USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 2 > Part 18
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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
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1857 he was engaged with his father and a brother in the fancy dry- goods trade, but in the latter year modestly began the manufacture of wall paper on his own account.
PIERREPONT, HENRY EVELYN, eldest son of the late distin- guished citizen of Brooklyn of the same name, who died in 1888, is a trustee of the Brooklyn Savings Bank and a director of the Frank- lin Trust Company and the Home Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the Hamilton Club. of Brooklyn, the Sons of the Revolu- tion, and the Society of Colonial Wars. He married, in 1869, Ellen A., daughter of the late Abiel Abbot Low, and sister of Seth Low,- President of Columbia University, and has two daughters, Mrs. Lea Mclvaine Luquer and Mrs. R. Burnham Moffat. and four sons, Henry Evelyn, Jr .. Robert Low, Rutherford Stuyvesant, and Seth Low Pierrepont.
MALLORY, CHARLES. Vice-President of the New York and Texas Steamship Company, and a director of the Mallory Steamship Line. was born in Mystic, Conn., January 18, 1844, and was educated in the public schools of that place, and of New Haven, Com. Upon leav- ing school he became a clerk in his father's firm of C. H. Mallory & Company, and his career since has been identified with the growth and development of the Mallory steamship interests .. He is a mem- ber of the Union League and Rac- quet clubs, of New York City, and the Crescent and Hamilton clubs, of Brooklyn, where he resides. He was married, in October, 1872. to Maria Louise, daughter of George Quinn, of Milan, Ohio. He is him- self the son of Charles DI. Mallory, founder of the Mallory Steamship CHARLES MALLORY. Line, and Eunice Clift. During the Civil War his father served in both houses of the Connecticut Legis- laturė. Mr. Mallory's great-grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier.
MILLIKEN, SETH MELLEN. from 1856 to 1861 conducted a gen- eral store in Minot, Me .; from 1861 to 1865 was engaged in the whole- sale grocery business in Portland, Me .. with his brother-in-law. Daniel W. True, and in 1865 became a member of the Portland firm of Deer- ing, Milliken & Company. wholesale drygoods jobbers. In 1867 they
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established a branch in New York City, and since 1873 Mr. Milliken has been Resident Manager of the business in this city. He is Treas- urer of the Harwood Land and Improvement Company, a trustee of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and a director of the Mercantile National Bank and the Upper East Side Association. He is Presi- deut of the Pondicherry Company, woolen manufacturers, of Bridg- ton, Me .; is President of the Cowan Woolen Manufacturing Company, of Lewiston, Me .; is President of the Dallas Cotton Manufacturing Company, of Huntsville. Ala .; is chief owner of the Farnsworth Com- pany, manufacturers of flannels, of Lisbon. Me., and is a director of the Forest Mills Company, of Bridgton, Me., the Lockwood Company, of Waterville, Me., and both the Spartan Mills and the Lockhart Mills, of South Carolina. In 1892 he was a Republican Presidential Elector. He is a member of the Union League, Riding. Driving, Mer- chants', Wool, Suburban, and Republican clubs, the Algonquin Club of Boston, and the Cumberland Club, of Portland Me. He married, in 1874, Margaret L., daughter of Dr. L. G. Hill, of Dover, N. H., and has a daughter and two sons-Seth Mellen, Jr., and Ferrish H. Milli- ken. Born in Portland, Me., January 7, 1836, he is himself the son of Josiah Milliken, farmer, tanner, and lumber dealer, and descends from Hugh Milliken, a Scotchman, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1650.
CHESEBROUGH, ROBERT A., President of the Chosebrough Manufacturing Company, is the son of the late Henry A. Chesebrough, a drygoods merchant of New York City, and grandson of Robert Chesebrough, founder of the Fulton Bank and its first president. He is descended from William Chesebrough, who accompanied Governor John Winthrop, to Boston, in 1630, was High Sheriff of Boston, and became a founder of Stonington, Conn., which he represented in the Hartford General Court. Born in London, England, January 9, 1837, Mr. Chesebrough was educated in Europe, traveled extensively and devoted some years to the study of chemistry. In 1858 he began the manufacture of petroleum and coal oil products in New York City, and in 1870 discovered and patented the commercial product to which he gave the name of vaseline. The wide range of use to which it has been put has led to the establishment of branches of his manufactory throughout Europe. He has been Second Vice-President of the Con- solidated Exchange of this city, and a member of its Building Com- mittee. He was one of the founders of the New York Real Estate Exchange. As the Republican candidate for Congress from the Twelfth District of New York City, he reduced the Democratic major- ity, but failed of election. He was elected President of the Downtown Republican Club in 1890, and is a member of the Union League, Man- hattan, and Riding clubs. He married, in 1864. Margaret MoCredy, sister of Mrs. Frederic R. Coudert, and has a daughter and three sons - Robert M., William H., and Frederick W. Chesebrough.
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MUNN, ORSON DESAIX. founder and President of Munn & Com- pany, patent solicitors, and publishers of the Scientific American, was born in Monson, Mass .. June 11. 1824, the son of Rice Munn and La- vinia Shaw. After being graduated at the age of sixteen from Mon- son Academy, for two years he was employed in a book store in Springfield, Mass., and later clerked in his native town. Coming to this city in 1846, in partnership with the late Alfred E. Beach, son of Moses Y. Beach, then proprietor of the New York Sun, he formed the firm of Munn & Company, and acquired the plant of the Scientific American, which Rufus Porter had established. This partnership continued until the death of Mr. Beach, January 1, 1896. They soon established an agency for procuring patents for inventors, and ex- tended this service to include all foreign countries having, patent laws. They have obtained for customers more than 100.000 patents. They also import scientific and engineering books. A Spanish edi- tion of the Scientific American is published. In 1876 they began the publication of the Scientific American Supplement. They also publish a monthly for architects and builders. Mr. Munn has a summer home, Llewellyn Park. Orange Mountain, N. J., and near by an es- tate stocked with Dutch belted cattle. He was married in 1819 to Julia Augusta Allen, of his native place. She died October 26, 1894. Mr. Munn's two sons are associated with him in business.
ROSSITER, CLINTON L., is President of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, President of the Brooklyn Heights Railroad, Presi- dent of the Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad, Presi- dent of the Sea Beach Railway Company, and is a director of the Citizens' Electric Light Company. He was born in Brooklyn, Feb- ruary 13, 1860, was educated at the Polytechnic Institute of that bor- ough, and in 1875 began his business career in connection with the California Fast Freight Line Clipper Ships. In the following year he became identified with the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. In 1890 he became Superintendent of the Harlem Division, while from 1891 to 1895 he was Assistant Superintendent of the Buffa- lo and Syracuse Division. In June, 1895, he was elected to the Presi- dency of the roads owned and controlled by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. He is a member of the Hamilton, Montauk, and Marine and Field clubs of Brooklyn. He is the son of Lucius T. Ros- siter and Mary, daughter of Van Wyck Wickes. His maternal grand- father, Major Thomas Wickes, was an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolution. He lineally descends from Edward Rossiter, born in London in 1601, who settled at Dorchester, Mass., in 1630, and six years later became one of the founders of Windsor, Coun.
ROBERTSON, JOSEPH L., following his service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, became identified with the development
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of Southern railroad interests. His first connection was with the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad. Later he was associated in the management of the Virginia and Tennessee Air Line railroads. In 1877 he established himself in New York City as a broker and dealer in securities and investments. He influenced the investment of mill- ions of dollars in the iron and coal resources of Alabama and Tennes- see. As financial agent he procured the means for the construction and equipment of the Chattanooga Southern Railway, and was Presi- dent of the construction company by which the road was built. He is now President of the Gold Creek Nevada Mining Company. He is a member of the New York Club and the Southern Society of New York. and maintains a well-known stock farm, " Meadowland," in Mon- mouth County, New Jersey, which is devoted to the breeding of thor- oughbred horses. He married, in 1869, Mary Webb, daughter of William H. Pollard, of Montgom- ery, Ala., and niece of Charles T. Pollard, and has two daughters, and two sons-William Pollard and Benjamin J. Robertson. Major Robertson was himself born on the old Robertson family estate in Montgomery County, Kentucky, October 4, 1838. His paternal an- cestors were carly settlers of Ken- tucky aud Tennessee, while his: mother, Emily Richardson, was a JOSEPH L. ROBERTSON. granddaughter of the Marquis de Calmis, a scion of the old Huguenot nobility of France, who became one of the pioneers of Kentucky. Pur- suing his course at the Military Academy at West Point when the Civil War began, Major Robertson resigned and enlisted in the Fourth Kentucky Volunteers, being commissioned First Lieutenant of Com- pany H. He became Adjutant of the regiment, and subsequently As- sistant Adjutant-General of the brigade, commanded by General John C. Breckenridge. In 1863 he served on the staff of General Hawes, of Kentucky, in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Later, he was on the staff of General Waul, of Texas. He was finally transferred to the staff of General Magruder, with whom he served until the close of the war.
DUN, ROBERT GRAHAM, head of the well-known mercantile agency of R. G. Dun & Company, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, Au- gust 7, 1826, and is of Scotch descent. His grandfather. Rev. James
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Dun, for twenty years was minister of the Free Church of Scotland at Glasgow. His father, Robert Dun, emigrated to Virginia in 1815, and married Lucy Worthum Angus, also of Scotch deseent. Early in life Mr. Dun rose to partnership in a Chillicothe business house, and in 1850 came to this city and entered the employ of the mercantile agency of Tappan & Douglass. Upon the retirement of Mr. Tappan he became a. partner under the style of B. Douglass & Company. In 1859 he acquired the Douglass interest, and reorganized the firm as R. G. Dun & Company. Under this firm name about one hundred and fifty branches are maintained in the principal cities of this country and Europe.
HOGAN, TIMOTHY, founder and head of the firm of T. Hogan & Sons, prominently identified with the shipping and steamship inter- ests of the Port of New York, is President of the North American Transportation Company, and a director of the Miami Steamship Com- pany, the Produce Exchange Trust Company, the Colonial Bank, the Brooklyn Bank, the Long Island Safe Deposit Company, and the Manhanset Improvement Company. He was born in Liverpool, Eng- land. February 17. 1835, the son of Michael Hogan, who was in the warehouse business in that city. In 1848. at the age of thirteen, he shipped as a seaman, and so continued until 1854, when he became foreman for Gale & Brown, a leading firm of stevedores of New Or- leans. In 1858 he succeeded the senior partner under the style of Brown & Hogan, and so continued until the Civil War brought the business to an end. Coming to New York in 1862 he organized the firm of Pinder & Hogan, stevedores, which was dissolved in 1869. He continued alone until the present firm was formed, his sons, Charles W. and Jefferson Hogan, then becoming his partners. Sub- sequently his younger son. Arthur F., entered the firm. He was one of the first in this country to realize the utility of the iron freight steamers with compound engines. known as " tramps," and was one of the founders of the " Monarch Line " from London, in 1880. He is a member of the New York Produce Exchange, and the Mari- time Exchange. He was long a Vestryman of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Brooklyn. For some years he has been a resident of New York City. He was married, in 1857, to Mary Nichols Mill- ward, of Liverpool. She was active in connection with the benevo. lent institutions of Brooklyn, and upon her death, in August, 1882, left bequests to nearly all of them.
HOGAN, CHARLES W., member of the firm of T. Hogan & Sons. and the oldest son of its founder and head. is President of the Miami Steamship Company, Treasurer of the Terminal Warehouse Com- pany, and Secretary of the Occident Dock Company, being a director of all three. He is a member of the Produce Exchange and the
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Maritime Exchange, of the Marine and Field, Atlantic Yacht, and Larchmont Yacht clubs, and resides at Plainfield, N. J.
HOGAN, JEFFERSON. member of the firm of T. Hogan & Sons, is the second son of Timothy Hogan. Ile is President of the Charles- ton Transport Line, and a director of the Miami Steamship Company. the Occident Dock Company, and the South Carolina and Georgia Railroad Company. He resides in New York City, and is a member of the Produce Exchange, the Maritime Exchange, and the New York Yacht, Atlantic Yacht, and Marine and Field clubs.
HALSEY. STEPHEN ALLING, was born on Chambers Street, New York City, April 7. 1798, the son of Jacob Halsey and Jemima Cook, his father being a carpenter. master builder, and dealer in lumber. He died May 5. 1875. at his home on Main Street, Astoria, L. I. Under the firm style of John C. Halsey & Company, he was long engaged in the fur business in New York City with his brother John Cook Halsey, the latter having learned the business in the employ of the first John Jacob Astor. Stephen Alling Halsey may be said to be the father of Astoria. In 1834 he had purchased a sum- mer residence at Flushing, L. I., but a daily steamboat making a landing at Hallett's Cove, he became enamored of the latter spot. and in 1835 removed there. having purchased the Perrot and Black- well farms, comprising nearly all the land between Pot Cove and Hallett's Cove. He laid out and opened streets, built wharves, and erected dwelling-houses and buildings for factories, shops and stores. at the same time inducing manufacturers. tradesmen, and mechanics to establish themselves there. His brother co-operated until his death, in 1837. Through the efforts of Stephen Alling Halsey, in 1839. the Legislature incorporated the settlement as a village, under the name of Astoria, adopted in honor of John Jacob Astor. In 1840 Mr. Halsey purchased Horne's Hook Ferry to Eighty-sixth Street, New York, improved the service greatly, and retained control for nearly thirty years. About this time he erected and occupied the- large stone mansion now occupied by the Long Island City High School. He induced William Lewis to operate a line of omnibuses from Astoria to City Hall, New York City, by way of Eighty-sixth Street, Third Avenue. Bowery, and Chatham Street, giving the om- nibuses free passage across the ferry, and building the stable for the - line. The trip one way was sometimes made within the hour. He was instrumental in opening Fulton Street -- then called Perrot Avenue-from the Boulevard to Main Street (making a direct route to the ferry), and was also the leading factor in constructing the Flushing turnpike, and the Astoria, Ravenswood and Williamsburgh turnpike, with their bridges, both of which roads he managed for many years. He was a trustee of the village of Astoria almost con-
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tinuously from its incorporation until the chartering of Long Island City, of which it became a part. The first Fire Department was cre- ated principally through his agency in 1842, by the organization of Astoria Fire Engine Company, No. 1. He bought the engine, and erected the engine-house. He was a liberal contributor in the erec- tion of the Reformed Dutch Church in 1836, the Presbyterian Church in 1846, and the Roman Catholic Church on Newtown Avenue. About 1849 he bought several farms in association with Byam K. Stevens, Henry L. Riker, and William B. Bolles, leading to the opening of Broadway with Crescent, Emerald, Academy. and Grand streets, and First, Second, and Jamaica avenues. He donated for the erection of a public school building the lots on Academy Street, which have been used for many years for the Fourth Ward School. He organized the Astoria Gas Company in 1853, and built the works which for nearly a quarter of a century sup- plied the village. The title of "Father of Astoria," was univer- sally accorded to him by his fellow- townsmen. Mr. Halsey lineally de- scended from Thomas Halsey, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1637 from Great Gaddesden, Hertford- shire, England, where his ances- tors had been land-owners since 1520. a portion of the ancient estate being still held by Thomas Freder- ick Halsey, Member of Parliament from Hertford County. Having re- sided at Lynn, Mass., from 1637 to 1640, in the latter year Thomas Halsey removed to Southampton, STEPHEN ALLING HALSEY. L. I., of which he was one of the founders. Here his son. also Thomas Halsey, was a man of large means and influence. Recompense Halsey, great-grandson of the original emigrant, in 1730 removed from Southampton to Scotch Plains, Union County. N. J .. and eventually to Hanover. Morris County, N. J .. where he died in 1771, leaving a large estate. His son, Elihu Halsey, was the father of Jacob Halsey, who removed to New York City and engaged in the lumber business. His wife was the daughter of John Cook. of Hanover, Morris County, N. J. Stephen Alling Halsey was their second son and fourth child. The latter married, in 1831, Elizabeth Frances, daughter of Jean Baptiste Reboul, who had removed to New York City in 1798 from the Island of Martinique, where he had resided since 1777, having been born, in 1758. in the parish of Chateauroux, Dauphine. France. The issue
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of this marriage was four sons-John J. Halsey, born in New York City, and George A., Stephen B., and William R., born in Astoria. The last-mentioned died in infancy. Mrs. Halsey died in 1851. Two years later Mr. Halsey married Elizabeth H. Goble, of Newark, N. J., . by whom he had two sons and two daughters. The younger son by this marriage, Dr. Frank S. Halsey, is a physician of New York City.
SEAMANS, CLARENCE WALKER, one of the members of the firm of Wyckoff. Seamans & Benedict, proprietors of the Remington Typewriter, and now a director of the corporation of that name, is also President of the Union Typewriter Company, is a trustee of the Washington Trust Company, and is a director of the Bedford Bank and of the Schermerhorn Bank. He is a trustee of the Brooklyn Insti- tute of Arts and Sciences, a trustee of Syracuse University, a trustee of Adelphi College, and a trustee of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and is a member of the Union League, Crescent. Riding and Driving, and Parkway Driving chibs of Brooklyn, where he has long resided. He was born at Hion, N. Y., June 5, 1854, and was educated in the public schools of that place.
DITSON, CHARLES HEALY, who, for more than thirty years, has been at the head of Charles II. Ditson & Company, music publishers, the New York branch of the system of confederated houses, is the eldest son of the late Oliver Ditson, founder of the business, and long head of the parent house in Boston. Mr. Ditson is now a trustee of his father's estate, is Secretary and Treasurer of Charles H. Ditson & Company, of New York; Treasurer of the Oliver Ditson Company. of Boston, and Treasurer of the Oliver Ditson Society for the Relief of Needy Musicians. For twelve years he was Secretary and Treas- urer of the Music Publishers' Association of the United States. He is a member of the Players' and Manuscript clubs, and the New England Society, of this city, and the Algonquin Club, of Boston. He was born in Boston, August 11, 1845, and there educated. He married. in 1890, Alice Maud, daughter of John Tappin and Jane Lindsley, and granddaughter of Rer. Henry Tappin. Mr. Ditson is descended from Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, through his mother. Catherine, daughter of Benjamin Delano, of Kingston, Mass. His paternal grandfather, of Scotch deseent, was a shipowner in Boston. where his father was born in 1811. The latter entered the bookstore - of Colonel Samuel H. Parker, of Boston, became his partner under the style of Parker & Ditson, and purchased the entire business in 1840. He then took up the publication of music exclusively, absorb- ing several houses in this line. In 1867 the New York house was established with the present Mr. Ditson at its head. In 1875 was established the Philadelphia house of J. E. Ditson & Company, at its head being another son, James Edward Ditson, who died in 1881. 1
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notable branch house was also organized at Chicago under the style of Lyon & Healy, while the firm of John C. Haynes & Company, of Boston, is also a branch. Oliver Ditson educated many musicians, was the patron of orchestras and musical societies, and, by his sub- scription of $25,000, saved the first .Peace Jubilee in Boston from failure. He was President of the Continental National Bank of Boston for twenty-one years, and was a trustee of the Boston Safe Deposit Company, and the Franklin Savings Bank. A third son, Frank Oliver Ditson, having died in 1885, Charles H. Ditson is the only surviving son. He has one sister, widow of Colonel Burr Porter.
DICKINSON, HORACE EDWARD, drygoods importing merchant of New York City, was born here in 185S. He is a member of the New York Athletic and Knickerbocker Riding clubs and the Sons of the Revolution. He married, in 1887, Nellie R., daughter of Alexis Poulet and Rebecca Acton, and through her mother descended from Captain Richard Acton, of the British navy, who served under Ad- miral Blake against the Dutch from 1650 to 1660, and, accompanying Governor Charles Calvert to Maryland about 1665, settled in Anne Arundel County. He was the third son of Sir Edward Acton, Baro- net, of Aldenham Hall, County Salop. Mr. Dickinson is grandson of Horace Dickinson, who removed from Hatfield, Mass., to Montreal, Can., where he became a prominent merchant and established a steam- ship and coach service between Montreal and Kingston. His mother's · father, Abijah Bigelow, was a Revolutionary soldier. He is also great- grandson of Brigadier-General Lemuel Dickinson of the Revolution and Shays's Rebellion, and is seventh in descent from Nathaniel Dickinson, who came with Winthrop in 1630, and was prominent at Watertown and Wethersfield, Conn. Mr. Dickinson is twenty-first in descent from Johanne Dykonson of Kingston-upon-Hull in the time of Henry III. Through the wife of one in this line he descends from Edward III. of England.
GOOD, JOHN (created Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo XIII. in 1887), is distinguished as an inventor who has revolu- tionized the art of rope making. and as the largest cordage manufac- turer in the world. He was born in Ireland in 1844, and brought to this country by his widowed mother at the age of seven. At twelve years of age he began to learn rope making, and later was appren- tieed to a machinist. He became foreman of a rope-making estab- lishment, and during the period of the Civil War he invented various machines applicable to rope making. One was for hand combing and lapping hemp, another for straightening fibers, a third for drawing hemp into slivers, and a fourth for spinning fine cords. These in- ventions, which have completely transformed the character of cord- age-manufacture, were patented in the United States. the eleven
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chief European nations, and Canada, Australia, and Cuba. He also invented a machine for making the binding twine which has dis- placed the wire originally used with harvesters. He introduced the manufacture of twine from sisal hemp, the century plant of Cuba and Yucatan. He has long operated large machine shops in Brooklyn, and in 1885 began the manufacture of cordage, establishing a large plant at Ravenswood, L. I. Later he established cordage mills at Millwall, and Great Grimesby, England; on the Tiber, Italy, and in France and Germany. He has been independent of the National Cor- dagemakers' Association, or " Cordage Trust," since April. 1892. He is President of the John Good Cordage and Machine Company, a- di- rector of the Kings County Trust Company, and a trustee of the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank, and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
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