History of Hempstead, (Nassau County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

John Kellum, architect, was born in Hempstead, L.I., N.Y., Aug. 27, 1809. He was a carpenter and builder at Hempstead and at Brooklyn, N.Y., where he studied architecture. He was employed as foreman in the workshop of Gamaliel King, in New York city, and in 1846 was taken into partnership with Mr. King. He designed the Herald building, A. T. Stewart's store on 10th street and Broadway; Mr. Stewart's residence on Fifth avenue; the Park Avenue hotel; the Stock Exchange building and the Mutual Life building on Broadway, and the Court House, all in New York city; and planned and superintended the construction of all the buildings erected by Alexander T. Stewart at Garden City, including the Cathedral of the Incarnation. He died in Hempstead, L.I, N.Y., July 25, 1871.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Samuel Latham Mitchill, senator, was born in North Hempstead, L.I., N.Y., Aug. 20, 1764. He studied medicine under his maternal uncle, Samuel Latham, and under Dr. John Bard of New York, and was graduated from the University of Edinburgh, M.D. in 1786. He returned to New York city, where he practised medicine and studied law with Robert Yates. In 1788 he was U.S. commissioner appointed to make a treaty with the Iroquois Indians, and was present at the council held at Fort Stanwix in 1788 that resulted in the purchase of the lands held by the Five Nations in western New York. He was a member of the state assembly, 1790-92 and 1797-99; professor of botany in Columbia college, 1792-95, and of natural history, chemistry and agriculture, 1792-1801, and a Democratic representative in the 7th and 8th congresses, 1801-04; U.S. senator, as successor to John Armstrong, resigned, 1804-09, and representative in the 11th and 12th congresses, 1809-13. While at Columbia he aided in establishing the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures and Useful Arts, 1793-94, and also made a geological survey of the state. He was professor of natural history in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1808-20, and professor of materia medica and botany there, 1820-26; vice-president of the medical department of Rutgers college, New Brunswick, N.J., 1826-30; surgeon-general of the state militia, 1817-22, and a founder of the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, 1815, the New York Literary and Philosophical society, 1816, and the Lyceum of Natural History, 1817, of which last he was president, 1817-28. He helped to establish the Medical Repository in 1797 and was its editor-in-chief, 1797-1813. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Columbia in 1788, and that of LL.D. from the University of PennSylvania in 1819. The extent of his political knowledge won for him the title of the "Congressional Directory." He was also known as the "Nestor of American Science." He is the author of: Address to the Fredes or People of the United States (1804); Address on the Completion of the Erie Canal (1825); several poems and nursery songs, a humorous book, A Picture of New York, and numerous scientific papers. He died in New York city, Sept. 17, 1831.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Mott, reformer, was born in North Hempstead, L.I., N.Y., June 20, 1788; son of Adam and Anne (Mott) Mott; grandson of Adam and Sarah (Willis) Mott, and of James and Mary (Underhill) Mott, and a descendant of Adam and Elizabeth (Richbell) Mort. James was educated at the Friends boarding school, Nine Partners, N.Y., 1797-1807, and wasa teacher there until 1809, when he removed to Philadelphia, Pa., and became a clerk in Thomas Coffin's nail store, being made a partner six months later and continuing as such until 1815. He was married, April 10, 1811, to Lucretia Coffin, daughter of his partner. He served as clerk in Barker's bank, Wall street, New York city, for six months in 1816, and in January, 1817, returned to Philadelphia where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1827 he defended the course of Elias Hicks in dividing the Society of Friends, and in 1830 retired from the cotton business, being unwilling to deal in anything produced by slave labor. He engaged in the wool business, and at one time was interested in the Penn factory near Philadelphia. In 1850 he retired from active business, and in 1857 removed to a small farm near the city. He was among the first to join the Abolition movement, and in 1833 aided in organizing in Philadelphia the National Anti-Slavery society. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the World's Antislavery convention in London, England, in 1840, where among others he urged the admission of the female delegates, his wife being a delegate from Pennsylvania. He presided over the first Woman's Rights national convention held at Seneca Fails N.Y., in 1848, and in 1865-69 helped to organize the plans of government and instruction for Swarthmore college, named in memory of the home of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jan. 26, 1868.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor