USA > New York > Westchester County > Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, Volume II > Part 21
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When the English yarn-printing machines accompanying the looms were found unsatisfactory, Mr. Skinner designed a new machine as much superior to the old one as the new loom was to the imported loom. The printing machines from England were broken up.
In 1874 he received from A. T. Stewart & Company an offer of a much larger salary than he was receiving from the Smith Company, to enter their service and take supervision of the mechanical department of the various fact- ories which they controlled. After careful consideration he decided to remain in Yonkers, and made an engagement with Mr. Smith for a term of years. Immediately after the engagement Mr. Smith broached to him the subject of getting up a power loom for weaving moquette carpets. Mr. Skinner gave his attention to the matter and made some experiments, but as much of his time was taken up with planning buildings and other matters, it was sev- eral years before much progress was made. In 1877 a patent was obtained and half a dozen looms were built. Two of these were sent to England and France, where several concerns were licensed to build and operate looms under the patents which had been obtained in those countries, and he spent a number of months there attending to the construction and starting of them. In 1879 forty looms were built and put in operation by the Smith Company. From that time the manufacture of moquette carpets increased as experience and skill were acquired in operating the looms, and various improvements in details were made, until one operator attending two looms can weave from twenty-five to thirty times as much in a given time as could be woven by one working by the best methods known previous to the invention of the moquette power-loom. These and other very important inventions did not engross all Mr. Skinner's attention. Much of his time was occupied in oversight of the general mechanical work of the large factory, and in planning and superin- tending the construction of the new buildings which the expanding business required. Having reserved the right to use in looms for weaving body-Brussels carpets the improvements which he had made in tapestry looms, Mr. Skinner, in 1881, designed for the Bigelow Carpet Company, of Clinton, Massachusetts, a loom for weaving that class of goods. He prepared working drawings, and. a loom was built at the works of the company, which proved so successful that all the looms put in operation after that time were constructed after his plans in preference to those previously designed by Mr. E. B. Bigelow, the original inventor of the power looms for weaving body-Brussels carpets. Mr. Skinner's rights in the subjoined list of patents were assigned to Mr. Alexan- der Smith, or to the Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Company:
I. Axminster loom; 2, Improvements on Axminster loom; 3, Improve- ments on ingrain loom; 4, Improved tapestry loom; 5, moquette loom; 6, Improvements on moquette loom; 7, moquette fabric (4 shot); 8, moquette:
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fabric (3 shot and 2 shot); 9, improved chenille carpet loom; 10, chenille (or "fur ") loom.
When Mr. Skinner began working for Mr. Alexander Smith, in 1849, the establishment consisted of one small wooden building, containing nine- teen hand-looms for weaving ingrain carpet. The looms were not then in operation, but when in full work would turn out about one hundred and sev- enty-five yards per day, making about a wagon load to be sent to New York each week. The looms were all in use in the spring of 1850, when the new method of dyeing had proved a success. When Mr. Skinner left, in 1889, after a service of forty years, there was a series of large brick buildings, with floor room to the extent of about three acres, all of which had been planned by Mr. Skinner and erected under his supervision. These buildings contained at that date nearly eight hundred power-looms, the more important and valu- able of which Mr. Skinner had invented and designed, and the remainder of which he had so greatly improved that the production of each one of them equaled that of two of those used previous to his improvements. About thirty-five hundred operatives were employed in the various departments, and the actual production of all kinds reached 9,217,000 yards per year. In 1892, three years later, the production had increased to 40,000 yards per day, of which 15,000 yards were moquette, amounting to 4, 500,000 yards per year of that kind of carpet. In 1895 the number of looms of all kinds had reached 930.
To show more fully the importance and value of the invention of the moquette loom, it may be said that the production above mentioned (15,000 yards per day) would yield to the owners of the patents a royalty of twenty cents per yard, amounting to nine hundred thousand dollars for the year, besides a still larger amount in profits to the manufacturer. In addition to this, the Hartford Carpet Company, in this country, and several companies in England and France, were paying large amounts in royalties. The most important result of the inventions of the moquette loom and auxiliary machinery for preparing the materials is the reduction in the price of this very desirable style of carpet from three or three and a half dollars per yard to considerably less than one dollar, thus bringing it within the reach of all who care to have a carpet of any kind. This difference in price, taking the quality produced by the Smith Company alone (say 15,000 yards per day), represents a saving to the consumer of nearly twelve million dollars a year. The quantity produced by other companies would greatly increase this amount. Notwithstanding the small cost of manufacturing this fabric, which was never produced in this country before the invention of the loom, the daily wages of the operatives are more than double those of the workers under former methods. These statements help one to realize what Mr. Skinner has done
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for Yonkers and for the country. Since leaving the Smith Carpet Company, he has been engaged a considerable part of his time in designing and con- structing a new moquette loom, which has shown a capacity for greatly in- creased production and greater economy of material. Having no interest in the royalties or profits derived from his former patents, he is at the pres- ent time, at the age of seventy-two years, with the co-operation of a few friends, making preparations for manufacturing carpets in the mill near Nep- perhan avenue, and at the east end of the Glen.
Mr. Halcyon Skinner's two sons are both inventors. In 1879 Charles E. Skinner, who had worked with his father in constructing and putting in operation the Axminster loom, and afterward on the moquette loom, studied out some devices by which he thought moquette goods could be woven in a way different from that in which the original loom operated. Not being a practical weaver, he associated with himself Mr. Eugene Tymeson, who had started many of the moquette looms at the Smith works, and was an expert at that work. An experimental loom was built which gave good results, and a patent was obtained. Arrangements were made by which the patent, with several others afterward obtained, were transferred to the Smith Moquette Loom Company, for the consideration of one hundred thousand dollars in stock. Unfortunately for him the company did not prove a success and the stock proved to be of no value, the property being transferred to the Alex- ander Smith & Sons Carpet Company. His improvements were not put in operation as a whole, but some of them were applied to the original mo- quette loom, with the result of a considerable increase in production.
About 1881 Mr. Halcyon Skinner's second son, Albert L. Skinner, who had been working for several years in the machine shop connected with the Smith Works, a considerable part of the time on looms, thought he could do something in the way of inventing a moquette loom. His ideas were quite novel and gave promise of good results if properly carried out. He made drawings of some devices embodying his ideas, and obtained a patent for the same. He made arrangements with the Bigelow Carpet Company, of Clinton, Massachusetts, and built a loom, which was put in operation at their works. It proved very successful, and a large number of the looms were built and have been profitably operated by the company ever since.
ROBERT A. REYNOLDS.
Bedford township, Westchester county, New York, includes among its intelligent and prosperous citizens the subject of this sketch, Robert A. Reynolds, whose post-office address is Katonah. He was born at the old Reynolds homestead, where he now resides, July 26, 1844.
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As far back at the Reynolds family can trace their history they have been New Yorkers. The grandparents of Robert A. were Joseph and Anna (Fuller) Reynolds, and their family was composed of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, of whom the eldest, Lewis, died in March, 1898, at the age of eighty-six years. The others in order of birth were named as follows: Aniza, Horace, Mary Ann, John L., William, Phoebe Jane, Joseph E., Sarah E. and Hiram B .; and of these Aniza, William and Joseph E. are deceased. Their son John L., who was the father of Robert A., was born August 30, 1819, in Bedford township, Westchester county. To him and his wife were born nine children, of whom the following are still living: W. Henry, Frances Totton, Robert A., Abigail, Cassius J., John S. and George McClellan.
Robert A. Reynolds was reared on his father's farm and has always made his home on it with the exception of the three years he spent in the army. Soon after the civil war was inaugurated his youthful ambition and his strong patriotism led him to offer his services to the union, and as a member of the Fourth New York Heavy Artillery he went to the front. He was in the battle of Petersburg, after being with Grant in the Wilderness and around Spottsylvania Court House. Returning honie October 20, 1864, at the close of three years' service, he resumed work on the farm, and has been engaged in agricultural pursuits ever since.
Politically, Mr. Reynolds support the man he deems best fitted for the office rather than holding strictly to party lines, and is what is termed an independent. Socially, he is identified with McKeel Post, No. 120, G. A. R. Mrs. Reynolds is a member of the Presbyterian church.
HENRY G. V. DEHART, M. D.
For a period of twenty-five years, Dr. DeHart has been identified with the medical profession of Westchester county, New York, and since 1888 has resided at White Plains. Dr. Henry Garrett Voorhees DeHart is a native of New York city. He was born February 1, 1849, and traces his ancestry back to the early settlement of this country when three brothers by the name of DeHart emigrated from France, their native land, to America. On the voyage over they formed the acquaintance of a Holland woman by the name of Van Arsdalen, whom one of the brothers, the ancestor of our subject, mar- ried, the newly wedded couple settling on the southern part of Long Island, the other brothers finding homes in different localities. The grandfather and father of Dr. De Hart, Uriah and Henry De Hart respectively, were born in New Jersey, the latter on Ten Mile Run, Middlesex county, September 11, 1812. He was in his earlier life a school-teacher, but abandoned that pro- fession for the mercantile business, in which he was engaged successfully for
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a period of forty years. He died in 1889. The Doctor's mother was before marriage Miss Cordelia Newton. She was born in Middlesex county, New Jersey, November 6, 1814, daughter of William Newton, an :Englishman, who came to this country about the time of the Revolutionary war. She died in November, 1896.
The first five years of his life the subject of our sketch passed in his nat- ive city. Then he moved with his parents to Kingston, near Princeton, New Jersey, and while there he attended the Lawrenceville Classical and Com- mercial High School. From the latter place he moved with his parents to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he entered Rutger's College in the year 1867, pursuing his studies in that institution until 1869. He then began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Harry R. Baldwin, M. D., of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and eventually matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, where he completed the course and graduated in 1873. That same year he located at Pleasantville, West- chester county, where for fifteen years he was engaged in the practice of his profession, and whence he came, in 1888, to White Plains. During the ten years of his residence here he has enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, and such has been his manner of life that it has won him the confidence and high esteem of all who have required his services or have in any way come in con- tact with him.
Dr. DeHart was married May 19, 1875, to Miss Maggie A. Winship, of Pleasantville, New York, daughter of Henry and Almira Winship, the latter a lineal descendant of John Alden, of Plymouth notoriety. The Doctor and his wife have six children, five sons and one daughter, namely: William Oscar, Clarence, Chester Hartranft, Henry Harold, Frederick Alden and Alice Elaine. The eldest son, William Oscar, is a resident of New York city.
The Doctor is a member of White Plains Lodge, No. 473, F. & A. M., and of the Order of Chosen Friends and the Order of Foresters, in White Plains. Also he is a member of Westchester County Medical Society, and is examining surgeon for the Provident Life Insurance Society of New York.
CHARLES F. VALENTINE.
A representative of one of the prominent old families of Westchester county, founded here in colonial days, Charles F. Valentine was born at the old homestead on what was known as the old " King's Bridge road " but is now Trenchard avenue, Yonkers, December 30, 1831. His grandfather, James Valentine, was born in the house which was used by General Wash- ington as his headquarters during the campaign of White Plains and in which
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Staats Valentine.
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Abigail Valentine.
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the plans were made that resulted in forcing the British to evacuate New York. Removing to a farm near Bronxville, James Valentine there became the owner of two hundred and ninety acres of land, whereon he died in 1816, at the age of fifty years. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious faith an Episcopalian, belonging to St. John's church. He married Elizabeth Warner, and to them were born the following children, besides the father of Charles F .: Elizabeth, who became the wife of George Briggs; Harriet, wife of Shadrack Taylor; Ann; Charlotte, who married Archer Martin; Sarah, wife of Royal Tefft; Nathaniel; Charles and Susan.
Staats Valentine, the father of our subject, was born September 22, 1800, on the old family homestead near Bronxville, and made farming his life work. He purchased sixty acres of land bordering Trenchard avenue, Yonkers, -the place where his son James now resides, -and there spent his remaining days. He was a fife major of a company of home guards, and was a member of St. John's Episcopal church. He died May 4, 1872, and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Abigail Lawrence, was born January 21, 1803, and died November 8, 1884, at the age of eighty-two years. They had a family of six children: Delia, deceased; James L .; Charles F .; Ed- ward, deceased; Abraham Warner, who has also passed away; and Emily, wife of Benjamin Thompson, of Mount Vernon.
In the public schools of Yonkers Charles F. Valentine acquired his education, subsequently learned the carpenter's trade and then engaged in contracting and building in New York city. He made his home at No. 443 East Eighty-eighth street, New York, and was prominently identified with the building interests there for thirty years, or until 1890. He erected many substantial residences and did an extensive and profitable business, acquiring a handsome competence. In 1896 he removed to Yonkers and erected his present residence upon the old homestead tract, part of which is still owned by Charles F. and James L. Valentine. Since returning to Yonkers he has devoted himself to the management of his real-estate interests, and has also taken contracts for the erection of some substantial structures in the city. His business career has been characterized by untiring diligence, by progress- ive methods and honorable dealing, and has brought very satisfactory financial returns.
Mr. Valentine has been three times married. He first married Emma Reeves, who died July 12, 1865, at the age of twenty-four years. In March, 1867, he wedded Isabella Gray and to them were born three children, but all are now deceased. His present wife was formerly Mrs. Edith Bowne, and their marriage was celebrated June 12, 1887.
In his political views Mr. Valentine is a stalwart Republican and took an active part in furthering the canse of his party in the old twenty-second
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assembly district of New York. He did much campaign work and public speaking in a local way and has always kept well informed on the issues of the day, so that he has ever been able to give an intelligent support to the party principles. He has always been especially alert in defeating the plans of those who sought office merely for personal considerations, and given his aid to those whom he believed would prove valuable and trustworthy public servants. He never sought or accepted office himself, his labors being solely for the advancement of political principles which he believed would promote the general welfare. In religious belief he is a Methodist, his membership being in a church of that denomination in New York city.
JAMES L. VALENTINE.
The subject of this review, who is living at the old family homestead in Yonkers, was born on the farm near Tuckahoe, where his grandfather resided, December 24, 1829, and he received his educational discipline in the public schools. When a youth he went with the family to his present home on Trenchard avenue, which has been his place of abode continuously since. He has since been engaged in farming, and in connection with his brother, Charles F., retains an interest in the old homestead. They have sold a small portion of this for building sites, and have recently divided more of it into town lots. It is a valuable property, which has greatly increased in value with the growth and development of the city.
Mr. Valentine is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal church. He served his term in the general muster, and is a supporter of the Republican party. He is a bachelor, is a man of most sterling characteristics, and is progressive and enterprising, having maintained a lively interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community. In temperament and manner he is cordial and genial, and he is held in high esteem in the community where his long and useful life has been passed.
FREDERICK C. HAVEMEYER.
Frederick C. Havemeyer, the longest surviving son of his father's family, was born in the city of New York in 1807. At the age of nine years he entered the classical school conducted by Joseph Nelson, a very popular instructor familiarly known as the blind teacher. In 1821 he entered Colum- bia College, where he remained till the completion of the sophomore year, obtaining that mental discipline and classical knowledge which so largely assisted him in mercantile life. His father and uncle had previously estab- lished a sugar refinery, under the name of W. & F. C. Havemeyer, in Van-
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dam street, New York. This establishment he entered as an apprentice and was formally introduced as such to his uncle by his father. Having obtained a thorough knowledge of the business, he formed a partnership with his cousin, William F. Havemeyer, afterward mayor of New York, which con- tinued till 1842, when both retired from business, and was succeeded by their brothers, Albert and Diederick. Possessing, at the age of twenty, sufficient skill and knowledge to conduct the business of a refinery, during all the years of this co-partnership he worked with his men in every branch of the business, from passing coal to the furnaces to the highest duties of refining, becoming an expert in every department; and this experience gave him immense advantage when, at a future day, under systems not then discov- ered, it was his destiny to re-enter a business which he then supposed he had left forever.
His father died in 1841, and then for ten years Mr. Havemeyer devoted himself to the care of his own and his father's estates. During these years he made a tour of pleasure and observation through the United States, and also traveled in Europe. In 1855 he again engaged in active business in Williamsburg, then a suburb of Brooklyn, and the business then established was continued with greatly increased facilities. So greatly did it grow that the capacity of refining was increased five hundred tons of raw sugar a day, and four thousand barrels of refined sugar were turned out every twenty-four hours. The consumption of coal was one hundred tons per day, while two hundred men were employed, and the steam engines represented twenty-two hundred horse power. Throughout the whole establishment everything was conducted in the most systematic manner, and a practical man visiting the establishment was immediately impressed with the magnificient engineering everywhere present, - the arrangement of the machinery, the closeness of the connections and arrangements for the cheap and easy handling of the immense amount of material daily used. There were seventeen steam engines, many of them of large capacity, and all of modern construction.
In 1861 the firm was composed of Frederick C. Havemeyer, his son George and Dwight Townsend, under the firm name of Havemeyer & Com- pany. George Havemeyer was killed by an accident before the close of the year. He was a young man of brilliant promise and his death was a severe blow to his father's family. Subsequently Mr. Havemeyer admitted his son, Theodore A., and his son-in-law, J. Lawrence Elder, as partners, and the firm name became Havemeyers & Elder. F. C., Theodore A. and H. O. Havemeyer and Charles H. Senff then constituted the firm.
In January, 1882, the principal buildings of the refinery were destroyed by fire. A new and more capacious refinery was soon after erected upon an adjoining site.
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Mr. Havemeyer married Sarah L. Osborne, and their children were Frederick, George W. (deceased), Theodore A., Thomas J., Harry O., Mary (wife of J. Lawrence Elder), Catharine (wife of L. J. Belloni, Jr.) and Sarah L. (wife of Frederick Jackson).
DR. ROBERT A. FONES.
Dr. Robert A. Fones, of Yonkers, New York, is a son of Christopher and Sarah A. (Marigold) Fones and was born at Demorestville, Ontario, Can- ada, January 4, 1853. His family name denotes his French origin. On both his father's side and his mother's he is a descendant of French Hugue- nots. His paternal great-grandfather was an exile to England during the reign of Louis XIV and afterward became an officer in the English navy. On his retirement he was given a tract of land, embracing fifteen hundred acres, in the state of Rhode Island, where the old town of Wickford now stands. His son Daniel, the grandfather, and Christopher, the father of Robert, were born on the ancestral acres and the latter married Sarah A. Marigold, of South Carolinian lineage, also a descendant of French Huguenots.
Christopher Fones was born in 1808 and after acquiring an education became an architect and builder and operated for some years at Marigold's Point, Ontario, Canada, having emigrated there, and there he was married. He became extensively known as a contractor and builder and died in 1875, aged sixty-seven. His wife, who still lives, having passed her eightieth year, bore him eleven children, as follows: Dr. Civilian Fones, a prominent dentist and ex-mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Daniel, who died in infancy; Dr. A. E. Fones, also a dentist, living at Bridgeport, Connecticut; Augusta, who married Samuel McDonald, a real-estate and insurance agent of Bloom- field, Canada; Sarah G., who married Wilbur Parrott, a lawyer of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania; Calista, who died at the age of twenty; John H. Fones, a contractor and builder, of Oakland, California; Dr. Robert A. Fones; Dr. Charles Fones, a dentist of New York city; Maggie Fones, and Jacob Fones, deceased.
Dr. Robert A. Fones was graduated in 1875, and took the faculty prize as honor man of his class. He studied dental surgery under the preceptor- ship of his brother, Dr. Civilian Fones, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and began the practice of his profession in Yonkers in 1877. He returned to Bridgeport in 1879, and in 1882 again located in Yonkers for a short time. After a year spent in practice in California, he came back to Yonkers, where he has built up a large and successful practice and enjoys the distinction of being the oldest dentist in the city. His standing in his profession is very high and he is a member of various professional organizations, including the
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