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 pre?minent in their own and many other states. V.6 > Part 4
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(II) William Depew, probably the eldest son of Francois and Geertje (Wil- lems) Dupuis, was born at Bushwick, and was among the pioneer settlers in West- chester County. He married Lysbeth Weyt, of English parentage, this being the first marriage in the Manor of Cort- landt. Among their children was Fran- cois, grandson of the original Francois, of whom further.
(III) Francois (II) Depew, son of William and Lysbeth (Weyt) Depew, was born at or near Tarrytown, New York, in August, 1700, and was baptized in the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hol- low, at Tarrytown, on August 20, 1700. His name is recorded as Frans De Pew, and later the name took its present form of Depew. Francois (II) Depew, married at Tarrytown, New York, on June 3, 1727, Maritje Van Thessel. Among their children was Hendrikus, through whom the line descends.
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(IV) Hendrikus (or Henry) Depew, son of Francois (II) and Maritje (Van Thessel) Depew, was baptized at Tarry- town, New York, on April 27, 1728. He married, but his wife's name is not re- corded. Upon the baptism of their son, Abraham, in the Dutch Church at Tarry- town, "Franz Pue and Wife" are named as sponsors for the child. Through this child, Abraham, descent is traced to Chauncey Mitchell Depew, the subject of this biographical record.
(V) Abraham Depew, son of Hendri- kus (or Henry) Depew, was born at Cort- landt Manor and was baptized in the Dutch Church at Tarrytown, New York, on April 5, 1752. He enlisted January 2, 1777, and served throughout the Revo- lutionary War, being discharged with the rank of corporal in the year 1780. Abra- ham Depew married Catherine Kronkite, daughter of Captain James Kronkite. Among their children was Isaac, of whom further.
(VI) Isaac Depew, son of Abraham and Catherine (Kronkite) Depew, was born at Peekskill, New York, about the year 1811, and spent most of his life car- ing for the estate which his paternal an- cestors had purchased from the Indians. He was an influential citizen of Peekskill, and took great interest in the affairs of the town. He married Martha Mitchell, daughter of Chauncey Root Mitchell, a distinguished lawyer. Martha (Mitchell) Depew was a descendant of three old and honored families: the Mitchells; the Johnstons; and the Shermans. Another of her ancestors was the Rev. Charles Chauncey, the first president of Harvard College.
(VII) The Honorable Chauncey Mit- chell Depew, a member of the seventh generation of the Dupuis family in Ameri- ca, was born in Peekskill, Westchester County, New York, on April 23, 1834, son
of Isaac and Martha (Mitchell) Depew. He received his scholastic preparation for college at the Peekskill Academy, and in the year 1852, matriculated at Yale College in what was destined to be known in after years as the "Famous Class of '56." Two members of this class later became Jus- tices of the Supreme Court of the United States, namely, Henry Billings Brown and David J. Brewer; while others at- tained correspondingly high positions in the State or Nation. Mr. Depew was graduated from Yale with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the year 1856; in due course received his Master of Arts degree ; and in 1887, was given the honor- ary degree of Doctor of Laws. During the following years he was elected a member of the Yale Corporation, which position he held for a period of twelve years.
Upon leaving college, he entered the political arena by actively supporting and advocating the cause of Frémont and Dayton, the first presidential and vice- presidential candidates of the newly formed Republican party, and to this end he made speeches throughout the country, deploring the slavery and polygamous conditions existing in the territories. In 1858, he was elected a delegate to the Republican State Convention, and dur- ing the half-century that has elapsed since that time has been a delegate to every succeeding convention with the exception of two. He has also been a delegate to five separate Republican National Con- ventions, as well as to many other nati- onal conventions. In 1861, he was elected to the Legislature from the Third West- chester District; was reëlected in 1862, and became chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, as well as leader of the House. He also acted for a great part of the time as speaker pro tem.
In the year 1863, he headed the Re-
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publican State ticket as candidate for Secretary of State, and was elected. In 1866, President Johnson appointed Mr. Depew United States Minister to Japan, the confirmation by the Senate followed immediately, but for family reasons Mr. Depew declined this great honor. In 1872, he was candidate for Lieutenant- Governor on the Liberal Republican ticket, but failed to be elected. In 1874, he was elected by the Legislature to the post of regent of the University of the State of New York, and held this highly responsible position for a period of thirty- four years. He was also one of the com- missioners appointed to build the capitol at Albany. Mr. Depew was candidate for senator on two occasions, and withdrew, once to secure the election of two other senators, and the other time for business reasons.
In the year 1888, he was unanimously supported by the State of New York for the presidential nomination and received ninety-nine votes in the Republican National Convention. General Benjamin Harrison was nominated, and after his election offered to Mr. Depew every posi- tion in his cabinet except that of Secre- tary of State, which he had promised to Mr. Blaine, or if he preferred, any mission abroad that he might select, all of which he declined. In 1894, when Mr. Blaine resigned from his office of Secretary of State, the position was again tendered to Mr. Depew, but this he also declined. In 1899, Mr. Depew was elected United States Senator for six years, and in the year 1905 was reëlected. As a candidate Mr. Depew's highest reputation through- out the country is as an orator and states- man, yet with all these activities his life has been crowded with professional and business affairs. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, and 1866 he became attorney for the United States Senatorship, Mr. Depew has received more ballots from the members of his party in the State Legislature than any other citizen in the United States, namely, sixty ballots, one each day for sixty days in 1881, and for the New York & Harlem Railroad
sixty-four during the forty-five days in the year 191I.
Mr. Depew is an orator of world-wide reputation, and has been the speaker on many occasions of national importance. He was the orator selected to give the oration at the Centennial Anniversary of the inauguration of the first President of the United States of the organization of the Legislature of the State of New York; of the capture of Major André; of the dedication of the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in the harbor of the city of New York; 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 Harrison in the national convention in 1892, and for Roosevelt in 1904. His last notable political speech was in advocacy of the re- ëlection of President Taft in the year 1912. Justin McCarthy in his "Remin- iscences" ranks Mr. Depew second only to Charles Dickens as an after-dinner speaker. It is safe to assume that no American in recent years has been the equal in forensic ability of Chauncey M. Depew. In him it was more than a gift- it was pure genius; and genius is dealt out sparingly by the gods. In Mr. Depew's recent volume, "My Memories of Eighty Years" he recounts many of his stories and sayings which have re- ceived world-wide circulation and ac- claim.
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Company ; in 1869, when the road was consolidated with the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, with Com- modore Vanderbilt at its head, Mr. Depew was chosen attorney for the new corporation and elected a member of the board of directors. As the Vanderbilt railroad system expanded, Mr. Depew's interests and duties increased in a cor- responding degree, and in 1875 he was ap- pointed general counsel of the entire sys- tem, and elected a director of the roads of which it was composed. On the resig- nation of Mr. Vanderbilt from the presi- dency, Mr. Depew was made second vice- president, and in 1885, was advanced to the presidency of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. He held this office for thirteen years during which period he was president of six other rail- road companies in the system and was director in twenty-eight additional lines. On his resignation 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 and Michigan Southern Railroad, and the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, which position he held for more than a decade and a half.
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; of the Yale Alumni Association of New York for ten years ; for seven years president of the Union League, a longer term than that held by any other, and on declining further election, he was made an honorary life member. He is a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce ; the society of Cincinnati ; a Master Mason of Kane Lodge of Peekskill, and holds the thirty-third degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in the Valley of
New York; the Huguenot 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 Westchester County Bar Association ; the Republican Club ; the Lotos Club; the Players' Club ; the Transportation Club; the Lafayette Post; the University Club; the Phi Beta Kappa Club, and the Psi Upsilon Club. In Washington, District of Columbia, he is a member of the Metropolitan Club ; the Chevy-Chase Club; the Alibi Club ; the Country Club, and the University Club ; he is also a director in many finan- cial, fiduciary and other corporations. He is a hereditary member of the Society of Cincinnati; and the French Government has made him an officer of the Legion of Honor.
Mr. Depew married (first) in 1871, Elise, daughter of William Hegeman, of New York. She died in 1892. They had one son, Chauncey M. Depew, Jr. He married (second) in 1901, May Palmer.
Writing at the age of eighty-eight years, with his active life stored with rich memories, Mr. Depew says that he never keeps a diary, but depends entirely upon that memory, which unfolds before him like a film upon the screen, reenacting the episodes and thoughts of the past. He says :
"Life has had for me immeasurable charms. I recognize that at all times there has been granted to me the loving care and guidance of God. My sorrows have been alleviated and lost their acute- ness from a firm belief in closer re-union in eternity. My misfortunes, disappoint- ments and losses have been met and over- come by abundant proof of my mother's faith and teaching that they were the dis- cipline of Providence for my own good,
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and if met in that spirit and with redoubled effort to redeem the apparent tragedy they would prove to be blessings. Such has been the case." His thoughts fre- quently revert to his mother whom he held in highest esteem. He said in a con- versation to newspaper men when ques- tioned about his belief in communion be- tween this and the invisible world that whenever a crisis comes in his life, he feels that he can get advice and help from his mother by following naturally the line of thought that he knows she would fol- low-and so arrive at her conclusion. His mother died some thirty years ago. Re- calling his reading in his youth he says: "No pleasure derived in reading in after years gave me such delight as the 'Wa- verly Novels'," and speaking of his modes of action he says : "I rarely ever part with anything and I may say that principle has brought me so many losses and so many gains, that I am as yet . . . un- decided whether it is a good rule or not. . . . I have no regrets. I know my make up, with its love for the social side of life and its good things, and for good times with good fellows. I also know the neces- sity of activity and work. I am quite sure, that were this necessity removed and ambition smothered, I should long ago have been in my grave and lost many years of a life which has been full of hap- piness and satisfaction." These are but a few of the thoughts taken from the store- house of "My Memories of Eighty Years" and when recently, on his eighty-ninth birthday, on April 23, 1923, Chauncey M. Depew was interviewed by many news- paper men, he spoke of his career and touched upon many topics of the day. Summing it all up he said, that he had found the last decade the most exciting time of his life, because of his intense in- terest in the World War. He also spoke
of the present prosperity of the United States, and said that he believed that it was here to stay. He expects to live to be 100 years old, and believes that his last decade will be a very enjoyable, even if a more quiet one, than his earlier life. His name is one that shines upon the pages of the history of his State and country, for service rendered and for a life well-spent in the upholding of ideals that will ever make him loved and hon- ored.
HILLIS, Newell Dwight,
Clergyman, Anthor.
The Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis was for twenty-five years a dynamic force in his Plymouth Church, and he made that church a dynamic force in Brooklyn life. He came to Plymouth Church from Chi- cago, an aggressive man under forty years of age. His physical, mental and spiritual vigor were hurled ardently into the task of building and broadening his church and its works. The Plymouth Institute, a fine civic project, "Brooklyn Beautiful," a library of his own creation of idealistic addresses, sermons, and books for the guidance of men and women, and a record of zealous service for his country during the World War; these are among the proofs of his success.
Newell Dwight Hillis was born of Puritan stock in Magnolia, Iowa, Sep- tember 2, 1858. He received his educa- tion at Iowa College, Lake Forest Uni- versity, and McCormick Theological Seminary, with supplementary work at Northwestern University which brought him degrees as Master of Arts and as Doctor of Divinity. By way of the Pres- byterian ministry and Illinois pastorates, he reached Plymouth Church in Brooklyn in 1899. He resigned in 1924 because of
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ill health. Certain monuments to his achievements remain. Plymouth Institu- tion was established in 1914 with the object of helping worthy young men and women increase their personal and eco- nomic value to society. Its handsome buildings house social, educational, and physical training departments. The Beecher arcade and historic room, con- taining momentoes of the great preacher, a park and a bronze statue of Henry W. Beecher, are part of the general scheme. As leader in the "Brooklyn Beautiful" movement, Dr. Hillis invited Mr. Burn- ham to Brooklyn and strove to arouse its civic conscience with his slogan, "All sections for each section, each section for all sections and all of the citizens for Brooklyn." In his historic old church were installed, thanks to his efforts, beautiful memorial windows, which bore out his belief in beauty as an aid to good- ness. His work with voice and pen dur- ing the World War was prodigious; he spoke in nearly two hundred cities, delivered more than four hundred addres- ses, wrote against German atrocities, Bolshevist machinations, and for patri- otism in fighting and buying liberty bonds on the side of this country and right in the World War. Of fine presence and magnetic personality, Dr. Hillis is also gracious, generous, learned, sincere, and, in the language of his old and inti- mate friend, Theodore Roosevelt, "the greatest forensic orator in America." Some of his books are: "Right Living as a Fine Art;" "Success through Self- Help;" "Great Books as Life Teachers ;" "Influence of Christ in Modern Life." With these and his published sermons, as well as with his spoken words, he profoundly stirred the souls of the Ameri- can people.
Dr. Hillis married, in Chicago, Illinois,
April 14, 1887, Annie Louise Patrick, daughter of R. M. Patrick, of Marengo, Illinois. Their children were: Richard Dwight, born in 1888; Marjorie Louise, born in 1889; and Nathalie Louise, born in 1900.
ODELL, Benjamin Barker, Jr.,
Congressman, Governor.
One of New York's most distinguished sons is Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr., Governor of the State at forty-seven, notable conservationist of State funds. No administrator of New York's Govern- ment has better understood the wise and efficient paring down of State expenses, and none has accomplished it with more success and less friction.
Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr., was born in Newburgh, New York, January 14, 1854, son of the Hon. Benjamin Barker and Ophelia (Bookstaver) Odell. Gover- nor Odell's early education was acquired in the public schools of Newburgh, from which he went to Bethany College in West Virginia. His final college work was done at Columbia University from 1873 to 1875, which institution bestowed on him the degree of LL. D. in 1903. For some years he was absorbed in finan- cial enterprises: banking, electric light- ing, and commercial organizations which materially added to the growth of New- burgh. He was president of the New- burgh Electric Company, director in the Central Hudson Steamboat Company of New York, and president of the New- burgh Chamber of Commerce.
From his early voting years Governor Odell was keenly alive to the importance and interest of political affairs. For twelve years before 1896 he was a mem- ber of the Republican State Committee, and from 1898 to 1900 chairman of the
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Republican State Executive Committee. Although defeated in his first campaign, for State Senator, he was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress as Republican Representative, was re-elected, serving from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1899, and declined renomination for a third term. When elected as Governor in 1900, he announced in his inaugural address that economy and good judgment in the expenditure of the State funds should be the keynote of his administration. It was his purpose to lay the burden of taxa- tion on large corporations and to lessen that on property owners. He effected savings in many directions without im- pairing the efficiency of the Government ; the Attorney General took over the for- mer work of the "counsel to the Gover- nor;" tax collection was reduced in cost by some $150,000 a year; the consoli- dation of various bureaus into the Depart- ment of Labor saved some $70,000 yearly ; reduction in membership of various boards and commissions, and consolida- tion of commissions effected other large economies. Perhaps the most positive legislation for increasing revenue was the taxation of trust and insurance companies and of savings banks, so as to bring in additional revenue of three times the original amount of their combined taxa- tion. Liquor taxes were increased fifty per cent. A Fiscal Supervisor of State Charities was inaugurated into office, and good roads became a slogan in the depart- ment of the State Engineer. Governor Odell vetoed several far-reaching bills: one effecting the rights of the New York and New Jersey Bridge Company for the construction of elevated railroad struct- ures on West Street in New York City; two relating to the Park Avenue tunnel in that city; and one conferring unusual powers on a gas company. A strict
partisan, he did all that he honorably could to further the interests of the Republican party. Declining renomina- tion in 1904, he returned to his large financial enterprises. He was a member of the National Guard for eight years, and has at various times held prominent positions in the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternal orders.
Governor Odell married (first), August 20, 1877, Estelle Crist, of Newburgh, who died in 1888. He married (second) Mrs. Linda (Crist) Trophagen, sister of his first wife.
BUTLER, Nicholas Murray, Educator, Publicist.
Scholars are popularly supposed to be hermit-like individuals, who are gener- ally so deeply immersed in studies that they have little time to engage or take interest in the practical side of existence. But a review of the life of Nicholas Mur- ray Butler, certainly one of the most scholarly of modern Americans, shows a very different picture than this popular conception, for few men in any calling have as wide and varied interests as has he. And in a life crowded with engross- ing activities he finds time to be an en- thusiastic golfer and follower of other out-door sports.
Nicholas Murray Butler was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, April 2, 1862, the son of Henry L. and Mary J. (Murray) Butler. His father was interested in edu- cational matters, and was president of the Board of Education of Elizabeth for many years. He attended school in Eliza- beth until he was sixteen, at which age he entered Columbia University, taking his A. B., 1882, M. A., 1883, and Ph. D., 1884. He then went abroad and con- tinued his studies in the universities of
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Berlin and Paris. In Berlin he met and became a friend of professor Paulsen, the famous philosopher. Upon his return home in 1886 he became an instructor of philosophy at Columbia University, a position which he held for three years. In 1889 he became adjunct professor, and the following year a full professor of phi- losophy, ethics and psychology, and a lecturer on the history and institutes of education. He had already proven him- self a capable instructor, and in 1890 he was elected dean of the faculty of philoso- phy for five years and reelected at the expiration of this period. Meanwhile, in addition to his duties at Columbia, he found time to study the educational sys- tem of the State and City, and to compile statistics and official documents relating to same. He was also president of Bar- nard College, and was first president of the New York College for the Training of Teachers (now Teacher's College of Columbia), where in the Horace Mann School of Practice he had the opportunity to test his educational theories from 1886 to 1891.
Dr. Butler was a member of the State Board of Education, 1892-93, and in 1894 he became university examiner in educa- tion for the State of New York. Since 1902 he has been president of Columbia University, including the presidency of Barnard, Teachers' College, and the Col- lege of Pharmacy. He has also been one of the largest contributors to the litera- ture of his profession. He was the founder of the "Educational Review" in 1891, and his editorship of this publication has done much to promote education in America. The "Great Educators" of the "Teachers' Professional Library" was edited by him, as was also "Columbia University Contributions" to philosophy, psychology, and education. In 1899 he
was the New Jersey commissioner to the Paris Exposition. He has taken a promi- nent part in politics, and his friends have several times urged that he be a candidate for the presidential nomination. He was a delegate to the Republican National conventions in 1884-1904-1912, and chair- man of the New York Republican Con- vention in 1912. He received the Repub- lican electoral vote for vice-president of the United States in 1913.
In addition to his collegiate duties, Dr. Butler was chairman of the admin- istrative board of the International Con- gress of Arts and Sciences, St. Louis Ex- position, 1904; chairman of the Lake Mohonk conferences on International Arbitration, 1904; president of the Ameri- can branch of Conciliation Internationale ; trustee of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York Life Insurance Company, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York Philharmonic Society ; governor of the Society of the Lying-In-Hospital ; trustee of the Columbia University Press and the American Academy of Rome; chairman of the College Entrance Exami- nation Board; Officer de Legion d'Hon- neur, 1906 (commander, 1912; Grand Officer, 1921) ; commander of Order of Red Eagle (with Star) of Prussia, 1910; Grand Cross of the Order of St. Sava (Greece) 1918; Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) 1921; also Grand Officer of the Royal Order of the Redeemer, First Class (Greece) 1918. He became president of the American Hellenic Society in 1917, and a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters, Naples, Italy, 1921. He is also a member of the National Educa- tional Association (president, 1894) ; American Academy of Arts and Letters;
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