USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 71
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Mr. Morgenthau is interested in art, music, travel and literature. He is especially known for his quick judgment and his rare executive ability.
832
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
M ILTON ALBERT L'ECLUSE, successful real estate operator, was born in Bayport, L. I. At the age of sixteen he became clerk in a General store at Roslyn, L. I., and after seven years there he acquired a business of his own at Great Neck, L. I. He made a great success of it, as well as of numerous transactions in real estate and mortgage loans. He was appointed postmaster by President Mckinley, in 1897, serving until 1902.
He then entered the Country Department of S. Osgood Pell & Company, was admitted to the firm in less than a year, elected treasurer in two years, and in 1907, its president. He resigned, to become presi- dent of L'Ecluse, Wash- burn Company, and The Woodmere Land Associa- tion. He is also president of the Country Develop- ment Company, who own several million dollars' worth of Long Island prop- erty. Mr. L'Ecluse is the largest country real estate broker in New York City. He is best known as the broker who discovered the value of Long Island City, in 1906, having sold seven million dollars' worth that year; and also as the man who made the largest single MILTON ALBERT L'ECLUSE transaction, when he sold the town of Woodmere for nearly three million dollars. He has a country home at Huntington, L. I.
He was formerly president of the Republican Club of Great Neck, L. I., and superintendent of the Union Sunday School there. He is a Presbyterian and a prominent Mason.
He married, in New York, October 31, 1904, Julia Manley Weeks; and they have two children, Julia Manley and Milton Weeks.
ARTHUR FRANCEWAY DAY 833
A RTHUR FRANCEWAY DAY, banker, is one of the best known of the younger men who have made their mark in the financial dis- trict of New York. He was born in Harris, Missouri, August 3, 1883, the son of Samuel S. and Olive (Pennick) Day. The family is of English origin, his first American ancestor, William Day, coming from that country to Vir- ginia in 1670. In the line of descent from this ancestor have been soldiers who distinguished themselves in the Revolutionary, Mexican and Civil Wars. His grandfather was a cousin of Abraham Lincoln and closely associated with him, and he was a major, serving in the Mexican War and taking part in the sieges of Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico.
Mr. Day was educated in public school and at Grand River College, in Gallatin, Missouri, and received his early business training in a small bank in that city. From there he went to the New England National Bank at Kansas City, Missouri, where he rapidly advanced and later became vice presi- dent of the American National Bank of the same place.
Mr. Day spent a year in Europe, making a study of banking methods and the banking situation from June, 1906, to June, 1907. He then returned to this country and has since been engaged in the banking business in New York City. He is now the representative in America of the Banque Franco- Americaine, of Paris, employing large capital in financial and railway enter- prises. He is also vice president of the Savoy Trust Company and a director of the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway. Mr. Day has participated in many important financial operations and his banking experience and sound judgment have earned him a place of importance in the banking operations of the financial district of New York. His active experience in banking, East and West, his knowledge of the important investment enterprises of the coun- try at large, his wide acquaintance with financial leaders in all parts of this country and abroad, and the results of his intimate study of financial institu- tions, methods and conditions enable him to give efficient service to the impor- tant interests placed in his hands.
In political views and affiliations Mr. Day is a Republican of the "stand- pat" variety, and as formerly in the West, so also in New York since he has made his home in the city, he has taken an active part in political affairs in his endeavor to promote the success of the Republican party, its principles and its candidates.
Mr. Day is a member of the Lawyers' Club, the Republican Club of New York, and the Hudson-Fulton Yacht Club. He has his city home at 380 Riverside Drive, and his country home at Stamford, Connecticut.
Mr. Day married, in Kansas City, Missouri, in June, 1906, Nellie Kene- fick, and they have two sons: William Kenefick Day and Arthur Franceway Day, Jr.
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834
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
JOHN D. WING
835
JOHN D. WING
TOHN D. WING, late chairman of Wing & Evans, Incorporated, was one of the representative merchants of New York, having been for half a century at the head of one of the best known business houses of the metropolis. He was born in Ulster County, New York, June 22, 1834, the son of Jacob and Anna Marie (Cornell) Wing. He was descended from an old New England family, his first American ancestors having been the Rev. John and Deborah Wing, English Quakers, who came to Massachusetts in 1632, and were among the first settlers at Sandwich, Massachusetts. In the maternal line he was a descendant from Governor John Winthrop, the second governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was also a descendant from Captain John Underhill, who at one time commanded the British forces in New England in war against Indians and who also took a very active part in the early controversy over the claim of England to sovereignty over Long Island, and was appointed surveyor of customs for Long Island by Governor Nicolls, in 1665.
In his childhood Mr. Wing moved with his parents to Dutchess County, New York, and there attended the Quaker School conducted under the name of Nine Partners, at that time a prominent institution at what was then known as Mechanic, in Dutchess County, New York, but which is now called Millbrook, the entire property having been purchased in after years by Mr. Wing for his country home. After completing his preparatory studies in that institution, Mr. Wing went to New York and attended the famous Anthon Grammar School, in College Place, from which he was graduated.
After leaving school Mr. Wing began his business training and soon showed great executive and administrative ability, with a notable readiness of grasp and comprehension of business problems as they presented them- selves. When he was only twenty-two years old he sailed for San Francisco by way of Panama, and there, becoming associated with Joseph S. Paxson, of San Francisco, who was at that time filling the office of State treasurer of California, he founded the firm of John D. Wing & Company, and embarked upon a successful business. At the time of his arrival in San Francisco the city was in the midst of disorder, owing to the wild and turbulent character of much of the population, who were emboldened by the lax enforcement of the law by the constituted authorities. Mr. Wing became a member of the second Vigilance Committee, organized in 1856, which for a time tried, con- victed and punished criminals in an extra-judicial manner. Though the method was drastic, it was needed, and restored law and order to the com- munity.
For three years Mr. Wing continued in business in San Francisco and then returned to New York, where, in 1859, in association with John Henry Evans, he established the chemical brokerage house of Wing & Evans, which
836
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
grew to be one of the foremost enterprises connected with the trade in heavy chemicals. Mr. Wing's business acumen led him to seek constantly the expan- sion of his trade connections in this country and abroad. In November, 1865, he visited England for the first time, and while there he established connections with various prominent manufacturers and large handlers in the various in- dustries which, in later years, were merged in the United Alkali Company. He made numerous trips across the ocean after that, and in 1876 he secured for his firm the United States agency for Brunner, Mond & Company, Lim- ited, and was the first to introduce ammonia alkali into the United States. Eight years afterward the firm of Wing & Evans secured the agency for the Solvay Process Company, of Syracuse, New York, and Detroit, Michigan.
Mr. Evans died in 1889, but the firm name has been retained without change of title although it was incorporated in 1905. Mr. Wing devoted to its upbuilding not only business abilities of exceptional quality, but also the highest principles of personal and commercial integrity, which place his house not only on a high plane as to its success, but also in the esteem of the business community.
Mr. Wing took a deep interest in his stock farm at Milbrook, Dutchess County, New York, which he bought and stocked while still a young man, and to its development applied the genius for success which was characteristic of his career. The farm at Milbrook became famous for the high grade of fancy cattle reared there, and Mr. Wing became known as an authority on fine stock breeding and agricultural topics. He was an active member and presi- dent of the New York State Agricultural Society in 1882; was one of the organizers and for a time president of the New York Farmers, and one of the founders and first president of the American Jersey Cattle Club.
Mr. Wing was a prominent layman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a vestryman of St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City, and for forty- six years senior warden of Grace Church at Millbrook, New York. He was interested in the welfare of crippled children, and vice president of the Hos- pital for Ruptured and Crippled. He was a life member of the New York Zoological Society, member of the New York Botanical Gardens, American Museum of Natural History, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mr. Wing was also a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Met- ropolitan Club, New York Yacht Club, Down Town Association, and Midday Club. He died at his city residence, 16 West Forty-ninth Street, on January I, 1910.
Mr. Wing married, in 1859, Adelaide W. Hinman, who survives him, with their two sons: John Morgan Wing and L. Stuart Wing (who are re- spectively president and vice president of the house of Wing & Evans, Incor- porated), and a daughter, Marion Wing Flint, wife of Dr. Austin Flint, Jr.
837
AUGUST KLIPSTEIN
A UGUST KLIPSTEIN, who has for years held a representative place in the trade in dyestuffs and chemicals, was born in Ger- many, June 27, 1848.
After attending high school at Frankfort on the Main he entered upon his business training at Frankfort on the Main, Dresden, Paris, and in Eng- land. In 1872 he established himself in the dyestuffs and chemical business in New York City. To this enterprise he has applied himself in an energetic and progressive way, taking ad- vantage of the fruits of modern invention, which has, in the past few decades, wrought such a wonderful revolution in the manufac- ture of chemicals and dye- ing materials. The house he established, A. Klipstein & Company, of which he is president, is now one of the foremost in its line, with a trade of international scope, conducted not only from New York, but also from branch houses in Boston, Providence, Chicago, Phila- delphia, and Frankfort on the Main, Germany; the headquarters of the com- pany being at New York, 129 Pearl Street. In Can- ada it is represented by A. Klipstein & Company, Ltd., Montreal. He is a member AUGUST KLIPSTEIN of the Riding and Driving and Germania Clubs of Brooklyn, German Club, and Liederkranz, New York.
Mr. Klipstein married, in New York City, June 6, 1886, Hedwig, daugh- ter of F. A. Hemmer, Esquire. They have a daughter, Louise Klipstein, born August 2, 1887; and two sons: August Klipstein, Jr., born May 5, 1889, and Herbert C. Klipstein, born December 30, 1890. Both sons are now stu- dents at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
838
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
JOHN JACKSON RIKER
839
JOHN JACKSON RIKER
J OHN JACKSON RIKER, president of J. L. & D. S. Riker, Incorpo- rated, was born at Newtown, Long Island, New York, April 6, 1858, the son of John Lawrence and Mary Anne (Jackson) Riker. The Riker family has been prominent in the history of New York since it was New Netherland, coming from the old Van Rycken family, of Amsterdam, Hol- land, where several of the members of the family were engaged in the great contest won by William of Nassau for Dutch independence. The first Amer- ican ancestor was Abraham Rycken, who came from Amsterdam to New Netherland in 1636, and is registered six years later as living on his own premises at "Heeren Gracht" (Broad Street) on the Old Dutch Road ( Beaver Street). In 1654 he received from the director-general, Pieter Stuyvesant, a grant of one-fourth of the township of Newtown, on Long Island, now a part of the Greater City of New York; and although most of the grant has long since been disposed of for building purposes, the family have retained the Riker homestead and burying ground, comprising about one hundred and thirty acres of land. Ever since the first settler, members of the family have been prominent in the city and its neighborhood, and several members have served the city, State and country in civic and military offices. Samuel Riker, great-grandson of Abraham Rycken, and the youngest of the three sons of Andrew Riker, all of whom served with excellent records in the Revolutionary Army, was for a long time a prisoner in the hands of the British, and after the war was prominent in civil life on Long Island, serving a term as a member of the State Assembly, and after that being for two terms a repre- sentative in Congress. The youngest of his nine children was John Lawrence Riker, who was the grandfather of John J. Riker, and who was a leading law- yer, practising his profession for more than fifty years. His son, John Law- rence Riker, of this historic family, was prominent in the last generation as one of the most successful of the progressive merchants of New York, estab- lishing the house of J. L. & D. S. Riker, of which his son, John J. Riker, is now the head.
The latter was educated in day and boarding schools in the city and pre- pared for college, but preferred a business career. He went from the Char- lier Institute, New York, direct into the office of his father's firm as office boy, August 28, 1876. There he thoroughly learned the business in all its depart- ments and details, and after serving in various capacities of increasing respon- sibility, he was admitted as a partner in the firm in January, 1888, and so con- tinued until the dissolution of the firm, and the incorporation of its successor as J. L. & D. S. Riker, Incorporated, in December, 1901, when he was elected the first president of the company, which office he continues to hold. The firm has long been one of the foremost in the country in the chemicals trade, and Mr. Riker, who has been the active head of the business for the past
840
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
twenty years, has fully maintained the reputation which has been attached to the house from its foundation. There is no business house in New York with a higher standing for commercial probity than that of which Mr. Riker is the head, and the personal and business qualities of Mr. Riker are reflected in the high standard which has always been maintained in the transactions of his house.
Mr. Riker, in addition to his position at the head of this important com- mercial enterprise, is a director of the Fidelity-Phenix Fire Insurance Com- pany of New York, The Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, The Fidelity and Casualty Company, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company; trustee, officer and director in several large industrial corporations located in various States; di- rector of the Rye National Bank, Rye, New York; treasurer New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Mr. Riker is a Republican in his political affiliations, but he has never held any public office except that of school trustee for the Twenty-first Ward of the City of New York in the early nineties.
He has, however, had an honorable and prominent military career in the National Guard of the State of New York, in which he enlisted as a private in the Seventh Regiment on May 26, 1878. He was commissioned as aide-de- camp with the rank of first lieutenant on the staff of Brigadier General Wil- liam G. Ward, of the First Brigade, First Division of the National Guard of the State of New York, on August 18, 1879. He was promoted to be senior aide with the rank of captain, on April 1, 1880; and was commissioned brigade inspector of rifle practice with the rank of major on October 27, 1882, serv- ing until January 9, 1884, when he was commissioned major of the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry, National Guard of the State of New York, so serving until January 14, 1889, when he resigned from the service.
Mr. Riker is a member of numerous societies and clubs. He is a mem- ber of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of New Jersey by virtue of collateral descent from Dr. John Berrien Riker, surgeon of the Fourth New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line in the Revolutionary War; is also a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the Revolution, Society of the War of 1812, and the Holland Society of New York. He is a member also of the Union and St. Nicholas Clubs, the Down Town Association of New York, the Apawamis Club of Rye, New York, New York Yacht Club, City Midday Club, Automobile Club of America, St. Nicholas Society, the Adirondack League, and of the Rittenhouse Club of Philadelphia. Besides his city residence at 298 Lexington Avenue, he has a country place, "Rock Ledge Farm," near Port Chester, in Westchester County, New York.
Mr. Riker was married, in Brooklyn, New York, April 20, 1881, to Edith M. Bartow.
841
SAMUEL WILLIAM FAIRCHILD
S® AMUEL WILLIAM FAIRCHILD, a leading pharmaceutical chem- ist of the country, member of the firm of Fairchild Brothers & Fos- ter, was born in 1853 at Stratford, Connecticut, directly descended from Thomas Fairchild, of England, who settled at Stratford in 1632, and from Lieutenant Thomas Elwood, who served under Paul Jones.
Mr. Fairchild was graduated in 1873 from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, which, in 1908, conferred upon him also the degree of Master of Phar- macy, in recognition of his effective work in the higher interests of pharmacy, nota- bly while president of the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York, 1890- 1896.
Mr. Fairchild is a member of the New Eng- land Society of New York and Society of Sons of the Revolution; was a com- missioner representing the City of New York at the World's Columbian Exposi- tion, 1893; a trustee of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission, 1909; is on the Executive Committee of the Bowery Savings Bank; a director of the Market-Ful- ton National Bank; chair- man of Committee on Inter- national Trade and Com- merce of the Chamber of SAMUEL WILLIAM FAIRCHILD Commerce of New York; a director of the United States Life Insurance Company; vice president of the Union League Club; member of the Metropolitan, Lawyers', Fulton and Ards- ley Clubs, of New York; Travellers' Club of Paris; South Side Sportsmen's Club of Long Island; Virginia Club of Norfolk; president of Princess Anne Club of Virginia; trustee of Fordham Home for Incurables, Sevilla Home for Orphan Children, and Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital.
842
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
J JACOB PIUS MARIA HASSLACHER, manufacturer, was born in
Ems on the Lahn, Germany, July 5, 1852, the son of George and Agnes (Schaeffner ) Hasslacher. His father held important official position as administrator of the government bath, parks and buildings in Ems.
He attended elementary and high schools in Ems, and the Gymnasium in Hadamar, a collegiate institution, being graduated in 1872. He served in
the Reserve of the Prussian Army, becoming lieutenant.
He was with the Ger- man Gold and Silver Refin- ery (late Roessler), at Frankfurt on the Main, from 1872 to 1878, then other positions in Germany and Switzerland, coming to New York in 1884, and with Franz Roessler creat- ing the firm of Roessler & Hasslacher, manufacturing and importing chemists. In 1889 the business was in- corporated as The Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Company, of which he has since been president, now one of the largest chemical enterprises of New York. He is an officer in the Niag- ara Electro Chemical Com- pany, Perth Amboy Chemi- cal Works and Chiorine Products Company.
He is a member of JACOB PIUS MARIA HASSLACHER the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Chemists' Club, Drug and Chemical Club, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, and the German Hospital; also of the New York Athletic and German Clubs, German Liederkranz and Arion Society in New York, and the Elka Park Association of Elka Park, New York, where he has his summer home. He married, in Hoboken, N. J., in 1893, Elizabeth Fleck, and has two sons and four daughters.
843
ISAAC FRANK STONE
TSAAC FRANK STONE, president of the National Aniline & Chem- ical Company, was born in Chicago, Illinois, March 2, 1867, and is a son of Theodore Stone, a merchant, and Mary S. (Owen) Stone. He is of English descent, his first American ancestor, John Stone, having settled in Guilford, Conn., about 1650.
Mr. Stone was educated in the public schools of Chicago; and was mar- ried in that city on June 5, 1889, to Mary Louise Peck, and they had two children, Grace H. Stone, born March 12, 1892, and Truman Stone, born October 15, 1894.
Mr. Stone removed to New York in 1897 to make it the headquarters of the Stone & Ware Company, previously established by him in Chicago. In 1900 this company was amalga- mated with the Schoellkopf, Hartford & Hanna Com- pany, of which he became vice president; and in 1906 he became president of the National Aniline & Chem- ical Company.
Mr. Stone has become one of the leading represen- tatives of the chemical in- dustry, and is president of the Chemists' Club for the year 1910, is a member of the New York Section of ISAAC FRANK STONE the Society of Chemical In- dustry, and a trustee of the Drug and Chemical Club. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the New York Board of Trade and Transporta- tion, and several of the leading clubs, including the Lotos, City and New York Athletic.
His office is at 100 William Street, New York City, and his home is in Greenwich, Conn.
844
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
CLEMENT COOTE SPEIDEN, JR.
845
CLEMENT COOTE SPEIDEN, JR.
C LEMENT COOTE SPEIDEN, JR., was born in Marshall, Fau- A quier County, Virginia, May 24, 1866, the son of Dr. Clement Coote Speiden and Ellen Douglas (Norris) Speiden. He was educated by private tutors and at the Marshall Academy and received a technical train- ing at the Coopers Institute Chemical School.
Upon finishing his studies at the Cooper Institute, Mr. Speiden entered the employ of an importing chemical house, and from 1884 to 1905 rose from an unimportant position to a junior partnership in the firm and gained a knowledge that was to make him an important factor in the chemical trade. In January, 1906, he assisted in forming the house of Innis, Speiden & Com- pany, which was incorporated with Mr. Speiden as its president, a position which he has retained since. The corporation succeeded the old firm of Innis & Company, which was established at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1816, and which had by nearly a hundred years of honorable dealing become one of the most successful and best known houses in the United States, its great development being largely the result of the indefatigable efforts of George Innis, one time mayor of Poughkeepsie, who was known extensively as a banker, manufacturer and philanthropist.
Mr. Speiden's associates in the firm of Innis, Speiden & Company, are George V. Sheffield, who acts as vice president and treasurer, and Marion Speiden, his brother, who fills the position of secretary. The house handles chemicals and colors, as importers, manufacturer's agents and commission merchants, and has branches in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. Since suc- ceeding Innis & Company the business of the present firm has been largely increased and its field of operation widely extended, and much of its success is due to the thorough knowledge of Mr. Speiden, gained by his long and varied experience in the business.
Mr. Speiden is of Dutch, Scotch and English ancestry, the first American branch having been founded, in 1645, by William Norreys, who was one of the large number of Stuart adherents who came to Virginia at the time of the Commonwealth in England. His father was a physician in Virginia, in which State the family was prominent in social and professional circles.
Mr. Speiden has traveled extensively in two continents, having at various times toured the Old World and is familiar with all of the European capi- tals, his firm having business relations with many European manufacturers.
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