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 57
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Isaac Kype ranked among the larger land owners in the beginnings of our city's history. He obtained a grant of a large tract, which included the site of the present City Hall Park, and the first name of the Nassau Street of to-day was Kip Street, in his honor. His son, Jacobus Kip, was born here in 1666 and also became the possessor of large estates. In conjunction with his brother Henry, he purchased from the Indians a large tract on the east side of the Hudson, comprehending within its limits the present village of Rhinebeck. Isaac Kip, son of Jacobus Kip, was born in New York in 1696, and married Cornelia Lewis, daughter of Leonard Lewis, a leading merchant and alderman of the city from 1696 to 1700. Their son, Leonard Kip, was the father of Isaac Lewis Kip, who, born in 1767, was a lawyer of eminence in the period succeeding the Revolution. He became the professional partner of Judge Brockholst Livingston, but was afterwards appointed to an office in the Court of Chancery of the State, holding that position under Chancellors Livingston, Lansing and Kent.
The wife of Isaac Lewis Kip, first of the name, was Sarah Smith, daughter of Colonel Smith, of Powles Hook. Their son, Leonard W. Kip, also became a lawyer of high rank in his profes- sion. He was noted as an authority upon real estate titles in New York, but at the same time gave much attention to the cause of philanthropy and education, taking a prominent place in bodies devoted to those purposes. The University of the City of New York was among the institutions which were benefited by his unselfish labors, and for a number of years he was a member of its board of council.
Dr. Isaac Lewis Kip, son of Leonard W. Kip, was born in New York. He received his early education here and was graduated from the University of the City of New York, his academical training being followed by a course of study in, and a medical degree from, the medical department of the same institution. Dr. Kip, however, engaged in the active practice of his pro- fession for a few years only, but was for some time connected in a professional capacity with the Mutual Life Insurance Company. He married Cornelia Brady, daughter of the Honorable William V. Brady, who was Mayor of New York in 1847. Their two children are Adelaide, who married Philip Rhinelander, and William V. B. Kip. The residence of Dr. Kip is in Fifth Avenue.
342
LAWRENCE KIP
T HE remote ancestor of the New York family, now under consideration, was Ruloff de Kuype, a French knight. From him descended Hendrick Hendrickzen Kip, who arrived at New Amsterdam prior to 1643. He was one of the foremost men of the Colony in character, as well as in birth, and in 1645 stoutly refused to do honor to the tyrannical Governor Kieft, but became a member of Governor Stuyvesant's Council of nine men, in 1647, and schepen of the infant town in 1656. His three sons, of whom Jacob Kip was the eldest, were included in the census taken under the orders of Stuyvesant, as among the twenty burghers or greater citizens of the place. In 1654, Jacob Kip married Maria de la Montague, daughter of Dr. Johannes de la Montague, and in 1655 built a house, famous in the annals of New York as the original of the historic Kip mansion, on the farm fronting on the East River, at or about the present Thirty-fifth Street, and which has given the name of Kip's Bay to that part of the city. Over the door was carved in stone the family arms-a gold chevron, between two sealed griffins, on a blue shield, the crest being a demi-griffin, holding a cross and the motto Nulla Vestigia.
Colonel Lawrence Kip descends in direct line from the New Amsterdam Patrician, his paternal grandfather being Leonard Kip, 1774-1846, and who married Maria Ingraham, 1784-1876, daughter of Duncan Ingraham, of Philadelphia. Colonel Kip's father, the Right Reverend William Ingraham Kip, D. D., was one of the offspring of this marriage, and was born in New York in 1811, graduated at Yale in 1831, and, after studying law, devoted himself to the ministry. He was ordained Deacon in 1835, and in 1838 became Rector of St. Paul's, Albany, and in 1853 was consecrated Bishop of California. He married Maria Elizabeth Lawrence, daughter of Isaac Lawrence, 1768-1841, and his wife, Cornelia Beach, this alliance making him a relative of the many leading families with which the Lawrences are connected. Bishop Kip was one of the most eminent clergymen in the United States, and a man of great executive ability.
The family connection, to which Colonel Kip belongs, includes on both sides relatives distinguished in all stations in life. Bishop Burgess, of Maine, was an uncle of the subject of this article, and the celebrated Noah Webster was a great uncle, while a maternal cousin was Commodore Ingraham, of the United States Navy, the hero of the Koszta incident in 1853, and afterwards an Admiral in the Confederate service. Another uncle was the Honorable William Beach Lawrence, Governor of Rhode Island.
Born in Morristown, N. J., Mr. Lawrence Kip was educated at the Churchill Military School, Sing Sing, and in 1853 was appointed from California as a cadet at West Point, receiving the commission of Second Lieutenant of Artillery in 1857. He served through the Civil War on General Sheridan's staff, becoming Captain in 1866, and received brevets of Major and Lieutenant- Colonel in 1865 for gallantry at Five Forks, but resigned in 1867. In 1864, Colonel Kip married Eva Lorillard, daughter of Peter Lorillard and Catherine Griswold Lorillard. The issue of this marriage have been two children, Edith Kip McCreery and Lorillard Kip, the latter of whom died in June, 1896.
Colonel Kip, while active in society and as a sportsman, inherits literary tastes and ability. His father, Bishop Kip, was famous as a theological writer, and some years ago published an interesting record of California, Early Days of My Episcopate. His relative, Bishop Burgess, and an uncle, Leonard Kip, of Albany, were also authors, and he has published an account of his own military experiences, under the title of Army Life on the Pacific. Colonel Kip has also been deeply interested in every effort to raise the character of the American turf, is president of the Coney Island Jockey Club, and identified with other organizations of like character, and has owned many road and track horses. He was one of the Patriarchs, his clubs being the Metropolitan, Union, Tuxedo, Suburban and Riding and Driving. Colonel Kip is also prominent among the supporters of the National Horse Show Association, of which he is vice-president, and has won many prizes with his own horses.
343
GUSTAV EDWARD KISSEL
A GRAND-UNCLE of the gentleman referred to in this article was one of the most prominent civic magistrates of Frankfort-on-the-Main a century ago. When Frankfort ranked as one of the free cities of Germany and held an important place in the politics and history of the country as a free community, he was burgomaster and one of its leading citizens, being a representative and descendant of an ancient burgher family, which had been well known for several centuries, not only in the city of Frankfort, but throughout the Palatinate of the Rhine and the surrounding districts.
The father of Mr. Gustav E. Kissel, Gustav Hermann Kissel, was one of the leading merchants of New York in the first half of this century. He was born in Frankfort, Germany, May 11th, 1810, came here in early life and attained wealth and social and business prominence, dying on Staten Island, July 23d, 1876, at his country seat in the village of New Brighton, where the name of a street now commemorates the residence of the family in the place. At the time of his death, Mr. Kissel had been a citizen of New York for forty years. He was one of the early abolitionists, becoming an advocate of that cause immediately after arriving in this country, and was intimately associated with its leading upholders. During the Civil War, he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Union cause, taking part in all the movements instituted by the leading citizens of the metropolis to that end, and in many ways rendered efficient service to the national Government, sometimes at great personal as well as pecuniary sacrifice to himself. When, in 1863, the draft rioters were in possession of the city, he opened his house to persecuted negroes and gave them refuge till the disturbance was quelled and order restored in the city, and was in all ways a patriotic citizen.
The mother of Mr. Gustav E. Kissel was Charlotte Anne Stimson, daughter of Dr. Jeremy Stimson, one of the most distinguished physicians of the City of Boston half a century ago. She was married to Mr. Kissel soon after his arrival in this country. Of the children of this marriage, Eleanora married Dr. F. P. Kinnicutt, a leading physician of New York; Godfrey married a daughter of Dexter Bradford, of Boston, and Rudolph Hermann married a daughter of G. T. Morgan. Mr. Gustav Edward Kissel, the second child and the oldest son of Gustav Hermann and Charlotte Anne (Stimson) Kissel, was born in New York, September 30th, 1854. His early education was secured at the celebrated private schools of Dr. Charlier and J. H. Morse, of New York. After his preparatory instruction was completed, he was sent abroad for further study. He first, for some time, attended the academy at Lausanne, Switzerland, and then matriculated at the University of Heidelberg, in Germany, where he remained for three years. Returning to this country, he entered upon the business pursuits which have now engaged his attention for nearly twenty years. Finance and banking possessed unusual attractions for him, and shortly before he was twenty-five years of age, in 1879, he entered Wall Street in the firm of Kessler & Co., the New York branch of an international banking house which had been in existence in Europe for many years, and which possesses extensive connections in Germany and Switzerland. As partner of this establishment, Mr. Kissel has been constantly engaged in business operations of the largest character and has personally gained a position among the most respected and prominent representatives of his profession. He has also contributed efficiently to making investments in American corporations and other securities popular in Europe.
In 1884, Mr. Kissel married Caroline Thorn, daughter of William K. Thorn. Mr. and Mrs. Kissel live at 15 West Sixteenth Street, and also have a country house at Morristown, N. J., where they spend a portion of each year. They have four children, William Thorn, Dorothea, Louise Baring and Jeannette Kissel. In his club memberships Mr. Kissel includes the Union, Knickerbocker, Century, Racquet, Morristown, Reform and City. He is a member of the Downtown Association, of the Chamber of Commerce, and a trustee of the American Geographical Society and the American Museum of Natural History.
344
GOUVERNEUR KORTRIGHT
F OR two centuries the Kortrights and the Gouverneurs have ranked among the leading families of New York. They have intermarried with each other, and with the Ver Plancks, Tillotsons, Lawrences, Livingstons and other great Colonial families. Kortryk, a Flemish town on the river Lys, gave its name to the family. The ancestors of the Kortrights were Protestants, of Flanders. In the religious troubles that vexed that country three hundred years ago, Sebastian, or Bastiaen, Van Kortryk went to Leerdam to escape persecution, and settled there. His two sons, Jan and Michiel, came to New Amsterdam in 1663. They first settled upon Governor Stuyvesant's bowery, but afterwards removed to Harlem. From them have descended all the Kortright or Courtright families of New York and New Jersey.
Cornelis Jansen Kortright, the ancestor of Mr. Gouverneur Kortright, was born in Beest, Gelderland, in 1645. He came to this country with his father, Jan Bastiaensen, in 1663. His wife, whom he married in 1665, was Metje Elyessen, daughter of Bastiaen Elyessen. He was a member of the troop of horse, and died in 1689, leaving four children, Johannes, Laurens, Aefie and Annettie. His eldest son, Johannes Cornelissen Kortright, who was born in 1673 and died in 1711, married Wyntje Dyckman, and their son, Nicholas Kortright, who married Elizabeth Van Huyse, daughter of Eide Van Huyse, was a constable and collector of the town of Harlem.
Lawrence Cornelisen Kortright, the second son of Cornelis Jansen Kortright, was the ancestor of that branch of the family which Mr. Gouverneur Kortright represents. He was born in 1681, and was a constable of Harlem in 1708. His wife, whom he married in 1703, was Helena Benson, daughter of Captain John Benson, who was of an old New York family. The oldest son of this union, born in 1704, was Cornelius Kortright, who married, in 1730, Hester Cannon, daughter of John Cannon, another New York merchant, who was an assistant alderman, 1738-40, and whose death occurred in 1762. Cornelius Kortright died in 1743, as the result of an accident, and his widow survived until 1784. Three sons and three daughters were of this family. The youngest son, Cornelius Kortright, married a Miss Hendricks, a wealthy lady of the Island of Santa Cruz. Maria Kortright married John W. Hanson. Helena Kortright married Abraham Brasher, and Elizabeth Kortright married William R. Van Cortlandt.
Lawrence Kortright, eldest son of Cornelius and Hester (Cannon) Kortright, was a noted merchant of New York a hundred years ago, being associated with Luke Van Ranst and Isaac Sears. He was a large owner in several privateers in the French War, and one of the original incorporators of the Chamber of Commerce in 1770. The town of Kortright, N. Y., where he had purchased large tracts of land intending to found a manor, was named for him. His death occurred in 1794. His wife was Hannah Aspinwall. One of his daughters married James Monroe, after- wards President of the United States, and another became the wife of Nicholas Gouverneur, of the great commission house of Gouverneur, Kortright & Co., after whom Gouverneur Street and Gouverneur Lane were named. The only son of Lawrence Kortright was Captain John Kortright, whose wife was Catherine Seaman, who, after the death of her first husband, became the second wife of Judge Henry Brockholst Livingston. Captain John Kortright was a member of the St. George's Society in 1789. His children were John L., Edmund, Robert and Gouverneur; Eliza M., who married Nicholas Cruger, and Hester Mary, who married Billop B. Seaman. Edmund Kortright married Miss Shaw. Robert Kortright became a physician. Gouverneur Kort- right married Miss Allaire, of a Winchester, Va., family.
Mr. Gouverneur Kortright, head of this historic family in the present generation, lives in East Fifty-sixth Street. He married Thérèse White, descended from Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower in the harbor of Plymouth in 1620. Mr. Kortright belongs to the Metropolitan, Racquet and Knickerbocker clubs, and his interest in gentlemanly sports is indicated by his membership in the New York and Larchmont Yacht clubs. His summer residence is The Moorings, in Newport. He has one daughter, Alice Gouverneur Kortright.
345
PERCIVAL KÜHNE
N EAR the City of Magdeburg, Germany, is an estate which for hundreds of years has been the property of Mr. Kühne's ancestors. The latter's grandfather, John Frederick Kühne, was born there in 1792. In 1814, he joined the German Army and fought at the battle of Waterloo, where he was severely wounded. He was decorated and rewarded for bravery, and died in Magdeburg in 1855. His musical ability was of the highest order, and he followed music- not as a profession-but from love of art. Richard Wagner, who in early life pursued his musical studies in Magdeburg, became one of Herr Kühne's intimate friends, and the violin owned and used by Wagner at that time is still among the possessions of the Kühne family.
The late Frederick Kühne, his son, born at Magdeburg in 1824, was for over thirty years a leading representative of the Germans in this city, where he arrived in 1851. He was a trained financier and established the banking house of Knauth, Nachod & Kühne, in which, till his death in Paris, France, in 1890, he maintained an active and leading interest. By reason of his wide connection with the social and business world, and his ability and exceptional energy, he gave the firm that high standing in international and domestic finance which it still retains. Prior to the foundation of the German Empire, he represented, for over sixteen years, fifteen of the separate German States as their Consul-General in New York, and was decorated by the various princes in recognition of his services, in several instances conferring upon him the rank of Chevalier. He enjoyed the confidence of many illustrious personages, and was honored by audiences with the Emperor William I. and the Emperor Frederick, and was frequently entertained by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, with whom he maintained a warm friendship. He was prominent in many of our financial institutions, being among the founders of the German-American and Lincoln National banks, while he was for twenty years vice-president of the Citizens' Savings Bank. Becoming an American citizen, he took a patriotic and prominent share both in municipal and national politics. He was several times offered the nomination for Mayor, and was an elector at the election of Grant, and again at the election of Hayes; while he was warmly interested in educational questions, and at the time of his death was a school commissioner and a governor of the city institutions at Randall's Island. He was an original member of the Union League, and belonged to many social organizations. His wife, the mother of the present Mr. Kühne, was Ellen Josephine Miller, born in New York in 1833.
Mr. Percival Kühne, their son, was born in New York, April 6th, 1861. He attended the University of the City of New York, and then continued his studies in Germany. Upon his return, he entered the paternal banking house, in which, on his father's death, he succeeded to the place held by his father, both in New York and in Leipzig, Germany. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and has taken an active part in several large financial institutions; among others, being one of the organizers and a trustee of the Colonial Trust Company. He is a veteran of the Seventh Regiment, a member of Holland Lodge, No. 8, F. A. M., and belongs to the Metropolitan, Union League, City and Military clubs, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Botanical Garden, and many other organizations.
In 1893, Mr. Kühne married Lillian Middleton Kerr, granddaughter of John Kerr, the founder and first president of the Broadway & Seventh Avenue Railroad Company. Mrs. Kühne is also a granddaughter of Addison Smith, whose mother was Margaret Worthington, a lineal descendant of Nicholas Worthington, who took the oath of allegiance in 1678. The Worthington family is traced back in Burke's Landed Gentry to Henry III.
Mr. Kühne's visits to Europe have naturally been frequent and he has received many social attentions. Mr. and Mrs. Kühne were the only American guests present at the wedding of Princess Helen of Orleans to the Duke D'Aosta, in July, 1895, at Kingston, near London. Besides the Orleans family, all the English royal family except the Queen were present on this interesting occasion.
346
EDWARD R. LADEW
L ITTLE difficulty exists in tracing the family which this gentleman represents to a Huguenot origin. In fact, the name itself suggests an ancestry of that character. For a number of generations, the ancestors of Mr. Edward R. Ladew resided in the town of Mount Pleasant, Ulster County, N. Y., the locality taking from them the name of Ladew's Corners, by which it was known from an early date in the present century. It was there that Abraham D. Ladew, grandfather of the subject of this article, lived and was successfully engaged in business, having an interest in leather manufactories at various points in that section.
His son, Harvey Smith Ladew, was born at Ladew's Corners in 1826. He attended the local schools and at an early age acquired a thorough knowledge of the art of tanning in his father's establishment. In 1866, he came to New York to represent the family enterprise in the metropolitan market. He also became a member of the firm of Hoyt Brothers, and when the name of that estab- lishment was changed to J. B. Hoyt & Co., was one of the principals. In 1884, he became asso- ciated with Daniel S. Fayerweather, under the style of Fayerweather & Ladew, which attained the position of the most important firm in the "Swamp" district of New York, and which controlled a large portion of the leather product of the entire United States, and had important interests in all parts of the country. Daniel S. Fayerweather is remembered by the bequest of his great wealth to a large number of colleges and institutions of learning. His partner, Harvey Smith Ladew, was a mer- chant of the old school and wielded great influence in mercantile circles until his death in 1888. He married, in 1849, Rebecca, daughter of Reuben Krom, and had two sons, Edward H. and Joseph Harvey Ladew, and a daughter, Louise, who married John Townsend Williams. They have two sons, Harvey Ladew and John Townsend Williams, Jr.
Mr. Edward R. Ladew, the eldest son of Harvey Smith Ladew, was born in New York City, February 18th, 1855. He was educated at the Charlier Institute and the Anthon Grammar School in this city. He then entered business life and acquired a practical knowledge of the mechanical processes of the industry with which his family was identified. After a time he became a member of the firm of J. B. Hoyt & Co., and later of Fayerweather & Ladew, taking the position of acting manager of the latter. Since his father's death, in 1888, he had been in partnership with his brother. He was active in the foundation of the United States Leather Company, one of the largest and most important business enterprises in the United States, and was elected vice-president of that corporation. He is also connected with, and is a director in, a number of business, financial and fiduciary companies.
In 1886, Mr. Ladew married Louise B. Wall, daughter of Charles Wall, one of whose ances- tors was William Wall, the last Mayor of Williamsburgh, prior to its consolidation with Brooklyn. Their children are: Harvey S. and Elsie Wall Ladew. Mr. Ladew is a noted sportsman, has shot large game in many countries and is greatly interested in yachting, being a member of the New York, Larchmont, American, Atlantic and Hempstead Harbor Yacht clubs, and is owner of the steam yacht Orienta. His social clubs include the Union League, Fulton, Hide and Leather, and the Liederkranz Society. The family residence is in East Sixty-seventh Street, near Central Park. Their country seat is Elsinore, Hempstead Harbor, Long Island, which was once owned by William E. Burton, the famous actor and manager. The place now comprises, among other features, a remarkable collection of blooded live stock of all kinds, including horses, dogs of several breeds, sheep and high grade poultry. Mrs. Ladew gives this portion of the establishment her personal supervision. Many prizes and awards have been taken at horse shows, fairs and exhibitions by the owners of Elsinore, which is regarded as one of the most perfectly appointed places of the kind in the vicinity of New York. The house also contains a large number of trophies of the chase from various parts of the world, nearly all the specimens having been shot by Mr. Ladew or his friends, as well as a remarkable collection of weapons of all countries and ages, to the gathering of which their owner has devoted much time and attention.
347
DANIEL SCOTT LAMONT
S PRUNG from Scotch ancestry, whose lineage has been traced back to the year 1250, the Honorable Daniel Scott Lamont has achieved success in political life and in financial affairs. His ancestors came to this country in the early part of the present century and took up their residence in Delaware County, N. Y. His paternal grandparents were Daniel and Margaret Lamont, and those on the maternal side, Andrew and Helen J. Scott. His father and mother, John B. Lamont and Elizabeth Scott, after their marriage, removed from Delaware County to Cort- land County, N. Y. John B. Lamont, who died quite recently, was a merchant at McGrawville, N. Y. His son, Mr. Daniel S. Lamont, was born in the town of Cortlandville, Cortland County, N. Y., February 9th, 1851. He was taught in the local schools and at the New York Central Academy in McGrawville, and in 1868 entered Union College, in the class of 1872.
He did not, however, complete his course, but after pursuing it for two years, left college to accept an appointment as a deputy clerk of the New York Assembly and subsequently became Chief Clerk of the State Department when the Honorable John Bigelow was Secretary of State. He became active in the Democratic party of the State during the years of the Honorable Samuel J. Tilden's governorship, and had the confidence of that gentleman to such an extent that during the interesting years from 1874 to 1882, he was actively connected with the affairs of his party. From the State Department he retired to take up editorial work on the staff of The Albany Argus, then controlled by Daniel Manning, of which paper he became one of the owners. While in that position, he came into relations with the Honorable Grover Cleveland, who was then Governor of the State, and who offered Mr. Lamont a position as Military Secretary on his staff with the rank of Colonel. Shortly after, Mr. Lamont became Grover Cleveland's private secretary, holding that position as long as the latter retained the Governorship of New York.
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