USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 2 > Part 19
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HUSON, ROBERT, born in Stratton, Norfolk, England, July 19, 1813, the son of Robert Huson and Elizabeth Crampton. received a common school education, and between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one served an apprenticeship as a mason-builder. He then came to America, between 1834 and 1847 worked as a journeyman in New York City, and since the latter date has been engaged in busi- ness on his own account. He erected the Park Theater, and other structures, but has especially devoted himself to masonry work in sup- port of furnaces, boilers, and heavy machinery of various kinds. He is considered an expert in this department. He is a Republican, and a member of the Masons' and Builders' Association. He married Sarah, daughter of Alexander Gaston, of an old Pennsylvania family. and has two daughters and a son-Hiram A. Huson, in business with his father.
SCHAEFER, EDWARD CHARLES, engaged in commercial busi- ness in New York in 1868, the following year becoming connected with the Germania Bank. In 1873 he became connected with the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company, and, since 1878, has been Presi- dent of that corporation. Since 1892 he has also been President of the Germania Bank. He is likewise President of the Brooklyn Fifth Avenue Improvement Association, and is a director of the New York Ilygeia Ice Company, of John Chatillon & Sons, and of the Schaefer Company. He is a member of the Manhattan and Democratic clubs, the Liederkranz, the Arion Society, the German Society, the German Hospital, the Isabella Home, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. The son of Frederick Schaefer and Theresa R. Hammer, he was born in New York City, De- cember 16, 1850, and was educated in private schools, the public schools, and a business college.
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HUDSON, CHARLES I., for some years connected with S. M. Mills & Company, of this city, formerly a prominent brokerage firm, in 1874 became a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and es- tablished a business of his own. In 1876 he established the firm of C. I. Hudson & Company, and has continued at the head of a firm under this style to the present time, but has had several partners. He was elected one of the Governors of the Stock Exchange for the term of four years in 1891, and in 1896 was re-elected. One of the or- ganizers of the Fourteenth Street Bank in 1SSS, for several years he was a member of its directorate. He is a member of the Colonial. Manhattan, Riding, Democratic, New York Athletic, Larchmont Yacht, and American Jersey Cattle clubs, the St. Lawrence River As- sociation, and the Thousand Island Club, having been one of the or- ganizers of the last mentioned, and now being one of its directors. He has a country place, " The Ledges," on one of the Thousand Islands. He married, in 1876. Sarah E. Kierstede, a descendant of Anneke Jans, and has four sons-Percy Kierstede, Hendrick, Hans Kier- stede, and Charles Alan Hudson. Mr. Hudson was born in New York City, August 20, 1852, the son of Isaac N. Hudson and Cornelia A. Bogert, daughter of John CHARLES I. HUDSON. Edward Haight, a well-known New York merchant. His father was born in England, being the son of a clergyman of Bradford, England, and, coming to this country in 1830, became prominent as a journalist.
DUNLAP, ROBERT, pre-eminent in the manufacture and sale of gentlemen's hats in the United States, is also largely interested in other directions. He is President of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, Lim- ited, and a director of the Bank of the State of New York, the Gar- field National Bank, the Excelsior Savings Bank, and the Ball Electric Light Company. He was one of the founders of the illustrated weekly, Truth, in 1890, and, subsequently acquiring the property, achieved success in its publication. In 1891 he established the Dunlap Cable News Company, and later consolidated it with a European service under its present style as Dalziel's News Agency. Born in New York City of Scotch-Irish parentage, October 17, 1834, he was educated in the public schools, apprenticed to learn hat-making, served his time,
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and then entered his employer's store as salesman, and in 1857 en- gaged in the business on his own account. With several stores in this city, branches in Philadelphia and Chicago, agencies in other cities, and a large factory in Brooklyn, he is at the head of the largest busi- ness of the kind in the world, while his make is the unquestioned standard in the United States.
CHEW, BEVERLY, Secretary of the Metropolitan Trust Com- pany, for four years President of the Grolier Club, and the owner of one of the notable private libraries, rich in American post-Revolu- tionary first editions and early English drama and poetry, was born in Geneva, N. Y., March 5, 1850, attended the Peekskill Military Acad- emy, and in 1869 was graduated from Hobart College. He is a mem- ber of the Century Association, the Grolier, Players', Church. and Sigma Phi clubs, and the Dunlap Society. He married, in 1872, Clarissa Taintor, daughter of the Rev. Job Pierson, of Ionia, Mich. She died in 1889. He is the son of Alexander La Fayette Chew and Sarah Augustus, daughter of Phinehas Prouty, of Geneva, N. Y., both his father and maternal grandfather being bankers. He is seventh in descent from John Chew, a cadet of the family of Chew of Chewton, Somerset, England, who came to Virginia in 1620, and was a member of the assembly and house of burgesses. Mr. Chew's grandfather, Beverly Chew, removed to New Orleans from Virginia and was Col- lector of the Port, Russian Vice-Consul and President of the branch United States Bank at that place. He married Maria Theodora. daughter of Colonel William Duer of New York and granddaughter of Major-General Alexander of the Revolution, titular Lord Sterling.
CONKLIN, ROLAND RAY, in 1897 elected Vice-President of the North American Trust Company of New York and London, is also a director of the Lincoln Fire Insurance Company, the United States Land Company, the Augusta Railway and Electric Company, and the Northeast Electric Railway. He was graduated from the University of Illinois in 1880, and immediately afterward went to Winfield. Kau .. and with Samuel M. Jarvis organized the firm of Jarvis. Conklin & Company, mortgage-loan bankers. In 1SSG it was incorporated as the Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company. In 1881 he removed to Kansas City, and more recently to New York City. He is President . of the Men's Club. a member of the Colonial, Manhattan, and Lawyers' clubs of this city; the Maryland Club, of Baltimore; the Chicago Club, of that city, and of the Church of the Messiah, New York. - He was born in Urbana, Ill., February 1, 1858, the son of Joseph Okell Conklin and Julia Louisa, daughter of John Hunt. His mother was born in Norwich, England, and could trace her descent from John Rogers, the martyr.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.
STOUT, CHARLES HERMAN, was born in New York City, Febru- ary 13, 1864, the son of Charles Stout and Hanora Frances Merrell. His father was a well-known drygoods merchant of New York, a mem- ber of the firm of Knisely, Stout & Kellogg. Charles Herman Stout was educated in public and private schools in New York City, entered a commission office as clerk, became a clerk in the service of the Na- tional Bank of the Republic of this city, and rose through various grades to that of Assistant Cashier, to which he was appointed January 10, 1888. Since June 30, 1893, he has been Cashier. He is Treasurer of the Colonial Order, New York Chapter; is a member of the St. Nicholas and Church clubs, and is an active member of St. Thomas's Church. His ancestors on the paternal side were among the early settlers of New Jersey. He is of French Huguenot descent through his mother, her ancestors having settled in Westchester Coun- ty, New York, about 1750.
MORRIS, HERMON, became Secretary of the Kings County Trust Company, December 29, 1890. prior to which time, for about nineteen years he was with the Nassau National Bank, of Brooklyn, during the greater portion of this period occupying the position of general bookkeeper, discount and collection clerk. He was born on Ninth Street, New York City, November 11, 1844, and was graduated from Ward School No. 44, and admitted to the Free Academy, now the Col- lege of the City of New York. His father was born in Newark. N. J., and his mother in New York City. His is the branch of the Morris family which received the original grant of the site of the present city of Newark, N. J.
HURST. WILLIAM H., President of the Stock Quotation Tele- graph Company, was born in this city, April 24, 1853, the son of George Hurst and Ann McSorley. His father was a dealer in blue- stone, founder of the firm of Hurst & Treanor, of New York. He descended from a family of farmers of County Fermanagh, Ireland, as did his wife from farmers of County Tyrone. Mr. Hurst was graduated from the New York public schools in 1872. attended St. John's College. Fordham, and was connected with his father's firm. Hurst & Treanor, from that time until his retirement from business in 1890. After two years spent in travel he was in 1892 elected Pres- ident of the Stock Quotation Telegraph Company, engaged in col- lecting and distributing news throughout the United States. He is a member of the Board of Managers and Executive Committee of the New York Catholic Protectory, and a member of the Democratic, New York Athletic, and Catholic clubs. He married. first. in 1876. Norah M. Hallahan, who died in 1886. and second, in 1888. Minnie E. Mur- phy, and has living a son and a daughter by the first wife, and four sons and two daughters by the second.
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RICKERSON, CHARLES L., since 1872 a member of the firm of Williams & Rickerson, the largest dealers in hay in New York City. is also in control of the railway system of the Catskill Mountains. II :- is President of the Otis Elevating Railway Company, President of the Catskill and Tannersville Railroad, Vice-President of the Catskill and New York Steamboat Company, and a director of the Catskill Mountain Railway Company, the Cairo Railroad, the Arizona Cattle Company, and the Santa Cruz Park Association. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Produce Exchange, the Mercantile Exchange, the Maritime Exchange, and the Montauk, Carleton, and Riding and Driving clubs of Brooklyn. He was born in Cairo, N. Y., August 15, 1843, and was educated in the public schools. His ances. tors came from Holland on his father's side and from Scotland on the maternal side, and have been many generations in the United States.
COLTON, FREDERICK C., Secretary of the Brooklyn Trust Com- pany, has been connected with that institution for thirteen years, during ten of which he was Assistant Secretary. He was born in Amherst, Mass., September 5, 1844, and is the son of Aaron M. and L. Elizabeth Colton. He engaged in business in Northampton, Mass., just prior to the Civil War, but abandoned it to volunteer in defense of the Union. He participated in the siege of Vicksburg and other actions, including the capture of Port Hudson. Having been mus- tered out, he accepted a position in the New York office of a manu- facturing company of Massachusetts. Subsequently for some years he was a stockbroker and a member of the New York Stock Exchange.
WHITE, JOSEPH BAKER, was appointed First Secretary of the Kings County Trust Company, upon its organization in 1889, and re- signed to organize the Hamilton Trust Company, of which he has been Secretary since 1891, and of which he is a trustee. A member of Company A. Twenty-third Regiment, from 1878 to 1884, during four years of this time he was its President. He is a member of the Crescent Athletic Club. of Brooklyn. He was born at Long Branch. N. J., June 15, 1854. attended the famous New England Home School at Washington, Conn., Mansfield Academy. of Brooklyn, and in 1875 was graduated from Yale. He is the son of the late R. Cornell White, well-known steamship builder, and Hannah D., daughter of Dobel Baker and Mary Corlies, is the grandson of Robert White. Jr .. . and Hannah Gibbs, and is great-grandson of Calvin White. He is a cousin of Richard Grant White, the Shakespearian scholar and critic, and of the latter's son, Stanford White, the eminent architect, while his uncle, Chandler White, was one of the originators of the Atlantic cable. In the present residence of Mr. White, overlooking Lower New York Bay, on the Shore Road, between Bay Ridge and Fort Hamil- ton, meetings of the Atlantic cable projectors were held. At seven-
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teen years of age Mr. White took charge of one branch of his father's business, and for fifteen years was engaged in the transportation busi- ness about New York. He became General Manager of the " White Line" of steamers, two vessels of which-the Grand Republic and Columbia (built by his father)-were the largest excursion steamers in existence. Subsequently he was associated with the Starin Trans- portation Company. Still later he organized and managed the bank- ing office of Edward F. Linton, in Brooklyn.
VAN WORMER, JOIN R., is Secretary and General Manager of the Lincoln Safe Deposit and Warehouse Company, was one of the organizers and is an officer of the Brooklyn Warehouse and Storage Company, and is a director of the Schermerhorn Bank of Brooklyn. He was Secretary of the Union League Club of New York City in 1892 and 1893, and is now a mem- ber of its Executive Committee. He is a member of the Building and Finance Committee of the New York Athletic Club. He is also a member of the City and Republican clubs, the New England Society, the Holland Society, and the Sons of the American Revolution. He was born in Adams, Jefferson County, N. Y., March 14, 1849, his ancestors having come from Holland in 1660. Having received an academic education, he became a telegraph operator, and subse- quently engaged in newspaper work. In 1872 he went on the stump JOHN R. VAN WORMER. for General Grant, afterward be- ing employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company in Albany. In 1876 and 1877 he was Private Secretary to George B. Sloan, Speak- er of the New York Assembly. He then became Private Secretary to Senator Roscoe Conkling, and was appointed Clerk of the Com- mittee on Commerce of the United States Senate. Hle next sustained official and confidential relations to Thomas L. JJames, then Post- master of New York City, and became his Private Secretary when Mr. James entered the Cabinet of President Garfield as Postmaster- General. He was subsequently appointed Chief Clerk of the Post- office Department, and so continued throughout the " Star Route " investigation. When Mr. James retired from the Cabinet of Presi- dent Arthur in 1882, to accept the Presidency of the newly organized
-
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Lincoln National Bank of New York, Mr. Van Wormer accepted the position of Teller in this institution. When, in connection with the bank, the Lincoln Safe Deposit and Warehouse Company was organ- ized, he became its general manager.
DEAN, MATHEW, came to New York City from Stamford, Conn., in 1856, and became clerk in the grocery establishment of Charles E. Knapp, on Hudson street. Subsequently he engaged in the foreign fruit business, which he successfully followed for some thirty years prior to his retirement from it. He became connected with the Mu- nicipal Electric Light Company of Brooklyn at the time of its organi- zation in 1884, and was a member of its original directorate. Since 1890 he has been its President. He is also a director of the Long Island Safe Deposit Company, as he is likewise of the New York Pie Baking Company. He was one of the founders of the Hanover Club, of Brooklyn, and was a member of its first Board of Directors. He was born in Stamford, Conn., April 29, 1838, and received his edu- cation in the public schools of that place. He is the son of Samuel Dean and Cynthia Chichester, is the grandson of Samuel Dean and Hannah Buxton, and is the great-grandson of Ebenezer Dean and Rachel Roberts. His great-grandparents emigrated from England to Stamford, Conn., in 1700.
KOUWENHOVEN. FRANCIS DURYEE, eminent citizen and large landowner of Steinway, Long Island City, was born on the pa- ternal farm upon which Steinway has largely been erected, August 19, 1826, and was educated in the public schools of Newtown, L. I. He is an influential member of the Republican party, is an Elder of the Dutch Reformed Church of Steinway, having also liberally contrib- uted toward the erection of the church building, and is a member of the Holland Society of New York City. He was married. October 7, 1857, to Harriet, daughter of Jolin B. Hyatt, of Newtown. L. I. Their surviving children are four daughters-Sarab L., wife of Rev. Mat- thias Haines, a Presbyterian clergyman, now established in Indian .. apolis, Ind .; Helena D., wife of Edward C. Hulst, of Flushing. L. I .; Agnes E., wife of Henry Steele Bartow, of Flushing, and Fannie G. Kouwenhoven. The son of George Kouwenhoven, a soldier in the War of 1812, and his wife, Helena. daughter of Francis Duryee. of Dutch Kills. L. L. Mr. Kouwenhoven is himself descended from Wol- fert Gerretsen van Couwenhoven, who, in 1630. emigrated from his native town, Amersfoort, Province of Utrecht, Netherlands, to New Netherlands, originally settling at Rensselaerville, near Albany. In 1636 he became one of the original proprietors of Flatlands, L. I. From this patriarch the line descends through Gerrit. William, Ger- rit, Luke, and George Kouwenhoven, to Francis Duryee Kouwen- hoven.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK BIOGRAPHY.
GROSJEAN, FLORIAN, is President of the Lalance & Grosjean Manufacturing Company, of which he was one of the founders in 1850, and which, in the line of enameled and stamped sheet metal- wares, stands second to no manufacturing establishment in the United States. The business originated in the manufacture of tinned spoons in New York City, in a modest way, under the firm style of Lalance & Grosjean. In 1863, at the end of thirteen years, works were erected at Woodhaven, L. I., on the outskirts of Brooklyn. In 1869 the firm reorganized into the present stock company. The works were burned in 1876, and rebuilt on a larger scale. A few years ago a large rolling-mill and tinplate works were erected at Harrisburg. Pa. Born in Switzerland seventy-four years ago, Mr. Grosjean came to this country when a young man. He was at first engaged in the im- portation and jobbing of house furnishing goods in New York City. but soon changed to the manufacture of sheet metal goods. Ile is a member of the Fulton Club. and has a beautiful country-seat at Woodhaven.
SNYDER, CHARLES B. J., on July 11, 1891, was appointed by the Board of Education of the City of New York Architect and Su- perintendent of School Buildings, and has since revolutionized the construction and design of public school buildings in the Borough of Manhattan. He was born in Stillwater, N. Y., November 4, 1860, and was educated in the common and high schools, subsequently studying architecture at a technical school, at Cooper Union, in this city, and with William E. Bishop. He also studied with builders, preparing for his profession, during the four years from his coming to New York, in 1879 and 1883. In the latter year he began the practice of his profession. Ile is a member of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, the Country Cycle Club, Kane Lodge, No. 454, Free and Accepted Masons; Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, Royal Arch Masons, and Huguenot Council, 397, Royal Arcanum. He is the son of George I. Snyder and Charity A., daughter of Jere- miah Shonts and Charity Curtis, the latter being descended from Thomas Curtis, who settled at Wethersfield, Conn., in 1634. On the paternal side he is eighth in descent from Dietrich Snyder, of Hack- enburg, in the Palatinate, whose wife was a daughter of Christian Diedricht of Graffschaft, Neuurd. Mr. Snyder's great-grandmother, Eleanor Knickerbocker, born August 9, 1778, was descended from Harmen Jansen Knickerbocker, from the village of Wye, Holland, whose oldest child, Johannes, was baptized in New Amsterdam, No- vember 6, 1667.
WEST, GEORGE, has long been a prominent figure in the paper manufacturing business in the United States. At the present time
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he owns eight paper mills in Saratoga County, New York, which constitute the largest manufactory of manila paper in the world. He is also the proprietor of a creosote factory, and is a large owner of mining properties and real estate. He was one of the original in- corporators of D. S. Walton & Company, wholesale paper merchants of New York City, and is joint owner with D. S. Walton. He is a director of the National Folding Box and Paper Company, the Frank- lin National Bank, and the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua. One of the founders of the First National Bank of Ballston Spa, Sara- toga County. N. Y., he was its Vice-President from 1876 to 1880, and has been its President since 1880. He was long the owner of the Schen ectady Union, and at the present time is a director of the Utica Herald. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is Treasurer of the Round Lake Asso- : ciation, having saved its camp- meeting grounds from foreclo- sure. He contributed one-half the cost of the erection of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church structure at Ballston Spa, erected the parson- age connected with it, and liberally contributed toward the erection of the Baptist and Catholic church buildings in the same village. He was a member of the New York As- sembly for five terms, from 1872 to 1876, and during the last term was Chairman of the Railway Commit- tee. He represented the Twentieth New York District in Congress for three terms, having been elected in GEORGE WEST. 1880, 1884. and 1886. IIe was a delegate to the Republican Na- tional Conventions of 1880, 1884, and 1888. Hewas married in England. April 7, 1844, and has a son, George West, Jr., and a daughter, Mrs. D. W. Mabee. The son and son-in-law are associated with Mr. West in the paper business. Mr. West was born in Bradnich, Devon- shire, England. February 17, 1823: He early entered a paper mill and mastered all the branches of the business. including the man- ufacture of writing paper and colored papers. At eighteen years of age he held a foremanship. Coming to the United States in 1849, he worked in paper mills in New Jersey and Massachusetts. and in 1859 produced the first water-mark writing paper manufac- tured in the United States. In 1858 he became part proprietor of a mill at Cummington, Mass., was very successful in its management.
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and, advantageously disposing of his interest, established himself as a paper manufacturer in Saratoga County, New York. Here he con- stantly extended his operations.
BRUGGERHOF, FREDERICK WILLIAM, President of J. M. Thorburn & Company, since taking up his residence in Darien, Conn., has been active in public life as a Democrat in Connecticut. In 1874 he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, being the first Democrat elected from the town of Darien in about twenty years. In JS75 he was elected to the State Senate and the following year was re-elected. He was a member of the Electoral College in 1884, having been elected a Presidential Elector-at-large. He is a member of the Manhattan and Hardware clubs of New York, the Stamford Yacht, and the Wee Burn Golf clubs. Born in Barmen, Prussia, October 15, 1830, he is the son of Peter Abraham Bruggerhof and Marie Budde, his ancestors being from Holland. He immigrated with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., in 1837, was educated there, and, coming to this city in 1849, entered the employ of J. M. Thorburn & Company, the oldest firm of seed merchants in existence in this country. He became a partner in 1855, and has remained the active member since. Upon the incorporation of the firm in 1894 he was elected President. He was married in this city in 1856 to Cordelia E. Andreas, and has four daughters and a son -- Edward Everett Brug- gerhof, a director of J. M. Thorburn & Company.
BANTA, JOHN, was educated in the Ninth Ward Public School of New York City, at sixteen years of age began to learn the art of building, and was engaged in business as a builder in New York from 1855 until his death, July 26, 1893, at the home he had himself built in 1860, and which had been his residence since that time. Among other prominent buildings, for the Clark estate, he built the Dakota Flats, the Wyoming, and the Ontario. He was at one time President of the Mechanics' and Tradesmen's Society, and was also a member of the Mechanics' and Traders' Exchange and the Holland Society. He married, in 1847, Rachel Van Valen, of New York City, and is sur- vived by his wife and daughter, Elizabeth Banta. Born at Saddle River, N. J., December 3, 1822, Mr. Banta was the son of Thomas T. Banta and Elizabeth Haring. His original American ancestor came to New Amsterdam from northwestern Holland, with his wife and five sons, in 1659, and settled at Flushing, L. I.
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