USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
Mr. Emmons is characterized by quickness and decision. In the " Stock Exchange," of which he is a member, and in finan- cial circles generally, his advice and judgment are widely sought and accepted. His connection with the Rapid Transit Railroad Company and his constant and daily presence in the most exciting and busiest financial center of the world tend constantly toward bringing him into notice and give him an intimate acquaintance with all that is of valne in modern finan- ciering.
Since his removal to Staten Island in 1866 he has interested himself in the introduction and maintenance of the present water supply and in the building and improvement of the
698
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
schools and educational institutions of the island. He was also prominent in the establishment of the recently organized "First National Bank of Staten Island." Mr. Emmons built the first sewer for drainage purposes in the village of New Brighton, and soon after the organization of the board of health of that village was chosen a member, acting as its president till 1886, when he removed to Clifton. In June of the same year in which he came to Staten Island, he married Miss Mary Win- throp Cook.
Mr. Emmons is among the foremost in social life both in New York city and on Staten Island. He is a member of the Union League Club and many of the social clubs of Richmond county. Thongh he has interested himself in politics he has never held political office and lie owes no allegiance to any party, though he leans toward republicanism. During por- tions of 1863-64 Mr. Emmons served as lieutenant of "Company E, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry," then under command of General Foster in North Carolina. He still retains his in- terest in military affairs and is a member of the "Loyal Legion." His residence on Staten Island has contributed in many ways to its prosperity, and his connection with the procuring of rapid transit for Richmond county has earned him a place in its history.
HARRY L. HORTON, formerly president of the village of New Brighton, and for many years one of Staten Island's most ag- gressive citizens, was born in Bradford county, Penn., July 17, 1832. His youth gave promise of more than average business capacity, and at the age of 17 he left his father's farm to en- gage as clerk in a mercantile concern at Towanda, in his native state. Here, by faithfulness to their interests, he won the con- fidence of his employers, and developed many of the sterling qualities which have rendered his subsequent business career a success.
At the age of 22 Mr. Horton left Towanda for Milwaukee, where he engaged in the produce commission business on his own account. For nine years he continued to conduct it, but at the end of that time, in 1865, varions interests dictating the step, he concluded to leave the West for New York. Immedi- ately after his arrival in the metropolis he connected himself with its stock and other exchanges, and has since conducted one of the most successful banking and broking establishments
-
Leforton
699
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
in the city. lle is at present the senior member of the firm of H. L. Horton & Company, No. 56 Broadway, one of the few houses which have honorably weathered the financial storms of the last twenty years.
Soon after engaging in business in New York, Mr. Horton took up his residence at New Brighton, where he is now in pos- session of a handsome property. He early became impressed with the thought that Staten Island had a brilliant future be- fore it, an idea which recent events lave in a remarkable man- ner confirmed. In accordance with this view he has prom- inently connected himself with every aggressive work in Rich- mond county, and is especially entitled to credit for his energy in promoting the interests of the Staten Island Water Supply and the Rapid Transit Companies.
Mr. Horton has been twice married and has two children. Cordial in his social life, useful as a citizen, of sound judgment as a business man, his friendship, influence and advice are widely sought and, if deserved, are freely given. He has and is con- stantly making for himself a host of warm and valuable friends, to whose esteem he is in the highest degree entitled and will long retain.
REON BARNES .- One of the most noticeable men in Rich- mond county and one whose foresight and energy have, per- haps, done more for its development than any other, is Mr. Reon Barnes. During fifteen years he has been a resident of Staten Island, and his face has become a familiar one to the majority of its inhabitants. Like most of our prominent Ameri- can business men he owes his success entirely to his own genius, industry, perseverance and pluck. His childhood was spent in New England, and the qualities which he acquired there, to- gether with native ambition and bold maneuvering, have slowly but surely led him to the front.
The family from which Mr. Barnes is descended was origin- ally English. Its first members in America were three brothers, professional men, who came to Sag Harbor, Long Island, in 1652. A branch of their descendants found their way up the Connecticut river to Middletown, where Duane Barnes, father of Reon, was born, and where he married Miss Cynthia Turner. Eleven children were the result of this union, of which the sub- ject of this sketch was the sixthi.
He was born at Middletown December 9, 1845, and during
700
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
his youth attended the public school at that place. He also spent much of his time about the publishing establishment then conducted by his father, leaving it in his fifteenth year for New York city. Since that time his life has been a busy one and has been attended by a variety of fortune in which he has gained a vast amonnt of practical experience. After a few years spent in gaining a foothold in the business world, during which he traveled in various interests through every state and territory in the Union, he embarked in the general contract business which he still continues.
The numerous and extensive operations which Mr. Barnes has carried on have made him a well known man in business and financial circles, not only in New York city but throughout the whole country. Among his works are many of the piers and bulkheads at Constable's hook, the South Penn Railroad, and the Wheeling & Harrisburg Railway of West Virginia. He pro- cured the local, state and government franchises for the bridge over the Ohio, at Wheeling, now in course of construction, and is at present engaged in the erection of extensive stock yards at St. Louis, to be opened in connection with the Belt Line Railroad of that city. He also has under way a project for illuminating the streets and buildings on the north and south shores of Staten Island with incandescent electric lights, which it is hoped will be in operation by the time this book is pub- lished.
In 1876, four years after his removal to Staten Island, Mr. Barnes procured the sale of the Garner ferry to Mr. Starin, and thus secured for Richmond county its first comfortable means of communication with New York city, which, together with re- cent developments in rapid transit, have been of so much benefit to its people. He has since secured a large amount of real estate on the island consisting mostly of water front.
In person Mr. Barnes is tall and portly, with features well defined, indicating the thorough man of affairs. The large ex- perience he has enjoyed enables him to arrive at conclusions rapidly, and these are seldom found to be at fault. Few per- sons who approach him fail to notice his rare conversational ability or to be struck by the facility with which he decides on the practicability or impossibility of the projects submitted to his judgment. He is also possessed of a most retentive memory. Persons come constantly to his office with schemes, the scenes
CO A. Novele
701
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
of which are located in all parts of the country and even of the world, and he decides on them immediately, calling upon his past reading or experience for a knowledge of the locality in which they are situated.
Mr. Barnes' genial nature, the great advantage he lias derived from intimacy with the most enterprising men of the times, and the constant liberality he displays in all worthy causes have made him a power in the social life of the community, especially among the younger people.
ORLANDO A. WOOD, who is of Scotch ancestry, was born Jan- uary 30, 1803, in Tolland county, Conn. After a period of early youth spent in study he, at the age of nineteen, removed to Sa- vannah, Ga., and engaged in the ship chandlery and grocery business. He found a congenial field in the South and re- mained until 1852, when, determining to retire from commercial life, he disposed of his interest, returned to the north and located on Staten Island, where he purchased a desirable site with at- tractive surroundings, rebuilt the residence and has since led the life of a retired gentlemen. In 1834 he abandoned business sufficiently long to make an extended European tour. Mr. Wood is, in his political preferences, a conservative and votes for men of character and ability irrespective of party. Independent in thought and action, he is not bound to any platform or party. He served as alderman of the city of Savannah and also partici- pated in the Seminole war. Mr. Wood esponses the faith of the Protestant Episcopal church and is a vestryman of St. Luke's church of Rossville.
CHAPTER XVI.
INDUSTRIES.
Agriculture .- Shipbuilding .- The Oyster Interests .- John Scott .- Silas N. Havens. -Edward Lowrey Woodruff .- Barrett, Nephews & Co .- The New York Dye- ing and Printing Eestablishment .- The Breweries .- George Bechtel .- Monroe Eckstein .- B. Kreischer & Sons .- Jewett White Lead Company .- Silk Mill. -John Irving .- Linoleum Works .- Paper Mill .- Plaster Mill .- Dental Sup- plies .- Other Industries.
D URING the first century and a half which followed the settlement of the island the leading pursuit of its inhab. itants was agriculture. The fisheries about the shores assumed a rank of considerable importance. Shipbuilding grew to be worthy of some note, and manufacturing then came in for its share of attention. Since the introduction of steam ferryboats the latter industry has greatly increased. The manufacture of various earthen products, beer and dyeing processes are largely carried on.
The latest agricultural census shows the following figures: the annual product was 773 bnshels buckwheat; 46,433 bushels Indian corn; 17,358 bushels oats; 2, 420 bushels rye; 2,906 bushels wheat; $5,219 value of orchard products; 6,391 tons of hay; 29,662 bushels Irish potatoes; 2,725 bushels sweet potatoes; 272 pounds wool; 186,439 gallons milk; 54,088 pounds butter; and 1,000 pounds cheese. There were on farms 751 horses; 26 mules ; 54 working oxen; 901 milch cows; 541 other cattle; 49 sheep and 923 swine.
There was once considerable activity in shipbuilding. In the early years of the settlement there were but few ship carpenters here. Small vessels were in constant demand, but facilities were not at hand for constructing them. Such work was done at the city. But during the last century the practice of build- ing on the shores of the island grew. Oak and chestnut were plentiful and workmen could live here cheaper than in the city. We have little data upon which to found any statement as to
703
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
the extent to which the industry prevailed. A newspaper of June 1, 1775, contains an item to the effect that a ship of 240 tons burthen had just been launched from the yard of Mr. Richard Lawrence. The ship was named " Patty," was built for Messrs. Buchanan, and was to be commanded by Capt. Alexander Marquis.
During the present century something has been done. A few vessels were built before 1861; but timber is now scarce and dear, and building is nearly gone. There are three yards on the northern part of the island, all of which are kept alive by repair work. At one of them, in Stapleton, a large marine rail- way was constructed in 1880 for future nse. On the southern end of the island, at Tottenville, there are eight ship-yards, each of which does repairing and some building. There are eight marine railways in these yards, all worked by horse-power, which take out from four to five hundred small vessels yearly for painting, caulking, and repairing. This being a fishing locality, with the coal depots of New Jersey near, the work is largely from smacks, tugs, coal barges and oyster boats. The new work is chiefly in the way of steam tugs and propeller yachts.
Mr. James M. Rutan, who carries on the shipbuilding busi- ness at Tottenville, represents a family that has long been identified with this industry. His grandfather, Henry Rutan, came from France in 1770, and afterward settled in Belleville, N. J. Thence his son, H. S. Rutan, father of James, moved to Staten Island in 1809, and engaged in shipbuilding for the Se- guine family. In 1820 he removed to Rossville, and there en- gaged in the same business. He died in August, 1833, since which time the business has been carried on by his son, James M. Rntan, now located at Tottenville.
Another branch of business is that pursued by the Coast Wrecking Company. This company has a yard and a wharf on the northeast shore of the island, and engages in the spe- cialty of saving vessels that are wrecked on the coast, or have been sunk by collision, or otherwise, in and around New York harbor. It owns two steamers and two schooners, and employs from sixty to one hundred and ten men. An idea of the nature of its work may be gained from the report of its operations in the census year, 1880. The company's submarine divers exam- ined the bottoms of five ships, pumped out four ships, and stripped the hulls or saved the cargoes of twelve large vessels
704
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
that had been driven ashore. It raised one steamer, one schooner and one bark, which had sunk in the harbor, and rescued the following stranded property : two schooners, three ings, one ship, six barks, and three steamers. For doing this work the company received from ten to fifty per cent. of the valne of property saved, but even then it is said its work was conducted at a loss.
The extent of the shipbuilding in this county for the census year is shown in the following figures : there were thirteen new vessels built ; their total tonnage was one thousand five hun- dred and eighty-two; their value one hundred thousand dollars ; twelve boats built were valued at one thousand four hundred dollars ; the value of repairing done amounted to eighty-seven thousand four hundred dollars ; making an aggre- gate of one hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight hundred dollars as the gross product of the industry in this county for that year. During the two years following the industry was reported to be quite brisk at Tottenville and Rossville.
Among the prominent men engaged in shipbuilding on the island may be mentioned ; Jacob Ellis and Son, A. C. Brown, and Messrs. Conklin, at Tottenville ; William A. H. Nichols, at Rossville ; Lewis H. St. John & Co., and William Lissen- den, at Elm Park ; David J. Jones and James Fisher, at Port Richmond ; and Thomas and John J. Lawler, at Clifton.
The Staten Island Dry Dock Storage and Improvement Com- pany was incorporated April 18. 1885, for the purpose of dock- ing, loading and unloading, raising, building and repairing vessels, storing cargoes, and carrying on the general business of a dry-dock and warehouse company, and its operations were to be carried on jointly in Richmond and Kings counties. The trustees of the incorporation were : Chauncey Stillman, Warren Beman, Josiah L. Chapin, George Leeds and Montgomery Qneen. The capital stock of the company was limited to two million dollars, and the term of its proposed existence was fifty years.
Among the riches of a new country enumerated to the old world by discoverers, the products of the sea always have held a prominent place. The fishes of these waters attracted the at- tention of the earliest voyagers in a marked degree, and the mollusks (a part of them, in popular estimation) were not neg- lected. The explorers and colonists were saved any trouble
705
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
in the matter of discovering these beds, for the Indians were in the habit of gathering clams and oysters at all practicable sea- sons, and depended upon them largely for their food.
In 1621 " very large oisters " were too common at Nieuw Am- sterdam to find a market, everybody being able to supply them- selves without charge. A few years later (1671) Arnoldus Mon- tanus speaks of "oysters, some a foot long, containing pearls, but few of a brown color," as one of the common advantages of the young settlement. Sir George Carteret, as one of the in- ducements, in advertising the region about the mouth of the Raritan, where he wished to establish colonies, tells intending emigrants that " the bay [i. e., of New York] and Hudson's river are plentifully stored with sturgeon, great bass, and other scale-fish, eels, and shellfish, as oysters, etc., in great plenty, and easy to take." This was in 1681. Three or four years later letters were written home to England, in which such ex- pressions as the following occur
"And at Amboy point and several other places there is abundance of brave oysters."
"Oysters, I think, would serve all England."
" We have one thing more particular to us, which the others want also, which is vast oyster-banks, which is the constant fresh victuals, during the winter, to English, as well as Indians; of these there are many all along our coasts, from the sea as high as against New York, whence they come to fetch them."
"Oyster shells upon the point, to make lime withal, which will wonderfully accommodate us in building good houses [of stone] cheap, warm for winter, and cool for summer."
"We have store of clans, esteemed much better than oysters; on festivals the Indians feast with them; there are shallops [scallops] but in no great plenty."
In the neighborhood of Staten Island the circumstances were especially favorable, and there were numerous beds. The northern shore is rocky and unfit for oyster growth for a considerable distance, but the southern and western sides are eminently favorable. Everywhere in these swift tide-ways oysters grew abundantly. South of the island there is a broad expanse of shallow water separating the island from the Jersey shore of Monmonth county, into which the Raritan pours a heavy flood of fresh water. To the Staten Islanders and New Yorkers this part of the bay is known as Staten Island sound, 45
706
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
and the oysters grown in it receive the market name of "sounds." Jerseymen more often speak of it as Raritan bay, and sell the oysters they raise on their shore as " Amboys " and "Keyports."
With reference to oyster matters, history is mute during the close of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury, except that chance allnsions here and there show that large numbers of persons, nearly everybody, in fact, took ad- vantage of this natural storehouse of food to supplement their luxuries in summer, and victual their cellars for winter. It is also evident that the fame of Carteret's "great plenty and easy to take," had spread abroad, and so many aliens sailed into the placid bay to rake upon the "vast banks," that at last the col- onists became alarmed for the continnance of their precious supply. Thus it arose that as early as 1715 was passed the first colonial law in relation to oysters, prohibiting under a penalty of twenty shillings any person, except native free Indians, from taking oysters between the 1st day of May and the 1st day of September of each year, during a term of five years. A simi- lar law was enacted by New Jersey in 1719.
In 1730 New York again found need to make a second law in respect to shellfish, and in 1737 a third, owing to the too great demand made upon the beds around Staten Island by crews of boats from New England, New Jersey, and elsewhere, special protective legislation for these waters was obtained from the colonial legislature. The preamble of this act of 1737 states the necessity for the law, " since it has been found by daily ex- perience that the Oyster Beds lying at and near Richmond County, within this Colony, are wasted and Destroyed by Strangers; the preventing of which will tend to the great Ben- efit of the poor People and others inhabiting the aforesaid Col- ony." The act therefore forbids any one " directly or indi- rectly, to rake * any oysters within this Colony, and put them on board any Canoe, Perianger, Flat, Scow, Boat or other vessel whatsoever, not wholly belonging to, and owned by, Persons who live within the aforesaid Colony," under penalty of having the craft and all its contents seized. This law is almost an exact reproduction of the New Jersey statute of 1719. It then names ten citizens of Richmond county, many of whose names still figure in the oyster business of Staten Island, as a
707
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
police to carry out the law, and empowers them for that pur- pose.
Both states made their laws somewhat in a spirit of mischief and retaliation, for Jerseymen then, as ever since, came in con- tact with Staten Island planters, often to the extent of mutual belligerency.
In spite of this protection, however, all the natural beds gradually gave out, and it was long ago found necessary to sup- plement them by artificial means. The precise date when oyster- planting began here it has been difficult to fix. As to native oysters, at Staten Island, they were certainly cultivated in Prince's bay at least sixty years ago. In some localities, on the opposite shore, the industry is probably older, since a suit was brought about seventy-five years ago, in old Shrewsbury town- ship, New Jersey, originating in the question whether or not a man had exclusive right to the oysters he had planted.
The use of these waters for planting occasioned an inmedi- ate effect upon the villages of the neighboring coast, which was very striking. "In fact," remarks a contemporary chronicler, " the prosperity and rapid increase of the population of that island [Staten] is owing, in a considerable degree, to the oyster- trade of this city. Before Prince's bay was laid out in oyster- plantations there were very few persons living on it, and it was almost wholly uncultivated. * * A few years after the first beds were planted an extent of coast of from five to ten miles was covered with oysters taken from the 'rocks' of Vir- ginia. The number of men employed upon the beds in 1853, and who lived upon the island, with their families, was com- puted at three thousand."
To encourage this new productive industry, which had thus suddenly come into existence, New York and New Jersey both enacted laws calculated to protect the planters. They have been the object of much change and amendment, as experience ripened the judgment and new circumstances arose.
At present the laws of New York applying to this subject and locality are as follows:
General statutes:
Forbidding any natural bed being staked off for private use, or being planted upon; forbidding any person, not for six montlis previous a resident of the state, from taking any shell- fish within the state (but an actual resident may employ any
708
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
non-resident); and prohibiting the use of any dredge weighing over thirty pounds, or operated by steam-power.
Special statutes:
Asserting that no person not an inhabitant of the state may plant oysters in the waters surrounding Staten Island, "except the consent of the owner first be obtained ; " and no non-in- habitant may take oysters or clams "from their beds of natural growth in any of said waters."
Forbidding dredging or dragging for oysters in the neighbor- hood of Staten Island " upon beds of natural growth of oysters (not planted)."
Forbidding any person taking up or disturbing oysters planted under all the waters of this state surrounding Staten Island, without previous permission from the owners.
New Jersey's laws, applying here, are substantially similar:
No summer raking or sale of oysters allowed on public ground.
No dredging in any shape allowed.
No oysters to be gathered to be made into lime, or to be used in iron manufacture.
No person not a resident of the state for six months previous may gather oysters or clams in state waters for himself or for his employer.
Any owners or licensed persons may plant oysters or clams upon any flats or coves (not natural beds) and one chain beyond the same, along the shores of Newark bay and Staten Island sound, under prescribed conditions of staking out, etc. A penalty is fixed for taking oysters without authority from such inclosures.
Prohibits taking " from any natural oyster banks or beds in this state any old shells other than such as cannot be removed or separated from the oysters without injuring the same; and all such shells shall be culled and thrown back again upon the said natural banks or beds ;" but this does not apply to pri- vate beds.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.