History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 22

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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. II > Part 22

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John T. Waring, who had been in Yonkers since 1834, and who had been engaged with his brother William in the factory just mentioned, in 1849 estab- lished himself in the business on Chicken Island,

lying further down the stream, and, later still, oecu- pied a building on the north side of Elm Street. In 1862 le erected the large building on the south side of the same street and established his hat-factory in it. Waring & Baldwin having dissolved partnership and the former having built another factory further np, three hat-factories were in successful operation at the same time. With frequent changes in partner- ships and name, these establishments carried on the work on a scale of growing magnitude. Mr. Baldwin again joined Mr. Wm. C. Waring. Finally, however, he withdrew from the business. Mr. Win. C. Waring, in 1862, sold ont the factory to Hall F. Baldwin and Ethan Flagg, who operated it for fifteen years as the "Union Hat-Factory." Mr. Flagg withdrew in 1877 and Hall F. Baldwin conducted the business until the spring of 1883, when it was closed.

William C. Waring, after the sale of his factory mentioned above, was admitted as a .partner into the firm of John T. Waring & Co. This firm failed in September, 1876, and the business was conducted by Wm. C. Waring as agent, and subsequently by Charles H. Coffin. In 1877, however, the firm of Wm. C. Waring, Belknap & Co. was organized, and the works, known as the " Eagle Hat-Factory," were again put into operation on an apparently permanent basis.

The premises of this company, fronting on Elm Street, comprise upwards of two acres of land, almost covered with substantial brick buildings. The main one of these buildings is two hundred and twenty-five feet long, fifty feet wide and five stories high, with two extensions,-one of three stories, measuring two hundred by forty feet, containing the engine and boiler-rooms and other rooms for the various opera- tions of the factory, and the other occupied as the dye- shops and blocking department. Steam elevators communicate with the different floors. The estab- lishment is supplied with power by steam-engines having a capacity of nearly five hundred horse- power. It is capable of working over eight hundred operatives and has once turned out as many as one thousand dozen hats in a day.

This establishment in September, 1882, passed out of the hands of Wm. C. Waring, Belknap & Co., and since then has not been occupied.

The factory occupied by Howard W. Flagg was built by Mr. Ethan Flagg in 1875 and 1876, the man- ufacture of wool hats having been begun in it in the latter year. The business was first conducted by a firm composed of H. W. and W. W. Flagg. The latter sold out his interest to the former in the fall of 1876. The appointments of this factory give it a capacity of about two hundred dozen hats per day. It employs about one hundred hands, and annually pays in wages about twenty-four thousand dollars. It is a brick building, four stories high, eighty by one hundred feet in area and has added to it a dye-house forty feet square, and an engine-house and drying- rooms forty-five by forty feet and two stories high.

YONKERS.

The Yonkers Hat Manufacturing Co. began busi- ness, in April, 1883, in the buildings on John Street. The members of the company are E. V. Connet, Ethelbert Belknap, William R. Mott, William H. Belknap, James Stewart and George W. Beach. The company occupy the building formerly occupied by W. C. Waring, Belknap & Co.

The Waring Hat Manufacturing Co., with Mr. John T. Waring as President, carries on its work in the large brick building originally built for the Star Arms Co., and later occupied by other companies, the last of which was the New York Plow Co. It stands on Vark Street, between Hawthorne and Riverdale Avenues. The Waring Hat Manufacturing Co. began in this building in 1884. In 1885 they began to manufacture tapestry velvet carpets. Their busi- ness was started with a brisk success, and is rapidly growing. They employ about five hundred hands.

Col. - Williams) and Susannah (married Jonathan Smith). These children were the parents of large families, now widely scattered through the country. Peter, the fourth of them (born in 1782, died in 1849) and his wife, Esther, daughter of Thomas Crosby and Hannah Snow, worthy people of Putnam County, became the parents of the following children, named in order of their ages : Jarvis A., William C., Aurelia (married Isaac V. Paddock), Jane (married Robert W. Newman), Laura (married Sclden Hubbell), Han- nah (married David Underwood), John T., Marietta (married David H. Ketchum), Charles E. and Catha- rine (married Levi Roberts). Most of these children have lived many years in Yonkers, and the four sons through their adult lives have been prominent Yonkers business men. Oftheseten children, Mr. Jarvis A. War- ing, died in October, 1872, and Mr. William C. War- ing and Mrs. Robert W. Newman have died in 1886.

John T. Waring was born at Southeast, November 7, 1820, and passed his boyhood till 1834 with but lit-

The brain and nerve which first achieve brilliant success in enterprise, then bear up bravely under sweeping re- verses, and, finally, against very great disadvantages regain a solid business foot- ing with assured prospect of a busi- ness triumph, are, by universal consent, entitled to high re- spect and honorable WARING HATMI CEL mention. The career of Mr. John T. War- ing, known in Yonk- ers as boy and man for more than half THE WARING HAT MANUFACTORY. a century, and as one of its leading manufacturers for thirty years, has furnished a distinguished example of capacity and ; while, in 1828, his brother, William C., and Hezekiah courage, and seems, despite of trying reverses in recent years, about to be crowned, after all, with high success. A brief sketch of his life and business history will be in place and acceptable to his fellow-citizens among these annals of the city.

The Waring family is of English descent, and is believed to have migrated to this country from Liver- pool. Its first location here, as far as known, was within the present South Norwalk, Conn., in the vi- cinity of which families of the name still exist.

John Waring, grandfather of John T. Waring, re- moved to Southeast (then Dutchess, now Putnam County, N. Y.) about 1750, accompanied by two brothers,-Thaddeus and Samuel. John Waring was married twice. His first wife was Catharine Tuthill, and his second was Mary Elwell. He had nine chil- dren,-Lewis, Charles, John, Peter, Isaac, Samuel, Polly (married George Gregory), Joanna (married

tlc experience of change at his parents' home. Mean- Nichols had come down to Yonkers and begun the hatting business in the "Glen," on the spot now taken up by Copcutt's silk-factory. Reverses and changes came over this firin and its business during the next six years, which it would be foreign to the object of this article to recount. In the spring of 1834, how- ever, Mr. William C. Waring started upon the same spot in the "Glen " the new firm of " Paddock & Waring." It was at or about the opening of this new firm's experience that John T. Waring entered its employ and began to learn the hatting business. The new firm ran on till 1837, when, feeling the effects of the then widely prevailing financial depression, it strengthened itself by a reorganization, and took on the name of William C. Waring & Co. In this name it did business till 1844, when the buildings in the Glen were burned. In the same year a new building was erccted for it on what is now designated as Elm

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Street. The building still stands, being part of the property occupied by the Elm Street and Palisade Avenue Carpet-Factory. Through all the business changes of his brother from 1834 to 1844, Mr. Waring had continued with him, devoting himself to the mas- tery of the trade. From 1844;to 1849 he had a business interest in the firm. In 1849 he began hatting on his own account in an old building on the site, in the Nepperhan River, then and still known as "Chicken Island." From this time till 1876, a period of twenty- seven years, his business carcer was a continuously growing success. In 1857 he bought the factory of William C. Waring & Co., on the present Elm Street, enlarged it and carried on his own business in it for the next five years. In 1862 he built his large hat factory on the opposite side of the since-opened street and at once entered upon a fourteen-ycar period of the great- cst prosperity. With his increased facilities in this building his business grew till he had over eight hun- dred men in his employ and was making hats at the rate of eight hundred dozen a day. By 1876 a capital of forty-five hundred dollars, with which he had be- gnn in the ucw building in 1862, had grown to a cap- ital of nearly a million. It was at this point that he was struck with reverses. In 1868, under the stimulus of his great success, he had purchased the splendid

site and begun to develop the magnificent property in the northern part of Yonkers, which has since be- come famous under the name of "Greystone," in- tending them for his own future home. The grounds, buildings and total improvements are said to have cost him nearly half a million dollars. Being visited in 1876 with overwhelming reverses in his business, he lost all he had previously gained. His beautiful mansion and grounds were sold for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Hon. Samuel J. Tilden.

Upon this experience, Mr. Waring, with his eldest son, Arthur Baldwin, who was through his whole pe- riod of trial and has been through all his effort at rc- covery his father's devoted helper and efficient sup- port, entered into a large contract with the State of Massachusetts for the employment of its convict labor, left Yonkers, settled near Boston, and, nothing daunted. began business anew. His energy in his new field was crowned with deserved success. In 1884, having filled out his contract, lic returned to Yonkers, and has recently bought the large property on Vark Street, built during the late war for the manufacture of arms and originally known as the "Starr Arms Works." This property he has thoroughly renovated and stocked with abundant machinery of the most improved kind. Operations have now been begun in it, and, under Mr. Waring's energetic business man- agement, the works promise to take their place among the largest and most vigorous works of this manufac- turing city. Possessing a perfect knowledge of the hatting trade in all its branches, Mr. Waring has be- come the inventor of several important processes in

hat-making, and especially of a hat-sizing machine, from which he derives a large income.

Mr. Waring was connected with the Republican party from its organization and was a firm supporter of the Union canse during the Civil War. In 1861 he was elected president of the village of Yonkers. During that year war meetings were held in the town and a large number of men enlisted for the army. The faith of the town was pledged by resolutions passed at these meetings for the support of the fami- lies of the enlisting men while they might be away from home; and they were about moving to the field, when it occurred to them to donbt whether the pledge of the popular meetings was a sufficient security for the care of those they were about to leave behind. At once they declared their unwillingness to proceed un- less the president of the village would personally be- come security for the fulfilment of the popular pledge. This Mr. Waring promptly did, and so strong was the confidence of the men and their families in him that the difficulty vanished and the recruits went out to the service of the country. Mr. Ethan Flagg accompanied Mr. Waring the next day in the work of looking up the families of the seventy-five men who had gone, and found that the town was left with the care of sixty-five such families upon its hands.

Mr. Waring married Jeannette P., daughter of the late Anson Baldwin, himself for many years a leading manufacturer and active citizen of Yonkers. Mr. and Mrs. Waring have had the following ten children : Arthur B., Grace (married Lewis Roberts). John T., Jr. (deceased), John T., Jr., Cornelia B., Pierre C., Snsan B., Anson (deceased), James Palmer and Janet. The family has been prominently identified with the social life of Yonkers, and, being connected with St. John's Episcopal Church, has contributed much to the church's influence and usefulness. Energetic in all his business affairs. Mr. Waring's successes have been due in part to his thorough grasp of all the details and needs of his business, and, in part, to that abso- lute faith in himself which his whole career has so well justified. No man has done more to impress himself upon his place of residence than he. He will always be thought of as a foremost representative of Yonkers' leading business men. Yonkers' history would not be full without a tribute to his name.

THE SILK-WORKS .- In 1855 Mr. George B. Skin- ner, who had begun the manufacture of sewing-silk and twist, at Mansfield, Conn., established the busi- ness in Yonkers, on the east side of the Nepperhan, in a stone building that had been created a year or two before for a cotton-factory. In 1868 Mr. Skinner ad- mitted to partnership with him William Iles, who had been his superintendent from the start, and the firm- name was made George B. Skinner & Co., which form it continues to bear. Machine twist is a specialty in its manufacture, and about one hundred and fifty hands are employed. The machinery is driven by water supplied by the Saw-Mill River.

John I training

YONKERS.

The firm of Macfarlane & Westney (William Mac- farlane and William Westney) began the manufacture of machine twist and sewing-silk in the basement of George B. Skinner's factory, in March, 1859. Mr. Westney withdrew after about four months, and Mr. Macfarlane carried on the business alone.

In 1862 or 1863 he moved to a frame building on Chieken Island, and in 1865 to a building which had just been erected by Mr. Ethan Flagg, on James Street, in which the Fair of the Sanitary Commission in the time of the war had been held. The factory re- mains in this building. It occupies two floors, forty- five by one hundred feet in area. William Maefar- lane died February 5, 1883, and his sons, W. W. and Albert E. became owners of the business, though the father's name is retained. On the death of Albert E. Macfarlane, in May, 1884, W. W. Macfarlane became the proprietor. About sixty hands are employed, and material for warp and filling for silk goods is produced.

Copcutt & Myers began the manufacture of spool silk, machine twist and embroideries in December, 1866. The firm was composed of William H. Copcutt and William A. Myers. A brick building, twenty- five by one hundred feet and three stories high, had been ereeted by Mr. Copcutt about two years before, and had been occupied for a while by Cummings & Mensing, of New York City, for the manufacture of ladies' dress trimmings. This building was now taken by the new firm of Copeutt & Myers, and it has ever since been known as Copeutt's Mill, the site being still occupied by the same building, though the build- ing is greatly enlarged. It is said that a logwood-fac- tory had previously stood upon this site, operated by a firm known as Russell, Styles & Hibbard. By the with- drawal of Mr. Myers from the Copcutt firm in 1872, and the admission of John Copcutt in his place, the firm name became changed to William H. Copeutt & Co., The factory was now enlarged, and the manufacture of ribbons and piece goods was begun. This work grew so rapidly that after a time the entire energy of the firm was given to it, the production of spool silk, machine twist, and embroideries being abandoncd. On the 28th of August, 1883, the William H. Copcutt Manufacturing Company was incorporated with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The members of this company were John Copcutt, R. Cop- cutt, William H. Copcutt and John R. Warren. This organization continues. About three hundred hands are employed in the factory, the motive-power being furnished partly by the Nepperhan and partly by steam.

OTIS BROTHERS & Co. (Elevator-Works) .- The Elevator-Works of Otis Brothers & Co., the largest in the world, were established in the year 1854 by Elisha G. Otis, in the building at the foot of Vark Street now occupied by the New York Plow Company. At his death in 1861, his sons Charles R. and Norton P. Otis became proprietors, under the name of N. P. Otis & Brother. In August, 1864, J. M. Alvord was taken in as a partner and the name took the form of Otis

Brothers & Co., which it has since retained. In 1867 Mr. Alvord sold his interest to the Otis Brothers, after which a stock company was formed with Charles R. Otis, president ; Norton P. Otis, treasurer; and N. H. Stoekwell, sccretary. On the resignation of the latter, which occurred the same year, J. L. Hubbard was made secretary. On a reorganization of the cor- poration June 1, 1882, its eapital stock was increased to five hundred thousand dollars, at which it now stands. The officers at the same time were changed to the following: Win. E. Hale, president ; W. Frank Hall, vice-president; Wm. A. Gibson, treasurer, and H. G. Tarr, secretary.

The manufactory at the corner of Woodworth and Wells Avenue has been occupied from 1868 till now. The number of men employed in the works in 1854 was from six to ten. In 1883 the firm employed about three hundred and fifty in the factory here, and about as many more outside in various places in putting up their work. In 1854 five or six elevators were built and in 1883 six hundred. The works cover an area of about one and a half aeres. The main business office is at Nos. 92 and 94 Liberty Street, New York. The company construet both passenger and freight elevators of all kinds-hydraulie, steam and belt-the last-men- tioned being operated by a belt attached to machinery which can be put to other uses in the same building. The company claim that their elevators carry more pas- sengers daily in the city of New York than the clevated railroads carry, and that they manufacture more ele- vators than all others engaged in the business together.

Since January 1, 1883, they have made a specialty of elevator inspection, which consists in sending a competent man to make a critical examination of the condition of an elevator, whose report and suggestions in respect to needed repairs or alterations will' insure the greatest possible degree of safety and efficiency with referenee to the elevator he inspects.

" The Otis family trace their origin to Jolin Otis, who, with his family, came from Hingham, in Nor- folk, England June, 1635, in company with the Rev. Peter Hobart, and took the freeman's oath the 3d of March following. He was probably a substantial yeoman, who left his country partly to accompany his pastor, a staunch, non-conforming clergyman. His will, dated May 3, 1657, and proved 28th of July in the same year, is recorded in the first volume of the Suffolk Registry of Probate. John Otis is also inen- tioned in the records of Hingham, Mass., as being a landholder there in 1668-69."

The manuscript journal of the Rev. Mr. Hobart contains two or three entries relating to this family, as does also a tract written by a lawyer, Thomas Lech- ford, a dissenting member of Mr. Hobart's church, of which but two copies arc now in existenec in this country, one of which is to be found in the Ebeling eol- lection in the library of Howard University. An ex- traet from the "Otis Genealogy " by the late Horatio N. Otis reads as follows : " Few families in New Hamp-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

shire or elsewhere suffered more from the constant and cruel assaults of the Indians than the family of Richard Otis. He himself, with one son and one daughter, was killed in 1689, and his wife and child were captured and sold to the French. At the same time a number of his grandchildren were carried captive, and a few years after some of his grandchildren were killed, and others made prisoners by the Indians. Ina word, every one of his children alive (in 1689) and many of his grandehildren-what few escaped with their lives-suffered in their persons and property from the warfare of the savage foe. They lived in constant peril and alarm. Their houses were fortified for de- fense against the red man and in their acts of devo- tion they carried their arms in their hands." The Richard of whom this speaks is supposed to have been a son of John Otis, formerly of Hingham, and the extraet serves to show the sufferings to which these hardy searchers after religious liberty were subjected.

In the years that have succeeded these early days of trial and exposure the Otis family has numbered among its members many honored and distinguished names, prominent among which are those of James Otis, the Revolutionary statesman and patriot, and his nephew, Harrison Gray Otis. "James Otis was born at Great Marshes, Mass., February 5, 1725 ; died in Andover, May 23, 1783. He graduated at Harvard College in 1743, studied law in Boston, was admitted to the bar in 1748 in Plymouth, where he began to practice, and in 1750 removed to Boston. In 1760 he published a treatise entitled 'The Rudi- ments of Latin Prosody, with a dissertation on letters and the principles of Harmony in Poetic and Prosaic Composition.' In 1761 he delivered his famous argu- ment on the question, whether the persons employed in enforcing the acts of trade should have the power to invoke generally the assistance of all the execu- tive officers of the colony. Mr. Otis was at that time advocate-general, but, deeming the writs of assistance illegal, refused to argue in behalf of them and resigned. He was then employed upon the other side and produced a profound impression. The judges evaded giving a decision, and the writs, although secretly granted at the next terin, were never exe- cuted. The next year Mr. Otis was elected to the Legislature, where his eloquence soon placed him at the head of the popular party, and justified his claim to the title of the 'great incendiary of New England.' On June 6, 1765, he moved that a ' congress of delegates be called from the several colonies.' The motion was adopted, and a circular letter was sent to the other colonies, in consequence of which the Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October of that year. Mr. Otis was one of the del- egates to this body, and a member of the committee to prepare an address to the House of Commons. In May, 1767, he was elected Speaker of the Provin- cial House, but was negatived by the Governor.

When Chas. Townsend's plan of taxation had passed Parliament, the Massachusetts House sent in 1768 another circular letter requesting the colonies to unite in some suitable measures of redress. On the mess- age of Governor Bernard requiring the letter to be rescinded, Mr. Otis made a speech, pronounced by the friends of the government to be 'the most violent, insolent, abusive and treasonable declaration that perhaps ever was delivered.' and in consequence, the House refused to rescind by a vote of ninety-two to seventeen." Mr. Otis was ever upon the side of American freedom and lost no opportunity, even at the risk of his life, to express the strong opinions which he held. John Adams said, speaking of him, "I have been young and now am old, and I solemnly say I have never known a man whose love of his country was more ardent and sincere, never one who suffered so much, never one whose services for any ten years of his life were so important and essential to the cause of his country as were those of Mr. Otis from 1760 to 1770." 1

President Adams also remarked, in referring to Mr. Otis' memorable speech in opposition to writs of as- sistance, " I do say in the most solemn manner that Mr. Otis' oration against writs of assistance breathed into this nation the breath of life."

The impetuous genius of James Otis supplied what was wanting in Adams' well-poised temperament. He was an accomplished scholar, a charming speaker and richly endowed with dashing and brilliant qual- ities. Ifis first published work, in 1760, was a treatise on " The Rudiments of Latin Prosody," with a disserta- tion on the principles of harmony in composition. He prepared a similar work on Greek prosody, which was never published. The following year, 1761, he was called to take the leading part in the great trial of the writs of assistance.

Here his remarkable gifts had a fair and adequate field for their exercise. The trial involved not only great pecuniary interests, but the political and civil rights of a continent, and gave ample opportunity for the display of his varied learning, masterly reason- ing and captivating eloquence. From this time for- ward he knew neither rest nor peace. In 1762, after a sharp controversy with Governor Bernard on a question of his right to authorize expenditures with- out the knowledge of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, in which Otis was sustained by the House, he published a spirited vindication of its ac- tion, which still further stimulated the spirit of re- sistance of executive power. The title of this mas- terly work was, " A Vindication of the Conduct of the House of Representatives of the Province of the Massa- chusetts Bay," printed by Edes & Gill, 1762. John Adams, writing of it many years after, said : " Look over the Declaration of Rights and Wrongs, issued by Congress in 1774; look into the writings of Dr.

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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. II, Part 22

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286