USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume II > Part 69
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Jersey for 200 years before his birth-all devout and upright men, living on their own land.
Mr. Randolph graduated at Princeton College in 1866, and at the Co- lumbia School of Mines in 1869. He afterwards studied in Göttingen, Tübingen and Vienna. His first employment was in 1871 in the service of the United States government in the structural cast-iron work of the light- house board. In 1873 and 1874 he was in the service of the Japanese gov- ernment as professor of metallurgy in the University of Tokio. In 1884 he was in the service of the Chinese government, engaged in the examination of gold lands on the Yangtse river, and in 1888 in the service of the re- public of Columbia in South America, as commissioner of mines in the Tolima district. At other times he was engaged for English and American bankers and syndicates in extensive examinations in Colorado, Montana, California, Arizona, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Borneo, China and India. It was his boast that he had saved fortunes rather than won them; that he had told the exact truth to clients and had never negotiated sales. He had a consulting office in New York for about thirty-five years; was a member of the University Club and the Down Town Association in New York, and of the Morristown Club and of the South Street Presbyterian Church. He was a man of wide acquaintance in many lands, and knew their great songs and music and pictures and scenes and customs, as well as their mines. He lived in Morristown for about twenty years. He never married.
JOSEPH F. RANDOLPH
was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, December 4, 1843. He was the son of Judge Joseph F. Randolph, of the Supreme Court, whose forefathers came from England in 1629 and settled in New Jersey in 1669. On his mother's side Mr. Randolph's great-great-grandfather, Judge Daniel Cooper, lived for a 100 years in Long Hill and died there in 1795. His great-great- great-grandfather, Richard Oldfield, was the father of Mrs. Timothy Johnes, of Morristown.
Mr. Randolph graduated at Yale College in 1862, and afterward studied at the Columbia Law School, and in Berlin, Heidelberg, Göttingen and Paris. In 1866 he was admitted to the New York bar and in 1867 to the New Jersey bar. He was afterward appointed by the Chancellor special master and advisory master in the Court of Chancery. He practiced law in Jersey City from April, 1868, until his retirement from active practice forty years later-at first with his father and Judge Bennington F. Ran- dolph, and afterward in the firm names of Randolph & Talcott and of Randolph, Condict & Black. For many years he had a consulting office in New York City. He is the author of a "Treatise on Commercial Paper" (2 editions), "Succession Law in New Jersey" and "Supplement," (1905 and 1909), "New Jersey Inheritance and Transfer Tax (1913), "The Lord's Death" (1909), and "The Law of Faith-with a Lawyer's Notes on the Written Law" (Putnam 1914). He has also alone or with others edited "Jarman on Wills" and "Williams on Executors," and the volume on "Commercial Paper" in the "Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure."
He was married in October, 1872, to Harriet W. Talcott, of Jersey City. She died in March, 1891, leaving no children. Mr. Randolph has lived in Morristown since 1877. He is a manager of the American Bible Society and an elder in the South Street Presbyterian Church, and was for many years a director of the Memorial Hospital and of the Children's Home in Parsippany, and the Bloomfield Theological Seminary.
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FREDERICK WILLIAM STEVENS
The career of Vice-Chancellor Stevens, marked as it has been by public service of the highest type, and by an undeviating devotion to duty, places him among the foremost men of the State in his generation. As a lawyer he is respected for his thorough knowledge of legal principles and for his unfailing and sound common sense. As a judge the fairness, clear- ness and acuteness of his mind, with the high qualifications he has shown in that capacity, have won him universal admiration and respect, and given him a prominent position among the important men of the State.
Vice-Chancellor Frederick William Stevens is the eldest son of James Alexander Stevens, an engineer, who was many years the superintendent of the Hoboken Ferry Company. His great-grandfather, John Stevens, was Fulton's rival in the beginnings of steam navigation. His mother, Julia (Beasley) Stevens, was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Frederic Beasley, for some years Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. Vice-Chancellor Stevens was born June 9, 1846, at Hoboken, New Jersey.
He entered Columbia College, now Columbia University, in 1860, and graduated in 1864. The university has since conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He read law in the office of the late Judge Edward T. Green and was admitted to the bar of the State of New Jersey as attorney in the November term of 1868, and as counsellor in the same term of 1871. He was later made an Advisory Master in Chancery and a Supreme Court Commissioner.
For a number of years Mr. Stevens practised his profession in Newark, coming first into public life in 1873, when upon the organization of the Dis- trict Courts of that city he was made Judge of the Second District, a position which he held for two years, giving great satisfaction. In 1889 he was counsel for the Essex County Board of Freeholders, an office that he held for about two years. His professional record has been one of the most un- usual success, and he has taken a conspicuous part in some of the most im- portant legal fights ever made. One of these was the contest regarding the settlement of the back taxes of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Rail- road Company. In this case he and Judge Dillon acted as arbitrators. He was a member of the standing committee of the diocese of Newark of the Protestant Episcopal church for many years. In 1896 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor by Chancellor McGill for a term of seven years, succeeding in this position John T. Bird. In 1903 he was appointed for another terin, and again for a third term in 1910. This term will expire in 1917. His political convictions are Democratic. He belongs to the Essex and the Lawyers' Clubs, and is a member of the Church of the Redeemer, Morris- town. He makes Morristown his residence.
He has been married twice. His first wife, whom he married in 1880, was Mary Worth, daughter of Joseph Olden, of Princeton. She was born in 1856, died October 31, 1897. She left two children: Katherine, born August 15, 1883 ; Neil Campbell, born October 22, 1887. On September 9. 1904, he married (second) Edith de Gueldry, of Morristown. Of this marriage there are two children : Barbara Twining, born January 11, 1906; Alice de Gueldry, born May 21, 1908.
JOHN RUNKLE EMERY
The career of John Runkle Emery is one of the most honorable in the annals of jurisprudence in the commonwealth of New Jersey. Distinguished as a jurist for faithfulness in the discharge of the duties with which his
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fellow-citizens have entrusted him, for his wide and accurate knowledge of the law in all its departments, and for the devotion to the interests of his clients, he has won for himself an enviable position in the estimation of the entire State. His character and attainments have been such as to be a matter of pride to the State that brought forth such a son. It is the number of men of such caliber that has won for the commonwealth that front rank among the states of the Union which has been the proud boast of New Jersey since the earliest times.
The parents of John Runkle Emery were William P. and Ann (Runkle) Emery, who were natives of Hunterdon county, New Jersey. His father, by a long, useful and upright life, had held an honorable position in the com- munity. He had been known as a prominent merchant of Flemington for many years, and had served as elder in the Presbyterian church for a long period, dying in 1888 at the age of seventy-eight.
John R. Emery was born in Flemington, July 6, 1842. With the advant- ages of an education closely watched over by his parents he entered the schools of Flemington, and laid there the foundation of his later thorough- ness. Collegiate work was prepared for at the school known as Edge Hill, Princeton, under Professor Cottell, and later under Rev. Dr. P. O. Studdi- ford, at Lambertville. Finishing there, he matriculated in 1858 at Princeton University and graduated with the class of 1861. His college course being completed, his choice of a profession fell upon the law, and he at once began its study. But these were stirring times, and he was only one of the many thousands of high-minded youths who laid aside all personal aims to take up arms in defense of their country, threatened by the gravest danger. He enlisted as a private in the Fifteenth Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, in August, 1862, was appointed and mustered in as second lieutenant and served until February, 1863, when he received an honorable discharge.
His interrupted legal education was then resumed in Flemington. He studied there under Bennet Van Syckel, who afterward became a Judge of the Supreme Court. Later he became a student under A. V. Van Vleet, afterwards Vice-Chancellor, and during the year 1863-64 he carried on his studies at the Harvard Law School. In 1865 he was admitted to the bar as attorney, and in 1868 as counsellor-at-law. He had entered into a partner- ship with Mr. Van Vleet in 1865, and for a year he practised law in Fleming- ton. Going thence to Trenton he entered into partnership with A. G. Richey and soon won distinction as a lawyer and had a wide and successful practice. In 1874 he gave this up for travel abroad, owing to impaired health. The European sojourn was of so great benefit that after a year he returned home able to resume his work. This he took up in Newark, New Jersey, and soon held a position of eminence among the members of the bar. After hav- ing held for a number of years the post of Advisory Master, in February, 1895, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor by Chancellor McGill. The vice- chancellorship was for the full term of seven years and was to succeed the late Vice-Chancellor Van Vleet. Reappointed by Chancellor Magie in 1902, he is serving the third term to which he was appointed by Chancellor Pitney in 1909. The way in which he has discharged the duties of the position has given universal satisfaction.
His knowledge of the law is broad and deep, and his mind is so char- acterized by good judgment and common sense that he has won an enviable reputation among his associates on the bench. He is a close and clear rea- soner, a conscientious and painstaking worker. and an eloquent and forcible speaker.
Vice-Chancellor Emery married, in 1885, Alla MacKie, daughter of
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James S. MacKie, of Mount Savage, Maryland. They have four children. Since 1891 they have made their home in Morristown. They are members of the Protestant Episcopal church, and are communicants in the Church of the Redeemer. Mr. Emery is one of the lay members of the standing committee of the Diocese of Newark and chancellor of the Diocese.
GEORGE M. MILLER
George Macculloch Miller, lawyer, of Morristown, is a descendant in the fourth generation of a family of German lineage, his ancestors leaving their native land at an early date in order to escape religious persecution, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later settling in the State of New Jersey, where they were prominently and actively identified with the development and improvement of the communities in which they resided.
The pioneer ancestor was John Henry Miller, who came to this country in the year 1750, landing August 12, and three years later removed to New Jersey. He held the office of town clerk of Tewkesbury for thirty-one years. His wife, Maria Catherine (Melich) Miller, bore him four children, among whom was David, of whom further.
David Miller, son of John Henry Miller, was born April 26, 1769, died at Paterson, New Jersey, in January, 1844. He was a resident of Middle German Valley. He was appointed major of the First Battalion, Second Regiment, New Jersey, February 19, 1794. He married Mary Elizabeth Welsh, born December 10, 1776, daughter of William and Dorothea Welsh. They were the parents of nine children, among whom was Jacob Welsh, of whom further.
Jacob Welsh Miller, son of David Miller, was born at German Valley, Morris county, New Jersey, in October, 1800, died at Morristown, New Jersey, September 30, 1862. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1823, and began the practice of his profession in Morristown, where he soon acquired an extensive and profitable practice, especially in the higher courts. In 1832 he was elected a member of the State legislature, but in the following year resumed the practice of his profession. In 1838 he was nominated for the State senate by the Whigs, and elected by a large ma- jority, and at the close of his term in 1840 he was elected United States senator for New Jersey. At the expiration of his term, in 1846, he was re- elected, serving two full terms in the Upper House of the first legislative body in the world when that body in both branches was at the zenith of its glory. In 1825 he was quartermaster-general of militia, and was promin- ent the year previous on the occasion of the visit of General Lafayette to Morristown on July 14. During 1827 he became one of the incorporators as well as the first vestryman of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. He married, November 7, 1825, Mary Macculloch, daughter of George Perrot and Louisa Edwina (Saunderson) Macculloch. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, among whom was George Macculloch, of whom further.
George Macculloch Miller, son of Jacob Welsh Miller, was born at Mor- ristown, Morris county, New Jersey, May 4, 1832. After completing the course in the common schools of his native place, he became a student in Burlington College, from which institution he graduated, and he then pur- sued a course of study in Harvard Law School, which was supplemented by study under the supervision of his father. Subsequently he was admitted to the bar of New Jersey and New York. In 1854 he began the practice of his profession in New York City, and was constantly employed as counsel and attorney for many large institutions. In 1871 he became president of
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the Newport & Wickford Railroad & Steamboat Company ; in 1873 a direc- tor of the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad Company, and subse- quently was chosen as its vice-president; in 1879 elected president of the Providence & Stonington Steamship Company ; president of the Denver, Utah & Pacific Railroad Company for the six years ending 1887; presi- dent of the Housatonic Railroad Company, and for many years was one of the leading directors of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road Company. He founded the firm of Miller, Peckham & Dixon, which is one of the leading corporations of the State. Mr. Miller is a trustee of the Central Trust Company, and Greenwood cemetery; president of St. Luke's Hospital, in which he has taken an active interest since 1869; founder and until recently president of the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Associa- tion of New York. He is one of the original trustees and secretary of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and a warden of St. Thomas Church. In politics he has always been a Republican, and was one of the committee of seventy to advance municipal reform.
Mr. Miller married, October 15, 1857, Elizabeth Hoffman, daughter of Lindley Murray Hoffman. Children : Hoffman; Mary Louisa, wife of William Bard McVickar; Leverett Saltonstall; Elizabeth Agnes, wife of Godfrey Brinley; Edith Macculloch.
GEORGE BAIN
George Bain became a tax-payer in Morris county, New Jersey, in 1886, and has spent the major part of his life there since that time. He located at Lake Hopatcong when there were not two dozen houses on that remark- ably beautiful sheet of water. He participated later in the wake of the first steamboat that ever ran on Lake Hopatcong. His article on the real estate conditions at Lake Hopatcong, published some years ago, has been accepted as a part of the history of the Lake. In 1905 he built a home over- looking the Jersey City water supply near Boonton, and it is generally ad- mitted that he has selected, for his home site, as beautiful a place as is to be found on God's footstool. He is a lover of scenery, and chose his home- stead with this particular point in view.
Mr. Bain was born in New York City, October 29, 1862. His father, John Bain, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, a city that General Grant said was the most beautiful he had seen in his trip around the world. John Bain was a printer by trade, and married Sarah Jane Culbert, at Columbia, South Carolina, his wife being also of Scottish birth. In his earlier years, Mr. Bain's father was associated with Horace Greeley on the New York Tribune, a man who made history in the days of the Civil War. And it is his son's special gratification that he has a letter written by that great editor while he was running for President of the United States, to his father, who was at that time publishing the Lawrence Tribune and the Ottawa Herald in Kansas.
Mr. Bain has never held public office, but has always taken a lively in- terest in governmental affairs, and his particular idol, if he has any, is Abraham Lincoln. He is a strong believer in the public schools, and de- precates what appears to be a growing habit among the well-to-do Americans to disregard this institution, which he considers the bulwark of the nation. He is a veteran of the Seventh Regiment of New York, and has been an insurance broker, on his own account, since 1887, in New York City. His acquaintanceship in the financial district is extended, and he is a walk- ing encyclopedia on matters financial and commercial.
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In 1902 he married Louise Marston Brasher, the daughter of one of the oldest and richest citizens of Brooklyn. From this union there is one daugh- ter, Jeanette Marston Bain. Mrs. Bain's grandfather lies in St. Paul's churchyard, six feet from Broadway, and was a member of the New York City government at the time of Mayor Kingsland. Her grandparents en- tertained at their home the famous Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the latter being a cousin of the family. It is one of the charms of Mr. Bain's home to hear related stories of New York City's early history-for instance, that her grandmother (Mrs. Bain's) telling of how she objected to going so far out-of-town as Beekman street. Mrs. Bain's father spent his ninety-one years of life in Greater New York.
It is Mr. Bain's opinion that Morris county contains more beautiful scenery than any one county in the United States. He has lived in Cali- fornia and has spent time in almost every State in the Union (besides cov- ering Canada and Mexico) and his judgment should carry weight.
ROBERT BRUCE MCEWAN
The life history of Robert Bruce McEwan, of Orange and Whippany, New Jersey, is closely connected with some of the most important industries of the State of New Jersey. The industry with which he has been especially identified has been followed by his family for some generations. His grand- father, Anthony McEwan, was a paper maker by trade in Scotland, and married Mary Coomb.
Robert, son of Anthony and Mary (Coomb) McEwan, was born near the city of Glasgow, Scotland, September 8, 1828, and died in New Jersey, in 1909. He came to America in early manhood, and at first settled at Bloom- field, New Jersey, where he was associated for several years with L. A. Brown in the manufacture of air-dried straw board. From Bloomfield he removed to Easton, Connecticut, where he was engaged in the manufacture of paper for some years. In 1884 he removed with his family to Caldwell, New Jersey, and there commenced the manufacture of paper under the firm name of Robert McEwan & Sons. Four years later he removed to Whippany, Morris county, and the firm was incorporated under the name of the McEwan Brothers Company. In 1902 this corporation was sold to the United Box Board & Paper Company, and incorporated, in 1904, under the name of McEwan Brothers. The concern converts old newspapers, etc., into paper box board. The official board is as follows: Robert Bruce McEwan, president ; Arthur McEwan, treasurer and general manager. The idea of manufacturing paper box board from old paper was originated by Robert McEwan, the father. Robert McEwan married Sarah Ann Walsh, born in England in 1842, died in New Jersey in 1910. They had children : William Wallace, a paper manufacturer, who died in 1905 at the age of forty-nine years; Andrew Wilson, died at the age of twenty years; Edith, married George W. Phillips, of Newark, New Jersey ; Jesse L., paper manufacturer of Whippany; Mary, married William L. Wilson, of Whippany; Richard W., president of the Morristown & Erie Railroad, and also a paper manu- facturer ; Robert Bruce, whose name heads this sketch; Arthur, a sketch of whom also appears in this work ; Frank, a paper manufacturer in Newark, New Jersey, resides in Madison, Morris county ; Frederick, a paper manu- facturer of Newark, also resides in Madison.
Robert Bruce McEwan was born at Windsor Locks, Connecticut, April 16, 1861. He was educated in the public schools of Easton, Connecticut, leaving them at the age of fourteen years, and then commenced to assist his
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father in the paper manufacturing business. Subsequently he spent four years in the employ of the Domestic Sewing Machine Company, in Newark, New Jersey, and while there was a student three years at the evening sessions of the New Jersey Business College. Caldwell, New Jersey, was the next · scene of his activity, where he was associated with his father in the firm of Robert McEwan & Sons, mentioned above. He is also the treasurer and general freight and passenger agent of the Morristown & Erie Railroad Com- pany, a director of the National Iron Bank of Morristown, and stockholder in a number of other corporations. He is a member of Morristown Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Morristown Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; and Mecca Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of New York. He is a Republican in political matters, and since 1910 has been a member of the Baptist church. His private residence is at Orange, New Jersey, but his business office is at Whippany, Morris county. Mr. McEwan married, in March, 1884, Mary Bradley, a daughter of John H. and Sarah (Berry) Crawford, of Pompton Junction, New Jersey. They have had chil- dren : Grace, married Alfred Ernest Lang, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and has one son: Alfred McEwan Lang; Florence Cutler ; Robert Bruce Jr., who was graduated from the Lawrenceville Preparatory School.
JAMES BARBER
James Barber, the genial proprietor of the well known Morristown Inn, Morris county, New Jersey, has brought from his native land, England, the sterling qualities which have distinguished his family for generations. The name of Barber, or Barbour, as the Scotch spell it, has been represented in this country many years, but James Barber is the first of his immediate family to have made his home here.
Samuel Barber, grandfather of James Barber, was a Conservative in politics. His mother's maiden name was Grey, and he was born in St. An- drews, county of Bungay, Suffolk, England. Robert Barber, his son, and father of James Barber, was born in the same town in 1826. He was a farmer all his life. In political opinion he was a Conservative, and in re- ligious, an English Catholic. He married Susan Hamblin, also born in St. Andrews, where her family had lived for generations, and they were blessed with children : Robert, born in 1856; Samuel, born in 1858; John; James, whose name heads this sketch ; Charles; Harriet, born in 1864; Eliza.
James, son of Robert and Susan (Hamblin) Barber, was born in St. Andrews, county of Bungay, Suffolk, England, September 21, 1861. His entire education was acquired in the church school of his native town, and after following various occupations in England he came to the United States in 1885. He had no difficulty in obtaining a position as assistant steward in the Cafe Savarin and Downtown Association, and remained there until 1889. He next became superintendent of the country club at New- port, a position he filled with ability until 1902, when he became the superin- tendent of the Morris County Golf Club, at Morristown, New Jersey, re- maining there until 1905. In the last mentioned year he purchased, and re- modeled, the Boggs House, on Elm street, renaming it the Elms, and con- ducted it successfully until the following year, when he leased the house which he is managing at the present time. This was known as the Colonial, and Mr. Barber remodeled and refurnished it in the most up-to-date style, and changed the name to that of the Morristown Inn. It is a model house of its kind in many respects, as is unanimously acknowledged by its numer- ous patrons. The cuisine is unsurpassable, the service is of the highest.
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