USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey, V. 2 > Part 44
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MARTIN J. COONEY
was born in Newark, September 3, 1863, and is one of the native sons of the city who have attained a place among her successful business men. His parents were Thomas and Grace (Hogan) Cooney, and the for- mer was a son of William and Mary Cooney. The grandparents on the paternal side were both natives of county Roscommon, Ire- land, and lived to be centenarians, dying on the Emerald Isle, where the grandfather had followed farming as a life-work. In their family were five children, all of whom reached years of maturity and came to the. United States. John, the eldest, settled in New York city, and is now captain on the police force there. He is married and has three children. James, also located in New York, where he is now a member of the fire department. He is married and has five children. Katie is the wife of Patrick Reynolds and they have five children. Mary is the wife of Owen Flanning, of Mill-
burn, New Jersey, and their family numbers ten children. Thomas, the father of our subject, was the youngest.
The maternal grandparents of our sub- ject were John and Joanna (Keating) Ho- gan, both of whom were natives of county Tipperary, Ireland. The former was an architect and civil engineer and was a grad- uate of Dublin College, located in the city of Dublin, Ireland. He came to Amer- ica in 1860 and soon after the breaking out of hostilities between the north and the south he espoused the cause of the Union, enlisting in Company C, Sixty-ninth New York Infantry. He participated in the first and second battles of Bull Run and also the siege of Richmond, during which he was promoted to the rank of captain, for gallant and meritorious services. He also valiantly followed the old flag at the battle of Kene- saw mountain and was promoted to the rank of major. At the close of the war he was discharged at Atlanta, Georgia, and with an honorable military record returned to the north, locating in Newark. Here he was appointed to a position on the police force, and after serving in that capacity for some time he entered the employ of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Rail- road Company and was the first station agent and telegraph operator at Millburn, in which place he spent the last years of his life. He died August 2, 1878, and his wife closed her eyes in death July 6, 1874. They had a family of ten children, all of whom reached years of maturity. Mr. and Mrs. Hogan were members of the Roman Catho- lic church.
Thomas Cooney, father of our subject, came to America when nineteen years of age, taking up his residence in Millburn. His remaining days were passed in Essex
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county, his death occurring in Millburn, August 2, 1872, when he had arrived at the age of forty-two years. His faithful wife died August 6, 1863, at the age of twenty-eight years, and their remains were interred in the Millburn cemetery. They were communi- cants in the Roman Catholic church. Their family numbered but two children, and John, the elder, died in early life.
At an early age Martin J. Cooney, the younger son, and the subject of this review, was left an orphan and went to live with his maternal grandparents. His education was acquired in the parochial schools of St. Patrick's cathedral, of Newark, and he first began business on his ownaccount as an un- dertaker and embalmer, on Wallace Place, in 1892. He purchased the land at No. 36, that street and built thereon the modern and convenient residence in which he now resides. He conducts at his place of busi- ness a large trade and is a leader in his line in the city.
Socially Mr. Cooney is connected with Lodge No. 21, B. P. O. E., of Newark, and Dalton Council, No. 62, of the Catholic Be- nevolent Legion. He allies himself with no political party, preferring to support the candidates whom he believes best quali- fied for office regardless of party ties. He and his wife are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church. He was married February 8, 1894 to Miss Elizabeth M. A. Tobin, a daughter of John and Bridget Tobin, and they have one daughter, Grace.
ASHER BROWN DURAND.
name upon the immortal scroll of fame than in the realm of art, where not only is the mind elevated, the character ennobled and ideas broadened, but wherein also lies the power of giving to countless thousands the highest order of mental pleasure and grati- fication.
Asher Brown Durand, one of the most gifted artists this country has ever pro- duced, was born in Jefferson Village, New Jersey, on the 21st of August, 1796, and early in life he began to evince an inherent predilection for engraving, acquiring in his father's workshop some knowledge of the elementary processes of that art. At first he confined his attention to cutting mono- grams and other devices on the various ar- ticles made there, but his earliest attempts at engraving for printed reproductions were on plates rolled out of copper coins, the gravers used being of his own manufacture. In 1812 he was apprenticed to Peter Mave- rick, an engraver of New York city, and such was his progress that four years later he was admitted to partnership with his preceptor. His first original work was "The Beggar," after a painting by Samuel Waldo. When John Trumbull painted the "Declaration of Independence" Charles Heath, of London, was to have engraved it, but business complications having arisen, the task was assigned to Mr. Durand, who worked steadily at it for three years, the re- sult being one of the best-known engrav- ings in the United States. Mr. Durand's reputation was at once established, and the demand for his work rapidly increased. "Musidora," engraved in 1825, and "Gen- eral Jackson," in 1828, are prominent among the plates of that period.
The achievements of some men stand as perpetual monuments to their intelligence, genius and talent, and in no field is there Mr. Durand contributed quite extensive- a wider scope for the imprinting of one's ly to the "annuals," which were at that time
1
ASHER B. DURAND
(AFTER THE ENGRAVING BY ALFRED JONES, IN "THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A. B. DURAND," PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.)
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fashionable and in which some of his best work appeared, including a reproduction of "The Wife," by S. F. B. Morse; "Gypsying Party," after C. R. Leslie, and "The White Plume," by C. C. Ingham. Many of the heads engraved for the National Portrait Gallery were executed by him, as was also "Ariadne," after John Vanderlyn's painting. Possessing admirable skill as a draughts- man, and having an instinctive sense of color values, Mr. Durand became dissatis- fied with the limitations of engraving and aspired to a wider field of art. He studied nature diligently and appreciatively and soon became most proficient in landscape painting, which, from 1836, became his chosen occupation. Professor Robert W. Weir spoke of him as "one of the fathers of American landscape." A few portraits are among his earlier productions in oils, not- ably the heads of Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, James Madison and Edward Everett, while those of William Cullen Bry- ant, James Kent and Gouverneur Kemble are among his latest works in this line. Among the first figure paintings executed by him may be mentioned "Harvey Birch and Washington," "The Capture of An- dre," "The Dance on the Battery," "The Wrath of Peter Stuyvesant," and "God's Judgment Upon Gog," while his landscapes include "The Catskills from Hillsdale," "Sunday Morning" and "Primeval Forest" (1869), which last now hangs in the Corco- ran Gallery in Washington, D. C. Of his more recent work "Studies of Nature" and "Kauterskill Clove" were sent to Philadel- phia and there exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in 1876.
Mr. Durand was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design, in 1826, and upon the resignation of S. F. B. Morse,
in 1845, he was elected to succeed him as president, and retained that preferment until 1861. He was a man of marked intellectu- ality and refinement; his character was noble and elevated and he was signally faithful and true in all the relations of life. This distinguished artist and noble man en- tered into eternal rest at Maplewood, New Jersey, on the 17th of September, 1886, in the fullness of years, and with well-earned honors.
Mr. Durand was twice married, his first union having been to Miss Lucy Baldwin, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, who bore him one son and two daughters-John, Caroline and Lucy M. He married for his second wife Miss Mary Frank, of New York, and they became the parents of two sons, Fred- eric F. and Eugene H., the latter of whom is deceased.
John Durand, the only son of Asher B. and Lucy (Baldwin) Durand, was born in New York city in the year 1822, and he continued to reside in the national metropo- lis until 1865, when he went to Europe, where he remained for two years. Within the time of his sojourn abroad he became acquainted with M. Taine, an eminent French writer of the day, whose valuable works on art and history Mr. Durand has translated, a labor that terminated only with the death of Mr. Taine, in 1893. Mr. Du- rand represented the Smithsonian Institu- tion in Paris for five years, and he effected for the National Museum at Washington important scientific exchanges. Since 1886 he has maintained his residence in France, being known as a connoisseur on art mat- ters and as a man of fine intellectual gifts.
Frederic F. Durand was at one time a student of engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York,
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and afterward became a student of architec- ture in New York city. He has been very much interested in water-color painting and was one of the founders of the American Society of Painters in Water Colors. He graduated at the Baltimore College of Den- tal Surgery, the oldest and for many years the only dental college in the world, and he is now actively engaged in the practice of his profession in New York city. He is liv- ing on the family estate at what was former- ly known as Jefferson Village, now Maple- wood, New Jersey, the estate having been in the possession of the family for one hun- 1red and twenty-five years, or even more.
THOMAS CLYDE COLT.
Connected with various business inter- ests of Orange, Mr. Colt is numbered among her leading citizens. He is presi- dent of the Orange Land & Improvement Company, proprietor of Colt's Express & Storage Warehouse, and is also the owner of the Orange Dispatch. These varied and important interests make him an influential factor in industrial circles, and it is to such men that the community owes its progress and prosperity. Mr. Colt has not only won success but has ever maintained a reputa- tion for reliability and straightforward deal- ing that is indeed enviable.
He was born in the township of Irving- ton, Essex county, New Jersey, in 1867, and is a son of Colonel Thomas A. and Sarah A. (Parker) Colt. He is of English descent on the paternal side, the family hav- ing been founded in America by three brothers, who left their English home for the New World. One of these located in Connecticut and from him was descended the inventor of the famous Colt revolver.
Another brother located in New Jersey, and the third, from. whom our subject is de- scended, became a resident of Pennsylvania. Colonel Colt was born in New York city, where his parents resided, but the grand- father was probably a native of the Key- stone state. At an early age the Colonel was left an orphan, and was reared to man- hood under the care and guardianship of the late General William Petrican, who was a practicing attorney of law, of Muncie, Pennsylvania. He had a brother and a sis- ter-Clyde, who married and reared three children; and Sarah, who became the wife of John Shepard, and had two children, Thomas and Mary.
Having acquired his primary education Colonel Thomas A. Colt pursued a course of study in Lafayette College, of Easton, Pennsylvania, in which institution he was graduated. He then engaged in teaching school until after the commencement of the war of the Rebellion, when with marked loyalty he raised a company for the service. He was elected its captain and eventually became lieutenant-colonel, with which rank he served until, having contracted typhoid fever, he was honorably discharged on ac- count of disability.
Returning to New Jersey he resumed his educational labors and accepted the ap- pointment of principal of the Irvington school, retaining that position until 1869. The following year he came to Orange and purchased of Timothy Ward the present Colt's express business, continuing the same until his death, which occurred on the Ioth of October, 1885, at the age of fifty- six years.
In 1853 Colonel Colt married Miss Sarah A. Parker, a daughter of Samuel S. and Harriett (Howser) Parker. Her father was
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for many years a prominent merchant of New York city and for a long period served as captain of a military company. He was one of the organizers and served as major of the Seventy-first New York Regiment, which is still in existence. This organiza- tion was to be purely an American regi- ment, for at that time the United American Society was very popular and there was much opposition to the prominent part taken by foreigners in public affairs, but the original idea was not carried out, owing to the many applications for membership that were received from good men, whose only disqualification was that they were not American born. Mr. Parker was also the inventor of tinfoil, which has become an indispensable commodity in the business world. He was one of the organizers of the Fourth Universalist church of New York city and for many years was one of its most liberal supporters and active workers. Strongly opposed to the use of all intoxi- cants, he belonged to the society known as Sons of Temperance and did much work in its behalf. His father was Sewall Parker, a son of Dr. Isaiah Parker.
Following is a brief account of Dr. Parker; commencing with his epitaph:
Died, In Cavendish, Vermont, January 15, 1848, Doctor Isaiah Parker, Aged 95 Years, 2 Months and 2 Days, Father of the late Sewall Parker, and Grand- father of Samuel S., Isaiah, Row- land W. and James M. Parker, of this city.
Dr. Parker was born in Westford, Massa- chusetts, November 13, 1752. He was the youngest and last survivor of a family of twelve children, none of whom died under the age of seventy-five years. Dr. Parker was a student of the late Dr. Green, of Lei-
cester, and graduated at the early age of nineteen. He first commenced the prac- tice of his profession in Harvard, in 1772, at the age of twenty. He was married, and settled himself as a physician in that town in 1773. At the breaking out of the Revolu- tion he repaired to the scene of action, four- teen miles distant, and was present at the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, and acted as a volunteer surgeon on that event- ful day. He subsequently received an ap- pointment as a surgeon in one of the Massa- chusetts regiments, which he retained until 1790, when he resigned, not having been called into actual service. Captains Joshua, John and Isaac Parker, who bore a con- spicuous part in the Revolution, and who were all three in the battle of Bunker's Hill, were his brothers. Captain Samuel Parker, who commanded the company of "minute men" that were fired into by the British at Lexington; and Lieutenant-Colonel Par- ker, of Chelmsford, who fell at Bunker's Hill, were his relatives.
In 1776 he entered the ministry, and for twenty-two years was the settled pastor of the Baptist denomination in Harvard, the duties of which office he filled in connection with an extensive practice as a physician. In 1798 he removed to Boston, where he edited and published a paper called the Con- stitutional Telegraph, which advocated the election of Mr. Jefferson for President.
In 1806 he removed to Cavendish, Ver- mont, when that country was little else than a waste, howling wilderness, where he after- ward resided, continuing the practice of his profession, riding far and near, till near ninety years of age. At the time of his death he was the oldest man in the town. Dr. Parker possessed, in an eminent de- gree, those virtues which constitute the Christian, and which endear man to his fel- low-man; he was an affectionate husband, a kind father and a good neighbor. Few men were better loved or more respected by an extensive circle of friends and ac- quaintances. His heart and hands were ever open to relieve the distressed; in him the widow and fatherless ever found a
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friend to administer to their wounded hearts the balm of consolation in their time of need; and I have heard it remarked of him that "few men can look back upon a long life so much devoted to the interest of his fellow creatures, both in soul and body." The crowning excellence of his character was love-love toward all men, which was shown by his acts toward them, and his advocacy for more than forty years of a universal brotherhood. His confidence in God and a universal Savior did not forsake him. When I saw him about one year and a half ago, his mind appeared much ab- sorbed by religious influences, and he would often repeat, with others, that beauti- ful hymn of Dr. Watts, "I'm not ashamed to own my Lord," from whom by hearing him I learned to repeat it. Few men have acquired a more thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, or could repeat them with greater fluency. Dr. Parker has reared a numerous and respectable family,-and among them some of the best physicians in our country,-only three of whom sur- vive him. The branches of his family are numerous, and some of his children's chil- dren to the fifth generation reside in this city.
By the marriage of Colonel Thomas A. Colt and Sarah Parker, seven children were born, two of whom died in early life. The others are William P., who is a well known and successful business man of Stockton, California, and married Miss Abigail Rich- ardson, of Orange, by whom he has one son and three surviving daughters; Hattie, who became the wife of Edward Geach, and died May 30, 1890, of diphtheria, just a week after the death of their only son, who died from the same cause, at the age of five years; Samuel S., who married Miss Ida M. Mur- phy, by whom he had one daughter, and who is now a well known architect and builder, doing business as a member of the firm of Geach & Colt, of Orange; Thomas
Clyde, of this review; and Mary S., who resides with her mother.
Thomas Clyde Colt, whose name intro- duces this review, received his educational discipline in the district schools and later became associated in business with his father, under whose direction he acquired that practical experience that fitted him for life's responsible duties. Upon his father's death he succeeded to the express business, which he has since carried on with marked success, largely increasing the volume of his trade in that line. He also conducts an extensive storage warehouse, and in this department, by his capable management, has found a profitable source of income. He has made judicious investments in real es- tate from time to time, and as the value of property has increased his wise disposal of his realty interest has brought to him pros- perity, so that in these various lines he has won a place among the substantial citizens of Orange. His business methods conform to the strictest commercial ethics, and his straightforward dealing and thorough re- liability have won him the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has been brought in contact in a large degree.
On the IIth of June, 1890, Mr. Colt was united in marriage to Miss Maud M. Gal- lagher, a daughter of George M. and Frances Gallagher. They had one son, Guy, who died in early childhood, and the mother passed away April II, 1897, at the age of twenty-seven years. She was a lady of superior culture and natural refinement, of gentle, kindly temperament and loving disposition, and her cheering presence and life endeared her to all who knew her. She passed away on Sunday; and Miss Antonia Dickson, a warm personal friend, the well known writer of the life of Thomas A. Edi-
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son, wrote: "It is seldom that the environ- ment and circumstances are so exquisitely appropriate as those which attended the putting away of this fair body and the trans- lation of the fairer soul. The annunciation lilies and roses on the portal, the royal plenitude of flowers on the casket, the incense of many sorrowing hearts, were fit- ting tributes to a life which had been a blos- soming harvest of fragrant deeds and sunny friendships; not less beautiful were the cir- cumstances which heralded her departure. The day, the hour, the season were as fitting as if planned by that tenderest of the angels miscalled Death. On the morning of Sun- day of the Palms, dear omen of victory, with the promise of Easter glory and the throb and thrill of an eternal springtide re- flected on the earth-this dear and beautiful child stepped from this tortured and cramp- ing 'vesture of decay' into the glorious en- franchisement of the sons of God; passed to where, at His right hand, 'there are pleas- ures for evermore.' Her last words on the earth side of the journey will be remembered until they are eclipsed by her greeting in that mansion of the Fa- ther, where she will welcome her own. They were the crown and flower of that innocent and bounteous character. Mes- sages to friends, tenderly reminiscent; pleas for forgiveness, assurances of un- dying devotion to 'the dearest husband and sweetest mother that ever lived;' a deep aspiration, 'I love everyone, oh! I love everyone; there is nothing but love in my heart !' Then, softly fading into that sweet and mystical sleep which heralds the brill- iant vitality of the true life, the miracle of transfiguration was wrought."
In his social affiliations Mr. Colt is a zeal- ous member of Union Lodge, No. 1I, F. &
A. M. of Orange, and of Orange Chap- ter, No. 23, R. A. M. Politically he is independent, preferring to support the men whom he thinks best qualified for office, regardless of party affiliations. His name is the synonym for honor in all business transactions, and his life demonstrates the possibilities that are open to young men of resolute purpose and laudable ambition, en- abling them to rise from lowly positions un- til they become leaders in the affairs of life.
WILLIAM HILL,
of Newark, is a native of New York, born December 25, 1845. His father, Gottlieb Hill, was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Ger- many, February 12, 1818, and was descend- ed from English ancestors who emigrated to the fatherland in the year 1446, at which time a colony of English shoemakers lo- cated in Hessen-Darmstadt. Gottlieb Hill, like those who founded the family in Ger- many, was a shoemaker and plied his trade in the land of his nativity until 1839, when he crossed the Atlantic to America. He car- ried on shoemaking in New York city until 1857, and he then engaged in the saloon business at the corner of Walker and Elm streets, conducting that enterprise with ex- cellent success until 1865. In that year he entered into partnership with Gottfried Krueger, of Newark, in the establishment of a brewery, and after its successful opera- tion was an assured fact Mr. Krueger sold his interest and the firm of Baier & Hill was formed, continuing business under that style until Mr. Hill retired, in 1874. He was an industrious and successful business man, and diligence and thoroughness brought to him a desirable pecuniary reward. His death occurred in 1875. In the family were
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four children: Edward, born March 20, 1849, married a Miss Sohn; Amelia became the wife of Bruno Smith, of New York; and Augusta, after the death of her sister, be- came the second wife of Mr. Smith.
The other member of the family is Wil- liam Hill, of this review. He acquired his early education in the common schools of New York, and in his youth served an ap- prenticeship at the trade of coppersmith. In the year 1864 he went to Germany, the land of his forefathers, and for two years worked as a journeyman in the vicinity of his father's native village. There he per- fected his trade, becoming an expert work- man, and was initiated into all the quaint customs which prevail in Germany among members of that special trade. On his re- turn to America he abandoned that occu- pation, however, and joined his father, who was doing a successful brewing business. In the year 1866 the brewery was operated under the name of Hill & Krueger, then be- came Baier & Hill, which firm was suc- ceeded in 1875 by Hill & Piez, our subject having then become his father's successor. This partnership was maintained until 1880, when Mr. Hill became sole owner, and with gratifying success carried on the business alone until 1889, when he sold out to an English syndicate. However, he contin- ued as manager of the enterprise for five years, when with a handsome capital he re- tired to private life. He has made judi- cious investments in real estate, and to the care and improvement of his property he now devotes his time, but otherwise is not connected with business interests. He la- bored earnestly and diligently in former years and thus did he gain prosperity. Suc- cess comes not to the man who idly waits, but to the faithful toiler whose work is char-
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