Biography of William Brookfield

BROOKFIELD, William, manufacturer, was born at Greenbank, N. J., May 24, 1844. His father, James M. Brookfield, was born in New Jersey in 1813. His great-grandfather, Wm. Brookfield, was also born in New Jersey in 1790. They are the descendants of Norwegian and Irish stock. His paternal grandfather was a sea captain, and his maternal grandfather was a commissioned officer in the revolutionary war. His father was educated in the district schools, and set to work to carve out his own fortune at the age of fifteen, learning the glass-cutting business, and marrying Catharine A. Brandiff. William was educated at the Cayuga Lake academy, leaving there in 1862. In 1864 he, with his father, established the Bushwick glass works, which with a small beginning increased until their extensive works covered three and one-half acres of ground. Nine-tenths of all the insulators used throughout the country are manufactured at these works; in fact, they control this great, and important field, together with the large number of battery jars that are used in the different electrical concerns of the country. He is a regular attendant and pew-holder in Dr. Hall's church, a member of the Union League club, Lawyers' club, Down-town association, Manhattan and New York Athletic clubs, Produce, Consolidated, Mining and Stock exchanges, member of the committee on admissions to the Union League club, director in Kings county and Greenwich Fire Insurance companies, treasurer of Cigimora Manganese company, director in the Sheldon Axle company, vice-president of the Addison and Pennsylvania railroad, also vice-president of the Fulton club. Being recognized as an active member and a strong believer in the principles of the republican party, as well also as an organizer of superior abilities, he was elected president of the republican club, as well also as president of the republican county committee, and being considered the most available and best qualified member of that committee, he was elected to the important position of chairman of the republican state committee, an honor which few could hope to attain. He married Kate Morgan, daughter of Henry Morgan of Aurora, N. Y. His wife, who is a woman of superior culture and high social standing, is the niece of Edwin B. Morgan, one of the founders of the New York "Times," also of Christopher Morgan, who held the office of N. Y. secretary of state when William H. Seward was governor.

Wm. Brookfield