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. 3 > Part 4
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which Congress at once acted upon by passing an act providing for a more elas- tic currency system, and which was later developed into that which now obtains.
Mr. Cortelyou retired from the cabinet with the close of President Roosevelt's administration, and became president of the New York Consolidated Gas Com- pany, in which capacity he is now serv- ing. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Georgetown Uni- versity, the University of Illinois, and the Wesleyan University of Kentucky. He married, in 1888, Lilly Morris, daughter of Dr. Ephraim Hinds, who was his pre- ceptor at Hempstead Institute. A biog- rapher has said of Mr. Cortelyou that "he is the most notable example in public life, of high attainments in the public service, without winning any distinction whatever in a private capacity, or relying upon out- side influence; and personally serving three presidents of strangely divergent characteristics."
DIX, John Alden,
Ex-Governor of New York.
Ex-Governor John Alden Dix is a rep- resentative in the ninth generation of a family of English origin, the earliest known members of which were in the fleet with Governor Winthrop in 1630. They settled at Watertown, Massachu- setts, removing later to Connecticut, in which State many of their descendants resided, some of the later members of the family residing in Vermont and New York, the latter State having been the birthplace of the parents of Governor Dix, namely, James Lawton and Laura Ann (Stevens) Dix.
John Alden Dix was born at Glens Falls, New York, December 25, 1860. He studied at the Glens Falls Academy, graduating in 1879, and then entered Cor- nell University, graduating in 1883. He
worked on a farm, then in the machine shops of his native town, and later en- gaged in the lumber business with Lemon Thomson, of Albany, at Thomson, New York, under the firm name of Thomson & Dix. On the death of the senior part- ner in February, 1897, the firm was dis- solved, and Mr. Dix was appointed exec- utor of his deceased partner's estate. He purchased the latter's interest and de- veloped a paper mill at Thomson, where his chief business is centered, gradually building up one of the most efficient wall paper plants in the country and at the same time turned his attention to the conservation of natural resources. Mr. Dix realized that much of New York's wealth lay in her trees, and to protect himself he acquired a tract of seventeen thousand acres for his own mills, and made it a rule that for every tree which was cut down another should be planted. Prior to this he was a member of the firm of Reynolds & Dix, black marble, this connection continuing from 1882 to 1887. He is president of the Iroquois Paper Company and the Moose River Lumber Company, vice-president of the Blandy Paper Company and the First National Bank (Albany), treasurer of the Ameri- can Wood Board Company, and director of the Albany Trust Company, Glens Falls Trust Company, National Bank of Schuylerville and the Adirondack Trust Company.
In politics Mr. Dix is a Democrat, and at the national convention at St. Louis in 1904 he met and became acquainted with many of the leading men of the Demo- cratic party. In 1906 he was a candidate for the gubernatorial nomination at Buf- falo, New York; in the fall of 1908 was placed on the ticket as Lieutenant-Gov- ernor ; in the spring of 1910 was chosen chairman of the Democratic State Com- mittee, and in the fall of 1910 became the Democratic nominee for Governor and
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was elected. He was an advocate of an honest revision of the tariff, of an eco- nomical administration of the affairs of the State, and of a cutting off of the use- less expenditures. Among the important and constructive laws and measures championed and approved by Governor Dix were: The Fifty-four Hour Law, the Cold Storage Law, the establishment of a State Fire Marshal's Department, insur- ance laws improved and strengthened, and agricultural education encouraged by liberal appropriations and the establish- ment of agricultural schools and colleges. His administration was unique in its rec- cord of achievement. Its distinctive fea- tures were the application of the princi- ples of efficiency and economy in the con- duct of the business of the State, and a determination to keep faith with the peo- ple. He was one of the founders of the Democratic League and as such stands for personal freedom, national and State economy, the revision of the tariff and revenue laws, and the abolition of protec- tion for gigantic "Infant industries." Mr. Dix is a warden of St. Stephen's Epis- copal Church of Schuylerville, and a mem- ber of Glens Falls Lodge, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, Theta Delta Chi frater- nity, Fort Orange Club, Albany Country Club, Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society, National Democratic Club (New York) and Lake George Club.
Mr. Dix married at Albany, New York, April 24, 1889, Gertrude Alden Thomson, born at Albany, daughter of Lemon and Abby Galusha (Sherman) Thomson, granddaughter of Charles C. Thomson and August Sherman, great-granddaugh- ter of Charles Thomson, great-great- granddaughter of Benjamin Thomson, the emigrant ancestor of the family, coming to this country from Scotland, and a lineal descendant of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of Joseph Williams, a Revolutionary sol- dier.
FARLEY, John M.,
Cardinal.
The Right Rev. John Murphy Farley, a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, was born at Newton Hamilton, County Armagh, Ireland, April 20, 1842, son of Philip and Catherine (Murphy) Farley. The Farley family comes of good old Irish stock of County Monaghan, Ireland, and the ardent patriotism that has dis- tinguished its history in Ireland for gen- erations is a matter of the keenest pride with all its members at the present time. Cardinal Farley has always devoted him- self, heart and soul, to everything per- taining to the welfare of Ireland. In boy- hood he exhibited a singular seriousness in everything he said or did, and being a remarkably bright boy his knowledge of his religion was such that he was con- firmed at the early age of seven years. On that occasion the bishop said that he was too young and ordered him sent back, but the priest answered, "Question him on his catechism; no one here knows it better." Then the bishop gave him a very rigid examination, asking him many diffi- cult questions and he was perfectly satis- fied with the answers.
John Murphy Farley received his early education under the direction of a private tutor named Hugh McGuire, a very pious and serious man who afterwards became a priest, and this was supplemented by a course at St. Marcartan's College, Mon- aghan, Ireland. In 1870 the Farley fam- ily removed to the United States, and the education of John M. was continued at St. John's College, Fordham, New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1866. He had always been devoted to the church as a child and those who watched him felt certain that he would eventually become a priest, but he him- self never dreamed of such an honor until he had approached very near to maturity. Finally deciding to study for the ministry,
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he went to St. Joseph's Seminary at Troy, New York, which had been established by Bishop Hughes a few years previously. Here he displayed such evident ability and so distinguished himself in his work that he attracted the attention of Arch- bishop McCloskey, who sent him to the American College at Rome to complete his course, and he was a student there for the following four years or until his grad- uation. He was ordained to the priest- hood in Rome, June 11, 1870, and his first appointment was as curate to the Rev. James Conran, pastor of St. Peter's Church, New Brighton, Staten Island, New York, in which capacity he served until 1872. In that year Monsignor Mc- Neirny was made bishop of Albany, and Cardinal McCloskey made Father Farley his private secretary and he served as such until the year 1884, when he was appointed pastor of St. Gabriel's Church, New York City, to succeed Father Clow- ny, deceased, and during his pastorate there he erected St. Gabriel's Parish School, a model educational institution. In 1884 Pope Leo XIII, by request of Cardinal McCloskey, appointed him pri- vate papal chamberlain with the title of Monsignor, and the same year he was unanimously elected rector of the Ameri- can College in Rome, which honor, at the request of Cardinal McCloskey, who valued his services to the diocese so highly that he would not consent to his departure for Rome, he declined. In 1886 he was appointed diocesan consulter, one of the official advisers of Archbishop Cor- rigan, and for some time he was also a member of the diocesan school board and the diocesan board of examination. In November, 1891, Archbishop Corrigan ap- pointed him vicar-general of the arch- diocese of New York to succeed Mon- signor Preston. He was domestic prel- ate of Pope Leo XIII., appointed April 8, 1892 ; prothonotary apostolic, appointed
in August, 1895. On December 21, 1895, he was consecrated in St. Patrick's Ca- thedral with full canonical ceremony titu- lar bishop of Zeugma and auxiliary bishop of New York, by Archbishop Corrigan, assisted by Bishop McDonnell, of Brook- lyn, New York, and Bishop Gabriel, of Ogdensburg, New York. Bishop Mc- Quade, of Rochester, New York, preached the sermon; the Very Rev. Joseph T. Mooney was assistant priest; the Rev. Edward McKenna and the Rev. John Ed- wards, deacons of honor ; the Rev. James H. McGean, deacon of the mass; the Rev. Charles H. Colton, sub-deacon ; the Rev. Michael J. Lavelle, chaplain of the briefs ; the Rev. Cornelius G. O'Keefe, deacon of the cross ; the Very Rev. Albert A. Lings, the Revs. Francis P. Fitzmaurice, James J. Dougherty, Nicholas J. Hughes, M. C. O'Farrell and John J. Flood, chaplains. On the death of Archbishop Corrigan, May 5, 1902, Bishop Farley resigned the pastorate of St. Gabriel's Church and was appointed administrator of New York, and on September 15, 1902, he was ap- pointed by the Pope to be the fourth arch- bishop of New York. He was elected to the cardinalate, November 27, 1911. He is a man of brilliant attainments-active and progressive-and has always been staunch in his advocacy of all that is Catholic, and outspoken in his views when the interests of Catholicity have de- manded it. He is the author of: "Life of Cardinal McCloskey" (serially in His- torical Records and Studies, New York), 1899-1900; "Neither Generous nor Just" (reply to Bishop Potter); "Catholic World," 1898; "Why Church Property Should Not Be Taxed," Forum, 1893; "History of St. Patrick's Cathedral."
GOETHALS, Col. George W., Military Engineer.
Colonel George Washington Goethals, a most distinguished engineer officer, and
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world-famous for his achievements in connection with the Panama Canal, was born in Brooklyn, New York, June 29, 1858, son of John Louis and Marie (Le Barron ) Goethals.
He began his education in the local pub- lic schools, pursued advanced branches in the College of the City of New York, then receiving appointment to the Military Aacdemy at West Point, from which he was graduated at the age of twenty-two, with the commission of second lieutenant of engineers. He was retained for a time as instructor in astronomy at the acad- emy, and was then assigned to duty with the corps of engineers at Willet's Point, New York ; meantime being advanced to a first lieutenantcy. From 1882 to 1884 he served under General Miles, in the Department of the Columbia, and was then made assistant to Colonel Merrill, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Here, on the Ohio river, the young engineer entered first upon experience which was to be invalu- able to him in after years, bringing him to some of most important construction work on canals, dams, and locks. From 1885 to 1889 he was again at the Military Academy, as instructor and professor of engineering, then resuming work with his corps on the Ohio and Tennessee rivers.
When the Spanish-American war broke out, he was a captain, and he was now commissioned lieutenant-colonel of volun- teers, and assigned to duty as chief engi- neer of the First Army Corps. He was honorably discharged from the volunteer service at the end of the war, and returned to the engineer corps of the regular army, being promoted to the rank of major. In 1903 he became a member of the army general staff and given charge of the forti- fication planning and construction in Rhode Island. In 1905 he was graduated from the Army War College. His labors in western waters had given him a broad prestige-especially his canal construction
on the Tennessee river, a stream abound- ing in shoals-and President Roose- velt appointed him chairman and chief engineer of the Isthmus of Panama Canal Commission, a body of army officers ap- pointed to succeed civilian engineers. The members of the commission at once took up their residence on the Isthmus, and Colonel Goethals set out to a well defined system involving radical changes from that which had formerly been pur- sued, and including a widening of the canal and locks, and a relocation of the Isthmian railroad. His labors have been of so technical a description as to forbid relation here. Sufficient to say, that he could not escape criticism and some of his methods were severely attacked. Presi- dents Roosevelt and Taft both personally inspected the scene of Colonel Goethals labors, and the former appointed an ad- visory board of engineers to examine into and report upon the canal operations, with the result of entire approval. The great engineer became a full colonel in 1909, and in 1914 was made civil governor of the Panama Canal Zone-the first ap- pointee to the position. He has received medals of honor from the National Geo- graphic Society, the Civic Forum, and the National Institute of Social Sciences. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania in 1913. He married, in 1884, Effie, daugh- ter of Thomas R. Rodman. Of their two sons the eldest George R., is a lieutenant of engineers, United States Army.
LEVY, Jefferson M.,
Owner of Monticello.
Jefferson Monroe Levy, member of Congress and owner of Monticello, the homestead of Thomas Jefferson, was born in New York City, a son of Captain Jonas P. and Fanny (Mitchell) Levy. He was educated in the public schools, studied
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law at the New York University, was ad- mitted to the bar, and entered upon prac- tice the same year. He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth Congress (1899), by a majority of more than six thousand over James W. Perry, chairman of the Republican county committee of New York, overcoming a Republican ma- jority of seven thousand at the preceding election, and he was returned to the Sixty- second and Sixty-third Congresses. He is a member of the Democratic Club of New York, which he organized, and of which he was vice-president many years ; of the Manhattan Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Meadow Creek Country Club, the Sandown Park Club, the Cham- ber of Commerce, and the Board of Trade and Transportation of New York.
Mr. Levy is a nephew of Commodore Uriah P. Levy, a distinguished officer of the United States Navy of the last gen- eration. Commodore Levy was mainly instrumental in the abolition of flogging in the navy. In 1830, at the suggestion of President Andrew Jackson, he purchased Monticello, the homestead of Thomas Jefferson, near Charlottesville, Virginia, and which, at his death, descended to Congressman Jefferson M. Levy. The homestead, built in 1764, is maintained by Mr. Levy in accordance with its estab- lished traditions, and is always open to those of the public who desire to visit this Mecca of Democracy, and of whom there are thousands every year.
DEPEW, Chauncey Mitchell,
Statesman, Orator, Man of Large Affairs.
Chauncey Mitchell Depew is descended from a famous Huguenot family, and his New England ancestry includes the im- portant Mitchell, Sherman, Palmer, Win- ship, Wellington, Minott, Chauncey and Johnstone families, various of whom are hereinafter mentioned
The name Du Puy or De Puy is one of the most ancient known in French his- tory, and was prominent in Normandy as early as the eleventh century. Raphael Du Puy was an officer of rank in 1030, under Conrad II., of the Holy Roman Empire, and his son Hughes distinguished himself in the Crusades. The history of the family in France is marked down the centuries by many noted names in both church and state. The surname Du Puy has masqueraded in many forms in its passage from France to Holland, and thence to America. It is found recorded as Dupuis, Depui, Depuy, Depee, Depuy, De Pue, Depu, etc. Francois, grandson of the original Francois, who was bap- tized August 20, 1700, in the old Dutch church of Sleepy Hollow, at Tarrytown, is generally recorded as Frans De Pew ; later the name took its present form of Depew.
(I) Francois Dupuis fled from France on account of religious persecution and took refuge in Holland, whence he came to America, being the first of the family to locate in New Amsterdam. The earli- est record of him shows him as one of the first twenty inhabitants of Boswyck (modern Bushwick), now a component part of Brooklyn. He signed a petition, dated March 14, 1661, asking for privi- leges usually desired by a newly incor- porated village. In 1663 his name is en- rolled as a member of a company of militia with Ryck Lykeker as captain, this company being probably organized for the purpose of protection against the Indians. It is uncertain how long he lived at Bushwick, as William is his only child known to have been born there, although there may have been others. He may have resided in New York for a time, although this is uncertain. During the years 1671-77 the baptism of three of his children is recorded in the New York Re- formed Church. In 1677 it is claimed that
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he and his wife became members of the church at Flatbush, where their next two children were baptized in 1679 and 1681, respectively. He had a grant of about eighty acres of land on the south side of the Fresh Kill on Staten Island, bearing date December 21, 1680, and April 4, 1685, and received another grant on the island at Smoking Point. In 1686 Francois Dupuis had his son Nicholas baptized in New York, and the following year is mentioned as a resident of Rockland (now a part of Orange county), where on September 26 he signed the oath of allegiance with other inhabitants of the recently estab- lished settlements of Haverstraw and Orangetown. Three of his children mar- ried and settled in Rockland county, but he had crossed the river before the cen- sus of Orange in 1702, and located at Peekskill, Westchester county (where others of his children had made their homes), and settled on a tract of land originally purchased from the Indians in 1685, under a license from Governor Don- gan. In this connection it is interesting to note that part of this land was held in fee in the family until the last of his share, after having been in the family two hundred and eleven years, was in 1896 given by Chauncey Mitchell Depew to the village of Peekskill for a public park.
Mary, youngest child of Francois Du- puis, was baptized in New York, where her mother is mentioned as Annie Elsten, who must have been his second wife. On April 1, 1702, he and his daughter Maria are named as sponsors or godparents at the baptism of his granddaughter, Grietje Quorry, in the Sleepy Hollow church, and a few years later both he and this daughter are recorded as members of the church, having residence on the patent of Captain De Kay and Ryck Abra- hamsen Lent, a grandson of the latter having previously married Maria. It is supposed he paid close attention to the
cultivation of his land and his private affairs, as his name appears so seldom in public records, but through careful re- search among the records of the Reformed churches at New York, Tappan, Tarry- town, and Cortlandt, enough scraps of in- formation have been found to piece to- gether the record of his descendants which is given below. On August 26, 1661, the banns of his first marriage were published in the records of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, as follows: "Francois Dupuis, young man of Calais, France, and Geertje Willems, of Amster- dam." They were married just one month later, in Breuckelen, their marriage being the fifth of record in the Dutch church there, as follows: "26 September, 1661, Francois Dupuis and Geertje Wil- lems, with certificate from Manhattans." It is believed by eminent authority that Geertje Willems was a daughter of Wil- lem Jacobse Van Boerum, of Flatbush, who came with his family in 1649 from Amsterdam, Holland, given in the register of the banns as the birthplace of Geertje. Children of Francois Dupuis: William, of whom further; Jannetje (Jane), mar- ried Kellem Quorry, or McKorry ; Grietje (Margaret), baptized in New York, Oc- tober 1, 1671, married - Ward, of Haverstraw; Jean (John), baptized in New York, May 20, 1674, married Jan- netje Wiltse, widow of Myndert Hend- reickse (Hogencamp); a child (not named), whose baptismal entry was made at New York, February 14, 1677, and who may have been Maria, who was sponsor with her father in 1702, about which time she married Abraham Hend- rickse Lent, of Tarrytown; Sara, bap- tized at Flatbush, February 23, 1679, married Herman Hendrickse Blauvelt ; Geertje (Gertrude), baptized at Flatbush, September 18, 1681, of whom further rec- ord is not to be found; Nicholaes, bap- tized in New York, October 17, 1686,
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whose wife's name was Barbara; Mary, baptized in New York City, March 3, 1689, the record of the parents being "Francois Puy and Annie Elsten," no fur- ther record being given of either mother or child.
(II) William Depew, probably eldest child of Francois and Geertje (Willems) Dupuis, was born at Bushwick, and was among the pioneers of the locality made famous as the birthplace of Senator Chauncey M. Depew. It would seem that he had made camp on the point of land called by the Indians Meanagh, or Mer- nach, and afterwards named Verplanck's Point, when the settlement had hardly begun, he then being unmarried. He was at Mernach as early as 1688, and probably strayed over from Haverstraw, where his father had located a year or two previous, and where his brother John continued to live for several years afterwards. He there made a home for his future bride, a maiden born on the Island of Barbadoes, and doubtless of English parentage, shown on the records as Lysbeth Weyt, which in English would be Elizabeth White. She was living a little further down on the river at a place bearing the Indian name of Knightwanck, near the mouth of the Croton river, which stream also bore the name of the locality. Rec- ord of the banns was posted on the regis- ter of the Dutch church of New York, the nearest one to their home, which church issued a certificate permitting Wil- liam to marry at the home of the bride. The record is as follows: "10th August, 1688, William Dupuy, j. m. Van Boswyck, en Lysbeth Weyt, j. m. van de Barba- does, d'Eerste wonende op Mernach en twede tot Kichtenwang." This marriage was probably executed in primitive style at Kichtewang during the following month, perhaps the first marriage in the Manor of Cortlandt, and spoken of as the forerunner of an event that made Peeks-
kill renowned as the home of a great and popular orator in a later generation of the family. William Depew had children as follows: Sara, married Willem Dill, Theil or Teil; Abigail, married Pieter Consje; Thomas, married Cornelia Lendel ; Anna, baptized at Tarrytown, August 2, 1698; Francois, of whom further; Pieter. The father's name was usually spelled Dupuy. (III) Francois (2), son of William and Lysbeth (Weyt) Depew, was born near Tarrytown, New York, in August, 1700, and was baptized August 20, 1700. Not very much is known of him beyond the fact that he was engaged in the regular pioneer and agricultural work of the neighborhood around Cortlandt Manor. He married, at Tarrytown, New York, June 3, 1727, Maritje Van Thessel. This marriage is recorded in the Tarrytown church in the style of the period: "Frans De Pew j. m., en Maritje Van Thessel." The record also states that they were both born on Cortlandt Manor, he being a resi- dent there, and she a resident of Tarry- town. Children: Hendrikus, of whom further ; Anneke, baptized at Tarrytown, August 21, 1730; William, born 1732, the muster roll of Westchester county militia saying of him in 1758, "born in Cortlandt, aged 26," there being no further record concerning him; Elizabeth, baptized at Tarrytown, April 23, 1734, married Octo- ber 29, 1758, John Lent; Abraham, bap- tized at Tarrytown, April 13, 1736, died young; Sarah, baptized at Tarrytown, April 19, 1738; Abraham, April 30, 1743.
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