USA > New York > Biographical sketches of the state officers and members of the legislature of the state of New York in 1862 and '63 > Part 20
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He was elected to the Assembly of 1859, which term he served so satisfactorily to his constituents that they re-elected him the next year by the largest majority given to any candidate for the Assembly in the State. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Engrossed Bills and Public Printing, and was again elected in the fall of 1862. He is one of the most intelligent, ready and fluent members of the present Legislature. He has been connected with the Press for some years, is a man of more than ordinary talents, possessing a mind peculi- arly metaphysical, and is a writer of taste and ability.
At the age of twenty-eight Mr. Gover was married to Miss Caroline Cropsey, a lady of superior excellence, who is now dead. He was again married, in 1859, to. Miss Emily Renode, of the city of New York, a lady of great personal attraction and rare excellence. He attends the Universalist Church.
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LOREN GREEN.
MR. GREEN was born in the town of Lebanon, Co- lumbia county, N. Y., and is forty years of age. His parents were from New Jersey. After receiving an ordinary English education he turned his attention to merchandising, in which he now pretends to be engaged. He is not one of the noticeable characters of the House, and is therefore but comparatively very little known outside of the circle of immediate friends in which he moves. His political principles are strongly Republi- can, and he was elected to the Assembly on a straight Republican ticket.
JAMES S. HARING.
MR. HARING was born in Orangetown, Rockland county, on the 26th day of August, 1820, and is now in his forty-third year. He is a descendant of Revolution- ary stock, his grandfather having served under Wash- ington, in the days that " tried men's souls," in command of a company. He had previously, as had his noble commander, served in the French war, and gained an honorable name. His grandson, the subject of this sketch, is now in possession of the old patriot's sword, preserved in the family as a relic of the olden time, and the valorous deeds of its patriotic owner. Mr. Haring's paternal ancestors were from Holland ; his maternal ones
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from England. His father died at the age of seventy- one, in Orangetown, but his mother is still living with the snows of eighty-eight winters upon her head.
Mr. Haring is a farmer, and still resides in the town of his birth, on the old homestead. He is, and always has been, a Democrat, and has several times been honored by his townsmen, with the office of Supervisor; and has also served as Commissioner of Excise several years. He has been twice married, his first wife dying in 1844. He was again married in 1849. Though a very quiet man, he is an exceedingly active and industrious legis- lator, carefully watchful of the interests of his constitu- ents, and never allowing an opportunity to pass unheeded in which they could be benefited. He does not possess, or rather does not practice, the faculty of public speak- ing; but he accomplishes as much good, perhaps more than the most eloquent of his associates. His social qualities are of the highest order, and his personal popu- larity is very great. In person, he is a very tall, dignified looking man, and in his bearing he is courteous, affable and engaging. Though the tallest man in the House, being six feet four, he is every inch a man.
JOHN S. HAVENS.
MR. HAVENS is a native of Brookhaven, Suffolk county, N. Y., where he was born on the 20th of October, 1826, and is now in his thirty-seventh year. He is of Welch and English extraction. His father, John Havens, died at
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Patchogue, in 1850, at the age of sixty-three. His mother is still living. He has a good English education, which he obtained at Belleport Academy, and was fitted for the mer- cantile business, which he now follows.
Mr. Havens is a prominent man in his town, and was Supervisor in the years 1859, '60 and '61. He was Post- master, also, under the administrations of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. His political views are Democratic, and he was elected to the present Assembly as the candi- date of that party. He stands well in the House as a busi- ness member, and is a man of excellent judgment, but seldom mingles in debate, speaking only on important occasions, and when well prepared. What he says is well said, and is generally logical and conclusive. He is quiet and unobtrusive, but gives earnest attention to what is going forward in the House; and attends closely and dili- gently to all matters of interest to his constituents. Indeed, he is a valuable member ; and were the majority of his peculiar cast, temperament and habits, the business of the House would be better done, and the session shortened.
He is a man of fine, social qualities, and has many warm personal friends, yet, strange to say, he lives in a state of " single blessedness." He attends the Congregational Church.
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PALMER E. HAVENS.
This gentleman belongs to that class of self-made men who, under our liberal institutions, form the most substantial portion of the community. Without the adventitious aid of wealth or influence in early life, they work their way slowly but surely to positions of com- petence and distinction. Such men are entitled to commendation and never fail, in the end, of being appreciated by their fellow citizens.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Moriah, Essex county, on the 24th November, 1818. The only means of education to which he had access until sixteen years of age, were found in the common schools of his native place, yet such was the vigor of his intellect and the assiduity to which he devoted himself to study that even at that early period he was prepared to enter upon the duties of teacher himself. This occu- pation he pursued for ten years, acquiring in the mean- time, by self effort and without aid, an extensive know- ledge of mathematics and the higher English branches. During the same time he studied law, and was so far successful, notwithstanding his other engagements and pursuits, that he was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-five.
On the west shore of Lake Champlain, half way be- tween its northern and southern extremities, nestling, in their season, among fruits and flowers, stands the charm- ing little village of Essex. The broad expanse of water in front-the Green Mountains looming up to the clouds
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in the distance-to the northeast the steeples of the Queen village of Vermont glittering in the sun, steamers and sail craft gliding to and fro, all combine to form a picture of such exceeding beauty as is rarely to be found.
This spot, the abode of wealth, intelligence and refine- ment, Mr. Havens selected, upon his admission to the bar, as the scene of his future labors. His industry, and the unflagging perseverance he exhibited in protecting the interests of his clients, at once gave him a wide reputation, and brought him an extensive business. The favorable estimation in which he was held by his fellow townsmen is evidenced by the fact that during eight years he held the office of Superintendent of Com- mon Schools, two years that of Town Clerk and two years Supervisor.
In the fall of 1861 Mr. H. was brought forward as the Republican candidate for the Assembly. During the existence of the Whig party he had been an active and earnest supporter of the principles of that organi- zation, but upon its dissolution, united with the Repub- licans with whom he still acts. Americanism, in its day and generation, was of most remarkable growth and strength in the little town of Essex. At least three- fourths of its voters wrapped themselves in the Ameri- can flag, and took upon themselves the obligations of the order beneath the outstretched wings of the Ameri- can Eagle, leaving but few Democrats and still fewer Republicans. The prospects of a Republican candidate running for the Assembly in a town exhibiting the poli- tical complexion of Essex, to the eye of an ordinary
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observer, were not flattering. And yet, such was the esteem in which he was held, that out of a vote of two hundred and forty-eight he received two hundred and twenty-seven.
In the Legislature of 1862 he was distinguished for his close attention to business and gave evidence of his ability in his advocacy of the bill for the Public Defense and other measures. On returning home at the close of the session, he was met by his constituents who publicly demonstrated their approval of his course, and in the succeeding fall renominated and re-elected him.
The limit, to which we are necessarily confined in these sketches, does not permit us to speak at large of his course in the session of 1863. Suffice it to say, that his speeches in the Committee of the Whole, upon the Governor's Message, which have been widely circulated, have established his reputation as one of the ablest debaters in the House, while his uniform courtesy and gentlemanly bearing, has secured him the respect of all his associates. Possessed of an unblemished reputation -in the prime of life-popular both at home and abroad, we see nothing in the way of his future advancement, and cannot otherwise regard him than as one of the rising men of the day.
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WILLARD J. HEACOCK.
MR. HEACOCK is forty-one years of age, and was born in Johnstown, Fulton county, N. Y. He is now a resident of Gloversville, where he is engaged in manu- facturing. His ancestors were residents of Connecticut, and he has inherited many of the peculiarities of the people of New England. His politics are of the Republi- can school. He has always been quite active in the local management of his party where he resides, and in 1860 was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Republican State Convention at Syracuse. He represented the manu- facturers of his section before Congress on the Tax bill, and during the past summer was Chairman of the War Committee in his county. He is a gentleman of good business capacity and makes a capable representative.
BYRON HEALY.
This gentleman is a lawyer of considerable ability, resident in Warsaw, Wyoming county, N. Y. He was born in Dansville, Steuben county, somewhere about thirty-one years ago, and, doubtless, was well taken care of, nurtured and brought up in a path of some kind, and educated for the profession which is now the business of his life. This is all we know of his early history, having labored in vain to procure more
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particular data. He was elected to the present Assem- bly by a majority of twelve hundred and ninety-eight.
Mr. Healy is a man of decided ability, and has dis- tinguished himself in debate. He is Chairman of the Committee on Railroads, one of the most important committees in the House, and is well adapted to the dis- charge of its arduous duties. He is an industrious, working member, and although proven to be abun- dantly capable, does not consume much of the time of the House in making speeches. He seems to prefer going ahead with the business of legislation to any oratorical display of political knowledge or Buncombe literature. His political antecedents, as gathered from his speech on the Governor's Message, were Demo- cratic ; but on the breaking out of the rebellion, he deemed it his duty to sustain the National Government, and hence joined with the Republicans on that ground. He was elected to the Legislature as a Union Democrat.
Mr. Healy is unmarried, and is a gentleman of fine social qualities, making friends wherever he goes.
THOMAS H. HILL.
MR. HILL is a native of the county of Cavan, Ireland, and is one of the youngest men in the House, being only twenty-five years of age. He is a lawyer, engaged in the practice in the city of New York, and is said, by those who know him best, to possess considerable
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talent. His course, however, in the Assembly has been so quiet, and his social intercourse so exclusive, that it is exceedingly difficult to judge either of his ability as a representative or his qualities as a man. He is a staunch Democrat, and was elected to his present posi- tion by a handsome majority.
ERVIN HOPKINS, JR.
We have been able to obtain but little information touching the history of this gentleman. From the official list of the Members of Assembly, however, we learn that he is a native of Hebron, Washington county, one of the towns composing the district lie now repre- > sents. From the same source it further appears that he is married, a farmer by occupation, thirty-six years of age, weighs one hundred and ninety pounds avoirdupois, and lacks an inch of being six feet high.
It is his first term in the Assembly, to which he was elected over William Coleman, of Sandy Hill, a very formidable competitor, by a majority of five hundred and sixteen. He was a member of the Whig party during its existence, since which time he has been an active and earnest Republican.
MR. HOPKINS is one of the non-speaking members, but attentive to the duties of his position, and rarely absent from his seat. He is gentlemanly in his inter- course, and prepossessing in personal appearance. With
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a little more self-assurance, united with his native good sense, and agreeable manners, he would be more con- spicuous than he is at present in the House. No doubt, however, his constituents are as faithfully represented, as they would be, if his tongue were a yard long.
TIMOTHY A. HOPKINS.
MR. HOPKINS is the oldest of five brothers and two sisters, now living, and was born on the 5th day of Feb- ruary, 1805, in the town of Amherst, Erie county, N. Y., and is now fifty-eight years of age. He is of Welch descent on his paternal and Irish on his maternal side. His father, General Hopkins, was a native of Great Bar- rington, Massachusetts, and his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Ann Kern, was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey. They were married in Amherst in 1805. Gen. Hopkins served on the frontier during the war of 1812, and died in Amherst in 1853, aged seventy-seven. His wife died in 1848, aged sixty-nine.
Mr. Hopkins received an ordinary common school education, whilst engaged in working the farm. He remained with his parents until 1826, when he estab- lished himself at Elyria, Loraine county, Ohio, in the manufacture of cast iron plows. In 1828 he returned to Amherst, and engaged in the business of selling clocks in the western counties of New York and Penn- sylvania, extending his route into Ohio, Kentucky and Canada. In 1844 he purchased an interest in the mills
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at Williamsville, in the town of Amherst, and com- menced the manufacture of lumber and water lime, which business he still continues, having purchased the entire establishment.
Mr. Hopkins has been highly honored with office, both civil and military. From 1828 to 1838 he served in the State Militia, as Captain and Lieut .- Colonel. In 1840 he was elected Supervisor, and held the office five years. From 1841 to 1856 he held the office of Justice of the Peace; and in 1847 he entered upon the duties of the office of Sheriff of the county of Erie, to which he had been elected the previous fall. He now represents the third district of Erie county in the Assembly, having been elected by a majority of nine hundred in Novem- ber, 1862, over William Westover.
The course of Mr. Hopkins from his youth up indi- cates great energy, enterprise and perseverance. That he is a good citizen, a man of probity and worth, is evident from the confidence reposed in him by the peo- ple of his town and county during the whole period of his residence among them-from his birth to the present moment. He is also an excellent legislator, attending exclusively to his duties, and laboring zealously for the benefit of his constituents.
In politics Mr. Hopkins was originally a Whig, and cast his first vote for John Quincy Adams in 1828. On the breaking up of the Whig party, not relishing the abolition bearing of the Republican creed, he joined the Democrats, and now acts with and represents that party. He was married in 1831 to Miss Hannah Wil- liams, who died on the 6th day of April, 1856. Since
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that time he has remained a widower. He has no religious preferences, and tolerates all denominations.
NATHANIEL M. HOUGHTON.
The representative of the Northern district of Sara- toga, was born at Corinth where he still resides, and is forty-six years of age. He is of New England descent, his father being a native of Massachusetts, his mother, of Vermont.
He was a Member of the last Legislature serving on the Committee on Railroads, and was also Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Depart- ment. He is a Republican of the first water, and was elected to the present House over Samuel Y. Rockwell, Democrat, by a majority of over one thousand.
He is a member of the medical profession; a gen- tleman of good personal presence, weighing one hun- dred and eighty pounds, and is about five feet eight . inches in height.
It is seldom he indulges in debate, but when he does take the floor his manner is somewhat peculiar. He belongs to that class of orators who " tear a passion to tatters." No matter how indifferent and unimportant the subject, he throws into it all the energy of voice, and wildness of action that characterizes Forest in his most ranting moods. He swings his arms about him in a manner dangerous to bystanders ; shakes his bushy locks down over his eyes, and altogether presents an
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interesting tragic appearance. "Wake me up when Kirby dies."
BERNARD HUGHES.
MR. HUGHES is a genius, a man of decided talent, and a humorist. He is a ready speaker, very fluent ; and for pointed sarcasm surpasses every member of the House. His speeches, though apparently unpremedi- tated, are well arranged, cogent, logical, sometimes rhetorical, and always pungent, forcible and eloquent. When he speaks he elicits marked attention-his audi- ence expecting to be treated with a rich repast, in which, generally, they are not disappointed. He says what no other man can say, and in a manner which none can imitate : and the marked attention which is given to him attests the interest he excites, and the power he exercises. He is emphatically an original ; and his eccentricity is of that kind which gives zest to every word that he utters, and imparts a meaning to every look and gesture. He is a true Irish wit ; and his gems sparkle brilliantly through all his efforts, giving light and life to his subject, and affording a glow of delight and approbation to all within his hearing. His language is pure, and often beautifully expressed, with just enough of the brogue in his enunciation to add to the interest that his eloquence inspires.
Mr. Hughes, as might have been anticipated from what is written above, was born in the town of Caladon,
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Tyrone county, Ireland, and is forty years of age. His ancestry is good, and many of his progenitors have dis- tinguished themselves in the various walks and occupa- tions of life. He was educated in Ireland, and pursued his studies in reference to his future occupation as a lawyer, and devoted much time to the study of the British classics, Roman and Grecian history. In 1847 he emigrated to this country, and located in Buffalo, where he married a Miss Hawson. In 1852 he gradua- ted at the Law University in Albany, and in 1860 re- moved to Brooklyn, where he now resides, and practices law in the city of New York.
In the fall of 1862 he entered the lists for the Assem- bly, and ran as a stump candidate, beating the regular Democratic and two Republican candidates, by a plu- rality of six hundred and seventy-four over his Demo- cratic brother, and a still greater vote over the Repub- lican nominees. He is a straight Democrat. As a legis- lator he has carved out for himself a good reputation, and efficiently serves his constituents and the State. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
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CHARLES HULETT.
This gentleman is one of the most useful, valuable and trustworthy members of the Legislature. He rarely speaks, but when he rises in his place, he is always sure to speak to some purpose. He uses no pearls of poetry or flights of fancy, but deals altogether in the purest and strongest Anglo-
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Saxon, advancing in a straight, geometrical line, directly to the real point in controversy. Frequently, when the House has been put to sleep by an overwhelming dose of carefully written speeches, the gentleman from Chemung suddenly throws a bomb-shell into the midst of the Cham- ber, which startles every one with a true understanding of the matter under discussion. He is a perfect terror to the lobby, whose numbers about the Capitol this winter are unprecedented, threatening to render this Legislature even more disreputable than that of 1860, and he has the integ- rity and manhood to steer clear of all "entangling alli- ances."
M.R. HULETT is a genuine Yankee, descended from distin- guished ancestry. He is a native of the town of Redding, Windsor county, Vermont, and is fifty-eight years of age. Although receiving a limited English education, he is chiefly self-taught, having through life devoted a great share of his leisure time to study. He is now a successful farmer in Chemung county, and is considered one of the safest and most reliable men in that section of the State. In politics, he is a bold, straightforward and unswerving Democrat, and was elected to the Assembly in a district hitherto strongly Republican. He is a gentleman of fine, social qualities, and wields a strong personal influence wherever he is known. He has filled almost every office in the gift of the people of his town and county, discharging his duties with credit to himself and entire satisfaction to his constituents.
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ROBERT C. HUTCHINGS.
MR. HUTCHINGS Was a Member of Assembly in 1861, serving with credit on the Judiciary Committee, and occupying a prominent position on the floor of the House. He was renominated in the fall of the same year, but was defeated by seven votes by the Hon. Royal Phelps, one of the most prominent merchants of the city of New York, and a leading man in the last Legislature.
Mr. Hutchings is next to the youngest man in the House, and was the youngest in 1861. He was born in the city of New York, and is only twenty-six years of age. He is descended from Knickerbocker and Pu- ritan stock. Both his parents are living, his father, Edward W. Hutchings, a gentleman of high character, being now about the age of fifty-two.
Mr. Hutchings was educated at Princeton College, N. J., where he graduated in the class of 1858. After leaving college he sailed for Europe, and passed over a year in the study of the civil law in Paris, acting, during the first Italian war, as a correspondent of one of the principal New York papers. In 1859 he returned to the United States, and in the spring following graduated at the Columbia Law School, receiving the valedictory honor of his class, He was subsequently admitted to the bar, and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession in his native city. Politically, he has always been a Democrat of the old-fashioned Hardshell stamp, but whenever a candidate before the people, he
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has never failed to receive the united support of the party, and always ran far ahead of his ticket.
Mr. Hutchings is a ready, fluent and eloquent speaker, and is doubtless one of the most accomplished writers in the Legislature. Although culm, quiet and unassu- ming in his public conduct, he has many friends both inside and outside of the Legislature, and has exhibited a degree of representative ability which qualifies him well for almost any position in the gift of the people. He delivered some of the most logical and eloquent speeches that were made in the House in 1861, and that delivered by him at the present session on the Gov- ernor's Message reflected great credit on his head and heart.
He is a young gentleman of pleasant exterior, and generally makes friends wherever he goes. He is about medium in height, with an elegantly-formed body, and has dark, intelligent blue eyes, glossy brown hair and mustache, and a smooth, good-natured face, strongly indicative of a warm-hearted, generous disposition.
SAMUEL E. JOHNSON.
MR. JOHNSON was born in Newtown, Queens county, N. Y., in 1816. His father, the Rev. Ezra M. Johnson, is still living at the age of seventy, and is actively en- gaged in the duties of the Ministry in Brooklyn. He has been a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, and has lived and preached in that city without any salary since
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1824. He married the daughter of the Rev. John B. Johnson, the first minister who officiated in the two- steepled Reformed Dutch Church in Albany, who left a large real estate in Brooklyn, which descended to the mother of the subject of this sketch and her two broth- ers, the Rev. William D. Johnson, D. D., rector of Grace Church, Jamaica, and the Rev. Samuel R. John- son, D. D., President of the Episcopal General Theo- logical Seminary in New York.
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