Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/260

 HEWITT

HEWITT

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removed with his parents to New York city, wlxere he attendeil the public school uiul gained a scholarsliip at Columbia college, where lie was graduated with first honors in 1842, receiving his A.M. degree in 184"). While at college he earned the money to pay his expenses by teaching and he continued at Columbia as instructor and assistant in mathematics until 1844, when he visited Europe with his classmate, Edward Cooper. He was ad- mitted to the bar in is!,"> and practised in New York for a sliort time. He gave up the law practice to en- gage in the manu- facture of iron, in wliich liis classmate. El ward Cooper, had just entered as a partner with liis father, Peter Coojier, and the firm became Cooper & Hewitt, Mr- Hewitt becoming the manager of the ex- tensive works and mines in New Jersey, at Trenton, Phillipsburg, Ring wood and Pequest. In 18o5 he was married to Sarah Amelia, daughter of Peter and Sarah (Bedell) Cooper. Within sixty days after the publication of the results of Besse- mer's experiments as set forth in his i)aper read before the Cheltenham meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1856 Mr. Cooper erected at Phillipsburg an ex- perimental Bessemer couA'erter. The civil war created an unusual demand for steel for t!:e manufacture of gun-barrels and in 18G3 Mr. Cooper went to Europe to study the process of its manufacture. On his return lie supplied the U.S. government with the material at consider- ably less than the cost of production. He was a U.S. commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 18G7, where he made a thorough investigation of the manufacture of iron and steel, and his report was esteemed of great commercial interest. On his return he erected at Weston the first Amer- ican open-hearth furnace under the Martin patents controlled by Cooper & Hewitt, and in 1870 he produced the first high-pliosphorus low- carbon steel of commercial value manufactured in the United States. During IMr. Hewitt's management no serious labor trouble disturbed the busine.ss and when the times demanded a curtailment of production the works were kept going on short time .so as to give the employees work sufficient to meet their weekly needs, even at a loss to the concern. He was the chief of the board of trustees that devised the plan of the

Cooper Union in New York city and while nominally holding the office of secretary of the board, the educational and financial details of the institution were directed by him and for more than forty years he continued to hold the position equivalent to that of president of a college. He was a Democratic representative from New York city in the 44tli, 4r)tli, 47th, 48th and 49th congresses, 1875-79 and 1881 -f^G, resign- ing in 1886 to accept the nomination for mayor of New York city, to which office he was elected in November, receiving 22,422 more votes tiian Henry George and 30,117 more than Theodore Roosevelt. He assumed the duties of the office Jan. 1, 1887, serving until* Jan. 1, 1889. He was chairman of the Democratic national committee of 1876. In congress Mr. Hewitt advocated tariff reform and was a frecivient speaker on finance, labor, and the development of national resources in connection with the prosecution of U.S. geological surveys. As major of New York city he rigidly enforced the laws and held the head of each department accountable for the conduct of his specific affairs. He was a charter member of the American Institute of Alining Engineers. 1871. a manager, 1872-75, and its jii'esident in 1876 and again in 1890, the second time being unanimously elected. He was also elected a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and he received from the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain at its meeting in New York city ill 1896 the gold Bessemer medal in recognition of his services to the industry. He received the degree of LL.D. from Columbia in 1887. He is the author of Iron and Steel, a report as U.S. commis- sioner to the Paris Exposition of 1867. and A Cen- tury of Mining and Metallnrcjy in the CnitedSfates, an adilress made in 1870 wjien he be(vime presi- dent of the American Institute of Mining Engi- neers. He died in New York city. Jan. 18. 1903. HEWITT, John Haskell, educator, was born at Preston. Conn.. Aug. 8, 18;!5, son of Charles and Eunice (Witter) Hewitt, and grandson of Stanton and Lucinda (Clrant) Hewitt and of Jonah and Eunice (Cady) Witter. He attended acad- emies at Plainfield and Suffleld, Conn., and was graduated from Yale college, A.B., 1859; A.M., 1867, and from Yale Theological seminarj- in 18G3. He was a post graduate student at Yale and librarian of the Brothers in Unity Society lilirary and assistant in the Yale College library, 186:5-65; professor of Latin language and litera- ture at Olivet college, ]\Iich., 186.5-75, and acting- president, 1872-75; professor of Latin and Greek in Lake Forest university. III.. 187.5-81, and acting-president. 1877-78; .studied ami travelled in Germany and Italy. 1881-82,:ind was elected Garfield professfH" of ancient languages in W'ill- iams college in 1882. The year 1892-93 was spent