USA > New York > New York State's prominent and progressive men : an encyclopaedia of contemporaneous biography, Volume II > Part 7
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He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the St. Nicholas Society of New York, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, the Wyandanch Club of Smithtown, Long Island, the Megantic Fish and Game Corporation of Maine, the Accomac Club of Virginia, the Blooming Grove Park Association of Pennsylvania, the Saranac Club of Saranac Lake, New York, the Newark Bay Boat Club of Bayonne, New Jersey, the Adi- rondack Guides' Association, the Forest Lake Association of Pike County, Pennsylvania, and the Lawyers' Club, Reform Club, Botanical Gardens, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and American Numismatic and Archæological Society, of New York.
Eng by E. G. Williams & Bro NY
Charlene
CHARLES CURIE
TN the town of Audincourt, Department of Doubs, France, situated in the midst of a beautiful and interesting region close to the German and Swiss frontiers, was born, on October 20, 1842, the subject of this sketch, Charles Curie. His parents were Frederick Curie and Dorethe Malvina Diemer, his wife.
The family settled at Paterson, New Jersey, in 1843, and there the boy was educated in the public schools. Afterward he attended the Bryant and Stratton Business College at Cleveland, Ohio. Then he studied law, first in the office of Thomas F. Hoxsey, at Paterson, then in the office of Hawkins, Barnet & Pannes, in New York, and finally at the Law School of New York University, from which he was graduated in 1882. He was admitted to the bar at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1882, and at once began the practice of the profession in this city, where he is still actively engaged in it. He has made a specialty of cases arising under the tariff laws, and in that important department of legal practice has attained authoritative rank and a wide and high reputation.
Between his school-days at Paterson and his entry into the legal profession, however, there was a gap of many years. Sev- eral of these were spent in the service of the nation, as a soldier. He was a young man when the Civil War broke out in 1861, and he promptly volunteered as a private in the Ninth Regiment, New York Volunteers, which was better known as "Hawkins's Zouaves." With that organization he went to the front, and was in the engagements at Hatteras Inlet forts, in August, 1861; at Roanoke Island, on February 8, 1862; and at Camden, North Carolina, on April 19, 1862. Then the regiment came north- ward, and fought at South Mountain, on September 14, 1862;
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at Antietam, on September 17, 1862, where he was severely wounded; and in the great campaigns around Washington and in Virginia and Maryland, in the summer of 1863. The fall of 1863 saw him in the campaign after Forrest in Kentucky, Ten- nessee, and Mississippi, and the following winter in Sherman's raid to Meridian. In the spring of 1864 he took part in the Red River expedition under General A. J. Smith, in the Arkansas campaign (Lake Chicot) against Marmaduke, in the Tupelo cam- paign against Forrest in July and August, and in the fall of that year was in the Missouri campaign against Price's army from the Mississippi River to Kansas. He was in numerous battles, and never failed to acquit himself like a soldier and a patriot. Toward the close of the war his health was greatly impaired through exposure and arduous services, and he was honorably discharged, with the rank of captain in the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth New York Volunteers, from Jefferson Barracks Hospital, Missouri, in December, 1864.
It was after this heroic service to his country that Mr. Curie turned his attention to the law, became a student thereof, and finally entered upon the practice of it as his life-work. His office is in the borough of Manhattan. His home is in Brook- lyn, and his summer residence is at Idlewild, Cornwall-on-Hud- son, New York.
He is passed president of the Hawkins's Zouaves Association, of the Roanoke Associates, and of the Society of the Burnside Expedition and the Ninth Army Corps, and is chancellor of the Commandery of the State of New York, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and one of the governors of the Army and Navy Club. He is a member of the Union League Club of New York, and of the Union League and Hamilton clubs of Brooklyn, and of the Hamilton Club of Paterson, New Jersey.
ENOCH HENRY CURRIER
TN the history of education in the State of New York there are several names indissolubly identified with the instruction of the deaf-men whose professional careers have been centered in this special line of education. Among these, a name very prominent is that of Enoch Henry Currier. He is a son of Enoch Gerrish and Jane Hill Currier, and was born on August 22, 1849, in the city of Newburyport, Massachusetts. He is a descendant of Richard Currier, who came from England in the early part of the seventeenth century, and settled in Massachu- setts, of whose town of Salisbury he was the founder. His maternal grandfather served throughout the War of the Revolu- tion. His paternal grandfather was an officer on the privateer Decatur, and afterward welcomed General Lafayette to the city of Newburyport. Mr. Enoch Gerrish Currier was a member of the Veteran Artillery Association of Newburyport, the first libra- rian of the public library of that city, and, as Collector of the Port, made the first seizure of Southern vessels in Northern harbors under the Confiscation Act in the War of the Rebellion.
The circumstances of his parents afforded Mr. Currier all the advantages of education. He had the benefit of home society of an old-fashioned and excellent type. His early education was planned with a view to his entering the church. He received a classical preparation for college under private tutors, and was ready for matriculation when an accident to one of his eyes com- pelled the discontinuance of all study for several years. The pre- carious condition of his health which followed this accident did not permit him to take his college course, but his studies were resumed under private instruction. He holds an honorary degree
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of A. M. from the National College of the Deaf, Washington, D. C., conferred in 1892.
When quite a young man, during a visit at the residence of Dr. Harvey P. Peet of New York, he became interested in the education of the deaf. This visit changed the whole current of his life. Instead of entering the ministry, he became a profes- sor in the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, with which he has been connected during the whole of his professional life. Beginning with the lowest grade, he studied the principles of deaf-mute instruction through a class- room experience covering twenty years, passing through all grades from the primary to the academic.
He became especially interested in teaching articulation and lip- reading, and in 1878 was appointed professor in charge of the de- partment of articulation, lip-reading, and aural development. His experiments in connection with the training of hearing of the par- tially deaf brought forward important results, among which was the invention, in 1884, of a duplex conical hearing-tube which has proved of great value. On the subject of defective hearing and its improvement he is considered an authority, and at the present time he fills the position of chairman of the Aural Section in the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf.
In January, 1893, he was elected to succeed the late Dr. Isaac Lewis Peet as principal of the institution, and the manner in which he has conducted the affairs of the school has fulfilled the expectations of his supporters. The number of students has in- creased, and the reputation of the school has risen, and now may challenge comparison with any school of its kind in the world. Under Mr. Currier's broad policy the institution offers to the intelligent deaf child, of whatever condition, all possible facilities for acquiring an education, both mental and manual, that will prepare him for the duties of life, and make him a useful and a productive citizen.
In his course of instruction the kindergarten, introduced in 1893, is the first step, and is followed by primary, intermediate, grammar, and academic grades, in the latter of which the stan- dard meets that of the high school for normal youth. A finely equipped gymnasium, under the direction of a thoroughly com- petent instructor, offers the means of physical culture, with the
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result of improving health and increasing the strength of pupils of both sexes, and strengthening the lungs for articulation work. In 1894 a system of special gymnastic training was introduced as a foundation for speech-training to the deaf.
Perhaps the most important innovation, one which renders Mr. Currier's school unique in its class, is the military drill which is a regular part of the daily routine for the boys, who are formed into a battalion of four companies, uniformed in cadet gray, and fully equipped for all the requirements of military drill. The department of manual training is very complete, and includes a thorough course in floriculture.
A careful student of all subjects relating to his profession, Mr. Currier has written several books, among them being "Aural Development," "New Aids to Hearing," and "The Manual Alphabet in the Public Schools," as well as exhaustive discus- sions in the annual reports of the New York Institution on themes relating to the education of the deaf.
Mr. Currier is a man in the prime of life, cheerful, genial, and active. Deeply interested in his work, nothing which pertains to its useful practice is, in his estimation, too small to deserve attention. Consequently his system is broadly eclectic. A scholar and a gentleman, he exhibits the strong, clear intellec- tual powers which are necessary to the position he so ably fills.
He is a member of the Manhattan and the Heights clubs, the National Educational Association, the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, and the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf, being chairman of the Aural Section. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum, is a trustee of the Church Mission to Deaf-mutes, and is a member of the standing committee of the Gallaudet Home for Aged and Infirm Deaf- mutes.
Mr. Currier was married, on July 2, 1878, to Miss Charlotte Amelia Lewis of Oxford, New York. They have no children.
He is also a member of Benevolent Lodge No. 28, Free and Accepted Masons, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Consistory of New York, thirty-second degree, Mecca Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and first vice-president of the Howard Investment Com- pany, of Duluth, Minnesota.
GEORGE MILTON CURTIS
THE name of George Milton Curtis inevitably suggests New England origin, and before that at least some measure of British ancestry. The name of his father, Beriah Curtis, is char- acteristically that of a New-Englander. The forebears of the elder Curtis came, however, from Ireland, being doubtless of Irish-British blood. Turning to the maternal side, the maiden name of his mother is found to have been Lydia Massena Denye Hunter, a name savoring of various nationalities. In fact, Mrs. Curtis was of mixed Scotch and Italian ancestry. But the home of the Curtises was in New England, and in the typically Yankee city of Worcester, Massachusetts.
It was there that George Milton Curtis was born, on June 20, 1840. Worcester is a center of education and culture, as well as of industry, and its advantages were well improved by the boy. He studied at the excellent local schools, at the Worcester High School, and then at the Baptist Academy in the same city. In the last-named institution he was preparing himself to enter col- lege when the Civil War broke out. The patriotic spirit that animated Massachusetts quickly seized upon him, and he laid down his books to take up a rifle. He enlisted as a private in the Third Battalion of Rifles, under the command of Major Devens.
Mr. Curtis had a creditable but brief career in the army, and then returned to his studies. He did not, however, resume his college preparatory work. On the contrary, he began the study of law under the Hon. John W. Ashmead, and made so rapid progress that he was able to pass his examination and be admit- ted to practice at the bar of New York at the General Term of the Supreme Court in November, 1862. It may be added that
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while studying law he maintained himself and paid all his ex- penses by doing newspaper work as a reporter, and by contrib- uting articles to legal, medical, and literary periodicals. In this way he developed a good literary style, which has been charac- teristic of all his writings since.
Soon after his admission to the bar Mr. Curtis made his entry into political life. It is indeed a notable record that the youth who was a student in 1860 became a soldier in 1861, a lawyer in 1862, and a lawmaker in 1863; for he was elected a member of the New York State Assembly in 1863, one of the youngest men ever seated in that body. Despite his youth, he quickly made his mark there. He delivered an impassioned defense of Gov- ernor Seymour, which has become almost a classic of political eloquence. He was reelected for a second term, and in that term delivered a speech upon the subject of a health bill which at- tracted the attention of the entire State, and, indeed, of many in other parts of the nation.
In 1865 Mr. Curtis retired from what bade fair to be a notable legislative career to become assistant corporation counsel of this city, in which office he showed himself to be a lawyer of more than ordinary attainments and acumen. So conspicuous did he become, in fact, that he was quickly marked as sure to receive promotion. Such promotion came to him in 1867, when he was elected to the bench of the marine court, since known as the city court. He was probably the youngest judge ever seated in New York, but his youth was found to be no bar to his useful- ness, and his judicial career was distinguished by learning, dig- nity, and impartial fairness.
At the end of his term upon the bench Mr. Curtis declined a renomination, preferring to resume his legal practice as an attorney and counselor. To that work he has devoted himself ever since with earnestness and more than average success. As a lawyer he has had a wide practice in more than one sense of the term. He has conducted cases in all parts of the Union and in all branches of the law. He is, however, especially well known as a trial lawyer and as a practitioner in will cases.
A few of the more important cases in which Mr. Curtis has acted may appropriately be recalled. Among them were the will cases of John Anderson and Maltby G. Lane, in which he
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was successful in getting the wills set aside. He was called into the famous Stewart will case, as counsel for the plaintiff, several days after the trial had begun. He was counsel in the Fair case, also, which was tried in California in 1897, and in it succeeded in winning the case for his client before the jury, though the court afterward interfered and gave a contrary decision. The case was promptly appealed by Mr. Curtis, on the ground that the court should not have given such a decision, but should have ordered another trial before another jury. His action in the Stetson dower case, his success in the Bouden Bauder and Sister Carmelita and other will cases, and his familiarity with all mat- ters pertaining to the laws of succession, have given him a unique reputation in that important branch of practice, and have won for him the sobriquet of " will-smasher."
Mr. Curtis is also remembered as the successful defender of Mr. Riddle, formerly president of the Penn Bank of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who was charged with wrecking that bank. He likewise succeeded in saving the life of Colonel Buford, who was tried for the murder of Chief Justice Elliot of Kentucky. He has, indeed, saved from the scaffold no less than thirty-eight per- sons in various parts of the country. He has tried cases in nine different States, and is said to be the only lawyer who ever got a jury to break a will in New York.
Other cases in which he was engaged were that of Dr. Helm- bold, involving important trade-mark rights, that of the Abys- sinian Baptist Church in this city, and that of Police Sergeant William O'Toole, who was charged with bribery. In the last- named case Mr. Curtis's demurrer was sustained by the court, and he was thus the only counsel in that series of trials who secured complete success for his client.
Mr. Curtis is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of various clubs and societies. He is fond of horses, and at one time, in partnership with John O'Donnell, owned one of the finest stables in America. The well-known race-horse " Judge Curtis " was named for him. Mr. Curtis has a son, George M. Curtis, Jr., who is a graduate of Yale University and a suc- cessful lawyer, connected with the office of ex-Lieutenant- Governor Sheehan. Like his father, he ranks high as a trial lawyer.
JOHN DANE, JR.
D R. JOHN DANE and his brother Francis came hither from England in 1636, and settled at Agawam, now Ips- wich, Massachusetts. John Dane was one of the foremost physicians and surgeons of his time, and Francis Dane was the second minister of Andover, Massachusetts, and was the leader in the opposition to the witchcraft persecutions of those days, which so disgraced the early history of the colony. A grandson of John Dane was the Hon. Nathan Dane, LL. D., who founded the Dane Law School of Harvard University, organized one of the first temperance societies in this country, and was the author of the famous ordinance for governing the Northwest Territory, forever prohibiting slavery therein. Another grandson of John Dane was the Hon. Joseph Dane of Maine. The Danes were, it may be added, descended from an eminent family of France, of which one member was Peter Dane, professor of Greek in the Royal College, preceptor of the Dauphin, afterward Francis II, a leading member of the Council of Trent, and Bishop of Lavan.
A direct descendant and namesake of Dr. John Dane, the sub- ject of this sketch, was born at Westford, Massachusetts, on September 22, 1835. After receiving an academic education he entered the law office of A. A. Webster of Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1859 he was admitted to practice at the bar of the State of Massachusetts, and thereafter to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, and other federal courts throughout the Union. In order to serve his clients most successfully and attain the highest standing in general commercial and patent liti- gation, Mr. Dane, after his admission to the bar, continued his studies in the most practical fashion in general commercialbusiness, engineering, construction of machinery, applied science, and prac-
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tical mechanics, receiving no less than five medals as tokens of his proficiency therein. Mr. Dane established offices in New York city in 1871, and since that date has been continually in the practice of his profession here, with patronage extending throughout the whole Union and into foreign lands. For the last quarter of a century he has been general counsel for a number of corporations, industrial and otherwise, located in various of the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, many of whom secure his services year after year. The labor entailed in the conduct of such a business is enormous. Mr. Dane is, however, a diligent and indefatigable worker, with an exceptional physical and intel- lectual capacity for prolonged and effective effort. As a rule he personally prepares and conducts every detail of the cases com- mitted to him. He has among his clients the reputation of never encouraging needless litigation, of exercising extreme care in giv- ing opinions, and of conducting cases with great thoroughness and skill when it is necessary to take them into court. He has settled by arbitration many important cases out of court to the entire satisfaction of all parties concerned. Of late years his practice has been almost altogether confined to the United States courts, in various parts of the country.
Mr. Dane was married, in 1860, to Miss Frances Whitney of Augusta, Maine. They have five children : Bertha Louisa, Charles Francis, Frederic Willis, Herbert Evelyn, and Clifford Franklin Dane. Charles Francis Dane is a practising member of the New York bar, and Herbert Evelyn is in the graduating class of the New York Law School. Mr. and Mrs. Dane occupy their fine house on Park Avenue in the winter, and during summers their home, " Hollywood," on Orange Mountain, New Jersey, where they have a charming house within one of the most per- fect private parks in America. Mr. Dane has a very large and valuable library of standard and special literature, comprising history, biography, travels, science, ancient and modern arts, dis- coveries and research, and a number of very rare costly volumes.
WESTMORELAND D. DAVIS
TE THE names of Davis and Morris are familiar to all readers of American history. In earlier and in later times they have been borne by men of eminence and of sterling worth, in various callings, and in various parts of the Union. Of the Davis family a distinguished branch was long ago settled in South Carolina, where its members played a conspicuous part in public affairs. In the last generation Thomas Gordon Davis was the head of that family, one of the leading lawyers of the State, and the son of a distinguished advocate. That portion of the Morris family which has been settled in Virginia from colonial times has for many generations been prominent for its wealth and social rank. In the last generation it was allied with the Davis family by the marriage of Thomas Gordon Davis, above mentioned, to Miss Anna Lewis Morris.
Westmoreland D. Davis was born to this couple in Paris, France, during their temporary residence in that city. He was brought home to the United States, however, to be educated, and was entered as a student in the Virginia Military Institute. Having completed its course with credit, he read law at the University of Virginia, and afterward took the course of the Columbia College Law School, in New York city, in order to qualify himself in the best manner for the practice of his profes- sion at the New York bar.
It was natural that he should take to this profession, seeing that his father and paternal grandfather had been engaged in it, and also, if heredity counts for much, it was to be expected that he would show marked ability therein, seeing the eminent suc- cess attained by his predecessors. The legal field of labor is always exacting. In New York city the competition is excep-
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tionally fierce, the law of the survival of the fittest prevails inexorably, and there is little chance of preferment for any who are not well equipped for the struggle. That Mr. Davis has, in these circumstances, attained an enviable place in the legal world, is an ample tribute to his inherited capabilities and his acquired equipment.
Mr. Davis has a large general practice with clients in all parts of the country. He is the legal representative of a number of large corporations, among them being some of the foremost insurance and transportation companies of New York. He has charge of a number of large private estates in New York and elsewhere. In the South, also, he has extensive business and professional interests. To all of these he gives most scrupulous personal attention, such as alone can satisfy the requirements of his clients, and serve his own professional and financial welfare.
With so large an array of business duties Mr. Davis has found no time to give to office-holding or other political labors, beyond the conscientious discharge of the duties of a citizen. He is in his political affiliations a stanch Democrat, though by no means an extreme partizan.
Mr. Davis's characteristic traits in professional life are deci- sion of character and unwavering devotion to duty. To these he adds admirable intellectual equipment, and the various other elements that make for success. Such qualities have gained for him, before the advent of his fortieth year, a well-recognized success, and a position of high esteem in the legal profession and in the social world, such as few attain, if at all, before reaching much more advanced years. With such attainment, however, he is not supinely content. It is to him merely an incentive to and a basis for further efforts and further achievements, of which the maturer years of the future offer high promise.
fill to destyday
JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER
B RIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER, M. F. S. N. Y., M. A., Lit. D., Ph. D., LL. D., brevet major- general of the State of New York by special act of the State Leg- islature, April 9-20, 1866, for "meritorious service rendered to the National Guard and to the United States prior to and during the Rebellion," and the only officer receiving such an honor from the State of New York, as well as the only officer in the United States thus breveted major-general; also military agent State of New York in Europe. in 1851-53, fully indorsed by the government in Washington-was born at No. 3 Broadway, New York city, on March 9, 1821, and is descended from two of the most distinguished families of colonial and provincial New York, de Peyster and Watts, as well as from others equally prominent and honorable.
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