Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 43

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354

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teawan, Dutchess county, and to which, upon its completion, the inmates of the old Auburn asylum were transferred April 25, 1892. This new institution is now known as the Matteawan State Hospital, of which Dr. Allison is the med- ical superintendent and treasurer. Thetotal cost of the buildings and grounds was in the neigh- borhood of $900,000; the hospital has accom- modations for five hundred and fifty patients.

Dr. Allison became a member of the Seneca County Medical Society in 1879, and was elected president of the society in 1886; was also president of the Seneca County Medical Association. He is a member of the Dutchess County Medical Society, the Newburgh Bay Medical Society, and of the American Medico- Psychological Association, and an honorary member of La Société de Médecine Mentale, of Belgium.

Dr. Allison has published the following pa- pers and monographs: "A Case of Multiple Tubercular Tumor of the Brain" [New York Medical Record, August, 1882]: "Cerebral Lesions in the Chronic Insane" [Alienist and Neurologist, July, 1885]; " Moral and Indus- trial Management of the Insane " [Alienist and Neurologist, April, 1886]; "Mental Changes Resulting from the Separate Fracture of Both Thighs" [American Journal of Insanity, July, 1886]; "Notes in a Case of Chronic Insanity" [American Journal of Insanity, April, 1887]; "An Historical Sketch of Seneca County Med- ical Society" [Press of Brandow & Speed, Al- bany, 1887]; "On a General System of Report- ing Autopsies in American Asylums for the In- sane" [Read before the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, Newport, R. I., June, 1889; Amer- ican Journal of Insanity, October, 1889]; a short contribution to " De La Responsibilité Atténuee. " by Henry Thierry, Paris, 1891; " On Motives Which Govern the Criminal Acts of the Insane" [Read before the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institu- tions for the Insane, Washington, D. C., May, 1892: American Journal of Insanity, October, 1892]; " The Insane Criminal " [ The Summary, December, 1892]; " Insanity Among Criminals " [Read before the American Medico-Psycho- logical Association, Philadelphia, Pean., May, 1894: American Journal of Insanity, July, 1894; Criminal Law Magazine and Reporter, Vol. 16, 1894]: "On the Care of the Crimi- nal Insane in the State of New York " [Read at the annual meeting of the Trustees and Su-

H. Allis ....

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

perintendents of the State Hospitals of New York, Matteawan. October. 1894: Conglomer- ate, October, 1894]; " Some Relations of Crime to Insanity and States of Mental En- feeblement " [Read at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, Atlanta. Ga., May. 1896; Journal of the American Med- ical Association, September, 1896]: · Simple Melancholia and its Treatment " [Read at Newburgh Bay Medical Society: Medical Rec- ord. January, 1897]: four annual reports of the "State Asylum for Insane Criminals, " 1889. '90, '91. '92 ; four annual reports of the " Mat- teawan State Hospital." 1893, '94. 95. 96. In addition, although not seeking the work, he has been frequently called upon to testify as an expert medical witness in various important trials before the courts.

On October 8, 1884. Dr. Allison was married to Miss Anna M. De Puy, daughter of Lewis and Sabina E. (Schoonmaker De Puy. of Kingston, N. Y., and four children, as follows. have come to brighten their home: Catherine De Puy, Elizabeth Shand. William Henry and Anna. On February 24. 1889, at Ovid, N. Y .. he united with the Presbyterian Church, and is now a member and an elder of the First Re- formed Dutch Church at Fishkill Landing. N. Y .; socially, he is a member of Union Lodge. No. 114, F. & A. M .: of Dartmouth College Association of New York, and of the Associa- tion of the Alumni of Dartmouth College.

The Matteawan State Hospital was origi- nally established at Auburn, in 1855. and opened for the reception of patients in Febru- ary, 1859. Next to Utica it is the oldest of the State hospitals for the insane. Designed at first for the care of insane convicts, its scope has been gradually enlarged until it now provides for all classes of insane criminals, and occupies a position of highest importance among the hospitals of the State. Its growth at Auburn was not rapid, but the buildings be- came overcrowded in the course of years, finally rendering it necessary to erect a new institu- tion upon a larger scale and a more convenient site: and Matteawan, in the Hudson River Valley, was selected. Modern buildings, com- plete in every detail, were erected there, and the new asylum opened in April. 1892. Its name was subsequently changed from the State Asylum for Insane Criminals to the Matteawan State Hospital. It receives patients not only from penal institutions, but also all cases from

the courts of the State where the plea of in- sanity arises as a defense for crime. Sach persons are committed to its custody during the continuance of their mental disease. The population again rapidly increased at Mattea- wan, until. within four years from its opening on the new site. the hospital was illed to more than its utmost capacity. The desirability of separating the convicted from the unconvicted inmates had long been recognized, and it was recommended that this end should be accom- plished by providing a hospital in connection with one of the State Prisons, to be built by , convict labor, and for the purpose of caring only for the convict insane. Gov. Morton in his annual message approved the project. and an appropriation for this purpose was made at the legislative session of 1896. Complete plans for the new Institution, designed when finished to accommodate six hundred inmates, were prepared by Dr. Allison, and the buildings are now under construction. The change will relieve the Matteawan State Hospital of an un- desirable class of patients, and enable the hos- pital to expand along lines more favorable to its proper development and growth.

TSAAC M. CORNELL, M. D., a prominent physician of Wappingers Falls, Dutchess county, was born in Defreestville. Rensselear Co., N. Y., April 26, 1851, the son of Rev. William A. and Helen M. (Wyckoff) Cornell.

Peter Cornell. the great-grandfather of our subject, was born April 1. 1756, and married Maria Meserole, who was born October 22. 1758. and their family comprised nine children as follows: Cornelius, born in i;Si, was a farmer in Lagrange: Isaac (1) died in infancy: Isaac (2) was the grandfather of our subject: Sarah married a Mr. Van Valen: Jane married Matthew Luyster: Margaret died unmarried; Maria and Cornelius died in infancy; Eliza- beth, born in 1790. married Oliver Todd. Peter Cornell and his wife were members of the Reformed Dutch Church. Of this family. Isaac married Miss Hoffman, a native of Dutch- ess county, and they settled on a farm in La- grange, where they reared their seven children. to wit: Peter M .. a farmer in the town of Lagrange: William A., father of our subject: Frederick, a farmer in Kansas; Margaret mar- ried to Darius Howland; and Mary. Elizabeth and Isabella.

William A. Cornell, father of Isaac M ..

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grew to manhood on his father's farm, and after completing a common-school education entered Rutgers College, at New Brunswick, N. J., where he prepared himself for the min- istry. During the better part of his life he was a preacher in the Reformed Church, but his health becoming impaired he returned to the farm at Lagrange, where he died August 18, 1876. During his ministry he was pastor of the churches at Athens and Blooming Grove, N. Y., or Defreestville, as it is now called. About 1853 he gave up regular work, but preached occasionally until the time of his death. On April 12, 1843, he married Miss. Helen MI., daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Wyckoff, the former of whom was a native of New Brunswick, N. J. ; the family was of old Holland stock. Of this union six children

were born: Elizabeth W., who married Thomas B. Burnett, of Orange, N. J. ; Helen, who died in infancy; Sarah L., who married James Y. Luyster, of New Hackensack, N. Y .; Isaac M., our subject; William A., who mar- ried Bertha Schultz, and lives at Sioux Falls, S. Dak .; and Jacob W., assistant treasurer of the Wappingers Savings Bank, who married Emma Stockholm, and resides in Wappin- gers Falls.

The subject of this sketch was brought up on his father's farm in Lagrange, and attended the district school until he was fifteen years of age. Subsequently he became a student in the Carey and Pelham Institute, Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., and then began the study of med- icine with Dr. S. S. Greene, of Lagrangeville. In 1873 he entered the Medical Department of the University of New York, and graduated therefrom in the class of '77. After his grad- uation Dr. Cornell went to Buffalo, N. Y., and for some time practiced with his old precep- tor; then resided at New Hamburg, N. Y., and in the spring of 1878 settled at Wap- pingers Falls, where he has since made his home. The Doctor stands high with his pro- fessional brethren, and has been very success- ful in his calling. He has secured the confi- dence of the public, and has made many friends by his genial manners and kindly dis- position. llis practice is one of the largest in the vicinity.

On October 30, 1878, Dr. Cornell was married to Miss Kate E. Dorland, a sister of C. P. Dorland, the county surrogate. She died July 29, 1880, and June 6, -1883, the Doctor was married to Elizabeth W., a

daughter of Joseph D. Harcourt, a sketch of whom will be found on another page. Mar- tense H., born December 26, 1884, is the only child of this union. In his political views, the Doctor is a Republican. From 1883 to 1886 he was health officer of the town of Wappinger, and in 1878 was appointed to the same office for the town of Poughkeepsie. He has been a member of the Dutchess County Medical Society since 1878; is a trustee of the Wappingers Savings Bank; belongs to Wap- pingers Lodge No. 671, F. & A. M., at Wap- pingers Falls, to Poughkeepsie Chapter No. 172, R. A. M., and Pougkheepsie Commandery No. 43. K. T. In all respects he is one of the leading citizens of Wappingers Falls.

W ILLIAM MORGAN LEE, one of the prominent attorneys of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, is a member of a family which has long held a leading position in this locality.

Darius Lee, his father, was born July 28, 1794, in East Fishkill, and in early manhood moved to Poughkeepsie, where he became identified with several important business enter- prises, a general store, a carriage factory, and a hotel at Arlington. He was one of the founders of Heading M. E. Church, was for many years a class leader and local preacher, and he held for a long time the office of justice of the peace in the town of Poughkeepsie. He married for his second wife Naomi Odell, who was born July 28, 1812, a native of Putnam county, and they had seven children, of whom our subject is the eldest; the others were: Kate, a successful teacher in the public schools of Poughkeepsie; Frank K., a physician; Ed- ward, who resides at Mt. Vernon, S. Dak .; David (deceased); Sarah; and Henry G. (de- ceased). The father died in 1858, and the mother on February 26, 1883.

William Morgan Lee was born May 18, 1838, in Poughkeepsie. His literary and scientific studies were pursued in the public schools of that city, and with private tutors. When twenty years old he taught a school at Pleasant Valley, and in the same year he began the study of law in the office of Wilbur & Van- Cleef, with whom he remained one year. He then taught for a few months at Schultzville, and in 1862 entered the office of the provost marshall at Poughkeepsie, where he was em- ployed for two years and a half. Resuming

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his legal studies in the office of Judge Charles Wheaton, he prepared for his examination, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. For some time he practiced with Judge Wheaton, and later with Judge Allard Anthony. He is an able and influential worker in the Repub- lican party, and in 1869 was appointed city chamberlain, serving five years; in 1873 he was elected supervisor of the Sixth ward, and city attorney in 1877, which latter incumbency he held for nine years. In 1883 he was nominated for surrogate on the Republican ticket against H. D. Hufcut, but, like the other candidates of his party at that election, he was defeated. From 1889 to 1893 he was deputy collector of Internal Revenue for the Fourteenth District. His well-proven abilities have given him a high standing in business circles, and from 1893 to to February, 1895, he was auditor and general passenger agent for the P. & E. R. R. Through all the varied and exacting duties of these different positions he has carried on his regular professional work, and enjoys an ex- tensive and profitable practice.

On June 23, 1870, in Poughkeepsie, Mr. Lee was married to Miss Mary Worrall, a na- tive of Pittsburg, and the daughter of John Worrall. Her grandfather, William Worrall, was an early settler in Poughkeepsie, and at one time owned most of the land upon which the eastern part of the city now stands. Two children were born of this union: Maud and Frederick William. Mr. Lee and his wife are leading members of the Episcopal Church, and he has been a vestryman for thirteen years, clerk of the vestry for four years, and is also the treasurer of the Archdeaconry of Dutchess county.

He is an active member of the Masonic fraternity, and he was received into Pough- keepsie Lodge in March, 1869; Poughkeepsie Chapter No. 172, Royal Arch Masons, in Sep- tember, 1869; Poughkeepsie Commandery, Knights Templar, in October, 1870; and was elected High Priest of the Chapter in Decem- ber, 1872, and re-elected four successive terms. In May, 1876, he was chosen Com- mander of Poughkeepsie Commandery, and held the office six years. He was a charter member and first Master of Triune Lodge No. 782, organized in 1879, and became a member of King Solomon Council, Royal and Select Masters, in 1880, serving as Master of the Council for two years. In 1883 he served on the staff of J. Edward Simmons, and in 1884

with William Brodie as Deputy Grand Master. In 1887 he was Grand Principal Sojourner of the State, and he has been Grand Steward in the Grand Council, and is now the Repre- sentative of the State of Wisconsin near the Grand Council of the State of New York. In 1889 he became a member of Mecca Temple of the Mystic Shrine in New York City.

R ICHARD A. VARICK, M. D. (deceased), was born in the City of New York, Aprif 24, 1806. His ancestors were Holland- Dutch, and the name was originally spelled Van Vaarick.

Dr. Varick spent his early days on his fa- ther's farm, after which he took a course of lectures in a Medical College in New York, from which he was graduated with the class of 1827. After completing his course in medicine he came to Poughkeepsie, and practiced with Dr. John Barnes, with whom he remained until the latter's death, after which our subject practiced alone. He married Miss Eliza Harris, of Poughkeepsie, and two children-one son and one daughter-were born to them: John B. is a wholesale hardware merchant in New Hamp- shire; and Elizabeth Harris married William R. Pell, of New York. Mrs. Varick died in 1837, and Dr. Varick subsequently married Miss Isabel Shepherd, who was born in Albany June 27, 1809. By this union there were children as follows, five in number: (1) Robert S. was in the hardware business in New York City, and died when a young man. (2) Remsen was in the Civil war, and was on the first boat that went to Richmond, Va .; after the war he returned to Poughkeepsie and entered the drug business; he died in 1883. (3) Richard A., Jr., died while attending college. (4) Ellen S. married Edward Barnes, a drug- gist of Poughkeepsie. (5) William was a merchant of Boston, and died in 1878. In politics, Dr. Varick was originally a Whig, later a Republican. He was a prominent citi- zen, and stood high in the esteem of his fellow men. He and his wife were liberal contribil- tors of the Reformed Church. He was a mem- ber of the Society of Cincinnati, as eldest son, in nearest male line, inheriting it through Col. Richard Varick, of the Revolutionary army, and being succeeded at his death by his eldest son, John B. Varick. Dr. Richard A. Varick died August 10, 1871.

John V. B. Varick, father of our subject,

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married Miss Dorothy Remsen in New York City, shortly after which he located on a farin in the town of Poughkeepsie, where he followed agricultural pursuits a few years. Returning to New York, he there remained until his death. To him and his wife the following children were born: Richard A. ; Henry, who was an attorney in Poughkeepsie, and died there; James L., a merchant in New York; John was a farmer on the homestead, where he died; Abram was a resident of Poughkeepsie; Jane married Richard V. Gilbert, a resident of Bridge- port, Conn., and Poughkeepsie (both are now deceased); Antoinette married William Pell, a sea captain; and Kate became the wife of Abram Van Santvoord, a resident of New York City. By his second wife, who was a Miss Romeyn, John V. B. Varick had two children: Susan, who married Cornelius Van Santvoord, a prominent lawyer of New York; and Theo- dore R., who was surgeon general of New Jersey till his death.

ENRY DU BOIS VAN WYCK, proprie- tor of Knickerbocker Lodge, Van Wyck Lake, near Fishkill Village, Dutchess Co., N. Y., and also the owner of extensive property interests at Norfolk, Va., is one of our most talented and successful men of affairs, having given to various financial enterprises through- out his life the generalship, the energy, the insight, and the indomitable will which mark the highest type of business man.

He is a native of Fishkill, born October 27, 1823, at the old Van Wyck homestead, on the Hudson, a place which has been in the possession of his family for one hundred years. The mansion is of the Colonial type, and is famous as the house in which the proceedings of the first legislature of the State of New York were printed, and it is now occupied by the Misses Vandervort, Mr. Van Wyck's nieces, the estate having been sold to them by him for one-tenth of its value. His father, John C. Van Wyck, was the owner of large tracts of land in that vicinity, and for many years fol- lowed mercantile pursuits in New York City. He married Delia Griffin, and reared a family of seven children: Letitia, Catherine, Jacob, Helena, Henry Du Bois, Mary Ida and Adelia.

Mr. Van Wyck was educated in the dis- trict schools near his home, also at College Hill, Poughkeepsie, and on leaving school he went to New York City and clerked in a large

wholesale tobacco house for three years. He then spent two years in the oil business; went to Kalamazoo, Mich., with a large drove of sheep, and located there upon a large farm which he devoted to sheep raising and wheat growing, his first crop of wheat from 600 acres of land being the first large crop harvested in the United States. In 1849 he went to San Francisco, Cal., meeting there William Annin, of Fishkill Landing, and bought the barque "Galindo," in which Mr. Van Wyck made an exploring trip to the North along the coast of California and Oregon. Mr. Van Wyck was captain, with James Riddell as sailing master, and they carried sixty passengers, who were in search of a river which was laid down on one of Van Couver's charts as flowing into Trinidad bay. They found the bay, but no stream large enough to be called a river. One whale boat was sent north from this point and one south, with five men in each, but they returned on the fifth day, having lost four men while entering the mouth of Humboldt bay. There was a mutiny on board of the barque, which lasted several days, the passengers be- ing of a very rough class. The party found a tribe of Indians at Trinidad bay, who treated them with great kindness, as did another large band at Klamath river under Chief Cawtapish, numbering about 1, 800 warriors. Mr. Van- Wyck's party were the first whites they had ever seen, as the generation which had greeted Van Couver's men had gone to the happy hunting grounds.

James Johnson and Mr. Van Wyck were the discoverers of the great Gold Bluff claims, eight miles south of the Klamath river, which are still being worked. In 1850 Mr. Van- Wyck sold his interest to A. J. Butler, brother of Gen. Benjamin F: Butler, and then having procured thirty mules from San Francisco, he started on an exploring expedition through the Indian country, following the Klamath river, and at the end of forty-four days they struck the rich camp known as Yreka Mining camp, near the foot of Mt. Shasta. They had passed through several different large tribes of Indi- ans, viz. : The "Chora," "Mad Rivers," " Klamaths," "Smith Rivers," " Rogue Riv- ers," "Scott Rivers," "Shastas," " Mo- docs," and others, always being treated well, although the Indians had never seen a white person before, and Mr. Van Wyck thinks there never would have been any trouble with the Indians if the white men had used them justly.

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Many noted chiefs were among these tribes, and Mr. Van Wyck says, "he never saw more beautiful women than were many of these Indian maidens," particularly on the coast. The Modoc Indian Jim, afterward known as " Shack Nasty Jim," rode for one year the bell animal, leader of a train of mules, that Mr. Van Wyck was running from Yreka to Portland, Oregon, and also to Marysville, Cal., and other towns, where goods could be procured. Mr. Van Wyck gave him a furlough that he might visit his people, who were sup- posed to be camping at the Lava Beds, sixty miles from Yreka. When he reached the Lava Beds, he found they had gone to Pitt river, fishing for salmon, and he came back after three or four days in a very filthy condition, having laid on the earth after heating it, so as to keep warm, during the cold nights. He had lived for two days on shack berries (a very nutritious fruit), and when he appeared before Mr. Van Wyck, the latter said to him, " Jim, you look so filthy, and having lived on shack berries, I think your name ought to be changed, so I will give you a new one, that of 'Shack Nasty Jim;'" and this nickname clung to him until his death.

The Modocs were always very kind to the whites, until the whites by misusing them caused them to be enemies instead of friends. As an instance: In 1853, during the immense immigration across the plains (all the men and women being sick, and the cattle exhausted, on account of the shortness of supplies), a party of 300 emigrants went into camp near the Modoc country, and one of the Modocs volunteered to carry word of their sad plight to " Yreka." On his arrival the message was delivered to Mr. Van Wyck at his store, as he was the largest dealer in that country. He im- mediately called a meeting of the citizens, and, as gold dust was as plenty as dirt, quickly raised enough to purchase cattle, provisions, medie'nes and everything needed to bring them through. An expedition was sent out under the charge of a supposed merciful man, who distributed the supplies among the suffering emigrants. Having one fat ox left, he killed it, barbecued a quarter of it, and invited the leading men of the Modoc tribe to partake of the feast. It was said at the time that strych- nine had been put on this quarter, which he had taken out to kill wolves in order to get their pelts. At any rate, the party returned to Yreka with eleven Indian scalps, and said that

they had had a terrible fight with the Modocs, and the scalps were the trophies of their vic- tory. Yreka people learned afterward that there had been no fight, but that the Indians had been poisoned. This accounts for the manner in which Capt. Jack of the Modocs treacherously killed Gen. Canby, of the U. S. Army, as he always said he would get even by killing some "big Boston fighting man." Mr. Van Wyck remained at Yreka until 1860, when he went to Portland, Oregon, and remained there six months, forming another expedition which started for Idaho Territory, passing through the Dallas, Umpqua, Umatilla, and the place where the city of Walla Walla now stands, on through Grand Ronde valley, and over the Blue mountains, to the site of Boise City, then a wilderness; from there they went north and camped on a small stream sixty miles from Boise City, and finding placer gold in abundance, they started Idaho City, and in nine months 18,000 miners were there at work washing out the precious metal in enormous quantities. On this trip the party passed through the "Nez Perces" Umatillas, Grande Ronde, Boise Rivers, Bannocks, and other tribes of Indians without losing a man or even having any trouble, being treated well all the time. The Yreka camp and the Idaho City camp were two of the richest mining places ever discovered in the United States, and Mr. Van Wyck was the leader of the party who dis- covered both camps. In attempting to cross Boise river with their mules they were detained over twelve hours to allow a school of salmon to pass np the stream, as the mules could not be persuaded to go into the water until the fish had passed. At this early period these rivers were literally filled with salmon, and other fish.

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 43

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354