USA > New York > New York State's prominent and progressive men : an encyclopaedia of contemporaneous biography, Volume II > Part 19
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Mr. Morse accordingly came to New York and entered upon the practice of the law here. At the beginning of his metropolitan career he established the firm of Morse & Haynes. It prospered so greatly that it was found desirable to increase its force by the
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addition of another partner, and the style was changed to Morse, Haynes & Wensley, and thus remained until the firm was dis- solved on the death of Mr. Haynes.
Lawyers, as well as other professional men, often run to special- ties in their practice. Such has been the case with Mr. Morse. He has had from the outset a considerable practice in all branches of law, and is accomplished and successful therein; but his chief attention has been given and his chief successes won in corporation and constitutional law. To these his practice has largely turned, and upon them he is a recognized authority. Out- side of his strictly professional labors, Mr. Morse has long given to questions of political and social economy study and research. He has also been interested in much legislation for the welfare of the State. Thus he drafted and secured the passage, in 1895, of the bill for the appointment of commissioners to consider the question of saving the Palisades from defacement and destruc- tion. He also drew up the Palisades National Reservation bills passed in 1896 by the Legislatures of New York and New Jersey, and finally drafted an act for Congress on the same subject. Upon the passage of the legislative act he was appointed by the Governor of New York to be one of three Palisades Commission- ers, to act jointly with similar commissioners to be appointed by the Governor of New Jersey, and of the whole joint commission he was chosen secretary and treasurer. This commission made an elaborate report to the Governors of the two States concerned on December 5, 1895. Mr. Morse has also written much in the press on the subject of the preservation of the Palisades, has argued the cause before various committees of Congress, and on request has addressed various business and social organizations on the same subject.
As a public orator Mr. Morse has won frequent praise, his address at the unveiling of the soldiers' monument at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1889, and that on a like occasion at Water- town, New York, in 1890, being especially remembered with much pleasure. A part of the Watertown address may well be quoted :
"Year by year the stillness of peace has mantled fields of tumult. Time has stolen on unheeded, and to-day the past is with us only as in a dream. Company after company, regiment after
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regiment, come in memory-men who counted not life too precious nor years too long for the service of their country. Holy their cause and magnificent their achievement. Ages shall know their story and all men share the blessings of their legacy of good. So we have met, and so we bear this shaft, that it may witness how well men loved the right; how gallantly they fought ; how patiently they suffered, not for gain or conquest, not for home or companions, not for themselves or their race - for their country and simple right and justice. Upon us, in another gen- eration, rests the great stewardship of destiny. Ours to preserve inviolate and unshaken in their strength those great truths and principles upon which are built our state and that eternal righteousness of justice in which its foundations rest. And here once more we pledge full faith to our beloved land ! Strong and free in all her wealth of vast domain and virgin soil, the crown of destiny is on her brow, bright as a star radiant in deepest night. Ring through the world the watchwords of her great- ness : Justice to all! Oppression for none ! To no man a privi- lege by law! To every man his freedom and his right, untram- meled and complete !"
Mr. Morse is president of the Incorporated Morse Society, and a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American, New York State, and New York City Bar associations, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the Revolu- tion, the Lawyers' Club, the Quill Club, the Reform Club, and various other organizations both in and out of town. He was married, at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1886, to Miss Adelaide P. Cook, daughter of Albert Cook and Caroline Partridge Cook, the latter a daughter of Erastus Partridge.
CHARLES COLEMAN NADAL
THE name of Nadal is well known and loved among the older generation of preachers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, from the fact of its having been borne by the Rev. Bernard H. Nadal, who for many years was one of the most conspicuous figures in that church. He was born at St. Michaels, on the eastern shore of Mary- land, and was, humanly speaking, a self-made man of the truest type. Being the son of poor parents, he was in his boyhood apprenticed to learn the saddler's trade. While working at his bench, he diligently devoted himself to studying the best books obtainable, with the result that in due time he prepared himself to enter college. He entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, which was then one of the best seats of learning in the Union, and by dint of industry paid his way through, and was graduated with his class with honorable standing. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and had a suc- cessful career. He is best remembered, however, as an educator. He was for years a member of the faculty of Indiana Asbury University, now De Pauw University, at Greencastle, Indiana, and at the time of his death, in 1870, was a member of the faculty of Drew Theological Seminary, at Madison, New Jersey. He married Miss Sarah Jane Mays of Lewisburg, West Virginia, who came also of the McClung family, one of the foremost in that State.
Charles Coleman Nadal, son of the foregoing, was born at Greencastle, Indiana, on December 8, 1855. He was educated by his father and in private schools. At the age of seventeen he came to New York city and went into business. Then he studied law in the office of F. P. Bellamy of Brooklyn. In 1878 he was
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graduated at the Columbia College Law School, and was admitted to the bar. His practice has been continuous ever since in New York city. In 1894 he became a member of the law firm of Nadal, Smyth & Berrier. The next year Mr. Berrier withdrew, and the firm became Nadal, Smyth, Carrere & Trafford. Mr. Nadal has long been counsel to the Fidelity and Casualty Com- pany of New York, and his legal practice has largely been devoted to conducting the defense of negligence cases contested by that company for its policy-holders. In the trial of such cases he stands among the foremost lawyers of this State. He has conducted an amazing number of them, with a high average of success.
Mr. Nadal is a director of the Willson Aluminum Company, of the Hawthorn Apartment Association, and of the Macmillan Company, the latter being the New York house of the great London publishing firm of Macmillan & Co. He is also con- nected, in one capacity or another, with several other corpo- rations. He is a trustee of the City Club and a member of the Bar Association, the Fencers' Club, and other social organi- zations.
Mr. Nadal has held no public office, but has taken an active part in politics as a citizen desirous of elevating the standard of municipal government. In the memorable local campaign of 1894 he took a prominent part as a leader of the Good Govern- ment clubs, and in association with the Committee of Seventy. The following year he became president of the Council of Con- federated Good Government Clubs of New York city. Those organizations did not, however, maintain their rank and in- fluence as factors in local politics, and accordingly, 1896, Mr. Nadal and others organized the Citizens' Union. Of its executive committee he was an effective member, and he was chairman of its committee on meetings and speakers. He was one of the most energetic workers all through the municipal campaign of 1897, and was a recognized representative of the principle of non-partizanship in municipal administration.
Mr. Nadal was married, in 1890, to Miss Mary Taylor Warrin of New York city, and they have one child, Charles Warrin Nadal.
HAROLD NATHAN
AMONG the younger members of the bar of the city of New York one of the best known and most successful is Harold Nathan, whose professional career is a fitting continuation of an exceptionally brilliant career as a student in college and uni- versity.
On the paternal side Mr. Nathan traces his ancestry to England and beyond that to Spain. His great-grandfather, Simon Nathan, came from England to this country in early colonial days. That pioneer of the family in America married Grace Seixas, who was a descendant of Moses Levy, who came from Spain in the early part of the seventeenth century.
The grandson of Simon Nathan, Robert W. Nathan, became a successful stock-broker in the city of New York, and to him and his wife, Annie Florence Nathan, was born the subject of this sketch.
Harold Nathan was born in New York on September 22, 1865, and was educated in local schools. In the College of the City of New York he pursued the full scientific course, and won distinc- tion as a thorough and brilliant student. He was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science, as the salutatorian of the class of 1885 Three years later he received from the same col- lege the advanced degree of Master of Science. His inclinations led him toward the legal profession, and he accordingly entered the Law School of Columbia University. There he repeated his former brilliant career as a student, and was graduated with honors and with the first prize in 1889, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
While pursuing his law studies, Mr. Nathan was also, from 1885 to 1889, a tutor in the English language and literature in
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the College of the City of New York, and on leaving the Law School of Columbia University as a student he was immediately engaged as its prize lecturer for the years 1890-92.
Mr. Nathan was promptly admitted to the bar of New York upon his graduation in 1889, and the next year began the prac- tice of his profession in New York as the head of the firm of Nathan & Sondheim. His career was one of steadily increasing prosperity. In 1896 he became associated with David Leventritt, who is now a justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and formed with him the firm of Leventritt & Nathan. In that connection his prosperity was continued and increased, and thus it has been maintained to the present time. Since 1899 Mr. Nathan has been the head of the firm, which was reorganized on Mr. Leventritt's accession to the bench, and is now known as Nathan, Leventritt & Perham.
Mr. Nathan has taken no active part in politics beyond that of a private citizen. He has held and sought no public office. Neither has he conspicuously connected himself with any corpo- rations or other business enterprises, but has devoted his best attention strictly to the pursuit of his profession.
In college Mr. Nathan was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Asso- ciation of New York. He is also a member of the Judeans, and a director of the Aguilar Free Library Society.
He was married, on December 9, 1891, to Miss Sara Gruntal of New York, and has two children, Robert G. Nathan and Marion Florence Nathan.
JAMES SCOTT NEGLEY
TAMES SCOTT NEGLEY is a descendant of a patrician Swiss family which settled in Germany during one of their country's religious wars, and subsequently emigrated to America and became pioneers in western Pennsylvania. He was born on December 22, 1826, at East Liberty, known at present as the East End of Pittsburg. His education was obtained in the public schools and at the Western University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Duquesne Grays in his seventeenth year, and enlisted in that company for the war with Mexico. He participated in the siege and capture of Vera Cruz, and in the battles of Cerro Gordo, La Perote, Las Vegas, La Hoya, and Huamantla, the siege of Puebla, and a number of lesser engagements. During the siege of Puebla his family, who had opposed his going to the war, secured from the Secretary of War an honorable discharge from the service. He refused it, and remained in active service until the last detachment of United States troops departed from the City of Mexico.
After his discharge from the army, he engaged in manufactur- ing pursuits, devoting his spare hours to horticulture, in which field he soon attained distinction. He was chosen brigadier- general of the Eighteenth Division of the State Militia of Penn- sylvania. He was one of the most zealous advocates of the im- provement of the militia, and his influence and efforts to better its organization and equipment were most effective. Anticipat- ing the Civil War, in December, 1860, he formally offered the services of his division to the State authorities. On April 18, 1861, Governor Curtin authorized him to organize and equip a brigade of volunteers in western Pennsylvania. Within ten days he organized, clothed, and equipped two full regiments, and
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accompanied the third to the capital. He joined the corps of General Patterson, and remained with it during the Shenandoah campaign. General Patterson was strongly urged by General Negley to allow him to cut the Confederate lines of communica- tion between Winchester and Bull Run. General Patterson ac- cepted his suggestion, but through some mysterious influence his orders were countermanded. This grave error of judgment became responsible for the defeat of the United States forces at Bull Run.
After his three months' service, General Negley was re-commis- sioned brigadier-general. In the autumn of 1861 he was ordered to Pittsburg, and then directed to proceed to Louisville to reinforce General Sherman. Within six days he engaged a flotilla of six steamboats, fitted them out with stores, embarked his entire command, and hastened to Louisville, arriving at a critical juncture. When General Don Carlos Buell superseded General Sherman, General Negley's brigade formed part of his advance column to accomplish the capture of Nashville. Subse- quently General Negley was ordered with his brigade to Colum- bia, Tennessee. He was charged with the duty of keeping open lines of communication, and also of protecting lines of railroad. He was singularly successful in executing this onerous task, de- feating the enemy in several actions. He shelled the enemy out of Chattanooga, but was unable to hold the best results of his expedition, General Buell refusing reinforcements. When Gen- eral Bragg invaded Kentucky, General Negley was left in com- mand of Nashville, Tennessee, with six thousand sick and wounded troops, with a limited supply of provisions and forage, and incomplete works of defense. He held the place until relieved by General Rosecrans on October 20. During the siege the Confederate forces were constantly harassing him on all sides, but failed to surprise or capture a detachment of his men, or seize a forage train. On the other hand, he surprised and defeated a portion of Breckinridge's command at Lavergne on October 7, 1862, and a few days later engaged and defeated the entire force of Breckinridge and Forrest, near Overtons.
His division was in the forefront and center of the great battle of Stone River. For three days and nights, amid ice and snow, he kept at bay the corps of the Confederate Generals Withers and Chatham long after our right wing was hurled back. For
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personal valor and skilful generalship displayed in this battle General Negley was promoted to the rank of major-general of volunteers. After the battle of Stone River, his division led the forward movement upon Tullahoma. He engaged the rear of Bragg's forces in their retreat, dislodged them from Lookout Mountain and Stevens's Gap, and drove them beyond Davis Cross-roads. He was the first general officer who apprised Gen- erals Thomas and Rosecrans of the purpose of General Bragg to attack in detail, and overwhelm the army of General Rosecrans before he could concentrate his widely scattered forces. His services during the battle of Chickamauga were conspicuous. General Negley was unjustly deprived of much of the credit which was due him through the failure of General Wood to obey instructions.
After the war, General Negley became a leader in Pennsyl- vania politics, and held a number of offices by appointment. In 1868 he was elected to Congress from the Twenty-second District of Pennsylvania, by a majority of nearly five thousand votes. His predecessor was a Democrat. He was elected again to the Forty- second Congress by a handsome majority, and was reelected to the Forty-fourth Congress. At the end of this term he engaged in the promotion and construction of railroads. He was nomi- nated and elected to the Forty-ninth Congress. During his services in Congress he was an influential member of various committees. For fifteen years he was one of the managers of the National Home for Volunteers, and was instrumental in establishing two of them. For a number of years he was presi- dent of the National Union League of America; and he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, of the Veteran Legion, Scott Legion, Military Order of Foreign Wars, National Board of Steam Navigation, Shipping League of New York, and the Masonic Fraternity. He has also filled the offices of presi- dent and vice-president of a number of railroads, which compa- nies were incorporated and built under his management. In whatever sphere of action, he is judicious, energetic, and forceful.
He has been twice married. His first wife was a Miss Kate De Losey, niece of Commodore Van Vorhees. His second wife was a Miss Grace Ashton of Philadelphia, who has borne him three daughters.
VOUliLos
HENRY NEWMAN
"THE modern practical business world has its sensations and romances, as well as the old days of chivalry. The rise of men from poverty and subordinate places to wealth and power as leaders of commerce and industry, and the daring and startling strokes by which they sometimes achieve their successes, are of as fascinating interest as the rise of political empires and the achievements of military leaders.
A case in point is that of Henry Newman, who was born in Würtemberg, Germany, and came to this country as a youth in 1844. He began his business career as a clerk. His parents were poor and he was dependent upon his own exertions. He secured a place in the dry-goods house of Bernheimer Brothers, and, by dint of indomitable energy, industry, and extraordinary business ability, worked his way steadily upward, until, in 1863, he was admitted to partnership, the firm's name being then changed to Bernheimer & Newman. In 1872 this copartnership was dis- solved, and Mr. Newman became the head of the house, which is now one of the greatest of its line in the United States.
The original seat of the firm was in William Street. Thence it moved to Chambers and Reade streets, thence to the cor- ner of Broadway and Leonard Street, thence to 391 Broadway, and finally to a large and handsome eight-story edifice at 628 and 630 Broadway, running to Crosby Street, and covering an area of eighty thousand square feet. This building was erected by Mr. Newman in 1882, and was called the New York Mer- cantile Exchange.
Mr. Newman's business career has been marked with many startling ventures. At one time he bought, in a single bargain, the entire stock of the large house of Hoyt, Sprague & Co., com-
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prising 1,113,750 yards of Italian cloth, at a cost of $375,000. He introduced many novelties into the trade, prominent among them being "Lustrene," an imitation of and substitute for satin. He was also closely identified with the extraordi- nary popularity which haircloth attained in this country a few years ago. In fact, he succeeded in cornering the market in that commodity, and in sending the price of it up temporarily from fifteen and twenty cents to thirty-five and seventy cents a yard. Haircloth had long been out of fashion. Indeed, it had formerly been used chiefly for men's clothing as an interlining for shaping the garment, and few people ever dreamed of its be- coming a popular article of women's wear. But there arose a demand for a material for linings that would make a tailor- made skirt stand out stiff and smooth, and also to rustle when moved. Various things were tried without success, until some French modiste, some say M. Worth himself, discovered that the old-fashioned and despised haircloth was just the thing needed. Instantly a great demand for it arose, far greater than the supply. For a long time little of it had been made, and manu- facturers were not prepared to fill the orders which came pour- ing in upon them. Mr. Newman saw his opportunity. Scarcely had the news of the use of haircloth reached this country, and the tailors had begun to look about for a supply, than he had his agents busy in all parts of the world, buying all the haircloth in the market, and making contracts with manufacturers for all their product for some time to come. Thus he got immediate possession of thousands of cases of the cloth, and all other deal- ers found that there was none of it to be had except at the house of Mr. Newman. His office was literally besieged by mobs of dealers and tailors, clamoring for haircloth at any price he might set. Mr. Newman would have made a splendid fortune out of this one enterprise had it not been for the financial panic that swept over the country just at that time, provoked largely by the failure of the famous London banking-house of Barings. A number of banks and business houses went to the wall, involving with them other concerns which were perfectly solvent. Thus Mr. Newman was forced into temporary embarrassment, to re- lieve which he had to sell off a large part of his haircloth and other stock at sacrifice. By the time he had done this and re-
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lieved his embarrassments, the general supply of the goods was equal to the demand.
This mishap did not, however, cripple Mr. Newman's business enterprises, nor discourage him in the pursuit of them. On the contrary, it rather provoked him to renewed efforts to extend his business interests in all directions, and to make up, in steady progress, the ground he had lost through the failure of others. To-day he is well known in the commercial and industrial worlds of the two continents, and his name is esteemed every- where as a synonym for enterprise and probity, as also for good- fellowship.
Apart from being a successful merchant, Mr. Newman is a man of high intellectual culture and wide social interests. He takes a keen and active part in many public affairs, as was exemplified in his noteworthy chairmanship of one of the most efficient Grant Monument Fund committees. He is ever interested in charitable enterprises, and is a liberal though unostentatious giver to many worthy causes. For the last thirty years he has been one of the governors of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, and he is associated with various other philanthropic institutions. His sympathies are restricted to no creed or nationality, but are broad and generous.
Mr. Newman was married, about the time of his admission to the firm, to a daughter of Mr. Bernheimer, his former employer and then his partner, and his married and domestic life has been filled with unalloyed happiness. He has four daughters, now grown to young womanhood, and one son, who is a member of his firm. He is a member of numerous social organizations, but has taken no part in politics beyond exercising the functions of a good citizen, and has held no public office.
WILLIAM WATSON NILES
W ITH "old gardener Adam," Americans are supposed to "smile at the claims of long descent." Yet in this coun- try there are many families whose members, through several generations, have been conspicuously and honorably identified with the public welfare, and whose names are, therefore, marks of worthy distinction. Such a family is that of Niles, which furnished the publisher of that "Niles's Register" which is one of the most valuable compendiums of early United States history ; an eminent Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire ; a United States Senator and Postmaster-General; a well-known diplomat ; a six-times Presidential Elector ; and several judges, legislators, college professors, etc. Couple such a family with that of Barron, which furnished the colonel of that name in the Revolution, and we may expect the resulting generation to be worthy of its forebears on both sides.
William Watson Niles, fourth son of William and Relief Barron Niles, was born at West Fairlee, Vermont, on March 26, 1822. He was educated at Thetford Academy, Bradford Academy, Newbury Seminary, and Dartmouth College, where he was graduated B. A. in 1845. Thereafter he studied at the In- diana Medical College, and was assistant to the professor of chemistry therein. His early years were given to farming, teaching a New Hampshire district school, teaching navigation, etc., at South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, the principalship of a seminary, helping to build the first railroad west of Detroit, and finally beginning the practice of law in Indiana. Truly a varied and arduous career, marked with determination and success, and foretokening high achievements further on.
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