USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 1 > Part 34
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BRONK, WILLIAM REA, having prepared for college under a private tutor at Albany, in 1880 was graduated from Cornell Univer- sity, at the same time studying law with Mynderse Van Cleef, of Ithaca, N. Y., and in 1880 was admitted to the bar. For one year he was Assistant United States District Attorney in New York City un- der General Stewart Woodford, then became District Attorney. and
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in 1882 resigned and entered upon private practice in New York. Since 1885 he has been counsel for the estate of the late Commodore C. K. Garrison, has been counsel for eight years of the New York Mutual Gas Light Company, and is counsel for the Hazelton Boiler Company and other corporations. He is a member of the Holland Society, the New York Athletic, Delta Phi, Thirteen, and other clubs, and of Good Government Club A. Born in New Baltimore, Greene County, N. Y., September 17, 1856, he is the son of Ephraim P. Brouk and Jane Van Slyke. He descends from Jonas Bronck, a native of Holland, who settled in Westchester County in 1639, and gave his name to the Bronx River.
MYNDERSE, WILHELMUS, has been engaged in the practice of law in New York City since 1875, and is a member of the well-known law firm of Butler, Notman, Joline & Mynderse. He attended Myu- derse Academy. established by his grandfather at Seneca Falls, N. Y., Mount Pleasant Military Academy, in 1871 was graduated from Will- iams College, delivering the salu- tatory oration, and in 1875 was graduated from the Columbia Col- lege Law School. He was con- nected with the law firm of Butler, Stillman & Hubbard continuously from 1875 until he joined with the head of that firm in organizing his present firm. He has especially devoted himself to the department embracing maritime and admiralty law, including the steamship and marine insurance business. He is WILHELMUS MYNDERSE. Vice-President of the Sigma Phi Society. of New York City, and is one of the charter members of the Holland Society. He is a Vestryman of Grace Church, a trastee of the Brooklyn Hospital, a director of the Long Island Historical So- ciety, and a manager of the Church Charity Foundation of the Dio- cese of Long Island. He is a member of the University, Grolier, and Sigma Phi clubs, and the Downtown Association of New York City, and the Hamilton, Civic, and Church clubs of Brooklyn. He was born at Seneca Falls, N. Y .. November 25, 1849, the son of Edward Myn- derse and Lilias Muir. The first American ancestor on the paternal side came from Holland in 1640. and settled at Albany. The grand- father of Mr. Mynderse, after whom he was named, was born in Al- bany in 1767. He acquired a large tract of land, with water rights,
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on the Seneca River, and in 1800 became the founder of the town of Seneca Falls. He married Jane Van Cleef.
BRADSHAW, CHARLES, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., May 18, 1854. the son of Hamilton B. Bradshaw, a lawyer, and Caroline A. Peck. He was educated in private schools in Brooklyn and under private tutors, studied law in his father's office and at the Columbia College Law School, and since his admission to the bar has been engaged in general practice in Brooklyn. His paternal ancestors came to America from County Antrim, Ireland, in 1745. They de- scended from Uchtred, a Saxon Thane of Lancashire, England, who, under the name of de Bradshaw was invested with office and estates by William the Conqueror. The maternal ancestors came from Suf- folk County, England, to America in 1630. Mr. Bradshaw married. first, Elsie A. Light, and, second, Daisy Furbish. Ilis children are John, Alice, May, Elsie, Randolph, and Harold.
CARROLL, JOSEPH WILLIAM, attended the Brooklyn public schools until fourteen years of age, then studied at St. Mary's College, Montreal, and St. Francis Xavier's College, New York City, being graduated from the latter in 1879, and subsequently receiving its degree of Master of Arts, while he was also graduated from the Columbia College Law School. Admitted to the bar in May, 1882, he practiced law from that time until December, 1884, when he accepted an appointment as Clerk in the Supreme Court of Kings County. On January 1, 1891, he became Chief Clerk in the Kings County Surro- gate's office. Ile is a trustee of the Jamaica Normal School, a director of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum of Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Catholic Historical Society, and the Brooklyn Disciplinary Training School for Boys, and is a trustee of the Catholic Seminary School of America. He is a member of the Columbian and Crescent Athletic clubs, and of the Jackson Democratic Club of the Seventh Ward of Brooklyn. He was born in Brooklyn, February 2, 1859, the son of Thomas Carroll and Julia Devy. Both parents were natives of Mount- melleck, Queens County, Ireland. His father was a member of the Brooklyn Board of Education from 1859 to 1879, was Register of Kings County from 1880 to 1883. and was a Police Commissioner of Brooklyn from 1886 to 1888. By Governor Tilden he was commis- sioned in 1876 Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Brigade, National Guard. Until his death, in 1888, he was prominent in public and charitable movements in Brooklyn.
FITCH, THEODORE, for a number of years one of the leaders of the bar of Westchester County. New York, since 1883 has been engaged in the practice of law in New York City. The son of Rev. Silas Fitch and Mary Amanda White, he was born in Franklin. Dela-
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ware County, N. Y., March 30, 1844. He prepared for college at academies in Poughkeepsie and Middletown, N. Y .; for two years subsequent to 1859 attended Troy University; taught the Saugerties (N. Y.) Academy for one year, and entering the junior class at Yale University in 1862, was graduated from that institution in 1864. He taught the Delaware Academy at Delhi, N. Y., for three years, at the same time studying law with Hon. William Murray; in May, 1867. was admitted to the bar, and in October of the same year engaged in practice at Yonkers, N. Y. He served three terms as City Attorney of Yonkers, from 1877 to 1884, and won every ease which he con- ducted for the city, with a single exception, in which he was also virtually successful, greatly reducing the claim against the city. Mr. Fitch still resides in Yonkers, but. since 1883, has practiced law ex- einsively in New York City as head of the firm of T. and S. II. Fitch, in partnership with his brother, Silas Hledding Fitch. He was married, February 4, 1869. to Catherine Hawley, daughter of Rev. Sam- uel Goodrich Coe, of New Haven, Conn., a graduate from Vale, 1838, and has a son, Frederick Coc Fitch, and three daughters. Mr. Fitch lineally descends from Thomas Fitch, who emigrated to Saybrook, Conn., in 1638, and sub- sequently settled at Norwalk. Conu. One of his grandsons, Thomas Fitch, became Governor of Con- nectient. The emigrant was the THEODORE FITCH. eldest son of Thomas Fitch and Anna Pew, of Boeking, adjoining Braintree, Essex, England, a de. scerdant of John Fitch, of Fitch Castle, in the parish of Widdington. . Northwestern Essex, where he was seated 1294 A.D.
MOORE, HARRISON S., attended the Middletown Academy at Halfmoon, Saratoga County. N. Y., the New York State Normal School, studied law, and since his admission to the bar has practiced his profession in Queens County. He has been counsel to the Board of Supervisors of Queens County, and to several village boards, and has been Chairman of the Queens County Republican Central Comt- mittee. He has been County Judge of Queens County since December 28, 1896. On December 30. 1896, Governor Morton appointed him a Commissioner on the charter of New York City, to succeed Garret JJ. Garretson, resigned. He is a member of the Reformed Dutch Church
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of North Hempstead, L. I., as he is of Cornucopia Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Flushing; the Niantic Club of that place, and the Lincoln Club of Long Island City. He was at one time principal of the Union Free School of Flushing. He was born in Waterford, Sara- toga County, N. Y., April 23, 1849, and is the son of Lewis K. Moore and Lucinda J., daughter of James Bassett. His father served throughout the Rebellion as Corporal in Company G, Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteers. On both sides Judge Moore's ancestors served in the Revolution and the War with Mexico.
FOSDICK, LEWIS L., was born in Springfield, Jamaica, Queens County, N. Y., July 21, 1837, and attended Union Hill Academy at Jamaica, and the New York University .. He studied law, and since his admission to the bar has always practiced at Jamaica. His father, Morris Fosdick, teacher, surveyor, conveyancer, Judge, and Surro- gate, died in 1892, and was descended from ancestors who settled in Charlestown, Mass., in 1635. Mr. Fosdick's mother was Catherine J. Baylis. Mr. Fosdick was himself married, first, to Julia E. Bennet, in 1861, and, second, to Mary Elvise Terry, in 1878. His children, both of whom reside in Jamaica, are Morris M. Fosdick and Ella L. Mills, wife of William HI. Mills.
PAGE. CHARLES B., lawyer and State Senator from the Seven- teenth Senatorial District of New York, was born at Olean, N. Y., November 4, 1851, and is the son of Rufus L. Page and Elizabeth A. Hall. He attended the schools and academies of Olean, N. Y., and New Marlboro, Mass., and at nineteen years of age came to New York and commenced the study of law. In 1876 he was admitted to the bar, and engaged in practice. He was elected to the State Senate on the Republican ticket for a term of three years, beginning Janu- ary 1, 1896. During the session of 1896 he served as a member of the committees on Cities, Railroads, Codes, Military Affairs, and Public Health.
SHORT, EDWARD LYMAN, attended private schools in New York City and . Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass .; in 1875 was graduated from Columbia College with first honors, having taken prizes in Greek during each year of the college course; studied law with the New York law firms of Foster & Thomson and Knox & MacLean, and in 1878 was graduated from the Columbia College Law School and ad- mitted to the bar. In 1884 he became a member of the law firm of Davies & Rapallo. He is now a member of the firm of Davies, Stone & Auerbach, formed by amalgamation of the firms of Davies, Short & Townsend and Lowrey, Stone & Auerbach. He is general solicitor of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, and has been
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engaged in a number of important railroad, taxation, and insurance cases. He has published " The Law of Railroad Bonds and Mort- gages." He is a member of the Metropolitan, University, and Calu- met clubs, the Sons of the Revolution, and the Society of Colonial Wars. Born in Philadelphia, September 30, 1854, he is the son of the late eminent classical scholar, Charles Short, LL.D .. and Anne Jean, daughter of Hon. Elihu Eyman. of Green- field, Mass., lawyer and State Senator. Through his father he descends from Henry Short, who immigrated to New England from England in 1634, as also from Henry Sewall, Mayor of Coventry, England, ancestor of Judge Samuel Sewall, of Massachu- setts. Through his mother he descends from Richard Ly- man, of High Ongar, Eng- land. who became one of the founders of Hartford. Conn. ne married, in 1887, Anna Livingston, daughter of the late John Jules Petit and Cornelia Margaretta Livings- ton, and has a daughter and a EDWARD LYMAN SHORT. son-Livingston Lyman Short. Mrs. Short descends from the Livingston, Beekman, de Pey- sters, Van Brugh. Roosevelt, and Dwight families.
TAYLOR, HOWARD AUGUSTUS, was graduated from Harvard . College in 1886, served for a short time as reporter on the New York Tribune: studied law with William B. Hornblower; was admitted to the bar in 1888, and then became a member of the firm, the present style of which is Hornblower. Byrne, Taylor & Miller. He has argued cases in the Court of Appeals and the Federal courts. While at col- lege he was prominent in athletics, and notably as a tennis player. He won the tennis championship at Harvard, the intercollegiate.cham- pionship, and the National Association championship at Newport in 1884. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Century, Racquet, Uni- versity, and Harvind clubs, the Downtown Association, the Society of Sons of the Revolution, and the City Bar Association. He was born in New York City, November 23, 1865, and is the son of Henry Augus-
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tus Taylor and Catherine Augusta Osborn. On the maternal side he descends from one of the old families of Salem, Mass .; while. Taylor Hill, the paternal homestead, on the Connectient River, south of Mid- dletown, Conn., has been in the family since 1648.
CURIE, CHARLES, especially known as a lawyer for his successful conduct of tariff cases, is a director of the Paterson Railway, the Pat- erson Central Electric Railroad, the New Jersey Electric Railroad, the Jersey City, Hoboken, and Rutherford Railway Company, and the Holtz and Freystedt Company. He is a member of the Union League, Hamilton, Lincoln, and Riding and Driving clubs, of Brooklyn; the New York Athletic and United Service clubs, and the Arion Society of New York and the Lake Hopat- cong Club, of New Jersey. He was born at Audineomt, Department du Duobs, France; his parents, Frederick Curie and Dorethe Mali- ena Diemer, coming to America and settling at Paterson, N. J., when he was two years of age. He attended the Paterson public schools and the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College at Cleveland, Ohio, and then enlisted in the Ninth New York Volunteers ( Hawkins's Zou- aves ), and served until the close of the Civil War. He was mustered ont with the rank of Captain, hav- ing participated in the engage- ments of Hatteras, Roanoke Island, CHARLES CURIE. Camden, Sonth Mountain, and An- tietam; the Washington, Virginia, and Maryland Campaign of July, 1863; the campaign against Forrest in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, in the fall of 1863; Sherman's raid to Meridian in February. 1864; the Missouri Campaign. from the Mississippi to Kansas in the fall of 1864, and the Red River Expedition in the spring of 1865. He is President of the Ninth Army Corps. is Past-President of the Roanoke Military Association, is Past-President of the Hawkins's Zouaves Association, is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of New York, and of Farragut Post. Grand Army of the Republic. of Paterson, N. J., and is an Honorary Member of C. A. Kimball Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of New York City. He studied law with Thomas D. Hoxey, of Paterson, N. J .. and the firm of Hawkins, Barnet & Pannes, of New York City, and in 1882 was graduated from the College of the City of New York, in May of that year being admitted to the bar at. Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He has
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been engaged in practice in this city since. He married, March 24, 1870, Jennie, daughter of James Andrews, a prominent manufacturer of Paterson, N. J., and has a daughter and a son-Charles Curie, Jr. The latter was graduated from the New York Law School in 1893, and is engaged in practice with his father. Mr. Curie's winter resi- dence is in Brooklyn, his summer home being Idlewild, Cornwall-on- Hudson.
SMITH, ARTEMAS BRIGHAM. of the New York law firm of Smith & Bowman, has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession in New York City since his admission to the bar, in April, 1870. He practiced alone for ten years, and in 1880 formed the present firm. The son of George Smith and Eunice Garfield, he is of New England ancestry on both sides, and was born in Westminster, Worcester County, Mass., March 21, 1844. He was graduated from Amherst College in 1868, and began the study of law in the office of Rice & Blackmer, of Worcester. Mass. A year later he came to New York City, attended the Columbia College Law School, and was ad- mitted to the bar in the spring of 1870. He resides in Brooklyn. He is a member of the New York Law Institute and the Lincoln Club of Brooklyn.
PROVOST, ANDREW JACKSON, lawyer, traces his ancestry to William Provost, a native of Paris, who escaped the St. Bartholomew massacre in 1572 by fleeing to Holland, where he married a French Huguenot lady. David Provost, third in descent from this William. came to New Amsterdam in 1634, and was made commandant of Fort Good Hope. The family was represented in the Revolution by the five sons of Jonathan Provost, who served as patriots during the entire struggle. Samuel Provost, a member of the family, was the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of New York, rector of Trinity Parish, Regent of the University of New York, and Chaplain of Congress. Andrew Jackson Provost, the son of David and Elizabeth Hendrick- son Provost, is a native of this city, and was born April 2, 1834. He attended the public schools of Brooklyn, and was graduated in 1851 from Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, Mass. He studied law with Cram & Cornell, of New York. and for four years remained with this firm. Admitted to the bar in 1855, he began practice in Brook- lyn, but since 1880 has had his main office in Manhattan Borough. Ile served as a member of the Brooklyn Board of Education from 1864 to 1868; was School Commissioner of Queens County from 1874 to 1878, and for five years was President of the Board of Education of the Fifth District of Flushing. L. I. He was a Democratie member of the New York Assembly from 1859 to 1861. In 1870 he was elected Justice of the Peace and Police Judge in Queens County, and served until 1878. Tle has compiled and published a volume of genealogical
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research, entitled " Provost-Provoost-Provost Family Record, 1545- 1895." He is a member of the Long Island Historical Society and of the Ilanover and Amphion clubs of Brooklyn. He was a member of the consistory of the First ( Dutch ) Reformed Church of Brooklyn from 1886 to 1895. In June, 1854, he married Harriet, daughter of Judge Obadiah Titus, of Dutchess County, New York.
FANNING, WILLIAM JOSEPH, was engaged in the practice of law in Cohoes, N. Y., from 1878 to 1880; as a member of the firm of Crawford & Fanning, and, since 1880, has followed his profession in New York City. He is an expert in respect to the law affecting inn-keepers, and since 1881 has been legal adviser of the Hotel As- sociation of the City of New York. as well as that of the State of New York. He has drawn up many statutes relating to hotel-keepers. and has frequently appeared before legislative committees to conserve the interests of his clients. His " Handbook of Hotel Law" is au authority on the subject treated. An article from his pen in the North American Recien for August, 1893, attracted wide attention. IJe has served as School Trustee in the Eighteenth Ward of New York City. . In 1895 Mayor Strong ap- pointed him City Magistrate at a salary of $7,000, but he declined the honor. He is a Democrat, and WILLIAM JOSEPH FANNING. a member of the Manhattan, Democratic, Catholic, and Lawyers clubs, the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He married, in 1881, Annie, daughter of A. L. Ashman, of New York City. Of Irish descent, Mr. Fanning was born in Crescent, Saratoga County, N. Y., July 12, 1850, the son of James Fanning and Johanna Fitzgerald. He was educated at the Half Moon Institute of Middletown, Saratoga County; passed the Regents' examination; continued study under private intors; spent a year at Rome. Italy: studied law with James F. Crawford, of Co- hoes, N. Y., whose partner he subsequently became, and, in 1873, was graduated from the Law School of the University of the City of New York.
STEPHENS, STEPHEN DOVER, County Judge and Surrogate of Richmond County, was born at Richmond, S. L., April 19, 1845.
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His father and paternal ancestors for three generations were born in New York City, while his mother and maternal ancestors were natives of Staten Island. He pursued preparatory studies at Trin- ity School, New York City, and in 1866 he was graduated from Colun- bia College. In 1868 he was graduated from the Columbia College Law School, also receiving the degree of Master of Arts. He imme- diately entered upon the practice of law. He is a Democrat. Ile rep- resented Richmond County in the Assembly of 1874, and served on the important committees on Railroads and on Villages. He was re- elected to the Assembly of 1875, and that year served as Chairman of the Committee on Villages and as a member of the committees on Railroads and on Publie Lands. In 1881 he was elected County Judge and Surrogate of Richmond County by a large majority, and was re- elected in 1887, and again in 1893. Some of the most important cases which have ever arisen in Richmond County have come before him. HIe is a member of the Episcopal Church, a regular attendant at old St. Andrew's, at Richmond. In 1884 he married Agnes L. Lasar, of Brooklyn, a descendant of the old Pitkin family of Connecticut. They have two sons-Stephen. D., Jr., and Richmond.
KETCHUM, ALEXANDER PHOENIX, was graduated in 1858 from the College of the City of New York, having taken prizes in natural history, drawing, mathematics, and oratory; for a year was tutor in drawing and mathematics in this institution, and in 1860 was graduated from the Albany Law School. He entered the Fed- eral service during the Civil War; was staff officer of General Sax- ton, Military Governor of South Carolina; was transferred to the staff of General Howard; was acting Assistant Adjutant-General at Charleston and Washington, and resigned from the army in Septem- ber, 1867, with the rank of Brevet Colonel. In 1869 President Grant appointed him Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Ninth New York District. He subsequently became Collector in, the same district. In 1874 he was made General Appraiser of Customs at the port of New York. In 1883 President Arthur appointed him Chief Appraiser. Ile resigned in 1885, and has since practiced law. He was one of the founders of the Mount Morris Bank, and was its first President. In 1890 and 1891 he was President of the Presbyterian Chion in New York City. For four years he was President of the Alumni Asso- ciation of the College of the City of New York. He is now President of the City College Club. He is also a member of the New York Yacht. Atlantic Yacht, Larchmont Yacht, Merchants', Central, Alpha Delta Phi, Quill, Harlem, Republican, Harlem Republican, New Rochelle Yacht, Riverside Yacht, and Rhode Island Yacht elubs, the New England Society, the Phi Beta Kappa Society. the Archpo- logical Society, the Numismatic Society, the Bar Association of the city, that of the State, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
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Born in New Haven, Conn., May 11, 1839, he is the son of Edgar Ketchum and Elizabeth Phoenix, both of old New York families. His father was a lawyer of this city. He is a grandson of Rev. Alex- ander Phoenix, and great-grandson of Daniel Phoenix, eminent New York merchant, who was the first Comptroller of the City of New York, a member of the first Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman of the delegation of merchants on the occasion of the inauguration of Washington. He also descends from Cornelius Van Tienhoven, Secretary of New Netherlands; from Guleyu Vigne and Adrianna Cavilge, and from Jacob Phoenix and Anna Van Vleck-all early settlers in New York City.
DE GROVE, EDWARD R., head of the law firm of De Grove & Riker, is one of the prominent real estate lawyers of New York City. Among other important cases, as attorney of the executors, he sue- ceeded in sustaining the will of Sarah Burr, in which she had left $3,000,000 to charity. He was born in New York City, May 5, 1848, the son of Edward W. De Grove and lester Strachan. His grandfather was Adolphus De Grove aud his great-grandfather Peter Adolphus De Grove, the latter being a well- known citizen of this city, his resi- dence being on Franklin Square, at that time a fashionable quarter. His maternal grandfather, David Ritzema Strachan, was descended from Domine Johannes Ritzema, from 1744 to 1784 minister of the Collegiate Reformed Church of this city, and active in connection with King's College, now Columbia Uni- EDWARD R. DE GROVE. versity. Having been graduated from Yale College in 1869, Mr. De Grove studied law in the office of Norwood & Coggeshall, of New York City, and at the Columbia College Law School. He was graduated from the latter in 1871, having been admitted to the bar in November of the previous year. He became clerk in the law office of J. II. & S. Riker, subsequently was admitted to partnership, and upon the re- tirement of Samuel Riker in 1893 (JJ. H. Riker having previously retired ), he became head of the present firm, having Samuel Riker, Jr., as partner.
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