USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume II > Part 29
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Lyman Miller Smith was born in Dover, Morris county, New Jersey, June 29, 1877. He was the recipient of a very fine education attending the public schools of Dover until he was graduated from the high school in 1894. He then matriculated at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1898. He then took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey at the June term of 1901. From June, 1901, until January, 1904, he was assistant to his father in the law office of the latter in Dover, and he then entered the employ of Paul Guenther, a prominent manufacturer of hosiery. and was identified with this branch of industry until the death of his father. He then returned to his legal practice with which he has been identified since that time. He is identified with a number of other enterprises, and has been honored with official position in some of them. He is secretary of the Dover Building and Loan Association, and a member of the Morris County Bar Association. The business offices of Mr. Smith are at No. 5 West Blackwell street. Mr. Smith has always given his allegiance to the Re- publican party, and he is associated with the Presbyterian church. His fraternal connection is as follows: Dover Lodge, No. 782, B. P. O. E., of which he was a charter member and the first esquire; Acacia Lodge, No. 20, F. and A. M., of which he was junior warden during the year 1913; Rho Chapter of the Chi Psi Fraternity ; Morris Council, No. 541, R. A. He is a trustee of the Arcanum Home Association of Dover, New Jersey, which has in charge the provision and maintenance for Morris Council, No. 541. While Mr. Smith has never held public office, he manifests a keen interest in any independent movement within party lines, which has for its object the betterment of political conditions.
JAMES H. FARR
One of the successful mercantile establishments at Wharton is the gen- eral store and meat market conducted by James H. Farr. The business was established there in 1877, thirty-five years ago, by the mother of James H. Farr, and has been continuous in its prosperity and in its reputation for supplying first-class goods to the trade. Mrs. Farr was an energetic and business like woman and continued to conduct the store until 1901, at which time her son, James H., took charge, and he has since developed and ex- tended its trade until it is now one of the best stores in the smaller centers of Morris county.
James H. Farr was born at Wharton, New Jersey, October 10, 1877, a son of George William Harris and Matilda (Malsom) Farr. His father was a native of Wales, and the mother of England, and they were married in the latter country, coming to America after two children had been born to them. The father died in New Jersey, January 17. 1907, while the
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mother still lives at Wharton. By occupation the father was a blacksmith and wheelwright and conducted a shop at Wharton for a long number of years. The mother added to the enterprise, under the family name, by establishing and conducting with much success the store, which has already been mentioned. The father in politics was a Republican, and a Methodist in religion, while his wife is a communicant of the Episcopal faith. Their children were: Susannah; Reuben; Catherine, wife of Robert Curtis; George William Harris; Helen, wife of William J. Hill; Dr. Frederick C .; James H. ; Edith, wife of Harry Hance.
James H. Farr has been a practical worker nearly all his years. Up to the age of about twelve he attended the common schools, but then started out to learn a practical vocation and continued with his father in the black- smith shop for about eleven years. He then did blacksmithing at Brooklyn for two years, returned home and worked one year at blacksmithing, and also assisted his mother. For some years he has actively and successfully managed the store. In 1903 Mr. Farr married Alice Martin, born at Wharton, daughter of James and Mary Martin, her father having been a mine boss. The Martin children were: Mary, Jennie, Annie, Grace, Nellie, Lena, Lizzie, Lilly. Mr. and Mrs. Farr have just one daughter, Doris May. In politics he is an independent voter, and affiliates with the B. P. O. E. at Dover.
HERBERT W. LOUNSBURY
Since 1908 Herbert W. Lounsbury has been engaged in the grocery business at Mendham. He is an enterprising citizen of the younger genera- tion and thus far has met with most gratifying success as a business man. He is diligent and alert for opportunities to extend the scope of his business and he caters to a very high-class trade. A native of this county, Mr. Lounsbury was born at Morristown, New Jersey, February 25, 1886, son of James and Elizabeth (Wilson) Lounsbury, prominent residents of Mend- ham, where the father is engaged in work of his trade-that of carpenter. Mr. and Mrs. Lounsbury are the parents of seven children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth: Julia, wife of Fred Dean; Charles, William, Martin, George, Herbert W., Grace.
When he had completed a thorough common school education, Herbert W. Lounsbury entered Wood's Business College, at Newark, and there pursued a commercial course. In 1908 he came to Mendham and pur- chased his present place of business-an up-to-date grocery store, which was formerly run by Frank McMurtry. A complete stock of staple and fancy groceries is carried and in addition to a large local patronage Mr. Lounsbury has many customers in the surrounding agricultural district. He favors Democratic principles in his political convictions but in local elec- tions votes for the man best fitted for office regardless of party creed. He is affiliated with the local lodges of the M. W. A. and the J. O. U. A. M.
In 1909 Mr. Lounsbury married Ida DeGroot, a native of Mendham and a daughter of Elias and Anna Mary (Roy) DeGroot, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is now living in Mendham. Mrs. Lounsbuary has one brother, Freeman, who is engaged in the brokerage busi- ness at Mendham. Mr. and Mrs. Lounsbury are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are active factors in various kinds of chari- table work. They are popular in the younger set of Mendham and are charming entertainers in their own home. They have no children.
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SIMON J. LOEWENTHAL
The activity and enterprise of a growing center of population is most clearly indicated by the class of its manufacturing and industrial concerns. A well conducted plant that gives employment to hundreds of workmen and that turns out useful articles is an important addition to any community, inasmuch as it draws to itself men of sober, industrious habits, whose citizenship is a notable adjunct to that place. Such a concern is the Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works, which was established at Rockaway, New Jersey, in the year 1896, and which, with the passage of years, has in- creased the scope of its operations until it is now recognized as one of the most thriving industries of its kind in the entire State. Simon J. Loewen- thal, whose name forms the caption for this article, is president of this cor- poration and he was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Rockaway of which reliable institution he is likewise president. While he has risen high in the business world he has not neglected his duties as a citizen but has served Rockaway as its mayor for two terms. Diligent and persistent in his course of achievement, he has laid well his plans and the inevitable outcome has been success of unusual order.
Jacob Loewenthal, father of Simon J. Loewenthal, whose demise occur- red January 1, 1913, was the original founder of the Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works. Born in the great empire of Germany, he there grew to manhood and he immigrated to the United States in the year 1848. For a number of years he was a resident of Evansville, Indiana, but in 1865 located in New York City, in which latter place he became interested in the cotton goods converting business, there forming the nucleus for this large and flourishing establishment. Up to 1884 Jacob Loewenthal was a member of the converting firm of Adolph Bernheimer & Company, which dissolved partnership in that year, at which time the concern known as Jacob Loewenthal & Sons was formed, with headquarters in New York. In 1896 the Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works was incorporated, with Jacob Loewenthal as president and at that time the factory was erected at Rock- away, deviating or changing to the finishing. An office for marketing the goods was maintained in New York, that end of the business being cared for by Jacob Loewenthal and his son Adolph. The other two sons, Simon J. and Emil M., took charge of the factory at Rockaway, the former as general manager and the latter as head of the office department.
This finishing business represents one of the largest industries of its kind in New Jersey and was established at an immense cost to its owners. There are two main buildings, standing on thirty-five acres of land, and they are eighty by 400 feet in lateral dimensions; they are connected by bridges. There are several other smaller buildings for blacksmithing and repairs. The tower is six stories in height and forty feet square and it is surmounted by a steel flagstaff, sixty-five feet in height, from which floats the United States flag. On the roof of the tower is a complete weather bureau and the top story contains a Seth Thomas clock of four dials and also tanks for sprinklers. The fifth floor is used for storage of various models and cast- ings; the fourth floor is arranged with shelving for reference samples of the work; the third floor is used for old files; the second floor is occupied by general and private offices; and on the first floor are located the super- intendent's offices and laboratories. The tower is entirely fireproof and each of the floors has fireproof partitions and safes. The machinery is modern throughout and the main power is generated by one large McIntosh engine of 400 horse power, and two Ridgway compound engines of 250 horse
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power each, also a small engine of forty horse power. All three of the engines are connected with eight boilers and a cromanizer and have a total capacity of over 2,000 horse power. The machinery in the different rooms is run by electricity and each room is supplied with one or more motors controlled independently of each other. On each floor are elevators for the carrying of freight. The entire building is heated and cooled by the Sturte- vant air system and is lighted by its own electric plant. The buildings have fireproof partitions and doors and the entire plant is protected by the Grin- nell & Esten systems of sprinklers. Part of the water supply is obtained from a reservoir fed by springs, which is enclosed by a stone wall of the best masonry. The excavation, in some places thirty-five feet deep, is sufficient to secure a 5,000,000 gallon supply of pure, fresh, soft water. The two main buildings are far enough apart to permit of a railway siding and wagon road between them and the raw material is taken from cars at one end of the buildings and all the manufactured goods are loaded directly upon the cars at the other end, thus avoiding the necessity of extra haulage. The raw material comes in bales, from which it is taken and sewed together until a weight of from three and a half to four tons is attained, when it is passed through the different processes which transforms it into the finished product. All the goods manufactured at the works are consigned them and when finished are returned to these consignors, who then sell them to their various trades.
Jacob Loewenthal, with the assistance of his three sons, planned and erected the above complex and wonderfully convenient works. He was president of the Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works until his demise, Jan- uary 1, 1913, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. He was a noble example of unusual business ability, well balanced judgment and persever- ance. He reached the close of his life with undimmed alertness and clear- ness of mentality. He was a man of great philanthropy but there was a modesty and lack of ostentation in his work as a benefactor. His deep sympathy and innate kindliness of spirit make his memory an enduring monument more ineffaceable than polished marble or burnished bronze. "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die." Mr. Loewenthal married Mary Gumberts, a native of Evansville, Indiana, and to them were born the following children : Adolph, died April 1, 1912 ; Anna, wife of Joseph Levi ; Simon J., of this notice ; Emil M., vice-president and treasurer of the Lion- dale Bleach, Dye & Print Works. The mother died May 18, 1911.
Simon J. Loewenthal was born at Evansville, Indiana, May 10, 1863. To the public schools of New York he is indebted for his preliminary educational training, which was supplemented with a course of study in Charlier Institute, of New York, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1880. Upon leaving school he began to work for his father as a clerk in the latter's cotton-converting business in New York City. After 1884 he was a member of the firm of Jacob Loewenthal & Sons, and in 1896, on the incorporation of the Liondale Works, he became secretary and gen- eral manager of the plant at Rockaway, as previously noted. At the pres- ent time the official corps of the Liondale Bleach, Dye & Print Works is as follows: Simon J. Loewenthal, president ; Emil M. Loewenthal, vice-presi- dent and treasurer ; Alfred S. Levi, secretary ; the board of directors in- cludes the above officials and in addition to them Harry R. Watson and Elmer King, of Morristown. A force of three hundred are employed in the Liondale Works and at the present time an enormous business is con- trolled. March 4, 1907, Simon J. Loewenthal helped organize the First National Bank of Rockaway, of which he has since been president. Mr.
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Loewenthal is interested in many other business ventures in Rockaway and throughout the country. He is a member of Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Montefiore Home, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and other charitable institutions. His benefactions are many, all done in an unostentatious manner. He is a Republican in his political convictions and takes an active part in community affairs. He has served on the Rockaway fire department, and for two terms, from 1907 to 1909, he was mayor of this city. During his adminis- trations as mayor many reforms were enacted, among which the telephone, electric lights, fire alarm system, road building and repairing, also the classi- fication of the expenditures of the city's finances. His efforts have been a potent element in the business progress of this section of Morris county and nothing projected for the benefit of his home community fails of his most zealous support. His father held a pew in Temple Bethel, of New York City.
Mr. Loewenthal married Mrs. Carrie Rice, daughter of Joseph Couples. a prominent citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. Loewenthal has one daugh- ter, Pearle.
WARREN E. BOSTEDO
The name of Warren E. Bostedo, member of the renowned Drake-Bos- tedo Company, of Netcong, Morris county, New Jersey, is so well and widely known that further introduction is unnecessary.
Ezra Bostedo, his grandfather, was born and died in Morris county, where the family has been resident for many years. He lived on a farm near Hibernia. He married Martha Shauger and had children: John P., of further mention; Harriet, married Albert Barton and is now a widow ; Catherine, deceased, married Aaron Sanderson : and two other children.
John P. Bostedo, son of Ezra and Martha (Shauger) Bostedo, was born near Green Pond, Morris county, in 1835, and has now been a resident of Netcong many years. His occupation was that of stationary engineer, which he followed for about forty years; he affiliated with the Democratic party. His wife has been a member of the Methodist church. He mar- ried Jane Allison, and they had children: Warren E., the subject of this sketch; Wallace, who died in 1900 at the age of twenty-two years ; Charles, died in 1897 at the age of twenty years.
Mrs. Bostedo was a daughter of John and Jane Allison, natives of Mil- ton, Morris county, who died near Green Pond in the same county, where they conducted a hotel for some time and later retired to a farm. They had children: Warren, who lost his life in a burning gold mine at Pike's Peak ; deceased ; Cynthia, married Daniel Shauger ; Caroline, de- ceased, married Frederick Matthews; Isaac, of Hibernia ; Cornelius, a resi- dent of Newfoundland, New Jersey; Mary, deceased, was the wife of William Earls ; Rachel, deceased, was the wife of William Henderson ; John D., a resident of Butler, New Jersey ; Elizabeth, married John Egbert, of Marcella, near Green Pond; Hannah, deceased, was the wife of Lewis Mead; Sidney, deceased ; Jane, mentioned above, who was born in 1842.
Warren E. Bostedo was born in Hibernia, Morris county, New Jersey, October 31, 1866. When three years of age lie removed with his parents to Stanhope, and there attended the public schools until he had attained the age of sixteen years. He then entered the employ of G. H. Lunger, who conducted a business on the same site now occupied by the Drakc-Bostedo Company, and subsequently purchased the business from Mr. Lunger and conducted it for a period of five years. In 1896 the Drake-Bostcdo Com-
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pany was incorporated, taking in the store and the lumber yard, and since that time the concern has been successfully operated by Mr. Bostedo and D. S. Drake. It is the largest mercantile business in that section of Morris county, and its various departments are fully equipped and stocked. They also have a drug store in Netcong, and erected the Drake-Bostedo Block, a brick building, in 1910. In political opinion Mr. Bostedo is a Republican, and for a number of years has been serving as a member of the school board of Netcong. His religious membership is with the Methodist Episcopal church of Stanhope, and his fraternal with the R. A. and the J. O. U. A. M. Mr. Bostedo married, in December, 1889, Nellie, a daughter of A. J. Drake, and they have had children : Marion, who was graduated from the Netcong public schools; Meredith, a student at the Hackettstown Seminary ; R. Drake and Lois, pupils in the public schools of Netcong.
WILLIAM J. DOWNS
William J. Downs, whose extensive business interests place him among the leaders in mercantile circles in Wharton, Morris county, New Jersey, has achieved that success which is the natural result of systematic effort, straightforward dealing and resolute purpose. He has climbed upon a lad- der of his own building to prominence and prosperity, and has earned the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens, and has become an expert in his line of business.
John Downs, his father, was born in Ireland, and came to America in 1853. For a time he lived in Bound Brook, removing from that place to Wharton, Morris county, New Jersey, where he died December 31, 1903. He was a miner thirty-five years, and in the mercantile business for a period of ten years. He was a Democrat in political affairs, and a Catholic in religious belief. Mr. Downs married, in 1855, Mary Gallagher, born in Ireland, 1830, came to the United States with her brother Peter, 1852, and lived at Rockaway, Morris county, New Jersey. They had children : Thomas, who has for forty years been a machinist in the employ of Thomas H. Hoagland, of Rockaway, and his father, Mahlon H. Hoagland ; James, died in Boulder, Montana, where he had been a merchant ; John, who was in business with his brother, William J., resides at Wharton; Annie, married John Loughin, shipping clerk at the Richardson & Boynton Works, Dover, New Jersey ; William J., of whom further.
William J. Downs was born in Dover, Morris county, New Jersey, No- vember 8, 1867. He received his education in the public day schools of Dover and Mount Pleasant, and supplemented it with study at the night schools after he had commenced his business career. He entered the employ of Oram & Hance, of Port Oram, Morris county, New Jersey, in the post office department, and subsequently worked for six years in the store of the same firm. In 1888 he established himself in the general mer- cantile business in Wharton, and has made an unqualified success of this enterprise. He has now been actively engaged in this line of industry for a period of a quarter of a century, and his methods have always been those of an energetic and progressive business man who keeps well abreast of the times in every particular. He is a Democrat in his political views, and entered the political arena when he attained his majority. He has filled all the offices of the borough with the exception of that of mayor, and during all this time was defeated for office but once. He was freeholder two terms ; assessor three years; clerk of the borough of Wharton two terms : six years a member of the borough council, having been in office since the
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town was organized into a borough. Mr. Downs married, 1889, Eliza, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Jewel) Knuckey. They have had child- ren : John, who is his father's assistant in the store; Genevieve, also in the store. Mr. Downs and his family are communicants of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, of Dover.
DR. THEODORE F. WOLFE
Theodore Frelinghuysen Wolfe, M. D., Ph. D., Litt. D., of Succasunna, Morris county, New Jersey, youngest son of Daniel R. and Mary Logan Wolfe, was born in Roxbury, July 5, 1843. His ancestry is traced to the family of the hero of Quebec on the one side, and to the Lords Stirling on the other. His is a race of soldiers; both of his great-grandfathers were officers in the Revolution, his grandfathers in the War of 1812, and he and his brothers served in the Civil War.
His education was begun in the Succasunna Academy, continued in the Philadelphia High School, and completed in the Columbia University, where he won the degree of M. D. in 1868. The degrees of Ph. D. and Litt. D. were subsequently conferred by other universities in recognition of his scientific and literary works, and those works have procured for him mem- bership in various learned societies of this and other countries.
His medical training began in 1861, in the Army of the Potomac, where he had subordinate charge of a field hospital. In 1868 he established him- self in Jersey City, where for many years he enjoyed a large and lucrative professional practice, being police surgeon, surgeon to the Pennsylvania rail- road, and consultant to two hospitals-a practice which ill-health finally obliged him to relinquish. During this period he wrote many monographs and minor treatises upon surgical topics, and was an official member of medical associations of New Jersey and New York. After retirement from active practice, he gave much time to other scientific researches, especially in the department of ethnology and the study of the Lenape Indians of New Jersey, making many translations of their dialects and traditions, and exhuming numerous neolithic implements and weapons.
Later his chief interest has been the critical study of the world's famous authors and their production. For the purpose of this study he has made several sojourns in Europe, and many more in all the older States of the Union, visiting the environments amid which the authors lived and wrote, their habitual resorts, and the scenes they embalmed in their books. Much of the edifying results of his lettered travels and researches Dr. Wolfe has recorded in his "Literary Series," some volumes of which have now reached the eighteenth edition.
Since 1890 Dr. Wolfe has owned a cottage at Succasunna, New Jersey, where he remains for a considerable part of each year, in the intervals be- tween the journeys in search of literary material, and where most of his later writing has been done, including books, reviews, translations, magazine articles and historical sketches. The following are titles of some of his works: "Tetanus," "Anaesthesia and Anaesthetics," "Contributions to a Dictionary of the Lenni-Lenape Language," "Literary Shrines, American Authors," "A Literary Pilgrimage to Scenes of British Authors," "Liter- ary Haunts and Homes, America Authors," "Literary Rambles at Home and Abroad." Four other books have been published under a pen name which Dr. Wolfe has not yet acknowledged.
In 1880, Dr. Wolfe was married to Gertrude, daughter of Louis Frank- lin, of Winsted, Connecticut, who died in 1900, survived by one child, Mary Franklin Wolfe.
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GEORGE A. DRAKE
Energy and unusual determination to forge ahead have marked the career of George A. Drake, senior member of the firm of Drake Brothers, successful contractors and builders at Dover, New Jersey, where he has been prominent as a citizen since 1896. Mr. Drake was born at Budd Lake, Mor- ris county, New Jersey, June 6, 1874, son of Aaron S. and Ellen A. (Ogden) Drake. The father is likewise a native of Budd Lake, the year of his nativity being 1840. He is now seventy-three years of age and is still hale and hearty. He has been most successfully engaged in work as a contractor and builder since 1883. His wife, whose maiden name was Ellen A. Ogden, was born at Whippany, New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Drake have nine children : Charles L., carpenter at East Orange, New Jersey; Anna B., wife of Blaker Hart, a carpenter at Bayonne, New Jersey; Carrie N., wife of George S. Hummer, of Dover, New Jersey; George A., whose name forms the caption for this review; Arthur O., a member of the contracting firm of Drake Brothers, mentioned elsewhere in this work; Lizzie S., wife of Morris Palmer, of Dover; Margaret, wife of Thomas Flynn, of Dover ; Amy, wife of Chester Urban, of Bayonne, New Jersey ; Nellie, single, re- sides with her parents at Dover.
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