USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 65
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Joseph H. Seguine was elected president, Stephen Seguine, treasurer, and George White, secretary. The first annual re- port was made to the state engineer and surveyor on the 30th day of September, 1852. Numerous obstacles presented them- selves to prevent the speedy completion of the road, not the least of which was the difficulty of securing a right of way over the lands of several lauded proprietors, and in January, 1855, it became necessary for the company to apply to the legislature for an extension of time to construct their road. The first re- ceipts from passengers were on the 32d day of April, 1860, the trains running only a part of the way, but on the 2d day of Jnne, of that year, the formal opening of the road took place. The road became the property of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company, July 31, 1884, and its destinies since that time have been in common with those of the latter company.
A line of telegraph was erected from quarantine grounds along the shore to the railroad, and then along the railroad to Amboy in 1863.
A horse railroad from the Narrows around the shore to Mariners' Harbor was proposed in November, 1863, and it was then expected to be running by the early part of the following
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
spring. A company was formed and a charter obtained, under the title of the Staten Island Shore Railroad Company, with a capital of $350,000. The following were the first directors chosen : Minthorne Tompkins, S. B. Coles, Henry A. Morrison, George Catlin, Thomas Colgan, John C. Burling, Cornelius Mc- Ardell, Alfred Hornby, Joseph G. Ward, Earl K. Cooley, John Ellard, P. H. Ward, and George Sexton. The first offi- cers were Joseph G. Ward, president; George Catlin, vice- president; C. McArdell, secretary and treasurer. While it was in process of construction (March, 1864) various opinions were expressed concerning it, as to whether it would prove a benefit or an injury. But few living immediately on the line were disposed to favor it, but those residing off the street through which it was laid generally advocated it. Its general patronage by the people shows it to be a thing of approved public utility. It makes hourly trips. Its western terminus has not as yet been carried over the causeway to Port Richmond.
The "North and South Shore Railroad " was projected to run from Elm Park, in the town of Northfield, to Seguine's point, in the town of Westfield, The company was organized in 1882, with W. R. Soutter as president and R. Penn Smith and others as directors. The route was surveyed under the direction of the company, and ground was broken at Elm Park on Tuesday, November 28, 1882.
The plan of this road was to run from a point near the steam- boat landing at Elm Park to Graniteville; thence through the lands of James Bennett, John Hall, Charles E. Racy, John M. Perine, Nicholas D. Egbert, Abram P. Tyson, Samuel White, Isaac Winant, estate of C. Merrill, James Davidson, Mrs Thomas Lisk, - Quinlan, Charles Simonson, John Blake, Decker B. Merrill and Jacob Housman, at Bull's Head, where a depot was to be located; thence passing on through lands of the heirs of Joseph Simonson, deceased, John Blake, John Hatfield, Mrs. Hiram J. Corson, John H. Garretson, Hiran J. Corson and Arthur Prall, it reached Springville, where another station was to be located. -Its course thence lay through lands of Harriet Whitney, Jacob Simonson, David Simonson, Mrs. Daniel Blake, Matthias Simonson, Sam- uel Decker, Barnet Depuy, Peter Van Buskirk, Richard La- tourette and the heirs of Harriet Wheatley, at Richmond, Here the course of the road described a horseshoe, approaching
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HISTORY OF RICHIMOND COUNTY.
the village from under the hill on which the old fort stood, and turning at a point about ten minutes' walk from the court house. On this bend it was intended to locate a depot, and thence a street was to be opened to the village. From this point the road lay in the direction of Green ridge, through the lands of Cyrus Mcveigh, Douglass Turner, James Lake, Herbert B. Brewer, H. S. Samuels, Mary Metcalfe, Byron H. Beal, the heirs of T. C. Benham, Lawrence H. Cortelyon, George White, Mrs. Edward Bancker, and heirs of -- Stuyvesant, where it crossed the Staten Island Railroad, and took a direct line for the shore, passing through the lands of John Dempsey, B. Kreischer and Henry T. Niles to the farm owned by the com- pany, where a large hotel was intended to be built and other improvements applied for making a seaside resort.
Work upon it continned till late in the summer of 1883, when the grading of the road bed was nearly completed, and ties were purchased and on their way to the island. There seemed to be some mystery connected with the building of the road. Added to this the rumor gained circulation that the Standard Oil Company intended to erect buildings at the terminns on the Perkins farm. The work was then abandoned.
The "Richmond County Railroad" is a street railroad, run- ning from West New Brighton steamboat landing to Castleton Corners. Its charter was granted by the state legislature in March, 1885, and work upon it began May 11 following. The road was completed, and the formal opening took place July 18, 1885. The route lies from the steamboat landing up Broad- way, Castleton avenne, Columbia street and Manor road, end- ing at Eckstein's brewery. The first directors were John Mc- Donald, Monroe Eckstein, Hiram Dixon, Robert Moore, Clar- ence Delafield, H. D. Leslie and E. A. Moore. The first officers were : Hiram Dixon, president, Monroe Eckstein, treasurer, and H. D. Leslie, secretary.
The scheme of concentrating the ferry traffic into one line of boats running to one point on the island, that point being the one nearest to New York city, and connecting with arms of railroad which should reach out and deliver passengers along either shore, was for some time in process of development be- fore it assumed definite shape and tangible existence. A com- pany was organized in 1883, and incorporated under the general railroad law of the state, having a capital of five hundred thou-
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
sand dollars, which was fully paid. Surveys were then made for the prospective line along the eastern and northern shores of the island. Captain A. L. King was for a time president of the company, but in Setember, 1883, he resigned, and J. Frank Emmons was elected to the position. Messrs. C. T. Barrett, Horatio Judah and T. C. Vermilye were appointed commission- ers to appraise the damages cansed to land through which the road was to pass. They began their work in the latter part of September.
The work of grading began, and during the spring of 1884 was pushed forward with such energy that by the end of July the road was graded and the track laid between Clifton and Tompkinsville. The first locomotive and train passed over this section of the road on July 31, 1884. It contained the man- agers and officers of the road, a few invited guests and several passengers who had come up on the train as it came on its regu- lar time from Tottenville. With the caution necessary to a train for the first time moving over a new road, the run was made from Vanderbilt landing to the Tompkinsville landing in three and a half minutes.
The Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company now effected a ninety-nine years' lease of the property of the Staten Island Railway, and under this arrangement the railroad to Tottenville and all its appartenances became, on the day last mentioned (July 31, 1884), a part of the rapid transit system.
Work was now pushed on with vigor toward the completion of the road, many obstacles, some of discouraging magnitude, appearing to impede its progress. Over much of its course the line followed the shore, under the bluffs, where ground had to be made upon which to build the road. State laws were not able to grant the right to run a railroad through the property of the United States; hence the grounds of the light house de- partment just above Tompkinsville, presented a serious barrier. The company, however, secured an act of congress permitting them to push a tunnel through the hill a short distance back from the shore. The grant was surrounded with restrictions that made slow progress in the construction of the tunnel an nnavoidable sequence. The tunnel is about five hundred and eighty-five feet long, and is wide enough to allow the passing of two trains at once. It is protected by massive walls of masonry on the sides, and an arch of brick two feet in thickness over-
FOX HILL. HOUSE Of L. H. MEYER. Clifton, N. Y.
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DINING ROOM AT FOX HILL
ARTOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT, * V.
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
head. The cost of building it was about one hundred and ninety thousand dollars.
Another obstacle which offered resistance to the progress of the road was a contest in litigation, in which the company were involved, in gaining a passage across the cove at the mouthi of Palmer's run. Another obstacle was found in passing across the front of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, where it was necessary to erect a heavy stone wall at a cost of about twenty-five thousand dollars. But the projectors of the enterprise were encouraged by seeing these obstacles, one after another, give way before the steady and resolute forces which they brought to bear upon them.
At St. George, the northeast point of the island, an area of several acres of ground has been made out from the shore to afford room for terminal facilities. Piers have been erected, extending some six hundred feet into the water, and terminat- ing in two large ferry slips. The expense of the improvements at this point, including piers, ferry houses, depots, and the like, is estimated to exceed $100,000.
The history of this enterprise would not be fairly stated if the fact were omitted that Mr. Erastus Wiman has been, from its inception to its consummation, the moving spirit of the rapid transit railroad and ferry scheme. Without consulting that gentleman, we make the statement here that the future of the island owes a lasting debt of gratitude to him for the per- severing energy with which he has pushed forward an under- taking which promises to open a new era of prosperity to the island, against many discouraging circumstances, perhaps not the least of which has been the prejudice with which those who were to be benefitted by the scheme opposed it. Should the modesty of Mr. Wiman censure us for this expression, our apology is that the truth demands it.
The Rapid Transit Railroad was opened for passenger traffic February 23, 1886. It was a jubilee day along the north shore. Trains ran as far as Elm Park, making the time be- tween that point and the city thirty-nine minutes, instead of about an hour and a half, as had been common under the old ferry system. The usual demonstrations of public rejoicing were made in the display of the national colors all along the line, and the cheering of the multitudes who gathered at the sta- tions to greet the coming of the trains. The other wing of the
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
system was completed, so that on the eighth of March trains commenced running on both the north and east shores of the island from the ferry at St. George.
A few statements, showing the magnitude of this improve- ment, are compiled from a city newspaper of the following day. When the rapid transit scheme was first agitated, the ferries made only twelve trips a day between New York and Staten Island. The number of trips made is now increased to thirty-four. A decided improvement in the time required was also apparent. Port Richmond had before been one hour dis- tant from the city, with only hourly boats. To-day it can be reached in thirty-six minutes, and boats run three times in an honr. The time to Clifton had previously been forty-seven minutes. It was now reduced to thirty minutes, with trains every twenty-five minutes.
LEWIS HENRY MEYER, who has been for more than thirty years a resident of Staten Island and who is widely known in business and social circles both on the island and in New York city, was born in October, 1815, at Bremen. He was the son of Theodore Meyer, a prominent ship owner of New York, who at the time of his son's birthi was engaged in the operation of a line of packets between that city and Bremen. At the age of five months Mr. Meyer came to America on a ship under com- mand of Captain, afterward Commodore Perry, then in his father's employ. The passage was accomplished in the extra- ordinary short period of one hundred and seven days, twenty - one days shorter than any previous voyage, a fact which the owner at the time attributed to reckless sailing.
Mr. Meyer attended school in New York city till 1828, when he again crossed the ocean, remaining in Bremen till 1836. While there he finished his student life and spent some time in an of- tice in that city. In 1840 he engaged in business in New York, remaining in it till 1857-8, under the firm names of Meyer, Hupe- den & Co., Theodore Meyer, Sons & Co., Meyer, Schoene & Co., and Meyer & Stucken.
Having between 1850 and 1857 sold large amounts of Ameri- can securities in European markets many of which failed to pay interest, Mr. Meyer turned his attention in 1858 to the pro- tection of Enropean friends, Besides bringing numerous suits against repudiating cities and counties and compelling the same to respect their creditors, he succeeded in placing several
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HOUSE OF EX. NORTON
BRIGHTON HEIGHTS, NEW BRIGHTON. N Y
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
railroads in the hands of receivers and reorganizing them after foreclosure. This he did with the Milwaukee & Mississippi, later Milwaukee & Prairie Du Chien now owned by the Milwau- kee & St. Paul, the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, now Pittsburgh & Ft. Wayne Railway Company, and the Chi- ·cago & Missisippi, now Chicago & Alton.
HIe also represented large interests in the Ohio Central, Scioto & Hocking Valley, Alabama & Tennessee River, Atlantic & Great Western, Kansas Pacific, Mississippi, Kansas & Texas, Steubenville & Indiana, New Orleans & Mobile, and others, most of which he was also instrumental in foreclosing and reorgani- zing. He is now president of the Ft. Wayne Railway Com- pany.
Mr. Meyer was the organizer of the Staten Island Savings Bank and was for ten years its president. He takes a lively in- terest in all Richmond county matters and was formerly presi- dent of the village of Edgewater. His residence, of which this volume furnishes a cut, is one of the handsomest on Staten Is- land.
Mr. Meyer is a public spirited and courteous gentleman. His immense business interests and frequent travels have brought him a large acquaintance both in Europe and America, and he is equally respected both at home and abroad.
ECKSTEIN NORTON, one of the most influential and success- ful men identified with the vast railroad interests of the country, is the son of William Norton. He was born at Russellville, Kentucky, December 16, 1831, and educated in his native place. At the age of fifteen he entered a store as clerk, receiv- ing a dollar and a half per week for his services, and continued for two and a half years thus employed, when he embarked in business in the same town. In the fall of 1851, having sold his interest to a partner, he removed to Paducah, Kentucky, and joined his brother, W. F. Norton, who had been for fifteen years a merchant at this point, in mercantile ventures. In 1852 Mr. Norton purchased the interest of his brother, and continued with success until 1854, when the Illinois Central Railroad liav- ing completed its line to Cairo, began the construction of a line to Chicago, which was finished a year later. Having effected an advantageous contract with this road, Mr. Norton removed to Cairo as the receiving and forwarding agent for all its freight. An excellent offer for the business and good will thus well es-
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
tablished induced him to sell, and again he made Paducah his residence, engaging with his brother in the banking business, under the firm name of Norton Brothers. Early in 1864 he re- moved to New York, established the banking and commission house of Norton, Slaughter & Co., and later that of Ex. Nor- ton & Co., of which he is sole partner. In 1868 Mr. Norton purchased the Paducah & Gulf Railroad, afterward consoli- dated with the Mississippi River Railroad, the two forming the Paducah & Memphis Railroad, of which he became president. He also participated actively in the construction of the Eliza- bethtown & Paducah Railroad, these two roads (Paducah & Memphis and Elizabethtown & Paducah) now forming the Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern Railroad.
In 1884 it was discovered that a large amount of the funds of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company had been lost in speculation and mismanagement and a considerable floating debt created. The credit of the company was impaired, and grave doubts entertained as to the possibility of its rescue from bankruptcy. A large majority of the stock was held in Europe, and the foreign stockholders, on discovering the irregularities in 1884, sent an agent to the United States to reorganize the company. Many of the directors resigned, the board was re- organized, and Mr. Norton asked to become one of its members. He remained a director until the annual meeting in October, 1884, was then elected vice-president, and assumed charge of the company's finances. Less expensive offices in New York city were secured, and an economical management of affairs in- augurated, thus saving forty thousand dollars per annum in the New York office. As a result, confidence was restored, and the credit of the company greatly improved, the beneficial re- sult being apparent on the whole system. In 1886 Mr. Norton was elected president of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which, by lease and ownership, controls nearly four thousand miles of road running through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida, and is one of the most important of the great railroad systems of the country. The remarkable business qualities which Mr. Norton possesses, embracing sound and unerring judgment, keen in- sight, and a firm and comprehensive grasp of the details of an enterprise, have all been brought to bear in his management of this railroad, and placed it again on a solid financial basis.
twill fully Jours Remek Camerina
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RESIDENCE OF R W CAMERON. Clifton, Staten Island
ARTATYPE
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
Since Mr. Norton's removal to Staten Island, in 1867, he has identified himself with its leading interests. He is a director in the Staten Island Savings Bank and the Staten Island First National Bank, and was one of the first incorporators and a di- rector in the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad. His inter- est in the cause of education is evinced in the aid he extended to the Brighton Heights Seminary for Young Ladies and the St. Austin's School for Boys, of both of which organizations he is president. Mr. Norton is married to Lucy M., daughter of Mrs. Mary Peyton Moore, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
SIR RODERICK WILLIAM CAMERON was born at Glen-Nevis, Canada, on the 25th of July, 1825, and was educated at the district schools of Cornwall and Kingston, and under the late Dr. John Rae as private tutor. His youth having been passed in Canada, he came to New York in 1852 with the intention of taking passage for Australia. Wiser counsels prevailed and he was induced to invest his small capital in the charter of the ship "Revenue," which, under the guidance of his broker, the late John Ogden, was dispatched in June, 1852, as the pioneer of the line that has existed since that date. The business of this line has now grown to large proportions, the tonnage employed in the direct trade between New York and the Australasian colonies during the past year being not less than one hundred and thirty thonsand capacity, carrying American productions solely, of several millions in valne. Mr. Cameron represented the colony of New South Wales as commissioner at the cen tennial exhibition of 1876, also acted as honorary commissioner at the Paris exposition in 1878, and passed a year in Australia representing the Dominion of Canada at the exhibitions of Melbourne and Sydney in 1880 and 1881. On his return he prepared a report on the trade relations between the continents of Australia and America, which was published as an appendix to the report of the minister of agriculture in 1881, and largely quoted from by the press of Canada and by those interested in the subject of which it treats.
For his valuable services in promoting trade relations be- tween Canada and the Australasian colonies, the honor of knighthood was in 1883, conferred upon him by her majesty Queen Victoria.
The subject of this biographical sketch is an enthusiastic sportsman, and in his efforts to improve the thoroughbred
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
horse has accomplished more than any other breeder of the period. He in 1861 became the purchaser of Clifton-Berley, subsequently the home of the imported stallions Leamington, Warminster, Glen Athol, Hartington, etc., while such famous thoroughbreds as Glenelg, Reform, Inverary and others were bred there during the period of the renowned Clifton stnd. The property consists of about three hundred acres under the highest cultivation, surpassing in the beauty of its park like scenery anything to be found on the island. From the mansion on the central hill, built of stone, brick and wood, in the Queen Anne style of architecture, with ample halls and stately rooms, down the slopes of the shrubberied lawn, across the rich meadows and broad fields to the sea, the prospect is wide and beautiful be- yond description. Surely art has here vied with nature in her rich contributions to this charming spot.
Sir Roderick is not the first of his family upon whom the honor of knighthood has been conferred. One of his maternal ancestors, Sir Roderick Maclond, was knighted in the early part of the seventeenth century, and known as "Sir Rory More of that Ilk in Skye." The family were settled in Lochaber and Skye from time immemorial, and a family tree examined by the editor traces the genealogy from 1342, and recalls an ancestry of which any family may be proud. Malcolm, son of Taromade, was granted a charter by King David second, in the year 1342 of part of Glenelg (see record called the Black Book, folio 2, register office, Edinburgh).
The progenitor of the branch of the Cameron family to which Sir Roderick belongs was Donald Cameron, of Glen-Nevis, who, according to tradition, secured the lands of Morsheirlich from Lochiel. The first of whom there is anthentic record is Alex- ander Cameron, born at Glenmoriston, Inverness-shire, in 1729, who emigrated to the colony of New York before 1776, and ultimately settled in the Dominion of Canada. He married Margaret Macdonell, of Glengarry, about 1760, and had chil- dren, Duncan and one daughter. Duncan Cameron, born in 1764, was one of the founders in the last century of the North- west Fur Trading Company, afterward merged into the Hudson Bay Company, a member of parliament and an influential citizen. He married Margaret, daughter of Captain William Macleod, and had three sons, Duncan, Alexander Duncan and Roderick William, the subject of this biography. The latter married in
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PORTLEDGE
RESIDENCE OF J. F. EMMONS.
Clifton, N Y
٤ ٠٨٦١٦٧٧٤٫ BIERSTADT, 4
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
1860, Anne Fleming, daughter of Nathan Leavenworth, of Puritan descent, and Alice Johnstone, daughter of a Scottish gentleman. Mrs. Cameron died July 2, 1879. Their children are : Duncan Ewen, Roderick Macleod, Alice Leavenworth (deceased), Margaret Selina Erne, Catherine Nathalie, Anne Fleming and Isabella Dorothea, all but Alice having been born at Clifton. Duncan Ewen and Roderick Macleod enjoy the great privilege of American citizenship. May they be the progenitors of future generations as loyal to the great republic as were their forefathers to the land of their birth.
JOHN FRANK EMMONS, well known in Richmond county as president of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Com- pany, and one of the most active and energetic business men on the island, was born in Boston, April 26, 1839. His father, Mr. John L. Emmons, a prominent Boston merchant, married Miss Catharine Draper Vose, and of their four chil- dren, Frank, as he is commonly known, is the eldest. He re- ceived lis education at the private school conducted by Mr. Adams, which he left at the age of sixteen to enter the store of his father. Here by his industry as a clerk he won for himself a partnership in the firm of J. L. Emmons & Co., which for many years carried on an extensive business in the wholesale grocery line. Drawn by the life and business prominence of the metropolis, Mr. Emmons in 1866 gave up his interest in that firm and removed to New York city, where he secured a partnership in the firm of George E. Cook & Co., dealers in miscellaneous securities. In 1878 he severed his connection with the house just mentioned and accepted the membership in the banking firm of H. L. Horton & Co. which he still retains.
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