USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 70
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
GEORGE ROWLAND READ
817
GEORGE ROWLAND READ
G J EORGE ROWLAND READ, who by long experience and trained knowledge has gained a place with the leaders in the real estate business of the metropolis, was born in Brooklyn, Long Island, in 1849, son of George W. and Rowland Augusta (Curtis) Read, his ancestry on both sides being English.
He was educated in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and in 1867 entered upon business life in the office of E. H. Ludlow & Company, real estate. He remained with that firm for seventeen years, acquiring an expert knowledge of realty conditions and values second to that of no real estate man of New York.
In 1885 he established the firm of Geo. R. Read, and in 1902 Geo. R. Read & Company, of which he is still the head, so that he now has the prestige of a remarkably successful career during more than forty-two years of activity as a real estate man in the city of New York, covering a period of great changes and unprecedented development improvements and of an increase in values of property which has outdistanced the hopes of the most optimistic forecasters of those earlier years.
Mr. Read has, in his long connection with real estate in the city of New York, been identified with many of the most prominent realty operations in that city, and represents many of the large financial institutions and estates in their real estate interests.
Among the recent operations of his firm have been many large transac- tions in realty north of New York City, comprising farms in Westchester and Putnam Counties and nearby localities across the State line in Connecticut, in which operations many prominent New Yorkers have been associated with Mr. Read.
Mr. Read is president of Geo. R. Read & Company, the Mutual Trust Company of Westchester County, Roxton Realty Company, and the Waccabuc Company.
He is a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Down Town Association of New York, and the Union, Metropolitan, Riding and Coaching Clubs.
Mr. Read married, in Brooklyn, December 20, 1874, Louise C. Frost, who died in 1902, and of that marriage there are four children: Rowland Read, who married Helen T. Dykman; Sarah, who married John I. Downey; Doro- thy, who married F. Rutledge Davis, and Newbury Frost Read, who is un- married.
Mr. Read again married, in St. Thomas Church, New York, November 20, 1907, Adelaide R. Hastings.
Mr. Read has traveled widely, making frequent trips to Europe and to the Pacific Coast. His town residence is 28 East Fifty-sixth Street.
52
818
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
5
WILLIAM EYRE GIBSON GAILLARD
819
WILLIAM EYRE GIBSON GAILLARD
W ILLIAM EYRE GIBSON GAILLARD was born March 1, 1877, at Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Edwin S. Gaillard, M.D., LL.D., Ph.D., and Mary Elizabeth (Gibson) Gaillard.
He was educated at Trinity School, New York City, and commenced his business career in March, 1893, when he entered the office of Stephen van Rensselaer Cruger & Company, whose business, the management of estates, was founded in 1796, principally to manage the large land grants and develop the then farm holdings of the Patroon Killiaen van Rensselaer, who acquired much of such property direct from the Crown about 1629. This business had continued under various styles without interruption, its immediate predeces- sor having been Van Rensselaer & Cruger, composed of Philip van Rensselaer and S. van Rensselaer Cruger, the then comptroller of Trinity Corporation. Mr. Gaillard soon inaugurated a policy of progressiveness for the old firm, which theretofore had confined its activities to estates in its exclusive con- trol, and in 1897 he was admitted to partnership, the firm then being McVickar & Company, one of the most prominent in the general real estate business.
In 1902, with his partner, Harry Whitney McVickar, Mr. Gaillard or- ganized the McVickar Realty Trust Company, capital and surplus $1,000,000, becoming first vice president of the company which was, in 1904, merged with the Empire State Trust Company, afterwards the Empire Trust Company, capital and surplus $1,500,000; the real estate and mortgage business being continued under style of the McVickar-Gaillard Realty Company, and the in- surance business as Gaillard & Company. He continued as vice president of the Empire Trust Company until 1908, resigning to become vice president of the New York Real Estate Security Company, organized by him.
Mr. Gaillard is president and director of the McVickar-Gaillard Realty Company and Gaillard & Company, and is vice president and director of the New York Real Estate Security Company; a director of the Empire Trust Company ; vice president and director of the Cedartown Knitting Company; director of the Josephine Knitting Mills Company, and of the Wahnita Knit- ting Mills Company; a member of the Real Estate Board of Brokers and Real Estate Auctioneers' Association; governor of the New York Southern Society and member of the City Midday, Lawyers', Knollwood Country, Sea Bright Lawn Tennis and Cricket, New York Athletic and City Lunch Clubs. The Virginians, the South Carolinians, and South Carolina Historical Society.
Mr .. Gaillard is of French Huguenot ancestry, the family being founded in America by Pierre Gaillard, who settled in South Carolina about 1685, immediately after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. His descendants were prominently identified with the Revolutionary War and Colonial history.
Mr. Gaillard married, in 1906, Mary Stamps Bateson, and has one daugh- ter, Mary Stamps Bateson Gaillard.
820
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
R OBERT E. DOWLING, president of the City Investing Company, is a native of California, where he was born at Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, October 21, 1866. His ancestors came from England and Ireland, some settling in Nova Scotia, and thence removing to New York. His father, at the age of twenty, went to California with other pioneers in 1849, and was one of the first settlers of the town of Mokelumne Hill, which became the county seat of Calaveras County. There he became a lawyer and mine owner, and one of the most influential citizens of the place. About six months after his son was born, he returned, in 1867, to New York City, locating in the village of Bloomingdale, now a part of Riverside Drive.
Mr. Dowling was educated in public school and in the College of New York. On leaving college he became a clerk in a law office, designing to enter the legal profession, but in October, 1885, he opened a real estate office at Columbus Avenue and One Hundred and Fourth Street. There he engaged successfully in a general real estate and brokerage business until 1890, when, with Albert Flake, he organized the New York Realty Company, which after- ward was merged in the New York Realty Corporation, of which he became vice president and so continued until that company dissolved. In January, 1905, the City Investing Company was incorporated for the purpose of deal- ing in New York real estate, in which the operations of the company are very large; and the company is the owner of the City Investing Building, one of the largest and most modern of the great office buildings of New York City, located at 165 Broadway. He is also president and director of the Broadway- Cortlandt Company, the Number Sixty-eight William Street Company, and the Seventy-second Street Company; vice president and director of the Im- proved Property Holding Company; director of the National Reserve Bank of the City of New York, the Lincoln Trust Company, the State Investing Com- pany, the Commonwealth Insurance Company of New York, and the City of New York Insurance Company.
Mr. Dowling has made many of the largest real estate purchases of re- cent years in New York City, including that of the Hotel Langham. for $1,750,000; of the Hotel Empire, January 19, 1907; of the Evans Block bounded by Broadway, West End Avenue, Eighty-ninth and Ninetieth Streets; the Yerkes Mansion, April 21, 1910, for $1,239,000; and the Yerkes Art Gal- lery, May 23, 1910, for T. F. Ryan.
He is a Democrat in politics, president of the Tilden Club, and he is a veteran of Company C, Twenty-second Regiment of the National Guard of the State of New York. He is also a member of the Manhattan Club, the Lawyers' Club, and the New York Riding Club.
Mr. Dowling married, in New York City, June 28, 1894, Minnetta Adele Link, and has two children: Robert Whittle and Ruth Percival Dowling.
821
CHARLES F. NOYES
C HARLES F. NOYES, successful real estate broker, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, July 19, 1878, the son of Charles Denison Noyes, now retired, and one of the owners of the Norwich Morning Bulletin, and of Carrie P. (Crane) Noyes. He is a descendant of Rev. James Noyes, who came from England and settled at Mystic, Connecticut, in 1633.
Charles F. Noyes was educated in the Norwich Academy, and when twenty years old came to New York and engaged in the real estate business, which he has since con- ducted successfully. In 1898 the business, now conducted by the Charles F. Noyes Company, was organized and Mr. Noyes is manager and treasurer of that com- pany, with offices at 92 Wil- liam Street. The company is specially prominent in the business of rental, sale and management of downtown business property, in which department of the real es- tate profession the firm is one of the leaders, having a business so large that the company now has an office force of about thirty em- ployees and employs about seventy in its agency de- partment.
Mr. Noyes is a mem- ber of the Union League Club of Brooklyn, Crescent CHARLES F. NOYES Athletic, New York Ath- letic, Drug and Chemical, and Underwriters' Clubs, Brooklyn League and Real Estate Board of Brokers; and a director of the Realty League of New York. He is also interested, as an officer and director, in several important corporations.
He married, in Brooklyn, September 16, 1903, Eleanora Seward Hal- sted, and has a daughter, Eleanora Halsted Noyes.
822
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
CHARLES EDWARD SCHUYLER
823
CHARLES EDWARD SCHUYLER
O HARLES EDWARD SCHUYLER, who is one of the leading real estate brokers of the City of New York, and is most particularly identified with the upbuilding of the West Side, and after whom Schuyler Square was named, was born in New York City, January 7, 1859, the son of Garret Lansing and Mary Elizabeth Schuyler. He is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent of the Dutch families of New York, and directly descended from Philip Pieterse Schuyler, who settled in Albany in 1631 and who became a large landed proprietor in Albany and New York City and along the Hudson, became captain of a company of Albany militia in 1667, and was distinguished throughout his life for his friendship with the Indians. He married the daughter of the Patroon Van Rensselaer, and their son Peter, who was born in Albany, and upon its incorporation, July 22, 1688, became the first mayor of that city. This family was prominently identified with the patriot cause in Revolutionary times, and in all matters affecting the welfare of the province and afterward of the State of New York members of this family gained distinction in war, diplomacy, education, divinity, the legal pro- fession and in business life, and none of the New York families has a more honorable record.
Mr. Schuyler was educated in Columbia Grammar School, and was after- ward a member of the Class of '82 in Yale, and later in Columbia Law School.
He has been engaged in the real estate business in New York City since 1885, and has been an expert appraiser in many important matters both for the City of New York and for the Banking Department of the State of New York, as well as for various estates and numerous attorneys.
Mr. Schuyler was the organizer and secretary of the Riverside and Morn- ingside Heights Association; secretary and governor of the Real Estate Board of Brokers of New York; was organizer of the Century Bank of New York City, and one of the reorganizers of the Colonial Bank of New York. He was president of the Real Estate Business Men's Club in the McClellan campaign.
Mr. Schuyler is a veteran of the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard of the State of New York, and one of the original members of Squadron A. He has traveled extensively; is a member of the St. Nicholas Club and the Holland Society of New York, and he enjoys the best social connections. His residence is in Dobbs Ferry-on-the-Hudson, and his office at 165 Broadway.
Mr. Schuyler married, in Philadelphia, in 1895, Adele Sartori, and has two children: Juliette de Coursey, born August 5, 1898, and Rutherfurd Schuyler, born July 8, 1903. Previously Mr. Schuyler had been married to Sarah Roach (daughter of John B. Roach, the shipbuilder, of Chester, Penn- sylvania ), who died in 1893, by whom he had a son, Lansing Roach Schuy- ler, who died in 1887.
824
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
D AVID LEWIS PHILLIPS, who has taken a prominent place among the representatives of real estate interests in New York City, was born in this city June 3, 1861, the son of Lewis J. and Eliza (Davies) Phillips. In the paternal line Mr. Phillips is a descendant of an English family, and on his mother's side is of Dutch descent. His father was a prominent business man of New York City, and founder of the firm of L. J. Phillips & Company, real estate brokers. He was a donor for life of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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David Lewis Phillips was educated in the public schools of New York City and, upon completing his studies, he entered his father's firm of L. J. Phil- lips & Company, learning the business thoroughly and becoming a member of the firm of which, since the death of his father, he has been the senior mem- ber. The firm is one of the leaders in the real estate activities of the city, and does a large bro- kerage, auctioneering and appraising business in New York real estate. He is also a director of the Great Eastern Casualty and Indemnity Company. DAVID LEWIS PHILLIPS The firm has its offices at 158 Broadway and branch offices, for its large uptown business, at 261 Columbus Avenue.
Mr. Phillips is a Republican, but voted for Grover Cleveland.
He married in New York City, March 3, 1885, Gertrude M. Kuhn, and they have six children: J. Dudley, Edna, Helen S., Robert W., Mar- jorie, and Lloyd J. He has his city residence at 35 Riverside Drive, and a country place at Bay Shore, Long Island.
825
RICHARD MALCOLM MONTGOMERY
R ICHARD MALCOLM MONTGOMERY, who is prominently iden- tified with the real estate brokerage business in New York, is a native of South Bergen, New Jersey, where he was born December 19, 1853, the son of John Robb Montgomery, long a prominent tea merchant, and his wife Jane Malcolm (Ball) Montgomery.
He is of Scotch-Irish descent. His earliest American ancestor was James Montgomery, of Belfast, Ireland, who came to the United States in 1799.
Mr. Montgomery at- tended the Hasbrouck Insti- tute in Jersey City, leaving that institution when four- teen years of age to engage in business life. He entered the tea business, where he remained for twelve years, gaining in that business a valuable commercial expe- rience. In 1893, Mr. Mont- gomery entered the real es- tate business as broker. He acquired an intimate and expert knowledge of values of real estate, and was suc- cessful in organizing many large syndicates for the pur- chase and resale of real es- tate on Manhattan Island, and has gained for himself a prominent place in the real estate profession.
Mr. Montgomery is a Republican; a member of the City Club of New York RICHARD MALCOLM MONTGOMERY City, and has served on several of its important committees; member of the New York Zoological Society, the Civil Service Reform Association, the Society of the Sons of the Revolution and Westchester Country Club.
Mr. Montgomery married, in Washington, D. C., January, 1903, Maud MacFarland. He has three sons by a former marriage: Richard Malcom, Jr., John Robb Montgomery and Francis Stuart Montgomery.
826
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
FLOYD STEWART CORBIN
4
827
FLOYD STEWART CORBIN
F LOYD STEWART CORBIN, well known as a specialist in water- front and dock properties, was born in Thomaston, Upson County, Georgia, and was educated in the schools of his native State.
Coming to New York City in 1895, Mr. Corbin engaged in the real estate business and soon established a reputation as a specialist in dock and terminal property, often being called upon to give expert testimony in cases where the question of valuations arose. He has devoted years of study to this one branch of the real estate business and his knowledge is so complete that he was recently selected to deliver a lecture before the Real Estate Class of the Young Men's Christian Association on "Water Front Properties in New York Harbor."
Mr. Corbin comes of an illustrious ancestry, the history of the family being traceable in England for eight centuries. The American branch was founded by Henry Corbin, of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England, who settled in Stratton Mayor, King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1654, but also owned land in Lancaster, Westmoreland and Middlesex Counties. He was burgess for Lancaster in 1659, justice of Middlesex in 1673 and a mem- ber of the Council in 1663. His son, Garwin Corbin, once president of the Council and burgess in 1700, 1702, 1718 and 1738, had three sons, Richard, John and Garwin, the latter marrying a sister of the famous Richard Henry Lee, while John Corbin served as a sergeant of the Virginia Volunteers dur- ing the Revolution and was given a farm for his services. It was Garwin Corbin, who was the direct ancestor of Floyd Stewart Corbin.
The history of Virginia shows that the Corbins were always foremost in the civic, military, social, ecclesiastical and diplomatic circles of that period; being contemporaneous, and intermarrying with the Taliaferros, Lees, Cur- tises, Beverlys, Churchhills, FitzHughs, Woodfords, Batailes and many others famous in Colonial days and immediately following the Revolution.
In the early days the family adhered strictly to its English training and the homes of the sons were noted for priceless plate and armorial trappings which had been brought from the old country. One of the cherished relics was an officer's side arms and accoutrements which one of the forbears wore while an aide-de-camp on the staff of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The right of the Corbin family to use a crest is attested by the Heralds' College, where the family arms, "Sable on a chief or, three ravens proper," are recorded. The Motto is Deus Pascit Corvos-"God feeds the ravens."
Mr. Corbin's ancestry on the maternal side is from the John B. Floyds; father and son were governors of Virginia, and the younger Floyd also sec- retary of war under President Buchanan.
Mr. Corbin is secretary and one of the Board of Governors of the Georgia Society. He married Miss Adelia Myers, of Augusta, Georgia.
828
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
J OHN W. PARIS, who has created for himself an enviable position
in the real estate world in this city, is like many another of the suc- cessful business men of New York, a product of the Middle West.
He was born on a farm near Rensselaer, Indiana, in 1860, being the son of Berry Paris and Sarah (Dwiggins) Paris.
JOHN W. PARIS
His education was limited to the high schools of his native town and a partial course in Purdue University. At the age of nineteen he accepted employment in a bank at Oxford, Indiana, and at twenty-two was elected cashier and manager of the Citizens National Bank at Attica, Indiana. Thus, at a very early age did he assume responsibilities generally reserved for men
JOHN W. PARIS
829
of more mature years. This institution was remarkably successful under his management, and the experience which Mr. Paris gained while there aided to prepare him for later and larger duties.
In 1891 he resigned this position and removed to Indianapolis, where he opened, in connection with Hon. J. Shanman Nave, an investment banking business and became the field manager of the United States Loan and Trust Company. In this capacity his travels were extended throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada, giving him the opportunity of a thorough study of this Northern Hemisphere and its resources.
Mr. Paris' numerous trips to New York City revealed to his analytic mind the unlimited opportunities in the city's real estate world, and desiring to participate in the wonderful and fascinating work of the building of the greatest city on the globe, he removed to this city in 1897.
His first ambition was to thoroughly acquaint himself with the real estate conditions in the city, its past and present zones of growth, and the reasons therefor. As a result of this study, Brooklyn appearing to be the most attrac- tive field, his operations were begun there on a conservative scale with profit- able results.
Realizing that the large undertakings of the Pennsylvania Railroad taken in connection with the building by the city of the Queens Borough Bridge- and by Mr. Belmont of the Belmont Tunnel-meant to Queens Borough, into which all this transit improvement entered, an era of development unsurpassed in the city's history, he became a pioneer operator and developer in that sec- tion; and he is to-day one of the most extensive real estate operators and developers of properties in Queens Borough.
Mr. Paris is the senior member of John W. Paris & Son, president of the Mutual Profit Realty Company, treasurer, secretary and director of the Wood- side Heights Land Corporation and Equitable Sales Company, and is secre- tary and director of the Kissma Park Corporation, and of the Park Terrace Company.
He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Third Ward Republican Club, the City Club of New York, the Flushing Country Club, the Bayside Yacht Club, the Cornucopia Lodge, F. and A. M., the Men's Club of Flush- ing, vice president of the Flushing Association, and president of the Real Estate Exchange of Long Island. He and his family are affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church of Flushing.
Mr. Paris married Miss Frances Johnston in Oxford, Indiana, in 1883, and four children have been born to them, the oldest, a son, Rex. and the youngest, a daughter, Helen, being the only ones surviving.
Their home is at the corner of Parsons and Rose Avenues. in Flushing, Queens Borough.
830
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
G ERALD RUDDEROW BROWN, who enjoys well-earned distinc- tion as one of the successful real estate men of New York City, is a native of Brooklyn, where he was born May 3, 1857, son of Theodore Rudderow and Caroline Edwards (Timpson) Brown. He is of Irish, English and Dutch descent, his first American ancestor having been Robert Brown, who came to America in 1750. He was educated in Lockwood's Academy, the Adelphi Academy, and the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn.
In January, 1876, he entered the service of The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, as office boy, and made steady progress in the service of the society until he was given charge of their office buildings and real estate; and in 1907 he was promoted to comptroller of the society, in which office he has since continued.
About 1890 he formed, with John Noble Golding, the real estate firm of Brown & Golding, and he is still largely interested in real estate operations. Mr. Brown is a member of the Real Estate Board of Bro- kers of New York.
He is a member of the Lawyers' Club and The Pil- GERALD RUDDEROW BROWN grims, in New York City, and of the Englewood Club, Englewood Golf Club and Englewood Field Club of Englewood, N. J., where he has his home.
Mr. Brown married, in Brooklyn, May 20, 1884, Elizabeth Stewart Gregory, and they have two daughters, Constance Gregory Brown, who was born January 6, 1894, and Geraldine Van Gelder Brown, born January 16, 1896.
831
MAXIMILIAN MORGENTHAU
M AXIMILIAN MORGENTHAU, born in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, October 23, 1847, was educated at the Grand Ducal Lyceum there, came to New York, was graduated LL.B. from New York University Law School and admitted to the Bar. After engaging successfully in the retail dry goods business in Chicago, he was attracted by the greater possibilities offered in the real estate field in New York, which he entered in 1898. He is now (1910) president of many realty companies, among them the Hudson Realty Company, Woodmere Realty Company and Banister Realty Company ; and is a director of the Union Ex- change National Bank.
His largest and most recent operation was the purchase for $3,000,000 of the entire town of Wood- mere, a beautiful residential suburb adjoining Cedar- hurst, on the south shore of Long Island, together with scores of handsome resi- dences, clubhouses, etc.
He is a governor of the Woodmere Country Club, and a member of the Repub- lican Club, Lawyers' Club, Society for Ethical Culture, and other organizations.
Mr. Morgenthau mar- ried Fannie Ehrich, in New York City, July 10, 1872, MAXIMILIAN MORGENTHAU and they have seven chil- dren: Adele M. (Mrs. James Frank), Alice R. (Mrs. Jesse W. Ehrich), Maxi- milian, Jr. (married Rita, daughter of the late Leopold Wallach), Minna J. (married Dr. Ludwig M. Loeb, of Chicago), William W., Beatrice F. and Dorothy R.
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