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 5
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(IV) Hendrikus or Henry Depew, son of Francois (2) and Maritje (Van Thes- sel) Depew, was baptized at Tarrytown, New York, April 27, 1728. Very little is known concerning the events of the life of Hendrikus. The only child that the rec- ords credit to him, is Abraham, men- tioned below. The mother's name is not mentioned. The sponsors at Abraham's baptism, which took place in the Dutch
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church at Tarrytown, were "Frans Pue and wife," without doubt the parents of Hendrikus. It is fortunate for this line- age, perhaps, that Abraham received so marked a distinction as to have his bap- tism recorded. The other children of Hendrikus, and it seems that they had others, were not so favored. Colonel Teetor says of Abraham that he was in the Revolutionary War, and that he was the great-grandfather of Chauncey Mitchell Depew. Our own researches have tended to confirm this theory.
(V) Abraham Depew, son of Hend- rikus or Henry Depew, was born at Cort- landt Manor, New York, and was bap- tized in the Dutch church at Tarrytown, New York, April 5, 1752. His youth was undoubtedly spent on the family home- stead, and he in all probability received the general education of the period. There are a good many records in Tarry- town and Cortlandt concerning various Abrahams Depew, but it is usually diffi- cult to ascertain to which particular Abra- ham any two records refer. One author- ity says: "The church baptismal records of Tarrytown and Cortlandt furnish very good grounds for confusion among the various Abrahams Depew. While there is an apparent lack of records in some directions, there seems to be a perplexing superfluity of fathers Abraham, whose sons and daughters, to straighten and place where they belong, would take a man with more wisdom than Solomon." Concerning Abraham Depew, the son of Hendrikus Depew, another authority gives us definite particulars. Abraham Depew enlisted January 2, 1777, for the Revolutionary War, in Captain Jacob Wright's company, in the regiment com- manded by Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt. He was promoted corporal, June 1, 1777, and was discharged January 3, 1780, on account of the expiration of term of serv- ice. He married Catherine, daughter of
Captain James Kronkite, who was com- missioned captain, October 19, 1775, and served in the Third Regiment, Manor of Cortlandt, commanded by Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt. Children: Esther, bap- tized September 18, 1797; James Kron- kite, born August 25, 1791, baptized in 1793; Anne, born September 12, 1794; Elizabeth, February 6, 1796; Henry, May 18, 1798; Isaac, of whom further.
(VI) Isaac Depew, son of Abraham and Catherine (Kronkite) Depew, was born at Peekskill, New York, about 1811. He spent most of his life caring for the estate which his paternal ancestor pur- chased from the Indians more than a hun- dred years before. He was a respected citizen of Peekskill, and took a consider- able interest in the affairs of the town. He married Martha, daughter of Chaun- cey Root Mitchell, a distinguished lawyer. Her mother was a daughter of Judge Rob- ert Johnstone, for many years Senator and judge, who owned Lake Mahopac and a large estate about it. Mrs. Depew was a granddaughter of Rev. Josiah Sherman, brother of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Rev. Josiah Sherman was a captain in the Seventh Connecticut Regiment, Continental Line, and three of his brothers were also in the patriot army ; they were descended from Captain John Sherman, an English army officer, who was born in Dedham, County Essex, in 1615. Another of Mrs. Depew's ancestors was Rev. Charles Chauncey, first president of Harvard College.
(VII) Hon. Chauncey Mitchell Depew, son of Isaac and Martha (Mitchell) De- pew, was born in Peekskill, Westchester county, New York, April 23, 1834. He was fitted for college at Peekskill Acad- emy, and in 1852 entered Yale College in what was in after years known as the "Famous Class of '56." Of the nine mem- bers of the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest tribunal in the nation
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and the aspiration of every lawyer, were two members of this class, Henry Billings Brown and David Josiah Brewer. Mr. Depew was graduated from Yale in 1856; he received his Master of Arts degree in due course and in 1887 was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The following year he was elected a member of the Yale Corporation, which position he held for twelve years.
Immediately after leaving college he threw himself heart and soul into the canvass in support of Fremont and Day- ton, the first presidential and vice-presi- dential candidates of the newly formed Republican party, and made speeches throughout the country in support of the proposition that it was the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery and polyg- amy in the territories. In 1858 he was elected a delegate to the Republican State convention, and has since been a delegate in that body to every succeeding conven- tion, except two, up to and including 1912. He was one of the four delegates- at-large from the State of New York to the Republican national conventions of 1888-92-96-1900-04, and a delegate to six other national conventions. In 1861 he was elected to the Legislature from the Third Westchester District, was re- elected in 1862, and became chairman of the committee on ways and means and leader of the house; for most of the time he also acted as speaker pro tem. In 1863 he headed the Republican State ticket as candidate for Secretary of State, and was elected. In 1866 President Johnson ap- pointed Mr. Depew United States Minis- ter to Japan. His confirmation by the Senate immediately followed, but after holding the place in advisement for a con- siderable time, he declined the position for family reasons. In 1872 he was candi- date for Lieutenant-Governor on the Lib- eral Republican ticket, but failed of elec- tion. In 1874 he was elected by the Legis-
lature regent of the University of the State of New York, and held the position for thirty-four years. He was elected by the Alumni of Yale University a member of the corporation and held the office for twelve years. He was also one of the commissioners to build the capitol at Al- bany. In 1881 Mr. Depew was a candi- date for Senator, following the resigna- tions of Senators Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Platt. After the fifty-sixth ballot, in which he received the largest number of votes of his party, he withdrew to secure the election of two senators. In 1882 he was offered the Senatorship, but declined for business reasons. In 1888 he received the unanimous support of the State of New York for the presidential nomination, and received ninety-nine votes in the Republican National Con- vention. General Benjamin Harrison was nominated, and after his election he offered Mr. Depew every position in his cabinet, excepting that of Secretary of State, which he had promised to Mr. Blaine, or if he preferred, any mission abroad which he might select, and all of which he declined. In 1894, on the resig- nation of Mr. Blaine as Secretary of State, President Harrison tendered that position to Mr. Depew and this was also declined. In 1899 Mr. Depew was elected United States Senator for six years, and was reëlected in 1905. He has as a candi- date for United States Senator received the ballots of the members of his party in the State Legislature more than any other citizen of the United States, namely sixty ballots, one each day for sixty days in 1881, and sixty-four during forty-five days in 1911.
Mr. Depew has a world-wide reputa- tion as a public speaker and has been the orator on many occasions of national im- portance. He was the orator selected to deliver the oration at the Centennial Anniversary of the inauguration of the
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first President of the United States ; of the organization of the Legislature of the State of New York; of the capture of Major André; at the dedication of the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York harbor; at the opening of the World's Fair in Chicago in honor of the four hun- dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus; and the opening of the great fairs at Omaha, Nebraska, and Charleston, South Carolina. He made the nominating speeches for Harri- son in the national convention in 1892, and for Roosevelt in 1904. His last nota- ble political speech was in advocacy of the reelection of President Taft, in 1912. His numerous addresses have been col- lected and published in a work of eight volumes. Justin McCarthy, in his "Remi- niscences," in regard to after-dinner speakers, and giving the first rank to Charles Dickens, says: "I do not quite know whom I should put second to him; sometimes I feel inclined to give James Russell Lowell that place, and sometimes my mind impels me to give it to Mr. Lowell's countryman, Mr. Chauncey De- pew."
While Mr. Depew's highest reputation throughout the country is as a stateman and orator, his life has been crowded with professional and business activities. He was admitted to the bar in 1858. In 1866 he became attorney for the New York & Harlem Railroad Company, and in 1869, when that road was consolidated with the New York Central & Hudson River rail- road, with Commodore Vanderbilt at its head, Mr. Depew was chosen attorney for the new corporation and elected a mem- ber of the board of directors. As the Vanderbilt railroad system expanded, Mr. Depew's interests and duties increased in a corresponding degree, and in 1875 he was appointed general counsel of the en- tire system, and elected a director of the roads of which it was composed. On the
resignation of Mr. Vanderbilt from the presidency, Mr. Depew was made second vice-president, and in 1885 he was ad- vanced to the presidency of the New York Central & Hudson River railroad. He held this office for thirteen years, during which period he was president also of six other railroad companies in the allied system, and was director in twenty- eight additional lines. On his resigna- tion from the presidency in 1898 he was elected chairman of the board of directors of the New York Central & Hudson River railroad, the Lake Shore & Michi- gan Southern railroad, and the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad, which posi- tion he now holds.
Mr. Depew was president of the St. Nicholas Society for two years, and of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for a number of years; and of the Yale Alumni Associa- tion of New York for ten years ; for seven years president of the Union League, a longer term than ever held by any other, and on declining further election he was made an honorary life member ; is a mem- ber of the New York Chamber of Com- merce; the Society of the Cincinnati; a Master Mason of Kane Lodge of Peek- skill, and holds the thirty-third degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in the Valley of New York; the Hugue- not Society; the Metropolitan Club ; the Century Club, the Holland Society ; the New England Society ; the Colonial Wars Society ; the American Bar Association ; the New York Bar Association ; the West- chester County Bar Association ; the Re- publican Club ; the Lotos Club ; the Play- ers' Club; the Transportation Club ; the Lafayette Post ; the University Club; the Phi Beta Kappa Club and the Psi Upsilon Club. In Washington, D. C., he is a mem- ber of the Metropolitan Club ; the Chevy- Chase Club ; the Alibi Club ; the Country Club and the University Club; is also a
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director in many financial, fiduciary and other corporations. Now in his eighty- second year, he is as vigorous and active in business affairs, as a political and after-dinner speaker, and in the manifold duties of social life, as in any period of his career.
He married, in 1871, Elise, daughter of William Hegeman, of New York. She died in 1892. Of this marriage was born a son, Chauncey M. Depew, Jr. Mr. De- pew married (second) in 1901, May Pal- mer.
ZIMMERMAN, Jeremiah, D. D., LL. D., L. H. D.
Clergyman, Author, Traveler.
Rev. Jeremiah Zimmerman was born April 26, 1848, near Snydersburg, Mary- land, a son of Henry and Leah Zimmer- man. The father was a well-to-do farmer, endowed with more than ordinary mental ability. His family included six sons and four daughters. One of the sons, Dr. Edwin Zimmerman, is a prominent phy- sician in New York City; another, Rev. L. M. Zimmerman, D. D., is one of the leading clergymen of Baltimore, Mary- land.
After passing from the public schools, Jeremiah Zimmerman attended the Man- chester Academy, and subsequently spent two years in Irving College, a military school, in the same town. The following two years were spent at the Missionary Institute in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. In 1870 he entered the sophomore class in Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, and graduated with honor in June, 1873. In the following September he entered the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettys- burg, where he completed the special course of three years, and later received the degree of A. M. Throughout his life Dr. Zimmerman has been a student and lover of books, and has the distinction of
having possessed the best library of any student that ever entered that institution. His present library includes some thou- sands of volumes of scholarly works, a great number of them on scientific re- search. Several months before complet- ing his course in theological studies he was invited by three different congrega- tions to become their pastor, and after due consideration he decided to accept the call of the Lutheran church in Valatie, Columbia county, New York. After graduation, in June, 1876, he proceeded to his new field of labor, stopping for a week at Philadelphia to visit the Centen- nial Exposition, and reached Valatie early in July. There he at once entered upon his work, and at the annual convention of the New York and New Jersey Synod (now the New York Synod), held in his church in September, he was solemnly ordained to the Gospel ministry, and at the same time he was formally installed as pastor of the church. His labors in this field were cut short in January, 1878, by the sudden death of his wife, M. Adele (Springstein) Zimmerman, whom he had married but one year before. He at once resigned his pastorate, and spent some time in travel, visiting Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and various countries of Europe, and returned to America in the fall of the same year.
After a visit of some months at his old home in Maryland, devoting his time to study and preaching, in June, 1879, by invitation, he went to Syracuse, New York, where he organized the First Eng- lish Lutheran Church of that city. For twenty-five years he continued as its pastor. The first religious services of this body were held in the courthouse, where meetings were conducted every Sunday and on Wednesday evenings, until the end of October, 1890, at which time they took possession of the former Independ- ent Church on South Salina street. Here
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the society continued its worship until the steady progress of business in the central part of the city demanded the site for business purposes, and the property was disposed of to advantage. With the proceeds a tract on James street was pur- chased, and a handsome church edifice was erected, free from all encumbrance. Mr. Zimmerman was active in whatever pertained to the welfare of the people at large, and always held that his church be- longed to Syracuse. In the early period of his ministry in that city he served several years as president of the Sunday School Association of the county, and for many years was president of the Bible Society of Onondaga county. As president of the Sunday School Association he made fre- quent addresses in the various towns. He also organized the English Lutheran Church in Oswego. For seven years he was secretary of the Ministerial Associ- ation, and was subsequently its presi- dent. During his pastoral career he offi- ciated at more funerals than any English speaking pastor in the city. On return- ing from one of these services he found a request to speak that evening in behalf of the barbers, who under the leadership of the national secretary, were laboring to secure the passage of a bill in the Legis- lature to close the barber shops of the State on Sunday, so that they might have a day of rest. Mr. Zimmerman continued his labors in support of this worthy cause for a period of seven years, until the bill was finally passed. The law was applied to the entire State, with the exception of New York City, Saratoga and Niagara Falls. Recently, from the National Sec- retary Klapetzky, Dr. Zimmerman re- ceived a letter expressing his appreciation for past services, and telling of the great benefit that came to the barbers as a class by this beneficent law. After its enactment, Dr. Zimmerman invited the Syracuse barbers to his church to listen
to an address on the barber in history, going back to prehistoric times among the ancient Egyptians for his earliest examples, when shaving was accomplish- ed with a flint knife. Dr. Zimmerman now has in his possession several flint knives or razors from that early period, and three bronze razors that are more than 3700 years old, which he collected during his travels in Egypt. For a num- ber of years Dr. Zimmerman was presi- dent of the Federation of Churches of the State of New York, and also vice-presi- dent of the National Federation of Churches. Recognizing the fact that with all our distinct denominations we ought to cooperate in every good work for the welfare of humanity, he early urged these federations, and has ever been active in promoting their progress and beneficent work.
He married (second) January 21, 1890, Sophia Elizabeth (Cook) Amos. In 1903 he was enabled to realize his long and ardent desire to visit the Far East. He secured a supply for the church during his absence, and spent twenty-eight months in travel and study, making the circuit of the globe, accompanied by his wife. They sailed from San Francisco and spent several weeks on the Hawaiian Islands, during which time Dr. Zimmer- man made a close study of the people and their institutions of learning, which he found intensely interesting and profitable. He preached and lectured many times in the various churches and schools in Honolulu. At Hilo, on the Island of Hawaii, he had a unique experience as a guest of honor at the reception of the National Guards of Honolulu, whom he had recently addressed, during their brief encampment near the vast crater of the Volcano Kilauea. A large tent had been prepared at Hilo, and under this immense cover the invited guests sat down to par- take of a genuine Hawaiian feast, which
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all greatly relished with one possible exception, so far as certain dishes were concerned. However, he did enjoy the feast of soul that followed, and made a speech, characterized by its American patriotism, which won the natives. One of his most interesting experiences in Honolulu, where he sought from every available source to gain information re- specting Captian Cook and his crew, was his interview with the oldest American resident of the city at that time, Mrs. Taylor. She was the first born of Amer- ican parents on the Island, a daughter of one of the first missionaries, the Rev. Asa Thurston, and she was personally acquaint- ed with some of those present at the tragic death of Captain Cook. Dr. Zimmerman preached and lectured on many occasions in the various cities of Japan, speaking in the churches and national schools and colleges in Yokohama, Tokio, Shizuoka, Kumamoto, Saga, Nagasaki, and other places. He visited many of the American missions, and learned much of the social and religious conditions of the people. In Tokio he met Count Okumo, the Prime Minister, who invited Dr. and Mrs. Zim- merman to his home, where a long inter- view was enjoyed. The introduction came through the fact that Count Okumo had founded a large university, in which the Standard Dictionary was the leading authority for English, and when he learned that Dr. Zimmerman was one of its contributors, he sought a personal interview. In Korea, Dr. Zimmerman found a unique people, most receptive of Christianity, who deserved a better political fate than the complete obliter- ation of their national life by the con- queror from Japan. He was profoundly impressed by what he saw in China, with its four hundred millions. In Shang- hai he delivered an inspirational address to one hundred missionaries, who were about to go to their respective fields of
labor in the interior of that great empire. At this meeting Drs. Hunter and Rich- ards spoke in enthusiastic commendation of Dr. Zimmerman's far reaching influ- ence through his messages from Amer- ica. They urged him to speak in the largest church of the city on the following evening. Wherever opportunity offered, he continued preaching and lecturing on more than one hundred occasions in his tour around the world, and visited the leading missions of every Christian de- nomination in the Far East. Dr. Zim- merman travelled independent of tourist parties, and took time for special observa- tion and study, visiting many places off the beaten track of tourists. He saw the Chinese as they are, and was often amazed at some of their strange customs. In Canton, China, he visited the Lutheran church which had been constructed at a cost of ten thousand dollars by native converts. The mission of which it formed a part included nine large buildings, one devoted to the teaching of girls, another a theological seminary for men, in which there were then thirty-five students pre- paring for the ministry. After an address delivered by Dr. Zimmerman before these institutions, he was astonished as well as gratified with the Chinese to find that a banquet had been prepared and was served by the mayor and common council of Canton, in the home of the superinten- dent of the mission, as an endorsement of his work. In some of the cities which Dr. Zimmerman and wife visited they were regarded by the natives as curiosi- ties. While filling his pockets with silver Mexican dollars, which were obtained for fifty cents each of American money, he was reminded of the monetary free silver heresy which came so near leading the American people to disaster in 1896. At Kandy, Ceylon, by special permission, he was enabled to view the most sacred tradi- tional tooth of Buddha. No other treas-
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ure in all the world is inclosed in such a pricelessly jewelled casket, and no other relic is so hallowed by the several hun- dred millions of Buddhists. It is ex- hibited once a year, and faithful pilgrims come from distant countries. The rarest privilege accorded to Dr. Zimmerman in his many years of travel in foreign coun- tries occurred in April, 1914, when, in company with Ambassador Morgenthau and a few others, he was permitted to visit the tombs of the Patriarchs in Heb- ron. Here he gazed upon the cenotaphs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives. On two former occasions he had visited Hebron, and with intense longings contemplated the exterior of that sacred mosque, and ever longed to enter and be- hold the sacred shrines. Less than fifty persons outside the Moslem world have ever enjoyed the rare privilege of visit- ing this interior. Dr. Zimmerman has travelled more than five thousand miles in India, studying the social and religious condition and the almost incredible prac- tices-for in India, if anywhere, religion has often gone mad. He has given many years to the comparative study of re- ligions, and devoted much time to the examination of the sacred books of the East. He had been possessed by an in- tense desire to see other world religions in action and judge them by their fruits and practical effect upon the mind and life of people through many generations. He often went beyond the usual course of tourists, but no place made a deeper im- pression than Puri, where the Juggernaut gods have attracted countless millions of pilgrims. The impressions gained by his observations and the study of the won- derful belief and practices have been brought out in his work entitled "The God Juggernaut and Hinduism in India." This work has received many favorable re- views from the press. That of the Syra- cuse "Post-Standard" is as follows: "Jere-
miah Zimmerman is a man who possesses in extraordinary measure the priceless faculty of being interesting. He has a devouring appetite for facts and a great passion for imparting them. For the preparation of the book, 'The God Jugger- naut and Hinduism in India,' Dr. Zim- merman travelled many thousand miles and studied the sources of his subject in many places."
Dr. Zimmerman's interest in scientific and archaeological research is undimin- ished and is attested by his valuable library. He was active in the organiza- tion of the Syracuse Branch of the Archaeological Institute of America, and has served as one of its presidents and councillors. For many years he was one of the honorary secretaries of the Egypt, and also of the Palestine Exploration fund, and is a member of the Royal Numismatic Society of London. He is honorary correspondent of the Victoria Institute and Philosophical Society of Great Britain, and a member of the American Anthropological Association. His only diversions have been in travel for study. At home, when not engaged in some public service for the people, he can always be found at work in his library, for he has ever had a passion for study that mastered him, often going beyond his strength. In December, 1913. he visited Egypt for the third time, and re- mained until the following April. After going up the Nile by steamer to Wadi Halfa, he proceeded six hundred miles by train across the desert to Khartoum. He spent four weeks at Luxor, the center of Egypt's ancient remains, and every day he was occupied with some research work, or in an intimate study of the natives, who greatly interested him. As a lover of art and history, he spent days and weeks in the museums of every country. In all his journeys he was accompanied by Mrs. Zimmerman, who shared in his historical
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