Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 40

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656

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(VIII) Thomas (3) Hun, M.D., son of Abraham and Maria (Gansevoort) Hun, was born in Albany, New York. September 14, 1808, died at his residence, No. 31 Elk street, Albany, June 23, 1896. Losing both parents at an early age, he and his sister Elizabeth were brought up by their maternal grandpar- ents, Judge and Mrs. Leonard Gansevoort, Jr.

He received his earliest education as a lad at a private school conducted by an Englishman and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Upfold, and in 1818 entered the Albany Boys' Academy, where he remained until graduation, follow- ing a complete course which fitted him for college. He was intelligent and studious, possessing a decided character, which ac- counted for his always standing high in his various classes. Because of his more than customary preparation and industry, when only sixteen years of age, he was able to enter the junior class of Union College, in the fall of 1824. following his graduation from the Academy, and while there his "chum" was the popular Professor Isaac W. Jackson. He graduated with honors in 1826, taking the degree of A.B. After leaving college, he be- gan the study of medicine, for which he had a decided leaning, and entered the office of Dr. Platt Williams. a practitioner of eminence in Albany. After serving thus as a student, he entered the medical department of the Un- iversity of Pennsylvania, in 1827, and com- pleting the full course, graduated in 1830 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He returned to Albany and commenced to prac- tice with his former instructor, Dr. Williams.

When the cholera epidemic broke out in the summer of 1832, a cholera hospital was in- stituted in Albany, and he was appointed one of the physicians. The death rate was alarm- ingly high, with more funerals each day than could be arranged for, and everyone afraid to mix with his neighbors. Burning barrels of tar filled the atmosphere with a heavy smoke, calculated to purify the air. Dr. Hun's position was unenviable and heroic. He discharged his duties with fortitude and skill, until the closing of the hospital in the cold weather, when the scourge was stamped out. In the spring of 1833 he went to Eur- ope to prosecute his studies further, and ex- cepting two brief visits to his home. remained there, residing chiefly in Paris, until 1839. The six years of foreign study afforded him a liberal range of experience, attending the large hospitals, and he gradually limited his wider range of the sciences to a knowledge of practice.

During his last year abroad, the Albany Medical College was organized and incorpor- ated, and before his return home in 1839, he was invited to accept the professorship of the Institutes of Medicine. He accepted, and his inaugural address excited considerable in- terest and admiration from its large grasp of principles as well as by reason of its lucid style and forcible illustrations. The students came to regard his lectures as the most in-

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teresting and instructive, which ability on his part greatly increased the reputation of the young college. He continued these lectures until 1858, when he resigned to devote all his time to his practice, which had grown to be the best in Albany, and demanded this atten- tion.

When the Albany Hospital was incorpora- ted in 1848, Dr. Hun became one of the board of consulting physicians, and had subsequent- ly held the same position with St. Peter's Hospital, Albany. He was made president of the New York State Medical Society in 1862, and his inaugural address attracted much favorable comment, despite his theories in opposition to the traditional ideas of medi- cal theory and practice. He maintained that neither medicine nor the physician, although both were of importance in their place, ever cured disease ; that the curative power rested in nature alone, and the function of the phy- sician not to "cure": but to preside over, watch and aid the efforts of nature to cure, by recognizing the true character of the dis- ease, its course, its processes and effects, also the accidents and dangers to which it is lia- ble, and thus to be able to secure, as far as possible, such favorable circumstances, aids and conditions as may be most contributory to the restorative powers of nature. He was unanimously called to be dean of faculty of the Albany Medical College. He was espec- ially noted as a practitioner for his sagacity and accuracy in the diagnosis of disease, and also for his calm, far-sighted comprehension of the constitutional tendencies affecting the case called to his attention. He was always studiously inclined. contemplative and given to thought along philosophical and metaphy- sical lines, for ethical investigation was a de- light for him. No physician in Albany ever stood higher in the confidence of both the pro- fession and the public. He was a devout Christian, worshipping at the Episcopal Cath- edral of All Saints, a 'man possessing the warmest of hearts for the distressed. He had been an alderman, and at his death was president of the Albany Academy board of trustees.

Dr. Thomas Hun married, in Albany, New York, April 29, 1841, the Rev. Horatio Pot- ter, rector of St. Peter's Church officiating, Lydia Louisa, daughter of Hon. Marcus Tul- lius and his (first) wife, Cynthia (Herrick) Reynolds. She was born in Amsterdam, New York, September 11, 1817, died at her residence, No. 31 Elk street, Albany, January 26, 1876, and was buried in the Albany Rural cemetery. Her father, Marcus T. Reynolds, an attorney of Albany and one of the ablest

of his times, was born in Minaville, Montgom- ery county, New York, December 29, 1788, son of Dr. Stephen Reynolds, of Amster- dam, and died at No. 25 North Pearl street, Albany, July 11, 1864. Her mother, Cynthia (Herrick) Reynolds, was daughter of Benjamin and Cynthia (Brush) Her-

rick, the latter a daughter of Rich- ard Brush; she was born at Amenia, New York, December 26, 1794, died at Amsterdam, New York, November 25, 1820. Benjamin Herrick was the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Denton) Herrick. Mrs. Thomas Hun was widely known through her endeavors to alle- viate the condition of the poor and ignorant, as well as in her own circle, where she was welcomed as one whose mind had been en- riched by a liberal education and by life-long habits of good reading and reflection, which gave her a graciousness of character and bril- liancy of conversation. Her chief interest lay in planning to reform what was evil and to aid those oppressed by undue hardships, in which aim she was always practical in the carrying out of her admirable ideas. She felt that the poor needed, even more than money, sound advice and cordial encouragement. She purchased and fitted up a sort of model tene- ment house, to occupy which became an es- teemed privilege, and here she watched over them, inculcating habits of neatness and sav- ing. She also sought to establish in the neighborhood of the poor reading rooms and a place of cheerful resort. In many other similar ways she led a worthy life and died blessed by every one who had the benefit of her acquaintance.

Children of Dr. Thomas and Lydia Louisa (Reynolds) Hun, born in Albany: 1. Ed- ward Reynolds, born April 17, 1842, see for- ward. 2. Marcus Tullius, May 22, 1845, see forward. 3. Leonard Gansevoort, May 10, 1848, see forward. 4. John, June 10, 1852, died in Albany, August 16, 1852. 5. Henry, March 21, 1854, see forward.

(IX) Edward Reynolds Hun, M.D., eldest son of Dr. Thomas (3) and Lydia Louisa (Reynolds) Hun, was born in Albany, New York, April 17, 1842, died in Stamford, Con- necticut, March 14, 1880. He received his carly education at the Albany Boys' Acad- emy, which he entered in the fall of 1850. He also attended boarding-school at Sing Sing, (Ossining) New York, and at Byfield, Massachusetts. He went to Harvard and graduated in the class of 1863, then studied medicine in the Albany Medical College, and followed this with the regular course in med- icine of Columbia University, where he grad- uated in 1866. He visited Europe, studying

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in London and Paris in the large hospitals. Upon returning to his home, he engaged in general practice. He was chosen a member of the Albany Medical College faculty in 1867, and was elected a member of the American Medical Association in 1870, and of the Med- ical Society of the State of New York in 1873, elected its secretary in 1875 ; of the New York Society of Neurology and Electrology, in 1873; the New York Neurological Society, in 1874; the American Neurological Society, in 1876. and in 1875 was elected to the chair of nervous diseases in the Albany Medical College. He translated Bouchard's "Secon- dary Degeneration of the Spinal Cord," in 1869, and was the author of "Trichina Spira- lis," in 1869; "The Pulse of the Insane," in 1870, and "Haematoma Auris," in 1870; also contributing valuable scientific matter along lines of his investigation to a number of medical journals. From 1869 until his death. he was the attending physician at St. Peter's Hospital, and from 1876, at the Al- bany Hospital. He was special pathologist to the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Uti- ca, New York, for several years.

From the outset of his professional life, he had an unusually large and responsible prac- tice, and rose rapidly to professional promi- nence. He was greatly interested in the ad- vance of medicine and in new scientific meth- ods and appliances. He possessed unusual qualities of mind, and great quickness of per- ception in detecting the characteristics of dis- ease. His nature was an ardent and sympa- thetic one. Some years before his death he met with a serious accident while driving on the Troy road with Mr. Dean Sage, and from that time his health gradually failed. He suf- fered a stroke of apoplexy while recreating at Stamford, Connecticut, March 14, 1880.

Dr. Edward Reynolds Hun married, at Troy, New York, April 29, 1874. Caroline De Forest, daughter of John B. Gale (son of Samuel and Mary E. (Thompson) Gale) and Elizabeth V. S. Wells (daughter of Philander and Elizabeth (McDonald) Wells) ; she was born in Troy, December 27, 1848. Children : I. Lydia Louise, born in Albany, New York, July 8, 1875 ; married, Albany, April 29, 1903, Frederick Williams Kelley, son of James B. and Alice (Williams) Kelley, who was born in Albany, December 15, 1870; children : Alice Williams Kelley, born, Albany, Novem- ber 26, 1904, and Frederick Williams Kel- ley, born, Albany, January 18, 1908. 2. Eliz- abeth Gale, Albany, November 5, 1876, died, Albany, October 15, 1889. 3. John Gale, Al- bany, November 21, 1877 ; married, Westfield, Massachusetts, June 26, 1906, Leslie Stafford,

daughter of Rev. Lyndon Smith and Susan Van Vranken (Doolittle) Crawford, born in Smyrna, Turkey, May 1, 1881 ; children : Les- lie Crawford Hun, born, Princeton, New Jer- sey, October 21, 1907, and Elizabeth Gale Hun, born, Albany, July 9, 1909. 4. Katha- rine, born, Stamford, Connecticut, January 21, 1880; married, Albany, April 29, 1907, William Law Learned Peltz, son of John De Witt and Mary Marvin (Learned) Peltz, born in Albany, May 27, 1882 ; children : Car- oline Peltz, born Albany, February 19, 1908, and William Learned Peltz, born, Albany, February II, 1909.

(IX) Marcus Tullius, second son of Dr. Thomas (3) and Lydia Louise (Reynolds) Hun, was born in the house on the southeast corner of North Pearl street and Maiden Lane, Albany, New York, May 22, 1845. He attended a school on the east side of North Pearl street above Clinton avenue, kept by a Mrs. Williams, until he became of sufficient age to enter the Albany Academy, where he remained until the fall of the year 1859, when he was entered as a student at Dummer Acad- emy, Byfield (near Newburyport), Massa- chusetts, under Professor Henshaw. He re- mained at Dummer Academy for one term, at the end of which Professor Henshaw gave up the charge of the school. Mr. Hun then returned to Albany and attended the remaind- er of that year at the Albany Academy. In the fall of 1860 Mr. Hun entered a school at Lancaster, Massachusetts, kept by a Mr. Kimball, with whom he boarded. He re- mained at that school for one year, and in the fall of 1861 entered Union College, Sche- nectady, from which he was graduated in the summer of 1865. In the fall of 1865 he en- tered the Albany Law School, from which institution he was graduated in the spring of 1866. He then passed his examination before the examiners appointed by the supreme court and was admitted to the bar. He entered the office of Meads & Reynolds as a law stu- dent and after some two years became a part- ner with Orlando Meads, and, under the firm name of Meads & Hun continued the practice of the law in partnership with Mr. Meads until 1872, when the partnership was dis- solved, and the same year he formed a co- partnership with his younger brother, Leonard G. Ilun. In January, 1872, Mr. Hun was ap- pointed deputy attorney general by General Francis C. Barlow. For the ensuing two years he acted as deputy attorney general, at the same time continuing the private practice of the law with his brother. He retired from the attorney general's office at the expiration of the term of General Barlow, December 31,

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1873. Russell M. Johnston was afterwards admitted into this firm, and subsequently the Hon. Learned Iland. In 1902 Mr. Hun formed a new copartnership with his son-in- law, Lewis R. Parker, under the firm name of Hun & Parker, and to this firm, Thomas Hun, son of Marcus T. Hun, was subsequently, in 1909, admitted as a member.

Mr. Hun was appointed in January, 1874, by the governor. secretary of state and at- torney general. reporter of the supreme court, pursuant to chapter 99 of the laws of 1869, in the place of Abraham Lansing, resigned. Im- mediately on his appointment he prepared and submitted to the justices and presented to the legislature, a bill, by the provisions of which the power to appoint a reporter of that court was given to its justices. This bill was op- posed in the legislature and defeated, al- though apparently required by section 23 of article VI. of the constitution of the state. The next year (1875) the bill was again pre- sented to the legislature and passed, conferr- ing this power of appointment of its reporter upon the justices of the supreme court. In March. 1874. (not having been able to se- cure the passage of the bill presented by him to the legislature that year) Mr. Hun began the publication of the series of supreme court reports, seven volumes of which had been edited by his predecessor, Abraham Lansing. In June, 1875, he was appointed reporter of the supreme court by the justices of the sev- eral general terms of that court pursuant to the provisions of the law chapter 131, of the laws of 1875, the passage of which had been secured by him. At the end of consecutive terms of office of five years he was reap- pointed by the justices first of the general terms of the supreme court and subsequently by the justices of the appellate divisions of the supreme court, and continued the publica- tion of the reports until the fall of 1905, (pub- lishing in all 200 volumes of these reports) at which time, Mr. Hun declining a reappoint- ment, Jerome B. Fisher was appointed re- porter in his place, at a convention of the justices, held at the city of Albany, October 24, 1905. At this convention resolutions were adopted by the justices in reference to Mr. Hun's retirement, which are published in vol- ume 108 of the appellate division reports.

In party politics Mr. Hun, while an earnest Abolitionist during the civil war, never took any active part. The conditions which at- tended party management were not acceptable to him. He was, however, always largely in- terested in public affairs and in procuring a decent and honest administration of them. The conditions which prevailed in the govern-

ment of the city and county of Albany in the seventies were very scandalous, and with a view to the establishment of a better condi- tion of affairs a Citizens' Association was or- ganized by him, the executive committee of which was known as the committee of thir- teen. The creation of this Citizens' Associa- tion arose out of an action brought by him in February, 1878, to enjoin the payment by the city of Albany of a fraudulent claim presented against the city for alleged work done upon the building on the southwest corner of South Pearl and Howard streets in that city. In this litigation of Anthony Bleecker Banks, Erastus Corning, Henry H. Martin, J. How- ard King, Thomas W. Olcott, Franklin Town- send. John H. Van Antwerp, Frederick Townsend, Charles B. Lansing and Matthew Hale against Nathan D. Wendell and others, he was successful at the trial term and on the appeal to the general term of the supreme court, and prevented the payment of the claim by the city. The favorable outcome of this action gave encouragement to many of the cit- izens of Albany, some of whom had been plaintiffs in that action, to organize an associa- tion which prosecuted for a period of some ten years a very earnest and arduous work of establishing a better system of administra- tion in Albany city and county. Indeed prior to that time it is hardly an exaggeration to say that there existed no system under which the taxpayers had any adequate redress for the wrongdoing of public officials. After ten years of very strenuous effort, the procuring of much remedial legislation, and the carry- ing on of much litigation, during which the public were kept advised of public conditions by annual reports made by the committee of thirteen, narrating the wrongdoings and their remedies, the city and county administration was effectively purified. These annual re- ports, copies of which can be found in the state library at Albany, are an interesting re- cital of what can be done by citizens, who hold no public office and have no political influence, by a persistent recital to the public of the evils of party mismanagement. O11 May 30. 1885, Mr. Hun was presented with a service of silver by the citizens of Albany for his gratuitous services in this work. An account of the presentation appears in the Al- hany Evening Journal of that date. In the final outcome of this movement the political complexion of the city was changed by the permanent substitution of a Republican for a Democratic majority. The committee of thir- teen still (1910) retains its organization and exercises a supervision over the affairs of the city and county, and on occasions represents

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a gathering point for the expression of public opinion.

This work in which Mr. Hun occupied the most prominent part was a signal service to the city in which he and his ancestors had resided for six generations. Mr. Hun was a director of the New York State National Bank for a quarter of a century, and a trustee of the Albany Trust Company for several years. In the fall of 1909 he was elected pres- ident of the Albany Savings Bank, of which institution he had been for many years a trustee. On his election to the presidency of the Albany Savings Bank, in view of the fact that that bank carried very large deposits of money in other financial institutions of the city, he thought it proper to resign his posi- tions in the State Bank and in the Albany Trust Company. Mr. Hun was originally a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. When Dr. William C. Doane was elected bis- hop of Albany, he followed the bishop and became a member of the Cathedral of All Saints, in the chapter of which he succeeded his father, Thomas Hun, on the latter's retire- ment therefrom.

Marcus T. Hun married, in Albany, New York. December 21. 1875, Mary Keith Van der Poel, born in Albany, November 26, 1854, daughter of Isaac Van der Poel, son of James and Anna (Doll) Van der Poel, born May 7. 1821, died in Albany, December 28, 1868, and Susan (Foster) Van der Poel. daughter of Adams and Mary (Keith) Foster, born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1832, died in Albany, October 11, 1907. Mrs. Hun's parents were married May 14, 1850. Chil- dren, born in Albany: 1. Ellen Van der Poel, born February 25, 1877 ; married, Al- bany, October 18, 1902, Lewis Rathbone Parker, son of General Amasa Junius and Cornelia Kane (Strong) Parker, born in Al- bany. November 30, 1870: children: Lewis Rathbone Parker, born, Albany, October 19. 1904, and Ellen Parker, born, Albany, May 20, 1907. 2. Mary Van der Poel, April 2, 1882. 3. Thomas, October 28, 1883. 4. Su- san Van der Poel. April 29, 1888; married, Albany, February 20, 1909, Stephen Carlton Clark, son of Alfred Corning, and Elizabeth ( Scriven ) Clark, born at Cooperstown, Ot- sego county, New York, August 29, 1882; child, Elizabeth Scriven Clark, born at New York City. November 24, 1909. 5. Elsie Gan- sevoort, July 10, 1896.

(IX) Leonard Gansevoort, son of Dr. Thomas (3) and Lydia Louisa ( Reynolds) Hun, was born in Albany, New York, May 10, 1848, died in Boston, Massachusetts. March 11, 1891. His early education was re-

ceived at the Albany Boys' Academy, which he entered in the fall of 1856. and from there went to Union College, but before completing the course left the college to enter the United State Military Academy at West Point. He made a brilliant record there, and was grad- uated second in the class of 1868. He excelled the leader in all studies excepting one, draw- ing, which reduced his average a single point below his competitor's standing. He was as- signed to duty at Fort Warren. After two years of military life, he resigned from the army to return to Albany, and entered the law office of Orlando Meads and Marcus T. Ilun, his elder brother. After reading law there, he was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice at No. 25 North Pearl street, the firm being known as M. T. & L. G. Hun, Orlando Meads, Esq., having retired from practice. His early life was passed among the best influences, and the intellectual tendencies which he inherited were assisted and enlarged by close application to books and by persistent, almost a relentless, determina- tion to master the subject in hand. The log- ical and mathematical character of his mind was entirely suited to a semi-exact science like the law, and at an early period in his legal career he had won high appreciation of his legal attainments. His practice was con- siderable although he was averse to the hurry and struggle of the trial courts. In the ap- pellate courts, however. he was very success- ful, and the large interests entrusted to his care proved the confidence reposed in his abil- ity. He was a man of high ambitions in his profession, and studied law as a science : was familiar with international law, and gave up much time to the consideration of the Roman law, of which he gathered together a very considerable library. In politics. although a Republican in convictions, he reserved the right of independent judginent. His public interest centered chiefly in the improvement of the conduct of civil affairs, mainly along lines of honesty and economy. He was ap- pointed on the commission having charge of the erection of the new City Hall in 1881. He was much interested in charitable under- takings and devoted both time and money liberally, towards their advancement and sup- port. He was attorney for the Watervliet Turnpike & Railway Company, the New York State National Bank, the Albany Savings Bank and the Albany Insurance Company ; was legal adviser of James Barclay Jermain and trustee for several large estates. He traveled extensively abroad ; was a lover of art, and a collector of fine books. He was a member of the Cathedral of All Saints. He

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went to Boston, March 5, 1891, to seek bene- fit from medical specialists, and died suddenly on the IIth, at Somerville, Massachusetts. He was buried in the Albany cemetery.

(1X) Henry Hun, M.D., son of Dr. Thom- as (3) and Lydia Louisa (Reynolds) Hun, was born in Albany, New York, March 21, 1854. He entered the Albany Boys' Academy in the fall of 1865 and graduated from it in 1870. He next attended the Sheffield Scien- tific School of Yale College, and graduated in 1874, after which from the Harvard Medical College in 1879. He then spent two years studying medicine in Europe, after which he returned to Albany, where he has since prac- ticed the profession of medicine. He has been Professor of Diseases of the Nervous Sys- tem in the Albany Medical College since 1883, and has written many papers and pamphlets on medical subjects. He is president of the board of trustees of the Albany Academy. Henry Hun married, Albany, April 28, 1892, Lydia Marcia, daughter of Hon. Samuel and Lydia Coit (Learned) Hand, born Albany, February 1, 1864. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Hun. born in Albany: 1. Henry Hand. No- vember 18, 1893. 2. Katrina de Wandelaer, January 26, 1895, died, Albany, February 14, 1895. 3. Lydia Marcia, March 8, 1897. 4. Samuel, February 20, 1900.

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Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 40

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 656

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656