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 40
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(IV) Nathaniel Rochester, son of John and Hester (Thrift) Rochester, was born in Cople parish, Westmoreland county, Virginia, February 21, 1752, on the place which came into the possession of the Rochester family in 1689. He was taken by his stepfather to Granville county, North Carolina, where he became a prom- inent merchant and public man, serving
in high political and official positions and taking a leading part in public affairs. During the Revolutionary War he served in the American army with the rank of major, lieutenant-colonel and deputy com- missioner general of military stores. He was a member of the first provincial con- vention, and a member of the State Legis- lature. In 1783, in association with Colo- nel Thomas Hart, father-in-law of Henry Clay, he began the manufacture of flour, rope and nails. In 1808 he was the first president of the Hagerstown Bank, and successfully filled the offices of member of the Assembly, postmaster, judge of the county court and presidential elector. In 1800 he first visited the "Genesee Coun- try," where he had previously purchased six hundred and forty acres of land, and the same year made large purchases of land in Livingston county, New York, near Dansville. In 1802, with Colonel Fitz-Hugh and Major Carroll, he pur- chased the "one hundred or Allen Mill Tract" on what is now the city of Roches- ter, then called Fallstown. In May, 1810, having closed up his business in Mary- land, he became a resident of Western New York, settling at Dansville, where he remained five years, during which time he erected a large paper mill, and made many improvements. In 1815, having disposed of his interests in Dansville, he removed to a large and well-improved farm in Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York. After staying there for three years, during which time he constantly visited the Falls of the Genesee and his property there, laying it out in lots, in April, 1818, he took up his residence there, the town in the interim having been named after him, Rochester. In 1816 he was presi- dential elector. He was the first clerk of the county of Monroe, and its first repre- sentative in the State Legislature in 1821- 22. In 1824 he was one of the organizers
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of the Bank of Rochester, and was unani- mously chosen its first president, a posi- tion which he soon resigned on account of impaired health and the infirmities of age. He was a lifelong member of the Protes- tant Episcopal church, and one of the founders of St. Luke's Church of Roches- ter. He died May 17, 1831, the first citi- zen of the town of Rochester, a man gen- erally beloved and revered for the integ- rity of his principles and the magnetism of his personality. Nathaniel Rochester married Sophia Beatty, great-grand- daughter of John Beatty, immigrant an- cestor of the Beatty family in America. She was the daughter of William and Dorotha (Grosh) Beatty. Colonel Na- thaniel Rochester and his wife Sophia (Beatty) Rochester were the parents of twelve children.
(V) Thomas Hart Rochester, son of Colonel Nathaniel and Sophia (Beatty) Rochester, was born September 23, 1797, in Hagerstown, Maryland. He came North with his father and settled in Rochester. He married Phoebe Elizabeth Cuming, September 26, 1822. Among their children were the late Colonel Mont- gomery Rochester, mentioned below ; Dr. Thomas Fortescue Rochester, at the time of his decease the most prominent physi- cian and surgeon of Buffalo, New York, and the greatest medical authority in Western New York; Nathaniel, died in California in 1849; John Henry ; Caroline Louise; Phoebe Elizabeth, who died in 1859.
(VI) Colonel Montgomery Rochester, son of Thomas Hart and Phoebe Eliza- beth (Cuming) Rochester, was born in (The Pruyn Line). the family homestead in Rochester, New (I) Johannes Pruyn, progenitor of the Pruyn family in America, was a Hol- lander. He had two sons, Francis and Jacob. Jacob Pruyn was enrolled among the "Small Burghers" of New Amster- York, August 24, 1832. He received his education in the public schools of Roches- ter, and was engaged in business in that city at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. He served throughout the dam, April 18, 1657; and purchased a
entire war, bringing honor and distinction on himself for bravery and daring in the service. He held the rank of colonel under General Sherman. His commis- sion as quartermaster-general, bearing the signature of President Abraham Lincoln, with the sword which he used during the war, is in possession of the family. He was mustered out of the service on May I, 1865, as lieutenant-colonel. He had held the rank of assistant adjutant-gen- eral of United States Volunteers.
Colonel Rochester was throughout his entire life a man of deep literary and ar- tistic tastes. After the war he was elected treasurer of the Art Museum of Cincin- nati, and devoted a large part of his life to his work in this capacity, purely for the love of it. He was a quiet, scholarly man, of dignified demeanor, possessed of a wonderful fund of dry humor. He was a member of the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, and numerous other literary, military, fraternal, art, and civic societies. Colonel Rochester was always active in church work, and was a member of St. Luke's Church in Roches- ter, and St. Peter's in Albany, in which city he resided. He married, January 15, 1857, Mary Hewson Pruyn, daughter of Casparus Francis Pruyn, and a member of one of the oldest families in the State of New York. Mrs. Rochester survives her husband and resides at No. 435 State street, Albany, New York. The child of this marriage was: Montgomery Hewson Rochester. Colonel Montgomery Roches- ter died in Albany, New York, February 2, 1909.
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house and lot "outside of the Gate of this city," February 19, 1659, from Sybout Classèn.
(II) Francis Pruyn, son of Johannes Pruyn, was in Albany, New York, as early as 1665, with his wife, where he was a tailor. It is recorded that in 1668, representing Jacques Cornelise Van Slyck, he conveyed a piece of property in the Colony of Rensselaerswyck (later Al- bany) to one Jan Labatie, and later in the same year bought for himself a lot at the northwest corner of Maiden lane and James street, in that city. On February 19, 1686-87, he bought from Johannes Clute and wife, Bata, a lot on Broadway, Albany, about the third south from Steu- ben street, running through to James street, for which he paid the sum of twenty-two beavers. His son, Johannes, afterward occupied the same house built thereon. Being a Papist, in January, 1669, he refused to take the oath of allegi- ance to King William, but expressed him- self willing to swear fidelity. However, his son, Johannes Pruyn, subscribed. His wife, Alida, joined the Reformed Protes- tant Dutch church in 1683. She died Sep- tember 20, 1704, and he died May 6, 1712.
(III) Samuel Pruyn, son of Francis and Alida Pruyn, was born December 2, 1677, and buried January 27, 1752. In 1703 he was one of those "who furnished labor and materials for the Dominie's house." In 1720 his name appears on the list of freeholders in the old third ward of Albany. He lived, between 1703 and 1727, at the northeast corner of Maiden lane and James street, Albany. He mar- ried, January 15, 1704, Maria Bogart, born June 14, 1681, the daughter of Jacob Cor- nelise and Jeanette (Quackenbush) Bo- gart.
(IV) Francis Samuelse Pruyn, son of Samuel and Maria (Bogart) Pruyn, was born in Albany, and baptized there on
March 15, 1705. He died August 27, 1767. He was a prominent man in Albany and held the following public offices: Fire- master, 1731-32 ; assistant alderman, 1745- 46; alderman from the second ward, Al- bany, 1761-62. He was twice married. On the death of his first wife, Anna, he married Alida van Yveren, daughter of Warner and Anna (Pruyn) van Yveren.
(V) Casparus Pruyn, son of Francis Samuelse and Alida (van Yveren) Pruyn, was born May 10, 1734. His name ap- pears as lieutenant on the roll of the First Albany County Regiment ; in 1785 he was an assessor of the second ward of the city. He was for some years an elder of the Reformed Dutch church. The follow- ing memorandum refers to his aid of the United States government: "This is to certify that Casparus Pruyn has due to him from the United States the sum of Seventy-one pounds four shillings specie, for work done for the use of the Indians, by the request of the Commissioners of Indian affairs, in 1779-1780. P. Van Rennsselaer." He married, December 19, 1762, Catherine Groesbeck, born May 8, 1737, died February 17, 1788, the daugh- ter of David and Maria (Van Poel) Groesbeck. Casparus Pruyn died Octo- ber 7, 1817.
(VI) Francis Casparus Prupn, son of Casparus and Catherine (Groesbeck) Pruyn, was born at Albany, New York, July 19, 1769, and died June 14, 1847. He married, August 30, 1791, Cornelia Dun- bar, born January II, 1770, and died July 12, 1844, the daughter of Levinus and Margaret (Hansen) Dunbar.
(VII) Casparus Francis Pruyn, son of Francis Casparus and Cornelia (Dunbar) Pruyn, was born May 26, 1792. At the age of thirteen years he entered the office of the Van Rensselaer estate, of which vast property his uncle, Robert Dunbar, was the agent. In 1835 Mr. Dunbar re-
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signed and Casparus F. Pruyn was ap- pointed the agent for the manor, which position he filled very satisfactorily. Upon the death of General Stephen Van Rensselaer, the Patroon, on January 26, 1839, the estate was divided, the portion on the east shore of the Hudson river going to William Paterson Van Rensse- laer. To be in the vicinity of this prop- erty, of which he still continued to be the agent, he removed to the other side of the river to Bath, Rensselaer county. He held the position of agent for "East Manor," as it became known, until he resigned in 1844. He died two years later, February II, 1846. Mr. Pruyn married, April 19, 1814, Ann Hewson, born Janu- ary 27, 1794, died February 12, 1841, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Fryer) Hewson, of Albany.
(VIII) Mary Hewson Pruyn, daugh- ter of Casparus Francis and Ann (Hew- son) Pruyn, was born April 13, 1834, in Albany, New York. She married, Janu- ary 15, 1857, Montgomery Rochester, son of Thomas Hart and Phoebe Elizabeth (Cuming) Rochester.
TRACY, Benjamin Franklin,
Lawyer, Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat.
To few men has it been given to bear the master part in so many lines of en- deavor for the advancement of the race as fell to the lot of General Benjamin F. Tracy, and few were able at the age of eighty-five years, as was he, to continue in active participation in the affairs of life. Cradled in Central New York, he was reared under conditions calculated to bring out the best that was in him. From a multitude of worthy ancestors he inherited those qualities of courage, forti- tude and adherence to principle which have made the New Englander and his descendants the leaders in directing the
affairs of a mighty nation. It is interest- ing to give a few moment's attention to the character of the men who preceded him in a long line of strong and efficient ancestors.
The name of Tracy was taken by a Norman family from Traci-Boccage, in the Arrondisement of Caen, France, called in the documents of the eleventh century, Traceium. At the time of the Conquest, members of this family went to England and were subsequently Lords of Barn- staple, in Devonshire, where several par- ishes bear the word Tracy as a portion of their name. Beginning with Ecgbert, first Saxon King of England, who reigned from 800 to 839, the history of this family has been brought down to the twenty- seventh generation, represented in this country by Stephen Tracy, the Pilgrim ancestor, who came to Plymouth, Massa- chusetts, in the ship "Ann," in 1623. He was the father of John Tracy, born at Plymouth, 1633, died at Windham, Con- necticut, 1718. His wife Mary was a daughter of Governor Thomas Prince, of the Plymouth Colony. Their son, John Tracy, was born about 1663, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and was the father of John Tracy, a resident of Providence, Rhode Island. John (4) Tracy, son of John of Providence, lived in Scituate, Rhode Island, and was the father of Thomas Tracy, the pioneer of Western New York. He lived for some time in North Adams, Massachusetts, and trav- eled thence with his wife and infant son to the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, in Otsego county, New York, where he built a raft, and on it conveyed his family down the stream in the year 1790. He landed at the mouth of what has since been known as Tracy creek, in the present Broome county, New York, then a part of Tioga county. He was the father of two sons, of whom the junior,
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Benjamin Tracy, born 1795, in Tioga county, resided at Owego, where he was a highly respected citizen, and died Janu- ary 31, 1882, in his eighty-eighth year. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, and was an industrious pioneer in clearing the forests along the Susquehanna, and in the cultivation of crops. He had four sons, of whom the third is the subject of this biography.
General Benjamin Franklin Tracy was born April 26, 1830, at Owego, and began attendance at the district school at the early age of five years, and continued through both summer and winter terms until the age of thirteen years, after which his summers were occupied by such farm labor as he was competent to perform. At the age of sixteen years his last win- ter term of the district school was com- pleted, and during the following winter he taught a school in the suburb of Owego, with success. Because of his own youth, he was advised against under- taking this work, since the school was one of the largest and most unruly in the town. For his efficient service in this school he received an emolument of six- teen dollars per month, with board. His father was long a justice of the peace, and the attention of the son was early attracted to legal matters through trials conducted before his father, and he re- solved to take up the law as a profession. As a means of preparation, he joined a debating club at the age of fifteen years, and soon attracted attention therein by his power and skill in public addresses. At the age of nineteen years he began the study of law with a firm in Owego, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1851. In the meantime he had conducted several trials in justice's courts, had gained thereby some practical experience, and clients came to him rapidly after his ad- mission as an attorney.
His active mind grasped readily many of the subjects attracting public interest at this time, and at a very early age he be- gan to take part in the political move- ments of his section. When only twenty- three years old he was nominated by the Whig party as candidate for district at- torney for Tioga county, and was the only candidate on the ticket who did not suffer defeat. It is probable that he was the youngest district attorney ever elected in this State. He was again a candidate in 1856, and defeated his personal friend, Gilbert C. Walker, the Democratic candi- date, with whom young Tracy soon after formed a law partnership. It is worthy of note in connection with the beginning of practice by General Tracy, that in his first eight years he never lost a jury trial in a court of record in which he was at- torney. His civil practice in this time exceeded that of any other attorney in the county, and it is a matter of record that the court was forced to adjourn at one time because of his illness, as there was no case on the calendar in which he was not engaged on one side or the other. His active practice was temporarily aban- doned soon after this, and his attention was given to aiding in suppression of the rebellion of 1861-65 in his native country. At various intervals since, he resumed practice, and actively engaged in the pro- fession of law, and occupied a most com- manding position at the bar of the State down to the time of his death.
The formation of the Free Soil party occurred when he was still a young man, and he was a representative of this party in various conventions, and was among the leaders in the formation of the Repub- lican party, which began simultaneously in New York, and in other States, east and west. His home county was one of the first in the State to take action in this direction, and Mr. Tracy was a delegate
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in the joint convention of Republicans and Whigs held at Auburn in September, 1855. His guiding hand was most potent in directing the destinies of the nation at this and subsequent periods, and to him has been given credit for great achieve- ments in the establishment of safe gov- ernment, based upon sound principles. He was a member of the committee at the Auburn convention in 1855, to prepare the address issued to the people of the State, and in the same year was made chairman of the Republican committee of Tioga county. In 1861, immediately after his party came into governmental control of the nation, he began his legislative career as a member of the State Assem- bly, elected by a combination of Repub- licans and War Democrats. Here he be- came the acknowledged leader of his party, an unprecedented accomplishment in a member's first term. With patriotic ardor he engaged not only in civil affairs, but also in the military movements which ultimately resulted in the downfall of secession. Between July 21 and August 21, 1861, young Tracy raised and equipped two regiments, as chairman of a district embracing the counties of Broome, Tioga and Tompkins.
He proceeded to Washington as colo- nel of the One Hundred and Ninth Regi- ment New York Volunteers, and was assigned to the protection of the railroad leading into Washington. In the spring of 1864 he was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and especially distinguished himself in the battle of the Wilderness, during which he suffered a complete breakdown from over-exertion. For his gallantry in this action he received the Congressional medal of honor. Return- ing to the north for a short time after recuperation, he was commissioned colo- nel of the One Hundred and Twenty- seventh Regiment United States Volun-
teers. Before the close of that year he was appointed commander of the military post at Elmira, New York, which included a prison camp where ten thousand pris- oners had been held by the United States, and also a volunteer camp for the organ- ization of Union soldiers to be sent to the front. Colonel Tracy was brevetted brig- adier-general, March 13, 1865, "for gal- lant and meritorious services during the war," and three months later he tendered his resignation, receiving an honorable discharge from the army.
At this time he removed to Brooklyn, New York, and became associated with the well known law firm of Benedict, Burr & Benedict, of New York City, con- tinuing at the same time the management of his farm at Owego. He at once took a leading position at the metropolitan bar. In October, 1866, he was appointed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and one of his first duties in this capacity was the prosecu- tion of the whiskey distillers who were defrauding the government by the eva- sion of payment of revenue. Here he achieved one of his greatest triumphs in civil affairs. His efforts were greatly handicapped by the absence of adequate laws for the protection of the govern- ment's interests, and he immediately set about the framing of statutes which should prevent a continuance of the frauds he was then engaged in prosecut- ing. He secured for the first time a law covering criminal conspiracy, and fol- lowed this up by a virtual remoulding of the internal revenue law, shutting off this imposition upon the nation. Under the beneficent operation of the law drafted by United States District Attorney Tracy, the revenue tax was increased in one year from thirteen millions to sixty millions of dollars. In 1873 he resigned this office in order to devote himself to private prac-
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tice, and acting as counsel in much of the most important litigation of his time. He was a member of the counsel which de- fended Henry Ward Beecher in the famous case brought against him by Theodore Tilton, in association with Wil- liam M. Evarts and other leaders of the bar. His opening of the case for the de- fense before the jury has been character- ized as most complete and masterly, al- though it was undertaken unexpectedly through the indisposition of the counsel to whom this duty had been assigned. One of the most remarkable triumphs achieved by General Tracy was the con- viction of John Y. McKane, a political boss at Gravesend, New York, who had been guilty of the most brazen violations of the election laws and expiated his wrongdoing by a term in State's prison. Upon the appearance of a vacancy in the Court of Appeals, General Tracy was ap- pointed to that bench, on which he served one year, and the records show more con- trolling opinions written by Judge Tracy in that period than had ever been given by a single judge within that limit.
In 1866, at the famous Philadelphia convention held to protest against recon- struction, he opposed the enfranchise- ment of the negro, and predicted the un- fortunate results which followed, and the mistake of his party at that time is now universally admitted. In 1880 he was a delegate to the Republican National Con- vention, and was one of the "stalwarts" who continued to support General Grant for the Presidency on every ballot. In the following year he was the Republican nominee for mayor of the city of Brook- lyn, but proposed and executed his own withdrawal in favor of Seth Low, who was triumphantly elected, and General Tracy's appointment to the Court of Ap- peals followed before the close of that year. In 1892 he was nominated by the Republicans for Justice of the Supreme
Court in the Second Department, but failed of election through the defeat of the entire ticket in that year, though he led every candidate by twenty-three thou- sand votes. In this campaign, Grover Cleveland was elected Governor of New York by a majority of one hundred thou- sand. After a period of rest and travel, General Tracy again resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1889 General Tracy was called by President Harrison to the position of Sec- retary of the Navy, upon which appoint- ment contending factions of the Republi- can party in New York were united. Here again General Tracy met the expectations of his friends and of the public, and achieved one of the most notable suc- cesses which marked his career through life. He is universally known and ac- knowledged to-day as "the father of the fighting navy." Radical departures in naval construction were adopted under his direction, and three types of vessels now in universal use among navies of the world-the battleship, the armored cruiser and the scout cruiser-were established during his administration, equipped with the nickel steel armor plates which are now a feature of every navy. The crea- tion and development of the naval militia was another feature of his work; the es- tablishment of businesslike methods in handling labor and in the purchasing and disbursing departments, were established ; and a great improvement and an enor- mous increase in efficiency was the result.
Following his retirement from the Navy Department, General Tracy ren- dered most valuable public service as one of the counsel in the controversy with Great Britain over the Venezuela bound- ary. His training and experience had especially fitted him for this service, and the work he performed demonstrated his fitness for this new field of diplomatic law. Wherever duty called, General
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Tracy was always found ready to give freely of his time and talents to the pub- lic service. He accepted an appointment from Governor Morton as a member of a commission to draft a charter for Greater New York, when it was created through the combination of its five constituent boroughs. He was at once made presi- dent of the commission, and the intricate task of adjusting the rights and duties of the several boroughs was successfully car- ried out in a charter which has worked in the main for the general welfare. In 1909 he was again called upon to serve the public as referee in questions of great moment, involving the construction of the Brooklyn subways, whose solution was reached with remarkable promptness, and so carefully arranged that the court of appeals sustained all of his rulings except one, and this point was settled by divided court.
During the intervals between these various calls to the public service, Gen- eral Tracy was actively employed in legal cases of great importance, and took but little time for rest or recreation. It is worthy of remark that in his public serv- ice General Tracy was not a seeker for office except in early manhood, when he sought the position of district attorney and assemblyman; every other official station which he afterwards filled, came to him unsought. In his career was rep- resented the antithesis of the usual course in modern political affairs, and "the office sought the man." His brief holidays were spent in travel, and until a few days before his death he enjoyed a remarkable state of preservation, both mentally and physically, and continuing to give to his professional duties the same care and clearness of vision which had marked all his labors. In his lifetime he was en- gaged in every branch of the legal pro- fession, civil and criminal, municipal and international, as a public prosecutor, State
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