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 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Poughkeepsie Tennis Club; and the Poughkeepsie Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a former director. Politi- cally, Mr. Reynolds is a member of the Republican party. His religious affilia- tion is given to Christ Episcopal Church.
Harris S. Reynolds was married in New Hamburg, New York, October 12, 1892, to Martha Millard, a daughter of William B. and Cordelia (Lawson) Mil- lard, of New Hamburg. Harris S. and Martha (Millard) Reynolds are the parents of three children: I. Martha May, graduated from Vassar College in 1915, later taking her Master of Arts degree in Psychology, and the degree of Master of Arts from Columbia University. During the late World War she served in France for a period of eighteen months with the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. 2. Dorothy Millard, educated at Westover School, Middlebury, Connecti- cut. She married Robert Lansing Smith, and they have three children: Marion, Barbara, and Elsie Jane Smith. 3. Harry- ette Lawson, educated in Westover School, Middlebury, Connecticut, and served in France for one year with the Young Men's Christian Association dur- ing the World War.
WEBB, John Griswold, Republican State Senator.
State Senator, member of the New York Assembly for four years, president of an international publishing house, pres- ident of a corporation whose purpose it is to build and manage farms and country estates, owner and organizer of the famous Webb Farms, at Clinton Cor- ners, New York, war correspondent in Mexico for two years, with an enviable record of high patriotic service to the United States Government during the
44
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
World War, John Griswold Webb, who has not as yet reached his thirty-fourth birthday, has crowded into his compara- tively young life more of diversified en- deavor and recognized usefulness to State and Nation than often is accomplished by men of his age and station. From school walls to legislative halls, Senator Webb's career has been to the present time one of ceaseless activity, in which worthy ambition has urged him on to make the most of every opportunity, to do the next thing in the very best possible way, and thus build upon a good foundation a superstructure of success in which his colleagues and fellow-citizens share with a degree of pride that is commendable.
Senator Webb at his birth came into a long and honorable line of ancestors. He is a lineal descendant of the "first Webb," Richard Webb, of Dorsetshire, England, who emigrated to America and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1626, but four years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. His great-grandfather, Sam- uel Blatchley Webb, was a brigadier- general in the Revolutionary War, and acted as aide-de-camp and private secre- tary to General George Washington. His great-grandfather, on his maternal side, Chester Griswold, was mayor of the city of Troy, New York, in 1820, and was a member of the New York State Legislature in 1823 ; his grandfather, John A. Griswold, also served the city of Troy as mayor, and for three terms was a member of Congress ; he was instrumental with the famous Ericsson in the building of the battleship "Monitor." Senator Webb's father, the late Henry Walter Webb, was vice-president of the New York Central Railroad, and with the sup- port and cooperation of the Vanderbilt family he had much to do with develop- ing the elements of progress of that great transportation system.
John Griswold Webb was born on Au- gust 13, 1890, at Riverdale, New York, son of Henry Walter Webb, born May 6, 1852, at Tarrytown, New York, died June 18, 1900, at Scarboro, New York, and Leila Howard (Griswold) Webb, daugh- ter of John A. Griswold, of Troy. The son, J. Griswold, was educated at the Browning School, New York City : Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, 1903-09; Harvard College, 1909-13 ; grad- uated with the degree of A. B .; and Cor- nell Agricultural College, 1913-14. His academical and technical education com- pleted, his first occupation in life was to acquire ownership and assume the man- agement of a 450 acre commercial, agri- cultural enterprise, known as Webb Farms, at Clinton Corners, New York. Into the development of this great farm project he brought all his youthful energy and the results of years of close study and the application of scientific methods. Two years previously, 1912-13, he had smelled powder and observed the clash of arms in the turbulent scenes of Mexico, where he acted as war correspondent of "The Boston Herald." Five years after launching his commercial farm enter- prise, he became president of Webb, Mar- low & Vought, Inc., a corporation formed for the purpose of building and managing farms and country estates. In the fol- lowing year, 1921, he was elected presi- dent of the American International Pub- lishers, Inc., a corporation publishing agricultural magazines, among which are well known periodicals such as "Field Illustrated" and "Field Annual Year Book," for the American trade, and "El Campo" and "O Campo," for the South American trade.
Senator Webb's public service began in 1913, when he was elected justice of the peace, and he served in that office until 1917. He now was on the highway
45
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
to higher honors in the preferment of his fellow-citizens, and he was elected to the Assembly of the State of New York dur- ing the years 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1922. In 1923 he was elevated by the voters to the Senate of the State of New York, which office he now holds. In 1923 he was honored with the election to chair- manship of the Republican County Com- mittee of Dutchess County. Senator Webb's record of patriotic activity dur- ing the World War covers the years 1917 and the first half of 1918, when he acted as local chairman of Red Cross, Liberty Loan and War Savings Stamp campaign drives; the year 1917 he was chairman of the committee on food production of the Home Defense Committee, and in No- vember, 1917, he was made a member of the executive committee of the Dutchess County Defense Council ; in 1917 he was appointed Federal Fuel Administrator for Dutchess County. He filled all these po- sitions until August, 1918, when he en- listed as a private in the United States Army, and was sent to the Field Artil- lery Officers' Training Camp at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky. He was hon- orably discharged from the service in March, 1919, having never been permitted to see active service overseas, since he was on duty at the training camp when the armistice was signed.
Senator Webb is a member of Sheko- meko Lodge, No. 458, Free and Accepted Masons, of Washington Hollow, New York; Poughkeepsie Lodge, No. 275, Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Society of Colonial Wars; the Sons of the Revolution; and the Society of American Wars. He holds membership in the Harvard Club, New York City; A. D. -D. K. E. and S. K. clubs of Harvard University ; Knickerbocker and Racquet and Tennis clubs of New York City ; Som-
erset Club, of Boston ; Fort Orange Club, Albany; Automobile Club of America ; Amrita and Dutchess County Golf and Country clubs, of Poughkeepsie, New York.
Senator Webb married, May 16, 1914, Anne Pendleton Rogers, daughter of Archibald and Anne (Coleman) Rogers, of Hyde Park, New York. They are the parents of two children: John Griswold, Jr., born December 3, 1915, and Leila Griswold, born October 17, 1920.
This review would be incomplete did it not embrace more extended mention of the worthy father of a worthy son. Henry Walter Webb, father of Senator Webb, formerly vice-president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, died suddenly, June 18, 1900, at his home, "Beechwood," in Scarboro. He was a brother of Dr. W. Seward Webb, who married Lila Osgood Vanderbilt, a daugh- ter of William H. Vanderbilt. Follow- ing this alliance, Dr. Webb gave up the practice of medicine and established the banking and brokerage house of W. S. Webb & Co. He induced his brother, Henry Walter Webb, to give up his prac- tice of law and to become associated with him in the business in which he had become engaged and which gave promise of great success. In 1886 Dr. Webb was elected president of the Wagner Palace Car Company, whose affairs were in very bad shape; and as a result Dr. Webb again called upon his brother to come to his assistance in establishing a new sys- tem of conducting the business. Mr. Webb became the first vice-president of the company, and here was where he made his beginning in the business of railroading, in which he was destined to exhibit remarkable ability. He was quick to show his capacity as a railroad man, and this at once gained the recogni-
46
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
tion of the Vanderbilts, who had become interested in his advancement. He was appointed assistant to President Chaun- cey M. Depew, and in March, 1890, he was elected by the directors to the office of third vice-president. Hardly had he en- tered upon his new work when the great railroad strike was declared and 5,000 men stopped work at the order of the Council of the Knights of the Labor. Then was offered the great oppor- tunity for Mr. Webb to attain unusual distinction. President Depew was in Europe, Mr. Vanderbilt also was absent, and the two other vice-presidents were not connected with the operating de- partment. The task of combatting the strikers fell heavily upon Mr. Webb's shoulders. He met the problem brave- ly, with firmness and with that ce- lerity of decision which won the approval of the Vanderbilt family. The Vander- bilts placed the entire matter of the settle- ment of the strike in his hands, and eventually he came off victorious.
The long strain incurred through that struggle, however, seriously impaired his health. He continued with his work and entered into the operation of the New York Central's passenger system in a manner which has had much to do with the adoption of the new system of operat- ing fast passenger trains on railroads throughout the country. Mr. Webb made practical the theory that time is money, and that the saving of time meant the increase of traffic. He inaugurated the fast train service and established the "Empire State Express." Many railroad men poked fun at him, but Mr. Webb had the Vanderbilts at his back; and to-day history of that advanced step in railroad- ing has more than justified Mr. Webb's departure from the old system of doing things.
In 1896 ill health compelled Mr. Webb to retire to a country home, and from that point he directed the affairs of the passenger traffic of the road. His health eventually became completely broken, and he resigned his office. He had never been a well man since the great rail- road strike.
Mr. Webb married, in 1884, Leila How- ard Griswold, daughter of John A. Gris- wold, of Troy, New York. His widow and two sons survived him. Mr. Webb was a member of the Board of Education under Mayor Grace. He was a director of the Lincoln National Bank, the Hudson River Bank, Commonwealth Insurance Company, Hamilton Bank Note Engrav- ing Company, International Pulp Com- pany, Kensico Cemetery Company, Lin- coln Safe Deposit Company, Love Elec- tric Traction Company, Mutual Life In- surance Company, National City Bank, New York Mutual Gas Light Company, New York Security and Trust Company, Terminal Warehouse Company, Wagner Palace Car Company, and of the different railroads owned or controlled by the New York Central Railroad Company.
PILGRIM, Charles W., M. D., Leading Alienist.
Not long after his graduation from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, Dr. Pilgrim began the study of mental science and its varied and obscure phenomena, with the result that for nearly forty years he was connected with the New York State Hospital system, and is to-day rec- ognized by his profession as one of Amer- ica's leading alienists. His profound study of mental diseases and his author- ship of treatises bearing on their treat- ment and cure have won for him the at- tention of the entire country. One phase
47
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of his research has developed a definite program of anticipating the maturity of insanity and by treating it in its incip- iency, arresting its development and sav- ing threatened victims from becoming mental wrecks. Several States followed the lead of New York State in this method of dealing with the dread disease and good results are reported.
Throughout his long career as a physi- cian and psychiatrist in the State Hos- pital service, Dr. Pilgrim always sought to elevate the standard of medical and nursing care of the insane, and sys- tematically endeavored to promote scien- tific interest in psychiatry on the part of the State Hospital staff. As a member and chairman of the State Hospital Com- mission he consistently supported the Psy- chiatric Institute as a highly important work of the State Hospital system, and encouraged the younger physicians in the service to avail themselves of the oppor- tunities it offered for their improvement by attending the courses of instruction the institute provided.
Dr. Pilgrim, furthermore, was a pioneer in the development of out-patients de- partments in connection with State hos- pitals ; was one of the earliest and strong- est advocates of the mental clinics and social service work of these departments, and was a potent factor in securing the adoption by the State Hospital Develop- ment Commission of a resolution declar- ing that social service workers should be provided in each hospital in the pro- portion of one for each hundred patients on parole. His contributions to the lit- erature of his profession are numerous and weighty, his topics always having a direct bearing upon his specialty.
Dr. Pilgrim is a native son of the Em- pire State, and with the exception of the time spent in study abroad has always
resided within the limits of his own State, giving to her people and her institutions of healing his great skill and power of mind.
Dr. Charles W. Pilgrim was born in Monroe, Orange County, New York, March 27, 1855, son of Roe C. and Frances (Wilkes) Pilgrim. He was educated under private tutors, and in Monroe In- stitute, New York University, and Belle- vue Hospital Medical College, receiving from the last named institution the de- gree of M. D., class of 1881. After grad- uation from the medical college, he served as an interne of Bellevue Hospital for eighteen months, and then began his work in psychiatry at the State Asylum for In- sane Criminals at Auburn, New York, where he remained for one year. In 1883 he was appointed an assistant physi- cian in the State Asylum, Utica, New York, and that connection he continued for seven years, attaining the rank of assistant superintendent. About one- half of each of the years, 1885-86 and 1889 were spent by Dr. Pilgrim in the hospitals and clinics of Vienna, Munich and Ber- lin, leave of absence being granted him by the State Hospital. In February, 1890, he was transferred from the assist- ant superintendency of State Hospital at Utica to the superintendency of State Hospital at Willard, New York, and there his great ability both as physician and organizer became more apparent, as demonstrated by noteworthy- improve- ments in the medical and administrative departments of the hospital.
His constructive work at Willard State Hospital attracted the attention of the managers of the Hudson River State Hos- pital at Poughkeepsie, New York, and in May, 1893, he was appointed superinten- dent of that institution, there remaining until April, 1906, when Governor Higgins
48
.
Seter AC Troy
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
requested him to assume the duties of chairman of the State Hospital Commis- sion, with the understanding that he should return to the Hudson River State Hospital as its superintendent, if at the end of the year he desired to do so. Dr. Pilgrim found the duties of a commis- sioner less attractive than those of a hospital superintendent. He therefore resigned his office at the expiration of the year and returned to the State Hospital at Poughkeepsie, where he rendered highly efficient service until September, 1916, when he was again called to Albany as chairman of the State Hospital Com- mission, by Governor Whitman, and he served in that capacity with conspicuous ability until December, 1921, when he re- signed in order to take control of the well known sanitarium of Dr. Carlos MacDonald, at Central Valley, New York.
While Dr. Pilgrim has devoted himself entirely to his profession, his interests have demanded a certain association with the business life of the city of Pough- keepsie, and he has served the Pough- keepsie Trust Company as vice-president, and other corporations as a director. His great abilities and wide acquaintance have caused his being called as an expert in many medico-legal cases, and his connec- tion with the literature of his profession has covered the various phases of mental diseases. He was, until his resignation, a member of many years standing of the editorial staff of "The State Hospital Quarterly." He published many articles on psychiatry and kindred subjects, among which may be mentioned "A Case of Epileptic Insanity With Echo-Sign Well Marked," "A Case of Spontaneous Rupture of the Heart," "Pyromonia (so- called) With Report of Case," "A Visit to Gheel," "Mental Disturbances Follow- ing Puerpal Eclampsia," "A Study of Sui- cide," "Schools For the Insane," "Genius
and Suicide," "Does the Loco Weed Pro- duce Insanity ?" "Communicated Insan- ity," "Suicide and Insanity," "Care and Treatment of the Insane in the State of New York," "The Proper Size of Hos- pitals for the Insane," "The Study of a Year's Statistics," "Old Age and Its Psy- choses," "Meeting the Mentally Sick Half Way," etc. From 1882 until 1890 he was associate editor of "The American Journal of Insanity," and an associate editor of "The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and Canada," recently published under the direction of Dr. Henry M. Hurd, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. He is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric As- sociation, of which he was president in I9II; a member of the Medical Society of Dutchess County, of which he was president in the same year ; a member of the Society of the Alumni of Bellevue Hospital; a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine; and president of the New York Psychiatrical Society.
Dr. Pilgrim married, in 1889, Florence M. Middleton, who died December 15, 1904. His daughter, Florence, is the wife of Dr. Theodore Neumann, who was prominently connected with the New York State Hospital service, but is now associated with Dr. Pilgrim in the man- agement of his sanitarium. Mrs. Neu- mann is a talented musician, whose artis- tic ability is widely recognized in the circles in which she moves. She is most gracious in her willingness to share her talents with others, and particularly if a function is to be given in aid of some worthy charity.
TROY, Peter H., L -
Investment Banker and Broker.
Peter H. Troy, of Poughkeepsie and Barrytown, New York, investment banker
N.Y .- 8-4
49
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
and broker, is one of the best known men in the State of New York through his active work in many important organi- zations of a civic or business character. It is said of him that his true measure as a citizen does not consist so much in any calculation of his professional suc- cess as in his comradeship with men who have taken an abiding interest in human affairs, without money and without price.
It has become the habit of such men to devote almost as much of their time and fully as much of their energy and abil- ity to the loyal service of their fellow- men as they devote to their own business interests. They are the Americans who are making American communities sparkle with vitality and progress. They are found in every city where clubs and committees are accomplishing things for the general good. Their name is legion, and they are the salt of the earth.
Mr. Troy was born in Red Hook, Dutchess County, January 23, 1868, son of Peter and Bridget (Dee) Troy. As a boy Peter H. Troy studied telegraphy in his native village of Barrytown-on- Hudson, the opportunity to do so having come to him through the friendship of the station agent of the New York Cen- tral Railroad there, and in the meantime he continued his studies under the private tutelage of William Gaston Donaldson. So apt a pupil was he that when he had reached the age of fifteen (in 1883) he secured the consent of his father, Peter Troy, a contractor in Barrytown, to ac- cept an offer from the stock brokerage firm of Boody, Mclellan & Company, of Manhattan, to become a clerk and wire operator in the Poughkeepsie branch office of that house. The ambitious lad left the environment of his boyhood home and applied himself to the intricate details of investment and market finance while
handling the messages which passed back and forth over the wire. Later he be- came office manager for the firm of E. & C. Randolph, remaining with that house for fifteen years, and then being admitted to partnership in the firm of C. D. Hal- sey & Company, of New York City, the above firms all being members of the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1918 Mr. Troy purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and the same year withdrew from C. D. Halsey & Company to engage privately as a banker and broker, dealing under his own name through his stock exchange membership in investment securities. He is also a director of The Poughkeepsie Trust Com- pany, and was one of the organizers and is a director of the Vassar Bank at Arling- ton, New York. A director of the United States Fire Insurance Company of New York City, director of The Poughkeepsie City and Wappinger Falls Electric Rail- road Company, and is president of the Red Hook Telephone Company, which he organized in 1895. Also a trustee of Put- nam Hall, Poughkeepsie, a preparatory school for girls, and a trustee of St. Francis Hospital.
In politics Mr. Troy is a lifelong Dem- ocrat. He was a delegate to the Kansas City convention that nominated William J. Bryan for President of the United States, and a close personal friend of the late Governor David B. Hill. He has sat in many State, district and county con- ventions of his party, and his voice has long been a potent one in party councils. He is a recent president of the Dutchess County Society in the city of New York ; a former president of the New York State Motor Federation; director of the Amer- ican Automobile Association ; and chair- man of the board of directors of the Poughkeepsie Automobile Club. Mr.
50
Lenge S Camptill
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Troy stands high among his con- temporaries of these organizations and of the business world, his career a striking illustration of what an ambitious, ener- getic boy can attain in business prom- inence without the adventitious aids of wealth, position and influence. He rose solely through his own efforts and may be justly termed self-made in the very best sense of the phrase.
Peter H. Troy married, June 30, 1896, Matilda A. Bullock, daughter of Charles and Almira (Livingston) Bullock, her father for many years representative of the New York Central Railroad Company at Cold Springs, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Troy are the parents of four chil- dren : 1. Almira Livingston, a graduate of Putnam Hall, Poughkeepsie, Dwight School, Englewood, New Jersey, and Vas- sar College, receiving her degree from the last named institution, class of 1920. She was married, June 28, 1924, to Cap- tain Walter W. Warner, United States Army, located at the United States Ar- senal, Augusta, Georgia. 2. Helen Tay- lor, a graduate of Putnam Hall, the Bald- win School, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Vassar College, class of 1922. 3. Frances Dee, a graduate of Putnam Hall and the Madeira School, Washington, District of Columbia. 4. Peter F., born April 26, 1907.
CAMPBELL, Hon. George D., Contractor, Ex-Mayor of Poughkeepsie.
To even a novice or a beginner in his- tory, heraldry, and genealogy, the sur- name "Campbell" cannot be disassociated from Scotland, the land of "hills and heather," for in Bonnie Scotland did the present great family of Campbell have its inception. The name now appears in great numbers in England and America,
but Scotland still claims the four main branches of the family: The Campbells of Argyll, the Campbells of Breadalbane, the Campbells of Cawdor, and the Camp- bells of Loudoun. The Campbells of Argyll seem to be the oldest, and there- fore probably the parent branch, for in the year 1216 Gillespie Campbell is given in the Exchequer Rolls as holding the lands of Menstrie and Sauchie in Stirling. He was also a witness of the charter of the burgh of Newburgh in Fife, in 1266. From this Gillespie Campbell are de- scended, directly or indirectly, all the present-day bearers of the name.
The badge of the Campbells of Argyll is as follows: Roid (Wild Myrtle), or Garbhag, an t-sleibhe (Fir Club Moss). The war cry is: "Cruachan" (a moun- tain near Loch Awe). The clan pipe music, which is deservedly world famous, is as follows: Salute-"Failte 'Mharcius" ("The Marquis' Salute") ; March-"Bail'- Ionaraora" ("The Campbells are com- ing"); Lament-"Cumha 'Mharcius") ("The Marquis' Lament").
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.