Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 79

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

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960

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

ceiving deposits, paying out on checks, discounting paper, collecting paper, and regulating all the financial matters be- tween the students of the College where he is located and those of corresponding institutions. As the final test to his proficiency, he is put in charge of all the offices as general superintendent, and is made responsible for the entire work- ings of the community; while in the practical department, which occupies from six to nine months, and often a year, the student is in constant correspondence with the students in the co-working institutions of the other cities, as before intimated. The practical department bears the aspect of an industrious, thriving, ambitious business community. Each student is, to all intents and purposes, a business man, and regards himself thus; he forgets that he is a mere pupil, but assumes and feels the dignity of his position, as one who is managing his own affairs; his attitude and conversation are business like; he has no thought of his transactions being other than real; and, for all purposes of training, the system is as thorough and severe as could be adopted in connection with real life.

CHARLES CLAGHIORN, the proprietor and presid- ing genius of the Bryant & Stratton Business Col- lege of Brooklyn, was born in Williamsburg, Mass., November 13th, 1836. His ancestors were Seotch, and many of them were noted as ship-builders and seamen. A branch of the original family came to America, and settled at Martha's Vineyard, previous to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Col. George Claghorn, an nnele of Mr. Claghorn's, was the builder of the frigate "Constitution," known historieally as " Old Ironsides," and also of the first American whaler that donbled Cape Horn. She was a vessel of 185 tons burthen, was named the Rebecca, and was commanded by Captain Cornelius Grinnell, father of the late Moses II. Grin- nell.

When quite a yomig man, and while being employed during the day, Mr. Claghorn organized a class of com- panions for mutual improvement during leisure eve- nings, giving special attention to penmanship and book- keeping. Forming the acquaintance of a government elerk who had formerly been stationed at Harper's Ferry, Va., as an accountant, Mr. Claghorn went under his practical tuition, with such success that he soon ac- quired the rudiments of a good business education, which was finished at the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Albany, of which he enjoyed the distinction of having been the first student to enter. He became so proficient in keeping accounts that, when he after- wards caught the then prevalent western fever, and went to Illinois to seek his fortune, he was able to se- cure and retain a good position as clerk in a general frontier store.

late war) the United States Government had 3,000 head of horses pasturing there. One hundred horses were employed in working the farm, and it was a part of the duty of the young accountant to keep a record of all these animals, each by its name, stating on what sec- tion of land each was employed each day, the amount of work done, and other pertinent facts. At night he had to call the long roll, and the foreman of each of the several gangs of teamsters and workmen came to him and rendered his report. These facts are men- tioned to show the immense scale upon which farming was carried on in the West, as well as to indicate one of the influences which tended to give Mr. Claghorn the broad and liberal views on general matters which are characteristic of him.

After a varied and valuable experience in business life in the West, with his health impaired by constant application, yet with all the energy which has since manifested itself so conspienonsly, Mr. Claghorn came to New York in 1865, and became a partner with Mr. S. S. Packard, in the management of the Commercial college there, his practical experience in business affairs ensuring the sueeess of the enterprise with which he connected himself.

The aim of the proprietors of the New York Col- lege to place business edneation on a higher plane than it had before occupied, to broaden its seope, to make a larger place for it in the educational field, and to make the college itself superior to all other institu- tions in the same line of work, having been, to a great extent, realized, it was deemed desirable to secure the Brooklyn College, provide it with equal facilities, the same course of study and methods of discipline, and to make the two institutions co-operative in work ; accordingly, the purchase was made, and the college was taken possession of by Mr. Claghorn, in February, 1875, who entered on the duties which he has prose- cuted with increasing sneeess year by year.

Mr. Claghorn comes of the good old New England stock, and is a fair representative of its virtues and its peculiarities. His father was born in Bryant's towu of Cummington, Mass., and had the rugged experience of those who had to seratch a subsistence out of the stony soil of that hilly country. He was a captain of militia, and a soldier for a brief space in the war of 1812. His family were reared in the humblest and most frugal way, and the boys early developed a talent for work. Charles was the ambitious boy, and when he sought for broader fields he took with him the habits of industry and thrift that had marked his early training. He inherits a hopeful nature, and bravely encounters obstacles that would discourage more timid souls. He has also the rare faculty of making other people see through his eyes, and his optimism is con- tagions.

Mr. Claghorn, however, soon embarked in business for himself, and during the period of its continuance his services as an accountant were in frequent demand. One call to which he responded was from Mr. M. L. Sullivant, who owned a farm in Illinois of 26,000 aeres, all under cultivation. On this farm the proprietor kept He has a particular hold on young men, and the 2,500 head of cattle, and at the same time (during the i confidence which he inspires he holds through all

961

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

vicissitudes. His pupils, whom he always makes his friends, never "go back " on him, and he is able, through their loyalty, to hold his own in the midst of competition, and through his own loyalty to the right to keep himself and his institution at the head.

He is, above all things, practical, and this order of mind is stamped upon his methods of instruction. His aim seems ever to be to have his pupils carry away with them those substantial acquirements which he knows to be immediately available in business; and if they get the essentials of business training, he does not trouble himself much about the non-essentials.

In politics, Mr. Claghorn is a Republican. He is one of the trustees of the Brooklyn Revenue Reform Club. He takes a deep interest in Brooklyn and its development, and especially in the city's various chari- table objects and institutions. He was married at In- dianapolis, Indiana, in 1862, to Martha S. Holliday, of that city. He is a member of Plymouth Church.

Among the leading educators of this city may be mentioned the following :

J. Q. Allen 1611 Pacific street.

E. Bush 239 Hewes street.

T. R. Browne .304 Fulton street.

Geo. M. Bigelow . Atlantic street, c. Clinton st. Chas. H. Carpenter 177 Fort Greene place.

Jas. Cruikshank. 206 South Oxford street. Chas. Claghorn 44 Court street.

Bryant & Stratton's Business College.

C. T. Clow Union ave., n. South Third st. Richard Crony City Hall.

Clerk of the Board of Education.

John K. Dunn. 173 Atlantic avenue.

L. Dunkley, Jr 165 Adelphi street.

E. R. Duyckinck South Fourth, n. Seventh st.

A. T. Deane. . 418 Carleton avenue.

D. G. Eaton 170 Joralemon street.

Packer Institute.

Benjamin Edson

83 St. Mark's place.

Eliza Ford . Fifteenth st., n. Fourth ave.

C. Warren Hamilton East New York.

School Commissioner for the County Towns, and Author of the History of New Lots in this work. Alfred E. Ives 14 Clinton place.

W. M. Jelliffe

196 Sixth avenue.

M. C. Lawrence 198 Madison street.

L. F. Lewis

116 Fort Greene place.

James Priddy, Principal. . 996 LaFayette avenue. Evelina L. Petty 113 Rutlege street.

S. M. Sprole. . 668 Carroll street.

Tatian Brothers 256 Pearl street; 250 Jay st.

M. F. Vallette, Principal, 199 Spencer street.

Chas. E. West, Principal, 138 Montague street.

A. Whigham Flatbush.

W. A. Kissick 192 Fulton street.

Anna J. Moore. Clinton and Myrtle avenues. Kate E. Mc Williams 4 Bedford avenue.

Principal.

G. A. F. North Wyckoff av., n. Atlantic av.

Peter Rouget.

. 402 Pacific street.

C. Rounds . 525 Clinton avenue.

With schools for dancing Brooklyn is well supplied. C. H. Rivers' Academy, 175 Court street.

CHARLES H. RIVERS .- That the future of a nation depends upon its youth is an established truism. A land in which the children are reared in ignorance and vice, be it slowly or rapidly, inevitably ends in futility. No sound idea can come from a brain fed by an unsound body. It is one of the grati- fying signs of the times that the attention paid to the physical and mental development of our young is steadily increasing; the food they should eat, the physical exercise they should take, and the hours devoted to study or to play, are carefully planned and laid out by physiologists and specialists. There is no part of the education of a human being more difficult to attain, or more valuable when acquired, than that expressed by the term, fine manners. No single acquisition is so ready a passport to the best circles in commercial, professional or socia llife. The history of the past records no time when dancing, properly conducted, has not been thought a valu- able auxiliary in forming correct deportment.

The teaching of dancing, in the hands of one thoroughly im- bued with the true spirit of his art, means vastly more than the mere mechanical correctness of step, or easiness of move- ment. He understands, that while temporary pleasure is the superficial result usually sought by the pupil, that beyond this, intrusted to his care, is the bodily and mental health, and in a large degree the molding of the habit of thought, mode of speech, and manner of carriage of the scholar. In a large degree the essential qualifications for a teacher of " dancing and deportment" are possessed by Mr. Charles H. Rivers, the subject of this sketcli.

Mr. Rivers was born in the town of Newburgh, Orange county, New York, January 20th, 1830. His father, Ebene- zer, was born at Riverhead, Long Island, and resided there for many years; and his mother, Elizabeth, was born in New- burgh, living there until her decease, aged 84 years. At 16 years of age, being naturally ambitious to earn his own way through life, he began as clerk in the dry-goods establishment of Burns & Owen, New York city; then to Brink & Russell, Canal street, and finally with Arnold & Constable, Canal street, of the same city; when, in 1852, owing to failing health, and acting under the advice of his physician, he threw up this closely confining business, came to Brooklyn, and in what was then called the "White House," Nos. 283 and 285 Fulton street, commenced his present profession. In 1854, he changed to Montague Hall, where the Phoenix building now stands, which was then the principal dancing hall in the city, re- mained there one year, and the five years next ensuing was in the Halsey Buildings, 355 Fulton street. In 1862, he re- moved to Schermerhorn street, corner Court, and in 1867, came to his present fine location, No. 175 State street, corner Court. Mr. Rivers has been eminently successful in his chosen profession. He has charge of the departments at Packer and Nassau Institutes, besides many kindergartens and private societies. The average yearly attendance of scholars at his rooms is 500, and he instructs 200 privately during the same time; and teachers of dancing, from the principal cities of the states, come to him during the summer months for additional instruction.

962

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

E. SULLIVAN SC

CHARLES H. RIVERS.

The secret of Mr. Rivers' success is two-fold-natural fitness and indefatigable energy. As a father, he realizes the import- ance of correct moral precepts, mental and physical growth, and, as a man of the world, knows the advantages of an easy address. His efforts have been well rewarded, as his patrons comprise the best of our people. Mr. Rivers has a family of eight children, three of whom-Charles H .. Jr., of Buffalo, N. Y., Harry F., of New York city, and Wm. Pitt, of Brooklyn- are engaged as teachers of dancing; the balance, with his es- timable wife, née Maria H. Philips, whom he married in 1855, are enjoying the pleasures of a comfortable home in Brooklyn.

S. Baron's, 177 Montague street, established 1868. J. T. Uris & Son, 611 Fulton street.

Weinlander's, 232 Carroll street.

Prof. W. A. French's, 182 Gates avenue.

Frank Dodworth's, 198 Washington street. a braneh of the well-known school in New York city.

Riding Academy .- This institution was established in March, 1866, by an association of gentlemen who were interested in horseback riding. A large brick building was erected at 470 Paeifie street, covering six lots, and fitted up with amphitheatre, waiting rooms and stables. In 1880 it was enlarged. In 1581, the controlling interest was secured by Alexander de Gerlach, who has sinee retained the management. Some 40 horses are used, and lessons are given throughout the year. The very best people are pa- trons of the seliool, which annually teaches a large number of pupils.

FISH CULTURE ON LONG ISLAND.

BY EUGENE G. BLACKFORD, N. Y. State Fish Commissioner.

BROOKLYN MARKETS, ETC.

F EW localities of equal size offer to the lover of field sports so many inducements for excursions, away from the incessant turmoil and routine of city life, in search of "fin and feather," as do the waters, woods and fields of Long Island. This is especially true for those who find their enjoyment in gathering from the depths "off shore" specimens of those choice and delectable food-fishes-the striped and sea-bass, the bluefish, the Spanish mackerel, the sheeps- head, weakfish, etc., etc .; and the Island has been cele- brated, even from those much belauded " good old col- ony times," for that prince of fine fish-fellows, the brook trout. In fact, the Island seems to have been especially designed, in the primitive ordering of things, as a grand fish domain, since its form is a very excellent diagrammatic representation of a fish, with head seemingly bent on searching out, with fish inquisitiveness, the secrets of our metropolitan harbor and city; and the entire coast-line is ragged with bays and inlets, some small and some of vast ex- tent, into which flow the waters from numerous streams which arise along the central portion, or ridge, of the Island, and which extend from thence into the sea along either side. These inlets and bays offer rich feeding grounds for the hordes of sea-fishes which wander along the coast, and afford fine camping locali- ties for the luscious oyster; and the streams and lake- lets, with their abundance of crustacean, vegetable and insect life, present unrivalled facilities for the growth of fresh-water species. The Island, as a whole, may be considered, almost literally, a vast spring bed. It is composed principally of sand and loam, with a sufficient quantity of clay and boulder drift ; and the water from the ocean, which is forced in upon all sides, with steady and great pressure, rises among the little particles of rock debris, to meet the accumulated deposits of fallen rain, and then bubbles out in countless rills and rivulets of soft water, of crystal purity and almost icy coldness, which form the feeders of the Island streams. The requisite con-

ditions-an abundant supply of cold water and plenty of food-are thus seen to exist for the maintenance and growth of trout, as well as other fish, and so abundant and palatable is the food, and so excellent the water, that among gourmands the trout of Long Island rank as the first of their species. During the early history of the Island, these streams were free to all who wished to cast their lines in such pleasant places, and the fish themselves were somewhat favored in be- ing allowed, for the most part, free access to the sea; but later the best fishing was in the neighborhood of private or semi-private streams, or ponds formed by damming the streams, and thus enclosing or caging a large or small number of fish. These fish were thus prevented, to a certain extent, from escaping, and were maintained in the ponds by transplanting from outside waters and by natural breeding. The fishing in these localities was confined either to the owners of the adja- cent property, who, in most cases, were also the owners of the ponds or streams, or a certain sum was demanded for the privilege of trying one's skill in enticing the wily prey from its quiet abode. Some of these pre- serves, and the streams flowing from them into the sea -and which, in most, if not all, cases could not be guarded against the fly or worm of whomsoever wished to fish them-have in the past attained almost world- wide celebrity; and few of our old-time veterans of the rod but feel the anglers' thrill, and fight again their piscatorial battles, when Snedecor's and Carman's, or the ponds near Patchogue, Moriches and Smithtown are mentioned. But those days of sport soon passed away. Trout are among the very first of our fishes to disappear before the advance of civilization. This is due to two facts: first, they are a very desirable table fish, and are accordingly much sought after by every man or boy who can wield either a split bamboo, a wire snood, or the proverbial pole and line, with a bent pin at the end, as instrument of capture; and, secondly, the clearing up of the land destroys their lurking places, transforming the dark, deep holes, or pools,

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

through which the water is wont to flow with a quiet swirl, into mud holes ; the rippling water reaches into bare sand-bars, and lets the full glare of day in upon the hitherto semi-secret reeesses of the pathway of the brooklet. From these eauses the ponds and streams gradually lost their attractions for the angler, until after Messrs. Remy and Gchin, of France, in 1849, and Messrs. Garlick and Ackley, of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1853, had demonstrated the prae- tieability of propagating the trout by artificial means, and thus maintaining by humau aid the supply which the fish themselves, unassisted, could not do. Under natural conditions, about five per cent. of eggs as laid by the parent fishes may bring forth young fish, and this is oftentimes a large percentage; but by the new method it was found to be possible to hateh from the ova, taken by hand from the fishes themselves and impregnated artificially, as high as 40 to 50 per eent. of young; and by feeding these artificially-bred young- sters with proper kinds of food, and keeping thein in large and carefully constructed ponds, it was possible to raise a goodly share of them to maturity.

A new era seemed thus to opeu to the lovers of the trout. Pouds which had bceome depleted by over- fishing were again brought into service, and new ponds were formed all over the country. Long Island was inoeulated from end to end with the new doctrines of " ponds' rights," and " rights to trout;" Brooklyn, Ros- lyn, Foster's Meadows, Oyster Bay, Cold Spring, Smithtown, Sag Harbor, Brook Haven, Patehogue, Islip, Babylon, Freeport, and Hempstead, caeh had their hatcherics and preserves, and furnished grand and beautiful specimens of the toothsome favorite; and probably the largest trout ever taken on Long Island, belongs to this period of trout enthusiasm. It was taken in Smithtown river about 1869, and weighed six pounds. But for successful trout raising, there must be something more than money with which to build ponds, and cold water to fill them; and with rare ex- ception, the ponds instituted during the time of the trouting fever, caused by brilliant illusions as to the great profits which must necessarily accrue from arti- ficial trout breeding, were abandoned, because, as they were managed, it was found that, from a market point of view, they could not be made to pay, and most of those who went into the undertaking had no other end in view than the dollars and eents to be gained by the venture, and, being ignorant of the prac- tical details of this kind of enlture, of course did not gather any great harvest.

There was no difficulty in hatehing the fish and in raising them, but it cost more in the majority of eases to get them into condition for market than they brought when there. This was duc largely to a lack of the right kind of experience and a close study of natural methods of growth in connection with the par- ticular localities where the propagation was undertaken.

A very marked instance of this is to be found in connection with the brecding preserves of the South Side Sportsman's Club, near Islip. The club, during the carlier period of the trout-breeding excitement, ob- tained possession of the old and famous establishment of Snedecor's on the Connetquot river, and after trying for some time, but without mueh evidences of success, to breed trout in large numbers, they called for as- sistance upon Mr. Seth Green, who had been doing a good deal of work in this direction in the western part of the state, near Rochester. Mr. Green eame on and inspected the river and ponds, and told the members what must be donc to attain success. He also fnr- nished them with a man supposed to be capable of ac- complishing the desired result. But the result was no more satisfactory than before, until Messrs. Benkard, Rowland, Redmond and Clark, as the executive com- mittee of the club, took the matter into their own hands, engaged a new man, who kuew very little about fish work, but could and did do just as the committee desired him to, and from that time, which was about the year 1879, the suceess of the undertaking, from a praetieal as well as a sporting point of view, has been remarkable. It is, perhaps, the most successful effort of the kind in the annals of trout culture. The elub, of which the late Recorder Haekett was a permanent member, uow controls, including what it owns, about five thousand (5,000) aeres of territory, with from five to six miles of ponds aud streams. The prop- erty includes commodious club-houses, stables, kennels, hatehing and breeding houses, and careful attention has been given to the California or Rainbow trout as well as to the eastern variety, and the elub finds that, of the two, the Western form, is, if anything, prefera- ble to the Eastern, for both food and sport, since it grows faster, is quite as fine in flavor, and is fully as gainey when subjected to the tantalizing mercies of the angler's delicate taekle.

There are now in the ponds of the club, trout of four and five pounds in weight, which were hatehed on the premises from eggs received from the United States Fish Commission four years ago, and so abund- aut has been the supply of fish that some years the elub has sent as many as three thousand (3,000) pounds 10 market. These sales represent the surplus fish over and above those needed to supply the demands of the 100 ardent and enthusiastic fishermen who form the elub. The club has also been quite sneeessful in rais- ing the Kennebee and land-locked varieties of the sal- mon, although, as yet, very little time or attention has been given in these directions.

Here, then, is a very striking example of an old and celebrated stream, failing to meet the expectations and requirements under one kind of management, but, under another, yielding rich results. The gentlemen of the executive committee deserve great credit for working out this problem to so satisfactory an ending, and the

965

FISH CULTURE ON LONG ISLAND.

Club is to be congratulated on possessing an executive committee competent to show to the world of fish-cul- turists, in so gratifying a manner, what can be accom- plished when good sense, judicious feeding and soft water are combined in the manipulation of trout eggs and the management of the growing fish. Such a com- bination of conditions, when they can be found to- gether, are very desirable in all efforts in fish culture; and, of the three, soft water has more to do with suc- cess in trout propagation than is generally supposed; for, even as "a soft answer turneth away wrath," soft water, other things being conceded, turnetli out fish.

Some attention has also been given upon the Island to other species of fish than those belonging to the salmonidæ family. Among these fishes, the black bass has been most prominent, because it undoubtedly ranks next to the trout, among inland fishes, as a game species, and for table use. Most of the bass which have been introduced have been placed in the ponds and lakelets of the centre and castern end of the Island, and the fish thus transplanted have been left to take care of themselves, since the black bass does not need human interference in its domestic arrangements, as it is one of the comparatively few species of fish that guards its nest and eggs, during the breeding season, against outside intruders; and, accordingly, a much larger percentage of young hatch out than with the trout, which leaves its eggs, after they are deposited, largely, if not entirely, unprotected from the tender mercies of its many enemies. In some, at least, of the cases of the fish thus introduced, the re- sults have been very satisfactory. In Lake Ronkon- koma, the small-mouthed variety of the black bass was introduced about 1874, and during the past year (1883) great numbers have been taken with hook and line, and much sport has thus been afforded. Some of the fish thus taken weighed as high as five to eight pounds, and the last-mentioned one (that which weighed eight pounds) is now represented, by its prepared skin, in the Museum of the Long Island Historical Society in Brooklyn.

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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 79

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