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 65
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Mr. Robert Maclay, of this generation, so well known for his interest in public affairs, is the eldest son of Dr. Robert H. and his wife, Eliza L. Maclay. He was born in New York City, June 11th, 1834. Preparing for college in the public schools, he entered the University of the City of New York, but at the age of fourteen went to Illinois to complete his education in Judson College, graduating from that institution before he was twenty years of age. Returning then to New York City, he entered the real estate business. In 1865, he married Georgiana Barmore, whose father, Albert Barmore, was the founder and first president of the Knickerbocker Ice Company. As a result of this family alliance, Mr. Maclay became interested in the Knickerbocker Ice Company. He was elected a director of the corporation, and in 1868 became its vice-president and treasurer. When Mr. Barmore died, in 1875, Mr. Maclay was elected president of the company, a position that he has ever since retained. He has also been connected with several financial institutions, among them the Knickerbocker Trust Company, of which he is president, the Bowery Savings Bank, of which he is vice-president, and the People's Bank, of which he is a director.
The prominence that Mr. Maclay has attained in the business world and his reputation as a conservative business man has led to demands upon him for the public service. In 1892, the Supreme Court appointed him a member of the Rapid Transit Commission, a position in which he served the public faithfully and capably. For many years he has been one of the most influential members of the Board of Education, acting as chairman of the building committee of the board, and in 1895-96 its president. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the New York Historical Society, and belongs to numerous clubs, among them the Manhattan, Metropolitan, Grolier and Riding, and is a member of the Downtown Association. He has been officially con- nected with several of the clubs to which he belongs, and has served as treasurer of the Manhattan Club. He was one of the original incorporators of the Botanical Garden and is a member of the advisory committee of the New York University, a trustee of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church and a trustee of the Northern Dispensary. He lives at 50 West Fifty-seventh Street, and also has a summer residence at Elberon, N. J. His son, Alfred Barmore Maclay, belongs to the Calumet, Riding and other clubs and social organizations.
389
GEORGE HAMMOND MCLEAN
H IGHLAND tradition has ascribed the foundation of the powerful Clan of McLean, which from immemorial times has inhabited the Island of Mull, on the west coast of Scotland, to a famous warrior, Gillian-na-Tuaighe, or Gillian of the Battle-Ax, a weapon of that kind having been his constant companion. In fact, Celtic genealogists have carried the Clan's history back to fabulous ages, discovering its ultimate ancestor in a certain sage and hero, one Dougall of Scone, who flourished in far remote times. The word Gillian signifies servant of St. John, and the name assumed by Gillian-na-Tuaighe's family and followers was originally McGillian, and in Gaelic they are always designated as the Clan Gillian. Under successive chieftains, their power in Mull and the adjacent islands and mainlands increased for many ages, and was not diminished by a nominal dependence upon the McDonalds, Lords of the Isles. In fact, the McLeans were allies rather than feudal vassals, and were related to the ruling house of the McDonalds; Lachlan McLean, the first of the chiefs to establish himself at the historic family stronghold, the castle of Duart, in Mull, having married the Lady Margaret, daughter of John McDonald, the first Lord of the Isles. The brother of this Lachlan was Eachann, or Hector, McLean, who founded the subordinate division of the Clan known as the McLeans of Lochbuy.
The chiefs of Duart ranked among the most noble Highland families and married daughters of the Earl of Douglas, Argyle and other renowned and noble Scottish houses, both Highland and Low- land; while their warlike Clan was a participant in all the commotions to which mediaval Scotland was subjected, following the banner of the national hero, Robert Bruce, at Bannockburn, in 1314, and joining the army of Islesmen which Donald McDonald, Lord of the Isles, led in 1411, to subjugate the Lowlands, and which was defeated at the battle of Harlow, their chief, Hector Roy McLean, being slain there. In 1493, the McDonalds were deprived, by the Scottish King and Parliament, of their sovereignty, and the McLeans were then rendered independent. The chief of McLean was killed at Flodden Field, in 1513. Feuds with the Campbells of Argyle and the Mc- Donalds, their former overlords, followed for some generations ; Lachlan Catanach McLean, of Duart, having been assassinated by Campbell, of Calder, brother of the Earl of Argyle, in 1527.
Sir Lachlan More McLean (Lachlan the Great), who was educated at the Court of King James VI., of Scotland, and died in 1602, overcame all rivals, both in war and diplomacy, and raised the Clan Gillian to a high position of power and influence. In 1632, the then chief was created a baronet, and throughout the wars of the seventeenth century the McLeans were consistent supporters of the Stuart cause, fighting under Montrose at Inverlochy and Kilsyth, while, after the fall of King Charles' cause, their island possessions were ravaged by the Covenanters. Notwith- standing this, they took up arms for Charles Il., and fought against Cromwell's veterans, while in the Jacobite risings they were conspicuous at Killiecrankie, and in the battles of the Rebellion of 1745. Later on, many of the Clan became noted for their bravery in the Highland Regiments of the British Army, the present Chief, Sir Fitzroy Donald McLean, Baronet, being a veteran of the Crimea.
It has been remarked by the historian of the McLeans, that their devotion to the Stuarts was throughout a losing business. Many of the Clan were driven into exile, and America received a share of this enforced emigration, the bearers of the name having in this country displayed the sterling qualities that have ever marked their race, several of the family being prominent in Colonial and Revolutionary history. Among those who came early to this country, were representatives of the McLeans of Ardgour, a cadet branch sprung from Lachlan Bronnach, the seventh chief of McLean, and from this stock the New York family referred to herein is descended. Their arms are those of the Ardgour McLeans, on which are quartered a rampant lion, a castle, a hand grasping a cross, and a galley of the Isles with a salmon beneath. The crest is a helmet surmounted by a battle-ax between crossed branches of cypress and laurel ; the motto being : Altera Merces. Cypress and laurel, it should be mentioned, have ever been the distinctive badge of the Clan
390
Gillian, and its war cry or slogan, which was heard in so many Highland battles, was the Celtic words Bas na Beatha, meaning Death or Life.
In the family Bible possessed by Mr. George Hammond McLean, the births, deaths and alliances of the family are preserved with unusual fulness and care. The record of his ancestry in this country begins with William McLean, 1679-1749, who, in 1712, married Elizabeth Merrill ; his son being Charles, 1714-1759, who married Mary Carson, in 1743 ; and his grandson, another Charles McLean, 1757-1794, married Elizabeth Swaim, in 1778 ; the son of the last named couple, Cornelius McLean, born in 1787, being grandfather of the subject of this article. Cornelius McLean married, in 1807, Hannah Hammond, whose father, James Hammond, was a prominent patriot and Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Regiment of Westchester County, New York Militia, during the American Revolution.
James Monroe McLean, their third son, was born in New York, in 1818, was educated in private schools, and began his business career in the old-time Guardian Fire Insurance Company, founded by John Jacob Astor and Robert Lenox. In 1847, he became connected with the Citizens Fire Insurance Company, of this city, and took a leading part, by his wise and conservative course, in raising it from adversity to a high position, so that it paid large dividends, and its stock commanded a marked premium. As secretary and president, Mr. McLean was the active manager of the Citizens Fire Insurance Company for almost forty years. Holding a high position in the insurance world, and recognized as one of the leading exponents of the profession of underwriter, he was elected, in 1860, president of the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, serving four years, and was a prominent factor in creating harmony among the local insurance organizations, and in the establishment of the present New York Fire Department. When the National Board of Fire Underwriters was formed, in 1866, his was the only name put forward for president, and he was reelected for a second term. On the resignation of Henry Stokes, Mr. McLean was elected president of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, of which he had long been a director and a leading spirit in its affairs. He was an incorporator and original director of the Manhattan Savings Institution, and one of the first board of directors of the National Citizens Bank, and a director and vice-president of the Union Trust Company.
The varied public services of James Monroe McLean included the presidency of the Board of Education for four years, and a trusteeship of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. He was also president of the Institution for the Blind, and at his death, in 1890, was a member of the leading social organizations of the metropolis, including the Union, St. Nicholas and Manhattan clubs, and vice-president of the St. Nicholas Society, of which he had previously been the president. In 1840, he married Louisa Theresa Williams, who died in 1857, their two sons being Mr. George Hammond McLean and Cornelius McLean, of Mount Vernon, N. Y.
Mr. George Hammond McLean was born in this city November 24th, 1849. He was educated at private schools in New York and Connecticut, and entered Columbia College, and was a member of the A \ fraternity. He was, however, forced to abandon his studies by ill health, and spent ten years in Europe. One of the unusual experiences of his travels was several months passed on a Russian man-of-war as the guest of the commander. Returning to New York, in 1882, Mr. McLean entered the Citizens Insurance Company, taking charge of the agency depart- ment of its business, and, in 1886, he became the company's vice-president, an office he holds at the present time.
In November, 1879, Mr. McLean married, at Trinity Chapel, Harriet Amelia Dater, daughter of Henry Dater, of this city, and has two sons, James Clarence Hammond McLean and Alan Dater McLean. Mr. McLean's residence is 126 West Fifty-seventh Street, and he is a member of the Metropolitan, St. Nicholas, Calumet, Country, Players, New York Athletic, and Suburban Riding and Driving clubs, St. Nicholas Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. He is also a member of the Old Guard, of which organization his uncle, the late George Washington McLean, was long the Major in command.
391
HARRY WHITNEY McVICKAR
T HE McVickars are an old Scotch-Irish family, and several branches have attained to prominence in New York, One of the first of the name to come to this country was Archibald McVickar, the younger son of an Irish gentleman. He was in business in New York before the Revolution, being an extensive importer. Two nephews of Archibald McVickar were especially prominent in the next generation. John McVickar settled in New York when he was seventeen. His brother, Nathaniel McVickar, emigrated in 1798 and mar- ried Catharine Bucknor, daughter of a West India merchant, whose wife was a sister of Peter Goelet. One of the sons of Nathaniel and Catharine McVickar was William H. McVickar, who died in November, 1896, at the age of seventy-eight. In early life he was in business in Wall Street. He became one of the most prominent yachtsmen in New York, was one of the incor- porators of the New York Yacht Club, and Commodore of the club in 1866. He married Julia (Phelps) Mason, daughter of Thaddeus Phelps, and widow of Governor Mason, of Michigan. His eldest daughter married Lord Grantley, of England, and his second daughter became the wife of James Andariese, of New York. His only son is Henry G. McVickar, who married Janet Lansing, daughter of Colonel Arthur Lansing, U. S. A.
John McVickar, the brother of Nathaniel McVickar, attained even greater prominence than his brother. He was an importer and shipowner. Accumulating a large fortune, he gratified, to the fullest extent, his disposition to help others, giving much to the cause of religion and also to assist worthy individuals. He was a director in the Bank of New York, 1793-1810, one of the founders and vice-president of the St. Patrick's Society in 1797, and a vestryman of Trinity Church, 1801-12. He married Ann Moore, daughter of John Moore, a first cousin of the cele- brated Bishop Benjamin Moore. His eldest son, James McVickar, married Euretta Constable, daughter of William Constable, and their son was the celebrated Dr. John A. McVickar, whose son, the Reverend William Neilson McVickar, D. D., is rector of Holy Trinity Church, Phila- delphia. The second son of John McVickar was Archibald McVickar, who, after graduating from Columbia College, went to Cambridge University, England, and returning, married Catharine Augusta Livingston, daughter of Judge Henry Brockholst Livingston. John McVickar, the third son, became a clergyman, author and professor in Columbia College. He married Eliza Bard, daughter of Dr. Samuel Bard, and the Reverend William A. McVickar, D. D., of New York, was his son. Henry McVickar, the fourth son of John McVickar, was engaged in mercantile life. Edward McVickar married Matilda Constable, daughter of William Constable. Nathan McVickar died young. Benjamin McVickar married Josephine C. Lawrence, daughter of Isaac Lawrence, president of the United States Bank in New York. Eliza McVickar married William Constable. The youngest child, Augusta McVickar, married Judge William Jay, son of Chief Justice John Jay.
Mr. Harry Whitney McVickar, a leading representative of this interesting family in the pres- ent generation, is the son of the Reverend William A. McVickar. He was born in Irvington-on- Hudson, September 2d, 1860, and though an artist by profession, has also been engaged in business, being a member of the real estate firm of S. V. R. Cruger & Co. He lives in West Thirty-ninth Street, and is a member of the Players, Lawyers', Tuxedo, and Riding clubs, and the Century Association. Mr. McVickar married Maud Robbins, daughter of Henry A. Robbins and his wife, Elizabeth Pelham Bend, a sister of George H. Bend. Mrs. McVickar is a great-granddaughter of Philip Thomas, of the Virginia family of that name, and Frances Mary Ludlow. Through her grandmother, she is directly descended from Gabriel Ludlow, and also from Captain George Duncan, Peter Harrison, of Newport, and Elizabeth Pelham.
The McVickar arms are quarterly, first and fourth: or., an eagle, displayed, with two heads, gules. Second and third: per bend, embattled, argent and gules, over all, an escutcheon, or., charged with three stag's horns erect, gules. Crest, an eagle, displayed, with two heads, per pale, embattled, argent and gules. Motto, Dominus Providebit.
392
WILLIAM H. MACY
E VEN the casual visitor to the Island of Nantucket, that lies out in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts, soon realizes that the Macy family has long been a dominant influence in that community. Everybody in Nantucket seems to be connected, directly or indirectly, by birth or by marriage, with the Macys. This condition has, in fact, prevailed there for more than two and a half centuries.
Nantucket was originally settled by Thomas Macy, who came there with nine associates and bought the island from the Indians, in 1659. Thomas Macy was of Salisbury, England, where he was born in 1608. He came from the parish of Chilmark, England, in 1635, and settled in Massachusetts, going first to Newbury, becoming a freeman in that place in 1639, and in the same year was one of the first settlers of Salisbury, where he held many positions of prominence. He was an adherent of the Baptist faith, and his general liberality and tolerance in matters of religion brought him into some disfavor with his stricter Puritan neighbors. Sym- pathizing with the Quakers, he sheltered many of them from the persecutions to which they were subjected and for this found himself persecuted in turn. That was chief among the influences which led him to withdraw from the Bay Colony to the seclusion and freedom of the Island of Nantucket. He was the first Recorder of that place, a Lieutenant in King Philip's War, and a representative to the Massachusetts General Court every year, from 1672 to 1686.
The Macys, who have been prominent in the New York business world for several gener- ation's, are descended from this pioneer of Nantucket. One branch of the family had for its head Josiah Macy, the old New York merchant of the earlier part of the present century. The father of Josiah Macy was a shipowner in Nantucket, a man of enterprise and considerable wealth for the time and place in which he lived. Josiah Macy himself was born in Nantucket in 1785. His education was secured at the schools there, and at the age of fifteen he shipped on board of one of his father's vessels. For many years he followed the sea on his father's ships and then became himself a shipowner.
In 1828, Mr. Macy came to New York City and established himself in the shipping and commission business, with his son, William H. Macy, as partner, under the firm name of Josiah Macy & Son. The following year, with the admission of another son into partnership, the firm name was changed to Josiah Macy & Sons. In 1853, Mr. Macy retired from business to his country seat in Rye, Westchester County, N. Y., and lived there until his death in 1872. He was one of the original founders of the City Fire Insurance Company, and a director from 1833 onward, while for many years he was a director in the Tradesmen's Bank. His wife, whom he married in 1805, and who died in 1861, was Lydia Hussey, of an old Nantucket family. He left five sons, William H., Charles A., Josiah G., Francis H. and John H. Macy, and two daughters, Lydia H. and Ann Eliza Macy. William H. Macy, Sr., was the eldest son of Josiah Macy. He was born at Nantucket in 1805, and was educated there. After a short term of serv- ice in a shipping office in New York, he began business on his own account in 1826. In 1828, his father joined him in the business which he had established. He became a member of the Chamber of Commerce in 1834, and was vice-president of that institution. He was also con- nected with the Leather Manufacturers' Bank, of which he was at one time president, and was president of the Seaman's Bank for Savings, vice-president of the United States Trust Company and a director in other fiduciary institutions. He died in 1887.
Mr. William H. Macy, the representative of the family in this generation, is the son of William H. Macy, Sr., and was born in New York in 1836. His mother was Eliza L. Jenkins, daughter of Sylvanus T. Jenkins. One of his sisters became the wife of William M. Kingsland and another married Isaac H. Walker. In 1866, Mr. Macy married Angeline S. Strange, daughter of Edwin B. and Josephine L. Strange. Mr. and Mrs. Macy have one daughter, Josephine L., who is the wife of George Finch Chamberlin, of this city.
393
CHARLES VICTOR MAPES
TN the fourteenth century, John Mapes, of Feltham, England, married the heiress of John Blount, son of Sir Hugh Blount. In 1563, Clarenceaux, King at Arms, describes the Mapes arms as sable, four fusels in fesse, or., quartered with the Blount arms; or., two bars nebule, sable, the Mapes crest being an arm in armour embowed, or., holding in the gauntlet a spur, argent, leathered sable. Thomas Mapes, of the eighth generation from John Mapes, of Feltham, was of the company from New Haven, Conn., which, in 1640, founded Southold, Long Island. His descendants continued to reside in that town, and two brothers, James and Phineas Mapes, were in the Continental Army. 1
General Jonas Mapes, 1768-1824, son of James Mapes, was born at Southold, but came to New York when young. In 1796, he married Elizabeth Tylee, daughter of James Tylee, a patriot, whom the British had imprisoned. Commissioned ensign in 1794, James Mapes became Brigadier- General in 1814, and was selected by Governor Tompkins to command the force defending New York City. He retained this post till the War of 1812 ended, and in 1816 became Major-General. He was later an alderman, and in 1819 was one of the organizers and directors of the first savings bank in America. A supporter of De Witt Clinton and an advocate of the Erie Canal, his name was first among the managers of the ball by which the opening of the canal was celebrated in 1825. When Lafayette visited New York in 1824, he was on the committee of reception, and received from Lafayette a pair of pistols still in the possession of the family.
John Jay Mapes, his son, 1806-1866, was distinguished as a scientist, inventor and author, particularly by introducing chemical fertilizers into America. He founded and edited The American Repertory of Arts, Sciences and Manufactures, in which he published many able scientific papers. Appointed professor of chemistry and natural philosophy to the National Academy of Design, he received a similar appointment from the American Institute. In 1844, Professor Mapes became president of the Mechanics' Institute, and later of the American Institute, a position he held for twenty years. Williams College conferred the degrees of A. M. and LL. D. on him. He was a member of many prominent scientific societies, and received signal marks of public respect. He was among the personal friends of Joseph Bonaparte, who presented to him a bust of Napoleon by Canova. In 1827, he married Sophia Furman, daughter of Judge Garrett Furman. Their second daughter is Mary Mapes Dodge, the authoress and editor of The St. Nicholas Magazine.
Mr. Charles Victor Mapes is the surviving son of Professor Mapes. He was born in New York, July 4th, 1836, graduated from Harvard in 1857 and, while entering business life, assisted his father in editing The Working Farmer. Mr. Mapes has been distinguished by his investigations of the requirements of soils and crops, and he has written numerous papers on such subjects. He has been for twenty years the head of the Mapes Fertilizer Company, and was the first president of the Fertilizer and Chemical Exchange. He is a member of the Harvard and other clubs and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was first president of the @ A X club. In 1863, he married Martha Meeker Halsted, daughter of Oliver Spencer Halsted and grand- daughter of Chancellor Oliver S. Halsted, of New Jersey. Five sons were born of this marriage. Charles Halsted Mapes, the eldest, born 1864, graduated from Columbia in 1885, and from the Columbia School of Mines in 1889. He has since devoted himself to chemistry and scientific agriculture. Dr. James Jay Mapes, the second son, born 1866, graduated at Columbia in 1888, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1891, and died in 1896. Herbert Mapes, the third son, born 1868, was an undergraduate of Columbia when he was drowned at Fire Island in August, 1891. A memorial gate at the entrance of Columbia's new grounds has been erected by his fellow students and friends. Victor Mapes, the fourth son, Columbia 1891, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris for two years, and has devoted himself to literary pursuits. Clive Spencer Mapes, the youngest son, born in 1878, is an undergraduate at Columbia. All Mr. Mapes' sons were extremely popular in college and noted athletes.
394
PETER MARIÉ
O N the paternal side the Marie family is of French origin. The grandfather of Mr. Peter Marié was the maitre du port at Cap Français, on the Island of San Domingo, an impor- tant civil position. In 1792 he lost his life in a drowning accident. The French Republic had sent to the French islands in the West Indies the Marechal Rochambeau, son of the well-known General Rochambeau, who was in command of the French troops that served in the United States during our war for independence. It was the duty of the maitre du port to receive the Maréchal, and while thus engaged, one of the hurricanes, so frequent in the West Indies, arose and capsized the vessel which was carrying him.
The maternal grandfather of Mr. Marie was a planter of San Domingo, by the name of Arnaud. He owned a flourishing estate in the neigborhood of Cap Français and lost his life in one of the insurrections of the blacks, being assassinated at a banquet that was being held to celebrate the cessation of hostilities and at which the leading whites and the chiefs of the blacks assisted. Through the assistance of some friendly blacks the widow of Mr. Arnaud, with her three young children, contrived to make her escape to a French merchant ship that lay in the harbor, and came to the United States. The maiden name of Mrs. Arnaud was Mary Nicholson. She was a native of Pennsylvania, of a family well known in the Colonial days.
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