USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 55
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Mr. Ream has a country home in Connecticut ; finds his chief recreations in art, and literature, and is a connoisseur of paintings, including in his col- lection some of the finest specimens of medieval and modern art. He mar- ried Miss Carrie Putnam, at Madison, New York, in 1876.
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590
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
GEORGE THEODORE SMITH
591
GEORGE THEODORE SMITH
G EORGE THEODORE SMITH, now president and director of the First National Bank of Jersey City, New Jersey, is a native of New York City, where he was born, April 29, 1855, the son of Charles Tap- pan and Martha Elizabeth Smith. He is descended of an old New England family, of which the first American ancestor was Charles B. Smith, who was mayor of Portland, Maine. Charles Tappan Smith, father of George Theo- dore Smith, was best known as a constructor of telegraph lines in the early days of telegraphy.
His son, George Theodore Smith, was educated in Grammar School Num- ber 35 and the College of the City of New York, until 1872, when he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in which he remained for thirty-seven years, serving in various positions, the last of which was that of general agent of the company in New York, in charge of the commercial and operating features, in which he continued until 1909, when he became presi- dent of the First National Bank of Jersey City, New Jersey. Mr. Smith has long been identified with important financial and corporate interests and he is identified with a number of important companies as officer and director; is vice president and director of the E. L. Young Company ; vice president and director of the American Graphite Company; president and director of the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company ; vice president and director of the Colonial Life Insurance Company of America; president and director of the Pavonia Trust Company; vice president and director of the New Jersey Title, Guar- antee and Trust Company ; director of the Bayonne Trust Company, the Ber- gen and Lafayette Trust Company, People's Trust Company, Trust Company of New Jersey, West Hudson County Trust Company, and Raritan River Railroad Company; and is a member of the Board of Managers of the Provi- dent Institute for Savings.
Mr. Smith is a Democrat in politics and prominent in the party in Jer- sey City, and influential in the councils of the party, though not a politician. His position as one of the leading financiers and citizens of Jersey City has been earned in a career of great activity in business, and the application of sound judgment and marked executive and administrative ability.
He is a member of the Automobile Club of America, the Lawyers' Club, Traffic Club, and Railroad Club of New York City; the Carteret and Jersey City Clubs of Jersey City, New Jersey ; the Essex County Country Club and Automobile Club of New Jersey, at Newark. Besides his city residence in Jersey City, Mr. Smith has a country home at Elberon, New Jersey.
He married, in Saint John's Protestant Episcopal Church, in Jersey City, April 25, 1882, Hattie Louise Young, and of that marriage there have been two children: Edward Young Smith, who was born October 7, 1883 and died in July, 1889, and Natalie Young Smith, born July 2, 1887.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
JOHN HENDERSON EMANUEL, JR.
593
JOHN HENDERSON EMANUEL, JR.
J OHN HENDERSON EMANUEL, JR., who has obtained a promi- nent standing in the financial circles of New York as head of the Stock Exchange firm of Emanuel, Parker & Company, is a native and lifelong resi- dent of Brooklyn Borough. He was born May 8, 1870, being the son of John Henderson and Margaret Waters (Sayre) Emanuel. His father was for sev- eral years engaged in a successful business as a grain and provision broker, and the son's training was directed with a view to his preparation for an active business career.
He was educated in the public schools of Brooklyn until 1886, when he entered upon the activities of business life as an employee at the house of J. P. Morgan & Company. In that great banking institution he remained, in various departments, until 1905, acquiring there a broad and comprehensive knowledge of banking principles and methods, and an acquaintance with invest- ment values and with prominent people in the world of finance, which con- stituted an admirable preparation and equipment for the independent business in which he has since been engaged.
In 1905, with associates, Mr. Emanuel established the Stock Exchange firm of Emanuel, Parker & Company, bankers and brokers, of which he is the senior member, the other partners being Grenville Parker, Samuel A. Walsh, Jr., and Charles E. McElroy. The principal offices of the firm are at 15 Wall Street, New York City, and a branch office is maintained at Albany, New York, in which city the firm have also established an extensive banking and broker- age business. Mr. Emanuel has earned the reputation of being one of the best informed and most successful of the younger representatives of financial in- terests in Wall Street, and his firm has steadily increased in prestige and busi- ness, and now has a large and influential clientele.
Mr. Emanuel has traveled extensively in practically all sections of the United States and Mexico. He is a Republican in his political affiliations, but he has not been active in political affairs beyond the ordinary duties of a citi- zen and a voter.
Mr. Emanuel enjoys an excellent social standing and is a member of a good many societies and clubs, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Zoological Society, New York Botanical Society, New York State Historical Society, and the Brooklyn League; and he is also a member of the Union League Club of New York City, the Railroad Club, Crescent Athletic Club of Brooklyn, the Marine and Field Club, and the Englewood Golf Club. He has his home at 304 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn Borough.
He married, in Brooklyn, New York, November 1, 1898, Jennett Idele Englis, and they have two children: Jennett Englis Emanuel, born December 13, 1900, and Henderson Emanuel, born July 24, 1904.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
RUEL WHITCOMB POOR
595
RUEL WHITCOMB POOR
R UEL WHITCOMB POOR, prominent in the financial life in New York City as having been for the past eight years president of the Garfield National Bank, was born in New London, New Hampshire, Sep- tember 29, 1860, the son of William Gay and Delina Ann (Freeto) Poor.
He is of English ancestry and old New England lineage, being a direct descendant from Daniel Poore, who sailed from Southampton, England, in the ship Bevis, Captain Robert Batten, master, in May, 1638. He lived in Newbury, Massachusetts, for about ten years, and then settled in Andover, Massachusetts. He was the ancestor of a numerous family, among whom were included Revolutionary soldiers of prominence and men of distinction in business and professional life. W. G. Poor, father of Mr. R. W. Poor, was a scythe manufacturer in New Hampshire.
Mr. R. W. Poor was educated in the public schools and at Wilton Academy, in Wilton, Maine. He began his business career in October, 1877, with the Page Belting Company at Concord, New Hampshire, con- tinuing in the service of that institution until July, 1881, when he went to Littleton, New Hampshire, where he began his successful career as a banker, as a clerk in the Littleton Savings Bank. He afterward became connected with the Littleton National Bank of the same place, in a similar capacity, and was promoted to cashier of that bank in 1888. He con- tinued to serve that bank until November, 1888, when he resigned the position in order to take one that had been offered him with the Garfield National Bank of New York City. With that institution he has ever since continued, steadily advancing in its service, being appointed assist- ant cashier, in January, 1891, and cashier of the institution in January, 1892, continuing in that office for ten years until April 30, 1902, when he was elected to his present office as president of the bank. Under his executive direction the bank has enjoyed a career of marked prosperity and constantly enlarging business, including among its depositors and customers many of the leading business men, firms and institutions of the metropolis.
He is a life member of the New England Society in the city of New York, of the New Hampshire Society, the Maine Society, and of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the Revolution; is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and also of the Lotos Club, New York Athletic Club, and the Masonic Club of New York City. He has his city residence at 320 West One Hundred and First Street, and a country place at Bethlehem, New Hampshire.
Mr. Poor married, in Wilton, Maine, October 18, 1884, Ida M. Sawyer, and they have two daughters: Helen Hilda Poor, born June 25, 1899, and Ruella Poor, born July 17, 1905.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
ELIAS S. A. DE LIMA
597
ELIAS S. A. DE LIMA
E LIAS S. A. DE LIMA, who has long been one of the prominent merchants of New York, was born on the Island of Curaçao, Dutch West Indies, being the son of S. A. de Lima, merchant, and Sylvia Senior A. de Lima, his family being of Dutch extraction. He attended a Dutch school on the Island of Curacao until the age of fourteen, then went to Germany, where he completed his education at the Gymnasium Andreanum in Hildesheim.
He came to the United States in 1880, entered the house of D. A. de Lima & Company, one of the leading firms doing business with Latin America, in which he became a partner in 1883. Since the death of Mr. D. A. de Lima in 1891 he has been the senior member of the firm. He is also presi- dent of de Lima, Cortissoz & Company, a firm which, like that of D. A. de Lima & Company, is largely and actively interested in business with Latin America and the West Indies.
Mr. de Lima became president of the Hungarian American Bank in 1908, and conducted this institution very successfully; but in 1910 he and his friends sold out the control of that bank which they held. He then became the head of one of the largest financial institutions of the City of Mexico, the Banco Mexicano de Commercio é Industria, with which promi- nent Mexican interests, the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, the international banking house of Speyer & Company, and some other leading American financial men are closely identified.
Mr. de Lima, who has always been a Republican in politics, has taken an active part in the affairs of the country through the commercial organi- zations of which he has been a member, especially through the New York Board of Trade and Transportation. He has been especially active in efforts to develop our foreign commerce through the reform of the Consular Service and the wide discussion of methods of fostering our foreign trade.
He was chairman of the committee appointed in March, 1906, by the Board of Trade and Transportation, and composed of Hon. William Mc- Carroll, Hon. Charles A. Schieren, Hon. Oscar S. Straus, Mr. Charles A. Moore and Mr. Henry W. Peabody, which arranged for a National Convention which was held in Washington for the purpose of discussing the best meth- ods of reforming the Consular Service. The work of this convention was eminently successful and resulted in the passage of Senator Lodge's bill which has placed the Consular Service of the United States on a footing of high efficiency.
In February, 1907, Mr. de Lima conceived and brought about, through the New York Board of Trade and Transportation and other leading busi- ness organizations of the country, the most important National Commercial Convention ever held in Washington, for the purpose of considering the
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
measures best calculated to develop our foreign commerce and disseminating information in regard thereto.
President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Root, Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus, Secretary of War Taft, and many other men prominently connected with the National Government and with the Govern- ment of several of the States, took an active part in the deliberations of the convention, which has resulted in great and lasting benefit to our foreign trade.
His firm brought action against the United States Customs authorities for the recovery of duties on products imported into the United States from Porto Rico after the annexation of the island. The action was successful and resulted in determining the tariff relations between our insular posses- sions and the United States.
When President Roosevelt was endeavoring to establish stable conditions in Santo Domingo by a treaty with that country, and his efforts seemed to have been defeated in the Senate, Mr. de Lima instituted and carried on a campaign throughout all the States whose Senators were opposing the ratifi- cation of the treaty, and did much to enlighten influential men and the gen- eral public on the questions at issue by writing several exhaustive articles on the subject. The treaty was finally ratified by the Senate.
His educational preparation, wide travel in European and Latin-American countries and in the West Indies, his knowledge of foreign languages, his familiarity with foreign trade and its requirements, his experience in bank- ing, especially in international banking, and his intimate knowledge of Latin America, place him in the ranks of those best qualified to deal with what is perhaps the most pressing commercial question before this country, namely, the proper adjustment of our relations with Latin America.
Mr. de Lima never sought public office, but in 1904 he was elected by both the Republicans and Democrats of Larchmont, Westchester County, a trustee of that village, and he was again unanimously elected to that office in 1906. In 1908 both parties nominated him and he was elected president of that village, and there were general expressions of regret when he declined a reëlection in 1909.
He is a director of the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, a member of the Chamber of Commerce of New York; was one of the founders and has since been one of the most active members of the Japan Society of New York, and is a member of the New York City Club, Repub- lican Club, New York Athletic Club, Larchmont Yacht Club and of the Pil- grims Society.
Mr. de Lima married, in New York City, February 14, 1901, Miss Lucie Robinson Spanneut.
SAMUEL VERNON MANN, JR.
599
S YAMUEL VERNON MANN, JR., broker, born in Flushing, L. I., May 2, 1873, son of S. Vernon and Harriet Cogswell (Onderdonk) Mann, is descended from Richard Mann, who came from England to America in 1644, and on his mother's side is of Dutch and father's side English extraction. His direct ancestry also includes Roger Williams of Rhode Island, Hon. Samuel Vernon, judge of the Superior Court of Newport, R. I., and
William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Indepen- dence.
He was educated in Flushing Institute, the Berkeley School in New York, St. Mark's, South- boro, Mass., and graduated from Harvard in 1895.
He was with F. S. Smithers & Company from September, 1895, to April, 1896; then went with his father, who had been in the time-loan business for twenty-five years. He be- came senior partner of Mann, Bill & Company, May I, 1905, and formed the firm of Mann, Bill & Ware, July 1, 1907. He joined the New York Stock Exchange July 16, 1907, for the purpose of lending call money.
He is an Independent in politics, and was on the City Committee of the Citi- SAMUEL VERNON MANN, JR. zens' Union in 1905. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Harvard Club, Institute of 1770, Alpha Delta Phi, and the Hasty Pudding, and Signet Clubs of Harvard.
He married, at Flushing, L. I., April 11, 1899, Helen Wagstaff Colgate, and has three sons: S. Vernon Mann, born August 16, 1900; Robert Col- gate Vernon Mann, born September 10, 1901, and Lloyd Onderdonk Vernon Mann, born September 8, 1902.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
HENRY LATHAM DOHERTY
601
HENRY LATHAM DOHERTY
H ENRY LATHAM DOHERTY, banker and engineer, has been for years a prominent figure in the organization, management and financing of gas and electric properties, though he is still a young man. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, May 15, 1870, being the son of Frank Doherty, engineer and inventor, and of Anna (McElvain) Doherty. His ancestry is English, Scotch and Irish, his first American ancestor, William Doherty, having come to the United States about 1800, and having been one of the early adjutant generals of the State of Ohio. His maternal grandfather, who was State Librarian of Ohio, participated in the War of 1812, being brevetted for bravery in Perry's victory on Lake Erie.
Mr. Doherty was educated in the public schools until he was twelve years old, and afterward by self-study. In 1883 he entered the employ of the Columbus Gas Company as an office boy, and continued with that company until 1896, advancing from one position to another until he finally became chief engineer and assistant to the manager. In 1896 he went to Madison, Wis., as manager of the Madison Gas and Electric Company, and later became its president ; and since that time he has filled, successively or simul- taneously, the positions of engineer of the Columbus Electric Company ; gen- eral manager of the St. Paul (Minn.) Gas Light Company; St. Paul Edison Company; constructing engineer for the Jacques Cartier Electric Company of Quebec, Canada; chief engineer for Emerson McMillin & Company, New York; chief engineer and general manager of the American Light and Trac- tion Company; engineer and manager, and afterward president of the Denver Gas and Electric Company.
Mr. Doherty is now senior member of the firm of Henry L. Doherty & Company, bankers; is president of the American Gas and Electric Company of New York; Atlantic City (N. J.) Electric Light Company; Canton (Ohio) Electric Company; Consumers' Electric Company of Wheeling, W. Va .; Den- ver Gas and Electric Company; Doherty Operating Company, New York; Empire District Electric Company, Joplin, Mo .; Improved Appliance Com- pany, New York; Improved Equipment Company; Knoxville (Tenn.) Gas Company; Lebanon (Pa.) Gas and Fuel Company; Lincoln (Neb.) Gas and Electric Light Company; Marion (Ind.) Light and Heat Company; Mont- gomery (Ala.) Light and Power Company; Muncie (Ind. ) Electric Lighting Company; Pueblo (Colo.) Gas and Fuel Company; Rockford (Ill.) Edison Company; Scranton (Pa.) Electric Company; Spokane Falls (Wash.) Gas Light Company, and the Summit County Power Company of Dillon ( Colo.). He is also a director of the American Light and Traction Company of New York; the Cumberland and Westernport Electric Railway Company, of Cum- berland (Md.) ; the Easton (Pa.) Gas and Electric Company; Rotary Meter Company, New York; and Union Gas and Electric Company, Cincinnati.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
On the side of physical and industrial improvement, Mr. Doherty has originated valuable and meritorious improvement on gas meters, gas benches, gas purification (notably in the abolition of purifying houses and the intro- duction of outdoor purification), photometrical research on arc lamps, bench fuel improvement, the displacement gas calorimeter, producer gas free from hydrogen, for gas engine use, and others. Before he left the Columbus Gas Company he had done effective pioneer work in the introduction of the Wels- bach lamp as a competitor of electric lighting, with which he had remarkable success. He invented appliances for handling, washing, drying and cleaning the glassware and brass work; a carrying device for glass chimneys, device for blowing dust from the check plates of the Bunsen tubes, and devices for distant control of lamps for shop windows, signs and theatrical uses.
Mr. Doherty inaugurated a systematic propaganda, when general man- ager of the Madison Gas and Electric Company, by extensive newspaper advertising; the organizing of the Housekeepers' League, which secured the largest membership of any nonsecret organization in Wisconsin; and making an arrangement with the Board of Education by which gas cooking was taught in the public schools; and other valuable pioneer work.
Mr. Doherty received the award of the first Beall gold medal for a paper on "Cooking With Gas," read before the American Gas Light Associa- tion in 1898; presented a paper on "Equitable Competitive and Uniform Rates" before the same association in 1900; and has been a leading promoter of new methods for more complete cooperation of gas company and electric lighting corporations, and the greater usefulness of professional organization.
He is a member and past president of the National Electric Light Asso- ciation, Northwestern Electrical Association, and Ohio Gas Light Association; is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Civic Alliance, American Gas Institute, American Economic Association, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engi- neers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, Canadian Electrical Association, Illu- minating Engineering Society, National Commercial Gas Association, National Electric Light Association, New York Electrical Society, New York Acad- emy of Science, Natural Gas Association of America, New York Historical Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pacific Coast Gas Association, The Franklin Institute and Wisconsin Gas Association.
Mr. Doherty is a member of the Engineers', Economic, Electrical, Law- yers', Lotos, and Pen Clubs, New York; Columbus and Engineers' Clubs, Columbus; Commercial and Country Clubs of Lincoln ; Country, Denver, Engi- neers', and Denver Athletic Clubs of Denver, and Minnesota Club, St. Paul.
603
EBEN ERSKINE OLCOTT
E BEN ERSKINE OLCOTT, of the firm of Olcott & Corning, consult- ing mining engineers, and president of the Hudson River Day Line, was born in New York City, March 1I, 1854, the son of John N. and Euphe- mia (Knox) Olcott, and on both sides descended from some of the earliest settlers, from Holland, of New Amsterdam.
He was educated in the old Thirteenth Street School, presided over by Thomas Hunter; the Col- lege of the City of New York and the School of Mines of Columbia College, being graduated in 1874; and was engaged in mining in the United States, Vene- zuela, South America and Mexico.
In 1884 he married Kate Lawrence van Sant- voord, daughter of the late Commodore Van Santvoord, founder of the Hudson River Day Line; and after the death of Mr. Van Sant- voord's only son, Mr. Olcott went into business with his father-in-law as general manager, and upon Commo- dore Van Santvoord's death became president of the line. Under him the great steam- ers Hendrick Hudson and Robert Fulton have been constructed.
Mr. Olcott organized the Hudson Tri-Centennial EBEN ERSKINE OLCOTT Association, the first body to prepare for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration; was a member of the Commis- sion in charge of the celebration, and chairman of its Clermont Committee.
Mr. Olcott is a director of the Lincoln National Bank, the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company, and the Catskill Mountain Railway. He is a past president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and of the United Engineer- ing Society.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
WILLIAM HENRY MOORE
605
WILLIAM HENRY MOORE
W ILLIAM HENRY MOORE, lawyer and financier, was born in Utica, N. Y., October 25, 1848, son of Nathaniel F. and Rachel A. (Beckwith) Moore. His family dates back to colonial days in New England, but both his parents were born in New York, and his father was a successful merchant and highly respected citizen of Utica, until his death in 1890.
Mr. Moore was educated in the seminary at Oneida, N. Y., the Cortland Academy at Homer, N. Y., and Amherst College, but was compelled by ill health to abandon his studies. He settled temporarily at Eau Claire, Wis., studied law there in the office of W. P. Bartlett, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. After that he entered the office of Edward A. Small, a corporation lawyer of Chicago, became his partner until Mr. Small's death, in 1881, and then with his younger brother, James Hobart Moore, established the firm of W. H. and J. H. Moore, which afterward became a leading figure in law and in finance. Among its clients were the American and Adams Express Companies, Merchants' Dispatch Transportation Company, Vanderbilt Fast Freight Line, and many large corporations and business houses of Chicago. Mr. W. H. Moore was the trial lawyer of the firm, and gained a knowledge of procedure and an alertness in forensic combat equalled by few. Besides courtroom work the firm became distinguished for its advisory skill, and became the trusted counsel for many large interests.
The firm became a leader in the organization of large industrial combi- nations, notably the Diamond Match Company, a Connecticut corporation of $3,000,000 capital, which Mr. Moore, in 1889, consolidated, with several competing companies, into the Diamond Match Company of Illinois. In 1890 they combined several Eastern cracker companies into the New York Biscuit Company with $10,000,000, and to a leading part in the management of these companies until, in 1896, after a long period of panic and depreciation the firm of W. H. and J. H. Moore failed for several million dollars. By arrangement with creditors the firm was given the opportunity to recuperate without being formally declared insolvent, and in much less time than anticipated, paid all debts and soon resumed their financial operations on a larger scale than before.
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