USA > New York > Westchester County > Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, Volume II > Part 34
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Mr. Holden's interest in New York journalism is attested by his thirty years' membership in the New York Press Association, in which he served one year as secretary, another as president and for more than twelve years was an active, earnest and honored member of the executive committee. He
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was chosen four times as a delegate from this association to the annual meet- ings of the National Association, in which he ably represented his brethren of the New York state press. He was one of the originators of the Demo- cratic Editorial Association of the state of New York, and served as its treas- urer from its formation. In 1897 he was especially honored by both these New York Press associations through election to a life membership in each.
The public spirit of Mr. Holden has been manifested throughout his career. At Poughkeepsie he was for eight years an active member of the volunteer fire department, serving as private secretary and assistant foreman of the Davy Crockett Hook and Ladder Company. He was one of the organizers of the Young Men's Association and the Dramatic Society, a mem- ber of the Lyceum and connected with many other local organizations. He was one of the original members of the Ellsworth Guard, an independent military company formed on the day of the tragic death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, soon after the breaking out of the civil war. This company, attached to the Twenty-first Regiment National Guard of the state of New York, served for three months during the war.
In Yonkers, Mr. Holden was one of the organizers of the Owl, Olympic Ball and Palisade Boat Clubs, holding important offices in all of them. He was a trustee, was secretary for eleven years and for several years was the first vice-president of the People's Savings Bank. He was a charter member of Nepperhan Lodge, No. 736, F. & A. M .; a director of the Free Reading Room; a member of the executive committee for the bicentennial celebration, held in Yonkers October 18, 1882; and a member of the executive committee of the Soldiers and Sailors' Monument Association, which raised the money and erected on Manor Hall grounds, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, the monument which was dedicated September 17, 1891. For twelve consecu- tive years he was secretary of the Democratic general committee of Yonkers, and was repeatedly chosen as a delegate to Democratic state, congressional, senatorial, county, district and city conventions. He was also for some time a member of the Democratic Club of the city of New York.
As editor of the Yonkers Gazette Mr. Holden always took the lead in every movement for the upbuilding and progress-religious, moral, social and political- of Yonkers, as well as for its advancement in other directions. Particular instances of this may be noted in his famous humorous crusade against those twin nuisances, the " Rat Pit Depot " of the New York Cen- tral & Hudson River Railroad and " Main street's beautiful curve," the abol- ition of both of which was mainly due to him. Among matters more seri- ously treated in the Gazette were the return of the railroad station from the foot of Locust street to its former and present location at the foot of Main street; the building of a permanent bridge in the place of the railroad draw-
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bridge over the Nepperhan at Dock street; and the Neperhan river nuisance, against which his newspaper waged unceasing warfare for years, until it was abated, to the great satisfaction of every resident of Yonkers. He always. kept at the head of the procession-often far in advance of it-in the onward march of public improvements, such as securing a city charter for the place; bonding the city for water-works, sewers and street paving; the opening, regulating and grading of new streets; the preservation of Manor Hall and its grounds; electric lighting; erection of public buildings and the construction of street railways, using the columns of his paper in persistent advocacy thereof, until all of these and many other improvements were secured.
Although a Democrat of the strictest sort in his discussion of political questions, national, state and local, Mr. Holden was never offensive to his friends, "the enemy." While emphatic in exposing and denouncing cor- ruption and fraud in all parties, he never indulged in the reprehensible prac- tice, as too many editors do, of vituperation and mud-throwing, seeking rather to serve his party and its candidates by advocating the principles of the former and the fitness of the latter. He was never an office-seeker, yet the Democratic party of Yonkers, recognizing his personal integrity, moral worth and political honesty, called him successively to such honorable, responsible and trustworthy places as town clerk, in 1865, village clerk, in 1869, and city treasurer in 1885. To the last named office he was appointed by Mayor William G. Stahlnecker, confirmed by the common council March 11, 1885, and reappointed by Mayor J. Harvey Bell May 24, 1886, serving in that position about two years. He was repeatedly urged to accept the Democratic nomination for different state, county and city offices, but always declined to comply.
On the 29th of August, 1894, President Cleveland appointed Mr. Hol- den postmaster at Yonkers and he entered upon the duties of that office Oc- tober 1, 1894. This was a " recess " appointment, good only until the next session of congress, and he was accordingly re-appointed by the president, after the re-assembling of congress, for a full term, which appointment was confirmed by the United States senate, December 11, 1894. Many im- provements in the mail service of Yonkers and two additional carriers were secured by Postmaster Holden, and his administration of the affairs of the office was up-to-date, -conducted on strict business principles. He retired from this office June 30, 1898,-having served three years and nine months, and carried with him the best wishes of the post-office employes, who, in order to testify their regard for and interest in him, presented him with an elegant hardwood easy chair, handsomely upholstered.
While not an avowed professor of religion, for over forty years Mr. Holden has been a pew-holder in the Baptist church, and a firm believer in
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its doctrines and practices, this belief being doubtless an inheritance from his maternal grandfather, George Parker, of Lancashire, England, who left his native land because of religious persecution, and made his way to Amer- ica. Locating in Poughkeepsie he there established the first Baptist society in that part of the country.
On the 22d of November, 1864, Mr. Holden was united in marriage to Miss Maria E. Le Count, of Brooklyn, New York. They have three chil- dren, all yet living, namely, Edwin Rufus, Dr. George Parker and Mary Hol- den. This happy alliance has added greatly to the elements of Mr. Holden's success, steadfast encouragement and wise counsel having emphasized the industry, business alertness, intelligence and sound judgment that have con- tributed to win for him the fair fame which is now his popular award.
JOHN H. JENKIN, M. D.
Dr. Jenkin, one of the younger representatives of the medical profession in Westchester county, has already attained a high degree of success in his chosen calling and now enjoys a large and lucrative practice in Shrub Oak, Westchester county, and also in the adjoining county of Putnam.
He was born of English parentage in West Stockbridge, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, August 31, 1869, a son of Elijah and Alice (James) Jenkin. His father is now deceased and his mother makes her home with a daughter at Rockland Lake, this state. The Doctor spent the greater part of his boyhood and youth in study, completing the scientific course at Fort Edward Institute in 1889. Later he entered the medical department of the Univer- sity of the city of New York, and was graduated in the class of 1893, April 7, with the degree of M. D. On the 29th day of April, 1893, the Doctor passed the state medical examination lield by the University of the State of New York. The same year he also received a diploma from the Midwifery Dispensary of New York city. In order to gain a good practical knowledge of his profession he engaged in practice for eighteen months in the work- house and almshouse hospitals of New York city, and received a diploma from the local board of the above named institutions, approved by the com- missioners of charities and corrections of that city. August 1, 1894, he was made a registered pharmacist of the city and county of New York. Being thus well fitted for his life work, he opened an office in Shrub Oak, where he was not long in securing an excellent practice. He is now numbered among the leading physicians and surgeons of the county, and is serving as health officer of the town of Yorktown and also of the town of Putnam Valley.
April 8, 1897, Dr. Jenkin was married to Miss G. Bertha Lent, a daugh-
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ter of the late Theodore and Cornelia (Denike) Lent, of Shrub Oak. On her maternal side she is a descendant from a good old Revolutionary family, a great-grandfather being an officer in the Revolutionary army. She was educated at the St. Gabriel's at Peekskill, and is a lady of culture and refinement and a member of the Episcopal church of Mohegan Lake, West- chester county. The Doctor and his wife have a beautiful rural home, where they dispense a pleasing hospitality to their many friends, for they are very popular in the best social circles of the community. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Mohegan Country and Golf Clubs, and also of the Westchester County Medical Society and others.
JOHN R. WILTSIE.
John R. Wiltsie descended from a noted line of ancestors. Hendrick Martinsen Wiltsie came from Denmark to this country in the early part of the seventeenth century. He served in the Esopus war and settled near Hell Gate, Long Island, and reared three sons. One of these sons emigrated to Sylvan Lake, Dutchess county, New York, where he purchased two tracts of land, comprising over one thousand three hundred acres. In 1773 Johannes Wiltsie was commissioned first lieutenant of foot militia in Dutchess county, and took a prominent part in the Revolution. He died in 1820, aged thirty- eight years.
John C. Wiltsie, father of John R., was a farmer and justice of the peace. He was a man of great energy and firmness, and eminently straightforward in all his dealings. He died when his son John R. was but six years old. He married Lavina Rapelyea, whose ancestors had been driven out of France by the edict of Nantes. She was a woman of great strength of character, and although left a widow with a large family of chil- dren, she early instilled into them lessons of obedience, industry, honor and integrity, which made her son a worthy representative of a noble lineage, which stood exponential of virtue, courage, perseverance, independence, and loyalty to God, to the truth and to country, in a manner constituting true. nobility.
The educational advantages of John R. Wiltsie were meagre, but this fact seemed to inspire him to extra personal efforts and studious habits, all of which tended to make him a self-reliant man. He was born at Sylvan Lake, near Fishkill, Dutchess county, New York, June 5, 1814. He was educated in the district schools, which he attended during the winter months. At the age of fifteen he took up an apprenticeship at saddle and harness making at Newburgh, with B. F. Buckingham and remained with him up to 1835, when he commenced in saddlery business on his own account at Newburgh, on.
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Water street, where he continued up to 1862, being succeeded at that time by his son, G. Fred. Within this time he had become somewhat interested in the insurance business, and after abandoning the saddlery business he gave his attention to insurance, to which he soon added brokerage and banking, the first enterprise of its kind in Newburgh. In 1867 his son Arthur V. be- came associated with him and in 1869 the firm of John R. Wiltsie & Son was formed and opened up offices in the present Savings Bank building.
In business he was of a practical, decidedly independent and original cast of mind, strong in his convictions, tenacious to his views, adhering to what he considered just and right, though compelled to stand alone. He was a trustee of the Newburgh Savings Bank from 1855 up to his death, as well as secretary of the board for the same length of time. He did more toward making the institution a success than any other man. What had been a failure with a capital of twenty-eight thousand dollars he built up until it represented four million dollars deposits at his death. On January 5, 1870, he was appointed treasurer of the Newburgh & Cochocton Turnpike Com- pany, continuing in the office up to the time of his death.
Though not a politician he filled the office of deputy internal-revenue assessor. He was fond of the rod and gun, and made annual trips to the Adirondacks on hunting and fishing expeditions. He was a man of very robust health. He was president of the Hudson River Association, organ- ized for the protection of game.
Mr. Wiltsie's first wife, Elmira, a daughter of Robert Lawson, he mar- ried October 17, 1837. They had one child, G. Fred. Mrs. Wiltsie died in January, 1843. On January 9, 1845, he married Mary Susan, a daughter of Rev. Luke A. Spofford, of Massachusetts, and a sister of Judge Henry Spofford, of Louisiana, and A. R. Spofford, formerly librarian of congress. Her father was a lineal descendant of Israel Putnam.
To this union were born six children: Arthur; Elmira, wife of J. T. Jos- lin; Henry A., who died young; Harriet Maria; Charlotte E .; and Laura Spofford, wife of subject, W. H. Lake.
Socially Mr. Wiltsie was a genial, courtly gentleman, decidedly com- panionable. He possessed a certain magnetic attraction which awakened in his friends a strong, clinging attachment. Warm in his sympathies, acute in his discernment of good qualities, he quickly took the measure of men, entered into their sensibilities and felt with them and for them. He was versatile of mind, and of great tact as a conversationalist. In bearing he was of aristocratic appearance, but he was very democratic in his real nature and conduct. In his church relations he was a devout churchman and exemplary Christian, being a regular attendant of divine services and a liberal giver to church support. He was formerly a member of the Dutch Reformed
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church of Newburgh and for many years was elder, deacon and superintend- ent of the Sunday-school. He was county secretary of the State Sabbath- school Association, and organized the first Sabbath-school association in Orange county. Mr. Wiltsie died August 16, 1882.
REV. LUKE A. SPOFFORD.
Rev. Luke A. Spofford, maternal grandfather of Mrs. William H. Lake, mentioned on another page, was born November 5, 1785, at Jaffry, New Hamp- shire. He graduated from Middlebury College, and subsequently lived at Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He was a devoted Christian worker, and served as pastor of the following churches: Gilmanton, Brentwood, Lancaster, Atkinson, Chilmark and Martha's Vineyard. Besides this he did a great deal of missionary work in the western states, and was the founder of many churches. He died at Rockport, Indiana, September 27, 1855. His wife died at Williamsburg, Ohio, February 25, 1855, aged sixty-three years. Their children were: Richard Cecil, a graduate of Amherst College; Mary Susan, who became the wife of John R. Wiltsie, whose sketch precedes this, a most estimable lady, was educated at Wheaton College, has written sev- eral poems, and possesses considerable literary ability; Judge Henry, Martin, Elizabeth Jane, Ainsworth Rand and Ann Matilda.
Judge Henry Spofford was born at Gilmanton, New Hampshire, in 1821, and graduated with highest honors from Amherst College in 1840, and was a member of the faculty of that college in 1840-42. He subsequently went to Louisiana, where he taught school, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1845, becoming associated with Judge Alcott. He compiled a work called Louisiana Magisterial, which became invaluable to the legal profession. He was elected judge of the supreme court of Louisiana at thirty-three years of age, and many of his rulings on the bench became stat- utes. He was elected United States senator from Louisiana in 1876. He died August 21, 1880, while on a health tour.
Ainsworth Rand Spofford, who was for thirty-two years the librarian of congress, was educated in a classical course under private tuition and later became a bookseller and publisher. In 1859 he became associate editor of the Cincinnati Commercial. In 1861 he was appointed assistant librarian of congress by President Lincoln, and in 1864 became librarian in chief, in which capacity he served up to 1896. During this time he built the library up from seventy thousand volumes to over six hundred thousand volumes.
He made the position a very important and responsible one as well as a difficult one to fill. During his time he established the ruling which required
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that all the copyrights and copyright publications should be deposited in the library.
He has written voluminously for the press, on historical, economic and literary subjects, besides which he has published a number of extensive works, among which are The American Almanac and Treasury of Facts, ten volumes, in 1881-4; Wit and Humor, five volumes, in 1884; and a manual of parliamentary law, the same year. He is famed for his comprehensive knowledge of books and authors and his broad range of knowledge. He is a prodigious worker. He is a member of various historical and philosoph- ical societies, and received the degree of LL. D. from Amherst College.
He was succeeded as librarian, in 1896, by Hon. John Russell Young, since which time he has devoted himself to collecting a library of ancient vol- umes from all nations. He still resides in Washington, D. C.
J. WESLEY RANDALL.
This well and favorably known citizen of Yonkers has had an eventful history, and when he was less than a score of years old he had struck many a blow for the preservation of the Union and the country under whoses stripes he and his ancestors for several generations had been born. The loyal, devoted patriotism which he manifested on a thousand occasions in the fore- front of battle has been shown in his life no less in the years of peace which succeeded the years of dreadful strife.
Born May 9, 1842, J. Wesley Randall is a son of Noah and Julia (Moyer) Randall, who were of English and German extraction, respectively. As his father died when our subject was seven years of age, little is known of his family history. He was a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and for many years was a resident of New Haven, Connecticut. There he carried on important and extensive business as a contractor, furnishing and transport- ing heavy stone for building purposes. He died at the age of forty-two years, in March, 1849. To himself and first wife, Thama, three children were born,-Joseph, Freeman and Julia; and by his marriage to Julia Moyer there were three children also,-J. W., Sarah Brown, and Nellie, the wife of William Wilson, of Rochester, New York. Mrs. Julia Randall, who was born February 9, 1805, died June 9, 1897, her life having nearly spanned the wonderful nineteenth century. Her father, Jacob Moyer, was one of the generals of Washington's body guard during the war of the Revolution, and her uncle, George Moyer, served in the war of 1812-14. The brothers were natives of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Noah and Julia Randall were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, the latter being especially zealous in religious affairs.
Wesley Randall
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J. Wesley Randall received an excellent education in the public schools of New Haven, and when about fifteen years of age he commenced learning the business of a stationary engineer. Subsequently he took a position on the Elm City, a steamboat plying between New Haven, Connecticut, and New York city, and later he mastered the machinist's trade.
The opening year of the war of the Rebellion, young Randall enlisted in the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery for a period of three years. In Maryland the regiment was recruited to twelve hundred and placed under the command of Colonel Robert O. Tyler. The winter of 1861-2 they were: encamped on Arlington Heights, and their first active fighting was at the. siege of Yorktown. After the battle of Hanover Court House the regiment was moved up to Fair Oaks, where, failing to receive expected reinforce- ments, our troops fell back, retreating for seven days, until at Malvern Hill they made a desperate stand against the enemy. While thus engaged, in the afternoon, the Cimeron, a Union gunboat, proceeding along the James river, mistaking the federals in the distance for rebels, opened fire upon them, with disastrous effect. Mr. Randall was lying upon the ground, firing at the gray- coats, when a nine-inch shell from the gunboat struck the ground near his feet, plowed through the earth under him, and passing beyond burst and killed four of our brave ".boys in blue." Wonderful to relate, our subject was unhurt, although in the thickest of the fight, save that he sustained a severe shock, and, accompanying his comrades, fell back with the troops after the battle to Harrison's Landing. He became seriously ill a short time after the engagement at that point, and was sent to Bellevue Hospital, New York, where he was discharged on account of physical disability, in September, 1862.
Coming to Yonkers in the fall of 1862, Mr. Randall became chief engineer of the Star Arms Company, and October 15. 1863, he passed an examination as an engineer in the government naval service, and was appointed second assistant engineer on the Tallapoosa, under Captain DeHaven. Some time afterward he was detached from the Tallapoosa and ordered aboard the monitor Maho- pac, which participated in the James river campaign and the Fort Fisher expedition of 1864. Their first assault being unsuccessful, the boat retreated and was caught in a fearful storm which raged along the coast, and had it. not been for the courage and intelligent management of the chief engineer, Marshall T. Cheevers, all on board must inevitably have perished. At last the monitor safely reached Beaufort harbor, North Carolina; and while there- Mr. Randall applied to Admiral Porter, who was in command of the fleet, for a detachment, and was transferred to the gunboat Mackinaw, on which vessel he participated in the second and successful attack upon Fort Fisher.
After the capture of the fort the fleet was re-formed and sent up the Cape Fear river and next engaged Fort Anderson. The Mackinaw, being in 50
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the lead, approached to a point near the fort in order to enable gunners to use the nine-inch broadside guns, and after one day's severe battle the fort was captured. The fleet next proceeded farther up the river, where Fort St. Philip was engaged, and in the contest the Mackinaw took no small part. Order was then given to take the vessel north to James river, which it ascended to the Appomattox river and to the Point of Rocks, and here the Mackinaw was moored across the river and her nine-inch guns trained to support General Grant's line; after the battle of Petersburg and the fall of Richmond the vessel was ordered north to the Kittery navy yard, New Hampshire, where, in May, 1865, she went out of commission.
Mr. Randall returned to Yonkers, where he was. placed on waiting orders, and after a few weeks was ordered to Washington as second assistant engineer of the United States steamer Hornet, the pleasure boat of Presi- dent Andrew Johnson. The chief executive and his cabinet started down the bay July 4, 1865, and when outside of Cape Henry a high wind arose and at one time all the members of the cabinet were seasick. The ship was ordered about back to the navy yard and the trip was not resumed. In September, 1865, Mr. Randall tendered his resignation, since the war was over and he thought that his services were no longer needed.
Though his connection with our country's navy dates back many years, Mr. Randall has never lost his intense and patriotic interest in it, and has kept up many of the friendships 'which he formed among the officers and crews with whom he came into association during the stormy period of the war. With just pride he refers to the bravery and genius of Robert W. Milligan, an intimate friend of his over thirty years ago, who, during the recent Spanish-American war, won fame at Santiago. He was the chief engineer of the Oregon, which ship first sighted Cervera's fleeing fleet and delivered the first shot in the memorable combat. It was owing to the intel- ligence, foresight and determination of Mr. Milligan that the Oregon was kept under a full head of steam and was thus prepared for the notable chase, resulting in complete victory on our side and undeniably bringing about the speedy termination of the war. Robert W. Milligan and J. Wesley Randall were assistant engineers together on the United States steamer Mackinaw in 1864-5.
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