History of Newburg, (Wyoming County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Henry Kirke Brown, sculptor, was born at Leyden, Mass., Feb. 24, 1814. He received the ordinary training of a farmer's boy, and made his first attempt in art when a lad of twelve years. The materials used were of the coarsest description, but his portrait of an old man was a success. His mother encouraged his love for art. In 1832 he went to Boston and studied portrait painting under Chester Harding. He then engaged as a civil engineer on the Illinois Central railroad, and afterwards studied anatomy in Cincinnati. For his own amusement be modelled the head of a lady in clay, and his success determined him to become a sculptor. In 1840 he went to Albany, where he executed portrait busts of local statesmen and two ideal statues. Through the aid of friends he was enabled to spend several years in Italy, where he executed his "Ruth," a group consisting of a boy and a dog which is in the possession of the New York historical society, and studied faithfully and profitably from 1842 to 1846, when he returned to the United States, and opened a studio in New York, and with the aid of skilled workmen from Europe made the first bronze casts ever attempted in America. He executed an alter piece for the Church of the Annunciation, and portrait busts of William Cullen Bryant and Dr. Willard Parker. He then settled in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he executed many commissions for monumental art and he perfected the casting in bronze. He spent 1848 among the Indians, where he obtained some excellent life casts. In 1850-'52 he was engaged on the statue of DeWitt Clinton for Greenwood cemetery, Brooklyn, the first bronze statue ever executed in the United States. He executed the equestrian statue of Washington in Union square, N.Y., finished in 1855, when he went to Columbia, S.C., to execute a group for the pediment of the state house. Of this group he had finished the ideal figure of South Carolina, when rumors of the civil war determined him to return to his home. This figure was destroyed by Sherman's troops in 1865. He served as a member of the national art commission, appointed by President Buchanan, 1859-'60, in the U. S. sanitary commission through the civil war; and was sculptor of state statues of Lincoln, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and Union square, New York, Gens. George Clinton, Winfield Scott and Philip Kearny; equestrian statues of Gens. Winfield Scott and Nathanael Greene, and statues of Dr. George W. Bethune and Richard Stockton, and "The Resurrection." He died at Newburg, N.Y., July 10, 1886.

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

George Washington Rains, soldier, was born in Craven county, N.C., in 1817; son of Gabriel M. and Hester (Ambrose) Rains. His parents removed to Alabama, and he was appointed to the U.S. Military academy from that state in 1838, and in 1842 was graduated third in a class of 56, and promoted 2d lieutenant in the corps of engineers. He served as assistant engineer in the construction of Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Mass., 1842?43; in garrison at Fort Monroe, Va., 1843?44, and was transferred to the 4th artillery, July 7, 1843. He was assistant professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology in the U.S. Military academy, 1844?46; had charge of the quartermaster's depot at Point Isabel, Texas, in 1846; was promoted 1st lieutenant, March 3, 1847; took part in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Moline del Rey, the storming of Chapultepec, and the assault and capture of the City of Mexico. He was brevetted captain, Aug. 20, 1847, for Contreras and Churubusco, and major, Sept. 13, 1847, for Chapultepec. He served as aide-de-camp to General Scott and to Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, 1847?48, and while at West Point where Pillow was being court-martialed, he arranged the model of the Valencia silver mine. He was in garrison in New Orleans and on recruiting service, 1848?49; in the Seminole war, Florida, 1849?50; in garrison at Forts Lafayette and Columbus, N.Y. harbor, Fort Mackinac, Mich., and Fort Independence, Mass., 1850?54, and on recruiting service at Fort Columbus, 1854?56. He was promoted captain, Feb. 14, 1856, resigned from the service, Oct. 31, 1856, and became part owner and president of the Washington iron works and the Highland iron works at Newburg, N.Y. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of artillery in the Confederate army in 1861, and assigned to the equipment of powder mills at Augusta, Ga., and had charge of these works, producing most of the powder used by the Confederate army, until the war ended. He was professor of chemistry and pharmacy in the medical department of the University of Georgia, 1867?84, dean of the faculty, 1884, and professor emeritus, 1884?94, and resumed business in Newburg, N.Y., in 1894. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Georgia in 1880, and that of M.D. elsewhere. He obtained three patents for improvements in portable steam engines, and is the author of: Steam Portable Engines, a treatise (1860); Rudimentary Course of Analytical and Applied Chemistry (1872); Chemical Qualitative Analysis (1879); History of the Confederate Powder Works (1882); and numerous essays. He died at Newburg, N.Y., March 21, 1898.

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

Augustus Ludlow Case, naval officer, was born in Newburg, N. Y., Feb. 3, 1813. He entered the navy in 1828 as midshipman, was promoted passed midshipman, June 14, 1834, and lieutenant, Feb. 25, 1841. He served in the Mexican war, taking part in the battles of Vera Cruz, Alvarado, and Tabasco. At the head of twenty-five men he succeeded in holding the town of Palisada for two weeks. In 1852-53, he was placed in command of the Warren, and for the four years following he was stationed in New York as inspector of lighthouses. On Sept. 14, 1855, he was promoted commander, and in 1861, was made fleet-captain of the North Atlantic blockading squadron, taking part in the capture of Fort Clark on Aug. 28, and Fort Hatteras on Aug. 29, 1861. On Jan. 2, 1863, he was promoted captain and assigned to the Iroquois, and from 1865 to 1866 he was fleet-captain of the European squadron. He was promoted commodore Dec. 8, 1868, and rear-admiral, May 24, 1872. During the troubles with Spain in 1874 he commanded the fleet at Key West, Fla. He was retired Feb. 3, 1875, and died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 17, 1893.

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

Henry Hilton, jurist, was born in Newburg, N.Y., Oct. 4, 1824; the youngest son of?and Janet (Graham) Hilton. He removed with his parents to New York city, and was educated in the public schools. He became a clerk and law student with Campbell & Cleveland in 1839, rising to the position of managing clerk, and was admitted to practise in the court of common pleas in 1846. He acted as master in chancery for several years. Campbell & Cleveland were the counsel for A.T. Stewart, the "merchant prince," and in 1850 Sir. Stewart made young Hilton his private counsel and secretary. He was married soon after to Ellen, daughter of Edward Banker, cousin of Mrs. Stewart, and sister of James H. Banker, president of the Bank of New York. He was a judge of the court of common pleas, 1858-63, and park commissioner for several years. On the death of Mr. Stewart in 1876 he became executor of the estate, his services being paid by a bequest of one millior dollars, and Mrs. Stewart transferred to him the business of A. T. Stewart, in consideration of his legacy. On the death of Mrs. Stewart in 1886 Judge Hilton was entrusted with the distributior of her estate, and he faithfully carried out her bequests. In the management of his own affairs he was entirely successful, and when he retired in 1883, he drew out of the business $5,500,000 as his share of the profits. His sons and son-in-law succeeded to the business, and soon dissipated the property accumulated by Mr. Stewart and Judge Hilton and it finally went into the hands of John Wanamaker, of Philadelphia. Judge Hilton was a member of the Century association and of the Press and New York clubs, and a prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal church. He edited two volumes of Hilton's Reports of the Decisions of the Court of Common Pleas 1855-60. He gave to the Metropolitan Mu seum of Art his several masterpieces including Meissonier's "Friedland "and Detaille's" Defense of Champaigny," and to Alexander E. Orr, treasurer of the board of trustees of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, Long Island, N.Y. for the cathedral and the schools connected therewith, $500,000 for the purpose of better carrying out Mrs. Stewart's purposes. Judge Hilton died in Saratoga, N.Y., Aug. 24, 1899.

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