USA > New York > Westchester County > Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, Volume II > Part 6
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W. O. Hobby is a son of James R. and Kate C. (Gent) Hobby, and was born in the city of New York, February 18, 1867. He received his education in the schools of the metropolis, graduating in the same. He then entered the employ of Acker, Merrill & Condit, of New York city, and remained with them for five years, thoroughly learning the details of the wholesale liquor business. Afterward he was for a short time an employe of Lnyties Brothers, of the same city, that firm being in the same line of trade.
Seven years ago Mr. Hobby came to Mount Vernon and established a bottling plant at Boston road and Third avenue. He began this enterprise on a small scale, at first employing but one wagon. At the end of two years his business had doubled and two wagons were necessary to deliver his goods, and at last he was impelled to seek increased facilities for handling his large and remunerative trade. Then, for a few years, he did business at No. 37 South Fifth avenue. In 1898 he was again obliged to extend his business and increase the capacity of his plant, and he accordingly organized the Hobby Bottling Company, of which he is the president and general manager. He is also the agent and collector for the Henry Zeltnor Brewing Company and the William A. Miles Brewing Company, of New York city.
The handsome new brick building which the Hobby Bottling Company occupies at Nos. 21, 23, 25 Prospect avenue, is constructed in a modern man- ner, the style of architecture being particularly pleasing .- The front is of pressed brick and the building, three stories in height, is fifty by one hundred feet in dimensions. The brick stables and wagon-house in the rear of the lot are thirty by one hundred feet in dimensions. The machinery with which
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the works are fitted is of the most approved modern style, every possible device for convenience and rapidity of working, etc., being found here. Everything that can possibly be done by machinery is done, and the high grade of the goods turned out here is all the proof necessary of the merits of the system in use. Only the best class of hotels and families are catered to, and only the finest and most expensive materials are utilized in the manu- facture of the various "soft " drinks and other styles of liquor bottled here. Tanglewylde spring water, positively pure and sweet, and Saratoga spring gases (in use in carbonated waters) are used exclusively, and pure fruit syrups. and extracts are manufactured in the plant, by cold process, in porcelain tanks. Two carbonaters, one for high, and one for low pressure, are used, thus keeping the waters charged absolutely free from all vitreous and marble dust. From the time when the pure spring water enters the tanks until the sparkling beverage is corked and labeled in the special bottles of the company (corked with a specially fine "Crown" cork), the entire process is carried on automatically. This finely-equipped plant cost upwards of forty-seven thou- sand dollars, and in 1897 one hundred thousand dollars' worth of business was transacted by the company. In the manufacture, sale and delivery of the beer, ale and lager, carbonated waters, "soft " drinks, etc., forty men are afforded employment and fifteen wagons are kept running continuously. The firm has branch agencies at Mamaroneck and White Plains. All things considered, the works here are as complete as any to be found in New York. city and they are far superior to many of the bottling establishments in vari- ous other large cities. The Hobby Bottling Company contemplate enlarg- ing their plant and buildings by the addition of another floor to the main building in the spring of 1899, doubling its capacity.
William Oakley Hobby was united in marriage, July 14, 1887, to Miss Kate Agnes Rehil, a daughter of Thomas and Rose Rehil, and to this union have been born three children, viz .: Kate, William and Charles.
FRANCIS J. HACKETT.
For the past ten years Francis James Hackett has been engaged in bus- iness in Yonkers, Westchester county, and has won an enviable reputation for square dealing, thoroughness and general reliability. He is quite a factor in local Democratic politics, and is now representing the seventh ward, as an alderman. This ward is the largest one in the place, comprising, as it does, about one-third of the territory covered by the city, and its importance, therefore, is obvious. Mr. Hackett was elected to this office in 1897, and has been in thorough sympathy with all movements of public improvement, judicious expenditure of the people's funds, and progress along all lines. The.
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same good judgment which he exercises in the management of his own busi- ness affairs he brings to bear in his public office, and thus his friends and the citizens in general place great confidence in his ability and wisdom. Often he has been delegated to attend the various conventions of his party, and for years he has been aggressive in the support of the banners of the Democracy. He belongs to the Seventh Ward Democratic Club and is connected with the city fire department. Socially he is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men and of the Knights of Columbus.
Francis J. Hackett is one of the eight children of Charles and Elizabeth (Fitzpatrick) Hackett, five of the number being sons. He was born Novem- ber 23, 1865, in the city of New York and there acquired his education in the public and parochial schools. When he was seventeen years of age he left his studies and entered upon the more serious business of life. His father was a stone-cutter by trade, and the son concluded to follow the same line of business. For five years he worked as a journeyman, and at the end of that time, believing that he was master of the trade, he embarked in the same line of work upon his own account, at his present location on Midland avenue, in the seventh ward. He quarries and deals in all kinds of building stone and does a very extensive business, employing as many as sixty-five men at one time, during busy seasons. By well directed energy and enter- prise he has succeeded in building up an extensive trade, and all with whom he has had dealings speak in terms of praise of the manner in which he fulfils contracts and adheres .to the letter thereof. He is a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church and is liberal in his benevolences and contribu- tions to the worthy poor. Kindly by nature, and having himself worked his own way upward, he is ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortu- nate than himself.
CHARLES HENRY DWORNICZAK.
The subject of this sketch is better known at Croton, New York, where he is engaged in the drug business, by the name of Charles Henry, than he is by his full name. He is a German by birth, early association and education, but has been a resident of this country since 1862 and is thoroughly identified with America and her interests.
He was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1841, and in his native land had the advantage of college training, his education being directed toward the medical profession. He did not, however, enter the practice of that profes- sion. When he started out to make his own way in the world it was as a bookkeeper in a wholesale house in Hamburg, Germany, the business being an American one. In 1862, owing to a lull in business in Germany, he came to America, and the next three years he traveled throughout the United
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States, looking for a business opening, from time to time accepting various forms of employment. Finally, in 1866, he located in Peekskill, New York, and there married Miss Matilda Biettinger, a New Jersey lady.
Mr. Henry continued to reside in Peekskill for two years. In 1868 he went to Plank's Point and opened a barber shop, which he conducted for two years, but owing to ill health he found a change of location was necessary, and his next move was to Croton, where he has since resided. Here he found opportunity to bring into action his medical education. He opened a drug store, soon built up a good business, and has been successfully engaged in this line of trade ever since. On turning his attention to the drug business, he naturally became interested in the drug societies throughout the county and state. For two years he was president of the County Pharmacy Society and he has long been active in pharmacy, his name being No. 68 on the regis- ter of the State Board of Pharmacy. He has a fine library, including a wide range of books on scientific subjects, principally psychology, in which he takes special interest, having been a great student from his boyhood up to the present time. He has written several articles on scientific subjects, and strives to enlighten rather than follow. As a citizen, he is public-spirited and pro- gressive, ever looking to the best interests of his town, and at this writing holds the office of treasurer of Croton. He was one of the organizers of the fire department of the village. He is a member of the United Friends, and politically is a Democrat.
ELBERT S. N. WILLSON.
Mr. Willson is serving as justice of the peace in North Salem, a posi- tion which he has filled for twelve years, with credit to himself and satisfac- tion to his constituents. He is thoroughly impartial in meting out justice, his opinions being unbiased by either fear or favor, and his fidelity to the trust reposed in him is above question. He is regarded as one of the lead- ing and highly respected citizens of North Salem township, and it is, there- fore, consistent that he be represented in a work whose province is the protrayal of the lives of the prominent men of Westchester county.
Mr. Willson is a native of Somers township, and is the only child of Nehemiah and Eliza Ann (Smith) Willson. The father was born in Lewis- borough township, this county, December 14, 1806, and was a son of Jus- tice and Phœbe (Searles) Willson, farming people. The birth of the grandfather is supposed to have occurred on Long Island, New York. His children, all of whom save one are deceased, were: Thomas, who was a farmer of Wisconsin; Belinda, who became the wife of Rev. George Coles; John, a farmer, who died in Massachusetts; Nancy, who was the wife of William Rogers, a silver manufacturer of Hartford, Connecticut; Nehemiah,
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the father of our subject; and Electa, who is the only one living, is unmar- ried and resides in Hartford. The children born to Rev. George Coles and wife were as follows: Mary Frances, who married Rev. Erastus O. Haven, who was one of the leading educators of this country and was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal church for many years prior to his death; Elizabeth, who married Rev. George W. Woodruff, D. D., a Methodist Episcopal min- ister belonging to the Eastern conference of New York; George W. J., who served through the civil war and is now clerking in New York city; and James S., who also was one of the boys in blue, died in the service. In connection with farming Nehemiah Willson, our subject's father, conducted a store in North Salem and for some time he served as supervisor of that place. Politically he was first a Whig and later a Republican. He died in 1889, and his wife passed away in 1884, honored and respected by all who knew them.
Elbert S. N. Willson has always made his home upon his present farm of thirty acres, and to general farming has devoted much of his time. His education was acquired in the North Salem Academy. He now gives special attention to the raising of chickens, having upon his place some very fine specimens of Buff Leghorns and Plymouth Rocks, and has won several premiums at the poultry fairs in New York. He is one of the leaders of the Republican party in his township, and is quite influential and prominent in public affairs, having since 1886 most acceptably filled the offices of assessor and justice of the peace.
On the 19th of October, 1859, Mr. Willson wedded Miss Mary J. Todd, who was born in Lewisborough township November 24, 1836, a daughter of Abraham and Maria (Wescott) Todd. Three daughters bless this union: Eliza Ann, wife of Theodore Knapp, a farmer of Lewisborough township, by whom she had three children, -Lillian, Arthur and Ernest; Florence W., wife of Gilbert B. Burr, a farmer of Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Loretta B., wife of Gilbert M. Anderson, a clerk in New York city, by whom she has one child, Gilbert M., Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Willson and their children are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which he is officially con- nected, and the family are held in high esteem by all who know them.
JOHN O. MERRITT.
Mr. Merritt, who is a prominent contractor and builder at Port Chester, was born December 12, 1837, at Greenwich, Connecticut, which place, by the way, is but three miles from Port Chester, New York. Of this place also his father, William Merritt, was a native, and he also was a mason, contractor and builder, his operations in these lines being very extensive. He died at
From O Menitt
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the advanced age of eighty-six years. During the war of 1812 he enlisted for service in the army, but was not called into action. In his politics he was a Democrat, and in religion a member of the Methodist church. Jesse Merritt, the father of the last mentioned, was also a native of Greenwich, where he passed all his life, also as a mason and contractor, and he also died at the age of eighty-six years. His father was from England, coming with two brothers and settling upon a farm at Greenwich, which place is still in the possession of the family.
William Merritt, the father of John O., married Miss Jane Ann Han- cock, of New York, and a daughter of William Hancock, who was a native of England and a sea captain. He was taken prisoner by the British during the war of 1812 and held in captivity for three years. Mrs. Jane Ann Mer- ritt died when about sixty years of age, a zealous and exemplary Methodist.
Mr. John O. Merritt remained on the farm of his father until twenty-five years of age, learning meanwhile the mason's trade, of his father and an older brother. At that time he came to Port Chester, where he has ever since resided and carried on his trade. After coming here he followed his trade as a journeyman for a short time and then engaged in contracting for and build- ing sewers, walls and large factories,-among the latter being the Glenville Woolen Mills, the New Rochelle school-house, etc. His operations at pres- ent comprise the laying of water pipes, sewers, etc., and road building. He now has a thirty-thousand-dollar contract for laying the track of the trolley street-car line at Port Chester. Mr. Merritt has always been an enterprising and successful man in business. In politics he has ever been an influential and active Democrat; was village trustee three terms, and for seven years was a member of the fire department.
He was united in matrimony with Miss Eliza J. Parker, of Harrison township, this county, and they have two children, -Freeman, a contractor at East Chester, New York; and Edith, the wife of Henry Buckout, of White Plains, this county.
WILLIAM H. AND GEORGE NELSON.
The Nelson Brothers, who are dairy farmers of Somers township, are two of the most energetic and enterprising business men of Westchester county. They embarked in the dairy business about 1878, under the firm name of Nelson Brothers, but business is now conducted under the name of W. H. Nelson. On starting out they had only twenty-five cows, but as their trade gradually grew they purchased more, and now have from five to six hundred head. They have established a large milk depot at No. 210 West Thirty-fifth street, New York city, where they dispose of most of their prod- uct in a wholesale business. Their large farm comprises about twenty-five 34
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hundred acres of valuable land, and in connection with its operation they have been extensively engaged in raising fine horses, and have some excellent specimens of the noble steed upon their place. Both brothers are natural mechanics, and upon their farm they have shops equipped for making all necessary repairs on machinery, etc. They also manufacture their own wagons and have turned out some fine carriages from their factory. They devote about three hundred acres to the raising of corn, which large area implies that the product is the largest amount of that cereal raised on any farm in the county. They started at the very bottom of the ladder finan- cially, but by their combined efforts, industry and determination to succeed, they have built up a most extensive and profitable business, now furnishing employment to about fifty men all the year around.
The parents of these gentlemen were Henry G. and Prudy K. (Sarles) Nelson. The father died in 1860, at the age of forty-seven years, but the mother is still hale and hearty, at the age of eighty. Our subjects were their only children, William being born in 1846, and George in 1850. Both were principally educated in the public schools, though they pursued a business and collegiate course for a short time. They are wide-awake, energetic men of known reliability, and occupy an enviable position in the business world of this part of the country. Both vote the Democratic ticket, but George takes a more active part in political affairs than his brother. He was mar- ried February 17, 1898, to Miss Katie L., daughter of Samuel and Emma Lounsbury, and they reside on the old Nelson homestead, two miles west of Katonah.
GEORGE E. CARRIGAN.
The efficient chief of police of Sing Sing, New York, is a native of West- chester county, born April 14, 1862, and is a son of James Edward and Mary Elizabeth (Anderson) Carrigan. The father also was born in this county, in 1822, and was here reared to manhood. Almost his entire life was passed upon the water, and at the early age of fourteen years he was given command of the sloop Ben Brandreth, plying between Croton and New York city. He was later accredited with being one of the best and most successful navigators that plied the Hudson river, and was the owner of several different vessels, including the Lucy Hopkins, one of the fleetest sloops that ever sailed that stream. She was about one hundred tons burden. For the long period of forty-eight years Captain Carrigan had command of different vessels, and after the organization of the Republican party he was one of its stanch sup- porters. His father was William Carrigan, also a native of Westchester county and a cooper by trade. The Captain is now deceased, but his wife, who was a native of Putnam county, New York, is still living; and of the
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twelve children born to them, seven survive: William H., a resident of Yonkers, New York; Elnora, wife of Charles Acley, of Croton; Marian, wife of Edward Fillmore, of Sing Sing; Mary E., wife of James D. Edwards, of Sing Sing; James Edward, a steamboat pilot and a resident of New York city; George E., our subject; and Clarissa D., wife of Joseph Poria, of Yonkers.
George E. Carrigan was reared in Croton, New York, and was educated in the public schools of that place. When his school days were over he engaged in boating on the Hudson, and on attaining his majority was given command of the schooner George A. Brandreth. Subsequently he was cap- tain of another schooner and continued to follow the water for ten years. He then accepted the positions of deputy sheriff and constable, which offices he held for two years, discharging his official duties in a most commendable manner. Prior to accepting his present position, however, he engaged in the roofing business throughout the state for five years, making his head- quarters first at Yonkers and later at Sing Sing. At the end of that time he was appointed chief of police in the latter city, a position he has since retained, discharging his various duties with promptness and fidelity. He is emphatically a man of enterprise, positive character, indomitable energy, strict integrity and liberal views, and is thoroughly interested in all that con- serves the prosperity of his village and county.
In his political affiliations Mr. Carrigan is an ardent Republican, and socially is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being identified with Sunnyside Lodge, No. 289, of which he is past grand, and also with Columbian Encampment. He is also president of the Sunny- side Association. In 1885 he was married, at Yonkers, to Miss Isabella Bogart, a daughter of Addison and Mary Bogart, and to them have been born two children: William H. and Florence B.
PURDY L. HITCHCOCK, M. D.
Dr. Purdy Leander Hitchcock is one of the best known and leading prac- titioners in Westchester county, New York, where he has been engaged in practice since 1882, having graduated the previous year at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York city.
Dr. Hitchcock was born in Westchester county, New York, September 23, 1850, and is a son of David Hitchcock, a native of Putnam county, New York, descended from English ancestors who were among the early settlers of this country. David Hitchcock is now seventy-seven years of age, strong and robust. By trade he is a carpenter, and for a number of years he was engaged in building.
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Purdy L. Hitchcock received a good education in the schools of his nat- ive county and then commenced a course of study under the direction of Dr. Charles Lee, of Purdy, by whom, perhaps,, more than any other individual was his life shaped. After graduating, in 1881, he took up hospital practice for a time and in 1882 settled in Croton Falls, where he has since remained. Subsequent to his regular professional study he took a post-graduate course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is a member of the Alumni Association of that institution. He has met with gratifying success and has established a reputation as a skilled and careful practitioner. He is a member of the Westchester County Medical Society, and fraternally is identified with the Royal Arcanum. From 1889 to 1892 he was surgeon for the Croton Magnetic Iron Mines.
November 29, 1884, the Doctor married Miss A. Butcher, a woman of refinement and culture, daughter of John Butcher, deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Hitchcock have one child, Grace A.
Dr. Hitchcock takes an active and commendable interest in all the affairs of his town, and as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen is appre- ciated by his fellow citizens. He is a member of the board of education, is health officer, and occupied several other positions of honor and trust. While his life is a busy one, he yet finds time to enjoy the society of a large circle of friends, extending and receiving numerous hospitalities.
JAMES GIBSON, SR.
This citizen of White Plains, New York, has for a number of years been closely identified with the interests of Westchester county. During his res- idence here he has been prospered financially and ranks now not only as one of the leading farmers of his locality but also as one of its capitalists. His record is that of a self-made man, and briefly is as follows:
James Gibson, Sr., was born in the city of Edinburg, Scotland, in the year 1813, was educated in the common schools of his native place, and remained there until his twentieth year. He is next to the youngest of five children, three sons and two daughters, composing his father's family, and and is the only one of that number now living. James Gibson, his father, was a carpenter and builder, following that business throughout his life. The mother of our subject was before marriage Miss Margaret Wright. Both passed their lives in Scotland.
In his youth the subject of our sketch learned the baker's trade, serving an apprenticeship of four years, and shortly after completing his term of serv- ice sailed for America, landing at New York city, May 22, 1834, in the Isabella Irvine, after a long and tedious voyage, covering a period of ten weeks. In.
unes Gibson
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New York he secured work at his trade, saved his earnings and was soon able to start up an establishment of his own, which he did, and there he con- ducted a successful business until 1858, when he sold out and came to White Plains. Here he purchased a farm of seventy acres, located two miles and a half southeast of the town, and on it has since carried on general farming, his land being among the best cutivated and most desirable in the locality. From time to time he has made valuable investments and is to-day the owner of much valuable real estate. He built the Auditorium in White Plains, a fine structure of brick and stone, the first floor used for stores, the second occupied by the Young Men's Christian Association, and the opera-house. Also he owns a good business block on the corner of Lexington and Railroad avenues, which he rents.
Mr. Gibson is a man who has always kept himself posted on the topics of the day, and thinks for himself. In national and state matters he gives his support to the Republican party, but in local affairs he is somewhat inde- pendent, voting for the man he believes best suited for the office rather than adhering strictly to party lines.
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