USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey, V. 2 > Part 33
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Mr. Baldwin served the county as cor- oner when that office was one of more im- portance than it now is, and twice held a commission as justice of the peace. In 1860 he was census marshal for Orange, which then included what is now the city of Orange and the townships of East Orange, West Orange and a part of South Orange. The population, according to his enumeration, was eight thousand nine hundred and sixty-four. In politics he was an unswerving Democrat, and was a recog- nized leader of his party. From 1840 until 1860 no man in Essex county was more prominent or better known in the Democ- racy than he. As a member of the Orange Troop he participated in the great recep- tion held in honor of General Kossuth in 1850. Later, when the Orange Brigade was organized, he was chosen lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment, the other officers being Alfred F. Munn, colonel; Napoleon Stetson, major; Jeptha B. Linds- ley, quartermaster, and Joseph A. Condit, adjutant.
One faculty possessed by Mr. Baldwin that added greatly to his local reputation was his brilliant memory for events and dates, both local and general, and many a
discussion concerning these points was re- ferred to him for settlement. Often wagers were made to be decided by him. Some- times it occurred that a disputant, having been defeated, would insist upon looking up documentary evidence, but when found it was invariably in accord with his state- ments.
In 1842 Mr. Baldwin was united in mar- riage to Abby Dean, a daughter of Viner Dean, and to them were born eight chil- dren, two of whom died in infancy. The others are all living, namely: Jane Au- gusta, wife of Frank Arnold; Frank Wil- fred; Jeptha Harrison; Mary Estelle; Abby Caroline, wife of Sylvester Y. L'Homme- dieu; and Arien Gertrude, wife of Dr. Henry A. Pulsford.
NEWARK DAILY ADVERTISER.
On Thursday, March 1, 1832, the first number of the Newark Daily Advertiser was issued. It was published by George Bush & Company, "two doors east of the Market in Market street," at five dollars per annum, the editor being Amzi Armstrong, a young lawyer of ability. He was ably assisted by the late John P. Jackson. It was the first daily newspaper published in New Jersey, and to this day is familiarly known as the Daily. The Advertiser, when it started, was a rather bright quarto sheet, almost wholly given to the discussion of party politics. It was an ardent champion of the Whig party, and its first issue pro- claimed itself for Henry Clay and John Sargeant, the Whig candidates in 1832 for president and vice-president. Upon the completion of the first volume the con- ductors of the paper announced themselves satisfied that a daily paper could and would
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be maintained in Newark. They confessed that the enterprise was not profitable thus far, but expressed confidence that it would be in time. They trusted "that the im- pression which had been circulated to their injury, that it (the paper) was merely got up for temporary purposes during the late presidential election, will no longer operate to their disadvantage."
In the first number of the second volume Mr. Armstrong withdrew. In his valedic- tory he said his connection with the paper was "originally intended to continue only for a few weeks." He gently upbraided "the liberal and scientific citizens of the town" for not assisting him by contributions to the columns of the paper, and hoped they would pursue a different course to- ward his successor, Mr. William B. Kinney, who then became both editor and pro- prietor of the Daily; but the title of George S. Bush & Company was retained as pub- lishers, Bush being the manager of the mechanical department of the paper. In 1833 Mr. James B. Pinneo entered into partnership with Mr. Kinney and took charge of its business management. The style of the firm was J. B. Pinneo & Com- pany, Mr. Kinney manifesting always an aversion to having his name spread out in connection with the proprietorship. Mr. Pinneo subsequently retired. Mr. M. S. Harrison succeeded Mr. Pinneo on the Ad- vertiser. Upon his death Mr. Kinney be- came the sole proprietor, and under his control the paper rose steadily in value, power, excellence and influence.
Under his contract the Advertiser stead- ily continued to prosper. Among those whose pens enriched the columns of the Advertiser during Kinney's editorship were the late Rev. James W. Alexander, who,
under the nom de plume of "Charles Quill," wrote a series of very interesting papers on "American Mechanics and American Workingmen;" and Mr. Samuel K. Gard- ner, who wrote under the name "Decius." Joseph P. Bradley, late associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, may be said to have begun active life as the Trenton correspondent of the Advertiser. From the Advertiser office there have also graduated men who have become quite distinguished as clergymen, jurists and rail- road managers.
In 1851, on June 19, after occupying the editorial tripod of the Advertiser during a period of eighteen years, William B. Kinney, entered the "season of well-earned rest," having been appointed United States min- ister to Sardinia, by President Zachary Taylor. The paper then was conducted most successfully by Thomas T. Kinney, son of William B., who has had the sagacity to secure eminent editorial assistance. After the death of the Whig party, the Adver- tiser espoused the Republican cause. For three decades it has been properly regard- ed as one of the most ardent advocates of the Republican party, as opposed to the Democracy. In local and state affairs it has long spoken with the voice of one hav- ing authority, almost with the effect of a law giver,-and it is not without influence in the consideration of national questions. Having a large circulation, the paper is one of the best advertising mediums in the city.
In 1897 Charles William Fisk became the editor. He is a native of New York city, born there in 1853, a descendant from an old Jersey family. His maternal parents came to Hanover, Morris county, New Jersey, and are descendants of the Balls and Cooks who came from South-
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ampton, Long Island, about 1740. The maternal great-great-grandfather, Ellis Cook, married Isabel Davis, in Weston in 1775, while a delegate to the provincial congress. -
Mr. Beach C. Slocum became the busi- ness manager. He is the son of J. D. Slocum and Cleone Day Slocum. Cleone Day Slocum is the daughter of Elihu Day, a former prominent citizen of Newark, associated for a long lifetime with its mercantile interests, and for a number of years president of the "New- ark Savings Institution," when that bank was one of the largest and most successfully managed savings banks in the country. Through his maternal grandmother B. C. Slocum traces direct descent from Jasper Crane, who was one of the four agents em- powered by the emigrants from Connecti- cut, who settled Newark in 1666, to pur- chase from the Indians the territory now included in the county of Essex, and to select a site for the town that has grown into the present city of Newark.
THOMAS McGOWAN.
No man in Essex county has been more prominently identified with her progressive advancement through the exercise of of- ficial prerogatives than Mr. McGowan, to whom is due much of the substantial de- velopment whereon rests the prosperity and happiness of the community. He has ever manifested a public-spirited loyalty to all interests for the general good, and his practical ideas and untiring labors have left their impress on many of the most bene- ficial improvements of the county.
Mr. McGowan is a native of the Emerald Isle, his birth having occurred August 25,
1834, and he is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His parents were James and Elizabeth (Reilly) McGowan. His father died in Ire- land, and when our subject was nine years of age his mother removed with her fam- ily to the United States, locating first in New York city. Later our subject spent two years in Philadelphia and then went to Camden county, New Jersey, where for five years he was employed as a farm hand. He attended school in Bloomfield to some ex- tent, but his educational privileges were very limited. With a desire to make the most of his opportunities, however, he con- tinued his reading outside the school room, and through that and the practical experi- ences of life he has gained a broad general knowledge. From the early age of eleven years he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources for a livelihood, and the success that he has achieved is certainly well merited. In 1851, when seventeen years of age, he came to Bloomfield, and served an apprenticeship to the hatter's trade, after which he worked as a journeyman in Bloomfield, Newark and Philadelphia. He began business on his own account in 1866, under the firm name of Fairchild & Mc- Gowan, establishing a hat manufactory in Newark, where he carried on business for twenty-five years, conducting an extensive factory at the corner of Market and Con- gress streets and enjoying a large and prof- itable trade. Besides that he has been con- nected with other business enterprises, and is an energetic, capable business man, who, starting out in life a poor boy, has worked his way steadily upward to' a position of affluence. For some time he was a special partner in the firm of Taylor Brothers & Company, of Montclair, dealers in lumber and coal, and operators of a planing mill.
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Mr. McGowan was united in marriage to Miss Elmira Taylor, a daughter of Samuel and Lydia (Osborne) Taylor, and a sister of Taylor Brothers, of the firm mentioned above. On both the paternal and the ma- ternal sides she is a representative of pio- neer families of Essex county. Mr. and Mrs. McGowan are highly respected people and have a large circle of friends, whom they frequently entertain at their pleasant home at No. 278 Montgomery avenue, Bloomfield. Socially Mr. McGowan is a member of Bloomfield Lodge, No. 40, F. & A. M., in which he was raised to the sub- lime degree of Master Mason in 1866.
From his boyhood he has been a stanch supporter of Republican principles, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont, in 1856, when twenty-two years of age. He has been honored by his party with various positions of public trust and is a statesman with an eye to practical results and not to glittering generalities. In 1880 he was elected a member of the board of chosen freeholders of Essex county, representing Bloomfield township, and continued in of- fice until 1889, when an act of the legisla- ture retired the board from office. At one period he represented Bloomfield, Belleville, Franklin, East Orange, Montclair, Verona, Caldwell, Livingston and Millburn town- ships, at a time when the freeholders were elected by the assembly district, those town- ships comprising the eleventh district. In 1888 he was elected from the first district of Essex county to a seat in the state legis- lature, and during his two terms took an active part in all important measures, ably representing his district. He has many times been chosen as a delegate to the city, county and district conventions of the Re- publican party and since casting his first
vote has been an important factor in the politics of county and state. He has many times been a member of the Republican county central committee, and has been a member of the executive committee of that organization.
From 1880 until 1889 he was continu- ously a member of the board of chosen free- holders, and in 1892 was re-elected. Since December, 1894, he has been a director of the board, and under his leadership more practical improvements have been made than ever before in the history of the board. These include improvements in roads, county buildings, the erection of a new jail, the handsome new hospital for the insane at Overbrook, the erection of the new peni- tentiary, the new bridge at Jackson street over the Passaic river connecting Essex and Hudson counties, etc. Throughout his connection with the board Mr. Mc- Gowan has taken an active and humane interest in the welfare of the poor and in- sane, has always been a member of the hos- pital committees, and at one time was its chairman. In every way possible he has aided in the substantial improvement and advancement of the county, and for his labors in this direction the county owes to him a debt of gratitude.
Strong and positive in his Republican- ism, his party fealty is not grounded on party prejudice, and he enjoys the respect and confidence of all his associates regard- less of party affiliations. Well grounded in the political maxims of the schools, he also studied the lessons of actual life, arriving at his conclusions as a result of what may be called his "post-graduate studies in the school of affairs." Such men, whether in office or out, are the natural leaders of whatever party they may be identified with,
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especially in that movement toward higher politics which is common to both parties, and which constitutes the most hopeful political sign of the period.
THE ELY FAMILY.
Captain William Ely, who was born in 1715 and settled in Livingston, New Jersey, in 1750, was the great-grandson of Richard Ely, who came from Plymouth, England, in 1660 and married the sister of Colonel George Fenwick, husband of the famous Lady Alice Fenwick. In 1802, at the ripe age of eighty-eight years, Captain Ely departed this life and is buried in the Ely cemetery, a family burying-ground set apart for purposes of sepulture by the worthy Captain upon his own land. Be- side him in the quiet hillside cemetery rests his wife, who died in 1782, at the age of sixty-eight years. Captain Ely was blessed with a large family, having had ten chil- dren, several of whom lived to a good age and distinguished themselves in various walks of life, but interest centers more about Moses, the youngest of them all, for his name and memory are more particu- larly associated with Livingston, and with Essex county, where he made his home during the greater portion of a long and useful life.
Moses Ely was born November 18, 1756, and passed his earlier years upon the family estate at Livingston, New Jersey. When the Revolutionary war broke out, Moses was not wanting in the patriotic spirit of his ancestors. He joined the army, rendered good service and was in after years granted a pension on account of his services in the army of the Revolution. January 3, 1782, he married Miss Rebecca
Cook, who was a daughter of Epaphras Cook, and his wife, Rebecca Smith, sister of Dr. Peter Smith, of Chatham, New Jersey. The Cooks resided near Livingston and were an influential family in the community.
After his marriage Moses Ely resided for a time in New York city, on the north side of Duane street, not far east of College Place, on property purchased by him and which extended through to Reade street, and was engaged in the trucking and for- warding business, which he carried on with considerable success.
About the opening of the present cen- tury, when an epidemic broke out in New York, Mr. Ely sold his property and re- moved with his family to the farm at Livingston, New Jersey, which at that time came into his possession through his father's death. He died July 14, 1838, and his wife followed him in 1852. Both are buried in the cemetery of the Ely family at Livingston.
They had nine children, all of whom have now passed away, and several are interred in the family burial ground, near their par- ents' last resting place.
Old residents of Essex county will doubt- less remember Epaphras Cook Ely, son of Moses and Rebecca Cook, who was born April 15, 1795, for he, perhaps more than any other of the children of that family, was identified with the family place at Livings- ton, which he inherited, and continued to hold until his decease in 1864, when it came into the possession of his children, who still retain and occupy it. When yet a lad Epaphras went with his brother Moses to engage in the business of tanning near Newburg, New York. Not long afterward the war of 1812 began and Moses Ely was called upon to serve in the militia for the
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national defense. As Moses Ely could ill afford to leave his family and his business, Epaphras volunteered to enter the army in his brother's stead, and became a member of Captain Ben. Horton's company of New York Detailed Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Smith commanding. The regi- ment was for a time stationed on Staten island to repel an expected attack of the British army. After the declaration of peace, Mr. Ely was for a time employed in the tanning business at Esopus, New York, in partnership with his brother Moses.
In 1822 he married Julia Ann Kitchell, of Hanover, New Jersey, daughter of Am- brose Kitchell and Eliza Mulford. The Kitchells are an old New Jersey family and are among the most estimable and promi- nent families of the state.
In 1835 Mr. Ely engaged in the hide and leather business in New York and removed thither with his family. The business was successful from its inception, and Mr. Ely was for years one of the most respected and most widely known of the merchants in the "Swamp." Mr. and Mrs. Ely both died in 1864, and are interred in the Ely cemetery at Livingston. Their family consists of Ambrose Kitchell, Smith, William Henry, Edwin Augustus and Maria Louise.
The eldest brother, Ambrose, is unmar- ried, and has for many years been known as one of our most prominent New York merchants. He first engaged in mercan- tile pursuits as an assistant to his father in the hide and leather business in the "Swamp" (New York city); afterward he accepted a position with Messrs. Lapham, Corse & Company, in the same trade, and a few years later became a member of the well known firm of Thorne, Watson & Company. In 1857, however, Mr. Ely re-
tired from the firm and has since been in business on his own account. Mr. Ely's home in New York city is at No. 47 West Fifty-seventh street, where he resides with his brothers and sister-in-law.
Mr. Smith Ely, also unmarried, was edu- cated for the bar of the state of New York, but preferred mercantile pursuits, and has a reputation scarcely second to his brother Ambrose in the hide and leather trade, of which he has been for years a member. Mr. Ely has always had a taste for politics and has held important political positions. He was elected school trustee in 1856, state senator in 1857, member of the board of supervisors of the city and county of New York in 1860, retaining the position until the board was abolished in 1870, commis- sioner of public instruction in 1873 and 1874, member of the forty-second and forty-fourth congresses, from the sixth dis- trict of New York, and in 1876 mayor of the city of New York, by a majority of fifty- eight thousand over General Dix, the Re- publican candidate. In 1895 ex-Mayor Ely was appointed commissioner of the de- partment of public parks and places in and for the city of New York.
Mr. Ely is a member of the Manhattan, Union and Century clubs, and is associated with the best social, literary and benevolent lines of activity in the city and throughout the country.
William Henry Ely married Maria Josephine Rogers, daughter of Mr. Abel H. Rogers and Caroline Gaines. Their children are: Julia, who married Captain Charles A. Smylie; and Alice, who married Dr. P. Flewellen Chambers.
Maria Louise Ely married George B. Vanderpoel, son of Jacob Vanderpoel and Catharine Ann Waldron, of 607 Fifth
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avenue, New York, and their children are Julia Louise, Catharine Ann and Ambrose Ely.
The children of Julia Ely and Captain Charles Albert Smylie are Ely Elmore, who died in infancy, Margery and Charles Al- bert. Captain Smylie has achieved prom- inence in connection with his years of act- ive service in the National Guard of the state of New York, and as author of that excellent and well known manual of mili- tary science, "Points in Minor Tactics."
Alice Ely and Dr. P. Flewellyn Cham- bers have one child, William Ely. Dr. Chambers is at present and has been for some years. one of the foremost physicians of the city of New York, having become especially prominent in surgery and in the skillful diagnosis and treatment of women's diseases. He is also widely known socially, and is no less esteemed for his social than for his mental gifts.
JEPTHA H. BALDWIN.
On the 9th day of March, 1849, in the home of his parents, Isaac Preston and Abby Dean Baldwin, in Scotland street, Orange, this gentleman first opened his eyes to the light of day. He was not a ro- bust child and it was thought by some that he had but a meager chance of attaining manhood. His early life was passed in the usual manner of the ordinary boy of the period, and when he was old enough he was sent to the public school in Day street, where in a few years he had mastered the elementary branches of an English educa- tion. In 1861, when the clamor of war filled the land, his ambition to do some- thing to add to the family income led him to seek employment entirely without his
parents' knowledge. He succeeded in this, his first independent step in life. Through the kind assistance of a playmate some years his senior he obtained, in 1862, a situ- ation in the office of the Orange Journal, then owned and edited by Edward Gardner. There he laid the foundation for the thor- ough knowledge of the printing business that proved of inestimable value to him in later years.
On the 5th of May, 1864, Mr. Baldwin, then fifteen years of age, entered the office of the Newark Evening Journal in the me- chanical department. Edward N. Fuller, editor, and Henry Farmer, local editor, constituted the entire literary staff of the paper. Mr. Baldwin thought he recog- nized his opportunity in this fact. He ac- cordingly bestirred himself and gathered such items of news as his judgment told him would be of value. These he prepared in the best language at his command and handed them to Mr. Fuller, who, ever ready to extend aid to ambitious youth, passed them over to the city editor and ad- vised Stephen Thorne, the business man- ager, to pay for the same. This opened the way for further work along that line, and he was soon recognized as a member of the reportorial staff.
In 1870, at the request of his brother whom he materially assisted the year be- fore in establishing the Orange Chronicle, Mr. Baldwin assumed charge of his print- ing-office, at the same time maintaining a connection with the Newark Journal, to which he sent daily some "copy." Subse- quently he became connected with the Ad- vertiser in a like capacity. In 1873 his connection with the Orange Chronicle was dissolved, and in November of that year, in partnership with Joseph Howard, Mr.
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Baldwin established a weekly paper in East Orange, the title of which was the East Orange Expositor. After six months this paper was discontinued, on account of Mr. Baldwin's poor health, and in the same year, 1874, he found it necessary to go south for the benefit of his health, spending the following winter in the city of Savan- nah. While there he was continually em- ployed on the force of the Savannah News, of which John Estell was proprietor. Re- turning to the north in 1875 Mr. Baldwin engaged in newspaper work until 1880, in connection with the Journal and Advertiser of Newark and the Orange Journal. In that year, associated with his father, Isaac P. Baldwin, he began the publication of the Orange Directory, and from the beginning was the manager of the enterprise, of which he became sole proprietor in 1890. The death of A. M. Holbrook, in 1891, who had for many years managed the Newark City Directory, left the Holbrook Newark Di- rectory Company without an experienced man at its head, and the principal stock- holder, A. Q. Keasby, invited Mr. Baldwin to become manager, which position he ac- cepted. He at once introduced new fea- tures and otherwise improved the direct- ory, and recently under his management the Holbrook Company has extended its field of operations, taking in Elizabeth, Harrison, Kearny, Rahway, Summit, Plainfield, Westfield, Cranford and Roselle, and expects soon to control the directory field of the entire northern portion of the state.
In 1872 Mr. Baldwin married Elma Vale Reimer, daughter of the late Captain Fred- eric Reimer, of East Orange, where they resided for many years. Of this union four children have been born, as follows: Mer-
rick Reimer, born March 9, 1874; Cyrus Preston, July 28, 1875; Marion Elma, April 4, 1877; and Ralph Brinton, July 22, 1878. Mrs. Baldwin died October 21, 1884, and in 1886 Mr. Baldwin wedded Hannah Reeves Edwards, daughter of the late To- bias Edwards, of Livingston.
JOSEPH W. MANDEVILLE
was born on the 28th of January, 1854, in the old ninth ward of the city of New York, being the eldest of four sons and one daugh- ter of Washington and Anna Jane Mande- ville. He lived in New York until about seven years of age, when his family re- moved to the state of New Jersey, from which state his father originally came. His education was limited to the scope of the country schools of that time.
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