GREEN-WOOD
CEMETERY | INDEX OF NAMES
| INDEX
OF SUBJECTS | CHAPTERS | AUTHOR'S
NOTES
Chapter
Four
The Post-Civil War Period (1866-1875)
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The
Soldiers' Monument
Erected in 1869, Green-Wood Cemetery’s Soldiers' Monument honors
the 148,000 New York men who fought "in aid of the war for the
preservation of the Union and the Constitution."
Precious
Georgie And Other Children
Infant death was widespread in the nineteenth century. Theodore
Cuyler (1822-1909), the longtime pastor of Brooklyn’s Lafayette
Avenue Presbyterian Church, and a national figure in both the
temperance and abolitionist movements, was not spared this tragedy.
Precious
Georgie’s marble cameo has been protected from the elements
by glass, and is still in pristine condition more than a century
after its placement at Green-Wood Cemetery. It has been attributed
to noted sculptor Charles Calverley.
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Doing
Things On A Grand (Piano) Scale
Immigrating to New York City from Germany with his family in 1851,
Henry Engelhard Steinway (1797-1871) soon put his piano-making skills
to good use, starting his own piano manufacturing business.
The Hot Dog
Charles Feltman (1841-1910) made his fame and fortune as a Coney Island
restaurateur.
The Caissons Go Rolling Along
In 1850, Eckford Webb (1825-1893) started Webb and Bell’s shipyard
in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
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Driving
The Golden Spike
Thomas Clark Durant (1820-1885) emerged in the early 1860’s
as the chief figure in the promotion, funding, and management
of the Union Pacific Railroad, the mammoth project to unite
America’s Far West with its East.
Thomas
C. Durant and other officials posed for this historic photograph
upon the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Durant
is the very tall man standing in the front row, just to the
left of the tracks.
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The
Soda Fountain King
John Matthews (1808-1870) trained in his native England to make
devices that carbonated drinks, then immigrated to New York
City, where he made carbonated drinks popular and created the
elaborate soda fountain.
The
terra cotta and marble Matthews Monument, as it appears today,
is somewhat diminished, but still spectacular. Marble was also
a key to Matthews’s business success; the carbonic acid gas
which carbonated his drinks was formed by mixing sulphuric acid
(also called oil of vitriol) with marble chips. The enterprising
Matthews bought up the marble scraps from the construction of
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a supply sufficient to generate 25,000,000
gallons of carbonated drinks.
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The
Defender Of Abused Animals
Henry Bergh (1823-1888) was one of those rare men who made a difference
in many lives.
"Mute Animals Share His Compassionate Bounty"
A native of Rouen, France, Louis Bonard (1809-1871) left there in
1849, traded in South America and California, then settled in New
York City, where he invested in real estate.
Tabloid Journalism
In 1835, James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872), with a $500 investment,
founded the New York Herald.
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"The
Babies"
Dr. Abraham Jacobi (1830-1919) specialized in the study of children’s
diseases, becoming one of the leading pediatricians in America.
There's
No Pharoah In This Tomb
One of the largest and most elaborate tombs at Green-Wood Cemetery
is that of Cornelius Kingsland Garrison (1809-1885).
The
impressive Garrison Tomb, seen in this circa 1870 photograph,
was designed by architect Griffith Thomas in Moorish Revival
style. The elaborate stone fence has since been removed.
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Fanny
Palmer: Nineteenth Century Career Woman
Women in nineteenth century America were expected to maintain
the home, not work outside it.
Colonel
Fisk's Murder
Jim Fisk, "Prince Erie," parlayed his brashness and impudence
into one of the largest fortunes in America.
Edward
Stokes’s assassination of Colonel Jim fisk, as depicted in a
contemporary drawing.
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Death
Be Not Feared
For fifteen years, poet Phoebe Cary (1824-1871), with her sister Alice
Cary (1820-1871), led "the Cary Salon," a New York cultural circle
that met every Sunday evening at their 20th Street home in Manhattan.
Not An Easy Job
James Harper (1795-1869), the Harper at Harper & Brothers (in his
time the leading publishing house in the world, later Harper and Row,
now part of Harper Collins, the world's fifth largest publisher),
also served as mayor of New York City.
America’s First Matinee Idol
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) was born in New Orleans to a German-Jewish
father and a Creole mother who was an accomplished singer.
No(e) Way To Die
Brush manufacturer James H. Noe (1817-1875) was doing very well, thank
you.
Too Late For Marriage
Martin Kalbfleisch (1804-1873) would have been quite a catch.
The Birth Of The American Musical
In 1866, a French ballet troupe, in New York City to perform at the
Academy of Music, lost its engagement when the Academy was destroyed
by fire.
Come Stay With Us At Gilsey House
In 1868, Peter Gilsey (1811-1873) purchased the last remaining homestead
in midtown Manhattan, the old clapboard house of Caspar Samlar and
its surrounding flower beds, at the northeast corner of Broadway and
29th Street.
Grand Central Depot: The End Of The World
In 1857, New York City enacted a law that made it illegal for steam
locomotives, notorious for spewing cinders and panicking horses, to
run south of 42nd Street.
Bethesda Fountain: The Angel Of The Waters
Emma Stebbins (1815-82) was born in New York City, where her father
John Stebbins was a prominent Wall Street broker and president of
the North River Bank.
A Beloved New Yorker
Horace Greeley (1811-1872), the founder and editor of the New York
Tribune, was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, and apprenticed to a
printer.
Sew What's New?
Elias Howe, Jr. (1819-1867) was born in Spencer, Massachusetts to
an impoverished family.
