USA > New York > New York State's prominent and progressive men : an encyclopaedia of contemporaneous biography, Volume II > Part 15
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Edgar Ketchum was born in New York city on July 15, 1840. He was educated in the public schools ; the College of the City of New York, from which he has received the degree of A. M .; and the Law School of Columbia University, from which he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. He then was admitted to the bar, and intended to enter upon the practice of his pro- fession.
The call of his country was, however, stronger than that of his profession. On March 3, 1863, he joined the army as second lieutenant in the Signal Corps. After some service at George- town he was sent to Virginia, and distinguished himself by gallant service around Richmond. In January, 1865, he took
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part in the Fort Fisher expedition, on the staffs of Generals Paine and Terry. He did gallant service in the night operations which led to the capture of the fort, and after the capture was placed in command of the signal station on the northeast parapet, where he narrowly escaped death through the explosion of a magazine near by. Later he was on the staff of General Scho- field, and was with General Cox in the operations against Wil- mington, including the capture of Fort Anderson, the battle of Town Creek, and the capture of Wilmington. Next he went up Cape Fear River with a gunboat expedition to open communica- tions with General Sherman. He was on General Terry's staff in the march northward through North Carolina, and in the battle of Averysboro and Bentonville. Then he served with the Army of the Potomac, at the fall of Richmond. Finally, he returned to Georgetown, and on August 12, 1865, was honorably mustered out, with the brevet of first lieutenant for gallantry at Fort Fisher, and of captain for gallantry during the war. On his return to New York he was appointed by the Governor to be an engineer officer, with the rank of major, in the National Guard. He thus served for three years, and then was honorably mustered out.
After the war Major Ketchum began the practice of the law in New York, and has continued in it ever since, having built up a fine practice. He has made a specialty of real-estate practice, and has argued cases in all the State courts, and the United States district courts.
He is a member of the Veteran Association of the Seventh Regiment, the Society of the Army of the Potomac, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Veteran Association of the Signal Corps. He is trea- surer of the Harlem Library, a leader of the Christian Endeavor Society, and an active member of the Collegiate Dutch Reformed Church.
He was married, in 1869, to Miss Angelica Schuyler Anderson, daughter of Smith W. Anderson, then one of the foremost mer- chants of New York.
CAMILLUS GEORGE KIDDER
THE Kidder family came to this country from Maresfield, in Sussex, England, about the year 1656, and settled near Boston. Its head at that time, and the progenitor of the family in America, was James Kidder. Later generations of the family were settled in Maine, which at that time was a dependency of Massachusetts. There, in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury, Reuben Kidder of Augusta was one of the foremost law- yers in that part of the country. He had a son named Camillus Kidder, who removed to Baltimore and had a successful career as a merchant. Camillus Kidder married Sarah Herrick, and to them was born the subject of this sketch.
Camillus George Kidder was born in Baltimore on July 6, 1850. He was carefully educated in local schools, and in time was sent to New England for the completion of his studies. He was graduated at the Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1868, at Harvard University in 1872, with the degree of A. B., and at the Harvard University Law School in 1875, with the degree of LL. B.
With this preparation he came to New York city to make his way by dint of hard work. He was not yet satisfied with his legal attainments, so he entered the office of Emott, Burnett & Hammond, of which firm the head, James Emott, was at one time a judge of the New York State Court of Appeals. There he was successively a student, clerk, and managing clerk. He also did some book-reviewing for the New York "World " while Manton Marble was editor of that paper.
Mr. Kidder showed decided aptitude for legal work, and his scholastic preparation for it was more than ordinarily complete. In time, therefore, his abilities were recognized by his admission
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to partnership in the firm with which he had studied, its style then becoming Emott, Hammond & Kidder, and later Emott, Burnett & Kidder. That connection lasted for some time, with general profit and acceptability to all concerned. In 1888, how- ever, Mr. Kidder withdrew from the firm and engaged in legal practice alone. Later he became associated with John S. Mel- cher, and still later with William S. Ivins. With these gentle- men he is now in partnership, under the firm-name of Ivins, Kidder & Melcher.
Mr. Kidder has held and sought no political or other public place, save that of school commissioner at Orange, New Jersey, in which city he makes his home, while maintaining his office in New York. He has not been conspicuously identified with any business apart from the pursuit of his profession.
He is a member of a number of clubs and other social organi- zations, including the Harvard, Reform, University, Down-Town, Manhattan, and Church clubs of New York, the American Geo- graphical Society, the New England Society of New York, and the New England Society of Orange, of which last-named he is now president.
Mr. Kidder was married, in December, 1881, to Miss Matilda Cushman Faber, daughter of the late G. W. Faber of New York. They have three children : Jerome Faber Kidder, Lois Faber Kidder, and George Herrick Faber Kidder.
Myflow. Schade
ALFRED WATTS KIDDLE
THE name of Henry Kiddle is inseparably identified with the educational history of New York, as that of an au- thoritative writer on educational subjects, and for many years Superintendent of Public Schools in the city of New York. Mr. Kiddle was of English origin, having been born in the ancient city of Bath, England. He married Miss Jane Wray, a native of Quebec, Canada.
Alfred Watts Kiddle was born in New York city, and has spent his life here. He was educated in the public schools of the city, of which his father was for so long a time the su- perintendent, and also in the College of the City of New York, which forms the culmination of the city's educational system.
His intention was to engage in commercial pursuits, and with that end in view, on leaving college, he entered the employment of a large manufacturing concern in New York. His inclination presently changed, however, toward the legal profession. In the course of a year, he began the study of law in the office of a corporation lawyer and general practitioner in New York, and decided to make the law his profession. Besides studying in the office, he entered the Law School of Columbia College and pur- sued its regular course. He was duly graduated with the degree of LL. B. on May 25, 1887. A little before that date, however, on February 17, 1887, he was admitted to practice at the bar of New York.
Thus equipped, Mr. Kiddle engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. At first his practice was of a general nature, comprising all branches of the profession. To the present time, indeed, his practice is in a measure general. But he has paid in- creasing attention to patent and corporation law, in which
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branches he has gained his chief reputation, and has become known as an authority. Besides being a close student of the law, he has devoted a great deal of painstaking study to scientific, en- gineering, and similar matters, and the knowledge thus acquired, of chemistry, electricity, and applied mechanics, has materially aided him in the practice of his profession.
In 1889 Mr. Kiddle formed a partnership with William A. Redding, under the name of Redding & Kiddle. A few years later the firm became Redding, Kiddle & Greeley, under which style it still remains, with offices at No. 38 Park Row, New York. Mr. Kiddle has a large practice, and ranks high among the suc- cessful lawyers of the metropolis.
Mr. Kiddle has held and has sought no political office, but has confined his political activities to the performance of the duties of private citizenship. He is a member of numerous professional and social organizations, among which may be named the Amer- ican Bar Association, the Bar Association of the State of New York, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Engineers' Club, the Republican Club, the Hardware Club, the New York Athletic Club, the St. George's Society of New York, and a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
& Parker Kirli
J. PARKER KIRLIN
TI THE earliest members of the Kirlin family of whom there is record in this country appear to have come from Scotland, and settled in Pennsylvania, in the region now comprised in Schuylkill County. The date of their settlement there was in the early part of the eighteenth century. In the last generation it produced Elias Hiram Kirlin, who was a captain in the Fed- eral Army in the Civil War, on the staffs of Generals Hooker and Howard, a prominent contractor for the building of rail- roads and other important works, the builder of the Yorktown Monument, and the director of various river and harbor im- provements for the United States government. He married Elizabeth Roberts, who came of an English family which settled early in Connecticut, moved thence to New York, and finally, early in the eighteenth century, to Wyoming County, Pennsyl- vania, where her father, Henry Roberts, was for some years a judge, and her brother, Giles Roberts, a member of the State Legislature. She was also related to the Parker, Wilson, and Morehouse families. Joseph Parker, for whom the subject of this sketch was named, was, in his day, one of the foremost lawyers of Philadelphia.
Of such parentage and ancestry Joseph Parker Kirlin was born, at Scranton, Pennsylvania, on December 5, 1861. He was intended by his parents for a professional career, and accord- ingly his education was made as thorough as possible. He first studied in the schools of Scranton, including the high school, and then went to the Keystone Academy, at Factoryville, Penn- sylvania. His college life began at the University of Virginia, where he spent two years, after which he came to New York city and entered Columbia College. He entered the senior class at
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Columbia and the law school at the same time, in 1882, and was graduated from the college with the degree of Ph. B. in 1883, and from the law school with that of LL. B. in 1884. Before his college career he had been in business, as manager for Frank Hefright of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in making improvements for the government in the Great Kanawha River, West Virginia. On leaving college, he took up the active practice of the law.
He had studied in the offices of Charles Swan, at Charleston, West Virginia, and Charles E. Crowell, in New York. In the fall of 1884 he entered the office of E. B. Convers of New York, and in 1889 became a member of the firm of Convers & Kirlin. As a practising lawyer, Mr. Kirlin has attained enviable success. His practice is comprehensive of many departments of jurispru- dence, but he pays especial attention to commercial and admiralty cases. Thus during the Spanish-American War of 1898 he was retained as counsel by the owners of various vessels and cargoes captured by the United States navy, and appeared in their be- half before the Prize Court at Key West, Florida, and later in the Supreme Court at Washington. In this department of legal practice he has made for himself an international reputation. He is now a collaborateur of the " Revue International du Droit Maritime," of Paris, France, and in 1899 sat as a delegate for the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, at the Buffalo Conference of the International Law Association.
Mr. Kirlin is a member of the Ardsley Club, of the Bar Asso- ciation of New York, of the American Bar Association, and of the International Law Association.
He was married at Montclair, New Jersey, on January 9, 1891, to Miss Elizabeth Burt of Detroit, Michigan, and they now have two children: Ralph Kirlin, born on October 21, 1891, and Elizabeth Louise Kirlin, born on July 31, 1894.
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HENRY KNOX
THE name of Knox unerringly points to Scottish origin. In the present case its owners made their way from Scotland to America, with a halting for some generations in the north of Ireland. They were in early times among those sturdy Scotch settlers who gave to the province of Ulster its strong and abiding characteristics. In 1630 some members of the family came to America and settled in Massachusetts.
Two generations ago General Alanson Knox was, in the early part of his life, one of the leading lawyers in the western part of Massachusetts. He was a general of Massachusetts militia. In his law office as students were George Ashmun and Reuben At- water Chapman. These two afterward formed a partnership and practised law with great success at Springfield, Massachusetts, under the name of Chapman & Ashmun. Mr. Ashmun became prominent in politics, was for several terms a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, and was president of the National Republican Convention which first nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency of the United States. Mr. Chapman, who married General Knox's daughter, became chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
Both General Alanson Knox and his father were members of the Massachusetts State Senate. His son, Samuel Knox, was educated at Williams College and the Harvard Law School, and was graduated from both institutions. He went still farther west than his father, settling in St. Louis, Missouri. He was admitted to the St. Louis bar in 1838, and at the age of twenty-eight was elected city attorney of St. Louis. In 1862 he entered the field of national politics and was elected to Congress as a Republican Representative, over Frank Blair,
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the Democratic candidate. Mr. Knox retired from the active practice of his profession some twenty years ago, and is now the oldest living member of the St. Louis bar.
The name of Kerr indicates Teutonic origin. It was borne by a family of character and parts among the early settlers of Penn- sylvania. Very early in the present century one of its members, Matthew Kerr, went to St. Louis, Missouri, and engaged in fur- trading, that region then being on the margin of the Western wilderness. He soon established himself at the head of a profitable business, and at his death left a large fortune. His daughter, Mary Kerr, became the wife of Samuel Knox, and to them was born the subject of the present sketch.
Henry Knox, son of Samuel and Mary Kerr Knox, was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, on November 26, 1857. He was educated at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, at Williams College, and at the Boston Law School, following in the choice of his profession the example of his father and grandfather, and showing in his pursuit of it a fine degree of inherited talent.
His practice is now extensive, his clients being found in many States in various parts of the Union. He has acted as counsel for large estates in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Mis- souri. He has been connected with numerous estates as trustee, and with others as administrator. He has also been counsel in the organization and consolidation of corporations, and to the receivers of corporations. He has acted as the Eastern represen- tative of several leading law firms of St. Louis. His law practice includes practically the entire range of jurisprudence, with the exception of patent, admiralty, and criminal law. He has, how- ever, paid especial attention to the laws relating to corporations and estates, and in those departments of practice is often con- sulted as a special authority.
Mr. Knox is a member of various social organizations, including the Union League Club, the University Club, the St. Anthony Club, the Delta Psi Fraternity, and the Williams College Alumni Association of New York.
Mr. Knox was married, in 1899, to Miss Frances Shackelton, daughter of Mrs. David H. McAlpin.
GEORGE ISAAC LANDON
THE ancient family of Landon of Hereford, England, has been able to boast a goodly array of eminent members in society, in literature, in the church, and in numerous other de- partments of human activity. Among them the world gratefully remembers Letitia Elizabeth Landon, best known, perhaps, as "L. E. L." from the signature which she used to append to her charming writings in prose and verse. Miss Landon, who be- came Mrs. MacLean, was a native of Chelsea, London, the home and haunt of many other literary and artistic folk, but came of the old Hereford stock.
In the last generation the head of the family was James George Landon of London, England. He married Miss Emma Lewis, daughter of Isaac Lewis of London, and shortly thereafter came to the United States to make his home.
George Isaac Landon, the subject of this sketch, is a son of that couple. He was born to them in this country, at Charleston, South Carolina, where they made their home for a time, on November 27, 1839. Only a small part of his life was, however, spent in the South. He was educated in the North, in Boston and New York, and received a thorough and practical education.
On leaving school he found his inclinations entirely toward a mercantile or a financial career, and accordingly he at once sought a business engagement. This he fortunately found in one of the best places in which a young man at that time could have begun his business career. He became assistant cashier in the office of Alexander T. Stewart & Co. of New York city, at that time the foremost dry-goods house in America. There he acquired an admirable practical knowledge of mercantile affairs and of finance.
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Mr. Landon finally left the Stewart house to enter the Metro- politan Bank of New York city, in which institution he presently acquired a thorough knowledge of the banking business. From the bank he went into the United States subtreasury, in New York, in which he served during the Civil War.
It was in the "flush times" that followed the war that Mr. Lan- don set himself up in business on his own account. He followed the bent that had been given to his energies by his former occu- pations, and became a banker and broker, and operator in Wall Street. He has long been a conspicuous figure in the financial world, and has won more than ordinary success. He has been a broker for almost every prominent operator on the Street in the last thirty years, from Daniel Drew to James R. Keene, and has participated more or less in most of the large deals that have marked the history of Wall Street. He has also been instru- mental in introducing and placing upon the market many new stocks. Among these, one of the latest and most successful was that of the Hawaiian Commercial Sugar Company.
Mr. Landon has never held nor sought political office, nor de- sired any public distinction of that sort, being content with the privileges and duties of a private citizen.
He is a member of the Bankers' Association, the Atlantic Yacht Club, and the New York Yacht Club. He was formerly a member of the Union League Club, the New York Club, and the Brooklyn Club, but has retired from them.
Mr. Landon was married, in 1875, to Miss Florence Wright, daughter of George W. Wright of Brooklyn. They have no children living.
Alfred B. Lasher
ALFRED PALMER LASHER
MONG the "old families" of the romantic and historic Catskill Mountain and central Hudson River region of New York State, few are so well known and highly esteemed as that of Lasher. It has been resident there for generations, always contributing much to the material strength and to the moral and social stamina of the community. It will be no reflection upon the family to say that its present young repre- sentative, in the present generation, is one of the most conspicu- ous and worthy of all the line.
Alfred Palmer Lasher was born at Coxsackie, Greene County, New York, on July 9, 1855. He was the son of John E. Lasher, and when he was only three years old was taken, with the rest of the family, to a new home at Saugerties, Ulster County, with which place he has since been identified. The boy was sent to the local schools, which were of good order, and then to Glens Falls and Hudson academies. That was the extent of his school- ing. But he was an apt scholar, and not only mastered the les- sons set before him, but acquired a love of reading and a habit of intelligent observation that promoted his further acquirement of knowledge.
At the age of eighteen years he left school for practical busi- ness life. His first employment was as a clerk in a store at Saugerties. There he remained for a year, showing himself a competent and energetic business man. Then his health broke down, and he was invalided for six months. Then he became shipping-clerk in a store at Malden, and for two years did excellent work in that place. His third occupation was in the South, whither he went in 1881, and engaged in the turpentine
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and yellow-pine lumber trade, familiarizing himself with the de- tails of the business and achieving no little success.
On his return home Mr. Lasher became his father's partner in business as a contractor, the firm being known as John E. Lasher & Son, and ten years later he assumed complete control of it as head of the firm, his father withdrawing on account of impaired health. In that business Mr. Lasher has continued to the present time with great success. The firm was the first to introduce the use of Southern yellow-pine railroad ties in the North, thus largely revolutionizing that branch of railroad con- struction. The business of the firm has been and is chiefly with leading railroad companies.
Mr. Lasher has long taken an active interest in political mat- ters, always as a stanch Republican. He was for four years an alderman of Saugerties, and is now Mayor of that city. In 1896 he was president of the Board of Education, and has been presi- dent of the Saugerties Free Circulating Library since its organ- ization. He is also prominently connected with the Ulster Savings Institution at Kingston, New York. He is a member of Ulster Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Mecca Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and became a thirty-second-degree Mason on May 29, 1891. He belongs to the Exempt Firemen's Association, and is an honorary member of the R. A. Snyder Hose Company of Saugerties. He was married, on June 12, 1883, at Saugerties, to Miss Mary M. Gillespie, and has had three children, of whom one, a daughter, is now living.
Mr. Lasher has long been, because of his business ability and high integrity, one of the most influential citizens of his part of the State. He is an earnest member of the Reformed Church, a patron of all worthy charities and other beneficent movements, and an ardent advocate of good roads and public improvements and progress.
Newbury D Lawton
NEWBURY DAVENPORT LAWTON
N EWBURY DAVENPORT LAWTON was born October 12, 1852. His father, Cyrus Lawton, was a grandson of George Lawton of Newport, Rhode Island, and his mother, Sarah Maria Lawton, was a granddaughter of Newbury Davenport of New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York.
The Lawton family came to this country in early colonial times from Cheshire, England, and, with Roger Williams, were among the original settlers at Newport, Rhode Island, where the elder branch of the family still resides on the island of Rhode Island.
The Davenport family came originally from Chester, England, and settled at Boston. Thence they moved to Long Island, and about one hundred and fifty years ago purchased Davenport Neck, New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York, where they have since resided.
Newbury Davenport Lawton was educated at the College of the City of New York and the Law School of Columbia College, and since then he has been engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in the city of New York.
His practice has chiefly been in relation to real-estate matters, and in connection therewith he has become largely concerned in real-estate transactions. He has operated very considerably in land in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards of New York, and has done much building there and in other parts of the city, and made many purchases and sales, and many loans on prop- erty for building and other purposes in various parts of the city.
Mr. Lawton has never held and has never sought political office, having devoted himself exclusively to his business inter- ests and the duties and privileges of a private citizen.
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