USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 74
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He early became interested in chemistry and engineering, his taste in that direction being primarily inspired by the example and encouragement of his grandfather, B. T. Babbitt. He was taken to lectures at Cooper Institute, and allowed to visit machine shops in the lower part of the city. The summer months, until he became nineteen years of age, were spent in the machine shops of B. T. Babbitt, at Whitesboro, N. Y., where he received valuable training and incentive to work, and was encouraged to take part in the many experiments which were constantly being conducted by Mr. Babbitt, who was then in the prime of life, and was one of the most original inventive geniuses of his time.
After leaving school, Mr. Hyde made a trip around the world with his father and brother. His father, who was a man of extensive culture and wide travel, made this trip one of valuable instruction as well as great delight, and the world knowledge of men and affairs which he then gained has proved an asset of priceless value to Mr. Hyde in his subsequent career.
875
BENJAMIN TALBOT BABBITT HYDE
During Mr. Hyde's boyhood his grandfather, Mr. Babbitt, had indicated his wish that the lad might succeed him in business, and from the early days when his grandfather had him copy his signature until perfect, until his final acceptance of the presidency of the corporation, all of Mr. Hyde's efforts and thoughts had been directed to that end, and by persistent and hard work he has been able to bring this desire of his grandfather to accomplishment. There was great sympathy of thought and feeling between the distinguished manufacturer and the grandson, who, through close and constant companion- ship, came to assimilate the older man's ideas and point of view in many fun- damental respects.
When he reached the age of twenty-one years, Mr. Hyde became a stu- dent of chemistry, in a private school in New York City, and also took prac- tical mechanical courses in Teachers College.
At the age of twenty-three he began work in the factory of the old firm, and continued his research work in a laboratory specially constructed for him, with the aid of that distinguished chemist, Dr. Elwyn Waller, pro- fessor of analytical chemistry in Columbia University. After establishing a laboratory at the plant, the several departments of the business, in succession, were thoroughly exploited, new machinery and equipment being installed, until the entire establishment was absolutely up to date. He continued as factory superintendent until the death of the manager of the firm, and at the age of thirty-four became president of the B. T. Babbitt Corporation.
Until recently all the products have been manufactured near the lower end of Manhattan Island, within a stone's throw of the financial centre of the great metropolis. One of Mr. Hyde's first responsibilities as president was the completion of the new factory at Babbitt, New Jersey, which is one of the largest and finest of its kind in the world.
The plant is composed of twelve large brick buildings, most of which are two hundred feet in length and range from one to four stories in height. The complete capacity of the works is from six thousand to eight thousand cases per day of soap goods of all varieties. Besides the manufacture of soap, soap powder, potash or lye, glycerine, etc., the company is engaged in the refining of cottonseed oil. An important addition to the industry is a large and well- equipped printing department for printing soap wrappers, labels, etc., for the various brands of manufacture. All the cases for packing manufactured goods are made in the box factory. The Babbitt works are conveniently loca- ted on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, and have their own dock on the Hackensack River, which allows excellent shipping facilities.
Mr. Hyde brings to the performance of his executive duties a preparation and a fitness, inherent and acquired, such as few men have brought to similar responsibilities. His early and sympathetic association with the distinguished
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
creator of the business, his special and lifelong training and education, espe- cially planned to give him fitness for its direction, his knowledge of every working department, every chemical and mechanical process, every office method, and every trade relation controlled and used by the corporation, all this special knowledge vivified by an enthusiasm for the business built up by the family, and the broadening influences of world-wide travel and outside business experience, made a combination which is impressing itself in the most emphatic and valuable degree on the business of the corporation. Under his auspices the great enterprise is making new strides in progress, and adding to the prestige and success imparted to it by its founder.
He has other interests besides those of his business, and has been a con- stant worker in good and uplifting causes, relating to benevolence and edu- cation. During his years of active preparation for the business duties he now fulfills, Mr. Hyde found other paths of usefulness, which served to give him needed mental recreation without being any the less active. A boy's club at Fourteenth Street and University Place, known as the Boys' Free Reading Rooms, brought him into close touch with about thirty thousand boys during the eight years he had charge of the Sunday evening service.
At the age of twenty-five he was elected a trustee of the Teachers Col- lege in New York City, in which capacity he spent several years of active work on the Executive Committee, which did such excellent service in the direction of the college to its constantly enlarging sphere of usefulness. About the same time he was made a patron of the American Museum of Natural History, in recognition of the work which he and his brother had done in promoting exploration in the Southwest, of which the material obtained may be found in half of one of the halls of the American Museum of Natural History.
Mr. Hyde devoted three fruitful years to the duties of manager of the House of Refuge on Randall's Island. In the autumn of 1909 he was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the Cathedral Chapter of the Diocese of Long Island, in which capacity he is still acting; and in the spring of 1909 he was elected a member of the Board of Managers of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and he is at present very active in that connection, and especially interested in the problem of how to bring to the school children of Philadelphia a knowledge of the true worth and value of that most interesting and instructive museum.
Mr. Hyde has various professional and social connections, and from 1908 to 1910 filled the position of secretary of the Society of Industrial and Chem- ical Engineers.
He married, June 1, 1910, Miss Edith Moore, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Moore, Jr., of New York.
877
EBERHARD FABER
E BERHARD FABER is descended, in the fifth generation, from Casper Faber, who, in 1761, established at Stein, Bavaria, the manufacture of lead pencils. His father, Eberhard Faber, a native of Nurem- berg, Germany, came to the United States in 1849. In 1861 he erected in New York City the first American pencil factory, and when that plant was burned, built a larger one in Greenpoint, in the Borough of Brooklyn.
The present Eberhard Faber, son of Eberhard and Jenny (Haag) Faber, was born in New York City, March 14, 1859, and after his father's death, in 1879, succeeded to the entire con- trol of the business. He later admitted his younger brother, Lothar W. Faber, to an interest. In 1898 the factory was incorporated as the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, of which the president, Lothar W. Faber, has supervision. Mr. Eber- hard Faber is vice president and treasurer, with man- agement of the sales depart- ment, which continues under the firm name of Eberhard Faber. He originated the rubber-tip attachment and the metal point protector. He greatly enlarged the manufacturing resources, and developed the com- pany's extensive business in EBERHARD FABER rubber bands, erasers and other rubber goods, produced in a separate plant at Newark, New Jersey.
Mr. Faber is president of the United States Trade Mark Association, director of the Stationers' Board of Trade and the Northern Fire Insurance Company, and vice president of the C. Roberts Rubber Company.
He married, December 22, 1886, Abby B. Adams, who died May 25, 1898; and on April 20, 1904, he married Roberta A. Heim.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
JULIUS MARQUSEE
879
JULIUS MARQUSEE
J ULIUS MARQUSEE, who is one of the most extensive leaf tobacco
dealers and packers in the world, was born in Russian Poland, in 1864. His parents died there and at the age of ten he was an orphan, thrown upon his own resources. He came to America in 1883, arriving with just two roubles in his pockets, in a strange land where he did not know the lan- guage and had no friends. He secured a position and when he had saved enough to take him to Syracuse, New York, he went to that place.
He began his mercantile life with a basket and a stock of shoelaces, matches and other small wares, which he sold from house to house, and at the fair grounds. After a few months he had money enough to buy a horse and wagon, with which he continued peddling on a larger scale. He saved his money and bought a store at Richland, Oswego County, New York, which he put in charge of a clerk. He continued peddling and in less than a year sold out his business at a good profit and then purchased his first crop of York State tobacco, which he also sold at a profit; and from this beginning has increased his business until he is now the largest individual cigar leaf packer and dealer in the country. He conducted business at Syracuse until 1895, and while he was engaged in business there he handled the New York State product exclusively.
Being desirous of finding a larger field for his energies, he removed to New York in 1895, and since coming here he has expanded his business so as to cover all kinds of domestic leaf tobacco, particularly the Connecticut, Penn- sylvania and Wisconsin products, and various types of tobacco grown in Ohio, such as the Zimmer Spanish and Gebhardt.
When he came to New York he found the field full of competitors, in- cluding some very strong ones, but he applied to his business the enterpris- ing methods which have characterized all of his activities, and has rapidly advanced in the trade until he has now reached the front. In addition to his main establishment in New York City, he has warehouses at New Milford, Connecticut; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Dayton and Covington, Ohio; and Jamesville, Wisconsin. Among his customers are included many of the large cigar manufacturers and jobbers in this country, whose trade has been secured and held, notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Marqusee employs no salesmen and has built up his trade solely upon the confidence which has been inspired by his strict integrity. His transactions are upon the largest scale; one of his shipments to a Detroit, Michigan, firm having consisted of a complete trainload of tobacco comprising twenty-six cars and containing 1769 cases, this being a part of Mr. Marqusee's sales for the year 1909, which consisted of over 50,000 cases of tobacco of a total value of $3,750,000. His experienced judgment in selection and carefulness in packing have always been important factors of his success.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
ROBERT MEADE PARKER
881
ROBERT MEADE PARKER
R OBERT MEADE PARKER, president of the Brooklyn Cooperage Company, was born in Newark, N. J., September 19, 1864, son of Hon. Cortlandt and Elizabeth Wolcott (Stites) Parker. His ancestor, Elisha Parker of Barnstable, Mass., came from England in 1640, moved to New Jersey, 1667, and was a first settler of Woodbridge and later of Perth Amboy, N. J. His descendants for three generations were members of the King's Council in the Province of New Jersey, held commissions (one as colonel and two as captains) in the Provincial Troops, and took part in Indian wars.
Mr. Parker's grandfather, James Parker of Perth Amboy, was a member of the State legislature, of Congress, and of the New Jersey Constitutional Convention of 1846; and his father, Hon. Cortlandt Parker, who died in 1907, was one of the best known and most distinguished lawyers of his time, and president of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Parker is also related, through paternal descent, to the Van Cortlandt, Schuyler, Johnstone and Skinner families of New York, and the Butler family of Philadelphia; and on his mother's side to the Chauncey, Goodrich, Ely, Worthington and Cooke families of Connecticut, and the Wayne and Clifford families of Georgia.
Mr. Parker was educated at St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., 1878- 1880, Phillips Exeter Academy, 1880-1881, and was graduated from Princeton University, A.B., 1885, fifteenth in a class of 105 graduating. He entered the employ of the Erie Railroad Company, September 15, 1885, was clerk for five years, including service in President King's office; division freight agent, 1890-1895; assistant general freight agent, 1896-1902; general freight agent, 1902-1905; and became traffic manager of the American Sugar Refining Company, in January, 1905.
On June 1, 1906, he became president of the Brooklyn Cooperage Company, also president of the Pennsylvania Stave Company and the Butler County Rail- road Company, Great Western Land Company and Oleona Railroad Company.
He served as private in the Essex Troop (New Jersey Cavalry), June I, 1890, to May, 1898; accepted a commission as first lieutenant and battalion adjutant in the Twelfth New York Volunteers (infantry), May 13, 1898, and as captain and regimental quartermaster, June 1, 1898. He had entire charge of equipping the regiment for the field, served with it at Peekskill, Chickamauga Park, Ga., and Lexington, Ky., resigning August 23, 1898, after the peace protocol was signed. He joined the Twelfth Regi- ment, New York National Guard, November, 1899, was elected captain of Company A in February, 1900, and resigned January 1, 1908.
Mr. Parker is a member of Holland Lodge, F. and A. M., of the Union, University, Brook, New York Yacht, and Midday Clubs, of New York, and the Essex Club of Newark, New Jersey.
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882
HISTORY OF NEW YORK
WARREN LUQUEER GREEN
883
IV ARREN LUQUEER GREEN
W ARREN LUQUEER GREEN, president of the American Bank Note Company, was born in New York City, May 19, 1866, the son of Frank George and Antoinette Luqueer Macdonough Green. In pater- nal descent he is of English ancestry, transplanted in America in the early part of the Nineteenth Century; and on the mother's side his ancestry is Dutch and French, being descended from early Huguenot settlers who came to New Netherland and located on Long Island, in 1623. The family have been identified with the bank note business for nearly a cen- tury, the former chairman of the American Bank Note Company being James Macdonough, an uncle of Warren Luqueer Green. Mr. Mac- donough was connected with the company from his early boyhood.
Warren Luqueer Green received his education in the Wilson and Kel- logg School, and afterward took up the study of art, becoming a pupil of Bouguereau, in Paris, and thus most effectively prepared for later duties in connection with the great artistic industry of which he is now the head.
Mr. Green entered the service of the American Bank Note Company as an apprentice, in October, 1882, graduating through various depart- ments and grades in the factory, obtaining there a thorough mechanical as well as artistic education in the bank note business. When he had mas- tered these he entered the sales force, in 1891, as a junior salesman, advancing in that department until, in 1896, he was appointed manager of the company's Canadian branch, with headquarters at Ottawa. He was recalled to New York to take higher responsibilities as second vice presi- dent of the company, in 1901, becoming first vice president of the com- pany, in 1903, and president in 1906. He brought the office the advantage of a lifelong preparation for its duties, a thorough and intimate acquaint- ance with all its departments and operations, and through his handling of their foreign interests a rare diplomatic training that specially fitted him for the command of this important corporate enterprise.
Although not organized as the American Bank Note Company until 1858, the business was founded over a century ago, and continued by indi- viduals until the first firm of Murray, Draper & Farman was established, which, with changes of partners was finally, in 1858, together with other then existing firms, organized into a corporation under the present title.
From the graver of Paul Revere was issued the first specimens of bank note work done in this country. Until the formation of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at Washington, all the State and National bank notes, as well as postage stamps, were printed by the American or its con- stituent companies.
The executive offices and general sales departments are located in the company's building, at the corner of Broad and Beaver Streets, New
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
York. The main printing house, at Lafayette Avenue, was erected in 1910, and occupies over nine acres of floor space. The plant is, without doubt, the most modern and complete one of its kind in the world, and in it are prepared the securities which represent the greater part of the world's commerce. There is hardly any civilized nation whose bank notes and securities have not, at some time or other, borne the American's imprint.
Besides a large and important Western connection, the company maintains plants in Europe and Canada, in which latter plant are manu- factured all the postage and revenue stamps, as well as the bank notes used by the Dominion of Canada. The industry is one which calls for abso- lute integrity of personnel, and the highest sense of responsibility, as well as the greatest amount of artistic and mechanical skill.
Family traditions in the company are very strong, as generation after generation of the same name are to be found on the company's rolls, and continued service of fifty years is by no means uncommon. This feeling is fostered, as it secures an esprit de corps, and keeps alive the best traditions of the trade to a remarkable extent. When the responsibility involved in the guardianship of all the dies and plates from which securities are printed is considered, the reliability, strength and permanence of this institution becomes of the utmost importance.
The stock of the American Bank Note Company is vested in a hold- ing company called the United Bank Note Corporation, the directorate of which is composed largely of the foremost bankers of the country, pre- sided over by E. C. Converse, president of the Bankers Trust Company. Theodore H. Freeland, now chairman of the Board of the American Com- pany, has been connected with the corporation since 1857.
Mr. Green's administration of the duties of president has been in accord with the traditions and history of the company, and has been attended with noteworthy success, the business of the company having steadily grown under his executive supervision, and the range of its pro- ductions having greatly expanded with the wonderful modern improve- ments in reproductive art which have been introduced during recent years.
Mr. Green is a member of the Metropolitan Club, Railroad Club and Lawyers' Club of New York City; the Greenwich Country Club of Green- wich, Connecticut; Indian Harbor Yacht Club, Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club ; the Rideau Club of Ottawa, Canada; the Garrison Club of Quebec, Canada, and the Triton Fish and Game Club of Quebec, Canada. His attractive home, "Grasshopper Farm," is at Greenwich, Connecticut.
Mr. Green married, in Paris, France, February 4, 1891, Jeanne Mar- guerite Thierry, and he has a daughter, Marguerite Macdonough Green, born in New York City, September 25, 1896.
885
HENRY CARLTON HULBERT
H ENRY CARLTON HULBERT, merchant and financier, was born in Lee, Massachusetts, December 19, 1831, of old New England ancestry, son of Amos Gear and Cynthia (Bassett) Hulbert. After attending district school and Lee Academy he worked in stores at Lee and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. At nineteen he came to New York, was employed by the wholesale paper house of White & Sheffield, was given an interest in the profits the fourth year, and the fifth year became a part- ner in J. B. Sheffield & Company until 1858, when he established H. C. & M. Hulbert, buying out part- ners' interests and admit- ting young men brought up in the business. The firm was H. C. Hulbert & Com- pany from 1872 to 1900, his partners continuing as Bassett and Sutphin.
He is vice president of the Importers and Traders' Bank, the South Brooklyn Savings Bank and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; director of The Pullman Company (mem- ber Executive Committee), the Franklin Trust Com- pany, United States Life Insurance Company and Celluloid Company.
He married, in 1854, Susan Robinson Cooley, of HENRY CARLTON HULBERT Lee, Massachusetts, who died in 1882, and in 1884 married Fanny Dwight Bigelow, of Brooklyn. He has two daughters: Mrs. J. H. Sutphin and Mrs. Charles F. Bassett.
For further details see "Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to Massachusetts Families," "Historic Families of America," "History of Kings County," "National Cyclopedia of American Biography," "History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts," "The Eagle and Brooklyn."
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
HERMAN BEHR
887
HERMAN BEHR
H ERMAN BEHR, head of the firm of Herman Behr & Company, is a native of Hamburg, Germany, where he was born March 4, 1847, the son of Edward and Julie (Hoffmeister ) Behr. The family removed to New York in 1850, and Edward Behr, the father, was for years in busi- ness as a successful hardware merchant and manufacturer.
Herman Behr received his education in a select German-American school, and after finishing his studies there he entered, as a young man, his father's hardware factory, where he filled various positions which brought him in contact with technical matters, and he there laid the foundation for his own future success as a manufacturer.
In 1872 he started the business of Herman Behr & Company, manufac- turers of flint, garnet, and emery cloths and papers, with offices at 75 Beek- man Street, where the business has ever since been continued. Mr. Behr was the first manufacturer to utilize garnet as an abrasive, and the superior merit of this material for this purpose, especially in some of the finer grades of work, has been one of the leading factors in the notable success which has attended this business from its earliest development. As a business man, Mr. Behr is thoroughly practical and in the business which he established he pos- sesses every advantage of technical knowledge, and has maintained such a degree of merit and diversity in his product that the firm is prepared to meet all of the varied demands of users in the line of abrasive cloths and papers from the finest, for the most delicate work, to the coarser grades.
Herman Behr has both the practical and the artistic temperament, and he is an enthusiast as to all matters appertaining to art and to the highest forms of literature. He has translated a selection of the choicest English lyrics into German and published them in a volume under the title of "Perlen englisher Dichtung in deutscher Fassung."
Mr. Behr is a Republican in his political affiliations, but not very active in politics. He is a member of the Deutscher Verein, the Down Town Asso- ciation, and the National Arts Club of New York City and the Morristown Club, of Morristown, New Jersey. He has his country residence in Morris- town, and his city home at 777 Madison Avenue, in New York City.
Mr. Behr married, at Alden, New York, January 29, 1880, Grace Howell. Of this marriage there have been born six children: Herman H. Behr, born November 25, 1880; Frederic H. Behr, born April 2, 1882 (married Alice Cra- mer Vernam) ; Max H. Behr, born January 19, 1884 (married Evelyn Baker Schley) ; Karl H. Behr, born May 30, 1885; Margaret H. Behr, born Decem- ber 31, 1887, and Gertrude H. Behr, born April 8, 1892. The two younger sons, Max H. and Karl H., both of whom are graduates of Yale University, have gained for themselves national distinction in athletics, Max H. as a golfer and Karl H. as a tennis champion.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
D AVID SMITH COWLES, was born in Northampton, Massachu- setts, December 25, 1857, son of Hon. Edward Pitkin Cowles, jus- tice of the New York Supreme Court, and of Sarah Ely (Boies) Cowles. He was educated in the Quaker School in Stuyvesant Square, New York City, and the Park Institute of Rye, New York. After five years with the bank- ing house of Morton, Bliss & Company, he was fifteen years with the Stand- ard Oil Company, in which he is still a stockholder. He was William Rockefeller's confidential man, and later in the company's financial department, and served as director of several of its subsidiary companies and as president of the Standard Oil Company of Minnesota.
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