USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 50
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HEWITT BOICE, an honored and esteemed citizen of Kingston, and promi- nent among the notable self-made men of Ulster County, comes of a pioneer family. He is a grandson of Peter Boice and also of Samuel Davis, both well-known and substantial natives and life-long residents of Olive Township. Hewitt Boice was born at Boiceville, Ulster County, in 1846. His father, William V. N. Boice, was also a native of Olive Township. He was a successful farmer and also dealt in lumber and blue stone. He died in 1898, leaving to his family the record of an honorable name, a useful life, and an unblemished reputation. Our subject re- ceived his education in the public schools and early in life became interested in the blue stone industry. In connection with his father, and his brother, Peter, he carried on a tannery, lumber and bluestone business at Samsonville, Ulster County,
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under the firm name of William V. N. Boice and Sons, which continued until 1875, in which year he commenced the stone business in a comparatively limited way at Brodheads Bridge. Two years later he moved into the city of Kingston and purchased property on East Strand, Rondout, five hundred feet frontage, where he established a business which rapidly grew to become the largest of the kind in the country, doing a business of from $300,000 to $500,000 annually. In addition to this plant, Mr. Boice also owned five barges and a 350-ton schooner, all em- ployed in his industry. He also owned a stone yard and mills at Higginsville and quarries at different points along the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. To this im- mense business he gave his personal attention, until his interests were purchased by the Hudson River Blue Stone Co. in 1901, at a very large figure.
In 1866 Hewitt Boice was married to Miss Caroline Sinclair, and to them was born one daughter, Virginia, now the wife of Rev. F. B. Seeley, and one son, who died in infancy. In 1899 the mother died. In 1901 Mr. Boice was united in mar- riage to Miss Kathryn DuBois Deyo, of Kingston. He lives a retired life at his handsome home on Fair Street, Kingston, enjoying the competency accumulated throughout a successful business career. In politics Mr. Boice is a Republican. He is a man of decided views upon public questions, but has never aspired to public office. A man of strong personality and possessed of great natural shrewdness and busi- ness ability, he is recognized as being one of the most substantial and successful men in Ulster County.
JESSE B. BOICE, manufacturer, at Olive Bridge, was born at West Shokan, Ulster County, N. Y., in 1865. Mr. Boice obtained his education at the schools of his native place, and purchased from his uncle, John I. Boice, the old Bishop grist-mill at Bishop's Falls, which he still operates, and in addition conducts a saw- mill across the creek.
Mr. Boice is a member of No. 10 Lodge, F. and A. M. and the I. O. O. F. No. 491. He is an elder in the Reformed Church and has served six years as Clerk of the town of Olive.
He was united in marriage to Miss Alice Lockwood, of Ulster County. Isaiah Boice, father of our subject, was engaged in farming in the town of Olive, and was numbered among Ulster County's respected citizens. He was a son of John S. and Gidea (Smith) Boice.
ZADOC P. BOICE .- Sheriff Zadoc P. Boice, of Kingston, was born at Boice- ville, in the town of Olive, July 29, 1858. He is a son of Lemuel Boice, who was born at Shokan, Olive Township, May 5, 1819. Lemuel Boice was engaged in farming, which occupation he followed but a few years, when he became interested in the tanning business. He built a tannery at Boiceville, where he was also en- gaged in lumbering. He was the leading citizen in the town, was very energetic and controlled one of the largest tanneries in the county. The village of Boice- ville was named for him. He remained there until about 1865, when he returned to Shokan and took up farming and lumbering. About the year 1876 he took the contract for building the roadbed and erecting the arches and bridges on the rail-
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road between Arkville and Delhi. On July 14, 1842, he married Mary Ann Brinck, of the town of Olive, and eight children were born to them, of whom Zadoc P. is next youngest. The mother died in June, 1874, and March 30, 1876, Mr. Boice took for his second wife Mary C. Hill. Mr. Boice served one term as Supervisor, in the year 1858.
Zadoc P. Boice became a partner of D. W. Ennist in the grocery business, in 1878, which was continued until October 1, 1885.
He then purchased his father's property, both the business interests and real estate, in West Shokan, which he has since conducted.
His marriage with Delia Elmendorf, of Olive, took place October 6, 1880, and two children have been born to them, Lena and Delta. Mr. Boice was for three years a member of the County Board of Supervisors. He is a member of Kingston Lodge No. 10, F. & A. M., and Mountain Gate Lodge No. 299, Knights of Pythias, of West Shokan. He is also a director in the State of New York National Bank. In 1906 Mr. Boice received the Republican nomination for the office of Sheriff of Ulster County, and was elected by a handsome majority.
WILLIAM BOOTH, of Ellenville, N. Y., a native of Sheffield, England, was born in August, 1842. He served a rigid apprenticeship in the cutlery line in his native town and came to this country in 1864, working at his trade in Bronxville and Naugatuck, Conn. In 1871 he came to Ellenville, and has been connected with the Divine Knife Works, as Superintendent of the plant, for over thirty-five years.
Mr. Booth served as President of the Village of Ellenville for three terms, and has been Trustee of the village for eleven years. He is connected with the Epis- copal Church, Masonic Brotherhood and the K. of P. He is a very practical and energetic manager of one of the most important industries of the county, as well as being one of the most highly regarded and influential citizens of his adopted town.
JOHN GAIL BORDEN, the youngest son of the late Gail Borden, who was famous as an inventor and public benefactor, was born in Galveston, Texas, Janu- ary 4, 1844. Coming North when but a lad of thirteen, he entered one of the Brooklyn public schools, and later attended the Winchester Academy in Winches- ter Center, Conn., where he remained for two years. From the time when he left the Academy until he entered a business college, young Borden assisted his father in establishing the condensed milk business, then in its infancy.
The call for volunteers in '61 interrupted the business college course, and Mr. Borden, then but nineteen years of age, enlisted at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., under Colonel (the late General) John Henry Ketcham, in the 150th N. Y. Volunteers, serving in this regiment for two years and a half, and attaining the rank of second lieutenant during that time. Just before his regiment started for the front, the young patriot presented himself for baptism and membership in the Armenia, N. Y., Baptist Church, and in the years following gave every evidence of a consistent Christian life.
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His service in the "150th" was terminated by a serious illness, caused by the severe strain and exposure of army life, and Mr. Borden was compelled to return to his home for rest and recuperation. When sufficiently recovered, he was trans- ferred to the 47th N. Y. Volunteers, and remained with that regiment until the close of the war. Returning to his home in Brewsters, N. Y., Mr. Borden became ac- tively identified with the Borden Condensed Milk Co., and upon the death of his father, in 1874, succeeded him as its president.
During his connection with the company, he made many valuable improvements in the methods of manufacturing condensed milk, and otherwise firmly established the reputation of the Borden Condensed Milk Co.
Removing in 1881 from Brewsters to Wallkill, N. Y., he purchased the property known as the "John P. Andrews farm," comprising about two hundred acres, and by acquiring adjacent lands from time to time, the "Borden Home Farm" was made to cover an area of some fifteen hundred acres. Most, if not all, of this property was a part of an original grant of land deeded by Queen Anne, in 1709, to "her true and loving subjects." Here Mr. Borden built a large condensery for the Borden Condensed Milk Co., continuing the management of the business until 1884, when failing health compelled him to retire from an active business life. From that time until his death, Mr. Borden gave his whole attention to the im- proving and beautifying of his "Home Farm," trying, as he expressed it, to "make two blades of grass where but one grew before." With all the improvements made upon the farm, he did not indulge in what is known as "fancy farming," but aimed rather to make his improvements on a practical basis, furnishing object lessons which any energetic farmer might easily put into practice.
In politics, Mr. Borden was a staunch Republican, firmly believing in every citizen taking an active part in the politics of his town, and conscientiously per- forming his duty at the primaries and the polls.
Mr. Borden's patriotism increased with years, and he was one, if not the first, of the pioneers who labored to impress upon the minds of the children a strong love for country and "the Stars and Stripes," and each Decoration Day, he presented to every child in the public schools in his vicinity, a small American flag; con- tinuing this practice until his death. Among Mr. Borden's characteristics, none were stronger than his devotion to home and country. Courtesy and gentleness were also marked characteristics with him, and his hat was removed as quickly for a little girl as for a lady. He was a true disciple of the "gospel of labor," and one of his unwritten mottoes was, that "what was worth doing at all was worth doing well," which rule was followed out in all his undertakings. He worked incessantly, and was old before his time. Mr. Borden died in October, 1891, at Ormond, Flor- ida, where, as well as in the North, he left an enviable and lasting record of prac- tical Christian living. He lived but forty-seven years-a short life, but one so filled with work for God and humanity, that its value cannot be estimated by the number of years alone.
WARREN L. BOYER, Superintendent of the New York Car and Truck Co., of Kingston, was born in Allentown, Pa., in 1878. He is a master mechanic by occu-
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pation and was for seven years connected with the Peckham Manufacturing Co., which formerly occupied the premises. He is numbered among Kingston's pro- gressive young business men. Socially he is affiliated with the Allentown Lodge of Elks No. 130, and the Modern Workmen of America.
JOHN BOYLE was born in Sullivan County, March 29, 1865. After obtaining his education at the public schools of his native place, he engaged in the boating business on river and sound. In 1889 Mr. Boyle was united in marriage to Miss Mary Cornell, daughter of Joseph W. Cornell, whose name figures prominently in the development of Ulster County.
Mr. Boyle is now proprietor of the Cornell Inn, a popular summer hostelry over- looking the Rondout Creek at Fly Mountain, offering among its many attractions good boating, fishing and bathing. Eugene Boyle, father of our subject, died at the old homestead in Sullivan County, July 23, 1905. He was married to Catha- rine Nimo, daughter of Thomas Nimo, whose ancestors were among the early settlers of the State.
W. A. BRIGGS, a prominent merchant and manufacturer of Claryville, Ulster County, was born at Grahamsville, Sullivan County, in 1843. He obtained his edu- cation at the schools of his native place, and when Civil War was declared enlisted in Company C, 143rd N. Y. V., serving three years. In 1866 he established a general mercantile business, and subsequently engaged in the manufacture of lumber, shin- gles, furniture hoops and piano bars, giving employment at present to over forty men.
Possessed of keen sagacity and enterprise, Mr. Briggs is one of the most suc- cessful men in the community his real estate holdings in Ulster County covering over one thousand acres. Mr. Briggs married Miss Abigail Dixon, and their family consists of John, now traveling salesman for the Winchester Arms Co., W. A., Jr., and O. D. (who have succeeded their father in the management of the store under the firm name of W. A. Briggs' Sons), Harrison, Ella, Inda and Martha.
HENRY R. BRIGHAM, senior member of the firm of Brigham Bros., brick manufacturers, was born in Kingston, N. Y., in 1858, and is of English ancestry. Graduating from Kingston Academy in 1878, he then attended Colgate Academy one year, following which he entered the employ of the Wabash R. R. system at Logansport, Ind., as accountant. In 1880 he resigned to become general sales agent of the Hudson River Cement Company, where he remained ten years, being also secretary of the company. About this time the firm of Brigham Bros. (Henry R. and William H.) was formed, opening general stores at Creek Locks and East Kingston, N. Y.
In 1892 they began the manufacture of brick at East Kingston, the business being still carried on by them. Mr. Brigham also conducts a cement brick commission house in New York City. They have recently built another brick manufacturing plant, and installed a new system of manufacturing brick, drying it by a steam . process, thus enabling them to make brick at all seasons. Starting with a capacity
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of 6,000,000 brick, their business has expanded to an annual output of 40,000,000 brick, giving employment to four hundred men.
Mr. Brigham is a trustee of the Ulster County Savings Institution, a director of the State of New York National Bank, and a member of the Board of Education. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Kingston, and president of its Board of Trustees.
In October, 1882, he married Sarah Sparling, daughter of Derrick W. Sparling, of Kingston, and one son, Harold S., was born to them in 1883. Harold married Charlotte Rouse, of Kingston, N. Y., in 1906.
Elisha M. Brigham, father of our subject, was born at Willington, Conn., May I, 1822. He came to Ulster County in 1837, and was thereafter associated with many of its important and financial enterprises. He established a store in Kingston in 1849, which he conducted some nine or ten years. He organized the Rondout and Kingston Cement Company in 1858, and managed that company twenty-five years. In 1873 he was appointed receiver of the N. Y., K. & S., now the Ulster & Delaware R. R. He was elected County Treasurer in 1851, and held that office until 1857. He was president of the Board of Education for many years and was a member of that body from 1872 until his death. He served as Alms Commissioner twenty- two years and during a portion of that time was president of the Board. He was president of the village of Kingston at the time its charter as a city was obtained. He was presidential elector in 1872. During his lifetime he was deeply interested in church work, was a member of the First Baptist Church of Kingston and presi- dent of its Board of Trustees.
JOEL BRINK, son of Andrew and Sarah M. (Osterhoudt) Brink, was born at Lake Katrine, Ulster County, in 1868. He has been engaged in farming and the mercantile business at his native place for many years and has served as Super- visor for the town of Ulster since 1904, winning a memorable contest over his Democratic opponent in the election of 1903.
Socially Mr. Brink is identified with No. 10 Lodge, F. and A. M. He was united in marriage to Miss Anna E. Kieffer, of Ulster County, and one son, Herbert, has been born to them.
THEODORE BRINK, postmaster and merchant, Lake Katrine, N. Y., a de- scendant of an old Ulster County family of Revolutionary ascendants, was born January 12, 1860. His father, Andrew Brink, who died in 1904, established the mercantile business at Lake Katrine, and conducted it up to the time of his demise. Theodore was educated in the schools of Kingston, and has been associated with his father in business since its inception. Prior to engaging in the mercantile busi- ness, Andrew Brink was engaged in farming, which he carried on from his youth on their own farm, which has been in the family for over one hundred years, now owned by Theodore Brink. The family home was erected in 1821; it contains many handsome pieces of Colonial furniture, and is situated near the shores of Lake Katrine. The business embraces a general line of merchandise, including coal, flour and feed, farm machinery, fertilizers, etc. Mr. Brink is a member of
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the Holland Society, the Kingston Club and the Dutch Reformed Church. He lives in the old homestead with his sisters and is unmarried.
Mr. Brink's ancestors came from Wageningen, in Gelderland, Holland, in 1658. A son, named Cornelius, was born on the passage over and from him our subject is descended. Hubert Brink, a descendant of Cornelius, settled in Kingston over two hundred years ago. He secured a tract of land at the place now called Mount Marion, which has never entirely passed out of the possession of the family. The old stone house, the first building erected on the land, is still standing and is oc- cupied by a member of the Brink family.
ABRAHAM D. BRODHEAD, son of John C. and Cornelia W. (Deyo) Brod- head, was born in Kingston, New York, in 1863. In 1890 he was united in mar- riage to Miss Gertrude M. Deyo, daughter of Matthew Deyo. The ancestry of the Brodhead and Deyo families occupies a prominent place in the early settle- ment of 'Ulster County.
THE W. G. BROWNE MFG. CO. was established at 82 Prince Street in 1898, and in 1902, when the company was incorporated, they moved to their present location. The industry passed into the hands of the present proprietors in 1905, the firm now being composed of Benj. F. Bird, President and General Manager; E. H. Bogart, Vice-President and Secretary, and T. D. Abrams, Treasurer. The product consists of hardware specialties, including egg beaters, can openers, tack pullers, potato mashers, ice picks, garment hangers, etc., which find a ready market throughout the States and foreign countries. The plant gives employment to a force of thirty people.
Mr. Bird, the President of the company, is a native of Boston, Mass., and was born April 23, 1874. After learning the trade of machinist, he was employed by the Hobbs Mfg. Co., of Worcester, for fourteen years, nine years of which he was traveling salesman. In 1904 Mr. Bird located in Kingston and conducted the Measure Mfg. Co., on Front Street, until that business was absorbed by the present concern.
COL. JACOBUS SEVERYN BRUYN was born in Kingston, N. Y., in the year 1751. He was the son of Severyn Bruyn, who died at Kingston in 1759, the grandson of Jacobus Bruyn, the first of the family born in this country, and the great-grandson of Jacobus Bruyn, who came from Norway about the middle of the seventeenth century and founded a new home in Ulster County.
Col. Bruyn was scarcely graduated from Princeton College when the war of the Revolution broke out. He served in Canada in the campaign of 1775 and was with Montgomery at Quebec. He equipped at his own expense a company of in- fantry in his native county, and led them to the seat of war. Shortly after being promoted to the office of lieutenant-colonel he was captured at the surrender of Fort Montgomery, and held a prisoner on 'the Jersey prison-ship and afterward on parole on Long Island. Soon after his release Col. Bruyn was married to Miss Blandina, daughter of Petrus Edmundus and Mary (Crooke) Elmendorf. Col.
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Bruyn and his wife were prominently identified with the old Dutch Church of Kingston, organized in 1659, and their remains are buried under the present edifice, together with the preceding Bruyns of their immediate line.
Two sons were the only descendants of Col. and Mrs. Bruyn, namely Edmund and Severyn. Both graduated from Princeton College and were afterward ad- mitted to the bar. Edmund practiced law in New York for a time, and then re- tired to a farm in the town of Wawarsing. He was never married. Severyn made his home in Kingston, where early in life he married Catherine, daughter of Jonathan Hasbrouck. Severyn Bruyn, like his father, was an elder in the old Dutch Church, and devoted to all its interests; he never left home for any pro- longed absence without placing in the hands of his minister a sum of money for the use of the needy in the church. No communion Sunday ever came without his being present, often returning home solely for that purpose. The two children of this estimable couple were Augustus H. and Mary, who became the wife of Hon. James C. Forsyth. Augustus Hasbrouck Bruyn was for many years engaged in the tanning business. He was unmarried and lived in the house occupied by his parents for many years. This is a stone building, which was partially consumed in the burning of Kingston in 1777, and was afterward rebuilt. It is now the home of the Misses Forsyth. Mr. Bruyn was a member of the Holland Society of New York, and was identified with the interests of the Dutch Reformed Church. He died in Kingston, October 24, 1904.
THOMAS J. BRYANT, who conducts a general store at Big Indian, is a native of Delaware County. Born at Andes, he obtained his education in the schools of his native place and at Stamford Academy. In 1889 he came to Ulster County and established his present business. He is a son of Nelson and Martha Francis Bry- ant. His father, Nelson Bryant, was a descendant of an old Delaware County family. His mother was from North Carolina. Mr. Bryant has been twice mar- ried. His first wife was Miss Ellen D. Wey, by whom he had three children, Francis Dail, Virginia and Thomas. For his second wife, Mr. Bryant married Miss Nora Whipple. They have no children. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and J. O. U. A. M. Politically he is a Democrat.
THOMAS TOWNSEND BUCKLEY, son of John and Phebe (Thorne) Buck- ley, was born in Marlborough, N. Y., July 11th, 1817. After attending the district schools he, at the age of fourteen, began as clerk in a general store of his native village. Shorty after he accepted a position as clerk in Newburgh. In 1838 he went to New York, engaged in the wholesale drygoods business, and soon became largely interested in the importing and jobbing trade. In 1874 he retired from active business, spending the summers in Marlborough and the winters in Brook- lyn. During his career he was vice-president of the Bank of the Republic, re- ceiver of the Atlantic and Pacific R. R. Co., director of the Metropolitan Gas Co., and the Home Insurance Co. He was one of the executive committee of the great Sanitary Fair in 1864, and was a member and patron of historical and art
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societies. He married Amelia A., daughter of William R. Thompson, of New York.
Mr. Buckley died February 6, 1887, and his remains were interred in Green- wood Cemetery. Two sons survive, Charles R. and John D., who spend the sum- mer season at the country seat in Marlborough.
GEORGE BURGEVIN .- The subject of this sketch was born in Kingston in 1862. He obtained his education in the public schools of his native city and then entered the employ of his father in the floral business.
Mr. Burgevin was married to Mabel Hanor, of New York, in 1901, and they have had three sons. Politically he is a Democrat.
Valentin Burgevin, the father of our subject, was a native of Maintz-on-the- Rhine and was born January 1, 1819. He came to America in 1848 and located in Kingston. Shortly thereafter Mr. Burgevin engaged in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, introducing home-grown strawberries, lettuce and cauliflower. In 1852 he began in a small way the culture of flowers, for which there was at that time little or no demand. He, however, succeeded in creating a market for his product. The demand gradually increased, and with it he increased his facilities. Fifty years have elapsed since he took up the work and the Burgevin establishment is to-day one of the largest and most complete of its kind in this section of the State, having a roofage of fifty thousand square feet of glass, and covering seven- teen acres of land. They make a specialty of roses, carnations and chrysanthemums, and their carnation known as the "Kingston Pet" was awarded the certificate of merit by the Dutchess County Horticultural Society.
In 1896 Mr. Burgevin retired from the business and was succeeded by his two sons, George and David.
Mr. Burgevin died January 21, 1899, and is survived by his wife, Anna (Wurtz- berger) Burgevin and his two sons.
The handsome Burgevin block is a fitting monument to the success he attained in floriculture.
AUGUSTUS R. BURHANS, son of Benjamin D. and Matilda (Warren) Bur- hans, was born in the town of Ulster, Ulster County, in 1860. He attended the district school at Flatbush, this county, and then engaged in farming with his father, where he continued until 1896, when he removed to Saugerties and pur- chased his present ice plant, which has a capacity of about five thousand tons.
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