Cornelius Henry DeLamater (August 30, 1821 – February 2, 1889) was an industrialist who owned DeLamater Iron Works in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The steam boilers and machinery for the ironclad were built in DeLamater's foundry during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

.A Well Spent Life; Incidents in the Record of Cornelius H. DeLamater
''The New York Times''. Feb 10, 1889. Swedish marine engineer and inventor

John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive ''Novelty'', which co ...

considered DeLamater his closest, most intimate friend.

Life

Cornelius H. DeLamater was born on August 30, 1821, in Rhinebeck, New York, his family moving to New York City when Cornelius was three years old. His father was hired by a very small iron foundry, the Phoenix Iron Works of James Cunningham on West Street, as cashier and confidential advisor. At 16, Cornelius entered the Phoenix Foundry, and at age 20, upon the death of Cunningham, he formed a co-partnership with Peter Hogg under the name Hogg and DeLamater. This firm continued from 1842 to 1857, when Hogg retired from the business. The firm was re-formed as the DeLamater Iron Works, and moved to the foot of West 13th Street on the West side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. At an early age, DeLamater developed an unusual ability in solving problems that were then developing in regard to steam engineering and machinery. During the

he worked with Capt.

in the development of the ironclads and , which were constructed in an incredibly short space of time. In time, the DeLamater Iron Works became known as the asylum where inventors and capitalists could go to experiment and attempt new feats. The ''Iron Witch'' was next constructed, the first iron steamboat. The hot air engine of Capt. Ericsson was first introduced in the ship ''Ericsson'', which was built entirely by DeLamater. The DeLamater Iron Works was also the place where the first submarine boat, first self-propelled torpedo, first torpedo boat, and the engines for the original ''Monitor'' were built. At the time of his death, the DeLamater Iron Works employed over 1000 men.

Eaton's Neck Estate

DeLamater's leisure moments were spent at Beacon Farm on Eatons Neck, Long Island, New York, where he had of choice land on the North Shore of Long Island, and the "finest blooded stock in America" as described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. The DeLamater Estate included everything beyond what is today #325 Asharoken Avenue. This includes the upper half of Asharoken Beach, the Morgan Estate, the Eaton Harbors or Two Acre Zone of Eaton's Neck, and the Bevin Road peninsula in

Asharoken Asharoken is a village in the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York. The population was 654 at the 2010 census. History Asharoken incorporated as a village in 1925, so as to have a greater ability ...

. The DeLamater Mansion still stands today on the Eatons Neck peninsula, and was rented in 1942 by French author Antoine de Saint Exupéry who wrote ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...

'' while at the mansion. The children and grandchildren of DeLamater also built mansions over time in Eaton's Neck and Asharoken that still stand today, namely "The Point", "The Nest", "The Crest", and " The Hill". The DeLamaters also renovated two existing colonial structures for family estates, namely "Cherry Lawn" and "Oak Leaf".

Death

On February 2, 1889, Cornelius DeLamater died at his home in New York City, and over 600 of his employees attended his funeral, with 500 of them accompanying the casket on board a special train that took the funeral procession from Manhattan to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.Mourned by Rich and Poor; Cornelius H. DeLamater's Funeral Was Largely Attended
''The New York Times''. Feb 11, 1889.

References

External links

Cornelius H. DeLamater biography
Spinzia, Raymond E. and Judith A. Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes. vol I. College Station, TX VirtualBookworm, 2006
(spinzialongislandestates.com)
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeLamater, Cornelius H. 1821 births 1889 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) People from Huntington, New York Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Houses in Suffolk County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County, New York 19th-century American businesspeople

Life

Eaton's Neck Estate

Death

See also

References

External links