USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 59
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Becoming connected, in 1871, with John Roach in the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works at Chester, Pa., and during the life of that most distinguished shipbuilder Mr. Rowland designed and super- intended the finishing of all the ships built at those works, amounting to about one hundred and thirty vessels. Among these were the famous "Dol- phin," "Atlanta," "Chicago" and "Boston" of the United States Navy, the "City of Pekin" and the "City of Tokio" of the Pacific Mail Line, and the "Kansas City,". "City of Augusta," "Tallahassee," "Chattahoochee" and "Na- coochee" of the Savannah Line. Mr. Rowland was offered strong induce- ments to go to England and superintend the finishing of the steamship "City of Rome," but he declined to interrupt his work in this country.
During his entire connection with Mr. Roach, at Chester, Mr. Row- land continued to carry on a separate business of his own in East Ninth Street in New York City. Among other vessels finished at those works were the "Pilgrim," "Puritan," "Plymouth" and "Priscilla" of the Fall River Line, the latter, completed in 1894, acknowledged to be the finest vessel afloat, and also finished all the steamers of the Old Dominion Line.
Mr. Rowland was for many years a director in the Atlantic Coast Line, known as the Livingston and Fox Line of steamers. He is now a director in the Old Dominion Line, the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, and on the Advisory Board of the Eleventh Ward Branch of the Corn Exchange Bank.
He is one of the oldest members of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York; is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and of the Engineers' Club of New York. He has a very handsome country seat at New Brunswick, N. J.
Mr. Rowland married, in New York City, January 15, 1852, Jane de Gau. They have had six children, of whom two daughters are now living. Their eldest daughter, Jennie, married Colonel Robert Adrain, of New Bruns- wick, formerly president of the New Jersey Senate; and their daughter, Grace, married Dr. Ferdinand Riva. of New Brunswick, N. J.
649
GEORGE L. DUVAL
G YEORGE L. DUVAL is the senior active partner of Wessel, Duval & Company, prominent factors in the development of commerce with the west coast of South America. The firm was founded by the late Augustus Hemenway, of Boston, in 1828. The shipments between Chile and the United States were at first carried on by a fleet of sailing vessels. In the early 70's the firm built two auxiliary steamers in England, and employed them in the trade for some time, but they were found
to be unsuitable. The firm was, therefore, the first to establish direct steam communication be- tween the United States and the west coast of South America. After again using sailing vessels for a number of years the steamer business was re- established about 1892, and has been maintained uninterruptedly since that time.
Mr. Duval is of Irish descent, and a Roman Catholic. His activity and zeal as director, treas- urer and chairman of va- rious important commit- tees of the Merchants' Association aided in the early prominence attained by that organization, in which he continues to be GEORGE L. DUVAL a prominent factor. He has been for some time the chairman of the association's Committee on Foreign and Colonial Commerce. Mr. Duval was appointed by Governor Hughes a member of the Charter Revision Committee of 1907, and subse- quently a member of the New York Charter Commission of 1908. He is recognized as an authority on South American affairs, to which he has devoted his business life.
650
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
M
OLIVER GILDERSLEEVE
651
OLIVER GILDERSLEEVE
O LIVER GILDERSLEEVE was born in Gildersleeve, Connecticut, March 6, 1844, son of Henry and Emily (Northam) Gildersleeve. The name Gildersleeve is said to have originated from "sleeves braided with gold" worn by an official of the early Court in Flanders, and that after 1066 the name was carried to England, Sweden and Denmark. The records in Norfolk County, England, show: "Roger Gyldensleve 1273:" "John Gilden- sleve, Fellow of College of the Holy Cross, 1421:" "John Gildersleve, rector of Little Cressingham 1588:" Other records show "Sir Conrad Gildensloeve of Vlaburg, Sweden, came to England in 1660 with Charles II and was Knighted by the King at Whitehall, July 30th, 1660;" also "Count Ulrich Christian Gyl- densloeve, Grand Admiral of Denmark was born in 1685, died 1719." Richard Gildersleeve, born in England, 1601, came to America in 1635 with his wife, Joanna Appleton (of a very eminent family ) ; in 1641 he represented Stam- ford in the General Court in New Haven; in 1644 he was of the com- pany that settled Hempstead, Long Island, and for forty years was a magis- trate there. In 1776 Obadiah (of the fifth American generation) moved from Long Island to the place now called Gildersleeve, on the Connecticut River, where he or his descendants have ever since been shipbuilding. His grand- son, Sylvester, in 1821, started the present Gildersleeve ship yard, which has turned out IOI sailing vessels, 18 steamers, and 145 barges. Nearly all the sail vessels employed in the regular packet line between New York and Galves- ton, before the Civil War, were built at this yard, as was also the ship S. Gil- dersleeve, which was burned by the Alabama.
Oliver (grandson of Sylvester) entered the Gildersleeve ship yard in 1861, when No. "83" was built: No. "264" is now under way, showing 181 crafts built since Oliver began. From 1881 to 1884 he was interested in the shipping commission business at 84 South Street, New York City; in 1897 with his son, Louis, he established at I Broadway, New York City, an agency for the selling and chartering of vessels, built at the Gildersleeve ship yard: 104 vessels of from 400 to 2000 tons burden, have been handled by this agency.
For twenty-six years he has been a warden and convention delegate of Trinity Church, Portland, Connecticut; in 1900 he established "The Oliver Gildersleeve Memorial Fund," the income from which is of substantial aid to Trinity Church: he is a trustee of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, and has held many other ecclesiastical appointments, usually involving the rais- ing of money. He is a member of the Connecticut State Board of Rivers and Harbors Commission, and was appointed by the governor a delegate to repre- sent Connecticut at the convention of "The Atlantic Deeper Waterways Asso- ciation, held at Norfolk, Virginia, November, 1909, and the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, held at Washington, D. C., December, 1909. In 1900 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress in his district.
652
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
GEORGE TABER HAY
653
GEORGE TABER HAY
G YEORGE TABER HAY, now the head of the firm of J. F. Whit- ney & Company, shipping and commission merchants, was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 21, 1858, the son of Charles H. and Rachel (White) Hay. On the paternal side he is of Scotch family long settled in this country, while his mother was a native of Scotland and came to the United States in 1847. His father, Charles H. Hay, was a prominent and highly respected citizen of Brooklyn, and was engaged for many years in a success- ful business as a chandler.
Mr. Hay was educated at home and in the public schools of Brooklyn, and he began his training for active life in the office of J. F. Whitney & Com- pany, in 1872, at the age of fourteen. Ever since then he has been con- nected with that firm, advancing step by step as he added experience and aptitude, and he filled positions of increasing responsibility, becoming a part- ner, and in 1896 became the senior member of the firm, which is one of world- wide connections, and has built up a trade of constantly increasing volume. The house enjoys a high reputation as the result of having for so many years pursued a policy of the highest commercial integrity, and Mr. Hay, person- ally, has obtained a most excellent position in maritime and commercial cir- cles, having been for several years a director of the Maritime Association of New York and being at present one of the Board of Managers of the New York Produce Exchange. He is a trustee of the Broadway Savings Institute; a director of the Battery Park National Bank of New York; trustee of the Flatbush Building and Loan Association of Brooklyn Borough, and a director of the Modern Pen Company.
Mr. Hay is a Republican in his political affiliations, and while he has never sought or held office he has always taken a great interest in the welfare of the party and has represented it as a delegate at several Republican conven- tions. His religious affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was a trustee of the Eighteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in Brooklyn, from 1882 to 1903, and he is now a trustee of the Fenimore Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in Brooklyn Borough, always taking a great in- terest in the business affairs of the church, both locally and at large. Mr. Hay's travels have been for the most part confined to places in the United States and Canada, with the exception that he has also made two business trips to Great Britain and France. He has his office at 21 to 24 State Street, in New York City, and his home at 80 Winthrop Street, Brooklyn.
Mr. Hay married, October 12, 1881, Susan A. Dobbs and they have four children: Anna Elizabeth, who was born in 1883, and who was married, in 1907, to Robert Judson Taylor, of Brooklyn Borough; Esther Melbourne, who was born in 1888; George Taber Hay, Jr., born in 1891; and Susan Dobbs Hay, born in 1897.
654
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
MARSHALL JOSEPH CORBETT
655
MARSHALL JOSEPH CORBETT
M ARSHALL JOSEPH CORBETT, one of the leading representa- tives of the custom-house brokerage business, is a native of Brook- dale, Pennsylvania, where he was born June 15, 1843, the son of Ira and Juliette E. (Bowes) Corbett. He is descended on both sides from old Amer- ican families, his earliest American ancestor on the father's side having been Robert Corbett, who came to this country from England about 1650. On his mother's side his great-grandfather was a captain in the War of the Revolu- tion, and his grandfather served in the War of 1812. His father had a suc- cessful career in Pennsylvania as a lumberman, merchant, and farmer.
Mr. Corbett was educated in the common schools, and afterward attended a commercial college in preparation for a business career. On June IS, 1862, he enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Regiment of New York Volunteer Infantry, and when that regiment was mustered into United States service, September 3, 1862, he was elected second lieutenant. He was promoted to first lieutenant May 30, 1863, and to captain December 30, 1863, and was brevetted major for meritorious service and honorably dis- charged June 9, 1865, at the close of the war. He participated in many of the important battles and engagements, including the Battles of Chancellors- ville, Gettysburg, Wauhatchie, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and the Battle of Averyville or Goldsboro, North Carolina.
After his four years of patriotic and distinguished service in the Union Army, Mr. Corbett engaged in business pursuits until April, 1870, when he was appointed a clerk in the United States appraiser's department, in which he advanced by successive promotions until he became examiner and assistant appraiser of merchandise of the port of New York, in which office he con- tinued until 1892. During his service of twenty-two years in the custom house, Mr. Corbett became one of the foremost experts in the country with reference to the customs tariff, customs appraisement, and custom-house usages and regulations, and on leaving the service of the United States appraiser's department he established himself as a custom-house broker, bring- ing the fund of valuable knowledge attained in his long experience in the cus- toms service into the service of many of the leading commercial houses, whom he represents in custom-house matters. Prompt, efficient and reliable in every respect, Mr. Corbett has built up an extensive business and is now one of the leading representatives of the custom-house brokerage business at this port.
Mr. Corbett married, at Binghamton, New York, December, 1869, Alice A. Waldron. They have a son, Lawrence B. Corbett, born in October, 1870, who married Miss Grace Cleary; and they have four daughters: Alice E., born in March, 1872, and married to Professor Frederick H. Williams; Grace W., born in 1879, married to John Campbell; Clara L., born 1882, and mar- ried to Denison Stokes Phelps; and Miss Mabel Corbett, born in 1888.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
H ENRY RUDOLPH KUNHARDT, one of the prominent merchants engaged in the export and import business of New York City, was born on Staten Island in 1860. He entered upon his business career in 1878, and in 1880 and 1881 he was connected with business houses in Ant- werp, Havre and Liverpool. In 1882 he entered the employ of Kunhardt & Company, and two years later became a member of the firm of which he is now the senior partner.
Among other interests, Mr. Kunhardt is a director of the German American Bank, a trustee of the Ham- burg-Bremen Fire Insur- ance Company, and a direc- tor of the Carpenter Steel Company. In 1901 he served as president of the Maritime Exchange of the Association of the Port of New York.
In his political affilia- tion Mr. Kunhardt is a Republican, and in the days of the Municipal League and Good Government Clubs, he was on the Exec- utive Committee of the League and president of Club B. Later he served as a member of the Execu- tive Committee of the Citi- zens' Union in the first Low campaign, and at the pres- ent time he takes an active HENRY RUDOLPH KUNHARDT and public-spirited interest in all measures for the pro- motion of the welfare of Bernardsville, New Jersey, where his country place is located.
In 1888 Mr. Kunhardt married Mabel A. Farnham, of this city. They have three sons : Henry Rudolph Kunhardt, 3d, George Farnham Kunhardt, and Kingsley Kunhardt, all of whom are being educated for active business pursuits.
CHARLES RANLETT FLINT
657
C HARLES RANLETT FLINT, international merchant, was born at Thomaston, Maine, January 24, 1850, son of Benjamin and Sarah Tobey Flint. He was graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1868; entered the employ of W. R. Grace in 1869; joined in establishing the firms of Gilchrist, Flint & Company, ship chandlers, in 1871 ; W. R. Grace & Com- pany, 1872, and Grace Brothers & Company, of Peru, 1876; and thereafter took a leading place in the trade of the United States with Chile, Peru, Brazil and Latin America generally, sustaining important com- mercial and official relations with those countries. In 1885 he became a member of Flint & Company, which his uncle and father estab- lished in 1837, under the name of Chapman & Flint.
He was United States delegate to the International American Conference in Washington in 1889-1890, negotiated the reciprocity treaty between the United States and Brazil, form11- lated reports and resolu- tions providing for the es- tablishment of an Interna- tional American Bank and the Bureau of American Republics ; and as agent for President Peixotto (1893), gave important aid in pre- venting the overthrow of CHARLES RANLETT FLINT the Brazilian Republic by the Monarchists. He rendered valuable service to the United States Govern- ment in connection with the war with Spain; and to the Russian Government during its war with Japan. During eighteen years past his chief work has been industrial consolidation; and having organized thirty-nine corporations with outstanding capitalization of $3 6,000,000, he has earned the title of "Father of Trusts." He married, in 1883, E. Kate Simmons, of Troy, N. Y.
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658
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
W ILLIAM HENRY HOUGHTON AMERMAN, customs and in- surance broker, was born in New York City, September 22, 1846, son of Isaac and Jane Maria (Banta) Amerman. He is a direct descendant from Derick Jans Amerman, who came from Holland to New Netherland, in 1650, was a deacon in the Dutch Church at Flatbush, Long Island, 1682, and captain of the militia in 1690. Through his grandmother, who was a daugh- ter of Thomas de la Mon- tagne, he is also a descend- ant of Dr. Johannes de la Montagne, who was a mem- ber of the Provincial Coun- cil of New Amsterdam, in 1638.
WILLIAM HENRY HOUGHTON AMERMAN
Mr. Amerman, who was educated in the city public schools, entered busi- ness as office boy and later clerk with a large import- ing firm, and since Feb- ruary, 1870, has been en- gaged in business on his own account as a customs and insurance broker, in which line he is one of the leading experts.
He has traveled ex- tensively in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as in all of the prin- cipal countries of Europe. He is an independent Dem- ocrat in his political views; is a member of the Holland Society, the Manhattan Club, City Club, St. Nich-
olas Society of Nassau Island, The American Alliance, the Coffee Exchange and Belle Harbor Yacht Club, having a summer residence in Belle Harbor, Long Island.
He was married, in New York, June 30, 1870, to Elizabeth A. Armitage, and has two sons: William Henry Houghton Amerman, Jr., and Corydon Melvin Amerman.
659
ANTHONY J. MCCARTY
A NTHONY J. McCARTY, engaged for thirty-five years as a custom- house broker, was born in New York City, February 22, 1858, son of Thomas and Annie (Lee) McCarty and a descendant of Lawrence Mc- Carty, who came from Ireland in 1800. His uncle, H. J. McCarty, was in the produce business, served in the Common Council, and was foreman of No. 14 Engine, on Vesey Street, in the New York Fire Department.
After leaving Public School No. 13, in Brooklyn, Anthony J. McCarty became clerk with Dingelstedt & Co., 21 State Street, of which Adolf Dingelstedt was then head, and after some years' service became a partner. Three other members of the Dingelstedt family have since been members of the firm, but all are now de- ceased and Mr. McCarty is now sole member of Dingel- stedt & Company, one of the oldest and most successful firms of custom-house bro- kers in this country and rep- resentatives in custom-house business of many of the largest importing firms and corporations.
Mr. McCarty is vice president of the Custom- House Brokers' and Clerks' Association. He is a Repub- lican in politics, served as first sergeant of Company G ANTHONY J. MCCARTY (the "Beecher Company") of the Thirteenth Regiment, National Guard of New York, and was president of the Non-Commissioned Officers' Association of the Thirteenth Regiment. He resides in Brooklyn.
He married, in Brooklyn, October 27, 1899, Carrie (Wishart) McCarty, and they have five children: A. J. McCarty, Carrie McCarty, Robert Mc- Carty, John McCarty and Dorothy McCarty.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
THOMAS NATHANIEL JONES
661
THOMAS NATHANIEL JONES
T T HOMAS NATHANIEL JONES, who has had an active and suc- cessful career in banking, shipping, and other interests in New York, was born in New York City, November 4, 1874, being the son of William and Winifred (Lewis) Jones. His father, who was of Welsh descent and nativity, is a Presbyterian missionary, who came to the United States in 1863.
Mr. Thomas N. Jones received his education in the public schools of New York. In 1889 he was employed by Lord & Taylor, leaving there he went with the Autographic Register Company, and later was employed by the United States Mineral Wool Company until 1891, when he entered the em- ploy of the Chase National Bank of New York City as a messenger. He advanced in that institution until he became assistant paying teller, but resigned in 1902 to become paying teller with the Consolidated National Bank of New York City, where he was, soon afterward, elected assistant cashier. He resigned that position in October, 1905, to join the Donald Steamship Company of New York, of which he is treasurer, secretary and director, and he is also a director of the Donald Steamship Company, Limited, of Bristol, England. Three new fruit steamers and two freight steamers have been built and the business of the company has been very greatly increased during the past five years.
Mr. Jones is also now president and director of the Jones Change Reg- ister Company, a corporation recently formed for the purpose of placing on the market a change-making register that will automatically deduct any amount from any coin up to a silver dollar, recording the amount, and give the exact change. This company also owns the patents of the Jones Duplex Check Gate, a device that does the same work as a turnstile, only that it works upon an entirely different principle, as it does not revolve. It can be placed on the pay-as-you-enter type of cars, and each passenger will register himself, and it is equally applicable for use in any other place where a count of people entering is desirable. The devices which are handled by the Jones Change Register Company are, all of them, the inventions of William D. Jones, a mechanical and electrical engineer of much skill, who is a brother of Mr. Thomas N. Jones.
Since 1908, Mr. Jones has also been president and director of the Anti- septic Holder Company of New York, and treasurer and secretary of the World Securities Company ; and he is also an underwriter with the New York Com- mercial Underwriters.
Mr. Jones has made several trips to Europe and the West Indies, and through the United States and Canada on business and pleasure. He is a member of the St. David's Society of New York; Suburban Council, Royal Arcanum; Knickerbocker Circle of the Protected Home Circle, and the Traf- fic and Railroad Clubs, of New York.
662
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
CHARLES ARTHUR MOORE
663
CHARLES ARTHUR MOORE
C IHARLES ARTHUR MOORE, now president of the great manufac- turing corporation of Manning, Maxwell & Moore, Incorporated, was born at West Sparta, Livingston County, New York, being the son of William Ropes and Caroline M. (Van Ness) Moore. On the paternal side he is of Scotch, and on the maternal, of Dutch ancestry. His paternal great- grandfather, Dr. Francis Moore, who was one of the members of the historic "Boston Tea Party" and was conspicuous for the financial assistance which he gave to the American cause during the trying days of the Revolution, served as a surgeon in the patriot army, and took part in the seige of Louisburg and the battle of Bunker Hill.
Mr. Moore was educated in public and private schools in Rochester, New York, and Lynn, Massachusetts, and in early life had some experience in the United States Navy. He then engaged as a manufacturer of steam special- ties in Boston, became president of the Ashcroft Manufacturing Company and the Consolidated Safety Valve Company, and in New York, in 1880, joined forces with the firm of H. S. Manning & Company, forming the firm of Manning, Maxwell & Moore. Mr. Maxwell, of this firm, died in 1895, and Mr. Manning having retired, Mr. Moore incorporated the business in 1905. forming the present concern of Manning, Maxwell & Moore, Incorporated, of which he is the president and controlling owner. The business of the firm is manufacturing and dealing in machine tools, electric cranes, engineering specialties and supplies ; and in its line it is one of the most extensive in the world, with connection in all principal foreign countries.
Mr. Moore also has many other important business and financial inter- ests, being president of the Shaw Electric Crane Company, Consolidated Safety Valve Company, Ashcroft Manufacturing Company, Hancock Inspi- rator Company, the Hayden & Derby Manufacturing Company, the United In- jector Company, and Windsor Machine Company ; and he is a director of the Casualty Company of America, the Continental Insurance Company, Liberty National Bank, American Bank Note Corporation, and the National Machin- ery Company. He ranks as an executive of wide knowledge, forceful initia- tive and administrative ability of a superior order.
Mr. Moore has never held public office, except that he was elected presi- dential elector on the Mckinley and Hobart ticket in 1896. and was appointed by the New York Electoral College as its special messenger to deliver the electoral vote of New York State. He has always been prominently icienti- fied with national, State and municipal politics as a Republican, taking an influential part in the party councils; and he has several times been a member of the Republican National Conventions. He has very frequently been promi- nently mentioned as a possible candidate for mayor of Brooklyn, mayor of New York, and governor of the State of New York, and was formerly for
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
some time president of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club. He has been especially active and aggressive as a supporter of the Republican doctrine of the building up and encouragement of American industries through the medium of a protective tariff, and has been influential as an advocate and exponent of the protection policy. This activity has made him a leader in the American Protective Tariff League, of which he was president for ten years, and the success of which, as an educative and political factor, is in very large measure due to his initiative and executive ability.
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