USA > New York > Westchester County > Manual of Westchester county.Past and present. Civil list to date 1898 > Part 6
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MANUAL AND CIVIL LIST.
Ebenezer White, 1792 to 1796, 1803.
Stephen Liens, 1796 to 1803.
Peter Lane, 1806-7.
John Conklin, 1808-9-10. Abraham Requa, 1811.
Nathaniel Hyatt, 1812-13.
Thomas Tompkins, 1814 to 1822, 1823 to 1826. Abijah Lee, 1822.
David D. Webbers, 1826-27.
Bernardus Montross, 1828 to 1831, 1843.
James Underhill, 1831-32.
Cornelius E. Ferris, 1833 to 1836.
Samuel Fowler, 1836 to 1841, 1856.
Stephen Lee, 1841-42.
Elias Q. Tompkins, 1844 to 1848.
Benjamin D. Miller, 1848-49, 1858-59-60-63."
Isaac L. Tompkins, 1850-51. Abraham R. Strang, 1852-53. Lawrence P. Bostwick, 1854- 55.
Daniel Strang, 1857.
John B. Tompkins, 1861-62- 73-74-75.
Stephen H. Knapp, 1864-65- 66.
Joseph F. Palmer, 1867-68-71.
E. Q. Horton, 1869-70. James C. Travis, 1872.
Jesse Ryder, 1876.
John W. Carpenter, 1877 to 1881.
William James Horton, 1881 to 1887.
Ira D. Strang, 1887 to 1894. Charles W. Underhill, 1894. T. F. Tompkins, 1895.
Edward B. Kear, 1896 to 1899.
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CHAIRMEN AND CLERKS.
Following are the names of Supervisors who have been elected and served as Chairmen of the Board of Supervisors of this County, and the names of Clerks of the same body; Chairman from 1813 to 1898; Clerks from 1772 to 1898.
Chairmen :
Abraham Odell, Greenburgh, 1813-14.
Ezra Lockwood, Poundridge, 1815 to 1820.
Thomas Tompkins, Yorktown, 1820, 1823-4-5. John Townsend, Eastchester, 1821-22. David Miller, Bedford, 1826-27, 1829-31-32.
Richard M. Popham, Scarsdale, 1828. Zabud June, North Salem, 1830.
Jeremiah Anderson, Harrison, 1833-34-35.
Lawrence Davenport, New Rochelle, 1836 to 1843. Richard Palmer, Scarsdale, 1843. Benjamin M. Brown, Mamaroneck, 1844-45.
W. W. Scrugham, Yonkers, 1846-47.
Andrew Findlay, West Farms, 1848-49.
Daniel Hunt, Lewisboro, 1850, 1855. John B. Haskin, West Farms, 1851. Robert H. Coles, New Rochelle, 1852-53.
Joseph T. Carpenter, New Castle, 1854.
Alsop H. Lockwood, Poundridge, 1856-57, 1859.
Frost Horton, Peekskill, 1858. Abraham Hatfield, Westchester, 1860-61. Albert Badeau, New Rochelle, 1862.
Edmund G. Sutherland, White Plains, 1863-64-65.
William Cauldwell, Morrisania, 1866-68-69. William H. Robertson, Katonah, 1870-71.
Francis M. Carpenter, Mount Kisco, 1872 to 1873, 1894-95.
George W. Davids, New Rochelle, 1874. S. Wm. Johnson, Rye, 1875-76. Abraham O. Wilsea, Dobbs Ferry, 1877-78-79.
David Quackinbush, Mount Vernon, 1880.
James Hopkins, North Castle, 1881. Odle Close, North Salem, 1882. Matthias Banta, Mamaroneck, 1883-84-85-86-88.
William Ryan, Port Chester, 1887.
Miles Adams, Poundridge, 1889-90-91.
Chauncey T. Secor, Scarsdale, 1893, 1897.
Gideon W. Davenport, New Rochelle, 1896.
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The Clerks elected were:
Dr. Robert Graham, White Plains, 1772 to 1778. Abijah Gilbert, Salem, 1778 to 1807. Caleb Tompkins, Scarsdale, 1807.
Elijah Ward, New Rochelle, 1808-9. Samuel Deall, Rye, 1810 to 1823.
John B. Underhill, Mamaroneck, 1823 to 1846.
Elisha Horton, White Plains, 1846.
Robert H. Coles, New Rochelle, 1847-48-49.
Daniel K. Sherwood, Sing Sing, 1850. Abram Hyatt, Sing Sing, 1851-52.
Thomas W. Smith, New Castle, 1853. Hiram P. Rowell, White Plains, 1854 to 1858.
Edmund G. Sutherland, White Plains, 1858-59-60-61.
J. Malcolm Smith, Sing Sing, 1862 to 1867, 1880. Chas. E. Johnson, Mt. Vernon, 1868-69, 1871-2-3, 1883 to 1892. Casper C. Childs, Jr., Sing Sing, 1874-75. Joseph O. Miller, Mount Kisco, 1876-77-78.
William A. Miller, White Plains, 1879.
Henry C. Henderson, Westchester, 1881-82.
M. James Mooney, White Plains, 1893. Edwin R. Hopkins, White Plains, 1894 to 1898.
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REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN AT BEDFORD.
That a Reformatory for Women has been built by the State, at Bedford, is due, principally, to the unceasing exertions of Mrs. Abbey Hopper Gibbons, of New York city, a daughter of Isaac T. Hopper, well-known as a philanthropist. Mrs. Gibbons was 77 years of age and had long been conspicuous as a worker in aid of the poor and unfortunate, when, in 1889, she de- cided upon asking the State of New York, through its Legis- lature, to make a suitable appropriation to defray the expense of constructing a reformatory for women. She advocated, in furtherance of her object, that as there were already several institutions, supported by the State, for the reformation of men, the State could at least afford one such institution for women. Mrs. Gibbons appeared personally among members of the Leg- islature, and so far succeeded as to have an act passed making a small appropriation. This proved enough to permit a com- mencement of the work of constructing necessary buildings. But the act did not become a law, owing to the interposition of a veto by Governor Hill.
Undaunted, Mrs. Gibbons renewed her supplications, and in 1892 was rewarded by the enactment of a law which promised to make possible the accomplishment of her heart's desire. Mrs. Gibbons declined appointment as a manager. She died in 1893, at the age of eighty-one years.
The State Legislature passed, and the Governor approved, May 16, 1892, an act authorizing the establishment in the State of a reformatory to be located within the county of New York of the county of Westchester, to be known as the Reformatory for Women. The act provides for the appointment by the Governor, within thirty days, after the passage of the act, of five residents of the State, at least two of whom shall be women, to constitute a board of managers of said reformatory, who shall hold office for one, two, three, four and five years respec- tively, as shall be indicated by the Governor, on making the appointments. Thereafter all appointments, except to fill va- cancies in said board, shall be for five years, and be made by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. When- ever a vacancy occurs in said board of managers by expiration of terms of office, or by death, resignation, removal or other- wise, the Governor shall appoint to fill such vacancy; but when an appointment to fill out an unexpired term of office is made, the Governor shall so indicate at the time of making such ap- pointment. The person so appointed, shall hold office only un- til the close of such unexpired term. The Governor shall have.
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power to remove any manager at any time, for cause, on giving to such manager a copy of the charge against him or her, and an opportunity of being heard in his or her defense. Each manager is required to furnish a bond of $5,000 to the State, with two or more sufficient securities, to be approved by the Comptroller of the State, conditioned for the faithful perform- ance of the duties required of them by the act. The said man- agers shall receive no compensation for their time or services, but the actual and necessary expenses of each of them while engaged in the performance of the duties of his or her office. These expenses on being presented in writing and verified by his or her affidavit, shall be paid quarterly by the treasurer of the said board of managers. The act authorized the managers to select and purchase a site in either county. If possible, to purchase a suitable building for the reformatory; if such build- ing is not available, and it becomes necessary to erect a build- ing for the purpose, the managers are empowered to contract for its construction. The building, it is ordered, shall be ample to hold 250 inmates and accommodate with living apartments the officials and employes of the institution. The Governor is to appoint a superintendent of construction, such superintend- ent to receive as salary a sum not to exceed $2,500 per year; the term of office of said superintendent of construction shall terminate upon the performance of the contracts made for the erection of the buildings.
The board of managers, on the completion of the building, shall appoint a female superintendent and other officers, and em- ployes, and fix salaries of same. When and so soon as said reformatory shall be ready for the reception of inmates, and all the requirements of the act have been complied with, all police justices and other magistrates and courts within said limits, may sentence and commit to the said Reformatory for a term of not less than three years, nor more than five years, unless sooner discharged therefrom, by the board of managers thereof, any female between the ages of sixteen and thirty years, who shall have been convicted by such justice, or such court, of petit larceny, habitual drunkenness, being a common disorderly person, or of any misdemeanor or felony, other than murder, manslaughter, burglary or arson, and who is not in- sane, nor mentally or physically incapable of being substan- tially benefited by the discipline of said institution.
Under this act, Governor Flower, on June 4, 1892, appointed as Managers, David N. Carvalho, of New York city; Alice Sand- ford, (daughter of the late Gen. Lyman Sandford, of New York city,) of Sing Sing, now of Pelham; John Berry, of Mount Ver-
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non; Arris S. Huntington, (a daughter of Bishop Huntington,) of Syracuse, and Samuel Wm. Johnson, of Rye. The latter re- signed shortly after on account of ill health. Of the original Board of Managers, three remain in the present board. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Berry are dead. James Wood, of Mount Kisco, was appointed December 11, 1894, to succeed the former, and Jeremiah T. Lockwood, of White Plains, was appointed March 16, 1898, to succeed Mr. Berry.
An act was passed in 1897 providing for the appointment of an additional manager who shall be a physician, making the number six, instead of five, composing the Board. This ap- pointment has not yet been made.
The board of managers decided to establish the Reforma- tory in the county of Westchester. Unable to purchase land with suitable buildings thereon or that might be made suitable, the managers selected and purchased a site, consisting of 1073 acres of land, at Bedford Station, on the line of the Har- lem Railroad, the price agreed upon being $10,000. This piece of land, more than 300 feet above tide water, is bisected by a running stream of water from seven to thirteen feet wide. This property was taken possession of in April, 1893. Plans for the buildings to be erected on the site, which are to contain all the modern improvements, for similar institutions, were submitted and approved by the proper State authorities on December 29, 1893.
The plans arranged for an administration building three stories in height, providing household accommodations for the superintendent and family, and for such subordinate officers as said managers may deem necessary; also for rooms for the Board of Managers and a chapel. For four detached cottages, two stories in height, of the requisite dimensions, arrangements and accommodations for twenty-seven inmates each, or a total of 108, exclusive of the matrons and attendants for whom ac- commodations have been liberally provided. In addition to the other rooms, an assembly room 22x30 feet is provided for in each of the four cottages. Also, for a dormitory building which is substantially fireproof, with two absolutely fireproof stair- cases for ingress and egress. This building is three stories in height and provides 144 rooms for inmates, the attendants and all subordinate officers necessary for administration.
The contract for the construction of these buildings was awarded April 4, 1894; the amount agreed upon being $165,000. The erection of the buildings was completed last year, but the want of necessary funds to equip and furnish the interior, pre- vents occupancy. The amount of money appropriated, from
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time to time, up to date, by different Legislatures, on account of the construction, aggregates $247,050; $100,000 was appro- priated in 1892, $70,050 in 1895, $30,000 in 1896 and $47,000 in 1897; no appropriation was granted in 1898 though one was asked for, as same is necessary to complete and make available the property. It is estimated that $100,000 more will be needed to properly equip and furnish the buildings. The progress of building has been greatly retarded by Legislatures ignoring ap- peals and neglecting to appropriate amounts actually necessary to carry on the work.
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DISTINGUISHED MEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE COUNTY'S HISTORY.
ODLE CLOSE was born in the town of Greenwich, Conn, on July 15, 1817. He was married on October 26, 1846, at Glens Falls, New York, to Miss Samantha Brush Numan, daughter of Lewis Numan, Esq., of that place, who survived him but a short time. He died at his residence in Croton Falls on November 19, 1894. He sprang from good stock. His ancestors for more than a century were natives of New England. He was the son of Edward and Charlotte (Hobby) Close and the grandson of Odle and Hannah (Brush) Close. He earned for himself the means for his academic and collegiate education after sharing, in common with his brothers, such advantages as were offered by the common school near his home, and prepared himself for college at the Academy of Quaker Ridge, in his native town, and at that of Plainfield in New Jersey. He entered Yale College and was graduated with the class of 1842. He was at one time principal of the academy in Wilton, Conn, and for three years he was the principal of Bedford Academy, one of the oldest educational institutions in this State. He read law with Judge Robert S. Hart, of Bedford, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1845, and subsequently practiced in the courts of the United States. In 1853 he united with William H. Robertson, of Bedford, in forming the law firm of Close & Robertson, and the partnership was never broken throughout his life. They opened a firm office at Mott Haven, now a part of New York city. They continued their firm office in this place till after the Civil War, when they re- moved it to White Plains, the county town of Westchester. Under the law of 1866 he was appointed Register in Bankruptcy for the Congressional district by Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States, which office he held till the law was repealed twelve years later. For twenty-four consecutive years he represented the town of North Salem in the Westchester County Board of Supervis- ors, and was regarded by his associates in the board as authority on all legal matters. He served on the Constitutional Convention for the revision of the New York State Constitution by appointment of the Governor and Senate of the State, in 1873, and again in the Consti- tutional Commission in 1890. At the time of his death he was, as he had been for many years, a member of the New York State Bar Association.
He was one of the original organizers of the Oriental Bank, in
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the city of New York, in the summer of 1853, and retained till his death his connection therewith. He was also engaged in the organ- ization of the Central Bank of Westchester, at White Plains, and for many years, and at the time of his death, was one of its directors, and he had been a director in the Old Farmers' and Drovers' Bank of Somers for a number of years. When the Putnam County Sav- ings Bank was established he was one of the trustees, and so con- tinued. In politics he was an old-fashioned Republican, having been among those concerned in the formation of the party at its begin- ning. He never failed, however, to honor and endorse integrity and loyalty to honest interests of nation or locality among political op- ponents, and the record of his public and business life, as well as social, bears testimony to the confidence with which he was regarded by those who differed from him in these matters. In the spring of 1854 he removed his private office and his home from Bedford to Croton Falls, in North Salem, the northernmost town of Westchester County, never thereafter changing his residence.
The foregoing is a portion of the memorial of the Supreme Court and its record, with a few very slight corrections and additions to the printed copy.
PETER COOPER, the founder of Cooper Institute, New York city, and general benefactor of all mankind, was, in his boyhood, a resident of Peekskill, this county, where his father conducted a small beer brewery. At seventeen years of age, he decided to become something else than a beer brewer; accord- ingly, with his father's consent, he left Peekskill and journeyed to New York city in search of something to do and a fortune. He first succeeded in apprenticing himself to a carriage builder. for four years, at $25 a year. Having but a meagre education, and learning the value of knowledge, the young apprentice en- gaged all his spare moments in a search after that which in- structs. He did his work well as an apprentice, after which he was engaged in other pursuits and perfected several inventions: he finally engaged in business for himself, but his business was ยท ruined by the dull season of 1815; he subsequently embarked in the business of glue manufacture which ultimately resulted in producing for him a princely fortune. Other enterprises of a business nature also contributed to his riches. Mr. Cooper is quoted as having said in his early days, "If I ever prosper in business, and acquire more property than I need, I will try to found an institution in the city of New York, wherein appren-
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tice boys and young mechanics shall have a chance to get knowledge in the evening." This was said when he was a poor apprentice boy, anxious for knowledge and unable to obtain it. How well he carried out that resolution time has proven. Forty years after he was able to accomplish his desire. The institute was planned after the Polytechnic School in Paris. The site is the same he decided upon years before, when he first con- templated the idea. He bought sections of this site, upon which the institute stands, from time to time, as he had money to spare, until he had purchased the whole block. He bought the first lot about thirty years before he began to build. In 1854 he began to erect the structure, of stone, brick and iron, six stories high and fire proof. It cost $700,000. It was given by him into the hands of trustees, completed, in 1859. Subse- quently he gave $150,000 to provide the institution with a library of books of reference, free to the public. Later he gave other financial aid. Mr. Cooper was born in the year 1791, and died April 4, 1883.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, who was first an officer in the United States Navy and then became famous as an Ameri- can novelist, is made specially popular with residents of this county owing to the fact that he resided among us and was a local property owner, having erected on Quaker Ridge, in Scarsdale, near Mamaroneck, an attractive cottage which he named the "Angevine," in honor of a Huguenot family, who were his friends and neighbors. In this cottage, in 1820, he conceived the notion of writing his first book. The belief that he possessed within himself the power of becoming an author came about in this wise: He had just finished reading a novel, that had not pleased him; throwing the book down he remarked in disgust, "such a book, I could write a better novel than that myself." His friends laughed at the idea of his writ- ing a novel; nevertheless he boldly attempted the feat, and as a result he produced his first book, titled "Precaution," in 1821. Next year "The Spy" appeared. In quick succession followed, "The Pioneers," "The Pilot," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Red Rover," and "The Prairie," and others, numbering thirty works, up to the time of his death, September 14, 1851. He was born at Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789; was ad- mitted at the age of 13 years to Yale; three years later he be- came a midshipman in the United States Navy; on his retire- ment from the Navy, in 1811, he married, and the next ten years of his life were spent in a quiet, domestic fashion, most of the time in his Quaker Ridge home.
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EZRA CORNELL, the founder of the Cornell University, is a Westchester County boy, the son of Elijah Cornell, a farmer residing at Westchester Landing, between Cornell's Neck and Throgg's Neck. He was born January 11, 1807. He passed his boyhood in working on his father's farm, and going to the district school during the winter. In 1828, when he came of age, Cornell went to Ithaca, N. Y., and learned the trade of a machinest. He was strictly temperate, drank no intoxicating drinks, used no tobacco. His cleverness as a machinest proved of great benefit in many ways in later days, in connection with his inventive genius. Ezra Cornell has a place in the history of the telegraph, which would have caused his name to be re- membered if he had never founded a university. At a critical moment his ingenuity came to the rescue of Samuel F. B. Morse's enterprise, and saved it, perhaps, from premature ex- tinction. The telegraph, in return for this service, gave him a colossal fortune, and enabled him to carry out a cherished wish and give to the State the now famous institution of learn- ing which bears his name.
He was elected a Member of Assembly in the years 1862 and 1863, representing the county of Tompkins. From 1864 to 1868 he served in the State Senate as the representative of the 24th Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Broome, Tioga and Tompkins.
THOMAS CORNELL, widely known on account of his success in establishing one of the largest and most important transportation companies in this country, was born in White Plains, this county, in the year 1814. As president of the Cornell Steamboat Company he controlled numerous and costly steamboats engaged in carrying passengers and freight; no man's name was better known along the Hudson River than Mr. Cornell's. For many years he served as president of the First National Bank of Rondout, the place of his residence after leaving Westchester County. He was elected a repre- sentative in Congress, for the Fifteenth District, in the year 1866, and again in the year 1880, as a Republican. Mr. Cornell by close application to business and hard work, starting from the lower rung of the ladder, was able to reach an elevated position among the State's most prominent men in commercial and financial affairs.
CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, one of the best known, if not the most widely known man in the United States, and certainly the best known American abroad, was born in Peekskill, this
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county, on April 23, 1834, a descendant from the Huguenots. He graduated from Yale in 1856, studied law with Hon. Wil- liam Nelson, of Peekskill, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. In 1859 he hung out his sign in the village of Peekskill, and while waiting for clients indulged in politics as a pastime. In 1861 he was elected an Assemblyman from the Third Assembly District on the Union Republican ticket, and was re-elected, serving in the 85th and 86th sessions of the Legislature, 1862 and 1863. He was unmarried at this time. In a pen sketch of members of the Assembly for 1862, a journalist had the follow- ing to say relative to the "Son of Westchester": "Mr. Depew is one of the ablest members of the Assembly, and bids fair to be- come a prominent man in the State. He possesses decided abil- ity to which may be added a good degree of industry, energy and perseverance. Although looking much older, he is scarcely twenty-nine years of age; but his bearing and business habits, partake more of the character of middle age, or even maturer years, than of the impetuosity and recklessness of youth. He seems to have reached manhood earlier than usually falls to the lot of mortals, or, if not fully matured, and he improves as rapidly for a few years to come, as in the past, he may be set down as possessing extraordinary talents. His looks, bearing, habits and settled character indicate maturity of years, while the fact is indisputable that he is still in his youth. His father is only fifty-five years old, and his mother is less than fifty. He is, in fact, a venerable young man, a proper associate and com- panion of men of the preceding generation. His vigor of in- tellect, too, is in accordance with his appearance-possessing the strength, solidity and ripeness of middle age." His popu- larity in the Assembly secured for him, from the Republican party, the nomination for Secretary of State, in 1863; he was elected and served the full term of two years. Mr. Depew was appointed County Clerk of this county, on May 25, 1867, by Governor Reuben E. Fenton, in place of Hiram P. Rowell, de- ceased. Owing to pressure of other business, Mr. Depew could not accept the honor, and accordingly declined it.
On April 26, 1870, he was appointed a Commissioner of Emi- gration, but, for good and sufficient reasons given, declined to accept the position. April 26, 1871, he was appointed a New Capitol Commissioner and served the full term. In 1872 he ran for Lieutenant Governor on the Democratic-Liberal Repub- lican ticket, with Francis Kernan, the candidate for Governor, but was defeated. He acted as Boundary Commissioner and Agent of the State, under appointments made 1875 and in 1880. He was appointed a Regent of the State University in 1877 and still holds that office.
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