USA > New York > Westchester County > Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, Volume II > Part 3
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Edward B. Kear obtained his early education in the public schools near his boyhood home, and later attended the Hackettstown Institute, where he was graduated in the class of 1884. Since attaining his majority he has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and has taken an active and prominent part in local politics. His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, elected him township clerk in 1889, and he has also been called upon to fill the offices of justice of the peace and township supervisor, in which he has served with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. Mr. Kear was again re-elected to the office of supervisor of the township in the spring of 1899, by an increased majority over his former opponent. In 1894 Mr. Kear was elected a justice of sessions of Westches- ter county, and filled that office till its abolishment by the constitutional amendment.
On the 3d of June, 1896, Mr. Kear was rcarried to Miss Josephine Rey- nolds, of Croton Lake, a daughter of Lockwood Reynolds, of that place, and in the social circles of the community they occupy an enviable position-
EUGENE P. SHEPHERD.
The well-known proprietor of the Croton Valley Poultry farm, at Croton Falls, Westchester county, is Eugene Purdy Shepherd, who was born in New Jersey, in 1864, the son of C. C. and Ann (Purdy) Shepherd. His maternal grandfather was Joel B. Purdy, a member of one of the old and prominent families of New York.
During his boyhood and youth Eugene P. Shepherd received a good practical education and also learned the jewelry trade, which he followed for a time. For some years he was also employed as a traveling salesman for a New York firm, but for the past seven years has engaged in his present 32
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business. He was married in 1895, the lady of his choice being Miss Ella Bailey, who died November 24, 1898, leaving two daughters, -Florence B. and Helen.
The Croton Valley Poultry farm is one of the best and most widely known farms of the kind in the state. The grounds are large, and a good residence has been erected on a natural building site. Mr. Shepherd has spent over four thousand dollars for stock and buildings and has con- verted it into an ideal poultry ranch. He makes a specialty of Plymouth Rock and Leghorn fowls and some of his prize winners are valued at one hundred dollars per pair. Orders for fowls and eggs come from all parts of the country, and he has received first and sweepstakes prizes in New York, Boston, Buffalo, Albany and other places. He is a member of the American Poultry Association and also belongs to several smaller and local poultry associations.
A man of superior intellect, frank and genial in disposition, he is very popular with his fellow men, and his circle of friends seems limited only by his circle of acquaintances.
WILLIAM F. McCABE.
For thirty years this well-known resident of Mamaroneck has made his home in this flourishing little village, and during the past score of years has risen to a position of prominence and influence in its affairs, commercial and otherwise. He has been an important factor in local politics, being a worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, and was the receiver of taxes for two years and excise commissioner for three years.
The parents of our subject were William F. and Ellen (Collins) McCabe. He was born in East Morris, now included within the limits of Greater New York, in 1857. At the age of one year William F. accompanied his father to Mamaroneck, and has since looked upon this place as his home. He received his higher education in Saint Francis Xavier College, in New York city, but left his studies when eighteen years of age in order to enter upon his business career. He was associated with his father in contracting until twenty-five years of age, when he embarked upon independent work. His first important task was the construction of the reservoir dam for the New Rochelle water- works, and having executed this contract to the entire satisfaction of all con- cerned he had no difficulty in obtaining further contracts at other points and for various kinds of public works. One of the finest pieces of work that he has accomplished is the Byron bridge, connecting New York and Greenmont, Connecticut. This structure has a beautiful double arch of cut stone. Though he has taken contracts for a great many private parties, he is especially quali-
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fied to take much more important pieces of work, and caters to large public improvements.
Among those for whom he has carried out contracts are Mr. Schoon- maker, of Scarsdale, and William H. Macy and Porter A. Harrison. For three years and eight months he was engaged upon the construction of the new Croton dam for the New York city water works, and excavated the first yard of rock for that remarkable piece of work. Few public works have been carried out in this town without his co-operation, and many of the more important improvements in Mount Vernon have been managed by him. He built six miles of macadam road in Richmond, and has the most complete facilities for this kind of enterprise, as he owns a stone-crusher and steam- rollers, and in other work he has the most approved modern steam drills (eight in number), hoisting machines, etc., and keeps twenty-two horses for use in his various departments of business. It is conceded that, for the execu- tion of street paving and public works in general, he has the most complete machinery and equipments of any contractor in this county. He employs as many as four hundred and fifty men at a time, and his pay roll frequently amounts to eight thousand dollars a month, while his contracts for two years footed up about two hundred thousand dollars.
Though he is quite devoted to his business affairs Mr. McCabe always finds time to discharge his duties as a citizen. He has been active in the work of the fire department, as for five years he was identified with the Mamaroneck Hook & Ladder Company; was for three years a member of the Croton Hook & Ladder Company and was in the patrol department here for some time, being at present an honorary member of the same. Frater- nally, he is a member of the orders of Foresters and Red Men.
The marriage of Mr. McCabe and Miss Minnie Anthes was celebrated April 15, 1889. Mrs. McCabe is a daughter of Frederick and Dorothea (Miller) Anthes, of this place. The four children born to our subject and wife are William F. ; Ellen Dorothea, deceased; May; and Irene.
William F. McCabe, as an honored old citizen of Mamaroneck, deserves special mention. He is a native of county Kildare, Ireland, born about 1830. He came to America prior to his marriage and engaged in contract- ing after he had been on these shores for a few years. At first, however, he was employed on farms as a manager of the same. He has made a specialty of building seawalls and other similar works of public improvement, but for the past fifteen years he has lived practically retired from active labors. He has been influential in the affairs of the local Democratic party and for twen- ty-four years occupied the office of road commissioner, at the expiration of which period he resigned, refusing to retain the office longer. Among many other works of improvement here with which he was identified was the con-
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struction of the Mamaroneck water main. Both he and his estimable wife have arrived at the age of sixty-eight years. Of their ten children five sur- vive, namely: Sarah Carroll, William F., Thomas, Ellen and Richard.
FREDERICK W. SHERMAN.
The ancestry of the Sherman family, of which our subject is a represent- tative, can be traced back to William Sherman, bailiff of Debenham Stone- ham, in Suffolk, England. He flourished about 1410, and was the father of John Sherman, of Suffolk, whose son, Thomas Sherman, of Dedham, Eng- land, died in 1564. The last named was the father of Henry Sherman, also of Dedham. His wife was Agnes Sherman, and his will was dated 1589. Edward Sherman, the son of Henry and Agnes Sherman, married Ann Clerc, made his home in Dedham, England, and left a will dated 1598. His son, John Sherman, was the next in the line of direct descent to our subject, and his will bore date 1654 or 1655. The last named was the father of Captain John Sherman, the founder of the family in America. He was born in Ded- ham, England, in 1613, and came to America in 1634, locating in Watertown, Massachusetts. His daughter was Martha Palmer, daughter of William Palmer, and their son John was killed in the Narragansett Indian fight. It was Edward Sherman, of Dedham, England, an uncle of Captain John Sher- man, from whom descended General William T. Sherman and Senator John Sherman, of Ohio. Joseph Sherman, a son of Captain John Sherman, mar- ried Elizabeth Winship, daughter of Lieutenant Edward H. and Elizabeth Winship, of Cambridge, on November 18, 1673, and of this union was born William Sherman, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who married Mehitable Wellington.
They became the parents of Roger Sherman, the great-grandfather of our subject, one of the most distinguished patriots who promoted the cause of liberty and freedom in that period which gave birth to the republic. He was married May 12, 1763, to Rebecca Prescott, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Minot) Prescott, of Danvers, Connecticut. He was a member of the continental congress in 1774, was one of the signers of the address to the king in that year, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the committee who drafted that document. He was also one of the signers of the articles of confederation and of the constitution of the United States. He had the distinction of being the only person who signed all four of these great state papers in the early history of the country; in fact no other signed three of them. From 1791 up to the time of his death he was a member of the United States senate, and was also a judge of the supreme court of Con- necticut. He had graduated in Yale College with the degree of Master of
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Arts, and was a most scholarly and diplomatic statesman. He left the impress of his strong individuality upon the new republic and took a leading part in formulating its policy. He was the grandfather of three United States sena- tors, his daughter Rebecca being the mother of Roger Sherman Baldwin, who was governor of Connecticut and a member of the United States senate; Mehitable, another daughter, was the mother of William M. Evarts, a mem- ber of the senate; and Sarah, the third daughter, was the mother of Frisbie Hoar, United States senator, and the late E. Rockwood Hoar, judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts. Roger Minot Sherman, the eminent jurist of Fairfield, Connecticut, was also a relative of the same family.
Roger Sherman, the grandfather of our subject, was likewise a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and there spent his entire life. He was a member of the firm of Prescott & Sherman, prominent merchants, who were exten- sively engaged in trading with the West Indies. He died at an advanced age. In 1801 he married Susanna Staples, who was born August 1, 1778, and died November 22, 1855. She was a sister of the great lawyer, Seth P. Staples, and the granddaughter of Hannah Standish, whose grandfather was Miles Standish, one of the colonial governors of Massachusetts.
The father of our subject, Edward Standish Sherman, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and there spent his early life. In his younger manhood he began dealing in iron and other metals. He removed to Fairfield, Con- necticut, where he made his home the greater part of the time until his death, which occurred in 1882. He was quite successful in his business dealings, but at the time of the civil war met with heavy losses. In politics he was a Republican, and was one of the charter members of the Union League Club, of New York city. He married Catharine Augusta Townsend, of Boston, a daughter of Dr. Solomon David and Catharine (Davis) Townsend. Her father was an eminent surgeon of Boston, and in his honor the Townsend ward in the Massachusetts General Hospital was named. Mrs. Sherman's grandparents were Dr. David and Elizabeth (Davis) Townsend, and the for- mer was a son of Shippie Townsend and a grandson of David Townsend. Mrs. Sherman is still living, at the advanced age of seventy-three years, and is a member of the Episcopal church. In their family were eleven children, ten of whom are still living.
Frederick William Sherman, the honored representative of the family of Rye, New York, was born at No. 42 East Thirty-first street, New York city, February 10, 1862, and spent his childhood days in Fairfield, Connect- icut, until about twelve or fourteen years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Rye, New York. He was educated in the public schools and Park Institute of Rye, and, having determined to make the prac- tice of law his life work, completed a course of study by his graduation in
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the Columbia Law School of New York, in 1883. He then began the prac- tice of his profession in New York, where he remained for four or five years, after which he opened an office in Port Chester, near Rye, where he has since made his home in a sightly residence recently built by him and overlooking Long Island sound. He practiced in Port Chester, in White Plains and in Rye, and now has a distinctively representative clientage. Since his arrival in the county he has been connected with much of the important litigation heard in the courts, and is attorney for the local street railroad company and other local corporations. To an understanding of uncommon acuteness and vigor, he added a thorough and conscientious preparatory training. His preparation of cases is exhaustive; he seems almost intuitively to grasp the strong points of law and fact; his arguments are forcible and his logic con- vincing, while his familiarity with the facts, the law and with precedents is comprehensive and accurate.
Mr. Sherman was united in marriage to Miss Grace Blanchard, a daugh- ter of Anthony Blanchard, ex-surrogate of Albany county and district attorney for Washington county, New York. Mr. Sherman is a member of the Epis- copal church, and in politics is a Republican. In the fall of .1892 he was the candidate for county attorney, but the entire ticket was defeated at that elec- tion. In his profession he has attained a prominent position, and, being yet a young man, still greater successes are probably in store for him. His life has always been upright and honorable, in harmony with the untarnished record of the prominent family of which he is a representative.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.
James Fenimore Cooper is another distinguished author who may be included among the literati of Westchester county, for his first novel was written while he resided at Mamaroneck. Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789. His father, Judge William Cooper, removed the following year to the neighborhood of Otsego lake, New York, where he had purchased a large tract of land, on which he established a set- tlement, to which he gave the name of Cooperstown. In this frontier home, in the midst of a population of settlers, trappers and Indians, young Cooper imbibed that knowledge of backwoods life and of the habits of the aborigines which afterward served him so well in the construction of his romances. At the age of thirteen he entered Yale College, and after remaining there three years received an appointment as midshipman in the United States Navy. In the latter he obtained, during the six years of his service, a familiarity with nautical life which he utilized with splendid results in his famous sea stories.
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In 1811 Cooper resigned his commission in the navy and married Miss De Lancey, a member of the well known New York family of that name and sister of the bishop of western New York. They settled in the village of Mamaroneck, in Westchester county, and not long afterward Cooper's mind was accidentally turned to the field of fiction. One day, after reading an Eng- lish novel, he remarked to his wife that he believed he could write a better story himself. To test the matter he wrote "Precaution." He had not intended to publish the novel, but was induced to do so by his wife and his friend, Charles Wilkes. The descriptions of English life and scenery gave it great popularity in England, where it was republished. "The Spy," which followed, was as thoroughly American, and obtained great success, not only in this country but abroad. It was almost immediately republished in all parts of Europe. "The Pioneers " was the first of the series of frontier and Indian stories, on which the novelist's reputation chiefly rests. It was fol- lowed by " The Pilot," the first of the sea stories. Other novels followed in quick succession, and Cooper's reputation grew apace. He was also sharply criticized and became involved in various controversies, which cul- minated finally in a series of libel suits against his detractors in the news- papers. In 1826 he visited Europe, and upon his return to this country made his home at Cooperstown, New York. During his residence abroad (1826-33) he was everywhere received with marked attention. His literary activity was unchecked by his wanderings, and during his stay in Europe he wrote a number of novels. After his return to this country he wrote the "Naval History of the United States," which excited an acrimonious dis- cussion as to the correctness of his account of the battle of Lake Erie. In one of his libel suits Cooper defended, in person, the accuracy of his version of the battle. A lawyer, who was an auditor of the closing sentences of his argument, remarked, "I have heard nothing like it since the days of Emmet."
Cooper continued to write with amazing fertility and vigor almost to the close of his life, which was terminated by dropsy, September 14, 1851. Not- withstanding his defects of style, his romances are conceded to be among the most vivid and original of all American works of fiction. He was the first of his countrymen who obtained a wide recognition in other portions of the world. His works were translated into many languages, and the Indian tales especially were universal favorites in Europe. The great French novelist, Balzac, said of him, " With what amazing power has he painted nature! How all his pages glow with creative fire! Who is there writing English among our contemporaries, if not of him, of whom it can be said that he has a genius of the first order?" "The empire of the sea," says the Edinburg Review, " has been conceded to him by acclamation;" and the same journal
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adds, "In the lonely desert or untrodden prairie, among the savage Indians, or scarcely less savage settlers, all equally acknowledge his domin- ion."
LEONARD CHADEAYNE.
This gentleman was for many years one of the prominent and influential citizens of Westchester county, New York. He was born on the old Chadeayne homestead in this county, June 12, 1809, passed his life in this vicinity and lived to a venerable age, his death occurring February 11, 1893.
The Chadeayne family has long been identified with Westchester county. Daniel Chadeayne, the grandfather of Leonard, was one of the first Demo- crats in this section of the country. His son, David, our subject's father, was born in Westchester county, October 11, 1766, and married Miss Han- nah Underhill, whose birth occurred January 6, 1772. The fruits of this union were ten children, three of whom died in infancy, the others being John, Julia, Gilbert, Susan, Ann, Leonard and Sanford. The mother died in 1841, at the age of sixty-nine years; the father, in 1846, at the age of eighty-nine.
Leonard Chadeayne was reared on his father's farm and was engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life. In July, 1847, he married Miss Mary Ann Thorn, a native of Orange county, New York, reared and educated in Ulster county, this state, daughter of Thomas P. and Eliza (Gerow) Thorn. Mr. and Mrs. Thorn were the parents of four children, viz .: Eleanor, wife of John Carpenter; Mary Ann, wife of the subject of our sketch; Esther G. ; and Jane, wife of Amos Brown, of Orange county, New York. Mrs. Thorn died at the age of seventy-six years, and Mr. Thorn was eighty-four when he died. Mr. and Mrs. Chadeayne became the parents of six children, namely: Eliza- beth; Hannah, who died at the age of twelve years and ten months; Thomas Thorn, a business man of Sing Sing, New York, married Harriet E. Young; David, a resident of Yorktown, married Ida Acker, and has one son, H. Leon- ard; William, a business man of Tarrytown, married Miss Lotta Palmer; and Mary, wife of Anson Lee.
Mr. Chadeayne was a man who throughout his life bore a character that was above reproach. He was broad and liberal in his religious views, and politically, was a stanch supporter of the principles advocated by the Repub- lican party. He was a good citizen, a loving and dutiful husband and an indulgent father, and his death was mourned by many friends. Mr. Chade- ayne was a successful financier, and frequently was chosen as executor and administrator in the settlement of estates, etc. He was a most worthy and estimable citizen, and his domestic life stood exemplary of all that belongs to a model husband and father.
Leonard Shadeayne
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LEO HENDRIK BAEKELAND, D. Sc.
No pen, however facile or however skillful with thought that moves it, can compete in its portrayals with the sun ray. This swift and beautiful messenger, robed in the mysteries of sun and stars, silent in its ministry, in an instant gives the picture, and the picture is errorless. Through a small opening it will bring in the landscape and throw it upon the screen. It will touch the sensitive plate and leave there every lineament of the human face. It is fleeter than muscular movement, or steam, or even electricity. To the eye rapidity of motion veils the object; to light everything is still. It writes history on the wing. It vestures earth and sky, the infinitely small and the infinitely great, and tells the story of either with absolute exactness. Nothing more clearly establishes nature's willingness to divulge her secrets than this marvelous ministry of the sun's ray. "Know me, learn my ways and behavior, and I will teach you all, " is the new "bow of promise " of light to science. A direct ray of light not only pictures but it analyzes. It breaks itself up, at the will of the scientists, into innumerable indices of refrangibility, detailing a separate messenger for each individual story it has to tell. .
He whose name initiates this review has attained distinction in the scien- tific world, as the result of his well directed study, investigation and careful experimental work, and in no one line have the practical results of his efforts been more pronounced and effective than in those closely allied to the art or science of photography. Revelations of the ultimate possibilities of photgo- raphy have been made rapidly within the past decade, and Dr. Baekeland has contributed in no small measure toward the advance movement. As identified with one of the principal industrial enterprises of Westchester county, -an enterprise whose ramifications are of wide extent and whose basis may be properly said to be of semi-scientific character, -Dr. Baeke- land merits distinct representation in this work, which has to do with those who have been and those who are identified with the specific progress of this favored county of the old Empire state.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland is a native of Belgium, having been born in the famed old city of Ghent, on the 14th of November, 1863, the son of Karel Lodewyk Baekeland and Rosalia Merchie. His preliminary educational dis- cipline was received in the public schools of his native city, the capital of East Flanders. He next became a student in the Athenaeum in Ghent, in which institution he was prepared for the university. In the evenings he at- tended the free lectures of the Technical School of Ghent, taking the free yearly course in chemistry and graduating with honors in 1880. Soon after his graduation the young man was offered the position of assistant chemist at
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the State Agricultural Station, but as he wished to continue his studies and to attain the highest possible degree of proficiency, he declined to accept the offer, and within the same year matriculated in the University of Ghent, a government institution, being the youngest student in that institution. On entering the university Dr. Baekeland took up the course of study in the medical department, but it was a notable fact that chemistry and natural sciences had a special attraction for him, and to these branches he devoted himself with marked interest and zeal. After having passed the two examinations for the degree of Bachelor of Sciences, summa cum laude, he attracted the attention of the professors of the faculty of sciences, and a position as laboratory assistant in chemistry was tendered to him and accepted, whereupon he indefinitely renounced the specific study of medicine for that of the natural sciences. His devotion to his work was earnest and unremitting, and in 1884 the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences was conferred upon him. He also obtained a special diploma in chemistry, passing both examinations summa cum laude, which required nine- ty-five per cent. of the maximum points allowable.
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