History of Astoria, (Queens County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Alfred Gibbs, soldier, was born in Astoria, N.Y., April 22, 1823; son of George and Laura (Wolcott) Gibbs. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1846, was assigned to the mounted rifles, served in the Mexican war and won two brevets: 1st lieutenant for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, where he was wounded, and captain for Garita de Belen, City of Mexico. He also fought at Vera Cruz, Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepec. After the war he was assigned to the staff of Gert. Persifor F. Smith, and was with that officer in Mexico, Texas and California, 1848-56. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in 1847, and 1st lieutenant, May 31, 1853, and served on the frontier till the civil war, serving in New Mexico, 1860-62. He was promoted captain, May 13, 1861, and was taken prisoner by the Confederates. He was exchanged, Aug. 27, 1862, and on Sept. 6, 1862, was commissioned colonel of the 130th N.Y. regiment of volunteers. He reorganized his regiment as the 1st New York dragoons in August, 1863. He served under Sheridan and commanded a brigade, 1864-65. For action at Trevillion Station, Va., Jan. 11, 1864, he was brevetted major, and for Winchester, Va., lieutenant-colonel, and was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, Oct. 19, 1864. He was present at the surrender of Lee, and commanded a cavalry division in the department of the Gulf in 1865-66. On March 13, 1868, the was brevetted through all the grades in the regular army to and including major-general for his services during the war. He was mustered out of the volunteer army, Feb. 1, 1866, was made major of the 7th U.S. cavalry on July. 28, 1866, and died at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Dec. 26, 1868.

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

Horatio Southgate, first missionary bishop of Constantinople, and 47th in succession in the American episcopate, was born in Portland, Maine, July 5, 1812. He was graduated from Bowdoin college, A.B., 1832, A.M., 1835, and from the Andover Theological seminary, in 1835; was admitted to the diaconate of the Protestant Episcopal church at Trinity church, Boston, July 12, 1835, by Bishop Griswold, and was sent as a missionary to investigate the openings for mission work in Turkey and Persia, 1836?41. He was ordained priest, in St. Paul's chapel, N.Y. city, by Bishop Onderdonk, Oct. 3, 1839; was appointed a missionary to Constantinople, Turkey, in 1840, serving four years, and was consecrated bishop of the dominions and dependencies of Turkey in St. Peter's church, Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 26, 1844, by Bishops Chase, Whittingham and Elliott, assisted by Bishops Johns and Henshaw. He labored in Turkey, 1844?49, returned to the United States in 1850 and resigned his office, and in 1851 he organized St. Luke's parish, Portland, Maine. He was rector of the Church of the Advent, Boston, 1852?58; and was rector of Zion church, N.Y. city, 1859?72. He declined the appointments of bishop of California in 1850, and of Hayti in 1870. The honorary degree of S.T.D. was conferred on him by Columbia in 1845, and by Trinity in 1846. He is the author of: Narrative of a Tour through Armenia, Hindostan, Persia and Mesopotamia (2 vols. 1844); A Treatise on the Antiquity, Doctrine, Ministry, and Worship of the Anglican Church, in Greek (1849); Practical Directions for the Observance of Lent (1850); The War in the East (1855); Parochial Sermons (1859); and The Cross above the Crescent, a Romance of Constantinople (1877); Christus Redemptor; Gone Before; Manual of Consolation; Many Thoughts About Oar Lord. He died in Astoria, N.Y., April 12, 1894.

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

Richard Ludlow Larremore, jurist, was born near Astoria, Long Island, N.Y., Sept, 6, 1830; son of Peter P. and Elizabeth (Ludlow) Larremore, of English and Dutch descent. He was graduated from Rutgers college in 1850, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. He made a specialty of the law of loans on real-estate security. He was married, in 1854, to Careline Eliza, daughter of Joseph Livermore of New York. He was a member of the board of education in New York city for many years, served as its president, 1868-71, and through his efforts prevented the Tweed ring from gaining control of the board. He was a member of the New York constitutional convention of 1867, and was elected a justice of the court of common pleas of New York, May 17, 1870, for a term of fourteen years, and was re-elected in 1884. On the retirement of Chief-Justice Charles P. Daly, Dec. 31, 1885, he was chosen chief justice of the court of common pleas by his associates, and served until Dec. 31, 1890, when he was succeeded by Joseph F. Daly. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of the City of New York in 1870. He died in New York city, Sept. 13, 1893.

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

Georye Gibbs, geologist and philologist, was born in Astoria, N.Y., July 17, 1815; son of George and Laura (Wolcott) Gibbs, and grandson of George Gibbs of Newport, R.I. He was educated at Round Hill school, Northampton, Mass. his instructors being George Bancroft and Joseph G. Cogswell, and was graduated in law at Harvard in 1838. He practised his profession in New York city in the office of Prescott Hall. In 1849 he made a journey to the Pacific slope with the U.S. mounted rifles, and located at Columbia, Oregon. In 1854 he was appointed by President Fillmore collector of Astoria. While in the far west he studied Indian dialects and made researches in geology and natural history. He was a member of the Northwest boundary commission, and was geologist under Gen. Isaac I. Stevens in the survey of the North Pacific railroad. In 1857 he was appointed to the Northwest boundary survey, and at its close made an elaborate report of the geology and natural history of the country. When the civil war threatened in 1860 he returned to New York and in 1861 helped to defend the national capitol and to suppress the draft riots in New York. He was secretary of the Hudson Bay claims commission, and aided the Smithsonian institution in arranging manuscript reports on the ethnology and philology of the Indian tribes, largely made up of his own contributions to the institution. He served as secretary of the New York historical society, 1842-48. He published: Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams, edited from the papers of his grandfather, Oliver Wolcott (1846); Instructions for Research relative to the Ethnology and Philology of America (1863); A Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon or Trade Language of Oregon (1863); Comparative Vocabularies (1863); and Suggestions relative to Objects of Scientific Investigation in Russian America (1867). He died in New Haven, Conn., April 9, 1873.

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