USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 48
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Mr. Ridgway was born in the township of Greenwich, Gloucester county, February 17, 1840. His grandfather was Jacob Ridgway and his father Benjamin Ridgway. The latter was also born in the town of Greenwich and engaged in farming near Mullica Hill. He was an enterprising agricul- turist whose devotion to his business interests and his capable management brought to him excellent success. He held membership in the Baptist church and his life was in harmony with his professions. He married Miss Mary Batten, a daughter of Francis Batten, of Gloucester county, and they became the parents of twelve children who lived to manhood and womanhood, while eight of the number still survive, namely: Andrews, a resident of Camden; F. B .; Aaron M., whose home is near Mullica Hill; Benjamin, of Atlantic City; Myra K., the wife of Nathan S. Lloyd and living in Mullica Hill; Sabra E., the wife of Elwood Kier, of Mullica Hill; Charles K., of Baltimore; and Moses B., of Camden. The father of these children was called to his final rest in 1883, but the mother is still living, at the age of eighty-three.
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F. B. Ridgway, who is so well known in Gloucester county that this sketch cannot fail to be of interest to many of our readers, was educated in the Quaker schools and left home in the spring of 1861 to enter his country's service. The echoes from Fort Sumter's guns had hardly ceased to re- verberate when he joined the Union army in Company A, Third New Jersey Infantry, April 19, 1861. Going at once to the front he entered into active service, but for some time before being mustered out he was ill, the rigors and hardships of war undermining his health. At length he received an honorable discharge and returned home. He then engaged in raising vege- tables for the city markets during the summer months, while in the winter season he was employed as a school teacher.
On the 22d of February, 1865, Mr. Ridgway was united in marriage to Miss Julia P. Chattin, a daughter of one of the prominent residents of the community. He then began cultivating his wife's farm comprising forty- four acres and successfully conducted his agricultural pursuits. One child, who is still living, came to bless their union, Walter C., who is now serving as a clerk in his father's office in Woodbury.
Mr. Ridgway has been a very active factor in political circles and is a stanch advocate of the Republican party. He was elected a freeholder by his township, serving for five years, and was a member of the building com- mittee of the board of freeholders at the time when the new court-house was erected. In 1884 he was a candidate for the nomination of county sheriff against Senator Packer. In 1887, however, he received the nomination and was elected for a three-years term. In 1892 he was elected the county clerk, filling that position for five years, and so capably did he discharge his duties that in 1897 he was re-elected and is now serving a second term. He has been a delegate to all the conventions of his party and in its councils his influence has been very marked. He keeps well informed on the issues of the day and is therefore able to give an intelligent support to the measures which he advocates. Socially he is a prominent Mason, belongs to Swedesboro Lodge, No. 157, F. & A. M .; Siloam Chapter, R. A. M., of Camden; Cyrene Com- mandery, K. T .; and Lu Lu Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Philadelphia. He is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, in which order he has filled all the chairs, and for five years has been a representative to the great council. He also belongs to the Junior Order of American Mechanics; to Mullica Hill Grange No. 51, P. of H., and James S. Stratton Post, G. A. R., of Mullica Hill. His wife holds membership in the Baptist church and they are both highly esteemed by the people, enjoying the marked regard of many friends. Mr. Ridgway is a most competent official and his public record is one over which there falls no shadow of wrong.
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
JAMES H. NIXON.
Judge James H. Nixon, who is now occupying the bench of the circuit court of New Jersey, is one of the distinguished citizens of the state. His name figures conspicuously in connection with the political, legal and judicial annals of New Jersey.
A native of Cumberland county, Judge Nixon was born in 1838, and at the age of twenty years was graduated in Princeton University with the class of 1858. He subsequently engaged in teaching school for three years in the Lawrenceville Academy near Princeton, and afterward prepared for the legal profession as a student in the law office of Hon. John T. Nixon, of Bridgeton, New Jersey. In 1863, at the November term of the supreme court, he was admitted to the bar and began practice at Millville. For twenty-one years he was the solicitor of that city and was connected with much of the important litigation tried in the courts of his district. His preparation was thorough and exact, his mind is keenly analytical, his reason- ing profound and his application of legal principles to the points at issue accurate and exact. Well fitted for leadership, he has long figured promi- nently in connection with public affairs in the state. He was a member of the New Jersey house of the assembly for four years, from 1865 until 1869, and of the senate three years, from 1869 to 1872, and acted as the chairman of the judiciary committee in both bodies. In 1876 his name was placed on the Republican electoral ticket of the state. He filled the important office of assistant attorney general during the administration of President Harrison and for more than a year and a half under the second administration of President Cleveland. He was appointed the judge of the court of errors and appeals by Governor Greggs on the 2d of March, 1896, for a term of six years, but resigned the office to accept the appointment to the circuit bench of New Jersey made by Governor Voorhees on the 19th of February, 1900. He is a stalwart Republican and has long been recognized as one of the leaders of his party in the state. Mr. Nixon enjoys a state reputation, for the importance and prominence of the legal interests with which his name is associated have been such as to require the careful handling of men of superior ability whose talents are such as to draw to them not only the atten- tion of their professional brethren but of the public as well. Yet Mr. Nixon is a man of great modesty and unobtrusive manner, who seeks not laudation of self. His reputation is the deserved tribute of high merit. It comes as the natural sequence of talents that place him upon an exalted plane above the majority of mankind, owing to the development of ability through study, earnest purpose and untiring effort.
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GEORGE S. WEST.
George S. West, the surrogate of Camden county and a resident of the city of Camden, was born September 12, 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts, a son of Samuel and Mary (Weldon) West. Samuel West, who also was a native of Boston, settled in Camden in 1852. A soldier in the regular army, served in the Mexican war, fighting on the Rio Grande under General Zach- ary Taylor and distinguishing himself for bravery. Though troubled by a wound received in Mexico, he was eager to participate in the war of the Rebellion, and raised a company of volunteers in Ohio. After receiving the command of the company he never reached the battle-field, as his old wound caused his death in 1861, when he was forty-four years old.
George S. West was educated in the public schools of Camden. He sub- sequently learned the machinist's trade; but, having no taste for labor of that kind, he sought and obtained the position of salesman in a wholesale clothing and notion house of Philadelphia. Afterward he opened a large auction house in Camden, which he successfully conducted until 1887. In the meantime he had taken an active part in politics as a Republican, and his character and energy had made him popular with both parties. Begin- ning in 1885, he was elected a member of the city council for three successive years, representing Ward 4. In 1887 he was elected county surrogate on the Republican ticket, receiving, it is stated, the largest majority ever given a candidate for that office in this section. On that occasion he gave up his auction business, and thereafter devoted his whole attention to the duties of his office. Having completed his term of five years with credit, he was re-elected for another term in 1892, and also in 1897.
In 1876 Mr. West was married to Miss Mary J. Charles, of Camden, and now has one son, Hayden A., who graduated at the University of Pennsyl- vania and also at the University of Tennessee. He is a practicing physician in Nashville, Tennessee, a professor in the University of Tennessee and the University of the South. He is a member of the Camden Republican Club. Taking much interest in military affairs, he was the commander of Company D, Sixth Regiment of the National Guards, and now the regimental adjutant of the Third Regiment and chairman of the committee on the new armory. It was largely through his instrumentality that the state was induced to appropriate one hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars for the erection of that handsome structure. He is a Knight Templar Mason, has taken the thirty-second degree, and is a member of the Lulu Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Philadelphia. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Brotherhood of United
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
American Mechanics, the Knights of the Golden Eagle, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is popular with all classes of men and a leading spirit in social events. Mrs. West is a deaconess of the Linden Baptist church, but Mr. West is not a church member.
W. J. BROWNING.
The business capacity of Mr. Browning is of high order and through many years the history of his career has formed an important chapter in the annals of the commercial interests of Camden. He was born in this city, April 11, 1850, and is a son of William H. Browning, who was born in Mer- chantville, this county, his father being John Browning. William H. Brown- ing was a carriage trimmer and died on the 18th of February, 1861. His wife passed away in 1881, and like her husband was a faithful member of the Society of Friends. They became the parents of three children: William J., of this review; B. F., a resident of Camden; and Mary A., widow of Ed A. Henry.
W. J. Browning pursued his education in the public schools of his native city and later attended the Friends' Central High School, of Philadelphia. At the age of fifteen he entered upon his business career, becoming connected with a wholesale dry-goods house of that city. There he remained for thirty years, connected with the same line of business. In 1881 he became a mem- ber of the firm of W. B. Kempton & Company. In 1883 he became a member of the firm of Crap, Vandevere & Company. In 1887 that firm retired from business and Mr. Browning became the controller of the New Jersey trade for Howett, Warner & Company, with whom he remained for five years. While with the latter firm he was made the postmaster of Camden, in 1889, occupying that position for five years. In 1894 he was appointed adjuster of the Camden Suburban Railroad Company, and is a director and the secretary of the West Jersey Traction Company, a director of the Camden Building & Loan Company and the Homestead Building & Loan Association. He is a man of marked capacity in business affairs, capable of controlling extensive and varied interests.
Official positions have also been accorded Mr. Browning, and aside from his service as postmaster he has been a member of the board of education and of the city council. He was made the chief clerk of the house of repre- sentatives in the fifty-fourth congress and still holds that position. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party and is well informed on all the issues and questions of the
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day. He discharges his duties with businesslike dispatch and his fidelity has won him high commendation.
On the 31st of January, 1873, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Brown- ing and Miss Lillie A. Taylor, a daughter of Rev. Thomas R. Taylor, of Camden. Their union has been blest with a son, W. K., who is now a practic- ing physician of Plainfield, New Jersey. Mr. Browning is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the American Order of United Workmen. He also belongs to the First Baptist church. Close application to his business inter- ests, combined with keen discernment and a judgment that is rarely at fault, has enabled him to win and maintain a foremost position in commercial circles, while his social qualities have gained him the warm regard of many friends.
BENJAMIN L. DENSTEN.
Benjamin L. Densten has passed his entire life in Gloucester county, identified with the agricultural interests of this section of the state, and no one in his community is more highly respected. His father, Leven Densten, was a native of Virginia and spent his youth and early manhood in that state, subsequently removing to a farm in West Deptford township, Gloucester county. His later years were passed here and at his death he had reached the extreme age of one hundred years. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Stetcher, was summoned to the better land about 1873.
The subject of this sketch was born on the old homestead in this town- ship, January 21, 1847. His elementary education was acquired in the com- mon schools of the neighborhood and in those of Thorofare and Red Bank. From his early years he has been familiar with agriculture in its various branches, and by the time that he had arrived at his majority he was fully competent to manage a farm on his own account. He is now considered one of the most progressive, practical farmers of his home neighborhood, and merits the high respect in which he is held by all. In political affairs he takes a patriotic interest, his ballot and influence being given to the Re- publican party.
At Woodbury, on the Ist of July, 1878, Mr. Densten married Miss Anna M. Bendler, daughter of William and Mary Bendler. Three children bless their union, namely: Mary E., Samuel E. and Everett Glenwood. The family attend the Baptist church and take an active part in furthering all worthy enterprises. They have a pleasant home and enjoy the respect and well earned regard of all with whom they have been associated, whether in business or social circles.
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
J. FRANK SHULL.
It is always a pleasure to the biographer to trace the history of a man whose career has been strictly honorable and above reproach, as is the case with J. Frank Shull, of Wenonah. Since 1875 he has resided here with his family in a beautiful modern house which he built that year, and no one in this locality is more highly esteemed, or more worthy of representation in the annals of the county.
The Shulls are of English origin, and both the father and grandfather of our subject were natives of this state. Abijah Shull, the last mentioned, was born at Franklinville, and, like his father, he followed agriculture. For a period, however, he drove the old stage from Philadelphia to Port Eliza- beth, and thus became well known, far and wide. He married Margaret Cake, of his native place, the daughter in a family of pioneer hotel-keepers. He continued exceptionally strong and active, mentally and physically, until his death in 1866. His widow lived for a number of years afterward, her death occurring in November, 1891 .. She was a woman of beautiful Chris- tian character, and to her gentle, loving influence her children might safely attribute much of the noble element in their natures. She was a devoted wife and mother, faithful and true in all her relations with her fellow men and actively interested in church work. She was in her eighty-eighth year when the summons came to her to lay aside her earthly cares and to "enter into the rest which remaineth for the people of God." She was the mother of seven children, three of whom are deceased. Joseph is a resident of Deer- field, Cumberland county, New Jersey; Caroline W. is the wife of Preston Lippincott and resides near Deerfield; and Robert T. lives at Woodbury.
J. Frank Shull was born in Deerfield, Cumberland county, in 1843, and in his boyhood acquired an elementary education in the district schools. Later he was a student at Eastman's Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York, thus laying the foundations of his subsequent successful commer- cial career. In 1862 he became a traveling salesman for a tobacco firm of Philadelphia and for ten years he continued to be employed along this line. Then he turned his attention to the selling of groceries for the wholesale firm of Jacoby, Wireback & Company, of Delaware avenue, Philadelphia, and traveled for twelve years more in this enterprise, finally being admitted to the firm. In 1873 Mr. Jacoby .died and soon afterward the new firm of Shull, Wireback & Company was organized. This connection remained in existence until 1892, when Mr. Shull purchased the entire business, which he is conducting on a broader plan than ever before. The store is situated at No. 14 Front Street, Philadelphia, and six traveling salesmen are em-
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ployed, the territory which they cover including portions of the south, besides Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr. Shull is a man of fine business sagacity and enterprise, and by well directed efforts he has amassed a com- fortable fortune.
Ever since the First National Bank of Glassboro was organized Mr. Shull has been the vice president of the now flourishing financial concern. He has been one of the trustees of the South Jersey Institute, of Bridgeton, New Jersey .- a Baptist institution. Fraternally he is a member of Ionic Lodge, Siloam Chapter, and Cyrene Commandery, all of Camden, New Jersey. When a young man he identified himself with the Baptist church, and for some years he has been an influential deacon in the Woodbury congrega- tion.
On the 8th of November, 1867, the marriage of Mr. Shull and Miss Amelia Burdsall, a daughter of Ira Burdsall, was solemnized. She is a native of Kentucky, and by her marriage became the mother of two children: Laura B., the wife of H. G. Peddle, of Woodbury; and Rena C., the wife of W. J. McCahann, Jr., the secretary of the McCahann Sugar Refining Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
AARON SCHELLINGER.
One of the venerable and highly respected citizens of Cape May, New Jersey, is he of whom the following lines are penned. He is a descendant of Cornelius Schellinger, and his paternal grandfather was William Schellinger, who was a pilot and farmer. He owned large tracts of land on Cape May Point and resided near the steamboat landing in Lower township. Both he and his wife, Sophia (Stevens) Schellinger, lived to attain the advanced age of four-score years, and were highly esteemed by all who knew them. Their son William became one of the millionaire merchants of Cincinnati, Ohio, and their other children were John, Aaron and Sarah. The daughter became the wife of Joshua Townsend, who was an influential citizen of Sea- ville, New Jersey, and at one time was a member of the legislature.
The father of our subject, Aaron Schellinger, was born in Lower town- ship. He learned the trade of ship carpenter in Philadelphia, and later con- structed a great many sloops and pilot boats at what is now known as Schellinger's Landing. For years he dwelt in a small, old-fashioned house, with a great fireplace extending across one end of the building. For a period he and his thrifty wife kept a boarding-house and in time they became well-to- do, owning a fine farm of one hundred acres, on which he erected a substan-
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
tial residence. He served in the war of 1812, was a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party, officiated as tax collector of his district, and for a period was the wreck-master at Cape May. Of the Presbyterian church he was an earnest and active member, leading the singing and giving liberally of his means toward the spread of the gospel. To himself and wife, Sophia (Ben- nett) Schellinger, the following children were born: Elizabeth, who is the widow of William Smith, a plasterer, and is the mother of Napoleon, Lorinda, Captain William (a seafaring man who lives at Cape May), and Mary, the wife of Isaac Dickinson, a carpenter of Cape May; William, a carpenter and builder at Cape May. who wedded Mary J. McCray and had a son, Clarence; George, a farmer of this county, living at Cape May, who married Anna Maria Hand and has two sons,-Alexander and William: Jeremiah, a plasterer by trade, who married Louise Merritt and whose sons Merritt and Joseph are wealthy manufacturers of glass at Royersford, Pennsylvania; Joseph, de- ceased, who was a machinist and coal dealer, and married Augusta Styles, by whom he had a son; and Aaron, the subject of this sketch. The father departed this life when he was eighty-eight years of age, and the mother when she was in her eighty-seventh year.
The birth of Aaron Schellinger took place March 6, 1816, at his parents' home on Lafayette street, Cape May, New Jersey. He attended school in this town in his youth, and here mastered the plasterer's trade, which he fol- lowed successfully for a quarter of a century. He then embarked in the coal business and owns the schooner which conveys his coal. At an early age he became interested financially in the shipping business, and at various times has been the proprietor of boats, schooners, yachts and small vessels engaged in the coast trade. At this writing he owns a number of boats and boat- houses. He owns a fine little farm of four acres here, and one of one hundred acres at Cold Spring. Diligence, economy and enterprise marked all if his business transactions, and integrity and justice characterized his entire com- mercial career.
Since becoming a voter Mr. Schellinger has been a stanch Democrat, and from time to time he has occupied local offices, such as that of road over- seer, member of the town council and wreck-master. The Baptist church has received his earnest support since he was a young man, and no sacrifice was too great for him when its interests demanded his aid. Besides con- tributing liberally to the regular maintenance of the church and its work, he gave three thousand dollars to it at one time. For two-score years he has officiated as a deacon in the congregation, for fourteen years served in an- other official capacity, and for a quarter of a century was superintendent of the Sunday-school and leader of the choir.
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The first wife of Mr. Schellinger was Miss Mary M. -, prior to their marriage in 1842, and their children were named Rebecca and Alexis. The daughter became the wife of Willis Stiles, who is engaged in the oyster business at Tuckerton, New Jersey. They are the parents of four children: the Hon. Herbert Stiles, Alexis, Helen and Sophia. Alexis Schellinger married Maggie Elwell, and their only child is the Hon. William Schel- linger. Alexis Schellinger is a plasterer by trade, and is a yachtsman and financially interested in the fisheries. The second wife of our subject bore the maiden name of Ann Merritt, and his third wife was formerly Elizabeth (Brooks) Merritt. In 1876 he was united in wedlock with Deborah Price, a daughter of the Rev. John Price, a minister of the Baptist church at Cold Spring.
BENJAMIN HERITAGE.
When settlements were first being made in New Jersey and the land was being reclaimed from the red men for purposes of civilization, there came to the New World emigrants who bore the name of Heritage, and in Bur- lington county, this state, in 1684, planted the family on American soil. Since that time their descendants have been identified with the honorable business and professional pursuits which conduce to a state's prosperity and progress.
Benjamin Heritage, whose name heads this sketch, is of the sixth gener- ation of Heritages in America, as will be seen from the following account: Richard Heritage, from whom those now bearing the name of Heritage in south New Jersey and many other localities have descended, came from Brazlies, Warwickshire, England, in 1684. He had purchased rights of Edward Byllings, and upon his arrival here made a location of land on the north side of the south branch of Pensauken creek in Burlington county, New Jersey, calling his new home Hatten New Garden. He died 6th mo., 16th, 1702. His children were John, Joseph, Sarah and Mary. Joseph mar- ried Hannah Allen IIth mo., 26th, 1697, and died 1Ith mo., 13th, 1756. His children were Richard, Joseph, Benjamin, John, Mary and Hannah. Joseph, of the latter family, married Sarah Whitall in 1730 and had several children, one being a son named Benjamin, who was born in 1735 and died in 1810. He married Priscilla and had the following children: Josiah, who became a Methodist minister; Benjamin, born in Gloucester county, who became a minister of the Society of Friends; Ephraim, who loyally served in the colonial army in the Revolutionary war; and Priscilla. Benjamin, last mentioned, was born 12th mo., 23rd, 1766, married Hannah
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