USA > New York > Famous families of New York; historical and biographical sketches of families which in successive generations have been identified with the development of the nation, Vol. II > Part 6
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Captain Jeromus [1705], the son of Abraham, was probably the most distinguished member of this generation. He was a thrifty farmer, who saved enough money from his own
Captain
Jeromus farm to purchase the parental homestead from the other heirs and add it to his own estate. He was active in church and state, and held many offices of honor and dignity. He had a warlike vein in his composition, and from early manhood to old age was connected with the militia, in which he rose from private
Rem the to captain. Rem, the son of Jeremias, was another Trustee forceful individuality. He removed from the old home- stead at the Wallabout to Bedford, where he took up a large farm. He soon became a leader in that settlement, and was chosen a trustee of Brooklyn, in which office he served from 1727 to 1776. His brother Christopher was a farmer and land-owner, who invested wisely in real estate at Fulton Ferry, the Walla- bout, and Newtown. He left a large fortune, which went to his two daughters, Heyltie, who married Johannes Schenck, and Phæbe, who married William Howard.
In the fourth generation the sons of Rem were commanding figures. They were Abraham [1730], Garrett [1736], Aert [1737], Major and Luke [1749]. The four were fine specimens of Abraham Knickerbocker manhood. Their education had been excellent, and had included a thorough course in technical train- Lieutenant ing. In the decade prior to the Revolution they were Garrett so outspoken in favor of colonial independence that they were frequently threatened with prosecution for treason. Even before the outbreak of hostilities they had supplied them- selves with a full military equipment, and Aert and Luke, who were machinists and wheelwrights by trade, started the repair of firearms for patriotic neighbors and friends.
The beginning of the war found them ready and eager for Luke the Ord- action. Abraham and Garrett went to the front, where nance-Master they proved superb soldiers, the former rising to be a major, and the latter to be a lieutenant. Luke and Aert, on ac-
The Remsen Farm House From a print in Valentine's Manual, 1858
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Bedford Corners in 1776 From an old print
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count of their technical knowledge, were made masters of ord- nance, their skill proving invaluable to the colonists. With the British victories on Long Island, the four brothers retreated, first destroying everything in their homes, likely to be of value to the foe, which they could not carry away. During the remainder of the war the two soldiers were at the front, while the two ma- chinists were high in command in the Continental workshops at Peekskill. Of Aert and his wonderful strength many Aert stories are told. On one occasion, when a speculator the Strong tried to palm off an inferior rifle upon the Government, the big Long Islander, remarking, "We don't want this kind of steel," took the weapon and bent it to a right angle with his hands and knee. At the conclusion of peace, the valiant quartet returned to their home on the paternal farm, and there passed the remainder of their days.
No less than ten members of this generation were eminent merchants in New York. All accumulated goodly estates, and one, Hendrick [1708], became a man of great wealth. Hendrick the Through their opulence, education, numbers, and high Merchant character, they were prominent in New York society, where they contracted many admirable matrimonial alliances. In the main, they married into the old Knickerbocker families, more especially those of Dutch and Huguenot descent.
In the fifth generation the most noticeable figure was Hen- drick, or Henry, the merchant [1736]. He inherited his father's business, as well as a handsome fortune, and from the Henry time he reached manhood's estate he played an active the Patriot rôle in commercial, religious, political, and social affairs. His strong love of liberty and his intense enthusiasm gained for him the sobriquet of "Henry the Whig" before the Revolution, and "Henry the Patriot " afterwards. He was a member of the famous Committee of One Hundred, and was chairman of the importers of New York, especially those whose trade was with Great Britain. They met, October 13, 1774, and at his suggestion formed the first boycott known in American history. This was aimed at speculators, more especially unscrupulous adventurers
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from Great Britain, who were taking advantage of the troublous times to make corners in the necessaries of life.
The chief personality of the sixth generation was Henry [1762], son of Henry the Whig. He was finely educated and began active
life as a clerk in his father's counting-house. He left
Henry the Banker the desk to become private secretary to the Hon. John Jay, when the latter was Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In 1790, he returned to business life, and became his father's partner. Five years later he gave up private business to become first teller of the United States Branch Bank. From this time on his life was de- voted to financial institutions, for which he displayed an aptitude bordering upon genius. The only interruption to this career was when, at the earnest solicitation of the President, he became private secretary to Thomas Jefferson. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Abraham R. de Peyster, by whom he had nine children.
This generation was marked by wealth and culture. More than fifty members possessed great estates; some twenty were college graduates who attained distinction in law, medicine, and the political arena. The largest number belonged to New York City; next in importance were those of Brooklyn, while smaller groups were scattered in Staten Island, Pennsylvania, and other places.
In the seventh generation were eminent scholars and capital- ists. William [1815], son of Henry, was graduated from Princeton William the 1836, and admitted to the New York bar in 1839. He Financier relinquished practice to attend to the large estates left by his father and grandfather. He was deeply interested in banks and financial corporations, and left a large estate. He married Jane Suydam, by whom he had eight children. Among the organizations to which he belonged were the St. Nicholas Society and the American Geographical Society, of both of which he was a founder. Robert G., brother of William, was an active man in the financial world during the middle of the nineteenth century. He married Mary Delprat, by whom he had Georgiana Delprat, who married Charles Betts Hillhouse.
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In the eighth generation have been many professional men of high repute. Dr. Charles, the son of William, was a physician, and an executor of his father's estate. He was graduated from Princeton (1877). He married Lilian Livingston Dr. Charles Jones, by whom he had issue. He is represented in the ninth generation by his son William. He has an estate at Remsensburg.
Dr. Robert George was graduated from the New York University (1873), and from the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, Columbia (1876). Henry [1852] was graduated Doctor
from Columbia (1871). Phoenix was graduated from Robert G. Columbia (1867), and resided on the family estate at West Islip, N. Y. Jacob D. [1855] was educated at Erasmus Hall Jacob D. the and the Brooklyn Polytechnic. He early displayed Assemblyman talent for political life, and began his career as a justice of the peace. On the annexation of Flatlands to Brooklyn, he became a city assessor, and remained such until the consolidation of the boroughs into the greater city. In 1899, he was elected to the State Assembly, and re-elected in 1900 and 1901.
An eminent living representative of the race is Dr. Ira [1846], now President of Johns Hopkins University. He was born in New York City, studied at the City College, and was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons President Ira (1867). He went abroad to continue his scientific studies, spent a year in Munich, and then took a course in Goettingen, where he took the degree of Ph.D. (1870). For the next two years he served as assistant professor in the University of Tuebingen, Ger- many, and at the expiration of that time accepted the professor- ship of chemistry and physics at Williams College. Here he achieved fame by his brilliant researches in higher inorganic and synthetic chemistry. In 1876, his rising fame attracted the atten- tion of the founders of Johns Hopkins University, who invited him to take the chair of chemistry in that institution. He ac- cepted the offer, and from that time until to-day has devoted himself to researches in chemical and electrical fields, in which he has become one of the greatest experts of the world. In 1879, he founded the American Chemical Journal, of which he has
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been the editor, and to which he has largely contributed ever since. He has written and translated many standard works upon chemistry, while numerous monographs have become classics in the literature of that science. Upon the resignation of Dr. Gilman from the Presidency of Johns Hopkins University, he was elected to that post. In 1893, Columbia University conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D., and Yale chose him for similar distinction at her bicentennial. He is a member of numer- ous chemical and scientific societies at home and abroad, and may be justly regarded as one of the finest scientific intellects this country has yet produced.
The history of the Remsens has followed a different line of development from that of any other Knickerbocker family. Like most of the early immigrants from the Netherlands, they were dowered with great intelligence, religiousness, and probity, and were distinguished for physical health and vigor. They took to husbandry and the manual trades, succeeding in both and dis- playing industrial and mechanical aptitude of a high character. Not until the closing of the eighteenth century was there any break from this mode of life. Then, as if they were no longer satisfied with their ancestral occupations, and the wealth which these had produced, they turned from the plough to the counting- house, the college, and the political forum. During the nine- teenth century these tendencies developed, until to-day the family name is more or less identified with scientific, collegiate, and political affairs.
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Professor James Renwick From an oil painting owned by Mrs. James Renwick
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RENWICK
T O Scotland the Empire State owes some of its best blood. The thrift and intellectuality which so mark the Scotch character found full field for their development in the New World, and achieved triumphs which would have been impossible in the home country, for lack of opportu- nity. Beyond the substantial virtues of the Caledonian nature are moral and spiritual traits of even greater value. From time immemorial the people of the Land-o'-Cakes, to use Burns's pet phrase, have been noted for their affection, loyalty, fidelity to duty, and strong religious convictions. These qualities were developed by the stern and rigorous life demanded by the necessities of the country. In an inclement and sterile land Nature compels the citizens to lead simple, laborious, and upright lives. There is no other alternative. Any other course of living implies pauperism and extinction.
The qualities enumerated mark the history of the Renwick family, which has attained distinction in the land of its birth and that of its adoption. In the former they were soldiers, James the lawyers, merchants, and divines. One of them, James Martyr Renwick, the martyr, a famous soldier and clergyman of the
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seventeenth century, was put to death for his religious and political opinions. He met his fate with a serenity which im- pressed deeply the spectators of his execution.
The founder of the family in the United States was James [1744], who came to New York from Manchester, England, in
James the 1783, shortly after the American Revolution. He was
Founder an enterprising and long-headed merchant, who was well known in the mercantile world of the eighteenth century. A good father and a kind husband, he was also a public-spirited and philanthropic citizen. In 1789, we find him, with a group of friends, organizing The Mercantile Society for Employing the Industrious Poor and Promoting Manufacturing. His generosity was noted, especially to church and charitable work.
Of his two children, William [1769] was an able merchant, who established a direct traffic between Liverpool and New York.
William the At that time Liverpool was a place of but little impor-
Merchant tance, and the venture was regarded as a wild specu- lation. It proved a success and gave renown to its author. So far as history is concerned, he is not so commanding a figure as his beautiful wife. She was Jean Jeffrey, daughter of the Rev. Andrew Jeffrey, of the Manse, Lochmaben. Her beauty and talents made her a belle when a mere child, and attracted the admiration of the poet, Burns, who immortalized her in three of his finest poems. The union of James and Jean was very happy, and was blessed with six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom five were to become important members of New York life.
In the third generation, Professor James [1792] was born in Liverpool, while his parents were on a visit to the old country.
Professor He was of studious habits, and entered Columbia Col-
James lege at the early age of eleven, being then on a par with most boys of fifteen. He was graduated in 1807, being the first in his class, which contained such brilliant men as Judge Bronk, Dr. Burrell, the Rev. John H. Hill, and James Van Cort- landt. The following year he received the degree of A.M., and in 1813, at the age of twenty-one, was appointed instructor in natural and experimental philosophy. In 1820, he was made professor of
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natural and experimental philosophy and chemistry. He held this double chair with rare ability for thirty-three years, when he was made professor emeritus. He served as trustee of the college from 1817 to 1820. During the topographical survey of the United States, there was a large demand for scientists, and, at the request of the authorities at Washington, he entered the service as an en- gineer, with the rank of major, and devoted his summers to the prosecution of Government work. This occupied him for many years.
In 1838, he was appointed a Commissioner for the exploration and delimitation of the northeast boundary between the United States and New Brunswick. In 1829, Columbia conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. For an ordinary man these labors would have been ample, but to the Professor they were stimu- lants to further endeavor. He seemed to begrudge all time that was not applied to intellectual work. He conducted chemical and physical experiments, translated works from the French, edited English text-books on science, compiled reports, composed biographies, text-books, and compendia; contributed to the press of the period, and frequently acted as editor. In the list of his literary labors appear two volumes of his translations, four of his editing, and fourteen of his own authorship, not to mention re- ports, commentaries, and fugitive articles. His was the first text- book on natural philosophy or physics ever published in the United States, and also the first hand-book on geology.
He was among the first to perceive the great historical im- portance of the founders of the Republic, and urged upon the writers of his time the duty of recording the events and the in- dividuals of the latter part of the eighteenth century, and not leaving them for time to cover with myth, exaggeration, and distortion. It was in pursuance of this theory that he wrote the lives of David Rittenhouse, Robert Fulton, Count Rumford, De Witt Clinton, and (with Henry B. Renwick, his oldest son) of John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. Outside of his fame as a pedagogue, a scholar, and scientist, he would have enjoyed celebrity from his contributions to American literature. He loved
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the great college with which he was connected, and left nothing undone to increase its influence and power. He entered there his three sons, all of whom were to make admirable records for themselves in after life; assisted poor students; secured donations from private citizens; endeavored to create closer ties between the institution and scientific branches of the national government, and advocated an enlarged curriculum in the sciences and modern languages. Looked at after the lapse of more than a half-century, he stands in the front rank of the wisest and most distinguished men of his age. He married Margaret Ann Brevoort, by whom he had three sons and one daughter.
Robert Jeffrey, brother of the Professor, was graduated from Columbia (1809), and took up a mercantile career. He prospered and increased his prosperity by marrying Mary Hobart
Robert J. Rhinelander, a belle and heiress. He was a leading participant in the social world and prominent in philanthropic activities. He had five children, three sons and two daughters.
The three sisters of Professor James were society leaders, who married advantageously, as follows: Jane, Admiral Charles Wilkes; Isabella, Charles Smedburg; and Agnes, the Rev. James Henry.
In the fourth generation four sons kept up the high records of their ancestry. Henry Brevoort [1817], son of Professor James,
Henry was graduated from Columbia in 1833, and took up
Brevoort, the profession of civil engineering. He became an as- Engineer sistant engineer in the United States service, where he continued six years, and was then promoted to be first assistant astronomer of the United States Boundary Commission in 1839- 1842. In 1848, he was made Examiner in the Patent Office, with special reference to mechanical, chemical, and physical inventions. The life was too sedentary, and in 1853 he resigned to become Inspector of Steamboat Engines for the District of New York. He held this office some years, relinquishing it to become a con- sulting mechanical engineer, in which capacity he achieved great fame. In his spare hours he wrote extensively, more particularly upon scientific topics, and in his early manhood he was joint
Grace Church, Broadway, N. Y.
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author with his father, as before mentioned. He married Mar- garet Janney, daughter of Jonathan Janney, by whom he had one daughter and one son.
James, the architect [1818], second son of Professor James, was graduated from Columbia (1836). This was a famous class in college history, having among its number John James, the Graham, the great lawyer, the Rev. John H. Hobart, Architect Hon. John Jay II., the Rev. Henry McVicar, the Rev. D. M. Quackenbush, and the Rev. Charles Seymour. He inherited a love of architecture, of calculation, drawing, and engineering from his father. His career began as a surveyor and civil engineer on the Erie Railway. He went thence to the Croton Aqueduct, where he served as superintendent of construction of the dis- tributing reservoir on Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street, which was lately demolished to make room for the New York Public Library. His next work was the making of the model for a fountain in Union Square. Shortly after this came his entrée in the world of architecture.
The vestry of Grace Church had purchased the land on Broadway, opposite Eleventh Street, and had called for plans from the architects of the time for a church, to be erected upon the site. James submitted designs which, when exhibited, re- ceived the highest praise from the press and the public, and were finally accepted by the vestry. The building, which is one of the finest Gothic structures in the country, was completed in 1845. This is one of the few famous churches in which all the work is to be credited to one man. His were the original and final plans, the working drawings, nearly all of the delicate tracery and ornamentation of the exterior, and the furniture and orna- mentation of the interior. It is one of the best specimens of the French fourteenth-century school of Gothic art upon the Western Continent. When it was finished it made its designer famous on both sides of the ocean. From this time James was a recognized authority upon church architecture in America, and was called upon to prepare plans for buildings, public and private. He was the architect of Calvary Church, on Fourth Avenue, New York,
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the Church of the Puritans, formerly on Union Square, New York, and of the Smithsonian Institution and the Corcoran Art Gallery at the national capital. The Smithsonian is a noble pile of brown- stone in modified Elizabethan style, which suggests the ancient halls of Oxford University.
In 1853, he was commissioned by the Archbishop of New York to draw plans for St. Patrick's Cathedral, on Fifth Avenue, between Fiftieth and Fifty-first streets. The commission was the most important one in church construction which has ever been given in the history of the metropolis. James perceived the responsibility of the opportunity, and devoted himself to his task so tirelessly that he nearly broke down from overwork. The plans were finished, submitted, and accepted. When pub- lished, they elicited the highest praise from critics the world over. In 1858, the corner-stone was laid, and in 1879 the building was dedicated by Cardinal McCloskey. The structure is built of white marble, with a basement course of Quincy granite. It has magnificent twin towers on the west façade, and a main door which is of remarkable beauty. The style is the decorated or geometric of the thirteenth century, of which the cathedral at Rheims is the best foreign example. In 1887, work was begun upon the spires which terminate the two towers, and these were finished a few years ago. To-day, St. Patrick's is undoubtedly the handsomest and most impressive Gothic church in the New World.
Other buildings which illustrate the broad taste and versa- tility of James are St. Bartholomew's Church, Vassar College, the Church of the Covenant, in New York; St. Ann's in Brooklyn; . the Young Men's Christian Association building, on Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street, New York; and a hundred other buildings of lesser importance. He may certainly be styled the first of the great American architects. He married Anna L. Aspinwall, daughter of William H. Aspinwall, the merchant, for whom is named the City of Aspinwall upon the Isthmus of Panama. There was no issue to the marriage.
Edward Sabine [1823], third son of Professor James, was
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Fifth Avenue
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graduated from Columbia (1839), which also conferred upon him the degree of A.M. Even before he went to college he displayed a rare talent for machinery, so that upon graduation Edward Sabine, Engineer he but followed his bent in becoming the superintend- ent of iron works in Wilkesbarre, Pa. In a few years he was recognized as an expert in civil, mechanical, and steam engineering and the many industries upon which these profes- sions are based. He invented a number of railway appliances of value, including a chair for holding together ends of rails, an improved frog, and an improved switch. In the world of steam navigation the credit may be ascribed to him for an efficient cut-off for steam engines, an improvement in the connection between the moving parts and the valve system, and an in- genious method of side propulsion for steamers and bulky craft.
He shares with Cyrus Hall McCormick the honor of having created the self-binding reaper. Between 1870 and 1890, he gave careful study to the artificial hatching of poultry, and was the first to determine the condition under which this process could be applied. These studies were expressed in concrete form by many incubators, and afterwards by artificial brooders. Before he undertook the work artificial hatching had never been a profitable enterprise, but long before he finished his system it had become a source of handsome revenue to tens of thousands of farmers in this country and Canada. His careful analysis of the matter was an invaluable addition to practical poultry-raising. His re- searches enabled every farmer to form a clear conception of the mat- ter and to incubate and brood with home-made mechanisms. The system was applied to the eggs of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, and other birds employed for food purposes.
His greatest scientific feat was accomplished in 1862. The giant steamer Great Eastern had injured its bilge, a portion eighty-two feet long and ten feet wide having been broken. There was no dry dock large enough for the leviathan, and the size of the vessel made it impossible to beach or careen it suffi- ciently to reach the injured surface. With his brother, Henry Brevoort, he improvised an appliance upon the coffer-dam principle,
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which enabled the workmen to remove the damaged plates and backing and replace them with new materials. The task had been pronounced impossible by many of the chief authorities of the time, so that the exploit became a nine days' wonder to navigators, ship-builders, and naval men.
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