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 96
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After the war, General Tracy resumed the practice of law and became a member of the firm of Benedict, Burr & Benedict, in New York City. In 1866, he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He was also the author of an internal revenue bill regulating the collection of taxes on distilled spirits, which, when put into effect, increased, annually, the national revenues from that source from thirteen million to fifty million dollars. In 1873, he resigned his official position to devote himself more to the general practice of law, but in 1881 was appointed Associate Justice of the New York Court of Appeals, a position which he held for one year, retiring to become a partner of Honorable W. C. DeWitt and his son, F. B. Tracy, in Brooklyn.
In 1889, he was called into the public service again, when he became a member of the Cabinet of President Harrison, as Secretary of the Navy. In that position he proved himself a zealous, hard working official. He took a large and creditable part in the development of the new navy, along the lines that had been laid down by his predecessors and left a record as one of the ablest Secretaries of the Navy in the present generation. His Washington life was marred by the sad death of his wife and youngest daughter, in a fire that destroyed their home in February 1890. Since his retirement from the Navy Department, General Tracy has been counsel in many celebrated cases in both the State and Federal courts. His most conspicuous recent service to the public has been rendered as president of the commission appointed by Governor Morton to draft a charter for the Greater New York. In 1897, he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of the City of New York. He is now a member of the law firm of Tracy, Boardman & Platt. He has one son, Frank B. Tracy, and one daughter, the widow ot Ferdinand Wilmerding. His granddaughter, Alice T. Wilmerding, married Frederick R. Coudert, Jr. The residence of the family is in West Twentieth Street. General Tracy is a member of the Union League, Lawyers', Brooklyn and Hamilton clubs.
571
SPENCER TRASK
T HE ancestor of the gentleman whom we are now considering was Captain William Trask, who came to this country in 1628 with Endicott and the other adventurous spirits forming the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He sailed with the others in the ship Abigail from Wey- mouth, England, June 20th, 1628, to prepare the Colony for those upon whom the hand of oppression had been too heavily laid in their old home. Upon his arrival, he settled at Salem, Mass., and at once became prominent in the affairs of the town. He was an intimate friend of Governor Endicott, a deputy to the General Court, and he was a commander in the wars in which the Colonists became engaged with the Pequot Indians. It was in 1636 that he was appointed Captain, and he so distinguished himself in the troubles of the Colony that it was written of him in the annals of Salem that "he was one of the first military commanders in Massachusetts, and we can safely say of him that what Captain Standish was to Plymouth, Captain Trask was to the Massachusetts Bay Colony." He died in 1666, and was given a public burial with military honors, the town records saying : "It is ordered that Shouldyers that atend Capt. Trask to his Grave shall have some alowance to make them drink at Mr. Gidney * * * price not exceeding the som of twenty shillings and cloth to cover ye drum." He gave the first land ever given to an educational institution in this country, and from his donation sprang what is now Harvard College. The family name is mentioned many times in the annals of Salem, and the children of Captain Trask and their children were prominent throughout the Colonial period ; several of the family held commissions in the Revolutionary Army, and served during the war with distinction.
The father of Mr. Spencer Trask, Alanson Trask, was born in Salem on the 22d of May, 1808. Coming early to New York, he married, on October 2d, 1833, Sarah E. Marquand, who had been born in New York on March 29th, 1811, and who died on September 21st, 1881.
Mr. Spencer Trask was born in Brooklyn, in September, 1844, and was graduated from Princeton College. On the 12th of November, 1874, he married Kate Nichols, of Brooklyn. The mother of Mrs. Trask was Christina Marie Cole before her marriage. She was a daughter of Rebecca Van Santen and Jan Van Kool, of Holland, who came to this country at the beginning of this century, and changed his name to John Cole. Upon the side of her father, George L. Nichols, Mrs. Trask is directly descended from Anneke Jans. She has written many articles for the various magazines, and has published Under King Constantine, Poems and Lyrics, White Satin and Homespun, and other works.
Mr. Trask is a banker in New York and the senior member of the firm of Spencer Trask & Co., which was established by Mr. Trask in 1869. As bankers, the firm has been largely identified with railroads, having reorganized and successfully managed several important lines. Mr. Trask has also been prominently identified with the electric light industry from its inception, having developed the Edison Electric Light Companies in New York, Brooklyn and other cities from small beginnings to concerns of great financial and commercial importance. Mr. Trask's energies have not, however, been confined strictly to business. He is president and largest owner of The New York Times, and is president of the Teachers' College, a unique institution among those devoted to higher education ; he is interested in various philanthropic and civic associations, taking an active part in movements for municipal reforms and for the preservation of the country's credit, being prominent in the councils of the National (Gold) Democracy. Notwith- standing his many and far-reaching business interests, Mr. Trask has traveled extensively abroad, and has taken a prominent part in social life. He is a member of the Union League, the Metropolitan, the City, the Reform and the Lawyers' clubs.
Besides his house in town, Mr. Trask has a beautiful summer residence, Yaddo, at Saratoga. The house, a large gray stone structure, is finely situated on the drive to the lake, and with its surroundings embracing some five hundred acres, diversified with woods, lakes and some miles of drives, is one of the great attractions of the famous resort.
572
WILLIAM RIGGIN TRAVERS
F EW names on the roll of its society are more thoroughly identified with the metropolitan city than that which heads this page. The late William R. Travers, of whom the gentleman now referred to is the son and namesake, acquired a popularity without parallel in the history of New York. A Virginian by descent, and a Baltimorean by birth as well as by his marriage, he became, however, an accepted type of social New York, and has left an enduring memory of his personality among all classes of his adopted fellow townsmen.
Colonel Travers, a prominent citizen of Baltimore, and the grandfather of the present Mr. W. R. Travers, descended from a Virginia family of ancient lineage, the name occurring frequently in the early history of the Old Dominion. His son, William R. Travers (the elder), was born in Baltimore, in 1819. About 1834, his father removed to New York, and purchased a country seat in Monmouth County, N. J. The house itself, after the lapse of more than half a century, is still known throughout the country side as the Travers place. Military instincts ran in the veins of the son, who secured an appointment from New Jersey as a cadet at West Point, but after two years he was prevailed on to forego this ambition and prepare himself for a business career. He accordingly entered Columbia College, graduating from that institution in the class of 1838. In the same year the family returned to Baltimore, where W. R. Travers engaged in active business, and became a shipping merchant. In 1843, he married Maria Louisa, daughter of the Honorable Reverdy Johnson, 1796-1876, of Baltimore. The national reputation of the latter makes it almost needless to mention the facts that he twice represented Maryland in the United States Senate, held the position of Attorney-General in President Taylor's cabinet, and was Minister to the Court of St. James in 1868, as well as being the leader of the Mary- land bar for half a century, and one of the most prominent lawyers of the country.
In 1853, W. R. Travers again removed to New York, which continued to be his home until his death, that event occurring at Hamilton, in the Island of Bermuda, in 1887. He became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1856, and achieved both reputation and success as a financier. His social relations with the most prominent men of New York were peculiarly intimate. He was a member of all the leading clubs, and, though not actively identified with the sport, he was one of the group of gentlemen who established the Jerome Park course, and gave to racing in New York a prestige which it had not previously enjoyed. He was also the first president of the New York Athletic Club, and had a large share in establishing its standing. This was duly acknowledged by the club in naming its country property on Long Island Sound, Travers Island. Mr. Travers was also a vestryman of Grace Episcopal Church.
The elder Mr. Travers' reputation as a wit can only be compared with that of Selwin, or other famous beaux esprits of the last century. He possessed the highest sense of humor, with keen powers of repartee, and a most effective manner. Such of his bon mots as have not been lost, retain a vitality in spite of time, and reveal a character fundamentally sincere, simple and incapable of malice.
Mr. William Riggin Travers, son of William R. and Maria Louisa ( Johnson) Travers, was born, in 1861, near this city. He was educated at St. Mark's School, Southboro, Mass., and graduated from Columbia College. In 1890, he married Lillie Harriman, daughter of Oliver Harriman, of New York. He has not followed any profession or active business, devoting his attention to the care of his family property. Mr. Travers has, in the main, made Newport his residence, his winter home being in Aiken, S. C. He is identified with fashionable sport, is a distinguished whip, and a member of the Coaching and Four-in-Hand clubs. He is vice- president of the Newport Golf Club and secretary of the Newport Casino. His clubs in New York are the Knickerbocker and Racquet. Of Mr. Travers' sisters the eldest, Mary, is the wife of John G. Heckscher; Elise married William Alexander Duer; Matilda married Walter Gay, and Susan is unmarried. His brothers. John and Reverdy Johnson Travers, are both dead.
573
HENRY GRAFF TREVOR
J JOHN B. TREVOR, grandfather of Mr. Henry Graff Trevor, was a member of an old family of the Keystone State. His father was Samuel Trevor, of Cornellsville, Pa. Engaged in business in Philadelphia throughout his life, he occupied a high business and social position, and was several times a member of the Legislature. His son, John B. Trevor, the father of Mr. Henry Graff Trevor, was one of the leading bankers of New York in the last generation. He was born in Phila- delphia, in 1822, and died in New York in 1890. He entered business life in a wholesale dry goods house of Philadelphia, and coming to New York, in 1849, was elected, in the following year, a member of the Stock Exchange. From that time forth he was successful in the highest degree, and soon attained to a distinguished rank in financial circles. During his business career after 1852, he was associated with James B. Colgate, under the firm name of Trevor & Colgate, bankers.
A devoted member of the Baptist Church, he was untiring in his zeal for religious, educa- tional and charitable works, and gave liberally of his means for benevolent causes. Indeed, it has been estimated that during his lifetime he bestowed fully one million dollars on such objects. The Rochester University and the Theological Seminary of that institution were special recipients of his favor. At one time, when those institutions of learning were in financial straits, and their very existence was threatened, Mr. Trevor was their main support. Trevor Hall, of Rochester University, was built by him, and also the gymnasium of the same institution. He was president of the board of trustees of Rochester Seminary and a member of the board of trustees of Roch- ester University. Colgate University, formerly Hamilton College, was also generously supported by him. With Mr. Colgate he was associated in the building of the Warburton Avenue Baptist Church, of Yonkers, the entire cost of which was met by the two partners, and he was also a liberal contributor to missionary societies. In 1880, he was a Republican Presidential elector. The first wife of Mr. Trevor was Louisa Stephania Stewart, a daughter of Lispenard Stewart and Louisa Stephania Salles, whose other daughter, Sarah Lispenard Stewart, married Frederick Graham Lee. By his second wife, Mary R. Rhinelander, Lispenard Stewart was the father of William Rhinelander Stewart, Lispenard Stewart and other children, who have been conspicuous in New York in the present generation. Lispenard Stewart, the elder, was the son of Alexander L. Stewart and Sarah Lispenard. His paternal grandfather was Robert Stewart, brother of Charles Stewart, who was a commissary during the Revolution and a friend of General Washington. Robert Stewart was a grandson of Robert Stewart, of Londonderry, an officer of dragoons. The Lispenard family, also, was one of the most distinguished in the annals of New York. Sarah Lis- penard, the great-grandmother of Mr. Henry G. Trevor, was a daughter of Captain Anthony Lis- penard, a younger son of Leonard Lispenard and Alice Rutgers. His wife was his cousin, Sarah Barclay, daughter of Andrew Barclay and Helen Roosevelt, and a niece of the Reverend Henry Barclay. The second wife of John B. Trevor, whom he married in 1871, was Emily Norwood.
Mr. Henry Graff Trevor is the son of John B. Trevor and his first wife, Louisa Stephania Stewart. Mr. Trevor was born in New York, April 25, 1865, and has been engaged in business as a banker. In 1890, he married Margaret Helen Schieffelin, daughter of George R. Schieffelin. Their children are: George Schieffelin and Margaret Estelle Trevor. His city residence is 20 East Forty- Ninth Street, and his summer home Meadowmere, Southampton, Long Island. Mr. Trevor belongs to the Metropolitan, Union, Seventh Regiment Veterans, St. Andrew's and Shinnecock Golf clubs, the Country Club of Westchester County, the Downtown Association, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars and the St. Nicholas Society. He was a member of Company K of the Seventh Regiment, from 1883 to 1888. In 1892-93, he built and presented to the Warburton Avenue Baptist Church, of Yonkers, a handsome parsonage adjoining the church.
The younger brother of Mr. Trevor, by his father's second marriage, is John B. Trevor, Jr., and the daughters of that marriage are: Emily H. Trevor and Mary T. Trevor, wife of Grenville L. Winthrop.
574
CHARLES HENRY TRUAX
T HE progenitor of the Truax family in this country was one of the first settlers in the New Netherland. Originally the family name was du Trieux. Philip du Trieux, a Walloon, born in 1585, was in New Amsterdam during the administration of Governor Peter Minuit, 1624-29. He was appointed a court messenger in 1638, and two years later received a patent for land in Smits Valley. His wife was Susanna De Chiney, and three of his daughters married, respectively, Isaac de Foreest, Evert Janse Wendell and Dirk Janse De Groot. Descendants of Philip du Trieux moved to Albany, and were among the first settlers of that part of the State. They were especially prominent in the foundation of Schenectady, and became connected by marriage with many of the great families of that day-the Van Slycks, the De Groots, the de la Granges, the Vroomans, the Van Santvoords, the Vedders and others. The family has always been one of prominence and dignity in that section.
Judge Charles H. Truax, descended in direct line from Philip du Trieux, was born in Durhamville, Oneida County, N. Y., October 31st, 1846. His father was Henry P. Truax, and his mother Sarah A. Shaffer. His grandfathers were Henry D. Truax and Gilbert Shaffer. He studied at Vernon Academy and at Oneida Seminary, and then entered Hamilton College, but was obliged to abandon his college career in his junior year, and engaged in teaching school and studying law. In 1868, he came to New York and continued the study of law in the office of his uncle, Chauncey Shaffer, a well-known practitioner of that period. The same year he passed the examination for admission to the bar.
So rapidly did he advance in his profession, that in less than ten years from the time he was admitted to the bar he began to be spoken of for judicial honors. In 1880, he was elected a Judge of the Superior Court, and held that position for a term of fourteen years. At the present time, he is a Justice of the Supreme Court for a term expiring in 1910. The career of Judge Truax on the bench has been distinguished by many important decisions. One of these was the case against the Western Union Telegraph Company, in which he affirmed the right of companies to consolidate and issue new stock, a decision that was reversed by the General Term, but finally sustained by the Court of Appeals. Another important decision was delivered by him in 1887, when he held that private real estate owners were entitled to relief by injunction against the New York Elevated Railroad Company where their property rights were infringed.
In social life and in literary circles, Judge Truax is not less distinguished than in his legal career. He has traveled extensively in all parts of Europe, and is one of the most cultured and most discriminating bibliophiles in this country. His private library contains over ten thousand volumes, including many old and rare editions and priceless manuscripts; being one of the most valuable private libraries in New York City. The gem of the collection is the celebrated fifteenth century missal known as the Trivulzio Breviary, probably as fine an example of illuminated manuscript as there is in existence.
Judge Truax received the degree of M. A. from Hamilton College, in 1876, and the degree of LL. D. from the same institution in 1890, and he gave to that college one thousand two hundred and fifty volumes, known as the Truax Classical Library. He is vice-president of the Manhattan Club, president, in 1896, of the Holland Society, a trustee of the Mott Memorial Library, many years a trustee of the Church of the Puritans, and a member of the Democratic, New York Athletic and Harlem clubs, and of the St. Nicholas Society. In 1871, Judge Truax married Nancy C. Stone, who was descended on her mother's side from Anthony Demilt, Sheriff of New York, in 1673. Her father's ancestor, Simon Stone, came over to this country from England in 1635 in the ship Increase, landing in Massachusetts. Mrs. Truax died, March 30th, 1886, leaving four children -Arthur D., Elizabeth, Nancy and Charles H., Jr., who died July 6th, 1886. Judge Truax married again in 1896, his second wife being Caroline Sanders, who was born at Cincinnati, O. The city residence of the family is at 12 East Sixty-fifth Street.
575
EDWARD TUCK
A LL the Tuck or Tucke families that have lived in New Hampshire, of whom the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch is a representative, are descended from Robert Tuck, of Gorlston, Suffolk County, England. The pioneer came to New England in 1636, and lived first in Watertown, Mass., afterwards in Salem, and then in Hampton, Rockingham County, N. H., where he was a freeman in 1639. In 1648-49-52-57, he was a selectman of the town, and in 1647 was the town clerk. He died in 1664. Edward Tuck, son of Robert Tuck, married Mary Philbrick, a daughter of Thomas Philbrick, and their son, John Tuck, who was born in 1652, married Bethia Hobbs, daughter of Maurice and Sarah Estow Hobbs. From 1680 to 1717, John Tuck was ten times elected a selectman. Jonathan Tuck, in the next generation, was born in 1697 and died in 1781. He was eight times a selectman and twice elected a member of the General Assembly. His wife was Tabitha Towle, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Borden) Towle, of Hampton.
The great-grandfather of Mr. Edward Tuck was Jonathan Tuck, 1736-1780. His first wife was Betsey Batchelder, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Moulton) Batchelder. She died in 1772, and he then married Huldah Moulton, daughter of John and Mary (Marston) Moulton. John Tuck, son of Jonathan and Huldah Tuck, was born in 1780 and died in 1847. He married Betsey Towle, daughter of Amos and Sarah Towle, of Hampton, and removed from Hampton, the ancestral home of the family, to Parsonsfield, Me., where the Honorable Amos Tuck, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1810. Amos Tuck studied at Effingham, N. H., where he prepared for college, and in 1831 went to Dartmouth, from which institution he was graduated four years later. He taught in the Academy in Pembroke, N. H., and was a preceptor in Hampton Academy, at the same time applying himself to the study of law. In 1838, having completed his legal education, he abandoned teaching and entered upon professional life, opening a law office in Exeter, where he became the partner of the Honorable James Bell, United States Senator from New Hampshire.
Mr. Tuck began his political career in 1842, when he was elected a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. At that time he was a Democrat, but two years later, upon the slavery issue, changed his party affiliations, and in 1846 received an independent nomination for Congress, being elected by a combination of Independent Democrats and Whigs. Assisting at the birth of the Republican party, he was a member of the committee which selected the name Republican for the new party organization at the Philadelphia Convention, and in 1860 was a delegate to the Chicago Republican Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln. He served three terms in Con- gress, until 1853. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him naval officer of the port of Boston in 1861, and reappointed him again in 1865. He was a trustee of Dartmouth College, of Phillips Academy of Exeter, and of Robinson's Female Seminary. His wife, the mother of Mr. Edward Tuck, was Sarah Ann Nudd, daughter of David and Abigail (Emery) Nudd, of Hampton. She died in Exeter, N. H., in 1847.
Mr. Edward Tuck was born August 25th, 1842. Educated at Dartmouth College, he was graduated from that institution in 1862. For a short time he studied law, but afterwards went to Europe, where he became connected with the American Consulate in Paris. In 1865, he was vice- consul and acting consul. In 1866, he resigned from the consular service and returned home, soon after settling in New York and entering upon the banking business in the firm of John Munroe & Co., in which house he became a partner in 1871. He retired from active business in 1881. In 1872, Mr. Tuck married, in Paris, Julia Stell, daughter of William Shorter Stell, of Philadelphia, who, during the greater part of his life, was at the head of a business house in Manchester, England. Mr. and Mrs. Tuck live in East Sixty-first street, in the vicinity of Central Park, and spend consider- able time in Paris. The club membership of Mr. Tuck includes the Metropolitan, Union, Union League, Grolier and Reform, and he is also a member of the New England Society and a patron of the American Museum of Natural History.
576
PAUL TUCKERMAN
T HE American family of Tuckerman is descended from an old English family of Devon County. Their English ancestor was Thomas Tuckerman, whose son, John Tuckerman, the first of the name to appear in America, came to Boston about 1651. John Tuckerman, of Boston, in the second American generation, was born in 1655, and died, it is supposed, about 1735. He was a merchant, but in King Philip's War was a soldier in defense of the Colonies. His wife, who was the ancestress of the Tuckermans of this generation in Boston and New York, was Susanna Chamberline, daughter of John Chamberline, of Boston. Edward Tuckerman, 1701- 1751, son of the second John Tuckerman, was also a merchant, and married Dorothy Kidder. He was the father of Edward Tuckerman, 1740-1818, one of the prosperous merchants and distin- guished men of his day in Boston, a Lieutenant in the militia and a member of the artillery company in 1771. He was a member of the Legislature, 1805-07. His wife was Elizabeth Harris, and they were the great grandparents of Mr. Paul Tuckerman.
One of the sons of the second Edward Tuckerman was also Edward Tuckerman, of Boston, 1785-1843. He was a merchant, deacon and vestryman of St. Paul's Church, director of the Massa- chusetts Bank, justice of the peace, and trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Another son of this family, the grandfather of Mr. Paul Tuckerman, was the Reverend Joseph Tuckerman, the distinguished philanthropist, who was born in 1778, and died in 1840. Graduated from Harvard College in 1798, he received the degree of D. D. from the same institution in 1824. He became a Unitarian minister in 1801, and was first settled over a church in Chelsea, Mass. In 1826, he was appointed by the American Unitarian Association minister-at-large in Boston, and thenceforth devoted his life principally to the scientific study of pauperism and the practical administration of charity.
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