USA > New York > Westchester County > Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, Volume I > Part 37
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of the most attractive and picturesque residences along the Hudson, the quaint old buildings being surrounded by native forest trees, and the art of the land- scape gardener supplementing the beauties of nature.
No man has done more for the improvement of this section of Yonkers than Mr. Harriman. In connection with his partner he donated the ground and built, at a cost of sixty-five hundred dollars, the neat and substantial Harriman station on the New York Central Railroad, at the suburb which bears the name of its founder. The station is conveniently located in the town, and an electric street car line also affords good transportation. The suburb is supplied with its own sewerage system and water-works, the latter consisting of a spring and pump so arranged as to afford an abundant supply of the purest water at all times. The spring is fed by other deep-seated springs from two to three hundred feet away, and by a series of tunnels, large enough for a man to enter, their water is carried into the main reservoir or spring, which is connected with the pump and which is cut out of solid rock. It is twenty feet below the surface and is reached by a winding stairway. There is found a never-failing supply of the clearest and most sparkling water, pronounced by the state board of health to be absolutely pure. Mr. Harri- mon has sold a large number of fine lots and residences, including the homes of Judge William C. Kellogg, William M. Warner, Samuel Sutton, Carroll Moore and Mrs. George B. Dowling, and now has in course of construction three fine residences with stone trimmings built after the most approved architectural designs, and costing in the aggregate thirty-five thousand dollars.
In 1853 Mr. Harriman was united in marriage to Miss Sarah F. Sherman, daughter of John and Sarah Sherman, and they have had ten children: Will- iam, who has been connected with the City Bank of Wall street for twenty years, and resides in New York city; Charles, who died at the age of forty- three years; Ella, wife of Mr. Sutton, who is engaged in the hosiery business in New York city; Anna, wife of Carroll Moore, who is connected with Cox Brothers & Company, coal dealers of New York city; George, superintendent of Mount Hope cemetery, of Yonkers; Frank, deceased, and four who died in infancy.
For six years Mr. Harriman served as a member of the Twelfth Regi- ment of New York militia. He believes in the principles of the Democratic party, and usually votes that ticket, but is not strongly partisan, and fre- quently supports the men whom he thinks best qualified for office regardless of party affiliations. He served as trustee of the village of Irvington-on-the Hudson, but has never sought nor desired political preferment. Very promi- nent in commercial circles, he has known many eminent men in his day. He enjoyed the friendship of Moses Taylor, the celebrated New York banker,
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was personally acquainted with Professor Morse, the inventor of the tele- graph, and still has in his possession an invitation to the banquet given by Cyrus W. Field upon the successful laying of the Atlantic cable. He was at one time the owner of a celebrated pair of coal-black horses, formerly owned by Washington Irving, and referred to in one of his works as " John and Harry." They were kept by Mr. Harriman until they died, at the ages of thirty-four and thirty-five years, when they were buried side by side with due ceremony. Mr. Harriman has passed the psalmist's span of three-score years and ten, yet is still a busy man, actively concerned in the affairs of life. He has amassed an ample fortune through his own well directed efforts. A man of keen discrimination, of sound judgment, of marked sagacity, and unabating energy, he has overcome many obstacles, planned business inter- ests of great magnitude and carried them forward to a successful completion. His business methods have ever been above question, his reputation unassail- able, and in commercial circles he occupies an honorable and enviable position.
SAMUEL J. JOHNSON, M. D.
A man's reputation is the property of the world.' The laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being submits to the controlling in- fluence of others, or as a master wields a power for good or evil on the masses of mankind. There can be no impropriety in justly scanning the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business relations. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his fame and point the path along which others may follow. Dr. Johnson is one who manifests in the control of extensive business interests, marked executive ability, keen discrimination, unfaltering resolution and in- domitable energy, and his efforts have therefore been crowned with a marked degree of success. He is numbered among the most progressive and public- spirited citizens of Mount Vernon, and his labors have been very effective in advancing the interest of the city and promoting the general welfare. Relia- ble in business and loyal in citizenship, he commands the respect and confi- dence of all with whom he has been brought in contact, and Westchester county numbers him among her valued representatives.
Dr. Johnson was born in New York city, May II, 1851, his parents being William and Elizabeth (Streight) Johnson. His grandfather, John Johnson, was born in the Shetland islands and, removing thence to Dublin, Ireland, made his home in that city for a number of years, where he was a municipal officer during the greater part of his life. Socially he was con- nected with the Masonic fraternity, in which he attained the Knights Tem- plar degree. His wife was a daughter of an Episcopal clergyman. Their
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son, William Johnson, father of the Doctor, was born in 1819, and in 1848 came from England to America, locating in New York city, where he em- barked in the marble business. During the '5os he resided in New York, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, but continued to be engaged in the marble busi- ness in the metropolis until 1867, when he turned his attention to the laundry business, which he successfully followed until 1877. Since that time he has lived retired, making his home with the Doctor, and for the past eleven years their home has been in Mount Vernon. He is a member of the Hicksite branch of the Society of Friends, attending the meetings at Rutherford park, New York city. Strongly opposed to the institution of slavery, he was a stanch Abolitionist in ante-bellum days, did all in his power to advance the cause of freedom, and his home was a station on the famous " underground railroad," whereby many a poor negro was assisted on his way to Canada, where liberty awaited him. He is now living a quiet life in Mount Vernon, having reached the age of eighty years. He married Elizabeth Streight, a daughter of Samuel Streight, a Presbyterian elder, who spent his early man- hood in England, but afterward removed to Ireland, where his last days were passed. One of his sons, Colonel Samuel Streight, an officer in the Union army during the civil war, was taken prisoner in the Virginia campaign, con- fined in Libby prison, and was one of the one hundred men who effected their escape by excavating a tunnel under the walls and grounds. To William and Elizabeth (Streight) Johnson were born five children, three sons and two daughters: Elizabeth, who died in childhood; Samuel J .; Elizabeth, who was born in 1853; Emily, born in 1855; and William, who was born in 1860 and died in 1863. The mother of this family died in 1893, at the age of sixty-seven years.
In the public schools of New York city Dr. Johnson acquired his pre- liminary education, which was supplemented by a course in the Friends' Seminary. He determined to make the practice of medicine his life work, and began the course while working in his father's office. After eighteen months of study financial disaster menaced his father's affairs and compelled young Johnson to relinquish for a while his professional pursuits and to devote his energies toward attaining a means of livelihood more immediately remu- nerative than medicine. The manufacture of sewing machines and hardware for a number of years demanded his utmost efforts in the struggle for exist- ence, during which period his hope of eventually finding opportunity to resume medical study and become a member of his chosen profession never became extinguished. Business anxieties, domestic responsibilities, and the multiplied cares and occupations of a man of active mercantile and public life were, however, insufficient to prevent him from finally graduating from the Bellevue Medical College.
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He is a member of the New York Medical Association, Mount Vernon Medical Society and one of the board of managers of the Mount Vernon Hospital.
Doctor Johnson has been and is actively identified with other interests of the city in which he makes his home; is a member of the Board of Trade; trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association; associate member of Farnsworth Post, No. 170, G. A. R .; and a Freemason of advanced degree.
In politics the Doctor has always been a stanch Republican, was presi- dent of the Fifth Ward Republican Club, of Mount Vernon, for a number of years and has done all in his power to promote the growth and insure the suc- cess of his party. He was elected one of the first aldermen who served under the new city organization of Mount Vernon, and exercised his official preroga- tives to promote the welfare of the city and advance its material prosperity. Like his father, he is a member of the Society of Friends, and contributes liberally to its support.
On the 27th of June, 1880, Dr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Emma, daughter of Frederick Wasohausen, of New York city, and they now have five children: William F., born May 18, 1881; Samuel M., born Jan- uary, 1884; Louise M., born in 1887; Ida F., born April 4, 1891 ; and Dorothea, born February 7, 1898. The family is one of prominence in the community, and the Doctor and his wife hold an enviable position in social circles in Mount Vernon. Although in commercial life from the stress of circumstances and not from choice, he has nevertheless met marked success therein and has been a leader in thought and action in the public life of Mount Vernon through- out his residence here. He inspires personal friendships of unusual strength, and all who know him have the highest admiration for his good qualities of heart and mind.
L. HARVEY CRISFIELD.
A prominent citizen of Yonkers is L. Harvey Crisfield, who is a de- scendant of one of the original settlers on the site of this place, and now, after the lapse of more than a century and a quarter from the date of his fore- father's locating here, is living on the old homestead. Changes innumerable have come to pass in this long period of time, but the river and country have the same unfading charm for this generation that they possessed for those who entered this silent land many decades ago.
The Crisfield family lived in county Kent, England, and in days more or less remote had a coat-of-arms. John, the paternal grandfather of L. H. Crisfield, died in Kent, when about forty years of age. His children were: John; Telbrook W., who continued to reside in Kent until his death; George, Edward and Eliza. Edward Crisfield, the father of our subject, came to
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the United States from England, when he was a young man, and settled in Yonkers, where his elder brother John had previously located. For years he owned a stall in the old Washington Market, in New York city, and en- joyed an extensive business, and later he opened a large market on River- dale avenue, Yonkers. At length he retired, having made a competency. He died October 2, 1878, aged about sixty-seven years, as his birth had occurred November 5, 1811.
For a wife Edward Crisfield had chosen Mary Post, who was born Feb- ruary 2, 1816, and who survived him, dying in April, 1891. They had three children: Lemuel Harvey, subject of this review; Mary Frances, who is the widow of Jacob Wood, and is a resident of Nyack, New York; and Emma, wife of Wesley Randall, formerly of the navy and now superintendent of the Empire Building, in New York city. Mrs. Crisfield's grandfather, Isaac Post, was born January 2, 1742, and at an early day he purchased two hun- dred acres of land in Ludlow or South Yonkers. He erected a residence on the spot where Ludlow station, of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, now stands. He was a prosperous farmer and kept slaves. He remembered distinctly the fact that General Washington had called at his father's house when he (Isaac Post) was a small boy. He departed this life at the advanced age of ninety-one years. He married Mary Lawrence, who was born in 1741, and one of their eight children was Samuel, born Febru- ary 14, 1771, in the old stone mansion which had been built by the father. Samuel Post, father of Mrs. Chrisfield, received forty acres of the old home- stead. For many years prior to his death, at ninety-two years, he was blind. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and in his political faith he was a Democrat. He married Anna Mary Post, whose people were residents of New Jersey, their union being solemnized August 25, 1806. Of their four children, Rebecca became the wife of John Parkinson, and lived at Campbell Hall, in Orange county, New York, until her death, when in her seventy-fourth year; Adaline, born January 19, 1809, married Stephen Guyon, a farmer in the town of Greenburg, this county, and died in 1897.
L. Harvey Crisfield was born in Yonkers, April 30, 1859, and attended the public schools here until he was fourteen years of age. Twenty-one years ago he entered upon his long and faithful service with the Otis Elevator Works. June 22, 1878, he began his apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, after which he spent eight years in the electrical department. In 1886, he was made superintendent of the construction of elevators in buildings in New York city, with his office at No. 38 Park Row, and since that time he has fitted up some of the finest and costliest of the "sky-scrapers " and public buildings here, as well as many private mansions, among the latter being those of the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, the Sloans, and other wealthy per-
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sons. For five years he was absent in various parts, in the interests of the company, putting in electrical-elevator appliances, and to him was given charge of their electrical exhibits at the World's Fair, in Chicago, and the Atlanta Exposition.
The beautiful home of Mr. Crisfield, at 366 Riverdale avenue, Yonkers, is the old French-roofed mansion which belonged to his father. He was married June 6, 1882, to Miss Fannie, daughter of Chauncey Hulse, a car- penter of this city, and three children grace their union, namely: Edith, Mabel and Harvey.
Fraternally Mr. Crisfield is a member of Rising Star Lodge, No. 450, Free and Accepted Masons; Yonkers Lodge, No. 232, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and Yonkers Council, Royal Arcanum. For three years he served as a member of the Yonkers Hose Company, in the fire department, and for five years he belonged to Company D, Sixteenth Battalion. For- merly connected with the Fourth Separate Company, and for some time a corporal in the same, he is now a member of the veteran association. By energy and the exercise of all the qualities which are necessary to the suc- cessful business man, he has made an enviable position and name in the com- mercial world, and is honored by all who know him.
EDWARD B. LONG.
For more than a quarter of a century, Edward B. Long, the editor and proprietor of the Westchester News, the leading Republican journal of the county, is a conspicuous figure in the public life of White Plains, and has exerted strong influence in support of progress and improvement in the county seat. He was born in Jamesburg, New Jersey, May 22, 1841, and was there reared to manhood, his education privileges being limited to those afforded by the common schools. When the war cloud burst upon the country he was just approaching manhood, and at the call for volunteers to aid in suppressing the rebellion in the south he was not slow to offer his services, enlisting with the " boys in blue" of Company G, First Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, for three years. He participated in the first battle of Bull Run, and afterward served in the Army of the Potomac, in Kearney's brigade of the Sixth Army Corps, winning a most honorable war record. He gallantly followed the old flag on many a southern battle-field, taking part in the engagements at Bull Run, Yorktown, Richmond (the seven days' fight in the vicinity), second Bull Run, Antietam, Cold Harbor and the Wilderness.
After the war Mr. Long became a resident of White Plains, Westchester county, and has since been prominently identified with many of its leading,
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interests. He publishes the best Republican paper in the county, a bright and readable sheet, through whose columns he has labored most earnestly to advance the social, moral, educational and material interests of the town. He has also been prominent in many other lines. A veteran of the war which preserved the Union intact, he naturally took a deep interest in the mil- itary organization whose object is to perpetuate the comradeship of the "boys iu blue," and was instrumental in organizing Cromwell Post, No. 466, G. A. R., of which he has been the honored and efficient commander for the past fourteen years. He has also been a member of the Masonic Lodge of White Plains for thirty-two years, and for two terms was its master.
His fellow citizens, appreciating his worth and ability, have frequently called him to public office, and in 1882 he was the Republican nominee for congress, but with others of the party he met defeat. He served as justice of the peace for sixteen years, discharging his duties without fear or favor. He was a trustee of the Union Free School for twenty-five years and is at present a member of the board of education and president pro tem. For eleven years he was a village trustee, and president pro tem nearly all the time. He has been prominently mentioned for several county offices, but was never a candidate before the people except as above mentioned, when he was candidate for congress. In 1885 he was instrumental in organizing the Westchester County Agricultural and Horticultural Society, of which he is now secretary, and which holds annual fairs, thereby giving an additional incentive to the farmers and fruit-growers of the community to produce the best results in this line. He is himself the owner of the Harlem Valley Stock Farm, on which he has over one hundred head of fine horses.
In 1867 Mr. Long was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Thiell, daughter of John and Sarah Thiell, of White Plains. By this union have been born nine children, as follows: George T., Jessie, Sadie, Carrie, Charles E., Mollie, Helen, Kate, who died in infancy, and Edward B. In their religious views the parents are Methodists, holding their membership in the church of that denomination in White Plains.
THE RITTER FAMILY.
The Ritter family, of New York city and Westchester county, are of German and English descent. On one side they can trace their ancestry back to a chivalrous knight of the latter part of the fifteenth and the begin- ing of the sixteenth centuries, Johann Petrus Ritter, who resided in the town of Spahnheimerthal, Germany. During the Reformation he became a con- vert to the doctrines of Martin Luther, and his descendants were Lutherans on their first coming to America. 21
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As the family record is of a fragmentary character until the latter part of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, we will pass on to that period when a first careful genealogy was preserved from genera- tion to generation. The following chronicle, transcribed from the family Bible, printed in Germany, in 1722, contains a curious and interesting sketch of the Ritters, from their first arrival in this country until the beginning of the present century.
"Herewith, I would briefly state how long we were on our passage from home. We left Germany on the 4th day of June, 1739, and arrived at Amsterdam on the 27th. Ten days after, we proceeded on to Dover, in England, where we remained four weeks, and on the 25th of August we set sail for New York, where we arrived the 7th day of October, 1739. The day being Sunday, we landed at Kipp's Bay, and performed Divine Service on a large rock at Kipp's Bay. Were Lutherans."
"The following record, taken from my great-grandfather's book," writes a later chronicler in the same Bible, "contains further particulars of my ancestors. My great-great-grandmother, Ann Catherine, died January 27th, 1717. She was born and married in Spahnheimerthal. Her son, John Peter Ritter, my great-grandfather, was born in Germany, October 9, 1698, and was wedded to Maria Elizabeth Fox, on the 9th of June 1722. Their issue were John Frederick Ritter, my great-uncle, born 28th of April, 1723, about one o'clock in the day-sun in Sagittarius, or Archer; Catharine Eliza- beth Ritter, born February 18, 1728,-Eunice Virgo, or Virgin; Peter Ritter, born 24th September, 1728, died on the 8th and was buried on the 9th of February, 1729; Maria Christiana Ritter, born February 18, 1730, at six o'clock in the evening, -sun in Pisces, or Fishes, -married to Samuel Magee; John Henry Ritter, born July 20, 1732, at twelve o'clock noon, -sun in Can- cer, or Crab, -was baptized on July 25th.
" In the Revolutionary war he adhered to the crown, and when peace was declared he removed to the British Dominions, -first to Nassau and New Providence, and later to the Bahama islands, where he died, leaving three children.
" Other children by this marriage were John Michael Ritter, my grand- father, born September 5, 1734, about eleven o'clock at night, -sun in Sag- ittarius, or Archer. On the eighth day following he was baptized, and died November 1, 1799, aged sixty-five years. John Ritter, another son, was born March 3, 1737,-sun in Aries, or Ram, -at three o'clock in the morning. He died March 4, 1810, at seven o'clock in the morning, in his handsome residence on Pearl street, New York, leaving one daughter, named Betsey, as his heir. John William Ritter was born July 12, 1741, at four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the sponsors at his baptism was William Rhinelander,
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the other Maria Margaret, his wife. Ann Elizabeth Ritter was born July 14, 1744, at ten o'clock in the morning, and Philip Jacob Rhinelander and his wife, Ann Elizabeth, stood sponsor at her baptism, at New Rochelle, on the same day. John Peter Ritter, my great-uncle, was born on the 5th of Janu- ary, 1747, at one o'clock in the morning, -sun in Aries or Ram. He died in his residence on Greenwich street, New York, on the 22d of August, 1813."
John Michael Ritter, the great-grandfather of the present generation, was married to Margaret Bant, October 10, 1757. Their issue were; Peter Rit- ter, born August 6, 1758; Daniel Ritter, born September 16, 1760; Michael Ritter, born August 10, 1763; Henry Ritter, born October 30, 1768; Richard Ritter, born November 5, 1770; Frederick Ritter, born February 21, 1774; and John Ritter, born October 8, 1776.
Of this generation, Peter Ritter married Lucretia Dash, daughter of John Bowie Dash, and upon her death married Catharine Post, daughter of John Post. He resided in an elegant mansion, on Broadway, facing the Bowling Green, and took a prominent part in the public affairs of his time. He was an influential member of the common council of the city, and his name is inscribed upon the corner-stone of the old city hall. Lavish in his hospitality, he was also generous in his charity, being one of the founders of the Society of the New York Hospital. He died on the 16th of May, 1811.
Daniel Ritter married Elizabeth Hoagland, and died January 19, 1825. Michael Ritter married Sallie Combs, and died May 25, 1804, leaving an only daughter, Esther.
Henry Ritter married Eliza Backus, of Woodbury, Connecticut, Feb- ruary 5, 1897. The ceremony took place in the Protestant Episcopal church at Athens, New York, where he was then living. In 1813 he returned to New York city, where he resided in what was then known as "Greenwich Village," until the day of his death, April 28, 1847.
The issue of Henry Ritter and Eliza Backus was: Frederick William Ritter, born September 30, 1797; Julia Margaret Ritter, born September 28, 1799; Julia Catherine Ritter, born March 28, 1802; Philip Henry Rit- ter, born August 2, 1804; Eliza Ritter, born September 7, 1806; Emeline Lucretia Ritter, born January 9, 1809; Charlotte Matilda Ritter, born July 16, 1812; Richard Edward Ritter, born July 16, 1815; and John Peter Rit- ter, born January 14, 1822.
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