Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 2 - Группа авторов - Страница 15

This is an age of progress, and America is the exponent of the spirit of the age. In the beginning of the present century our country was in its infancy, and history shows no parallel for its growth and achievements. No other country has made as great advancement in the lines of science and mechanical invention, and the superiority of her inventions has been widely recognized throughout the civilized world. In this steady growth and development which has characterized the age, the science of dentistry has kept pace with the general progress, and in that profession Dr. Close stands among the most eminent. The advancement which has been made in dentistry is largely due to him, and in future ages the world will recognize him as a benefactor of the race. The old lines of usage and prejudice he has broken down, and in broader fields of usefulness and practice he has led a large following.

A native of the Empire state, Simeon La Fayette Close was born in Genoa, Cayuga county, New York, November 29, 1824, and is a son of Zacheus M. and Lydia (Crane) Close. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to 1646, when representatives of the name settled at Langley, near Macclesfield, England. The name is of Saxon origin, and signifies a cliff or cleft in a valley between high hills. At various times it has been spelled Cloughes, Clows and Close. In 1665 Thomas Close, accompanied by his brothers, Joseph and Benjamin, braved the dangers incident to ocean voyages in those early days and became a resident of Greenwich, Connecticut. He died July 26, 1683, but left a family that has now grown until it is represented in many states of the Union. Many of its members have been prominently connected with leading events in early colonial days and since the establishment of the republic, and the ancestral history is one of which the present generation has reason to be proud. Joseph Close, the second son of Thomas Close, removed to North Salem, Massachusetts, in 1749, and died in 1760, at the age of eighty-six years. He married Rebecca Thompkins, who died in 1761, at the age of eighty-two years, and their children were: Joseph, Elizabeth; Samuel, Sarah, Rachel, Thomas, Benjamin and Rebecca. Of this family, Samuel was born June 23, 1706, and died in 1778, at the age -of seventy-two years. He married Deborah Paddock, and their son, Nathaniel Close, of North Salem, was born in 1732 and died in 1773. He also had a son, Samuel, who married Mary Wood, and their son, Daniel, was the paternal grandfather of Dr. Close.

Daniel Close was born February 25, 1767, in Greenwich, Connecticut, and throughout his life followed the occupation of farming. The family was represented in the war of the Revolution by two of his brothers, who participated in the battle of White Plains. He removed from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Cayuga county, New York, where he made his home until 1833, when he went to Medina county, Ohio. In that place he engaged in farming until 1847 or 1848, when he removed to Sullivan, Ashland county, Ohio, where he made his home until his death, which occurred when he had attained the age of eighty-five years. His wife passed away at the age of eighty years. In politics he was a Whig, and in religious belief a Congregationalist who took a very active and prominent part in the church work. His family numbered six children.

Zacheus Close, the Doctor's father, was born January 25, 1795, in Greenwich, Connecticut, acquired a common-school education and afterward engaged in teaching. With his father he went to Cayuga county, New York, and in 1819, in company with his brother Erastus, he walked from his native town to St. Louis, Missouri, prospecting for a suitable location. They spent considerable time in travel, visited New Orleans and other southern ports, and eventually his brother, Erastus Close, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied medicine, practicing that profession to a greater or less extent throughout the remainder of his life. At a later date he returned to Cayuga county. New York, where he engaged in farming with his father. Subsequently he carried on agricultural pursuits independently at Genoa, that county, where he owned a small farm. His next home was on a farm at Groton, Tompkins county, New York; later he went to Locke, Cayuga county, and in 1832 removed to Medina county, Ohio, where he conducted a farm until his life's labors were ended in death. He also engaged in teaming and in that way contracted a malarial disease which terminated his life, in his forty-fifth year. He belonged to the Congregational church, and in politics was a Whig. He was twice married, and by his first union had three sons and two daughters, namely: Simeon L., Lucian S., Harriet S. , Hannah Elizabeth and Erastus S. The mother of these children died at the age of thirty years and Mr. Close afterward married Miss Lucinda Holmes, by whom he had two children, — Esther A. and Sperry B.

In taking up the personal history of Dr. Close we present to our readers the life record of one whose reputation extends throughout the country and who is especially prominent in the circles of his profession in the metropolitan center. Adverse circumstances surrounded him in youth, but from the hand of fate he has wrested both fame and fortune, and his life is a splendid exemplification of what may be accomplished through persevering and honorable effort. In his early youth he attended the public schools through the winter season, and in the summer months assisted in the cultivation of his father's farm. He studied Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, Cobb's Speller, McGuffey's Reader and Daboll's Arithmetic. He now has in his possession a grammar used by his mother in her teaching in 1818, giving declensions, conjugations, parts of speech and other exercises, and on account of its associations with one whose memory he reveres it is a much prized volume. His mother died when he was only fourteen years of age, and from that time he was dependent upon his own resources. At the age of eighteen he was induced by one of his schoolmates to accept a home with a certain man — a physician and farmer of Richfield, Summit county, Ohio — and with him remained for six years. When nineteen years of age he spent four months as a student in a seminary in Twinsburg, Ohio, and then engaged in teaching. In the meantime, however, he had endured many of the hardships incident to life on the frontier, had aided in splitting rails, in chopping wood and in performing the arduous task of developing a new farm. He was industrious and energetic, however, and his willingness to work enabled him to make ten dollars a month as a farm hand, which was considered a very good salary in those days. He was also economical, and when making only forty dollars a year managed to save twenty-three dollars of the amount. Thus carefully managing his expense account, when only twenty-one years of age he had money out at interest. As a teacher he was very successful and frequently had charge of schools numbering eighty pupils, both boys and girls, which necessitated his conducting two or three classes at one time. He not only had the ability to impart clearly and concisely to others the knowledge he had acquired, but was also an excellent disciplinarian and thus commanded the respect of his pupils and the commendation of the parents. After six years spent in teaching, however, Dr. Close turned his attention to other work.

In 1851 he entered the Ohio Medical College and was graduated in 1853, but, finding the practice of medicine distasteful, he ultimately abandoned the profession and turned his attention to dentistry. He was especially skillful in the diagnosis of a case and was a close student of the science of medicine and would undoubtedly have won success in practice had he persevered therein, but, fortunately for progression in dentistry, he entered the latter field. He studied in the office of Dr. John Allen, of Cincinnati, and subsequently came with him to New York city. A year later he brought his family to this state, and has since successfully engaged in practice in the metropolis. For ten years he was associated with Dr. Allen in his office and laboratory work, and in the invention and development of the new-process continuous-gum-work, not a little of the success of which is due to Dr. Close. In 1870 he opened an office of his own in Bond .street, New York, and has since occupied a position of the highest eminence in the dental profession for the splendid results secured in the work emanating from his laboratory. He has materially improved Dr. Allen's continuous-gum work by a secret process of his own, and he is the only specialist supplying this material to the dental manufacturers. He has now fully and completely perfected the continuous gum, and has thereby largely revolutionized old methods of dentistry. He gives especial attention to the building up of the gums and restoring sunken parts of cheeks and gums, and his accomplishments in this direction are marvelous. His specialty is in this line, and so perfect and successful is the work that he receives one hundred and fifty dollars for such a set of teeth. He has done work for P. T. Barnum, the celebrated circus man, for N. P. Willis, the poet of the Hudson valley, for Commodore Stoughton, and the late Schuyler Colfax and Commodore Stringham, and for others no less celebrated. His high standing in professional circles is shown by the fact that he is frequently called upon in consultation concerning difficult problems that arise in the profession. On one occasion he was called upon by the S. S. White Company, dental manufacturers; of Philadelphia, to pass upon and give his opinion regarding certain imperfections in the quality of teeth, and was pronounced by that company as the best authority on the subject in the country. His judgment on many dental questions is taken as final, for he is justly considered one of the most eminent representatives of the profession in the country.

On the 12th of May, 1852, Doctor Close was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Newell Gaston, daughter of David B. Gaston, and to them have been born four children: Monteith Edwards, who is engaged in the practice of dentistry in connection with his father; Zacheus Arthur, who is in the real-estate business in Depot Place, Mount Vernon; Martha Estelle, wife of Edward M. Davis, of Mount Vernon; and Charles Lincoln, who died at the age of sixteen months. In 1861 the Doctor removed his family from Ohio to New York city, and in the spring of 1863 came to Mount Vernon. After renting a dwelling for two years, he purchased three acres of land at the corner of Prospect and Clermont avenues, on Chester Hill, the most beautiful and aristocratic section of the city. Here he erected a residence which has since been his home, and no family stands higher in public regard than that of Dr. Close.

He has always been actively identified with the growth and development of the city, has promoted- a number of its business enterprises, is a member of the board of trade, and was formerly a trustee of the old Mount Vernon Artesian Well and Water Company. He served for three years as school trustee, was a member of the Hook and Ladder Company, and while residing in Ohio he served as postmaster at Glendale, a small town near Cincinnati, after abandoning the practice of medicine. Public office, however, has had no great attraction for him, as he has always preferred to devote his energies to his business. He belongs to Hiawatha Lodge, A. F. & A. M., also the chapter, council and commandery, and was formerly a member of the Sons of Temperance and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religious belief he is a Swedenborgian, and the Mount Vernon New Church Society held its first meeting at his home, in 1864, the services being conducted by the Rev. J. P. Stewart. Later the society occupied the Universalist church at Mount Vernon, but in 1873 a new house of worship was erected on Chester Hill, and Rev. Oliver Dyer was called to the pastorate. The Doctor had ever been a liberal contributor to the church, and has generously aided many charities and worthy movements for the benefit of his fellow men. He has devoted himself to that which he loves, — his family and his profession. His pleasant, genial manner wins him friends wherever he goes, haughtiness and ostentation finding no part in his composition. His years rest lightly upon him, and the fine physique which he developed in his earlier days has the vigor of a man many years his junior. He is a typical representative of the age in which he lives and the city in which he practices, and truly his life may be termed a success, for the discoveries he has made he has seen adopted and honored, — a success which is above that of the millionaire.

On June 10, 1899, since the above sketch was written, Dr. Close departed this life, lamented by a wide circle of friends.