USA > New York > Suffolk County > Portrait and biographical record of Suffolk county (Long Island) New York, Pt. 2 > Part 60
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Our subject was only a small child when his father brought him to this town, and here he spent his early life, remaining on the farm with his parents until he was twenty-eight. At that time he was married and purchased the farm which he now owns, making it his home to the present time. In 1891 he purchased what was then known as the Long Island Brick Company, and has managed the yards since that time, mak-
ing about two million brick a year. This is quite an extensive business, employing from twenty to twenty-five men, and is hardly equalled on the island. The plant is located on the banks of the sound, and has good landing, so that boats can load and ship direct to Connecticut, where the most of the product is taken. He also operates the farm in connection, and has done very well in all his business enterprises.
Our subject was married March 9, 1858, at West Neck, to Miss Mary B., daughter of Stephen and Martha Davis, of New York, and there have been born to them six children. Mary J. is the wife of Charles Lewis, a resident of this town; Sarah A. died at eighteen; Richard R. is a farmer in the town; Gilbert B. and Lawrence A. are still at home, while Clara is the wife of Nat Hendrick- son, a farmer in this town. Mr. Sammis is a Den- ocrat, but has never accepted any office.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Sammis are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he has been Trus- tee for many years. He now owns about five hundred and sixty acres in the farm, and sixty- two acres where the brick yard is established. The latter business represents most distinctively his own earnings, for he has been a very ener- getic, pushing and economical man all through life.
M ICHAEL T. BURKE, keeper of the light- house at Eaton's Neck, town of Hunting- ton, was born in New York City, Febri- ary 16, 1842, being the youngest of three cliil- dren comprising the family of Dennis and Eliza (McCarthy) Burke. His father, a native of Ire- land, was there reared and married, and thence emigrated to America in 1822, settling near Buz- zard's Bay in Massachusetts, where he was eni- ployed in a nail factory at Warcham for a few years. From that place he went to New York City and started a small factory of his own, con- ducting it until i839, when he sold out and went to New Orleans. After a sojourn of about one year in that southern city, he returned to New York, and continued to make that city his home
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until his death, which occurred in 1859, when he was sixty-seven years of age. His wife, who was also a native of Ireland, lived to a ripe old age, dying at the age of eighty-four years.
The subject of this sketch remained at home un- til he was nineteen, meantime learning the car- penter's trade. When the War of the Rebellion began, he enlisted in the Union army, and July 17, 1861, his name was enrolled as a member of Company I, Ninth New York State Militia, afterward known as the Eighty-third New York Volunteers. With his regiment he served in the Army of the Potomac, and was assigned for duty in the signal corps, September 10, 1861. At the battle of Gettysburg he was taken prisoner by the Confederates and held by them for six months on Belle Isle and for a similar period at Richmond. He was discharged from the service July 16, 1864, and returning to New York, began to work at the truck business, which he followed for several years. In 1874 he was appointed light- house keeper at Sandy Hook, which position he held for four years, and was then transferred to Eaton's Neck, where he has since remained. In this work he has been characterized by marked faithfulness and ability, during his twenty-one years' connection with the lighthouse service of the Government.
In 1869 Mr. Burke married Catherine Darsey, of this state. A strong Grand Army man, he organized the posts at Northport and New Brigh- ton, Richmond County. the latter in 1873. With the former he is now connected, being a member ยท of F. F. Meagher Post No. 88. Mr. Burke was Captain of Company A, Eighth Regiment, Na- tional Guard, State of New York, in the '7os, also First and Second Lieutenant at different times.
H ENRY EDEY has a charming home on Ocean Avenue, Amityville, which is the outward sign of his business prosperity. His interests in this latter direction are carried on at No. 56 Broadway, New York City, his opera- tions as a stock broker there being on a large
scale. Mr. Edey is a native of the metropolis, where he was born January 31, 1860, a son of Charles C. and Julia (Schenck) Edey.
Our subject received liis start in life under the most advantageous circumstances. After com- pleting the work in an excellent private school he was sent to an equally good boarding school, Graylock Institute, at North Adams, Mass. Dur- ing his academic course, which was of the most thorough character, he paid special attention to mathematics with a view of devoting himself to the study of navigation. At the age of eighteen he went on a sailing vessel to the Istlimus of Panama. The voyage lasted two months, and to those who are familiar with the routine of duty on this class of vessel it will not be surprising that it proved enough of the sea for the young man.
Mr. Edey, cured of his seafaring aspirations. took a position as clerk with a stock broker on Wall street. He remained with him for a year, and in that time made such good use of his op- portunities for observing the manners and meth- ods in Wall Street tactics that he felt himself com- petent to launch into business for himself. A firm comprising himself and brother, under the firm name of Edey Brothers, opened up for ope- rations in unlisted securities, following that line for about five years. They had started in an un- assuming way, but at the end of the period men- tioned were able to buy a seat in the Stock Ex- change, and there they have carried on a large business since. Their success will be better ap- preciated by the uninitiated when it is said that they paid $23,600 for said seat. The firm contin- ued operations under the name of Edey Brothers until 1890, when it was reorganized under the title of Charles Edey & Sons, the firm comprising our subject's father and his three sons.
Mr. Edey's father is an old resident of New York, where he was born and where he was en- gaged in the sugar business for about thirty years previous to liis present enterprise. Henry Edey, of this, sketch, was married November 26, 1889, since which time he has made his home in Amity- ville, althoughi Mr. Edey had lived in New York prior to that time.
It is a pleasure to state that our subject is
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independent in politics, that he recognizes that there is good and evil in both parties. As yet he has developed no political aspirations. Our sub- ject finds rather a unique amusement and recrea- tion in working at yacht building during his leis- ure time. He has had a shop built at his home, and here he materializes the knowledge which he has picked up of ship building into snug boats of most approved style of modeling. In the use of tools he is quite skillful. For him Great South Bay is the garden spot of the earth.
W ILLARD N. BAYLIS, a successful young lawyer of Huntington, with an office at No. 31 Nassau Street, New York, was born in this village, October 22, 1862, and is the son of Hiram and Ruth (Jarvis) Baylis. On both sides of the house our subject belongs to families which are among the oldest and most esteemed on Long Island. He was the second in a family of eight children, and at the time he was born his father was a farmer of moderate means. As his children grew up, he called upon them to render such help in the work of the farm as they could give, but his boys all received the advant- ages of the local high school, from which they were graduated, taking high rank in their respec- tive classes.
Our subject very early determined, however, that he had no love for a farmer's life, and decided also that he would gain an education that would fit him for a different vocation. As his father had not the means to help him in his desire for a high- er education, he made up his mind to win it for himself. In the fulfillment of this laudable am- bition he secured a clerkship in New York, and so faithful did he prove to the trusts imposed in him, that he rose from station to station, and was soon filling a responsible place in a large es- tablishment. He counted the pennies until they grew to dollars, and at the age of twenty-one years found himself in possession of the $1,000 that it had seemed necessary for him to have in order to perfect his legal education. He then entered the
law department of Union University, at Albany, from which he was graduated in 1888, with marked distinction, receiving the degree of LL .. B. Later he was received as a law student in the office of Judge Thomas Young, of this village. After a thoroughi preparation he was admitted to the bar and opened an office at his present loca- tion, No. 31 Nassau Street, New York, and began his professional life. It was not long before he was pitted against the ablest lawyers of the metropo- lis, and in the contest for superiority his diligence, logic and candor attracted very speedily the at- tention of the public. In these few short years Mr. Baylis has built up a practice estimated to be worth from $8,000 to $10,000 a year. He main- tains an office in his native village, spending one day a week at this place, and figures in many of the leading cases of the county. He is interested in many of the local business enterprises, and is considered one of the prominent and public-spir- ited citizens of the place.
Mr. Baylis was married on October 29, 1890, to Miss Kate Yates, of Schenectady, N. Y., with whom he became acquainted while a student at Albany, and two children have been born of this union, Jessica and Lester. His home is at No. 567 St. Mark's Avenue, Brooklyn, where he maintains a handsome home. He is a Mason, a member of the Royal Arcanum, and in politics is entirely independent, with no office-seeking aspirations. All his attention is given to the law, and here he seeks room on the top-most floor.
D ANIEL NELSON THOMAS is one of the well known farmers of Suffolk Count- ty, having made his home near Southoil for many years. His father, Seabury Thomas, who was born in Ledyard, Conn., August 5. 1802. was a farmer by occupation, and died in the latter place, December 30, 1873. The father of Sea- bury, Daniel Thomas, died in Ledyard, and his mother, Hannah Haley, who was born in Groton. Conn., died in Ledyard in November. 1847. She was the daughter of Caleb and Sarah Haley, botil
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of whom lived and died in Groton. The parental family included five children. Elisha is a farmer in Groton; Eliza is the wife of Isaac A. Bur- roughs, of Deposit; Daniel Nelson was the third child; Caleb H. is a trackman in Mystic, Conn., and Sarah M. is the wife of Capt. William Morgan, of Mystic.
Daniel Nelson Thomas, our subject, was born November 4, 1833, in Ledyard, Conn., where he was reared on his father's farm and where he lived until he had passed his nineteenth year. Then he began to work at the carpenter's and joiner's trade, which he followed for three years. He then decided that his first work in life was more attractive, and, returning to the farm, was engaged in its cultivation for eleven years. In Mystic, Conn., on the 30th of January, 1857, Miss Ellen, daughter of the late Asa Miner, became his wife. She was born at Mystic, which had been the home of her family for many years. Her parents were both born at Stonington, Conn., the former about the year 1811, and the latter in 1809. Her father died in California in the spring of 1858, and her mother died at the home of our subject, October 30, 1894, when she had reached the age of eighty-five. They were the parents of five children: Henry; Charles L., who died in October, 1894; Ellen; Benjamin, a chemist in Montague, Mass., and Frederick, a resident of Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are the parents of six children: Eliza MI. is the wife of F. W. Lyon, of Brooklyn: Annie L., the wife of Fletcher Ford- ham, of Greenport, was born August 10, 1861. Nellie first opened her eyes to the light January 30, 1867. Daniel Seabury was born August 30, 1869. R. Benjamin was born October 10, 1876, and Stewart, the youngest, was born October 26, 1879.
After going to Shelter Island with his family. Mr. Thomas was engaged in farming for seven years, and then purchased the farm where he now lives, in the town of Southold, about three miles east of the village. His farm embraces one hun- dred and twenty-five acres, and by systematic farming he has made it very productive. He has been a man of prominence in the community, and
liis voice has been influential in determining the direction of local affairs. In his political affilia- tions he is a Democrat, and in religion is a Bap- tist, both he and his wife being menibers of the local church of that denomination. He has held local offices in the town, whose duties he has discharged with the same faithfulness and abil- ity that he has applied to his own affairs.
E DWARD DAYTON comes of a family about which it is a pleasure to write. Gen- erations come and go, but the family holds its own location in the midst of scenes and ex- periences that endear the homestead to many hearts and minds, and it is still known and hon- ored throughout this county. So the Daytons have long lived and labored, and made their name honorable. Edward Dayton was born in the town of East Hampton, on the farm where he now lives, November 29, 1821. He was the son of John T., the grandson of Josiah, and the great- grandson of that Capt. John Dayton, who played a distinguished and honorable part in the War of the Revolution, and whose military worth was recognized by appointment as captain in the mili- tia service after peace had spread her wings over all the land. The mother of our subject, known in maidenhood as Cynthia Hand, lived in Albany. The parental family included two children. Our subject's only brother, John, died in 1884.
In 1819 the father settled on our subject's pres- ent farm, remaining here until he died in 1875, at the age of eighty years. He also had patri- otic blood in his veins, having served in the American army during the second struggle for independence, the War of 1812. He was a man of some local prominence, having been Master and Overseer of the Poor. In early life he had
taken part with the Whigs, but upon the organ- ization of the Republican party he was very soon found in its ranks. He was actively identified with the Presbyterian Church, of which organiza- tion he was a member. His remains are now at rest in the cemetery at East Hampton.
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Edward Dayton was married in 1842 to Miss Betsy E. Hedges and they became the parents of five children, Rose, Edward, Nathan, Josiah . and Nellie, all of whom are still living. Mr. Day- ton was always found at home with his father, and soon after his marriage assumed control of the old homestead, which comprises about one hun- dred acres in a fine and highly cultivated state. He owns in all about three hundred acres, and holds the proud position of an independent far- mer, a position which he has won not by luck or chance, but by pluck, hard work and good sense. He has accomplished a large success by sticking closely to the farm and shunning all schemes for fortunes made in an hour. In local affairs he has been of some prominence, having held the positions of Trustee, Commissioner and Assessor. Religiously he is a member of the Presbyterian Church. As a boy he did not have many ad- vantages, but improved the opportunity of the country school, and finished his school days at Clinton Academy. His life has been largely suc- cessful, and he owns his farm, commands the respect of his neighbors, and is passing a serene old age, with a comforting sense of the nearness and the love of Almighty God.
O RVILLE B. ACKERLY, a former prominent citizen of Riverhead, was born at Patchogue, in Suffolk County, February 7, 1842, being the oldest son of Sammuel and Charlotte (Burnell) Ackerly. (For a portion of the early history of this family see the sketch of his brother, C. B. Ackerly, on another page.) The early education of the subject of this sketch was obtained in tlie district schools of Patchogue and at Bellport Academy. At the age of seventeen he . was a clerk in the store of Terry & Wood at Say- ville, and when, in 1864, John Wood, of that firm, was elected clerk of Suffolk County he selected Mr. Ackerly as his deputy. This position he re- tained for two terms, and in 1867 was a candidate for the place himself, but was defeated by Stephen C. Rogers.
Mr. Ackerly then forined a partnership with Nat W. Foster and engaged in mercantile bilsi- ness in Riverhead for three years, when the part- nership was dissolved and our subject was once more called to the position of deputy county clerk under George C. Campbell. He filled that posi- tion from 1871 to 1876, when he was again a cant- didate for the office on the Republican ticket, and was elected. He was re-elected in 1879, and held the office until the end of 1882. His majority vi over eighteen hundred was more than three times that of the regular ticket in the county. His friends speak of him as having been, up to that period, the most efficient county clerk the county had ever had, and possessed of a remarkable faculty for remembering names, titles and his- torical matters relating to Suffolk County. He i- known as a man of broad ideas on business and financial matters. During his residence in River- head he was considerably interested in the cause of education, serving for several years as a men- ber of the Board of Education. He was always ready to aid everything calculated to promote public enterprises and benefit the community.
When the Riverhead Savings Bank was start- ed in a small way in the office of the late Dr. R. H. Benjamin our subject was active in its organ- ization and was made its secretary, remaining in that position until he resigned in favor of his brother, C. B., who has continued in that capacity to the present time. While Mr. Ackerly con- tinued a resident of Suffolk County he took an active interest in its affairs. Those who knew him well state that but few men had more friends in the limits of this county than our subject. He is still connected with the Suffolk County Histori- cal Society, of which he is corresponding secre- tary. Soon after he retired from the office .i County Clerk in 1883 he moved to New York. and now has an office at No. 115 Broadway, where he has become largely interested in the real estate business, especially in Long Isiand property
In 1866 Mr. Ackerly married Miss Ione Downs. daughter of John Downs, of Aquebogne. in 1874 she and their three little girls, Faith. R ... and Belle, all died, within fourteen days, of the dreaded disease diphtheria. This was the hard
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est blow that Mr. Ackerly has experienced. In 1877 he married Mrs. Maria K. Boyer, widow cf Dr. Samuel Boyer and daughter of the late Nathan Corwin. She lived only two years, dying November 13, 1879, leaving no children. In 1883 he married Miss Carrie P. Bailey, daughter of William N. Bailey, of Yonkers. Mr. and Mrs. Ackerly are the parents of three children, Alice, George M. B. and O. Burnell, Jr. The family now reside at Yonkers, where they have a pleasant home. For many years Mr. Ackerly has been a member of the Congregational Church, and has also been a Mason since 1866. Politically he has always been a stanch Republican and for years exercised a potential influence in the ranks of his party in Suffolk County.
F RANK S. CANTRELL, of Kings Park, is one of the influential citizens of the county. His life has been an eventful one, and has had its reverses and successes, its hardships and triumphs. Through extensive travel, both in this country and in the lands of the Old World, he has acquired a breadth of culture and information that can be gained in no other way. Financial success has rewarded his efforts, but, though the necessity for exertion no longer exists, he dis- plays the same energy and perseverance that has characterized him from youth.
Born in New York City April 29, 1845, the sub- ject of this sketch is a son of Samuel and Mary A. (Powell) Cantrell, natives respectively of Ireland and Commnack. The grandfather, Rev. John Peter Cantrell, was an Episcopalian minister in Ireland, whence he brought his family to this country and settled in Savannah, Ga., at a time when Samuel was a child of one year. Soon afterward the grandfather died, and his widow moved with lier children to the city of New York, where, having some means, she purchased a home on Broadway, where the Chemical Bank now stands.
Reared to manhood in the metropolis, Samuel Cantrell was for fifty years one of the leading slioe
dealers of the city, having a large wholesale and retail trade. His residence was in the Seven- teenth Ward, of which he was one of the most prominent men. At different times positions of trust were offered him, including the nomination for Congress, but these he invariably refused. He was one of the original stockholders of the New York "Sun." The business of which he was the founder is still conducted by his son, George Cantrell, on Twenty-third Street. He passed away at his home in 1877. His wife survived him for some years, dying in Huntington in June, 1895.
The parental family consists of three sons and two daughters, all living, of whom Frank S. is second. He was reared in New York City, and was the recipient of an academic education. In 1860 he entered the United States Naval Acad- emy at Annapolis, Md., where he remained two years. He then went to Louisville, Ky., and en- tering the ranks of the Army of the Cumberland, served in the campaigns in Georgia and Louis- iana, after which he went to Washington and was connected with the Paymaster General's office un- til the close of the war. Afterward he took a pros- pecting tour to Texas, and a year later went to Michigan, where he began to work in an iron fur- nace in Groton, in which his father had an inter- est. In that place he remained until 1869, when, in company with an old miner, he went on a pros- pecting tour to the West, going by rail to Car- son, the terminus of the railroad, and thence jour- neying to Las Cruces, N. M. He and five com- rades were the first party of white men to camp on the present site of Silver City. One of the number being taken sick there, Mr. Cantrell re- turned with him to Las Cruces and there left liimn. He then started out alone for California, a dis- tance of fifteen hundred miles. On reaching Tuc- son he engaged with a freighting company and spent one year at, Florence, on the Gila River, trading with the Indians.
From Florence Mr. Cantrell made his way to Ft. Yuma, at the mouth of the Colorado River, from which place he crossed to San Diego. His money being exhausted, he sold liis rifle for pas- sage to San Francisco, as his pony had given out
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in crossing the sand plains. He finally arrived in San Francisco with a capital of fifty cents. How- ever, he soon secured work, and for a time was conductor in the employ of the street railway company, after which he was given a position in the Treasurer's office. By that time he had be- come homesick, and having seen enough of the West to satisfy him, he returned home, in spite of the urging of his friends in San Francisco to re- main there.
Arriving in New York, Mr. Cantrell soon se- cured a position as head bookkeeper and cashier for the "New York Sun," under Charles Dana. After one year there, he became head bookkeeper for a large grocery house, but owing to ill health he was obliged to seek a change of climate. He purchased a plantation of five hundred acres near Chattanooga, Tenn., where he spent two years, and while there intro- duced the first good horses that had been in that locality since the war. Leaving the place in charge of a cousin, he went to Cincinnati, and engaged in the machinery business for two years. His next scene of activity was Jamaica, where he engaged in the fruit trade for two years, making his home in Kingston, and shipping the products to Eastern markets. From Jamaica he went to Florida, where he spent a year, then returned to New York City. Shortly after this he made a tour of Europe, visiting different places of interest in the Old World. On coming back to this coun- try he visited the Western states and territories and British Columbia, making a tour of the Pa- cific Coast as far south as Central America, then crossing the Isthmus and returning to New York via the Atlantic. Soon afterward he again went to Europe, visiting Holland, France and England, and on his return again went West, making a tour of Arizona, on the sandy plains of which he had lost his pony years before.
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