Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 60

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

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Soon after, a misunderstanding having arisen between White & Sheffield and Cyrus W. Field & Co., the feeling ran so high that the latter returned unanswered the letters of the former. Mr. Sheffield directed Mr. Hulbert to take a letter in person to Mr. Field and settle the matter. Entering Mr. Field's office and presenting Mr. Sheffield's letter to Mr. Field, the latter read it and passed it to his partner, who, having read it, returned it to Mr. Field, who, without a word, directed his contidential elerk to return the same to White & Sheffield. Mr. Hulbert, who had hitherto kept silent, sug- gested at this point that a settlement was no doubt desired by all parties, but that it could never be reached by returning letters nnanswered. "Are you empowered to settle this mat- ter." asked Mr. Field, sharply. Mr. Hulbert replied he was, and forthwith entered into the discussion, which resulted in settling the affair to the satisfaction of his employers, and from this time he was entrusted with many matters requiring careful and delicate manipulation. He advaneed rapidly in the trust and confidence of his employers, and so valuable did he become. that January 1st, 1855, less than four years from the time he obtained his position as youngest boy, he was given an interest in the profits in lieu of a salary. Jan- uary 1st, 1856, at the age of 24 years, he was admitted a partner in the concern, the firm name being changed to J. B. Sheffield & Co., thus fulfilling his promise made Mr. Sheffield, in 1851, that he intended to make himself so valuable they would give him an interest in their firm.

September 13tli, 1854, at the age of 22 years, Mr. Hulbert was married to Miss Susan R. Cooley (step-daughter of Wm. Porter, Esq., Attorney-at-Law', of Lee, Mass. He was then on a salary of $1,000 per year and was worth less than $300, but he had no fear of his ability to furnish a good support. Two years later Mrs. Hulbert became a confirmed invalid, unable to even turu herself in bed, and for three years re- mained in this most helpless condition, and it was over seven years before she was restored to full health again. The ex- penses incurred taxed thie pluck and resources of the young merchant to the extreme, and though the panic of 1857 swept away a portion of his profits, he managed to preserve his financial credit intact.

During the crisis of 1857 he went West, and rendered im- portant services to his house by making settlements and opening new accounts; his office knowledge enabling him to form a just estimate of the financial condition of his customers.

On January 1, 1858, the term of the co-partnership of J. B. Sheffield & Co, expired, and Mr. Ilulbert declined to renew it, although offered tifty per cent. advance on his former interest. In March, 1858, a settlement with J. B. Sheffield & Co. having been effected, he formed a new co-partnership with his consin, Milan Hulbert, of Boston, as general partner, and Otis Daniell, of the same place, as special partner. The name of the new firm was H. C. & M. Hulbert, its capital WALS $10,000, and the principal business it proposed to carry on was the sale of paper makers' supplies, the sale of paper

being only a seeondary objeet. H. C. Hulbert was then only 26 years old. Immediately on the formation of the firm he went to Europe to make connections for purchasing paper- makers' materials, and sueceeded in obtaining valuable excl 1- sive ageneies, which the house retains at the present day. He returned in October, 1858, and opened a house at 83 John street. Thus began the firm of H. C. & M. Hulbert, which enjoyed a prosperous and honorable eareer to the time of its dissolution in 1872.

At the time of Lineoln's election Mr. Hulbert was in Eng- land, and the news reached Liverpool the day after he had sailed for New York. It was not until the steamship arrived off Sandy Hook, and a pilot had brought some papers in board, that he became aware of the fact. Mrs. Hulbert, wh was standing beside him as he glanced over the paper -. asked him what was the matter. "Nothing, " he replied, "ex ept that there is the biggest kind of a panic in New York." During the erisis of 1857, Cyrus W. Field's partners suspend while he was on the way from Liverpool to this eity, anil the recollection of that eircumstance at this time not unnaturally caused Mr. Hulbert the gravest anxiety. When the ship reached her pier the first representative of his house that he met was a small boy. "Well Johnny," said he, what is the news?" "Oli, nothing, sir," replied the boy, " except every - body's 'busting.'" "What ! have we 'busted,' Johnny " "Oh, no, sir ! We ain't that kind." Mr. Hulbert said after- wards that the relief afforded by the boy's answer was inex- pressible. Going from the steamer direct to the Astor House, and leaving his wife with the remark that he might not be home until late, he went to his warehouse, and, before leaving, made himself fully acquainted with the exact condition and every detail of the firm's finances, and the next day was at his post planning and arranging the affairs of the firm. The house never, even during the trying times of 1861-62. received any financial aid from its special partner, or asked a final il favor from any of its creditors.

At this time, H. C. & M. Hulbert were doing business with Goodwin & Sheldon, paper-makers, near Hartford. Some of their paper passed into the hands of the old Hartford Bank, which, taking a sudden fit of uneasiness, sent to inquire about the Hulberts, of Leonard Church, who had been president of the Lee Bank, at Lee, Mass., but had afterward removel t) Hartford. Mr. Church replied, " I do not know how much money they have ; but I know the boys and the stock they come from, and if you have any of their paper that you din't want. I will take it, less interest." The bank, it is neeiless to add, did not part with the paper.

Goodwin & Sheldon eventually failed, owing, among other-, H. C. & M. Hulbert and David Leavitt, well known for y-r as the president of the American Exchange Bank, who was a connection of Mr. Goodwin. Mr. Hulbert had secured hus elaim by a special agreement, but when he met Mr. Leavitt in Hartford, for the purpose of effecting a settlement, the latter disputed the validity of this agreement. Mr. Hebert said he was willing to leave the matter to the decisies of their lawyers, so the party adjourned to Mr. Hulbert's room in the hotel, where the legal gentlemen proceeded to argue the question. Mr. Hulbert's lawyer cited a precedent which Mr. Leavitt's lawyer declared was not in a parallel case. The former began to argue that it was a parallel case, when Mr Hulbert suddenly interrupted him by saying : "Allow me to suggest that you ask one question, and that is, in what request the parallel does not hold ?" llis lawyer saw at once theadven- tage to be gained by pressing that question, anl the other side, finding that it was not as easy to demonstrate t deny, yielded within three minutes. Mr. Hulbert therefore got his money. This transaction greatly pleased Mr. Lsvilt,

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BIOGRAPHIES OF BROOKLYN CITIZENS.

notwithstanding that he lost money by it; and returning to New York in the same train with Mr. Hulbert, he said : "Hulbert, do you get as much accommodation as you want at the American Exchange Bank ?"

"Not always," replied Mr. Hulbert.

" Well," said Mr. Leavitt (who was its former president), "if they don't treat you liberally let me know and I will see you are well cared for."

On May 1, 1861, the firm moved from 83 John street to 13 Beekman street, where it remained for twenty years. On January 1, 1862, Mr. Daniell sold out his interest in the busi- ness to the general partners, on the most liberal terms, giving them three years, to pay in installments without requiring any security whatever. Notwithstanding that the firm sus- tained heavy losses from the panic of 1861, Mr. Daniell re- ceived, in addition to his original capital, a handsome share of profits.

On the first of January, 1872, Milan Hulbert withdrew from the firm. H. C. Hulbert then took into partnership Joseph H. Sutphin and George P. Hulbert, and the name of the firm was changed to H. C. Hulbert & Co. Both of these young gentlemeu had been clerks in the house from boyhood, and the latter was a cousin of the head of the firm. George P. Hulbert died before the close of 1872, and the other part- ners have continued under the same firm name. Up to this

date the credit of the house ranks as high as that of any firm in the trade.

Mrs. Hulbert died in August, 1882, leaving two daughters, one of whom, Susan C., is the wife of Mr. Jos. H. Sutphin (Mr. Hulbert's only partner); the younger daughter, Caroline Beardsley Hulbert, was born October 5, 1870.

Mrs. Hulbert was for many years the treasurer of the Brooklyn Industrial School and Home for Destitute Children, in which she always took a deep interest. Mr. Hulbert is also one of its avdisors.

Mr. Hulbert has never sought office or allowed his name to be used except with the strongest and best corporations in the country.

He has been for many years a director in the Importers' and Traders' National Bank of New York. He is one of the trustees of the South Brooklyn Savings Bank. He is also one of the directors of the Pullman Palace Car Co., as well as of several other companies.

January 1, 1880, Mr. Hulbert shook off the cares of busi- ness, which he had borne for nearly thirty years, and, with his family, started on a pleasure trip for England, Egypt, Palestine, Athens, Constantinople and the Continent, return- ing to New York in September the same year, since which time he has, as usual, been managing his various in- trests.

AARON D. FARMER.

AARON D. FARMER .- There are in the United States nearly 10,000 newspapers, and probably twice that number of printing offices for the production of every class of printing, from a business card to an encyclopedia; and in every one of these offices, to every printer employed therein, the name of the firm of Farmer, Little & Co., is as a household word. This house was established in 1810; and, in the early part of this century, was owned by Elihn White, and located at the corner of Lombard and Thames streets, New York.

Aaron D. Farmer, the senior member of the firm now, and for many years past, the owner of this time- honored enterprise, was born in Bolton, Tolland county, Conn., in January, 1816.

In 1830, he came to New York, and entered Elihu White's type foundry, then located as above stated, where his efficiency in the manufacturing department was recognized, and he was made manager of the same. Charles T. White & Co. were the successors of Elihn White, and were superseded, in 1857, by Farmer, Little & Co.

Of the present members of the house it can be said that they are all active workers and practical men in their trade; the senior member of the firm having been for more than half a century continuously connected with the business, to numerous details of which he still gives his personal attention, though past the age

at which a less active man would have relinquished his cares to younger heads and hands.

Mr. Farmer is exceedingly strong and well pre- served, mentally and physically, and the enterprise of his younger years, the influence of which contributed not a little to the growth and prosperity of his cel- ebrated house, seems to be unimpaired by the passage of time. He is a Republican in political faith, though in no sense of the term a politician, and has for many years been an attendant upon the services of old St. Anne's church, and a liberal supporter of its various interests. He married Sarah Burns, of New York, and has two daughters and a son. The latter, Mr. William W. Farmer, is a member of the firm of Farmer, Little & Co., and from early youth has accns- tomed himself to the various processes of type mann- facture, and is now practically conversant with the entire range of knowledge in this special department; surpassed, perhaps, by his father only, who is often called upon by type founders of long experience as an expert in many nice questions, which, from time to time, arise concerning type and its mannfacturc.

The firm of Farmer, Little & Co. employ from two hundred to two hundred and seventy-five hands, and make all descriptions of plain and ornamental types, borders, rules, dashes and ornaments, besides making their own type-casting machines, steel punches, mat- rices, and other necessary appointments to a first-class type foundry.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

DANIEL C. ROBBINS.

DANIEL C. ROBBINS, of the well-known firm of Mckesson & Robbins, wholesale druggists and manu- facturing chemists, was born at Roslyn, New York, in the year 1815. He engaged in the drug business as an assistant in an apothecary establishment in the year 1826, and continued in this pursuit until April 1st, 1833, when an arrangement was made with the firm of Oleott & MeKesson, who had commenced the wholesale or jobbing trade in Maiden Lane, New York, in the month of January previous. Mr. Robbins, while engaged in this establishment, continued his studies in pharmaey; and graduating in the New York College of Pharmacy in the year 1836, was admitted into partnership with Charles M. Olcott and John McKesson in the year 1841. The new firm took the title of Oleott, Mckesson & Co., and commeneed business by purchasing the stock and good will of David Pratt, the suecessor of the old house of Warren, Pratt & Co .; and in the following year they purchased the premises and building at 127 Maiden Lane, to which they removed on the 1st of May, 1842.

The warehouse, with stoek and fixtures, was entirely destroyed by fire on the 2d of July, 1850, but the premises were rebuilt within a few months, and a new partnership established by the same partners, under the firm name of Olcott, Mckesson & Robbins.

Mr. Charles M. Olcott, the senior partner, died in August, 1853, and the business was continued by Mckesson & Robbins, which has continued to be the firm title of the house. Mr. Geo. B. Gilbert, Mr. Olcott's assistant in the financial department of the business, was admitted as a partner in January, 1854. John Mckesson, Jr., was admitted in 1865, William Hull Wiekham in 1870, and Charles A. Robbins, son of D. C. Robbins, in 1876, all of whom had been previously connected with the house as assistants in various capacities. To keep pace with the progress of trade, and to meet the requirements of an increasing business, Messrs. Mckesson & Robbins built, in 1855, a large business warehouse, which is situated on Fulton street, near William street. The building is a brick structure with a front on Fulton street of 50 feet, and comprises Nos. 91 and 93 Fulton street, and 80, 82 and 84 Ann street, with an area of a little over 50 by 120 feet, with 5 stories in front on Fulton street and 6 stories in the rear on Ann street, with basement and vaults and s'beellar, making a total of 50,000 square feet of floor room on the premises.

As this main building in time came to be wholly required for the display of stock and for the execution of orders, the storage of goods was mainly accomplished in three other and separate buildings. From the incon- venience arising from this want of concentration of

stock, and the necessities of an increasing business, the firm built, in 1879, an adjoining building, 50 by 120 feet, thus doubling their former spaee.

The principal part of this additional extension, 50 by 120 feet, is now occupied by extensive apparatus for the manufacture of chemieal and pharmaceutical prepara- tions. In addition to their extensive importing, dis- tributing and manufacturing business, MeKesson & Robbins are considerable exporters to Central and South America and the West India Islands, and other foreign countries.

The firm has kept up with the progress of the trade. and with every improvement in the practice of phar- macy, as well as in mercantile business. They have aimed to place themselves at the head of their profession, and their success in these endeavors is generally admit- ted. They are largely engaged in the manufacture of well-known medicinal and offieinal specialties which are widely used and approved. They were the first to introduce into general use the capsulation of quinine and other medicinal drugs, whereby the preseriptions of physicians have been rendered less obnoxious without interfering with their efficaey; while such a perfeet divi- sion and combination of materials is effected that every capsule or pill, as these are frequently called, is abso- lutely certain to contain the actual amount in the formula.

The importance of this can be readily appreciated where active poisons are preseribed, and it has almost revolutionized the dispensing of medieines. In mer- cantile transactions in the purchase of crude drugs, the same care and foresight has been manifested; and this distinguished house, which is the growth of half a cen- tury of steady application and development, possesses superior facilities and a most enviable reputation where- ever known. Indeed, it would be difficult to point out any important locality where it is not known, because the drug trade is the least circumseribed of all pursuits. All the most important remedies in the crude or nat- ural form are indigenous to special countries; as, for example, quinine, one of the most important of all remedies, is the produet of the cinehona tree, which only grows at a high elevation, while it is the special remedy for the depressing malarial diseases which pre- vail in low countries. In this connection it may be said that the science and the practice of medicine is similar in all civilized countries, as a constant exchange of remedies and of collective experience takes place. The profession, also, of medicine, while it may not be said to hold a superior place among other professions, Is really one of the most important, because it cannot be circumscribed by any future progress. Wars may

That Pitting

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BIOGRAPHIES OF BROOKLYN CITIZENS.

cease, the practice of law may be greatly limited, and the work of the teacher of the race improve, or the cultivation of its powers become less difficult, and there- fore less important; but the province of the physician will never be less needful, for all the great problems of birth and life and death can never be diminished; they can only be more appreciated as civilization advances. Among the truths which pertain to human life, none is better understood among intelligent observers than the fact that as all the savage races disappear when placed in contact with civilized life, the continuance of civilized life is hardly possible without the care of medi- cal science and those sanitary provisions which increase in importance with the increase of population everywhere.

Mr. Robbins was married, and became a resident of Brooklyn, in the year 1846. IIe has the good fortune to be surrounded with all those attractions for which Brooklyn is justly famons as a city of model American homes. He is an old and highly-estcemed citizen, and has always evineed a warm interest in the growth and development of the city where lic resides. IIe is an able contributor to the literature of his profession; and has earned a degree of learning, experience and literary ability in the improvement of his profession, and in the diseussion of commercial questions in which the publie is greatly interested, which gives him a deserved reputation in the business circles of the metropohs as well as in the country at large.

LEWIS T. LAZELL.

MR. LEWIS T. LAZELL, senior member of the well- known firm of Lazell, Marsh & Gardiner, wholesale dealers in drugs and druggists' supplies, at No. 10 Gold street, New York, and for many years a resident of Brooklyn, is descended from Huguenot stock, and was born in Bellingham, Massachusetts, February 19, 1825.

The first of the name of Lazell, in America, came to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1637. The family re- mained in that State, and many of the name, in sneces- sive generations, lived in the vicinity of Hingham, and of Bridgewater. Joshua Lazell, great-grandfather of Lewis T. Lazell, lived at Bellingham, Massachusetts, was a soldier in the American cause in the Revolution, and was at Boston at the time of the battle of Bunker Ilili, but is thought not to have participated in that historical engagement.

Joshua Lazell had children named Warren, Daniel, John, Lavinia and Elias. John, one of these, removed to Ohio, and became a judge, and was known as a prominent man in his time. Daniel was a farmer at Bellingham, and was a leader among the Baptists of that locality, long holding the office of deacon of the old Bellingham Baptist Church. He died, leaving children named Warren, Jonathan E., Nathan, Lorinda and Caroline. Jonathan E. Lazell became a Baptist clergyman, and at one time was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn. Warren Lazell passed his early life on a farm, and later became a New Eng- land schoolnaster. He married Miss Sophia Thurber, and not long afterward, when Lewis T. Lazcll, his eld- est child, was an infant, removed from Bellingham to Woreester, where he became known as a school teacher, and later as a bookseller.

Lewis T. Lazell was educated in the public schools of Worcester; and, in 1839, at the age of fourteen, be- came a elerk in the book-store of Clarendon Harris, who is still living, and a highly cstcemed resident of that

eity. Soon afterward, Warren Lazell became the owner of another book-store; and, in 1842, his son began to assist him in the conduct of his business. IIe was then seventeen years of age. Two years later he went to Troy, New York, and for a year was employed in a factory there. In 1845, at the age of twenty, he re -- turned to Worcester, where he associated himself with an apothecary named David Scott, Jr., and engaged in the drug trade.

Five years after thus beginning the career in which he was destined to make the business success of his life, Mr. Lazell purchased the interest of his partner, Mr. Scott, and continued the business as sole proprietor until 1855; when he removed to New York, in company with Mr. Edward H. Marsh, a former clerk in his em- ploy, and bought the jobbing trade of Haskell, Merrick & Bull, at No. 10 Gold street, where he has since been located; his partners in the transaction being Mr. Marsh and Mr. Frenean Hunn, a former employé of Messrs. Haskell, Merriek & Bull. Mr. Hunn retired from the firm on account of ill-health, in January, 1860, and died not long afterward. At the date mentioned, Mr. Warren B. Gardiner became a member of the firm, and the house then became known as that of Lazell, Marsh & Gardiner. Mr. Gardiner retired in January, 1881, and the business has since been continued under the same firm name. Mr. Alfred N. Andrus became a partner in the concern in July, 1883. This business, which Mr. Lazell and his associates began on a small seale, has, despite the periods of financial distress through which it has passed, been very successful, and having been enlarged and increased five-fold, the trade of the firm now extends to all parts of the Union.

Politically, Mr. Lazell is a Republican, but the de- mands of his business have been so unremitting upon his time and energies, that he has never had an opportu- nity to devote more than passing attention to public affairs, though taking the interest of an earnest and

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

well-informed citizen in all questions affecting our na- tional existence or the public prosperity. In religions belief he adheres to the faith of his family, and has long been a member, and for twenty-five years a trus- tee, of the Pierrepont Street Baptist Church of Brook- lyn. He married Miss Ellen Stone, second daughter of Daniel Stone, Esq., of Worcester, Massachusetts, and has four daughters.

Among sportsmen, Mr. Lazell has a wide and envi- able reputation; and he has long been an ardent and in-

defatigable disciple of Isaae Walton, and is recognized as an enthusiastic angler. He was one of the founders of the Ognossoe Angling Association, of Franklin county, Maine; and spends the month of September, each year, fishing amid the solitndes of the Pine Tree State. An earnest, devoted adherent to any canso he esponses, he is regarded by those interested in this club, and by others with whom he has been brought in contact in connection with business, social, religions, charitable or public interests, as at once generous and helpful.

JEREMIAH J. RAPPFLYEA

The subject of this sketch was the youngest child of Folkert Rappelyea and Agnes De Bevoise, his wife. He was born February, 15th, 1813, in the old Rappelyea honse, built by his great-grand- father and situated on Cripple Bush Road, Walla- bout. lle was edneated in the small red school-house situated on the same road at a point where Fishing avenue now crosses Lee avenue; and which was the same building in which his uncle and guardian, Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, started a Sunday school in the year 1830, which was the beginning of the famons Lee Avenne Sunday School. In this same red school-house was afterwards held one of the largest and most flourishing public schools in the city, presided over by the late Samnel C. Barnes, and known as No. 4. After receiv- ing a common-school education. he entered the grocery store of Ralph Malbone, which then ocenpied the point new or lately ocenpied by the Long Island Savings Bank.

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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 60

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