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 13

Author: Weeks, Lyman Horace, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York, The Historical company
Number of Pages: 650

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T HREE noted American families unite in the person of Mr. Charles Astor Bristed, the Dwights and the Sedgwicks, of Massachusetts, and the Astors, of New York. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Bristed was the Reverend John Bristed, who was born in Dorsetshire, England, in 1778, and died in Bristol, R. l., in 1855. Graduated from Winchester College, England, he studied medicine and law, and, coming to the United States in 1806, practiced law in New York. Subsequently he studied theology, and in 1828 was ordained to the Protestant Episcopal ministry. Until 1843, he was rector of the Church of St. Michael, Bristol, R. I., succeed- ing the Reverend Dr. Griswold. He conducted The Monthly Magazine in 1807. His wife, whom he married in 1819, was Magdalen (Astor) Bentzen, daughter of the first John Jacob Astor and his wife, Sarah Todd, and widow of Governor Bentzen, of the Island of Santa Cruz.

Charles Astor Bristed, first of the name and father of the subject of this article, was the son of the Reverend John Bristed, born in New York in 1820 and died in Washington, D. C., in 1874. Graduated from Yale College in 1839, he studied in Trinity College, Cambridge, England, for five years, and upon graduating, in 1845, he studied for and was about to obtain a fellowship at Cambridge, but finally determined to return to his own country, making his home in New York and Lenox, Mass. He wrote much for newspapers and magazines, generally over the nom-de-guerre of Carl Benson, and published a number of books, among which were: Letters to Horace Mann, The Upper Ten Thousand, Five Years in an English University, The Interference Theory of Government, and Pieces of a Broken-Down Critic. He was one of the trustees of the Astor Library from the foundation of that institution. His first wife was Laura Whetten Brevoort, daughter of Henry Brevoort, the only child of this marriage being J. J. Astor Bristed, who died in 1880. His second wife, the mother of Mr. Charles Astor Bristed, was Grace Ashburner Sedgwick, daughter of Charles Sedgwick, of Lenox, Mass., a son of the Honorable Theodore Sedgwick, Member of Congress, United States Senator and Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.

The great-grandfather of Mrs. Bristed was Deacon Benjamin Sedgwick, 1716-1757, and she was descended in the seventh generation from Major-General Robert Sedgwick, who came to America in 1636 and was one of the most distinguished men of his time in Massa- chusetts. Through her mother, Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight, Mrs. Bristed was descended from John Dwight, who came to this country in 1634 and settled in Watertown, and afterwards in Dedham, Mass. The great-great-grandfather of Elizabeth B. Dwight was Captain Timothy Dwight, 1629-1717, who was ten years town clerk of Dedham and twenty-five years selectman and representative to the General Court. The descent to Mrs. Bristed was through the third wife of Captain Timothy Dwight, who was Anna Flint, the daughter of the Reverend Henry Flint by his wife, Margery Hoar. The son of Captain Timothy Dwight was Captain Henry Dwight, 1676-1732, who married Lydia Hawley, daughter of Captain Joseph Hawley, of Northampton. His son, Colonel Josiah Dwight, born in 1715, was graduated from Yale College in 1736, and was a Lieutenant Colonel and Judge and father of the Honorable Josiah Dwight, Jr., of Stockbridge, State Treasurer of Massachusetts. The latter, by his second wife, Rhoda Edwards, daughter of Timothy Edwards and Rhoda Ogden, a daughter of Robert Ogden, of New Jersey, became the father of Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight, wife of Charles Sedgwick. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Bristed resided abroad, principally in Rome, and died in Paris in 1897.

Mr. Charles Astor Bristed was born in New York in 1869. He was educated at Stonyhurst, and afterwards was matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, and was graduated in 1893. He studied law, and has been engaged in the practice of that profession. In 1894, Mr. Bristed married Mary Rosa Donnelly, daughter of Edward C. Donnelly, of Grove Mount, Manhattanville. They have two children, Mary Symphorosa and Katharine Elizabeth Grace Bristed. Mr. Bristed's residence is in Lenox, Mass., and he is a member of the Knickerbocker and Catholic clubs of this city.

FREDERIC BRONSON

M EMBERS of the Bronson family were early settled in the Connecticut Colony, being especially numerous and influential in Hartford, Farmington and Waterbury. On the old records of Hartford, the name is usually spelled Brownson, while the Farmington records have it as Brunson. But whatever the spelling, all these pioneers came from the same parent stock. From Richard Bronson and John Bronson most of the Bronsons, of Connecticut, and their descendants in New York have been derived. John Bronson is believed to have been a member of the company that settled Hartford under the Reverend Thomas Hooker in 1636. The following year he was engaged in the famous battle with the Pequot Indians, and in 1641 removed to Farmington. In 1651, he was a deputy to the General Court, in 1652, a constable, and in 1669 was made a freeman. Isaac Bronson, son of John Bronson, the pioneer, was one of the first settlers of the town of Waterbury. He was active in church affairs, a Corporal and Sergeant of the train band in 1689 and 1695, a deputy to the General Court in 1697 and 1701, and frequently held other public offices, such as town surveyor and school committeeman.

In the four succeeding generations, the head of this interesting Colonial family was an Isaac Bronson. In the third generation, Captain Isaac Bronson married Mary Brockart, and their son, Isaac Bronson, who was born at Breackneck, now Middlebury, Conn., in 1760, became a distinguished physician, soldier and financier. His father was frequently a member of the General Assembly of Connecticut. The son studied medicine, and, although at the time of the Revolution he had not attained to his majority, he entered the Continental Army as junior surgeon. In 1779, he was in the Second Regiment of Light Dragoons of the Connecticut Line, serving under the immediate command of General Washington. After the war, he went abroad to travel, visiting all parts of Europe and India. Returning to the United States in 1789, he settled in Philadelphia, where he lived for several years, afterwards removing to New York and engaging in the banking business. Subsequently he established a banking house in Bridgeport, Conn. He died at his summer residence, Greenfield Hill, Conn., in 1839.

Isaac Bronson married, about 1789, Anna Olcott, daughter of Thomas Olcott, of Stratford, Conn., of one of the oldest Colonial families of that State. He had a large family of children, of whom several attained to prominence. His daughter Maria married Colonel James B. Murray, of New York. His daughter Caroline married Dr. Marinus Coillet. His son, Oliver Bronson, married Joanna Donaldson. Another son, Arthur Bronson, who was born in New York, married Anna Eliza Bailey, daughter of General Theodorus Bailey. A third son, Frederick Bronson, who was born in 1802, in New York, married Charlotte Brinckerhoff, of the well-known Dutch family of that name, that has been prominent in New York and New Jersey.

Mr. Frederic Bronson, the representative of this family in the present generation, was born in New York, educated in Columbia College, and graduated therefrom with the degree of B. A. in the class of 1871. Pursuing his studies further in the Law School of Columbia, he was in due course admitted to the bar, and has been a lawyer in active practice for more than twenty years. He married Sarah Gracie King, daughter of Archibald Gracie King, and has one daughter. The history of the King and the Gracie families, to both of which Mrs. Bronson belongs, has been fully set forth on other pages in this volume. Mrs. Bronson includes in her ancestry such distinguished personages as Rufus King, James Gore King, Mary Alsop and Archibald Gracie.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Bronson is in Madison Avenue, and their country seat is at Greenfield Hill, Southport, Conn., the ancestral home of the Bronsons. Mr. Bronson belongs to the Metropolitan, Knickerbocker, Union, Racquet, Riding, City, New York Yacht, Coaching and A $ clubs, the Country Club of Westchester County, the Downtown Association and the Columbia College Alumni Association. He is a famous whip, and has long been a leading spirit in the Coaching Club. For several years he was vice-president of the club, and in 1897 was elected to the presidency, succeeding Colonel William Jay in that position.

JOHN CROSBY BROWN

A LEXANDER BROWN, the head of a family that has made a marked impression upon the business and financial interests of this country during the present century, was a native of Ireland, born in Ballymena, County Antrim, November 17th, 1764. He was a linen merchant, a man of good family, business enterprise, strict integrity, and some means. He came to this country in 1798, and going to Baltimore, started a linen store, dealing in goods that he imported principally from Ireland. As his business grew, he turned his attention to financial affairs and established a bank. He died in Baltimore in 1834. Four sons of Alexander Brown, all of them born in Ballymena, became associated with their father under the firm name of Alexander Brown & Sons. Each of them attained to distinction in business and finance. The eldest, William Brown, returned to England in 1809 and established a branch house there, now the celebrated banking firm of Brown, Shipley & Co. The second son, George Brown, remained in Baltimore and became the head of the house there. The third son, John A. Brown, went to Philadelphia, and was the representative of the firm in that city.

The youngest of the four sons, James Brown, born in 1791, came to New York in 1825 and started the house known as Brown Brothers & Co. He became one of the representative bankers of New York, and was for fifty years a member of the Chamber of Commerce. In the panic of 1837, the English branch of the firm of which Mr. Brown was the representative was able to secure a loan of ten million dollars from the Bank of England to carry them over the crisis and the loan was repaid within six months. This achievement put the firm at once in the front ranks in the financial world, a position that it has maintained ever since.

James Brown was deeply interested in religious, educational and philanthropic enterprises. For thirty years he was president of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and among his benefactions was a gift of three hundred thousand dollars to the Union Theological Seminary. At the time of his death, in 1877, he was, with two exceptions, the oldest living member of the Chamber of Commerce, his membership covering more than half a century. Mr. Brown was twice married. His first wife was Louisa Benedict, daughter of the Reverend Joel Benedict, of Plainfield, Conn. Two sons, James and William Brown, and three daughters were born of this union. One daughter became the wife of Alexander Brown, of Richmond Hill, England. The second daughter is the widow of the late Howard Potter, the well-known banker of New York and London. The third daughter married James Couper Lord. For his second wife, Mr. Brown married Eliza Maria Coe, an accomplished and devoted Christian woman, who was the daughter of the Reverend Dr. Jonas Coe, of Troy.

Mr. John Crosby Brown was the second of the three sons of James Brown by his second wife. Born in New York, May 22d, 1838, he was graduated from Columbia College with the degree of B. A. and has since received the degree of M. A. During his entire business career, he has been connected with the banking house of Brown Brothers & Co. in New York, of which he is now the head. A gentleman of culture, deeply interested in art and literature, he has been a member of the Board of Education, a trustee of Columbia College, a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vice-president of the board of trustees of the Union Theological Seminary, and a director in the Presbyterian Hospital. His clubs include the Metropolitan, City, University, Union, and Riding, the Century Association, the Downtown Association, and the Columbia College Alumni Association. He married, in 1864, Mary E. Adams, daughter of the Reverend Dr. William Adams, pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, and presi- dent of the Union Theological Seminary. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two daughters and two sons. Their eldest son, James Crosby Brown, is a graduate from Yale in the class of 1894. The youngest son, Thatcher M. Brown, is a graduate from Yale in the class of 1897. The city residence of the family is in East Thirty-seventh Street and their country seat is Brighthurst, in Orange, N. J.

JUSTUS LAWRENCE BULKLEY

I N the reign of King John of England, in the twelfth century, Robert Bulkeley, Baron, was Lord of the Manor of Bulkeley in the County Palatine, of Chester. He was a nobleman of high standing and his descendants were allied in marriage to many of the first families of Great Britain. In the ninth generation from Robert Bulkeley came the Reverend Edward Bulkeley, who was the father of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, the American emigrant, one of the most famous clergymen of New England in the first years of the Massachusetts Colony. The Reverend Peter Bulkeley was born in Woodhill, Bedfordshire, England, in 1583, was educated in St. John's College, Cambridge, and became a fellow there. Subsequently he took orders and succeeded to the living of his father in Odell, holding that place for twenty-one years. His independence brought him under the ban of Archbishop Laud, and he was removed from his living for non-conformity.

With others of his faith, clergymen and laymen, the Reverend Mr. Bulkeley turned to the New World for freedom, and coming to this country in 1634, settled first in Cambridge, Mass., and afterwards was one of the founders of Concord. He was the first pastor of the Concord Church and held that pulpit until the time of his death, in 1659. The descendants of the Reverend Mr. Bulkeley, in both the male and the female line, have been especially famous in New England as clergymen. He wrote several books, among them The Gospel Covenant; or, The Covenant of Grace Opened. His first wife was Jane Allen, daughter of Thomas Allen, of Goldington, England. His second wife was Grace Chetwood. Mr. Justus Lawrence Bulkeley is a lineal descendant in the eighth generation from the Reverend Peter Bulkeley.

In the second generation the Reverend Gershom Bulkeley was born in 1636 and, studying in Harvard College, was graduated in 1655. Called to be the second minister of the church in New London, Conn., in 1661, he remained there for six years and then in 1667 removed to Wethersfield. In 1675, he was surgeon of the Connecticut Colonial troops. His death occurred in 1713. His wife was Sarah Chauncy, daughter of President Charles Chauncy, of Harvard College, and through her his descendants trace their lineage to another great Colonial family and back to the nobility and royalty of England and France, the wife of the Reverend Charles Chauncy being Catharine Eyre, daughter of Robert Eyre and Ann Still, granddaughter of the Right Reverend John Still and Lady Jane Horner, and descended in the thirteenth generation, through the Spekes, Berkeleys and Staffords, from Edward 1., King of England.

In the subsequent generations, the ancestors of Mr. Justus L. Bulkley were Edward Bulkeley, who was born in 1673 in Wethersfield and died there in 1748, and his wife, Dorothy Prescott, daughter of Jonathan Prescott, of Concord; Peter Bulkeley, who was born in 1712 and died in 1776, and his wife, Abigail Curtis, who was born in 1741 and died in 1762; Joseph Bulkeley, who was born in 1742, and his wife, Mary Williams, daughter of Moses Williams; Edmund Bulkeley, who was born in 1787, and his wife, Nancy Robins; and Joseph Edmund Bulkley, who was born in 1812, and his wife, Mary (Lawrence) Bicknell, daughter of John Lawrence, of Newtown, Long Island. Peter Bulkeley, the great-great-grandfather of Mr. Justus Lawrence Bulkley, was a justice of the peace for Hartford County, Conn., in 1775. His son, Joseph Bulkeley, was a merchant of Rocky Hill, Conn., a justice of the peace and a member of the State Legislature. Joseph Edmund Bulkley, the father of Mr. Bulkley of the present day, came to New York at an early age, and enter- ing upon mercantile life, soon became one of the leading leather merchants of the metropolis in the last generation. His wife was of the famous Lawrence family of Long Island.

Mr. Justus Lawrence Bulkley was born in New York in 1840, and has been engaged in the leather importing business during his entire mercantile career. In 1871, he married Laura E. Cald- well and has three children, Josephine, Helen C. and Joseph E. Bulkley. His son is a student in Yale University in the class of 1899. The city residence of the family is in upper Madison Avenue and their summer home is Homestead, in Rocky Hill, Conn. Mr. Bulkley is a member of the Metropolitan and Riding clubs.

WILLIAM LANMAN BULL

O N both his father's and his mother's side, Mr. William Lanman Bull is descended from several of the oldest and most distinguished families of New England. He can count among his ancestors the Bulls, the Lanmans, the Trumbulls, the Boylstons, the Coits and others who were prominent in the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. His remote paternal ancestor was Henry Bull, a native of South Wales, who came to America in 1635. After a short residence in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he went to Rhode Island, being numbered among the followers of Roger Williams. With seventeen associates, he purchased land in 1638 and joined in the settle- ment of Newport, becoming at once one of the leading men in the new Colony. He held many positions of trust, and was a commissioner of Newport in 1655, a commissioner of Providence in 1657, and Governor of Rhode Island in 1685-6, and 1689-90. Governor Henry Bull was born in 1610 and died in 1693. His first wife was named Elizabeth, his second wife, whom he married in 1676, was Esther Allen, and his third wife, whom he married in 1677, was Ann Clayton. Many of his descendants were prominent in the early history of Rhode Island. Henry Bull, his grand- son, 1687-1774, was Attorney-General of the Colony in 1727.

The father of Mr. William Lanman Bull was Frederic Bull, a prominent business man or New York and a descendant in direct line from Governor Henry Bull. He died at his country seat in Montclair, N. J., in 1871. Mr. Bull's mother was Mary Huntington Lanman, who married Frederic Bull in 1829, and died in 1880. Her family was of English origin. The arms of the branch founded in this country by Peter Lanman, and to which Mrs. Frederic Bull belonged are : a shield azure, three garbs or. Motto, Fortuna favet audace.

James Lanman, a native of London, came to America about 1700 and settled in Boston. In 1714, he married Joanna, daughter of Dr. Thomas Boylston, of Roxbury, of one of the oldest Colonial families of Massachusetts. James Lanman moved with his wife to Plymouth, and his descendants have lived in that part of Massachusetts ever since. Peter Lanman, son of James Lanman, 1725-1804, married Sarah Spaulding Coit, daughter of Colonel Samuel Coit, of Preston, Mass., in 1764. His son was Peter Lanman, of Norwich, Conn., 1771-1854, the father of Mary Huntington (Lanman) Bull. The maternal great-great-grandfather of the subject of this article was a conspicuous figure in the Revolutionary period, his grandmother, the wife of Peter Lanman, Jr., of Norwich, Conn., having been a daughter of David Trumbull, whose father was Jonathan Trum- bull, Governor of Connecticut from 1769 until 1783, through the whole period of the American Revolution, a trusted supporter and confidential adviser of General Washington. Governor Trum- bull's wife was Faith Robinson, a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.

Mr. William Lanman Bull is the seventh child and the youngest son of his father's family. He was born in New York City, August 23, 1844. After a preparatory education, he completed his studies in the College of the City of New York. Then he began his business career by entering the banking house of Edward Sweet & Co., Mr. Sweet, the senior partner of this firm, having married a sister of Mr. Bull. In 1867 he became a partner in the firm, a relation that he has main- tained uninterruptedly down to the present time, a period of thirty years. Outside of his banking business, Mr. Bull has been otherwise prominent in business and in social life. Twice he has been President of the New York Stock Exchange, and his important railroad connections have included membership in the directorates of the Northern Pacific, the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia, the New York, Susquehanna & Western and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroads, and he is now President of the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad Company,

In 1870, Mr. Bull married Tasie M. Worthington, daughter of Henry R. Worthington. His children are Frederic Henry Worthington, and William Lanman Bull, Jr. The family residence is at 805 Fifth Avenue. Mr. Bull is a member of the Metropolitan, Century, University, Grolier, Union, Riding, Players, Church, and Mendelssohn Glee clubs, and belongs to the New England Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Society of Mayflower descendants.

JAMES ABERCROMBIE BURDEN

A MONG the most talented inventors and successful business men of his generation in the United States, was Henry Burden. One of his great-grandparents was of Feddal-Perth- shire and he was born in Dumblane, Scotland, April 20th, 1791. Displaying the bent of his genius at an early age, he took a course of engineering in Edinburgh, and came to the United States in 1819, settling in Albany, where he began the manufacture of agricultural implements. He was phenomenally successful and his inventions and improvements in labor-saving devices in many ways revolutionized the industry of the country. Among his inventions were improved agricul- tural implements, machines for making wrought-iron spikes, a machine for making horse shoes, and a suspension over-shot water wheel, sixty feet in diameter, of the design of bicycles of the present day.

Mr. Burden was one of the organizers of the Hudson River Steamboat Company. The Hendrick Hudson, which in its time was one of the finest and fastest steamboats on the river, was built according to his models, and attained a speed of twenty miles an hour. Another boat that he designed was called the Helen; it had two cigar-shaped hulls and on the trial trip in December, 1833, made eighteen miles an hour. Mr. Burden made a study of nautical architecture, and it is one of the curious and interesting things in his career that, in 1846, he anticipated nearly all that has been accomplished in fast ocean travel during the last decade or more. It was in that year he issued a prospectus of what he called Burden's Atlantic Steam Ferry Company, with himself as managing director, inviting subscriptions to the stock. In this prospectus he said, "All experience in steam navigation shows that increase in size and power has been invariably attended with increase of speed, economy and comfort;" and proceeding from those premises, he affirmed his confidence of being able "to establish boats of power, dimension and strength sufficient to make the passage from Liverpool to New York in eight days certain." He planned to build the first vessel six hundred feet long. The company was never organized, however, and it required more than half a century for the commercial world to come to a full appreciation of his ideas.

Mr. James Abercrombie Burden is the eldest son of Henry Burden. He was born in Troy, N. Y., January 6th, 1833. Educated under the direction of private tutors, he also studied in the Yale Scientific School and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and then gained practical experience in manufacturing by an apprenticeship in his father's establishment in Troy. Ultimately he became president of the Burden Iron Company, of Troy, and in 1883 was president of the Hudson River Ore and Iron Company. He inherited mechanical ability and inventive genius, and has taken out eighteen important patents in connection with the iron manufacturing industry.

Mr. Burden married Mary Irvin, daughter of Richard Irvin, the banker of New York. His city residence is at 908 Fifth Avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Burden have four sons, James A., Jr., Richard Irvin, Williams Proudfit and Arthur Scott Burden. Mr. Burden is a member of the Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Mining Engineers. He was president of the Society of New York Farmers, and belongs to the Metropolitan, Union, Union League and Riding clubs, and several scientific societies in Great Britain. He was the first president of the Engineers' Club. Although prominent socially, he has never taken an active part in public affairs, but has been three times a Presidential elector on the Republican State ticket. James A. Burden, Jr., graduated from Harvard University in the class of 1893. He married Florence Adele, daughter of William D. Sloane ; is a member of the University and Knickerbocker clubs and the Sons of the Revolution. His country place is Messina, Barrytown-on-Hudson, N. Y.

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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 13

Author: Weeks, Lyman Horace, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: New York, The Historical company Number of Pages: 650

Author: Weeks, Lyman Horace, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York, The Historical company
Number of Pages: 650