History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 37

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 37

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No other resident clergymen, not pastors, are re- called by us as dying here. But a number have made Yonkers a temporary or permanent home. We have already mentioned Rev. Montgomery R. Hooper and Rev. Isaac S. Davison with their schools. Of resident elergymen wholly retired from service, we do not think of any except the Rev. Livingston Wil- lard and the Rev. Abram C. Baldwin, of the Pres- byterian Church, the Rev. William S. Moore, of the Reformed Church, and the Rev. E. A. Hill, of the Methodist Church. Two clergymen, residents here, are pastors elsewhere, viz., the Rev. J. S. Shipman, D.D., reetor of Christ Episcopal Church, New York City, and the Rev. John G. Shrive, supply pastor of a Baptist Church at,Williams' Bridge. Three elergy- men, not pastors, but especially prominent in other positions, have had their homes in Yonkers for many years, though the first has reeeutly taken up his abode in New York City. We refer to Rev. Edward Bright, D.D., the able editor of the New York Ex- aminer and Chronicle ; Rev. William W. Rand, 1). D., long publishing secretary of the American Tract So- ciety, and a zealous and indefatigable worker, whose life, through his pen, has carried benediction into many a home, and Rev. Henry Martyn Baird, D.D., LL.D., a son of Rev. Dr. Robert Baird, for many years professor of Greek in the New York Univer- sity, and also for a long period corresponding secre- tary of the American and Foreign Christian Union. A sketch of Professor Baird is given elsewhere by the editor-in-chief of this work.

LAWYERS .- The Yonkers bar is of such reeeney of date that nearly all lawyers who have been identified with the place are still living. It was not till popu- lation set in rapidly that the bar began to form. The first lawyer was William W. Serugham, born in New York City in March, 1820, and educated to the law in the office of Samuel E. Lyon, at White Plains. He settled in Yonkers in 1844. Our map of 1847 shows his law office, built by himself. When he built it, it stood a long way from any other buikling. Now it is in the most crowded part of the city. Mr. Serugham was elected supervisor in 1846, and re-elect- ed again and again till he declined further re-election. From 1847 he was the board's chairman as long as he remained in it. From his coming to Yonkers he at once rose by real merit and soon established himself in popular confidence. In 1849 he began to take a practical interest in the military organization of the State, and was first appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment of the State militia, then colonel and finally brigadier general, being put in command of a brigade. In 1859, by election, he be- came a judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the Second Judicial District. He is best remembered by Yonkers people as JJudge Scrugham. Not far from the close of the term of eight years for which he was elected, on the 9th of August, 1867. he died. Polished in mummer, affable in intercourse,

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learned in his profession, he stood in publie esteem from the first as a representative lawyer and advocate. Upon his painstaking industry and fidelity as a judge, however, his reputation to-day chiefly rests. Men placed nubonnded confidence in his honesty, and his judicial conduct and decisions were generally acceptable and accepted.

Upon Judge Serngliam's elevation to the bench he was succeeded in his Yonkers office by the young law firm of Lyon & Dean. Dean soon withdrawing, the firm became Lyon & Meade. The war breaking out in 1861, these two young men left for the field, intend- ing to return. Lyon, however, resumed his work in New York City instead of Yonkers, and Wm. Creigh- ton Meade, having contracted disease in the army, soon after died at the home of his father, the Rev. Dr. Creighton Meade, of Scarborough. The present lineal successor of Judge Scrugham is Ralph E. Prime, who, having served in the war in the Sixth Regiment New York Artillery, and won for himself the rank of lieutenant-colonel, resigned March 19, 1863, came at once to Yonkers and took the office and place of Lyon & Meade. Mr. Prime, still practic- ing in Yonkers, is now, as to seniority of practice, the oldest living lawyer of the place. He is a son of the late Alanson J. Prime, M.D., of White Plains, and a nephew of the brothers Prime, so widely known as the editors of the New York Observer. Mr. Prime is a clear-headed, industrious and persevering man in his profession, has been very prominently connected with Yonkers and its publie business, is thoroughly acquainted with its history and has been very successful in his practice thronghont.1

1 To ex-Judge Ellis, himself honestly connected, as we show below, with our Civil War service, we are indebted for the following note re- specting Mr. Prime's military record. We take great pleasure in giving it, because, as the correspondence accompanying it shows, Mr. Prime was deprived through political opposition of a high honor intended for him by the Secretary of War. He was born at Fishkill, Dutchess County, N. Y., March 29, 1840. His paternal great-grandfather was a patriot of 1776 ; his maternal grandfather was colonel in a regiment in the War of 1812.

Enlisted in the war for the Union as private April 30 1861, in the Fifth New York Volunteers, known as "Duryea's Zouaves." Promoted ser- geant June 8, 1861 ; second lieutenant September 5, 1861; first lieuten- ant July 4, 1862 ; captain September 30, 1862 (last two promotions for gallantry in the field). Subsequently transferred to Sixth New York Artillery as lieutenant-colonel, and March 5, 1863, nominated by the President of the United States, Brigadier-general.

On detached service October and November, 1861, when he superintend- ed the construction of a fort at Relay Ilouse Junction, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Maryland. Also, at the skirmish of New Kent Court- Honse ; also in the campaign of the eastern shore Virginia and Maryland.

Engaged in the following general battles : Big Bethel, June 10, 1861 ; siege of Yorktown, April, 1862; llanover Court-House, May, 1862 ; Ash- land Bridge, May, 1862 ; Mechanicsville, June 26th ; Gaines' Mill, June 27th ; South Mountain, September 14th ; Antietam, September 17th ; Beachford's Ford, September 20, 1862. Wounded at battle of Gaines' Mill June 27, 1862, with musket-bal! through thigh.

When appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Sixth New York Artillery, he found, npon joining the regiment, that the feclings of the officers were strongly enlisted in favor of the former incumbent of the office, and being convinced that he could not serve as efficiently, under the peculiar circumstances, as liis rival, who was endeared by former association and acquaintance with the regiment, he waived his undoubted right and re-

ii .- 16

The next Yonkers lawyer to Judge Scrugham, in order of coming, was Reuben W. Van Pelt, who came in 1848, whose name was identified with many notable cases of litigation, and whose legal learning and skill conducted the most difficult of these cases to alnost unvarying success for his clients. During later years he gave his time largely to the management of one of the Yonkers industries. Mr. Van Pelt died during the present year (1886). Next to Mr. Van Pelt, in 1856, came the firm of Stedwell & Mann. The latter of these two men was not long in Yonkers. The foriner, as we have shown in our chapter on the You- kers newspapers, was instrumental in starting The Examiner, afterwards, in 1863, united with the Clar- ion to form The Yonkers Statesman. Mr. Stedwell also soon left Yonkers. He died in Flushing, L. I., about two years ago. The next was William Romer, who practiced in Yonkers from 1862 to about 1866. And the next was James P. Sanders, who began to practice here in 1859, and continues in the full vigor of his work. Mr. Sanders, in June, 1874, was twice shot in the Yonkers City Court-room and severely wounded by an exasperated man against whom he had just been sustaining a client. Providentially the first ball merely grazed his shoulder, and the sceond one, though doing severe injury, so lodged as to be easy of excision. The healing was rapid and he was soon at his work again. Mr. Sanders has been noted for persevering industry and for a fearless spirit both in his profesional career and in all local publie matters which have enlistedhis attention.

John M. Mason followed next in order of time- i. e., as a Yonkers lawyer. He had, indeed, come to Yonkers to reside in 1853, but, belonging to the New York law-firm of Knox & Mason, had not practiced here. He retained his conncetion with the firm named till his death, which ocenrred February 18, 1878. From the war period he became identified with Yonkers business-first, for eight years, as a collector of internal revenue, appointed by Pres- ident Lincoln, and subsequently by appointment. of July 1, 1873, as Counsel of the Yonkers Water Board. In our history of that board we have shown that he "had charge of all its legal proceed- ings, including the important and intricate duties bc- longing to the appropriation of lands for public use."

signed in his favor. The appreciation of this act at headquarters is at- tested by the following letter :

" WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, " February 28, 1863. " LT. COL. RALPH PRIME, New York :

" Your resignation was received to-day by the department and ac- cepted. To mark mny approval of your course and estimate of your char- acter and services, your name has been placed on the list of brigadier- generals to be nominated on Monday.

" EDWIN M. STANTON, " Secretary of War."

The appointment failed to receive confirmation through some politi- cal jealousy in the Senate. After returning to civil life he engaged in his profession of the law at Yonkers, where he still remains enjoying a large and lucrative practice.

re tb

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Mr. Mason was a son of John Lefferts Mason (for- merly judge of the Supreme Court of the State) and Amelia Murray, daughter of Colonel John B. Mur- ray, of New York City. His mother is still living at about eighty-eight years of age. His father, Judge John Lefferts Mason, was the oldest of seven chil- dren of that prince of American preachers, Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, of New York City, who died in 1829. Another of the seven children was Euphemia Pre- voost Mason (Mrs. Rev. John Knox, D.D.), one of whose sons, Mr. Isaac H. Knox, was one of the presi- dents of the village of Yonkers, but now resides in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. John M. Mason was born in New York November 8, 1821, and was graduated at Co- lumbia College in 1840. He was distinguished for a master-mind, which he fairly inherited. No legal problem was too profound for him. He stood, intel- leetnally, on a very high eminence before the people. During his life in Yonkers he held several positions of honor and trust. He belonged first to the Board of Education of Public School No. 2, and afterwards to the board of No. 6, of which he was long president. His last years were years of constantly failing health and suffering. From the coming of Mr. Mason the order of succession with which the Yonkers lawyers began practice, down to 1870, was as follows: Ed- ward P. Baird, son of Rev. Dr. Robert Baird, born in Paris, but brought up in Yonkers, began practice in New York City in 1864, but became drawn into Yonkers business first through an appointment as counsel of the People's Savings-Bank. He was the last police justice of the village, aud upon the incor- poration of the city in 1872, was at once elected city judge. At the expiration of his term in 1876, he was re-elected, and served in all eight years, till 1880. In 1883, as before stated, he removed to Minneapolis, Miun., where he died October 26, 1885. H. H. Taylor entered upou practice in 1865, but died January 24, 1876. Matthew H. Ellis served through the late war with the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth New York Regiment of Infantry, which was mus- tered into service in September and October, 1862, and mustered out November 27, 1865. He entered the regiment at its formation as a private, was commissioned captain December 19th, to rank from November 19, 1862, and was breveted major for gallant conduct at the taking of Port Hudson, on the 14th of June, 1863. He began law practice in Yonkers in 1866 ; was corporation counsel from 1870 to 1876, and city judge from 1880 to 1884. Judge Ellis has hekl several positions of honor and trust. Among them was the presidency of the Board of Education of Public School NNo. 6. He is the author of the con- solidated educational system of the city, having him- self prepared and pushed to enactment the law under which it exists. He has won, by his mental force and professional skill, a leading place at the bar and as a publie man. He has always been popular as a speaker ou civil occasions calling for public addresses.

George B. Pentz entered on his career as a practicing lawyer in New York City iu 1860, but, being a resident of Yonkers, became identified with its affairs in var- ious ways, and was finally elected, in 1884, to the city judgesluip, which he now holds. Theodore Fitch be- gan practice here in 1867, and was city attorney from 1877-83, when he was succeeded by Joseph F. Daly, the present incumbent of the office. In 1867 also, William Riley, after seeing severe service in General Burnside's division for a year, and finally sacrificing an arm in the defense of his country at the battle of Antietam on the 17th of September, 1862, completed a course of law study, and took up practice here. He has been an active and industrious member of the Yonkers bar. From 1870 the mmmber of Yonkers lawyers has greatly increased. We can- not follow the later comers, most of whose careers are but just opening before them. It is proper to say, however, that the Hon. Edwin R. Keyes, who did not take up law practice till 1879, has already attained distinction through election to and service in the New York State Assembly. Entering upon this pro- fession in middle life, after having passed his earlier years in another, he brought to it the advantage of experience with men, and of previously-gained popularity as a speaker. He had also had an experi- ence of six months during the late war as chaplain in the army. All these advantages gave him, from his start as a lawyer, a position, which, with his gifts and energy, he is abundantly able to hold. Among the younger lawyers, we note several who, we are sure, will some day take prominent places at the bar. The years and the field are before them all, in which to impress themselves and win their way according to their real merits, as they may yet be faithful to their trust and work.

Many members of the New York City bar reside or have resided in Yonkers, several of whom are men of wide reputation. Some of them have done more or less practice in Yonkers, but they have had no offices here and their practice was incidental only. We hope we omit no name of note in the following list of these gentlemen, the first half-dozen of whom we think we give in the order of their settlement here. Of the rest we do not know the exact order, but can- not be far out of the way. They were Frederick A. Coe (the first comer, now deceased), G. Hilton Scrib- ner and Martin Van Buren Denslow (the former was Secretary of State during the term ending November, 1873; the latter is deceased), Francis N. Bangs (de- ceased November, 1885), Stephen Hl. Thayer, Sr., David Hawley, William Allen Butler, Duucan Smith, James B. Silkman, T. Astley Atkins, E. Y. Bell, Charles W. Seymour, J. Irving Burns, Oliver P. Buel, Thomas Ewing and John H. Hubbell. Upon this list, as upon the first, there are several younger lawyers, for whose names we have no room, but ser- eral of whom give promise of winning their way to prominence in their coming career.

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PHYSICIANS .- Of the physicians of Yonkers, it must also be said that they began to multiply only from about 1860, with the rapid setting in of popula- tion. The oldest physicians of Yonkers were the brothers Amos W. and Horatio S. Gates, the latter of whom, after a few years, abandoned practice and went to California, where he died largely wealthy. The clder Dr. Gates, after a skillful and lucrative Yonkers practice of more than half a century, died about six or seven years ago. Dr. Levi W. Flagg, the next comer, was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1817; was graduated at Yale College in 1839 and from the New York College of Physicians and Sur- geons in 1847. The same year he entered upon prac- tice with Dr. A. W. Gates, with whom he con- tinued in association for two years. At the time, these gentlemen were the only physicians in Yonk- ers. In 1849, Dr. Flagg becoming, from deep con- vietion, a homeopathist, changed his practice and held his position as an active physician in the school of his adoption till he was laid aside by illness, in 1883. Hedied May 15, 1884, after thirty-six years of most industrious and most successful practice, leav- ing behind him the memory not only of a thoroughly upright Christian life, but also of geniality as a phy- sician that carried sunshine into every siek-room he ever entered, and did more than words can express to impart courage and hope to the sick. The next Yonkers physician, in order of settlement, was Dr.

George B. Upham, a graduate of Bowdoin College, who came in June, 1853. Dr. Upham was at first, for a short time, an assistant to Dr. Amos W. Gates, but soon began an independent practice. He has long been the senior physician of Yonkers, and stands with the foremost, both as to professional skill and as to fidelity in his work. During our late war he was a member of the Board of Enrollment for the Ninth Congressional District, embracing Westchester, Put- nam and Rockland Counties, and was an examining surgeon for drafted men. The board was stationed at Tarrytown for three years, and Dr. Upham was on duty there daily during the whole period. After the war was over he was further appointed by the govern- ment an examining surgeon for pensioners. Dr. Ed-

mundS. F. Arnold and Dr. Maximilian Reinfelder,both educated abroad, came next,-the former in May and the latter in October, 1854. Both these men are pro- fessional scholars of distinction and eminent in rank as physicians. Dr. Arnold, however, retired from practice several years ago, and does not now reside in

Yonkers. The beloved Dr. J. Foster Jenkins was at first, for a time, a practitioner in New York City, but settled in Yonkers in 1856. In October, 1882, after a quarter of a century of professional toil among us, he died, erowned with the honors of a pure Christian life and enshrined in the memories of all who knew him as a finished gentleman, an accomplished schol- ar, a faithful and successful physician and a genial and warm-hearted friend. During the last war Dr.

Jenkins freely gave up, for a considerable time, a Yonkers medical practice worth five thousand dollars a year, to assume the secretaryship of the United States Sanitary Commission, at a salary of two thou- sand dollars. The next comer was Dr. J. Henry Pooley, who settled in Yonkers about 1860,-a man of brilliant general and professional learning, and of extraordinary gifts as a public speaker, one who never could forget anything he had once read or heard, and who was able, at any time, to call up his reading or study and make it tell with marvelous ef- fect, even in the most off-hand discussion or address. Dr. Pooley had had large experience in the public service as a surgeon during the late war, and his spe- cial professional forte lay in the department of sur- gery. He was a fertile writer on various professional specialties. He left Yonkers for a professorship in Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, but is now professor of surgery in the Toledo Medical College, in the same State. To Dr. Galusha B. Balch, who, though a physician of age and experience, is one of Yonkers' later comers, not having located here till Dceember, 1871, the city owes much, not only for im- portant counsel and service rendered during his term as its health officer, but for skill and energy in phil- anthropie work. He is now president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and most faithful in his office in looking after the interests of

the class it aims to protect. Dr. Balch entered the service of the country in October, 1861, as assistant surgeon, resigned in the fall of 1862 from impaired health, re-entered in December, 1863, and continued as surgeon till the end of the war. His first term was passed with the Ninety-eighth New York Volun- teers, in the Peninsular campaign, and his last and longest was passed in the Second Veteran Cavalry New York Volunteers, in the Department of the Gulf. He was in many battles with his regiments, and under severest exposure throughout. Dr. Val- entine Browne is the present efficient health officer of the city. Other physicians of older date, not now here, were Dr. James Harkness, a retired elergyman, who had given himself to the practice of medicine, and Dr. Isaac N. Swasey. The former died in 1878 and the latter is now in Brooklyn. Dr. Richard J. Southworth, a younger physician, while a medical student, after passing an examination before the Army Medical Board, received an appointment as acting assistant surgeon United States army, in June, 1864. He served in New Albany, Ind., at Chattanoo- ga, Tenn., and in the Harewood Hospital at Wash- ington. And Yonkers has now many young physi- cians, of whom several have already obtained a firm foothold. We do not know of any of them who do not appear to be finding their way into a practice that will reward them for whatever of devotion they may give to the interests devoted to their care. One of the most promising of the young physicians-Dr. William R. Upham, a son of Dr. George B. Upham-

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after a very short professional career, died in the spring of 1882.

ACTORS AND HUMORISTS. - Yonkers was noted, from 1850 to 1855, as the home of Edwin Forrest, who built and occupied the castle famed under the name of " Fonthill," now part of the property owned by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. His history is well known. It was also the home for a time of R. J. De Cordova, known as a humorous lec- turer. It has long been and still is the home of the actress Clara Morris (Mrs. F. C. Harriot), who has a wide fame in her profession, which, however, she pursues against the trying disadvantage of feeble health. Her professional gifts are of a high order and have always insured for her representative au- diences and cager attention. She is also highly re- spected in private life.

LEADING BUSINESS MEN .- We have not space for extended reference to the retail firms of Yonkers. Some have held plaec through at least three decades. But by leading business men here we refer to the men who have shaped our eity through their large move- ments in real estate, or through the planting and developing of our great industries. We think of three of these men who have passed away, and who deserve more than a passing notice, viz. : Elisha G. Otis, Alexander Smith and Ethan Flagg, who died respee- tively in 1861, 1878 and 1884. Mr. Otis was the founder of our elevator-works, which are said to be the greatest in the work. We did not know him, but it was to his genius and spirit that this great industry in our city owed its start and the impulse that has given it suc- cess. Mr. Smith died before Mr. Flagg, but Mr. Flagg came to Yonkers many years before Mr. Smith. It was largely to his enterprise in real estate that the city is indebted for its early growth. He laid the foundations of his own fortune in real estate move- ments. The hatting business with which he was connected was not so much a creation of his own. Ile was drawn into it. Mr. Flagg was eminently a public and a public-spirited man. His name will be found running through most of the official rolls of the city, and again and again upon important commis- sions, as well as in the directorship of financial insti- tutions. Every general interest marked him as a man of superior judgment, of cautious habit and of wise counsel. It is said to have been one of his gifts that he could forecast to a remarkable degree the effect a proposal would have upon men, and so knew al- most to a certainty how to move so as to carry masses with him. He was needed and called for as a safe man in publie works, in politics and in business. Everywhere he was looked up to and leaned upon. Mr. Smith had a business which needed and absorbed his mind and his time. He was laying the foundation of the carpet-works which have since his death grown to such gigantic proportions, and even yet appear as if destined to expand far beyond what they have al- ready attained. It was in him to meet every drawback

with courage, to triumph over every obstaelc and to push his plans to success in any event. Yet it was im- possible for him not to be a public man. Both Mr Flagg and Mr. Smith employed many operatives, and by their fairness to them so won their hearts as to be sure of their support. Mr. Smith, in 1878, was appealed to by his distriet to run as a candidate for Congress. Hle consented. During the campaign a disease, of which he had for some time been conseious, brought down his strength. As the day of clection approached he was prostrated. It was on the very evening of election day, after the votes had been counted, just as his friends took in to him the news that he had been successful and he had told them to return thanks to those who had supported him, that he gave up a useful and an honored life. Weknow of no other men of like relations and prominence who have died in the city. The milling and manufactur- ing of Yonkers have enrolled the names of many men, the fruits of whose genius and toil remain as their monuments. And years to come will add to these names many more which, after their owners have done their work and passed away, will be as much a matter of pride with Yonkers people as are those which, in these annals, it has been our pleasure to recall and fix upon the record of our city's past industrial life.

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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 37

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