Gilbert B. Huestis |
GILBERT B.
HUESTIS.
The fitting reward of a well spent and
upright business life is an honorable
retirement from labor,—a period in which to
enjoy the fruits of former toil and to
engage in those pursuits which afford
pleasure and recreation in compensation for
the years assiduously devoted to business.
Gilbert B. Huestis is one to whom
such a rest has been vouchsafed. For
many years he stood as one of the foremost
representatives of the building interests of
New York
city. Some of the most palatial homes
of the metropolis, stand as monuments to his
architectural skill; but now, as the reward
of his honorable and well directed effort,
the handsome competence formerly acquired
enables him to live retired in his beautiful
home in Mount Vernon.
Mr. Huestis is a representative of one of
the oldest and most honored families of
Westchester county. At a very early
period in American history a Eustis—for
so the name was originally spelled—left his
home in Holland and founded the family in
the New World, locating in Fairfield,
Connecticut, whence Robert Huestis
came to Westchester county about 1664.
By his wife, Elizabeth, he had four
children,—Robert, Samuel,
David and James. The last
named removed from Fairfield, Connecticut,
to Eastchester in 1665, and his children
were Jonathan, born Nov. 12, 1667;
James, born Feb. 15, 1669; and Judah,
born Mar. 16, 1671. James, the
second son, married Tamer Pell,
a daughter of John Pell, and
their son James, who died about 1779,
at the age of eighty years, married Tamer
Ferris, and had six children, namely:
James, who married a Miss
Griffin; Caleb; Samuel,
who became a man of high literary
distinction; Joshua; Martha,
wife of James Boyd; and
Sarah, wife of Samuel Nelson.
Joshua Huestis, the son of James
and Tamer (Ferris) Huestis,
married Abbie Parker, and died
in December, 1781, while his wife died in
1821, at the age of ninety years.
Their eldest son, Thomas Huestis,
of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was born Dec.
25, 1760, and married Phoebe Mabee,
by whom he had four children: Joshua,
who married Sarah Black;
Peter, who married Miss
Lefruge; James and Nathaniel.
The mother having died, Thomas
Huestis married Eliza Smith,
and by the second union had six children:
Phoebe, Mabee, Abby,
Joshua, Thomas and Mary.
The last named became the wife of
Benjamin Palmer, who was born in
December, 1765, and followed farming on
eighty acres of land near Tuckahoe, New
York. He was a zealous member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and served as a
trustee. Benjamin Huestis
married Hannah Higby, who was
born June 16, 1771. Their children
were Joshua; Fleming, a farmer
who resided in
Illinois*; Benjamin, who was
likewise a farmer in
Illinois*; Thomas Palmer,
of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who died in
New Jersey; Samuel, who died in
childhood; William, who died in
Yonkers; Daniel, who resides in
Omaha, Nebraska, at the age of eighty-eight
years; Harvey, who died in early
youth; Catherine, wife of Abraham
Lent, of Tuckahoe, New York; Mary,
and Abigail, wife of James
Thomas.
Joshua Huestis, the father of our
subject, was born at Somerstown, Westchester
county, Mar. 4, 1795, and for many years
resided upon a farm of eighty acres at East
Chester. He was postmaster of Mount
Vernon when the office was at Hunt's Bridge,
the present site of Harlem Station. He
married Sarah A. Fowler and they had
two children,—Susan and Gilbert
B., the latter the subject of this
sketch. The former married George
Archer, of Fordham, a farmer, who
served as tax collector for many years. Mr.
Archer died in 1867, and his wife
died in 1891, at the age of sixty-five
years. Joshua Huestis died at
Mile Square, Mar. 10, 1873, and his wife
passed away in 1849, at the age of
forty-nine years, her birth having occurred
Feb. 10, 1800.
Gilbert B. Heustis, the subject of this review,
was born Mar. 29, 1832, and attended the
public schools at East Chester until fifteen
years of age. He left home at the age
of seventeen and, under the direction of
Steven S. Munson, architect and builder,
mastered the business which he made his life
work. He became an expert workman, his
skill enabling him to command a very
important position. For forty years he
was connected with the extensive business of
James C. Hoe as superintendent of their
building interests, and in that capacity had
charge of the construction of the Tiffany
mansion at Seventy-seventh street and
Madison avenue. It required six years
to complete this, and the cost was one
million dollars. On the completion of
the work C. L. Tiffany presented him
with a gold watch valued at two hundred and
fifty dollars. He also had charge of
the erection of the palatial home of A.
T. Stewart on Park Hill, between
Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, and
of the reconstruction of the Metropohtan
Hotel, in 1865. These handsome
structures stand as monuments to his skill
and enterprise, and many other fine
buildings in the city give evidence of his
handiwork. He continued with James
C. Hoe until 1896, since which time he
has lived retired, enjoying a rest which he
has truly earned and richly deserves.
On the 7th of May, 1854, Mr. Huestis was
united in marriage to Miss Harriet E.
Fowler, a daughter of Duncan S. Fowler,
a shoe dealer of New York city. Three
children were born to them. William
Henry, the eldest, married
Margaret Smart, of Yonkers, who
died leaving two children,—Hattie and
Hazel. He afterward married her
sister, Mary Smart, and they
now reside in Brooklyn. Emory J.,
the second of the family, is deceased. Harvey
is the youngest. The mother died
June 24, 1864, at the age of twenty-eight
years, and Mr. Huestis was
married, in July, 1865, to Mary
Bryant, who died June 23, 1893, at the
age of sixty-five years.
In 1878 Mr. Huestis removed from New York
city to Mount Vernon, where he has since
made his home. He is a Republican in
his political views, and in religious faith
is a Methodist. His life has been well
spent, and his success is the creditable
result of his own efforts. His
business career has been characterized by
perseverance, promptness and marked fidelity
to the terms of a contract and to the trust
reposed in him. His integrity is above
question, and he sustains an unassailable
reputation in business circles. His
interest in the welfare and progress of the
community renders him a valued citizen, and
his social qualities and sterling worth make
him popular with a large circle of friends.
Source:
Biographical History of Westchester County, New
York, Illustrated - Vol. II - Publ. by The
Lewis Publishing Co., 1899 - Page 816-818
Sharon Wick's Note: *Found
Fleming and Benjamin in Madison Co., IL |
