•South of the ^Yl/Jountuind
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•South of the ^Yl/jountuind published by The Historical Society of Rockland County Orangeburg, New York Vol. 14, No. 3 July-September 1970 ABRAM STEVENS HEWITT 0 The Historical Society of Rockland County 1970 ABRAM HEWITT - 1822-1903 by Anne E. McCabe Among the many distinguished sons whom Rockland County has sent to positions of distinction in the nation was Abram Stevens Hewitt, iron manufacturer, philanthropist, congressman, and reform mayor of the City of New York. He was born on July 31, 1822 on a stony farm in the Mt. Ivy section of the Town of Haverstraw, the son of John and Ann Gurnee Hewitt. His father came in 1790 from Staffordshire, England, where he had been trained in engineering and construction and in 1793 assisted in the construction of the first steam engine built in Amerida. He engaged in several enterprises in which he had successes and failures and through which he knew most of the leading citizens of New York. After the death of his first wife he took as his second wife, Ann Gurnee, of old Hugenot stock in Haverstraw. Due to financial reverses the family moved from New York to Haverstraw where Abram wias born. It is interesting to note that while he attended school in Haverstraw four of the eight boys who were friends became distinguished mayors, including his relative Walter Gurnee who became mayor of Chicago. When the family returned to New York where his father engaged in business, Abram attended Public School 10 at Duane Street at which, as a monitor, he helped instruct other children. He was a diligent scholar who spent his spare hours at the library of the General Society of Mechan ics and Tradesmen on Crosby Street. There he built up the background of knowledge which enabled him to earn money tutoring children of well to do friends. He explored the city with his chum “Billy Riker” who became the founder of the largest drug firm in the city. He won a scholar ship in a competitive examination for Columbia where he distinguished himself as a student and graduated in 1842, after which he became an instructor in mathematics there and studied law. As a result of such in tensive study he developed eye trouble in 1843 and, in spite of admis sion to the bar, never practiced law. Edward Cooper, son of Peter Cooper, with whom Abram had de veloped a friendship and who had just graduated from Columbia, sug gested a trip abroad for ten months duration. Abram who was described as brisk, decisive, boundlessly energetic, high strung and quick tempered and who was interested in getting more funds, obtained a letter of introduction from Samuel J. Tilden to Senator Silas Write. He went to Washington and tried in vain to get dispatches from the State Depart ment to take abroad. At the completion of their tour the ship on which they were returning was wrecked in a terrible storm and they drifted about in an open boat for 12 hours before they were picked up. They had lost all of their possessions. 2 Following their return Peter Cooper, as president, turned over to his son Edward and Abram the direction and management of the South Trenton Iron Co. which was at first a wire and rod mill and then a rolling mill for rails. Rails which were in demand for the expanding rail roads had largely been imported from England. Due to Abram’s rescource- fulness, thoroughness and stern sense of discipline the business prospered and in about two years 500 men were employed. The Hewitt family moved to Trenton where Abram’s brother Charles became the deputy superintendent of the works in charge of puddling furnaces. His father became warden of St. Paul’s Church and welcomed the parishioners at the Sunday services. On February 16, 1847 an act of incorporation of the iron works was passed by the New Jersey legislature and by 1848 the firm was considered the best rounded iron works in the land. Abram was constantly seeking new sources of ore and improved methods of pro duction. The firm was a pioneer in the making of iron girders and beams and was acclaimed for its production of the girders for Harper Brothers’ building and Cooper Union. In the days when labor was frequently ex ploited, the firm maintained excellent relations with its employees; even during the depression of 1873-78 to keep as many employed as possible the plant was kept running at a great loss. In 1853 the firm of Cooper-Hewitt bought 22,000 acres in Ringwood, N. J. where iron ore had been discovered in 1700 and which was later called the birthplace of the American iron industry. In 1862 Abram visited England to study the making of gun-barrel iron and afterward he created at Weston the first American open-hearth furnace. During the remaining years of the Civil War he worked prodigiously to supply the government Hewitt’s Trenton Iron Company, one of his many business enterprises. 3 with gun-barrel material it needed at bare cost. Some of the Union’s success in the South was attributed to the material Cooper-Hewitt fur nished. In 1870 they produced the first steel of commercial value manu factured in the United States. As the iron and steel industry grew, the firm grew until it operated the Trenton, Ringwood, Pequest and Durham Iron Works. Abram Hewitt was motivated by the zest of competitive activity and the pleasure it gave him to be a leader in the development of American resources rather than the desire for great wealth. During the course of his business career he was at one time or another president of the United States Smelting Company and the New York and Greenwood Lake Rail road Company; vice president of the New Jersey Steel and Iron Company; and a director of the Erie Railroad, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and the Alabama Coal and Iron Company. A flourishing iron industry, he believed, was indispensible to American greatness and would be our chief sinew in both war and peace. On April 6, 1855 at the Lexington Avenue home of the Coopers, Abram Hewitt and Amelia Cooper, only daughter of Peter Cooper, were united in marriage by the Reverend Henry Bellows of All Souls Unitarian Church. After the birth of their daughter Amelia Bowman the Hewitts made Ringwood their legal residence. When Peter Cooper established Cooper Union, Abram Hewitt took a leading part in the project. He was one of the six original trustees in 1859 and was the chairman of the Board of Trustees who drew up the charter and afterwards became secretary of the board. In this capacity he directed all of its educational and financial details for more than 40 years. His interest and support for this educational institution, established to help the youth of the City of New York gain knowledge, lasted all his life and in 1902 with his wife and Edward Cooper he contributed $600,000 to its endowment. Abram Hewitt’s public career began in 1867 when he was appointed by President Andrew Johnson a commissioner to the Paris Exposition and rendered a report on the steel industry which was widely read and trans lated into several foreign languages. His entrance into politics was brought about through his friendship with Samuel J. Tilden. In association with Edward Cooper and Mr. Tilden he joined in a devastating campaign against the “Tweed Ring,” the misdeeds of which had been exposed by the cartoons of Thomas Nast. In the reform activities after the fall of Tweed, Hewitt played a prominent part in the reorganization of Tammany Hall. In 1874 he was elected to Congress as the regular Democratic candi date and continued in office with the exception of one term until 1886, achieving a position of authority on questions of labor, finance and na tional resources. In the bitter Hayes-Tilden campaign of 1876 he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and worked to the point of exhaustion for his friend Samuel J. Tilden. In the crisis which followed he took a leading part, writing the proclamation which set forth 4 the claims of the Democratic party and urging the boldest action. Be cause Tilden advised compromises, Abram became a member of the committee which drew up the Electoral Count Act, under which the Electoral Commission was constituted and Rutherford Hayes became president. In 1886 in one of the most exciting elections in the history of New York City up to that time, Abram Hewitt defeated Henry George on the United Labol' ticket and Theodore Roosevelt on the Republican ticket for mayor. His plurality of 22,500 votes over George and 30,000 over Roosevelt marked a personal triumph. It opened a vigorous administration made notable by reforms, among which was the plan for the municipal construction of the Rapid Transit Railroad. The achievement of a plan for the subway was one of the clearest cut victories of his career. For this service he was later awarded a gold medal by the Chamber of Com merce. His thoroughgoing reforms, his fearlessness of speech, and his intolerance of partisanship made enemies within his own party and brought about an open break with Tammany Hall. In 1896 he joined the gold Democrats and Republicans in a valiant fight against the free silver campaign of William Jennings Bryan. Elihu Root called Abram Hewitt the first citizen of New York. After his retirement from politics he devoted his energies to the public interest, especially in education and charity.