Private papers, letters and diaries: Biographical note on Henry A. Gumbleton

Henry A. Gumbleton, who served a long time as Deputy County Clerk, is in [the Fifth District delegation]. Mr. Gumbleton was well qualified for the position he held, by his long experience in the office, and was well-liked and admired by all those whose business called them there. He was born in this city on the 14th September, 1846, and therefore, is quite a young man. He received his education in Ward School No 21, under the principalship of John Boyle, and entered in a class to the Free Academy. He was a faithful student, and graduated from the institution--which is now the College of the City of New York--in the summer of 1863.

In 1865, County Clerk W. C. Conner appointed him as his private secretary, which place he filled with great credit to himself and to the full satisfaction of Mr. Conner, so much so that he advanced him to the office of Assistant Deputy, on the 15th of April 1866, which office he held under his successor, Charles E. Loew, until, by the latter gentleman, on the first of January, 1870, he was made the Deputy Clerk of the City and County of New York. On the election of th4e present County Clerk, Mr. Gumbleton ws reappointed, and the appointment was received with gratification by the bar and all those whose business pertained to the office. He labored, during the years he was connected with the County Clerk's office, to acquire an intimate knowledge of its requirements, and he succeeded to such a degeree, that there was no detail connected with the office, or with the Supreme Court, in its clerical branches, that he was not perfectly familiar with. For three yor four years past he has been connected with Tammany Hall, being a member of the General Committee, and a representative in the Committee on Organization from the Fifth Assembly District; and while he is not an obtrusive man, he has had the faculty of making and retaining friends. He was named in the Convention that nominated County Clerk Walsh, but withdrew his name in favor of Mr. Walsh. Mr Gumbleton was apponted on the 5th March, as Deputy Commissioner of Public Works, in the place of Preston W. Barker, removed. Mr. Gumbleton is not a politician in the strict meaning of the term. He does not owe his elevation to any particular influence he may have in the party; it has been due to his merit and proficiency and courteous manners. It is one of the pleasing characters of his nature, that he treats all persons alike, and all who meet him fail not to be favorably impressed with his refined and cultivated disposition. He retired from the County Clerk's office with the kindest wishes of those with whom he had been connected so long.

M B Brown: The Tammany Hall Democracy of the City of New York
1875

People mentioned

• Henry Aloysius GUMBLETON