USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 50
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On the 13th of November, 1873, Mr. Helms was united in marriage to Miss Emily Thompson, daughter of Uriah Thompson, who resided in Logan township. She died March 4, 1898, leaving two children, George Horton and Gertrude T. Mr. Helms is a member of the Bridgeport Methodist Episcopal church and his life is in harmony with his professions. He is a
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valued representative of several civic societies, is past grand of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, past master of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of Bridgeport, and is a member of the Swedesboro Grange. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Democratic party, and for twelve years has been a member of the township committee, doing all in his power to promote the growth and insure the suc- cess of that organization. In the active affairs of life he is meeting with fair success, and among his characteristics is numbered that of industry, which never fails to bring its sure reward.
CHARLES P. BATTEN.
The ancestral history of this gentleman is one of long connection with the agricultural interests of New Jersey. The family was founded in America by Sir Francis Batten, who came from England in the early part of the eight- eenth century and took up a large tract of land in Woolwich township, com- prising the farm now owned by the subject of this review. He has in his possession an old-fashioned cow-bell, on which is the name F. Batten, and which is thought to have belonged to Sir Francis Batten, who was the great- great-grandfather of our subject. His son, Thomas Batten, married Jane Ann Scott, and their son, Joseph Batten, was the father of John Batten. the last named being the father of our subject. He married Susan Zern. and as a means of livelihood followed the occupation of farming. His death occurred March 17, 1864, and his wife passed away May 18, 1883. They were the parents of two children .- Charles Paul and Sarah A.,-the latter the wife of Joshua Haines, who is now living retired in Philadelphia and who has two children, -- John and Claude.
Mr. Batten, of this review, spent his boyhood days on the farm, and the public schools afforded him the educational privileges he enjoyed. The year following his father's death he purchased the old homestead farm which has been in the possession of the family for almost two centuries. Since that time he has cultivated his land with excellent success, and has replaced nearly all of the old buildings with attractive and substantial new structures. He erected his present residence in 1880, and in many ways has added to the beauty and utility of his farm.
Mr. Batten is a man of broad general information, and throughout his life has been very fond of reading and has also added to his store of knowledge by travel in Mexico and the United States, gaining thereby information which can never be gleaned from books and which adds a most attractive
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element to his conversation. In politics he is a Democrat, and from 1871 until 1895 served as a member of the township committee. In 1897 he was re-elected to the position and is now chairman of the committee. All his life he has resided in Gloucester county, and his many excellencies of char- acter have gained him the warm regard of those who have known him from boyhood and those whom he has met in later years.
JOHN P. SHEPPARD.
John Plummer Sheppard is a worthy representative of one of the oldest and most honorable families in Salem county. The old homestead on which he was born has been in the possession of the Sheppard family for more than one hundred and fifty years, and now belongs to John P. and his brother Sylvanus, who could not be persuaded for any consideration to part with it.
Long before the Revolutionary war there came from Ireland John Fitz- patrick, who purchased fifteen hundred acres of land and established his home in Lower Alloway Creek township. His son Samuel continued to dwell on the place, where he reared six sons and a daughter. This daughter mar- ried Sylvanus Sheppard, who came to the homestead in 1781, the year of his marriage, where he lived until 1824.
His connection with the early Baptist church at Camden gives us occa- sion for the relation of an interesting item in general history here. The third church building erected in Camden was that of the Baptists. in 1818. In 1809 and 1810 a few Baptist families had settled in Camden from the Cohansey and Salem churches and united with the First Baptist church of Philadelphia. Every Sunday, in order to attend worship, they crossed the river in row-boats. During one winter, however, the ice on the river was so strong for thirteen weeks that these faithful worshipers were enabled to walk across the river. In 1818 seven members of the First Baptist church in Phila- delphia were dismissed by letter to the First Baptist church in Camden. These were Sylvanus Sheppard, mentioned in the preceding paragraph: Phebe, his wife, Richard Johnson, Ann Johnson, Isaac Smith, Hannah Lud- lam and Eleanor Sheppard. Most of these names have since been celebrated in Salem county history. This Baptist church has been the parent of all the other Baptist churches in Camden. The first trustees included Sylvanus Sheppard, Reuben Ludlam and Isaac Smith, while Mr. Sheppard and Richard Johnson were deacons.
In 1789 Enoch Sheppard was born, a son of Sylvanus, and he passed his entire life on the homestead. He was the paternal grandfather of the
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Ano, R, Shepards
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subject of our sketch, and was a man of unusual ability in music, and not only taught it to others but also for many years was the leader of the choir in the Canton Baptist church. He married Miss Mary Hancock and three children were born to them: John H., Phoebe Barker and Elizabeth Dilks. The birth of John H. Sheppard took place on the old homestead in 1820, and there he spent his entire life in agricultural pursuits. He was a man of im- portance in the community and was entrusted with many local offices. Polit- ically he was identified with the Democratic party, but not being a politi- cian he refused to accept any offices except such as were of local interest. He was for many years an active member of the Canton Baptist church, where he was loved and honored by the membership whom he was called to lead in many responsible duties. His highly useful and happy career was brought to a close on the 15th of November, 1891, when his church and community realized that they had lost a valuable friend and member. His wife, whose maiden name was Eleanor Plummer, is still living, and is approaching the eightieth anniversary of her birth. She is the mother of three children: Syl- vanus, who is a merchant in Quinton; John P .; and Elizabeth, the wife of Rev. James Dare, of the Methodist Episcopal church, who died in 1887.
John Plummer Sheppard was born December 10, 1852, and received a public-school education in the little school-house at the cross-roads near his home, which was completed in the schools in Salem. When he was about eighteen years of age he began to earn his own living, at first by working with his father at home, then going into the woods to cut timber, and then entering a store as clerk. But he could not be satisfied with the prospects of gain this held out to him, and having practiced rigid economy, he amassed a sum of money sufficient to enable him to open a country store on his own account at Canton. Here he endeavored to meet all the wants of the com- munity and made a specialty of fertilizers, agricultural implements, coal, and the usual stock of a country warehouse. In addition he started a canning factory, which at first employed fifty hands, and increased until one hundred and fifty persons were working within it.
At the end of fourteen years Mr. Sheppard concluded that the lack of railroad facilities and contact with the outside world prevented him from having the access he craved at his old home, and he removed to Salem, where he started the mill now known far and near as the Salem Knitting Mills. This has become under his management one of the most thriving industries in southern New Jersey. Mr. Sheppard built a substantial factory fifty-seven feet wide, ninety-seven feet long and three stories in height, in which, at the numerous looms, from one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty-five people are to be seen daily working cheerfully at their special
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tasks. The traveling salesmen employed have placed the goods manufac- tured by Mr. Sheppard in every part of the United States, and the business has so increased that sometimes it has been necessary to run the factory night and day to fill the required orders. The industry is of untold benefit to Salem, as it affords employment to many of the better class of employes who would otherwise find it difficult to obtain suitable employment. Mr. Shep- pard is appreciated by his fellow citizens and they rejoice in his success, en- couraging him to still further extend the range of his industry.
Mr. Sheppard is a member of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church. but his sympathies go out to all the religious organizations of his town. On February 20, 1878, Mr. Sheppard married Miss Rebecca, the daughter of Enoch B. Garrison, of Canton, who has been a good helpmeet to her hus- band in his various business enterprises. Raymond Garrison Sheppard, their only son, is now associated with his father in business, and by his integrity and energy gives promise of achieving success in his career as a business man.
BENJAMIN ALLEN TYLER.
On no other article of consumption does the health of the public depend to such an extent as on pure milk, as it enters largely into all our food and the children of many families find in it their principal sustenance. It is not always an easy matter to procure this article in its best state, as many families can testify, and the man who endeavors to put a first-class article on the market is sure to find a ready sale, as does the gentleman whose name appears above. He realizes the needs of his patrons and endeavors to meet them. while they appreciate his efforts by their high praises and steadily increas- ing patronage. He is a son of John and Beulah (Griscom) Tyler, and was born in Cumberland county, this state, in the township of Greenwich, Octo- ber 23, 1837.
Benjamin Tyler, the grandfather, owned two farms in Greenwich town- ship, and was a man of considerable means. He was a Whig and later a Republican and a member of the Society of Friends. He was married three times, his first wife being the grandmother of our subject. Her children were Hannah, who first married Josiah Harmer and then Levi Smith; John: Ebenezer, a farmer of Cumberland county, who married Sarah Stewart; Mary, who married Charles Harmer and is now in her ninetieth year; her second husband was Andrew Thompson; Lydia, who married Reuben Hill- iard; and Benjamin, who married Alice Woolman. The second and third marriages were without issue. Mr. Tyler lived to be seventy-six years of age.
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John Tyler was born in Cumberland county, this state, March 7, 1808, and resided in his native township all his life, dying February 4, 1898, at the ad- vanced age of ninety years. He owned two farms and was known and re- spected by every one. He was an earnest Christian and a strict adherent of the Friends' church. In politics he was a Whig and when that party was sub- merged in the Republican party he joined forces with that organization and cast his votes with them. He was married twice, his first wife being the mother of our subject. They were the parents of a large family of children, many of whom grew up and are useful, honorable citizens of their respective communities. They were as follows: Anna, the wife of Chamblin Hancock, a farmer of this county; John and William, both of whom died in childhood; Benjamin Allen, the subject of this biography; Rebecca, who first married William Fogg and then Amos Gardner. a farmer of Gloucester county; Mary, who was also twice married, her first husband being William Stokes and her second one Thomas Hughes, a resident of Salem; Beulah married Clement Acton, of Salem; Lydia is unmarried; John married twice,-first Mary Mulford and afterward Lucy Haines; and George, who married Martha Ridgeway. The mother reached her sixty-sixth year, when her family were called on to mourn her death, in August, 1874.
Benjamin Allen Tyler was reared on a farm and his childhood and early youth was similar to that of other boys of that time. He attended the com- mon schools of his native township and spent his spare moments in work about the farm. Having a liking for the free and independent life of a farmer, he continued in that work and in 1873 bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Penn's Neck, where he resided until 1895, when he moved to Salem. He decided to combine the dairy business with farming, believing that it would not only prove a source of considerable direct income but would also be the means of building up his farm as well, as it has now come to be an established fact that stock kept on a farm adds greatly to its productive powers, and grain fed to them brings a much better profit when sold either as beef, hogs or milk than when put directly on the market. His venture as a dairyman has been attended with the most gratifying results, as he has made it his aim to furnish only the best quality of milk, a fact his customers have not been slow to appreciate.
March 14, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Millicent Bosby, a daughter of Isaac Bosby. Four children were born to them, namely: Han- nah, October 12, 1863; Benjamin, July 2, 1865, who married Margaret Ormsby, of Philadelphia; he graduated at the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, spent one year in the Medical hospital and another in the Phila- delphia hospital, when he located at Royersford, Pennsylvania, where he is
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a very successful physician, with an extended and lucrative practice; Beulah, who died at the age of seven years; and a child who died in infancy. Mr. Tyler is connected with the Building & Loan Association of Salem and is one of her most reputable and highly esteemed citizens.
WILLIAM A. JAQUETTE.
William A. Jaquette, who is engaged in the practice of dentistry in Salem. comes from a long line of illustrious ancestors who have been prominent in connection with the business and religious history of America for centuries. Jean Paul Jaquette belonged to a Huguenot family that for some time re- sided in Switzerland and came to America in the middle of the seventeenth century. He was vice-director of Delaware in 1655-6 and was the owner of Long Hook property on the Christiana, opposite the old town of Wilming- ton, embracing a tract of land at the foot of Market street, extending east and west. On the 29th of November, 1665, Jean Paul Jaquette became the founder and the first ruler of New Castle, taking the oath of office on the 8th of December of that year. He donated the ground upon which was erected the St. George's Episcopal church at Penn's Neck. There he died in 1684. leaving two sons, Jean Paul and Peter, the latter being father of Major Peter Jaquette.
Major Peter Jaquette, the grandson of Jean Paul Jaquette, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was born at Long Hook, Delaware, opposite Wilmington, and early in 1776 joined Haslet's regiment, taking part in the battles of Princeton and Camden. At the latter place DeKalb, the noted Bavarian general, was severely wounded and fell into the arms of Peter Jaquette. Joseph Jaquette, a son of Peter, was born May 30, 1776, in Upper Penn's Neck, and died in April, 1849. His children were: Daniel, Samuel, Lot, Hester, Mary and Sarah.
Daniel Jaquette, a son of Joseph, was born at Church Landing, Lower Penn's Neck township, and engaged in farming at Mannington, this county. He died in Salem, at the age of eighty-five years. In religious matters he was deeply interested and was an active member of the Methodist church. He married Miss Elizabeth Wells, who died in her eightieth year. Their children were: Daniel, Elwood, Joseph. John, Hanna, Anna, Virtinga and Emmarettia. Joseph Jaquette, the great-grandfather of our subject. was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church and was instrumental in establishing and building the Methodist church at Haines' Neck, Salem county. Both by precept and example he taught Christianity among his
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fellow men. As a means of livelihood he also followed farming at Penn's Neck, where the family had settled.
Dr. Joseph Jaquette, the father, attended the schools in Mannington township and later entered those of Salem. He then entered the office of Dr. Edwin Chew, of that city, under whom he studied dentistry, and after- ward located at Woodstown, this state, where he has a large general practice that has been established for twenty-seven years. He is not allied to any particular party, being independent of party principles and voting for the best man regardless of party views. He is the president of the Woodstown board of education, and formerly took an active part in the sessions of the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and one of its most zealous workers, having been seventeen years the superintendent of the Sunday-school and lending valu- able aid in all lines of church work. He married Miss Anna Alderman and reared three children,-Anna Claire, William A. and Helen. He is now in his sixtieth year, and his wife is forty-nine.
Dr. William A. Jaquette received his preliminary education in the public schools of Woodstown, and later attended Bacon Academy and the Pennsyl- vania College of Dental Surgery, at which he graduated in 1896. He then located in Salem, and is at this time the leading dentist here, having built up a lucrative practice which is steadily growing, as he is careful and pains- taking in his work and has won the reputation of being thoroughly reliable. He is familiar in social circles and has connected himself with the leading social organizations of the city, being a member of the Country Club, the Fenwick Club, Knights of Pythias and the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. He is a regular attendant of the Presbyterian church, of which he is a member, and is the librarian of the Sunday-school.
JOSIAH MILLER.
Josiah Miller, a hustling, wide-awake young business man of Salem, is a native of Lancaster county. Pennsylvania. born August 8, 1859, a son of Wyatt Wistar and Mary L. (Griffen) Miller. He was provided with a good. liberal education, first attending the public schools of Safe Harbor, in his native county, later the public schools of Mannington township, this county, and finished with a course in the Rensselaer Polytechnic College at Troy, New York. Leaving college he turned his attention to the pursuits of agri- culture for a few years, in Mannington township. until 1888, when he en- gaged in the manufacture of enamel brick at Oaks, Montgomery county.
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Pennsylvania, and later at Phoenixville. Closing out this business he moved to Salem, where he conducted a grocery two or three years,-from 1895 to 1898,-when he disposed of that interest and opened an office where he has since carried on business in fire insurance, real estate, surveying, etc.
Mr. Miller was married October 27, 1885, to Miss Mariana E., daughter of Clark H. Thompson, a retired farmer of Salem. They have three bright children,-Alice T., Wyatt A., and Esther G. He is a Republican and for a time acted as the town clerk of Mannington for several years. He is a worthy member of Forrest Lodge, No. 7, Knights of Pythias, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Personally he is affable and courteous and a gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet.
HUGHES C. SHARP.
Success is not a matter of genius, as claimed by some, or an inherent talent, but comes as the natural result of well directed and continued effort. It is this quality which has made Mr. Sharp one of the leading agriculturists of Logan township, and his prosperity is certainly well merited. He was born within a half mile of his present farm, on the 5th of November, 1840. His father, Jacob Sharp, was a native of Cumberland county, New Jersey, and a son of Joseph Sharp. Having arrived at years of maturity, he married Miss Rosanna Sheets, a daughter of George Sheets. In early life he had learned and followed the carpenter's trade, but during the latter part of his business career he devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits. His death occurred in 1893, when he had attained the very advanced age of ninety-six, and his wife passed away in 1889, at the age of eighty-six years. In their family were the following children: Amanda, the wife of Joseph Kidd, of Penn Grove township, both deceased; John, a farmer living near Mullica Hill; Eliza, the widow of Samuel Stanger, of Wilmington, Delaware; Sarah, the widow of Chalkley Madara, of Philadelphia; Charles, the proprietor of the Bridgeport Hotel; George, who manages a farm near Bridgeport; Hughes C .; James Thompson, who died at the age of twenty years; Fannie, the wife of Charles Hendrickson, a produce dealer, of Philadelphia, who makes his home in Repaupo; and Henry, a farmer of Woolwich township.
To the public-school system of his native town Hughes C. Sharp is in- debted for the early educational privileges he received. He afterward pur- sued his studies in Philadelphia, and through the months of vacation assisted his father in the labors of the home farm, and to him gave the benefit of his services until he was twenty-three years of age, when he began farming on
Hughes & Shop
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his own account. He cultivated rented farms for three years near Pedrick- town and for ten years near Bridgeport, and in 1879, having acquired some capital, purchased ninety-five acres of land, to which he has since added a tract of sixty-one acres, so that his farm now comprises one hundred and sixty-six acres. In 1887 he erected thereon a beautiful residence and in many ways has improved the property, thus adding to its value and attractive appearance as well as utility. All the accessories and conveniences of a model farm are here found, and the well tilled fields yield to him a good return for his care and labor.
The marriage of Mr. Sharp was celebrated in January, 1862, when Miss Emma Dawson became his wife. She is a daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Andrews) Dawson, of Swedesboro, New Jersey, of which place her parents were both natives. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp had ten children, but six of the num- ber died in childhood. The others are: Georgianna, the wife of Harry Hurff, of Camden, by whom she has one son, Aaron Hurff; James Thomp- son, who occupies one of his father's farms and who married Josephine Todd, by whom he has a daughter, Pearl; Eva, wife of Andrew Wilson, of Phila- delphia; and Joseph Warner, who assists his father on the home farm.
Mr. Sharp votes with the Republican party, and has served his township as a member of the board of school trustees. He has never been an office seeker, preferring to devote his time and energies to his business interests. He is an energetic business man of marked ability, a progressive citizen and justly popular among his wide circle of acquaintances.
MATTHIAS MUHLBAIER. -
Matthias Muhlbaier is now living retired at his pleasant home in Swedes- boro, New Jersey, but for many years was connected with the agricultural interests of this state, and through his capable management and untiring industry has accumulated a handsome competence, having been regarded as one of the most successful representatives of Gloucester county. A native of Germany, he was born at Waldorf, Baden, on the 16th of February, 1826, and is a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Roster) Muhlbaier. In their family were six children, namely: Elizabeth, the deceased wife of Jacob Burkle, of Bridgeport, New Jersey; Matthias; Frederick, who is still living in the Fatherland; Katherine, the widow of Charles Bishop and a resident of Phila- delphia; Eva, the widow of Charles Hess and a resident of Germany; and John, who formerly made his home in Philadelphia but is now living a re- tired life in Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania.
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Mr. Muhlbaier, of this review, pursued his education in the well regulated schools of his native land, and being an apt student acquired a good fund of knowledge to fit him for the practical and responsible duties of life. He worked on a farm by the month in Germany until 1854, when he determined to seek a home in the United States, landing at New York on the 27th of November. He first secured employment near Pedricktown, but soon after- ward went to Bridgeport, where he worked by the day on Raccoon island through the succeeding six years. In 1860 he purchased a farm of sixty acres between Bridgeport and Swedesboro and as time passed added to his property, buying at one time a tract of sixty acres, at another one hundred acres and later a place of thirty-three acres. These four farms are now occu- pied by his children, but for many years he was actively associated with the agricultural interests and was accounted one of the most practical and pro- gressive farmers of the community. In February, 1898, he and his wife re- moved to Swedesboro, where they have since resided. Through a period of more than half a century Mr. Muhlbaier was a very hard-working man, and his economy, capable management and enterprise, together with the assistance of his devoted wife, enabled him to accumulate a handsome for- tune, so that they are enabled to spend the evening of life in quiet and retire- ment, surrounded by many comforts.
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