USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913 Volume III > Part 37
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Mahlon, son of James Whittemore, was known and appreciated not alone in Newark, but far beyond its limits. His magnificent voice was heard for many years in St. Patrick's Cathedral and in the Second Presby- terian Church, of which he was the choirmaster.
George D., son of Mahlon Whittemore, in early life was famous as a choir boy in Grace Episcopal Church. There he was taught by one of the most accomplished instructors the country has ever produced. He was only a lad of fifteen years at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, yet he at once volunteered his services, and enlisted in 1861. He served through the greater part of the war, and his arduous work was with the First New York Engineers at Port Royal, Fort Wagner, Folly Island, in front of Petersburg, Virginia, and on other important fields of battle. During all this time he was but once on the sick list. While serving under General Butler in Virginia, he was detailed to the Engineers' Supply Depot at Fortress Monroe during the last six months of his service, and was honor- ably discharged at the expiration of his term, at Varina, Virginia. Ile is a charter member of Marcus L. Ward Post, Grand Army of the Republic; Pythagoras Lodge, No. 118, Free and Accepted Masons; Kane Council, Royal and Select Masters; New Jersey Consistory, Scottish Rite; and Salaam Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Whittemore has amply demon- strated his ability in every walk of life, both public and private, and has with Justice earned the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens.
GERHARD H. MENNEN
The history of business in the United States is full of instances of men who, by dint of their peculiarly constructive ability as born leaders of men, have built up out of modest beginnings colossal fortunes, and have put into operation enterprises that have furnished work to thousands of employees. The rearing of such structures in the world of business has been one of the striking features of the industrial movements of the present time, and the men who are responsible for the conception and organization of these great aggregations of human energy are to be accounted benefactors of the society that has produced them. They are generally men whose native resourcefulness and indomitable energy would in any circumstances inev- itbly have brought them into the class of the leaders of civic growth and development.
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Of this class of the self made American business man with his large constructive imagination, firm grasp of essentials of the methods of business growth, and keen insight into human character through which his plans were to be carried out, was Gerhard H. Mennen, who by his courage and invincible determination created the industry which has carried his name from end to end of the continent.
Gerhard H. Mennen was one of those foreign born citizens of the American republic who found in its large opportunities the chance for development withheld by the narrower circumstances of his German home. lle was one of the many European boys to whom the new world with its open doors and larger field offered the chance for which his natural ability called. He was born at Vegesack, near Bremen, in Germany, July 13, 1856. He was fortunate in having his earliest school training of the thorough German type, having been sent first to the Latin school and later to the Gymnasium of Bremen, and evincing even at this early age those qualifica- tions that marked him for success later in life. His school days here came to an end when he was fifteen years old and shortly after this he was brought by his parents when they emigrated to America. The first position he obtained was that of errand boy in a butcher shop in the old Washington Market, in the lower part of New York City. But he was ever keenly on the alert for opportunities of advancement and self improvement and his next step was as assistant in a survey of the Hoboken swamps. These swamps with their vast clouds of mosquitoes were fertile breeding places for malaria, and he was soon so crippled by this disease that he was com- pelled to give up the work. He next obtained a position in the pharmacy of Mr. Lunitz in New York, and then he showed the stuff of which he was made and gained the entire confidence of his employer. Attracted by the promise of the lad, Mr. Lunitz treated him with the greatest indulgence and encouraged him in his ambition to improve himself by allowing him to attend the New York College of Pharmacy in the evenings. He made the most of this opportunity, and February 3, 1875, he graduated from the institution. His interest in the drug business became such that he deter- mined to devote himself to it entirely, and immediately after his gradua- tion from the College of Pharmacy he came to Newark and entered the employ of Albert Brandt, who had a drug business in that city. The potentialities of the young man soon began to show themselves, and the lat- ent ingenuity of his mind began to have play. He devoted himself with char- acteristic energy to the commercial side of his work in business hours, and in his leisure hours gave himself with as great ardor to study and investiga- tion. After leaving Mr. Brandt, Mr. Mennen went into business for himself, and it was in his own drug store that he carried on his experimenting. The "Corn Killer" was the first of his specialties-a sovereign remedy-and it was after this that he began work on his "Mennen's Talcum Powder," which had its first introduction on the market about 1889.
The history of the growth of the talcum powder industry is an interest- ing chapter in the development of a manufacturing enterprise. Less than a dozen years from the start it had grown to enormous proportions. It was the first powder to be medicated with boracic acid, and he only adopted his formula after much experimenting, and conferences with prominent physicians, to determine the correct proportions. His next great care was to be sure that the powder made according to the original formula was as absolutely perfect as was possible. He made sure that there was no other article of the kind on the market that could surpass his. He perfected the
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first opening and closing sifter top can as a receptacle-the perfected powder and perfected package putting his article in a class by itself. In this form it was introduced to the trade, beginning in its home town of Newark, and gradually spreading in widening circles till now it is known throughout the entire world. Assured of its excellence, his next move was to advertise widely and wisely. Mr. Mennen attributed in later years his great success in a large measure to the extensive and judicious use of advertising in which he had always been a firm believer. Before his death he was one of the largest advertisers in the country, spending as much as $250,000 annually on that alone. In all public places there were posted the familiar words, "Mennen's Talcum Powder." Rarely was there a street car, elevated or steam car, railroad station, newspaper or magazine that did not somewhere bear the well-known inscription. Every periodical and magazine known to the reading public had somewhere on its pages the familiar words and trade-mark which consisted of the portrait of Mr. Mennen. The National Advertiser, a periodical devoted to the subject, referred to him as one of the largest and most judicious advertisers in the world of business. He hesitated at no outlay, however enormous, if the results seemed to justify the expenditure. There were times when he paid as much as $4,000 for a single expenditure, and to-day as much as $10,000 per page is paid in some periodicals, and the Mennen portrait trade-mark is reputed to have been printed and published more times than any other trade-mark. In referring to the subject, Mr. Mennen himself once said: "My advertising bills amount to over $13,000 a week and are steadily increasing, but my business is also increasing.". This was exactly true, the volume of business growing steadily year by year, and becoming the year before his death larger than ever before.
A testimony to the excellence of this talcum powder so widely known as almost to have become a household word, was given during the Spanish- American War, and for more than a year after the cessation of hostilities, when the United States Government ordered large consignments for use in its hospitals. At this time the orders from this source alone called for one hundred gross of the powder a month. It was used not only in the hospitals of the military posts in this country, but also sent to Cuba, Porto Rico, the Sandwich Islands and the Philippines.
On October 15, 1892, the business was incorporated and again a reor- ganization was made after the death of Mr. Mennen, this time with Mrs. Mennen at the head of the corporation, and holding also the office of treas- urer. John J. Korb became vice-president and assistant treasurer, and Charles F. Klippert, secretary. The business that began in such a quiet way in the laboratory of a drug store has grown to an industry of enor- mous proportions. The branch offices of the firm are to be found in all the large cities of the civilized world, and it has its own manufactories in Montreal, Canada, and Monterey, Mexico, while branch homes in Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic and other countries handle the product of the New Jersey laboratories, and distribute it to the smaller centers.
The death of Mr. Mennen occurred February 3, 1902, and left a gap in the community not easily to be filled. He was a man of the broadest outlook on life, and of the most generous and liberal views. Cast in a large mould, he would have made a success of anything he undertook, since his energy, courage and determination were such as to overcome all obstacles. 'His personality was modest and unassuming, notwithstanding the success he had achieved, and the millions of dollars he had made by his
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own efforts. He never varied from the quiet mode of life that he early had chosen as the one most befitting his tastes. Genial and tactful, his inter- course with his friends and subordinates was always marked with esteem and consideration. Regarded by his associates with affectionate and cordial respect, his death left in the community a sense of irreparable loss. In his political opinions Mr. Mennen was a Republican, but he was never bigoted in his views. He was a Mason and a member of several social organizations.
Mr. Mennen married, August 27, 1882, Elma C., daughter of John J. Korb, of Newark. They had a daughter, Elma C. R., and a son, William G., who, with Mrs. Mennen, survive him.
ARTHUR GRANT BALCOM
Arthur Grant Balcom, one of the best known educators of Newark, was born in Burlington, Otsego county, New York, April 17, 1866. He is the son of Amasa Willard Balcom, a farmer of Otsego county, and of Louisa (Talbot) Balcom, daughter of Reuben Talbot, of New York State. Arthur Grant Balcom is the youngest of a family of five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Amasa Balcom. The others are: Sheffield S., Archibald, Jesse I. and Dwight E. Although born in New York State, Arthur Grant Balcom is of New England stock, his grandfather, Eli Balcom, having come from Massachusetts. Two of his mother's brothers served in the Civil War, having seen active service as members of the Army of the Potomac, and were wounded several times.
Arthur Grant Balcom early displayed a taste for study and after com- pleting his elementary education at the district schools of Otsego county, he pursued a course of studies at the Academy of Hartwick, New York, and later at the Albany Normal School, graduating from this in 1887. Soon after leaving the normal school Mr. Balcom began his long and useful career as a teacher in New Jersey, having been appointed principal of the New Providence School, a post he retained for two years. He then removed to Kearny, New Jersey, to become principal of School No. 2. Ile remained in Kearny for six years, doing such excellent work that he was made Superintendent of Schools. In September, 1895, the general appreciation of his work was marked by a call to the Franklin School of Newark. He accepted the position and removed to Newark, where he still retains his connection with the Franklin School. In addition to the principalship of that school he was appointed, in 1901, supervisor of the evening schools of Newark. In 1902 the duties of supervisor of lectures were added to those he already had assumed. By 1906, however, the work of supervisor of evening schools and of lectures had so enlarged and developed that it ' became necessary to divide the burden, and Mr. Balcom was given his choice of work. He decided that as supervisor of lectures his influence would be wider and the work more congenial, and he was accordingly appointed to that position, which he has since filled to the great satisfaction of the public.
In addition to his arduous pedagogic duties, Mr. Balcom finds time and interest for athletics. He was one of the organizers of the Newark Public School Athletic Association, which was formed April 26, 1904, and of which he has been president since its inception. He is a musician of recognized ability, possessing a fine bass voice of unusual range. He has studied voice culture with some of the leading teachers of Newark and New York. He has been choir director and bass soloist in a number of
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leading churches of Newark and suburbs. He organized and is a member of the Apollo Male Quartet of Newark, whose work is well known to music- lovers in the metropolitan district. He is also interested in fraternal societies, and is a member of the Copestone Lodge, No. 147, of Free and Accepted Masons, and of Safety Conclave, Improved Order of Heptasophs, of Kearny. In politics, he is a Republican, and he is a member of the Northern Republican Club.
Mr. Balcom married, May 13, 1892, Grace, daughter of Samuel R. and Matilda (Dickinson) Valentine, of New Providence, New Jersey.
PHILIP H. RUTTER
Business center as the city of Newark, New Jersey, is conceded to be, there are some forms of industry which naturally push themselves into the foreground, especially when they are so effectively handled as is the case with the interests of the Newark Electric Supply Company, of which Philip HI. Rutter is the manager and treasurer. A great deal of the success of this corporation is directly due to the personal efforts of Mr. Rutter, who may with truth be considered one of the most capable business men of the city. His father, Philip Rutter, was a sea captain for very many years, sailing between New York and southern ports.
Philip H. Rutter, the son, was born in Barnegat, New Jersey, June 21, 1873. He attended the schools of that section of the State, and, upon the completion of his education, which he had greatly furthered by his earnest endeavors, he became a traveling salesman for the James S. Mason Com- pany, of Philadelphia, and followed this line of business for a period of nine years. In 1901 he came to Newark, deciding that that city offered the best opportunities for the development of the ideas he had in view. He established himself in the electrical business in association with Edward S. Mills. After the death of Mr. Mills, in 1908, the business was incorporated, continuing the name, Newark Electric Supply Company, as exists at the present time (1913). Mr. Rutter was elected treasurer and assumed the entire management of the corporation. They handle all kinds of electric material and appliances, in fact, everything electrical, and have a con- stantly growing trade. In 1908 the amount of the business transacted annually was $35,000; in 1912, but four years later, this amount had Increased to nearly $200,000 annually, an enormous percentage of increase. There is every reason and indication to believe that this increase will be a normal one for a considerable number of years to come. Mr. Rutter is a member of the following named organizations: Newark Board of Trade, Indian League, Passaic River Yacht Club, Sons of Jove, Electrical Supply Jobbers' Association and the Seaside Park Yacht Club.
Mr. Rutter married Ona Bell Adams, of Dayton, Ohio. They have children: Eugene Cecil, seven years of age, and Edward Mills, four years old. In political matters, Mr. Rutter is a staunch Republican; but has never aspired to holding public office. His business transactions are con- ducted on a basis of the strictest integrity, and he is universally esteemed . as a man of high principles. He is exceedingly hospitable and companion- able, and is well liked in the social world.
CHARLES M. SHIPMAN
The Department of Public Works of the city of Newark is capably and beneficially represented by Charles M. Shipman, an energetic and progressivo
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man of more than an ordinary share of executive ability, of whom it may truthfully be said that "he is the right man in the right place."
Mr. Shipman was born in Whippany, Morris county, New Jersey, in 1851, and received his education in the public schools of that town. Equipped for his life work by his earnest attention to his studies during the years of his attendance at the schools, at the age of fifteen years he formed a business connection with Samuel Dennis & Company, who were then in business at the corner of Dey and Washington streets, New York City. His careful attention to the details of the work entrusted to his charge, his readiness to do "just a little more" than was absolutely required from him, and the business ability he displayed from the very outset of his career, gained him rapid and consistent advancement until, in 1872, he was admitted to a partnership in the firm. In 1890 the name of the firm was changed to Charles C. Chovey & Company, at which time Mr. Shipman withdrew from membership in it and established himself in business inde- pendently, beginning the manufacture of horse brushes. He was engaged in this on a very large scale, having three factories in operation-one in Brooklyn, New York; another in Kingston, New York, and the third in Sackanossett-but sold all in 1893, when he devoted his time to still more important interests. In that year he was appointed general superintendent of the New Jersey Traction Company, which was later operated under the name of the Consolidated Traction Company, and later to the New Jersey Street Railroad Company, Mr. Shipman remaining in office until the com- pany became a public service corporation. In 1905 he was appointed to his present office, and so capable has been his management of the difficult problems which have been submitted to him that it is very probable that he will remain the incumbent until he resigns of his own free will.
In political affairs Mr. Shipman is a firm and consistent supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and gives careful consideration to all matters concerning the public welfare. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and has attained the thirty-second degree in that organiza- tion; he is also a member of the North End Club of Newark, and of the Automobile Association of Newark.
Mr. Shipman married Mary T. Britton, of Newdorp, Staten Island, New York, and their children are: Charles, manager of the Oakland Chemical Company, Roseville, Staten Island, and Bijou A., who married Charles William Bruce, of Jersey City. Mr. Shipman is quick-witted and broad-minded, and the eminent measure of success which has attended his efforts in behalf of the welfare of the community, was but a natural and inevitable result. It has attracted widespread attention and has made him a man of whom the entire city may well feel proud.
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EDGAR STEELE PITKIN
Edgar Steele Pitkin, conspicuous in the educational circles of Newark, belongs to a family of colonial ancestry. On his father's side he is the. grandson of Irvin Pitkin, the son of Allen Pitkin, who, in 1800, came from Hartford, Connecticut, to New Jersey. This Allen Pitkin, the New Jersey colonist, was a direct descendant of William Pitkin, who came from Eng -. land in 1638, and afterwards became Governor of Connecticut. Mr. Pitkin can also trace descent from John White, who fought at the battle of Lex- ington, in the Revolutionary War, and from Oliver Wolcott, of Massa- chusetts, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.
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Hle is a native of New York State, having been born in Lorraine, New York, May 30, 1878, son of Luther Steadman Pitkin, a farmer and cheese manufacturer of the place. Luther S. Pitkin was born March 11, 1849, and married Isabella Steele, daughter of Chauncey Steele, of Carthage, New York. Besides their son, Edgar Steele, they have another, Frank R., who at the present time holds the position of chief clerk of the medical department of the National Life Insurance Company of Vermont.
The first schools of Edgar S. Pitkin were those of the country neighbor- hood where he was brought up, but in the crude teaching of the district school was sown the seed of an intellectual ambition which later developed in the better equipped schools of other places. The schools of Lorraine were followed by a two years' course of instruction at the Adams Collegiate Institute, Adams, New York. Having decided to devote his life to the profession of teaching, he entered the Normal College at Albany, New York, and was graduated from that institution in 1899. This work was supplemented by a post-graduate course at the same college, and in recogni- tion of this he received in 1900 the degree of Pd. D. In addition to his professional duties, Mr. Pitkin is working for the degree of B. S. in Pedagogy at Columbia College. His training for his profession at an end, Mr. Pitkin taught for three years at Lorraine, New York, then for a year at Trinity School, New York City, and after this for another year in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He was then appointed principal of the North Long Branch Gram- mar School, and this position he held for two years and then resigned to become principal of the Irving School, Irvington, New York. The follow- ing year he was appointed principal of School No. 14, Paterson, New Jersey. He received in November, 1906, his first appointment to a Newark school, and became the principal of the State Street School, two years later being appointed the principal of the Seventh Avenue School, which has an enrollment of two thousand pupils on its registers. Of this work. he has made an unqualified success, and he has won for himself a high place among the foremost educators of the city. Mr. Pitkin is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Schoolmen's Club of New York, of the Newark Principals' Association, and of the Newark Public Schools Athletic Association.
lle married, August 12, 1902, Laura, daughter of John S. and Jane Hasbrouck, of Waterloo, New York. They have two children: Margaret, born December 18, 1904, and Edgar Steele Jr., born November 21, 1909.
HARRY CAMP HEDDEN
Harry Camp Hedden, secretary of the New Jersey Fidelity and Plate Glass Insurance Company, comes of an old family of New Jersey, and one that has been identified since the earliest days with all the efforts made towards her prosperity. The Heddens are a family of ancient English origin, the name being found, as often happens, spelled in several different ways, Hodden and Hoddon being quite common. Though of English origin, they were also found in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. From the fact that their coat-of-arms contains a crescent it can be shown that they fought in the Crusades. The crest which accompanies the arms is an eagle erased or, with the motto, "Suffer."; The first of the family to' come to this country was a Jared or Gerard Hedden, who was born about 1608, and is men- tioned as probably coming in the fleet with Winthrop. Hle settled in Cambridge, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1632, and was made a
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freeman of the town. He was a man of some means, owning a house and three acres. Everyone in those days had a trade, and that of Mr. Hledden was the tailor's. He is also spoken of as a "planter." In 1640 he was recorded as a proprietor of Salisbury, Massachusetts. Some of the children of this man emigrated to Connecticut, and eventually to New Jersey. One son, Edward Hedden by name, settled at Mountain, now in the vicinity of South Orange. His children owned lands in Newark and were the pos- sessors of those tracts known as the "Hedden Tracts" in South Orange, at the Mountain, near the Luddington brook and on the Rahway river. The Heddens took an active part in the patriotic struggles of New Jersey during the Revolution.
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