USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 39
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was also taking lessons in drawing from Mr. Brown, and before returning home asked permission of his master to make a me- dallion relief of him. As he was leaving the studio to obtain the necessary clay for the work, Mr. Brown called after him: "Send twice the quantity, John, I want to try it myself." The clay came, and Mr. Brown began a female head, and went to his dinner. On his return he found Mr. Whetstone standing before it in silence, who, when asked what he thought of it, replied: "Mr. Brown, if you finish that as well as it is begun, it will be the best head modeled in Cincin- nati." It was thought to look like a Miss Dean who lived near, and she became the model for its completion. Gradually modeling took the place of painting in his heart as well as in his studio, until paint- ing became the recreation, in which he indulged only occasionally, for it was never entirely given up. In 1838 he returned to New Eng- land after a very severe illness of fever and ague, contracted while on the survey in the bottom lands of Illinois, when he narrowly es- caped death. In the Autumn of 1839 he was married to Lydia Louisa, eldest daughter of Hon. James Udall, of Hartford, Vt., and opened a studio in Boston. He mod- eled a bust there of Bishop Pot- ter, of New York, which resulted in his moving to Troy and then to Albany, where he modeled many busts; among them were portraits of Dr. Eliphalet Nott, of Union Col- lege; the Rev. William B. Sprague, Erastus Corning, Governor Seward and ex-Governor Marcy. In July, 1842, he went to Europe, going almost immediately to Florence, where he lived a year. The re- mainder of his stay abroad was in Rome and Naples. His important works of that period are a statue of Ruth and a group of a Boy and Dog in the Historical Library, New York; statue of Rebecca for Mr. Spenser, of New York, and a statue of David, which he destroyed, al- though it was then his best work. A replica of the Ruth statue is also in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was untiring in his studies, and made a careful drawing from the antique nearly every day. He re- turned to America in August, 1846, and established himself in New York. He was at once made a mem- - K-N-CO ber of the Sketch Club, which after- ward became the Century Club. Among his works of this time are busts of Dr. Willard Parker and William Cullen Bryant. In 1848 he went to Michigan to study the Indians at Mackinac, and made colored drawings and small modeled heads. He received orders for these in bronze which, with other work he was then doing, made bronze casting a necessity. As there was no one in this country who could do such work, he ob- tained skilled men from Paris, and the first artistic bronze casting in America was done in his studio, which he had that year built in Brooklyn. Bronze casting soon grew to be a work of too great mag- nitude, so he transferred the whole of it with his men to Mr. Ames, of Chicopee, Mass., in whose establishment some of his succeeding works were cast.
In 1849 he modeled a relief of President Taylor for the Indian medal. In 1850 an Indian fighting a panther, and a filatrice, both of statuette size. In 1851 he was made a member of the National Acad- emy of Design, and in 1852 his colossal statue of De Witt Clinton with its two bas-reliefs was cast in bronze and placed in Greenwood Cem- etery. Then followed the equestrian statue of General Washington which, in 1854, was erected in Union Square, New York. In April,
HENRY KIRKE BROWN.
1854, he was elected member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts. About this time he modeled a figure of the Resurrection for Pittsburgh. In 1858 he was elected member of the Board of Management of Wash- ington Art Association.
May 18, 1859, he was appointed by the President, United States Art Commissioner, associated with J. F. Kenset, of New York, and J. R. Lamdin, of Philadelphia. He became chairman of the commission, and on him devolved the writing of the report on the art decoration of the National Capitol building and grounds. The report was and is considered an authority on the subject, and many suggestions in it have been carried out. The commission was short-lived on account of the civil war, but its educating influence is felt and seen to-day. About 1858 he was commissioned by the State of South Carolina to make the sculpture for the new State House then in progress of con- struction. His principal work there was a pediment for the building, the central figure of which was of colossal size. When the war broke out that was nearly cut in marble, other figures were in plaster and some were being modeled. Among the finished works which were placed on the building and which still adorn it were some decorative eagles in relief. On the ground back of them were fifteen stars, symbols of the fifteen states which were then ex- pected to constitute the confederacy. That great building, ostensibly for the use of the State, was to be the capitol of the new republic. Some photographs of this work are yet ex- tant, in which two stars are obliter- ated by India ink so as to read thir- teen, and thus their real meaning is hidden behind the national senti- ment. Those who knew Mr. Brown will remember he was not afraid to express his opinions, and he had always resolutely set his face against the institution of slavery. Although much beloved and respected by the Southern people among whom he lived, he found his position there anything but pleasant toward the last, and gradually withdrew within his studio and house, as the storm gathered. Nearly all the skilled workmen and mechanics on the building were from the North, and after the death of John Brown they gradually left their work to go home. Just before the breaking out of the war one of their number gave utterances to some anti-slavery sentiments. As a punishment for it he was tarred and feathered and paraded through the streets of Columbia. In three days not a man was at work, and the yards which had been so full of busy life were empty and silent. Mr. Brown remained at his post and his work until after the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The State treasury was much de- pleted, and with difficulty was he able to get enough money to go home. At last he, his wife and assistant, Mr. Mundy, turned their faces homeward, and in every State they traveled through they were obliged to get new passports. He arrived in New York with a five- dollar gold piece in his pocket, so that the three years'work in South Carolina was practically unpaid for, and when Sherman's army bon- barded Columbia, his artillery was turned on the old capitol building attached to which was Mr. Brown's studio. Not only did Mr. Brown lose his three years' work, but his health was much impaired by being thrown from a carriage and run over by a heavy wagon, and also by being severely poisoned by eating of a dish intended for the mistress of the house in which they lived. It was probably due to this latter cause that he became temporarily blind, and then temporarily deaf.
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In 1856, while his studio was yet in Brooklyn, he bought the little place in Newburgh, and during his life in the South he passed much of his Summers here, and on his return in 1861 heretired to this quiet conn- try seat to regain his health.
The remainder of Mr. Brown's life was passed in Newburgh, and it is during this period that the greater number of his works were exe- cuted. It was not however until 1865 that he was well enough to work, when he accepted a commission from the State of Rhode Island to make a statue of General Nathanael Greene to be presented to the National Gallery. At Mr. Brown's suggestion Congress had passed a bill inviting each State to contribute two statues of its great men to be placed in the old Hall of Representatives, thus appropriat- ing its use as a National Gallery. Rhode Island was the first State to answer the invitation with the statue of General Greene. His re- maining great works are in chronological order as follows: Statue of George W. Bethune, D. D., placed in Packer Institute, Brooklyn; statue of Abraham Lincoln, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn; Abraham Lincoln, Union Square, New York; equestrian statue of General Win- field Scott for the United States, in Washington, D. C .; statue of General George Clinton for the State of New York; statue of Richard Stockton for the State of New Jersey; statue of General Phillip Kearny for the State of New Jersey, all three in the National Gallery in Wash- ington. There is also a cast of the General Kearny in Military Square, Newark, N. J .; and the equestrian statue of General Greene for the Government in Washington, D. C. In 1876 he was member of the jury of selection of works of art for the Centennial Exposition. His last executed work is the figure of the Resurrection for Mrs. Burton's monument in Cedar Hill Cemetery, near Newburgh. He had chosen the text " Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen." He pronounced his work complete only a day or two before the death of his beloved wife, so the theme had an additional impressiveness. Soon after this his own health began to fail, but his one remaining object in life was to make an appropriate monument to the memory of his departed companion. He chose as his subject a pilgrim with scallop shell, but his failing strength did not permit him to finish this work. Those who remember Mrs. Brown know how appropriate to her self-sacrificing life is the ideal pilgrim, and in its way her ability was not less than his. Brooklyn, as well as Newburgh, is to day benefitted by the charity organizations in the forming of which she was one of the principal moving spirits. On July 10, 1886, Mr. Brown died, and his body was laid at rest beside that of his wife in Cedar Hill Cemetery. It is to be re- gretted that he could not finish the monument to her, as was his earnest wish, and strange as it may seem, during his last years, he many times requested of his nephew that his should be an unmarked grave, preferring, one would suppose, that he should be known by his works only.
HON. ENOCH L. FANCHER, LL. D. Almost daily from June to November Judge Fancher is seen in the streets of Newburgh. This has been his habit for thirty years past, during which he has has had a dual residence-one in the City of New York, the other at " Elfwood " in the Town of New Windsor, three miles and a half south of Newburgh. Four months of the year liis post-office address is Newburgh, the other eight months at his city residence, No. 141 Madison Avenue, New York, and at his law office, No. 229 Broad- way, New York City.
The prefix to his name comes from his former position as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, he having been ap- pointed to that office by the late Governor John T. Hoffman to fill the unexpired term of George G. Barnard, who was impeached by the Senate. After filling that vacancy he was nominated by the Re- publicans of the City of New York for a further term of fourteen years, and came within a few votes of election, but the power of Tammany Hall was sufficient to elect its candidate. Thereupon Gov- ernor Dix nominated him as Arbitrator of the newly erected Court of Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and the Senate confirmed the nomination.
For a number of years there was much business before the new court, and important controversies were there decided, as appear by
numerous decisions and opinions of Judge Fancher printed in the Re- ports of the Chamber. No costs or fees were by the law allowed to attorneys or counsel in that court, and for that reason especially, and because by amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure arbitrations were placed on a new footing, so that a review of the decisions could be had, the Court of Arbitration has little business before it except what arises among the shipping merchants of the port of New York. Judge Fancher is therefore chiefly engaged in the practice of his pro- fession as a lawyer in the City of New York. Several years ago the Wesleyan University, of Middletown, Conn., conferred on him the degree of LL. D., honoris causa.
He is and for some years past has been president of the American Bible Society, a life office; also president of the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, a vice-president of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a life member of the New England Society, and a member of the Union League Club of New York. From early life he has been a conspicuous lay
HON. ENOCH L. FANCHER.
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was one of the ten commissioners-five from the South and five from the North-who met at Cape May in 1876 to settle on some basis of fraternal union between the two branches of the Methodist Church, which had been divided by the civil war. A declaration was agreed upon by these commissioners, which was eventually accepted by both North and South. There was only one protest, and it was made by the Central New York Conference. This led to the publication by Judge Fancher of a pamphlet on Methodist Fraternity, which was so timely and written in such a happy vein that it did much towards re- storing harmony between the two bodies.
Were he not a lawyer, judge and arbitrator, the subject of our sketch would have distinguished himself as an author or journalist. He has written a number of articles for leading periodicals. The Quarterly Review published an essay of his on the " Obligations of Society to the Common Law," which attracted much attention. His articles on " Education," " College Honors," " Human Progress," and " Wonders of Written Languages," were of such exceptional merit as
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to be copied by the daily press of the country. A little work by him, entitled "The American Republic and its Constitutional Govern- ment," should be made a a text book in our col- leges. It is the most terse as well as exhaustive compendium of our sys- tem of law and govern- ment.
the city; his brother continued on the home place. Charles con- tinued in the nursery business thirty years, and became the foremost pomologist of the United States.
" ELFWOOD "-THE RESIDENCE OF HON. ENOCH L. FANCHER-New Windsor.
CHARLES DOWN- ING, horticulturist, was born in Newburgh, July 9, 1802, and died in New- burgh, January 18, 1885. His father (Samnel) and mother were both natives of Lexington, Mass., and upon their marriage moved from Cambridge to Newburgh, and hence to Montgomery, the father intending to pur- sue his trade of carriage maker at that place. But owing to his ill health there he returned to Newburgh, and about the beginning of the present century established a shop for the manufacture of wagons, on the northeast corner of Broad and Liberty Streets. Within a few years he abandoned the trade to become a nurseryman. Although not the first to engage in the nursery business in the County of Orange, he was the first to conduct it so successfully as to secure its contini- ance. He died November 1, 1822. His wife, Eunice, died October 29, 1838, leaving fonr children, namely, Emily, born 1801, married Sylvester Ferry, died 1864; Charles; George W., born 1804, died 1846; Andrew J., born 1815, died 1852.
CHARLES DOWNING.
to a large degree devolved upon him. When Andrew J. reached adult years he united with his brother in the management and control of the business under the firm name of C. & A. J. Downing. The business connection continued for a few years only. In 1837 Charles removed to where Alfred Bridgeman now resides, on the outskirts of
The early life of Charles Downing was passed under the careful training of his father in the nursery business, and in attendance upon the common schools of his day. Before he had at- tained his majority his father died, and the responsibility of conducting the bus- iness, and the sup- port of the family,
Naturally of a pene- trating and enquiring mind, he studied closely the forms, varieties and qualities of the different fruits that came under his observation, and by careful investigation, ex- perimenting and proving, he was enabled to im- prove many varieties of fruits and originate others, some of which bear his name to this day. The later years of his life were passed at his later residence at the southeast corner of Chambers and South Streets, where, relieved of business cares, he was free to pursue his pomo- logical investigations and literary work with even greater assiduity than in former years, when his fame was overshadowed by that of his brother, Andrew J., who as a writer on landscape gardening and rural architecture, as well as associate editor of the Horticulturist, secured a reputation that was not confined to the country of his nativity.
Charles had delighted more in the cultivation, study and growth of those things of which his brother wrote; but in the latter part of his life he became a regular contributor to periodicals, and twice revised " The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," originally written by his brother, and after the last revis- ion added two ap- pendices, contain- ing new fruits, cor- rections, etc., mak- ing the whole work twice the original size. This great work has passed through many edi- tions, and become a classic, and is re- garded as the high- est authority on the subjects of which it treats. In his chosen field he ANDREW J. DOWNING, became renowned; from all parts of the land his advice and judgment were sought, and fruits sent to him to prove their nomenclature and characteristics. Thus were his last and best years passed in peaceful home life, and in the companionship of a few kindred spirits. Since he started in life, Newburgh has become the center of a great fruit-growing dis-
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trict. which has produced men who have earned distinction in this field, all of whom looked to Downing as a master.
RESIDENCE OF HENRY DUDLEY-Balmville.
Mr. Downing was married September 20, 1830, to Mary, daughter of Samuel Wait, of Montgomery, N. Y., but no children were born of the union. Mrs. Downing died October 18, 1880.
ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING was born in Newburgh on the spot where he always lived, and which he always loved more than any other, October 30, 1815. From an early age his tastes were directed to horticulture, botany and the natural sciences, which the occupation of his father, a nurseryman, gave him opportunities to cultivate. His education was acquired chiefly at the academy of the neighboring village of Montgomery. At the age of sixteen he joined his brother Charles in the management of the nursery, and began a course of self-education. He formed the acquaintance of Baron de Liderer, the Austrian consul-general, and other gentlemen of the neighborhood, whose fine estates he visited, cultivating his taste for landscape gardening, and studying the forms and varieties of plant life. In June, 1838, he married the daughter of John Peter De Wint, of Fishkill, and in that year built a beautiful mansion upon his estate in the Elizabethan style, which was the first practical illustration of what an American rural home might be. His career as an author began with the publication of the " Treatise and Practice of Land- scape Gardening adapted to North America, with a view to the Im- provement of Country Residences, with Remarks on Rural Architect- ure " (1841). This book passed into instant popularity, and became invaluable to the thousands in every part of the country who were waiting for the master-word which should tell them what to do to make their homes as beautiful as they wished, and orders for the construction of houses and decoration of grounds followed the orders for copies of the book to his publishers. His " Cottage Residences " (1842) was received with equal favor, and established him as the chief American authority on rural art. "The Fruits and Fruit-trees of America " was printed simultaneously in London and New York in 1845, and a second edition, with colored plates, in 1850. In 1846 Mr. Downing became connected with the Horticulturist, for which he wrote an essay each month till his death. In 1849 he wrote " Addi- tional Notes and Hints about Building in the Country," for an Amer- ican reprint of Wightwick's " Hints to Young Architects." The Sum-
mer of 1850 he spent in England, visiting the great country-seats, of which he wrote descriptions, and in that year published his " Archi- tecture of Country Houses." His remaining work is an edition of Mrs. Loudon's "Landscape-garden- ing for Ladies." In 1851 he was commissioned to lay out and plant the public grounds of the Capitol, the White House and the Smithsonian buildings at Wash- ington. He was employed in these and other profes- sional labors, when he set out for Newport, leaving Newburgh on the 28th of July, 1852, in the steamer Henry Clay. The boat entered into a contest with the Armenia, and when near Yonkers was discovered to be on fire. Mr. Downing perished in his efforts to save other passengers. His "Rural Essays " were collected and published in 1853, with a memoir by George William Curtis, and a " Letter to his Friends," by Frederika Bremer, who was Mr. Downing's guest during a portion of her visit to the United States, and an enthusiastic admirer of the man and his works.
HENRY DUDLEY, A. M., was born in the City of New York in 1837. After going to school in Poughkeepsie and in Europe, he was graduated from Columbia College, and after continuing his studies received the degree of A. M. In 1868, shortly after his marriage to Miss Anna Fellows, he came to Newburgh to reside. All his children were born in the old homestead, and he has been interested and identified with this city since that time. For many years he has been a vestryman of St. George's Church, and assisted in looking after its welfare. He has served for three terms as School Trustee of the town, and has represented the city and town in the Board of Manage-
M/ N.CO
HENRY DUDLEY.
ment of the House of Refuge, of which institution he has for the past four years been Treasurer. He was largely interested in the forma-
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tion of the societies for the prevention of cruelty to both children and animals, having been vice-president of the former and president for several years of the latter. He aided in establishing the Edison Elec- tric Illuminating Co. Since the death, in 18So, of his wife he has de- voted himself to his family and to church and charitable work.
HALSEY R. STEVENS was born at Enfield, Grafton County, N. H., February 22, 1800. His father, Moses Stevens, was a farmer of that State. His mother, Sally Cass, was a relative of General Lewis Cass. Though possessing only such advantages as were af- forded by the irregularly maintained district schools of the period, Mr. Stevens made such good use of his time and of the few books that came in his way as to be qualified at the age of sixteen to take charge of one of the common schools in his neighborhood, teaching during the Winter, and at other seasons aid- ing his father in the management of his farm. Hav- ing attained his majority he con- tinued his agricul- tural labors for several years, at the same time de- voting all his inter- vals of leisure to the ever-congenial occupation of study. He removed HALSEY R. STEVENS. from Enfield to Lebanon, N. H., in 1824. A residence in this place, from its comparative vicinity to Dartmouth College, brought Mr. Stevens in contact with the professors of that institution, and resulted in his being elected an honorary member of the college literary societies. Soon after his removal to this place he engaged as clerk in the store of James Willis, becoming his partner in 1828; and subsequently purchasing the interest of Mr. Willis. In 1834 he was appointed Postmaster of East Lebanon, and about the same time was made Justice of the Peace. In 1835, 1836 and 1837 he was a member of the Legis- lature, each term being chairman of important committees. In 1851 he withdrew from his business associations in Lebanon and, removing to Newburgh, connected himself with Homer Rams- dell and David Moore in the lumber trade of Newburgh, and the manufacture of lumber at Wellsville, Alleghany County, N. Y., hav- ing previously as a member of the firm of H. R. Stevens & Co. pur- chased large tracts of timber land in that region. This and similar business associations continued till 1858, when he and Mr. Moore pur- chased the interest of several firms in which he was a partner, and formed a new partnership styled David Moore & Co. This partner- ship continued till Mr. Moore's death, and a year later Mr. Stevens re- tired, and was succeeded by his son Elbridge Gerry Stevens, who still carries on the business. Mr. Stevens was a Village Trustee in 1857, 1858 and 1859. In 1863 he was elected a Director of the Highland Bank. The various occupations of his life, whether mercantile, judicial or legislative, did not interrupt his ardent pursuit of knowl- edge. He was a life-long student, and in his later years his intellect- ual labors assumed the form of literary and scientific investigations, which resulted in the honors of authorship. He published " Scripture Speculations" (1875) and " Faith and Reason" (1879); both works have
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