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 70
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418
Andries Hoppe, or Hoppen, with his wife, Geertje Hendricks, came from Holland in 1652. In 1653, he was a burgher of New Amsterdam, and died in 1659. His widow became the owner of Bronk's Land (Riker's History of Harlem). Records of the Dutch Church show her marriage in 1660 to Dirck Gerritsen Van Tricht. Mathew Adolphus Hopper, the youngest child and third son of the pioneer, was born in 1658 and married Anna Paulus, daughter of Jurck Paulus. Part of this family settled in Bloomingdale, and to this branch Mr. Hopper Striker Mott belongs. John Hopper, the elder, Mr. Mott's great-great-great-grandfather, owned the famous Hopper farm on the upper west side of the island, which extended from near Sixth Avenue to the Hudson River. It was acquired by a Dutch grant in 1642, confirmed by the English in 1667. Upon the death of John Hopper, in 1779, the farm was divided by his will among his children, for each of whom he had erected a house. The mansion which he built for his son John was constructed in 1752, on the banks of the Hudson, at Fifty-third Street, and became the home of General Garret Hopper Striker and his descendants, and was only demolished in December, 1895. The Mott homestead, built in the middle of the last century, stood at Mott's Point, at the foot of West Fifty- fourth Street, a landmark of old New York until November, 1895, when it was razed to allow of the extension of that street. The house of Yellis Hopper was erected on Fifty-first Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, and has long since disappeared. The homestead built for Andrew Hopper was located on the present site of the American Horse Exchange, at Broadway and Fiftieth Street. The burial plot of the family occupied a part of this farm near Fiftieth Street and Ninth Avenue. Mrs. Greatorex in her Old New York and Valentine's Manuals for 1851, 1861 and 1870 enter fully into details regarding this property. ' That portion of the old farm willed to John Hopper the younger, as well as the portions deeded to him by his brother Matthew, February 17th, 1782, and by Yellis, April 4th, 1787, and the Wessell-Hopper inheritance, was set apart in an action of partition in the courts by a decree dated January 10th, 1865, to the Strikers and Motts (Tuttle's Abstracts).
In January, 1643, Jan and Jacobus Gerritsen Van Strycker received from the States General of Holland a grant of land in New Amsterdam. Jacobus Gerritsen Van Strycker came over in 1651, from the village of Ruinen, in the United Provinces, and was the founder of the family in America. His brother Jan, who came in 1654, was a leader of the Dutch colony on Long Island. He was a great burgher in 1653, 1655, 1657, 1658, 1660, and a schepen for many years. He moved to Flatlands about 1660, and in 1673 became schout of the Dutch towns on Long Island.
The descendants of these brothers have been numerous on Long Island and in New Jersey. In Volume HH., page 10, of O'Callaghan's Calendar of Historical Documents, is found the record of the original deed of Stricker's Bay, at Bloomingdale, dated February 11th, 1653. James Striker, one of the founders of the Reformed Dutch Church, at Harsenville, and a great-grandfather of Mr. Hopper Striker Mott, inherited this property. A portion of the mansion, which succeeded that built by Jacobus Gerritsen Strycker in 1654, is still standing at Ninety-sixth Street and Riverside Drive. The only son of James Striker was Major-General Garret Hopper Striker, a Captain in the Fifth New York Regiment in the War of 1812. The camp of his command was within the northern limits of Central Park. After the war, he married a daughter of Captain Alexander MacDougall, of the British Navy, whose mother was a Miss Ellsworth, of New York City. He died in 1868.
Mr. Hopper Striker Mott was born in New York City, April 19th, 1854, and educated in the Military Academy at Peekskill, Charlier's French School, Columbia College and Columbia Law School. Upon the death of his uncle, Jordan Mott, he succeeded to a large inheritance, and, with his brother, became a tenant in common of a portion of the Hopper farm. The care of that property has been his chief business occupation.
In 1875, Mr. Mott married May Lenox, only child of Dr. Edwin S. Lenox, of New York City, and has one son, Hopper Lenox Mott, eighth in descent from Adam Mott. His ancestry gives him membership in the Holland Society, and he also belongs to the Metropolitan, Union League, St. Nicholas, Country and \ T clubs. His city residence is at 188 West End Avenue.
419
JORDAN L. MOTT
A MONG the descendants of Adam Mott, the pioneer, who settled upon Long Island in the middle of the seventeenth century, is that branch of the family to which Mr. Jordan L. Mott belongs, many of its representatives having been prominent in New York business and social circles in every generation. Adam Mott, who came from Essex and settled in New Amsterdam before 1647, married his first wife, Jane Hulet, of Buckingham, in England. His son Joseph, 1651-1735, the youngest child in a family of eight, was the direct ancestor of Mr. Jordan L. Mott.
Jacob Mott, the son of Joseph Mott, was born August 9th, 1715, and died October 6th, 1805. He was the father of Jacob Mott, who was born in 1756 and died in 1823, and became father of the first Jordan L. Mott. The brothers of the second Jacob Mott became the ancestors of the various branches of the family.
Jacob Mott, the great-grandson of Adam Mott, became a merchant in New York. During his early life, he lived on Long Island, and there married Deborah, daughter of Dr. William Lawrence, whose ancestor, John Lawrence, was one of the commissioners appointed to arrange the boundaries between New Amsterdam and Connecticut in 1664. John Lawrence was a lineal descendant of Sir Robert Lawrence, and was an extensive landholder on Long Island. He became an alderman, and was Mayor of New York City in 1673. The Honorable John W. Lawrence, the Congressman; Captain James Lawrence, the naval hero of the War of 1812, and Mayor Cornelius Van W. Lawrence were eminent members of the same family. Jacob Mott became prominent in politics and was an alderman, 1804-10, president of the Board when De Witt Clinton was Mayor, and at one time acted as Deputy Mayor. Mott Street perpetuates his name upon the map of the city.
Jordan L. Mott, the first of his name, was the youngest son of Jacob Mott, and was born at Manhasset, Long Island, October 21st, 1798. He received a good education, but reverses in the family fortunes compelled him to go into business at the age of twenty-two. He was successful in his efforts, becoming eventually an iron manufacturer. Among other inventions, he devised the first stove for burning anthracite coal, and developed a great industrial establishment to which his name has ever since been attached. Mott Haven, on the Harlem River, received its name from the works he established in that locality, and he was instrumental in founding and building up the village of Morrisania. He possessed marked public spirit and was a generous contributor to charitable and religious causes. He never held public office, although President Buchanan tendered him the position of Commissioner of Patents.
The only son of the elder Jordan L. Mott succeeded to his father's name and estate. He was educated at Irving Institute, at Tarrytown, and the University of the City of New York. In 1849, when he was twenty years of age, he left college and entered upon active life in his father's establishment. After an apprenticeship of four years, he was admitted in the business, in 1853, when the Jordan L. Mott Iron Works were incorporated, and since 1866 has had full management of the concern. Besides being president of this company, he is president of the Stax Foundry Company, the North American Iron Works, and the North River Bridge Company, a corporation organized to build a bridge across the Hudson River, and is connected with other business enterprises. As a Democrat, Mr. Mott has been frequently honored by his party, being a Presidential Elector in 1876 and in 1888, a member and president of the Board of Aldermen in 1879, and a member of the Rapid Transit Commission which supervised the erection of New York's elevated railroads. He is a member of the New York, Engineers', New York Yacht and other clubs, and lives in the old Mott homestead in upper Fifth Avenue. He married Marianna Seaman. His son, Jordan L. Mott, Jr., the third to bear that name, is a member of the Union, Manhattan, Players and other clubs, and lives at 17 East Forty-seventh Street. He married Katharine Jerome Purdy and has a son, Jordan L. Mott, the fourth of the name.
420
VALENTINE MOTT, M. D.
S OME time before 1655, Adam Mott settled at Hempstead, Long Island, and became the ancestor of a widely spread New York family. His second wife, whom he married in 1667, was Elizabeth Richbell, daughter of John Richbell, a neighbor of Adam Mott at Hempstead, but who removed to Westchester County, and was a patentee of Mamaroneck.
It is from William Mott, the fourth child of Adam and Elizabeth, that Dr. Valentine Mott traces his descent. His great-grandfather, who was sixth in descent from Adam Mott, was Dr. Henry Mott, an able physician and a resident of Newtown, Long Island. The latter's wife was a daughter of Samuel Way, of North Hempstead, whose family were among the original settlers of Long Island. In his later years, Dr. Henry Mott removed to New York, where he died in 1840.
His son, Dr. Valentine Mott, the famous surgeon, was born at Glen Cove, Long Island, in 1785. Graduating from the medical department of Columbia College in 1806, he also studied under his distinguished relative, Dr. Valentine Seaman, and in 1807 went to London, becoming a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper and other great physicians. He walked the hospitals and attended lectures both in London and Edinburgh, and returned to America in 1808. Entering upon prac- tice in New York, his success was immediate and brilliant. He originated a great number of operations deemed impossible before his day, and which revolutionized medicine and surgery, while his life was one of constant professional activity. In 1809, he became professor of surgery in Columbia College, and then held a like appointment in the College of Physicians and Sur- geons until 1832, when he was among the founders of the Rutgers School of Medicine. He was again professor in the College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1836 to 1850, and acted as surgeon to the New York, Bellevue, St. Vincent's, St. Luke's, Woman's and Hebrew hospitals. Professional honors were showered on him, including the degree of M. D. of the University of Edinburgh, and fellowships of the Academy of Medicine of Paris and other European medical societies. His wife was Louise Dunmore Munn.
Alexander Brown Mott, father of the present Dr. Mott, was their fourth son, and was born in New York in 1826. He was educated at Columbia Grammar School under Dr. Anthon, and going abroad, led an adventurous and exciting life for some years, his experiences including service as secretary to Commodore Morris, U. S. N., in the Mediterranean, and participation in a Spanish revolution, in command of a battery at the siege of Barcelona. Returning to the United States, he took his degree at the Vermont Academy of Medicine in 1850. He helped to organize St. Vincent's Hospital, and was a founder of Bellevue Medical College, in which he was a professor. He was also surgeon at St. Vincent's, Mt. Sinai and Bellevue hospitals. His patriotic service to his country in the Civil War was also a feature of his career. In April, 1861, when Surgeon to the Second New York Brigade, and about to accompany his command to the front, he was appointed Medical Director of the Department of the East. He organized the United States Army General Hospital, in New York, and became its Chief Surgeon, with rank of Major. In 1864, he was appointed Medical Inspector of the Department of Virginia, served in connection with General Ord's staff, and was present at the final scene of the war when General Lee surrendered at Appo- mattox. He left the army with the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. Dr. Mott was actively connected with the order of the Loyal Legion, the membership of which passed by inheritance to his son. He married, in 1851, Arabella, daughter of Thaddeus Phelps, who died in 1874, Dr. Mott's death being in 1889.
Dr. Valentine Mott is his only child, and was born in New York in 1852. He was graduated from Columbia College in 1872, and also took the degree of B. A. at Cambridge Uni- versity, England, in 1876. Following a course in medicine, he took the degree of M. D. at Bellevue Medical College in 1879, and has succeeded to the practice of his grandfather and father. He married Emily Langdon Irving, and resides at 62 Madison Avenue. He is a member of the Union, Calumet, St. Anthony, Players and Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht clubs.
421
F. ADOLPHUS MULLER-URY
S WITZERLAND, which, under its liberal institutions, is the one country of Europe free from the burdens of militarism, and where peaceful pursuits or the cultivation of intellectual tendencies are uninterrupted by the hope of national aggrandisement or the fear of encroach- ment, has taken a leading part in the development of modern science and art and in the progress of the industries which make civilization possible. Preeminent as its people are in all peaceful pursuits, it is sometimes forgotten that, until the beginning of the present century, the Swiss were justly regarded as a race of warriors and ranked as the best soldiers in the world. Their long contest with the House of Austria and the neighboring princes, in which the freedom of the Cantons was established, roused a warlike spirit which made them the best soldiers in Europe, history being by no means silent as to their prowess or their fidelity. Their own land being free from attack, Swiss officers sought service in the armies of the other powers, and attained distinction under the banners of distant monarchs, and not a few of the patrician families of the present republic can point to ancestors ennobled by the powers which they served, or famous for their exploits on foreign fields of battle.
Mr. F. Adolphus Muller-Ury, the distinguished artist, represents in himself and through his ancestors these facts in connection with the history of the Swiss people. His father, Louis Muller-Ury, was an eminent Swiss jurist, president of a Cantonal Supreme Court, and renowned as one of its foremost lawyers and statesmen. His mother was a lady of the Lombardi family, whose members were also distinguished in the annals of their country, especially in connection with their labors for the Hospice of St. Gothard. On both sides, however, Mr. Muller-Ury's ancestors were soldiers, his grandfathers having been officers in the French Army, while two of his ancestors were Generals in the service of Spain, and were in each instance ennobled by the monarchs of the countries in question.
Born at Airolo, Switzerland, in 1862, Mr. Muller-Ury exhibited artistic talent at an early age and was trained for the profession to which his inclinations and taste pointed, at the leading ateliers and schools of art in France, Germany and Italy. Among other instructors who aided his progress, he was a pupil of the great portrait painter Cabanel, of the sculptor Vela and of the Swiss painter von Deschwanden. Since 1885, he has made America the principal scene of his labors, and in the field of portrait painting, which has been his chief specialty, has few rivals. Many of the most prominent New Yorkers of the present day, as well as leading individuals in social or political life all over the country, have been his sitters. Among them are Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Havemeyer, Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey M. Depew, Mrs. Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, Cardinal Satolli, Cardinal Gibbons, Mr. Constable, Mrs. Charles Oelrichs, Mrs. Charles T. Yerkes, Mme. Calvé, Mr. and Mrs. James J. Hill, Governor and Mrs. Merriam, Archibshop Ireland, of St. Paul, and others in the principal cities both East and West, while it should be mentioned that his works are justly admired when exhibited in public.
Mr. Muller-Ury's studio at 58 West Fifty-seventh Street, in this city, where he also has his bachelor apartments, is a veritable exhibition of artistic taste and luxury. He is an indefatigable collector of antique furniture, tapestry and other objects of art, his visits to Europe, which are made every year, enabling him to add constantly to his collections. He resides a portion of each year in Paris, and in addition has a country place in Switzerland at Hospenthal. While not a club man, Mr. Muller-Ury is prominent in society, and is an habitué of the highest artistic and social circles. He is devoted to outdoor exercises, is a noted rider, and is fond of golfing, bicycling and other sports of that character.
The family arms are: Half a silver wheel on a blue ground, surmounted by two golden lilies on a red ground, separated by a naked sword. The wheel represents the ancient arms of the race, the lilies having been granted as an addition by the King of France, and the sword by the King of Spain.
422
ORSON DESAIX MUNN
T HE origin of the name of Munn is not definitely known, but it is doubtless of great antiquity, as shown in the armorial bearings of the English branch, which are : Arms, per chevron sable and or., in chief three bezants and in base a castle triple-towered of the first. Crest, a dexter arm in armor, holding a lion's paw erased proper. Motto, Omnia vincit veritas-Truth conquers all things. The American ancestor of the family was Benjamin Mun, who was, in 1637, living in Hartford, Conn. He served in the war with the Pequot Indians in 1637, removed to Springfield, Mass., but died in Hartford in 1675. His wife was Abigail Burt, daughter of Henry Burt and widow of Francis Ball, whom he married in 1649. His children were Abigail, 1650; John, 1652; Benjamin, 1655; James, 1656; and Nathaniel, 1661. His eldest son, John Munn, was in the fight with the Indians at Turner's Falls. His grandson, James Munn, also took part in the same engagement and settled at Colchester, Conn. That branch of the family to which Mr. Orson D. Munn belongs was among the first settlers of Hampden County, Mass. The town of Monson was named after them.
Mr. Munn was born June 11th, 1824, in the town that bears his ancestral name. His father was Rice Munn, a prosperous farmer, and his mother was Levina Shaw. His grandparents were Reuben and Hannah Munn. He was educated at Monson Academy, formerly a celebrated educational institution. Before he was out of his teens, he found employment in a book store at Springfield, Mass., where he remained two years, and afterwards in a store in Monson. Soon after he came of age, he removed to New York, where, in association with Alfred E. Beach, he purchased The Scientific American, which had been founded a year before by Rufus Porter, and up to that time had had a precarious existence. Alfred E. Beach was a son of Moses Y. Beach, proprietor of The New York Sun, and had been a schoolmate of Mr. Munn in the Monson Academy, and the association there begun continued uninterruptedly for over fifty years, down to the death of Mr. Beach, in January, 1896. The business of Munn & Co. is still continued under the same firm name, but from necessity was incorporated after Mr. Beach's death. Organized in 1846, the firm of Munn & Co. soon attained phenomenal success. For more than half a century The Scientific American has been recognized as the standard publication of the world in its field. The development of the paper led, after a time, to the establishment of an agency for procuring letters patent for new inventions, a business then in its infancy, and which owes much to the intelligent and energetic work of this firm. To the original publication there have been added in recent years The Scientific American Supplement, an illustrated weekly, established in 1874 !; The Monthly Architects' and Builders' Edition, a magazine devoted to architecture; a Spanish edition of The Scientific American, and the publication of many important scientific books.
Mr. Munn is a member of the Union, Union League, Merchants' and Essex County Country clubs, the New England Society, a fellow of the National Academy of Design, and belongs to the Sons of the Revolution. He owns a notable collection of paintings by modern artists, and is a recognized connoisseur of art. His city residence is in East Twenty-second Street, where he has lived for over forty years. He has a country home in Llewellyn Park, Orange, N. J., and owns a large farm in West Orange, near his park residence, which is stocked with a large herd of Dutch belted cattle, in the raising and exhibiting of which at State and county fairs, he takes much satisfaction.
In 1849, Mr. Munn married Julia Augusta Allen, daughter of Mrs. Elvira Allen, of his native town. She died October 26th, 1894, leaving two sons. The elder son, Henry Norcross Munn, married Anne E. Elder, and lives in Lexington Avenue. He is a member of the Union, City and Essex County Country clubs. The younger son, Charles Allen Munn, graduated from Princeton University in the class of 1881, belongs to the Merchants', Union, City, University, Racquet, Essex County Country and Princeton clubs, and to the New England Society. Both sons are associated with their father in the house of Munn & Co.
423
CHARLES H. MURRAY
N both the paternal and maternal side, the Honorable Charles H. Murray traces his lineage to New England ancestors who figured in Colonial and Revolutionary times. The family was planted in America by William Murray, who was born in 1690, the son of a Scotch nobleman. He joined the famous McGregor expedition to New England in 1718, and settled first in Londonderry, N. H., and afterwards in Amherst, Mass. Many of his descendants attained to distinction. One of them, Captain Elihu Murray, 1753-1835, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, bore an active part in the war of the Revolution. He was a resident of Deerfield, Mass., and when the news of the battle of Lexington was received there, joined the Hatfield Company and marched to Boston, taking part in the battles of Bunker Hill, Long Island, Throgg's Neck and Bennington, and being present at the surrender of General Burgoyne. After that, he was commissioned a Captain in the Continental Line and transferred to the Quartermaster- General's Department, where he served under General Wadsworth until the end of the war. An uncle of Captain Elihu Murray was General Seth Murray, also of Revolutionary fame.
Through the women of the family, Mr. Murray includes among his ancestors more than twenty of the early settlers of New England. The first William Murray married a descendant of Nathaniel Dickinson, who was one of the founders of Hadley, Mass .; his son, William, married a descendant of Deacon Samuel Chapin, of Springfield, and Lieutenant John Hitchcock and the wife of his grandson, Elihu, was connected with the Strong, Ingersoll and other leading New England families. Dauphin Murray, 1793-1855, grandfather of Mr. Charles H. Murray, was Sheriff of Steuben County, N. Y., and a Colonel of militia in 1812. His wife was descended from General Robert Sedgwick, who came to America in 1635, was one of the founders of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, and Governor of Jamaica in 1656. Mr. Murray's mother was Abbie Shelden Billings, a granddaughter of Lieutenant Daniel Billings of the Revolution. She was also descended from William Billings, who came to America in 1650, a descendant in direct line from John Billings, of England, father of Sir Thomas Billings, Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench in 1543. Among other ancestors of Mr. Murray were Elder William Brewster, of Plymouth; Samuel Starr, one of the first settlers in New London, Conn., and Captain John Dennsion, of King Philip's War.
Mr. Murray was born in San Francisco, January 2d, 1855, but was brought to New York when he was a boy. His early education was in private schools, and he was graduated from the Mount Pleasant Military Academy with honors as valedictorian. Studying law, first in Dunkirk, and then in New York, he entered upon his profession, devoting himself specially to corporation, insurance, surrogate and mercantile law, in which he has been very successful. In the field of politics and public life, Mr. Murray has become best known. He has been prominent in the local organization of the Republican party since 1884 as a district leader and delegate to conventions, and in 1892 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention. President Harrison appointed him United States Supervisor of the Census for the First District of New York in 1890, and the following year he was appointed special Assistant United States District Attorney and counsel to the Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of New York. In May, 1894, he was a Police Commissioner of the City of New York. In 1896, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
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