USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume II > Part 11
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(XII) Rev. Dr. Joseph Meeker Ogden, son of Ezekiel (2) and Abigail (Ogden) Ogden, was born at Elizabeth, New Jersey, September 21, 1804, died at Chatham, New Jersey, February 13, 1884. He was graduated from Princeton in 1824, and entering the Presbyterian ministry, was installed first pastor of the Presbyterian church at Chatham, New Jersey, in November, 1828. This church was organized, October 23, 1823, and the Rev. Asa Lyman of Morristown, New Jersey, became its stated supply. His health having failed, he was compelled to resign his labors in 1827, when the con- gregation called the Rev. Dr. Ogden to become their settled pastor. The original house of worship soon became inadequate to accommodate the grow- ing congregation, and a new church was erected in 1832. This building was subsequently enlarged and beautified, and the efficient labors of the pastor and the growing regard of the people resulted in a greatly increased congre- gation. Rev. Joseph M. Ogden was not only popular in his own church and community, but became well known and appreciated throughout the State and officiated upon many occasions outside of his own pastorate. He re- signed the church at Chatham, September 23, 1873, having enjoyed an un- interrupted and successful pastorate of forty-five years. He and his wife were both interred in the burying ground at Chatham. Dr. Ogden married, in 1849, Emeline Atwood, daughter of Richard and Hannah ( Hayes) Sweasey. She was born at Newark, New Jersey, April 26, 1822, died at Chatham, August 17, 1890. Children : I. William Wilberforce, born March, 1850, married Mariana or Marana N. Jarman. 2. Cornelia Town- ley, born August 16, 1851 ; married Francis L. Minton. 3. Joseph Wallace, mentioned below. 4. Edward Prime, born July 15, 1855, died February 2, 1899 ; married Sarah Minton. 5. Henry Day, married Mary Freeman.
(XIII) Joseph Wallace Ogden, son of Rev. Joseph Meeker and Eme-
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line Atwood (Sweasey) Ogden, was born at Chatham, New Jersey, in April, 1853. He received his middle name in honor of Mr. William C. Wallace, the life-long friend and parishioner of his father, born the same year and graduated in the same class at college. Dr. Ogden desired a liberal educa- tion for his son and entered him at Lafayette College in the class of '72; though he did not remain to the end of the course and was not graduated with his class, he later on received the degree of A. M. from the college. Upon entering business life his first occupation was that of clerk in a brokerage firm on Wall street. His advancement was rapid, and in 1881 he established the banking and brokerage firm of J. W. Ogden & Company, which he conducted with marked success for many years. The house engaged in many large financial transactions and acquired a well merited reputation for business sagacity and for safe and conservative methods. Mr. Ogden has become one of the prominent and influential figures in financial circles in New York City, and has been connected in various ways for a number of years with many leading corporations and industries. For several years prior to its absorption by the Erie Railroad, he was vice-presi- dent and director of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad ; at a later period he acquired extensive interests in the anthracite coal fields, becoming president of the Algonquin and Laurel Coal Run companies, of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania; director of National Biscuit Company, Ameri- can Cotton Oil Company, American Can Company, American Writing Paper Company. He is a member of the Union, Metropolitan, Downtown, and Riding clubs of New York, and of the Morristown Golf Club and president of the North Jersey Society for Promotion of Agriculture.
Mr. Ogden is not prominent as a politician and has never desired political office. He is a Presbyterian and has been liberal in the support of the church. In July, 1902, when members of the church at Chatham of which his father had been pastor for forty-five years, opened a subscription for building a new church, Mr. Ogden requested the withdrawal of subscrip- tions to the amount of six thousand dollars which had been received from others, and himself contributed ten thousand dollars to the cost of the building. The descendants of Mr. William C. Wallace, his father's old friend and classmate, also contributed largely and provided the funds for the interior decoration, and the trustees decided to change the name of the church to the Ogden Memorial. Mr. Ogden is a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, where he owns a handsome estate, Loantaka Farms, upon which he passes a portion of the year ; this property was formerly in posses- sion of various members of the Ogden family since early colonial days. In the year 1884 Mr. Ogden married Charlotte Ward.
There is a movement on foot to erect a monument in Bowling Green, New York City, to the memory of John Ogden, at the tercentenary of the city's settlement. He was the earliest settler of pure English blood in New York.
GEORGE GRISWOLD FRELINGHUYSEN
George G. Frelinghuysen, a leading patent lawyer, honored and respected, and serving in the capacity of president of P. Ballantine & Sons Company, was born in Newark, New Jersey, May 9, 1851, son of Hon. Frederick and Matilda E. (Griswold) Frelinghuysen, and a representative of a family that has been identified with the history of this country for almost two centuries.
He attended the public schools of his native city, the Newark Academy, from which he was graduated in 1866, Rutgers College, having been a
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member of the class of 1870, and Columbian University Law School, which in 1872 conferred on him the degree of- Bachelor of Laws. His training in the latter named institution was augmented by a course of study in the office of Keller & Blake. He was admitted as an attorney at the New Jersey bar in 1873, and to that of New York in 1876. He was one of the United States patent office examiners at Washington, D. C., from 1873 until 1876, and in the latter year established himself in independent practice in New York City, and made a specialty of patent cases, in course of time winning a foremost place along this line, becoming widely known for his legal ability and high personal characteristics. From 1898 to 1905 he was vice-president of P. Ballantine & Sons Company, and from the latter named year until the present time (1913) has acted as president of the concern. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Alliance Investment Company, the Rail Joint Company, the Saranac Realty Company, Howard Savings In- stitution and the Morristown Trust Company, in all of which his services have been of inestimable value. He is a Republican in politics, but has never sought or held public office. He holds membership in the Essex Club, Morris County Golf Club, Metropolitan Club of Washington, D. C., and the Union Club of New York.
Mr. Frelinghuysen married, April 26, 1881, Sara L., daughter of Peter H. and Isabelle (Linen) Ballantine, of Newark, New Jersey. Children : Peter H. Ballantine, born September 15, 1882; Matilda E., November 25, 1887. The family reside in Morristown, New Jersey.
CHARLES F. AXTELL
Among the prominent and successful representatives of the legal profes- sion in Morristown was the late Charles F. Axtell, who by birth, parentage and professional attainment was well qualified to fill a leading position in any community. The Axtell family is one of the oldest in this country, dating back some three hundred and fifty years. Thomas Axtell, the pioneer, was a native of England, who left the mother country in 1635, setting sail on the ship Globe, that year, for the new world. He settled in Sudbury, Massachu- setts, somewhere between 1635 and 1640, and died in 1646. His great- grandson, Henry Axtell, located near Mendham, Morris county, in 1740, and his son, Henry Axtell (2), participated in the Revolutionary War, at- taining the rank of major. Silas C. Axtell, son of Major Henry Axtell, was a native of Morris county, and he was the father of Jacob T. Axtell, who in turn was the father of Charles F. Axtell. Jacob T. Axtell was born in Mendham, Morris county, New Jersey ; married Rachel, daughter of William Enslee, and granddaughter of John Enslee, who participated in the Revolutionary War, enlisting from Morris county.
Charles F. Axtell was born in Morristown, New Jersey, May 26, 1845, died December, 1913. After attending the public schools of his native place, he served an apprenticeship at the printing trade, a vocation of itself so educational that it has served as a stepping stone to many a brilliant career in other lines. This apprenticeship was in the office of The Jerseyman, at Morristown, and from 1867 to 1869 he acted in the capacity of associate publisher of that paper. He subsequently was several years in the employ of the government in the printing offices at Washington, D. C. From there he went abroad to study the methods in use in the German printing offices, visiting Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfort, Mayence, and other continental cities. Upon deciding that the profession of law was more suited to his tastes and capabilities, he placed himself under the excellent preceptorship of Pitney &
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Youngblood, in 1873, and under their tuition was prepared for admission to the bar of New Jersey, this event taking place in 1877; he was made an at- torney at that time, his subsequent admission as a counsellor occurred in 1891. He began the active practice of his profession in Morristown in 1873, and the succeeding years brought him a profitable and steadily increas- ing clientele, a fitting testimonial to his skill and ability.
Mr. Axtell always took a prominent part in political matters, giving a faithful allegiance to the principles of the Republican party. He served his town and community in various capacities, such as township collector, clerk and counsel, city clerk and treasurer of Morristown, and justice of the peace, the latter office he filled two terms. In 1879 and 1880, Mr. Axtell was a member of the New Jersey legislature, and while a member of that body acted on the committee on revision of laws, and the joint committee on State treasurer's accounts. To public office Mr. Axtell brought the same conscientious discharge of duty that he exercised in the interests of his private practice, a fact that won for him the highest tributes. He was past master of Cincinnati Lodge, No. 3, F. and A. M. : past eminent commander of Ode de St. Amand Commandery, No. 12, K. T., member of Mecca Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of New York City. In 1863 Mr. Axtell emulated the example set before him in the history of his family, serving his country in war as well as peace, and became a member of Company E, First Battalion, New Jersey Emergency Men, and kept in touch with the comrades of those times by an active membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he was past commander and past adjutant of A. T. A. Torbert Post, No. 24, Department of New Jersey,
Mr. Axtell married, September 26, 1883, Ella M. Patterson, of Stratford, Connecticut. Children : Roland Patterson, Rachel Enslee, Merritt Franklin.
JOHN V. C. PARKER
John V. C. Parker, one of the foremost men in the jewelry trade in the country, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, December 20, 1876. He is the son of John E. Parker, born in Birmingham, England, and came to this country with his parents when he was a boy of eight years of age. He located in Morristown and continued to make it his residence until his death, July 29, 1902. Here John E. Parker learned the jewelry trade and was always one of the foremost men in that line of business, a position in which his son has succeeded him. His mother was Sarah M. (Van Cleve) Parker, daughter of John S. Van Cleve, native of Pennington, New Jersey, and a carriage trimmer by trade. Sarah M. (Van Cleve) Parker died August 3, 1907, at the age of sixty-seven years and was buried in Morristown, Morris county, New Jersey. They had three children, one of whom died in infancy. Besides their son, John V. C. Parker, with whom the present biographical sketch is concerned, there is also a daughter, Edith J., who married M. E. Wallace, of Trenton, New Jersey. The grandfather on the father's side was John Parker, of Birmingham, England, a shoemaker by trade. He came to this country with his family in 1845, as already mentioned, and settling in Morristown he practiced his trade and at the same time engaged in farming. He died in 1881.
John V. C. Parker was educated in the public schools of Morristown, and when ready to enter business obtained a position in his father's store which had been established in 1864, and here under his father's competent instruction he learned the jewelry business. At the death of his father, John V. C. Parker became one of the proprietors of the establishment, the
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partners being J. V. C. Parker and B. M. Van Cleve, continuing the success which his father had achieved. This took place ten years ago. Mr. Parker is a Republican in his political beliefs, and in his religious affilia- tions is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He belongs to the Masonic order, Morristown Lodge, No. 188, Madison Chapter, No. 27, Ode de St. Amand Commandery, No. 12, and is a member of the R. A., and ex-foreman of Independent Hose Company.
He married, in Morristown, June 16, 1905, Mabel B. Day, born in Newark, daughter of Stephen S. and Hattie (De Voursney) Day. Her father is now the general agent of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Com- pany of Newark, New Jersey, and makes his residence in Morristown. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have had three children but the eldest Edwin, died in 1907 at the age of sixteen months. The two living are: Ruth Day, born August 1, 1908; Jessie Day, November 22, 1910.
ALANSON A. VANCE
The development and prosperity of most towns is in a large measure due to the abounding energy, the resourcefulness and the large public spirit of a few of its citizens. Such a factor in Morristown has been for over the span of a long life the influence, example, and unflagging and patriotic zeal of Alanson A. Vance. His whole career is inseparably interwoven with the development and growth of the city, and no small proportion of its prosperity is due to his efforts. Tireless and unselfishly generous, he has been one of those citizens who form the backbone of the community and are the ones always thought of and sought when any movement is being put on foot for the well being of the community. The lives of such men are a lesson to the oncoming generations. They bear the challenge to take up the torch that they hand on.
He belongs to one of those virile stocks that settled New Jersey and have given the State its proud place among her sisters in the union. He was born in Newton, New Jersey, January 25, 1826, and received his education in the schools of his native neighborhood. His ambition and ability became ap- parent at an early age, and the success that has attended him through life has been no mere fortuitous happening but the inevitable result of his own honest, intelligent, and well-directed efforts. He was apprenticed when a lad thirteen years of age to the printer's trade, working first in the office of the Newton Herald and later in the employ of the Sussex Register. It was in the latter office that he completed his term of apprenticeship. In 1847 he left his native region and sought work in the city of New York. Here he remained for a few years gaining a large fund of information and experience. He was at length persuaded by J. L. Barlow to enter into an association with him in the establishment at Deckertown, New Jersey, of a new paper to be called the New Jersey Home Journal.
Very soon after his marriage in 1851 he left Deckertown, and returned to work in New York City as a printer. This was followed by a position 011 the Fredonian of New Brunswick, New Jersey. While at work on this journal he wrote his first editorial paragraphs, and these meeting with a measure of success he continued to write during the hotly contested political contest of the Scott campaign. His writing carly began to attract wide- spread attention and interest. While engaged in this work Mr. Vance was waited upon by ex-Sheriff Abraham Tappen and Jeremiah M. DeCamp, of Morristown, being sent as a delegation from the Whig party and desiring him to purchase the Jerseyman, a paper which had been established in
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1826 but which was at that time being conducted in a way displeasing to the Whig sentiment. Mr. Vance agreed to do this and before a short time had elapsed his editorials in this paper had attracted widespread and favorable comment. He was always a close student of the intricacies of the political situation and his extremely just and highly analytic mind made such an intelligent and discriminating use of this material as to make of his exposi- tions works of great insight and illumination. He was recognized as a writer of the greatest influence by journalists throughout the State, and this influence was not confined to the defence or elucidation of the political prin- ciples in which he believed but he threw its weight wherever it was needed to further some movement that looked to the well being of the weak, the needy or the merely unrepresented. He threw himself fearlessly into any cause that made towards the educational, moral, industrial, or spiritual de- velopment of Morristown and the surrounding country. During the long years of his connection with the Jerseyman he advocated many public im- provements, and was a large factor in the forming of public opinion in favor 'of the incorporation of Morristown. The establishment of the public school system, and the organization of numberless churches, charitable institutions, and social service organizations found in him an ever ready and powerful friend and champion. An enthusiastic advocate of human rights he was one of the stoutest advocates of the Republican party when he found that one of its principal tenets was the prevention of the further extension of slavery. He was a staunch adherent of the Union cause in the dark days of political disruption and wielded his pen as effectively for national issues as for those of the municipality of which he was a citizen.
Mr. Vance served as postmaster of Morristown for fourteen years being appointed to this office by President Lincoln and reappointed by President Grant. After the war he still continued to write and in 1869 admitted as partner in his labors L. O. Stiles. This association continued in force until 1896 when the Jerseyman passed under its present control. Mr. Vance retired at that time from active participation in journalistic work. Mr. Vance never sought political honors, and it was only at the earnest solicitations of many friends that he accepted the office of chosen free- holder, to which he was elected in May, 1895. Mr. Vance is the only survivor of those who met in the Trenton House at Trenton, New Jersey, to form the Republican party in the State of New Jersey in the winter of 1856.
Mr. Vance married (first) June 8, 1850, Mary E. Martin. Of this mar- riage were born: Martha Elizabeth, born 1852, died in a railroad accident with her husband and child in Texas in 1883; Alanson Austin, born 1854, died 1876, at the age of twenty-two years; Jessie, born 1856, wife of Edward W. Porter, of Albany, New York; George Schooley, born Novem- ber 13, 1861, now of North Yakima, Washington, married Jean Donald, of North Yakima, Washington; Charles Martin, died in infancy. Mr. Vance married (second) at Morristown, January 6, 1876, Caroline Day Muchmore, born in Madison, New Jersey, February 14, 1843, daughter of Joel W. Muchmore. They had two children: Woodruff Muchmore, born August 15, 1877, now living in North Yakima, Washington, engaged in the news- paper business on the North Yakima Republic, married Clara Yawger, of Morristown, they have three children: Frederick M., Carolyn M., Clinton A. : Pauline Mestre, died in 1881, in infancy.
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WILLIS HERBERT DUTTON
Willis H. Dutton, a pioneer in the automobile and machine business in Morristown, is an instance of a man who has inherited from his father a decided mechanical bent, and has succeeded through the fortunate circum- stances that permitted him to follow his natural aptitudes, and also through the native force and ability of his character. He is the son of James Wood and Havilah (Whitney) Dutton. His father was born in New Sharon, Maine, and at the age of twenty-one went to Lowell, Massachusetts, and there learned the machine business. In 1850 he came to Newark and there opened a machine shop, eventually buying a farm and settling near Mor- ristown. He died November 15, 1891, at the age of seventy years. Havilah (Whitney) Dutton, the mother of Willis H. Dutton, was born in Augusta, Maine, died December 19, 1894, having attained the age of seventy years and two months. They had six children, one of whom died in infancy. They are James Edwin, of Roseville, New Jersey ; Willis H., with whom the present biographical sketch is concerned; Sarah H., wife of William M. Quimby, of Morristown; Hetty E., wife of Harry M. Day, of Jersey City; Mary T., wife of Fred Yawger, of Newark, New Jersey. James Wood Dutton was under contract with the United States government during the Civil War to build gun machinery. He was the son of Mason W. Dutton, a farmer of New Sharon, Maine.
Willis H. Dutton was born in Newark, New Jersey, September 29, 1858, and came at the age of nine years with his parents to Morristown in the schools of which place and those of New Vernon he received his educa- tion. His first position after leaving school and entering the business world was with Frank Crowell, the jeweler, with whom he remained for two years. He then went to Maine and for five years was connected with the work of a copper mine. In 1884 he went into the business which has since that time occupied his attention. He owns a garage and a machine and automobile shop which probably handles the most important of the work of that character in the whole region. He was the first to open a place of that character, and success has attended the venture from the outset. Mr. Dutton is a Republican in his political sympathies and a strong Taft man. He is a member of the First Baptist Church. He belongs to the Masonic order, and is a member as well of the I. O. O. F., of the R. A., of the Elks, and of the M. W. A.
He married, December 14, 1878, at Blue Hill, Maine, Hattie S. Ward- well, a native of that place and now living. Her parents are both deceased. Three children have been born to them but one, Havilah, died in infancy. The two living are: Bertha, born October 19, 1880, wife of Fred M. Pierson, who is now the manager of the business for his father-in-law; Willis H. Jr., born August 6, 1885, a graduate of Stevens Institute, Ho- boken, a mechanical engineer in the employ of the Levering & Garigus Construction Company, of New York.
SAMUEL BROWN CARSON
The career of Samuel B. Carson furnishes an example of what can be accomplished with but few of the advantages of favoring circumstances but when one is endowed with ambition, ability and untiring energy. These last qualifications young Samuel B. Carson brought with him from Ireland and very little besides in the form of money or influence. His success is therefore a matter for just pride as it has been entirely due to his own efforts and native staunchness.
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The son of Robert and Elizabeth Carson, the former of whom died in Ireland in 1869 at the age of forty-nine, Samuel B. Carson was also born in Ireland, in county Tyrone. Cookstown was the place in Tyrone in which his parents lived, and here May 12, 1861, he was born. His education was achieved at the Cookstown Academy, but he was from an early age in- terested in the possibilities that beckoned to a young man from across the water. Here, therefore, when he was only twenty-one years old and with- out any of his blood or kindred, he came, settling first in Toronto, Canada. Here he remained for two years, leaving Canada to come to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The disastrous flood of 1889 practically drove out a large number of people, and he was of these. Leaving Williamsport, he went to Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, where he remained for three years. This stay was followed by one of five years in Philadelphia. His final move was made March 5, 1898, when he came to Morristown, and established himself in his present business, the firm being then known as Crosby & Hill. About four years ago in March, 1909, the name was changed to its present style of S. B. Carson Company. This department store is the largest in Morris county, as it is also the best equipped in every device for the facilitation of business. Its growth has been phenomenal, and the business is still steadily increasing. Mr. Carson is a Republican in his political faith, and is an attendant of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown.
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