History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 207

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 207

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The family, which is large, is widely scattered throughout the United States, devoting themselves with the most remarkable energy to all the avocations of life in a new country and achieving success as law- yers, doctors, ministers, missionaries, manufacturers, merchants and tillers of the soil, and in every line they are remarkable for longevity, probity and inten- sity of purpose, strong will and determination,-char- acteristics which come from a hardy, strong and un- compromising ancestry.

The meaning of the name Bixby is "the house or town near the box-trees." "By," means town, village or house ; "bix " means the box-i. e., the tree by that name.

Boxford, in Suffolk County, Mass., was planted and reared by the Bixbys. Boxford,-i. e., the ford by the box-trees-was the home of the emigrant, Joseph Bixby, and received its name from him.

The first record of the Bixbys in this country is that of Nathaniel and Joseph Bixby, father and son, in the town of Ipswich, Mass., where Nathaniel is re- corded as a householder in 1638.

From this date the father and son are readily traced, the son marrying, in 1647, a lady from Asing- ton, Suffolk County, England, and settling in Rowley village, afterward incorporated, under his leadership, as the town of Boxford. It is recorded that Joseph Bixby died, " being aged," in 1700.

From Nathaniel and his son Joseph, the original immigrants, can be traced all the Bixbys at present known to exist in the United States, and they inhabit nearly every State and Territory. The oldest known to be living to-day is a lady past her ninety-ninth birthday, who is well preserved, mentally and physi- cally, and displays a degree of cheerfulness and great good humor rarely observed in aged people.

In point of health, vigor and other characteristics, Samuel M. Bixby is a true type of his ancestors. His genial disposition, with the faculty of discerning the bright side of life, warrants the prediction of his en- joyment, for many years to come, of the success he has achieved.

COLONEL RICHARD M. HOE.

Among the names of American inventors whose discoveries have increased the welfare of the world, few deserve more honorable mention than the late Colonel Hoe, the inventor of the Lightning Printing- Press. Mr. Hoc was the head of the great firm of R. Hoe & Co., manufacturers of printing-presses. The history of this house, originally established by his father, and carried on from one success to another by his father's sons, is the history of the evolution of the art of printing, not only in America, but throughout the civilized world. Prior to the invention of the presses which bear the name of Hoe, the machinery by which the uses of " the types " are made mauifest on paper was indeed slow-ruuning and, in the light of the development of to-day, very crude. It was the Hoes who gave to the world, iu 1847, the first rotary press ever known, and later, the wonderful Web Per- fecting Printing-Machines with which the press-rooms of the leading newspapers of the United States and Europe are now provided, and which, from au endless roll or web of paper, print, cut and fold twenty-four thousand eight-page papers an hour. The honor of having devised and invented this almost human machine, which has made the cheap newspaper a possibility, and completely revolutionized the world of printing, belongs jointly to Colonel Richard M. Hoe and Mr. S. D. Tucker, one of his partners. Although many years ago the mammoth business which he had inherited from his father had made him a wealthy man, abundantly able, had he seen fit, to retire from its active management, Colonel Hoe to the day of his death was the actual head and manager of the great manufacturing house, giving his time and

Richem Hoe

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inventive brain abundantly to the development of the business.

Robert Hoe, his father, and founder of the house of R. Hoe & Co., was a native of Lancashire, England, and was born at Hose, in 1784. At an early age he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a carpenter, but being of an ambitious disposition, he " bought his time " and came to New York at the age of nineteen. Arriving in the New World solitary and friendless, he accidentally met with the famous Grant Thorburn, who entertained him with hospitality and nursed him with care when prostrated with yellow fever. Some years after he married Rachel, daughter of Matthew Smith, of North Salcm, Westchester County.

His brother-in-law, Peter Smith, invented an im- proved printing-press, and he was engaged with him in the manufacture. When the news came of the in- troduction of the flat-bed cylinder press in England, Mr. Hoe sent a skilled workman to examine the new invention, and upon his return he extended his man- ufacturing operations. Robert Hoe died in 1833, at the age of forty-nine, leaving the business to his son, Richard M. Hoe, whose name is now known world- wide as an inventor. He took his cousin, Matthew Smith, with Sereno Newton, as partners, and the firm- name was made R. Hoe & Co., which is still retained.

Colonel Richard M. Hoe had inherited his father's inventive skill, and he also developed rare executive ability. The business under his management pros- pered apace. Invention after invention followed rapidly from his fertile mind. One of his first inven- tions, was a new method of grinding circular saws, a mode which is now in general use. In 1847 he made the great discovery which must ever rank him as one of the foremost inventors of the age, and invented the " Lightning Press," better known as the "Rotary Press," in which the type is fixed upon the circumfer- ence of a cylinder. By this means from ten to twenty- five thousand impressions could be made in an hour ; the new printing-machine superseded the former styles, and the press of Franklin's days became a thing of the past. His great discovery was still further perfected by the invention of the Web Perfecting Press, which prints on both sides of the paper, cuts it off and folds it, ready for the carricr, at the rate of twenty-four thousand copies an hour. When one sees this piece of mechan- ism in full running order, the thought that first arises is that in this machine human ingenuity and skill have reached their limit. The business of R. Hoe & Co. is of immense extent. A whole block on Grand Street, New York, is occupied with their manufac- tory, and the enterprise, which was begun on a very limited scale in 1805, in 1885 employed over one thousand hands, and the whole world acknowledges their superiority in the manufacture of machinery for perfecting the " Art preservative of Arts."

The children of Robert Hoe and Rachel Smith were Mary, wife of Rev. Ebenezer Seymour; Elizabeth, wife of Merlin Mead ; Emelinc, wife of Giles S. Ely ;

Rachel, wife of M. W. Dodd ; Theodosia, wife of Rev. William S. Leavitt ; Richard M., Robert and Peter S.

Colonel Richard M. Hoe was born September 12, 1812, and married Lucy, daugliter of Josiah Gilbert. Their children are Emily, wife of Cyrus J. Lawrence ; and Adeline, wife of De Witt C. Lawrence, brother of the former. Colonel Hoe was married a second time, to Mary S., daughter of Henry E. Corbin, of Virginia. Their children are Annie C., Mary S., wife of J. Henry Harper, and Fannie B., wife of John Harper.

Colonel Hoe purchased an estate at West Farms, of Christopher Spencer, about thirty years since. Upon this property he had an elegant residence, while the farm produces some of the finest specimens of blooded cattle that can be found in the county.

The attitude of Colonel Hoe toward those in his employ may properly be held up as a model. Nearly thirty years ago he established an evening school for the apprentices in the manufactory, where free instruc- tion was given in those branches of study likely to be of the most practical service in properly developing their minds. For years he gave this school his per- sonal attention, and up to the day of his death was deeply interested in its conduct, firmly believing, as has been well said, that " the diffusion of knowledge among the working classes makes the man a better mechanic and the mechanic a better man."

Personally, Mr. Richard M. Hoe is described by those who knew him intimately as having been a man of exceptionally cheerful temperament and gentle ways. He was devoted to his life-work, but at the same time was essentially domestic. He was a prom- inent member of St. Anne's Episcopal Church, situated near his residence. His name as an inventor, and the famc of the wonderful presses that he called into being, are known the world over. He died of heart- disease at Florence, Italy, in June, 1886.

WILLIAM REYNOLDS-BEAL.

William Reynolds-Beal, president of the Central Gas-Light Company of New York City, was born in Newark, New Jersey, May 13, 1838. His parents, Joseph R. and Elizabeth (Austen) Beal, were natives of England, and came to this country about 1830. His early life was passed in Newark, where he at- tended the school connected with Grace Episcopal Church, and graduated with high honor. His father, who was a man of cducation and intelligence, died at a comparatively early age, and the son, although offered a collegiate education, resolved to enter at once into active business. At the age of fourteen he became assistant in the office of the Newark Gas- Light Company, and afterwards removed to Eliza- beth, where he was assistant to the engineer who built the gas-works. In 1855 he went to Yonkers, Westchester County, and took charge of the works of the Yonkers Gas Company, where he remained for eleven years, and left the company in a very flour-

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ishing condition. While in Yonkers he was also extensively engaged in business as a general contractor, and employed large numbers of men and horses in local contracts. Mr. Beal took the initiative in or- ganizing St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and assisted largely in building its church edifice, and was also a vestryman of the parish.

In 1866 he removed to Morrisania and became con- nected with the Westchester County Gas-Light Com- pany, now known as the Central Gas-Light Company of New York City. From that time to the present, when Mr. Beal is the largest stockholder of the com- pany, he has made the advancement and extension of this enterprise the principal business of his life. During the past fifteen years he has been its presi- dent, and under his able management its business and prosperity have been very largely increased. He was also the builder of the works of the Northern Gas-Light Company in the Twenty-fourth Ward of New York City, and is the consulting engineer and one of the directors of that company. His thorough knowledge of the details of the business of illumina- tion by gas has enabled Mr. Beal to produce many inventions, whose value and usefulness are widely recognized. Among these may be mentioned "Beal's Hydraulic Main," which is now in use in several of the largest works of the country, while his latest invention is a "Scrubber " for purifying gas, which bids fair to secure recognition as a valuable improve- ment.

Foreseeing the rapid growth of the Twenty-third Ward of the city of New York, Mr. Beal purchased extensive tracts of real estate, and is the owner of many houses in that district, and is also the president of a recently organized "Land and Improvement Company." He was largely instrumental in the establishment of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, which is built upon land formerly owned by him. He is now a vestryman of St. Anne's Church, and intimately identified with its work.

The cause of popular education has found in him an active and liberal promoter. For six years he was a member of the board of trustees of Rutgers Fe- male College, and is the present chairman of the board of school trustees of Morrisania. His connection with the public schools has been distinguished by the breadth of views which has been his characteristic in all other business affairs, and he has always felt an ardent interest in all that conld advance their welfare and increase their usefulness. He has always been a strong advocate of the principles of the Republican party, but has declined repeated offers of nomination for political office. He is a member of the Masonic order, and was one of the charter members of the Gavel Lodge of Morrisania, and is also well known as an enthusiastic member of the Knickerbocker Yacht Club and of other organizations.

Mr. Beal married Miss Eleanor L., daughter of Thaddeus Bell, of Yonkers. Their children are Rey-

nolds, Alice R., Thaddeus R., Mary R., Albert R. and Gifford R.

Mr. Beal is a fair representative of the class of business men who, without the advantages of inher- ited wealth, have established both fortune and high reputation by their own activity, foresight and energy. His is a well-rounded character, and as a manufac- turer, inventor and mau of business he is well knowu as among the most active and energetic of the public- spirited citizens of the Twenty-third Ward of the city of New York.

HUGH N. CAMP.

Hugh N. Camp, well known in the financial and social circles of New York, was born in Hanover, N. J., October 14, 1827, but has always resided in the city of New York. He is descended from an English family, which settled in Connecticut at a. very early date, and his ancestors removed to New Jersey in 1660, where his graudfather, William, and his father, Isaac B., were born. The latter married Jeanette Ely, of Hanover, and they were the parents of four sons and two daughters. Hugh N., the fourth son, obtained his early education in the public schools in New York. At the age of sixteen he found a posi- tion as clerk in the employ of Booth & Edgar, com- mission merchants, on Front Street. With them he remained eleven years, and in 1854, in compauy with E. W. Brunsen and Charles Sherry, Jr., established a sugar refinery at Bristol, R. I., upon a capital of forty thousand dollars, which was principally furnished by his former employers and Francis Skiddy. This was conducted very successfully till 1868, when the part- ners retired on account of ill health, aud Mr. Camp, with two clerks as partners, continued the business until 1870, when the firm was compelled to suspend on account of financial reverses. Mr. Camp settled its affairs iu a satisfactory manner, and in 1871 estab- lished a real estate business in New York, which he continued till 1883, when he relinquished it in order to give liis time and attention to matters of more im- . portance. In 1866 he became connected with the St Joseph Lead Company, and was elected treasurer. In 1882 he cstablished the Lehigh Valley Cement Company, of which he is now president, and in 1884 became vice-president of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of New York.

Mr. Camp has long been prominently connected with many institutions of which New York is so justly proud, having been for twenty-seven years trustee and treasurer of the Five Points House of Industry and for twenty-eight years trustee of St. Luke's Hospital. He was also one of the directors of the Mercantile Library and secretary of Clinton Hall Association from 1862 till the present time. For eight years he was director of the Mechanics' Bank and for seven years director of the Mutual Life In- surance Company. He was also one of the origin- ators and first trustees of Woodlawn Cemetery and has

C Your Day) Bugh 1 Camp

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been for several years a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Prominently connected with the Republican party, he has been a member of the Union League from its commencement. He is also one of the oldest members of the Century Club, so well known in liter. ary and artistic circles.

In 1861 he purchased an estate in Westchester County. This place, which has since been his home, is situated on the north side of the highway leading from Morris' Doek to the old McComb's Dam road, and is a portion of the Morris farm in the okl Manor of Fordham. Taking an active interest in the cause of education, he was for six years president of the School Board in the town of West Farms. He is a member and an active and liberal supporter of St. James' Episcopal Church at Fordham and one of the present vestry.

In 1883 he was appointed by Mayor Edson, of New York, a member of the Aqueduct Commission to de- termine as to the necessity of a new aqueduct and to decide upon the route and manner of building, a po- sition of great importance and responsibility.

Mr. Camp married Elizabeth D., daughter of John MeKesson, of New York, in 1854. They are the parents of eight children, seven of whom are still living,-Edward B., Maria L. (wife of P. P. Williams), John McK., Frederick E., Alice, Emily, Hugh N., Jr., and William H.

In the social, financial and political society of New York the name of Mr. Camp is widely known and justly popular. There are few who can boast of a more extensive acquaintance or a more intimate knowledge with the varied phases of life and manners as they are seen in the great city.

COLONEL M. O. DAVIDSON.

Colonel Davidson was born in Plattsburg, Clinton County, N. Y., March 28, 1819, and at the time of his death, September 1, 1872, was nearly fifty-four years of age.

He was a son of Dr. Oliver Davidson and Margaret M. Davidson, and was one of a gifted family, his sis- ters Margaret and Lucretia having attracted much attention from the literary world of their time by their brilliant poetical efforts.

ITis professional career and services began in his eighteenth year.

One of his first appointments was on the Croton Aqueduct, where he served some years. He was sub- sequently employed upon the Erie Railway, and after that upon a road in Canada. Thence he went to Cuba in 1842, remaining there nearly a year on the Coliseo Railroad. Upon his return to this country, in 1843, and for ten years after, he was engaged in the Cumberland coal region of Maryland, which he was principally instrumental in developing. While there he constructed an inclined plane, opened and worked

the mines, and made many experiments in machinery and in the combustion of coal that have been of value to the profession.

In the year 1857 Colonel Davidson went to Havana, Cuba, under an appointment as engineer-in-chief of the Havana Railways, an office he filled with great credit to himself and advantage to the company, until he resigned his position in the year 1863.

During the period Colonel Davidson was in Cuba he reconstructed the entire length of the nearly worn- out road, some one hundred and ten miles long, ele- vating it from a condition of almost complete nse- lessness to a first-class railway in all respects. The improvements introduced by him covered everything relating to permanent way, bridges, passenger, freight and water stations, as well as a complete revolution in equipment. He also constructed thirty-six miles of new and heavy line, reflecting great credit upon him- self, especially for his wisdom and energy in com- pleting in time some heavy rock-cutting and bridg- ing, when a failure as to time would have been equal to loss of franchise to the company.

During his stay in Cuba he was often called upon to arbitrate delicate questions between conflicting in- terests, and his decisions were always looked upon as perfect and just solutions of the difficulties to be set- tled.

Shortly after Colonel Davidson's return from Cuba he was appointed chief engineer and superintendent of the Arizona Mining Company. He was in Arizona between two and three years in the exercise of thesc duties, and was at the same time United States Indian agent for the Territory.

In the years 1865 and 1866 he was much occupied in the question of rapid transit for the city of New York, and was commissioned to proceed to London to observe and report upon the system of constructing and operating the underground railways in use there.

In 1867 he was named chief engineer of the New Haven and Derby Railroad, a short line involving many interesting points in location and construction, which he treated in the most successful manner.

From the year 1867 to the time of his death he was engaged in public works in Westchester County, N. Y., embracing a system of avenues, which he skill- fully developed as chief engineer, and which have been of great value to the county.

. In 1869 and 1870 a portion of his attention was taken up in the consideration of such questions as the construction of the Shore Line Railway Bridge across the Connecticut River and in the project of the Hudson River Highland Suspension Bridge, sub- mitted to boards of engineers, of which he was a member.

In concluding this sketch much might be said tonching the excellent traits of character he pos- sessed in a pre-eminent degree, endearing him to all with whom he came in contact.

In his public life as a civil engineer he was an

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ornament to the profession, and in his private life he was the model of a Christian gentleman.

HENRY B. HALL.

Henry B. Hall was born in London Mareh 11, 1808, and at the age of fourteen was artieled as a pupil to Benjamin Smith, known by his works for " Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery." After completing his studies with Mr. Smith he was engaged by Henry Myer, the favorite engraver of Sir Thomas Lawrence, from whom he derived much benefit in his profession. He was subsequently engaged for four years with H. T. Ryall, Engraver to the Queeu, and during that time engraved all the portraits in the large plates of that engraver, ineluding the very celebrated one entitled "Corona- tion of Queen Victoria," after Sir George Hayter.

For many years Mr. Hall's thoughts had been at- traeted towards the United States as a new and great field for art, and in the year 1850 he, with his eldest son, made a visit to New York City, leaving the re- mainder of his family in England. Soon after his ar- rival in New York he was met in a most friendly spirit by many artists and publishers of note, and among the latter the late G. P. Putnam, who, in addi- tion to being among the great publishers of that time, was a devoted patron of art, and such offers were made to Mr. Hall as determined him upon making his home here. His family joined him the following fall aud he settled in Hoboken until the spring of 1851, when he removed to Morrisania and oceupied a house on Un- ion Avenue, near Wall Street, Woodstock. In 1854 he purchased a house on George Street, ucar Boston Avenue, where he passed the remainder of his life, and died on April 25, 1885.

Among his well-known portraits, for which he was particularly noted, are twelve separate portraits of Washington, after all the celebrated artists and sculp- tors; and etchings of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, done for private parties and printed exclusively for their use ; also an etehing of the well- known American composer, George F. Bristow, and one of himself, in 1872, which is the best likeness extant.

His larger works were very numerous, including " Washington and family after hunting," and " Wash- ington at Mount Vernon."

Mr. Hall had eight children-four sous and four daughters : Aune, married Ed. H. Knight, and died in Brooklyn in 1858 and her husband in 1872, leaving a son, Ed. H. (now a resident of Morrisania), and two daughters; Emily, married William Momberger, of Morrisania, a lithographie artist and designer ; Henry B., living in Morrisania, married and has three chil- dren living; Charles B. (same), has five children; Alfred B. (same), has five children; Ernest (same), has three children ; Aliee and Eliza, unmarried, all living in Morrisania.

Henry B., Charles B. and Alfred B. are all engrav- ers and have been established in business together

for many years, and are now located at 22 Park Place, New York. Ernest is a justice of the City Court of New York and worthily represents the old township.

All the sons and daughters have remained near to- gether in Morrisania and have for many years been identificd with its growth.

CHAPTER XXII.

WEST FARMS.1

BY FORDHAM MORRIS.

THE town of West Farms was formed from the town of Westchester by the aet of Assembly of May 13, 1846. It lies upon the Sound and along Harlem River in the southern part of the county. Bronx River forms its eastern boundary and Mill Brook flows through its centre. The surface is rolling, the ridges extending north and south. Within its bound- aries are the villages of West Farms, Fordham, Wil- liams' Bridge, Tremont, Fairmount, Behnont, Clare- mont, Monterey, Mount Eden, Mount Hope and Woodstock. In 1874 it was annexed to New York City, and the extension of streets and railways is rapidly converting it from a suburban to an urban community. It originally embraeed the town of Mor- risania, which was set off from it in 1855. Within its boundaries are numerous splendid residences, some fine chureh edifiees and denominational institu- tions.

Andrew Findlay was the first, and Francis Bar- retto the second, supervisor elected in West Farms after its ereation as a town. In 1847 the num- ber of residents subject to taxation was returned as 270 and the assessed valuation of property as $1,193,920. In 1848 the taxables numbered 341 and the assessment amounted to $1,282,570, produeing a tax of $7094. Andrew Findlay was elected super- visor in 1848 and 1849. In the latter year the taxa- bles had increased to 659 and the property valuation to $1,391,150, the tax being §8435. John B. Haskin served as supervisor in 1850 and 1851. West Farms then had 1114 inhabitants and their property was as- sessed at $1,603,602. Mr. Haskin was sueeeeded in 1852 by Charles Bathgate. A prisou was built in that year and the property valuation rose to $3,535,- 162, owned by 2814 persous. In 1853 Wm. N. Lewis was elected supervisor, and his successors were John B. Haskin (1857-60) ; James Davis (1861-64) ; Wal- ter Roehe, from 1865 to the date of annexation to the eity of New York.

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 207

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354