American Biography

John Joseph Conroy was a Roman Catholic bishop, born in Clonaslee, County Queens, Ireland, in June, 1819. He studied at Mount St. Mary’s, Emmittsburg, Maryland. He was ordained on May 21st 1842.

Father Conroy was made vice-rector of St. John’s college, Fordham, in New York City, in 1843, under Bishop Hughes. Father Conroy was made rector there in 1844. He was then transferred to St. Joseph’s church, in Albany, N.Y. later that same year, and became vicar-general of the diocese of Albany in 1857.

John Joseph Conroy was consecrated bishop of Albany on October 15th 1865. Bishop Conroy founded St. Peter’s hospital; St. Agnes’s rural cemetery; an industrial school, and a home for the Little Sisters of the Poor. He attended the first and second councils at Baltimore and the sessions of the Vatican council. On Dec. 22, 1871, Father McNeirney was appointed his coadjutor.

Conroy resigned his bishopric on October 16th 1877, and was transferred to the titular see of Curiam, March 22nd 1878. He made his residence in New York city and died there, November 20th 1895.

James De Lancey was a soldier, born in New York city in 1732. He was the son of Judge James De Lancey and Anne (Heathcote) de Lancey.

Educated at Eton and Cambridge, England, James entered the British army on his return to New York. He served in the Niagara campaign in 1755, and commanding the detachment that compelled the surrender of the fort by the French. He was an aide to General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga in 1758.

In 1760, on the death of his father, James De Lancey resigned from the army and took up the care of the most valuable estate in New York city, and probably in America.

De Lancey was a member of the state assembly from 1768 to 1775, and drew up the resolutions adopted March 25th 1775, demanding from the king and parliament redress for the grievances of the colonists. In May, 1775, he sailed to England to urge the views of the home government. In this he was unsuccessful and he never returned to America, sending for his family and suffering the confiscation of his vast estates.

James De Lancey was married in 1771 to Margaret Allen, daughter of Chief Justice William Allen and Margaret (Hamilton) Allen. He died in Bath, England, April 8, 1800.

Julian Ralph was an author and journalist, born in New York city, May 27th 1853. He was the son of Dr. Joseph Edward Ralph and Selina (Mahoney) Ralph. Julian graduated from the public schools, apprenticed in the printing office of the Standard at Red Bank New Jersey, in 1868.

Mr. Ralph began writing short stories and humorous articles as a teen, and in 1870 when just 17 he became local editor of the paper. He founded the Leader at Red Bank in 1871. Julian became acting editor of the Webster Massachusetts Times in 1872, then returned to New York to become a reporter on the World under William Henry Hurlbert later that year. He reported for the Daily Graphic, 1872 to 1875, and was continuously on the staff of the New York Sun, 1875 to 1895.

Julian Ralph was married on May 15th 1876, to Isabella Mount, daughter of Thomas H. Mount and Frances C. Mount of Chapel Hill New Jersey. He started Chatter, a literary weekly, in 1889, and after its failure in 1900, made many important journeys for Harper’s Magazine. He devoted himself to the United States and Canada from 1891 until 1893, then went to Asia 1894 to 1897, and through Russia to the border of Persia in 1897.

Mr. Ralph was London correspondent of the New York Journal in 1896 and 1897, and reported the Turko-Greek war. He became London correspondent of the New York Herald and the Brooklyn Eagle, and in 1899 was a member of the staff of the London Daily Mail, for which he spent a year covering the British-Boer war. At the command of Lord Roberts, commanding the British forces, he and Rudyard Kipling, Percival Landon and H. E. Gwynne established The Friend, the first daily newspaper ever published for the information and entertainment of an army. It was established at Bloemfontein, in the then Orange Free State.

In 1889 Julian Ralph was elected a member of the Royal Geographical society, and in 1900 he received the honorary degree A.M. from Middlebury college, Vermont. He returned to America in 1902, and in December was appointed Eastern representative of the Louisiana Purchase exposition of 1904, though he died before the exposition took place. Julian Ralph died in New York city, January 20th 1903.

Julian Ralph was the author of: Cuba (1882); Long Island of To-day and The Sun’s German Barber (1884); On Canada’s Frontier (1892); Our Great West and Chicago and the World’s Fair (1893); Along the Bowstring (1894); Dixie (1895); People We Pass (1895); Alone in China (1896); An Angel in a Web (1896); A Prince of Georgia (1897); Towards Pretoria (1900); At Pretoria, called in America, An American With Lord Roberts (1901); War’s Brighter Side (1901); and The Millionairess (1902).

Jesse Truesdell Peck, a Methodist Episcopal bishop, was born in Middlefield New York on April 4th 1811. He was the son of Luther Peck and Annis (Coller) Peck, and the brother of Rev. George Peck.

Mr. Peck was educated at the Oneida Conference seminary, Cazenovia New York, and was licensed as a local preacher in 1829. He was married on October 13th 1831, to Persis Wing, daughter of Capt. David Wing of West Dennis, Massachusetts.

Jesse Truesdell Peck was admitted to the Oneida conference, July 12, 1832, and was pastor of the churches at Dryden, Newark Valley, Skaneateles and Potsdam, New York, 1832-37. He was principal of the Gouverneur Wesleyan seminary from 1837 to 1841. Then he was principal of the Troy Conference academy at Poultney Vermont, from 1841 to 1848. Peck served as president of Dickinson College in Carlisle Pennsylvania from 1848 until 1852.

In 1852 Mr. Peck left the education field to become pastor of the Foundry church in Washington DC, where he served from 1852 until 1854. He was secretary and editor of the Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal church from 1854 to 1856, and pastor of the Green Street church, New York city, 1856 to 1858. Peck was transferred to California in 1858, and was pastor and presiding elder in San Francisco, Sacramento and Santa Clara, between 1858 and 1866. He was also president of the board of trustees of the University of the Pacific and of the State Bible society.

Returning to the East after the Civil War, he was pastor at Peekskill, Albany and Syracuse, New York, respectively, between 1866 and 1872. Jesse Truesdell Peck was a founder of Syracuse university, president of its board of trustees and chairman of the building committee. He was elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1872, and made a tour of Europe in 1881, holding conferences and studying educational systems. He was a member of several general conferences and a delegate to the Methodist Ecumenical conference in London in 1881. He received the degree of D.D. from University college in 1846, and LL.D. from Willamette university in 1875.

Jesse Truesdell Peck was the author of: The Central Idea of Christianity (1855); The True Woman (1857); What Must I Do to be Saved (1858), and History of a Great Republic, considered from a Christian Standpoint (1868). He died in Syracuse New York on May 17th 1883.

Henry Keep, best known as president of several railroad companies, was a native of Jefferson county, New York. He died in New York city, July 30th 1869, at the age of fifty-one. A part of his remarkable energy can be traced to the fact that his first occupation was farming, in which he began as an apprentice. After experiencing poverty for several years, Mr. Keep found employment in Honeoye Falls as a teamster.

By careful saving, he gained a small sum of money which he invested in depreciated currency during the panic of 1837, and the return of better times brought him a handsome profit. He then bought Canadian bank notes, which were at a discount on this side of the border, took them to Canada and received payment for them at par.

Mr. Keep soon opened a bank of his own in Watertown New York, and later several country banks in that part of the State. A strong mind, practical energy and clear head fitted Mr. Keep for a larger field, and he finally removed to New York city, invested his profits in railroads and thereafter was mainly known as a large and successful manager of this class of properties.

In 1861-63, Henry Keep was treasurer of The Michigan Southern Railroad, and for a while, in 1866, president of The New York Central. After 1868 he was president of The Chicago & North Western Railroad. Mr. Keep was also president of The Cleveland & Toledo Railroad and had controlling interest in The North Indiana Railroad.

Mr. Keep was famous for his keen sense of humor, fine conversational ability and whole-hearted liberality. One of his last endeavors was to start a National Academy for the Advancement of Art, for which he had promised $1,500,000. His wife and one daughter survived him.