USA > New York > Ulster County > History of Ulster County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Vol. I > Part 79
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As trustee for many years of the Kingston Academy, he took an active part in its welfare and successful manage- ment.
He was one of the incorporators and the first president of the State of New York Bank, and remained a director until his decease, Dee. 16, 1872. He was a director of the Ulster County Bank from its organization for several years, and one of the originators and first directors of the Kings- ton Bank, and also a director and one of the originators of the Rondour Bank (now the National Bank of Rondout). Mr. Barhans was not solicitous of political notoriety, yet he was a strong party man. He never held political office, ex- cent to serve as town clerk of Kingston for a few years. He was known to the citizens of his native county as a man of correct habits, hospitable in entertaining his friends, a friend to those in need, judicious in business, and pos- sessed of that sterling integrity in all the relations of life that won the full confidence of all who knew him.
He married, Aug. 30, 1820, Jane, daughter of John Elting. of Kingston. She died Nov. 6, 1833, aged thirty- eight years and ten months.
The children of this union are Cornelius, a coal and lum- ber merchant in Kingston; John Salisbury, a merchant in Kingston ; Mary (deceased), wife of Egbert HI. Johnson, Kingston; Amelia, died young; and Eisie Anna, wife of Judge Frederick L. Westbrook, Kingston.
For his second wife he married, June 1. 1836, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Catharine (Masten) Beekman. She was born April 29, 1797 ; has been a member of the First Reformed Church for more than threescore years, and survives in 1880, retaining to a remarkable degree the faculties of both body and mind, and able to give in detail many of the facts related in this sketeh.
FRANCIS CHILDS VOORHEES.
Stephen Coerte, the common ancestor of the Voorhees family of Long Island and New Jersey, with his wife and all of his children except his daughter Merghein, emigrated in April, 1660, in the ship " Bontekoe" (spotteil cow), Captain Peter Lacassen. The same year he purchased a farm in Flatlands, L. I., where he settled and resided until his death, Feb. 16, 16S4.
His father, Rociof, a descendant of Stephen Coerte in direct line, born in Flatlands, married Grace, daughter of John and Frances ( Filkins) Childs, removed to Lagrange, Dutchess Co., N .. Y., where they resided.
Grace Childs was granddaughter of the emigrant ancestor of the Childs family, who belonged to an aristocratic and in- fluential family in Wales, and came to America on the same vessel with Gen. Washington's father. During the voyage quite an intimacy sprang up between them. and their fami- lies afterwards made frequent exchange of visits. Her father, John Childs, born July 16, 1743, was a commisory in the Revolutionary army, and in going from Fishkill to Poughkeepsie, in a small boat, was drowned at four o'clock, on the 4th of August, 1777.
Francis Childs Voorhees was born in Flatbush, J. I., Jan. 20, 1801. He removed with his parents, in 1806, to Fishkill, thence to Catskill, and subsequently to Lagrange, N. Y., where the family lived, and where his father and mother died.
At the age of thirteen he emque to Saugerties, Ulster Co., where he remained a clerk in the general merchandise store of Jeremiah Russell until 1822, when he came to Kingston and engaged as clerk and bookkeeper with the well-known firm of Peter G. & Henry Sharpe. In 1824 he became a partner in this firm (Sharpe, Voorhees & Co.), and in 1826, upon the withdrawal of Henry Sharpe, the firm-name was changed to F. C. Voorhees & Co: Peter G. Sharpe re- tired from business in 1833, and Charles Van Anden be- came a member of the firmu (Voorhees & Van Andet), which continued until 1838, when Peter Masten was asso- einted in the business ( Voorhees, Van Anden & Masteu ). On March 22, 1851, Mr. Van Anden retired from the firm, and Francis A. Voorhees, son of Francis C. Voorhees, be- came a member (Voorhees, Masten & Co.). Mr. Masten withdrew from the concern in 1853, and this firm was known as F. A. Voorhees & Co. until the death of the senior member, Francis C. Voorhees, Sept. 28, 1857.
Mr. Voorhees' aptness for business and natural ability made him, in early manhood, one of the most active and influential business men in Kingston. Through a Hit'e ahaost wholly devoted to business interests, he was known as a man of unquestioned integrity, correct habits, judicious in the management of his affairs, far-seeing, and always acting
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
with great consideration. Although receiving limited op- portunities for an education in early life, he in after years became a close student of the current topics of the times, and was well read in political economy and commercial re- lations. He was interested in local enterprises, and a pro- moter of all worthy objects. Was one of the organizers of the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike Company, and one of the directors and president of the company during its existence. He was a member of the First Reformed Church during most of his residence in Kingston, and a member of the Second Reformed Church during the latter years of his life.
He married, Oct. 12, 1830, Anna Maria, only daughter of Abraham and Gertrude Masten, of Kingston,-a lady of high moral worth and Christian excellence, who was devoted to the interests of her family. She was born Jan. 10, 1813, and died Jan. 20, 1879. Their children are Francis Augustus ; Juliet Maria (deceased) ; Peter Sharpe, died Jan. 17, 1879; Jane Kiersted, wife of Christopher Agar, Buffalo, N. Y. ; Anna Gertrude, wife of Charles Merritt, Kingston, N. Y .; Caroline ; Inez (deceased) ; Juliet Leslie (deceased) : and Leslie (deceased).
The Voorhees homestead has a record by deed back to 1697. It came into the possession of the Mastens in 1758, was rebuilt by them after its destruction, in 1777, by the burning of Kingston, and became the property of Francis C. Voorhees in 1836.
HENRY C. CONNELLY,
son of William and Margaret Ann (Terpenning) Connelly, was born Sept. 25, 1332, in the town of Shandaken, Ulster Co., N. Y. His great-grandfather was of Irish, and his great-grandmother of English, birth. His grandfather, William, a native of the town of Olive, where he resided most of his life, was a Baptist clergyman of the old school, and was also regularly admitted to practice as a physician. His father, a carpenter by trade, removed from Shandaken in 1833, and settled in the town of Esopus, where he resides in 1880, aged seventy-three.
In his family were six children, four of whom are living, -Mary C., wife of Rev. D. C. Hughes, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Henry C .; Carey S .; and Cathalina, wife of Alfred Van Nostrand, of Kingston.
Henry C. Counelly spent his boyhood in the routine of farm work and attending district school. At the age of fifteen he was a teacher for one term in Esopus. In the spring of 1849 he became a elerk for George North, a mer- chant of Rondout, with whom he remained three years. For two years following he acted as clerk for his father, then doing mercantile business in Eddyville, during which time he further improved his education by attending three months at the Charlotteville Academy.
In JSaf he became a partner with his father in business (W. Connelly & Co.), and in 1800, having purchased his father's interest, he associated himself in business with Thomas W. Cornell (Thomas W. Cornell & Co.). This firm added to their mercantile business, in 1866, the manu- facture of Rosendale cement. In 1872, Mr. Cornell sold his interest in the business to Colonel B. Shafer, and the firm of Connelly & Shafer continue successfully both the mer-
cantile and cement business in 1880. Mr. Connelly began to take an active and influential part in local politics soon after reaching his majority, casting his first vote for John
C. Fremont for President of the United States. He was supervisor of Esopus from 1867-70 inclusive, and in the fall of 1873 he was elected to the State Senate on the Repub- lican ticket, where he did efficient service as a member of the committee on canals, printing, roads and bridges, and as chairman of the committee on charitable and religious so- cieties. He has served several times as a delegate to State conventions. Mr. Connelly has been president of the Kingston Savings-Bank since its organization in 1875. He became a meriber of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852, was Sunday-school superintendent at Eddyville for twenty years, and since he became a resident of Kings- ton, in 1876, he has been superintendent of the Sunday- school in connection with the St. James Methodist Episcopal Church for three years. He was elected a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Cincinnati, in May, 1880. He married, April 12, 1854, Cornelia Ann, daughter of Benjamin Aldrich, of the town of Rochester. She died March 4, 1857, aged twenty- four years. For his second wife he married, Oct. 28, 1858, Lucinda, daughter of Levi Manning, of West Park, Ulster Co. Their children are Cornelia Ann, Carrie (deceased), William Henry, Minnie (deceased), Arthur C., Dora Jane, Alfred, and Roscoe C. (deceased).
Francis - b. Torchy
ATT S.
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CITY AND TOWN OF KINGSTON.
SIMON S. WESTBROOK,
son of Frederick and Helena (Schoonmaker) Westbrook, was born in the town of Rochester, Ulster Co., July 9, 1818. His father was born in the same town, and died in 1856, aged sixty-nine years. He was a fariner through life, and
was for many years one of the trustees of the town. having in charge the public lands. His wife died in 1849.
Their children are Margaret (deceased). Jonathan F., Simon S., Sarah C. (deceased), Jane E., Charlotte, Har- riet, Thomas B., Amanda (deceased), and Mary Ann.
Hisgrandfather, Jonathan Westbrook, married Miss Sarah Deyo; was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and for many years received a pension.
Simon Schoonmaker Westbrook spent most of his minor- ity at home, received a common-school education and the advantages of one termin at the Kingston Academy. In early life he became interested in politics, and was elected town clerk of Rochester. Ju 1851 he came to King-ton, and officiated as under-sheriff to Sheriff Jacob I. Signor, and was three years under-sheriff with John Griffiths.
In 1862 he raised a company of soldiers, and in August, of the same year, as captain of the company ( B), was mus- tered into service, and joined the 120th Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 3d Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Hooker. His company was in the second battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862. Ill health compelled him to leave active service in the army in January, 1863. Ile remained on furlough for some time, and finally resigned his commission in June of that year and returned home.
In ISC4 he was elected sheriff of Ulster County on the Democratic ticket, and served one term. In 1873 he was elceted one of the assessors of the city of Kingston for six years, and was deputy county clerk under Israel Snyder in
1878-79. He was appointed collector of the school fund by the Board of Education in 1876, and served three years ; and on Jan. 1, 1880, he began superintending the new in -. dexing of the record of deeds and mortgages for Ulster County.
Hle married, in 1853, Miss Lillias, daughter of William and Mary (Leslie) Grant, of Rosendale. Their only child is John Griffiths Westbrook.
CORNELIUS D. WESTBROOK, D.D.,
was born in Rochester, Ulster Co., N. Y., on the 8th day of May, 1782. Ile was the only child of Gen. Frederick Westbrook, who was an officer both in the Revolutionary war and in that of 1812. Gen. Westbrook was of English ancestry, his wife, Sarah De Puy, being a descendant of the Iluguenots, the blood of Puritan and Huguenot thus mingling in the veins of the son. The people of the two aneestries settled in considerable numbers in the region since become U'lster County. At an early period in the history of this country intermarriages were common not only among themselves, but between them and the Hol- landers, who formed the most numerous part of the early settlers. In the blending of these races the Holland element predominated, giving gradually its own form to the eustoms, manners, and language of the whole people, com- paeting them together, virtually, into Dutch communities. The Holland language was the vernacular in the distriet where Dr. Westbrook's childhood was reared, and there he acquired the familiarity with it that enabled bim in after- life to translate with facility Dutch records in the State archives at Albany. The English tongue, however, held its own, destined as it was soon to supplant all others and become and remain the language of the land.
The father's purpose being to educate his son liberally, the latter was sent with this view to the Kingston Academy. This institution at that time ranked high among the few of its kind then existing in the State. Not a few of its pupils turned out to be men of mark, as well in the church as in various secular callings. Here he completed his preparatory training, and then entered Union College in 1798, from which Le graduated in 1801. As an evidence of his character and standing as a scholar, he was made tutor in the college, aud remained in this position for two years after his graduation. Designing to enter the Christian ministry as a profession, be pursued theologieal studies with this end in view, and after two years was licensed to preach in 1805, and in the same year was settled as pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill, N. Y. His connection with this church catended to 1830, a period of a quarter of a century. He then took editorial charge of the Christian Intelligencer, a religious paper published in the city of New York in the interest of the denomination to which he belonged. He had his residence at Harlem, a locality then and now within the limits of the eity, during the three years that he edited this paper. In 1833 he removed to New Brunswick, N. J., being chosen reetor of the grammar school connected with Rutgers College. In 1836 he became pastor of the churches of Cortlandtown and Peekskill, N. Y., in which position he remained until 1850, when he
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
returned to his native county, making his residence at Kingston. Here he lived withont pastoral charge, though performing occasional services in surrounding churches, until his death, which occurred in 1858, when he bad not quite completed his seventy-sixth year. The office of trustee in Rutgers College, to which he was elected in 1829, he hell until his life elosed.
Dr. Westbrook was twice married. His first wife was Hannah, a daughter of Isaae Van Wyck, of Fishkill, N. Y. By this marriage he had four children,-Frederick, Eliza- beth, Sarah, and Isaac Van Wyck,-all living but the last. His second wife was Sarah, a daughter of Capt. Tjerck Beekman, who served in the Revolutionary war, and whose widow, a woman remarkable for her intelligence and energy, died in 1856 at the advanced age of ninety-three. There were seven children of this marriage,-J. Beckman, Theo- doric R., Cornelius D., Gertrude, Charles R., Mary, and Hannah,-of whom all except Beekman and Gertrude are living; two sons and a daughter, with the two daughters of the former marriage, being residents of Kingston, and heads of well-known families in the community. Mrs. Westbrook died in 1874, at the age of eighty-one.
The life of Dr. Westbrook was a fine commentary upon the power and influence of active benevolence, raised to its nrost benign exercise by Christian principle and consecration. The precepts of the Divine Master, exemplilied in doing good to all uren, were not only regarded by him as worthy of honor and reverence in the abstract, but as a practical system, containing truth adapted to all times, calculated to exilt and purify society, benefit men, and bless the world, had his heartiest helief and life-long advocacy.
As a religious teacher, Dr. Westbrook had qualities that made his utterances striking and impressive, especially to thoughtful hearers. He was not a popular preacher as this phrase is commonly understood ; but. no sober minded, intel- ligent person could hear him without interest, and without feeling that an original, acute, and powerful mind prompted the words with which he sought to enlighten and persuade. His originality was marked, pervading his whole character, and showing itself as well in speech and manner as in thought. He did not and could not follow in the track beaten hard by the feel of others, but struck out boldly iato paths which his quick vision pointed out. He was a rapid thinker as well as a bold one. He seemed to seize at once and almost intuitively the merits of a question, arrived at by others only after a long and wearisome process of induction. And his judgment as to the truth of the matter surveyed and brought to light was usually as sound as his method of reaching it was rapid. His speceh was often like his thought-bold, sententious, original, incisive. It had some- times an cpigrammatic point and force that was really startling. A single brief, pithy sentence Had, occasionally, the effect of a long argument, and would place the justness of a conclu-ion in a transparent light that forced the hearer's assent. This style of expression was his own, as natural and spontaneous seemingly as a child's utterance, yet none the less the outcome of a bold, suggestive thought or deeply sagacious opinion. He was not only an independent thinker himself, but taught and stimulated others to do likewise,-to take large views of the Maker and Lawgiver,
of His Works and Word,-and in this light to do, with honest hearts and all their might, what their hand found to do for the glory of God and the welfare of men. His ministry, therefore, was a highly instructive and fruitful one, and left permanent influences for good in the commu- nities where it was exercised.
There were some special occasions when his discourse, enlisting his own feelings warmly, and guiding those of an. audience in sympathy with the event that assembled them, was remarkably apposite and effective, and produced impres- sions not to fade away from the memory of those who listened. One of these was his discourse on the death of Silas Wright, so honored in life, so lamented in death. Another was that delivered over the remains of his personal friend, the artist, John. Vanderlyn, in the First Reformed church of Kingston. Though hastily prepared, and with- out the manuscript,-which Dr. Westbrook never used,- the impression was universal upon a large and appreciative andience that, for delicate and truthful discernment of the deceased artist's character, for dignified and persuasive assertion of the claimis of genius and art, for genuine pathos and striking illustration, it was a performance of wonderful power. But it was wholly characteristic, evincing the rapidity of his conception, his facility of seizing instantly the salient points of a subject, and of combining them felicitously. which formed the most strongly marked feature of his mind. This quality was shown in his studies and reading, in public and private discourse, in debate, in prayer. In the last he was uncommonly happy, adapting himself with ready appreciation to the circumstances of varying " occasions, and putting his petitions in words which tersely, fitly, and fully expressed the breathings of a devout and humble sonl. When the veterans of the war of 1812 gathered around the grave of Washington in 1855, Dr. Westbrook was called upon to offer prayer on an occasion so interesting to the venerable survivors. This he did in a manner so strikingly adapted and impressive as to move all the assemblage to tears. In debate, too, he was at times hardly less magnetic, and when fairly aroused a few sen- teuces of trenchant argument or of felicitous retort not unfrequently carried his point against strong assailants, or brought down the house in favor of his views.
His patriotisin all knew well who knew him at all. He served as chaplain in the war of 1812, and found delight in praying for and serving to the best of his ability the commonwealth that he loved. His country and her institu- tions had a high place in his heart, and he never wearied in speaking of her greatness, and of the greater future which the Providence of God was opening before her. Attached his life long to Democratie principles, as most iu harmony with the genius of our institutions, there was uot a particle of narrow partisanship in his love, not a spice of bitterness toward those who differed from Irim, but a generous toler- ance toward the honest and patriotic of all parties, among whom he membered many of his most valued friends.
In the cause of education he always took the liveliest interest, and was a patron, as far as his power went, of all institutions and of all measures designed to lift the masses to a higher plane of intelligence and knowledge. The common school, the academy, the college, and seminary
Cornelius Dlles brook
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CITY AND TOWN OF KINGSTON.
were all regarded by him with favor as efficient means toward making our liberties stable and secure, by erecting safeguards against the vices and excesses springing from populair ignorance. He loved to encourage poor young men sighing for an education, but seeing no prospect open before them of reaching the object of their wishes. He not ouly cheered such with hopeful words, but gave at times more substantial aid, and there are instances in which young men owed directly to his timely helpfulness their rising, through education, to positions of honor and usefulness. Hle felt it a pleasure as well as duty to impart knowledge, to scatter light for others' benefit, and freely opened the stores of his own large library for the benefit of any who needed and sought for information therciu con- tained. Hle was not selfish even in the hoarding of his books, but gave them on occasion to persons likely to prize and profit by a gift of this kind; and this was so frequently done, that the number of his volumes, long and carefully gathered, had much dwindled before his death. The doing good by communicating in this way is a form of benevolence as rare as it is pleasant to see.
As showing how unselfish his nature was, and how freely he rendered services to others from the love of doing it, and without the leat thought of his own personal advan- tage or interest prompting him, the following extract from a letter written by the late Hon. A. Bruyn Hasbrouck on the demise of his life-long friend. may be fittingly presented :
" The generous impulses of his nature were always aroused in my behalf upon every occasion that presented itself to him; and. in one or two of the most important events of my life, his zealous and efficient support conferred upon me a weight of obligation which I was proud to acknowledge while he was living, and which will not be diminished by his death. I feel his kindness the more deeply now, when I reflect how entirely disinterested it ever was. He never asked me for the slightest favor in return, and left me ouly with a sense of unrequited interest in me and my family, saved from being irksome by the remarkable nobleness of his own character."
llis disposition was eminently social. He loved his many friends with steadfast constancy ; was a prized visitant in the humblest abodes ; took delight in the society of little children, into where artless feelings he entered with a fresh- ness and zest which attracted them irresistibly, and mnade them fastest friends thenceforth. There was about hin wherever seen the outgush of kindly sympathies, disclosing a genial, warm hean, retaining its youthful buoyancy in spite of advancing years. Thus he seemed far younger than he was; and when during the summer of 1857 he revisited the shrine of his Alma Mater, at the season of her annual celebration, and rejoiced to meet many of the friends of his carlici years, and uttered in a meeting of her Alumni one of his short, pithy, telling speeches, and con- veyed to other hearts the cheeriness which weiled up frou his own, it was a remark often made that it was hardly credible he had taught in the institution nearly fifty-five years before !
He died in the spring succeeding this sumuer, in a good old age, surrounded by friends who honored and loved him, and followed to the grave by many who sorrowed that they
should see his face no more. What remains is the record of strong powers devoted to high purposes, issuing in a worthy and beneficent life-work. Having " served his gen- eration faithfully by the will of God," and passed from among the actors still playing their several parts on the mortal stage, he has left the impress of what he was and what he did as a monument to perpetuate his name.
REV. CORNELIUS VAN SANTVOORD, D.D.,
has been a resident of Kingston since 1871. He is a sou of the Rev. Staats Van Santvoord, D. D., still living at New Baltimore, N. Y., and himself the grandson of the Rev. Cornelius Van Santvoord, who came from Holland to this country in 1718, and who died as pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Schenectady, in 1752.
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