USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume IV > Part 14
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was sold to a syndicate of English capitalists, Mr. White being continued by them as counsel for the company.
While he gained a position as an eminent jurist, it was probably in his home life that the strongest characteristics of Mr. White showed forth. He was companionable, genial, and thoroughly devoted to his family, and held friendship inviolable. In 1878 he married Miss Annie Hull McLean, daughter of ex- Judge A. C. McLean, of Freehold, and they had one daughter, Margaretta. Socially Mr. White was connected with the Masonic Lodge of Red Bank, and was a prominent representa- tive of Arrowsmith Post, No. 61, G. A. R., which he served as commander, and was com- mander of the department of New Jersey in 1895-96. He was deeply interested in the order, and was widely known among the wear- ers of the blue in the state. In 1884 he took up his abode in Red Bank, where he had previ- ously built a fine residence, and from that time forward was an active factor in promoting those interests which were for the benefit and upbuilding of the city. The private school on Leroy place, known as the Shrewsbury Acad- einy, was owned by him. It was intended that a stock company should build this, and it was begun with this understanding, but the project fell through and the work was then carried forward to completion through the unaided efforts of Mr. White, who was ever a firm friend of the cause of education. The only club to which he ever belonged was the Union League Club of New Jersey, but he and his wife were prominently connected with the Presbyterian church of Red Bank. For many years he served as a member and president of its board of trustees.
In politics he was a stalwart Republican from the time of his majority. He labored for the interests of Lincoln in the campaigns of 1860 and 1864, even though he had not attain- ed the right of franchise, and from that time until his death never failed to give his support to the leading candidates of the party in whose principles he so firmly believed. In 1878 he was appointed assistant collector of the port of New York, which position he occupied for many years, and later was appointed United States district attorney, and administrated the affairs of that office with vigor and ability, until August, 1894, when he was succeeded by a.Dem- ocrat. In addition to his manifold public and private interests already mentioned, he was a director of the Hudson County National Bank,
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vice-president of the Navesink National Bank, and president of the Red Bank Board of Trade during the period of its existence.
Henry Simmons White passed away Sep- tember 30, 1901, after a three weeks' illness of typhoid fever, and thus ended a most up- right and useful career. Politically and pro- fessionally his name was a synonym for un- compromising integrity. In his private and social life he manifested the same engaging qualities which made him popular in public circles. Charitable and kindly, he gave liber- ally of his time and means, yet always unosten- tatiously, to those whom he could aid in period of distress or need. He is held in grateful remembrance by many, while his friends and family cherish his spotless record as a price- less heritage.
PITNEY The earliest known home of the Pitney family is the very small village and parish of Pitney, lying between Langport and Somerton, near to the historic battlefield of Sedgemoor, in coun- ty Somerset, England, and from the family settler here. and giving its name to the village comes the branch which removed to London and from which the founder of the family in America descended.
(I) James Pitney, who is said to have been a manufacturer of buttons on London Bridge, which, as the old prints of it show, was lined with shops on both sides of the roadway, emi- grated to America some time before 1722. He settled first at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and later between Liberty Corner and Basking Ridge, Somerset county, New Jersey, where he followed the occupation of a farmer. His wife's name is unknown, but the supposition is that it was Smythe, and that she was a cou- sin of General William Alexander, known as Lord Sterling. Children: Benjamin, referred to below; Jonathan, had a son Shubel, who married, December 31, 1756, Charity Stiles ; James, referred to below ; John, married Janu- ary 2, 1755, Sarah Leonard.
(II) Benjamin, eldest son of James Pitney, was born near Liberty Corner, Somerset coun- ty, New Jersey. He married, November 28, 1751, Abigail, daughter of Ebenezer and Abi- gail (Alden) Byram, and widow of Daniel Thompson. Among their children was Sarah, referred to below.
(III) Sarah, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail (Byram-Thompson) Pitney, was born in Mendham township, Morris county, New Jersey, July 15, 1764. She married Mahlon,
son of James and Desire ( Thompson) Pitney.
(II) James (2), son of James (1) Pitney, was born near Liberty Corner, Somerset coun- ty, New Jersey, 1722. With his brothers, Ben- jamin and Jonathan, he settled in Mendham township, Morris county, where they owned large farms near to one another. He married, November 28, 1751, Desire, daughter of Jo- seph and Lydia Thompson, of Mendham. Chil- dren : James, married, December 4, 1780, Eliz- abeth Carmichael; Joseph Thompson, born 1754, died 1777, surgeon in the revolution ; Samuel, born 1757 ; Mahlon, referred to below ; Aaron, born 1763, physician, ancestor of Sen- ator Kean.
(III) Mahlon, son of James and Desire ( Thompson) Pitney, was born in Mend- ham township, Morris county, New Jersey, September 18, 1759. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war. He married his cousin Sarah, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail (Byram-Thompson) Pitney, aforementioned. Children: 1. Joseph Thompson, born Novem- ber 18, 1786, died August 8, 1855; he was a practicing physician and surgeon, and lived and practiced at Auburn, New York. 2. Aaron, born August 12, 1793; was a physician and surgeon. 3. Mahlon, referred to below. 4. Samuel, born December 30, 1797; married a Crater. 5. Elizabeth, married a Mr. Beers, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
(IV) Mahlon (2), son of Mahlon (1) and Sarah (Pitney ) Pitney, was born in Mendham township, Morris county, New Jersey, August 7. 1795. He married Lucetta Cooper, whose father was a soldier in the revolutionary war. and whose mother was a Thompson and a first cousin of the children of James (2) and Desire (Thompson) Pitney. Children : Henry Cooper, referred to below ; also three daughters.
(V) Henry Cooper, son of Mahlon (2) and Lucetta (Cooper) Pitney, was born in Mend- ham township, Morris county, New Jersey, January 19, 1827, and is now living in Morris- town, New Jersey. His birthplace was the ancestral farm which has come to him by direct descent from his great-grandfather, James Pitney. For his early education he was at first put under the charge of private tutors in his father's home, and was afterwards sent to the school of Ezra Fairchild in Mendham, later in Plainfield, New Jersey, where he was a schoolmate of the celebrated Presbyterian divine, Theodore Cuyler, and of the famous lawyer, William Fullerton. When he attain- ed the age of fifteen he was taken from school on account of his delicate health and kept at
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home on his father's farm until he was nine- teen years old. In 1846 he entered the junior class of Princeton College, where he took his A. B. degree in the regular course, with the class of 1848, receiving later his A. M. degree, and in 1891 having conferred upon him his LL. D. degree. After graduation he at once began the study of law at Morristown with Hon. Ira C. Whitehead, ex-judge of the su- preme court of New Jersey, and was admitted to the New Jersey bar as attorney in 1851 and as counsellor in 1854. He then opened his office in Morristown and practiced law there until April, 1889, when he was appointed vice- chancellor of New Jersey, an office which he held continuously until his resignation, April 8, 1907. The amount of legal and judicial work done by Vice-Chancellor Pitney was enough to have required the best energies of most men for their entire time, but not only was he able to accomplish this but he was also able to do many other things which were worth while. He was one of the first ten advisory masters in chancery appointed by the late Chan- cellor Runyon in pursuance of a statue passed for that purpose. Vice-Chancellor Pitney car- ried to the office many qualifications for the proper performance of the duties of his im- portant position. . His long experience in the trials of causes enabled him to sift and analyse the testimony of witnesses and to group to- gether the salient points in the case. His pro- found knowledge of legal principles especially f.tted him to apply those principles to the work at hand; while his alertness of mind forecast the end of an argument from its very begin- ning, and his keen perception of the difference between minute shades of right and wrong and his ability to recognize and estimate at their proper value distinctions within differ- ences gave him a remarkable power of logical discrimination which resulted in the famous equitableness of his decisions. He was suc- ceeded by Vice-Chancellor Howell.
About 1865 Vice-Chancellor Pitney was one of the organizers of the present National Iron Bank, became at that time a director and one of its largest stockholders, and since 1896 has been its president. In 1870, in company with a number of associates, he bought the aqueduct property of Morristown with all its rights, and provided that city with an abundant sup- ply of pure spring water. About 1870 he as- sisted in starting the Morris County Savings Bank, and from the beginning has been one of its managers. He was for many years a member of the board of trustees of the First
Presbyterian Church of Morristown, and in that capacity engaged in many enterprises which occupied considerable of his time. He still, however, had opportunity for literary work and was withal an omnivorous reader. At present he says his principal occupation is farming the old Pitney farm at Mendham, which he inherited from his father. When Vice-Chancellor Pitney was about to retire at the age of eighty years, the bench and bar of New Jersey gave a dinner in his honor on his. birthday, January 19, 1907, at the Waldorf- Astoria, and at this dinner Chancellor William J. Magie presided, and among the guests in- cluded were Hon. Alton B. Parker, Hon. John M. Dillon, Hon. Hampton L. Carson, Hon. John L. Cadwalader, and others, all of whom united heartily in their public expression of esteem for the veteran vice-chancellor.
Vice-Chancellor Pitney married Sarah Louisa, daughter of Oliver Halsted, of New York, a jerseyman by birth, belonging to the old Eliz- abeth branch of the family and a cousin of Caleb Ogden Halsted, whose wife, Caroline Louise Pitney, was a daughter of Dr. Aaron Pitney, a niece of Mahlon Pitney, referred to above, and grandmother of Senator John Kean, of New Jersey, a brother of Hamilton Fish Kean. Children : I. Sarah Halstead; mar- ried, October 12, 1875, Finley A. Johnson. 2. Henry Cooper, referred to below. 3. Mahlon, a sketch of whom follows this. 4. John Oliver. see forward. 5. Catherine James, born April 5, 1862 ; married George Richstein Van Dusen, attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 6. Mary Brayton, born May 5, 1866. 7. Frederick Vernon, born April 20, 1869; married, June, 1906, Elizabeth Chadwell, daughter of the late Rev. George Harris Chadwell, D. D., former rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Morris- town, New Jersey.
(VI) Henry Cooper (2), son of Vice- Chancellor Henry Cooper Pitney, was born at Morristown, New Jersey, August 6, 1856, and is now living in that town. For his early education he was sent to private schools. and to the Morris Academy, at which latter place he prepared for college, and entered Princeton University in September, 1874, as a sophomore, and graduated with the class of 1877. He then studied law in his father's office and was admitted to the New Jersey bar as attorney in June, 1880, and as counsellor in February, 1884, after which he opened an office in Morristown and has ever since en- gaged there in the practice of his profession. He is a Republican in politics. With regard
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to matters of local importance, he has been very much interested in the Morristown Free Public Library, of which he is a director and since 1904 has been the secretary. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Morristown. He married, June 17, 1891, Laura G. P., daughter of Andrew J. and Julia A. (Henry) Wood, who was born in Brook- lyn, New York, in July, 1864.
(VI) Mahlon Pitney, son of Vice-Chan- cellor Henry Cooper Pitney, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, February 5, 1858. He was prepared for college in classical schools of the city, after which he matriculated in the freshman class of Princeton University in 1875. On the completion of the four years course he was graduated in the class of 1879 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by his alma mater in 1882. He studied law under the direction of his distinguished father, and in 1882 was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney at law, while three years later he was licensed to practice as a counsellor at law. In 1882 he opened an office for the prac- ticc of law in Dover, New Jersey, continuing until 1889, when he returned to Morristown and soon gained a large clientage and enviable reputation. He has since been connected with most of the important litigation that has been heard in the courts here, and has given evi- dence of his splendid power before court or jury. He is a clear, forcible speaker and logical reasoner, and his trial of a cause always shows a thorough familiarity with the law concerned therewith. In politics Mr. Pitney has long been active, and he is a recognized leader of the Republican party in his section of the state. He was temporary chairman of the Republican state convention which nominated John W. Griggs for governor in 1895, and in behalf of his party has done much effective work. In 1894 he was honored with the nomination for representative in congress for the Fourth Con- gressional District, composed of Morris, Hun- terdon, Warren and Sussex counties. The district was supposed to be and had formerly been strongly Democratic, and the opposition renominated Hon. Johnston Cornish, who then occupied the position, but the election returns showed that Mr. Pitney had won by a plurality of fourteen hundred and seven votes. In 1896 he was again nominated, and although the Demo- crats felt confident that their candidate, Augus- tus W. Cutler, would carry the district, Mr. Pit- ney was again elected ; with an increased major- ity of 2977 votes. His course in Congress
won him not only the commendation of his home district, but also of many of the ablest members of the house. During his first term he was appointed a member of the committee on appropriations, and did effective service on behalf of the people by opposing extravagant and useless appropriations. In the campaign of 1896 he made a vigorous canvass and took an uncompromising stand in favor of sound money, as defined in the party platform. He is a forcible, earnest and convincing speaker, and is no less accomplished as a writer, his pen productions having the literary finish of the scholar as well as the eloquence of the orator. His public service is most commend- able, for with him the public good is ever be- fore party, and the general welfare before personal aggrandizement.
Mr. Pitney married, in 1891, Florence T. Shelton. They hold membership in the First Presbyterian Church, and sustain high social relations. Mr. Pitney is a Mason. Among his fellow citizens, although he has won high honors at their hands, he is an unassuming man, free from ostentation, which character- istic makes him very popular.
(VI) John Oliver Halsted Pitney, son of ex-Vice-Chancellor Henry Cooper Pitney, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, April 14, 1860. He received his preparatory education in the private schools of Morristown, and after- ward entered Princeton University, from which which he was graduated in the class of 1881, with degree of Bachelor of Arts, that of Mas- ter of Arts being conferred upon him by the same institution in 1884. Choosing the law as his profession, he pursued a course of study in the same under the preceptorship of his father in Morristown, and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey in June, 1884, as an attor- ney, and in 1887 as a counsellor. Immediate- ly after his admission to the bar he establish- ed himself in the practice of his profession at Newark, where he has since remained. For the first two years he was in partnership with Frederick H. Tuse, later was similarly asso- ciated with John R. Hardin, and subsequently A. F. Skinner was admitted as a partner, since which time they have conducted business under the style of Pitney, Hardin & Skinner, being one of the best known law firms in the state of New Jersey, with an extensive clientage, the business increasing in volume and importance with each succeeding year. From the very outset of his professional career Mr. Pitney exhibited a predilection for the profession in which he has won so honorable a place. He
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has been actively identified with many impor- tant cases, and his services are in great de- mand by corporations and private individuals who desire the best obtainable talent. He is a man of rare legal attainments, courteous, digni- fied, and honest, and his great force of char- acter and unerring grasp of fundatmental prin- ciples make him a powerful advocate.
Mr. Pitney is a director of the Mutual Bene- fit Life Insurance Company, the National New- ark Banking Company, and the American In- surance Company. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, in which place he makes his home, and where he has gained the esteem and confidence of his fellow townsmen by the active interest he mani- fests in all measures tending toward the prog- ress and welfare of the community. He is a staunch adherent of the principles of Repub- licanism, but has never sought or held public office. He is a prominent and active member of the Essex Club, University Club, New York Club, New York Yacht Club, Morristown Golf Club, and the Morristown Club, leading social organizations.
Mr. Pitney married, January 15, 1890, Rob- erta A., daughter of Robert F. and Annie E. Ballantine. Children: John B., born Decem- ber 12, 1892; Robert H., June 4, 1907. .
This name suggests the
FLANDERS Flemish origin of one who settled in England during the time the English were assuming surnames. This family was established in Massachusetts early in the colonial period. It is the general belief that the Salisbury settler mentioned below was the ancestor in common of all who bear the name in New England.
(I) Stephen Flanders and his wife Jane emigrated from England and settled in Salis- bury, Massachusetts, sometime between the years 1640 and 1646. He was admitted a townsman in February, 1650, but there is no record of his admission as a freeman. His will was made April 4, 1684, and he died June 27 that year. His wife died November 19, 1683. Children : Stephen, Mary, Philip, Sarah, Naomi and John.
(II) Stephen (2), eldest child of Stephen and Jane Flanders, was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, March 8, 1646, and died Octo- ber 6, 1744, at the advanced age of ninety- eight years. December 28, 1670, he married Abigail, born February 11, 1653, daughter of Thomas and Mary Carter, of Salisbury. Ste- phen Carter resided in Salisbury. Children :
Thomas (died in infancy), Stephen, Thomas, Daniel, Joseph, Philip (died young), Sarah, Philip, James, Jeremiah and Abigail.
(III) Joseph, fifth son and child of Stephen and Abigail (Carter) Flanders, was born March 28, 1677, and died December 29, 1730. He was three times married, but the maiden surnames of two of his wives cannot be ascer- tained. The christian name of his first wife, who died in 1702, was Esther. That of his second wife, whom he married in 1703, was Hannah ; she died May 5, 1714. On October 3, 1716, he married (third) Mary Thompson. By his first union there was one daughter, Ann. Children of his second marriage: Ezekiel, Joseph, Nehemiah and Ebenezer. Those of his third marriage were: Phineas, Mary, Jere- miah and Moses.
(IV) Nehemiah, third child and son of Jo- seph and Hannah Flanders, was born Febru- ary 18, 1709. In February, 1733, he married Sarah Hackett. Children: Jarvis, Hezekiah, David, Nehemiah, Olive and Levi.
(V) Levi, youngest child of Nehemiah and Sarah (Hackett) Flanders, was born Febru- ary 26, 1754. The place and date of his death is unknown to the writer, nor is there any available record of his marriage, but it is known that he had one son whose name was Caleb.
(VI) Caleb, son of Levi Flanders, resided in Danbury, New Hampshire. He married Mehitable Searles. Children: William, John (died young), Lorenzo, Hiram, Charles, Frank, Samuel, George, John, Frances, Dorothy, Nancy and Daniel W.
(VII) Charles, fifth son of Caleb and Me- hitable (Searles) Flanders, was born in Dan- bury, in the northwest corner of Merrimack county, New Hampshire, and adjoining Sulli- van and Grafton counties, about 1804. (In the Dartmouth Alumni Catalogue we find from this section of New Hampshire contemporane- ous members of the Flanders family: Walter Powers Flanders (1806-83), lawyer, A. B., 1831 ; Thomas Flanders ( 1791-1867), M. D., 1832 ; Jonathan Leavitt Flanders, M. D., 1841, removed to Bridgeport, Illinois; Benjamin F. Flanders, born January 26, 1816, Bristol, New Hampshire, A. B., 1857, as of class of 1842, went to New Orleans 1843, where he was a school teacher, school superintendent, editor and lawyer. He was a representative from Louisiana in the United States Congress, 1863 ; governor of Louisiana, 1867; mayor of New Orleans, 1870-72 ; assistant treasurer of United States in New Orleans, 1873-85, died in New
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Orleans, March 13, 1896). Charles Flanders married about 1820, Lucretia Kingsbury, of Keene, New Hampshire, a descendant of Jo- seph Kingsbury, the Dedham immigrant, 1628, and a son Henry was born in Sullivan county, New Hampshire, February 13, 1826, who became a lawyer under tuition from his father and went to Philadelphia before 1850. He was educated at Kimball Academy, New Hampshire, and New- bury Seminary, Vermont, studied law with his father, and in 1850 removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he became noted as a lawyer and author of law books. He was given the honorary degree of A. M. by Dart- mouth College in 1856. As the Flanders of southwestern New Hampshire were migrating and included professional men, we place Al- fred Flanders (q. v.) as reasonably a member of this family and a brother of Henry, the Philadelphia lawyer, in the absence of infor- mation or evidence to the contrary.
(VIII) Alfred, an elder son of Charles and Lucretia (Kingsbury) Flanders, was born in Sullivan county, New Hampshire, probably about 1823. As his father was a lawyer, he undoubtedly gave all his sons a good education and instructed them in law. He was head bookkeeper in the Kensington National Bank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; took up the prac- tice of law and carried on its practice in Bever- ly, Mount Holly and Burlington, Burlington county, New Jersey, and in Camden, New Jersey. He was city solicitor of Burlington at the time of his death, and held the position for several years. He was a prominent member of the Methodist church, and had charge of the music of the church in Burlington. He married Mary Rothwell Davidson, of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. Children: I. Mary D., married Henry S. Prickett, of Philadelphia. 2. Howard, was a lawyer in Burlington, and succeeded his father as city solicitor of Bur- lington, and held the office up to the time of his own death; married Carrie Lowden. 3. Charles Yerkes (q. v.). Alfred Flanders, died in Burlington, New Jersey, 1888. Two chil- dren died in infancy.
(1X) Charles Yerkes, second son and third child of Alfred and Mary Rothwell (David- son ) Flanders, was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, September 22, 1863. He was a pupil in the public schools of Philadelphia, and when sixteen years of age he engaged in a wholesale business in the employ of H. C. Biddle & Com- pany, of Philadelphia, and remained with this firm two years. In 1881 he became connected with the Morris Tasker & Company Wrought
Iron and Boiler Tube Company, and remained with this company from 1881 to 1897, gaining promotion from office boy to salesman. In 1897 he was made eastern representative of the St. Louis Car Company, with headquarters in New York City. He resigned this position in 1900 to assume the management of the United and Globe Rubber Company, with offices at 26 Broadway, New York City, retaining his home in Burlington, New Jersey. He served the city of Burlington as commissioner of appeals for three years ; as mayor 1900-1903, holding the office three years and nine months. His certificate of election as mayor is signed by the governor of the state, the only city in the state to be honored by the law in this manner. His fraternal affiliations include membership in Burlington Lodge, No. 32, F. and A. M., he being initiated June 10, 1890; February 24, 1891, he was advanced in Boudant Royal Arch Chapter, No. 3, Burlington, and May 15, 1891, he was received into Heleva Commandery, Knights Templar, of Burlington, and from there he was progressed to Crescent Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Trenton, of which he was made a trustee. His next step in Masonry was to the Scottish Rite, through the Trenton Consistory, and took the thirty-second degree. He became past grand mogul of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, of Mount Holly. He affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, through membership in the lodge at Burlington. His church affiliations is with the Protestant Episcopal Church, he being a communicant of St. Mary's Church, and served many years as leader of the choir. Mr. Flanders married, January 22, 1889, Emma M., daughter of C. Henry and Rebecca (Pip- pett) Belden, of Burlington, New Jersey. Their only child, Margarite Belden, was born Octo- ber 30, 1890, and educated at private schools and St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jersey.
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