USA > New York > Twenty-fifth anniversary of the New York genealogical and biographical society, February 27th, 1894 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
6
28
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
class of invaluable contributions to the knowledge of the world, of which Greene's "History of the English People" was the first.
It has been well said that the greatest possible good from his- torical researches is the enthusiasm that they excite in readers and students. For the select few the study of the initiation, evo- lution and downfall of a great nation may be capable of develop- ing a spirit or purpose that may be beneficial to the human race or the individual man. But life is to-day so filled with possibili- ties and the conflicting demands of business, pleasure, and duties towards humanity are so pressing, that brief time remains for that intellectual culture which is the unrealized dream of many a per- son's life.
In this extremity, biography particularly lends itself as a facile means of recreation and instruction, and as a source of inspiration. Each human life has an individual ideal, and the extraordinary wealth of modern biography makes it possible for every man or woman to find in some few books the history of a human life, interwoven with such lines of high thought, heroic action or holy aspiration as command sympathy, stimulate effort and often incite to nobler life. In modern biographies the plan is how quite general of considering each life as the partial embodi- ment of an ideal, a plan which is extremely favorable to historical truth. The true biographer no longer considers himself as a par- tisan advocate pledged to exaggerate the merits and ignore or deny the shortcomings of his subject. The ideal which underlies the life is properly presented with all its beauty, dignity or nobil- ity, and the biographer, acknowledging human imperfections, expresses in turn his admiration of successes, his sympathy with failures and his regret at shortcomings. Through it all the aspira- tion of the individual soul is the dominant tone of the work, in which the incidents of a human life serve as a subordinate theme by illustrating the inherent imperfections of humanity, in its strenuous efforts to comprehend, formulate and develop its loftiest ideals.
Indeed, were it not for biography, the greater part of that which is hopeful for the human race, in lessons drawn from the past and aspirations for the future, would be practically ignored and inaccessible. Neglecting the host of industrial inventions and scientific discoveries, with their special lines bound up to a great extent in the life of a single man, it may be pointed out that most of the great moral and social reforms of the past century have
29
Anniversary Address by Gen. Greely.
been the growth and outcome of individual initiation and effort. Take the question of prison reforms, for instance, forever insepar- ably connected with the life of John Howard, philanthropist; and the labors of Gallaudet, so intimately associated with the giving to the deaf and dumb of a new intellectual life. In later years, Dorothy Dix wrought in civilized countries an entire revolution for the insane and demented, and the legislative labors of Peel are synonymous with the repeal of the corn laws and of the laborer's "bread unleavened with injustice."
Before this audience it is needless to enlarge this list of men and women, whose names must always stand for reform of some kind, and whose lives have a biographical value as representing the uplifting efforts of individual man to ideals representing truth, goodness and justice. Doubtless each and every one pres- ent has in mind some wrong which should be righted, some plan that should be matured, some line of noble thought that should blossom and develop into beneficent fruitage for coming genera- tions; and to each and every such the story of some human effort would surely give new confidence, strength and determination.
There are four distinct periods or epochs in American history, which shall furnish forth to the Plutarchs and Homers, the Livys and Virgils of the Twentieth Century, ample materials for future epics. First, the virile bands of adventurous men and self-sacri- ficing women, whose courage, fortitude and enterprise transformed virgin lowlands and primeval forests into a fruitful land, wherein in the space of a century and a half nearly three millions of inde- pendent, God-fearing folk, of French, Tentonic and Scandinavian stock, acquired a degree of freedom and affluence never before known to so numerous a body of men.
Second, the breaking of the encircling line of French outposts that vainly strove to confine English-speaking colonies to the Atlantic water-shed, the resolute resistance to British aggression that culminated in American independence, and the restless energy that extended westward to the Pacific the knowledge and control of American statesmen and legislators.
Third, the conquests of nature, the extension of commercial enterprises, the development of natural resources, the astonish- ing progress of inventions, the perfection of industrial methods and the rapid increase of material wealth, wherefrom have grown the marvel of architectural beauty that lately aston- ished artistic doubters of democracy, and the grace of literary
30
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
art that equally commands the attention of the Old World.
Finally, the terrible experiences of the great civil war, the first internecine strife in the world's history that proved benefi- cent equally to victor and vanquished, in that it transformed a heterogeneous body of contending and striving states into a great and indissoluble nation.
The story of these triumphs over nature and circumstance is yet to be adequately written in a series of biographies of the men whose brains conceived the ideas, whose genius transformed them from thought to perfected action, and whose sagacity and courage knew how to preserve for their own generation and transmit to their posterity the beneficent marvels they had wrought.
Each town has some spot rendered saered by the deed of a heroic citizen who fought for its safety. counselled for its pros- perity or freedom, and periled his life in its behalf, so that in troublous times the history of some single individual would be an epitome of the history of the town itself.
The conditions under which our American ancestors labored were such that time and inclination failed to record the dangers or dwell on the hardships inseparable from their labors. In the infrequent interludes of uneventful life their leisure hands found use for the unaccustomed quill, but in stress of intense action, when they were making history, "the busy hand forgot the pen," so that most of their daily "volumes are records less of fullness than of emptiness." In gathering up the scattered remnants of their thoughts and aspirations, in rescuing from oblivion the too meagre records of their deeds and actions, in weaving into the fabric of lasting prose and poetry vivid pictures of these men and women, thus preserving to time and an appreciative posterity the story of the representative lives of the founders of the greatest, wealthiest, freest and most progressive nation of recorded history, who shall dare say that the labors of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society are in vain ?
Fortunate are we of American birth and American ancestry, for are we not of the class of whom Goethe said : "Happy is the man who recalls his ancestors with pride, who treasures the story of their greatness, who tells the tale of their heroic lives, and with joy too full for speech realizes that fate has linked him with a race of goodly men." And although our ancestors could not leave their virtues to us, may not their memory at least incite in us an aspira- tion that we also may in some small way be a glory to posterity ?
ノ
THE
New
ork Genealogical and
fiographical oriety.
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION.
WE, the subscribers, hereby certify that we have associated ourselves, in pursuance of Title VII, Chapter XVIII, of Part I, of the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, for the purpose of promoting Genealogical and Biographical Science.
The name by which the Society is to be known is "THE NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY."
The particular business and objects of the Society are to discover, procure, preserve and perpetuate, whatever may relate to Genealogy and Biography, and more particularly to the genealogies and biographies of families, persons and citizens, associated and identified with the State of New York.
The number of Trustees to manage the same shall be nine; and the following are the names of the Trustees for the first year: Henry R. Stiles, M. D., David P. Holton, M. D., William Frederic Holcombe, M. D., Edward Chauncey Marshall, Seth Hastings Grant, Samuel Edward Stiles, Seymour Augustus Baker, D.D., Samuel Smith Purple, M. D., and Francis S. Hoffman.
The business of this Society is to be conducted and its place of business located in the City of New York.
HENRY R. STILES, M. D. [L. S.]
DAVID PARSONS HOLTON, M. D. [1 .. S.]
WILLIAM FREDERIC HOLCOMBE, M. D. [L. S.]
EDWARD CHAUNCEY MARSHALL. [L. S.] SETH HASTINGS GRANT. [L. S.]
SAMUEL EDWARD STILES. [L. S.]
SEYMOUR AUGUSTUS BAKER, D.D. [L. S.]
SAMUEL SMITH PURPLE, M. D). [L. S.]
CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, SS. :
On this sixteenth day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, before me personally appeared Henry R. Stiles, M. D., David P. Holton, M. D., William Frederic Holcombe, M. D., Edward Chauncey Marshall, Seth Hastings Grant, Samuel Edward Stiles, Seymour Augustus Baker, D.D., and Samuel Smith Purple, M. D., to me known to be the persons described in and who executed the within certificate, and severally acknowledged to me that they executed the same.
A. OLDRIN SALTER, Notary Public, New York City.
I approve of the within and allow the same to be recorded, March 25th, 1869.
JOSIAH SUTIIERLAND, judge of Supreme Court.
34. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
STATE OF NEW YORK,
CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, S {ss. :
I, CHARLES E. LOEW, Clerk of the said City and County, and Clerk of the Supreme Court of said State for said County, do certify that I have compared the preceding with the original Certificate of Incorporation of the New York Genea- logical and Biographical Society, on file in my office, and that the same is a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole of such original.
In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name, and affixed
[SEAL.] my official seal, this 20th day of March, 1869. CHARLES E. LOEW, Clark.
STATE OF NEW YORK, 1 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE,
This is to certify that the Certificate of Incorporation of the "New York Genealogical and Biographical Society," with acknowledgment thereto annexed, was received and filed in this office on the 26th day of March, 1869.
[SEAL.]
Witness my hand and seal of office of the Secretary of State at the City of Albany, this twenty-sixth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
D. WILLERS, JR., Dep. Secretary of State.
401318
1. 1
נית
المشكاة
الحمراء
٢٠٠
BERKELEY LYCEUM, 23 Wist 4th STREET
1781091
BY-LAWS
OF THE
New Vorh Genealogical and Biographical Society. AS AMENDED FEBRUARY 7, 1895.
I .- NAME.
The name of this Society shall be "THE NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY."
II .- OBJECTS.
The objects of this Society shall be "to discover, procure, preserve and per- petnate whatever may relate to Genealogy and Biography, and more particularly to the genealogies and biographies of families, persons and citizens associated and identified with the State of New York."
First .- By meetings for the transaction of business, the interchange of views, the reading of appropriate papers, and for discussion relative to genealogy, biog- raphy, and kindred subjects.
Second .- By the formation of a Library of Reference of such works on His- tory, Genealogy, Biography, and kindred subjects, both in printed and manuscript form, as may in any way contribute to the purposes of the Society.
Third .- By correspondence with other societies of similar character, as well as with genealogists and local historians in this and other States of the Union, and in foreign countries.
Fourth. - By the publication and dissemination, in such form and manner, and at such times as the Executive Committee of this Society may deem best, of gene- alogical and biographical material and information.
III .- MEMBERS.
The Society shall consist of Resident, Corresponding, Honorary and Life Members: Resident Members shall be those paying annual dues as hereinafter provided.
Every person elected a Resident Member of the Society shall become such by signifying his acceptance to the Recording Secretary in writing, and paying his initiation fees and dues.
No person residing within one hundred miles of the city of New York shall be elected a Corresponding Member, and all Corresponding Members upon coming to reside within the said limit of one hundred miles of the city of New York shall cease to be a Corresponding Member and may become a Resident Member upou giving notice to the Recording Secretary and paying the initiation fee and dues as hereafter provided for Resident Members.
When the number of Corresponding Members shall equal the number of Resi-
7
محـ جان
36
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
dent and Life Members, new Corresponding Members shall thereafter only be elected to fill vacancies.
Resident Members upon removal beyond the said limit of one hundred miles from the city of New York, whose dues shall have been fully paid, shall, on giving notice thereof to the Recording Sceretary, and expressing their desire in writing, become Corresponding Members-their claims taking precedence of all others- provided there exists any vacancies, otherwise they shall be Corresponding Mem- bers ex-officio, and shall succeed to the first vacancy among the Corresponding Members, in the order of their applications.
Any Resident Member may withdraw at any time by certifying his intention of so doing to the Recording Secretary in writing, and paying all dues to the Treasurer.
The Clerks of the several counties and townships of the State of New York, shall be Corresponding Members ex-officio.
IV .- FEES AND DUES.
Each Resident Member shall on admission pay to the Treasurer ten dollars as an initiation fee and dues for the current year, and five dollars annually thereafter in advance, as dues; and if he neglect or refuse to pay said dues for two years suc- cessively, he shall forfeit his membership, unless the Board of Trustees shall other- wise direct.
The annual dues shall be payable on the first day of January.
The payment of fifty dollars for that purpose, by himself or others, shall con- stitute any Resident, Corresponding or Honorary Member, a Life Member of the Society, and said Life Member shall be free from assessments and entitled to all the rights and privileges of a Resident Member during his life.
The fees for Life Membership shall constitute a perpetual fund to be invested for building purposes by the Trustees; the annual interest of which may be used for current expenses. The principal of the fund to be appropriated for such build- ing purposes only by a three-fourths vote of the Board of Trustees.
V .- ELECTION OF MEMBERS.
Members shall be elected as follows: The candidates shall be proposed pub- licly at a meeting of the Society, by a member thereof, and the nominations, together with the name of the member making them, shall be entered on the minutes, and be referred to the Executive Committee. The Reports of that Com- mittee, recommending candidates for election, shall be openly read to the Society at a meeting subsequent to that at which the nominations were made; and if any member demand a ballot, the election shall be by ballot, and five black balls shall exclude. If no ballot be demanded, the candidates so recommended shall be declared duly elected members of the Society.
Corresponding or Honorary Members may, by a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees, be elected without being proposed at a previous meeting.
Life Members may be elected in the same manner, and admitted to all the privileges of Resident Members, on the payment of the fee required by. Article IV.
All certificates of membership shall be signed by the President and the Recording Secretary.
37
By-Laws.
VI .- GOVERNMENT. - ELECTION OF TRUSTLLS.
The government of the Society shall be vested in a Board of nine Trustees, to be chosen by the Society, as hereinafter provided, by ballot, on the second Friday of Jannary in each year, of which election notice shall be given at least two days previous thereto in a newspaper published in the city of New York. The Board shall eleet its own officers.
None but Resident and Life Members who have paid their dues to the Society. shall be allowed to vote at any meeting of the Society, or hold the office of Trustve.
At the annual meeting of the Society, held on the second Friday of January in each year, there shall be elected three Trustees to fill the places of the Trustees whose term shall then expire, and who shall hold office for three years or until their successors shall be elected. Any Trustee appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office for the balance of the term of the Trustee to whose place he shall be so appointed.
In ense any election for Trustees shall not be held at the time above appointed, such election may be held at the next regular meeting of the Society, or at any special meeting called for that purpose, in the manner hereinbefore mentioned; and the Trustees elected at such meeting shall hold their offices for the same terms as if they had been elected ut the meeting at which such election should have taken place.
The Trustees shall have custody of all buildings, funds, securities, and collee- tions belonging to the Society; shall fix all salaries to be paid to its officers; and shall have in their hands the entire control and regulation of its affairs, in the intervals between the Annual Meetings. They shall fill vacancies occurring in the Board during the year; and they shall meet for the election of officers and other business on the afternoon of the Tuesday immediately following the annual meeting of the Society and shall also meet on the afternoon of the second Tuesday of April, June and October in each year, and as much oftener as they shall deem necessary, or shall be called together by the President or any five members of the Board. The Trustees may declare the place of any member of the Board vacant who shall be absent from three successive meetings of the Board without sending a reason- able excuse therefor to the Recording Secretary.
VII. - OFFICERS.
The Officers and Standing Committees of the Society shall be elected annu- ally, on the Tuesday immediately following the annual meeting of the Society, from the Resident and Life Members of the Society, by the Board of Trustees; and may be from their own number. They shall be: a President, two Vice- Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, a Librarian, and a Registrar of Pedigrees;
An Executive Committee of four members.
A Publication Committee of five members; and
A Committee on Biographical Bibliography, of three members.
VIII. - MEETINGS.
The Society shall meet in the City of New York, in the afternoon or evening of the second Friday in each month, except June, July, August, and September,
38
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
and at such other times as the Board of Trustees shall appoint. Special meetings may be called, under the direction of the President, or at the written request of seven members of the Society.
IX .- ORDER OF BUSINESS.
The order of proceedings at the meetings, unless otherwise ordered, shall be:
1. Reading of the minutes of the last meeting.
2. Reports and communications from the officers of the Society; from the Executive Committee; Reports of Special Committees.
3. Election of members previously proposed.
4. Nomination of new members.
5. Transaction of miscellaneous business.
6. Papers read and addresses delivered.
The latter, when previously appointed, or any other special order, shall take precedence of any topic involving debate.
X .- QUOI.UM.
Seven members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the Society.
XI .- PRESIDING OFFICER.
The President, or in his absence one of the Vice-Presidents, or in their absence a Chairman pro tempore, shall preside at all meetings of the Trustees and of the Society, and shall have a casting vote. He shall preserve order, and shall decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal. He shall also appoint all com- mittees authorized by the Trustees or by the Society, unless otherwise specially ordered.
XII. - CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
The Corresponding Secretary shall condnet the general correspondence of the Society. He shall, at every meeting of the Society, report such letters and com- munications as he may have received; he shall prepare all letters to be written in connection with the business or objects of the Society, and transmit the same; but the Executive Committee may appoint a committee to prepare a letter or letters, on any special occasion. He shall keep, in suitable books, to be provided for that purpose, true copies of all letters written on behalf of the Society, and shall care- fully preserve said copies, with the originals of all letters and communications received, and shall deposit the same in the Library.
XIII .- RECORDING SECRETARY.
The Recording Secretary shall have the charge of the Seal, Charter, By-Laws and Records of the Trustees and the Society. He, together with the presiding officer, shall certify all acts of the Tunistees and of the Society. He shall notify all members of their election, and of such other matters as shall be directed by the Society or Trustees, and shall transmit to them their proper diplomas or certifi- cates of membership. He shall give due notice of the time and place of all meet- ings of the Trustees and of the Society, and shall attend the same. He shall keep fair and accurate records of all the proceedings and orders of the Trustees and of the Society; and shall give notice to the several officers, and to the Executive and
39
By-Laws.
other Committees, of all votes, orders, resolves, and proceedings of the Trustees and of the Society, affecting them, or appertaining to their respective duties, and shall furnish a brief statement of the proceedings of the Society at its stated meet- ings to the Publication Committee to be printed in the periodical publication of the Society.
XIV .- TREASUREI :.
The Treasurer shall collect and keep the funds and securities of the Society; and so often as these funds shall amount to fifty dollars, they shall be deposited in some bank in the city of New York to the credit of " The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society," and shall be drawn thence on the check of the Treas- urer, countersigned by the President of the Board of Trustees and the Recording Secretary for the purposes of the Society only. Out of these funds shall be set apart the Building Fund, the Life Membership Fund, and others specially desig- nated by the donors, to be invested by the Trustees, and from the balance he shall pay such sums only as may be ordered by the Board of Trustees or by the Executive Committee out of the appropriations made by the Board. He shall keep a true account of his receipts and payments; and at each meeting of the Committee or of the Board, and at the Annual Meeting of the Society, shall render the same in writing, nt or before which time the Executive Committee shall andit his accounts.
If, from the report of the Treasurer, there shall appear to be a balance against the Treasury, irrespective of the special funds, no appropriation of money shall be made for any object but the necessary current expenses of the Society, until such balance shall be paid.
XV. - LIBRARIAN.
The Librarian, in connection with the Executive Committee, shall have the charge and superintendence of the Library, and the care and arrangement of the books, manuscripts and other articles belonging to the Society. He shall cause to be prepared and kept, a proper catalogue and list of the same. He shall aeknowl- edge the receipt of donations to the Society in his department. He shall expend in the purchase of books and other articles, and for their safe-keeping and preserva- tion, at the direction of the said Committee, such sums of money as shall from time to time be appropriated for that purpose, and report thereon to the Executive Committee, and to the Board at each of its regular meetings. He shall, at least onee in each year, in the month of December, render his accounts for such pur- chases and expenditures to the Treasurer for settlement; and shall further make to the Society, at each Annual Meeting, a full report on the condition and progress of the Library and collections.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.