Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/344

318 had been already submitted to William Wirt, and, both opinions being favorable, a suit was about to be begun when the consideration of the great expense involved in its prosecution caused the whole matter to be abandoned. Roosevelt had by this time retired from active life, residing with his family at Skaneateles. In the case submitted for Mr. Wirt's opinion, it is said that Fulton never made oath to the application for a patent for vertical wheels over the sides; and that the application itself was signed by another person &mdash; a statement that would seem to be corroborated to a great extent by Fulton's own account of his invention in an interview with B. H. Latrobe on 7 Feb., 1809, when the latter was endeavoring to bring about what subsequently took place &mdash; a connection between Fulton and Roosevelt in regard to the introduction of steamboats on the western waters. &ldquo;I have no pretensions,&rdquo; said Fulton, &ldquo;to be the first inventor of the steamboat. Hundreds of others have tried it and failed. Neither do I pretend to the right to navigate steamboats, except in New York. . . . That to which I claim an exclusive right is the so proportioning the boat to the power of the engine and the velocity with which the wheels of the boat, or both, move with the maximum velocity attainable by the power, and the construction of the whole machine.&rdquo; In the same conversation Mr. Fulton said: &ldquo;As to Mr. Roosevelt, I regard him as a noble-minded, intelligent man, and would do anything to serve him that I could.&rdquo; &mdash; His nephew, Cornelias Van Schaik, merchant, b. in New York city, 30 Jan., 1794; d. in Oyster Bay, L. I., 17 July, 1871, inherited a large fortune, studied at Columbia, but was not graduated, and, engaging in business was a successful merchant for forty-seven years. During the latter part of his life he devoted a portion of his large income to charity. &mdash; Cornelius's son, Robert Barnwell, congressman, b. in New York city, 7 Aug., 1829, was admitted to the bar in 1850. While in practice he also contributed to the magazines, was an enthusiastic sportsman, and organized several clubs to restrain the indiscriminate slaughter of game. During the civil war he was an active Democrat, and a founder of the allotment commission and the Loyal national league. He founded the New York state fishery commission in 1867, and was appointed one of the three fish commissioners, on which he has served without a salary. The reports of that body were prepared chiefly by him, and have led to the appointment of similar commissions in other states. His first experience in politics was in the organization of the Citizens' association at the time of the Tweed ring administration in New York city. He was a founder of the Committee of seventy, and first vice-president of the Reform club. With Charles G. Halpine he edited the &ldquo;Citizen,&rdquo; the organ of that association, and after Halpine's death succeeded to the sole charge of the paper. In 1870 he was chosen to congress as a Democrat. Although the pressure of anti-Tammany Democratic organizations forced Tammany Hall to approve his nomination, he denounced the measures of the corrupt clique. In May, 1888, he was appointed U. S. minister to the Netherlands, whereupon he resigned the office of fish commissioner, giving, in his letter to the governor, a review of what had been accomplished during his twenty years of service. He was instrumental in establishing paid fire and health departments in New York city, was a commissioner of the Brooklyn bridge, and for many years served as president of the Fish culture association, of that for the protection of game, of the New York sportsman's club, of the International association for the protection of game, of the Holland trust company, a founder of the Lotus and Arcadian clubs, and a member of the American association for the advancement of science. He has published &ldquo;The Game Fish of North America&rdquo; (New York, 1860); &ldquo;The Game Birds of the North&rdquo; (1866); &ldquo;Superior Fishing&rdquo; (1866): &ldquo;Florida and the Game Water Birds&rdquo; (1868); &ldquo;Five Acres too Much,&rdquo; a satire on amateur farming that was provoked by Edmund Morris's &ldquo;Ten Acres Enough&rdquo; (1869); &ldquo;Progressive Petticoats,&rdquo; a humorous illustration of modern medical habits (1871); and edited the &ldquo;Political Works of Charles G. Halpine,&rdquo; with a memoir (1869). &mdash; Another son of Cornelius, Theodore, merchant, b. in New York city, 22 Sept., 1831; d. there, 9 Feb., 1878, joined the firm of Roosevelt and Co., glass importers, and continued in that business till 1876, when he established a banking-house. President Hayes appointed him collector of the port of New York, but he was not confirmed by the senate. For many years he devoted much of his fortune to charity, contributed large sums to the Newsboys' lodging-house and the Young men's Christian association, was a founder of the Orthoædic hospital, under the care of the Children's aid society, organized the Bureau of united charities, and was a commissioner of the State board of charities. He was a director of the Metropolitan museum of art and of the Museum of natural history. &mdash; Theodore's son, Theodore, author, b. in New York city, 27 Oct., 1858, was graduated at Harvard in 1880, and the next year was elected to the New York assembly as a Republican. He led the minority during the session of 1882, was active in reform measures, and on his re-election in 1883 was largely instrumental in carrying out the state civil-service reform law, and an act for regulating primary elections. As chairman of the committee on cities in 1884, he succeeded in abolishing the fees of the county clerk and register, and in providing for their payment by salaries, curtailing abuses in the sheriff's and surrogate's offices, and securing the passage of a bill that deprived aldermen of the power to confirm appointments to office, and centred in the mayor the responsibility of administering municipal affairs. He was chairman of the New York delegation to the National Republican convention in 1884, and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York in 1886. He has spent much of his time in the west, exploring the country and hunting big game. Roosevelt was president of the New York board of police commissioners, assistant secretary of the navy in McKinley's administration, which he resigned to accept the position of lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in the war with Spain, and in July, 1898, was promoted colonel for gallantry at the battle of La Quasina. He has published &ldquo;History of the Naval War of 1812&rdquo; (New York, 1882); &ldquo;Hunting Trips of a Ranchman&rdquo; (1883); &ldquo;Life of Thomas H. Benton&rdquo; (Boston,