Benefactor; born in
Peterboro, N. Y., April 25, 1808; received a common school education and later studied engineering.
In 1827-28 he visited the lake region of the
Northwest with a view of opening trade with the Indians, which he abandoned and engaged in the wool business in
Albany.
In 1832 he took charge of a district in
Oneida county for the purpose of founding a manufacturing town, and developed the present town of
Florence, which he represented in the State Assembly in 1838-40.
He removed to
Newark, N. J., in 1840, and engaged in the building of railroads; and to
Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1844.
At first he was engaged in the business of railroad contractor, but later began his scheme of developing the water-front of
Brooklyn, and succeeded in making the
Atlantic basin one of the most perfect and commodious basins in the world.
He was interested in the Union Ferry Company; member of Congress in 1854; of the newly organized Metropolitan police board in 1857-58; delegate to the
Republican National Conventions in 1860 and 1864; president of the war fund committee of
Brooklyn during the
Civil War, and of the park board in 1860-82, during which period Prospect
Park was laid out; and was also interested in the construction of the
New York and Brooklyn Bridge.
He was one of the earliest advocates of the Greater New York consolidation.
He was one of the few notable persons of the world who had a statue erected in his honor before his death, a bronze statue of “the first citizen of
Brooklyn” having been erected in Prospect
Park in 1891.
He died in
Saratoga, N. Y., Sept. 3, 1898.
