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William Jay Gaynor (February 2, 1849September 10, 1913) was an American politician from New York City, associated with the Tammany Hall political machine. He served as the 94th mayor of the City of New York from 1910 to 1913, and previously as a New York Supreme Court Justice from 1893 to 1909. As mayor he was noted as a reformer who broke ranks and refused to take orders from the Tammany boss Charles Francis Murphy. ==Early life== Gaynor was born in Oriskany, New York on February 2, 1849〔Ralph J. Caliendo, (''New York City Mayors: Part II: the Mayors of Greater New York From 1898'', p. 26 )〕 to Keiron Gaynor. He grew up on a farm with his brother, Thomas. As a boy, he developed an interest in wandering the countryside where they lived, exploring nature and trying to figure out why things were the way they were. He was a studious boy, a trait which his father encouraged. As he was on the clumsy side, when it came to farmwork, his brother Tom usually took on the heavier chores. For his education, he first attended the local public school, then was sent to the Whiteboro Seminary. The Gaynor family were Irish and devout Roman Catholics, thus, when weather permitted, on Sundays they would head to the nearby city of Utica to attend Mass at St. John's Church on Bleecker Street. As William entered his teenage years, he began to show a religious fervor that led his parents to think that he might have a vocation to the Church. Both to test this, and for reasons of affordability, he was enrolled in the Assumption Academy in Utica. This was staffed by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who had recently come to the United States from France in 1848. William flourished in that school, and soon decided that he did indeed wish to become a member of their religious congregation. In December 1863, he was sent to New York City to enter the novitiate of the congregation. This was located at 44 East 2nd Street. The date of birth he gave at his admission was February 2, 1848, thus he was still fifteen at the time he was received. He was given the habit of the Institute, and named Brother Adrian Denys. He spent the next four years in this house, both in training and soon in teaching in nearby parish schools. In 1868, he was one of a group of Brothers chosen to be sent to San Francisco to take care of St. Mary's College there. They sailed from New York on July 16, aboard the ''SS Ocean Queen''. By this time, however, as well as the usual readings in history, philosophy and the Church Fathers suggested to the Brothers, Gaynor had been reading and absorbing the reflection of a wide range of writers, mostly the ancient Stoic philosophers. One lifetime favorite which he found was the ''Autobiography'' of Benjamin Franklin, where he found much that resonated with his own way of thinking. The book was to be his lifelong companion. As a result, however, by the time the small group of Brothers had arrived at their destination, Gaynor had lost his belief in organized Christianity and had decided to leave the Institute. Because of his youth, he had never taken religious vows, as he was too young to do so under the regulations of the Brothers, thus there was no canonical impediment to his departure. He made his way back home to Utica, where his family now lived, arriving late that same year. How he managed that journey he never shared, other than to say that it had not been an easy or pleasant experience. His father welcomed him back and helped him to secure a position with the law firm of Horatio and John Seymour, that he might learn enough law to read for the bar. This was to be the start of his entry into the political arena, as Horatio Seymour had recently served as Governor of New York, and had just run as the Democratic Party's candidate for President of the United States against Ulysses S. Grant. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Jay Gaynor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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