A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 98

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 98

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Almet F. Jenks, the eldest son of this gifted man, is worthily following in his footsteps. He was born at Brooklyn, May 21, 1853, and received his early educational training at Adelphi Academy. From there he passed 10 Phillips , Exeter Academy, at Andover, and completed its curriculum with all the honors. Then, being destined for a legal career, he went to Yale, where he was graduated in 1875. and closed his training by passing through Columbia Law School. He was graduated from that institution in 1877 and in the same year entered on practice in Brooklyn in part- nership with Frederick A. Ward. It was not long before it was recognized that the firm had won a large business and that many im- . portant interests were committed to its care. In 1848 Mr. Jenks accepted an appointment as

Very July

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Assistant District Attorney under James W. Ridgway, and he continued to hold that office until Feb. 1, 1886, when he was appointed Corporation Counsel by Mayor Whitney, and by successive appointment he continued to hold that important office throughout the adminis- trations of Mayors Chapin and Boody. A change in political conditions caused him to retire from public office with the accession of Mayor Schieren and Mr. Jenks devoted him- self to building up his private practice and so was engaged with eminent success when, in November, 1898, he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court from the Second Judicial District with a popular vote of 169,436, and that dignified office he continues to hold.

Justice Jenks almost from the time he at- tained his majority has been an active worker in the Democratic party and has since been prominent at many of its conventions. He has been a pronounced supporter of honest money and lent all his influence and bent all his ability and eloquence to keep that plank paramount among the issues supported by the Democrats of New York State. In 1891 Gov. Hill appointed him Judge Advocate General and that appointment was endorsed by Gov. Flower when that lamented statesman and financier became the Chief Executive of the State. Since ascending to the bench Justice Jenks has been less active as a worker in the party-his judicial position so demands-but his interest in its councils is unabated and he is still regarded as one of those quiet, deter- mined, far-seeing leaders whose advice is cer- tain to lead to good results.

For several years the late Mr. Charles J. Patterson held an honorable position in Brook- lyn as one of the leaders of the local bar. He was born in what is now the Borough of Man- hattan, May 19, 1853, and received his general education in the public schools. He entered the law office of Gen. C. W. Sanford and re- mained there until he was admitted to the bar. In 1876 he was admitted to practice at Pough- keepsie and soon after settled in Brooklyn,

where he entered upon the professional career which, slowly but steadily, has given him such an enviable position in legal circles of the old "City of Churches." Mr. Patterson devoted himself closely to his professional duties, and while he made many brilliant appearances in court, his arguments were legal ones pure and simple, and probably a case presenting sensa- tional rather than purely legal features would have been repugnant to him. He was regarded especially as an authority on the subject of torts, and many of his best earned victories were in connection with suits in which wrongs have been redressed by substantial damages. Mr. Patterson died in 1901.

Mr. James C. Church, a native of Rhode Island, has been quite prominently identified with the legal profession in Brooklyn since 1883, when he was admitted to the bar. His early years were mainly spent in New Utrecht, and he received his legal training in the office of Morris & Pearsall. His practice has been in a great measure confined to corporation work, as he is counsel for several such con- cerns and his work as an organizer has been pre-eminently successful.

Surrogate Abbott, who retired from that position on Jan. 1, 1902, as a result of a "land- slide" which in November preceding had be- fallen his ticket, is one of the most honored lawyers in Brooklyn. It was felt throughout the electoral canvass which ended in the defeat of the ticket on which his name appeared, that a mistake in the very fundamental principle of good government had been made when he was not endorsed for re-election by both parties. Throughout the whole of that heated cam- paign, not a word was said derogatory to Sur- rogate Abbott, while his eminent fitness as a judge, and his upright, dignified and thought- ful disposition of the many and often extreme- ly tangled cases which turn up in his court, were freely admitted. He had presided over the Surrogate's Court since 1888, and had earned the highest encomiums from the bar, the press and the citizens generally. He has

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now resumed private practice and will doubt- less soon build up a large clientele.

That same election placed in the important office of Comptroller of Greater New York Mr. Edward M. Grout, who had won an en- viable record as President of the Borough of Brooklyn, which office he vacated only on Jan- uary I, 1902, when he entered upon the duties of the Comptrollership, succeeding another Brooklyn man, Mr. Bird S. Coler. Mr. Grout has been a consistent Democrat all through his career, but has never wavered in upholding his theory that national and state policies should have no place in connection with municipal government. The latter, he holds, is simply a business proposition and should be adminis- tered from a business standpoint. His ideas on that and kindred subjects, as well as his independence in politics generally, have won him the confidence of his fellow citizens of the Greater City, 299,713 of whom gave him their votes at the election of November, 1901, a greater number than voted for Mayor Low, the head of the ticket. But Mr. Grout has a habit of running ahead of his associates in the various municipal contests in which he has taken part.

We have already referred to Mr. Grout's career in a previous chapter and only refer to him in this instance to emphasize his prom- inence as a member of the Brooklyn bar. In 1893 he became a partner in the firm of which Judge Gaynor was the head, and in 1894 when that gentleman took his seat on the bench, Mr. Grout became the head of the firm. His large practice soon won for him an independence, but his active mind, his sense of public duty and his ideals of citizenship, as well as the trend of most of his associates, made him be- come a prominent figure in politics. His watchword was reform, and as a reformer most of his political battles have been fought from the time that he aided so successfully in sending the Gravesend ballot-box stuffers to jail. For some years he was associated in po- litical work with Mr. Edwin M. Shepard, but

in 1895 both he and Mr. Shepard were in the race for the Mayoralty of Brooklyn, both using reform banners, and as a result the Republican candidate was elected. In 1897 he was elected President of the Borough of Brooklyn, and as such did as much good as he could. But his experiences in that office led him in 1901 to accept the candidacy of a non-political fusion movement for Comptroller, which again ar- rayed him against his old associate, Mr. Shep- ard ; and his personal popularity aided much in accomplishing the defeat of that gentleman and bringing about the accession of Seth Low to the Mayoralty of the Greater New York.

Edward M. Shepard, who in the canvass of 190I came so prominently before the citizens as the Democratic candidate for the Mayor- alty, has long been prominent in legal and public life in Brooklyn. His law practice is a large one, but it is as a public-spirited citizen that he has won the magnificent following he possesses and the large measure of confidence and popularity which he enjoys. Possibly his grandest public service has been his work as counsel to the Rapid Transit Commission. In that respect he has performed a series of im- portant labors which are hardly fully appre- ciated even by those who have watched the re- cent development of the rapid transit move- ment in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mr. Shep- ard is recognized as a man of honest pur- poses, of pure ideals and rare administrative qualities, and will undoubtedly continue to be an active factor in Brooklyn's public affairs for many years to come.

But lest it might be thought that we are "drifting into live politics," we will leave such leaders alone and turn to those whose claim to notice here is their prominence solely in con- nection with bench and bar. One of the fore- most of these is Justice E. M. Cullen, of the Supreme Court, who was born in Brooklyn in 1843. After he was graduated from the Troy Polytechnic Institute, in 1861, he became a Lieutenant in the United States Army and saw considerable active service during the Civil

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War. In 1862 he was commissioned a Colonel by Governor Morgan, and continued in the service until the close of the war. On leaving the army he followed for a while the profession of. civil engineering ; but he was at the same time devoting himself to the study of law, and under the guidance of his ncle, Judge McCue, grasped its details so thoroughly that in 1867 he was admitted to the bar and became a mem- ber of the firm of McCue, Hall & Cullen. In 1872 he was appointed Assistant District At- torney and filled that office in a manner that won him many stanch friends both in the pro- fession and among the public. In 1880 he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court. His political independence, manifested by his keep- ing the bench free from party interference, led to his being "turned down" in 1894, when he was a candidate for re-election, but the vigor- ous action of the Bar Association as well as the general sentiment of the voters led to his receiving the nomination from the party oppo- site to that which had formerly placed his name before the electors, and he was again elected. Political managers have often found out that "monkeying" with the Supreme Court is a dangerous business for them, but, unfor- tunately, they soon forget the many lessons in this connection which they have received.

Judge Willard Bartlett, who has resided in Brooklyn since 1868, was born at Uxbridge, Mass., in 1846. His father, the late William O. Bartlett, in 1859 purchased a country seat in Brookhaven township, and that property is now in possession of his son and is the subject of constant improvement. Nothing delights the Justice more than to throw away the dig- nity of the ermine and enjoy the relaxation and the health-giving properties of his now beautiful country seat "out on Long Island." Willard Bartlett studied law at Columbia Col- lege and was admitted to the bar in 1868. For a time he was associated with Elihu Root, the present United States Secretary of War, in the practice of his profession, and so continued until 1887, when he was appointed one of the justices of the Supreme Court, and that office

he still holds. He has proved an able judge, and during his long career on the bench his fairness and impartiality have never been questioned and his decisions have seldom been subject to adverse review. He is naturally of a judicial temperament and his long experi- ence, his thorough grasp of the principles of the law, his wide reading, his close observation and his good New England practical common sense all combine in giving him a "grip" on even the most involved case and a clear, em- phatic and practical decision is the invariable result.

Tunis G. Bergen, a nephew of the famous antiquarian and genealogist of Kings county who bore the same name, was born May 17, 1847. After passing through the public schools he completed his academic training, in succession, at the Brooklyn Polytechnic In- stitute and Rutgers College. Designed for the legal profession, he then attended the law school of Columbia College, and on complet- ing the course there went to Berlin and Heid- elberg for further study, and in 1871 received from Heidelberg University the degree of Doctor in Public Law. He attended lec- tures afterward at other continental colleges, notably at the famous Sorbonne, and spent some time at Oxford. Returning at length to his own country, Mr. Bergen began the task of building up a practice, and slowly, it seemed to him for a long time, but none the less sure- ly, he became the centre of a large clientele, and one that is even yet steadily growing. But in spite of the cares of his law practice Mr. Bergen has found time to perform a good- ly share of the duties which fall to the public spirited citizen. Proud of the city of his birth, proud of his Dutch ancestry, zealous of the tender memories of the old-fashioned his- toric Bergen homestead in which he first saw the light, Mr. Bergen has been most active in aiding by voice or by pen whatever seemed to him to be for the honor, the progress or the glory of the good old town. He was long an active member of the local school board, and for over four years was its president. In the

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work of the Long Island Historical Society, and especially in the capacity of one of its secretaries, he has rendered a grand service in carrying on the work so ably begun by Mur- phy, Spooner, Storrs, McCormick and others of bygone day, and thus maintaining in all its usefulness an institution which has done more for the preservation of the history of Long Island than any other single force. A stanch Republican in politics he has generally managed to win the support of independent

letters to the newspapers and other literary efforts and his manner of arresting and retain- ing the attention of the people gave him a de- gree of national prominence and made his name familiar all over the country. Mr. Ber- gen is a many-sided man, a deep and tireless- student of all things, especially delighting per- haps in historical themes, yet he has the true instincts of a sportsman, holding membership in various hunting and fishing clubs. In the Hamilton and Brooklyn clubs he is especially

Ton's Hogargoly

A.P DAVIS

OLD BERGEN HOMESTEAD.

Democrats to any cause which he espoused, and in many a contested election he has proved himself a power in the art of winning votes, winning votes, that is to say, as they should be won, by explanation and argument. He rare- ly wastes words in his speeches, is epigram- matic rather than florid, but every successive point tells. Not long ago he was foremost in an effort to arouse the sympathy of the people of this country toward the Boers in South Af- rica in their great struggle to retain their po- litical freedom, their country's independence, and while so engaged his ringing appeals, his

interested and is held in the highest personal" esteem in these institutions, and indeed in every circle, business, social or political, in which he moves.

General Horatio C. King, who has long been prominent as a soldier, lawyer, jour- nalist and statesman, and won a national reputation, comes of most distinguished an- cestry. His great-grandfather, George King, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and his father, Horatio, was postmaster-general of the United States in 1861. Horatio C. King was born at Dickland, Me., December.

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22, 1837, and after the usual course of study was admitted to the New York bar in 1861. The crisis between the States was then on and the young lawyer, like so many thousands of the men of the time in the first flush of young manhood, thought his first duty was to aid in maintaining the supremacy of the flag. so he volunteered for duty and was actively en- gaged "at the front" from August, 1862, until October, 1865, when he was honorably dis- charged with the brevet rank of colonel for his brilliant service and his bravery in the field. Then he returned to New York and devoted himself to the building up of a law practice. His tastes gradually led him into the jour- nalistic field, and by 1870 he was more widely known perhaps as a newspaper man and all- around author than as a lawyer. For a time he edited the "New York Star," and after- ward managed the "Christian Union" in such a way as to win the heartiest commendation of Henry Ward Beecher. His entire relations with that gifted man were of the pleasantest and closest nature. He stood by Mr. Beecher with unwavering fidelity throughout the great crisis in his personal career, and was promi- nently identified with the management of Plymouth church during the latter days of the great preacher. In quitting journalism and resuming his law practice, General King seemed to become a more active factor than ever in political affairs, and in the councils of his party in the state of New York, and every movement that tended to promote the cause of good government found in him an earnest, devoted supporter. As a platform orator dur- ing a political contest he often appeared at his best as a public speaker and he was ever ready to discuss the affairs of the nation and the state, and to discuss them with a full knowledge and a flow of argument based on reading and experience, such as few could equal. In the canvass which ended in the election of Mayor Cleveland, of Buffalo, to the governorship of New York, General King took a most active part, and it is said to be due to his active influence that Mr. Beecher, a Re-

publican in politics, threw his party aside and came out for Mr. Cleveland at a critical point in that statesman's campaign for the Presi- dency. Governor Cleveland appointed Gen- eral King Judge Advocate General in 1883 and he continued to hold the office under Governor Hill. Upon returning to private life General King resumed his law practice and since con- tinued in it with occasional flights into the literary or journalistic field. He has won a high reputation as a military lawyer and his "Guide to Regimental Courts-Martial," issued in 1882, is still regarded as a standard work on the subject. In Grand Army circles he is very popular and for two years he served as commander of Charles R. Doane Post, No. 499, of which he was one of the charter mem- bers. He enjoys in a high measure the per- sonal regard of his fellow citizens, and wher- ever he goes is always certain of a loyal and hearty welcome.

Another prominent adherent of the Demo- cratic party in Kings is William C. De Witt, who for thirteen years held the important of- fice of corporation counsel, and in late years has been conspicuous in the work attending the consolidation of the two cities. He is de- scended from Tjerck Clausen De Witt, who left Holland in 1657 and founded a family which gave to the country, among many other distinguished citizens, Charles De Witt, a member of the first Continental Congress, and De Witt Clinton, the greatest of all the gov- ernors of New York. William C. De Witt was born at Paterson, New Jersey, in 1840, but has resided in Brooklyn since he was five years of age. He was admitted to the bar in 1861, and since then has built up a large and lucrative practice in spite of the time he has devoted to politics and the demands of his party. In the cause of good municipal gov- ernment he has been an active, and what is better, a practical worker, and his efforts wont him the hearty support of a majority of the citizens of Brooklyn, regardless of party in- fluences. He was elected corporation counsel of Brooklyn in 1869, and by continued re-

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election served until 1882, when he retired to attend to the increasing demands of his pri- vate practice, now one of the most extensive in Brooklyn. Devoted to the law, a close and painstaking student of all its phases past and present, its procedures, rules, decisions and provisions, he has found time to study litera- ture in general from the standpoint of a stu- dent of letters and in the works of the classic writers of English and American literature has found a world of pleasure and of solace quite different from that other and rather common- place world in which a busy public man of the present day "lives, moves and has his being," as the popular saying goes. His own orations and public utterances, even his addresses in court, have always been models of good nerv- ous English, and the frequent and apt quota- tions which sometimes illustrated a point, seemed always to come from a storehouse filled with such aids to argument. In 1881 he published a volume in which, under the gen- eral title of "Driftwood," he printed several of his orations and contributions to magazine literature, and the book is at once an evidence to his literary taste and critical judgment. But Mr. De Witt is first, last and all the time a lawyer, and it is in that field that his most active work has been done, the work which has won for him the prominent position he oc- cupies in Brooklyn-in the Greater New York in fact, for consolidation has made his name equally familiar on both sides of the East River.

We may now speak of a lawyer who is not a representative of the bench, but simply of the bar. Mr. W. B. Davenport claims descent from John Davenport, who founded the New Haven colony in 1638, and from Thomas Ben- edict, a member of the first English Colonial Assembly in New York. He was born in New

York City in 1845, but has been a member of the Brooklyn bar since 1870. In 1889 he was elected public administrator of Kings County. That is the only public office he has ever held, for the extent of his private business has fully monopolized his time. In connection with cor- poration matters and the administration of es- tates he enjoys a large practice, while his per- sonal popularity and social instincts are shown by the fact that he has held the office of Presi- dent of the New England Society in Brook- lyn and is a member of the Sons of the Revo- lution, the Society of Colonial Wars and sev- eral such organizations as the Hamilton, Cres- cent and Athletic Clubs. He is also a Trustee of the Polhemus Memorial Clinic, of the Brook- lyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and a nuni- ber of other public and business organizations.

But we must now draw this chapter to a close, for our purpose has been fully gained of presenting in the pages preceding a few repre- sentative types of the bench and bar, showing its high standing in its own community and its wealth of material in the olden time as well as in the days now passing. The list might be extended easily so as to fill two or three goodly volumes. We might mention such present-day leaders as Judge Hand, Judge Aspinall, Messrs. E. B. Thomas, James Troy, George H. Fisher, A. E. Lamb, H. C. M. Ingraham, A. G. McDonald, J. A. Burr, John A. Taylor, A. E. Mudge, R. P. Chittenden, T. H. Field, Jesse Johnston and Herbert T. Ketchum, and by recalling their struggles and their exploits and achievements prove that the bench and bar of the Brooklyn of to-day are equal in in- tellectual capacity and legal scholarship with any of those groups whose members were re- garded as giants in the days that are gone. But such a theme really should form a special study.

CHAPTER LIV.

FREEMASONRY ON LONG ISLAND.

SOCIAL-TINY BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT INSTITUTION-SKETCHES OF REPRESENTATIVE EARLY LODGES-SOME DISTINGUISHED LONG ISLAND CRAFTSMEN.

S might readily be supposed, Brook- lyn is a city of societies of all sorts-secret, fraternal, political, sporting, dramatic and fashion- able. Most of its organizations are popular, that is to say, their membership is practically open to all who apply and who have the req- uisite qualifications as to taste, acquaintance, reputation and the wherewithal to pay the en- trance fee and the annual dues. Some on the other hand are as exclusive as can be imag- ined, and it would seem the more exclusive a certain club or society may be the larger is its waiting list. In the long list of Brooklyn clubs and societies nearly every taste seems to be catered to, every nationality has its circle, every trade and profession has its social home, and every recreation its temple. Even the ladies have their chosen societies and the num- ber of those open equally to both sexes-not- ably the dramatic and singing societies-run into the hundreds.

The time indeed was when the people on almost each block in Brooklyn formed prac- tically a little social organization among them- selves. That was in the days prior to the ad- vent of the tenement or apartment house and the appearance of the trolley. In the pleasant summer afternoons people would gather on the stoops and verandahs in front of their homes and receive the visits of their neigh- bors, while the ladies would ramble from one

home to another and indulge in their dearly loved and kindly gossip. Each block had its own passing affairs to discuss and business to regulate, and it was done in a pleasant, neigh- borly fashion as the evening hours slipped away. The children played in the streets right under the eyes of their elders, and with- out any of the modern dread which the bi- cycle, the trolley and the automobile have in- spired, and the adult male population dis- cussed the latest turn in politics or canvassed the most recent news. Each household seemed to unite for the time being into but one fam- ily, having the same interests, the same anxie- ties, the same ideas of hospitality and amuse- ment. So it went on, night after night, dur- ing the spring and summer, and when winter came each house in turn held sweet converse with its neighbors, unless, indeed, when a sleighing excursion carried practically the whole adult and active population on a wild and health-giving rush along one of the old plank roads. All this is now a thing of the past. We are not so friendly with our neigh- bors as we were wont to be, for the influx of population is steady and changes are contin- ual. But Brooklyn is still a city of social in- stincts, and instead of holding forth on a stoop, we now spend our evenings in our clubs and there seek that solace, that kindred associa- tion, that inspiration from congenial souls which tends so effectually to lighten the bur-

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 98

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188