USA > New York > Dutchess County > The history of Dutchess County, New York > Part 65
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Mr. Hackett married Harriet V., daughter of the Hon. David H. Mulford, April 10, 1880. He has two children; John M. Hackett, a graduate of the Albany Law School, now practicing his profession in his father's office at Poughkeepsie, and Henry T. Hackett, who was graduated from Harvard University in June 1909.
Mr. Hackett's ability as a lawyer is only exceeded by his modesty as a man, and therefore the editor of this work desires to add to the foregoing brief information, furnished by Mr. Hackett, a few words of his own.
The career of John Hackett offers to young lawyers an example worthy of their emulation. With absolutely no advantages of birth, position, wealth or education
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to start with, he is a self made, better still a self educated man, and is a living exam- ple of the opportunities presented in this country to all youths possessed of charac- ter and intelligence, who are willing to work, to study and to persevere.
Those of us who remember Mr. Hackett in the days of his active practice in ligitat- ed cases and recall his pleas before Juries cannot forget the absolute devotion that he always showed to the interests of his client, and the bulldog tenacity with which he stuck to every point which he thought he could justify by either reason or pre- cedent.
As District Attorney he was an unrelenting prosecutor of crime and did his full duty always, conscientiously, without regard to any consideration of policy or of popularity.
Through many years of hard fighting, during all of which time he was handi- capped by physical weakness, which would have overcome many of less resolute character, but which he overcame by the force of his will, Mr. Hackett has estab- lished himself in the community as the safe counsellor and trusted adviser of clients who seldom require his participation in the fierce struggles of the Court room. While still in active practice he has won that secure place of a leader at the bar where he can choose such legal business as shall be congenial to him, and escape the annoyance and turmoil of vexatious litigation; but on the rare occasions that he does appear in Court it is seen that his old time fires of advocacy are not yet quench- ed.
Mr. Hackett lives in the summer time at his home in Hyde Park, he passes his winters at his residence in Poughkeepsie.
May he live long to enjoy the respect of the whole community and the affection of all of his friends which he has so worthily won, and so well deserves.
ADELBERT HAIGHT, attorney of Poughkeepsie and Pine Plains, was born in the town of Stanford in 1869, a son of Isaac D. and Elvira (Preston) Haight. After finishing his preliminary education he accepted a position as operator with the N. D. & C. R. R. Co., and agent for the C. N. E. Railroad Co. at Pine Plains, where he remained several years, and while thus employed pursued a course in high school studies, passing the Regent's Examination. He was later employed as Railroad agent at Bangall. He then took up the study of law in the office of Mor- schauser & Wood, and was admitted to the Bar in 1903. He supplemented his law studies with a correspondence course in the Chicago School of Law.
Mr. Haight is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Triumph Lodge; Triune Lodge Poughkeepsie, F. & A. M. He is also identified with the Pine Plains Grange and the I. O. O. F., No. 21, of Poughkeepsie. In religious belief he is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, and a member of the official board. He is also a member of the Y. M. C. A.
He was united in marriage with Anna, daughter of Samuel T. Hoag, editor of the Pine. Plains Herald. They are the parents of two children, Revilla Harold and Adelbert, Jr.
ALBERT HAIGHT, who is engaged in farming in the town of Washington, N. Y., was born in Putnam county in 1847. In 1897 he removed to Fishkill Village and
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purchased the farm formerly occupied by the Southards. September 25 of the same year Mr. Haight was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Cook, and they are the parents of one daughter and one son, deceased.
Mr. A. V. HAIGHT is a native New Yorker, born at Ellenville, Ulster County, February 4, 1842. At an early age he entered the printing office of the Ellenville Journal, and later the Rondout Courier office. In 1860 and 1861, up to the break- ing out of the war, he was employed in New York, where he enlisted in the Ninth Regiment, N. Y. S. M .: subsequently was transferred to the Twentieth Regiment and at the expiration of his three months' service he re-enlisted in the Fourth New York Cavalry, being honorably discharged from service in 1863. Afterward he went to California, where he worked in the Call office, San Francisco, and subse- quently, in 1865-6, had charge of the job printing department in the State printing office at Sacramento. In 1868 he formed a co-partnership for the publication of the Ellenville Journal, and in 1874 he took the position of superintendent of the Rondout Freeman, and became a stockholder, with control of the business manage- ment as secretary and treasurer. In 1878 Mr. Haight severed his connection with the Freeman office and started in business on his own account, at Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson, where he purchased the job printing establishment of the Poughkeep- sie Daily Eagle and made many improvements to the plant.
On the first of January, 1903, a corporation was formed under the name of the A. V. Haight Company, for the purpose of carrying on the printing and bookbind- ing business, capitalized at $50,000 with the following officers: A. V. Haight, Presi- dent; Wm. T. Ward, Treasurer; Wm. D. Haight, Secretary; and L. L. Slater, Superintendent.
The company's plant now occupies the entire building at 10 and 12 Liberty Street, consisting of three stories and basement. They have all the latest and most improved machinery and appliances throughout the various branches of the busi- ness, and are prepared to undertake large contracts and execute them promptly.
In 1886 Mr. Haight was officially called to Washington by the Public Printer to give expert opinion on matters relating to the Government Printing office.
Mr. Haight has always been strongly Republican in politics, and served several years as Alderman and Supervisor of the City of Poughkeepsie. He is a Past Mas- ter of Triune Lodge, 782, Free and Accepted Masons; Past High Priest of Pough- keepsie Chapter, 172, Royal Arch Masons; and Past Eminent Commander of Poughkeepsie Commandery Knights Templar. He is also Past Commander of David B. Sleight Post, No. 331 G. A. R.
J. CORNELIUS HAIGHT was born in the town of Fishkill, N. Y., July 16, 1835. He acquired his education at Phillipstown and the academy at Fishkill Village, which was supplemented by a course at the English Classical School, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Pingree, at Roseville, N. J. He taught school for a time at Davenport Corners, Putnam county, and has been engaged for many years in both mercantile and agricultural pursuits. In 1895 he purchased a tract of land at Fishkill-on-the- Hudson, and erected his present home, where he resides with his family.
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DR. ASAHEL HALL was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, April 6, 1792. He was the son of Aaron Hall and Elizabeth Cook.
Aaron Hall served in the War of the Revolution, engaging throughout the New Jersey campaign with Washington's Army; wintering at Valley Forge, and parti- cipating in the storming of Stony Point. He was mustered out of service when Washington's Army was disbanded at Newburgh, receiving his commission as Captain. Leaving Newburgh he walked across the hills to this native place, Wallingford.
Dr. Hall's grandfather, Asahel Hall, served in the French and Indian Wars, and received a commission as Ensign, and later as Captain of a Company or Train-band in the Town of Wallingford.
Dr. Hall began the study of medicine about 1810, and received his diploma from the Litchfield County Medical Society at the age of twenty-one years.
He seems to have inherited the true patriotic spirit from his father and grand- father as he served in the War of 1812. On the 20th day of April 1815, he received a commission as Surgeon's Mate in the Thirty-seventh Regiment of Infantry; this reads "To rank as such from the 19, day of September 1813". He was stationed for some time at Fort Griswold, near New London, Connecticut, and subsequently transferred to the Seventh Regiment of Infantry.
Later on Dr. Hall retired from the Army and came to Beekman, this County, and entered upon the practice of his profession. There he met Catherine Rutzen Van- der Burgh Toffey, the widow of George Toffey, whom he married in 1818, and by whom he had four children. His wife was a daughter of William Vander Burgh and Sarah Van Wyck, and a granddaughter of Col. James VanderBurgh and of Captain Cornelius Van Wyck, both officers in the Revolutionary Army.
After a few years Dr. Hall returned to his native State, Connectiuct, where two of his children were born. Returning to this County about the year 1827, he pur- chased a farm near to Hart's Village; he moved thence to Fishkill Village, where his youngest son was born in 1831. After living in Fishkill Village about twelve years he moved to Rhinebeck, and bought a farm adjoining that of Mrs. Miller, the latter now being owned and occupied by her nephew, Dr. George N. Miller.
While in Rhinebeck he had opportunity to meet more frequently Dr. Federal VanderBurgh, his wife's uncle, and it was while living in Rhinebeck that he opened an office in Poughkeepsie soon after 1840, moving permanently to Poughkeepsie in 1846.
From Dr. Vander Burgh he acquired his first knowledge and description of the action of homeopathic remedies, as Dr. VanderBurgh was then practicing medicine in New York City, but had a summer place at Rhinebeck. After investigation and trial he unreservedly gave his adherence to the new practice, and from that time he became one of its recognized exponents.
Dr. Hall loved the profession of medicine for the means it provided for contri- buting to the happiness and comfort of others. Devotion to the welfare of his patients was one of his strongest characteristics, many personal sacrifices in their behalf often being made by him.
He was a type of the courtly gentlemen; by nature and birth a man of great re- finement. He died at the advanced age of eighty-five years, on the 25th day of
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July 1877, leaving him surviving four children. His eldest son, Henry Clay Hall, was for more than twenty-five years in the Consular and Diplomatic Services. His daughter, Anna Hall, married Silas Wodell of Poughkeepsie, former District Attorney of Dutchess County, who died in the early sixties, and two of their children are still residents of the city of Poughkeepsie.
EUGENE HAM, a prominent agriculturist in the town of Washington, Dutchess county, was born here 1850. He is a descendant of Conradt Ham mentioned below. Mr. Ham was educated in the public schools of his native place and Riverview Academy, Poughkeepsie, and has since been engaged in the supervision of his farm at Verbank Station, N. Y.
Mr. Ham married Mary K. Sleight of La Grange, N. Y., and to them have been born one daughter and two sons: Mary Irene, Edward S., and Eugene W.
JOHN M. HAM, County Clerk was born in the town of Washington, Dutchess county, N. Y., April 14, 1861 at "Lynfeld" which has been the homestead of the Ham family since 1745 when the larger part of the present estate was purchased by Frederick Ham, the great-grandfather of the present owner.
In 1885 he married Rhoda, daughter of James Edwin and Frances (Titus) Sleight, and has four children, Mildred, Alice Titus, Milton Conrad and John Frederick.
His first American ancestor was Conradt Ham, who came to America in 1710, with two of his brothers with the Second 'Palatine Colony, settling in Columbia county; and his son Frederick born in 1720 married Catherine Straight. Conradt son of Frederick, born in 1757 married Elizabeth Haight. Milton son of Conradt and father of the subject of this sketch was born in 1802, and married Phebe Ferriss a descendant in the seventh generation from John Ferriss who came from Reding, England in 1650. The original family name was "de Ferriers" descended from Henry de Ferriers, a Norman who in the latter part of the eleventh century received from William the Conqueror large grants of land in the counties of Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, on account of the services rendered by his father Gaulchelm de Ferriers who served as Master of Horse at the Battle of Hastings for the Duke of Normandy.
Mr. Ham received his early education at home in the common schools, at the Poughkeepsie Military Institute and later pursued a special course in engineering at Lafayette College.
As a breeder and handler of live stock his experience has been, it might be said, life long. When only eighteen years old he was entrusted with the selection and purchase of stock cattle and sheep, the business at that time being the feeding of cat- tle and sheep for the New York markets, which in later years was succeeded by the dairy business, and for over twenty years he has maintained at "Lynfeld" a herd of pure bred Holstein Friesian cattle. As a breeder of horses Mr. Ham established the first breeding stud of registered Percheron horses in the eastern part of the State. As a breeder of Berkshire swine he has a wide reputation, and was one of the early breeders in America of Dorest Horn sheep, and one of the organizers of the registry association for that breed. In addition to the local business in pure bred live stock,
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BENJAMIN HAMMOND
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shipments have been made from "Lynfeld" in the last few years into every eastern and middle State, Canada, South America and the West Indies.
He is a member of the Dutchess, Millbrook and Poughkeepsie Clubs; is Master of Washington Grange, and Master of the Dutchess County Pomona Grange; a member of Shekemeko Lodge F. & A. Masons, and The Poughkeepsie Lodge of Elks, and a member of the Dutchess County Society of New York City; the Ameri- can Percheron Horse Breeder Association; the Holstein Friesian Association of America, and American Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders Association.
In politics he has always been a liberal and active member of the Democratic party, serving his town as Supervisor for several years, and in 1906 he was elected to the office of County Clerk, being the first Democrat elected to that office in fif- teen years.
BENJAMIN HAMMOND, manufacturer and wholesale dealer in paints, oils and chemicals, Fishkill Landing, N. Y., was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England, July 12, 1849; a son of Benjamin and Mary (Twemlow) Hammond. In 1855 his parents came to America, locating in New York.
From 1873 to 1884 Mr. Hammond was engaged in the drug business with Charles S. Ware at Mt. Kisco. He then removed to Fishkill and founded his present estab- lishment. His products are exported to Great Britain and Canada.
In public life Mr. Hammond has ably filled the following offices: Member of the Fishkill Board of Education, 1889; president of the village 1891, '92, '93 and 1898; town auditor 1891 and 1904 to 1909; town Excise Commissioner 1894-'95. He is a trustee of the Mechanics Savings Bank, the Highland Hospital and the Fishkill Rural Cemetery.
Mr. Hammond was married in Brooklyn, in 1875, by Rev. Charles W. Baird of Rye, N. Y. to Isabella, daughter of the late Rev. George Monilaws of Somers, N. Y. from which union three daughters were born, Marion Isabella, Grace Twemlow and Elsie. Mrs. Hammond died May 28, 1892, and is buried in the Fishkill Rural Cemetery. In 1897 Mr. Hammond was united in marriage with Miss Laura Antho- ny, of Rye, N. Y. by the Rev. Charles W. Fritts, D. D. of Fishkill Landing, N. Y.
JOHN A. HANNA, merchant, of Dover Plains, N. Y., was born in New York City in October, 1859. He was educated in the public schools and at a private seminary at Dover Plains. In 1875, in connection with Mr. W. H. Preston, he established a general mercantile business at Dover Plains. In public life Mr. Hanna has been elected to a number of important offices on the Democratic ticket. In the years 1891-'94-'95 he represented the town of Dover in the Board of Super- visors, and in 1896-'97-'98 he was elected a Member of Assembly. He was ap- pointed Postmaster at Dover Plains by President Harrison. and re-appointed by President McKinley and President Roosevelt.
Mr. Hanna married Miss Ada Preston, and they have one daughter, Julia E.
HARRY C. HARRIS, attorney, Poughkeepsie, was born in this city April 4, 1872. He was educated in the public schools, and at Riverview Military Academy.
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He read law in the office of Allison Butts, and was admitted to the Bar in 1897. He was appointed by Surrogate Hopkins, Transfer Tax Clerk, in January, 1908.
Mr. Harris is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and represented Lady Washing- ton Hose Company No. 3 in Poughkeepsie at the Associated Firemen's Convention.
ISHAM G. HARRIS, M. D. was born February 23, 1867, in Lamar county, Texas, and received his preliminary education in the public schools of Texas and Tennes- see. He pursued his studies at the University of Virginia, and also spent two years in the medical department of that university. He was graduated with the degree of M. D., in 1890, from the medical department of the University of the city of New York. Dr. Harris was appointed resident physician of the New York Infant Hos- pital at Mount Vernon, in December 1889, and a year later received the appoint- ment of Junior resident physician in the New York City Asylum for the Insane at Blackwells Island. He resigned in November 1891 to accept the position of resi- dent physician at the Hudson River State Hospital, Poughkeepsie, and in 1904 was promoted to the position of First Assistant Physician of that institution. In May 1906 Dr. Harris was appointed Acting Superintendent of the Hudson River State Hospital, and ably filled that office during the year that Dr. Pilgrim, the Superin- tendent, served as president of the State Commission in Lunacy.
Dr. Harris is a member of the County and State Medical Societies; the American Medical Association; the American Medico-Psychological Association; the Amrita and Dutchess clubs; Dutchess County Society, and a Mystic Shriner in the Masonic fraternity.
ALMON M. HARRISON, who is engaged in general mercantile business at Stan- fordville, Dutchess county, was born at Cornwall Hollow, Litchfield county, Conn. He came to Dutchess county in 1861, where he taught school at Bangall and in ad- joining towns for six years. Mr. Harrison was appointed postmaster by President Cleveland in 1894, and also received the same appointment from President Roose- velt in 1908. He has served twelve years as Justice of the Peace of the town of Stanford.
He was united in marriage with Ida B. Robinson of Stanfordville, and they are the parents of one son, Stanley F.
DR. ALFRED HASBROUCK was born on the 17th day of July, 1820, on the banks of the Wallkill in the town of Gardiner, Ulster County, New York, on lands of the Guilford Patent that had been in his family since about the year 1700.
He sprang from that sterling Huguenot stock which sought asylum in this coun- try from religious intolerance and persecution in France. His father was the great- grandson of Abraham Hasbrouck, and his mother was the great-great-grand- daughter of Jean Hasbrouck, two brothers who came to America, the latter in 1672, and the former in 1675, and who were two of the twelve patentees and original set- tlers of New Paltz, in 1677.
His father and all his ancestors were men of wealth, prominence and position, and held many offices of public trust, both civil and military, in colonial times, and
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during and after the Revolutionary War. He was the fourth of a family of eight children, seven boys and one girl, of which family five boys attained manhood.
After the usual introductory studies he was sent away from home to finish his preparatory studies at the Kingston Academy, at the time a noted classical school. Here he fitted for college. He entered Yale and was graduated a Bachelor of Arts with the class of 1844. After graduation he came to Poughkeepsie to study his chosen profession of medicine with Dr. John Barnes. He also attended the course of medical lectures of the college of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York, from which institution he was graduated a Doctor of Medicine in 1848. He then settled at Poughkeepsie and engaged in the practice of his profession, which he actively pursued for over fifty years, with skill and fidelity.
Beginning his professional career with a thorough preparation of the best educa- tion, both general and technical of his time, he was always a student and kept in step with the progress of the day.
He had an exalted idea of the honor and dignity, as well as of the duties and obli- gations of the medical profession; and while he sacredly observed these obligations on his part, he exactingly required the respect due the noble art of healing on the part of others-as well fellow physicians, as patients.
He felt strongly and clung to his convictions with tenacity, and was firm in up- holding what he believed was right.
He was quiet and unassuming in his ways and possessed a generous nature which was ever open to the appeals of the needy and distressed.
His was a well rounded character which exemplified itself in a life without blem- ish or reproach, and he was worthy, in every respect, of the regard and esteem in which he was held.
He was a man of fine figure and commanding presence, tall and erect.
Dr. Hasbrouck was one of the original members of the Republican party, having voted for John C. Fremont. He remained loyal to his party affiliation all his life, having always been a strong partisan, although he never sought or held political office. For many years in his younger days he was Alms House Physician and for several terms Health Officer of the city and for a long time after the War of the Re- bellion he was Medical Examiner for this District under the United States Pension Bureau. During the whole of his useful career he was one of the medical staff of St. Barnabas' Hospital, and for a number of years he was Vice-President of the Medical Board of Vassar Hospital, and in 1883-84 President of the Dutchess Coun- ty Medical Society.
In 1848, he married Margaret Ann Manning, a descendant of Hugo Freer, one of the twelve New Paltz patentees, and of Baltus VanKleeck the original settler of Poughkeepsie. After more than forty years of married life she died in 1889.
There were eight children the issue of this marriage-four sons and four daugh- ters: County Judge Frank Hasbrouck, Major Alfred Hasbrouck, U. S. A., Manning Hasbrouck, Louis P. Hasbrouck, Jane Hasbrouck, widow of John K. Mandeville, Sarah Louise Hasbrouck, widow of Peter Hulme, Alice Hasbrouck, wife of David K. Jackman, and Laura Hasbrouck.
Dr. Hasbrouck died May 9th, 1903, aged eighty-three years.
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He was survived by all of his children, except Laura, who died a few years before him.
FRANK HASBROUCK was born at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. January 4th, 1852. His ancestry is French Huguenot, he being a descendant, through his paternal grandfather of Abraham Hasbrouck, one of the twelve New Paltz patentees, and, through his paternal grandmother, of Jaen Hasbrouck, brother of Abraham, another of the New Paltz patentees.
He is a son of the late Dr. Alfred Hasbrouck of Poughkeepsie and of Margaret Ann Manning, a descendant of Hugo Freer, one of the New Paltz Patentees, and of Baltus Van Kleeck an original settler of Poughkeepsie. His early education was obtained at the public schools of Poughkeepsie and at the old Dutchess County Aca- demy. He entered Harvard in 1868 and was graduated from there, a Bachelor of Arts, in 1872. In the fall of 1872, he began the study of law at the city of Pough- keepsie, in the office of the late Orlando D. M. Baker, and was admitted to practice at the May General Term of the Supreme Court, at Poughkeepsie, in 1875. For several years he remained with his former preceptor, Mr. Baker, as managing clerk of his office, and then set up for the practice of law by himself, and has continued to practice his profession at Poughkeepsie until the present time.
He has always been an active and influential member of the Democratic party of his county, and has been the unsuccessful candidate of his party in overwhelm- ingly Republican years for the offices of Recorder of the city of Poughkeepsie, City Attorney, District Attorney, and County Treasurer. To the last named office his opponent was declared elected by one majority on the face of the returns.
In the spring of 1875 he was appointed a member of the Board of Health of the city of Poughkeepsie, and by the Board elected its secretary. He was reappointed and reelected secretary in 1870 and served two years as a member and Secretary of the Board. In the fall of 1876 he was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace of the city of Poughkeepsie by a majority of about 120, all the rest of the city going Republican by majorities varying from 300 to 500. He served as Justice of the Peace from January 1, 1877 to December 31, 1880. He was treasurer of the city of Poughkeepsie by appointment of Mayor Elsworth for the two years 1887-1888. He was postmaster of the city of Poughkeepsie by appointment of President Cleveland for four years from April 1st, 1895 to March 31st, 1899. He was corporation Counsel of the city of Poughkeepsie by appointment of Mayor Sague during the year 1907. He was elected County Judge of Dutchess County in November 1907, and entered upon the duties of that office January 1, 1908.
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