USA > New York > Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preeminent in their own and many other states, Vol. 2 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
72
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
the year of the great famine in Ireland, he contributed half of the relief cargo of the United States warship "Constellation," besides paying incidental expenses. Many of his benevolences, in times of public distress, in New York City and elsewhere, were given in large checks to religious organizations, which, however, were not sent in his own name, and the source of which was never known, except to a very few. In conjunction with his wife and his son, Joseph P. Grace, he gave, in 1897, the sum of $200,000 for the establishment of the Grace Institute, a training school for young women and girls, in the interest of making them self- supporting; and to this institute he left an additional amount of $100,000 in his will. He was president for many years of the Sevilla Home for Children, whose property, under his care, was increased more than three times in value.
He purchased a beautiful property at Great Neck, Long Island, for a summer home, which he named "Gracefield," for his ancestral home in Ireland. Here he found peace and recreation from the cares of business life, and with his family, en- joyment in the society of friends who partook of his hospitality.
He married, September II, 1859, Lilius Gilchrist, daughter of George W. and Mary Jane (Smalley) Gilchrist. He died in New York City, March 21, 1904.
AVERELL, William W.,
Cavalry Leader in Civil War.
General William Woods Averell, a bril- liant cavalry officer in the Civil War, was born at Cameron, Steuben county, New York, November 5, 1832, the place of his birth being not far from the location of the Soldiers' Home at Bath, New York. His grandfather was a captain in the Revolutionary War.
He was appointed to the United States
Military Academy at West Point on July I, 1851, and graduated from that institu- tion in 1855 with the rank of brevet second lieutenant of Mounted Rifles. In the following May he was commissioned full second lieutenant, with which rank he was engaged on the Indian frontier, and was severely wounded. He declined promotion as first lieutenant of the Sixth United States Cavalry, May 14, 1861, accepting the same rank in the Third Cavalry (mounted rifles), the same date, and with which he took part in the battle of Bull Run, and in the defences of Washington City. In August, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Third Penn- sylvania Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and he was actively en- gaged in its various engagements, notably at Kelly's Ford, Virginia, for which he was brevetted major, March 17, 1863 ; and at Droop Mountain, Virginia, where he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel; on the Salem expedition in Virginia, where he won the brevet of colonel, December 15, 1863, for gallant and meritorious services, and that of brigadier-general, March 13, 1865, and for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Moorfield, Vir- ginia, that of major-general. In the regular service General Averell was pro- moted to captain July 17, 1862, and he resigned May 18, 1865. The character of the services rendered by General Averell may be illustrated by one of his despatches to the War Department : "My column has climbed, slid and swam 340 miles since December 8th."
After the war, in 1868 President John- son appointed General Averell to be Consul-General of the United States to the British provinces. In 1869 he re- turned to the United States and engaged in business, becoming president of the Asphalt Pavement Company. He was the inventor of a system of electric con-
73
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
duits, and a process by which ore is con- verted into steel at a single operation. He was placed on the retired list of the army with the rank of captain and brevet major-general. He was assistant inspec- tor-general of the Soldiers' Home of the United States. He died in 1900.
SMALLEY, George W., Newspaper Correspondent.
George Washburn Smalley, familiarly known in England as "the Dean of Amer- ican Correspondents," was born at Franklin, Massachusetts, June 2, 1833, and died in London, England, April 4, 1916. He was graduated from Yale Col- lege in 1853, read law at Worcester, Mas- sachusetts, in the office of George F. Hoar, and after a course of study at the Harvard Law School was admitted to the bar in 1856, and practiced in Boston, Massachusetts, until 1861. By conviction a radical in affairs public, political and social, he had been actively affiliated with Garrison, Phillips, and their associates.
At the opening of the Civil War he entered the service of the New York "Tribune" as correspondent in the field, going to South Carolina, and thence to Virginia, and was with the Union army in the campaigns of the Shenandoah and the Potomac. After the battle of Antie- tam (September 17, 1862), in which he served as a volunteer aide to General Joseph Hooker, Mr. Smalley rode horse- back thirty miles to a railroad train for the north, hastened as fast as it would carry him to New York City, wrote his famous account of that battle on the cars while en route, and furnished it to his journal in season to enable the "Tribune" to publish his accounts of the engagement in advance of all its contemporaries. The letter was worthy to make his reputation as a war correspondent, for, written at the speed with which it was produced, it
was unsurpassed, perhaps unequaled, by any effort of the kind made during the whole four years of the conflict. It fixed his place in journalism, if he chose to have one. The same year he was mar- ried to Phoebe Gamant, of Boston, Mas- sachusetts, adopted daughter of Wendell Phillips, and was attached to the editorial staff of the New York "Tribune." Dur- ing the draft riots in the summer of 1863 in the city of New York, he was one of four members of the editorial corps who were associated in organizing and con- ducting the defence of the "Tribune" building against the rioters. The build- ing is spoken of by one of their number as having been a perfect arsenal of ex- plosives after the Monday night in July when an attack was made upon it and repelled by the police.
In 1866 Mr. Smalley went to Europe at a day's notice, to observe and report for "The Tribune" the war between Prussia and Austria. In May, 1867, he went to England with power to organize "The Tribune's" European bureau, and estab- lished himself in that city permanently as its manager. In the Franco-Prussian War (1870) he went to the field, and his letters and dispatches to "The Tribune" from the seat of that struggle were all received at London, where they were edited by the bureau established under Mr. Smalley's supervision, and then transmitted by cable to New York. The partnership between the London "Tele- graph" and the New York "Tribune" in the collection and issue of this news, thus executed by Mr. Smalley, was pronounced by the English war-historian Kinglake "an era in the journalism of Europe." Since that time, while holding a continu- ous residence in London as the represen- tative of "The Tribune," Mr. Smalley left England from time to time for profes- sional visits to Paris, Berlin, and other political centers. Upon occasions of in-
74
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
terest and through his letters to the "Tribune," the American public was kept apprised of the events of European and especially of English affairs and society, in what has been doubtless the best for- eign correspondence of any American journal. In 1878 Mr. Smalley was ap- pointed special commissioner from the United States to the Paris Exposition. In 1890 he published "London Letters and Some Others," in two volumes. In 19II he published his "Anglo-American Memories," followed in 1912 by a second, which contained intimate accounts of the many prominent men he had met and great events he had observed and re- ported, and which attracted much atten- tion.
BRIGGS, Charles A., Theologian.
The Rev. Charles Augustus Briggs, one of the most scholarly theologians and independent thinkers of his day, was born in New York City, January 15, 1841, son of Alanson and Sarah Mead (Berrian) Briggs.
He was a student at the University of Virginia from 1857 to 1860. In 1861, at the outbreak of the rebellion, he served for three months with the army, then entered the Union Theological Semi- nary of New York, remaining until 1863. For three years he was engaged in mer- cantile pursuits in New York City, then going to Germany, where he studied at the University of Berlin until 1869. Re- turning home, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Elizabeth, New Jersey,
June 30, 1870, and the same year became pastor of the church in Roselle, New Jersey, which he served until 1874, when he was called to the Union Theological Seminary, and where he occupied the chair of Hebrew and Cognate Languages until 1890. In 1891, by the munificence
of Mr. Charles Butler, a chair of Biblical Theology was endowed, and Dr. Briggs was installed therein until 1904, and leav- ing it to become Professor of Theology and Symbolics, and so serving the re- mainder of his life. From 1880 to 1890 he was editor of the "Presbyterian Re- view." In 1892 he was brought to trial for heresy before the Presbytery of New York, and was acquitted; but the fol- lowing year was suspended by the General Assembly. He later connected himself with the Protestant Episcopal church, and became deacon in 1899, and priest in 1900.
His brilliant scholarship, exactness in investigation, enthusiasm and courage brought him world-wide fame. At the centenary celebration of the University of Edinburgh in 1884, the degree of Doc- tor of Divinity was conferred upon him- a distinguished honor, granted to only three Americans besides himself, a recog- nition not only of the rank he had attained in his own seminary, but of the estima- tion in which he was held abroad as a profound theologian. Yet, he was fallen upon troublous times. His investiture as Professor of Biblical Theology in Union Theological Seminary brought upon him condemnation by the Presbyterian Gen- eral Assembly. For some time he had provoked the criticism of his fellow-pres- byters by his utterances with reference to the verbal inspiration of the Bible. Before the action of the General Assem- bly there had been indications of conflict. Dr. Briggs was a recognized power, an exponent of opinions widely held among Presbyterians, but also widely denounced by others of the same sect. Respected as an original thinker and conscientious stu- dent, some were disinclined to reject his utterances ; others were more cautious in their acceptance of his judgment. Dr. Briggs, with a dignified self-respect not inconsistent with entire modesty, in reply
75
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
to strictures made upon him, by Dr. Shedd, prior to the meeting of the Pres- bytery of New York, before which he had been summoned, said: "There are two things in which I may claim to be a spe- cialist ; one of them is in the theology of the Old Testament, and the other, the Westminster Confession. I have studied the Westminster documents repeatedly in all the great libraries of Great Britain. I have gathered in the library of the Union Theological Seminary, the best library of the Westminster divines out- side the British Museum. I have studied these divines with enthusiastic devotion for many years." On the basis of such preparation he asserted his right to speak
with authority, claiming that new doc- trines had come into the field, new ques- tions had arisen, of which the West- minster Confession could not have had knowledge, and that the thoughts of men had widened. Dr. Briggs had published several works in which he presented his views without hesitation and with intense vigor. His lectures before his classes made a profound impression, but for some years no vigorous outspoken protest was made. In January, 1891, in an elaborate address before the Union Theological Seminary, he declared that "there are his- torically three great fountains of divine authority-the Bible, the church and the reason." He contended that "the major- ity of Christians from the Apostolic age have found God through the church." He declared reason to be "The Holy of Holies of human nature," in which "God pre- sents himself to those who seek him." He cited Newman as "finding God in the church," and Martineau as "one who could not find God in the church or in the Bible, but did find him enthroned in his own soul;" and Spurgeon who "assails the church and reason in the interests of the authority of scripture." Upon these utterances were founded the charges
made against him ; he was summoned be- fore the New York Presbytery, which dismissed the case; but in the General Assembly in May, 1893, the decision of the Presbytery was reversed, and he was suspended from the ministry, but he con- tinued his labors at the Union Theolog- ical Seminary.
Among his published works are: "Bib- lical Study, its Methods and History" (1883); "American Presbyterianism, its Origin and Growth" (1885) ; "Messianic Prophecy" (1886) ; "Study of Higher Criticism with special reference to the Pentatench" (1883) ; "Hebrew Poems of the Creation" (1884) ; "Poem of the Fall of Man; Series of articles of Hebrew Poetry" (1886); "Opening Address on Biblical History" (1889) ; "Schaff-Lange Commentary on Ezra" (1876) ; "Address on Exegetical Theology" (1876) ; article in Encyclopedia Brittannica on "Presby- terianism in the United States;" the "Right, Duty and Limits of Biblical Criti- cism" (1881); "Whither? A Theological Question for the Times" (1889) ; "How? A Series of Essays on the Revision Ques- tion" (1890) ; "Authority of the Holy Scripture" (1891); "The Bible, the Church, and the Reason" (1892) ; "The Higher Criticism of the Hexatench" (1893); "The Messiah of the Gospels" (1894); "The Messiah of the Apostles" (1895); "General Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scripture" (1899). He died June 8, 1913.
DI CESNOLA, Emmanuele, Distinguished Archaeologist.
Emmannele Pietro Paolo Maria Luigi Palma Di Cesnola was born in Rivarolo, near Turin, June 29, 1832. His family originally came from Spain in 1190, but resided in Piedmont after 1282, and as early as the fourteenth century. The Pal- mas were immensely rich and invested
76
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
with feudal power over twenty-two towns and villages in Naples, in Sicily, and in the region near Turin.
Cesnola received a collegiate educa- tion with a view to his preparation for the priesthood, but the war which in 1848 broke out between Austria and Sar- dinia changed the direction of his life. Leaving college he volunteered as a pri- vate soldier in the Sardinian army. In February, 1849, for military valor he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the Ninth Regiment of the Queen's Royal Brigade, on the battle-field at Novara. He was then the youngest commissioned officer in the Sardinian regular army. After the close of the war he was sent to the Royal Military Academy at Cherasco, from which he was graduated in 1851. He served in the army several years, took part in the Crimean war, and at the end of 1860 came to America, landing in New York. On the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he entered the volunteer service as lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh New York Cavalry Regiment. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the Fourth New York Cavalry Regiment ; led his brigade, attached to the Eleventh Army Corps, for several months, and for his heroic con- duct on the battle-field in a charge on June 17, 1863, he was complimented by General Kilpatrick, and at the same time was presented with the sword of that officer. In leading the fifth charge on that day he was severely wounded, was made prisoner, and was confined for over nine months in Libby Prison, Richmond, Vir- ginia. He planned an escape of the Union prisoners with the provision that a cavalry force under Kilpatrick, Custer and Dahlgren should create a diversion by a swift movement about the city of Rich- mond. However, Secretary of War Stan- ton declined to give his consent, and the plan was not carried out. Cesnola was
with Sheridan throughout the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, and when the term of service of his regiment expired he remained at the head of Devin's bri- gade, at the written request of General Wesley Merritt, his division commander. President Lincoln in 1865, in the presence of Senator Ira Harris and the Hon. Wil- liam H. Seward, conferred upon him the brevet rank of brigadier-general, and ap- pointed him the American Consul at Cyprus, and he became an American citizen. He remained in Cyprus until 1877, when the consulate was abolished. While holding this office, he rendered such inestimable service that it is char- acterized by Sir Henry Layard as "adding a new chapter to the history of art and archæology," by making archæological ex- plorations in that island and collecting a large number of antiquities, afterward dis- played in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and which furnished the long missing link connecting Egyptian and Assyrian art with that of Greece. Many literary and scientific societies of Europe and America conferred upon General Cesnola honorary membership. King Victor Em- manuel and Humbert of Italy bestowed upon him several knightly orders, as did the King of Bavaria. In 1882, King Hum- bert of Italy caused a large gold medal to be struck in his honor, and sent him as a New Year's gift. In 1897, through the Secretary of War, he received the con- gressional medal of honor for which he had neither applied nor authorized anyone to do so in his name, and which was be- stowed upon him for his brilliant cavalry charges on June 17, 1863. In 1878 he was elected a trustee and secretary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and when the museum was transferred from Four- teenth street to Central Park, the trustees unanimously made him chief director, Columbia University and Princeton Col-
77
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
lege conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of LL. D. in 1880. He was the author of several works relating to his discoveries in Cyprus.
In June, 1861, he was married to Mary Isabel, daughter of Captain Samuel Ches- ter Reid, of the United States navy, the heroic commander of the privateer "Gen- eral Armstrong." General Cesnola died November 21, 1904.
SCHURZ, General Carl, Soldier, Statesman, Litteratur.
Carl Schurz was born March 2, 1829, near Liblar, Prussia, Germany. He re- ceived instruction under his father and at eleven years of age was sent to the Gymnasium at Cologne, where he gradu- ated in 1847. He matriculated at Bonn University in 1847; in 1849 his connec- tion with the revolution caused him to discontinue study there. While there he fell under the spell of Professor Johann Gottfried Kinkel, an orator, poet, and idealist. In Bremen, Kinkel established the "Bonner Zeitung", and Schurz became his assistant editor and reporter; for a time Schurz edited the paper alone. Later Schurz went to Bavaria, joined the revo- lutionary forces, was appointed a lieuten- ant, and was made prisoner, but escaped to Switzerland. Later he went back to Germany incognito, and effected the res- cue of Kinkel, and they took refuge in Paris. In 1851 Schurz went to London; he there married and came to New York. Shortly afterward, Schurz settled in Phil- adelphia, where he studied English and law. In 1855 he traveled through several western States, and in 1856 returned to Europe with his family. He returned to this country again late that summer and made his residence at Watertown, Wis- consin.
The newly formed Republican party
had nominated Fremont for president, and the issues of anti-slavery enlisted the sympathies of Schurz, who made speeches in his native language to the Germans of Wisconsin. In 1857 he was nominated over his own protest for Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of Wisconsin, and was defeated; the other candidates on the Republican ticket were elected. During that cam- paign, Schurz spoke in the English lan- guage. In 1858 he enlisted in the Lincoln- Douglas contest in Illinois, in which he met Lincoln. In the Republican State Convention of 1859, Schurz was again nominated for Lieutenant-Governor of Wisconsin, but declined. Early in 1859 he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar, and settled to practice at Milwaukee. As a speaker he was in constant demand, and the law was practically abandoned.
Schurz was a member of the National Republican Convention of 1860 at Chi- cago, and chairman of the Wisconsin delegation. He secured the adoption of a plank in the national platform, which declared against the impairment of poli- tical rights of foreign-born citizens, and pledged the party to oppose natavistic legislation then pending. The convention nominated Lincoln for President, and Schurz was made the Wisconsin repre- sentative on the committee to inform Lin- coln of his nomination. Schurz made a strenuous campaign, and soon after Lin- coln was inaugurated he was made Min- ister to Spain. Schurz presented his cre- dentials in Madrid, July 16, 1861, but the war impelled him to return to acquaint the President with the situation abroad ; so he resigned as Minister. He was ap- pointed brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, and on June 10, 1862, received command of the Third Division of Sigel's corps at Harrisonburg, Vir- ginia. Shortly afterward he participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run, and was
78
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
among the officers commended by the Secretary of War. On March 14, 1863, he was made major-general of volunteers. Later, in the movements that eventuated in the battle of Chancellorsville, he com- manded a division, and participated in the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, where for a time on July Ist he com- manded the Eleventh Corps. With his division he was sent to the relief of Chat- tanooga, Tennessee, late in 1863, partici- pated in the movements in and around Chattanooga that eventuated in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and also went to the relief of Knoxville, in December, 1863. In March, 1864, he commanded a recruiting camp at Edgefield, Tennessee. During the presi- dential campaign of 1864 he was a speaker for Lincoln. In the winter and spring of 1864-65 he served in various military ca- pacities, and rejoined General Sherman in North Carolina and was present at the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston, April 26, 1865, whereupon he resigned his commission.
After the war, the question arose as to the legal status of the States that had seceded. Schurz contended that they should not be readmitted to full privileges until guarantees were given of their ac- ceptance of the emancipation of the slaves. President Johnson commissioned Schurz to visit the Southern States, and report to him their physical condition and the state of sentiment. His report, recom- mending a fuller investigation by Con- gress, was made the basis of subsequent legislation by Congress during the "Re- construction" period.
Soon after, he became Washington cor- respondent of the "New York Tribune." In May, 1866, he became editor of the "Detroit Michigan Post," and in 1867 he became co-editor and joint owner of the "Westliche Post," St. Louis, Missouri.
He visited Germany in 1868, and was granted an audience with Prince Bis- marck, who showed him special courtesy.
Schurz was a member of the Missouri delegation to the National Republican Convention in 1868, of which he was tem- porary chairman, and he secured the adop- tion of a provision in the platform recom- mending general amnesty for most of the Confederate soldiers. In 1869 the Legis- lature of Missouri elected him United States Senator, the first German born citizen to attain that distinction in the United States. His career in the Senate was noted for his signal ability as a de- bater and parliamentarian; and clearness and precision in argument. He opposed Grant's San Domingo annexation policy, which he virtually defeated. He opposed the "carpet-bag" rule of the South, but when the States accepted the abolition of slavery, he was the first to taken positive measures to restore the disfranchised citi- zens to full citizenship. To accomplish that end he secured the election of Ben- jamin Gratz Brown as Liberal Demo- cratic Governor. His speeches in the Sen- ate on the currency question and resump- tion of specie payments were models of sound financial doctrine. He began the agitation for tariff reform, and made the first effort to secure civil service reform. These efforts brought him into conflict with men then in power, and in 1872 he headed a movement to force the nomina- tion of a Reform candidate. The conven- tion called by Schurz and held in 1872, at Cincinnati, however, nominated Gree- ley for President on the Democratic ticket, whom in the end he reluctantly supported in preference to Grant, on re- form issues alone.
When Schurz's term in the Senate ex- pired, he was given a complimentary din- ner in New York on April 27, 1875. He visited Europe again in 1875, and was
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.