USA > New York > New York City > Prominent families of New York; being an account in biographical form of individuals and families distinguished as representatives of the social, professional and civic life of New York city > Part 105
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
624
CHARLES ALBERT WHITTIER
S EVERAL families bearing the name of Whittier, Witcher and Whitcher can trace their descent to the earliest Colonial period, their first American ancestor being Thomas Whittier, a native of England. Coming to this country in 1638, when he was a boy of only sixteen years of age, Thomas Whittier went first to live in Newbury, Mass., where he remained for six or seven years. In 1645 he appears on the records of the town of Salisbury as a resident of that place. Afterwards he removed to Haverhill, where he built a house, known in subsequent generations as the Whittier Homestead, and especially distinguished as the birthplace of the poet of New England, John G. Whittier, who was one of his descendants.
For many years Thomas Whittier was selectman of the town of Haverhill, and in 1669 was chosen to be constable, a position, however, that he declined on account of religious scruples, for he was among the earliest Quakers in New England. He died in 1696, and his wife, Ruth Green, whom he married in Salisbury, died in 1710. Nathaniel Whittier, son of Thomas Whittier, the pioneer, was born in Haverhill in 1668, and died in Salisbury in 1722. He changed the spelling of his family name at one period of his life from Whittier to Whicher and Whitcher, and some of his descendants, heads of families, which have become distinguished in New England, have always retained those spellings. His first wife, the ancestress of that branch of the family to which Mr. Charles A. Whittier belongs, was Mary Ellsworth Osgood, whom he married in 1685, and who was the daughter of William Osgood. She died in 1705. His second wife, whom he married in 1710, was Mary Wing Brown, daughter of Philip and Mary (Buzwell) Brown. She was born in 1676, in Salisbury, and died there in 1742.
In the third American generation came the second Nathaniel Whittier, who was born in Salisbury in 1711. He lived at the family homestead for many years, but afterwards removed to Poplin, Fremont, N. H., and then to Chester, Vt. He died in Winthrop, Me., at the residence of his son, in 1784. His wife, whom he married in 1734, was Hannah Clough. The third Nathaniel Whittier was born in Salisbury in 1743. After residing in Raymond, N. H., for many years, he removed to Maine, where he became one of the first settlers of the town of Winthrop and prominent in the early history of that place. With several other pioneers, he was one of the purchasers of the township of Vienna, Me., from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which then owned that territory. He died in Readfield, Me., in 1798. His wife, whom he married in 1766, was Elizabeth Prescott, daughter of Jedediah and Hannah (Batchelder) Prescott. She was born in Brentwood, N. H., in 1745, and died in Vienna, Me., in 1814.
In the following generation in the direct line of descent from Thomas Whittier was the fourth Nathaniel Whittier, grandfather of Mr. Charles Albert Whittier. He was born in Winthrop, Me., in 1783, and with his father became one of the early settlers of Vienna, attaining to high position in all the local affairs of that community. For many years he was town clerk, selectman, surveyor of the highways, and trial justice, and held other positions. During the War of 1812, he was a Captain in the militia, and after 1816 was a justice of the peace. He died in Vienna in 1869. His wife, whom he married in 1804, in Mt. Vernon, Me., was Nancy Merrill, daughter of James Merrill. She was born in Raymond, N. H., in 1785, and died in Vienna in 1843. Subsequently he married, in New Sharon, Me., Sarah (Bodwell) Jayne. She died in 1861. The parents of Mr. Whittier, of this generation, were Joseph Merrill Whittier, who was born in 1811, and Mary E. Morgan.
Mr. Charles Albert Whittier was born in 1840, was graduated from Harvard College in 1860, and has long been a resident of New York. He served in the United States Army nine years, being brevetted Brigadier-General for valuable and distinguished services. He married Lilla Chadwick, and lives in West Tenth Street. He has two daughters, Susie Whittier, who married the Prince Serge Belosselsky-Belozersky, and lives in St. Petersburg, and Pauline Whittier. He belongs to the Metropolitan and Union clubs.
625
REYNOLD WEBB WILCOX, M. D.
O N both sides of the house, the Wilcox family of the present generation is descended from some of the oldest and most honored races of Colonial New England. Even before the time of William the Conqueror, the Wilcoxes were substantial citizens of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk County, England. Sir John Wilcox, in the reign of Edward Ill., was leader of the crossbowmen of the English Army in the French Wars.
In the seventeenth century, one of the direct descendants of Sir John Wilcox was William Wilcoxson, who was born at St. Albans, Hertfordshire. He emigrated to America, as a member of the expedition that came on the ship Planter, and settled at Stratford, Conn., in the New Haven Colony. In 1647, he was a representative at the General Court at Hartford.
The father of Dr. Wilcox was Colonel Vincent Meigs Wilcox, who was born at Madison, Conn., in 1828, a descendant in the fifth generation from the pioneer William Wilcoxson. He attended Lee's Academy at Madison, became a merchant in his locality in the State of Connecticut and also served in the Connecticut State Militia with the rank of Lieutenant. Moving to Pennsylvania in 1860, he entered into business there, and, at the commencement of the Civil War, enlisted a company of volunteers, and in 1862 became Brigade Judge-Advocate on the staff of General Meylert, with the rank of Major, and later was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-Second Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. With this regiment he went to the front, fought at Antietam and was promoted to be Colonel, resigning his commission in 1863, on account of illness. After the war, he settled in New York City and became connected with the firm of E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., of which, when it became a corporation, he was successively secretary, vice-president and president. He died in 1896.
Through both his grandmothers, Dr. Wilcox is descended from Vincent Meigs, an early settler of Guilford, Conn., who came from England in 1638. Among the descendants of this Vincent Meigs have been many men who have distinguished themselves in military and civil life. In another line of ancestry, through his paternal great-grandmother, Olive Doude, Dr. Wilcox is descended from Henry Doude, who came from Surrey, England, in 1639, with the Colonists under the Reverend Henry Whitfield, who settled at Guilford, Conn. His mother was Catherine Millicent Webb, daughter of Dr. Reynold Webb, an eminent Connecticut physician, descended from Richard Webb, of Stamford, Conn., in 1636, who founded the family of that name.
Dr. Wilcox was born in Madison, Conn., in 1856. He graduated with honors from Yale College in 1878, with the degree of B. A. In 1881, Hobart College conferred the degree of M. A. upon him ; the same year he received the degree of M. D. from Harvard University, and in 1892 Maryville College gave him the degree of LL. D. While studying medicine at Harvard University, he served as house physician in several of the hospitals of Boston. His education in this country was supplemented by study in Vienna, Heidelberg, Paris and Edinburgh, after which he com- menced practice as a physician in New York City. In 1884, he was appointed clinical assistant at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. In 1886, he became an instructor in the same institution, and in 1889 Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics. He has been visiting physician to several other hospitals, is a member of or an officer in nearly all the prominent scientific and medical societies, has been for many years on the editorial staff of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, has edited White's Materia Medica and Therapeutics, which has passed through three editions, and has published about two hundred papers upon medical and scientific subjects. He has compiled the genealogical history of the Wilcox, Meigs and Webb families, and many of his historical addresses have been published. He is a member of the Societies of the Colonial Wars, Sons of the Revolution, War of 1812, Loyal Legion, War of the Union, and Sons of Veterans; of the last he has been Surgeon General. He also belongs to the Metropolitan and Harvard clubs. He married, in 1895, Frances Maud, daughter of Samuel Weeks, a descendant of Francis Weeks, one of the first settlers of Oyster Bay, and resides at 749 Madison Avenue.
626
GEORGE G. WILLIAMS
T HE family of which Mr. George G. Williams is the representative in New York in this generation has been one of the most distinguished in the history of Wales. Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island, was one of its most famous members. Robert Williams, who came from Norwich, England, soon after the landing of the Pilgrims and settled in Roxbury, Mass., was the American progenitor of that branch which is now being considered. Robert Williams was a freeman of Roxbury in 1638, and died in 1693, a centenarian. Land that he acquired in Roxbury has remained in the possession of his family for nearly three centuries.
Descendants of Robert Williams have been numerous, and have taken an active part in the work of developing the New World. One of his grandsons, the Reverend Elisha Williams, was the third president of Yale College, and another descendant, Colonel Ephraim Williams, was a brave officer in the French and Indian War, falling in battle in 1755, and gave his name to Williams College, which institution he founded. The Honorable William Williams was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Captain Samuel Williams was killed in the battle of Lexington. Lieutenant John Williams was an officer at the battle of Bunker Hill. General Otho H. Williams distinguished himself in the battle of Eutaw, and was a confidant of Washington. David Williams was one of the soldiers who captured Major John Andre, the British spy. General Jonathan Williams, a distinguished officer of the American Army, was the founder of the corps of engineers at West Point, and many other members of the family have been prominent.
A grandson of Robert Williams removed to Connecticut in the early part of the eighteenth century and established a branch of the family there. His great-great-grandson was Dr. Datus Williams, who was born in 1793, and was the father of Mr. George G. Williams. Dr. Williams resided and practiced for nearly half a century in East Haddam, Conn., and was one of the leading men of the State, professionally and socially. He married Clarissa Maria Peck, of East Haddam, and his eldest son, who followed him in the medical profession, was an assistant surgeon of volunteers during the Civil War, and afterwards connected with the Freedman's Bureau.
Mr. George G. Williams is the second son of Dr. Datus Williams. Born in East Haddam, in 1826, he was educated in the public schools and in Brainard Academy, and looked forward to a professional career. But John Q. Jones, the cashier of the Chemical Bank of New York City, and a friend of Dr. Williams, persuaded the parents of the boy to let him be trained for business. Accordingly, at the age of fifteen, he began his connection with the Chemical Bank that has con- tinued uninterruptedly for fifty-six years. At first an assistant to the paying teiler, in 1846, when he was only twenty years old, he succeeded to the position of paying teller, being then the youngest person so employed in any bank in the city. Next he became discount clerk, and in 1855, when John Q. Jones was elected president of the bank, he was promoted to be cashier. During the latter years of Mr. Jones' life the active management of the bank was largely in the hands of Mr. Williams, and when his friend and patron died, in 1878, he was made president of the institution, and has held that office since.
As president of the Chemical Bank, one of the most famous institutions of its kind in the United States, Mr. Williams has occupied a position of exceptional responsibility and influence, and is recognized as one of the ablest financiers in the country. He is connected with many commercial institutions, the Union Trust Company, the United States Life Insurance Company, the Eagle Fire Insurance Company, the Fidelity and Casualty Company, and the Pennsylvania Coal Company, being the principal corporations in which he is interested. He has been president of the Clearing House Association, treasurer of the Bank for the Savings of Merchants' Clerks, and trustee or director in several religious and charitable organizations. He is not particularly a club man, but belongs to the Metropolitan and the Riding clubs, and is a member of the New England Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He married, in 1867, Virginia F. King, daughter of Aaron King, of Massachusetts. His residence is in West Fifty-Eighth Street.
627
RICHARD T. WILSON
N O contemporaneous phase of metropolitan life has been more interesting or more impor- tant than that which is the outgrowth of the influx of Southern families into New York during the last quarter of a century. Since the close of the Civil War, that section of the country has contributed to this city a considerable number of those enterprising business and professional men who have helped to make the closing years of the century preeminently distinguished in the United States. Seeking in New York a broader field for activity in various walks of life than could be found in the South, which was still suffering from the effects of war, they have taken a foremost part in the business and social affairs of the metropolis and are num- bered among our most patriotic and most useful citizens.
Among these Southern families, who have made New York their place of residence during the last quarter of a century, that of which Mr. Richard T. Wilson, the well-known banker, is at the head, stands foremost in the business and social world. Mr. Wilson is a native of Georgia, having been born in that State some sixty years ago, and being a member of one of the old families in that section of the country. Early in life, he engaged in business occupations and was very successful. When the Civil War broke out, he cast his lot with his native State and entered the Confederate Army. In the military service, his excellent business ability was immediately recognized and was of great value to the Confederate cause, and he rose by successive pro- motions until he became a Commissary-General.
When the war ended, Mr. Wilson, who was the possessor of a considerable fortune, came to New York with his wife, who was a Miss Johnston, of Macon, Ga. Fixing upon this city for his permanent residence, he entered Wall Street, and has been for many years one of the leading and influential bankers of the metropolis, having handled many important financial enterprises. His city residence is in Fifth Avenue, near Forty-third Street, and he has a country place in Newport. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Manhattan and Union clubs, the Downtown Association and the Southern Society.
The family of Mr. Wilson has been notably conspicuous in the social life of New York and Newport. His sons and daughter are connected by marriage with several of the leading New York families. His eldest son, Marshall Orme Wilson, graduated from Columbia College in the class of 1882, and is engaged in the banking business with his father. He married Caroline Astor, daughter of William and Caroline (Schermerhorn) Astor. Mrs. Astor was the daughter of Abraham Schermerhorn. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Manhattan, Union, Knicker- bocker, Tuxedo, Racquet, St. Anthony and New York Yacht clubs, the Downtown Association and the Columbia College Alumni Association. He lives in Fifth Avenue, near Fortieth Street, and is a summer resident of Newport. The other son of the family, Richard T. Wilson, Jr., is one of the best known of the younger society men in New York. He was educated in Columbia College, being graduated from that institution in the class of 1887. He is prominent in many social functions and was an usher at the wedding of the Duke of Marlborough and Consuelo Vanderbilt. He is engaged in the banking business with his father, and is a member of the Metropolitan, Knickerbocker, Union, St. Anthony, Racquet and New York Yacht clubs, the Downtown Associ- ation, the Columbia College Alumni Association and the Country Club of Westchester County.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Wilson, Sr., have three daughters. The eldest daughter, Mary R. Wilson, married Ogden Goelet, who died in the summer of 1897. She lives in Fifth Avenue and has a summer residence at the Cliffs, in Newport, but in recent years has spent considerable time abroad. She has two children, Mary Goelet, who is a young lady in society, and Robert Goelet, who is not yet of age. The second daughter, Lelia Belle Wilson, married the Honorable Michael Henry Herbert, of Milton House, Salisbury, England, an attaché of the British Embassy in Washington and a representative of one of the oldest and most aristocratic families of England. The youngest daughter is Grace Wilson, who married, in 1896, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.
628
JOHN D. WING
F ROM time immemorial families bearing the name of Winge have been settled in Wales. Early in the seventeenth century representative bearers of this patronymic are known to have removed from Wales to Lincolnshire, and had numerous descendants in that and the other Eastern countries of England.
The first emigrants to America belonging to this family were Puritans. John Wing, the pioneer representative of the name, came to New England early in the seventeenth century. Set- tling first in Lynn, Mass., he removed, in 1637, to the Plymouth Colony and made a home on the shores of Barnstable and Buzzard's Bays, becoming one of the incorporators of the town of Sandwich, in 1639. The leader of the company of Colonists of which he was a member was the Reverend Stephen Batchelder, whose daughter, Deborah, he married. The Reverend Stephen Batchelder, who was thus on the maternal side the first American progenitor of the Wing family in this country, was born in England in 1561. He was one of the clergy who adopted the Puritan doctrine, and, coming to this country, was first minister of the church in Saugus, now Lynn, Mass., for three years, and in 1635 was admitted a freeman. Afterwards he lived in Ipswich, Newbury and Hampton. In 1647, he was living at Portsmouth, N. H., and returning to England in 1651, died at Hackney, near London, at the age of one hundred. Deborah Batchelder, who married John Wing, was his third daughter.
Daniel Wing, of the second generation in this country, came with his father from England and was active in the public affairs of the town of Sandwich. In 1658, he became a Quaker, and died some time before 1664. His wife was Anna Swift, daughter of John Swift. Their son, Daniel Wing, second of that name, was born in 1664, and was enrolled as a townsman of Sand- wich, in 1691. His wife was Deborah Dillingham, daughter of Henry Dillingham. Edward Wing, the son of Daniel Wing, second of the name, was born in 1687, in Sandwich, and removed to Dartmouth. He was married three times, first to Desire Smith, of Dartmouth, second to Sarah Tucker, daughter of Abraham and Hannah Tucker, and third to Patience Ellis. In the four succeeding generations the ancestors of the gentleman whose family is under consideration were Joseph Wing and his wife, Catharine; Daniel Wing, who removed about 1775 to Dutchess County, N. Y .; John Wing, of Dutchess County, who died in 1858, having married Miriam Thorn, and Jacob Wing, born in 1810, who married Anna M. Cornell, the last named couple being the parents of the subject of this article.
Mr. John D. Wing was born near Ellenville, Ulster County, in 1834, but while very young, came to New York, which has since been his place of residence except during two years of his early manhood which were spent in California. He received a mercantile education. In 1858, on his return from California, he began business life in New York, on his own account, as a commission merchant in chemicals, and is still engaged in that branch of commerce. His two sons, John Morgan and Louis Stuart Wing, are now associated with him in business. Mr. Wing's city home is in West Forty-Ninth Street, but he has a country seat at Millbrook, Dutchess County, where he has resided many years. The extensive stock farm which he maintains at that place is well known to those interested in high grade stock. He was president of the New York State Agricultural Society, and of the American Jersey Cattle club, and has been a large importer of thoroughbred cattle and sheep. The wife of Mr. Wing was Adelaide W. Hinman, of an old New England family. His elder son, J. Morgan Wing, married Josephine G. Ireland, and is a member of the Metropolitan, Downtown, Calumet, Knollwood and New York Yacht clubs, and resides in West Forty-Eighth Street. The younger son, L. Stuart Wing, married Bertha L. Hurlbut and is a member of the Metropolitan, Downtown, Racquet, Knollwood and New York Yacht clubs, and resides in West Fiftieth Street. The only daughter of Mr. John D. Wing, Marion Wing, is the wife of Dr. Austin Flint, Jr. Mr. Wing is a member of the Metropolitan, Downtown, New York Yacht and Riding clubs.
629
EDWARD WINSLOW
4 N the person of Mr. Edward Winslow, the persecuted Puritan of England and the persecuted Huguenot of France unite. On his father's side, Mr. Winslow is a lineal descendant of Kenelm Winslow, brother of Governor Edward Winslow, of the Plymouth Colony, while his mother was of the Huguenot Laniers, of Virginia. He is, therefore, a son of Massachusetts and of Virginia, as well as of New York. Kenelm Winslow, the first American ancestor of this branch of the family, was the third son and fourth child of Edward Winslow, of Droitwitch, Worcestershire, England. Born in 1599, he came to Plymouth in 1629. Although less prominent than his brother, the Governor, Kenelm Winslow was a man of consequence in the Colony. He was a freeman in 1632, and had a grant of valuable lands, removed to Marshfield, Mass., where he was a planter and a shipowner, was a representative to the General Court 1642-46 and 1649-53, and died in 1672 at the age of seventy-three years. His wife was the widow, Eleanor Adams. His son, Lieutenant Job Winslow, who was born in 1641 and died in 1720, was a representative to the General Court and held other offices. Joseph Winslow, son of Lieutenant Job Winslow, mar- ried Mary Tisdale, of Taunton, Mass., in 1686. She was the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Leon- ard) Tisdale, of Taunton, and granddaughter of John and Sarah (Walker) Tisdale, of Duxbury. Their son, Job Winslow, who was born in 1718, was the father of Captain Job Winslow, who was born in Dighton, Mass., in 1738. Captain Job Winslow carried the family name to Connec- ticut, where he owned a shipyard in Saybrook for many years. Later in life he removed to Canaan, N. Y., and died there in 1809. He was twice married. His first wife was Temperance Hayden, of Saybrook. She died in 1777, and he afterwards married Mary Rogers.
Richard Winslow, son of Captain Job Winslow, was born in 1771. In his younger days he was a ship captain on the Hudson River, being ranked as one of the most enterprising and most suc- cessful men engaged in that business nearly a century ago. After that he became an iron master in Albany, owning furnaces and mines. During the War of 1812, he was connected with the com- missary department of the army, and was engaged at Plattsburg and elsewhere on the Northern frontier. When peace was proclaimed, he went into the shipping business again, being master of several vessels on the Hudson, and finally, as a miller, owning several large flouring establishments, accumulated a fortune and retired from business in 1834. He died in 1847. He was the great grandfather of Mr. Edward Winslow. His wife was Mary Corning, daughter of Asa and Cynthia (Seymour) Corning, and sister of Jasper Corning.
Several of the sons of Richard Winslow were notably successful. John Flack Winslow was manager and owner of iron works in Troy, and connected with other enterprises of similar character. In 1863-68, with John A. Griswold, he was interested in introducing the Bessemer process in this country, and with the same partner enjoyed the distinction of building the first monitor for Ericsson. James Winslow, another son, was the eminent New York banker. Born in Hartford, Conn., in 1815, he lived to the age of fifty-nine, being one of the great financiers of his day. Starting in life as a clerk in the hardware store of Erastus Corning, in Albany, he afterwards became a partner in the banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Co., which was established by his brother, Richard H. Winslow, and his father-in-law. The firm was one of the first to be interested in the national banking system, and at the time of his death, Mr. Winslow was vice-president of the Third National Bank. He married Margaret Downing Lanier.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.