USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 64
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STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
DOBBINS The family of Dobbins has been known in this state since the times of the colony, and is said to have been planted on this side of the Atlantic ocean by three immigrant brothers who came over from Belfast, Ireland. Two of these brothers were Samuel and Micajah, the baptismal name of the other having been for- gotten.
(I) Samuel Dobbins, who is thought to have been a grandson of one of the three immigrant brothers above mentioned, is the earliest ances- tor of the family of whom there appears to be any definite account. He was a farmer and lived in the vicinity of Vincentown, New Jer- sey. He married (first) Elizabeth Scroggy, who bore him five children ; married ( second ) Sarah Brock, and by her had four children. Children : Samuel A., born 1814 (was sheriff of Burlington county two terms, member of the assembly four terms, and member of con- gress two terms), Mary, Sarah, Anna Maria, Isaac, Ambrose Ellis, Joseph, Margaret and James.
(II) Ambrose Ellis, son of Samuel and Sarah (Brock) Dobbins, was born in South- ampton township, Burlington county, New Jersey, January 28, 1822, died September 30, 1888. He was a farmer, a man of consider- able prominence in township affairs and served as school trustee. He was a Master Mason, and attended services at the Methodist Epis- copal church. Mr. Dobbins married (first) January 23, 1845, Jerusha Ann, daughter of Isaiah P. and Mary Estell Goldy, born South- ampton township, September 13, 1827. died April 14, 1860, leaving one child; married (second) March 3, 1861, Sarah M. Joyce ..
(III) Albert N., son of Ambrose Ellis and Jerusha Ann (Goldy) Dobbins, was born in Southampton township, Burlington county, Oc- tober 27, 1845. He received his education in the district school at Vincentown, and later entered the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating in 1866, and for the next five years worked as clerk in pharmacy. In 1871 he started in business for himself at Vincentown. remained there one year, then located at Colum- bus and carried on a general drug business in that town until 1895, when he sold out. Since that time he has been engaged in a general fire insurance business. Mr. Dobbins is a director of the Mt. Holly National Bank and president of the Columbus Water Company. He is a member of Masonic Lodge, No. 4, of Tucker- ton, New Jersey. He has served as township collector and member of the township com
mittee. In 1871 he married Kate L., daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Van Zant) Lane, of Port Republic, New Jersey, the former a son of James B. Lane, of Union county, New Jer- sey, and the latter a daughter of Nicholas and Mercy (Moore) Van Zant. Nicholas Van Zant was born November 9, 1788, died March 6, 1879. Kate L. Dobbins is an active member of the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church, of Columbus, New Jersey, and an earnest worker in the temperance cause, having served at dif- ferent periods as president and secretary of the local association of Women's Christian Temperance Union, and is now the district superintendent of the department of soldiers and sailors.
GRAHAM The surname Graham is one of far more than ordinary dis- tinction in Scotland, and a name of great antiquity in that country as well as in England and Ireland. In ancient times the clan Graham bore a chivalrous and highly important part in Scottish history. Its tradi- tional origin too is of the highest antiquity, the ducal family of Montrose tracing descent from the fifth century ; and on account of its gal- lantry in the many early wars the clansmen of Graham acquired the name of the "gallant Graemes." It is not the purpose of this narra- tive, however, to enter upon a detailed history of this famous clan or make more than pass- ing allusion to any of its distinguished members.
(I) John Graham, immigrant, immediate progenitor of the particular family intended to be treated in these annals, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and might have claimed descent from the ancient clan to which passing allusion is made in the preceding paragraph. He was a young man when he came to Amer- ica, but at that time had a wife and one or more children, and they accompanied him on the voyage to this country. He settled in Paterson and was a mason by trade, an indus- trious, hard-working and honest man. The baptismal name of his wife was Elizabeth, but her family name is not known. She bore. him three children: Robert; John, see forward ; Elizabeth, married Thomas Heathcote, of Paterson.
(II) John (2). son of John (I) and Eliza- beth Graham, was born in Edinburgh, Scot- land, April 27, 1823. He came to this country with his parents when he was a small child, and as a boy attended the public schools of the city, but was quite young when he laid aside his books and started out to make his own
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way in life. His principal occupation was that of drover, cattle dealer and butcher, and he proved a successful business man, although he died in the very prime of his life, April 27, 1863, at the age of forty years. He is re- membered as an energetic man, possessed of good business capacity and understanding, both of which were qualities that counted for much in advancing the welfare of his adopted city in many respects. For several years he was a member of the board of education, and while the incumbent of that office was chiefly instru- mental in securing the erection of what then was the largest school building in the city and one which would compare favorable with many similar structures of more modern construc- tion. He married, September 30, 1844, Mary Jane, born June 25, 1824, daughter of Rich- ard and Harriet Mead, of Bloomingdale, New Jersey. She bore him four children, only one of whom, Wallace Graham, grew to maturity. Mary Jane (Mead) Graham married (second) Hiram Gould ; she died May 29, 1903.
(III) Wallace, son and only surviving child of John (2) and Mary Jane (Mead) Graham, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, March 27, 1848. He received his education in the public schools of that city, and after leaving school learned the trade of carpenter and joiner and afterward worked as a journeyman until 1874, then became a ship carpenter in the service of a company whose boats were employed in pas- senger and freight transportation between New York and the West Indies. He contin- ued in the employ of that company until 1882, then returned to Paterson and went into the undertaking establishment conducted by Hiram Gould, his stepfather. Subsequently Mr. Gould and Wallace Graham became partners in the funeral and undertaking business, which relation was maintained until the death of the senior partner in 1904. Since that time Mr. Graham has conducted the business alone. He is a member of Benevolent Lodge, No. 45, Free and Accepted Masons. He married Bertha Melina Harris, born August 15, 1853, adopted daughter of Joseph Hodgman. Chil- dren: I. Mary Margaret, born March 22, 1881; married, October 21, 1902, Winfred Zabriskie ; no issue. 2. and 3. Wallace Alvin and Walter Hiram, twins, born December 30, 1885.
LARTER
The Larter family of New Jer- sey was founded by Robert, son of Robert and Ann Larter. He
was born August 30, 1803, at Witton, near North Walsham, county of Norfolk, England.
In 1837 with his wife and several small chil- dren he came to America, settling in the city of Newark. November 5, 1825, Robert Larter married at North Walsham, England, Jane, daughter of Thomas and Mary Racey. She was born at Keynsham, Somersetshire, Eng- land, February 14, 1804. Children : Eleanor, born March 6, 1827; Jane, April 7, 1829; Robert, November 2, 1831 ; Ann, September 8, 1834; Thomas, April 20, 1836; William, April 14, 1838; John Alfred, September 2, 1840; George Ezra, March 28, 1843; Frederick Henry, referred to below.
Frederick Henry, youngest child of Robert and Jane ( Racey) Larter, was born in New- ark, New Jersey, April 19, 1846, and is now living in that city. For his early education he was sent to the Newark public schools, and after graduating in 1862 he took a position in the press room of the Newark Daily Adver- tiser, the leading newspaper publication of the city of Newark at that period, remaining in this position for five years. In 1867 he accepted a position as salesman with Osborn, Board- man & Townsend, at that period one of the most prominent retail jewelry concerns of New York City. Mr. Larter gained here the exper- ience of which he made so great a use later in his successful career as one of the leading manufacturing jewelers of Newark. In 1870 he began business for himself by buying an interest in the then existing firm of H. Elcox & Company, eventually becoming the head of the concern, and afterward associating with himself his two sons, Henry C. and Halsey M., under the firm name of Larter, Elcox & Company, and in the year 1905 a change of the name being made to Larter & Sons, the title under which it is at present doing business. Mr. Larter is a Republican, but his tastes, although he has always been a staunch sup- porter of his party, have lain more in the direction of his social and business life than in the affairs of politics. Mr. Larter's tastes are domestic ; he prefers his home and the com- panionship of his friends to club life. He is however an active and prominent member in a number of organizations which relate to his business and the advancement and promotion of the interests of the famous industry of Newark with which he has been so long con- nected. Among these associations should be mentioned the Jewelers' Board of Trade, the Drug and Chemical Club of New York, the Newark Board of Trade, the Jewelers' Safety Fund Society, the Jewelers' Protective Union and the Wednesday Club of Newark.
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May 19, 1869, Frederick Henry Larter mar- ried Martha, daughter of Simon Passmore, of Newark. Her death which occurred in Janu- ary, 1909, was a source of great grief to her family and friends. Children: I. Henry Clif- ton, married Sussanna D. Ekings, of Pater- son, they having three children, Elizabeth J., Martha and Henry Clifton Jr. 2. Halsey Meeker, married Elizabeth Monroe, daughter of Francis Asbury Wilkinson; they have three children, Charlotte, Monroe and Elizabeth. 3. Mary Lorinda, married William Francis Price ; they have one child, Virginia. 4. Jes- sie Eloise. 5. Florence Fredericka. 6. Warren Rogers.
SCHENCK The ancestry of the Schenck family has been traced with definiteness to a very early mediaeval period. It is said to have derived its name from Edgar De Schenken, who was seneschal to the Emperor Charlemagne, and who about 778 A. D. received from that sov- ereign a title of nobility and coat-of-arms.
The genealogical records of the line from which the New Jersey Schencks are descended begin with Colve de Witte, founder of the house of Schenck, barons of Tautenberg, who was killed in battle with the Danes in 878 or 880. About 1234 a cadet of the Tautenberg line, Christianus Schenck, established the family of Schenck van Nydeck (or van Nydeg- gen). This Christianus resided in the famous castle of Nydeggen, was cupbearer to the Count van Jülich (1230-33), and had other distin- guished offices. His descendants, the Barons Schenck van Nydeck, were also lords of Affer- den, Blyenbeck and Walbeck, and later of Arssen, Velden, etc .- their estates being in the Netherlands near the German border. Armo- rial bearings of the Schencks of Nydeck- Arms, sable, a lion rampant or, langued et armè gules and azure. Crest, out of a coronet or, a demi-lion rampant or, langued et armè gules and azure.
In the sixteenth century a distinguished head of the house of Schenck van Nydeck was Mar- tin Schenck van Nydeck, 1543-89, who was field-marshal to the Prince of Cologne, was knighted in 1586, and fell in battle, August II, 1589. Motley, in his "History of the United Netherlands," refers to him as Sir Martin Schenck, and incidentally does him injustice, intimating that he held the estates by question- able title. It was fully established, after a litigation celebrated in those times (wherein the Pope and the Emperor figured), that Sir
Martin was the legitimate and rightful heir of his ancestor, Derick Schenck van Nydeck, lord of Blyenbeck, Afferden, Walbeck, etc., who married Alheit Cüsters of Arssen. Of near kin to Sir Martin and, like him, a descendant of Derick, was the founder of the American branch here considered. This founder was
(I) Johannes Schenck van Nydeck, born in Holland, September 19, 1650. He emigrated from Middleburg, in that country, about 1675, settled in Bushwick, Long Island (now a por- tion of Brooklyn), and died there on the 5th of February, 1748. He was doubtless a man of substantial means. According to a deed on file in the office of the secretary of state of New Jersey, he purchased, October II, 1703, six hundred and forty arces described as "lying between two tracts of John Inians, deceased. This property is said to have been within the limits of the present city of New Brunswick, and to have been occupied by some of the grandsons of Johannes. He married Mag- dalena, daughter of Hendrick and Maria de Haes.
(II) Johannes Schenck, son of Johannes Schenck Van Nydeck, was born April 30, 1691, lived at Bushwick, Long Island, and died April I, 1729. He married Maria Lott, of Flatbush, Long Island.
(III) Hendrick, son of Johannes Schenck, was born July 15, 1717, died January 1, 1767. Removing to New Jersey, he built the mill on the west side of Millstone river, Somerset county, which has since been known as the Blackstone Mill. He married Magdalena van Liew. Children: I. John H., died in Free- hold, New Jersey, March 12, 1846. He was colonel of a regiment personally raised and equipped by him, which he commanded throughout the revolutionary war. Married (first) Sarah Denton; (second) Mrs. Jane Conover (neé Schenck). 2. Henry H., of Neshanic ; physician and surgeon ; captain of a troop of light horse in the revolutionary war. Married Nelly Hardenbergh, daughter of Rev. Dr. Jacob H. Hardenbergh, and had two sons. 3. Mary, married Dr. Lawrence Van Derveer. 4. Catherine, married Elias Van Derveer. 5. Gertrude, married General Frederick Freling- huysen. They were the parents of the distin- guished Theodore Frelinghuysen, LL. D., and grandparents of the latter's nephew, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, secretary of state of the United States. 6. Letitia, married Judge Israel Harris. 7. Magdalena, married Dr. Peter J. Stryker, vice-president of the legislative coun- cil of New Jersey. 8. Abram, of whom below:
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STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
(IV) Abram, youngest child of Hendrick Schenck, was born March 3, 1749. He resided in Somerset county and during the revolution served in the troop of light horse which was commanded by his brother, Colonel Henry H. Schenck. He married Eva Van Beuren, daugh- ter of Dr. Abraham Van Beuren, of Millstone.
(V) Henry Harris, son of Abram Schenck, was born January 12, 1788, died March 22, 1851. He removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he was a highly respected citi- zen. For many years he was one of the elders of the First Reformed Church of that com- munity. He married, November 19, 1808, Eva Voorhees, daughter of Martinus and Maria (De Camp) Voorhees, and a descendant of Steven Coerte van Voorhees, who came to New Netherland in the ship "Bonte Cou" in 1660. She was born July 9, 1785, died March 6, 1869. Children : I. Elizabeth Stothoff, born November 21, 1809, died October, 1881. Mar- ried Edward Manning. 2. Catherine Ann, born January 25, 1814, died November 22, 1836. 3. William Van Beuren, born Novem- ber 8, 1816, married Mercy A., daughter of Rev. Daniel D. Lewis. 4. Abraham Voorhees, of whom below.
(VI) Abraham Voorhees, youngest child of Henry Harris Schenck, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, October 12, 1821. He received a public school education in that city, studied law with Henry V. Speer, was admitted to the bar as attorney in November, 1843, and was licensed as counsellor in Janu- ary, 1847. From the age of twenty-two until his death-a period of nearly sixty years-he was engaged in the active practice of his pro- fession in New Brunswick. As a lawyer he enjoyed a wide reputation for learning and ability, and he was identified with many of the most important litigations both in the state and federal courts, some of the cases in which he appeared being of historic character for the principles of law which they established. In his professional capacity he was counsel for the city and other public bodies, as well as numerous corporations. Strongly interested in public affairs, Mr. Schenck was for many years a political leader, and he occupied several of the principal offices for his municipality and county. He was mayor of New Brunswick in 1855-56, prosecutor of the pleas of Middlesex county in 1872-77, and member of the state senate of New Jersey (elected on the Repub- lican ticket over James Neilson) in 1883-85. During his service in the senate he was one of a special committee (1884) which reported the
present important law relating to the taxation of railroad and canal property, and in the session of 1885 he was president of that body. At the end of his term he declined a renomina- tion. As a citizen he exercised an influence in the community, and was regarded with a de- gree of confidence and esteem, not surpassed by any other of his times. He was one of the vice-presidents of the Holland Society and a prominent member of the New Jersey Society of Sons of the American Revolution. He died at his residence, "Redcliffe," Highland Park, Raritan township, Middlesex county, April 28, 1902.
He married (first) February 12, 1863, Emily Wines Barker, daughter of Abraham and Hen- rietta (Wines) Barker. She was born May 22, 1838, died June 20, 1870. Children : I. Emily Barker, born March 8, 1867. 2. War- ren Redcliffe, born June 7, 1870. He was educated at the Rutgers Preparatory School and Rutgers College, graduating from the latter institution with high honors in 1890, and three years later receiving the degree of Master of Arts. After pursuing legal studies with his father he was admitted to the bar ( 1893), and he has since practiced his profession in New Brunswick. Married, June 9, 1897, Sophie Kirkpatrick Smith, daughter of David Lowber Smith (a prominent citizen of New York), and Sophia Kirkpatrick (sister of the late Judge Andrew Kirkpatrick, of Newark). Chil- dren: i. Henrietta Barker Schenck, born Feb- ruary 4, 1899; ii. Gertrude Estelle Schenck, died in infancy.
Abraham Voorhees Schenck married (sec- ond) October 17, 1872, Sarah Estelle Barker (born October 29, 1849), daughter of Abra- ham and Henrietta ( Wines) Barker, who sur- vives him. Children: 3. Grace Wines, born December 14, 1873, married, June 23, 1907, Robert Kitching Painter. They reside at Ben- son Mines, New York. 4. Edith Mercer, born December II, 1879. 5. Arthur Van Voorhees, born November 25, 1883. He is a graduate of the Rutgers Preparatory School and Rutgers College (1905, M. A., 1908), and also of the New York Law School (LL. B., 1908). Ad- mitted to the New Jersey bar in June, 1908, he has since then been pursuing professional prac- tice in New Brunswick.
Among the strong, vigor- CARPENTER ous characters who figured conspicuously in the set- tlement of Philadelphia and surrounding coun- try was Samuel Carpenter, who came from the
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island of Barbadoes shortly after the arrival of Penn himself. He was the son of John Carpenter, of Horsham, Sussex county, Eng- land, and sprang from a line of landholders long established in that country. A successful merchant of Barbadoes and the Quaker city, he crowned a long prominent and useful pub- lic career by long service as the treasurer of the Province of Pennsylvania, and died leav- ing a long line of distinguished descendants to represent him to posterity.
(I) Joshua Carpenter, his brother, is first heard of July 5, 1686, when the minutes of the provincial council record "The Petition of Joshua Carpenter was Read, Requesting a Lycense to Keep an Ordinary in his Brother Samll Carpenter's house on ye Wharfe. Ordered a Lycense for three months." This was the first public house in Philadelphia to be known as a "coffee house." It was on the east side of Front street, above Walnut, and was probably the building referred to by Robert Turner in his letter of August 3, 1685 : "Samuel Carpenter has built another house by his." It became a noted resort in those early days, where ship captains, merchants and other citi- zens gathered to discuss the news of the day. In addition to his coffee house, Joshua Car- penter established a brewery and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Like his famous brother, he acquired considerable wealth and was assessed in 1693 at a valuation of f1000. May 18, 1693, he was commissioned a justice for Philadelphia county ; May 17, 1699, he was appointed one of the regulators of the streets and water courses; and when Penn promul- gated his charter to the city of Philadelphia, October 25, 1701, Joshua Carpenter was placed at the head of the list of eight aldermen. He declined the appointment at that time, but three years later was chosen to the same posi- tion by the common council. October 3, 1704, the date of this election, James Logan, in a letter to William Penn, says: "They have also chosen Joshua Carpenter again into their corporation, who was the first alderman nomi- nated by thee in the charter ; but, for a vow or oath he had made never to serve under thee again, declined acting yet nor has, it seems, been prevailed upon. He is a great enemy of the militia, and to paying thy tax ; but I know not whether that may be any part of his merit. He is of himself really a good man. As a mat- ter of fact Joshua Carpenter had not been prevailed upon," but October 2, 1705, he was admitted freeman, and again elected to the
common council. Six days later he appeared and qualified. In 1705 he was instructed by the council to procure a public burial ground for the interment of strangers dying in the city, and January 13, 1706, he and Alderman Griffith Jones reported they had procured the same. This "Strangers' burying ground" was the present Washington Square, which was used for burial purposes for a century, hun- dreds of interments being made at different times, particularly during the various yellow fever and smallpox epidemics of the eighteenth century, and also during the revolutionary war. Carpenter enclosed in the centre of the ground a small plot which he reserved for the use of his own family, and here, July 24, 1722, he was buried, his wife Elizabeth being inter- red in the same plot October 30, 1729.
Unlike his brother Samuel, who was a Friend, Joshua Carpenter was one of the earliest and most active members of Christ Church, purchasing the lot on which the church stands in his own name and then exe- cuting a declaration that he held it in trust for the sole use and benefit of that corporation, and to this day the legal title remains in the representatives of Joshua Carpenter, trustee, etc. His house, especially in later years, was fully as famous a place as the "slate roof house" of his brother Samuel, and was situ- ated on Chestnut street, between Sixth and Seventh, being in its day considered almost a country place so far was it "out of town." The grounds were beautifully laid out, and fruit trees and shrubbery for a long time attracted visitors. From 1738 to 1747 it was the residence of Governor George Thomas ; later Dr. Thomas Graeme, the "Councillor," and his celebrated daughter, Elizabeth Fergu- son, lived there, whence the building is often spoken of by local historians as Graeme Hall. Another dweller in the residence who made a number of material additions and alterations in its structure was John Dickinson. Gerard, the first French minister to this country, lived there as did also his successor, the Chevalier de la Luzerne. From 1798 to 1826 it was the home of Chief Justice William Tilghman, and in the last year mentioned it was razed and the Philadelphia Arcade built in its place.
Joshua and Elizabeth Carpenter had several children, but the names of all of them have not been preserved. They were, so far as known: I. Samuel, a vestryman of Christ church, 1718- 21, died February, 1736; married, 1719, Mary, daughter of Jasper and Catharine (Andelands)
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Yeates, born December 4, 1701, died Novem- ber 6, 1758. They had eight children. 2. Name unknown, referred to below.
(II) The statement has been made that there are now living no descendants in the male line of Joshua Carpenter, but a constant tradition traceable as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, and with no oppos- ing evidence from any document that has as yet come to light, says that one of the sons of Joshua Carpenter went down and settled in Delaware, and that one of his children, Will- iam, who is referred to below, moved up into Salem county, in which and the neighboring counties his descendants are to be found to- day. A bit of confirmatory circumstantial evi- dence is found in the fact that Joshua Car- penter bought from Fenwick's executors con- siderable land in the region where his reputed grandson afterwards settled, only a part of which he disposed of by deed.
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