Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 59

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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at Chicago in 1863, when General Grant was first nomi- nated for President. He was also president of the first Grant Club organized in Brooklyn in the year 1867, and during the Presidential campaigns of 1868 to 1880, was General of the Boys in Blue. He is Past Commander of Devlin Post, No. 148. Grand Army of the Republic, and member of Kings County Republicau General Committee, He is a member of the Hanson Place M. E. Church of this city.

Mr. Tate is a man of firm convictions, positive in all his actions, and to these essential attributes much of his success in public life can be traced. His friendships are lasting, and in his contact with the publie, his courteous and genial manners win for him the kind regard of all.

GEN. ALFRED CUTLER BARNES.

GEN. ALFRED CUTLER BARNES, eldest son of the founder of the well-known publishing firm of A. S. Barnes & Co., was born in Philadelphia, on thic 27th of October, 1842. His father removed to New York in 1845, and to Brooklyn in 1846. Here, while residing in Garden street, the boy commenced his school life, first with the Misses Pinkham, in Henry street; afterwards with Prof. B. W. Dwight, the well-known classical scholar in Livingston street. When the Collegiate and Polytechnic institute was open in 1855, Alfred became one of its first pupils. In the summer of 1857, he attended the Rev. Mr. Fox's boarding school, in Ashland, N. Y., where he graduated as valedictorian, but returned to the Polytechnic in the fall. Entering his father's office during the long vacation of 1858, with the intention of entering Yale College in the autumn, young Barnes be- came enamoured of business, and, commencing as mail- ing clerk, he steadily rose to the head of the jobbing dc- partment, where he enjoyed excellent advantages for travel and commercial acquaintance in the line of his busi- ness. In 1865, after the death of his unele, Mr. Burr, he was admitted into the firm as a partner; and gradually assumed the chief executive management of the busi- ness, which, with his father's valued advice, he has since maintained. In the conduct of the business, Mr. Barnes' views are conservative, following the traditional policy of the house, viz., of only publishing the best elass of books, relying on their merit, and upon honorable methods of business for success.

As a youth, Mr. Barnes possessed decided literary and forensic taste, which he found opportunity of gratifying in the meetings and debates of the " Webster Literary Society," formed in 1856, and of which he was twice President. Hlis pen also found congenial scope in the Educational Bulletin, which he established and person- ally edited until it was superseded by the National Teachers' Monthly. His controversial articles in this journal, especially a series of papers on the methods of teaching German, called forth by a sharp attack upon

Dr. Worman's text-books, attracted much favorable criticism. Barnes's Brief History of the United States, the most successful single book ever published by the house, was especially the enterprise of A. C. Barnes. Under his administration, also, the firm has published, among other important works, the Magazine of Ameri. can History, The International Review, Mrs. Lamb's History of New York City, Ficklin's Mathematics, the New National Readers, Sill's Grammar, Steele's Scientific Books, etc. By the book trade at large, Mr. Barnes has been variously honored. His first appearance at a Trade Convention in July, 1874, was followed, in the fall of the same year, by his election as president of the newly organized " Central Booksellers' Association," comprising all the trade in New York city and its vicinity. A frequent and conspicuous attendant upon the annual general Trade Conventions and the gatherings of the Stationers' Board of Trade, his abilities as a practical business man, and his gifts as a most agreeable "after- dinner speaker," were brought into frequent demand. Of fine personal presence, engaging manners, excellent conversational powers and taet, and clear, alert and logical in his thoughts and powers, he is universally recognized as a leader among the younger school of publishers.

Inheriting the military tastes of his maternal grand. father, Gen. Timothy Burr (a commissary general of the Western Army of the United States, in the war of 1812), Mr. Barnes, in 1860, being then just 18 years of age, joined Company " C," of the 7th Regiment, N. Y. S. N. G .; and almost before he had emerged from " the awkward squad," in which its neophytes are trained, the war of the Civil Rebellion broke ont. He was one of the num- ber, on that memorable day, April 19th, 1861, who filled the ranks of that splendid regiment as it swept down Broadway, amid such patriotic excitement as that great thoroughfare has never before or since witnessed, en route for Washington. When, in 1862, the 23d Regi-

tepredf Barne

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BIOGRAPHIES OF BROOKLYN CITIZENS.

ment, was organized, Mr. Barnes joined Company " E," by transfer from the 7th Regiment. In 1863, he was made " Left General Guide" of the regiment, with the rank of sergeant. In the same year, also, he accompanied his regiment, in its response for a call for troops, to check the rebel advance in Pennsylvania, which advance ended in the memorable battle of Gettysburg. In May, 1864, Sergeant Barnes was elected First Lieutenant of his company, receiving his commission from Gov. Seymour. In 1867, his term of service having expired, he re- signed and remained for nine years inactive. In the in- terval, he was elected Vice-President of the civil organi- zation known as the 23d Regiment Veteran Association, of which eventually he became President. October 23d, 1876, he was elected Major of the regiment, receiving from his " vet " associates a very beautiful sword. In this capacity he served with his regiment in the "railroad riots" of 1877. At Corning, with a command of one hundred men, and " mounted on tlie engine, revolver in hand," he ran his train through an excited mob of rioters whom he awed, in the language of the official report of the Inspector-General of the State, by his " indomitable

pluck and energy." A full account of this interesting expedition, written by Major Barnes himself, appeared in the National Guardsman, June, 1878. As President of the Regimental Court he instituted many improvements in the old methods of conducting trials; was also Presi- dent of the Council of Officers; and was notable as a drill officer, especially in battalion drills. As such he was given command of the 23d Regiment Cadet Corps, the first of its kind in the National Guard, which was organized October, 1877, and which, under his careful handling, developed excellent material for a new com- pany (H) in the regiment proper. When the command of the Second Division of the N.Y.S.N.G. was vacated by the death of Major-Gen. Dakin, 1879, Major Barnes found himself a prominent candidate for the position, backed by many eminent military men and senators. A political dead-lock, however, prevented any appointment at that time. In December, of that year, however, Major Barnes was appointed by Gov. Cornell as General In- spector of Rifle Practice upon his staff, and received a commission (dated January 1st, 1880) as Brigadier-Gen- eral in the National Guard.

Gen. Barnes' idea of rifle range practice was that a general average of excellence should be sought, rather than the superlative excellence of a few. The con- sequence was a gradual, but striking, improvement of the State "figure of merit " in rifle practice (from 18 to 47 in three years). He cut down the individual practice classes from three to two; introduced target firing in ranks; insisted upon theoretical armory drills to prepare for the field; issued sharp-shooters' silver bars, etc., etc. Creedmoor and all other of the State rifle ranges were under his supervision; and he was one of the party of staff officers, designated by Gov. Cornell for the purpose, who selected the site for the perma-

ment State camp at Peekskill, where he superintended the construction of the fine range there established. At the close of Gov. Cornell's administration, Gen. Barnes was succeeded by Gen. C. F. Robbins, who has complimented his predecessor by retaining the practice system almost without change.

Republican in politics, Gen. Barnes was first a dele- gate, in 1876, to the Second District Congressional Con- vention of New York State, from the Twentieth Ward, of which Ward Association (of 2,500 members) he was subsequently twice elected president. In 1877, he was chairman of the Senatorial Convention for the Second District; as he was also of the ward delegation to the City Convention of 1878; and again in 1879 a delegate to the Third District Senatorial Convention; and in 1880 chairman of the Congressional Convention of the Third District. He was a delegate to the New York State Republican Convention of 1881, and prominently named, in 1882, as candidate for Congress in the Second Con- gressional District, as also for Comptroller of the city of Brooklyn, but he declined to permit his name to be used.

In the important local campaign of 1881, Gen. Barnes took a very active part. By the personal request of Mr. Seth Low (then president of the Young Republican Club), he accepted the chairmanship of the citizens' mass meeting at the Rink, which nominated Ripley Ropes for the mayoralty. The regular Republican Convention nominated Gen. Tracy. Subsequently both candidates appeared before a great assemblage in the Academy of Music, at which Gen. Barnes also presided, and withdrew in favor of Seth Low, who was then nominated and triumphantly elected.

Gen. Barnes was appointed a trustee of the East River Suspension Bridge, June 8, 1879, and has since received two re-appointments, viz., in 1881 and 1883. He prepared a description of the great structure, which was published with illustrations, and had a wide circu- lation. He has been for several years a director of the Brooklyn Library, on Montague street, and is now its vice-president.

Gen. Barnes was one of the principal founders of the Oxford Club, which was organized at his residence in 1880, and was its first president, which office he held, by re-election, for two subsequent terms. He was also one of the committee of eminent gentlemen appointed by the Governor of the State of New York to receive the French and German military delegates to the great National centennial celebration of the surrender of Yorktown, during the summer of 1881; and the military arrangements of that reception were under his especial charge. In November, 1883, he was unanimously ten- dered the colonelcy of the Thirteenth Regiment, which he was obliged, owing to other duties, to decline; under great pressure, however, he subsequently recon- sidered, and was elected to the position March 28th, 1884. With his commission as Colonel, his rank of Brigadier-General was also renewed by brevet.

880

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Gen. Barnes is a member of Lafayette Post of the Grand Army of the Republic; a director (from its or- ganization) of The Metropolitan Plate Glass Insurance Co., of the Real Estate Trust Co., the Tehuantepec Railway, the Stationers' Board of Trade, and one of " the council" of the Hamilton Club; also a mem- ber of The Art Association, The Long Island Histori- cal Society, The New England Society, and of the Brooklyn ('itizens' League; is a director of the Brook- lyn C'ity Hospital, and was president, for a year, of the Brooklyn Home for Consumptives; also, he has been a member of the Howard Literary Association; of the Euterpe Musical Sociable (of which he was president, 1878-9). When, in 1869, the Adelphi Academy, orig- inally a private school, was purchased by a number of citizens and placed under a board of trustees, Gen. Barnes was (and is) one of that board, and for several years acted as its secretary.

Gen. Barnes' church connections have been with the Church of the Pilgrims, under the Rev. Dr. Storrs, and with the Clinton Avenue Congregational Church, un- der the pastorates of Drs. Lansing, Budington, and

MeLeod. He has always been active in Sunday-school and mission work, and, in 1874, was elected superin- tendent of the Willoughby Avenue Mission School, which he served in that capacity for four years. In 1882, he was unanimously elected superintendent of the Clinton Avenue Church Sunday-school, but declined. He has also been on the musical committee of the Clinton Ave- me Congregational Church for many years.

On the 27th October, 1863, his twenty-first birthday, Mr. Barnes was married, in Dr. Cuyler's Church, to Josephine E. Richardson, daughter of H. A. Richard- son, Esq. The young couple dwelt at first at No. 9 Lefferts street, but in November, 1866, purchased the house, 182 Cumberland street (Washington Park), where they have ever since resided. Their children are: Harriet J., born 1864; Mary Grace, born 1867, died 1873; and Alfred Victor, born 1870.

Gen. Barnes has made two extended tours in Europe with his family, in 1873 and 1883. In 1870, he visited California, and published his observations in a series of papers for the New York Home Journal, entitled " On the Pacific Rail," over the signature of " Barnacle."

EDWIN BULKLEY.

EDWIN BULKLEY, the son of Andrew and Sarah Dimon Bulkley, was born at Southport, Conn., December 2d, 1817, and was a descendant of the Rev. Peter Bulkley, who settled in Concord, Mass., in 1635, being obliged to leave England on account of his non-conformity to the requirements of the English Church, and who was of the tenth generation, from Robert Bulkley, who was born in the reign of King John.

About 1642, several of the sons of the Rev. Peter Bulkley settled in Fairfield county, of which Southport is one of the towns. Most of Mr. Bulkley's early ancestors were engaged largely in the shipping business, at a time when American ships held the supremacy on the high seas. His grandfather, Eleazer Bulkley, in the year 1788, founded the firm of E. Bulkley & Sons, which continued in business in New York nearly three-quarters of a century.

At an early age, leaving his native town, he came to New York, where, after a few years of business experience as a clerk, in 1838, at the age of twenty-one, in connection with Hiram Gookin and Jeremiah L. Cross, he founded the whole- sale paper house of Cross, Bulkley & Gookin. He continued in the paper business until his death. The firm nanie changed to Bulkley, Dunton & Co. in the year 1865, and has been so known since, his two sons, after his death, taking his place in the firm.

In the year 1865, in connection with the late Colonel Alvah Crocker, of Fitchburg, Mass., and other capitalists, he started the then small village of Turner's Falls, which, by the devel- opment of its unsurpassed water power and natural advan- tages, has since become a thriving town.

Besides being instrumental in founding the Montague Paper Company and Keith Paper Company, in that place, he

was one of the organizers of the John Russell Cutlery Com- pany and the Crocker National Bank, all of which nndertak- ings were carried to a successful completion. He was also largely interested in other undertakings, principally in New England, among them the Winnipisiogee Paper Company, at Franklin, New Hampshire, and the Russell Paper Com- pany, at Lawrence, Mass., of both of which he was President for many years, and several other mills, to all of which he devoted the untiring energy and steadfast endeavor charac - teristic of the man.

IIe came to Brooklyn to reside in the year 1846. He was, till the time of his death, a prominent member of the Church of the Pilgrims, and always gave liberally of his means to the different charitable organizations and educational insti- tutions of the city.

As a man, he was of a quiet disposition, obtaining a degree of pleasure and enjoyment in his home circle which others are accustomed to seek vainly in public life. He was re- markable for his fine judgment in selecting skillful workmen or men to fill positions of trust; and, in times of financial un- certainty, his practical expenditure of time and means were often more helpful than the pleasurable theories often advanced by others of less characteristic decision and energy. In the latter years of his life he suffered from a stroke of paralysis, which resulted in his death, at his old homestead at Southport, July 7th, 1881, at the age of 63.

Ile left a widow and six children-two sons and four daughters. At the time of his death, besides being director and officer in the several large corporations in his own line of business, he was a director of the Bank of North America, the Standard Fire Insurance Co, and tho Southport National Bank,

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BIOGRAPHIES OF BROOKLYN CITIZENS.

HENRY C. HULBERT.

HENRY C. HULBERT, at present senior member of the firm of H. C. Hulbert & Co., New York City, and for over 30 rears a resident of Brooklyn, is a descendant of Lieutenant Thomas Hulbert (or Hurlbut), the ancestor of the Hurlbut Family of Connecticut, and who is said to have been born in England, in 1598, and emigrated to this country in 1630. In 1636, he was an officer of the first company that garrisoned he fort at Saybrook, Conn .; served and was wounded in the Pequot war, and later, settled in Wethersfield, Conn., where le died, about 1673, aged 75 years. From his second son, John, born 1638, and who settled in Middletown, Conn., and through his third son, Ebenezer, born 1638, and his son, Ebenezer 2d,* who died in 1777, and his son, Amos, born in 1752, and died at Lee, Mass., in 1835, and his son, Amos Geer Hulbert, born in 1799, at Weathersfield, Conn., and now liv- ing, at the age of 85, at Lee, Mass., was descended Henry Car !on Hulbert. and two daughters, Maryette, who died at age of 4 years, and Julia, who married Dr. E. Wright, and is now residing at Lee, Mass.

HENRY C. HULBERT was born at Lee, Mass., December 19, 1831, and attended the old Lee Academy until 13 years of age. He then began his mercantile career in his native place by entering the general store of William Taylor. After six months he returned to school at the Lee Academy, where he remained until he was 16 years of age. Early in 1848, he re- entered the store of William Taylor as junior clerk. In May. the same year, he obtained a position in the dry goods store of Plunkett & Hulbert, at Pittsfield, Mass., then accounted the largest dry goods establishment in Berkshire county, where he remained for three years, serving in turn as errand boy, salesman, and, the last year, having been carefully in- structed in accounts, acted as book-keeper and cashier.

* Ebenezer 2d, was a large property-holder and shipping merchant in Chatham, or Portland, Middle Haddam, Conn. He traced back the famlly to England, and found the true spelling of the name was Hulbert. He, at that time, adopted the ancient form, which has been continued by his descendants.

His mother was Cynthia Bassett, a descendant of the family of Bassett and Dymnoke, both early settlers of Plymouth, Mass., and who migrated from Cape Cod, Mass., to Lee, Mass., about 1770. She was a descendant of Sir William Bassett, who landed at Ply- mouth, Mass., In 1621. Her mother's maiden name was Hannah (daughter of Sylvanus and Thankful) Dymoke, cousins; thereby being, as she was very proud of claiming, " a double Dymoke," a descendant of the very anclent and honorable family of Dymoke, in which was vested the hereditary championship of the King and Queen of England.

The office of Royal Champlon Is a very anclent one. It was instl- tuted by Willlam the Conqueror; and, since 1377, has been attached to the manor of Scrivelsby, then held by the Marmion famlly. There belng no male descendant, a Tournament was called, the successful Knight to marry Margery, the daughter, and continue the office. Sir John DeDymoke was the fortunate Knight, and his descendants have since held the honorable position to the present time, through some twenty generations. The late Sir Henry Dymoke, Bart., acted at the coronatlon of William the IV. and Queen Victoria.

The office Is attached to the Lord of the Manor of Scrivelsby, which Is held by the ancient tenure known as "grand sergeantry," in which one liolds lands of the King by service which he has to perform. The service by which Scrivelsby is held, Is that the Lord thereof shall be the King's Chainpion. The duty of the Champion being "at the coronatlon of the King or Queen of England, when the Sovereign Is at dinner to ride cap-a-pie Into Westminster Hall, and by the proclaına- tlon of a herald make a challenge that "if any man shall deny the King or Queen's title to the Crown, he is there to defend it," and he throws down hls gage. This belng done, the King or Queen drink to him and send lilm a covercd gilt cup, full of wine, which the Champlon drinks, having the cup for his fee.

During the last year of his clerkship at Pittsfield, he had a great desire to try his fortune in New York, to which his father strongly objected. Neither the offer of capital to em- bark in business in his native town, nor the representation that only three out of a hundred succeeded, deterred him from his project, his reply being that he intended to be one of the three. To quiet the boy, his father bid him go and see what he could do, feeling there was but a slight chance of his procuring a situation.

On a stormy day, in February, 1851, having procured letters of recommendation and introduction to the firms of Cyrus W. Field & Co., and White & Sheffield, he started for New York in search of employment. The next morning, un- expectedly, he met Mr. Edward S. May, of the firm of E. & S. May, paper manufacturers, of Lee, who accompanied him to the warehouse of Cyrus W. Field & Co., then a power in the paper trade.

Upon his introduction to Mr. Field by Mr. May, and the presentation of his letters, Mr. Field, with his characteristic promptness and suavity, said: "I have no place for you. I know your father. You are of good stock, and if you need New York references, refer to me."

He did not find it necessary to call on Mr. Field again; for, with Mr. May, he proceeded to the office of White & Shef- field, then a leading house in the trade, where, after a few moments' conversation, he was requested to call at 12 M. Prompt to the minute he entered the office, and, during the conversation which ensued, Mr. Sheffield asked him, "what is your intention in coming to New York?" The reply was promptly made: "If you give me a position in your house, I intend to make myself so useful that you will give me an interest in your concern." Pleased with the boy's evident honesty and determination, he made him a proposition to come for a salary of $400 per annum.

He returned the next day to Lee, consulted with his father, accepted the position, and, after arranging his matters in Pittsfield, on March 17, 1851, with $10 given him by his father, and $5 by his mother, with a tearful request that if he needed money at any time, to send to her, but which, fortunately, he never found it necessary to do, he started forth, determined to work his way upward without assistance, if industry and perseverance could accomplish it. Determined to live within his income, he (with a boy from his native town) engaged board in Willoughby street, Brooklyn, occupying an attic bed-room, with only three light of glass in a sliding window, one chair, and small washi-stand. He soon, how- ever, managed, with his friend, to obtain a larger room at a moderate price, but always managed to live within his in- come, and save a little. On the 19th of March he entered the employ of White & Sheffield as office and outside boy.

Although the youngest clerk in the house, Mr. Hulbert was not long in making his usefulness felt. While in Pittsfield he had been accustomed to being at the store from 7 A. M. until 10 to 11 o'clock at night, and the hours of from 8 A. M. to 6 P. M. seemed short to him. He was the first one at the store and the last one away. Having no acquaintances, he was early to bed; and in the morning, refreshed and ready for his day's work, brought to his business all the energy of a New England boy, willing to work in any department where he could be of use to his employers.

In December the same year, the book-keeper and cashier was taken sick, and the firm were discussing how and what

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

should be done to keep up the work and get out the semi- annual aceount of sales. Young Hulbert, hearing the eonver- sation, volunteered to do the work. His offer was received with incredulity at first; the idea that the youngest boy eould fill the place of the highest salaried man in their employ seemed absurd; but as nothing better eould be done, he was bid to try and see what he could do, and, it must be added, with his experience as book-keeper and cashier at Pittsfield, he proved himself competent, and the work was done to the entire satisfaction of all concerned; and from this tine on he was pushed forward, acting as most needed by the firm, in selling, buying, negotiating, etc.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 59

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360