USA > New York > The men of New York: a collection of biographies and portraits of citizens of the Empire state prominent in business, professional, social, and political life during the last decade of the nineteenth century, Vol. II > Part 8
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F. B. THURBER
district. Mr. Thurber is a member of the Union League, Manhattan, Hardware, and Commercial clubs, and is prominent in various aspects of life in the metropolis.
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PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- F. B. Thur- ber was born at Delhi, Delaware county, N. Y., November 13, 1842 ; attended the common schools, Delaware Academy at Delhi, and Union Hall Acad- emy, Jamaica, L. I. ; went into business in 1859 with the interrelated concerns known as T. M. Wheeler & Co. and Robert & Williams, in the warehousing, lighterage, and importing business, New York city ; joined his brother, II. K. Thurber, in the firm of II. K. Thurber & Co., wholesale grocers, in 1865 ; continued in that business, under various styles, until 1893; since then has been president of the American Grocer Publishing Co., publishing the trade paper known as the " American Grocer."
Charles Lewis Ciffany, the founder and head of the famous house of Tiffany & Co., was born in Windham county. Conn., in 1812. He is the eldest son of Comfort Tiffany, a native of Attleboro, Mass. ; and traces his descent from Squire Humphrey Tiffany of England, who settled in Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. Mr. Tiffany's early educa- tion was received in a typical New England district school ; and he afterward spent two years at Plain- field (Coun. ) Academy, at that time an institution of considerable prominence. When he was but fif- teen years old, his father, who had been for many years a manufacturer of cotton goods, opened a small country store, and gave his son Charles full charge of the undertaking. Here the young man acquired his first business experience ; and in making trips to New York for supplies he gained some insight into the commercial activities of the metrop- olis. These appealed to him strongly ; and he felt a desire to enter the conflict, and escape from the narrow bonds of village life.
Accordingly, in 1837, Mr. Tiffany betook himself to New York, already a city of 200,000 inhabitants, determined to engage in business there. After looking carefully over the ground he formed a part- nership with John B. Young, a friend and neighbor who had left Connecticut several months before him, to conduct a fancy-goods and stationery store. Mr. Tiffany's father furnished the capital of $1000 with which the business was established, and the firm was known as Tiffany & Young. The changed condi- tion of the city in the sixty years since elapsed is eloquently attested by the fact that the location chosen by the young firm - on Broadway at the corner of Warren street - was then deemed danger- ously far uptown. From the beginning Mr. Tiffany made a specialty of securing goods out of the ordi- nary line, and in a short time the store acquired the reputation for unique and choice wares that has ever
since been one of its marked characteristics. With- in four years it became necessary to secure the adjoining store ; and with more commodions quarters it was possible to carry a greater variety of stock, including foreign glassware and porcelain, clocks, and fancy Parisian jewelry. In 1841, also, the firm was enlarged by the admission of J. L. Ellis, and became known as Tiffany, Young & Ellis. In 1850 a branch was established in Paris under the style of Tiffany, Reed & Co. ; and the parent house has ever since had the advantage of a resident buyer abroad, who could avail himself of the fluctuations of the market, and the opportunities that continually arise for obtaining rare and valuable objects. In 1868 the firm opened a London house. In the same year the business, which since 1853 had been known under the name of Tiffany & Co., was incor- porated under that style. Mr. Tiffany has been the president and treasurer of the corporation from the beginning : Gideon F. T. Reed, the resident Paris partner, was originally vice president, but since his retirement in 1875 this office has been held by Charles T. Cook.
The incorporation of the concern as a manufactur- ing company was followed by a general extension of the business. The manufacture of gold jewelry had been begun in 18448, and had rapidly become an important part of the business. The making of silverware, in which the firm has since attained such pre-eminence, was taken up a few years later, the English standard of "sterling " silver being first introduced in this country by Tiffany & Co. The manufacture of watches, clocks, etc., was now taken up, and the firm's works in Prince street were greatly enlarged. The business having entirely outgrown its quarters at 550 Broadway, Mr. Tiffany and his associates bought the old Church of the Pilgrims, on Union square at the corner of Fifteenth street, and began the erection of one of the first strictly fireproof buildings in the city. Formal possession of the new building was taken on November 10, 1870 ; and ever since then the fame of " Tiffany's" has spread throughout the land, until to-day the name suggests all that is rare and beautiful in jewelry, silver, glass, porcelain, pottery, and a mul- titude of other wares. Prizes, medals, and decora- tons almost without number have been received for various exhibits of the firm during the past thirty years. At the Paris Exposition of 1867 their display of silver plate attracted general attention, and re- ceived the first award ever given to a foreigner. At the Universal Exposition held in Paris in 1878 they received the Grand Prix for silverware ; and Mr. Tiffany was created a Chevalier of the National
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Legion of Honor of France, and received from the Emperor of Russia the exceptional tribute of the Gold Medal Praemia Digno. The Grand Prix was also awarded to Tiffany & Co. at the Universal Exposition of 1889. At our own Centennial Exhi- bition the firm easily took the first rank, receiving a gold medal and numerous certificates of award. No one who attended the Col- umbian Exposition of 1893 needs to be reminded of the magnificent Tiffany pavilion, with its dazzling display of art metal-work and precious gems.
While Mr. Tiffany has made the sue- cess of the house that bears his name his great interest in life, and has stamped his individuality upon it at every stage, he has not allowed himself to become absorbed by it. He has naturally been honored with many positions of trust in the metropolis, and has given his active aid and support to a vast number of phil- anthropic and other public movements. As might be expected, he is a generous patron of art, and has done much to fur- ther its development in America. He was one of the founders of the American Academy of Fine Arts, and is also a trus- tee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Design. He is a director in several banks and trust companies, and a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and of a great number of other organizations.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Charles Lewis Tiffany was born at Dan- ielsonville, Conn., February 15, 1812; was educated in common schools ; was a clerk in his father's country store, 1827- 37 ; began business in New York city in 1837 ; married Harriet Olivia Avery Young of Kil- lingly, Conn., November 30, 1841 ; has been the head of what is now the house of Tiffany & Co. since the business was established in 1837, and president and treasurer since ils incorporation in 1868.
3obn Brisben Walker, who has acquired national fame in recent years by his extraordinary success as a publisher, was born on the Monongahela river, Pennsylvania, about fifty years ago. He is a scion of a distinguished American family, his grand- father, Major John Walker, having been the first com- missioner for the improvement of western rivers, and having established the first shipyards west of the Alleghany mountains.
Mr. Walker's career has been unusually pic- turesque and interesting. After leaving Georgetown College in 1865, he went to the United States Mil- itary Academy at West Point, where he studied three years. In 1868 he resigned his cadetship in order to enter the Chinese military service, accom-
CHARLES LEWIS TIFFANY
panying J. Ross Browne, the United States minister to China. Having returned to this country in 1870, he engaged in manufacturing in West Virginia until the panic of 1873 reduced him to poverty. He then made an entirely fresh start in life by becoming a special writer for the Cincinnati Commercial. This engagement soon gave way to a better post, that of managing editor of the Pittsburg Telegraph : and in 1876 he made another change, becoming managing editor of the Washington Daily Chronicle.
Mr. Walker had already proved himself extremely versatile, but in 1879 he made another abrupt change in his calling. Moving to Colorado in the year mentioned, he became the first man to engage in alfalfa farming on an extended scale in the
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MEN OF NEW YORK-MANHATTAN SECTION
Centennial State. After his usual fashion Mr. Walker made a brilliant success of the new venture, and his Berkeley farm soon outranked all other Colorado plantations of the valuable forage plant. He also engaged in some important engineering operations that resulted in the rescue of a large tract of valuable
. .
JOHN BRISBEN WALKER
land near the center of Denver from the overflow of the Platte river.
Having amassed a fortune from his engineering and farming operations. Mr. Walker decided to enter the publishing world ; and in 1889 he returned East, and bought the Cosmopolitan magazine. The publication was then in an insolvent and moribund condition, with a dwindling circulation and scant advertising patronage. Spending money liberally on the plant, and energizing the business in all departments, Mr. Walker quickly caused the tide to turn ; and in a marvelously short time the Cosmopol- itan was eagerly looked for by a multitude of readers who had never before even heard of the magazine. The business had assumed such proportions by 1894
that Mr. Walker decided to build a new and magnifi- cent plant at Irvington-on-the-Hudson ; and there. not far from New York, he now conducts the exten- sive business of the magazine in one of the most completely equipped printing, engraving, binding, and publishing establishments anywhere in the world.
Along with his other activities, Mr. Walker has found time to interest him- self somewhat in politics. So far back as 1872, while a manufacturer in West Virginia, he was nominated for congress by the Republicans. He became most interested in political matters, however, in the presidential contest of 1896, when he ardently advocated the cause of silver and the election of Mr. Bryan.
Mr. Walker has so many special inter- ests in life that he has never thought it worth while to spend much time in clubs. He is a member, however, of the University Club of Chicago, the Century Club of New York, and some others ; and lie is one of the governors of the Ardsley Country Club.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - John Bristen Walker was born in Penn- sylvania September 10, 1847 ; attended Georgetown College, and West Point Mili- tary Academy ; was in the Chinese military service, 1868-10 ; engaged in manufactur- ing in West Virginia, 1870-13 ; married Emily Strother of Berkeley Springs, IT. Y'a., in 1871 ; was employed on various newspapers, as writer and editor, 1873- 79; carried on an extensive alfalfa farm in Colorado, 1879-89 ; has been the owner and publisher of the "Cosmopoli- tan" magasine since 1889.
Albert A. Ulray, who represents the 8th dis- trict in the New York state senate, and who is well known in the legal and political circles of Brooklyn, was born in Missouri less than forty years ago. He was educated in the public schools of his native state, and subsequently taught there for two years. Shortly after reaching his majority he betook him- self to New York city for the purpose of studying law, and making the metropolis his permanent place of residence. This plan has been consistently carried out. Admitted to the bar in 1885, he has been actively engaged in practice ever since. He has his business office at 63 Wall street, New York, but has made his home in Brooklyn for the last ten years.
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Mr. Wray has taken a deep interest in political affairs since early manhood. Throughout his resi- dence in Brooklyn he has been connected with var- ious Republican-party organizations. For four years he was a member of the Invincible Twenty-third Ward Club. He belonged to the Brooklyn Young Republican Club for six years, and served as chair- man of its advisory committee in 1892-93. In the latter year he was a member of the Republican Pro- visional Reorganization Committee, which was a potent agency in the reorganization of the Repub- lican party in Kings county. He is now a member of the Kings-county Republican general committee.
Taking so active a share in the counsels of the Republican party, Mr. Wray has naturally been called upon to assume public office. In the fall of 1893 he was nominated for the state assembly, and was elected by a large majority over his Democratic opponent. He was a mem- ber of the following committees in the assembly of 1894: general laws, insur- ance, and electricity, gas, and water supply. Mr. Wray introduced the bill for the election of police commissioners in New York city, and another providing for the erection of monuments on the battlefield of Chattanooga. He also introduced several amendments to the charter of the city of Brooklyn: one making an appropriation for the 23d- regiment armory ; another providing for the insulation of electric wires ; another for the purpose of facilitating the erec- tion of new buildings ; and another pro- viding for park improvements. In No- vember, 1894, Mr. Wray was re-elected to the assembly, receiving 8385 votes against 2239 for the Democratic nomi- nee. In the assembly of 1895 he was chairman of the committee on general laws, and had membership in the commit- tee on cities and on the Soldiers' Home.
Having shown his capacity in the lower house of the legislature, Mr. Wray was promoted to the state senate in the fall of 1895, receiving 14,697 votes against 8525 for his nearest competitor. He received important committee assign. . ments in the senate. and was made chairman of the committee on public education. Among the bills introduced by him in 1896, the following deserve special mention : one excluding street railways from New York and Ocean avenues, Brooklyn ; another authorizing Brooklyn
to issue repavement bonds ; another providing for the submission to popular vote of the Greater New York charter : and another making an appropriation . for a botanical garden in New York city.
Senator Wray is prominent in the social life of Brooklyn. He is a trustee of the Greene Avenue Baptist Church, and a member of the Union League Club of Brooklyn and of Fort Greene Council, Royal Arcanum.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Albert A. Wray was born at Cape Girardeau, Mo., September 6, 1858 : was educated in public schools in Missouri ; taught school, 1876-78 ; studied law in New York city, and was admitted to the bar in 1885 ; was mem- ber of assembly, 1894-95 ; was elected to the state senate in the fall of 1895 ; has practiced law in New York city since 1885.
£
ALBERT .A. WRIT
henry JE. 21bell, member of the New York state assembly from Kings county, was born in Scho- harie county sixty years ago. His father, William Bliss Abell, was a native of Connecticut, and a
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MEN OF NEW YORK-MANHATTAN SECTION
descendant of an old New England family ; and his mother was a daughter of William McCarthy, an Irish refugee who came to the United States from Cork during the rebellion of 1798.
Henry Abell was the youngest of eight children, and found himself at the age of fourteen an orphan,
HENRY K. ABELL
without home, money, or friends. For the next six years he supported himself in various ways, and managed at the same time to lay by a little money. For about two years he was clerk in a store in west- ern New York ; and from 1854 to 1857 he worked in Albany, at first in a bookstore, and afterward in a bank. By the time he was twenty he felt able to give up his position in the bank, and carry out his plans for securing a better education. For this pur- pose he attended the Delaware Literary Institute at Franklin, N. Y., and Columbian University, Wash- ington, D. C. ; and after his general education was completed he read law in the office of the late Joseph 11. Bradley at Washington and in an office in New York city.
In 1859 Mr. Abell began a connection with the press that continued, at intervals for many years. becoming editor of a paper in Delaware county. The next year he took an active part in the momen- tous campaign that resulted in the election of Presi- dent Lincoln, making speeches throughout Delaware county in behalf of the Republican cause. When the war broke out, finding himself debarred from active duty on account of defective eyesight, he went to Washing- ton, and was sworn into service in the defense of the capital. He was commis- sioned by Secretary Chase to sign the first issue of government bonds to meet the expenses of the war, and at the same time did guard and hospital duty when not required at the treasury department. In 1864 he was compelled by ill health to give up this work. Returning to his native county, accordingly, he consoli- dated two newspapers under the name of the Schoharic Union, and for the next five years devoted himself to the work of an editor and publisher. Schoharie county at that time abounded in " cop- perheads" ; and Mr. Abell, who ar- dently supported President Lincoln and the Union cause, narrowly escaped per- sonal injury at the hands of a mob that attacked his office.
In April, 1869, Alonzo B. Cornell, surveyor of the port of New York, ap- pointed Mr. Abell his deputy, and he filled the position for four years. After that he was appointed by Collector Ar- thur of the saine port to prosecute cer- tain violations of the navigation laws, and succeeded in putting a stop to a system of fraud that had long been prac- ticed in the registration of vessels. In 1879, on his election as governor of New York state, Mr. Cornell appointed Mr. Abell his private secretary ; and he held this position during the governor's three years' term. He afterwards served for many years as an officer of the assembly, acting as financial clerk, jour- nal clerk, and assistant clerk. He was appointed under the new law to examine the constitutionality of bills introduced in the assembly, and in this capacity he has passed upon as many as 1200 bills in a single year. In the summer of 1894 he acted as counsel for the state-prison investigating committee, and conducted the examination of many witnesses. With such a record for efficient public service, Mr. Abell, nominated for the assembly in the fall of 1894, could
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MEN OF NEW YORK-MANHATTAN SECTION
hardly fail to receive a substantial vote. As a mat- ter of fact, his plurality was the largest ever received by a candidate in his district ; and he served in the session of 1895 as a member of the committee on codes and of that on affairs of cities. In 1896 he was again elected to the legislature, and served on the committees on general laws, privileges and elec- tions, and unfinished business, and the special joint committee on state departments and commissions. Mr. Abell is president of the Logan Club of Brooklyn.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Henry Edward Abell was born at Esperance, Schoharic county, N. Y., June 25, 1837 ; was educated at Dela- ware Literary Institute and Columbian University, Washington, D. C. ; married Lucia Smith of Cobles- kill, N. Y., in January, 1861 ; was engaged in govern- ment work in Washington, 1861-64; published the " Schoharie Union," 1864-69 ; was dep. uty surveyor of the fort of New York, 1869-73, and private secretary to Gor- crnor Cornell, 1880-82 ; was a mem- ber of the state legislature in 1895 and 1897.
henry harper Benedict, a part- ner in the famous house of Wyckoff, Sea- mans & Benedict, has an interesting family history. He is descended from William Benedict, who was living in Nottinghamshire, England, in the year 1500. One Thomas Benedict was the first member of the family in this coun- try, having left his home in Nottingham- shire in 1638, and settled on Long Is- land. He was one of the founders, at Jamaica, L. I., of the first Presbyterian church in America. He was a delegate, appointed by Governor Nichols to the' first legislative body in New York ; was a member of the general assembly from 1670 to 1675; and was in many ways a notable figure in our early colo. nial history. His son James was one of eight men who founded the town of Danbury, Conn. Later members of the family were equally enterprising, and took an active part in the redemption of the American wilderness to civilization. Micaiah Benedict, the father of our pres- ent subject, was an especially distin- guished scion of the common stock. kimer county, New York, in 1801, he was an influ- ential factor in the political and social life of cen- tral New York throughout his long life. He was
Born in Her-
an ardent Democrat up to the time of the Civil War, when he shifted his allegiance to the Republican party, with which he remained until his death in 1881.
Henry Harper Benedict, born in Herkimer county somewhat more than fifty years ago, received an excellent education. After attending Little Falls Academy, and Fairfield Seminary in his native town, he secured additional preparatory training at Mar- shall Institute, Easton, N. Y., and then took the regular course at Hamilton College. He joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity while at Hamilton. During a part of his college course he taught Latin and the higher mathematics in Fairfield Seminary. After graduating from Hamilton in 1869, Mr. Bene- dict entered the service of E. Remington & Sons, the famous manufacturers of firearms, at llion, N. Y.
HENRY HAARPER BENEDICT
He received a position of trust at the start, and improved his opportunities so well that he was made a director in the corporation, and treasurer of the Remington Sewing Machine Co.
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MEN OF NEW YORK-MANHATTAN SECTION
Mr. Benedict has long been thought of chiefly in connection with typewriting machines. In 1882 the firm of Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict was formed for the purpose of marketing the Remington type- writer, the firm of E. Remington & Sons having contracted to give the new concern exclusive selling rights. The business grew so rapidly under the improved facilities for distribution, that Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict bought the whole plant and patent rights of the llion concern in 1886. This arrangement accelerated even more the progress of the house ; and in May, 1892, the business was incor- porated with a capital stock of three million dollars.
Mr. Benedict's part in this wonderful success has been important from the first. Soon after the new organization was effected, he went to Europe in the interest of the firm; and since then he has been abroad many times for both business and recreative purposes. He has had charge of the foreign depart- ment of the business, and has established successful agencies in all parts of the civilized world. Mr. Wyckoff, the senior partner in the original firm, and president of the incorporated company, died in July, 1895 ; and Mr. Benedict was elected to the presi- dency.
Mr. Benedict has always been active in the social life of his community. At llion he was one of the organizers of the First Presbyterian Church ; and served the society as an elder, trustee, and treasurer. For many years he was president of the Ilion Liter- ary Association, meeting in that capacity many of the most prominent men of the country in connec- tion with the annual lecture course of the associa- tion. He was also president of the Herkimer County Bible Society. Both Mr. and Mrs. Benedict are now members of Dr. John Hall's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, but they com- monly attend Dr. Storrs's Church of the Pilgrims. near their residence in Brooklyn. Mr. Benedict is especially interested in engravings and etchings. and has at his home a collection of prints by the great masters that is probably unexcelled by any collection of similar size elsewhere. Ile has also a fine library, and a collection of oil paintings, mostly of the early and modern Dutch and modern French schools, which is almost as choice as his assemblage of prints. Mr. Benedict is a member of the Hamilton Club and of the Long Island Historical Society in Brooklyn : and of the Grolier, Republican, D. K. E., and Union League Clubs in New York. He is a trustee of Hamilton College, and of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Howy Harper Benedict was born at German Flats, Herk-
imer county, N. Y., October 9, 1844; graduated from Hamilion College in 1869 ; married Maria Nelle: of Fort Plain, N. Y., October 10, 1867 ; entered the employ of E. Remington & Sons in 1869 : has been a member of the firm of Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict since 1882, and its president since 1895.
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