USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 58
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A photograph of Wm. S. Hall's private school, taken in 1861, has the names of pupils and teachers written on the back of the picture. This school was called "The Dover Institute." The scholars are standing below the school windows. Dr. Magie is looking out of one window, while Rosie Derry and one or two others, not pupils, have taken possession of the other window and have thus got into the picture. The names from left to right are:
Row I. Alice Oram, Hattie Breese, Maggie Wighton, Annie Crittenden, Lide (Eliza) Le Fevre, Lizzie Stone, Lizzie Hall, Amelia Lindsley, Mr. Saunders, the assistant teacher. Mr. Hall, the principal. Libbie Dicker- son (Mrs. Coe), Louise Allen, Abbie Magie, Sidney Breese.
Row 2. Olivia Segur, Lovedy Oram, Mary J. Hall, Josie Hall, Clara Jolley, Maggie Crittenden, Josie Oram, Annie Elliott, Tom Heaton, Jim Bruen, Will Magie, Frank Berry, Stephen Mills, Robert Wighton, David Young.
Row 3. Emma Lindsley, Mary Condict, Burt Halsey, Burt Magie, Frank Thompson, Trimble Condict, "Tenie" (Stephen) Lindsley, Leonard Bruen ( from Newark), Will Hall, Joe Oram, Will Le Fevre, Alex Elliott, Joe Elliott, Frank Lindsley. Ford Smith was not in the picture, although a pupil then.
An ambrotype of Dr. Le Fevre and his wife, taken about 1856, is the work of Moses Hurd, the first photographer in Dover and at that time the only one. This represents another kind of artistic talent in the family.
The New Jersey Le Fevres came across from Long Island, being originally Huguenots from France. Minard Lefevre came from Long Island. Dr. Wm. Bonner Le Fevre was the son of John, the son of Minard Le Fevre Jr. John married Elizabeth Day, daughter of Aaron.
(From Munsell's History of Morris County.)
Among the influential citizens of Jefferson township the name of Wil- liam B. Lefevre deserves a prominent place. For intelligence, usefulness, and weight of character he will long be remembered. His ancestors on both sides can be traced to an early date. Minard Lefevre came to Suc- casunna in 1750. In 1779 he was joint owner of the famous Succasunna
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mine with Jonathan Dickerson. His son, John Lefevre, married Eliza- beth, the granddaughter of Joseph Jelf. Her mother, Mary Jelf, married Aaron Day, of Elizabethtown, a lieutenant in a Jersey regiment during the war of the Revolution. Joseph Jelf was the owner of a line of vessels that sailed from England to this country. He settled in Elizabethtown about 1750.
In 1801 Elizabeth Day married John Lefevre, as stated above. Their son, Dr. Wm. Bonner Lefevre, married Mary Condict Hurd in 1845. Their son, William Jelf Lefevre, was the artist. In the latter part of his life Dr. Lefevre lived in Orchard street, Dover, and his son lived there after the doctor's death, in 1881.
(Note by Mrs. Cortright)-Although Dr. Lefevre knew of a Hippolite Lefevre, he never traced the descent of the family. Since the death of Dr. Lefevre I have gone to the expense of research all over New Jersey State and find what I have written to be correct as to our branch of the family. The Dutch Mindert became the English Minard Jr. I found both names in the list of Revolutionary soldiers of New Jersey. Our ancestors were of French or Dutch descent and came from Long Island (not Salem, New Jersey). The first of our branch was Isaac Lefevre and he married Wintje Coertain of the Dutch New York settlement. They had a son Min- dert and by this name we surely trace our descent in New Jersey.
William J. Lefevre-In collecting data about the stream of human life that constitutes Dover history, I have been interested to observe from what European sources this stream has been fed. We find that we have repre- sentatives of the Huguenot immigration, of Cornishmen from England, of Welsh, Scotch, Irish, Germans and others. It is also of interest to note what endowments of the mind are found among our people. A fine vein of mental power or a peculiar talent is of as much interest as the discovery of a good vein of iron ore in our mines. I speak as a teacher. Hence I am pleased to find among the Dover schoolboys of the past one who gave such promise of attainment in art as did William J. Lefevre. Diversity of industries is a good thing for the stability of a community. Wall street men who deal in bonds say that a town whose prosperity is based upon several industries has an element of financial strength above one that is dependent upon one industry. And it is well for a community to have diversity of human talent as well as diversity of industries. One implies the other. At my request my friend, Rev. T. F. Chambers, has contributed the following brief review of Mr. Lefevre's artistic career :
William Jelf Lefevre showed early in life a taste for drawing and a fondness for out-of-door life, so that when he attained to years of manhood he devoted himself exclusively to the study of art. His natural reserve helped to strengthen his habit of communing with nature, while careful attention to his studies gave him undoubted facility in the presentation of scenes in the world around him, especially scenes with which early associations were largely bound up. He was born at Hurdtown, Morris County, New Jersey, amid surroundings that might be said to belong to frontier life. His father, Dr. Wm. B. Lefevre, was a man of culture and refinement, a leading spirit in matters of education and religion. His earliest ancestry were of Dutch and French origin, and at a later date of pure New England blood. His artistic tendencies were not owing to any proximity to picture galleries or even congenial associates of the same tastes. He was well grounded in the studies which are preparatory to a college course, but never received a collegiate education. The trip he took abroad was after his choice of his life work was made, so that his interest in art was an original out- growth of his own personality. And his career as an artist, though so soon cut short, revealed a native talent of undoubted originality and power.
He was a man of a retiring disposition, with a sensitive temperament, and his choice of subjects for his paintings and etchings proves that his sympathy with nature was spontaneous and natural and his art was the expression of such personal
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interest and pleasure. His sympathies were drawn toward the lowly and humble forms of life and of nature with which his boyhood life was associated. This is shown by his numerous paintings and etchings of cattle and farm life in general, of rustic bridges and sketches of woods, of stony fields and sluggish streams. It is one of the clearest proofs of talent to know what to paint. Nor is this all, but his choice must have been due to his own insight. No prettiness of coloring or sensationalism of attitude or composition will or can take the place of the artistic enjoyment of light and shadow, solidity of form, depth of perspective, and expression in general. To delight in these elements, which constitute the real difficulties of artistic reproduction, is the mark of the strength and vigor of the true painter's talent. He sees a challenge flung at him in what the unseeing multitude despises or ignores. In fact, the raison d'etre of all or any art is the finding of "beauty in everything." Of course, the force of this reasoning depends upon the success of the painter. But Mr. Lefevre did succeed. His domestic animals and rural scenes have a charm that appeals to a careful student. The industry and application evinced were evidently inspired, yes, and controlled by his own sympathy with them, his delight in them. No one lingers long upon any subject which he does not love. This makes true the famous criticism, "Le style est l'homme" (the style is the man). This is the mystic charm which to the initiated makes a real work of art "a thing of beauty and a joy forever."
It is a far cry from the mining village of Hurdtown, or even the Magie school at Dover, to a studio in Philadelphia, the friendship and patronage of Peter Moran, and The Etchers' Club. But even farther removed, the one from the other-in the impression they produce, though not in their physical aspects-are the barren and forbidding scenes of nature, the angular forms and ungainly gait of animal life which he depicts, and their presentation in black and white or in oils with the secret witchery of a loving play of light and shade, or harmony of tint, of significant angle or line, or well harmonized unity of compositon. To feel the truth and force of this criticism it will be necessary to study carefully the paintings and etchings which cost Mr. Lefevre no little labor and pains. Some of these have received their meed of public appreciation and have appeared in exhibitions where they had to bear com- parison with the work of other artists who had lived longer or under more favorable advantages than Mr. Lefevre. The latter's early death at thirty-five years of age was in his case more disastrous than would usually be the case, because his talent would necessarily require a longer apprenticeship. As it is, his work is well worth recognition and reward, at least so far as his memory shall be cherished and his example publicly commended.
Mr. Lefevre belonged to The Philadelphia Sketch Club as well as to The Etchers' Club. The latter paid the following tribute to his memory, as given upon the minutes of The Philadelphia Society of Etchers, November 6th, 1883:
"Resolved, That in the death of our esteemed fellow member, William J. Lefevre, our society has lost a talented etcher, an industrious worker, and a warm friend." Signed-B. Uhle, Hermann Faber, James Simpson, Committee.
From Mrs. Louisa M. Crittenden, October 9, 1913:
In regard to the oldtime singing schools I can only say they were very instructive and very entertaining, and I recall now only two of the names of the teachers-Mr. Foote and Mr. Hinds of Newark, who were particularly fine teachers. Mr. Hinds had several fine concerts in the church after the winter's teaching, bringing instru- mental musicians from Newark to help make the concerts attractive.
You say, "I feel like another Plutarch." I think, if I keep looking up data of the old times, I shall begin to feel like an old scribe or historian. Don't you think you put a good deal of work on a lady of eighty-five! But I'm not complaining. I enjoy being of service when I can.
LOUISA M. CRITTENDEN.
Mrs. Crittenden also keeps a scrap-book. She has very kindly been at the pains to copy out the following extracts from it:
Mr. Guy Maxwell Hinchman died at Dover, N. J., February 13, 1877. Mr. Hinch- man was born in Elmira, N. Y., on the 29th of November, 1795. His father, Dr. Joseph Hinchman, was the first physician settled in that region. In 1810 (after the death of his father and mother) Mr. Hinchman came to New Jersey and lived with his uncle at Succasunna Plains. The fine business talent which marked his whole life became early developed and at the age of twenty years he was the owner and operator of the well-known Mt. Pleasant Mine. In 1823 he removed to New York City. In 1834 he returned to New Jersey, and in 1835 he became superintendent of the iron works in Dover owned by Mr. Henry McFarlan, which position he retained
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until 1868. Prominent among the responsible positions he held was the Presidency of the Union Bank of Dover, to which he was elected in 1840. He held this position until the bank went out of existence in 1866.
Mentally Mr. Hinchman was one of the most remarkable of men. None who ever conversed with him could fail to be astonished at the culture, intellectual ability, and perfect memory that marked this gentleman after attaining the age of four- score years. Physically, few would have supposed that he was an octogenarian. He seemed stronger than most men are at sixty. When he wrote, there seemed to be not a tremor in his hand, and specimens of his writing which have come to this office within a few months past were among the most beautiful we have ever seen. Withal, Mr. Hinchman was one of those kind-hearted, courtly gentlemen of the old school, and it will always be pleasant to contemplate the value of such a life. (By James Gibson, in The Era.)
Mr. Charles E. Noble died December 16th, 1899, at Morristown, N. J. Mr. Noble was born at Southwark, Mass., and was educated at Suffield Literary Institute, Suffolk, Conn. He was a civil engineer. In 1847 he came to Morris County, N. J., and taught school at Green Village and Dover. In 1851 he was appointed chief assistant engineer, by Superintendent Bassinger, of the Morris & Essex R. R. He served as superintendent of the Morris & Essex R. R. in 1862, when the road had several extensions. In 1870 he went to Texas as representative of a syndicate of capitalists, among whom were William E. Dodge and Moses Taylor, and built about seven hundred miles of the International and Great Northern R. R.
Mr. Noble returned in 1874 and purchased property in Morristown, N. J., making his home there. He was a member of the Board of Proprietors of New Jersey. He had also served as a member of the Common Council of Morristown, and was a director of The First National Bank. (From a Morristown newspaper.)
Mr. Charles McFarlan died September 25th, 1872. He resided for some years at Longwood and was closely identified with the iron interest in the early history of its development in the county. He represented his district in the Assembly of the State. Afterwards he became a resident of Dover. He was elected to the office of Recorder and remained a member of the Common Council until the spring of 1871. He also held the office of Justice of the Peace. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and was one of the oldest members in the State. He belonged to St. John's Church and was a member of the Vestry. Mrs. Charles McFarlan placed a memorial window in St. John's Church for her husband.
"Mr. Charles MacFarlan was superintendent of schools for Jefferson township almost continuously from 1851 to 1862. No better school officer than Mr. McFarlan, who was a gentleman of much culture and refinement, could be found. He devoted his time, his talents, and his money to promote the cause of education." (From Munsell's Hist. of Morris Co.)
Dr. Thomas Rockwell Crittenden died September 27th, 1906. Dr. Crittenden was born in Dover, August 21st, 1822. He graduated from the New York City College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1848, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Dover, and for some time was the only physician in this section. He succeeded his father, Dr. Ira Crittenden, who was the first physician settled in Dover. Dr. T. R. Crittenden served Dover several times as a public official, having been Recorder of the town and a member of the Board of Health. He was also a member of Acacia Lodge No. 20, F. and A. M., from its beginning in 1856. In the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member he served for some years as a trustee whose judgment was sound and whose ability was honored. He was a member of the Morris County Medical Association up to the time of his death.
The following extract from a Dover paper refers to the Hinchman garden, which Mrs. Crittenden's eldest sister had kept up just as their father left it, until her death in 1889.
"Have you ever noticed the fragrance that rises to greet the `passer-by from the old Hinchman homestead garden on Blackwell street, as soon as the first spring flowers begin to bloom? The hyacinths here are always the first to break the crust of the earth, and the bushes and shrubs come quickly to blossom in its generous soil. I have no doubt they remind many, as they do me, of that genial and courtly old gentleman, the late Mr. Guy Hinchman, whose figure, among his flowers, was so familiar a few years ago. No one has left a sweeter memorial than he did in the grateful fragrance of these flowers, which seem to breathe his memory."
The Garrigues Family, by Mrs. M. L. Cox : Newark, New Jersey, Thirteenth Avenue School, October 6th, 1913.
My dear Mr. Platt-Mrs. Cox has kindly come to my assistance and has arranged
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the information which this letter contains. Miss Clara Sturtevant of Rockaway told Mrs. Cox that she had facts of family history dating back to 1500.
Elias Garrigus married Pamela Cooper, daughter of Moses and Sarah Clifton Cooper. Pamela Cooper was the sister of Samuel Cooper, my grandfather. Elias and Pamela Cooper Garrigus were the parents of Mrs. Cornelius B. Gage, mother of Mrs. William Harris Jr., who can give you additional information concerning the Garrigus family.
Sarah Clifton Cooper was the daughter of Knox, a nurse of Washington's army, and - - Clifton, a soldier of the army. Both died during the war and the child was adopted by Mrs. John Cooper, daughter of Capt. Enoch Beach of the Continental Army. Can you help me to more definite information?
Wishing you every success in your work, I am
Very truly yours, M. L. Cox, Prin.
The Garrigus Family of New Jersey-In southeastern France is a province bearing the name of Garrigues, which means barren moor or wild lands. There is also a mountain bearing that name in that part of France.
Part of the Garrigues family spell the name without the "e." The first people of the name who emigrated to America settled among the Quakers in Philadelphia and exchanged the Huguenot faith for that of the Quakers. When the war broke out between England and the colonies, the Jersey members of the family felt that patriotism led to the camp and the battlefield. The Philadelphia members of the family felt that the Quaker faith forbade their going to war. This difference of opinions led to family contentions regarding the conduct of Jacob and his sons. As the result, Jacob decided to drop the "e" from the family name and in that way sever all connection with the family which felt disgraced by his patriotic con- duct. Jacob's descendants have never since used the "e." The descendants of the Pennsylvania families retain the original spelling of the name.
The Garrigues family came to America in 1700 and settled in Phila- delphia. It was represented in the persons of David Garrigues and his wife. They had many sons and daughters. One of their sons, Jacob, came to New Jersey and settled on the Peck farm in Hanover township. Jacob had four sons and five daughters. Jacob was born in 1716 and he died in May, 1798. His wife, Sarah -, was born in 1720 and died in 1777 (July 18).
Jacob joined the Rockaway Presbyterian Church and traditions tell of his habit of walking to church, a distance of more than five miles. This habit he practiced with great regularity through all kinds of weather. The four sons, David, Jacob, Isaac, and John, all served in the Revolutionary War, two of them enlisting at a very young age. Jacob Sr. was a militia- man, subject to call, but remained at home with his family most of the time.
David Garrigus, son of Jacob Sr., married Abigail, daughter of John Losey, March 18, 1773. David had a daughter, Sarah, born in 1714.
When David was doing sentry duty in Washington's camp, Foster Wil- liams, son of Samuel Williams of Shongum, laid a wager with some of the men of the company that he could take David's musket away from him while he was at his post. Williams came up to David and demanded his musket, but David, who knew the penalty, refused. Williams undertook to deprive him of his gun by force, and in the struggle which ensued Wil- liams was accidentally shot and died a few hours later.
Jacob's daughters married as follows: Rebecca married Samuel, son of Timothy Pierson; Sarah married John Pierson, and later married . Smith ; Mary married - Ward, she was baptized in 1762; Nancy married - Burnwell, later Samuel Merrill; Hannah, no record of marriage found. -
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Jacob's son, John, married Elizabeth Shipman and lived on the home- stead. Their children were: Mary, who married Daniel Ayres; Anna, who married Stephen Hall; Charity, who married Alexander Wilson; John Jr., who married Mary, daughter of John Hall; Elexta, who married Timothy, son of Silas Palmer; Ruth, who married John Hiler; and Isaac, who mar- ried Sarah Shepard of Green Village. Isaac and Sarah had a son, J. Henry Garrigus, of Waterbury, Connecticut, husband of Sophronia Elizabeth Upson. He is still an active old gentleman of seventy-odd years. I am in- debted to him for much of this history.
Jacob's son, Isaac, married Phoebe Losey. Jacob Jr. married Elizabeth McKelvey. He lived at Harrisonville, a small settlement below Mt. Tabor on the Morristown road. Jacob Jr. had children as follows: Daniel, James and Sarah. (Lewis and Horace T. are jewelry manufacturers in Newark, New Jersey. They are grandsons of Daniel and are sons of Stephen.) Sarah married Asher Fairchild. Among Asher's children was Jonathan Fairchild who married Eliza Jane Dickerson, of Denville, and became the father of Eliza Jane Fairchild who married William Wallace Hennion and became the mother of Harriet Jane Hennion-Dickerson, who married Martin L. Cox, and has two sons, William H. D. Cox and Edmund H. Cox. Asher Fairchild was the son of Jonathan Fairchild and his wife Sarah Howell.
The children of David and Abigail Losey Garrigus were: Sarah; Jeptha ; David Jr., who married Rachel Lyon; Stephen; Hannah, who mar- ried Daniel, son of Robert Ayres; Silas; David, who owned the John O. Hill farm of 600 acres and built the stone house there. David removed to Ohio with most of his family and died there.
The children of John and Mary Hall Garrigus were: Jacob, married Abbie S., daughter of Henry Beach; Alexander Wilson Garrigus, who first married Catherine Pierson and later married Amanda Searing; Stephen, who married Catherine S., daughter of James Miller; Sarah, who married Eliphalet Sturtevant of Rockaway. Eliphalet, died after being wounded three times in the battle of Gettysburg. He left five children: Clara; Katharine, wife of Charles G. Buchanan of Newark; Cornelia, wife of John F. Stickle of Rockaway; Mary, wife of - Chidister, of Newark; and Thomas, of Dover.
More children of John and Mary Hall Garrigus are: Elizabeth, who married James Miller, of Rockaway; John A., who married Anna Leek; Mary J., who married Frank Doremus; Edward, who married a daughter of Ira Hall.
The Garrigus family ranked high in character, refinement, intelligence, and the culture of the times.
Mrs. Sarah A. Fichter, October 18, 1913:
Mrs. Sarah Ann Fichter, widow of John Fichter, was born March I, 1829, and was married in 1849. She was born in the school district of Den- ville, next to John O. Hill's farm, and in 1841 she went to school to John O. Hill at the Union school. John O. Hill was one of the best men that ever lived, always helping people, and doing good in many ways to his neighbors. If one wanted to build himself a house, Mr. Hill would help him along. If some one wanted to sell a cow or other cattle to raise cash in time of need Mr. Hill would buy and pay a good price. John Fichter once offered a cow for sale. One neighbor offered him $20, but John Hill gave him $40 for the cow. He sold a yoke of steers for $40. He sold some sheep. His wife persuaded him to put his money at interest against a rainy day. The rainy day came when John was drafted for the army. He
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wanted to get a substitute and this required $700. By getting together what he had saved he made up part of the sum, but John Hill helped him out with a check for a hundred dollars, the father-in-law lent a hand and the substitute was secured. It was the grandfather of John Hill who once took his son John to church in' Morristown and pointed out to him Gen. Washington in the congregation. This was on the occasion when Wash- ington partook of the Communion. Mrs. Fichter then gave a long account of the Johnes family of Morristown, which I cannot now repeat.
It was at the house of her son, Dan W. Fichter of Wharton, that I called on her. She has 28 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. The house that she was born in was a log house and had a fine spring of water. It had one good room on the ground floor, a half cellar, one room finished off up stairs, and an unfinished garret on the same floor. They lived very comfortably in this house.
While Mrs. Fichter has not told me so much about Dover in particular, she has given many glimpses of the life and customs that prevailed in this vicinity, say at Pigeon Hill, east of Dover and these sketches may reveal some things that were true of Dover too, in their time, as in these descrip- tions of life in a log house.
Once her mother was sick and the nurse went to get something from the further end of the room. Her feet were bare and when she unexpectedly trod on a snake in the dark she started in fright. Then she went to the candle tree to get a candle. A candle tree? What is that? Did they have trees in the garden that-Why, don't you know what a candle tree is? It was a little tree or branch on which they hung their stock of candles. They used to make their own candles, of course, by dipping wicks in melted tal- low. Oh yes, I see. And this candle tree was hung up high somewhere, where the mice could not get at the candles. Exactly. And what about that snake? Well, the nurse got a candle and lighted it and looked hard for that snake, but she could not find it. It must have crawled in between the logs. Snakes can flatten themselves out when they want to crawl between the logs of a log house, you know. That is one of the interesting things about living in a log house. What could have become of that snake? The anxious mother went to look at her two children, who by that time had been put to bed. There was the snake, making himself comfortable in their warm bed. It did not take the mother long to get those children out of bed. What next? She went to the fireplace and stirred up the embers. They never let the fire go out in those days. This was a wood fire, of course. So she waked up the slumbering embers. Then she went back to the bed. This snake was a pilot snake, a copperhead pilot, poisonous. She gathered the corners of the sheet and thus secured the reptile in such a way that she could carry him over to the fireplace. There she dumped him into the freshly kindling fire and when he fell into it he fairly squealed like a pig. (If Eve had only been as heroic!)
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