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 32

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

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Mr. Arthur Duane is the grandson of the Honorable William John Duane, and great- grandson of William Duane. Through the female side of his house, he also comes of distin- guished ancestors. His grandfather married Deborah Bache, granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. The Bache family trace their ancestry to the French province of Normandy. The name was originally de la Beche, as it appears in the English records, the immediate ancestors of the American branch residing in Yorkshire. Theophylact Bache, whose name is frequently men- tioned in this volume, came to this country in 1751 and was one of the most prominent New York merchants of the Revolutionary period. Richard Bache, the youngest brother of Theophylact Bache, emigrated to America before 1760 and settling in Philadelphia became a wealthy and influential merchant. He married in 1767 Sarah Franklin, the only daughter of Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Duane's grandmother being one of the three daughters of this marriage.

The father of Mr. Duane was the Reverend Richard Bache Duane, a distinguished divine of the Protestant Episcopal Church and for many years rector of St. John's Church in Providence, R. I. He married Margaret A. Tams, daughter of William Tams, of London, England, but who was long a resident of Philadelphia. Mr. Tams was a famous shot, cricketer and horseman. Mr. Duane's maternal grandmother was Anne Hennessey, who was born in London, England, was celebrated for her beauty and was prominent in Philadelphia society.

Mr. Arthur Duane was born in Honesdale, Pa., May 8th, 1859. His city residence is in West Fifty-ninth Street, his country place being Cool Gales, Sharon, Conn. He married in 1886 Julia Drake, of Binghamton, N. Y., and has one child, Virginia Richards Duane. He is a member of the Calumet Club and also of the Country Club of Westchester County.

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JAMES GORE KING DUER

N the Duers of to-day are united several great Colonial families, their ancestors including Duers, de Peysters, Livingstons, Beverlys, Alexanders and others. Colonel William Duer, the first American of the name, was born in Devonshire, England, in 1747, son of John Duer, a wealthy planter of Antigua, and of Frances Frye, daughter of General Frederick Frye, of the British West India service. Educated at Eton, he went to India as an aide-de-camp to Lord Clive in 1762, and came to New York in 1768. He was Colonel of the militia, member of the New York Provincial Congress, delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777, delegate to the first Constitutional Convention of New York and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He married Lady Catherine Alexander, daughter of the famous William Alexander, Lord Stirling.

The Alexander family was of ancient descent in Scotland, its lineage going back to King Robert II. It was established in America by James Alexander, who came here in 1716 and married a granddaughter of Johannes de Peyster. His only son, William Alexander, Lord Stirling, married Sarah Livingston, daughter of Philip Livingston, the second Lord of Livingston Manor. He was a Major-General in the Revolution and died in 1783.

The elder son of William Duer and Catherine Alexander was William Alexander Duer, 1780-1858, president of Columbia College, 1829-42, whose son, William Denning Duer, 1812-1891, married Caroline King, daughter of James Gore King, the New York merchant, son of Rufus King, the statesman. Their children were Edward Alexander, James Gore King, Rufus King, William Alexander, Denning, Sarah Gracie and Amy Duer. Edward Alexander Duer married Anna Vanderpool, daughter of John Van Buren and granddaughter of President Martin Van Buren. James Gore King Duer is engaged in the banking business. In 1864, he married Elizabeth Wilson Meads, daughter of Orlando Meads, of Albany.

He has three daughters, Caroline King, Eleanor Theodora, the wife of Joseph Larocque, Jr., and Alice Duer. Rufus King Duer, now deceased, was an officer in the United States Navy. William Alexander Duer, the fourth son, graduated from Columbia in 1869 and is a member of the New York bar. He married Ellin Travers, daughter of William R. Travers and granddaughter of Reverdy Johnson, and lives in West Twenty-first Street. He has one child, Katharine Alexander Duer. He belongs to the Union, Manhattan, Knickerbocker, Lawyers', City and Riding clubs. Denning Duer is a graduate from Columbia College, married Louise Suydam, daughter of Henry Lispenard Suydam, and lives in New Haven, Conn. He has one daughter, Caroline Suydam Duer.

Another branch of this family is descended from John Duer, 1782-1858, second son of Colonel William Duer and Catherine Alexander. He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1821 and Associate Judge of the Superior Court, being Chief Justice after 1857. His wife was Anna Bunner. William Duer, his son, was born in New York in 1805. Graduated from Columbia College in 1824, he practiced law in Oswego, N. Y., and New Orleans. He was a member of the Assembly from Oswego in 1840, District Attorney, 1845-47, a Member of Congress, 1847-51, and United States Consul to Chili. His wife was his cousin, Lucy Chew, her mother being Maria Theodora Duer, daughter of Colonel William Duer. Her father was Beverly Chew, of New Orleans, Collector of the Port, 1817-29, president of the branch Bank of the United States and Vice-Consul of Russia.

John Duer, eldest son of William and Lucy (Chew) Duer, born in New York, graduated from Columbia in 1859, and is a lawyer. In 1871, he married Sara, daughter of Henry Du Pont, of Wilmington, Del. He lives in West Eighty-sixth Street, and his widowed mother lives with him. He has two brothers and three sisters, Beverly Chew Duer, a member of the Union Club, who married Sophie Lawrence Pool, and has one child, Beverly Duer; Alexander, Maria Theodora, Anna Cuyler, and Katharine Alexander Duer, who married C. Vincent Smith. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Knickerbocker and City clubs, the Bar Association, the Downtown Association, the Columbia College Alumni Association and the St. Nicholas Society.

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CORNELIUS ROOSEVELT DUFFIE, D. D.

T HE name of the Duffie family was formerly MacDuffie, and more anciently MacDhubhi, or MacPhee. The ancestor of the New York branch was Duncan Duffie, born in Edinburgh, in 1733. His father, John Duffie, was lost at sea, while on his way to America, in 1741. His mother was Catherine Carmichael, of a Huguenot family. Duncan Duffie married Mary Thompson, whose mother was Hannah Cannon. He was a commissary, with the rank of Major, during the Revolution, and died soon after the war. Elbridge Gerry, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, married Mrs. Duncan Duffie's sister.

John Duffie, 1763-1808, the son of Duncan Duffie, was the grandfather of Dr. Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie. In early life he was engaged in business with his brother-in-law, Cornelius C. Roosevelt, and was trustee of the Gold Street Baptist Church. The grandmother of Dr. Duffie was Maria Roosevelt, daughter of Cornelius and Margaret (Herring) Roosevelt. Cornelius Roosevelt was born in 1731, the son of Johannes Roosevelt, alderman in New York, from 1717 to 1733. The parents of Johannes Roosevelt were Nicholas Roosevelt, and his wife, Heyltje Jans, and his grandfather, Claes Martenson Van Roosevelt, came from Holland, in 1654. The maternal grandmother of the Reverend Dr. Duffie descended from Peter Herring and Margaret Cozine, the first couple married in the new Dutch Church, in 1662. Her grandparents were Peter Herring and Margaret Bogart. Her father was Elbert Herring, born in 1706, and her mother, Catherine Lent, a descendant of Abraham Ruyken Van Lent.

The father of the Reverend Dr. Duffie was the Reverend Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie, 1789-1827, an Episcopalian clergyman, who graduated from Columbia College, in 1809. He studied law with his mother's cousin, the Honorable Samuel Jones, afterwards Chancellor of the State. For a time he was in business, and, from 1817 to 1823, was a vestryman of Trinity Church. Early in life he was ensign and Lieutenant in the New York Militia. In 1821, he began the study of theology, became a deacon in 1823, the following year was ordained a priest, and founded and was the first rector of St. Thomas' Church. His wife was Helena Bleecker, daughter of James Bleecker, a merchant of New York, whose wife was a daughter of the famous Theophylact Bache. Her American ancestor was Jan Jansen Bleecker.

The Reverend Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie was born in New York, in 1821. He graduated from Columbia College, in 1841, and from the General Theological Seminary, in 1845, being ordained deacon by Bishop Brownell, the same year. In 1846, he became connected with Trinity Church, New York, and in 1848, was the founder and first rector of the Church of St. John the Baptist, now, by consolidation, the Church of the Epiphany, of which he is rector emeritus. In 1849, he was ordained a priest, and became chaplain of Columbia College, in 1857, of which he is now chaplain emeritus, and trustee of the General Theological Seminary, in 1865. His degree of D. D. was conferred by the University of the City of New York.

The first wife of the Reverend Dr. Duffie was Sarah Brush Clark, daughter of Joel and Mary (Brush) Clark. Joel Clark was a son of Timothy Clark and Patience Osborn. Timothy Clark was a nephew of Abraham Clark, member of the Continental Congress from New Jersey, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Sarah Brush (Clark) Duffie died in 1880. Dr. Duffie subsequently married Lillian A. Pelton, daughter of John Pelton, who was connected with the Honorable Samuel Jones Tilden. Dr. and Mrs. Duffie live at 263 Lexington Avenue ; their country seat is at Litchfield, Conn. The Doctor's children are : Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie, Jr., who married Edith Normanton Langdon; Archibald Bleecker Duffie, who married Antoinette Lerocque Roe, and Jane Antoinette Duffie, the wife of Edward Hamilton Cahill.

Nearly one hundred local names in and around New York are derived from Dr. Duffie's ancestors and connections. Through the Bleeckers, Barclays and Gordons, Dr. Duffie can trace his descent to six generations of the Earls of Sutherland, and over twenty generations of Kings of England, Scotland and France, a Queen of Castile, and an Empress of Germany.

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WILLIAM WEST DURANT

F AMILY tradition and public records connect the Durants of Massachusetts with those of Vir- ginia. According to these authorities, George Durant, who was born in Malden, Mass., in 1661, was a son or nephew of William Durand, or Durant, who was sent by the Boston church in 1644, as ruling elder of the Puritan Congregation in Nansemond County, Va., and also nephew or cousin of George Durant, the first English settler of North Carolina. It is believed that William Durant was a son of Richard Durant, who was twice Mayor of Bodmin, in Cornwall, England, and who died there in 1632.

George Durant, of Malden, removed to Middletown, Conn., in 1663. After 1683, he was a resident of Lyme, where he died in 1687. Edward Durant, his son, was born in 1652, settled in Boston previous to 1686, and in 1691 became the owner of the Lamb Inn, in Washington Street. His first wife and the mother of his children was Anne Hall. Edward Durant, second of the name, 1695-1740, lived in Winter Street, Boston, in a house adjoining that of Judge Sewall. In Newton, he built a house that is still standing on Nonantum Hill. He left an estate appraised at nearly twelve thousand pounds, being one of the wealthiest men in the Massachusetts Colony. His wife was Judith Waldo, 1692-1785, daughter of Cornelius and Faith (Peck-Jackson) Waldo.

In the fourth generation was another Edward Durant, 1715-1782, the eldest child of Edward Durant, of Newton. Graduated from Harvard College in 1735, he received the degree of M. A. in 1738 and was one of the leading citizens of Newton. From 1763 to 1775, he was moderator of twenty-six town meetings, in 1774 was chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, and in 1774 and 1775 was a representative to the Provincial Congresses. His wife was Anne Jackson, daughter of Captain John Jackson. Thomas Durant, 1746-1831, son of Edward and Anne Durant, of Newton and Middlefield, Mass., was engaged in the Lexington-Concord fight in 1775 and served in the Continental Line. His wife, whom he married in 1775, was Elizabeth Clark, daughter of William Clark, who, although almost sixty years old, took part in the Lexington-Concord fight. Elizabeth Clark, 1752-1853, was descended from Thomas Clark, who came to Plymouth, Mass., on the first voyage of the Mayflower and, returning to England, came back on the ship Ann in 1623. His name appears in the allotment of lands of the Plymouth Colony in 1624. He died in 1697, and one of the oldest gravestones on Burial Hill stands to his memory.

Thomas Durant, second of the name, 1791-1866, married, in 1815, Sybil Wright, 1788-1866, daughter of Nathan and Mary Wright. He was the son of Thomas Durant and Elizabeth Clark and the grandfather of William West Durant. His son, Thomas Clark Durant, was born in Lee, Mass., in 1820, was graduated from the Albany Medical College at the age of twenty-one, and engaged in the practice of his profession. Later he gave up professional for business pursuits, becoming a partner of the firm of Durant, Lathrop & Co., of Albany, which had a large business with European ports. In 1848, he turned his attention to railroads in the Great West, and was prominent in organizing and developing the Michigan Southern, the Chicago & Rock Island and the Mississippi & Missouri railroads. It was due to his enterprise that the Union Pacific Railroad was carried through to completion. He was, from 1861 to the time of the driving of the last spike, the vice- president and general manager of this great transcontinental railroad and acting president most of the time, during the absence of its actual president, General John A. Dix, American Minister to France. After this work was accomplished, he continued the construction of the Adirondack Railroad, of which he was president. He married, in 1847, Heloise Hannah Timbrel, of England. When he died, in North Creek, N. Y., in 1885, he left a widow, a daughter and one son.

Mr. William West Durant, the only son of Dr. Thomas C. Durant, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., November 23d, 1850. He has been principally interested in railroad enterprises and real estate in the Adirondacks. He is a member of the Metropolitan Club and his special interest in yachting has led him to confine his further club membership to the New York, Seawanhaka- Corinthian, Larchmont, Eastern and other yacht clubs.

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HIRAM DURYEA

W HILE descending primarily from French ancestors, the Duryea family in this country is essentially of Dutch origin. Joost (George) Durie, the ancestor of the family in the New Netherland, was a French Huguenot, who, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sought a refuge at Manheim, of the Rhenish palatinate. In 1660, he married Magdalena LeFevre, and soon after that came to this country. As early as 1675, he was a resident of Long Island and lived, for various periods, in New Utrecht, Bushwick and Brooklyn, his death occuring in Bushwick, in 1727.

Abraham Durije, the son of Joost Durije, 1685-1753, the originator of the name here, married Elizabeth, daughter of Theodoris and Aertje (Bogart) Polhemius, he the son of the Reverend Johannes Polhemius, and she the daughter of Teunis Gysbertsen Bogarts. Daniel Durije, the son of Abraham Durije, married a descendant of Laurens Cornelisen Koeck, who came over to the New Netherland in 1661, and Gabriel Durije, his grandson, married Femetije (or Phœbe) Hoogland, daughter of Cornelius and Sarah (Woertman) Hoogland. Cornelius Hoogland was a descendant of Dirck Jansen Hoogland, who came from Naerseveen, Utrecht, in 1657 ; and Sarah Woertman was descended from Dirck Jansen Woertman, who came from Amsterdam, in 1647.

Gabriel Durije was the great-grandfather of General Hiram Duryea, whose grandfather, Cornelius Duryea, was born in 1776. Beginning at that period, the family name was generally spelled in its present form of Duryea. The grandmother of General Duryea was Jemima Van Nostrand, daughter of John and Hannah (Bedell) Van Nostrand. She was descended from Hans Hansen Van Nostrand, who came from Noorstrand, Holstein, in 1739, and also from Robert or Daniel Beedle or Beadell, one of the early settlers of Hempstead, Long Island.

The father of General Duryea was Hendrick Vanderbilt Duryea, who was born in Syosset, Long Island, in 1799, and died in 1891. The General's mother was Elizabeth Wright, who was born in 1801, was married to Hendrick V. Duryea in 1819, and died in 1881. She was the daughter of Zebulon and Catharine Wright, of Glen Cove, Long Island. Zebulon Wright was the fifth in descent from Peter Wright, who came, with his brothers, Anthony and Nicholas, from the County of Norfolk, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. Peter Wright moved to Long Island in 1653, and was one of the first settlers of Oyster Bay. His sons married daughters of the old established families in that section.

On the female side of his house, as well as through the paternal line, General Duryea can trace his descent to most distinguished Colonial ancestry. His grandmother, wife of Zebulon Wright, was Catharine Gritman, descended, on the maternal side, from Edward and Faith Dotey, who came over on the Mayflower, and his great-great-grandmother was Clemence Feke, daughter of Robert Feke, a descendant of Robert Feke, who came over to Massachusetts with Governor John Winthrop, and a descendant of William Ludlam, who came from Matlock, England, in 1655. A generation further back, the wife of Gideon Wright, son of Peter Wright, the pioneer, was Elizabeth Townsend, daughter of John Townsend, one of the early settlers of Oyster Bay, and of his wife, Elizabeth Montgomerie, a cousin of the Colonial Governor Dongan, of New York.

General Hiram Duryea was born at Manhasset, Long Island, April 12th, 1834. He received a good education in public and private schools, and, at the age of twenty-one, became a partner with his father in the starch manufacturing business. He was vice-president and president of the Glen Cove Starch Manufacturing Company for many years, and afterwards became president of the National Starch Company, which succeeded the Glen Cove Company.

The military career of General Duryea was very creditable. In 1855, Governor Myron Clark commissioned him First Lieutenant of Artillery in the Forty-eighth Regiment of the State Militia, a commission which he held for several years. At the beginning of the Civil War, he promptly tendered his services to the State, and on April 25th, 1861, was commissioned Captain

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in the Fifth New York Infantry (Duryee Zouaves), and on August 15th, 1861, was commissioned Major in the same regiment, and on September 3d, Lieutenant-Colonel. After the siege of Yorktown he commanded the regiment in the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns. In the Seven Days' Battles, and in the operations before Richmond, his regiment was specially mentioned for its gallantry and efficient services, being one of the most famous New York commands in the war, and he was several times commended, in official reports, for distin- guished service. He was appointed Colonel of the same regiment October 29th, 1862, and on May 26th, 1866, was commissioned by the President of the United States, Brevet Brigadier- General of Volunteers "for distinguished conduct at the Battle of Gaines Mills, Va." He retired from the service December, 1862, in consequence of permanent injuries received in the field.

General Duryea was married, in 1868, to Laura D. Burnell, daughter of Leander Burnell and Anna Noble (Dewey) Burnell. His children are, Harry H., Chester B., Anna E., and Millicent S. Duryea. The General is a member of the Veteran Association of the regiment which he commanded during the war, of the Society of the Fifth Army Corps, of the United Service Club, and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion

According to the old records, the Durie family originated in the Province of Burgundy, France. The history, traditions and genealogies of the race were published in Nice, France, some years ago, and reference is made therein to some of its members having been born in the Town of Marcigny. The family was prominent, representatives of it having been distinguished as judges, advocates and men of letters, and divines.

Originally spelled Durie, the name sometimes appeared as Duryer, and in a very remote period as Du Ryer. The spelling Duryea, or Duryee, is, of course, a more modern variation of the same patronymic. The arms of the family, according to Burke, are : Azure, a chevron between three crescents, argent.

Andre Duryer, or Du Ryer, who was born in Marcigny, in Burgundy, lived in the first half of the seventeenth century, and was a Gentleman of the King's Bed Chamber, the French diplomatic agent at Constantinople, and the Consul for France at Alexandria, in Egypt. He lived many years in the East, was one of the most accomplished Oriental scholars of his time, and published a translation of The Gulistan of Saadi in 1634, and one of the Koran in 1647. Pierre Duryer, born in Paris, 1605, was a French dramatist and man of letters, and a competitor of the celebrated Corneille when the latter was admitted to the French Academy in 1646. Charles Henri Durier, who was born in Paris in 1830, was chief in the Bureau of the Minister of Justice and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

English records show that members of the family emigrated to Scotland about the year 1500. Among the most eminent members of the Scottish branch of the family have been Andrew Durie, who died in 1558, and who was Bishop of Galloway and Abbot of Melrose ; George Durie, 1496-1561, Abbot of Melrose ; Sir Alexander Gibson, Lord Durie, a Scottish judge, who died in 1644 ; John Durie, a Scottish Jesuit, who died in 1587 ; John Durie, 1537- 1600, a Presbyterian minister of prominence, and Robert Durie, 1555-1616, also a minister of the same denomination. Sir Robert Bruce, of Clackmore, who had the honor of knighthood conferred upon him by King James VI., of Scotland, married for his second wife, Helen, daughter of Robert Durie, by whom he had one daughter, who became the wife of Alexander Shaw, of Sautrie. Andrew Boswell, seventh son of Sir John Boswell, of Balmuto, had a daughter, Janet, who became the wife of her cousin, John Durie, of Grange. Andrew, the fourth Earl of Rothes, married for his third wife, Janet, daughter of David Durie, of Durie. The mother of this Janet Durie was Catharine Ramsey, the daughter of George, Lord Ramsey of Dalhousie, and his wife, Margaret, the only child and heiress of Sir George Douglass, of Melinhill.

Members of the various branches of the Scotch family of Durie have, it is seen, allied themselves in marriage to some of the most prominent noble families of that kingdom. The identification of this branch of the family with that of the French line, is complete and unmis- takable through the records of ancient chronicles and documents and the blazons of heraldry.

197

ELISHA DYER

F ROM England to Boston, before 1629, came Edward, George and Tabitha Dyre, two brothers and their sister. The son of one brother and the daughter of the other, who accompanied their parents, afterwards married and became the ancestors of the Dyer family in New England. William Dyre, or Dyer-the name is variously spelled in the old records- was a freeman of Boston in 1635. He was one of the company of seventeen persons who, in 1638, purchased from the Narragansett Indians the territory that afterwards became the Colony of Rhode Island. At the first general court of elections held at Newport, in 1640, he was chosen secretary of the Colony. Seven years later, he was a recorder of the General Assembly, and in the contest between the New Englanders and the Dutch, of New Amsterdam, was in command of a privateer. Mary Dyer, wife of William Dyer, was one of the religious martyrs of New England. She became a follower of Ann Hutchinson, and was among those who were ordered to depart from Massachusetts in 1659. Subsequently returning to that Colony, she was imprisoned as a Quaker and sentenced to death. Through the interposition of her family she was reprieved, but upon returning in opposition to a second decree of expulsion, was again taken into custody and executed upon Boston Common.

John Dyer, a grandson of William and Mary Dyer, married Freelove Williams, a great- granddaughter of Roger Williams. Their son, Anthony Dyer, was the father of Elisha Dyer, who married Frances Jones, a daughter of Esther Jones and a great-granddaughter of Mary Vernon, daughter of Gabriel Vernon, of an ancient Huguenot family from La Rochelle, France. The Honorable Elisha Dyer, son of Elisha and Frances (Jones) Dyer, was born in Providence, R. I., in 1811, and graduated from Brown University in 1829. Entering upon mercantile life, he became his father's partner in 1831, and after the latter's death was the owner of the Dyerville Manufac- turing Company. For nearly half a century he was one of the most prominent men in Rhode Island. In 1840, and for five successive terms, he was Adjutant-General of Rhode Island. In 1857, he was elected Governor of the State, and was reelected in 1858, but declined to accept the second term.

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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 32

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