3.4 - Integration: Bostwicks in Business
This is a wide category of people and their capacities. All of us need to earn a livelihood, which some will manage with striking success, and some will achieve with less flamboyance, but all, we suspect, with perseverance and dedication. We two, Edward and Roland, have only had time to touch the fringes of what our American cousins have done, and that in general, has been over America's more recent history. Our main source has been what the New York Times has reported. This means that our knowledge has been based on life in and around New York. We have not rejected what Bostwicks have done elsewhere in the United States. We would need many weeks in America to look it all up, and we both live in Greater London, England. There is a wide field here for American Genealogists to explore. Here follows what we have unearthed. We have not set a dateline. We come right up to date, meaning that most of these Bostwicks come from families which had long been fully integrated into American Society, indeed infuencing its special features.
Our notes of individuals are set out, as in other groups, in alphabetical and date sequence.
Alexander is a fine choice to start with. He sounds like a rogue! He was born in New Milford, Conn, and married Lucinda Evans, who was 2 years younger than him. They had six children. Henry Anthon Bostwick reports, curtly, in his book: "He left home with a cargo of lumber and was never heard from." That is all we know! Was he by trade a lumber merchant, a carrier and warehouseman, or just a thief? Between 1810 and 1821 Lucinda bore him six girls. Was that his problem? Could he face no more?
The New York Times on 28th February 1935 reported his death at his home in New Milford. He had been born in New York City. He was a Past President of Litchfield County Medical Association, and Vice-President and Director of New Milford Savings Bank. He was a Freemason and a member of the Racebrook Country Club of New York.
Mrs. Blanche Donnelly Page
An item from the 1959 obituary pages. "Mrs. Blanche Donnelly Page, an interior decorator, died yesterday (1st march 1959) at her home in Rock Hall, Md. She was in her eighties, the wife of Thomas N. Page.
Mrs. Page was known as Blanche Bostwick (from an earlier marriage) in the decorating trade and was a contemporary of the late Elsie de Wolfe (later Lady Mendl), considered the founder of the modern decorating profession in the United States.
For many years begining in the 1930's Mrs. Page operated an establishment with Mrs. Belle
Freman at 969 Madison Avenue. More recently it was situated at 962 Madison Avenue. She was
president of the American Institute of Decorators in the early forties, and a past president
of the Decorators Club of New York.
Surviving also are two sisters, Lady Asburton of London and Mrs. Frank D. Homan of Wst Palm Beach, Fla."
Charles Merritt was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and went to St. John, in New Brunswick, where he found employment as a clerk in a mercantile establishment. From there he opened his own wholesale grocery business and then moved on to set up as an extensive lumber dealer and real estate owner. He purchased the Dufferin Hotel there. He was listed in the New Brunswick Directory as a Provision Merchant in 1871.
Son of the above, Charles Merritt Jr. was educated in Germany and returned to Canada to join his father in the above business.
Charles Francis was a lawyer. The USA Who's Who published this entry. "Ph B. Columbia University, 1886, LLB (cum laude) 1886, LL.M, New York U. 1894, JD 1915, admitted to NY Bar 1887 and since engaged in practice; Prof. of law, NY Univ 1893 - 1900; Rep. candidate for Senate 1900; mem. Gen. Assembly 1903 - 1904; introduced $101,000,000 large canal bill knwn as Bostwick-Davis Bill; asst. Dist. atty, County of New York, 1910 - 1916, Pres. West Side Rep. Club 1904 - 1905; mem. NY City Bar Assoc, State Bar Assoc; was mem. 2nd Co, 7th Regt NGSNY 13 years; now member exempt members of 7th Regt, mem. Phl Delta Phl of NY (formerly Editor in chief of its paper, The Brief); NY General & Bldg Soc., Am. Inst. Criminal Law & Criminolgy - Clubs Union League, NY Amateur Comedy, Episcopalian, Author of numerous legal pamphlets and Bostwick's Lawyers manual 1907, home and office in New York."
Charles Rowland's career was largely in education. He died young, aged only 51. He was Principal of Poppenhusn Institute of College Point, a position he had held for 10 years, and had been ill for several weeks. He had graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1903, and had later received an MA from Columbia. He had been Principal of a school in Hawaii from 1904 to 1907. He enlisted for 2 years in World War I and apparently continued as Quartermaster in the Officers Reserve Corps. He belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution, he was a Freemason, and a member of the American Legion. He was also a trustee of the College Point Savings Bank.
Clara Lena was a Schoolteacher. She taught English for 41 years at the Elms School in Springfield, Mass. She died a spinster in the Wesson Memorial Hospital in Springfield.
The New York Times wrote on 30th September 1919 an article headed "Criticism of the ability of many Aldermen" and a sub-heading "Citizens Union summarises records of members from Manhattan and Bronx". In its section on Manhattan it noted that Clifford S. Bostwick, Representative of the 17th District, a new member, had a Board-perfect record of attendance and that he was earnest and conscientious, well above the average in capacity." He was always, they wrote, active in movements for civic betterment in New York City, and that he should prove valuable on the Board of Aldermen. We should like to have picked up a reference to how nearly he had fulfilled this promise, but we have failed to do so.
Daniel was a grandson of Arthur (1603) and so one of the early settlers. He kept a tavern in
New Milford, Conn for many years, and we can properly include him here under "business", and so
slip in other fascinating bits of intelligence.
He was the first male white child to be born in New Milford. He was a prominent citizen and was Deputy to the General Assembly in May 1753, October 1754, 1755 and 1761. In May 1754 he was appointed Lieutenent of the first Militia Company in the town. Tavern keeping, as he practised it, was evidently not profitable. His estate, on his death, was held to be insolvent, being valued at only £699, and so was sold. The proceeds amounted to £476:3:4. His debts were put at £803:15:8, and his creditors received 10/6 in the pound.
His will had a nice amalgam of bequests to his wife, Hannah Hitchcock. She was to receive " ... a third part of his real estate, one good feather bed with a bolster and two pillows, with three coverlids, three pair of sheets and three pairs of pillowcases, and one good cow, and six good sheep, and also one old chest with one draw in it, all the above articles of personal estate to be her own property for ever." We wonder how the good lady fared!
By profession Dimon was a skilled surveyor and draughtsman. At age 22 he left his parents'
home in New Milford and set up his own home in the banks of the Wyalusing Creek in Bradford
Co, Pa some 200 miles away, and lived and died there. He surveyed the whole of Bradford Co,
from Wilkesbarre to Oswego, NY and located many of the towns and villages in that district.
In 1796 he had purchased 2,100 acres of land, which he cultivated and improved. He and his brother
Benejah, who came to Pennsylvania a few years after he did were, as Henry Anthon Bostwick
comments "remarkable for their principles of justice, integrity and honesty." Henry Anthon
writes that "Dimon was a man of great strength of character and firmness, and was warm and
ardent in his attachment to his friends."
At age 56 Edmund moved from New Milford, Conn to Hinesburgh, Vt, and there seven years later he built a factory to make brown earthenware, a business which he carried on for about 10 years.
Erastus was a journeyman carpenter. He joined up with two cousins, a little bit remote, the same age but by now a generation different, Austin (1766) and Noble (1769), brothers, both on Part 158, and they went on a 10 day journey, starting from New Milford, Conn on 20th May 1790, to Hinesburgh, Vt and then on to Jericho and Waterbury, still in Vermont. Each carried his pack on his back. After 4 months, their business done, they trecked back to Connecticut.
Nearly three years later, in February 1793, Erastus packed his worldly belongings, including the tools of his trade, and went back to Hinesburgh, set himself up in building, and became totally committed to the town and its welfare. In 1795 he was elected its first Constable. Over the following 40 odd years he held most offices in the gift of his fellow townspeople. He was Town Representative in 1819 and 1820; Postmaster from 1803 to 1812, a JP for 22 years, Town Treasurer for 35 years, and Town Clerk for 40 years. In 1800 he had been elected Lieutenant of a Company of Light Infantry. In spite of all this, and of course his daily business as a builder, he found time to compile and publish, in 1851, a fifty page pamphlet entitled "A Genealogical Register of the name of Bostwick", which Henry Anthon Bostwick used in the compilation of his massive book.
The New York Times in its issue of 24th May 1929 wrote that Frank Moore Bostwick had for many
years been Assistant General Superintendant of the Pullman Company, and had retired shortly
before his death, in Philadelphia. He had been with the company for 48 years.
George Allen was a farm worker. He really only gets a mention here because of the
coincidence that he was employed on a farm in Canada once owned by Isaac Bostwick
(1759 - 1808), of whom presently.
Gershom is best described as "practical inventor and engineer." Henry Anthon Bostwick gives
us this account of him and his doings. "He was born in Danbury, Conn, and left his native
town when he was a young man and moved to Schenevus in Otsego County, which lies to the
north (with a dash of west in it) of New York City." Henry Anthon talks of Schenevus Creek,
perhaps a feature on the Susquehanna river which our map does not show. Henry Anthon says
Gershom built a house and shop on the south side of the creek.
He goes on to describe his life and work and here we can do no better than quote him. "Probably this country has never produced a man of more mechanical skill and inventive genius. He convinced his father-in-law that a grist mill would be a good investment and in 1911 the mill was built."
He and Joseph Crouch opened a wheelwright and paint shop, and also a shop for "wooding" cast iron ploughs.
At an early day, he made and put into use a wool carding machine for himself, and afterwards he built machinery and commenced fulling and dressing cloth, near his machine shop.
He invented, patented and applied the first threshing machine, also the first cylinder_and_spike
cider mill. He also invented a machine for fluting and corrugating boards for wash-boards, of
suitable width, and any length, at one operation. A machine for turning spokes for carriage
wheels, a machine for making shoe pegs, and one for turning shoe lasts, were also all of his
invention.
He, together with Bradford Rowe, invented and patented an endless screw horse power, of so great power that it was difficult to make it strong enough to sustain it or prevent it from breaking.
Many other improvements that have benefitted mankind, were due to his fertile brain, but, like
thousands of others, he received but little pecuniary reward for his labours.
In his old age his beloved shop, machinery and tools were swept away by floods, a great damage and loss to the surrounding community. ("History of Schevenus, NY").
Harry Rice was an enterprising capitalist, electrical engineer and overseas developer.
The following is taken from the 1918 edition of "Whos Who in America". "In conjunction with H.
Collbran, he built the Seoul Chemulpo Railway, the first steam railway in Seoul, Korea, in 1898,
the first electric lighting plant, the first telephone service, and the first public water
supply system there. He established the first American Bank there. In San Francisco he took
a prominenet part in the reconstruction of the city after the earthquake and fire of 1906.
He was a Director of Jesse-Moore Hunt Company, San Francisco, concerned with the Bank of Mill
Valley, Calif, a vice president of the Seoul Mining Company, the first vice president of
Collbran-Bostwick Development Company of Seoul, and a partner in Barker, Knickerbocker and
Bostwick, San Francisco. He was decorated by the Emperor of Korea with the Third Order of
Pal Kwai, a member of the Royal Society of Arts, London, a Republican and a Presbyterian.
His clubs were the Bohemian, the Family, the Union League (San Francisco, the Seoul, the
Chemulpo (Korea), and his home and office were in San Francisco."
The New York Times recorded this obituary in its issue of 2nd January 1931. "Harry R.
Bostwick, 60, known throughout the Orient for his mining operations and as a railroad
builder, died here to-day after a long illness. He constructed the first electric railway
in Seoul and was engaged in many Korean development projects. He was decorated by the
Emperor of Korea and by the late Emperor of Japan."
Helen's family came from England nearly 200 years previously by 1681, when they are found to be living in Massachusetts. She and Jabez were married in New York City in 11866. She was the homemaker, devoted to her husband and their three children, Nellie born in 1868, Fannie in 1872, and Albert Carlton in 1876. The fire, remember, was in 1892, when the children would have been 24, 20 and 16. No doubt she had many social engagements while her husband was alive. After he died, she almost went into retirement at their Fifth Avenue home. She maintained her interest in charitable work and in her later years had to endure ill-health. She died in her 73rd year. She passed on her husband's fortune to her family.
Homer first qualified as a dentist and later turned to medicine and surgery.
On qualifying as a Dentist, he set up a practice in New York City in 1828 and he published a
treatise "The Family Dentist". Two years later he began to study medicine in the office of
Dr. Kearney Rogers, and continued under Dr. Brownlee. He also attended the New York College
of Physicians and Surgeons, duly gained his diploma and opened a regular practice of medicine
in 1837. Through his efforts, the New York Surgical Institute was established and, later,
he was appointed Physician of the City Prison. He was the author of many scientific and
medical works.
Isaac was born in Stamford, Conn. he was living in Greenwich in 1764 and on Long Island in 1782, where he married. Next year the family went to New Brunswick, Canada and settled in the Kingston peninsular. He died there on 18th August 1808. the priest taking the funeral service said "During his stay in this transitory world he supported the character of an honest man, a kind husband, an affectionate parent and a faithful brother." The obituary goes on to say "As a tribute justly done, he was buried with Masonic honours".
He left a widow, Tamson Augusta, who died in 1814 and negotiations within the family evidently took place then. They culminated in an "Agreement of the Bostwick Family" dated 27th December 1820, which outlined the holdings of the family and how they were to be decided. It said "The estate of Isaac Bostwick ... has been settled and agreed upon by all the remaining heirs." By then Mary, Sarah and Clarissa had died, and Hannah was excluded, perhaps because she had married while Isaac was alive, and had recieved some kind of settlement then. The property comprised 4 lots of land, one containing a saw mill.
Jabez Abel Bostwick has by far the longest individual record of anybody mentioned in these pages, and we do but highlight it here. We suggest you turn up the record (click on his name) and read it quietly through. It will fascinate you, we guess.
The first Bostwick with the Christian name 'Jabez' that we have come across was born in 1778 in
Stratford, Conn where the family had been installed since Arthur (1603) settled there in or
about 1640. This Jabez married Freelove Frisbee of New York in 1801, and he died in Hamden,
NY in 1856. We haven't placed "Hamden", but it's New York that is interesting. This family
branch had moved into New York, State or City, we're not clear at this point, but nearer the
business heart of the USA.
Jabez (1778)
had a brother
Abel (1797).
Abel was born in Meredith (New York), again untraced, and he married Sally Fitch in Franklin,
NY. We suspect the Bostwicks are moving into the business centre and the social centre, and
making piles of money. Jabez Abel, perhaps named after the two brothers,
Jabez (1778) and
Abel (1797),
was a multi-millionaire, so recorded in the New York Times and for many years. They write that he was a self made man, a poor boy of humble parentage, who "drifted" into the oil business. He got to know the Rockefeller brothers and became the Treasurer and chief oil buyer of "Standard Oil" (Esso to you and me!). He was made.
He came to an untimely death when a fire broke out at his splendid mansion at Maroneck and, though in poor health, he insisted on joining in the fire fighting work. There was an accident while he and his staff were rescuing carts from the stables, he was mortally wounded, and within an hour or so he was dead.
It is convenient, we think, to write about his widow next, particularly as she does not qualify as a business woman in her own right.
James Jared worked with his eldest brother, Charles Merritt, who had a wholesale grocery business in St. John in New Brunswick, Canada, and was also a hotel proprietor.
Juliette graduated from Wellesley College in 1905 and entered education. She taught English at the Quincey High School for 12 years, and then became Executive Secretary to S. Wiley Wakeman, the General Manager of the Fore River Plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. It sounds from the short obituary published by the New York Times on 21st June 1929 as if the Fore River Plant was in Jamesville, Wis, where she died.
This obituary, date-lined Plainfield, NJ 16th October 1944, published by the New York Times reads "Larry C. Bostwick, eastern traffic manager of the Wabagh Railroad Company, which he served for 40 years, died here last night in Muchlenberg Hospital. He was 68. His house was in nearby Westfield.
Before joining the Wabagh Railroad in 1904, Mr. Bostwick worked in the department of the New
York office of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. His first job with the Wabagh
system was as traffic representative, and in 1912 he was appointed General Agent. In 1936
he was named for the post of Eastern Traffic Manager.
Mr. Bostwick, who was born in Ithaca, NY, leaves a widow Belle, a daughter Mrs. Charles E. Eaton, a sister Ada and 2 grand daughters.
Lemuel moved from New Milford, Conn to Hinesburgh, Vt in 1787, and then settled in Mechanicsville, Vt on a lot owned by his father, Isaac (1730). Three years later he moved to Pond Brook, Vt and there erected the first sawmills in 1791, a small grist mill in 1793, and then a carding machine. He served as Town Clerk and was Representative from Hinesburgh in 1789, 1790, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1797 and 1801. He moved to New York State in 1816.
The New York Times, Omaha, Nebr reported that Louis R., a photographer there for 40 years, had died the previous day, 23rd July 1943 in a hospital. He worked on the Denver Times and Republican, before setting up his own studio in Omaha.
Myron Amick was a high quality professional electrician. He became a Fellow of the A.I.E.E (perhaps American Institute of Electrical Engineers) at Spokane,Wash in 1958, having take his BS at Washington State University in 1926 and becoming a Fellow with an award "for contributions to relay protection of electric power systems." He was Chairman of the I.E.E.E. Pacific Coast Relays Sub-Committee 1954 - 1961, and Chairman of the Portland Section I.E.E.E. 1964. He was appointed Registered Professional Engineer, Oregon; Tau Beta Pi; Sima Tau; and Phi Kappa Phi.
Oliver Franklin was evidently an engineer in Pittsburgh, Pa. The New York Times, announcing his death in its issue of 1st November 1913 wrote that when the Civil War began he was Chief Officer at the Fort Pitt Machine Shops in Pittsburgh, and that he played an important part in the war in turning out two cannon which formed the armament of the famous "Monitor", and that he also bored the first rifle cannon in America.
Basically, Randell was a retail food company executive, who then turned to traffic management,
and finished in the US Army Medical Corps. He graduated from the University of Michigan,
Westminster College, and then became Traffic Manager to A. and P. in Youngstown, Ohio from
1948 to 1950. Our notes, which are taken from ACAG (the Abridged Compendium of American
Genealogy) are we fear confusing. They imply that he served, or rose to, Captain in the
US Army Medical Service Corps between 1943 - 1946 and 1950 - 1952. Could this have been
some sort of part time service, like the Territorial Army in Great Britain, we wonder.
Randall appears to have settled into civilian work from 1952.
He was Assistant to the Divisional Traffic Manager of Potts, 1952 - 1958, promoted to Traffic Manager 1958 - 1960, then Director of Operations 1960 - 1969, Assistant to the National Director of Operations in New York 1969 - 1975, President of the Super Market Service Corps in Mountvale, NJ, 1975 - 1983, and apparently Vice-President of the Great A. and P. Tea Company in 1981. This is where we must leave him. We know no more.
Richard Corré was a long standing and well known member of the New York Stock Exchange,
having set up his brokerage business there in 1865. Before that he had been on the staff of
George C. Satterlee & Co, another well known and respected firm. He died, after 16 years on
his own account, from congestion of the brain, at his home in West Forty Sixth Street, New York.
This William provides a good example of the resource and energy shown by the British colonists as they set up their lives and homes in the New World. He brings to an end these pages of notes headed "Bostwicks in Business".