USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 64
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Azariah More, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on a farm in Upper Hopewell, New Jersey, and spent his life near the place of his birth. A successful farmer and weaver, he was a prominent citizen of the town, widely known and respected. He was a stanch supporter of the Presbyterian church, and was a member of the building committee of the church in Deerfield, New Jersey. He died on October 1, 1845, in the house which he had built and where his children were born. December 1, 1794, Azariah More was married to Lydia More, who died April 4, 1830. She was a member of one of the oldest families in this part of the country. Mrs. Lydia D. More became the mother of twelve children, nine of whom at tained maturity, growing up in Hopewell township and learning to take a part in the weaving industry and the work of the farm. They were: Daniel, David, three who died at birth, Abigail, Enoch, Josiah, Henrietta, Elizabeth, George Washington and Robert. But two are living to-day : Joseph, a resident of Red Willow county, Nebraska; and Robert, of Bridge- ton, New Jersey.
Enoch More followed the sea for over forty years as the master of a vessel, and had charge of some of the largest boats afloat in his day. He was the captain of the steamer "Clyde," which transported Jefferson Davis
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and other captured Confederates to Fortress Monroe. Enoch More was also assistant surveyor with John C. Fremont, accompanying him on his expeditions through the great west. David More, another brother, was a sea captain for a number of years. He died on board his ship at New Orleans, and his body was tenderly cared for by his Masonic brethren, who buried it in a leaden casket, that it might be moved if desired. Hen- rietta More, one of the sisters, lost her life on the ill-fated steamer "Henry Clay," which was burned on the North river.
Robert More was engaged in his youth in farming and weaving on the family homestead. After his father's death he took charge of the farm; and in 1875 he purchased the Davis mill property, making his home there and operating the mill and also managing a store. In 1883 he removed to Bridgeton and engaged in the manufacture of glass as a member of the firm of More, Jonas & More, pooling his capital in that industry and en- ploying a large number of men. He still owns three farms in Hopewell, and as a business man and real-estate owner occupies a prominent posi- tion in the community.
Mr. More has been twice married. His first wife, nee Emily Bivin, of Shiloh, left one child, Caroline, who is now the wife of William E. Riley, a clothing merchant of Bridgeton. His second wife, who before mar- riage was Miss Elizabeth Cake, of Deerfield, died July 30, 1892, leaving five children: Robert, Jr., a member of the firm of More, Jonas & More: Richard, a member of the same firm; Azariah, who is in the glass busi- ness in Fairton; John T., who is connected with his brother-in-law in busi- ness in Bridgeton; and Elizabeth C., who is at home with her father. Robert More, Jr., and his brother Richard have increased their business so that they now have one of the largest glass plants in the state of New Jersey. They have run the works to their full capacity ten months in the year ever since they began business.
While residing on his father's farm in Hopewell, Mr. More held dif- ferent local offices, ably serving as collector and clerk of the board of trustees of the almshouse, and a member of the board of Chosen Free- holders,-in fact filling all offices within the gift of the town except that of assessor. He helped to organize the Republican party in 1855, and in 1856 was nominated for the assembly. Elected in 1857-58 by a big ma- jority, on the Republican ticket, representative to the legislature, he had the honor to be the first man sent to that body by his party in this county. He was again in the legislature in 1866-68, and, being nominated for state senator in 1860, at the time of the John Brown excitement, was beaten by only seventeen votes. In 1867 he introduced in the legislature a resolu-
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tion authorizing the placing of a portrait of Lincoln in the assembly cham- ber beside that of Washington, and was appointed chairman of the house committee to procure the same; and on the fifty-eighth anniversary of the birth of Lincoln he delivered an eloquent speech in honor of the occa- sion. In 1867 Mr. More was made the chairman of the house committee to draft rules for the government of that body. On February 9, 1865, he was engaged in the debate in the house concerning the fifteenth amend- ment to the constitution of the United States, and supported the amend- ment by a powerful speech, which was largely published and quoted from. He was instrumental, too, in obtaining the passage of "an act to prohibit the sale of liquor on election day." Mr. More is still a member of the Presbyterian church of Deerfield, on whose building committee his father served, and was fourteen years an officer of the church and many years superintendent of the West Branch Sunday-school. His family likewise are all members of the Presbyterian church.
VOLNEY G. BENNETT.
Volney G. Bennett, wholesale and retail dealer, and one of the promi- nent financiers of Camden, was born on April 9, 1837, in Pike county, Pennsylvania, a son of Jared and Esther (Killam) Bennett. His grand- father, Stephen Bennett, a native of Connecticut, was one of the first set- tlers in Pike county, and was engaged for years in farming and lumbering, at that time the leading industries of this part of Pennsylvania. Stephen's wife, Mary (Gates) Bennett, lived in the beautiful valley of Wyoming at the time of the famous massacre by the Tories and Indians under Colonel John Butler, and was instrumental in saving many lives by apprising the defenceless ones of the slaughter of the garrison in time for them to make their escape to the woods.
Jared Bennett was born on the farm in Pike county, which was also the birthplace of his son, the subject of this sketch, and there spent his entire life, engaged principally in lumbering. He was very successful in financial matters, and was one of the most prosperous citizens in that sec- tion. His wife, who also was a native of Pike county, is now deceased. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their children were: Gipson G., who died in 1899, about four-score years of age, a re- tired blacksmith, owning a farm at Mendon, Michigan, where he was one of the first settlers; Nancy Jane, now seventy-eight years of age, the wife of Marcus M. N. B. Killam, a wealthy resident of Pike county, who has
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won fame as a bear and deer hunter; Frederick, who died in childhood; Isaac K., who died in 1898, on the family homestead in Pike county; Har- vey K., a retired business man living in Camden; and Volney G., who is the youngest of the family.
Volney G. Bennett remained on the homestead until twenty-two years of age, literally "growing up" a lumberman and learning all the details of the business from the beginning. In his twenty-third year he obtained employment of a lumber firm in Camden, and in June, 1876, he estab- lished a business of his own, locating at the corner of Second and Cherry streets, Camden, his present stand. The firm is known as the Volney G. Bennett Lumber Company. In addition to his experience in the various departments of the lumber industry, Mr. Bennett is gifted with much nat- ural business ability, and has been very successful. He is the president, of the Camden Board of Trade and of the Excelsior Building & Loan Asso- ciation: was the treasurer of two other building and loan associations for eighteen years; and he was one of the originators, and is now a director, of the Real-Estate and Investment Company of Camden.
Mr. Bennett was married in 1864 to Emmeline, a daughter of Captain Thomas Davis, a seafaring man. Five children have come of the union, namely: Killam E., now a wholesale lumber dealer residing in Camden; Emily J., the wife of D. L. Moore, formerly of Camden; Volney, the vice- president of the Volney G. Bennett Lumber Company; Alfred K., the sec- retary and treasurer of the same company; and Olive Edna, who is still in the home nest. Mr. Bennett votes the Democratic ticket, but takes no active part in politics and has no desire for public office. He is a life member of the First Baptist church.
ROBERT L. BARBER.
Robert L. Barber, a prominent citizen of Camden, New Jersey. now serving his second term as the clerk of Camden county, was born in the city of Bridgeton, this state. March 31, 1849, the son of Robert and Emily (James) Barber, both parents natives of Bridgeton. He springs from two old New Jersey families. Robert Barber was engaged for a number of years in manufacturing in his native city, and died at the age of sixty-six. His wife makes her home with her son, the subject of this sketch. She is a member of the First Presbyterian church. Mrs. Barber has but one other child, viz., Harriet, the wife of Judge Frank H. Burdsall, of Camden.
Robert L. Barber received a public-school education in Bridgeton and in Camden. He has lived in this city since 1857, nearly forty years, and
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for a long time has been closely identified with municipal affairs, giving much of his time and attention thereto. Actively interested in politics, he is one of the influential Republicans of the place, and has worthily filled a number of offices of public trust. He had been three times elected to the city council, representing Ward 3, and was a city councilman at the time of his first election to the office of county clerk, in 1890. He dis- charged his duties in so satisfactory a manner that he was honored with a re-election in 1895.
Mr. Barber takes a prominent part and has held important offices in various fraternal organizations. He is a member of Camden Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A. M .; Siloam Chapter, No. 7; Senior Commander of Van Hook Council, Royal and Select Masters; and Lulu Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
DAVID BAIRD.
David Baird, who conducts an extensive lumber business at the corner of Pearl and Front streets, Camden, was born April 7, 1839, in county Derry, Ireland, a son of James and Ann (Robinson) Baird. James Baird, Sr., who was a native of the same place, had five children. Of these, James Baird, Jr., the father of David, carried on the business of a road cantractor, and died in 1858, aged forty-five years. His wife, a daughter of David Robinson, of county Derry, had eight children of whom six are living. She died aged forty years. Both she and her husband were members of the Presbyterian church.
David Baird, the eldest child, spent his boyhood in his native land. On coming to America he worked for a time on a farm; then, in 1859, he entered the employ of Gillingham & Garrison, lumber dealers of Phila- delphia, with whom he remained until 1872; and on leaving them he started in business for himself, and has since been very successful. He is largely engaged in buying and selling lumber, making extensive purchases in Pennsylvania and the south, also in the north and west .. At the present time he is occupied in clearing a large tract of timber land in Alabama, us- ing twenty miles of railroad to bring the lumber to the sawmill in Mobile, and employing about two hundred and fifty men. He makes a trip to Alabama once a month. His yard in Camden, with a frontage of two hun- dred feet and a depth of twelve hundred feet, and designed for the storage of large timber, spars, etc., was established in 1872. Some of the timber brought from the Pacific coast in large vessels is one hundred and ten feet in length and three feet in diameter. More of it comes from Nova Scotia,
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pine and oak from Michigan and the states bordering on the Great Lakes and Canada, and hackmatack from Bangor, Maine. Mr. Baird has con- ducted some of the largest lumber camps in the western states, western Virginia, northwest Pennsylvania, and Lewis county, New York., He has been a director of the First National Bank since 1888, is the treasurer of the Camden Lighting & Heating Company and the Atlantic Electric Light Company, and he is a director in the Gloucester & Woodbury Railroad Company.
On January 23, 1868, Mr. Baird married Miss Christiana Beatty, a daughter of William Beatty, of Philadelphia. They have had six children, of whom four are living, namely: Mary, the widow of William F. Pea- cock; Irving C .; Christiana; and David Baird, Jr.
Mr. Baird's political principles are Republican and he is very prominent in public affairs. He is a member of the Republican state committee, and he served as a delegate to the national convention that nominated President Harrison. He was on the board of chosen freeholders for four years. In 1887 he was elected sheriff to serve three years, and was again elected in 1896 to serve until 1899. In 1895 he was appointed a member of the state board of assessors for four years.
EDWARD A. ARMSTRONG.
Edward A. Armstrong, the judge of the county courts of Camden county and a former speaker of the house of assembly for two terms, was born December 28, 1858, in Woodstown, Salem county, a son of Francis W. and Rebecca B. (Jess) Armstrong.
Edward A. Armstrong acquired his early education in the common schools of Woodstown. He pursued the study of law under Benjamin D. Shreve, Esq., of Camden, and was admitted to the bar in the February term of 1880. In due time he opened an office in Camden, at 100 Market street, moving to his present quarters in the New Jersey Trust Building, on Third and Market streets, as soon as the erection of that handsome building was finished. In 1888 Mr. Armstrong was appointed the judge of the district court of the city of Camden, succeeding Judge R. T. Miller, and was on the bench until 1891, when he in turn was succeeded by Judge Carrow. He was recently appointed the president judge of the court of common pleas for the term of five years, beginning April 1, 1897. In politics he favors the Republican party. He was the president of the board of public works from 1891 to 1893; he served as a delegate to the different
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county conventions; and he was in the state legislature from 1884 to 1887 inclusive, presiding as the speaker of the house in the year 1885-86. Judge Armstrong attends religious worship at the Baptist church.
MAHLON F. IVINS.
No country in the world offers greater encouragement to the poor boy who is ambitious for fame and fortune than our United States; and though it is claimed that we are degenerating-that we have a moneyed aristocracy -- the men who have established that aristocracy, men like the old Vander- bilts and Astors, won, by their indomitable courage, their perseverance in the face of all difficulties, and their powers of accomplishment, the ad- miration of the world. The self-made man always commands respect, and his prosperity is the just reward of assiduous effort.
Mahlon F. Ivins, the collector of Camden county, New Jersey, is a strik- ing example of a self-made man. He was born in Haddonfield, this county, January 16, 1843, a son of Benjamin W. and Sarah Ann (Fowler) Ivins. Benjamin W. Ivins, who was a native of Camden county, was a miller by trade. He lived to be seventy-four years of age. His wife, a native of the same county, died at the age of twenty-six, leaving four young children -Mahlon F., the subject of this sketch; Lydia, now the wife of William C. King, of Camden; Mary Emma, the widow of Job R. King, of the same city; and James F., a house-painter of Camden.
Mahlon F. Ivins was eight years of age when deprived of a mother's fostering care, and was bound out as a farmer's boy by his father. It has been remarked that a woman deprived of her husband seems to be given supernatural strength to care for her children and keep them together, but nothing is more helpless than a man left with motherless young children to provide for. As a farmer's boy the child was sure of food and shelter, and the care, often kindly, of the farmer's wife. He worked for different farmers, receiving his board and clothing as a remuneration until sixteen years of age; and when the weather was too inclement to work in the field he attended school, the whole time of his schooling not exceeding one year. But he was naturally of a studious turn of mind; and when, later in life, he had the time to spare, he read and learned a great deal. When he was six- teen years of age he went to Philadelphia to learn the trade of house- painting, remaining three years.
At the early age of nineteen he enlisted in Company D, Sixth New Jer- sey Volunteers, under Captain George E. Wilson of Camden. His
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regiment camped for some time on the lower Potomac, and he was then commissioned to enter the signal service at Washington. After drilling some three months he passed the requisite examination, and within a month was promoted to the rank of sergeant. His first assignment as a member of the signal corps was in Mcclellan's command, and the first engagement in which he took part was the battle of Williamsburg. He was afterwards with Burnside at Fredericksburg, and he advanced with the re-enforce- ments for Grant to Vicksburg. At the battle of Resaca, while he was rid- ing across the battefield, his horse was shot under him, and he broke his ankle. This was the most serious injury he received, although his term of service extended over three years, and he participated in some of the hottest battles fought. The fracture necessitated a short stay in the hospital. Sergeant Ivins was in Knoxville, Tennessee, when General Burnside's com- mand, in imminent danger of starvation, was besieged by General Long- street, and took part in the desperate charge that broke the Confederate ranks.
He was honorably discharged from the service after some three years of campaigning, and engaged in the grocery business in Philadelphia for about a year. But he was not satisfied with the results; and, selling his business, he went to work at his trade, which he followed in Philadelphia some seven years. He then opened an establishment at 329 Federal street, Camden; and, having won a reputation for tasteful and reliable work, he commands an immense business in house and sign painting. He does a great deal of work for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. As a financier he had evinced such foresight and good judgment that his name alone is sufficient guarantee of the success of an enterprise. He is at present a director of the Central Trust Bank and in six building and loan associations of Camden.
His first wife, formerly Miss Anna M. L. Williams, of Camden, died January 13, 1891, leaving three children-Mary Emma, the wife of George W. Mathis, of Camden; Lillie May. the wife of Christopher S. Hand, of the same city; and Mahlon F., a student in the military academy at Borden- town, New Jersey. One child died in infancy. On January 18, 1892, Mr. Ivins married Miss Cornelia C. W. Lewis, of Camden.
Mr. Ivins has long been active in politics, and is one of the most highly esteemed members of the Republican party in the city. He has been the treasurer of the municipal board of health a great many years; was council- man from Ward 4 two terms, refusing at the end of that time to serve any longer, and presided as the chairman of the water committee, the street committee, and the public property committee. For the past twenty years
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his party has been anxious to place him in office as sheriff, but he invariably refuses the nomination, having no desire to serve in that capacity. In October, 1894, he was elected county treasurer by the board of chosen free- holders, to fill the unexpired term of the last incumbent; and at the annual meeting in 1895 he was re-elected for a term of three years.
He is a member of Camden Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A. M., and of New Jersey Lodge, No. I, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Camden, of which he has been the treasurer for nineteen years, working actively in the interest of the lodge; and he also belongs to Wyoming Tribe, No. 15, Im- proved Order of Red Men. He is a member of the First Methodist church and contributes liberally toward its support. With all his achievements, Mr. Ivins has disarmed envy and made many friends, and is now one of the most popular as well as one of the wealthiest men in the city ..
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