USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume II > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
The Index is issued from its own home on North Essex street, where a large well lighted and well ventilated building, thirty by sixty feet, gives ample room and comfort to the working force, and well utilized space for the varied equipment of a modern newspaper plant. Its machinery includes a Mergenthaler linotype, the operator being kept busy every work day the year through, in setting the reading matter for the paper. There are also a fine Hoe newspaper press ; a new Omaha folder (1912) made expressly for its use ; and three Gordon job presses, also an old Hoe hand press in fine order. On the second floor alone are twenty-two windows to provide light and ventilation.
100
NEW JERSEY
During its early years, the circulation of the Index was 500 to 700, but since then it has been steadily rolling upward, and its list of paid subscribers now amounts to more than 5,000. About seventy-five per cent. of its sub- scribers live within a radius of ten miles from Dover, and some 1200 or 1500 copies of the paper are mailed to patrons between Morristown and New York City. The adequacy of its news service may be better comprehended when it is stated that more than 150 local correspondents throughout Morris county collect and transcribe all local occurrences of interest, and besides this force there are two salaried reporters, and a number of valued volunteer correspondents. The paper goes to every post office in Morris county, and also to those on its borders in adjoining counties.
Mr. F. F. Hummel has been owner, publisher and editor of the Index since December, 1904, his connection with the paper having been continuous for thirty-eight years. As to politics, the policy of the Index has steadily been Democratic, and it is concededly one of the most influential Democratic journals published in Northern New Jersey. Its files would reveal a vast amount of State and national political history beginning with the seventies. In 1876 it was stanchly supporting Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency ; and thirty-six years later it proved equally ardent and active in its support of Woodrow Wilson. Through all the intervening period, its policy has been consistently Democratic. Mr. Hummel, as editor, is regarded not only as a practical but most judicious and well informed writer, and few men in the State have succeeded so well in this field of enterprise. He is not only a most accomplished and well equipped journalist, but he is regarded as a most enterprising business man and exemplary citizen. He has succeeded in building up a large and substantial business, in a peculiar field wherein thou- sands have failed. Newspaper publication is admittedly one of the most hazardous business undertakings, and in view of this fact the greater is the credit due to Mr. Hummel. The history of the Index is largely that of himself, and demonstrates what energy, ability and enterprise will ac- complish.
Mr. Hummel was born in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, in the '50's, son of the late Joseph H. and Amelia (Shoenberger) Hummel, of Carbon county ; the last named is yet living, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Joseph H. Hummel was born in the vicinity of Port Carbon, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. His early training and environment were in a country district, and one of his keen desires was to visit Hummelstown. He was finally afforded the pleasure of visiting that place, and it was a delight to him in later years to relate his experiences there. While walk- ing along the street, he heard some one call the name, "Joe Hummel," on which he turned about and made reply, only to learn, to his surprise, that there were nearly a score of that name then living in the town. Mr. Hummel died in April, 1896.
Francis F. Hummel is one in a family of sixteen children, of whom there are now living six brothers and three sisters. He acquired a liberal educa- tion, but this is due more to his own remarkable interest and perseverance as a student, than to school advantages. He graduated from the Mauch Chunk (Pennsylvania) High School, and was a student at Mrs. Jane Right- er's Select School, Deer Park Seminary, and St. Mark's Academy. The in- teresting fact concerning this period of his youth is, that the time usually devoted by children to vacation enjoyments, was employed by him in the industrious pursuit of knowledge, summer and winter being alike to him in this respect, and he did not know what a vacation was .. His enthusiasm and industry thus enabled him to lay a more substantial educational founda-
IOI
MORRIS COUNTY
tion than is usually laid by those more favored as to privileges and oppor- tunities. Some of the schools he attended were in session five and a halt days in the week, including Saturday morning.
It was in the office of the Mauch Chunk Union Flag and under the supervision of a printer of Scotch birth and characteristic traits, the late Harry V. Morthimer, that Mr. Hummel served the apprenticeship which was destined to lead him to his present profession in which he has achieved honor and success. Between his father and the Scotchman was executed a bond obligating each in the sum of $1000 for compliance with the terms of apprenticeship, and in accordance with its stipulations young Hummel spent three years under the Scotch printer and his successor. After that, as a journeyman, he worked in various offices in his home town, later at Phila- delphia, Quakertown, Pottsville, Catasauqua, Scranton, Pittston, and also in the west, including Shawneetown, Illinois.
In February, 1874, Mr. Hummel located in Dover, New Jersey, and engaged to work for the late William J. Bruce, as foreman on the Dover Mail. On the discontinuance of that journal in 1875, Mr. Hummel and Mr. Lorenzo D. Tillyer established the Dover Index. Their partnership continued until December, 1904, since which time Mr. Hummel has been sole proprietor, publisher and editor. Thus for thirty-eight consecutive years he has been intimately connected with the practical management of the Index, and has witnessed the town population of 2900 increased to nearly 9000, and the circulation of his paper expanded from less than 500 to 5000. Since December, 1904, Mr. Hummel's brother, William G. Hummel, who has been in the employ of the concern since October, 1876, has acted as business manager.
Though the Index has consistently supported Democratic principles since 1876, Mr. F. F. Hummel is himself an independent Democrat and it has been due to his independence of judgment and forceful editorial expression on local and public questions, that he has for some years been regarded as one of the most efficient leaders in the State's citizenship. President Wilson addressed to him a letter of warm appreciation of his services during his gubernatorial campaign, and similarly acknowledged his valuable services during the presidential campaign of 1912. Mr. Hummel had for several years regarded Mr. Wilson as a coming man in national affairs, and was among the very first to encourage him to enter upon the campaign for the presidency.
In February, 1900, Mr. Hummel was married to Mrs. Pauline A. Backoff, whose death occurred in October, 1904. He married in August, 1906, Mabel Miller Gustin, of Rockaway, Morris county, New Jersey. Mr. Hum- mel is a communicant of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Dover, and for a number of years has been a member of its vestry. His family home is on Richards avenue, corner of Mercer street, where in 1910 he erected a beautiful residence.
CLARKE MILLEN
As civil engineer, the career of Clarke Millen of Dover, has largely been identified with public work, and he is at the present time city engineer of Dover. He enjoys a good practice as an engineer, and among other pro- fessional interests has been secretary-treasurer of the Era Company. All Mr. Millen's record since entering upon his professional career insures faithful and intelligent service in the public interests. Besides his profes-
IO2
NEW JERSEY
sional relations with Dover, he is also a member of an old honored family of New Jersey.
Clarke Millen was born at Mt. Retirement, in Sussex, formerly Decker- town, Sussex county, New Jersey, July 4, 1879, a son of Elias Newton and Eugenia A. (Stiles) Millen. The ancestral line on the paternal side, so far as it can be ascertained, begins with Charles Millen, who was an American soldier during the War of the Revolution, and died in a British prison in New York City. His wife was Abigal Davis. A son of Charles was Robert Millen, who married Sarah Wyckoff. She came from Holland to America. A son of Robert and Sarah (Wyckoff) Millen was Elias Millen, grandfather of the Dover engineer. Elias Millen married Mary Blackford Clark, who was born at Mendham, New Jersey. Elias Millen was a farmer, and died at the Millen home at Mine Hill, near Dover. Mary Blackford Clark was a daughter of Ebenezer and Phoebe (Blackford) Clark. Ebenezer Clark was a son of Nathaniel Clark and Johanna (Newton) Clark, and the Clarke ancestry is further traced back to Henry Clark Jr., who married Sibella Newton Loree, or Lorrain. Phoebe (Blackford) Clark, wife of Ebenezer, was the daughter of Nathaniel Blackford, a Baptist minister.
Elias Newton Millen, father of Clarke Millen, was born at Mine Hill, on the Millen farm. He became a druggist, but later took up surveying, and now resides at Butler, New Jersey. Eugenia A. (Stiles) Millen, mother of Clarke Millen, died January 19, 1911. She was born at Mt. Retirement, in Sussex, and her father was Edward Augustus Stiles, of the original Deck- ertown, now known as Sussex, who conducted the old Mt. Retirement school in the Clove, near Sussex, which was largely attended by people now prominent in Morris county history. Edward A. Stiles was a son of John Stiles. The wife of Edward A. Stiles was Evelina Howell, and the wife of John Stiles was Elsa Sayre, a daughter of Jonathan Sayre and Mary (Mon- nell) Sayre. Evelina Howell, the wife of Edward Stiles, was the daughter of Jared Howell, who died at the age of ninety-nine years, and the maiden name of her mother was Mary Baker.
The children of Elias Newton and Eugenia A. (Stiles) Millen were six in number: Herbert, who died in childhood; Clarke; Stiles, a resident of New York State, and superintendent of a creamery; Evelyn, the wife of Stacy L. Roberts, of Philadelphia, who with his wife is serving as a mis- sionary in Korea ; Sayre, who is in the office of the treasurer of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad System, in Pittsburgh; Roger, who married Ella Flock, lives in Hackettstown, where he is in the mercantile business with his father-in- law ; Fred, who is a student at Cornell University.
Clarke Millen received his preliminary education in the grammar and high schools of Sussex, and after leaving school took a correspondence course in engineering, and completed his preparatory work while employed in Sussex county as assistant to a Sussex county engineer. In 1905, through the influence of Congressman William S. Bennet, of New York State, a cousin, he received appointment to a position with the engineering force at the Isthmus of Panama, and remained two and a half years as a member of the great constructive army engaged in building the canal. On returning to the States, he was employed in engineering work on Long Island, in Connecticut, and in New York State. until May, 1909. At that date he established his office in Dover, and has since successfully practised his profession in that town. In January, 1913, he took up his duties as city engineer of Dover. Mr. Millen is a Progressive in politics, and a mem- ber of the County Progressive League. His fraternal affiliations are with the B. P. O E.
103
MORRIS COUNTY
On November 14, 1906, he married Helen Babbitt, of East Orange, daughter of Robert Oscar Babbitt and Mary Elizabeth (McCrea) Babbitt. Her father was a great-grandson of the Sarah Wyckoff Millen before men- tioned. He was a prominent corporation lawyer of Jersey City, and was connected with large business interests in Mexico. He was born in Mend- ham, Morris county, and died December 31, 1903, at Laredo, Texas. Her mother is a member of an old family of Orange county, New York. Thom- son, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Millen, died in infancy. They are Presbyterians in religion, and well known in the social circles of Dover.
JOHN PEARCE
John Pearce has been engaged in business as a contractor and builder at Dover, New Jersey, for the past fifteen years and many of the fine resi- dences and business blocks here were erected by him. He was born at Ironia, Morris county, New Jersey, January 20, 1875, son of William and Sarah Ann (Friggins) Pearce, the latter of whom died in 1910, at the age of sixty-seven years. The parents were both born in England and there they were married and resided until 1872, when they immigrated to the United States. As a young man in England William Pearce learned the business of mining and he was identified with that line of work in the iron mines of Morris county during many years of his active career. He is now seventy-five years of age and is passing the closing years of his life at Mount Fern, this State. He and his wife became the parents of seven chil- dren as follows: Catherine, unmarried; William, a resident of the west ; Charles, a railroad man, makes his home at Little Falls, New Jersey ; Christina, wife of George O. Eagles, of Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey ; John, whose name forms the caption for this review; Thomas, engaged in agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Mount Fern, New Jersey ; Benjamin, bookkeeper for the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Newark, his headquarters and home being at Mount Fern.
As a boy John Pearce attended school at Center Grove and in Dover, and in 1894 he began to learn the trade of carpenter under the instruction of William Pearce and Joseph Monez, for whom he worked for the ensuing five years. He then entered the car shops at Dover and one year later engaged in business in this city as a contractor and builder. During the past fifteen years he has built up a successful trade, and at the present time, 1913, he has a force of twelve men working for him. He has a reputation for having built as many residences and business structures in this section of Morris county as any other individual engaged in the business. He has some valuable property holdings in Dover and in 1907 erected a beautiful house for himself and family at No. 7 Princeton avenue. He does not take an active part in local politics but owns allegiance to the Republican party in exercising his right of franchise. He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., the G. F. and the R. A., and in religious faith he is a devout member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, as are also his wife and daughter.
In July, 1896, Mr. Pearce married Rebecca Treverrow, daughter of James and Rebecca W. Treverrow, born and reared at Mine Hill, New Jersey. Mrs. Pearce's parents are both deceased. Florence M. Pearce, only child of John and Rebecca Pearce, was born at Dover, in 1899, and is now a pupil in the public schools of this city.
Mr. Pearce is a self-made man in the most significant sense of the word, for no one has assisted him in a financial way and he is largely self-educated. Persistence and a determination to advance are the qualities that have
I04
NEW JERSEY
marked his rise to prominence and affluence. He is trustworthy and reliable in all his dealings, is kind and unassuming in his private life and as a citizen is loyal and public-spirited in all that affects the good of the general welfare.
CHARLES W. BOWLBY
December 13, 1911, Charles W. Bowlby was elected to the office of superintendent of weights and measures for Morris county and in that capacity he is serving with the utmost efficiency at the present time, 1913. He was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, October 30, 1854, son of Joseph and Sarah (Milleroy) Bowlby, the former of whom was likewise born in Hunterdon county, the date of his nativity being 1809. The father was reared on a farm and was engaged in agricultural operations during the entire period of his active career. He was summoned to eternal rest in 1893, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Bowlby was born at New Oxford Furnace, Warren county, New Jersey, 1814, and she passed away in 1883, aged sixty-nine years. There were fifteen children born to Joseph and Sarah Bowlby as follows: Lydia A., who celebrated her eightieth birthday on the 2nd of June, 1913, is the widow of Charles White and she has maintained her home in the city of Dover for the past fifty-five years; David, who is in his seventy-ninth year, is a widower and he is engaged in farming operations in Hunterdon county, this State; Eben died in 1862, aged forty-one years; Caroline, widow of Rev. Robert M. Henderson, who died in Nebraska in 1912; John, a farmer in the vicinity of Pattenburg, Hunterdon county ; Kate, was the wife of Daniel Eagy at the time of her demise; Margaret, wife of Justice Moore, of Sand Brook; Robert, a retired farmer and lives near Hampton Junction, this State; Edgar, enlisted for service in the Union army as a very young boy and he died in the Civil War at the age of seventeen years and four days; Mary, wife of William Vliet, of Bloomsbury, Hunterdon county ; Sarah, widow of William Collard and she resides in Dover, where she is the owner of an up-to-date furniture store that is conducted by her son; Belle, married George Holcomb and she passed to the life eternal in Hunterdon county, New Jersey; Garrison, purchased the land and laid out the present suburb of Bowlbyville, adjoining Dover, and there he makes his home; Charles W., the immediate subject of this review ; Jennie, married (first) Josiah Bowden, and (second) William Eggerts ; she lived in the city of Hartford, Connecti- cut, for a period of twenty-four years, but is now a resident of Westfield, New Jersey.
Under the invigorating influence of the old homestead farm Charles W. Bowlby was reared to maturity and he early began to assist his father and brothers in the work and management of that estate. He was educated in the public schools of Hunterdon county and remained at home until he had reached his legal majority when he married and located at York, Hunter- don county, there conducting a restaurant for a period of two years, at the end of which time he removed to Dover. This city has represented his home for the past thirty-six years. At the time of his advent here, in 1877, he began to clerk for John Lyon, in whose employ he remained for three years. In 1880 he formed a connection with the Singer Sewing Machine Company and he was with that concern for the ensuing fourteen years, during twelve years of which time he was manager of the company's business in Morris county and had sixteen salesmen working under him. In 1894 Mr. Bowlby became interested in local politics and was an im-
105
MORRIS COUNTY
portant factor in the election of George Pierson for the office of mayor of Dover. Shortly after he was appointed chief of police for this city and he served as such with considerable distinction for one year. In his political faith he is a stalwart supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. In 1893 he engaged in the piano business at Dover and subsequently he went to Plainfield, New Jersey, to assume charge of the sales department of the Singer sewing machine. In 1906 he entered the employ of the United States Leather Company as a purchaser of hides in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, following that line of enterprise for four years. During most of this period he sold pianos and sewing machines on his own account and for three years wrote insurance for the Continental Casualty Company. December 13, 1911, he was appointed superintendent of weights and measures for Morris county by the board of freeholders, his term of office covering a period of three years. For fourteen years he was a valued and appreciative member of the Dover fire department and his activity in public affairs has always been characterized by intrinsic loyalty to all matters projected for progress and improvement. He is conscientious in discharging his duties as a public official and he is honored and esteemed by his fellow citizens as a man of mark in all the relations of life.
In 1875 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bowlby to Lydia H. Leonard, whose birth occurred in Hunterdon county, daughter of Curtis Leonard, of Everittstown, New Jersey. There have been five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowlby and concerning them the following brief data are here incorporated : Clara, wife of John T. Howell, proprietor of the Bon Ton Theatre at Dover and a prominent business man in this city, they have one daughter, Gladys, sixteen years of age; Lulu, married Edward Leatherman, a traveling salesman, his headquarters being in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Edgar, a resident of White Plains, New York, a talented musician and leader of the theatre orchestra at White Plains, married Mary Gano, of Pattenburg, New Jersey ; Mary, likewise an accomplished musician and leader of the orchestra at the Bridgeport Theatre in Bridgeport, Con- necticut, unmarried; Hazel, bookkeeper in the Peters Overall Factory at Dover, resides at home with her parents.
In religious faith the Bowlby family are devout members of the Metho- dist church, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Maccabees of the World. The family home is at No. 19 Fairview avenue and Mr. and Mrs. Bowlby are known as generous and hospitable neighbors.
THOMAS H. SEDGEMAN
Although not a native of New Jersey, Thomas H. Sedgeman has been a resident of this commonwealth for fully a score of years. In the early '90's he located at High Bridge, in Hunterdon county, and there was em- ployed in the capacity of machinist until 1910 when he was appointed super- intendent of Taylor's Machine Shop, a position he retained for the ensuing three years. The period of his residence at High Bridge was distinguished by an active interest in public affairs and by strict adherence to his duties as a business man. In 1913 he severed his connections in the latter place and came to Dover, here opening an up-to-date garage, of which he is sole pro- prietor.
Mr. Sedgeman was born at North Adams, Massachusetts, August 24, 1869. His parents, William and Eliza (Rule) Sedgeman, were both born and reared in England. They came to America in early youth and were married in Dover, New Jersey. The father was a miner by occupation and
106
NEW JERSEY
he died in 1907. His wife survives him and she now maintains her home at Stanhope, New Jersey. To Mr. and Mrs. Sedgeman were born the follow- ing children : William J .; Thomas H., of this sketch; Priscilla, wife of John H. Slaght; Catherine, wife of Harry M. Knight; Charlotte, widow of Frank N. Hurd ; Albert; Joseph R .; Louise, wife of J. Hervey Raynor ; Grace, wife of E. T. Wills; Martha, wife of J. E. Knappenberger.
In the common schools of Morris county, at Ford Mine, Thomas H. Sedgeman received his preliminary educational training, which has since been supplemented by extensive reading. As a youth he learned the trade of machinist and in 1893 he found employment in Taylor's Machine Shop, at High Bridge, New Jersey, where he eventually became foreman, then chief inspector, and finally superintendent. He held the last position for three years and a half, resigning in 1913, at which time he came to Dover, where he has since been most profitably engaged in business for himself as proprietor of the Sedgeman Automobile Garage and Supply Shop, erect- ing a garage, 48x75 feet, at 228 East Blackwell street. His success in this venture is guaranteed by his tremendous energy and untiring devo- tion to duty.
In 1895 Mr. Sedgeman married Kate Mayberry, a native of New Jersey, only daughter of Abraham L. and Emma Louisa Mayberry, the former of whom was a carpenter by trade. Mr. and Mrs. Sedgeman have no children. In religious faith the family are devout Methodists, and in his political ad- herence Mr. Sedgeman is a Republican. His fraternal connections are with the Masons at High Bridge and he is likewise affiliated with the J. O. U. A. M. The Sedgemans occupy a beautiful home in Dover and their citizen- ship is considered a valuable adjunct to this place where they have already made many friends.
JOHN MULLIGAN
John Mulligan, actively identified with industrial and manufacturing interests in Morris county, New Jersey, makes his home at Dover. He is deeply interested in community affairs and his efforts have also been a potent element in the business progress of this section of the State. He has with ready recognition of opportunity directed his labors into various fields wherein he has achieved success and at the same time has promoted a business enterprise that has proved of more than local value, largely pro- moting the commercial activity of the State. He is vice-president of the Ulster Iron Works, formerly known as the Dover Iron Company of New Jersey. He is also serving as mayor of Dover and in that connection has brought about many important improvements for the good of the town.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.