Charles Yates (March 1, 1808 – September 26, 1870) was a Brigadier-General during the American Civil War in command of the volunteer depot of New York City in 1861.[1][2]
Biography
He was born on March 1, 1808, in Schenectady, New York,[3] the fourth of six children and the third son of Henry Christopher Yates, an attorney-at-law; and for a number of years a New York State Senator and member of the Council of Appointment[3] and Catharine, daughter of Johannes Mynderse[4] and a grand nephew of Joseph Christopher Yates, who was an American lawyer, politician, statesman, and founding trustee of Union College. He was also a descendant of Jellis Douwese Fonda, who emigrated in 1642 to the Dutch colony of New Netherland (New York).
He graduated from Union College in 1829.[5] He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice first in Schenectady and later in New York City. He married as his first wife Cordelia Rowe, the daughter of James Rowe. They resided in New York City where they had a son and three daughters. Cordelia died at the age of 30 on August 19, 1856.[6] He married as his second wife, Josephine Bosworth[7] the daughter of New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Sollace Bosworth[8][9] and Frances Pumpelly. Frances was the first cousin of Raphael Pumpelly, an American geologist and explorer. Charles and Josephine had two daughters, Stella and Frances.
Col. Yates commanded the Fourth Regiment of the Second Brigade of the First Division of the New York State Militia before being promoted to brigadier-general and command of the brigade in the mid-1850s. Brig. Gen. Yates resigned his commission as commander of the New York National Guard 2nd Brigade in May 1866. He was also the brigade commander of New York City's First Irish Brigade.[15]
In April 1881 New York Supreme Court heard a case involving Yates' daughters and the estate of his first father-in-law, James Rowe. Judge Larremore ruled that Stella and Frances Yates — the daughters from Yates' second marriage — were entitled to the inheritance of their deceased half-sister Catharine, who died in 1874.[16]
^His father, an 1842 graduate of Yale, was first the Rector of St. Paul's Church in Windham, Connecticut, but soon after of St. Paul's, Wallingford, whence he removed to New Haven, and became Rector of Christ Church, in which position he remained highly esteemed and beloved for nearly thirty years. The Rev. Joseph Brewster ended his useful life on Nov. 20, 1895, during his incumbency of St. Michael's Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Brent, Charles Henry A master builder: being the life and letters of Henry Yates Satterlee, first bishop of Washington Publisher: Longmans, Green and Co., 1916.
Hamilton College. Obituary: New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Sollace Bosworth'; New York: Hamilton literary magazine, Volume 19 1885.
Howard, Nathan Howard's practice reports in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of the state of New York, Volume 61 Publisher: W. Gould, 1881.
Jones, Emma C. Brewster. The Brewster Genealogy, 1566-1907: a Record of the Descendants of William Brewster of the "Mayflower," ruling elder of the Pilgrim church which founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. New York: Grafton Press. 1908
Osborn, Norris Galpin. Men of mark in Connecticut: ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans, Volume 4; New York: W.R. Goodspeed, 1908.
Wright, R.W.Biographical record: Yale University. Class of 1842 R.W. Wright, compiler, Published by Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 1878
Yates, Austin A. Schenectady County, New York: Its History to the Close of the Nineteenth Century Publisher: New York History Company, 1902.