Craft Masonry in Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York

efore he was old enough to vote he developed a degree of skill as a politicial tactician which was both the wonder and the pride of
his Bedford associates. It was said of him by Chauncey M. Depew, “There was Jim Husted, keen as a razor always. He took politics
as natuarally as a duck takes to water.”
After a preparatory course at the Bedford Academy young Husted graduated from Yale College in
1854 with honors. He promptly turned his attention politics and to law and studied with Edward
Wells of Peekskill, being admitted to the bar in 1857. The first party to which he gave his
allegiance was the Know-Nothing Party, and for about two years he was Secretary of the
American State Council. In 1855 he was chosen town Superintendent of Schools. Three years
later he was elected School Commissioner of Westchester County on the Know-Nothing ticket.
He refused to go with the Know-Nothings when they amalgamated with the Democratic Party, and
when the Utica Convention of 1859 completed that union he published a vigorous protest against
what he styled “a betrayal of the principles upon which the Know-Nothing Party was founded.” He
soon afterward cast his lot with the Republican Party. The Hon. William Barnes, State
Superintenden of the Insurance Department, appointed Bro. Barnes a Deputy Superintendent in
1860, and office which the restless young politician held until he was made a Harbormaster of
New York in 1862. Subsequently he became Deputy Collector of the port. In the meantime he
maintained his law practice in Peekskill and had more or less to say about the management of
local politics in Westchester County.
The remarkable legislative record of James began in 1859, he having been elected in the Fall of the previous year as a member of
the Assembly from the Third Westchester District. The first few days of the session enabled him to win recognition and respect as a
debater, and at the end of the session he was one of the prominent members of the lower house. In his first year he was Chairman
of the Committee on Federal Relations and a member of the Committee on Commerce and Navigation. So well did he please his
constituents that in the Fall of 1869 they re-elected him by a largely increased majority. He ran more than 800 ahead of his ticket.
His second year in the Assembly added to his reputation as a debater. He was returned to the Assembly for ten successive years,
becoming one of the most influential men in the House. In 1873 he was the Chairman of the Committee on Education.
In 1874 Bro. Husted was elected by a unanimous vote of the Republicans, to be Speaker of the Assembly for the first time,
succeeding Alonzo B. Cornell. He was re-elected in 1876 and 1878. In the summer of 1878 he announced that he would not be a
candidate for the legislature from the Westchester district again.
When the Republicans of the neighboring County of Rockland ascertained that the ‘Bald Eagle’ of Westchester was not returning to
the Assembly, they urged him to take flight to their county and try wrest an Assembly district from the Democratic stronghold of
Rockland, which he promptly accomplished in 1879. “Old Salt” Alvord was Speaker of that Assembly, and Gen. Husted was made
Chairman on Rules, also a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, Cities, Insurance, and special committee on employes
of the House. The next Autumn he was again elected to the Assembly from Rockland County; Gen George H. Sharpe became
Speaker, and to Gen. Husted was awarded the Chairmanship of the Committee on Ways and Means.
The Republicans of his old district insisted on his returning in the Fall of 1880, where they again sent him to the Assembly with a
rousing majority. He served that year on the Judiciary Committee and on the committees on two-thirds and three-fifths bills. From
1884 on Gen. Husted’s Weschester constituents clung to him loyally and elected him to the Assembly each succeeding year.
The adjournment of the Legislature of 1892 rounded off 22 years of continuous service, and he alone enjoyed the high distinction of
having been elected Speaker of the Assembly for the sixth time on the occasion of which on 7 Jan 1800 the General said: ”This
marked expression of your confidence and regard fills to the brim the cup of my legislative ambition. A service bounded by the exact
period of legal manhood is crowned at your hands by a reward which finds no parallel on the records of the State.”
The rank of General was conferred upon Bro. Husted by Governor Dix, who in March 1873 appointed him to be Major General of the
Fifth Division of the National Guard, in place of General Gates, who had resigned. The appointment was so well received that the
Assembly unanimously passed a resolution thanking Gov. Dix for making it. Prior to his promotion, Gen. Husted has been Judge
Advocate on the staff of the Seventh Brigade, State Militia. He continued in command of the Fifth Brigade for several years, and he
was President of the New York State Military Association in 1875-76.
Bro. Husted joined the Masonic fraternity in early life having been a Knights Templar and serving as a District Deputy Grand Master
and:
1870-73 Junior Grand Warden
1874-75 Senior Grand Warden
1876 Grand Master, F&AM, of the State of New York
Crowned an Hononary Member, 33 o , Supreme Council, AASR, NMJ
He also served as vestryman of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. Besides his pleasant home in Peekskill, he also had a camp in the
Adirondacks where he delighted to entertain his friends. He married, 21 Dec 1859, at Peekskill, NY, Helen Mar Southard, born 14
Mar 1841, at Croton, NY, died 20 Jan 1909, at Peekskill. She was the daughter of Thomas D. and Harriet (Jordan) Southard.
Children of James and Helen were ( http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/historical/SouthernNewYork2/sny2_pt102.htm ):
1. Thomas Daniel b. 18 Sep 1860; d. 11 Jan 1905; Yale 1883; m. Carrie L. Clinton
2. Carrie m. 21 Nov 1889, John Myer Shedd, a lawyer
3. James William, Jr. b. 16 Mar 1870; d, 2 Jan 1925; Yale 1892; m. 12 Jun 1895, Louise W. Spalding
4. Helen Southard
5. Harriet Anna student at St. Agnes School, Albany, NY
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