Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 1, Part 21

Author: Van Pelt, Daniel, 1853-1900. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, U.S.A. : Arkell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 786


USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 1 > Part 21


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40



173


ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.


this organization subsequently being consolidated with the Stock Ex- change. He married, in 1869, Martha E., daughter of Samuel Swift and Mary Phelps, of Brooklyn.


HORTON, HARRY LAWRENCE, head of the banking firm of H. J. Horton & Company, which he founded in 1865, is Treasurer of the Staten Island Water Supply Company. and a director of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company. For three years he was President of the village of Brighton, S. L., where he has his summer residence. He was the organizer and is the principal owner of the Staten Island Water Supply Company, and was active in pro- moting the railroad system of the island. He is a member of the Union League, Manhattan. Riding, and other clubs; was twice mar- ried, and has two children. He was born in Bradford County, Penn- sylvania, January 17, 1832, and traces descent from Robert de Horton, who died in 1310. The founder of the family in this country, Bar- nabas Horton, arrived in New England about 1633, and was one of the founders of Southold. L. I., in 1640. Mr. Horton was a merchant's clerk at Towanda, Pa., between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two, after which he successfully established himself in the produce commission business at Milwaukee. In nine years he had accumulated the means which enabled him to become a member of the New York Stock and other exchanges, and establish himself in this city as a banker and broker in 1865.


SULLIVAN, ANDREW THEODORE, formerly Postmaster of Brooklyn, and now President of the Nassau Trust Company of that city, was born in Brooklyn, August 11, 1854, the son of Andrew Sul- livan and Ann E. Harrington. Both parents were born in Ireland, his paternal grandfather being a schoolteacher and his maternal grand- father a Presbyterian clergyman. Following his graduation from St. Francis Xavier's College in 1872, he taught school for three years, and then engaged in business with his father in the manufacture of paper stock for the paper collar and enff trade. He subsequently obtained a position in the Department of Charities and Corrections of Kings County, which he retained until October, 1886, when he was appointed Cashier and Accountant of the Brooklyn Postoffice under the admin- istration of Postmaster Joseph C. Hendrix, now President of the Na- tional Union Bank of New York. In March, 1893. he was appointed Assistant Postmaster, and npon the death of Postmaster Collins a month later was appointed Acting Postmaster by the latter's bonds- men. He was appointed Postmaster by President Cleveland, June 1, 1893, and retained the office until September 30, 1897. July 1, 1897. he was elected President of the Nassan Trust Company to succeed the late A. D. Wheelock. He is President of the Knights of Columbus Building Corporation, Past President and a member of the Friendly


-


-


174


HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.


Sons of St. Patrick, a member of the Supreme and State Councils of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, and a member of the Brooklyn, Han- over, and Bushwick clubs, and the St. Francis Xavier Alunni Asso- ciation.


BISSINGER, PHILIP, who has been engaged as a jewelry mer- chant in New York City since 1849, while since 1853 he has been head of the well-known diamond importing firm of Philip Bissinger & Com- pany, has also during the thirty-fon years since 1864 been President of the German Savings Bank, of which he was one of the organizers and incorporators in 1859. This institution now has total resources of about $45,000,000. IIe is also a director of the German American Bank, the Manhattan Life Insur- ance Company, the German Alli- ance Insurance Company, and the Holmes Electric Protective Com- pany. He is Vice-President of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of which he was an incorporator; is also an executive officer of the German Hospital, and is a member of the New York and German clubs, the Liederkranz, and the Downtown Association. In 1854 he became an active mem- ber of the German Society of this city, which has been in ex- istence since 1784, and from 1865 to 1871 was its President. In 1868 he founded its banking depart- ment, and visiting Europe estab- PHILIP BISSINGER. lished agencies with thirty banks of Germany, Austria, and Switzer- land. He also founded its employment birean, which has found po- sitions for about 125,000 German immigrants. He was a Park Commis- sioner of the city under Mayor Havemeyer, having previously been a member of the Committee of Seventy, whose efforts led to the over- throw of the Tweed ring. He was also a State Commissioner of Immi- gration, and secured reform in the steerage service to this country. He confronted Senator Showman at Hamburg, had him censured by the late Emperor William, and himself received knighthood at the hands of the Emperor. He was President of the Cooper Union meet- ing of 1884, which, by means of its protest, defeated the proposed cen- sure of the Governor of New York for alleged partiality in giving the German element too great representation on the State Board of Immi- gration.


175


ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.


BREESE, JAMES LAWRENCE. banker, of New York City, was graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a civil engi- neer in 1875, and subsequently studied architecture. Later he became successful in his present business. He is a member of the Union, Tuxedo, Racquet, Players', and Hudson River Ice Yacht clubs, and the Blooming Grove Park Association. He has a studio in this city, being one of the leading amateur photographers. llis artistic work has won many prizes and medals both in America and Europe. He was born in New York City, December 21, 1854, the son of the late J. Salisbury Breese and Augusta Eloise Lawrence. One of his great- uncles was Rear-Admiral Samuel Livingston Breese, U.S.N. An- other was Hon. Sidney Breese, United States Senator from Illinois, Speaker of its House of Representatives, and Chief Justice of its Supreme Court. Their father, the grandfather of Mr. Breese, was Arthur Breese, a graduate from Yale, and prominent lawyer of Utica, N. Y., while his great-grandfather, Hon. Samuel Breese, was a Colonel in the Revolution, and subsequently a Judge of New Jersey. The father of the latter was born in Shrewsbury, England, about 1709, and having espoused the cause of the Pretender, entered the British Navy as a Purser, and later became a merchant in New York, and was Mas- ter of the Port. Through his mother, Mr. Breese descends from John Lawrence, who arrived at Plymouth in 1635, and Johannes Lowesen Bogert, who came to New Amsterdam from Haarlem, Holland, in 1671.


ELY, GEORGE WILLIAM. for many years prominent as a stock- broker of this eity, and Secretary of the New York Stock Exchange. went to the front in support of the Union with the Seventh Regiment in 1862, being Captain of a Company, and the youngest Captain in the history of that organization. He is a member of the New York, Law- vers', Barnard, and Whist clubs, and the Seventh Regiment Veteran Association. He was born in this city, January 6. 1840, and was ed- ucated mainly in private schools. He married, in 1864, Frances Al- mira, daughter of Henry Wheeler aud Nancy Hotchkiss, of Seymour. Conn., and has a daughter and two sons-llenry Bidwell Ely. a law- ver, and Leonard W. Ely. a physician. Mr. Ely is the son of the late Joseph Merick Ely and Juliette Marie, daughter of William Camp and Abigail Whittlesey. his father having been a Yale graduate and for more than a quarter of a century principal of a classical school in this city. He is descended from Nathaniel Ely, who was born in England, in 1605, arrived in Massachusetts in 1635, and was one of the first settlers of Hartford. Conn.


ELY, HENRY BIDWELL, corporation lawyer, of this city, is one of the trustees of the William Astor estate, is Treasurer of the Findlay. Fort Wayne and Western Railway, and is a director of the Astor


---


.


176


HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.


National Bank. the Mercantile Trust Company, the Westchester Trust Company, and the Tidewater Building Company. He was born in this city in 1866, was graduated from Columbia College in 188. and subsequently married Lillian E. Kissam. He is a member of the University, New York Athletic, Church, and Alpha Delta Phi clubs, and the Columbia College Alumni Association. He is the eldest son of George William Ely. a prominent stockbroker, and now for many years past Secretary of the New York Stock Exchange; is grandson of Joseph Merrick Ely, who long maintained a classical school in New York, having been graduated from Yale in 1829, and is descended from Nathaniel Ely, who came over in 1634.


SOUTHARD, GEORGE HENRY, is President of the Franklin Trust Company of the Borough of Brooklyn, which he helped to or- ganize in 18SS, and which he served, successively, as Secretary and Second Vice-President, and is a trustee or director of the Dime Savings Bank and the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company, the Hecker-Jones-Jewell Milling Company, and the New York Fire Insurance Company of Manhattan Borough. He is a trustee of the Union Theological Seminary and of the Brooklyn Presbytery, and is a member of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of America. He is a mem- ber of the Union League Club and GEORGE HENRY SOUTHARD. the Downtown Association of Manhattan Borough, and of the. Hamilton, Rembrandt, and Riding and Driving clubs of Brooklyn. Born in Boston, Mass., February 23, 1841, he is the son of Hon. Zibeon Southard and Helen Maria, daughter of Ebenezer Trescott. His father was a member of the Boston Common Council in 1851 and 1852, and of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1861 and 1862. ITe lin- .eally descends from Constant Southworth, who emigrated from Eng- land to Plymouth Colony, where he subsequently became a deputy, in 1623. Ilis widowed mother became the wife of Governor William Bradford. Mr. Sonthard was graduated from the Boston English High School in 1853, and received his business education with Southard. ITurlbut & Company, oil manufacturers, of Boston. From 1861 to 1865 he engaged in the lumber business in Boston, while from 1865 to 1874


177


ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.


he continued in the same business in Newburgh, N. Y. In the latter vear he established the lumber firm of Southard & Company in Man- hattan Borough, New York City, at the same time making Brooklyn his residence.


TRASK, SPENCER, head of the banking house of Spencer Trask & Company, is also President of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, President of the Broadway Realty Company, and director of the Rio Grande Western Railway Company, and the Mexican Na- tional Construction Company. At Saratoga Springs, where he has a beautiful country-seat, he erected and donated to the Diocese of Albany a Convalescent Home, where one hundred children are reeu- perated each summer. He is a trustee of the New York Teachers' College, and a member of the Union League, Metropolitan, and other clubs. Born in Brooklyn in 1844, he attended the Polytechnic Insti- tute, was graduated from Princeton in 1866, established himself in the banking business in this city in 1869, and in April of that year became a member of the New York Stock Exchange. His firm was successively Trask & Stone, Trask & Francis, and, since 1881, Spencer Trask & Company. The house has branches in Boston, Albany, and Providence, and maintains private wires with correspondents in Phil- adelphia and Chicago.


JIOYT. ALFRED MILLER, from 1854 to 1881 was a member of the New York firm of Jesse Hoyt & Company, his brother Jesse, and for a time his brother Samuel N., being has partners, together with Henry W. Smith. This fim succeeded to the business which had been established many years before in this city by the late James Moody Hoyt. father of the brothers. Owners of extensive timber lands in the northwest. they were active in developing that section. They also acquired large interests in connection with the grain elevators of Chicago, Milwaukee, and other cities, and eventually became interested in railroad development. They built and were large owners of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, of the Wi- nona and St. Peter Railroad, which became a part of the Chicago and Northwestern system, and the Milwaukee and Northern Railroad. Alfred Miller Hoyt was President of the last-mentioned road. Since 1881 he has been engaged in banking in this city, and is Vice-Presi- dent of the Produce Exchange Safe Deposit Company. is a trustee of the Bank for Savings, and is a director of the Merchants' Exchange Bank, the Continental Trust Company, the Fidelity and Casualty Company, and the Consolidated Ice Company. He was born in this city in 1828, was educated in private schools, and studied law. He is grandson of Colonel Jesse Hoyt, and descended from Simon Hoyte. who came from England to Massachusetts in 1628. He is a member of the Metropolitan. Union League, Century. Riding, and Grolier


178


HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.


clubs. He married, in 1858, Rose E. Reese, and has three daughters and three sons-Henry R., lawyer; Alfred William, banker, and John Sherman, banker.


BARNES, JOHN SANFORD, distinguished himself in the United States Navy during the Civil War, and has since achieved success in this city both as a lawyer and as a banker and broker. At the present time he is a director of the Bank of New Amsterdam and the Manu- facturing Investment Company. He is the son of the late General James Barnes, a graduate from West Point, eminent as a railroad en- gineer and constructor and active throughout the Civil War, attaining the brevet of Major-General. He was severely wounded while com- manding the First Division of the Fifth Corps at Gettysburg. John Sanford Barnes was born at West Point, May 12, 1836; was graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1854, and, during the Civil War, reached the rank of Commander. At its close he resigned, stud- ied Jaw, and practiced at Albany and subsequently in New York City. From 1867 to 1879 he was a member of the banking firm of J. S. Ken- nedy & Company. He resumed his legal practice for a while, and then returned to banking. He is a member of the Union, Metropolitan, Union League, Knickerbocker, University, Riding, and Westminster Kennel clubs, and various societies. He married, in 1862, Susan Bain- bridge, daughter of Captain Thomas Hayes, U.S.N .; granddaughter of the celebrated Commodore William Bainbridge, and a descendant of Sir Arthur Bainbridge, of Durham County, England. They have three daughters and two sons-J. Sanford, Jr., and James Barnes.


HOLLISTER, HENRY HUTCHINSON, for many years a banker and broker, of this city, and head of the banking house of Hollister & Babcock, is also Treasurer of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway Company, and a director of the Madison Square Garden Company. the Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad, the Keokuk and Des Moines Railroad. and the Des Moines and Fort Dodge Railroad companies. He is a member of the Union, Metropoli- tan, New York, Riding, Whist, and Southside Sportsmen's clubs, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Sons of the Revolution, and the New England Society. He was born in Brattleboro, Vt., in 1842, the son of Edwin M. Hollister and Gratia Buell, his father being a drygoods merchant and paper manufacturer, and is descended from Lieutenant John Hollister, who immigrated to Connectient in 1642. and married a daughter of Governor Richard Treat. He is grandson of Major John H. Buell. of the Revolution, an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Mr. Hollister married, first. Sarah Louise. daughter of William A. Howell and Lucetta B. Gould, of Newark. N. J .; and second, Anne Willard, daughter of J. IT. Stephenson. of Boston. His


179


ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.


children are, by his first wife, two danghters and three sons-Henry Hutchinson. Jr., Buell Hollister, and Louis.


INGALLS, CHARLES HENRY, President of the First National Bank of Staten Island, and Secretary and Director of the North Shore Building Loan and Savings Association, of Port Richmond, was the founder of the first-named institution. in January, 1886, raising the subscriptions and organizing the bank. In 1892 he became its Vice- President, and in January, 1894, was elected President. He became a clerk in the Metropolitan Bank of New York City in 1861. and held various positions until its failure in 1884. In 1885 he was with the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company. He has been Secretary of the North Shore Building Loan and Savings Association since 1889, and in 1893. 1894, and 1895 was President of the Board of Education of Port Richmond. He is a member of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, the Kill von Kull Yacht, and Staten Island clubs, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was born in Southold. L. I .. March 17. 1843. the son of Joshua K. Ingalls and Amanda Gray, and was educated in the Brooklyn public schools and the Mount Washington Collegiate Institute of New York City. He is descended from Elkanah Ingalls, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts about 1660. His father has written much upon land and other economic questions, including the two volumes. " Social Wealth " and " Reminiscences of an Octogenarian."


DAY, CLARENCE SHEPARD. has been a prominent banker and stockbroker of New York City for thirty years, and is prominently connected with various railroad corporations. He is now Vice-Presi- dent of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad Company, and a director of the South Carolina and Georgia Railroad Company, the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad Company, and the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad Company. He is a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, the New England Society, and the Metropolitan, Union League. Riding. and Lawyers' clubs. He was born in this city, August 9. 1844. and attended the public schools and the College of the City of New York. He married. in 1873, La- vinia Elizabeth Stockwell, descended from the old New York family of Parmly. and has four sons-Clarence Shepard, Jr .. George Parmly, Julian, and Harold C. Mr. Day is the son of the late Benjamin Henry Day, of this city. and Eveline, daughter of Mather Shepard and Har- riet Day. His father founded the New York Sun in 1833. Selling it to his brother-in-law, Moses Y. Beach, in 1837, he established and for twenty years published and edited the Brother Jonathan. The founder of the family in America, Robert Day, was of Welsh descent. and set- tled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1635, subsequently accompanying Dr.


180


HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.


Thomas Hooker to Hartford, Coun. Mr. Day's colonial ancestors in- clude Lieutenant Thomas Cooper. of Hartford; Colonel Benjamin Day. of West Springfield, Mass., and Elder Brewster, of Plymouth.


WESTBROOK, JOHN. who has been at the head of a block-cutting establishment on Staten Island since 1869, is President of the Rich- mond Conmy Savings Bank, is President of the Staten Island Build- ing Loan and Savings Association, and is a director of the First Na- tional Bank of Staten Island and of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce. He is Treasurer of Richmond County Lodge. No. SS. I.O.O.F., and for five years was a School Trustee of West New Brighton. He was born in Derbyshire, England, August 12, 1832. the son of Richard West- brook and Sarah Jackson. Ilis father was a block- cutter, while his grand- father kept a large inn where a line of mail coaches stopped daily. Mr. Westbrook was edu- rated in the schools of Scotland, served a seven years' apprenticeship at block-cutting, and in 1851 العر immigrated to New York City. At the end of a year be returned to Scotland, in 1 58 again removed to New York, returning to Scotland in 1861, and in 1868 making a third and JOHN WESTBROOK. final removal to America. In 1869 he founded the business mentioned. which has since assumed extensive proportions. He married, first. in Paisley, Scotland. in 1851, Margaret Yuill, who subsequently died, and second. on Staten Island, in 150, Emma Springer. He has three daughters and five sons-Robert R., William, Joseph Y., Charles, and Ralph G. Westbrook.


CHAPIN, WILLIAM VLALL, banker, of this city, and member of the New York Stock Exchange from 1880 to 1590, was born in Prov- idence, R. L. January 1. 1855. He attended St. Paul's School at Con- cord, N. H., and was graduated from Trinity College, subsequently


181


ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.


receiving the degree of Master of Arts. He has since resided in New York and engaged in banking. He is a member of the Knickerbocker, St. Anthony, and Phi Beta Kappa clubs, and the New England So- ciety. In 1890, he married Mary Worth, daughter of Loomis L. White, banker, and well known member of the New York Stock Exchange. She is descended from Peregrine White, born on the Mayflower, while her great-great-grandfather was State Senator and first Chancellor of the University of the State of New York. Mr. Chapin is the son of General Walter B. Chapin and Ann Frances Low Viall, and grand- son of Hon. Royal Chapin, Governor of Rhode Island. He descends from Samuel Chapin, one of the prominent founders of Springfield, · Mass., in 1636.


COX. TOWNSEND, banker and broker, and member of the New York Stock Exchange from 1865 to 1885. has been in retirement from business pursuits since the latter date. In 1869 he was President of the Gold Exchange. He was a Commissioner of Charities and Cor- rection of this city from 1874 to 1882. while from 1885 to 1892 he was President of the State Forest Commission. He was one of the found- ers of the Mendelssohn Glee Club, and its President, and was a Gov- ernor of the Manhattan Club. He married Anne Helme, daughter of Walter Wilmot Townsend and Anne Helme. a descendant of Chris- topher Helme. of Warwick. R. L., in 1650. and has a daughter and fom sous -- Wilmot Townsend, Townsend. Irving, and Daniel. Born in 1828. he is the son of Daniel Townsend Cox and Hannah Wilmot. daughter of General Nathaniel Coles. and is descended from James Cock. who was at Setauket. L. L., before 1659. and subsequently ac- quired a large estate at Oyster Bay. Among his ancestors were Henry Wisner, signer of the Declaration of Independence; John Town- send. an early settler of Long Island; Lieutenant Robert Feke, who married a niece of Governor Winthrop; Hon. Nathaniel Coles, Judge of Queens County in 1689. and Captain Daniel Coak. a Revolutionary officer.


EMMONS. JOHN FRANK. since 1878 a member of the banking firm of II. L. Dorton & Company, of this city, is President of the Baltimore and New York Railway. President of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Company. President of the Staten Island Railway Company. Vice-President of the First National Bank of Staten Island. and a director of the Rapid Transit Ferry Company, and the Staten Island Ferry Company. He was educated in Boston, where he was born. April 26. 1839. his father. John L. Emmons. being a prominent Boston merchant. Entering his father's store at sixteen, he presently became a partner under the style of J. L. Emmons & Company. He subsequently withdrew. however, and, coming to this city, became a


182


HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.


member of the firm of George E. Cook & Company, dealers in securi- ties. In 1878 he became a member of H. L. Horton & Company. He has resided upon Staten Island since 1866. and has been active in pro- curing the present railroad system of Richmond County. He is a member of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the Union League Club, and enjoys high social position. In 1866 he married Mary Winthrop Cook. During the Civil War (1863-4) he saw some service in North Carolina as Lieutenant of Company E, 45th Massa- chnsetts.


FAIRCHILD, JULIAN D., President of the Kings County Trust Company, was for some years Chairman of the Executive Committee of the company prior to his elec- tion to his present position. He is also Treasurer of the New East River Bridge, and a director of the Bedford Bank, of Brooklyn, and the Edison Electric Light Company of the same city. In 1895 he was offered the Demo- cratie nomination for Mayor, but his business interests would not permit his acceptance. Ile is Vice-President of the Brooklyn Central Dispensary, and is a member of the Brooklyn, Mon- tank, and Dyker Meadow Golf clubs. He is also a member of the New York Chamber of Com- merce and the New York Pro- duce Exchange. Born in Strat- ford, Conn .. April 17, 1850, at thirteen years of age he entered JULIAN D. FAIRCHILD. the employ of a large New Haven hardware manufacturing com- pany, remaining with this company for about three years, occupying the positions of office boy, entry clerk, and assistant bookkeeper. During these years he saved his money, and at the age of seventeen started in the tea, coffee, and spice business for himself with a capital of about fom hundred dollars. After remaining in this business for a short time he sold out and went into the agricultural business, and four years later changed to the manufacture of commercial ferti- lizers, becoming Secretary of the Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, of New Haven and New London, Conn. He sold out his interest in this company in 1874 and became connected with the E. Frank Coe Ferti- lizer Company, in New York City, and eventually became the Presi-




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.