USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey, V. 1 > Part 65
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nounced wishes of their respective parties. The matter might have been very much simplified by the retirement of the fourteen partisans. As it was, the whole responsi- bility was thrown upon Justice Bradley, and without reading his able argument upon that grave occasion, or weighing the reasons which impelled his action, he has been condemned or praised, as prejudice might dictate.
Justice Bradley was married October 23, 1844, to Mary, youngest daughter of Chief Justice Hornblower, of New Jersey. Their children were Mary Burnet, Caroline, Jo- seph Hornblower, Henrietta and William H. (all deceased), Charles, and Joseph Richard (deceased). Justice Bradley died January 22, 1892.
WILLIAM O'GORMAN, M. D.,
deceased, was born in Dublin, Ireland, July 12, 1824, and was educated at Carlow, a town about forty miles from his native place, containing a well known Catholic college, now affiliated with the London . University. At the age of nineteen he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. O'Kelly, at Maynooth, and in 1844 went to Dublin, where he spent five years as a student, house surgeon and physician in the Whitworth, Hardwick, Richmond and other well-known hospitals of that city. In 1849 he removed to the United States, and, settling in Oswego, New York, was appointed surgeon to Fort Ontario in 1851. This position he continued to fill until March, 1857, when, in consequence of the removal of some companies of the Fourth Artillery from the fort, he left Oswego and established himself in Newark, New Jersey, where he soon met with great success in the practice of his profession.
At the breaking out of the civil war Dr. O'Gorman volunteered his services in be- half of the Union, and was appointed by Governor Olden chief of the commission sent to Fortress Monroe for the purpose of caring for the wounded New Jersey sol- diers in that vicinity, and returning them to their homes. His duties upon this occa- sion, as well as those of the able corps of physicians and surgeons under his direc- tion, were performed to the entire satisfac- tion of all concerned. For two successive terms he was elected county physician for Essex county, but, finding that the duties of this office interfered too much with his private practice, he resigned it at the ex- piration of his second term. In 1871 he was elected president of the Essex District Medical Society, and on several occasions represented that body in the State Medical Society, of which, in 1874, he was vice- president, and in 1875, president.
St. Michael's Hospital, incorporated in 1871, in addition to the fostering care of its board of directors, as well as of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, has received from Dr. O'Gorman not only the benefit of his large experience as a physician and surgeon, but also the advantage of his coun- sel and direction. Of this institution he held for many years the important office of medical director. Its medical department was organized by him, and through his effort the Woman's Hospital was added to this invaluable charity. This institution is the first of its kind in New Jersey, and has now been in successful operation for nearly four years. Dr. O'Gorman has always ad- hered strictly to the practice of his profes- sion, accepting such public offices only as were legitimately connected with it. Soon after his arrival in Newark he was ap-
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pointed physician to Seton Hall College, a position which he still holds.
In November, 1857, he was married to Susan, eldest daughter of the late Mr. George Dougherty, a highly-respected manufacturer of the city just named. His two sons by this marriage have chosen the profession in which their father was so dis- tinguished.
JAMES M. SEYMOUR,
the senior member of the engineering firm of Seymour & Whitlock, was born in New York, and after completing his time of ser- vice in the engineering department of the Novelty Iron Works in that city he was engaged by the Newark Machine Company to take charge of the designing depart- ment of their works here. In 1862, when the Sharpe's Rifle Manufacturing Com- pany, of Hartford, Connecticut, received the contract for gun machinery for the Spanish armory at Oviedo, Spain, Mr. Sey- mour was selected to superintend its con- struction. He was also sent to Boston to prepare drawings for the machinery to be used in making guns for the Boston ar- mory. He then returned to New Jersey and was made general superintendent of the New Jersey Arms & Ordnance Works at Trenton. The firm of Seymour & Whitlock was started in 1865 and has con- tinued in business since.
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In 1884 and again in 1887 Mr. Seymour was elected a Democratic member of the Newark Aqueduct Board,-since abol- ished. In 1888 he was appointed United States commissioner to Spain by President Cleveland. In 1891 Governor Abbett selected him for state supervisor of prisons. In 1893 he was nominated for alderman by
the Democratic party in the eighth ward, then, as now, overwhelmingly Republican, and came within thirty-six votes of elec- tion. In 1894 Mr. Seymour was appointed by Governor Werts a member of the state board of education, which office he still holds. In 1894 he was nominated for mayor by the Democrats, and although he led his ticket by nearly one thousand votes he was defeated. In 1895 he carried the city for assembly, but was beaten in the result of the vote of the entire county. He was named again for mayor in the spring of last year and received a plurality of three thousand three hundred and sixty-three over Julius A. Lebkuecher, who had beaten him two years before. When a member of the Newark Aqueduct Board in 1886, Mr. Seymour introduced a resolution abolish- ing certain contract work. He contended that the profits that went into the pockets of the contractors should go instead to the men. This resolution was passed and re- mained in force during his connection with the board. He also advocated Saturday half-holidays for the employees of the water department, and was the originator of the movement which has resulted in the clos- ing of factories, stores and public and pri- vate business on the seventh day of the week at noon in this state.
AARON WARD.
Aaron Ward was born in the village of Montclair, New Jersey, June 1, 1819. He worked on his father's farm until he was fourteen years of age. In 1833, three years before Newark was incorporated as a " city, he came to Newark to seek employ- ment. Young Ward secured a position with Peter Jacobus, who was a manufac-
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turer of saddlery, etc .; there he learned the trade, and later worked at the bench with T. B. Peddie, as a journeyman. Here he remained two years, and when the business began to wane he left, and embarked in the wholesale and retail grocery trade at 942 Broad street, with a partner, under the firm name of Aaron Ward & Co. After that time the firm underwent many changes, but the name of Aaron Ward always re- mained at its head. . In 1884 the business was removed to its present site, 951 Broad street, soon after which the firm erected the building which now graces that spot.
Mr. Ward had other business, which claimed a large amount of his attention. He was one of the incorporators of the Firemen's Insurance Company, and also of the Second National Bank, in both of which institutions he served as a director from the time of their organization until his death. He was also a member of the Board of Trade, and was identified with many movements in which the citizens' welfare was concerned, but never took an active interest in politics. Mr. Ward was a man of large heart, and took great in- terest in, and generously contributed to the charitable work of the city. He died De- cember 29, 1894.
BEVIER HASBROUCK SLEGHT, A. M., M. D.,
son of Abraham and Hester Brodhead (Eltinge) Sleght, was born in Sleghtsburg, near Kingston, New York, September 13, 1854. His native village derived its name from his family, which dates back to the early settlement of the province of New York by the Dutch. Cornelius Barensten Sleght came with his family from Nierdam,
Holland, about 1625. He first found his way to Albany, and later settled in Kings- ton. There the Sleght family took thor- ough hold, and from that time until to-day some member or members of it have dwelt on the very spot where Cornelius Baren- sten Sleght made his home. To Kingston also came, in 1635, Jan Eltinge, a Hugue- not exile. He married a daughter of Cor- nelius Barensten Sleght, and from that parent stock descended Dr. Sleght's imme- diate ancestry on his mother's side.
C. B. Sleght and his descendants were closely associated with the early history of Esopus and Kingston. His family has for many years been regarded as the oldest and most interesting, historically, in that local- ity. One of Sleght's sons fell into the hands of the Indians and was burned at the stake shortly after the settlement of Ron- dout. Many other interesting historical incidents are told of his family.
Bevier Hasbrouck Sleght attended the district school at Port Ewen, New York, and later, in 1870-72, the boarding school kept by the Rev. D. Oakey, at Neshanic, New Jersey. From 1872 to 1874 he was at the Kingston Academy; in 1874-75 at the Rutgers College grammar school, and in 1880 was graduated at Rutgers College, a fourth-honor man, with the degree of A. B. His alma mater afterward conferred on him the degree of A. M. In 1882 he took the degree of M. D. at Hahnemann Medi- cal College, Philadelphia, and then became house surgeon at the Ward's Island Ho- meopathic Hospital, New York city, where he remained until 1884. In 1885 he began the practice of his profession in Newark, New Jersey. He was married January 24, 1894, to Annie Virginia Jelliff, daughter of John Jelliff. Mr. Jelliff was a descendant
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of the Huguenot exiles who fled to Eng- land and thence to New England about 1680. As a successful business man he was prominently identified with Newark's history from 1830 to 1890.
Dr. Sleght is a member of the Chiron Medical Club, the American Institute of Homeopathy, and the New Jersey Homeo- pathic Medical Society, of which he was secretary in 1885-86-87. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa of Rutgers Chapter, of the Delta Upsilon fraternity; of the Gar- field Club and the Junior O. U. A. M. In 1873-76 he was a member of the N. G. S. N. Y., Twentieth Battalion, and had some military experience in the labor riots of that time.
Short articles on medical topics have been contributed by him to the "Transac- tions of the New Jersey Homeopathic Medical Society," "The Hahnmannian," the "Homeopathic Eye, Ear and Throat Journal," "The New York Medical Times" and "The Medical Advance."
JOHN HOWE,
who is prominently identified with the manufacture of paper in Nutley, is a native of England, his birth having occurred in Kingsbroncton, Somersetshire, England, on the 14th of February, 1845. His par- ents were Matthew and Elizabeth Jane ยท Howe. For forty-five years his father was superintendent of public works in his na- tive city of Cardiff, Wales, a position to which the subject of this review could have succeeded had he cared to remain in that country. His desires were otherwise, how- ever, and led him to seek a home in Amer- ica. He obtained his education in the pub- lic schools and served an apprenticeship at
the papermaking trade in Cardiff, Wales, where he remained at that pursuit for seven years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Rumford, Essex county, England, where he was employed at the manufacture of paper for a short time, after which he went to Belgium and then re- turned to Cardiff.
In that city, in 1865, Mr. Howe was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Gib- bons, whose parents had removed to Wales from Cheltenham, England. To Mr. and Mrs. Howe were born four children, all na- tives of Cardiff. They were James J., who was born September 8, 1864, and married Mary A. Crossen, by whom he has one child, Clarence, born September, 1892; Thressa Jane, who was born in 1870, and is the wife of Jesse R. Kierstead, of Frank- lin township, Essex county, by whom she has three children,-Roger Allen, Bessie Howe and Edith May; Edward John, who died at the age of six months; and John Matthew, who died at the age of three years. The mother of this family died in 1871.
After the death of his wife Mr. Howe determined to come to the United States and accompanied by his son James crossed the Atlantic, taking up his residence in Franklin, Essex county. He was married the second time in 1872, when Hester H. Marshall became his wife. She is a daughter of John L. and Mary Houseman Marshall, who had formerly resided on Staten island. Two children grace the union of our subject and his wife: Edith S., born September 28, 1873; and Albert E., born December 10, 1880, both still un- der the parental roof. Mr. and Mrs. Howe are members of the Episcopal church and he belongs to the Order of United Friends.
John Howe
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In his political views he is a Republican and is well informed on the issues and questions of the day, but has never been an aspirant for public office.
Since coming to this country Mr. Howe has engaged in the manufacture of paper and for several years has been connected with the Kingsland Paper Company, man- ufacturers of bankers' safety paper. He is thoroughly familiar with the work, reliable and trustworthy, and has the unlimited confidence and regard of the members of the company of which he is a stockholder and business manager.
JOHN RUTHERFURD,
son of Robert Walter Rutherfurd, and grandson of John Rutherfurd, a lawyer of New Jersey and a United States senator, was born at the residence of his maternal grandfather, Lewis Morris, at Morrisania, Westchester county, New York, July 21, 1810. At the age of two and a half years he went to live with his paternal grand- father at Edgerton, Hudson county, New Jersey. At nine he was sent to the New- ark Academy, and subsequently to Bask- ing Ridge, where he attended the classical institute of Dr. Brownlee. Having com- pleted his preparatory course, he entered Rutgers College, New Jersey, and gradu- ated in 1829. Soon afterward he became a law student in the office of Elias Van Ars- dale, in Newark, and in 1832 was admitted to the bar. His grandfather, now well ad- vanced in age, needing some one to assist him in the care and management of his large landed estate, Mr. Rutherfurd gave up the practice of the law, in which he had been for two years engaged, and went to Edgerton, where he remained until his grandfather's death.
The immense property of which he now became the sole manager engaged all his time and attention, and in every direction he was called upon to take a part in the fur- therance of railroad companies and other organizations in which his large landed interests were more or less involved. He became 'a prominent manager in the Pe- quest Valley Railroad and a director in the Midland Railroad; he was president of the Tuckerton Railroad, in Ocean county; president of the- New Jersey Coal Com- pany; president of the Council of Proprie- tors for the Eastern Division of New Jer- sey; director of the Sussex Railroad and of various other enterprises of a similar char- acter. But notwithstanding the labor in- cidental to these important trusts, he gave much attention to matters which gratified his tastes and called forth his scholarly at- tainment. As a director of the New Jersey Agricultural Society, he did all in his power to increase its efficiency. As a member and vice-president of the New Jersey His- torical Society, he left nothing undone to advance the objects for which it was created, and its shelves and cabinets gave abundant evidence of his generosity and excellent judgment. He was a regular attendant at its meetings, and an earnest and eloquent speaker whenever the occa- sion demanded.
Laden with responsibilities so great, Mr. Rutherfurd was, nevertheless, always cheer- ful and always at ease. He was, in the best sense of the word, a gentleman. No offensive word ever escaped his lips. The proudest found in him an equal, and the humblest found in him a friend. Of vigor- ous body, as he was of vigorous mind, it was natural to believe, even in his last sick- ness, that he had, comparatively speaking,
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many years of life yet before him; but this sickness seized upon him far away from home, and the desire to return and the long, trying journey that was inevitable proved too much even for his grand consti- tution. He reached his home in Newark only to die, and this painful event took place on the 21st of November, 1872. His remains were buried close by those of his father and mother, in the yard of Christ church, Belleville, New Jersey.
MILTON BALDWIN, M. D.,
deceased, was born in Newark, New Jer- sey, October 22, 1821. At an early age, showing a fondness for books and study, his father, who was a highly respected citi- zen and a man in easy circumstances, gave him a preparatory education sufficient for his entrance upon the study of any of the learned professions. He selected that of medicine, and after the usual course of reading upon subjects connected therewith he entered the Medical Department of the University of New York, and in 1843 re- ceived the degree of M. D.
Dr. Baldwin began immediately the practice of medicine in his native place, where he has remained until his death, al- ways respected as a skillful and successful surgeon and physician, and valued as a public-spirited citizen ready to be enlisted in any worthy cause. Inheriting the politi- cal principles of his father, who was an out- spoken and prominent Democrat, Dr. Baldwin was in early life' an active though not a noisy politician. Being an easy speaker and a man of good education, he became quite naturally a leader, and al- though belonging to a political party at that time usually in the minority, he was
elected and re-elected to several important city and county offices, in all of which he gained the esteem and confidence of the whole community. On retiring from the presidency of the common council in 1858, he declared his determination to accept no more political offices, and to devote him- self to the practice of medicine, and this determination he carried out. The neces- sities, however, of his country during the late Rebellion he could not overlook, and thus, in October, 1862, he entered the medical department of the United States volunteer army as an acting assistant sur- geon. Prior, however, to this he had, early in May, 1862, visited Fortress Mon- roe as a member of a commission, consist- ing of Dr. William O'Gorman, chief there- of, E. P. Nichols, J. A. Cross, J. H. Love, J. S. Daily, and himself, appointed by Governor Olden to look after and bring back to their homes the sick and wounded New Jersey soldiers who were in the crowded hospitals of that vicinity.
Immediately after the establishment of the Ward United States General Hospital at Newark, New Jersey, Dr. Baldwin was assigned to duty therein, and remained in this service until June, 1865. To attend to his private practice and at the same time be faithful in his attendance at the hospital was by no means an easy task; but, fortu- nately, the Doctor possessed a rugged con- stitution and a cheerful disposition. The trials which he had to endure at the sick- bed of one patient never showed them- selves upon his countenance at the sick-bed of another. He was a man who never ex- hibited the smallest impatience, however great the provocation. Wherever he went it was sunlight, and wherever he went he was always welcome. His medical breth-
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ren honored him with the presidency of the Essex District Medical Society, and he was regarded as a surgeon and physician of large experience and eminent skill. No man in his profession was ever more truly beloved than Dr. Baldwin, or has been more sincerely mourned than he. The tes- timony of his patients is that to them he came not as physician alone but as brother and friend.
JULIUS HAHNE.
The soldier, the statesman and the poet all have their places in history, but there have been men who never engaged in san- guinary conflicts; never held the attention of nations through their utterances, and never courted the muse, whose names are only known in the communities in which they lived. History is cruel in its conceal- ment of the noble, ambitious and bright deeds of men who were neither born to greatness nor had it thrust upon them, but by heroic and persistent effort achieved greatness in mercantile life and bequeathed it as a legacy to those who succeeded them.
It was Lavater who said: "There are but three classes of men,-the retrograde, the stationary and the progressive." To the latter class belonged the late Julius Hahne, founder of the house of Hahne & Company, one of the largest retail estab- lishments in the world.
Mr. Julius Hahne was born in Saxony, Germany, in the year 1828, and came to this country while still in his 'teens. After a brief sojourn in the metropolis he re- moved to Newark, where he received em- ployment as a pocket-book maker with the firm of Spitzer & Company, who were located in the old Bishop building. Being
of temperate and frugal habits, Mr. Hahne, in a few years, had accumulated five hun- dred dollars, and, with Adam Block, a fel- low workman, formed the copartnership of Hahne & Block. On September 1, 1858, this firm opened a store on Broad street, where Central avenue now enters that thoroughfare. Here were sold birds and bird cages and pocket-books, and at Christ- mas time a few toys. In 1861 the business had grown to such an extent that it was found necessary to remove to more com- modious quarters, and, accordingly, the premises known as the "Meeker property," on Broad street just south of New street, were secured. From 1864 to 1869 addi- tional store-room was used by the firm in the building that stood where the Essex County National Bank is now located. In 1874 Mr. Block retired from the firm and Mr. Hahne conducted the business alone. In 1874 he removed his plant once more. It was to the present location. For twenty years the business has been growing and the plant extending its borders until five acres have been covered with the buildings of the firm; and the end is not yet !
Mr. Hahne died on the 7th day of Feb- ruary, 1895, of pneumonia, which had been superinduced by an attack of the grippe. Up to a few days before his death he was in constant attendance at the store, and by his counsel, the result of thirty-seven years' experience in active business life, materially assisted in the management of the great concern. His latter years were a great source of pleasure to him, in that he had been able to place his sons, Richard, Albert and August, each, as a reward of merit, in the firm. He had required of them that to which he had schooled him- self,-a faithful and conscientious attention
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to every detail of the business, which, hav- ing been mastered, the invitation to step up higher was tendered. Mr. William H. Kellner, a son-in-law, who is also a member of the firm, was closely identified with Mr. Hahne in arranging the policy and conduct of the business.
Mr. Hahne was a large, handsome man, of gracious mien, and courteous to a fault. His sympathy was ever with the weak and oppressed, and he thoroughly detested meanness. While a strict disciplinarian, he was never unjust. The humblest of his one thousand employees could talk as freely with him as with a fellow clerk. He was a man of the strictest integrity, and made it one of the underlying principles of his business career. He realized early in his mercantile life that the only way to thoroughly succeed was to keep faith with the public in every transaction, and this policy, which he continued to the end, has been followed by his surviving partners.
JOSHUA READ,
physician, was born in Batavia, Genesee county, New York, October 17, 1837. His preliminary education was obtained in the district school and a neighboring academy. At the age of eighteen he passed an exam- ination qualifying him to teach, and then entered the New York State Normal School at Albany, at which institution he was graduated in 1861. After a thorough course of study in the Genesee and Wy- oming Seminary at Alexandria, New York, he was appointed principal of the grammar school at Peekskill, New York, where he taught five years. He then took up the study of medicine, and in 1867 was gradu- ated at Bellevue Hospital Medical College,
with honors. In 1870 he removed to New- ark, New Jersey, where he entered into the active practice of his profession, and has been eminently successful. For a number of years Dr. Read was county physician of Essex county and a member of all the prominent medical societies of the county.
THEODORE WELLINGTON COR- WIN, M. D.,
was born June 1, 1857, in Newark, New Jersey. His earliest American ancestor was Matthias Corwin, one of the first set- tlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early part of the seventeenth century. His parents were Dr. Joseph A. and Emma W. (Baldwin) Corwin, of Newark. His education was mainly under the direction of Mr. James Shier, B. A., who conducted a classical school in Newark, New Jersey. At a suitable age he began the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of his father, and in 1876 entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York (the medical department of Columbia Col- lege), graduating at that institution, Feb- ruary 28, 1879, and receiving a special di- ploma for general proficiency. He was admitted to competition for three prizes and won the third. On April 1, 1879, he was appointed interne to Charity Hospital, of New York city, where he served until the Ist of October, 1880, when he received the diploma of the hospital. In 1880 he was appointed house physician of St. Bar- nabas Hospital, and in 1887 visiting physi- cian, which position he still holds. In 1886 he became attached to the clinic in St. Michael's Hospital as assistant in the department of skin diseases, where he re- mained until 1889. In the latter year he
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