Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 9

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

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Politically, Dr. Ambrose has long been allied to the dem- ocratic party, and on all questions of national importance has thought and voted with that organization; but in municipal affairs his politics may be summed np in the state- ment that he has the best interests of the city at heart, and conscientionsly supports such meu and measures as he be- lieves promise most on behalf of the public good. The demands of his profession and of his business interests have been so great upon his time and energies that he has never had an opportunity to drift into political life ; and, even had such an opportunity presented itself, his inclinations would not have allowed him to become involved therein. Of pro- nounced literary tastes, he has devoted much attention to historical and general reading, and traveled much, both in the United States and throughout Enrope. As a gentleman of education and a wide range of information, socially, professionally, and in business circles, he takes rank among the best of the Brooklyuites of this day and generation.

CHARLES DENNIS .- Charles Dennis was boru in New Lon- don, Conn., January 26th, 1821, the seventh child of Henry and Sarah Dennis. His ancestors on the paternal side were Henry Dennis, his father, who was born in Norwich, Conn., October 9th, 1786, and married Sarah Briggs June 21st, 1807; Samuel Dennis, his grandfather, who was born in Norwich, Conn., May 4th, 1756, and married Eunice Gallup, October 6th, 1783; Benjamin Dennis, his great-grandfather, who was born in Norwich, Conn., in 1722, and married Thankful Bliss, November 11th, 1746; Ebenezer Dennis, his great-great-grand- father, who was born in New London, Conn., October 23d. 1652, and married Deborah Ely, of Lynn, Conn., for his second wife; and George Dennis, his great-great-great-grand- father, who married Elizabeth, relict of Joshua Raymond, and who removed from Long Island to New London, Conn., in 1650.

Following is a statement of Mr. Dennis's ancestry on the maternal sule: Sarah Briggs, his mother, was born in New London, Conn., April 19th, 1790; Frances Smith, his grand- mother, was born in New London, Conn., July 21st,

1765, and was married February 14th, 1782, to William Briggs, who was born in Dighton, Mass., December 22d, 1757; and Marcy Bill, his great-grandmother, who was born in New London, Conn., in 1724, and married May 11th, 1746, to Dayton Smith, also a native of New London, who was born in 1725.

Mr. Dennis was educated in the best schools of his native State; and, in November, 1838, came to New York and en- tered the employment of Charles H. Russell & Co., importers of British dry goods, as a junior clerk. Here he remained until the antnmn of 1839, when, not liking the business, he accepted a position with the house of E. D. Hurlbut & Co., shipping merchants, with whom he remained until the summer of 1842. He was then appointed captain's clerk by Captain S. H. Stringham, then about to take the com- mand of the United States razee Independence, the flagship of Commodore Charles Stewart, commanding the home squadron. Mr. Dennis made one crnise in this vessel, over the north and sonth Atlantic Oceans, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Captain Stringhamn was de- tached from the command of the Independence in the Summer of 1843, and was ordered to the command of the Navy Yard at Brooklyn. He took Mr. Dennis with him, and appointed him to the clerkship of the commandant of the yard. Mr. Dennis remained in that service nntil February, 1846, when he resigned his appointment to take a confidential po- sition in the house of Goodhne & Co., which he retained nn- til Jannary, 1850. Then he was appointed to the pnrsership of the steamship Baltic, of the Collins line of steamers, which vessel was being at the time fitted for sea; bnt, before she was ready to take her place in the line, at the request of Messrs. Walter R. Jones, President, and Josiah L. Hale, Vice- President of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company, in February, 1850, he resigued this position to become a clerk in the office of the corporation named.

In this elerkship Mr. Dennis started with a number of clerks in more advanced position, and a lessou to the young men of this day can with profit be drawn from his conduct. He did not rest coutent with merely doing the work falling to his position, but he voluntarily assisted others of his fel- low clerks who were often overburdened with their tasks, thus making him popular with them and rendering him familiar with their dnties, aud informing him of the details of other deparments of the business than the one to which he was assigned. He contributed greatly to relieve the pressure ou the President. Walter R. Jones, which was then peculiarly burdensome from his failing health, by marking on many of the applications the rates of premium made familiar to him by the rontine work of his own dnties. This was deeply appreciated by the President, and as soon as opportunity came, from the resignation of one officer and the promotion of another, the good President took care that he received his reward by causing him to be elected third Vice-President of the company.

The same spirit of willingness to work, and, in fact, an anxiety to do all that he possibly conld, quite irrespective of demand upon him, was continned, and promotion followed as a matter of course, so that in February, 1855, he was elected Second Vice-President, and oue year later (February, 1856) First Vice-President.

It might be deemed iuvidious to have inferred that the great success of the Atlantic Mutnal is dne to Mr. Dennis alone. Not so. The company has, ever since its first organization, had a number of remarkable men as oflleers, and still has. Its financial management, the great discretion shown in producing such even average re- builts of profits year after year, in despite of disastrous seasous

Charles Dennis

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THE COMMERCE OF BROOKLYN.

and the total destruction of other companies, is largely due to its President, Mr. J. D. Jones, who, with his Secretary, han- dles the enormous assets of the company-some $15,000,000- investing and reinvesting as quietly as if they were but a one-hundredth part of the sum. Any bank would require 30 to 40 clerks to do the same work; but it is because Mr. Jones can throw off the more laborious detail of underwriting, with a certainty that it is being well cared for by Mr. Dennis and his aids, which enables him to give much of his care to the other branch. It is by the combination of such men that such results become possible, and each in his own sphere is a king. Mr. Dennis's reputation as an underwriter has ex- tended abroad, and at one time, a few years ago, propositions were made him by a great London company to undertake its underwriting, and a salary of £10,000 per annum was of- fered. Similar proposals have also been made by local com- panies seeking to rival their great competitor, but Mr. Den- nis's allegiance has been faithful to the Atlantic, and that company will probably retain his services and affections un- til he closes his duties in life. .

In September, 1877, Mr. Dennis was unanimously elected Secretary of the Board of Underwriters of New York, which position he still holds. As an authority on all matters pertaining to insurance, Mr. Dennis takes the highest rank, and his opinion is often sought upon questions requiring the utmost nicety of discrimination, coupled with the most thorough knowledge of underwriting. He is known as an industrious man in the strongest sense of the term, and he has worked long, untiringly and with signal success for the advancement of the company with which he is so prom- inently identified, and in the management of which he is one of the most active and most implicitly trusted, and which has attained the proud position of being the largest and most important institution of the kind in the world. Underwriting, more than any other profession, demands a peculiarly diver- sified talent. The underwriter must be more than a good geog- rapher, for even the peculiarities of the harbors must be famil- iar to him. He must be acquainted with the character of the lighters and small craft plying therein. He must know not only the goods which usually come from a foreign port, but must know their exact nature, their susceptibility to damage, and even how they are packed and secured. He must be able to draw inferences from the slightest facts as to the character of masters and merchants, and equally of the con- struction and seaworthiness of vessels. He must be familiar with marine law and tbe closest use of language, which must be in no instance doubtful or uncertain when employed in the policy of insurance; and his mind to admit claims must be always ready to yield its prejudices, and must have no idiosyncracies. All this Mr. Dennis realizes very fully, and his good health and strong constitution alone enables him to stand the enormous pressure which constant application to the office requires.

Mr. Dennis came to Brooklyn in 1838, and has been a resi- dent of the city ever since, taking a helpful interest in its municipal, religious, educational and charitable institutions. For many years he has been a pew-owner in Plymouth Church, and is regarded by the friends of that celebrated or- ganization as one of its most steadfast and liberal supporters. His charities have had the recommendation of being timely and bountiful; and it is said of him by one of Brooklyn's most prominent divines that "no man ever responds more promptly or more liberally, according to his means, to any call on behalf of charity than he. To him the charitable in- stitutions and many of the people of Brooklyn owe much as their ' friend in need,' for his ready generosity has made him truly their 'friend indeed.'"

January 1st, 1843, Mr. Dennis married Frances Clark, daughter of the late George Clark, of Bath, England, who died on the 11th day of September, 1879, having borne him seven children, five of whom-two sons and three daughters -are living. On the 13th day of October, 1880, he married Sarah Esther, eldest daughter of the late Hon. George R. Cholwell, of Norwalk, Conn.

ISAAC F. CHAPMAN .- The name of Chapman has been long known in England. Three brothers of the name emigrated to America about 1635, and were the progenitors of the Chapmans of the United States, especially numerous in New England and Pennsylvania, with a considerable representa- tion in New York. The father of Isaac F. Chapman was Robert Chapman, who lived in Damariscotta (then Noble- boro), Maine, early in the present century, and was a ship- builder, lumberman, and farmer, owning large tracts of tim- ber land, a shipyard, and a sawmill, and whose father was also a ship-builder and farmer. Robert Chapman married Lucinda Flint, of the family of that name (many of the male members of which have become celebrated as surgeons) and a daughter of Dr. Thomas Flint, who was a surgeon in the American service during the Revolution, serving on board privateersmen, and once being captured and carried a pris- oner to England.

Isaac F. Chapman was born in Damariscotta, Maine, April 8th, 1812. He was reared on the farm, assisting in the farm- work and in the labors at his father's mill, and attending the common schools of the day and place, more or less irregu- larly, until he was sixteen, when he entered the shipyard with his father, to learn the trade of ship-builder, and was employed there constantly for about eight years. In 1837, he opened a store in his native town, in the ownership and management of which Mr. Benjamin Flint became his partner not long afterward. They soon built a bark of two hundred and eighty tons, which they employed in small trading opera- tions. In 1843, they removed to Thomaston, Maine, where they established a shipyard, and entered more largely into trade, extending their operations by means of the bark Milti- ades, which they built three years later. Their business in- creased rapidly from that time on, requiring other vessels, which were built from time to time. Since that date, Mr. Chapman, in company with others, has built and managed the following named vessels, in most of which he has been a half or principal owner :- The barks Marmion and Catharine, 1847; the ship Ionian, in 1849; the ship William Stetson, in 1851; the ship Oracle, in 1853; the ship Isaac F. Chapman, in 1855; the ship St. James, in 1856; the ship Frank Flint, in 1857; the ship St. Mark, in 1859-60; the (second) ship Oracle, in 1862 (the first having been sold in England); the ship Pacto- lus, in 1864; the ship St. Charles, in 1866; the ship St. Lucie, in 1868; the ship St. Nicholas, in 1869; the ship St. John, in 1870; the schooner C. R. Flint, in 1871; the ship William R. Grace, in 1873; the ship St. Paul, in 1874; the ships M. P. Grace and Santa Clara, in 1876; the ship St. Stephen, in 1877; the ship Manuel Llaguno, in 1879; the ship L. Shepp (bought and finished), in 1879; the ship E. B. Sutton, in 1881; the ship I. F. Chapman, in 1882, and the ship S. P. Hitchcock, in 1883.

In 1858, Mr. Chapman removed to Brooklyn, the greatly . increased business of his firm demanding his constant atten- tion in New York. He is at this time principal owner in nearly all of fifteen vessels (with an average tonnage of 1800), which he controls, and which are engaged in transportation to and from the principal ports of the world, trading with nearly all civilized nations. The shipyard of Messrs. Chap- man & Flint was removed from Thomaston to Bath, Maine, in 1868. In October, 1880, this firm was dissolved, and the

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

firm of I. F. Chapinan & Co. was formed, in 1883, by the ad- mission of Mr. Albert G. Ropes to an interest in the business. In 1864-65, Messrs. Chapman & Flint built all of the houses on the east side of Montague Terrace, in one of which Mr. Chapman resides. At that time only two residences had been erected on the opposite side of the street. In many other ways Mr. Chapman has contributed to the prosperity and advancement of the city of Brooklyn, with whose general and benevolent interests he has, from time to time, been identified. Ifis family have been Baptists for generations, and he is an active and liberal member of the First Baptist Church in Pierrepont street. He married Martha P. Hitch- cock, a native of Damariscotta, Maine, who died Sunday, November 4, 1883. Mr. Chapman has had born to him three children, a son and two daughters, the former having died, and the daughters surviving.

The career of Mr. Chapman has been that of a self-made man. Beginning at the bottom of the ladder, he learned thoroughly all of the various details of his business, becom- ing familiar with the successive processes of converting growing timber into seaworthy vessels; and his excellence as a ship-builder is attested by the fact that no vessel he has built has been destroyed except by fire. His success has been remarkable; but he has the satisfaction of feeling that it has been deserved, and is the legitimate reward of worthy exertion.

JAMES MCCHESNEY, son of Nathaniel and Mary McChesney, was born in the city of New York, October 20th, 1817. His paternal ancestors were Norman subjects of King James of Great Britain, Scotland, France and Ireland, called Chesné, who emigrated to the Scottish Highlands. There the first- born male child originated the Mac (son of) Chesné, changed to MacChesney, and became a chieftain with his clansmen, under Sir William Wallace. Upon the capture and death of the latter, McChesney went to County Tyrone, Ireland; and thence his descendants emigrated to New Jersey, America, about the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th century. The family were represented on the battle field of Mon- mouth. His grandfather, Robert, was a Justice, afterwards member of the Council (Senate) of New Jersey, also member of Congress.

Nathaniel McChesney, father of James McChesney, of Brooklyn, was born on the Monmouth battle ground, June 29th, 1783. He attended school but little, on account of the fact that early in life he entered the shop of his uncle, in Cranbury, N. J., to learn the trade of wagonmaker, and was thus shut off from educational advantages which he other- wise might have enjoyed. He appears, however, to have had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and spent all of the time he could spare from his work in reading. The bent of his mind was toward theology and the natural sciences, while history, mechanies and other useful branches of knowledge claimed his earnest attention.

In 1804 he came to New York and was installed as foreman in the once famous carriage shop of John Lawrence. About 1806, he married Mary Lawrence, the daughter, not of his employer, but of Captain William Lawrence, the first cap- tain of the watch and of the troop in New York after the close of the Revolutionary War. About 1810 he began busi- ness for himself on Franklin street, whence he removed to Broadway, opposite Lispenard street. He became noted as a carriage builder, and built fine and costly vehicles for the Astors and others of the leading families of New York at that tune. Later, he opened a carriage repository at No. 440 Broadway, and sold carriages and other light vehicles for about twenty years. It is estimated that he was for forty

years engaged in manufacturing and selling carriages in New York. Mr. MeChesney was a volunteer during the war of 1812, and served on Staten Island, opposite the site of Fort Hamilton. He died after a very busy and useful life, July 4th, 1847, in New York, where he had passed most of the years of his manhood. The issue of his marriage with Mary Lawrence was eleven children, of whom James McChesney was the sixth.

James McChesney was an invalid from birth, and has never been well a day since; having been a constant sufferer from inherited neuralgia and dyspepsia, and at times the victim of accidents, which have disabled him physically for months and years. Yet, thongh for nearly all his life under the care of physicians, he has been remarkably active in business. Most men of his peculiar physical composition would never have become known to the business world; for it is so well known that nothing so surely saps the foundations of enter- prise as continued ill health that the trite fact does not re- quire reiteration here. But it seems that when Nature de- nied him the boon of good health, she took away the sting of the deprivation by endowing him with unusual enterprise and perseverance, coupled with a natural aptitude for busi- ness and a veritable talent for financiering. This placed him in the race for fortnne far in advance of some of his more robust competitors, and the career that lay before him was that of a projector of important enterprises and a successful manager of large financial and commercial interests.

Mr. McChesney began to attend school at the age of seven, and, about eight years later, was graduated with honors from the once famous high school of Sheppard Johnston, on Broadway. At the age of fifteen he entered the dry goods store of Messrs. Arnold, Hearn & Co., on Canal street (the present firm of Arnold, Constable & Co.), from whose employ- ment he went to that of Messrs. Ubdell, Pierson & Co., an- other firm of once well-known dry goods merchants, also located on Canal street. October 28th, 1838, he married his cousin, Sarah Maria Lawrence, of New York, who is still living, and to whom he gives all praise for his length of life and successes. He was for a time associated with his father at his carriage repository on Broadway; and then returning to mercantile business, entered the store of James Beck, at No. 357 Broadway, as a salesman. Soon his talent for accounts and a remarkable capacity for detecting counterfeit money (of which large quantities were in circulation, owing to the pernicious banking system then in voguc), became apparent to his employers, and he was promoted to a desirable posi- tion in their office. In the meantime, his father had retired from the carriage business, and was about to remove to a farm he had purchased on Long Island, and Mr. McChesney accompanied him, removing to Long Island and remaining there seven years. But it was not as a farmer that Mr. McChesney was designed to make his mark, and his father, not less active than he, abandoned farming at the expiration of six years and established a banking, exchange and com- mission house in Wall street. This, at his death, passed into the possession of James McChesney, who continued the en- terprise until 1857, when the concern became involved in the fate that year so common to commercial and financial enterprises in all parts of the Union. It is but just to Mr. McChesney to state that, despite the demoralizing tendency of the time, he liquidated every dollar of indebtedness, dis- daining to take advantage of such opportunities for com- promise as were open to him. It was the experience of his business career thus far, with the " wild cat" money then in universal use, that led Mr. McChesney (as is believed, before the measure was proposed by any one else), to advocate the adoption of notes printed by the government and of uniform

Espicerto

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THE COMMERCE OF BROOKLYN.

design, except for the names of the different banks and the sig- natures of their officers, by whom they should be issued. The wisdom of this plan is now practically demonstrated in the use of the national bank notes.

Prior to this time, in 1850, Mr. McChesney, in partnership with Captain Smith Fancher, had engaged in the vessel and lightering business. Shortly afterward, in 1859, was or- ganized the firm of Shaw, Fancher & Co., consisting of L. B. Shaw, Smith Fancher, John H. Hebert, Andrew Luke and James McChesney. Mr. Hebert withdrew in 1860, Mr. Luke in 1864 and Mr. Fancher in 1865. The firm then became Shaw & Co., the partners being L. B. Shaw and James McChesney. Mr. Shaw succeeded Shaw & Co., in May, 1871, since when Mr. McChesney has lived in com- parative retirement. He was one of the projectors and first Treasurer of the New York Floating Elevator Company, of whose stock he is now one-twelfth owner; and one of the originators of the Excelsior grain stores at the Atlantic Dock, and of floating elevators. He was also one of the promoters of the New York Produce Exchange, in the operations of which he takes a very lively interest; and the leading enter- prises of his day have always found in him a friend ready to aid with wise counsel and substantial encouragement. His business acquaintance is very extensive, and his reputation for all those qualities which go to compose that rare product of this age, the honest business man, is unchallenged. Quietly and unostentatiously, Mr. McChesney has aided his brethren in times of trouble, and no man in Brooklyn has given more according to his means to religious and charitable objects than he. His hand has been ever open to the relief of suffer- ing. and his leisure time largely employed in helping the sick. The Homœopathic Hospital of Brooklyn owes its pres- ent standing to his donation to educate female nurses. The present agricultural and industrial state of the Truants' Home was his suggestion and met with his aid. In 1863, during a severe illness, he willed liberally to many churches and char- itable institutions; and, on recovering, executed at once the provisions of his will as to such object in person. Any state- ment of his benefactions is unobtainable, for he shrinks from talking of his good deeds, and is ever reticent about himself; but it is well known that, in generations to come, those inter- ested in many of the churches, educational institutions and hospitals of Brooklyn and New York, when they consider by what means they were established and, in a measure, sup- ported during troublous times, will have cause to remember Mr. McChesney, whose chief failing seems to have been his inability to say the one short word "no," that at times would have saved him from imposition by men and institu- tions seeking his aid. He has been a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders, of the Druids and of other organi- zations, with which he has many times been connected offi- cially. He has often been solicited for public office, but has persistently refused all such honors. Responsible and lucra- tive positions have been proffered him by many important corporations, which he has been obliged to refuse on account of ill health and various business connections. Always un- assuming and self-sacrificing, he has been a life-long, unob- trusive, non-office-seeking democrat, and has done as much for "his kind" as any man of his time and opportunity. .

ELIHU SPICER, JR .- This gentleman, who is familiarly known as Captain Spicer, is a son of Elihu and Jemima (Fish) Spicer, both of English descent, and was born in Groton, Connecticut, April 13th, 1825. It is a fact curious enough to be worthy of note that Groton was the native place of five generations of the ancestors, both on his father's side and

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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 9

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