USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 1 > Part 13
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CHURCH, BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, the well-known civil engineer, has been prominently connected with some of the most important pub- lic works in this city. Prior to the Civil War he was engaged on the surveys of Central Park, the Croton River, and the new reservoir in Central Park. He was appointed principal assistant on the Croton Aqueduct in 1860, but upon the outbreak of war became Captain of Engineers in the Twelfth New York. He was on General Yates's staff in this capacity in 1863. After the war he served in the National Guard as Colonel of Engineers on the staff of General Shaler, as also on that of General Louis Fitzgerald. In 1875 he prepared the plans for utilizing the entire Croton watershed, and in 1883 became Chief Engineer under the commission having in hand the construction of the new aqueduct. While he retired from the direction of the con- struction in 1889, his plans have been carried out in the completion of the work. Including tunneling under the Harlem River and for thirty miles through solid rock, this work takes high rank among engineering achievements. He has been occupied since principally in hydraulic and mining operations. He is a member of the Union League and other clubs and societies. He was born at Belvidere, N. Y., April 17, 1836, the son of the late John B. Church and a daugh- ter of Professor Benjamin Silliman, Sr., of Yale; grandson of Judge Philip Church and Anna Matilda, daughter of General Walter Stew- art, of the Revolution, and great-grandson of the distinguished Revo- lutionary patriot, John Barker Church, Commissary-General to the French forces, and brother-in-law of Alexander Hamilton. Colonel
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Church was graduated in 1856 from the Engineering Department of Dartmouth College.
CAREY, HENRY T., banker and broker, of this city, and a mem- ber of the New York Stock Exchange since 1868, is a director of the Second National Bank, and interested in various enterprises. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Union League, Tuxedo, and South Side Sportsmen's clubs. He is the son of the late Samnel Thomas Carey, who, having, in 1845, married Marion, daughter of the late George de Peyster, made his residence in this city, although his father, Samuel Carey, was of distinguished lineage and had a large estate in Surrey, England, where the family had been seated for many genera- tions.
GERRY, ELBRIDGE THOMAS, has won an international reputa- tion as President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chil- dren. Born in this city in 1837, he was graduated in 1857 from Colum- bia College, studied law with the late William Curtis Noyes, and in 1866 was admitted to the New York bar and to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. He became a member of the firm of Noyes & Tracy, and after the death of William Curtis Noyes formed a partnership with the late William F. Allen and the late Benjamin Vanghan Abbott. With the election of Allen to the Court of Appeals the firm became Abbott & Gerry. The nature of his prae- tice is indicated by the fact that Mr. Gerry was counsel in the Marx will contest, the Martin will contest, the Carman will contest, the Lonis Bouard will contest, the Strong divorce case, the MeFarland homicide case, and the Stokes homicide case. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867 and of its committee on the Pardoning Power. He was Chairman of the commission appointed by the New York Senate in 1886 to report on the best method of exe- cuting the death penalty, the result being the substitution of electro- ention for hanging in this State. He was Chairman of the Executive Committee having in charge the centennial anniversary celebration of the inauguration of Washington in this city in 1889, and was Chairman of the Committee on Literary Exercises. He was Chair- man of the commission appointed by Mayor Grant in 1892 to report on the best method of caring for the city's insane. He is a trustee of the General Theological Seminary, since 1878 has been a governor of the New York Hospital, since 1882 has been President of the Chi Psi fraternity, and from 1886 to 1893 was Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. He is a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company and of the Fifth Avenue Trust Company. But the great work of philanthropy and reform, devotion to which led him to aban- don his law practice, remains to be mentioned. Henry Bergh's So- ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals having been incorpo-
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rated in 1866, Mr. Gerry early became its counsel, and was instrumen- tal in securing most of the legislation in this State protecting animals. He has long been First Vice-President of this society, as well as Chair- man of its Executive Committee. In 1874 this society took up a fla- grant case of parental cruelty which several benevolent organizations had been afraid to touch, and the publication of the facts brought an avalanche of similar appeals. To meet this need, with other charter members, Mr. Gerry secured the incorporation in 1875 of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The late John D. Wright was its first President. Mr. Gerry has been its President since 1879, and has battled continuously, but with remarkable success, to secure . and to retain the legislative rights under which it operates. About 25,000 cases have been prosecuted and about 40,000 children rescued from infamy or destitution. Something like 150 similar societies have been organized in the United States and other countries. Mr. Gerry has contributed to the North American Review " Cruelty to Children " (July, 1883), "Capital Punishment by Electricity " (September, 1889), and " Children of the Stage " (July, 1890). He is a member of the Patriarchs, and the Metropolitan. Knickerbocker, Tuxedo, Rid- ing, Players', Manhattan, and principal yacht clubs, the City Bar Association, Sons of the Revolution, New England Society, Columbia Alumni Association, and other organizations. He married in 1867 Louisa M., only daughter of the late Robert J. Livingston, and great- granddaughter of Chief Justice Lewis Morris, and has two sons and two daughters. He is himself the son of the late Thomas R. Gerry, officer in the United States Navy, and Hannah, daughter of Peter P. Goelet. He is grandson as well as namesake of the famous Elbridge Gerry, a graduate of Harvard in 1762, member of the Massachusetts General Court of 1772, and of its Committee of Correspondence; mem- ber of the Massachusetts Provincial Congresses of 1774 and 1776; a continual member of the Continental Congresses throughout the Rev- olution and a signer of the Declaration of Independence; member of the Convention of 1787 which framed the Constitution of the United States; member of the first United States Congress of 1789, serving until 1793, and in 1797 one of three special envoys to treat with the French Directory at Paris; elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1810 and again in 1811, and elected Vice-President of the United States in 1812. Thomas Gerry, great-grandfather of Mr. Gerry, emi- grated from Newton, England, in 1730, became a prominent mer- chant of Marblehead, Mass., and married the only daughter of Enoch Greenleaf, a wealthy and influential Bostonian.
WINSLOW, RICHARD HENRY, founder of the well-known New York banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Company, was born in Albany, September 16, 1806, and died at Westport, Conn., February 15, 1861. He was educated in the public schools of Albany. He was
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clerk in a mercantile house at Canandaigua, N. Y., from 1824 to 1826, and then removed to Maranham, Brazil, and entered the employ of his unele, Leonard Corning, merchant and American consul at Maran- ham. A few years later he established himself in business in New York City with Minot Morgan, as Morgan & Winslow. In 1832 he became a member of the Wall Street brokerage firm of Allen & Wins- low, Tilley Allen being his partner. Upon the retirement of Mr. Allen in 1835, the firm became Winslow & Perkins. In 1849 the late J. F. D. Lanier succeeded Mr. Perkins, the style of Winslow, Lanier & Company, which has since been retained, being then adopted. It was in this year that Mr. Winslow originated the railroad bond sys- tem. Ilis firm became prominent in placing the securities of western railroads, thus contributing to the commercial development of the West. In 1859, Mr. Winslow retired from active business to his conn- try place at Westport, Conn. Al- L though twice married, he left no issne. Ile married, in New York City, in 1829, Rachel, daughter of Archibald Robertson. Subsequent to her death, he married, in 1854. Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Fitch and Mary Ingra- ham Rogers, of New Hartford, Conn., and the adopted daugh- ter of Asa Fitch, of New York City. After Mr. Winslow's death, she became the wife of the late Dr. Richard Channing Moore Page, of New York City. Mr. Wins- low was the son of Captain Rich- ard Winslow, iron and flour manu- facturer of Albany, and Mary, sis- RICHARD H. WINSLOW. ter of Jasper Coruing, of New York City. He was a brother of James Winslow, also of Winslow, Lanier & Company, as he was also of James Flack Winslow, iron manufacturer, and one of the builders of the Monitor during the Civil War; of Edward Thomas Winslow, one of the founders of the American Express Company; of Augustus Sydenham Winslow, a prominent citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of Leonard Corning Wins- low, at one time a banker in New York City. These brothers were lineal descendants of Hon. Kenelm Winslow, who was born at Droit- wich, England, in 1599, and died at Salem, Mass., in 1672. He immi- grated to Plymouth, Mass., in 1629, whither he had been preceded by his elder brother, Governor Edward Winslow, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. Kenelm Winslow was elected Surveyor of Pls- mouth in 1640, and subsequently removing to Marshfield, Mass., rep-
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clerk in a mercantile house at Canandaigua, N. Y., from 1824 to 1826, and then removed to Maranham, Brazil, and entered the employ of his uncle, Leonard Corning, merchant and American consul at Maran- ham. A few years later he established himself in business in New York City with Minot Morgan, as Morgan & Winslow. In 1832 he became a member of the Wall Street brokerage firm of Allen & Wins- low, Tilley Allen being his partner. Upon the retirement of Mr. Allen in 1835, the firm became Winslow & Perkins. In 1849 the late J. F. D. Lanier succeeded Mr. Perkins, the style of Winslow, Lanier & Company, which has since been retained, being then adopted. It was in this year that Mr. Winslow originated the railroad bond sys- tem. His firm became prominent in placing the securities of western railroads, thus contributing to the commercial development of the West. In 1859, Mr. Winslow retired from active business to his coun- try place at Westport, Conn. Al- though twice married, be left no issue. He married, in New York City, in 1829, Rachel. daughter of Archibald Robertson. Subsequent to her death, he married, in 1854. Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Fitch and Mary Ingra- ham Rogers, of New Hartford, Conn., and the adopted daugh- ter of Asa Fitch, of New York City. After Mr. Winslow's death, she became the wife of the late Dr. Richard Channing Moore Page, of New York City. Mr. Wins- low was the son of Captain Rich- ard Winslow, iron and flour manu- facturer of Albany, and Mary, sis- RICHARD HI. WINSLOW. ter of Jasper Corning, of New York City. He was a brother of James Winslow, also of Winslow, Lanier & Company, as he was also of James Flack Winslow, iron manufacturer, and one of the builders of the Monitor during the Civil War; of Edward Thomas Winslow, one of the founders of the American Express Company; of Angustus Sydenham Winslow, a prominent citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of Leonard Corning Wins- low, at one time a banker in New York City. These brothers were lineal descendants of Hon. Kenelm Winslow, who was born at Droit- wich, England, in 1599, and died at Salem, Mass., in 1672. He immi- grated to Plymouth, Mass., in 1629, whither he had been preceded by his elder brother, Governor Edward Winslow, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. Konelm Winslow was elected Surveyor of Ply- mouth in 1640, and subsequently removing to Marshfield, Mass, rep-
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resented that town in the Massachusetts General Court between 1642 and 1653. These " Pilgrim fathers " were of gentle blood, and their antecedents in England have been traced in an unbroken line of an- cestors through many generations. The present Edward Winslow, of Winslow, Lanier & Company, is the nephew of the late Richard Henry Winslow, the son of the late James Winslow, and the grandson of the late J. F. D. Lanier.
WINSLOW, JAMES, became a member of the New York banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Company soon after its establishment by his brother, the late Richard Henry Winslow, and so remained - until his death in this city, July 18, 1874. For many years he was Vice-President of the Third National Bank of New York, and was a director of several other banks, as he was of various other corpo- rations. He was prominently identified with the establishment of the present national banking system, while during the Civil War he was active in connection with the assistance rendered by his firm to the Federal Government in connection with the negotiation of the war loans. He was born in Hartford, Conn., February 17, 1815, and was one of six brothers who became prominent,-sons of Captain Richard Winslow, of Albany and New York City. He descended from Kenelmi Winslow, of Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, a brother of Governor Edward Winslow of the same. Having attended the public schools of Albany, he learned the hardware business in the store of the late Erastus Corning, of Albany. Removing to New York City he established himself in the hardware business, which he successfully followed until he became a member of the banking firm. He married, March 18, 1847, Margaret Downing, daughter of the late J. F. D. Lanier, one of the founders of Winslow, Lanier & Company. Two sons survived him-Edward Winslow, who succeeded his father as a member of the firm of Winslow, Lanier & Company, and James Norton Winslow, who in 1874 was a member of the United States Government expedition to observe the transit of Vems.
WINSLOW. EDWARD, since 1873 has been a member of the fa- mous New York banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Company. of which his uncle, the late Richard HI. Winslow, his father, the late James Winslow, and his grandfather, the late J. F. D. Lanier. were the prominent original members. He is a trustee of the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital. and a member of the Metropolitan, Tuxedo. City. Reform. New York Yacht, and Larchmont Yacht clubs. He married, in 1873. Emma Corning. daughter of J. A. Sweetser, and has a daughter-Marguerite Lanier Winslow.
LANIER. CHARLES, present head of the well-known banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Co., is the youngest son of the late JJames
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Franklin Daughty Lanier, who was long at the head of this firm. In addition to the extensive banking business of his house, which ex- tends to all the financial centers of the world. Mr. Lanier is in the directorate of many notable corporations. He is President of the Pittsburg. Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company, as also of the Massillon and Cleveland Railroad, and is director or trustee of the Central Trust Company. the National Bank of Commerce in New York. the Louisiana National Bank of New Orleans, the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Central and South American Tele- graph Company. the West Shore Railroad. the Central Railroad Com- pany of New Jersey, the Housatonic Railroad, the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Company, the Niagara Junction Railway Com- pany, the American Cotton Oil Company, the Cataract Construction Company, and the Niagara Development Company. He is a director likewise of the Madison Square Garden Company, being one of the group of eminent and public-spirited citizens who erected the pres- ent Madison Square Garden at a cost of $3.000.000. He is Treasurer of the American Museum of Natural History, and a member of the best clubs of New York, including the Union, Metropolitan, Union League, Century, Knickerbocker, and Tuxedo. He was born in 1837, and married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Egleston, of this city. They have three daughters and a son. The latter-James F. D. Lanier- a member of his father's firm, was married in 1887 to Harriet, daugh- ter of Heber R. Bishop.
KELLY, EUGENE, for thirty-five years prior to his death in 1894 the head of the New York banking firm of Engene Kelly & Company, was a director of the National Park Bank, the Bank of New York, the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank, the Equitable Life Assur- ance Society, the Title Guaranty and Trust Company, and other corporations, including many railroad interests. He founded the Southern Bank of Georgia, and after the Civil War gave largely to rebuild the Town Hall of Charleston, S. C. For thirteen years he was a member of the Board of Education of this city, while he was ; an original life member of the National Academy of Design and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Presidential Elector-at-Large in 1884, he was Chairman of the Electoral College of this State. He ยท was a member of the committees having in hand the erection of the Washington Memorial Arch and the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty. He was one of the founders of the Catholic University of America and one of its directors from the beginning until his death. He was a trustee of Seton College Hall. He was also a member of the Build- ing Committee engaged in the erection of St. Patrick's Cathedral. He married first a Miss Donnelly, who died in 1848, and in 1857 mar- ried Margaret, niece of the late Archbishop Hughes. By his first wife he had a danghter, Mrs. John A. G. Beales, and by his second
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.
wife four sons -- Eugene, Edward, Thomas Hughes, and Robert J. Kelly. Mr. Kelly was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1806, the son of Thomas Boye O'Kelly, of Mullaghmore, the family being one of the oldest of the Irish septs. Coming to New York at the age of twenty-four, he found employment with Donnelly Brothers, mer- chants, and a few years later removed to Maysville, Ky., and thence to St. Louis. Going to California in 1849 he established a mercantile business in partnership with Joseph A. Donohoe, Daniel T. Murphy, and Adam Grant. In 1859 he was active in the organization of the California banking firm of Donohoe, Ralston & Company, and, com- ing to New York, established the related firm of Eugene Kelly & Company.
BROWN. JOHN CROSBY, head of the famous banking house of Brown Brothers & Company, is also President of the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad Company, a trustee of the Bank for Savings, and a director of the United States Trust Company, the Bank of New York, and the Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Company. He has been a member of the Board of Education and is President of the Board of Trustees of the Union Theological Seminary, a trustee of Columbia College, a trustee of the Metropoli- tan Museum of Art, and a director of the Presbyterian Hospital. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Union, City, University, Riding, and Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht clubs, the Downtown Association, and the Columbia College Alumni Association. He was born in this city, May 22, 1838, and was graduated from Columbia College, in 1859, sub- sequently receiving the degree of Master of Arts. Immediately after his graduation he entered the banking honse which his father had established in 1825. He is second of the three sons of the late James Brown by his second wife, Eliza Maria, daughter of Rev. Jonas Coe, of Troy, N. Y. He himself married, in 1864, Mary E., daughter of Rev. William Adams, D.D., pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church at the time, and President of the Union Theological Seminary, and has three daughters and three sons -- William Adams, James Crosby, and Thatcher M. Brown, graduates of Vale.
ALEXANDER. LAWRENCE DADE. banker and stockbroker. and son of the late Junius B. Alexander, also a banker in this city, was born in Meade County. Kentucky. in 1843. He attended Washington University. St. Louis, and was graduated from Jefferson College. Pennsylvania, after which he joined his father in New York City, and in 1869 became a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He is a member of the University Club. the Southern Society, and the Sons of the Revolution. and. as an expert angler. has contributed to the American Angler, and to the volume on " American Sports." pub- lished by the Century Company. He married Orline, daughter of the
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late Newton St. John, a prominent banker of Mobile, Ala .. and sister of the late William Pope St. John, for many years President of the Mercantile National Bank of this city. They have two sons, St. John and Lawrence Dade, Jr., and two daughters.
KENNEDY, JOHN STEWART, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, where he was born in 1830, made his headquarters in New York dur- ing the years 1850 and 1851 as representative of a Glasgow house in the iron trade; during the next four years had charge of the business of this firm in Glasgow, and, returning to America, was for ten years connected as partner with the New York firm of M. K. Jesup & Company, and the Chicago firm of Jesup, Kennedy & Company. In 1867 he retired and traveled abroad. In 1868 he established in this city the banking firm of J. S. Kennedy & Company. In 1883 he retired, the management devolving upon his partners under the present style of J. Kennedy, Tod & Company. He is now a trustee of the United States Trust Company, the Central Trust Company, and the Provident Loan Society, and a director of the Title Guaran- ty and Trust Company, the National Bank of Commerce, the Manhat- tan Company, the Brooklyn Manhattan Company, the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Company, the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Company. He is President of the Presbyterian Hospital, President of the Lenox Library, President of the Board of Trustees of the American Bible Honse of Constantinople; Vice-President of the New York Historical Society; Manager of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and a trustee of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, the Princeton Theo- logieal Seminary, the New York Society for the Ruptured and Crip- pled, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He personally erected the United Charities Building. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Union League, Century, City, Reform, Grolier, Riding, New York Yacht, Mendelssohn Glee, and Southside Sportsmen's clubs, and the Downtown Association. He married Emma, daughter of Cornelius. Baker. Himself the son of John Kennedy and Isabella Stewart, he is descended from prominent Scotch families on both the paternal and maternal sides.
COWDIN, ELIOT CHRISTOPHER. in 1853 founded in New York City the prominent silk importing firm of Elliot C. Cowdin & Com- pany. and remained its head until his death in 1880, although he had retired from the active management in 1877. In 1867 he was United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition. He was elected to the New York Assembly in 1876. He presided at many publie gatherings of note, and delivered a number of effective addresses, some of which were printed. He was an officer of the New York Chamber of Com-
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merce, was one of the founders of the New England Society, and its second President, and was Vice-President of the Union League Club. Born in Jamaica, Vt., in 1819. he began his mercantile career in Bos- ton, and was a successful importing merchant of that city prior to his removal to New York. He was President of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston in 1843. He visited Europe more than forty times, and was in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war. He mar- ried, in 1853. Sarah Katherine. danghter of Samnel Wallis Waldron, of Boston. She survives him, with three sons -- John Elliot, Win- throp, and Elliot C. Cowdin, and three danghters-Mrs. Caspar Gris- wold, Mrs. Robert Bacon. and Mrs. Hamilton L. Hoppin. Of Scotch descent. he was the son of Angier Cowdin, an extensive landowner in Vermont. and grandson of Captain Thomas Cowdin. of Fitchburg, Mass., a Revolutionary soldier. General Robert Cowdin. of the Union Army in the Civil War, and Hon. John Cowdin, of the Massachusetts Legislature, were brothers of Mr. Cowdin, of New York.
COWDIN, JOHN ELLIOT, a merchant in this city since 1879, is the eldest son of the late Eliot Christopher Cowdin, founder, in 1853, of Elliot C. Cowdin & Company, of New York City, silk importers, and one of the most prominent merchants of his day. Mr. Cowdin was born in Boston in 1858. was graduated from Harvard in 1879, and at once engaged in business. He is a member of the Union, University, Racquet. Harvard. Players', and Rockaway Hunt clubs. He married Gertrude. daughter of John HI. Cheever, and has a daughter and two sons-Elliot C. and John Cheever Cowdin.
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