John Sutphin [The student who was to portray him was unable to appear.]
My name is John Sutphin and I was born in August of 1835 on Long Island, later living on Fulton Street in Jamaica. I was from an old Dutch family.
I was elected Justice of the Peace in Jamaica and tried only one case. After a conviction, I tried to impose a fine or imprisonment, but felt I could not do that, so I often paid the fine myself. I decided to quit. After all, how can anyone keep a job like this and also keep his friends?
For thirty years I held the offices of Deputy County Clerk of Queens, and the Chairman of the Democratic County Committee. I also helped form the Jamaica Savings Bank and remained its President the rest of my life. In this field I was a well-respected man in my time but naturally made some enemies. To shield my morbidly sensitive wife Carrie from extra stress, I gave strict orders to the servants that no local papers would ever enter my home.
I guess I was not in the proper vocation. Any one who came to me with a hard luck story ended up with their problems being solved with my money. I gave to everyone who needed help. I tore up their notes of credit, and did not ask for the money back. And a sad note to this is that some of the same people who I gifted money to were later responsible for my removal as County Clerk in 1897.
I gave away between a million and a half and two million dollars in my lifetime. I paid rent regularly for 55 families and friends, never asking anything in return. Many of the men of this town today are who they are because of my generosity. My advice made many a man a success.
Oh, by the way...do not say anything about this to my wife. She has no idea that I have given everything away!
Presented May 22, 2004 by The Richmond Hill Historical Society, Maple Grove Cemetery, and The Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY (Dr. Charlene Jaffie, principal).
Copyright © 2004 Carl Ballenas & Nancy Cataldi.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
