Edwin A. McAlpin Had Stories ~ 52 Ancestors #25

My second great uncle, Edwin Augustus McAlpin, was born on June 9, 1848, to David Hunter McAlpin (1816-1901) and Frances Adelaide Rose (1829-1870).

Edwin A. McAlpin, Courtesy Wikipedia

 

His New York Times obituary (13 April 1917, p. 13, col. 5) suggests that he probably had many stories to share.

GEN. E. A. M'ALPIN DIES AT OSSINING

Former Adjutant General of New York Stricken at His Country Home in His 69th Year.

Long in National Guard

Tobacco Merchant and Republican Leader Owned Land on Which Hotel McAlpin Stands

   Ossining, N Y., April 12 - General Edwin A. McAlpin, who was Adjutant General on the staff of Governor Morton, died this afternoon at 2 o'clock at his country home, Hillside, in Ossining. He was stricken on Friday last [April 6] with cerebral hemorrhage and never regained consciousness.

   General McAlpin was well known in the business and National Guard life of the city. He was born here on June 9, 1848, a descendant of a Scotch family. His grandfather, James McAlpin, came to this country early in the nineteenth century and settled in Dutchess County, N. Y. The General's father, David H. McAlpin, established himself in the tobacco business in 1840, and he became one of the greatest tobacco merchants in the country. After attending the public schools in New York General McAlpin was graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and soon after entered his father's employ. The civil war was then being fought, and the lad twice enlisted as a drummer boy; but on account of his extreme youth he was prevented by his father from following his inclination.

   The war was over when he reached an age when he could go to war, but the young man, still set upon a military career, enlisted as a private in the Seventh Regiment in 1869. He became First Lieutenant in the Seventy-first Regiment in 1874, and the next year saw him appointed Captain and then Major in the regiment. He was elected Colonel in the Seventy-first Regiment in 1885. After nearly eighteen years' service in the National Guard he resigned, but in 1895 Governor Morton appointed him Adjutant General of the State, with the rank of Major General. He commanded the guard when two brigades were ordered on duty on Brooklyn to suppress disorder during the street car strike in that borough.

   The first several years of his work in his father's business was as a clerk. Later he became a member of the firm. The tobacco store was in Catharine Street, and the factory in Tenth Street, and it was afterward sold to the American Tobacco Company. In the lobby of the McAlpin Hotel stands the wooden cigar store Indian that used to stand outside the McAlpin shop in 1837, and the General was fond of showing it to his old friends.

   General McAlpin was one of the leaders in the Republican Club's movement and President of the New York State League from 1880 to 1892. In 1884 he ran for Congress as the Republican representative from Westchester County, but was defeated. For many years the General had been Treasurer of the Republican Campaign Committee. One interest the General held to the end was that in the Boy Scouts, and he was the President of the American Boy Scout organization.

   General McAlpin owned the ground upon which the Hotel McAlpin stands and he held a large interest in the hotel, which was named after him. He was the head of the tobacco business built up by his father until it was sold, and while he confined his attention principally to that business he had also been interested in many other concerns. He was a Director in the Canal Street Building Corporation, the Great Eastern Casualty Company, the Hudson Trust Company and the John J. Cooke Company. He was a member of the Westchester County Masonic Lodge, the Union League Club, the New York Athletic Club, the Lotos Club, the New York Yacht Club, and Columbia Yacht Club, the Ossining Yacht Club and the Army and Navy Club. He had been Mayor of Ossining when it was Sing Sing and had contributed materially to the progress of this city.

   His wife was Miss Annie Brandreth, daughter of Dr. Benjamin Brandreth of Ossining, whom he married in 1870. She died nine years ago. His sons are Colonel Benjamin B., the Rev. Edwin A., Jr.; David Hunter, 2d; Kenneth R. and J. Roderick.

   Funeral services will be held in the Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon, with interment in Vale Cemetery, where the General had erected a splendid mausoleum.

Although not indicated in his obituary, General McAlpin was considered as a Vice Presidential running mate to President William McKinley in 1896, but did not have much support outside of New York State and Garret Hobart was elected Vice President that year.

Edwin McAlpin McAlpin and his wife, Annie Brandreth McAlpin, had five children, all of whom survived them and all of whom married and had children. (I have identified a few DNA cousins among his descendants.)

   Benjamin Brandreth McAlpin (1871-1931)
   Edwin Augustus McAlpin, Jr. (1875-1936)
   David Hunter McAlpin (1880-1932)
   Kenneth Rose McAlpin (1882-1964)
   Joseph Roderick McAlpin (1891-1941)

His FindAGrave memorial links him to his parents, his children, and includes much of the information identified in his obituary. There are also additional photographs of him.

I descend from Edwin's parents as follows:

David Hunter McAlpin = Frances Adelaide Rose

|

Frances Adelaide McAlpin

|

Charles McAlpin Pyle

|

Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr.

|

Me

This week's theme is Storyteller.