Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/69

 CROSBY

CROSBY

provost marshars office, attending to his medical practice at night. He was married in 1S2T to Mary Jane, daughter of Stephen Moody of Gil- man ton, N.H. The degree of LL.D. was con- ferred on him by Dartmouth in 1867. He died in Hanover, N.H., Sept. 26, 1873.

CROSBY, Ebenezer, physician, was born in Braintree, 3Iass., Sept. 30, 1753; son of Judge Joseph and Ann (Belcher) Crosby; grandson of Joseph and Sarah (Brackett) Crosby; and great- grandson of Simon and Ann Crosby, who came to America from London in 1635. He was gradu- ated at Harvard in 1777 and from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1780. He joined the Continental army as sur- geon of General Washington's guards and served with that body throughout the Revolution. At the close of the war he was married to Catharine, daughter of William Bedlow and niece of Col. Henrj' Rutgers of New Y'ork city. He was a charter member of the Society of the Cincinnati, was professor of midwifery in Columbia college, 1785-88, and an original trustee under the revised charter passed April 13, 1784. He received his A.B. and A.M. degrees from Harvard in 1782, also an honorary A.M. from Y^ale in the same year. He died in New York city, July 16, 1788.

CROSBY, Enoch, patriot, was born in Hard- wich, Mass., Jan. 4, 1753; son of Thomas and Elizabeth Crosby. In 1753 his parents removed to Carmel, N.Y'., and in 1771 after serving an apprenticeship, Enoch went to Danbviry, where lie worked at his trade as shoemaker. He joined the Continental army in 1775, serving in the Lake Champlain campaign for several months. He was sent home ill, and on his recovery in Septem - ber, 1776, he started on foot to return to the American camp at White Plains, N.Y'. On his way he met a stranger who mistook Jiim for a fellow Tory, and by keeping up the ^ deception Crosby discovered a plot among a band of Tories against the patriots. Proceeding to White Plains he divulged his information to John Jay, then a member of the committee of safety. A body of cavalry was at once despatched under CrosbA's leadership, and the whole company- of loyalists was seized and imprisoned. Jay then suggested that Crosby could best aid the cause by becoming a spy, to which he consented. He took his kit of tools and went from house to house repairing shoes and gaining much useful information. He afterward joined the British arm\' in which he rendered invaluable assistance to the Americans, risking his life many times to accomplish his purpose. After the Revolution he purchased a farm in Carmel, N.Y''., and resided there until his death. In 1794, at the request of John Jay, an appropriation was granted for his services but he declined it, saying that " it was not for gold

that he had served his country." He was for many years a justice of the peace, and was at one time an associate judge in the court of com- mon pleas. In 1812-13 he was supervisor for the township of Southeast. In 1827 he visited New Y'ork as a witness in a lawsuit, and was recog- nized by an old man who pre.sented him to the court as the original of "Harvey Birch" in Cooper's romance " The Spy." At that time the dramatization was being performed at the Lafay- ette theatre and Mr. Crosby was invited by the proprietor to occupy a box. He was introduced to the audience as "the real spy," receiving tremendous applause. See Jlie Spy Unmasked (1828) by Capt. H. L. Barnum, and an article by H. E. Miller in the Xew England Magazine for May, 1898, entitled The Spy of the Neutral Ground. He died in Brewsters, N.Y'., June 26, 1835.

CROSBY, Ernest Howard, social reformer, was born in New Y'ork city, Nov. 4, 1856; son of the Rev. Dr. Howard and Margaret Evertson (Givan) Crosbj*. He was graduated at Mohegan Lake school, Westchester county, N.Y'., at the University of the city of New Y'ork in 1876 as valedictorian, and at the Columbia coUege law school in 1878 and practised law in his native city. He was a member of the state assembly, 1887, 1888 and "1889, and in 1889 was named by President Harrison and appointed by the Khe- dive, judge of the international tribunal at Alex- andria, Egypt, which office he held until 1894. He was married in 1881 to Fanny Kendall, daughter of Henry Mavmsell Schieffelin of New Y^ork city. After his return to America he was an active advocate of social reform and also of the principles of peace. In 1894 he was one of the founders and first president of the Social Reform club of New Y'ork. He is the author of Plain Talk in Psalm and Parahle (1898) : TTar Echoes (1898) ; and of frequent contributions to the press.

CROSBY, Frances Jane, See Van Allstyne, Frances Jane Crosby.

CROSBY, Howard, clergyman, was born in New Y'ork city, Feb. 27. 1826: son of William Bedlow and Harriet Ashton (Clarkson) Crosby; grandson of Ebenezer and Catharine (Bedlow) Crosby, and great-grandson of Judge Joseph Crosby, and of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was graduated from the University of the city of New Y'ork in 1844 and travelled in Europe, 1848-51. On his return he was appointed to the chair of Greek in his alma mater, which he resigned in 1859 to ac- cept a similar chair in Rutgers college. He was licensed to preach by the classis of the Reformed church. New Brunswick, N.J., in 1859. In 1861 he declined the appointment of U.S. min- ister to Greece offered by President Lincoln. He