dence of his maternal jrrandfathcr, Ambrose Kitchell, at 
 Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey. His ancestry 
 were notable in the history of our country. Judge 
 Aaron Kitchell, his maternal great-grandfather, was a 
 soldier in the Revolutionar>' War, and at a later date 
 .served as United States Representative and Senator, and 
 Presidential elector-at-large. His father, h-paphras C. 
 Ely. leather merchant in New York City, served as a 
 soldier in the War of 1S12 ; his grandfather, Moses Ely, 
 was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and his two 
 more remote paternal ancestors, William VAy and Richard 
 Ely, were cajHains in the colonial army during the old 
 I'Vench and Indian War. Hy virtue of this military ser- 
 vice of his ancestors, Mr. El)' is a member of the Society 1 omj- and judicious administration of the ilutics conmiitted 
 of the War of 1812, of the Sons of the Revolution, and j to his charge. In each of the years of his term the net 
 of the Society of Colonial Wars. ' amount of the cit\- debt was reduced, it being in Januarv, 
 
 Whole, and was thus enabled to do much good and pre- 
 vent much e\il in legislation. 
 
 In i860 he was elected to the board of county super- 
 visors, one of whose important functions, at that period, 
 was to raise money and enlist men to carry on the war. 
 He held this office for eight years, and while a member 
 of the board became conspicuous by his rigorous oppo- 
 sition to its extravagant use of the public funds. In 
 1867 he was re-elected, in opposition to the regular 
 Democratic and Republican candidates, being supported 
 by every daily new.spaper in the city, and in the same 
 year was made commissioner of public instruction. In 
 1 880 he was nominated as one of the Presidential electors 
 on the Democratic ticket. 
 
 Mr. Ely's term of Congressional sciA'ice began in 1S70. 
 In that )-ear there was a union of the fictions of the 
 Democracy of New York, and he was nominated and 
 elected to the Forty-second Congress from the seventh 
 district. He was placed by Speaker Blaine on the Rail- 
 road Committee of the House, and did good service in 
 that capacity. In 1874 he was re-elected, and during 
 this term served on the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
 the Committee on Public Buildings, and the Committee 
 on the Expenditures of the Treasur\- Department, — 
 being chairman of the last-named committee. 
 
 In 1876, while he was still .serving in Congress, the 
 different Democratic elements of New York City united 
 in nominating him as a candidate for mayor. Phe Re- 
 publicans nominated the distinguished soldier and states- 
 man. General John A. Di.x. Mr. Ely was elected by a 
 majorit)- of over fifty-five thou.sand. His administration 
 of the important office for which he had thus been chosen 
 was characterized by the qualities w hiLli he h.ul shown 
 throu'diout his official life, those of wise and strict econ- 
 
 Mr. Ely, after the period of his i)relimin.ir)- education, 
 adopted the law for his profession, studying for three 
 years in the office of I'Vederic De Peystcr, and after- 
 
 1877,5119,811,310; in January, 1878,5117.700,742; and 
 in January, 1879, 5113,418,403, there being thus a total 
 reduction in two years of nearU- 56,500,000. At the same 
 
 wards graduating at the Law School of the University of time the tax levy, notwithstanding the increase of popu- 
 New York. Yet he ne\er practiced the ])rofession, de- iation, was similarly reduced, decreasing from 551,109,521 
 
 voting his middle life instead to mercantile pursuits. 
 Politically he has always been a Democrat, anil many 
 
 in Januar\-, 1S77, to 528,008,888 in January, 1879. No 
 other ma\'or e\'er succeeded in attaining a similar result. 
 
 years of his life have been si)ent in official ser\ice as a Before the expiration of his term as ma)'or, Mr. Ely was 
 representative of that jiarty. In 1856 he was elected offereil by the Democratic party in his old Congressional 
 school trustee of the seventeenth ward, and held the office district the nomination for Congress. He declineil the 
 for four years. In 1857 lie was elected to the State honor, however, preferring to retire to private life. 
 Senate by a large majority, — being the first Democrat [ Since the period named Mr. I'.lv has not held office. 
 ever elected in the district. In the Senate he was the He is unmarried, and is a member of the Century, the 
 only Democrat on the two most important committees, ; Manhattan, the Drawing-Room, aiul the Presbyterian 
 the Committee on Cities and the Sub-Committee of the I Union Clubs. 
 
makers; of new york. 
 
 75 
 
 GEORGE MACCULLOCH MILLER. 
 
 George Macculloch Miller was born in Morris- 
 town, New Jersey, in 1832. His father, Jacob W. Miller, 
 was a prominent and able lawyer and represented New 
 Jersey as United States Senator from 1S41 to 1S53. His 
 mother was Mary Macculloch. His grandfather on his 
 mother's side was George P. Macculloch, of Scotch 
 parentage, whose father was an English officer and 
 killed at Bombay, from where his grandfather was 
 brought to Scotland when four years of age, receiving 
 his education in Edinburgh, and coming to this country 
 in the early part of the present century. At the age of 
 eighteen Mr. Miller graduated from Burlington College 
 and commenced the study of law in his father's office at 
 Morristown, and after a course at the Harvard Law 
 School was admitted in 1853 to the bar of New Jersey, 
 and later in the same year to that of New York. In the 
 early part of 1854 Mr. Miller decided to make New York 
 City his permanent home. He at once became successful 
 in the practice of his profession, being a man of great 
 industry and energy, of unusual commercial sagacity and 
 accurate and careful business habits. To these qualities 
 his marked success in life must be ascribed. He was 
 employed as counsel for many large banking institutions, 
 also in many railroad cases, which brought him into 
 prominence with large railroad corporations, and they 
 were of such a character that in the course of time, 
 in 1 87 1, he became president of the Newport and Wick- 
 ford Railroad and .Steamship Compan}', and in 1873 a 
 director of the New York, Pro\idcnce and Boston Rail- 
 road, and was followed by his election, in 1879, to the 
 presidency of the Providence and Stonington Steamship 
 Company, resigning the same after ten years' service in 
 favor of a younger brother. Mr. Miller was also presi- 
 dent of the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad Company 
 for si.K years until 1887. He has since become vice- 
 president of the New York, Providence and Bo.ston 
 Railroad Company, president of the Housatonic Rail- 
 road Company, and a director and one of the executive 
 committee of the New York, New Haven and Hartford 
 Railroad Compan}-, and has had much to do with the 
 consolidation of the first two of these companies with 
 the New Haven Company. Mr. Miller is also a director 
 in a number of large corporations, and is also a trustee 
 of the Central Trust Company, the Bank of Savings in 
 Bleecker Street, and of Greenwood Cemetery, etc. He 
 is head of the important law firm of Miller, Peckham, 
 & Di.xon, which was founded by him, and is recognized 
 as one of the oldest and most successful law firms of the 
 city. 
 
 Mr. ]\Iiller has responded in aid to many of the re- 
 ligious, educational, and benevolent institutions of this 
 city, and has been an efficient promoter of the enterprises 
 undertaken by the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has 
 
 been for many j-ears a member of the standing com- 
 mittee of the Episcopal diocese of New York. His 
 name is also closely identified with the Protestant Episco- 
 pal Cathedral of St. John the Divine of this city. As 
 one of the original trustees of this corporation chartered 
 in 1873, and its secretary, he has devoted his energies 
 unflaggingly in behalf of buikling this edifice, which is 
 one of the grandest religious structures in the world, 
 located on Tenth Ax'enue between One Hundred and 
 Tenth and One Hundred and Thirteenth Streets. 
 
 Since 1869-1890 Mr. Miller has been trustee and 
 secretary of St. Luke's Hospital at Fifth Avenue and 
 Fifty-fourth Street, but soon to be transferred to its 
 new site immediately adjoining the cathedral. Working 
 zealously for its cause, in 1892 he became its honored 
 president, and has been annually re-elected and is fer- 
 vently devoted to the interests of this noble institution. 
 He is also president of the " Hospital Saturday and 
 Sunday Association of New York." Also one of the 
 wardens of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, in which 
 parish he has been a close and active worker. 
 
 Mr. Miller is an ardent Rei)ublican, and has been 
 actively engaged for many years in the effort to improve 
 the local affairs of New York. He is one of the Com- 
 mittee of Seventy, whose mission has been very success- 
 ful in advancing the cause of municipal reform. He is 
 also noted for his quick business instincts, thoroughness 
 in every work he undertakes, quiet, affable, genial in 
 manner, and approachable under all circumstances. 
 
 Mr. Miller married, in 1857, Elizabeth Hoffman, a 
 daughter of Lindley Murray Hoffman, and has five 
 children, Hoffman, Mary Louisa (now Mrs. William 
 Bard McVickar), Leverett S., Elitabeth Agnes, and 
 Edith Macculloch. The eldest is a partner in his law- 
 firm. 
 
76 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 EDWARD I^AYSON FOWLER, M.D. 
 
 Dk. Fowler, one of the most eminent physicians of 
 New York City, was born at Cohocton, Steuben County, 
 New York, November 30, 1834, being the youngest son 
 of Judge Horace and Mary Fowler. He is descended 
 from old Puritan stock, being the sixth lineal descendant 
 of William Fowler, who came to Massachusetts in 1630. 
 His grandfather, l^liphalet Fowler, entered the Revolu- 
 tionary army as a private, and retired with the rank of 
 major. His mother was the grandniece of Mary Phillip.se, 
 the first love of George Washington, whom her parents 
 took to Furope to break off the attentions of the young 
 Virginian, then unknown to fame. 
 
 Dr. I'owler entered the New York Medical College 
 in 185 I, and graduated in 1 85 5 as first prize man, having 
 pa.ssedabrilliantcour.se. He immediately entered into 
 partnership with Drs. Gray and Hull, who had then 
 perhaps the most e.xtensive and lucrative practice in 
 New York City. In consequence, his practice became 
 unusually large almo.st from its commencement. In 
 addition to the " Old School" .system of medicine, he 
 studied Homceopathy, and ])racticed it in connection 
 with the former, looking upon the two systems as com- 
 ponent parts of a unit. During his forty years f)f ])rac- 
 lice he has evinced the possession of skill and ability of 
 such high order as to raise him to the highest ranks of 
 the profession, his practice being among the best class 
 of New Yorkers, including many of the old Knicker- 
 bocker families. 
 
 He was always distinctly in opposition to .sectarianism 
 in meilicine, declaring that metlicine was a unit, and 
 
 should be dealt with as such. His views in this ilirec- 
 tion were recognized by the thinking part of the " Old 
 .School," which in 1S78 adopted those rules, for New 
 York State, known as the " New Code." Under this 
 the only qualification demantlcd for a physician is the 
 legally required medical education, and the "Old School" 
 became practically the Coiiipir/uiisk'C School. This action 
 was not endorsed by the HomcEopathists, and conse- 
 quently Dr. Fowler withdrew from his former connec- 
 tion and joined the comprehensive school of medicine, 
 — not as indicating a change in his views, but a con- 
 sistent agreement with his long expressed doctrine of the 
 unity of medical practice. 
 
 Dr. Fowler ser\cd in the Ward's Islantl and Hahne- 
 mann Hospitals, and in 1887 received the honorary degree 
 of Doctor of Medicine from the Board of Regents of the 
 State of New York, and the appointment of E.xaminer 
 in Anatomy in " the first board of New York State Ex- 
 aminers for conferring medical degrees." He was one 
 of the founders of the New York Medico-Chirurgical 
 Society, and served as its president. He is also a mem- 
 ber of the New York Academy of Medicine, the New 
 York Neurological Society, the Medical Societ\- of the 
 County of New York, and other societies. His attention 
 has been dc\'otccl assiduously to his profession, hut he is 
 unusually well versed in business affairs. Politically he 
 is an ardent Republican, and is a member of the Union 
 League Club. 
 
 Dr. Fowler was married in 1873 to Miss M. Louise 
 Mumford, now deceased, two children — Edward Mum- 
 ford Fowler and Louise Mumford Fowler — surviving. 
 In addition to his cit\' home, he has a delightful summer 
 residence at Coo[ierstown, New York. Personal 1\- he is 
 a man of genial manners and benevolent dis]5osition, 
 qualities which have gaineil him the resjiect and esteem 
 of all with whom he has come into contact. 
 
 He has passed much time abroad in travel and stud)-, 
 has contributed generously to medical literature, and is 
 the author of valuable medical works, including " /Eti- 
 ology and General History of Scarlet Fever," " Pseudo- 
 Typhoid Fever," "Certain Maladies of the Heart," "Ab- 
 normalities of the Cerebral Convolutions," etc. He has 
 also translated from the French and German such works 
 as Charcot's " Localization in Diseases of the Brain," 
 Richert's " Physiolog)- and Histology of the Cerebral 
 Convolutions," and Benedikt's "Anatomical Stud\- of 
 the Brains of Criminals." He has in addition delivered 
 many instructive lectures before medical bodies, his dis- 
 courses showing deep study of the subjects under dis- 
 cussion. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK, 
 
 77 
 
 WILLIAM LAWTON. 
 
 William Lawton, whose name is known from end to 
 end of the country in connection with the famous Lawton 
 Blackberry, was born at West Point, New York, on May 
 I, 1795, his father having been a surgeon in the Revolu- 
 tionary ami}-. Dr. Lawton moved in 1796 or 1797 to 
 Flushing, where he established a practice. His son was 
 educated in the — at that time famous — Pickett's semi- 
 nary, situated at the foot of Chambers Street. He left 
 school in 1809 and entered a counting-house, and towards 
 the close of the \\'ar of 18 12-18 15, when the British 
 fleet showed itself off Sandy Hook, he enlisted in the 
 New York company of Colonel Sitcher's Third Regi- 
 ment of Volunteers, in which he served as sergeant-major 
 for seven months, till the end of the war. He left the 
 employ of John G. Warren, in whose shipping house he 
 had been engaged, to join this regiment. He also acted 
 as regimental adjutant, and preserved until his death all 
 the orders and documents which came into his hands 
 during that warlike period. 
 
 At the end of his term of serx'ice Mr. Lawton found 
 his position at Warren's occupied by Mr. Warren's son, 
 and, being thus thrown out of employment, determined 
 to start in business for himself as a stock and exchange 
 broker. He was then but twenty years of age, but with 
 excellent references from Mr. Warren as to integrity and 
 ability, he obtained the confidence of such houses as 
 Leroy, Bayard & Co., the Astors, Robert Lenox, and 
 others, and quickly had his hands full of business in 
 negotiating for their bills on London at one-fourth per 
 cent, and their notes at one-half per cent, commission. 
 Before he reached his majority he had opened an account 
 with the Bank of New York, and after he was well estab- 
 lishctl he projected the formation of the Stock Exchange, 
 which he afterwards assisted in founding. Among the 
 organizations which he served in the capacity of broker 
 was the State Bank of New Brunswick, his letters to and 
 from this bank being carried by Cornelius Vanderbilt — 
 then running a steamboat between New York and New 
 l^runswick — at a postal rate of two shillings each. In 
 1 8 17 he married Maria R. Guion, of New Rochelle. 
 
 In 1826, Mr. Lawton, in association with his brother, 
 undertook the enterprise of buying all the vacant lots 
 on Broadwa)'. About this time he became a large 
 creditor of the New York Coal Compan}', and during 
 the financial revulsion of 1827-1828 was obliged to take, 
 for his own protection, all the stock of this company. 
 In 1829, in consequence, he withdrew from the business 
 of broker and entered into that of coal operator, going 
 to the mining region, where he remained busily engaged 
 
 for se\-en years. Here he laid out a town nametl Port 
 Carbon, in which he set up several stores and established 
 a newspaper. He bought also si.x hundred acres of land 
 si.xteen miles from Lehigh, where he laid out a town 
 named Tuscarora, and at a later date purchased twcnt)'- 
 six hundred acres of land on the tract on which Middle- 
 port now stands. He claimed to have built the first 
 railroad in the country for the accommodation of passen- 
 gers as well as freight, — the Schuylkill Valley Naviga- 
 tion and Railroad Company, — stock in which he retained 
 till his death. In 1836 he returned to New York and re- 
 sumed his business of stock broker on an enlarged scale. 
 During the governmental contest over the Lhiited 
 States Bank question Mr. Lawton became interested in 
 politics, and for several years was chairman of the 
 Tammany Hall Committee. He was also chairman of 
 the Finance Committee, and corresponding secretary of 
 the fifteenth ward Tammany Association. Through his 
 marriage the estate of the Guion family, at New Rochelle, 
 eventuall}- fell into his hands, and he resided there during 
 the remainder of his life, collecting a large librarj- of 
 books, chiefly on antiquarian topics, to which field of 
 stud}' he became deeply devoted. Here he also occu- 
 pied himself in agricultural recreations, and had the 
 fortune to discover a \'ery superior variety of blackberr)-, 
 to which he gave his name, and which is still widely 
 cultivated. Mr. Lawton made a trip to California to 
 celebrate his eightieth birthday, and had the satisfaction 
 of seeing acres of the Lawton berry under cultivation in 
 that prolific State. The later years of his life were 
 passed in retirement, he dying at New Rochelle, April 
 27, 1 88 1, at eight\'-six years of age. 
 
 II 
 
78 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DAVID VAN NOSTRAND. 
 
 David Van Nostrand was born in the city of New- 
 York, December 5, 181 1, the son of a successful mer- 
 chant, of Dutch ancestry, but long a resident of New- 
 York. The father dying in 1821, Mrs. Van Nostrand 
 was left with the care of a family of three sons and li\ e 
 daugliters, of whom Da\id was the fifth in age, and one 
 who from ciiildhood had been noted for his love of books, 
 to which he devoted his leisure hours to such an extent 
 as to impair his physical strength during his whole life. 
 He was educated at Union Hall, a classical school of 
 Jamaica, Long Island, where he made rapid progress. 
 At eight years of age he received a prize from the master 
 for his proficiency in Greek, and at fifteen was graduated 
 with an excellent preparatory education. His mother 
 wished to give him a college education, uilii a \ iew to 
 his entering the Church, but his desires led in other direc- 
 tions, and immcdiatelj- after leaving school he entered 
 the book .store of John P. Haven, a line of business to 
 wiiich his love of books speciall)' adapted him. His ac- 
 tivity and intelligence won him the warm approval of Mr 
 Haven, to whom he became so indispensable that, when 
 at the age of eighteen his return to study was contem- 
 plated, the bookseller offered his useful assistant, rather 
 than lose him, a partnership in the business when he 
 should become twenty-one years of age. This promise 
 was faithfully kept, but the connection lasted only till 
 1834, when some changes in the business induced Mr. 
 Van Nostrand to withdraw from the lirin. Il< had in 
 the mean time married, but lost his wife after eighteen 
 months of married life. 
 
 His next business venture was in partnershi]) with Mr. 
 William Dwight,a book business being established which 
 succumbed to the financial crisis of 1 837, the firm being 
 dissolved in consequence of losses. Mr. Van Nostrand 
 
 soon afterwards joined Captain Barnard, of the Engineer 
 Corps, — one of his boyhood friends, — who was then at 
 New Orleans, where he had charge of the defensive 
 works of Louisiana and Texas. The purpose of this 
 visit was to act as groomsman at Captain Barnard's 
 wedding, but he remained with him as his clerk of 
 accounts and disbursements, a duty which he found \-eiy 
 pleasant, i)iit liardlx- progressive enough to accord with 
 his ambition. In consequence he soon gave it up, re- 
 turned to New York, and there began to appb' the expe- 
 rience he had gained through his association with military 
 men in the importation of books on military subjects for 
 officers of the United States army. Here, also, he soon 
 began to receive orders from individuals and academic 
 institutions for foreign scientific works, and was enabled 
 greatly to widen the scope of his business. 
 
 His new location was at the corner of Broadwa\- and 
 John Street, where, when his importing trade had become 
 well de\-eloped, he added to it publications of his own, 
 his establishment becoming a centre for technical litera- 
 ture, with which he acquired a familiarity which greatly 
 aided his trade. His business grew steadily, particularly 
 in the importation and publication of books of pure and 
 applied science, in which he gained prominence among 
 the noted publishers and booksellers of the workl. He 
 also continued a large importer and publisher of works 
 on military and naval topics. 
 
 In 1869 the extension of his business required his 
 removal to larger quarters at 23 Murray Street, his trade 
 in military and scientific books being now the largest in 
 the United States. In the same )-ear he began the publi- 
 cation of Van Nostraud's E.uginccri)ig Magazine, a pub- 
 lication ])rincipa!ly eclectic in character, but open to 
 mathenialical discussions and technical articles of interest 
 to the engineer. In 1S87, after the death of its jirojector, 
 it became the proi)ert\- of Mr. M. N. Forne}-. 
 
 Mr. \'an Nostrand's devotion to business tliil not keep 
 him fioni attention to public and social pursuits. He 
 was a member of the Historical and the Natural History 
 Society, a Fellow- of the Academy of Design, a member 
 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and one of the 
 originators of the Union League Club. He also belonged 
 to the St. Nicholas Society, and was one of the founders 
 of the Holland Society and the St. Nicholas Club. The 
 Ceiilur)- Club, however, was his favorite resort, he being a 
 faithful attendant at its monthly meetings until prevented 
 by the advance of ill health. He married again soon 
 after his re-establishment in i)Lisiness. As tin)e went on 
 his health failed, and during his last nine years he suf- 
 fered .severely, but continued his attention to business till 
 the last six months of his life. He died June 14, 1886. 
 The business which he had established is still continued 
 and remains prosperous, under tiie name of D. Van Nos- 
 trand Company, at 23 Murray Street. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 79 
 
 GEORGE P. ROWELL. 
 
 It is probabl)' true that diiriiiL;' the past t\vent\'-fi\'e years 
 no name has been more familiar to the general reader 
 or business man than that of Mr. George P. Rowell, 
 whose extended connection with the newspaper world 
 and the advertising trade has brought him into very wide 
 prominence. He was born at Concord, Vermont, July 
 4, 1838, but until the age of seventeen resided in Lan- 
 caster, New Hampshire, securing, meantime, the practical 
 and valuable education for future life which a boy of am- 
 bition could then well obtain in New England upon a 
 moderate expenditure of monej', and graduating from the 
 Lancaster Academy with the highest honors of his class. 
 
 His first business venture was in a Boston retail store, 
 his next in the publication office of a Boston daily news- 
 paper, the Post, where his duties appear to have been of 
 a congenial character, enabling him to supplement infor- 
 mation already gained with a pretty thorough idea of the 
 right way to do business and to lay a good foundation 
 for his own future and successful active life. It was the 
 experience gained during his connection with this journal 
 that led him into his future field of business, that of 
 general advertising agent and publisher of the newspaper 
 statistics of the country. 
 
 Early in 1865, without capital, but thoroughly equipped 
 with energy, judgment, and a determination to succeed, 
 he established the firm of George P. Rowell & Co., at No. 
 23 Congress Street, Boston, for the purpose of engaging 
 in the business above mentioned, that of conducting an 
 adxertising agency. Before the end of the second year, 
 ha\ing been encouragingly successful in his Boston 
 venture, Mr. Rowell decided to remove to New York, 
 and the change was made with good results. From the 
 outset his business prospered, and soon from his house 
 was sent out a larger amount of business to the publishers 
 of newspapers than emanated from any other in America, 
 and his establishment became known as the leading 
 advertising agency in the country. 
 
 In 1869, Mr. Rowell issued the first copy of the Ameri- 
 can Ncivsfapcr Directory, a publication remarkable for 
 its completeness of information concerning the newspaper 
 world. It has appeared with regularit\- each }'ear since, 
 and is the standard authority upon the newspapers and 
 periodicals of the United States in detail, but more 
 especially regarding their circulation, — -the most vexed 
 question connected with journalism, and the one most im- 
 portant in the estimation of advertisers. This book has a 
 reputation for honesty and fairness in dealing with statis- 
 tics of a kind obtainable only with the greatest difficulty 
 and labor that is probably unapproached in any similar 
 
 compilation, and that has given it its well-earned position 
 as the leading publication of its kind in this country. 
 
 In 1888, Mr. Rowell commenced the publication of 
 Printers Ink, — a journal for advertisers, which at once 
 became a great favorite with the ad\ertising public, and 
 is now pretty generally known as " The Little School- 
 master in the Art of Advertising." Its circulation is 
 national, and a branch office has been established in 
 London. In 1892, actuated largely by a desire to give 
 promotion and position to some of the more deserving 
 younger men in his employ, he severed his active con- 
 nection with the advertising agency, of which a stock 
 company was formed, the stock being purchased largely 
 by the present managers ami former emplo\-es of the 
 firm. The American Xeivspaper Directory and Printers' 
 Ink are still owned by Mr. Rowell, and to these he gives 
 much of his time. 
 
 It goes without further remark, from what has already 
 been said, that Mr. Rowell is a good business man. 
 Socially he has many friends of whom he is fond, and 
 to whom he is true. Those who have known him long 
 and know- him best are the ones who can ever be relied 
 upon as the most faithful, and among these his w'ord 
 alone is sufficient for the doing of an act or the under- 
 taking of an enterprise, the doing or undertaking of 
 which for a majorit\- of men would first require to be 
 prefaced by a bond or additional assurance. Mr. Rowell 
 is a member of the L'nion League and Grolier Clubs and 
 the New England Society, and is president of the Percy 
 Summer Club of New Hampshire. At Lancaster in that 
 State he has the most delightful farm-house home to be 
 found in all New Encrland. 
 
8o 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ALFRED B. SCOTT. 
 
 One of tlic most genial men to be found in tlic business 
 life of New York City is Alfred B. Scott, of the firm of 
 Scott & Bowne, ]3roprietors of the well-known medici- 
 nal preparation, Scott's ICmulsion of Cod-Li\'er Oil. I\Ir. 
 Scott was born in Orange County, New York, Februarj- 
 I, 1846. He was the son of a farmer, and his early life 
 was like that of most healthy, ambitious, active young 
 men who are brought up in the country. After gaining 
 such education as the schools in the vicinity of his home 
 afforded, and some experience in the active duties of life 
 from his labors on the farm, he made his way to New 
 York in 1S67, when twenty-one years of age, anil there 
 secured a position in a large manufacturing house, in 
 which he gained his first ac(|uaintance with the details of 
 practical business affairs. I le worked his way up steadily 
 to higher positions in the house, which he served effi- 
 ciently as a traveling .salesman. 
 
 In 1873 he, in association with his cousin, .Samuel W. 
 Bowne, began experimenting with cod-liver oil, with the 
 view of rendering this liighly valuable medicine jxilatable 
 and easily digestible. As is well known, the plain oil is 
 nauseating to the taste, and so difficult of assimilation 
 that even when the stomach can retain it the digestive 
 organs are severely taxed in dealing with it. Vet it has 
 been recognized for years by the medical profession as 
 the most nourishing of foods and the possessor of un- 
 usual remedial properties, being especially valual)le in 
 all cases where there is a wasting away of strength, as in 
 consumption and other debilitating diseases. The efforts 
 of the two experimenters were to produce an emulsion 
 of the oil in which the disadvantages mentioned would be 
 overcome, and a palatable and digestible substance, use- 
 ful both as food and medicine, replace the crude oil. An 
 emulsion of oil, as may be said here, means simpl)- the mix- 
 
 ing of the oil with nther ingredients which are capable 
 of breaking it up into tin\- particles suitable for assimila- 
 tion, and preventing these particles from again gathering 
 into drops or liquid masses. 
 
 It took the experimenters three j-ears to produce this 
 effect .satisfactorih", at the end of which time — in 1876 — 
 having succeeded in preparing a permanent emulsion, 
 they organized the business firm of Scott & Bowne, for 
 the purpose of manufacturing what has since been widely 
 known as Scott's Emidsion of Cod-Liver Oil. The new 
 preparation proved a success from the very outset, though 
 not without hard work in demonstrating its utility and 
 high standard of merit as a remedial and nutritive article. 
 By the year 1880 it had become full\- established among 
 the medical profession, and its future was assured. No 
 effort was made to conceal its formula or method of 
 manufacture, the discoverers being anxious to co-operate 
 with physicians, and to take advantage of all suggestions 
 that might enable them to improve their emulsion. 
 
 From the start the}- adopted the principle of free adver- 
 tising as the most available means of reaching the public, 
 and as their capital increased their patronage of news- 
 papers siniilarl)- augmented, until b\' 1882 they began ad- 
 vertising in journals in all sections of the country. In 1S80 
 they established a branch factory in Belleville, Canada, 
 and about two years later started one in London. Their 
 enterprise in ad\ertising proved so successful in its results, 
 that they were enabled to make a rapid extension of their 
 business in other quarters, factories being established in 
 
 1884 at Barcelona, Spain, and Oporto, Portugal, and in 
 
 1885 one being opened at Milan, Italy. Branches were 
 also established in Mexico, Central and South America, 
 and the West Indies, and iii 1 890 a factory was opened 
 in Paris. More recentl\- the emulsion has been intro- 
 duced into China and japan, and at present it has a 
 strong foothokl in ever)- country of the worki w here any 
 business is done in the modern sense, except Germanj-, 
 Ru.ssia, and Scandinavi.i. Mr. .Scott has jiersonally super- 
 intended the advertising during the last ten years, and 
 with a success that has made the name of his prepa- 
 ration well known in almost every countr}' of the world. 
 The firm pos.sess a new twelve-story building on Pearl 
 and Rose Streets, New York, which is claimed to be 
 the most perfectly equii)ped edifice of its kind in the 
 world. 
 
 Personally Mr. .Scott is of the most genial tempera- 
 ment, and counts his frienils b\- the hundred, there being 
 no more popular man in the clubs to which he belongs, 
 or the business workl with which he comes into contact. 
 He has a wife and two children, who make their home 
 most of the time in Geneva, Switzerland, and Mr. Scott 
 has it in view to make that city his future place of resi- 
 dence, and to devote himself to handling from there the 
 foreiLrn business of the firm. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOSEPH PULITZER. 
 
 Joseph Pulitzer, wlio has sii raiiidl)- ad\-anccd into 
 the front rank of New York journalism, is a native of 
 Hungary, his birthplace being Buda-Pesth, the double 
 capital of that kingdom. He was born April lo, 1847, 
 and recei\-cd his preliminary education in his native cit)', 
 but emigrated to America in early youth. Landing in 
 New York, he proceeded thence to St. Louis, where he 
 (piickly accpiircd a knowledge of the English language 
 and in which city he resided for many j'cars. While 
 still \'oung he became strongl)- interested in politics, and 
 made himself so prominent that he was elected to the 
 Missouri State Legislature in 1869, when but twenty-two 
 years of age. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Cincin- 
 nati convention that nominated Horace Greeley as Dem- 
 ocratic candidate for the Presidency; in 1874 he served 
 as a member of the Missouri constitutional convention, 
 and in 1880 became a delegate to the Democratic national 
 convention, and the Missouri member of its Committee 
 on Platform. He was elected to Congress in 1884, but 
 resigned after a few months' service, his journalistic 
 duties requiring his undivided attention. 
 
 Mr. Pulitzer began his career in journalism at the age 
 of twenty, as a reporter on the St. Louis Westliclic Post, 
 a German Republican newspaper then under the editor- 
 ship of Carl Schurz. At a later date he rose to the posi- 
 tion of managing editor and gained a proprietary interest 
 in this journal. In 1878 he purchased the St. Louis 
 Dispatch, which he combined with the Evciiiiig Post, 
 gi\ing to the associated enterprise the title of Post- 
 Dispatili. This paper still remains under his control. 
 
 His residence in New York began in 1883, in which 
 year he purchased the New York World, a newspaper 
 which had been twent}' three years in existence under 
 various managers, but without attaining an}- large circu- 
 lation. Since that period he has been sole proprietor 
 and editorial manager of the World, and has made of it 
 an unprecedented success. At the start he announced 
 that " There is room in this great city for a journal that 
 is not only cheap but bright, not only bright but large, 
 not only large but truly Democratic ; dedicated to the 
 cause of the people rather than that of p urse- potentates ; 
 that will expose all fraud and sham, fight all public evils 
 and abuses ; that will serve and battle for the people with 
 earnest sincerity." 
 
 This " battle-cry" of the World was borne out in its 
 new character, and the people at once began to buy it with 
 such a\ idity that its circulation increased with phenom- 
 enal rapidity. In 1882 its average daily circulation was 
 twenty-two thousand three hundred and thirty one copies. 
 On May 29, 1883, in less than three weeks of the new 
 management, a gain of thirty-five per cent, was announced. 
 On June 15 the circulation had doubled, and by Sep- 
 tember, 1884, the paper had reached a circulation of one 
 
 hundred thousand copies. This remarkable growth con- 
 tinued until, in 1 890, the daily circulation reached an 
 average of three hundred and si.Ktccn thousand six 
 hundred and thirty-six copies, while the advertisements 
 increased from eighty-six thousand five hundred and 
 seventy-seven in 1883 to seven hundred and eighty-two 
 thousand seven hundred and ninety-four in 1 890. 
 
 This great development was due to the enterprise dis- 
 played in the management of the paper, and its bold 
 and uncompromising exposure of frauds, trusts, and plu- 
 tocratic schemes of every description. It became, as 
 promised, the people's paper, and the people rallied to its 
 support. B\- 1889 the old quarters of the World had 
 become quite inadequate for its needs, and a new and 
 great structure was begun, the present World building at 
 the corner of Park Row and Frankfort Street, one of the 
 largest and best equipped newspaper buildings in the 
 world. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid October 
 10, 1889, by Master Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., then foiu" years 
 of age, Mr. Pulitzer himself being detained by sickness 
 in Germany. It was completed b}' December 10, 1890, 
 when its formal opening took place in the presence of a 
 notable assemblage of governors, congressmen, and other 
 visitors of public pronn'nence. 
 
 We may conclude with an extract from Mr. Pulitzer's 
 cablegram on the laying of the corner-stone of the new 
 edifice : " God grant that this structure be the enduring 
 home of a newspaper forever unsatisfied with merely 
 printing news, forever fighting every form of wrong, for- 
 ever independent, forever advancing in enlightenment 
 and progress, forever wedded to truly Democratic ideas, 
 forever aspiring to be a moral force, forever rising to a 
 higher plane of perfection as a public#nstitution." These 
 words have the true ring in them. They could be well 
 emulated in deeds by the whole newspaper world. 
 
82 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ALLEN THORNDIKH RICE. 
 
 Allkn Tmorndike Rice, well known fi)r his intelli- 
 <jcnt editorship of the North Atncrican Rcvici<.', of which 
 he was for years the proprietor, was a natise of Boston, 
 Massachusetts, in which city he was born on June i8, 
 1S53. When but nine years of age he was taken abroad 
 by his parents, and spent his entire youth in luiropc, 
 where he received an unusually thorough education, four 
 years of his period abroad being spent at Oxford Uni- 
 versity, where lie took the degrees of B.A. and M.A. 
 at Christ Church College, graduating in 1873. While 
 living in France and German\- he gained a practical 
 acquaintance with the languages of those countries, which 
 he spoke fluently. While scarcely more than a boy he 
 gained, by the charm of his personality and the earnest- 
 ness of his intellectual aspirations, the friendship of such 
 men as Mr. Gladstone, Victor Hugo, and Mr. Froude. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two Mr. Rice returned to the 
 United States, and took up his residence in New York 
 City, stud)'ing for a time in the Law School of Colum- 
 bia College, but soon abandoning his legal aspirations 
 to devote himself to tlic more congenial ])ursuit of liter- 
 ature. Heing ]iosscssed of an ample fortune, young, 
 refined, accomplished, and attractive in manner, he was 
 surrounded by every inducement to surrender himself to 
 a life of case, and s])cnd his time among the allurements 
 of society and the fascinations of idle enjoyment. But 
 Mr. Rice was made of sterner stuff Literary aspiration 
 and love of occupation were far stronger in him than 
 desire for ease and luxurious idleness, and no jienniless 
 young man, with a fortune in his hopes, ever dis|)la\-ed 
 more industry and untiring zeal than this scion of wealth. 
 
 He was, as lias been said, in possession of a large for- 
 tune, principall)- inheriteil from liis grandmother, and on 
 looking around him for some suitable field for the ex- 
 
 ercise of his energies and aspirations, he found one in 
 the North Amercian Rcviezo, the oldest magazine then 
 existing in the country, but at that time in a state of 
 slow decline, and profitable neither to its publishers, its 
 I editors, nor its contributors. This \enerable magazine 
 was purchased by Mr. Rice in 1876, shortly after his 
 return to this countr)-, and at once rejuvenated and 
 niaile a vehicle of the live thought of the nation. It 
 had been pre\'iously conducted in imitation of the 
 British quarterlies, and devoted to voluminous essaj's in 
 re\iew of more or less heavy publications. Mr. Rice 
 transformed the Rcvici^' from a quarterly to a monthh', 
 and dropped its studies of scholarl)' works in favor of 
 li\el)- discussion of popular subjects, contributed by men 
 in a position to deal with them understandinglj- and in- 
 telligently. It was his purpose to make the Rcvitui the 
 representative of modern thought and action in every 
 direction, llow well he succeeded in this enterprise the 
 recent histor)- of the North Avicrican Rex'icw is ample 
 evidence. 
 
 Mr. Rice took hold of the Review with an energetic 
 hand, constituting himself at once its editor and its pub- 
 lisher. In the latter capacit)' he superintended in person 
 every detail of its management. In the former he at- 
 tended to all the demands of editorship, seeking con- 
 tributions on living subjects from leading participants in 
 public affairs, and setting a stream of new blood in flow 
 through the \-eins of the old magazine which quickly 
 restored it to youth again. Soon after purchasing it he 
 removed the office of ])ublication to New York, which 
 has since then been the home of the Revicic. Mr. Rice 
 was not alone a diligent and intelligent editor, but was 
 himself an able writer, contributing many articles to the 
 pages of his magazine, in addition to which he edited 
 " Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln" antl contributcil 
 to " Ancient Cities of the World." 
 
 In 1879 he organized and directed the Charnay expe- 
 dition for the investigation of the antiquities of Central 
 America, and afterwards publishetl sexeral papers by M. 
 Charnay detailing his discoveries. He was deepl}' inter- 
 ested in science, antl occupied himself in his ^cw hours 
 of leisure in laborators- researches, while among his 
 friends he counted such high-lights in science as Edison, 
 Charcot, and Pasteur. Earl)- in 1S89 he received the 
 appointment by the Harrison administration of American 
 minister to St. Petersburg. He was just about to sail, 
 when, on May 13, he was attacked by a sore throat, 
 which rapidly developed into a serious lung affection, 
 from which he died suddenly on the morning of May 
 If), i8Sc). Never was a brilliant and promising career 
 ended more abruptl)'. In the very prime of life, full of 
 eager purposes and earnest ])lans, he was cut off sud- 
 denly, and the world that had known him so favorably 
 knew him no more. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 83 
 
 STUART H. MOORE. 
 
 Stuakt Hull Moore, only son of Joseph H. and 
 Sarali A. Moore, was born at Cutchogue, Long Lsland, 
 New York, April 26, 1854. Through three generations 
 his ancestors have been land-owners and residents of 
 Eastern Long Island, his great-grandfather, Benjamin 
 Moore, being one of the early settlers in that historic 
 region, which was the refuge of an offshoot of the Con- 
 necticut colonies, at about the \-ear 1640. His education 
 was mainly supplied by the public and private schools of 
 the country village where he w-as born, the last year of 
 his school life, however, being spent at a preparatory 
 academy in an adjacent town. 
 
 At the early age of sixteen years Mr. Moore entered 
 a country newspaper office, where he remained about six 
 months, there getting his first knowledge of the news- 
 paper and printing business. Later in the same year he 
 sought and obtained emplo\'ment in a job printing estab- 
 lishment in New York Cit)-, where he remained a number 
 of years, until he had acquired a complete knowledge of 
 every branch of the business. 
 
 In the fall of 1875, when but twenty-one years of 
 age, Mr. Moore, in compan\- with Mr. F. M. Lupton 
 (his present partner), embarked in the newspaper publish- 
 ing business, establishing The Cricket on the Hearth, a 
 monthly literar)- journal, which was published continu- 
 ousl}' by the firm for a period of fourteen years, at the 
 end of which time it was merged into and made a part 
 of their present successful publication, The Ladies World. 
 
 The Ladies' World came into existence in the fall of 
 1886, being the outgrowth of The Fireside at Tfoii/e, a 
 monthl}- literary journal establishetl in 1879. The sub- 
 scribers of the latter journal, being of a class largely 
 interested in a story paper, for the most part failed to 
 renew their subscriptions to the new journal at the be- 
 ginning of the year, the consequence being that The 
 Ladies' World embarked on its journey of life with less 
 than five thousand }'early subscribers. With these 
 odds against it, at the end of its first )-ear (1S87) the 
 ]5ublication had gathered a new and permanent constit- 
 uency of nearl}- fifty thousand \'carly subscribers, and 
 within the next si.x months this number was increased to 
 nearly seventy-five thousand. 
 
 During the year of 1888 the average reached one 
 hundred and five thousand and thirty-three copies per 
 issue, the gain being partly due to the consolidation of 
 The Young Folks' Journal and The Crieket on the Hearth 
 w ith The Ladies' World during the autumn of that year. 
 
 In 1889 the circulation increased to an average of one 
 hundred and thirty-eight thousand fi\-e hundred copies 
 per issue, while 1890 showed a still further increase, the 
 average being one hundred and ninety-two thousand five 
 hundred. From this time on the growth of this popular 
 periodical has been continuous and steady, 1891 showing 
 two hundred and fift}--one thousand eight hundred and 
 
 sixty-se\-en, 1892 three hundred and two thousand seven 
 hundred and eight, 1893 three hundred and forty-nine 
 thousand one hundred and forty-two, and 1894 three 
 hundred and eight}--one thousand seven hundred and 
 eight copies per issue. The pronounced and unqualified 
 success attained by The Ladies' World in the eight years 
 of its existence clearly demonstrates the soundness of 
 the theory advanced by the publishers, that a first-class 
 domestic monthl}-, published in the interest of women, 
 carefully edited and circulated at a popular price, could 
 not fail to meet with favorable recognition. 
 
 At the age of twent)'-five Mr. Moore married a lady two 
 years his junior, of New England parentage and ancestry. 
 M}-ra Drake Moore is a lineal descendant of the house of 
 Standish, famous in the history of the Plymouth Colony 
 in Massachusetts, while on the paternal side are five an- 
 cestors of Revolutionary War record, and even back of 
 that the family tree can be traced to the Flying Dragon, 
 the crest of the pirate captain. Sir Francis Drake. 
 
 Mrs. Moore has been an unobtrusive worker towards 
 her husband's success. Before the advent of The Ladies' 
 U^orld the literary management of The Cricket on the 
 Hearth was almost entirely under her care, while as the 
 associate editor of The Ladies' World she has always 
 conducted various departments and given untiring energy 
 to the literary work, in spite of the fact that four children 
 — three boys and one girl — have come to bless an excep- 
 tionally happy home. If a congenial companionship is 
 an aid to success in life, such has been the lot of the 
 subject of this sketch. The children are Arthur Standish, 
 Eliot Drake, Dorothy, and Douglas Stuart. 
 
 Mr. S. H. IMoore has always been the active member 
 of the publishing house of S. H. Msore & Co., and has 
 had exclusive management of The Ladies' World during 
 its existence. He is, without doubt, one of the most 
 successful men in this branch of the publishing business. 
 
84 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 VICTOR SMITH. 
 
 ViCTOK Smith, a prominent New York journalist, was 
 born at Lawrenceville, Georgia, in i860, the son of the 
 well-known author and lecturer distinguished by the 
 iioiii dc plume of " V>\\\ Arp." Ho was one of a family 
 of thirteen children, of whom the \ounger members 
 received but a rudimentary education, the wealth of the 
 parents having been greatly reduced by Sherman's march 
 through Georgia. Victor's business career began while 
 still quite young, as clerk in a crockery store, his even- 
 ings being devoted to study. At the age of sixteen he 
 received a scholarship at Princeton, his parents desiring 
 that he should study for the ministr\- ; but the wreck of 
 the famil\- fortunes prevented his attendance at the Theo- 
 logical -Seminar}-, and for four years afterwards he was 
 occupied in farming. While thus engaged he ajiplied 
 unsuccessfully for admission to West Point and Anap- 
 oiis, studied civil engineering at home, and at the age 
 of twenty left the farm to engage in railroad construction. 
 
 Having, during his leisure hours, gained some practice 
 in newspa[)er work, to which his natural inclination led 
 him, lie finally made his way to New York, where he 
 became the financial agent of a Georgia railroad com- 
 pany, wrote special articles for the Herald, and, after 
 si,\ months, became connected with this [japer. The 
 jjosition proved unsatisfactory to him, however, and he 
 resigned it in a few weeks to join the cit\' staff of the 
 rribiiiic. Here he served an apprenticeship in e\ery 
 department of journalism, gaining the approval of his 
 superiors for his diligence and success as a news-getter 
 and editor, and by hard work and earnest application 
 gradually making his way to the top of the jirofcssion. 
 
 He remained steadily engaged u|)on the Tribune vl\\\\\ 
 the winter of 1888, when, broken down by years of 
 desk work, he took a long vacation for his health, during 
 
 which he visited South America and the islands of the 
 Caribbean Sea, and contributed to the magazines and 
 newspapers a series of articles descriptive of his travels 
 and observations. On his return to New York he 
 resumed his connection wilii the Tribune, resigning the 
 foreign desk, however, to succeed George Alfred Town- 
 send as the " Broadway Lounger." For three years 
 a striking feature of the paper was his column entitled 
 " Stray Notes Here and There," — short, spicy paragraphs, 
 which covered every feature of life in and around the 
 metropolis. 
 
 In addition to his regular work he wrote numerous 
 general articles, and was the first of the special writers 
 on the staff of the 'J'ribune, his contributions sometimes 
 filling two or three pages of the Sunday edition. Part 
 of his work at this time was the writing of general intro- 
 ductions, — epitomizing important and sensational news 
 articles, local, foreign, and domestic. In 1887 he .saw, 
 for the first time in his life, a horse-race, and became 
 so fascinated with the .sport of the race-course that he 
 turned his pen in that direction, being strongly attracted 
 bj' its excitement and bustle, and the opportunities for 
 speculation which it afforded. In consequence he was 
 easilj' pcrsuadeti to accept the position of turf editor, 
 and displayed such interest in racing that, in the spring 
 of 1892, the Board of Control offered him the place of 
 associate judge upon all the tracks within the metro- 
 politan circuit, with a very handsome salary. 
 
 He accepted this position, and filled it with general 
 satisfaction, his decisions never being questioned. In 
 the autumn of 1893 the Board of Control went out of 
 existence, being succeeded by the newly-organized Jockey 
 Club of Fift)-, which, in the spring of 1894, reappointed 
 Mr. Smith. IMeanuhile, in the summer of 1893, the 
 Tribune openeil war upon the racing associations, and 
 Mr. .Smith withdrew from the paper, beliexing the Board 
 of Control to be in the right. For twelve months after- 
 wards he, it ma\- Ije saitl, hung on the outskirts of jour- 
 nalism ; then, unable longer to resist the attraction of 
 his first love, he took up again the regular work of the 
 profession, withdrawing from his connection \\ith the 
 Jockey Club on October 15, 1894. This was mainly 
 in consequence of inharmonious conditions in the racing 
 world. Mr. Smith is probably done with the turf 
 
 In addition to his work u|)on the Tribune, he has been 
 a frequent contributor to the leailing journals and maga- 
 zines of the Uniteil .States. In collaboration w ith Signor 
 Giovanni Tagliapietra, the famous baritone, he \\ role the 
 opera comique "Carmelita," for which he refused an offer 
 of §20,000 before the second act was completed. He is 
 now at work on the libretto of a new operetta. He is 
 tile inventor of the sonograjjh, an instrument used by 
 composers for recording music as it is ])la)'ed upon the 
 piano or organ. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 85 
 
 SAMUEL P. FHRREE. 
 
 Samuel P. Ferree, who occupies the foremost posi- 
 tion in the Street Railway Advertising business in Amer- 
 ica, is the descendant of a French Huguenot family that 
 settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1708, under 
 a direct grant from William Penn. He is the son of the 
 late James B. Ferree, the first President of the National 
 Bank of the Republic of Philadelphia, and the original 
 promoter of the Third National Bank of the same city. 
 Mr. Ferree began his career as a professor in Crittenden's 
 Commercial College in Philadelphia in 1852, severing 
 that connection in a year or two to become associated 
 with his father as junior member of the banking house 
 of Ferree & Co. Subsequently this firm organized the 
 National Bank of the Republic, and, upon selling the 
 controlling interest to the present management, retired 
 from the banking business. 
 
 In 1877, Mr. Ferree opened a periodical subscription 
 business, and when Harper & Bros, issued Stanley's 
 great work of " Through the Dark Continent," he was 
 made their agent for Philadelphia and vicinit}-. In 1879 
 he founded the Mutual Library on a new and novel plan 
 of loaning a given number of books on a system of check 
 registers, at from one to five cents each, without fines 
 or other securit}- from the holder than the payment of 
 one dollar for the check register. The plan met with 
 great success. The Mercantile Library Company was 
 compelled through competition to grant a number of 
 concessions to its subscribers fir wliich they had strug- 
 gled for years. In 1892, Mr. P'crree presented the 
 Mutual Library- to the city of Philadelphia under the 
 care of the Board of Pklucation, forming the First P'ree 
 Library of that city. 
 
 In 1883, Mr. Ferree purchased the business of re- 
 printing the great English quarterly re\iews, the Edin- 
 burgh Rcviciv\ the Quarterly Rcvicii', the Wcstniiustcr 
 Rcviciv, the Scottish Review, and BlackwoocV s Magazine 
 (monthl)^). To these he soon added the three leading 
 English monthh' reviews, the Xineteeuth Century, the 
 Contemporary Revie%^\ and tlie Fortnightly Rei'ie7i.'. This 
 business is conducted under the name of the Leonard 
 Scott Publication Company. Shakespeariana, an Amer- 
 ican magazine, the longest lived periodical ever devoted 
 to the stud}' of Shakespeare, was published b}' ]\Ir. 
 Ferree for ten years, ceasing in 1893. In 1888, Mr. 
 Ferree's publishing business was remo\-ed to New 
 York and placed under the management of his son, 
 Mr. Barr P'erree, well known as an architectural critic 
 and writer. 
 
 In 1885, Mr. Ferree first became interested in the Street 
 Railway Advertising business. He acquired exclusive 
 control of the advertising privileges of the Philadelphia 
 Traction Company's and the other lines of cars in Phila- 
 delphia, and conducted tiie business under the name 
 
 and style of the Street Railway Advertising Company. 
 Under his management the business has been brou<rht 
 to an uncqualed standard of excellence. 
 
 In 1890, Mr. P'erree removed to New York, in order 
 to enjoy the advantages of its more central location. 
 He also obtained the advertising franchises on the lead- 
 ing street railways of New York City, Brooklyn, Jersey 
 City, Hoboken, and the adjacent cities in New Jersey ; 
 and these, added to his privileges in Philadelphia and 
 the inland cities of Pcnnsyh'ania, place him in the posi- 
 tion of being the largest individual owner and lessee 
 of street railway advertising privileges in America, and 
 in a territory that is the most thickly settled portion 
 of the Eastern States. The centralization of this im- 
 mense business in a single head has resulted in many 
 advantages to its patrons. His son, Mr. W. Appleton 
 Ferree, has the immediate care of the New Jersey 
 business. 
 
 The better to equip the cars under his control, Mr. 
 Ferree purchased in 1S93 a large veneer and furniture 
 plant in Brooklyn, and, under the titles of the Veneer 
 Seating and Church I-'urniture Company and the Brook- 
 lyn Car-Wood and Veneer Works, carries on the busi- 
 ness as manufacturer of the veneer frames used in the 
 street cars to hold adveitisements, and \-eneer car ceilings 
 and seatings of all kinds, together with a large line of 
 furniture novelties. 
 
 Mr. Ferree is an indefatigable worker, and devotes his 
 energies and time to the details of his various enter- 
 prises with a thoroughness and dispatch that attest his 
 sturdy Huguenot ancestry. In 1862 he married Miss 
 Annie Appleton Drown, the niece of Mr. William A. 
 Drown, the umbrella manufacturer. •He has two sons, 
 both, as above mentioned, connected with him in busi- 
 ness, and one daughter. 
 
86 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM L. STRONG. 
 
 WiLi-iAM L. Strong, reform mayor of New York, is 
 a native of Oliio, in which State he was born in 1826, 
 the son of a farmer who had migrated thither from Con- 
 necticut, only to find hfe on the farm a struggle in tiie 
 West as it had been in the East, and to lca\e his son 
 destitute of the early ad\antages which those born to 
 wealth enjoy. Hard work was the bo)-'s preparation 
 for life. Fortunately, he was possessed of health and 
 strength and a native energy and elasticity of spirit that 
 wouUl not permit him to endure idleness or inactivity. 
 His father died when he was but thirteen years of age, 
 and the burden of supporting the family fell thus early 
 upon his youthful shoulders. This responsibility left 
 little o[)portunity in his career fc- school studies. For 
 years he worked in different dry-goods stores, in moic 
 or less humble capacities, gradually .developing those 
 business abilities to which he owed his subsequent suc- 
 cess. 
 
 He came to New York City while still quite young, 
 and obtained a position in the diy-goods house of L. O. 
 Wilson & Co., remaining with it until 1857, when it 
 shared the fate of thou.sands of others, in being wrecked 
 in the financial panic of that year. Continuing with the 
 house until its affairs were wound up, he entered in 1858 
 the dry-goods commission house of Farnham, Dale & 
 Co., in which he continued till December 31, 1869, when 
 the firm dissolved. On the succeeding day, January i, 
 1870, Mr. Strong organized the firm of W. L. Strong & 
 Co., which succeeded to the business of the retiring firm. 
 This firm is still in existence, and its career has been one 
 of continued prosperity, it having safely weathered the 
 various financial storms since that period, and to-day no 
 house has a higher standing in the commercial world, 
 and no merchant a superior record for honor, probity, 
 
 and business judgment than its founder, William L. 
 Strong. He is perhaps better known in the world of 
 business and finance as president of the Central National 
 Bank, which institution has prospered under his energetic 
 but careful management, and to-day stands high among 
 the banking institutions of the metropolis. 
 
 Aside from his immediate business interests, Colonel 
 Strong — by which title he is ordinarily known — is a 
 member of the Union League, the Ohio Societ\-, and 
 man)- kindred organizations, is prominent in the first 
 social circles of the city, to which his dignity, urbanity, 
 and courtesy of manner highly recommend him, and, 
 while a Republican in politics, is a warm friend of reform. 
 His reputation for honor and just dealing has caused 
 him to be chosen on several occasions to arbitrate be- 
 tween labor and capital, and on every such occasion he 
 has accomplished the difficult ta.sk to the satisfaction of 
 all concerned. 
 
 The vigorous assaults of the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst upon 
 the Tamnirun- political organization, and the wide-spread 
 corruption that was shown to exist in the investigation 
 that followed, produced in 1894 so strong a demand for 
 municipal reform in New York that the most thorough 
 party leaders diti nut dare to ignore it. In September 
 a " Committee of Seventy" was formed, composed of 
 prominent business men combined in the interests of 
 reform, which Committee, fimling that it would not be 
 safe to nominate a Democrat for the mayoralty in the 
 excited state of public feeling, selected William L. Strong 
 as their candidate for mayor, a choice which was quickly 
 endorsed by the German Reform L'nion, and bj- reformers 
 generalK' without regard to part}-. 
 
 The election which followed clearly indicated the feel- 
 ing of the people. Colonel Strong was elected nia\or 
 by a inajorit)- of fort)--n\c thousand one hiuulied and 
 eightj'-seven over Hugh J. Grant, the candidate of Tam- 
 many, a phenomenal change from the ordinary results 
 of elections in New York City. Mayor Strong at once 
 went to work, with the earnestness for which he is 
 distinguished, to redeem the cit)- from its incubus of 
 peculation and jobbery. Though elected on a non- 
 partisan ticket, he was politicalh' a Re]niblican, and 
 Thomas C. I'latt, Republican leader in the State, im- 
 mediately sought to control him in the matter of nom- 
 inations, with the hope of making the city, as of old, a 
 party preserve. Major Strong, however, quickly proved 
 that he had not acceiiteil office for any such purpose, 
 and proceeded to make a])pointments without regard to 
 party affiliation, and solely on the basis of ability and 
 integrit)-, despite the opposition of Piatt and his legislative 
 supporters. As a result. New York possesses to-day the 
 best administration it has had for years, and from being 
 one of the worst, promises to become one of the best- 
 governed cities on the American continent. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 87 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TRACY. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin Tracv was born in Owcgo, New 
 York, April 2, 1830. His fatlicr was a man of marked 
 integrity and enterprise, a pioneer in the settlement of 
 the southern tier of counties in that State. His son was 
 fond of study, and was educated at the Owego Academy. 
 When of the proper age he entered a law office in his 
 native town, and was admitted to the bar in May, 185 1. 
 He soon won local distinction, for he was pitted against 
 men who afterwards became distinguished. In 1853 he 
 was, as the Whig cantlidate, elected district attorney for 
 Tioga County, at that time a Democratic stronghold. 
 He was re-elected in 1S56, beating the Democratic can- 
 didate, Hon. Gilbert C. Walker, afterwards governor of 
 Virginia. Although on opposite sides, they were friends, 
 and soon after this election formed a law partnership. 
 In 1 86 1 Tracy took an active and prominent part in the 
 exciting politics of the time, and filled Important offices 
 in the State Legislature. In the spring of 1862, under 
 appointment of the governor of New York, he recruited 
 two regiments of State troops, the One Hundred and 
 Ninth and the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh, and 
 became the colonel of the former. This regiment first 
 went to Baltimore, and then to Washington, D. C, where 
 it remained on duty until the spring of 1864. Then, 
 with the general advance under Grant, it joined the 
 Ninth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and 
 took part in the battle of the Wilderness. Near the 
 close of the battle he fell, exhausted by his exertions, 
 and was carried from the field ; but refused to go to the 
 hospital, and continued to lead his regiment during the 
 three days' conflict at Spottsylvania, when he utterly 
 broke down, and was forced to surrender his command 
 to the lieutenant-colonel. He then went North, to recruit 
 his health, and, in the following September, was made 
 colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh U. S. 
 Colored Troops, and soon after was assigned to the com- 
 mand of the military' post at Elmira, New York, where 
 was a prison camp and the draft rendezvous for Western 
 New York. In this camp there were at one time as 
 many as ten thousand prisoners. 
 
 In March, 1865, Colonel Tracy was brevetted briga- 
 dier-general of \olunteers, for gallant and meritorious 
 serxices during the war. On June 13, 1865, he was 
 honorably discharged, on tendering his resignation. 
 
 Colonel Tracy then entered the law firm of Benedict, 
 Burr & Benedict, in New York Cit}*, and in 1866 was 
 appointed U. S. district attorney for the Eastern District 
 of New York, during which time he drew an internal 
 revenue bill which more than trebled the re\enue of the 
 
 United States, at the period when our credit was being 
 established by the rapid payment of the huge war-debt. 
 
 In 1873 Colonel Tracy resigned his position, and again 
 entered upon the general practice of his profession, being 
 engaged in many notable cases. 
 
 In December, 1881, he was appointed by the governor 
 of New York an associate justice of the State Court of 
 Appeals, the appointment being to fill a vacancy. This 
 he held for two years, and then returned to the practice 
 of the law with Mr. William De Witt, and his son, F. 
 F. Tracy, their office being established in Brooklyn. 
 While thus engaged in business, he was, on March 5, 
 1889, appointed by President Harrison, Secretary of the 
 Navy, and was confirmed on the same day by the Senate. 
 The Secretary entered very zealously upon the prosecu- 
 tion of the plans for the rehabilitation and increase of the 
 naval force, — an object which meets the approval of ad- 
 ministrations of widely different opinions in other matters. 
 
 In April, 1 89 1, he reported that the department was 
 then engaged in the construction of twenty-five vessels, 
 in addition to eleven completed and put in ser\ice since 
 the spring of 1889 ; that the Washington gun-foundry for 
 heavy artillery had- been brought to high perfection, and 
 that a reserve naval militia was in process of formation, 
 fostered by the department. The principle of Civil Ser- 
 vice Reform was applied to the administration of our 
 navy-yards in a most gratifying way during his service. 
 
 General Tracy is a companion of the Loj-al Legion 
 and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He 
 is now in active practice of the law in New York City, 
 and is one of the most distinguished and successful mem- 
 bers of the bar of New York .State. « 
 
88 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 I.lHUTHNANT-GENtRAL JOHN M. SCHOFIHLO. 
 
 Liklti'.nant-Gf.nkkal John M. Sciioi-ikld (coniniaiui- 
 ing the army) was born in New York, September 29, i S3 1 , 
 and graduated at the Military Academ\-, July i, 1853. 
 He was promoted brevet second lieutenant of artiller\- 
 the same day, and second lieutenant First Artillerj-, 
 August 31, 1853. He served at Fort Moultrie in 1853, 
 and in Florida in 1854-55, as acting assistant professor 
 of philosophy, and assistant professor of the same at 
 the Military Academy from 1856 to i860. He was on 
 leave of absence as professor of physics, at Washington 
 Uni\ersitj', St. Louis, Missouri, in 1860-61, and when 
 the War of the Rebellion commenced was made muster- 
 ing officer for the State of Missouri, from April 20 to 
 Ma\- 20, 1861. He was major of the I'irst Missouri In- 
 fantry, April 26; captain. First United States Artillery, 
 May 14; brigadier-general of volunteers, November 21 ; 
 brigadier-general of Missouri State Militia, November 
 26, 1861 ; and major-general United States Volunteers, 
 November 29, 1862. 
 
 He joined our forces near Fredericktown, Missouri ; 
 organized and eipiipiied a battery, and took part in the 
 battle of Fredericktown, October 21, 1861 ; he com- 
 manded the District of St. Louis, No\ember 2J, 1861, 
 to February, 1862, and District of Missouri from Feb- 
 ruary 15 to Sejitember 26, 1862, and organized and com- 
 manded the Missouri State Militia during this period. 
 He was member of the Army and Navy Hoard to ex- 
 amine the condition and fitness of the Mississippi Gun 
 and Mortar-boat i-'lotilla, December g to 31, 1861 ; from 
 September, 1862, to April, 1863, organized and com- 
 manded the Army of the Frontier, in Southwest Mis- 
 souri and Northwest Arkansas, forcing the Confederates 
 south of the Arkansas River; in command of the Third 
 Division, Fourteenth y\rmy Corps, Army of the Cumber- j 
 land. April 20 to Ma\- \\. 186^,; in command of the, 
 
 Department of the Missouri (ex officio major-general, 
 commanding Missouri State Militia), May 13, 1863, to 
 January 31, 1864, during which time the forces under 
 his command operated with success in Missouri and Ar- 
 kansas as far south as Little Rock. He commanded the 
 Department and Army of the Ohio, January 31, 1864, 
 to January 29, 1865, forming the left wing of General 
 Sherman's army (opposing Johnston), participating in all 
 the operations and movements thereof including the 
 Atlanta campaign. In October, 1864, he was sent with 
 the Twenty-third Corps to report to General Thomas at 
 Naslu'illc, Tennessee, and commanded the troops in the 
 field opposed to the Confederate General Hood, from 
 November 13 to December i, 1864, including the battle 
 of Franklin, No\-ember 30. In the decisive victor\- 
 gained by General Thomas near Nashville, December 
 15, 16, General Schofield participated with the Twent\-- 
 third Army Corps ; in pursuit of the army under General 
 Hood, to Januar\- 14, 1865. At this time the Twenty- 
 third Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, General Schofield 
 commanding, was transported from Clifton, Tennessee, to 
 Washington, D. C, and transferred to North Carolina by 
 the 8th of I'ebruar\% 1865. Commanded the Department 
 of North Carolina and Army of the Ohio, February 8, 
 1865, forming a junction with General Sherman at Golds- 
 borough, March 22, 1865 ; present at Durham's Station, 
 North Carolina, April 26, 1 865, and intrusted with the exe- 
 cution of the terms of capitulation of Johnston's army. 
 
 General .Schofield was appointed brigadier-general 
 United States Arm\- November 30, 1864, and brexetted 
 major-general March 13, 1865, and on the 4th of March, 
 1869, was atKanced to the grade of major-general United 
 States Army. 
 
 He was sent on special mission to lunopc, November, 
 1865, to May, 1866, and successively commanded the 
 Department of the Potomac, Richmond, Virginia, the 
 First Military District (State of Virginia), and was Sec- 
 retary of War from June i, 1868, to March 11, 1869. 
 He commanded the Department of the Missouri, and 
 tlie Military I)i\'ision of the Pacific vuitil Jul)', 1S76; was 
 on special mission to the Hawaiian Islands, December 
 30, 1S72, to .April, 1873; supcrinliiulenl United States 
 Military Academy, July, 1876, to January 21, 1881 ; in 
 command of the Militar\- Division of the Gulf, which was 
 discontinued May 9, iSSi, and General Schofield then 
 spent a year in travel in luiropc. He then commanded 
 the Military Division of the Pacitk, the Division of the 
 Missouri, and the Division of the Atlantic, and was then 
 assigned to the command of the Army of the United 
 States, by order of the President, August 14, 1888. He 
 is at present in command, and president of Hoard of Ord- 
 nance and Fortifications, created by Act of Congress, 
 ajjproved September 22, 1888. Promoted to Lieutenant- 
 General, l"(l)ru.u)-, 1895. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 89 
 
 REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST. 
 
 TwENTV-ONE years ago a j-ouiil;' man, Charles Henry 
 Parkhurst by name, was called to preach in the little 
 town of Lenox, Massachusetts. To-day that man has 
 become one of the leading forces in civilization, through 
 his fearless and successful assault on the festering evils 
 of New York City politics. He was born at Framing- 
 ham, Massachusetts, April 17, 1842, where his fether was 
 eneafreil in farm work ckiriiiL;' the summer and at school- 
 teaching in winter. Until sixteen \-ears of age Charles 
 was a pupil in the Clinton Grammar School. The suc- 
 ceeding two years he .served as clerk in a dry-goods 
 store, and at eighteen was sent to Lancaster Academy 
 to prepare for college. In 1862 he was entered at 
 Amherst College, where he graduated in 1866, and in 
 the following year became principal of Amherst High 
 School, remaining until 1870. In that year he went to 
 Germany, with the purpose of studying philosophy 
 and theology, but was forced soon to return home on 
 account of illness in the famih'. 
 
 He now became professor of Greek and Latin in 
 Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and 
 two years afterwards married Miss Bodman, one of his 
 former pupils at Amherst. With his wife he now 
 returned to Europe, where he remained two years en- 
 gaged in study at Halle, Leipsic, and Bonn, and on his 
 return spent some months at his old home, devoting part 
 of his time to the study of Sanscrit. In the spring of 
 1S74 he received and accepted a call to the T'irst Con- 
 gregational Church of Lenox, in which field of duty he 
 soon gained a reputation as a pulpit orator. His resi- 
 dence in New York City began in 18S0, he receiving, on 
 March 8 of that year, a call to the Madison Avenue 
 Presbyterian Church, his present charge. In this new 
 and broader field of duty he began to take an active 
 interest in municipal and national politics, and gave his 
 views to his congregation from the pulpit with a force 
 and eloquence that from the first attracted attention. 
 
 Ten years afterwards Dr. Parkhurst began to play 
 a more prominent part in city affairs. A sermon on 
 municipal politics, preached b\- him in 1890, attracted 
 the attention of Dr. Howard Crosby, president of the 
 Society for the Prevention of Crime, and induced him to 
 in\'ite the acti\'e pastor to become a member and director 
 of the Society. He accepted the offer, went heartily to 
 work, and on April 30, 1891, after Dr. Crosby's death, 
 was elected president of the Society. The new president 
 at once began a thorough study of the situation, fortify- 
 ing himself with data, and a year afterwards, in Febru- 
 ary 1892, delivered a sermon on the corruption of the 
 municipal government of New York which struck fear- 
 lessly at men in high places, and the echoes of whose 
 bitter arraignment reverberated throughout the English- 
 speaking world. 
 
 The effect in New York was cyclonic. The bold 
 preacher was summoned before the grand jur\', which 
 declared that his charges against the police and officials 
 were without substantial foundation. He, iiowever, was 
 not to be so easily silenced, but sustained his views 
 before the jur\-, and at once began to gather material 
 for another sermon whose facts should be beyond 
 question. To make sure of this, he employed detec- 
 tives, and even made personal visits to saloons, policy- 
 shops, gambling-hells, and houses of ill fame, where he 
 witnessed scenes of the lowest depravity. The results 
 of his inquiry were given to the public in another ser- 
 mon that rang like the \'oice of doom in the ears of the 
 upholders of vice. His course was bitterh* assailed by 
 some, and as strongly defended by others, but he kept 
 firm. In March, 1892, he was again summoned before 
 the grand jury, and now so convinced them of the correct- 
 ness of his statements that they made a strong present- 
 ment, charging the police authorities with " incompetence 
 or corruption." The matter could not stop here. The 
 reform element of New York was too thoroughly aroused 
 to be lightly put to rest again, and the final result was 
 the appointment of a legislative committee of inqin'ry, 
 the famous Lexow Committee. The results of this in- 
 vestigation are public propert\-. We need say no more 
 about them here than that they are solely due to the 
 unflinching and persistent attacks of Dr. Parkhurst upon 
 corruption in high and low places alike, his arraignment 
 even reaching the judiciarj-, while his assault on Tam- 
 many Hall was so vigorous as to play a leading part in 
 the overwhelming defeat of that organization at the polls 
 in 1894. Dr. Parkhurst is no longer subject to detrac- 
 tion. To-day he is the most highlfr respected citizen of 
 New York, while his crusade for municipal reform is 
 having its useful effect in every city in the land. 
 
90 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 THEODORE W. MYERS. 
 
 Theodore Walter Mveks, recently comptroller of 
 the city of New York, was born in that cit}% January 1 1, 
 1 844, being the son of Lawrence Myers, a prominent 
 merchant and a leading spirit in commercial and social 
 circles. Mr. Myers received a preparatory training for 
 college at schools in New York City, and also in France 
 and Germany, but ill health obliged him to give up a 
 collegiate course, and he turned liis attention to busi- 
 ness, becoming in 1864 a clerk in the banking house of 
 I'olhemus & Jackson. After a few \ears' e.\periencc in 
 this establishment he became a member of tlie new firm 
 of Camblos & Myers. After several years this firm dis- 
 solved, and he continued in business for some )'ears 
 longer under his own name. This was followed by a 
 period of connection, as special partner, with the banking 
 house of M. E. De Rivas & Co., anil by a jear or two 
 of travel abroad, after which, in 1884, he organized the 
 banking house of Theodore W. Myers & Co , of which 
 he continues the head. Since its origin this house has 
 stood high among the conservative firms upon which the 
 credit of Wall Street rests. It docs a large commission 
 business, with branches in lioston, Philadelphia, Bal- 
 timore, Chicago, and other cities, and has earned and 
 maintained a reputation second to none for legitimate 
 enterprise and scrupulous probity. 
 
 Mr. Myers's business career has been combined with 
 great activity in military, political, and social affairs. 
 iJuring the civil war he was very active in organizing the 
 .Sickles Brigade, in which lie served for a time as captain 
 of its Third Regiment. For many years afterwards he 
 was connected with the City Guard, and at a later date 
 became an officer in the Ninth Regiment of the New 
 York State National Guard. 
 
 Politically he has followed his father's example in being 
 
 an unswerving Democrat, tlie interests of which party he 
 has been active in promoting. In 1884 he took a leading 
 part in the Presidential campaign, organizing the Cleve- 
 land and Hendricks Stock Exchange Canii)aign Club, 
 and arranging for the great down-town Democratic rallj% 
 held on the steps of the Sub-treasury Building in Wall 
 Street. In May, 1887, he was appointed b\- Mayor 
 Hewitt a member of the Park Commission, and was soon 
 after elected treasurer of that board. In tlie fall of the 
 same year the united Democracy nominated him as their 
 candidate for comptroller, and he was elected by over 
 fort)'-five thousand plurality, leading the whole ticket. 
 In this office he gave such general satisfaction that in 
 1890 all parties — Republican, Tammany, and County 
 Democracy — united in his rcnomination, and he recci\ed 
 two hundretl and seven thousand and eleven out of a 
 total of two hundred and thirteen thousand one hundred 
 and ninety-nine votes. At the expiration of his second 
 term of office he was strongly pressed by the Citizens' 
 Mo\'ement and the Good Government Club to accept a 
 second rcnomination, with every assurance of re-election. 
 He declined, however, to run again for the office. More 
 recently he has been unanimously elected president of 
 the Business Men's Democratic Association of New York. 
 
 While in office Mr. Myers's management of the re- 
 sponsible duties committed to his care e.xcited universal 
 commcntlation, as may be percei\ed by the sup])ort 
 given and offered him by citizens of all parties. For 
 energj', fidelity to dut\-, and far-seeing acumen his ad- 
 ministration has never been surpassed. He was a member 
 of numerous municipal boards and committees, in which 
 he brought to bear with the best results the keen dis- 
 crimination which has made him so successful as a busi- 
 ness man, while he zealously guarded and promoted the 
 highly important interests of the cit_\- intrusted to his care. 
 Among the many striking results of his administration 
 may be cited his successful placing of the first loan ever 
 made by .uiy numicipalit)' at the low rate of two anil a 
 iialf ])er cent. 0\er Si 4,000,000 of bonds were issued 
 at this rate, most of them being sold at a substantial 
 premium. Tiiis financial triumph won him general and 
 well-merited praise. 
 
 In 1870, Mr. Myers married Miss Rosalie Hart, a 
 granildaughter of Bernard Hart, a prominent merchant 
 and citizen of fifty years ago. They luue one son, a 
 graduate of Columbia College, and a member of the 
 banking firm. Mr. Myers has always been a liberal 
 patron of the arts, ami is a member of the Manhattan, 
 New York, Rockaway Hunt, National Hunt, Demo- 
 cratic, New York Yacht, Reform, New York Athletic, 
 Thirteen, and other clubs ; of the Historical and Geo- 
 grai)hical .Societies, and of a number of musical societies, 
 and is a familiar and favorite figure in the social circles 
 of the metropolis. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 91 
 
 EDWARD TRENCHARD. 
 
 Edward Trenchakd was born in the city of Philadel- 
 phia on August 17, 1850, and is the only child of Stephen 
 Decatur Trenchard and Ann O'C. Barclay Trenchard, 
 and grandson of Captain Edward Trenchard of the 
 United States navy. He was educated at one of the 
 leading private schools of Philadelphia, and at an early 
 age evinced a decided talent for the fine arts, an ability 
 which he seems to have inherited from his grandfather, 
 above named. That officer studied painting and engrav- 
 ing under Gilbert Fox, a well-known English artist 
 (whom he had induced to come to this country), and also 
 under liis uncle, James Trenchard, who was noted as an 
 engraver, and was the publisher of the Coluiiihiaii Maga- 
 ::inc. 
 
 On reaching his eighteenth year of age, Mr. Trenchard 
 began his special studies in the office of the celebrated 
 architect Richardson, then in New York City. After a 
 period devoted to the study of this branch of art, he 
 gave up the pursuit of architecture in favor of painting, 
 entering the School of Design, and subsequently taking 
 lessons in the Art Students' League. This period of 
 study was followed by a \-isit to Europe, mainly with the 
 purpose of obtaining the advantages of art study offered 
 by that countr\-. All the important art galleries of 
 Europe were \'isited b\- him, and their artistic treasures 
 closely studied, and the same was the case with the art 
 galleries of the Paris Exposition of that date, to whose 
 display he gave special attention. 
 
 On his return to America, with powers ripened by his 
 observations abroad, Mr. Trenchard devoted himself 
 specially to the study of painting, under the direction of 
 Professor Holmes, of Philadelphia, Miss Fidelia Bridges, 
 Peter Moran, and Henry C. Bispham. This period of 
 study was followed by a trip to the West Indies, he 
 having accepted the position of atlniiral's clerk on the 
 North Atlantic Squadron. Here he was enabled to appl\- 
 his long-continued studies in one of the richest fields of 
 natural scenerj^, and he brought back with him many 
 tropical studies, which he has since reproduced on canvas. 
 
 From this time forward Mr. Trenchard W'orked dili- 
 gently with his brush in that field of art to which talent 
 and inclination drew him, — the delineation of natural 
 scener)'. His works have been frequently exhibited in 
 the art galleries of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and 
 in various Western art exhibitions, and include among 
 their best known examples " The Passing Shower," 
 
 " The Old Wreck," " Sea Sand and Solitude," all exhibited 
 at the Academy of Design, New York ; and " Sunset on 
 the Strand," " Moose Peak Island, Maine," " The Break- 
 ing Waves Dashed High," "A Tropic Beach," " Surf," 
 and " Castle Rock, Marblehead," exhibited in the gallerj' 
 of the Society for the Promotion of Art and in the art 
 departments of various exhibitions. 
 
 In regard to the character of Mr. Trenchard's work a 
 critic has said, " The artist seems to prefer nature in her 
 quieter color aspects, and is most successful in his paint- 
 ing of waves and surf." 
 
 He has not exhibited any pictures recently, although 
 constantly engaged in painting from nature. Much of 
 his time during recent years has been given to literary 
 research in the records of the Colonial and Revolutionary 
 periods, on which he is considered an authority. 
 
 Mr. Trenchard was married June 11, 1878, to Mary 
 Cornelia Stafford, daughter of William Bacon Stafford, 
 president of the North River Savings Bank. He was 
 one of the founders of the Society of Colonial W'ars, in 
 which he has held various official positions. He is 
 assistant secretary of the Sons of the Revolution, vice- 
 president of the General Society of 181 2, member of the 
 Council of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Naval 
 Order, hereditary member of the Aztec Society and the 
 Loyal Legion, and member of various other societies, 
 military, art, and historical. For services rendered the 
 Venezuelan government he received the Order of Bolivar 
 (third class) from that go\'ernment. 
 
92 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 COLONEL DANIEL APPLETON. 
 
 Danikl Appleton, well known in niililaiy circles as 
 the colonel of the famous Seventh Regiment, of the New 
 York State National Guard, and in business circles from 
 liis prominent connection with the publishintj trade, was 
 born in the city of New York, February 24, 1S52, his 
 father being John A. Appleton, his grandfather Daniel 
 Appleton, founder of the publishing house of D. Apple- 
 ton & Co. The family has been one of long continuance 
 in this country, and had its share in making American 
 history for a hundred years before the Revolution. Its 
 militarj- tendencies are shown in the fact tliat three of 
 Colonel Appleton's great-grandfathers fought in the 
 Revolutionary War, and two of liis grandfathers heltl com- 
 missions in the War of 181 2. 
 
 It was proposed In* his ]).irents that he should take a 
 college course in Harvard College, preparatoi)- to which 
 he spent jxirt of the j'ears 1866 and 1867 studj'ing in 
 Germany. On his return home he resumed liis residence 
 in New York, where he continued his studies preparator\- 
 to passing a college examination. He was but a young 
 boy during the civil war, or doubtless his military pro- 
 clivity would have led him into that conflict, for in 1867, 
 when only fifteen years of age, he entereil the famous 
 Boston Cadet Corps, with which he gained his first e.\- 
 perience of military life. l""or the five succeeding sum- 
 mers lie went into camp with that org.mizalion, gaining 
 in this active duty some knowledge of the duties and 
 privations of a military career. During this period lie 
 was occu])ied in study at Harvard, where, however, he 
 was not able to graduate, the demands of the publish- 
 ing house requiring his presence in 1871, and inducing 
 him to give up college for business. Since that date 
 he has continued one of the most active members of the 
 firm. 
 
 His connection with the Cadet Corps had given him 
 what he thought was enough of soldiering, but events 
 ((uickly proved the contrary. The inciting cause which 
 biought him back into the ranks was the Orange riot of 
 Jul)- 12, 1S71. "If respectable men cannot parade in 
 peace under the law," he said, " it is time for Americans 
 to do something," and that he might be ready to do his 
 part he enlisted on October 31, 1 871, as a private in " F" 
 Company, Seventh Regiment, of which company he has 
 remained a member ever since. 
 
 Step by step he advanced in rank in the regiment. 
 On the 8th of April, 1873, he received his first grade of 
 promotion, being made corporal, and on the 7th of 
 November of the same year was raised to the grade of 
 sergeant. He gained the promotion to first sergeant on 
 March 9, 1875, and as such he paraded with the regi- 
 ment in lioston on Bunker-Hill Day. His ne.\t step of 
 promotion came on Maj' 23, 1876, when he was made 
 second lieutenant. With this rank he accompanied the 
 regiment to Philadelphia during the Centennial Ivxposi- 
 tion of that year, and encamped with it in tents in which 
 at times the thermometer recorded one hundred and ten 
 degrees. It was a service in which there maj' perhaps 
 have been glory, but certainly there was no comfort or 
 enjoyment. At a later date, during the railroad riots of 
 1877, he helped garrison the old armory over Tomkin's 
 Market until the exigencv' had passed. I Ic was promoted 
 captain on the 13th of January, 1879. 
 
 At that time " 1' " Compan\- had about thirty-five men 
 in its ranks. Under Captain Appleton it grew rapitlU- 
 in numbers and within a year had one hundred and three, 
 the number allowed by law, with others an.xious for ad- 
 mittance. Since that time there has always been a wait- 
 ing list, (^n July 19, 1889, Captain Appleton received 
 another and flattering promotion, being elected to succeed 
 Fmmons Clark as colonel of the regiment, a position 
 which he still retains. As oflicer in command of the 
 Seventh, Colonel Appleton has won general respect and 
 esteem, and during the recent strike of street-car opera- 
 tives in Brooklyn his service, with that of his splendid 
 regiment, has deepened the feelings of respect and esteem 
 with which he anti his command are regarded b\- all 
 law-abiding citizens. 
 
 In the publishing house of D. Appleton & Co. Col- 
 onel Appleton has made himself practically familiar w ith, 
 and has been in charge, at intervals, of all branches, 
 and is at present essentiall)- at the head of its business 
 dejiartment. I Ic is unmarried, and is a member of a 
 number of the leading clubs of New York, — including 
 the Century, the Union, and the New York .Vthletic, — 
 but does not consider liimself a club-man, his duties 
 with his company and regiment occupj'ing the most of 
 his leisure, to the exclusion of much devotion to club 
 I life. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 93 
 
 CHARLES F. MAYER. 
 
 Mr. Ch.4rle.s Frederick M.wer, President of the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Raihoad Company, is a son of 
 Lewis Mayer, who was one of the first men to develop 
 the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania, and was a 
 noted Maryland lawyer. The father of Lewis Mayer 
 was Christian Ma\-er, who emigrated from German)- and 
 settled in Baltimore shortly after the Revolutionary War. 
 I Ic was one of the leading merchants of Baltimore, 
 represented the kingdom of Wurtemberg as Consul- 
 Generai, and was one of the founders of the German 
 Society in 1817, and its first president. 
 
 His son, Charles F. Mayer, whose name has been 
 inherited by the subject of our sketch, was a distin- 
 guished public man of Maryland and a prominent Whig. 
 He was a State Senator, and, as chairman of the joint 
 committee of both houses, was the means of settling 
 the troubles between the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. The late 
 Colonel Brantz Mayer, Paymaster in the U. S. A., and a 
 distinguished literary man of this city, was an uncle of 
 the present Charles F. Mayer. All of the Mayers have 
 been distinguished men; — some in law, some as merchants, 
 — and nearly every one of them had some connection 
 with railroads and other large enterprises. 
 
 The present Charles F. Mayer was born in Pennsyl- 
 vania while his father and mother were temporarily living 
 in that State. When quite a young man he became a 
 clerk in the office of his uncle, Frederick Koenig, who 
 was one of the largest merchants of his time in Balti- 
 more. Mr. Mayer served for a time as supercargo on 
 vessels trading to South America in his uncle's business, 
 but after an absence of two years returned from Val- 
 paraiso to Baltimore, where he became the head of the 
 firm his uncle had founded. About 1864, he, in company 
 with Thomas and Joseph Jenkins and others, organized 
 the Despard Gas Coal Company, with mines at Clarks- 
 burg, West Virginia, becoming president of the company. 
 
 In IVLarch, 1877, he was elected President of the Con- 
 solidation Coal Company, and also of the Cumberland 
 and Penns\-lvania Railroad Company, and a few years ago 
 was elected President of the Susquehanna and Tidewater 
 Canal Compan\-. In 1871 he established the firm of 
 Mayer, Carroll & Company, engaged in the business of 
 mining and shipping coal, and subsequently became a 
 partner of Mr. Hemy G. Davis, under the firm name of 
 Davis, Mayer & Co. This firm dissolved some time ago, 
 and the two partners are now the heads of competing 
 railroad and coal companies. 
 
 Mr. Mayer is a director in a number of banking, steam- 
 ship, and other corporations. He married his cousin. 
 Miss Susan Douglas Keim, daughter of the late Hon. 
 George May Keim, of Reading, Pennsyhania. 
 
 The Consolidation Coal Company, of which he has so 
 
 13 
 
 long been the able president, mines over one million tons 
 of coal a year, and has a capital of over $10,000,000. 
 
 In December, 1 88 1 , he was elected President of the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. That great cor- 
 poration was, at the date of his election, in a depressed 
 condition financially, and all of Mr. Mayer's experience, 
 energy, and ability have been called acti\-el_\- into pla)- to 
 restore it to the commanding position it once held. In 
 this arduous duty he is making important progress, and 
 promises in due time to be full}- successful. The general 
 public, in fact, is just beginning to learn, what has been 
 long known and conceded in business circles, that among 
 the leading railroad managers of the century must be 
 included Charles F. Ma)-er, who holds full rank with 
 the able men at the head of the other great trunk line 
 systems of the country. 
 
 Personally, Mr. Mayer devotes himself so closely to 
 the many important interests that demand his attention 
 that he has little time for social rela.xations. his hours of 
 release from duty being principalh- spent in the enjoy- 
 ment of home life. In person he is tall and spare, with 
 a face displaying strong force and intelligence. In manner 
 he is very precise, earnest, and vigorous. In conversation 
 he can be pleasing, and talks logically and persuasively, 
 but when aroused is very determined and aggressive. 
 All through his life he has been successful, and, while 
 he inherited a large fortune and earned another, he 
 makes no display, because he has no time to indulge in 
 luxury and extravagance. Not only a tireless worker 
 himself, he inspires all who surround him to be indus- 
 trious. His affairs are almost as important in Philadel- 
 phia and New York as they are in Baltimore, and the 
 important relation which the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road now bears to the business interests of Philadelphia 
 fully entitles him to a place in the present volume. 
 
94 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FREDERICK A. 
 
 BARNARD. 
 
 Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, president after 
 1864 of Columbia College, was a native of Sheffield, 
 Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he was born 
 May 5, 1809. He was descended from l'"rancis Barnard, 
 of Coventry, England, who came to Massachusetts in 
 1636, and on his mother's side from John Porter, whose 
 arrival in this country took place in 1628. After receiv- 
 ing elementary education from his mother, he was fitted 
 for college at Saratoga Springs and at Stockbridge, 
 Massachusetts, and entered Yale College in 1824, from 
 which he graduated with high honors in 1828. 
 
 Mis life as a teacher began immediately afterwards in 
 the Hartford grammar school, where he taught two years, 
 and which he left to become a tutor in Yale College. 
 In 1832 he came to New York, having accrpted a ])osi- 
 tion in the institution for the deaf and dumb in that city. 
 During his stay there he prepared and published an 
 " Analytic Grammar." His ne.xt position was in the 
 University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa, in which he ac- 
 cepted the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, 
 which he filled till 1849, when he became professor of 
 Chemistry and Natural History in the same institution. 
 In 1854 he entered the University of Mississippi, at 
 O.xford, as professor of Mathematics and Natural Phi- 
 losophy, and in 1856 was elected president of that uni- 
 versity. Two years afterwards this title was changed to 
 chancellor. 
 
 While thus engaged in professorial and presidential 
 
 duties, Professor Barnard was actively engaged in other 
 directions. In 1846 he served as astronomer on a com- 
 mission organized to determine the boundary between 
 Alabama and Florida, and in i860 was a member of 
 the astronomical expedition sent to Cape Ludleigh in 
 Labrador, to obserxe the solar eclipse of that year. He 
 also, during his residence in the South, wrote largely for 
 the periodical press, delivered many public addresses, and 
 published various papers on educational and scientific 
 subjects. 
 
 In i860. Professor Barnard was elected president of the 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 which office he held till 1866. He was also one of the 
 original corporators of the National Academy of Sci- 
 ences, who were named in the act of Congress of 1863 
 incorporating that institution. In 1874 he served as 
 chairman of the physical section of the Academy, and 
 was its foreign secretary from that year until 1 880. 
 
 In 1 861, on the outbreak of the civil war. Dr. Barnard 
 resigned his position as chancellor of the University of 
 Mississippi, but was for some time refused permission to 
 leave the Confederate States. He finally succeeded in 
 making his way to Washington, where for some time he 
 was engaged in astronomical work under the director of 
 the Naval Observatory. In the spring of 1863 he was 
 appointed to a position on the Coast Survey, being given 
 charge of the map and chart department of the Survey. 
 
 His election to the presidency of Columbia College 
 took place in Ma)', 1864, and he continued in this posi- 
 tion until his death in 1889. He was appointed in 1866 
 on the government commission to visit and report on 
 the French Universal Exposition of 1867, and afterwards 
 contributed to the reports the veiy elaborate third volume 
 of the series. He also represented this country at the 
 Paris Exposition of 1878, as assistant commissioner- 
 general, and received from the French ministrj-, in attes- 
 tation of his valuable services, the cross of the Legion 
 of Honor. Two years previously, in 1876, he had served 
 as one of tiie judges on instruments of precision at the 
 Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. His publications 
 embrace a volume on the " Metric System of Weights 
 and Measures," and part of Field's " Outlines of a Code 
 of International Law" and of Harper's " First Century 
 of the Republic." From 1873 to 1S77 he was editor- 
 in-chief of "Johnson's Cyclop.edia." In 1S55 Jefferson 
 College, Mississippi, confered on him the honorary degree 
 of LL.D., and Yale gave iiim the same honor in 1859. 
 He died April 27, 1889. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 95 
 
 GENERAL EGBERT L. VIELE. 
 
 Egbert L. Viele, pre-eniincntl)' one of the creators of 
 New York, was born at Waterford, New York, on the 
 17th day of June, 1825. His early education at the 
 Albany Academy was supplemented by a four years' 
 course at the West Point MiUtary Academy, on graduat- 
 ing; from wliich, in 1847, he joined the army of General 
 Winficld Scott in Mexico, his first service being as adju- 
 tant of a cavalry command composed of United States 
 Dragoons and Texas Rangers. Subsequently he joined 
 the Second Regiment of United States Infantry and was 
 assigned to the command of a company, although in 
 rank only a second lieutenant. Afterwards he was pro- 
 moted to the First Infantry, and at the close of the war 
 was assigned to duty with his regiment on the Rio 
 Grande frontier. Here, while in command of his com- 
 pan}', he explored, located, and constructed a military 
 road from Rio Grande City and Camargo to Laredo, a 
 distance of one lunuhcd and twcnt_\--five miles through 
 a region of dense chaparral, infested by hostile Indians 
 and wild animals. On the completion of this important 
 work, he was ordered by General Worth to establish a 
 military post at Laredo, and given a major's command 
 of a battalion of mounted troops, although still a second 
 lieutenant. 
 
 After about four years of frontier service Lieutenant 
 Viele resigned his commission and entered upon the 
 practice of the engineering profession in the city of New 
 York, where from the outset he became prominent in 
 plans for public improvements. Having been appointed 
 State engineer of New Jersey, he conducted an elaborate 
 geodetic and topographical survey of that State, which 
 has added incalculably to its wealth and prosperity. Sub- 
 sequently he designed the plan for the improvement of 
 Central Park, which has received the approval of the 
 lovers of rural art throughout the world. He also de- 
 signed the plan of improvement for Prospect Park, 
 Brooklyn, with which work he was connected at the 
 breaking out of the ci\il war, when, as Captain Viele, 
 he at once organized and carried into execution a plan 
 to aid in the defense of the national capital, proceeding 
 directl)- to Washington by water in command of a well- 
 appointed and well-drilled body of men, and opening 
 the passage of the Potomac by fearlessly ascending that 
 river when it was reported to be closed b}- formidable 
 rebel batteries. He was met on landing by President 
 Lincoln in person, who came to the wharf to greet and 
 thank him. After aiding in superintending the construc- 
 tion of Fort Runyon, the first w'ork executed for the de- 
 fense of Washington, he was appointed by the President, 
 without his request, a brigadier-general of volunteers, 
 and assigned to the command of a camp of instruction 
 near New York. Subsequently he ser\-ed as second in 
 command of the land forces of the expedition that cap- 
 
 tured Port Royal. He led the force that compelled the 
 surrender of Fort Pulaski, and at a later date formed 
 and skillfully executed a plan for the capture of Norfolk. 
 He was at once appointed military governor of Norfolk 
 and Portsmouth, where, by a thoroughly organized sys- 
 tem of surveillance, he obtained and forwarded to the 
 Secretary of War a complete knowledge of the enemy's 
 plans and resources, which proved of the utmost value to 
 General Grant in his operations. 
 
 At the close of the war, General Viele returned with 
 renewed acti\ity to the practice of his profession, his 
 work including elaborate plans for the improvement of 
 the commercial facilities of New York, for rapid transit, 
 both underground and elevated, for cable railways, for 
 the opening of the Harlem River to navigation, for the 
 sanitary improvement of the metropolis, and for its 
 further embellishment by adding to the area and number 
 of its parks. He became commissioner and president of 
 the board of parks, vice-president of the American Geo- 
 graphical Society, was chosen by a very large majority a 
 member of Congress, and held a number of other im- 
 portant public positions. 
 
 As an author and essayist General Viele has been in- 
 defatigable. He has never ceased to be active with his 
 pen on a great variety of subjects, literarj', sanitary, and 
 scientific. 
 
 To a very thorough acquaintance, from personal obser- 
 vation, with the natural resources of this continent he 
 has added a fund of information obtained from extensive 
 foreign travels, of which he has given the benefit to the 
 public in a number of ways. He retains all the restless 
 mental and physical energy of his youth, and is still 
 actively engaged in large and t*neficent enterprises, 
 which will undoubtedly yield similar results to those 
 of the previous efforts of his busy life. 
 
96 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GEORGB B. ROBHRTS. 
 
 One of the most unostentatious, jet one of the most 
 useful, of the hving citizens of Philadelphia is the widely- 
 known president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
 pany, a position whose importance has icw equals in 
 the places of trust and power within the United States. 
 Mr. Roberts worked himself up to this high position by 
 incessant diligence and superior ahilit\' as a ci\il engineer 
 and railroad manager. Born in 1833, on the farm in the 
 close vicinity of Philadelphia on which he still resides, 
 he received his professional training in the Pol\-technic 
 Institute at Troy, New York, and immediately upon grad- 
 uating began that life as a railroad man from which he 
 has never since deviated. 
 
 His work began upon the mountain division of the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad, upon u hich he was first em|)loyed 
 as a rodman. In 1852, while still but nineteen years of 
 age, he was made assistant engineer of the Philadelphia 
 and Eric Railroad, and during the ten years that followed , 
 was ver>' actively engaged in railroad engineering, aiding I 
 in the location and construction of various roads, in- 
 cluding the Sunbury and liric, the North Pennsylvania, 
 the Western Pennsylvania, the Allentown and Auburn, 1 
 the Mahanoy and Hroad Mountain, the West Jersey, and | 
 others. On several of these he was employed as chief 
 engineer and brought them to completion. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. Roberts, after this decade of varied ser- 
 vice, returned to the Pennsylvania Railroad, his official 
 position being that of assistant to the president, Mr. J. 
 Edgar Thomson. His term of duty in this position 
 
 continued for seven years, during which his skill as an 
 engineer and his excellent administrative powers proved 
 so serviceable to the road that in 1869 he was promoted 
 to the position of fourth vice-president. Almost imme- 
 diately afterwards he received a second promotion, being 
 elected second vice-president. On June 3, 1874, Colonel 
 Thomas A. Scott succeeded J. Edgar Thomson in the 
 presidency, and Mr. Roberts was advanced to the post 
 of first vice-president. 
 
 In this capacity great interests were confided to his 
 care, all engineering questions relating to the construc- 
 tion, extension, and improvement of the company's far- 
 extended lines coming under his control, in addition to 
 which he had the general supervision of the accounts 
 through the comptroller. He also assisted the president 
 in the management of the \arious roads leased or con- 
 trolled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Colonel Scott 
 died in May, 1880, and Mr. Roberts was chosen to suc- 
 ceed him as the president of the company, an office to 
 which he has since been annually re-elected. This choice 
 of the shareholders is not due to any influence exerted 
 by ownership of stock, — for Mr. Roberts is not a man of 
 great wealth, and has comparatively little financial interest 
 in the road, — but is the result of the general recognition 
 of his ability and probity, and the well-founded belief by 
 the shareholders that his life and powers are unselfishly 
 devoted to their interests and the best good of the great 
 property which they have placed under his control. 
 
 Mr. Roberts is of W^elsh descent, his ancestors having 
 come from Bala in Wales more than two hundred years 
 ago. As a memorial of this fact, he has given the name 
 of Bala to his ancestral farm, and to the adjoining station 
 on the Schuylkill branch of the Penn.sylvania Railroad, 
 on the north-western edge of Fairmount Park. It is an 
 interesting coincidence that on the \ery day that the first 
 Hiitisli train reacheil Hala in Wales, the first American 
 train reached Bala in l'enns\lvania. On this farm is an 
 humble residence, built bj' Mr. Roberts's ancestors, and 
 the most cherished of his possessions. In this house he 
 was born, and in this house he still resides, affording a 
 remarkable instance of home-staying attachment amid 
 the migrator)- impulse of Americans generally. He is 
 not a lover of social distractions, and, while giving daily 
 attention to the duties of his position at the Philadelphia 
 office of the company, he returns every afternoon to his 
 home, where, in the enjoyment of his fine lii)iar)- anil in 
 leisure strolls o\er his well-tilled fields, he jiasses life in 
 a calm enjoyment of books and nature that is riclil}' 
 worthy of emulation. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 97 
 
 BRENT GOOD. 
 
 Among the most active business men of New York, 
 and particularly among the most successful proprietors 
 of patent medicines, is the subject of our present sketch, 
 whose skillful and daring management as owner of 
 " Carter's Little Li\-cr Pills" has gi\cn him a world-wide 
 reputation. 
 
 Mr. Good was born at Rochester, New York, in 1837, 
 and was taken by his parents to Canada when two years 
 of age, where he was reared on a farm on the Bay of 
 Quinte, Ontario. His school life was followed by a term 
 of apprenticeship to the drug business at Belleville, 
 Ontario, at the end of which, in 1856, he made his 
 way to New York City. Here he obtained a situation 
 in the establishment of Demas, Barnes & Co., then 
 among the largest handlers of proprietary medicines in 
 the world. 
 
 Beginning his service here in a subordinate position, 
 he quickly gained a place on the staff of traveling men, 
 and proved himself so capable that in 1863 he was 
 admitted to partnership in the firm. In 1869 the firm 
 was dissolved, selling its stock and good-will to John F. 
 Henry & Co. Mr. Good now formed the firm of Good, 
 Roof & Co., for the importation of wines, in which busi- 
 ness he continued till 1878. He retained, however, a 
 predilection for his old business, and kept on the lookout 
 for some promising opportunity to resume it. This he 
 found in 1878, in the valuable pill made and sold by Dr. 
 Carter, of Erie, Pennsylvania, who was then doing a 
 $10,000 a )-ear business with it. 
 
 Mr. Good purchased an interest, formed the Carter 
 Medicine Company, and is its President, Treasurer, and 
 General Manager. Their great success, however, has 
 not been attained without continued labor, energy, and 
 skillful management. For several years Mr. Good con- 
 fined his efforts to the United States and Canada, but in 
 1886 established a laborator\- in London, and gave our 
 British cousins an example of Yankee enterprise which 
 they dill not quite relish. Immense posters were dis- 
 plaj-ed on prominent walls heralding the virtues of Car- 
 ter's Little Liver Pills, fences and stores were covered 
 with similar advertisements, and British aesthetic taste 
 received such a shock that the prominent newspapers 
 broke out into denunciation of this imported American 
 way of advertising, while a bill was introduced into 
 Parliament to prevent a continuation of this method. 
 This action, and the general discussion to which it 
 gave rise, advertised the pills still better than the post- 
 ers, and the business has now grown in England to a 
 permanent paying basis. An excellent business is also 
 
 being done with them in all other English-speaking 
 countries. 
 
 Carter's Little Liver Pills, however, is but one of the 
 money-making concerns in which Mr. Good is interested. 
 In fact, there are few financial schemes in New York in 
 which he is not to some extent interested. Yet most 
 of his investments have proved profitable. A striking 
 example is that of the Writing Telegraph Company. 
 This compan}- was formed about six j-ears ago, Mr. Good 
 becoming its principal stockholder and its president. It 
 was sold out in June, 1892, paying an enormous profit to 
 its original stockholders. On the failure of the North 
 River Bank in 1890 Mr. Good bought its building, and 
 established the Franklin National Bank, now a flourish- 
 ing financial institution, of which he is vice-president. 
 He is also the owner of the Lyceum Theatre of New 
 York, which has proved highly successful under his con- 
 trol ; also President Sunbury Wall Decorating Company. 
 
 With all his multifarious business interests to oversee, 
 Mr. Good finds abundant time for pleasure. He is a 
 member of the New York Athletic Club, the Manhattan 
 Club, and the New York Yacht Club, Hardware Club, 
 and St. James Club, Montreal, and is a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Masonic fraternity. He is an ardent yachts- 
 man and is very fond of gunning and fishing. In fact, 
 he owns fifteen lakes and a salmon ri\-er in Canada, 
 where he spends a part of each year with a party of 
 sport-loving friends. There are few men who get more 
 enjoyment out of life than Brent Good, whose time is 
 most wisely divided between pleasure and business, and 
 whose whole-souled, unselfish nature has surrounded him 
 with an army of friends. 
 
98 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REYNOLD WEBB WILCOX, M.LX, I,L.l). 
 
 Reynold Webb Wilcox was born at Matlismi, Con- 
 necticut, in the year 1856. On his father's side he is 
 a descendant of William Wilcoxson, of Stratford, Con- 
 necticut, wlio came to this country in 1635, tiuis being 
 one of the original settlers of that colon\. Ills father, 
 Colonel Vincent Meigs Wilcox, comnianiled the One 
 Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment, Tennsj-Kania 
 Volunteers, during the late war, and took part with 
 them in their severe service during that conflict. His 
 mother, Catherine Millicent Webb, traces her ancestry 
 to Richard Webb, of Stamford, Connecticut, who emi- 
 grated as early as 1626, and was the founder of the well- 
 known Connecticut family of that name. Both of his 
 grandmothers were of the Meigs famil)-, so prominent 
 in colonial history, and which derived its descent from 
 Vincent Meigs, of East Guilford (now Madison), Con- 
 necticut, who came to Connecticut in 1640. All of his 
 ancestry can therefore be traced back to a \er)' earl\' 
 period in the history of the Colony of Connecticut. 
 
 Dr. Wilcox was educated at Yale College, by which he 
 was graduated with honors as Bachelor of Arts in 1878. 
 In 1 88 1 he received the degree of Master of Arts from 
 Hobart College, and in the same year that of Doctor of 
 Medicine from Harvard University. In 1892 he was 
 honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Maryvillc 
 College. 
 
 During the period in which he was cngagcil in the 
 study of medicine at Harvard he served as hou.se-physi- 
 cian in the hospitals of Boston. After Jiis graduation 
 in medicine he spent fifteen months in medical stuily at 
 
 Vienna, Heidelberg, Paris, and Edinburgh, gaining there 
 experience of the utmost value, and upon his return took 
 up his residence in New York, where he served his term 
 as house-surgeon at the Woman's Hospital. In 1884 he 
 was appointed a clinical assistant at the New York Po.st- 
 GraiUiate Medical School and Hospital, in 1S86 an in- 
 structor in the same institution, and in 18S9 he was 
 chosen its Professor of Clinical Medicine and Therapeu- 
 tics. As a teacher of practicing physicians he is well and 
 favorably known for his e.xtensixe practical experience, 
 broad scholarship, and scientific enthusiasuL His .service 
 at the North-ICastern and Dcmilt Dispensaries and in the 
 wards of Belle\ue and St. Mark's Hospitals has been 
 utilized, not only for his personal study, but as well for 
 the instruction of the profession at large. 
 
 Dr. Wilco.x is a frequent speaker at the various medi- 
 cal organizations of which he is a member, — the American 
 and the New York Academies of Medicine, and the Clin- 
 ical, Count)-, State, Lenox, and Harvard Medical Socie- 
 ties. Of the last he has been president. Lie has been a 
 prolific writer u[)()ii nuilical and therapeutical subjects, 
 having publishetl more than one hundred and fifty papers, 
 most of which have been translated into French and 
 German and have been extensively quoted in the Ameri- 
 can journals. For several years he has been the thera- 
 peutic editor of the Ai)icricait Jounuxl of ihc Medical 
 Sciences, and he is also the American editor of White's 
 " Matiria Medica anil Lherapeutics," a te.xt-book of six 
 hundred and fift\- pages, now in its second eiiition, and 
 which has been adojjted as the te.xt-book in the leading 
 medical schools. Notwithstanding the demands made 
 upon his time by an extensive private practice, and by 
 his duties as a professor of medicine, he has found the 
 opportunit)' to write a genealogical work entitled " I'he 
 Descendants of William Wilcoxson, \'iiici.iU Meigs, and 
 Richard Webb." 
 
 Dr. Wilcox docs not confine himself entirel)' to the 
 demands of the medical profession, but is fietiuentlj' 
 sought for as a speaker before the various [jatriotic and 
 scientific societies in whose purposes and labors he takes 
 a warm interest, and to many of which he belongs. He 
 is a member of the Societies of the Colonial Wars, Sons 
 of the Revolution, War of 1812, Military Order of the 
 Loyal Legion, War of the Union, and Sons of Veterans. 
 Of the last he has been Surgeon-General. He is also a 
 member of the Manhattan and the Harvard Clubs. Asa 
 physician in active practice, as a teacher of medical prac- 
 titioners, as a writer upon medical and patriotic subjects, 
 Dr. Wilcox, young as he still is, has already obtained an 
 enviable reputation. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 99 
 
 A. A. MARKS. 
 
 A. A. Marks was born in Waterbur}% Connecticut, 
 April 3, 1825, of a family which had long been prominent 
 in that State, his ancestors embracing the Tuttles, Tolles, 
 Ives, Coopers, and Eatons, persons who have largely 
 made the history of New England. 
 
 The subject of our sketch passed his early life on his 
 father's farm in Connecticut. Prior to his attaining his 
 majority, and by the consent of his parents, he left the 
 paternal roof and wandered in search of fame and fortune 
 to the city of New York, where he engaged in various 
 enterprises which met with indifferent successes. His 
 persistence and indomitable will, however, led him to 
 other endea\ors, and at length to that success which 
 persistent energy rareh' fails to bring. 
 
 About the \'ear 1850 his sympathies were aroused by 
 the spectacle of the large number of cripples who were 
 at that period so conspicuous in all large cities, before 
 prothetical science had reached its present stage of devel- 
 opment. Many more cripples were then seen hobbling 
 about on crutches and crude makeshifts than are now to 
 be seen in our streets, and, moved by a humanitarian 
 impulse, Mr. Marks turned his attention to the devising 
 of means that might ameliorate the conditions of those 
 unfortunate persons. He in\entcd an artificial leg which 
 was quite different from the heavy, noisy, and expen- 
 sive article obtainable at that time, antl likely to be far 
 more comfortable to the wearer. Ha\'ing met with suc- 
 cess in his first efforts, he was encouraged to persevere, 
 and established himself as a manufacturer of artificial 
 limbs in 1853. Experiment and stud}- led him to dis- 
 coveries and inventions which in a verj' short time 
 brought him prominently before the ]iublic and gave 
 him a high reputation in his new line of e.xertion. The 
 invention of the rubber foot, the adjustable knee-joint, 
 the rubber hand with ductile fingers, are the fruits of 
 his thought and experiment: and, through his enter- 
 prising methods, his artificial limbs have become intro- 
 duced into every country on the face of the earth, and 
 his name is now synonymous with the science of pro- 
 thesis. Governments, corporations, hospitals, and so- 
 cieties have not been slow in recognizing his talent and 
 in adopting his productions. In 1864 he received the 
 United States government contract to furnish artificial 
 limbs to the dismembered soldiers and sailors of the 
 rebellion, and has since held a perpetual contract to 
 renew the limbs as often as the subjects require them. 
 The American Institute in its palmiest days acknowl- 
 edged Mr. Marks as the authority in his profession, and 
 successive expositions have awarded him first premiums, 
 medals, and diplomas. The Franklin Institute has like- 
 wise awarded to him its medals in recojrnition of his in- 
 
 ventive skill, anil the public press has often presented his 
 achievements to the public with glowing encomiums. 
 
 The Marks establishment has been a landmark in New 
 York City for nearly half a century, and has attracted 
 thither many distinguished persons of foreign lands. 
 Santa i\na, the Mexican warrior, made his first visit to 
 New York for the ]iur]iose of having Mr. Marks replace 
 by art the leg which he had lost in 1838 during the 
 French assault upon Vera Cruz. General Larranaga, the 
 Peruvian revolutionist, Iglasius, son of the President of 
 Peru, and Okuma, the Japanese count, arc some of the 
 world's distinguished men who have been able to appre- 
 ciate the productions of this firm. Mr. Marks has indeed 
 made an impression on the metropolis, and has added 
 the industry of prothesis to the many which New York 
 claims as its own, a distinction which has been awarded 
 to it b}' the approval of the world. 
 
 In 1850 he was married to Miss Lucy Piatt, daughter 
 of Charles Piatt, a citizen of New York. Seven children 
 have been the result of that union, four of whom sur- 
 vive, — Rev. Charles A. Marks, an Episcopal clergyman 
 located in Pennsylvania, George E. and William L. Marks, 
 who are in partnership with their father, and Miss Anna 
 Marks, who remains a companion to her father. 
 
 In 1870, Mr. Marks moved his residence to Greenwich, 
 Connecticut, where he procured a site on Long Island 
 Sound, on which he built a large and commodious 
 country residence, surrounded by ample groves and 
 attracti\e adornments. The influence of his personality 
 was soon felt in Greenwich, where he interested himself 
 in man\' public enterprises. Personally, he is a man of 
 strong character, an indefatigable wprker, sincere in his 
 intentions, progressive and impressive. 
 
lOO 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HERMAN TAPPAN. 
 
 Herman Tappan was born in Gloucester, Massachu- 
 setts, and spent his boyhood among the shipping and in 
 the hcaltliful atmosphere of tliat famous old nautical port. 
 He received his education in New England schools and 
 colleges, but turned iiis attention to mercantile pursuits 
 early in life, and with an energy and ambition that were 
 an assurance of success. He came to New York in 1876, 
 in which city he purchased an interest in a comparatively 
 small but well-established manufacturing perfumery busi- 
 ness at No. 65 Duane Street. He had, through his con- 
 nection with other mercantile enterprises, already accu- 
 mulated a moderate capital, which he invested in this 
 new business, and with which he went enthusiastically 
 to work to build up and extend the trade already es- 
 tablished b_\- the establishment, lieing possessed of keen 
 business enterprise and excellent judgment, and ha\'ing 
 already gained a valuable acquaintance with mercantile 
 affairs, he set himself to learn the wants of the trade 
 in the new business which he had adventured, and to 
 meet them in every direction and detail. His success, 
 however, was largely due to the continual introduction 
 of novelties in ])crfumer\', most of which proved pleas- 
 ant surprises to the trade, and commanded a ready and 
 Ijrofitable market. 
 
 The business, largely in consequence of the successive 
 introduction of such new goods and their success upon 
 the market, soon outgrew its original t|uarters, antl the 
 firm removed to 112 and 114 Duane Street, leasing a 
 building which ran through the block to Readc Street, 
 with a floor space of forty tlKJUsand square feet. It thus 
 constituted the most extensive establishment devoted to 
 the manufacture of i^erfumcry in this country. In these 
 new quarters the firm, incited b)' the ra|)id increase of 
 orders from all parts of the country, steadily extended 
 
 its business, until its trade eclipsed anything previously 
 accomplished in this special line of perfumery, the growth 
 of the manufacturing facilities being an annual surprise 
 to the buyers who visited the establishment for the pur- 
 pose of placing their orders. 
 
 The firm had hitherto borne the name of Corning & 
 Tappan, but in 1880 Mr. Tappan purchased the interest 
 of his partner, and has since conducted the business 
 alone. With his four years' experience, the abundant 
 capital he had accumulated, a firm faith in the future 
 of the business, and boundless energ}' and enterprise, 
 he started on a career which has proved one of great 
 success. Confining himself to the jobbing trade, an- 
 ticipating and sujiplying the wants of the market before 
 they had been clearly formulated, providing for each 
 season's trade attractive no\-elties in perfumery to offer 
 the buj'crs at their periotlical \isits, he has built up a 
 business which exceeds, in the number of gross of goods 
 sold, the sales of any house of its kind in the world, 
 while his name is familiar in conection with this line of 
 trade wherever perfumeries are sold or used. 
 
 Among the numerous original productions which he 
 has offered to the world may particularly be mentioned 
 the popular perfume named " Sweet Bye and Bye," 
 which, immediately upon its introduction, met with the 
 highest public favor, and has increased in popularity 
 with every year of its existence, until at the present 
 time it has unquestionabK- the largest sale of any hand- 
 kerchief perfume yet produced. 
 
 Mr. Tappan is .still a young man, and although he 
 has, b\- perseverance, energy, and ability, built up the 
 largest existing business in his special field, his ambition 
 is still far from satisfied, and he is steadily extending and 
 increasing the demand for his goods, by supjilying the 
 trade with a class of perfumeries sure to be wanted b\' 
 the pulilic and not to be procured elsewhere. 
 
 Notwitiistantiing the demands made upon him jj)- his 
 large manufacturing business, and the labor and clo.se 
 attention which this requires, I\Ir. Tappan has found 
 leisure to identify himself with other business interests 
 and financial enterprises both in New York and el.se- 
 where. He also takes a keen and intelligent interest in 
 public matters, and is thoroughly in touch with all efforts 
 for the betterment of municipal affairs and the advance- 
 ment of national interests. 
 
 He does not, however, court publicity, nor seek public 
 or official favors, preferring to devote all his time and 
 attention to the business which is due to his unflagging 
 industry and persistent and aggressive business enter- 
 prise. In this line of manufacture and trade, as has 
 already been .saitl, he has attained the first rank, and 
 become the recogniz.ed leader in that branch of the 
 perfumer)' business which he originated and which he 
 has built up to its present large dimensions. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 lot 
 
 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 
 
 Cornelius Vanderisilt, who shared witli John Jacob 
 Aster the credit of being the first great New York capi- 
 talist, was born at Stapleton, Staten Island, New York, 
 on May 29, 1794. Like many men destined to fortune, 
 he began life in \'ery humble circumstances and received 
 little education, though nature had furnished him with a 
 financial genius of the very highest grade. His business 
 life began at the age of sixteen, when he purchased a 
 boat for the purpose of conveying farm products to the 
 markets of New York. In this, his first step of enter- 
 prise, he had measurable success, and found himself at 
 the age of twent}'-three possessed of a capital of about 
 $ 1 0,000. 
 
 His next business movement was as a steamboat 
 captain, his boat plying between New York and New 
 Brunswick, in which latter city his wife added her share 
 to the family enterprise by keeping a hotel. He remained 
 thus engaged until 1829, on a salary of ;$iooo yearly, 
 and in this period increased his employer's business till it 
 was valued at $40,000 a year. By this time the coming 
 millionaire had saved about $30,000, and refusing the 
 offers of his employer, Mr. Gibbons, to continue his cap- 
 taincy at a .salary of $5000 yearl\-, he engaged in the 
 business of building steamboats to run on the Hudson, 
 Long Island Sound, and other neighboring waters. It 
 was from this vocation that he gained the title of 
 " Commodore," which afterwards clung to him. 
 
 Vanderbilt was a man destitute of education, but pos- 
 sessed of an enterprise, daring, and persistence which 
 could hard!}- fail to bring him success. He was true to 
 his word and had a rough sense of honor, but was 
 unmerciful to competitors. About 1848, when he was 
 ahead)- fift\--four \ears of age, he began to extend his 
 operations, having b\' this time accumulated a considera- 
 ble capital. An important step was taken in 1851, when 
 he started a line of vessels to San Francisco by way of 
 the Isthmus, to which in 1852 was added a branch to 
 New Orleans. The ne.xt year he went abroad with his 
 family in one of his own vessels, and during his absence 
 was dropped from the management of the California 
 routes. The directors did not properly estimate the 
 character of the man with whom they had to deal. His 
 step of revenge was prompt and effective. He built and 
 established a rival line, and in no long time the other was 
 obliged to come to terms. The " Commodore" had won 
 the command of the situation. He established a line also 
 to Havre, which continued to run till the beginning of 
 the civil war, when it was withdrawn. The " Vander- 
 bilt" of this line, which had cost 58oo,000, he generousl}' 
 presented to the government, — his chief act of generosit}- 
 to the Efovernment durinLT the war. 
 
 During the years mentioned, and those succeeding, 
 the Vanderbilt fortune grew with unexampled rapidity. 
 At seventy he was possessed of a fortune estimated at 
 $40,000,000, much of it invested in railroads, to which he 
 had turned his attention as a useful addition to his ship- 
 ping interests. From this time onward he concentrated his 
 attention on railroad propert}-, acquiring control of the 
 Harlem Railroad, and branching out from that as a centre 
 of operations. His onl\- mistake in this development of 
 his enterprises was his attempt to gain control of the 
 Erie, in which he found Fisk and Gould ready to issue as 
 many shares of stock as he was prepared to buy. Re- 
 tiring from this unprofitable enterprise, he established 
 the New York Central system, which he added to and 
 extended till by 1873 he had under his management two 
 thousand miles of railroad track. He was in this way 
 the originator of trunk lines in the L^nited States. 
 
 In 1869 his statue, with emblematic surroundings, was 
 erected over the New York station of the Hudson Ri\er 
 Railroad. He continued to extend his railroad connec- 
 tions till 1877, on January 4 of which year he died, with 
 a reputed fortune of $100,000,000. 
 
 During his life his recreation was principally found in 
 whist and in the driving of fast horses, so far as he found 
 time to turn from the one great business and pleasure of 
 his existence, that of money-making. In 1 873 he endowed 
 the collegiate institution at Nashville, since known as the 
 Vanderbilt University, with $700,000, and presented a 
 church to Dr. C. F. Deems for the " Church of the 
 Strangers." 
 
 The bulk of his great fortune was left to his son, 
 William H, Vanderbilt, in whose hands it continued to 
 increase until, at his death in 1885,, it was estimated at 
 the vast sum of about $200,000,000. 
 
 14 
 
I02 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MORDECAI M. NOAH. 
 
 MoRDECAi Manuel Noah, an American author and 
 journalist, was born in Philadclpliia, July 14, 1785, of 
 Jewish parents, his father, Manuel M. Noah, being a 
 native of Charleston, South Carolina, his mother a mem- 
 ber of the well-known Phillips family of Philadelphia. 
 General Washington, a strong friend of this family, was 
 present at the marriage of his parents. 
 
 In early manhood he returned to Charleston, South 
 Carolina, where he studied law and was ailmitted to the 
 bar; engaged actively in politics; and in 1810 became 
 the editor of The City Gazette. In 181 1 he was offered 
 by President Madison the position of consul at Riga, the 
 largest commercial port of Russia. This appointment he 
 declined. In 1 8 1 3 he was commissioned as a special rep- 
 resentative of the United States to the Barbary States and 
 resident consul at Tunis, being also empowered to nego- 
 tiate for the ransom of a number of American sailors held 
 as slaves by the Algerines. On his way thither the ves.sel 
 in which he sailed was captured by a Hritish man-of-war. 
 He was held [jrisoncron parole for several months, during 
 which he visited London and other English cities. After 
 his release he proceeded to his destination by way of 
 France and Spain, making many valuable observations 
 in these countries, as also in Tunis, during his period 
 of residence there. These, six years afterwards, he cm- 
 bodied in a highly interesting work entitled " Travels in 
 England, I'rance, Spain, and the Barbary States in the 
 Years 181 3-1 5," a book of excellent description of the 
 antiquities, manners, and customs of the countries visited. 
 
 On his return from his diplomatic mission he settled in 
 New York in 1816, where he passed the remainder of 
 his life in journalistic labors. I lis first essay in this 
 field of duty was as editor of The iV/it/ofiti/ Advocate, a 
 Democratic daily, then the organ of Tammany Hall. 
 
 His editorial work on this journal continued for nearly 
 ten years, at the end of which time he established a 
 paper of his own called the Enquirer. This paper sub- 
 sequently united with the Courier under the joint name 
 of Tlic Courier and Enqinrer, a journal which afterwards 
 became The Neiu Yoi-k World. The present status of 
 The 11 'or /d need not be mentioned. 
 
 Major Noah — ^which militan- title he derixed from a 
 commission in the Pcnnsyhania State militia — made his 
 ne.\t \-enture in journalism in 1834, in the publication of 
 the Evening Star, a journal which, after attaining a large 
 circulation, was merged in what is now known as the 
 Covunercial Advertiser. He sold this sheet principally to 
 accept an appointment tendered him by Governor Seward, 
 as associate judge of the New York Court of Sessions, 
 a position which, in the opinion of Chief Justice Daly, he 
 was specially qualified to fill, for the reason that while 
 he was "an experienced man nf the world, he was at the 
 same time, at heart, one of the kindest and most benev- 
 olent of men," — qualities particularly important in the 
 office of a criminal judge. 
 
 He continued in this office until, under the amended 
 Constitution, it became elective. In 1842 he started a 
 paper called Tlie Union, and a year afterwards became 
 chief editor of the New York Sun, with which journal he 
 remained connected until the end of his acti\-e journalistic 
 life. 
 
 Other journalistic ventures of Major Noah were the 
 Sunday Times (founded in 1834), and the IWekly Mes- 
 senger (1844), the two eventualh- becoming combinetl 
 as Noah's Times and Wee/c/y Messenger. It is still pub- 
 lished. 
 
 In 1822, Major Noah was elected and served a term as 
 " high sheriff" of New York, and in 1829 was appointed 
 by President Jackson, surveyor of the port of New York. 
 During his journalistic life he devoted much attention to 
 literature, his works including, in addition to the one 
 mentioned, " Gleanings from a Gathered Harvest" and 
 "A Translation of the Book of Jasher," together with a 
 considerable number of jiatriotic ilramas, all of w iiicli had 
 marked success. His pla\' " The W.uuk ring Boys" still 
 holds the stage, both in this countrj- and in England. 
 Among his intimate literary friends were Fitz-Greene 
 Halleck, Washington Irving, Rufus W. Griswold, Evert 
 A. Duyckinck, Edgar Allan Poe, Cornelius Matthews, 
 William CuUen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, Park 
 Benjamin, Horace Greeley, N. P. Willis, and George P. 
 Morris, the last of win mi has left a highly eulogistic 
 opinion of his literary ability, wit, social j^owers, and 
 geniality of character. We may sa\', in conclusion, that 
 Major Noah was the most persistent advocate of the 
 establishment of Central Park, and it was largel)' due to 
 his pertinacity that New York now possesses this splendid 
 pleasure-ground. Me died in New York, March 22, 1 85 1. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 103 
 
 GENERAL JAMES GRANT WILSON. 
 
 Brevet Brigadiek-Genekal James Grant Wilson, 
 prominent among tlic young cavalry officers wlio per- 
 formed gallant .ser\ice in the late war, is a son of the 
 poet-publisher, William Wilson, of Poughkccpsie, New 
 York, a kinsman of James Wilson, of I'ennsylvania. one 
 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. After 
 completing his studies he traveled in Europe with ex- 
 President Fillmore, and later he was for a time associated 
 with his father in business. Before the war he established 
 in Chicago the first literaiy journal in the Northwest. In 
 1862 he raised a battalion, of which he was commissioned 
 major, that formed a part of the Fifteentii Illinois Cavalry, 
 Colonel Warren Stewart, which saw much active service 
 in tlie Mississippi Valle\-. 
 
 By the death of Stewart, Major Wilson became com- 
 mander of the regiment, taking part in many battles, 
 and constantly skirmishing with the Confederates. He 
 was acti\'e in the Vicksburg campaign, frequenth' scout- 
 ing in the direction of the enemj' with a \iew to sending 
 in intelligence of their expected advance to break up the 
 siege. In August, 1863, he accompanied Grant to New 
 Orleans, and there accepted the colonelcy of the Fourth 
 Regiment, U. S. C. Cavalry, and was assigned to duty 
 as aide-de-camp to the commanding general of the De- 
 partment of the Gulf, with whom he remained till May, 
 1865, taking part in the Teche, Texas, and Red River 
 campaigns, and in the latter aiding Bailey in the con- 
 struction of the Red River Dam, which saved Porter's 
 squatlron. When General Banks was relieved. Colonel 
 Wilson was brevettcd brigadier-general and sent to Port 
 Hudson, where, for a time, he was in commaiul. He 
 was military agent in Louisiana of the State of New 
 York for nearly two years. 
 
 In July he resigned, declining the offer of a commission 
 in the regular army, and returned to New York City, 
 where he has since resided, pursuing a literary career, 
 with the exception of several years spent with iiis family 
 in foreign travel. In 1879 he was appointed by the 
 President a member of the Board of Visitors to the 
 United States Naval Academ\-, and the following year 
 he was a visitor to the Military Acadeni}- at West Point, 
 delivering the address to the cadets and preparing the 
 reports of both boards. Since 1885 he lias been presi- 
 dent of the New York Genealogical and Biographical 
 Society, is a vice-president of the Association for the 
 Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, a mem- 
 ber of the executive committee of the Society for the 
 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and president of the 
 American Authors' Guild. He is a member of the 
 Loyal Legion, Museum of Art, New York Historical 
 and Geographical Societies, one of the trustees of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church Fimd (now being raised) 
 of one million dollars, and an honorary member of many 
 
 American and foreign historical and other associations, 
 and he has received the degrees of D.C.L. and LL.D. 
 General Wilson was instrumental in raising an obelisk 
 over the grave of Fitz-Greene Halleck and a statue in 
 Central Park, and also in erecting the noble statue of 
 Columbus, unveiled in May, 1894, in the Central Park, 
 for which he was knighted by the king of Spain. He 
 has published numerous addresses, including those on 
 Millard Fillmore, "The Footprints of Columbus," Bishop 
 Provoost, " The Authors of New York," and one on Mrs. 
 Wilson's ancestor. Colonel John Bayard, and contributed 
 upwards of a hundred historical and biitgraphical articles 
 to Harper s and other American magazines. 
 
 Among the principal works which General Wilson has 
 written or edited are Lives of General Grant, 1866 and 
 189s ; "Life of Fitz-Greene Halleck," 1869; "Sketches 
 of Illustrious Soldiers," 1874; "The Poets and Poetry of 
 Scotland" (2 vols. Svo, London and New York), 1876; 
 "Centennial History of the Diocese of New York, 1785- 
 1886;" "Bryant and his P^riends," 1886; " Appletons' 
 Cyclopaedia of American Biography" (6 vols. 8vo, 1886- 
 1889); "Personal Recollections of the Rebellion," 1891 ; 
 " Memorial History of the City of New York" (4 vols. 
 royal 8vo, 1892-1893); "The Presidents of the United 
 States," 8vo, 1894; and "The World's Largest Libraries," 
 189s; and he is now editing the "Great Commanders 
 Series," of which twelve biographies have appeared. 
 
 Colonel Halpine wrote of General Wilson in 1867: 
 " A handsome young general of about thirty, with his 
 blue eyes and fair hair, suggestive of his gallant friends. 
 Gushing and Custer. With the daintest hand, always 
 neatly gloved with ladies' ' sevens,' Wilson has the grip 
 of a vise, with equal skill in wieWing sabre, pen, and 
 pencil, or in bringing down game with rod and rifle, and 
 is a charming raconteur'^ 
 
-I04 
 
 MAKERS OF .VEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES HARPER. 
 
 James Harper, wlio for more than fifty years was 
 senior member of the great publishing house of Harper 
 & Brothers, was born at Newtown, Long Island, April 13, 
 1795, being the son of Joseph Harper, a farmer of that 
 locality. His grandfather, a schoolmaster by profession, 
 who had come from luigland about the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, and settled on a farm at Newtown, 
 afterwards kept a grocery store for many years in New 
 York. His son Joseph, who learned the trade of car- 
 penter, became afterwards a farmer, married Elizabeth 
 Kolycr, the daughter of a Dutch farmer, and had six 
 children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining 
 four became the members of the subsequent firm of 
 Harper & Brothers. 
 
 James Harper, the oldest son, sjient his early life on 
 the farm, obtaining such education as the village school 
 afforded, and at the age of sixteen was ajjprenticed to a 
 printer in New York. He was strictly temperate, in- 
 dustrious, and faithful to his emplo)-ers, and by close 
 economy, aided by overwork, managed to save a small 
 sum from his modest wages. This, added to a similar 
 sum saved by his brother John, who also studied print- 
 ing, and augmented by a contribution of a few hundred 
 dollars from their father, enabled the two brothers in 
 1817 to establish a small i)rinting-officc of llieir own. 
 This was in Water Street, New York, the firm-name 
 adopted being J. & J. Harper. The first book printed 
 by them was an edition of Seneca's *' Morals,"' of which, 
 in August, iS 17, they delivered two thousand co[)ies to 
 Evert Duyckinck, then a leading bookseller of the city. 
 This was followed in December by two thousand five 
 hundred copies of Mair's " Introduction to Latin," printed 
 for and delivered to the same firm. The first book which 
 bore their own imprint was issueil in April, 18 18, being a 
 
 reproduction of Locke's " Essay on the Human Under- 
 standing," of which five hundreti copies were sold to 
 Mr. Duj'ckinck. 
 
 They early commenced the issuing of serial publica- 
 tions, one of the most notable of these, at an early date, 
 being " Harper's Famil)- Library," which was continued 
 till it embraced several hundred \'olimies of the choicest 
 modern no\els. At a subsequent date the two younger 
 brothers, who had also served aijprenticeships to the print- 
 ing trade, were admitted to membership in the firm, and 
 in 1833 the firm-name was changed to Harper & Brothers, 
 undei- which title the house has since been known. 
 
 The increase in the business of the firm rendered 
 necessary a larger building, and a removal was made 
 to 81 and 82 Cliff .Street, where, b_\- 1 840. the printing, 
 binding, and publishing departments occupied se\'eral 
 buiklings, on both siiles of the street, three of them 
 having formerh- been dwelling-houses. To these, in 
 1850, was added a large edifice on Franklin Square, 
 in Pearl Street, running back to the Cliff Street build- 
 ings. None of these buildings were fire-proof, and the 
 new edifice had been occupied but a short time when the 
 establishment took fire and was burned to the ground, 
 the firm suffering a loss of full\- a million dollars, on 
 which was a little insurance. The energetic brothers, 
 not visibly downcast b)' this disaster, at once set to work 
 to rebuild. The magazine, the January number of \\ hich 
 had been destroyed, was issued with little dela\', ami the 
 old structure was with no great loss of time rei)lacetl 
 with a fire-proof building, which remains the head- 
 quarters of the firm. 
 
 James Harper never lost his self-possession during this 
 disaster and the hurry and confusion that followed it. 
 As a business man he was always early at his post, 
 steadiK" cheerful, genial, aiul courteous, and ever ready 
 with a kind word, a pleasant jest or repartee, and judi- 
 cious counsel when needeil. In 1844 he reluctantly 
 consentetl to serve as mayor of New York, but coukl 
 never afterwards be drawn into political life, saying, " I 
 prefer to stick to a business I understand.' He was 
 always in great request as a presiding officer, which 
 position he filled with dignit)' and abilit)'. He was 
 rigidly temperate, and closely identified with temperance 
 movements; was strictl)' religious, being a jirominent 
 member of the Methodist Church ; and was active in 
 benevolent enterprises. His health continued excellent, 
 he seeming much younger than he reall)' was, and death 
 came to him at liiigth by an accident. While dri\ ing 
 with his daughter in the u|)per part of the cit)', the car- 
 riage-pole broke, the frightened horses ran away, anil 
 the)- were both thrown violently from the carriage. He 
 was taken up insensible and carried to St. Luke's Hos- 
 pital, where he lay for two days, and died without regain- 
 ing con.sciousness on March 17, 1869. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 105 
 
 JOHN HARPER. 
 
 John Harper, the second member of tlie publishing 
 firm of Harper & Brothers, was born at Newtown, Long 
 Island, on January 22, 1797. His boyish days were spent 
 on his father's farm and in attendance on the village 
 school, until he attained the age of sixteen, when, like 
 his elder brother, he was apprenticed to the printer's trade 
 in New York Citv, different emploj'ers being chosen for 
 the two boys. As an apprentice he exhibited the same 
 diligence and economy as his brother James, and in his 
 twenty-first year joined the latter in establishing a small 
 printing business on Water Street, their small savings 
 being added to by financial aid received from their 
 father. In the new business he became an exact com- 
 positor and accurate proof-reader, and added much 
 to the reputation of the firm by his skill in these par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 The new firm was one marked by that industr\- which 
 commands success. The two brothers did the greater 
 part of the work themselves, setting type and running 
 the presses as well as attending to the purely commercial 
 side of the enterprise. In tliose days onl_\' hand-presses 
 were used, and the magical performance of modern 
 presses was not yet dreamed of. It was considered the 
 best work of a good pressman to print two thousand five 
 hundred sheets in a day. Yet, despite this slow process, 
 the energetic youths just out of their apprenticeship 
 printed during their first year not less than five bound 
 volumes. The first book with the Harper imprint on its 
 title-page was issued in the succeeding year, this being 
 Locke's " Essay on the Human Understanding." Since 
 then not a year has passed without the publication b\- the 
 firm of a considerable number of volumes. To-day the 
 two thousand five hundred sheets per day of the old 
 luuul-presses have increased to two hundred and forty 
 thousand sheets a day on the modern perfecting presses, 
 and the five books printed during the first year have aug- 
 mented to about seventy-five new works annually, besides 
 more than twenty numbers of the " Franklin Square 
 Libraiy of Fiction," twelve numbers o{ Harper's Monthly 
 Magas!>n\ and fifty-two numbers each of Harper s 
 Weekly, Harper's Bazaar, and Harper s Young People. 
 These four periodicals contain as much matter yearly as 
 nearly two hundred good-sized books, so that the total 
 annual publication of the house is equivalent to little 
 short of three hundred separate and distinct new books. 
 Originall}' the firm occupied a small two-story brick 
 building, all the work being done by the partners and 
 two or three assistants. Now the buildings occupy the 
 better part of a city block, and the employes would make 
 a small arm}'. 
 
 In 1839, when the growth of the firm's business ren- 
 dered it requisite to give each member charge of some 
 special department, John Harper accepted that of financial 
 
 manager, and during the remainder of his life attended to 
 this portion of the firm's business. In 1853, after the 
 destruction of the establishment b\' fire, he came earnestly 
 to the aid of his brothers in the emergency, personally 
 planning and designing all parts of the present fire-proof 
 buildings. It becomes, therefore, of interest in this place 
 to say something about the edifice erected in accordance 
 with his designs. 
 
 The main establishment, thus erected, occupies a plot 
 of ground extending from Pearl to Cliff Street, it ha\ ing 
 a frontage on each street of about one hundred and 
 twenty feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy feet, 
 the area covered being about half an acre. There are 
 two buildings, one fronting on each street, witli an open 
 court-}'ard between them. The Franklin Square building 
 is used maiiil)- for offices and store-rooms. It is five 
 stories high above the street level, the front being of iron, 
 with ornamental columns, the side and rear walls of brick 
 and stone. There are two subterranean stories, the 
 lower one forming a series of \aults, with massi\e walls 
 and arches, within which are stored the numerous and 
 costly electrot}-pe plates of the firm. The stereotype 
 plates possessed by the firm in 1853 were in great part 
 rescued from the fire.^being stored in similar fire-proof 
 vaults, and the firm possesses a property of immense 
 \\Tlue in these plates. The rear building, that on Cliff 
 Street, is used principally for manufacturing purposes, 
 while the press-rooms, mailing department, offices, sales- 
 rooms, and stock-rooms are in the Franklin Square 
 building. 
 
 After the death of his two brothers, James and Wesley, 
 John retired from active duties in the business, the heavy 
 responsibility of the finances being Aanded over to the 
 younger members of the firm. He died April 22, 1875, 
 in the seventy-ninth year of his age. 
 
io6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOSEPH WESLEY HARPER. 
 
 Josiirii \\i:-i.EV IIakpek — coninioiil)- known !)}• his 
 midcile name of Wesley— tlic third member of the 
 orij^inal firm of Harper & Brothers, was born at New- 
 town, Lon^ Island, December 25, 1801. His early life 
 was a copy of that of his brothers already described, 
 and like them, on attainint^ the proper aye, he was ap- 
 prenticed to the printer's trade in New York City, the 
 father having apparently chosen that as the future avo- 
 cation of all his sons. After lie became of age, in 1822, 
 he entered the establishment of his brothers, founded 
 five years before, and now in a flourishing condition. 
 Here he worked for a time as journeyman printer, but 
 was soon promoted to the positions of foreman and 
 proof-reader of the composing room. He hail a thor- 
 ough knowledge of the business, and a veteran [jrinter 
 who served under him has said that he was the best 
 fiireman he ever saw. 
 
 A period of duty in this jiosition was followed by 
 admission to membership in the firm, to which his 
 younger brother, Fletcher, was also admitted, tile busi- 
 ness, liowever, continuing to be conducted under the 
 firm-name of J. & J. Harper until 1833, when the ex- 
 isting title of Harper & Hrothers was adopted. 
 
 As the business increased, and the duties of the es- 
 tablishment became varied and onerous, each brother 
 assumed charge of a special department, Wesley taking 
 that of literary correspondent. The duties of this de- 
 partment, with the rapidly expanding business of the 
 firm, and the host of authors with wliich it was in com- 
 munication, were arduous and delicate. Authors are 
 often of peculiar temperament, and many of them af- 
 flicted witii the malady of "great expectations," rarelj- 
 likely to be realized. To deal with many of them de- 
 mands special qualities in a correspondent, including 
 
 great delicacy, courtesy, and judgment, to avoid giving 
 offense to persons frequently of very sensitive temper- 
 ament. These necessary qualities Wesley Harper pos- 
 sessed in unusual development. He was always courte- 
 ous and thoughtful of the feelings of others, and during 
 the forty \'cars in which he continued in charge of this 
 department tiierc is no reason to believe that he ever 
 made an enemy among his correspondents. In the case 
 of those who visited him personally he was equally kind 
 and considerate, so much so that all felt towards him 
 as to a personal friend, and among the thousands of 
 acquaintances formed by him during his business life 
 the sentiment of respect and friendliness seems to have 
 been universal. 
 
 By his familiarit)- with books of every variety and 
 his frequent intercourse with eminent scholars, Wesle\- 
 Harper iDccame himself a man of excellent information 
 and culture. He iiad acquired fixed and well-considered 
 views, but was always modest in expressing them, never 
 forcing his opinions — though decided and the results 
 of his own thouglitfulnes.s — upon the attention of his 
 visitors. Tiie department of the business which fell 
 under liis care was, as has been said, one of the highest 
 importance. It must be borne in mind that the relations 
 to authors of a great publishing house, like that of Har- 
 per & Brothers, is by no means to be measured bj' the 
 number of volumes issued annually. The authors of 
 these it is comparatively easy to deal with, — except in 
 the annoying case, of frequent occurrence, in which the 
 sale of their books falls far below their expectations. 
 But for every autJioi' whose manuscript is accepted there 
 is a considerable number whose manuscripts have to be 
 declined, for \arious reasons, of which that of lack of 
 scholarship and ability does not always stand first. The 
 publisher has to consider readers as well as writers, and 
 jutlge of the selling qualities of a book rather than of its 
 intrinsic merits, many works of great value in tiieir sub- 
 ject-matter being inadmissible from defects of manner, or 
 non-adaptation to the ]irobable tastes of the world of 
 readers. These remarks will suffice to indicate tiiat the 
 office of correspondent with authors is no sinecure, if it 
 is desired to avoid misapprehension and offence. A 
 kindly mind goes far in producing plea.sant results, and 
 it was to his native kindness of disposition that Wesley 
 Harper owed his long-continued agreeable relations with 
 the correspondents of the house. 
 
 In his later \-ears his health slowly failed, he being 
 obliged to call in his son to ills aiii, and eventually to 
 place the correspondence largely in his hands. He was 
 seriously affected by the sudden death of his brother 
 James, the accident giving him a mental shock Uom 
 which he never fully recovered. February 14, 1S70, he 
 died, less than a )-ear after the death of the brother he 
 mourned. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 107 
 
 FLETCHER HARPER. 
 
 Fletcher Harpek, the youngest member of the 
 original firm of Harper & Brothers, was, in common with 
 his brothers, born in the paternal farm-house, at New- 
 town, Long Island, the year of his birth being 1806. 
 Like the others, Fletcher was sent to New York to learn 
 the printing business, his education, like theirs, having 
 been confined to that obtainable at the Newtown village 
 school. His older brothers, James and John, were, at 
 the date of the beginning of his apprenticeship, engaged 
 in the publishing business in New York, and had fairly 
 entered upon that career of prosperity which was eventu- 
 alh' to become so great. On the completion of his term 
 (if apprenticeship, in 1825, he was admitted to member- 
 ship in the firm, then known as J. & J. Harper, the present 
 title being assumed in 1833. He succeeded his brother 
 Wesley as foreman of the composing room, a position 
 which he retained for years, while at the same time 
 gradually taking charge of the literary department, which 
 in the end came completely under his control. The idea 
 of establishing a magazine originated with James Harper, 
 though the management of it fell largely into the hands 
 of the youngest member of the firm. Fletcher, how- 
 ever, originated the Weekly and the Bazaar, and during 
 his later life took a special interest in the periodical 
 publications of the house, exercising over them a close 
 and intelligent supervision, directed alike to their typo- 
 graphical appearance and their literary and pictorial 
 excellence. 
 
 In the establishment and conduct of their various peri- 
 odicals the Harpers have, perhaps, done their most inter- 
 esting work. Each of these has, from its inception, con- 
 tinued in the first rank of its kintl, and a study of the 
 man\- volumes issued is a valuable lesson in the progress 
 that has been made in this country in literature and the 
 arts of printing and illustration. Of these periodicals, 
 the first to be established was Harper's Xc%v Moiitlily 
 Magazine. The first number of this appeared in 1850, 
 and was then regarded as a model of enterprise, as 
 compared witii the magazine literature that preceded it, 
 though if the early numbers be compared with those of 
 the present day the degree of improvement will be seen 
 to be remarkable. Yet there has been no sudden chance. 
 The march of improvement has been so gradual and 
 continuous as to be hardly perceptible between any two 
 numbers, and has kept pace with the general growth 
 wliich has taken place in all the details of the tyjjograph- 
 ical art and illustration, and the ad\ance in literary excel- 
 lence in this country during the past half-century. To 
 .■\merican skill and ingenuit}- the world owes most of 
 the improvements that have been made in the mechanical 
 details of the printer's profession, and the four original 
 members of the firm of Harper & Brothers had much to 
 do with stimulating those steps of progress which they 
 
 r. 5^^f 
 
 lived long enough to see and of which to avail them- 
 selves. A singular coincidence, worth noting here, is 
 the fact that the first book printed by the firm, in 18 17, 
 was a translation of Seneca's " Morals," and that the 
 last book printed in the lifetime of Fletcher Harper, the 
 youngest and last to pass away of the founders, was tiie 
 Latin original of the same work. 
 
 As regards the other periodicals of the firm. Harper s 
 Weekly Vidi'^ begun in 1857, and was appropriately entitled 
 " A Journal of Civilization," which it has continued to 
 be from that time to the present. It was started as an 
 illustrated paper, though at the beginning the pictures 
 were few as compared with those now given, and, while 
 quite as good as had been produced up to that time, 
 were crude in comparison with the artistic and well- 
 finished illustrations of the present day. It at once, 
 however, .sprang into a prominent place, and fi\-e months 
 after its first issue the publishers were able to announce 
 a circulation of sixty thousand copies. Since then, up 
 to the present time, the Weekly has continued faithfully 
 to record, with descriptive articles and appropriate illustra- 
 tions, the leading events of the world. 
 
 Harper's Bazaar made its appearance in 1 868, and its 
 growth has been steady from that time to this. It was 
 issued as an illustrated weekly for women, " Devoted to 
 Fashion, Pleasure, Instruction, and the Fine Arts." Its 
 leading department is that of the Fashions, though it has 
 a literary side as well, publishing serial novels and short 
 stories from the leading writers of the day. Harper's 
 Young People, the last-born of the Harper periodicals, 
 came into existence in 1879, and has made its way until 
 it stands to-day in the front rank. 
 
 Fletcher Harper died May 29, 187^, and with him the 
 original firm ceased to e.xist. The firm now consists of 
 sons and grandsons of the original members. 
 
io8 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLHS \\ DALY. 
 
 Judge Charles P. Dai.v, who for so man)- jcars 
 occupied a prominent seat on the hencli of New York 
 City, began life in a humble way, and progressed to his 
 later position of honor through sheer force of innate 
 ability. He was of Irish parentage, his parents coming 
 to New York in 1814, in which cit>- he was born two 
 years later, his birthplace being a house built upon the 
 site on which the judicial murder of the patriot Jacob 
 Lcislcr occurred in the colonial history of the State. 
 The elder Daly had been an architect in Galway, but 
 became a hotel-keeper in New York, his small but 
 popular hotel being on the site where the great Trih/dii 
 building now stands. The son obtained his education 
 in a neighboring school, among his classmates being 
 the after Cardinal McCloskey and James T. Hrady. 
 
 His father died during his school-years, and the son 
 found himself obliged to make his own way in the 
 community. His first thought was to see and know 
 something of the world, an inclination which perhaps 
 afterwards led him to the positions of president of the 
 American Geographical .Society and honorary member 
 of various Royal Geographical Societies of Europe, and 
 also to the writing of his learned treatise entitletl " What 
 we know of Maps and Map-making before the Time of 
 Mercator." His first journey was to Savannah, where 
 he obtained a clerical situation, and found himself so 
 severely overworked that he soon threw it up to indulge 
 further his disposition for adventure, — now as a sailor. 
 In this field of abundant e.xijeriencc of hardship and 
 incident, "before the mast," he sjient the succeeiling 
 three years of his life. In 1830 his shi]) lay at anchor 
 in the harbor of Algiers at the time the Frencli were 
 besieging it, prior to its capture and conversion into 
 a colony of France. 
 
 He was still cjuitc j'oung when, having had enough of 
 a sailor's life, he landed in New York. Work of some 
 kind was necessarj', and, having had some experience 
 with carpenters' tools on shipboard, he apprenticed him- 
 self to a master-carpenter, and went diligently to work 
 to master the trade. W'hile thus engaged, his leisure 
 hours were not wasted. He joined a litcrarj' society, 
 and frequented the reading-room of the Mechanics' and 
 Traders' Society. In the one he Icarnctl to debate ; in 
 the other he read much and studied earnestl}'. His 
 native powers of elocution, keen logic, and cleverness 
 of illustration attracted the attention of a legal \isilor 
 at these debates, who was so struck with his powers 
 that he advised him to study law, and offered him 
 money to enter college. Young Daly, not wishing to 
 incur an obligation, declined, and continued his appren- 
 ticeship till its conclusion, though meanwhile his em- 
 plover had died and he was legally freed. By so doing 
 he was of great service to the wiilow, in aiding to 
 relieve the business from financial embarrassment. 
 
 At the end of his term of apprenticeship he gave up 
 his traile, and entered a law office as junior clerk, at 
 the salary of three dollars a week. At that time legal 
 apprenticeship was tedious, the prescribed term of pro- 
 bation being seven years. But the young student was 
 so diligent, and proved so capable, that he gained a 
 remission of half the time, and was admitted to the bar 
 in 1839, becoming a partner of Thomas McKlrath. This 
 partnershi]) continued for three years, when Mr. Mclll- 
 rath left the law for the press, joining with Horace 
 Greele)^ in founding the New York TriliKiic. Mr. Daly 
 now associated himself with William Bloomfield, under 
 the firm-name of Daly & Bloomfield. 
 
 The progress of the young lawyer was rapid and 
 encouraging. He soon, however, took part in politics, 
 in which his powers as a debater became \'aluable, and 
 were rewarded, three years afterwards, by his election to 
 the New York Assembly. His period of life as a legis- 
 lator was not long. A vacancy occurred on the bench 
 of the Court of Common Pleas of New York, and Mr. 
 Daly ap[)lietl to the governor to reappoint the incum- 
 bent whose term had expired. This the governor 
 refused to do, adding, " Why not take it yourself?" and, 
 despite Dal)-'s ])lea of youth and inexperience, insisted 
 on appointing him to the vacant seat. Thus, at the age 
 of twenty-seven, the young lawyer fouiul him.self occu- 
 pying that position upon the bench which he was to fill 
 for so many years with distinguished honor and ability, 
 and from which he finally retireil at the end of 1885 with 
 the universal encomiums of the bar of New York. 
 
 During his period of service in the Court of Common 
 Pleas, Judge Daly was offered positions on the l)ench 
 of the .Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, nom- 
 inations to Congress, etc., all of which he declined. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 109 
 
 GEORGE W. CURTIS. 
 
 Georgk William Curtis, the well-known occupant 
 for nian_\- j-ears of Hdrf'cr's " Easy Chair," was born 
 in Providence, Rhode Island, February 24, 1824. He 
 renio\'ed with his father to New York in 1839, and in 
 1842 went to West Roxbury, Massachusetts, to join the 
 famous Brook Farm Association, a communistic enter- 
 prise in which several of the leading literary men of 
 New England were concerned, but which lacked that 
 element of business management from whom alone 
 success could have been ho[)ed. In 1846 Mr. Curtis 
 went to Europe, where he de\i)ted four years to travel 
 and stud)-, being a student in the University of Berlin 
 during the re\olutionary outbreak of 1848. He re- 
 turned to the United States in 1850, and here he entered 
 the literar}- field, the outcome of his tra\-els in Egypt 
 being given in his " Nile Notes of a Howadji," a work 
 which was soon followed b\' the " Howadji in Syria." 
 These poetically written and picturesque!)' descriptive 
 works were widely read, and brought him into notice 
 as a new and skillful worker in the field of literature. 
 For some time afterwards he was connected with the 
 New York Tribune as art-critic and assistant editor, and 
 also became a favorite lyceum lecturer, a field of occu- 
 pation in which he remained engaged for many years. 
 
 On the establishment of Putnam's Maoazinc in 1853 
 Mr. Curtis was engaged as one of its editors, and con- 
 tinued with it until 1857, becoming in\'olved in the failure 
 of its publishers in that \-ear. Immediately afterwards 
 he formed a literar)- connection with the firm of Harper 
 & Brothers, and remained with them till his death, 
 engaged in editorial work on their periodicals. He took 
 his seat in the " Easy Chair" of Harper's Mai^aziisc in 
 1858, and continued to write its bright and breez)- arti- 
 cles until almost the day of his death, furnishing in his 
 man\- )'ears of service sketches on almost e\-ery con- 
 ceivable subject of public interest, and all written in a 
 rich \-ein of comment and with a warm sympathy with 
 luuiian affairs which matle this a favorite corner of the 
 magazine with all readers. In 1S63 he became the politi- 
 cal editor of Harper's Weekly, and continued to fill this 
 position in common with his labors on the magazine. 
 
 In 1863 he was offered by President Lincoln the post 
 of consul-general of Egypt, but declined. In 1867 he 
 served as delegate-at-large in the constitutional conven- 
 tion of the State of New York, and took part in the 
 deliberations leading to the formation of the amended 
 constitution. The University of New York elected him 
 to the office of regent in 1864, and in 1870 he was nom- 
 inated as Secretary of State of New York, but declined. 
 His interest in the reform of the civil service brought 
 him from President Grant in 1S71 an appointment upon 
 the commission of inquiry into that department of gov- 
 ernmental affairs, and on the organization of the commis- 
 
 15 
 
 sion he was chosen chairman. Other appointments in 
 the service of the government were offered him by 
 President Hayes, including the mission to England in 
 1877, '"'"I '" 1878 that to German)'. Both these posts 
 of honor were declined. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Curtis published a number of works in 
 adtlition to those we have nameil, these including " Lotus- 
 ICating" (1852), " Potipliar Papers" (1852), " Pruc and I" 
 (1853), and "Trumps" (1856). Of these works " Poti- 
 phar Papers" was a humorously satirical production, and 
 " Prue and I" attained a high degree of popularity from 
 the richness of imagination displayed in its poetically 
 written pages. " Lotus-Eating" is also full of brilliant 
 word painting, and " Trumps" is an able character novel 
 of New York society. 
 
 Mr. Curtis received various honors from uni\ersities 
 in recognition of his standing in the world of letters. 
 Brown University conferred upon him the honorary 
 degree of A.M., while that of LL.D. was received from 
 Harvard, Madison, and Brown Uni\ersities. F'or many 
 years he was a prominent adx'ocate of civil service reform 
 in the United States, becoming president of the National 
 Civil Service Reform Association, and his earnest and 
 well-directed' labors in its behalf did much towards the 
 degree of success which it has attained. Politically he 
 was a Republican, which party he had joined on its 
 formation, advocating, in numerous public addresses, 
 the election of John C. Fremont to the Presidenc)'. He 
 was a delegate to the Republican national convention 
 of 1884, but afterwards refused to support the party 
 nominees, and joined the party of opposition to the 
 election of James G. Blaine to the Presidency. He 
 died August 31, 1892. Since his cfeath two volumes 
 of choice examples of his " Easy Chair" essays have 
 been published. 
 
no 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GENERAL HORACE PORTER. 
 
 General Poktek is a native of Huntingdon, Pennsyl- 
 vania, where he was bom August 15, 1S37, being the 
 son of Hon. David R. Porter, State senator and Governor 
 of Pennsylvania for two terms, 1839 and 1844. After 
 receiving an elementary education he entered the scien- 
 tific department of Harvard in 1854, having already mani- 
 fested a strong tendency towards mechanical pursuits, 
 and also a love for a military life. Me invented, when 
 only twelve years of age, a water test which was used 
 in his father's extensive iron-w(3rks, and subse([uentl\- 
 devised many mechanical improvements. 
 
 His military inclinations leil to his being entered at 
 We.st Point Academy in 1S55, where he graduated in 
 i860, third in a class of ft)rty-one. He was commissioned 
 second lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps, and for three 
 monllis served as instructor in artillery. After the out- 
 break of the Rebellion he at once came into active service, 
 taking part in October, 1861, in the expedition against 
 Port Royal, and subsequently, as first lieutenant, in the 
 operations for the reduction of Fort Pulaski. Heie he 
 was ])romc>teil captain for meritorious conduct, and pre- 
 senteil b)- the connnanding officer with a sword taken 
 from the enemy. In July, 1862, he was appointed chief 
 of ordnance of the Ami)- of the Potomac, and as such 
 .served in the battle of Antietam. He was afterwards 
 transferreil to the .same position in the Army of the Ohio, 
 and subsequently in the Army of the Cumberland, being 
 now appointed captain of general staff duty on the field. 
 He distinguished himself brilliantly in the hanl-fought 
 battle of Chickamauga, and while serving on the staff 
 of General Thomas at Chattanooga first met General 
 Grant, with whom he was afterwards so closely associated. 
 
 General Grant, whose recognition of ability was instinc- 
 tive, was greatly pleased with the )-oung staff officer, and 
 in 1864, when placed in supreme command of the army, 
 he made Porter an aide-de-camp on his staff, with the 
 rank of lieutenant-colonel. As such he took part in the 
 series of battles in the o\erlanil march to Richniontl, was 
 made major in the regular army for gallant conduct in 
 the battle of the Wilderness, and lieutenant-colonel for 
 similar gallantry at Spottsylvania. During the remainder 
 of the war he was a close companion of General Grant ; 
 being with him in his thrilling rush through the lines 
 after the failure of the mine ijefore Petersburg, to with- 
 draw the imperiled troops, and attending him in all the 
 subsecjuent events till the surrender at Appomattt).\. He 
 was promoted brigadier-general in Februaiy, 1865, and 
 was one of the small group present on thai famous occa- 
 sion when General Lee signed the document of surrender. 
 He is still in possession of the flag which was used on 
 that occasion, — the head-quarters flag of the ami)-, — 
 which was presented him b_\' General Grant. 
 
 After the war he made a tour of the South, followed 
 by a valuable report on the condition of the freetlmen. 
 He subsecjuentl)' accompanied General Grant in his toiu" 
 of the Northwestern States, during which he gained a 
 reputation as an orator of unusual abilit\-, his style of 
 speaking combining humor, pathos, and trenchant satire. 
 He was afterwards engageil in military duties, served 
 as Assistant Secretarj- of War under Grant, antl in 1869 
 became President Grant's private secretary. The asso- 
 ciation of the two coiitimieti closel)' inlinialc until the 
 death of the great Union commander. 
 
 In 1873, General Porter resigned from the arm_\- to 
 accept the position of \ice-pre.sident of the Pullman 
 Palace Car Company, which he still holds. In 1875 he 
 was made chairman of the E.xtension Committee of the 
 Metropolitan Elevated Railway, in which he was largely 
 interested financially. He subsequentl)' became con- 
 nected as a director with mmierous railroad enterprises 
 and with the lupiitable Life Assurance Societ)- and the 
 Continental National Hank. He is also president of the 
 West Shore Railroad Company. 
 
 There is scarcely a New York club worth naming of 
 which he is not a member, while he is president of se\eral 
 military societies, of the Union League Club, anil the 
 Grant Monument Association, h'or the latter he raiseil 
 S400,000 to builil a fitting nioimment for his tlead chief 
 and comrade. These are by no means all of General 
 Porter's social and jiublic connections, while his orations 
 and his occasional literary proiluctions have brought him 
 into prominence in anotlier field. He speaks I'rench and 
 Spanish fluentiv and is well \crsed in the literature of 
 these languages. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Ill 
 
 PATRICK FARRELLY. 
 
 Patrick I'akrelly, tlic life and soul of the great- 
 American News Company, is a nati\c of Ireland, in 
 County Cavan of which country he was born about 1837. 
 His father, Owen Farrelly, was tlic master of a private 
 school in Ireland, and a man of strons^r con\-ictions and 
 sterling character. In consequence of the political dis- 
 turbances of 1848 he found his business seriously in- 
 terfered with and Ireland so distracted that he felt it 
 advisable to emigrate from that countrj'. He came to 
 America, settled at Penn Yan, New York, and there himself 
 educated his sons. After some years spent in this locality, 
 he removed with his family to New York City, his son 
 Patrick, who had passed a period of youthful service as 
 a newsboy on the Erie Railroad, being yet only about 
 seventeen years of age. There was a younger son, 
 Stephen, who was also to become prominent in the man- 
 agement of the American News Company, as presiding 
 agent of its important Philadelphia branch. 
 
 Mr. Farrelly's boyish experience in the distribution of 
 news matter to travelers was the guiding influence in his 
 later life, for shortly after his coming to New York, about 
 1854, he entered into the business of wholesale news-dealer, 
 as a member of the firm of Hamilton, Johnson & Farrelly. 
 At this period the business of news distribution was in its 
 infancy. News-dealers for a long period were obliged to 
 go in the early morning hours from office to office to 
 collect their papers for the day's demand. In the years 
 between 1842 and 1850 several men started into the busi- 
 ness of making up newspaper packages for the supply of 
 dealers, and saving them the necessity of personal atten- 
 tion to this matter, but none of these dreamed of the 
 mighty organization to which they were paving the way. 
 Publishers, howe\-er, as the business widened, found it 
 annoying and expensive to keep separate accounts with 
 all the small news-dealers, and began to consider the 
 necessity of some intermediary system that would relieve 
 them from this trouble and expense. 
 
 At that time Boston and Philadelphia were in advance 
 in the publication of periodicals, but in 1855 the New 
 York Ledger began to undermine the prosperity of the 
 ri\al weeklies. Its agents were the firm of Ross & Tou- 
 sey. On the retirement of Mr. Ross, Sinclair Tousey 
 and his son joined the firm of Dexter & Brother, news 
 agents, under the firm-name of Sinclair Tousey & Co. 
 Into this firm came, soon afterwards, that of Hamilton, 
 Johnson & Farrelly. Thus the three strongest firms 
 were blended into one, and rapidly developed that busi- 
 ness of news distribution upon which they had pre- 
 viously entered. In 1864 several minor houses joined 
 their interests with this strong organization, and out of 
 this combination came the American News Company, 
 composed of men whose experience had taught them 
 that union was inevitable to the proper handling of the 
 
 business, and that by active management a great organi- 
 zation might be built up. 
 
 Sinclair Tousey was the first president of the company, 
 He is now dead, and has been succeeded by Henry 
 Dexter, now over eighty years of age, but still active and 
 efficient. Mr. Johnson, its first treasurer, still retains 
 that post of dut\-, and Patrick Farrelly is still the aggres- 
 sive, never-resting manager of the New York office, the 
 head-quarters of the far-reaching concern. Outside of 
 New York there are branches in all the leading cities of 
 the Union. 
 
 The real business leader of the great concern is Patrick 
 Farrelh', who manages the metropolitan business in its 
 finely appointed Chambers Street building. It is hard to 
 describe Patrick Farrelly. He is a combination of Andrew 
 Jackson and A. T. Stewart, — shrewd, silent, sleepless, and 
 bristling at all [joints with activity and aggressiveness. 
 His whole life has been a struggle, which has led to a 
 prodigious success. He is very reticent in character, 
 though he is brought into daily, almost hourly, contact 
 with publishers and authors. No man shrinks more from 
 public notice than he. Yet no man is more prominent in 
 affairs. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce 
 and of the Board of Trade and Transpoitation, a bank- 
 director, and is such an expert on the postal laws that 
 publishers and committees of Congress frequently call 
 upon him for information and advice. 
 
 As for the business of the American News Company, 
 it is enormous. It employs directly eleven hundred 
 and fifty-four persons, and the New York office has 
 direct connections with over three thousand one hun- 
 dred dealers. It handles man\- millions of newspapers 
 daily, together with \-ast numbers of books, and has 
 received and distributed over fort)' thousand copies of 
 a single book in one day. 
 
112 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REV. BRADY H. BACKUS, D.D. 
 
 Bkapy ICi.ECTL's liACKUs was born in Troy, New York, 
 Marcli 24, 1839. Both his parents were descendants of 
 early New England settlers, among whom were Gov- 
 ernor William Bradford, of Massachusetts Colon)-; Lieu- 
 tenant William Backus, Norwich, Connecticut; Lieuten- 
 ant William Pratt, Saybrook ; Captain Andrew Mann, 
 Hebron ; Major William Wliiting, Treasurer of Con- 
 necticut Colony, Hartford; and the Re\-. Jdhii Whiting 
 (Harvard), chaplain in King I'hilii/s War. 
 
 His mother, Martha Cordelia Mann, was a daughter 
 of Judge Benning Mann, of Hartford, one of whose 
 maternal ancestors was Margaret Peters, sister of the 
 celebrated Rev. Dr. Samuel Peters, of Hebron, Connec- 
 ticut. His father, Professor Augustus Backus, of Mrs. 
 l-'mma Willard's Seminary, was the son of Colonel Elec- 
 tus Mallary Backus, wlio served in tlie Revolutionar)' 
 War and the War of 1812, and who, as commander of 
 tile regular troops, Light Dragoons, was killeil at the 
 battle of .Sackctt's Harbor, New York, in May, 181 3. 
 
 His uncle, Colonel Klectus Backus, Jr., was graduated 
 at W^est Point in 1824, served through the Florida, In- 
 dian, and Mexican Wars, and was brevetted for gallant 
 and meritorious conduct in the .several conflicts at Mon- 
 terey. Colonel liackus married a daughter of General 
 Hugh Brady, U.S.A., was an original member of the 
 " Aztec Society," and died in Detroit, Michigan, where 
 he was military commander of the State in 1863. 
 
 Professor Augustus Backus and his brother, Colonel 
 Backus, purchased lands in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 
 1835, and the family removed to that locality in 1856. 
 The subject of this sketch was educated at the High 
 School in Grand Rapids, read law, was admitted to the 
 bar before the .Supreme Court of Michigan, and practiced 
 his profession in Detroit until 1866, when he decided to 
 study for the ministr}' in the Episcopal Church, of which 
 his family were meinbers. He entered Trinity College, 
 Hartford, in the autumn of the same year, and was 
 graduated in 1870. He then matriculated at the General 
 Theological Seminary, of New \'ork Citv, from w liich he 
 graduated in 1873, and was ordained deacon and priest 
 by Bishop Horatio Potter. His first ministerial duty was 
 as assistant minister of St. Peter's Church, New York. 
 He next became rector of Christ Church, Cooperstown, 
 New York, and was soon afterwards called to his present 
 charge, as rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, 
 New York, which pastoral charge he has now held for 
 nearly twcnt\' years. He received the degree of D.D. 
 in 1 88 1. 
 
 Dr. Backus succeeded to a parish which had once been 
 a pioneer work under the Re\'. Drs. Houlaiul and Geer, 
 and was the mother of churches farther up-town. It 
 was founded in 1846, when there were but few people 
 and housis in that localit}', which was then known as 
 " Chelsea." .Vniong the manorial estates there situated 
 were those of the Moores anil Cushmans and Robert 
 Ray, Ivsq. With the growth of the city and its various 
 changes the parish has alwa\'s been a strong i)ower for 
 good in the neighboring district. Many distinguished 
 families, whose names are well known in the cit\-, have 
 attendeil its ser\'ices. The good seeii sown here has 
 borne its fruit in other places. Under its ]iresent rector- 
 ship its religious and beneficent inlluences among the 
 [3oor and working classes have been more widelj' ex- 
 tended, anil are recognized and valued as a conser\'ing 
 and renewing force among the people of the West Side. 
 
 Who shall .say that such focal points of truth and 
 blessing have not a most important relation to the 
 making of the metropolis, as all good citizens would 
 have it, now and in the \'ears to come? Commerce, 
 finance, social inllueiice, all ha\e their place, but ]nirit\', 
 honesty, anil fraternit\-, in the fear of God, are a nation's 
 best wealth. 
 
 Dr. Backus is a member of the New iMigland Society, 
 and the .Societies of (.'olonial Wars, .Sons of the Revo- 
 lution, and the War of I Si 2. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 "3 
 
 J. HARPER BONNF.LL. 
 
 J. Harper Ronnell, liead of the ink-making company 
 tliat bears liis name, was born in 1850, being the grand- 
 son of John Harper, one of the founders of the great 
 pubhshiiig house of Harper & ]5rothers, of whom we 
 give a biographical sketch elsewhere. Mr. Bonnell, after 
 passing through his period of school life, made the 
 manufacture of printing inks the business of his mature 
 years, and has brought this class of goods to a stage of 
 great perfection, while gradually building up the large 
 manufacturing business which he still acti\ely conducts. 
 His life has been so closely devoted to the advancement 
 of his business and the improvement of the inks manu- 
 factureil by him, that his career presents few biographical 
 tletails, and we cannot do better than describe the de- 
 velopment of the New York ink industry, which has 
 been largely due to himself, and may be given prin- 
 cipally in his own words. 
 
 "As I look back to the year in which I was born," he 
 remarks, " I find that the makers of the highest grade 
 of printing inks were our English cousins. To-day one 
 has but to pick up a Harper or Leslie to see that, com- 
 pared to us, the English no longer can claim superiority 
 over, or even equality with, American manufacturers. 
 England comes to us to-da\- for our fine grades of ink, 
 which compliment I highly appreciate, as my former 
 partner was the agent here for English inks. Since then 
 an English house, directly related to and connected with 
 English makers, has exported our goods. In Sidney, 
 Australia, they secured the first prize over makers of all 
 nations." 
 
 This we give, not as an eulogy of Mr. Bonnell's es- 
 tablishment, but as testimony from one well competent 
 to speak of the superiority of American productions, in 
 this one line at least, to those of England. During the 
 period of his business career the demands of the press 
 have steadily increased, particularl\- for inks adapted 
 to the delicate engravings which have replaced the 
 somewhat crude wood-cuts of the past, and the photo- 
 engravings which, by their cheapness and exactness of 
 reproduction, have become so prominent a feature of 
 recent illustration. 
 
 Mr. Bonnell, as regards the conditions of the book- 
 making art in England at our day, quotes the following 
 pertinent remarks from Henry Newton Stevens's work 
 entitled " Who spoils our new English Books ?" This 
 author says, in reply to his own query, " First, the 
 author; second, the publisher; third, the printer; fourth, 
 the reader; fifth, the compositor; si.xth, the pressman; 
 seventh, the paper-maker; eighth, the ink-maker; ninth, 
 the book-binder ; and tenth and last, though not least, 
 the consumer, who is to blame for putting up with it. 
 
 although the ink-maker is a sinner of the fiist magni- 
 tude." 
 
 In this somewhat sweeping denunciation Mr. Bonnell 
 quite accords with the author, so far as his special re- 
 mark abiHit English inks is concerned, and sa\-s, " I find 
 Mr. Stevens to be perfectly correct, and have, since reatl- 
 ing his work, sent many tons of ink to Merrie England," 
 not, as one maj- safely aver, without improvement in this 
 one feature of English books. 
 
 Mr. Bonnell relates an interesting and characteristic 
 anecdote of George W. Childs, the eminent Philadelphia 
 publisher, who one day said to him, " I have one fault 
 to find with your ink." The visitor expressed great 
 regret and asked what the fault was. " You do not 
 charge enough for it," answered Mr. Childs. " I knew 
 he meant it," says Mr. Bonnell, " and raised the price 
 accordingly. Next express brought me an engraving 
 of Mr. Childs, which I ha\e always prizetl for its connec- 
 tion with a fault of which I have not since been accused." 
 
 Mr. Bonnell tells a similarly characteristic anecdote 
 about his grandfather, John Harper, which is worth 
 repeating as an interesting addition to the biography of 
 the latter. On one occasion he saw Mr. Harper nod 
 carelessly to Commodore Vanderbilt, and immediately 
 afterwards make a polite bow to another person. On 
 asking him how he came to treat the latter undistin- 
 guished individual more respectfully than the noted 
 millionaire, he replied, " That is one of my compositors ; 
 he will think more of it." There could be nothing more 
 significant of the character of the man than this brief 
 remark, in which was displayed a spirit of human fellow- 
 ship and consideration of the feelijjgs of others which, 
 unhappily, is too rarely possessed by those in authority. 
 
114 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN LEWIS CHILDS. 
 
 John Lewis Ciiii.ds, the well-known florist and seeds- 
 man of Floral Park, Lonj^ Island, was born at North Jay, 
 Franklin County, Maine, May 13, 1856, his father, 
 Stephen Childs, beinj^ a fainier of that district, a man of 
 the most sterling integrity and courage in ad\ersity, but 
 I if moderate circumstances and with .1 large famil}- to 
 support. John Lewis was the next youngest of ten 
 children. His opportunities for education were very 
 limited, and there were none for the development of his 
 special taste and talent, which consisted in an early and 
 ardent love for flowers, gardening, and the more artistic 
 fields of rural life in general. .Such tastes could not be 
 gratified on a Maine farm, where hard work in the fields 
 was the necessary daily regimen, and the aspiring )-outh 
 left home at seventeen and succeeded in obtaining em- 
 |)loyment with a fiorist at Queens, Long Island, iiiuicr 
 whom he worked for a year with untiring intiustr)- and 
 intelligent stud)- of the business which he had determined 
 to make the avocation of his life. 
 
 Leaving his employer at the end of his short period of 
 probation, he set out boldly for himself, leasing about 
 forty acres of poor soil antl renting a small room over 
 a store. He at once went to work diligently to improve 
 his small estate, and at the same time announced himself 
 as a seedsman and fiorist, and sent out si.K lumdreil 
 copies of an eight-page circulai^, calling attention to his I 
 new enterprise. This was in 1874, the future florist being ' 
 then but eighteen years of age, and possessed of little 
 capital beyond youth and energy. In the years that have 
 passed since that enterprising beginning, the few acres 
 have grown into a finely cultivated estate of .several 
 hundred acres in area, the small room into a great ware- 
 
 house and a beautiful rural village, his single-handed 
 labor into that of a small army of emplo}'es, and the 
 diminutive catalogue into the " Floral Guide," a book of 
 one hundred and fifty pages, of which over one million 
 copies are printed anil circulated annually, while in the 
 proper season eight thousand to tiii thousand orders for 
 flowers and seeds are received daily, coming from all 
 quarters of the civili/.ed globe. 
 
 Mr. Childs's labors began, as stated, with the cultivation 
 of some forty acres of barren soil, in that nearly desert 
 stretch of country known as the Hempstead Plains, 
 while his pockets were almost empty of cash. To that 
 infertile soil his earnest labor has brought the highest 
 fertility, the sandy plains of twetity )x-ars ago, in which 
 even the thistle had to struggle for existence, being trans- 
 fnnncti into the blooming Floral Park of to-day. By 
 ceaseless activit}' and tireless industr}- he has built up a 
 flourishing business which is known in floricultural circles 
 throughout the world, while the estate which he has 
 developed is unsurpassed in beauty, the attractiveness of 
 its surroundings being a marvel to all spectators who are 
 aware of its origin. In fact, Mr. Childs's business has 
 grown until it is now one of the greatest nursery, seed, 
 and flower industries of the world, while Moral Park, as 
 he has named his attractive village of residences and 
 business structures, includes acres of forcing-houses, a 
 large storage warehouse, various ]iacking-houses, and a 
 large number of cozy villa residences erected b)' him for 
 his employes, and which are richly adorned with flowers 
 and foliage. In their midst is a church and a school- 
 house, most of the money for which has been contributed 
 by Mr. Childs, while their suj)port depends mainly on his 
 generosity. In addition to his annual catalogue he pub- 
 lishes a monthly magazine. The Mayjlmvcr, which has a 
 circulation of over three hundred thousand copies among 
 fliiiiculluiists, horticulturists, and farmers. He person- 
 ally attends to the details of his large business, going so 
 far as to sow and gather the rarer seeds with his own 
 hand, as too precious to trust to less intelligent labor. 
 
 Mr. Childs is happily married, his wife being Carrie 
 Goldsmith, of Washingtoiuille, New York, a lad)- of 
 rare culture, and one who, while a skilled housewife, is 
 an artist and writer of ability. In 1890 the political 
 friends of Mr. Childs nominated him as Republican can- 
 didate for Congress, to represent CJueens, Suffolk, and 
 Richmond Counties. Though he failed to be elected, he 
 considerabK- reduced the Democratic majoril)-. He ran 
 again in 1892, with the same result, his defeat being fidl)- 
 expecteil in view of the doininaiue of the o|)p()site paitv 
 in that Congressional district, while the degree to which 
 he ran ahead of his ticket gave ample evidence of his 
 high personal popularity. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 "5 
 
 HENRY CLEWS. 
 
 Henry Clews, one of the most eminent of New York- 
 bankers, is Englisli by birth, coming from an oltl and 
 higliK' respected famil)- of Staffordshire. His father, 
 making a business journey to this country, brought 
 with him his son, not yet fifteen, and found the bi^y so 
 fascinated witli the enterprise and practical spirit of the 
 American people, that he yielded to his desire to remain 
 and engage in business life in New York. He had in- 
 tended that his son should be educated at Cambridge 
 for the ministry, but now obtained for him a position 
 as junior clerk in the large wool-importing house of 
 Wilson G. llunt & Co., where he remained a number 
 of years, gratlually advancing in position. 
 
 A mercantile life, however, did not prove to his taste, 
 financial pursuits being more attracti\e, his procli\it)' in 
 this direction developing into a strong ambition to become 
 a banker. The long-desired opportunity came to him in 
 1859, when he became a member of the newly-organ- 
 ized banking firm of Stone, Clews & Mason. Soon 
 after its organization a change took place in the firm, 
 its name becoming Livermore, Clews & Co. It was well 
 established and tloing a good business at the outbreak 
 of the civil war, a contest which proved highly to its 
 advantage. Mr. Clews held the highest confidence in 
 the ability of tlie go\ernment to suppress the rebellion, 
 was outspoken in his defence of the Union cause, and 
 was, in conseciuenco, selected by Secretary Chase as the 
 agent for the sale of the bonds issued by the government 
 to meet the extraordinary expenses of tlie war. These 
 bonds were not very favorably received by tiie business 
 world, many financiers regarding them as very risky 
 securities. But Mr. Clews, though he knew the treasury 
 was empty, had the utmost faith in the strength and 
 abilitj^ of the government and the recuperati\'c power of 
 the North, and nut only sank every dollar of his own in 
 the bonds, but borrowed largely for the same purpose, 
 bringing himself seriously into debt. The task he had 
 undertaken was one of magnitude and difficult}-, and his 
 exertions in its successful prosecution have become a 
 matter of histor}-. In 1S64 his firm subscribed to the 
 national loan at the rate of from five to ten millions a 
 day. It need scarcely be said that liis trust in the 
 government was well placed, and that his house bene- 
 fited largely by its faith. Secretary Chase at a later time 
 said, " Had it not been for Jay Cooke and Henry Clews, 
 I could never have succeeded in placing the 5-20 loan." 
 
 After the war Mr. Clews made banking his distinctive 
 business, though he retained his valuable commission 
 business in government bonds. The revival in railroad 
 interests that followed offered one of the most valuable 
 fields for investments, and his house engaged in the 
 negotiation of railroad bonds in luirope, a line of busi- 
 ness in which it became very extensively engaged. The 
 
 present firm, that of Henry Clews & Co., was formed in 
 1877, each member pledging himself never to take a 
 speculative risk. Its business has grown until it is now 
 probably wider and more varied than that of any other 
 banking house in the country. There is no man in 
 America whose advice and opinion in matters of finance 
 are more highly prized than those of Mr. Clews. 
 
 Mr. Clews has alwa\-s taken a deep interest in Ameri- 
 can politics, but merely to the extent of securing good 
 government, he persistently declining to accept an offi- 
 cial position. Twice the portfolio of the Treasury 
 Department has been tendered liim, and as often the 
 Republican nomination for mayor of New York, but 
 business interests have in each case forced him to de- 
 cline these proffered honors. He also declined the post 
 of collector of the port of New York, offered him by 
 President Grant, and subsequent!}- conferred upon Gen- 
 eral Arthur. Yet he has not hesitated to act when 
 reform became imperative, and to him is due the credit . 
 of originating and organizing the famous Committee of 
 Seventy, before whose assault the Boss Tweed Ring 
 went down. His views on public or business affairs are 
 broad and liberal, his opinions on the latter topic being 
 particularly expressed in his book entitled " Twenty-eight 
 Years in Wall Street," a work of great literary merit and 
 which has called out highly favorable comment. He 
 served for man}' years as treasurer of the American 
 Geographical Society and the Society for the Prevention 
 of Cruelty to Animals, was one of the founders of the 
 Union League Club, has long been a member of the 
 Union Club, and is connected with many other institu- 
 tions of the city. Throughout his career Mr. Clews 
 has been noteworthy for industr}^, perseverance, and 
 un}ielding integrity, and his career and character form 
 1 a worthy example to the growing youth of this country. 
 
Ii6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GENERAL JACOBO BAIZ. 
 
 General Jacobo Baiz, consul-general for Honduras, 
 and extensively engaged in trade with the Central and 
 South American republics, is a native of Venezuela, in 
 which couiitr\- he was burn in 1S43, of French and 
 American parentage. He came to New York in 1S51, 
 when eight years of age. His grandfather, David Naar, 
 had previously been in business, in the tobacco trade, in 
 that city, and had suffered the misfortune of being burned 
 out in the great fire of 1835. Young ]^aiz received an 
 ordinary public school education, and in 1862, when 
 nineteen years old, entered into business for himself, the 
 line of trade chosen by the enterprising young merchant 
 being the shipping of American manufactured goods of 
 every description to Spanish and I'ortuguese sections of 
 the Central and South American states, Mexico, and 
 the West Indies, and receiving in return the valuable 
 natural productions of these several countries. 
 
 The business thus briefly described jjroved a jjrofitable 
 one, and has been greatly extended by General Ikiiz, 
 until at present his business connections are very widely 
 extended over the whole region of the American conti- 
 nent south of the United States, and his exports of 
 American products have become very large. Tiie ile- 
 mand for the manufactures of this country has steadily 
 and ra|)itlly grown during recent >-ears, this couiitr)- 
 graduall)' absorbing a fair share of the valuable trade 
 which was formerly monopolized by h.ngland and other 
 European countries, and at present the shipments of such 
 goods by General Wmy. reach the large total value of 
 about j;'iOOO,0(X) per annum. In return he receives 
 large consignments of the varied and valuable agricul- 
 
 tural products of the countries named, including such 
 articles as coffee, india-rubber, skins, hides, indigo, antl 
 various other of their more desirable products. Among 
 these he particularly devotes himself to the importation 
 of coffee, cari')'ing to-day large stocks of this material 
 imported from Brazil and other South American countries 
 and the coffee-grow ing districts of Central America. He 
 was the first to introduce the valuable coffees of Central 
 America into this country to any large extent. General 
 Baiz is an expert in the different grades of coffee, and his 
 judgment of a samj)Ic of the fragrant berry stantls as an 
 authority in the trade. 
 
 He is one of the largest exporters in this countr\- of 
 all kinds of machinery anil manufactured jiroducts, in- 
 cluding carriages, harness, and in short about cver\- class 
 of goods in demand bj- the citizens of our sister republics 
 of the south. I le has o\er three hundred foreign business 
 correspondents in all i)arts of the civilized world, and 
 particularly in the countries to which his trade connections 
 principally extend, and has in his employ a staff" of four- 
 teen clerks, many of them cultivated linguists, the busi- 
 ness of the office being carried on in the English, Spanish, 
 Portuguese, and French languages. General Baiz is him- 
 self a linguist of luuisual proficiency, speaking all the 
 above-named languages with ease and flucnc}'. 
 
 In addition to his business connections with the coun- 
 tries named, he holds also important official relations. In 
 the years 1874 and 1875 he was appointed consul-general 
 for the several republics of Guatemala, San Salvador, 
 and Honduras. The first named two positions he retained 
 until within the past two years, while he still retains the 
 consul-generalship for Honduras. From this country he 
 received, for services rendereii in 1886, the title of briga- 
 dier-general. During the period of his business career 
 he has served as confidential agent in this countiy for 
 President Soto, of Hontluras, President Barrios, of Gua- 
 temala, and President /,alili\ar, of San Salvador, a fact 
 which clearly shows the \er)' high regard in which he is 
 held by the authorities of the countries named. 
 
 General Baiz is personally a courteous and affable 
 gentleman, no man bearing a higher reputation than he for 
 integrity and just dealing in his special line of tratle, while 
 his business enterprise reflects cretlit upon the city of his 
 adoption. He is a member of the Produce and Coffee 
 Exchanges and of the Chamber of Commerce, and is 
 vice-president of the New York Driving Club. If he 
 has any special weakness, it is in favor of horses, to wiiich 
 he is especially devoteil. He was married in 186S to 
 Miss Seixas, of Charleston, South Carolina, and has three 
 children, Florence, Marguerite, and Arthur, the latter a 
 ' student at Berkelej- School. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 "7 
 
 HENRY E. G. LUYTIES. 
 
 Until a few years ago the city of New York was 
 almost destitute of facilities for the storage of wines. 
 American travelers who visited the femous wine districts 
 of France and Germany and saw with wonder the im- 
 mense wine-cellars on the Rhine, or the miles of vaults 
 cut in the chalk rocks of the Champagne district, could 
 not come back but with the belief that in this respect 
 America was far behind the Old World. This lack of 
 storage facilities told seriously on the quality of the wines 
 imported to this country, and particularly on that of the 
 Bordeau.x, Moselle, and other light wines of Europe. 
 A year or two in New York would render the best of 
 these wines dry and hard, while if they had remained in 
 the even temperature of European cellars they would 
 have steadiK' im[)ro\ed in qualit)* and value. The inade- 
 quate storage-room for such wines is the reason why 
 light wines, either Bordeaux, Rhine, or Moselle, the best 
 and most exhilarating drink for every-day use, have 
 lacked the appreciation here that is given them at every 
 dinner-table in Europe. There it is the quality and 
 character of the wine which help to animate the con- 
 versation and add materially to the enjoyment of a good 
 dinner. In the different parts of E^urope some one wine 
 has usually the preference over all others. In France it 
 is the famous wine of the Gironde (Bordeau.x). In the 
 south of Germany it is the light Rliine or Moselle wine. 
 In the north of Germany it is again Bordeaux. In 
 Belgium and Holland (Belgium especially) the liurgundy 
 wine stands first In appreciation, and many private indi- 
 viduals have wine-cellars of enormous value. In the 
 United States there is nothing comparable to this. 
 
 The finest wine-cellars which we have ever seen and 
 which can be compared with the famous establishments 
 on the other side are those of Luyties Brothers & Kessler. 
 They are situated under the approach of the New York 
 and Brooklyn Bridge. 
 
 In the year 1866 Henry \\. G. Luyties and Gerhard 
 Luyties began in a quiet wa\- the business of importing 
 wines to New York Cit}-. In the autumn of 1868 they 
 occupied modest quarters at 166 Front Street, which 
 situation was soon changed for 13 Murray Street, near 
 l^roadway, where they remained si.x or seven years. 
 Thence they removed to 150-152 Duane Street, corner 
 of West Broadway, in which locality they continued 
 seven or eight years. These stores and cellars becoming 
 too small for their growing business, they next occupied 
 stores in Astor's new building, corner of Broadway and 
 Prince Streets, where they had cellars and sub-cellars 
 one hundred and ten feet wide and two hundred and 
 twenty feet deeji. Here they remained some ten years. 
 
 While still occupying these stores they gradually 
 began to utilize the vaults and arches under the approach 
 of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge for storage 
 16 
 
 purposes. Years of time and a small fortune in money 
 have been spent in fitting up these vaults for their purpose, 
 and they now constitute a magnificent wine-cellar, per- 
 haps etjual to the finest to be found in lun'ope. The im- 
 mense structure of the bridge can hardly be correctly 
 appreciated unless a visit be paid to this establishment, 
 which now occupies, under a long lease, all the arches 
 and vaults from Park Row to North William Street, and 
 from William to Rose .Streets. The bridge has recently 
 been extended on botii sides, in order to increase the 
 terminal facilities, and this has proved a further improve- 
 ment to the cellars, protecting them entirely from the 
 rays of the sun. An idea of the extent of these impro- 
 vised cellars may be gained when we state that their 
 storage capacity is about one million gallons. The}- are 
 lighted up by one thousand electric lights, while electric 
 power is used in the transference of wine from cask to 
 cask, and in connection with hydraulic power for the 
 elevators. 
 
 RecentI)- the bLisiness of Luyties Brothers was con- 
 solidated with the long established wine department of 
 G. Amsinck & Co., the firm-name being changed to 
 Luyties Brothers & Kessler. Henry E. G. Luyties, 
 junior partner of the old firm, whose portrait we give, 
 now represents it in New York, Mr. Gerhard Luyties 
 having resided in Europe for some si.x years past. His 
 place of residence is Hamburg, where a branch house for 
 the purchase and export of wines has been established. 
 
 The firm also represents the Aix-la-Chapelle Kaiser- 
 brunnen Compan)-, who ship large quantities of their 
 famous mineral waters to this country. The reputation 
 of these excellent thermal springs for drinking and bath- 
 ing purposes dates back to Charlemagne, who used the 
 water and the baths with very beneficial effect upon his 
 health. 
 
Ii8 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOSEPH MATHHR SMITH, M.I). 
 
 Joseph Mathick Smith, of New York City, was born at 
 New Rochelle, New York, in 1789. His father. Dr. Mat- 
 son Smith, was a distinguished phj-sician of that pkice, 
 president of the \Vestchester County Medical Society, 
 foremost in promoting tlie welfare of the comnuinity, 
 and belonged to an old Connecticut family, marrying a 
 daughter of Dr. Samuel Mather, of Lyme, an officer 
 and surgeon in the War of the Rc\olution, and a de- 
 scendant of the Rev. Richard Mather, who came from 
 England to this country in 1635. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Mather Smith graduated at the New York 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons in 181 5. During 
 the War of 1812, he was commissioned in 1814 as sur- 
 geon's mate of the First Regiment New \o\\<. Horse 
 Artillery. In 1824 appeared his work entitled "Ele- 
 ments of the Etiology and Philosophy of Epitlemics," 
 a volume declared at the time to be " fifty years in ad- 
 vance of the medical literature on its subject," and whicli 
 was pronounced in the review of it by Sir James Johns- 
 ton as "doing honor to American Medicine." 
 
 In 1826 he was appointed professor of the Theory 
 and Practice of Medicine in the New York College of 
 Phy.sicians and Surgeons, as the successor of the illus- 
 trious Dr. David Hosack. Until 1866, the year of his 
 death, thus covering a period of forty years, he unin- 
 terruptedly filled either this |)rofcssoiial chair, or the one 
 on Materia Mcdica and Clinical Meilicine. A Memorial 
 Annual Prize in the college now bears his name. In 
 1829 he was appointed attending physician to the New 
 York Hospital, a position which he held until his decease. 
 
 In I S3 1 he married Henrietta M. Beare, daughter of 
 Henry Martin Beare, of New York. She was a most 
 accomplished lady, a descendant of the old New York 
 colonial families of the Rutgers, Lispenards, and Mars- 
 tons. In 1854 he was elected president of the New 
 York Academy of Medicine. In 1864 he was appointed 
 president of the Council of Hygiene of the Citizens' 
 Association of New York, and it is chiefly due to the 
 efforts of that body that an efficient board of health was 
 established in the metropolis. He was one of the early 
 promoters of the American Medical Association, and his 
 masterly reports, as printed in the first, third, and thir- 
 teenth volumes of its Transactions, illustrate the logical 
 arrangement of all his thoughts and the breadth and 
 comprehensiveness of his inquiries. He was the author 
 of numerous discourses and essays which were pub- 
 lished ; among these may be mentioned " Efficacy of 
 Emetics in Spasmodic Diseases," 18 17; " P'pidemic 
 Cholera Morbus of Europe and Asia," 1831, published 
 by and at the request of the trustees of the college; 
 "Public Duties of Medical Men," 1846; "Puerperal 
 Fever, its Causes and Modes of Propagation," 1S57; 
 "Therapeutics of Albuminuria," 1862. 
 
 Dr. Smith was pre-eminently patriotic. He was a 
 Christian gentleman of the old school. Grave, without 
 formality ; dignified, yet not haught)- ; affable, unassum- 
 ing and uni\ersally belo\ed. He died in New York 
 in 1866, leaving a widow, three sons, and two daughters. 
 All three of his sons did honorable service during the 
 ci\il war, one in a medical capacity and two in the 
 Seventh Regiment, N. \' . S. N. G. 
 
 Dr. Wm. C. Roberts, in his eulogiuni upon Dr. Smith 
 before the New York Academy of Medicine in 1867, in 
 alluding to his writings, remarked: "The .style of his 
 written discourses is classical and elegant, exhibiting, 
 without labored attempts at fine writing, depth and 
 beauty of thought and expression, wealth of erudition, 
 abundance and fclicit)- nf illustration, and accurac\- of 
 logic and s\-nta\." 
 
 Dr. P'lisha Harris closed his biography of Dr. Smith 
 before the New York State Medical Societv with these 
 words (Trans., 1867): " Forty years a public teacher in 
 medicine, forty-si.x years constantly concerned in the 
 active charities of the profession in public hospitals, for 
 more than thirty years a consulting iihj'sician whose 
 practical advice and diagnostic aid were widely sought 
 by his brethren, and to the end of his days a progressive 
 and noble exemplar of the great qualities that e.xalt our 
 profession, the beneficent influence of his life still lives. 
 His memory is embalmed in our hearts, and will not be 
 forgotten by the generations that follow us. " 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 119 
 
 GOUVERNEUR M. SMITH, M.D. 
 
 GouvEKNEUR M. Smitii was born and resides in New 
 York Cit\', and is the son of the late Joseph Mather 
 Smith, M. D., professor in the New York College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons, a sketch of whose life appears 
 on the opposite page. His grandfather, Dr. Matson 
 Smith, was a distinguished physician of New Rochelle, 
 New York, who married a daughter of Dr. Samuel 
 Mather, of Lyme, Connecticut, a captain and surgeon 
 in the army of the Revolution and a descendant of 
 the Rev. Richard Mather, who came from England to 
 America in 1635. 
 
 Dr. Gouverneur M. Smith, on the maternal side, is 
 connected with such old New York families as tlie Lis- 
 penards, Rutgers, and Marstons, being a great-great- 
 great-grandson of Colonel Leonard Lispenard, member 
 of the first Colonial and first Provincial Congresses. He 
 graduated from the New York University in the class of 
 1852, received the degree of A.M. in 1855, and belongs 
 to the Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities. In 
 1855 he graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur- 
 geons, New York, and in 1856 was appointed physician 
 to the Demilt Dis])ensar\-. In 1858 he was one of the 
 delegates from the New York Academy of Medicine to 
 the meeting of the American Medical Association held 
 at Washington, and subsequently represented the Acad- 
 eni\- in the Medical Society of New York State at Al- 
 bany. During the civil war he served gratuitously as a 
 medical officer on board the United States Sanitary 
 Commission transport " Daniel Webster." In Decem- 
 ber, 1862, he was appointed acting assistant surgeon, 
 United States army, and served until the close of the 
 war. In 1864 he was appointed executive officer in 
 charge of the United States Army General Hospital, at 
 which he was stationed, during the absence of the sur- 
 geon in command of the post. His father died in 1866, 
 and Dr. Smith was selected as his successor as one of 
 the attending physicians of the New York Hospital, and 
 since 1879 he has been one of its consulting physicians. 
 He has also been one of the attending physicians of 
 Bellevue Hospital, and one of the attending and con- 
 sulting physicians of the Presbyterian Hospital. From 
 1875 to 1878 Dr. Smith was vice-president of the New 
 York Academy of Medicine, and since then has been, 
 for about fifteen years, one of its trustees. In 1887 and 
 1888 he was president of the New York Society for the 
 Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men. 
 
 He has written many essays, which ha\e been pub- 
 lished in the " Transactions of the New York Academy 
 
 of Medicine," Medical Record, the Aiiicriciiii Joiinial of 
 the Medical Scioiccs, and elsewhere. Of these, his arti- 
 cle, " Uses and Derangements of the Gh'cogenic Func- 
 tion of the Liver," was reviewed in London as being 
 "admirable and suggestive." His essay, "The Epi- 
 demics of the Century, and the Lessons Derived from 
 Them," was pronounced by the American Journal of 
 Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, to be a " scholarly pro- 
 duction." His pa]ier, "Wasted Sunbeams — L^nused 
 House-Tops," Medical Record, April 21, 1888, was 
 quoted from and reprinted in various journals, and very 
 favorably and wideh' noticed. He has, in a lighter 
 vein, written a number of poems, both of a serious and 
 humorous nature, which have appeared in various peri- 
 odicals. Among the more notable of his humorous 
 verses may be mentioned " Santa Claus's Mistake," 
 published in Harper's Monthly, December, 1888; "An 
 International Congress of Microbes at Berlin," which 
 appeared in the Medical Record, Januar)- 10, 1 891, and 
 "Santa Claus and the Burglar," published in the Mail 
 and Express, December 22, 1892. Dr. Smith is a mem- 
 ber of the Society of Colonial Wars, has been one of 
 the board of managers of the Society of the Sons of 
 the Revolution, was one of the incorporators and is 
 treasurer of the Society of the War of 181 2, one of the 
 consulting physicians of the St. Nicholas Society, and a 
 member of the Century and Metropolitan Clubs. He is 
 also one of the managers of the New York Association 
 
 I for Impro\ing the Condition of the Poor and of the New 
 
 , York Institution for the Blind. 
 
I20 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WHITELAW RHID. 
 
 WniTELAW Reid, notable in the newspaper world for 
 his many years of connection with the Tribune, that great 
 power in American journalism, was born October 27, 
 1837, near Xenia, Ohio, of which town his father, a strict 
 Covenanter, was one of the founders. Mr. Reid was 
 ctkicated at the Miami University, where he graduated 
 in I S55. He vcrj- earl\- in his career entered into political 
 and newspaper life, making speeches for the Republican 
 party in the Fremont campaign, when not )-et twenty 
 years of age, and becoming editor of the Xenia News. 
 He soon after became widely known as a ready and able 
 writer by his brilliant letters to the Cincinnati Gazelle, 
 signed " Agate." He was thus engaged at the opening 
 of the civil war, his letters attracting attention alike from 
 their vigorous style and their trustworthy information. 
 He took part in the war as a volunteer aide-de-camp to 
 General Morris, and afterwards to General Ro.sccrans in 
 the West Virginia cam|3aign of 1861. Later he served 
 as war correspondent with the Army of the Cumberland 
 and the Army of the Potomac, and was present at the 
 battles of Shiloh and Gettysburg. 
 
 In 1863 he accepted the position of Librarian of the 
 House of Representatives at Washington, in which he 
 remained until 1866, contributing meanwhile Washing- 
 ton corres])ondence to the Cincinnati Gazelle. After 
 the war he matle a journey through the South, and 
 for some time tried cotton-planting in Louisiana and 
 Alabama. The results of his observations while thus 
 engaged were embodied in a book entitled " After the 
 War," which was ])ublished in 1866. On his return 
 to Ohio he became one of the proprietors of the Cin- 
 cinnati Gazette, and for two years was engaged in 
 writing a book entitled " Ohio in the War." This was 
 
 published in 1868, and is esteemed as of much historical 
 value. 
 
 Mr. Reid's connection with the Tribune began in 1868, 
 in which )-ear he was invited by Horace Greeley to come 
 to New York and accept an editorial position upon that 
 paper. His ability in this field soon made itself so mani- 
 fest that he was quickly advanced to the post of managing 
 editor, in which he showetl much skill and acti\-ity in 
 gathering news, and came into such favor with Mr. 
 Greeley that, when in 1872 he accepted the nomination 
 for the Presidency, he put the whole control of the paper 
 in Mr. Reid's hands. It has remained there since, through 
 its various changes in proprietorship. On the death of 
 Mr. Greeley, which took place immediateh- after the 
 1872 Presidential election, Mr. Reid succeeded him as 
 editor-in-chief, while he became the principal owner of 
 the paper. As such he has made the Tribune a leading 
 exponent of the principles of the Republican part\-, and 
 it has remained from that time to this one of the most 
 vigorous and influential organs of the party. His " Me- 
 morial of Horace Greeley," an interesting biographical 
 sketch of his late friend and chief, was published in 1873. 
 
 In 1872, Mr. Reid was chosen by the Legislature of 
 the State regent for life of the University of New York. 
 He was subsequently twice offered the po.st of minister 
 to Germany, — by President Hayes and afterwards by 
 President Garfield, — but in both instances the demands 
 of business forced him to decline. Later, in Presitlent 
 Harrison's administration, he accepted the French em- 
 bassy, a post which he filled with honor and dignit}-, the 
 public appreciation of his services abroad being expressed 
 in dinners by the Chamber of Commerce, the Lotos 
 Club, and other organizations on his return home. The 
 Chamber of Commerce elected him an honorary mem- 
 ber, a mark of respect which had been bestowed on only 
 fifteen other men during the centurj- of the Chamber's 
 existence. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he was chosen as chairman of the 
 Republican .State convention, held to elect delegates to 
 the Republican national convention of 1892. This con- 
 vention, after nominating General Harrison as its candi- 
 date for the Presiilency, asked the New York ilelegation 
 to name a candidate for Vice-President. Mr. Reid was 
 named, and was accepted by a unanimous vote of the 
 convention. His letter of acceptance, and the several 
 speeches which he afterwards made, were among the 
 mo.st effective contributions to the literature of the cam- 
 paign. 
 
 In addition to the works named, Mr. Reid h.is pub- 
 lished "The Schools of Journalism," "The Scholar in 
 Politics," "Some Newspaper Tendencies," "Town Hall 
 Suggestions," and numerous contributions to periodicals, 
 all of a practical character and close adaptation to the 
 trend of thought of the times. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 121 
 
 WILLIAM H. APPLETON. 
 
 WiLLiAir Menrv Appleton, for many \'cars the head 
 of tlie extensive New York publishing house founded in 
 1825 by Daniel Appleton, was born at Haverhill, Massa- 
 chusetts, January 27, 18 14, being the eldest son of the 
 distinguished publisher. His father, who had carried on 
 the dry goods business at Ha\-erhill, removed in 1825 
 to New York, starting the same business on Exchange 
 Place in that cit)-, and adding to it the importation of 
 pjiglish books. His son, then but eleven years of age, 
 was placed in charge of the book department, at that 
 time a very small one. The store was soon removed to 
 Clinton Hall, Beekman Street, and the sale of dry goods 
 gradually abandoned, the book trade having grown so 
 extensive as to absorb the attention of the proprietor. 
 In 1835 William PL was sent to Europe in accordance 
 with a promise made him by his father in his boyish 
 days. He landed at Liverpool, and went to London, 
 where, without letters of introduction and presenting 
 his personal card only, he quickly made the acquaintance 
 of the heads of the great publishing houses, including 
 William Longmans and John Murra}-, ami was so suc- 
 cessful in his business arrangements with these publishers 
 that his father gave him a three months' holiday for travel 
 in Europe, advising him to study while there the condi- 
 tions of the book trade in Germany. 
 
 A year later he made a second journey to London. 
 He made no purchases on this occasion, in consequence 
 of the panic conditions which at that time affected 
 American business, but while there started a permanent 
 agency in Little Britain, and published several books of 
 religious extracts which had a fair .sale. In 1838 his 
 father admitted him to partnership, the firm removing 
 to No. 200 I^roadway and assuming the title of Daniel 
 Appleton & Co. Ten years afterwards, in 1848, the 
 father retired from business, requesting his son, on doing 
 so, never to sign a check or note without the name of 
 Daniel Appleton written out in full. This request has 
 been faithfully complied with. 
 
 A new firm was now organized, composed of William 
 H. Appleton as head, and iiis brothers John A., Daniel 
 S., George S., and Samuel F. Appleton as subordinate 
 partners. Of these five brothers the last two named 
 have since died, while three grandsons of the originator 
 of the house, \\'illiani W.. Daniel, and tldward D. Ap- 
 pleton, are now members of the firm. William W., the 
 eldest son of the subject of our sketch, became a partner 
 in 1868, and in 1880, on the partial withdrawal from ac- 
 tive business of his father, was recognized as manaeer of 
 the establishment. Yet William H. Appleton, though 
 now ad\anced in years, has never ceased his close con- 
 nection with the affairs of the firm, and is still energetic 
 in such details of the business as he keeps in hand. 
 
 On the reorganization of the firm in 1848 the business 
 
 was removed to the corner of Broadway and Leonard 
 Street, and since then, with the growth of the city up- 
 town, has made various removals. In 18S1 the retail 
 job and importing branch of the business was abandoned, 
 the publishing department having grown so great that 
 it was necessary to devote sole attention to this depart- 
 ment. In 1853 a printing-office and bindery had been 
 established in I-'ranklin Street, but in consequence of the 
 large increase in publishing, it was removed in 1868 to 
 Brooklj-n, where nearly a sfjuare in extent is occupied 
 for this purpose. 
 
 The publications of the house are so numerous and 
 varied that wc can name but a few of the more important 
 of them. Among its greatest ventures is the " New 
 American Cyclopaedia," the largest and most widely 
 circulated work of its class ever published in this 
 country. This appeared from 1857 to 1863, and a 
 revised edition, greatly improved and increased, was 
 issued from 1873 to 1876. In 1861 began the publi- 
 cation of an "Annual Cyclopiedia," which is still pub- 
 lished yearly. Among other important issues are the 
 " Popular Science Monthly," the " Cyclopaedia of Ameri- 
 can Biography," the " International Scientific .Scries," and 
 many valuable art, medical, and educational works. 
 
 Soon after the ci\-il war, Mr. Appleton suggested to 
 Rev. J. W. Bcckwith, then made Bishop of Georgia, 
 that he would like to honor his promotion by founding 
 an orphans' home in his diocese. This suggestion has 
 culminated in a Church Home for Orphan Girls, daughters 
 of Confederate soldiers, at Macon, Georgia. It is known 
 as the " Appleton Church Home," the name being given 
 in memory of his oldest daughter, who died in China. 
 It is in charge of deaconesses of the<Order of St. Katha- 
 rine, the inmates being given a plain English education 
 and tausht all kinds of household work. 
 
122 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ^% 
 
 4- ^ 
 
 OSWALD OTTENDOKFEK. 
 
 Among tlic Americans of German birth who have 
 achieved distinction in, and became prominent and useful 
 citizens of, this countr}' must be named Oswald Otten- 
 liorfer, who, like his friend Carl Schurz, and others of 
 his countrymen who might be named, has won honor 
 in the land of his adoption. He is a native of Austria, 
 where he was born on I-Ybruary 28, 1826, at Zwittau, 
 and educated in the University of Vienna. Graduating 
 there, he was sent to Prague to study law. While he 
 was thus engaged the revolution broke out, and the 
 young student, burning with the spirit of libert\-, joined 
 those in revolt against the autocratic go\ernment, and 
 fought bravely behind the barricades in the streets of 
 V'iemia. 
 
 The rebellion was ])ut down with the aid of a Russian 
 army, and with a slaughter like that of a great war. 
 N'oung Otteiidorfcr was fortunate enough to escape, 
 ;ind made his way to Leipsic, and thence to Dresden, 
 which was also in re\'olt against feudal despotism, and 
 where he again took liis place behind barricades as a 
 soldier of liberty. 
 
 After tile su])pression of this outbreak he returned to 
 Vienna in 1850, homesick for his native soil, and despite 
 the fact that his life was in danger. Ik did not remain 
 there long; his friends advised him to fly for safety; like 
 many of the revolutionists lie took passage for America, 
 hoping to find in tiiis western land a haven for that liberty 
 of which he was denied the enjoyment at home. Me 
 landed in New York without a friend, without money, 
 and (juite ignorant of the language of his new home. 
 His classical education was of no use to him here, and 
 it proved no light or easy task to procure even the 
 necessaries of life. His first regular work was in a 
 factoiy in which all his fellow-workers were Irish, and 
 
 where he, unable to speak the language, had an\thing 
 but an agreeable time. 
 
 Yet the young emigrant was possessed of spirit and 
 enterprise, and was determined to win his way. On his 
 return home at night from his hard labor, he spent his 
 hours in an earnest study of English, realizing that 
 before he could hope for any success, even in factory 
 work, he must make himself master of that. Tiu- recinxl 
 of his first years of life in this countrj- was one of man\' 
 mutations of ft)rtuiie, which finall)' ended in his obtain- 
 ing a clerkship in the Stants Zti/iiiig, a German-American 
 newspaper then struggling for a position among the 
 journals of the metroi)olis. Here his advantages of 
 education and of native ability came into play, and by 
 dint of industry, integrity, and literary skill he gradually 
 advanced in the office until he was promoted to tlic 
 responsible position of chief editor. 
 
 At that time the Stiuits Ziitiiiii:; had a circulation of 
 but five thousand, ami was maintaining a struggle for 
 existence among its active comjietitors. Uniler his in- 
 telligent and energetic management the circulation grew 
 with rapidity, and it now has a circulation of si.xty thou- 
 sand, has a magnificent dwelling-place in its publication 
 building, and is undoubtedly the greatest German news- 
 paper in this country, and among the greatest in the 
 workl, its influence being felt in Europe as well as in 
 the United States. 
 
 In 1S39, Mr. ( )tten(Inrfer married Mrs. Jacob I'hl, the 
 widow of the late proprietor of the paper, anti a woman 
 of noble nature, excellent business traits, and advanced 
 ideas, ^\•hich rendered her ca|)able of giving him very 
 material assistance in the conduct of their joint \-enture. 
 What the paper is to-day it owes in great part to her 
 intelligence and cultivated foresight. She clung to it, 
 when it was in straits and she a poor widow, ami in its 
 after-period of prosperity, used much of the mone_\- 
 made in good works, spending more than half a million 
 dollars in kibors of charity, largeh- in connection with 
 the German Hos])ital and in educational pur|x>ses. She 
 died in 1 884, leaving her tievoted widower to complete 
 hci' woiks '.•^^ pliil,nUiii'ii])y. 
 
 In 1880, Mr. Ottendorfer, feeling that his health was 
 giving way, made a journey to luirope and \isited his 
 native land, where he was received with an ovation of 
 welcome. 
 
 He took an active part uith his paper in aitling the 
 election of President Cleveland in 1884, being attracted 
 chiefly by Mr. Cleveland's reform sentiments. He is a 
 close personal friend of the President. Reform, indeed, 
 is his platform, ami he figlits against Tamman\' dicta- 
 lion to-da\- as strongly as he did against the Tweed 
 control in 1872. Mr. Ottendorfer ma_\' be looked u])on 
 as one of our ablest journalists ami most public-spirited 
 citizens. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 123 
 
 ROBERT HOE. 
 
 Robert Hoe, mechanical engineer and manufacturer 
 of printing machinery, was born in New York, March 
 10, 1839. The American family descended from Robert 
 Hoe, of tile hamlet of Hoes, Leicester, England, who 
 came to New York in 1803, and began there the manu- 
 facture of printing-presses, constructing and introducing 
 into America the first iron and steel printing machines. 
 Only wooden plates and screw-presses had before been 
 in use. The famil\' is of Saxon origin. Hoe being Anglo- 
 Saxon for High or Hill. On his mother's side Mr. Hoe 
 is of Puritan stock. The first great in\'ention in printing 
 machinery was made b)- Richard March Hoe, born in 
 New York in 1S12, to whose inventive powers we owe 
 the celebrated Hoe's type-revolving press, which makes 
 the impression on both sides of the sheet at the same 
 time. In a single leap the productive power of the press 
 advanced from four or five thousand to twenty thousand 
 impressions per hour, and the Hoe machines were quickly 
 introduced into the leading newspaper offices of the 
 world. 
 
 Robert Hoe succeeded to the business built up by his 
 predecessors in the family, and became identified with 
 the progress of the printer's profession, sparing no effort 
 or expense to meet the growing requirements of the 
 printer in all the departments of the typographical art. 
 The eight- and ten-cylinder presses seemed like a finality, 
 yet it was not long before they were superseded in the 
 larger offices by the web-perfecting press, which remark- 
 ably increased the productive power of the machine, 
 w liilc requiring less than half the labor formerl)' neces- 
 sar)'. In all the large newspaper offices of to-day the 
 rotary perfecting press is in use, delivering its complete 
 eight-page papers at the extraordinary rate of seven 
 hundred or more per minute. 
 
 When these presses had attained a speed of eight or 
 ten thousand per hour, a difficulty arose in the seeming 
 impossibility of delivering beyond a certain rate from the 
 fly. This trouble was obviated in the Hoe establishment 
 in 1877 by a contrivance b\- which si.x or eight sheets 
 were laid one above another and then delivered from the 
 fly at one motion. Machines for pasting, folding, and 
 counting were added, and there are Hoe machines now in 
 use which are capable of printing, pasting, counting, and 
 folding ninety-si.x tliousand four-page papers per hour. 
 
 This development in the powers of the press has 
 caused an equal development in the business, and what 
 were previously thought very e.xtensive works have been 
 greatly increased. The New York works of the firm 
 
 occup\- the space between Grand, Sheriff, Columbia, and 
 Broome Streets, and possess a floor space equivalent to 
 five acres of ground, which is furnished with a plant of 
 the highest order of efficiency. The branch works in 
 London occupy a block of ground, and are equally well 
 equipped. The firm emplo}s fifteen hundred hands, and 
 has two hundred apprentices, for whose instruction it 
 has provided day and night schools. The Hoe printing- 
 presses are now in all the principal newspaper offices of 
 the United States, Great Britain, Australia, etc., and the 
 demand for them is steadily increasing. 
 
 Robert Hoe, the present head of the firm, has always 
 resided in New York, where he takes an acti\-c interest 
 in all matters relating to the progress of literature and 
 art. He was one of the founders of the Metropolitan 
 Museum of Art and of its connected industrial art 
 schools. In addition to his city interests he possesses 
 a model stock farm in Westchester County, on which is 
 his summer residence, and where he keeps a choice herd 
 of the best examples of thoroughbred dairy stock from 
 England and the Channel Islands. In his city residence 
 he is the possessor of what is considered the finest pri- 
 vate library in New York, if not in America, and which 
 contains numbers of costly treasures. His collection of 
 mediaeval. Oriental, and other illuminated manuscripts 
 in vellum is unri\-aled in this country, and among his 
 prizes is an unique copy of the original black-letter 
 " Romaunt de la Rose," which cost him over g6ooo. 
 The library abounds in other costly examples of the 
 typographical art. 
 
124 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 LUTHER G. BILLINGS. 
 
 LuTiiF.R G. BiLi.iN(;s was born in Rcmscn, Oneida 
 County, New York, of .stcilin;^ anci patriotic New ICng- 
 land parentage. Three of his ancestors gave wyi their 
 lives in the cause of liberty at the battle of Groton 
 Heights, and his father, the Hon. Andrew Billings, en- 
 gaged as a youth in the War of 1812, taking part in the 
 battle of Sackett's Harbor. He was afterwards for many 
 years a prosperous merchant, became an influential mem- 
 ber of the New York Legislature, and for twenty years 
 served as postmaster, receiving his appointment from 
 President Jackson. 
 
 The subject of our sketch was the youngest of a 
 large famil)-. At the breaking out of the civil war he, 
 then a youth of nineteen, entered the United States navy 
 as an acting assistant pa)-master in the volunteer service. 
 He served throughout the war w ilii marked distinction, 
 and upon more than one occasion received the commen- 
 dation of his commaniling officers for gallant and meri- 
 torious conduct. 
 
 In June, 1864, he was attached to the United States 
 steamer " Water Witch," in Georgia waters. At night 
 the vessel was .ittacked by a boarding-party of rebels. 
 When the alarm was given, Mr. Hillings jumped from 
 his berth in his night-clothes, secured a pair of revolvers, 
 and made his way to the deck. In a desperate hand-to- 
 hand encounter he killed the Confederate commander 
 and several of his men, and finally saved the life of his 
 captain, who had been overpowered, by killing his as- 
 sailant. He was himself .severely wounded antl taken 
 prisoner. After his capture, lie was taken to the hos- 
 pital at Savannah, Georgia, where he remained until his 
 wounds were but partially healed, when he was trans- 
 
 ferred to the stockade at Macon, and there suffered all 
 the privations of prison life. Determining, if possible, 
 to escape, he joined with some of his fellow-prisoners in 
 digging an underground tunnel to freedom, but just as it 
 was completed and the day had been set for the escape, 
 they were betra}-ed 1)\- one of their own number. 
 
 While being transferred to Charleston, South Carolina, 
 he escaped 01 route b\' jumping from the moving train at 
 Pocotaligo, but, after three da)-s in the swamps, weak- 
 ened by hunger and fatigue, he was recaptured by the 
 aid of a pack of bloodhounds, when just in sight of the 
 masts of the blockading scjuadron. After remaining in 
 the jail-\ard at Charleston in the " shell" district for about 
 two months, exposed to the fire of our own batteries that 
 were then shelling the city, he was removed to Libby 
 Prison at RichiniMul, \'irginia. 
 
 During his prison life he suffered greatly for lack of 
 food and clothing and from sickness consecjuent upon 
 these deprivations. After several months of most severe 
 prison experience he was at length exchanged on the 
 James River, and on the 3d of March, 1865, was pro- 
 moted to assistant paymaster. .Subsequent!}-, in reward 
 for his gallantry in the fight on the " W.iter Witcli," 
 he was promoted fifteen numbers in his grade for " ex- 
 traordinary heroism" uniler the act of Congress proxiding 
 therefor. On May 4, 1866, he was promotet! to the 
 grade of paymaster. 
 
 In 1866 he was attached to the " Wateree" on the 
 Pacific coast. While there, the terrible earthquake oc- 
 curred that destroyed the town of Arica, Peru, the 
 " Wateree" being carrieil lluee-quartcrs of a mile inland 
 and totally destroyed by the great tidal wave that fol- 
 lowed. L'[)on this occasion Mr. Billings received a highly 
 commendatory letter finm his commanding officer for the 
 heroic manner in which he enilea\-ored to save life and 
 property. 
 
 In 1 886 he was selected to organize a system to 
 enable the government to complete the cruisers " Chi- 
 cago" and " Boston," made necessary by the failure of 
 the contractor. This he tlid mo.st successfully. He 
 subsequent!)- ser\etl on a board appointed to reorganize 
 the bu.siness methods and book-keeping of the Navy 
 Department, and as assistant to the paymaster-general. 
 This arduous task was s;itisfactoril_\- accomplisheil, and 
 the new method adopted remains in effect. 
 
 In 1889 Mr. Billings made a cruise to the west coast 
 of Africa, and completeil a three years' cruise as fleet 
 paymaster of the North Atlantic Squadron, on board the 
 flag-ships " Baltimore" and " Philadelphia." In January, 
 1893, he was appointed purchasing and disbursing officer 
 at New York, and on January 9, 1895, received his final 
 promotion to the grade of jjay-director. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 125 
 
 NORMAN L. MUNRO. 
 
 Among the weekly newspaper publishers of New York 
 none have been more acti\e or achieved greater success 
 than Norman L. Munro, the subject of our present sketch. 
 He was born in 1843, at Millbrook, Pictou County, Nova 
 Scotia, being the descendant of a line of sturdy farmers 
 in that agricultural country. This latest descendant of 
 the family had no inclination to cramp his abilities on a 
 farm. He was possessed of great energy and ambition 
 and a strong native spirit of perseverance, and with these 
 qualities, a good character, and a fine constitution, he 
 made his way to New York at the age of twenty-five, 
 with little capital beyond these useful mental and pln'sical 
 possessions. 
 
 He obtained his first enipl<i\Mncnt in a publishing 
 house in a minor capacit}', but ser\cd his employers well, 
 and took cverj- pains to acquire a knowledge of the 
 details of the business. He saw clearly that there was a 
 fortune in the business if judiciously managed, and in 
 those early days, when he had only the savings from a 
 small salary as prospective capital, he resolved that he 
 would one day be a publisher, though he wisely kept 
 this purpose to himself, feeling that in his then position 
 it would merely provoke derision. He worked steadily 
 towards it, howexcr, storing his mind with the practical 
 details of the publishing business, saving what money he 
 could by rigid econom\', and in time gaining a sum which 
 he decided was sufficient for his purpose, though it was 
 a very small capital for such an enterprise. This time 
 arrived, he informed his employers that he could serve 
 them no more, as he was about to start a business of his 
 own. 
 
 At that time New York j^ossessed two prosperous 
 weekl)- story papers, the New York Ledger and the New 
 York Weekly. It was a paper of this kind that the newly- 
 launched publisher had in \iew, and in .September, 1873, 
 the first number of his new enterprise, the Faiiiily Story 
 Paper, was issued from a small office, No. 169 William 
 Street, a desperately cramped locality as compared with 
 the present palatial quarters of this journal. 
 
 The new paper came into existence at an inauspicious 
 time. September, 1873, was the date of beginning of one 
 of the worst panics the country has known ; merchants 
 and financiers soon after were failing in thousands, and 
 Mr. Munro's business enterprise seemed to have poor 
 chance of success. His prosperous rivals sneered at 
 the paper as " an insignificant rural sheet," or treated it 
 with silent contempt. But it continued to come, despite 
 their scoin and the business convulsion, and the people 
 began to buy it, seeing in it merit as a purveyor of 
 popular fiction. Slowly at first, then more rapidly, it 
 gained a circulation, reaching a paying basis before the 
 capital of its publisher was exhausted, and continuing to 
 grow until he was obliged to seek larger quarters at Nos. 
 
 17 
 
 28 and 30 Beekman Street. Here he was burned out in 
 February, 1876. 
 
 This would iiave been enough to crush an ordinary 
 man. The edition iif the newspaper was printed, ready to 
 supply to the trade, and was rediiced to ashes. It looked 
 like ruin, but it was not ; within an hour after reaching the 
 scene Mr. Munro had formeil his plans, given his orders, 
 the labor of replacing the burned sheets was begun, and 
 the Family Story Paper and his other publications were 
 on the stands in time. In March, 1893, another fire took 
 place in the great building on Vandewater Street then 
 occupied as the publishing house. Much damage was 
 done and the loss greater than in 18.76, but Mr. Munro 
 was now a man of great wealth, aiul could afford to look 
 on the loss with equanimity. 
 
 The circulation of the paper gradually grew until it 
 reachctl four hundred thousand, and there were added 
 to it se\-eral other weeklies in lighter vein. In addition 
 to these Mr. Munro published large numbers of cheap 
 editions of foreign novels and other works, the Munro 
 " Libraries" distributing thousands of such works weekly, 
 many of them of the best literature in the cheapest form. 
 
 In one year (1885) he printed and gave away to the 
 subscribers of the Family Story Paper fifteen million six 
 hundred thousand novels, or one for each copy issued 
 during the year, many of these works of leading Euro- 
 pean novelists. In addition, each new story in the Family 
 Story Paper is advertised by an eight-page sample copy, 
 millions of which are distributed throughout the United 
 States and Canada. Our sketch of Mr. Munro must end 
 with that finale with which the story of every man's life 
 eventually closes. Despite his fine phj'sique, death came 
 to him within a \-ear of the date of^he fire that made 
 havoc in his large establishment. He died February 24, 
 1894. 
 
126 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ORSON DESAIX MUNN. 
 
 Orson Desaix Munn, the subject of this sketch, has 
 been identified with the Sciciitijic American publication 
 and patent bureau for almost half a centurj-. 
 
 He is a New Englandcr by biilli, his native town bear- 
 ing^ his ancestral name. 
 
 Mr. Munn was the son of Rice Munn, a successful 
 fanner, and attended school at Monson Acadenn-, that 
 beiiiLj his native town, until lie was si.xtccn years of a>^e, 
 when he entered the book store of Colonel David 1'. 
 King, at Springfield, Massachusetts, where lie remained 
 two years, and then he returneil to Monson and became 
 a salesman and book-keeper in a country store. Soon 
 after reaching the age of twenty-one, at the instance of 
 a former companion, Alfred E. Heach, who was at that 
 time in the office of the New York Sttii, then owned 
 and conducted by his father, the late Moses Y. Beach, 
 the two boys, Munn and Beach, purchased the Scitii- 
 tific Aiiuricaii plant, founded a few months before b)' 
 Rufus I'orter, for a few hundred dollars. Mr. Porter 
 was a quaint genius, pregnant with grand, impracticable 
 schemes which never materialized to his profit. This 
 was in the year 1846, and it was then when the firm of 
 Munn & Co., now so widely known, came into existence. 
 It is quite a remarkable coincidence in this changeable 
 age for two men who became associated in business to- 
 gether when mere boys to continue the relationship 
 witliout change for a period of almost fifty jears, as 
 have Mr. Munn and Mr. Beach. Soon after the estab- 
 lishment f)f the Stiintific .h/iiTirtr/i on a soutul financial 
 basis, Munn & Co. added to their business as publishers 
 an agency for procuring letters patents for new inven- 
 
 tions, a profession at that time in its infancy. This 
 department of their business increased with rapid .strides, 
 and a few years later it was not unusual for their concern 
 to prepare the requisite papers for as many applications 
 for patents in a single month as there were patents 
 issued from the United States Patent Office during the 
 entire twelve ninntiis of its first year's existence. Judge 
 Charles Mason, conceded to ha\e been the ablest and 
 best Commissioner of Patents that had ever held the 
 office, resigned that position in 1859, and was soon after- 
 wards engaged by Munn & Co., with whom he remained 
 a long time. Among the noted cases conducted by this 
 firm away back in i860 was the procuring of the ex- 
 tension for seven \-ears of the Morse Telegraph patent, 
 which was vigorous!)- opposed by some of the most 
 eminent lawyers of that period. Professor Morse, as 
 well as the attorneys of recortl, always accorded it to 
 Judge Mason's wise and persistent effort that the seven 
 last and most profitable }'ears of the Morse patent were 
 obtained. 
 
 At the time of the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 
 delphia of 1876, Munn & Co. began the publication of a 
 new weekly paper, the Scicntijic Aiiicriani Supplement, 
 which immediately obtained a wide circulation, which it 
 still possesses. The firm also issues, montlil\-, an Air/ii- 
 lects' and Builders Edition, and also an edition of the 
 Seienlijie Auicrican in .Spanish, wiiich ciiculates largely 
 in our Central American .Spanish-reading countries. 
 Munn & Co. also do a large business publishing and 
 im]«)rting scientific and engineering books. 
 
 Mr. Munn has long been a prominent member of tin- 
 Union and Union League Clubs, and has resitied in the 
 same house thirty-eight years, where he has a valuable 
 collection of choice paintings b)' some of the most cele- 
 brated foreign artists; manj- of these pictures were ob- 
 tained by him while resitling abroad. Mr. Munn has a 
 handsouK- suinniei' 111 line in LiewiH_\'n P.u'k, 1 in Orange 
 Mountain, New Jersey. In addition to his park estate he 
 has a farm of one hundred and fift\' acres a short distance 
 from his sunmur linnu, whii h is principally stockeil with 
 Dutch Belted Cattle, natives of Holland, in which he 
 takes great satisfaction and [lerhaps some pride. 
 
 Mr. Munn was married in 1849 to Julia Augusta 
 Allen, only daughter of Mrs. Elvira Allen, of his native 
 town. Mrs. Munn was attractive in person, gifted with 
 rare intellectual cpialities, and was a most devoted wife 
 and mother. She died October 26, 1894, lamented bv 
 her famil\- and a large circle of friends. 
 
 Mr. Munn has two sons, both of whom are associated 
 with him in the publication .iiui Patent Office Department 
 of the Seientifte Ameriean. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 127 
 
 WILLIAM B. ASTOR. 
 
 William B. Astor, son of the celebrated founder of 
 the Astor family and fortune, and after his father the 
 most munificent patron of the Astor Library, was born 
 in New York, September ig, 1792. His early education 
 was obtained in the public schools of New York, but 
 at the age of sixteen his father sent him to Germany, 
 that he might complete his studies at the celebrated 
 University of Gottingen in that countiy. His residence 
 abroad was during part of the stirring period of the 
 Napoleonic wars, extending to 1812— 1813, when Na- 
 poleon was organizing his grand army for the invasion 
 of Russia, and to the time when that army came back 
 a broken and disheartened fragment, and the Germans 
 rose in a body to throw off the yoke of conquest which 
 had so long lain upon their necks. 
 
 After graduating lie returned to his native city, where, 
 in 1 81 8, he married Margaret B. Armstrong, daughter 
 of General John Armstrong, author of the " Newburg 
 Letters," and who had held the high governmental posi- 
 tions of United States Senator, Secretary of War, and 
 minister to France. At the age of twenty-eight he 
 entered his father's counting-house, then the centre of an 
 enormous mercantile business, whose ventures reached 
 to eveiy quarter of the world. During the succeeding 
 five years, however, his lather reduced his ventures, and 
 gradually replaced them by interests of a less hazardous 
 character. 
 
 At that period New York was but the germ of the 
 monster cit\- which has grown up on its site to-da}-. It 
 was comprised in a contracted localit\' in the \icinit}' of 
 the Battery, and here Mr. Astor lived, while spending 
 the summer season at his father's country residence near 
 Hell Gate, in a locality long since absorbed by the city. 
 In those days travel had not brought the ends of the 
 world together, and a summer trip was a small affair 
 compared with that of the present day. Mr. Astor was 
 brought up in simple, methodical, and abstemious habits, 
 and he lived the life of a plain and unostentatious busi- 
 ness man, troubling himself little about social demands 
 or the requirements of fashionable society. In earl)' 
 manhood, indeed, he was fond of sport, was an expert 
 fencer, and enjoyed dancing and social pleasures, but 
 with advancing age he withdrew from these recreations 
 and lived a quiet, domestic, and somewhat austere life. 
 He enjoyed horseback-riding, and employed it largely 
 for out-door exercise, and was also an energetic walker, 
 taking daily walks of miles in length, in rain or shine, 
 until seventy-five years of age. He was, indeed, a man of 
 rugged health and iron constitution, which he preserved 
 by his simple life habits and daily out-door exercise. 
 
 Politics, which attract so man\-, liatl no charms for 
 Mr. Astor, who regarded them with a\-ersion, and kept 
 sedulously aloof from any connection with party affairs. 
 In his personal relations he was ever kind and courtly 
 in manner, even to the humblest, and devoid of the least 
 ostentation of wealth. Business, indeed, was the pur- 
 suit of his life. Not speculative business, however, — the 
 Astors have always avoided that dangerous pursuit, and 
 confined themselves to the safest and most conser\'ative 
 investments. When in 1848 he succeeded to iiis fither's 
 great estate, he was alread}- wealthy in his own right, 
 having been very successful in the fur trade, and occu- 
 pying the position of prcsiilent of the j\.merican h'ur 
 Compan}'. 
 
 Mr. Astor's ruling passion was faithfully to perform 
 the various duties which lay within his charge, and 
 neither increase of responsibilities nor advance of age 
 was permitted to withdraw him from a conscientious dis- 
 charge of these obligations. Unticr his management the 
 Astor estate was organized into a precise system, which 
 has been since stringcntl}- maintained. After his wife's 
 death, in 1872. he resided at his old home with his wife's 
 nephew, Mr. John S. Ainslee, still devoted to business, 
 his leisure being emploj'ed in reading the classics of 
 French and English literature. He died November 24, 
 
 1875. 
 
 To the Astor Library he gave bequests amounting to 
 $550,000. of which S200,ooo were in books, his gifts 
 greatly increasing the usefulness of that valuable in- 
 stitution. He left five children — two sons, John Jacob 
 and William, and three daughters, Emily, Alida, and 
 Laura. ' 
 
128 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 BKNJAMIN BRANDRHTH 
 
 One of the most important industries \\ hicii is carried 
 on in Sing Sing is tlic manuf.ictiire of Brandrcth's Pills 
 and Alcock's Porous Plasters. The factory in which 
 these arc made, established in 1837, has an annual }icld 
 of one million two hundred thousand boxes of the pills, 
 and of the porous plasters the enormous total of five 
 millions. Since 1864 the government has received from 
 this establishment for proprietary stamps more than 
 S 1 ,000,000. 
 
 lienjamin Brandreth, the founder of this great industry, 
 was born in England in 1809. His maternal grandfather 
 was a skillful ])hysician, who enjoyed a large and lucrative 
 practice in a district near Liverpool, while his charitable 
 disposition led him to much gratuitous work among the 
 poor. In the latter field he availed himself of the services 
 of his intelligent and industrious grandson, whom he em- 
 ployed in compounding pills, under his direction, for use 
 in this charitable work. Gaining in this employment 
 knowledge of the composition of the valuable remedies 
 used b>' his grandfather, with whom he continued to work 
 until he was past twenty-five years of age and had a wife 
 and three children, Mr. Brandreth resolved in 1835 to seek 
 a wider field for the e.xercise of his medical knowledge in 
 America, his grandfather having died. 
 
 I^mding in New York, he rented a house in Hudson 
 Street, which lie made at once his place of residence and 
 his entire business establishment. The attic was his 
 laboratory, and here he began that business which has 
 since so greatly expanded, he preparing the ])ills, his 
 eldest son, George, counting the number for each box, — 
 a service for which he was just old enough, — while his 
 
 wife performed her share of the duty by pasting the labels 
 on the bo.xes. His cash capital was a modest one, there 
 being but thirty dollars left after he had prepared his first 
 batch of Brandreth's Pills, paid his rent, and met his early 
 advertising expenses. 
 
 The pills, however, proved a success from the start. 
 They were the outcome of the years of skill and experi- 
 ence of his grandfather's practice, and their value as a 
 medicine was recognized by the public almost from the 
 beginning. The result was a rapid growth in sales, which 
 soon became so great that the manufacturing facilities of 
 the attic were far overrini. It became necessary to rent 
 the adjoining house, and to employ a considerable corps 
 of assistants. The progress, indeed, was phenomenal, the 
 sales in the second year reaching the high total of four 
 hundred thousand boxes of pills. Dr. Brandreth, who 
 w-as rapidly growing to be a capitalist, removed his busi- 
 ness in 1837, two years after his reaching America, to 
 Sing Sing, where he purchased a considerable tract of 
 ground, and erected buildings on it at such a distance 
 apart as to prevent their total destruction in the e\eiit of 
 fire. 
 
 In 1848 he purchased an interest in Alcock's Porous 
 Plasters, and in 1857 became the sole proprietor of this 
 popular remedy, the manufacture of which he added to 
 his already very extensive business. The great success 
 which he attained, it must be admitted, was not due solely 
 to the merit of the remedies. The most valuable article 
 must be brought to the attention of the public to gain 
 popularity, and in the art of advertising Dr. Brandreth 
 proved himself an adept. He spent money with great 
 but judicious freedom in this direction, his aiKertising 
 bills liming his business life reaching the grand total of 
 over 33,000,000, while the variety of devices by which 
 he brought his medicine to public attention was ver\- 
 great. 
 
 Dr. Brandreth's energy and business capacity quickly 
 brought him into a position of prominence before the 
 people, and in 1850 he was elected to the State Senate. 
 He was again elected to that position in 1858, and served 
 a. second term. In 1854 he purchased land in New York 
 and built the Brandreth House, at Broadway and Canal 
 Street, now a proj^ert)' of very great \alue. He was 
 twice married. I lis first wife, Harriet Smallpagc, of 
 whose useful aid we have spoken, ilied in 1836. His 
 second wife was Virginia Graham, their famil>- being ten 
 children. For many years he served as president of the 
 village of Sing Sing, and died there I'ebruary 19, 1880, 
 leaving his business to his six sons, of whom Henry 
 represents the house in Kngland and the others attend 
 to the business in this countr\-. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 129 
 
 WILLIAM BRANDRETH. 
 
 William Brandketh, son of Dr. Benjamin Brandreth, 
 of whose career a sketch has just been given, was born 
 at Sing Sing, New York, October 22, 1S42, being his 
 father's oldest son by his second wife. His education 
 was obtained at Mount Pleasant Academy, where he 
 remained until si.xteen years of age, when he went to 
 New York City, studied the profession of pharmacy, of 
 which he gained a thorough knowledge, and afterwards 
 entered the wholesale drug establishment of Palanca & 
 Escalante, a Spanish firm. When twenty-one years of 
 ago he made a journey to South America, and traveled 
 extensively in that continent. A considerable period 
 was passed b\' him in Venezuela, and a j'ear was after- 
 wards spent in the British, Dutch, and Danish West 
 Indies. Leaving these islands, he went to California by 
 wa}- of the Isthmus, and remained there for the succeed- 
 ing four years, during a portion of which he was engaged 
 in the introduction and sale of medicines, and afterwards 
 in the life insurance business. In this he was high!)- suc- 
 cessful, founding an extensive business. 
 
 In 1868 Mr. Brandreth returned to his native town, 
 and became interested there in insurance and real estate 
 operations, in which he was very successful. Two years 
 afterwards he founded the firm of Howland & Brandreth, 
 which for several years carried on a large and lucrative 
 business. His interest in this firm was disposed of in 
 1S76, and he removed to New York, where he opened 
 an office for the purpose of dealing in mines and mineral 
 lands. In this line of business he became familiar with 
 the mineral resources of many portions of the country, 
 and acquired a practical knowledge of metallurgy which 
 stood him in good stead ; for while thus engaged he 
 made the acquaintance of W. W. Chipman, who had dis- 
 covered a method of manufacturing steel directly from 
 the ore, by the action of flame, and at a cost less than 
 half of that of usual steel production. In this Mr. Bran- 
 dreth grew strongly interested, and became a member of 
 each of the two companies \\hich were formed for the 
 application of the process, the Graphite .Steel and Iron 
 Company and the Carbon Iron Company. He is also 
 largely interested in mineral lands in North Carolina, 
 containing mines, as yet undeveloped, of iron, copper, and 
 mica. He is, in addition, one of the proprietors of the 
 manufacturing business left by his father, at the village 
 of Sing Sing, of whose extent we have elsewhere spoken. 
 It may be said here that the firm produces about five 
 million of porous plasters annually, while the yearly 
 production of pills in all the factories of the firm I 
 
 amounts to the great total of two million boxes. Mr. 
 Brandreth pays particular attention to the pill-making 
 branch of the business, his brothers giving more of 
 their time to the porous plaster production. 
 
 Few citizens of his native place have given more active 
 attention than he to public improvements Steam fire- 
 engines and reservoirs for water-supply were introduced 
 into .Sing Sing largelj' through his efforts, and in every 
 local movement of reform or improvement he is warml)- 
 interested. In whatever business he has been engaged, 
 he makes it his object to gain a complete knowledge of 
 its details ; and in the accomplishment of this purpose 
 no amount of necessary exertion or difficulty can di\ert 
 him from his purpose or discourage him in its pursuit. 
 It is this element of character which has given him such 
 a grasp of ever\- enterprise he has undertaken and gained 
 for him the rejnitation of being a thorough-going man 
 of business. His knowledge of the details of the in- 
 surance business, for example, is unsurpassed, and much 
 the same may be said of his acquaintance with the other 
 enterprises in which he has been engaged. No ad\ice 
 that can affect the interests of others is ever given by 
 him e.xcept after careful and dispassionate examination, 
 and his judgment upon any topic is valued accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Brandreth was married in 1868 to Sarah Louise 
 Flint, and has three children, all daughters. He is a 
 prominent member of the Masonic order, with which he 
 has been connected for more than twenty years, and is 
 a member of the St. George's Society in New York, in 
 addition to his membership in his lodge at Sing Sing. 
 
I30 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 AMBROSE C. KINGSLAND. 
 
 Among those wlio have played an acti\c and katling 
 part in makinfj the cit}' of New York what it is to-day, 
 few are deserving of more honor and credit tlian Ambrose 
 C. Kingsiand, wlio during liis whole life was closely 
 identified with the growth and progress of the metropolis. 
 lie was born in that city in 1804, iiis fatiier, Cornelius 
 Kingsland, being a native of Passaic, New Jersey. Early 
 in life Mr. Kingsland lost his father by death, anil at the 
 age of seventeen he began the wholesale grocery business 
 in partnership with iiis brother, under the firm-name of 
 I). & A. Kingsland. 
 
 The two young men were vcr\' active and energetic, 
 being possessed of excellent business judgment and a 
 \-outhful spirit of enterprise, and their business ra[)idly 
 prospered, in lime becoming exceedingly lucrative. To 
 their wholesale grocery line they added that of spcrm- 
 f>il, then a class of goods for which there was an active 
 demand, and in the fostering of this new branch of busi- 
 ness were led to establish a line of ships to Liverpool, 
 which was continuetl througlu)Ut the remainder of Mr. 
 Kingsland's life. 
 
 His energies were not confined to the details of his 
 extensive business interests. He hail the enlightened 
 foresight to perceive in advance the future development 
 of the city, and the business judgment to take advantage 
 of this prospective grr)wth in the value of real estate. 
 Large purchases of land within the city limits were m;y.le 
 
 by him, in locations which insured their quick increase 
 in \-aluc, and he soon grew rich through these invest- 
 ments, his judgment regarding the career of the metrop- 
 olis being fully borne out by the event. 
 
 Mr. Kingsland was always deeph- interested in politi- 
 cal affairs, and in particular took an earnest part in mu- 
 nicipal politics. In 1 85 1 he became a member of the 
 Old-Line Whig party, and in that year received the 
 nomination of this political organization for mayor of 
 New York, liis opponent being Fernando Wood, at 
 that time one of the most prominent men in New York 
 politics. The confidence in the integrity and business 
 wisdom of Mr. Kingsland felt by his fellow-citizens was 
 shown in the result of the election, he being chosen 
 mayor over his powerful opponent by a majority of four 
 thousand votes. As mayor he justified the esteem and 
 confidence of his constituents. Among the events of 
 his administration was the visit to the city of the re- 
 nowned political exile, Louis Kossuth. It devolved on 
 Mr. Kingsland, as chief magistrate, to receive this illus- 
 trious friend of liberty, who during his stay in the city 
 enjoyed the hospitality of the ma_\or at his home. ]\Ir. 
 Kingsland's public life brought him into intimate asso- 
 ciation with man)- other distinguished men, and he was 
 in particular an ardent friend and admirer of Henry Clay. 
 
 He was married to Mary Lovett, and had a family of 
 seven children, five of them being sons. He purchased 
 the tract of land known as Beekman's Point, in the town- 
 ship of Mount Pleasant, north of the city, being a por- 
 tion of the old Philip.se estate, and embracing the old 
 manor-house, a sturdy old brick residence which was of 
 pre-Revolutionary age. On this Mr. Kingsland, having 
 sold his former country-seat near Sunnyside, built in 
 1S54 a handsome stone residence, on a peninsula which 
 extends into the Hudson. This delightful place, sur- 
 rounded by lofly trees, and affording from its jiiazza a 
 broad outlook over the noble stream, became his favorite 
 residence, which he made his home during the greater 
 portion of the year, and where he died on October 13, 
 1878. This mansion is now the residence of his son, 
 .Albert A. Kingsland. 
 
 Mr. Kingsland's whole business career was one of 
 excellent judgment anil great success, and he left his 
 children a large estate. In the exercise of his official 
 duties he was earnestly fiilhful to the trusts under his 
 care, and alike as priv.ite citizen and public official en- 
 joyed the respect and confidence of all who knew him. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 131 
 
 CORNELIUS K. GARRISON. 
 
 Cornelius Kingsland Garrison was born near West 
 Point, New York, March i, 1809. He is descended from 
 old New York families, his ancestry on both sides being 
 among the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam. His 
 father, Oliver Garrison, had become reduced to poverty, 
 and the bo\' had to begin the business of life at an early 
 age, he being cmplo\-cd at thirteen in the Hudson River 
 carrying trade in summer, while studying in winter. At 
 the age of sixteen he began the study of architecture in 
 New York City, spending three years in this employ- 
 ment. This was followed by five years of practical life 
 in Canada, where he was engaged in erecting buildings 
 and constructing steamers for lake traffic. In this work 
 he showed great ability, and was so successful that he 
 was made superintendent of the Upper Canada Company, 
 a corporation extensively engaged in the development of 
 the newer regions of the Dominion. 
 
 Border difficulties arising between the United States 
 and Canada, Mr. Garrison soon gave up this position 
 and returned -to the States, where he became engaged in 
 enterprises in the vicinity of New Orleans and elsewhere 
 on the lower Mississippi. He was here when gold was 
 found in California, and at once made his way to Panama, 
 where he established a bank for the purpose of doing 
 business with the tide of emigrants to the gold-diggings. 
 The bank proved very successful, and in 1852 he went 
 to New York, proposing to establish a branch bank there. 
 This purpose, however, was abandoned in favor of an 
 alluring offer made him, that of San Francisco agent of 
 the Nicaragua .Steamship Company, with a salaiy of 
 §60,000 a }'ear. 
 
 Mr. Garrison spent his ne.xt seven \-ears in California, 
 during the period of the phenomenal early growth of .San 
 Francisco. The company whose agency he had assumed 
 was, on his taking charge of its affairs, almost on the 
 verge of bankruptc\-, but within a few months the tide 
 of its affairs turned, under his skillful management, to a 
 great prosperity. Indeed, so great was the confidence 
 which was felt in his ability and integrity, that before he 
 had been si.x months in San Francisco he was elected 
 mayor of the city. This office he administered as he 
 administered private business, with energy, honesty, and 
 earnest public spirit, he being the first mayor to suppress 
 the rampant spirit of immorality that prevailed and estab- 
 lish law and ortier in the new cit}-. Public gambling and 
 Sunday theatricals were \igorousl\- rebuked in his first 
 message, and reform in the finances and other muni- 
 cipal interests urgently demanded. And what he said 
 he meant. He unceasingly waged war against these 
 
 public evils, and during his term of service ditl much 
 to purif)- the polluted atmosphere of the city of the 
 Golden Gate. 
 
 He served as mayor gratuitous])-, his salary being dis- 
 tributed among the orphan as)-lums of the cit}'. Among 
 his reforms was the securing good educational facilities 
 for San Francisco. The industrial development of the 
 State was much aided b}- him, he being instrumental in 
 the building of the first Pacific railroad, in the establish- 
 ment of a steamship line to Australia and China, and 
 in various other projects for the ad\ancement of the 
 interests of the Pacific region. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Garrison returned to New York, where he 
 became concerned in various successful financial enter- 
 prises, and particularh- in steamship concerns, he becom- 
 ing one of the leading proprietors of steamships in this 
 country. To this he owed the familiar title of Commo- 
 dore, by which he was afterwards generally known. 
 During the civil war he was of great assistance to the 
 government, Butler's Ship Island expedition in particular 
 being fitted out by him almost entirely, and at his ex- 
 pense. At a later date he founded the New York and 
 Brazil Steamship Line, at that time the onlj' mail line 
 on the Atlantic carrying the American flag. He also 
 established a large South American trade in connection 
 with his son, William R. Garrison, and was concerned in 
 important business enterprises in San Francisco, Chicago, 
 and St. Louis. He died Maj- i, 1885. He was a man 
 of the greatest public spirit and of the warmest senti- 
 ment of bene\"olence, his charities being numerous but 
 unostentatious. ^ 
 
132 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 EDWARDS PIERRHPONT 
 Judge Edwards Piekrepont 
 
 dislinguished in the 
 
 legal and judicial circles of New York, was born at 
 Nf)rtli Haven, Connecticut, November 4, 1813. Mis an- 
 cestr)- extends far back in the history of his nati\e State, 
 one of his forefathers, Rev. James Pierrepont, having 
 been one of the chief founders and promoters of Yale 
 College. In England the family can be traced back to 
 a companion of William the Conqueror, and includes 
 dukes, marque-sses, and earls in its line of descent. 
 
 Mr. Pierrepont was educated at the Hopkins Grammar 
 School, of New Haven, and afterwards at Yale, com- 
 pleting his .studies at the New IIa\en Law School. In 
 1840, believing that the West was the true field for men 
 of ambition, he went to Ohio, where, in partnership with 
 the Hon. P. B. Wilco.x, he ])racticetl law till J.iiuiary. 
 1846, when he returned to the East and .scttleil in the 
 city of New York. Here he quickl)- gained a reputation 
 a.s a lawyer of unusual ability, and became so highly 
 considered among the profession that in 1857 he was 
 elected judge of the Superior Court, to succeed Chief- 
 Justice Oakley, then recently deceased. This judgeship 
 was resigned by him in 1S60, he returning to the jjractice 
 of law. 
 
 Up to the civil war jiL-riixl Judge Pierrepont had been 
 a strong Democrat. He had pn>i)JK>i<_(l the coming 
 struggle two years before it came, and on the reijellioiis 
 uprising of the slave-power at once proclaimetl himself 
 a supporter of the Union and a sustaincr of President 
 Lincoln's administration, speaking to that effect on April 
 20, 1 86 1, at a meeting of loyal Democrats convened for 
 
 the same purpose. In association with prominent New 
 Yorkers he formed the L'nion Defense Committee of 
 New York City, an organization which collected for the 
 government over one million dollars. He also, with 
 Thurlow Weed and William M. E\arts, presented to 
 President Lincoln a message of fidelitj- of the P'mpire 
 City to the cause of the Union. In 1862 he and Major- 
 General Dix were appointed as a commission to try 
 prisoners confined in the prisons and forts of the United 
 States on charges of disloyalty, treason, and rebellion. 
 In 1865 he worked efficiently for the second election of 
 Lincoln, as a leatler of the loyal Democrats, was on 
 the New York committee of citizens who attended the 
 Martyr-President's funeral, and in 1867 was emploj'ed 
 by the government to conduct the prosecution against 
 John H. Surratt, indictetl on the charge of aiding in 
 the murder of President Lincoln. In the .same year he 
 served as a member of the New York State constitu- 
 tional convention. 
 
 In the two campaigns of Grant for the Presidency {\\\ 
 1868 and 1872) Judge Pierrepont strongly supported 
 him. Many of his campaign speeches have been pub- 
 lished, and are notable political documents. On the first 
 election of President Grant he was appointed United 
 States attorne\- for the southern district of New York. 
 This position he resigned in 1870, on the occasion of the 
 as.sault upon the Tweed Ring, that he might assist in the 
 prosecutions brought b\- the " Committee of Seventy." 
 In 1875 he became a member of Grant's cabinet as 
 Attorney-General, a post of duty in which he tried main- 
 important government cases, among them the L'nion 
 Pacific RailroatI and the Arkansas Hot Springs suits. 
 In May, 1876, he left the cabinet to become United 
 States minister to P'ngland. He had before, in 1873, 
 been offered, but tleclinetl, the post of minister to Russia. 
 
 Judge Pierrepont remained in Engl.uul till l878,show- 
 intr " sireat tact and abilit\ " in his handling of affairs, and 
 gaining such popularity that the University of Oxford 
 conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. It may be said 
 here that in 1 87 1 Columbian College, of Washington, 
 and in 1873 Yale College, conferred on him the degree 
 of LL.D. On his return from England he retired from 
 political life and resumed his legal practice, handling, in 
 the succeeding [)eriod, many important cases. He was 
 one of the founders and governors of tin Manhattan 
 Club, but when the rebellion broke out he left that 
 organization to join the Union Club. In the last three 
 years of his life he was an invalid, suffering from nervous 
 prostration, sui)erinduced by the loss of his son. Ik- 
 died March 6, 1892. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 133 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY WEBB. 
 
 William Henrv Webb, the famous ship-builder of the 
 metropoUs, was born in New York City on June 19, 18 16, 
 being descended on the father's side from some of the 
 oldest of New England settlers, and on the mother's side 
 from Huguenot parentage. The Webbs played an im- 
 portant part in colonial history, one of them being present 
 with General Wolfe at the taking of Quebec, while several 
 of them were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Lsaac 
 Webb, Mr. Webb's father, was a great ship-builder in his 
 day, and his son naturally took to the profession, though 
 against his father's wish. He was educated in the Colum- 
 bia College Grammar School, where he showed unusual 
 mathematical abilit\-. Yet as a boj' he loved to play 
 around his father's ship-yard, and at the age of twelve 
 built a small skiff with his own hands. Before he was 
 fifteen he had built other boats, one of them a small 
 paddle-boat. Despite his father's disapproval, he per- 
 sisted in studying naval architecture, and while still an 
 apprentice began the building of five vessels under 
 sub-contract with an older apprentice named Town- 
 send. These included several oceanic packet-ships. 
 
 He was then only twenty-three, and had worked so 
 hartl and unremittingly as to feel the strain severely. 
 He therefore felt it necessary to take a period of rest and 
 change of scene, and was in Europe, spending his time 
 in inspecting docks and ship-yards, when, in 1840, the 
 news of his father's death reached him. He hastened 
 home, found the business in a condition not much to his 
 satisfaction, and at once formed a partnership with Mr. 
 Allen, his father's partner. This lasted only till 1843, 
 when the whole business fell into young Webb's hands, 
 and from that time forward its success was phenomenal. 
 
 His first labor was in the building of ten vessels for 
 new parties, — not former patrons of the yard, — and his 
 business increased and widened till, by the time of his 
 retirement from active work in 1S69, he had built in all 
 one hundred and fifty vessels, among them being packets 
 in the London, Liverpool, and Havre trade, ocean steam- 
 ships, and war-vessels of the greatest tonnage known to 
 that time. The output of his yard was unequaled in ton- 
 nage by any other yard of the period either in this country 
 or abroad, and on his retirement he was one of the largest 
 ship-owners in the United States. 
 
 We cannot attempt to name the many great vessels 
 constructed by Mr. Webb. The " California," the first 
 steamer that entered the Golden Gate of San Francisco, 
 was built by him, as well as nearK' all the Pacific Mail 
 Company's steamers. His first war-vessel, the " General- 
 Admiral," was built for Russia. It was launched in 1858, 
 and proved to be the swiftest war-vessel set afloat up to 
 that time. Its model has since been widely copied, and 
 
 has revolutionized the build of war-vessels of that de- 
 scription. The Russian government received her with 
 enthusiasm, and presented Mr. Webb a gold bo.\ encir- 
 cled with diamonds and adorned with other precious 
 stones. Orders came from other countries in Europe, a 
 large one from Spain, — which, however, was canceled on 
 threat of a civil war, — and subsequently an order from 
 Italy for two iron-clad screw frigates, the " Re d'ltalia" 
 antl " Re di Partogallo." These were the first iron-clads 
 built in this country that crossed the Atlantic, and were 
 of unusual speed for that date. Victor Emmanuel was 
 so pleased with them that in 1876 he conferred on Mr. 
 Webb the Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, one of the 
 most coveted orders of knighthood in Europe. 
 
 Mr. Webb's ne.xt great achievement was the building of 
 the iron-clad " Dunderberg" for the American government. 
 The war was at an end, however, before its completion, 
 and having recci\-ed a magnificent offer for it from the 
 French go\ernment, he succeeded in having his contract 
 with this government canceled, and sold it to France. 
 There it was christened the " Rochambeau," and remains 
 to-day one of the most formidable war-vessels in the world. 
 
 Mr. Webb was one of the original and largest share- 
 holders in the Panama Railroad Company, but sold out 
 his interest in 1872 at a large advance. He was thrice 
 offered nomination for major of New York, by different 
 political parties, but in every case declined. His greatest 
 public achievement was the overthrow of the Aqueduct 
 Commission, b\- whicli millions of dollars were saved to 
 New Y^ork. The last, and one of the best, act in his 
 career was the founding of Webb's Academ\- and Home 
 for Ship-builders, a noble institution for the teaching of 
 ship-building to young men free of coat, in the establish- 
 ment of which he expended more than S2,000,ooo. 
 
 18 
 
134 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES RIDLEY TAYLOR, M.I). 
 
 Of Dk. Jami--s Ridley T.wi.or we liaxf the unLisiial 
 story to tell that he entered the medical profes.sion after 
 middle life, at the end of a Ioiilj career pa.ssed in the pur- 
 .siiit of mechanical .science, and marked b\- the production 
 of various useful nnentions. I le was a nati\'e of Scotland, 
 hi.s father iia\in<( been a teacher in the Ajt Academy, 
 in which well-known institution the careers of se\cral 
 eminent men had their source, among them the late 
 President McCosh, of Princeton College, New Jersey. 
 Skill in mechanics is hereditary in the Taylor family, Dr. 
 Taj-lor's uncle, John Taylor, of Dalswinton, Dumfries- 
 shire, having, in connection with the iin entor SNiiiinglon, 
 constructed a marine engine and conducted successful 
 experiments in steam navigation on Dalswinton Lake as 
 early as 1785, years before Fultnn de\oted his attention 
 to the same object. 
 
 Dr. Taylor's father was poor, and was the father of 
 nine children. Mc had it in \iew that his son James 
 should enter the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, 
 but the cnter|)rising youth, not wishing to be an expense 
 to his parent, determined to seek his own fortune, and, 
 just fifty-five years ago, landed as a \(iung ni.m in 
 Canada with this |)urpose in view. lie had no trade, 
 and worked for some time as an untrained laborer, but 
 with an energy and ability that cpiickly gained the con- 
 fidence and good-will of his emplo\-ers, while his me- 
 chanical talent quickly indicated itself 
 
 The young adventurer was too ambitious, and too well 
 aware of iiis own powers, to remain long in so subordi- 
 nate a position, and before long lumg out a sign for him- 
 self as mechanical engineer, despite the fact that he was 
 largely destitute of technical knowledge of or experience 
 in mechanics. Orders soon came to him, however, and 
 he began to make money. It was not long before his 
 
 marked faculty ft)r in\ention displayed itself, and his 
 business developed until, a few years before the out- 
 break of the ci\'il war, he found himself at the head of 
 the ALarine Iron Works, in Goereck Street, New York 
 City. Here he was on the high-road to fortune. As 
 president of the Bo.ird of Iron I'ounders of New York 
 he became known throughout the whole countr\-, while 
 his fine ability as an engineer was everywhere acknowl- 
 edged, and his opinions on difficult mechanical problems 
 were eagerl)' sought by ship-builders and engineers. 
 Among the improvements in mechanical appliances 
 made b\' Dr. Ta\-lor may be mentioned those in con- 
 nection with the petroleum industry, for the clarifying 
 and preparing for market this \aluable natural product. 
 His works for this pur[)ose were at Seventeenth .Street 
 and the East Ri\er. They were not rim long. Fire 
 swept them away, and they were not rebuilt. 
 
 Dr. Ta_\-lor, Iii)\\e\er, is best known in the wnrld of 
 mechanics for his \aluable improvements in machiner)- 
 in connection with ships' anchors. These were origi- 
 nated, indeed, by Thomas Brown, a captain in the British 
 nav}', who came to this country in 1X53. Dr. Taylor 
 purchased the patents and doubled their \alue by his 
 improvements. The}- were early adoi)ted in the British 
 navy, and in the American na\)- in 1S56, and there is now 
 no naval \essel or large steamer which is not equip[K'tl 
 with Taylor's devices for raising and lowering anchors. 
 
 Dr. Taylor retired from business with a fortune in 
 1866. In 1867, after a journey to Europe, he organized 
 the East River Improvement Association for the removal 
 of the rocks at Hell Gate. This, as is known, has been 
 accomplished. But the most interesting part of his 
 career is his stud\- of medicine. He became interested 
 in this science in 1870, when his son, now Dr. Robert 
 Ta_\-lor, was .ittending lectures at Belle\ lie College. The 
 father at once entered the college, where he stmiied 
 especially orthopedic surgery, a field of ])ractice in har- 
 mony with his mechanical turn of miiul. He graduated 
 in 1874, ami afterwards studied at Dartmouth College, 
 Hanover, New 1 lampshire, where he also graduated. 
 From that time forward he was actively engaged in sur- 
 geiy, becoming assistant to the chair of clinical and 
 operative surgery in Bellexue Hos{)ital, and surgeon to 
 its bureau of medical and surgical relief to the out- 
 door poor. I le w ;is ;i member of the American Medical 
 Association, of the New York Count)' Medical .Societ\', 
 and the East River Medical Association, antl h'ellow of 
 the New York Academy of Medicine. He did not .seek 
 jjrivate practice, but devoted himself to philanthropic 
 service. He was a pojiular member of the Lotos Club, 
 and was skilled in the use of the artist's pencil. In addi- 
 tion, he contributed valuable papers to the medical jour- 
 nals, including " Fractures of the Long Bones and their 
 Treatment " and others. He died March, 1895. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 135 
 
 ETHAN FLAGG. 
 
 Ethan Flagg, for years one of the most prominent 
 citizens of Yonkers, New York, was born in West Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, July 20, 1 820, his mother, Lydia Wells 
 Flagt^, being a niece of Lemuel Wells, the last proprietor 
 of tlie old manorial estate of Frederick Philipse. After 
 his period of education, Mr. Flagg became connected with 
 a mercantile house in Boston, with which he remained 
 for two years, gaining there a satisfactory' knowledge of 
 business affairs. Thence he removed to Yonkers, of 
 which he remained a citizen during the remainder of his 
 life. At that time this place was but a village settlement, 
 at the mouth of the Nepperham, but IVIr. Flagg was 
 convinced from the beginning of his residence there that 
 it presented excellent opportunities for development, and 
 he saw in its promise of progress a good field for his 
 own business career. 
 
 Judicious purchases in the vicinity brought him in time 
 into the possession of a considerable portion of the old 
 Philiiise manor above mentioned, formerly belonging to 
 his grand- uncle ; and, largcl}- through his suggestion and 
 personal activity, the city of Yonkers of to-day was laid 
 out and its growth stimulated. While thus engaged in 
 the advantageous development of his estate and of the 
 city with whose progress his own career was identified, 
 he was equally solicitous for the progress of the place 
 in its mental antl moral aspects. E\-er\- institution that 
 seemed likel}' to inure to the advantage of Yonkers in 
 this direction was liberally and actively supported by 
 him, he giving both personal service and financial sup- 
 port to e\'ery public-spirited enterprise. 
 
 From time to time he was chosen by his fellow-citizens, 
 who held him in high respect and esteem, to fill the 
 principal positions connected with the government of the 
 village and the subsequent city. Among tlie offices thus 
 held by him were those of membership in the original 
 board of trustees of the village, of alderman and member 
 of the common council of the city, of member and sub- 
 sequently president of the board of water commissioners, 
 and on se\eral occasions of membership in the board of 
 supervisors of Westchester Count)-. In political opinion 
 lie was an earnest supporter of the Republican party, 
 though by no means a partisan when an\- question of 
 patriotism and public duty arose. During the civil war 
 no man gave more hearty support to the go\ernment 
 than he, particularly in regard to the steps taken towards 
 a mitigation of the horrors of warfare. 
 
 In the business affairs of Yonkers he played an active 
 part, being, while never rash, never so cautious as to 
 endanger success. The First National Bank of the city 
 was fostered by him, he being a member of its board of 
 directors from its origin. The same may be said of the 
 Yonkers Savings Bank, which he served as president 
 from its inception till the time of his death. In his 
 business relations he was distinguished alike for sound 
 judgment in the management of affairs and for acute 
 discrimination concerning the characters of the men with 
 whom he was brought into contact. Natively honorable 
 in all his doings, he looked for and honored integrity in 
 others, while not exposing himself to being \ictimized 
 by those of untrustworthy character. 
 
 Mr. Flagg, shortly after his arrival at Yonkers, took 
 part in the efforts making to found a church of the 
 Dutch Reformed religious society at that place. A few 
 years later he became as actively interested in the build- 
 ing of the First Presbyterian Church, to which he gave 
 liberally, and aided it by his advice and personal efforts. 
 The valuable plot of ground on which it stands was his 
 exclusi\-e gift, while he contributed largely in money to 
 its erection and subsequent support. He delighted in 
 works of practical bene\olence, and one of the most 
 prominent traits in his character was the desire to help 
 men who proved willing to help themselves. Man\- of 
 the inore prosperous citizens of the place have him to 
 thank for their first start in life. Mr. Flagg died in 
 Yonkers, October 1 1 , 1 884. 
 
136 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN DAVID WOLFF. 
 
 John David WoLi-ii, nicrclKint and pliilantliropist, was 
 born in Xcw York City, July 24, 1792, bcint; the grand- 
 son of John David W'olfc, who emigrated from Saxony 
 to America early in the past century. His father, David 
 Wolfe, served, witli his brotlicr Christopher, through tlie 
 Revolutionary War, a portion of the time as quarter- 
 master in Washington's army. Afterwards he became 
 a hardware merchant, at the corner of Maiden Lane and 
 Gokl Street, New York. This business his son inherited, 
 and conducted at first in partnership with his cousin 
 Christopher, and afterwards with Mr. Bishop, under the 
 firm-name of Wolfe & l?ishop. 
 
 As a business man Mr. Wolfe proved highly successful, 
 while the real estate in which he invested his savings was 
 so judiciously chosen as rapidly to increase his wealth. 
 The result was that at the age of fifty lie was enabled 
 to retire from business with an ample fortune. He con- 
 tinued to live for thirty years longer, devoting himself 
 with warm-heated benevolence to the works of charity 
 in which he had indulged from his earliest business life. 
 
 Mr. Wolfe's benefactions were open-hearted and gen- 
 erous, every worthy cause receiving aid from his hands ; 
 but they were made wi.scly and with discrimination. 1 le 
 considered fully the needs of in.stitutions and how they 
 could best be met, gaining a satisfactory knowledge of 
 the purposes, conditions, and management of every 
 charity which he projiosed to aid financially. He was 
 [)articularly interested in the relief of aged people and 
 
 orphans, and in the amelioration of the condition of the 
 inmates of jirisons; and was also earnestly interested in 
 the causes of religion and education. Of the work done 
 by him in this direction may be mentioned his founding 
 of a high school for girls and " Wolfe's Hall, " at Denver, 
 Colorado, a diocesan school for girls at Topeka, Kansas, 
 and donations to Kenyon College and other educational 
 institutions. He built a house for crippled and destitute 
 children and for impoverished Christian men in Suffolk 
 County, New York, and, w ith Mrs. Peter Cooper, founded 
 the Sheltering Arms Charity, in New York Cit)-. He 
 was president of the Working-women's I'rotcctiv e Union, 
 vice-president of the New York Hospital, and officially 
 connected with many other charitable institutions. 
 
 In religious faith Mr. Wolfe was a member of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, and was for a long time 
 a vestryman of Trinity, after which he became senior 
 warden of Grace Church. He prepared and distributed 
 at his own e.\pense a " Mission Service" composed of 
 extracts from the ]?ook of Common Prayer, which was 
 highl}- commended antl translated into several lunopean 
 languages. In all more than one hundred and thirty- 
 thousand copies were circulated. His gifts to the Church 
 were large, particularly to the dioceses of Nebraska, 
 Colorado, and several other Western States, in some of 
 which he supplied almost the entire educational .structure 
 of the diocese. This work was clone so unostentatiously 
 that few were aware of it. We have not space to mention 
 in detail all the benevolent and public-spirited labors of 
 Mi-. Wolfe, and may conclude by saying that he uas 
 l^resident of the American Museum of Naluial Historj-, 
 ,ind was the most enthusiastic and efficient promoter of 
 its objects. 
 
 Mr. Wolfe was married to Dorothea A. Lorillard, 
 daughter of the second Peter Lorillard. They had two 
 daughters, of whom only one, Catharine Lorillard, sur- 
 vived to aid and encourage her father in his benevolent 
 purposes, and after his success to continue his benefac- 
 tions with a freedom and wisdom not sur|)assed b\- those 
 of her father. Mr. Wolfe personally was a man of the 
 most amiable and lovable (pialities. At home he was 
 (|uiet, kindly, and consiilerate, unruffled b\- domestic an- 
 n()\-ances, and possessed a genial t<.ni[)erament which 
 nothing seemed capable of disturbing. In these qualities 
 his daughter, who was like him in attributes, sustained 
 and encouraged him, being the comfort and help of his 
 declining days. He died Ma\- 17, 1.S72, in his eightieth 
 year. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 137 
 
 ELISHA G. OTIS. 
 
 Ei.isiiA G. Otis, the well-known inventof of the Otis 
 Elevator, and the descendant of a faniil_\- which has 
 pla\'ed a hitjhl\- important part in the liistory of this 
 country, was born in Veimont, August 3, 1 81 1, his father, 
 Hon. Stephen Otis, being a member of the Legislature 
 of that State, and a man of distinguished abilit}-. His 
 business was that of a farmer, and his son worked dili- 
 gently on the farm until his nineteenth year of age, when 
 he first began to turn his attention towards mechanical 
 pursuits. 
 
 About this time he left his home at Halifi^.x, Vermont, 
 and made his way to Troy, New York, in which city he 
 was engaged duiing the succeeding five years in building 
 operations. While here, in June, 1834, he married Miss 
 Susan A. Houghton, of Halifa.v, Vermont. Four }'ears 
 afterwards he returned to Vermont, and there engaged 
 in the manufacture of wagons and carriages, a line of 
 business in which he continued till 1845. His wife died 
 during this interval (in 1842), leaving two sons, Charles 
 R. and Norton P. Otis. In Augu.st, 1846, Mr. Otis 
 married again, his second wife being Mrs. Betsy A. Boyd. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Mr. Otis removed to Albau)-, New- 
 York, and there took a position in a large manufactory, 
 in which he had charge of the construction of machinery. 
 He continued thus engaged for four years, when he 
 started a factory of his own. This undertaking proved 
 unsuccessful, and he found himself obliged to give it up 
 and accept a position offered him at Hudson City, as 
 superintendent of a machinery works at that place. In 
 1852, the year after his entering this establishment, its 
 business was removed to Yonkers. Mr. Otis went with 
 it, and here took entire charge of the machinery depart- 
 ment of what was then called the " Bedstead Factory." 
 He was also overseer of the erection of some of the 
 buildings needed for the operations of the firm. 
 
 While thus engaged, his inventi\'e powers became use- 
 fully tasked. In the equipment of the factory it was 
 found necessary to construct an elevator, and the build- 
 ing of this Mr. Otis took in hand, developing some useful 
 devices, of which the most important was one to prevent 
 the fall of the platform in case the lifting rope should 
 break. This idea, now recognized as indispensable to the 
 safety of elevators, was then so novel as to enlist the 
 favorable attention of some New York manufacturers, 
 and Mr. Otis soon received an order for several of these 
 machines for use in that city. In this modest waj' began 
 that elevator business which has now assumed ei^antic 
 proportions. 
 
 For a number of )-ears afterwards Mr. Otis continued 
 
 connected with the Bedstead Manufacturing Company, 
 while building elevators as orders came in, and engaging 
 in numerous other branches of mechanical industr}-. 
 Eventualh- he left the service of the compan\-, and leased 
 a part of their building, in which he began a general 
 manufacturing business of his own. On the occasion of 
 the World's Fair in New York he placed on exhibition 
 a small elevator, containing the improvements he hatl 
 made to that time. Here he attracted much attention 
 by getting on the platform, running it up to some 
 distance, and then cutting the supporting rope, demon- 
 strating in this way that it did not depend on the rope 
 for safet\-. In this wa\- the invention was brought 
 strongly to public attention, orders began to come in 
 more rapidly, and the demand increased until, at the time 
 of the death of Mr. Otis, which took jilace in April, 1S61, 
 it had become the principal branch of his manufacturing 
 enterprise, and the Otis Elevator had won a wide-spread 
 reputation. Its later history will be given in the biogra- 
 phical sketches of his sons. 
 
 Mr. Otis was a man of high mechanical and inventive 
 ability, and of great energy and enterprise. Business 
 was to him rather recreation than labor, and many of his 
 most original ideas were worked out during his hours of 
 leisure. His inventions were numerous, and several of 
 them very ingenious and useful. Among these were an 
 automatic steam plow, a rotary oven, and a bridge for 
 carrying railroad trains across a river without a draw, 
 }-et without impeding navigation. F"rom youth he enter- 
 tained ardent temperance and anti-slavery views, and was 
 an earnest member of the Methodist^Church. 
 
138 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FRANK LHSLIE. 
 
 The great New York jniblisliiiifj house of I'rank Leslie 
 owes its inception to the enterprise and intelligence of a 
 young Englishman, wlio had the quick judgment to per- 
 ceive the wide field for illustrated journalism which la)- 
 open in this country forty )-ears ago, and the energy to 
 seize u]ion anil im|)rove the opportunit)\ Frank Leslie 
 — or Henry Carter, to give hini his original name — was 
 born in Ipswick, County of Suffolk, England, March 29, 
 1 82 1, the son of Joseph Carter, a prosperous glove manu- 
 facturer. The father intended young Henry for a com- 
 mercial life like his own, and, after giving him a good 
 ICnglish education in his native town, made a place for 
 him in his glove factory. 
 
 This occu[)ation proved repugnant to the ambitious 
 youth, whose native inclination was for the life of an 
 artist, and who, while still a boy, developetl unusual talent 
 in this his predestined occupation, in which he did some 
 highly creditable work while still at school. 
 
 His father, however, opposed this predilection, whicii 
 l(j his mind meant failure, and sent the boy, when seven- 
 teen, to London, to enter a large dry-goods establish- 
 ment kept by his uncle. Me could not have taken a 
 more injudicious step for the accomplishment of his 
 purpose. The young artist was not long in London be- 
 fore he began to send sketches to the llliislratid Loudon 
 Ncti'S, then just started, and the jjioneer among illustrated 
 journals. These sketches were promptl)' accepted b)' 
 the paper, and he soon became a regular contributor, his 
 work bearing favorable comjiarison with that of such 
 men as Linton and Landells. Mis sketches were signed 
 " F>ank Leslie," a iiom dc crayon tiken b)- him from a 
 favorite novel. Before he was of age he had quite cut 
 loose from mercantile pursuits, and at the age of twenty 
 was placed in charge of the engraving department of 
 
 the Nctvs. Here he hail an admirable opportunity to 
 improve himself in his chosen profession, and to gain a 
 practical acquaintance with all the details in\ol\ed in the 
 publication of an illustrated newspaper. 
 
 The young artist, after remaining for some years in his 
 |)osition on the Aviiv, developed an ambition to start an 
 illustrated paper of his own, and with this purpose in 
 view he crossed the ocean, in 1848, to New York, which 
 he had selected as the best field for his projected venture. 
 Here he found that the- fame of " F'rank Leslie" had 
 preceded him, but nobody had heard of Henry Carter. 
 This fact seriously interfered with his new purpose, and 
 he finally found it desirable to adopt his noiit dc plume as 
 his legal name, and became FVank Leslie by act of 
 Legislature. This name he ever afterwards bore. 
 
 Lacking capital, his carl\- experience in the New World 
 was as an artist on the rather rude "picture papers" 
 which then existeil, inchuling Glcasoii's Pictorial ^nd the 
 Illustrated AVitV. Having vainlj^ sought a partner with 
 money, he at length decided to start with no capital but 
 his artistic skill, and on December 14, 1855, issued the 
 first number of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Xc7i'S/>a/>er. 
 Fie found himself at once in the midst of difTiculties, 
 chief among them the lack of capital. But the tide 
 soon turneti in his favor. Tiie paper was abh' conducteil, 
 its illustrations were of a superior character, and its 
 editor and proprietor was enterprising in presenting to 
 the public pictures of the most interesting passing events. 
 B\- the end of the civil war it was firmly established, and 
 Mr. Leslie added to it from time to time other journals, 
 including the Chimney Corner, the Boys' and Girls' 
 Weekly, Pleasant Hours, Lady s Journal, Popular Monthly, 
 Sunday Ma(^a:;ine, and Bndi^^et, all still flourishing. To 
 these he added the Illustrirte Zeitung, a German pictorial 
 paper, and three illustrated annuals. 
 
 F'raiik Leslie deser\es to be entitled the founder of 
 ilkistr.Ucd journalism in America. In atldilion to his 
 rare merit as an artist and engra\er, he had excellent 
 literary ideas, and knew just how to cater for the public. 
 Me was master of the whole establishment, ami under- 
 stood its every detail. Nothing could go wrong in any 
 department but he was able to straighten it out at once. 
 
 In 1877 a temporary embarrassment forced him to 
 make an assignment for the benefit of his creditors. In 
 1879 a tumor appeared in his neck, which could not be 
 remo\-ed without severing the jugular \ein, and he died 
 on the loth of January, 1880, almost his last worils being 
 a request to his wife to " Go to my office, sit in my place, 
 and do my work until m\' tlebts are paitl." It need 
 scarcely be said that Mrs. F'rank Leslie has full)- carried 
 out this wish of her dying husband, after a long succes- 
 sion of obstacles, and has, by her subsequent success in 
 business, fully demonstrated the abilit)- of a wonian to 
 manage successfully great business interests. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 COMMANDER JONATHAN M. WAINWRIGHT. 
 
 Commander Jonathan Mavhew Wainwkight was 
 born in the cit}- of New York in July, 1821, and was 
 killed in battle at Galveston Bay on January i, 1863. He 
 was a son of the well-known prelate of the same name, 
 so long the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York. 
 
 Commander Wainwright entered the navy as a mid- 
 shipman in June, 1837, and performed the usual sea-duty 
 of his grade until, in 1842, he was ordered to the Naval 
 School, then at Philadelphia. He became a passed mid- 
 shipman in 1843, '" 1849 an acting master, and was com- 
 missioned as lieutenant in September, 1850. His service 
 in the " Lexington," " San Jacinto," " Saratoga," " Dol- 
 phin," and other vessels did not differ from that of 
 most junior lieutenants. Ne\er very robust, he managed 
 always to do his duty well, and was a great fa\-orite with 
 his messmates and shipmates on account of his pleasant 
 manners and officer-like conduct. The outbreak of the 
 ci\il war found him engaged in special duty at Washing- 
 ton. He was ordered to the command of the " Harriet 
 Lane," the well-known revenue-steamer which had been 
 transferred to the navy. She became the flag-ship of 
 Commander (afterwards Admiral) Porter, of the Mortar 
 Flotilla, during the operations against the forts below 
 New Orleans, and the capture of that city and the 
 mouths of the Mississippi. He also, in the same \'essel, 
 took part in the first operations against Vicksburg. In 
 October, 1862, the " Harriet Lane"' took part in the cap- 
 ture of Gal\-eston, as a part of Commander Renshaw's 
 little squadron. Their tenure was not long, for on New 
 Year's Day, 1863, the small squadron, some of which 
 were ashore at low tide, was attacked by a Confederate 
 force, which soon resumed control of the town and the 
 bay. General Magruder had, for the water attack, fitted 
 out three steamers with cotton-bale defences, and placed 
 on board as man}- riflemen as could find room to act. 
 The\' came down the ba\- at 4 a.m., and, as the " Harriet 
 Lane" was the highest up, she was first attacked. Boarded 
 by these vessels, swarming with sharp-shooters, the decks 
 were swept b\- a shower of balls. Wainwright fell almost 
 immediatel}-, at the head of his men, endeavoring to 
 repel boarders. The executive-officer, Lea, was mortally 
 wounded, and the next officer severely so. Half of those 
 on deck were shot down, and in ten minutes the vessel 
 
 was in the enemy's possession. A curious incitlcnt of the 
 fight was, that young Lea's father was an officer on the 
 Confederate side, and found his son in a d\-ing condition 
 after possession was taken. 
 
 To complete the tragedy. Commander Renshaw, of the 
 " Westfield," and the senior officer present, was summoned 
 to surrender under favorable conditions, which he might 
 have done, as his vessel was unmanageable from the state 
 of water at that time. This he refused, sending most of 
 his crew on board an army transport which was afloat, 
 and remaining, with a few people, to destroy the " West- 
 field." L'Ufortunately, the flames spread so fast that she 
 blew up just as they got into the boat, and Renshaw, his 
 first lieutenant, Zimmerman, Chief Engineer Green, and 
 about a dozen men, lost their lives. 
 
 Commander Wainwright had a son, also named Jona- 
 than Mayhew, who was appointed a midshipman the year 
 his father was killed, and who graduated from the Na\al 
 Academy in 1867. This young officer also lost his life 
 by a rifle-shot only three }-ears after graduation. He had 
 attained the rank of master, and was attached to the 
 Pacific Squadron. In command of a boat expedition 
 against the piratical steamer " Forward," in the lagoon at 
 San Bias, he was shot in leading the boarders at her cap- 
 ture, and died the next day. The attack was successful, 
 and the vessel was captured and burnt. 
 
I40 
 
 MAK/iRS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GEORGE W. QIUNTARD. 
 
 GivoKdE W. QuiNiAKi), a ])i()minent and successful 
 member of the business communit\- of New York City, 
 was born at Stamford, Connecticut, April 22, 1822. For 
 several generations preceding him his ancestors had 
 resided in that town, and were among its most esteemed 
 citizens, being notable alike for probity and intelligence. 
 He received his education in the public schools of his 
 native town, and at the age of fifteen, being anxious to 
 engage in a business life, he made his wivy, in quest of 
 employment, to New York. I Urc he was ([uickl}- suc- 
 cessful, obtaining a jjosition in a leading groccr\- house 
 of that city. He remained in this establishment during 
 the succeeding five or six years, working industriously 
 and faithfully in the interest of his employers, and saving 
 what capital he could towards a business venture which 
 he ambitiously designed for himself 
 
 On reaching the age of manhood he left his employers 
 and started on his own account, continuing for four years 
 in trade with satisfactory success. At the end of that 
 time, in 1847, ^^'ic-n but twenty-five years of age, he was 
 admitted to partnershi|) in the manufacturing firm of 
 T. F. Secor & Co., the proprietors of the Morgan Iron 
 Works, of New York. This rapid advance was a just 
 reward for his business ability and enterprise, and was 
 followed three years later by his becoming, with Charles 
 Morgan, sole proprietors of that large establishment. 
 He married the daughter of Mr. Morgan, who was then 
 and continued one of the most o|)ulent merchants and 
 ship-owners of the metropolis. 
 
 The control of the Morgan Iron Works fell into Mr. 
 Quintard's hands in 1852, and during the succeeding 
 fi\c years he was for most of the time sole manager of 
 this, one of the largest manufacturing concerns in the 
 country. During the period of the ci\il war he was 
 in the highest confidence of the government at Wash- 
 ington, was often consulted by the naval officials con- 
 cerning the building of war-vessels, and built for the 
 United States the largest number of men-of-war that 
 was turned out in any single establishment in the coun- 
 tr)'. Such was his rcjiutation as a marine builder, that 
 in 1863 the Italian go\ernment intrusted to him the con- 
 struction of the engines for the " Re il'Italia," one of 
 the two great war-vessels which were ordered in New 
 York. 
 
 l'"roni 1861 to 1S64 he constructed numerous marine 
 engines for United States war-ve.ssels, and a large nimiher 
 for ships engaged in the merchant service. He also built 
 engines for four large lake steamers, the largest on the 
 lakes up to that time. His connection with the Morgan 
 Iron Works ceased in 1S67, when he sokl his interest to 
 John Roach. He shortly afterwards became president 
 of the New York and Charleston Steamship Companj', 
 the ]-)rincipal interest in which he had purchased, lie is 
 still at the head of that corporation. 
 
 In 1869 he engaged again in the iion business, be- 
 coming interested in the (Juintard Iron Works, a large 
 establishment for the manufacture of machinery and 
 steam-engines. In this enterprise he was associated with 
 James Murph)-, a very successful man in that branch of 
 iiulustr)-. Mr. Murphy's son also became a member of 
 the firm. This business is now owned and managed by 
 Mr. N. 1'. Palmer. 
 
 Besides the large business interests mentioned, Mr. 
 Quintard has been associated in various other concerns. 
 He is president of the New Fngland antl Nova Scotia 
 Steamship Company, vice-president of the Kleventh Ward 
 Bank, trustee of the Hastern Dispensary, and director of 
 the New York, Lake Krie and Western Railroad Com- 
 pany, of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, and 
 fif the Butchers' and Drovers' Bank. To each of these 
 corporations he gives much attention. 
 
 |-"ew n)en ha\e takt-n a more active interest th.ui he in 
 institutions of practical benex-olence, while in the hand- 
 ling of the large and \arious business affairs which ha\e 
 come under his control his manageuuiit has been beyond 
 reproach and his integrity throughout his career uncpies- 
 tioned. Few men have been more enterprising than he, 
 and few more successful. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 141 
 
 JOHN A. STEWART. 
 
 John Aikman Stewart, formerly Assistant Treasurer 
 of the United States at New York, and for many years 
 president of the United States Trust Company of that 
 city, was born in New York, August 22, 1822. His 
 father was of Scottish birth, emigrating to this country 
 while quite young and settling in New York, where he 
 was for many years a ward assessor and afterwards 
 receiver of taxes. 
 
 Mr. Stewart was educated at first in a public school of 
 New York, and afterwards entered Columbia College, 
 where he graduated in 1840, having taken the literary 
 and scientific course of study in that institution. In 
 1842, being then twenty years of age, he was appointed 
 clerk of the Board of Education, a position which he 
 retained till 1850, when he became actuary of the United 
 States Life Insurance Company. In 1853, the United 
 States Trust Company of New York was chartered by 
 the State Legislature, mainly in consequence of his efforts, 
 and he resigned his former position to accept that of 
 secretary of this new financial institution. 
 
 He remained in this position until 1864, gaining such 
 confidence and respect for his ability in finance, that in 
 June of the latter year a pressing request was tendered 
 him by President Lincoln and Mr. Fessenden, Secretary 
 of the Treasury, to accept the post of Assistant Treasurer 
 of the United States at New York. This office had 
 previously been tendered him by Secretary Chase, and 
 declined. But, now that the war was at its height and 
 the national finances in a state of jeopardy, while public 
 confidence was wavering, he accepted, though at much 
 personal sacrifice, and continued to discharge the onerous 
 and responsible duties of the position with much satis- 
 faction to the government until the end of the war. At 
 this period Mr. Lawrence, president of the United .States 
 Trust Company, resigned his position, and Mr. Stewart 
 was unanimously elected to succeed him. He accord- 
 ingly withdrew from tlie Assistant Treasurership, which 
 no longer so strongly needed his services, and accepted 
 the presidency offered him. 
 
 During the many years which have elapsed since 
 that date Mr. Stewart has continued to discharge the 
 duties of his responsible position in a manner which has 
 proved highly profitable to the compan\' and accept- 
 able to its board of directors. Under his control the 
 company has become the largest of its kind in Amer- 
 ica and possesses the greatest value in assets. A trust 
 compan\- with a capital of $2,000,000, a surplus of 
 $9,000,000, deposits of $40,000,000, and in gross as- 
 sets of $50,000,000, has certainly attained a foremost 
 position among the moneyed institutions not only of 
 
 this country but of the world. Its building, Nos. 45 
 and 47 Wall Street, is built of massive granite in the 
 Romanesque style of architecture, and is of grand and 
 highly attractive proportions. 
 
 Mr. Stewart's marked success in business is due no 
 less to his acti\ity and energy than to his integrity and 
 frankness in all business dealings. No man in America 
 has a higher record than he in these essentials of success. 
 Persistent effort, tact and ability, unfaltering honesty in 
 all dealings, and respect for obligations are qualities 
 which can scarcely fail to command success ; and it is to 
 these that Mr. Stewart owes at once his financial position 
 in the community and the confidence and respect of all 
 with whom he has business relations. 
 
 He is prominenth- itlentified with many institutions of 
 the cit)-, being a director in the Merchants' National Bank, 
 the Bank of New Amsterdam, the Greenwich Savings 
 Bank, the Equitable Life Assurance Societj', and the 
 Liverpool and London Globe Insurance Company. He 
 is also a director in the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, 
 a trustee of the John P". Slater P'und, and an active 
 trustee of Princeton College, which position he has held 
 for many years. He belongs to the Metropolitan and 
 the Union League Clubs, his membership in the latter 
 indicating his political affiliation with the Republicans. 
 Originally he was Democratic in views, but during the 
 civil war he warmly supported President Lincoln's ad- 
 ministration, and has since, though not an extreme high- 
 tariff man, remained a believer in the leading principles 
 of the Republican party. He married, in 1845, Miss 
 Sarah Y. Johnson, of New York, who died in 1886. In 
 1S90 he married Mary O. Capron, of^Baltimore. 
 
 19 
 
142 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 I 
 
 ORLANDO B. POTTF.R. 
 
 Oki.ando Bkonson Pottkk was boni at C'liai Iciiiont, 
 Massachusetts, March lO, 1823, being descended through 
 both parents from early Puritan ancestors. 1 le worked 
 on his fatlier's farm at Charlcmont till sixteen years of 
 age, having largely the management of the farm during 
 the last six years, his father being frequentl)- absent 
 through attention to public business. Between the ages 
 of sixteen and eighteen he prepared himself for college, 
 working on the farm meanwhile during the busy season. 
 In 1841 he entered Williams College, where he stood 
 high in his classes, but was forced, through ill health and 
 lack of funds, to leave without graduating. He after- 
 wards taught school for a time, and, having resolved to 
 study law, he obtained the necessary funds by teaching a 
 class of young ladies and by diligently cultivating several 
 acres of ground. With the money thus earned he en- 
 tered the Harvard Law School in i.S45,and continued to 
 study till 1848, teaching school at inter\als and li\iiig 
 with the greatest econonn- till his graduation, lie was 
 admitted to the bar in 1 848. 
 
 Mr. Potter at once opened two offices, one in ]5oston 
 and one in. South Reading, ten miles out, attending the 
 former during the day and the latter in tiie evenings. 
 He was successful from the start, and soon had a paying 
 ])ractice. In 1852 he defended William O. Grovcr and 
 William I^. Baker, two young men engaged in the sewing- 
 machine business, against an unjust claim, and soon after 
 became a member of the firm of Grover, Baker & Co., 
 whose financial and legal management fell into his hands. 
 In these directions he was so successful as to make the 
 business of the firm the most profitable in that branch <if 
 manufacture at the time. 
 
 In 1853 he removed to New York to establish the 
 business there, and in 1854 obtained a ciiartcr for the 
 
 Grover & Baker Sewing-Machine Company, of which he 
 became and continued the president until the close of the 
 active bu.siness of the company in 1876, after which lime 
 he ceased all connection with manufacturing or commer- 
 cial business. 
 
 During his whole period of residence in New York, 
 Mr. Potter was actively interested in the growth of the 
 city, constructing under his personal superintendence man)- 
 large stores and warehouses, while he was equally acti\e 
 in financial affairs. In the latter direction the credit 
 belongs tn him of originating our existing natiunal hank- 
 ing system. ImmediatcK- after the battle of Bull Run, 
 Mr. Potter, realizing the unsatisfactory condition of the 
 State banking s)-stem then in existence and its inability to 
 support the government finances during the war, wrote 
 an exhaustive letter to the Sccretar\- of the Treasur)-, in 
 which he strongly advocated a national sj'stem of bank- 
 ing, and outlined a plan under which it ci>ukl be con- 
 ducteil. This plan, after careful consideration and dis- 
 cussion, was made the basis of the National Banking 
 Act, passetl h_\- Congress in February, 1863. 
 
 Mr. Potter was a Whig before the war, but became 
 identified with the Democratic party in 1861. In 1878 
 he ran for Congress for the tenth congressional district 
 of New York, but was defeated. In 1882 he was elected 
 for the eleventh district, and ser\ed in Congress till 1884, 
 doing duty on a number of important committees, and 
 among other measures strongly supporting the adeiiuate 
 pay of American consuls, the acquisition by this go\ern- 
 mcnt of the Nicaragua Canal route, and the carrying of 
 the foreign mail from .md to this coiuitr\- in American 
 ships. He declined renomination for Congress in 1884. 
 
 In 1886 there was a movement in New Yoik for the 
 election of a mayor who should be independent of jiarty 
 politics. The nomination was offered b}- a unanimous 
 vote of the ct)mmittee to Mr. Potter, but he declined ; and 
 on the subsequent nomination of A. S. Hewitt ga\e him 
 his hearty support. In 1 889 he was chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Transportation of the Centennial Celebration of 
 the Inauguration of W'ashington. In 1889, Williams Col- 
 lege conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. 
 
 He was marrieil in 1850 to Martha G. Wiley, and after 
 the death of his wife was married to Mary K. Linsl)', of 
 New York. He was affiliated with many New York so- 
 cieties, including the Democratic, Reform, and Patria 
 Clubs, the Civil Service Reform Association, and the Bar 
 Association. In 1870 he purchased a farm on the Hud- 
 son, above Sing Sing, where he made liis summer home, 
 and interested himself activel)- in agricultural matters. 
 Much of the milk and other products of the farm made 
 their wa)- to the sick and poor of New York, while each 
 summer he brought |)oor children from the cit)' for a 
 period of recreation on the farm. He died suddenly on 
 January 2, 1894. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 143 
 
 HALCYON SKINNER. 
 
 Halcyon Skinnek, noted for liis career as an inventor, 
 was born at Mantua, Ohio, March 6, 1824, being the son 
 of Joseph Skinner, formerly of Springfield, Massachusetts, 
 a man of great mechanical ability and inventive talent, 
 and the deviser of a set of machines of the greatest 
 utility in the construction of violins. These were adapted 
 to form with speed and accuracy the parts of these instru- 
 ments, one of them being a mechanical device for cutting 
 wood into thin strips for the sides of violins. This was 
 so successful that he adapted the principle in a machine 
 for cutting veneers for general use. 
 
 While the father was thus engaged in inventive work, 
 the son was attending school in winter, and employing 
 his summers in farm-work and mechanical labor. In 
 1838 the father removed to Westchester County, New 
 York, where he entered upon the making of violins suc- 
 cessfully until 1845, when a fire destroyed his factoiy, 
 with all its machines and stock. 
 
 The son now went to work as a carpenter, and con- 
 tinued thus engaged until 1849, when he met a carpet 
 manufacturer named Alexander Smith, who was at that 
 time experimenting in dying parti-colored yarns to be 
 used in ingrain-carpet weaving. The purpose was to 
 dye the skeins in several colors in such a manner that 
 in weaving each color should come into its proper place, 
 so as to avoid the defective coloring of carpets of this 
 character. The difficulty lay in the d\^ing apparatus, and 
 as Mr. Skinner was known to be a skillful mechanic, Mr. 
 Smith engaged him to construct machinery suitable to 
 the purpose intended. 
 
 The task was not an easy one, and much planning be- 
 came necessary, but by the spring of 1 850 Mr. Skinner 
 had overcome the difficulty of the work intrusted to him, 
 and it became possible to dye the yarns satisfactorily. 
 The new carpets woven from these yarns met with quick 
 favor, and Mr. Smith's business rapidly increased. In 
 1855, Mr. Skinner was asked to invent some process by 
 which Axminster or tufted carpets could be woven on a 
 power-loom. In this he was measurably successful, and 
 in 1856 a patent was taken out for a loom which, though 
 imperfect, was highly promising. He continuct! to im- 
 prove it till i860, by which time he had quite o\crcome 
 all its defects, and in the succeeding }-ear built one of 
 these new looms for exhibition at the London World's 
 Fair of 1862. 
 
 In January, 1862, the works were destroyed by fire, 
 the new loom alone escaping. This Mr. Skinner took to 
 the fair, where it attracted much attention from the trade. 
 On his return to America he devoted himself to the 
 
 invention of a power-loom for wea\'ing ingrain carpets. 
 In 1864 the factory was once more destroyed b}- fire, but 
 fortunately the building containing the new looms was 
 again saved. The business was now removed to Yonkers, 
 and a building erected for the manufacture of tapestry 
 carpets. Looms were obtained from Massachusetts, and 
 others imported from England, but they were so clumsy 
 and imperfect that Mr. Skinner's ingenuity was again 
 enlisted in the attempt to make them suitable for the 
 work. He was quite successful in this, aiul followed 
 it by the production of a loom for wea\'ing moquette 
 carpets, which, while nearly equal to Axminster, could 
 thus be produced at considerabl)' less cost. He was 
 equall)' successful in this with his former inventive labors. 
 A large building was now erected for this branch of 
 manufacture, and in 1878 the new looms were introduced 
 into England and France, Mr. Skinner spending some 
 time there in putting them into operation. On his return 
 new patents were obtained, and by the end of 1882 the 
 factory contained two hundred tapestry, one hundred 
 and si.x moquette, and about thirty Axminster looms. 
 Since then the business has been steaclil)- extended, new 
 buildings erected, aiul the number of looms greatly 
 augmented. The business, which is known as the Smith 
 & Louis Carpet Company, is now the most extensive 
 concern in Yonkers. It owes its existence to Mr. Skinner, 
 whose inventions have given him a high rank among 
 American mechanics. He is still closely identified with 
 the business, which employs three thousand five hundred 
 operatives, and turns out man}- million yards of carpets 
 annually. 
 
144 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 S. M. PETTENGILL. 
 
 S. M. PETTENfiiLL, onc of the leading advertising 
 agents of tiiis country, began his business career in 
 Boston in January, 1848, as a checking clerk and solicitor 
 of advertisements for Voiney B. Palmer, the first ad\cr- 
 tising agent in this country. At the end of that year he 
 left Mr. Palmer's employment and accepteil a partnership 
 u ith iiis brother in the Bridgeport Standard job office, 
 being succeeded at Mr. Palmer's by the late S. R. Niies, 
 advertising agent in Boston. Mr. Pettengill's partnership 
 .soon ended, and in February, 1849, 'le started business 
 for himself as a general advertising agent, at No. lO State 
 Street, Boston. For the succeeding tiiirty years he con- 
 ducted one of the most successful advertising agencies in 
 the country. 
 
 In 1 85 I he began the publication of a monthly news- 
 paper called Pctteiti^iirs Rt/yortcr, devoted to the interests 
 of publishers and advertisers in general, ami containing, 
 among its items of interest, a list of all the newspapers 
 published in the United States and Canada at that time 
 so far as it could be obtained. It was sent to most of the 
 new.spapers throughout the country. In May, 1852, he 
 opened a branch office in New York, being induced to do 
 so by tlie solicitation of Mr. Leiand, — who was then 
 building the Metropolitan Hotel and proposed to adver- 
 tise it extensively before opening, — and by similar in- 
 
 ducements held out to him by other advertisers. He re- 
 tained his interest in the Boston house, however, until 
 1883, w-hen he sold out to Albert K. Pettengill, a gentle- 
 man distantly related to him. The firm-name there still 
 remains Pettengill & Co. 
 
 Shortl)' after Mr. Pettengill came to New York he 
 received a handsomely engrossed written testimonial, 
 signed by about thirty of the leading business firms of 
 Boston, expressing their confidence in him as a man and 
 their satisfaction with his management of their advertising 
 business, and recommending him to the support of the 
 merchants of New York. This greatly encouraged and 
 assisted him in his New York enterprise. It was framed 
 and hung in a prominent place in his office, where it re- 
 mained till January 31, 1882, when Park Row was swept 
 by fire and Mr. Pettengill's office was burned out. 
 
 He began business in New York at No. 122 Nassau 
 Street, whence he removed in 1854 to No. 119, and sub- 
 sequently into the Park Row office above mentioned. 
 Here he became not only the leading advertising agent 
 of the country, but from i860 to 1880 was almost with- 
 out a rival, and numbered among his customers all the 
 prominent advertisers of the country. Among his most 
 enterprising customers was Mr. Robert Bonner, a young 
 printer who had been at work on the Ilcrahi and the 
 Mirror, and who purchased, shortly after Mr. Pettengill 
 came to New York, an advertising commercial newspaper 
 called the Mcrcliaiits' Ledger. This, in the fall of 1854, 
 he changed into the famous New York Ledger, convert- 
 ing it into a family story paper, and engaging the best 
 known writers of the land as contributors. He at once 
 began a very active advertising effort, selecting Mr. Pet- 
 tengill as his agent, and tluring many years afterwards 
 gave annually a very large amount of advertising patron- 
 age to this house. 
 
 The esteem in which Mr. Pettengill was Meld i)y his 
 patrons am! friends was well deserved. He was a man of 
 engaging personality ami the strictest commercial honor. 
 I*"or many years he was a devout member of Plymouth 
 Church, and one of the men on whom Mr. Beecher most 
 relied. He married Miss Georgiana H. Bacon, of Brook- 
 1)11, in which city he long resided, and where he died in 
 April, 1891, leaving a large estate to his widow, — he had 
 no children. Mrs. Pettengill still makes her home in 
 Brooklyn. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 145 
 
 CORNELIUS NEVIUS HOAGLAND. 
 
 Cornelius Nevius Hoagland was born in Hills- 
 borough Town, Somerset County, New Jersey, Novem- 
 ber 23, 1828; eldest son of Andrew, and a descendant in 
 the seventh generation from Christoffel Hoagland. This 
 sturdy pioneer of the family was born in Holland in 
 1634, and his name first appears on the records of the 
 Burgomaster and Schepens Court in 1655, his first name 
 being shortened to " Stoffel." In 1661 he married 
 Catrina Creiger, daughter of Captain Creiger, a noted 
 officer under Keift and Stuyvesant. 
 
 In 1837 Andrew emigrated to Miami Count)', Ohio, 
 and Cornelius, the subject of this sketch, began the study 
 of medicine in 1845, when seventeen years of age. During 
 the winter of 1848-49 he attended his first course of lect- 
 ures at Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, and 
 graduated from the Medical Department of the Western 
 Reserve University, at Cleveland, Ohio, in the spring of 
 1852. 
 
 In 1854 he was elected county auditor, and re-elected 
 in 1856. At this date he was a private in a militia com- 
 pany, the " Lafayette Blues" of Troy, Ohio, and at the 
 outbreak of the war \olunteered in a company from 
 that place, which compan\- became Company H in the 
 Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On the organization 
 of the company he was elected first lieutenant. On the 
 expiration of the three months for which the troops 
 were called, he re-entered the service for three years. 
 
 Soon afterwards he was detailed as acting assistant 
 commissary of subsistence at Camp Dennison, Ohio. 
 
 In October, 1861, he was commissioned surgeon of the 
 Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, then being re- 
 cruited at Camp Tod, Troy, Ohio. He accompanied his 
 regiment to Paducah, Kentucky, in the spring of 1862, 
 participated in the battle of Pittsburg Landing in April, 
 after which he served with a detachment of his regiment 
 in garrison at Clarksville, Tennessee, and later at Galla- 
 tin. At this latter place his health gave waj', and his 
 resignation was tendered and accepted. In appreciation 
 of Dr. Hoagland's character and services, the officers of 
 the regiment at this time presented him with a sword, 
 which he preserves with great pride. Upon the re- 
 turn of his health, at the request of the officers of the 
 Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he was reap- 
 pointed surgeon, and continued as such to the close 
 of the war. 
 
 Soon after rejoining his regiment he was appointed 
 surgeon in charge of the hospital at Gallatin, Tennessee. 
 Some months later, upon his request, he was relieved 
 from this duty and joined his regiment at Decherd, Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 In the fall ot 1864 his regiment was ordered to tiie front 
 at Atlanta, becoming part of the Second Brigade, Third 
 Division, Fourth Corps. Shortly afterwards Dr. Hoag- 
 
 land was appointed chief surgeon of the brigade, on the 
 staff of Colonel P. Sidney Post, which position he occu- 
 pied during the remainder of his services. At the battle 
 of Nashville, on the 16th of December, 1864, he was 
 .seriously injured by a Minie-ball in the breast. 
 
 After this battle the brigade followed Hood's forces 
 out of the State, and went into winter-quarters at Hunts- 
 viile, Alabama. Pearly in the spring they went to P'ast 
 Tennessee, and were at Greenville, the home of Andrew 
 Johnson, when Abraham Lincoln was shot. In Jul\-, 
 1865, the Fourth Corps, with others, was sent to Te.xas 
 via river steamer to New Orleans, thence by steamer 
 across the Gulf, landing at Indianola, and by march to 
 San Antonio. In November they were mustered for dis- 
 charge, and ordered to Columbus, Ohio, where they were 
 discharged in the first week of January, 1866. Soon after 
 the close of the war Dr. Hoagland engaged in the manu- 
 facture of baking-powder, and is now the president of the 
 Cleveland Baking-Powtlcr Compan}-, of New York. 
 
 In 18S7 he founded in Brooklyn the "Hoagland 
 Laboratory," instituted for the pursuit of original re- 
 search in the higher branches of medical science, bac- 
 teriology, pathology, and physiology being the principal 
 departments. The cost of this institution, with equip- 
 ments, exceeded one hundred thousand dollars, to which 
 he subsequently added fift)- thousand dollars as an endow- 
 ment fund. 
 
 Dr. Hoagland is a fellow of the Royal Microscopical 
 Society of London, life fellow of the American Geo- 
 graphical Society of New York, the New York Genea- 
 logical and Biographical Society, and the Long Island 
 Historical Society. He is a member of the Military Order 
 of the Loyal Legion, a regent of the Long Island College 
 Hospital, and trustee and director of numerous financial 
 and benevolent institutions. 
 
146 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM ASTOR. 
 
 William Astok, son of William 15. and tjrandson of 
 Jolin Jacob Aster, was boiii in New York City, July 12, 
 1829. He received a co!le<jiate education at Columbia 
 College, being distingnishcd at this institution for appli- 
 cation and scholarship. Me was usuall)' at the head of 
 his class, and graduated second, in the spring of 1849. 
 .Subsequently he spent a period in foreign travel, in 
 which he became particularly interested in Egj'ptian and 
 Oriental scenery and antiquities. He ascended the Nile 
 higher than was usual with tourists of that date, and 
 became much interested in the scenery and associations 
 of Palestine, Turkey, and Greece. 
 
 When the ci\il war threatened the dissolution of the 
 Union, Mr. Astor became an ardent supporter of the 
 government, warmly favoring the emancipatinn nf the 
 slaves, and manifesting an eager desire to enter the army, 
 from which lie only desisted at the earnest and an.x'ious 
 entreaties of his father. He organized a regiment at 
 Rondout and a gun squad at Rhinebeck, the command 
 of both of which organizations was offered him, and 
 ileclined much against his own will, and in response to 
 his father's solicitations. 
 
 His .strong Union proclivities naturally drew him 
 into the ReiJublican party, the special su]i]iort of the 
 administration, and he continued to act with this party 
 till his death, being particularly interested, after the 
 war, in its labors in the cause of reconstruction. As 
 a citizen he was always careful to exercise the duty 
 of voting, but had no desire for public honors or 
 
 official duties, his disposition being quiet and retir- 
 ing. 
 
 In 1873 Mr. Astor visited Florida, where he made a 
 prolonged excursion in the " Ambassadress," the largest 
 sailing yacht ever built, and explored the coast region 
 of that -State, entering its baj's, inlets, and ri\ers, and 
 gaining a broad acquaintance with its resources. 
 
 This \isit aroused in him a strong interest in the ile- 
 veloprncnt and fortunes of the State, and he took an 
 active part in the operations against the Indians in the 
 Everglades. He was appointed bj- the governor an aide 
 on his staff, and organized a gun squad for operations 
 against these unquiet wards of the government. He 
 afterwards built a railroad from St. Augustine to Palatka, 
 on the St. John's River, and invested in a large ])ro])erty 
 in Jacksoinillc, erecting here a handsome block of i>uiUi- 
 ings, which is still considered the finest in the cit\'. In 
 recognition of these substantial services he recei\ed from 
 the Legislature a grant of a large tract of land, and by 
 way of honorary reward his name was given to the town 
 of Astor on the St. John's, Lake Schermerhorn was 
 named after his wife's family, and Armstrong after his 
 cousin, the manager of his beautiful estate of " I-'ern- 
 cliff," at Rhinebeck on the Hudson. An election as 
 United States Senator fimn F'lorida was offered him, 
 but declined. 
 
 Mr. Astor was, when in New York City, a regular 
 attendant at Trinit)- Church, anil contributed largely to 
 church pur]ioscs, while his pri\'ate charities were numer- 
 ous, but so unostentatious that none were aware of their 
 extent. He was not particularly given to club life, though 
 a member of several clubs and of the Masonic fraternity. 
 His special enjoyment, indeed, was found in travel, j-acht- 
 ing, and field sports, he being an enthusiastic de\'otee of 
 the rod and gun. His country-seat, " Fernciiff," includetl 
 both park and farm, and lu it Ik- ga\e much time and 
 attention to farming and stock breetling, becoming the 
 owner of famous breeding stables. His career as a 
 patron of the turf, h(i\\e\'er, was not long continued. 
 The greater \ym\. of his life, indeeil, was spent in travel, 
 his business interests and estate being left to the care of 
 his very competent manager Philip Kissam, who has been 
 a trusted guardian of an Astor estate for three genera- 
 tions. 
 
 Mr. Astor was h,i])i)ily in.uiied lo C.iroline W'. Scher- 
 merhorn, a descendant of one of the oldest Knicker- 
 bocker families. He left five children, oiiK' one, John 
 Jacob Astor, being a son. He died of pneumonia, April 
 25, 1892. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 147 
 
 JOHN JACOB ASTOR, 
 
 FOURTH. 
 
 John Jacob Astok, the fourth to bear that name, was 
 born Jul}- 13, 1864, the son of William Astor and <^rcat- 
 grandson of the founder of the family. He received his 
 preliminary education at St. Paul's School, Concord, New 
 Hampshire, and was subsequently entered at Harvard, of 
 whose Delta Phi society he is still a member. After his 
 graduation he followed the example of his father in 
 making an extended European tour, like him spending a 
 considerable time in Greece ami Turkey. Walking tours, 
 with Athens as his head-quarters, made him familiar with 
 many a classic locality. He also visited the North Cape, 
 Norwav, where he made an extended sojourn. C)n his 
 return to the United States he entered upon a course of 
 American travel, visiting Cuba and Me.xico, wliere he 
 studied the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and 
 making se\eral expeditions for hunting purposes to the 
 Rocky Mountain region, along the line of the Northern 
 Pacific Raihoad, then in process of building. 
 
 Mr. Astor's love of sport was no doubt inherited from 
 his father, and in pursuance of it he has become a 
 member of several societies devoted to out-door amuse- 
 ments. Among these are the Riding, the Racquet and 
 Tennis, tlie Country, the Tuxedo, and the New York 
 Yacht Clubs. Of the various forms of enjoyment, he is 
 particularly addicted to yachting, his large steam yacht, 
 the " Nourmahal" (which had been a favorite with his 
 father before him), being kept actively cruising from port 
 to port during the summer months, under his personal 
 direction. 
 
 The breeding-stables at " Ferncliff," established by his 
 father, are kept up by him, but instead of racers, hackney 
 and carriage horses are now raised there. The cele- 
 brated stallion " Confident Shot" is one of the treasures of 
 his stables. His time, however, is not solely given to 
 those employments, he attending daily to the interests of 
 his great inherited estate when in New York City, while 
 he is a director in numerous banks and trust companies. 
 Like his ancestors he is modest and unassuming, but 
 always ready to perform liis full duty as a citizen. 
 
 In one direction Mr. Astor has shown a power not 
 previously manifested in his family, that of invention, j 
 several useful devices having been patented by him. One 
 of these, which was shown at the Chicago Exhibition, is 
 a machine to remove the worn-out material from roads 
 before the new stone is laid down. It acts b\- means of i 
 an air-blast, which blows off the pulverized stone after 
 being crushed. This is likel)- to prove of great utility | 
 
 in the macadamizing of countr\' roads, and has been 
 highl}- conmicnded by the Scicittijic Anicricaii. An- 
 other in\-ention, more ambitious but of more doubtful 
 utility, is one for the inducing of rain. Its purpose is 
 to move large volumes of surface air, by any suitable 
 machiner)', and conve\' this air to the upper atmosphere 
 through a conduit. It is the conception rather than the 
 mode of operation to which he has so far confined him- 
 self, he proposing to convey a volume of warm moist 
 air to the colder and drier upper regions, and prevent it 
 mingling with the atmosphere while ascending, with the 
 belief that it will then discharge its moisture as rain. In 
 addition to these mechanical conceptions Mr. Astor has 
 recently entered the field of authorship, having published 
 a novel entitled " A Journey in Other Worlds : A Ro- 
 mance of the l-'uture," antl which is devoted to an ideal 
 conception of the inhabitants of the planets Jupiter and 
 Saturn. The work is curious and interesting, its plot 
 being handled in a very original manner. 
 
 Mr. Astor was married in 1891 to Miss Ava L. Willing, 
 of Piiiladelphia, a descendant of a prominent family of 
 the Quaker City whose ancestors came to this country 
 with William Pcnn, and who still hold much of the 
 original famil\- property. By this marriage two of the 
 leading Knickerbocker and Quaker family stocks are 
 united, Mr. Astor's mother being of the best blood of 
 old Dutch New York. It may be said in conclusion that 
 Mr. Astor is a member of many New York social 
 clubs, including the Knickerbocker, the Union, the 
 Metropolitan, and others, and the Society of the Colo- 
 nial Wars. 
 
148 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MURAT HALSTbAl). 
 
 MuKAT Halstead, one of the best known of American 
 journalists, is a native of Ohio, where he was born at 
 Paddy's Run, Butler County, September 2, 1829. His 
 father's family came from North Carolina, his grand- 
 fatlier, Jolin Halstead, being a resident of Currituck, in 
 that State, wlierc his father. Griffin Halstead, was born. 
 The family subsequently emigrated to southwestern Ohio. 
 His maternal grandfather, James Willits, was born near 
 York, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Ohio, where his 
 mother was born on the site of the present town of 
 Tarleton. His parents were married November i, 1827, 
 near New Haven, Hamilton County, Ohio, where his 
 motiicr's family resided. 
 
 Mr. Halstead was educated at I-'armers' College, Ohio, 
 where he graduated in 1851. He had previous!)- done 
 some literary work, and now became connectctl with llu- 
 Cincinnati Atlas, then with the Enquirer. Afterwanls he 
 attempted a -hmday newspaper, and in 1852-53 worked 
 on the Coluuibian and Grcnt West. He began liis con- 
 nection with the Cincinnati Coiiinnrcial in 1853, first as 
 local reporter, but soon as news editor. From his start 
 in tliis field of labor lie displa)ed the powers which have 
 since made him famous among the knights of tlu' pen. 
 The opportunities for the display of genius in journalism 
 were more plentiful before the war than they are to-da)-. 
 In those days the editor made tiie paper, as Greeley the 
 Tribune, Raymond the 7"/w<-.f, Watterson the Couricr-Joxr- 
 nal, and Halstead the Covnncrcial, this paper never 
 having been heard of beyond the hills of Cincinnati 
 until vitalized by his trenchant editorials. It is still widely 
 
 known as " Halstead's paper," despite the fact that it has 
 changed hands, and is no longer occupied by articles 
 from hi.s able pen. He purchased a part interest in the 
 Commercial in 1854, and in 1867 gained complete control 
 of the paper. For a time he managed it as an Indepen- 
 dent sheet, but afterwards made it a Republican organ. 
 In 1883 it became combined with the Gazelle under a 
 company of which he was president. 
 
 During the war Mr. Halstead became a power in the 
 land. His criticisms of the conduct of the armies were 
 so vigorous and just that they gained him the title of 
 " Field-Marshal," a sobriquet which clings to him still. 
 His keen militar}- dissections did not escape without 
 bitter comment, but they alwa\-s commanded respect, 
 and were certainly not without their influence upon the 
 management of the forces in the field. For man\- years 
 he was the leader of Republican journalism in the West, 
 the two journalists most frecpiently quoted aiul liescribed 
 in that quarter in those days being " Field-Marshal" 
 Halstead ami "Henri" Watterson. Mr. Halstead was 
 likened to a man who uses a bludgeon in attacking his 
 foes, while Mr. Watterson was credited with using the 
 rapier. Mr. Halstead, in truth, ne\cr played with words 
 when he wished to make a point, and a point imce ukkIc 
 by him was dri\en home to stay. 
 
 Mr. Halstead was married in 1S57 to Miss Mar_\- 
 lianks, of Cincinnati. They have had a fami!\- of twelve 
 children, nine sons antl three daughters, of whom all are 
 living with the exception of two sons. Among the events 
 of his life may be named his presence with the German 
 army during the Franco-Prussian War, in which he in 
 company with Bismarck and King William was at the 
 battle of Gravclotte. His accjuaintance with Prussian 
 affairs led to his nomination by President Harrison in 
 1 1889 to the important diplomatic post of ministir to 
 ]k-rlin. His honest and trenchant editorshi]) had, hou- 
 e\er, maiie him enemies among the members t)f ins own 
 party in the Senate, and the Democratic vote with two 
 exceptions, and six Republican Senators defeated his 
 confirmation. 
 
 Five years ago Mr. Halstead came to Brooklj^n and 
 took editorial charge of The Standard Union, a post 
 which he still holds. I'or many months afterwards he 
 continued to furnish editorial matter to the Cincinnati 
 Commereial, but recently this jxiper has changed hands 
 and his contributions to it have been discontinued. Mr. 
 Halstead's style is as forceful as it ever was, and his new 
 journal has gained a high staiuling under his masterful 
 leadership. Personall\-, he is amiable and courteous in 
 manner, gracious to his younger colleagues, and respected 
 b)' all the ]>rofcssion. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 149 
 
 LYMAN D. MORSE. ' 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Mr. Lyman D. Morse, is 
 a worthy member of a family which has given to the 
 United States citizens active in science and invention, and 
 prominent in law, the ministry, journalism, and states- 
 manship ; and his own career gives evidence of inherited 
 characteristics derived from the line of Samuel Morse, 
 who left England in 1635 and became a prominent 
 leader among the early Piiritan fathers in America. 
 
 Mr. Morse is a native of Maine, his birthplace being 
 the town of Paris, in that State. His boyhood was spent 
 and his education obtained in Paris, his final course of 
 study being in the O.xford Normal Institute of that town. 
 Shortly after graduating from this institution he removed 
 to Boston, Massachusetts, where he became connected 
 with the eminent firm of Joseph Burnett & Co. It was 
 during his fourteen years' experience with this firm, during 
 which he traveled widely over the United States, that he 
 gradually acquired the basis of the intimate knowledge 
 of and acquaintanceship with the newspapers and peri- 
 odicals of this country which now characterizes him as 
 the foremost specialist in his line of business. In addi- 
 tion to this, a faculty he has of making friends quickK' 
 and impressing his individuality strongly on those whom 
 he meets, caused him to make a most extended and 
 valuable acquaintance with merchants and business men 
 in all parts of the country. 
 
 In 1872 Mr. Morse married a Brooklyn lad}-, and 
 shortly afterwards went to London, England, where he 
 resided for three years, establishing his business head- 
 quarters there, and advertising and introducing American 
 products in Europe. His natural talent in the direc- 
 tion of liis present avocation, which had developed 
 largely during his wide experience, combined with his 
 intuitive grasping of all the circimistances which serve 
 to make a publication of \alue, or otherwise, for advertis- 
 ing purposes, singled him out as pre-eminently fitted for 
 the business with which he has become so prominently 
 connected ; and on his return to this country after his 
 Pluropean experiences, the value of which proxed great 
 in his after-career, he connected himself with Mr. J. H. 
 Bates, then proprietor of the advertising agency which 
 bore his name. 
 
 The many years of association with Mr. Bates ev-entu- 
 ated in Mr. Morse becoming the manager of the business, 
 in which capacity he found full scope for his energy and 
 abilities. Little by little Mr. Bates withdrew from acti\e 
 labor, realizing that in his new manager he had one whose 
 integrity and experience were such that the vast interests 
 which were intrusted to his hands would be judiciously 
 taken care of and augmented. And when afterwards 
 Mr. Bates solidified his interests by taking Mr. Morse 
 into partnership, the latter found himself the executive 
 head of a business whose name had become a synon)m 
 
 for integrity, honesty of dealing, straightforwardness, 
 and good business methods. Some of the largest firms 
 at home and abroad, who expend their millions to 
 make the names of their goods household words, placed 
 their confidential interests in his watchful care, and 
 Mr. Morse directed this enormous stream of money, 
 seeing to it that none ran to waste, but that every 
 penny was spent in a painstaking, judicious, and profit- 
 able manner. 
 
 The agency in Mr. Morse's hands maintained the ex- 
 cellent reputation of the firm, and the next important 
 step taken by the partners was the permanent retirement 
 of Mr. Bates, leaving Mr. Morse the sole owner of the 
 establishment, which is now known as the Lyman D. 
 Morse Advertising Agency, and one of the leading con- 
 cerns of its kind on either side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Mr. Morse is shrewd, quick-witted, with remarkable 
 thoroughness of purpose, and has the faculty of instant 
 decision, an important business instinct where large inter- 
 ests must be decided in a moment. This faculty alone 
 is sufficient to raise a man above his fellows, and no 
 doubt to its possession is due a large portion of Mr. 
 Morse's success in life. He combines the mature judg- 
 ment of middle age with the vigor more properly belong- 
 ing to a man of fewer years. 
 
 He is very genial and warm-hearted, a fact to be testi- 
 fied to by man\- a less fortunate " brother," as well as 
 b\' those who know him in his domestic relation in his 
 handsome Brooklyn home or at his delightful country 
 residence at Twilight Park. At liis clubs — the Union 
 League and Lincoln of Brooklj-n, and the Press Club 
 or the Hardware of New York — he is known as a whole- 
 souled clubable man who occasionaIl)f exhibits to a few 
 privileged intimates his talent as a raconteur and brilliant 
 conversationalist. 
 
ISO 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GEORGE A. SCOTT. 
 
 TiiK late Geor<(c A. Scott was born at Lansin<^biii<j, 
 Rensselaer Ct)iint)-, New York, in 1842, the son of 
 George Scott, a prominent Ijriish manufacturer of that 
 place. When but seventeen years of age he conceived 
 the idea of a brush whose bristles should not be doubled 
 in the back of the brush and secured with wire or thread, 
 and at this he worked at inlcr\als for \-cars, finali)- 
 achieving success. 
 
 Tile war with the South broke out w hen lie was nineteen 
 years of age. Young Scott burned with martial ardor, 
 particularly wlien he saw his friends and companions 
 donning the blue and marching away to the front. His 
 parents, however, who feared for their son's life, steadily 
 refused to ])erniit him to enroll himself in any of the 
 regiments being raised in the town. The youthful patriot 
 ended the contest by running away from home and 
 making his way to Virginia, where he sought the regiment 
 containing his friends, and enlisted in a compan\' whose 
 ca[)tain hail formerly been in his father's emplo)-. It was 
 a "two years' regiment," and was mustered out at the 
 end of that period. I'eeling that he had ilone his share 
 of duty to his country, ami wear)- of the hardships of 
 .soldiering, he returned to civil life. 
 
 On the perfection of his device anil the taking out of 
 a patent, he took the neces.sary steps to push it, bringing 
 it to the attention of certain capitalists in Massachusetts, 
 with whom lie entered into business relations. A com- 
 pany was organized called the l*"lorence Maiuifacturiiig 
 Company, with a large capital. 
 
 The young inventor was venturesome and pro\ed for- 
 tunate. Ten years were spent abroad, during which time 
 a company — the Lionite Manufacturing Compan)', limited 
 — was organized in London, and the brushes placed upon 
 the market, he being made the managing director. He 
 was also engaged in other enterprises, and became a 
 director in several other companies, while also diligently 
 engaged in working out a new idea, the ap[)lication 
 of electro-magnetism to his patent hair-brush and to 
 other articles. He became convinced that by inserting a 
 magnet in a hair-brush he could proiluce an article of 
 dail)' use which would prove an important agent in the 
 relief of headache and neuralgic pains. 
 
 The magnetic brush was brought out in 1878 in Lon- 
 don, and advertised with a liberality to which Britannic 
 conservatism was not accustomed, and which gave the 
 new article a decided start. The business being es- 
 tablished in London, Mr. Scott made his waj- to Paris, 
 whose journals were quickly filled with illustrations of 
 his brush, on whose back appeared a hand biaiulishing 
 a cluster of lightning ilarts. This seemed to take the 
 Parisian fanc)', and orders poured in for the magnetic 
 brush. 
 
 In the following year, 1879, Mr. Scott returned to New 
 \'ork, where he began advertising in the same liberal 
 manner as he had done abroad, and at once became 
 kuown as one of the largest ad\-ertisers in ihc world ; 
 anil for years his aiKertising expenses in I'^nglantl were 
 about S 100,000, and in this country about Si 50,000, 
 annually. 
 
 Mr. Scott's in\'entive acti\'it\- did not cease with the 
 production of the hair-brush. He followed this with 
 experiments towards the production of an electric flesh- 
 brush, and successively applied his magnetic idea to 
 other articles, producing a magnetic belt, corset, and 
 tooth-brush, all of which articles have a large annual 
 sale. Into his three agencies — New York, London, and 
 Paris — orders come from all parts of the worlil, such as 
 Central and South .\merica, ^Vustralia, Hong-Kong, the 
 Holy Land, and other remote [joints, and the lousiness is 
 still acti\el)' pushed. 
 
 Dr. Scott resided in New York, and was an American 
 physically as well as mentally. Tall and lithi, with regu- 
 lar features, keen gray eyes, an e\ident sense of humor 
 lurking in their depths, and ijuick, decisive manner, he 
 bore the mark of the enterprising man of business in 
 his whole vital personality. He died I'ebruary il, 1 890, 
 at Colorado Springs, Colorado, leaving a widow and son 
 and daughter. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 iSi 
 
 CAPTAIN HENRY ROMEYN. 
 
 Captain Hexrv Romeyn (Fifth Infantry) was born in 
 New York June i. 1S33. His first military service began 
 at the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, and was 
 in the grades of private, corporal, and sergeant of Com- 
 pany G, One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Volunteers, 
 serving in the field to November 15, 1863, at which 
 time he was appointed a captain of the Fourteenth U. S. 
 Colored Infantry, 
 
 He served as chief of scouts at Gallatin, Tennessee, 
 from January to June, 1863, and then was occupied in 
 recruiting the Forty-second and Forty-fourth U. S. 
 Colored Troops until April, 1864, after which he was 
 detailed as pro\ost-marshaI at Knoxville, Tennessee, 
 which position he occupied to December, 1865. 
 
 He was brevetted major of volunteers for "gallant and 
 meritorious services at the battle of Nashville ;" was hon- 
 orably mustered out of volunteer service March 26, 1866. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion Captain Romeyn was 
 engaged at the action of Frankfort, Kentucky ; engaged 
 at the action of Dalton ; defence of Decatur ; action of 
 Shoal Creek, Alabama ; battle of Nashville, and action 
 of Decatur, Alabama. 
 
 Captain Romej-n entered the regular service as first 
 lieutenant of the Thirty-seventh Infantr\- January 22, 
 1867, and subsequently assigned to the l''ifth Infantry 
 August 14, 1869. Upon his entrance into the regular 
 army he was bre\etted a captain for " gallant and meri- 
 torious services at the battle of Nashville, Tennessee." 
 He joined his regiment and was with it on frontier duty 
 at Fort Lamed, Kansas, May to September, 1867; Fort 
 Garland, Colorado Territory, October, 1867, to Novem- 
 ber, 1868; Fort Union, New Mexico, and Cimarron 
 Agency, New Mexico, November, 1868, to April, 1869; 
 at Fort Wallace, Kansas, September, 1869, to October, 
 1 87 1. He was then ordereil in field against hostile 
 Indians, where he remained from August to November, 
 1874; at Fort Gibson, May, 1875, to June, 1876; in field, 
 Sioux campaign, Montana Territory, Jul\- to November, 
 1876; also May, July, and August, 1877; cantonment. 
 Tongue River (Fort Keogh),June and July, 1877; escort 
 duty, September, 1 877 ; in campaign against Nez Perces, 
 September, 1877. He was then granted a sick-leave on 
 account of wound to March, 1878; on leave (surgical 
 certificate) to April, 1882 ; at Fort Keogh, Montana Ter- 
 ritoty, April to October, 1882; at Fort Brown, Texas, 
 December, 1882, to November, 1883; at Fort Keogh, 
 Montana, from February, 1884, to June, 1888; at Fort 
 Ringgold, Texas, from June, 1888, to May, 1891 ; Mount 
 Vernon Barracks, Alabama, from that date to present time. 
 He was promoted to a captaincy in the Fifth Infantry Jul)- 
 10, 1885. He filled the position of post adjutant, acting 
 assistant quartermaster, and assistant commissary of sub- 
 sistence at Fort Larned, Kansas, May to September, 1876; 
 
 post adjutant, acting assistant quartciniaster, and assistant 
 commissary of subsistence at Fort Wallace, Kansas, Sep- 
 tember, 1869, to October, 1871 ; post adjutant, acting 
 assistant quartermaster, and assistant commissary of sub- 
 sistence, post Southeast Kansas (Fort Scott, Kansas), to 
 May, 1873; acting assistant quartermaster and assistant 
 commissary of subsistence. Fort Gibson, Indian Terri- 
 tory, May, I 873, to July, 1874; post adjutant, cantonment 
 Tongue River, June and Jul)-, 1877. Captain Romeyn par- 
 ticipated in action against Che)'ennes, Che)-enne Agency, 
 Indian Territory, April 6, 1875 ; in action with Nez Perces 
 Indians September 30, 1877, and was shot through the 
 lungs, the wound thought at the time to be mortal. 
 
 He was then detailed as professor of military science 
 and tactics at Hampton Institute, Virginia, from March, 
 1878, to November, i88r. Joining his regiment at Fort 
 Keogh, Montana, he remained until September, 1882, 
 when he was ordered to P^ort Brown, Te.xas, where he 
 remained to December, 1883; then rejoining at Fort 
 Keogh, accompanied his regiment to Texas in 1888. 
 
 The first of the name of Rome)-n in this country 
 (1661) had been an officer in the arm\- of Prince Maurice, 
 of Holland, and in the Brazils. 
 
 One of Captain Romeyn's great-grandfathers, John 
 Moore, of New York, was a member of the first Provin- 
 cial Congress of that colony, and of the " Council of 
 Safety" of Tryon County. His maternal great-grand- 
 father, Captain Henry Shoemaker, of Pennsylvania, was 
 a prisoner on board the old hulks in New York harbor, 
 from which he escaped in irons by dropping from a port 
 and floating out with the tide at night. His paternal 
 <nandfather served asjainst the Indians in the Mohawk 
 Valley on different occasions. Several of the name 
 served during the War of 1812, and *one was killed at 
 the storming of the gates of the City of Mexico, while 
 thirty-seven participated in the War of the Rebellion. 
 
152 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES B. COLGATE. 
 
 James Bookman Colgate, well known in New York 
 for his philanthropic services, was born in that city 
 March 4, 181 8, bcin<^ descended from an English family 
 which can be traced back among the sturd\- yeomanry of 
 Kent to the beginning of the fifteenth century. Robert 
 Colgate, in the days of the American Revolution, was 
 bold in his advocacy of the rights of the colonists, and 
 at a later date was in danger of arrest for his sympathy 
 with some of the principles of the French Revolution, 
 and his support of the demand for reform in England. 
 In consequence, on the advice of Pitt, wIkuii he had 
 known since bojhood, he emigrated in 1795 to the I 
 United States, making his home for some time in Mary- I 
 land, and afterwards in Delaware County, New York. 
 
 William Colgate, his eldest son, built up in New \'ork 
 the well-known liou.se of Colgate & Co., and died in 
 1857, leaving three sons, Samuel, who is head of the 
 old firm, Robert, now engaged in the white-lead business, 
 and James li., with whom we arc here particularly con- 
 cerned. James H. Colgate received his early education 
 in Connecticut, and later in New York. lie was ready 
 to enter college at the age of sixteen, but preferred to 
 devote his attention to business, and spent seven j-ears 
 in mercantile life, the last four in the commission hou.sc 
 of Hoorman, Johnson & Co. During the year 1841 
 most of his time was passed in Europe, his health lia\-- 
 ing failed. On his return to' New York he engaged in 
 the wholesale dry-goods business, in which he continued 
 for a number of years, leaving it in 1852 to enter the 
 .stock bu.sincss in Wall Street with Mr. John H. Trevor, 
 the firm-name being Trevor & Colgate. 
 
 The business of the new firm proved successful, and 
 in 1857 they added a bullion department, establishing 
 themselves now at No. 47 Wall Street. Here they 
 prospered greath', and their house came to be, and still 
 is, considered the leading bullion house of this country. 
 Mr. Colgate directed his attention particularly to this 
 branch of the business, and during the civil war took 
 an early and active part in the formation of the New 
 York Gold Exchange, of which for many years he was 
 president. He strongly advocated the remonetization 
 of silver, in which at one time he stood almost alone, 
 though now his views have gained many sujiportcrs. 
 His papers on this subject ha\e been widely read, and 
 evince groat clearness of thought and independence of 
 judgment. 
 
 Mr. Colgate's private life has been one of phiiantiiropic 
 effort of the most generous and self-sacrificing kind. 
 From early life he has been a member of the Baptist 
 Church, and during his whole business career has de- 
 voted a percentage of his income to the promotion of 
 Christian work in all its departments. Fortunately, Mr. 
 Trevor has warmly sym|iathizcd with him in these be- 
 ne\olcnt views. The 15aptist Church in Yonkers, New 
 ^'ork, was built b\- tlicin in conjunction, at a cost of 
 one hundred antl ninet)' thousand dollars, and the\' ha\e 
 given fiftj- thousand dollars to the HajHist Church Ex- 
 tension Fund, besides fostering man\' other religious 
 and educational interests. 
 
 In educational advancement he has been as strong!)- 
 interested as in religious work, particularly in connection 
 with Madi.son University, of wiiicli his father was one 
 of the leading incorporators. In 1873, the Colgate 
 Academy adjunct to the university was erected at his 
 exi)ense, and forty-two thousand dollars given b)- him 
 towards endowing the ])rincipalship. In 1861 he became 
 a member of the board of trustees of this education.d 
 institution, and in 1864 its president, which position he 
 still retains. Since 1864 he has c(5ntributed to the en- 
 dowment of the Madison University no less than two 
 hundred and forty-seven thousand dollars, in addition 
 to the sixty thou.sand spent nn the Colgate Academy 
 building. 
 
 Mr. Colgate has not confined his gifts to this institu- 
 tion, but has given liberally to other educational enter- 
 prises, including the Rochester University, the Colgate 
 Academy at New London, New Hampshire, the Colum- 
 bian College at Washington, D. C, and various others, 
 besides many gifts to churches anil benevolent societies. 
 He is indeed a man of the noblest and most admirable 
 character, and ranks high among the princes of charity 
 of our times. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 153 
 
 REV. HHNRY C. I'OTTHR U.D. 
 
 Rev. Hen'kv Codman Potter, the seventh Protestant 
 Episcopal bishop of the diocese of New York, was born 
 at Schenectady, New York, on May 25, 1825, being the 
 son of the Rev. Alonzo Potter, consecrated bishop of 
 Pennsylvania in 1845, and nephew of Rev. Horatio 
 Potter, who became bishop of New York in 1861. 
 Mr. Potter received his early education in the Philadel- 
 phia Acadeni)' of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
 thence entered the Theological .Seminar)' near Alexandria, 
 Virginia, from which he graduated in 1S57. He was 
 immediately made deacon, and one j-ear later was or- 
 dained to the priesthood. From his entry on the deacon- 
 ate until May 15, 1859, he was in charge of Christ 
 Church, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in which he showed 
 from the first that marked zeal and devotion to the duties 
 of a clerical life which befitted one who was the son and 
 nephew of bishops, and which has been throughout his 
 life his leading characteristic. 
 
 The youthful rector was subsequently transferred to 
 St. John's Church, of Troy, New York, in charge of 
 which parish he remained for seven years. At the end 
 of this period he was installed as assistant rector at the 
 famous Trinity Church, of Boston, where he served for 
 two years with much devotion to duty and satisfaction 
 to the members of the congregation. His next field of 
 duty was as rector of an equally well-known and aristo- 
 cratic Church, Grace Church, New York City, of which 
 he assumed pastoral charge in May, 1868, a post of duty 
 which he continued to occupy for the succeeding sixteen 
 \cars. 
 
 During this period several flattering recognitions of 
 his ability came to him. In 1S63 he was chosen presi- 
 dent of Kenyon College, at Ganibier, Ohio, by an enthu- 
 siastic vote of its board of trustees. This position he 
 declined, and at a later date (1875) declined another offer 
 more in the line of his chosen profession, that of Bishop 
 of Iowa. 
 
 His uncle. Bishop Horatio Potter, of the diocese of 
 New York, feeling, in 18S3, unfitted to perform all the 
 duties devolving upon him, proffered a request for an 
 assistant bishop to the general council of the Protest- 
 ant Episcopal Church then in session in Philadelphia. 
 This request of the aged bishop was immediately 
 complied with b\- the election of his nejihew as assistant 
 bishop. 
 
 The consecration of the ncwl)- elected bishop took 
 place on October 20, 1883, in the presence of forty-three 
 bishops and nearly three hundred clergymen, who were 
 assembled at the general convention. Mr. Potter's long 
 connection as rector with Grace Church ceased in Janu- 
 ary, 1884, though he was still to remain related to his 
 old parish in his new capacity as bishop, which office he 
 immediately assumed. For a short time his uncle con- 
 
 tinued to perform a part of the duties of the office, but 
 his disabilities increasing, he was soon obliged to retire 
 from active labor in tlie diocese, all of whose duties now 
 fell to the care of his assistant. On January 2, 1887, the 
 aged bishop died. His nephew now became the head of 
 the see, a position which he has .since that date continued 
 to fill. The diocese over which he has episcopal control 
 is the largest in population of any in the United States. 
 Its population is o\-cr two millions, and within its bounda- 
 ries are more than two hundred parisiies and churclies, 
 and over three hundred and fifty clergy, while the number 
 of communicants are in excess of fifty-four thousand. 
 The annual contributions of the diocese amoiuit to nearly 
 ;S3, 000,000. 
 
 In 1866, Bishop Potter was appointed secretary of the 
 House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Cliurch, 
 and continued to perform the duties of that office until 
 his election to the bishopric in 1883. Since his gradua- 
 tion, several honorary degrees have been conferred upon 
 him by colleges, as a just recognition of his abilit}- and 
 eminence as a member of the clergy. Tliese include 
 the degree of A.M., and subsequently that of D.D. from 
 Union College, of LL.D. from Trinit\- College, and of 
 D.D. from Hartford Uni\crsit\-, the last given on the 
 occasion of his elevation to the bishopric. 
 
 Nothing further needs to be said here concerning his 
 abilities as a member of the episcopate, the regard in 
 which he is held, or the earnestness of his application to 
 the labors of the diocese. What has already been said 
 about his strict and conscientious attention to duty will 
 suffice for this. It may be remarked, in conclusion, that 
 he has been an author of much credit, his works in- 
 cluding " Sisterhoods and DeaconsBses," " Sermons of 
 the City," and " The Gates of the East," a work descrip- 
 tive of Oriental travels. 
 
154 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 COLONEL ELLIOT F. SHEPARD. 
 
 Ei.LioT Fitch Shepakd was born at Jamestown, New 
 York, on July 25, 1833, his father, I'"itch Shcpard, being 
 then in official connection with the Chautauqua County 
 liank. lie was educated at tlie L^niversity of tlic City of 
 New York, on graduating from w liich he prepared him- 
 self for the profession of the law, and was admitted to 
 the New \'ork bar in 1858. He at once entered u])()n a 
 practice which continued with little interru[)tion dtiring 
 the subseipient twenty-five years. His principal with- 
 drawal from professional duties was during the c\\\\ war, 
 in which he took a most energetic and useful part in 
 support of the government. Governor E. D. Morgan, 
 who was also a major-general in the volunteer service, 
 placed Mr. Shepard upon his military staff at the out- 
 break of the war, with the rank of colonel. In this 
 l)osition he manifested much e.\ecuti\e ability and excel- 
 lent organizing capacity. The Fifty-first Regiment of 
 New York Infantry, raised and equipped in September, 
 1861, owed its existence mainly to Mr. Shepard's exer- 
 tions, and was in conscciuence known as the " Shepard 
 Rifles." His powers in this direction having been thus 
 made evident. Governor Morgan appointed him to the 
 command of the State depot for volunteers, at ICImira, a 
 command which he retained for two years, during which 
 he organized, equipped, and sent to the front more than 
 fifty thousand men. 
 
 At the close of the war Colonel Shepard resumed his 
 duties at the bar, and gained much profitable jiractice, 1 
 becoming counsel for the New York Central and other 
 railroad companies and for various corporations. His j 
 labors in this direction were supplemented by others of | 
 
 a legislative and financial character. The passage of 
 the act creating a Court of Arbitration for the New 
 York Chamber of Commerce was procured through his 
 efforts, and the Bank of the Metropolis, the Columbia 
 Bank, and the American Savings Bank were organized 
 by him. In 1876 he founded the New York State 
 Bar Association, of which he was unanimouslj- elected 
 president. 
 
 His activitj' in these numerous directions told in time 
 upon his health, and in 1884 he found himself obliged to 
 take a period of rest and recreation. He accordingly 
 crossed the ocean and traveled in Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa. In 1887 he made a journey to Alaska, a land 
 then but little known, and on his return brought it to 
 public attention by a series of instructive and charming 
 lectures. A year later he came forward as an author in 
 the field of economics, publishing his famous panii)hlet, 
 " Labor and Capital arc One." This, in w hich he main- 
 tains that the modern corporation is a distinguishing feat- 
 ure of nineteenth century ci\'ilization, deprecates strikes 
 and advocates arbitration, had a \ery wide circulation, 
 and was much commented upon b\' the press and ])olitical 
 economists. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. Shepard entered upon a new field of labor, 
 purchasing the Mdil and Express from Cyrus W. I'ielil, 
 and assuming the duties of its editor. He hail long been 
 a fervent Christian, aiKocating the tenets of Christianit\' 
 in e\er\' way a\ailable, and marked his editorshij) of the 
 Mdi/ and ILvprcss b\- placing a text from the Bible each 
 day at the head of its columns. As an editor he mani- 
 fested much ability and enterprise, and the paper rapidly 
 increased in circulation and advertising patronage under 
 his control, its circulation quadrupling. He built for it 
 one of the finest newspaper edifices in the city, and to-day 
 it ranks among the most successful ilailies. 
 
 Colonel Slie])ard's religious earnestness showed itself 
 in another direction when he purchased the Fifth Avenue 
 Omnibus Line, with the avowed purpose of [)utting an 
 end to its .Sunda)- traffic. This was done as soon as the 
 control of the line came into his hands. His advocac)- 
 of the sacredness of Sunday showed itself also in his 
 strong opposition to the opening of the World's Colum- 
 bian I{xi)osition on that day. 
 
 In 1868 Colonel Shepard married Margaret Loui.se, 
 the oldest daughter of William II. Vanderbilt. His 
 family consisted of six children. In 1893 his Alma Mater 
 conferreil on him the degree of Master of Laws, and the 
 University of Omaha that of Doctor of Laws. Politi- 
 cally he was an earnest Rei)ublican, infusing into his 
 political faith the fervor which entered into all his strong 
 beliefs. He died suddenly on March 24, 1893. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 155 
 
 CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. 
 
 Chauncey M. Depew, whose name has become ahnost 
 a liouschold woid in this country, was born at Peekskill, 
 New York, April 23, 1834. On his father's side he comes 
 from Hut^uenot stock, his ancestors having left France 
 on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and founded 
 New Rochelle, in Westchester County, New York. On 
 his mother's side he is descended from Roger Sherman, 
 of historical fame. 
 
 After a preliminary education in his native place, Mr. 
 Depew entered Yale College, from which he graduated 
 in 1S56. He subsequently studied law in Peekskill, and 
 was admitted to practice at the bar in 185S. He had 
 alread}- manifested a decided tendenc)- towards politics, 
 anti de\'cloped that oratorical ability to which he owes 
 his wide-spread reputation. While still stud_\'ing law, he 
 was recognized as a valuable aid to his party, the Re- 
 publican, and was .sent as a delegate to the Republican 
 State convention of New York in 1858. In 1859 he 
 began legal practice, but in the same year took the stump 
 in the political campaign, in which he showetl marked 
 power as a political orator. 
 
 In i860, Mr. Depew became a candidate for tlie State 
 Legislature, and was elected, though his district was 
 Democratic. He was re-elected in 1862, and during this 
 term served as chairman of the Committee on Ways and 
 Means. In 1863 he recei\'ed the Republican nomination 
 for Secretar)' of State of New York. In the campaign 
 he showed an industr\- and capacity that have rarely 
 been equaled. For six weeks he made speeches twice 
 a day, and with such effect that he was not only elected, 
 but received the triumphant majority of thirty thousand. 
 At a later date he was offered the post of United States 
 minister to Japan, which he finally declined after retain- 
 ing the commission in his possession, under considera- 
 tion, for some months. 
 
 In 1866, Mr. Depew withdrew from political life to de- 
 vote himself to his profession, and was appointed by 
 Vanderbilt attornc}- for the New York and Harlem Rail- 
 road. In this position he showed such industry and skill 
 that in 1869 he was made attorney for the New York 
 Central and Hudson River Railroad, — formed by con- 
 solidation in that year. Ten years later the entire Van- 
 derbilt system of railroads was placed under his legal 
 care, and he was made a director in the board of each 
 road. This important field of duty gave him an abun- 
 dance of labor, much of it requiring the highest legal 
 skill, but in 1872 he ran for lieutenant-governor of the 
 State as the candidate of the " Independent Party" which 
 arose that year. This party proved very short-lived, and 
 Mr. Depew's candidac)- died with it. 
 
 In 1874 he was made regent of the University of the 
 State of New York, and was appointed on the commis- 
 sion to superintend the erection of the State capitol. In 
 
 188 1, at the time of the resignation of Senators Conkling 
 and Piatt from the United States Senate, Mr. Depew be- 
 came one of the candidates for the vacant seats. The 
 struggle was a protracted one, his force growing till on 
 the twenty-fourth ballot he lackeil but ten votes of elec- 
 tion. The murder of President Garfield ended the strug- 
 gle. It became imperative that New York should be 
 represented in the Senate, and Mr. Depew withdrew his 
 name in fa\'or of his leading opponent. 
 
 In 1S82, on the retirement of Mr. William H. Vander- 
 bilt from the presidency of the New York Central, and 
 the election of Mr. J. H. Rutter in his place, Mr. Depew 
 was made second vice-president. The new president 
 died in 1885, and Mr. Depew was elected to the presi- 
 dency in his place. This important post he has since 
 then continued to fill. He is also president of the West 
 Shore Railroad Compan\'. Among other positions which 
 have been occupied b)' him are those of president of the 
 Union League and of the Yale Alumni Association, di- 
 rector in the Union Trust Compan\-, the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company, the P'quitable Life Assurance Com- 
 pany, and St. Luke's Hospital, and member of the New 
 York Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 As a lawyer, Mr. Depew has been a remarkably hard 
 worker. He is best known, however, for his telling 
 orator}', which has been heard effectively in national 
 Republican con\entions (as in his striking presentation 
 of ex-President Harrison's claims at the last conven- 
 tion), at the Chicago World's Exposition, and on many 
 other important occasions, and which is not onl\- bril- 
 liantly incisive, but is irradiated with a rich humor 
 which has had much to do with his wide reputation. 
 This latter power is particularly OTsplayed on social 
 occasions, and he is voted the best after-dinner speaker 
 in America. 
 
156 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CORNHl.lUS VANDERBIIT. 
 
 CoKNELius Vanderbilt the younger, grandson of tlic 
 notable financier of the same name, and eldest son of 
 William H. Vanderbilt, was born at Dorj), Staten Island, 
 November 27, 1843. He was educated at private scliools, 
 and subsequently carefully trained for a business career, 
 to fit liim for the important interests for which his father 
 designed him. His business life began as a clerk in 
 the Shoe and Leather Bank of New York, wliere he 
 served under the same conditions as the other employes, 
 and manifested much industrj' and ability. A\. the age 
 of twenty he was placed in the hanking house of Kis.sam 
 Hrothers, remaining there three years, and manifesting 
 a capacit)' for business which delighted his father. In 
 1.S65 he began his railroad career in a responsible 
 position in the New York and Harlem Railroad office, 
 and proved so a])t and able that in 1867 he was made 
 treasurer of the road, and ten years later, on the death 
 of his grandfather, became its vice-president. Subsc- 
 cjucntly, on tlic retirement of his father, he succeeded to 
 its presidency. 
 
 In 1883 lie was elected ciiairman of the directors of 
 the New York Central and Michigan Central roads, 
 his brother William K. being elected to a similar posi- 
 tion in the Lake Shore Railroad Compan_\-. By the | 
 will of William II. V'anderbilt the sum of j;io,000,000 
 was left to each of his eight children, Cornelius received \ 
 ;iS2,ooo,ooo extra, and the residuary estate was equally \ 
 divided between the two older sons, Cornelius and Wil- 
 liam K. Subsequentlj' the remaining lieirs, recognizing ; 
 
 the abilit}' and experience of the two here named, agreed 
 that the bulk of the family fortune, particularly the rail- 
 road securities, shouUl remain under their management, 
 for the further development of the immense estate. 
 
 Of these two trustees of the Vanderbilt estate, Cor- 
 nelius has shown most decidedly the hereditary family 
 talent for business and finance, and has played a leading 
 part in the more recent handling of the property. He 
 has become the financial manager of the vast Vanderbilt 
 railroad .system, which in its main and branch lines com- 
 prises a total of forty-three separate companies and 
 operates sixteen thousand miles of track. Throughout 
 this great system he makes his influence felt, and no im- 
 portant step is taken without his sanction. 
 
 Mr. V'anderbilt's energies are not all exertetl in the 
 direction of business. He takes an active part in social 
 interests, and has shown a markcdl)' benevolent disposi- 
 tion, being connected as trustee with many of the chari- 
 table, religious, and educational institutions of New York 
 City, most of which have received benefactions at his 
 hands. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, which 
 had received .ui important donation from William II. 
 Vanderbilt, owes to his four sons a building for clinical 
 instruction, built and equipped as a fitting memorial of 
 their father. It has received a valuable gift also from 
 one of the daughters. 
 
 Mr. Vanderbilt's personal bene\oIences embrace the 
 erection of a fine club house for railroad men at the 
 corner of Madison Avenue and Fort)'-fifth Street, and 
 large contributions towards clubs and reading-rooms at 
 many points on the Vanderbilt system. The Protestant 
 Episcopal Catlicdial has received from liini a donation 
 of SlOO.OOO towards its erection, while he anil his wife 
 (Alice Gwynne, daughter of a distinguished lawyer of 
 Cincinnati) have erected a ilormitory on the site nf the 
 old "South College" at Yale, as a memorial to their son 
 William II., who died at that university. The)' have 
 five children living, — three sons and two daughters. 
 
 Mr. Vanderbilt is much interested in art and literature, 
 and has contributeil to the art education of the metropolis 
 by ]ircsenting to the Metroi)olitan Museum of Art a col- 
 lection of diawings from the old masters, and Rosa Bnn- 
 heur's acknowledged masterpiece, the famous " Horse 
 Fair," purchascil at a cost of <;5 3,000. Personally, he is 
 a dignified an<l courteous gentleman, ilmneslic in tastes, 
 yet fond of society, being a member of numerous clubs, 
 and one of the incorporators and directors of the Metro- 
 politan Clnl). He takes great interest in public affairs, 
 and is known as a man of just views and sentiments on 
 the leading topics of the da)'. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 157 
 
 FRANK THOMSON. 
 
 Frank Thomson was bora in Chanibcrsburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, July 5, 1841. His great-grandfather, Alexander 
 Thomson, emigrated from Scotland in 1771, and became 
 one of the pioneer settlers in the Cumberland Valley. 
 His father, Hon. Alexander Thomson, represented his 
 district in Congress from 1824 to 1826, was for many 
 years president judge of the Si.xteenth Judicial District, 
 and professor of law in Marshall College. 
 
 Mr. Thomson received his preliminary and classical 
 education at the Chanibcrsburg Academy, and at seven- 
 teen years of age selected the railway as his life-work, 
 and entered the shops of the Penns)-Kania Railroad at 
 Altoona in order to thoroughly fit himself for his chosen 
 profession. Colonel Thomas A. Scott was at this time 
 general superintendent of the road. At the breaking out 
 of the war. Colonel Scott having been called to the aid of 
 the government in matters relating to the transportation 
 of troops and supplies, detailed Mr. Thomson for duty 
 in the military railroad department of the government 
 which was then being organized under his direction. 
 
 Mr. Thomson remained in the ser\ice of the govern- 
 ment, in active duty in \'arious parts of the South and 
 Southwest, until 1864, and in June of that year was 
 appointed superintendent of the Eastern Division of the 
 Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, which position he filled 
 until March, 1873. In the latter part of 1871 he was 
 temporarily detached from the active duties of his post 
 in order that he might direct in person, on behalf of the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad, the American tour of the Grand 
 Duke Alexis, of Russia. 
 
 In March, 1873, he was promoted to the office of 
 superintendent of motive power of the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad, which position he held a little over one year, 
 when he relinquished it on Jul}- i, 1874, to become gen- 
 eral manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad system east 
 of Pittsburg and Erie. 
 
 As general manager he introduced a number of reforms 
 in the management, administration, and maintenance of 
 the road. The standard track and solid road-bed owes 
 its existence to his efforts, and the system of track in- 
 spection and the award of prizes for the best sections of 
 
 track were institutctl b\' him. Tiie atloption of a superior 
 standard of equipment, the building of picturesque sta- 
 tions and the ornamentation of their grounds, the use of 
 the block-signal s}'stem and other safety appliances, were 
 all distinctive features of his management. He was also 
 instrumental in developing that high grade of discipline 
 for which the Pennsj-lvania Railroad is noted. 
 
 On October i, 1882, Mr. Thomson became second 
 vice-president, and on October 27, 1888, was advanced 
 to the post of first vice-president, of which office he is 
 now the incumbent. In this position he is in charge of 
 the traffic arrangements, both freight and passenger, and 
 is the administrative officer of the road and the direct 
 representative of the president. 
 
 He is particular!}- charged with the traffic arrange- 
 ments effective between the Pennsylvania Railroad and 
 its connections, and in this connection he is one of the 
 best known and most highly regarded railroad officials of 
 the country. His long service and wide experience and 
 comprehensive abilit}- peculiarly fit him for this important 
 position. 
 
 In addition to his railroad duties, Mr. Thomson is a 
 director of the Equitable Insurance Company, of New 
 York. 
 
158 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 EDWARD B. HARPER. 
 
 Edwaki) Ua.sco.mi; Haktek was born near Doxcr, 
 Delaware, September 4, i<S42, being a descendant of a 
 fan)il)- whose genealogical tree can be traced back to Sir 
 William Harper, who was lord maj'or of the city of 
 London in 15(^)1. His father was a leading merchant of 
 Kent County, Delaware, but both his parents had died by 
 the time he was thirteen years of age, leaving him an or- 
 phan destitute of means and obliged in the strictest sense to 
 make his own way in the world. His business life began at 
 the age of fourteen as clerk in the general store of Dover. 
 I le remained here until twent)' years of age, by which time 
 he was enabled, through strict ccononi)- and frugal habits, 
 to accumulate a small capital, which he decided to use in 
 acepiiring a more thorough business education. 
 
 Proceeding to Baltimore, he entered a commercial col- 
 lege, where he applied himself with such strict .issiduit)' 
 to study that he kept at the head of his class and gradu- 
 ated with the highest honors of the institution. Various 
 offers of situations were now made him, from which he 
 selected one of clerkship in a Philadelphia bank. His 
 talent for business found here a wider field th.in that of the 
 country store, and he advanced step by step until he was 
 chief manager under the firm, and subsequently became a 
 member of a large banking concern whose mone)' trans- 
 actions aggregated the large total (W fmni half ,1 million 
 to a million dollars daily. 
 
 Mr. Harper continued thus engaged until iS^S, \\lieii 
 the financial depression of that period induced him to 
 withdraw from banking and to engage in the life insur- 
 ance business, to which his talent for solving intricate 
 mathematical problems seemed particularly to ada])t him 
 In 1869 he was offered the position of Western manage 
 of the Commonwealth Life Insurance Company of New 
 York. He accepted the situation, and entered upon his 
 
 new duties with such energy and skill as to cause a rapid 
 development in the business of the concern. He re- 
 mained with the Commonwealth Company for si.\ years, 
 at the end of which time it was found that he had placed 
 upon the books of the company two-thirds of its entire 
 business. On the retirement of the Commonwealth Coni- 
 panj- from business, Mr. Harper became the New York 
 manager of the John Hancock Life Insurance Compan)- 
 of Boston, whose business, which previously had lan- 
 guishetl, displa\x-d a remarkable development uniler his 
 care. In 1880 he disposed of his interest to the Hancock, 
 and shortly afterwards was asked to take charge of the 
 business of the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, a 
 companj' which was incorporated February y, 1881, and 
 was organized on a purel\- mutual plan. Mr. Harper 
 accepted the office, on September 16, 1 881, of president of 
 this conipan)-. The business of the Association was up to 
 that time transacted in a single room in the Bennett Build- 
 ing, at Nassau and Fulton Streets, but it quickly felt the 
 imi)ulse of the energy and ability of its new president, the 
 business in the first month jumping from $400,000 to 
 $1,000,000; the second month it reached ^1,250,000, and 
 within two j'cars it reached $4,000,000. The present stand- 
 ing of the business is indicated in the great new buikling 
 at the corner of Broad w.i\- antl Diiane Street, into which 
 it has expanded from its original contracted quarters. 
 
 Mr. Harper's influence on the conditions of the insur- 
 ance business has been solely for good, and his influence 
 as a manager is far-reaching and effective. His plan of 
 assessment life insurance has been adopted by the Mas- 
 sachusetts Legislature. .\ bill requiring reserves of all 
 life insurance companies to be deposited with insurance 
 departments, and for annual distribution of surplus, was 
 brought before the New York Legislature at his instance ; 
 antl through his e.xertions a de])osit law of $50,000 was 
 enacted in Caiiaii.i, giving assessment associations the 
 right to do business in that country. 
 
 Mr. Harper is connected with \arious other organiza- 
 tions, in each of which he occupies a prominent position. 
 He is president of the Legislative Associates of the Uniteil 
 States of America, a member of the New York Union and 
 the National Union of the Assessment Associations, of 
 the New York Board of Trade, of the Knights of Honor, 
 American Legion of Honor, Knights Temi)Iar anil other 
 Masonic bodies, ,uul of other beneficial and fraternal 
 societies. He is a director of the American F.vcliange 
 at Paris, and a member of the Lotus, the Patria, the 
 Chnrch, llu' Republican, and other clubs, and of other in- 
 stitutions, including the New York Geogra])hical Society. 
 
 Religiously, Mr. Harper is a Baptist, and is one of the 
 trustees of Calvary Church. In politics he is an Inde- 
 pendent, his rule being always to prefer honesty before 
 partisanshi]!. Recently his name was prominentl)- urged 
 for nomination for the governorship of New York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 159 
 
 COLONEL AND BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL 
 INNIS N. PALMER. 
 
 Colonel and Brevet Bkicadier-General Innis N. 
 Palmer was born in New York, and graduated from the 
 Military Acadeni}- Jul\- i, 1846. He was promoted 
 brevet second lieutenant Mounted Rifles the same day, 
 second lieutenant July 20, 1847, and first lieutenant Jan- 
 uary 27, 1853. He served during the war with Mexico ; 
 and arrived at Vera Cruz IVLTrch 9, 1847; participated 
 in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battles of Cerro Gordo, 
 Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec (severely wounded), 
 and in the assault upon and capture of the City of Mexico ; 
 commanded Company B of the police in the City of 
 Mexico from December 18, 1847, to June 5, 1848; re- 
 turned to Jefferson Barracks in lul>", 184S; served as 
 acting adjutant of his regiment to March 25, 1849, 
 when he was on regimental recruiting service at St. 
 Louis until IVLi\- ; then he rejoined his regiment near 
 Fort Leavenworth and marched with it to Oregon City, 
 where he arrived about the 15th of October; he served 
 as acting adjutant of his regiment from October 14, 1849, 
 to May I, 1850, and held the position until July i, 1854; 
 returning East, served at Jefferson Barracks in 1851, 
 and during the years 1852-54 was employed in Indian 
 campaigns in Texas, ami had stations at Forts Merrill, 
 Ewell, and Inge ; he was on recruiting ser\ice in Balti- 
 more when appointed a captain in the Fifth (old Second) 
 Cavalrj-, to date from March 3, 1S55 ; joined at Jefferson 
 Barracks August 27, 1855; marched with the regiment 
 to Texas, and arri\ed at Fort Mason January 14, 1S56, 
 where he served until Jul\-, when he was assigned to 
 the command of Camp Verde, which he retained until 
 May, 1858, and was employed during January and 
 February, 1858, in operations against hostile Indians 
 near the head- waters of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers; 
 returned to Fort Mason in May, 1858, and about one 
 month later proceeded to Fort Belknap, where the regi- 
 ment was ordered to concentrate for the march to Utah ; 
 but the order was revoked, and he was assigned to duty 
 at that post, where he served until January, 1859. He 
 returned to duty in October, i860, and conducted a de- 
 tachment of recruits to Te.xas, and rejoined his company 
 at Camp Cooper January 5, 1861. He marched his 
 company to Green Lake, where he was joined by five 
 other companies ; then conducted the battalion to In- 
 dianola, and there embarked on the steamship " Coatza- 
 coalcos," and arrived in New York harbor April 11, 
 1861, proceeding directly to Washington, where he was 
 employed in guarding the Treasury building and served 
 in the defences of the city; commanded the regular 
 cavalry in the Manassas campaign ; served as a member 
 of a board convened at Washington in August, 1 86 1, 
 for the examination of officers who were reported to be 
 
 unable to perforni ficld-ser\ice ; commanded the regi- 
 ment in the defences of Washington from August 28, 
 1 86 1, until March, 1862, when he participated in the 
 Virginia Peninsula campaign as a brigade commander 
 in the Fourth Corps, Army of the Potomac, having been 
 appointed brigadier-general of volunteers September 23, 
 1 86 1, and was engaged in the siege of Yorktown, in the 
 battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Glendale, and Mal- 
 vern Hill ; he was then employed in organizing and 
 forwarding to the field New Jersey and Delaware vol- 
 unteers, and in superintending camps of drafted men at 
 Philadelphia, until December, 1862, when he was trans- 
 ferred to North Carolina, where he served until June, 
 1865 ; commanded at different periods the First Division 
 of the Eighteenth Army Corps, the Department of North 
 Carolina, the District of Pamlico, the Eighteenth Army 
 Corps, the defences of New Berne, the Districts of North 
 Carolina and Beaufort, and participated in March, 1865, 
 in General Sherman's movements, and was engaged in 
 the action of Kinston ; joined his regiment at Fort Ells- 
 worth, Kansas, on the 21st of May, ami commanded it 
 until September; he was on leave of absence until De- 
 cember, and rejoined the regiment at Fort Laramie, 
 Wyoming, and commanded it until August, 1867, and 
 again from November, 1867, to Jul}-, 1868; served as 
 a member of a board convened at \\'ashington to pass 
 upon a system of cavalry tactics from Jul_\-, 1868, to 
 June, 1869. He served at Omaha Barracks and Fort 
 Sanders, Wyoming, until retired from service March 20. 
 1879. 
 
 Colonel Palmer was brevetted major-general of volun- 
 teers, and also lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier- 
 general U. S. Army, for gallant and meritorious services. 
 He was promoted major Second Cavaify April 25, 1861 ; 
 lieutenant-colonel Second Ca\alr\- September 23, 1863; 
 and colonel Second Cavalrj^ June 9, 1868. 
 
i6o 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMbS GORUUN BENNETT. 
 
 The well-known editor and proprietor of the New 
 York Herald, James Gordon Bennett, was a Scotchman 
 by birth, bcin^ born at Newmills, Banffshire, in that 
 coiintr)', about iSoo. He was intended by his parents 
 for the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church, and 
 was educated for this purpose at a seminary in Aberdeen. 
 But the boy by disposition and inclination was unsuited 
 for such an a\ocation, and it was not lonij before it 
 became plainly evident that his parents were mistaken 
 in their purpose. As time went on, his growing aversion 
 to the priestly calling developed into a determination 
 to escape from it. I le had read Franklin's " Autobi- 
 ofjraphy," and was led by it to fix upon America as the 
 most suitable field for the pushing of his fortunes. In 
 accordance with this idea he left the seminary and took 
 pa.s.sage for the United States, landing at Halifax in 1819. 
 
 Here the boyish immigrant remained for a short time 
 engaged in giving lessons in French, Spanish, and book- 
 keeping, at which he earned but a meagre living. His 
 ne.xt place of residence in the New World was Boston, 
 where he found the means of livelihood still more sparse, 
 anil was finally .saved from threatened starvation by 
 obtaining employment in a printing-office. In 1822 
 he made his way to New York, his place of residence 
 during most of his future life. He spent, however, a 
 few months at Charleston, South Carolina, where he had 
 engaged to make Spanish translations for a newspaper. 
 
 (Jn his return to New York Mr. Bennett tried his iiand 
 in various enterprises, as projector of a school, lecturer 
 on political economy, anil journalist, the latter in a very 
 
 subordinate capacity. His first effort to establish a 
 journal of his own was made in iS."".,, and during the 
 next ten }-ears he engaged in several similar enterprises, 
 all of which proved futile. Meanwhile he was employed 
 as reporter or assistant editor on several New York news- 
 papers, and in the latter capacity took an active part in 
 the Presidential campaign in 1828, in support of General 
 Jackson. About 1830 he became associate editor of the 
 Coiiriir iViti /iiKjiiinr, and in 1833 was raiseil to the 
 post of chief editor of 'Jlit J\n)isyh'auiii>i, a Philadel- 
 phia newspaper. As Washington correspondent of the 
 Enquirer, he attracted attention by a series of letters 
 written in imitation of those of Horace Walpoie. 
 
 Up to the present time Bennett had worked hard and 
 lived an absolutely abstemious life, but with little avail 
 in the increase of his fortunes. The year 1835 found 
 him still a poor man. In that year, however, he struck 
 the vein that was to enrich him, in the establishment of 
 a one-cent paper entitled the New York Herald. In his 
 looking around for an associate in this enterprise he at 
 first a])piieil to I lorace Greeley, who was then gaining a 
 reputation as an able editor in New York. Mr. Greeley 
 declined to join in the problematical venture, but gave 
 Bennett the name of the party to whom he next applied, 
 and who agreed to back him in the enterprise. 
 
 The pioneer number of the new paper appeared May 
 I, 1835, issuing from a cellar, in which the proprietor 
 and editor played also the part of .salesman, doing triple 
 duty in the su])pc)rt of his lioubtful venture. " He started 
 with a disclaimer of all principle, as it is called, all 
 part)-, all politics," and to this declaration of intentions 
 he rigidly adhcrcil. Tiie paper was vital fiuni the start, 
 filled with a variety of news, spicy correspondence, and 
 personal gossip and scandal, a combination which brought 
 it quickly into notice, and insured it a rapidly increasing 
 sale. Beimett's industry was untiring, his editorial sa- 
 gacity of the highest grade, and his unscrupulous rival- 
 ship with competitors one that ga\e hin) often the pre- 
 cedence in obtaining news. As a result, the Herald 
 became in a short time a success, and in the course of 
 years a highly valuable property, as one of the few 
 leading ncw.spapers in the United States. Money was 
 expended lavishly in the obtaining of news, the corre- 
 spondents of the //tvvf/// sought all lands and were present 
 at all ]ooints of interest, and in the la.st year of Mr. Ben- 
 nett's life his enterprise was signally shown by his 
 dispatch of Stanley to Africa in search of Dr. Living- 
 stone, of whom for a long time nothing had been heard. 
 He continued to edit the Herald till his death, which 
 took place June 2, 1872. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 i6i 
 
 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 
 
 James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the only son, and suc- 
 cessor in his journalistic career, of James Gordon Ben- 
 nett, the founder of the New York Herald, was born in 
 New York, Ma)' ID, 1841, cc)min<4' on the scene of action 
 in the early days of that famous journal, which was 
 eventually to achieve so notable a success. The striking 
 career of his father we have already described. His 
 mother, Henrietta Agnes Crean, had in her earl}- days 
 been a poor but accomplished music-teacher of New 
 York. She died in Ital\- in March, 1S73, shortly after 
 the death of her husband. 
 
 On the death of the elder Iknnctt, in June, 1872, his 
 son, who liad been carefully educated, and had been 
 thoroughly trained in the requisites of journalism, be- 
 came his successor in the proprietorship and manage- 
 ment of the Herald, which has since that time remained 
 under his care. As manager of this influential sheet he 
 has been remarkably enterprising, hesitating at no ex- 
 pense which would be likeh' to bring the Herald to 
 public notice, and quite distancing his competitors in the 
 brilliancy and daring of his journalistic feats. Several 
 of the more striking of these may be named. The cele- 
 brated Jeannette Polar Exploring Expedition was fitted 
 up and sent out at his expense, as a Herald enterprise. 
 The unfortunate finale of tliis e.xpetlition — for which 
 Mr. Bennett was not in tlic slightest sense responsible — 
 brought it most vi\idl\- to public attention, and did much 
 to arouse renewed interest in the problem of the polar 
 seas. A still more notable expedition — a stroke of 
 genius, as we may fairly call it, on the part of the Herald 
 management — was the sending of Henry M. Stanley to 
 Africa on his famous expedition in search of the great 
 explorer Livingstone. The success of Stanley in this 
 quest was one of the most important events in the his- 
 tory of the latter half of this century, and the starting- 
 point in that succession of expeditions by Stanley which 
 have gone so far towards opening up the " Dark Conti- 
 nent," which had so long lain under a cloud of mystery. 
 The inception of this great work we owe to the happy 
 thought and brilliant enterprise of Mr. Bennett, and to 
 his keen judgment of men in the ciioice of the born 
 explorer Stanley. A third item of Herald enterprise, 
 of which mention may fitly be made, was the publica- 
 tion in England of storm warnings telegraphed from the 
 United States, a movement which attracted the favorable 
 attention of meteorologists in general and added to the 
 fame and circulation of the enterprising journal. 
 
 For many years Mr. Bennett has made Paris his prin- 
 
 cipal place of residence, his time being chiefly given to 
 superintending the collection of foreign news for the 
 pages of the Herald. In 1883 he became associated with 
 Mr. John \V. Mackay in an important enterprise, that 
 of organizing the Commercial Cable Company, with 
 the purpose of laying a new cable between America 
 and Europe to compete v.ith the combined English 
 and French lines. The completion of this enterprise 
 had the effect of greatly decreasing the cost of ocean 
 telegraphy. 
 
 Mr. Bennett's life has been far from exclusively de- 
 voted to business. On the contrary, he has taken a 
 great interest in sport, especially in yachting, of which 
 for years he was an enthusiastic devotee. In this field 
 he has been as enterprising and as novel in method as 
 in journalism. In 1866 he took part in a memorable 
 yacht-race, which had the wide Atlantic for its course, 
 its terminal points being Sandy Hook and the Needles, 
 Isle of Wight. This transatlantic race was won by his 
 schooner-yacht, the " Henrietta," against two competi- 
 tors, in thirteen days, twentv-one hours, and fifty-five 
 minutes. In 1870 he sailed in a similiar race across the 
 ocean, from Queenstown to New York. In this case his 
 yacht, the " Dauntless," was beaten b}- the English yacht 
 " Cambria," though only by the short lead of two hours. 
 
 It will suffice to say in conclusion that the journal 
 made successful by the father's enterprise and activity 
 has been kept on the rising tide of success and fortune 
 by the son, and that the new building of the Herald, 
 with the interesting public display of its press-work, is 
 one of the notabilities of the metropolis. 
 
i6z 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 EDWIN D. MORGAN. 
 
 Edwin Denison Morgan, governor of New York 
 during an eventful period, was born amonLj the Berk- 
 shire Hills of Massachusetts on February 3, 181 1, the 
 son of a farmer, aiul in the li^'luh i^^encration from 
 James Morj^an, of Llandaff, Wales, who emitjrated to 
 Boston in 1636. The educational advantages of tlie 
 farmer's son were meagre, his only opportunity for 
 " higher education" being a single term at I?acon Acad- 
 emy, Colchester, Connecticut, when fifteen years old. 
 Two years afterwards, in 1828, he entered a grocery 
 store in Hartford, and tliree years later became a partner 
 in the business. He continued thus engaged for three 
 years, then came to New York and began business for 
 himself He was an active and able merchant and proved 
 very successful, continuing in this business for twent)' 
 years, ami becoming a large im[)(>rter of teas, coffees, 
 and sugars. 
 
 His public career began while still engaged in busi- 
 ness. When but twenty-one jears of age he had served 
 in the city council of Hartford, and in New York entered 
 politics with a similar office, that of a.ssistant alderman. 
 From this time on he rose steadily in political honor. 
 In 1850 and 1852 he was elected State .senator, in which 
 position he was made chairman of the Committee on 
 Finance. The bill establishing Central Park was carried 
 by his efforts. He served as commissioner of emigra- 
 
 tion from 1855 to 1858. In the fornKilion of the Re- 
 publican party he took an active part, antl became 
 prominent in its early mo\enients, being a delegate to the 
 Pittsburg conference of 1856, chairman of the national 
 convention that nominated Fremont, and chairman of 
 the Republican national committee during the Fremont 
 campaign. 
 
 In 1858 he was maile the nominee of his part\- and 
 elected governor of New York, and was re-elected by a 
 large majority in i860, being thus in the gubernatorial 
 chair of the l-'.mpire -State during much of the period of 
 the civil war. His administration was distinguished for 
 economy and a reduction of the public debt. On the 
 outbreak of the war he tendered to the President all the 
 resources of the State, and superintended the enli.stment 
 and support of the large contingent of troops sent by 
 New York to the front. He accepted the rank of major- 
 general of volunteers, but declined any pa\- for his ser- 
 vices. In 1862 he was chosen Senator of the United 
 States, and remained a member of the Senate till 1SC9, 
 his record being one of luinor and credit. President 
 Lincoln twice nominated him Secretary of the Treasury, 
 and at a later date President Arthur tendered him the 
 same nomination ; but in each case he tleclined the prof- 
 fered honoi-. 
 
 Governor Morgan's later business relations were as 
 senior partner of the well-known financial house of E. 
 D. Morgan & Co., Wall Street, New York. He was also 
 a director in several institutions, including the United 
 States Trust Compan\-, the National Bank of Commerce, 
 the Western Union Telegraph Companj-, the New York, 
 Lake Eric and Western Railroad Company, and various 
 others. His club connections included membersliip in 
 the Union League and t)ther political and social chilis, 
 while religiously he was an earnest member of the Pres- 
 bjterian Church, in which he held several offices. He 
 was \ ice-president of the American Tract Society for 
 eigiit years, and contributed liberally to its funds. The 
 Woman's Hospital of New York ninnbered him among 
 its incorporators, and he was its president from 1877 to 
 his death. Other institutions aided by him were the 
 Union Theological .Seminary, Berkshire College, Presby- 
 terian Hospital, New York City Mission, and numerous 
 others, to all of which he gave liberall}-. Before his 
 death he sought out all iiis surviving nephews and nieces 
 (thirt_\--three in all) and gave them $5000 each. He died 
 in New York, l-'ebruarj- 15, 1883. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 163 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL JOHN LORIMER WORDEN. 
 
 Rear-Admiral John Lorimer Worden enjoys the 
 distinction, unique in our service, of being placed upon 
 the retired list, at his own request, upon full pay, the 
 latter being done by special act of Congress. Admiral 
 Worden's name will always be especially associated with 
 the " Monitor," but he performed valuable service before 
 the idea of the " Monitor" was conceived, as well as long 
 after she went to the bottom. 
 
 Rear-Admiral Worden entered the navy as a midship- 
 man from his native State, New York, in January, 1834, 
 and ser\ed in the Brazils and the Mediterranean be- 
 fore going to the Naval School at Philadelphia. Pro- 
 moted passed midshipman in July, 1840, and was in 
 the Pacific for three j-ears, after which he went to the 
 Naval Observatory, at Washington. He obtained his 
 next two steps in the same year, master in August and 
 lieutenant in November, 1846. He went out to the 
 Pacific Station in 1847, ^"d served there in the "South- 
 hampton," " Independence," and " W^arren," coming home 
 in the line-of- battle-ship "Ohio," in 1850. For several 
 years afterwards he was on dut\- at the Observatory, 
 and in the Mediterranean, at the na\\'-yard. New York, 
 and as first lieutenant of the frigate " Sa\annah," Home 
 Squadron. 
 
 On Ajjril 6, 1861, Lieutenant Worden repoited at 
 Washington for special duty connected with the dis- 
 cipline and efficiency of the naval ser\'ice, but, finding 
 that ships were being rapidly fitted for service, in conse- 
 quence of secession movements, asked to be relieved 
 from special duty, and applied for service afloat. On the 
 7th, at daylight, he was sent to Pensacola with de- 
 spatches for the commanding officer of the squadron off 
 that port, the orders to reinforce Fort Pickens, and 
 reached there about midnight on the lOth. A heavy 
 gale prevented him from communicating with the ships 
 on the ne.xt day. But on the 1 2th he delivered his de- 
 spatches at noon. At 3 p.m. left to return to Washington 
 b}- rail. It was necessary to go via Montgomery, Ala- 
 bama, and on the 13th, about 4 p.m., he was arrested at 
 a station just south of the rebel capital, taken there, and 
 detained as a prisoner until November 14. He was then 
 paroled and ordered to report to the Secretary of War, 
 at Richmond. He found that he was to be exchanged 
 against Lieutenant Sharp, a Confederate who was con- 
 fined on board the " Congress," at Newport News. By 
 flag of truce from General Huger to Admiral Golds- 
 
 borough, this exchange was dulv' effected November 18, 
 after Mr. Worden had been more than seven months a 
 prisoner. On January 16, 1862, he was ordered to the 
 command of the " Monitor." The story of this extraor- 
 dinar)' engine of war, and its influence on our own 
 fortunes and upon na\-al construction all over the 
 world, has often been told, and cannot be told too often. 
 In his battle with the " Merrimac," on March 9, 1862, 
 Lieutenant Worden was severely injured, and was 
 obliged to be removed as soon as the action was over, 
 but not until complete success had crowned the efforts 
 of one who was fighting an entirely novel and untried 
 vessel, which had only come in the night before from a 
 perilous voyage. He was made commander, July, 1862, 
 and upon partial reco\er)' was upon dut)- at New York, 
 as assistant to ^\dmiral Gregory, in superintending the 
 construction of iron-clads. Commander Worden com- 
 manded the monitor " Montauk" from October, 1862, 
 to April, 1863, in the South Atlantic Squadron. In her 
 he attacked Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River, and 
 on February 28, 1863, destroyed the Confederate priva- 
 teer " Nashville," under the guns of that fort. 
 
 On April 7, 1863, he participated in the attack of the 
 iron-clads, under Admiral Dupont, upon the defences of 
 Charleston. In the mean time, Februarj' 3, 1863, he 
 had been promoted to be captain in the nav}-. Com- 
 modore and superintendent, Naval Academy, 1 868. Rear- 
 admiral commanding European Station, 1872, and much 
 other service. 
 
1 64 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES F. D. LANIHR. 
 
 Jamks Fkanki.in Dou(iHTV LANiKR.aii eminent banker 
 and financier, was born in Washinj^toii, Beaufort County, 
 North Carolina, November 22, iSoo. lie was descended 
 from an ancient French family, of IIu<^uenot faith, who 
 left their country to avoid persecution, one branch 
 coming to America. James Lanier, grandfather of the 
 subject of our sketch, served as a captain throughout 
 the Revolutionary War, in Colonel William Washing- 
 ton's light cavalry regiment, and was greatly distin- 
 guished as an able and valiant officer. Major Alex- 
 ander C. Lanier, his father, served under General Harrison 
 in the War of 181 3, and died in 1820 from diseases con- 
 tracted in military service. 
 
 Mr. Liuiier was educated first at a pri\ate village 
 school, and afterwards at an academy at Newport, Ken- 
 tucky. At the end of his school life General Harrison 
 procured him a cadetship at West Point, which he was 
 eager to accept, but declined at the earnest reipiest of his 
 mother, wlio was distressed at the thought of her only 
 child leaving home. In 1819 he began the study of lau 
 at Madison, Indiana, where the famil)' then lived. Me 
 finished his course at the Transylvania I^iw School in 
 Kentucky, graduating in 1823, and inmiediately begin- 
 ning practice in Madison. 
 
 Activity in his new profession impairing his health, he 
 turned his attention to [political affairs, and served as 
 assistant clerk in the Indiana Mouse of Representatives 
 from 1824 to 1827, when he was elected chief clerk. In 
 this position he became acquainted witli all the leading 
 men of the State, and laid the foundation of his future 
 success. Me continued his legal practice while thus 
 engaged, until the State Bank of Indiana was chartered, 
 
 when he withdrew from the law and took a prominent 
 part in its management, he being a leading member in 
 its board of control. 
 
 The bank began business at the beginning of that era 
 of speculation which led to the panic of 1837, but was 
 so skillfull}- iiianagctl as to escape the fate of so nian\- 
 banks of that period, and to pay large dividends to 
 stockholders. It wound up in 1854, returning to stock- 
 holders, in aildition to the annual dividends, nearly 
 double their original investment. It was the only bank 
 in the country at that time that offered to pay any part 
 of its indebtedness to the government in coin. 
 
 In 183S, Mr. Lanier attentled a con\ention of the Banks 
 of the Unitetl States, held at New York, to consider the 
 subject of resuming specie payments. This he warmh- 
 advocated, and was backed up b\- Albert Gallatin, the 
 leading spirit in the convention. Mr. Lanier was chosen 
 in 1847 to seek the adjustment of the debt of Indiana, 
 which had defaulted in interest on its bonds to the ex- 
 tent of about $16,000,000. He went to Europe for this 
 purpose, met the Rothschilds, the officials of the Bank 
 of ICngland, and other financiers, and accomplished his 
 mi.ssion successful!}'. He obtained nearl}- all the out- 
 standing bonds, and restoretl the credit of the State. 
 
 In 1S49, I\Ir. Lanier left Madison for New York, which 
 continuetl his place of residence during the remainder 
 of his life. He formed there, on January i, 1849, a 
 partnership with Richard H. Winslow, the firm-name 
 being Winslow, Lanier & Co., with the purpose of doing 
 a general banking business, and particularlj- of dealing 
 in railroad .securities. He brought with him from In- 
 diana the first Western railroad bonds e\er offered in 
 the New \'i)rk maiket, antl placed them with nnuh suc- 
 cess. l'"or se\eral }-ears afterwards the house ditl an 
 excellent business, its transactions extending widel\- 
 throughnut the United States. After 1854, howe\er, the 
 firm began to w itlulraw from railroad bonds anti confine 
 itself principally to banking, in which it has since con- 
 tinued to do a very large business. 
 
 When the civil war broke out, Mr. I^inier, too old to 
 take the field, used his influence earnestl}' in aid of the 
 government, loaning the State of Indiana more than 
 Sl,000,000 to equip troops and for ollur ])nrposes. In 
 1864 the State ordered the repa}-ment of these advances, 
 but Mr. Lanier refused to accept an}' compensation but 
 the regular inteiest. In 1865 he went abroad in the 
 service of the government, for the purpose of advancing 
 the credit of this country in Europe, a mission in which 
 he was very successful. He afterwards withdrew from 
 participation in public affairs, devoted himself closely to 
 business, and died in Augu.st, 1S81, nearly eighty-one 
 years of age. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 165 
 
 GENERAL EDWARD LESLIE MOLINEUX. 
 
 Edward Leslie Molineux, brevet major-general in 
 the Uniteil States volunteer arni}-, was born October 12, 
 1833. After his educational period, and during his early 
 ventures in business life, a native inclination towards a 
 military career led him (in 1854) to join a regiment of 
 the New York State National Guard. At a later date 
 he entered, as a private, the Brooklj-n City Guard (the 
 Thirteenth Regiment), in which he passed through the 
 several non-commissioned grades. He left this regiment 
 to accept an important mission to South America, soon 
 after his return from w hich the ci\il war began, and a 
 demand was made for patriotic citizens to rally to the 
 defense of the L'nion. Mr. Molineux was one of the 
 earliest to respond. He enrolled himself in the Seventh 
 Regiment, and after a brief period of service in this 
 noted bod)- of citizen soldiery was made brigade in- 
 spector of the Eleventh Brigade, as wliich he worked 
 efficient!)' in raising the Twent)--third Regiment, of 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 On tile organization of this regiment he was unani- 
 mously elected its lieutenant-colonel. Shortly afterwards, 
 in August, 1862, he raised a new regiment, the One 
 Hundred and Fifty-ninth New York, as colonel of which, 
 in November, he proceeded to the front, being as.signed 
 to the Mississippi expedition of General Banks. During 
 the feint against Port Hudson he commanded a detach- 
 ment of the expeditionary ami)', and continued to do 
 service in that campaign till April 14, 1863, when, during 
 the battle of Irish Bend, he recei\cd, while leading a 
 charge, a severe wound in the jaw. 
 
 No sooner was his wound in a condition to permit 
 active service than Colonel Molineux was again in the 
 field, taking part in the engagements of the Red River 
 campaign, and subsequently acting as inspector-general 
 of the Department of the Mississippi, and later as provost- 
 marshal-general and commissioner for the exchange of 
 prisoners. He continued to do efficient service in this 
 department for a considerable period, being next made 
 military commander of the Lafourche district, Louisiana, 
 with the dut)- of organizing troops or companies of 
 scouts in that State ; and afterwards, upon the comple- 
 tion of the celebrated dam at Alexandria, beinsj griven 
 command of all the L^nion forces on the north side of 
 the Red River. 
 
 In the closing period of the war Colonel Molineux 
 joined General Grant's arnn-, then operating against 
 Petersburg and Richmond, and, at the head of a pro- 
 visional division of the Nineteenth Army Corps, joined 
 General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and took 
 part in all the notable actions of that campaign. His 
 
 zeal and gallantry at Eislier's Hill, Winchester, and 
 Cedar Hill were rewarded by the brevet rank of briga- 
 dier-general. His subsequent service was at Savannah, 
 Georgia, whither he was sent with his brigade by sea, 
 and placed by General Sherman in charge of Forts 
 Pulaski and Tybee and the other miHtary works at that 
 cit)-. While here he saved the ship " Lawrence," for 
 which the New- York board of underwriters voted him 
 a service of plate. 
 
 The war ending. General Molineux was placed in com- 
 mand of the military district of Northern Georgia, with 
 head-quarters at Augusta, and while here seized for the 
 government a very large sum of Confederate coin and 
 bullion, valuable buildings and factories of the Confed- 
 erate government, quartermaster and commissary stores 
 valued at 510,000,000, and over seventy thousand bales 
 of cotton. But while thus vigorously performing his 
 duty as a soldier, he did this with a courtes)' anti con- 
 sideration that won him general esteem, and brought 
 him the thanks of the cit)' council and merchants of 
 Augusta for his justice and kindness. He retinned to 
 civil life as major-general b\- brevet, "'for gallant and 
 meritorious services during the war." 
 
 General Molineux subsequently became major-general 
 in the New York National Guard, second division. He 
 is an active member of the Lo\al Legion, the Grand 
 Arm)' of the Republic, and various charitable associa- 
 tions. He has been frequently nominated for office, but 
 has persistently declined. His business connection is 
 with the firm of F. W. Devoe & C. T. Raynolds Co., of 
 New York Cit)-. Valuable papers have been contributed 
 by him to periodicals on various militaf)- and civil subjects. 
 
1 66 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 J. C. BUSH. 
 
 J. C. Blsii, at present a proiiiincnt acKeitising assent 
 of New York, was born in Salisbur\', a town of the 
 Maryland jieninsula, or tlic " ]'".astcrn Sliorc," as it is 
 usually called, on October 21, 1839. Mis father. Captain 
 J. C. Busli, was a seafaring man, and his son inherited a 
 love for the same line of business, but had experiences 
 while still very young well calculated to divert him from 
 a life so full of hardships. These experiences were those 
 of being wrecked and nearly drowned, of being forty 
 hours without water, and of remaining three weeks in a 
 vessel frozen solidly in the ice. These were enough to 
 turn his desires from the ocean, but his adventurous ilis- 
 position declared itself in other directions in his yoiuiger 
 days. Mis education was obtained at a ]>ri\ate schot)l 
 or academy, which he left in his fiftecnlh year to engage 
 in business as clerk in a hardware store. Two years 
 sufficed him in this line of business, and he made his 
 way to Philadelphia, wiiere for three months he occupied 
 a position in a wholesale notion liouse, and then entered 
 the office of an insurance agent, devoting his evenings 
 while there in taking a course of study at a business 
 college. 
 
 This experience entled for a time his t]uiet course of 
 life. Me had it first in view to go to Mong-Kong, China, 
 and fill tlieie a position in the interests of the concern 
 with which he was then engaged. This project fell 
 through, and the adventurous boy, disgusted at the 
 failure of his design, threw up his situation and started 
 West, with the ]nirpose to "grow u[) with the countr)'." 
 Me made a short stay at St. Louis, and then joineil a 
 party going up the Missouri to Leavenworth. I'"rom this 
 place he started with some of tlie party on the Santa 
 Fe trail, but the adventurers, meeting a party of Inilians 
 in their war-paint, found it advisable to make all haste 
 
 back, journeying as much as fift\- miles a da)- in their 
 rapid return. Young Bush now made his way to Inde- 
 pendence, Missouri, where, by way of a further achen- 
 ture, lie started to run down to St. Louis on a raft, and 
 narrowly escaped being drownctl, the raft being wrecked 
 on a chain of rocks abo\e that city. 
 
 After this outing, the )-oung man returned to liis native 
 place, and soon afterwards sought Philadelphia again, 
 where he obtained a situation with the BidtUc Mardware 
 Company as tra\-eling salesman, a duty which he per- 
 formed for nine months. While thus engaged he an- 
 swered an advertisement in a Philadelphia newspaper, 
 asking for "a young man with some ability as a solicitor 
 and a knowledge of book-keeping." The advertisement 
 was from N. W. Ayer & Son, the well-known advertising 
 agents, though then (1S74) their business was in its early 
 days. Mr. Bush had the fortune to be selected from the 
 number of applicants, principall)' from the fact of his 
 having a diploma from a business college. He had not 
 kept books practically for more than a year, but in that 
 year had gained valuable experience which pro\ ed of 
 great benefit t<i him. 
 
 Mr. Bush remained for ten years with Ayer & Son, at 
 first in the book-keeping department, but subsequently 
 going through e\'ery branch of the agency business, until 
 finally he was cmplo)'ed in its most imi^ortant ilepart- 
 ment, that of estimating and soliciting. When not bus)- 
 on estimates he was on the road, being often absent for 
 weeks together. He lias calculated that, during his nine- 
 teen years of advertising experience, he traxelcd in all 
 a half-million miles, — an average of twenty-five thousand 
 miles a year. Me has been more than two hundred days 
 on the road in a )-ear, twenty-five nights in a sleeping car 
 in a month, and has spent several days and nights to- 
 gether without slee]) when an im|)ortant and involved esti- 
 mate had to be quickl)- m.ule. In this wa)- there is scarcely 
 a town in this countr)- in which he has not set foot. 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Bush resigned fi-om N. W. Ayer & Son's 
 service, and went t(3 Chicago as the special representative 
 in that (piarter of several Western papers. After two 
 years spent here he received a tempting offer from the 
 New York Sini, which brought him to the city which 
 has since been his head-quarters. After three years with 
 the Sun, he s]ient a )'ear in California on account of bad 
 health, and on his return entereil the office of J. Waller 
 Thompson, and later formed his " Star List of .Agricul- 
 tural Pajjcrs." Beginning w ith se\en papers, he now rep- 
 resents three times thai number. Me believes in agri- 
 cultural advertising, and that belief has had much to do 
 with the large patronage he has secured from the leading 
 advertisers of the countr)'. Starting business with desk 
 room in the Times Building, he now occupies one of the 
 finest corner suites of rooms in that building, and his 
 business is growing with higlil)- encouraging rajiidity. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 167 
 
 COLONEL AND BREVET MAIOR-GENERAL STEWART 
 VAN VLIET. 
 
 Colonel and Brevet Major-General Stewart Van 
 Vliet was bom in New York, and graduated from the 
 Military Academy July i, 1840, when he was promoted 
 second lieutenant Third Artillery. He first ser\'ed at 
 Fort Columbus, New York, and participated in the 
 Florida War, 1840-41, being engaged against the Semi- 
 nole Iiulians in se\eral skirmishes. He was detailed at 
 the Militar)' Academy as assistant professor of mathe- 
 matics from September 20 to November 15, 1 84 1 , when 
 he again [larticipated in the Florida War of 1841-42. 
 Afterwards he served at Fort Pike, Louisiana ; Fort 
 Macon, North Carolina ; and Savannah, Georgia, to 
 1843, when he was promoted first lieutenant November 
 19, 1843. He was then on duty at Fort Moultrie, South 
 Carolina, and Savannaii, Georgia, until 1846, when the 
 Mexican War occurred, and in which he participated, 
 being engaged in the battle of Monterey, September 21- 
 23, 1846, and siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847. 
 He was then appointed quartermaster Third Artillery, 
 March 28, and ser\ed in that capacity until June 4, 1S47, 
 when he was appointed captain, staff-assistant quarter- 
 master, and was on duty with Missouri MoLuited Volun- 
 teers, buikling posts on the Oregon route, from 1847-5 i ; 
 Fort Kearney, Nebraska, 1847-49, and Fort Laramie, 
 Dakota, 1849-51. He was ordered to St. Louis, Mis- 
 souri, and stationed there to 1852, and then transferred 
 to Fort Brown, Te.xas, ser\ing at that post and Brazos 
 Santiago, Texas, until 1855. He participated in the 
 Sioux Indian e.xpedition from April 3, 1855, to Juh' 17, 
 1856, and was engaged in the action of \\\uc Water, 
 September 3, 1855. 
 
 Captain Van Vliet was detailed on special ser\ice in 
 Utah, in 1857, and was on dut_\- in New York City in 
 1857-58, from which point he was transferred to Fort 
 Leavenworth, Kansas, antl served there until the com- 
 mencement of the War of the Rebellion. He was pro- 
 moted major, staff-quartermaster, August 20, 1861, for 
 fourteen j-ears' service as captain, and appointed briga- 
 dier-general of volunteers September 23, 1861, and 
 served as chief quartermaster of the Army of the Poto- 
 mac from August 20, 1861, to July 10, 1862, partici- 
 pating in the Virginia Peninsula campaign. He was then 
 ordered on iluty at New York City, furnishing supplies 
 
 and transportation to the armies in the fiekl until ^Lirch 
 31, 1867. He was brevetted major-general of volun- 
 teers, March 13, 1865, for faithful and meritorious ser- 
 vices during the Rebellion, and received the following 
 brevets in the regular service : lieutenant-colonel, colonel, 
 and brigadier-general, October 28, 1864, for faithful and 
 meritorious services during the Rebellion. He was re- 
 commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, March 13, 
 1865, and brevetted major-general U. S. Army the same 
 date, " for faithful and distinguished ser\-ices in the quar- 
 termaster's department during the war." 
 
 He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, staff, deputy 
 quartermaster- general, July 29, 1866, and mustered out 
 of the volunteer service September i, 1866. He served 
 as depot quartermaster at Baltimore from April 18, 1867, 
 to May 13, 1869; was in charge of Schuj-lkill Arsenal, 
 Pennsyhania, and chief quartermaster of the Division of 
 the Atlantic to June I, 1S72, and then on leave of ab- 
 sence to October 28, 1872. 
 
 General Van Vliet was promoted colonel, staff-assistant 
 quartermaster-general, June 6, 1872, and was chief quar- 
 termaster of the Division of the Missouri from October 
 28, 1872, to July 13, 1875, and of the Philadelphia depot 
 of quartermaster's stores to November 8, 1875. He was 
 then detailed as inspector of the Quartermaster's Depart- 
 ment, with head-quarters at Washington City, to January- 
 22, 188 1, when he was retired from active service, being 
 over si.\t\-two years of age. 
 
1 68 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ASSISTANT PAYMASTHR WILLIAM ROSWKLL 
 WOODWARD. 
 
 Assistant Paymasteu William Roswell Woodward 
 was born at Gcor<^ctown, D. C, Auj^ust 21, 1840. He is 
 the son of Roswell and Catherine Hill, wlio, soon after 
 the subject of this sketch was boin, removed to Hrook- 
 lyn, New York. Paymaster Woodward's early life was 
 spent at school, and lie took jjreat interest in the Volun- 
 teer Fire DejKirtment of Brooklyn, ha\in;4 served his 
 time (five years) with the s.iinc. 
 
 15einrj a patriotic man, and wishing to serve in the 
 navy, he was appointed by Captain Alfred Taylor, com- 
 mandiii}^ the United States steamer " Galena," North 
 Atlantic Squadron, ca])tain's clerk, the latter part of 
 
 April, 1862, on the above-named vessel. L'.arly in the 
 month of May, 1862, the "Galena" left for Hampton 
 Roads, where, after staying a few days, it proceeded, in 
 company with two or three other naval vessels, to open 
 the James River. Nothing of importance occurred until 
 they arrived at Drewry's Bluff, or Fort Darling, where 
 the entire fleet was repulsed, and the vessels dropped 
 back to City Point, Virginia. 
 
 The ne.xt action in which he took part was at Mal- 
 vern Hill, in company with the " Aroostook" and " Port 
 Royal." The ne.xt morning the fleet dropped back to 
 Harrison's Landing. Mr. Woodward, wlni liatl con- 
 tracted a serious illness, was sent North, and upon his 
 recovery was appointed. May 11, 1863, an acting assist- 
 ant paymaster, w ith orders to report on board the bark 
 " Ethan Allen," at Boston, Massachusetts. After leaving 
 this port, most of his time was spent on the South Atlantic 
 Blockading Squadron. He leniained in the service until 
 .Se[)tember 4, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. 
 He married, March 5, 1S67, Mary L. Townsend. 
 
 Mr. Woodward then entered upon business in ci\ il life, 
 and was at the time of his death, which occurred at his 
 home in Brooklyn, July 5, 1890, the head of the large 
 wholesale firm of K. Fougera & Co., New York and 
 Paris. Previous to his ])urchase of the business of V.. 
 Fougera & Co. he was connected with S. S. Townsend, 
 in the tlye-wood and drug business, for several years. 
 His son, Edward Silvanus, succeeded him in his busi- 
 ness, and his widow, Mar\', survives him. 
 
 Pa)'master Woodward was a member of the 1 lamilton, 
 Rembrandt, and Brooklyn Riding and Driving Clubs, 
 and a member of the New \'ork Coniin.uulcrv' of the 
 Loyal Legion. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 169 
 
 WILLIAM C. WHllNHY. 
 
 William C. Whitnen', Secretary of the Navy during 
 Cleveland's first administration, was bom at Conway, 
 Massachusetts, July 5, 1841. lie comes from an old 
 and prominent New England family, being descended, 
 in the eighth generation, from John Whitnej', a leader 
 among the English Puritans who settled at Watertown, 
 Massachusetts, in 1635 ; while on his mother's side his 
 ancestry can be traced back to William Bradford, gov- 
 ernor of Plj-mouth colon}-. Brigadier-General Josiah 
 Whitney, one of his forefathers, was an active Revolu- 
 tionary officer, and a subsequent member of the Massa- 
 chusetts and the United States constitutional conventions. 
 His father, Brigadier-General James .S. Whitney, was in 
 1854 superintendent of the United States arsenal at 
 Springfield, Massachusetts, and in i860 collector of the 
 port of Boston. 
 
 Mr. Whitney received his preparatory education at 
 Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Massachusetts, and 
 afterwards entered Yale College, where he graduated in 
 1863. He passed the following year in Harvard Law 
 School, and shortly afterwanls Ijcgan ])ractice in the 
 courts of New York City, where he quicklj- gained a 
 reputation as a skillful and energetic lawyer, and one 
 notable for his loyal devotion to the interests of his 
 clients. 
 
 Mr. Whitney's first active participation in public affairs 
 was in 1 87 1 , when he took a leading part in the organi- 
 zation of the Young Men's Democratic Club. In the 
 following year he became a leading spirit in the County 
 Democracy, a section of the party in revolt against the 
 domination of the regular party leaders. The first official 
 position held by him was in 1872, when he was made 
 inspector of schools. In 1875 he was appointed to the 
 important legal [josition of corporation counsel for the 
 city of New York. The field of dut\' upon which he 
 thus entered was a difficult and arduous one, on account 
 of neglect of dut\- by his predecessors and general lack 
 of administrative capacity and straightforward method 
 in the conduct of affairs under preceding conditions. He 
 found no less than three thousand eight hundred suits 
 pending, a weight of responsibility which he hastened to 
 sweep away. He at once reorganized the department 
 with four bureaus of administration, introduced reforms 
 and economies wherever possible, and so rapidly disposed 
 of the pending suits that in two years he had handled 
 them all and as many more which had arisen. Despite 
 the great accumulation of work thus disposed of he con- 
 siderably reduced the expenses of the office, and became 
 distinguished for his .spirit of reform. He resigned the 
 position in 1882, having, during the seven years of his 
 incumbency, gained various notable legal triumphs, 
 and won a high reputation for legal skill and executive 
 capacity. 
 
 In 1885, after the election of President Cleveland, to 
 which Mr. Whitney had lent his efficient aid, he was 
 made a nicnilier of the cabinet as Secretary of the Navy. 
 The new head of the administration could not have 
 chosen more wisely, the cnergv and capacity of Mr. 
 Whitney being signall}- shown in his conduct of this 
 important department of the government. A plan for 
 the reorganization of the department was quickly pre- 
 pared by him, and proved of great utilit)- in the dispatch 
 of business. The new navy t)f the United States, the 
 creation of which had begun in the preceding adminis- 
 tration, was pushed forward by him with a vigor and 
 activity which rapidly gave this country a high standing 
 among the na\-al powers of the world. It was his aim 
 to make the United States independent in this branch of 
 the service, a purpose which called for very radical steps. 
 He found this coiintr}- without facilities for the produc- 
 tion of armor plates, forgings for large guns, and some 
 other necessities, all of which had previously been ob- 
 tained abroad. He at once induced the Bethlehem Steel 
 Works to put in a new plant, at great expense to itself, 
 and b)- the end of his term of office all those requisites 
 were being produced in the United States of a quality 
 and in a manner never before equaled. During his term 
 there were fully or partly built five double-turrctcd moni- 
 tors, two new coast-defense armor-clads, three armored 
 and five unarmored steel and iron cruisers, four gun- 
 boats, and a dynamite cruiser, with other contracts 
 made. 
 
 On the close of the administration Mr. Whitney retired 
 to private life, but in 1893 became the leader of the 
 Cleveland forces in the national Democratic con\-ention, 
 in which he showed a fine organi^ng and controlling 
 skill. He was giv-en the honorary degree of LL.D. by 
 Yale in 1888. 
 
I/O 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM ZIEGLER. 
 
 William 7Avr,\.v.\< was born, of Gcniian |)arcntayc, 
 in Beaver County, Pcnns\lvania, September i, 1843. 
 SliortK' afterwards his parents joined the westward 
 moving tide of emigrants and made themsei\es a new 
 home in the then young community of Iowa, near the 
 town of Muscatine. Merc the boy received the sparse 
 education obtained in tlie pubhc scliools of that new 
 country, and in 1858 became an apprentice to tlie print- 
 ing trade in the office of the Muscatine Joiinial. Two 
 years sufficed to give liim a knowledge of the trade, after 
 which lie spent a year at work on his father's farm, and 
 then became clerk in a drug store, stuilsing telegraph)- 
 in his leisure hours. 
 
 The boy was ambitious and, despite his meagre oppor- 
 tunities, determinetl to succeed, if effort could avail. In 
 the autumn nf 1 S62. when just nineteen years of age, he left 
 the West for I'oughkeepsie, New V'ork, where he enteretl 
 I'^astman's Business College, anil after three months' hard 
 work secured a iliplf)ma. In 1863 he first reached New 
 York, and tlierc entered a wholesale drug house, attend- 
 ing at the same time the School of Pharmacy of the 
 University of the City of New York, fmni which he was 
 graduated. After five years he determiiKil tn start in 
 business for himself 
 
 His ability was quickly shown. 1 Ia\ing but small 
 cajjital, he began in a motlest way by sup|)lying ex- 
 tracts, drugs, etc., in small cpiantities, to bakers and con- 
 fectioners. In 1870 lie associated himself with some others 
 for the manufacture of baking powders and other chemi- 
 cal products, under the title of the Royal Chemical Com- 
 pany. The sale of baking powders rapidly became 
 large, and in 1873 the association was incorporated as the 
 Royal Baking Powder Company. Within recent years 
 there has been litigation amoii'r the members of this 
 
 company, Mr. Ziegler becoming a jjlainliff in the suit, 
 which terminated in his favor, the case being settled by 
 his rccei\ing nearly Sj.ooo.ooo for his interest in the 
 compan)-, from which he withdrew. In July, 1890, he 
 purchased the business of tlu- Price Baking Powder 
 Company, of Chicago, and in the succeeding year bought 
 out the Tartar Chemical Company, of New Jersey. He 
 had in 1878-79 spent some time in Europe, where he 
 made an exhaustive study of the manufacture of cream 
 of tartar. On his return he founded the New York 
 Tartar Com]xui\', from which he withdrew in 1S86. 
 
 Inadditicm to his cdnncction with the baking powder 
 manufactiu'e, Mr. Ziegler is strongly interested in other 
 in(histries. He has invested largely in Brooklyn, New 
 York, and Chicago real estate, owns the largest in(li\iil- 
 ual interest in the Lake Street I^levated Railroad of 
 Chicago. He has besides a one-fifth interest in the 
 Brooklyn Eagle, and possesses other business relations. 
 
 In 1890, Mr. Ziegler came out in a new role, that of 
 municipal reformer, much to the benefit of Brooklyn, 
 then the city of his residence. I le protested vigorously 
 against municipal extravagance and \icious legislation, 
 particularl)' the proposed purchase of the Long Island 
 Water-Supply Companj-'s plant and stock at a price far 
 beyond their actual \alue. After some futile correspond- 
 ence with Mayor Chapin on this subject, Mr. Ziegler took 
 legal steps in the city's interests, and obtained an injunc- 
 tion from the Supreme Court which ended the dishonest 
 deal. By this action he saved the city at least 51,500,000. 
 This vigorous operation brought him forward as a 
 candidate for the mayoralty, he professing a willingness 
 
 j to accept the nomination if Ma\<>r Chapin shouk! lun 
 again. This declaration frightened the ])oliticians. Mayor 
 
 I Chapin's name was withdrawn, and Mr. Ziegler retired 
 from a contest in which lu- had no desire to enter except 
 from i)urely public-spirited motives. He afterwards re- 
 moved from BrookKn, and took a residence on P'iftli 
 
 i Avenue, New York. 
 
 ' Mr. Ziegler has long been an enthusiastic sportsman. 
 
 ' particularly interested in )-achting, hunting, and fishing, 
 and is a member of the Larchmont, the Atlantic, and the 
 
 I New York Yacht Clubs. He was married to Mrs. E. M. 
 Gamble, a sister of Mrs. W. Jennings Dcmorest, of New 
 York, and has been much given to cruising along the 
 
 j Sound .mil All.Mitic coasts. On April 2, 1895, it was 
 re|)orted that the sloop "Robinson Crusoe," on which he 
 
 ' and his friend John G. Wells had gone on a fishing cruise, 
 
 ' liad been wrecked in Biscayne Ba\-, k'lorida, and all on 
 boartl drownetl. Fortimately, this proveil an error, and 
 Mr. Ziegler has probabl\' many years still of business and 
 enjoyment before him. 
 
 Mr. Ziegler is also a member of the Brooklyn, Down 
 Town, Thirteen, Robins Island, Union League of Brook- 
 l)'n. Union League of Chicago Clubs. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 171 
 
 JOHN D. CRIMMINS. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, John Daniel Crinimins, the 
 well-known contractor, pLiblic man, and pliilanthropist of 
 New York, — without mention of whose name a history 
 of the material development and growth of Manhattan 
 Islantl would be incomplete, — was born in that city May 
 i<S, 1844, of Irish parentage, his father being Thomas 
 Crimmins, also a well-known contractor in his day. 
 
 Mr. Crimmins was educated at the public schools, with 
 two years in St. Francis Xavicr's College. He early 
 developed an aptitude for mathematics and engineering, 
 and made this a special study. Entering his father's 
 service at sixteen \-ears of age, he soon gave earnest of 
 his future, and at twenty-one was admitted as a partner. 
 Even at this age he was fully qualified to direct and plan 
 intricate work requiring great skill, and recei\ed the high- 
 est commendation from man\- distinguished engineers for 
 carrj'ing out construction work devised by himself He 
 has always been a progressive man, quick and alert, and 
 was the first to make use of mechanical appliances and 
 steam-drills in the city of New York. Under such in- 
 fluences, the business grew and prospered, and in 1872 
 he assumed full charge, his fither retiring from active 
 life. For several years he conducted the business in- 
 dependently, and afterwards formed a partnership w'ith 
 his brother, Thomas E. Crimmins, which continues up 
 to the present time. He has, however, always main- 
 tained separate business connections outside the firm, 
 and has been one of the large real-estate operators in 
 the city. The business, of which he is the moving 
 spirit, has attained vast dimensions, covering the field 
 of general contracting. The firm has erected more than 
 four hundred buildings in New York, built the Broad- 
 wa}', Columbus Avenue, and Lexington Avenue Cable 
 Roads, and done other important pieces of work. Mr. 
 Crimmins is ex-president of the Metropolitan Traction 
 Company and a large stockholder in the surface lines. 
 
 Although a very bus\- man, he has found time to serve 
 his city and State in \arious capacities, and alwa\-s with 
 credit to himself He was city park commissioner in 1883 
 and 1 888, and president and treasurer at times; served as 
 a Presidential elector, a member of the constitutional con- 
 vention, and was selected by President Cleveland as one 
 of the Board of Visitors to West Point in 1894. 
 
 His influence is felt in other lines than the one in 
 which he is immediately engaged, he being a director 
 in the Fifth Avenue and Union National Banks, a trustee 
 of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, 
 and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He is 
 also a member of several well-known clubs, being one 
 of the board of governors of the Manhattan Club, a 
 patron of the Museum of Natural History, a member of 
 the Geographical Society and Museum of Arts, trustee of 
 the Provident Loan Society, and treasurer of the Friendly 
 
 Sons of St. Patrick and of the Irish National Federation, 
 succeeding the late and well-known t^ugene Kelly in the 
 two last-named orders. Being connected with nearly all 
 the Catholic charitable societies of New York", as well as 
 with a great many of other denominations, his philan- 
 thropic efforts are well-directed and wide-reaching. 
 
 Mr. Crimmins' business dealings ha\-e alwa\'s been 
 marked by probit}- and sagacity, and his relations with 
 his employes characterized by the broad and liberal 
 spirit consistent with his public career. He meets them 
 on the common ground of man to man, and has never 
 refused to listen patiently to all grievances. In conse- 
 quence of such treatment, he has the full confidence of 
 the laboring men. Having had an extended experience 
 in the employment of men, — directing as many as five 
 thousand at one time, — he is considered an authority 
 upon labor questions, and is often called upon to act as 
 arbitrator or expert in disputes of this character. His 
 last work of this kind was before the Frida\- investi- 
 gating committee appointed b)- the Legislature to in- 
 vestigate the causes of the Brooklyn trolley strike. His 
 testimony before this committee has caused considerable 
 newspaper discussion. 
 
 Though one of the busiest men in the city of New 
 York, with large and varied interests requiring constant 
 care, he is not engrossed in business to the exclusion of 
 the more refining influences of life. A charming man 
 socially, of artistic temperament, a scholar, and a biblio- 
 phile who rejoices in a collection of rare books and 
 manuscripts, Mr. Crinmiins is in his element. He w'as 
 married in 1868, but has been a widower for the past 
 seven years, and maintains with his interesting family 
 of eleven children a citj- home at 40*East Sixty-eighth 
 Street and a bcautifid summer residence, " Firwood-on- 
 the-Sound," at Noroton, Connecticut. 
 
172 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HRNRY ECKFORD RHOADHS. 
 
 1Ii;nk\' I'x'Ki-ORi) Rhoauics was lioiii in New York- 
 City on June 15, 1S44. He is a descendant of Zaeliariah 
 Rhnades, wlio settled in Rehobotli, Massachusetts, after 
 the arrival of the "Mayflower" (about 1630), and was 
 an earl)- friend of Roger Williams. One of his grand- 
 uncles was Zachariah Rhoades, who became a lieutenant 
 in the navy in October, 1798, and another, William 
 Rhoades, was a carpenter in tlie x\-a.\y, and resigned to 
 become naval constructor for the Turkish government. 
 His father was a chief engineer in the navy, anil died 
 in 1885. 
 
 Mr. Rhoade.s received his early education in the public 
 schools of New York Cit)', and in 1858 began to study 
 medicine, but a year later decided to become an engineer. 
 While an apprentice in the Allaire Works, New \'ork, 
 he took a special course in mechanical and civil engi- 
 neering, and before he finished assisted in building the 
 engines of the " Shamrock," " Puritan," " Dictator," and 
 other war-ve.s.sels. In the early part of the civil war he 
 served in tlie army as orderly on General Banks's staff, 
 and also on the staff of tlie surgeon-in-chief of the 
 Frederick City hospitals, Maryland. On the night of 
 Se])tember 5, 1862 (the day before the Confederates 
 under Stonewall Jackson occupied Freilerick Cit)'), he 
 was detailetl to take charge of conducting about three 
 hundred convalescent Union soldiers to Gettysburg, 
 thence to ^'ork, Pennsylvania, marching pirt of the 
 distance and hiring conveyances, where obtainable, to 
 carry the sick men the rest of the way. 
 
 On I'Y'bruary 11, 1865, Mr. Rhoades receiveil his com- 
 mission as tliird assistant engineer in the volunteer navy, 
 and after the war, in December, 1866, started on a cruise 
 in the Asiatic Squadron. He was at the oi)ening of the 
 
 ports of Hiogo, Osaka, and Kobe, Japan, on Januarj' 1, 
 1868, and during the Japanese rebellion, when Prince 
 Bizen's men fired on the foreign sailors in the streets of 
 Hiogo, he was one of the officers in command, and led 
 the engineer contingent into the mountains close to the 
 rear of the Japanese force. The forces from the foreign 
 vessels were kept on shore several days, during which 
 time Mr. Rhoades assisted in buikliiig uji earthworks 
 around the American legation. He received an honora- 
 ble discharge from the \'oluntccr navy April 22, 1869, 
 and on Februar)' 25, 1871, after a competitive examina- 
 tion, received his commission of second assistant engi- 
 neer in the regular na\')'. 
 
 When the sloop-of-war" Juniata" was ordered, in 1S73, 
 to be fitted out for a two years' cruise in the Arctic, 
 in search of castaways of the Polaris Expedition, Mr. 
 Rhoades applied for and received orders to dut)- on that 
 vessel. Among the officers were Lieutenant-Commander 
 DeLong and Lieutenant Chipp, both of whom lost their 
 lives in the Arctic. While on this cruise, Mr. Rhoades, 
 at his own request, was detailed with another officer to 
 leatl an expedition to prospect for coal on the Greenland 
 coast ; making the search in a small steam-launch, and 
 sleeping at night in the Esquimaux skin sleeping-bags, 
 and under canvas tents. His search was successful, three 
 \'eins of excellent bituminous coal being discovered, from 
 which he and four men got out about thirty tons. The 
 mine was named b\- him and Ensign Keelerthe " Plureka." 
 (His report on this coal, for which he was complimented 
 by the Secretai-)' of the Navy, was printed in the report of 
 the Navy Dej^artment for 1873.) 
 
 This expedition, however, proved unfortunate for him, 
 since during it he contracted angina pectoris (neuralgia 
 of the heart), a severe disease from which he has suffered 
 intensely since, and which, greatl_\- to his regret, causetl 
 him to be |)laced on the retired list on December 31, 
 1874. In 1869 he married Miss Sarah M. Stone, a de- 
 scendant of Samuel Stone, the fountler of Hartfonl, 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Rhoades has liveti in Mount Vernon, New York, 
 for several years. In 1S89 he was offered the consul- 
 ship at Yokohama by Secretar\- Blaine, but declined 
 because of an opinion b)- the Attorney-General that to 
 accept would mean resignation of his navj' commission. 
 In 1892 he was offered tlic Kejiubiican nomination fo|- 
 Congress from the sixteenth New York district, but lie- 
 clined it. In 1893 he was elected a member of the Board 
 of Education, and in 1 S94 was re-elected for the long or 
 four years' term. He has been cmplojcd on the staff of 
 the New York Tribune for several years, as marine re- 
 porter, commercial reporter, and assistant city editor, and 
 in 1893 he was made assistant eilitor of tlie Tnhiinc 
 Aliitanac. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 173 
 
 CAPTAIN CLINTON B. SEARS. 
 
 Captain Clinton B. Seaks (Engineer Corps) was 
 born in New York June 2, 1844, and graduated at the 
 Military Academy June 17, 1867, and promoted first 
 lieutenant the same day. He entered the volunteer 
 service as private of Company G, Ninety-fifth Ohio 
 Infantr\', Jul)- 24, 1S62, and was promoted corporal sub- 
 sequcntl)-. 
 
 He participated in Buell's campaign after Bragg, 
 and in the Stone River campaign, where he was on 
 detached duty. He rejoined his regiment in February, 
 1863, at Memphis, Tennessee, and participated in the 
 Vicksburg campaign, and in several minor actions, having 
 been engaged in the battle of Richmond, Kentucky ; 
 battle of Perr\-\illc, Kentucky; both assaults on Vicks- 
 burg, Mississippi, and two attacks on Jackson, Missis- 
 sippi. He was honorably mentioned in general orders 
 from the head-quarters of his regiment, and " specially 
 commended for gallantry in volunteering to carry the 
 regimental colors," and was apjiointed color-sergeant 
 April 25, 1863. 
 
 He has meritorious mention by name in General Or- 
 der No. 66, 1S63, head-quarters Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 and recommended to the Secretary of War for appoint- 
 ment as cadet at the U. S. Military Academy. He was 
 recommended for the same position, also, by Generals 
 Grant and Sherman, and was so appointed September 
 16, 1863. 
 
 After graduating in 1867, he was promoted first lieu- 
 tenant of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, and was detailed 
 as assistant instructor of artillery tactics and practical 
 military engineering at the Militar}' Academy from Jul\- 
 5 to August 31, 1867, when he was placed on duty with 
 the Engineer Battalion to February i, 1869; then was 
 assistant instructor of practical military engineering, 
 signalling, and telegraphy at the Military Academy to 
 February i, 1870. 
 
 He then entered upon regular engineering duty, as 
 assistant engineer on Lake Erie harbor improvements, 
 to March 23, 1870; engineer officer on the general staff. 
 Military Division of the Pacific, to July 21, 1870; chief 
 engineer on staff of General Canby, Department of the 
 Columbia, to May 6, 1871 ; assistant engineer on the 
 defences of San Francisco harbor to August 14, 1871 ; 
 executive engineer in charge of improvement of Wil- 
 mington harbor, California, to September 3, 1875; tem- 
 porarily detached, February, 1873, to make a survey for 
 the improvement of Estero Bay, at Moro, California; 
 on leave October i, 1875, to January i, 1876; assistant 
 engineer defences of Boston harbor to August 28, 1876; 
 at the U. S. Military Academy as principal assistant pro- 
 fessor of civil and military engineering to August 25, 
 • "^Tl ! principal assistant professor of geography, history, 
 and ethics, to July I, 1S78; and principal assistant pro- 
 
 fessor of natural and experimental pliilosopln- and as- 
 tronomy to April 13, 1882; also during the last year 
 in charge of the construction of the new Astronomical 
 Observatory at West Point ; executive-officer Construc- 
 tion Department, Mississippi River Commission, with 
 station at St. Louis, Missouri, from April, 1882, to April, 
 1884; in charge of Third District, improving Mississippi 
 River, with station at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and after- 
 wards at Memphis, Tennessee, to May 14, 1886; tem- 
 porarily in charge of the Second District from August 
 31, 1884, to March 10, 1885 ; and of the First and Second 
 Districts from July 6 to October 6, 18S5 ; on leave of 
 absence to September 14, 1886 ; in charge of the improve- 
 ment of Upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, and 
 from March 28, 1887, of the improvement of roads and 
 bridges, Yellowstone National Park, to April 16, 1888, 
 with station at Bismarck, Dakota Territory, and after- 
 wards at St. Paul, Minnesota; assistant to the chief of 
 engineers in charge of the First and Second Division of 
 the office at Washington, D. C, to June 18, 1890. On 
 dut}" 'Aith the Battalion of Engineers, in command of 
 Compaii)' A, and instructor of submarine mining, U. S. 
 Engineer School, Willet's Point, New York, at the present 
 time; on special dut\- in June, 1889, at Johnstown, Penn- 
 sN'hania, in charge of construction of pontoon bridges in 
 aid of the survivors of the great flood. He was promoted 
 captain April 9, 1880. 
 
 Captain Sears is the author of " Principles of Tidal 
 Harbor Improvements" and " Ransom Genealogy." He 
 is a member of the New York Society of the Sons of 
 the Revolution and D. C. Society Sons of the American 
 Revolution, and of the American Institute of Civics ; 
 Fellow National Academy of Design ; member Mili- 
 tary Order Loyal Legion, U. S. ; honorary degrees of 
 A. B. from Ohio Western University, 1881 ; of A. M., 
 1884. 
 
174 
 
 MAKF.RS or XF.W YORK. 
 
 ROBERT L. BHLKNAl'. 
 
 Robert Licnox Bki.knai' was born in the city of New 
 York, July 23, 1848, his father, Aaron B. Iklknap, being 
 a lawyer of that city and connected with many of its 
 charitable and other public institutions. lie received 
 his preparatory education at the Collegiate School, and 
 subsequently entered Columbia College, from which he 
 graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1869. In 1872 the 
 college conferred on him the degree of A.M. 
 
 His educational life was followed 1)\- a business career, 
 at first in the establishment of Fuller, T.ord & Co., 
 merchants and manufacturers; from which employment 
 he withdrew in 1871 to accept the position of vice-presi- 
 dent of the Mercantile Loan and Warehouse Compan>-. 
 Ill health, however, forced him soon to resign from this 
 position and take a journey to Europe for recuperation. 
 He returned in 1S73, and again engaged in Inisiness, and 
 in 1879 was made treasurer of the Northern Pacific 
 Railroad Company, which, after a long jieriod of deca- 
 dence following the Jay Cooke failure of 1873, was again 
 beginning the work of construction. His connection 
 with this corporation continued until 1888, he taking an 
 active part in its completion, ami in its subsequent de- 
 velopment of business as one of the great channels of 
 freight and travel to the Pacific coast. 
 
 His connection with this road led him to recognize the 
 im|)ortancc of Lake Superior navigatinn. and he took 
 part in the formation of the I^md anil River Improve- 
 ment C<impany, devoted to this pur])o.se. In 1883 this 
 company founded the town of West Superior, an adjunct 
 of the city of Superior, Wisconsin. In 1SS5, Mr. Bel- 
 
 knap, in associations with others, bought a controlling 
 interest in the 1 )ulutli Gas and Water Company, he being 
 made its president. He also, in 18S8, became president 
 of the Duluth Loan and Debenture Company, organized 
 b}- him. Both these companies have been very success- 
 ful in their operations. 
 
 In 1887 he became interested in the manufacture of 
 electrical machinery, it becoming evident to him that 
 electricit}- was soon to replace horse-power in street-car 
 traction. In 1890 he organized the United Electric 
 Traction Comjiany, an association which went out of ex- 
 istence before the md of the year, its finances being af- 
 fected by the disturbance in business tlue to the " Baring 
 failure." 
 
 In aiUlition to his biisiness relations, Mr. Belknap has 
 taken much interest in social, military, and other affairs. 
 In 1 866 he joined Company A of the Seventh Regiment 
 of New York. A few years afterwards he transferred 
 his nuinbirship to Compan\' K, of which for several 
 years he was i^resident. In 1873 he became commissar\- 
 of subsistence, ranking as captain, on the staff of General 
 Ward, commander of the First Brigade. He was suc- 
 cessiveK' promoted to other positions, and in 1876 be- 
 came lieutenant-colonel and chief of stalT. In 1880 he 
 resigned from active service, and was made colonel by 
 brevet. While acting in 1875 as assistant inspector- 
 general he made a series of reports which eventuated in 
 important reforms in the service, and began a new era in 
 the organization anti management of the National (luard 
 of New York. 
 
 He has been and is a menibei- of man\- clubs anil 
 societies. During his college life he joined several college 
 organizations, and for two )'cars afterwards served as 
 |)resident of the Psi Upsilon Club. He is at present a 
 member of numerous New York clubs, and also of clubs 
 situated in .Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth and St. Paul, 
 Minnesota. He is a member and manager in the Society 
 of Sons of the Revolution, and has a hereditary member- 
 ship in the Order of the Cincinnati. The recently organ- 
 ized Society of the Colonial Wars also claims him as 
 a hereditary member. P'or a periotl he was one of the 
 vice-presidents, anil is still a member, of the Presbyleii.m 
 Union of New York City. 
 
 Mr. Belknap served as secretary of the Niagara Falls 
 Association, to whose efforts was due the ownership of 
 the land ailjoining the American Fall by the State of 
 New York, thus preserving this important tract for public 
 use. He has also given much time to ch.irilable work, 
 anil is a member of several benevolent institutions and 
 church organizations. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 175 
 
 A. G. MILLS. 
 
 A. G. Mills, \ice-presidcnt and secretary of the Otis 
 Elevator Company, has long been a prominent citizen of 
 New York, and particularly identified with athletic sports 
 and the preservation of the natural attractions of the Adi- 
 rondacks. \Vc shall not speak here of the great busi- 
 ness with which he is identified, this being sufficiently 
 described in our sketches of the three Otis members of 
 the coni[ian_\-. It will suffice to say that the executive 
 management of that extensive industry, as now organized, 
 falls largel)- on the shoulders of Mr. Mills, and that he 
 is thoroughl}- fimiliar w ith its details and lends a directing 
 hand to its every movement. But outside the interests 
 of business Mr. Mills spends a life of the utmost activity 
 and usefulness, and it is to these phases of his career 
 that our attention shall be particularly directed. 
 
 Though he has recently passed his fiftieth year, his 
 energy is in no sense diminished, and his activity in club 
 and social life, in athletic ami sporting interests, is unsur- 
 passed. As a boy he fought in the Union arm\', and is 
 prouder to-day of the bronze star of the Grand Arm\- 
 and the silken button of the Lo\-al Legion than of all 
 the other marks of honor he has received. He has twice 
 served as Commander of Lafaj'ette Post, G.A.R., the 
 largest and most important post in the State, and per- 
 formed the man\- duties which devolved upon him in 
 this office with an industry and military precision which 
 made his administration a marked one in the history of 
 the organization. 
 
 In his \'outhful days he was devoted to and a crack 
 amateur player in the national game of base-ball, and 
 has ne\'er lost his enthusiastic interest in this American 
 sport, nor in field sports in general. No man in this 
 country has done more than he in the development of 
 athletic interests, and three important progressive move- 
 ments are due solely to his energy and judgment. The 
 first of these is the national agreement of base-ball 
 clubs which Ijrought harmon_\- out of confusion; the 
 second, the settlement of the persistent disagreement 
 between the National Association of Amateur Athletes 
 and the Amateur Athletic LTnion ; ami the third, the 
 recent reorganization of the Amateur .\thletic Union, 
 through which has come a great increase of interest in 
 field sports throughout this countrj-. Mr. Mills was 
 unanimously elected a few \-ears ago president of the 
 New York Athletic Club. He declined a rciiomination, 
 but preserves an active interest in the club. 
 
 He is a lover ot mountain, lake, ami forest, and of 
 out-door sport in its every form, and this proclivity has 
 awakenetl in him the strongest interest in Adirondack 
 affairs. L'inding the West Side Inn, at Lake Placid, in 
 a sadly run-down condition, he organized a company, of 
 which he became and continues president, and transformed 
 this shiftless establishment into the present well-kept and 
 profitable Whiteface Inn. Also, finding the lake level 
 fluctuating through the o[)erations of a party of mill- 
 owners at its outlet, he organized the Lake Placid Shore 
 Owners' Association, which secured control of the dam 
 at the outlet, and now caiefLdI)- maintains the lake at the 
 desired level. 
 
 In 1890 the .Adirondack League Club was formed. 
 To this organization, controlling over two hundred and 
 seventy-five square miles of the wilderness, and devoted 
 to the preservation of the forest and the protection of 
 fish and game, Mr. Mills gives much time and energy, 
 and for several years past has served as president of the 
 club, whose far extending interests he largely administers. 
 In city affairs he is very prominent in social and club life, 
 belonging, in addition to si.x veteran associations, to a 
 large number of clubs, scientific and art associations. 
 He is a partisan in politics, but has persistently declined 
 the nominations to high political offices which have been 
 offered him. In spite of his business and social interests 
 he is essentiall)- dimiestic in tastes, and there is no more 
 delightful home life than that enjoyed by one who might 
 seem solely de\oted to out-door affairs. 
 
176 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 NATHANIHI. TUTILH. 
 
 The subject of this skctcli was lioin April 2\ , 1S4S, 
 at Croton-on-IIuclson, New York. He is tlesccncied 
 from Puritan and patriotic ancestry, the Tuttles beiny; 
 among the early immigrants to this countrv, w here they 
 arris'cd in the ship " Planter" in 1639. Mr. Tuttlc's 
 earl)' life was passed on his father's farm, whose rough 
 and stony surface resembled that of all farms in the 
 northern section of Westchester County. He attended 
 the district school, and after the death of his father in 
 1866 taught the same during the winter and spring of 
 1 866 and 1867. Later he attentled and graduated from 
 a leading commercial college. 
 
 He began his business career on the New York Tribune 
 in 1868, and has been identified with it ever since. He 
 was rapidl)' [iroTnotetl, and in 1S7S was made cashier. 
 (Jn the death of Mr. lulward Clarke in 18S8 he took his 
 place in the board of trustees of the Tridinic, and as 
 manager of the advertising department, in addition to 
 his other duties. Wlien Mr. Reid left for his post as 
 United States minister to France in 1 889, he placed the 
 management of the Tribune in the hands of Messrs. 
 Tuttle, Niciiolson, and Hall. Mr. Reid has not taken 
 uj) the details then laid df)wn, and the paper is run 
 to-day in substantially the way in which lie then ar- 
 ranged it. 
 
 Mr. Tuttle is greatly interested in e\erytliing that 
 improves or makes more attractive the metropolis of 
 which he is a citizen. He is a member of the Metro- 
 politan Museum of Art and the American Museum of 
 Natural History, ami is also a member of the Sons of 
 the American Revolution. In politics he is a Republican 
 and Protcctioni.st, being a member of that vigorous or- 
 ganization, the West Side Rejjublican Club. 
 
 Mr. Tuttle has been a close observer of liie improve- 
 ments in the printer's art, and has collected valuable 
 memoranda and data, covering almost everj' conceivable 
 ])hase of the publishing and newspaper business. These 
 include the sources of income of the Tribune, the per- 
 centage from every source for each j'ear, and the causes 
 which operated to change them from year to \-ear ; also 
 the expenses, embracing the jjcrcentage of the total of 
 ever)- conceivable expense, for every year, and the reasons 
 for their increase or decrease from the normal. He has 
 also diagrams showing the circulation of each edition, 
 its increase or decrease, and the causes operating to pro- 
 duce these changes. Any one familiar with newspapers 
 knows how important such facts are, leading, as they do, 
 to a perfect uniformity of accounts, anil giving a com- 
 plete control of all the working details of a publishing 
 enterprise. He possesses, in addition, also less complete 
 tlata of a great many other papers. Mr. Tullle believes 
 that the information he has thus brought together is for 
 the highest benefit of the paper with which he is con- 
 nected, lie belongs to no Publishers' Association or 
 other organization of similar aims. He was one of the 
 incorporators of the Mergenthaler Printing Company, 
 and was connected with it until it became merged with 
 the present Mergenthaler Linotx-jjc Company. The ma- 
 chine controlled !))• this company has revolutionized the 
 printer's art. 
 
 New York journalism, notuilhstanding the talk to 
 the contrary, is essentially personal, and the controlling 
 spirits in each paper are well known. There is room 
 for but one great reputation, except in distinct lines, at 
 any one lime in connection with any one of these jour- 
 nals. The rest are simply assistants, however able the)' 
 may be in their respective duties. Mr. Tuttle's reputa- 
 tion is interwoven wilh that of the Tribune, to whose 
 success financiall)- he has contributetl. The Tribune 
 has worked intelligently in all i)ossihle wa\-s for the 
 public good, and its suggestions frequent!)- result in 
 legislative enactments for the benefit of the city and 
 good citizenship, with all that it implies. 
 
 Mr. Greeley, at the end of his disastrous Presitlenlial 
 campaign in 1872, believed that he had ruinetl the Tribune, 
 with liimself and his friends as well. A great maii)- 
 othcrs believed the same, )-et Whitelaw Reid, out of this 
 serious conditiiin i>f affairs, has brought it to its present 
 success, it being to-day seconil to no other paper in the 
 land, magnificently housed, and efficiently e(iui])ped in 
 every de]>artment. Its circulation is now far in excess 
 of that of any previous period for ever)- edition, and its 
 influence has grown correspondingly more extendeti. 
 In any work, tliercforc, devoted to the makers of New 
 York, it is entitled to a full consideration, as among 
 the most important of the moulding influence of the 
 metropolis. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 177 
 
 FREDERICK A. BURNHAM. 
 
 Frederick A. Burnham, an acti\c practitioner at the 
 New York bar, was born in Burrilhillc, Rhode Island, 
 on January 7, 185 I. lie is a lineal descendant from an 
 old luiglish family of note in its day, and which, on the 
 accession of Charles II. to the throne of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, found itself coniiiclled to emigrate to 
 America. This step was taken in consequence of its 
 acti\-e participation in the Pin'itan Revolution and the 
 affairs of the Commonwealth, and its pronounced oppo- 
 sition to the house of Stuart. Its enforced emigration, 
 as is well known, was shared b_\- many of the same po- 
 litical views. 
 
 Mr. Burnham received his primar)- education at the 
 old Bacon Academy, situateil at Colchester, Connecticut, 
 where he obtained a good educational groundwork. He 
 then continued his studies at the college at Middletown, 
 where he obtained a full collegiate education and stood 
 high among his fellow-students, graduating with high 
 honors as the valedictorian of his class. Having chosen 
 the field of legal practice as his future profession he 
 entered as a student at the Albany Law School, where 
 he took a full course of study, graduated, and was ad- 
 mitted to practice at the bar in 1873. Immediately after 
 his admission to the bar Mr. Burnham removed to New 
 York City, and entered there upon the practice of his 
 profession, giving his particular attention to commercial 
 and insurance law. to which branches of the profession 
 his inclination strongly led him. In these fields of legal 
 activity he was quickly successful, and in time gained' a 
 large practice, his reputation for deep knowledge of the 
 law and skilled advocacy of his clients' claims bringing 
 him numerous important suits, which involved large 
 interests. His success in many of these suits was so 
 marked as to place him at the head of the junior bar of 
 New York City. 
 
 Mr. Burnham's early inteiest hatl been directed to the 
 channels of charity and bene\'olence, and he made a 
 thorough stud\- of the sex'eral benevolent organizations 
 of New York Cit_\', becoming so familiar with their pur- 
 poses and workings as to make him a recognized au- 
 thority in all such enterprises. 
 
 In 1877 he joined the Society of Freemasons, in 
 which he took a deep and abiding interest, and rapidly 
 passed through its several subordinate stations, display- 
 ing signal abilit)- in the work of the order. He advanced 
 to the important position of Chief Commissioner of Ap- 
 peals, a post which he retained for many years, and 
 in which his opinions were noted for the clearness with 
 which they were expressed and the strength of their 
 logic. Passing, stage by stage, through all the grades 
 of the order, he attained eventualh- its highest level of 
 
 promotion, being, on June 7, 1893, unanimously elected 
 Grand Master of the Masonic Society for the State of 
 New York. In this exalted position his services to the 
 societ}- ha\e been invaluable, and through his able ad- 
 ministration of its interests the craft has attained a degree 
 of prosperity and usefulness hitherto unknown in its 
 history. 
 
 Mr. Burnham's skill in insurance law is of the highest 
 order, and has been recognized in his selection as the 
 head of the legal department of the Mutual Reser\-e 
 Fund Life Association, a post at once of honor and 
 responsibilit)-. In this important position the association 
 has found him a legal adviser of the highest powars, and 
 by his ability and care he has succeeded in detecting and 
 frustrating various frauds attempted to be perpetrated 
 upon the company, by the signal defeat of which he has 
 saved many thousands of dollars annuall}- for the honest 
 policy-holders, and at the same time has more firmly 
 established the reinitation for equity and honesty long 
 enjoyed by the association. The results thus accom- 
 plished b\- the legal department, under the direction of 
 Mr. Burnham, are an evidence of the judgment with 
 which this association is conducted, since it would have 
 been difficult to select an abler coun.sellor, or one whose 
 capacity and conservative management could have won 
 so fully for the Mutual Reserve the confidence of its 
 policy-holders and of the public at large. 
 
 At the bar and in all the commercial undertakings 
 with which Mr. Burnham has been connected, as well 
 as in his social relations with his fellow-man, he has 
 always been a leader and tlirector, winning friends in 
 numbers, and admired and esteemed bv all those with 
 whom he comes mto contact. 
 
i;S 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DANIEL S. LAMONT. 
 
 Hon. Daniel Scorr Lamont, Sccrcteuy of War of llic 
 present administration, was born at McGrawville, Cort- 
 land County, New York, February 9, 185 i. He was of 
 Scotch-Irish ancestry, wlio emigrated to tiiis countiy 
 and engagetl in the business of farming, which was con- 
 tinued to tlie time of liis fatlicr, a well-to-do farmer of 
 the above-named localitj'. The son, who like several 
 
 other farmers' sons was destined to advance from the 
 
 1 
 
 firm to one of the highest positions in the gift of the 
 nation, was educated at first in the Cortland Normal 
 College, whence he passed to Union College, Sche- 
 nectady, New York. He did not graduate, but left 
 college before the termination of his course to engage in 
 journalism, for which profession he had a strong preili- 
 lection. 
 
 Mr. Lamont's first venture in his chosen profession 
 was as editor f>f the l^cinocral, a paper [)tibiisiicd at tile 
 county-seat of Iiis nati\e county, and which he purchaseil 
 as a preliminar)' step. In the editing of this party sheet 
 he became warmly interested in politics, becoming .so 
 useful in the service of his party that in 1870 lie was 
 made engrossing clerk of the New York .State Assembly 
 and chief clerk in the de[)artmcnt of the secretary of 
 state. This was a notable progress considering liis youth 
 at that date. His political positions ditl not prevent him 
 from continuing his journalistic work, and for some time 
 he served on the staff of the Albany A/xi/s, a line of 
 work which made him favorably known to many of the 
 most influential politicians of the day. 
 
 Among those witJi whom he became thus accpiainted 
 was Grover Clevehuul, who during tliis period was elected 1 
 governor of New York. He became very well di.sposed I 
 
 towards \-oung Lamont, and made use of his journalistic 
 skill as an aiil in the preparation of his first guberna- 
 torial message. For the ability shown in this labor 
 Governor Cleveland rewarded his young assistant with 
 an honorary position on his staff, with the title of colonel, 
 — a military appellation b\- which he is still generally 
 known. Shortl}- afterwards he appointed him his private 
 secretar)-. a field of dut\- in which Mr. Lamont proved 
 so useful anil \-aluable that on the election of Cleveland 
 to the Presidency he took his secretar\- with him, and 
 appointed him private secretary in his much wiiler field 
 of duty. 
 
 In this office Mr. Lamont proved an invaluable as- 
 sistant, his tact and courtesy being of the greatest ser- 
 vice to his chief, while smoothing the way of visitors to 
 the White House. The President could not but be 
 grateful for the manner in which his secretary lightened 
 his labors, w hile the courteous secretary became univer- 
 sall_\- |)opiilar among the President's \isitors, and gained 
 high praise for the judgment, lo\-alt\- to his chief and 
 attention to visitors with which he fulfilled his official 
 duties. 
 
 After the clo.se of the administration, Mr. Lamont 
 formed an important connection with a syndicate of capi- 
 talists, and became engaged in the management of valu- 
 able interests. His loyal ile\-otion to the interests o( 
 the e.x-President continued, howe\cr, he compiling a 
 pamphlet collection of Mr. Cleveland's speeches and 
 addresses, w hich he heatled with an original phrase which 
 has become a household u orti with political reformers : 
 '■ Public Office a Public Trust." This was a condensation 
 of an expression used b)- Mr. Cleveland in his letter 
 accepting the nomination for maj'or of Ihilfalo: " Public 
 officials are the trustees of the people." In its later form 
 it is strikingly suggestive, and inilicates the leading prin- 
 ciple of Mr. Cleveland's official career. 
 
 The final chapter in Mr. Lamont's history, so far as 
 that history is at present imfolded, remains to be told. 
 In 1893, on I'resiilenl Cleveland choosing the cabinet 
 officials for his seconil administration, he selected his 
 friend and former secretary to occup\' the important |)ost 
 of Secretary of War. As regards this appointment, it 
 may be said that Secretary Lamont, while, like some 
 other members of the cabinet, ha\ing had no special 
 training fitting him to be war minister, is a verj- ca])able 
 man, and one possessed of unusual executive powers, 
 qualities often of more value than previous experience. 
 Uuring his period of incumbency of the office he has 
 very .satisfactorily performed its responsible duties, and 
 |)roved himself an able successor to the many prominent 
 statesmen and soldiers who have preceded him in this 
 important cabinet position. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 179 
 
 T. J. OAKLEY RHINELANDER. 
 
 T. J. Oaki.ev Rhinelandek, a member of the New 
 York bar, was bom in the city of New York in June, 
 1858. Mis ancestry is a highly honorable one, the 
 family to which he belongs having been prominent in 
 the history of the State and city from early colonial 
 days. The Crugers, from whom he is descended on the 
 mother's side, have long occupied an eminent position in 
 the State of New York, and may lay claim to the first 
 rank in American society so far as any claim to rank 
 can be properly advanced in tiiis countr\- of tieinocratic 
 institutions. On his father's side he is descended from 
 Philip Jacob Rhinelander, who came to America in 16S5, 
 immediately after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
 settling here at first in New Rochelle, but afterwards 
 making his home in New York, then a city which to-day 
 would be called a hamlet, occupying a small space on 
 the southern extremit}- of Manhattan Island. With the 
 succeeding growth and development of this city the 
 family has been closely identified, continuing to reside 
 here, generation after generation, and constantly taking 
 a prominent ]:>art in the social and political life of New 
 York. William Rhinelander, the father of the subject of 
 our sketch, succeeded to the management of the great 
 Rhinelander estate, one of the largest existing in the city 
 after that of the Astors. Of this estate one interesting 
 building continued among the remaining laiulmarks of 
 old New York until 1892, when it was removed to make 
 way for a great modern building. This was the Rhine- 
 lander Sugar House on Rose Street, which had been 
 used by the British as a prison from 1777 to 1782. The 
 main entrance of the new structure is built of stone and 
 brick taken from the old building, and one of the origi- 
 nal windows is also Ijuilt into the new edifice, which thus 
 prcser\es some historic relics of the ancient structure. 
 
 John Cruger, Mr. Rhinelander's maternal ancestor, 
 settled in New York Cit\' in 1696, and married Miss 
 Cu}-ler, of Alban\-, thus bringing into the family line 
 another pronn'ncnt family of old New York. He be- 
 came mayor of the city in 1739, antl was annualK' re- 
 appointed till 1744, when he died in office. His son 
 Henr\' was also prominent in colonial New York, hold- 
 ing, with other offices, those of membership in His 
 Majesty's Council and chamberlain of the city of New 
 York. His son, also named Henry, resided in England, 
 where he became mayor of Bristol in 1781. He was 
 a member of Parliament, and the only member of that 
 body who had the courage, if not the audacit)-, to 
 declare on the floor of the House that the American 
 colonies had the right to be free. Meanwhile his father 
 had become one of the most active and determined 
 Revolutionary leaders in the city of New York. 
 
 --^, 
 
 It is from the Crugers that Mr. Rhinelandci- deiives 
 his title to membership in the Society of the Colom'al 
 Wars, which he can also claim from Hendrik Cu}-Ier, 
 who served as captain and major in the Alban\' troop 
 during the French and Indian War. During the Revo- 
 lutionary War one of his maternal great-grandfathers, 
 Jesse Oakley, raised his own company, which he led in 
 many battles of the war. The formerly famous Judge 
 Oakley was his grandfather. 
 
 Mr. Rhinelander was educated in the academic de- 
 partment of Columbia College, where he graduated in 
 '78 with the degree of A.B. He subsequently studied 
 law, and in 1880 graduated from the same institution 
 with the degree of LL.D. He was called to the bar, 
 but has no available time to de\-ote to practice, the 
 management of the Rhinelander estate absorbing all 
 the leisure hours at his disposal. The time not thus 
 occupied is taken up in social duties, in which, follow- 
 ing the example of his ancestors, he takes a prominent 
 part. He is also active in all movements of a progres- 
 sive character, and is an American of a prominent cast 
 of patriotism. 
 
 Mr. Rhinelander is a member of numerous associa- 
 tions, among them the Seventh Regiment, to which he 
 has belonged for years. He also is a member of the 
 Sons of the Revolution, the St. Nicholas Societ)-, So- 
 ciety of 1 812, as well as the Huguenot Society, and 
 is lieutenant-governor of the Society of the Colonial 
 Wars. He is in addition governor of the Seventh Regi- 
 ment Veteran Club, vice-president of the Seventh Regi- 
 ment \'cteran League, president of the Delta Phi Col- 
 lege Club, and is a member of the IV^tropolitan, Union, 
 and Countrv Clubs. 
 
i8o 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES DAVID STHURHR. 
 
 CiiAKi.iuS David Steukek is ;i iiali\c of New York 
 City, where he was born October i8, 1859. In his earli- 
 est \'ear.s he manifested those cliaracteristics wliich were 
 to influence and direct a successful business career, in- 
 cluding enthusiastic persistency, moral courage in the 
 face of ovcrwhelmintj difficulties, uprightness of life and 
 aims in social and business life, and a wonderful mastery 
 of detail. His education was secured at tlie public 
 schools, but the untimely death of his father limited his 
 educational opportunities, and, wlien not quite fifteen, he 
 was compelled to abandon iiis books. He was at that 
 time a member of the graduating class. 
 
 Mr. .Stcurer's first business e.xperiencc was secured in a 
 jMinting-office in New York, where he recei\ed his earliest 
 acquaintance with newspaper work, and developed an am- 
 bition to liave, some day, a printing establishment of his 
 own. Tile publishing and printing facilities of that earlier 
 office were meagre in the extreme, compared with printing 
 establishments of the present time. An old Washington 
 liand-press t)'|>ified the equipment of the little office. 
 
 With increasing knowledge of liis chosen occupation, 
 the boy began to look forward to the larger opportunities 
 wliich it hehl out. Thus, one bright morning, accom- 
 panied by another boy of iiis own age, and a few jjcnnies 
 as capital between them, the lads directed their steps 
 towards " Newspajjer Row," where, after some failures 
 and rebuffs, a place was found with the [)rinting-house of 
 Wynkoop & Hailcnbeck, at that time situated in Fulton 
 Street, near Nassau. I lere he completed his apprentice- 
 sliip, his industry and faithfulness winning him the con- 
 fidence and esteem of liis employers. Appreciation of 
 iiis proficiency was soon exhitjited in a practical way. 
 Wiien tile old comic ])aper Wild Oii/s ])urcliased its own 
 plant, tile proj^rietors induced Mr. Steurer to take a posi- 
 
 tion in the new establishment. He did so, and gave such 
 satisfaction that, when but eighteen years of age, he was 
 advanced to the position of proof-reader. He remained 
 connected with this paper until it went out of existence. 
 
 It was not difficult, however, to find a new place, em- 
 ployment soon l^eing obtained in the well-known print- 
 ing-house of Jolin Polhcmus, tlien located at Nassau and 
 Ann Streets, wliere iie was engaged for several years, 
 expanding in knowledge and skill and gaining tiie respect 
 and confidence of his emjjloyer. Wlien the publisiiers 
 of tile old Thoiiipsoii's Banh-Notc Reporter incpiired of 
 Mr. Poihemus if he could recommend a capable and 
 faithful young man to take charge of tiieir printing 
 department, the choice fell upon Mr. Steurer. In this 
 new field of dut\' he (inickK- developed an excellent 
 executive capacity, aiul in time won the unqualified 
 confidence of liis enij)loj-ers. His presence as a prac- 
 tical force was soon perceptible in the im[)roveil ap- 
 l^earance of the publications of the estal:)lisiiment, and 
 the introduction, at his instance, of new jirinciples of 
 practical management. So successfully did he meet tiie 
 requirements of this position that he was finalK^ [ilaceil 
 in sole charge of the printing department of the iiouse, 
 and when, in 1884, tiic establishment was destro\-ed by 
 fire, he was intrustet! with the responsibility of replacing 
 the material for the purpose of continuing business. 
 
 In the fall of 1885, Mr. Steurer, in association willi Mr. 
 Anthony Stumpf, an old friend, purciiased the enterprise 
 with which he was now fiilly identified, and tiie present 
 publishing iiouse of Stumpf & Steurer was formed. Tlic 
 titles of the older publications used by the predecessors 
 of tile new firm were abandoned from considerations of 
 business policy, the ilirectory of banks publisiied b\- tiie 
 house being named the Aiiieriean Ban/: Reporter, ami 
 the weekly financial jnurn.d the Aiiierieait /uiiiker. 
 
 Mr. Steurer uiulertook the business management of 
 the new enterprise. In tiie multifarious details of office- 
 work and the management of a large and increasing 
 correspondence, iiis ])redominating quality, tiie coni])lete 
 and easy mastery of iletail, came into pla)'. In 1887 the 
 firm purchased tlie plant of the Uiidencood Bank Re- 
 porter, which was consoiidateil w itli the Aiiicrieaii Bank- 
 Reporter : and also Undei~i>.'ood's Counterfeit Reporter, 
 whicii is still jjublished as a separate journal. Later, 
 T/te Einaneial Examiner, a weekly financial paper, was 
 aijsorijeil, anti also Ilainlieri^er's J-ei^al Direetory, puij- 
 lisiied in Wiiladelphia, whicli was consolidated with tiie 
 American Bank Reporter, in 1892 tlie ex])anding enter- 
 prise of tlic firm materi.ilizeil in a new venture, 'J'/ie 
 Ameriean La'n-yer, a montlii}-, which occupies a field 
 wiiicli hail hitiierto been neglected. 
 
 To conclude, lie takes an active interest in municipal 
 matters, is a member of tiie Metiiodist Ciiurcii, and takes 
 a particularly active interest in Sunday-sciiooi work. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 iSi 
 
 D. O. MILLS. 
 
 D. O. Mills, a leading Californian and New York 
 financier, was born in Westchester County, New York, 
 September 5, 1825, being tlie fifth son of James Mills, 
 who in 1835 served as supervisor of the town of North 
 Salem. The family descendetl fi-om Scotch-luiglish an- 
 cestry, Mr. Mills's forefathers settling in New York and 
 Connecticut before the Revolutionary period. His father 
 occupied for many }'ears a prominent position in the 
 community in which he resided, but in late life became 
 impoverished, and died in 1841, leaving his family with 
 very small means. The subject of our sketch had, how- 
 ever, received an excellent education in the North Salem 
 Academy and afterwards in tiie Mount Pleasant Academy 
 at Sing Sing, then one of the leading educational institu- 
 tions of the State. His father had, in adtlition, carefully 
 trained him in the essentials of a business career. 
 
 Mr. Mills ended his school life at the age of seventeen 
 and prepared to make his own way in the world, securing 
 a clerkship in New York, in which he remained during 
 the few succeeding years. He was also engaged during 
 part of this period in duties connected with the settle- 
 ment of the small estate left b)- his father. In 1847 
 when twenty-two years of age, he went to Buffalo, where 
 he entered into partnership with his cousin, E. J. Town- 
 send, and was appointed cashier of the Merchants' Bank, 
 of Erie Count}', a bank of deposit issue established under 
 a special charter and doing a large business for those 
 days. 
 
 Mr. Mills, however, had more ambitious views, and 
 in December, 1848, determined to go to California, a 
 country then the seat of an extraordinary excitement 
 from the recent discovery of gold. He reached San 
 Erancisco in June, 1849, after a long vo\-age full of ex- 
 citing incident. It was, however, not his purpose to en- 
 gage in gold-mining, like most of the adventurers who 
 sought that land of promise. He saw, on the contrary, 
 better hopes in other directions, and engaged success- 
 hilly in trade with the \arious mining districts. After 
 a period of experience in this line, he settled in Sacra- 
 mento, and engaged in general mercantile business, 
 w hile also purchasing gold-dust and dealing in exchange 
 on New York. By November of that year, after less 
 than si.x months' work, he already found himself the 
 possessor of about $40,000. He now closed out his 
 business and returned to Buffalo, where he disposed of 
 all his interests in the East, having resolved to make 
 California his future home. Seeking Sacramento again, 
 he founded there the banking house of D. O. Mills & 
 Co., which quickly became the leading bank of interior 
 California, a position which it maintains to this day. 
 
 Mr. Mills i|uiclsl)' established a reputation for integrity, 
 business judgment, boldness, and rapid decision, his word 
 being deemed as good as most men's bond, while his 
 business was maintained solely on a legitimate basis, all 
 questionable schemes being sedulously avoided. As a 
 consequence, business came abundantly to the house, 
 and he had gained ere long the position of the most 
 successful and leading banker of California. 
 
 In 1864 he was electetl president of the Bank of Cali- 
 fornia, a new institution which began business that year 
 with a capital of ^2,000,000. He remained connected 
 with it till 1873, when he resigned the presidency and 
 retired from business, having accumulated a large fortune. 
 His retirement proved almost fatal to the bank. Under 
 the reckless management of his successor, William C. 
 Ralston, it was in two years brought to the verge of 
 ruin, and Mr. Mills was summoned to save it. He 
 obeyed the summons, resinned the presidenc\% sub- 
 scribed personally to the bank capital Si ,000,000, raised 
 in all nearly $7,000,000, and within si.x weeks enabled it 
 to resume payment. In three years he again left it, 
 after having firml)- re-established its financial standing. 
 
 Subsetjuently Mr. Mills came East, where he became 
 a resident of New York City, and erected there the great 
 " Mills Building" in Broad Street. His interests are 
 now divided between New York and California and yield 
 him an income of more than $1,000,000 a year. On 
 leaving California he endowed with $75,000 the Mills 
 professorship of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in 
 the University of California, and donated to the State 
 the handsome group of marble statuary " Columbus be- 
 fore Queen Isabella." He became also a trustee of the 
 Lick Estate and the Lick Astronomical Observatory. 
 
 24 
 
I82 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 LKWIS ROBHRTS. 
 
 Lewis Roberts is of Welsh descent, his great-grand- 
 father, who was a relati\-e of De Witt Clinton, liaving 
 come to tliis country and settled in Orange Count)-, New 
 York, in 1729. His son became a merchant and manu- 
 facturer at Salisbury Mills, in that count}-, anil his grand- 
 son, George T. Roberts, father of the subject of our 
 sketch, was born there in 1 790. This gentleman was for 
 many years connected with the public schools of ( )ntario 
 County, and for a time had there a school of his own. 
 He married Miss Anna Fisk, of Springfield, Massachu- 
 setts, who was of carl\- Puritan anccstr\'. They had 
 eight children, Lewis being the fifth, lie was horn June 
 6, 1826, on a farm in \'<>rk, Livingston County. New 
 ^'ork, to which his father had retired after rclimiuishing 
 his professional pursuits. The famil)' subsequently re- 
 moved to Parma, Monroe County, and here young Lewis 
 s])ent his life from his si.\th \'ear till old enough to engage 
 in business. His i^reliminary education was obtained in 
 a small private school, after which he took a collegiate 
 cour.se in the Hrockport Collegiate Institute, leasing this 
 institution at the age of eighteen. 
 
 His business life began in tin- \\hi)lesale dry-goods 
 house of W. H. Greenaugh, in Rochester, New \'oik. 
 After spending two years here he joined his brother, 
 Charles Roberts, in opening a general store at Parma 
 Centre, but quickly disposed of his interest in this store, 
 and in 1849 became a partner in a large flour-mill at 
 Rochester. He was still only twenty years of age, and 
 had manifested unusual business enterprise for one so 
 young. In the spring of 185 i he made another business 
 
 venture, withdrawing from the flouring firm and remov- 
 ing to New York Cit)', where he founded the produce 
 commission house of L. Roberts & Co. As for the 
 career of this house little need be said. For a quarter 
 of a century its business was very successful, its trade 
 connections reaching to sixteen States of the L'liion, 
 from all nf wliich it received consignments of flour and 
 grain. 
 
 Mr. Riibcrts eventually withdrew from the [)i()iluce 
 business and engaged in the construction of railroad and 
 telegraph lines, a number of each of which were the re- 
 sults of his efforts. He served at one time as vice-presi- 
 dent (if the United States Telegraph Compan\-, and took 
 part with his brother and others in the construction of 
 its line from Chicago to San I-'rancisco. At that time no 
 railroad had Iicen built west of the Mississippi, and tin- 
 work of construction was a veiy difficult one. Ihe 
 credit of its completion is largely due to Mr. Roberts. 
 During his years of telegraph construction, he is said to 
 haw had to do with the erection of twenty thousand 
 miles of poles, almost sufficient to carr}' a line of wire 
 around the earth. 
 
 Politically Mr. Roberts is a Republican, and was an 
 ardent sup[)ortir of the go\einmcnt during the civil war. 
 The large .Southern trade which he possessed he sacri- 
 ficed rather than yielil the principles which he had 
 espoused. He was formerly connected with numerous 
 social and business organizations, among them the Union 
 League Club and the Home Life Insurance Compan\-, 
 and is a trustee of the University of Rochester and a 
 member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, the 
 I'^xchange Club, and tin- Down-town Club. He took a 
 very proniiiunl p.irt in the organization and ])ioinotion 
 f)f the Mercantile Library .Association of ]5rooklyn, now- 
 known as the Brooklj-n Librar\-. He served this associa- 
 tion as its first presiilent, and it was largel}- due to his 
 energetic labors in its behalf antl his enlisting the promi- 
 nent men of Urooklj-n in its support, that it attaineil its 
 high degree of success. 
 
 In 1883, Mr. Roberts became a member of the New- 
 York Stock IvNchange and engaged in the banking busi- 
 ness at No. 18 Wall Street. He also became much 
 interested in the dex'elopment of natural gas for fuel in 
 Western New York and Pennsylvania. He married, in 
 1849, Miss Harriet G. lUirbank, of Rochester, and since 
 1861 has rcsidiil ,it TaiiNtown. He owns about six 
 hundred acres of land at Tarrj-town Heights, within 
 which he has a hantlsome residence, offering a view- of 
 twenty miles of river scenery and of the lower range of 
 the Catskill Mountains. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 183 
 
 JOSHPH H. CHOATE. 
 
 Joseph Hodges Choate, of the New York bai', was 
 bom at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 24tli of January, 
 1832. He is a descendant of one of the oldest and most 
 respected of New England families, many of his relatives 
 and ancestors liaving gained tlistinction in various fields 
 of effort, and particularly at the bar. Mr. Choate entered 
 Har\-ard when sixteen years of age, and graduated in 
 1852. Thence he passed to the Dane Law School, 
 having decided to enter the profession so honorable in 
 the family records, and graduated in 1854, after two 
 years of close application. He was admitted to practice 
 at the Massachusetts bar in 1855. 
 
 In 1856 Mr. Choate came to New York, to whose bar 
 he obtained admission. From that date to this he has 
 been engaged in the practice of the law in New York 
 City w'ith brilliant success and with a reputation as a 
 lawyer equal to that of the finest advocates in this 
 countr}-. Among the cases in which he has been en- 
 gaged are many famous ones, in most of which he has 
 borne a leading part, and gained applause for his forensic 
 ability and deep antl tiiorough knowledge of the law. 
 To describe all the c.ises in which he has thus been 
 prominent would be far be)-ond the space at our dis- 
 posal, and be almost equivalent to writing a legal 
 history of New York for more than a quarter of a 
 centur}' past. 
 
 Mr. Choate's distinction as one of the leaders of the 
 bar of New York is not his only legal claim to consider- 
 ation. He is as popular as he is able, and may be con- 
 sidered as decided!}- the leading lawyer of the city in 
 this regard. His popularity is not confined to his clien- 
 tage and to the people at large, but extends to the pro- 
 fession as well, it being doubtful if any other lawj'er in 
 the city has as many professional friends and well- 
 wishers as Joseph H. Choate. This popularity is due, 
 in large measure, to his personal gifts of courtesy and 
 geniality, which are so marked as to win him friends 
 wherever he goes. 
 
 Among the most celebrated cases in which lie has 
 been engaged ma}- be named that of General T'itz-John 
 Porter, whom he served as counsel in his protracted suit 
 for reinstatement in his military rank, and the rights of 
 which he had been deprived by sentence of a court- 
 martial. The origin of this celebrated case must be 
 familiar to all students of the civil war. General Porter 
 was charged by General Pope with disobedience of orders 
 during the second battle of Bull Run, in failure to bring 
 his troops into the engagement, although his corps was 
 " within sight and sound of the battle," thus imperiling 
 the army and being the principal cause of the ilefeat of 
 the Union forces. The court-martial con\'ened at General 
 Pope's instance sustained these charges, and General 
 Porter was cashiered and dismissed from the service in 
 
 January, 1863. He continued under the ban of this 
 decision for many years. In 1870 he appealed without 
 effect to President Grant for a reversal of the decision 
 of the court-martial. The struggle to obtain this reversal 
 continued for years, and brought into play all Mr. 
 Choate's legal powers. It was finally successful, its suc- 
 cess being largely due to the abilit}- of the plaintiff's 
 counsel, and in 1886 General Porter was finall}- restored 
 to the army with all disabilities removed. 
 
 Another almost ccjually celebrated case in which Mr. 
 Choate acted as premier counsel was the notable Cesnola 
 case, in which also he was successful. These are but 
 the most famous of the man}- important legal struggles 
 in which he has been engaged. 
 
 Politically Mr. Choate is a member of the Republican 
 party, and a very active one, taking a prominent part 
 alike in national. State, and munici[xd politics, and ex- 
 erting his powers particular!}- in the work of reform. 
 He was one of the original Committee of Seventy, that 
 earnest bod\- of reformers which came into being during 
 the political dominance of Tweed and his infamous ring, 
 and which crushed the disdainful " ]5oss" and for the 
 time being purified the political atmosphere of New 
 York City. In bringing about this highly desirable 
 result Mr. Choate and his friend and associate Charles 
 O'Conor were \ery large!}' instrumental. Mr. Choate 
 took the leading part in the formation of the recently 
 formed Constitution of New York. 
 
 In social circles Mr. Choate is highly esteemed. He 
 is read}- as an after dinner speaker, rivaling Chauncey 
 Depew in this social art, in which he is noted for his 
 pungent wit, and if necessary can be caustic and sarcastic. 
 He is a member of the Union t^eague and the New 
 England Societ}-, in both of which organizations he has 
 served as president. 
 
1 84 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM STHINWAY. 
 
 William Stkinwav, famous among tlic piaii()-l)iiililcis 
 of this country, was of German birtli, being born at 
 Scesen, a village in the Hartz Mountain region, on 
 March 5, 1836. He received an elementary education 
 in the schools of his natix'c town, and was subsequently 
 sent to the Jacobsohn Institute, where, by the age of 
 fourteen, he was able to s])eak fluently French and Eng- 
 lish, as well as German. To his linguistic talent he 
 added an unusual Io\e of music, and while still a boy 
 became a pianist of the highest power of execution. 
 
 In 1850 his father, Ilenr)- Engelhard Steinwa\-, emi- 
 grated with his famil)' to the LTnited States, settling in 
 New York, where William was sent to learn piano- 
 making in the manufactory of Nunno & Co. Here he 
 worked with energy and intelligence, rapidly acciuiring 
 a knowledge of tlie business, until 1853, in which jear 
 his father decided to start a manufactory of his own in 
 that branch of business. He began in a modest way in 
 a back building on Varick Street, work being begun on 
 William's seventeenth Ijirlhda)-. The elder Steinway 
 associated with liim.self in this new business his three 
 sons, Charles, Henry, and William, the firm-name adopted 
 being Steinway & Sons. The princi|xd cajiital of the 
 firm consisted in skill, industry, and hopeful endeavor, 
 but success came to them from the start, and in less 
 than a year larger premises were found necessar)'. 
 These were obtained in the very shop in which W'illiam 
 had learned his tratle, the firm of Nunno & Co. having 
 meanwhile become bankrupt. At the time of his failure, 
 Mr. Nunno owed his former apjirentice S300 in wages. 
 Mr. Steinway not only never asked for this, but saw- 
 that his former empIo)'er should never come to want, 
 generously supporting him till his death, in 1S64. 
 
 It need hardly be said liere that the success of the 
 
 Steinways in their new business was phenomenal. This 
 is sufficiently well known to all citizens of New York. 
 But it is important to add that this success was largely 
 due to the executive abilit\- and clear bu.siness foresight 
 of William Steinway, who was from the first the moving 
 spirit of the concern. The control of the finances was 
 placed in his hands, his skill and managing abilitj- 
 reached to every department of the business, and before 
 many years, under his intelligent oversight, the Steinwav 
 piano gained a celebrity that was world-wide. 
 
 This success may justl\- be attributed to \\'illiam, 
 whose executive powers were acknowledged and cheer- 
 fully yielded to by his father and brothers, the four 
 working together for the advancement of the business 
 with unbroken harmony. The Steinway piano-works 
 in Astoria now occupy twelve acres and employ six hun- 
 dred and fifty hands. The works in New York have as 
 many workmen, and occupy a whole block, extending 
 from Park to Lexington A\enues, and from Fifty-second 
 to I'"irt_\--third -Streets. They turn out sixty pianos weekly. 
 .Stcinwa\- Hall, on I'ourtccnth Street, contains the ware- 
 rooms and offices, and the once famous .Steinway Con- 
 cert Hall, which in now used for business purposes. 
 There is a branch establishment in London, and one 
 in Ihuiiburg, German)-. 
 
 Mr. .Steinway takes an acti\e interest in music and 
 in public affairs. He is president of the Liederkranz 
 Societ)'. and to his skill on the piano adtls that of fine 
 singing powers and a delightful \'oice. He is not a 
 politician, but is an earnest reformer in municipal affairs, 
 and was one of the Committee of Seventy before whose 
 trenchant attack the infamous rule of Hoss Tweed went 
 down in ruin and dismay. His love of reform led him 
 in 1886 to bike an active part in the election of Abram 
 Hewitt to the mayoralty, he acting as chairman to the 
 great Cooper Union meeting at which the nomination 
 was made, and afterwards working earnestly in the 
 campaign. 
 
 In 18S8 he was elected on the National Democratic 
 Connnittee as rejiresentatix-e of the State of New York, 
 but business demands soon compelled him to resign. 
 To-day few citizens wield more political influence than 
 he. He has refused the nomination for sub-treasurer, 
 and in 1889 dcclinetl that for secretary of state of New 
 York, and has more than once declined the nomination 
 for mayor of New York City. He has, however, acted 
 with great approval in sev'eral public capacities, and his 
 charities have been of the most useful and liberal kind. 
 At Astoria he has established a model village for his 
 workmen, with an excellent school and kindergarten, 
 public swimming-baths, park, circulating librar\-, etc. 
 In 1892 he had the honor confcrreil on him of an auili- 
 cnce with the Ivmperor anil l-jnpress of German)- at the 
 Marble Palace, Potsdam. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 i8s 
 
 SPHNCER TRASK. 
 
 Si'ENCER Tka.sk, one of the bcst-kimwii names in the 
 financial history of New York City, is a native of 
 Brookhn, in which city he was born in 1844. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the Polytechnic Institute of 
 tiiat city, whence he passed to Princeton College, from 
 which institutiiin he graduated in 1866. Seeking a busi- 
 ness outlet for his energies, he chose that field of finances 
 in which the city of New York has long been so promi- 
 nent, as the financial centre of the countr}- and the chief 
 connecting link between the American and European 
 money markets. Such houses as that established and 
 conducted for a quarter-century by Spencer Trask have 
 had much to do with lifting the metropolis to its position 
 of command in the financial interests of this country. 
 
 This house was established in 1869, and in April of 
 the following year he became a member of the Stock 
 Exchange, the firm-name being now Trask & Stone. 
 SubsequentI}' other changes took place, the firm-name 
 later becoming Trask & Francis, and in 1 88 1 Spencer 
 Trask & Co., under which title the house is still known. 
 New partners have been from time to time atlmitted, 
 until now Mr. Trask has associated with him in business 
 George Foster Peabodv, William Blodget, Edwin M. 
 Bulkley, Charles J. Peabodv, and E. P. Merritt (a Boston 
 member of the firm). Mr. Charles J. Pcabody shares 
 with Mr. Trask the privilege of membership in the Stock 
 Exchange, so that the house has the advantage of pos- 
 sessing a double membership in that powerful financial 
 institution. 
 
 We need scarcely say that the house of Spencer Trask 
 & Co. has had a prosperous career, and now occupies an 
 influential position among the financial business concerns 
 of New York. It has beautiful banking-rooms at Nos. 
 27 and 29 Pine Street, in New York, and at No. 20 Con- 
 gress Street, Boston, and possesses branch offices in the 
 cities of Albany and Providence. Private connections by 
 wire bring these offices into immediate connection, and 
 also extend to correspondents in Philadelphia and Chi- 
 cago, giving the house the most fa\'orable facilities for 
 the inmiediate and profitable comluct of its business. It 
 iiardlx* need be said that time is mone\- more especially 
 in the relations of finance than in an\- other business that 
 could be named. The special line pursued by tiie house 
 is the negotiation of railroiid, municipal, and other de- 
 sirable issues of bonds, in addition to which it does a 
 large business in domestic banking and general broker- 
 age. 
 
 Mr. Trask has not confiiietl his energies to the conduct 
 of his banking business. He is president of the Edison 
 Electric Illuminating Company of New York, a large 
 and growing business enterprise, and is connected as a 
 
 director with several important railroad corporations. 
 Aside from business, he is chairman of the board of 
 trustees of the New York Teachers' College, an institu- 
 tion in whose progress and prosperity he takes great 
 interest. 
 
 In tastes and habit Mr. Trask is domestic. His country 
 home is situated at Yeddo, New York, about a mile from 
 Saratoga village, and on the avenue leading to Saratoga 
 Lake. In this handsome establishment he takes great 
 pride, and enjoys every hour which he is enabled to 
 spend there. The estate embraces about fi\e lunulretl 
 acres, while the grounds are given a special charm by a 
 chain of small lakes. In and out among these and 
 through the surrounding woods wind beautiful drives, 
 which, with praiseworthy generosity, Mr. Trask has 
 thrown open to the public, and whicli are made much 
 use of by the residents of Saratoga and \isitors to this 
 delightful fashionable resort. 
 
 The old house on the place, which had been exten- 
 sively remodeled by its new proprietor, took fire and 
 was destroyed in 1S91. Since then a new, more modern, 
 and far handsomer edifice has been built, and is to-day 
 one of the most attractive country residences in the 
 State. Mr. Trask does not confine himself to personal 
 enjo\-nient in this rural home. His benevolent instincts 
 have led him to devote a portion of his wealth to a praise- 
 worthy philanthropic object. This is a Convalescent 
 Home for children, which he presented some years ago 
 to the diocese of Alban\', buying and fitting up a place 
 at Saratoga for this purpose. The children are brought 
 here from hospitals and elsewhere, about one hundred 
 poor young invalids being given this excellent opportunity 
 for recuperation each summer. 
 
1 86 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 COLGATE HOYT. 
 
 Colgate Hoyt, so well known in railroad and steam 
 ship enterprises, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, Mareh 2, 
 1849, the son of Hon. James M. Hoyt, an active lawyer 
 of that community. He began his education in the 
 schools of Cleveland, and when fifteen entered Phillips 
 Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, to prepare for col- 
 lege. This purpose, however, he was obliged to forego, 
 on account of a serious trouble in one of his eyes. He 
 thereupon, after a year's stud\-, returned home and began 
 a business career. 
 
 He entered a hardware store at sixteen, anti worked 
 there with an energy and faithfulness which secured him 
 rapid promotion. After a period of experience in this 
 line, he entered his father's office, and soon after became 
 his partner in real-estate tran.sactions. lie also became 
 largely engaged in loaning monej' on Western real-estate 
 securities, a business then ra[)itlly de\elo[)ing. 
 
 He was thus engaged until 1881, in which year, at the 
 solicitation of James R. Colgate and John H. Tre\-or, he 
 removed the field of his activities to New York, where 
 he entered the firm of J. B. Colgate & Co. This busi- 
 ness soon felt the effect of his activity and bf)ldness, he, 
 with the support of his associates, entering into transac- 
 tions of great magnitude and responsibility. In 1S82 
 President Arthur appointed him one of the govern- 
 ment directors of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
 an influential position which he retained till the end of 
 the administration, sen'ing during ])arl of the lime as 
 chairman of the board. In 1884 he became a trustee 
 of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, in association with 
 its president and vice-president, Charles L. Colly and 
 Kdwin H. Abbott, and joined his energy to theirs in the 
 development of this road, which in their hands was ad- 
 vanced to a commanding position. They sub.scqucntly 
 
 developeil the great terminal railroad known as the 
 Chicago and Northern Pacific, whose passenger station 
 in Chicago is one of the finest in the country, while its 
 facilities are used by several other railroads. 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Hoyt resigned his po.sition as government 
 director of the Union Pacific road, but soon after accepted 
 the position of company director, which he held for 
 several years. He resigned e\entually, through disap- 
 proval of the policy of the board. Meanwhile he had 
 become a director of the Oregon and Transcontinental 
 Compan}- and of the Oregon Railroad and Na\igation 
 Company, and a member of the executive committee of 
 each. He was also, soon afterwards, elected a director of 
 the Northern Pacific Railroad Compan\-, a member of its 
 executive and finance committees, and vice-president of 
 some of its lines. The business of this road was grow- 
 ing and additional equipment was needed. This he under- 
 took to jirovide. He raised $3,000,000 for the purpose, 
 and organized the Northwest Equipment Compan)', of 
 which he is president and treasurer. In 1889 he became 
 \ice-president of the Oregon and Transcontinental Com- 
 pany. This company falling into difficulties through ad- 
 verse legislation, Mr. Ho)-t undertook the hea\y task of 
 its reorganization, and accomplished it with remarkable 
 rapidity, its assets and property being transferred to the 
 North American Compan\', an association with a more 
 liberal charter. 
 
 This result was accomplished with no little difficulty, 
 and Mr. Hoyt, worn out with his labor, resigned his 
 position as vice-president, much against the desire of the 
 boaril. just then, Mr. Trevor, one of the partners of J. 
 B. Colgate & Co., suildenly died, and it became neces.sary 
 to wind up the large business of this firm. After the 
 dissolution of the partnershi]i, Mr. Hoyt retired from 
 the stock brokerage business. 
 
 To Mr. Hoyt was due the encouragement of the inven- 
 tor of the " whale-back" .steamer, which he took hold of 
 in 1888, after the inventor had for years sought finan- 
 cial support, organized the American Steel Barge Com- 
 pany with a large capital, and brought the inventor's 
 ideas into practical and successful operation. He is also 
 treasurer and trustee of the Spanish-American Iron Com- 
 pany, which has a capital of S5,ooo,ooo, and owns valu- 
 able iron mines in Cuba. In 1889, he, with Mr. Olcott, 
 president of the Central Trust Company, of New York, 
 undertook the reorganization of the Missouri, Kansas, 
 and Texas Railroad, and succeeded in the face of great 
 difficulties. He was urgently pressed to accept the presi- 
 denc)' of the company, but declined. 
 
 In 1873 Mr. Hoyt married Lida W. Slicnnan, a niece 
 of General W. T. Sherman He is a member of the 
 Baptist Church, and is active in the cause of education, 
 being a trustee of the University of Rochester, of Brown 
 University, and of Vassar College. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 187 
 
 GEORGE BATTEN. 
 
 George Batten, advertising agent, may be classed 
 among those who liave made their way up from the 
 uneventful hfc of the farm to prominence in the active 
 modern birsiness world. He was born on a farm in 
 Gloucester Count)-, New Jersc}-, nearl)' forty-one years 
 ago, and spent his early life ver)- much as farmers' bo\-s 
 in general do, working in the fields during the busy sea- 
 sons of spring, summer, and autumn, and gaining such 
 education as was attainable under the circumstances by 
 going to school in the winter. It need scarcely be said 
 that, under such circumstances, farmers' sons usualh' 
 fail to obtain more than a very elementary education. 
 Mr. Batten, liowever, had the advantage over the farm 
 boy in general of being able to attend an excellent pri- 
 vate school, kept by the Misses Butler at Swedesboro', 
 New Jersey, and thus of obtaining a fairly .satisfactory 
 education. 
 
 His life in the laborious duties of a farm in a truck- 
 raising district of New Jersey continued until he was 
 past twent}-, when, moved by an ambition to engage in 
 the more varied ant! promising life of the city, he made 
 his way to Philadelphia, and there secured a position 
 in the wholesale dry-goods establishment of Folwell, 
 Brother & Co., No. 819 Market Street. His work 
 here for the first year or two was of a very subordinate 
 character, being confined to such necessary but minor 
 duties as checking goods, scouring signs, sweeping out 
 the store, keeping the goods in order, and doing such 
 other general labor as tlic exigencies of the business 
 demanded. He bided his time, howe\'er, preparing him- 
 self by diligence and study of the situation for higher 
 duties, and gradually worked his way into the position 
 of a traveling salesman, in which he was unusually suc- 
 cessful, — largely owing to the fact that he could liold 
 his trade; his customers found they could trust him, — 
 until 1882. In this year his health broke down and he 
 was obliged to retire from acti\e business, the major 
 part of his time duiing the succeeding three years being 
 
 devoted to recuperation and the restoration of a physi- 
 cal state that would enable him to engage again in 
 business. 
 
 He had, meanwhile, made the acquaintance of Mr. 
 Ayer, the widely-known advertising agent, and seeing a 
 promise of success in this field of labor, became engaged 
 in August, 1885, with the Religious Press Association. 
 In this he made rapid progress, being made a director 
 in the association in November of that \-ear, antl placed 
 in the responsible position of general manager in the 
 following January. He remained thus engaged during 
 two years, gaining a thorough knowledge of the busi- 
 ness, and developing that jiative faculty for it which he 
 has since so strongly displayed. In March, 188S, he 
 removed his field of operations to New York, where he 
 became advertising manager for the Funk & Wagnall's 
 publications (at that time consisting of the Voice, a news- 
 paper in the cause of temperance, the Hotnilctic Rcviciv, 
 and the Missionary RcviciK.'). He also secured the New 
 York agenc}- of the Washington Post, which he still 
 retains. 
 
 Mr. Batten continued thus engaged until March, 1891, 
 when he resigned his position with the Funk & Wagnall's 
 house, rented a small office in the Potter Building, and 
 started business for himself as a general advertising 
 agent. His first step in this independent field of busi- 
 ness was a \ery modest one. He had a single room 
 and one clerk. Business, liowever, began to flow in, 
 and more room and aid became quick!)' requisite. In 
 January, 1893, he was compelled to add another room 
 and considerably augment his office force, and in 1893 
 still more room and aid became requisite. In 1894 he 
 took a suite of offices on the eighth floor of the build- 
 ing, increased his force until a dozen or more persons 
 were engaged, with abundance of business to keep all of 
 them diligently employed, and we may close by saying 
 that in Mr. Batten's career industry, energy, and ability 
 have brought their natural results, and that he is fairly 
 launched upon what promises to be a ver)' successfid 
 career. 
 
1 88 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ANTHONY STUMPF. 
 
 Anthony Stumi'F was born November i6, 1856, at 
 Zcll, Havaria, German)', and exhibited carl)- tliat adapta- 
 bility to a chani^e of environment which characterizes so 
 many of our successful citizens of foreii^n birth. He was 
 one of a family of twelve children who emigrated with 
 their parents to this country in 1 866, and settled in New 
 York City. For a time Mr. Stumjif attended St. Nicholas 
 Institute, and when twelve years old was apprenticed to 
 a shoemaker, whose little shop was a rendezvous for a 
 number of well-known law)'ers, judges, and business men, 
 attracted by the thoroughness of the service which the 
 proprietor was known to render. During the two years 
 of tills admirable tutelage the boy developed some of 
 tiiose qualities of assimilative intelligence and moral grit 
 which distinguish his career. 
 
 The trade thus learned was quickly abandoned; the 
 printer's trade offered attractions for him which he could 
 not resist. The accumulation of a store of types, gath- 
 ered from the sweepings of a neigliboring printing-office, 
 was the germ of this new influence and the turning-jjoint 
 of Mr. .Stumpfs career. In 1872 and 1873 he had ahead)' 
 attained such skill in t\'pe-setting as to fit him for the 
 jiosition of com|)ositor on a morning news])ai)er, and 
 made his way to St. Louis, where he obtained employ- 
 ment on the St. Louis Post-Dispafc/i. Returning to 
 New York, with broadened experience and undiminislied 
 ambition, he became associated with tiie printing liouse 
 of Wynkoop & Halienbeck, in which opportunities were 
 open to him for the exercise of his growing powers. 
 Invariable fidelity to the interests of his employers was 
 one of the qualities which soon distinguished him from 
 those about him. A growing confidence in the young 
 man's singleness of i)urpose and solid attainments opened 
 the way for ra|)id advancement in an enterprise organized 
 
 by a customer of the establishment menlionetl. While 
 there lie rose to the [xtsition of manager, and assisted 
 in the compilation of the Leviathan Cable Code, for 
 cipher telegraphing, a work which necessitates patience 
 and thoroughness. 
 
 Mr. Stumpf had now become master of the printing 
 business in all its branches. Not only was he expert in 
 the various details of his craft, but he combined with this 
 a high order of executive skill in the management of 
 men and the promotion of business measures. In 1S85 
 he, in association with Charles David Steurer, purchased 
 the old TJiouipson's Bank-Note and Coiiiiinirial Reporter, 
 which was fountled in 1836, anil had long enjo)'ed a high 
 reputation in banking circles. Under its recent manage- 
 ment this publication had lost considerably in public esti- 
 mation, but its new proprietors perceived that b)' proper 
 handling its popularity could be restored. The young 
 men felt secure in the thought that well-directed energy 
 and unswerving business integrit)' would prevail in re- 
 establishing its former prosperity. 
 
 Mr. Stumpf entered upon the larger opportimities 
 which this undertaking gave him with his customary 
 vigor. The old name was abandoned with the old 
 methods. The weekly issue was entitled 'J'/ie American 
 Banker, of which Mr. Stumpf, in addition to his duties 
 of supervising the printing department, took editorial 
 charge. The directory of banks also issued by this es- 
 tablishment was called T/ie American Bank Reporter, a 
 work of coni[)ilation u|)on which the experience which 
 Mr. .Stumpf had acepiired in his earlier labors was efti- 
 cientl)' applied. 
 
 To the difficult work of realizing the fullest aims of the 
 new management the partners addressed themselves with 
 untiring devotion. And as the change in the character 
 of the publications became manifest to the public the 
 prevailing hostilit)' diminished, while the aims of the new 
 proprietors broadened. In 1887 L'ndcra'ood's Bank Re- 
 porter, jjublished b)' Geo. !•". June & Co., was absorbed by 
 them. In \i^C) Baml)crgers Legal Directory \\3.s consoli- 
 dated with the American luvik Reporter, and the Financial 
 F.xamincr was purchased and absorbed b)' the American 
 Banker. The progress and success of the fuin was now- 
 assured. In 1892 a legal journal, Tlie American f.auyer, 
 founded on the principles which had brought success in 
 the conduct nf the older journals, was established, ami 
 has already reached a commanding place in tin- world of 
 legal journalism. 
 
 To Mr. Stumjjf's character as an undaunted business 
 man, fertile in resources, undeviating in his adherence to 
 correct business principles, and w ith the ability to win 
 friends wherever such (|ualities are appreciated, is due in 
 a large measure the success of the publishing house, now 
 known throughout the Uniletl States under the firm-name 
 of Stumpf iv .Steurer. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 189 
 
 BENJAMIN H. FIELD. 
 
 Benjamin Hazard Field, born at Yorktown, New 
 York, May 2, 18 14, is descended from a family of much 
 consideration in that region of the en\irons of New 
 York City. The fuiiii}' from wliich lie comes can, in- 
 deed, be traced far back into the mediicval period, Hii- 
 bartus do la Feld, its remote ancestor, being said to have 
 accompanied Wihiam the Conqueror in his invasion of 
 Kngland. His lands were situated in the county of 
 Lancaster, where the family long continued, the prefix 
 dc la being discontinued, and the name became F"eild. 
 In 1630, when Sir Richai'd Saltonstall sought a home in 
 the New World, he was accompanied by his intimate 
 friend Robert Feild, who settled at Watertown, Massa- 
 chusetts, ami in 1645 purchased an estate on Long 
 Island, his residence being at l^ayside. The name was 
 eventually modified to Eleld, the subject of our sketch 
 being the grandson of John Field, and son of Hazard 
 Field, who was born at Yorktown in 1764. 
 
 Benjamin Hazard Field was born at the family seat 
 at Yorktown, and educated at first in his father's house, 
 and afterwards at North Salem Academy. He had de- 
 cided upon a mercantile career, to which his inclina- 
 tions strongly turned, and entered the office of his uncle, 
 Hickson W. Field, at that time one of the leading busi- 
 ness men of New York, and noted not only for his 
 business enterprise and success but for his active philan- 
 thropy as well, no man of his time being a better friend 
 of the poor and suffering. In 1832 his nephew, then 
 but eighteen years of age, was admitted to partnership 
 in his extensive business, and in 1838, on the retirement 
 of the uncle, Mr. Field, still but twenty-four years of 
 age, had placed in his single hands the control of the 
 whole great business of the house. 
 
 From that time forward he became identified with the 
 progress of the metropolis, being justl)' regarded as one 
 of its foremost citizens. His business career was begun 
 untler the most favorable circumstances, and a well- 
 established, large, and prosperous trade placed in his 
 hands while still in his early years, and as a result for- 
 tune and business reputation quickly came to him. To 
 his credit be it said that he followed the worthy example 
 of his uncle not only in business integrity and enterprise, 
 but also in benevolence, viewing the possession of for- 
 tune as a duty rather than a right, and one to be em- 
 ployed for the benefit of humanity. The result has been 
 that no citizen of New York has taken a more active 
 part in works of benevolence, there being scarcely a 
 charitable institution in the city with which his name is 
 not connected officially, and to whose support he has 
 not Hberally contributed. Among these may be men- 
 
 tioned the New York Dispensar)^ tiie Sheltering Arms 
 of the Children's Fold, and the Roosevelt Hospital, of 
 each of which he is trustee, while he is a director of the 
 New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf 
 and Dumb, and president of the New York Eye and 
 Ear Infirmary. Among charitable institutions, however, 
 he is most closely connected with the Home for Incura- 
 bles, at Fordham, which he liberally aided in establishing, 
 and whose president he has been since 1866. He has 
 expended in the cause of education nearly one hundred 
 thousand dollars, and has performed various other deeds 
 of a benevolent character. 
 
 He has long been identified with many of the social 
 institutions of the city. In 1870 he was elected president 
 of the St. Nicholas Society, and in 1875 took part in the 
 organization of the St. Nicholas Club, in which he is a 
 trustee. His membership in the Century Club testifies 
 to his love of and his contributions to literature. In ad- 
 dition he is connected with the New York Historical 
 Society, the American Geographical Society, the Ameri- 
 can Museum of Natm-al History, and a number of the 
 financial institutions of the city. 
 
 In 1838, Mr. Field married Catherine M. Van Cort- 
 landt de Peyster, a lady who was connected by descent 
 witii many of the ancient and most honorable families of 
 the State. He has two children, a son and a daughter, 
 the son, Cortlandt de Peyster, having succeeded him in 
 business on his retirement in 1865. Like his father he 
 has developed a benevolent disposition, and has become 
 a liberal giver. The old homestead at Yorktown is still 
 a family possession, a portion of it having been trans- 
 ferred to the Field P'arm Company, which is being con- 
 ducted for certain benevolent purpo?es of its owners. 
 
 25 
 
igo 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES LHNOX. 
 
 James Lenox, nicichant and pliilaiitliropist, was boin 
 in New York, August 19, 1800, the only son of Robert 
 Lenox, a Scotch merchant who had acquired great wealth 
 in that city, and who, on his death in 1839, left his son 
 a fortune of several million dollars, and tliirtj' acres of 
 land between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, in the vicinity 
 of Central Park. The son was educated in Columbia 
 College, from which he graduated in 1820. He was 
 then put to the studj- of law, and was admitted to the 
 bar, but did not enter into jiracticc. On the c<>ntrar\-, 
 he entered his father's counting-hoiist-, and gained tiiere 
 a training in business. 
 
 After the death of his father he reliretl from business, 
 and devoted the remainder of his life to special studies 
 and works of bene\'olence and philanthropy. The abun- 
 dance of his wealth enabled iiim to carry out his desires 
 without thought of expense, and on a visit to luiropc 
 which followed his retirement he occupied himself in 
 the collection of rare books, manuscripts, paintings, 
 statuary, and other works of art and literature. He* 
 ])ossessed a scholarly love of literature and rare taste in 
 art, and entered upon the collection of these costly mate- 
 rials with a zest which grew into an absorbing passion, 
 and in which he expended money with a lavish hand, 
 though never with unthinking extravagance. In the 
 course of time his collection became the most costly 
 and extensive collection of books anil paintings in 
 America. 
 
 In the \-ear 1870 he entered upon the greatest and 
 most useful work of his life, the erection on his property 
 on I'ifth .Avenue, between Seventieth and Seventy-first 
 Streets, of a large fire-proof building for the housing of 
 his treasures. This edifice, fronting on Central Park, 
 cost nearly half a million dollars, and stands on lam! 
 worth still more. It i> three stories high in its centre, 
 and two stories abi)\e the basement on its wings, with a 
 frontage of two hunilred feet and a depth of one hundred 
 ant! fciurteeii feet. Within tlicic are foui' large reading- 
 rooms and spacious galleries for paintings and sculpture. 
 
 Of Mr. Lenox's collection of rare books, that of Bibles 
 is particularly \'aluable, being unequaled in number and 
 rarity even by the collection of the British Museum. 
 Among these treasures is a genuine copy of the cele- 
 brated Mazarin Bible, found in Mazarin's library after 
 his death, and being the first book (printed by Gutenberg) 
 in which cut metal types were used. Lenox paid S3000 
 for this anticjuarian gem. 
 
 On the completion of this edifice in 1877, its libLr.il 
 Ijuilder conve\'ecl the whole structure, with its in\aluable 
 contents, to the cit)' of New York, to be applied for the 
 benefit of students and the public for all future time, 
 lie had previously turned over his collection of books 
 to a corporation to serve as the nucleus of a free library. 
 After his death his sister still further increased the bene- 
 faction, b)' adding to her brother's gift twenty-two ad- 
 joining building lots and SIOO.OOO for the purchase of 
 books. 
 
 Mr. Leno.x was president of the American Bible Society 
 from 1866 to 1872, and was a liberal donor to Princeton 
 College and Seminary and to man)- other Presbyterian 
 institutions. Tn him the city of New York owes, in 
 addition to the Leno.x Library, the Presbyterian Hos- 
 pital at Madison Avenue and Seventieth Street. He 
 selected himself the directors for this institution and 
 deeded the ground, worth S-00,ooo, and S 100,000 in 
 money. He afterwards gave it 5300,000. The institu- 
 tion was opened in 1872. In atklition he niaile many 
 1 private gifts to needy men of letters and others. 
 
 Mr. Lenox ne\'er married. Naturally reser\ed, he be- 
 came a recluse in his later \ears, only seeing his famii)' 
 I and intini.itc fiicnds, ,ind den\-ing himself even to notable 
 visitors, among them Lord Dufferin. An eminent scholar 
 spent several weeks in his house examining rare books 
 • without once seeing its proprietor. The books were 
 brought him from the library to a private room, to which 
 he was Confined. Mr. Lenox died in New ^'()rk, I'eb- 
 I ruary 17, 1880. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 191 
 
 REV. HENRY M. FIELD 
 
 Hexrv M. Field, D.D., who tliis year has reached 
 the fortieth anniversar\- of his continuous service as 
 editor of the New York F.va)igclist, was born April 3, 
 1822, at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and has now at- 
 tained a hale old age of seventy-tliree years. He received 
 his collegiate education at Williams College, graduated 
 in 1838, and afterwards prepared himself for and entered 
 the ministry. From that period he served as pastor of 
 Presh)-terian and Congregational Churches until 1 854, | 
 when he entered a wider field of religious labor as editor 
 and ]:)ropriet()r of the- Evam^cHst. with which he has since I 
 been identifieil. 
 
 Dr. Field comes of a foniil\- w hieli fills a distinguished 
 page in American history, he being a brother of Cyrus 
 W. Field, of Atlantic Telegraph fame, and of David 
 Dudle}' Field and Stephen J. Field, both eminent as 
 jurists. In his eminence in his own chosen field of labor 
 he completes a quartette of brothers not equaled in 
 American biography for distinguished intellectual ac- 
 quirements. We believe onl\- two other editors in the 
 United States of any rank excel him in length of ser\'ice ; 
 and it is doubtful if any occupant of an editorial chair in 
 the world can point to a record which unites such stead- 
 fastness with so brilliant a literar)- quality. 
 
 The Evangelist for nearly sixty-five j'ears has been a 
 leading organ in the Presbyterian Church, steadily main- 
 taining the progressive and liberal point of view. It was 
 organized by a group of able men, who had felt the in- 
 fluence of the great revival movement of 1830; it early 
 espoused the anti-slavery cause, ami during the war was 
 conspicuous for its devotion to the cause of liberty and 
 union. In questions affecting Church beliefs and polity 
 it has always been a resolute and able advocate of prog- 
 ress. At the same time it has avoided the factional 
 spirit, and has been distinguished for its courtesy and 
 fair play. 
 
 While Dr. Field has been industrious in editorial work 
 ever since he acquired control of the Eva)igclist in 1855, 
 he has not confined himself to the labors of the sanctum, 
 but, on the contrary, has acquired a wide reputation as a 
 traveler and as a writer of works of travel. So judicious 
 a critic as Bishop Potter has declared that no American, 
 except, possibly, Bayard Taylor, has e\er w ritten such 
 delightful books on foreign parts ; and the severest 
 critics have accorded to Dr. Field the highest place in 
 this important branch of literature. Some of his books, 
 like those upon Gibraltar and the Desert of Sinai, are 
 classics of tra\el. Among his other books we may 
 name " From Copenhagen to Venice," " From Fgypt to 
 Japan," " Among the Holy Hills," " The Irish Confeder- 
 ates," and " Histon- of the Atlantic Telegraph." 
 
 Thoueh Dr. Field retired man\- \'ears acfo from the 
 active pastorate, he has maintained an acti\e interest in 
 the religious life of the Church, and has always been 
 much sought after for occasional addresses, and for aid 
 at special meetings where leaders of thought and action 
 in the Church have convened. He has, moreover, found 
 in his editorial position the opportunity for a long and 
 important niinistr\-, open to but few clergymen, as he 
 has been enabled to address week by week a vast audi- 
 ence distributed not only in every part of the United 
 States, but throughout the world. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1894, Dr. Field, wishing to 
 be relieved from some of the routine cares of journal- 
 ism, reorganized the Era//gt-//s/ a.s a joint-stock companj-. 
 In this organization he retains the controlling interest, 
 but has associated with himself a group of the most 
 influential la\men in the Church, and thereby put the 
 paper on a very strong financial basis. The form of the 
 paper was at the same time changed, and many improve- 
 ments were made in the line of the best usage in the 
 periodical press of to-day. While one of the oldest, it 
 is also proving itself among the most vigorous and en- 
 terprising papers in religious journalism, and easily holds 
 a place in the ver}^ front rank. In spite of the hard 
 times, its business has shown remarkable increase, and 
 its hold on the Presbyterian Church and religious com- 
 munity was never so strong. 
 
 Dr. Field comes of a famih- remarkabh' tenacious of 
 life and of indomitable spirit and vigor. He wears his 
 crown of threescore years and ten with ease and grace, 
 and ma}- well look forward yet to many years of im- 
 portant labors in the noble careei* which he set before 
 himself in his youth. 
 
192 
 
 J/AKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN II. STARIN. 
 
 John Henry Stakin was born August 27, 1825, in 
 Sammonsvillc, Montgonioiy (now Fulton) County, New 
 York, he being a descendant of Johannes Ster, who 
 came from Holland about 164S. The family afterwards 
 changed its name to Stern, and finally to Starin. John 
 Starin, with ten other members of the famil\-, served 
 as soldiers during the Revolutionary War. His son, 
 Myndert Starin, father of the subject of our sketch, 
 a man of unusual ability, engaged in manufacturing 
 at Sammonsvillc, and founded the town of Fulton- 
 ville. 
 
 John H. Starin inheritetl the business qualities of his 
 father, which were manifested early in his life. He was 
 educated at the Esperance Academy, in Schoharie County, 
 and subsequently studied medicine. He did not, how- 
 ever, care to pursue the medical profession, and enteretl 
 his brother's drug .store in I'ultonviile as a clerk, remain- 
 ing there till 1S56, when he removed to New York and 
 ventured in business for himself in the line of medicine 
 and toilet articles. He was early successful, quickl}' 
 building up a profitable business, but was not long so 
 engaged before an opening for larger enterprise declared 
 itself The transportation of goods, which his business 
 affairs required him to con.sider, was not at tli.il time 
 very fully developed, and the idea occurred to him of 
 establishing a general freight agenc)- in this city, as likely 
 to prove for the convenience of ship|)ers. He unfolded 
 his plan to a railroad officer, who encouraged him to 
 proceed with it, offering him the patronage of his road, 
 — one of the great trunk lines. Mr. Starin closed the 
 contract, sold out iiis drug business, and went heartily to 
 work in his new enterprise. 
 
 The civil war, which broke out sliortly afterwards. 
 
 proved serviceable to liim in the establishniLiit of his 
 business, which he ([uickly developed to such an e.Ktent 
 that he was enabled to ser\e the go\'ernment essentiallj-, 
 providing it with transportation for troops and war mate- 
 rial at less cost and quicker dispatch than it was able to 
 do with its own means of carnage. }W the end of the 
 war he had built up an extensive system of railroad and 
 steamboat connection of the greatest value to mercantile 
 shippers, while his reputation as a reliable business man 
 was high. His trade connections since that period ha\-e 
 grown to an enormous extent, he having freight lines on 
 the North and East Rivers, fleets of tugs and propellers, 
 lighters and car boats, excursion and pleasure boats, 
 grain boats and floating elevators, while his freight con- 
 nections extend to all the railioads that come to the 
 rivers surrounding New York, and his dr\-docks, freight- 
 ing depots, and offices are witielj' distributed along the 
 wharf region of the city. His business has grown, in- 
 deed, until it is the largest single enterprise of the kind 
 in America, while his enteri)rise and integrity have won 
 him hosts of friends. This feeling was strikingly dis- 
 pla\cd in 1890, when a number of his friends, taking 
 advantage of his absence in lunope, erected a bronze 
 statue to his honor in Fultonville, the place of his resi- 
 dence. This figure, eight feet high, stands on a granite 
 base, on whose sides are bronze bas-reliefs re])resenting 
 Connnerce, Legislation, Agriculture, ;uul Public Works, 
 to all of which Mr. Starin's attention has been usefiiiiy 
 directed. 
 
 Politicall)- Mr. Starin has always been an earnest Re- 
 publican, and has frequently held public positions. From 
 1848 to 1852, during his early residence at Fultonville, 
 he was postmaster at that place. In 1876 he ran for 
 Congress as Representati\'e from the Twentieth District 
 of New York, and was elected. In 1S7S he ran again, 
 and was returned b\' a large pluralit)' \ote. .^\t the end 
 <if this term a third nomination was offered him, but he 
 declined to run again, saying that he favored rotation in 
 office, and saw no reason why he should hokl the office 
 continual!)' to the detriment of others equallj- deserving 
 of it. 
 
 Mr. Starin has been a member of the New York 
 Chamber of Commerce since 1874. and in 1880 was 
 made presiilent, upon the death of Horatio Se\-mour, of 
 the Saratoga Monument Association topnixidea fitting 
 memorial of the battle that pr.ictically ileciiled the result 
 of the w.ir of the Resolution. In this enterprise he 
 worked energetically, secured for it an approjjriation of 
 S30,000 from Congress, added a liberal donation of his 
 own, and induced others to subscribe. As a result of 
 his efforts the memorial has been erected. Mr. Starin 
 has been liberal in many other directions, charitable anil 
 other. He belongs to many clubs ami societies, and is 
 a trustee of Union College. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 193 
 
 ALBBRT M. PALMER. 
 
 Albert Marshman Palmkk, conspicumis in the history 
 of theatrical management in New York City, was born 
 at North Stonington, Connecticut, July 20, 1838. The 
 family name can be traced back with honorable distinc- 
 tion to the earliest days of the colonies Mr. Palmer's 
 fithcr, the Rev. Albert Gallatin Palmer, D.D., was a 
 much beloved clergyman of the Baptist Church, minis- 
 tering for many years at Stonington, where he died in 
 1889. His mother was a IMiss Sarah A. Langworthy, 
 of an old Connecticut family. 
 
 He was cducatetl at the University of New York, 
 graduating from its Law School in i860. For a time he 
 continued the study of the profession, but was soon called 
 to the responsible position of secretary to Mr. Barney, 
 collector of the port of New York. These were busy 
 days in that department, and Mr. Palmer here gained a 
 practical knowledge of affairs. In 1866 he was made 
 librarian of the Mercantile Library, at that time a centre 
 of literary interest and activity, and there he established 
 order and effectiveness in all its branches. It was from 
 this atmosphere of literature that he ■was unexpectedly 
 drawn into the management of the Lhiion Square Thea- 
 tre, whose proprietor, Mr. Sheridan Shook, finding his 
 establishment in a state of ilccadence, and knowing of 
 Mr. Palmer's business efficiency, offered to give him full 
 charge, and to permit him to dev^clop the house on his 
 own lines. On these conditions the offer was accepted. 
 
 Mr. Palmer entered this new field with the one idea 
 to make a theatre of the highest rank and purpose. 
 The task was a formidable one, for Wallack's, just 
 around the corner, and Daly's were then in their vogue, 
 and the field seemed to be occupied. The remarkable 
 result was that within two years the little considered 
 and almost abandoned Union Square Theatre became 
 the most thronged and profitable house in town, begin- 
 ning in 1872 a career that lasted without interruption of 
 successes for ten years. These ten \ears are conceded 
 to be the most brilliant of any under single management 
 in the history of the New York stage ; no one house 
 had ever had such financial returns ; and it was without 
 precedent that an outsider shoukl, without practical 
 experience of the stage, establish an institution so com- 
 plete in its compan\' and results. Dion Boucicault's 
 adaptation of " Led Astra\-" was one of the first pieces 
 to awaken the town to the excellence of the productions 
 under the new management, and in 1874 the triumph of 
 " The Two Orphans" brought the house to the height 
 of prosperity and recognition, this production proving 
 the most artistic success as a finished melodrama known 
 in the histoiy of the New York stage. One cause of 
 this was that Mr. Palmer had had the courage and judg- 
 ment to subject it to a thorough and radical revision, a 
 care that he bestowed on all pieces accepted by him 
 
 or written to his order. In this i)lay, as in others, 
 the scenic possibilities were exhausted, the actors fitly 
 chosen, sometimes from the ranks, and a general per- 
 fection was to be seen. To give the public the very 
 best in e\-ery department and detail was iiis principle, 
 and has been followed b\- him in his entire career. 
 Many other plays were presented with similar success. 
 Bronson Howard made his first financial success at this 
 house, and Bartley Campbell was started on his brief 
 and brilliant, but productive career. 
 
 In 1882, Mr. Palmer retired from the management, 
 feeling the need of rest, but was immediately sought 
 out by Mr. Mallor\', of the Madison Square Theatre, 
 and shortl)' afterwards entered on the management of 
 that house, which he controlled in ever\- particular. 
 With his usual success in securing a notable play it 
 was not long before the town was delighted with the 
 production of " Jim the Penman." I-'olIowing this came 
 " Saints and Sinners," " Elaine," and man\- other pla\-s 
 that sustained the prestige of his management. The 
 closing piece of liis direct management of the house 
 was " Alabama," and it was with this play that he began 
 his career at Palmer's Theatre, which he had assumed 
 in 1890, changing the name from Wallack's, and whicli 
 he now controls in common with the Garden Theatre. 
 During his career he has brought man}- stars to this 
 countr}-, while numbers of distinguished actors have 
 passed under his management. 
 
 Mr. Palmer has been president of the Actors' P'und since 
 1888, and i*; a member of the Goethe Society, the Pla\ers' 
 Club, the Union League Club, etc. His summer home 
 is at Stamford, Connecticut, on the banks of Mill River. 
 Mrs. A. M. Palmer is conspicuotis in helpful efforts for 
 the well-being of the profession, being president of the 
 Professional Women's League, a member of Sorosis, etc. 
 
194 
 
 MAKERS OF XEW YORK. 
 
 DANIKL I'HCENIX. 
 
 Daniel Piiocxix, a citizen of New York of inucli 
 prominence during and after the Revolutionary period, 
 was born in tliat cit)- about 173", and resided there 
 during liis whole career, pla\-ing an active part in the 
 mercantile and public life of the city. His business life 
 was that of a merchant, in w hich he was very successful, 
 attaining what, at that period of more modest views than 
 the present, was esteemed a position of wealth. His 
 life, however, was by no means confincil to business, he 
 becoming conspicuous in the political affairs of the city 
 in those far-off days before the present political parties 
 and public questions were born. In the slow growth of 
 New York from the position of a village to that of a 
 metropolis, a period arri\ed in its finances in which a 
 custodian of its funds became necessarj', and Mr. PhiLni.\ 
 was chosen to occupy this responsible position. In other 
 words, he was the first city treasurer of New York. In 
 connection with this official jiosilion he also held that 
 of city chamberlain, being the first in this also. These 
 important positions, the election to which shows the high 
 standard lie had attained in the regard of his fellow-citi- 
 zens, he retained for twenty years, manifesting in them 
 an integrity and devotion to public duty which have 
 not always been emulated in later incumbents of these 
 important offices. 
 
 A conspicuous patriot in .sentiment, lie was, in common 
 with many other loyal citizens, obliged to leave the city 
 on the occasion of its occu|)atioii b)' the Hritisli army, 
 and to remain an exile iluring the whole period of the 
 war, not daring to return until the end of the conflict. 
 On the day following the evacuation of the city by the 
 British troops, November 26, 1 783, he had the honor of 
 
 presenting to General Washington, then entering at the 
 head of the American forces, a patriotic address of wel- 
 come, signed by himself and others of the distinguished 
 citizens who had spent the period of British occupation 
 in exile from their native cit\'. An extract from this 
 address will undoubtedly be of interest. 
 
 "Sir, — At a moment when the arm of t\-ranny is 
 yielding u]) its fondest usurpations, we hope the saluta- 
 tions of long-suffering exiles, but now happy freemen, 
 will not be deemed an unworthy tribute. In this place, 
 antl at this moment of exultation and triumph, while the 
 ensigns of Slavery still linger in our sight, we look up to 
 \-ou, our deliverer, with unusual tran.sports of gratitude 
 and joy. . . . The citizens of New York are eminenti}- 
 indebted to your \ irtucs ; and wc, who now have the 
 honor to address j-our Excellencj', have been often 
 companions of }our sufferings and witnesses of j'our 
 e.xertions. Permit us, therefore, to approach your Excel- 
 Ienc\' with the dignit}- and sincerit)' of freemen, and to 
 assure you that we shall preserve, with our latest breath, 
 our gratitude for )-our services, and veneration for your 
 character." 
 
 In response to this address, signed by Daniel Pluenix 
 and others. General Washington felicitously replied : 
 
 " Great as your joy must be on this pleasing occasion, 
 it can scarcely exceeil that which I feel at seeing you, 
 gentlemen, who from the noblest motives ha\e suffered 
 a volimtary e.xile for many \"ears, return again in [)eace 
 and tiiuniph to enjo\- the fruits of your virtumis comluct. 
 The fortitude and perseverance which you and vour suf- 
 fering brethren have exhibited in the course of the war 
 have not only endeared you to )-our countr\-men, but 
 will be remembered with adniir.ition and applause to the 
 latest posterit}'." 
 
 These extracts, which arc all we h.ive space to give, 
 will suffice to show the spirit of this interesting occasion. 
 We may say, in conclusion, that Mr. Phieni.x was for 
 many years an elder in the Presbyterian Church, lie 
 was a man of iducation and relMieinent, strongly inter- 
 esteil in manv religious and benevolent institutions of 
 the city, and in all that contributed to its growth and 
 prosperity. He died in I Si 2. 
 
 Tlie PiKenix Building, on Chapel Street, New Haven, 
 was erected on his property, and still remains in pos- 
 .scssion of some of his descendants. He left four chil- 
 dren, of whom l-ilizabeth married Nathaniel G. Ingraham, 
 father of Judge Daniel P. Ingr.iham, and Jeiiet married 
 RichartI Riker, the first recoriler of New York. Among 
 his great-grandchildren are Major I^dgar Ketchum and 
 Colonel Alexander P. Kelchum, of New York City, two 
 of the children of lilizabeth Phieni.x and luigar Ketchum, 
 late of this city. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 19s 
 
 MAJOR EDGAR KETCHUM. 
 
 Edgar Ketchum was bom in the cit\- of New York, 
 July 15, 1840. He is the son of Edgar Ketchum and 
 Elizabeth Phcenix, his mother being the granddaughter 
 of Daniel Phcenix, a distinguished citizen and merchant 
 of New York, and its first cit_\' treasurer and city cham- 
 berlain, which position he held for twenty years. He 
 was also a member of the first Chamber of Commerce 
 of this city. On his father's side Mr. Ketchum is de- 
 scended from Cornelius Van Tienhoven, who was a 
 prominent citizen of New York more than two hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 Mr. Ketchum graduated with the degree of A.B. at 
 the College of the City of New York in the \-ear i860. 
 Three years afterwards he recei\ed that of A.M. He 
 subsequently studied law in his fatl'.cr's office and at 
 Columbia College Law School, graduating in 1S62, and 
 was then admitted to practice law. 
 
 Early in the civil war Mr. Ketchum joined the cele- 
 brated New York Seventh Regiment, and subsequently 
 was appointed by the President an officer in the Signal 
 Corps in the U. S. Arm}-. He served in the Army 
 of the James before Riciimond in this field of duty, and 
 was highly commended by his superior officers at that 
 time. 
 
 At a later date he took part in the second Fort Fisher 
 expedition, sen'ing on the staff of General A. H. Terry 
 and General C. J. Paine. He was twice promoted, once 
 for gallant and meritorious services at the capture of 
 that fort. He participated in the capture of Fort Ander- 
 son, was at the battle of Town Creek and the capture of 
 Wilmington, serving on the staff of General J. M. Scho- 
 field and that of General J. D. Cox, and rendering valu- 
 able service in connection with these victories. 
 
 After the capture of Wilmington he served again on 
 the staff of General Terry, and was with him until after 
 the battles of Bentonville and Averysborough in March, 
 1865. His duties at the capture of Fort Fisher were of 
 a very responsible nature, he being occupied during the 
 period of the assault and bombardment in communicating 
 inf )rmatiun from General Terry to Admiral Porter, direct- 
 ing the firing of the fleet so as to a\oid injur}- to the 
 advancing sections of our army. During this time he 
 was constantly under fire, and was especially exposed 
 to the aim of the enemy's sharp-shooters. The morning 
 after the capture of the fort, he narrowh- escaped death 
 b_\- the explosion of the magazine, at which time two 
 hundred men were killed. 
 
 The capture of Fort Fisher with the subsequent loss 
 of all the Cape Fear River defenses and of Wilmington, 
 the great importing depot of the South, effectually ended 
 all blockade-running, and justified the statement of Gen- 
 
 eral Lee, that P'ort I'isher must be hckl or he could not 
 subsist his army. 
 
 Captain Ketchum was honorably discharged from the 
 United States service in August, 1865, the war having 
 closed. On his return to New York he resumed his 
 position in the Seventh Regiment, but was soon pro- 
 moted, and afterwards was appointed engineer with the 
 rank of major in the 1-^irst Brigade, P'irst Division, New 
 York National Guartl, in recognition of his services in 
 the field during the war. After holding this position for 
 three )-ears he resigned and was honorably discharged. 
 
 Major Ketchum has been in constant practice of the 
 law at New York City since his return to civil life, de- 
 voting himself principally to the examination of titles, 
 conve}'ancing, etc., a branch of practice with which he 
 is very familiar, and in connection with which his long 
 association with liis father, one of the most distinguished 
 practitioners of Xcw York, has given him peculiar ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 He is a member of the Militar\- Order of the Loj-al 
 Legion of the United States, the War Veterans of the 
 Seventh Regiment, Post Lafayette, G.A.R., the Society 
 of the A run- of the Potomac, and the Veteran Signal 
 Corps Association. 
 
 In 1870 he married Angelica S. Anderson, daughter 
 of Smith W. Anderson, deceased, and has two children, 
 Edith Schuyler and Edgar Van Rensselaer Ketchum. 
 
 Since 1870 he has resided at Woody Crest, a pictur- 
 esque private park on Jerome Avenue, near One Hun- 
 dred and Si.xt\--fift]i Street, in New York City, in a house 
 erected by him soon after his marriage on a portion of 
 the estate of James Anderson, the grandfather of Mrs. 
 Ketchum, the land having been ift the possession of the 
 Anderson famih- for more than a hundred years. 
 
196 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM B. HORNBI.OWLR. 
 
 William 15ltlkk Hounblowkk, one o( the leading 
 members of tlie New York bar, was born at Paterson, 
 New Jersey, May 13, 1851. He is sprung from a family 
 of professional men, of wiiom his great-grandfather, 
 Hon. Josiaii Mornblowcr, a civil engineer, brought over 
 from ICngland in 1750 the first steam-engine ever seen 
 on the American continent. This was imported for use 
 in the copper-mines of lielleville, New Jersey. Joseph 
 C. Hornblowcr, his grandfather, was made in 1832 chief- 
 justice of New Jersey, and pursued a very distinguished 
 career. His father, Rev. William H. Hornblower, served 
 iluring a part of his career as professor in the Theologi- 
 cal Seminary at Alleghany, Penn.sylvania. 
 
 Mr. Hornblower was prepared for college at the Col- 
 legiate Institute of New Y(trk. and afterwards entered 
 
 Princeton College, from which he graduateil in 
 
 IS7I. 
 
 As a scholar he ranked high in his classes, and won the 
 first prize in luiglish literature and belles-lettres. He 
 was a member of the Cliosophic Literary Society of the 
 college, and was made belles-lettres orator of his class 
 in the commencement exercises. At the end of his 
 college course he entered the I.aw School of Columbia 
 College, from which he graduated in 1875, and was 
 immediately afterwarils admitted to the bar. I le resided 
 with his uncle. Judge Woodruff, during his period of law 
 stuily, and gained great advantage from the discussions 
 of legal subjects which took place in his uncle's house. 
 He had also the advantage of association with another 
 uncle, the late Justice Brady, whose profound knowledge 
 of the law must have proved of much ailvantage to him. 
 In his legal career Mr. Hornblower's progress was 
 rapid, — more so than is usually the case with novitiates 
 in the profession. His native gifts were aided by an 
 
 unusual industry, and he quickly found hinrself in the 
 possession of a profitable practice. His first professional 
 successes were in the field of banl^ruptcy, a practice 
 which gave him practical experience in mercantile mat- 
 ters, and soon led to an extcnsi\e business in commercial 
 law-cases. His work was thoroughly done, and his 
 notable fidelity to the interests of his clients quickly 
 brought him to the attention of large corporations, ami 
 added to the importance of his clientage. He has 
 argued man\' important cases before both State antl 
 Federal tribunals, and with an ability that has made his 
 arguments matters of reference, and has brought his 
 name piominentl)' into consideration as a suitable candi- 
 date for judicial honors. He is the senior member of the 
 legal partnership of Hornblower, Byrne & Tayler, a firm 
 of much j)romincncc in the metropolis. .Among the more 
 important cases which he has argued are many invoking 
 questions of insurance, railroad, and corporate law, in all 
 of which fields of practice he has become a very skillful 
 advocate. 
 
 Mr. Hornblower has also written much on legal sub- 
 jects, his productions being couched in lucid and \'igorous 
 language. Among his leading papers and addresses may 
 be mentioned " Conflict between Federal ami State De- 
 cisions," in The Aniivicaii LiUk' Rtric7i\ March, 1S80; 
 "The Legal Status of the Indian," an address before 
 the American Bar Association in 1891 ; "Is Codifica- 
 tion of the Law Lxpedient?" a lecture delivered to the 
 American Social Science Association in 1888. He is an 
 active member of the Bar Association, ,uul has served 
 on its most important committees, ami as secretary of 
 its executive committee. 
 
 Politically he votes with the Democratic party, but is 
 largeK' independent in political \iews, thinking for him- 
 self, and avoiding extreme part)' opinions. In 1890 he 
 was appointed by the governor on the commission created 
 to propose amendments to the judiciary article of the 
 State constitution. In 1893, upon the death of Justice 
 Blatchford, of the United States Supreme Court, Presi- 
 dent Cleveland nominated IMr. 1 Lunblower for the vacant 
 chair. This nomination was a high honor, he being, 
 with four exceptions, the youngest man ever named for 
 a seat on the Supreme Court bench. His nomination, 
 however, arousetl much partisan prejmlice, anil engen- 
 dered a feeling of hostility that causetl the rejection of 
 his name by the Senate. The nomination shows clearlj- 
 the status which he holds before the bar, ami is signifi- 
 cant of a very rapid progress in his jirofe-^sion during 
 his twenty j-ears of practice. 
 
 Mr. Hornblower is a member of \'arious .societies and 
 clubs of New York, including the Democratic, the Re- 
 form, the Metropolitan, the Manhattan, the Century, and 
 the University Clubs. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 197 
 
 SYDNEY DILLON. 
 
 SvDXEV Dillon', a noted railroad-builder, was born at 
 Northampton, Montgomer)- Count)-, New York, May 7, 
 1812, the son of a farmer in that locality. His grand- 
 father had been a Revolutionary soldier. His education 
 was obtained in the common schools of his native village, 
 and he was obliged to begin his business career early 
 in life, at first as an errand-boy, being engaged by the 
 parties then building the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. 
 This, running from Albany to Schenectady, was the first 
 railroad constructed in the State. 
 
 The boy's first service determined his later career. He 
 ne.xt became engaged in similar labor on the Rensselaer 
 and Saratoga Railroad, and eventually obtained a posi- 
 tion as foreman for the contractors engaged in building 
 the Boston and Providence Railroad. The head-quarters 
 of the contractors was at Sharon, and provisions for the 
 working force had to be taken in wagons from Schenec- 
 tady to this place, a distance of two hundred and twenty 
 miles. 
 
 Mr. Dillon's work in connection witli this road con- 
 tinued for about two years, when he obtained a situation 
 as foreman and manager for Carmichael, Fairbanks & 
 Otis, the contractors for the Stonington Railroad, then 
 under construction. At a later date he became en<ra<jed 
 upon the Western Railroad of Massachusetts, and while 
 occupied in some heavy rock excavations in connection 
 with this road near Charleston his ability in constructive 
 work attracted the attention of W. H. Swift, an engineer, 
 who advised him to undertake railroad construction on 
 his own account. In compliance with this advice he 
 made a bid for work in 1S48, and secured his first con- 
 tract, covering only a single mile of road. 
 
 His experience had made him a skilled builder, and 
 having completed this first task successfully he was en- 
 couraged to undertake a larger contract, this time for a 
 heavy job on the Troy and Schenectady Railroad. He 
 had in this to excavate a hill of clay two miles west of 
 Troy, and employed a steam excavator, a machine which 
 he ever afterwards used in heavy work. 
 
 From this time forward Mr. Dillon's progress was 
 rapid, road after road coming into his hands as con- 
 structor. Among those in w hich he was engaged may 
 be named the Hartford and Springfield, the Massachu- 
 setts, Rutland and Burlington, the New Jersey Central, 
 the Boston and New York Central, the Philadelphia and 
 Erie, the Erie and Cleveland, and the Morris and Essex. 
 His connection with the Union Pacific as constructor and 
 manager began in 1865. This great work of railroad- 
 
 building was completed b\' him in four years, its con- 
 nection with the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, 
 eleven hundred miles west of Omaha, being made in 
 1869. He became director of this road, and remained 
 so for nearly thirty years, being several times its presi- 
 dent, and chairman of the board of directors at the time 
 of his death. 
 
 Mr. Dillon's subsequent constructive work was in 
 connection with the New Orleans, Mobile and Chatta- 
 nooga road, of which he built fifty miles, the Connecticut 
 Valley, the Chillicothe, the Council Bluffs and Omaha, 
 the Canada Southern, and the Paterson branch of the 
 Morris and Essex. He also lowered the tracks of the 
 New York Central and constructed the railroad tunnel 
 and viaduct on Fourth Avenue, New York. 
 
 In addition to his presidency of the Union Pacific, the 
 heavy duties connected with which hastened his death, 
 he served as president of the Kansas Pacific, and as 
 director of the Missouri Pacific, the Chicago, Rock 
 Island and Pacific, the Canada Southern, the Delaware, 
 Lackawanna and Western, and the Wheeling and Lake 
 Erie Railroads, the Manhattan Elevated Railway, the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, the Pacific Mail 
 Steamship Company, and some financial associations. 
 
 He was married in 1 841, and had two children, both 
 daughters. He died June 9, 1892, in New York City. 
 Personally he was a man of dignified presence, reticent 
 in manner, but of great business judgment and prevision, 
 while his probity, sincerity, and earnestness of character 
 won him universal respect. 
 
 26 
 
1 98 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FREDHRICK DH PHYSTHR. 
 
 Till-: Dc Peyster family, whose first member in .Amer- 
 ica, Johannes dc Peyster, reached New Amstcnlam in 
 1645, has ranked since amon<j the most prominent t)f 
 tlic old Dutch stocks, not only in tlirect linea<je but 
 through its connections by marriage with the leading 
 New York families. Thej- descend from a Huguenot 
 family which settled in Molland soon after the massacre 
 of St. Bartholomew. The first American De Peyster 
 antl his descendants played leading parts in New York 
 history, down to the era of the subject of our sketch. 
 Frederick de Peyster, who was boiii in New York, 
 November 11, 1796, at his parents' house on Hano\er 
 Sc}uare, then one of the most fashionable quarters of the 
 city. He was educateil at first in a notable grammar- 
 school of that day, situated in Poughkeepsic, and later 
 prepared for college at Union Hall, entering Columbia 
 College in 181 2, and graduating with a very honorable 
 record for scholarship in 1816. 
 
 Mr. de Peyster, after his graduation, entered u[)on the 
 study of law, untler I Ion. P. A. Jay, son of the celebrated 
 John Jay; also under the learned jurist Peter Van 
 .Schaack. He was admittetl to practice in the .Supreme 
 Court of New York in 1819, and devoted himself here 
 exclusively to chancery cases, in which he won distinc- 
 tion so rapidly as to be appointed by Governor Clinton, 
 in the following year, a master in chancery. I'or the I 
 seventeen years that followed lie retainetl this office, b)- 
 successive appointments, winning an enviable reputation 
 by his diligent and exhaustive research in the jirepara- 
 tion of cases. P'ew in his profession ha\'e been more 
 highly honored by tJie almost complete endorsement of 
 their conclusions by judicial tribunals. 
 
 In 1837 he resigned his position and willulrew from 
 legal practice, partly through the necessity of caring for 
 
 his estate and that of his father-in law , Hon. John Watts, 
 and partly with the purpose of devoting his time and at- 
 tention to literarj' pursuits. He had a strong native 
 inclination for a literary life, w hich he had developed to 
 a considerable extent in college, where he took a leading 
 part in all literary exercises. During his legal career he 
 had continued his culture in literature, and developed a 
 pleasing and attractive style, with a method of treatment 
 of his subjects which has been characterized as " accurate, 
 logical, antl scholarl)-." After his retirement horn the 
 law he gave much attention to historical subjects, w hile 
 also engaging largely in philanlliropic enterprises. His 
 studies e\-entuated in many publications, principally his- 
 torical, which (lisphu- a mastery of the subject the fruit 
 of extended reading. 
 
 His treatise on Hcllomont attracted the most attention, 
 and was followed by a second production, — left in manu- 
 script at the time of his death, — " A Review of the Ad- 
 ministration of Governor Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, the 
 Bail Preileccssor of the Good Beliomont." His ]iublica- 
 tions brought him distinction abroad as well as at home, 
 and in 1877 he was elected an Honorary I'ellow of the 
 Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He was also 
 at the time of his death president of the New York His- 
 torical Society, his service in which is highly commended 
 by George Bancroft, the historian, as having raised it 
 from a condition of languor and decaj- into one of estab- 
 lislu-d ,md increasing prosperity. 
 
 Mr. lie Peyster's life has also a militar\' side. During 
 his college days he was elected commander of a students' 
 organization to assist in re])eliing an}- in\asion of New- 
 York iluring the War of 18 12. This organization as- 
 sisted General Jonas Mapes in the construction of fielil- 
 works to defend McGowan's Pass, a portion of the line 
 of intrenchments between Harlem and the North River. 
 At a later date he became interested ii-i the State militia, 
 and was commissioned captain iii the One Hundied and 
 I""ifteenth Regiment. In 1825 he was appointed an .u'lle 
 on the staff of General I'leming, and later on that of 
 Governor De Witt Clinton, and became military secretary 
 to the governor for the southern district of New York, 
 an office at that time of considerable im|iortance. 
 
 He also took an active part in religious, educational, 
 and benevolent institutions, jwrticularly in the New York- 
 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Childrrii, of 
 which he \vas one of the original incorporators .nid a 
 vice-i)resiilent. For more than fiftj' )-ears he serxed cm 
 the board of managers of the New York Bible Society. 
 He was also a member of the Institution for the Instruc- 
 tion of the Deaf and Dumb, an active worker in the 
 Home for Incurables, and for fifty years clerk of the 
 board of trustees of the Leake and Watts Or[ihan 1 lonie. 
 He was a member of many other organizations. His 
 death took place August 17, 1882. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 J 99 
 
 GENERAL JOHN W. DE PEYSTER. 
 
 John Watts de Pevster, the only child of Frederick 
 de Peyster, a sketch of whose life has been given, and 
 of Mary Justina de Pe_\-stcr, daughter of John Watts, a 
 distinguished New Yorker of the Revolutionary and later 
 period, was born in New York Cit\-, March 9, 1S21. In 
 both his lines of descent can be traced a succession of 
 soldiers, during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, 
 an ancestry which naturally predisposed him towards a 
 military career. Military reading was his youthful de- 
 light, and mock battles, in association with his cousin, 
 Philip Kearney, afterwards major-general, his \-outhful 
 recreation. He traveled in Europe in 1834, when thir- 
 teen years of age, and there devoted his time to stLidy- 
 ing the science of war, as developed in E'rance, Italy, 
 and Algiers, not only carefully reading militar)' treatises, 
 but closely studying maps, plans, and reports, and con- 
 sulting original authorities. To enable himself to do 
 this he studied the several foreign languages in which 
 these documents were written. 
 
 His industry in these pursuits was untiring, while his 
 highly retentive memory enabled him to gain a vast mass 
 of facts, which he employed in composition with logical 
 powers of analj-sis. He thus in time became a writer 
 and critic on military matters of very unusual powers. 
 From his youth he controlled his own studies in this 
 direction, and became in a true sense self-educated in 
 military lore. 
 
 While still but a }-outh he became connected with the 
 New York Volunteer Fire Department, in which he was 
 so active as to bring on an affection of the heart, from 
 which lie suffered severely ever afterwards. He was 
 among the first to advocate a paid fire department, and 
 also to recommend the organization of a police force 
 conducted on principles of military discipline. 
 
 He entered the State military service in 1845, and in 
 the following j^ear was commissioned colonel. When 
 the military law of 1851 was enacted he was appointed 
 brigadier-general in the State ser\ice, being the first 
 officer of this rank to be appointed by the governor. At 
 a later date he was sent to Europe as special military 
 agent of the State, to report on the organization of the 
 militia and of municipal military organizations in foreign 
 lands. His report, published as a Senate document, was 
 highl)- valuable, and became of great service in the or- 
 ganization of State troops and in the subsequent exigen- 
 cies of the civil war. 
 
 General de Peyster was appointed by Go\-ernor Clark 
 in 1855 adjutant-general upon his staff. He resigned in 
 a few months, having found the department so controlled 
 by political influences as to render military reform next 
 to hopeless. He combated this condition of affairs 
 vigorously, and only resigned on finding his efforts un- 
 available. He was afterwards offered the command of 
 
 various New York regiments, but his broken health and 
 the frequent hemorrhages from which he suffered obliged 
 him to decline. 
 
 When war was threatened, he offered President Lincoln 
 three regiments, and made a similar offer in the autumn 
 of 1 86 1. General de Peyster did not share in the general 
 feeling, at that time, that the war would soon be over. 
 He predicted in ad\ance the extent and greatness of the 
 struggle, and was the first to advocate the employment 
 of colored men as soldiers. Throughout the war, in 
 which the state of his health pre\-cnted him from partici- 
 pating, he published many keenly critical articles on the 
 subject. In 1869, on the occasion of the State of New 
 York appointing him brevet major-general, flattering 
 testimonials of his great military knowledge and the 
 value of his advice and influence during the war were 
 given by Generals Pleasanton and Grant. 
 
 General de Pey.ster has been a voluminous writer on 
 the subject of his special study and on historical subjects 
 in general. In addition to his service in this direction 
 he has followed the philanthropic example of his father, 
 and given much attention to matters of charit}-. He has 
 built a Home for Consumptives in Dutchess Count)-, 
 New York, and in connection with it has erected a train- 
 ing-school and donated nearly three liundred acres of 
 ground, part of the old family estate. He also has built 
 and equipped a Methodist Church at Madalin, Dutchess 
 County. He has received the thanks of the New Jersey 
 and Pennsylvania Legislatures for portraits of military 
 celebrities presented to them, and has given the State of 
 New York a bronze bass-relief representing the Conti- 
 nental camp at West Point during the Revolution. Gen- 
 eral de Peyster, while retaining his^city residence, dwells 
 principall}^ in his beautiful country-seat at Tivoli, on the 
 banks of the Hudson. 
 
200 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 KILIAEN VAN RENSSHLAHR. 
 
 The Van Renssclacrs, of the MaiKir of Rensselaers- 
 wyck, ha\e for over two hundred years lield an impor- 
 tant position in the historj' of America. Coming here, 
 as they did, as founders of a colony, who acknowledged 
 no superior power on this side of the ocean, they were 
 actual!)' sovereigns on their own domains. Before coming 
 to America the Van Renssclaers were people of impor- 
 tance in Holland, respected and honored by their country- 
 men. They held many positions of trust, and tlieir name 
 figures constanth" as burgomaster, counsellor, treasurer, 
 etc., in many of the important towns of their native 
 country. The picture of Jan Van Rensselaer, which 
 still hangs in the Orphan Asylum at Nykerk, represents 
 him as a Jonkheer or nobleman in the distinguishing 
 dress of his class. Over the heads of the regents in 
 this picture hang small shields on which are displa_\ed 
 their coats of arms, making it jjcrfectly easy to identif\- 
 Jonkheer Van Rensselaer, as these arms are identical 
 with tJiose borne by the family at the present day. An 
 interesting tradition with regard to these arms e.xists, 
 which, however, rests on no reliable foundation. It is 
 said that on some festive occasion a grand illumination 
 was displayed in Holland. The Van Rensselaer of tiiat 
 day ordered large iron baskets (which represented iiis 
 crest) to Ix: filled with inflammable materials and placed 
 on the gate-posts, house-tops, and ever)' prominent posi- 
 tion of both city and country residences. This was ilone 
 with such brilliant effect as to call firth special commen- 
 dation from the Prince of (Grange, who, according to the 
 custom of the times, when favors were esteemed and 
 given instead of money, and the highest one was an 
 augmentation of anything pertaining to the coat of arms, 
 begged Van Rensselaer t(t henceforward adopt as his 
 motto " Omnibus Kffulgeo," or " I outshine all," in.stcad 
 
 of the Dutch motto referrii.g to the cross on the shiekl, 
 of " Nieman Zonder,"' or " No man without a cross." 
 The motto has been corrupted, and is usually written 
 "Omnibus Effulgior," but it has not been generally used 
 by the V^an Rensselaer family of late years, as being too 
 arrogant for their simple tastes. 
 
 Kiliaen \'an Rensselaer, the founder of the colon)' of 
 Rensselaerswyck in America, was a man of character 
 and substance. He was a merchant of Amsterdam, 
 wealthy, and of high consideration, at a time when the 
 merchants of Holland had become, like those of ltal\-. 
 the princes of the land. He was a proprietor of large 
 estates, and a director in the Dutch West India Com- 
 pany, which compan)-, having obtained a footing in 
 America, in.stituted a college of nine commissioners in 
 1629, to take the superior direction and charge of the 
 affairs of New Netherland. 
 
 Kiliaen V'an Rensselaer was a member of this college. 
 A liberal charter of privileges to patroons was obtained 
 from the company, which pro\ided for founding a landed 
 and baronial aristocrac)' for the provinces of the Dutch 
 in the New World. 
 
 Early in 1630, Kiliaen V'an Rensselaer sent an agent 
 from Holland to make his first purchase of land from 
 the Indian owners, which purchase was sanctioned b)- 
 the authorities of the company at New Amsterdam. 
 Other purchases were made for him up to the year 
 1637, when his full complement of land was matle up, 
 — viz., a tract of twenty-four miles in breadth by forty- 
 eight miles in length, containing over seven hundred 
 thousand acres, which now compose the counties of 
 Albany, Rensselaer, and part of Columbia. ^Ml his 
 colonists, numbering one hundred and fifty adult souls, 
 were sent out at his own cost ; anil, as the charter re- 
 quired, the colony was plantctl within four )-ears from 
 the completion of his purchases. 
 
 The ])nwer of the ])atroons (the title given b)- the 
 West India charter to these pi oprietors) was analogous 
 to that of the old feudal barons, the States-General of 
 Holland onl\- being their superiors.* The patroon main- 
 tained a high militar)- and judicial authority, had his 
 own fortresses, planted with his own cannon, manned 
 with his own soldiers, and with his own flag waving o\er 
 them. The courts of the colony were his own courts, 
 where the gravest questions and the highest crimes were 
 cognizable, but with ajipcals in the more important 
 cases. Justice was administered in his own name. The 
 colonists were his immediate subjects, and took the oath 
 of fealty aiul allegiance to him. 
 
 • The Dutch word patroon is only the variant of the word patron, 
 which means literally a protector, or one who takes the place of a father, 
 being only the sliortcneil Dutch form of the I-alin /rj/r«««t. In Dutch 
 commercial and political history we find the patroons in mediaeval times. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 201 
 
 The position of the colony was one of threat delicacy 
 and danger, as it was surrounded by warlike tribes of 
 savages; but, happily, the patroons of that period, and 
 their directors, by a strict observance of the laws of 
 justice, and by maintaining a guarded conduct towards 
 the Indians, escaped those wars and conflicts so common 
 among the infant colonies of the country. 
 
 It is alleged that Kiliaen Van Rensselaer \isitcd his 
 colony in [jerson in 163". If he ever did come, his stay 
 in this countr}- was not long. In 1664 great changes 
 took place : the English conquered the province which 
 hatl hitherto belonged to the Dutch, and the colony of 
 Rensselaerswyck fell with that of New Amsterdam ; but 
 the English governors confirmed the claims and privi- 
 leges of Rensselaerswyck when the provinces passed 
 under British rule. 
 
 In 1685 the Dutch colony of Rensselaerswyck was 
 converted and created into a regular lordship or manor, 
 with all the privileges belonging to an English estate 
 and jurisdiction of the manorial kind. To the lord of 
 the manor, Kiliaen, the fourth patroon, was expressly 
 given authority to administer justice within his domain 
 " in botli kinds, in his own court-leet and court-baron." 
 Other large pri\ileges were conferred on him, and he 
 had the right, with the freeholders and inhabitants of 
 the manor, to a separate representation in the Colonial 
 Assembly. All these rights continued unimpaired down 
 to the time of the war of the Revolution. 
 
 The first patroon, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, was twice 
 married, and had nine children, five sons and four 
 daughters, all of whom survived him, and, according^ to 
 the laws of Holland, shared equally his estates. He 
 died in 1646. His first wife was Hellegonda Van B)'let, 
 by whom he had one son, Johannes, who married his 
 cousin, h'.lizabeth Van Twillcr. 
 
 JOHANNES VAN RENSSELAER. 
 
 JoH.VNNES Van Rensselaeu was the second patroon, 
 and died young, leaving one son, Kiliaen, and one 
 daughter. During the nonage of Kiliaen the estate 
 in America was managed by his uncle, Jan Baptist Van 
 Rensselaer, w ho was made " Director of the Estate." 
 Young Kiliaen married his cousin, Anna Van Rensse- 
 laer, and died in 1687, at Watervliet, New York, without 
 children. 
 
 JEREMIAS VAN RENSSELAER. 
 
 Jeremias Van Rensselaer, the third son of Kiliaen 
 the first patroon, succeeded his brother Jan Baptist as 
 director of the colony in 1658, and for sixteen years 
 administered its affairs with great prudence and discre- 
 tion. He was much respected by the French, antl wielded 
 an influence over the Indians which was onl}- surpassed 
 b}- that of Van Corlear. On account of the inaccuracies 
 
 of the boundaries, etc., considerable difficulties were ex- 
 perienced in obtaining a patent for the manor from the 
 Duke of York upon the change of government from 
 the Dutch to the Ejiglish rule. To obviate the trouble, 
 some persons of influence advised Jeremias, the " Di- 
 rector," to take out a patent in his own name, he being 
 qualified to hold real estate, having become a British 
 subject. To his great honor, it is recorded that he re- 
 jected the advice, saying, " He was only co-heir, and 
 could not thus defraud his sisters and brothers." 
 
 On the death of Jeremias Van Rensselaer, in 1674, the 
 affairs of the " Colony of Rensselaersw\-ck'' were admin- 
 istered conjointl)-, during the minorit\- of Kiliaen (then 
 twelve years of age), by Dominie Nicolaus Van Rensse- 
 laer, and Madame Maria Van Rensselaer, and Stephanus 
 Van Cortlandt. Nicolaus had the directorship of the 
 colony, Madame Van Rensselaer was the treasurer, and 
 Stephanus Van Cortlandt had the charge of the books. 
 Dominie Nicolaus dying in 1678, the chief management 
 of the minor's affairs devolved on his mother and uncle. 
 Madame Maria Van Rensselaer was the daughter of 
 Oloff \'an Cortlandt and Ann Lockermans, and married 
 Jeremias Van Rensselaer in 1662. She died in 1689, 
 fifteen years after his death, leaving three sons, Kiliaen, 
 Johannes, and Hendrick. Johannes died unmarried. 
 From the two brothers, Kiliaen and Hendrick, have 
 .sprung all the descendants of the Van Rensselaer name 
 in this country. 
 
 The heirs of the first patroon held his estate in common 
 until 1695, nearly fifty years after his death. In 1695 
 negotiations were entered into with Kiliaen of Albany 
 (son of Jeremias, deceased) and the heirs in Holland 
 for a settlement of their grandfjtther's estate. On the 
 25th of No\'ember, 1695, the settlement was completed 
 and the legal paper executed. The Hollander attorney 
 
202 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 for Ryckcrt, Eleonora, and for tlic cliildrcii of Susanna, 
 deceased, released to the .Amciicaii for liinisclf, antl as 
 attorney for his brothers Joliannes and Hcndrick, and for 
 his sisters Anna and Maria, all the Manor of Reiissc- 
 laerswyck, " containing seven hundred thousand acres of 
 tillable land," all the Claverack tract of sixty thousand 
 acres except three farms, and all the personal property 
 except " seven hundred pieces of eight" (or S/OO). The 
 American released to the Hollanders all the real estate, 
 personal and contingent, in Holland, of which the Crailo 
 estate and a tract of land in Guekleriand formetl a ])art. 
 I'"our of tile nine children of the fust patroon IkkI died 
 without heirs; his witiow was also dead; consequently 
 the estate was divided into five parts: one for the family 
 in America, and the otiier four for the heirs in Holland. 
 
 In 1704 a charter from Queen Anne confirmed the 
 estate to Kiliaen, the eldest son of Jcremias (third son of 
 the original patroon, the oldest having died without issue). 
 The estate came to him by inheritance, according to the 
 canons of descent established by the law of England. 
 
 Kiliaen was the first lord of the Manor of Rensselaers- 
 wyck, which he represented in the I'rovincial Assembly 
 from 1691 to 1703, when he was called to the Council. 
 In 1704 he conveyed the lower manor Cla\ crack, with 
 the Crailo estate at Greenbush, to his younger brother 
 I lendrick, as his share of his grandfather's estate. He 
 married his cou.sin, Maria Van Cortlandt, in 1701, by 
 whom he had six sons and four daughters. 
 
 His eldest son Jcremias, born 1705, died unmarried in 
 1745. He had survived his father, and was consequently 
 the fifth patroon. His brother Stephen (Kiliacn's second 
 son) became the sixth patroon. This Stephen was born 
 in 1707, and married, in 1729, Elizabeth Groesbeck. Ik- 
 died in 1747, leaving a daughter, I"lizabeth, married to 
 General Abraham Ten Brocck, and one son, Stephen, 
 
 who, being a minor at his father's death, was left under 
 the guardianship of his brother-in-law. General Ten 
 Broeck, who managed his affairs with much judgment. 
 
 The second Stephen \'an Rensselaer, born 1742, 
 married in January, 1764, Catherine Livingston, daughter 
 of Philip Livingston (signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence) and Christiana Ten Broeck. He built the 
 manor-house, which was conipletetl in 1765, antl which 
 he was spared to enjoy only four years, as he died of 
 consumption in 1769, lea\ing two sons and one daughter. 
 
 Stephen \'an Rensselaer, the eklest son of Stephen 
 Van Rensselaer and Catherine Livingston, was born in 
 1764, in the city of New York, at the house of his 
 grandfather, Philip Livingston. His father having died, 
 the care of his education devolved largely upon Mr. 
 Li\ ingston, who placed him at school in Elizabcthtown, 
 New Jersey. But the stirring times of the Re\olution 
 came on, ami Mr. Li\ingston was driven with his family 
 from the citv of New York, and took refuLre in Kinsjfston, 
 which place possessetl a teacher of great scholarship, 
 under whose care the young Stephen Van Rensselaer 
 fitted himself for college. He went to Princeton, untler 
 the celebrated Dr. Withcrspoon ; but at that time New 
 Jersey was not safe from the incursions of the war, and 
 so the young collegian was remo\ed to Harvard L'ni\er- 
 sity, Cambridge. 
 
 In 1782 he took his degree as Bachelor of Arts, and 
 here it ma\- be nieiitioneil that, in iSjj, he received from 
 Yale College a diploma conferring upon him the honor- 
 ary degree of Doctor of Laws. Ik'fore he was twenty- 
 years of age he married Margaret .Schuyler, dauL;hter of 
 General Philip Sclui\ler. B)- this marriage there were 
 two children: a daughter, who died in j-outh, and a son, 
 Stephen. 
 
 The patroon after his marriage devoted himself to the 
 care of his estates, and shortlj' after received his first 
 militar\- commission, as a major of infantry, in 1786, antl 
 two years later was promoted to the commaml of a regi- 
 ment. In 1 801, Governor Jay directed the cavalry of the 
 Slate to be formed into a separate cor])s, diviiled from the 
 infantry. Tiu- ])alroon was appointed to liic coinm.uxl 
 of this dixision, with two brigatles, receiving a commis- 
 sion of major-general, which he bore to his death. In 
 political life he was in the Assembly or Senate from 1788 
 to 1795. In this latter year he was elected lieutenant- 
 governor, with John Jay as governor. He was elected 
 to the same office in 1798, when he had no opposing 
 candidate. 
 
 In 1 801 , General \'an Rensselaer was nominated as can- 
 ilidate for governor. With what difficult)- his accei)tance 
 was finall)' obtained ap[)ears from the publications of the 
 times. Mr. Clinton, who was brought forward as his op- 
 posing candidate, was very ])o|)ular, antl deservedlj' so ; 
 and in the midst of the campaign in this State the election 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 203 
 
 of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency was announced, and 
 the fate of parties in this State was decided for a long 
 time to come. Mr. Van Rensselaer was defeated b\- a 
 small majorit)' of less than four thousand votes. It was 
 at this time, when the election canvas was going on most 
 actively, that the wife of his youth was called from him. 
 By this marriage he had three children, two sons and 
 one daughter. 
 
 In 1802 he married again, his second wife being Cor- 
 nelia Paterson, only daughter of William Paterson, one 
 of the judges of the .Supreme Court of the United States, 
 and the second governor of the State of New Jersey. 
 In 1 8 10, General Van Rensselaer was selected as one of 
 seven gentlemen appointed to explore a route for the 
 great internal State improvement, the Erie Canal. After 
 the war with England in 1812 this commission was re- 
 sumed, and in April, 18 16, the law was passed for its 
 creation. General Van Rensselaer was president of the 
 board from 1824 until his death in 1839. 
 
 In 18 1 2 the war with Great Britain was declared. A 
 requisition was made on Governor Tompkins to order 
 into immediate service a considerable body of New York 
 militia, and the governor selected Major-General Stephen 
 Van Rensselaer for the command. In one month from 
 the date of the call he was at Lewiston ; and in just two 
 months, on the 13th of (3ctober, he carried his victo- 
 rious arms into the enemy's territory and planted the 
 American flag triumphantly on the heights of Queens- 
 ton. Unhappily, it was a' triumph of short duration. 
 He gained a complete and glorious victory, sufficient, if 
 maintained, to have secured the peninsula of Canada for 
 the winter ; but it was a victory lost as soon as won, 
 through the shameful cowardice and defection of his 
 troops. With a mere handful of men the heights were 
 carried early in the morning, under the direction of his 
 aide-de-camp and cousin, the brave Colonel Solomon 
 Van Rensselaer. They remained in his possession till 
 late in the day, and could have been easily defended, 
 but for the shameful refusal of his yeoman soldiery to 
 advance farther. 
 
 On one side. General Brock had fallen ; and on the 
 other, Colonel Van Rensselaer was desperately wounded. 
 The British General Sheaffe offered everything for the 
 comfort of the wounded colonel. General Van Rens- 
 selaer informed General Sheaffe that he should order a 
 salute to be fired at his camp and at Port Niagara 
 on the occasion of the funeral solemnities of the brave 
 General Brock. General Sheaffe thanked him warmly. 
 
 In 1 8 19 he was elected by the Legislature a regent of 
 the State Uni\ersity, and at the time of his death he 
 was its chancellor. In 1823 he first took his seat in 
 Congress, and was continued there by three successive 
 elections, retiring in 1829. ' In February, 1825, the cere- 
 mony of an election to the Presidency took place in the 
 
 House of Representatives. His vote determined that of 
 the delegation from this State in favor of Mr. Adams, 
 and produced the election of Adams on the first ballot. 
 
 In 1824, ]ia\'ing provided a suitable building at Troy, 
 Rensselaer Count}^ and employed an agent to procure 
 necessary apparatus and librar}-, he requested Dr. Blatch- 
 ford to act as president of a board of trustees whom 
 he named to inaugurate a school " to qualif)- teachers to 
 instruct the application of experimental chemistrj-, phi- 
 losophy, and natural history to agriculture, domestic 
 economy, and the arts and manufactures." In 1S86 this 
 school was incorporated, and is now known as the Rens- 
 selaer Institute. In 1828 he liberally endowed it, and 
 during fourteen years sustained it at liis own e.xpense. 
 After a long and useful life, honored by all who knew 
 him, Stephen Van Rensselaer died at the manor-house, 
 Alban}-, January 26, 1S39, leaving a widow and ten 
 children. 
 
 His son Stephen Van Rensselaer, known as " the 
 young patroon," a courtl)- gentleman of the old school, 
 was born in 1789, and died in 1868. He married, in 
 181 7, Harriet Elizabeth Ba\ard, daughter of William 
 Bayard. Their daughter, Justine, married Dr. Howard 
 Townscnd, a prominent physician of Albany, New York. 
 
 Mrs. Townsend is a representative New York woman. 
 She is president of the National Society of Colonial 
 Dames, and of the Colonial Dames of the State of New 
 York, regent of the Mount Vernon Association, Vice- 
 president of the Society of the Daughters of the Cin- 
 cinnati, and one of the managers of the Burnham Farm. 
 She is a woman of rare energy, wise judgment, winning 
 personality, and great executive ability, a most worthy 
 descendant of a race of brave men and brilliant women, 
 whose names are closely identified with the history of 
 New York State. 
 
204 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REV. SANFORD HUNT. 
 
 Sanford Hunt, D.D., the senior agent of tlic Method- 
 ist Book Concern, one of the leadinij jjiiblishini; enter- 
 prises in this countiy, was born in Erie County, New 
 York, and obtained his collegiate education at Alleghany 
 College, where he took a course preparatory to his entry 
 upon the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and graduated in 1847 with the degree of D.I). In the 
 .same year he joined the Genesee Conference, and since 
 that period has labored in pastoral work within the terri- 
 tory embraced b)' that conference and thai of Western 
 New York. In 1.S76 he served as a delegate from the 
 Western New York Conference to the General Confer- 
 ence of the Methodist I-Lpiscopal Church, held in that 
 year. Me is the author of a work relating to the legal 
 status of churches in this country, entitled " Laws Re- 
 lating to Religious Corporations." This is a compilation 
 of the statutes of the several .States in relation to the 
 incorjioration and maintenance of religious societies and 
 the disturbance of religious meetings. It is published 
 with an additional special article by the Hon. !■". L. 
 I""anchcr, on the " Laws Affecting Religious Corpora- 
 tions in the State of New York." Mr. ICaton has also 
 written a " Hand-book for Trustees." 
 
 Elected book-agent by the Church authorities, in a.sso- 
 ciation with his able colleague. Dr. Eaton, Dr. Hunt's 
 energies have of late years been given to the advance- 
 
 ment of the interests of the great New York publishing 
 house known as the Methodist Book Concern, whose 
 business has largel_\- de\elopcd under the active labors 
 of Dr. Eaton and himself, until now its annual distribu- 
 tion of religious literature has grown to enormous pro- 
 portions. 
 
 A brief historical sketch of this important establish- 
 ment, now a little more than a century old, may prove 
 of interest. In 17S9 John Dickins was appointed to a 
 charge in the city of Philadelphia, with the additional 
 ofRce of" Bonk .Steward," a title which had been applied 
 to such an office in England. He beg;ui with the small 
 capital of Sf)00, borrowed for the piupose, and with this 
 sum laid the foundations of a superstructure whose two 
 houses, in New York and Cincinnati, are now worth 
 more than $3,000,000. This is a phenomenal progress, 
 a good share of which is due to the energy and efficiency 
 of the present management, that of Drs. Hunt and 
 Eaton, under whom the lunise has reached its highest 
 degree of prosperit}-. 
 
 The New York department of the business occupies 
 magnificent cpiarters at the corner of Eifth A\enue and 
 Twentieth Street, with a frontage of one lunulred and 
 four feet on the avenue, and a depth of one hundred 
 and twenty feet. It is eight stories high, and is fire-proof 
 from cellar to roof, while the floor space, if extended 
 o\er a single area, would cover more than three and a 
 half acres. There could be no more striking tribute to 
 the successful management nf the jHiblishing interests 
 of the Church than this noble and thorougliK- adapted 
 eilificc, which is completely cciuijiped in every department 
 for the work to be performed, and is prepared to fmnish 
 Methodist homes in all sections of the country with the 
 books needeil for centre-table or librar}-, to supply all 
 preachers with the te.\t-books and books of reference 
 which they may desire in the pursuit of their calling, all 
 Simday-schools with library-books and other necessary 
 requisites, and all churches with their various records 
 and books of worship. 
 
 The business of the Book Concern has a large interest 
 for every Methodist, and makes a strong appeal to their 
 svrnpathies, in the fact that its dividends are p.iid to the 
 worn-out preachers of the Church, so that it ser\es as 
 an agency for pensioning this noble band of \cterans 
 whose years and energies have been devoted to the cause 
 of religion and the service of the Methodist ICpiscopal 
 Church. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 205 
 
 GEORGE S. COE. 
 
 Geokge Simmons Coe, one of the most innuciitial 
 financiers in this country, was born at Newport, Rhode 
 Island, March 27, 1817. He comes from excellent Puri- 
 tan New England stock, being the seventh in direct de- 
 scent from John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, whose story- 
 Longfellow has made historical in his poem of " Miles 
 Stantlish." Mr. Coc's educational opportunities were 
 limited to those offered b}' the common schools of his 
 time, and he was obliged to leave these at fourteen years 
 of age to engage in business, being placed in a country 
 store with general duties to perform. Among these 
 was the keeping of accounts, and being under a man 
 of unusual skill in this direction, the boy received a 
 training which proved of much advantage to him in 
 later years. 
 
 After four years thus employed, he obtained a situation 
 in a neighboring bank, where his duties were little less 
 various than those of the store, he beins obliged to do 
 all kinds of general service. He gained, however, prac- 
 tical experience in banking affairs, even if on a limited 
 scale. While thus engaged, he continued to do duty in 
 the store, and performed other occasional services in his 
 spare hours. He also improved himself by reading and 
 study as far as possible. In 1838 he gladly accepted an 
 opportunity to remove to New York City and enter tlie 
 banking house of Prime, Ward & King, then the largest 
 in this country. After some si.x years spent here, in 
 which he became a thorough banker, he removed to 
 Cincinnati, and did there a limited banking and com- 
 mission business, under the patronage of his late em- 
 ployers. Somewhat later he returned to New York, 
 became cashier of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust 
 Company, and afterwards adventured in business for 
 himself, as partner in a banking house already established. 
 
 This venture proved unsuccessful, and in 1854 he ac- 
 cepted the position of cashier of the American Exchange 
 Hank. In a few months he was made vice-president of 
 this bank, and in i860 was elected its president, an office 
 which he has since continuously filled. When he entered 
 that service, the Clearing House Association had been 
 recently established by the banks of New York. After 
 the financial panic of 1857, and during the subsequent 
 monetary stringency, each of the banks was forced to 
 a solitary struggle to maintain its own position, and in 
 doing so drew heavily on the business community and 
 on the reserve resources of other banks. In this condi- 
 tion of anxiety Mr. Coe conceived the idea of combining 
 
 the banks in the Clearing House, so that each shoidd 
 report dail}' its condition, and each of temporary strength 
 should come to the support of the weaker brethren. In 
 this way the banks might attain equal financial strength, 
 and stand or fall together. 
 
 This simple but effective expedient was adopted, and 
 proved highly successful, the banks growing able to 
 maintain themselves by their mutual assistance, the 
 community being relieved from its pressure, and an 
 opportunity given for recovery from the financial strain. 
 This was the origin of Clearing House Certificates, since 
 then of such unbounded utility in cases of business 
 trouble. The measure, thus suggested by Mr. Coe and 
 carried out by the aid of some older and more influential 
 bankers, was revived with excellent effect in 1 861, to 
 enable the banks to supply the treasury demands, and 
 again in the financial troubles of 1873, 1884, 1 890, and 
 1893. Mr. Coe's paper on "Our Financial War Meas- 
 ures," in Spaulding's " History of the Legal Tender 
 Paper Money issued during the Great Rebellion," is a 
 clear presentation of the subject liere mentioned, ami 
 indicates his earnest efforts in the aid of the government 
 at that critical time. 
 
 Mr. Coe has taken an active interest in the National 
 Bankers" Association, which he has served as presi- 
 dent. He is treasurer of the Children's Aid Society, 
 trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and 
 director of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, of 
 the Commercial Cable Company, and of a number of 
 other corporations. 
 
206 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN W. HAMERSLEY. 
 
 John William Hamerslev, born in New York City, 
 May 24, 1808, was a descendant of a foiiiily lonj; promi- 
 nent in the metropolis, and wlio.sc anccstr\- can be traced 
 back to IIiii^o Ic Kinge, wlio removed from I'rovence, 
 France, to Enghmd about 1366, and acciuired there tlie 
 estate of " Ilamersley," from which tlic subsequent 
 family name was derived. The American family is 
 directly descended from Sir Hugh Hamerslcy, lord 
 mayor of London in 1627, his great-grandson, William 
 Hamersley, having migrated to New York about 17 16 
 and founded the American branch of the famil)-. He 
 became a successful merchant, and his descendants have 
 continued wealth)- and prominent members of metro- 
 politan society. 
 
 Mr. Hamersley, second son of Lewis Carre Hamcrslc)-, 
 a well-known merchant and financier of the early da)'s 
 of the century, was educated at Columbia College, from 
 which lie graduated in the cl.iss of 1826. He traveled 
 widely after his graduation, studied law, and practiced it 
 with much success, finally retiring to the enjoyment of 
 a large fortune and the pursuit and encouragement of 
 literature, to which his tastes particularly turned. The 
 " l-'riday evening gatherings," which he established at his 
 home in his later years, were uni<iue occasions in New 
 York society, they bringing together celebrities of the 
 most diverse character, representing art, science, and phi- 
 losoph)-, law, business, military and naval affairs, etc. 
 " Bantpiets worth)- of the host and of the guests" accom- 
 panied these intellectual occasions, which were continued 
 weekly for years. 
 
 Mr. Hamersley was himself a conversationalist of un- 
 usually fine powers, and had made a dozen visits to 
 Europe and the East, thus supplying his mind with all 
 
 that can be gained from travel and observation. He 
 was witty, full of anecdote, and learned, particularly in 
 history, and fully competent to take the lead in these 
 periodical coiivcrsazioitcs. Captain Mayne Rcid, the well- 
 known novelist of ad\enture, was one of his intimate 
 friends, and made him the hero of his novel " The Lone 
 Ranch," of which he presented him a copy. He was 
 himself an author to some extent, publishing a \olume 
 of reminiscences of Lady Hester Stanhope, and trans- 
 lating from the French of Jacques Abbadie the curious 
 work " A Chemical Change in the Eucharist." This 
 work, one of the most powerful ever written on the sub- 
 ject, has become an ecclesiastical authorit)-. 
 
 In his )-ounger )cars Mr. ILimersley was colonel of 
 one of the regiments of New York State Volunteers, 
 and was always known as Colonel among his old friends. 
 During his early travels he was presented at the court 
 of St. James. He was, however, .strongly American in 
 sentiment, and when Napoleon \\\. sought to place ^Li.xi- 
 milian on the throne in Mexico, he joined with Hon. J. 
 W. Beekman in giving a memorable banquet in New 
 \'ork, as a demonstration of sympathy with Mexico. 
 ALiU)- distinguished men attended, and speeches of much 
 eloquence, inspired by the Monroe doctrine, were made. 
 This demonstration had a strong influence in inducing 
 Congress to recognize the Mexican republic, and as a 
 conseciuence, in arousing the strong feeling before which 
 Napoleon desisteil from his efforts, leaving Maximilian 
 to care for himself As a reward for this service the 
 Mexican minister promised Mr. Hamersley that the life 
 of Maximilian should be spared. This, however, the 
 Mexican government found itself unable to perform, in 
 consequence of the intense popular demand for an exe- 
 cution of the captive. 
 
 In character Mr, llaniersle)- was honorable, upright, 
 and dee[)l)- religious. He was warnil)- loved b)- his 
 family and friends, and esteemeil by all who knew him. 
 For many years he was a member of Grace Church, and 
 after his death his children presented to that church a 
 massive brass lectern in his memory. He was earnesti)- 
 charitable, the Children's Aid Society being particularl)- 
 thc recipient of his benefactions, while many other be- 
 nevolent institutions found in him a liberal patron. In 
 his memory a librar)- anil reading-room ha\e been built 
 by his son for the benefit of the Children's .Aid .Sociel)-, 
 at their countr)--seat, Bath Beach, Long Island. 
 
 Mr. Hamcrslc)- was married to Catharine L. Hooker, 
 daughter of Hon. James Hooker, of Poughkeepsie. 
 Being an only child, Mrs. Hamersley inheriteil the large 
 fortune of her family, consisting of extensive landed 
 property and of real estate in Poughkeepsie. She was 
 a woman of sterling worth and gentle manners, a true 
 helpmeet to her husband, ami devoted to her children. 
 Mr. Hamersley died June 7, 1889. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW 'YORK. 
 
 207 
 
 JAMES HOOKER HAMERSLEY. 
 
 James Hooker Hamerslev, the ^n\\y son of John 
 William Hamersley, a sketch of whose life we have 
 given, was born in New York on January 26, 1844. In 
 the sketch of his father the story of his paternal ancestry 
 has been given. On his mother's side he descends from 
 tlie Rev. Thomas Hooker, the founder of Connecticut, 
 while his grandfather, Hon. James Hooker, of Pough- 
 keepsie, w'as noted for his legal acumen as judge of the 
 Surrogate's Court of Dutchess Count}-, and as one of the 
 first proposers of the Hudson River Railroad, the build- 
 ing of which was largely due to his persevering energy. 
 Another has observed that Mr. Hamersley, through his 
 mother's family, " is connected with the Reades, Living- 
 stons, Stuyvesants, Beekmans, Van Cortlandts, De Pey- 
 sters, and, in fine, with nearlv all the distinguished fami- 
 lies of the State." 
 
 When a boy Mr. Hamersley was placed in school in 
 Paris, and had already traveled somewhat widely when 
 but twelve years of age, ha\ing seen most of the capital 
 cities of Europe, climbed on foot the cone of Mount 
 Vesuvius, and been presented to the Pope, Pius IX. He 
 was prepared for college at a school in Poughkeepsie, 
 and afterwards entered Columbia College, the seat of his 
 father's collegiate education. He graduated there with 
 honors in the class of 1865. His whole course in college 
 had been brilliant, and he was chosen, as a reward of 
 ability, an orator at the commencement exercises at the 
 Academy of Music, New Yorlc. 
 
 Air. Hamersle)-'s college course was followed b\' a 
 period of law study in the Columbia Law School, and 
 of practical experience in the office of James W. Gerard, 
 then the leader of the New York bar. On his admission 
 to the bar he entered activch- into practice, and for ten 
 years was successful as a lawyer, but at the end of that 
 time withdrew to give iiis time to the care of the Ham- 
 ersley estate and to gain time for the literary studies 
 and production to which his tastes strongly inclined him. 
 He is greatly interested in histoiy, and is a classical 
 scholar of ability, reading his favorite ancient authors 
 with ease and satisfaction in the original. As a writer 
 he wields a ready and graceful pen, his occasional articles 
 on the important topics of the da\- ha\ing brought him 
 into notice as a thinker and reasoner. In addition to his 
 prose productions he is a poet as well, and the author of 
 numerous striking poems, among which ma\- be named 
 "Yellow Roses," " E'og Curtain," "The Midnight Sun," 
 " Ronkonkoma," " The Countersign," and " The Voice 
 of the Breakers." 
 
 Mr. Hamersley is a strong Republican in political 
 sentiment, and has taken much interest in the political 
 movements of his time. In 1877 he w-as elected, by the 
 Independent Republicans, a delegate to the State Repub- 
 lican Convention at Rochester. More recentl)- he was 
 
 nominated for the New York Assembly b\' the Repub- 
 licans of the Eleventh District, but declined to run, with- 
 drawing in favor of William Waldorf Astor, in whose 
 canvass he was an earnest worker. 
 
 He is a member of numerous clubs and societies, in- 
 cluding the University and the Metropolitan Clubs, the 
 St. Nicholas Society, the Society of Colonial Wars, the 
 City and the Badminton Clubs, of the New York Law 
 Institute, and various other social and literary organi- 
 zations. He is president of the Knickerbocker Bowling 
 Club. He also belongs to the Geographical Society, and 
 for many years served as a director of the Knickerbocker 
 Fire Insurance Company, one of the oldest insurance 
 concerns in this country. 
 
 Mr. Hamersley was married in 1888 to Margaret W. 
 Chisolm, daughter of William \i. Chisolm, of an old 
 South Carolina family. They have had three children, 
 of whom two, Catharine Livingston and Louis Gordon, 
 are living. The eldest child, a daughter, died in infancy. 
 
 Mrs. Hamersley 's mother was a daughter of John 
 Rogers, a real-estate owner of New York, in whose 
 memor)- his widow erected the Church of the Holy 
 Communion, and donated to it the land on which it 
 is built, at the corner of Twentieth Street and Sixth 
 A\enue. In Mrs. Hamersley's direct line of ancestry 
 is Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Speaker of the First 
 House of Representatives, and brother to General Muh- 
 lenberg of Revolutionary fame. She is a grandniece 
 of Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, who was the 
 founder of St. Luke's Hospital. Personally, Mrs. Ham- 
 ersley is a woman of charming manners, quick intelli- 
 gence, and great executive ability while her amiable dis- 
 position makes her a general favorite in societ)^ She, in 
 common with her husband, is ^varmly interested in many 
 charitable and benevolent institutions. 
 
2o8 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 LOUIS A. SAYRH, M.D. 
 
 Louis Alhekt Savke, a distinguished piiysician ami 
 surgeon of New Yorlc, was horn at Bottk- Hill (now 
 Madison), Morris Count)-, New Jerse\-, February 29, 
 1820. He is descended from a Revolutionary patriot, 
 his grandfatiier, Ephraim Sayre, having been a brave 
 soldier in the war of the Revolution, in which he held 
 the office of quartermaster. His son Archibald was a 
 wealthy farmer of Morris Count}', a loader in all public 
 affairs of the community. The son of the latter, Louis 
 A. Sayre, when a boy of but four years of ago, was 
 intrusted with the honorable task of reciting a poem of 
 welcome before La Fayette, the distinguished soldier 
 and friend of Washington, on his triuni])]ial tour through 
 this country in 1824. This incident made a marked im- 
 pression on the boy, and ho referred to it with pleasure in 
 a conversation with a descendant of La Fayette, tluring 
 the Bartholdi statue presentation banquet. 
 
 Young Sayre received his early education in the local 
 academy of iiis native place, and afterwards studied at 
 the Wantage Seminar)-, at Deckertown, New Jersey, sub- 
 sequently taking a collegiate course at the Trans)hania 
 University, Kentucky. He graduated there in 1839. His 
 uncle, with whom he then lived at Lexington, Kontuck)-, 
 wished him to enter the Church, but the )-oinig man's 
 predilection was for the profession of medicine, and, de- 
 ciding to devote himself to that study, ho proceeded to 
 New York, where he entered the Coliogo of Physicians 
 and Surgeons, graduating in 1842 witii the ilegree of 
 M.D. His graduation thesis on "Spinal Irritation" was 
 published in a medical journal, and excited much atten- 
 tion by the evidence of unusual ability wliich it displa)-ed. 
 
 He continued in the college until 1852, with the posi- 
 tion of prosector to the professor of surgery, engaging 
 meanwhile in private practice, which grew so great at 
 
 length that he was obliged to retire, when ho was aj)- 
 pointed emeritus prosector. In the following year he was 
 appointed surgeon to Bellevue Hospital, and in 1859 was 
 made surgeon to the Charity Hospital on Blackwcll's 
 Island, and consulting surgeon there in 1873. When 
 the Bellevue Hospital Medical College was organized, in 
 1861 , Dr. Sa)-re took a loading part in this movement, and 
 on the formation of its faculty he was made professor of 
 Orthopaedic Surger)- anti l-'racturos and Luxations. lie 
 still holds the orthojiiotlic surgor)- professorship. 
 
 Dr. Sayre was one of the founders of the Now \'ork 
 Pathological Society, assisted in the formation of the 
 New York Academy of Medicine and the American 
 Medical Association, and was made vice-president of the 
 last-named association in 1866, and its president in 1880. 
 In 1 866 he was appointed resident ph)-sician of the city 
 of New York, a position in which his ability and energy 
 were of the utmost value to the metropolis, while his 
 reports covered such important subjects as drainage, 
 sewerage, compulsory \accination, and the treatment of 
 cholera. In 1876, while acting as a delegate to the 
 International Medical Congress, at Philadelphia, he pre- 
 sented a paper on " Morbus Co.xarius," or hiji-joint dis- 
 ease, the operation for which he was the first American 
 surgeon to perform successfully and without resulting 
 deformity. He also was successful in his treatment of 
 Pott's disease and lateral curvature of the spine. 
 
 In 1871, and again in 1S77, Dr. Sayre wont abroad, 
 w hero he was received with flattering demonstrations as 
 the greatest living ]iractitioner in his special field of 
 surgery. He lectured before the medical schools of the 
 leading British cities, and gave practical demonstrations 
 of the value of his mode of treatment, receiving the 
 warmest thanks of the profession. During the latter 
 visit he prepared and published his important work, "An 
 Illustrative Treatise on Spinal Disease and Spinal Cur- 
 vature." He has also published "A Practical Manual 
 of Club-Foot" and " Lectures on Orthop;edic Surgor)- 
 and Diseases of the Joints." All these works are recog- 
 nized authorities on their respective subjects, and ha\e 
 been translated into several languages. In addition to 
 these works he has written numerous papers for med- 
 ical periodicals on subjects connected with his extended 
 practice. He is a member of man)- medical societies of 
 the United States and the leading societies abroad, and 
 is the inventor of a number of instruments w liich h,i\ o 
 proved of the greatest service in surgery. 
 
 Dr. Sayre was married in 1849 to Miss Kliza A. Hall, 
 a lady of rare intellectual endowments. Of his three 
 sons, two have tlied. The third son. Dr. Reginald Hall 
 Sayre, is associated with him in practice. His daughter, 
 Miss Mary Hall Sayre, is a brilliant and accomplished 
 lad)-, who aitls her father groatl)- b)- translating for his 
 use articles from foreign medical journals. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 209 
 
 DORMAN B. EATON. 
 
 DoRMAN Briiigaian Eaton, civil service reformer and 
 legal author, was born at Hardwick, Vermont, Jime 27, 
 1823, his father being Hon. Nathaniel Eaton, a prominent 
 Vermonter of that period. He was educated in the Uni- 
 versity of Vermont, graduating in 1848, and in 1850 
 graduated from the Har\ard Law School, taking the 
 principal prize for a legal essa}'. He was soon after 
 admitted to the bar in New York City, and in a short 
 time entered into partnership with Judge William Kent, 
 whom he assisted in editing Kent's " Commentaries." 
 He edited also " Chipman on Contracts," and enjoyed a 
 successful practice before the New York bar for many 
 years. In 1865 he took an active part in the prepara- 
 tion and passage of the bill for a paid fire department. 
 In 1882 he delivered a commencement address before 
 the Yale Law School, and was afterwards given the 
 degree of LL.D. by his d/iiia vtatcr. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. E^aton first came prominently forward as a 
 reformer, draughting the law which created the New York- 
 Board of Health. In the following year he draughted 
 the sanitary code of the city, and subsequently^ draughted 
 the law for the organization of the police courts of New 
 York City. He was a member of the Union League 
 Club, and was made chairman of its committee on polit- 
 ical reform, a chair which he held for many years. 
 
 Mr. Eaton's special interest in civil service reform 
 began in 1870, in which year he went to lunope, where 
 he remained till 1S73, giving while there special atten- 
 tion to the systems of civil service in Great Britain and 
 several other European countries. L'pon his return 
 to this country he was appointed by President Grant a 
 member of the Civil Service Commission, to succeed G. 
 W. Curtis, who had resigned, and on the reorganization 
 of the commission was made its chairman. 
 
 In 1877, with the approval of President Hayes, Mr. 
 Eaton returned to Plurope, with the express purpose of 
 resuming his studies of the civil ser\ice system of Great 
 Britain for the information o{ the commission. The 
 result of his observations was given in a volume pub- 
 lished by Congress, and also by Harper & Brothers. 
 The Ci\'il Service Law passed in 1883, under which the 
 National Civil Service Commission was organized, was 
 draughted by him, and he was the first commissioner 
 appointed by President Arthur under this act. From 
 that time to this Mr. Eaton has remained closely con- 
 nected with civil service reform, whose state of advance- 
 ment to-day is largely due to his efforts, and he will un- 
 
 doubtedly long be given the credit of being the first to 
 assail in a practical manner the long-pre\alent spoils sys- 
 tem in American politics. 
 
 Mr. Eaton's efforts in favor of reform have not been 
 confined to committee work. He has sustained his views 
 before the country in keen and logical articles in the 
 North American Rcvici^\ whicli are written in a flowing 
 but vigorous style, and have greatly aided in dissemi- 
 nating the principles of the reform. He has contributed 
 manv other articles on the same general subject to peri- 
 odicals, including " The Independent Movement in New 
 York — 1880," "Civil Service Reform in Great Britain — 
 18S0," "The Spoils System and Civil Service Reform in 
 the New York Custom-House and Post-Office," " The 
 Term and Tenure of Office," and " Secret Sessions of 
 the United States Senate." He is also the author of a 
 number of articles relating to administrative reform and 
 some other subjects in Lalor's " Cyclopaedia of Political 
 Science." Among his various ser\ices in legal reform 
 was the draughting, in 1874, at the request of a joint 
 committee of both Houses of Congress, of a code of 
 laws for the government of the District of Columbia. 
 
 In addition to the L^nion League, above named, Mr. 
 Eaton is a member of numerous clubs and associations, 
 including the Century, Commonwealth, City Reform, 
 Unitarian, and XIX. Century Clubs, the Bar Associa- 
 tion, Citizens' Municipal League, Civil Service Reform 
 and Excise Reform Associations of New York, and of 
 the Reform Club of Boston. 
 
210 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 RIGHT Ri;V. ABRAM N. 1.1 1" ri.i;j( )11N. 
 
 Abkam Newkirk Littlkiohn, 1)1)., 1.1,1)., bishop 
 of the Protestant Epi.scopal diocese of Loni; Island, was 
 born in Montgomery Count)-, New York, December 13, 
 1824. After a preliminary education at liDnie he eiitereil 
 Union College in 1841, and graduated tl)ere with lu)nors 
 in 1845. Having decided to enter the Church, he now 
 took a course of theological study, and in 1848 was or- 
 dained deacon by Bishop De Lancey, of the diocese of 
 Western New York. Immediately afterwards he began 
 his clerical career at St. Ann's Church, Amsterdam, New 
 York, and after a year remo\ed to a church at Meriden, 
 Connecticut, wliere he remaineil ten months. 
 
 Mr. Littlejohn's unusual abilit\- as an orator had 1)\- 
 this time grown so well known thai iinpoilant cit)- 
 churches began to seek liis services, and in Jul)', 185 i, he 
 succeeded Rev. Samuel Cooke as rector of St. Paul's 
 Church, New Haven. Here his influence soon became 
 widely felt, his broad scholarship and his sympathy with 
 progress and with intellectual culture attracting large 
 numbers of the best element of the city to his ministra- 
 tions. His ability as a writer and s])eaker were also so 
 declared that his reputation spread far bej'ond the limits 
 of the city of his pastoral charge. In 1853 he was in- 
 vited to give the opening lecture of a course in Philadel- 
 phia on theological topics by P^jiscopal bishops and 
 clergymen. His subject, " The Philosoph)- of Religicjn," 
 was handled with masterly ability, and the full course 
 was subsequently published, with an introductoiy e.s.say 
 by Bishop Alonzo Potter. 
 
 During his residence in New Haven, l)i. l.iltlejohn 
 served as lecturer in jiastoral theology at the Berkeley- 
 Divinity School, Middlctown, Connecticut. In 1856 the 
 University of Pennsylvania conferred on him the hono- 
 
 rary degree of D.D., and in 1858 he \vas unaniniousl)- 
 elected president of Hobart College, Geneva, New York, 
 an honor which he declined. He remained in New 
 Haven till i860, when he received a call to the rector- 
 ship of the Church of the Holy Trinit}-, in Brooklyn. 
 
 The position thus offered him was one not to be ac- 
 cepted lightly. The churcli was a magnificent edifice, 
 but was burdened with a heavy debt, while it was still 
 incomplete. The young rector, however, saw the prom- 
 ise of a splendid future in the church, accepted the call, 
 and threw himself into the work before him with a spirit 
 and enthusiasm which coukl hardh- fail of success, while 
 the fer\or and eloquence of his preaching rapidh- in- 
 creasctl the numbers of the congregation. By 1863 
 $20,000 of the debt had been jiaid, when, the income of 
 the church having grown in excess of its expenses, he 
 established a sinking fund, which has greatly diminished 
 and will soon obliterate the original debt. 
 
 In addition to this home duty, the church has estab- 
 lished subordinate institution.s — a free chapel, a school, 
 etc. — elsewhere in the city, and has erected a church 
 edifice named after itself in Belle\ue, Nebraska. \\Trious 
 local church societies have also been largel)' aided, as the 
 Church Orphan As\-lum, the Home for Aged Women, ■ 
 and various other charitable institutions. In aiKlilion to 
 the cares of his parish, which were large and onerous, 
 Mr. Littlejolin has been prominently connected with the 
 missionars' and other work of the Church, being a mem- 
 ber of numerous societies connected therewith. He has 
 also been a contributor to the American Quarterly Church 
 RevieiK', in which he has ably reviewed a number of im- 
 [xirtant historical and other works, while he has published 
 man\' of his own tliscourses. During his connection 
 with the lIol\- Trinity he completed it b\- the erection 
 of a spire, which towers in height far abo\e any other 
 spire in New York or l?rookl\-n. I'or this he raiseil 
 the sum of S55,ooo. During his eight )-ears" rector- 
 ship in the church the total amount subscribed, for be- 
 nevolent and other |)urposes, is saiil to have aniounteil 
 to S26o,000. 
 
 In 1868 it was decided by the General Convention to 
 form three more dioceses in the State of New York. 
 Dr. Littlejolin was elected bishop by two of these, those 
 of Central New York and of Long Island. He chose 
 the latter, and was ordained bishop January 27, 1869. 
 Since then he has admittetl to the communion of the 
 Church over twenty thousand persons, has ordained more 
 than one hundred clergymen, consecrated a large number 
 of cluirches, and performed much other important work. 
 In 1872 he was ajipointed bishop in charge of all Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Churches on the continent of Europe, 
 which appointment he has held ever since, being obliged 
 to make an official \isitation abroad e\er\' two or three 
 )'ears. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 211 
 
 STEPHEN V. WHITE. 
 
 Stephen Van Cullen White was born in Chatham 
 County, North Carolina, August i, 1831, the son of 
 Hiram White, a member of an old Quaker family of 
 Chester County, PcnnsyKania, which had remo\-ed to 
 North Carolina shorth^ after the Revolution. His 
 iiiuthcr was Julia Brewer, of a North Carolina faniih' of 
 much rcspectabilit}', and a lineal descendant of r)li\-er 
 Cromwell, the Lord Protector of Great Britain. Hiram 
 White, educated in strong sentiments against human 
 slavery, refused to enforce the harsh decrees passed 
 against the negroes at the time of the noted Nat Turner 
 insurrection, and was forced to lea\e the State when his 
 son was an infant not two montiis old. 
 
 He made his way with his famil}- in a covered wagon 
 to Greene (now Jersey) County, Illinois, near the mouth 
 of the Illinois River. Here he became a farmer and 
 miller, the boy, as he grew to proper age, working on 
 tlie farm and in the mill of his father, and attending 
 school at intervals. The first money made by the grow- 
 ing lad was gained by trapping, the furs taken being sold 
 to the American Fur Company. In 1849 he was entered 
 at the preparatory school of Kno.x College, and gradu- 
 ated from the college in 1854, teaching school mean- 
 while to help pay his expenses. After his graduation 
 he became a book-keeper for Claflin, Allen, & Stinde, a 
 St. Louis firm, with whom he remained a year, and then 
 began the study of law w ith the legal firm of Brown & 
 Kasson. While thus engaged he wrote editorials and 
 reviews for the Missouri Democrat. 
 
 Mr. White was admitted to the bar of Missouri in 
 1856, and in the ne.Nt year located himself at Des 
 Moines, Iowa, soon after the capital of the State. Here 
 business quickly came to him, his abilit}' gaining him 
 many clients. He remained here for the succeeding 
 nine )-ears, during which he tried many important cases, 
 in particular that of Gelpke vs. Dubuque, argued in De- 
 cember, 1863, before the United States Supreme Court, 
 in which he obtained a reversal of the decision of the 
 Iowa courts, and secured to in\'estors many millions of 
 repudiated municipal bonds. In 1864 he ser\ed for a 
 time as acting United States district attorney for Iowa, 
 the incumbent being ill. 
 
 There was before him the promise of an unusually 
 brilliant legal career, yet in January, 1865, he suddenly 
 ga\e it up, removed to New York, and entered into the 
 banking business with Captain Charles B. Marvin, under 
 the firm-name of Marvin & White. This association 
 continued until 1867, when Captain Marvin withdrew, 
 Mr. White continuing alone till 1882, when the firm of 
 S. V. White & Co. was formed. This firm continued, 
 with modifications in its membership, until 1891, when it 
 came to an end in a somewhat disastrous manner. Mr. 
 
 White, who had been l)rilliantly successful as an opera- 
 tor, attempted in this year to control the corn market of 
 the country, but failed through the misuse of his money 
 by his broker, and instead of the millions which he 
 hoped to make, failed so badly that he found himself a 
 million dollars in debt. 
 
 A remarkable result followed. By the rules of the 
 Stock Ex'change he could not hokl membership while 
 he had a legal obligation outstanding. In this emer- 
 gency his three huniired creditors wai\ed their claims, 
 with sole reliance on his word of honor to pa\' them 
 when he could. Their unusual confidence was not mis- 
 placed. Borrowing S50,000 from some trusting friends, 
 Mr. White went upon the floor of the Exchange again, 
 and with the most surprising success. Everything he 
 touched seemed to turn to gold. His progress was 
 steadily upward. As fast as he made money he trans- 
 mitted it to the most needy creditors, and within the 
 brief space of eleven months he had paid off the entire 
 million dollars of debt, and was soundly established in 
 business again. It was an event probably without par- 
 allel in the history of speculation, and could onl)' have 
 been obtained by a man of Mr. WTiite's ability and recog- 
 nized business probity. 
 
 For more than twenty-five years Mr. White has been 
 a trustee and the treasurer of Plymouth Church. As 
 another evidence of the confidence felt in him, his 
 church associates re-elected him to the post of treas- 
 urer immediately after the announcement of the failure. 
 In politics he has been a Republican since the Fremont 
 campaign of 1856. He was elected to Congress in 
 1866, for the Third Congressional District of New 
 York, and served with distinction, but declined a prof- 
 fered renomination. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ELBRIUGH T. GHRRY. 
 
 Elbridge Thomas Gekkv, born in New York City, 
 December 25, 1837, is the son of Thomas R. Gerry, and 
 grandson of Elbridge Gerry, a man of the highest note 
 in tlic early history of the United States, having been 
 one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 Governor of Massachusetts, and Vice-President of the 
 United States. The father of this distinguished Ameri- 
 can, Thomas Gerr)', the first of the family in this coiintr\-, 
 came to America in 173O, antl lived as a merchant in 
 Marblehead, Massachusetts. Mr. Gerr)''s father was a 
 naval officer, who died when his son was but seven }i;us 
 of age. 
 
 The son, unticr his mother's care, was carefully etlu- 
 catcd, receiving his college course at Columbia College, 
 where he graduated in 1857, delivering the (ierman salu- 
 tatory oration on that occasion. Within the same year 
 he was elected [jresident of the Philole.xian Societ)' of 
 tlic college. Me subsequently studied law in the office 
 of William Curtis Noyes, was admitted to the bar in 
 1866, and immediately afterwards was admitted to prac- 
 tice in tile Supreme Court of the United States. Shortly 
 after his admission he formed a legal partnershi]) with his 
 former |)rece|)tor, Mr. Noyes, and u|)on tlie death of the 
 latter entered into partnershij) with Hon. William !•". 
 Allen, judge of the New York Court of Appeals, aiul 
 Henjamin V. Abbott, a well-known legal author. ICvent- 
 ually Judge Allen withdrew, anil the firm was afterwards 
 continued un<ler the name of Abbott & Gerrv. In his 
 
 legal business Mr. Gerry obtained an extensive practice, 
 and took part in many important cases, both civil and 
 criminal. 1 le aided in defending McFarland, on trial for 
 homicide, conducted some notable will cases, and was 
 concerned in other trials of leading importance. 
 
 In 1S67 Mr. Gerry was elected a member of the con- 
 stitutional con\'cntion of New York .State, and was on its 
 committee on the [)ardoning power. He has since then 
 been \er}- acti\e in humane work, into which he entereil 
 earnestly in connection with the American Societ)- for 
 the Prevention of Cruelt)' to Animals, after its formation 
 by Henry Bergh. He co-operated warmly with Mr. 
 Bergh in the work of this society, and to his efforts most 
 of the legislation affecting animals in New York law is 
 chiefly due. 
 
 On the subseciuenl foiination of the Societ}' for the 
 Prevention of Cruclt\- to Children, Mr. Gerr\' enteietl 
 heartiK' into the work. This societ)-, indeed, which be- 
 gan in 1874, was the result of his efforts, and since 1879 
 he has acted as its president, and has won a national repu- 
 tation through his incessant efforts in its behalf During 
 the existence of this society it has investigated the cases 
 of more than two hundred thousand children, and res- 
 cued more than forty thousand from neglect and destitu- 
 tion, or from vicious surroundings, and placed them in 
 moral and comfortalile homes. Through the example 
 ant! encouragement of the New York Society nearly two 
 lunulred similar associations ha\e been formed in the 
 United States and a large number in foreign countries. 
 
 In 1886 Mr. Gerr)- was ajipointed b)- the State Senate, 
 in association with Hon. Matthew Hale and Dr. A. P. 
 -Southwick, to consider the most humane and effective 
 method of executing criminals sentenced to death. As a 
 consequence of the repoil of this conniiissioii, the State 
 of New ^'ork adoi)ted its present s)-stem of electrical 
 execution in ]ilace of the old s)-stem of hanging. Since 
 1.SS5 Mr. Geri)- has jjcen a governor of the New York 
 Hospital; in i<S.S(j he served as chairman of the Ivxecu- 
 tive Connnittee of the centennial celebration ; and in 1892 
 was chairman of the commission to consider the be.st 
 method of caring for the insane of New York Citj'. The 
 conmiission pre])ared a valuable report. He is a trustee 
 of the Protestant Episco|)al General Theological Semi- 
 nary, and from 1885 to 1892 acted as commotlore of the 
 New York Yacht Club. He was married in 1867 to 
 Louisa M. Livingston, graniklaughter of Morgan Lewis, 
 former Governor of New York and Grand Master of the 
 Masonic fiaternitx'. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 213 
 
 JOHN ANDERSON. 
 
 John Anderson, the millionaire tobacconist, was the 
 son of William Anderson, who came from England to 
 this country early in the present century, his immigration 
 being due to Robert Fulton, the celebrated in\entor of 
 the steamboat. He became an earnest and patriotic 
 American, took part on the side of his adopted country 
 in the second war with Great Britain, and fell in battle, 
 as an officer, in the year 1812. His son John was born 
 shortly after his death. 
 
 Deprived of paternal care, the son, as soon as of suffi- 
 cient age to engage in the struggle of life, began a career 
 which proved quickly successful, and rapidly led to for- 
 tune. The business into which he entered was that of 
 tobacco dealer antl manufacturer, and his history as a 
 merchant presents no salient points on which we need to 
 dwell, other tiian to say that he won honor and respect 
 among his fellow-merchants of New York, and e\'entuall\- 
 retired from business as one of the millionaires of the 
 metropolis, and as one of the liberal supporters of art, 
 science, and humanity. 
 
 Among his intimate friends must particularly be men- 
 tioned the famous Italian patriot Garibaldi, who had 
 come to this country as an e.xile from his native land. 
 Here he was forced to labor for his daily bread, but found 
 in Mr. Anderson a warm and appreciative friend, who did 
 much to assist him, and earnesth' encouraged his patriotic 
 views. In i860, the year in w Inch our own civil war was 
 impending, the struggle for libert)- began in Ital_\-, and 
 Garibaldi, gladly hearing the news of the patriotic up- 
 rising, was quickly upon the ocean on his return to his 
 native land. His fellow-piitriot Avezzana, who was pre- 
 vented from accompanying him by the fact of his having 
 here a wife and children, was liberally aided by Mr. An- 
 derson, and enabled to join his chief and engage with him 
 in the great struggle for Italian liberty. A great sympa- 
 thetic meeting of the citizens of New York was called, 
 and an address to the people of Italy prepared, under 
 the supervision of Mr. Anderson, whose earnest tones 
 warmed the hearts of the friends of liberty in all lands. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was as warmly interested in the defense 
 of his native land against rebellion as he had been in the 
 liberation of Italy from tyranny. In the earl}- days of 
 the war, when the State proposed to raise a fund for the 
 families of drafted men by the issue of bonds, and its 
 legal right to do so was questioned, Mr. Anderson 
 solved the difficulty by immediately heading the sub- 
 scription, an example which quickly brought in the 
 requisite funds. Later, when Jersey City found itself 
 unable to provide, in a legal manner, for putting its 
 contingent into the field, Mr. Anderson cut this knot 
 also by sending to the ma}'or a gift of $60,000, a sum 
 
 which fully sufficed to send the regiments on their way 
 to the seat of war. 
 
 In 1870, Mr. Anderson, ha\-ing retired from business, 
 went to Europe with his wife, and while there had the 
 pleasure of meeting again his old friends, visiting Avez- 
 zana, then residing in Florence, and remaining for a time 
 as the guest of Garibaldi in his island home. On his 
 return to New York he purchased a tract of land at 
 Tarrytown, and built there the handsome brick mansion 
 which remained his home during the rest of his life. This 
 beautifully situated dwelling, with its well-kept grounds, 
 is among the ornaments of that locality. 
 
 In 1873, Professor Louis Agassiz, who desired to estab- 
 lish a school for the instruction of teaciiers in natural 
 history, applied to the Legislature of Massachusetts for a 
 grant of money for that purpose. His appeal failed, but 
 when the news of the failure of this highly worthy 
 project came to the attention of Mr. Anderson, he im- 
 mediately resolved to furnish the desired sum. The well- 
 situated and beautiful island of Penikese was placed by 
 him at the service of the great naturalist, and with it the 
 sum of 550,000 as an endowment for the proposed school, 
 to which was justly given the title of "The Anderson 
 School of Natural Historj-." 
 
 Mr. Anderson was twice married. By his first wife he 
 had six children. His second wife was a descendant of the 
 same family as Washington Irving, and had one son by 
 a former marriage, Stanley Conner, a well-known sculp- 
 tor. In the fall of 1880 Mr. Anderson made another 
 visit to Europe, intending again to visit his old friend, the 
 liberator of Ital)-. But soon after reaching Paris he was 
 taken suddenl)- ill, and died there on the 22d of Novem- 
 ber. His remains were brought home and interred in the 
 family tomb at Greenwood. 
 
 28 
 
214 
 
 .VAKFRS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FREDERICK T. IRHI.INGHUYSEN. 
 
 Frederick T. Fkelinchlvsicn, lioin at Millstone, 
 Somerset County, New Jersey, August 4, 1817, was a 
 descendant of the Rev. Thcodorus Jacobus Frelingluiy- 
 sen, wlio emigrated fmiii ni)llaiKl in 1720 to take charge 
 of the Dutch Cliurch of New Brunswick, New Jersey. 
 He was a man of marked powers, " one of the greatest 
 divines of the American Church," a speaker of great 
 eloquence, and a writer of distinguisheil ability. His 
 grandson. General Frederick Frclinghuj-sen, serveil as a 
 general in the Revolutionary War, and held important 
 political positions. Frederick Frelinghuysen, his son, 
 and father of the subject of this sketch, was a brilliant 
 lawyer and orator, who married Jane Dumont, a woman 
 of French extraction, and of great renneiiicnt and artis- 
 tic and literary culture. 
 
 Mr. Frelinghu)-scn lost his father while \<iung, anil 
 was brought up and educated by his uncle, Theodore 
 Frelinglui\-seii, a resident of Newark, New Jersey. He 
 studied first at the Newark Academy, and afterwards at 
 Rutgers College, from which he graduated in 1836, 
 immediately afterwards entering upon the study of law 
 in his uncle's office. He was admitted to the bar in 1839. 
 
 Mr. Frelinghuysen's legal practice began in Newark, 
 where he was soon appointed corporation attorney, and 
 afterwards became a member of the City Council. His 
 law business soon became large anil profitable, his prac- 
 tice covering both civil and criminal law. Among his 
 clients was the Morris Canal and Hanking Company, 
 while for many years he acted as counsel for the Central 
 Railroad of New Jersey. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Frelinghuysen was a member of the 
 
 Whig party, in whose doings he took much interest, and 
 frequently addressed large meetings. When, in 1S61, 
 a Peace Congress was held in Washington, with the pur- 
 pose of seeking to reconcile the North and South ami 
 prevent the impending war, he ser\ed as a member, anil 
 sought earnestly to bring about this desirable conclusion. 
 The Congress proved futile, and he returned ImnK- 
 convinced that war was inevitable, and thenceforward 
 continued a stanch Republican in politics. 
 
 For a number of years succeeding, Mr. Frelinghu\sen 
 served as attorney-general of New Jersey, being three 
 times appointed to this office. His record in this field of 
 duty was of the most successful character, his labors 
 being rendered difficult on account of the issues raised 
 by the war. He was frcquenth' called upon to address 
 meetings on war topics, and proved an unflinching friend 
 of the administration. In 1866, soon after his third 
 appointment as attorney-general, he was appointed b)- 
 the Governor of New Jersey United States Senator to fill 
 a vacancy caused by the death of Senator Wright. The 
 term expired in 1869, when, the Legislature being Demo- 
 cratic, lie was not returned. In 1870 he was nominated 
 by President Grant, and confirmed by the Senate, United 
 States minister to England. This official position he 
 declined. In 1871 he was elected to the Senate, the 
 Legislature now being Republican. 
 
 As Senator he served on several important committees, 
 and advocated various useful measures, among them the 
 purchase of Ala.ska, a bill to restore a gold currency, the 
 civil rights bill, and others. He took part in the recon- 
 struction of the .Southern States, and their readmission 
 to the I'niiin with aj^proved constitutions, and was a 
 member of the I'-lcctoral Commission to count the Presi- 
 dential vote in 1 S76. When Presiilent Aitlini' fmnied 
 his Cabinet, Mr. Frelinghu\-sen was offered the ajjpoint- 
 ment of Secretary of State, which was immediately con- 
 firmed by the Senate. He entered upon the duties of 
 this office in December, 1881, and continued in it till the 
 end of the Arthur administration, in March, 1S85. He 
 returned home seriously ill, and died May 20, 1885. 
 
 In the duties of this high office Mr. Frelinghuy.sen 
 was pacific in policy, yet careful of the honor of the 
 countrj'. His letters on the Clayton-Rulwcr Treaty are 
 especially able, while he advocated the Nicaraguan 
 Canal Treaty, and drew up the Reciprocit_\- Treaty with 
 Spain, which has served as a model for later reciprocity 
 treaties. Throughout life he adhered ti> the fiith of his 
 ancestors, being a member of the Dutch Reformed 
 Church. The Sunday-.school was under his particular 
 care, while at tlie time of his death he was president of 
 the American Hible Society. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 215 
 
 THOMAS C. CORNELL. 
 
 Thomas Clapp Cornell, president of the Yonkers 
 Gas Company, is a descendant of an old colonial family, 
 which settled in Scarsdale, Westchester County, in 1727. 
 He was born at Flushing, Queens County, Long Island, 
 January' 7, i8ig, his parents at that time having there a 
 boarding-school for girls. His father, Silas Cornell, was 
 born at that place in 17S9, while his mother, Sarah Mott, 
 was born at North Hempstead, in tlie old Mott mansion, 
 which has been in the possession of her family for a 
 luuulred years preceding. For many generations be- 
 fore his birth both branches of his ancestry had been 
 among the leading Quaker inhabitants of that section 
 of the country. 
 
 In 1823 Silas Cornell left his ancestral place to occupy 
 a farm near Rochester, New York, and here his son 
 Thomas, occupied during the busy season in farm duties, 
 obtained his little schooling during the winter months. 
 His schooling, in its whole e.xtent, was comprised within 
 less than three years, and ended before he was twelve 
 years old. This meagre opportunity for education was 
 at a little school kept by his father. He had, ho\ve\er, 
 a desire for education, and kept up his studies in the 
 hours snatched from his daih' toil, studying Latin, Greek, 
 or mathematics for an hour or two before breakfast. He 
 was donig a man's work in the fields when only fifteen 
 years of age. 
 
 His father became the survej-or of the district, and in 
 1836 removed to Rochester. Tliomas was here em- 
 ployed as his principal assistant, and in 1840, after 
 coming of age, entered the State engineer department on 
 the Erie Canal enlargement, with charge of the work 
 on the locks at Lockport. From 1844 to 1846 he was 
 emplo)-ed by the Canadian government, on the Lachine 
 Canal near Montreal, and in the office of engineer of the 
 Provincial Board of Public Works. Early in the year 
 1846 he went to Europe, where he spent a year and a 
 half in travel through its western countries, associating 
 while there solely with the natives, with whom he spoke 
 in their own tongues. 
 
 Mr. Cornell returned to America towards the end of 
 1847, and at once obtained employment in the work of 
 construction of the Hudson River Railroad, being assist- 
 ant engineer on the section from Spuyten Duyvil to 
 Dobbs Ferry. His section of the road passed through 
 the hamlet of Yonkers, then a small settlement, and 
 here, on the completion of his work, he decided to re- 
 main. His knowledge of surve\'ing served him now in 
 good stead, and for years he did nearly all the surve)"- 
 ing and engineering of the district, while occasionally 
 called upon to do duty as architect. In 1854 he took 
 
 an active part in the founding of the Yonkers Gas-light 
 Company, with which he has since that period remained 
 associated. In 1857 he was elected president of the com- 
 pan}', and in t86o its treasurer, both of which positions 
 he has continued to hold. 
 
 Since 1856 Mr. Coinell has been a director of the 
 bank of Yonkers, now the First National Bank, and for 
 many years served as trustee of the Yonkers Savings 
 Bank, and chairman of its finance committee; from 
 which he finally retired, on the plea of having done his 
 share of the work. He was also one of the founders of 
 the Yonkers and New York Fire Insurance Company, 
 and a director in it from 1863 to 1 87 1, when the great 
 fire in Chicago caused its dissolution. In 1852 he pro- 
 posed and aided in founding the first newspaper in Yon- 
 kers, the Herald (now the Gazette). Some years later, 
 the Herald ha\ing become hostile to him and his friends, 
 he took part in founding the Examiner (now the States- 
 iiinii), to whose columns he has frequently contributed. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Cornell was brought up a Whig, but 
 was always an Abolitionist in sentiment, and on' the for- 
 mation of the Republican party was one of the first to 
 take steps for its organization in Yonkers, immediately 
 after the nomination of Fremont. He has continued a 
 member of the part)', but has never held any political 
 office, his only official position being that of school 
 trustee. He became a member of the Union League 
 Club of New York in 1870. While in Europe, in 1847, 
 Mr. Cornell joined the Roman Catholic Church, of which 
 he continues a zealous member, and has borne an active 
 part in advancement of the interests of that Church in 
 Yonkers. He is married, but has\io surviving children. 
 
2l6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 J. EDWARD SIMMONS. 
 
 J. Edward Simmons, late president of the New York 
 Board of Education, was born in Troy, New York, in 
 1 84 1, being descended from ancestry of distinction in the 
 liistory of our country. His grcat-<;randfather, who came 
 from Holland in the early part of the last century, fought 
 on the side of libert)- in the War of the Revolution, a 
 patriotic service in which he was emulated by one of Mr. 
 Simmons's maternal great-grandfathers. 
 
 Mr. .Simmons received his elementary education in 
 Troy, and in 1858 entered Williams College, where he 
 graduated in 1S62. He then entered upon the study of 
 law in the Albany Law School, in which he received the 
 degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1863, and in the same 
 year was admitted to the bar. He immediately began 
 legal practice in Troy, remaining there until 1867, when 
 lie made his way to New York City, and engaged there 
 in the business of banking and brokerage. In 1872 ill 
 licalth forced him to retire from business, and he spent a 
 period of rest and recuperation in Florida. He resumed 
 his business on Wall Street in 1S74. 
 
 During the succeeding ten j-ears Mr. Simmons con- 
 tinued actively engaged in business, and won such a 
 record among his fellow-brokers for ability, integrity, and 
 s-trict honor in his dealings, that on June 2, 1884, he was 
 elected president of the Stock Ivxchange. It was a period 
 ill which a strong and skillful hanil was needed at the 
 helm. The previous president of the Exchange, who had 
 been recently elected, had become disqualified through 
 the failure of his firm, and the financial business of the 
 country was passing through conditions which threatened 
 to end in disastrous results. In this crisis it was a matter 
 of great importance to have a man of the highest capa- 
 
 bility at the head of the Exchange, and most of his 
 fellow-members turned to Mr. Simmons as the man for 
 the hour. He was elected by an unusually large majority, 
 confidence was restored, and the following year he was 
 unanimously re-elected. A third term was offered him, 
 but he declined renomination, as he has se\-eral times de- 
 clined nomination to other important offices where elec- 
 tion was sure, — amon;^ them that of mayor of New York. 
 
 Politically Mr. Simmons is a Democrat, but is in no 
 sense a local partisan or a follower of Tamm.any. His 
 Democracy is too broad and patriotic to be held to parti- 
 san issues, but is of that nobler stamp which has given 
 the party its high standing in American history. He has 
 rendered his party important assistance in Presidential 
 and other leading contests, and in 1885, after the election 
 of Cleveland to the Presidenc)', his name was [jroposcd 
 by Samuel J. Tiklcn and other ]5art\- leaders, without 
 consulting him, for the position of collector of the jxirt 
 of New York. On learning what was afoot, he immedi- 
 atel_\- ilcclincd the honor, and so decisively that the cflTort 
 for his nomination was dropped. Having thus refused 
 to accept a post carrying large patronage and emolu- 
 ments, he cheerfully accepted one without salary, though 
 certainly not without honor, that of president of the 
 Board of Education, to which he was elected in 1886, 
 on his return from luuope. He had been ai)pointeil 
 commissioner of the board in 1S81, and ser\cd as its 
 president for nine years. Man\- beneficial changes were 
 made in the school system during his incumbency. In 
 1888, mainlv through his iiilluence, the Legislature pa.s.sed 
 a bill conferring collegiate rank and powers on the New 
 York Normal College, and he also took the deepest inter- 
 est in the College of New York, working successfull)- 
 for its development. During his absence in Europe his 
 name was strongly advocatetl by the business men of the 
 city for the office of mayor, an honor which he declined. 
 
 In 1888 he was maile president of the I'ourth National 
 Bank, desi)ite the fact that he owned no stock in the 
 bank, and had no personal ac(|uaintance with any of its 
 directors. Yet they chose wisely in nnaiiiniousl\- elect- 
 ing him, for the bank has prospered under his manage- 
 ment. He served also as receiver of the American 
 Loan and Trust Company of New York, a responsible 
 dut)- which he discharged to the satisfaction of all con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Mr. Simmons is of hiL;h rank in the Masonic Order, 
 and is a member of numerous clubs and societies of New 
 York. In 1888 he was given the degree of LL.D. by 
 the University of Norwich, Vermont. He possesses a 
 charming summer resilience near Lake George, known 
 as the " Stag's Head," where his seasons of leisure are 
 passed. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 217 
 
 CHRISTOPHER C. BALDWIN. 
 
 Christopher Columbus Baldwin is a native of Anne 
 Arundel County, Maryland, where his father, who had 
 served as a naval officer in the War of 181 2 on the 
 " Boxer" and the " Peacock," possessed a plantation. 
 During the war he took part in many naval engagements, 
 and was voted a sword by Congress for his gallantry 
 during the fight between the " Peacock" and the " I'.per- 
 vier." After the war he married Mary Woodward, a 
 woman of highly amiable character, and spent the re- 
 mainder of his life in the care of his plantation. 
 
 Their son Christopher — one of eleven children — was 
 educated in the local schools, and afterwards entered a 
 mercantile house in Baltimore, where he advanced rapidly 
 in position. On the outbreak of the civil war he was 
 sent by the firm of Woodward, Baldwin & Co., in which 
 his brother was a partner, into the seceding States to 
 collect debts due the firm. In this he was entirely suc- 
 cessful, collecting the entire indebtedness, and running 
 the blockade twice in so doing. At his suggestion this 
 firm, near the end of the war, opened a branch in New 
 York, which still continues, under the name of Wood- 
 ward, Baldwin & Co., one of the leading houses on 
 Worth Street. He became a partner in this firm, and 
 for many years was its senior partner, its high position 
 in the commercial world being piincipally due to his 
 efforts and ability. 
 
 He entered into a new field of acti\ity about 1880, 
 when he was elected president of the Louisville and 
 Nashville Railroad Company. His former business e.x- 
 perience had made him thoroughl)' acquainted with the 
 South and its people, and adapted him for this post. 
 Under his presidency the road made rapid progress, 
 auxiliary roads were purchased, and the foundations of 
 the present system were laid. The finances, which were 
 in a low state, improved greatly under his management, 
 and by a single transaction he saved the company more 
 than $2,000,000. He resigned the presidency in 1S84, 
 leaving the road greatly increased in extent, and in a far 
 more stable condition than that in which he found it. 
 Since then lie has been connected with nther railroad 
 enterprises and large financial undertakings, in all of 
 w hich he has displaj'ed a business energy and integrity 
 that ha\e inured to the ad\-antage of e\-ery affair with 
 which he has been concerned. He is an officer in 
 numerous banks, insurance companies, trust companies, 
 and other corporations ; among them the New York Life 
 Insurance Company, the Manhattan Trust Company, and 
 the New York Security and Trust Company. 
 
 In January-, 1884, he was appointed b}- Governor 
 Cleveland commissioner in cliarge of the construction 
 of the new Croton Aqueduct. His appointment to this 
 post occasioned some surprise, as lie had mingled but 
 little in politics, and was then engaged as president of 
 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. But it met with 
 general approval, and his management of the work won 
 him the highest commendation. 
 
 The most important political contest in which Mr. 
 Baldwin took part was the campaign of General Han- 
 cock for the Presidency. In this he worked earnestly, 
 and after Hancock's defeat he called a meeting at the 
 Brunswick Hotel, at which a committee of one hundred 
 was appointed and the Count)' Democracy organized. 
 In truth, although he had voted with Tammany Hall^ 
 he opposed its methods when these seemed to interfere 
 with the freedom of suffiage of the voter, and in con- 
 sequence has been antagonistic to it in its every recent 
 campaign. He has shown no ambition for political posi- 
 tion, and has several times refused nominations for city 
 offices and for Congress. 
 
 Some time after he settled in New York he married 
 Miss Roman, of Hagerstown, Maryland, who died early, 
 leaving him a famil)- of two sons and one daughter. He 
 has presented to Hagerstown, as a memorial to her, a 
 spire and tower to St. John's l^piscopal Church, one of 
 the finest pieces of ecclesiastic architecture in the State. 
 Mr. Baldwin is vice-president of the Manhattan Club, 
 and is connected with other social and political institu- 
 tions of the city. 
 
2l8 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 PKRRY BF.LMONT. 
 
 Pekrv Bei.mont, eldest son of August Belmont, the 
 renowned financier, a sketch of wliose life wc have 
 elsewhere given, was born in the city of New York, 
 December 28, 1851. His name of Perry came from 
 tiiat of his grandfather on his mother's side, Commo- 
 dore Matthew C. Perry, who commanded the expedi- 
 tion that opened the ports of Japan to commerce, and 
 also the naval forces of the Unitctl States during the 
 Mexican War. 
 
 Mr. Hclmont was educated at Harvard University, 
 where he graduated in the class of 1872, taking special 
 honors in history and pcjlitical economy. He afterwards 
 entered the Unisersity of Berlin for a course in civil law, 
 and on liis return to America took a course of legal 
 study at the Columbia College Law .School, where he 
 graduateil in 1876. 
 
 Being admitted to practice at the New York bar, he 
 formed a legal association with Dudlev Vinton and 
 George I'Velinghuj'sen, of that cit}', and was not long in 
 obtaining business of high character in the civil courts. 
 His practice took him into the Court of Ap[)eals of the 
 State, and subsequcntl)- into tile United States Supreme 
 Court, before which, in 1880, he argued in the im])ortant 
 suit of the Pensacola Telegraph Company against the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, Mr. Belmont being 
 counsel for the last-named corporation in oj)position to 
 Senator Charles W. Jones, of Floriila. Mr. Jklmont 
 gained the case, and secured an opinion from Chief-Jus- 
 tice Waite, to the effect that telegraphing comes under 
 
 the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 In 1880 Mr. Belmont entered the political field as a 
 candidate for Congress, and was elected as Representa- 
 tive for the First District of New York, including Long 
 Island (except Brooklj-n) and Staten Island. He con- 
 tiiuieil to ser\e in Congress during four consecuti\e 
 terms, and during the last four )-ears of his service was 
 chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, one of the 
 most important committee jxisitions in the House,- In 
 Congress he earnestl)^ advocated tariff reform, hokling 
 similar views on this question with Carlisle, Morrison, 
 Hurd, and other Democratic leaders. He strongly op- 
 posed legislation of an improper character according to 
 his views, such as the Credit Indiistricl and the bill to 
 advance the Landreau claim. In connection with the 
 forniLi , the .State Department, lluii under Mr. Blaine, 
 was censured by him, and Mr. Morton, the minister to 
 France, was severelj- criticised by the Committee on 
 Foreign Affairs. 
 
 The bill to indemnify the Chinese for the massacre at 
 Rock Springs was introduced and carried through the 
 House by Mr. Belmont, and he strongly advocated on 
 several occasions the strict observance of treaty obliga- 
 tions with the Chinese government. He also took an 
 active part in the discussion of the Fishery and Sandwich 
 Island treaties, ami as chairman of the Foreign Affairs 
 Committee op])osed and tlefeated the effort of the Nica- 
 ragua Canal Com|)an)' to secure support from the United 
 States government. 
 
 His Congressional service covered other important 
 
 I measures, among which he advocated the claims of the 
 city of Washington as the site for the Columbian ICxpo- 
 sition, a bill for which was presented by the unanimous 
 vote of his committee. The ])assagc of the bill by 
 which the United States became one of the first nations 
 to participate in tlie Paris Fxposition was due to liis 
 efforts, antl gained him the thanks of the French gov- 
 ernment and the cross of the Legion of Honor. The 
 abolition of the tariff on works of art was persistently 
 advocated by him ; while he secured, b\' an almost unan- 
 imous vote, the passage of the Retaliation Bill on the 
 fisheries' dispute for non-interference with Canada. 
 
 Mr. Belmont resigned his seat in the House to accept 
 the nomination, by President Cleveland, as United States 
 minister to Sixain. Since his return from this official 
 service he has resided in New York, where he is a mem- 
 ber of man\' prominent clubs and societies, and enjoj-s 
 
 I high consideration in business and social circles. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 219 
 
 AUGUST BELMONT, JR. 
 
 August Belmont, second son of tlic famous banker 
 and financier, was born in New York City, February 18, 
 1853, and has shown the possession of quaUties which 
 promise to make him a worthy successor to his dis- 
 tinguished father in the business to which the hitter lias 
 given a world-wide reputation. His preliminar\' educa- 
 tion was obtained at the Rectory School, Haniden, 
 Connecticut, followed by periods of study at Haverford 
 College, Penns\-l\-ania. and Phillips E.xeter Academy, 
 after "which he entered Harvard Uni\-ersity, where he 
 graduated in 1875. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he entered his father's banking 
 house, to begin there his business career, and quickly 
 showed a power of application and a natural aptitude 
 to financial business which gave him rapidly a grasp of 
 affairs unusual in one of his age, and fitted him to 
 assume the responsibilities of the great business which 
 his father had successfull)- founded. Many young men 
 in his situation, as sons of a very wealthy father, might 
 have chosen a life of idle enjoyment as the most proper 
 and agreeable occupation, but Mr. Belmont had in him 
 too much of the old stock to fritter away his time in 
 frivolous pursuits, preferring to make himself active in 
 business affairs and useful in the world to an)- life of 
 mere pleasure. 
 
 The death of his father, and the devotion ot his brother 
 to legislative pursuits, in time threw the whole care of 
 the great business mainU- within his hands, and he has 
 proved himself full\- capable of handling it. His father's 
 force of character, directness of purpose, and business 
 tact and judgment have descended to him, and the 
 world of finance recognizes him as a power no less 
 declared than that of the able founder of the house. 
 
 To-day Mr. Belmont, still a young man, is at the head 
 of the great banking establishment of August Belmont 
 & Co., which under his directing care promises to retain 
 the commanding position which it has attained in Ameri- 
 can finance, and to grow into still greater inllucnce in the 
 metropolitan centre of the New World trade. In addi- 
 tion to its American interests, this house possesses vast 
 foreign interests, as the accredited representative of the 
 Rothschilds in America, its European connections ex- 
 tending to ever\- important fiekl of finance in that conti- 
 nent. Of its more recent great financial operations may 
 be mentioned that in which it is at present engaged, in 
 connection with other great houses, in handling the recent 
 issue of gold bonds of the United States, the successful 
 marketing of which has done so much towards relieving 
 this country from an embarrassing situation financially. 
 
 Mr. Belmont has shown himself fully capable of man- 
 
 aging the great interests confided to him, and a self- 
 reliance and keen judgment that ha\-e made him a worthy 
 successor of his father in the conception and handling 
 of important enterprises. In addition to his immediate 
 connection with the banking business, he had assumed 
 other business interests, being chairman of the board of 
 directors of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, a 
 director of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Rail- 
 road, vice-president of the Kings County Elevated Rail- 
 road, and a director of the Bank of the State of New 
 York, the National Park Bank, the Equitable Life In- 
 surance Company, the Manhattan Trust Company, and 
 various other corporations. 
 
 Politically he is strongly Democratic in his views, but 
 has shown none of the tendencies towards a political life 
 manifested by his distinguished brother, his extended 
 business interests fully occupying his attention, and prov- 
 ing more congenial to his turn of mind. His hours of 
 relaxation, on the contrary, are given to quieter pursuits, 
 he being particularl_\- interested in horses and dogs, being 
 a member of the American Kennel Club, which his 
 earnest efforts as president have given a commanding 
 position among organizations of this kind, while in the 
 development of thoroughbred horses he has been equally 
 active. In addition he is a member of numerous clubs, 
 including the Union, Knickerbocker, Manhattan, Country, 
 New York Athletic (of which he has been president), 
 and various others, particularly the various yacht clubs. 
 He is flag-officer of the Corinthian Yacht Club. 
 
 Mr. Belmont was married in 188 1 to Miss Bessie H. 
 Morgan, of New York, and has a family of three sons, 
 August, Raymond, and Morgan. 
 
220 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAY GOULD. 
 
 Jav or Jason Golld was born in Roxbuiy, Delaware 
 County, New York, May 27, 1836, being a lineal ilcscend- 
 ant of Major Nathan Gold or Gould, who came to this 
 country about 1646, and settled at Fairfield, Connecti- 
 cut. The Goulds were notable in New England until 
 after the period of the Revolution, in which some of 
 them served as soldiers. Captain Abraham Gould re- 
 moved in 1789 to Delaware Count)-, New York, wliere 
 John Burr Gould, father of Jay, was born. 1 le was a 
 self-educated man, but well-read and of much natural 
 ability and strength of character. 
 
 Jay Gould was educated in the schools of his nati\e 
 ])lace, part f)f the time at Hobart Seminary, eight miles 
 from home, Ui which he walked every week, and earned 
 his board during the school days as book-keeper for a 
 blacksmith. He left school at sixteen, much against his 
 inclination, but with the laudable desire to relieve his 
 father of his maintenance. His father exchanged his 
 farm in 1 85 I for a hardware store in Ro.xbur)-, and here 
 the son bega)i his business career, acting as his father's 
 I)artner, and mastering the business almost at once. 
 While thus engaged, from six in the morning till ten at 
 night, he studied surveying, working with such industry 
 as to prostrate himself by a nearly fatal illness. 
 
 Ill 1S52 he became a surveyor in Ulster County, at a 
 .salary of twenty dollars per month, and for several 
 years afterwards pursued this business on his own ac- 
 count, making town, county, and railroad surveys not 
 only in New York, but also in Ohio and Michigan. 
 While thus engagetl he wrote a "History of Delaware 
 County." The manuscript being unfortimately destroyeil 
 by fire, he rewrote it in a few months, working so un- 
 ceasingly that he was again prostratetl by illness. The 
 volume thus produced is a remarkable product for a boy 
 
 of twenty, and is a highly important record of the his- 
 tory' of the locality treated. 
 
 With the savings from his several \'cars of labor, 
 about 35000, Mr. Gould next undertook the tanning 
 business in the woodland district of Pennsyhania. founil- 
 ing a town named after him Gouldsboro'. He remained 
 there for several years, developing the business, defeat- 
 ing a litigious partner in the courts, and making money 
 until 1S60, when he first adventured in that career in 
 which his great fortune was to be made. He had been 
 earnestly watching the decline in the value of railroad 
 .stocks after the panic, and finding that the first mortgage 
 bonds of the Rutland and Washington Railroad (from 
 Troy, New York, to Rutland, \'ermont) were selling at 
 ten cents on the dollar, he bought a controlling inter- 
 est in the road, undertook its management, built up its 
 traffic, consolidated the line with several others, and 
 finally sold out his bonds at one hundred and twenty, a 
 great percentage of advance in value. The operation 
 thus described was repeated by him in many other cases, 
 and in the vast railroad enterprises of his later years he 
 tlid more to huikl up the west and southwest section of 
 the country than any other one man. 
 
 Of the railroads with which Mr. (iould was concerned, 
 that with which his name has been most prominently 
 connected was the luie. This he found in an involved 
 state, — almost bankrupt, in fact. He accepted its presi- 
 dency, an oflfice w hich brought with it great difficulties. 
 His reputation, indeed, suffered severely through the 
 slock operations of the notorious Jim Fisk, — from con- 
 nection with which he has been exonerated by witnesses 
 conversant with the facts. Next Commodore Vander- 
 bilt sought to buy up the control of the road, which was 
 becoming a dangerous ri\al to the New York Central. 
 This Mr. Gould defeated In- issuing large blocks of new 
 .stock, — which he could legally do. He was finally 
 ousted from the presidenc)-, but he had saved the road. 
 
 He achieved a similar work with the Union Pacific, 
 which he found in a nearly bankrupt condition. He 
 bought its stocks heaxily from thirty down to fifteen, 
 and by his management brought up the stock to a value 
 of over seventy-five. He went aU)ng the line, developed 
 coal-mines and other resources, and soon had the road 
 on a dividend-paying basi.s. To his railroail enterprises 
 Mr. Gould added large dealings in the Western Union 
 Telegrai)h Company and in the Manh.attan Railway 
 I Company, rapiilly adding to his wealth until he became 
 I one of the richest men in the country. At the time of 
 \ his death he was a director in a large number of railroatl 
 and other companies. Mr. Gould was remarkabU- ilo- 
 mcstic in habits, and no man ever inspired more love and 
 respect in his children. His chief delight was in his 
 library, his picture-galleries, and his splendid conserva- 
 tories. He died December 2, 1892. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 '71 J 
 
 HENRY R. WORTHINGTON. 
 
 Henky Rossiter Wortiuxcton was born in New 
 York, December 17, 1817, being the descendant of a 
 family of Worthingtons who came to America in 1649, 
 and were descended from Sir Nicholas Worthington, of 
 Worthington, England, who fell in the cause of King 
 Charles at the battle of Naseby. Soon after the birth 
 of Mr. Worthington his parents removed to Brooklyn, 
 where they resided for many years. At one period his 
 father, Asa Worthington, had held the position of consul 
 at Lima, South America, a post of duty which he occu- 
 pied for a number of years, being at the time connected 
 in business with the importing house of Wetmore, 
 Chauncey, Cryder & Co., which had a prosperous 
 branch established in Lima. 
 
 Mr. Worthington's business career was in the profes- 
 sion of engineering, he being widely known as a hy- 
 draulic engineer, though aside from this special branch 
 of business he attained high rank in his profession from 
 his practical contributions to general engineering, in- 
 cluding the development of machinery tools and instru- 
 ments of precision, steam navigation on canals, compound 
 engines, and other departments of the professions. His 
 particular reputation, however, came from his special 
 researches into the development of the steam-pimip, in 
 which, while modestly making no claim, he has been 
 assigned the highest place. 
 
 Undoubtedly the direct steam-pump owes to him its 
 original proposition and construction, and his name is 
 known throughout the land in connection with it. The 
 duplex system in pumping-engines, devised and perfected 
 by him, is admitted by the profession to be one of the 
 most ingenious and effective inventions in modern engi- 
 neering, while it is certainly one of the most widely 
 applied. In this system one engine actuates the steam- 
 valves of the other, causing the pistons to pause an instant 
 at the end of the stroke, and thus enabling the water- 
 valves to seat themselves quietly and preserve a uniform 
 water-pressure, — a device which is a great improvement 
 on the Cornish engine formerly in use. 
 
 Mr. Worthington's career was by no means confined 
 to the practical work of his profession, or to the labor of 
 invention. His was a life marked by benevolent im- 
 pulses, and benefactions of counsel and charit)- too ex- 
 tensive for us to undertake here to describe. He was 
 warmly humanitarian in instinct, and not only his friends, 
 but multitudes of others, were the recipients of kindness 
 at his hands, or of modestly concealed charities. As a 
 man he was notable for scholarly culture and a brilliant 
 
 native wit, while endowed with an overflowing good- 
 fellowship and a conversational power in which he had 
 few equals. 
 
 Mr. Worthington was married to Miss Newton, daugh- 
 ter of Commodore John T. Newton, of the United States 
 navy. She, with four children, survived him, one of 
 these, Charles Campbell Worthington, having succeeded 
 him as an hydraulic engineer in the business which he 
 founded. He died December 17, 1880, and his remains 
 were interred in a Memorial Chapel built for him by his 
 widow at Nepperhan Valley, near Irvington. This is a 
 fine stone building, erected in 1883, and is built on a 
 portion of a somewhat extended landed property which 
 Mr. Worthington owned in that locality at the time of 
 his death. The structure is a tasteful one, — its cost 
 having been about S20,000, — and is kept in excellent 
 order by the family. 
 
 Mr. Worthington was vice-president of the American 
 Society of Mechanical Engineers, whose "Transactions" 
 contain a warm tribute to his memory, a portion of 
 which we quote : " The wide and profound expressions 
 of regret at the sudden decease of Mr. Worthington 
 among his professional acquaintances and in the great 
 circles of his friends were first and largely an expression 
 of personal bereavement. He had earned a high plane 
 as an ingenious inventor and a successful engineer, and 
 his work will leave an indelible impression upon profes- 
 sional practice, but the influence and the traditions of 
 him as a man and a friend will outlive generations of 
 engineers." 
 
 29 
 
222 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DORIJN F. CLAP1\ 
 
 DoRLiN F. Claim-, president of the Westchester County 
 National Bank, an institution situated at Peekskiij, New 
 York, was born in Peckskili, November 9, 1820. Eiias 
 Ciapp, his grandfather, resided in Dutches.s Count)-. His 
 son Philip married Emily E. Ferris, of New Castle, their 
 family consisting of two children, a daughter, Delia, and 
 Dorlin F., the subject of this sketch. Mr. Clapp's younger 
 days were passed in Pcekskill, where, when of suitable 
 age, he was sent to a boarding-school in North Salem. 
 Mis period of education ended at the early age of thir- 
 teen, when he began his business career as messenger 
 in the Peekskill Bank, an institution with wliicii he has 
 since remained steadily connected, his first advance in 
 position being to the post of book-keeper and teller, 
 thence, in 1848, to that of cashier, and in 1.S78 to that 
 of president, which post he still fills with much abilit}- 
 and credit. 
 
 The institution with which he is connected is the oldest 
 and most important financial institution in that locality 
 of the .State. It was founded as a State bank, under the 
 old banking laws, on May 27, 1833, its capital being two 
 hundred thousand dollars, and was opened at its present 
 location, on the southwest corner of Main and Division 
 Streets, May i, 1834. So far as is known, it was the first 
 bank organized in Westchester County, and for a number 
 of years did most of the iianking business of that antl the 
 adjoining counties of Putnam and Rockland. During 
 its existence it has repaid to its stockholders lialf the 
 original capital, with several hundred thou.sand dollars 
 in dividends. Mr. Clapp was elected its cashier June 
 26, 1848, and its president January 8, 1878. We give 
 
 these particulars concerning this institution on account 
 of his long and creditable connection with it. It con- 
 tinues the only bank in Peekskill, \\ ith the exception of 
 a Savings Bank established in 1859. 
 
 Mr. Clapp is descended from an English famih- of 
 much consideration in the farmer history of England, 
 the line of descent being traced back to Sir Ralph Clapp, 
 of Eduardston, County of Suffolk, England. The coat 
 of arms granted to this baronet is still in the possession 
 of his descendants. As regards Mr. Clapp's personal 
 histoiy, it has been without striking incident, his career 
 being simply one of strict and faithful attention to duty, 
 and close and wise supervision of the interests of the 
 institution under his charge. Few persons are better 
 acquainted than he with the business histoiy of the sur- 
 rounding district, nor better qualified to preserve the 
 bank from dangerous complications of any character. 
 
 As regards the respect and confidence with which the 
 citizens of his native town regard him, they are best 
 show n in the fact that both political parties long since 
 combined to elect him to the post of treasurer of Peeks- 
 kill. This office was conferred on him in 1852, and its 
 duties have been performed b}- him to the entire satis- 
 faction of the public, to whom he stands as the non- 
 partisan and faithful guardian of the funds committed to 
 his care. Mis life, in truth, has been one of the highest 
 integrity and honorable dealing, which have won him 
 the respect of the entire community, and his later years 
 are being spent in his native village in the midst of a 
 community of personal friends. 
 
 Mr. Clapp's wife was Fannie, daughter of Da\id Hart, 
 of Peekskill. She died in 1876. Of her three children, 
 Philip, tlu- oldest, died at the age of thirty-eight, Dcirlin 
 dietl in earl)- childhood, and onlj- one survives, Fannie, 
 the wife of P'raiik H. McGa\ie, who now resides with her 
 father in Peekskill. This village, indeed, is identified 
 with Mr. Clapp's family living and dead. His father 
 and grantlfather alike were laid to rest in the burj-ing- 
 ground of the I-Viends' Meeting at Peekskill, they being 
 members of that societ)-, while his wife and her two 
 children sleep their last in the cemetery of the Baptist 
 Church of the neighboring settlement of Yorktown. 
 
 In addition to his residence in Peekskill, Mr. Clapp 
 possesses a summer home, or country-seat, at Lake 
 Mohegan, in a location of great natural beauty. This 
 lake is situated in the north-western corner of Yorktown, 
 five miles from Peekskill. It is about two hundred acres 
 in extent, and lies in the midst of a well-cultivated and 
 attractive country, there being in its vicinity two summer 
 hotels, which attract many summer visitors. Here Mr. 
 Clapp very pleasantly passes his hours of relaxation 
 from business cares. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 223 
 
 REV. THEODORE L. CUYLHR. 
 
 Theodore L. Cuylek, D.D., who may justly be 
 classed among the leading divines of America, was bom at 
 Aurora, New York, January 10, 1822. He is descended 
 from Huguenot and Hollander stock, and in a measure 
 from a legal ancestry, his grandfather having practiced 
 law at Aurora for many years, while his father, B. Led- 
 yard Cuyler, also gained considerable repute in this pro- 
 fession, though he died at the early age of twenty-eight. 
 The son, at that time but four years of age, was brought 
 up b\- his mother, a woman of the most tender and 
 devout Christian character. It was her earnest desire 
 that he should become a minister of the gospel, and she 
 trained him with tliis end in \iew. It is said that her 
 first gift to him was a pocket-Bible, which the precocious 
 child was able to read at the age of four. 
 
 It was hoped b)' many of the famil\- th.it he would 
 pursue his father's profession, in view of the large busi- 
 ness which had been gained in several generations of 
 legal practice. But his mother's wishes prevailed. At 
 sixteen he entered Princeton College, and at seventeen 
 joined the Presbyterian Church, largely through the in- 
 fluence produced upon his mind by a series of prayer- 
 meetings at school. He graduated at the age of nine- 
 teen, and passed the following }-ear in Europe, where, 
 having introductions to se\'eral eminent men, anion" them 
 Charles Dickens and Thomas Carlyle, he was flatteringly 
 received, and praised for " his vivacious youth, overflow- 
 ing with cultured curiosity and Yankee wit." 
 
 While abroad he wrote a number of sketches of travel 
 and of distinguished men for American newspapers, 
 which attracted much attention. Being at Glasgow, 
 Scotland, during Father Mathew's temperance crusade 
 there, he was in\ited to speak at one of the meetings, 
 and did so with such feeling and ardor that at the close 
 of his address the apostle of temperance enthusiastically 
 embraced and kissed him. Shortly after his return to 
 America the young orator was asked to address a village 
 church meeting, and did so with a striking effect upon 
 his auditors. This success as a religious speaker finally 
 induced him to accede to his mother's wishes, greatly to 
 her joy, and he entered the Princeton Theological Semi- 
 nary, where he graduated in 1S46. 
 
 For the succeeding si.x months he supplied the pulpit of 
 a church at Kingston, Pennsylvania, and soon afterwards 
 assumed a pastoral charge at Burlington, New Jersey, 
 where his orator\- proved so effective and his success 
 was so markeil, that it was felt that he should fill the 
 more trying field of a city pastorate. He accordingly 
 removed to the Thirtl Presbyterian Church, of Trenton, 
 and remained there till 1853, in which year he received 
 a call from the Shawmont Congregational Church, of 
 Boston. This he declined in favor of a call from the 
 
 Market Street Reformed Dutch Church, in New York, 
 in which he succeeded the eloquent Dr. Ferris, chan- 
 cellor of the University of the City of New York. Here 
 his preaching proved highly effective, particularly attract-- 
 in" \-oun<T men, who flocked by thousands to hear him. 
 After seven \-ears of a liighh- successful pastorate here 
 he accepted the call of the Lafayette Avenue Presby- 
 terian Church, of Brooklyn, whose pulpit he has since 
 then continued to fill. 
 
 The growth of Brooklyn had then fairly begun, and 
 Dr. Cuyler, seeing there a promising field for Christian 
 ministration, consented to take charge of the church, 
 which till then had languished, if the congregation would 
 undertake to purchase a plot of ground at the corner of 
 Lafayette Avenue and Oxford Street, and build there a 
 plain church capable of seating about two thousand 
 people. This they engaged to do, and accomplished by 
 1862. The growth of the new church proved marvel- 
 ous, and from that time to the jiresent its histor\-, under 
 Dr. Cuyler's vigorous pastorate, has been one of the 
 highest prosperity. 
 
 As a Christian orator. Dr. Cuyler holds a \'ery high 
 rank. His power as a preacher " lies in picturesque de- 
 scription, and the weaving in of scenes and illustrations 
 from Scripture and from daily life." In manner he is 
 very earnest, and in results highly effective, being pos- 
 sessed of the highest qualities of oratory and the most 
 impressive power. In addition to his labors in the pul- 
 pit he has been a voluminous writer, both in the columns 
 of the religious press and in published books, of which 
 he has written many on religious subjects. He has also 
 been a persistent laborer in great reforms, such as the 
 Children's Aid Society, the National Temperance Society, 
 and others, and as a whole his life has been one " mighty 
 for good." 
 
224 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOSEPH PARK. 
 
 Joseph Pakk was bcnn in the town of Rye, West- 
 chester Count)', New York, May 24, 1823, beinij de- 
 scended from a fitmily of P'rench origin which is among 
 the oldest of tlie settlers of tlic count)'. P^or many 
 years his forefathers were engaged in farming, being 
 settled in and about the town of Rye. His father, who 
 succeeded to the family avocation of agriculture, trained 
 his son fully in the business of farming, perhaps with 
 the expectation that he would keep up the traditions of 
 his ancestry, and spend his life in the culture of the 
 fields. Mr. Park's ambition, however, led him at an 
 early age in another direction, and when only thirteen 
 years old he left home to enter business as a clerk in tiie 
 grocery store of Henjamin Aibro, No. 168 Grand .Street, 
 New York. 
 
 The very youthful clerk was gifted with an ambition 
 that was not long to leave him in a subordinate position. 
 After three years' business experience he, then but six- 
 teen, purchased the business, in conjunction with his 
 employer's brother, and continued it for one )'ear under 
 the firm-name of Albro & Park. y\t the end of this 
 ])eiiod Mr. Albro retired and was succeeded by Mr. John 
 M. Tilford, the firm-name becoming Park & Tilford. 
 This firm has now been in existence for more than fifty 
 years, and has attained a reputation as grocers and im- 
 porters which is surpa.ssed by that of no similar business 
 house in this country. 
 
 The success of this business has been in great measure 
 due to Mr. Park's strict attention to all its details. In 
 common with his partner, he has, from the unpretentious 
 beginning of their enterprise at No. 35 Carmine Street, 
 evolved a business of great dimensions, the extent of 
 the trade and the strength of the credit of the house 
 having no superior in the history of the grocery business 
 either in the United States or in Europe. The firm pos- 
 sesses four large stores, two upon Sixth Avenue, one at 
 the corner of Broadway and Twent)'-first Street, and the 
 fourth, said to be the finest establishment of its kind in 
 the world, at P'ifth A\enue and l-"ift\'-ninth Street. These 
 are abundantly filled with the iiuiltitudinous manufac- 
 tured and natural food-supplies anil luxuries which tempt 
 the palates of motiern epicures, while their custom is 
 wide-spread throughout the city and its \icinit\-. 
 
 Mr. Park's birthright as a farmer has left him with a 
 love for rural life, despite the fact that business has kei)t 
 him closely confined to the city. This native inclination 
 he has gratified as far as the exigencies of trade would 
 permit. Thirty-five years ago he began to purchase land 
 in the \icinit\' of his earl)' home, and for )'cars continued 
 these purchases till he had accumulated a landed estate 
 of more than fourteen hundred acres, extcntling from 
 the town of Rye to that of Harrison. This land is not 
 permitted to lie idle, but is all improved as a farming 
 property, and is worked under his directions by a large 
 force of skilled laborers, presenting annually a picture 
 of agricultural thrift and success w hieh has no superiors 
 in the State. 
 
 Mr. Park resides at " Whitly," a tasteful ami elegant 
 residence upon this estate. He was married in iiS49 to 
 Miss Mar)' T. Carpenter, of Harrison, and has two sons, 
 George C. and Hobart J. Park. In New York his busi- 
 ness operations have brought him intn CDnuection witli 
 many financial institutions, stock companies, and other 
 business concerns, and he is a director in the New York 
 County Bank, the Bank of the Metropolis, and the New 
 York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Comjian)'. 
 Despite the many business cares and duties which fall 
 upon Mr. Park's shoulders, and his advanced age, he 
 remains a man of strong ])h)'si(|ue, wiiile his n,iti\-e 
 friendliness and cordiality have won him hosts of friends, 
 both among those he meets in commercial life and tho.se 
 of his social circles. His career is a notable one when 
 we consider the very early age in which he ad\entured 
 in business for himself, and the steady and undeviating 
 success which has been the record of his business life. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 225 
 
 SHEPPARD HOMANS. 
 
 Shepi'ard lIoMAxs, distinguished for his mathematical 
 attainments and for his vahiable mortality tables, is a 
 native of Baltimore, Maryland, where he was born April 
 12, 1 83 1, being the son of the late I. Smith Romans 
 and Sarah A. Sheppard Homans. h^rom earl}' youth he 
 showed indications of mathematical ability and scholarly 
 tendencies, and, after graduating from St. Mary's Sem- 
 inary, in his nati\e cit)', he, in 1849, entered Harvard 
 Uni\-ersity. Here his abilities strikingly manifested 
 themselves, and he became noted for brilliant mathe- 
 matical powers and for fine scholarship generally. He 
 had passed all the examinations necessary for a degree, 
 when he received a government appointment highly 
 flattering to his proficiency in mathematical studies, that 
 of chief of an e.xpedition to ascertain the difference in 
 longitude between Boston and Liverpool. The result 
 of his labors in this direction was an appointment on the 
 United States Coast Survey, and afterwards as astrono- 
 mer on several exploring expeditions in various regions 
 of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Homans left the go\-ernment service in 1865 to 
 enter the life insurance field of business, succeeding in 
 that year Professor Charles Gill as actuary of the Mutual 
 Life Insurance Company of New York. Here was a 
 department of affairs in which mathematical skill was 
 no less important than in those which had previously 
 engaged his attention. Men apparently die with little 
 regard to mathematical requisites ; but if we leave the 
 case of individuals and consider that of large numbers, 
 it becomes e\ident that there is method in mortality, 
 and that the arrows of death do not fall quite without 
 order or system. In truth, tables of human mortality 
 can be made capable of use as almost infallible guides 
 in the business of life insurance, and Mr. Homans had 
 no sooner entered that field of duty than he set himself 
 to a revision of the tables then in use. 
 
 At that time the British mortality table was generally 
 employed. It was not exactly adapted to use in this 
 country, where different influences prevailed, and Mr. 
 Homans at once began the work of compiling an Ameri- 
 can table of mortality, based upon the statistics of death 
 in the United States, and in consonance with our special 
 hygienic conditions. The table thus produced is now 
 in use by evcr\' American life insurance company of any 
 importance. Mr. Homans's valuable labors in this field 
 have made him be}-ond question the leading authority 
 
 on life insurance statistics in this countr\-, while his 
 abilities in this direction are no less recognized in Eu- 
 rope. His work on the American table of mortality 
 was quickly followed by his suggestion of the " Con- 
 tribution Plan," designed for the equitable distribution 
 of the surplus funds of life insurance companies among 
 those to whom these surplus accumulations justly be- 
 long. His work in this direction has also been of much 
 value and is widely accepted. 
 
 In 1 861 he visited Europe in the service of the Mutual 
 Life, to study the work of the life offices of Great 
 Britain. Subsequently, in 1869, he again crossed the 
 ocean in the compan\-'s service, to attend the Interna- 
 tional Statistical Congress held at the Hague. He also 
 acted as the representative of the American Geographi- 
 cal Society at this Congress. 
 
 In addition to his duties in connection with the Mutual 
 Life Company, Mr. Homans has acted as consulting 
 actuary of a number of companies. In 1875 he organ- 
 ized the Provident Savings Life Assurance Society of 
 New York, whose specialty is to furnish renewable term 
 life insurance. Under his control this company has had 
 a striking success, indicative of public confidence in his 
 abilit}-. 
 
 Aside from business connections, Mr. Homans is presi- 
 dent of the Englewood Club, the Brookside Cemetery 
 Association, and the Board of Trustees of PZnglewood 
 School for Boys, and is a member of the Union League, 
 the Law)-ers', and various other clubs of the metropolis. 
 
226 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 THEODORE A. STRANGE. 
 
 Theodore A. Stkantie, long a proniincnt merchant 
 of the metropolis, is a son of the late well-known silk 
 importer, Edwin B. Strange, who was born in Glouces- 
 tershire, England, and came to this countiy in 1837. 
 Mr. Strange was born in New York City, August 15, 
 1843. His prcparator)- course of education was obtained 
 from private tutors, and in his sixteenth year he was 
 sent by his father to England to pursue a further course 
 in the Eltham Collegiate Institute, I-^lthani, Kent. The 
 original intention had been that he should c<)ni]jletc his 
 education with a university course at O.xford, but on 
 consideration he decided to return to his native land and 
 begin tlicrc a course of mercantile training. 1 le accord- 
 ingly entered as a clerk the house of Iv B. Strange & 
 Brother — kept by his father anil uncle — in i860, and 
 continued thus engaged during the succeeding six years, 
 gaining in that time a thorough knowledge of the rciiui- 
 sites of a commercial career. In 1866 he was admitted 
 into the firm as a partner, the firin-name now being 
 changed to Strange & Brother. 
 
 The firm, as tiius organized, continued to do business 
 until 1880, when Mr. Strange's father witlulrew, and died 
 in the following j'car. I'Vom this date until 1886 the 
 firm consistetl of Mr. Strange and his uncle, Albert A. 
 Strange. In February of that year Albert A. died. He 
 was succeeded in the firm by his son William, the house, 
 now constituted of Tiieodore A. Strange anil his cousin, 
 William Strange, still bearing the old firm-name of 
 Strange & Brother. 
 
 Among the mercantile concerns of New York there is 
 none that bears a higher record for commercial upright- 
 ness and fair dealing than the one here referred to, and 
 none, cither at home or abroad, that enjoys a higher 
 credit. The firm formerly added to its special line of 
 silk and ribbon importing — in which at one time it ilid a 
 heavier business than an\- other house in this countrj- — 
 that of flowers ami feathers, which was at one time an 
 important branch of its business, but has of late years 
 been dropjied, and the business confined to its original 
 line of goods. The factory represented by Strange & 
 Brother is the most extensive in its special direction in 
 this country. 
 
 Mr. .Strange, while active in business, has not neglected 
 social pleasures and duties. He was formerly a member 
 of many of the New York social organizations, ami was 
 particularl)- interested in the New York Yacht Club, of 
 which he is still a member. During the early j^eriod of 
 his connection with this club he was an enthusiastic 
 yachtsman, and owner of the celebrated sloop-yacht 
 " Ariadne," at that time one of the winning yachts in 
 American waters. He has also been much interested 
 in the order of Freemasons, and is a Mason of high 
 standing, being connected with Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 
 610, Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, Adelphie Council, 
 No. 7, and Cieur de Lion Commandcrv, No. 23, 
 Knights Templar. His business societ)- relation is 
 with the American Silk Association, of which he is 
 a member. 
 
 In May, 1874, Mr. Strange married Miss Jennie Marks 
 Taylor, daughter of Hon. W. J. Taylor, ex-ma)-or of 
 Jersey City. For twent)' years previous to 1882 he had 
 resiiled at Ingleside, Dobbs Ferry, but in that j'car 
 rcnuned to Irvington, a village on the east bank of the 
 Hudson above Dobbs Fcrr\- and about twenty miles 
 north of New York, in ami around which are many 
 beautiful residences, surroumled by well-kept lawns and 
 garilens, while the locality commands some of the finest 
 views of Hudson River scenery. Among the more 
 attractive of the suburban residences here situated is 
 "Granite Lodge," a spacious and elegant mansion, many- 
 gabled, and charmingly situated among well-grown trees 
 and facing a .spacious lawn. This mansion, purchased 
 by Mr. .Strange in 18S2, h.is since been his place of 
 abode. He has made himself very well known in the 
 western .section of Westchester County, where he lias 
 won great esteem, and long been a prominent figure 
 in social circles. In religious faith he is an lC]>isco- 
 palian, and regularly attends St. Barnabas's Church, 
 Irvington. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 227 
 
 COLONEL FREDERICK D. GRANT. 
 
 Colonel Frederick Dent Grant, eldest son of the 
 famous <jeneral of the civil war, Ulysses S. Grant, was 
 born at St. Louis, Missouri, Maj- 30, 1850. He received 
 his education there and at Galena, Illinois, where his 
 father was engaged in business at the date of the out- 
 break of the war. When General Grant first set out 
 from Galena for Quincy, to take command of the regi- 
 ment to whicii he had been appointed, he had his son, 
 then eleven years of age, with him ; but on finding or- 
 ders for an advance, he sent the boy back home, fearing 
 that Mrs. Grant would be anxious for her youthfid son. 
 This lad)% however, with the spirit of a soldier's wife, 
 wrote to her husbcUid, urging him to take Fred with 
 him. It was too late ; the boy was already on his way 
 up the Mississippi in a steamboat, to take rail from Du- 
 buque home. 
 
 What he saw of the life of a soldier perhaps gave the 
 adventurous lad a taste for the military career, for two 
 years afterwards we find him with his father in the Vicks- 
 burg campaign, where he had the unique experience of 
 being present at five battles before he was thirteen years 
 of age. General Grant, in his " Memoirs," relates the 
 story of how he left his son asleep on a gun-boat at the 
 time of the advance on Grand Gulf with the hope that 
 the boy was safely disposed of until after that Confeder- 
 ate stronghold should be taken. But fate and the )'oung 
 soldier's order ruled otherwise. Fred waked, missed his 
 father and the troops, and hearing the distant roar of the 
 guns from Port Gibson, where an engagement was then 
 in progress, he hastened overland to the spot, and joined 
 his father in the midst of the fight. He afterwards 
 accompanied him to Grand Gulf on foot, there being no 
 horses to spare, and was obliged to forage for himself, as 
 the commissary was in a very disorganized condition. 
 But the young ad\-enturer was quite capable of taking 
 care of himself After the battle Grant saw him, with 
 Mr. C. A. Dana, an officer, mounted on two enormous 
 horses, white with age, and supplied with dilapidated 
 saddles and bridles, the two presenting a kulicrous spec- 
 tacle to the father's eyes. Young Fred continued with 
 his father through camp and siege, and was in every 
 battle of the campaign, till the surrender of Vicksburg 
 to the Union arm}\ 
 
 During this period the boy contracted a serious dis- 
 ease, and became so dangerously ill that Grant was 
 obliged to obtain leaxe of absence during the Chatta- 
 nooga campaign, and seek his sick child at St. Louis. 
 He recovered, howev'cr, and was present on March 9, 
 1864, at Grant's first inter\iew with President Lincoln, 
 when the famous soldier was made commander-in-chief 
 of the United States armies, with the grade of lieutenant- 
 general. 
 
 In 1867 the young soldier, then seventeen years of 
 age, entered the United States Military Academy at 
 West Point, as the necessary step to his assuming a mili- 
 tary career. He grailuatcd in 1871, and was assigned 
 to the Fourth Cavalr)-, with the grade of second lieuten- 
 ant. Immediately afterwards he was raised to the rank 
 of first lieutenant. During the remainder of this year 
 he was busilj' engaged. In the summer he was em- 
 ployed on the Union Pacific and Colorado Central Rail- 
 roads as an engineer, and in the latter part of that year 
 he visited Europe, in compan)- with General Sherman, 
 gaining there, doubtless, much important information in 
 regard to the military art. 
 
 In 1872, after his return to this countr)-, he was placed 
 in command of a cavalry escort to the party making a 
 preliminary survey for the -Southern Pacific Railroad, as 
 a protection against hostile Indians. In 1873 he was 
 made an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Sherman, 
 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. During the succeed- 
 ing eight years Colonel Grant was busily engaged in mili- 
 tary duty, taking part in nearly every expedition against 
 the Indians. Within this jieriod he had one pleasant 
 diversion from military duty, during his father's cele- 
 brated journey around the world, joining him in the 
 Oriental part of this excursion, and continuing with liim 
 thereafter. 
 
 He resigned his commission in 1881, and was con- 
 stantly with his father during his illness, rendering him 
 essential aid in the j)rcparation of his " Memoirs," in 
 verifying statements from the records. After General 
 Grant's death, he entered upon the care of his mother 
 and the estate until 1892, when he was appointed b\- 
 President Harrison United States, minister to Austria, 
 and served the country in that capacity until tiie incom- 
 insf of the next administration. 
 
228 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN CLAFLIN. 
 
 John Claklin, tlic present liead of the great mercan- 
 tile corporation of The H. \\. Ciafiin Company, and son 
 of Horace Brigham Claflin, tlic founder of the house, 
 was born in BrookKn, July 24, 1850. His father, a 
 native of Milford, Delaware, and for a number of j-ears 
 engaged in business in his native city, came to New York 
 in 1S43, and began there in a modest way that dry-goods 
 business whicii has since grown to such extensive pro- 
 portions. The business expanded from that time till the 
 era of the civil war, when the firm fell into trouble, but 
 succeeded in a short time in meeting all its liabilities. 
 There was minor trouble in 1873, but it easily weathered 
 this storm, and gained an invulnerable position in the 
 mercantile world. 
 
 Mr. Claflin's son ami future successor in the immense 
 business built up by his energy ami ability received a 
 ])reparatory education in schools of Brooklyn and New 
 \'ork, and afterwards entered the College of the Citj- 
 of New York, where he graduated in iS^fj, carrying off 
 n)any of the honors of his class. 1 le inherited from his 
 father an excellent capacity for business, and with a 
 native inclination to a life of trade he entered the Claflin 
 establishment in 1870, wliere he quickly acquired a knowl- 
 edge of business details and showed an unusual aptitude 
 for commercial life. Three years later he was admitted 
 into the firm as a junior partner. 
 
 This was the )'ear of the great panic and of tiie struggle 
 of the house with the weight of its obligations. It had 
 an abundance of assets, but discounts were not easily to 
 be had, and a short extension of its obligations became 
 
 necessar)-. A few months sufficed to end this difficulty, 
 but it was a period of very useful experience to the 
 young merchant, and one in which he displayed traits 
 that demonstrated his fitness to succeed his father in 
 business. V>y the assistance he rendered the firm at 
 that time his reputation for ability became assured in 
 the mercantile world. In the later years of the elder 
 Claflin much of the care and responsibility of the busi- 
 ness fell upon the shouUlers of his son. His manage- 
 ment proved all that could be desired, and for the ex- 
 tension and continued prosperity of the house the credit 
 is very largely due to him. On his father's death, in 
 1885, he became the responsible head of the concern, 
 and during the past ten )-ears has handled it with a skill 
 and enterprise which have disproved the assertions of 
 those who declared that the business wouKI rapidly 
 decline with the passing away of the great merchant to 
 whom its remarkable de\elopment was duo. 
 
 Mr. Claflin works harti while engaged in the store, 
 but wiseh' gives two months of each year to recreation. 
 In these holidays he seeks enjoyment in directions not 
 generally attractive to the wealthy pleasure-seeker. He 
 is enthusiastically fond of travel and research, spending 
 his vacations in the Rocky Mountains or other regions 
 of difficult exploration, usually without companions, and 
 often in localities which white men seldom reach. In 
 this way every portion of the United States has been 
 visited by him, while his journej's ha\e extended through 
 Mexico, South America, Elurope, and Asia, all of which 
 he has tra\ersed extensively. In the summer of 1877 
 he performed a remarkable journc)-, the details of which 
 would make a highly interesting book of travel and ail- 
 venture. Entering a port of Peru, in company with a 
 single white companion, he traversed the South Ameri- 
 can continent from side to side at its widest portion, 
 journeying most of the way by mule and canoe, and 
 finally reaching the Atlantic at the mouth of the .Xmazon. 
 The course he followed has been often traverseil in ])arts, 
 but seldom in its entire length by a w liitc man. Man)' 
 of his friends sought to dissuade him from this enter- 
 prise, on account of its danger, but he was not to be 
 stopped, and finished the journey in six months in .safety, 
 and with a rich harvest of experiences. 
 
 Mr. Claflin is a trustee of Plymouth Church, though 
 not a member. He is also a trustee of many charitable 
 institutions of Brooklyn, ami actively interested in their 
 l}ros])erity. About half the year is spent by him in the 
 fine Brookh'n mansion built by his father, and the re- 
 mainder of his business year in the fmiil)- residence of 
 Fordham, in the upper section of New York City. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 229 
 
 CHARLES A. DANA. 
 
 Charles Anderson Dana, an American journalist of 
 distinction, was born at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Au- 
 gust 8, 1 8 19. His education was completed at Harvard, 
 \\ hich he was compelled to leave after two years' study, 
 on account of a disease of the eyes. In 1841 he joined 
 the famous Brook-Farm Communit}- at Roxbur}% Massa- 
 chusetts, associating himself with various persons of later 
 literary celebrity and Utopian ideas in this notable com- 
 munistic experiment. He remained here for two years, 
 and after the collapse of the enterprise became one of 
 the editorial staff of the Harbinger, a weekly paper in 
 which the socialistic views of Fourier were warmly advo- 
 cated. His service on this paper continued from 1844 
 to 1847, after which he became a contributor of the 
 Boston Chronotypc. In 1847 he made his way to New 
 York, with an experience in editorial work which com- 
 mendetl him to the publishers of the Tribune, upon which 
 he became engaged as assistant editor, being placed par- 
 ticularly in charge of the foreign department. For a 
 number of years he was managing editor of the paper, 
 and was largely instrumental in making it the leading 
 organ of the party in opposition to the extension of 
 slavery to new Territories, vigorously combating this 
 effort on the part of the South which led, step by step, 
 to the development of the civil war. His earnest war 
 spirit, as manifested in his famous " On to Richmond" 
 editorials, in 1861, brougiit him into disagreement with 
 Horace Greeley, who was disinclined to have the Tribu)ie 
 take so radical an attitude. The result of this difference 
 of opinion was that in 1S62 Mr. Dana withdrew from the 
 paper. 
 
 He did not long remain out of employment. In 1863 
 Secretary Stanton appointed him Assistant Secretary of 
 War, a post in which he was at first chiefly employed 
 in forwarding General Grant's military operations in the 
 West. He continued in this position until the end of 
 the war, as a very efficient aid to the War Department in 
 its stupendous task. After the war lie accepted the 
 editorship of the Chicago Re[>iibliean ; but that paper 
 failed to make a success, and, leaving it, Mr. Dana re- 
 turned to New York, where he, with some others, 
 purchased the New York Sun, a newspaper which had 
 for thirt)' years been successfully published as a one-cent 
 daily. The new editor increased the price to two cents, 
 adding, of course, to its size and enterprise, and handling 
 it with such ability that its circulation rapidly increased 
 despite its enhanced price. Under his management it 
 quickly established its record as the leading Democratic 
 
 organ of the metropolis. Of the first number published 
 January i, 1868, forty-three thousand copies were issued, 
 and its circulation steadily grew until it reached the one 
 hundred thousand mark. 
 
 The Sun has been sensational and personal in character, 
 but has been managed with much ability, and kept in 
 close touch with all the leading topics of the times. Mr. 
 Dana's long journalistic experience had amply equipped 
 him for the management of such a journal, and the influ- 
 ence of his paper has continued great. He is a vig- 
 orous writer, quick and bold in the expression of his 
 ideas, and well informed on all topics of general public 
 interest, and has alwa}'s kept his paper well abreast of 
 the times. 
 
 Mr. Dana has not confined himself to journalism, but 
 has taken active part in various literary enterprises. In 
 1858 he compiled and published the " Household Book 
 of Poetry," an excellent favorite collection. His princi- 
 pal labor in this direction was his long-continued task as 
 editor of Appleton's " New American C\'clopn;dia," which 
 he planned and edited in association with George Ripley, 
 literary editor of the New York Tribune, and one of his 
 old Brook-Farm companions. This work, consisting of 
 sixteen volumes, was issued between 1858 and 1863. In 
 1873 he became editor, in common with Mr. Ripley, of 
 a revised edition of the work, which was completed in 
 1876. In addition to the literary labors mentioned, Mr. 
 Dana has published several translations and anthologies, 
 and in 1868 took part in writing a biography of General 
 Grant. 
 
 30 
 
2W 
 
 .UAK/^RS OF NFAV YORK. 
 
 JUDGE HHNRY A. GILDERSLKEVE. 
 
 Henrv Alger Gildersleeve was born in Dutchess 
 County, New York, on August i, 1<S40. His early life 
 was spent on his fiithcr's farm and in attendance at the 
 district scliool. He afterwards attended boarding-school, 
 and until he reached his majority was either at school 
 or engaged in teaching that he might acquire funds with 
 which to pursue his studies. On the outbreak of the 
 civil war he recruited for the One Hundred and Fiftieth 
 Regiment, N. Y. S. V. Infantry, and was mustered in as 
 captain of Company C on October i i, 1S62. He served 
 with his regiment in the Midcilc I)c])artment, untler 
 General Wool, and subsefpicntly in the Army of the 
 Potomac, in which, with his regiment, he parlicipateil in 
 the battle of Gettysburg and in the subsequent campaigns 
 in Marjland and Virginia. After several months of spe- 
 cial duty. Captain Gildersleeve, in June, 1S64, rejoined 
 his regiment at Kenesaw Mountain, where it formed a 
 part of the command of General Sherman, then engaged 
 in fighting its way to Atlanta. He .served in Sherman's 
 army until the close of the war, partici|)ating in numer- 
 ous battles and skirmishes, and making the funous 
 march witii Sherman to the sea. 
 
 He was afterwards made provost-marshal of the Tiisl 
 Division of the Twentieth Ami)- Corps, on the staff of 
 General Williams, of Michigan. His iluties as provost- 
 marshal were delicate, responsible, and arduous, but were 
 discharged in a manner which met the approval of his 
 superiors. He was subsequently promoted to the rank 
 of major of his regiment, and brevettcd lieutenant-col- 
 onel, U. S. v., by President Lincoln, " for gallant and 
 meritorious service in the campaigns of Georgia and the 
 Carolinas." 
 
 When mustered out of service, in June, 1865, Colonel 
 
 Gildersleeve chose the law as his profession, and in the 
 autumn of that year entered the Columbia College Law 
 School. 
 
 He was admitted to the bar in 1866, and from that 
 time until his elevation to the bench, in 1875, he was a 
 hard-working and successful lawyer in the citj' of New 
 York. The duties of his profession did not wean him 
 entirely from his fondness for military life. In 1870 
 he was unanimously chosen lieutenant-colonel of the 
 Twelfth Regiment, N. G. N. Y., and took a keen interest 
 in his militar_\- duties and in promoting the success of the 
 regiment. He subsequently became assistant adjutant- 
 general antl chief of staff in the First Division of the 
 New York National Guard, with the rank of colonel, 
 which position he hekl for more than twelve years. He 
 also became famous as a rilleman.and was captain of the 
 American Rifle Team during its successful tour of Great 
 Britain and Ireland in 1875, in which its success was 
 largely due to his striking skill. 
 
 In civil life Colonel Gildersleeve attracted considerable 
 favorable comment as a lecturer, and as an agreeable, 
 forcible, and interesting speaker. In 1S75 he was elected 
 judge of the Court of General Sessions of the city of 
 New York, and for fourteen years sat upon the bench of 
 that court, disposing of an immense number of criminal 
 cases of every kind and description. He always tem- 
 pered justice with mere}-, and his record as a criminal 
 judge is excellent- He is now in his fifth year of .service 
 on the civil bench as judge of the Superior Court of the 
 city of New York, and has upwards of ten j-ears of ser- 
 vice still before him. Under the new amendments to the 
 constitution he will become a judge of the .Sui)reme 
 Court from January 1, i8y6. 
 
 Juilge Ciildcrsk-ex-e is now in the prime of lilc, blessctl 
 with perfect health and ;in iron constitution. With a 
 past so varied anil eventful, he has still many jears of 
 usefulness before him. He is a tall, strong, and heavil)'- 
 built man, of dignified and rather reserved bearing, but 
 with manners of unvarying courtesy and kintlness. He 
 still finds some time in which to indulge his fondness for 
 out-door s|)orts, and is frequently seen at athletic games. 
 A tramp over llu: hills or through the swamps, wherever 
 game can be found, with dog and gun, is his favorite 
 pastime. While he has no longer the skill with the rifle 
 that he possessed in earlier years, he is still a master 
 [ with the shot-gun. It was truly said by a prominent 
 editorial writer, that though Judge tiildersleeve might 
 I live to write some of the best judicial ojiinions reported, 
 they would drop into insignificance when comi)ared with 
 his fame as a rifleman. A prominent man, who had been 
 a political o|)ponent of Judge Gildersleeve, once said of 
 him that his principal characteristics were his evenness 
 I of tem|)er, his kindness of heart, and his fitlelity to his 
 I friends. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 231 
 
 WILLIAM SEWARD WEBB, M.D. 
 
 William Seward Webb, son of General James Wat- 
 son Webb, was born in the city of New York, January 
 31, 185 1. His grandfather, General Samuel B. Webb, 
 was a Revolutionary officer of distinction, commanding 
 a regiment at Bunker Hill, and afterwards serving on the 
 staffs of Putnam and Washington. He was an intimate 
 friend of General Washington. 
 
 Dr. Webb was carefully educated in his early years 
 by private tutors, and afterwards spent five years in the 
 military school of Colonel Churchill at Sing Sing. The 
 succeeding two years were spent at Columbia College. 
 He had early shown a strong predilection for medical 
 study, and after the completion of his college course 
 determined to make medicine his profession. He accord- 
 ingly entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
 New York, graduating in 1875, and afterwards spent 
 two years in study in the medical schools of Vienna. 
 
 Dr. Webb, well prepared as he was by native tendency 
 and earnest study for the profession of medicine, found 
 his energies unavoidably turned into another field. In 
 1 88 1 he married Lila Osgood Vanderbilt, daughter of 
 the railroad magnate, William H. Vanderbilt, and soon 
 after an abundant channel for his energies was opened 
 in connection with the Vanderbilt railroad system. He 
 possessed an excellent natural business faculty, which 
 quickly became manifested in his management of the 
 Wagner Palace Car Company, of which he has been 
 president since 1883. This company he has reorganized 
 and brought to its present state of effective operation, 
 as an indispensable adjunct to railroad tra\cl. Another 
 interest, of a different kind, which fell into his hands, 
 was the construction of the Adirondack and St. Lawrence 
 Railroad, a line which extends through the Adirondack 
 wilderness from Herkimer, New York, to the St. Law- 
 rence River, a distance of two hundred and thirt}'-three 
 miles. This undertaking was solel\- managed by him, 
 and since 1891 he has been president of the compan\-. 
 Dr. Webb's interests now e.Ktend to a considerable num- 
 ber of railroad and other corporations, in each of which 
 he is a director or holds other official position, his busi- 
 ness connections being very diversified. 
 
 Aside from business affairs. Dr. Webb finds much to 
 interest and employ him. For three years he held the 
 position of president-general in the National Society of 
 the Sons of the American Revolution, — an organization 
 which differs essential 1)' in the character of its member- 
 ship from the similarly named "Sons of the Revolu- 
 tion." He is vice-president of the Vermont Society of 
 the Sons of the American Revolution, and since 1891 
 has been the inspector of rifle practice on the staff of the 
 Governor of Vermont, on which he ranks as colonel. 
 
 Much of his time and attention is given to horse- 
 breeding, which he pursues with enthusiasm and scientific 
 care, and his Shelburne P"arms Stud, where he has 
 several hundred head of fine stock, is a model insti- 
 tution. Recently his attention has been largely directed 
 to the development of the hackney, and with great suc- 
 cess, as is attested by the many prizes which he yearly 
 takes at the New York horse shows. Chief among his 
 horses is the famous hackney stallion Matchless of 
 Londesboro, the winner of numerous prizes both in this 
 country and abroad. He is a prominent member of the 
 American Hackney Horse Society, and has been its 
 secretary and treasurer since its organization. 
 
 To his Shelburne Farms estate in Vermont Dr. Webb 
 adds a large preserve in the Adirondacks, which is known 
 by the title of Ne-ha-sa-ne Park. It is made up of forest, 
 hill, and lake, its woods being well stocked with game, 
 its waters with fish, and he spends at his lodge in this 
 wilderness several weeks during each hunting season, 
 engaged in sport with gun and rod. 
 
 Dr. Webb has been a somewhat extensive traveler, 
 having journeyed widely through Pairope, and visited 
 every quarter of the globe. He has made two long 
 tours through the United States and Canada, one, in 
 1889, of twelve thousand miles; and the other, in 1S93, 
 of fifteen thousand miles. He is a member of the Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Church, and politically is a strong sup- 
 porter of the principles of the Republican party. He 
 takes no active part in politics, however, his leisure being 
 devoted to travel and sport, and to the bountiful enter- 
 tainment of his friends, in the winter at New York, and 
 in the summer at Shelburne, Vertnont. In this social 
 dut\- his wife plays an eminent part. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FRANK TILFORD. 
 
 Frank Tilford, born in New York, July 22, 1852, is 
 the youngest son of John M. Tilford, for many years a 
 prominent mercliant of tliat city. The Tilford family is 
 of Scotch descent, its emigration to America having 
 taken place during the reign of George II., its locality in 
 this country being in the strongly Scotch settlement of 
 Argj'Ie, north of Albanj-. For generations the Tiifords 
 were tillers of the soil, their first entry upon city life 
 being made in 1835, when John M. Tilford, then twenty 
 years old, made his way from the paternal farm to the 
 city of New York. He obtained a position there in a 
 grocery store, worked diligently, and in 1 840, in associa- 
 tion with a fellow-clerk, Joseph I'ark, began business in 
 a small way, under the firm-name of I'ark & Tilfurd 
 This modest beginning was the origin r)f the great estab- 
 lishment of to-day, which has grown u]) largely through 
 the hard work, business judgment, and unceasing energy 
 of John M. Tilford. He died in 1 891, ha\ing continued 
 until within a nmnth previously to attend to business 
 affairs. 
 
 His son and successor, Frank Tilford, \va.s educated 
 in tlie schools of New York, his course of study being 
 completed at Mount Washington Collegiate School. 
 He then entered his father's establishment, preferring a 
 mercantile life to the other fields of emi)loyment which 
 he was at full liberty to enter had he chosen. His father 
 had become conspicuous among the great merchants of 
 New York, and with a desire to sustain and increase this 
 reputation the son entered the establishment, still known 
 
 by the original name of Park & Tilford, at the corner of 
 Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street, New York. Here he 
 began in one of the minor positions, his father wisely 
 desiring that he slioukl pass through e\cr)' department 
 of the business, and gain a thorough knowledge of its 
 details. He was advanced only as he became fully 
 familiar w ith the duties of his ev^ery station, and showed 
 his competenc)- for a higher field of work. This prac- 
 tical course of apprenticeship continued until iS73,when, 
 having passed his twenty-first year, and being familiar 
 with all the workings of the business, he was placed in 
 charge of the store opened that year at the corner of 
 Thirty-eighth Street and Sixth Avenue, a responsible 
 position for \\hic:li he was well fitted b\- the carefid 
 training he had recei\ed. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he began to take part in ihc man- 
 agement of financial institutions, being in 1S74 electeil 
 a director of the Sixth National Bank. He was at that 
 time the youngest bank director in the city. He resigned 
 from this position ten years afterwards. In 1876 he 
 joined the Real I'lstate Exchange, and entered upon a 
 series of operations in real estate in the up[:)cr part of the 
 city, which he still continues with a judgment ami fore- 
 sight which have brought him much success. The 
 North River Savings Bank elected him on its board of 
 trustees in 1885, and in 1889 he, in association with Mr. 
 G. G. Haven, organized the Bank of New Amsterdam, 
 of which he has since continued the vice-president. 
 
 These real-estate and financial operations did not diveit 
 his attention from the store. A branch of the Park & 
 Tilford establishment was opened in 1885 at P'ifth Avenue 
 and Fifty-ninth Street, which was placed under his 
 charge. The business continued to grow until in 1890 
 it became advisable to convert it into a joint-stock cor- 
 |ioration, Mr. Tilfortl, senior, being matle its vice-presi- 
 dent. After the death of the latter, in January, 1891, 
 Mr. I""rank Tilford was elected to succeed him. 
 
 Mr. Tilford was marrietl in 1S81 to Julia Greer, and 
 lias a family of two daughters. He is a member of the 
 Union League, the Republican, the Colonial, and several 
 other clubs, also of the Society of the Sons of the Revo- 
 lution. While taking an interest in public questions, and 
 being read)' to aid with monej' antl time an\- jiroject for 
 the benefit of the communit)', he has no political as])ira- 
 tions, and has declined all propositions to enter official 
 life, preferring to confine his energies to business affairs. 
 He is social in disposition, simple in tastes, invariably 
 courteous in manner, and as a business man posses.scs 
 great enterprise and excellent executive powers. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 233 
 
 A. FRANK RICHARDSON. 
 
 A. Frank Richardson, a prominent member of the 
 active fraternity of newspaper representatives of New 
 York, was born in the Green Mountain State of Vermont, 
 and, like many New England boys who have made their 
 mark in life, was born on a farm. After a boyish expe- 
 rience of life in the fields, and a period of such education 
 as the vicinity of his home afforded, he left home when 
 but fourteen and made his waj- to the far West, perhaps 
 with the idea then ad\-anceil that this was the most prom- 
 ising field for energy and enterprise- 
 
 In one of the leading cities of Iowa a daily paper was 
 being published by liis uncles, when he decided on a news- 
 paper career. He familiarized himself with every detail 
 in the make-up of a newspaper, acquiring practical knowl- 
 edge of all departments, — the composing-room, the press- 
 room, anil, finall}-, the counting-room. Showing remark- 
 able aptitude, and being naturally quick and bright, he 
 became \ery successful as a collector and solicitor, and 
 eventually assumed the management of the paper, more 
 than trebling its circulation in a comparatively short 
 time. But soon after he became dissatisfied, the field 
 being too small for him, and although he had in the 
 mean time acquired a proprietary interest in the paper, 
 he disposed of it, and came to New York, as the special 
 representati\e of a few Western papers, and soon after 
 was offered the vice-presidency and Eastern management 
 of the Western Newspaper Union. In 1887 he retired 
 from the Newspaper Union, and since that time has been 
 representing a number of Western, Eastern, and Southern 
 papers of known circulation, in some of which he holds 
 an interest, among them the Omaha Bcc, Denver (Colo- 
 rado) Times and Sun, Louisville Ciniricr-JoKnial, Mil- 
 waukee Journal, Boston Herald, Rochester Democrat 
 and Chronicle, Elmira Sunday Telegram, Memphis Coui- 
 mcrcial Appeal, Louisville Times, and others equally 
 well known. 
 
 Mr. Richardson travels three-fourths of the time, doing 
 a large and successful business. He continually studies 
 the different phases in the newspaper business in this 
 country. In 1886 he thought he would add to his stock 
 
 of newspaper information antl experience in Europe, and 
 spent three months traveling in England, France, and 
 Germany. Since then he has made several trips across 
 the "big pond." His home office is in the Tribune Build- 
 ing, New York, with a branch office in the Chamber of 
 Commerce Building, in Philadelphia. 
 
 A chief secret of Mr. Richardson's great subsequent 
 success is that he has never misrepresented tlie circula- 
 tion of a newspaper. He demands, before connecting 
 himself with any journal, that he shall be furnished with 
 positive statements of its circulation at stated intervals, 
 and it is thus papers of " known circulation" only that he 
 represents. Frank and truthful in all his statements, and 
 trustworth}- in his advice to advertisers, he has gained 
 the lasting confidence of advertisers, and has become 
 the sole special representative of some of the largest 
 newspapers in the country, not one of which has ever 
 withdrawn the confidence it had placed in his integrity 
 and business energy. Mr. Richardson is the best au- 
 thority on newspaper circulation in the United States, 
 and has the reputation of never misrepresenting it. As 
 a result he is the leader in the special agency business. 
 
234 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 I'HIl.ll' CARPENTER. 
 
 Philip Carpenter, a prominent member of the New 
 \'ork bar, comes liercditarily to his profession, being 
 lineally descended from a race of lawyers. His father, 
 Alonzo P. Carpenter, a graduate of Williams College in 
 1849, afterwards practiced law in New Hampshire from 
 1852 to 1881. In the latter \'ear, having become one of 
 the most eminent lawyers in the State, he accepted a 
 position on the bench of the .Supreme Court, which post 
 of honor he still fills. Ira Goodall, his grandfather on 
 his mother's side, was also a lawj-er of high considera- 
 tion, being the leading and most successful member of 
 the profession in northern New Hampshire from the 
 beginning of the century until about the period of the 
 civil war. Another member of the family, Mr. Carpenter's 
 uncle, Jonathan Ross, occupies as honorable a position 
 in the legal and judicial circles of Vermont, having been 
 a justice of the Supreme Couit of that State for twenty 
 years past. For the last five years he has been chief 
 justice of that court. 
 
 Philil) Carpenter was born at Bath, New Hampshire, 
 on March 9, 1856. After receiving the usual district 
 school education of New ICngland children, he was 
 entered, to prepare for college, at tlic well-known and 
 well-endowed academy at St. Johnsburj', Vermont, in 
 whicli his father had taken a similar ])re|iaratory course 
 thirty years before. In 1873 he entered Dartmouth 
 College, where, after a four years' course of diligent stud)', 
 
 he graduated in 1877, having served as class historian 
 in his senior year, and on his graduation being appointed 
 to write the class prophecies for the commencement ex- 
 ercises. 
 
 Mr. Carpenter subsequently entered upon the special 
 study of the law, and, having thoroughlj- prepared him- 
 self for practice in this profession, was admitted to the 
 New Hampshire bar on September 2, 1880, receiving in 
 his examination for admission to practice a higher per- 
 centage than any of his fellow-students in the half-yearl\- 
 class then examined. Selecting Lancaster, New Hamp- 
 shire, as his field of practice, he continued there until 
 June, 1885, gaining a good clientage and considerable 
 reputation as an able lawyer. 
 
 His period of residence in the city of New York began 
 in the year above named, he having sought this city as 
 offering a wider field for the exercise of his abilities, and 
 much better opportunities for progress and pecuniary 
 success than could be looked for in his original location. 
 Since that date he has continued in New York, steadily 
 and \er)' successfully engaged in the practice of his 
 chosen profession. During his period of practice in the 
 courts of New Hampshire he served as judge-ad\ocate- 
 general on the staff of Go\ernor Moody Currier, and in 
 addition attained some political jjrominence as an earnest 
 and acti\e member of the Republican party, in whose 
 principles he has an unj'ielding failh. 
 
 In New York his practice quickly became large, and 
 has graduall)- drifted towards " corporation law," to which 
 branch of practice his tastes antl o])portunities led him. 
 In addition to the important clients in this field which he 
 has gained in New York, he is general counsel for the 
 largest moneyed corporation in New Hampshire, one that 
 has a large branch in New York. I le is also coimsel for 
 two New York banks, — one a National, the other a .St.ite 
 institution, — and serves as a director in both. The.se are 
 but a few of the corporations to whose legal business he 
 attends, hi-, practice in this direction having grown exten- 
 sive. He has had his offices in the Potter Ruilding, 38 
 Park Row, since its opening in 1886. 
 
 Mr. Carpenter is ;i member of x'arious associations, 
 inclutling the New York City and New York State Bar 
 Associations, and the Union League, the Republican, the 
 Colonial, the Manhattan Athletic Clubs and the New 
 England Societ)- of New York. I Ic w as married in 
 Sej)tember, 1880, to Miss I'ann)- II. Rouse, of Cali- 
 fornia, their present place of residence — purchased by 
 him in 1S90 — being at No. 165 West ImkI A\enue. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 235 
 
 JOHN BROOME. 
 
 John Broome, Lieutenant-Governor of the State of 
 New York in the early part of this century, long con- 
 tinued one of the most eminent citizens of the State. 
 He was born in New York City, August 17, 1738, being 
 of English descent from Herefordshire. The family 
 from which he springs was one of the most ancient in 
 Great Britain. Its members were loyal and devoted ser- 
 vitors of King Charles I., and were banished and their 
 estates confiscated by Cromwell. The}-, with many other 
 Cavaliers, took refuge in the colonies, and settled in New 
 York, where they have since been closely associated 
 \\ ith the history of the State. The mother of Governor 
 Broome was a French lady, Marie de La Tourette. Her 
 parents, Count and Countess de La Tourette, were of an 
 ancient Huguenot famii)'. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, having received an excellent 
 and practical education in his nativ'e cit\-, early became a 
 prominent patriot and soldier of the Revolutionary War, 
 in which he bore the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and 
 gained especial distinction for his daring and impetuous 
 courage. He was particularly remarkable for his antip- 
 athy to the Tories ; and it is said of him that, while he 
 was exceedingly neat and careful in his toilet, if he saw 
 a Tory on the street, rather than meet him he would 
 cross to the opposite side, no matter what the condition 
 of the street might be. He was universally popular, 
 and was the recipient of many flattering public compli- 
 ments. Not only was the county of Broome in 1806 
 named after him, but in iSoS the name of Bristol, in 
 Schoharie Count)', was changed to Broome as a mark 
 of respect to him, and between the years 1806 and iSio 
 the street in New York Cit\- on which he resided was 
 named in liis honor. Governor Broome left to his de- 
 scendants not only a distinguished record, but also a large 
 amount of wealth, having himself accumulated a fortune, 
 which was augmented by valuable grants from the State. 
 
 Colonel Broome organized the Sons of Liberty in 
 New York City. He served as the representative of his 
 count)- in the New York State Assemblies of 1801 and 
 1802, and in 1804 was elected to the State .Senate. In 
 the same year he was nominated and elected lieutenant- 
 governor, in which he serxed so well for the interests of 
 the State, and became so universally popular, that he 
 was re-elected three consecutive terms. He was the first 
 man who received a vote of thanks from any legislative 
 body in the United States for services rendered at the 
 outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and was one of the 
 committee with John Jav' and Henry Rutgers who framed 
 the constitution of the State of New York. He was 
 also one of the founders of the famous Democratic 
 organization, Tammany Hall. 
 
 Governor Broome was first married to Miss Rebecca 
 Lloyd, of Llo\-d's Neck, Long Island, who died in 1802, 
 
 lea\ing four children, John Lloyd, William Temple (who 
 was a partner of Aaron Burr), Caroline (who married 
 Colonel John W. Livingston, U.S.A., during the War of 
 1812), and Rebecca. In his attracti\e colonial uniform 
 he appears an exceedingly handsome person, his finely- 
 chiseled features and aristocratic bearing proving his 
 truly noble lineage and lofty character. 
 
 His son. Captain John Lloyd Broome, was an officer 
 in a cit)' regiment as early as 1793. He was one of the 
 largest subscribers to the fund for the support of the 
 defenses of New York City in the War of 1S12, and was 
 for a time stationed at Fort Green, Long Island. Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel John Llo)-d Broome, L^nited States Marine 
 Corps, a distinguished veteran of the ci\'il war, is the 
 only surviving son of Captain Broome and grandson of 
 Governor Broome. He inherited the soldierly traits of 
 his ancestors. His record all through the civil war is 
 remarkable for bravery. He served with Admiral Far- 
 ragut during the Mississippi campaign on the flag-ship 
 " Hartford" in all its battles, and was wounded at Vicks- 
 burg aiul severeh' wounded at Donaldsonville, Louisiana. 
 On the occasion of the occupation of New Orleans he 
 hoisted the United States flag there on the custom-house, 
 hauling down the rebel flag which he found there dis- 
 played. He received three bre\ets for distinguished and 
 gallant service and conspicuous bravery during the war. 
 His histor)' is a part of the histor)' of the nation, and 
 the records of the Navy Department contain ample testi- 
 monials to his soldierly devotion to his countr)-. 
 
 Colonel Broome has one living child, Captain George 
 Cochran Broome, who also inherits the military spirit 
 of his ancestors. Like his great-erandfather. Governor 
 Broome, he is a young man of soldierly bearing, ever 
 ready to respond to the call of duty. 
 
 Go\crnor John Broome died August 8, 1810. 
 
236 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ROBERT BONNER. 
 
 Robert Bonnek, the \vclI-kiiu\Mi cditni- imd prdpriclor 
 of the Nrw York Ledger, was born in Ireland, a few 
 miles from Londonderry, April 28, 1824. He came to 
 America in 1839, on the invitation of an uncle in Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, a prosperous farmer and real-estate 
 dealer. Soon after his arrival the boy entered the office 
 of the Hartford tV/z/v////, as an apprentice to the printer's 
 trade, his engagement being that he shoukl recci\e board 
 and washing, with twenty-five dollars the first year, and 
 ten dollars increase annually. He soon showed his 
 ability, quickly surpassing the older apprentices in e.\- 
 pertne.ss at type-setting. Being taught by one of the 
 journeymen how to feed the press, he would come to 
 the office early, set the latest news, send the paper to 
 press, and go to work at feeding. For this he received 
 e.\tra pay. In 1844, when he left the Coiiraitt office, he 
 had a knowledge of all the details of newspaper work. 
 
 On leaving his apprenticeship he went to New \'()rk, 
 where he obtained work on the Evciiiiig Mirror, then 
 edited by the poets N. P. Willis and George P. Morris. 
 In the evenings he wrote digests of the city news and 
 .sent them to the Cotiraitt, under the iioiit dc plume of 
 "Threads." They were published and paid for, and 
 finding his services appreciated by his old employers, 
 even after they had learned his name, he was encouraged 
 to correspond for papers in several other cities. 
 
 In the Mirror office he showed great skill in setting 
 advertisements, a fact which brought him an cilTir from 
 the proprietor of tlic Mereltuiits' Ledger to undertake 
 that department in his paper, ailvanced wages being 
 offered. He accepted, jjroved highly useful to his new 
 employers by the satisfaction he gave advertisers, and 
 in a short time hired the type of the Ledger, and not 
 
 onlj- printed that paper for the proprietor, but two other 
 weeklies. He also contributed spicy articles to the 
 Ledger, one short sketch, humoroush- attributed to Dr. 
 Chalmers, being copied and praised all over the count:y. 
 The young printer, by strict econom\-, had accumu- 
 lated a small capital, and on Mr. Pratt, the proprietor, 
 proposing to sell out the Ledger, he offered to buy, and 
 succeeded in closing a bargain witli him. Mr. Bonner 
 had other itlcas than tlmsc nf his late eniplo\-cr. His 
 literary tastes antl judgment of the public needs decided 
 him to continue the paper on a literary basis. He saw 
 instinclixel)- that to attain success he must obtain the 
 best talent procurable, and applied for an article to Fanny 
 Fern, then the most popular of American authoresses. 
 He began by offering her twenty-five dollars a coUnmi 
 for a ten-column article. She declined, saying that she 
 would write no more for newspapers. He increased his 
 offer to fifty, to se\'enty-five, and finally to one hundred 
 dollars a colunni, at which she yielded, and agreed to 
 furnish the Ledger a ten-column story. This matter 
 became public antl helped the jiaper immensely, there 
 being much curiosit)- al)()ut the thousand-dollar story. 
 I'ann}- E'ern agreed to write regularly for the paper, con- 
 tributions from other leading writers were arranged for, 
 the new proi)rietor advertised his sheet, now known as 
 the Neiv York Ledger, with a boldness before unknown, 
 and a rapid and remarkable increase in circulation fol- 
 lowed. He obtained contributions, regardless of cost, 
 from such men as Bryant, Beecher, Everett, Willis, and a 
 host of other celebrities, growing bolder as he proceedeil, 
 obtaining from (ieneral Grant's father a biographical 
 sketch of his son, from Charles Dickens his onlj' Ameri- 
 can story contributit)n, a poem from Tennyson, articles 
 from twelve college presidents, from twelve United States 
 .senators, from the most eminent juiinialists, etc., while 
 giving weekly installments of a number of serial stories 
 suited to the tastes of the masses. The result was a phe- 
 nomenal success, w hich has lifted the Xeio York Ledger 
 to the head of papers of its class, and keeps it there. 
 
 I'ersonallv, Mr. Bonner's one passion is for fast horses, 
 his ambition being to own the best trotters in the workl, 
 and in this he has succeeded. Since he began driving 
 for his health in 1856 he has c.\|)ended jlGoo.ooo on 
 horses, buying successively " Mautl S.," for S40,C)00, 
 "Sunol,"for $41,000, and other great trotters, in their 
 time the fastest in the world. Yet he never bets — nor 
 gives any one else an opportunity to bet — on his horses. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be said that Mr. Bonner's bene- 
 factions have been many and large. He gave $19,000 
 towards a gynmasium for Princeton College, $125,000 
 towards the buililing of the E'iflh Avenue Presbyterian 
 Church, $10,000 to the sufferers from the Chicago fire, 
 and has given man>' thousands in charities of which the 
 recipients alone know the particulars. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 m 
 
 CORNELIUS N. BLISS. 
 
 Cornelius Newton Bliss, a proinincnt merchant and 
 a leatlcr in tlic Republican jxirt)^ in New York Cit\-, was 
 born at Fall River, Massachusetts, whither his father had 
 removed from Rchoboth, Massachusetts, lont; the loca- 
 tion of the family in this couiilr)-. The American founder 
 of the family was one of the early New England Puritans, 
 reaching America about 1635. 
 
 Mr. Bliss's father died young, while his son was still an 
 infant. His mother married again, her second husband 
 being Edward S. Keep, of Fall Ri\'er. In 1840 she and 
 her husband removed to New Orleans, leaving the boy 
 behind at school. He continued here till fourteen years 
 of age, attending the public school and subsequently the 
 academy of his native town, and then went to New 
 Orleans, where his mother placed him, to complete his 
 education, in the high school of that cit}-. 
 
 Mr. Keep, his step-father, was engaged in a mercantile 
 business in New Orleans, and after the completion of 
 his education Mr. Bliss was taken into the counting-room 
 of the establishment, where he remained for a year, gain- 
 ing in this interval a fair degree of practical business 
 experience. At the end of this period he left New 
 Orleans for Boston, where he obtained a position in the 
 dry-goods anti jobbing house of James M. Bebee & Co., 
 at that time one of the largest dry-goods importing 
 houses in the United States. Here the young man 
 found an excellent opportunity to complete his business 
 education, and displayed an industry, perseverance, and 
 ability which quickly made him not only familiar with 
 all the details of the business, but indispensable to the 
 firm, who recognized in him an assistant of unusual 
 powers. 
 
 As a result of their appreciation, Mr. Bliss was offered 
 and accepted a partnership in the house, whose business 
 quickl}' felt the impetus of his energetic methods. In 
 1866 the firm was dissolved. He then became a mem- 
 ber of the firm of John S. & Ebcn Wright & Co., a 
 Boston house doing a large commission business. This 
 concern also quickly felt the influence of his energy, its 
 business increasing encouragingly. His connection with 
 it was followed b\- his establishment of a branch house 
 in New York, which developed with great rapidity under 
 his skillful control, becoming in time one of the greatest 
 concerns of its kind in the country. Philadelphia also 
 became the seat of an important branch. The firm-name 
 under which this extensive business was first conducted 
 was Wright, Bliss & Fabyan. It was subsequently reor- 
 
 ganized under the title of Bliss, P'abyan & Co. This 
 firm still endures as one of the largest and most firmly 
 established dry-goods commission houses in this country, 
 while its reputation is international. 
 
 Politically Mr. Bliss is an active member of the Re- 
 publican party, in which he has risen to a position of 
 leadership in New York City. I'ur main^ years past he 
 has been prominent in the local moxcments of the jjarty, 
 his influence being potent not only in city affairs, but in 
 State and national politics as well. He has been promi- 
 nent in State and national Republican conventions for 
 years. In 1884 he served as chairman of the committee 
 of one hundred business men appointed by a public 
 meeting to attend the Republican national convention 
 and urge the nomination of President Arthur for the 
 Presidency. In the following year the State Republican 
 convention offered him the nomination for governor, but 
 he declined the honor. His name was presented, despite 
 this refusal, and a large complimentary vote was cast 
 for him. The onh' office he has consented to hold luis 
 been that of a member of the International Conference. 
 
 Aside from politics and his immediate business rela- 
 tions, Mr. Bliss has made himself prominent in New 
 York. He is vice-president of the Fourth National 
 Bank, and holds a similar office in the Union League 
 Club. He has served as president of the New England 
 Society, is a member and vice-president of the Chamber 
 of Commerce, and one of the governors and treasurer 
 of the New York Hospital. 
 
 31 
 
238 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CULONHL VINCKNT M. Wll.COX. 
 
 Vincent Mekjs Wilcox was born at Madismi, New 
 Haven County, Connecticut, on October 17, 1S28, and 
 was descended from some of the oldest and most 
 lionored of New Entjland fomilies. Tlic -genealogy of 
 the family can be traced back, in Suffolk, England, to a 
 date before William the Conqueror. Sir John Wilcox, 
 of the reign of Edward III., was the leader of the cross- 
 bowmen of the English army in the Erench wars. A 
 descendant of his, William Wilcox, came early to Amer- 
 ica, and was settled at Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639. 
 His son Obadiah settled at what is now Madison, Con- 
 necticut, the birthplace of Colonel Wilcox, who is his 
 descenilant in the fifth generation. On his mother's sitle 
 Colonel Wilcox descends from Vincent Meigs, who came 
 from England in 1638, and several of whose descend- 
 ants have been distinguished in American histor\-. The 
 family is also connected with other prominent New Eng- 
 land families. 
 
 Colonel Wilcox spent his youthful dajs on his father's 
 farm, receiving a good education, which was finished at 
 Lee's Academy in Madison, where he subse<|uenlly 
 taught school for three years. Afterwartis he became ;i 
 merchant in that town, and served on the board of edu- 
 cation, and as justice of the ]ieace, and school and town 
 treasurer. His military proclivity was shown in his con- 
 nection, as lieutenant, with the Madison Light Guard, 
 while with which he had the advantage of a tiiorough 
 course of instruction in tactics under General Hardee, 
 the author of " Hardee's Tactics." 
 
 In I.S60 Mr. Wilcox removed to Scranton, IVimsylva- 
 nia, and was doing a profitable business there when the 
 war began. He at once joined a compaii)- of young 
 men, whom he instructed in the art of war, and with 
 such success that forlv-eight <jut of tile seventy- five be- 
 
 came officers in the Union army. On Mav 13, 1862, he 
 was appointed on the staff of General Mej-lert as brigade 
 judge-advocate, with the rank of major, and subse- 
 quently was made lieutenant-colonel of the One Hun- 
 dred and Thirty-second Regiment PennsyKania Volun- 
 teers. This regiment was sent to the front in August, 
 1862, and first came under fire on September 17, at the 
 memorable battle of Antietam. Here it occupied a criti- 
 cal jioint, ami was hotly engaged. The colonel fell, ami 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Wilcox assumed command, leading 
 his men in a fierce bayonet charge that dro\c the Con- 
 federates from their position. At the clo.se of the battle 
 he was promoted colonel, as a rewaril for his bra\er\- and 
 merit. During the subsequent ad\ance Colonel Wilcox 
 was prostrated by illness, and narrowly escaped cajHure 
 by the enemy. He was then taken to a iiospital near 
 Washington, and subsccjuently, after a short leave of 
 absence, reported at Washington for duty. Much to 
 his disappointment, the examining surgeon refused him 
 permission t<i rejoin his regiment, on the ground that 
 he was in no comlition to bear the hardships of ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Colonel Wilcox being unable to return to the army, 
 resigned his connnission in January, 1863, and shorth- 
 afterwards accepted a responsible position in New York 
 City, with the firm of E. & H. T. Anthony, extensive 
 dealers in photographic materials. In 1870 Colonel Wil- 
 cox became a member of this firm, and on its incorpora- 
 tion se\en \cars later was made secretary of the com- 
 l)any. In 1884, on the death of Henry T. Anthony, he 
 became \'ice-presidcnt, and in 1S88, in which year lul- 
 waril .\nthon\', the foiiiulei' of the house, died, he 
 became president antl treasmer of the comi^anj'. 
 
 The business of this company, which is devt)teil tn the 
 manufarture, impi illation, and sale of photographic ma- 
 terials, is now the largest in its line in the world. It 
 occupies four stories of the large buililing No. 59 1 
 Broailwa)', and has factories in Hrookl)n, Jersey City, 
 Hoboken, and King Street, New York. The house 
 issues Anthonys Pliotogrtil^liic Hnllctin, which has a 
 world-wide circulation among photographers, and holds 
 mniierous medals in attestation of the excellence of its 
 productions. Colonel Wilcox has risen to be the head 
 of this great establishment, which, in his hands, retains 
 all its old ])rominence. He was long an active member 
 of the National Photographic Association, and for a 
 number of years was chairman of the arbitrating com- 
 mittee of the Photographic Stock Dealers' Association. 
 He is a member of the Loyal Legion and the Gram! 
 Army of the Rei)ublic, and is an eloquent orator, having 
 tlelivered telling addresses at several annual reunions of 
 I his old regiment. I le has been three times married, and 
 has two surviving children, Dr. Reynold W. Wilcox and 
 I I'rancis W. Wilcox. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 239 
 
 CHARLES S. SMITH. 
 
 Charles Stewart Smith, a prominent meicliant and 
 public-spirited citizen of the metropolis, is a descendant 
 of an English family who settled in Connecticut early in 
 the colonial ])eriod,antl continued to make New Englanil 
 its home until the present generation. Mr. Smith's father 
 was a Congregational minister, and pastor of a church 
 at Exeter, New Hampshin-, in which town Charles was 
 born, March 2, 1832. 
 
 The boy received a good ediication, of an elenientar)' 
 character, in the schools of his native town, but was 
 withdrawn from school when fifteen years of age to begin 
 his business life. He came to New York at this age in 
 search of employment, which he found in a ilry-goods 
 jobbing establishment. He remained with this house 
 until twenty-one j'cars of age, when he left it to enter 
 the establishment of S. B. Chittenden & Co., a prominent 
 house of that ])eriod. For several years he served this 
 firm as their European bu\-er, disjiiaj-ing an ability in 
 this direction which fully justified the confidence of the 
 firm in intrusting so responsible a duty to so young an 
 agent. Later in his business life he became a member 
 and the senior partner of the dry-goods commission firm 
 of Smith, Hogg & Gardner, whose business grew to be 
 \'ery extensive, and which for years occupied a prom- 
 inent position in the dry-goods business interests of New 
 York and Boston. The prosperity of this firm was in 
 large measure due to the abilit\- and activit}- of its senior 
 member. Mr. Smith remained connected with it as an 
 active member until 18S7, when he withdrew to the 
 pri\-atc enjo)-ment of the handsome fortune he had ac- 
 cumulated. 
 
 Few of the business men of New York have made 
 themselves better known in commercial circles than he. 
 This is sufficiently indicated in the fact that for seven 
 years he held the position of president of the Chamber 
 of Commerce, the oldest and the most influential of the 
 business associations of New York. Political!}- Mr. 
 .Smith has avoided office-holding, declining offers of 
 nonu'nation to the ma\-oralt\- and other posts of dignity, 
 \'et he has Ijeen warmly iiiteresteil in public affiirs, and 
 lias exerted a beneficent influence upon municipal con- 
 cerns. His attention has been particularly directed to 
 the great problem of municiiial transit and to the relation 
 of the railroads to New York commercial needs. On this 
 subject he has written papers and delivered addresses 
 which are strikingly lucid and comprehensive, and dis- 
 
 play clear insight into the situation. Considering liis 
 limited educational advantages and his subsequent close 
 dex'otion to business, the abilit)- manitcstetl in these pro- 
 ductions speak strong!)- for his native powers of intellect 
 and his attention to study during his business career. 
 
 His retirement from business in 1887 was in no sense 
 a withdrawal from activity, but rather that he might 
 devote more of his attention to tlie philanthropic, public, 
 and other movements in which his interest was enlisted, 
 and to which he has continued to give much of his time, 
 taking a leading part in the affairs of many prominent 
 institutions. Few persons in New York are connected 
 with so many institutions of importance than he, and 
 few make their years of leisure of more utilit)- to their 
 fellow-citizens. In truth, he manages to keep himself 
 actively engaged in those duties which ])ropcrl}- fall to 
 the care of wealthy retired citizens, but to whose per- 
 formance a patriotic and philanthropic spirit is neces- 
 sary. 
 
 He is a libeial patron of art, of which he has been a 
 close and critical stuilcnt during his long periods of resi- 
 dence in Europe, continued obser\-ation having developed 
 his judgment in works of art till he has attained a high 
 rank among connoisseurs of painting and sculpture. He 
 is a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to 
 whose collections his artistic taste has proved of great 
 advantage. The clubs of which he is a member include 
 the Union League, Grolier, Lawyers', Players', Mer- 
 chants', and Metropolitan. 
 
240 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM C. CHURCH. 
 
 Among tlic prisoners released in New York 1)_\- the 
 British at the close of the Revolution was Willard 
 Church, a native of Mansfield, Connecticut, and a kins- 
 man, some degrees removed, of Colonel Benjamin 
 Church, the famous Indian fighter. Willard, who had 
 starved with Washington at Valle)- Forge, fought with 
 Anthony Wayne at Stonj- Point, and witnessed the exe- 
 cution of Major Andre at Tappan, New York, settletl in 
 New York after the Rc\olution, and his familj-, of New 
 FIngland origin, have been associated with that State 
 and its fortunes for over a centur)'. Some of Willard 
 Church's sons survive ; among the rare examples of the 
 sons of Revolutionary heroes still remaining with us. 
 One of his sons, Pharcellus, who died in i<S,S6 at the age 
 of eighty-five, was a clergyman, ;in author of rei>ut,itinn, 
 and an editor of large e,\|)erience. Three of his graiul- 
 sons, the sons of Pharcellus, are men of literarx- repu- 
 tation, — William Conant, l-'r.mk Pharcellus, and John 
 Adams Church ; the youngest of the three, John, having 
 a still further re|)utation as a man of science, a " Ph.D.," 
 he being widely known in his profession of mining engi- 
 neering as a professor at Columbia College, in the State 
 University of Ohio, and in Ann Arbor University; also 
 by his work in connection with the Comstock Mines, 
 while employed on the government survey, ,unl 1)\- his 
 introiluction of American methods of mining into China, 
 where for four years he sersed on the staff of the famous 
 viceroy, Li Ihmg Chang. 
 
 The eldest son. Colonel William Conant Church, de- I 
 rives his name from Roger Conant, the founiler of Cape 
 Ann Colony and Salem, Massachusetts, of whom he I 
 is a lineal de.scend.int in the seventh gcnenilion on hi-. 
 mother's side. i 
 
 He was born in Rochester, New York, August 11, 
 1836, but has been for the past forty-one years a resident 
 of the city of New York, where he has large landed 
 interests. During the ci\il war of 1861-65 he ser\'ed 
 as an officer on the staff of Major-Gcncral Silas Casey, 
 bearing with him on his return to civil lite the l)revct of 
 lieutenant-colonel, l^y this milit;ir\- title he is well known 
 in navy and ami}- circles as the editor of the Army and 
 N^avy Journal, which he established in 1863 with the aid 
 of his brother I'rank, who has now for some years been 
 connected with the New York Sun, as one of the ablest 
 of its brilliant staff of editorial writers. These two 
 brothers, William C. and I'r.uik 1'., also established the 
 Galaxy Magazine, and, during the ten years from 1868 
 until 1878, when it was mergctl in the Atlantic Monllily, 
 maintained for it a chief place among our literar\- ])eriodi- 
 cals. In connection with his editorial work Colonel 
 Church has found time for much literary labor, his name 
 being a familiar one in periodicals other than his own, — 
 Srrilincr's Magamne, The Century, The North American 
 Review, The Forum, and JIarper's Weekly, — to all of 
 which he has contributed. He was also the literar\- 
 executor ^^'i the late lolin I'ricsson, and is the author of 
 the "Life of John pjicsson," |)ublished by Charles Scrib- 
 ncr's Sons in 1890 in two octa\-o \-olumes. 
 
 Colonel Church has taken an acti\e ])arl in public 
 affairs in New York City, and is a member ;uul trustee of 
 the Century Club and the Authors' Club, and a member 
 nf the Players' and City Clubs. He is a member of the 
 (irand Army, George Washington Post, and was one of 
 the earliest members of the Loyal Legion, his insignia 
 numbering 130. He was a charter member of the New 
 York Commandery, over which he, for two j'cars, pre- 
 sideil, in the absence of General Schofield, as its Junior, 
 and then as its .Senior, Vice-Commander. He is now 
 a member of the Comni,uidery-in-Chief of the Legion. 
 He took an active part in the establishment of the 
 National Rifle Association, and was for some years its 
 president. 
 
 He was, pre\ious to the establishment of the Army 
 and Navy Journal, publisher of the New ^'ork Su)i, 
 leaving it to enter the military service. 1 b- and his 
 brothers also liave, as executors of their father's estate, 
 a large proprietary interest in the New York Examiner, 
 one of the oldest ;inil largest circulated religious weeklies 
 in the coiMitry. in 1882 he was appointed by President 
 Arthur go\'ernment inspector for the Northern Pacific 
 Railro.iil. He was one of the foimders of the Metro- 
 politan Museum of Art in New York, ami is a " l'"ellow 
 in Perpetuit)'" of that organization. He was one of the 
 founders of the Real Instate Exchange, ser\ing in its 
 first board of directors, anil by numerous activities has 
 associated himself with the literary business, political 
 and social life of the metropolis. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 241 
 
 CORNELIUS VAN COTT. 
 
 CoKNEiJUS Van Cott, postmaster of New York during 
 the Harrison administration, was born in that city, Feb- 
 ruary 12, 1838, being descended from an honored family 
 of the Revolutionary period. He was educated in city 
 schools, and has, during all his mature life, been closely 
 identified with the public interests of his native city. He 
 was put to learn the business of carriage-making, but 
 left it while quite a young man to engage in the insur- 
 ance business, in which he had secured a position. From 
 tlic start he showed marked abilit\' in tliis business, and 
 liis merit and integrity were quickl}- recognized and 
 rewardcil in his election to the post 'A \-ice-president of 
 the /Ftna Insurance Company. 
 
 He became early a member of the Volunteer Fire 
 Department, antl after the overthrow of the Tweed Ring, 
 he was appointed a member of the 15oard of Fire Com- 
 missioners, in which he served from 1873 to 1875, and 
 again from 1879 to 1885, during a greater part of which 
 period he was president of the board. The department 
 impro\cd greatly under his administration, among the 
 changes introduced at his suggestion being those of im- 
 proved fire-escapes on loft\- buildings, improved exits in 
 case of fire for large retail stores and theatres, and im- 
 portant alteiations in the fire-boat " William Havemeyer" 
 which adtled greatlv to its usefulness. The danger aris- 
 ing from electric-light wires on telegraph-poles also 
 brought from him an official note of alarm, they having 
 destroyed a number of fire-alarms and set fire to various 
 buildings. 
 
 Political!}' Mr. Van Cott is a member of the Republi- 
 can part)', in which organization he has been active and 
 energetic for more than twelve years past as a member 
 of the Republican State Committee. His first political 
 position was attained in 1887, when he became a candi- 
 date for State senator for the eighth district, and was 
 elected with a plurality of over four thousand eight 
 hundred. The district had, the previous year, given 
 the Democratic ticket a plurality of fifteen hundred. 
 During his term of service in the State Senate he 
 was acti\-e in the introduction of bills looking to 
 measures of reform ; among them a bill fa\oring the 
 adoption of uniform divorce laws for all the States ; a 
 bill giving power to the police authorities to make raids ' 
 on opium joints, for the purpose of breaking up this 
 unsa\'ory Chinese importation ; a bill pro\iding for a 
 reform in the method of granting degrees to doctors of 
 medicine ; and one for the repeal of the law prohibiting 
 
 auctions of art objects at night, — a law which had no 
 warrant in sense or justice for its existence. His sena- 
 torial service ended in May, 1889, he resigning his seat 
 in the Legislature to enter upon the responsible duties of 
 postmaster of New York, to which important position 
 he had been appointed by President Harrison. 
 
 On entering upon his duties as postmaster Mr. Van 
 Cott quickly perceived the necessity of certain changes 
 in the office. The clerical force was totall)- inadequate 
 to the work required to be done, the result being a very 
 unsatisfactory performance of the duties of the office. 
 His first official act was to demand an increase in the 
 allowance for clerk hire, which was readily granted on 
 his presentation of its necessity. CXher improvements 
 introduced b}- him were in connection with the sub- 
 stations, whose facilit)' and number he increased. His 
 period of dut)- in connection with this most important 
 of American post-offices ended with the close of the 
 administration, he having brought to its management the 
 sound judgment, earnest activity, and sterling integrity 
 which have marked his entire business and political 
 career, and leaving the office in a considerably higher 
 state of efficiency than that in which he found it. His 
 record in this position was one of which he can be justly 
 proud. 
 
 Mr. Van Cott is president of the Lincoln Club, and is 
 also president of the West Side Savings Bank, which in- 
 stitution he helped to organize. He is, besides, president 
 of the Great Eastern Casualty and Indemnity Company. 
 
242 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ALHXANOHR TAYLOR. 
 
 Ali£xandek T.wi.ok was born at Lcitli, ScotlanJ, Au- 
 gust 26, 1 82 1, and in tlic succeeding year was brought 
 by his parents to New York, in wliich city his fatlier 
 engaged in the mercantile business, antl died tlicre in 
 1840, leaving a wife and a young faniiK' piactically under 
 the care of the elder son, not yet twenty years of age. 
 Under the judicious guidance of his mother the \-outh 
 at once left school antl engagetl in the acti\e business of 
 life, with an energy and native talent that from the start 
 promised success. His first position was with a brokerage 
 firm in Wall Street, with which he remained until, after no 
 long time, it went out of business. I le had gained in its 
 service a knowledge of the bu.'-iness, and was sufficiently- 
 enterprising to rent at once the office of his recent em- 
 ployers and start in business for himself. This was at 
 No. 62 Wall Street, or Jones Court, as it was then named. 
 
 From the start he was fairly successful in his business 
 venture. At a later date he remf)vetl to No. 76 Wall 
 Street, where his two brothers, as they became of age, 
 were ailmitted to ])artners]iip with him, the firm-name 
 becoming Taylor lirothers. For more than a quarter 
 of a century succeeding the business of the house was 
 continued, it gaining a high reputation, while its con- 
 nections extended to e\ery financial centre of Great 
 Ikitain and Ireland. In 1870, having achieved a satis- 
 fictory success in his business life, Mr. Tajlor retired 
 from the firm, and establishcil his sons Alexander and 
 (jeorge in business, under the firm-name of Alexander 
 Taylor's Sons. llun, bting desirous of resiiling in 
 ICuropc, he accepted a flattering offer made him by the 
 banking-house of Clews, ilabicht & C«. to become their 
 resident partner in London. This house was at that 
 time the fiscal agent of the United .States government 
 in Fngland mul iv.is financially of the highest standing. | 
 
 Before his dejiarture a farewell reception was tendered 
 him at the Union League Club, which was attended by 
 the most eminent business and professional men of the 
 metropolis. During his stay in London he was acti\el\' 
 engaged in important financial enterprises, particularly 
 in aiding the Japanese commissioners to place their loan, 
 for which service he received warm thanks antl a \aluablc 
 testimonial from the Japanese government. 
 
 The panic of 1873 was severely felt by the house of 
 Henry Clews & Co., as the firm was then entitled. .After 
 paj'ing out millions to stem the tide of disaster thej* 
 were obliged to succumb, a failure in which the Lon- 
 don branch of the house participated. Mr. Taylor's in- 
 volvement in this business trouble elicited much sym- 
 path)-, and he \\ as requested by the trustees of the estate 
 to return to New York anil take such .steps as he could 
 for the protection of the creditors. At the same time 
 he was appointed b\' the British bondhoUlers of the 
 Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railroad Com- 
 pany their attorney to act to recover their proj)ertj', 
 which was seriously endangered by the condition inti> 
 which bad management had brought the road. He 
 took active hold, foreclosure and reorganization fol- 
 lowed, and after four \-cars he [ilaced the concern upon 
 a prosperous basis. 
 
 For many years Mr. Taylor was an influential mem- 
 ber of the New York Stock I'.xchange, in which he oc- 
 cupied various official positions and served on the com- 
 mittee to represent it at the Centennial E.xposition at 
 Philadelphia. At an early stage in the de\'elopment of 
 electric lighting he became strongly interestetl in its 
 success, and aided in establishing the Gramme I*!lectric 
 Company, in which he served as director and treasurer. 
 Another subject in which he was strongly interested was 
 that of a canal across Nicaragua. He took an active 
 part in the proceedings to obtain support for the enter- 
 prise from the United .States go\ernment. and was one 
 of the first directors and chairman of the executive com- 
 mittee. He h.is still warm faith in the ultimate com- 
 pletion of the canal. 
 
 In addition to these interests, Mr. Taylor has been 
 actively connected with the affairs of the New York, 
 West Shore and Buffalo Railroad, and has acted as 
 director in the Ontario and Western and the Walkill 
 Valley Railroad corporations. He is a member and 
 officer of the St. Andrew's Societ)- and the Burns Club, 
 of New York City, member of the Union League Club, 
 and I-'ellow of the National Acailemy o( Design. He 
 is also connectt-d with the Scottish Union and National 
 Insurance Company of .ScotlantI, of which Sir Waller 
 Scott was the first governor. Mr. Taylor's career has 
 been one of ujjrightness and integritj' throughout, and 
 he is held in high esteem b)' all who know him, as a 
 true friend and courteous <rentleman. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 243 
 
 ALEXANDER TAYLOR, JR. 
 
 Alexander Taylor the younger, son of the successful 
 financier a sketch of whose hfe has just been given, was 
 born in New York City, June 22, 1848. He was edu- 
 cated at the Charlier Institute and at Churchhill's Mihtary 
 Academy at Sing Sing, and at the age of seventeen began 
 his business life as a clerk in his fother's office on Wall 
 Street. After a few )-ears he was taken into the house 
 as a junior partner. 
 
 Four years of e.xperiencc with his father ami uncles — 
 the firm of Taylor Brothers — aroused in him a desire to 
 venture in business on his own account, and with his 
 father as associate he opened at No. 56 Broadway the 
 business firm of Alexander Taylor & .Son. This firm 
 continued to do business successfully until 1870, when 
 tlie senior partner withdrew to go to Europe. Mr. 
 Taylor's )-ounger brother, Geoigc M. Ta)-lor, now en- 
 tered the firm, which was then stjled .\lexander Taxlor's 
 Sons. After about fourteen j-ears of this partnership 
 the \-ounger member of the firm withdrew, and the 
 business has since been conducted under the firm-name 
 of Alexander Taylor, Jr. 
 
 Mr. Taylor as a business man is acti\e and varied in 
 his aims. His judgment is quick and accurate, and his 
 success has been correspondingly great, while his benev- 
 olent disposition has aided the success of man\' of his 
 friends. As a prominent member of the Stock Exchange 
 he lias won many warm friends, especially among the 
 younger members. His energies ha\'e not been solely 
 directed to business affairs, his interests being man\-- 
 sided, while his attention is \ery strongly directed to- 
 wards political reform, and the removal of legislation 
 from the hands of professional politicians. An earnest 
 Republican in sentiment, he did not hesitate, when offered 
 a nomination to Congress in the Twelfth Congressional 
 District of New York, to accept it. It was apparently a 
 losing fight he had undertaken, the district being strongly 
 Democratic, but his personal popularity was such that 
 he carried Westchester County bj' several hundred ma- 
 jorit}-, and was only defeated in the two citywards which 
 form part of the district b)' a small majority. Mr. Taylor 
 has continued an energetic and persistent worker for his 
 party, and an e.irnest advocate of its principles. 
 
 He is in social life a prominent club man, being a 
 member of the Union League and the New York Yacht 
 Clubs, the Leiilerkranz and St. Andrew's Societies, the 
 Larchmont and Pelham Yacht, the American Jockey, 
 and the Coney Island Jockey Clubs. He is in addition 
 a Mason, and is a member of various other clubs and 
 societies. 
 
 The titles of some of the clubs named show clearK' 
 one of Mr. Taylor's proclivities, that in the direction of 
 horsemanship and .sport. He is an enthusiastic yachts- 
 man and a warm lover of field sports, being particularly 
 given to the use of the rod and gun. As a prominent 
 horseman he took an active part in founding the Gentle- 
 men's Driving Association of New York, his useful ser- 
 vices in this being rewarded by the gift of a magnificent 
 silver bowl. He was one of the organizers, and is a 
 director, of the National Horse Show of America, and is 
 one of the governors of the Countr\- Club at Bartow, 
 Westchester County, which he helped to organize. 
 
 In 1868 Mr. Taylor married Fannie, daughter of Hon. 
 Henry I. Taylor, a well-known New York merchant. 
 They have had seven children, three of whom survive. 
 He resides at " Chrismere," a beautiful rural mansion 
 facing the Sound, and conniianding from its lawn 
 .strikingly picturesque views. This mansion has been 
 much adorned by the work of Mrs. Taylor's hands, she 
 being skilled in painting, and fond of intellectual pur- 
 suits in general. Mr. Ta\'lor's tastes are shown in a 
 measure in the choice horses, from fast trotters to hand- 
 some carriage teams, that occup\' his stables, and in the 
 high-bred dogs, of various stocks, most of them prize- 
 winners, which fill his kennels. Personally he is a man 
 of warmly humane instincts, yielding cheerfully to ever\- 
 call of charity, and earnestl)' interested in the wants of 
 the poor and needy. To this may be added his pro- 
 verbial good-fellowship and warm-hearted courtesy, the 
 sum of his qualities making him one of the most popular 
 men of his day. • 
 
244 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN POMEROY TOWNSEND. 
 
 John Pomekov Townsend was born in New iMis^laiid, 
 being a direct descendant of Thomas Townsend, wlio 
 settled in L\'nn, Massachusetts, in the bcL;iiinin!4' of the 
 seventecntli century. He s|)ent liis boyhood in Troy, 
 New York, but lias been a resident of tlie cit)' of New 
 York since 1850. Bes^iniiini^ his business career with 
 the house of Wilson G. Hunt & Co., lie afterwards es- 
 tablished the mercantile fnni of Button & Townsend, 
 from which he retired in 1882, yielding to the desire for 
 leisure and intellectual occupation which a successful 
 business career had made it possible for him to gratify. 
 
 In 1S85, having served as vice-president, Mr. Town- 
 send became president of the Maritime E.xchange of the 
 port of New York, and in the same year was elected 
 treasurer of the New York Proiluce l^.xchange. In 1S89 
 he was unanimously elected president of the Knicker- 
 bocker Trust Company. His successful administration 
 of the affairs of this company for five years resulted in 
 placing it in a most flourishing condition. He resigned 
 the [iresidency in 1894, upon being elected president of 
 the Bowery Savings liank, the largest and strongest 
 savings institution in the world, and of which fnr tliiity 
 years he had been a trustee, for eight years its second 
 vice-i)resident, and for ncarlj- twelve j-ears its first vice- 
 president. 
 
 Mr. T(jwnsentl is a member of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce, a director of the Long Island Railroad, record- 
 ing secretary of the New York Society for the Relief of 
 the Ruptured and Crippled, a foreign associate and hono- 
 rary president of the Society of the Universal Scientific 
 Congress of Provident Institutions of Paris, France, a 
 member of the Union League, Manhattan, Reform, Gro- 
 Her, Down-town, and Up-town Clubs; also a Fellow of 
 the National Academy of Design, and a life member of 
 
 the New England Societj-, of which latter he was a 
 director for several years. He has never held political 
 office, though often invited to assume it, \-ct has always 
 taken a deep interest in jiublic affairs ami reform mo\e- 
 ments, and wlKiiewr iiucstions have arisen which the 
 public have debated with interest, he has in\ariably made 
 his views heard on the right side, through his writings 
 or in public ilehatc, anil has been, and still is, the trusted 
 adviser and confidant of many public men dealing with 
 broad questions of state antl finance. He is a member 
 of the Connnittee of Sevent)-, which has done such noble 
 reform work in the city of New York, antl has served on 
 its E.xecutive and I'inance Committees. 
 
 Despite his nian\- business engagements, Mr. Townsend 
 finds time to contribute \aluable papers to the press on 
 to|)ics of which he is thoroughly master, such as " Postal 
 Savings Banks." l^pon the " Silver Question," particu- 
 larly, he has written various articles, all original, fearless, 
 and convincing. At the public meeting called to protest 
 against the Income Ta.x, in June, 1894, he presenteil the 
 cause of the savings banks, and is the author of the 
 article on ".Savings Banks" in the "Cyclopaedia of Poli- 
 tical Science, Political l^cononi)-, and United States His- 
 tory ;" also of a ])aper on " Sa\ings Banks ' reatl before 
 the American .Social -Science Association, at Saratoga, in 
 1877, and of se\eral papers on American Savings Banks, 
 presented to the Congress of Provident Institutions in 
 Paris, 1878, 1883, and 1889. He has written the " History 
 of the Bower_\- .Savings Bank, from its Organization in 
 1834 to 1888." With this institution he has long been 
 connected and is now its honored head. Both here and 
 abroad he is the acknowledged spokesman of the .savings 
 institutions of this countrj-, and no representation from 
 the sa\ings banks would be considered complete or dis- 
 cussion I'lni^lied until his \oice had been iieaiiJ. lie is, 
 indeed, consitleied an autiloril)' on financial subil■cl^ 
 generally. 
 
 Mi\ Townsenil has been an active and inlliienlial 
 member of the Board of Trustees of the University of 
 Rochester since 1876, and was the founder of the Town- 
 send scholarship, in the department of Political History 
 and Constitutional Law, and the author of the b\-laws 
 by which the Board of Trustees is goxerned. 
 
 Mr. Townsend was brought uj) in the Episcopal Church, 
 but c'.rly in life became a Bajjtist u|)on his own con\'ic- 
 tion, and has ever since been acti\'e in the man\- interests 
 of the denomination in New ^'()rk City, as president of 
 the liaptist Social L'nion, on the advisory board of tin 
 Baptist Home Society, and on the missionaiy and eit\' 
 mission boards. Since 1864 he has been a trustee of the 
 Madison Avenue Baptist Church, serving for si.\ years 
 as treasurer, and as president since 1884. In 1892 he 
 wrote the history of the Church from its foundation in 
 1 848. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 245 
 
 EDGAR KETCHUM, SR. 
 
 Edcar Ketcir'm was born in the city of New York 
 in the month of Au<just, iSii, receiving' his education 
 in this city, after whicli he entered upon the study of 
 the law in tlie office of Daniel P. Ingraham, who for 
 many years was a justice in the Supreme Court of the 
 State. After his admission to the bar he entered 
 actively into legal practice, and subsequently became 
 associated with the late James W. Gerard. At a later 
 date he entered into partnershi]) with the late Isaac 
 Adriance. 
 
 In his legal practice Mr. Ketchum tlc\'oletl himself 
 very largely to real-estate law, much of his time being 
 given to conveyancing and the examination of titles. 
 He had, however, a large practice in the courts. Having 
 lived since childhood in New York, and being unusually 
 familiar with localities in that city, while his practice in 
 real-estate matters gave him a wide knowledge of the 
 ownership of property on Manhattan Island, he became 
 an acknowledged authorit\- on all questions of title to 
 real estate, his advice being frequently sought upon 
 matters of this character by fellow-lawj'ers, all of whom 
 placed great confidence in his opinion and judgment in 
 problems concerning real property. 
 
 For many years before his death, Mr. Ketchum fre- 
 quently acted as referee in cases of the greatest im- 
 portance, having been selected by the opposing counsel, 
 and, at their request, appointed by the court ; and his 
 decisions were rarely, if ever, reversed by the court of 
 appeals. 
 
 Mr. Ketchum held during his life a number of public 
 positions of importance. More than fifty years ago he 
 was public administrator in the city of New York, and 
 subsec]uently United States loan commissioner, which 
 office he held for about twelve years. President Lincoln 
 appointed him collector of internal revenue for the ninth 
 district of New York City, and in 1867 he received the 
 appointment of register in bankruptcy, which was con- 
 ferred upon him by Chief-Justice Chase. This position 
 he held to the time of his death. 
 
 Mr. Ketchum took great interest in public affairs, and 
 was a prominent, conscientious, and fearless advocate of 
 the anti-slavcr\' cause in the (la\s when such a belief 
 meant social ostracism and occasionally active jjersecution. 
 He was also greatly interested in the public educational 
 SN'stem of New York, with which he became prominent!}' 
 identified, and was an earnest advocate and supporter of 
 many other benevolent and patriotic enterprises. The 
 House of Refuge, on Randall's Island, W'as particularly 
 a subject of his active interest. He served for a long 
 time as president of its board of managers, and gave 
 much of his time and attention to the interests of this 
 important institution. 
 
 He was the [irincipal founder of the Harlem Presby- 
 terian Church, and nearly twenty years later the Pilgrim 
 Congregational Church, the latter in the year 1861 ; 
 manifesting his Io\e of freedom by presenting to the 
 church a bell on w hich were cast the words, " Proclaim 
 liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants 
 thereof." This bell is still in the tower of the Pilgrim 
 Congregational Church at Harlem. 
 
 Mr. Ketchum's earnest public spirit led him to devote 
 much time to these and other institutions of a reforma- 
 tory, religious, and educatiimal character. l'"i>r a consid- 
 erable term of j-ears he served gratuitously as treasurer 
 of the American Missionary Association, and was also 
 one of the trustees of the Hamjjton Institute, of Hamp- 
 ton, Virginia, one of the most praiseworthy benevolent 
 institutions in this country. The Harlem Library was 
 for many years an object of his earnest interest. For 
 at least twenty-five years he served as a trustee of tliis 
 institution, to whose impro\'ement and success he devoted 
 his energies and good judgment. The library owes much 
 to his active labors and championship, and in tiutli few 
 men of his opportiuiities ha\e done more than he for the 
 advancement of public interests antl for the benefit of 
 humanit}- through Ijenevolent industry and earnestness. 
 
 Mr. Ketchum was married in the month of May, 1838, 
 to Llizabeth Phtenix, granddaughter of Daniel Phceni.x, 
 a prominent public character of the last century, a sketch 
 of whose life we have elsewhere gi\en. They had five 
 children, Alexander P., Edgar, Susan (wife of Rev. S. 
 Bourne), Daniel P., and John J. Ketchum. Of these, 
 Daniel is dead, the others all living. Elsewhere in this 
 volume a sketch of Edgar Ketchuni, the younger, is 
 given. Mr. Ketchum died in the city of New York, 
 March 3, 1882. 
 
 32 
 
246 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DANIEL A. HEALD. 
 
 Daniel Addison Heald, one of the leading fire undei- 
 writers of the United States, was born at Chester, Ver- 
 mont, May 4, 1818. He comes from one of the old 
 New England stock, John Hcald, his direct ancestor, 
 having emigrated from Berwick, England, and settled 
 at Concord, Massachusetts, in 1635. Daniel Heald, 
 his grandfatlicr, had the honor of taking part in the 
 battle of Concord, and of fighting on the patriot side 
 at Hunker Hill; while- his maternal grantlfather, Caj)- 
 tain Ebenezer Edwards, was also in the patriot ami)' 
 during the siege of Boston, where he tlid soldierly 
 duty. 
 
 Mr. Heald's father was a farmer, and he spent his early 
 life on the farm, attending the neighboring schools. On 
 reaching the age of si.xteen he was sent to Meriden, 
 New Hampshire, to prepare for college, and afterwards 
 obtained a college education at \'ale, where he gradualeil 
 in 1841. lie had chosen the law as his profession, and 
 read law with Judge Daggett, of New Haven, during 
 his senior college year. He continueil his legal stud)- 
 after graduation, and in 1843 was admitted to practice 
 in the courts of his native .State. 
 
 Mr. Heald's career as a lawj'cr was soon iliversified 
 with other pursuits. Shortly after beginning practice 
 he accepted the agency for his locality of the yEtna In- 
 surance Company, to which he adiled other Hartford 
 companies. He continued engaged for thirteen years 
 following in these two avocations, gaining an extensive 
 l)ractice as a law)er and a large insur.mce business in 
 X'ermont, while his reputation grew in both directions 
 till he l)ecame wideK' known. I lis residence in New 
 
 York began in 1856. In that year the Home Insurance 
 Compan\-, recognizing his great ability as an underwriter, 
 invited him to come to this citj' and take the position 
 of their general agent in New York. He accepted, and 
 remained steadily engaged with them for twelve years 
 in this position. In April, 1868, he was elected second 
 vice-[)resident of the company. An election to the first 
 vice-presidency took place in April, 1883, antl in 1888 
 he was made president of the company, which respon- 
 sible [iosition he still holds. 
 
 Mr. lleald has few equals as an insurance expert, his 
 legal knowledge aiding him greatly in solving the dif- 
 ficult questions which freijuentlj' arise. He is quick in 
 thought and nicthotlical in work, clear-headed, and quick 
 to decide on the true path out of the troublesome situ- 
 ations with which the insurance business abounds. He 
 has studied insurance as he studied the law, and as men 
 study science, taking broad views on the subject, and 
 stri\'ing ti> lift the business up to the dignil)- of a pro- 
 fession. 
 
 The Home Insiiiance Company has grown immensely 
 during his connection with it, and largely through his 
 efforts. I'roni a capital of 5500,000 and assets of 
 $872,823, it has grown till it now has a capital of 
 $3,000,000 and assets of over 39,000,000. With this 
 great development Mr. Heald had much to do. His 
 reputation in this field of iluty is not, however, solely 
 due to his labor in behalf of this important corporation. 
 He is a prominent member of the New York Boanl of 
 Unilerwrilers antl the National Board of Fire Under- 
 writers, ami has clone much useful work in connection 
 with these organizations. The establishment of the last- 
 nametl cor|)oration was largely due to him. it being 
 founded in 1866, win 11 llic c inipetition for business 
 and cutting oS. rates became so great as to threaten the 
 very existence of fire insurance. This organization has 
 now grown powerful and controlling, and Mr. llealil has 
 remainetl from the start a leading figure in its delibera- 
 tions. He was chairman of its first e.xecuti\'c committee, 
 and the pioneer in its career of progress, proilucing an 
 annual tabulation of the results of the insurance busi- 
 ness in the United .Slates which forms a series of the 
 greatest value. In 18S0 he was elected president of the 
 board, anil during the succeeding decade was annually 
 re-elected. The annual addresses which he delivered as 
 [)resident are able productions, replete with the results 
 of observation and study, anil have become part of the 
 permanent literature of insurance. At the annual meet- 
 ing of the board \y\ 1891 he declined a re-election, and 
 withdrew, with a highly flattering testimonial of respect 
 and esteem prepared by a committee of the board. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 247 
 
 COLONEL SAUNDERS D. BRUCE. 
 
 Colonel Saundeks Dewees Bruce, tlie subject of 
 tlic present sketch, can claim eminent ancestn-, liis father, 
 John Brnce, born in 1770, in NorthumberLand, l-'ngland, 
 of Scottisli parents, ]ia\ini^ been a direct descentlant in 
 the male line from Robert Bruce, the most famous of 
 Scottish kings. His mother, Margaret Ross Button, was 
 born at Gibraltar in 1772. 
 
 Colonel Bruce has proved worthy of his distinguished 
 ancestor. He wa.s born in Lexington, Kentucky, August 
 16, 1825, and educated at Transylvania University, from 
 which he graduated in 1846. In 1848 he engaged in 
 mercantile business, which he continued till the outbreak 
 of the civil war, when, being a man of uncompromisingly 
 LJnion sentiments, he offered his services to the govern- 
 ment, and was appointed inspector-general of the Union 
 Home Guard of Kentuck\-. He was subsequently in- 
 strumental in ha\ing the Department of the Cumberland 
 established, and it was due to his efforts that the army 
 of the West secured the services of its two eminent 
 commanders, Generals William T. Sherman and George 
 H. Thomas. These were but preliminary steps in his 
 military career. He next recruited the famous Twentieth 
 Regiment Kentucky Volunteers, of which he was elected 
 colonel, and during most of the remaining period of the 
 war was actively engaged in service. 
 
 While in command of the post at Smithland, Kentucky, 
 he built the fortifications at the mouth of the Cumberland. 
 His regiment was afterwards orderetl to Louis\ille, Ken- 
 tucky, where he was given command of the Twenty- 
 second Brigade, General Nelson's division, Army of the 
 Cumberland, and marched at the head of this command 
 in the rapid advance to the battle-field of Shiloh. His 
 brigade was the first in the army to take part in this crit- 
 ical battle, crossing the river under fire on the evening of 
 Sunday, April 6, to the urgently-needed relief of General 
 Grant's beaten and disheartened army. 
 
 In this battle Colonel Bruce was injured by the falling 
 of his horse, and went on sick-leave to Louisville. On 
 his recovery he was assigned by General Buell to com- 
 mand at l^iwling Green, with orders to keep open the 
 line of conmiunication at that point. While here he 
 directed the construction of the fortifications on College 
 Hill, which were deemed ahnost impregnable. Later, as 
 commander of the Provisional Brigade, he was ordered 
 to Clarksville, Tennessee, where his command cleared 
 the obstructions from the Cumberland River below 
 Fort Donelson, thus opening water communication with 
 Nashville. He was subsequently ordered to Louisville, 
 and placed in command of that important post, where he 
 was enabled to render signal service to General George 
 H. Tliomas in forwarding supplies and troojis. The ser- 
 
 vice thus rendered [)laced rhnnias in a condition to win 
 the important battle of Nashville. While thus engaged 
 as post commander at Louisville General Sherman rec- 
 ommended his promotion to brigadier-general, a recom- 
 mendation warmly endorsed by General Grant. But, in 
 view of the prejudice of Secretary Stanton to Southern 
 men, the recommendation was ncx'cr forwarded nor acted 
 upon. 
 
 In the summer of 1864 Colonel Bruce found himself 
 reluctanth" obliged to withdraw from the ser\-ice on 
 account of heart-trouble. He accordingly resigned his 
 commission and went to New York City to reside. Here, 
 after a period of recuperation and reco\er\- of his im- 
 periled health by rest, he engaged in editorial business, 
 founding, on August 5, 1865, the widely-known sporting 
 journal. Turf, Field, and Farm, which is still under his 
 editorial control. 
 
 In establishing this joiunal. Colonel Bruce entered a 
 field in which he was thoroughly at home. He was at 
 that time, and has since remained, the best li\ing author- 
 ity upon pedigrees and genealog}- of the thoroughbred 
 horse, and an adept in matters relating to the tiuf and 
 field sports. He is the author and compiler of the 
 " American Stud Book," the recognized authorit}- upon 
 the pedigrees of thoroughbreds. Of this work six \-ol- 
 umes have been issued. He has also published "The 
 Horse-Breeder's Guide and Hand-book" and " The 
 Thoroughbred Horse." 
 
 Colonel Bruce is a member of the New York and 
 Coney Island Jockey Clubs, in whose purposes he takes 
 much interest. He also belongs to the American Geo- 
 graphical Society, and is a membei'«of many other organ- 
 izations. 
 
248 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHURCH G. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Geokge GiiJiEKT Williams, ijicsidcnl of the Chemical 
 National Bank, is of important American ancestry, being 
 a descendant of Roger Williams, tiie founder of Rhode 
 Island. William Williams, one of tlie signers of the 
 Declaration of Independence, was of the .same descent, 
 and several other members of the fimilv took part in 
 the Colonial ami Revolutionary wars of this country. 
 One of these was among the patriots killed at Lexing- 
 ton, and anotlier fell at Hunker Hill. Mr. Williams's 
 father. Dr. Datus Williams, was the princijial physician 
 of Ivist Haddam, Connecticut, for forty years, and here 
 the subject of our sketch was born on October 9, 1826. 
 
 Mr. Williams was educated at first at the village scliool, 
 and afterwards entered Brainard Academy, at Haddam, 
 with the purpose of preparing for college. I lere, how- 
 ever, he made the actpiaintancc of Jolm Q. Jones, the 
 cashier of the Chemical Bank of New \'ork, who, prob- 
 ably recognizing a nali\e business faculty in the boy, 
 inducetl him at the age of fifteen to gi\e up his school 
 life and accejit the position of assistant to the l)a)-ing ' 
 teller of that institution. 
 
 Tills first step in business was made in 1S41. The 
 young teller proved well ailapted to iiis position, ajiplj-- 
 ing himself from the first to mister the problems of 
 banking, and devoting his spare time to a course of sclf- 
 etlucation. He retained his post of assist. ml until reach- 
 ing his twentieth year, when he was |)romole(l to the posi- 
 tion of pa)ing teller, he being the youngest person hold- 
 ing that responsible po.sition in the banks of New York. 
 At a later date he was maile discount cleik, and in 1S55 
 was advanced to the position of cashier, Mr. [ones, to 
 whom he owed his initiation in banking, being at th.it time 
 the [iresident of tiie bank. This gentleman was now ap- 
 ])ro,i(;hing advanced age, and being unable to perform ; 
 
 all the duties of his office, the acti\e management of 
 affairs fell largely to Mr. Williams. He continued to 
 perform the double duties thus developing upon him 
 with much abilit\- until 1878, when, on the death of Mr. 
 Jones, he was unanimously elected by the directors to 
 fill the \acant office of president. 
 
 Since his assum]iti(Mi of this position the Chemical 
 National ]?ank has grown steadil)- in surplus and annual 
 ili\i(len(ls, and is now in a \'er\- flourishing condition. 
 This institution was originally founded in 1823, as a 
 chenn'cal manufacturing company, with j)ri\ilege of bank- 
 ing, its banking department being on the site now occu- 
 ])ied 1)\- the National Park Bank. It was reorganized in 
 1S44. with a capital of $300,000, and with the policy of 
 accumulating a large sur[)lus by paj'ing no dividends for 
 five years. The strength thus given the bank brought 
 it largely into jniblic fa\or, and its success since then has 
 been ])henomenal. while the example thus shown has 
 been followed by banking institutions in all ]iarts of the 
 countr)', much to their advantage and the strengthening 
 of the banking system generally. 
 
 The bank gained as depositors such nun as A. T. 
 Stewart, the Lorillartis, and others of equal wealth, 
 while some of the leading merchants of New York were 
 among its directors. The accounts of the New \\n\< 
 Central ;in<l other i<iads were kept there by Commodore 
 Vanderbilt, and the New York Herald ahvaj-s kejit its 
 account with this liank. The surplus of the Chemical 
 National H.mk is now niori' than $6,000,000, and since 
 Janiiar)- i, iSSS, it has paid a diviilcnd amounting to 
 one humlred and fift_\- per cent, per ainium. This is on 
 the original capital of $300,000, the .stock, in conse- 
 quence of these high dividends, selling for nearly S4500 
 per share. This great tlevelopment is in considerable 
 part due to the carefiil management of Mr. Williams, 
 who lias handled the funds of the iiistilulion with gie.it 
 iudgment and success. 
 
 Mr. Williams is connected with \arious other cori)ora- 
 tions, being on the executive committee of tlie Union 
 Trust Company, trustee of tlie United States Life In- 
 surance Company, and director of the ICaglc H'ire In- 
 surance Company, the H'idelit\- and Casualt)' Company, 
 and the Pennsylvania Coal Company. During the 1893 
 panic, he, as president of the Clearing I louse Associa- 
 tion, served on the Clearing House Committee, whose 
 services were so useful in tlie restoration of confidence. 
 Mr. Williams is also treasurer of the Institution for the 
 Savings of Merchants' Clerks, one of the governors of 
 the Lying-in Hospital, and a vestryman .md the ireasuier 
 of St. Bartholomew's Protestant Lpiscop.il Church. He 
 married in 1.S67 Virginia King, daughter of Aaron King, 
 of Massaclnisetts. Of his five children only one is living. 
 Mr. Williams has been a conscientious anil fiithfid per- 
 former of all duties intrusted to his hands. 
 
MAKERS OF NEIV YORK. 
 
 249 
 
 engai^cd in 
 
 CHARLES W. DAYTON. 
 
 Charles Willouchbv DA^■^()X, postmaster of New 
 York City, and loni^ prominent among the public-spirited 
 citizens of tiie metropolis, was born in l^rouklj-n, Octo- 
 ber 3, 1S46, being descended from an old New England 
 famil)-. His grandfather became a leading merchant in 
 New York, and his fother, Abraham C. Da\-ton, whose 
 tastes were literary, contributed much to the periodicals 
 of his day, and was the author of" Last Days of Knick- 
 erbocker Life in New York." On his mother's side he 
 is descended from Andrew Adams, a colonel in the 
 Revolutionar\- War, Speaker of the Continental Congress 
 in 1779 and 1780, and chief-justice of Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Dayton was educated in New York, and in 1S61 
 entered the College of tiie City of New York. On 
 account, however, of financial reverses to his father at 
 the outbreak of the ci\il war, he left college and entered 
 a law-office, studying also in the Columbia College Law 
 School, where he graduated in 186S. He was imme- 
 diately admitted to the bar, and soon had a profitable 
 practice. Since then he has been acti\ely 
 legal labors. 
 
 Aside from his professional iluties Mr. Daj'ton has 
 been \er\- acti\e in metropolitan affairs. He is a trustee 
 of the Church of the Puritans, a director of the Twelfth 
 Ward ]5ank and the Twelfth Ward Savings Bank, of 
 both of which he is the legal counsel, trustee of the Har- 
 lem Library and the Harlem Law Library, and presi- 
 dent of the " Board for the Improvement of Park Avenue 
 above One Hundred and Sixth Street," a work which has 
 involved the expenditure of several million dollars, much 
 to the public benefit. This work was authorized by the 
 Legislature in 1892, largely through his efforts. 
 
 In addition to these corporations he is a member of 
 various clubs and societies, including the Harlem Demo- 
 cratic Club, and the .Sagamore, Manhattan, and Pla_\'ers' 
 Clubs, the Geographical Societ\-, and the Sons of the 
 Revokition and the Down-town Association. He was 
 one of the corporators of the Post-Graduate Medical 
 School. He belongs, in addition, to the Bar Associa- 
 tions of the State of New York and the cit}' of New 
 York. 
 
 Mr. Da_\ton earl}- took an acti\e interest in politics, as 
 a member of the Democratic party. In 1864 he made 
 speeches advocating General McClellan as candidate for 
 the Presidency, and in 1881 was elected to the State 
 Legislature, where he became \er)- promment in the de- 
 
 liberations of that bod\'. Municipal reform w as earnestly 
 advocated by him, and the primary election law of 1881 
 owed its passage largely to his efforts. He declined a 
 renomination, owing to the pressure of professional 
 duties. 
 
 In 1882 Mr. Dayton organized the Harlem Demo- 
 cratic Club, which has since then been highly inniieiitial. 
 In the same year he acted as secretary of the Citizens' 
 Reform Movement. On a number of occasions he has 
 served as a delegate to Democratic State conventions. 
 When Grover Cleveland was nominated for President in 
 1884, Mr. Dayton worked energetically in the campaign 
 for his election, and was one of the electors. In tiie 
 campaign of 1888 he was equally acti\'e, making numer- 
 ous speeches in favor of Cleveland not onl\- in New 
 York but in other States. One delivered b)' him in Bur- 
 lington, Iowa, was circulated as a campaign document 
 by the Democratic National Committee. He again be- 
 came active for his favorite cantlidate in 1892, and used 
 all his powers to aid Cleveland's second election. 
 
 In 1889 Mr. Dayton ser\ed on the Centennial Com- 
 mittee of the Washington Inauguration, and in 1893 was 
 elected a member of the New York State constitutional 
 convention. June 5, 1893, he was nominated by the 
 President as postmaster of New York. This nomination 
 was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and was re- 
 ceived with the greatest satisfaction by the press and 
 people of New York. 
 
250 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HENRY U. McCORD. 
 
 TiiK family history of the subject of tliis sketch is so 
 closely identified with the history of the settlement of 
 Sintj Sintj, that some preliminary remarks about this vil- 
 lage may not be inapt as introductor\-. In i7cS5,some- 
 thint; more than a centurj' ago, there were but three 
 ilwelling-houses in Sing Sing. Indeeil, at no long time 
 before, the locality had been inhabited in- a Mohegan 
 tribe who were known as Sint Sincks. They owneil the 
 territory as far north as the Croton River, and a \il- 
 lagc occupied by them was known as Sink Sink. This 
 title has since been softened into Sing Sing. Among 
 the early white settlers of the locality was a family of 
 McCords, of whom the subject of our sketch is a lineal 
 descenilant. 
 
 The McCord familj-, which has long horni; a respect- 
 able position in Westchester Cf)unty, is of Scotch origin, 
 its entry into this country being due to four brothers who 
 left .Scotland for America before the Re\-olution. I'rom 
 them the numerous representatives of the fimil)- now 
 found in that county arc descended, lienjamin McCord, 
 one of these brothers, was the father of Jordan McCord, 
 fither of Lewis, and grandfather of Henr)- I). McCord, 
 this branch of the family continuing to reside in the origi- 
 nal ])lace of settlement. 
 
 Henry D. McCord was born at Sing Sing, September 
 15, 1S36. His o|)portunities of etiucation were limited. 
 
 being confined to attendance at the public .school of his 
 native village till he was twcKe years of age, at which 
 early period in his life the death of his mother threw 
 him ii])()n his own resources for support. He at once 
 sougiit emplo\-ment, and managed to obtain a position in 
 a grocery store, where, in return for hard work, he re- 
 ceived his hoard and the magnificent wages of two dollars 
 a month. 
 
 He reniainetl in this situation for the succeeding eight 
 years, graduallj- advancing in usefulness and position, 
 and also in remuneration. At the end of this term of 
 service, ha\'ing attained the age of manhood, and being 
 moved b\- ambition for a wider sphere of action and 
 better opportunities of success, he made his way to the 
 city of New York, where he obtained employment in the 
 establishment of W'illiam D. Mangam, situated at No. 92 
 Broad Street. He continued with Mr. M.uil^.uii for the 
 succeeding fourteen years, gaining a thorough knowledge 
 of business and ile\eloping that facultj" to which his later 
 success has been due. 
 
 Mr. Mangam died in 1870, bj" which time Mr. McCord 
 had accumulated sufficient means to enable him to make 
 a business venture of his own. He, therefore, became 
 himself the business successor of his late emplo\-er, start- 
 ing the same line of trade in the okl store, which he has 
 pursued from that time to this with energy anil success. 
 
 In 1S75 he pnichased an estate near his native \il- 
 lage of Sing Sing, which has since then remaineil his 
 j)lace of resilience. He has also made man\' other pur- 
 chases of real estate within tlie limits of ti)c \illage, and 
 is to-da\- a large holdei' of pi'operty in this iocalit)'. 
 Political i\- Mr. McCord lias avoideil anj' ]iartisanship, 
 and though he might easil}- have attaineil official honors, 
 lie lias declined nominations offered him on occasions 
 when a nomination was equivalent to election. His busi- 
 ness, in truth, lias occupied his time and attention too 
 e.\clusivii\- to 1)1 iiiiit tile acceptance of other interests. 
 Through ills close anil energetic attention it has grown 
 until it is now e.\tensi\e and ])rofitable, and his house to- 
 day holils a good position among New \'ork mercan- 
 tile firms. The energy ami perseverance witii which he 
 enters ujion an)' |)roject have been the main sources of 
 his success, and he very fairly represents the thorough- 
 going man of business. Mr. McCord mairied Esther K. 
 Noe, and has a finiilv of fiuir riiiidren, two sons and two 
 daus/iiters. 
 
MAKERS OF XEW YORK. 
 
 25' 
 
 FRANCIS H. LEGGHTT. 
 
 Francis Howakd Leccett was born in New York, 
 March 27, 1S40, being deri\ed from an old Westchester 
 County family who came to this country in the seven- 
 teenth century, and whose history may be briefly given as 
 preliminary to that of the subject of our sketch. The 
 family can be traced back to Essex County, Tuigland, 
 where it dwelt for many generations, the name being de- 
 ri\ed from a Papal /cii'atc who li\'ed far back in the family 
 line. The first American of the family came to this 
 country from Barbadocs. His son married Klizabcth 
 Richardson, daughter of a large land-holder in West- 
 chester County, New York, and his gi'andson was for 
 years mayor of Westchester borough, and one of the 
 leading citizens of that district. From this person de- 
 scended Abraham Leggett, father of the subject of our 
 sketch, and for many years a highly respected merchant 
 of New York City, where for half a century he carried 
 on a large wholesale grocery business on Front Street, 
 and where he aiiletl in founding the Market Bank. 
 
 Francis H. Leggett received a good education in an 
 academic institution, upon the completion of which, in 
 1856, he began his business life at the age of sixteen as 
 clerk in a produce commission house. He continued 
 here until 1862, gaining a thorough acquaintance with 
 business methods, and displaying that industry and intelli- 
 gence to which qualities his more recent rapid progress 
 has been due. In the last-named year he went into busi- 
 ness on his own account, in partnershij) with an older 
 brother, and continued thus associated until 1870, when 
 he withdrew from the firm to engage in business with his 
 younger brother, Theodore (now deceased), the name of 
 the new firm being Francis H. Leggett & Co. 
 
 The business thus started in a modest way grew with 
 the most encouraging rapidit)-, increasing so quickly that 
 from the original establishment it extended in 1873 to 
 occupying three stores on Reade Street. Later it became 
 necessary to add a fourth store on Chambers Street, to 
 accommodate the large business which had developed. 
 The progress here briefly described continued until the 
 extended quarters mentioned became too small for the 
 great trade of the firm, and it became necessary to gain 
 increased room. In i88i the present imposing warehouse 
 on West Broadway, Franklin and Varick Streets, ten 
 stories in height, was erected, and thoroughly equipped ! 
 with every requisite for the handling of groceries on the 
 largest scale. 
 
 The house does a large importing business in high- ; 
 class groceries, coffees, and teas, while many articles are 
 manufacturetl from the raw material or otherwise prepared 
 
 for the trade on the premises ot the firm. In addition it 
 has an office in Bordeaux, France. Since the origin of 
 the firm three other partners ha\e been admitted, from 
 the experienced and trustwortlu- employes of the house, 
 the original firm-name being retained. Mr. Leggett con- 
 tinues at the head of the concern and is the acti\'e man- 
 ager of its great business, over which he keeps an im- 
 mediate and careful oversight. 
 
 Aside from his mercantile business, he is a member of 
 various financial and other institutions, being a director 
 in the Home Insurance Compan\% a trustee in the Green- 
 wicli Savings Bank, and a member of the Chamber of 
 Commerce, and of the Produce and the Cotton tlx- 
 changes. He was formerh- a tlirector of the National 
 Park Bank, which position he held for twehe years, but 
 has since resigned. 
 
 Recently Mr. Leggett was selected as foreman of the 
 special grand jury, which served for three months in 
 bringing up the police official bribery cases. His w'ork 
 in this body brought him the thanks of the judge ami 
 general praise from press and people. 
 
 Aside from his business connections, Mr. Leggett be- 
 longs to several social organizations, including the Union 
 League, the Merchants', and a number of other clubs. 
 He takes a warm interest in the Charity Organization 
 Society, or the association of public charities, of this 
 city, being a member of its council and a frequent con- 
 tributor to its funds. Religiously he is a member of the 
 I-"ifth A\-enue Presb)tcrian Church. His country-seat is 
 at Stone Ridge, Ulster County, New York, where he has 
 an extensiv'e establishment. 
 
25: 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GHNHRAL HHNRY H. TRHMAIN. 
 
 HiiNRV Edwin Tkk.main, an officer in llu' Ann)- nf the 
 Potomac throu<jhout the ci\il war, was born in New 
 York City, Nov'onibcr 14, 1840, the son of luiwin R. 
 Trcinain, and a member of a figlitint^ famil)-, bein<^ the 
 brother of Lieutenant Walter R. Treniain, wlio died in 
 the service, and tlic cousin of Colonel Frank W. and 
 Major Frederick L. Tremain, both slain in battle near 
 the end of the war. General Tremain received his 
 education at the Collet^e of the City of New York, 
 rjraduatint; in i860, and at once beginning a course of 
 legal study at Columbia College Law School. 
 
 While he was thus engaged the war broke out, and he 
 immediately (April 17, 1861) enlisted as :i pris ate in the 
 New York .Seventh Regiment, served with it during its 
 first l)rief campaign, and soon after, in association with 
 his brother, recruited a company in New York, and went 
 to the front as first lieutenant in the Second Regiment 
 of Fire Zouaves (Seventy-third New York V^olunteers), 
 which was attached to the famous Excelsior Brigade. 
 He ser\ed in the line and as adjutant of this regiment 
 till A|)ril, 1862, when, at the siege of Yorktown, he was 
 promotetl to the staff of General Nelson Taylor, then 
 commanding the E.xcelsior Urigaile, anil as such ser\etl 
 during the Peninsular campaign and subse(|uentl)' under 
 General Pope; taking [)art in all the ])rincipal engage- 
 ments before Richmond aiul in the battles of Pope's 
 campaign, ending with the unfortunate second Ikill Run. 
 
 During the last-named battle, while participating in a 
 charge, he was taken prisoner, and was forced for a time 
 to endure the inhospitalities of Libby Prison ; being one 
 of a number held there as hostages to be executed by 
 lot in case General Pope continued the destruction of 
 Virginia property. Fortunately the cartel for the ex- 
 change of [irisoners was just then agreed ujjon, antl after | 
 
 a few weeks' confinement Lieutenant Tremain was re- 
 leased on parole, and subsequently exchanged, promoted 
 captain, and returned to duty as assistant inspector-gen- 
 eral on the staff of General Sickles, now in commantl 
 of his old division (Second Division of the Third Army 
 Corjis). Lieutenant Tremain received Iiigh commenda- 
 tion for liis services in several of the Peninsular enufa<re- 
 ments, and his gallantry at the second Bull Run battle 
 was warmly praised by his commander. 
 
 He served in the battles of Fredericksburg aiul Chan- 
 cellorsville, in the latter as major (liis commission dating 
 April 25, 1S63), his gallantry at Chancellorsville being 
 so notable that he was specially recommended for a 
 brevet. At Gettysburg, Major Tremain, as chief staff- 
 officer of the Third Arni\- Corps, gained great distinc- 
 tion. In 1864 he served as aide to General Butterfield 
 at Chattanooga, took part in the engagements around 
 Dalton and at Resaca, and was awarded the Congres- 
 .sional Metlal (jf Honor for "distinguished conduct" in 
 the latter battle. Later in that ycTxx he was, at his 
 special request, assigned to duty with the cavalry corps 
 of the Armv of the Potomac, served as aide to Generals 
 Gregg and Crook, anil took part in all the cavalry en- 
 gagements of the Petersburg campaign till the end of 
 the war. He was commended b\' General Crook for 
 gallantrv' lUiring this cam])aign, brevetted lieutenant- 
 colonel, on General Sheridan's recommendation, at its 
 termination, afterwards brevetted colonel. On Novem- 
 ber 30, 1865, he was promoted brevet brigadier-general 
 of volunteers, and sent on duty to South Carolina, where 
 he, in April, i S66, resignetl from the service, returneil to 
 New ^'o|■k, and entered ui)on the practice of the law. 
 
 (jeneral Tremain grailuated at Columbia Law School 
 in 1867, having ahead)- gained a promising legal busi- 
 ness. In 1869 he formed with Colonel Mason W. Tyler 
 the well-known legal firm of Tremain & Tjler, now more 
 than twenty-five years in active business. He was nomi- 
 nated for judge of the Common Pleas in 1870, but ile- 
 feated at the polls, his party being in the minority. In 
 1881 he was repeatedly voted for by man)' members of 
 the Legislature in joint convention for the United .Stales 
 senatorshi]). In his law business he has freipiently been 
 em[)lo\ed b)' the United States government, and has 
 practiced much in the Uniteil States Sujjreme Couit. 
 
 General Tremain has been active as a Re|)iil)lican in 
 every Presidential contest since the war. He has been 
 public spirited in matters of reform and education and 
 against monopoly, and has delivered many admirable 
 speeches on those and other toj^ics. He has also contrib- 
 uted considerably to the press, and was one of the founders 
 and editors of the Daily Lmi.' Journal. He was one of 
 the founders of the Grand Army of the Republic in New 
 York, and served for a number of years as president of 
 the Alumni of the College of the City of New York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 253 
 
 COLONEL FLOYD CLARKSON. 
 
 Floyd Clakkson, a native of New York City, was the 
 son of Samuel F. Clarkson, a lending Iaw)-er in the 
 metropolis, grandson of the Rev. William Clarkson, and 
 great-grandson of Dr. Gerardiis Clarkson, one of the 
 most eminent of the early ph)-sicians of Philadelphia. 
 The father of the latter, Matthew Clarkson, was ap- 
 pointed in 1688 Secretary of the Pro\ince of New York. 
 On liis mother's side he was of equally notable ancestry, 
 his great-grandfather, William Floyd, having been a 
 signer of the Declaration of Independence and a briga- 
 dier-general in the Revolution. 
 
 Floyd Clarkson was educated at one of the best 
 private schools of New York, and was prepared to enter 
 the Universit)- of the Cit\- of New York in 1845. Mis 
 preference, however, was for a mercantile life, and he 
 persuaded his father to let him forego a college career 
 and accept a position offered him in the hardware store 
 I if Tracy, Allen & Co. He entered this establishment 
 in 1846, and continued there till the retirement of the 
 firm from business, when he entered the store of their 
 successors, Cornell, Willis & Co., of Cortlandt Street. 
 Here he remained till January i, 1859, when he estab- 
 lished a business of his own at No. 14 Cortlandt Street. 
 
 His business here jiroved very successful for two years. 
 Unfortunately, however, a large portion of his trade was 
 with the Southern States, and this was cut off b}' the 
 secession of these States in 1S61. The outbreak of the 
 war broLight his business to an end, he going to the 
 front with the Seventh Regiment of New York, of which 
 he li.ul been a member since 1856. He was mustered 
 out of this regiment on its return to New York, and at 
 once began to recruit for the cavalry service under Col- 
 onel De Forest, who hail been commissioned to raise 
 three cavalry regiments. He was made major of the 
 Sixth New York Cavalry on November 11, 1861, and 
 soon after went to Virginia with that regiment, where he 
 was in command in a number of raids and skirmishes, 
 and conducted a weekly school of instruction for the 
 officers uniler him. Throughout the war the men in his 
 command were distinguished for their excellent disLipline. 
 
 The pressure of private business, and the impossibility 
 of obtaining leave of absence, caused him to resign his 
 commission and return to New York in October, 1862. 
 In December he was appointed by the governor lieuten- 
 ant-colonel of the Fourteenth New York Cavalry, but 
 declined to serve. In April, 1863, he accepted the com- 
 mission of major in the Twelfth New York Cavalry. 
 This regiment was sent to Newbcrne, North Carolina, 
 where a series of raids were undertaken, many of them 
 successful. In a number of these Major Clarkson com- 
 manded. During this service he made several narrow 
 
 escapes, and showed great gallantry, while he experi- 
 enced various striking adventures. Yellow fever broke 
 out at Newberne in the fall of 1864, the disease attacking 
 him. He recovered, however, but on February 21, 1865, 
 tendered his resignation, that he might avail himself of 
 a promising business opportunity. The resignation was 
 not accepted. General Palmer declaring that " Major 
 Clarkson is too valuable an officer to be spared now." 
 He continued with the regiment till the end of the war, 
 when, on April 30, 1865, he resigned and returned to 
 New York. A year later he was brevetted lieutenant- 
 colonel " for f lithful and meritorious services." 
 
 He now became cashier in the commission house of 
 G. W. Van Boskerck & Co., in which position he con- 
 tinued until 1S69, when he became secretary of the 
 Equitable Savings Bank. This position he resigned in 
 April, 1874, and opened a real-estate office, under the 
 firm-name of P"loyd Clarkson & Co. In 1886 he was 
 elected trustee of the L^nion 1 )iine Sa\ings Bank of New 
 York. In the following \ear, on the organization of the 
 Riverside Bank of New York, he was elected its president. 
 
 Colonel Clarkson was a member of numerous clubs 
 and military and financial organizations. In 18S3 he 
 was elected Chancellor of the New York Commandery 
 of the Loyal Legion, antl was one of those appointed 
 to escort the remains of General Grant to his tomb at 
 Riverside. He was prominent in the Masonic fraternity, 
 to which he rendered various services, in the work of 
 restoring the temple when injured by fire, and otherwise. 
 He became a Republican in politics on the nomination 
 of General Grant for the Presidency, and was a member 
 of several Republican clubs and committees. He died 
 January 2, 1894. 
 
 33 
 
254 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN T. THRRY. 
 
 John Taylor Tukky, an active member of the mer- 
 cantile community of New Yorlv City, was born at Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, September 9, 1822, and may claim 
 descent from one of the most honorable lines of New 
 I'jitjlanil Puritanism. He descends directly through both 
 parents from Governor William I^radford of I'Kinouth 
 Colony, one of the leading spirits of the " IVIaynower" 
 immigrants. t)n his father's side he is a descendant of 
 Samuel Terr)-, the original patentee, about 1657, of the 
 town of Enfield, Connecticut, and the first white man 
 married at Springfield, Massachusetts. Another of his 
 ancestors was General John Haynes, governor of Massa- 
 chusetts in 1635, and the first governor of Connecticut 
 (1639), whose ^^'f^' Mabel Harlakeden, was a descendant 
 of Edward III., King of England. 
 
 This does not complete the list of Mr. Terry's notable 
 ancestors. He is also linuall)' descended from Governor 
 Wyllys, of Connecticut, whose granddaughter, Ruth 
 Wyllys, married the Rev. lulward Taylor, Mr. Terry's 
 maternal forefather. This divine preached at Westfield, 
 Massachusetts, for nearly si.xty years, and his .son was a 
 member of the State Senate of Massachu.setts and of the 
 privy coinicil of the governor. It may be furtlier said 
 of Governor Wyllys, as an interesting jjiece of informa- 
 tion, that the famous " Charter Oak," in whose hollow 
 trunk the charier of Connecticut is said to have re|)osed 
 in safety for twenty months, stood on his grounds and 
 in front of his residence. 
 
 Of Mr. Terry's nearer iirotrinitors, it may be staled 
 
 that his great-grandfather, Colonel Nathaniel Terry, of 
 Enfield, Connecticut, served through the Revolutionary 
 War as major, quartermaster, and eventually colonel. 
 He was one of the first to engage in the struggle, leaving 
 home in all haste, at the head of a company of fifty-nine 
 men, on the morning after the quiet of luifield was 
 broken by the stirring news of the battle of Lexington. 
 His son, Judge I'^iiphalet Terry, was a member of the 
 Legislature of Connecticut continuously from 1778 to 
 1812, and lUuing near!}- the whole of this long period 
 of thirty-three years officiated as Speaker of the House. 
 His son, Mr. Terry's father, Hon. Roderick Terry, car- 
 ried on an extensive mercantile business at Hartforil, 
 Connecticut, and was president t)f the I'.xchangc Hank, 
 of that cit)-. 
 
 Mr. Terry removed to New York Cit}- in 1841, w lien 
 nineteen years of age, and entered upon a business career 
 there which proved very successful. Two years after 
 his arrival he became a partner of Edwin D. Morgan — 
 afterwards governor of New York — in the wholesale 
 grocery business, continuing connected with him in this 
 business for a period of forty years, until the ilealh of 
 Governor Morgan in 1883. The business jiroved very 
 lucrative, Mr. Terr)- becoming a man of wealth and 
 high regard in the community. He has engagetl from 
 time to time in financial affairs, and is now a director of 
 the American ICxchange Banl<, the liaiik- of New .Amster- 
 dam, and the Metropolitan Trust Companv, ami vice- 
 president of the Mercantile Trust Compan)-. He has 
 also invested largely in other corporations, among them 
 the Western Union Telegraph Company, of whose board 
 of directors he is a member. We might name various 
 other railroad, insurance, and telegraph companies which 
 Mr. Terry now serves, or has served, as a director, but 
 the above list will suflRce. He has also taken an active 
 part in the affairs of benevolent institutions, and is a 
 director of the Preshvlerian Hospital and the New York 
 Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, 
 while he takes a warm interest in the progress of various 
 other philanthropic institutions. 
 
 Mr. Terry was married in 1846 to Elizabeth R. Peet, 
 of Brooklyn. The great-grandfather of this ladj-, Rev. 
 Azael Roe, was taken ])risoner during the Revolutionary 
 War, and confined in a sugar house, wheie he was sup- 
 plied with footl b)- the father of Washington Irving. 
 l'"or the past forty years Mr. Terr)- has resiiled near 
 Irvington, which owes its title to the ilistinguished 
 author nanietl, his home being .1 beautiful mansion on 
 the banks of the Hudson. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 255 
 
 JOHN SABINE SMITH. 
 
 John Sabine Smith, a leading figure in the Repub- 
 lican party of New York, was born at Randolph, Ver- 
 mont, April 24, 1843. fl'-'' great-grandfather, Captain 
 Steele Smith, was one of the most active among the 
 early settlers of Vermont, where he became a large land- 
 holder. Dr. John Spooner Smith, his father, practiced 
 medicine for more than fifty years at Randolph, where 
 he became eminent in his profession. 
 
 Mr. Smith was forced to gain an education largely 
 through his own efforts, his father having the sparse 
 income of a countr\' physician. He worked during the 
 summer and attended the Orange County Grammar- 
 School during the colder season, entering Trinity College 
 at sixteen. Through college he was obliged to work 
 his own way, partly by teaching, and to some extent on 
 borrowed money. He persisted, however, and graduated 
 with first honors at twenty }-ears of age. He then took 
 charge of a select school at Tro\-, New York, saving 
 enough during his four )'ears thereto repay his borrowed 
 money, and stutlying law. Leaving Tro}-, he taught for 
 one year in the Harrington School at Throgg's Neck, 
 during which time, in 1868, he was admitted to the bar. 
 In the following year he settled in the city of New York, 
 where he became assistant in the office of William E. 
 Curtis, afterwards chief-justice of the Superior Court. 
 
 Mr. Smith soon withdrew from this position and began 
 practice for himself, which gradualh' increased until he 
 had a large and lucrati\e business. In political sentiment 
 he was always an earnest Republican, and has been con- 
 nected with the Republican Club of the City of New 
 York for man}- years. He has been actively identified 
 with its work and management since 18S6, and largely 
 instrumental in directing its political activities, holding, 
 through his connection with it, the position of a leader 
 in his party. He took a prominent part in the formation 
 of the Republican League of the United States, consti- 
 tuted the special committee in charge of the organization 
 of Pennsylvania, and was active in the first national 
 con\-ention of Republican clubs, held in New York, in 
 18S7. In 1888 he was made chairman of the sub-exec- 
 utive committee of the State League, and was practically 
 the manager of the League dining the Harrison Presi- 
 dential campaign. 
 
 In the same year Mr. Smith was elected one of the 
 executive committee of the Republican Club of New 
 York City and acting chairman of its campaign com- 
 mittee. In 1889 he became chairman of the Committee 
 on Municipal Elections, which under his leadership made 
 the famous fight for a straight Republican ticket in the 
 1890 election campaign. The committee brought out 
 
 the name of Hon. William L. Strong as candidate for 
 mayor, and Mr. Smith \igorousI\- urged his nomination. 
 In 1 89 1 he was chairman of the Committee of Fifty 
 organized to aid the election of J. Sloat Fassett as gov- 
 ernor, in which cause the Republican Club made stren- 
 uous efforts, holding five great ma.ss-meetings. Mr. 
 Smith presided and spoke at all of these meetings. 
 
 In 1892 he was again made chairman of the campaign 
 committee of the club, which now raised a fund of 
 ^15,000, and made a most vigorous canvass, carrying on 
 the work throughout the summer and fall. A dinner 
 was given him by the club in December of this year, 
 in acknowledgment of his brilliant ser\ices. Having 
 served for three years as vice-president of the club, he 
 was elected its president in 1893. During his term he 
 greatly recruited the club membership, and originated 
 many new features of its activity, including a series of 
 monthly dinners, which have proved very popular. 
 
 Mr. Smith has never sought a political office. He was 
 nominated for surrogate in 1892, and received a larger 
 vote than any other straight Republican candidate ever 
 before named in this city on a national. State, or munici- 
 pal ticket. In 1893 he was president of the Republican 
 County Committee of New York, and is now a member 
 of the Republican State Committee. He belongs to 
 numerous societies, including the University, Lawyers', 
 Republican, and Church Clubs, the Phi Beta Kappa 
 Society, and others. He is president of the Society of 
 Medical Jurisprudence, treasurer of the East Side House, 
 trustee of Trinity College, and chairman of the committee 
 appointed to raise the funds to erect a new science hall 
 for this institution. 
 
2S6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 SIMON STKRNE. 
 
 Simon Sternk, prominent in railroad law ami politi- 
 cal economy, was born in Philadcipliia, July 23, 1839, 
 and is the son of Henry and RcL,nna Sterne. He was 
 educated in tlie Piiiladelphia public scliools, at tlie Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania, and University of Heidelberg. 
 He studied law under John H. Markland and Judt^e 
 Sharswood, of Philadelphia, and was graduated from 
 the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania 
 on June 6, 1859, in wliich year he was admitted to the 
 Philadelphia bar. He practiced for a short time in his 
 native citj', and then removed to New York, wliere he 
 was admitted to the bar in June, 1S60, and where he has 
 since resided and practiced. 
 
 Mr. Sterne was a member of the famous Committee 
 of Seventy, which was prominent in the figiit against the 
 Tweed ris^iiitc in 1S70, and also acted as its .secretary. 
 1 le drafted the charter known as the Charter of the Com- 
 mittee of Seventy and other legislation of that period, 
 and devoted about a year and a half to the work of the 
 committee, until the election of Mayor Ilavemeyer and 
 the passage of laws which drove the Ring from power. 
 He was private counsel for Mayor Havemeyer during 
 his incumbency. He also claims the honor of suggest- 
 ing the law which made election day in New York a 
 legal holiday. 
 
 In 1876, Mr. Sterne was appointed by Go\ernor Tildeii 
 as one <>f the commission, of which William M. I'",\ails 
 was chairman, to devise a plan for the governnuiil of 
 the cities of this State. This connnission sat for two 
 years, without compensation, and rei)orted a .series of 
 amendments to the constitution. 
 
 At the request of a large number of the leading mer- 
 
 chants and bankers, Mr. Sterne delivered, in 1878, a 
 lecture on " The Railway and its Relation to Public and 
 Private Interests" at Steinway Hall, the mayor of the 
 city presiding. As a result of the interest taken in, and 
 the general discussion of, the subject, the Legislature 
 appointed a committee to investigate the abuses alleged 
 to exist in the management of the railwa\s of the State, 
 and Mr. Steiiie was selected by the Chamber of Com- 
 merce and the New York Board of Trade and Trans- 
 portation to act as counsel to conduct the investigation, 
 which lasted over eight months. The labor of the com- 
 mittee was most searching and thorough, and the charges 
 which had been made were full\- sustained. The law 
 subseciuently passed to appoint a railroatl commission 
 for New York State was drafted bj- him. 
 
 In 1885 the Cullom United States Senate Select Com- 
 mittee on Interstate Commerce requested Mr. Sterne, 
 who for several successive sessions argued before the 
 Committee on Commerce, of the House, upon the neces- 
 sity of interstate railway legislation, to remodel and re- 
 vise, in conjunction with Mr. Albert Fink and Mr. George 
 R. Blanchard, leading railroad experts, the bill drafted 
 by the committee. This he did, and the bill which was 
 subseiiuentK- passed is now the basis of power of the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission. In 1887, Mr. Sterne, 
 on the connnission of the President of the United States, 
 made a report to Congress on the relation of the go\-ern- 
 mcnts of Western Europe to the raihvaj-s, after making 
 two successive visits to Europe. 
 
 He has also represented a large number of railways, 
 ajid since 1888 has been general counsel for the Missouri, 
 Kansas and Te.xas Railway Company. 
 
 Mr. .Sterne's powers as a thinker are wide-spread, and 
 he is a xerj- able writer. As early as 1861 he deli\ert-d 
 a lecture on " The Tariff: its Evils and their Remedy," 
 and from 1862 to 1864 he was consideretl worths- 1)\- the 
 trustees of Cooper Union to deliver lectures on political 
 economy in that institution. In 1863-64 he was editor 
 of the New York Coiiniicnial Advertiser, and was editor 
 and proprietor of the Social Science Re^'icxc in 1 865-66. 
 He wrote "Representative Government and Personal 
 Re|)resentation," in 1871, and "Constitutional History 
 anil Political Development of the United States," and a 
 number of articles in Lalor's " Cyclopaedia of Political 
 .Science and United States Histor)-." He is a frequent 
 contributoi- to the reviews, has made man\- adilrcsscs 
 before societies ami public bodies, is a patron of the 
 arts, anil a member of many clubs and other societies. 
 He is a member of the present Committee of Seventy, 
 so ])rominent in the reform moxemcnt of 1894. 
 
 In 1870 he married Mathilde Elsberg, sister of the 
 late Dr. Louis Elsberg, the celebrated laryngologist, and 
 has one ilaughter, Alice .Stirrni-. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 257 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HALL. 
 
 William Hexrv Hall, one of New York's oldest 
 merchants, was burn at Hackensack, New Jersey, July 
 21, 1836. He was of English parentage, his father, 
 Henry J. S. Hall, of Coventry, England, a watch-maker 
 by profession, luuing come to this countr_\- in his youth. 
 His mother was of an old Scotch family. After his edu- 
 cational period he was placed bj- iiis father, when seven- 
 teen years of age, as an apjirentice to the drug business, 
 with the firm of Hush & Hillycr, of New York City. 
 After remaining there long enough to gain a good work- 
 ing knowledge of the business, and to demonstrate that 
 abilit}- in commercial affairs w hich distinguished his later 
 life, he was offered a better position in the ilrug house of 
 Olcott, McKesson & Co., now McKesson & Robbins. 
 
 Mr. Hall remained but a short time in this establish- 
 ment, the laudable desire to do business on his own 
 account soon leading him into a venture in which he was 
 assisted by a liberal loan from his father. He purchased 
 Dr. Gunn's retail drug store on Bleecker Street, at that 
 time the fashionable quarter of the city. Here he went 
 actively to work, advancing the business by every means 
 in his power, and displaying that assitUiit}' and persever- 
 ance which ha\-e proved in his case the best assurance of 
 success. As a result he not onl\- de\-eloped an excellent 
 trade in his original store, but in no long time became 
 the proprietor of two other drug stores, each doing a 
 profitable business. 
 
 Mr. Hall was married in 1850 to Mi.ss Martha M. 
 Hitchcock, daughter of Curtis Hitchcock, of New York. 
 Shortly after entering upon domestic life he expanded his 
 business relations, associating himself in 1851 with Mr. 
 John RLickel, and foumling the well-known wholesale 
 drug and importing house of Hall & Ruckel, which for 
 nearl)' fort\--five years has been one of the leading houses 
 ill this line of business in New York Cit_\'. Some fifteen 
 j'cars after its establishment Mr. Hall became the sole 
 proprietor of this house, and continued so for nearly 
 thirty j-ears subsequenth', developing its business with 
 tlie energy which he had always shown in his business 
 career, and extending its connections to all parts of the 
 civilized world, branch houses being established in various 
 parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, and elsewhere, and the 
 business of the parent house thus greatly augmented. 
 The energy, shrewd judgment, and undeviating integrity 
 of Mr. Hall were thus crowned with a high tlegree of pros- 
 pcrit}', while these sterling qualities in his character were 
 widely recognized among his business associates and 
 others, and numerous posts of trust and honor offered him. 
 
 He was one of the founders of the Washington Trust 
 Company, of which he became a trustee ; was president 
 of the L. W. Warner Compan\-, and a director in the 
 Fellows Medical Manufacturing Company. He was also 
 a member of the Chamber of Commerce, of the New 
 
 York Board of Trade and Transportation, the National 
 Wholesale Druggists' Association, and the New York 
 College of Pharmacy. The firm of Hall & Ruckel was 
 among those which, in 1873, joined in tiie organization 
 of the Hoard of Trade and Trans])ortation, and Mr. 
 Hall was one of the four members of the boarti who, 
 in 1890, effected the provisional organization of its drug 
 trade section. Mr. Hall's judgment in all important 
 matters of finance was eagerly sought and iiis opinion 
 highly valued, while numerous overtures were made him 
 to accept leading positions in great enterprises in the 
 metropolis. These he invariably declined, saying that 
 he preferred to give his undivided attention to his own 
 business and his private interests. He was never a 
 society man, declining to mingle in club life, though 
 repeatedly solicited to join such associations. Having 
 lost his wife many years ago, he preferred to devote his 
 social hours to the society of his children and a choice 
 circle of his friends at his home in this cit}-. 
 
 Although lie had amassed great wealth, Mr. Hall's 
 demeanor was as modest and retiring as that of a child. 
 In business he was conservative, in character cautious, 
 but possessed of a business judgment which enabled him 
 greatly to develop his trade. A praiseworthy trait in 
 him was his constant sympathy with and interest in the 
 welfare of his employes. Rarely was one of these dis- 
 charged from his employment, and his kindness to them 
 was such that all resi)ected and revered him as one who 
 had them always in his fatherly care and consideration. 
 
 Mr. Hall, after more than fifty years of successful busi- 
 ness life, died at Budapest, Hungary, June 30, 1894, 
 while abroad for the recovery of his declining health. 
 He left three sons and two daughters, of whom the 
 former, W. J. S. Hall, William PT. Hall, and M. M. 
 Hall, with Irad Hawley, were left the e.xecutors and 
 trustees of his estate. 
 
258 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MILES BRACH. 
 
 Mii.Es liEALii, jiiil^c in the Court of Common Picas 
 of New York, was born in Saratoga County, New York, 
 in 1840. His father, William A. Beach, had long been a 
 prominent and successful lawyer, and was a coiilem[)o- 
 rary and friend of the noted advocates Charles O'Conor 
 and James T. Hrady. The son, after receiving an ele- 
 mentary education in his native place, was entered for a 
 classical course in Union College, from which he grad- 
 uated with distinguished honor. His parents moved 
 during his youth to Troy, where he read law and was 
 admitted to the bar in that city, associating himself with 
 his father in the legal firm of Beach & Smith, which at 
 that period enjoj-ed what was probably the most exten- 
 sive law business in Northern and Western New York. 
 
 Mr. ]k-ach quickly displayed an excellent legal abilit}', 
 which he developed by hard work in his profession, and 
 his reputation as an able and successful lawyer soon 
 grew. In addition to his devotion to the law, he early 
 displayed a predilection for politics, joining the Demo- 
 cratic party in Troy, where he quickly became so promi- 
 nent in the political field that he was elected mayor of the 
 city, and served two terms in that office with distinction. 
 
 While thus engaged, the business of the firm continued 
 to grow, and bj- 1S67 had so greatly expanded that Mr. 
 Beach and his father found it desirable to come to New 
 York, ill which cit\- the\' would be more accessible to 
 tlieir numerous clients throughout the State. Here, upon 
 the election of Judge Rapallo to the Court of Ap|)eals, 
 and his consequent withdrawal from the law firm of 
 Rapallo, Daly & Brown, the Beaches replaced him as 
 heads of the firm, wliich now assumed the title of Ik-ach, 
 Daly & lirown. Afterwards, on the retirement of Mr. 
 Daly, it became known as Beach & Brown. It now took 
 full control of the legal business of the \'aiulerbill family, ' 
 and, ha\ing alrcaily charge of the law interests of J.iy 
 Gould, it controlled the largest railroad business enjoyed 
 1))' any legal firm of New York Cit\-. 
 
 On the death of juilge Robinson the legal standing 
 of Mr. Miles Beach gained a well-deserved recognition, 
 in his appointment by Governor Robinson to fill the 
 vacancy thus caused on the bench of the Court of 
 Coniinon I'leas. lie acted as judge <?(/ iiitiiiiii till the 
 election in the following autumn, when he was chosen 
 for this position b)- the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, 
 his opponents for the office being Elihu Root and Mr. 
 Smythe, recent recorder of the city. Since that period 
 Judge Beach has been closely identified with the Su- 
 preme Court of the State, he having been appointed by 
 each succeeding governor to do ilut}- in connection with 
 that high tribunal. 
 
 Judge Beach is \ery high])- considered in New York, 
 both legall)- and socially. No man coukl better uphold 
 the dignity of the bench, or displa\- higher judicial ability, 
 and no man could more reatlily unbend from the stateh" 
 and dignified demeanor proper to his office to the urban- 
 ity and sociability suitable for life in the clubs and in 
 society. His scholastic attainments are of a fine order, 
 while he is a skilled connoisseur in art anti literature, 
 in both of which he takes an earnest and appreciative 
 interest ami pleasure. 
 
 We may quote the follow ing ajiprcciativc remarks con- 
 cerning him from a leading Republican newspaper: "Of 
 his prominent characteristics, absolute imperturbability is 
 most salient. There is no law)-er living who ever .saw 
 Judge Beach lose his remarkable repose of manner, or 
 who ever saw him disturbeil or ' rattled,' as the \ernac- 
 ular has it, by the most involved or incomprehensible 
 argument." 
 
 Judge Beach in figure is tall and stateU", with an 
 ajipearance of being much \'oungcr than he really is. 
 He is fond of walking, making his way tm foot, after 
 leaving court, all the w.iy up-town to tlic liiion or 
 the Manhattan Club, of each of which he is a mem- 
 ber, with no intlication in manner or countenance of 
 the hours of hard work he has just completed upon 
 the bench. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 259 
 
 REV. HOMER EATON. 
 
 HoMEK Eaton, D.D., junior agent of the Methodist 
 Book Concern, and a member of the Troy Annual Con- 
 ference of the Metliodist Episcopal Church, is the son of 
 the late Rev. Bennett Eaton, of the same conference, and 
 was born at Enosburg, Franklin Count)-, Vermont, No- 
 vember 16, 1834. His religious feelings were awakened 
 by a conversion at the age of sixteen to such an earnest 
 extent that he determined to de\'ote his life to the ser- 
 vice of the Church, and immediately afterwards began 
 a preparatory course of study for the ministry at the 
 academy in Bakersfield, Vermont. His studies com- 
 pleted here, he entered the Methodist General Biblical 
 Institute, Concord, New Hampshire, where he graduated 
 as D.D. in 1857. In May of the same year he was 
 admitted on trial in the Troy Annual Conference. 
 
 Mr. Eaton soon proved himself an earnest and capable 
 minister and a valuable member of the conference, of 
 which he was chosen first assistant secretary in 1861. 
 This position he continued to hold until 1870, when he 
 was elected secretary to the conference, an office to 
 which he was re-elected annually for seven consecutive 
 years. In 1872 the conference sent him as a delegate to 
 the Methodist Episcopal General Conference, held in 
 Brookl\n in May of that year. As a part of the pro- 
 ceedings of this meeting he was appointed one of the 
 fraternal delegates to the General Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada. He was elected 
 a reser\e delegate to the General Conference of 1876, 
 and in the same year was appointed presiding elder of 
 the Albany district. 
 
 He was thus diligently engaged in pastoral dut\' until 
 elected to his present important and responsible position, 
 that of book-agent, he being placed, in association with 
 Dr. Hunt, in charge of the great Church publishing house 
 so widely known as the Methodist Book Concern, and to 
 whose prosperity his energy and business ability ha\e 
 proved of the utmost advantage. 
 
 As evidence of the greatness of the interests which 
 ha\ e thus been committed to the care of himself and his 
 able colleague, we may briefly refer to the great annual 
 business of this theological establishment and the diver- 
 sit}' of the iluties committed to the care of its managing 
 heads. 
 
 The Methodist Book Concern has a general catalogue 
 of over three thousand volumes, which embrace pub- 
 lications for the young, for adults, for the preacher's 
 study, for Sunday reading and Sunday-school use, for 
 the Christian scholar, many of these works being placed 
 by competent critics at the head of their several depart- 
 
 ments of literature, and the proiluction of the ablest 
 minds in the Church throughout its history. Among 
 these authors we may name Foster, the master theolo- 
 gian, Stevens, the brilliant Clunch historian, Whedon, 
 the profound Biblical scholar, and Wise, whose books 
 for young people have been the delight of thousands of 
 households. 
 
 The Book Concern now has two large houses, in New 
 York and Cincinnati respectivel)-. The extent and a]i- 
 pointmcnts of the New York house we have stated in 
 our sketch of Dr. Hunt. The total sales of this great 
 publishing establishment amount to over 31,000,000 
 annuall}', and the assets of the two houses are worth 
 more than $3,000,000. As regards its profits, it paid 
 to conference claimants, the veterans of the ministr)-, 
 this year the munificent sum of $120,000, it thus 
 serving as a highly valuable pension fund for worn-out 
 preachers. 
 
 The Methodist Book Concern issues a number of 
 very successful periodicals, among which the Metliodist 
 Rcviczc has the largest circulation of all re\ie\vs, while 
 the Christian Advocate is unequaled in circulation by any 
 other religious weekly. There are in addition several 
 Sunday-school periodicals, some of them with \er\' large 
 circulations, while some of the h\-mnals issued have an 
 enormous annual sale. The house has paid for the 
 Methodist Church an average of more than $16,000 
 annually during its history, and has been of enormous 
 advantage to the cause of religion and moral progress. 
 For its present prosperity great praise is due to its man- 
 agers, Drs. Eaton and Hunt. • 
 
26o 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM H. SLAY'rON. 
 
 W'li.i.iAM 11. Stavtox, prominent aiiionq; the \ouny;ci' 
 nicinbcrs of the New York bar, was born at Sin\-nia, 
 Delaware, March 28, 1861, being the son of Charles E. 
 and Susan M. Stayton. He early manifested mucli in- 
 tellectual ability, which was indicated by his excellent 
 school record and by his winning, through competitise 
 examination, an appointment to the United States Xaval 
 Academy, he having a desire for a career in the navy. 
 His record at Annapolis was one of a higli order of ex- 
 cellence, he becoming distinguished there for proficienc)' 
 in all branches. In 1881 he graduated with honors, and 
 was appointed to the North Atlantic squadron, to which 
 he continued attached for the succeeding two years. In 
 a subsequent examination for the selection of those suit- 
 able to remain in the ser\'icc he was one of fifteen chosen 
 out of a class of one hundred, and gained so high a 
 percentage in his examination that he was privileged to 
 choose his corps. 
 
 On July I, 1883, he received the appointment of sec- 
 ond lieutenant in the marine corps, and for some time 
 afterwards was on duty in New York and Washington. 
 Subsequently he was appointed to the " Hartford," the 
 flag-ship of the Pacific Squadron, and remained on duty 
 in the l-Iastern seas for three years, emploj-ing his leisure 
 hours in making himself acc[uainted with court-martial 
 procedure, an important step towards his subsequent 
 profession of the law. 
 
 In this direction .Mr. Sta\-ton displayed great natural 
 aptitude for study, and ailded to this branch of naval 
 law that of admiralty legal ])roceeiling, becoming so 
 well informed in these subjects that, upon the termi- 
 nation of the cruise of the " Hartford," he was appointed 
 as.si.stant judge-advocate-general of the navy. In this 
 new field of labor he quickly achieved distinction, con- 
 ilucting the prosecution against Commodore McCalla, 
 of the " Enterprise," for inflicting illegal punishment 
 upon subordinates. In this trial he had arrayed against 
 him, as counsel for McCalla, the eminent advocate. 
 
 Joseph II. Clioatc. His successful prosecution of this 
 suit won him an international reputation, for the trial 
 commanded attention in naval circles throughout the 
 world. 
 
 After the conviction of McCalla, Mr. Stayton was 
 advised by his late legal opponent, who recognized his 
 superior ability, to withdraw from the navy and enter 
 into legal practice at New York, as a field of much better 
 promise for a man of his special talent. This advice was 
 accepted. Mr. Straj-ton had already taken a course of 
 stud}- in Columbian University Law School, at Washing- 
 ton, District of Columbia, and on examination passed 
 brilliantly, graduating at the head of his cla.ss. His legal 
 career in New York began in 1891, he forming in this 
 city a law association with Mr. Rochfort, in which, owing 
 to the protracted illness of his partner, most of the labor 
 devolved upon himself. Mr. Rochfort died in 1S93, 
 leaving Mr. Stayton to continue his practice alone. This 
 he did until April, 1894, when he formed a new law 
 partnership, constituting the existing firm of Burnett, 
 Stayton & 1 lagen. 
 
 Mr. Stayton's practice covers the whole field of civil 
 law, but he has shown himself peculiarl}- able in corpo- 
 ration and financial law, while in admiralty matters, to 
 which his early legal studies were directed, his abilit)' is 
 marked and his opinions are quoted as authoritative. 
 His views on naval topics, anil, for that matter, on topics 
 of geneial public interest, are sought for 1)\- the i)ress 
 and eagerly reati b)' the public. 
 
 Mr. Staj-ton's clients include real-estate owners, pub- 
 lishers, corporations, and merchants, while he has much 
 ])ractice in banking and financial circles. As counsel for 
 Hetty Green, the well-known speculative millionaire, he 
 has conilucteii several suits of much importance. In his 
 professional relations with clients he has always |)roved 
 trustworthy, while he is hekl in the highest esteem by 
 the legal fraternit)-. lie is politicallj* a Republican, is a 
 member of the .Sewanhaka-Corinthian. LViKtis', ,\rm\- 
 and N;ivy Clubs, ,uul commands a tli\isiiiii in ilu' Lirsi 
 Battalion of the N.ival Militia. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 261 
 
 FITZ-GREENE HALLECK. 
 
 Fitz-Greene Hali.eck, one of America's celebrated 
 poets of the early days of this cciitur)', was born tit 
 Guilford, Connecticut, July 8, 1790, being the descendant 
 of Peter Ilalleck, who came from England to New 
 Haven, Connecticut, in 1640, and afterwards purchased 
 land and settled in Long Island. Israel Halleck, the 
 poet's father, was a rojalist in the Revolutionary War, 
 antl served with Colonel Tarleton. His mother, Mary 
 Eliot, was a lineal descendant of John Eliot, the famous 
 apostle to the Indians. She was a woman of high in- 
 tellectual powers, and extremely fond of poetry. 
 
 When Fitz-Greene Halleck was but two )-ears of age 
 the exploit of two drunken militiamen, who discharged 
 their pieces close to his head to astonish him, destroyed 
 the hearing of his left ear for life. His disposition to- 
 wards poetic composition, perhaps inherited from his 
 mother, manifested itself \-ery early, he beginning to 
 rhyme as soon as he learned to write. Throughout his 
 younger days he was quiet and studious, and refined in 
 thought and habits, qualities which remained with him 
 through life. He was educated in the Guilford schools, 
 and afterwards for six years served as a clerk in the store 
 of his kinsman, Andrew Eliot, at Guilford, employing 
 his leisure in reading and the composition of poetry, to 
 which his thoughts in\oluntaril\' turned. 
 
 Mr. Halleck visited New York for the first time in the 
 spring of 1808. In the winter of the following }-ear his 
 first published poem made its appearance anon)'mousl)- 
 in the columns of a New Haven newspaper. He joined 
 the Connecticut militia in 1808, and was made sergeant. 
 In the following winter he kept an evening school, whose 
 proceeds he employed to purchase books, principally vol- 
 umes of the poets. In 181 1 he removed from his native 
 town to New York, where, failing to obtain a position, he 
 was about to start for Richmontl, Virginia, when he had 
 the good fortune of an introduction to Jacob Barker, a 
 leading banker and business man of the city, who gave 
 him a position in his counting-house, which he retained 
 for twenty }'ears. 
 
 He started business on his own account in 18 1 2, in 
 company with a kinsman of Mr. Barker, but the depres- 
 sion due to the war put an end to his hopes, the firm of 
 Halleck & Barker being one of the first to fail. During 
 this brief business interval he continued in Mr. Barker's 
 office, and remained there until 1832, when he took a 
 similar position in the office of John Jacob Astor, where 
 he remained until 1849. Mr. Astor left him in his will 
 an annuity of $200 a year, which his son, William B. 
 Astor, afterwards supplemented by the gift of $10,000. 
 With this money, and what he had saved, Mr. Halleck 
 withdrew to his native town, Guilford, and spent there 
 the remainder of his da}-s. 
 
 Mr. Halleck's first poem published in New York 
 
 34 
 
 appeared anonymously in 1813, in the columns of the 
 Coluinbian. The earliest poem admitted by him into his 
 published works was written in 1808, and entitled "The 
 World is Bright before Thee." Shortly after coming to 
 New York he became an intimate friend of Joseph Rod- 
 man Drake, author of " The Culprit Fay," an intimacy 
 which continued until Drake's death in 1820, and was 
 commemorated by Halleck in the exquisite lines com- 
 mencing " Gi-een be the turf above thee." In 1819 he 
 and Drake joinctl in the production of a series of amusing 
 verses known as the " Croaker" papers, and published 
 in the Evening Post, which became the talk of the town, 
 and have rarely been excelled as successful vers dc societe. 
 They were anonymous, Drake writing as " Croaker" 
 and Halleck as "Croaker, Jr.," and their authorship 
 continued long unknown, though much inquired after. 
 " Faimy," j\Ir. Halleck's longest poem, was published 
 anonymously in 1 8 19, and became so popular that its 
 author was offered $500 for an additional canto. This 
 he accepted. 
 
 In 1822 Mr. Halleck made a visit to Europe, where 
 he was well received by the celebrities of the day. 
 During this journey he wrote two of his finest poems, 
 "Alnwick Castle" and "Burns." On his return home 
 he wrote his " Marco Bozzaris," the most popular of all 
 his compositions. After his final retirement to Guilford 
 Mr. Halleck spent his remaining days in leisurely literary 
 work. He died November 19, 1867. Various editions 
 of his poems have from time to time appeared, though 
 his works yielded but small pecuniary returns during his 
 life. In 1880, on the eightieth anniversary of his birth, 
 a noble granite monument was erected to his memory 
 in the cemetery at Guilford, built 1^ subscriptions from 
 Br\ant, Longfellow, Whittier, and other leading authors 
 of the country. 
 
262 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 AARON D. FARMER. 
 
 Aaron Dwiciit Farmer, tlic well-known Ijpc-founder, 
 was born in Bolton, Tolland County, Connecticut, Janu- 
 arj' 1 6, 1811. He received such education as was to be 
 obtained at that period in the common schools of his 
 native place, and came to New York at the age of four- 
 teen, where he fortunately obtained an apprenticeship in 
 the type foundry of Ivlilni White, established in iSioat 
 the corner of Lombard and Thames Streets, after having ! 
 been carried on for six \cars in Ilartford, Connecticut. 
 The )-oung apprentice proved very industrious and 
 efficient, and was promoted by his employer until he 
 finally became manager of the manufacturing depart- 
 ment of the business, a responsible ]iosition for which 
 his thorough acquaintance with all the details of the 
 business well adapted liim. 
 
 At a later date the firm assumed the name of Charles 
 T. White & Co., being reorganized with new members, 
 and in 1857 it was again reorganized under the busi- 
 ness title of I'armer, Little & Co., the boy who in 
 1830 had entered the establishment as an apprentice 
 being now the acknowledged head of the establishment. 
 This advancement was the first reward of abilit\', devo- 
 tion to the interests of the firm, and business (pialities 
 which raised him step by step from the post of master- 
 workman and manager to a memi)ership in the firm, and 
 finally to tlie first position in the then im])ortant manu- 
 factory. 
 
 The business of the firm had now become large and 
 lucrative, the factory employing from two to three hun- 
 dred men, while its f)utput was not surpassed b)- that of 
 an)' similar concern in this countrv', in every portion of 
 which its products were in use by the printing fratcrnit)-. 
 
 Mr. F\'irmer's close sur\ciiiancc o\er the worl< of the 
 factory was not relaxed by his membershi]) in the firm. 
 F'rom the day he became manager and throughout the 
 remainder of his career he continued to give special 
 attention to the manufacturing department of the busi- 
 ness, devising, as time went on, many important mechani- 
 cal methods for the improvement of the product. F'or 
 more than fifty years he labored with the close attention 
 that nii;^ht ha\e been expected of an employe, but is 
 rare!}- gi\en b\- an employer, there being no part of the 
 work which he could not hiniscif perform better than the 
 most skillful of his worknun. The}' looked iipun him as 
 in the truest sense a master-workman, and respecteil him 
 accordingly, while in return he treated them as equals. 
 This is the true relation which should exist between 
 owners and employes, and the one best calculated to 
 produce that perfection of work and harmony in relations 
 to which success is often due. During his whole career 
 Ml'. F'armer ne\er Iiad a strike in his facti>r\-, nor even 
 a serious misuntlerstantling with his men, and there have 
 been few more harmonious establishments than that 
 under his care. 
 
 .All the varieties of t\'pe in use and tlie necessary tools 
 for their manufacture were produced under his special 
 superintendence and many of them b\' his personal 
 ingenuity, including the many forms of [ilain and orna- 
 mental type, borders, ornaments, etc., type-casting ma- 
 chines, steel punches, matrices, anii other essentials of 
 the art, in all nf which his skill and intelligence resulted 
 in essential impro\'ements and steps of progress. As a 
 result, he in time became known as one of the leading 
 t_\'pe manufacturers, iu)t onl)' in this countr\', but in the 
 world, and the produce of his establishment became 
 favorabl)' known in everj' field of typographical labor. 
 
 Politically Mr. F'armer was an earnest Republican, to 
 which party he stanchly adhered from its formation at 
 the date of the nomination of Fremont, in 1856, to the 
 time of his death. He was never, however, an active 
 politician, the demanils t)f his business absorbing liis 
 energies. lie was mairied to Sarah Burns, of New 
 York, aiul hail a famiK' of two daughters and one son, 
 the killer becoming a member of the firm, ami ni>\\ 
 being the successor of his father in the business. In 
 May, 1892, the firm-name was changed to its ])resent 
 title of the A. I). F'armer & Son Tj-pc Comjjany. 
 
 F^^arly in the year 1895 Mr. F^irmer died, having at- 
 tained the ripe age of eight)'-four, and gained a reputation 
 for business integrit)', honor in his dealings, and a high 
 standard of business ethics, that made his loss deeply 
 felt b\' those who knew him, and mourned by numbers 
 to whom by substantial acts of generosity he had proved 
 himself a true antl helpful friend. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 263 
 
 WILLIAM W. FARMER. 
 
 William Wallace Farmer, the present representa- 
 tive of the well-known old New York t)-pe foundry of 
 A. D. Farmer & Son, the opponent and successful rival 
 of the American Type-Founding Trust, was born in 
 Brookh-n, Januar\- 12, 185 l. His father, who ilesit^nctl 
 to brint; him up to his own business, entered him as a 
 student in the Pol}'technic Institute, from which he grad- 
 uated in 1865 with a thorough training in the foundation 
 principles of a manufacturing career. Like his father, 
 he began his special training in business early in life, 
 entering the office of the firm soon after graduating and 
 serving a term of eleven years' apprenticeship, during 
 which he became proficient in every branch of the busi- 
 ness and well calculated to succeed his father in the 
 careful management which had brought the concern up 
 to its high type of efficienc}' and gi\cn it its wide-spread 
 reputation. 
 
 Mr. Farmer ma}' be said to have learned the art of 
 t)'pe-founding at the bench, and with a completeness 
 which rivaled that of his father, and gained him the same 
 measure of respect from the employes of the firm. The 
 hundreds of workmen who are employed in this old and 
 thriving establishment look up to him as a master in his 
 art, and yield him that respectful obedience which skilled 
 workmen ne\er pay to inefficiency or falsely-assumed 
 ability. As the present managing and controlling spirit 
 of the concern, Mr. Farmer is abundantly calculated to 
 keep it up to the high standard long since set and main- 
 tained for it. 
 
 In 1 88 1 he was admitted to the firm as junior partner, 
 and is now, since the deatii of his father, the head of the 
 establishment, \\'hich in his hands is conducted in much 
 of the stable old fashion, though with that regard to 
 modern methods which is now necessary to business suc- 
 cess. For a considerable number of years the advanced 
 age of his father has thrown the care of the business 
 largely into his hands. He has proved fully capable of 
 sustaining its responsibilities. Without departing in an\- 
 sense from the strict old-school principles of commercial 
 honor in maintaining perfection of product, he has availed 
 himself to the fullest extent of the advantages offered 
 b)- new methods and processes of manufacture, and has 
 increased the capacity of the factories to adapt them to 
 the steadily growing demand, alike from home and for- 
 eign markets. He brings to the conduct of one of our 
 largest manufacturing industries all the sturdy healthful- 
 ness and physical and mental robustness of constitution, 
 
 associated with industry and sincerity, which are sucli 
 essential elements of success. These traits of character 
 permeate the establishment and inspire the workmen 
 with the spirit which should rule in every well-managed 
 establishment. Without friction, but with the inspiration 
 that comes from contact with youth and ambition, the 
 manufactor\- in question goes steadily on in its successful 
 career. 
 
 .Such ()ualities as those possessed b\- William W. 
 Farmer are the ones the manufacturers of this country 
 need for example and guidance. Clear-headed business 
 acumen, incorruptible character, honor in dealings, and 
 dissatisfaction with any but the best results are the in- 
 heritance which the present head of the firm has received 
 from his father, and which cannot fail to keep the house 
 up fully to its old high place in the conmiercial world. 
 
 Mr. Farmer married young, his first wife being Miss 
 Annie Jones, of Brooklyn, to whom he was wedded in 
 1868. They had one child, a son, but the mother and 
 bo\- both died. He married again in 1888, his second 
 wife being Miss Mary Knowles, daughter of E. M. 
 Knowles, a well-known W^all Street banker. His son 
 b}- this wife also died young. 
 
 Mr. Farmer is a favorite in society, and belongs to a 
 number of social institutions. These include the Lotos, 
 Colonial, New York Athletic, and Riverside Yacht Clubs. 
 He is also a director in the Fulton Club, and a member 
 of the Board of Trade. He resides at No. 106 West 
 Seventy-eighth Street, New York City. 
 
264 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HORATIO SEYMOUR. 
 
 HuKATii) Seymour, Governor of New York during the 
 civil war, was born at Pompey Hili, Onondaga County, 
 New York, May 31, iSlO. Tlie family from which he 
 descended were among the first settlers of Hartford, 
 Connecticut, and his grandfather, Major Moses Seymour, 
 played a distinguished part in the Revolutionary War, 
 wliile his maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel For- 
 mal!, was efjually active in the same war. Henry Sey- 
 mour, his father, a man of unusual merit and ability, set- 
 tled in the then wiUlerness of Onondaga County. Mere 
 the pioneers built and endowed an academy, in which the 
 future governor received his early education. He was 
 .sent afterwards for two years to O.xford Academy, for 
 two years to Geneva (now Hobart) College, and thence 
 to Partridge's Military Academy at Miildletown, Con- 
 necticut, where he graduated. Heing desirous to study 
 law, he entered the office of two leading lawyers of Utica, 
 and in 1832 was admitted to practice at the Oneida 
 County bar and before the Supreme Court of the State. 
 
 Des[)ite this legal study, and the thorough knowledge 
 of the law he had acquired, Mr. Seymour never practiced, 
 he having inherited a large estate the care of which took 
 all his time and attention. He was strongly interested 
 in politics, however, and made many acfpiaiiitances among 
 the leading men of the Slate, and when Martin Van Huren 
 became President he recommended Governor Marcy to 
 make Mr. Seymour his military secretary, as one who 
 had in him the elements of a popular leader. This ap- 
 pointment he held until 1S39, becoming intimate with 
 the leaders of the Democratic part)- in the .State, and 
 gaining the pojjular favor to that e.xlenl that in 1841 he 
 was elected to the Legislature from Oneida County by 
 a large majority. In the Assembly he became (juickly 
 prominent, makin;,; h'- p'-wer felt b)- his associates, and 
 
 in 1842 was elected mayor of Utica. In the following 
 year he lost the election for mayor by si.xteen votes, and 
 in the same year was returned to the Legislature, of 
 which he became Speaker in the .session of 1845. 
 
 Mr. Seymour's standing in his party continued to grow, 
 until in 1850 he received the nomination for governor, 
 but was defeated by the Whig and Anti-rent candidate 
 b)- a small majority. In 1852, he was again nominated, 
 and was this time elected b\- a niajorit\- of nearly twentj-- 
 three thousand. His term of scr\ice proved to be one 
 of much political disturbance. The Temperance part)- 
 succeeded in carrying through the Legislature a prohib- 
 itory liquor law, which he vetoed. The repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise had seriously affected the party 
 harmon)', while the Whig party was gradually changing 
 into the coming Republican party. These discordant 
 elements sadl)- troubled the politi'cal waters, )-et Governor 
 Seymour met them with spirit and judgment and made 
 a highly successful recoril in the gubernatorial chair. 
 
 In 1854 he was renominated, but was defeateil b)' a 
 small plurality. He served as delegate in the Demo- 
 cratic national conv-ention of 1856, and in the same 
 year delivered an address at Springfield, Massachusetts, 
 on " The Democratic Theory of Government," which 
 was circulated with the greatest success as a campaign 
 document. Subsequently President Buchanan offered 
 him the ministry to one of the principal lun-opean 
 courts, but he declined the honor, and returned to his 
 farm ami to those agricultural piu'suits in which he 
 always took the greatest pleasure. 
 
 At the outbreak of the civil war Governor Se)-mour, 
 though he had opposed the Republican campaign, actively 
 supported Lincoln's administration, and announced the 
 intention of the Northern Democrats to uphold the 
 Union b\- all the means in their power, himself con- 
 tributing largel)- to the finul for raising soldiers. In 
 September, 1862, he was renominated for goxernor, 
 stiun|)ed the State in his own cause, and won the elec- 
 tion by a considerable majority. Throughout this ail- 
 ministration he was active in enlisting troops, antl during 
 the draft riots in New York took judicious and energetic 
 measures to restore peace and order to the city. 
 
 In 1864 Governor Seymour was again a candidate, 
 but was tlefcated by Reuben E. Fenton. After the war 
 he continued prominent in politics, strongly opposing the 
 Republican party, presiding over State conventions, and 
 in 1868 becoming jiermanent chairman of the national 
 convention of his part)-. This con\ention nominateil 
 him for President, but at the ensuing election he was 
 defeated by General Grant, though obtaining a large 
 [jopular vote. Governor Se)-mour never again accepted 
 a nomination, but passed the remainder of his life in 
 home comfort in his pleasant cottage on the Deerfield 
 Hill, near Utica, where he died 1-Ybruary 12. 1886. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 265 
 
 JAMES H. HACKETT. 
 
 James Hexry Hackett, a favorite comedian and a 
 native of New York, was born in that city March 15, 
 1800. His ancestry in America was distinguished, and 
 ranked among the well-to-do citizens of the colonial and 
 early national period. His father, who was in comfort- 
 able circumstances, gave him a good early education at 
 an academy in Jamaica, Long Island, and afterwards 
 entered him at Columbia College for a collegiate course. 
 On lea\'ing college Mr. Hackett prepared to engage in 
 mercantile business, entering the counting-house of a 
 relative as clerk with the design of fitting himself for 
 a business career. In 1819, when but nineteen }'ears 
 of age, he married Katharine Lee-Sugg, a well-known 
 actress, a fact significant of his taste for theatrical life 
 and indicative of his future career. 
 
 His early venture in life, however, was as a merchant, 
 he settling in Utica, New York, where he started a mer- 
 cantile business, and carried it on for some time with 
 success. Like many others, however, Mr. Hackett was 
 not content to advance slowly, but after some experience 
 in business returned to New York and adventured on a 
 much more ambitious scale than in his Utica venture. 
 The result was disastrous. His business failed, and his 
 wife, finding their circumstances reduced, returned to the 
 stage with the purpose of helping her husband in his 
 difficulties. 
 
 Mr. Hackett had long been aware of his possession of 
 histrionic powers of no mean order, and was now induced 
 to make public use of them w ith the hope that he might 
 achieve success as an actor. He accordingly obtained 
 an engagement as a comedian at the Park Theatre, New- 
 York, and made his first appearance at that house on 
 March I, 1826, in the character of Justus Woodcock. 
 
 This debut, while not quite a failure, was far from 
 being a success, but he persisted, and two weeks after- 
 wards appeared in the character of Sylvester Dagger- 
 wood, in which he gave clever imitations of the leading 
 actors of the day. These were received with so much 
 fuor b\- the Park audiences that he was con\inced that 
 he had hit upon his true vocation, and resolved to adopt 
 the stage as a profession. He continued to appear in 
 a variety of characters, but made his first decided hit 
 in October, 1826, as one of the two Dromios in the 
 " Comedy of lirrors." His rendition of this character 
 was so original and fine as to draw large audiences for 
 weeks, and to win him the reputation of being one of 
 the most promising young comedians of the period. 
 
 Mr. Hackett visited England in 1827, appearing at 
 Covent Garden, London, in April. His reception, how- 
 ever, was not what he had hoped for, and he soon 
 returned to America, where he continued to appear for 
 se\-eral j-ears, principally as Dromio, which was his lead- 
 ing character until 1841. In this part his imitation of 
 
 the voice and manner of John Barnes, who played the 
 part of his twin brother, was almost perfect. Another 
 character in which he became a fa\orite, that of Sir 
 John I'alstaff, was first played b\- him on Ma}' 13, 1828. 
 Others of his characters were Solomon Swop, in "Jona- 
 than in England," Sir Archie MacSarcasm, in " Love a 
 la Mode," Nimrod Wildfire, and Rip Van Winkle. This 
 last-named part, which was eventuall)- to become the 
 finest conception in his histrionic repertoire, was first 
 played by him in April, 1S30. 
 
 Mr. Hackett tlid not confine his efforts to the stage, 
 but on several occasions became the manager of New 
 York theatres, with varying degrees of success. Among 
 these was the Astor Place Opera House, of which he 
 was manager at the time of the famous Macready riot. 
 He was also manager of Castle Garden in 1854, at the 
 time of the first appearance at that house of Grisi and 
 Mario in America. His career as actor and manager 
 proved highly remunerative, and he e\entuall\' became 
 one of the richest actors of his time. 
 
 Mr. Hackett paid several later visits to England, 
 where his Falstaff was received as one of the best im- 
 personations of that character that had ever been seen. 
 In America he was a favorite in whate\cr he played, and 
 during his life distanced all rivals in popular esteem. He 
 was generally original in every character he undertook, 
 and nearly always true to nature. His Rip \'an Winkle 
 was of admirable conception and artistic delineation, not 
 surpassed, if equaled, in naturalness by that of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, though the play in which he appeared was much 
 less effective than that employed by the latter actor. Mr. 
 Hackett was a strikingly handsome man, of scholarly 
 tastes and refined and courteous manners, and had many 
 friends among the best people of P^ngland and America. 
 He died at Jamaica, Long Island, December 28, 1871. 
 
266 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES G. GUNTHER. 
 
 CiiAKLEs GoDFREn GuNTiTER, mayor of New \'oik in 
 1864, was born in lliat cit}- on Februar\- 7, 1822, his 
 parents bcinj^ Germans by birth, who came to .America 
 when young. His father, Christian G. Guntlier, was for 
 more than half a century tlie leading fur merciiant in 
 the metropolis. Charles G., eldest son of the above, was 
 educated at the Moravian School at Nazareth, Pennsyl- 
 vania, and on his return to New York completed his 
 studies in the Grammar-School Department of Colum- 
 bia College, lie was still quite young when his father 
 admitted him to his business. Subsctpiently his three 
 younger brothers were taken into the concern, and the 
 firm of C. G. Gunther & Co., fur dealers, was established 
 in Maiden Lane. 
 
 Mr. Gunther's attention was not solely gi\en to lousi- 
 ness, politics attracting him strongly. He was Demo- 
 cratic in his views, and while still quite }-oung became 
 a hard worker in the local affairs of his party, becoming 
 a member f)f the Young Men's Democratic General 
 Committee. I lis first Presidential vote was cast for Polk 
 and Dallas in 1844. He was one of the founders of the 
 Democratic Union Club, and on his return from a visit 
 to ICurope in 1S52 took an acti\e part in the Presidential 
 cam|)aign of that \-car. 
 
 In 1855, on the formation of the Democratic Young 
 Men's National Club, under the chairmanship of James T. 
 ]}ratly, Mr. (iunther was nominated by it as one of the 
 governors of the Almshouse, and in the subsequent elec- 
 tion led his party ticket by more than five thousand votes, 
 a result which strongly demonstrated the po])ularity he 
 had attained among the votes of the i)arly. He after- 
 wards became president of the board of governors. 
 
 In the spring of iS^fi the Tammany Hall organization, 
 recognizing that Mr. Gunther had become a power in the 
 
 councils of the party, elected him as one of its sachems, 
 and in the municipal contest of 1861 gave him the nom- 
 ination for mayor. It was the beginning of the war 
 period. Republican sentiment was \ery strongly devel- 
 oped among the people, and Mr. Gunther was defeated at 
 the polls by the Republican candidate, George Opdyke. 
 He was again nominated in the ma)-oralty contest of 
 1863, there being now three candidates in the field. He 
 was elected b\- a majority of over seven thousand votes. 
 
 Mr. Gunther assumed the duties of the mayor's office 
 on January i, 1S64. He was highly respected by his 
 constituents as a merchant of honor and integrit\- and 
 a citizen ha\ing the gootl of the municipalit\- at heart, 
 and his administration of the office justified the public 
 confidence in his abilit\- and trustworthiness. His official 
 life was particularly marked by economy in the cmplo)-- 
 ment of the public funds, the lavish use of which bj- 
 former administrations, and the consequent rapidly in- 
 creasing indebtedness of the city, being highly displeas- 
 ing to him. By way of giving a telling rebuke to this 
 extravagance and misuse of the public moneys he, when 
 invited to [oreside over the festival of the New York citj- 
 coimcil in honor of the anniversary of Washington's 
 birtluki}-, k'ebruary 22, 1864, declined the invitation, 
 stating that his reason for doing so was " in order to 
 discountenance so far as is in my power the reckless 
 extravagance of the times." 
 
 Such an old-fashioned idea of honest)- and economj- 
 in office was not to the taste of the politician of that d.iy, 
 and the subsequent nomination for ma\-or was given to 
 one more in tone with the financial conceptions of Tam- 
 man\' 1 lall. .After his retirement from office Mi. ("iimlher 
 gave his attention strictK' to business, avoiding an\' active 
 particiiKition in ])olitics until 1878, when he was iiuluccd 
 to permit the use of his name as a nominee for State 
 senator. In the ensuing contest he was defeated, antl 
 did not afterwards take more than a quiet interest in 
 political operations. 
 
 Mr. Gimthcr in his youthful days became an active 
 member of the old New York volunteer fire ilcpartmcnt. 
 After the disbandment of this, and its replacement by 
 the paid fire department, he became a prominent member 
 of the Veteran Association and was electetl its presiilent. 
 lie was among the first to recognize the advantages and 
 the conn'ng future of Coney Island as a sea-side resort, 
 and he built the first steam railway lii.e to the beach, 
 much to the dissatisfaction of the conservative old Dutch 
 farmers of New Utrecht and Gravesend. He erected 
 also a hotel at Coney Island, but this venture was pre- 
 mature and proved unprofitable. At a later date he 
 built a large hotel at Locust Grove, on Gravesenil Hay, 
 which took fire and was destroyed some years afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Gunther ilied at his New York residence Janiiar)' 
 22, 1S85, lea\ing a wiilow and four chiltlren. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 267 
 
 RICHARD HHNRY STODDARD. 
 
 Richard Henrv Stoiidakd, .1 favorite Ij-ric poet, was 
 bom at Hingham, Massachusetts, July 2, 1825, being 
 the son of a sea-captain, who was lost at sea while his 
 son was still quite young. His mother married again, 
 aiul in 1835 remo\ed to New York, where her son was 
 put to learn the trade of iron-moulding. While thus 
 engaged during the da)', he sjjent his evenings in reading, 
 devoting himself to the best literature obtainable, espe- 
 cially poetry. His studies were soon followed by efforts 
 at poetical composition and by contributions to the news- 
 papers which from the start were recognized as the work 
 of a poet of fine powers. His published poems soon 
 brought him to the notice of the literary celebrities of 
 the day, w ith many of whom he became acquainted, par- 
 ticularl)- with Ba\ard Taylor, who remained his friend 
 through life. 
 
 Mr. Stoddartl's first xolume of poems, " Footprints," 
 was publishetl in 1849. Tliis he afterwards suppressed, 
 as indicative of immature powers. In 1852 he published 
 " Tlic Castle by the Sea," etc., a work indicating more 
 ripened talent, and containing some odes which have 
 become American classics. This was followed, the next 
 year, by "Adventures in Fairy-Land: a Book of Verses 
 for Young People." His pen, however, not bringing him 
 a li\ing remuneration, he obtaineil, in 1853, through the 
 influence of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a position in the cus- 
 tom-house, which he retained until 1870. While thus 
 employed he continued active in literary work, publish- 
 ing a number of works, principall}- poetical in character. 
 These included "Town and Country, and the Voices in 
 the Shells" (1857), "Songs of .Summer" (1S57), "Life, 
 Travels, and Books of Alexander von Humboldt," with 
 introduction by Bayard Taylor (i860), "The Loves and 
 Heroines of the Poets" (1861), a work which was very 
 favorably received, an J "The King's Bell" (1862), a nar- 
 rative poem of high excellence. Others of his works 
 were "The Story of Little Red Riding- Hood," a poem 
 for children, " The Children in the \\'ood," "Abraham 
 Lincoln : an Horatian Ode," " Putnam the Brave," and 
 " The Book of the East," a \-olume which contained 
 some of the best productions of his pen. 
 
 After leaving the custom-house, Mr. Stoddard became 
 confidential clerk for General McClellan, with whom he 
 remained for three years, occupying his leisure in a re- 
 vision of Griswold's " Poets and Poetry of America," 
 which he brought down to date. In 1874 he ser\ed as 
 city librarian of New York, and during this year re- 
 edited Griswold's " Female Poets of America" and the 
 " Bric-a-Brac Series," consisting of biographical sketches 
 of writers and painters. 
 
 Aside from his business occupations and his poetical 
 productions, Mr. Stoddard found time for considerable 
 literary work. From i860 to 1870 he wrote literary 
 reviews for the World, doing much critical work of a 
 discriminating character. Since 1S80 he has held the 
 same position on the Mail and Express. In addition to 
 the works named as passing under his editorial hand, he 
 has had to do with various others, including " The Last 
 Political Writings of General Nathaniel Lyon" (1861), 
 "John Guy Vassar's Twent\--one Years ArountI the 
 World" (1862), "Melodies and Madrigals, mostly from 
 the Old English Poets" (1S65), and a number of annuals, 
 translations, etc. Of his literary monographs ma\' be 
 particularK- mentioned those on William Cullen lirj^ant 
 and Edgar Allan Poe, and his preface to Sir Edwin 
 Arnold's " Light of the World." Mr. Stoddard's long 
 acquaintance with American men of letters and his reten- 
 tive memory render his biographical sketches of literary 
 personages highl\- interesting, from the attractive per- 
 sonal recollections introduced. In 1890 he issued a new 
 volume of poems, " The Lion's Cub, and Other Poems,'' 
 which is tlistinguished by the grace of touch and origi- 
 nality of handling of his former work. 
 
 As a I\-ric poet Mr. Stoddard has had no superior 
 among American writers, his work having a simplicity 
 of touch and neatness of finish which few writers can 
 rival. Some of his odes are marked by a rich fancy 
 and by an imaginative outreach which sometimes arises 
 to grandeur. His blank verse is occasionally of unsur- 
 passed excellence, among his finest efforts being " The 
 Fisher" and " Charon." Mr. Stoddard is still actively 
 engaged in literary labors. 
 
268 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ROBERT DUNLA1\ 
 
 RoRERT DuNLAP was boiii in New York, (October ly, 
 1834, Iiis parents bein;r of that sturtly Scotch-Irisli origin 
 wliicli lias brought so much good blood into tliis country. 
 He received his education in tlic jjublic schools of the 
 city, his school life ending while still quite young, when 
 he was apprenticed to learn " the art, trade, and mys- 
 tery" of hat-making. At this branch of manufacture he 
 served out his full time, and after acquiring a thorough 
 knowledge of the manufacturing details of the business, 
 entered his employer's store as a salesman, and there 
 made acquaintance with its commercial characteristics. 
 In 1857, fully cquii)|ied with knowledge of all that apper- 
 tained to the business, lie adventured on his own account, 
 renting a store at No. 557 Broadway, laying in a stock 
 of hats, and making such tlispla\' as could be done on a 
 capital of less than $2000. 
 
 Such was the modest beginning of a business which 
 has since grown to monster proportions, and has no 
 equal in its special line in the world. The enterprising 
 new merchant knew well the art of establishing a trade. 
 Ky a system of judicious advertising and a careful atten- 
 tion to the stj-le and ciiaracter of the goods he offered 
 to the public he soon became wiilely known and built 
 up a profitable trade. He was alert in taking advantage 
 of the " up-to\vn" movement of population, occupjing a 
 store in the Fifth Avenue Motel as soon as that fashion- 
 able caravansary was opened, and through it gaining the 
 reputation of being the leader in his line of business. 
 The position thus gained he has continued to maintain, 
 while he lias manifested an enterprise and readiness to 
 avail himself of opportunities whose fruit is seen in the 
 great development of his busine.ss. I'rnm his humble 
 
 start in his Broadway store Mr. Dunlap's trade has grown 
 until his New York business is now supplemented by 
 branch stores in the cities of Philadelphia and Chicago 
 and agencies in all the other large cities of the United 
 States, while his manufactor)- has developed proportion- 
 ally, until to-day his monster factory in l?rookl\-n is said 
 to ha\'c no rival in the world in the production of its 
 specialt)- of chess hats. It is complete in all its details, 
 extensive in dimensions, and hive-like in its activities, 
 there being o\-cr one thousand workmen emplo\-ed in 
 this single branch of manufacture. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap's business enterprise has not been confined 
 to the hat trade, but he has interested himself largely in 
 commercial matters outside of his regular line of busi- 
 ness. Of these outside ventures the most imjjorlaiU in 
 its development is the Dunlap Cable News Company, 
 which was organized by him in 1891 for the purpose of 
 meeting the demand for a more thorough interchange 
 of news between America and Europe, by means of in- 
 dependent and unrestricted cable communication. The 
 prompt furnishing of the most important items of current 
 news b\- this agency took with the public, and in less 
 than a }'e;ir the new companj- was firml}- established and 
 had come into formidable riwilry with the older ones. 
 It was afterwards consolidated with an European organ- 
 ization, and took its present name of the " Dalziel's News 
 Agency in luirope." 
 
 This is but one of Mi'. Dunlap's various enterprises. 
 In 1890 betook an active jiart in the establishment of the 
 illustrated weekly Truth. At a later date he purchased 
 the entire plant of this ])opular periodical, jiut into it his 
 energ)- anil juilgnieiit, and has since brought it into a 
 phenomenal slate of prosperity. He has also interested 
 himself in other enterprises, some started, others fostered, 
 b)' him, anil in e\ei'}- case with the success which seems 
 to come to everj'thing he touches, anil which is the nat- 
 ural result of his clearness of business judgment and 
 enterjirise in presenting his ventures to the public in an 
 attractive sha[)c. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap is an ajipreciativc patron of the drama 
 and a lover of art. h'or )'ears he has been engageil in 
 the collection of art treasures, and now has a gallerj- of 
 rare examples, gathered from all quarters of art pro- 
 chiclion. He is a I'Yllow of the Metropolitan Museum 
 j of Art, the National .\cademy of Design, and the .Ameri- 
 can Museum of Natural History, a member of the 
 American (jeographical Society, and belongs to the 
 Manhattan, New York, Colonial, Coney Island Jockey, 
 and New York Yacht Clubs. lie was married in 
 i860 to a daughter of Dr. T. II. Ikirras, of l'"rench 
 Huguenot descent, and has a family of four daughters 
 ami one son, the latter being associated with him in 
 business. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 269 
 
 JUDGH WILLIAM MITCHELL. 
 
 William Alri'diELL, formerly presidint^r justice of the 
 Supreme Court of New York, was born in New York 
 City, February 24, i8oi,his father. Rev. Edward Mitchell, 
 having come in 1791 from Coleraine, Ireland, to this 
 country, where for many years he served as pastor of the 
 Society of the United Christians. Judge Mitchell was in 
 boyhood of thoughtful and studious habits, and proved 
 a very apt and faithful scholar in his course of prepa- 
 ration for college, while in his subsequent stLidies in 
 Columbia College he became proficient in all studies, and 
 particular!}' in the classics and mathematics, receiving 
 each year the diploma awarded for liighest excellence. 
 He graduated in 1820, at the head of his class and with 
 all the honors. In addition to his graduation degree, the 
 college conferred on him in 1823 the degree of A.M., 
 and in 1863 the honorary degree of LL.D. 
 
 On leaving college he pursued a course of legal study 
 in the office of William Slosson, studying the law with 
 unusual thoroughness, and gaining a broad knowledge 
 of its history and principles. On his admission to the 
 bar, in 1823, he was deeply versed in all that was to be 
 learned of the law from books, and quickly became rec- 
 ognized as a law)'er of unusual learning and ability. 
 His practice grew rapid!)-, and he gained great experi- 
 ence and had much success in commercial law cases, 
 and in litigation relating to real estate, wills, and trusts. 
 He edited, and published in 1841, an excellent edition of 
 Blackstone's " Commentaries," with references to Ameri- 
 can cases. 
 
 Judge Mitchell quickly acquired the respect and con- 
 fidence of his clients and of the profession, and in 1S40 
 was appointed to the important post of master in chancer}-, 
 a position for which he was well suited, and in which he 
 had an exceptionally large practice. He tried numerous 
 difficult and important cases, and \\it!i such judgment 
 and ability as to give him ver}' high standing in the legal 
 fraternity. His judicial powers were so marked and be- 
 came so fully recognized that liis name was widely talked 
 of for a judgeship in the higher courts, and in 1849 he 
 was elected a justice of the Supreme Court for the First 
 Judicial District of the State. This position he filled 
 with eminent ability until 1858, during which period he 
 sat as a judge of the Court of Appeals for the year 1856. 
 He resumed his position in the Supreme Court in 1857, 
 and became its presiding justice. 
 
 Judge Mitchell retired from the .Supreme Court in 
 1858, but continued to perform judicial duties dining the 
 remainder of his long life, cases being frequently referred 
 to him for hearing, trial, and decision by the action of 
 
 the courts, the bar, and suitors. He held court regularly 
 from day to day as a referee, and his " calendar" was 
 always fiili. There could be no higher testimony to his 
 learning, uprightness, and judicial wisdom than this refer- 
 ence to him by the courts, or by the wish of the [KU'ties 
 concerned, of important cases to be tried and decided. 
 During his whole remaining life he was thus, by the free 
 selection of his fellow-citizens, a dispenser of etjuity, sit- 
 ting in judgment between his fellow-men. 
 
 As a judge he possessed the highest natural and ac- 
 quired qualifications, and won a wide reputation. He 
 was untiringly industrious and methodical, had a clear, 
 active, yet cautious and deliberate intellect, and was digni- 
 fied and intelligent, but of bene\'olent aspect in his ap- 
 pearance on the bench. He was quick in discovering 
 the equity of cases brought before him, and was ready 
 in appl}'ing the principles of law and the decisions of 
 courts in favor and support of the rightful cause. His 
 honesty and integrity were throughout unimpeachable. 
 
 Judge Mitchell's studies and learning were not con- 
 fined to the law. He read constantly, was thoroughly 
 versed in history and literature, was an excellent mathe- 
 matician, and a classical scholar of unusual powers, his 
 college familiarity with the Latin and Greek authors 
 being continued through life. Personally no man was 
 ever more highly esteemed and respected. His charity 
 and kindness of heart made him unsuspicious and trust- 
 ful, but he had no tolerance for lack of truth, and was 
 inflexible in maintaining what he believed to be true and 
 right. He lived to a good old life, dying on the 6th of 
 October, 1886, in the eighty-si.xth }ear of his age. 
 
 35 
 
270 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLHS R. OTIS. 
 
 CiiAUi.Es R. Otis, oldest son of the notctl imcntor 
 Elisha G. Otis, was born in Troy, New York, April 29, 
 1835. He attended school at Halifax, Vermont, and in 
 New York, after his father's removal to that city. He 
 early manifested what seemed a hereditarj' inclination to 
 machine work, and entered the factorj' under his father's 
 direction at the ajje of thirteen, where he leained the 
 trade of a machinist, and remained connecteii with tlie 
 business established by his father until lie retired in 1890. 
 
 When fifteen years of atje he manifested a passion for 
 steam-engines, and secured a position as enj^ineer in the 
 Hudson City factory, wliere his father was then engaged. 
 The vision of steamers coming aiul going, which could 
 be seen on the waters commanded from the factory 
 windows, aroused in him a strong desire to become chief 
 engineer on a North River or ocean steamer, a fancy 
 which he entertained for several years, and for wiiich he 
 prepared himself by study. The subsequent demand 
 for elevators, however, after his father had made his 
 notable invention, changed the current of his thouglits. 
 He urgeil his father to abandon all other lines of busi- 
 ness and devote himself exclusively to elevators, in 
 whicli he saw a great future and an open fieiil, there 
 being then no establishment in this countrj- devoted 
 solely to that branch of manufacture. 
 
 At that time his father was doing a small business, 
 employing from fise to fifteen men, of whom he acted 
 
 as foreman. Soon after, in 1859, it was felt desirable to 
 construct an elevator to run at high speed and with its 
 own special engine. His father invented a hoisting- 
 engine suitable for this purpose, and with it began the 
 system of steam-elevators now so w'idely u.sed through- 
 out the country, and which are so necessary to busine.ss 
 as now conducted and to the use of the lofty buildings 
 now erectetl. In 1860-61 Mr. Otis himself invented an 
 improvement on this engine which overcame its princi- 
 pal defect. 
 
 Soon after came the depression of business at the 
 becinninfT of the ci\il war, antl the death of Mr. V.. G. 
 Otis in 1S61 left the business in an embarrassed anil 
 paralyzed state. Mr. Olis had sa\-ed about fifteen hun- 
 dred dollars, and now proposed to his brother, who also 
 had some savings, to try and resuscitate the elevator 
 business as a specialt}-, antl if possible to work it up to 
 a permanent industry. This suggestion was carried out, 
 all other lines of production being abandoned, and all 
 the lime and attention of the Otis brothers being ilevoted 
 to the impro\ement of elevator machinery and the de- 
 velopment of a demand. In the following )ear trade 
 began to re\ive, and elevators to be called for. Mr. Otis, 
 determined to succeed, worked incessantly, sometimes 
 all night long. Many improvements in the direction of 
 safety were made, and numerous patents taken out as 
 the business progressed, more than fifteen of these being 
 the invention of Charles R. Otis. In 1S62 the business 
 aggregated $15,000. In 1865 it hail reached S8o,000. 
 The increase was rapid from that time forwaril, until 
 in 1881 the business had reacheil an annual total of 
 S6oo,000 anil was rapidly increasing, so that, in June, 
 1882, it was established on a basis of a million dollars 
 and more per annum. 
 
 In 1867 the concern was con\erted into a stock com- 
 pany, in which the Otis brothers held the great bulk of 
 the stock", with Mr. Otis as president. 
 
 In 1890 Mr. Otis retired from business, and since his 
 retirement he has been much interested in real-estate 
 matters in Yonkers, and has built extensi\el\'. He is 
 a member of the Hoard of Education, an elder in the 
 Westminster Cliurili of that pl.ice. ami finMi 1S77 to 
 1884 was superintenileiit of its Sunila)'-school. He 
 and his brother contributed largely towards the erec- 
 tion and furnishing of the new church edifice, and he 
 continues closely identifieil with the internal improve- 
 ments of Yonkers. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 271 
 
 NORTON P. OTIS. 
 
 Norton P. Otis, younger son of Elisha G. Otis, was 
 born at Halifax, Windham County, Vermont, March 18, 
 1840. He attended school at Halifax, Albany, and 
 Hudson City, as his father successively moved his place 
 of residence, and finished his education at the district 
 school of Yonkers. He entered his father's factory at 
 the age of eighteen, and after his father's death, in 1861, 
 joined his brother in conducting the business, in which 
 he invested all his savings, while its advancement and 
 subsequent success were largely due to his energy, atten- 
 tion, and ability. He inherited much of the inventive 
 faculty of his father, and many of the patented devices 
 which helped to perfect the Otis Elevator were the fruits 
 of his ingenuity. It is not necessary' here to tell the 
 stoiy of the development of this business, that being 
 given in our sketch of Charles R. Otis. 
 
 During tiie first ten years of Mr. Otis's connection 
 with the concern he traveled e.xtensivel}' as selling agent 
 for the elevator, taking steps to introduce it throughout 
 the United States and Canada. In 1867, on the formation 
 of the incorporated company, he was made its treasurer, 
 and upon the retirement of his brother in 1890 he be- 
 came the president of the company, which position he 
 now holds. 
 
 In the spring of 1880 Mr. Otis was nominated by the 
 Republican party for the mayoralt)- of Yonkers, and 
 was elected to this office by a handsome majority over 
 his opponent. In this position he won not only the 
 approbation of his own part}-, but gained the esteem and 
 confidence of his political opponents as well. Among 
 the useful events of his administration were the reor- 
 ganization of the fire department, the addition of a new 
 pumping-engine to the water-works, the obtaining of a 
 charter for the new public docks, and the entire rear- 
 rangement of the system of public school management. 
 These changes were in a considerable measure due to 
 Mr. Otis's public spirit, and the first school board under 
 the new consolidated s)-stem was of his appointment. 
 Despite the \'arious expenses of those works and changes 
 of S3\stcm, his administration was an economical one, 
 and the indebtedness of the city was reduced more than 
 seventy-five thousand dollars. 
 
 In the autumn of 1883 Mr. Otis was nominated b}' the 
 Republicans as a candidate for the State Assembly, and 
 
 the high estimation in which he was held by his fellow- 
 townsmen was shown in his election by a good majority 
 in a district that was strongly Democratic. His service 
 at Albany brought him new esteem and popularity, many 
 bills of a u.seful character and calculated to win him the 
 respect of all well-meaning people being brought forward 
 by him. One of these was a bill designed to protect 
 the Hudson Riv-er towns from the influ.x on Sundaj- of 
 drunken excursionists and New York roughs, who had 
 heretofore greatly interfered with the peace and comfort 
 of the inhabitants. Another was for the reduction of 
 exorbitant rates of fare on the railroads of the State. 
 
 In 1877 Mr. Otis married Miss Lizzie A. Fahs, of 
 York, Pennssylvania, an estimable and accomplished lady. 
 He has seven children, — Charles" ICdwin, Sidney, Arthur 
 Houghton, Norton P., Katherine Lois, Ruth Adelaide, 
 and James Russell Lowell. He, in common with his 
 brother, has been much interested in the Westminster 
 Church, of Yonkers, and has made many and large 
 donations towards its erection and maintenance. He is 
 a member of numerous social and bene\-olent associa- 
 tions, and there is no citizen of Yonkers more respected 
 than he, or more popular with the younger stratum of 
 society in that town. The two brothers have played a 
 large part in the development of the place, and for years 
 have been active in its religious, social, and business life. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FRANKLIN EDSON. 
 
 Fkanki.in Edson comes of Puritan anccsti)' on botli 
 sides of his parentage. His mother, Soviah Williams, 
 was a descendant of Roger Williams. His father, 
 Ophcr Kdson, descended from Deacon Samuel Edson, 
 who came to America in 1635, and was prominent 
 among the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay 
 Colony. Franklin Edson was born April 5, 1832, at 
 Chester, Vermont, where his father had a farm, upon 
 which the boy assisted during the intervals of his school 
 attendance. He was sent to the local school till four- 
 teen years of age, after which ho attendeil, for five 
 years, the Chester Academy, studying during the au- 
 tumn, teacliing school during the winter, and working 
 upon the farm during spring and summer. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1852, when in his twentieth year, he left the farm 
 and engaged as a clerk with his brother, Cyrus Edson, 
 who had established a distillery at Albany, New York. 
 After three years of service in this capacity he was ad- 
 mitted as a partner in the concern. In 1856 he marrietl 
 F'anny C. Wood, granddaughter of Jetlno Wood, the 
 inventor of the cast-iron plow, an instrument which has 
 gone far to revolutionize agriculture. 
 
 Mr. ICdson's business career in Albany was a very 
 successful one. He continued liis connection with the 
 distilling business in Albanj- till 1886, when he withdrew 
 from it, and formed there the firm of Etlson, Orr & Cham- 
 berlain, which engaged in the produce and commission 
 trade. This business was soon after removed to New 
 York, and was conducted there for three years, when the 
 firm was dissolved, and he antl his ne|)hcw, Starks lulson, 
 formed the existing firm of I'ranklin Edson & Co. 
 
 While in business in Albany, Mr. Edson became a 
 member of the New York .State Hank anil was prominent 
 
 in the Board of Trade of that city. He was connected 
 with St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church as vestry- 
 man, and served as president of the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association. In 1 87 1 he became a member of the 
 New York Produce Exchange, in whose work he became 
 so active and influential that he was elected president of 
 the t^.xchange in 1873, and re-elected in the following 
 year. As chairman of the committee on grain he gave 
 much attention to the subjects of transportation and 
 grading of the cereals, and under his influence the pres- 
 ent methods of grading and delivery of grain at the 
 port of New York were established. These led to the 
 construction of the elevators at the termini of the several 
 grain- carrying railroads. 
 
 The movement for the construction of a Produce E.x- 
 changc building was initiated by him, and the present 
 fine structure at Bowling Green was erected under his 
 control as chairman of the building committee, he gi\"ing 
 to its erection much time and attention. Ant)ther jjublic 
 service of much imijortance for which he can claim 
 credit was the abolition of tolls on the State canals. 
 This measure met with much apposition, but was finally 
 carried through by his strenuous efforts, much to the 
 advantage of the State, as he had long declared it would 
 prove to be. 
 
 In his political affiliations Mr. Edson has alwaj-s been 
 a member of the Democratic party, but for many years 
 has been opposed to the domination of Tammany Hall 
 in cit\' ]iolitics. He became identifieil with the County 
 Democracy in 1 881, and in the following year received 
 the nomination for maj'or by a combination i)f the Demo- 
 cratic organizations. He was elected by a |)lurality of 
 more than twent)' thousand votes over Allen Campbell, 
 the Citizens' candidate. Many important works for the 
 advantage of the city were inaugurated during his term 
 of office and others were completed. Among these were 
 the planning and awarding of the contracts for the new 
 Croton a<|uetluct, long since completed. A law being 
 passed by the Legislature for the purchase of ground 
 anil establishment of new parks in the twenty-third and 
 twenty-fourth wards, these were laid out by a commis- 
 sion appointed by Mayor I'^dson. During his adminis- 
 tration the Brooklyn Bridge was com|>leteil and brought 
 into use, and a bill for the construction of new armories 
 secured, largely through his influence. 
 
 Mr. lulson is a ilirector in the Bank of New York, is 
 a member of the Manhattan Club and of the New Eng- 
 lanil Societ)', anil for years has been a vestryman in the 
 Church of St. James, at Fordham. As a man he is 
 highl)' reputed for integrit\- and energ\', while his whole 
 public life has been marked by sounil judgment, keen 
 foresight, zealous public spirit, and persistent enterprise 
 in measures for the good of the public. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 273 
 
 CYRUS EDSON, M.D. 
 
 Dk. Cyrus Edsox, chief of the New York Board of 
 Health, was born in Albany, New York. He is de- 
 scended from good old English stock, being able to trace 
 his descent on his father's side from Deacon Samuel 
 Edson, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, settling 
 at Bridgewater in that colony, while on his mother's 
 side he is descended from Roger Williams, the famous 
 founder of Rhode Island. In 1866 he came to New York, 
 where he began his studies in the Albany Academy. 
 Subsequently, at the age of thirteen, he was entered in 
 the military boarding-school at Throgg's Neck, and 
 soon after was sent to Columbia College to "o throutrh a 
 thorough course of education. 
 
 At fifteen, however, his father took him from school 
 and sent him to Europe, where he traveled extensively, 
 and on his return to this country supplemented his 
 travels by a wide tour over the United States. During 
 his journeys he observed everything from the point of 
 view of a medical student, and visited the hospitals in 
 the great cities of his tour for purposes of study. He 
 was then re-entered at Columbia College, where his 
 native ability and the experience gained in his travels 
 showed themselves in an unusually rapid progress, while 
 he made his mark as fully in college athletics as in 
 scholarly attainments. The boating crew to which he 
 belonged not only distanced all American competitors, 
 but was sent to Europe by the College Alumni, where 
 it matched itself against the crews of O.xford and Cam- 
 bridge and carried off the visitors' cup. After leaving 
 Columbia, he entered the College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons. Here he became so popular among his 
 fellow-students that they elected him grand marshal of 
 the graduating ceremonies, an honor reserved for the 
 most popular man in the graduating class. Gradu- 
 ating from this institution with honors, he began prac- 
 tice as an ambulance surgeon in the Chambers Street 
 Hospital. 
 
 In 1882 Dr. Edson first became connected with the 
 Health Department of the cit}-, being appointed on the 
 
 medical staff as assistant inspector, his duties being con- 
 nected with the suppression of the epidemic of small-pox 
 then pre\ailing. His services in this capacity proved so 
 valuable that, in tcstinion_\- of their ajjpreciation b\- the 
 authorities, he was placed on the permanent staff of the 
 department, and was subsequently promoted stc]) b)- 
 stcji through the different grades until he reachetl his 
 present high position of medical commissioner of the 
 Board of Health. This honor was abundantly deserved. 
 In every position which he held he achieved distinction 
 and rendered v-aluable services. His supervision has been 
 particularly marked and notable for the rapidity and 
 thoroughness with which epidemics have been stamped 
 out, and this was particularly the case in the instance of 
 the tyjihus fever epidemic of 1892, which was masteretl 
 with an intelligence and skill that gave him a world-wide 
 reputation. In addition to his invaluable services in this 
 field of duty, he has given much time and attention to 
 the suppression of food adulteration and of the .sale of 
 bad drugs and poisonous confectionery. His power in 
 this direction has, unfortunately, been limited, while the 
 difficulty of removing this cause of many of the bodily 
 ills of mankind is almost insuperable. Among his ser- 
 vices to the cit}' must be particularh- mentioned those 
 rendered during the threatened cholera epidemic of 1893, 
 which was arrested by him at the gateways of the port 
 of New York, and the cit}' completely saved from a visi- 
 tation of that terrible scourge which had decimated some 
 of the cities of Europe. 
 
 Dr. Edson has written numerous articles on hygiene 
 and other important subjects for the North American 
 Rcvir<.<^\ being a prolific writer when we consider his 
 great pressure of duties. He is a member of many 
 medical societies, is surgeon, with the rank of colonel, 
 in the New York State Militia, visiting ph}'sician to the 
 Charity Hospital, secretar}' of the Committee on I I}'gicnc, 
 president of the Board of Pharmacy, etc. He has been 
 twice married, his first wife being Virginia C. Page, 
 grandniece to the Duke of Marlborough ; his second, 
 Mrs. Mai-}^ E. Quick. His first wife, who died in 1S91, 
 left him a family of fi\-e chikiren. 
 
274 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HARRY L. HORTON. 
 
 Harrv Lawkenck IIokton, formerl)- president of the 
 village of New Hrighton, Statcn Island, was born at 
 Shesequin, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, Jul\- 17, i<S32. 
 He is a descendant of Lord Morton, wliose castle in 
 Northamptonshire, England, is still in existence. His 
 American ancestor was Barnaljas Ilorton, w ho came to 
 America from Moiisley, Leicestershire, England, in 1633, 
 settled at Hampton, Massachusetts, came to New Haven 
 in 1640, and in the same year settled at Southhold, Suf- 
 folk County, Long Island, where he built the first frame 
 dwelling in the place. The lineage of the famiK- can be 
 traced back to 1300, to Robert tie Horton. 
 
 Mr. Horton is the son of William B. Ilorton and Me- 
 linda Blackmail Horton, daughter of Colonel Franklin 
 lilackman. He was brouglit up on a farm, obtaining 
 such education as was there to be had, and early in life j 
 manifesting an unusual business capacity. At the age 
 of .seventeen he left home and went to Towanda, New 
 York, a position as clerk having been offered him in a 
 mercantile hou.se in that |)lace. Here, by industry, busi- 
 ness intelligence, and faithful attention to the interests of 
 liis employers, he won their confidence and esteem, and 
 developed those sterling ciualities of integrity and enter- 
 prise to which the success of his subsequent business 
 career is due. 
 
 When twenty-two years of age Mr. Horton left To- 
 wanda for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he began busi- 
 ness on his own account in the jiroducc commission line, 
 remaining actively engaged in this Western city for nine 
 
 years. At the end of that time, in 1865, mo\-ed by vari- 
 ous business reasons, he disposed of his establishment in 
 Milwaukee and left the West for New York City, where 
 he felt satisfied there would be opportunities of more 
 rapid progress for one of his business enterprise. 
 
 Immediately after his arrival in the metropolis, Mr. 
 Horton connected himself with tlie stock and other 
 exchanges, entering into the banking and brokerage 
 business, and since then has conducted one of the most 
 successful establishments of that kind in the cit\-. He 
 is now the senior member of the firm of H. L. Horton 
 & Co., which occupies at present commodious and hand- 
 some banking-rooms at No. 66 Broadwaj-, but for o\er 
 twenty-five )-ears was located at No. 56 Broatluay. His 
 house is one of the few that have safelj- weathered the 
 financial storms of the past twenty-fi\e years, and main- 
 tained an uninterrupted pro.sperity during tliat period, 
 passing safely through its several occasions of severe 
 business revulsion. 
 
 Soon after engaging in this enterprise in New York 
 Mr. Horton began to reside at New Brighton, where 
 he is now in possession of a handsome estate. He has 
 taken a very acti\e part in public affairs in this ilistrict, 
 having been promincntl_\- concerned in e\'er}- aggressi\e 
 movement in Richmond County, and is especialh' entitled 
 to credit for his energy in proniciting the development 
 and interests of the Staten Island Water-Supplj- and of 
 the Rajjid Transit Companies. 
 
 Mr. Horton has made hosts of warm antl useful fiiends, 
 whose esteem he possesses in the highest degree. He 
 is a thorough business man, and of such ripened judg- 
 ment and experience that his advice ami influence are 
 wi(i(.:l\- sought. Of attracti\e personal appearance and 
 courteous manners, he has made himself a fuorite alike 
 in social and business life, while liis sound juilgment 
 makes iiim a most useful citizen. W'armly benevolent 
 in disposition, one of his chief aims in life seems to be to 
 provide for the comfort antl happiness of others, and few 
 men have done more unostentatious works of charity. 
 
 Mr. Horton is a member of the Stock and Produce 
 Exchanges, of the Chicago Board of Tratle, and of the 
 Union League, Manhattan, Athletic, and other clubs. 
 He is a lo\er of horses, and keeps a well-filled stable, 
 while his city home at 144 West Fift}-seventh Street 
 is adorned with a large library and man)' valuable 
 paintings, in part the fiuit of several )'ears spent in 
 Europe. He married Miss Sarah S. Patten, of New 
 York, their family consisting of two daughters, Blanche 
 and Grace. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 275 
 
 MILTON 1. SOUTHARD. 
 
 Milton Isaiah Southard is of English descent, bis 
 ancestors having settled at Hempstead, Long Tsland, 
 about 1657. They afterwards dwelt in New Jersey, and 
 in 1S05 his grandfather emigrated to Licking County, 
 Ohio. Here his father became engaged in the blast- 
 furnace business and afterwards in farming, in both cases 
 .successfully. Milton was born at Perr}ton, in the above- 
 named county, on October 20, 1836, and gained his early 
 education in the public schools of that district. He 
 completed his education in Denison University, Granville, 
 Ohio, graduating in 1S61 with much honor. He was par- 
 ticularly versed in languages, science, and mathematics, 
 and W'as fond of literature and oratoiy. 
 
 His college course was followed by one of legal stud\', 
 he being admitted to the bar in iSr)3. He began his 
 practice at Toledo, Ohio, in partnership with William 
 H. Ligraham, a college friend. He continued here for 
 three years, after which he removed to Zanes\'ille, Ohio, 
 and entered into partnership with his brother, Frank H. 
 Southaril. The brothers were very successful, and soon 
 became the leading lawyers of Zanesville. In 1867 he 
 was elected prosecuting attorney for the county, and was 
 twice re-elected, performing his duties with such ability 
 as to gain great public favor. 
 
 Politicall)- he was a member of the Democratic party, 
 ami an earnest advocate of its political and economical 
 principles. In 1S72, during a sharp contest in the Dem- 
 ocratic congressional convention in his district, he was 
 proposed as a compromise candidate. The proposal w'as 
 accepted, and he was elected to Congress from the Zanes- 
 ville district, which included his native county of Licking. 
 
 Mr. Southard's course in the Forty-third Congress 
 proved eminently satisfactory to his constituents, and in 
 the succeeding convention he was nominated by acclama- 
 tion, and elected to the Forty-fourth Congress. In this 
 he served on several important committees, being chair- 
 man of the Committee on Territories and a member of 
 that on the Revision of the Laws of the United States. 
 In both these positions he showed himself very able. 
 In 1876 he was again returned to Congress. He now 
 became a member of the Committee on Education and 
 Labor, and chairman of the important special committee 
 appointed to consider the law in reference to tiie Presi- 
 dential election controversy of that year. After a full 
 and thorough consideration of the questions involved, he 
 came to the conclusion that an amendment of the Con- 
 stitution was necessary to overcome the dangers of the 
 present s_\-stem of electing the President. He presented 
 to Congress in 1879 a plan for such an amendment, in 
 
 which the present electoral .system was abolished and a 
 direct popular vote for the candidates in each State pro- 
 vided for. No such amendment has yet been passed, 
 though its desirabilit}' remains strikingly obvious. Mr. 
 Southard pioved himself an able member of Congress 
 by his action in other directions, he taking part in dis- 
 cussions on currenc)-, civil rights, and numerous other 
 important cjuestions. 
 
 At the close of his congressional career Mr. Southard 
 took up his residence in the city of New York, where he 
 engaged in legal practice, entering into partnership with 
 General Thomas Ewing, with whom he continued asso- 
 ciated until 1893. His practice in the courts of the 
 metropolis has been large and lucrative, embracing many 
 important cases, and extending to the .Supreme Courts 
 of the State and the L^nitcd States. 
 
 Aside from his legal practice, Mr. Southard is con- 
 nected with a number of banking and other institutions, 
 as director or in other official capacity. His attention, 
 however, is principally confined to his profession. In 
 this and his business relations he is active and capable, 
 of marked ability, and with much force and eloquence 
 as a forensic orator. Personally he possesses the strictest 
 sense of honor and the most earnest integrity. To the 
 strong will and intellectual capacity which fit him so well 
 for his profession he adds in a high degree the graces 
 and virtues of domestic and social life, and is as a result 
 everywhere popular. He was married in 1876 to Virginia 
 Hamilton, of Newton, New Jersey, daughter of Robert 
 Hamilton, who has served his State as Speaker of the 
 Assembly and member of Congress^ 
 
276 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 EBENEZER K. WRIGHT. 
 
 KiiF.NF.ziiR Kellogg Wright, president of tlie National 
 Park liank of New York, was born at Rome, New \'ork, 
 July 28, 1837. The family from which he is descended 
 belonged oriijinally to Essex County, E!ngland, where 
 they were prominent a century before the emigration of 
 the first American of the family to this country. This 
 immigrant was settled at Wetliersfield, Connecticut, in 
 1640, and his descendants made Wcthersfieid their place 
 of abode for four generations succeeding. Ebenezer 
 W'hite, a lieutenant in the Revolution, removed in 1789 
 to l-'ort Stanwi.K, now Rome, New York, at that time 
 far in the western wilds ; he and his wife, with two otiiers, 
 constituting the first organized churcli of that place, — 
 now the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The subject of our sketch was great-grandson to this 
 pioneer. He received a sparse education in the common 
 schools of his native town, and in Connecticut during 
 a period of residence there. The greater part of his 
 youthful life was spent on his father's farm, in the severe 
 duties whicli were necessary features of farming in those 
 days. At about seventeen he left the farm, having 
 decided to devote himself to business, and obtained a 
 position in the Utica City Hank, of Utica, New York, 
 of which his uncle was president. 
 
 Mr. Wright's career as a financier began in the position 
 of bank messenger, at a salary of one hundred ilollars 
 per annum. Me quickly showed him.self capable of 
 higher duties, however, and was successively promoted 
 to the po.sitions of clerk anil book-kee])er, and finally 
 
 to that of teller. In 1859, after he had gained some 
 four years' experience in this local bank, he resigned his 
 position and went to New York City, where a position 
 of teller's assistant had been offered iiim in the Park- 
 Bank. 
 
 This banking house was then situated on Beckman 
 Street, near the City Hall Park, from which it derived 
 its name. It was chartered in 1856, three years before 
 Mr. Wright's connection with it. In 1865 it became a 
 national bank, its name being changed to the National 
 Park Bank of New York. The importance of this insti- 
 tution, wliicli lias gained the notable position of being, 
 in deposits, resources, and business, the largest bank in 
 the United States, and with which, during its growth in 
 fame and power, Mr. Wright has been closely identified, 
 is such that some fuller statement concerning it is dc- 
 .sirable. In 1868 it was removed from its original site to 
 its present location on Broadway, opposite .St. Paul's 
 Chapel. Here there hatl been erected for it a massi\e 
 fire-proof marble building, within whose sturdy under- 
 ground walls was constructed what is one of the most 
 important safe-deposit vaults in the world. This bank 
 is the New York agent and depository for banks in 
 every section of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and 
 South American countries, and leads every other bank 
 on the continent in the amount of its de[)osits, and the 
 cash and securities of which it is made the custodian. 
 Its resources are similarly superior, and also the business 
 which it transacts for other banks, corporations, antl 
 capitalists. It occupies the site of the once well-know n 
 Chemical Bank. 
 
 Mr. Wright, as we have said, has been continuous!)' 
 connected with this important institution from 1859, 
 when he entered it as assistant to the teller, to the 
 present time, steadily rising in position. 1 le became 
 receiving teller in 1866, paying teller four months later 
 in the same year, and cashier in 1876. He was elected 
 a member of the board of directors on January 1 1, 1878 ; 
 became second \ ice-president on May 4, 1888; first vice- 
 president, No\embcr 16, 1888; and was elected to the 
 presidenc)' on June 20, 189O. To his efforts during his 
 connection with the l)ank much of its progress is due, 
 and it promises to thrive greatly under his control as 
 president. Mr. Wright is a vestrj-man in Trinit)' Church, 
 and is a member of the Church Club, the Chamber of 
 Commerce, tiie Society of Sons of the Revolution, the 
 American Geographical Society, and the Oneida His- 
 torical Society, and holds other positions of trust and 
 honor. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 277 
 
 DAVID McADAM. 
 
 D.Win McAdam, justice of the New York Superior 
 Court, is a native of New York City, of Scotch ancestry, 
 his father having been a nati\e of Glasgow. The father 
 came to New York in 1836, and conducted there a suc- 
 cessful merchant-tailoring establishment. The son was 
 bom in that city in October, 1838. 
 
 Mr. McAdam was educated in tlic j)ublic schools of 
 New York City till he reached the age of thirteen, when 
 his father put him to work as office boy in a lawj-er's 
 office. Here, while performing his duties, he occupied 
 his leisure in reading law, in which he soon grew strongly 
 interested. By 1855 he became sufficiently proficient to 
 be advanced to the position of managing clerk for his 
 emplo)-er, Mr. F. F. Marbur\', He now entered more 
 regularly upon legal study, and in 1859 was admitted as 
 a member of the New York bar. 
 
 Mr. McAdam entered upon the practice of his pro- 
 fession in i860, and rapidly gained business, soon enjoy- 
 ing a large and lucrative practice in general litigation. 
 His reputation as an able and learned lawyer grew until, 
 in 1873, he received the nomination of his party, the 
 Democratic, for justice of the Marine Court. He was 
 elected by a large majorit}'. In 1879, at the conclusion 
 of his legal term of six years, he was re-elected, and in 
 January, 1884, was chosen chief-justice by his associates. 
 The jurisdiction of this court was greatly enlarged in 
 1882, largely through his efforts, and its name was 
 changed to the more appropriate one which it has since 
 borne, that of City Court. 
 
 In 1S85, at the termination of his second term, Judge 
 McAdam was elected for a third term. This he did not 
 complete. The term legally expired in December, 1891, 
 but in 1890 he was nominated for the bench of the 
 Superior Court, and was elected to this important posi- 
 tion for the constitutional term of fourteen years. This 
 term of service will e.vtend well into the coming cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Judge McAdam is notable for his fine oratorical 
 powers, and has become distinguished as a lecturer on 
 numerous topics. His lectures are of very varied char- 
 acter, the favorite ones being on such familiar subjects 
 as " George Washington," " Robert Burns," " Lincoln 
 
 and Grant," "Character," "Legal Chestnuts," "Time 
 and Tide," " Law\-ers Wise anil Otherwise," and others of 
 like character. His ability in this direction has given 
 him a wide reputation outside the limits of his influ- 
 ence on the bench, and there is no jurist in the State of 
 New York better known or more po[iular than Justice 
 McAdam. 
 
 He has also written largely on legal subjects, and is 
 the author of se\'eral works in special fields of law which 
 have become standard authorities. Two of tiiese are on 
 " Marine Court Practice" and three on " Landlord and 
 Tenant." Others are entitled " Terms of Court," " The 
 Stilhvell Act," and " Names." In addition to the pub- 
 lished works he has published pamphlets on various 
 legal subjects, and has written many communications 
 for law periodicals and also for the general press. 
 
 For many years past Judge McAdam has been actively 
 interested in procuring legislation in the New York As- 
 sembly for the advancement of true equity in legal prac- 
 tice, and several of the most important statutes in this 
 direction were initiated and prepared by him. Among 
 these we may mention that which prevents landlords 
 from dispossessing monthly tenants in New York City, 
 without giving at least five daj's' notice in advance. This 
 has served to prevent certain abuses which in many cases 
 proved serious hardships to tiie parties concerned. It 
 has proved so popular among the class of tenants affiscted 
 by its provisions, and so useful in preventing injurious 
 haste in eviction, that its provisions have been extended 
 to include other cities in New York State. It has also 
 served as a model for laws of similar purpose passed in 
 a number of the other States of the Union. 
 
 Judge McAdam may also claim credit for proposing 
 and drafting the law which authorizes the courts to dis- 
 charge debtors who ha\e been detained in civil cases, 
 and who are found, upon examination, to be unable to 
 endure imprisonment. Another law of which he is the 
 author is the important one under which courts are au- 
 thorized to grant new trials in cases where the complaint 
 has been wrongfully dismissed at trial. From the above- 
 mentioned examples of Juilge McAdam's activity in 
 various directions it will be perceived that he is a very 
 important factor in the legal and public life of New 
 York City. 
 
 36 
 
278 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLHS L. COLBY. 
 
 CiiAKi.us L. CoLitv, railioaci president and financier, 
 was born at Roxbnry (now a part of lioston), May 22, 
 1839, the son of Gardner Colby, a prominent railroad 
 projector and builder in tlie North-western States. He 
 recei\cd his collegiate education in Brown University, 
 graduating there in 1S58, .soon after which he entered 
 upon his business career in the office of Page, Richard- 
 son & Co., of Boston, a firm of ship-owners, who had a 
 line of Liverpool packets and ilid a large average adjust- 
 ing business. He remained with this firm for a year, at 
 the end of \\ hicli he went to New Y(5rk City and there 
 associated himself with Captain Dunbar, under the firm- 
 name of Dunbar & Colby, in the business of building 
 antl managing ships. This firm continued in existence 
 for two years, when the death of the senior partner left 
 .Mr. Colby in sole control of the business. To the orig- 
 inal enterprise he soon after added the line of general 
 warehousing and commission, admitting a brotiier as 
 partner, the firm-name now becoming C. L. & J. L. Colby. 
 K. B. Bartlett was also afterwards ailmitted. 
 
 Mr. Colby's connection with railroad enterprises began 
 in 1870, in which year he withdrew from his New York 
 business connection for the jnirpose of joining his father 
 m the work of extending and developing the VViscon.sin 
 Central Railroad. His part in this work soon became 
 an important one, being that of negotiating the sale of 
 the bonds of tills road in the European market. He was 
 remarkably successful in this, and during the next three 
 years spent much of liis time in luirope engaged in this 
 financial duty. In 1874, the requirements of the road 
 demanding liis presence in the West, he removed to 
 
 Milwaukee, which he made his place of residence for 
 the succeeding fifteen )-ears, after which he returnetl to 
 New York. 
 
 The work done b\- Mr. Ci)lb\- and his associates in 
 creating tlie Wisconsin Central .system of railroads was 
 ver)' extensive, a number of roads being built or 
 bought, and the Chicago and Great Western Terminal 
 Company created in Chicago. Mr. Colby was elected 
 president of the Wi.sconsin Central in 1877, and held 
 this office till 1891, when he resigned. In 1889 the 
 entire stock and branch roads of the Wisconsin Central 
 sy.stem were placed in his hands and those of two 
 associates as trustees, and have been most successfully 
 managed. 
 
 Mr. Colby was the first treasurer of the Phillips & 
 Colby Construction Company, holding this office for 
 several years. He is closely identified with the interests 
 of several lines leading to the Pacific coast, being a 
 director and chairman of the executive committee of the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad Com]:)any, while for a time 
 he was president of the St. Paul ami Northern Pacific 
 Railroad Company. He is connected also with various 
 equipment companies and with a number of mining cor- 
 porations, and is president of the Spanish-American Iron 
 Compan)', which owns the rich Lola iron-mines in Cuba, 
 and possesses a capital of ^55,000,000. These numerous 
 business connections ha\e not exhausted his energies, he 
 having become a partner in the American Steel Barge 
 Compan)', which is engaged in building barges and 
 steamships of the successful type now known as " whale- 
 backs." In addition lie has organized and is financially 
 interested in several enterprises in the State of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 Tlie onl)' political position Mr. Colby has ever con- 
 sented to accept was tliat of member of tlie Wisconsin 
 Legislature, to which he was elected in 1876. Here he 
 proNcd himself an able orator and ileep thinker, as well 
 as a close student of public e\ents. He became consjiic- 
 uous for his vigorous fight against the restoration of 
 capital punishment in that State, and it was niainl\- due 
 to his brilliant speech against it that llu- bill restoring it 
 was defeated. He has been an actixe worker in educa- 
 tional and religious interests. I'or several years he was 
 a trustee of Brown University, ami in 1890 was elected 
 a member of its Board of I'ellows. He is also on the 
 board of trustees of Wajland University, Beaver Dam, 
 Wisconsin, and is connected with several other educa- 
 tional institutions. lie is earnestly interested in the 
 Young Men's Christian Association, to wliicii he has 
 liberal 1)' contributed, while lie lias been a benevolent 
 giver to man\' worthy objects. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 279 
 
 PHINEAS C. LOUNSBURY. 
 
 PuiNEAS Chapman Lounsbury, ex-Governor of Con- 
 necticut, was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut, January 
 10, 1 841. His grandfather, a soldier in the Revolution- 
 ary War, was a farmer by profession, in which he was 
 succeeded b\' his son, so that Mr. Lounsbury's early life 
 was the healthy one of farm occupations. His education 
 was rccci\-ed at Connecticut schools, and was marked b\- 
 a proficiency in the classics, and also in mathematics, 
 orator)-, and powers of debate. 
 
 After his school period, Mr. Lounsbiuy left the farm 
 and entered into manufacture, soon starting on his own 
 account and progressing successfully. On the outbreak 
 of the civil war he had joined the Seventeenth Regiment 
 of Connecticut Volunteers as a private, but a severe spell 
 of sickness prevented his serving in the ranks, and after 
 several months of prostration he was honorably dis- 
 charged from militar\- dut\'. At a later date he was 
 recommended for a pension, which he refused to accept. 
 He has kept up his army relations, however, as a mem- 
 ber of the Grand Arm}- of the Republic, and was the 
 orator of the day when, in 1S84, the veterans of his old 
 regiment dedicated at Gettysburg a monument to those 
 who had fallen in their ranks during the decisive battle 
 at that place. 
 
 Politicall}-, Governor Lounsbury has been a strong 
 Republican since he cast his first vote in 1864 for Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. In 1 874 he was elected to represent his 
 nati\e town of Ridgefield in the Connecticut Legislature, 
 and in this body, both as a speaker and in committee 
 work, showed himself so able and earnest that he rose to 
 a position of leadership in his part}-. He was strongly 
 interested in the temperance question, and the rigid local- 
 option laws which now exist in Connecticut are mainh' 
 due to his vigorous and successful advocacy of the cause 
 of temperance during his legislative career. 
 
 \\\ 1884 he took an active part in the Blaine campaign, 
 and was recognized as one of the best orators in the 
 party ranks. At three different conventions his name 
 was offered as a candidate for governor of Connecticut. 
 It was withdrawn in 1S82, at his own request, in favor of 
 Hon. \V. II. Bulkeley. In 1884 he was distanced by a 
 rival candidate. In 1886 his name was again presented, 
 and he was now unanimously nominated on the first ballot. 
 He was elected, and served as Governor of Connecticut 
 during the term of 1887-88. His service as governor 
 has recei\-ed the highest praise, as one marked by a wise, 
 patriotic, and dignified administration of public affairs. 
 
 As an orator, Governor Lounsbury made his most 
 striking exhibit of eloquence at the Woodstock celebra- 
 tion iif Independence Daj- in 1886, in which his remarks 
 
 thrilled with the finest spirit of American patriotism. On 
 his retirement from the gubernatorial chair he received 
 the warmest compliments for integrity, courtesy, and effi- 
 ciency from the Hartford Times, the principal Democratic 
 paper of the State. 
 
 Governor Lounsbury's early business career as a man- 
 ufacturer has been followed by a long period of service 
 as a financier, in which he has displayed marked knowl- 
 edge of financial principles and great executive ability. 
 For many years he served as a director of the Merchants' 
 Exchange National Bank, of New York City, an insti- 
 tution founded in 1829, with a capital of ;S 1,000,000. 
 In 1885 he was unanimously elected president of this 
 institution, a post which he has since continued to fill 
 with the highest satisfaction to all parties concerned. He 
 is also a trustee of the American Bank-Note Company, 
 chairman of the executive committee of the Washington 
 Trust Company, and officially connected with other finan- 
 cial organizations. 
 
 Governor Lounsbury is a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, in whose affairs he has been prom- 
 inent. In 1886 he was a lay-delegate to the General 
 Conference, and has been for many years a trustee of the 
 Wesle\-an Uni\ersity, Middletown, Connecticut, by which 
 he was, in 1887, given the honorary degree of LL.D. 
 Socially he is a member of the Colonial and the Repub- 
 lican Clubs, of New York City. He is a prominent 
 Mason, being a member of Jeru.salcm Lodge, of Ridge- 
 field, a Royal Arch Mason of Eureka Chapter, Danbury, 
 Connecticut, a Knight Templar of Crusader Commandery, 
 of the same place, and a Noble of the My.stic Shrine, 
 Pvramid Temple, Bridgeport, Coiniacticut. 
 
28o 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ARCHIBALD A. MrLF^OI). 
 
 Archiiiai.i) Angl's McLe(II) is, as his name indicates, 
 of Scotch descent. He was born in the Ncai' iS_|8, and 
 was thus one of the \'oiingest men ever intrusted with 
 such extensive railroad interests as came under liis con- 
 trol. After obtaining a fair academical education, he 
 stutlied civil engineering, and began his railroad career 
 wliile still a youth, as rod-man in the survey's for the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad. As lie grew older and at- 
 tained experience, his force of character, executive abilit)', 
 and devotion to duty brought him rapid progress in his 
 profession, so that by 1882 he had attained the respon- 
 sible but inconspicuous position of general manager of 
 the I-'hnira, Cortlandt and Northern Railmad. The 
 I'hiKnlel|)hia and Reading Railroad was then in the 
 midst of a desperate struggle for existence, and in such a 
 condition that only a man of ability and resources could 
 hope to rescue it from failure. In this state of affairs Mr. 
 McLeod was chosen for the difficult task, and the worl< 
 of rejuvenation of the Reatling placetl in his hands. 
 
 He found the Reading largely destitute of facilities 
 adequate to its business. Its physical condition was 
 wretched ami its equi|iment antiquated. It greatlj- 
 lacked passenger and freight depot facilities; its road- 
 bed was imperfect ; it needed siilings and increaseil 
 trackage; its bridges and tunnels were too narrow for 
 modern cars; its motive power was in.idequate ; the coal 
 cars were generally of .small capacity and light construc- 
 tion, and in all respects the road was behind the age. 
 
 Such was the condition of affiirs which confronteil Mr. 
 McLeod when he entered upon the management of the 
 company. F"ortunately for him, he po.ssesscd the best 
 attributes of his sturdy and tenacious race. Courage, 
 pertinacity, a strong sense of right and justice, and a 
 quick mental grasp of subjects submitted to his decision, 
 
 were marked characteristics of the man, and to them was 
 added a physique capable of great endurance. All these 
 faculties were needed. He had to transform the road; 
 virtualK' to rebuild it in great part, with an empt)' treas- 
 ur}-, backed by a nearl\- bankrupt company. These seem- 
 ingly insujierable difficulties did not deter him. \\'ith 
 tireless energ)' he went to work, and in a marvelously 
 short space of time modernized the road, laying man)' 
 miles of new track, building new stations, establishing 
 storage plants ft)r coal, erecting warehouses, and leasing 
 or purchasing wharves. All this was done without in- 
 creasing the percentage of expense. On the contrar\-, a 
 notable decrease was effected, while the rapidity with 
 which the interests of the road were expanded startled 
 the railroad world. When he took hold of the road it 
 was a circumscribed coal line, Philadelphia and the coal 
 regions being its terminal points. When he resigned it 
 had made wide-spread connections with other roads, and 
 had facilities extending to all the chief industrial centres. 
 
 Mr. McLeod had the interests of the city and State, as 
 well as those of the road, at heart. He saw clearl)' that 
 Philadelphia greatly needed increased transatlantic freight 
 service, and from his efforts arose the North Atlantic 
 Steamship Line, which later dc\'eloped into the N. A. 
 Trident Line, llis polic_\- in Imilding up the commerce 
 of the city resultetl in an increase, between 1888 and 1892, 
 of nearl)' two hundred per cent., and he thus practically 
 demonstrated the natural advantages of Philadelphia as 
 a commercial port. 
 
 Another higliK- imjjortant service to the city was his 
 strenuous labor in establishing the splendid ternn'nal 
 station of the Reading Railroad. It was this which 
 spurred the Pennsyhania Railroad to the recent great 
 impiovements in Hroad Sliect .Station, so that the city 
 fairl)- owes to him tennin.d f.icilities une<]u,ded in any 
 other cit)- of the L'nited States. In addition, he wainil)- 
 supported the Belt Line, he co-operated in the building 
 of the commodious storage warehouses of the Penn.syl- 
 vania Warehouse Companj", he made great changes on 
 the New York division of the road, and may claim credit 
 for the excellent service of the Ro\al Blue Line between 
 New York, Philadel|)hia, uid Washington, and various 
 other things inuring to the advantage of Philadelijhia. 
 In 1893 Mr. McLeotI resigned from the Reading road, 
 and has since resided in New York Cit_\-. Soon after 
 taking up his residence here, he began to devote his time 
 and ability to the ([uestion of rapid transit for the city of 
 New York, which has attracted the attention of so many 
 of the citizens of New York, as well as the ablest railroad 
 experts in the country. He has developed and submitted 
 plans which, it is believed, solves the difficult problem, 
 and at a cost so low, as compared with anj- other plans 
 suggesteil, that Mr. McLeotl's jilans have met with almost 
 universal approval. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 28 I 
 
 HENRY W. CANNON. 
 
 Henkv White Cannon, ex-Comptroller of the Cur- 
 rency, was born at Delhi, Delaware County, New York, 
 on September 27, 1850. His direct ancestor on the 
 mother's side was the first-born of Puritan Americans, 
 Peregrine White, who was born in the " Mayflower," 
 November 20, 1620, while that famous vessel lay in Cape 
 Cod harbor. His grandfather on the same side was a 
 Revolutionary soldier of distinction, who was taken 
 prisoner by the British and died in the old " Sugar House" 
 prison of New York. Benjamin Cannon, his paternal 
 grandfather, in whose honor Cannonsville, New York, 
 received its name, was a man who stood high in the busi- 
 ness world, and the same ma\' be saitl of his son, George 
 B. Cannon, postmaster at Delhi under President Grant. 
 
 Henry W. Cannon was educated in the private schools 
 of Delhi, and afterwards studied at the Delaware Literary 
 Institute. He inherited a strong business procli\it)-, and 
 having decided to pursue the business of banking, he ob- 
 tained a position in the First National Bank of Delhi, 
 where he was made teller before he became twenty j-ears 
 of age. He left immediately afterwards, being offered in 
 1870 what seemed to him a better position in the .Second 
 National Bank of St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1871 here- 
 moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, and, though only twent^'- 
 one years old, he organized there the Lumberman's 
 National Bank, of which he became cashier and active 
 manager, and continued so for thirteen years. 
 
 Two years after this institution came into existence the 
 panic of 1873 began, and banks everj'where suspended 
 ciu'rency paj'ment, but so skillful aiul judicious was the 
 management of the yoiithfid cashier that his bank was 
 carried through the storm without once refusing pay- 
 ment. For one so young, Mr. Cannon's career had been 
 a remarkable one. It continued so, he having a born 
 genius for banking. When the public debt was refunded 
 he became active in purchasing and exchanging govern- 
 ment bonds for Minnesota banks. He also negotiated 
 loans for the city of St. Paul. His operations in these 
 various directions, which frequently brought him to the 
 East, antl into contact with prominent officials and finan- 
 ciers, gave him such a reputation as an able banker that 
 in 1884, at the solicitation of the Minnesota Congressmen 
 antl numerous bankers, he was appointed by President 
 Arthur Comptroller of the Currenc)-, to succeed Hon. 
 John J. Kno.x. 
 
 In this highly responsible position Mr. Cannon quickly 
 demonstrated his abilit)-. Young as he was, his experi- 
 ence had been varied, and he had diligently studied the 
 
 ])rinciples of banking and commercial law. He found 
 himself at once in a position of difficulty, the financial 
 crisis of 1884 causing great trouble in the banking com- 
 munit)-, during which man\- banks were saved from going 
 into the hands of receivers b}' the skill and judgment of 
 the new Comptroller. He also wisel}- dissuaded the Senate 
 from ordering an inquiry into the condition of the banks 
 of New York, which might ha\e precipitated disaster. 
 DurinET his term of office the charters of numerous 
 national banks expired, and new charters were granted 
 only after the Com[)troller liad satisfied himself of the 
 soundness of the institutions. This was a task demand- 
 ing great labor and \igilance on the part of Mr. Cannon. 
 It w-as ver}' judicioush- performed. 
 
 On the election of President Cle\-eland, Mr. Cannon 
 was asked to continue in office, but he resigned early in 
 1886 and removed to New York, where he became \ice- 
 president of the National Bank of the Republic. In 
 November of the same year he became president of the 
 Chase National Bank, the position which he still holds, and 
 in which the bank has greatly prospered under his care. 
 
 Mr. Cannon was appointed by Mayor Grant aqueduct 
 commissioner, an ajjpointment which gave general satis- 
 faction. He was chosen by President Harrison as a 
 member of the Assay Commissions of 1 89 1 and 1892, 
 and as one of the United States commissioners in the 
 International Monetary Conference of 1892, in which he 
 pla)cd a ver\- important part. He has been a frequent 
 contributor to newspapers am! journals on financial sub- 
 jects. 
 
2.82 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 AUSTIN B. FLETCHER. 
 
 The Fletcher family is one of earl}- I'mit.in ancestry 
 in tliis country, a notable early representative of it bcinsj; 
 Colonel Uenjaniin Fletcher, who was governor of tlie 
 Provinces of New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware from 
 1692 to 169S. He introduced tiie printing-press into 
 New York by appointing William Bradford, of Phila- 
 delphia, public printer there, while to him was largely 
 due the erection of the original Trinity Church. The 
 Fletchers since his time have been prominent as State 
 governors, congressmen, judges, and as soldiers in all 
 the wars of the country. A " h'letchcr I'aniily Union" 
 was organized at Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1S76, and has 
 had a number of meetings since, while a genealogical 
 volume of nearly six hundred pages has been published, 
 which accounts for no less than eight thousand five luin- 
 dred and thirty-six descendants of Robert Metcher, the 
 original American of the family, who landed at Concord, 
 Massachusetts, in 1630. 
 
 In direct descent from this I'liritan emigrant was Asa 
 Austin Fletcher, born in 1823, and a man of great force 
 of character and held in the highest respect by all who 
 knew him. Me died in 1S91. His wife, Harriet Durkec 
 I*"letclier, was a woman of fine organizing talent, and 
 admirably adapted to the various social and charitable 
 duties in which she took a prominent part. 
 
 Austin Harcl.iy I'-Jetcher, son of the two just named, 
 was born at Mendon, Ma.ssachusctts, March 13. 1S52. 
 He received his early education in the public schools 
 of his native town, followed by courses at Hryant & 
 .Stratton's Commercial College and Dean and Wesleyan 
 Academics. On leaving these institutions his father 
 wished him to enter upon a business career, but the 
 studious bo\'s aspiration for knowledge was yet far from , 
 .satisfied, and he induced his father to enter him at Tufts I 
 
 College, to pursue a course of classical stud)-. He grad- 
 uated in the class of 1876, being now twenty-four years 
 of age. Yet his love of learning was not yet satisfied, 
 and he immediately entered upon new courses of study 
 at the Ho.ston University School of Oratory, the School of 
 All Sciences of Boston University, and the Law School 
 of the .same institution, from which he graduated with 
 the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of I^iws. 
 
 I\Ir. Fletcher won high honor in all these institutions, 
 but was particularly ilistinguishcd for his unusual powers 
 of oratory. At the college he took the first prizes in all 
 oratorical contests in which he was permitted to engage, 
 while his powers were greatly developed at the School 
 of Oratory. While there he was teacher as well as pupil, 
 and graduated with the reputation of being one of the 
 leading authorities upon the subject of oratorj* in the 
 country. The position of lecturer on Forensic Oratorj- at 
 Boston University of Law was offered him and accepted, 
 and he was also elected professor of Elocution in l^rnwn 
 Universit)', Pro\'idence, Rhode Island. 
 
 His labors in these positions aroused in him a sense 
 of his own incapacity, which induced him to go abroad, 
 with the purpose of communicating with professors of 
 the same art in the institutions of Europe and gaining 
 such fuller information as the Old World was capable 
 of giving. He was assured, however, b)' the European 
 professors, that platform orator}- was more fully de\'el- 
 oped in .Xnicrica than in any other part of the world, 
 and retuined with nu)re confidence in his own powers 
 and the standing of his countr)-. 
 
 He resumed his courses of lectures upon his return, 
 but did not long continue them, resigning in 1S82 and 
 coming to New York, where he accepted the presidency of 
 a large corporation, w hose remunerative offers were suffi- 
 cient to induce him to abandon the promising professional 
 career upon which he had entered. This position he main- 
 tained for two \-cars only, and then resigned to engage 
 in the practice of the law. for which he had thoroughly 
 prepared himself during his course at Boston Uni\ersitj-. 
 
 Mr. h'letcher has been strikingly successful as a lawyer, 
 and has attained a [jrominence in his profession which 
 few reach in so brief a period. His practice is a higlil)- 
 lucrative one, he being attorne\' for a very large number 
 of banks, trust companies, and other corporations. He 
 is conscientious in his treatment of cases, sludj'ing them 
 thoroughly, while he is ]iarticularl}' skillful in mastering 
 the intricacies of tlifllcult cpiestions in great corporate 
 interests. His services are also much availetl of in cases 
 of wills and the management of estates. 
 
 He has been elected a tlirector on the boards of man)- 
 banks anil other corporations, and he is [)resident of the 
 great familj- combination of which we have spoken, the 
 I*"letcher I-'amil)- Union, of which he forms om- of the 
 most worthy and notable representatives. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 283 
 
 CHARLES L. BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 Charles Luman Buckingham, one of the most promi- 
 nent among the younger lawyers of New York, traces 
 his descent from Puritan ancestry, being a lineal descend- 
 ant of Thomas Buckingham, who emigrated to Boston 
 in 1637 and was one of the founders of New Haven and 
 Milford, Connecticut. Mr. Buckingham is in the ninth 
 generation from this original immigrant, and was born 
 October 14, 1852, at Berlin Heights, Ohio. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public sciiools of this 
 locality, after which, at the age of sixteen, he made an 
 extensive journey to the West. On his return home he 
 engaged successfully in some business enterprises, with 
 the object of obtaining means to aid him in a college 
 career. He then entered the Uni\ersit}' of Michigan, 
 from which he graduated with honors in 1S75. 
 
 During his college course Mr. Buckingham proved 
 unusuall}' proficient in mathematics, mechanics, and the 
 princi[)les of ci\il engineering, a profession in which he 
 would undoubtedly have been successful had he under- 
 taken it. This is indicated by the valuable article which 
 lie contributed to Scrilmcr's Magazine, as one of a series 
 furnished in 1889-90 by the leading engineers of this 
 countr\-. His choice of a profession, however, was that 
 (if the law, and he entered the Cnliunbia Law School 
 at Washington, District of Columbia, in which city he at 
 that time held the position of examiner in the Patent 
 Office, a service which was useful to him in that line of 
 legal study. 
 
 Mr. Buckingham continued in the Patent Office after 
 his ailmission to practice, receiving several promotions in 
 this service, but at length decided to remove to New 
 York, as counsel for the Western Union Telegraph 
 Company. Here he entered actively into legal practice, 
 and ciuickly attracted attention b)- his wide knowledge as 
 a patent expert and his brilliant powers as a lawyer. 
 He has since conducted some of the most important 
 patent cases ever tried, and with remarkal)le success, 
 winning cases which in\'ol\'ed enormoLis interests, and 
 when opposed b\' the most eminent patent law}'ers, and 
 by such distinguished attorneys as Senator Conkling and 
 David Dudley Field. The financial importance of the 
 cases which have been intrusted to Mr. Buckingham 
 frequently amounts to immense sums, and calls for the 
 best legal talent for their proper management. In the 
 wide field of patent litigation, Mr. Buckingham's atten- 
 tion has been particularly directed to electrical cases, 
 one of the most important and difficult de[)artments of 
 patent law at the present time. In this department he 
 stands first, his practical experience as an expert, gained 
 from his years of service in the Patent Office, being of 
 
 the utmost advantage to him. His familiarit)- with 
 questions involving the use of electrical power, and his 
 expert scientific knowledge in this direction, with his 
 talent for exhaustive and original investigation, are such 
 as give him pre-eminence in this special branch of prac- 
 tice, in which, in adtlition, the highest legal skill and 
 ability are requisites. 
 
 Mr. Buckingham is notable for his untiring industry, 
 in which he is equaled by lew lawyers who ha\'e at- 
 tained his prominence in the profession. When in- 
 trusted with a case of leading importance, he familiarizes 
 himself with all the patents which bear even remotely 
 upon the question involved, not only those of this 
 country but those of Europe. His technical and me- 
 chanical knowledge also serve him well in this duty, as 
 an aid in the examination of witnesses, in which he occa- 
 sionally solves mechanical jjroblcms which the expert 
 witnesses before him had ne\'er attempted. Aside from 
 this technical skill, Mr. Buckingham enjo\-s the reputa- 
 tion of being one of the most skillful cross-examiners at 
 the bar, while his briefs are distinguished for the clear- 
 ness and origiiialit}- with which they are prepared. 
 
 He is the leading counsel of the W'estern Union and the 
 American District Telegraph Comixmies, and represents 
 various other electrical and kindred corporations. Per- 
 sonally his wide culture and fine conversational powers 
 make him an attractive figure in society. He is a mem- 
 ber of several clubs of New York and Washington, of the 
 Ohio and Electrical Societies of New York, and of the 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
 and the American Institute of PLlectrital Enijineers. 
 
2S4 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JUDGE WILLIAM H. ARNOUX. 
 
 William IIknkv Aknoux, formerly jiiilyc of lliu Supe- 
 rior Court of tile cit)' of New York, is of French descent, 
 his grandfather coming to this country in companj' with 
 Count de Rochambeau during the Revolutionary War, 
 in which he fought and was wounded. ,\fter the war 
 he married a French lady and scttleil in this country, 
 at Vcrgenncs, Vermont. Jutlgc Arnoux's father was 
 brought by his parents to New York City while still a 
 chiltl, and here the son was born and received his edu- 
 cation. The boy was precocious as a scholar, beginning 
 to learn Latin at eight years of age, Greek at eleven, 
 while at fifteen he was prepared to enter Princeton Col- 
 lege, llis father, however, preferring to bring him up 
 to a mercantile life, placed him in a cloth house in New 
 York, where he remained for four )-ears, struggling with 
 a field of work for which nature had not adapted him. 
 At the end of that time his father withdrew him from 
 business and placed him to study law, for which he 
 proved much better fittetl. l*"our jears afterwards he 
 was admitted to the bar. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Horace Molden, in whose office he had 
 studietl, having satisfied himself of the young man's 
 ability anil probable success, offered him a partnership 
 with himself and T. II. Thayer, his son-in-law. This 
 firm continued in existence until 11X58, Mr. Arnoux 
 demonstrating his legal knowledge and ability and gain- 
 ing a promising practice at the bar. Upon the dissolu- 
 tion of the firm he engaged in practice for himself, and 
 continued for ten years without a partner. lie then 
 became a member of the firm of Wright, Merrihew & 
 
 Arnoux, and in 1870 formed the legal partnership of 
 Arnoux, Ritch & Woodford, a business connection which 
 persisted for twelve j'ears subsequently. 
 
 In 1882 Governor Cornell appointed Mr. Arnoux 
 judge of the Superior Court of the city and countv of 
 New York, to succeed Judge Spcir, who had resigned 
 his scat. This appointment led to a contest, Richard 
 O'Gorman claiming the scat. It was decided in favor 
 of Judge Arnoux by the decision of the court, which 
 awarded to him the vacant seat. His term of service as 
 Judge was a short but very active one, in which he made 
 his juilicial abilitv" and earnest intcgrit\- strongK' felt, and 
 established a reputation for skill in the just interpretation 
 of the law. \ igor and determination in sustaining it, and 
 dignity in his administration of his high office. Several 
 questions of grave importance were brought before him, 
 among them the construction of the newly revised Sun- 
 day laws. Judge Arnoux's decisions on these laws were 
 widely approved, the only appeal against theni being 
 subse(iuently abandoned. Brief as was his term of ser- 
 vice, he won the general respect of his profession and 
 the public, ami retired from the bench with a gratif\-iiig 
 reputation. 
 
 After his retirement Judge Arnoux rejoined his firm 
 and entered again activel)' into legal practice. Since that 
 time he has ranked among the leaders of the New York 
 bar. No man is a more enthusiastic lover of his profes- 
 sion or takes a warmer pleasure in legal conflicts or in 
 unraveling the knotty questions with which a lawyer 
 often has to contend. It is his method to study to their 
 depths the pr<il)lcnis with which he has to deal, and as 
 far as possible to settle the question of the law regarding 
 these topics. Many important cases have passed through 
 his hands, and have been liaiullcd with such critical acu- 
 men as to become established precedents in the courts. 
 A notable elevated railroad case handled by him involved 
 so careful and thorougli a research into the early colo- 
 nial history of the State, that it has been printed and 
 circulated as a very valuable treatise on the settlement 
 of the Dutch in New York. 
 
 Judge Arnoux has been an earnest advocate of the 
 cause of governmental reform, and an officer and worker 
 in a number of benevolent anil religious societies. He 
 was one of the founders of the Union League Club and 
 the New ^'ork Bar Association, and was jiresident of 
 the State Har Association in 1889-90, during which he 
 was very active in the celebration of the hundreilth anni- 
 versarv of the formation of the United States Suiireme 
 Court. He is a profound student of the Bible, anil has 
 collated numerous un])ublisheil Biblical manuscripts. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 285 
 
 GEORGE BRUCE. 
 
 George Bruce, a noted type-founder in tlie early 
 years of the century, was a native of Edinburt;;!), Scot- 
 land, where he was born June 26, 1 781, the son of John 
 Bruce, of Wotton, Caithness, Scotland. His father had 
 intcndetl coining to America, but was prex'entetl b\' ill- 
 ness, and in consequence of his son John, a mere lad, 
 being fraudulently enlisted, sent George to America to 
 save him from a similar fate. His older brother, Daniel, 
 had preceded him, antl was established in Philadelphia as 
 a printer. George was just past fourteen on landing in 
 Philatlcl[)liia. His brother received him gladly, and soon 
 found him a place in a printing and binding house, where 
 he continued until he had gained an excellent knowledge 
 of the business. In 1797 he obtained a position in the 
 office of the Philadelphia Garji/ti, where he did press- 
 work, antl also acted as a reporter in obtaining daily in- 
 formation concerning the ravages of the yellow fever epi- 
 demic of that )-ear. He continued this duty tluring the 
 return of the pestilence in 1798, but later in the year 
 went with his brother to New York, to escape the danger 
 of disease. He was taken sick during the journey, re- 
 fused admittance to an inn, and laid in an empty frame 
 building on a dock. Here he recovered, — perhaps through 
 the healing agency of abundance of fresh air. 
 
 The brothers, finding the pestilence as severe in New 
 York as in Philadelphia, proceeded to Alban\% and worked 
 there in a printing-office till the next spring, when they 
 returned to New York and obtained work on the Mercan- 
 tile Advertiser. Din-ing the following two years George 
 was employed on book-work, in the establishments of 
 Isaac Collins, James Crane, and T. & J. Woods. 
 
 About this time the Franklin Typographical Associa- 
 tion was formed by a number of journeymen printers, 
 about fifty in all, George Bruce being elected their secre- 
 tary. He enteretl the office of the Dai/j' Advertiser in 
 1802, when twenty-one years of age, and in the follow- 
 ing year was made foreman of the composing and press- 
 rooms. Shortly afterwards the full control ami respon- 
 sibilit)' of the issuing of the paper were intrusted to his 
 hands, and in the volumes for 1803 to 1805 iiis name 
 appears as i)rinter. Near the end of the last-named year 
 he began business on his own account, undertaking to 
 reprint some books imported from Europe, among them 
 Lavoisier's " Chemistry. " 
 
 He and his brother now went into partnership, under 
 the name D. & G. Bruce, procured a press and type from 
 Philadelphia, and established themselves at the corner of 
 Wall antl Pearl Streets. Here their business pro\-ed \-ery 
 prosperous, and within a few )-ears the\- had the best 
 
 equipped printing-office in New Yoi'k, with nine presses. 
 They reprinted here the Ediiiluiri^/i, Loudon, and Quarterly 
 Re-vieics, and a number of l^ritish books on orders from 
 publishers. 
 
 In 1 81 2 Da\itl ]5ruce\'isited England, to obtain a know 1- 
 edge of the art of stereotyping, then kept a profound 
 secret by the printers of the Cambridge and Oxford Uni- 
 versities, and b\- a Mr. Walker, of London. Mr. Bruce, 
 howe\-er, found money a key to unlock the secret, and in 
 1 8 14 the brothers issued an edition of the New Testa- 
 ment from plates stereotyped in America, and in 1815 an 
 edition of the Bible from stereotype plates. To obtain 
 type suitable for this process the firm was soon forced 
 to establish a type foundry of its own, a branch of the 
 business which in time became its most im[)oitant depart- 
 ment. 
 
 The printing-office was continued till 1822, when Da\id 
 retired. George then confineti his attention to the t\'pe- 
 founding business, and with such success that the present 
 high standard of superiority of American t}'pe was largely 
 due to his efforts. His "punch-cutting" process became 
 so perfected that he produced types of a beauty and 
 symmetry that rivaled the productions of the copper- 
 plate presses, two fonts of " script" cut b}- him being even 
 \et unexcelled. His nephew, David Bruce, Jr., invented 
 "the only type-casting machine that has stood the test of 
 experience, and is now in general use." George Bruce 
 was for years president of the Mechanics' Institute and 
 the Type-Founders' Association, and a member of various 
 other societies. He died in New York, Juh' 5, 1866. His 
 eldest son succeeded him in the type foundr\', from which 
 he has recentl\- retired. ^ 
 
 37 
 
286 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL HENRY WALKE. 
 
 Rkak-Admiral Henky Walke was born in iSo8, in 
 Princess Anne Count)-, Vir<,nnia, on " The Ferry Planta- 
 tion," about ten miles from Norfolk, which was owned and 
 occupied b)' his ancestors for several generations, the first 
 of whom emigrated to this countr\- friim luigland in 1662 
 and settled. He is related by descent or intermarriage to 
 theCalverts, Randolphs, Masons, Meades, and other promi- 
 nent families of Virginia at an early day. His father, An- 
 thony Walke, who emigrated to Ohio in 1 820, and settled 
 near Chillicothe, was a man of considerable culture. He 
 served five terms as a representative in the Legislature 
 of Ohio, and two terms as a .senator from Ross County. 
 
 Mr. Walke entered the navy in 1827, and in 1828 
 came to New York as a midshipman of the United States 
 ship " Natchez," — she was fifteen hours beating u|) fioni 
 Santly Hook to Castle Williams, in a north-east gale. 
 After reaching the navj')-aril the ship was moored to 
 the " Cob-dock," to freeze out the yellow fever (con- 
 tracted at Vera Cruz), by order of Commotlore Chauncey, 
 successor of Commodore li\ans, who designed and com- 
 pleted many of its buildings, walls, ami walks. 
 
 In the cold morning watches Mitlshipman Walke was 
 .sent to the Catherine l-'errj- Market in the tlingy for pro- 
 visions for the officers' breakfast, and if any of the crew 
 deserted, he had to spend his " daj's liberty" in searcii- 
 ing for them, and if not caught or returned to the shij), 
 he had to pay their debts, and thus by early e.xperience 
 he obtained a knowledge of the citj-. He was attached 
 to the "Ontario" when the " l-'ulton" was blown up, by 
 an into.xicated gunner, it was said. The cxjih^sion was 
 terrible, some of the nu n were l)lown into Wall-About 
 Hay, the commander was killeil, and his wife .seriously 
 injured. The mainmast and yards fell with a great crash, 
 killing and wounding quite a number. 
 
 While attached to the same ship, in 1829, off the 
 Western Islands, when she was knocked down on her 
 beam-ends nearly, and her commander. Thomas H. 
 Stevens, called or beckoned for \ olunteers " to go aloft 
 and furl the main-topsail," which had not been furled, 
 and was holding the shij) down (little could be heard or 
 seen in the roaring storm, flapping topsail, and n\iiig 
 spray). Midshipman Walke was the only officer that vol- 
 unteered, and with seven or eight men went aloft, and 
 furled the sail, which, no doubt, saved the ship, as then 
 .stated by the late Admirals Charles H. Davis and J. A. 
 Dahlgren, and 1)\- Mr. Lee, consul-general at Algiers, 
 whose report of the hurricane was soon after published. 
 
 In 1839, after a three \-ears' cruise in the Pacific, he 
 returned to New Y'ork in the 80-gun ship " North Caro- 
 lina," anJ was one of her lieutenants at the time of the 
 Astor Place riot, when the mob was dispersetl b)- Cap- 
 tain J. G. Renolds with his marines and artiller\', and 
 when the old veteran j)rivateer Captain S. !".. Reid was 
 wounded by a pistol-shot. 
 
 From 1836 to 1S53 he served as lieutenant of the 
 " North Carolina" and other ships of war at sea and in 
 this port. She was for many years the most prominent 
 and admired manof-war in this harbor or any other, 
 and was frcquentl\- \isitcil l)\- the people of New \'ork 
 and Prooklyn, as well as by strangers antl foreigners. 
 
 In the war with Me.xico he participated in the cajjture 
 of all her ]irinci[)al ports. He rendered important ser- 
 vice during the civil war, in preventing the capture of 
 Fort Pickens at Pensacola by the Confederates. On 
 the Western waters the gun-boats under his command 
 were always in the fiont line of battle, ami were the 
 leaders in nearly all our \ictories. They were fore- 
 mostly engaged at Helmont, Fort Henr\-, Fort Donelson, 
 twice. Island No. lO, three or four times, Fort Pillow, 
 Memjihis, the Yazoo, Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, twice, ami 
 Simsjiort. He was thus engaged in four times as man)- 
 victories as any other commanding officer, anil as often 
 misrepresented or ignoreil in the official reports, .\fter 
 a month's leave of absence he was placed in commantl 
 of the "Sacramento," and sent in search of the "Ala- 
 bama" in the North and South Atlantic Ocean, and was 
 in close ]5ursuit of that vessel from the Ca|)e of Good 
 Hope when she was sunk by the "Kearsarge." 
 
 He blockaded the " Ri[>pahannock" (of the same class 
 as the "Alabama") for fifteen months, off ami on. at 
 Calais, and after her escape from that port, overtook her 
 in British waters, going into Liverpool, where she re- 
 mained until the end of the war. 
 
 Rear-Admiral Walke, with his familv, has been a resi- 
 dent of New York City and Prookljn for main- years, 
 and he has always felt great interest and pride in their 
 growth and prosperity. He usually sailed from, and 
 returned to, the New Y'ork Na\y-Yard. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 287 
 
 PAY-INSPECTOR ARTHUR BURTIS. U. S. NAVY. 
 
 Arthur Burtis was born in Xcw York, and appointed 
 assistant paymaster from that State by Mr. Lincoln in 
 1862, in accordance with the recjuest of the Honorable 
 Hamilton Fish and Senator Preston King. These cjentle- 
 nien had been classmates of Assistant Pa)-mastcr l^urtis's 
 father, the Rev. Arthur Hurtis, D.D. His grandfather, 
 Arthur Burtis, was an Alderman of the city of New- 
 York from 1 8 13 to 1819. His great-grandfather and 
 great-great-grandfather both served in the Revolutionar)- 
 War; the older being at the time si.xty-four, antl his son 
 twcnt)--two years of age. 
 
 His first orders were to ilut\- under Atlmiral Farragut 
 in the "Sagamore," but on the wa}- there in the supply 
 steamer " Rhode Island" contracted yellow fever, and 
 he was sent north. He was then, upon recov'ering his 
 health, ordered to the " Connecticut," employed in con- 
 vo)-ing the California steamers through the Caribbean 
 Sea, rendered necessary by the fact that the "Alabama" 
 hatl recentl}- o\'erhauletl the " .\riel," with mails and pas- 
 sengers. The " Connecticut," of the North Atlantic 
 ]-51ocking Squadron, was next on the blockade, capturing 
 four noted blockade-runners, all with valuable cargoes. 
 She also caused the destruction of four more, in the 
 course of which duty she was engaged with Fort 
 Fisher. 
 
 From 1S64 to 1866 Paymaster Burtis was attached to 
 the " JNIuscoota," of the Gulf Squadron, and had the 
 3'ellow fe\'er a second time on board that vessel, off the 
 Rio Grande, in 1866. The only medical officer died, and 
 the vessel went to Pensacola, where she received a sur- 
 geon and other officers necessary to take the ship north. 
 She proceeded to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where 
 the ship's company were landed and placed in quarantine. 
 
 While in the " Muscoota," he was promoted to pay- 
 master May 4, 1 866. 
 
 From 1867 to 1S69 he was stationed at League Island. 
 From 1870 to 1873 was attached to the "Brooklyn," 
 which ship brought the body of Admiral Farragut from 
 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to New York, and then 
 W'Cnt for a cruise in European waters. In 1871 he was 
 appointed fleet-paymaster. 
 
 L^pon his return home, after service at the Bureau 
 of Provisions and Clothing, Navy Department, 1873, 
 he became inspector of provisions and clothing at the 
 navy-yard, Philadelphia, from 1874 to 1877. Most of 
 the time he had the additional duty of paymaster of the 
 receiving-ship "St. Louis." In 1878 he was a member 
 of the Board of Examiners. He was again ordered to 
 League Island, but after about a year's service there 
 went to the practice-ship "Constellation" for her sum- 
 mer cruise with the cadets of the Naval Academy. 
 
 After this he was for some time on special duty at na\}' 
 pay office. New York. From 1883 to 1886 he was at- 
 tached to the " Galena," of the North Atlantic Squad- 
 ron. The " Galena" was at Aspinwall in the spring of 
 
 1885. Duiing the rebellion on the Isthmus, and when 
 that city was burned, the officers and crew of the siiip 
 prevented much destruction of property and loss of life. 
 The " Galena" also captured at St. Andrcw-'s Island tlic 
 filibustering steamer " City of Mexico" in February, 
 
 1886. From June, 1886, to May, i88g, was the pay- 
 master of the nav\--yard, New York. He next went to 
 the " Vermont," receiving-ship at New York, anil in 
 January, 1890, was ordered as fleet pa)-master of the 
 Pacific Squadron in the flag-ship " Charleston." The 
 " Charleston" brought King Kalakau from the Sand- 
 wich Islands to California, and took his remains back to 
 Honolulu in January, 1891. From the " Charleston" he 
 was transferred to the flag-ship "San Francisco," 31st 
 March, 1891. The "San Francisco" was in Chili during 
 the revolution in 189 1, and was in Valparaiso when 
 Balmaceda's army was defeated and the Congressional 
 forces captured that city, August 28, 1891. Was pro- 
 moted to pay inspector 21st September, 1891 ; was de- 
 tached from the flag-ship " San Francisco" 30th January, 
 1892. He is at present in charge of the pa}' office at 
 the New York Navy-Y'ard. 
 
 Received the honorary degree of A.M. from Hobart 
 College. Member of the Saint Nicholas Society, of New 
 Y'ork, the Holland Society, of New York, the Sons of 
 the American Revolution, the " Kappa Alpha" Society, 
 the Saint Nicholas Club, of New York, the Union Club, 
 of New York, the Council of the Military Order of the 
 Loval Leeion, and Member of the Colonial Order of the 
 Acorn. 
 
28S 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN B. TRHVOR. 
 
 John Hond Tri:vok, long ])romincntIj' connected 
 with the stock excliange business in New York, was 
 born in Philadelpliia, March 27, 1822. He was of 
 English parentage, being the grandson of Samuel 
 Trevor, who on coming to this country settled at Con- 
 nells\ille, I'ennsj-lvania. His father, John V>. Trevor, 
 Served for several terms as a nieinhcr nf the Pennsylva- 
 nia State Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Trevor spent his early life in I'hiladclpliia, was 
 educated there, and began his i)usiness career in a wiiole- 
 sale dry-goods house, in which he remained for five years. 
 He went to New York in 1849, and in January of the 
 following year was made a member of the Stock Ex- 
 change, upon whose floor his judgment and power of 
 quick decision soon gained him an excellent stantling. 
 His business connection was with the stock brokerage 
 firm of Cirpenter, \'aii Dvke i<: Trevor, formetl that 
 year, and continued for two \-ears, when it was diss(jlved, 
 and Mr. Trevor entered into partnership with James R. 
 Colgate, under the firm-name of Trex'or & Colgate. 
 
 Vox twenty years this firm continued to do a prosper- 
 ous bu.sine.ss. In 1872 Mr. Trevor withdrew, with the pur- 
 pose of retiring from business, but after a few months of 
 retirement he re-entered the firm, which had assumed 
 the name of J. B. Colgate & Co., a title which it pre- 
 serves to the present day. Eor more than thirty years 
 this house diil the largest brokerage and bullion busi- 
 ness of an)- establishment on Wall .Street, and with a 
 .skill, judgment, and business caution that carried it 
 safely through all the financial crises that li,i\e jjecn 
 known on that street. Ne\er once did it fail to live up 
 to an Liiji'M inent, — .i fict .ilmost witlmut parallel in the 
 
 financial story of Wall Street. This record was largel)' 
 the result of Mr. Trevor's sagacity and foresight. His 
 long experience, combined with his native intelligence 
 and business shrewdness, made his opinions highly re- 
 spected, and many of the pmniincnt capitalists of New 
 York sought his advice, while numerous financial poli- 
 cies were trusted to his judgment. In all his life he was 
 a man of the strictest integrit)-, straightforward in his 
 business methods, and with an innate haired of sli.un and 
 hypocrisy. 
 
 Mr. Trevor was of a modest and retiring disposition, 
 strongly religious in sentiment, and during his whole 
 mature life a member of the Baptist Church. He, in 
 conjunction with Mr. Colgate, contributed the entire cost 
 of the Warburton Axeiuie Baptist Church in Yonkers, 
 one of the finest church edifices in the .State, and with 
 which he was for many years officiall}- connected. Ik- 
 was in addition a generous contributor to m.uiy interests 
 connected with the Ba]Hist ilenomination. 
 
 The subject of Christian education elicited his warmest 
 sympathy and support, he giving many generous dona- 
 tions to this cause. The Rochester Theological Semi- 
 nary and the Rochester University, in particular, were 
 the recipients of his bounty, and owed to him their 
 chief support in the darkest days of their careers. They 
 had declined during the war, and it was by his ;u'd the)- 
 were placed on a self-supporting basis. He continued to 
 contrilnite largely to these institutions until his death, the 
 .seminary receiving Si 25.000. and the university S170.000. 
 from him after 1875, with a pledge of 550,000 more to the 
 university shortly before his death. He donated to them 
 also Trevor Hall and the gymnasium. Colgate Univer- 
 sity — then called Hamilton — receixeil a large donation 
 fiom his hands. 
 
 I-'or many years Mr. Trevor was jiresiilent of the hoard 
 of trustees of Rochester Theological Seminar)-, and a 
 member of the board of the university. The trustees 
 of the seminary, grateful for his generous aid, proposed 
 to name their institution after him, but this he decisi\el)' 
 refused. In addition to the institutions named, Mr. 
 Trevor contributed liberally to missionary societies at 
 home antl abroad anti to needy churches in various 
 States, his total benefactions during his life amounting to 
 more than a million dollars. 
 
 Politically he was a Republican. He contributed 
 freel)- to the ])art\- funds, but declined all partici])ation in 
 political honors, with the one exception that he consented 
 to serve as Presidential elector in the Garfield and .\rlhur 
 campaign. He was well \ersed in the jjolitical anil 
 social cpiestions of the lia)-, but his native reserve caused 
 him to shrink from ;ni)- oflficial posts of dut)-. Mr. 
 Trevor died December 22, 1S90. leaving a wife and four 
 chililren, two sons and two daughters. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 289 
 
 SILAS S. PACKARD. 
 
 Silas Sadler Packard, widely known in the field of 
 literature and education, was born at Cuniniin<jton, Mas- 
 sachusetts, April 28, 182C, being a descendant in the 
 sixth generation of Samuel Packard, who came from 
 England to the Plymouth Colony in 163S. His father, 
 Chester Packard, was a skilled mechanic, who built, 
 largel)- with his own hands, a woolen factor}' in Cum- 
 niington, devised its machinery, and finally operated it. 
 He removed in 1833 to P'redonia, a village of Licking 
 Count)-, Ohio. Here his son Silas, whose native turn 
 was stronglj' directed towards literature, found but scanty 
 educational opportunities. At the age of fifteen he en- 
 tered the academy at Granville, six miles from his home, 
 and spent there two terms, supporting himself mean- 
 while by sawing and splitting wood, making garden, and 
 caring for a horse. He proved a ver_\- ajit scholar in 
 grammar and mathematics, was skillful at "composition," 
 and displa)'cd unusual powers in penmanship. 
 
 He began teaching penmanship when sixteen, and 
 afterwards taught a country school, " boarding round" 
 according to the Western custom at that date. He went 
 to Kentucky in 1845, and there taught writing and other 
 branches for two years, also doing a little at portrait- 
 painting, of which he had gained some slight knowl- 
 edge. Of his triumphs in this direction the most notable 
 was the portrait of an old man with a corn-cob pipe, the 
 family dog recognizing the pipe witli manifestations of 
 delight. 
 
 In 184S he obtained a position as writing teacher in 
 Partlett's Commercial College, Cincinnati, where he re- 
 mained till 1850, afterwards teaching for one year in 
 Adrian, Michigan, and two years in Lockport, New 
 York. In the spring of 1853 he removed to Tona- 
 wanda. New York, and there established a weekly paper, 
 the Niagara River Pilot, which he conducted for three 
 years, advocating vigorously but unsuccessfulh' the di- 
 version of the lake traffic from the ice-bound harbor of 
 Buffalo to the more open and extensive one of Tona- 
 wanda. 
 
 Mr. Packard began teaching again in 1856, becoming 
 associated with Brwant & Stratton in the management of 
 their Buffalo business college. Shortly afterwards he 
 joined with Mr. Stratton in organizing a Bryant & Strat- 
 ton college at Chicago, and in 1857 he organized a similar 
 college in Albany. He came to New York City in the 
 succeeding year and there opened the Bryant, Stratton 
 & Packard College in the Cooper Union building, of 
 which he was the first tenant. 
 
 Shortlj' after his advent in New York he established 
 a moiitliK- magazine, the Aiiuricaii McrcJiaiit, which. 
 
 however, had but a brief period of existence. During 
 1859 and i860 his leisure from school duties was occu- 
 pied in preparing the Bryant & Stratton series of text- 
 books, which are still used as standard works in business 
 colleges generally, and also in other schools. His ne.xt 
 literar)- enterprise was the jjublication of Packard's 
 Moiitiily, issued and edited b}- him from 1868 to 1S70. 
 This periodical became quite popular and ]3ro\-ed a sub- 
 stantial success. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Packard purchased the interest of his 
 partners in the college, and changed its name to that 
 which it continues to hear, Packard's Business College. 
 This college now occupies the building formerly occu- 
 pied by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at 
 Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue, and has at- 
 tained a reputation which places it on a level with the 
 best business colleges in the country. Mr. Packard is 
 the oldest living business college teacher who has been 
 continually employed in that work, and is looked upon 
 as the acknowledged leader in that department of edu- 
 cation, while the great development of business colleges 
 is largely due to his industr)-, ability, and liberality, 
 he having constantly striven to advance other interests 
 than his own. The Business Educators' Association of 
 America was mainly established by him, and the com- 
 mercial schools of France, particularly those of Paris 
 and Rouen, were based in great measure on the methods 
 pursued in his school. The same may be said of the 
 " Bureau Commercial" of the Antwerp School of Busi- 
 ness. The Business College Exhibit at the Chicago 
 World's Fair was largely conducted under Mr. Packard's 
 direction and inspiration. # 
 
290 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 OLIV'HK HOYT. 
 
 Ui.UKR HovT was born at Staiiifoicl, Connecticut, 
 August 20, 1S23, the son of Joseph B. Hoyt, and the 
 descendant of a prominent New England frimily. Of 
 the American Hoyts, tlie first on record, Simon Iloyt, 
 came from Somerset, England, before 162S, being gi\cn 
 in tiie list of the first settlers of Cliailestuwn, Massachu- 
 setts, in that )'ear. He and his tlesccndants pla\-ed an 
 active part in colonial New England history, and Samuel 
 Iloyt, great grandfather of the subject of our sketch, a 
 large land-holder at Stamford, was a sergeant in tJie 
 Revolutionary War. 
 
 Oliver IIr)yt received his education in the schools of 
 his native town. He learned the leather business, became 
 proficient in it, and in 1844, when twenty-one years of 
 age, formed a partnership with his brotiier William, 
 establishing in the district then known as " the Swamp," 
 in the city of New York, the leather house of W. & O. 
 Iloyt, which in time became one of the greatest and 
 most reliable in the metroi)olis. The original firm-name 
 was retained fi>r ten \-ears, when Joseph, another brother, 
 was admitted, and the title changed to Iloyt Brothers, 
 under which the later great reputation of the house was 
 gained. I'our years subsecpiently another brollier, the 
 youngest of the ten children of the family, Mark IIo\'t, 
 was admitted. Iloyt Brothers have pursued a highly 
 prosperous business career, and are now leading members 
 of the United States Leather Company, a consoliiiation of 
 the chief tanning interests of the country, with a capital 
 of Si 2,000,000, and by far the greatest entcrjirise ever 
 organized in the leather iiulustr)-. 
 
 Outside the prosperous firm in which Oliver Hoyt 
 was a leading member, he became connected with other 
 interests and was an active participant in public affairs. 
 He took part in the incorporation of the National Park 
 Bank, and was one of its directors during the remainder 
 of his life. He was also, for many years, on the board 
 of directors of the Home ami tJie Ph(eni.\ Insurance 
 Companies. Politicalh- he was a stanch Republican, 
 and took an active part in political affairs, serving for 
 three terms as State .senator in Connecticut, during two 
 of which he acted as president />ro ton. of the Senate. 
 He served in 1878 as chairman of the Joint Special Com- 
 mittee on Federal Relations and of the Committee on 
 State E.Kpenditures. In 1879 he was offered the nomina- 
 tion for governor of Connecticut, but declined the hcaior ; 
 and it has been stated that " there was no civil apjjoint- 
 mcnt uiulcr the general go\crnment that President Grant 
 would not have bestowed on Mr. Hoj-t, but political 
 offices had no attraction for him." 
 
 Mr. llo\'t was an ardent and unswerving friend and 
 su])portcr of General Grant throughout his career. He 
 \oted for him in 1872 as a member of the board of 
 Presidential electors, was one of the contributors and 
 trustees of the fund of $250,000 raised in New York 
 for his benefit in the rev'erses of his later years, and 
 an earnest advocate and supporter of the great general 
 until death carrietl him awa}-. 
 
 Aside from business and political relations, Mr. Hoyt 
 took a warm interest in religion and philanthropy. He 
 was an active member of the Methoiiist Church, on 
 whose General Conference he served for three terms, 
 while for years he was equally active and efficient in 
 the board of the General Missionary Society and was 
 treasurer of the Board of Education of the Church. 
 He representetl this Church in 1881 as a delegate to the 
 International Assembly of Methodists in London. He 
 gave freely of his means in support of the benevolent 
 and other interests of the Methodist Church, and also 
 of other institutions, his gifts to religious and educa- 
 tional interests being so numerous that we can nierely 
 refer to them. In educational matters he was particularlv 
 interested in and a free contributor to Wesleyan Univer- 
 sity, Cornell College, and the Iowa Wesleyan University. 
 
 To the various subjects of interest mentioned we may 
 add that of the temperance cau.se, of which Mr. Hoyt 
 was a vigorous advocate, being an untiring enem\- of 
 the liquor traffic, and a close frientl of General Clinton 
 B. Fisk, the Prohibition canditlate for President. Mr. 
 Hoyt died May 5, 18S7, as the result of an accitlent, he 
 being thrown from his carriage while driving, and se- 
 verely injured. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 291 
 
 MARK HOYT. 
 
 Joseph Blachlev Hovt, of Stamford, Connecticut, of 
 wliose ancestry mention has been made in our sketch 
 of Oliver Hoyt, had a family of ten children, of whom 
 Mark, the youngest, was born May 5, 1835. His early 
 education was such as could be had at the Stamford 
 [lublic schools, his studies being completed at a boarding- 
 school in Darien, Connecticut. His father, who pursued 
 the business of farming, and se\-eral of whose children 
 IkkI left home to engage in mercantile business, wished 
 to keep his )-oungest son at home, and train him up to 
 succeetl him on the farm. But the boy had no taste for 
 rural pursuits, his aspirations being towards a more 
 active and stirring career. Several of his older brothers 
 were engaged in the leather business, and in compliance 
 with his strong desire his father apprenticed him, when 
 si.xtcen \-cars of age, to a term of fi\-c years in the 
 leather and tanning trade. 
 
 This service was begun in Ulster County, New York, 
 and continued here for three years, the last two years of 
 his apprenticeship being served in New York City. On 
 the comjiletion of this period of instruction and hard 
 work he spent three years as a clerk in the establishment 
 of liis brothers, William, 01i\er, and Joseph, who had 
 recently, under the title of Hoyt Brothers, founded a 
 leather house in New Y^ork. Mark qiiickl)- showed 
 himself the equal of his brothers in business ability, and 
 at the end of his period of clerkship was admitted as a 
 partner in the firm. 
 
 This house, now one of the most extensive antl wealth}- 
 in the leatlier business in this country, has its principal 
 warehouse and offices at 72 Gold Street, New York. 
 It owns large bark lands and tanneries in renns^-lvania 
 and New Y'ork, and, aside from its business in this coun- 
 try, enjoys a large export trade with Europe, — principally 
 with England. Mark Hoyt withdrew from the firm in 
 1868, and entered the brokerage business under the name 
 of Mark Hoyt & Co. He continued this, however, only 
 for two \-ears, returning in 1S70 to the firm of Hoyt 
 Brothers, w ith w hich he has since remained, antl of which 
 he is now the leading spirit. 
 
 In the earl}- part of 1893 Mr. Hoyt took an active 
 part in j^romoting the organization of the United States 
 Leather Company, much the greatest enterprise ever 
 undertaken in the leather business, and rankincr hi<7h for 
 magnitude and solidity among the \-arious consolidated 
 mercantile organizations of the present day. This great 
 trust, a consolidation of the principal tanning interests of 
 this country, has a capital of Si 2,000,000, half of which 
 represents the cash values of the properties included. 
 
 Mark Ho_\-t has been principally instrumental in its or- 
 ganization, and was chosen its first vice-presitlent. It is 
 managed by a board of twenty-seven directors, of whom 
 Mr. Hoyt is one of the most active and prominent. 
 
 Mr. Hoyt has a war record which calls for our atten- 
 tion. Politically he has always been a Republican, voting 
 for I-'remont for President in 1856, and for ever\- Repub- 
 lican candidate since. After the outbreak of the ci\il war 
 he heartily entered into the conflict, raising the One 
 Hundred and Seventy-sixth Regiment of New York 
 Volunteers. This regimental organization, known as the 
 " Ironsides," was mustered into the United States service, 
 under Colonel Hoyt, on December 22, 1862, and left 
 New York for the fiont in Januar\-, 1863. It ser\-ed in 
 the campaigns about New Orleans and on the Red 
 River, and later in V'irginia and the Carolinas, and 
 was mustered out of ser\icc at Sa\'annah on April 
 27, 1866. 
 
 Since the close of his military service Colonel Hoyt 
 has given much attention to the subject of public edu- 
 cation, being a warm adxocate of an extension of the 
 facilities for higher education. He is a trustee of the 
 Adelphia Academ\-, in Brooklyn ; of the VVcsleyan Uni- 
 versity, Middlctown, Connecticut; of the American Uni- 
 versity, Washington, District of Columbia ; and trustee 
 and treasurer of the Drew Theological Seminary, Madi- 
 son, New Jersey. He is also a trustee of the Brooklyn 
 Museum of Arts and Sciences, and religiously has long 
 been a member of the Methodist Church. He has two 
 children, one, Mark Hoyt, Jr., being connected with the 
 Boston branch of the firm. • 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 \HRY RHV. HUGENE AUGUSTUS HOFFMAN, 
 D.D.. I.I..I).. D.C.L. 
 
 I'lii'. \'ci>- Rc\'. Eugene Augustus Hoffman, 1)1)., 
 LL.D., IJ.C.L., dean of the General Theological Scni- 
 in:ir\'. is the representative of an old Knickerbocker 
 family, being sixth in descent from Martinus llollnian, 
 who came to tliis country from llnUand in 1640. In 
 the registers of the old Dutch churches of New York, 
 Kingston, and Red Hook are to be found continuous 
 records of the births, marriages, and burials of tile Hoff- 
 mans, who occupied an honorable and influential jjosi- 
 tion in Ulster and Dutchess Counties, while the State 
 annals make honorable mention of the ser\ices rendered 
 by the ancestors of Dean Hoffman to the colonial gov- 
 ernment, and later U> that of the republic, in both militar)- 
 and civil offices. 
 
 His father, Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, who was born 
 in New York in 1802, and ilied in 1880, was admitted to 
 the bar, and practiced law for a few years, retiring in 
 1828. He established the celebrated dry-goods commis- 
 sion house of Hoffman & Waklo, in which he afterwards 
 became a special partner. He was a trustee of several 
 charitable institutions and a director of the Republic and 
 Hoffman I'ire Insurance CoTnpanies. He married Glor- 
 \ina Kossell Storm, b)' whom he had two sons, both of 
 whom are in the ministrv of the Episcopal Church. 
 
 luigene ^Augustus Hoffman was born in New York, 
 March 21, 1829. He was educated at Columbia Gram- 
 niar-School and Rutgers College, where he was gradu- 
 ated at the age of eighteen. Eroni Rutgers lie went to 
 Harvard, receiving from that university tlic degrees of 
 H.A. and MA. successively. He entered the General 
 Theological Seminary in 1848, graduating in 185 1, and 
 was ordained ileacon by Hishop Doane, of New Jersey, 
 the same year. His parochial work, lasting from 1851 
 
 to 1879, was in Christ Church, Elizabeth, N. J., St. 
 Mary's Church, Burlington, N. J., Grace Church, 
 Brooklyn Heights, and St. Mark's Church, Philadel- 
 phia, of which parishes he was successiveK' rector. In 
 all these parishes he left his mark in churches and 
 parish buildings erected or freed from debt, congregations 
 gathered in, and an increased earnestness among his 
 flock, and in e\ er_\- case of a severance from his parochial 
 comiection it was with deep regret and ni,in\- tokens of 
 respect and affection on the part of his parisiiioners. He 
 was also, during these years, an active member of the 
 boards of trustees of the \arious diocesan institutions. 
 
 In 1879 he accepted the office of dean of the General 
 Theological .Seminary. The inscription to Sir Christo- 
 pher Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral might well be written 
 of Dean Hoffman in Chelsea Square, " .SV iiioiiuiiuiitiiiii 
 nqiiiris, ciiriiiiispicc," for the present Theological Sem- 
 inary is an enduring monument of his energy, devotion, 
 and ability. Previous to his election the seminary had 
 been languishing for lack of funds ; the professors' ser- 
 vices were ill-reciuited ; the buiklings were unsanitary 
 and inadequate to the needs of tlie institution. Dean 
 Ilol'fman set himself to repair all this, calletl a meeting 
 of gentlemen to co-operate with him, and in the si.xteen 
 years that ha\e ekqised since his ap|ioiiitment has secured 
 by his efforts and the munificence of himself and his family 
 over a million dollars to the seminary. A magnificent 
 pile of buildings, forming the cast quadrangle of Chel.sea 
 Square, now presents an imposing front on Ninth Axenue, 
 and extends down Twentieth and Twenty-first Streets, 
 including fi\c halls as dormitories for the students, a 
 fire-proof librar\- building, lecture-rooms for the dif- 
 ferent professors, professors' houses, and a beautiful 
 Memorial Cha[)el, erected by the mother of the ilean 
 in memory of her hiisb.md l)niing Dean iloffinan's 
 tenure of office, also, two new professorships ha\e been 
 establisheil and three professorships have been amply 
 endowed by iiimself and family, as has also the office of 
 dean. 
 
 Dean Hoffman is a man of tibilitj- and culture, a mem- 
 ber of most of the literary and scientific societies of New 
 York, and oui' whom the colleges and universities of 
 this countr)- anti Canada have delightetl to honor by the 
 conferring of degrees. He is also a \aluable arul ener- 
 getic memiKi of the boards of the chief ciiurcli charities, 
 and has rejiresented the diocese of New York in tlie last 
 five General Conventions. He is a remarkable instance 
 of a combination of great business powers, — which he 
 exorcises in the administration and personal supervision 
 of his jiroperty, — executive abilitj- in the conduct of any 
 interests committed to him, ami devoted churchmanship. 
 I le is a man of wide .sympathies, and gives out of his 
 abimd.ince largel)-, but uiiostentatiousK", to man)- public 
 and private charities. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 293 
 
 ALONZO B. CORNELL. 
 
 Alonzo B. Cornell, Go\-crnor nf New York from 
 1880 to 1883, was born at Ithaca, in that State, January 
 22, 1832. He received an cdLication in an academy at 
 his native place, and early in life engaged in the business 
 of telegraphy, entering an office at Tro}', New York. 
 His father, Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell Uni\ersity, 
 had been associated with Professor Morse in the building 
 of the first telegraph line, and in 1854 took a prominent 
 part in the formation of the Western Union Telegraph 
 Compan\% by the consolidation of several of the early 
 companies. The son entered actively into the spirit of 
 his father's business, becoming successively operator, 
 manager, superintendent, and director in the original 
 companies and in the Western Union, and eventually 
 \ice president and president of the latter organization. 
 
 In 1869 President Grant appointed Mr. Cornell sur- 
 veyor of customs for the port of New York, an office 
 whose duties he performed so satisfactorily that in the 
 subsequent year he was nominated by the President 
 assistant treasurer of the United States at New York. 
 He declined this nomination, however, preferring to re- 
 tain his post in the customs. In 1872 he was nominated 
 and elected to the New York State Legislature, which he 
 resigned his official position to accept. He had had no 
 previous experience in parliamentary proceedings and 
 the Legislature contained numerous men of great legis- 
 lative experience, yet Mr. Cornell was paid the imprece- 
 dented compliment to a new member of an unanimous 
 choice for the office of Speaker by the action of the 
 Republican caucus. There could have been no higher 
 testimonial of the estimate which was placed on his 
 intelligence and political ability by the members of his 
 party, and he justified the confidence placed in him by 
 a successful discharge of his duty as presiding officer. 
 
 At the close of his term of office he declined a re- 
 nomination, though an election would ha\c been certain 
 to follow, preferring to resume the duties of his position 
 as vice-president of the Western L^nion Telegraph Com- 
 pany. In the year 1875 he served as acting president 
 of the company, during the long absence in Europe 
 of its president, William Orton. Near the close of 1876 
 President Grant appointed him naval officer of customs 
 for the port of New York, a position which he held till 
 July, 1878, when, through factional opposition, based on 
 political motives exclusively, he and Collector Arthur 
 were suspended from their positions by President Hayes. 
 The feeling of the people concerning this suspension was 
 demonstrated at the ensuing election, when Mr. Cornell 
 was elected Governor of the State of New York and 
 General Arthur Vice-President of the United States. 
 
 Governor Cornell took his seat January i, 1880, and 
 served three years with great popular satisfaction, his 
 administration being distinguished for economy, freedom 
 
 38 
 
 from official scandal, and general excellence in its ap- 
 pointments. He vetoed a number of prominent bills, in 
 eveiy case with public approval. ^Vmong these meas- 
 ures were the code of criminal procedure passed by the 
 1880 Legislature, the Croton aqueduct bill, the appropria- 
 tion bill for the new capitol building, the general street 
 railway bill of 1882, and man)- others, all of them con- 
 taining features which rendered them obnoxious to his 
 idea of the public good. His uncompromising vetoes of 
 the supply bills were cordially approved by the people 
 as remedies urgently needed for the correction of ex- 
 tra\-agant and scandalous legislation. 
 
 While thus opposing all acts likely to be detrimental 
 to the public service. Governor Cornell sustained all 
 legislation of a salutary and useful character. The act 
 making women eligible as school-electors and school- 
 ofificers was recommended and approved b_\- him. In 
 1882 he recommended an amendment to the usurj- laws 
 which has proved to be a financial measure of the high- 
 est importance, and one which has gone further towards 
 making New York City one of the chief monetary centres 
 of the world than any other legislative act. The State 
 railway commission was strongly urged b\- him, and 
 various other important measures were advanced or sus- 
 tained. His final annual message was an admirable 
 document in its exposition of the affairs of the State. 
 
 Governor Cornell was a candidate for rcnomination in 
 1882, but was set aside by the politicians of the party, 
 who did not approve of his course. The dissatisfaction 
 I caused b>- this action resultctl in a large Republican 
 support of the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, 
 j who was elected by nearly two hundred thousand ma- 
 jority. Mr. Cornell has not since Jhtered political life. 
 He resides in New York Cit)-, occupied with business 
 interests. 
 
294 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 RF.V. ISAAC FKRRIS, D.I). 
 
 Early in the .seventeenth centiiiv' Jnlm l-"enis, an 
 inimi;^rant from Leicc.stersliire, lui^'land, .settled in tlie 
 town of Fairfield, Connecticut, and at a later period be- 
 came one of the proprietors of Throckmorton's Neck, 
 in Westchester County, New York. His descendants 
 subsequently resided in this locality, his great-grandson. 
 Captain John Ferris, being the father of Isaac Ferris, the 
 subject of our sketch, who was born in tlie city of New 
 York, on tlie 9th day of October, 1798. lie was ])re- 
 parcd for college b\' the celebratcil blind classical teacher. 
 Professor Ncilson, and cm reaching a proper age entereil 
 at Columbia College, from which he graduated in the 
 class of 1816. Among his classmates were I'rcdcrick 
 dc Peystcr, John Ireland, James VV. Eastburn, and Rich- 
 ard Codman, all well-known personages in subsequent 
 years. 
 
 Immediately after his graduation Mr. l-'erris became 
 instructor in Latin in the Albany Academy. He had, 
 however, decided to devote himself to the ministry, and 
 retiring from his ])osition as instructor, he entered the 
 Theological Seminary, from which lie graduateil in 1820. 
 He now spent a short ])eriod in missionary duty in the 
 Mohawk Valley, which was followed b)' an offer of a 
 position in the Theological Seminar)- to succeeil I )r. 
 John M. Mason, and also a call to the pastorate of the 
 Dutch Church, at New Hrnnsuiik, New Jersey, which 
 
 he accepted in preference to the professorship. In 1S22 
 he was elected a trustee of Queen's (now Rutgers) Col- 
 lege in that city. In October, 1824, he became pastor 
 of the Midillc Dutch Church, at Albany, New- York, 
 where he continued for twcKc \'ears. 
 
 In 1833, Ml'. I'crris was honored with the degree of 
 D.D. from L'nion College; and in 1853 that of LL.D. 
 w-as conferred upon him by Columbia College. In 1856 
 he was called to the Market Street Church, then the 
 most fashionable church in the aristocratic old seventh 
 ward of New York City, with which he remained con- 
 nected for a long period subsequently. 
 
 Dr. Ferris was one of the corporate members of the 
 American lioard of Foreign Missions, his service in which 
 has received the honorable recognition of the large girls' 
 school in Yokohama bcmg named Ferris Seminary. In 
 1840 he became connected with the American Bible 
 Society, with which he remained long associated. He 
 was also largely instrumental in organizing the Young 
 Men's Christian Association of New York, while Rutgers 
 Female Seminary, more recently known as Rutgers Fe- 
 male College, one of the first institutions to afford higher 
 education for women in the world, was j)Iannetl and 
 established In' him. 
 
 In 1852, 1)\- unanimous vote. Dr. Ferris was cho.sen 
 chancellor of the University of New York, a post of 
 dut>- which called at that time for the highest qualit)- of 
 organizing skill and the most unremitting devotion. He 
 found the university at the lowest jiossible ebb, over- 
 whelmed with debt, with no means, and a mere handful 
 of stutleiits. I'"rom this threatening condition Dr. Ferris 
 rescued it. With his rare e.\ecuti\e abilit), and by great 
 personal elTort, he put the college on its feet, jjaid its 
 debts, secured for it a liberal endowment, and left it a 
 prosperous institution, after which, in 1S70, he retired 
 from acti\e dut)- at the uni\ersit)', antl became Chancel- 
 lor Emeritus. Soon afterwards he removed to Koselle, 
 New Jersey, where he ended an active and useful life on 
 the 13th of June, 1873. 
 
 Dr. Ferris was tall, of very large frame, and much 
 dignity of manner. He was a man of great benevolence 
 and amiability, genial ami sympathetic in his intercourse 
 with his parishioners, and wiilely esteccmed in the com- 
 munity of his residence. He was eminent as a scholar, 
 of imtiring industr_\- in his ijroles^ional duties, and was 
 much beloveil by all who came into intim.ite contact 
 with him. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 295 
 
 MORRIS P. FERRIS. 
 
 MoRKis Patterson Ferris, prominent among the 
 }-oungcr members of the legal profession in New York- 
 City, is a son of Rc\\ Isaac Ferris, D.D., LL.D., for 
 many years a leading churchman of the metropolis and 
 chancellor of its university, and Letitia Storm. He was 
 born October 3, 1855, in New York City, which has 
 remained his place of residence throughout his career. 
 He was educated at the University of New York, from 
 which he was a member of the class of 1874. Having 
 decideti tn follow the law as his profession, he entered 
 the University Law School, where, after a full course 
 of study in legal principles and practice, he graduated 
 in 1876. He was immediate!)' admitted to the bar, 
 his law school work having been supplemented by two 
 years' study in the offices of Brown, Hall & Vander- 
 poel, and Vanderpoel, Green & Cuming, an experience 
 which amply fitted him for a successful career in the jiro- 
 fession he had chosen. 
 
 Before settling down to practice, Mr. Ferris tra\eled 
 extcnsixel)- in the United States, partly as a rela.\ation 
 from his \-ears of close application at school- work, partly 
 from a laudable ambition to widen his knowledge of man 
 and affiiirs b)' that experience which is onl)- to be ob- 
 tained from tra\el. This probationary period at an end 
 he returned to New York, prepared to engage actively 
 in practice, and formed there a legal partnership with 
 Hon. John A. Taylor, corporation counsel of the city of 
 Brookl)-n under Mayor Seth Low. The firm thus or- 
 ganized, that of Taylor & Ferris, proved successful from 
 the start, and in the years of its existence gained an 
 extensive law practice, in which Mr. Ferris proved him- 
 self a counselor of great skill and ability. He continued 
 associated with Mr. Ta\-lor until 1890, since which date 
 Mr. I'erris has practiced alone. He has an e.xtensi\-e 
 and lucrative business, ha\'ing been intrusted with the 
 
 charge of some large estates and litigations, while his 
 legal standing is of a high grade, and his practice steadily 
 augmenting. 
 
 In politics he is an ardent Republican, and was for 
 several years a member of the executive committee of 
 the Brooklyn Young Republican Club. He has not, 
 however, sought for political honor, the duties of his 
 profession leaving him no leisure for such occupation. 
 His spare hours, indeed, are otherwise and doubtless 
 more creditably filled, he having devoted his leisure 
 hours for many years to an ardent and enthusiastic study 
 of the local history and genealogy of the city of New 
 York, a course of stud\- which has led to many interest- 
 ing results, and in which he has accumulated a large 
 amount of curious data and \aluable material. 
 
 His researches in this direction have led him into 
 membership in the Long Island Historical Societ)- 
 and the New York Genealogical and Biographical 
 Society, in the work of both of which he is earnestly 
 interested. Other associations having cognate purposes 
 of which he is a member are the Huguenot Society, 
 the Sons of the Revolution, and the Society of Colonial 
 Wars, while he is Registrar of the Society of the War 
 of 1 81 2. He is a member of the Advisory Counsel of 
 the Society of Daughters of the Cincinnati, and was 
 one of the original members of the Lawyers' and Delta 
 Phi Clubs. 
 
 In 1879 Mr. Ferris married Marj^ Lanman Douw, 
 daughter of Colonel John de Peyster Douw, of Pough- 
 keepsie. New York. Mrs. Ferris has taken up the 
 special study of her husband with an ardor equal to 
 his own, having become, like him, an historical enthusiast, 
 while she is the author of man)- charming brochures 
 on early New York and New England life, subjects to 
 which she has specially de\oted her attention. Mr. 
 Ferris makes his home at Yonkers, New York, where 
 he is a member of the St. Andrew's Golf Club. 
 
296 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ROBERT MACLAY. 
 
 The MacLaij^s, the Scottisli ancestors of the Amer- 
 ican Maclays, can be traced back in the Highlands for 
 man}- centuries. Charles Macl.iy came in 1734 to Pcnn- 
 syhania, where liis sons and grandsons played prominent 
 parts. Archibald Maclay, foiiniler of the New York 
 branch of the famil\-, a Congregational minister, came to 
 New York in 1805. He here became a Baptist, preached 
 for many years, and afterwards served as vice-president 
 and traveling secretary of the American and Foreign 
 liible Society, eventually becoming president of the 
 American Bible Union. Robert II. Maclay, one of his 
 sons, studied medicine and became a prominent physician 
 of New York City. He was for nian\- \cars piesidcnt 
 of the New York Savings Bank. 
 
 Robert Maclay, the eldest surviving child of Robert 
 II. and I'-liza L. Maclay, was born in New York, June 
 ir, 1834. He began his collegiate education at the 
 Universit)- of the City of New York, but at the age of 
 fourteen removed to Illinois, where his course of study 
 was completed in Judson College, of that State. He 
 rcmainetl in the West till twenty years of age, when he 
 returned to New York and began business as a dealer 
 in real estate, in which he was very successful. In 1865 
 he married Georgiana Barmore, whose father, Ali)ert 
 Barmore, was the founder and first president of the 
 Knickerbocker Ice Compan)-. Mr. Maclay became a 
 director in this important corporation, and in 1868 was 
 elected its vice-president and treasurer. In 1875, on the 
 death of Mr. Barmore, he was elected its president, 
 which office he has retaineil ever since. It is scarcely 
 necessary to remark that this corporation is the largest 
 of its kind in the world, and does an immense annual 
 business. 
 
 Mr. Maclay 's business connections have become very 
 
 extended, he being interested in man)- commercial enter- 
 prises, and serving as president of the Knickerbocker 
 Trust Company, vice-president of the Bowery Savings 
 Bank, and director of the People's Bank. In 1892 the 
 Supreme Court appointed him a member of the Rapid 
 Transit Commission, formed to in\cstigate and report on 
 the work of the previous commission. The report made 
 by this body was confirmed by the Supreme Court. Mr. 
 Maclay's most important public duty, however, has been 
 performed in connection with the Board of Education of 
 New York City, of which, since 1891, he has been one 
 of the most active and influential members. He is chair- 
 man of the building committee of the board, its most 
 important committee, and his able management in this 
 responsible position has won him much commendation 
 from press and ])eop!e. He has strenuously advocated 
 reform in school administration, but is strongly opposed 
 to the proposition to retire public-school teachers on 
 half-pay, claiming that the teachers have no more ju.st 
 right to such an application of the city funds than the 
 officers of any other branch of the municipal govern- 
 ment. 
 
 He says, " How is it that assemblymen and senators 
 come from Utica, Ithaca, l-llmira, Rochester, Buffalo, 
 Brookhn, and e\er)- other part of this great lunpire 
 1 State, and ask the Legislature at Alban\- to pass a special 
 law providing pensions for teachers in the public schools 
 of New York City, while thc)- make no such provision 
 for school-teachers in other parts of the State ? . . . Whj- 
 should not janitors, inspectors, trustees, clerks, and the 
 poor commissioners, and, finally, the widows and children 
 of teachers, come into the enjoj-ment of these fashionable 
 benefits?" In answer it may be said that the teachers 
 of sc\eral of our cities are engaged in ]iro\iding an 
 aniuiit\- fund for themselves, which all will acknowledge 
 is the proper and just method of proccilure. 
 
 Mr. Machi)- has been thus flatteringly spoken of 1)_\- a 
 leading financier in connection with the mention of his 
 name for a public office: " i\Ir. Maclaj- is one of the 
 leading business men of this cit\-. He is a man of great 
 business capacity. He is at the head of one of the 
 ! greatest corporations in the city. He is identified with 
 the financial, social, literary, and business life of this city. 
 . . . His high character ami eminent abilities certainl)- 
 commend themselves." 
 
 In Connection with the above remarks it ma)- be statetl 
 that Mr. Maclay is a member of the Chaml)er of Com- 
 merce, the New York Historical Societ)-, and numerous 
 clubs; he is an incorjiorator of the Botanical Garden, a 
 member of the ailvisory committee of the University of 
 the City of New York, a trustee of the Madi.son Avenue 
 Baptist Church ami of the Northern Dispensary, and is 
 in various other ways acti\'e in the social and |iublic life 
 of the city. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 297 
 
 CHARLES V. MAPF.S. 
 
 The founder of the Mapcs famil)- in America, Thomas 
 Mapcs, reached New Enghand at an early date, and was 
 one of the founders of Southold, Long Ishuul, in 1640. 
 Of his descendants, General Jonas Mapes, born in 1768, 
 was an officer in the arm\' for nearly forty years. He 
 served throughout the War of 181 2, and was commis- 
 sioned major-general in 18 16. His son, James J. Mapcs, 
 turned his attention to science, and became famous as an 
 analytical chemist. He was the deviser of many impor- 
 tant chemical processes and mechanical inventions, and 
 an able lecturer on chemistry and natural and mechani- 
 cal philosoph}'. He was long professor of Chemistr_\' 
 and Natural Philosophy at the American Institute, and 
 also held the position of president of this institute and 
 of the Mechanics' Institute of New York, and was the 
 founder and first lecturer of the Franklin Institute of 
 Newark. In 1847 1'*^ established the "Mapes Model 
 Farm," near Newark, which he occupied till his death, 
 developing there the principles of agricultural chemistry 
 and editing the Working Fanner. He was also asso- 
 ciate editor of the. Journal of Agricnlturc. 
 
 Charles Victor Mapes is the only surviving son of 
 Professor Mapes, and was born in New Vork Cit)', July 
 4, 1836. He has three sisters, Mary Mapcs Dodge, the 
 gifted editor of the St. Nicliolas. Sophy Mapes Tolles, 
 the artist, and Catharine T. Ikumell, of San Fi'ancisco. 
 When he was eleven years of age his father removed to 
 Lyons Farm, New Jerse\', where the growing boy be- 
 came fond of fiiin life, and interested himself greatly in 
 the application of chemistry to agriculture. When only 
 fourteen he had collected a small chemical laboratory. 
 Several persons of later prominence were then studying 
 agriculture under Professor Mapes, among them George 
 A. Waring, author of the " Elements of Agriculture," 
 and association with these helped to develop the active 
 intellect of the boy. In 1853 he entered Harvard Col- 
 lege, where he graduated in 1857, having given his prin- 
 cipal attention to the sciences, especially to chemistry. 
 
 He proposed to enter upon a professional career after 
 leaving college, but circumstances forced him to engage 
 in commercial business, while at the same time assisting 
 his father in the editing of the Working Farmer. His 
 subsequent career was actively devoted to mercantile 
 and manufacturing pursuits, during which he diligently 
 continued his youthful studies in agricultural chemistry, 
 giving particular attention to the subject of plant feed- 
 ing. This field of study had then been little developed, 
 and Mr. Mapes gave much attention to it, closely in- 
 vestigating, and writing much on this and cognate sub- 
 jects. Among his papers which attracted most wide- 
 spread attention may be mentioned " Some Rambling 
 
 Notes on Agriculture and Manures," " Effects of Fer- 
 tilizers on Different Soils," and " Classification and Re- 
 quirements of Crops." TJie last set forth the leading 
 ingredients — ammonia, phnsphoiic acid, and potash — of 
 the staple crops ; defined the relative importance of these 
 in each case, and gave the sources, condition, and 
 strength of the fertilizing materials requisite for each 
 crop. This information was the result of actual experi- 
 ments in growing the crops, and was valuable in accord- 
 ance therewith. His researches on Indian corn were 
 especially valuable in this connection. It hail been 
 maintained that this plant required large quantities of 
 nitrogenous fertilizers, was exhausting to the soil, and 
 was becoming too costl>- in cultivation for growth in the 
 Eastern States. Mr. Mapes demonstrated that, on the 
 contrary, if supplied well with potash and phosphoric 
 acid, maize would obtain its nitrogen from the atmosphere 
 and the deeper soil, and that, instead of being exhaust- 
 ing to the soil, it tended to make poor soil suitable for 
 grass crops. Mr. Mapes's work in this direction has 
 received high commendation from agricultural authors. 
 
 He has served as vice-president and manager |of the 
 Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Compan\- since its 
 organization in 1877, and has been president of the Fer- 
 tilizer and Chemical Exchange since its foundation. He 
 is director and trustee in the Martin Kalbfleisch Chemi- 
 cal Company and other commercial organizations, and 
 belongs to many social organizations of New York 
 City, being president of the Theta Delta Chi Club, a col- 
 lege fraternitj-. He is also a member of various scien- 
 tific, art, and historical associations. He was married in 
 1863 to Martha M. Halsted, daughter of the late Chan- 
 cellor Halsted, of New Jersey. 
 
298 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JAMES M. HORTON. 
 
 James Madison Hokton, president of the well-known 
 J. M. Horton Ice Cream Company, was born near 
 Middlctown, Orange County, New York, in 1835. He 
 is descended from Barnabas Horton, who emigrated from 
 Moiisley, Leicestershire, England, to this country in 1633, 
 settling at Hampton, Massacluisetts. From there, in 
 1640, lie sailed with others for Long Island, and es- 
 tablisiied the settlement of Southold, Suffolk County, 
 the first white settlement on the island. The family 
 residence which he built there in 1660 is still in an excel- 
 lent state of preservation. 
 
 James M. Horton is in the ninth generation from this 
 pioneer settler. His father was a well-to-do farmer, and 
 his boyhood life was that usual to the sons of farmers, 
 except that ill health unfitted him for the laborious labors 
 of a farmer's career. The boy, thus relieved from farm 
 duty, entered into commerce on a very small scale, which 
 mainly consisted in the gathering of berries and various 
 other farm ])ri>ducts for sale in the neighboring settle- 
 ment of Middlctown. From the start he manifested the 
 business instinct which \i\y at the foundation of his 
 future successful career, and on the limited scale of his 
 youthful \'entures was quite successful in business. In 
 his wliolc career he never received a penny in wages, 
 except a nominal sum from a brother. 
 
 Before he was eighteen years of age, young I Forton 
 made his way to New York City with what lie jjrobably 
 considered the large capital of Sioo in his pocket, and 
 there went into the milk business. His native sense, 
 business tact, and sturdy honesty stood him in good stead 
 in this venture, and he progressed steadily in his new 
 business, retaining and increasing his capital, and gradu- 
 ally extending liis trade among tlie milk producers and 
 consumers, until he had gained an excellent i)o.sition in 
 
 this line of traffic. His progress is best indicated by the 
 fact that, four years after his reaching New York, and 
 when he was still less than twentj'-two years of age, he 
 was made president of the Orange County Milk Associa- 
 tion. This unusual compliment for one so young shows 
 clearly the estimation in which he was held and the posi- 
 tion he had gained in the business. He held the presi- 
 dency for eleven )-cars, when the state of his health 
 obliged him to resign, being unable longer to perform 
 its duties. 
 
 By this time Mr. I lorton had accumulated a fair amount 
 of capital, a part of which he had invested in a business 
 in whose management he had no thought at that time of 
 taking an active part, that of the ice cream manufacture. 
 It became apparent to him, however, that the concern in 
 which his mone)' was invested was \ery poorlj- con- 
 ducted, and that the savings in it would soon be lost 
 unless some steps were taken to reinvigorate it. His 
 health bj- this time had been partially restored, and he 
 assumed control of the business himself, throwing into 
 it all the energy, tact, and judgment which had told so 
 well in his previous career. 
 
 The task he had undertaken was a difficult one. The 
 business proved to be in a bad wa\- ; there were serious 
 obstacles to be overcome, debts were to be liquidated, 
 and it looked much like a waste of time and monc)' to at- 
 tempt to sa\e a failing enterjirise. But Mr. Horton had 
 an energy and determination that w ere not to be liaffled 
 easily, while his pride prevented him from withdrawing 
 from an enterprise which he had thus taken in haiul. 
 Fnergy and judgment are the essential elements of busi- 
 ness success, and so it proved in the present case, though 
 it took several years of hard labor before Mr. Horton 
 had the business fairlv on its feet. Seemingly hopeless 
 as it was when he took hold of it, he gradually got rid 
 of its debts, and overcame the opposition which was 
 contesting and jilacing everj- obstacle in the wa\- of its 
 success. After a few )-ears of effort it began to pa)' 
 handsoniel)-, and its proprietor then organized and incor- 
 [jorated the present J. M. Horton Ice Cream Company, 
 which has since then grown, until to-day it is the largest 
 establishment of its kind in the world ; in fact, there is 
 none that even ajiproaches the capacity of this enormous 
 concern. A few items will serve to show the magnitude 
 of the present business. There are employed in the 
 business two hinidred and fifty hands, while for deliver)' 
 ninety wagons and one hundred and fift)' horses are in 
 constant u.sc. Mr. llnrton pcrsonall)' is generous and 
 sociable, but not a club man, much preferring home to 
 club life. He is religious in disposition, temperate in all 
 his habits, and in ever)' way a favorable example of the 
 New York man of business. He was married in 1S65 to 
 Miss Mary Ann Cassell, of New York City, ami has two 
 children, Harry Ca.sscll Horton and Mary Hope Horton. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 299 
 
 COLLIS P. HUNTINGTON. 
 
 CdLLis P. Huntington, one of the most prominent of 
 Americans in railroad interests and Wall Street finances, 
 was born at Harwinton, Connecticut, October 22, 1821. 
 His active business life began at the age of fourteen, the 
 following ten years being spent by him in journeys and 
 business enterprises in the South and West. Engaging 
 in mercantile business with his bi-othcr, they shipped in 
 1848 a cargo of goods to California. Mr. Huntington 
 quickly followed this consignment, spent some months 
 in business on the Isthmus, and then sought California, 
 where he engaged in business at Sacramento. Here he 
 became associated with Mark Hopkins, and in i860 
 devised the scheme of a trans-continental railroad. In 
 this five men were associated, Mr. Stanford as president, 
 he as vice-president, and Mr. Hopkins as treasurer. 
 The scheme was brought to the attention of Congress, 
 and an act was passed in 1862 authorizing and \-oting 
 aid to such an enterprise. The Central Pacific Company 
 was organized in 1864, with an official staff as above 
 stated. The raising of capital for the construction of 
 the road during the war period was no easy task, and 
 the engineering difficulties to be overcome were many 
 and great. These difficulties were successfully met, 
 however, and since that time Mr. Huntington has been 
 the general manager and financial spirit of the road, and 
 during its controversy regarding the debt tlue the gov- 
 ernment has shown a commendable spirit of fairness and 
 care for the interests of the stockholders. 
 
 His interest in the Central Pacific, however, has long 
 since been overshadowed by greater \'entures, of more 
 recent origin. The building of the Southern Pacific 
 from San Francisco to New Orleans, and in particular 
 his notable construction race with the Texas Pacific, 
 with Tom Scott as his able comijctitor, are matters of 
 railroad history which we need but mention. In this 
 interesting contest were displayed a fertility of resource 
 and a promptness and decisiveness of action which only 
 men of remarkable powers could have shown, and which 
 constitute part of the romance of the history of railroad 
 construction. 
 
 Since that period there has been a vast consolidation 1 
 of the interests of trans-Mississippian railroads, including 
 the Central Pacific, the various s\'stems wliich traverse ' 
 Arizona, Southern California, New Mexico, Texas, and 
 Louisiana, the San Francisco antl Portland Line, and 
 the Morgan Steamship Line from New Orleans to New 
 York, the whole great organization being known as the 
 Southern Pacific Company, and operating in all over 
 eight thousand miles of trackage and various steam- 
 ship lines. This organization was the direct outcome of 
 Mr. Huntington's financial polic}-, emanating from Wall 
 
 Street as its centre of action, and with him as its moving 
 and guiding spirit. The association also controls rail- 
 roads in Mexico and Guatemala. 
 
 In addition to these complex interests, Mr. Huntington 
 has had, as an indi\idual, much to do with Eastern roads. 
 At one time he controlled the Chesapeake and Ohio 
 Railroad, the Kentucky Central, the Louisville, New 
 Orleans and Texas from Memphis to New Orleans, and 
 the Newport News and Mississippi Valley Company, 
 this last including a number of Southern lines. His 
 interests here, in connection with the Southern Pacific 
 system, gave him the control of an unbroken line of 
 rail communication from Porthuul, Oregon, to the At- 
 lantic seaboard at Hampton Roads, Virginia. He is, 
 furthermore, a large owner in the Pacific Mail and the 
 Old Dominion Steamship Lines, is a director of the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, and is financially 
 interested in many other important companies. The 
 Old Dominion Land Company, organized by him, bought 
 land and started a city at Newport News, Virginia, event- 
 ually developing into an industrial and manufacturing 
 centre which has made this city a seaport of prominent 
 importance. His latest striking achievement is the great 
 ship-\-ard w hich he has built up at Newport News, an 
 industrial entei'prise which employ's nearly two thousand 
 men, and is turning out merchant steamships of large 
 tonnage and unusual speed. 
 
 Mr. Huntington is not alone a business man, he is a 
 philanthropist as well. The results of his benevolence 
 are seen in the celebrated Indian and Negro Industrial 
 School at Hampton, Virginia, and the Library and Read- 
 ing-Room in his own town of Westchester, New York, 
 which he has recently organized aiid endowed with one 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
300 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HLBHRT H. ANUHRSON. 
 
 Elbickt Elli:kv Anderson, a prominent figure in tlie 
 cause of tariff reform, v/as born in tlic city of New 
 York. October 31, 1833, his father being Henry James 
 Anderson, who was born in the same city in 1799, and 
 was a man of the finest attainments in literature and tlie 
 classics, a linguist of unusual proficiency, and j^roficient 
 in the higher mathematics. Mr. Anderson spent several 
 of his youthful \ears, from 1 843 to 1848, in travel, trav- 
 ersing many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. After 
 his return to America he entered Harvard College as 
 a student, graduated, studied law, and was admitted to 
 tile New York bar in 1854. Dining the more than forty 
 years that have passed since then he has practiced his 
 j)rofcssion uninterruptedly and with distinguished suc- 
 cess. During that period he has been concerned in 
 many cases of much notoriety, while lie has had, and 
 still has, the management of man\- trusts. In 1868 he 
 entered into legal partnership with h'rederick H. Man, 
 a firm uliicli remains one of the best known and most 
 respected in the city. During the past twelve years Mr. 
 Anderson has been especially engaged in railroad litiga- 
 tion and plans for the reorganization of railroad com- 
 jianies. The case against Jay Gould, brought by the 
 Missouri, Kansas and Te.xas Railroad Company, for 
 the recovery of interest due on income bond coupons, 
 was conducted bv him, and resulted in the enforced 
 pa)'nient of over two million dollars in \alue to his 
 clients. 
 
 During the civil war Mr. Anderson saw some service 
 as a soldier, going to the front as major in the New 
 ^'ork State militia in the spring of 1862, just after the 
 retreat of General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley. | 
 
 His service was short but e\entful. He was made 
 prisoner bj- the Confederates under Stonewall Jackson, 
 experienced an interval of prison life, was paroled, and 
 returned home, — doubtless with a surfeit of Southern 
 prison accommodations. 
 
 His career as an advocate of political reform began in 
 1 87 1, when he joined actively in the crusade against the 
 Tweed Ring. At a later date he joined the Tamman\- 
 Hall organization, — then purified b\- the renunal of the 
 Ring combine which had so long posed as its leaders, — 
 and for some }'ears served as its chairman in the elev- 
 enth district. In 1889 he withdrew from this organiza- 
 tion, into which corruption was again creeping, and soon 
 after joined lulward Cooper, Abram S. Hewitt, and 
 William C. Whitney in organizing the County Democ- 
 racy, a reform organization within the lines of the party. 
 For several years he served as chairman of its general 
 committee. In this official position, in 1884, he worked 
 energetically for the rout of Tammany Hall, and was 
 of material service in the election of William R. Grace 
 to the iiia)-oralty over Hugh J. Grant, the candidate of 
 Tammany. 
 
 More recently Mr. Anderson has been strongly in- 
 terested in the subject of tariff reform, of which he has 
 become an able and influential advocate. He opposes 
 the tariff on the ground that it is unjust in principle, 
 and that it depletes the scanty earnings of the masses 
 for the benefit of favored classes, who are enabled to 
 accumulate large sums of uncarnctl wealth. His ser- 
 vices to the Democratic party in general, antl to !\Ir. 
 Cleveland in ])articular during his Presiilential cam- 
 paigns, are highly appreciated by the [)art)- all o\er the 
 couiitr)-. During the last campaign he was presiilent of 
 the Reform Club and chairman of the Tariff Reform 
 Committee, and in these positions was enabled to play 
 an important part in the election. He never worked 
 harder than he ilid in the months preceding the Presi- 
 dential election, doing much to prevent the nomination 
 of Senator Hill and to secure that of Mr. Cleveland 
 at the Chicago eon\ention. antl working earnestlj' and 
 efficientl}' afterwards to indoctrinate the people in the 
 subject of tariff reform. 
 
 Mr. Anderson has never held office, anil has freiiiiently 
 declined the honor of nomination to the bench of the 
 Supreme Court of the State, tendered Jiini by admiring 
 friends. He has served as school trustee and rapid 
 transit commissioner, and in the cases of land taken 
 f(jr the Croton Aqueduct and for the Elevated Railroad. 
 In 1887 President Cleveland appointed him a commis- 
 sioner to investigate the affairs of the Union and Central 
 Pacific R.iilroail Companies. The majority report of this 
 commission was prepared b)' him. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 301 
 
 HENRY H. ADAMS. 
 
 Henkv Hekschel Adams was born in Collanier, Ohio, 
 July g, 1844. He has a distinguished ancestry both in 
 England and America, the family, indeed, being traceable 
 in a direct line of descent from William the Conqueror, 
 tluciiigh his daughter Princess (nnidred antl Sir John ap 
 Adam, from wiiom came through man)' generations the 
 original American Adams family which has furnished the 
 country two Presidents. 
 
 The ininu'grant ancestor was Henry Adams, who 
 settled in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1634. The son of 
 the latter, Lieutenant Henry Adams, was killed in King 
 I'hilip's War. Benoni Adams, grandfather of the sub- 
 ject of our sketch, was a Revolutionary soldier, and his 
 father, Lowell L. Adams, fought in the War of i8i2. 
 His mother, Hepzibah Thayer, of Surrey, New Hamp- 
 shire, was a member of the Anti-Slavery Society before 
 the war, and a correspondent of the National Era on tlie 
 anti-slavery mo\ement. 
 
 Mr. Adams was educated at Shaw Academy, Cleve- 
 land, Ohio. When the civil war broke out, although but 
 seventeen j-ears of age, he was full of the old warlike 
 and patriotic spirit of the family, and after a year's im- 
 patient waiting he enlisted in Company G of the One 
 Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry, in the formation of which he did acti\e recruit- 
 ing ser\icc. 
 
 His health being at that time delicate, he was unable to 
 accept the office of secdud lieutenant tendered him, and 
 was detailed on detached ser\-icc in the Department of 
 Military Mails. He was, however, with the regiment at 
 inter\'als, and took part in the battle of P'ranklin, March 
 9, 1863, where, as the officers of the regiment state, he 
 valiantly led the charge in advance across the Little 
 Harpeth Ri\'er, which dislodged Van Dorn's forces on 
 the southern bank. He also participated in the battle 
 of Chickamauga, where he acted as aide to General 
 Opdycke, and also in those of Rocky P'ace Ridge, Re- 
 saca. New Hope Churcli, anil Kenesaw .Mountain, doing 
 valuable service in the last two by taking charge of the 
 courier lines of communication with Big Shanty and 
 Kingston, the seats of supplies ; a ser\ice of the greatest 
 danger, the intervening country being full of rebel raiders 
 antl bushwhackers. 
 
 Wliile in this perilous service he was captured by 
 General Forrest at Athens, Alabama, on September 20, 
 1864, together with seventeen of his men, and spent the 
 succeeding months in a Confederate prison, enduring the 
 severest hardships. He was exchanged in November, 
 and reported for duty on the morning of the battle of 
 Nashville. He was discharged on March 10, 1865, on 
 account of the condition of his health, due to the expos- 
 ure and hardship of his prison life. 
 
 At the close of the war Mr. Adams returned to Cleve- 
 
 land, Ohio, where he engaged in the iron business in 
 1867, and this with such energy and success that in time 
 he became known as one of the ablest iron experts in 
 this country. He was largely interested in shipping, and 
 was the owner of several vessels engaged in the iron ore 
 and grain transportation on the lake. He held a leatling 
 position in business and social circles in that cit\', his 
 manly cjualities winning him hosts of friends. 
 
 He was made a member of the Board of lulucation, 
 and took an acti\-e part in the promotion of school inter- 
 ests. He was also a member of the Board of Trade, and 
 in 1 88 1 was a delegate to the Boston " Free Ship" Con- 
 vention, and one of the committee to lay the proceedings 
 of that convention before the Senate at Washington. 
 
 In 1882 Mr. Adams removed to New York City, where 
 he became a member of one of the most prominent iron 
 concerns in the United States. In 1890 he was elected 
 president of tlie Columbus and Hocking Coal and Iron 
 Company, and in June, 1891, attained the same office in 
 the Henr\- II. .\dams Iron Conipan\-, Incorporatetl, both 
 of which concerns were of national reputation. 
 
 Mr. Adams is a member of the New York Board of 
 Trade and Transportation and the New York Metal Ex- 
 change, is treasurer of the Advisory Board of the Board 
 of Education, and a member of the Sons of the Revolu- 
 tion, the Society of Colonial Wars, Ohio Society, Lawyers' 
 Club, Seventh Regiment Veteran Club, Colonial Club. 
 
 He joined Lafayette Post, G. A. R., in 1891, and was 
 delegated by the post to decorate Lafayette's tomb in 
 Paris on Decoration Day, 1893. After his return he was 
 made commander of the post, and has since been quite 
 prominent in Grand Army affairs. His addresses, de- 
 livered in Paris, France, Pittsburg, fnd New York City, 
 at the national encampments and the Grand Army re- 
 unions, display fine oratorical skill and ability. 
 
 39 
 
302 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES H. TRUAX. 
 
 TiiK Truax faiiiil\- belongs among the earliest Dutch 
 settlers of Now Amsterdam, its progenitor reaching this 
 country about 1623, where he took up land within the 
 present city limits. The name, which in the Dutch 
 records became Truy, was afterwards changed to Truax. 
 Charles Henry Truax. a descendant of this early im- 
 migrant, was born at Diirhamville, Oneida County, New 
 York, October 31, 1846, and received his (.cUication at 
 Vernon Acadeni)-, at Oneida Seminar)', and finally at 
 Hamilton College. He left college in his junior year, 
 but the college afterwards, in consequence of his emi- 
 nence, conferred on him in 1.S76 the degree of A.M., 
 and in 1890 that of LL.D. During his period of school 
 life he taught a part of each year, — from 1862 to 1868. 
 In the latter year he came to New York, and entered the 
 office of his uncle, Chaunce)" W. Shaffer, for the stud)' 
 of law. 
 
 He progressed so ra[)idly in this line of study that he 
 was admitteil to the bar before the close of that year, 
 and entereil at once into practice, at first in association 
 with his uncle, but in the fullowing year 1)\- iiiniscU". ( )n 
 November 2, 18S0, he was elected judge of the Superior 
 Court, — a fourteen-year judgeship, and which he held 
 to the end of his term in iS(;4. During his incumbency 
 man)' important decisions were given by Judge Truax, 
 among tlieni that in the case of Williams vs. The Western 
 Union Telegraph Comjiany, which affirmed the right of 
 comiKinies to consolidate and issue new stock. This 
 decision was appealed from and reversed b\' the General 
 Term, but was subsequently sustained and reaffirmed 
 by the Court of Appeals. Another decision given by 
 Judge Truax, of the greatest importance as regards the 
 rights of private real-estate owners, was that declared 
 Ma)' 2, 1 887, in the case of Abendroth vs. The New York 
 
 Elevated Railroad Company. In this case he affirmed 
 that "plaintiff is entitled to relief by injunction, etc., on 
 the ground that the acts of the defendants complained of 
 are not necessary incidents of the lawful use of the rail- 
 road, and also on the ground that even if they had been 
 necessary incidents, they were, so far as they impaired the 
 plaintiff's benefit and use of his property and diminished 
 its rental value, either trespasses or a pri\atc nuisance, 
 for which he had a right of action to recover damages ; 
 or such acts were a taking of the plaintiff's private 
 propert)' without com]iensation ant! without due process 
 of law, which is prohibited 1)\' the constitution of the 
 State." 
 
 Judge Truax has taken an acti\e part in social affairs. 
 He is a governor of the Manhattan Club, a trustee of 
 the Holland Societ)', and belongs as a member to the 
 St. Nicholas Society, and a member of other social or- 
 ganizations. I Ic is a trustee of the Mott Memorial 
 Librar)', and for seven )ears was a trustee of the Church 
 of the Puritans. He was formerly acti\e in athletic 
 games, and is still a member of the New York Athletic 
 Club. 
 
 Judge Trua.x's chief pleasure, however, is taken in 
 travel and book collection. He has spent much time 
 in all the principal cities of Europe, and has collected 
 hosts of valuable books. I lis residence contains full)' ten 
 thousand volumes, many of them of great value, being 
 okl and rare editions, or splendidly reprinted anil illu- 
 minatet! manuscrijits of the old masters of book-making. 
 In addition to these treasures, he has ])resented to Ham- 
 ilton College a valuable lii)rar\- of tweKe hundred aiul 
 fifty volumes, which is known as the Trua.x Classical 
 Library. 
 
 This sketch of Judge Truax's career ma)- be fit!)' 
 completed by a mention of his brother, Chaunccy S. 
 Truax, born March 11, 1854, one of the most successful 
 lawyers of New York Cit)', and a member of the 1894 
 constitutional convention of the State of New York. 
 Shortl)' after his graihiation from the Law School of 
 Cohmibia College he was appointed to a professorship 
 in Robert College, Constantinojile. an institution foiuuleil 
 during the Crimean War, antl which has been of much 
 service in adding to the higher educational facilities of 
 that Oriental city. Mr. Truax served there as professor 
 for a year and a half, and took this opportunity to prose- 
 cute researches in history and ancient law, in which he 
 was earnestly interested. He visited all the classical 
 localities in doing so, and went carefidl)' o\er the site 
 of Tro)' while Dr. Schliemami was making his celebrated 
 exca\ations there. Since his return to this countr)' he 
 has been ver)' actively engaged in legal practice, in w hicli 
 he has had great financial and jirofessional success, and 
 occupies to-day a high jiosition among the younger 
 members of the New York bar. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 303 
 
 GENERAL THOMAS H. HUBBARD. 
 
 Thomas H. HuiiiiARo was born at ITallowell, Maine, 
 December 20. 183S. His fatiier and grandfatlier had 
 been piu'sicians in that State, the hitter, a nati\-e of New 
 Hampshire, being one of tlie early settlers of Readville, 
 Maine. Dr. John Hubbanl, his fathei', was a skillful 
 surgeon, and a man of unusual intellectual ability, who 
 was active in the public service of his State. He was 
 elected to the State Senate in 1843, and in 184S became 
 governor of Maine, holding this office during that im- 
 portant period in the legislative history of the State in 
 which what is known as the " Maine Liquor Law" was 
 enacted, the most important act of prohibitory legislation 
 in this country. His wife, Sarah H. B. Hubbard, was a 
 granddaughter of Oliver Barrett, one of the " Minute 
 Men" at Lexington, who was afterwards killed in the 
 Revolutionary War. 
 
 Colonel Hubbard received his early education in his na- 
 tive town, wliere he was prepared for a collegiate course, 
 and entered Bowdoin College in 1853. He graduated 
 there with the honors of his class in 1857, after which 
 he began the stud}' of the law in his native place of Hal- 
 lowell, and was admitted to practice in Maine in i860. 
 During the succeeding winter and spring he entered 
 upon a new course of legal study in the Law School of 
 Albany, New York, and in ]\La\', 1S61, was admitted to 
 practice in the New York State courts. 
 
 The outbreak of the civil war, liowever, gave a new 
 direction to his thoughts. Moved by a patriotic desire 
 to take part in the struggle for the preservation of the 
 Union he returned to Maine, and there joined the Twenty- 
 fifth Maine Volunteer Regiment, with the commission of 
 first lieutenant and adjutant. He went witii this regi- 
 ment to the front, and served with it till it was mustered 
 out in July, 1863, acting part of that time as assistant 
 adjutant-general of the brigade of wliich his regiment 
 formed a part. On his return home he went acti\ely to 
 work in the recruiting of a new regiment, the Thirtieth 
 Maine. In this he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, 
 
 and was mustered into the United States service, with 
 that rank, December 19, 1863. 
 
 This regiment was ordered to the Department of the 
 Gulf, and took part in the Red River campaign. After 
 the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Hubbard took command of the regiment, and led it in 
 the assault of Monett's Bluff, Louisiana, the colonel, 
 Francis Fessenden, commanding the brigade in the same 
 assault. Subsequently he was engaged in the construc- 
 tion of the Red River dam, at Alexandria, Louisiana, 
 under the engineering direction of Colonel Bailey, of 
 Wisconsin. This dam increased the depth of water 
 sufficiently to float the gunboats, which had become 
 stranded. He afterwards assisted in the work of placing 
 a bridge of steamboats across the A^tchafalaya, to enable 
 the ami)- to cross. 
 
 On May 13, 1864, he received the commission of col- 
 onel of the Thirtieth Maine, and in the autumn of this 
 year was transferred with his regiment to Virginia, where 
 he took part in the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 
 1864-65, part of the time in command of his brigade. 
 He acted as president of a court-martial in the winter of 
 1864, and took part in the great review of the army in 
 Washington in April, 1865. Afterwards his regiment 
 was ordered to Savannah, Georgia, where he conducted 
 a board for the examination of officers. He received the 
 brevet rank of brigadier-general on July 13, 1865, and 
 was soon after mustered out of service. 
 
 General Hubbard immediately afterwards began the 
 practice of the law in New York City, being associated 
 till the end of 1866 with the late Judge Rapallo, of the 
 I Court of Appeals. In January, 1867, he entered the 
 ' law firm of Barney, Butler & Parsons. This firm was 
 reorganized in January, 1876, as Butler, Stillman & Hub- 
 bard, and is still in active existence. General Hubbard 
 has attained a high degree of success in his practice, and 
 is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers of the New York 
 bar. He is a member of the Loyal Legion and promi- 
 nent in many of the principal clubs and other societies 
 of the metropolis. 
 
304 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ASHBEL P. FITCH. 
 
 The Fitch family in America began with tiic emigra- 
 tion of Rev. James Fitch, of Biaintrcc, luiglanii, in 1638, 
 lie hohling pastoral charges in Connecticut for half a 
 centurj-, while he was active in literary protluction. Of 
 his descendants, Jabez Fitch served with distinction in 
 the Revolutionarj- War. Edward Fitch, grandson oi 
 the latter, was a successful lawj'cr of New York City 
 and served with credit in the Legislature, while he was 
 notable for powers of oratory and literary culture. His 
 son, Ashbel Parmelee Fitch, was born at Mooers, Clinton 
 County, New York, October 8, 1848, and received his 
 education in the public schools of New York City and 
 at VVilliston Seminary, where he was prepared for college. 
 Mis college life was passeii in the Unixersities of Jena 
 and Berlin, Germany, where, in addition to a thorough 
 classical education, he gaineil an accurate actiuaintance 
 with the German language, which has been nf much use 
 to him in his business and political career. After his 
 return home he entered upon the study of law at the 
 Law School of Columbia College, and was admitted to 
 the bar in 1S69, at twenty-one years of age. 
 
 Mr. I'^itch continueii actively engaged in legal practice 
 for the ensuing fifteen years, ami with much success, 
 to which the reputation of his father and his German- 
 speaking ])owers contributed. lie became counsel for 
 many corporations early in his career, and came to be 
 the legal advi.scr of .some of the leading mercantile con- 
 cerns of the city. He was also prominent ])olitically, 
 and in 1884 received the Republican nomination for 
 Congress to represent the Thirteenth District of New 
 York. This nomination he declined, on the ground that 
 he was not in full symp.ithy with the Republican doc- 
 
 trine of high protection. In 1886, General !■". L. \'ielc, 
 a Democrat who believed in high protection, w-as re- 
 nominated, and Mr. Fitch now accepted a nomination 
 against him, which was tendered him regardless of his 
 well-known \icws on the tariff. He was elected, and 
 became a member of the Fiftieth Congress. 
 
 The new member was assigned to the Committees on 
 Military Affairs and on Reform of the Civil Service, ap- 
 pointments ver)' complimentary to an untried legislator. 
 He helped make up the vYrmy Appropriation Bill, and 
 was acti\'e in the establishment of the government gun 
 factory at VVatervliet, New York, and in the development 
 of the West Point IMilitarj' Academy. His freely ex- 
 pressed views on protection were sustained in his action 
 on the Mills Tariff Bill, for which he voted, while Mr. 
 Randall and some t)ther Democratic members \oted 
 against it. A speech made by him on this bill was 
 printed b)- tin- Reform Club of New York, and in the 
 following two Presidential campaigns was re[)rinted by 
 the Democratic National Committee, and largelj' circu- 
 lated in German and English. 
 
 His course in regard to this Ijill took him out of the 
 ranks of his party, and in the subsequent electitjn he ran 
 as a Democratic candidate, and was re-electeil. In the 
 P'ifty-first Congress he ser\ed on the Committee on 
 Foreign Affairs and was chairman of some minor com- 
 mittees. He took an active part in the contest for an 
 international copyright law, and was prominent in the 
 struggle against the enactment of the Force Bill and the 
 Ship Subsid)' Bill, anil also in that against the McKinlc)- 
 Tariff l^ill. IK- was particularly active, howexer, in 
 regard to the silver question, and has been constantl)' 
 heard in all subsequent debates on the side of .sound 
 currenc)- and in favor of the gold standard. In the 
 election of 1890 he was again a candidate of the Dem- 
 ocratic part)' and was once more electetl to Congress. 
 
 In this Congress he took an active part in ojiiiosition 
 to free coinage, and w as [irominent in the debates which 
 endeil in the defeat of this measure. He also introduced 
 a resolution concerning the Federal election laws, and 
 was appointed chairman of a committee to in\cstigate 
 the operation of these laws. He was again elected to 
 Congress in 1892, and in this Congress served on several 
 important committees and was prominent in the struggle 
 for the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. His 
 Congressional career closed in 1S93, in which )-ear he 
 was elected comptroller of the cit)' of New Yoik, a 
 pcsition still held by him. Aside from his public and 
 professional service Mr. Fitch has been an earnest stu- 
 dent of literature, and has a large and valuable library, 
 rich in German literature, and containing the most com- 
 plete collection in this coimtr)- of books relating to the 
 life antl works of Goethe. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 305 
 
 WILLIS S. PAINE. 
 
 Willis S. Paine, a financier of New York, was born 
 at Rochester, New Yorlc, January i, 1848, being de- 
 scended from an old faniil)- of New England, one of 
 whose members, Robert Treat Paine, was a signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence. His father, Nicholas E. 
 Paine, was a leading lawyer of Rochester, where he 
 filled the positions of ma^'or, district attorney for the 
 count}-, and president of the board of education. At 
 the time of his deatii, in 1S87, he was president of the 
 Dakota Railroad Compan}-. Mr. Paine's mother, Abby 
 M. Sprague, was a descendant of Governors Bradford 
 and Prince, of Massachusetts Hay Colony. 
 
 Mr. Paine was educated at the Rochester Collegiate 
 Institute, where he graduated in 1862 as valedictorian of 
 his class, and at Rochester University, where he graduated 
 with honors in 1868. WHiilc in the latter institution he 
 was also engaged in the stud\' of law in the office of 
 Sanford G. Church, afterwards chief-justice of the Court 
 of Appeals, He was admitted to practice in 1861, and 
 continued to practice until 1874, when he received an 
 appointment as one of the Trust Company p].xaminers 
 of the .State of New York. His work in this position 
 was an investigation of the trust companies of the State, 
 the result of his action being the closing of three such 
 companies in New York City whose debt to depositors 
 was S6,000,000. His action secured the repayment of 
 this sum in full to depositors, and brought him high 
 commendation from the press. 
 
 This work changed permanentl}- his field of labor. 
 In 1876 he was appointed receiver of the Bond -Street 
 Savings ]5ank, whose faihu'e was the largest of its kind 
 in this countr}-. Mr. Paine handled the responsible duty 
 thus intrusted to him with remarkable skill, and eventu- 
 ally succeeded in paying the preferred creditors the full 
 amounts of their claims, and eighty-si.K and five-eighths 
 per cent, to the general creditors, — a result rarely 
 equaled. The court, in reviewing his management of 
 this institution, declared " that the duties of this trust 
 ha\e been administered by the recei\-er with rare dili- 
 gence, fidelity, and iliscretion." 
 
 In 1880, Mr. Paine and William Dowd, president of 
 the Bank of North America, were appointed by Governor 
 Cornell commissionei"s to compile and revise the laws of 
 New York respecting banking. They served in this duty 
 without pay, and spent less than half the sum appro- 
 priated for expenses. The revision which the)' prepared 
 and submitted was adopted by the Legislature in 1882. 
 In the following year Mr. Paine was appointed by Gov- 
 ernor Cleveland superintendent of the Banking Depart- 
 ment of the State of New York, the nomination being 
 unanimously confirmed b\- the Senate. This position 
 
 was one of gicat responsibilit)' and varied duties, em- 
 bracing the siij)er\ision of the many banks, savings 
 institutions, trust, mortgage, and safe deposit companies, 
 building associations, and other financial corporations 
 throughout the State. In the discharge of its duties 
 Mr. Paine displayed an executive ability of high order. 
 He had a clear understanding of the requisites of a 
 sound banking system, and his skill and energy in en- 
 forcing proper rules antl regulations, and lucid exposi- 
 tion of the correct principles of banking, have gi\en his 
 opinions an authoritati\-e influence throughout the United 
 States. 
 
 He resigned the position of bank superintendent in 
 1889 to accept his present post, that of president of the 
 State Trust Compan)-. This corporation has enjo)'ed 
 great prosperity under his management. In 1885 he 
 was offered by President Cleveland, but declined, the 
 position of sub-treasurer in New York City. In 18S6 
 he was given the honorar)- degree of LL.D. by Man- 
 hattan College. He has long been a member of the 
 Bar Association of the city of New York, and belongs 
 to the Tu.xedo, Commonwealth, Manhattan, Lawyers', 
 Theta Delta Chi, and Phi Betta Kappa Clubs, of New 
 York. The " block s)'stem" in real-estate transfers, 
 adopted b)- the New York Legislature, owes much to 
 his efforts, as also the law regulating trust com- 
 panies. 
 
 Mr. Paine is an able writer on his favorite topics, and 
 his large work on " Banks, Banking, and Trust Com- 
 panies" is a standard authority on financial institutions. 
 It is lucid in style, methodical in arrangement, and ex- 
 haustive of its subject, and has won him much commen- 
 dation. 
 
3o6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GEORGE W. ENGLISH. 
 
 George W. English was bom May 17, 1853, '" Mar- 
 tinsbiirg, Blair County, Pcnnsjivania, liis fatlier, Geoifje 
 VV. Knglish, ami his motlier, Lydia Hildcbrand English, 
 both being natives of PcnnsyK-anin. The untiinclj' 
 deaths of both his parents occurred witiiin the same 
 week, in November, 1877, of that dread destroyer of 
 the aged, pneumonia. Tlie\- were highly esteemed and 
 greatly mourned, liaving been illustrious in their edu- 
 cational and religious work in the comiiiunities in which 
 they lived. 
 
 Mr. English's father was ordained a Baptist clergyman, 
 but preferred the more active duties of a commercial life. 
 He was a noted abolitionist, aiul threw himself into the 
 anti-slavery movement with all the energy of intelligent 
 conviction. Being an excellent speaker, a rcaily debater, 
 antl with a profound knowledge of American iiistory, 
 he found few worthy antagonists in his neighborhood. 
 I le was a man of unimpeachable integrity and of most 
 generous impulses, and the three sons wiio survive him 
 ha\e worthily followed the teachings of a noble father, 
 and are each noted men in the cities in which they reside. 
 The oklest son, William T. luiglisii, is a physician in 
 Pittsburg, and professor of Physical Diagnosis in the 
 W'estern Penn.s)l\ania Medical College, the second son 
 is the subject of this sketch, and the third son, II. D. W. 
 English, is one of the leading business men in Pittsburg. 
 
 Mr. English was educated at the Milro)' Academy, 
 Milroy, Pennsylvania, and afterwards became a practical 
 new.spaper jirinter in 1870, learning the trade in news- 
 l)aper offices in Tyrone City and Pittsburg. He natu- 
 rally drifted into journalism in the latter city imtil 1876, 
 and still retains his interest in journalism, being reckoned 
 as one of the older members of the New York Press 
 
 Club. He contributes to insurance journals, and is a 
 writer of life-insurance literature which is highly con- 
 sidered by those engaged in the insurance business. 
 
 In 1877 Mr. English abandoned journalism, accept- 
 ing the position of general agent of the Berkshire Life 
 Insurance Company, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, for 
 Western Penn.sylvania, with his agency head-quarters at 
 Pittsburg. He was very successful in the agenc\- work in 
 that State, and in April, 1883, the officers of the companj- 
 requested him to come to New York City, creating for 
 him a department of the company w hich embodied the 
 entire States of New York and New Jersey, and of wiiich 
 Mr. English has been and is now general manager. His 
 energy and abilit\- found ample scope in his new field of 
 labor, and he has had great success in establishing and 
 maintaining one of the greatest agencies in this city of 
 great enterprises. His offices are in the Postal Telegraph 
 Building, 253 Broadway. He is known among insurance 
 men as one of the half-dozen successful managers in this 
 city of a business in which great talent and cnerg\- are the 
 essentials to permanent success. Hundreds of families 
 in the metropolitan district are the direct beneficiaries of 
 his industry in placing insurances on the lives of the 
 bankers, merchants, and professional men with whom he 
 has been associated. 
 
 Mr. English is well known in ]-"rccmasonr\-, being a 
 thirty-second degree Mason and a Knight Tem])lar. 
 His labors in Masonr\- have been man\- and are highl\- 
 appreciated by members of the craft, who ha\-e shown 
 their appreciation b\- testimonials and valuable gifts. 
 He is a member of many clubs, social and political, and 
 a liberal patron of art. His residence, No. 30 West 
 l'jght\--third Street, has many examples of modern 
 paintings b_\- American anil foreign artists. In politics 
 he is an aggressive Republican, following in the footsteps 
 of his father. He has taken an active part in national 
 politics, and numbers among his acquaintances many 
 of those who have been and are prominent in national 
 affairs. He is a member of the celebrateil Republican 
 Club, and has done effective work as a member of its 
 campaign committee for many years. In June, 1894, 
 he attended the Convention of the National League of 
 Republican Clubs helil at Denver, Colorado, as a repre- 
 sentative of the Amciican l'rotecti\e League of the 
 United States. 
 
 Mr. Pjiglish married Miss Emily Crawford, of Pitts- 
 burg, in October, 1879. A sister of Mrs. luiglisii is the 
 wife of J. G. A. Leishman, president of the Carnegie Steel 
 Compaii)' of Pittsburg. The)- are daughters of lulward 
 Crawford, and granddaughters of John Crawford, de- 
 ceased, who was, ,it I Ik- time of his death, the largest 
 manufacturer of malleable iron in the United States. 
 Mr. and Mrs. English are hapjjy in the possession of 
 three chiklreii, — one daughter and two sons. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 307 
 
 LLOYD BRYCE. 
 
 Li.ovD Bkyce, author and publisher, was Ijorn at 
 Flushing, I^ong Island, September 20, 185 i, the son of 
 Major J. Smith Rryce, of Georgetown, District of Co- 
 hmibia, in which cit\- the youthful days of Mr. Bryce 
 were passed, many of them during the stirring scenes of 
 the civil war, when Washington was the central point in 
 the struggle for the Union. His first school experience 
 was attained in the Jesuit College at Georgetown, but 
 after the war he became one of the most promising 
 pupils of the late Professor Anthon, in New York. In 
 1867 he made a journe\' to Europe under the care of a 
 tutor, and while there \-isitcd the principal art galleries 
 and copied se\eral famous pictures, — he having previ- 
 ously had instruction in art. 
 
 He entered Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1869, 
 and graduated there with a B.A., and later with an M.A., 
 degree. On his return to New York he engaged in the 
 study of law at the Law School of Columbia College, 
 and in due time graduated, though he did not afterwards 
 follow the profession of the law. 
 
 When the celelirated Charnay expedition to Central 
 America was organized he was invited to accompany it 
 as reporter, but he did not see his way clear to accept. 
 He had, nevertheless, always taken a strong interest in 
 the e.\ploration of this region, being a nephew, on his 
 mother's side, of John L. Stc\ens, the first and most 
 renowned explorer of the ruined cities of Yucatan. 
 
 Mr. Bryce early entered upon political life, as a mem- 
 ber of the Democratic party, and took so active a part 
 that on the election of Governor Hill he was appointed 
 paymaster-general of New York, a position which he 
 filled with great credit. In 1886 he was nominated for 
 Congress from the Seventh Congressional District of 
 New York Cit\-, and was elected a member of the Fif- 
 tieth Congress. During his term of service he worked 
 earnestly for the interests of the metropolis, and par- 
 ticularly sought to place the harbor of the city under 
 the jurisdiction of the government, for the purpose of 
 checking the deposition of refuse in the waters of the 
 harbor and the needless anchorage of craft in the direct 
 path of navigation. His untiring work in this direction 
 won him warm praise from his fellow-Congressmen. 
 
 While thus engaged in various public duties, General 
 Br\-ce occupied his leisure in authorshij), both in essa}'- 
 and novel-writing. He wrote papers on a number of 
 interesting subjects for the leading magazines, and pub- 
 lished several novels, including "Paradise," "The Ro- 
 mance of an Alter P-go," and " A Dream of Conquest." 
 The latter was an imaginary conception of an in\'asion 
 of America by the Chinese. It was publislicd in Lippiii- 
 
 cotfs Maga:;iin\ and attracted much attention by the 
 cleverness of its plot and the admirable powers of de- 
 scription it tlisijlaycd. " An Alter Ego" is a .story based 
 on hypnotism. It indicates a careful stutly of the subject, 
 and was very well received. 
 
 In Ma}', 18S9, Mr. Br\'ce made a journe\- to Europe, 
 but immediate]}' after reaching there was startled by 
 news of the sudden death of his life-long friend, Allen 
 Thorndike Rice, the editor ami proprietor of the North 
 American Rcv'mc, and the recently appointed minister 
 to Russia. Mr. Rice had intended to accompany his 
 friend, but had been prevented by a seemingly slight 
 indisposition, w hich had had this fatal result. 
 
 It proved, on reading the will of Mr. Rice, that he 
 had bequeathed the controlling interest in the Rcvicic to 
 General Br\'ce, who, in consequence, immediatel}' re- 
 turned to New York, purchased the remaining interest 
 from the heirs, and assumed the control of that old and 
 recentl}' popular magazine. The North Aunricaii Re- 
 view, after years of feeble support, had been brought into 
 high popular favor by Mr. Rice, who devoted it to the 
 consideration of the timel}' topics of the day. Its new 
 editor has pursued the same course, and in his liands 
 the Revieiv has grown in favor and usefulness, until it is 
 now tiie acknowledged medium through which current 
 histor}', science, philanthrops', and all topics of public 
 interest are brought to the notice of an appreciative 
 public. Mr. Br\ce is gifted with excellent business 
 judgment antl literary taste, and makes a capital editor. 
 Personally he is of agreeable manners, kindly dis- 
 position, considerate feeling, and has won hosts of 
 friends. 
 
3o8 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM WOOD. 
 
 William Wood, philanllimpist ;ur1 founder uf the 
 Mercantile Library of New Yorl<, was born at Charles- 
 town, Massachusetts, in 1777. Me received his education 
 there, and spent a few years in business life in Boston, 
 after which he removed to Canandaigua, New York. To 
 this place, then a growing \ illage, he transferred much 
 of the pritle and active interest which he had previously 
 manifested in Boston affairs. To his eyes Canandaigua 
 came to appear more beautiful than Boston itself had 
 previously seemed, and he took the warmest interest in 
 the growth of the handsomely situated lake-side village, 
 one of his jjarticular delights being in the adornment of 
 the streets of his adopted \illage with the choicest shade- 
 trees, particularly elms and maples, the planting ami sub- 
 sequent care of which he himself superintended with the 
 greatest solicitude. He had a re|)utation fur eccentricit)' 
 as regarded his interest in trees, disliking some intensely, 
 while others lie regarded with the greatest affection. 
 
 His devotion to tree-planting was but one of his 
 special interests. The subject of imjjroved sidewalks 
 also strongly engaged his attention, anil he took such an 
 active part in improving those of Canandaigua that he 
 gained the sobriquet of "Sidewalk Wood," not in ridi- 
 cule, but in honor. By this tleclared public si)irit Mr. 
 Wood proved himself a benefactor of every |)lace in 
 which he resided. 
 
 After leaving Canandaigua, Mr. WDod entered into busi- 
 ness as an importing merchant in Boston for a period, 
 and subsecjuently removed to New Orleans, where he 
 became a cotton dealer and built up a large and lucrative 
 business. Unfortunately for him there came in itSo7 the 
 " Embargo Act" of President Jefferson's administration 
 and afterwards the Milan decree of Napoleon. The busi- 
 ness depression which followed the acts of international i 
 
 reprisal ruined Mr. Wood's business. He subsequently 
 received some compensation from Congress, but by no 
 means sufficient to recompense him for his losses and the 
 destruction of his business. Subsequently he removed 
 to New York, entered successfully into business there, 
 anil made that city his place of residence during the 
 rcniaiiuler of his life. 
 
 Mr. Wood's career of philanthropy began when he 
 was engaged in mercantile business in New Orleans, and 
 continueil throughout his subsequent life. The act of 
 benevolent public interest and thoughtfulness for the 
 good of the communitv, that of the founding of the 
 New York Mercantile Library, took place in 1820. On 
 November 3 of that year he had posted on the bulletin 
 board of the Coinmvrcial Advertiser the following " No- 
 tice to Merchants' Clerks and Apprentices." 
 
 " Those young gentlemen who are disposeil to form a 
 Mercantile Library and an Evening Reading-Room arc 
 desired to attend a meeting for that purpose to be held 
 at the Tontine Coffee House on Thursday Evening ne.xt, 
 at seven o'clock, when a plan of a Library and Associa- 
 tion will be presented for their consideration. The 
 yoinig men of South Street, Front, Water, Pearl, Maiden 
 Lane, and Broailway are particularly desired to attend." 
 
 The meeting was held in accordance with the fore- 
 going notice on the evening of Thursday, No\ember 9, 
 1S20, and was attcndeil by many of the young men to 
 whom the jiroposal of a library in their interests proved 
 alluring. Mr. Wood was present to explain the plan 
 he had formulated in his own mind, a plan which, it need 
 scarcely be said, was accepted, and there and then was 
 started the institution whirh has hail so lont; and prosper- 
 ous a career anil lias pioxed of such untolil benefit to 
 the youthful business community of New York. 
 
 B\- the Constitution of this Library Association, ado|)teil 
 in accordance with the suggestions of Mr. Wooil, the 
 control of the institution was placed in the hands of 
 merchants' clerks, ami they alone were perniitteil to hold 
 office. This i^rovision has been continued up to the 
 present time. The library was openeil on February 12, 
 1821, at 49 Fulton Street, the original quarters consist- 
 ing of a single room and about seven hundred donated 
 volumes. After many difficulties in its development it 
 finally seemed excellentlj- ailapted qu.irters in the old 
 Astor Place Opeia House, at a cost of Si 40,000. This 
 building continued the seat of the lijjnirv for thirty-si.x 
 years, when, in 1S90, it was demolished, and in iS(ji, one 
 year later, the institution entered the new building erected 
 on the site of the old, and one of the handsomest edifices 
 in the metropolis. On its shelves to-day rest twi) hundred 
 and fift)' thousand volumes, besides all the ciuTent litera- 
 ture of the day. Mr. Wood died in 1857, and was buried 
 in the old cemetei-j' south of West Avenue, which he had 
 faithfully labored to beautif)-. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 309 
 
 NORVIN GREEN, M.D. 
 
 NoRViN Gkeen" was born in New .Xlban}-, Indiana, 
 April 17, 1818, being descended from a family of the 
 earliest settlers of Kentucky. His father, a native of 
 that State, served as a vokmteer in the War of 1812, 
 and took part in the battle of New Orleans. On his 
 return he removed to Indiana, where his son was born. 
 He afterwards returned to Kentucky, where Norvin 
 grew to manhood, and obtained such education as a 
 frontier State could at that time afford. The boy, how- 
 ever, early gained a full share of the \ahiable education 
 of experience. He grew up on his father's farm, toughen- 
 ing himself by work, and developing a love for horses 
 which was the passion of his youthful life. None could 
 surpass him as a horseman ; he took the keenest delight 
 in races, and might have developed into a horse jockey 
 had not fortune designed his life for better ends. He 
 became, in fact, when but thirteen years of age, the assist- 
 ant of his father, then sheriff of Breckenridge County, 
 riding over the county to collect taxes, and keeping his 
 fatlier's accounts with a striking accuracy for one so 
 young. The currency at that time was in a transition 
 state between dollars and cents and pounds, shillings, 
 and pence, and account-keeping was a complicated 
 affair. 
 
 At that time Western commerce was largely conducted 
 by means of boats on the Ohio and Mississippi. Joseph 
 Green determined to risk all his money and credit in this 
 business, and in 1833 bought and stocked several flat- 
 boats, and placed his son, then just fifteen, in charge of 
 one of these, which contained the great variety of goods 
 of a countr}- store of that period. The father com- 
 manded the other boats, w hich w^ere loaded with horses. 
 He made his way directly for New^ Orleans, leaving his 
 son to follow and dispose of his stock as he could along 
 the route. The results of the double \enture w^ere dif- 
 ferent. The father lost most of his cargo through a 
 storm. The son disposed of his profitably, and had an 
 excellent report to make. 
 
 An event now occurred that brought out Norvin 
 Green's character remarkably. His father became dan- 
 gerously ill through his exposure, and his property w-as 
 seized b\' a faithless friend. The boy, \'et but si.xteen, 
 at once took charge of everything, bought a larger boat, 
 stocked it with a large supplj', — obtained partly for cash, 
 parti}' on credit, — and set out on another venture. In 
 this he had the same good fortune as before. He now 
 leased a farm at the mouth of the Kentucky River, built 
 a store and warehouse, and opened a general mercantile 
 business, while he bought farm produce and sent it down 
 the ri\-er to be sold. By the time he was nineteen he 
 had paid all his own debts and those of his father and 
 had sufficient money left to buy a farm. 
 
 His next venture was as a woodsman, he contracting 
 
 to deliver twelve hundred cords of wood at Madison, 
 Indiana. This he did profitabh', frequently using the 
 axe himself with his hired wood-cutters. Having jilaced 
 his father in comfortable circumstances and made some 
 money for his own use, he now looked about him for a 
 life business, and at the age of twenty decided on and 
 began the study of medicine, entering the Medical De- 
 partment of the University of Louisville, from which he 
 graduated in 1840. 
 
 For several years Dr. Green practiced successfull)- in 
 Kentucky. He gradually, howe\er, became drawn into 
 politics, antl was nominated and elected to the Legislature 
 of Kentucky, in which he served several terms. After- 
 wards he was appointed commissioner in charge of the 
 construction of United States public buildings at Louis- 
 \ille. While here he became interested in what was to 
 be the future business of his life, the de\'elopment of the 
 telegraph. He entered into this with tiie energy and 
 ability which he had manifested in his younger life, and 
 rapidly progressed until he became president of the 
 Southwestern Telegraph Company, a position which he 
 retained for twelve years. In 1866 he became vice- 
 president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 and in 1878, on the death of Mr. Orton, he was made 
 president of this great corporation. 
 
 Dr. Green has resided in New York since his con- 
 nection with the Western Union. He has been a most 
 active and energetic developer of the telegraph business, 
 and for years has been the prime mover in all important 
 changes and improvements in the yVmerican telegraphic 
 system. The business ability which he manifested so 
 strongly in his boyhood days clings to him still, no 
 emergency is too great for him to handle, and no man 
 could more satisfactorily manage the great interests 
 under his control. 
 
 40 
 
;io 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MARVHLLH W. COOl'F.R. 
 
 Makveli.e Wilson Coopeu, prominent amon<j the 
 retired merchants of New York, is a native of the Green 
 Mountain State of Vermont, in Windsor County of 
 which State he was born May 24, 1826. Mr. Cooper 
 comes of excellent New luigland stock, being a lineal 
 descendant of John Cooper, a young Englishman, who 
 emigrated to this country in 1636, and took up his resi- 
 dence in New Hampshire, then an unsettled wilderness. 
 After some years of pioneer life he married Anna Spar- 
 hawk, of Puritan descent, and settled at Cambridge. 
 Here he became quite prominent, being succes.sively 
 selectman, town clerk, and deacon. Phineas S. Cooper, 
 in the fourth generation of his descendants, was the 
 father of the subject of our sketch. 
 
 Mr. Cooper's educational opportunities were very 
 limited in his early days, being confined to the meagre 
 knowledge obtainable in the jjublic schools of that date. 
 But he was ambitious and energetic, with a laudable 
 desire for a collegiate education, and resorted to the ex- 
 pedient so freiiuently adopted in New pjigland, school- 
 teaching, that he might obtain the funds necessary to 
 pass through college. He was successful in this, and 
 after his graduation came to New York, with the pur- 
 pose of engaging in mercantile life. 
 
 He reached the metropolis in 1849, and ol)tained there 
 a situation as clerk, beginning low down on the ladder of 
 fortune, and working himself up rounil by rt>und through 
 perseverance, industry, ami a native ability for business. 
 Eight years' steady labor in subordinate situations en- 
 abled him to become a partner in a prominent commis- 
 sion house, that of Smythe, Sprague & Cooper, a firm 
 whose business grew until its annual sales reached the 
 
 high figure oi Si 2,000,000. To the success of this firm 
 Mr. Cooper's business acumen and activity lent their 
 fair share. In 1864, through a change in the make-up 
 of the firm, its title became Sprague, Cooper & Colburn, 
 and three years afterwards, in 1S67, Mr. Coojier rose to 
 the position of head of the firm, whose title now became 
 Cooper, \'ail & Co. In ten years after engaging in busi- 
 ness for himself he had become the leading partner of 
 one of the first commission houses in New York. 
 
 The partnership of Cooper, Vail & Co. expired bj- 
 limitation in 1872, and Mr. Cooper afterwards continuctl 
 the business through Whittemore, Peet, Post & Co., and 
 subsequentl)' conducted it for a period in his own name. 
 He had made an amjilc fortune, however, antl in 1882 
 retired from immediate connection with commercial 
 affairs, to pass the remainder of his life in ease and 
 enjoyment. His business relations, however, were not 
 fully given up. He retained, and still retains, large busi- 
 ness interests in the Western States, which gi\e him a 
 sufficient share of active employment. 
 
 After the murder of President Garfield, as it became 
 probable that a change would be made in the post of 
 collector of the port of New York, Mr. Cooper's name 
 was presented for the position, and a ])etition sent to 
 President Arthur, signed by one hundred and fifty mer- 
 chants and bankers, stating that Mr. Cooper, "by the 
 integrity and honesty that have characterized all his 
 dealings, has won for himself the confidence and respect 
 of all classes in this comnuniity," also that " Mr. Cooper's 
 thorough knowledge of mercantile affairs, and his ex- 
 tensive acquaintance with the active business men of 
 New York, render him eminently fitted to discharge the 
 duties of the office." No change was made in the office, 
 however, though President Arthur declared the petition 
 to be the strongest he had ever seen. 
 
 Mr. Cooper, since his retirement fiom business, has 
 continued to make New York his ])lace of residence, but 
 has spent much of his time in travel Heing unmarried, 
 he has no domestic lies, and has traveled widely o\er the 
 American and I'2uro[)ean continents, obser\ing all that he 
 can find worth seeing. In 1885 he was appointeti United 
 States railroad commissioner, to inspect the Southern 
 Pacific Railroad. For a time he was president of the 
 New England Societ\-, but declined the re-election that 
 was unanimously tendered him on the ground of his 
 frequent absences from New \'ork. Politically he is a 
 Republican, and ardentl)- favors protection to American 
 industiies, but has persistenth' declined political nomina- 
 tions, which have often been tendered him. 1 le is ,1 
 man of warm benevolence, and has maile man)' public 
 contributions to charity, and many more pri\ate ones, 
 whose sum no man knows. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Ill 
 
 JOHN T. HOFFMAN. 
 
 JoHX Thoiipson Hoffman, Governor of New York from 
 1869 to 1873, was born at Sing Sing, in that State, Janu- 
 ary 10, 1828. He was the grandson of Phih'p Livingston 
 Hoffman, a member of the bar, and the son of Adrian K. 
 Hoffman, a physician of Westchester County. He was 
 well educated, at first under the charge of Rev. Dr. Prime, 
 afterwards editor of the New York Observer, and at fifteen 
 entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he 
 graduated with all the honors of the institution in 1846. 
 He had early shown excellent oratorical powers and 
 gained a reputation as a public speaker, and his graduation 
 address, on "Sectional Prejudices," is said to have been 
 very noteworthy. From his bo\'hood days he was a Dem- 
 ocrat in political sentiment, and during his whole life re- 
 mained an earnest advocate of the doctrines of that party. 
 
 After leaving college Mr. Hoffman began the study of 
 law under General Aaron Ward and Judge Albert Lock- 
 wood, of Sing Sing, and on January 10, 1849, ^^'^ 
 twenty-first birthday, was admittctl to the bar. Later in 
 that year he removed to New York City, where he asso- 
 ciated himself with the late H. M. W^oodruff and Judge 
 W. M. Leonard, under the firm title of Woodruff, Leon- 
 ard S: Hoffman. He continued his legal practice dili- 
 gently during the succeeding ten years, with a very 
 encouraging success, ami in 1859 President Buchanan 
 was urged by prominent citizens to confer on him the 
 office of United States district attorney, but declined to 
 do so on the sole objection of his youth. 
 
 Long before this he had become prominent in politics. 
 In 1848, while still a boy, he was made a member of the 
 State central committee by the convention of the " Hard- 
 shell Democrac}'." Although not \'et a voter, Mr. 
 Hoffman took the stump, and did excellent service as a 
 political orator for Lewis Cass. His legal prominence 
 and his abilit)- as a promulgator of Democratic principles 
 kept him before the people, and in i860 he was nomi- 
 nated and elected recorder of the city of New York, 
 being the j'oungest man w ho had e\er filled that office. 
 He proved thoroughly adapted to its duties, and during 
 his first term achieved a high measure of reputation, it 
 becoming his duty to tr\' and sentence many of those 
 who were engaged in the riots of July, 1863. He rose 
 so high in public estimation that in the ensuing election, 
 October, 1863, he had the nomination of both parties 
 ,iinl the general support of the press, antl was returned 
 by si.xty thousand out of si.xt}--four thousand votes, a 
 result unparelleled in the history of the city to that time. 
 
 In 1865 the Tamman\- Hall Democratic convention 
 nominated Mr. Hofl'man for mayor. There were three 
 other candidates in the field, Marshall O. Roberts, John 
 Hecker, and C. G. Gunther, chosen respectively by the 
 Republican, the Citizens' Association, and an indepen- 
 dent wing of the Democratic party ; but Mr. Hoffman 
 
 was elected by a majorit)- of twelve hundred over Mr. 
 Roberts. While serving during this term as mayor he 
 was nominated by his party for governor, but was de- 
 feated by Reuben E. Fcnton. In 1867 Tammany again 
 nominated him for the mayoralt}-, and the high esteem 
 he had won was shown by his majority of twenty-one 
 thousand votes over his two competitors. 
 
 During his service as mayor in tiiis term the party 
 again nominated him as governor, and in the ensuing 
 election he was chosen as governor of the State of New 
 York by a handsome majorit}-. He resigned his seat as 
 mayor in 1 868 to assume that of governor. In 1870 he 
 was again returned as governor, thus having had the 
 compliment to his efficienc}- of a re-election to every 
 political office held by him. 
 
 During Governor Hoffinan's second term the great 
 popular tlemonstration against the outrages of the Tweed 
 Ring took place. Unfortunately for his political future 
 his name was associated with this faction, though on 
 no other grounds than that he owed his election to the 
 Tammany wing of tiie Democracy, there being no evi- 
 dence that he had ever in any way assisted in the Tweed 
 raids on the treasury or the other outrages of the faction. 
 From this time forward, however, he withdrew from 
 participation in political affairs, devoted himself to his ex- 
 tensive law practice, and abstained from public utterances. 
 
 Personally Go\-ernor Hoffman was highly courteous, 
 pleasing, and unaffected in manner, having all the qualities 
 of a thoroughl}- trained gentleman. He had traveled much 
 abroad, but his favorite place of sojourn was his home on 
 the Hudson, and his chief happiness was found in domes- 
 tic life. His powers as a public speaker were fine, his evi- 
 dent sincerity and the clearness of hft language and logic 
 enabling him to make a deep impression on his audiences. 
 He died at Wiesbaden, Germany, March 24, 1888. 
 
312 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 J. SEAVHR PAGE. 
 
 Mr. Pace was born in New York City, and from his 
 early manhood lias been identified with the best interests 
 of the metropolis, alike in its commercial and social 
 phases, in both of which he has taken a prominent and 
 active part, while his connection with sportintj interests 
 and with municijial affairs lias broujrht him yreatly into 
 public notice. He was educated at the College of the 
 City of New York, after ]>assiny the ordinary preliminary 
 course of instruction, ami t;raduatcd with a creditable 
 record. Durintj his colletje course he e\inced a taste 
 for public speaking, to the cultivation of which he gave 
 much time and attention, and with such success as to 
 become notable for this gift of oratory in his college 
 and his subsequent career. Entering early in his mature 
 life into politics, as an earnest advocate of the |)rincipies 
 of the Re|)ublican i)arty, he quickly began to cmi)lo)- in 
 this direction his gift of oratory, which developed to such 
 a tiegree that in all the recent Presiilential campaigns he 
 has been a much sought for s])eaker on tlie Republican 
 side, ami has exercised a notable influence in affecting 
 the vote in the districts in which his cam])aigning work 
 was performed. For many years he .served as public 
 school trustee in the district of New York City of which 
 he was a resident, and continues to take an earnest in- 
 terest in the development and progress of the public 
 schools. lie cntereil into business life shortly after his 
 graduation from college, aiul has advanced in jjusiness 
 experience and position until now he is vice-president of 
 the ]•". W. De\()e & C. T. Re\iiolds Conqiany, the largest 
 paint and varnish house in the world, and one of the 
 leading mercantile houses in New York. This firm has 
 
 connections in almost every part of the country, and 
 does an enormous business throughout the United States 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. Page is a thorough business man, of fine and com- 
 manding appearance, and he combines all the best qual- 
 ities that ma\- be found among those who have attained 
 success in the great financial, social, and intellectual centre 
 of the country. Mr. Page is a devotee of all out-door 
 sports, in the development of which he has taken a warm 
 and intelligent interest since his college days, and to whose 
 progress much of his attention is still earnestly given. 
 He was at one time a base-ball enthusiast, and has made 
 creditable records in pigeon shooting, while he has taken 
 part in other forms of American sport. His labors as a 
 ready orator ha\ e b\- no means been confined to jjolitical 
 affairs, but ha\e taken a ])hiIanthropic direction as well, 
 greatly to the benefit of the benevolent organizations of 
 New York, since by his noteworthj- talent as a public 
 declaimer he has been instrumental in raising large sums 
 of money for charit)'. 
 
 He was at one time secretary of the Union League, 
 having been elected as the opposition candidate. He 
 was later elected on the regular ticket. Mr. Page is an 
 active club man, particularly in clubs having connection 
 with sjjorting affairs, he being a member of nearly all 
 the prominent outing clubs of New York, including tlie 
 Country Club, the I^rchmont Yacht, ami the Westminster 
 Kennel Club. He is also, as stated abo\e, a member of 
 the Union League, and is connected by membership with 
 the St. Nicholas, Fulton, Reform, Republican, New York 
 Athletic, and Liederkranz Clubs. He is, in addition, a 
 member of the St. Nicholas Societ)' by right of descent 
 on the maternal side. 
 
 In the subject of the Greater New York he is greatly 
 interested, being a warm believer in and earnest ad\o- 
 cate of this proposition to unite with the metropolis 
 the large city of Hrookl\-n, its immediate outgrowth 
 and the several other cities and towns within the Slate 
 limits which owe their origin and tlevelopment to New 
 York, and which, properly considered, are and always 
 have been parts of this great city. This movement, 
 which Mr. Page has strongly advocated, is simply a 
 matter of justice to the metropolis, in enabling it to 
 take its true rank among the great cities of the world, 
 which it loses under the present misleading state of 
 affiirs. The indications at present are that the union 
 will be consummated, a desirable result fur uhicli .Mr. 
 Page and its other e.irnest advocates can claim nnich 
 of the credit. Personall)- Mr. Page is one of the most 
 [)opular men in the mercantile and social life of New 
 York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 313 
 
 SIGOURNEY W. FAY. 
 
 Sk;ournev W. Fav, a Icadinrr mt reliant in the woolen 
 business in New York City, is by birth a native of Boston, 
 in whieh cit)- he was born fift\'-nine years ago. He bears 
 his age so well, however, that he might pass for little 
 more than forty, having in some waj- learned the valuable 
 secret of looking young, — perhaps that of keeping young, 
 for the two go naturally together. Mr. Fay spent his 
 youthful years in his native city, and received that educa- 
 tion which Boston is better adopted to give — if we may 
 accept its reputation — than an}- other city in this country. 
 Having decided on engaging in mercantile business, he 
 obtained a position in the Boston house of Lawrence, 
 Stone & Co., with whom he remained actively engaged 
 imtil about twentj'-four j'cars of age, proving himself an 
 energetic and conscientious emploj'e, and winning the 
 confidence and respect of his cmpIo\'crs by devotion to 
 their interests and an excellent business capacity. 
 
 In i860, having the capital to engage in commercial 
 life on his own account, and sufficient business experi- 
 ence to warrant the venture, he came to New York in 
 company with Mr. Stone, one of his recent employers. 
 Here a partnership was organized, under the firm-name 
 of Stone, Bliss, Fa\- & Allen, for the purpose of con- 
 ducting a dry-goods business, and the partners went 
 energetically to work, quickly building for themselves a 
 satisfactorj' trade. 
 
 The firm continued in existence under this title for 
 about ten years, becoming well known and prominent in 
 its line of trade. At the end of that period changes took 
 place in the list of partners, and the firm was reorganized 
 under the title of Perry, Wendell, Fay & Co., the busi- 
 ness gradually changing from general dry goods to the 
 woolen commission line, to which it has long been con- 
 fined. 
 
 In 1878, Mr. Perr\-, senior member of the firm, — a 
 w ell-known character in Now York, whei'e he was gener- 
 ally addressed as Commodore Pcrr}-, — was remo\cd by 
 death, and his.name was dropped from the firm-title, which 
 now became known by its present name of Wendell, Fay 
 & Co. Since that time there has been no change in the 
 title or pcrsoinicl of the firm, whose business has grown 
 to be a very extensive one, though one that is always 
 conducted in a safe and conservative manner. 
 
 The success of this business is largely due to Mr. Fay, 
 who is a man of much business enterprise and ability, 
 and is known among his trade associates as a model 
 merchant, his activity being combined with integrity, and 
 with an intelligence and uprightness in all the fields of 
 life that comniaiul the respect of all who know him. 
 
 The great popularit}' which he possesses among the 
 patrons of his business house is due to his pleasant face 
 and agreeable manners, and his native sociability of dis- 
 position, he being noted for his constant genialit}' and 
 courtesy. Aside from business he has had little time 
 for other pursuits, a merchant's time, in these days of 
 energetic competition, being usually too completely taken 
 up to permit indulgence to any great extent in outside 
 affairs. Yet Mr. Fay has much literary taste and lo\-e of 
 knowledge, while he possesses good powers of oratory. 
 In consequence he has appeared to some extent as a 
 lecturer on \arious topics, and has gained considerable 
 reputation in this field of intellectual exercise. 
 
 The firm with which he is connected has interests out- 
 side New York. Its origin may be said to have been in 
 Boston, with which it has since maintained close relations, 
 having a representative branch in that city. It is also 
 represented in Philadelphia. The goods dealt in com- 
 prise the best grades of cloths, suitings, uniform goods, 
 and in short all the best products of the woolen manu- 
 facture, while the house is the New York representative 
 of a number of the leading woolen-mills of the United 
 States, among which may be named the celebrated 
 Middlesex Mills, the Campbell and the Dumbarton Mills, 
 the Swift River Manufacturing Company, and a number 
 of other woolen manufacturing concerns. 
 
 Aside from his firm connections, in which he may be 
 said to be one of the most popular merchants in New 
 York, Mr. Fay is connected with se\-eral financial concerns, 
 he being a director in the Hanover National Bank and 
 in the Exchange Fire Insurance Cofftpany. 
 
314 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ROIJERT B. ROOSEVELT. 
 
 Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, distinguished as an 
 author and statesman, was born in New York City, Au- 
 gust 7, 1829. He received a collegiate education, and 
 after graduation entered upon tlic study of law, being 
 admitted to the New York bar on rcacliing his majority. 
 His professional life was quickly supplemented by an 
 activit)- in literature and in political affairs which brouglit 
 him prominently into attention, and have turned his life 
 interests aside from legal practice. His literary taste 
 developed early, and was accompanied by powers of 
 imagination and of reasoning and by a lucid style tiiat 
 have made him popular as a magazine writer and as an 
 author of more ambitious works. 
 
 •Mr. Roosevelt has long been a devotee of sport, but 
 his enthusiasm in tliis direction has been tem])ered with 
 a measure of good sense that im|)elleil him to make a 
 vigorous onslaught on the indiscriminate slaughter of 
 game in which so many so-called sportsmen indulge. 
 To overcome tliis he devoted much time and energy to 
 the organization of clubs for the preservation of game 
 and to the obtaining of legislative restriction on the van- 
 dalism that threatened the complete extermination of 
 the food tenants of woods and waters. In 1867 he suc- 
 ceeded in founding the New York Fishery Commission, 
 and was ajipointcd one of the State commissioners. His 
 labors in this tlirection were active and incessant, and 
 continued until 1S88, when his appointment as United 
 States minister to the Netherlands interfered with his 
 immediate supervision. He wrote at that time an elab- 
 orate report, detailing the results of the twenty-one years 
 of labor of the commission. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt served as president of the Fish Culture 
 A.ssociation for a number of years, and also of the Asso- 
 ciation for the Protection of Game, and of the Inter- 
 national Association for the same purpose. His work in 
 this direction was not confined to labors in organizations, 
 but took the form of literature, in his published volumes 
 " The Game Fisli of North America," " The Game Birds 
 of the North," and " Superior Fishing." 
 
 Politically he has been an active member of the Dem- 
 ocratic party, working in its interest during the civil war, 
 at which time lie took [lart in the formation of se\eral 
 political associations. His greatest and most useful ac- 
 tivity in municipal politics, however, was his share in the 
 founding of the Committee of Seventy, whose work was 
 directed against the outrages of the Tweed Ring. He 
 was also the first vice-president of the Reform Club, and 
 one of the editors of the Citizen, a paper dc\oted to the 
 policy of this club. He sub.sequently took entire cliarge 
 of this paper, and worked energetically through its col- 
 umns for the overthrow of the Tweed ascendency. 
 
 In 1870 Mr. Roosevelt was elected a member of the 
 Forty-second Congress, being sui^ported by both wings 
 of the New York Democracy. He proved independent 
 in his Congressional course, and resistant to the demands 
 of party leaders. Aside from his political relations he 
 was actively interested in New York affairs, taking an 
 earnest part in the formation of paid fire and health de- 
 partments in the city, and acting as a commissioner on 
 the Brooklyn Bridge. He was the first vice-president 
 and afterwards the president of the Holland Trust 
 Compan\-, .ind took part in the fountling of the Lotos 
 Club. 
 
 Mr. RooscN'clt's practice as a lawyer continued for 
 about twenty j'cars after his admission to the bar, but 
 was afterwards abandoned in consequence of the [)ress- 
 ure of jiolitical and other interests. He became actively 
 engaged in financial affairs, was president or director in 
 a number of insurance, railroad, and other corporations, 
 and was offered by President Cleveland, during his first 
 term, the position of United States sub-treasurer at New 
 York. This he ikclined in consequence of the labor 
 involveil. 1 le was frequently offered other jniblic posi- 
 tions, and served, as has been saiil, as minister to the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 He edited "The Political Works of Charles G. Hal- 
 pine," and was the author of " I'ive Acres too Much," a 
 clever satire suggested by lulmund Morris's " Ten Acres 
 Knough," also of " Progressive Petticoats," a luimorous 
 illustration of medical habits. These are his best-known 
 writings, aside from his magazine essays, which have 
 been numerous. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 3J5 
 
 ALBERT B. CHANDLER. 
 
 Albekt ]?kii\\n Ciiaxdlkk, president of tlie Postal 
 Telegraph Cable Company, was born at West Randolpli, 
 Vermont, August 20, 1840. The American family of 
 Chandlers had its origin in three brothers who settled at 
 Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1637, and the subject of our 
 sketch is also a descendant of John Winthrop, the first 
 governor of Massachusetts, through his daughter, Mary 
 Winthrop. 
 
 Mr. Chandler was educated in the best schools of his 
 native town, and when of suitable age spent his school 
 \'acations in studxing the printer's art and in \\\)rking 
 as a compositor in West Randolph and in Montpelier, 
 Vermont. He also spent part of his leisure time in a 
 telegraph-office located in a book-store in his nati\c town, 
 performing duties here as a messenger and learning the 
 art of operating. His knowledge of telegraphy thus 
 gained stood him in good stead. His oldest brother, 
 William W. Chandler, was then general freight agent 
 of the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad, and procured 
 him, m 1858, when eighteen years of age, the position 
 of manager of the Western Lhiion Telegraph office at 
 Bellaire, Ohio. 
 
 Early in the following \-ear the }'oung operator was 
 removed to Pittsburg and gi\-en a position in the office 
 of the superintendent of the Cleveland and Pittsburg 
 Railroad, and three months afterwards was made agent 
 of the railroad at ALinchester, an important freight ship- 
 ping-point opposite Pittsburg. He remained here until 
 1863, when he entered the militar)' telegraph service of 
 the government as cipher operator in the War Depart- 
 ment at Washington, to which position, in October, 
 was added that of disbursing clerk for General Kckert, 
 superintendent of the Department of the Potomac. His 
 duties took him fretiuentl)- to the armies in the field, 
 and brought him into contact with the President and the 
 chief officials of the government. 
 
 In 1866, while the organization into one company of 
 the several telegraph companies was in process of com- 
 pletion, Mr. Chandler was made chief clerk in the super- 
 intendent's office for the Eastern division, and also placed 
 in charge of the transatlantic cable traffic, to which duties 
 he subsequently added those of superintendent of the 
 si.xth district of the Eastern division. 
 
 The positions here named were filled by Mr. Chandler 
 until January, 1875, when he was made assistant general 
 manager of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. 
 From this post he rapidly ad\anced through the offices 
 of secretary, trustee, treasurer, and vice-president to 
 that of president, which position he attained in 1879, 
 and held until the Atlantic and Pacific was absorbed by 
 
 the Western Union in 1882. In October, 1881, he was 
 offered and accepted the presidency of the Fuller Elec- 
 trical Company, one of the first to engage in the arc 
 system of electric lighting. In December, 1884. at the 
 instance of John W. Mackay, he was emploj-ed as coun- 
 sel by the Postal Telegraph and Cable Compan\', and in 
 1885 was appointed, by the New York Supreme Court 
 receiver of that company. When, through his efforts, 
 the company was reorganized, he was elected its presi- 
 dent and manager, and was also made general manager 
 of the United Lines Telegraph Company. He also be- 
 came a director, member of the executi\e committee, and 
 vice-president of the Commercial Cable Company and of 
 the Pacific Postal Telegraph Company, and a director, 
 and afterwards president, of the Commercial Telegraph 
 Company. 
 
 Through Mr. Chandler's efforts the New York Stock 
 P^xchange obtained control of the last-named company, 
 he subsequently becoming vice-president and general 
 manager of the New York Quotation Company, and 
 afterwards president of the Br^Doklyn District Telegraph 
 Company, of which he is at present a director. He is 
 now president of the American District Telegraph Com- 
 pan\', of Philadelphia, and of the Quotation Company in 
 Boston. In 1887, he, with several of the chief officials 
 of tlie Western Union Telegraph Company, effected 
 arrangements for the discontinuance of the destructive 
 competition which had pre\iously existed, much to the 
 ad\antage of the telegraph companies and the public. 
 The Postal Telegraph Compan}' has recently built itself a 
 commodious new edifice, through Mr. Chandler's efforts, 
 at the corner of Broadway and Murr^' Streets, New York. 
 
3i6 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN C. HAVEMRYHR. 
 
 John Ckak; II.WEMiiVicK, son of William F. Ilavc- 
 nicycr, for tlircc terms maj-or of New YorU, and grand- 
 son of William Havemcycr, wiio came from Germany in 
 1799 and settled in New York, was born in that cit\^ in 
 1833. The Havcmeyers ha\e long been identified with 
 the business of sugar refining in this country. William 
 Havemeyer brougiit a knowledge of this business with 
 him from Biickeburg, Germany, and started what was 
 one of the earliest refineries in New York. He was suc- 
 ceeded in this line of business by his son, William F. 
 Havemc)-er, in whose hands it became much developed, 
 and who retired from business with a competency at the 
 age of forty, having won an enviable reputation for honor 
 and integrity, and manifested a public spirit which was 
 afterwards rewarded by his three successive elections to 
 the mayoralty. 
 
 The strong character and marked independence of 
 spirit, whicli made the elder Mr. IIa\emeyer a notable 
 personage in New York, were rellected in the character 
 of his son, who lias displaj'ed the same courage, inde- 
 pendence, and integrity throughout his career. Mr. 
 I lavemeyer was educated at private schools, and prepared 
 at Columbia College Grammar-School for a collegiate 
 course, which he was prevented from completing through 
 failure in his eyesight. On leaving college he spent two 
 years in a wholesale grocery house, gaining there a practi- 
 cal knowledge of business. On leaving these he spent 
 a year in foreign travel, traversing Europe, Syria, and 
 Egypt. Returning in 1854 lie entered the sugar refinery 
 of Havemeyer & Moller, in which he took charge of the 
 office-work. 
 
 After two years of e.\])erience, Mr. Haveme\'er estab- 
 lished a sugar refinery of his own in Brooklyn, upon 
 capital furnished by liis father. This concern has since 
 then grown into the great Ikjusc of I lavemej-er & Elder ; 
 but Mr. Havemeyer soon withdrew from it, on account 
 of the anxiety caused by the use of borrowed capital, 
 and returned to office- work for Havemeyer & Moller. 
 A year afterwards this firm dissolved. Mr. Havemeyer 
 was offered a partnersiiip in the new firm by the suc- 
 cessor of the old one, but declined, from the fact that he 
 
 would again have to work with borrowed money. He 
 remained, however, for two \ears, being paid for his ser- 
 vices b\' a share of tlie ])rofits. At the enti nf this ])criod 
 he startetl a commission business, which he contlucted 
 successfully for several years, part of the time in partner- 
 ship with his brothers. Failing health obliged him event- 
 iiallv to retire from this business. 
 
 In 1871 Mr. Havemeyer again embarked in the sugar- 
 refining business, establishing a refinery at Greenpoint, 
 Long Islantl, in compan\' with his brother aiul another 
 partner, the firm being known as lla\eme\er. Brother & 
 Co. In this he took charge of the financial antl com- 
 mercial ilepartnient, and remainetl cngageil in it until 
 1880, when his impaired health again forced him to retire. 
 Since then he has not been actively engaged in business 
 pursuits. 
 
 Mr. Havemeyer was married in 1872, in Athens, 
 Greece, to Alice A. F'raiicis, daughter of John M. Francis, 
 then United States minister to Greece. He has been, 
 during the greater part of his life, actively interested in 
 various benevolent, religious, and other organizations in 
 New York. His business Velations are with railroad 
 organizations, in several of which he is a director, while 
 he is a trustee in the Continental Trust Company of 
 New York. He has served as e.xecutor and trustee of 
 a number of large estates, which he has successfully 
 managed. Of the societies with which he is connected 
 may be named the American Bible Societ)-, the Mission- 
 ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the New 
 York Sabbath Committee, the liible Revision Committee, 
 the United States I-',vangelical Alliance, and the New- 
 York I'ort Societj'. He has been particularly interested 
 in the ux)ik in New \'ork of the Young Men's Christian 
 Association, and was the organizer and first president of 
 the Young Men's Cliristian Association of \'onkers. In 
 addition to his active labors in these fields of charity and 
 religion, he has aided them with his pen, having been a 
 frequent contributor to the ]jress on religious, political, 
 and other subjects. Dining liis later years he has de- 
 voted much time and thought to the inxestigation of the 
 problems of philanthropic work, religious truth, and the 
 relation of phj'sical conditions to mental and moral [)hc- 
 nomena. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 117 
 
 WILLIAM KEMSEN. 
 
 The ancestor of tlic Remscn family in America, Rem 
 Jansed Vanderbceck, came to tliis country in the early 
 days of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, being the 
 descendant of an ancient German family which can be 
 traced back as far as 1162. He settled in Albany, and 
 afterwards in Brooklyn, and left a large family who, after 
 his death, dropped the name of Vanderbeeck, and adopted 
 Remsen as their family name, — a custom not uncommon 
 among the early Dutch settlers. Of the Remsens, several 
 became wealth}- New York merchants, including Hen- 
 drick Remsen, born in 170S, and his son Henry, born in 
 1736, and who became one of the largest dry-goods 
 importers of his day. He also took a prominent part 
 in public affairs as a Revolutionary patriot. There 
 were several other Remsens who became rich mer- 
 chants. 
 
 Henry Remsen had nine children, of whom only two 
 married. William Remsen, one of the latter, was born 
 in New York, November 7, 1762, and in 1790, after 
 obtaining his education in the city schools of that day, 
 ^entered his father's business house, and continued in a 
 subordinate capacit\- until he had gained a good working 
 acquaintance with the business, when, in 1790, he was 
 admitted as a business partner of his father. The name 
 of the new firm was made Henry Remsen & Son. The 
 house was then situated in Little Water Street. 
 
 William Remsen, howe\-er, soon diverted his interests 
 to financial and, to some extent, to public affairs. In 
 1793 lie accepted the position of teller in the United 
 States Bank, and on June 3, 1799, entered the establish- 
 ment of the Manhattan Company as cashier. In 1808 
 he married Eliza, daughter of Captain Abraham de 
 Pej-ster, and in the same year was elected president of 
 the Manliattan Company. In this responsible position 
 lie gained a wide reputation as an able financier, ami 
 continued to hold the office until 1826, occupying a lead- 
 ing position in the banking interests of the city. 
 
 Aside from his private business relations, Mr. Remsen, 
 during his younger life, occupied a number of public 
 positions of importance. He became in 1786 secretary 
 to John Jay, when that noted statesman was appointed 
 b_\- the old Congress Secretary for Foreign Affairs. At 
 a later date, that of the Presidency of John Adams, Mr. 
 Remsen ser\-ed as private secretary to Thomas Jefferson, 
 w hen the latter was Secretary of State in the cabinet of 
 the Adams administration. 
 
 Mr. Remsen died in New York City in Fcbruarj-, 1843. 
 He had nine children, of whom William, Robert G., and 
 Elizabeth alone survive. 
 
 This sketch of a family line which has pla\-ed an im- 
 portant part in the history of New York from almost the 
 foundation of the city to the present time may be com- 
 pleted by a brief reference to the oldest living represen- 
 tative of the family, William Remsen the younger, the 
 seventh in lineal descent from the original Rem Jansen 
 Vanderbeeck. 
 
 The present Mr. Remsen was born in New York, Janu- 
 ary 13, 1815. After a preparation for a collegiate course, 
 he entered Princeton College, where he graduated in 1835. 
 His studies there were followed by a three years' course 
 of legal stud}-, and b}- admission to the bar in 1838. 
 He continued in the active practice of the profession for 
 five years subsequent!}', but at the end of this period, 
 his father dying, he was forced to retire from legal prac- 
 tice and relinquish a professional career to take charge 
 of his father's estate, of which he had been appointed 
 one of the administrators. The property was a large 
 one, and the care of it has since engrossed his time and 
 attention. He has had none of his father's taste for 
 public life, finding his chief pleasure in home interests 
 and duties. For many years he has been a warden and 
 vestryman of St. Mark's Church, and a liberal contributor 
 to benevolent objects. He married in 1848 Jane Suydam, 
 and has had eiLdit children, nf whom five are now living. 
 
 41 
 
lis 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 MOST REV. JOHN HUGHES, D.D. 
 
 Akchbishop John IIl'c.hks, a distinguished pixlatc of 
 the Roman Cathohc Church in this country, and widely 
 noted for elocjuence, learning, ability, and religious zeal, 
 was a native of Ireland, being born at Annaloghan, 
 County Tyrone, June 24, 1797. His father, who was a 
 farmer in good circumstances, possessed an excellent 
 education for his condition in life, and his mother was a 
 woman of much refinement of character. John Hughes 
 as a boy became marked for his studious character, ilesire 
 of learning, and aspirations to a career in the priesthood. 
 
 The family came to America in 1816, settling at Cham- 
 bersburg, Pennsj'h-ania. This was not far from Mt. St. 
 Mary's College, a Catholic institution at Emmitsburg, 
 Maryland, and here the youthful aspirant for the priest- 
 hood pursued a course of cla.ssical and theological .studies, 
 studying diligently and graduating with much credit. 
 He was ordained as a member of the priesthood of the 
 Catholic Church by IJishop Conwell, at .St. Joseph's 
 Church, Philadeli)hia, October 15, 1826. 
 
 He had, even before his ordination, taken part in 
 several religious controversies, a ]irelude to his future 
 career, in which he became eminent for controversial 
 ability. His powers of oratory were natively excellent, 
 and within a year of his ordination he had gained such 
 reputation as an elociuent preacher that he was ajjpointed 
 pastor of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia. Soon after he 
 returned to St. Joseph's, entering there into contro\ersy, 
 and organizing the Catholic Tract Society, for which he 
 wrote the first book, " Andrew Dunn." He also f.iunded 
 St. John's Orphan A.sylum for boys. In 1829 he preached 
 the thanksgiving .sermon on the passage of the Irish 
 Emancipation Act, with remarks that brought him into 
 a controversial contest with Rev. Dr Delancey, of the 
 CItiiicli Register. 
 
 In 1830 Mr. Hughes became the companion of Bishop 
 Kenrick during a pastoral journey through the large 
 diocese of Philadelphia. In 1832, on the occasion of 
 the Diocesan Synod at Phihuielphia, he preached the 
 opening sermon, and was one of a connnission of three 
 di\ines appointed to take measures towards the found- 
 ing of a theological seminary. During the same year 
 he gained great reputation in theological circles for his 
 ability in a vigorous controversy with the Rev. John 
 Breckenridge, of Kentucky. 
 
 He was several times nominated for a bishopric, and in 
 1837 was appointed coadjutor-bishop to Bishop Dubois, 
 of New York, being consecrated under the title of Bishop 
 of Basiliopolis at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in that citj-. 
 The health of Bishop Dubois continued to decline until, 
 in 1839, he was relie\ed from duty, and Dr. Hughes 
 appointed in his place administrator of the diocese. He 
 quickly showed himself an acti\e incumbent of the post, 
 founded St. John's College, at P\)rdham, and in 1840, on 
 his return from an European tour, entered warmly into 
 a controversy respecting the ])ublic schools which had 
 arisen in his absence. His ability, courage, and firmness 
 in this controversj- constituted it one of the most im[)or- 
 tant events of his life. Other events of moment in his 
 career followed, and in 1854, tiuring the outbreak of 
 Know-Nothingism, he became the leader of the Catholics 
 in their struggle for their rights. The peril of a violent 
 attack on the churches was pre\ented by his ])romi)t 
 and vigorous measures, and the struggle gradually 
 subsided into a fierce newspaper controvcrsj-, in which 
 he proved a powerful champion of the cause of Ills 
 Church. 
 
 In 1884 the Rev. John McCloskey was appointed his 
 coadjutor. He attended the Sixth Church Council at 
 Baltimore, and afterwards secured the division of his 
 tliocese, the new ilioceses of Buffalo and Albany being 
 formed from it. The Sisters of Charitj', who were intro- 
 duced by him into New "S'ork in 1S46, were organized 
 into a separate society by him in 1847. In 1849-50 the 
 diocese of New York was made an archtlioccse, and Dr. 
 Hughes appointed its first archbishop. He received the 
 pallium, the emblem of metropolitan jurisdiction, from 
 the Pope's own hands at Rome. 
 
 Before going to Rome he had announceil his ])urpose 
 of erecting a new cathedral in New York, ami in 1S58 
 laiil the corner-stone of the magnificent .St. Patrick's 
 Cathedral, on P'ifth .\\enue, a great work which he |)ros- 
 ecuted to the completion of the basement, when the out- 
 break of war com[)elled a suspension of operations. In 
 1861 he went to Europe, at Presiilent Lincoln's request, 
 on business connected with the war between the North 
 and South. He renilered other [)atriotic services during 
 the war, and dietl January 3, 1864, in the midst of his 
 fame and usefulness. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 319 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN. 
 
 James William Bl-:EK^L\^■, born in New York, Novem- 
 ber 22, 181 5, was the fiftli in lineal descent from William 
 (or Wilhelmus) Beekman, who came from Holland with 
 Peter Stu)-\esant in 1647, and played an important part 
 in the early histor\- of New York, both under Dutch and 
 English rule. Mr. Beekman's father was Gerard Beek- 
 man, his mother Catharine Sanders, daughter of Captain 
 John Sanders, a Revolutionarj' soldier, and a descendant 
 of Major John A. Glen, who commanded at Schenec- 
 tady when that settlement was burned by the French and 
 Indians, in the winter of 1689-90. Mr. Beekman was 
 also related to a large number of other prominent New 
 York families. 
 
 His early education was received at home, under pri- 
 vate tutors, after which he entered Columbia College, 
 where he graduated in 1834. He subsequently studied 
 law in the office of John L. Mason. He had, however, 
 no particular occasion to practice ; the death of his 
 father in 1833, and of his uncle four years later, leaving 
 him the heir to valuable property. On this property 
 stood the old " Beekman mansion," near the intersection 
 of the present First Avenue and Fiftieth Street, built 
 about 1750, and occupied by the British commanders 
 and their friends during the Re\'olutionar)- War. Among 
 the points of special interest of this house were the room 
 occupied by Major Andre before his fatal journej- to meet 
 General Benedict Arnold, and the garden greenhouse in 
 which Captain Nathan Hale was tried and condemned. 
 
 His law studies completed, Mr. Beekman made several 
 long journeys through the northern United States, and 
 in 1838 went to Europe with his college friend. Evert A. 
 Duyckinck, his return home being made in one of the 
 earliest steam-\essels which crossed the Atlantic to New 
 York. In 1S40 he married Abian Steele Milledoler, 
 daughter of Rev. Philip Milledoler (president of Rutgers 
 College), and granddaughter of General John Steele, a 
 Revolutionary patriot and frienil of Washington. For a 
 number of \'ears afterwards they resided in the old Beek- 
 man mansion. In 1874 the growth of the city required 
 its removal, when the historical portions were transferred 
 in part to the New York Historical Society rooms, in part 
 were removed to Oyster Bay. 
 
 Mr. Beekman, although having important business 
 affairs of his own to attend to, served the public on vari- 
 ous occasions. He was elected State Assemblyman for 
 one term, and served afterwards for two terms as State 
 Senator. While in the Legislature he secured the passage 
 of important modifications of the tax laws, by which the 
 personal liberty of the delinquent tax-payer was assured. 
 He was chairman of the Senate committee which re- 
 ported the bill creating Central Park, a measure which 
 he warmly advocated. He also served as a member of 
 
 the New York Board of Education, taking great interest 
 in the public school system, which he sought earnestly to 
 advance. Other public positions held by him were those 
 of trustee of Columbia College and of Greenwood Ceme- 
 ter\'. 
 
 At the outbreak of the war, wdien the " Star of the 
 West" was sent to Charleston harbor with pro\isions for 
 the garrison of Fort Sumter, Mr. Beekman was one of 
 three who w-ent to Washington to obtain protection for 
 this vessel on her important errand. They failed, how- 
 ever, to obtain any response from the President, the vessel 
 was fired on, and the war began, w'hose vigorous prosecu- 
 tion he strongly favored. 
 
 Mr. Beekman was one of the founders of the Union 
 League Club, and for a time its vice-president. He was 
 a member and officer also of the St. Nicholas Society, 
 and one of the founders and the first president of the 
 St. Nicholas Club. Other societies in which he held 
 membership were the Century Association and the 
 New York Historical Society, of which latter he was 
 vice-president. He was cc^mected also with many so- 
 cieties of a benevolent character, including the New 
 York Hospital, of which he was a governor and vice-presi- 
 dent, the Woman's Hospital, w-hich he served as president 
 from its foundation till his death, and the New York Dis- 
 pensary. Much of his time and attention were given to 
 hospital work, and during his journeys to Europe he 
 studied earnestly hospital management and construction 
 abroad, while at home he delivered several notable ad- 
 dresses before hospital boards. He died June 15, 1877, 
 of an illness contracted in the prosecution of his duty as 
 an officer of the New York Hospital His children are 
 Catharine B., wife of William Warner Hoppin, Gerard, 
 James William, Jr., and Cornelia A. Beekman. 
 
320 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 DANIKI. DRAKF.-SMITH. 
 
 Daniel Dkake-Smhii, lon^ prominent in insurance 
 circles in New York, was born in that city Aiii^ust 29, 
 1818. His father, Joscpli Drake-Smith, had been a 
 merchant of New York during the early part of the 
 century, and his paternal ancestors, of English descent, 
 were among the early settlers of Long Island. On the 
 mother's side he was descended from a family of Hugue- 
 nots, who left France upon the rc\'ocation of the I'.dict 
 of Nantes, settled for a time in Holland, and left there to 
 join the early mo\-ement of emigration to America. 
 
 Mr. Drake-Smith was educated in the schools of New 
 York, his course at the hi^h school of that city being 
 supplemented by a classical course at the school of 
 Baldwin & Forest, in Warren Street. In 1S31, while 
 still but thirteen years of age, he began his business life, 
 entering the establishment of Benjamin Babcock, after- 
 wards of the firm of Babcock & Su)dam, large importers 
 of Knglish and French dry goods. He rmiained there, 
 gaining a knowledge of the business and performing the 
 duties suitable to a boy of his age, until 1.S35, when the 
 store, situated in Pearl Street, near Hanover Square, was 
 destroyed by fire, being one of the first t<> be swept away 
 in the great conflagration of that jear. 
 
 There followed the financial crisis of 1837, with its 
 ilisturbing effect upon business, after which, when still 
 only in his twentieth year, Mr. Drake-Smith engaged in 
 what was to be the future occupation of his life, enter- 
 ing the office of the Atlantic Insurance Company. He 
 remained connected with this company for a considerable 
 number of years, becoming its secretar)- and de\eloi)ing 
 that acquaintance with insurance matters upon which his ; 
 
 success in life was based. In 1S52 he withdrew from 
 the Atlantic Company and established the Commercial 
 Mutual Insurance Company, of which he became presi- 
 dent. The marked ability and success with which he dis- 
 charged the duties of this position brought the coni])any 
 into a very prosperous condition. His connection witii 
 it continued for twenty-se\cn years, lie finallj- retiring 
 from acti\e business life in February, 1879. In March 
 of that year, in acknowledgment of his valuable services 
 in the founding and development of the comi)any, the 
 trustees of the Commercial Mutual gave a dinner in his 
 honor at Delmonico's, where they presented him with an 
 elegant bronze vase as a memento. 
 
 Mr. Drake-Smith's active life was not confined to his 
 .service in this compaii)-. He became a member of the 
 Chamber of Commerce in 1858, antl continued stronglj- 
 interested in its affairs during the remainder of his life, 
 often serving upon important committees of this body. 
 He also became a member anil vice-president of the New 
 York Board of Marine I'ndcrw rikrs. At a later ilatc he 
 was made its president, which office he held at the time 
 of his retirement from business. As an underwriter his 
 ability was ver}' marked, and those engaged in marine 
 insurance often sought his opinion upon difficult ques- 
 tions. The New York pilots had in him a warm and 
 active friend, he pleading their cause on more than one 
 occasion before legislati\'e bodies when their interests 
 were threatened by acKerse laws. 
 
 Mayor Kdson appointed hini in 1S83 one of the Board 
 of Rapid Transit Conimissioners, which board chose him, 
 upon organizing, as its chairman, in token of their a]ipre- 
 ciation of his ability anil integrity. He proved in this 
 capacity an active and earnest cham|iion of the jjublic 
 interests, heedfuUy opposing every step which lie deemed 
 likely to be detrimental to the good of the people. He 
 resigned the chairmanship in 1882. 
 
 In addition to the several interests mentioned, Mr. 
 Drake-Smith served at various times as a director in a 
 number of lianks and oilier institutions. Asiile from 
 business he was a man of active literary tastes and of 
 witle scholarship, the result of persistent reading anil 
 close stud\- of literature and of scientific and philosoph- 
 ical subjects. His leisure time was largelj- spent among 
 his books or in literarj- work, he being, previous to i860, 
 a frequent contributor to the New York press. In 1867 
 he published Spinoza's " lithics," w hich he had translated 
 from the Latin. During the ci\-il war he was an earnest 
 su|i]iorter of the government, contributing largely of his 
 means, and speaking frequentlj- in his country's interest 
 upon occasions of moment. He died at his jilace of 
 residence at I-jiglewood, New Jersej'. Februar)- 8, 1887, 
 liMving behind him ,ui en\iable reputation. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 321 
 
 WILLIAM W. NILES. 
 
 Jf)HN NiLES, a Puritan immigrant to this country, was 
 a citizen of Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1636. Of his 
 descendants there were se\-eral of eminence. Nathaniel 
 Niles, born in 1741, studied theolog)-, medicine, and law, 
 and grew proficient in each, while he was an able mecha- 
 nician and the producer of several important in\'entions. 
 He was also a legislator and an author, his poem " The 
 American Hero" becoming a war song during the Revo- 
 lution. He afterwards became a judge of the Vermont 
 Su]ireme Court and a member of Congress. His son 
 William Niles, also practiced law and became a judge 
 in the courts of Vermont. 
 
 William Watson Niles, son of Judge William Niles, 
 was born at West Fairlee, Vermont, March 26, 1822. 
 He studied under his father's instruction, and could read 
 Latin almost as early as he coukl English. He studied 
 later at Bradford Acadeni)- and Newberry Seminary, 
 and afterwards taught school for several terms. In this 
 he progressed so rajiidly that at twenty years of age he 
 was principal of an acadenn-. He afterwards became 
 principal of a seminary, of which his sister, not yet 
 fifteen, had charge of the female department. After this 
 experience in the life of a teacher Mr. Niles entered 
 Dartmouth College, passed through a course of colle- 
 giate instruction, and graduated in 1845. Having chosen 
 the legal profession, he entered the office of his brother, 
 Judge Niles, of La Porte, Indiana, where, while reading 
 law, he translated dail}- part of the Iliad to keep fresh 
 his classical knowledge, and assisted the professor of 
 Chcmistr\- in the Indiana Medical College during the 
 lecture period. 
 
 On completing his law studies he came to New York, 
 where he entered the law office of General John Coch- 
 rane, to gain familiarity with New York law. He be- 
 gan practice at the same time, and found his business in- 
 creasing so rapidly that it became necessary that he 
 should enter at once on a long-wishedfor European 
 tour or give up the idea. He chose the former alter- 
 native, and traveled widely over the British Islands and 
 the Continent, largely on foot. This useful outing com- 
 pleted, Mr. Niles returned to New York, reopened his 
 office, and quickly regained the business he had tempo- 
 rarily set aside. His practice increased so rapidly and 
 has continued so large that it has since then kept him 
 constantly employed. 
 
 Mr. Niles, during his long legal experience, has been 
 concerned in many notable cases, some of them of 
 striking character. Among these was the divorce suit 
 of Stowell vs. Stowell, in which he first established the 
 doctrine that an attempt to corrupt the morals of a wife 
 
 is satisfactory groimds for a limited divorce, even when 
 there has been no physical violence or harsh language 
 on the part of the husband. 
 
 Politically Mr. Niles was originally a Free-Soil Demo- 
 crat. He afterwards became a Republican, and continued 
 so till 1 872, when he supported his friend, Horace Greeley, 
 for President. Since then he has continued a Democrat. 
 He has been active in all movements for reform in city 
 and State affairs, and was the organizer of the Citizens' 
 Association, w hich compelled both parties to make satis- 
 factory' nominations. Dining the reign of the Tweed 
 faction Mr. Niles and some others sought nominations 
 to the Assembly for the purpose of obtaining legislative 
 redress. He was elected, and placed on the Judiciary 
 Committee, in which he obtained a resolution of im- 
 peachment of the judges who supported Tweed, and 
 afterwards assisted in the trial and conviction of Judge 
 Barnard before the Court of Impeachment, at Saratoga, 
 in 1872. 
 
 During the civil war Mr. Niles took part in the re- 
 cruiting of several regiments. He organized the Central 
 Lo\al League, to combat the efforts of .Southern sym- 
 pathizers, and became a life-senator in this league. He 
 was again elected to the Assembly in 1881, and has since 
 been acti\e in the effort to provide New York with a 
 new and great park area. He was one of the commis- 
 sioners who laid out the nearly five thousand acres of 
 new park lands. 
 
 Mr. Niles has been engaged in many successful busi- 
 ness enterprises, and for many years has been a contrib- 
 utor to the press, — usually anonj^mous. He has recently 
 published a volume of poems for private circulation. 
 
322 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 / 
 
 DELANO C. CAIAIN. 
 
 Dki.ano Ciiii'MAN Cal\in, formerly siirroijatc of the 
 cf)unty of \c\v York, and loiv^ a prominent lawyer, was 
 born in Jefferson County, New York, No\eniber 3. 1824. 
 His grandfatlicr was a law)-er of X'ermont, who removed 
 to New York State in 181 S, iiis father a farmer. He was 
 brought up on tile farm, and liad but limited carl}- oppor- 
 tunities for education, iiis four final years of schooling 
 being in what was known as a "select school," another 
 term for private school. This he attended during the 
 colder months, the farm labors requiring his time during 
 the warm season of the year. At twenty he left home 
 to enter the Hlack River Literarj- Institute, at Water- 
 town, New York, and at the same time began a course 
 of legal study in the office of John Clarke, then a prom- 
 inent lawyer of Northern New York. He remained thus 
 engaged until 1848, one year of the three being spent at 
 the Lancaster Academy at Rochester. Here he had the 
 opportunity of attending a term of the Supreme Court, 
 and the advantage of listening to many of the most 
 noted lawyers of that day. 
 
 In 1848 he entered a law school at Cherry Valley, 
 from which he graduated in the following year. Ik- 
 was shortly afterwards admittetl to the bar, and began 
 the practice of the law ;it Watertow 11 in partnership with 
 his late preceptor, Mr. John Clarke. Mr. Calvin's busi- 
 ness rapidly grew, his legal ability been declared. In 
 1852 he was made district attorney for his native county, 
 a position which he held for three years. Iiis residence 
 
 in New York City began in 1867, where he soon became 
 associr.tetl with Richard O'Gorman, corporation counsel, 
 and Henry H. Anderson, in the suit of the cit)- to gain 
 control of the docks and prevent their obstruction by 
 pri\ate structures to the detriment of the public interests. 
 This case excited much attention. It was won for the 
 city, and Mr. Calvin's active connection with it brought 
 him strongly into public notice. 
 
 In 1876, upon the death of .Surrogate Van Schaick, 
 Mr. Calvin was appointed to fill the vacancy, and in the 
 following autumn was elected to complete the remainder 
 of the term. He held this office till 1882, discharging 
 its duties with much success and ability. One of his 
 first official acts was to probate the will of Alc.Kaiuler 
 T. Stewart. The famous contest over the Vanderbilt 
 will was also made before him. During his five )'ears' 
 occupancy of the office the business disposed of covered 
 about $900,000,000 worth of property. His opinions as 
 surrogate elicited much approbation, they being consid- 
 ered " models of composition, as well as reliable jjrece- 
 dents on all questions which they discuss." In 1S81 a 
 large number of members of the bar gave him a public 
 dinner at Dclmonico's, as an expression of their " high 
 estimation of his judici.d and personal character." In 
 the same jcar he received from Hobart College the 
 honorary degree of LL.D. 
 
 He failed to be re-elected surrogate in 1881, owing to 
 a division in the ranks of the Democratic party, though 
 the great majority of practicing lawyers voted for him, 
 so popular had been his administration of the affairs of 
 the office. In 1882 he resumed the practice of his pro- 
 fession, in which since that date he has continued ;icti\ely 
 engaged. 
 
 Mr. Calvin has long been an earnest advocate of 
 Democratic principles, and long before his election was 
 a frienil and confidant of Governor Seymour and of 
 other prominent party leaders in the State. As a po- 
 litical orator he ranks high, being spoken of as " a rapid, 
 forcible, elocpient speaker, reaily in retort, keen in sar- 
 casm, impregnable in his facts, logical in reasoning, and 
 clear in the presentation of tlic issues before the peo])le." 
 In June, 1886, he delivered an elo(]uent memorial adilress 
 upiin Horatio Seymour Ijefore the Associate Alumni and 
 I'hi Heta Kappa Society of Hobart College. In addilicm 
 to his addresses, he has written with much clearness and 
 ability on man)' subjects of i)ii|)idar interest, such as 
 Munici|)al Government, Church Polity, Trusts, I'rohibi- 
 tion, etc. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REV. GILES H. MANDEVILLE. 
 
 Giles Henry Mandeville, boin in New York City, 
 December 12, 1825, is a descendant of Gillis Jansen de 
 Mandeville, who emigrated from Holland to America in 
 1649, settling at first on Long Island and then in New 
 Amsterdam. In 1701 Hendrick Mandeville bought land 
 in Morris County, New Jersey, and there the subject of 
 our sketch lived after the period of infancy. His love 
 of study and display of religious convictions induced 
 his parents to educate hini for the ministry, and, after a 
 preparatory course of study, he was entered at Rutgers 
 College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he gradu- 
 ated with honors in 1848. After graduation he entered 
 upon a course of theological study in the Seminary of the 
 Reformed Church in America, connected with Rutgers 
 College, and graduated there in 1851 with the degree of 
 D.D. He was thereupon licensed to preach and ordained 
 to the ministry. 
 
 While still in the seminary Dr. Mande\illc recei\'ed a 
 call to the Reformed Church of Flushing, Long Island, 
 and was ordaineil there in 1851. The place was small 
 and the church weak, but the congregation was one of 
 cultuie, and the ability of the young minister caused a 
 steady growth in numbers and prosperity, so that, at 
 the end of his eight years of ser\ice there, he had raised 
 the church to a prominent position among those of the 
 denomination. While there he wrote a history of Flush- 
 ing, acknowledged to be the best ever produced. 
 
 In 1859 he left Flushing in response to a call from 
 Ncwburgh, New York. It was again a missionary work 
 which he undertook. The cit_\' was in a flourishing con- 
 dition, but the Reformed Church there was feeble and 
 needed energy and ability to bring it into a prosperous 
 state. These Dr. Mandeville had, and he entered cour- 
 ageously upon his work, laboring actively for ten years 
 and with an encouraging measure of success. At the 
 end of this period he accepted a call from New York 
 Cit}-, to take charge of the Dutch Reformed Church of 
 Harlem. The church here was a very ancient one, 
 having been organized in 1660, in the then village of 
 New Amsterdam, four j^cars before the English con- 
 verted it into New York. When Dr. Mandeville took 
 charge of this church its condition was a satisfactory 
 one, and he was not obliged to build up his congrega- 
 tion as he had done in his two pre\-ious stations. His 
 eloquence as an orator and power as an expounder of 
 the Scriptures, however, soon added to the circle of his 
 auditors, and as the city extended more and more up- 
 town the congregation of the historic church grew grati- 
 fj'ingly large. 
 
 Satisfactory as was his success here, however. Dr. 
 
 Mancleville had other purposes in view, and after eleven 
 years of nu'nisterial service in this church he resigned 
 his charge to undertake a line of work in which he was 
 earnestly interested. He had long been a member of the 
 Board of Education of the Reformed Church, an impor- 
 tant part of whose work was connected with institutions 
 in the West. A college had been established in Michigan 
 in 1866, which had now become so weak pecuniarily 
 that its functions had been in part suspended. At this 
 critical juncture in its affairs Dr. Mandeville was elected 
 provisional president, and undertook to handle the finan- 
 cial and other interests of the college from his parsonage 
 in New Ycirk. Such a task was a difficult one, but it 
 was successfully performed. The management of the 
 college was improved, money raised by appeals for a.s- 
 sistance, and after two years' control Dr. Mandeville laid 
 down his office, having put the college on its feet again 
 with several thousand dollars' surplus in its treasury. 
 
 His resignation from his pastoral charge was that he 
 might devote his whole time and attention to the inter- 
 ests of the Board of Education, in which he now accepted 
 the office of corresponding secretar\- and assumed the 
 direction of the affairs of the boartl. In this work he is 
 still engaged, he being particularly active in sustaining 
 several struggling church institutions in the West and 
 in obtaining funds for the support of students for the 
 ministry. 
 
 Dr. Mandeville was married in Jul}-, 185 i, to Rachel 
 Jacobus, of Morris County, New Jersey. He has had a 
 family of three daughters and one son, the latter, Henry 
 A. Mandeville, having become a prominent physician of 
 New York City. 
 
324 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REV. BERNARD PETERS. 
 
 Bernard Peters, editor and [iinpriciorof the 15n>oklyii 
 Daily Times, was born at Diircklieim, Germany, October 
 II, 1827, and was brought to this country as a child 
 by his fatlier, wiio settled at Marietta, Ohio. There he 
 received a common school education, and w hen si.xteen 
 years of age began the study of law under Ferdinand 
 Buell. While thus engaged he became an earnest stu- 
 dent of the political history of the country, a line of 
 study which has been of much service to him in his 
 later career. On the completion of his legal course he 
 was induced by a friend, Rev. T. C. Eaton, to study for 
 the ministry, and entered for this purpose Clinton Liberal 
 Institute, Clinton, New York, in 184.S. In 1S52 Mr. '• 
 Peters was ordained as a minister of the Universalist [ 
 denomination, and took charge nf the .Sccund Univcr- j 
 salist Church of Cincinnati, whose pastorate he heki for 
 four years. At the entl of this period he became [pastor 
 of the First Univcr.sali.st Church of Williamsburg (now ' 
 known as All Souls' Church of Hrooklyn), of which 
 he remained in charge for eight years. 
 
 During this jjeriod he made an extensive journey 
 abroad, and took the op])oitunity to i)Mrsue his theo- 
 logical studies at Heidelberg University. lie also cor- 
 responded for the Hrooklyn 'liiius .ind the Cincinnati 
 TiiiiiS. During the civil war, which tonk [)l.ice uhile he 
 was stationed at Williamsburg, his ijidilical knowledge 
 enableil him to treat the issues invohed in a manner 
 that attracted much attention from patriotic citizens. 
 I lis church was usually crowded, and his jjowers as a 
 speaker so marked that his services were in wide demand. 
 
 The strain of these incessant labors broke down his 
 health, and in 1864 he accepted a call from the Univer- 
 salist Church of Ilartfortl, Connecticut, hoping to be 
 benefited by the change. 
 
 Mr. Peters did not long retain this new pastoral charge. 
 His abilitj- as a political speaker induced some of the 
 Hartford people to request him to wiite editorial articles 
 for the Hartford Post, and in the end he found it desirable 
 to resign his jiastorate and become the acknowledged 
 editor of the paper. On the sale of the Post, a few )'ears 
 afterwards, he retired from the editorship, and in 1868 
 purchased a half interest in the Brooklyn Daily Times, 
 at the request of its projirietor, Hon. George C. Bennett. 
 In 1875 he i)urchased the remaining interest and became 
 sole proprietor of the paper. Untler his charge the 
 career of this journal has been one of steady success^ 
 It has been three times enlarged, its publication space 
 and press facilities have been extended, and it is to-day 
 a journal of great influence and success, which are 
 large))- due to the enterprise, judgment, and editorial 
 ability of the proprietor. Much of its success is due 
 to its persistent aiK-ocac)' of the true interests of the 
 city ami the countr\-, it being steadil)- acli\e in the cause 
 of reform. 
 
 The Times was the first jc)innalistic advocate of high 
 schools in BrookKn, a project to \\ hich there was vigor- 
 ous opposition, but which was finally carried by the 
 education of the community through the persistence of 
 Mr. Peters in this good cause. To-day Brooklyn pos- 
 sesses two high schools equal to any in the countrj-. 
 Elevated railways were similarK- advocated by the Times, 
 whose intelligent discussion uf the subject hail much to 
 do with o\crcoming the op[iosition and permitting the 
 railways to be built. The great atKantage of these in 
 the extension and dt-\el(ipnii,nt i-^i the city is very iil)\ ious. 
 
 The Times has as earnestlj' adxocated other measures 
 of public improvement, such as increased ferry accom- 
 modations for Brooklyn, which were gained after a ten 
 years' demaml, and the establishment of a central mar- 
 ket for Brooklyn and P'ast New York on the unused 
 navy-yaril lands in the Wallabout. It took twenty years 
 to accomplish this object. This localit_\- will soon be the 
 site of one of the largest and most important markets in 
 the world. 
 
 Ml. IVtcis, tiirciugh the columns of the Times, has 
 advocated other schemes of public imi)rovement, and 
 has made his paper a power with all citizens who fu-or 
 municipal progress. Throughout his career he has been 
 a fearless advocate of justice and progress, am! an ciiiust 
 champion of the public good. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 32s 
 
 FREDERICK D. TAPPEN. 
 
 Frederick D. Tappen, long conspicuous among the 
 bankers of New York City, was born in that city Janu- 
 ary 29, 1 829, the son of Charles B. and Elizabeth Tappen. 
 On his father's side he is a lineal descendant, in the 
 seventh generation, of Jurian Teunisse Tappen, one of 
 the early immigrants from Holland, who resided at Fort 
 Orange in 1662. Several of the members of the family 
 were prominent in colonial and later history. John 
 Tappen became editor and proprietor of the Plebeian 
 (now the Ulster Argus) m 18 14, and was postmaster of 
 Kingston in 1815. His son, Charles B. Tappen, came to 
 New York at eight years of age, and lived there till his 
 death, April 6, 1893, at ninety-eight }'ears of age, being 
 still mentall)' and physically vigorous to a remarkable 
 degree. He was an architect by profession, but served 
 in many municipal offices. 
 
 His son, Frederick D. Tappen, was educated at first in 
 the Columbia College Grammar-School, and later in the 
 University of the City of New York, where he graduated 
 in 1 849. In the following year he entered the National 
 Bank (now the Gallatin National Bank) as a clerk. He 
 continued to fill various minor positions in this institu- 
 tion until 1857, when he was made its cashier. In 1S68 
 he was elected president of the bank-. This [josition he 
 lias since continued to hold, and by his able management 
 of its finances, as well as his efficient action at the various 
 critical points in the business affairs of the country, has 
 won his present high standing among the bankers of the 
 metropolis. 
 
 Since his appointment to the post of cashier, in 1857, 
 Mr. Tappen has been prominent in the banking interests 
 of New York City. His natural aptitude for financial 
 business, his thorough schooling in the practical details 
 of banking, and the earnest study he has gi\-en to finances 
 since his youthful days, with his naturally cool and excel- 
 lent judgment, have given him an acknowledged promi- 
 nence in the financial world, and he has been frequently 
 consulted, and his advice taken, on subjects of grave 
 import in finance by the heads of the State and national 
 banking departments of government. 
 
 His quickness and wisdom of judgment were strikingly 
 siiown in the financial panics of 1862, 1873, 1884, and 
 particularly in that of 1893. In 1873 and at subsequent 
 critical periods he acted as chairman of the Loan Com- 
 mittee of the Clearing House Association. During the 
 severe financial panic of 1893 he was, for three months, 
 in dailj- attendance at the Clearing House, where his 
 earnest, decided, and well-chosen measures aided greatly 
 in strengthening the condition of the banks, and elicited 
 
 warm expressions of approval from banking circles from 
 all o\er the country. So efficient and unremitting were 
 his labors that his associates on the committee, in testi- 
 monial of their earnest appreciation of his useful service, 
 presented him with a valuable ancient i)iece of silver, 
 whose inscription and other satisfactory evidence shows 
 to have been the tankard presented in 1696 to Sir John 
 Honblon, first governor of the Bank of England, by the 
 directors, for his services in a period of unusual financial 
 strain. 
 
 This old piece of plate, which was obtained in London 
 some years ago by a ctillector of old silver relics, and 
 purchased by the committee, had engraved on its lid an 
 inscription similar t(5 that on the body of the tankard, 
 with the substitution of the name of Mr. Tappan and the 
 appropriate date, and was presented by the committee 
 as " a unique and appropriate testimonial under circum- 
 stances surrounding the first presentation, closely parallel 
 to those of our recent financial troubles." The inscrip- 
 tion states that it is given " in token of his great ability, 
 industry, and strict uprightness at a time of extreme diffi- 
 culty." 
 
 Mr. Tappan has been president of the Clearing House 
 Association since 1873, and has given much of his time 
 and attention to its affairs. He is vice-president of the 
 Metropolitan Trust Company, a director in the Bank of 
 New Amsterdam, the Si.xth National Bank, and the 
 Queen Insurance Company, and is a trustee of tiie Royal 
 Insurance Company of Liverpool. He is a member of 
 the Union League, Union, Metropolitan, St. Nicholas, and 
 Grolier Clubs. * 
 
 42 
 
326 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 GENERAL WAGER SWAYNE. 
 
 Gi:m;ka[. Wagek Swavnk, a tli.stiii<^uislicd officer in 
 tlic civil war, and a member of the New York bar, was 
 born at Columbus, Ohio, November lO, 1834. His 
 father, Jud^e Noah II. Swayne, was associate justice of 
 the United States Supreme Court from 1861 to 1881. 
 His mother, Sarah Ann Wager, a lady of Virginian birth, 
 set her slaves free on her marriage to Judge Swaj-ne, and 
 during the remainder of her life was a w^irm friend and 
 protector of the colored race. 
 
 General Swaj-ne was educated at Yale College, where 
 he gratluated in 1856, in a class which included Chaun- 
 cey M. Depew, Judges Brow n and Brewer of the United 
 States Supreme Court, Judge Macgruder of the Illinois 
 Supreme Court, and others of subsequent note. After 
 graduating lie entered the Cincinnati Law School, where 
 he graduated in 1859. Being admitted to the bar, he 
 practiced for two years as law partner of his father, but 
 on the outbreak of war immediately offered his services 
 to the government. His parents were both Virginians 
 by birth, but s\nipathi/.ed with the Union cause, and 
 were in full accord with his ])atri()tic action. He took 
 active part in recruiting, and in Jul\-, 1861, was appointed 
 major of the Forty-third Ohio Volunteers. 
 
 His regiment took part in the Missouri can)])aign 
 under General Pope in 1861-1862, and he subseiiuently 
 was engaged in the caj)ture of New Madrid and Island 
 Number Ten, and in the battles of Corinth and luka. 
 The commander of his regiment was killed in battle at 
 Corinth, and Major Swayne took command, in which 
 he was subsequently confirmed In- a commission as 
 colonel. 
 
 Colonel Swayne was engaged in the succeeding cam- 
 paigns in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama until the 
 autumn nf iSf>3, and was with General Sherman during 
 
 his famous " march to tlie sea." In the succeeding 
 march north he had the misfortune to lose his riszht le<r 
 by the explosion of a shell, in an engagement at the 
 crossing of the Salkehatchie River, South Carolina. 
 As a reward for his " gallant and distinguished ser- 
 vices" during this action he was brevetted brigadier- 
 general. At a later date he was promoted to the full 
 rank. 
 
 General Swayne's serious wound invalided him till 
 June, 1865, when, at the request of General Howard, 
 chief of the Freedman's Bureau, he was api^ointed assist- 
 ant commissioner of the Bureau in Alabama, and as- 
 signed to duty in that State. He remained there for the 
 three j-ears succeeding, diligently engaged in the duties 
 of his office, taking various steps in favor of the educa- 
 tion of the blacks and to provide them with sustenance 
 until they should become self-supporting. He secured 
 an order to devote certain confiscated war materials to 
 their educatit)n, antl afterwards suggested and obtaineil 
 an act of Congress tlevoting to the same purpose cer- 
 tain real property which had been purchased by the 
 Confederate authorities, and became the property of the 
 United States. The first of these funds was emplo)-ed 
 to establish an extensive system of temporary schools, 
 while a number of more permanent educational institu- 
 tions were founded with the second. General Swayne 
 was also |)laced in command of the United States forces 
 in Alabama, his rank being raised to that of major-gen- 
 eral of \-olunteers. In 1866 he was given the command 
 of one of the four regiments added to the regular army, 
 and known as " The Veteran Reserve Corps," composed 
 of disabled volunteer soldiers. 
 
 In 1868, General Swayne's \iews differing radically 
 from those of President Johnson, he w-as withdrawn from 
 Alabama and assigned to duty in the War Department 
 at Washington. Subsequently, at his own request, he 
 was placed on the retired list of the arnn-, and resumed 
 the practice of the law at Toletlo, Ohio. Here he 
 quickly won a high legal reputation, and gained as 
 clients such corporations as the American Union Tele- 
 graph C<impany and the Wabash Railroad Company. 
 A State law which was designed to tax national banks 
 out of existence was successfulK' opposeil by him in the 
 lower courts, and finally, in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, he securing a final decision in favor of the 
 banks. 
 
 In 1879 the growth of the telegraph and railroad 
 clientage of General Swaj-ne necessitated his removal 
 to New York City, and he has since then been engaged 
 in practice there. He became partner with Judge John 
 I'". Dillon in 1881, the firm becoming counsel for the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, the Missouri Pa- 
 cific Raiiroail Compan)', and other great corporations. 
 This partnership was dissolved in 1893. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 327 
 
 WILLIAM H. SCHIEFFELIN. 
 
 William Hi^nkv Schieffelin, the only son of Sam- 
 uel B. Scliieffelin, the head of an old and prominent 
 commercial house of New York, was born in that city, 
 August 20, 1836. He is descended from a family which 
 can be traced back through an honorable German ances- 
 try to the thirteenth century, and whose first American 
 representative came to this country in 1720. The mer- 
 cantile house was founded more than a century ago by 
 Jacob Schieffelin, as a wholesale drug business, and still 
 continues to do a large and lucrati\c trade. 
 
 The present Mr. Schieffelin was educated with a view 
 of entering the firm, but he preceded his business career 
 with a somewiiat adventurous experience. In i860 he 
 became leader of a small exploring party which crossed 
 the Rocky Mountains from Montana nearly in the track 
 of the old Lewis and Clark expedition of the early part 
 of the century. The party fell into the hands of a band 
 of hostile Crow Indians, and escaped with their lives 
 only through the good offices of a friend!)- chief He 
 returned to New York in 1862, joined his regiment, the 
 Seventh New York, of which he had been for five years a 
 member, and went with it to the front. At Baltimore he 
 left it to become major of the First New York Mounted 
 Rifles, for which regiment he recruited four hundred men. 
 For nearly a year afterwards he served with this regi- 
 ment, under General Wool, near Suffolk, Virginia, and 
 took part in the very numerous skirmishes and engage- 
 ments in which tiie forces there were involved. 
 
 While in service at the front he was a partner in his 
 father's firm of Schieffelin Bros. & Co., and in Jul)', 1863, 
 resigned his commission in the arm\' in response to the 
 demands of business, coming to New York in time to 
 do duty under General Wool in suppressing the draft 
 riots of that year. Shortly after his return he was 
 married to Mary Jay, great-granddaughter of Chief- 
 Justice John Jay. In 1865 he became the head of the 
 firm, and since that time has veiy actively devoted him- 
 self to the promotion of its interests. 
 
 Since 1854 this business has been located in an exten- 
 sive structure at the corner of William and Bcekman 
 Streets. In this building about two hundrei,l and fifty 
 persons are emplo\-cd, and the annual business of the 
 house amounts to millions of dollars. There is a sep- 
 arate laborator\- building, still larsjer than the William 
 
 Street warehouse, while large quantities of imported 
 goods are stored in bonded warehouses and in a separate 
 building for this purpose. An important part of the 
 business of the firm is the introduction into American 
 medical practice of the drugs produced by modern chem- 
 ical synthesis, this manufacture being largely carried on 
 in the laboratory building by the use of special apparatus 
 and machinery, some of it in\ented for the purpose by 
 the firm. 
 
 After his return from the war Mr. Schieffelin joined 
 the Union League Club, and continued a member of the 
 Republican part\- until the candidac}' of Mr. Cleveland 
 for the Presidenc)-, when he came to his support. In the 
 Cleveland campaign of 1892 he served as chairman of 
 the Drug Trade Cleveland and Stevenson Club. He is 
 strongly in favor of reform in municipal politics, and 
 was one of the charter members of the New York City 
 Club, whose object is good city government. He is also 
 a member of the Loyal Legion. In religious faith he is 
 an Episcopalian, and is senior vestryman of St. George's 
 Church. 
 
 Mr. Schieffelin takes great pleasure in rural pursuits 
 and out-door sport, being fond of farming, boating, and 
 shooting. He was one of the first to import registered 
 Jersey cattle to this country, bringing a herd to his farm 
 at Katonah, New York, in 1870. He is president of the 
 F'ishers Island Sportsmen's Club. 
 
328 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS. 
 
 Of John Mokcax Riciiauds uc lia\e yi\en on op- 
 posite page some biograpliical information, in a sketch of 
 the career of his brilliant daughter, Mrs. Craigie ("John 
 Oliver Hobbs"). We may repeat in part here what was 
 said there, that he is descended from an American family 
 of Welsh origin, of whom some generations were soldiers 
 in the wars of this country, while no less than four 
 generations were in the Church. Mr. Richards's grand- 
 father held the chair of Theology in the first theological 
 seminar)' in New York, which was founded by him. Mr. 
 Richards is nearly related to the distinguished family of 
 the Fields, whose record in law anil tclcgra[)h)' luue 
 made them famous in American annals. 
 
 Mr. Richards was born in New Y<irk, and is to-day 
 about fifty years of age. After his period of education 
 he entered tlic New York drug house of Demas, Barnes 
 & Co., in which he obtained a thorough knowledge of 
 the business. In 1867 he went to London in the interest 
 of a number of American drug houses, to act as their 
 agent in that city. His success there has been phenome- 
 nal. Beginning in a comparatively small way in 1867, he 
 has develo[)ed his business until now it has become vast 
 in extent, and has to-day few equals in the world. His 
 great American factory supplies in profusion the chemical 
 and medical specialties which his trade connections enable 
 him to spread all over the world from his London centre 
 of operations, his operations having become, in the words 
 of a newspaper writer, " so extensive and amazingly suc- 
 cessful that, in expanding the business, he included the 
 
 products of other great houses, both in the States and 
 from the Continent of Europe." 
 
 The establishments now represented b)' Mr. Richards's 
 house as agent include The Pharmacal Association of 
 New York ; Messrs. Hall & Ruckel, New York ; Messrs. 
 P. H. Drake & Co., New York; the Carter Medicine 
 Company, jiroprietors of " Carter's Little Liver Pills," 
 New York; the Hinirod Manufacturing Company (" Him- 
 .rod's Asthma Cure"), New York ; the Holman Pad 
 Company, New York ; Mr. Clarence M. Roof, New York ; 
 Mr. B. T. Hoagland, New York; the Centaur Company, 
 New York ; Dr. J. B. Osborne (" Osborne's Insufflator"). 
 New York ; the Caulocorea Manufacturing Company, 
 South Portland, Maine ; Messrs. Perry Da\is & Son, 
 of " Pain Killer" celebrity, Provitlcnce. Rhode Island ; 
 Messrs. lili Lilly & Co., Indianapolis. Indiana ; the Dr. 
 Williams's Medicine Company ; M. L. Gcckelaer's toilet 
 requisites and perfumer)', Brus.sels ; M. Ch. Delacre's 
 Cocoa and K.\tract of Beef, Brussels; and Ilcrr J. D. 
 Stiefel's Medicated Soaps, Offenbach-am-Maine. 
 
 The premises in which this great variety of goods is 
 handled, No. 46 Holborn Viaduct, K. C, are very exten- 
 sive and handsomcl)' appointed in the form of a great 
 counting-house, with private offices attached, and every 
 facility for the rapid transaction of the vast wholesale 
 business clone. The trade of the house extends to every 
 part of the United Kingdom, India, and the Colonies, 
 and the general characteristics of the establishment, the 
 valuable and cxtensi\e connections it maintains, and the 
 high principles and commendable methods upon which 
 its business has always been conducted, combine to rentier 
 it peculiarl)- worth)' of note among the great representa- 
 tive mercantile institutions of London. 
 
 Mr. Richards is a gentleman of fine culture and quiet 
 and dignified demeanor, remarkabi)' different from the 
 ordinary pushing man of business, and from the type of 
 American so often falsely taken as the just example of 
 our countrymen in lun'ope. His castle-like mansion 
 near Hyde Park is a centre of Ia\'ish hospital it)', the 
 dinner-parties of the house sometimes embracing forty 
 or fifty guests, who represent every section of London's 
 celebrities, literar)-, journalistic, artistic, and occasionally 
 theological. Oser these Mrs. Richards, a lady of the 
 truest type of American hospitalit)', and her ilistinguished 
 daughter, Mrs. Craigie, preside, and the home of the 
 Richanls counts among its guests every t)'i)e of celebrity, 
 from the members of the royal family downward. In 
 addition to his hospitality Mr. Richanls is genuinel)' 
 charitable, his benevolence being warm but unostiiita- 
 tious. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 329 
 
 "JOHN OLIVER HOBBS" (MRS. CRAIGIE). 
 
 John Oliver Hobbs, if we may properly head this 
 sketch by a nom dc plume under which alone its subject 
 is known to tlie worhl outside her lionie precincts, is in 
 reality Mrs. Craigie, a young aspirant to literary honors 
 who has sprung to sudden eminence in the world of 
 letters. She is English by birth, but of distinctly New 
 York origin, her father, John Morgan Richards, being an 
 example of the most creditable type of the cultured and 
 refined American gentleman, while her mother, Mrs. 
 Richards, of Quaker parentage, is still more typically 
 American, in her restless Western enthusiasm of tem- 
 perament and warmth and earnestness of disposition. 
 
 Mr. Richards is of Welsh descent, but his family 
 settled generations ago in America, where, in warlike 
 days, they played the patriotic part of soldiers, and in 
 quieter times went into the Church, in which no fewer 
 than four generations of the famil}- made their mark. 
 One of them, the grandfather of Mr. Richards, founded 
 the first theological seminary in New York City, and 
 held the professorship of Theology in this institution up 
 to the time of his death. Among his American cousins 
 may be named a famih" that has become illustrious in 
 New York life, that of the Fields, including Judge Field, 
 of the Supreme Court, Da\'id Dudley Field, the emi- 
 nent jurist, and Cyrus W. Field, of Atlantic cable enter- 
 prise. 
 
 In their London home, in which they now reside, the 
 Richards have shown a la\'ish hospitality, their guests 
 including numbers of London celebrities, especially those 
 of literary fame, while Mrs. Richards, having the free- 
 dom from caste restrictions of an American, has been 
 admitted not only to friendly acquaintance but to cordial 
 intimacy with several members of the ro^-al famil}-. 
 
 It was within such surroundings as these that Mrs. 
 Craigie has been reared. She is still quite young, and 
 is instinct with the warm imagination and something of 
 the devotional spirit of her mother, the quiet demeanor 
 of her father, and a keen wit which perhaps she owes 
 to him. She is slight of person, and singularly frail in 
 bearing and impression. The family are of Protestant 
 faith, but the daughter a few years ago became a mem- 
 ber of the Roman Catholic Church. She was married 
 while little more than a girl, and much of the glamour 
 of youth still clings around her. 
 
 The person thus briefly described is scarcely the one 
 whom one would expect to become a popular novelist, 
 and especiall}- to take the saddened and almost c\-nical 
 view of life which is to be found in her works, she having 
 
 been during her whole life surrounded with lu.xur\- and 
 in sympathetic relations with the kindest and most appre- 
 ciative of parents. She is, however, deeply cultured in 
 studies that girls rarely take up voluntarih-. For two 
 years she studied classics and philosophy with Professor 
 Alfred Goodwin, at University College, London, and for 
 years has had private tutors in every subject which she 
 wished to take up, while her reading has been of the 
 most serious and profound kind. 
 
 Mrs. Craigie has not been long before the public as an 
 author. Her first work, a novel entitled " Some Emo- 
 tions and a Moral," was completed in January, 1 891, and 
 publislied in September of that \-ear. The success of 
 this little book was almost startling. It sprang at once 
 into fame, set everybody to reading it, and wondering 
 who John 01i\x-r Hobbs could be, none imagining that 
 this skilled and able writer could be the \-oung lady we 
 have described. Since then she has written three stories, 
 " The Sinner's Corned)'," " A Study in Temptations," and 
 a serial for the Pall Mall Budget entitled " The Gods, 
 Some Mortals, and Lord Wickenham," all of which have 
 been very well received. In addition she is the author of 
 a charming little play, " Journeys End in Lo\crs Meet- 
 ing," the plot from the French but the language her own, 
 which is full of delicate satire, quick observation, and 
 dramatic point. It was produced at Daly's Theatre, 
 London, with striking success, Ellen Terry taking the 
 leading part. Mrs. Craigie has fine dramatic ability, and 
 ma}' }'et make her mark in the dramatic as she has in 
 the novelistic field. 
 
330 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ROBERT A. CHESEBROUGH. 
 
 RoiiERT A. CiiESEBROuc.il, a Ncw York nKimifacluici- 
 and inventor, was born in London, En<rland, of Ameri- 
 can parents, January 9, 1837. His father, Henry A. 
 Chesebrouyh, was a leading dry-goods mcrcliant in 
 New York, and his grandfather was founder and presi- 
 dent of the I'uiton Bank. On liis mother's side he is 
 descended from the Maxwells of Scotland, earls of 
 Nithsdalc and barons of Herries. William Maxwell, his 
 great-grandfather, was founder anil president of the Bank 
 of Ncw York, and James Homer Maxwell, his grand- 
 father, married Catharine Van Zandt, who had the honor 
 of opening the first inauguration ball as the partner of 
 President Washington. His mother was a grandniece 
 of General W'ondluiU, who was killed at the battle of 
 Long Island in the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Mr. Chesebrough was educated in the best schools of 
 Ncw York City, and after his graduation in a collegiate 
 course he took up chemistry as a special study, w ith the 
 design of making himself an adept in that branch of 
 practical science. His course in chemistr)- was followed 
 by two years of travel in luiropc, in which he took every 
 opportunity to perfect himself by observation and study 
 of foreign methods in liis chosen science. On his return 
 to the United States in 1S5.S, he established himself in 
 Ncw York City as a manufacturer of petroK urn and coal- 
 oil products, a line of business in which he was one of the 
 first to embark. His success in this business was steady 
 and encouraging, and was greatly added to after 1870, 
 in which year he discovered the wiileK' known product 
 called vaseline. The existing Chesebrough Manufac- 
 turing Company was organized by him in 1876. It has 
 since then greatly developed, and now has branch estab- 
 lishments in London, Paris, Berlin, and Montreal. 
 
 Mr. Chesebrough is a large holder of real estate in 
 
 and around New York. He was the originator of the 
 New York Real-Estate E.xchange, and has served as 
 vice-president and one of the building committee of the 
 Consolidated Stock Exchange. In 1881 he built the 
 great Chesebrough office building in lower New York, 
 facing the Batter\-. This immense structure was erected 
 under his immediate sui)er\'ision, and its ingenious appli- 
 ances for heating and ventilation, in\ented b_\' him, have 
 attracted much attention from architects and builders. 
 
 Aside from his business relations, Mr. Chesebrough 
 has taken an acti\e and intelligent interest in public 
 affairs. The conversion of Castle Garden by the State 
 into an immigrant station was from the first \igorously 
 opposed by him, anil it is due to his continued protests 
 against its use for this purpose that the national govern- 
 ment has recently consented to take charge of the de- 
 partment of immigration and remove the station to lillis 
 Island. In 1S78, on the occasion of the Paris Uni\ersal 
 Exposition, the State Department ha\ing taken no action 
 towards making a government exhibit, Mr. Chesebrough 
 called a meeting of intending exhibitors in New York, 
 and obtained permission from Duke Descazes, of the 
 French cabinet, to exhibit as Americans without await- 
 ing action by the government. This decided mo\ement 
 roused the De])artment of State to action, the y\meiican 
 exhibit was placed under its fostering care, ami the result 
 was an adequate dispki)- of American industries. 
 
 Mr. Chesebrough was married in 1864 to Miss Mar- 
 garet McCred)', who died on April 3, 1887, leaving three 
 sons and one daughter. He has a city residence at No. 
 17 East Forty-fifth Street, and until recently resided in 
 summer at Leggett's Point, in the .innexed district. His 
 propert)' there has been sold to an I'.nglish syndicate fir 
 improvement purposes. 
 
 Mr. Chesebrough is a member of the New York 
 Riding, the Manhattan Athletic, the l^xchange, the 
 Union League, anil a number of other clubs ami s<icie- 
 tics. In 1890 he was president of the Down-town Re- 
 publican Club. He is also a member of se\'eral chari- 
 table societies, which have hail the advantage of his 
 directive powers and have benefited b)' his donations. 
 He has besides an interesting literary side, being not 
 onl)' a cultured reader but a protlucer of poetry, his pub- 
 lished work, " A Reverie, and Other Poems," having bei'U 
 very favorabi)- received by the fraternity of critics, lb 
 has presented to the Senate chamiier t\\ o large oil-paint- 
 ings, the father and mother of the wife of William Max- 
 well, in which are pierceil holes made by the bayonets 
 of British soldiers during their occupancj- of the Maxwell 
 residence in Wall Street. Mr. Chesebrough was the 
 Republican candidate for Congress in the twelfth district 
 of New York in November, 1894, being defeated by 
 thirteen hundreil votes, as against ten thousand majority 
 for the Democratic candidate in the [neceding election. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 331 
 
 GEORGE W. VAN SICLEN. 
 
 Gkorgk West Van Sici.en, born August 13, 1840, nt 
 Hudson, New York, is a descendant of Ferdinand Van 
 Siclcn, who came from Holland to this country and 
 settled at Gravesend, Long Island, before 1642. The 
 family had long been one of importance in the Nether- 
 lands, and the old mansion of the Van Siclens is to-day 
 one of the show places of the city of Ghent. 
 
 Mr. Van Siclen received his early education at Hud- 
 son, and afterwards studied in the public schools of New 
 York Git)'. He then entered the College of the City of 
 New York, after graduating from which he studied law 
 in the Columbia College Law School. Since his admis- 
 sion to the bar he has been continuousK' and success- 
 full\' in legal practice in New York, his attention being 
 largely, though not exclusively, given to real-estate prac- 
 tice. He is the author of the " Hand-book for Sellers 
 and Buyers of Real Estate," a work accepted by the 
 bench as the best authority on the subject ; ami is the 
 law editor of the Real Estate Record and Guide. 
 
 Mr. Van Siclen performed a very useful service to real- 
 estate bu\-ers and sellers in establishing the Title Guar- 
 antee and Trust Company of New York, whose effect 
 has been to reduce the expenses of the purchase of real 
 estate, while guaranteeing the \alidit\' of titles. He 
 also, in association with Mr. J. M. Mason, of West Vir- 
 ginia, organized the Public Debt Adjustment Company, 
 and brought together the committee which has made a 
 successful re-adjustment of the Virginia State debt. He 
 is now engaged in writing a " Real-Estate Code of the 
 State of New York," which he proposes to dedicate to 
 David Dudley Field. 
 
 The Holland Society of New York, composed of the 
 tlescendants of the Dutch immigrants to New Nether- 
 lands, owes its first proposal to him, the suggestion 
 coming to him during a trial in 1S80, in which lawyers 
 and judges of Dutch descent took part. The objects of 
 this society are to perpetuate the memory and foster and 
 promote the principles and virtues of the original Dutch 
 settlers of New York, to collect and preserve historical 
 information relating to the Dutch in America, and to 
 promote social intercourse among the members. To be 
 eligible one must be descended in a direct male line from 
 a Dutchman, or Dutch-speaking refugee in Holland, resi- 
 dent in the American colonies before 1675. Mr. Van 
 Siclen visited the Netherlands and Belgium in 1888 as an 
 official representative of the societ}', and was received 
 there with much honor and respect, as is recorded in 
 the Year-Book of the society for 1888-89. He is a trus- 
 tee of the Holland Society, and was its secretary from 
 1886 to 1890. 
 
 Mr. Van Siclen is the only honorary member of the 
 
 " 3. October Vereeniging," of the cit\- of Leyden, a 
 society formed to commemorate the striking historical 
 event of the relief of that old city from the Spanish 
 besiegers in 1 574, when Admiral Boisot cut the dikes and 
 sailed on the inflowing ocean waves to the city's relief 
 He is also an honorary member of the " Zeenwsche 
 Genootschap der Wetenschappen," of Middleberg, Hol- 
 land, the literary and historical society of Zealand, and 
 of the Society of Netherlands Literature, of Leyden ; this 
 last honor being conferred for his translation into Dutch 
 of Carnegie's " Triumphant Democracy." Of the asso- 
 ciations of his own country he belongs to the New York 
 Historical Society, the New York Genealogical and Bio- 
 graphical Societ}-, the American Geographical Society, 
 and the American Historical Society. 
 
 Mr. Van Siclen has been active in literar\- labor, and is 
 now engaged on a historical work of much importance, 
 " The Lifluence of Holland upon the Constitution and 
 Development of the United States." He is the author 
 of a number of interesting translations into English, in- 
 cluding the " Asegabuch," a collection of laws composed 
 about 1200 A.u. in the Frisian dialect; the " Ensiger 
 Land Laws," the property statutes of East Friesland, 
 written 1 3 12 A.D., and Dr. Edward Jacob's "Life of 
 Juliana von Stolberg," the mother of William the Silent, 
 — translated from the German. He is an enthusiastic 
 angler, and has fre(|uently contributeil on this subject to 
 Forest and Stream, while he has edited an American 
 edition of Wynkyn de Worde's '* Treatyse of Fysshynge 
 w\th an Angle from the Boke of St. Alban's by Dame 
 Juliana 'Berners" (1496). He was married in 1862 to 
 Sarah J. Gregory, daughter of John Gregory, a large 
 property-holder in the old Chelsea quarter of New 
 York. 
 
33^ 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 CHARLES A. SCHIHREN. 
 
 Charles \. Schiekkn is a native of Gcnnaii)', in 
 which country lie was born February 28, 1842, in the 
 province of Rliein-Hcsscn. He came to this country in 
 1856, wlicn fourteen years of age, with his parents, hmd- 
 ing in Brooklyn. Mr. Schieren had obtained the excel- 
 lent general education given in the common schools of 
 Germany, and was not long in this countr\- before he was 
 a master of English speech. His father had started the 
 cigar business, in which the son became engaged for a 
 number of years, but in 1S64 he withdrew from this busi- 
 ness and entered that of tiie leather-belting manufacture, 
 obtaining a position in the establishment of Philip F. Pass- 
 quay, New York. Here he quickly gained full acquaint- 
 ance with the details of the business, by dint of close 
 application and intelligent industry, the result being that, 
 on the death of his employer in the following year, he 
 was able to assume the management of the whole estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 The business was sold, but he continued with the new 
 firm until 1868, when, having .saved a small amount of 
 capital, he started business on his own account in the 
 leather-belting manufacture. His energy, industry, and 
 .spirit of enterprise now told, the newly established busi- 
 ness growing witii great ra[)idity, its success being so 
 great that in a comparatively short period he had under 
 his control what iiad become one of the leading leather- 
 belting houses in America. The present firm, that of 
 Charles A. Schieren & Co., was founded in 1882. Its 
 business has expanded enormously, and it has now agen- 
 cies in the leading cities of llie United States and elsc- 
 
 ! where in America, and also in a number of the principal 
 I'Airopcan cities, the belting manufactured in the factories 
 of the firm being in use in all parts of the world. 
 
 Mr. Schieren has not alone shown remarkable enter- 
 prise as a merchant, but as a manufacturer has been 
 quick to take advantage of every improvement in belt- 
 ing, while himself producing some important inventions. 
 The recent great development in the use of electricity 
 as a motor and light-giving agent has been utili/.cd b)- 
 him in the de\-elopment of his products. For use in 
 electrical machinerj- he invented an " electric belt," in 
 which a coating of composition was spread over the 
 belt to preserve the leather. This was followed by his 
 "American joint leather link belt," in which small links 
 of leather are strung on steel pins and joined together 
 in an ingenious manner. This he followed b\' the [iro- 
 duction of an ingenious perforated electric belt, to pre- 
 vent the formation of air-cushions. The three inventions 
 heie named proved of the utmost atlvantage in the use 
 of swift-running electrical machinery, and brought him 
 into a leading position in the belting trade. His thorough 
 grasp of the business is shown in several papers written 
 by him on the subject, entitled " The Use and Abuse of 
 Belting," "Transmission of Power by Belt," "History 
 of Leather Belting," ant! " l-'rom tile Taimerj' to the 
 Dynamo," these papers haxiiig been reail ami discusseil 
 before the National Flectric Light Association and the 
 Technical Society of New York. The Hide and Leather 
 National Bank, in which Mr. Schieren is \ice-president, 
 was organized tii rough his personal efforts. 
 
 Mr. Schieren has taken part in ever)- important reform 
 movement in the city of his adoption, and is particu- 
 larly active in matters pertaining to the interests of the 
 Lutheran Church in America, in most of whose public 
 movements he has taken a prominent part. Thus he 
 was actively concerned in the erection of the beautiful 
 bronze statue of Martin Luther, at Washington, District 
 of Columbia, while the new Lutheran college buildings 
 at Gettysburg, Penn.sylvania (the Pennsylvania College), 
 owes much to his earnest interest and encouragement. 
 I le has for many years serveil as a trustee of the Young 
 Men's Christian A.ssociation and of the Sunday-School 
 Union in Brookl)-n, and also as a director in the Union 
 for Christian Work, and in the Society for the Prevention 
 of Cruelty to Children. He was a member of the com- 
 mittee appointed for the erection of a statue of ILiiiy 
 Ward Beecher, and of that of J. S. T. Stranahan, and 
 also of the connnittee ap])ointed for the erection of a 
 new building for the N'mmg Women's Christian Associa- 
 tion. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 333 
 
 EDMUND C. STEDMAN. 
 
 Edmund Clarenxe Stedman, poet and critical writer, 
 was born at Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1833, 
 being the son of Edmund Stedman, a merchant of Hart- 
 ford, and the poetess, Elizabetli C. Dodge, tlirough whom 
 he is related to William Ellcry Ciianning and to l-5ishop 
 Arthur Cleveland Coxe, and is a descendant of Rev. 
 Aaron Cleveland, a poet of colonial days. 
 
 Mr. Stedman's father died before he was two years of 
 age, and while still quite young he was sent to his great- 
 uncle, James. Stedman, at Norwich, Connecticut, to be 
 educated. He entered Yale College in his sixteenth year, 
 and distinguished himself there in Greek and English 
 composition, while in 1851 he received the first prize for 
 a poem on Westminster Abbey, which was published in 
 the Ya/c Literary Maga::iuc. He was prevented from 
 graduation on account of some breach of discipline, but 
 in 1 87 1 the Universitj' corrected this omission by restor- 
 ing him to his class and conferring upon him the degree 
 of A.M. 
 
 Mr. Stedman afterwards studied privately at North- 
 ampton, Massachusetts, and at nineteen years of age 
 became the editor of the Nonvich Tribune, and two years 
 later of the Wins ted Herald. In 1856 he went to New 
 York, where he contributed to Vanity Fair, Putnam's 
 Monthly, Harper's Magazine, and the New York World 
 and Tribune. He had, nevertheless, some struggle with 
 povert}-, which continued until he attracted strong public 
 attention by his poem of " The Diamond Wedding," a 
 satire, " The Ballad of Lager Beer," and " How Old John 
 Brown took Harper's Ferry," the notoriety of which 
 brought him an engagement upon the Tribune, while 
 his poems were published in i860 in a volume entitled 
 " Poems, Lyrical and Idyllic." 
 
 During the first two years of the war he served as 
 Washington correspondent for the World, part of his time 
 being spent at the head-quarters of Generals McDowell 
 and McClellan. Failing health obliged him to accept a 
 position in the office of Attorney-General l?ates, which 
 he resigned in 1864 and returned to New York. Here, 
 becoming dissatisfied with the hast}' and unpolished pro- 
 ductions of journalism, he resolved to engage in mercan- 
 tile business, that he might ha\ e the leisure to produce 
 finished compositions. He accordingly purchased a seat 
 in the New York Stock Exchange and became a broker. 
 
 During the years of his successful business life Mr. 
 Stedman continued to produce literary work of a high 
 grade, publishing at intervals " Alice of Monmouth : an 
 Idyl of the Late War, and Other Poems," " The Blame- 
 less Prince, and Other Poems," and in 1873 a collecti\-e 
 edition of his " Poetical Works," containing his well- 
 known " Pan in Wall Street," " Toujours Amour," " The 
 Doorstep," etc. More recently Mr. Stedman has devoted 
 
 his time largely to literary criticism, producing articles 
 on Tennyson, Theocritus, and the Victorian poets, which 
 led directly to his admirable critical volumes, "Victorian 
 Poets" and " Poets of America," the taste and judgment 
 displayed in which excited wide-spread attention. In 
 1 888 he took part in editing " The Library of American 
 Literature," in eleven folio volumes, which has had a 
 \ery large sale. In 1889 he gave at Johns Hopkins 
 Universit)' a course of lectures on the " Nature and Ele- 
 ments of Poetrj'," which has since been repeated in other 
 institutions of learning, and published in book form. Of 
 his other publications we may name " Rip Van Winkle 
 and his Wonderful Nap," " Octavius Brooks Froth- 
 ingham and the New Faith," " Hawthorne, and Other 
 Poems," " The Raven, with Comments on the Poem," a 
 " Household Edition" of his poems, and other works. 
 He is said to have been long engaged on a translation of 
 Theocritus in English hexameters, of whose excellence 
 great expectations are entertained. 
 
 Mr. Stedman was vice-president under Mr. Lowell of 
 the American Copyright League, and afterwards its pres- 
 ident. The passage by Congress of the Copyright Law 
 was largely due to his efforts. He is still engaged in 
 business, but is wealthy, and contemplates withdrawing 
 from business life and devoting himself solely to literary 
 production. He has already gained a position in the 
 front rank of balladists and poetical critics, and much 
 good work may yet be hoped from him, he being still 
 full of activity and literary industry. His home is fixed 
 in New York, where he is a member of many literary 
 and social organizations, and where he is regarded as 
 one of the chief li\ing exponents <^ American poetry, 
 being, since the death of James Russell Lowell, perhaps 
 the most prominent man in American letters. 
 
 43 
 
334 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 BENJAMIN FLINT. 
 
 Bkniamin I'"lint, a notable ship-owner, was born in 
 D.miariscotta, Maine, December 13, 1813, the son of 
 Robert Chapman, a lumberman and ship-builder of that 
 town. His mother, Lucinda Flint, was a daughter of 
 Dr. Thomas Flint, a surgeon of the Revolution, who 
 was captured while serving on a privateer and carried 
 prisoner to Fngland. Others of the Flint family attained 
 much reputation as physicians and surgeons. The boy 
 was adopted by his uncle, Benjamin Flint, a captain in 
 tile War of 1 8 1 2. In 1 835, on reaching the age of twenty- 
 two, he dro[)ped his name of Chapman, and by act of the 
 Maine Legislature adojited his uncle's name, being thence- 
 forth known as Benjamin I*'lint. 
 
 Me was educated in the common schools of Dam- 
 ariscotta, ac(|uired a business knowledge, and in 1840 
 joined with liis brother, Isaac F. Chapman, in conducting 
 a store of general merchandise in that [)lace. Under the 
 firm-title of Chajjman & I'lint they in 1841 entered into 
 their father's line of business, building the " Alabama," a 
 two-hundrcd-and-cigiity-ton barque. Soon afterwards 
 they removed to Thomaston, Maine, where they estab- 
 lished a ship-yard on the Georges Ri\er, and built there 
 a large fleet of vessels, of which they remained the 
 <jwners and managers. In 18^)8 their ship-yard was re- 
 moved to Bath, Maine, where their building interest 
 continued extensive. 
 
 The two brothers removed to Brookljn in 1S58, mak- 
 ing that city their place of residence, and opening their 
 shipping-office in New York, that they might avail them- 
 selves of the commercial advantages tliere offered for the 
 
 profitable handling of their shipping interests. In 1873, 
 James F. Chapman, a younger brother, who had served 
 as captain of some of their largest vessels, established 
 himself in San Francisco as a manager of their business 
 at that port, and an associate with them in the ownership 
 of vessels. 
 
 During the continuance of the partnership of Chap- 
 man & Flint the brothers kept no separate expense ac- 
 counts, but drew what money each needed for personal 
 use, living in closely the same manner, so that on their 
 dissolution of partnership each had the same amount of 
 money to his credit. Their houses in Thomaston were 
 precisely alike, and the same was the case with their 
 Brooklyn residences. In 1865 they built a block of 
 houses forming one side of Montague Terrace, Brooklyn, 
 of which Mr. Chapman took the house at one end of the 
 block as his residence aiul Mr. I'lint that at the other 
 end. These houses are still occupied l)y the sur\i\ing 
 members of the two families. 
 
 The firm was dissolved in 1880, in the interest of the 
 sons of the two proprietors. Mr. Flint continued to do 
 business in his own name till 1886, when he associated 
 with him his two sons, Charles R. and Wallace B. Flint, 
 under the firm-name of I-lint & Co., organizing a ship- 
 ping and commission business, with its office at 86 Wall 
 Street. This firm became e.xtensively engaged in ship- 
 ping business with seaports in all parts of the world, its 
 e.Kport and imiiort trade being large with most mercantile 
 nations, but particularly with Mexico, the West Indies, 
 and the Central and South American countries. 
 
 Of Mr. Flint personally it may be said that he was a 
 man of the highest integrity, of modest and reserved 
 manner, but of strong will and persistent energ\-. l-'rom 
 boyhood he took a strong interest in ship-building, ami 
 early became an expert in the construction and manage- 
 ment of vessels. He was unusually well \ersetl in the 
 facilities, charges, antl character of the ports of the worlil, 
 in winds, currents, and other influences affecting commer- 
 cial navigation, and this knowledge, combined with a 
 sound judgment, served him well in deciding upon the 
 most advisable movements in ocean traffic. He seemed 
 to know men instinctively, and during more than half a 
 century never suffered from a dishonest captain, while he 
 had the good fortune never to lose a sliip or have a 
 serious accident. His first captain, Charles G. Raiilett, 
 continueil his unbroken frieiul for sixtj' j'ears. 
 
 Mr. Flint died June 28, 1891. After dinner <>n that 
 da\' he made an entry on the last ])age of a book in 
 which he had kept a daily memorandum for seven years, 
 and on closing it remarked, " My diary is finished." A 
 few hours afterwards he ilietl of heart-failure. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 335 
 
 CHARLES R. FLINT. j 
 
 Chakles Raxlett Flint, son of Benjamin Flint, the ! 
 ship-owner whose biograpln^ we ha\'e given, was born at 
 Thoniaston, Maine, January 24, 1850. He was educated 
 in the public schools of that place, and afterwards in 
 those of Brooklyn, after his father's removal to that city, 
 and at a private school at Topsham, Maine. His edu- 
 cation was completed in the Polytechnic Institute of 
 Brooklyn, from which he graduated in 1868. On gradu- 
 ating he was elected president of his class and of the 
 Alumni. 
 
 Mr. Flint's first knowledge of business was gained as 
 a dock clerk. In 1869 he became the confidential clerk 
 of \V. R. Grace, and in 1871 organized the firm of Gil- 
 christ, Flint & Co., ship-chandlers. In 1872 he joined 
 w ith Mr. Grace, his former employer, in organizing the 
 firm of W. R. Grace & Co., their business being that of 
 a shipping and commission trade with the countries of 
 the Pacific coast of South America, especially Peru. In 
 1876 he organized tlie firm of Grace, Brothers & Co., of 
 Callao, Peru. On his return to New York at the end of 
 that year, he was appointed by the republic of Chile its 
 consul in this city, which office he held until 1879, being 
 in 1878, during the absence of the charge d'affaires, 
 placed in charge of the archives and correspondence of 
 the Chilean legation. He resigned the consulate in April, 
 1879, o'^ ^^^^ declaration of war by Chile against Peru, 
 on account of the relation of his firm to Peru as financial 
 agents of that country. This resignation was cabled to 
 Chile, and the affairs of the consulate placed in charge 
 of a Chilean official then residing in New York. 
 
 Mr. Flint's business relations subsequently became 
 much broadened. In 1880 he was elected president of 
 the United States Electric Lighting Compan)-, and in 
 18S4 visited Brazil, where he established a large rubber 
 business on the Amazon River. Upon his return lie was 
 appointed consul for Nicaragua in New York, and rep- 
 resented that republic in negotiating with the parties who 
 had received the concession for constructing the Nica- 
 ragua Canal. In 1885 he became a member of the firm 
 of Flint & Co., composed of his father, himself, and his 
 brother, Wallace B. Flint, and with the shipping busi- 
 ness of this firm united the rubber, lumber, and com- 
 mission business which he had previously developed. 
 He is now the senior member of this firm, which is 
 largely engaged in the importation of wool, hides, and 
 skins from the Argentine Confederation and Uruguay 
 and the exportation of American manufactures. 
 
 Mr. Flint's business method has been to associate 
 himself with experts in some particular branch of busi- 
 ness. In 1878 he organized the PL.xport Lumber Com- 
 
 pany, which now has yards in New York, Boston, Port- 
 land, Montreal, Ottawa, and in the State of Michigan, 
 and has handled over two hundred million feet of lumber 
 in one year. In iSSi he formed a combination of the 
 leading dealers in crude rubber, and in 1886 organized 
 the New York Commercial Compan\', the largest dealer 
 in this material in the world. The business of manufac- 
 turing rubber shoes and boots was similarly consolidated 
 by him, the result being the organization of the United 
 States Rubber Company, of New Jersey, its capital being 
 ;^40,000,000. He is the treasurer of this company. The 
 producers of mechanical rubber goods were similarl)- 
 combined by him in an organization known as the Me- 
 chanical Rubber Compan}-. with a capital of Si5,CX30,000, 
 in which he is a director and chairman of the finance 
 committee. He is connected also with several banks, 
 trust, railroad, and steamship companies, and is at present 
 consul-general of Costa Rica in the United States. 
 
 In 1889-90 Mr. Mint served as a delegate to the In- 
 ternational American Conference, at Washington, and 
 susfcrested the idea of establishing an International 
 American Bank, and also proposed the organization of 
 the existing Bureau of American Republics. As confi- 
 dential agent of the Depa:rtment of State he negotiated 
 with Brazil the first rcciprocit}- treaty under the Aldrich 
 amendment, and during the Da Gama rebellion in Brazil 
 was the agent of President Pie.xoto in the purchase of 
 vessels and war material. With all these multifarious 
 engagements, Mr. Flint has foimd time to engage much 
 in angling and shooting, of which he is an ardent devo- 
 tee, and formerly gave much attention to.j-achting, being 
 a member of various yacht clubs. 
 
336 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HOWARD LOCKWOOD. 
 
 Howard Lockwood, founder of the Lockwood Press, 
 wliich is prominent amonc; tiie printin<j and ])iiljlisliin_i^ 
 enterprises of New York City, was born at While Plains, 
 Westchester County, New York, March 9, 1846. He 
 was the son of General Munson I. Lockwood, for many 
 years of social and political prominence, and is a lineal 
 descendant of Robert Lockwood, who came from luig- 
 land to this countrj- in 1630, settling at Watertown, 
 Massachusetts. The Lockwood family was particularly 
 active in the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars of the 
 country, twenty-three members of the family taking part 
 in the Colonial contests, while in the Revolutionary War 
 the large contingent of one hundred and fifty-six de- 
 scendants of Robert Lockwood are said to ha\'e taken 
 part. The Lockwood house at White Plains, New York, 
 stood on the plain that was occupied by Washington's 
 defensive earthworks, and an old mortar abandoned by 
 the Americans in their retreat is said to still remain near 
 the mansion. Lieutenant Simon IngersoU, great-grand- 
 father of the subject of our sketch, was killed in the 
 battle at this place. Washington occupied as his head- 
 quarters a building about a mile from the Lockwood 
 mansion, and here is kept a hamlsomely bound register, 
 the gift of General Munson I. Lockwood. Mr. Lock- 
 wood's mother was a descendant of Nicholas Dela[)laine, 
 a distinguished Huguenot, who emigrated to tiiis cnuiitr) 
 during the eighteenth century. 
 
 Mr. Lockwood received a good education, and after 
 completing his school life he removed to New York City, 
 where, in 1865, he became employed in a paper ware- 
 hou.se on Duane Street. Here, by intelligent industry 
 and clo.se attention to the details of the business, he 
 quickly acquired a thorough acquaintance with the paper 
 trade, and became fully fimiliar with the processes of 
 paper manufacture and with its possibilities of develop- 
 ment. His intelligent study of the situation convinced 
 him that the pajier trade, like man}- other branches of 
 manufacture, could be much advanced by the influence 
 of a newspaper devoteil to its interests, and in accordance 
 with this view he founded in 1872 the Papir Tradi: Journal. 
 
 Tiiis paper soon gained a profitable circulation, and led 
 to further enterprise on the part of its energetic publisher, 
 and from it has grown the large business known as the 
 Lockwood Press, which has attained a high standing 
 among the publishing concerns of New York. The 
 I establishment of the Paper Trade Jotiriia/ was but the 
 ] beginning of Mr. Lockwood's enterprises in this direc- 
 
 tion. I-Vom it as a foundation have since grown 
 
 up 
 
 se\-eral other successful newspapers, representing various 
 interests connected with the printing and publishing 
 business. These include Tlie Atiicricaii Stationer, The 
 American Mail and Export Journal, and The American 
 Bookmaker. To these must be added " Lockwood's 
 Directory of the Paper and Stationery Trades," which 
 has long been a slandaid piihlic.ition, and one of much 
 utilit}' in the department of industr)' which it repre- 
 sents. 
 
 Aside from his business connection with the printing 
 and publishing business, Mr. Lockwood represented it in 
 its social and commercial aspect, being a prominent and 
 active member of the Society of the Typotheta.' of New- 
 York, as whose representative he was present at the 
 meeting of typothetical societies at Chicago in 18S7. 
 The result of this meeting was the consoliilation of the 
 various societies into the organization since known as 
 the United Tv]iotheta-. Mr. Lockwood was especially 
 active in the formation of this national society, and was 
 appointed to draft its constitution, whicli he satisfactoril)' 
 l)erformed. On the organization of the union, he was 
 made a member of its executive committee and elected 
 chairman of the committee. To this position he was 
 twice afterwards elected, and ])erf)rmed its duties in a 
 manner that proved much to the advantage of the asso- 
 ciation, whose success is largely due to his efforts. 
 
 Mr. Lockwood was also a member of a number of the 
 social and other organizations of New York Cit\', these 
 including the Chamber of Commerce, the Huguenot and 
 New England Societies, the Sons t)f the Revolution, and 
 the Union League, Lotos, Manhattan, Grolier, and Akiine 
 Clubs. He was married in 1882 to Carrie B. Dove, a 
 granddaughter of the late Bowles Colgate. He died in 
 . New N'ork, November 4, 1S92. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 337 
 
 GENERAL ALEXANDER S. WEBB. 
 
 Alexander Stewart Webb, an eminent soldier in the 
 civil war, was born in New York City, Februar\- 15, 
 1835, a son of General James Watson Webb. He re- 
 ceived his education in the public schools of the city, 
 and was subsequently entered as a cadet at the West 
 Point Military Academy, where he graduated in 1855. 
 Receiving the commission of second lieutenant in the 
 Second Artillery, he served during the years from 1855 
 to 1857 in the Florida campaign and on frontier duty in 
 Minnesota, and was appointed in 1857 assistant professor 
 of Mathematics at West Point. He remained in this 
 position till 1861, when the outbreak of the war called 
 him to acti\'e duties in the field. Forming, in February, 
 1 861, a new battery from among the soldiers at West 
 Point, lie accompanied it to Washington, where he was 
 detailed to guard General Scott's head-quarters with 
 soldiers in citizens' clothes, the old soldier refusing a 
 military guard. 
 
 Lieutenant Webb was next sent to Fort Pickens, 
 Florida, then in a state of siege, with light battery A, 
 but retuined in time to take part in the first battle of 
 Bull Run, where he remained at Centreville to cover the 
 retreat of the defeated arm\-. He was subsequently 
 rapidl\- ad\anced in grade, becoming assistant chief of 
 artillery of the Arm\-of the Potomac; then major of the 
 F"irst Rhode Island X'olunteers (a regiment which he 
 never joined); subsequently assistant inspector-general, 
 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; and shortly after- 
 wards chief of staff of the Fifth Arm\- Cori)s, — on 
 General McClellan's special recommendation. 
 
 During the summer of 1862 he ser\ed with the Army 
 of the Potomac, and in November of that \ear was as- 
 signed to duty at Camp Barry, Washington, as inspector 
 of artiUer}-. He returned to duty in the field in the fol- 
 lowing Januar}-, serving as assistant inspector-general of 
 the Fifth Corps until June 29, when he was promoted 
 brigadier-general of volunteers, and jilaced in command 
 of the -Second Brigade, Second Di\'ision of the Second 
 Arnij- Corps. He led this brigade in the battle of Gettys- 
 burg, where he was conspicuous for bravery and military 
 skill in the repulse of the famous Pickett's charge, and 
 was wounded at the head of his men. General Meade 
 presented him a bronze medal for " distinguished personal 
 gallantry on that ever-memorable field," and he received 
 the brevet rank of major in the regular army as a gov- 
 ernmental reward for the same. 
 
 General Webb commanded the Second Division, 
 Second Corps, for a year, receiving the attack of the 
 whole of Hill's corps at Bristow Station, during the 
 Rapidan campaign, and capturing six gims and more 
 than two thousand prisoners. For this ser\ice he was 
 brevetted lieutenant-colonel. He was in the battles of 
 the \\'ilderness and Spottsj-lvania, in the last of which 
 
 he was severeU' wounded, and was placetl on the disabled 
 list for the remainder of the year. For his gallant ser- 
 vice he was brevetted colonel in the regular army, and on 
 August I, 1864, received the brevet rank of major-general 
 of volunteers for his distinguished conduct from Gettys- 
 burg to Spottsylvania. 
 
 General Webb rejoinetl the aini_\- on Januar\- 1 I, 1865, 
 as chief of staff to General Meade, antl served till the 
 surrender of General Lee. For his services in this cam- 
 paign he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular 
 ami}', and at the same time major-general for his gallant 
 and meritorious services throughout the war. 
 
 In June, 1865, the President assigned him to duty as 
 inspector-general of the militar_\- division of the Atlantic, 
 with the rank of major-general. In 1866 he became 
 principal assistant professor of Geography, History, and 
 Fthics at West Point, and afterwards served as lieutenant- 
 colonel of the P'orty-fourth Inf.intr\-, and as major-general 
 in command of the first military district till April, 1869. 
 He was discharged from the army at his own request on 
 December 3, 1870. 
 
 He was at home awaiting orders, and suffering from 
 wounds received in battle, when, in 1869, he was elected 
 president of the College of New York. 
 
 When he took charge of the College of the City of 
 New York it had four hundred and forty-seven students, 
 and cost the city $125,000 a year. It now has fourteen 
 hundred students, with little additional cost to the city. 
 He has thoroughly reorganized the college and brouglit 
 it into so high a standing among institutions of learning 
 that its diploma now commands respect in all the lead- 
 ing schools of the Union. General ^Vebb is author of 
 "The Peninsula: McClellan's Campaign of 1862." He 
 was given the degree of LL.D. b\' Hobart College in 
 1870. 
 
338 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN HUNTER. 
 
 John Hunter, widely kmnvn iis one of tlic leaders of 
 the turf in America, was born at Hunter's Island, West- 
 chester Count)', New York, on tlie 27tli of February, 
 1833, liis place of birth biinL; the estate and mansion of 
 liis grandfatlier, who was one of the leading men in 
 tiic State politics of New York at an early date, and 
 for twelve years a member of the State Senate. Mr. 
 Hunter's father was Elias Desbrosscs Hunter, and his 
 mother was Ann Munro, a daughter of Peter J. Munro, 
 secretary of legation for John Jaj- when he went to 
 S])ain as United States minister in 1780. 
 
 Mr. Hunter received his education for the most part 
 fiom jM-ivate tutors, the only e.Nception to this being six 
 montlis of stud\- in the Grammar-School of Columbia 
 College, during which period only he was brought into 
 that keen com[)etiti(jn with other boys which is one of 
 the great utilities of school-room study. After com- 
 pleting his schooling he made no effort to engage in 
 business, professional, or ])ublic life. The heir to a 
 valuable estate, he had both no desire or occasion to 
 engage in avocations of this character, and found the 
 care of the propert)' confided to his charge sufficient : 
 employment t(» kee|) him engaged. Public life has ne\er 
 had an)' attractions for him. Democratic in his political 
 views, he has avoitled aiu' marked activity in political 
 af(;\irs or aspiration fir office, the onl)- position to which 
 he was ever elected !))■ the people being that of Presi- 
 dential elector in 1884. This was an important and 
 significant occasion. No Democrat hail been elected to I 
 the Presidency since the election of Huchanan in 1856, 
 a period of nearly thirty years, and Mr. Hunter had the 
 good fortune of aiiling to break this long era of Re- : 
 publican success, by casting his electoral vote for the 1 
 
 election of Grover Cleveland, for the State of New York, 
 that State which gave the casting vote in the important 
 Presidential campaign of 1884. 
 
 Outside of his personal property and business in- 
 terests, Mr. Hunter's chief occupation and enjo)-nient 
 has been in connection with the turf, with whose progress 
 in America he has been identified since 1S56, a period 
 of very nearly fort)' )'ears. During this period he has 
 done his full share towards the development of the 
 American thoroughbred horse, and aided essentiall)- in 
 freeing the race-course from the evils which surrounded 
 it anil at times have threatened to sink it utterl\- in public 
 esteem. The racing field in America has had its two 
 grades, that of the disreputable course worked solely 
 for the profit of its proprietors, and in which gambling 
 and dishonest trickery have run rampant, and that of the 
 reputable course, controlled by men of standing in the 
 community, and whose whole aim has been the develop- 
 ment of an American racer which should be unrivaled 
 in the world. It need scarcely be said that Mr. Hunter 
 is a member of the latter reputable class. 
 
 When he first began racing, at twenty-three years of 
 age, the turf was composed of gentlemen of the most 
 creditable character, including such men as William J. 
 Moran, Duncan J. Kenner, Ailam Birgaman (who dividetl 
 the first honors with lidward E\-erett at Harvard), Gen- 
 eral T. J. Wells, of Louisiana, Otway P. Hare, T. W. 
 Doswell.and William Allen, of Virginia, Governor Oden 
 Bowie and Colonel Frank Hall, of Maryland, Matthew 
 Singleton and William Sinclair, of South Carolina, 
 Colonel \V. Vilcy, Robert A. Alexander, and A. Keene 
 Richards, of Kentuck)-, and William H. Gibbons (who 
 served on Jackson's staff), of New Jerse)'. These gentle- 
 men controlled the turf at that period anil governed it 
 with a \igorous hand. None of them raced for profit, 
 and it is due to their efforts that we possess the thor- 
 oughbred American horse of to-day. It is but just to 
 say that Mr. Hunter joined this band of reputable turf- 
 men as a younger associate, and has done his best to 
 sustain the traditions of the turf left by them. He 
 succeedeil August Belmont as presiilent of the Jocke)' 
 Club. This po.sition he resigneil in December, 1894, 
 and was succeedeil in it b)' August Belmont, Jr., a 
 worthy successor to the two presidents named. Mr. 
 Hunter was also chaiiinan of the Hoaid of Control until 
 that went out of existence. 
 
 Mr. Hunter married Miss Annie Middleton, d.iughter 
 of Henry A. Middleton, of South Carolina, and has had 
 a family of eight children. The okl Himter homestead, 
 built of stone in 181 3, still stands, being part of Pel- 
 ham Park, a portion of the new park .system of New 
 York, which has absorbed the old estate, and in which 
 the homestead now stands with the solidit)- of an old 
 fort. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 339 
 
 MICHAEL JACOBS. 
 
 Michael Jacobs is a native of Buffalo, New York, in 
 which city he was born in 1850. His youth, however, 
 was passed in New York Cit}-, wliere he was educated 
 at first in the public schools and in Becker's Institute, 
 and afterwards in the College of the City of New York. 
 On graduating from the latter institution he, having 
 chosen the law for his profession, entered the Law De- 
 partment of Columbia College, passed a successful course 
 of study, and was admitted to the bar of New York City 
 in 1870. 
 
 Mr. Jacobs at once entered into practice, having asso- 
 ciated himself in a legal partnership with Mr. I. L. Sink, 
 under the firm-title of Jacobs & Sink. His practice was 
 from the start successfid, and at a later period he took 
 into partnership with him his two brothers, Edward 
 Jacobs, who at one time w^as a quarantine commissioner, 
 and Joseph A. Jacobs, since deceased. He was made 
 deputy clerk of the city court of New York, but contin- 
 ued the practice of his profession with his brothers, under 
 the firm-name of Jacobs Brothers. 
 
 For the past eighteen years this firm has been actively 
 engaged in practice in the New York courts, and has been 
 retained in most of the extensive failures in the clothing 
 and dry-goods importing trade and other branches of 
 large commercial business. Mr. Jacobs has also fre- 
 quent!}' been associated with other lawx-ers as counsel 
 in the trial of jury cases, and lias proved himself a forensic 
 orator of excellent abilit)', his fluent manner of speech 
 and logical powers of thought gi\'ing him much influence 
 u]ion juries. The devotion of the firm to the interests 
 of their clients, their industry in the preparation of cases, 
 and energ)- and abilit\- in their handling of suits have 
 given them a high reputation as skillful and accomplished 
 lawyers, and to-day the Jacobs Brothers stand in the first 
 rank among the members of the New York bar. 
 
 The eminently successful career of Mr. Jacobs is no 
 mystery to those who are acquainted with his powers. 
 Ever since his admission to the bar he has been connected 
 with important cases, many of them of a character to 
 demand the highest grade of legal skill and knowledge, 
 and his management of such cases has long since won 
 him recognition as one of the ablest and most successful 
 of our legal practitioners. He enters earnestly into the 
 study of every case he assumes, and labors with all the 
 powers at his command to bring it to a successful issue. 
 
 Mr. Jacobs took a leading part in the Florida Ship 
 Canal enterprise, one of the most important engineering 
 problems of recent date. In this project he served as a 
 director, upon a board including such well-known mem- 
 
 bers as Hon. Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, 
 Hon. William Mahone, United States Senator from Vir- 
 ginia, and e.x-Governor Brown, of Tennessee. He also 
 served as a director in the Harris Telephone Comi)any, 
 upon which board his associates included lion. Isliam 
 G. Harris, United States Senator from Tennessee, and 
 General Daniel E. Sickles, of New York. 
 
 Among the more important legal cases in which Mr. 
 Jacobs has been concerned was that of the formation of 
 the Southern Pacific Railroad system, through the con- 
 solidation of six preceding independent roads. In this 
 case he was retained by Hon. James G. Fair, of Califor- 
 nia, formerly United States Senator from Nevada, for an 
 expert opinion upon the legality of this consolidation, 
 and the validity, in such case, of the guarantee b}- the 
 Southern Pacific Company of the bonds held by Mr. 
 Fair. It was upon Mr. Jacobs's written opinion in favor 
 of the legality of consolitlation tli<it this took place, and 
 Mr. Fair accepted the guarantee of the Southern Pacific 
 Company. 
 
 In political opinion Mr. Jacobs has always been an 
 earnest member of the Democratic party, and for man\- 
 years has been a member of the Tammany Hall General 
 Committee of the Fifteenth Assembly District. He is 
 past president of Metropolitan Lodge I. O. F. S. of I., 
 which society he has twice represented with distinction 
 in the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of Franklin 
 Lodge, F. and A. M., and belongs to the Pontiac and 
 other clubs. Personally he is a broad-minded and ac- 
 complished gentleman, and numbers among his friends 
 many persons of high distinction. • 
 
340 
 
 MAKERS OF NFJV YORK. 
 
 HLLIS H. MASTERS. 
 
 A.mom; tliL- ailvcilisiuL; ayciits attaclicil t(^ the New 
 York newspapers none is more deservedly popular nor 
 more widely known tli.m I^liis H. Masters, tlic advertis- 
 inLj department < if tlic Xew York Tribuiu\ who for ncarl\- 
 fiuirteen )-ears has been connected with that paper, during 
 wliicli time he has ])laced in its columns huntlrcds of 
 thousands of dollars' worth of advertisements. 
 
 Mr. Masters is a Pennsylvanian by birtli, he having 
 been born in Columbia County in that State some forty- 
 five years ago. His youthful years were passed in 
 Columbia and Ljxoming Counties, where he obtained 
 iiis education and spent all his earlier boyhootl days. 
 His business life, however, began in ritlsburg, Pennsyl- 
 vania, in which city he became engaged in mercantile 
 pursuits and obtained his preliminary knowledge of busi- 
 ness affairs. His mercantile experience in Pittsburg 
 ended in 1S77, when he removed to Philadelphia and 
 obtained a situation in the widely-known advertising 
 agency of N. \V. Ayres & Son, which lias since become 
 one of the leatling institutions of this kind in the country. 
 Mr. Masters's Pittsburg experience had ])repared him for 
 this line of business, and lie remained in the Ayres's 
 agency for nearly four years, gaining there a thorougli 
 acipiaintance with all the details of the advertising busi- 
 ness, and a reputation as an able, energetic, and enter- 
 prising seeker of advertising patronage. His repute in 
 this direction brought him in 1881 an offer to the adver- 
 tising department of the New York Tribune, a position 
 calculated to employ all the time and energy of a very 
 
 active man. Mr. Masters accepted the offer, and has 
 retained the position ever since, with the fullest satisfac- 
 tion to himself and to the proprietors of the Tribune. 
 
 With a large acquaintance among advertisers, both 
 local and distant, and a personality that wins and holds 
 the esteem and friendship of those with whom he comes 
 into contact, Mr. Masters has been able to secure for the 
 paper which he represents a very large amount of busi- 
 ness which but for him would have been diverted to other 
 channels. I lis energy ami acti\ity, and keen scent for 
 business opportunities, continue great, antl no other 
 interest is allowed to stand in his wa)' where an order 
 is in prospect for the columns of the Tribune. As an 
 example, we may state that recently, seeing what seemed 
 an opportunity for a business operation in Boston, he 
 made a flj'ing trip to and from that cit)', leaving New 
 York at five o'clock in the afternoon and reaching Boston 
 by eleven at night. He hunted up the parties concerned, 
 presented his views and propositions in the briefest but 
 most effective language, secured a page ad\crtisemcnt 
 for the Tribune, and was off for home again on the mid- 
 night train. This whole operation, performed between 
 the close of business hours on one da\- and the opening 
 of those on the next, was the cjuickest trip of the kind 
 on record, and its performance speaks volumes for the 
 enterprising spirit of Mr. Masters. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that his paper appre- 
 ciates his services quite as fully as his associates regard 
 his frientlship. He is thoroughU- identified with the 
 interests of the Tribune, ami in e\-ery respect deserves 
 the confidence reposed in him. 
 
 Mr. Masters was married in 1S77 to Miss Alelha 
 I lagenbuch, nf \\illiani<[)ort, I'ennsyK aiiia. h'or the past 
 twelve j'cars he has resided in the pleasant suburban town 
 of East Orange, New Jersey, where he has a charming 
 home and is looked upon as one of the choice spirits of 
 the place. His popularity here was recently indicated 
 by his nomination to the Town Council and his election 
 by a hanilsome majoritj-. He is a director of the East 
 Orange National H.ink and a trustee of the Calvary 
 Methodist Church, to whoNe interests he devotes much 
 attention. 
 
 Mr. Masters personally is one of the most genial and 
 whole-souled of men. Hi-, successful career has been 
 witnessed with pleasure hy hosts of friends, alike in New 
 York and in the several other cities in which he made 
 his home during the earlier years of his business life, 
 while in his place of residence no man is more esteemed 
 or has a wider circle of friends and well-wishers. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 34' 
 
 JOHN G. McCULLOUGH. 
 
 John Griffith McCullough, prominent in the railroad 
 interests of the United States, was born near Newark, 
 Delaware, of mingled Scotch and Welsh ancestry. His 
 father died when he was but three years of age and his 
 mother when he was seven. He was, however, kindly 
 cared for by friends and relatives, and though his early 
 educational opportunities were meagre, his diligence in 
 study was great, while perseverance and industry finally 
 gave him the advantages of a good education. This 
 was obtained at Delaware College, where he graduated 
 with honors before reaching his twentieth year. He 
 next entered upon the study of law in the office of St. 
 George Tucker Campbell, of Philadelphia, a lawy-er of 
 much prominence. He studied here earnestly for three 
 years, and also in the law department of the University 
 of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated, and in 1859 
 was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Unfortunately for his hopes of success in legal practice 
 his health had become seriously weakened, symptoms of 
 pulmonar\- trouble appearing, and growing so grave that 
 he was forced to seek a more genial climate for the pres- 
 ervation of his life. He accordingly sailed for California, 
 after having tried and won a single case in court. Upon 
 his arrival at San Francisco he found the winds there too 
 bleak for his weakened lungs, and made his wa\- to Sacra- 
 mento, where he obtained admission to practice in the 
 Supreme Court of the State. His health, however, con- 
 tinued so delicate that he was compelled to leave this 
 city also, and he next sought the foot-hills of the Sierra 
 Nevada with the hope that their dry and exhilarating 
 air would enable him to overcome this discouraging 
 weakness. 
 
 It was in i860 that he reached the final end of his 
 long journey, in Mariposa County, where he opened an 
 office for the transaction of legal business, and was not 
 long in acquiring a satisfactory share of practice. New 
 duties, however, soon opened before him, natural conse- 
 quences of the situation of affairs in California at that 
 date. Before he had gained any extended acquaintance 
 with the people he found himself drawn prominently 
 into the struggle for the preservation of the Union. The 
 settlers of the State had come from North and South 
 alike, and secession sentiment was strong in the vicinity 
 of his new abode. General Sumner's coming was very 
 fortunate in choking the schemes of the Southern sym- 
 pathizers, and young McCullough, who was earnestly 
 loyal to the government, wrought actively in the same 
 cause, speaking with patriotic wai'mth and enthusiasm in 
 favor of the Union. His eloquence and courage soon 
 raised him to a position of leadership among those to 
 whom he had a few months before been a stranger, and 
 though scarcely yet qualified by length of residence, he 
 
 was nominated and elected to the Legislature, Repub- 
 licans and Douglas Democrats alike voting for him. 
 
 His work for the Union cause in the Assembly was so 
 vigorous and successful that in 1862 he was elected to 
 the State Senate, in a district that for }-ears hail been 
 Democratic. Here his legal knowledge and earnest 
 patriotism served him so well and gave him such an in- 
 fluence over legislation that in the following )-ear he was 
 nominated for attorney-general, and elected by an over- 
 whelming majority. This office he held for four years, 
 residing at Sacramento. He was again nominated in 
 1867, when, though his work in the office had been 
 eminently satisfactory, popular sentiment had changed, 
 and the whole Republican ticket was defeated. He now, 
 with recovered health, settled in San Francisco, where 
 for five )-ears he was one of the most prominent members 
 of the bar and enjoyed a highl)' remunerative practice. 
 
 In 1 87 1 he visited the East, where he married P^liza 
 Hall, an accomplished Vermont lady. He soon returned 
 to California, but subsequently, at his wife's desire, re- 
 turned to the East. He had won an ample fortune, and 
 now became active in railroad, banking, and commercial 
 affairs, making New York City his principal place of resi- 
 dence. For ten years from 1873 he was vice-president 
 and general manager of the Panama Railroad Company, 
 and president from 1883 till 1888, when he resigned. In 
 1884 he became a director in the Erie Railroad Com- 
 pany, and since 1S8S has been chairman of its executive 
 connnittee. He was elected the first president of the 
 Chicago and Erie Railroad in 1890, which office he still 
 holds. He is also president and director in several other 
 corporations. Politically he has kep| up his early ac- 
 tivity, but though supporting by his eloquence many 
 candidates, has displayed no aspiration for public office 
 on liis own part. 
 
 44 
 
342 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 J. WARREN GODDARD. 
 
 Joseph Wakren Goddard, lon<^ the head of one of 
 the most prosperous dry-goods houses in this country, 
 was born in New York Cits-, June 1 1, 1829, being the son 
 of Joseph Goddard, of Brookline, Massachusetts, and 
 Elizabeth Norton, daughter of Birdscye Norton, of Go- 
 shen, Connecticut. Mr. Goddard received his education 
 at the New York Grammar School, and when but nine- 
 teen years of age started business on his own account, 
 adventuring in a modest way in the dry-goods trade at 
 No. 95 William Street, a locality long since abandoned 
 by the retail textile industry, but then much favored by 
 buyers. 
 
 Mr. Goddard remained here for three years, working 
 hard and living so frugally that liis first year's expenses 
 of maintenance were but S250. In 1 851, at the end of 
 this preliminary business ])criod, the young merchant 
 took into partnership with him his brother, F. N. Goddard, 
 giving him a half-interest in the results of his three years 
 of severe labor. Soon afterwards the firm removed to 
 No. 55 Maiden Lane, where it continued for five years. 
 For one year of this period Mr. Merrill was a partner, 
 but this arrangement soon endeil, and the firm assumed 
 the name by which it was long knr>wn, that of Goddard 
 & Hrother. ICncrgy, enterprise, and ability told, as they 
 rarely fail to tell ; the business of the house grew rapidly, 
 and as the tide of trade moved northward on the island, 
 the house followed, establishing itself in 1S57 at No. 20 
 Park Place, and in 1861 at Nos. 331-333 Broadway. 
 
 Here the house remained long established, its business 
 steadily growing, until in iS^Ga new move became neces- 
 sary, and the large stores 461 to 467 Broadway, in the 
 Lord & Taylor Building, were taken. Its trade continued 
 to increase in this luw location until it reached the front 
 
 rank of houses in its line of business in the United 
 States. 
 
 Mr. Goddard had been married in 1854 to Celestine 
 Gardiner, daughter of Baldwin Gardiner, and of the 
 eighth generation in descent from Lionel Gardiner of 
 Gardiner's Island. Of their three sons one died in in- 
 fancy. The others were now approaching business age. 
 At the end of 1879 the firm of Goddard & Brother 
 was dissolved, Mr. Goddard jjurchasing the interest 
 of his brother, Frederic N. Goddard. On the 1st of 
 January, 1880, Warren N. Goddard, Mr. Goddard's 
 eldest son, who had graduated from Harvard six months 
 before, was admitted to the firm, which now took the title 
 of J. W. Goddard & Son. In 1S82 the establishment 
 was removed to No. 516 Broadway, and on January i, 
 1883, F. Norton Gocklaid, the }-oungcr son, who had 
 graduated from Har\ard in the preceding spring, was 
 admitted to the firm, which then assumed its present 
 name of J. W. Goddard & Sons. Here the establish- 
 ment remained fixed until Mr. Goddard's death, which 
 took place on September 18, 1890. 
 
 Aside from his business life, of which we have here 
 given but the briefest epitome, Mr. Goddard's career was 
 one of the most creditable character. His high sense of 
 honor, strong integrity, and earnest public spirit made his 
 death felt as a mo.st serious loss to the comnuinity. .As 
 a striking evidence of his courageous character may be 
 related an incident that occurred earlj' in the civil war. 
 Mr. Goddaril was then a member of the executi\-e com- 
 mittee of the Union League Club. When the first colored 
 regiment was organized in New York and pre[)ared to 
 march to the front, \iolent threats were made by the mob 
 that this regiment should never march down Broadway 
 on its journey to the seat of war. In this emergency 
 forty members of the Union League, among them Mr. 
 Goddard, marched ilown Broadway at the heatl of the 
 colored volunteers, so ccnving the mob bj- their presence 
 that the projected attack vanisheil away in muttereil 
 threats. 
 
 Mr. Goddard was a member of Dr. Bellows's church, 
 and one of his active supporters in the work of the Sani- 
 tary Commission. For many years he was a trustee of 
 the Women's Hospital, and was active in its management 
 and enlargement. I le was vice-president of the Green- 
 wich Savings Bank. No man was more highly resjiected 
 in the commnnily than he, his sterling uprightness, re- 
 gard for his word, excellent judgment, native wisilom, 
 and a good taste and intelligence augmented b_\- studi(5us 
 reading, gaining him general regard. Since his death, 
 the business, now conducted by his sons, has been re- 
 nii>\eil into the large buililing Nos. 98 and lOO Bleecker 
 Street, where it is regarded as the largest house deal- 
 ing in its specialty of linings, silks, mohairs, etc., in ihe 
 United States. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 343 
 
 J. WALTER THOMPSON. 
 
 J. Walter Thomi'son, the well-known magazine ad- 
 vertiser, is a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in which 
 city lie was born October 28, 1847. His parents removed 
 to Ohio while he was still quite young, and the early 
 part of his life, including its educational period, was 
 passed in that State. He was still quite youthful when 
 he came to New York, — early in the sixties, — in which 
 cit)' he shortly afterwards entered upon a mercantile 
 career. This first venture in the active business of life 
 was made in 1864, when he was sexenteen years of age. 
 He began his career in the metropolis under the same 
 conditions as did Horace Greele\' and man\' others who 
 have achieved success, being without money and without 
 influence, but possessed of that indomitable energy and 
 spirit of enterprise which e\cn ill fortune itself is power- 
 less to defeat, and which, as a rule, win good fortune by 
 commanding it. 
 
 Mr. Thompson began his career, in a minor capacit}', 
 in that field of labor wliich was to become the work of his 
 later life, his first position being that of clerk in an adver- 
 tising establishment. The ambitious bo\- was not content 
 to remain long in this subordinate capacity. When onl)- 
 a clerk it was one of his first resolves to be a good clerk, 
 to do his dut}- to his employers, comprehend the business 
 in which he was engaged, and fit himself by industry and 
 intelligence for higher positions in the domain of mercan- 
 tile life. Mr. Tliompson was well equipped by nature 
 with the qualities which bring a man to the front alike in 
 the position of a clerk or a merchant. He had integrit)-, 
 energ)', patience, and perseverance, together with the 
 important virtues of manner of courtes\-, willingness, and 
 alacrity, and with them belief in his own powers, the 
 self-confidence which disarms ad\ersity and is one of 
 the most essential elements of success. Add to these a 
 pleasing address, the power of impressing his views on 
 others, the secret of convincing, and we can readily com- 
 prehend his remarkable progress in his chosen field of 
 labor, that of soliciting and placing magazine advertise- 
 ments, of which he was the creator. 
 
 As has been said, Mr. Thompson did not content him- 
 self with the bare duties of clerkship. These did not 
 exhaust all his time, and he quickly began to look around 
 for a method of profitabh- improving his hours of leisure. 
 He had taken an earnest hold of the advertising idea, 
 and neglected no opportunity to learn all he could about 
 it, and to invent new methods of operation and discover 
 new fields of extension in his adopted line of business. 
 His first stcj) on his own account was taken in ]h-ook- 
 lyn, where he secured control of a number of theatre 
 programmes as profitable channels of advertising. To 
 
 these he soon added the programmes of several of the 
 New York theatres, con\incing the managers that he 
 could make the enterprise doubly profitable. From this 
 first venture he succeeded in adding both to his income 
 and his experience. 
 
 This first stage in his independent career was followed 
 by others, and by an advance in position in the firm in 
 whose service he was engaged, until he eventually pur- 
 chased and became successor to its business. To this 
 business he has, since acquiring complete control of 
 it, steadily added, developing its importance and mag- 
 nitude, especially in the special field of magazine adver- 
 tising, until to-day he is the autocrat in this profitable 
 field of industrj'. He has gained a controlling influence 
 over most of the advertising that appears in the American 
 magazines, and built up a business in this line that is 
 regarded by his ri\-als in the adveitising field as phe- 
 nomenal. 
 
 Personally Mr. Thompson is a man of excellent 
 judgment and cool self-control, agreeable in manner, 
 ready in speech, and quick to perceive and grasp the 
 details of a business situation, and to avoid risky com- 
 plications. He is loyal alike to the interests of his 
 patrons and his friends, faithful and accurate in perform- 
 ance, confident in his judgment, careful in expressing an 
 opinion, but firm in his conclusions when once reached, 
 and in all respects a model of the born man of busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Mr. Thompson was married in 1877 to Miss Margaret 
 R. Bogle, daughter of the late James Bogle, the cele- 
 brated portrait-painter, and a prominent member of the 
 New York Academy of Design. 
 
344 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHN ROACH. 
 
 John Roach, one of the most notable of American 
 sliip-builclers, was born at Mitchelstown, County Cork, 
 Ireland, December 25, 1815, the son of a rejjutable mer- 
 chant of that place. His place of birtli afforded but 
 limited opportunities for education, and these ceased at 
 the age of thirteen, his father becoming ruined in busi- 
 ness through endorsing notes for his friends, and soon 
 after dying, leaving the mother with a large family to 
 maintain. Jolin, the oldest son, thereupon resolved to 
 come to America, with the hope that intlustr)- and enter- 
 prise would win him success in that New World. He 
 was si.xtcen years old when he landed in New York, 
 whence he traveled on foot for sixty miles to secure a 
 position offered him in the Howell Iron Works in New 
 Jersey, his wages to be twenty-five cents a day. 
 
 The boy's intelligence, industry, and self-reliance soon 
 won him the favor of Mr. Allaire, the ])roprietor, who 
 took an earnest interest in him, antl gave him every 
 opportunity to gain a thorough knowledge of the trade. 
 Industry and economy enabled him, after a number of 
 years, to save S1200, of which in 1840 he ilrew a portion, 
 went to Illinois, and made an advance payment on three 
 hundred acres of land on the .site of the present city of 
 I'eoria. Unfortunatel)' for him, Mr. Allaire, who held 
 the balance of his savings, just then failed in business, and 
 the ambitious young ])ionccr lost all he had so painfully 
 saved, forfeiting the mr>ney paid in advance on liis land. 
 
 He immediately returned to New York, where he en- 
 tered an establishment to learn the trade of making cast- 
 ings for ships and marine engines, at one dollar a day 
 wages. Having again accumulated a little capital, he 
 and three fellow-workmen purchased a small foundry in 
 New York and began work for themselves in a modest 
 way. His three partners soon drew out, and went to 
 
 \vork for him as employes, leaving him alone in the 
 business. Under his intelligent control it progressed 
 rapidly, every venture he made proved successful, and at 
 the close of four years he had found it necessarj* to en- 
 large his works and was the possessor of SjO.OOO capital. 
 Then, in 1.^56, misfortune came. A boiler burst and de- 
 stro}-ed his works, he could not recover the insurance, 
 anil his debts absorbed every dollar he had saved. 
 
 l-'ortunatcly he had won a reputation for enterprise 
 and integrit)', his credit was excellent, and he at once 
 rebuilt his works on a larger scale, and with facilities for 
 building larger marine engines than had hitherto been 
 produced in this country, while some of its tools were the 
 largest that had yet been used in America. In this new 
 establishment, known as the /litna Iron Works, he went 
 vigorousl)- to work, rapitily building up a new and profit- 
 able trade until he had more than fifteen hundred men 
 under his employment, and was turning out marine en- 
 gines for the largest vessels built up to th.it time in this 
 countr)-, including several large war-vessels and the 
 mammoth steamboats " Bristol" and " Providence." 
 
 By 1868 Mr. Roach's business had grown to such 
 proportions that he found it advisable to purchase the 
 Morgan Iron Works, an establishment of great dimen- 
 sions ; and soon afterwards bought the Neptune and the 
 Allaire Works antl the Franklin Forge. In 1871 he built 
 a great ship-yard at Chester, Pcnnsj-hania. This estab- 
 lishment cox'eretl a large area on the ri\er front, and was 
 valued at j52,000,000. Mr. Roach was its principal owner. 
 While he built a number of large ships for the govern- 
 ment, the most of his work was for private parties, the 
 Delaware River works becoming in time so famous as to 
 win for that stream the name of " The Clyde of America." 
 
 Mr. Roach studied deepl)' the requirements of modern 
 war-\essels, and ailvised the go\-ernment to buihl onl)' 
 impro\-ed in.icliincr_\-. llis ad\icc resiilteil in the placing 
 of compound engines in the " Tennessee," a trial which 
 proved a ilecided success. He afterwards de\isetl a plan 
 for founding a nati\e merchant marine, which was 
 strongly favored by Presitlent Garfield, but action on 
 which was prevented by the President's death. Misfor- 
 tune subsequently visited Mr. Roach. He had con- 
 tracted to build four large vessels for the go\ernment. 
 The first of these, the " Dolphin," was built and acce]iteii, 
 but was afterwards refiiscd by Sccretar)' Whitnej', who 
 also declared lli.it Mr. Roach's contract woukl not hokl 
 good. He had invested vei)' largel}' in this goxernment 
 work, and the willulrawal of the contract forced liim, on 
 July 18, 18S5, to make an assignment. Mr. Roach iic\er 
 recovered fiom the consei|uences of this unmerited blow. 
 His powerful constitution gave waj', and he died in New 
 York, January 10, 1SS7. His sons continue his works, 
 one having charge of the Chester establishment and one 
 of the Morgan Iron Works at New York. 
 
MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 345 
 
 SHEPPARD KNAPP. 
 
 Sheppard Knapp, a prominent member of the mercan- 
 tile fraternity of New York City, was born in Vorktown, 
 Westchester County, near Peekskill, New York, August 
 30, 1839. He is a descendant of Moses Knapp, born in 
 England about 1655, and one of the early immigrants to 
 the colony of New Yoik, where he pla\-ed a leading part 
 in the affairs of the colon}' in the earl\' part of the eigh- 
 teenth century, and was one of the trustees named in the 
 ro\-al charter of White Plains, dated March 13, 1721. 
 He died in this countr\- in 1756, at the age of one 
 hundred and one. The men of the family were farmers ; 
 their lands have been handed down from father to son 
 through successive generations. Jacob Frost Knapp, 
 Sheppard's father, was a prosperous farmer and carriage- 
 builder, who died when his son was three years of age, 
 lea\ing the boy to grow up on the farm, amid the healthy 
 surroundings of a rural life, and to gain such education 
 as the schools in the \icinity of iiis native place could 
 afford. 
 
 The subject of this sketch came to New York in 1S52, 
 a mere lad, at that time only thirteen years old, at which 
 immature age he was obliged to enter upon the active 
 business of life. He was quickl}- fortunate in obtaining 
 a clerkship, in which position he remained industriously 
 engaged until from his salary he saved enough to pay 
 for a year's course at an academy in Bordentown, New 
 Jersey. This opportunit\- for an advanced education, 
 whose necessit)' he had strongl}- felt, was made the most 
 of he apph'ing himself with the utmost diligence to his 
 studies, from which he gained the foundation for his 
 future business training. At the e.xpiration of these 
 studies he returned to New York, where for a time he 
 was engaged in the fanc\' dry-goods trade, and later 
 accepted a clerkship in a retail carpet store in Hudson 
 Street. Mr. Knapp being a progressive youth, and full 
 of ambition, quickly determined to branch out for him- 
 self, and in 1855, when still but sixteen years of age, he, 
 in company with a fellow-clerk, started a carpet store of 
 his own, which he carried on successfully for nine years, 
 at the entl of which time he removed to a commodious 
 store on Sixth Avenue, near his present location. B\' 
 his just dealings and strict business integrity Mr. Knapp 
 became e\entually one of the most successful men in 
 the carpet trade, and after remaining seven years in the 
 location above referred to he determined to erect a large 
 building, better adapted alike in size and in appointments 
 
 than the building previousl}- occupied, for his great trade. 
 This extensive structure he now occupies, although it 
 has been greatly enlarged since its first erection, as his 
 increasing business has from time to time demanded 
 more room. When Mr. Knapp began the sale of carpets, 
 the American manufacture was in its infancy, and it is 
 largely due to his effort that the development of this 
 home industry has grown so enormously, the carpet pro- 
 duction of this country now amounting to millions of 
 dollars annually. The carpets heretofore purchased in 
 Europe, but now obtained in this country, are, in fact, so 
 exten.sive in quantity and so excellent in qualit}- and 
 finish as to vie with those of the most productive manu- 
 facturing regions of the Old World, and the Quaker 
 City can to-day claim to be the greatest producer of 
 carpets of any city in the world. The Smyrna American 
 carpet was one of the great specialties of the establish- 
 ment, and almost owes its existence to Mr. Knapp. He 
 was its originator, and was refused a patent on a mere 
 technicality, but has had much to do in bringing it to 
 the attention of American buyers. 
 
 In 1S63 Mr. Knapp married Sarah E, daughter of 
 Hiram Miller, of New York. They have five children. 
 Mr. Knapp is a member of the New York Athletic Club, 
 is a thorough gentleman, and an earnest, active citizen, 
 esteemed for his uprightness by all who know him, and 
 bearing an enviable reputation alike in the social and the 
 mercantile world. 
 
346 
 
 MAKERS OF NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM D. BALDWIN. 
 
 Wii.i.iAM Dklavan Baldwin, a prominent member of 
 tlie well-known Otis Elevator Company, is a native of 
 Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, in which place he 
 was born September 5, 1856. He is the son of Love- 
 well H. Baldwin, and a descendant of John Baldw in, of 
 Dedham, Massachusetts. The Baldwins came to this 
 country at an early date, and first settled in Vermont, 
 beinfj amont; the orij^inal ancestr)- of the famous " Green 
 Mountain Boys" of a later date. Mr. Baldwin's mother 
 was Sarah J. Munson, daughter of Aaron Bennett, of 
 New Brunswick, New Jersey. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin received such education as was to be had 
 in the jjublic sciiools of iiis native place, his school life 
 continuing until the age of fifteen, when he left school 
 to engage in the business of life, entering the extensive 
 establishment of D. M. Osborn & Co. as an aid and 
 learner. Here the _\-oung aspirant for mercantile honors 
 made rapid progress, his energy and ability, with his 
 earnest devotion to the interests of his emploj-ers, win- 
 ning him commendation and advancement until, before 
 he had reached his majorit)', he held a |X)silion of trust 
 and responsibility in the establishment. There could be 
 no higher testimony to his native business ability and the 
 confidence placed in him b)- his employers than the fact 
 that, at the age of twenty-one, they sent him to lun-ope 
 to take charge of the Iun-o])ean branch of their business. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin continued in this responsible jjo.sition for 
 five )'ears, performing its duties satisfactorily to all con- 
 cerned, and g.iining a wide experience in business man- 
 
 agement which was destined to be of much advantage 
 to him in later years. At the end of that period, being 
 desirous to return to his native land and become himself 
 one of the controlling agents in a business concern, he 
 resigned his position with the Osborn Com[)an)' and 
 crossed the ocean to New York, where he entcreil the 
 elevator-building firm of Otis Brother & Co. as a stock- 
 holder, and was votetl in treasurer of the company. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin is at present one of the largest stock- 
 holders in this nourishing firm, of the character and 
 e.Ktent of whose business sufficient details have been 
 given in our sketches of the Otis brothers. He still 
 retains his position as treasurer of this company, and is 
 besides its general manager, the control of the extensive 
 business of the concern being in his hands. In conse- 
 quence of his acceptance of this position he remoxed, 
 in 1887, from his former residence at Montclair, New 
 Jersey, to Yonkers, New York, where the works of the 
 Otis I^levator Company are situated, that he might have 
 under his immediate supervision the important details of 
 manufacture and handling of the products of the com- 
 pan)-'s factories. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin's success in business life is ilue to his 
 indomitable will and i)erse\'erance, which are distinguish- 
 ing traits in his character. Personally he is courteous 
 and affable in his intercourse with business men ami 
 fiicnds, while no man bears a higher re])utation th.m he 
 for integrit}- and just dealing. In conseciiience, while he 
 may be designated a thorough business man in e\ery 
 just and proper sense of the word, his courtesy of man- 
 ner and high sense of honor in all his ilealings have won 
 him hosts of friends, and gained him the esteem of all 
 with whom he comes into contact. 
 
 Aside from his connection with the Otis Brother 
 Company, Mr. BaUlwin has entereil into other business 
 relations. He has been made \ice-president of the First 
 National Bank of Yonkers. and holds the position of 
 director in se\eral financial and other concerns. Polit- 
 ically he is a member of the Republican partv, but has 
 ne\er been a seeker for political honors, ami in 1892 
 declined the nomin.ition offered him bj- the Republican 
 part)' of his district for member of Congress. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin was married in 1881 to Miss Helen R. 
 .Sidlixan, daughter of Nahum Sullivan, of New 'V'ork, 
 and has had three sons and three daughters, of whom 
 five — Martin, Delavan, Helen, Louise, anti Runyon — are 
 living ; one, Elsie, died in infancy. Mr. Baldwin is a 
 
 ' memljer of the Union League, the Ractpiet, the Lawjers", 
 
 ; and other clubs of New York City. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAt;F. 
 
 Adams, Henry H 301 
 
 Anderson, Elbert E 300 
 
 Anderson, John 213 
 
 ArPLETON, Daniel 92 
 
 Appleton, William H 121 
 
 Arnoux, William H 2S4 
 
 Arthur, Chester A 30 
 
 AsTOR, John J 46 
 
 Astor, John J. (4TI1) 147 
 
 AsTOR, William 146 
 
 Astor, William B 127 
 
 Backus, Brady E 112 
 
 Baiz, Jacou ii5 
 
 Baldwin, Christopher C 217 
 
 Baldwin, William D 346 
 
 Barnard, Frederick A. I' 94 
 
 Ijatten, George 187 
 
 Beach, Miles 25S 
 
 Beckvvith, S. C 6S 
 
 Beecher, Henry Ward 17 
 
 Beekman, James W 319 
 
 Belknap, Roiiert L 174 
 
 Belmont, August ■ . . . 20 
 
 Belmont, August, Jr 219 
 
 Belmont, Perry 218 
 
 Bennett, James G 160 
 
 Bennett, James G., Jr 161 
 
 Bergh, Henry 66 
 
 Billings, Luther G 124 
 
 Bliss, Cornelius N 237 
 
 Bonnell, J. Harper 113 
 
 Bonner, Robert 236 
 
 Booth, Edwin 32 
 
 Brady, James T 48 
 
 Brandreth, Benjamin 12S 
 
 Brandreth, William 129 
 
 Brooke, Charles W 34 
 
 Broome, John 235 
 
 Brougham, John 15 
 
 Bruce, George 285 
 
 Bruce, Saunders D 247 
 
 Bryant, William C 7 
 
 Bryce, Lloyd 307 
 
 Buckingham, Charles L 2S3 
 
 BuRNiiAM, Frederick A 177 
 
 BuRTis, Arthur 2S7 
 
 Bush, J. C 166 
 
 Butteritelu, Daniei 31 
 
 Calvin, Delano C. ... 322 
 
 Cannon, Henry W 281 
 
 Carpenter, Philip 234 
 
 Chandler, Albert B 315 
 
 Chesebrougii, Robert A 330 
 
 Childs, John L 114 
 
 Choate, Joseph H 183 
 
 PAGR 
 
 Church, William C 240 
 
 Claelin, Horace B 16 
 
 Claflin, John 228 
 
 Clapp, Dorlin F 222 
 
 Clarkson, Floyd 253 
 
 Clews, Henry 115 
 
 Clinton, De Witt 70 
 
 Clinton, George 45 
 
 Cochrane, John 64 
 
 Coe, George .S 205 
 
 Colby, Charles L 278 
 
 Colgate, James B 152 
 
 CONKLING, ROSCOE 2g 
 
 Cooke, Augustus P 58 
 
 Cooper, Marvelle W 310 
 
 Cooper, Peter 5 
 
 Cornell, Alonzo B 293 
 
 Cornell, Thomas C 215 
 
 Cri.mmins, John D 171 
 
 Crosby, Howard 27 
 
 Curtis, George W 109 
 
 CuYLER, Theodore 1 223 
 
 Daly, Charles P 108 
 
 Dana, Charles A 229 
 
 Dana, Richard P 14 
 
 D.utes, William G 67 
 
 Davis, Richard H 43 
 
 Dayton, Charles \V 249 
 
 Depew, Chauncey M 155 
 
 De Peyster, Frederick 198 
 
 De Peyster, John W 199 
 
 Dillon, Sydney 197 
 
 Dix, John A 47 
 
 Dix, Morgan 28 
 
 Dodge, William E 11 
 
 Douglass, David B 61 
 
 Drake-Smith, Daniel 320 
 
 DuNLAP, Robert 268 
 
 Earle, Ferdinand P 59 
 
 E.vioN, DoRMAN B 209 
 
 Eaton, Horner 259 
 
 Edson, Cyrus 273 
 
 Edson, Franklin 272 
 
 Eisner, Moritz 40 
 
 Ely, Smith 74 
 
 English, George W 306 
 
 Ericsson, John 10 
 
 Evarts, William M 21 
 
 Evving, Thomas 36 
 
 Farmer, Aaron D 262 
 
 Farmer, William W 263 
 
 FaRRELLY, PjVTRICK Ill 
 
 Fay, Sigourney W 313 
 
 Ferree, Samuel P 85 
 
 I'AGn 
 
 Ferris, Isaac 294 
 
 Ferris, Morris P 295 
 
 Field, Benjamin H 1S9 
 
 Field, Cyrus W 49 
 
 Field, David D 22 
 
 Field, Henry M 191 
 
 Fish, Hamilton 13 
 
 FrrcH, Ashbel P 304 
 
 Flagg, Ethan 135 
 
 Fletcher, Austin B 282 
 
 Flint, Benjamin 334 
 
 Flint, Charles R 335 
 
 Flower, Roswell P 52 
 
 Fowler, Edward P 76 
 
 Frelinghuysen, Frederick T 214 
 
 Garrison, Cornelius K 131 
 
 Gekrv, Elbridge T 212 
 
 Gii.dersleeve, Henry A 230 
 
 Goddard, J. Wauren 342 
 
 Good, Brent 97 
 
 Gould, Jay 220 
 
 Grant, Frederick D 227 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S 26 
 
 Greeley, Horace 54 
 
 Green, Norvin 309 
 
 Gunther, Charles G 266 
 
 U.vckett, James H 265 
 
 Hall, William H 257 
 
 Halleck, Fitz-Greene 261 
 
 Halstead, Mur.-\t 148 
 
 Hamersley, J. Hooker 207 
 
 Hamersley, John W 206 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander 37 
 
 Harper, Edward B 158 
 
 Harper, Fletcher 107 
 
 Harper, Jam^s 104 
 
 Harper, John 105 
 
 Harper, Joseph W 106 
 
 Havemeyer, John C 316 
 
 Heald, Daniel A 246 
 
 Hewitt, Abram S. . 25 
 
 Hoac;land, C. N 145 
 
 "HoiiBs, John Oliver" (Mrs. Craigie) 329 
 
 Hoe, Robert 123 
 
 Hoffman, Eugene A 229 
 
 Hoffman, John T 311 
 
 Homans, Sheppard 225 
 
 hornblower, wli.liam b i96 
 
 HoRTON, Harry L 274 
 
 HoRTON, James M 298 
 
 HoYT, Colgate . . m 186 
 
 HoYT, Mark 291 
 
 Hoyt, Oliver 290 
 
 Hubbard, Thomas H 303 
 
 Hughes, John 318 
 
 347 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hunt, Sanford 204 
 
 Hunter, John 338 
 
 Huntington, Collis T 299 
 
 Irving, Washington 
 
 Jacobs, MiCHAEi 339 
 
 Kearnv, I'HiLir 19 
 
 Ketchum, Edgar, Sk 245 | 
 
 Ketchum, Edgar, Jk 195 
 
 KiMiiERLY, Charles \\ 60 
 
 King, Charles 72 
 
 King, Rufus 73 
 
 Kingsland, Amhrose C 130 
 
 Knapi', Sheim'ari) 345 
 
 Lamont, Daniel S 178 
 
 Lanier, James F. D 164 
 
 Lawton, William 77 
 
 Lekferts, Marshali 56 
 
 Leggett, Francis H 251 
 
 Lenox, James 190 
 
 Leslie, Frank 138 
 
 LiTILEJOlIN, AltRAM N 2IO 
 
 LocKMAN, John T 33 
 
 LocKwooD, Howard 336 
 
 LouNsr.URV, PiiiNEAs C 279 
 
 Luce, Stei'Iien li 38 
 
 LuYTiES, Henry E. G 117 
 
 McAdam, David 277 
 
 McCoRD, Hknrv D 250 
 
 McCuLLOUGH, John G 341 
 
 McLeoi), Archijiai.I) a 280 
 
 Maci.ay, Robert 296 
 
 Mandevii.le, Giles \\ 323 
 
 Mai'ES, Charles D 297 
 
 Marks, A. A 99 
 
 Masters, Ellis H. . . 340 
 
 Mayer, Charles F 93 
 
 Melville, Geor(;e W 39 
 
 MENDEi>f>N, JosErii 41 
 
 Miller, GeoR(;k M. 75 
 
 Mills, A. G 175 
 
 Mills, D. O 181 
 
 Mitchell, William . . . 269 
 
 Moi.iNEUx, Edward . 165 
 
 Moore, Stuart IL 83 
 
 Morgan, Edwin 1). 162 
 
 Morse, Lyman D. . 149 
 
 Morse, Samuel F. l! 71 
 
 Munn, Orson D 126 
 
 Munro, Norman L. . 125 
 
 Myers, Theodore W. 90 
 
 NiLics, William W. . 
 Noah, Mordecai M. . 
 
 Otis, Charles R. 
 Otis, Elisha G. . 
 Otis, Norton l'. . . . 
 OTTENDOREF.R, Oswald 
 
 Packard, Silas S. . . 
 
 32' 
 102 
 
 270 
 
 '37 
 271 
 122 
 
 289 
 
 Page, J. Shaver 312 
 
 Paink, Willis S 305 
 
 Palmer, Albert M 193 
 
 Palmer, Innis N. 159 
 
 Park, Joseph 224 
 
 Parkhurst, Charles H 89 
 
 Peters, Bernard 324 
 
 Pettengill, S. M 144 
 
 Phillips, Morris 57 
 
 Phienix, Daniei 194 
 
 PiKRREPoNT, Edwards 132 j 
 
 Porter, Fi tzJohn 24 
 
 Porter, Horace no | 
 
 Potter, Henry C 153 ' 
 
 Potter, Orlando IJ 142 
 
 Pulitzer, Joseph 81 
 
 QuiNTARD, George W 140 
 
 Raymond, Henry J 50 
 
 Reid, WiiiTEi.AW 120 
 
 Remsen, William 317 
 
 Rhinelander, T. J. Oaklev 179 
 
 Rhoades, Henry E 172 
 
 Rice, Allen T 82 
 
 Richards, John M r . . 328 
 
 Richardson, A. Frank 233 
 
 Roach, John 344 
 
 RoiiERTs, George 15 96 
 
 Roberts, Lewis 182 
 
 Roberts, Marshall O 55 
 
 ROMEYN, Henry 151 
 
 Roosevelt, Robert B 314 
 
 RoWEi.L, George P 79 
 
 Ruger, Thomas H 12 
 
 Sayre, Louis A 20S 
 
 Schiei'i'elin, William H 327 
 
 SCIIIKREN, CiIARI.es A 332 
 
 Schoiteld, John M 88 
 
 ScoTT, Alfred B 80 
 
 Scott, George A 150 
 
 Sears, Clinton B 173 
 
 Seymour, Horatio 264 
 
 Shepard, Elliot F 154 
 
 Sickles, Daniel E 65 
 
 Simmons, J. Edward 216 
 
 Skinner, Halcyon 143 
 
 Smith, Charles S 239 
 
 Smith, GouvERNEUR M 119 
 
 Smith, John S 255 
 
 Smith, Joseph M. . . . 118 
 
 Smith, Victor 84 
 
 Southard, Milton 1 275 
 
 Starin, John H 192 
 
 Siayton, William H 260 
 
 Steuman, Edmund C m 
 
 Steinway, William 184 
 
 Sterne, Simon 256 
 
 Steurer, Charles D i8o 
 
 Stewart, Alexander T 53 
 
 Stewart, Edwin 35 
 
 SiEWARi, John A 141 
 
 SroDDARD, Richard Henry 267 
 
 Strange, Theodore A 226 
 
 TAG I! 
 
 Strong, William L 86 
 
 Stumpf, Anthony 188 
 
 Swayne, Wager 326 
 
 Tappan, Frederick D 325 
 
 Tappan, Herman 100 
 
 Taylor, Alexander 242 
 
 Taylor, Alexander, Jr 243 
 
 Taylor, James R 134 
 
 Terry, John T 254 
 
 Thompson, J. Walter 343 
 
 Thomson, F'rank 157 
 
 TiLDEN, Samuel J iS 
 
 Tilford, F'rank . 232 
 
 TowNSEND, John P 244 
 
 Tracy, Benjamin F 87 
 
 Trask, Spencer 185 
 
 Tremain, Henry E 252 
 
 Trenchard, Edward 91 
 
 Trenchard, Stephen D 23 
 
 Trevor, John B 288 
 
 Truax, Ciiari.f_s H 302 
 
 Tuttle, Nathaniel 176 
 
 Upton, Emory 9 
 
 Van Cott, Cornelius 241 
 
 Vanderbilt, Cornelius loi 
 
 Vanderbilt, Cornelius (2i>) 156 
 
 Vanderbilt, William H 51 
 
 Van Nostrand, David 78 
 
 Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen, First Lonl of 
 
 Ihc Manor 200 
 
 Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen, First Palrooii 201 
 
 Van Rensselaer, Stephen, Last Patrooii 202 
 Van Rensselaer, Stephen, the " Young 
 
 Patroon" 203 
 
 Van Siclen, George W 331 
 
 Van Vliet, Stewart 167 
 
 ViELE, Egbert L 95 
 
 Wainwright, Jonathan M 139 
 
 Walke, Henry 286 
 
 Wallace, John Lester 44 
 
 Warren, Gouverneur K 42 
 
 Webb, Alexander S 337 
 
 Webb, William H 133 
 
 Webb, William S 231 
 
 Weed, Thurlow 62 
 
 White, Stephen V 211 
 
 Whitney, William C 1(19 
 
 Wilcox, Reynold W 98 
 
 Wilcox, Vincent M 238 
 
 WlLKICS, ClIARLF.S 8 
 
 Williams, George (j. . ... 248 
 
 Willis, Nai haniei. P O3 
 
 Wilson, Jamks G 103 
 
 WiNDMUEl.LKR, LolMs ... 69 
 
 Wolfe, John D. . 136 
 
 Wood, William 308 
 
 Woodward, William R 168 
 
 Worden, John 1 163 
 
 WORTHINGTON, HeNRY R 221 
 
 Wright, Ebenezer K 276 
 
 Ziegler, William 17°