Edward Crary Cammann


Merrick Library Association Merrick Library Association Merrick Library Association

Edward Crary Cammann, born 1874, was the son of Hermann H. Cammann, a realtor and the Controller of the Trinity Church Corporation.  Through his mother, Ella Crary, Edward was the great grandson of Robert Fulton.  The Cammanns were considered one of the old families of New York, with connections to the Schuylers, Livingstons, and Van Cortlandts, among others.  

 

The 1900 Social Register lists Edward as residing at his parents’ home at 43 W. 38th Street in Manhattan.  The Cammanns also had a farm called "Lindenmere" in Merrick, which was then a rural area.  Edward seems to have developed an affection for country life, as he and his friend Richard P. Kent established the Merrick Library in 1891, when they were in their late teens.  They also planted elm trees along Merrick Avenue and acted as vestrymen for the Church of the Redeemer in Merrick.   Edward attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, but apparently did not graduate.

 

Edward acted as president of the library until 1926, when Kent took over the position.  According to volume 2 of A History of Long Island, from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, "Mr. Edward C. Cammann gave to the library his untiring interest and used his means liberally" to support it.

 

In 1909 Edward married Helena Van Kortlandt Clarkson.  Edward entered the real estate business, eventually becoming a director of the Fulton Trust Company.  In 1908 he was listed as being a director of the City of New York Insurance Comapny.  He also served as secretary for the Real Estate Board of New York.  By 1930 Edward was senior partner in the firm of Vorhees & Floyd.

 

During World War I, Cammann "Served on committees for all the liberty loan drives.  [He was] Also a member of the American Protective League, under the Department of Justice, from Ocatober 15, 1917, to the end of the War."

 

At his death in 1936, Edward lived at 52 E. 92nd St with his wife and his son, Robert Livingston Cammann born in 1912. The Cammanns had second son, John Clarkson Cammann, who was born in 1913 and died in 1934.

 

Edward belonged to the Colonial Lords of the Manor, the St. Nicholas Society and the UnionDownTown and Church clubs.  He also belonged to the Society of Colonial Wars.