USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 2
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 2
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"Simplicity and directness of style, excellent draughtsmanship, and emphasis upon tonal values and quality of color characterize Mr. Currie-Bell's painting of portraits and also his landscapes. The artist has that 'divine power' of portraying in portraiture the individuality and character of his subject, which con- summates his work of art as a portrait. He has that great gift of attaining a perfect likeness of his sitter with brilliant technique. His brush often bears an impressionistic touch as well as realistic in the jotting down of a landscape and in the careful handling of a portrait. An art criticism in 'The Scotsman,' Edin- burgh, likens his painting of children's portraits to that of Greuze. The artist places his admiration and affection at the feet of Sir Henry Raeburn, Franz Hals, and Velasquez."
Aside from his profession, Tom Currie-Bell was very much of a sportsman, especially in the field of yachting, although he would have probably called it sailing craft. He thought Peconic Bay not only a place of artistic beauty, but a fine place in which to be at the helm of the various craft he owned, his pride and joy being his boat the "Bluebell," a very well- known sloop in the Peconic Bay waters. In the South, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, he not only painted notable land and seascapes, but enjoyed his hobby so far as water and opportunity permitted. Besides old memberships in Edinburgh and London, in art, music, tennis and bowling clubs, he was in America a former member of the National Arts Club, of New York, the Custer Institute in his Long Island town, and the Southold Yacht Club.
Southold claimed Tom Currie-Bell as their very own, almost from the time in the late 'twenties, when he married Ann Hallock, daughter of the Hon. Joseph and Ella B. Hallock, her father being one of the dis- tinguished figures in Southold, as a biography of him in this volume clearly indicates.
JAMES ESMOND STILES had a meteoric rise as a young man as founder and publisher of the
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"Nassau Daily Review," Nassau County's first daily newspaper. Graduating from college in 1913, he entered the weekly newspaper business without pre- vious experience, means or financial backing. Yet within a decade he was sole owner and publisher of the pioneer daily newspaper on Long Island outside of Greater New York, which he has conducted with notable success for more than a quarter of a century.
A native of Saratoga Springs, New York, where he was born August 1, 1889, son of Esmond and Florence (Churchill) Stiles, he is a graduate of Freeport High School and Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut.
After leaving college he worked for a few months as a newspaper correspondent and then, in February, 1914, he launched his own newspaper, the weekly "Nassau Post" at Freeport. Subsequently he bought and merged the "South Side Observer" of Rockville Centre, "Nassau County Review" of Freeport and '"Hempstead Inquirer," the latter dating from 1830. The first issue of the "Nassau Daily Review" was brought out March 7, 1921. In January, 1933, he ac- quired the Nassau "Daily Star" of Lynbrook and after publishing the two papers separately for four years they were merged to form the "Nassau Daily Review- Star" on March I, 1937. The plant of the newspaper is situated on Sunrise Highway, Rockville Centre, but the newspaper serves more than forty communities in the Town of Hempstead and other townships of Nassau County.
An organizer of exceptional ability and possessed of great physical energy, the publisher's leadership in recent years has been invoked for the assistance of many civic projects, causes and institutions. He was the first president of the County Federal Savings and Loan Association of Rockville Centre, which grew from an original capital of $100,000 to more than $20,000,000 in its first ten years. He is chairman of the board of trustees of Adelphi College at Garden City, a member of the board of trustees of Wesleyan University, his alma mater, chairman of the board of the Old Country Trotting Association, which conducts Roosevelt Raceway, largest trotting horse race course in the country, at Westbury, president of the Gipsy Trail Club, an exclusive summer colony at Carmel, New York; and director of the Nassau County Na- tional Bank of Rockville Centre.
Mr. Stiles was a member of the Nassau County Board of Child Welfare for a number of years until that body was merged with the Department of Public Welfare. He is a member of the board of directors of Nassau County Chapter, American Red Cross. During World War II he served as chairman of pub- licity for the annual Red Cross drives and National War Fund drives.
He has received many honors and occupied many responsible positions in the publishing industry. He was president of the New York State Associated Dailies in 1939. He was president of the New York State Publishers Association in 1942. He is a mem- ber of the American Newspaper Publishers Associa- tion, which he has served on many important com- mittees, including the nominating committee.
He served as chairman of the New York State Newspaper National Defense Committee in World War II by appointment of Governor Herbert H. Leh- man. He was also a member of the New York State Defense Information Committee.
Mr. Stiles is a member of the board of directors of the Long Island Association, a member of the Inland Daily Press Association. Policy Holders Advisory Committee of the New York State Insurance Fund,
New York State Chamber of Commerce, Nassau County Armed Forces Welfare Foundation, Veterans of Foreign Wars of Freeport, the National Guard Veterans Association of Hempstead, Academy of Poli- tical Science and Sigma Delta Chi, national honorary journalism fraternity.
He is president of the Gamma Phi Club of Delta Kappa Epsilon of Wesleyan. In 1942 he edited a his- tory, "Seventy-five Years of Gamma Phi," for this anniversary of his college fraternity. He is a member of the advisory board of the "Deke Quarterly."
Mr. Stiles' clubs include the Rockville Country; Gipsy Trail at Carmel, New York; Fort Orange, Al- bany, New York; Turf and Field, Belmont Park; Na- tional Press, Washington, D. C .; Freeport Elks; Free- port Tuna; New York Athletic; and Rockville Centre Republican. He is an Episcopalian.
James Esmond Stiles married Florence A. Mc- Intosh, September 1, 1917, and their children are: I. Florence Virginia, Mrs. Sherman E. Crites. 2. James Esmond, Jr. The family residence is at 30 Oxford Road, Rockville Centre, and their summers are spent at Gipsy Trail, Carmel, New York.
J. RUSSEL SPRAGUE-The family name of Sprague appears in many of the earliest documents in the history of New York State.
Generations of Long Island ancestors, going back to the 1600s, are behind J. Russel Sprague of Law- rence, Nassau County, executive and a nationally known figure in the Republican party.
More than any one person, Mr. Sprague is respon- sible for the effective form of county government under which Nassau operates. His was the inspira- tion which led to a new kind of county government, not merely a civil division between town and state, but a centralized government, exercising primary in- fluence on the daily lives of its citizens.
At his direction, an archaic collection of thousands of special acts of the legislature was welded into a charter, the first such form of county government in the United States. He was among the first to recog- nize that the fastest growing suburban county in America could not be progressive under a patched-up, rural system of laws.
The Nassau County Government Law, Adminis- trative Code, Civil Divisions Act and District Court Act have become models for counties throughout the country, especially those with problems of centralizing essential services to care for expanding populations.
Nassau County has a larger population than seven states, greater assessed valuation than twenty-five of them and higher annual budgets than twenty-one. It ranks seventeenth in size with the nation's great cities.
J. Russel Sprague has been identified with its administration, in various capacities, for many years. He personally piloted Nassau's home rule through the trying days of formation, furnished the leadership and vision that has resulted in a government of "humanized public service," as he likes to refer to it.
Mr. Sprague was born in Inwood, December 24, 1886, the son of Smith and Libby A. Sprague. His mother was the sister of G. Wilbur Doughty, many years the Republican leader of Nassau County.
Graduated from Far Rockaway High School in 1905, Cornell University in 1910, he married Mary Maud Engelking in 1912. Mr. Sprague was admitted to the New York State bar in 1911, elected police justice in the village of Lawrence in 1913, served thirteen years. Many oldtimers still refer to him as "Judge Sprague."
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He was elected supervisor of the Town of Hemp- stead in 1930, ended his term in 1937 to take up the duties of the newly created Nassau County executive on January 1, 1938.
He holds the following memberships:
New York and Nassau County bar associations, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Episcopal Church, New York Athletic Club, Cornell Club, Union League Club, National Republican Club, Cedarhurst Yacht Club, Montauk Yacht Club, Free and Accepted Masons, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Junior Or- der of United American Mechanics.
An ardent fisherman-deep sea and fresh water- Mr. Sprague skippers his own fishing boat "Adven- turer IV," and has many trophies to prove his prowess with rod and reel.
Long a powerful member of the New York State Republican State Committee, Mr. Sprague made his debut in national politics in 1936 when he was elected chairman of the New York State delegation at Cleve- land. In 1938 he was the one who prevailed on the then District Attorney, Thomas E. Dewey, to accept the nomination for governor.
Nassau County, under Mr. Sprague's political leadership since 1935 when Republican pluralities started to climb, ran up a 62,461 plurality for Mr. Dewey, but Governor Lehman was re-elected by the slim margin afforded him by the American Labor party.
At Mr. Dewey's personal request, Mr. Sprague became his 1940 pre-convention campaign manager. Mr. Sprague was elected national committeeman fron New York in that year. In 1944 he directed the pre- convention Dewey strategy, delivered the nomination for the presidency on the first ballot at Chicago, turned down the proffered chairmanship of the Na- tional Committee.
It was in Philadelphia in June, 1948, that J. Russel Sprague led Dewey forces which won, for the first time in party history, a second nomination for a de- feated candidate.
Critics of Mr. Dewey's second unsuccessful cam- paign for the presidency publicly excluded J. Russel Sprague from their attacks on a "do-nothing, say- nothing" strategy because they knew that such cam- paign tactics were not to his liking.
In the 1948 presidential election. Nassau County led every county in the State of New York with a "0.3 percent vote for Governor Dewey, a plurality of 115,000 for a new record.
ROBERT MOSES-The name Robert Moses is one widely known in the United States. although his achievements are mostly identified with the metro- politan area of New York City. He is almost a fabu- lous figure in public affairs, engaged in a hundred ac- tivities, involved frequently in controversies, fight- ing for what he conceives to be right and best. but above all is a humanitarian in that he loves his fellow folk from the aged through to the child, and to their service is devoting his highest knowledge and under- standing.
Robert Moses is not a New Yorker as many think, but a native of New Haven. Connecticut, born on De- cember 18. 1888. son of Samuel and Bella Moses. When he reached his majority he already was a gradu- ate from Yale University, with the degree of Bache- lor of Arts. He also became a Bachelor of Arts with honors in jurisprudence. Oxford University. Eng- land. in 1911. He took his Master's degree in Arts in 1913. and is a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Columbia University, class of 1914. Robert
Moses is never addressed as Doctor, although he has earned that appellation and, in addition, is an honor- ary Master of Arts, Yale University, 1930; and has received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Syracuse University, 1936; Union College, 1938; Princeton, 1947; and from Bates College, 1944; each with citations of his major accomplishments in pub- lic affairs.
While still a student, Robert Moses became a muni- cipal investigator of New York City, in 1913. Follow- ing without embellishment his further career in chrono- logical order: He was chief of staff, New York State Reconstruction Commission, 1919-21; secre- tary, New York State Association, 1921-26; secre- tary, coalition committee, New York City Municipal Campaign, 1921. He has been president of the Long Island State Park Commission since 1924; chairman, State Council of Parks, since 1924; was Secretary of State of New York, 1927-28, and a member of the State Fine Arts Commission, 1924-27, State Reorgani- zation Commission, 1927-28, Moreland Commission to investigate the State Banking Department, in 1929.
Robert Moses was chairman of the Metropolitan Conference on Parks from 1926 to 1930, and was named chairman of the New York State World's Fair Commission in 1931; chairman of Jones Beach State Parkway Authority, Bethpage Park Authority since 1933; chairman State Emergency Public Works Commission, 1933; chairman and chief executive offi- cer of the Triborough Bridge Authority since 1934. In politics Robert Moses declined to be a Fusion candidate for mayor as long ago as 1933. A year later he was nominated by the Republican party for Governor of New York. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1938, and did important work with this body. He never has made a career of politics and is interested in it only as a means of getting done what he thinks should be done in municipal and regional governments.
As of the present writing (1947), it appears prob- able that the name of Robert Moses will longest be associated with the development of park and recrea- tional facilities in New York and Long Island. He accepted appointment by Mayor La Guardia as New York City park commissioner to consolidate and ad- minister the municipal parks and parkway system, and to coordinate this enterprise with the State and suburban systems, a move that since has entailed an immense amount of labor, often inadequately sus- tained, but of major quality in accomplishments. He was head of the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority and Marine Parkway Authority constructing the Henry Hudson Bridge and Marine Parkway, and was appointed by Mayor La Guardia to the New York City Planning Commission in January, 1942. His experience and abilities have frequently been drafted by other states and municipalities, notably as a consultant by the Pittsburgh Regional Planning As- sociation to prepare an arterial plan for Pittsburgh in 1939.
Within the extraordinary range of the activities of Mr. Moses are: Centennial lecturer, Duke University, Godkin lecturer, Harvard University, both in 1929, and Stafford Little lecturer, Princeton University, 1940. He was appointed by the Governor of New York as chairman of the State Commission on Post- War Unemployment; was a member of the State Post-War Public Works Commission in 1942, and was named coordinator of a survey of the congested war production areas for the Army and Navy Munitions Board. January. 19.13. He has written frequently for newspapers and magazines, chiefly on such subjects
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as government, parks, public works, city planning, recreation facilities and related matters.
Honors have come frequently to Robert Moses. Mention has been made of degrees awarded by scholastic institutions, but to these should be added: Medal of Hundred Year Club for civic service, 1935; Gold Medal of American Scenic and Historic Preser- vation Society for work on parks, 1937; Medal of Honor of Columbia University, 1937, testimonial of City Club for services, 1937; Medal of St. Nicholas Society for City Improvements, 1937; Fairmont Park Art Association Medal, 1938, Garden Club of America Medal in 1938; Roosevelt Memorial Medal, 1938; White Medal of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 1939; Order of Merit Medal of National Institute of Arts and Letters for beautification of New York, 1941; John Lloyd Kimbrough Medal of the American Institute of Steel Construction for achievements in steel construction, in October, 1943; and the Service Medal Award in recognition of outstanding service to the people of New York by the Rotary Club of New York City, in January, 1943. He received the Award of Moles for achievement in construction; a testi- monial of the City Club for service of New York; and a citation from the Kiwanis Club of New York for "distinguished services to the City by an outstand- ing citizen," 1942. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
On August 15, 1915, in Wisconsin, Robert Moses married Mary Louise Sims, of Dodgeville, and they are the parents of two daughters: I. Barbara, who married Richard J. Olds. 2. Jane, who married Frederic A. Collins.
CHESTER REEVE BLAKELOCK-Among the things that make life pleasant for the fortunate resi- dents of Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties is the splendid system of state parks which contribute much to making Long Island one of the favorite play- grounds of America, and are famous near and far. Credit for the popularity of these deservedly admired recreational areas must go to the Long Island Park Commission, which, under the leadership of Robert Moses, so ably discharges the many administrative tasks involved in the laying out and upkeep of the parks and parkways. Chester Reeve Blakelock has held the post of executive secretary of this commis- sion for nearly ten years.
Mr. Blakelock is a grandson of the late Ralph Albert Blakelock, who was one of the most admired of Amer- ican landscape artists, and a son of Carl E. Blake- lock. Born at Springfield, Massachusetts, on Novem- ber 30, 1907, Chester Reeve Blakelock spent some of his boyhood years at Catskill, Greene County, New York, where he graduated from high school. For a time he attended St. John's University.
In the year 1925 Mr. Blakelock entered the service of the Department of Public Works of the State of New York, being situated in the Albany office of that department. This employment continued to 1930, when he first became associated with the Long Island State Park Commission, in the engineering depart- ment. In 1932 he was appointed to the position of contract engineer. and at the same time he served as special assistant to the commission's counsel and as executive secretary of the commission. These several combined duties he discharged until Febru- ary, 1938, at which time, as already noted, he was ap- pointed to the office of executive secretary. Mr. Blakelock is the author of several articles which have been published. dealing with the parks of Long Island and with related matters. Officially stationed in Babylon and residing in that same Suffolk County
village, he participates in local affairs as a member of the Babylon Lions Club, and finds relaxation and recreation as a member of the Babylon Yacht Club.
At Catskill, Greene County, New York, on April 5, 1931, Chester Reeve Blakelock married Marjorie DuBois Goodrich, a daughter of Dr. Frederick W. and Gertrude (DuBois) Goodrich. Two children have been born of this union: I. Chester Reeve, Jr., on April 7, 1932. 2. Frederick Goodrich, on February 17, 1940.
PAUL DAWSON EDDY-Distinguished as an educator and college administrator, Paul Dawson Eddy, through his vision and energies, has contributed much to the atmosphere of a real campus life at Adelphi College in Garden City, where he has been president since 1937. Under his leadership the en- rollment of the college has increased from four hun- dred and three women to over two thousand men and women and the number of buildings has been doubled. Before his present undertaking, Dr. Eddy served as a minister of the Methodist Church, serving in the United States and in the Philippine Islands. He devoted a number of years to the field of re- ligious education.
Paul Dawson Eddy was born in Montgomery, Ala- bama, February 18, 1895, the son of Edgar and Stelle J. (Phillips) Eddy, and acquired his university training in the Mid-West and in the East. His early student days at Des Moines College was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. After two years of campus life, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1917. After his naval service he returned to the University of Pennsylvania where he was awarded his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1921, and three years later his Master's degree. In the same year he was granted a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Crozer Theological Seminary.
After his ordination into the Methodist Church, Dr. Eddy assumed his first pastorate at Chester, Pennsyl- vania, where he served in the Parkside Methodist Church, from 1920 to 1924. The following year he was appointed director of home missionary work in South Philadelphia, and after his one-year appren- ticeship became the associate general director of the Christian Association at the University of Penn- sylvania, serving from 1925 to 1929.
In 1929 he departed from the United States to take up work as the director of the Wesley Founda- tion in the Philippine Islands, and as pastor of the Central University Church in Manila. He returned to the States in 1931, continuing his religious work until his appointment to Adelphi College, as director of vacation and week-day church schools, Interna- tional Council of Religious Education, and as execu- tive director of the Religious Educational Founda- tion.
During his enlistment in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919 he was assigned to the Hospital Corps at the Great Lakes Training Station and at the Philadelphia Base Hospital.
From his vast, rich and varied background, Dr. Eddy has written from his close observations and experiences, contributing his ideas to various journals. He is also the author of a monograph, "The Church and Community Coordination," published in 1937.
Highly regarded in educational circles, he has lent tirelessly of his efforts to many educative groups, including the American Council of Education. the Association of American Colleges, the Middle States
Ralph Dayton
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Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and the Association of the Colleges of the State of New York. Numbered among his clubs are the Garden City Golf Club, the Rotary and the Masonic Lodge.
Among his more recent honors was the receiving of the degree of Doctor of Laws from Adelphi College in recognition of his leadership.
On June 25, 1924, he was married to Isabel Vane Kinnison, of Frostburg, Maryland, and they are the parents of one son: Paul Dawson, Jr., who was born March 29, 1925. He served in the United States Navy as an ensign in the Pacific area in command of small craft.
JOHN CRANFORD ADAMS, teacher, lecturer, · author, and since 1944 president of Hofstra College at Hempstead, New York, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 1I, 1903. Dr. Adams is the son of John Davis and Mary Pickavant (Cranford) Adams. His father was an editor, writer and social worker.
John Cranford Adams attended the Brookline High School, in Brookline, Massachusetts, for two years and then finished at Syracuse North High School in Syracuse, New York. He then became a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1926. For the two fol- lowing years, 1926-28 he studied at King's College in Cambridge, England. He completed his work for his doctorate at the Cornell University Graduate School, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
In 1928-29 Dr. Adams was instructor in English at Syracuse University, and from 1930 to 1937 instructor in English at Cornell University. He was senior re- search fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C. in 1937-38. He then returned to Cornell University as assistant professor of English, until 1943 when he was made associate professor of English at that university. The following year he was called to the presidency of Hofstra College in Hempstead, a new college, first organized in 1935, which, however, in the academic year of 1947-48 had more than twenty-two hundred students and a faculty numbering one hundred and twenty-eight. Dr. Adams is active in the Association of Colleges and Universities of the State of New York, of which he is secretary-treasurer. He is a member of the State Examinations Board under the Regents of the State of New York. He serves on the board of the Nassau County Chapter of the American Red Cross and is a member of the University Club of New York, the Cornell Club of New York, the Malone Society, the Modern Language Association, the Grolier Club, the Cherry Valley Club of Garden City, the Garden City Golf Club and Hempstead Golf Club and the Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and Chi Phi college fraternities. He is a Republican, and he and his family attend the Episcopalian Church. He has been guest lecturer at many universities and schools here and abroad on topics relating to Elizabethan literature and especially to Shakespeare.
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