USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 49
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(VI) Emmor, son of Asa and Anna (Lip- pincott) Roberts, was born in Evesham town- ship, Burlington county, New Jersey, Febru- ary 16, 1831. He received a very good educa- tion for a farmer's son of that day, having been sent to the school of Benjamin Hallowell at Alexandria, Virginia. He afterwards was a teacher in the same school and taught mathe- matics there. As many of the students in the school were sons of congressmen being pre- pared for West Point, the instruction given was necessarily very thorough, especially was this so with the mathematics. In 1857 he mar- ried Martha, daughter of Israel and Maria (Wallace) Lippincott. By that time he had become a farmer, which business he continued to follow as his principal occupation for the
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remainder of his life. He was always a public spirited useful citizen and left the marks of his energy and good sound sense on many organizations and enterprises. We first find him taking part in the little local affairs of his neighborhood, township clerk, clerk of the dis- trict school-a thankless position of consider- able responsibility which he held for many years. A little later we find him a member of the broad of chosen freeholders of the county and director of the board; director of the Mount Holly Insurance Company and of the Moorestown and Camden Turnpike Company. For the last twenty-five years of his life he was the president of the last named company. For thirty-six years he served as a director of the National State Bank, of Camden, and was for a few years near the close of his life vice- president of that institution. He was on the board of managers of Swarthmore College from 1877 to the time of his death, serving on many of the important committees of that board. For over twenty years he was chair- man of the executive committee of the board. Besides such positions of a semi-public char- acter he acted as executor or administrator in settling a number of estates, and did some sur- veying and conveyancing. He was a birth- right member of the Society of Friends and always took an earnest and devoted interest in that body and their meetings. For a period of ten years or more he was the clerk of his quarterly meeting, and for fifteen years, from 1886 to 1901, he served as clerk of the yearly meeting of Friends which meets at Fifteenth and Race streets in Philadelphia (sometimes called Hicksites). He died April 7, 1908, leav- ing his widow and four children surviving him. His children are: I. Israel, born in 1858; studied law and now a member of the New Jersey bar. 2. Alice, born in 1861; married John J. Williams, of Norristown, Pennsyl- vania, son of Charles and Hannah (Stokes) Williams. 3. Horace Roberts, born in 1868; married (first) Emma Thomas and had by her three sons: Emmor, Preston Thomas and Byron Thomas Roberts; married (second) Elizabeth P. Hooton, and by her he has three children, Horace, Jr., Mary H. and Martha. Horace lives on his father's old homestead farm and is successful and prosperous. H has acquired several other farms and makes the raising of fruit his specialty. 4. Walter, M. D., born 1870; married Lydia Parry, daugh- ter of Joseph S. and Anna (Satterthwaite) Williams, has two daughters, Anna S. and Lydia W. Roberts. He lives in Riverton, New
Jersey, and makes daily trips to Philadelphia to attend to his practice as a specialist on the ear, nose and throat.
The Hildreth family of New HILDRETH Jersey comes from that stal- wart band of seafaring men who throughout the whole course of its history has given Cape May county a place and rank unique in the state and Union. As in the case of other families descended from these noble mariners, it is difficult from the lack of authen- tic records to trace the earlier generation of the Hildreth family in this country.
(I) George Hildreth, of Cape May county, New Jersey, lived at Cold Spring, New Jersey, and became a pilot on the Delaware river. He was one of New Jersey's staunchest Demo- crats and served his township in various local offices. In religious belief he was a Presby- terian and was very active in the work of the old historic Cold Spring Church and did all in his power to uplift humanity and better the conditions of human life. Children: 1. Alvin Parker, referred to below. 2. Eliza E., mar- ried Lafayette Miller. 3. Daniel. 4. Ann Jane, never married.
(II) Alvin Parker, eldest child of George Hildreth, was born in Cold Spring, New Jersey, June 11, 1831, died in Cape May City, August 3, 1897. In early life he was engaged in teaching school and completed his education within the classic walls of Yale University. He was a man of strong individuality and marked intellectuality, and in public life was frequently called to positions of prominence and trust. For some time he was engaged in the hotel business in Cape May, and was after- wards the proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel in Washington, District of Columbia. Subse- quently he returned to Cape May, where he conducted one of the leading hotels in that sections of the state. Prompt, energetic and thoroughly reliable, his reputation in business circles was indeed enviable, and he had the happy faculty of winning warm friendships. He was a recognized leader in Democratic circles, and at one time was a member of the riparian commission of New Jersey, and twice was elected to represent his district in the assembly of the state. In local affairs he exer- cised a marked influence, and his co-operation was always given to movements and measures that were calculated to advance the progress and welfare of the community. His Masonic relations were with the Cape Island Lodge, of which he was a valued and influential mem-
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ber. He married, in December, 1854, Lydia Hughes, born October 28, 1832, died January 4, 1862, daughter of Eli B. and Sarah (Hughes ) Wales. Children : Howard Wales, Frank Harding, James Monroe Edmonds, see below; Alvin Parker, Jr.
Desire (Howland) Gorham, who died at Barnstable, Massachusetts, October 13, 1683, was the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, and granddaughter of John Howland, one of the "Mayflower" passengers, who died February 23, 1673; married Eliza- beth, daughter of John Tilley, another "May- flower" passenger. Hannah Gorham, daughter of Captain John and Desire (Howland) Gor- ham, was born at Barnstable, Massachusetts. November 28, 1663; married, about 1683, Jo- seph Whilldin, of Yarmouth. Hannah Whill- din, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Wildman) Whilldin, granddaughter of Joseph, son of Joseph and Hannah (Gorham) Whilldin, was born about 1690, died at Cape May, March 18, 1784; married Ellis Hughes. Ellis Hughes, son of Ellis and Hannah (Whilldin) Hughes, was born August 16, 1745, died April 16, 1817 ; married 1762, Thomas Hirst, born January 10, 1769, died November 10, 1839, married, De- cember 3, 1788, was the son of Ellis and Elea- nor (Hirst) Hughes. Sarah Hughes, born May 31, 1800, was the daughter of Thomas Hirst and Lydia ( Page) Hughes; married, in 1818, Eli B. Wales. She was the mother of Lydia Hughes Wales, who married Alvin Parker Hildreth.
(III) James Monroe Edmonds, third child and son of Alvin Parker and Lydia Hughes (Wales) Hildreth, was born in Cape May City, New Jersey, December 9, 1858. He spent the early years of his life in his native city and was then taken to Mount Holly where he com- pleted his education in the Mount Holly Acad- emy, an excellent institution. Determining to enter the legal profession he became a student in the law office of his uncle, Walter A. Bar- rows, and also studied under the direction of the Hon. Joseph H. Gaskell, later president judge of Burlington county. He diligently applied himself to the task of mastering the principles of jurisprudence, and after a care- ful preparation he was admitted to practice in the courts of New Jersey in June, 1881. He then returned to Cape May City and enter- ed upon the practice of his profession, and his business has steadily increased until now (1909) he has an extensive and distinctly representative clientage. His devotion to his clients is proverbial, yet it is said that he never
advised any one to enter litigation except to right a wrong. He is an indefatigable and earnest worker, and the litigation with which he has been connected has been of a very im- portant character. His practice has been gen- eral and he is proficient in every department of the law ; his keenly analytical mind and his broad knowledge of the principles of jurispru- dence have enabled him to apply to the point in controversy the law which bears most closely upon it, citing authority and precedent until the strength of his case is seen clearly by both judge and jury. His deductions are logical and the force of his argument is shown in the many verdicts which he has won favorable to his clients. He is also interested in Cape May real estate, and owns much property in the city and vicinity. All enterprising movements re- ceive his encouragement and substantial aid is given to matters and measures for the public good. He is a Mason, a Heptasoph and a Red Man.
In both political and business circles he is known throughout New Jersey. His has been a career commendable for its fidelity to duty in all the relations of life, and he has honored the state and district which he has represented. In business he is the soul of honor and integ- rity. In social circles he is affable and courteous, and his whole career has been per- meated by the kindliness and sympathy that have arisen from a personal interest in his fellowmen. His political prominence is the result of eminent fitness for leadership and the ability which he has shown in the discharge of the duties entrusted to him. In February, 1888, he was admitted to the New Jersey bar as a counsellor. In 1883 he was chosen by the city council for the office of city solicitor, a position which he held for two terms, and in which he won the highest commendation of all by the manner in which he performed the duties that devolved upon him. In March, 1893, he was chosen as the chief executive of Cape May City, and in that year he was instru- mental in holding a Fourth of July celebration, which will ever be memorable in the history of the city. Benjamin Harrison, ex-president of the United States, was the distinguished guest and the principal speaker on that occa- sion, and Mr. Hildreth introduced Mr. Harri- son and presided over the ceremonies in a manner that elicited the warmest praise of his fellow townsmen. During his mayoralty mark- ed improvement was made in the city in many ways, and yet, so economical was his manage- ment of his business affairs of Cape May, that
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each taxpayer was saved fourteen per cent of the usual net amount of his tax. In 1895 the city council again elected Mr. Hildreth to the office of city solicitor, and in 1897 he was again elected mayor. To those who are acquainted with him it it needless to say that his adminis- tration was progressive and beneficial. In 1898 he was a prominent candidate for con- gressional honors in the first district, and al- though he did not seek the nomination he re- ceived the most flattering vote of eighty-one ballots. In 1900 he was also spoken of prom- inently by his friends as a candidate for con- gress. In 1904-05-06 he was elected to the New Jersey legislature from Cape May county, and 1907 was elected the city solicitor of Sea Isle City, a position which he still retains. In 1906 he was appointed by Governor Stokes of New Jersey judge of Cape May county.
Judge Hildreth is an earnest champion of the principles of the Republican party, and although he has held local positions he is by no means a politician in the commonly accepted sense of the office seeker. He has been a close student of the problems of government, and he always places the welfare of the state and nation before personal aggrandizement. He is an active member of the Cape May City Golf and Yacht clubs, in which he is associated with some of the most eminent and distinguished citizens of Philadelphia and Cape May. He is a member of the Presbyterian church in Cape May City. He is a representative Amer- ican citizen, energetic in business, courteous in social life, and loyal to the duties of citizen- ship and to his native land. Although one of the busiest of men he always has a smile of welcome for all, graciously giving his time to those who ask it, and thereby adding to his long list of friends.
Judge James Monroe Edmonds Hildreth mar- ried, November 12, 1884, Martha Orr, daughter of Jeremiah and Mary (Orr) Mecray. They have one child, Mary Mecray, born October 24, 1885 ; married, April 5, 1906, John Daniel Johnson, Jr., of Mount Holly, New Jersey, and they have one child, Kathryn Hildreth Johnson, born May 18, 1907.
LLOYD The name of Lloyd speaks for itself in both Great Britian and in this country in the distinguish- ed ecclesiastics, jurists, authors and others who have so nobly borne it, but the branch of the family at present under consideration has been for so short a time in this country that its rec- ord except in the persons of the honored Cape
May City representative and his esteemed father lies on the other side of the water.
(I) William Harris Lloyd, the father, was born at Tenby in the south of Wales, but in his early manhood came over to this country and settled in Pennsylvania. Shortly before his arrival in America he married Elizabeth Phillips, who like himself was a native of Wales, and their son, Ernest William, referred to below, was born to them here.
(II) Ernest William, son of William Harris and Elizabeth (Phillips) Lloyd, was born at Weatherly, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1877, and is now living at Cape May City, New Jersey. He received his education in the public schools of Weatherly, and then became a clerk in a grocery store. After this he taught school for a short time in Hundonvale, Pennsylvania, and in 1899 removed to Bridgeton, Cumber- land county, New Jersey, where he became a clerk in the hardware store in that town. Finally he took up the study of law in the office of James J. Reeves in Bridgeton, and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey as an attorney in 1903, and as a counsellor in 1908. In 1904 Mr. Lloyd opened his office and com- menced his practice of his profession in Cape May City, in which place he has remained ever since, enjoying the distinction of being the youngest prosecutor of the pleas ever appointed in the state of New Jersey. This appointment he received in 1908, when he was only thirty- one years old, and his term is for five years, terminating in 1913. Mr. Lloyd is a member of the Cape May Bar Association, Association of the Prosecutors of the Pleas, and Cape Island Lodge, No. 30, Free and Accepted Masons, of Cape May City. He is also vice- president of the Cape May City Board of Trade, and a member of the Cape May Yacht Club. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church of Cape May City.
March 2, 1904, Ernest William Lloyd mar- ried Maude Dare, daughter of James Dare and Laura ( Bateman) Cox, of Salem, New Jersey, who is a graduate of the South Jersey Institute. They have one child, Laura Eliza- beth, born in Cape May City,-August 13, 1905.
John B. Slack, son of Wesley SLACK Hunt and Annie (Langstaff) Slack, was ; born in Paducah, Kentucky, November 4, 1873. His primary and preparatory education was obtained in the Mount Holly Academy, Mount Holly, New Jersey. In the fall of 1891 he entered Lehigh University for a four years scientific course,
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which he completed in 1895, graduating with the degree of E. E. Deciding upon the pro- fession of law, he returned to Mount Holly where he entered the law office of Judge Charles E. Hendrickson. In 1899 Mr. Slack was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an at- torney, and in 1902 was admitted a counsellor. Immediately upon receiving his credentials Mr. Slack located in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and entered upon the active practice of his pro- fession. In political faith he is Republican. He is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension of Atlantic City and secretary of the parish. He is a member of the New Jersey State and Atlantic County Bar Asso- ciations, and the Atlantic City Country Club.
John B. Slack married, October 23, 1901, Maud Walker Wetherill, daughter of William Delaney and Louise (Stratton ) Wetherill. Mr. and Mrs. Slack are the parents of John Blake Jr., born February 22, 1903, and Louise Weth- erill, September 30, 1908. Mrs. Slack is a member of the Philadelphia Wetherill family and a lineal descendant of Colonel Isaac Sharp (son of Anthony Sharp, of Dublin, Ireland), the colonial statesman and soldier. Colonel Isaac Sharp was one of the proprietors of council of West Jersey (the governor's council) ; surrogate of Salem county, New Jersey, and later president judge of the same county, and a member of the provincial New Jersey general assembly. Through another line she descends from John Price, a soldier of the revolution. Her father was the eldest son of Robert and Phoebe (Delaney) Wetherill, Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where William D. was born December 16, 1845. He died in Philadelphia, February 18, 1887. He was a member of the Pennsylvania bar to which he was ad- mitted June 3, 1868. He was a lawyer of high standing and a member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. William D. Wetherill married Louise Stratton, daughter of John Stratton, of Mount Holly, New Jersey, who bore him John Stratton, who died in infancy, and Maud Walker, who became Mrs. John B. Slack.
This name has been prominent BISSELL among the early settlers of most of the English Colonies, fam- ilies, and has had many distinguished repre- sentatives in the professions of medicine, law and the ministry, as well as private citizens who have been of great service in the growth and development of the American nation.
There have been soldiers of this name in all the important wars since the earliest 'settle- ment. The name is found in the early records of the Carolinas, where they were honorably known for many generations.
(I) William Rombough Bissell was born in 18II, at Wilmington, North Carolina, and after a preliminary education attended a south- ern military academy. Mr. Bissell was one of those who emigrated to California at the time of the discovery of gold, and he acquired and developed a mine in that state, but later returned to the east, taking up his residence in Maryland, where he became a successful farmer. At the time of the breaking out of the civil war, his sympathies being naturally all with the interests of his native state and the southland, he enlisted in Company A of the Eighth Virginia Volunteer Confederate Regi- ment, of which he was made captain. He served with great bravery until the battle of Gettysburg, and in the famous fight of the third day, which turned the tide of battle, and so greatly affected the outcome of the struggle, he was killed; in this advance he was a part of the famous Pickett's division (Gar- nett's brigade) so vividly described in every history of the famous battle. Mr. Bissell mar- ried Margaret, daughter of Captain John Adams Webster, of the United States revenue service. (See Webster, VII.) Their chil- dren were: I. Elizabeth, married Dr. William S. Richardson, of Harford county, Maryland. 2. Nancy, married Dr. Joseph S. Baldwin, of Freeland, Maryland. 3. Virginia, married John Holland, of Belair, Maryland. 4. Will- iam Thomas. 5. Josephine D., lives in Balti- more, Maryland, and is unmarried. 6. Joseph Spalding, a farmer, living in Harford county, Maryland. 7. Mary Jarrett, widow of John N. Wilkerson, of Norfolk, Virginia. The fol- lowing is the inscription on the tombstone of William R. Bissell in the Churchville Presby- terian cemetery, Harford county, Maryland : "In memory of our beloved Father, William R. Bissell, who fell at the battle of Gettysburg on the 3rd of July and died of his wounds on the 17th of July, 1863, in the 53rd year of his age." "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
(II) William Thomas, eldest son of Will- iam Rombough and Margaret (Webster) Bis- sell, was born October 31, 1848, in Harford county, Maryland, where his father carried on a farm. He received his education at the pub- lic schools of Belair and the Harford Acad- emy, after which he learned the art of print-
W. J. Bull
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ing in the office of the Aegis & Intelligencer, of Belair, and then spent eight years in the employ of Allen, Lane & Scott, a firm of printers, located at Philadelphia. He subse- quently removed to Camden, New Jersey, where he became interested in real estate, and in 1894 transferred his interests to eastern Pennsylvania, and purchased land which he developed and made into town lots. His next enterprise was developing a tract of land in New Jersey, which now comprises the town of Alpha, containing three or four thousand inhabitants. He has met with great success in all his real estate dealings, and has been in- strumental in developing and settling many tracts of land, among them suburbs of Allen- town, York, the beautiful town of Paxtonia, near Harrisburg, and a tract on the Columbia Turnpike near Lancaster, all in Pennsylvania, also a tract near Dover, New Jersey. At the present time ( 1909) Mr. Bissell is engaged in developing and settling a piece of land at Mount Holly, New Jersey. He makes his home at Camden, New Jersey, where he has a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and where he is affiliated with several organ- izations. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and also of the following fraternal and social orders : Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Knights of the Golden Eagle, Fraternal Order of Eagles; Camden Com- mandery, No. 34, Patriotic Order Sons of America; the Patriotic Order of America. In political views he is an Independent. He is recognized as a man of business acumen and good sense, and in all his dealings is upright and honorable.
He married Georgia Ida, daughter of John W. Wilson, a lumber merchant of Baltimore ; five children : 1. Lillie May, married Nicholas Everly, of Bloomsbury, New Jersey; they have one child, Ida May. 2. Margaret Web- ster, married John M. Hunt; they had seven children: Pearl Webster, William Ridgely, Georgia Esther, Bessie May, Herbert, Blanch Ethel, John Ralph. 3. William R., married Mrs. Kerziah Terry, of Pennsylvania ; he died in 1907. 4. Emma J., married William E. Duffner, who died July 4, 1908; they had no children, they are both deceased. 5. Wilson Cleveland, died unmarried in 1908.
(The Webster Line).
This name has been borne in our country by men who had few equals in eloquence and scholarship. Among the prominent men of this name are to be found John Webster, who ii-17
became governor of Connecticut, as well as Daniel the orator and Noah the lexicographer. The family here described has been repre- sented in Virginia records almost since the first settlement there, and from it have sprung many men who have been a credit to their name and country.
(I) John Webster's name appears first in the Virginia Colonial Records in the will of one William Batts, July 18, 1632; in 1639, by act of assembly, John Webster is named as one of the viewers of tobacco crops for Acco- mac county, and an inventory of the estate of John Webster, deceased, was taken in court, August 18, 1650. He had a son John.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Webster, was perhaps born in England, and was living on Savages Neck, Northampton county, Vir- ginia, before 1630, with his father; later he removed to Hovekills, now Lewes, Delaware, where before 1680 he was petitioner for a court for the county of St. James. He had a son John.
(III) John (3), son of John (2) Webster, was born in 1667, in Northampton county, Virginia, and died in 1753. He removed from Hovekills, Delaware, to Maryland, where in 1733 he lived, near the town of Joppa. The boundary between Maryland and Pennsylva- nia was frequently in dispute, and in 1740 John Webster testified on the question before the commission from the two states which met at Joppa, then in Baltimore county, now in Harford county. By his first wife, Hannah, he had several chil- dren, among them Michael and Isaac. His wife was probably a sister of Isaac Butter- worth, who in his will of May, 1728, men- tions his nephews, Michael and Isaac, sons of John Webster. John Webster married (second) March 17, 1729-30, at Palapsco. Sarah Giles, and (third) in February, 1735, Mary, widow of John Talbott, of West River, Maryland.
(IV) Isaac, son of John (3) and Hannah Webster, was born about 1700, probably in Maryland, and died October II, 1759. He married, November 22, 1722, Margaret Lee, who died in 1783, and they had thir- teen children, the youngest of whom was Samuel.
(V) Samuel, youngest son of Isaac and Margaret (Lee) Webster, was born in 1746, died December 13, 1817. He married, in March, 1769, Margaret Adams, of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, and of their twelve chil- dren John Adams was the tenth.
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