History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 90

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703

USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 90

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The Latting burial ground is on the farm of Mrs. Sarah Latting, Lattingtown. Josiah Latting was born at Concord, Mass., February 20th 1641; came with his father to Hempstead in 1653, then to Oyster Bay and Huntington; married Sarah Wright, daughter of Nicholas Wright, about 1667; resided in Oyster Bay until 1680, when he removed to the place afterward called Latting- town, where he or some of his descendants have ever since resided.

The cemetery adjoining the Reformed church at Lo- cust Valley was purchased and laid out in 1868-9. The first person laid there was Mrs. Fanny Craft Morrell.

SOLDIERS OF THE UNION.

The following residents of the town of Oyster Bay en- listed in the United States service during the late civil war:

Second N. Y. Cavalry (called Harris Light Cavalry; enlisted in the latter part of August or early in Septem- ber 1862) .- T. H. Appleford; died in the service. Edward Bailey, Henry C. Baker, James W. Baker, Albert S. Barto, Samuel Bedell, Edward H. Bennett, John T. Boyd, Charles Bromley, Josiah C. Brownell, James Butler, John W. Campbell jr., William H. Carpenter, Tredwell Cheshire, Alfred Cock, Butler Coles, Wellington

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HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.

S. Conklin., John A. Conklin, William Craft, Jolin Demp- sey, Isaac Devoe, Anios Dickinson, George W. Dick- inson. William H. Dodge; killed. Daniel L. Down- ing; killed. Michael Durkin, Henry T. Duryea, Thomas Fogarty, Francis Frost, Joseph Gibbens, Ephraim P. Golding, George Hadley. John P. Hall; killed. James Harold, William Hawthorn, Elbert Hegeman, Harry M. Hoogland, Joseph Johnson, George Johnson, Elbert H. Jones, William Kramer. Charles A. Layton: died in ser- vice. Jordon Layton, Thomas Lockard, David Lovel, George W. Lutherman, James V. Luyster, John l'. McKey, John Merritt, Jacob S. Maybee, C. McMana, John Mul- ler, Thomas Neat, John Il. Parlement, William II. Pren- tiss, James B. Remsen. Cornelius II. Remsen; died in service. Henry W. Saminis. Sylvester W. Sammis, Stephen Seaman, James Sheridan, Jacob B. Sprague, William H. Springer, James S. Stilwell, Jeremiah Stilwell, John B. Tappen, John G. Taylor, Vernon J. Tiebout, Dolphus Torry, Oliver A. Turrell, Daniel J. Underhill. Charles W. Valentine: died in service. Peter L. Van Wicklen. James Vernon; killed. Samuel Vernon, died in service. Albert Vernon, David Wansor, John Wansor, Samuel M. Weeks, James M. Westervelt, William A. Westervelt, Edwin R. Whitney, Andrew Wilson.

Fifth N. Y. Heavy Artillery (enlisted in August, Sep- tember and October 1862) .- W. H. H. Beatty, James Clark, Stephen Cox, D. B. Demilt, William H. Frost, Alfred, Augustus and Uriah Hall, J. J. Mack, Edward Malone, George Miller, James Mott, John O'Brien, Robert Potter, Charles V. Powell, Cornelius Powell, Leonard Rhodes, Andrew J. Riddell, Charles Van Wicklen.

Stanton Legion enlisted August 21st 1862 .- Philip Darby, Silas C. Haff, John W. and Zachariah J. Hen- drickson, William McVeigh, Harlan G. Newcomb, An- drew and John Powell, Theodore G. Smith, Alfred S. and Cornelius B. Walters, William W. Wood.

Regiment organising in the first seven Senatorial Dis- tricts of New York enlisted August 2Ist 1862) .- Charles A. Helmes, Andrew J., James N. and John McGreger, George Ryerson, David S. Shotwell, Andrew Stilwell.

Fifth Regiment Excelsior Brigade (with dates of enlist- ment) .- William H. Bennett, Aug. 16'62; Anthony Parks, Aug. 16 '62; Isaac T. Southard, Aug. 26 '62; Oliver Val- entine, Aug. 26 '62.

Nary-Henry Fleet, Junius Hewlett, Frederick Meyers, Henry A. Townsend, Benjamin Van Wicklen, Charles Caleb Wright.

Miscellaneous .- James W. Eldridge and John C. Hew- lett, Ist regiment national volunteers; enlisted August 12th 1862. Benjamin Hall, 3d regiment Excelsior brig- ade; enlisted August 20th 1862; killed. Zachary Bern- hard, Ist regiment Excelsior brigade; enlisted August 20th 1862. Thomas A. Ford, 15th New York volunteers; enlisted August 29th 1862. James P. Cox, 6th New York cavalry; enlisted August 19th 1862. David Bald- win, Van Rensselaer Brush and Morgan Murphy, 102nd New York; enlisted August 29th 1862. John E. Francis, 3d metropolitan guards; enlisted September 16th 1862. Christopher Branch, George W. Hatfield, Sherman Hart and Frederick Zeigler, 159th New York; enlisted in Sep- tember 1862. Charles Powell, 4th metropolitan volun- teers; enlisted September 30th 1862. John Cost and Edward W. Sprague, Ist regiment metropolitan guards. Charles P. Simonson, second senatorial district regiment; enlisted September Ist 1862. Thomas Gillen. 119th New York. Emil Gauderdt, musician. Timothy Mc- Mann, Corcoran brigade. Henry Cost, 105th New York. Henry Lempke, Sickles brigade. Abraham Van Wick- len, Spinola's brigade. Andrew C. and R. V. B. Hege-

man, 14th regiment Brooklyn). Jackson Valentine jr., John J. Tappen, Silas Bender.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

THE TOWNSEND FAMILY.

The three brothers John, Henry and Richard Town- send came from Norwich, county of Norfolk, England. The time of their emigration cannot be precisely fixed. It was, however, several years before 1645, as in that year Governor Kieft granted a patent of the town of Flushing to John Townsend and others; and from a pe- tition of his widow to Governor Andros we learn that he had previously taken up land near New York, and " peaceably enjoyed the same divers years." Alarms from the Indians, and difficulties which she does not specify, caused him to leave his improvements and commence the settlement of Flushing, where he was joined by Henry. The Townsends were Friends, and were soon at variance with the Dutch authorities, both as to religion and politics. On account of these difficulties with the government the Townsends left Flushing and went to Warwick, R. I., where they were all three members of the Provincial Assembly, besides holding municipal offices. In 1656 they determined once more to attempt a settlement on Long Island, and in that year, with others, obtained a patent of Jamaica, then called Rusdorp. Their religious and political zeal soon brought them into trouble again.

In 1657 Henry was sentenced to pay £8 Flanders or leave the province in six weeks, for having " called to- gether conventicles." The people of Flushing addressed a remonstrance to the governor, written by the town clerk, and signed, among others, by Tobias Feake, sheriff, and Noble Farington, both magistrates, and pre- sented by the sheriff. The clerk and magistrates were arrested, and John Townsend with them, upon charge of having induced the magistrates to sign, and he was ordered to find bail in £12 to appear when summoned. Henry was brought before the council January 15th 1658, and condemned to pay £100 Flanders, and to re- remain arrested until it was paid. How these matters were settled is not stated, but Henry's signature, as wit- ness, on an Indian deed proves that he was in Oyster Bay the same year. He was again imprisoned, seeming to be much more involved in troubles coming from "countenancing Quakers" than his brother John; yet in January 1661 two of the magistrates furnished the names of 12 persons, including John and Henry Townsend and their wives, "who countenanced Quakers." John Towns- end settled in Oyster Bay between the middle of January and the 16th of September 1661, as he was living at Jamaica at the first date, and his name being on the mill grant is proof that he was admitted as a townsman before the last date. Henry Townsend must have settled in Oyster Bay previous to September 16th 1661, the date of the mill grant made to him; but he was not admitted as a townsman until the 4th of November.

Jest Greenfund

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THE TOWNSEND FAMILY.

Nothing is known of Richard Townsend, the youngest of the three brothers, until he appears in Jamaica in 1656. He first appears on Oyster Bay records in 1668, when he bought land of Robert Williams at Lusum. His first wife was a sister of Henry's wife and a daughter of Robert Coles.

The descendants of these three brothers have since been very numerous in the town, and have occupied many posts of honor and trust.

James C. Townsend and his wife, who compiled the Townsend Memorial, are especially deserving of our gratitude for the aid we have derived, with their per- mission, from their work, both in gleanings and copies from it.

SOLOMON TOWNSEND.

Solomon Townsend was born at Oyster Bay, Queens county (Long Island), on the 8th of October 1805. He was the grandson of Samuel Townsend, who was a great- grandson of the first John Townsend, who settled in Oyster Bay between the middle of January and the 16th of September 1661-the direct line being John, John James, Jacob, Samuel, Solomon, Solomon.

Samuel Townsend, who was born at Oyster Bay in 1717, was the head of the great shipping house of "Sam- uel and Jacob Townsend," who carried on an extensive trade with England and the West Indies before the Rev- olution. The offices of the house were at New York and Oyster Bay. The wharves were between the present cousin Peter Townsend, son of the fourth Henry Town- steamboat dock and White's Creek, at a place which still bears the name of "Ship Point." He took an active in- terest in affairs of State, being a member of the first Provincial Congress and a delegate from Long Island to New York State's first constitutional convention (1777). In the last he was one of the committee of thirteen ap- pointed to draft the constitution which was adopted by the convention as the constitution of the State. He was also a State senator, and a member of the first council of appointment under the constitution of 1777. Before the Revolution he had been for thirty years a justice of the peace of Queens county. He died November 24th 1790, and was buried in the old graveyard on the south side of Fort Hill at Oyster Bay. Mr. Townsend was a zealous patriot, and did not hesitate in the part he was to act in the great struggle between the mother country and his own.

Solomon Townsend, eldest son of Samuel and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Oyster Bay, in 1746. He early engaged in navigation, for which almost from infancy he evinced a strong predilection, and in his twentieth year was put in charge of a brig belong- ing to his father. When the war of the Revolu- tion broke out he was in command of the ship "Glasgow," belonging to Thomas Buchanan; but, owing to the in- terruption of trade between the colonies and England, she was left by direction of the owner in London. Obtaining permission to leave England Captain Towns- end went over to France, and while at Paris made the ac-

quaintance of his celebrated countryman Dr. Franklin, to whom he found means of making himself agreeable, and by whom he was introduced at court; he also received other tokens of his friendship and regard. He obtained the following certificate of protection from his friend when he left France for his native country:

"PASSEY, near Paris, June 27th 1778.

"I certify to whom it may concern that Captain Solomon Townsend, of New York, mariner, hath this day appeared voluntarily before me and taken the oath of allegiance to the United States of America, according to the resolution of Congress, thereby acknowledging him- self a subject of the United States.

"B. FRANKLIN."

The original is now in the possession of the family at Oyster Bay. Captain Townsend was also commissioned by Dr. Franklin as a volunteer midshipman in the Conti- nental navy, and for this purpose he obtained his neces- sary equipments in Paris. He sailed soon after in the frigate "Providence" for Boston, with Commodore Abra- ham Whipple. Captain Townsend followed the sea until he was 34 years old, crossing the Atlantic thirty-six times without accident. He often remarked that three-quarters of the accidents at sea occurred either through ignorance or carelessness. After leaving the sea he engaged ex- tensively in the manufacture of iron, his works being at Augusta, Orange county, Riverhead, Suffolk county, and a large anchor forge in New York city. He was married on the first of February 1782 to Annie, daughter of his

send, who resided at Chester, Orange county. Peter Townsend was also largely interested in iron, his works being at Stirling, a few miles off. At his works was made the celebrated chain which was drawn across the Hudson River to prevent the British ships of war from going above the Highlands. The contract for the chain was made between the government and Mr. Townsend by Timothy Pickering, Washington's secretary of war; he and Mr. Townsend driving down to the works, of a stormy night, to see the first link made, so that Pickering could report to General Washington. Owing to the great size of the chain only three links could be carted at a time by the double ox carts. Captain Townsend was a member of the constitutional convention of 1801, and represented New York city in the Assembly of the State for six years. He died of apoplexy, March 27th 1811, while a member.

The children of Solomon Townsend were Hannah, Anne, Mary, Phebe, Samuel, Jacob, Peter and Solomon. Hannah married Isaiah Townsend, of Albany, and left a large and distinguished family. Anne married Judge Effingham Lawrence. Mary married Edward H. Nicoll, one of New York's most distinguished traders and ship- pers. Phebe married James Thorne. Peter Townsend was educated as a physician, and rose to prominence in his profession. He assisted Valentine Mott in his translation of Velpeau's Surgery; and Dr. Townsend's work upon the yellow fever, written fifty years ago, is an authority at this day. He was also the founder of the

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HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.

Scaman's Retreat. Jacob Townsend was a lawyer, and Samuel a merchant.

It was with his brother-in-law, Edward H. Nicoll, that Solomon Townsend, the subject of this sketch, began his business life at the age of 15 years. In 1820 the firm of Smith & Nicoll conducted the most extensive grocery and importing business in the city of New York, their yearly transactions amounting to $3,000,000, about one-tenth of the annual sales of the Claflins and Stewarts of to-day. Here for four years Solomon Townsend was taught thoroughly all that per- tained to a commercial life, and when 19 years old he was sent as supercargo on the largest American ship of the day, the "Washington," 741 tons, to Canton, China, where he aided in the purchase and shipment of the largest cargo up to that time imported from China, amounting to 1,400 (measurement) tons and valued at $700,000. The customs duties on this shipment amounted to $600,000. In 1828 Mr. Townsend embarked on his own account in a commission and distributing grocery trade, and soon made himself thoroughly familiar with its minutest details.

In relating the life work of this distinguished gentle- man we should not fail to record an heroic act. When a young merchant, at the age of 30 years, he risked his life in the rescue of a lad who had fallen one December day from the steamboat wharf in his native village. It was only one of the many unselfish acts of a well rounded, noble career.

The financial disasters of 1836 and 1837 came, and a large portion of Mr. Townsend's accumulations was swept away; but his care and economy of enterprise, as it might be termed, now stood him in good stead, for his credit remained unimpaired and his aptitude for unravel- ing the twisted and tangled affairs of finance not only made him successful in later days in his headship of the old house, to which his earliest services were given, but also pointed him out to the community as a man well qualified to represent the rapidly increasing interests of the metropolis in the State Legislature. After the good old method-seldom put in operation to-day-the office sought the man, and without solicitation or expectation, on the part of even his most intimate friends, he was placed in nomination for the Assembly in 1838 by the almost unanimous vote of the Democratic convention. At that time the county of New York was entitled to thirteen members of Assembly, who were chosen at large by the voters of the county. The intrusion of the 400 Philadelphia " pipe-layers," and their unchecked "repeat- ing" at the polls of the several wards, during the three days of election then provided by law, defeated the en- tire ticket. Mr. Townsend's name, however, stood first in the vote polled by his party, and in 1840, his popular- ity having grown meanwhile by reason of his sound articles on legislative matters in the public press, he was elected by a very flattering vote. He served during the sessions of 1841, 1842 and 1843, and held a leading posi- tion on the banking and insurance committee, then, as now, one of the most important committees of the Legis-

lature. His reports upon the questions of currency had much weight with the Assembly. The members had learned to appreciate his thoroughness in the subject, his earnestness in the reforms proposed, his sterling integ- rity of purpose; so that in 1842 he was enabled to in- duce measures which settled the principles of what is now known as the Free Banking law, the leading features of which were incorporated in the banking law of Great Britain in 1844, and in 1863 in our national bank system.

In 1846 Mr. Townsend was chosen a member of the convention for the revision of the constitution of the State of New York. The manner of his election showed the general confidence he had gained; for, although nomi- nated as a Democrat, his large majority was made up in no small part by voters of an opposing political faith. The journal and the debates show that he took a very active part in the deliberations of a body distin- guished by the membership of such inen as John A. Dix, Charles O'Connor and Samuel J. Tilden. He was an earnest advocate of free public education, free home- steads, free banking; of the full completion of the Erie, Champlain and Oswego canals and the giving up of the lateral canals when they should be no longer needed; of courts of conciliation and arbitration, of an elective ju- diciary, and of the abolition of inspection laws and un- necessary offices; and his views received endorsement either in the constitution itself or by subsequent enact- ments of the Legislature. In his opposition to special legislation he was always alert and pronounced. The State should legislate for the general welfare, and, except when the whole sovereignty was of necessity concerned, not for localities or for individual or class interests. On this principle he favored the increase of the power of county boards of supervisors. To preserve an organized system of defense he advocated the one-day muster and parade of the rank and file of the militia, and an organi- zation of the officers as a corps for prompt service. The National Guard of the State is an outgrowth of this latter scheme.

Mr. Townsend was regarded among his colleagues in public life of thirty-five years ago as a "radical," so that in his vigorous advocacy of strong innovations upon the old-time practices and usages of legislation he encountered determined opposition even among his closest personal and political friends; but in the going and the coming of the years public sentiment has steadily found its way to a pronounced approval of the measures and policies which were so slightly encouraged when first advanced by him either through the press or at the forum.

Mr. Townsend was twice elected a commissioner of education in the city of New York, and was chairman of the finance committee of the board. It was he who ne- gotiated the purchase of the site for the erection of the New York Free Academy, which has since become the College of the City of New York. Many other school sites were purchased and school buildings erected during his connection with the board and under his advice. The prices paid for these purchases thirty years ago, compared with the present cost of similar sites, show how

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HON. SOLOMON TOWNSEND.

marvelously rapid has been the increase meanwhile in the value of property in New York.

At the breaking out of the great Rebellion in 1861 Mr. Townsend changed his residence to his native village, while continuing his business connection in the city. He was at once called upon to assist in organizing the succor which New York State was called upon to furnish to the national government. He had freely used his for- cible pen in the endeavor to arrest the calamity of civil strife, but when it came he bent every energy to meet it, and in season and out of season worked strenuously to restore the supremacy of law and order. Among the mementos of this stirring period most prized and cher- ished by his family is the rough draft of a resolution pre- pared by him and adopted by his townsmen at a meeting held in the village of East Norwich, in which those pres- ent pledged their individual properties and fortunes to sustain the county supervisors in any measures taken in advance of necessary legislation to raise means to fur- nish the county's quota for the patriot army. This pro- cedure was quickly followed elsewhere in the State, and, indeed, the language of the resolution was adopted almost in terms in many places, in response to the presi- dent's call for troops. To the very close of the terrible struggle Mr. Townsend devoted his large experience, his intelligent judgment and his great force of character to the public service, as a member of committees of safety, of vigilance and of relief, taxing his physical strength and endurance to the utmost in the work. Searching out and pursuing to their correction the frauds of the bounty jumpers, at the hazard of threatened violence he urged upon reluctant if not conniving public officials the condign punishment of those miserable wretches whose peculations and depredations were sapping the vitality of the measures for the reinforcement of the decimated ranks of the nation's defenders.

In 1867 Mr. Townsend was again chosen a member of a convention called, in pursuance of the requirements of the organic law of 1846, which he had helped to frame, to revise the constitution of the State. His election by a handsome majority over such a popular and distin- guished opponent as Governor John A. King attested the appreciation of the people for his unwavering fidelity to their welfare, and their confidence in his abilities and his moral worth. In this convention Mr. Townsend was as active as in the years of earlier vigor, when he had forced his " radical " ideas upon the attention of the leaders of public affairs in the State. With natural force unabated, with experiences ripened and matured, with an intellect quick, clear and suggestive, he proposed or urged meas- ures of moment which were adopted by the conven- tion or afterward found their way into the organic law in- directly, by means of a commission whose function it was to propose amendments through the Legislature to the people.

Mr. Townsend was the first to organize and put in practical operation the workings of the free school sys- tem in his native village, and was the first president of the board of education-a position he filled many years.

In 1872 Mr. Townsend retired from active business,

and in the old home which from time to time he had beautified and enlarged, and beneath the shade of the ancestral trees, he sought the well earned quietude and the gentle passing down into the twilight which they only can truly delight in who with senses keen, with faculties nerved and knit for action, and with manly ardor have fought the good fight throughout life's bustling day. He died suddenly, of apoplexy, on the 2nd of April 1880.

It is not required in a brief sketch like this that one should attempt to present more than an outline of the characteristics which distinctively marked the man. The point of departure and return in any fair description of Mr. Townsend must be his unswerving integrity of pur- pose. Honesty with him meant more than fair dealing with his fellow-men; it was the mainspring of his business life, of his public acts and of his home polity. To give to every man his just due, without distinction, was a pre- cept to which he faithfully adhered. Large hearted, generous and charitable to the foibles of others, looking always rather for the good than the evil in the world, he held himself to strict account at the bar of conscience. His was a name that had been honored for generations, and there seemed to be ever abiding with him a sort of " noblesse oblige " which made him reverence the home traditions and with chivalrous devotion maintain and per- petuate what he held to be his family's honor and fame, arising not from station or condition but from well acting their part in the earlier time; so that he treasured with warm filial devotion the relics of his father's and grand- father's day, and carefully preserved the evidences of their honorable connection with events which are part of the history of the country. So far did he carry this re- spect for ancestry that it was playfully said of him that "he built a house to preserve a door," and the saying was not without a fragment of truth. Indeed he had that tact to combine the practical with the æsthetic, either in form or ideal, which is very rare. The old homestead, for in- stance, is a study in this respect. It presents nothing very peculiar at first glance, but one finds it on examina- tion to be a well harmonized structure of five different frames, each representing some period in the family his- tory. The subject of water power, to which Mr. Towns- end gave much time and attention, suggested to him to lead from springs, at some distance from the house, a supply of water, which is forced by hydraulic rams to a reservoir in one of the gables, and furnishes a convenient supply at all seasons of the year. The conduits were so constructed through the grounds as to refresh the vitality of certain old pear trees which Mr. Townsend cared for, not only because they added beauty to the lawn, but because they were planted by those he revered of a past generation.

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History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 90

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co. Number of Pages: 703

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703