History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 2. Группа авторов
since 1868 has been conducted by Mr. Tallman alone. The shop is fifty by one hundred and fifty feet in dimensions, two stories in height, and equipped with the latest improved machinery used in the business. Employment is given ten or more skilled workmen, and the beautiful, artistic work which they turn out may be seen in numerous private and public buildings in this city and elsewhere. By long experience the proprietor is specially qualified to execute contracts of any size or description, his work always giving entire satisfaction to his patrons.
In 1860 Mr. Tallman married Miss Mary S. Cypher, a daughter of Isaac Cypher, of Westchester county. Mr. Tallman was the eldest of four children, the others being John Henry, a contractor and builder; Casper H., who has a stage route from Nyack to the West Shore Railroad and is now living in Nyack; and Mary A., who married George Wyman and died, leaving three children.
Mr. Tallman stands high in the Odd Fellows society, being connected with Tompkins Lodge, No. 9, of New York city. He reorganized the old Westchester Lodge, which is now in a flourishing condition.
PHELPS, H. D.
Glenellen, the beautiful home of Henry Delafield Phelps, is located at New Rochelle. It stands in the midst of spacious grounds, a palatial residence whose interior furnishings and exterior adornments are all that a refined taste could suggest regardless of expense. The owner is a prominent capitalist of Westchester county to whom success has come as the reward of untiring energy, combined with excellent executive ability, sound judgment and keen discrimination in the management of his commercial interests. As a business man he is considered one of the most successful in the county, and at the same time he possesses those social qualities which endear him to his acquaintances and win him a large circle of friends.
Mr. Phelps was born in the city of New York, September 8, 1836, and is the only child of Henry and Catherine (Wilkins) Phelps, natives of the metropolis. The paternal grandfather, Henry Phelps, was a native of England, and coming to America was prominently identified with the manufacture of iron goods. For many years Henry Phelps, Jr., father of our subject, was successfully engaged in merchandising in New York city, and possessed excellent business qualities. He died about 1880 in his native city.
Martin Wilkins, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Westchester county and represented one of the old families of the Empire state. His father, Isaac Wilkins, was familiarly known as " Parson Wilkins," having for thirty years served as rector of St. Peter's church, in Westchester county. When the war of the Revolution broke out Parson Wilkins remained loyal to the crown and fled to England, where he remained until the cessation of hostilities. Returning then to this country, he re-purchased his old homestead, " Castle Hill," which had been confiscated by the government, where he continued to reside until his death, at the advanced age of over ninety years. Rev. Wilkins married Isabella Morris, a sister of Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In tracing the genealogy of our subject we find that he is descended from a long line of sturdy, intelligent and honorable ancestors, and that in both the lineal and collateral branches representatives have been prominent in the history of the nation. Mr. Phelps is a grand-nephew of Gouverneur Morris, who was a minister at the court of France during the reign of terror and was a stanch friend of the rights of man. He lived until his death at the old manor in Morrisania, which has been the family seat for two hundred and thirty years. This old homestead of five thousand acres was a grant memorial from the king. Here on one occasion Gouverneur Morris entertained Louis Phillipe and William Henry, Duke of Clarence, with a full service of gold.
Henry Delafield Phelps acquired his early education in a private school in White Plains, taught by Doctor Harris, and afterward matriculated in Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was graduated with the class of 1855. He then entered Columbia College, and was graduated in the law department of that institution with the class of 1859. On leaving that school he was admitted to the bar, and soon after associated himself in business with Walton W. Evans, of New Rochelle. The partnership between Mr. Phelps and Mr. Evans continued for fifteen years and was crowned with a very high degree of success. The former then turned his attention to small farming. He is the owner of very valuable property and his real-estate holdings are extensive. He has property on what is known as the Davenport Neck on Long Island sound, and is the owner of a number of very fine residences for sale and rent. He had made judicious investments in real estate, and his sagacity and energy have been rewarded with a high measure of prosperity, so that he has long since left the ranks of the many to stand among the successful few.
Mr. Phelps was married in his twenty-second year to Miss Catherine Morris, daughter of Robert Rutherford and Hannah (Edgar) Morris, and great-great-granddaughter of Lewis Morris, who was the first governor of New York and New Jersey, from 1738 to 1746. They now have two sons and one daughter: Edgar Morris, Gouverneur Morris; and Helena Van Courtlandt, wife of Robert Temple Emmet, of New Rochelle, a graduate of West Point, who served with distinction in the United States army, fighting Indians on the western frontier for a number of years. Mrs. Phelps is a lady of culture and refinement, possessing many qualities of a high order, and over her beautiful home she presides with gracious and charming hospitality. Their residence commands a splendid view of Long Island sound and is situated most advantageously in its proximity to New York city and also the ocean.
While the business interests of Mr. Phelps have been extensive and of a very important character, he has yet found time to devote to the welfare of New Rochelle and withholds his support from no movement or measure which he believes will result to the public good. He has served six terms as supervisor of Westchester county, and for several terms as trustee of New Rochelle. In manner he is pleasant and genial, in disposition is kindly, and the high regard in which he is uniformly held is well deserved.
MORGAN, CHARLES VALENTINE.
It has been more than a hundred years since the family to which this well-known citizen belongs became identified with Westchester county, locating here before the Revolutionary war, and its various members have won for the name an enviable distinction by their intelligence and worth. Its high reputation is by no ways diminished in this generation, and our subject, a retired farmer and capitalist of New Rochelle, displays in a marked degree the admirable characteristics which the name suggests.
He was born August 13, 1834, in the town of East Chester, Westchester county, in the same house which was occupied by his father and grandfather during the Revolutionary war. The latter, James Morgan, , was a native of Wales, and on his emigration to America settled in this county, becoming one of its honored pioneers. At that time this region was covered with a dense forest, and Indians and wild animals were numerous. He married Miss Jane Guion, who was descended from an old Huguenot family that was founded in Westchester county at or about the time that the Huguenots landed at New Rochelle. They took up their residence in Eastchester about 1684, and members of the family have since been prominently identified with the county's history.
James Morgan, the father of our subject, was born in East Chester, in 1793, and during the greater part of his active life followed agricultural pursuits. He was a man of great firmness of character, possessed an iron will, and always commanded the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He married Miss Sarah A. Valentine, whose mother was a daughter of General Trumbull, of Revolutionary fame. Her death occurred in 1873. To Mr. and Mrs. Morgan were born three children, but our subject is the only one now living. Martha J. died at the age of nineteen years, and Eugenia, who married Mathias B. Valentine, died in 1893.
Upon the old Morgan homestead, Charles V. Morgan was reared, receiving his early education in the common schools of the neighborhood. At the age of ten years he was sent to the New Rochelle school, where he prepared to enter a more advanced school and was subsequently admitted to Irving Institute, at Tarrytown, New York, on the Hudson, of which institution William G. Westron was principal, and there he pursued his studies for five years. He was thus fitted by education for the responsible duties of business life. On leaving school he went to sea, on board the sailing vessel owned by Boyd Hincken's line, and remained on the water for two years. Returning to East Chester, he successfully engaged in general farming for a number of years and made of his place one of the model farms of the locality.
In 1855