USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 2
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Wheeler, James S., ii, 157.
Whitaker Family, The, i, 303. Whitaker, Isaac, i, 104.
Whitaker, Joseph D., i, 240.
Whitesell, Charles R., ii, 374.
Whitney, Eben, ii, 14.
Whitney Glass Works, ii. 13. Wildwood, ii, 484-6.
Wiley, David, i, 583. Wilkins, Charles M., i, 556.
INDEX.
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Wilkins, E. Ward. i, 558. Wilkins, John, ii, 3. Williams, William C., ii. 273.
Williams, William O., i, 504. Williamson, Moses, ii, 45. Williamson, William K., i, 344.
Wilson, Charles, ii, 529. Wilson, Howard A., i, 172.
Wilson, J. Frank, i, 544. Wilson, Robert, i, 471.
Wistar, Clayton, ii, 579.
Wolferth, Christian, ii, 343. Wolferth, George, ii, 248. Wood, Benjamin F., ii, 238.
Wood, D. C., ii, 526. Wood. William A., ii, 392. Woodbury, ii, 12. Woodbury Academy, ii, 15.
Woodbury Court-house, ii, 12.
Woodbury Daily Times, i, 541.
Woodbury Glass Works, i, 428.
Woodbury M. E. Church, ii, facing 12.
Woodbury Old Residence, ii, II.
Woodruff, A. B., i, 151.
Woodstown First National Bank, ii, 8. Wright, Amnon, i, 282. Z Zane, Robert, ii, 4.
FFEF
PI
Salem County Court House: founded 1735; rebuilt 1817. Market Street, Salem, showing the City Bank and the Garwood House.
Friends' Meeting House, Salem: erected in 1772.
The Old Oak, and Friends' Cemetery. Governor's House, Salem: built in 1691. Old Hancock House, Hancock's Bridge.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE First Congressional District of New Jersey.
JOHN FENWICK.
J
OHN FENWICK was born in Northumberland county at Stanton Manor, in England, in the year 1618. He was a lawyer and was made a captain of cavalry by Cromwell and took an active part against the throne. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and, like many others of that religious faith and their descendants, was imprisoned for conscience' sake. About the year 1665 Lord Berkley offered West New Jersey for sale. There appears to have been an understanding between one Edward Billinger and Fenwick to purchase the whole of West New Jersey and for Fenwick to have one-tenth of the land. The deed was given for the land in 1673, Fen- wick's portion being what is now Salem and Cumberland counties. He then made preparations to emigrate and take possession of the land in America, and held out inducements for others to emigrate with him. A number accepted the invitation of Fenwick, most of them being of his own religious faith. Fenwick's friends had great faith in his honesty and some of them purchased land and paid him before they embarked. The following are the names of some of the principal persons who embarked with John Fenwick: John Pledger, Samuel Nicholson, James Nevil, Edward Wade, Robert Wade, Samuel Wade, Robert Windham, Richard Hancock and their families, and several others. There were several single men,-Samuel Hedge, Jr., Isaac Smart and others. The servants that hired in England to persons above mentioned and likewise to John Fenwick and his two sons-in-law, were Robert Turner, Gewas Bywater, William Wilkinson, Joseph Worth, Joseph Ware, Michael Eaton, Eleanor Geeve, Nathaniel Chambless, his son, Nathan Chambless, Jr., Mark Reeve, Edward Webb and Elizabeth Walters.
Smith, in his history of New Jersey, says in many instances the servants became more conspicuous members of civil and religious society than their
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
employers. Fenwick's immediate family that came with him were his daugh- ter Elizabeth and her husband, John Adams, his daughter Anne Fenwick, who married Samuel Hedge, Jr., the spring following, and his youngest daughter, Priscilla, whose husband was Edward Champney. His wife, Mary Fenwick, did not accompany him to his new home in the wilderness, for some cause that has never been explained. The letters passed between them manifested a sincere and filial attachment, and they continued to correspond while life remained. They embarked from London in the ship Griffith, Robert Griffith being master, on the 23d of the ninth month. They arrived at the mouth of Assamhockin creek, now called Salem creek, and ascended the stream about three miles, and landed at a point of land. Fenwick and his friends that were with him thought it a suitable location for a town. He gave it the name of New Salem, because he remarked to one of his intimate friends the name signifies peace; but it did not prove so to him, as the sequel of his history will show. He, like his great friend and benefactor, William Penn, and also Roger Williams, found in settling colonies there were more thorns than roses. On account of the low ground, Salem was sometimes called Swamp Town.
As soon as it was practicable after the early settlers of Salem landed, the proprietor held a council with the Indian chiefs that lived within the compass of Salem county, and purchased all their land of them, thereby securing perpetual peace with the natives, and the same kind of a treaty was made with them by Billynge or his agents for the remainder of West Jersey. They re- served certain rights for themselves,-trapping, fishing, and the privilege of cutting certain kinds of wood for the purpose of making baskets, also in making their canoes and other things. The treaty was faithfully fulfilled. About the year 1800 the few remaining Indians in this state made application to the New Jersey legislature to sell all their rights and privileges they held in the state, which was accepted by the legislature, and they were paid the price they asked. They then removed to the state of New York to dwell with the Mohawks and other scattering tribes that remained in that state.
John Fenwick, after his arrival in Salem, issued a proclamation granting civil and religious liberty to all persons who should settle within his province. In the year 1676, he turned his attention to providing homes for his children, and accordingly directed Richard Hancock, his surveyor, to lay out and sur- vey two thousand acres in Upper Mannington for Samuel Hedge, Jr., and his wife Anne. The said land was called Hedgefield. He also directed him to survey two thousand acres for his son-in-law, Edward Champney, and his wife Priscilla, which land was bounded on the west by John Smith's land, on the north by James Nevel's farm, and Alloway's creek on the south. To
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
his son-in-law, John Adams, and his wife Elizabeth, he gave all that tract of land located in what is now called Penn's Neck. It is known at the present day as the Sapaney. Fenwick built himself a house in the town of Salem on what he called Ivy Point. From said house he was forcibly taken in the middle of the night by a party of men from New Castle and taken to that town, from thence sent to New York, and there imprisoned by an order of Governor Andross, under pretense that he was infringing upon the rights of that state, which they claimed to own to the eastern shore of the Delaware river. He was soon afterward released.
After two or three years more of perplexities and trouble in endeavoring to establish a government in the colony. he wisely abandoned it by selling all the lands he had in the Salem tenth (reserving one hundred and fifty thou- sand acres for himself and family), to Governor William Penn. The deed was given the 23d day of March, 1682. From that time the whole of West Jersey was under one government. The legislature met at Burlington, and Samuel Jennings, of that place, was elected deputy governor at the first legis- lature afterward. John Fenwick was elected one of the members of that body from Salem county, in the fall of 1683, but being unwell he left his home in Salem and went to Samuel Hedge's, his son-in-law. in Upper Man- nington, there to be cared for by his favorite daughter, Anne Hedge, in his last days, for he died a short time afterward, at the age of sixty-five years. He requested before his death to be buried in the Sharp's family burying- ground, which was complied with. The said ground was formerly a part of the Salem county almshouse farm.
On July 11, 1688, John Fenwick issued a warrant to Richard Tindall. Sur- veyor-General for Salem county, and to John Woolridge, his deputy, to lay out one acre of land in Salem on which to erect a court-house and prison. This was done and the buildings were erected on Bridge street, afterward called Market street.
In 1817 an election was held to decide whether the court-house should be removed from the one-acre lot where it now stands. The majority of the in- habitants in Piles Grove, both Pittsgroves, Upper Penn's Neck and Upper Alloway's Creek were in favor of removing the county buildings. Where the place should be there was a diversity of opinion. Alloway was suggested, while others were in favor of Woodstown. By a survey of the county, the almshouse farm was found to be the most central. The election was held to remove the county buildings to the south end of said farm, or for them to remain in Salem. It was decided by a large majority of voters for them to remain.
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HON. GEORGE HIRES.
If there is a name indelibly written upon the pages of Salem's com- mercial and political history, it is the name of Hon. George Hires, a pro- grassive business man who for nearly half a century has been identified with every marked improvement the county has witnessed. He is a son of George and Mary (Royal) Hires and was born in Elsinboro, Salem county, New Jersey, January 26, 1835. His paternal ancestors came from Germany to America and settled in Cumberland county, this state, where John Hires, the grandfather of our subject, was born.
For several years John Hires was a farmer of Cumberland county, but during his later years moved to Salem, where he lived to the advanced age of ninety-four years, enjoying that immunity from toil which a long life of industry accorded him. He married, and raised a large family of children, among whom was George Hires, born February 7, 1802. George Hires was also a farmer and soon after his marriage to Miss Mary Royal moved to Salem county. Several years before his death he took up his residence in Salem, where he lived a quiet and retired life. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, a man of upright and honorable character, whose life was above the breath of reproach.
Hon. George Hires received his early education in the district school near Quinton and in the Friends' School at Salem. Leaving the halls of edu- cation at the early age of fifteen, he worked on a farm for three years, when he entered a store in Quinton, in the capacity of clerk. One year later he was admitted into partnership with David P. Smith, and the firm of Smith & Hires continued for five years, until 1861, when Mr. Hires purchased the interest of his partner and continued alone for one year, when his brother, Charles Hires, elsewhere represented in this work, became associated with him, the firm doing business under the name of G. & C. Hires. Two years later the firm of Smith, Hires, Lambert & Company was formed for the purpose of manufacturing window glass, and the plant ultimately in- stalled by that company was the Quinton Glass Works.
Just here it may be interesting to mention that on the 24th of October, 1863, the first window glass was made in Quinton. During the intervening years changes have been made in the firm, but George Hires has always been identified with it, and the present firm known as Hires & Company, com- posed of George Hires, Charles Hires and William Plummer, Jr., has been in existence since 1881. In addition to this plant, they have a large whole- sale jobbing house at 626 Arch street, Philadelphia, which was established
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
in 1878. This firm is known as the Hires-Turner Glass Company, of which our subject is the president. He is also the vice president of the Foggs & Hires Canning Company, which has factories at Quinton, Hancock's Bridge and Pennsville. Like his ancestors, he is very much interested in agricul- ture, and with other landed property owns the homestead farm near Quinton, which has been in the possession of the family for more than half a century. He has been a director in the Salem National Bank for eighteen years, and was one of the organizers of the New Jersey Trust & Safe Deposit Company, when he was chosen a director and has filled tlie office ever since.
His success in public life has been no less marked than in the commer- cial. In politics he has always been a Republican, and was elected the sheriff of this county in 1867 by one of the largest majorities ever given in the county. In 1881 he was elected to the state senate. It was during his term in the senate that the corporation tax bill was passed from which the state has been so greatly benefited. In 1884 he was elected to the forty-ninth congress and in 1886 re-elected to the fiftieth. In 1894 he was appointed by Governor Werts a member of the New Jersey constitutional-amendment convention. In 1896 he was chosen a delegate to the national convention held at St. Louis, which nominated William McKinley for president and Garrett A. Hobart for vice president. He has been a member of the New Jersey state committee for ten years, which position he still holds.
He was married in 1856. to Miss Ann Eliza Patrick, who died within a few months, and in January, 1859, he married Miss Elizabeth K. Plummer, a daughter of Judge William Plummer. Two children survive this marriage, -- Lucius E. and Bessie K. Hires. His present wife is Mrs. Artie C. Hogate, nee Paget, whom he married in 1881. This union has been honored by the birth of two children,-Mary Ethel and George Hires. Jr.
EDWARD B. HUMPHREYS.
No history of Woodstown would be complete without the record of Ed- ward Bilderback Humphreys, so closely has he been associated with the mer- cantile interests of the city. The material welfare of Woodstown is attribut- able in no small degree to his efforts, for he belongs to that class of repre- sentative Americans who while promoting individual success also advance the general prosperity. From a lowly position in life he has gradually worked his way upward, overcoming many difficulties and obstacles yet never falter- ing in his determination to win for himself a place in the business world. He is to-day one of the most prominent merchants and real-estate owners of
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Woodstown, yet is entirely free from ostentation, in fact is extremely re- served and at all times avoids personal notoriety. But genuine merit and success cannot be hidden, and the ability that has won him success has brought him prominently before the public.
Mr. Humphreys was born in the little village of Sharptown, Salem county, August 31, 1830, his parents being Samuel and Rachel (Bilderback) Humph- reys. He was one of seven children, and his early youth was passed at his parental home and in attendance at the village school. where he pursued his studies under the direction of Messrs. Bullock, Cochran and Lippincott. His opportunities, however, in that direction were somewhat limited, he being able to obtain only the rudiments of an education in the school-room. Through reading, experience and observation. however, he has become a well-informed man.
In early, life Mr. Humphreys worked on a farm for a time and later went to Philadelphia, whereby he permanently severed his connection with agri- cultural interests. About 1850 he returned to Sharptown and soon began business on his own account. With borrowed capital he purchased a small stock of merchandise and opened a store, continuing in business there for about eight or ten years, when he disposed of his interest in his native town and came to his present place of residence. Here he purchased the store then owned by Joseph K. Riley, conducting the store for about a year, when he sold out, at a good profit, to Messrs. Lawson & Pancoast. Soon after- ward he purchased the corner lot now occupied by his present store and resi- dence. In 1864 he erected the business block, and from that time has con- ducted one of the largest, best equipped and complete general mercantile stores in this part of the state. In 1868 he admitted Edward Wallace to a partnership in the business and that relation was maintained for seventeen years, when, in 1885, Mr. Wallace withdrew. Mr. Humphreys still conducts the business and has a very large patronage. He has carefully studied the public taste, and his earnest desire to please his patrons, combined with his reliability, has won him a large trade.
Along other lines Mr. Humphreys has been closely allied with the busi- ness interests of Woodstown. He has made extensive and judicious invest- ments in real estate, and has thus contributed to the upbuilding of the city. In 1881 he purchased the old Ford hotel property, and a few years later he sold a few feet at the corner at exactly the price paid for the entire amount. In 1885 he erected a fine opera-house on Salem street, and in 1886 he also built on the Ford property a pantaloon factory. In 1888 he erected the fine hotel on East avenue, one of the finest buildings of the town, doing this for the purpose of furnishing a place of entertainment for the traveling public
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Wyatt W miller
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where they would not be surrounded by the influences of intoxicants. He is a man of strictly temperance principles, and without regard for the financial side of the question he erected the hotel; the investment, however, has proved a profitable one. He was one of the organizers of the Woodstown First National Bank; for a time, however, he was not associated with that institution. Many of its directors preferred an up-town location, somewhat removed from the business center, and, believing this unwise, Mr. Humph- reys severed his connection with the institution. Some years later, however, the wisdom of his opinion was demonstrated, and to-day the bank is occupy- ing an excellent site in the center of the town, sold to them by Mr. Humph- reys. He is the owner of much valuable city property, comprising three of the best business corners in the town.
Another enterprise which elicited his attention and aid was the Woods- town Monitor. In 1885 he began the publication of a bright, interesting journal, which was at first printed at the office of the Gazette, in Camden, and later at the home office in Woodstown. This journal is now owned and published by Benjamin Patterson, Esquire, and has been consolidated with the Woodstown Register, under the name of the Monitor-Register.
In 1858 Mr. Humphreys was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Webb Null, a daughter of William Null, at that time the proprietor of Null's Mills. Their children are Mary, William, Edward and Belle; but William died in 1879, at the age of nineteen years.
Such, in brief, is the history of one of Woodstown's leading and influen- tial business men, and the record of his life should well serve as an illustration of what may be accomplished through determined purpose, unflagging energy and laudable ambition.
WYATT W. MILLER.
Wyatt Wistar Miller, one of the oldest business men of Salem, is con- nected with the Salem Banking Company and is one of the city's most highly esteemed residents. He is a son of Josiah and Hettie (James) Miller, and was born November 1, 1828, in Mannington township, this county, the birth- place of several generations of his ancestors. In 1698 Joseph Miller, his great-great-great-grandfather, came from the state of Connecticut and settled at Cohansey, this county, in order to enjoy the freedom of religious expres- sion. The New England states at that time refused the Society of Friends that freedom which they claimed for themselves, and many of the members of
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
that denomination sought homes in Rhode Island and the western states. Joseph was a surveyor and was chosen deputy surveyor for the lower section of Fenwick's tenth. He did a great deal of work and stood high in his pro- fession. He had one son, Ebenezer, who was born in 1702 and succeeded to his father's business at the death of the latter in 1730. Ebenezer Miller was the great-great-grandfather of our subject and married Sarah, a daughter of John Collier, by whom he had a large family of children, namely: Ebenezer, Jr., born in 1725; Hannah, born in 1728 and married to Charles Fogg; Josiah, born in 1731; Andrew, born in 1732; William, born in 1735; John, born in 1737; Mark, born in 1740; Sarah, born in 1743; and Rebecca, born in 1747. Ebenezer Miller lived to reach the age of seventy-two years and passed his last days in the town of Greenwich, this state.
Josiah William Miller, the great-grandfather, was the second son of his parents and was married to Letitia Wood in 1760. She was a daughter of Richard Wood, Sr., of Slow Creek township, Cumberland county, this state. By their union were five children, namely: Josiah, Jr., born in 1761; Rich- ard, in 1764; John, in 1767; Letitia, who was born in 1769 and became the wife of William Reeves; and Mark, born in 1774. He purchased a large tract of land in Mannington township, which formerly belonged to the south- ern part of the James Sherron allotment of one thousand acres which he bought of John Fenwick in 1676, one of the finest tracts of land in Fenwick's tenth. He built a substantial brick house upon it, and his will left twenty- five hundred dollars and a number of legacies to be divided up among his relatives. His son Richard was born on this farm, a part of which is now in the possession of our subject, and there grew to manhood. He was a hus- bandman and owned one hundred and sixty acres of the original homestead, which was a valuable piece of property. He was a member of the Society of Friends and died while attending their quarterly meeting in Burlington county some time in the '40s. He married Elizabeth Wyatt Wistar, whose mother was a Wyatt, and reared three children: Josiah, father of our sub- ject; Sarah (Mrs. Benjamin Acton); and Letitia, who married Thomas P. Sheppard. The grandmother reached the extreme age of eighty-seven years and died in 1856. Josiah Miller was also born on the old homestead farm in Mannington township about 1799 and his death occurred on the anniversary of this day thirty-four years later. He was a farmer by occupation and a strong Whig. By his marriage to Hettie James he had three sons: Richard, who was born December 5, 1823, and followed the life of an agriculturist in his native township, was married to Elizabeth Blackwood, who died childless, and afterward he chose a second wife, who bore him one son, Richard; Sam- uel, who was born February 12, 1824, and was a farmer of Mannington town-
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
ship, married Hannah Rumsey and had one son, Wyatt. Wyatt Wistar is the youngest. After the death of the father the widow married David Reeves, of Philadelphia, with whom she lived until her seventieth year, when death severed the bond.
Wyatt Wistar Miller was educated in the common schools of Salem and Bridgeton and was an apt pupil, diligent and earnest, who added to the store of wisdom thus obtained by comprehensive reading and keen observation. After leaving school he was employed on a farm for a short time and then went to Safe Harbor, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he was en- gaged in the manufacture of pig and railroad iron from 1850 until 1867. He moved upon his farm at this time and was engaged in husbandry for twenty- two years, when he moved to Salem, where he has since resided. Several years before, he had become identified with the Salem National Bank, and was a director of the institution from 1872 until 1886, when he was elected the president. He is well adapted for the duties of this office, being a genial, pleasant man of great force of character and remarkable perspicuity of speech and conduct, whose push and energy lent strength to whatever cause he espoused.
Mr. Miller was married May 12, 1858, to Miss Mary L. Griffin, a daugh- ter of John Griffin, who as the manager of the iron works at Safe Harbor was the predecessor of our subject. He resided at Phoenixville, Pennsyl- vania, at his death, and had two children,-Mrs. Miller and a son who was in the navy and was buried at sea. Mr. Miller has nine children, namely: Josiah, Jr., born in August, 1859, is a surveyor by profession and an insurance agent by occupation, residing at Salem: he married Mary Ann Thompson and has three children,-Alice, Esther G. and an infant; Samuel is a farmer; Robert is a manufacturer of dental supplies in Philadelphia: he married Miss Speak- man and has four children; Mary L., born in 1867, married J. Forman Sinnd- kon, a lawyer of Salem, by whom she has one child, Elizabeth; Hettie, who married Collins B. Allen, a farmer of Mannington township: they have three children,-Elsie, Mary and Elizabeth; Wyatt Wistar was a clerk in the pen- sion office at Washington and died in that office January 19, 1899: George is employed in the bank and is unmarried; Elizabeth is also unmarried, as is John, the ninth and youngest child. Mr. Miller is a stanch Republican and was elected to the office of state senator from Salem county in 1885, dis- charging the duties incumbent upon him in a manner highly satisfactory to his constituents. He is a well preserved, handsome old gentleman whose intellectual vigor is in no wise impaired by age and his business ability to-day will bear comparison with any of our younger men.
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