USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 2 > Part 26
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Washington, in July, 1861. He led the advance over Long Bridge, joined General Patterson on the Upper Potomac, and was made a brigade commander. On the enlarge- ment of the regular army, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, from May 14, 1861. Appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers. Sep- tember 7, 1861, he was assigned to the corps of Fitz-John Porter, under whom he served through the Peninsula campaign, participating in the actions of Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, and Gaine's Mill, being wounded in the latter. In command on the south side of JJames River, he covered MeClellan's retreat to Harrison Landing. He was in the campaigns under Pope and MeClellan, in August and September, 1862. In October, 1862. he took command of Morell's Division. November 22, 1862, he became Major-General of Volun- teers, and July 1. 1863, was commissioned Colonel of the Fifth Infan. try in the regular army. He commanded the Fifth Corps at Fred.
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ericksburg, Va., and was Chief of Staff, Army of the Potomac, at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, being wounded in the latter battle. In October, 1863, he was ordered to re-enforce Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland. He was acting Chief of Staff to Hooker at Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, and Pea Vine Creek. Ga., and commanded a division of the Twentieth Corps at Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw, and Lost Mountain, Ga. During the war he published " Camp and Outpost Duty " (1862). From 1865 to 1869 he was Superintendent of the general recruiting service of the United States Army, with headquarters in New York. In 1869 he resigned from the army and was appointed Sub-Treasurer.
ALDRIDGE, FREDERICK THURSTON, was with the New York firm of Bowring & Archibald for a considerable period prior to 1884, when he resigned to accept the position of Teller with the Long Island Loan and Trust Company, which was organized January 1, 1884. Since 1SSS he has been Secretary of this corporation. He was one of the incorporators of the Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Rail- road Company, and is a director of the Brooklyn Fire Brick Works. He is a veteran of the Twenty-third Regiment, N. G., N. Y., is a vestry- man of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, is a trustee of the Sheltering Arms Nursery, is Auditor of the Brooklyn Old Men's Home, and is a member of the Apollo and Crescent Athletic clubs, the Sons of the Revolution, and the Manufacturers' Association of New York. He was born in Brooklyn, September 3, 1859, and was educated in the Brooklyn schools. He is the son of Volney Aldridge and Harriet E., daughter of Andrew Clark Hull and Betsey Morse. and is the grandson of Benjamin Aldridge and Lydia Lewis. His ma- ternal great-grandfather, Dr. Titus Hull, served throughout the Revo- lution as an officer in the Continental Army, while his great-grand- uncle was Commodore Isaac Hull, who commanded the United States frigate Constitution during the War of 1812. Beginning with Dr. Titus Hull, the maternal line of descent goes back through five gen- erations of physicians. Dr. Titus was the son of Dr. Zephaniah Hull, who was son of Dr. John Hull, the son of Dr. Benjamin Hull, who in turn was son of the Dr. John Hull who, in 1687, received a land-grant of seven hundred acres for his services in King Philip's War. His father, Richard Hull, was born in Derbyshire. England, and took the oath in Dorchester, Mass., in 1634.
SNOW, ELBRIDGE GERRY, Vice-President of the Home Insur- ance Company of New York, was born in Barkhamsted, Conn .. Janu- ary 22, 1841, and, when an infant, accompanied his parents, Elbridge Gerry Snow, Sr., and Eunice Woodruff, to Waterbury, Conn., where his father practiced medicine. Mr. Snow received an academic edu- cation, and began the study of law, which he relinquished to enter the insurance office of John W. Smith. In 1862 he came to New York
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City, and entered the office of the Home Insurance Company. From 1871 to 1873 he was interested in an agency firm in the city, but again returned to the home office, and soon after was made State Agent for Massachusetts, with headquarters in Boston. There he organized the firm of Hollis & Snow. Subsequently he was called from the field · and made Assistant Secretary. In 1SSS he became Vice-President and Director of the Company. Since 1861 he has been an Odd Fel- low, while he is a member of the Veteran Firemen's Society of New York, the New York Geological Society, the New England Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Nat- ural History. He married, September 5, 1865, Miss Frances Janet Thompson, and has a son-Elbridge Gerry Snow, Jr.
ISHAM, WILLIAM BRADLEY, since 1885 has been a director and Vice-President of the Bank of the Metropolis. He has been one of the conspicuous figures in the leather trade, having been engaged in business in this city as a leather merchant from 1849 until his re- tirement in 1892. He was born in Ulster County, New York, the son of Charles Isham and Flora Bradley, both of whom were born in Hart- ford County, Connecticut, and, after their marriage, settled in Malden, Ulster County, N. Y. Mr. Isham's father was the proprietor of a large general business at Malden. Having received an academic education, Mr. Isham engaged in business with his father and uncle at Malden. They had furnished capital for the establishment in New York of the house of George Palen, leather dealers. In 1849, Mr. Isham came to this city to engage with this firm. Five years later he pursued the same business in his own name, and so continued until his retirement in 1892. He is a trustee of the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Com- pany, and was formerly a director and Vice-President of the old Union Bank. He is a member of the Metropolitan and Riding clubs, the Downtown Association, the Uptown Association, and the New Eng- land Society. His sons are Charles Isham, the lawyer; Samuel Isham, the artist, and William B. Isham, Jr., who is in his father's office on Wall Street.
TURNER, ARCHIBALD, President of the Franklin Savings Bank, was born in Delaware County, New York, in 1831, the son of Duncan Turner and Mary Clarke. His father was of Scotch descent, while his mother was born in England. Mr. Turner received an academic education, and engaged in business as a manufacturer of fruit sirups and cordials, in partnership with his five brothers, some of whom had as early as 1844 established themselves in this line at Buffalo, N. Y. Branch enterprises were established in New York City and San Fran- cisco, Mr. Turner being a partner in the New York City business. In 1865, however, his firin engaged in business as private bankers and stock brokers. They built the block on the east side of Nassau Street, between Cedar and Pine, where the Fourth National Bank is now
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located. In 1873 this business was sold. A little later Mr. Turner resumed as a stockbroker under the style of Turner, Manuel & Com- pany. After his election as President of the Franklin Savings Bank in 1SS9, he became special partner in this firm. Mr. Turner was elected a trustee of the Franklin Savings Bank in 1882. He is a manager of the New York Infant Asylum, and is a member of the Union League and Colonial clubs.
OAKLEY, WILLIAM HENRY, until recently President of the Citi- zens' Bank of New York City; was born here, in January, 1827, the son of Charles and Margaret Oakley. His father was a merchant, descended from ancestors who came to this country from England during the early colonial period. Mr. Oakley attended the public schools, and, at the age of fourteen, became clerk in a wholesale drug establishment. In May, 1851, he entered the service of the Citizens' Bank. He was its cashier from October, 1865, to September, 1882, when he became its President. He was also a director of the Man- hattan Savings Institution and the Manhattan Life Insurance Com- pany, and was Treasurer of the American Institute. He was a mem- ber of the Union League Club. He married, in October, 1851, Adele D. Suydam. She died in 1893. He died in February, 1899.
JACKSON. FREDERIC WENDELL, was graduated from Colum- bia College in 1864. and has long been engaged in business in New York as a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and as interested in railroad construction. He has been a trustee of schools in West- chester County and New York City. He is President of the Country Club of Westchester County, and is a member of the Metropolitan, Union League, University, Reform, and Grolier clubs, and the Society of the Sons of the Revolution. He was born in Staten Island, N. Y., December 11, 1845, and is the son of Rev. Charles D. Jackson, D.D., and Elizabeth, daughter of John Wheeler, of Dover, N. H., and grand- daughter of Rev. Joseph Wheeler, who served as chaplain to Wash- ington in the Revolution. Mr. Jackson's father was for twenty-five years Rector of St. Peter's, Westchester, N. Y., and was the first Dean of the Episcopal Church in America. His grandparents on the pater- nal side were John Jackson and Mary Wendell. John Jackson came from Suffolk, England. Mary Wendell was a lineal descendant of Evart Wendell, who settled in Albany, N. Y., in 1640. Through his mother, Mr. Jackson also descends from Lieutenant Thomas Wheeler. the first Magistrate of the town of Westchester by appointment of Governor Stuyvesant in 1656. Mr. Jackson married Louise, daugh- ter of the late Frederic C. Havemeyer.
BULL, WILLIAM LANMAN, since 1867 a member of the banking firm of Edward Sweet & Company, has twice been President of the New York Stock Exchange, and has long been prominently con-
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nected with the railroad interests of the country. He is now Presi- dent of the St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway Company, Presi- dent of the Alaska Railway and Transportation Company, a director and member of the Reorganization Committee of the Wisconsin Cen- tral Railroad Company, a director and member of the Reorganization Committee of the Louisville, Evansville and St. Louis Railroad Com- pany, a director of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad Company, a director of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Com- pany, and a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern Rail- way Company. He is also Vice-President of the Mount Pleasant Gold Mines Company, Vice-President of the Tomboy Gold Mines Company, a trustee of the Metropolitan Trust Company, a director of the New York Quotation Company, and a member of the Governing Com- mittee of the New York Stock Ex- change. He has likewise been prominently connected with the Northern Pacific, the East Ten- nessee, Virginia and Georgia, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. and other roads. He is a mem- ber of the Union. Metropolitan. Century, City, University, Riding. Grolier, Players', Church, and Mendelssohn Glee clubs, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Society of Mayflower Descendants, and the New England Society. He married, in 1870, Tassie M., dangh- ter of Henry R. Worthington. and has two sons-Frederic WILLIAM LANMAN BULL. Henry Worthington and William Lanman, JJr. Mr. Bull was born in New York City August 23, 1844, and passed from the College of the City of New York into the banking house of Edward Sweet & Company, the head of the firm being his brother-in-law. He is the son of the late Frederic Bull, a prominent New York citizen and business man, and Mary Huntington Lanman. His lineal ancestor in this country, Hon. Henry Bull, was born in 1610 in Southern Wales, ar- rived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, threw in his fortunes with Roger Williams, and was one of the seven original proprietors of Newport in 1638, and among other dignities was Governor of Rhode Island in 1685-86 and 1689-90.
OLCOTT, HORATIO LEONARD, from 1862 to 1865 held a respon- sible position in the War Department at Washington under Secretary
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of War Stanton. For twenty-five years he has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange. From 1892 to 1897 he was also Cashier of the Central National Bank of Cherry Valley, N. Y. He was born in Cherry Valley, June S, 1839, the son of Horatio J. Olcott and Harriett M. Olcott. His father was a bank president, while for sev- eral generations the paternal ancestors were bankers. Through his mother he descends from John Alden .. Mr. Olcott was educated at Cherry Valley, and served as Teller in his father's bank prior to ac- cepting the Government position already referred to. He married. October 11, 1866, Ella Jackson, of New York. Their children are Emma, Marion, Harriet, J. Perry, and Horace W. Olcott.
HEPBURN, ALONZO BARTON, was born in Colton, N. Y., July 24, 1846; attended Middleburg College, but did not graduate; was Instructor in Mathematics at St. Lawrence Academy, and in 1870 be- came Principal of the Ogdensburg Educational Institute. He stud- jed law and began its practice at Colton, N. Y. In 1875 he was elected to the New York Assembly. Soon afterward the New York Cham- ber of Commerce nominated him a member of the Railroad Commis- sion of the State. In 1880, Governor Cornell appointed him Superin- tendent of the Banking Department of the State of New York, a posi- tion which he held for three years. He was National Bank Examiner for the district embracing New York City from 1889 to 1892, and in the latter year was appointed United States Comptroller of the Cur- rency. This office he resigned in May, 1893, to accept his election as President of the Third National Bank of New York City. On June 1. 1897, the Third National Bank was consolidated with the National City Bank, Mr. Hepburn becoming Vice-President of the latter insti- tution. At the time of the consolidation the aggregate deposits amounted to fifty millions. Within a few months they exceeded one hundred millions.
BIRD, JOSEPH, has been President of the Manhattan Savings In- stitution since January, 1894. succeeding Edward Schell in that posi- tion. He was born in New York City in 1838. the son of M. Denison Bird and Henrietta Hayward, his father being in the marble business. Mr. Bird attended the New York public schools and the Free Academy ( now the College of the City of New York), and, at the age of fifteen, entered the service of the Manhattan Savings Institution. This was in 1854. Ile has been connected with it continuously since, rising through the different positions to the Presidency. He is also a director of the Citizens' Bank and the Manhattan Life Insurance Company. Hle married, in 1861, Veronica C., daughter of George W. Ackerman, of New York City, and has five children living-Florence S. Ford, Marie Louise, Constant Mayer, now Paying Teller of the Manhattan Savings Institution; William, and Ada V. Bird.
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MILLS, ANDREW, was Secretary and Treasurer of the Dry Dock Savings Institution from 1877 to 1SSS, and in the latter year was elected its President. He resigned in 1893 to accept the Presidency of the State Trust Company, but, in January, 1895, resigned from the latter office and resumed the Presidency of the Dry Dock Savings In- stitution. He is also a trustee of the American Surety Company and the State Trust Company, and is a director of the National Broadway Bank, the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, and the Stuyvesant Insurance Company. He is a member of the Union League and Pres- byterian clubs. He is the son of the late Andrew Mills, a leading ship- joiner in this city, who became one of the founders of the Dry Dock Savings Institution in 1848, and was its President from 1854 to 1879.
VAN DER ENDE, REINHOLD, was born in Germany in 1842, received his education there, and in 1867 came to America. IIe had learned the pharmacy business in Germany, and followed the same in this country. In 1869 he established the drug store at the corner of the Bowery and Second Street, New York City. He remained in this business until 1893, when he organized the Yorkville Bank. He has since been President of this institution. He was also one of the founders and is one of the directors of the American Brewing Company of Rochester, N. Y. He is a member of the Liederkranz. In 1872 he married Eugenia Faber. They have no children.
RAE, ROBERT, was born in New York City, February 14, 1853, the son of Robert and Sarah M. Rae, his father being a drygoods mer- chant of New York. His paternal great-grandfather came from Scot- land to New York City in 1788. His mother was also of Scotch de- scent. He was graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1863, and entered the cotton business with William Woodward, Jr., afterward head of the firm of Woodward & Stillman. He next became a member of the firm of William H. Brodie & Company, and was a member of the Cotton Exchange. From 1880 to 1884 he was Resident Agent of James P. Coates in Florida, where they have mills. In 1884 he removed to Brooklyn and engaged in the real estate business in partnership with his brother, under the firm style of William P. Rae & Company. In January, 1894, he established the Long Island Title Guarantee Company, and has since been its first Secretary and Gen- eral Manager. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and of Aurora Grata Lodge, No. 756, Free and Accepted Masons. He married, in 1877, Vinnie N., daughter of Matthew F. Wood, of Brooklyn, of the McKellap & Sprague Business Agency, and has a daughter --- Mabel E. Rae.
BRANCH, JAMES RANSOM, was born in Petersburg, Va., De- cember 14, 1863, attended the schools of General Robert Ransom, Cap-
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tain W. Gordon MeCabe, and Colonel Thomas Carter, and Richmond College, and in 1881 became a clerk in the Merchants' National Bank of Richmond, Va. He subsequently engaged in stock-raising, but, in 1891, returned to this bank. In August, 1895, he was appointed Na- tional Bank Examiner, while, on October 27, 1895, he was elected Secretary of the American Bankers' Association. As a member of the City Council of Richmond, he was active in unearthing the defalca- tions in that city government. He. rose to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel in the First Cavalry, Virginia Volunteers. He was one of the Board of Governors who founded the New York Mining Exchange. He is a member of the Elks. Odd Fellows, and Red Men, the Repub- lican Club of Manhattan Borough, the Richmond County Country Club, and the Staten Island Cricket Club. His father, Colonel James R. Branch, was Chief of Artillery in Ransom's Division, Army of North- ern Virginia, during the Civil War, while his grandfather, Thomas Branch, was a member of the Confederate Congress. He descends from Christopher Branch, who settled at Arrowhattocks, Henrico County, Va., in 1634.
COWING, JAMES RADCLIFFE, since January, 1892, has been Second Vice-President and Secretary of the Franklin Trust Company of Brooklyn, and is also a trustee and Treasurer of the Franklin Safe Deposit Company. He was born in Brooklyn, July 14, 1841. attended private schools until fourteen years of age, and from 1855 to 1859 at- tended the Brooklyn College and Polytechnic Institute. In 1859 he be- came a clerk in a leather manufactory, subsequently was a clerk in an oil refining business, and, for about seven years, was engaged in bank- ing. For thirteen years he was with David Dows & Company. For seven years he was Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company in New York, re- signing in 1892 to accept his present offices in the Franklin Trust Com- pany. He is a trustee of the South Brooklyn Savings Institution, the Peoria and Bureau Valley Railroad Company, the Keokuk and Des Moines Railroad Company, and the Brooklyn Homeopathic Hospital; is a Vestryman and Treasurer of Christ Church, South Brooklyn, and is a member of the Hamilton and the Marine and Field clubs of Brooklyn. He is the son of James A. Cowing and Julia M .. daughter of Jerry Radcliffe; is the grandson of Calvin Cowing and Ruth Bissell; is the great-grandson of John Cowing and Lydia Fuller, and is great-great- grandson of John Cowing and Margaret Kirkland.
SPRAGUE, NATHAN TURNER, President of the Sprague Na- tional Bank of Brooklyn, was born in Mount Holly, Vt., June 22, 1828, was educated at. Brandon Academy, and took charge of a store. At the end of five years he purchased a farm at Wallingford, Vt., and at one time operated twelve farms. For eight years he was President
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of the Brandon Farmers' and Mechanics' Club, for six years was Presi- dent of the Vermont Merino Sheep Breeders' Association, and for six years was President of the American Agricultural Association of the United States. In 1864 he organized the First National Bank of Brandon, Vt., was its first Vice-President, and succeeded his father as its President. He was one of the organizers of the Baxter National Bank of Rutland, Vt., in 1870. In 1867 he purchased the Howe Scale Company of Brandon, Vi., enlarged its business four hundred per cent., and retired from its management in 1876. He served many terms in the Vermont Assembly, and in 1872 was elected to the State Senate. He refused the Republican nomination for Governor of Vermont. In 1876 he ereeted the Vermont State Building at the Philadelphia Expo- sition. Being reimbursed by the State, he founded the Sprague Cen- tennial Library, at Brandon, Vt., with this money. In 1879 he in- vested largely in real estate in Brooklyn, and, in 1883, was one of the organizers of the Sprague National Bank in that city. He has always been its President. In 1888 he secured the designation of Brooklyn by the Comptroller of the Currency as a central reserve city. In 1886 he organized the City Savings Bank of Brooklyn. In 1887 he purchased the Northwest- ern and Florida Railroad, becom- ing its President. He is President of the East Greenwich Water Supply Company of Rhode Island, is President of the Bay Shore NATHAN TURNER SPRAGUE. Water Supply Company, and is a trustee of the Brooklyn Dispen- sary, the Brooklyn Free Library, the Berkeley Institute, and the Ilau- son Place Baptist Church. His first wife, Minerva Hull, of Walling- ford, Vt., whom he married in 1849, died in 1856. By her he had a daughter-Flora. In 1859 he married Melinda J. Evans, of Spring- field, Ohio. She died in 1885. By her Mr. Sprague had a son, who was born in 1862, and died in 1896. In 1886, he married Elizabeth Harrison, of Brooklyn. Mr. Sprague is the son of Hon. Nathan Turner Sprague and Susan Button. His father was a Judge, and for nineteen years a member of the Vermont Legislature. His first paternal ances- tor settled at Salem, Mass., in 1639.
FREEMAN, WELDON WINANS, attended the public schools of Listowel, Ontario, Canada; in 1888 was graduated from the Colle-
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giate of that place; served as clerk with Hay Brothers, millers, of Listowel; spent several months with Hess Brothers, the largest furni- ture manufacturers in Canada, and, in February, 1889, came to Brook- lyn and entered the employ of the Edison Electric Illuminating Com- pany as stenographer. He was gradually advanced, and in January, 1895, was elected Assistant Secretary of the company. He has been Secretary since January, 1898. He is also Secretary of the Citizens'. Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn, and of the Municipal Electric Light Company, corporations owned by the Edison Company. In 1892 and 1893 he was Secretary of the Brooklyn Christian Endeavor Union, and in 1894 and 1895 was its President. He is Superintendent of the Park Avenue Sunday-school, the largest in Brooklyn. He is a member of the Congregational Club of Brooklyn, and Chairman of its Executive Committee. He is an officer of the Tompkins Avenue Con- gregational Church. He married, June 5, 1895, Ellen, daughter of Chester Davis Burrows, Jr., a well-known Brooklyn merchant, and has one child-Louise Phillips Freeman. He was himself born in Exeter, Ontario, Canada, June 8, 1872, and is the son of Asahel Davis Freeman and Louisa Ann, daughter of Henry B. Winans, M.D. Through his father he descends from the Black family, who were pioneers in Nova Scotia. Through his mother he descends from William Carson, who served under Cornwallis in the subjugation of Ireland, and subse- quently in the American Revolution as a united empire loyalist. He built the first frame house in Prince Edward County, Canada. On the maternal side Mr. Freeman also descends from the Van Dusen family, who were united empire loyalists of Holland descent.
ROSSITER, WALTER KING, attended the public schools, the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and the Wilton (Conn. ) Preparatory School, and in 1868 became bookkeeper for the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company. In January, 1882, he was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Fulton Municipal Gas Company of Brooklyn. Since November, 1896, he has been Assistant Secretary and Assistant to the President of the Brooklyn Union Gas Company. He is a mem- ber and a director of the Oxford Club of Brooklyn. He was born in St. Louis, Mo., May 25, 1846, the son of Lucius Little Rossiter and Mary, daughter of Van Wyck Wickes. His grandfather. Thomas Wickes, was a Major in the Continental Army. His great-great-grand- father, Nathaniel Rossiter, of Guilford, Conn., was a Magistrate, Re- corder, and a member of the Connecticut Assembly. He descends from Edward Rossiter, born in London, England, in 1601, who became a founder of Dorchester, Mass., in 1631, and the same year commenced the first settlement in Connecticut, at Windsor. The son of this man, Bray Rossiter, M.D., also in the direct line, was Magistrate, Recorder. and Physician at Windsor for many years, in 1651 removing to Guil- ford.
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