USA > New York > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and family history of New York, Volume II > Part 9
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It may be remarked here that Chancellor Nathan San- ford changed his name from the ancient and proper form to "Sanford," the reason given being that "it saved time in writ- ing his name." This has been followed by his descendants.
Henry Gansevoort Sanford married, May 29, 1900, Mary Mott Low, daughter of Joseph T. Low, and great-granddaugh- ter of the eminent surgeon, Dr. Valentine Mott. They had two children, Henry Gansevoort, Jr., and Louise Mott.
Henry Gansevoort Sanford, was born at Poughkeepsie, Vol. II-9
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and received his early education at the military school at Tivoli. He then entered Philips Academy at Andover. Entering Will- iams College, he graduated in the class of 1895. Thereafter he studied law at Columbia University Law School, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1898, while in the office of Hornblower & Byrne, Taylor G. Miller. He commenced general practice, and in 1904 he became associated with Edward D. O'Brien, a son of Judge Dennis O'Brien, of the New York Court of Appeals, and the firm of O'Brien & Sanford was formed. He has been for four years counsel to and a director of the Hanover Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Sanford is a member of the Uni- versity Club, Sons of the Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars (of which he has been secretary for two years), New York Historical Society, St. Nicholas Society, Ardsley Country Club, and Association of the Bar of New York, and the Association of ex-Members of Squadron A, National Guard of the State of New York.
The following shows the lines of descent from some of the oldest and most famous families :
Frederick Philipse, a famous resident of New Amsterdam, and first Lord of the Manor of Philipseburgh in Westchester county. His daughter Anna married Philip French. Their daughter Ann married Joseph Reade. Their son John Reade married Catharine Livingston, daughter of Gilbert Livingston. Their daughter, Catharine Livingston Reade, married Nicholas William Stuyvesant. Their son, John R. Stuyvesant, was the father of Helen M. H. Stuyvesant, who married Robert Sand- ford.
Mrs. Mary (Buchanan) Sandford, mother of Robert Sand- ford, was the daughter of Anne McKean, wife of Andrew Buch- anan, who was the daughter of Thomas Mckean, a name famous in the history of our country. He was Governor of Delaware,
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Governor of Pennslyvania, and Chief Justice, and was one of the immortal band who signed the Declaration of American Independence.
DRESSER-LE ROY FAMILIES.
Among the earliest settlers in New England, that "nurse of noble men," was Rev. Ezekiel Rodgers who, with sixty fani- ilies, founded the town of Rowley, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1639. Among these settlers was John Dresser and his wife Mary, who were the progenitors of a long line of honorable descendants. Their children were: John. Mary, born Feb- ruary 24, 1642. Samuel, born December 10, 1643, married Mary Lever. Jonathan, born November 8, 1646. Elizabeth, born October, 1656, married John Hopkins. Mary, born July 24, 1667, married Daniel Foster, December 4, 1696.
Of these children, John, the eldest son married Martha Thorld, November 21, 1662. Their children were: John, born November 4, 1663. Martha, born August 1, 1671. Jonathan, born January 7, 1673-74. Sarah, born April 27, 1678. Richard, born June 29, 1679. Nathaniel, born August 27, 1681. Lydia, born July 17, 1684. Elizabeth, born February 14, 1686.
Of these children, Jonathan Dresser married Sarah Lever, October 31, 1696. Their children were: Jonathan, Thomas, Sarah, Richard, Hannah and Nathan. The father of this fam- ily died March 20, 1744, at the age of seventy.
Jonathan Dresser, the oldest son, was born July 23, 1702. In later years he removed to Pomfret, Connecticut, and died there, January 17, 1790. He married Elizabeth Warren, of a well known New England family. They were the parents of four children: John, Samuel, Ebenezer and Elizabeth.
Of these children, John Dresser was born August 18, 1735, died June 24, 1814. He married Sarah,, daughter of Thomas
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and Mary Chandler, September 24, 1759. Their children were: Jonathan, Alfred, Alanson, Sarah, John, Mary, Esther, Row- land and Samuel.
Samuel Dresser, the youngest child, born January 31, 1781, died April 18, 1843. He married Dorothy, daughter of Lemuel Ingalls, of Pomfret, November 30, 1806. Their children were: Dolly S., Samuel I., Emma A., George Andrew, Elizabeth S., Pamelia L. and Sarah Ann.
Of this family, George Andrew Dresser was born February 25, 1814. He married Hannah W. Brown, August 12, 1835. After her death he married Frances A. Weitzel, September 1, 1856. His children by the first marriage were: George War- ren, William Clark and Charles Andrew.
All of these generations have been distinguished for honor and integrity, and are worthy of the Puritan stock from which they sprung.
Samuel Dresser took an active part in the war of the Revolution, and was captain of a company raised in New Lon- don, and performed good and efficient service during the var.
George Andrew Dresser removed to Brooklyn, Long Island, and was extensively engaged in the insurance business, being for many years manager of the Queens Insurance Company, located in Wall street. He was a man of strong religious feel- ings, and did much to promote the moral interests of the com- munity.
George Warren Dresser, the principal representative of the eighth generation, was born in Abington, Connecticut, September 15, 1837. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in 1861, at the com- mencement of the Civil war. He received a commission as sec- ond lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment, United States Artil- lery, and went into active service on May 6 of that year. Dur-
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ing the months of May and June he was employed in drill- ing recruits; on September 1st he was engaged in the battle of Bull Run, and was in the Virginia Peninsula campaign, assigned to engineer duty at the siege of Yorktown. He was acting ord- nance officer of the Third Army Corps. From September, 1862, to Angust, 1863, he was assistant instructor in artillery tactics at West Point. Soon after he was placed in command of a com- pany at Chattanooga, Tennessee, under the command of Gen- eral W. F. Smith, more famous as General "Baldy" Smith. At this time the enemy on the opposite side of a river were employed in cutting off provision trains from the Federal army. Lieuten- ant Dresser constructed a pontoon bridge, and led his force across it under a galling fire, and routed the Confederate force. In 1864 he was made inspector of the Fifth Army Corps, and retained the position until March, 1865, and was brevetted as captain in August, 1864. for gallant and efficient service. After this he was on the staff of General W. F. Smith, at New Orleans and New York. In March, 1865, he was regularly com- missioned as major for gallant service. At the conclusion of the war, March 13, 1865, he resigned. From 1870 to 1873 he was engineer in charge of extensive improvements on the Croton Aqueduct, from Ninety-second to One Hundred and Thirteenth street. In 1876 he became a member and director of the Amer- ican Society of Civil Engineers. While connected with the United States Engineering Corps, he built the breakwater at Block Island, and a new dock at Fort Adams, Newport. He was also the builder of the Wickford railroad. After this he became prominently connected with gas lighting interests, and was for some time the editor of the "American Gas Light Journal." In connection with this business, he visited Europe in 1878 and again in 1882. For many years he was one of the vestrymen of Trinity Church, representing St. John's Chapel.
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Major Dresser married Susan Fish Le Roy, daughter of Daniel Le Roy, a representative of two famous families, April 21, 1863. They are the parents of five children: Susan Le Roy, who married Vicompte D' Osmay, and is now living in France. Daniel Le Roy. Natalie Bayard, who married John Nicholas Brown, and lives in Newport, Rhode Island. Edith Stuyvesant, wife of George W. Vanderbilt, of Biltmore, North Carolina; and Pauline, who married Rev. Grenville Merrill, of Buffalo, New York. After an active and useful life Major Dresser died in Newport, May 27, 1883, and is buried there.
Daniel Le Roy Dresser was born December 13, 1866, at the home of his maternal grandfather, Daniel Le Roy, No. 20 West Twenty-third street, New York. He was educated in private schools until fourteen years of age; then prepared himself for the School of Mines, Columbia University, which he entered in 1885 and graduated from in 1889, never having had any con- ditions while in college. While there he took an active part in all college activities, such as athletics and student organiza- tions. His parents having died previous to his entering col- lege, it was necessary for him to go at once into mercantile busi- ness, instead of following his profession of civil engineer, and he chose the dry-goods business, in which he became one of the leading commission merchants in ten years time, start- ing without any capital. In the meantime he was elected on the board of a number of large corporations, among them, Amer- ican Brass Company, Waterbury Watch Company, American Pin Company, and the Benedict and Burnham Manufacturing Company. All of these are companies of more than a million dollars capital. At thirty-four years of age he was elected president of the Merchants' Association of New York, which, next to the Chamber of Commerce, is the most important body of merchants in the country. In 1902, at the age of thirty-five,
Daniel LeRoy Dresser.
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he organized the Trust Company of the Republic, a large finan- cial institution in the city of New York, and was elected presi- dent of the same. The object of this institution was to handle warehoused cotton in the southern states, on a large scale, the necessity for this having been brought to his attention by his position in the dry-goods trade. The conditions for financing and handling cotton being very crude, he conceived the idea that if warehouses could be established at different points through- ont the south and a uniform certificate issued against the cotton deposited therein, that money could be loaned in the south, at a low rate of interest to the consumer or handler of cotton, and then this certificate could be re-handled through his trust com- pany, to bankers in Europe, thus enabling the south to get their money at a low rate of interest, which would stop the rushing of the cotton to market as soon as it was grown, in order to avoid the exorbitant interest charges, and which rushing to market congested the railroads. The plan was admirably worked out and was in practical use, but had to be given up when his troubles came, at least for the time being.
In politics, he is a Republican, has never held office, but has taken active interest, locally, and has been president of the local Republican Club for eight years. He has been offered the posi- tion of delegate to several conventions, but has always declined any official office. He attended the Republican National Con- vention, in Philadelphia, when Mckinley and Roosevelt were nominated, although not as a delegate. He is not much of a club man, but belongs to the New York Yacht Club and several others. At a public meeting in the town of Oyster Bay, Long Island (where he has made his residence for many years), which was held to take a proper notice of the untimely death of Presi- dent McKinley, he was called upon to preside, and delivered an eloquent oration upon that sad event.
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Like many men very prominent in financial affairs, Mr. Dresser has met with severe reverses of fortune. The sudden and disastrous collapse of the United States Shipbuilding Com- pany, and the subsequent difficulties of the Trust Company of the Republic, of which Mr. Dresser was president, involved him in what appeared to be hopeless bankruptcy. Before his fail- ure he had accumulated a fortune of more than two millions, all of which was swept away. Refusing all tenders of aid from wealthy relatives, he started to rehabilitate himself financially by his own efforts. In this he has succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations, and was legally discharged from his small remaining obligations at the unanimous request of his creditors who stated in the most public manner that "we have, and always have had, every confidence in his integrity and hon- esty of purpose." His return to legal control of his very ex- tensive business is connected with a full determination to pay to the last cent all remaining indebtedness, and to make an un- relenting effort to bring to condign punishment the men who, by their swindling operations, were the cause of his financial troubles.
In ancestry Mr. Dresser traces back to the Stuyvesant, Le Roy and Fish families, all famous in history, "being directly descended from Nicholas Fish, who was on the staff of George Washington, and from Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch gover- nor of New Amsterdam."
Mr. Dresser married Miss Emma Burnham, and has two children, Susan Fish, and Daniel Le Roy Dresser, the latter born July 27, 1894.
LE ROY FAMILY.
This family, of French origin, can be traced back to a very remote antiquity, Robert Le Roy being "maire" of Poictiers, from 1279 to 1291. The direct ancestor was Pierre
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Le Roy, who was born September 29, 1655. He mar- ried Marie Zevenhoven. Their son, Daniel Le Roy, was a native of La Rochelle, where he was born in 1691. He married Ingenatia Vandenberg, November 11, 1722. She was born in 1697 and died January 20, 1769. Her husband survived her, and died April 18, 1772, and they rest to- gether in the Walloon church in Rotterdam. Their son, Jacob Le Roy, was born February 20, 1727, and died January 3, 1793. He married Cornelia Rutger, of a family famous in New York, October 15, 1755. She was baptized October 31, 1756, and died July 11, 1765. Their son, Herman Le Roy, was born January 16, 1758, and died March 13, 1891. He married, October 19, 1786, Hannah Cornell, "at the house of William Bayard in Queen street, New York," now No. 89 Pearl street. She was born 176-, and died December 25, 1818. They were the parents of Daniel Le Roy, born June 28, 1799, and died at an advanced age, August 19, 1885. He married Elizabeth Susan, daughter of Colonel Nicholas Fish, of Revolutionary fame. She was born July 25, 1805, and died July 20, 1892. They were married No- vember 2, 1826. Both Herman Le Roy and his son Daniel were very prominent in the commercial and financial affairs of New York, and were numbered among the most distinguished citi- zens. Among other children Daniel Le Roy had a daughter Susan, born June 14, 1834. She married George Warren Dresser, April 21, 1863, and their son, Daniel Le Roy Dresser, was born at his grandfather's house, No. 20 West Twenty-third street, New York, December 13, 1866.
BOWNE FAMILY.
The branch of this famous family whose history is here recorded is descended from William Bowne, who came from Yorkshire, England, where it was said "He can trace his long line of ancestry far up the ages." He came to America with his wife Ann and son John, and settled at Salem, Massachu-
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setts, in 1631. He was one of that class of men who helped lay the foundation of American freedom, and establish the prin- ciple which is the foundation of all true government-Liberty under Law. It seems, however, that he differed from his asso- ciates to some extent in religious matters, and leaving Salem, he, with a few others, founded a settlement called Rehoboth. This was within the limits of the Plymouth Colony, and they could not secure the religious freedom they so earnestly de- sired. Probably on this account, they removed to Gravesend, on Long Island, where he purchased a plantation November 12, 1646. His son John also purchased land there on September 20, 1647. William Bowne was one of the patentees of Grave- send, and was magistrate under the Dutch rule for six years between 1651 and 1662. He became the proprietor of a large tract of land in New Jersey in 1665, and he and his son John were among the patentees, and he appeared as a member of the General Assembly of Patentees and Deputies, held at Portland Point, December 28, 1669. He settled at Middletown, and it has been said with truth that no history of New Jersey could be com- plete without a full account of the Bownes, for no name is more frequently seen upon the records of those early times. The ancient Indian deeds bear their signature, and they were fore- most among the families of the early pioneers, and the honored name has been transmitted to an honorable posterity.
Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, was the great-grandson of John Lincoln, who migrated from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, and thence to West Virginia, about 1758; and great-great-grandson of Mordecai and Hannah Bowne (States) Lincoln; Mordecai Lincoln having removed from Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1714, to Monmouth county, New Jersey, and here the families of the Lincolns and Bownes became united by intermarriage.
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William Bowne married (first) Ann - -, and their
children were: 1. John, born in England. 2. James, baptized in Salem, Massachusetts, August 25, 1636. 3. Andrew, August 12, 1638. 4. Philip, December 7, 1640. He married (second) Mary Haverlads, in 1664. He is said to have had daughters, but their names do not appear. He died in 1677. He was doubtless advanced in years, and left a large landed estate. Letters of administration were granted to John as the eldest son, and he is described as "heretofore of Gravesend and late of Middle- town." The partners who joined with him in the purchase of land in New Jersey were all from Gravesend, and their patent was granted by Governor Richard Nicolls, April 8, 1665, that is, the year after the conquest of the New Netherlands by the Eng- lish. This grant included all of Monmouth county and part of Ocean and Middlesex counties. The new settlement was imme- diately begun, and the Bowne family were already there, having come the preceding year. In the division of the patent, William Bowne had lot No. 8, at Portland Point. At a meeting of the patentees, July 8, 1670, he was chosen as one of the first asso- ciates, or joint owners in the lands.
John Bowne, the eldest son, and one of the original pat- entees, was a leader in the purchase made from the Indians. He was undoubtedly the most prominent leader in the new settlement, and throughout his life was esteemed for his in- tegrity and ability. He lived at Holmesdel, New Jersey (named in honor of his first wife, Lydia Holmes), this land having been bought by them from the Indians. The sympathy of the Bowne family with the Baptists was the cause of their leaving the Massachusetts Colony, and it is not surprising that he should have been one of the founders of the Baptist Church in Middletown. In political affairs he was deputy to the first assembly in the time of Governor Carteret,
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which met May 26, 1668. The members of the lower house were styled burgesses. He was again a deputy in 1675, and was a member and the speaker of the first legislature under the twenty-four proprietors of East New Jer- sey. A commission was issued to him, March 12, 1677, as presi- dent of a court to be held at Middletown, and in December, 1683, he was appointed major of the militia of Monmouth county. The church at Middletown, of which he was one of the founders, was the first Baptist church in the State of New Jersey. "The first who preached at Middletown was Mr. John Bowne, and it was he who gave the lot on which the meeting house was built." His useful life terminated January 3, 1684, "and his univer- sally recognized character was that of an upright, conscientious, Christian man." Captain John Bowne married Lydia Holmes, daughter of Rev. Obadiah Holmes, who was the second pastor of the Second Baptist Church in America, organized at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1644. He was the victim of severe persecu- tions for "undertaking to preach and baptize" in the Plymouth Colony. He was one of the patentees of the Monmouth grant, although he did not settle in the county. He died in 1682, hav- ing been pastor of the church in Newport for thirty years. The children of Captain John and Lydia (Holmes) Bowne were: 1. John, born April 1, 1664, died 1716. 2. Obadiah, July 18, 1666, died 1726. 3. Deborah, January 29, 1668. 4. Sarah, No- vember 27, 1669. 5. Catherine.
Captain Andrew Bowne, third son of William Bowne, owned a farm of five hundred acres on the Raritan river, in Franklin township, Somerset county. He was appointed member of coun- cil by Governor Hamilton, September 14, 1682, and was deputy governor of New Jersey, May 15, 1699, and received his com- mission as governor of East Jersey, March 25, 1701. He was a member of the council of Governor Cornbury, August 10,
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1703. He died in 1708, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth, who married her cousin, Obadiah Bowne, son of Captain John Bowne.
James Bowne, the second son of William Bowne, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1636, and died at Middletown, New Jersey, in 1692. He married, in 1665, Mary Stout, daughter of Richard and Penelope (Van Princes) Stout. She was born in 1645. Her father was one of the twelve patentees, and was one of the committee appointed to lay out the town lots in Middletown. He was very prominent in public affairs, and is mentioned as "one of the most respectable and respected men of his day in the Monmouth settlement." Penelope Van Princes, the wife of Richard Stout, came from Amsterdam in 1620. Con- cerning her an interesting account is given. She and her first husband having been attacked by the Indians, while wandering in the woods endeavoring to reach New Amsterdam from Sandy Hook, where they had been shipwrecked, the husband was killed on the spot, and the wife, fearfully wounded, was left for dead. She revived, and other Indians brought her to New Amster- dam, where she married Richard Stout, "native of England. and of good family." The children of Richard Stout were: Jonathan, who founded Hopewell, New Jersey; John, Richard, James, Peter, David, Benjamin, Mary, Sarah and Alice. All these married and were progenitors of numerous and respected descendants. The mother, notwithstanding the frightful ex- perience of her early life, attained the remarkable age of one hundred and ten years, having lived to see her offspring multi- plied into five hundred and two persons in eighty-eight years. The children of James and Mary (Stout) Bowne, all of whom were born in Monmouth county, were: James, Andrew, John and William. The coat-of-arms of this branch of the Bowne
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family is: Gules, three crescents argent. Crest, an eagle ar- gent, with wings displayed.
Such were the first generations of this honored family, and the various branches will be taken in order. The Bownes cer- tainly have every right to feel proud of their record in the War of Independence. It is a roll of courage without question; honor without stain; of patriots who have hallowed with their blood the soil of many glorious battlefields. The following list is taken from "New Jersey and New York in the Revolution, as Colony and State." In the records of "Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolution," we find: Peter Bowne, ensign, Fourth Battalion; pages 38, 39, 103. Peter Bowne, sergeant, Captain Kimsey's Company; page 103. Henry Bowne, cor- poral, Continental Army; page 126. John Bowne, private; pages 153, 484. Joseph Bowne, corporal; pages 153, 475. John Bowne, Continental Army; page 153. Obadiah Bowne, Captain Chandler's Company, First Regiment; pages 515, 859. John Bowne, Continental Army; page 515. Joseph Bowne, Captain Waddell's Company. First Regiment; page 515. Peter Bowne, Captain Waddell's Company, First Regiment, Monmouth; page 515. Samuel Bowne, Monmouth; page 515. William Bowne, Monmouth; page 515. David Bowne, Monmouth; page 515; Elias Bowne, Monmouth; page 515. James Bowne, Monmouth ; page 515.
In "New York in the Revolution," we find the following : Gershom Bowne, Captain John Brinckerhoff's Company, New York Regiment. Benjamin Bowne, major, New York Regiment ; page 270. Philip Bowne, lieutenant, Sixth Regiment. Rodman Bowne, Fourth Regiment.
Cyrus Horten Boune
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SAMUEL W. BOWNE.
The line of descent of Mr. Samuel W. Bowne, according to the genealogical records of this ancient family, appears to be as follows: (I) William Bowne, the ancestor. (II) John Bowne, born in England, died 1684, married Lydia Holmes. (III) Obadiah Bowne, born 1666, died 1726; married (first) his cousin, Elizabeth Bowne; married (second) Elizabeth Longfield. (IV) Obadiah, born about 1721. (V) Gershom, great-grandfather of Samuel W. Bowne, born about 1745, had four sons: James, Samuel, Obadiah and Gershom. (VI) Obadiah, born about 1779. (VII) Cyrus Horton Bowne (fourth child of his parents) born December, 1809, in Dutchess county, New York, died December 9. 1858, married Hester Wood, in 1837.
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