HEWITT. hfi'it, ABRAM STEVENS I 1822-1903). An American manufacturer and public man, born at Ilaverstraw. N. Y., and educated at Columbia College. where he was acting professor of mathe !unties in 1843. He studied law and was ad mitted to the bar in 1844. hut defective eyesight prevented him from practicing, and he engaged in the manufacture of iron with Edward Cooper, the son of Peter Cooper, and a college classmate, who later became his brother-in-law. In 1S62 Mr. 'Hewitt learned in England the process for making gun-barrel iron, and upon his retirement in 1876 as president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, he delivered a widely read address upon .1 Century of _Vining and Metal lurgy in the United States. He served in Con gress in 1871-79 and 1881-86. was chairman of the National Democratic Committee which di rected the Tilden campaign in 1876. and was a Democratic member of the House committee which, in 1877, conferred with a similar com mittee from the Senate in regard to the choice of an electoral commission to settle the disputed Presidential election. In 1886 he was elected
Mayor of New York City. defeating Henry George and Theodore Roosevelt. He was an earnest worker for good government and labored with much success for municipal reform. After his administration of two years he remained closely identified with municipal /110VelIWIli`;, and for his services in furthering the rapid-transit plan in New York City he was awarded a gold medal by the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1901. As a public 'benefactor he gave great aid to numerous institutions, and the present educa tional prominence of Cooper founded by his father-in-law in New York City, is due large ly to his services as trustee and secretary. lie was chosen chairman of the trustees of the Car negie Institution at its organization in 1901.