BIOGRAPHY: Abram Myers; Nyack, Rockland co., New York

transcribed by W. David Samuelsen for USGenWeb Archives

***********************************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm

http://www.usgwarchives.org/ny/nyfiles.htm
***********************************************************************

Portrait and Biographical Record of Rockland and Orange Counties New York
Containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens of the Counties.
Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the Presidents of the United
States.
New York and Chicago; Chapman Publishing Co., 1895


ABRAM MYERS, of Nyack, was born in Fishkill, Dutchess County, N. V., November
2, 1835. The family of which he is a member was founded in this country about
1733, Col. John Myers, a native of Holland, being the first representative
here. The title by which he was familiarly known was received in the
Revolutionary War. From him the line of descent is traced through Peter and
John to Abram, Sr., father of our subject. The homestead in Fishkill has been
in the family for five generations, and the original deed is still in
existence.

Abram Myers, Sr., married Elizabeth Van Voorhis, daughter of Zachariah Van
Voorhis, whose ancestors settled on Long Island in 1660 and removed thence in
1730 to Fishkill. Abram and his wife spent their entire lives in that
locality, where he died at seventy-seven and she at the age of eighty-four. It
is an unusual fact that of nine children he was the youngest at the time of
death, and one of the number died in 1878, when ninety-four years old.

Of the parental family, one brother died in childhood, and Abram and a sister
are all who survive of seven children. In 1862 he left the home farm and went
to New York City, where he engaged in the provision business for a time.
He remained in that city until 1887, being mainly connected with the United
States Express Company, as agent in one of their down-town offices, for
nineteen years. On leaving New York he came to Nyack and here he has since
resided. In March, 1890, he was elected Village Trustee and served in that
capacity for two years. Later he was President of the Council for one year,
then out of office for a year, after which he was again elected, without
opposition, to the position he had formerly held. As President he succeeded in
closing the saloons on Sunday, a measure for which he received the thanks of
all good citizens. Streets were improved, sidewalks made, shade trees set out,
the fire company equipped with first-class buildings, and forty-one arc
electric lights, together with about twenty incandescent lights, introduced.
His services in these respects were of a most important nature, and he was
instrumental in greatly promoting the welfare of the village and the
appearance of the streets. Politically he affiliates with the Democrats.

In New York City, in 1863, Mr. Myers married Hannah Maria, daughter of Abram
J. Filter, a contractor of that place. On going to New York in 1862, our
subject and his mother had made their home with his sister, the father being
dead. He attended the Reformed Church and there met the young lady whom he
afterward married and whose father lived in a house adjoining that of his
sister. Abram J. Filter was born at Monsey, Rockland County, and when eighteen
went to New York, where he learned his trade with John Tucker, afterwards
succeeding that gentleman in business. He there married Cornelia Christ, who
was born in Montgomery, Orange County, being related to the Smith and
Millspaugh families, and who now makes her home with Mrs. Myers, her only
daughter. She has two sons, both of whom are engaged in the laundry business
in New York. In 1878 Mr. Filter retired from business, came to Nyack and
purchased the Eels residence, where he resided until his death, in 1886.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers and their son are members of the Reformed Church, in which
the first-named has been an active worker for forty years. For twenty-nine
years he has been a member of the Consistory of the church, and for
thirty-four years he has been a teacher in the Sunday-school. He and his wife
have an only son, Jacob Filter, now twenty-three years of age and a graduate
of the Packard Commercial College of New York. He is named in honor of his
great-grandfather, Jacob Filter, a native of Rockland County, and at one time
an extensive contractor in New York City. He erected the Lackawanna Coal
Building and many other large business blocks there. Among his friends were
many of the most prominent men of New York, to whom his upright character and
large talents had endeared him. Personally he was a man of striking appearance
and fine physique.