The story of the Hall of fame, including the lives and portraits of the elect and of those who barely missed election. Also a list of America's most eligible women

Author's Preface

L'

IFE is always interesting-. Nothing is so great a stimulant to ambition for high and noble living as coming in contact with other great and forceful lives. One may do this by personal contact in social, business, or political fellowship, or through reading the lives of those who have finished their earthly career. There is an important sense {yfc^}, in which it is true, that the biography of a man is more vital in its influence and power than was his personality while he lived. During the life of a public man the world is divided into factions concerning him, and he is judged through a mist of prejudice and jealousy; but after his death this gradually clears away, and his career stands out before the world sharply defined. The power of many men grows, as the centuries go on, in ever-increasing usefulness.

In this volume it has been the purpose of the author, in connection with a brief, concise story of the origin of the Hall of Fame, to give as interesting and vivid a picture as }J possible within the limits necessary to such a volume, of each of the twenty-nine personalities which have, up to this time, been chosen for a place in that hall of American Immortals. He has sought everywhere within his reach for materials to enter into these portraits. A detailed life was, of course, out of question, but he has sought to do what seemed to him far more important, give a brief, truthful, and, at the same time, entertaining and picturesque presentation of these signally important characters in American

life.

Louis Albert Banks.

New Yojk City, September 20, igo2.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Situation and Origin 13

11. The Dedication 20

Chapter I. Situation And Origin

IN 1776 what is now known as University Heights, then known as Fort Number Eight, was occupied by the British forces. In that year it was evacuated by the invaders, who had formerly dislodged the Americans entrenched at Fort Washington from this commanding situation. But the British lost it for good when they marched away six score years ago and more, and now a company of American Immortals, with George Washington at their head, have marched in and taken possession — a permanent possession, which they will hold forevermore.

Chancellor MacCracken, of the New York University, in his account of the inception of the Hall of Fame, says that like many another product of civilization, it was due in considerable part to hard facts of physical geography. In order to secure a large interior campus, it was necessary that the three buildings which composed the west side of the college quadrangle should be placed close by the avenue above the Harlem River. But since the grade of the quadrangle was one hundred and seventy feet above the river, and from forty to sixty feet above the avenue, this arrangement would leave the exterior basement walls of these buildings exposed and unsightly. To conceal these walls, and to present an ornamental effect toward the avenue, a broad terrace was suggested, to be supported upon granite walls and crowned by a colonnade. The colonnade was to stand upon the outer curve of the terrace and extend full five hundred feet in length.

While the argument for this structure, upon the ground of beauty, was most convincing, the trustees of the University did not feel justified in spending so large a sum of money simply upon ornamental work. Chancellor MacCracken felt that he must discover some educational use for such an edifice, and it was in that search that there came to him the idea of " The Hall of Fame for Great Americans." The educational value of such a structure promised to grow with the years and endure for many generations.

It was curious that no plans for an American Pantheon had before this time been presented to the nation.

In Rome still stand the remains of the Pantheon, built by Agrippa (to-day the most perfect of the existing classical buildings in the city), dedicated to all the gods, and goddesses, and deities of Roman mythology.

The Pantheon in Paris, now the Church of St. Genevieve, was consecrated by the Convention to illustrious men.

Munich possesses a Temple of Fame, built by the King of Bavaria, while in England, Westminster Abbey serves to commemorate under one roof the names of many of the most famous children of the empire.

Even in mythology, we have a poetic conception of a place where Fame is king :

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ORIGIN

"Amid the world 'tween heaven and earth and sea, there is

a place, Set from the bounds of each of them indifferently in space, From whence is seen whatever thing is practised anywhere, Although the realm be ne'er so far ; and roundly to the ear Comes whatsoever spoken is. Fame hath his dwelling there, Who, in the top of all the house, is lodged in a tower ; A thousand entries, glades, and holes are framed in the

bower.

There are no doors to shut. The doors stand open night

and day; The house is all of sounding brass, and roareth every way, Reporting double every word it heareth people say. Here Fame beholdeth what is done in heaven, on seas, on

lands.

And what is wrought in all the world he sees and understands."

Happily with the idea of an American Pantheon there came a generous friend, with an offer of one hundred thousand dollars toward the carrying into effect of the Chancellor's beautiful dream. Although the total cost of the Hall of Fame, including the museum, was to exceed one quarter of a million dollars, this gift, by one whose name is withheld, but is popularly supposed to be that of a generous young woman whose fame for good deeds and generous philanthropy is in all the land, gave that impulse to the movement required to make it a certainty.

In the Hall of Fame were to be provided one hundred and fifty panels, to be inscribed to the memory of great Americans — not more than fifty to be raised at the present

IS time, and fifty more at the close of every succeeding period of five years.

It was decided that in the first fifty names should be included one or more representatives of the following fifteen classes of citizens : Authors and Editors, Business Men, Educators, Inventors, Missionaries and Explorers, Philanthropists and Reformers, Preachers and Theologians, Scientists, Engineers and Architects, Lawyers and Judges, Musicians, Painters and Sculptors, Physicians and Surgeons, Rulers and Statesmen, Soldiers and Sailors, and distinguished men and women outside the above classes.

No name was to be inscribed except of a person born in what is now the territory of the United States, and who had been deceased for at least ten years.

Nominations were invited from the public, and it was planned that any name that was seconded by a member of the University Senate should be submitted to one hundred judges chosen among three classes of citizens — University or College Presidents and Educators ; Professors of History and Scientists ; Publicists, Editors, and Authors ; and Judges of the Supreme Court, State or National.

There was no lack of nominations. Literary and educational bodies, as well as patriotic, military, and philanthropic societies, scientific associations, and many other organizations, hastened to send in the names of those in which they were interested through the peculiar character of their societies.

Some leading newspapers also added great interest to the occasion by offering prizes to contestants who should approach most nearly to the roll of names finally selected by the judges and University Senate. A very interesting

i6 incident occurred in connection with one of these contests. The highest prize of $ioo offered by a newspaper went to a schoolgirl, whose hst of fifty names contained twentyseven of the twenty-nine finally elected by the hundred judges.

The University Senate soon had nearly a thousand names presented for its consideration. They selected one hundred names which stood first in popular favor in newspaper contests. Each member of the Senate had the right to make a further nomination from the thousand names sent in by the public; one hundred additional nominations were thus made. The judges also were asked to nominate, and they added something over thirty names.

The list of nominations was sent out from the University Senate to the one hundred judges, June 15, 1900, and they had until October of that year to make up their minds and cast their ballot. Ninety-seven judges acted within the required time.

Only twenty-nine names were chosen, as it had been decided that no name could be selected which had not received a majority, not of the votes cast, but of the one hundred judges, thus requiring fifty-one votes to elect. The following are the twenty-nine names chosen, with the votes cast for eacli :

Abraham Lincoln . 96

Daniel Webster it • C 96

Benjamin Franklin ^ " .^ 94

Ulysses Simpson Grant 93

John Marshall 91

Thomas Jefferson gi

WJT^--

Ralph Waldo Emerson 87

Robert Fulton 86

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow y\^ ... 85

Washington Irving 83

Jonathan Edwards 82

Samuel Finley Breese Morse . . . . . 82

David Glascoe Farragut 79

Henry Clay 74

George Peabody .'^1^*^ 74

Nathaniel Hawthorne Kis s.i 73

Peter Cooper 69

Eli Whitney .'H^.^s 69

Robert E. Lee 'h 68

Horace Mann . .'^-.^^ 67

John James Audubon 67

James Kent 65

Joseph Story 64

John Adams . ; 62

William Ellery Channing P. ' 58

Gilbert Charles Stuart 52

Asa Gray 51

In a later chapter, we give a complete list of the great Americans who were nominated, and full details of the voting. Suffice it to mention here, that of the 234 names, twenty received no support at all, while twenty-two received but one vote of the possible 97.

The names of nine women were submitted to the judges, but in no case did they come near the majority of votes required. On the board of electors were three women, all

CHAPTER n.

THE DEDICATION

THE Hall of Fame for Great Americans was dedicated May 30, 1901. The New York Tribune report of the occasion says:

" The ceremony was as picturesque as the occasion was memorable. Several thousands of invited guests sat upon benches on a gentle hillside, whose emerald green grass sloped away in front and at either side of them in broad expanses and rose behind them to the base of the noble hall, whose massive granite blocks, crowning the summit of the hill, look as if they would last as long as fame endures.

" From a low platform near the bottom of this hill, partly overhung by the foliage of trees, the orator of the day, Chauncey M. Depew, and the presiding officer. Chancellor MacCracken of New York University, addressed this throng.

" When the speechmaking was over a procession was formed, led by representatives of the thirty patriotic and educational organizations who were to unveil the tablets in the hall, and the line moved slowly along the winding paths of the University grounds under the trees, and steadily upward to the broad plateau whence direct admission to the hall is obtained. It then entered the north end of the stately colonnade, in such order that when the whole line halted each society stood opposite the tablet it had come to unveil. Brief w

DEDICATION addresses were made, and then the draperies of red, white and blue bunting were removed, revealing- twenty-nine names, all that have so far been selected as worthy of patriotic commemoration there, but enough to form a worthy recognition of the multiformity of human greatness. Singing the national hymn brought to a close the ceremony, which had been begun with prayer by the Rev. Dr. N. D. Hillis.

" Fortunately no rain fell, and the whole affair was conducted in the open air with comfort. The sun shone even brightly part of the time, showing to the best advantage the varied landscape overlooked by University Heights, which includes parts of the Hudson and the Harlem Rivers, Fort George, the big knolls of Spuyten Duyvil and the faraway tops of the Orange Mountains. The Hall of Fame is an imposing colonnade of stone, open at the sides, but roofed, five hundred feet long, semicircular in shape, and in the architectural style of the early Greeks. The spaces between most of the pillars which support the roof are filled in with a solid stone balustrade about four feet high. On the inner side of this balustrade are 150 panels, each 8 feet long and 2 feet wide. These panels are intended for the heavy bronze tablets bearing in high relief the names of the elected. On top of the balustrade, between the pillars and immediately over each name, will eventually be placed the bust of the men whose fame is there perpetuated.

"Although Miss Helen M. Gould has never acknowledged that she is the giver of the $100,000 which made possible this unique addition to the buildings of New York University so far completed, she was an important figure at the opening ceremonies, and, with Chancellor MacCracken and some others, welcomed the invited guests in the auditorium of the library before the speechmaking began. Some of those who took part in the informal reception, other than those named hereafter, were Russell Sage, Judge Warren W. Foster, St. Clair McKelway and Miss Laura D. Gill, dean of Barnard College."

Those who were selected to take an active part in unveiling the tablets were as follows :

Cooper's — Abram S. Hewitt, Edward Cooper, and R. Fulton Cutting, representing the Cooper Institute.

Lincoln's — General John M. Schofield, General Henry L. Burnett, and General Joseph W. Plume, representing the Loyal Legion.

Marshall's — William B. Hornblower, Edmund Wetmore, and Austen G. Fox, representing the American Bar Association.

Story's — James B. Dill, Edward T. Devine, James T. Young, and Samuel McCune Lindsay, of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Stuart's — Eastman Johnson, J. G. Brown, Frederick Dielman, and Henry W. Watrous, of the National Academy of Design.

Channing's — George H. Sargent, representing the New England Society.

Peabody's — J. L. M. Curry and Henderson M. Somerville, of the Peabody Education Fund.

Kent's — Ex- Judge James M. Varnum. of the Bar Association of New York.

Farragut's— W. H. S. Banks, J. E. Smith, and P. J. Doherty, of the National Association of Naval Veterans.

Grant's — General Wager Swayne, Commander Theron E. Parsons, Captain George P. Barrett, aind Major H. A. Wilkins, of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Fulton's — J. J. R. Croes and Charles Hunt, of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

«CeJ

Dedication

Morse's — G. S. Dunn and F. W. Jones, of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Whitney's — Professor Robert H. Thurston and Henry R. Towne, of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Audubon's — William T. Sedgwick, representing the American Society of Naturalists.

Chapter III. America's New Shrine

THE dedication of the Hall of Fame evoked editorial notice and discussion in thousands of newspapers throughout the length and breadth of the land. Two of these are of such ability and interest as to be of special value to our readers. The New York Tribune of May 31, the day following the dedication, in an editorial entitled " The Nation's New Shrine," said :

" The first Memorial Day of the twentieth century has come and gone. It was true to the best spirit of the old observance. It was marked with all the tender tributes and solemn pageantries which for a full generation have yearly made that day one of the most impressive of all our public holidays. Its patriotic significance was well maintained, perhaps more perfectly than ever before. For there is patriotism in change as well as in constancy. The dead who did not die in vain will never be forgotten, nor will the cause for which they fought, and which through their sacrifice was rescued and preserved. But that cause is now so abundantly secure that it is possible to let the old rancor and bitterness pass away, and to mark each recurring anniversary with an access of fraternal unity throughout the nation. Forgetfulness of hatred may now prevail in equal measure with memory of valor. And so it is of auspicious omen that this first Memorial Day of the new century was marked with a formal recognition of the fact that the two great rival warriors of our civil strife have passed from controversy into history, and that side by side they are henceforth to stand in the nation's Hall of Fame.

" That was one obvious feature of the fine ceremonial which was yesterday enacted on University Heights, a feature which made the deed peculiarly appropriate to the day. It was not, however, its sole or indeed its most important feature. For the Hall of Fame, of which New York City is the fitting site and New York University is the no less appropriate custodian, transcends in its scope the limits of a single war and of all wars, and even, we might almost say, of patriotism itself — assuredly of merely militant patriotism. It is an epitome of all phases of the nation's manysided greatness. ' The kind of men the nation produces,' said Emerson, ' is the true measure of the nation's greatness.' This hall is the sample room of the nation's m.anhood. In it are enshrined the names of representative men, in peace and war, in thought and in action, in literature and in commerce, in art and in invention, in the learned professions and in the practical pursuits. In some lands men of great achievements have been worshiped as gods. In all lands the records and examples of great men have been cherished as worthy of observation and of emulation. Surely it is well that this land should thus gather into one place some brief memorials of those whom it loves to honor, to be a shrine of patriotic memory and of inspiring contemplation.

" ' Comparisons are odious,' yet they are not to be feared by the Hall of Fame, which stands unique and supreme in its fulfilment of the purpose of such a building. True, it is

AMERICA'S SHRINE

[oaa far surpassed in age and in illustrious associations by Westminster Abbey. But the Abbey can lay small title to be England's Pantheon, with the dust of Shakespeare and Byron and Bacon laid elsewhere. Indeed, the great majority of famous Englishmen were buried outside that famous temple. The Temple of Fame at Munich may surpass this in some details of splendor. But its eighty immortals by no means represent the Bavarian nation, as the twenty-nine already chosen at New York University do, and those henceforth to be added to them will represent the people, the genius and the greatness of this nation. Neither one of these nor any other such institution is comparable with our Hall of Fame in the catholicity and comprehensiveness of its scope, in its freedom from ecclesiastical, political, personal or other influence, apart from the simple merit of its subjects, and in the nationally representative manner in which the subjects of its commemoration are chosen. Not favor, not caprice, not chance, not power, but simply ' the common sense of most,' determines what names shall be inscribed upon its walls. If to these we add this other singular and honorable circumstance, that instead of being blazoned forth as that of a munificent benefactor, the name of the generous giver of the hall is modestly withheld, so that the building stands as a memorial to the illustrious dead, and not as a self-glorification of its builder, he must be blind indeed, who does not perceive in this Hall of Fame a national shrine which the university may well be proud to own, the city to cherish and the nation to regard."

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, whose accomplished editor, St. Clair McKelway, had taken great interest in the Hall of Fame from the start, and who was one of the judges, also discussed the completed scheme on the occasion of its dedication in a very interesting way. The editor says:

" Of all the ceremonies in honor of the dead yesterday, the most important was the dedication of the Hall of Fame at New York University. Its significance will be seen more clearly as the years go by and with each decade the judges select ten more names to place with the twenty-nine honored yesterday. A national Pantheon is an instinct with any strong people. The desire has been stirring among the people of the United States since the recovery from the Civil War has shown that we were a nation, bound together by indissoluble ties and destined for a great place in history. That desire has at last found its accomplishment, thanks to patriotic generosity. It is not insignificant that the opening of the Pantheon comes in the first year of the new century, which is fated to see the United States more than ever the states united, and for the first time recognized, not as a people apart, devoted to an iridescent dream of liberty, but admitted to full equality in the sisterhood of nations and taking a leading part in world affairs by reason of its wealth and power, as well as of its priceless ideals of human liberty.

" And it is not insignificant, either, that of fifty possible names which might have been chosen for recognition at this dedication, but twenty-nine tablets were unveiled yesterday. In his fine oration Senator Depew drew the distinction between fame and reputation, and he pointed out what should be the future policy of this Pantheon in his adjuration: * Reserve the Temple of Fame for those only whose deeds and thoughts are the inheritance, education, inspiration and aspiration of endless generations.* The high standards and

AMERICA'S SHRINE

'm^M stern limits which the judges, acting without consultation, set for the men of their choice, show that the idea which Senator Depew voiced had guided the selection of these names, few but fit.

" The subsidence of the ideal of bigness in the leading minds of the country, from among whom the judges for the Hall of Fame were chosen, is another evidence of the maturity and hardening of our intellectual fibre as a people. When their decision was announced, there was of course, much surprise and some protest that the names selected were so few. But even in six months' time that feeling has disappeared, and there is general acquiescence in the list to whom tablets were yesterday unveiled. It is the sober judgment of the best thought of the country and not a spread eagle 'boom' to count up the longest roll of honor possible, names many of which would inevitably be thrown out by our children as the perspective of history grows longer. A national Pantheon is a product of a ripe national life and matured feeling. Such conditions are not the growth of a generation; they have hardly been the growth of a century in the days before steam and electricity have come so near to converting us into our own posterity.

" At last the aspiration of years is realized. We have a really national Hall of Fame. The winnowing of the temporary from the permanent in the achievement of our people has been well begun. As it goes on, decade by decade, this colonnade on University Heights will become more and more a national landmark.

" The ceremonies of yesterday, by which it was so happily dedicated, will stand forth as an historical occasion which supplied a new ambition to every American worker

Z7 who believes that there is more in life than wealth and power. In the midst of a materialism so splendid that the traditions of Babylon and Rome dwindle by comparison, the inauguration of a monument to all those labors which make mankind nobler and not merely richer is timely.

" It is an achievement to rank with the great things in the fields which Senator Depew truly said engrossed so much of the energy of this generation of Americans as to leave us almost without commanding leaders in literature and the arts. If his prophecy that the day of the poets and the artists will return comes true, not the least of the stimulus to sustained effort along the road of idealism will come from this Hall of Fame."

Chapter IV. George Washington

"■ // all the dispositions and habits zvhich lead to political prosperity, religion and morality arc indispensable supports, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles. Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge." Inscription

ON THI5 TABLET ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OE GEORGE WASH- INGTON IN THE Hall oe Fame.

HE who rightfully stands first in the Hall of Fame for eminent Americans, George Washington, was born Saturday, February 22, 1732. He was the first child of his mother, who, according to the quaint language used in his father's will, was the father's " second venture " on the sea of matrimony. Mary Ball was a young woman of striking beauty, and a belle in the neighborhood where she lived at the time of her marriage to Augustine Washington. At the time her first born son, destined to be the first American, came into the world, she was twenty-eight years old. Augustine Washington, the father, was thirty-eight, and already the father of four children by a former wife.

The house in which Washington was born stood near the Potomac River, at Bridges Creek, in Washington Parish,

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Westmoreland County, Virginia. It had been the home of the Washingtons from the time of the landing of the first ancestor in 1657. It was a plain, wooden farmhouse, with four rooms on the ground floor ; above those was an attic story, a long roof sloping nearly to the ground on the rear side ; with great brick chimneys at each end, affording abundant space for the large, open fireplaces within. This house was burned down when George was three years old, and the new house was built on the east side of the Rappahannock River, opposite the village of Fredericksburg.

Mr. J. B. Lossing, in The Home of IVashington, gives a glance into the childhood period of Washington's life at this time. Among his early boy companions was Richard Henry Lee, a member of one of the famous families of Virginia. In after years they had much to do with each other, when serious matters connected with the struggle for national independence pressed upon them. Here is a sample of their first letter-writing at nine years of age:

Richard Henry Lee to George Washington :

Pa brought me two pretty books full of pictures he got them in Alexandria they have pictures of dogs and cats and tigers and elefants and ever so many pretty things cousin bids me send you one of them it has a picture of an elefant and a little Indian boy on his back like uncle jo's sani pa says if I learn my tasks good he v^^ill let uncle jo bring me to see you will you ask your ma to let you come to see me. Richard Henry Lee.

George Washington to Richard Henry Lee:

Dear Dickey I thank you very much for the pretty picturebook you gave me. Sam asked me to show him the pictures and I showed him all the pictures in it ; and I read to him how the tame elephant took care of the master's little boy, and put him on his back and would not let any body touch his master's liitle son. I can read three or four pages sometimes without missing a word. Ma says I may go to see you, and stay all day with you next week if it be not rainy. She says I may ride my pony Hero if Uncle Ben will go with me and lead Hero. I have a little piece of poetry about the picture book you gave me, but I mustn't tell you who wrote the poetry.

And likes his book full well, Henceforth will count him his friend, And hopes many happy days he may spend. Your good friend,

George Washington.

I am going to get a whip top soon, and you may see and whip it.

Augustine Washington died when George was eleven years old, an event which no doubt largely changed his son's career. If he had lived, he would undoubtedly have given his son an education at Oxford, in England, and with that training it is hardly conceivable that he could have been the same George Washington which we know.

George Washington was destined to have a purely American education. A Mr. Williams, who kept a sort of grammar school at Bridges Creek and a school at Fredericksburg of about the same sort, furnished the future President his opportunities for early education. When he was fourteen years old, he had a restless epoch when he greatly desired to go to sea. His brother, Lawrence Washington, now an educated, charming man back from England, favored this, and it was for a time decided that he should have the chance. His mother dreaded the separation, but finally consented, and Lawrence Washington obtained for his brother a midshipman's warrant in the British Navy. All arrangements were made, and the day came for him to sail, but at the last moment, seeing his mother's great sorrow, and unwilling to break her heart at the parting, he changed his purpose and declined to go. If he had gone, it is quite

O?

^eo possible he might be living in history as an English admiral instead of being the first name in America's Hall of Fame.