History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 2. Группа авторов
important factors in the splendid success which has attended the institution and made it one of the most reliable and prosperous financial concerns in this part of the state. At the present time Mr. Keeler is also serving as receiver for the George B. Wray Drug Company, of Yonkers, a large and heavily capitalized enterprise.
While his business interests have been extensive, and therefore the demands made on his time have been quite heavy, Mr. Keeler has nevertheless found opportunity to enjoy periods of rest and recreation, without which one's nature would become dwarfed and imperfectly developed. He has a wide reputation as an oarsman, his fame extending to boating circles throughout the country. He was long a member of a famous crew of four, being the " stroke " in the crew which gave the Vesper Rowing Association, of Yonkers, a national reputation. During the seven years in which he was identified therewith, in all the regattas, scull and barge races in which they competed, they were never defeated, although they met the best amateur crews in the country. The Vesper Rowing Association was organized August 12, 1867, and became prominent by reason of the wonderful skill of its famous crew, composed of Thomas Fearon, bow; Owen Van Winkle, No. 2; William McFarlane, No. 3; and John H. Keeler, stroke. In the races all the leading rowing clubs of the Hudson River Rowing Association entered, including all the crews from New York to Albany. The first important race in which the Vesper crew won was held at Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey, where they won a silver-service set, taking part in two races the same day, the first an eight-oar barge race and the second a four-oar shell race against a field of five crews. Their second important victory, which was one of the most exciting, and upon which probably more money changed hands than upon any of the other races, was rowed off Bergen Point, against the Arganantas, August 29, 1871; their record for a mile and a half in seven minutes and ten seconds, in shell boats, has never been beaten. The result of this race undoubtedly left the Vesper crew the championship for amateur rowing in this country. For several years the club has .been disbanded, but Mr. Keeler has never ceased to feel a keen interest in rowing contests. He now belongs to the Palisade Boat Club, is a member of John C. Fremont Post, No. 590, G. A. R., and of the Sons of the Revolution. He is also connected with the Hollywood Improvement Association. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and his religious views are indicated by his membership in the Episcopal church.
Mr. Keeler was married, in 1863, to Miss Adeline M. Sharp, and to them were born three children: John H;, deputy city clerk of Yonkers; Charles E., who occupies a position in the auditor's office of the United States Company, New York; and Adeline F. The mother died, and Mr. Keeler has since wedded Helena Glaser, a daughter of Gottlieb Glaser, who was at one time in the tannery business at Yonkers, and afterward a resident of Cleveland, Ohio. His last days, however, were spent in Yonkers.
Such in brief is the history of one of the most prominent and honored citizens of Yonkers. The success of his life is due to no inherited fortune or to any happy succession of advantageous circumstances, but to his own sturdy will, steady application, capable management, tireless industry, and sterling integrity. He is of a very social and genial nature and is ever heartily welcome in the best homes of his native city. He inspires personal friendship, of unusual strength, and all who know him have the highest admiration for his good qualities of heart and mind.
WARING, CHARLES E.
Charles E. Waring was born January 15, 1826, in the town of Southeast, Putnam county. New York. He received a common-school education, after which he entered mercantile pursuits. For the past fifty-three years he has been a resident of Yonkers, being engaged in mercantile and manufacturing pursuits. From 1856 to 1870 he was a member of the firm of John T. Waring & Co. , and of the Waring Hat Manufacturing Company. For a term of years he was a special partner in the firm of Shethar & Nicol, a hat commission house doing business at 548 Broadway, New York. Mr. Waring has been president of the Citizens' National Bank of Yonkers since January 1, 1888, which position he still holds. He is a member of St. John's Episcopal church of Yonkers, and is a Republican in politics, but has never sought any political honors.
On November 7, 1849, Mr. Waring married Miss Julia Weed, to whom four sons have been born, three of whom are living.
CORTLANDT VAN WYCK, PIERRE
Pierre Cortlandt Van Wyck, M. D., was born at the old Van Cortlandt manor-house, on the banks of the Croton river, September 24, 1824. His father, Philip Gilbert Van Wyck, was the nephew and adopted son of General Philip Van Cortlandt, who died a bachelor and left his large estate, including the Van Cortlandt manor, to be divided between his two nephews, Pierre Van Cortlandt and Philip G. Van Wyck. Dr. Van Wyck's mother was Mary Smith Gardiner, daughter of Colonel Abraham Gardiner, who was one of the lineal descendants of Lion Gardiner, of Gardiner's island.
Coming of a race of those who had from the earliest history of the country been foremost in patriotism, generosity and the development of all the nobler traits of human nature; descended from the Van Cortlandts, Van Rensselaers, Gardiners and Van Wycks, whose names are so intimately interwoven with the early history of our own country, he never forgot the traditions of his ancestry, but was always the genial, high-minded, honorable gentleman.
Beginning life under these favorable auspices, he entered Princeton College and graduated with the class of 1845. He began the study of medicine under the care of Dr. Adrian K. Hoffman. He was afterward a student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York, where he enjoyed the benefit of the instructions of the celebrated Dr. Willard Parker. He graduated in 1849, and was afterward appointed by President Taylor, United States inspector of drugs, at the port of New York. While holding this position he became interested in the firm of Radway & Company, in which he still held an interest at the time of his death.
In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln assessor of internal revenue for the fourth district of New York. He organized the district and continued to administer its affairs ably and efficiently until 1871. In January, 1882, President Arthur appointed him superintendent of the United States assay office in New York, to succeed Thomas C. Acton, who was made assistant treasurer of the United States.
In politics he was a Whig until 1856, when he joined the Republican party, during the Fremont campaign. He had always been prominent in the councils of his party, ,and was many times sent as a delegate to state and national conventions, and was one of the famous three hundred and six who voted so persistently for General Grant, at Chicago, in 1880.
When the nomination of General Garfield was announced. Governor Dennison, of Ohio, came to the New York delegation and said that any candidate they named for vice-president would be nominated. Dr. Van Wyck proposed the name of Chester A. Arthur, which was unanimously indorsed. Dr. Van Wyck had been the personal friend of President Arthur for twenty years, and was with him on that memorable night of September 19, 1881, when the sad news came that President Garfield had passed away, and he was one of the nine persons present when the oath of office was administered by Judge Brady to the new president during the silence and solemnity of the midnight hour.
Dr. Van Wyck had a brilliant mind, cultivated by deep study and extensive foreign travel, combined with refined and artistic tastes. He lived ;and died a bachelor. He was a man of domestic habits, and devoted himself to the care and comfort of his sisters, Miss Joanna L. Van Wyck and Mrs. Annie V. R. Wells, who resided with him at the Van Wyck mansion. Grove Hill, in the village of Sing Sing. This had always been the seat of generous and refined hospitality, and it was at this home that he died suddenly, of pneumonia, on the 23rd of April, 1883.
The funeral was largely attended, not only by his associates and friends in his own circle of life, but by all his numerous tenantry and the poor of the surrounding country, who found him always a friend and brother to each and all, irrespective of race or creed. Of him it may well be said: "Write me as one that loved his fellow men." The interment took place in the family burial-ground at Croton, where repose the remains of those sterling Revolutionary patriots, Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt and his sons, General Philip and General Pierre, and his grandsons. General Philip G. Van Wyck and Recorder Pierre C. Van Wyck, and numerous other members of the Van Cortlandt and Van Wyck families.
Of the ancestry of Dr. Van Wyck a few words may be added: Cornelius Barentse Van Wyck came to