USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 57
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In that capacity Mr. Cortelyou had full charge of the national campaign, which resulted in the election of Theodore Roosevelt as President of the United States, by the largest popular vote and greatest plurality ever given to a presidential candidate. After Mr. Roosevelt's election he called Mr. Cortelyou back to his Cabinet, in which he served for the entire four years, being appointed postmaster-general, March 7, 1905, serving until 1907, and appointed Secretary of the Treasury, March 4, 1907, serving as such until March 8, 1909.
Mr. Cortelyou then accepted his present position as president of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, one of the greatest public utility corporations in the world, for the duties of which the experience and training of Mr. Cortelyou constituted a most admirable preparation.
One of the most noteworthy of his characteristics is a remarkable genius for administration, for thorough organization of forces entrusted to his direction, and for the creation of system for their utilization. His service as secretary to President McKinley brought these characteristics into strong relief in the relation of the President (who was also a Republican candidate) to the campaign of 1900, and still more in the following year during the trying period of the assassination and death of President Mckinley, when the duty of arranging details, and dealing with tact and judgment with many unusual situations, brought to public view the fact that the man of method who had made such an efficient secretary was also a man of power, with executive ability fitting him for higher duties. His selection to the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee after the death of the keen and forceful Senator Mark Hanna, led to some misgivings on the part of many party leaders; but here, again, Mr. Cortelyou showed the completeness of capacity that has always been his when new and untried duties have been thrust upon him.
Mr. Cortelyou is a member of the Holland Society, the Chamber of Commerce, Union League, Press, Graduates and Republican Clubs. His city residence is at Riverdale-on-Hudson, and country home at Halesite, L. I.
He married, at Roslyn, L. I., in 1888, Lily Morris Hinds, daughter of Dr. Ephraim Hinds, president of the Hempstead Institute, Hempstead, L. I. Of this marriage have been born five children: George Bruce, Jr., 1889; Wil- liam Winthrop, 1891 ; Grace, 1897; Helen, 1899, and Peter Crolius, 1908.
621
WILLIAM HOOKER BRADLEY
W ILLIAM HOOKER BRADLEY, chief engineer of the Consoli- dated Gas Company, who for forty years has been prominently con- nected with gas-works construction and operation, has been an important fac- tor in the development and progress of gas in this country.
Mr. Bradley was born in New Haven, Conn., August 25, 1838, the son of Charles and Sarah (Stanley) Bradley. His ancestors were English, who settled here in the Colonial days, and both branches of his family were promi- nent in the early history of Connecticut, an uncle of his mother, Dr. Charles Hooker, being at one time professor of medicine at Yale University. Mr. Bradley's education was acquired in his native town; after which he served several years in the mechanical department of a manufacturing concern and then entered the service of the Continental Iron Works, of Brooklyn.
At the close of the Civil War, Mr. Bradley established a machine and boiler works in the Pennsylvania oil fields. He built and navigated the only steam vessel on Oil Creek up to that time, and his advanced methods were a great stimulus to trade in those stirring days.
Mr. Bradley returned to New York in 1870 and resumed his connection with the Continental Iron Works, devoting his energies to the erection of gas plants in all parts of the country, the last plant constructed under Mr. Brad- ley's supervision being that of the Municipal Gas Works, New York City. This was a water-gas plant of the Tessie du Motay type. It was the earliest of its kind erected, and has been, with modifications, in constant use ever since.
Mr. Bradley's knowledge of gas and construction brought to him the appointment of chief engineer of the Municipal Gas Company, in 1876, and after the combining of several of the companies in 1884, he was continued in that position and in 1886 was made chief engineer of the Consolidated Gas Company, embracing six of the companies operating on Manhattan Island.
It was largely through Mr. Bradley's efforts that the Consolidated Gas Company decided to remove its entire plant to Astoria. He had foreseen the necessity of increased facilities and his foresight made possible the great de- velopment of the works.
Mr. Bradley's career has been one of progress, and he is a recognized authority in every branch of the art of gas making. He has been a member of the American Gas Light Association since 1875, and he is now president of the American Gas Institute. He has also been for years a member of the Society of Mechanical Engineers; the Engineers' and Lotus Clubs; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Natural History; the Sons of the Revolution, and is an honorary member of the New England Association of Gas Engineers.
Mr. Bradley married Miss Elizabeth Whitlock, of New Haven, Conn., and four children have been born to them.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
DARWIN PEARL KINGSLEY
623
DARWIN PEARL KINGSLEY
D ARWIN PEARL KINGSLEY, now president of the New York Life Insurance Company, is a native of Vermont. His ancestry goes back to England whence, in the early part of the Seventeenth Cen- tury, three brothers Kingsley came to New England, one settling in Maine, one in Massachusetts, and one in Connecticut. Each of these became the progenitor of good American families. The Massachusetts branch is the one to which Mr. Kingsley belongs, his direct family having been transplanted to Vermont by his great-great-grandfather, who had been born in Massachusetts. One of his grandsons, Nathan Kingsley, established himself in Grand Isle County, Vermont, where his descendants have lived, for the greater part, ever since. One of these was Hiram Pearl Kingsley, who was a successful farmer at Alburgh, Vermont. He represented Grand Isle County in the Vermont Legislature, and was a leading and highly respected citizen. He married Miss Celia P. LaDue, of Huguenot ancestry, who now lives at Burlington, Vermont. Mr. Darwin Pearl Kingsley was born of that marriage, at Alburgh, Vermont, May 5, 1857.
After completing his common-school education, Mr. Kingsley was fitted for college at Barre, Vermont, and in 1877 was matriculated at the University of Vermont. He worked his way through academy and uni- versity by farm work, school-teaching, etc., by his own efforts obtaining the funds necessary for this purpose, and received from the University of Vermont the degree of A.B. in 1881, that of A.M. in 1884, and that of LL.D. in 1904.
Upon his graduation, in 1881, Mr. Kingsley went to Colorado and during 1882 was a school-teacher in that State. After the removal of the Ute Indians from their reservation, he became one of the most active of the pioneers who developed, and attracted settlers to, Western Colorado. He became editor of the Grand Junction (Colorado) News in 1883, and made that paper prominent not only in the promotion of local interests, but also as an exponent and advocate of the principles of the Republican party. He acquired much facility as a public speaker and rapidly attained a place of prominence in politics in Colorado. He was a delegate from that State to the National Republican Convention in 1884, and in 1886 was nominated by the Republican State Convention and elected to the office of State auditor and insurance commissioner of Colorado. In that position he acquired an insight into the subject of life insurance which turned the current of his business career from journalism into underwriting, which he took up upon the expiration of his term of office in the State Insurance Department of Colorado.
With a view to a career in life insurance, Mr. Kingsley went to Boston and became connected in that city with the branch office of the
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
New York Life Insurance Company in 1889. There he developed a degree of ability and aptitude which soon marked him for promotion, and in 1892 he was called to New York to take the important position of superintendent of agencies of the company, a position which he held for six years. In 1898 he was elected trustee and a vice president of the com- pany, holding these positions until elected, June 17, 1907, president of the company, where he has displayed abilities placing him in the front rank of life insurance executives in this country. He is an authority on the sub- ject, and in writings and addresses has discussed a wide range of life insurance problems. Some of these papers and addresses have been col- lected into a volume and published under the title The First Business of the World. He is also an occasional contributor to reviews and maga- zines on insurance and other subjects, and is a noted after-dinner speaker.
The 1905 investigation of life insurance left Mr. Kingsley's reputation untouched by even the breath of scandal, and he heartily approved every line of the legislation that followed which was in the interest of better and safer management. But he registered a vigorous protest against its radical features, especially those which violated economic laws and those which virtually took the management of companies out of the hands of those responsible for their conduct. He continued his assaults upon these features of the law until he stood practically alone in the matter, declaring that nothing is ever permanently settled in this country until it is settled right. One by one the radical features of the law have been modified, the last change-made in June, 1910-being the removal of the arbitrary limit upon new business. Mr. Kingsley is an ardent advocate of the federal supervision of all interstate insurance, and has published several able articles on the subject.
Mr. Kingsley is a director of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, and of the Citizens' Central National Bank of New York. He is a trustee and a member of the Finance Committee of the University of Vermont. He is a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, of the University, Union League, Merchants', St. Andrew's Golf, and other clubs of New York, and of the New England Society of New York.
He married, first, at Milton, Vermont, June 19, 1884, Mary M. Mitchell, who died at Brookline, Massachusetts, in August, 1890, leaving him one son, Walton Pearl Kingsley. He married, second, on December 3, 1895, in New York City, Josephine, daughter of the late Hon. John A. McCall, then president of the New York Life Insurance Company, and of that marriage has four children: Hope Kingsley, Darwin Pearl Kingsley, Jr., John McCall Kingsley, and Lois Kingsley. His home is at Riverdale- on-Hudson, New York, N. Y.
625
EDWIN WARREN DE LEON
E DWIN WARREN DE LEON was born in Charleston, S. C., August 6, 1868, son of Harmon Hendricks and Caroline Agnes (Moïse) De Leon. His Spanish ancestor, Jacob De Leon, came to America about 1760, and became captain on General La Fayette's staff.
Graduating from Columbia Law School as L L.B., 1888, he was admitted to the New York Bar, in September, 1888. He was special agent of the American Casualty Com- pany of Baltimore, 1892- 1893; was assistant New York State manager 1893- 1894, and manager at New York, 1894-1898, of the Liability Department of the Travelers' Insurance Com- pany; New York manager of the Maryland Casualty Company, 1898-1903. In July, 1903, he became vice president and general man- ager, and since April, 1909, has been president of Cas- ualty Company of America.
He is author of "The Law of Liability," 1899; "Manual of Liability Insur- ance," 1909; the articles "Casualty Insurance" (En- cyclopædia Americana ), and "Liability Insurance" (Cy- clopedia of Law and Pro- cedure-American Anno- tations), 1910. He is on the Executive Commit- tee of the International EDWIN WARREN DE LEON Association of Accident Underwriters; chairman Editorial Board, International Insurance Encyclo- pædia ; member American Association for Labor Legislation, American Sta- tistical Association, National Child-Labor Committee, Columbia University Alumni, Sons of the American Revolution, Southern Society, South Carolina Society, Casualty and Surety, Economic, Lawyers' and Underwriters' Clubs. He married, in Kansas City, Mo., January 23, 1901, Frances E. Moïse,
40
626
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
ANDREW FOSTER HIGGINS
627
ANDREW FOSTER HIGGINS
A NDREW FOSTER HIGGINS, whose career as an underwriter, adjuster and financier has earned him a prominent position in the business world, was born January 24, 1831, in Macon, Georgia, where his father, Charles A. Higgins, was engaged in the cotton business. His mother was before her marriage Miss Lucy Rice Crocker; and his paternal grand- mother, born Amelia Andrus, was a daughter of General Andrus, and a famous belle of the American Revolutionary period at Newark.
After preparatory education in Georgia schools he pursued collegiate courses in Colgate University and Columbia University, but financial reverses befell his father and he found himself confronted with the necessity of giving up his collegiate career and going to work. He met the situation manfully, taking the first position offered, which happened to be that of clerk in a tailoring establishment, until he could find something more to his taste. Six months later, in 1847, he began his long career in the insurance profession by securing a position with the firm of Jones & Johnson, marine insurance adjusters, in which position he devoted himself to the study of the principles of average adjustment, of which he gained such an expert knowledge, that, at the solicitation of Vice-President Josiah H. Hall, he became adjuster for the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. He later, with Henry W. Johnson, established the adjusting and insurance firm of Johnson & Higgins.
Mr. Higgins attained distinction as an adjuster of such ability and accu- racy that out of at least ten thousand adjustments made by him, less than twenty were appealed from, and in such cases as went into court Mr. Hig- gins was invariably sustained. At first the firm kept a staff of lawyers to advise them as to legal questions, but Mr. Higgins, realizing that at some time or other every possible question relating to marine insurance had been passed upon, set to work to make what became the most complete collection of marine decisions ever gathered together, and was able to dispense with the four lawyers on his firm's staff.
Mr. Higgins did notable service in straightening out the affairs of the United States Lloyds, which was a new adventure on the basis of individual unlimited liability each for his respective share thereof, of each risk, the whole number being one hundred. . It had been organized by Douglas Robinson, who was of English birth and familiar with the Eng- lish Lloyds, and he had associated with him James F. Cox as associate agent, and one hundred of the largest and ablest financiers of New York. As the business had not gone on to the satisfaction of the directors, Mr. Higgins, at the earnest solicitation of J. Pierpont Morgan and Samuel D. Babcock, two of the most important directors, examined into the status of the association, with the result that he declared it to be insolvent and much in debt, but with a splendid business under command, if properly managed. The two eminent
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
financiers mentioned requested Mr. Higgins to assume charge of the whole business, wind up the association and settle its liabilities, and then to start a new business on its opportunities, which he did, winding up the old company with a loss of $700,000, and at date of closing the existing underwriting, started a new company with the same name. He associated with him Mr. Cox, in the firm thereafter known as Higgins & Cox, which in two years made up all losses up to that date, and has ever since been successfully engaged in business.
The rehabilitation of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in the troublous days of 1907 is another great achievement. Mr. Higgins, who had before that retired from the activities of business life, was one of the thirty-five mem- bers of the Board of Trustees of the institution at the time when the run upon its resources compelled the closing of its doors. The situation of the institution at that period of stress and stringency was absolutely desperate, and Mr. Higgins, whose record pointed to him as the one man equal to the task, was unanimously chosen to conduct the work of reorganization and rehabilitation. Finding that a large cash sum was needed to insure the suc- cess of his program, he set to work to raise it in spite of the forbidding market conditions. Before the panic the stock of the company had been sell- ing at $1200 per share. Mr. Higgins, coming across 80,000 shares of treasury stock which had never been issued, found a market for it at $300 per share, and then, finding himself $400,000 short of the amount needed to finance the company back to life, offered to be one of ten men to put up $40,000 each, which offer being met, he carried through his plans with such success that all obligations were paid, and the company became again a successful going concern, and assumed once more a place among the sound and substantial financial organizations of the country.
Mr. Higgins is a director of the Crocker-Wheeler Co., the Knicker- bocker Safe Deposit Co., Mexican Northern Railway Co. (of which he is also president and treasurer) ; vice president of the Compania Metallurgica Mexi- cana, the Potosi and Rio Grande Railway Co. and the Sombrerete Mining Co .; director of the Fresnillo Mining Co., Mexican Lead Co., Montezuma Lead Co., and the Tezlutlan Copper Mining and Smelting Co.
He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and of its Executive Committee; was captain of Company D, Twenty-second Regiment, during the Civil War and afterward; is one of the few survivors of the original members of the Century Club, member of the City, Down Town, Jekyl Island, Manhattan Chess and other clubs.
Mr. Higgins married Sarah Hamilton Cornell, daughter of John H. Cor- nell, banker, and they had a son and daughter, both of whom are now deceased. He resides in Greenwich, Conn.
629
BEEKMAN HUNT
B EEKMAN HUNT was born in New York, April 20, 1869, youngest son of Charles Havens and Anna de Peyster (Livingston) Hunt. He is a direct descendant of John Hunt, who came from Wales in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century, and through his mother, from Robert Liv- ingston, First Lord of Livingston Manor on the Hudson. Through his grandmother, Cornelia de Peyster, he is a direct descendant of Johannes de Peyster, burgomaster of New Amsterdam (or New Orange), in 1673; and through his great-grand- mother, Eliza Beekman, de- scendant from William Beekman, burgomaster of New Amsterdam, in 1674, and mayor of New York in 1683.
Beekman Hunt began business life with a Wall Street broker at thirteen; soon after he entered the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, rising to be assistant to the divi- sion superintendent; then with The Ætna Indemnity Company, becoming solic- itor in 1897 and manager in 1899 of its New York branch. When the company executive offices were re- moved, in 1902, from Hart- ford, Conn., to New York, he was elected assistant sec- retary, and in February, BEEKMAN HUNT 1904, its president. He is president of the Title Guaranty Company of Rochester, N. Y., trustee of the Washington Savings Bank of New York; secretary-treasurer of the Surety Association of America, and member of the Underwriters' Club.
He married, October 12, 1898, Ethel, daughter of Rev. Arthur Sloan, chaplain of Sailors' Snug Harbor, Staten Island. They have two children: Isabelle de Peyster Hunt and Livingston Sloan Hunt.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
ANTON ADOLPH RAVEN
631
ANTON ADOLPH RAVEN
A NTON ADOLPH RAVEN was born September 30, 1833, at Cura- çoa, Dutch West Indies, son of John R. and Petronella (Hutchings)
Raven. His paternal ancestry was English, and his mother was of New York "Knickerbocker stock." her ancestors having emigrated from Holland to New York, afterwards removing to the Dutch West Indies, where Mr. Raven's boy- hood was passed until he was seventeen years old, when he came to New York.
He became a clerk in the office of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Com- pany, January 4, 1852, and worked hard to learn the business with such com- pleteness as to make his service of the highest value. Adhering to this pol- icy throughout his business career, Mr. Raven received steady promotion, being first made underwriter, then fourth vice president, and later third vice president, which position he held ten years. He then advanced to the second vice presidency, and in 1895 was made vice president, two years later being elected to the presidency of the company, which office he holds, after fifty-eight years of most valuable service. As each advanced position became vacant, it found him the one man best qualified to fill it, both as to executive ability and technical knowledge of marine underwriting. His qualifications are not only fully recognized by insurance men, but also by the academic world, he having been selected as one of the lecturers in the course in marine insurance at Yale University.
Not only have Mr. Raven's abilities been of incalculable benefit to the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company, but they have always been freely given to public causes and in support of measures to secure good government in the city, although he has never sought nor held political preferment. His career exemplifies the practical value of trained capabilities, untiring energy and fidelity to confided interests, as factors in making up the combination which is called success.
He has taken an effective part in the work of the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor in the Borough of Brooklyn, and in private and local charitable work.
Mr. Raven is a vice president of the American Geographical Society, a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of the American Museum of Natural History, and of the Montauk Club of Brooklyn.
Besides these and other social connections, Mr. Raven is a member and director of several prominent financial corporations and organizations.
He was married in New York City in 1860 to Miss Gertrude Oatman, and they have four children. One of these is the Rev. John Howard Raven, D.D., a distinguished clergyman of the Reformed Church in America and an educator and philologist of note, now filling the position of professor of Old Testament languages and exegesis in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America at New Brunswick, New Jersey.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
MARSHALL SYLVANUS DRIGGS
633
MARSHALL SYLVANUS DRIGGS
M ARSHALL SYLVANUS DRIGGS, late president of the Williams- burgh City Fire Insurance Company, was born in New York City, January 9, 1834; son of Edmund and Delia Ann (Marshall) Driggs. He was of English extraction, the founder of the family in America having been Joseph Driggs, lawyer and extensive landowner, who was born in London, England, in 1686, and settled in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1712. Mr. Driggs' grandfather, Elliott Driggs, moved from Connecticut to New York State in 1792, and located in Greenwich Village, New York City, and his father, Edmund Driggs, organized and was president of the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company, and held many places of honor and trust during his long and active life.
Mr. Driggs was educated in the Preparatory School of George Payne Quackenbos, distinguished scholar and educator, and in the Redding (Conn.) Institute. He began his business career with the issuance of the first policy of the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company, in March, 1853. He remained with the Company for four years, and then resigned his position as assistant secretary of the company to go into other business, in which he continued for thirty-two years. He became a director of the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company in 1868, and in August, 1889, his father having died, he was elected to succeed him as president of the company, which office he held until his death at his summer residence, September 14, 1910.
Mr. Driggs was also a director in the First National Bank of Brooklyn, the National Surety Company, Casualty Company of America, Empire State Surety Company, American Malt Corporation and Williamsburgh Trust Company, and vice president of the Cypress Hill Cemetery.
He was treasurer of the National Board of Fire Underwriters; was vice president of the New York Board of Fire Underwriters in 1901 and 1902, and its president in 1903 and 1904; was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Underwriters' Club, Rumson Country Club, Automobile Club of America, Country Club of New Canaan, Connecticut, and of the Democratic Club of Brooklyn.
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