Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 1
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 1

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GENEALOGY COLLECTION

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LONG ISLAND

A History of

TWO GREAT COUNTIES NASSAU and SUFFOLK

LONG ISLAND

A History of

TWO GREAT COUNTIES NASSAU and SUFFOLK

PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY

VOLUME III

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO., INC.

NEW YORK

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PRESTON ROGERS BASSETT-A leading resi- dent of Rockville Centre, and for many years one of the foremost aeronautical engineers of this section of Long Island, Preston Rogers Bassett long has been eminently associated with the Sperry Gyroscope Com- pany, and now serves as its president.

Mr. Bassett was born March 20, 1892, at Buffalo, New York, son of Edward M. and Annie (Preston) Bassett. His father, who is now retired, was born in Brooklyn, New York, was a prominent New York lawyer, in 1905 served in the United States Congress, and was Public Service Commissioner for New York City. His mother, who was born at Bath, New York, died in 1942.

Preston R. Bassett attended public school in Flat- bush, and was graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1909. He entered Amherst College, and four years later received the degree of Bachelor of Arts there. He did post-graduate work in engineering at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and years later, in 1926, he received an honorary degree of Master of Arts at Amherst College.

In 1914 Mr. Bassett became associated with the Sperry Gyroscope Company as a member of the firm's engineering department in Brooklyn. He remained as a research engineer until 1929, at which time he be- came chief engineer. His excellent work with the company was rewarded in 1932, when he was elected to the vice presidency. In 1944 he was appointed gen- cral manager, and the following year was elected president, the position he has held since with distinc- tion.

During his long association with the Gyroscope Company, Mr. Bassett has made many contributions to the aeronautical sciences, and especially in the field of air transportation. In 1915 he worked on the development of early flight instruments carried by airplanes of that time. During World War I, he was responsible for the development of the high intensity anti-aircraft searchlight. He was a pioneer, following World War I, in setting up beacons and airport flood- lights for early air mail night flights. He directed the work which led to the perfection of the Sperry blind- flying instruments, the gyro-horizon and the direc- tional gyro. These pieces of equipment have become standard on all transport and military planes. He di- rected the work on the gyropilot for automatic flying, which is now in general use. He perfected the first successful system of soundproofing airplanes, and has made extensive studies on passenger comfort in air- planes. Mr. Bassett is a fellow of the American As- sociation for the Advancement of Science, the Ameri- can Physical Society and the Institute of the Aero- nautical Sciences. He is president of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences and vice president of the Nassau County Historical Society. He holds mem- berships in the Wings Club, Sigma Xi scientific frater- nity, and is vice president of Delta Upsilon social fra- ternity. In religious affiliation he is a Congregational- ist, being a founder member of the Rockville Centre Congregational Church, and serving on its board of trustees during the first years of its existence. On May 24, 1919, at Flatbush, New York, Preston Rogers Bassett married Jeanne R. Mordorf, daughter of Oliver C. and Philena (Akers) Mordorf, of Flatbush,

and they became the parents of the following child- ren: 1. Margaret J., who was graduated from Welles- ley College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 2. Preston Rogers, Jr., who received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Amherst College, and married Harriett Green, of Bristol, Connecticut; they are the parents of two children: Ellen Bassett and Martha Bassett. 3. Allen M., who is a student at Amherst College. 4. William A., who attends the St. Paul School in Garden City.

SURROGATE LEONE D. HOWELL of Nassau County is surely one of Long Island's favorite native sons. His public work, official, professional, civic and benevolent, has brought him a host of friends in every part of the island.

Born July 3, 1882 at Riverhead, the county seat of Suffolk County, of two of the island's oldest families, Howell and Downs, he attended public school in that village, graduating from the high school there in 1899. Four years later he graduated from New York Law School and was admitted to the bar of this State in 1904. For sixteen years thereafter he practiced law in Brookyln, meanwhile also estab- lishing a practice in Nassau County and through the two offices becoming one of the best known mem- bers of his profession in both Greater New York and its suburban island area.

In 1916, at the age of thirty-four, he was elected surrogate of Nassau County, an office which he has since held and to which he has been elected six times. During this period the business of the office has doubled time and again as Nassau County, now said to be the richest suburban county in the nation, grew in population and assessed valuation. Never- theless, Judge Howell has at the same time made a remarkable record of achievement in other fields of public endeavor.

As county chairman for the sale of war bonds during World War II he was commended by the national administration for his successful efforts in putting that county well over the top in every drive. In 1943 he was awarded the annual Distinguished Service Award of the Nassau Daily Review-Star as "the citizen who had done the most for the County that year." Approximately five hundred fellow citi- zens attended the dinner at which the award was made.

During the bank holiday of 1933 when one of the county's leading financial institutions failed to survive the monetary tempest which swept the country, Judge Howell was one of a few prominent bankers who solved the situation for the county's banks as a whole and who subsequently brought about the organization of the Nassau County Clearing House Association. The part played by these men is more adequately told in the chapter on Long Island Banking elsewhere in this work.

In spite of the great responsibilities which he has accepted, Judge Howell has frequently given of his time and marked talent as a public speaker to worthy causes generally. As permanent chairman of the Hun- ters' Garden Association, a century old organization of farmers and other citizens which meets twice yearly

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LONG ISLAND - NASSAU AND SUFFOLK

near Riverhead, he is credited with having made this group a vital factor in matters of general interest. And notwithstanding this and other civic activities, he has found time to develop his hobby which is raising prize poultry which have won blue ribbons galore throughout the metropolitan area where Surrogate Howell was in great demand as a judge at the leading poultry shows.

The diversity of his interests and activities is further indicated in the following items of record. Together with the late Daniel Harrington, he organized the Nassau County Art League; and with Edwin W. Weeks of Westbury, he founded the Nassau County Camera Club. He is, and has been for many years, a director of The Nassau Hospital at Mineola, and of Adelphi College at Garden City. A life member of the Bar Association of Nassau County, he has served that body as president. His work in the com- mon cause as a member of the advisory committee of the Queens-Nassau Agricultural Society, operators of the named Mineola Fair, has been long and dis- tinguished. He it was, as a member of that Society, who arranged the transfer of the fair grounds to the County, as a site for a County Court House and a cultural County Center.

It is said that Judge Howell knows more people than any other man in public or private lite in Nas- sau County. His excellent memory for names and faces constantly increases that acquaintanceship, and he is, tactually, the friend and personal adviser to thousands. The counsel he renders may and often does range from financial and domestic issues to gardening, or the care of poultry.

Judge Howell is a Presbyterian, a member of the Masonic order and the Odd Fellows, and a staunch Republican. His father was John D. Howell, a farmer, and his mother was Carrie Louisa Downs Howell. The Howell farm at Riverhead, which has been in the family for three hundred years is now owned by the Judge. Both the Howell and Downs familes were among the early settlers of Riverhead town. Mrs. Howell, whom the judge married November 9, 1904, was Lena F. Moore, a daughter of Frederick and Jessie (Hill) Moore also of Riverhead. Judge and Mrs. Howell have two daughters, Mildred and Doro- thy who are now respectively Mrs. Willoe Gregory and Mrs. Robert S. Dettner, and three grandchildren, Patricia Ann Dettner, Nancy Dettner, and Robert Howell Gregory.

JOHN FOSTER DULLES-A lawyer by profes- sion, and a resident of Long Island, John Foster Dulles has earned an international reputation for his participation in foreign affairs. As United Nations delegate, and representative in councils of foreign ministers, his has been one of the most authoritative voices of the democratic nations in their endeavors to encourage world organization.

Born in Washington, D. C., February 25, 1888, John Foster Dulles is the elder son of Allen Macy and Edith (Foster) Dulles; his younger brother, Allen Welsh, also has been associated for a number of years with the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell in New York, prior to which he compiled an excellent record in the diplomatic service. John Foster Dulles attended Princeton University, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1908. His alma mater likewise conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1946. During 1908-1909, Mr. Dulles studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from George Washington

University in 1911. He has also received the Doctor of Laws degree from Tufts College in 1939, Wagner College and Northwestern University in 1947, and Union College in 1948.

Mr. Dulles began the practice of law in New York in 19II, associating himself with the firm of Sullivan and Cromwell. Concurrently with his legal career, he has been active in business affairs and religious causes, as well as in the interests of peace. He is a member of the New York State Banking Board, chairman of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, direc- tor of the International Nickel Company, the Bank of New York, American Agricultural Chemical Com- pany, American Bank Note Company, and Babcock and Wilcox Company. He is also chairman of the Federal Council of Churches Policy Commission, in which cause, as well as in political connections, his influence in international affairs has been great.

Mr. Dulles' connection with the diplomatic service predates the beginning of his professional career, for he was secretary of The Hague Peace Conference in 1907. Ten years later, he was a member of the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, and special agent of the Department of State in Central America. Dur- ing the years of World War I, he served as a captain and major in the United States Army, and was in 1918 assistant to the chairman of the War Trade Board. It was after this first world conflict that much of the groundwork of Mr. Dulles' later peace efforts was laid. He was counsel to the American Commission to Ne- gotiate Peace, during 1918-1919, and a member of the Reparations Commission and the Supreme Economic Council in 1919. In 1927, Mr. Dulles was legal ad- visor for the Polish Plan of Financial Stabilization, and was American representative at the Berlin Debt Conferences in 1933.

Mr. Dulles participated in the historic early efforts toward world organization which took place at about the time of the conclusion of World War II. He was United States delegate to the San Francisco Confer- ence on World Organization in 1945, and to the first Conference of Foreign Ministers in London the same year. He was a member of the Assembly of the Uni- ted Nations in London and New York in 1946, and attended the Moscow meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Moscow, 1947. He also attended as delegate the United Nations Assembly held in New York in 1947 and in Paris in 1948. On return of Secretary of State Marshall to the United States in November, 1948, Mr. Dulles was appointed by President Truman head of the United States Delega- tion to the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Dulles was advisor on foreign affairs to New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, twice candidate on the Republican ticket for the presidency of the United States.

Professionally, Mr. Dulles is a member of the Asso- ciation of the Bar of the City of New York; New York County Lawyers Association and New York State Bar Association. He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa; and his college fraternity is Phi Delta Phi. His club memberships include: the Century, the University, and the Down Town Association, of New York, the Piping Rock, and the Metropolitan Club of Washington. A widely recognized authority on international affairs, Mr. Dulles is the author of the book, "War, Peace and Change." He is also a popu- lar lecturer on international affairs. He is a member of the Brick Presbyterian Church of New York; and

LONG ISLAND - NASSAU AND SUFFOLK

rugged individuality, his simplicity, his candor, his respect for all good things, his upright life-all these things in any man improve the community in which he lives. He was broad-minded and tolerant. He respected the religious and political views of others. Southold has suffered a loss in the death of Joseph N. Hallock even at the age of eighty-two. His home life was ideal. His good wife passed away several years ago, but his daughter Ann, his sister Lucy, and his son-in-law, Tom Currie-Bell all co- operated to make his life enjoyable to the end. And it was. We all mourn the loss of a good friend and wise counsellor. The imprint of his life and activities will be felt here for generations to come. They may not credit him with it, but his good works will be an enduring monument to a long life well spent.

ELLA BOLDRY HALLOCK-Throughout most of the seventy-three years of her life Ella Boldry Hallock was one of Long Island's most outstanding women. She was renowned as a writer and journalist throughout the nation. For many years she was virtually associate editor and publisher of the island- wide newspaper, "The Long Island Traveler," as "right hand" to her husband, Joseph N. Hallock, its editor and publisher. A teacher and lecturer, she used the written and spoken word and her own qualities as a leader to battle for many reforms, for civic betterment, for improvement of conditions among the American Indians and for a host of other human works. She was the author of many books.

As Ella Boldry, she was born in the hills of Saratoga County. All her ancestors were English, her father having been born in England and her mother's family, descended from the Woodins and Howes, having come to this country in the early part of the eighteenth century. Notwithstanding their English proclivities and their relation to houses of British fame, Mrs. Hal- lock's ancestors had their share as true Americans in three great American conflicts-her father serving in the War Between the States, her grandfather in the War of 1812 and her great-grandfather in the Revolu- tionary War.

"As soon as I could hold a book in my hand, I loved to teach," Mrs. Hallock frequently said. She was trained as a teacher in the State Normal School at Albany.

"It so happened in the late eighties that she, being temporarily unoccupied, was induced to fill out an un- expired term in the old Bay View School, and it was this seemingly casual act which brought her to Southold and into the home and hearts of the Hallock family," a friend, Minnie Terry Smith, wrote in "The Long Island Traveler" at the time of her death. "Romance developed and in a year or two young Joseph N. Hallock (whose father was acting as trustee in the school at the time of her teaching) brought her home as his bride. He had by this time acquired 'The Traveler' and a little home was established in the rooms over the printing office. In time came little Ann to bless the lives of parents and friends. Then came the building of the new house on the corner of Maple Lane, with larger opportunities for hospitality, and no home in the village, we believe, has opened its doors so freely and so often, and at the heart of this entertaining there has always been some fine purpose, some carefully planned educational fea- ture, though often mixed with fun and jollity."

Mrs. Hallock had spent several years as a teacher and served in other towns before going to Southold with her husband. Early in life, too, she became a writer. She traveled throughout the eastern states lecturing on physiology and allied subjects before teachers' institutes as a representative of the New

York State Department of Education and Massa- chusetts State Board of Education and achieved no little fame through this phase of her many activities.

For years she was a contributor to magazines and a correspondent of several metropolitan papers, and for a time was associate editor of one of the foremost educational periodicals. She became an eager student of history of her adopted village, Southold, and wrote many articles relating to its past. In addition, she wrote her books and, in the years when Mr. Hallock was operating "The Long Island Traveler," aided him in this work. Mr. Hallock later became town clerk of Southold and at the time of her death he was president of the Southold Savings Bank:

In her writing, Mrs. Hallock was the first trans- lator in the United States of Grimm's Fairy Tales, published by McLoughlin Brothers. Her books were "In Those Days" and "Introduction to Browning," published by Macmillan; "Southold Celebration," the story of the 275th anniversary observance of the town, published by Doubleday, Page and Company; "Les- sons on the Human Body," published by E. L. Kellogg and Company: "Some Living Things," pub- lished by A. S. Barnes; "Cabin Paradise," published by Brady-Palmer Press; "William Tell" and "Story of King Arthur," published by F. A. Gwen, and her memorial book, "Robert Browning's Star and Glad Message," published under the sponsorship of Baylor University's Department of English.

"Cabin Paradise" is an account of the building of her little cottage on the shores of Peconic Bay. The book she herself favored was "In Those Days." Of this book she said, "It was a flower offered to the memory of my mother-an effort to preserve her character, her words and the customs of her childhood.

As she traveled and learned of sorrows, she added to the many causes for which she fought unceasingly. One of these was directed at ending the injustice of those in power to the American Indian, particularly those on the Shinnecock Reservation. She had great sympathy for the sick and would often send gifts and words of cheer to invalids whom she hardly knew just because she was sure they would value expressions of sympathy from anyone.

Mrs. Hallock was a life member of the Suffolk County Historical Society, a charter member of the Home Bureau movement and a member of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution. In the 1920s she started and promoted the Little Theater movement in Southold and other Suffolk County villages as well as at the Suffolk County Fair, held in Riverhead.

"It is not too much to say that no woman in the past generation has inspired so many fine things or done more to build up social and intellectual life as may be rightly attributed to Mrs. Hallock," was one editorial comment at the time of her passing.

When she died, Mrs. Hallock left three close mem- bers of the family-the "little Ann" who was born in the rooms over the printing office, but who by 1934 was Mrs. T. Currie-Bell; Mr. Hallock; and a sister, Miss Grace Boldry-and thousands of loving citizens who still mourn her passing.

The Reverend William H. Lloyd, a friend of long standing, conducted services in the Hallock home in Southold. The Reverend Ross Linger read several Psalms and the Reverend R. H. Bird, Jr., read pas- sages of Browning which had been Mrs. Hallock's favorites. Officials of many organizations attended, as did the members of the Southold Town Board.

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LONG ISLAND - NASSAU AND SUFFOLK

Interment was in the Hallock family plot in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery.

Her many good works and her books remained as everlasting monuments to her memory.

TOM CURRIE-BELL-The eminent artist Tom Currie-Bell won high rank in European art circles before he same to the United States where, since 1929, he had a home and a studio in the Southold area of Long Island. A member of the Society of Scottish Artists and of other noted artists' groups, he studied at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, the Royal College of Art, London, England; the studios of Julian and Delacluse, Paris, France, and in Holland and Belgium. His own works were exhibited in many places, and came from the studios he maintained in Edinburgh, London, Paris, New York City, Southold, and in several of the states in the deep South.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Tom Currie-Bell was the son of John Bell and Christina Currie, members of noted Scotch families, his father being related to the poet Robert Ferguson. Among the Currie-Bell ancestors were folk who claimed the plaids of the clans Forbes, Bell, Campbell, and Currie. There were eight Bell children, and their home was a center of music, sports and sociability in Edinburgh. At an early age, Tom was playing a cornet (later on, seven other instruments), he and half his family making up a small orchestra for their own entertainment. Equal- ly keen at sports, he was an ardent player and trophy winner at tennis, golf, lawnbowling, badminton and billiards.

According to a newspaper account: "At the age of seven, he painted his first picture, for a perfectly fine Scotch reason; namely, not to waste a good frame! At the age of twelve, Kay Robertson, Edin- burgh artist, saw a painting of his, and urged his mother emphatically to send him to an art school. Therefore, after graduating from George Watson's College, he became a student for six years in the School of Art, Royal Institution, and Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; for four years at the Royal Col- lege of Art, London, gaining the degree of Art Master there; for three years in the studios of Dela- cluse and Julian, Paris; and years of study and paint- ing in Holland, Belgium and France."

Tom Currie-Bell won a Royal Exhibitionship for four years at the Royal College of Art, London, in open competition in the British Empire, first in Scotland, and third in Great Britain. National medals and kings' prizes were awarded him for painting, drawing, sculpture. He won first prize for designing in open competition throughout Great Britain, the Dewar Memorial Monument in granite and bronze which he executed, and which now belongs to the city of Edinburgh. Currie-Bell was of the chosen group to be selected as charter members of the Society of Scottish Artists, an honor society formed by a group of Royal Scottish Academicians to include artists only of highest rank as painters. He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy; Royal Academy, London; Glasgow Institute; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Greenock Art Gallery, etc.

Having painted more than four hundred portraits during his career, Mr. Currie-Bell had many portraits in Great Britain and on the continent. His "Portrait of an Algerian Man," exhibited in Munich, 1903, was bought for the National Collection by the Russian

Government. A portrait of the late President of George Watson's College, Edinburgh, Dr. William L. Carrie, hangs in that college. A few of those painted in Edinburgh are: Professor Carl Sontag of Edinburgh University; Professor Lowe Turnbull; Andrew Dunn, Bathgate Academy; Lady Craigie- Aitcheson; Lady Margaret Stuart Mackenzie; David Todd, Esq .; Judge James MacDonald, K.C .; Arbuth- not-Murray, Esq .; writer to the signet and grand scribe of the Royal Arch, Free Masons of Scotland; David Bell-Irving. Also: Angus Mathieson of Dun- vegan, Isle of Syke; Mrs. Sinclair, writer, of Agra University, India; Garnet-Botfield, Esq., mayor of Bishop's Castle, England; Sir John Sinclair, London; Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Dodds, Sydney, Australia; Miss Adele Myers, Paris; children of Major Dolglish, Biarritz, France. In this country a few of the por- traits of well-known men include Dr. John J. Tigert, president of the University of Florida; Dr. Walter L. Lingle, president of Davidson College, in North Carolina; George Armstrong, Armstrong Memorial College, Savannah, Georgia; Dr. A. B. Curry, South- western University; Judge William Hocker, a Florida Supreme Court Justice, former Governor of Florida, Francis P. Fleming and Samuel L. Parrish, donor of Southampton Art Museum. The artist's work is thus represented in different parts of the world.

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Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor Publication date: 1949 Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922