John Jay McKelvey Sr.

John Jay McKelvey (May 24, 1863 – October 19, 1947) was an American author, attorney, and preservationist who set precedents in establishing the Harvard Law Review and in framing case law to craft the environs of his Spuyten Duyvil community, New York.

Life John Jay (J. J.) McKelvey was born Sunday, May 24, 1863, in Sandusky, Ohio, to John McKelvey and Jane Rowland Huntington McKelvey. J. J.'s paternal grandparents were Matthew McKelvey and Nancy Adams McKelvey, and his paternal great-grandparents were William McKelvey and Mary Toppings McKelvey along with Bildad Adams and Mary Hines Adams. William McKelvey of Scotch-Irish American, Revolutionary War regality removed with an assembly after the war to the Western Reserve; where John McKelvey fashioned and financed Sandusky and a section of its first short line railroad, which was eventually enveloped by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Whereas, J. J.'s maternal grandparents were Apollos Huntington and Deborah Rowland Huntington with his maternal great-grandparents being American Revolutionary War soldier Elisha Huntington and Esther Ladd Huntington and great-grandparents of the William Rowland lineage. J. J.'s five siblings included: Janet Huntington McKelvey Swift, Alice Rowland McKelvey Milne, Jennie Adams McKelvey, Charles Sumner McKelvey, and Ralph Huntington McKelvey. J. J.'s sister Alice and father John helped document their family's English and Welsh pedigree, colonial ancestors, war-time service, and Fire Lands migration.

After successfully completing his college course, McKelvey initially married Mary Clark Mattocks on July 12, 1887 in Cleveland, Ohio, at the bride's childhood home. Before settling into their described "Bonnie Brae" on the Hudson River at Spuyten Duyvil, he and Mary visited her mother in Los Angeles, California to consolidate contiguous land for the completion of their estate on Palisade Avenue, New York City. In J. J.'s household, he afforded Irish servants, and he and Mary had four girls: Mary Alice McKelvey, Constance McKelvey, Ruth McKelvey, and Jane McKelvey. Midlife, McKelvey and Mary divorced; after which, he married Louise E. Brunning, June 10, 1914, and fathered three children: Louise McKelvey, John Jay McKelvey Jr., and Robert Adams McKelvey.

Education McKelvey graduated from Sandusky High School, Ohio, with first honors during June 1880 and entered Oberlin College during September 1880, where he completed his undergraduate classical studies, June 1884, earning an A.B. degree. helped prepare him for ten hour days of studying law, moot court, and the Socratic Method at Harvard, where he began during the autumn of 1884. By June 1887 he had graduated from Harvard with an A.M. degree from the College Department and a L.L.B. degree from the Law Department and cum laude credentials. To take the law review from idea to print, Chief McKelvey convinced law society mates to join his mission, and his intimate nucleus gaged the backing of Harvard professors and solicited subscription support from alumni. With proper organization and logistics, the review went to press, and Chief McKelvey bolstered the Harvard Law Review success, by lobbying his circle of influence, including the Oberlin contingency and Harvard alumni of Boston and New York City. Salesman, spokesman, organizer, chief, McKelvey essentially encouraged other law-truth-seekers to buy into the value of establishing the Harvard Law Review.

Attorney-at-law Admitted to the New York bar during 1888, after which, during 1889 McKelvey associated with DeLancey Nicoll. Between 1894 and 1895, McKelvey joined the law firm of Shepard, Terry, McKelvey, & Prentiss—a short-lived partnership, though fellow Harvard Law alumni Seth Sprague Terry would subsequently serve McKelvey as his counsel. McKelvey returned to practicing law alone, between 1895 and 1899. McKelvey longest law partnership was between 1906 and 1914 with the firm of McKelvey & Favour at 84 William Street where Alpheus Hoyt Favour and associates drew denunciations and dismissals. By 1919, McKelvey was displaying his own shingle, practicing law at 43 Cedar Street. but his involvement with the Pan-American Transcontinental Railway Company could have unhinged an elite career. Early to mid-career McKelvey began defending the risks and rights of lumber and insurance entities, and a New York City newspaper commentary listed McKelvey among a list of approximately 200 attorneys eligible and worthy to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court bench. McKelvey'sadvocacy and appearance work augmented his travel and influence from Canada to California to the Roosevelt White House, 1904 and kept his name in wide-ranging newspapers and respected industry periodicals, as an authority, appearing alongside the names of entities such as these: East Side Lumber Company Lumbers Exporters' Association Lumber Insurance Company of New York Lumber Insurers General Agency National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association of America Adirondack Fire Insurance Company Toledo Fire and Marine Insurance Company of New York Federal Union Fire Insurance Company Through the Park District Protective League, attorney McKelvey represented the realty rights and interests of wealthy landowners who lived along the Hudson River at Spuyten Duyvil. He defended the residents against adverse possession, easements, eminent domain, unfair property assessments, etc. With denials, fees, and decisions against the residents and their reserve, McKelvey switched tactics. He moved from a protective mode to a preservationist mind frame. McKelvey formed or managed companies, which he used to finesse the purchases of the Spuyten Duyvil estates from amiable residents and subsequently used the companies to control these multi-faceted realty transactions and help control urban growth. the land under water rights issue took McKelvey pleadings to the U.S. Supreme Court, 1934. McKelvey voluminous case load encompassed commercial contracts, real property and corporation law. However, his more noted (important) legal cases and/or counsel appearances were found with litigation that reached the New York Supreme Court.

Legal text Though not technically a treatise like Wigmore's, McKelvey's key legal writings, especially his two most popular texts have been revised and re-released at several intervals:

Legacy As early as 1901, concerned citizens began complaining about intruding patients from a nearby infirmary, meandering through their quaint neighborhoods, onto their verandas and lawns, loitering, and spitting phlegm. The complainants asserted that intruders were contaminating their vicinity and violating the local health department's "no spit rule," as well should be relocated along with the infirmary. ironically juxtaposed the gesture vs. symbolism. For decades the Spuyten Duyvil, Riverdale, Kingsbridge, and Hudson Park communities symbolized tranquil, picturesque manors, isolated for the influential, the industrialist, the informed who resented gestures of urban encroachment toward their enclaves of estate living.

Initially the co-naming resolutions were rejected by the then Council Member Andrew Cohen, but were later advanced by Council Member Eric Dinowitz to the NYC Council. On December 15, 2021, the Council voted in favor of a combined co-naming of the intersection of Palisade Avenue and Independence Avenue, at Bradley Terrace as "Palisade Avenue / John J. McKelvey Sr. Villa Rosa Bonheur Way".

On April 8, 2022, the street co-naming was unveiled in a public ceremony, hosted by Council Member Dinowitz, successfully ending the three year effort by community activist Stephanie Coggins for the historic acknowledgment of the contributions of McKelvey in Spuyten Duyvil and for preservation of the legacy of architectural gemstone Villa Rosa Bonheur, after its untimely and controversial demolition by a developer to build an apartment building. This demolition was in spite of the pronounced and extended outcry of the community.

Community involvement and membership Mr. McKelvey practiced community building, finding clients, membership, and participation in numerous organizations, including those listed below:

Academia Oberlin College, Trustee Nominee Barnard School for Boys, Inc., Trustee

Arts American Museum of Natural History Metropolitan Museum of Art

Civic Hudson–Fulton Celebration Commission (Bronx, Contracts Committee) Henry Hudson Monument Association (Secretary, Fundraiser) Park District Protective League (Trustee)

Legal American Bar Association New York State Bar Association New York City Bar Association Harvard Law Association

Social Ardsley City (now Country) Club City Reform Club, New York City Harvard Club of New York City New York Oberlin Alumni Association

Other Edgehill Church, Founder, Incorporator, Trustee, Spuyten Duyvil Oberlin College Library (Book Collection & Monetary Donations)

Politics and religion In print and in person McKelvey may have been described as an independent Democrat and Protestant who in theory politically backed free silver opponents but walked in practice with the capitalists and industrialists of his day, such as the Hearsts and Rockefellers.