USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 59
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In former years, while a resident of New York city, Mr. Wi- nants took an active part in politics, but had no aspiration to office, and on two occasions was tendered by the democratic party the nomination for alderman, and could have held other important places for trust had he desired, but all of these he re- fused to accept and now favors men in preference to party. As a director of the Union Dime Savings Bank of New York for thir- teen years he aided largely in strengthening that successful insti- tution. He is an elder in the Dutch Reformed church, president of the board of the American Bible Society of Hudson county, N. J .: member of the supervisory board of trustees of the theologi-
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cal seminary at New Brunswick; also trustee in the board of domestic missions, delegate to the general synod and one of the principal financial pillars in that denomination.
Mr. Winants' paternal grandfather, Jacob Winants, a wealthy farmer of Staten Island, felt himself called to preach the Word, aud gave his life service to the Methodist church as a travelling preacher, refusing to accept financial aid, but only souls for his hire, and from him onr subject would seem to have inherited similar desires. He has given largely of his abundant means to the clurch and kindred associations, irrespective of sect or creed, besides educating young men for the ministry. The ma- ternal grandfather of Mr. Winants, Captain Garret Ellis, was one of the heroes of the war of 1776, always an uncom- promising patriot, and ever loyal to the cause of liberty. Mr. Winants' father, Capt. Peter Winants, was of similar patriotic heart, and served his country through the war of 1812, follow- ing in the steps of his ancestors with unflinching faith. During our last war, beginning in 1861, G. E. Winants, though not go- ing to the war himself, when the nation was in distress and needed the full support of all loyal citizens, gave substantial aid in the interests of the Union armies by his means and coun- sel, and thus was one of the pillars to support every measure of the government to suppress the rebellion.
The writer is largely indebted to Ex-Governor Bedle and Hon. A. A. Hardenbergh, of New Jersey, for the material facts of this sketch, and they say of him, " It is impossible to do justice to a character which has made so strong an impress npon his fellows." Men of his marked characteristics have acquired fanie, and their names have been repeated by history. Bold, honest, defiant in his nature, as befits his physical manhood, yet kind and genial in his disposition, it may well be said of him,
" None know him but to love him, None name him but to praise."
And yet why is this; we may be asked, but the answer is readily found; wealth and affluence have detracted nothing from the sincerity of his character, nor have circumstances or position palsied any energy in his devotion to the common weal through life. Charity never fails in its mission when Mr. Wi- nants is required to set his seal npon the act, and the young and timid in the race of life gather from his kindly spoken
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words at once a benediction and blessing. There is something heroic in the strong and stalwart man who has achieved success on the battlefield of life, still more so when such success has been marked by devotion to principle, when its honors are gathered beyond the voice of criticism, and its monuments are found in missions of public benevolence, and the daily exercise of hid- den deeds of kindness. Besides being devoted to his family and faithful to his friends, he has always been full of energy and enterprise, and ready to make sacrifices when demanded for the public good. It is by such self-made men that the charac- ter of the community is conserved, the better interest of the state made safe, and the happiness of the republic assured; if it be not so. we may have but limited faith in our republican institutions.
WOGLOM .- This name was originally written " Van Woge- lum." John sold land in 1696; this is the earliest mention of the name in the local records; the next is Grysie Woggelum, who was witness at a baptism in 1698. John Van Wogelum had a danghter Chrystyntien, baptised - 22, 1707, and a daugh- ter Suster, baptized July 26, 1711. Ary (Adrian) and Celia Pryer had the following children: Jan, baptized May 21, 1716: Anna, baptized June 3, 1722; Andries, baptized June 27, 1725; Adrian, baptized July 27, 1729; and Abraham, baptized August 8, 1731.
There was a Douwe Van Wogelum residing on the island in 1742.
The next notice of any members of the family are from the records of St. Andrew's. Abraham and Hannah Parlee were married November 18, 1790; Joshua and Martha Cole were mar- ried February 10, 1796; John and Lanah Pryor were married December 24, 1808.
WOOD .- This family is of English origin. The name is com- mon everywhere, and it is exceedingly doubtful whether the Woods on the island have descended from the same original. Samuel B. Wood, Esq., of Garrison's, is the son of the late John B., who, with his brother Samuel are sons of Samnel. Samuel's brothers were Joseph, John, Stephen and Jesse, and they were the sons of John, the great-grandfather of Samuel B., Esq. It is impossible to trace the genealogy of any other branch, but we subjoin the names of such as are to be found in the several church records. Stephen and his wife Geertje (Ger-
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trude) Winter, had twins, Stephen and Obadia, baptized De- cember 24, 1727. Stephen and his wife Jemima Mott had a son Richard, baptized June 13, 1731.
The above are from the records of the Dutch church ; the following are from those of St. Andrew's church : Stephen and Mary, his wife, had a daughter Mary, born September 18, 1772; a son Stephen, baptized June 5, 1785. John and Margaret, his wife, had a son Stephen, baptized August 1, 1773, who married Damy Housman, February 3, 1794. (This Stephen was one of the five brothers mentioned above as sons of John.) Stephen and Alice, or Elsy, his wife, had a son John, baptized June 15. 1783 ; he married Barbara Van Pelt, December 23, 1804, and another son, Abraham, born September 22, 1788. Timothy and Sarah Rezean were married in January, 1769. Isaac and Susan Lewis were married February 9, 1794. John and Sarah Lock- man were married March 23, 1794. Richard and Catharine Lockman were married January 7, 1795. James and - Els- ton (Alston ?) were married June 1, 1799. Charles and Joanna Dongan were married December 11, 1806; she was the daughter of the late Walter Dongan, of the Four Corners, and the mother of Mr. Walter D. Wood, of Mariners' Harbor. Jesse and Catharine Marshal were married July 9, 1807. James, men- tioned above, lived at Long Neck, or Travisville, and his sons were: Charles, mentioned above, John, Peter and Abraham ; Charles was well known in his day as a local preacher in the Methodist church. John, brother of Charles, married Mary Jones, and was the father of James and Edward.
ABRAHAM C. WOOD, son of Benjamin Wood, was born in New York city, March 1, 1819. He came to Staten Island with his father in the year 1821. From early life he was a prominent and nseful member of the Reformed church, Port Richmond. He commenced his business life in the employ of the New York dyeing and printing establishment at West Brighton. In 1851 he became a member of the firm of Barrett, Nephews & Co., Staten Island fancy dyeing establishment, the works located in Cherry lane, West Brighton. As secretary and treasurer he controlled the office in New York city. In this position he con- tinued during his life. He was for many years trustee of pub- lic school No. 2, of Castleton. He also served in other positions of honor on the island, among which were supervisor and miem- ber of the board of police. The following resolution was placed
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on file by his associates of the board of trustees of school No. 2:
" Resolved, That this board of trustees feel called upon to testify its appreciation of the great loss the people of this dis- trict have sustained in the death of this tried and faithful officer, whose integrity and purity of purpose were beyond all question. It is with sorrow not wholly unmixed with pride that we remember our worthy colleague, the public spirited citizen, the efficient friend and laborer for public schools, the loving husband and parent, the conscientious Christian, and record for the benefit of those who come after us, that Abra- liam C. Wood lived a long and useful life amongst us, and laid down the burden of life generally esteemed as one of the most conscientious, worthy and public spirited citizens that ever lived among us."
He died April 30, 1884, and rests in the Moravian cemetery at New Dorp, Staten Island, awaiting the call to a blissful immor- tality.
JACOB B. WOOD, son of Benjamin Wood, was born in New York city, August 22, 1811, and came to Staten Island with his father in the year 1821. He was, during his life, connected in business with the custom house in New York city for a number of years as entry clerk, and afterward as head of the firm of Wood, Niebuhr & Co., custom house brokers, which last posi- tion he held until his death. He was also, as his father, con- nected with the Brighton Heights church. In business and in church relations he was always prominent. In nobility of char- acter and loftiness of spirit he closely resembled his father. In the minutest particular he was always the gentleman, and every- where courted for his high social qualities. He was a great lover of books and works of art. In 1851 he visited Enrope. On his return he published a small volume entitled " Notes of Foreign Travel." The book reveals a lively appreciation of every sight he witnessed and of all the incidents that marked his tour. He had a mind and heart of very high order. His home was on Staten Island from 1821 until 1863. He served as supervisor a number of years, and was a marked and prominent man in every good work going on around him, and esteemed and beloved by all with whom he came in contact. He died at Piermont, Rockland county, New York, August 1, 1885, rest-
AG Wood
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 62.
ing in faith awaiting the trumpet call to a blessed immortality. His body lies beside his father in the Rockland cemetery.
ABRAHAM J. WOOD .- Abraham Wood, the grandfather of the subject of this biography, died at Springville, Staten Island, September 20, 1796. To his wife Ruth were born sons, Moses Abraham, James C., Walter; and daughters, Nelly, married to David Price, and Mary, married first to Samuel Baily, and a second time to Isaac Sprague. James C., the third son in order of birth, was a native of Staten Island and by trade a chairmaker and mechanic, after which he became and contin- ned for many years a merchant at fottenville. He was an ex- emplary Christian, zealous in the cause of temperance, and an honored exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal church with which he was connected. By his first marriage to Catherine, daughter of Elias Price, were born Abraham J., Esther Ann, wife of Andrew Sprague, and Elias P. His second wife was Hettie, also a daughter of Elias Price, whose children were Catherine M., wife of Isaac Bedell, Alfred, Emily, wife of John T. Winant; Rachel, married to Sebastian Butler; Drusilla, wife of James Booth, and James.
Abraham J., the eldest son, was born January 29, 1812, in Hudson county, N. J., from whence he removed when but 5 years of age to Staten Island. Receiving but limited advant ages of education at Tottenville, his home, at the early age of 16 he engaged in the oyster trade. New York afforded a ready market, and his regular trips were rendered more profitable by the occasional transportation of passengers. At the age of 24 his attention was turned to farming and butchering for a limited time. His former vocation again attracted him, and to the present time his energies have been chiefly di- rected to oyster planting, with such successful results as to have placed him in a condition of independence. He now re- sides on his attractive farm at Prince's Bay. Mr. Wood, in 1860, opened a store at Prince's Bay, of which he is still the owner. As a citizen he is enterprising and public spirited. As a business man, clear headed and thrifty, his ventures have usually been crowned with success.
An early democrat, Mr. Wood on its formation found the principles of the republican party to harmonize with his views, and consequently joined its ranks. He has been a delegate to state conventions, served as justice of the peace, held for six
40
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terms the office of supervisor, and in various other capacities served his township, county and state. In all these relations lie has won respect as a conscientious and able public officer. He has also been for a quarter of a century postmaster of Prince's Bay. Mr. Wood was, May 24, 1834, married to Cath- erine, daughter of James La Forge. Their children are Abra- ham E., Catherine E., Frances A. and James A.
Besides the foregoing, there are several names that have at one time or another been prominent in the county. Some of these we notice in the following paragraphs :
ARROWSMITH .- Of this name there were two on the island during the first half of the last century-Thomas and Edmond. They were Englishmen, and appear to have aspired to an aris- tocratic position in society. Their public services were chiefly of a military character.
BEATTY .- John, and his son Edward, who died July 17, 1825, aged over eighty-one years. They owned the property lying between the Moravian church and the Patten house, and were prominent as friends and supporters of that church.
BILLOP .- The name is introduced liere only to notice the fact that Colonel Christopher, so eminently notorions during the revolution, had a son, John Willett, baptized June 11, 1769, of whom we hear nothing more. If living at the time of the evacuation of the island he was a lad of fourteen or there- abonts, and probably accompanied his father to the British pos- sessions.
DORLAND .- In the latter part of the seventeenth century we meet the name of Lambert Dorland frequently. He was a mem- ber of the colonial assembly in 1691, and therefore must have been a man of considerable importance. The name has now en- tirely disappeared from the island.
DUNN .- In our local records, clinrch or county, this name oc- cnrs only in connection with a single individual, who is desig- nated as Jolin Dunn, Esq. He appears to have been a man of superior acquirements, and was twice elected member of assem- bly from the county, 1804 and 1805. He died December 21, 1826, aged fifty-seven years. Mrs. Abraham Housman, of Port Rich- mond, is liis only surviving child in the county.
GIFFORD .- This name also occurs in the records only with ref- erence to a single individual, as early as 1770. He was a man of
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considerable influence, and his name is perpetuated in the public road called from him, Gifford's lane, near Richmond.
HARRISON .- John Talbot Harrison, M.D., was born October 2, 1785, and died March 6, 1863. His appointment as liealth of- ficer of the port introduced him to the island, where he subse- quently took up his residence. He was a member of assembly for the county in 1830 and 1831, presidential elector in 1840, and member of the state constitutional convention in 1845. He was highly respected as a man and as a physician. He was the father of H. R. Harrison, M. D., Port Richmond.
LE COUNT, or LE CONTE. JOHN. - Was a man of great influence in the county early in the last century; he was a member of the colonial assembly in 1726, and again in 1756; he was also county judge from 1739 to 1756.
MARLET .- There were two brothers of this name, Paul and Abraham, residing in the county, between 1680 and 1700; they possessed considerable property, but the name has become ex- tinct. They both appear to have been highly respected in their day and generation.
MICHIEAU .- During the last half of the last century, and the beginning of the present, there were several families of this name in the county, some of whom were men exceedingly popular. The first of the name, Paul, was sheriff in 1736, and member of the colonial assembly from 1748 to 1751 ; his son Paul, however, appears to have been a great favorite with the people of the county ; he was chosen to the provincial congress in 1775-6; county clerk for twenty years from 1761 : county judge for eleven years from 1786, and state senator from 1789 to 1792. His son, Paul J., was member of assembly 1798-9, 1802- 3, and Benjamin, county treasurer in 1787. There was never a more popular or influential family in the county, but they have all disappeared. They were residents of Westfield.
Besides the above, there were individuals and families who once exerted a powerful influence in the county, who have now totally disappeared ; among them are the names of Berge, Adriance, Stoothoff, Veghte, Vanderbeck, Staats, Veltman, Clendening, Garrabrantz, Hoogland, Ralph, Jenners, Van Wagenan, Slecht, Carenton, Spier, Hafte, Swain, Nefius, Ryke, Schouten, Gray, Zutphen, Rykman, Van Engelen, Metzelaer. Van Tuyl, Pryor, Jurks, De Grammeaux, Vander- hoven, Richaud, Wimmer, Caspers, Facker, Van Dyck, Sim-
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senbach, Brebant Bosler, Tillburgh, Van Brakel De Camp, Carhart, Corbitt, Tillou, and others.
EMINENT MEN AND WOMEN OF STATEN ISLAND. By Hamilton Willcox.
Forgotten corner of the world though most strangers deem Staten Island, it has been the home of as many famous persons as most places of renown. Since, yes, before, the time when Governor Dongan built his residence on the shore of Kill Van Kull, overlooking the scene where white men began the long record of outrage and murder on the occupants of the land, and built his shooting lodge on the west slope of the hills, that just above Castleton Corners look toward the Orange mountains, Staten Island has been the abode of numerous men and women whose memories are historic.
Lest partiality should seem to be shown, the writer has been unwilling to trust to his own knowledge or recollections. No- tice of the preparation of this chapter has been furnished to the journals of Richmond county, with a request for memoranda regarding those who could properly be deemed distinguished. If any who should be included here are left out, it will be be- cause the needful information has not been supplied. Our space will mainly be devoted to those who are no longer living, or now dwell elsewhere.
Above all the figures of its past, towers that of Daniel D. Tompkins, whose great mansion yet stands on a hill overlook- ing the first village incorporated in the county, and named for him. Assemblyman, judge of the supreme court, representa- tive in congress, governor of New York state ten years, includ. ing the trying time of the war with Great Britain, and by his courage and patriotism, when his state was invaded on the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario, and his own home was in peril from British ships, distinguished as "New York's war governor ;" as governor, obtaining the passage of the noble law which abolished slavery and secured freedom to ten thousand human beings and to their posterity forever ; also as governor, approving the various acts whereby the legislature removed the burden of disfranchisement from several classes of people ; leaving the governor's chair to become vice-president of the United States, in an administration which had the glory to allay partisan strife, and receiving an almost unanimous re-
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election ; during this second term as vice-president almost elected governor again ; presiding over the convention which revised the state constitution, and serving as vice-president al- most to the day of his death; few American statesmen have had so brilliant and honorable a career. One of the great forts, which at the Narrows guard New York on the Staten Island shore, fitly bears his name, and is his lasting monument.
The spirit of the elder Tompkins was transmitted to his son, the conrtly, scholarly, brave, genial and eloquent Minthorne Tompkins, who resigned his seat in the state senate in 1840, sacrificed a career which lay before him probably as brilliant as his father's, rather than withhold his hostility to slavery in other regions, and esponsed the cause of liberty when it was political ruin to befriend the slave. In a state where his father was so long governor he had the nerve to accept a nomination for that office as the candidate of the free soil party (with John P. Hale for president and George W. Julian for vice-president), when his supporters could give him but 19,000 votes. To his generous sympathy hundreds of poor families on the island owe their houses, for he it was who broke up the great estate his father left into small lots, sold these lots to poor families, and allowed them to pay him as they could-five or ten dollars at a time. The people of the county remembered this, and on two occasions, when he headed the county ticket of his party, which was in a hopeless minority, he was honored by a vote much beyond the strength of that organization. In 1855, when his party (republican) was beaten nearly three to one, Minthorne Tompkins failed of election to the assembly by only seventy- five votes. During the war of the rebellion he spent much time and pains in raising the " Staten Island Regiment," of which he was made colonel, though of an age that well exempted him from military service; and when the exigencies of war obliged the government to consolidate the regiment with others before he could complete its numbers, and to hurry to the front the men he had recruited, he gave up his command without a mur- mur. For many years he served, in the latter part of his life, as a member and president of the board of port wardens. He died, not long since, beloved and regretted by friends all over the state and country.
Another vice-president, a predecessor of Vice-President Tompkins, and a man of a very different career, ended his days
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at Port Richmond. Soldier of the revolution, leader of the bar, attorney-general, senator of the United States, inventor of the methods of American politics, manager of the tremendous struggle of 1800 which placed Jefferson and the party of the people in power by carrying New York city, hence the state, and so turning the scale; while vice-president engineering the
ZECE
HOTEL
ST. JAMES HOTEL, PORT RICHMOND,-HOUSE WHERE AARON BURR DIED.
act of 1801, by which the legislature relieved tens of thousands from disfranchisement, and presiding over the first convention which revised the state constitution; missing the presidency only by want of generous and hearty loyalty to Jefferson; can- didate for governor, driven from the state by a combination of
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politicians who used the death of Alexander Hamilton to crush him, would-be emperor of Mexico-when Aaron Burr came to the end of his eventful life, it was on Staten Island, where he had passed much time at intervals, that he died.
Jacob Dolsen Cox, one of the most honored of living Ameri- cans, who has filled the posts of major-general of volunteers in the civil war, governor of Ohio, secretary of the interior in General Grant's first cabinet, representative in congress, presi- dent of the Toledo, Wabash & Western railroad; dean of Cin- cinati law school, and almost senator in place of John Sherman, was in his youth a clerk in the Wall street office of Anthony Lane, and was a resident of Port Richmond, as was also his brother, Charles F. Cox, secretary of the Canada Southern railroad.
Some of the leading names of the world in science belong to Staten Island. Dr. John William Draper, one of the most ma- jestic minds the world has known, whose researches revolu- tionized many departments of knowledge; who gave to man- kind the art of photography; who during half a century's laborious investigation freely gave the public, without seeking patent or other monopoly, the fruits of his toil and study; who set forth, in books of wide circulation, facts commonly deemed dry with language that fascinated the reader; who handled the history of Europe with skill that from an adverse critic (the Westminster " Review") extorted the confession that "what Buckle attempted for England, Draper has done for Enrope;" who for more than forty years daily instructed large classes in chemistry, physiology, botany, geology and kindred sciences; who helped to found the New York University Medical College, and as its secretary and president built it up to a great institu- tion. Doctor Draper, while making the discoveries and writing the works which first gave him European as well as American celebrity, lived in a modest house on Cherry lane, not far from the Hatfield farm. His sons, Dr. John C. Draper, successor to his father's university chairs, in that father's lifetime professor of chemistry and mineralogy in the New York City College, and of analytical and practical chemistry in the university, author of several scientific works; and Dr. Henry Draper, also author of a number of scientific works, builder of a silvered glass re- flectory telescope which eclipsed that of Lord Rosse; first pho- tographer of the moon, photographer of the sun through the
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