USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 56
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In 1863 occurred the marriage of Mr. Harris and Miss Sarah Casperson, of Pennville, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Powers) Casperson, both representatives of prominent families of Salem county, New Jersey. She was born March 20, 1837, and by her marriage has become the mother of five children: S. Virginia, who died at the age of twenty-two years; William H., the editor of "The South Jerseyman"; Mary C., the wife of John E. Zaiser, of Salem; Albert C., who is employed as a salesman in a grocery store in Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Frank S., who is connected with "The South Jerseyman." In all life's relations Mr. Harris has been found honor- able and straightforward and has ever commanded the respect and confidence of all with whom he has been associated. His record is indeed worthy of emulation and he well deserves mention in this volume.
H. C. THOMPSON.
There are always men in every community who by reason of strong in- dividuality and superior ability occupy a leading position in business circles and public affairs, and yet who in manner are unostentatious, making no claims upon public favor. Such a one is Mr. Thompson. True merit, how-
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ever, cannot be obscured and is bound to win recognition, for the public is a discriminating factor and bestows its sincere regard only where it is de- served. Mr. Thompson is prominently connected with the business affairs of Cape May as cashier and agent of the New Jersey Trust & Safety Deposit Company, and is a reliable and progressive business man whose success in life is due entirely to his own efforts.
A native of this city, he was born October 31, 1851, his parents being Richard R. and Anna S. (Hand) Thompson. His paternal grandfather, Rich- ardson Thompson, Sr., was born in Washington, D. C., acquiring a liberal education and learned the tailor's trade, later being a member of the firm of Tuck & Thompson, proprietors of the leading tailoring establishment of the capital city, receiving the patronage of the most prominent people of Wash- ington. He was also a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and was one of the founders of the Wesley Chapel at the corner of Fifth and F streets, where many of the distinguished statesmen of the nation worshiped. He was very liberal and generous with his means in church organization and to charities, and withheld his support from no movement which he believed would uplift and benefit mankind. His last days were spent in Washington, where he was held in highest regard, having the warm friendship of many of the most noted men of the country in his day.
One of his children was John, who was in the government employ in Washington. During the civil war he served in the Union army with an Ohio regiment and participated in a number of the important engagements, and was wounded in the battle of Shiloh, and also having a son killed at his side. After his return he occupied a position in the United States treasury and auditing departments, and at one time was the editor of a paper in the west, but spent his last days in the capital city. Wesley, the second of the family, held a public position in one of the governmental departments, and died in Baltimore. He had a son who was killed in the battle of Shiloh. Richard, the father of our subject, was the next of the family. Belle became the wife of Richard Cooney, of the treasury department of Washington, D. C., and their son Thomas married a niece of President Mckinley. Laura became the wife of Walter Williams, a prominent citizen of Washington. Darby never married. Sarah, married a Mr. Connelly, who was a wealthy slaveholder of Maryland and resided in Washington. Mary became the wife of Frank Espey, who was employed in the government service in Wash- ington.
Richard Thompson, the father of our subject, was born in Petersburg, Virginia, and at the age of fourteen left school and entered upon his business career. For many years he was engaged in the hotel business and in this
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connection became widely known throughout the country. Before the war he was associated with Colonel John West as the proprietor of the Congress Hall Hotel at Cape May, and during the hostilities between the north and the south he was the manager of the Metropolitan Hotel in Washington. Sub- sequently he conducted the Owen House in Washington, D. C., the Ban- croft House in New York city and the Kimball House in Atlanta, Georgia. He then returned to Cape May, where the residue of his days was passed. He gave his political support to the Democratic party and served as a mem- ber of the city council, but never sought political preferment. He is a promi- nent Mason and was one of the first members of Cape Island Lodge, No. 37, A. F. & A. M. He also belonged to the Presbyterian church, and was a man who received and merited the regard and confidence of all with whom he came in contact, and his acquaintance was very wide. His children were eight in number, Henry C. being the eldest. Richard H., the second, is engaged in business in New York city, married Sadie Martin, and they have two children. George and Richard. Jourdan M. married May Clements, a daughter of Rev. Clements, and is engaged in business in Philadelphia. John W. is the next of the family. Samuel B. is now deceased. William H. now resides at Cape May in charge of the Stockton Hotel. He is married and has one child, Emily. Joseph L., of Philadelphia, married Emily Wilder- muth and has two children,-Albert and Russell. Annie, the youngest of the family, died in childhood. The father of this family died at the age of fifty-five years, and the mother when about fifty-three years of age.
Henry C. Thompson, having acquired his preliminary education in the public schools of Cape May, supplemented that course by studying in Gon- zaga College, in Washington, D. C., one of the leading schools of that city. He entered upon his business career in the capacity of a clerk and subse- quently was employed as a bookkeeper. On the 5th of July, 1887, he was made the cashier and agent of the New Jersey Trust & Safety Deposit Com- pany at Cape May. This enterprise was organized in that year and is sup- plied with all banking facilities. The success of the undertaking is due to Mr. Thompson, whose powers of management and executive ability have been the factors that have secured its prosperity.
Mr. Thompson married Miss Linda M., a daughter of Dr. James F. Ken- nedy, for many years a prominent physician at Cape May, and a leading citi- zen who at various times served as an alderman. His father was James Schellinger Kennedy, who made his home in Philadelphia but was a captain of a vessel and was lost at sea. Dr. Kennedy married Charlotte Swain, and their children were: Henry A., who graduated at the Jefferson Medical College and is a physician at Cape May; James, who died at the age of
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about fifteen years; and Mrs. Thompson. Her father was a very prominent church worker and was one of the founders of the Presbyterian church at this place. His life was a busy, useful and honorable one and the respect which is uniformly accorded to true worth was given him.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have been born four children,-Anna S., Charlotte K., Eleanor H. and Richard R. The eldest daughter is now a pupil of Miss Whinnery, of Philadelphia, and is a fine vocalist. Charlotte K. has exceptional talent as a pianist and has studied under the famous Richard Zeckwer, of Philadelphia. The daughter Eleanor also has a finely cultivated voice and is many times solicited to aid in entertainments given in the city. Mrs. Thompson also possesses superior musical ability and for many years engaged in teaching her art in Cape May. The talent of the family in this regard makes their home particularly attractive, and the Thompson household is the center of the cultured society circles.
In his political views Mr. Thompson is independent. He has served as city recorder and was superintendent of the water-works for eight years. He is also a member of the Improved Order of Heptasophs, and was formerly a member of the Sixth Regiment of the New Jersey National Guards. Hold- ing a membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, he is deeply interested in its growth and upbuilding and has served as a class-leader. Thus in the various avenues of life he is found identified with the interests which tend to improve social, material, intellectual and moral life, and Cape May numbers him among its most progressive and valuable citizens.
PHILIP B. PARKER.
Philip Baker Parker, who is one of the retired farmers of Woolwich town- ship, Gloucester county, was born in Gibbstown, New Jersey, November 26. 1847, and is a son of Charles and Elizabeth (Baker) Parker. The former died in Paulsboro, New Jersey, in the fall of 1897, and the latter is still living, in that city. Our subject's great-grandfather came from England at a very early date, probably before the Revolutionary war, and settled in New Jersey. The grandfather was Thomas Parker, and the children of his family were as fol- lows: Charles; Mary, who married John Locke (now deceased), of Pauls- boro; Martha, who married James Clark, of Bridgeport, New Jersey, and both are deceased; Maria, who married George Myers, of Asbury, New Jer- sey, and both are deceased: John, who died when a young man: and Eliza, who died when young. In the parental family were the following children : Thomas, who married Hester Stephens. Two children were born to them,- Lewis and Anna Lizzie. Thomas died when thirty-nine years of age; Philip
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Baker; Ellen married William Wingate (deceased), of Northeast, Maryland, and lives in Paulsboro. Three children were born to them,-Charles, Mary Ella, and Walter; Charles married Anna Cowgill (deceased), one child was born to them, Emma. He is a retired farmer and resides in Paulsboro. Sarah married James Henry Hewitt, of Thorofare, one child was born to them, Harry Archer; they reside in Camden. Mary Elizabeth; John mar- ried Mrs. Ray Reynolds, of Philadelphia, and they had one child, Ralph. John is a basket-manufacturer and resides in Paulsboro; and Anna married Joseph Lodge, of Thorofare and resides in Paulsboro.
Philip B. Parker was for several years associated with his father in the trucking business, and later moved to a farm in Woolwich township, near where he now lives. In 1885 he purchased his present place of one hundred and six acres, and was engaged in its cultivation until 1895, when he retired from active work. The marriage of Philip B. Parker and Henrietta D. Low took place June 17, 1869. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Platt) Low. Mrs. Low died in 1893, and Mr. Low makes his home with Mrs. Parker. Three children have been born to our subject and wife; Liz- zie, who married Samuel Lamson of Repaupo, January 1, 1895, and had one child, Philip Parker; she died when twenty-six years old; Harry, who died at the age of eight years; and Clara, who married Clifton Ashton, of Swedes- boro, December 10, 1898, and has one child, Harry Archer.
Mr. Parker and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Swedesboro. Socially he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the United Workmen and the Grange. In politics he adheres to the principles of the Prohibition party, and in all things endeavors to do his duty as a citizen.
J. CHARLES RIGHTER.
There is a vast field open to those who care to enter commercial life. In military and political circles there is but little opportunity to gain leading positions, but in the world of trade one may reach a place of prominence and exert a wide influence on the affairs which affect the material pros -. perity of the community. The development, growth and progress of every town and city depends upon its commercial activity, and the leading mer- chants are those to whom is due the advancement of the municipal corpora- tions which they represent. Mr. Righter is actively connected with the business interests of Salem as a wholesale and retail dealer in hardware and oil, and as he has a wide acquaintance this sketch will constitute a source of interest to many of the readers of this volume.
Mr. Righter's great-grandfather, John Righter, was a native of Hesse,
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Germany, whence he came to America early in the eighteenth century, settling at Mill Creek, in Lower Marion township, Pennsylvania. He was an extensive land-owner and owned and operated several paper and flour mills in that vicinity and became a prominent and wealthy citizen. He possessed great force of character and exerted a strong influence for good in the community. His first wife was a Quaker lady named Levering. John Righter adopted the language and dress of the Friends, though he never became a member of the society. His second wife was Jane McFee, a member of the Baptist church. He lived to be almost a centenarian and is buried in the Baptist church yard at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. There were several children of the second marriage, one of them being John Righter, Jr., the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He married Euphemia Wilson, a lady of the Presbyterian faith, whose father, Lieutenant William W. Wilson, was a member of the same Masonic lodge that General Washington was connected with, and which the latter visited. John Righter, the second, was associated in business with his father and showed great executive ability, but died at the early age of twenty-nine, though not before he had become a prominent and influential man. His widow lived until she had passed the age of four-score years, dying in 1871. Unto John and Euphemia Righter were born three children: Jane, who married Dr. Mckay; William, a practicing physician first in Berwick and after- ward in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania; and John W., the father of our subject.
John W. Righter, the third of that name, was born in Lower Marion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, in 1819, and received his education in a private school in that state. He, too, had a liking for the milling business, owning and operating a mill in Butler Valley, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and also powder and saw mills elsewhere. He resided in Beaver Meadow, Carbon county, Pennsylvania, and in the midst of a prosperous business career was suddenly stricken by death, dying at the age of thirty-six, in February, 1856. He was married to Margaretta Wood- nutt Hall, who still survives him, being a pleasant, cheery lady of eighty-five years. They were the parents of four children : Elizabeth Woodnutt; James Hall, connected with the hardware business in Philadelphia, who married Hannah Gamewell, and of their children but one, Margaret Woodnutt, is living; William Woodnutt, engaged in silver-mining in Mexico; and John Charles, our subject. John Righter was a Democrat and gave valuable aid toward seating Asa Packer in congress. He was a prominent member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, was a good, upright man, generous and forbearing in disposition, and will long be remembered by those who knew him for his many worthy qualities.
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On the maternal side Mr. Righter is descended from equally honorable parentage, tracing his ancestry back to some of the oldest families in the country. In the year 1677 William Hall came to this country with other members of the Fenwick colony. He is called in the list of emigrants a "servant," but viewed in the light of subsequent events this can scarcely have been correct, or if so, William Hall must have been a man of un- common ability to rise from such a humble position to become in the course of a few years recorder, burgess, judge, and, what was of still greater im- portance, a member of the governor's council. He was an extensive land- owner and established the first store in Salem. He belonged to the Society of Friends, which religious organization was then greatly persecuted in England, its members being deprived of their property and liberty until they were glad to leave the country on any terms. Those who had lost their money were obliged to borrow from those in better circumstances in order to pay their passage, repaying it by some sort of service on their arrival. Such were classed under the general term of "servants," yet many of them became eminent citizens. William Hall was married in 1686 to Elizabeth Pyle, whose family name was given to the township of Piles Grove. She died in 1699, leaving several children, and in 1700 William Hall married Sarah Clement, and from their three sons-William, Clement and Nathaniel-the various branches of the Hall family in southern New Jersey are descended. Sarah Clement was a granddaughter of Gregory Clement, one of the regicide judges of Charles I, who suffered, under Charles II, the awful penalty for "treason," as the offense was termed. Judge Hall died about 1713, and his wife survived him several years, managing her large estate with excellent judgment, her husband leaving "all his property, both real and personal, to his beloved wife, Sarah Hall." Clement Hall, the second son, married and settled in Delaware, and there are some of his descendants in the Acton family that bear the name at the present time.
Nathaniel Hall, a son of Edward Hall, was an officer in the Revolu- tionary army and won the title of colonel. His third wife was Nancy Darrah, and he was her third husband. Her mother was Lydia Darrah, of Revo- lutionary fame, who was instrumental in saving the American army from destruction at Germantown. On one occasion she fastened a sword on the back of her daughter, Ann, underneath her clothing, and sent her to convey the weapon to her son, who was in Washington's army. It was necessary to pass through the British lines in order to reach her destina- tion, and when the young girl applied to one of the officers for the requisite permission he gave it. saying, "You are too pretty to go to the rebel army."
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The hand almost rested on the sword, and had the weapon been discovered it would probably have gone hard with the little maiden. The Jameses. the. Millers and other Salem families are descended from Nathaniel Hall.
Judge Hall's eldest son, William Hall, Jr., married Elizabeth Smith, of Amblebury. Their eldest son, Clement, was married in 1748 to Margaret. a daughter of Joseph Morris, of Elsinboro, a granddaughter of Hedroe or Ruthera Morris, who came from Pembrokeshire, Wales, in 1683. The children of Clement and Margaret (Morris) Hall were Ann, Sarah, Clement, John, Joseph, Morris and Margaret. Clement Hall died in 1772, his wife surviving him ten years, and the ability with which she managed her property indicated that she had great business talent. Margaret Morris Hall was a granddaughter of Manning Braithwaite, gentleman, and a great- granddaughter of William and Joane (Le Fevre) Braithwaite. The Le Fevres were a Huguenot family driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. They settled in England and afterward came to New Jersey. A short time previously John Fenwick had pur- chased a large tract of land and a portion of this he sold to the Le Fevre family. Hypolite Le Fevre, gentleman, and his son Hypolite, were the first of the name to locate in New Jersey. Ann Le Fevre was first married to John Worlidge, a prominent member of the Fenwick colony, and after his death to William Braithwaite, Jr. Hypolite Le Fevre, Jr., married Hannah Carll, of Philadelphia, and settled in Delaware. The original will of Joane Braithwaite, written in 1679, is now in the possession of one of her descendants of the sixth generation and is very quaint. It reads :
"In the name of God, Amen: I, Joane Braithwaite, of ye county of Salem, in ye province of West Jersey-widdow-being sick and weake of body, but of perfect sence and memory, praise be to God, Doo make and ordaine this my last will and testament, etc. First I give and Bequeathe my soule into ye hands of Almighty God that gave it me hopeing through his mercie and ye meritts of ve Saviour Jesus Christ to receive pardon of my sins. I give my body to ye earth hopeing a joyfull Resurrection of ye same, and desiring ye it may be Decently buried att ye Discretion of my Executor hereafter named."
'She gave to her stepson, or as he was called in those days, son-in-law, William Braithwaite, among other things "three gold rings, that is to say, a wedding ring, a plaine ring and a stone ring; also one silver seall, cut thereon a wounded hart." "I will, give and Bequeathe unto my son Man- ning Braithwaite, ye housing and plantation whereon I now dwelleth, together with all ye lands thereunto belonging," etc. It is sealed with the
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above mentioned "wounded hart," "on this four and twentieth day of January M, one thousand six hundred and ninety-seven."
Clement Hall, Jr., a son of Clement and Margaret (Morris) Hall, was married about 1789 to Rebecca, a daughter of Joseph and Ann Kay, of Gloucester county. Their children were named as follows: Ann, the eldest. married Samuel N. Thompson, and their children were Samuel, Joshua, Isaac, Sarah Ann and Clement; Margaret Morris married John Holme, and their children were Benjamin, Jane and Caroline, the latter dying in child- hood; Morris married Elizabeth Woodnutt and had four children who lived to maturity; Prudence Hall became the wife of Joseph Ogden; Sarah died unmarried; Deborah Kay married Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, for his second wife, and their children were Eliza, Rebecca, William Armstrong and Mary Louisa; Rebecca Kay became the second wife of John Sinnick- son, and their children are John Howard, Mary Elizabeth and Clement Hall. Morris Hall, the only son of Clement and Rebecca (Kay) Hall and a lineal descendant of William and Joane Braithwaite, of William and Sarah (Clement) Hall and of Ruthera and Jael (Baty) Morris, was born in 1787. In 1812 he married Elizabeth, a daughter of James Mason and Margaret (Carpenter) Woodnutt. She was born in 1790. Elizabeth (Woodnutt) Hall was fifth in the line of descent from Thomas Lloyd, deputy governor of Pennsylvania, and fourth in descent from Samuel Carpenter, both very eminent men in the Pennsylvania colony. Samuel Carpenter owned prop- erty in Elsinboro and other parts of western New Jersey.
A large number of children were born to Morris and Elizabeth Hall, but only four reached years of maturity. Of these, Margaret Woodnutt Hall married John W. Righter; James Woodnutt Hall married first Mary Jarman and afterward Catherine Mulford, and died in 1897; Hannah Acton Hall, and Rebecca Kay never married. Elizabeth W. Hall died in 1832, and Morris Hall rented his farm in Mannington and removed with his two elder children to Beaver Meadows, in the center of the anthracite coal- mining district of Pennsylvania. From that time until his death, in 1839; he was the secretary and treasurer of the Beaver Meadows Coal Company. Morris Hall was very fond of books and read extensively, having an ex- cellent memory of what he read. He would often forget what was said to him, but seldom forgot what was in writing; and it was commonly said in his office, "If you want Mr. Hall to remember a thing you must let him see it in black and white;" so his employes were in the habit of leaving memoranda on his desk where he would be sure to see them.
The two younger children of the family remained with relatives in Salem, and they distinctly remember being taken to Beaver Meadows to visit in
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early childhood, and the wonder and delight they experienced when they saw mountains for the first time. Their appreciation of the magnificent scenery around Mauch Chunk, so entirely different from the flat and highly cultivated country about Salem, awakened their awe and delight in a greater degree than did the Alps and wonderful mountains and valleys of the Tyrol when seen in later years. The coal mines, too, were an unfailing source of interest. They considered it a great pleasure to be carried by a miner with a lamp in his cap as far back in the mines as it was possible to go and to see the tiny lamps moving about in all directions, twinkling like stars in the blackness of the mines.
John Charles Righter, our subject, was born in Carbon county, Penn- sylvania, April II, 1855, and is the son of John Wilson and Margaretta (Hall) Righter. He first attended the private schools of Salem, entered Henry Ridgeway's boarding school at Bordentown, New Jersey, and then became a student in the Bloomsburg Normal School, of Pennsylvania. His first business venture was in the coal business at South Amboy, New Jersey, where he remained two years, and then accepted a position at the Salem Glass Works. Having determined to engage in business for him- self, he opened a men's furnishing house, which he conducted at a profit for three years, and then, thinking greater advantage could be derived from some other line, he closed out that stock and embarked in the hardware and wholesale oil business at the corner of Market and Grant streets. He also carries a line of agricultural implements and has other business interests.
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