USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 41
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
SAMUEL A. RIDGWAY.
Samuel A. Ridgway is one of the truly self-made men of Salem county, as he started out to fight in the battle of life empty-handed, but with the brave heart and spirit which commands success, sooner or later. His ad- vantages in the direction of school education, as well, were limited, but his keen powers of observation and habits of reading and study have made him one of the best informed men in his neighborhood.
The birth of Mr. Ridgway took place in Gloucester county, this state, in 1848. His father, Richard S. Ridgway, was the youngest of a family of eleven children, the others being named respectively: Naomi, Job, Ann, Phoebe, Daniel, Samuel, Jacob, Josiah, John and Lydia. Their parents were Jacob and Keziah (Pedrick) Ridgway, of Burlington county, New Jersey, active members of the Society of Friends. Jacob Ridgway lived to reach the ripe age of four-score years. Richard S. Ridgway, the father of our subject. was a man of sterling worth, a strong, noble character, influential in all good works in his community. He died at the home of our subject, on the 14th of January, 1898, when in his eighty-second year. He had lived a retired life for about ten years, but until he was more than three-score and ten was busily engaged in running a farm which he owned, situated near Harrison- ville, Gloucester county. That homestead is now in the hands of his son, Richard, who became its purchaser some years ago. The wife and mother. whose maiden name was Sarah Ann Estell, and whose birthplace was in Cape May county, New Jersey, is yet living, now being eighty years of age. She was the mother of five sons, of whom only one, George G., is deceased, and the others are John E., Samuel A., Jacob H. and Richard D.
The early years of Samuel A. Ridgway were passed in the usual pursuits of country lads, and from the time he was seventeen until he was twenty he worked for farmers by the month. Then, going to Burlington county, this state, he was employed by Jacob E. Ridgway for three years, winning the golden opinions of all with whom he had dealings. His next move was to embark in business on his own account, and as he had been economical and husbanded his resources he was enabled to rent a farm and purchase the necessary implements and equipments for carrying on the place properly. After renting a homestead of Amos Gant for three years, he leased one of Aaron Borton, of Mullica Hill, for a year, and subsequently managed the Jacob E. Ridgway farm at Bordentown, Burlington county, for a period of ten years. In 1887 he removed to his present farm, which he bought the ensuing year and has successfully carried on ever since. The place, which
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is one of the best in Piles Grove township, comprises one hundred and ten acres, and upon it stands substantial buildings and other improvements.
In his struggles to acquire a competence and honored position in the community, Mr. Ridgway has been ably aided by his estimable wife, Eliza- beth, to whom he was married March 12, 1873. She is a daughter of Amos and Rachel Kirby, farmers, of Mullica Hill, Gloucester county, and her brothers and sisters are: Maggie P., wife of William F. Iredell; Mary, who first wedded Ephraim Coles and after his death became the wife of Samuel Iredell; George, deceased; Christiana, the widow of Walter Edwards; Clayton J., Edward and Frank. Amos Kirby, who now is in his eighty-sixth year, is a son of Job and Mary Kirby, formerly of Woodstown. Mrs. Rachel Kirby departed this life in 1897, when she was in her seventy-ninth year. To the union of our subject and wife two sons and a daughter were born, namely: Lillian, who died when two years old; and Frank K. and Harry G., both promising young men, who have been well trained at home in the duties of citizenship and are taking a worthy place in the busy world.
NATHAN A. COHEN, M. D.
The ranks of the medical profession are continually being repleted by the graduates of our medical colleges, some of whom enter the fraternity to meet failure, some to secure only a moderate degree of success and others to leave the ranks of the many and stand among the successful few, occupying a position of eminence by reason of their pronounced ability, comprehensive knowledge and superior skill. To this last class belongs Dr. Cohen. His studies have been most thorough and exhaustive, embracing every branch of the science of medicine, and special preparation in many lines has made him particularly skilled in many departments of his chosen calling.
Nathan Alexander Cohen was born in the eighth ward of Philadelphia, July 4, 1864, and is a son of Theodore Tobias and Henrietta (Seaman) Cohen. His father was a painter by trade and spent his entire life in Philadelphia. He had six children: Esther is the wife of Joseph Simpson, who is engaged in the iron foundry business in Newark, Ohio, and had two children,-Nathan Alexander and Thomas T., the latter of whom died in infancy; M. Daniel is a painter of Philadelphia: Lesser Philip is associated with his brother Nathan in the drug business under the firm name of Cohen Brothers, having a store at Wildwood and one at 6235 Lancaster avenue, Philadelphia, and he is the manager of the latter; Julia is the wife of John Shaldice, deceased; the Doctor
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is the next of the family: and Amelia died in infancy. The father's death occurred November 4, 1889, in his seventieth year, but the mother is still liv- ing, at the age of seventy years.
Dr. Cohen pursued his education in the public schools of Philadelphia, and then accepted a clerkship in the drug store of E. J. Davidson & Com- pany, of that city, with whom he remained for a year and a half. He after- ward spent two years as a salesman with Mussell & Housekeeper, and then spent six months in the University of Pennsylvania in experimenting in the anatomical laboratory. Subsequently he was with Henry A. Borell, a drug- gist, for a year, then with the George W. Carpenter Henzy Company for one year, and with the Rosengarten Chemical Company, as assistant, in charge of the department.
He was graduated at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in the class of 1886, and spent three years in the veterinary department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, being graduated with the class of 1890. He is a grad- uate of the Jefferson Medical College of the class of 1892 and opened an office in Hammonton, New Jersey, where he engaged in the practice of medi- cine for a year. His health becoming impaired he went to Camden, New Jersey, where he continued for eighteen months, and on the 5th of Novem- ber, 1895, he came to Wildwood, where he has since successfully engaged in the practice of medicine, making a specialty of surgery, in which he is excep- tionally proficient. He has performed some exceedingly difficult and delicate operations, which have attracted the attention of the profession and won him prestige with the public. He has not only pursued a general course of study in medicine and surgery but also spent one year with the celebrated surgical specialist, Dr. William W. Keen, of Philadelphia, and with Dr. Orville G. Harivitz and J. S. Cohen in the study of diseases of the nose and throat. He is a member of the Cape May County Medical Society, and occupies a posi- tion in medical circles second to none in this section of the state. His prep- aration for his chosen calling was most comprehensive and thorough, and added to this is a sympathy for his fellow men without which no one can be entirely successful in the medical profession. In 1894 he established a drug store, which he conducts in connection with his practice.
Socially the Doctor is connected with Cape Island Lodge, No. 30, F. & A. M .; General Marion Lodge, No. 6, I. O. O. F., of Philadelphia; and Friendship Lodge, A. O. U. W. He is a gentleman of social manner, genial temperament and kindly disposition, qualities which render him popular and win him many friends. His acquaintance is extensive, and he enjoys the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact.
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CHARLES HIRES.
Charles Hires, a glass manufacturer and farmer, has been closely asso- ciated with the various business interests of Salem, Salem county, New Jersey. Keen and discerning in his judgments, he has exercised great care in his investments and to-day is considered one of the wealthy men of the county.
Mr. Hires was born October 27, 1842, in Lower Penn's Neck township. Salem county, and is the youngest of a large family. His father, George Hires, was a prominent farmer of his day. As a boy the subject of this sketch developed traits of character that were destined eventually to lead him to a successful life. Industry and perseverance, twin virtues, have been exempli- fied in him throughout his whole career.
He received a rather meager education, two or three months during the winter of each year, being the extent of a farm boy's educational privileges in those days. One instance will serve to show the kind of boy Mr. Hires was. It was the fashion for each village or community to have its debating society, and the village of Quinton, where he then lived with his parents. had such a one, composed of the schoolmaster and others who were inter- ested in education and the broadening of their minds. Mr. Hires, who was at that time about fourteen years old, conceived the idea that he would like to join this society, notwithstanding the fact that he was at that age when most boys would much rather play than listen to a debate, and that all the other members of the society were much older than himself, many of them being middle-aged and old men. No doubt this society was of great benefit to him, since it taught him to think correctly and logically and has been probably one of the chief causes of his superior judgment of affairs in his later years.
He joined the great army of wage-earners at the age of seventeen, having secured a position as clerk in the general store of Smith & Hires, at Quinton. New Jersey, his brother, George Hires, being the junior member of this firm. After working for this firm for about two years, he bought Mr. Smith's inter- est and for about one year thereafter the business was conducted under the firm name of George & Charles Hires. June 15, 1863, when our subject was still in his 'teens, he associated with his brother, George Hires, David P. Smith and John Lambert, under the firm name of Smith, Hires, Lambert & Company, for the manufacture of window glass, and built a factory at Quin- ton. New Jersey, which began operations October 24, 1863. Mr. Hires re- mained in the glass business until January 1, 1867, when his wife's father, Abner Smith, a farmer of Lower Alloway Creek township, having recently
Charles Hire
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY. 38I
died, he sold his interest in the manufactory to George R. Morrison, late surrogate, and removed to the farm, where he began his first real experience as an agriculturist. He spent four successful years as a farmer and in 1871 moved to Salem, New Jersey, thinking that he would retire from active busi- ness; but his age-he was only twenty-nine years old-and natural inclina- tions would not permit of an inactive life, so in a few months he again became a member of the glass firm at Quinton, of which firm he has remained a member ever since. Mr. Hires is one of the largest stockholders in the Hires-Turner Glass Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "This company was formerly known as Hires & Company, Limited, and was established in 1878, by the then members of the firm of Hires & Company, at Quinton, New Jersey. The business grew rapidly and in 1892 the firm was changed to a stock company and is to-day one of the largest and most flourishing business enterprises of its character in the city of Philadelphia. Mr. Hires is one of the largest land-owners in Salem county. In addition to farming property, he owns considerable residence and business property in the city of Salem. He is a director in the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Salem, New Jersey, and is also a stockholder in the City National and Salem National Banks.
In politics Mr. Hires has been a lifelong Republican and an intelligent worker in the ranks of that party. He is a member of the Fenwick Lodge. I. O. O. F., the Fenwick Club and an honored member of the First Presby- terian church, in which he has served as a trustee for the past ten years. Mr. Hires was united in marriage, December 28, 1864, to Susanna Du Bois Smith, the only daughter of Abner Smith, a prominent farmer of Lower Alloway Creek township. Five children have been added to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hires, namely: Abner Smith, who was born April 8, 1868, educated in the South Jersey Institute at Bridgeton, New Jersey, and in Princeton College, and assisted his father in his business. He was married in 1890 to Miss Eliza- beth H. Patrick, by whom he has three children, Russell R., Susanna D. and Helen E. Dr. Nathaniel Stretch Hires, born July 15. 1870, received his edu- cation during his earlier years in Quinton and Salem and then entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, June 7, 1894. He took a post-graduate course of one year in the Polyclinic Hospital in Philadelphia, and was a resident physician at the Cooper Hospital, of Camden, New Jersey, for more than a year. At present he is located and practicing medicine in the city of Salem. Dr. Hires is a member of the Salem County and the New Jersey State Medi- cal Societies, the Fenwick Club. the Salem County Club and Knights of Pythias. Charles Royal Hires was born February 1. 1873, and was educated
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at Quinton, supplementing this with a course at Prickett's College of Com- merce in Philadelphia. In 1896 he married Anna F. Fogg, a daughter of Robert S. Fogg. of the firm of Fogg. Hires & Company. He is a farmer of Mannington township and a member of the Salem County Club and of the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Eugene Hale Hires was born September 8, 1879, and received his primary education at the Salem high school and then entered Pierce's Business College at Philadelphia. He has been em- ployed in the store of Hires & Company, at Quinton, and is now with the Hires-Turner Glass Company, of Philadelphia. Mary Anna Hires, born De- cember 17, 1884, is at home with her father. Mrs. Charles Hires, born Feb- ruary 4, 1846, died February 17, 1899, at the age of fifty-three years. She was descended from people of Revolutionary fame. Her great-grandfather, William Smith, held a commission from the continental congress as captain of militia, and lived at Quinton, where he took part in the battle which was fought there during the Revolutionary war. He was a large land-owner and much of his property is still in the hands of his descendants. He had three sons, William, Washington and Oliver. Washington resided in the vicinity of Quinton and owned a large acreage, being an extensive farmer of that section. He had a large family, one of whom was Abner, born in 1811 and died in 1866. He married Mary Ann Stretch, who bore him one child, Sus- anna Dubois Hires. The Stretch family were an old and respected family of this country.
JOB BICKNELL ELLIS, A. M.
The angle of human knowledge is constantly broadening as men of strong mentality and keen discernment carry their researches further and further into the realms of science, discovering facts new to the world, which add to the sum of human wisdom. In no department of knowledge have greater discoveries been made in the last century than in botanical lines, and one of the pioneers in a new field of original investigation is J. B. Ellis, whose labors have added much to man's understanding of the plant kingdom, espe- cially concerning mycology. His name deserves a place on the pages of history by the side of Asa Gray and others of note, and is a familiar one in the circle of our country's greatest botanists and deepest students of the plant life. He lives a very quiet, secluded life in his home in Newfield, but the results of his labors have gone forth to the world in many volumes of ines- timable value that have won him the admiration and gratitude of the most learned botanists of the land.
Mr. Ellis was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, January
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY. 383
21, 1829. The family originated in England and was probably founded in America at an early period in the colonial history of the country. His grandfather, Isaac Ellis, and his father, Freeman Ellis, were both natives of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The latter took up his abode in St. Lawrence county, New York, when that section of the state was an almost unbroken wilderness, and became an adept in handling the ax and in clearing away the forests in order to cultivate the land. He developed a fine farm there and made his home thereon until his death, which occurred in 1854. He served as a deacon in the Baptist church and was a man of sterling worth and great force of character. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Bicknell and was a daughter of Amos Bicknell, of Vermont, whose people were pioneers of the Green Mountain state, and very wealthy and influential people. She died May 24, 1875. By her marriage she became the mother of six children, four of whom are now living: Job Bicknell, of this review; Allen, a resident of Minnesota; and Carleton and Carlos (twins), who are residents of Pots- dam, New York.
J. B. Ellis was reared upon his father's farm and early began to assist in the cultivation of the fields. He attended the country schools of the neigh- borhood, and evinced a great fondness for study, devoting all of his leisure hours to his books. At the age of sixteen he was employed to teach the winter school at Stockholm, St. Lawrence county, where he was to receive ten dollars a month for his services, and "board round" among his pupils. Five of the ten dollars was paid in cash and the other five was to be paid in grain, and twenty years elapsed before he received all of the cereal! Having completed his academical course he entered Union College, at Schenectady, New York, in the fall of 1849, but at the end of the term he was obliged to put aside his text-books and seek a position in order to replenish his ex- hausted exchequer. In company with A. B. Smith, later a prominent lawyer, he started on foot to Saratoga county, hoping to secure a school there, and after traveling through the dense pine woods they at length arrived at the village of Charlton. There Mr. Ellis secured the position he desired, and subsequently was enabled to complete his college course, being graduated in Union College with the degree of A. B. Since that time his alma mater has conferred upon him the degree of A. M.
After his graduation Mr. Ellis went to Germantown, Pennsylvania, and accepted a position as teacher in a school conducted by the Rev. D. Wash- burne. He had studied botany a little at college but it was while in German- town that he began to take an active interest in phanerogamic botany, little dreaming of what the outcome would be. In November, 1851, he severed his connection with the school and entered the Albany (New York) Academy
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as a classical teacher, remaining there one year. This position was better suited to his taste, for he had decided to become a professional teacher of classics. George H. Cook, later the state geologist of New Jersey, was the principal of the academy. The evenings of Mr. Ellis were spent in making blow-pipe analyses of minerals in company with G. W. Taylor, a fellow tutor. In connection with Mr. Taylor he established a select school the following year, but the venture did not prove a profitable one, and after three months Mr. Ellis returned to Potsdam.
During that time, however, he saw by chance a notice of Ravenel's Fungi Caroliniani Exsiccati, the first thing of the kind ever issued in America. While in college he had frequently noticed the agarics, but not knowing where to get books or information concerning fungi let them alone. But upon seeing the notice of Ravenel's collection he wrote to him and then commenced a correspondence, in 1857, which lasted until Ravenel's death, interrupted only by the war. He continued collecting phanerogams until 1870, at the same time giving gradually more and more time to fungi. In 1870 he sold his phanerogamic collection, containing about one thousand species, to St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York.
In May, 1853, Mr. Ellis became a classical teacher in a Mr. Bartlett's boarding school in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he remained for two years. While there, in connection with Professor Buckhout, he devoted his Saturdays to collecting plants, and his Sundays were spent in the same way, -- "if we could steal away; for Mr. Bartlett was very pious." In February, 1855, in company with his sister, Mrs. L. B. Doud, he left Poughkeepsie for Charleston, South Carolina, expecting to secure a position as teacher there, but already the sectional difference was manifest and prevented his obtaining a school in Charleston. He then went to Alexander, Georgia, where he was employed as a teacher, but in 1856 he returned to Potsdam. Here, on the 19th of April, of that year, he married Miss Arvilla J. Bacon, who became his most able assistant in his labors, making it possible to accomplish his enormous and valuable work in the interest of American mycology. She was always associated with him in his botanical interests and labors until her death, which occurred July 18, 1899. Their only child, a daughter, is now one of New York's most popular professional musicians.
In the fall of 1856 Mr. Ellis became the principal of Canton Academy, and in 1863 both he and his wife began teaching in the public schools of Pots- dam. There Mr. Ellis remained until September, 1864, when he joined the United States navy at Brooklyn, New York, and spent the winter of 1864-5 on the United States steam frigate Susquehanna of the North Atlantic Block-
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ading Squadron. He was present at the bombardment of Fort Fisher three days in December, 1864, and three days in January, 1865, when the fort was taken. While on the war ship he became acquainted with Mr. Hale, from New Jersey, who told him of the good climatic conditions in Newfield and vicinity, and at the close of the war, in the spring of 1865, he returned to his native town and removed his worldly possessions to Newfield, where he has since made his home.
Since 1878 he has devoted his entire time and attention to fungi, desiring to disseminate more widely a knowledge of North American fungi and to arouse home botanists if possible from their apathetic indifference toward these plants. He decided to begin in a modest way, by issuing ten sets of New Jersey fungi, under the title of "Fungi Nova-Caesarienses." He put up ten "centuries" on sheets of paper in boxes. Of the two sets sold one went to Dr. Farlow, the other to Isaac C. Martindale. About this time Mr. Ellis went to see the latter gentleman, who asked. "Why not call it North American Fungi?" Mr. Ellis, seeing the greater appropriateness and scope of such a title, recalled the two sets and concluded to get out a series of cen- turies in bound volumes, entitled North American Fungi. At that time he was so pressed for means that he had not money enough to get the books made for the first two centuries. Thereupon Professor Farlow, who favored the scheme, had the books made in Boston and advanced them to Mr. Ellis, who paid for them as soon as he was able. The centuries took well from the start, and from thirty-five sets to begin with, the demand rapidly increased up to fifty-three sets, which number of copies has been issued regularly for some years past. Altogether thirty-six centuries have been issued, or about three thousand separate volumes have been made, filled with specimens, and sold. Truly, "N. A. F." has become a household phrase with the cryptogamic botanists of this country and Europe.
In all this great undertaking, as well as in others, the cheerful interest and practical helpfulness of Mrs. Ellis were constantly apparent. She made and bound all the books except the first sixty which Dr. Farlow kindly ad- vanced for his friend at the beginning. . Nearly all the specimens were cleaned. sorted, put into neat pockets, labeled and fastened by her hands. Mr. Ellis himself says that owing to his great correspondence and the enormously bur- densome quantity of material constantly being sent to him for determination and comparison, he would not have been able to get out the North American Fungi without her valuable aid. The following notice in "Science," of Au- gust II, 1899, is a worthy tribute to her memory:
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