USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume IV > Part 59
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Mr. Bentley was one of the most patriotic public men of his day. He was particularly interested in the municipal and general develop- ment of Jersey City, and took an active part and exercised a marked influence in all meas- ures for the benefit and advancement of the community. In 1833, while still a law student, he was elected to the office of clerk of the board of selectmen of Jersey City, and served as mayor of the city for one term, being elect- ed in 1843. Other political honors were ten- dered to him from time to time, but he had little disposition toward holding public office. He assisted in organizing the Provident In- stitution for Savings, of which he was made a trustee at the start and served until his death, a period of thirty years, was vice-president for fourteen years, and attorney and counsel for many years. In 1853 he was the leading spirit in the organization of the Mechanics' and Traders' Bank, and was its first president ; this bank was afterwards merged into the First National Bank of Jersey City, which was one
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of the most prosperous banks in the state of New Jersey. He was vice-president of the Jersey City Savings Bank; assisted in organ- izing the Jersey City Fire Insurance Company, and was one of its directors; treasurer of the Jersey City and Bergen Plank Road Company ; director and treasurer of the Jersey City Gas Light Company, and he executed many trusts relative to property where individuals were concerned.
Mr. Bentley came to Jersey City without fortune, and at the time of his death, Septem- ber 26, 1875, left a large estate. He had trav- eled extensively in Europe and in this country, and always took a very active part in all that pertained to Hudson county and Jersey City. The courts of Hudson county adjourned as a mark of respect to his memory, and appointed a committee to draft suitable resolutions. One of the resolutions adopted was as follows : "That the Bench and Bar have lost one who stood eminent in his professional life and char- acter, being always devoted to the interests of his clients. He had a clear perception of the right, and a happy faculty of adjusting dis- putes and effecting settlements among men, and in the long course of his professional life he has left a spotless record." The bar of Hudson county published a memorial volume which contained addresses by Jacob Weart, Washington B. Williams, Charles H. Winfield, Stephen B. Ransom, and a eulogy by the late Isaac W. Scudder, and addresses on the occa- sion of his funeral by Rev. Mr. Putnam, Rev. Dr. W. W. Parmly, and the late Rev. Dr. Benja- min C. Taylor, who preached the funeral ser- mon by request of Mr. Bentley, expressed some twenty years before his death, because Dr. Taylor had served so acceptably at the funeral of one of Mr. Bentley's friends. A few selec- tions from these addresses will give an idea of Mr. Bentley's character.
Mr. Stephen B. Ransom said: "Mr. Bent- ley was in some respects a remarkable man. Commencing his career here when our county was in its infancy, he became identified with its growth and in no small measure assisted in shaping its destiny. Injustice, oppression, fraud and corruption in municipal, state or national affairs, found in him an uncomprom- ising foe. He was originally a Democrat and acted with that party, but no party ties were strong enough to control his action in a di- rection which his conscience did not approve ; and when in 1848 the Democratic party at the dictation of the south proclaimed its purpose to force slavery into all our territories, his free
spirit revolted, and, united with similar spirits in the state, he took an active part in organ- izing the Free-Soil party. It was at the con- vention held in Trenton in the summer of 1848 to organize that party and nominate an electoral ticket, that I first became acquainted with him. He took a very active part in that movement, and although the ticket then nomi- nated at the election in November following received but about one hundred and forty votes in the state, the principles of that party which he then advocated took deep root in the nation, and he lived long enough to see their complete triumph in the absolute overthrow of the hated institution of slavery."
Mr. W. B. Williams said : "He had a quick and excellent perception of the right of a case and of its reasonable probabilities. He was noted for bringing about settlements, and fought his clients' battles as cunningly and with as· much tact, ingenuity and success, in office conferences, as many others do before the court. My own friendly relations (Mr. Will- iams was a student in his office) with him re- mained unchanged after my admission to the bar, and I was glad and proud when I could in turn assist him, when, as his years ad- vanced, he would come and put questions to a younger mind fresh from the work-bench and the tools. Especially was I glad to receive at times his confidence and to unite with him in his paternal anticipation of the usefulness and success of his only son, with whom we sympathize to-day, and to whom he so earn- estly looked to inherit his honorably earned reputation and clientage, and to attend his gray hairs with honor to the grave."
Mr. Scudder said: "Opposed to municipal extravagance, Mr. Bentley took an active part in all those plans designed to protect property from unnecessary taxes and assessments. Find- ing that extravagant and unjust assessments had been imposed on property in Jersey City, which provoked serious litigation, the result of which, if successful, would have thrown. great burthens on the public at large, where they did not properly belong, in 1873 he con- ceived the plan of creating a commission to be , composed of men of high character who should be empowered to review all such cases and adjust them on sound and equitable principles. With his usual energy he engaged in this im- portant subject ; he carried his project before the legislature, had a commission appointed, of which Judge Harris, who had been governor of the state and justice of the supreme court, was made the head, and the result was a more
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just and proper distribution of the public burthens, and the assessments, having been fairly established, have been for the most part collected."
Earnestly devoted to the principles of the Democratic party in his early life, he separated from his party in 1848 upon the issue of slav- ery, and became one of the leaders in forming the Free Soil party in New Jersey. There- after he was politically devoted to the princi- ples which he then adopted. Throughout the civil war he was a thoroughly earnest sup- porter of the cause of the Union. In his pri- vate character he has been described by a bio- grapher as "a rare gentleman, peculiarly at- tached to his wife and children, gracious and hospitable in his home, sincere and earnest in his religious faith, and so honest and honorable in all the affairs of life that the faintest breath was never raised to question his perfect integ- rity."
Mr. Bentley married, October 13, 1842, Mar- garet E. Holmes, of-Jersey City, who was of English descent. Children: Peter Jr., see forward; Rosaline H., married Thomas H. Tower, a member of the New York Stock Exchange.
(II) Peter (2), son of Peter (I) and Mar- garet E. (Holmes) Bentley, was born in Jer- sey City, New Jersey, December 5, 1845. His early education was secured under the direc- tion of Rev. Mr. Van Cleck, and was not pur- sued in any public educational institutions. His natural bent to the law manifested itself at an early age, and he entered his father's law office, where he had the opportunity of remarkable advantages under the observing eye of his father and in exceptionally good surroundings. He was thus enabled to lay an unusually sound foundation for his chosen career. Few if any attorneys of his period came to the bar so well grounded in the theory of the law and in its practical business. Naturally he at once asso- ciated himself in practice with his father, who entrusted to him the entire conduct of the office, and ultimately he succeeded to the very large and lucrative clientele, which has been secured by the elder Bentley. Some of the most successful business of Mr. Bentley was in the handling of the affairs of large corporate enterprises, so as to avoid tedious and expen- sive litigation. He was counsel for the Stand- ard Oil Company, one of the leading counsel of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and counsel for the Barber Asphalt Company of New York City, and the Provident Institution for Savings and the Consumers' Gas Company
of Jersey City. He also rendered important legal service to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. After the death of his father, Mr. Bentley was associated in legal practice with Charles H. Hartshorne, under the firm name of Bentley & Hartshorne. This partnership was dissolved in 1886, and from that time until his death he practiced alone. Mentally, he resembled his father in many respects, and was held in the highest esteem by all who came in association with him.
Mr. Bentley married, November 3, 1869, Emma Parker, of Jersey City, daughter of Captain Robert Parker, the owner of Watts Island, in Chesapeake Bay, which has been in the Parker family since its first occupation in colonial times. Children: I. Eleanor, born July 13, 1871 ; wife of Warren H. Dixon, son of the late Justice Dixon, of Jersey City. 2. Emily, born December 5, 1872 ; wife of Joseph M. Rector. 3. Peter (3), see forward. 4.
Richard Parker, born September 25, 1875. 5. John, born June 16, 1879. 6. Eugenie, born December 23, 1881. 7. Parker, born June 17, 1884. Mr. Bentley died in Jersey City, April 30, 1888.
(III) Peter (3), son of Peter (2) and Emma (Parker) Bentley, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, February 6, 1875. He re- ceived a practical education which prepared him for college, and later he matriculated in Princeton University. At an early age he began the study of law in the office of Warren Dixon, of Jersey City, and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey as an attorney in No- vember, 1895. Immediately he engaged in the practice of his profession in Jersey City and has achieved a high standing among the prac- titioners of the younger generations, and is regarded as one of the representative men of his profession in Eastern New Jersey. His profound knowledge of the law is recognized not alone by laymen but by his professional associates as well, while as an advocate he has achieved a high reputation for his natural abil- ity and the force and brilliancy of his argu- ments.
George Ward Cross, president of CROSS Cross & Plum, inc., real estate operators, Newark, New Jersey, was born July 30, 1877, on the Goodwill planta- tion, at Acton, Richland county, South Caro- lina, owned by his father, Hiram Williamson Davis Cross. His paternal ancestors for sev- eral generations were prominent in the busi- ness life of Newark. His great-grandfather.
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George Cross, came from Albany, New York, and was one of the leading citizens of New- ark. He was a dry-goods merchant of promi- nence, and conducted a store on Broad street, opposite Trinity Church. He married Ruth Hatch, of Connecticut, in 1835. Their son,
George W. Cross, born in Newark, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a successful merchant and real estate investor in Newark. He married Irene Davis, born in Harrison, New Jersey, daughter of the late Mark Davis, one of the early settlers of Har- rison, who came from Sussex county. The mother of George W. Cross, Elizabeth Ward Wooley, was born in Newark, daughter of the late James Wooley, who achieved prominence locally as a manufacturer of hats. He was a native of Stockport, England, whence he came to Newark, having previously married, in 1850, Jane Ward, daughter of Joseph Ward, of Bred- bury and Stockport, England, founder of the great English hat manufacturing concern bear- ing his name to-day.
George W. Cross was educated in the public schools of Newark, supplemented by an aca- demic course at Bishop's College, Lenoxville, Province of Quebec, Canada. Having deter- mined to devote his career to law and real estate transactions, he decided to become well grounded in real estate law, and for that pur- pose entered the New York University Law School, where he took a special course on real property under Frank H. Sommer during 1899 and 1900, having read law with George M. Titus, of Newark, for some three years previ- ous. He also made an extensive study of lease- holds, taxes, etc. in Europe. After finishing his studies, he entered the real estate business alone at No. 776 Broad street, Newark, but later removed his offices to Broad and Bank streets, subsequently forming a partnership with Will- iam T. Harris, in association with whom he con- ducted a profitable and agreeable business. Mr. Harris retired, and shortly thereafter the busi- ness was incorporated under the firm name of Cross & Plum, William T. Plum becoming interested in the business and actively partici- pating in its affairs. Later, enlargements be- came necessary, and Littleton Kirkpatrick, son of the late Hon. Andrew Kirkpatrick, and Roger Young, son of the late Henry Young, prosecutor of Essex county, became actively interested in the corporation. The company now established at Broad and Clinton streets has become recognized as one of the repre- sentative associations of real estate operators and appraisers in Essex county. Mr. Cross
represents the Essex County Park Commis- sion as expert appraiser in purchase and con- demnation proceedings.
Politically, Mr. Cross is a strong supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and takes a keen interest on and off the stump in all public questions. He has been a member of the Limited Franchise League since its in- ception, and of the Fourth Ward, Vailsburg, Belleville, and Clinton Hill Improvement Asso- ciations, Newark Lodge of Elks, No. 21, be- sides numerous other organizations. He is very sociable, and an adept at story telling in Scotch and negro dialect, participating fre- quently as end-man in club minstrels. He is particularly interested in art and out-door sports, and is a member of the Automobile Club and of the Indian League. He is unmar- ried.
GIBBY John Gibby, founder of this fam- ily in America, was one of the Emmet rebels in Ireland of 1798, and emigrated to America in 1826. He was a block cutter and engraver. He married Mary Dunlap. Children: William, referred to below; Margaret, married Joseph Barrett, of Hamilton, Ohio; Sarah, married Barry, of Paterson, New Jersey ; Eliza, mar- ried Merrick; John; Caroline, mar- ried Abraham Marsh ; Robert Dunlap.
(II) William, son of John and Mary (Dun- lap) Gibby, was born April 7, 1818, in Man- chester, England, and died in Rahway, New Jersey, April 8, 1888. He was brought to this country by his father in 1826, and after leav- ing school learned the trade of wool engraving. Later he went into the real estate business. From 1864 to 1874 he was a lay judge of Union county, and he was one of the organ- izers of the Free School in Rahway. He was a Democrat in politics, president of the board of education, a town trustee, and a council- man for many years. He married,, July 12, 1838, Frances, daughter of Samuel Mckinley, who emigrated with his two brothers, Alex- ander and James, from Ireland. She was born February 5, 1807, and died November 25, 1892. Children : I. William James, born April II, 1839; died March 31, 1887; married Helen Day Budd (see Budd in index). 2. Mary Jane, born November 20, 1840; married Henry Newton Spenser ; children: Alexander G., Henry Lyman, Frances I., and William Lines Spenser. 3. Alexander, born February 5, 1845; died April 7, 1868. 4. Isabella, born 1846, died 1848. 5. Isabella, born 1848, died March,
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1889; married Cornelius Boice; child: Helen Rae Boice. 6. Robert Dunlap, referred to below. 7. Sarah Frances, born October IO, 1851, died 1895. 8. Independence, born July 4, 1854; living at 230 North Pleasant street, Jackson, Michigan.
(III) Robert Dunlap, son of William and Frances (McKinley) Gibby, was born in Rah- way, New Jersey, November 17, 1859, and is now living in that town. He received his edu- cation in the public schools and with private tutors, after which he learned the trade of dyer of silk, cotton and woolen materials. This employment occupied him for seven years, at the end of which time, in 1871, he went into the real estate business in which he has con- tinued ever since. Mr. Gibby is a Democrat, a justice of the peace, a commissioner of deeds, a notary public, a member of the board of edu- cation, and assessor and clerk of the board. His clubs are the Musical Club of Rahway and the Z. Y. P. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He married, in Rahway, November 2, 1883, Catharine Web- ber, daughter of Thomas Webber and Esther (Cooper) Stratton, who was born in New York City, June 15, 1851. No children.
SHACKLETON Although the Shackleton family has been more identified with the state of New York rather than New Jersey, it has in the last one hundred years won for itself a place of such prominence in the social and financial world of Essex county that it is well worthy of mention as one of the firmest found- ed of the representative families of northern New Jersey.
(I) James Shackleton, born in Yorkshire, England, came over to this country, where he took up agricultural pursuits making a special- ty of fine flowers and vegetables. In this busi- ness he was remarkably successful, and became known as one of the most prominent of this country's fruit and seed growers. He mar- ried Jane Ann Aube.
(II) James R., son of James and Jane Anne (Aube) Shackleton, was born near Buffalo, New York. After attending school he learned the business of manufacturing hardwood fur- niture, and when his apprenticeship had been completed he set up in business for himself as a manufacturer of sashes, blinds and man- tels. By his wife Grace, daughter of Hugh and Grace (Briden) Donohue, a family of Scotch extraction, living in Buffalo, James R. Shackleton had seven children : Howard
Jerome; Florence, married Reuben Lawless ; Grace ; Harry Mercedes ; Delle ; Violet ; James Hugh, referred to below.
(III) James Hugh, youngest child of James R. and Grace (Donohue ) Shackleton, was born in Buffalo, New York, February II, 1869, and is now living in Newark, New Jersey. His father removed with his family in 1871 to Brooklyn, New York, and his youngest boy received his early education in the public and high schools of that city. After his graduation from school Mr. Shackleton accepted a posi- tion with Platt & Woodward, a firm of bank- ers and dealers in commercial paper, which was later succeeded by the firm of Charles Hathaway & Company. Leaving this firm, Mr. Shackleton entered the Nassau National Bank in Brooklyn as a clerk, and in 1888, so well had he done his work and were his abil- ities appreciated, that he received the appoint- ment of assistant in the receiving teller's de- partment, from which he gradually rose until he became loan and discount clerk. He then left his position in the bank in order to take part in the organization of the City Trust Company of Newark, and after aiding in the formation of this corporation he was deemed by his fellow directors to be the best fitted and qualified of all men to become secretary and treasurer of the newly organized company. This was in 1901. January 1, 1902, Mr. Shackle- ton had so well proved his work that he was unanimously elected assistant secretary and treasurer of the Fidelity and Trust Company of Newark, with whom he has been ever since recognized not only by the directors and offi- cials of the company themselves but also by the financial world of Newark and New York as one of the most efficient and trustworthy of that company's force of well-known financiers. Mr. Shackleton has a most beautiful home in East Orange. In politics he is a Republican, and he has always been active, influential and prominent in the political affairs of that bor- ough. In the social life of the community in which he lived, both Mr. Shackleton and his wife well deserve the popularity and prestige which they enjoy. Among his clubs, of which there are many, mention should be made of the Essex County Country Club, the Union Club, the Roseville Athletic Association and New Jersey Automobile and Motor Club. Mr. Shackleton and his family are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
August 4. 1891, James Hugh Shackleton married (first) Sarah Emma, daughter of William G. and Sarah ( Welsh) Chapman, of
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Brooklyn, New York, who died June 19, 1902, at the early age of twenty-nine. By her Mr. Shackleton had three children: James Hugh Jr., born July 5, 1892; Lillian Ray, April 21, 1894; Gerard, September 29, 1896. Mr. Shackleton married (second) Clara Edith Chapman, sister of his first wife, and by her has had one child, Dorothy Edith May, born in 1907.
PEDRICK Hugh Pedrick, the first mem- ber of this family of whom we have definite information,
died between April 27 and May 31, 1792, the dates of the execution and proving of his will. He lived in Greenwich and Lower Alloways Creek, and was a great-grandson of Roger Pedrick, the signer of the Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors of West Jer- sey, who emigrated to this country about 1680 and settled in Pedrick's Neck, Salem county, New Jersey, where he died in September, 1692, leaving a wife, Rebecca, and four sons-John, Thomas, Michael and Philip. John Pedrick died in 1729, leaving a wife Elizabeth, and ten children, eight of them sons. Thomas Pedrick died in 1719, leaving a wife Elizabeth and six children, four being sons. Of Michael's and Philip's death and descendants no record has yet been found. From one of these four sons of Roger Pedrick, Hugh Pedrick, of Green- wich, is undoubtedly descended, as there is no evidence that there has ever been another founder of the name in this country. Hugh Pedrick married (first) February 8, 1765, Eliz- abeth Booth, of Alloways Creek, who died after 1781 ; (second) Phebe -, who sur- vived him. Children, all by first wife: I. Hannah, born July 4, 1766; died September 8, 1766. 2. Richard, born October 16, 1767. 3. James, October 22, 1769. 4. Philip, October 13, 1771. 5. William, referred to below. 6. Rebecca, August 17, 1776. 7. Elizabeth, De- cember 7, 1778. 8. Susanna, December 4, 1781. (II) William, son of Hugh and Elizabeth (Booth) Pedrick, was born in Greenwich, Cumberland county, New Jersey, July II, 1774, and died at Threetons, near Columbus, and below Bordentown, Burlington county, New Jersey, in 1839 or 1840. He removed first to Gloucester county, New Jersey, and later to Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He mar- ried Bates. Children: William, re- ferred to below ; Joshua ; Ann ; Hester.
(III) William (2), son of William ( I) and (Bates) Pedrick, was born in Glou- cester county, New Jersey, in 1797, and died
in Cape May county, New Jersey, in 1853. He was a stockman and agriculturalist. He mar- ried, May 28, 1820, Eleanor, daughter of Ellis and (Wheaton) Edwards, who was born in Dennisville, Cape May county, New Jersey, February 27, 1801, and died in Hart- ford, Burlington county, New Jersey, Febru- ary 27, 1884. The marriage was performed by Justice Stephen Young. Children: I. Jo- seph, born February 22, 1821 ; married Maria Gaskill. 2. Sarah, born November 15, 1822; married Henry Mason. 3. Ann, born August 16, 1824 ; married Joseph Roydhouse. 4. Reu- ben, born July 22, 1827; married Rebecca Bankson. 5. Ellis, born January 29, 1830; married Ann Huston. 6. William (3), re- ferred to below. 7. Charles Henry, born July 3, 1835 ; died September 20, 1851 ; unmarried.
(IV) William (3), son of William (2) and Eleanor ( Edwards) Pedrick, was born in Cape May county, New Jersey, August 22, 1833, and is now living at Moorestown, Burlington coun- ty, New Jersey. As a boy he worked on a farm, but later he went to Philadelphia, where he learned the paper trade and was for many years a member of the firm of Clothier & Ped- rick, later Pedrick & Warrington, 105 North Fifth street. He is now retired. During the civil war he served as corporal in Company H, First Philadelphia Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He married, January 19, 1860, Rebecca, daughter of John and Leah (Coer) Johnson, who was born near Vincentown, Bur- lington county, New Jersey, November II, 1835. The marriage ceremony was performed by Alexander Henry, mayor of Philadelphia. Children: Ella Maria, born December 26, 1861, married Edwin M. Stafford; Charles Henry, born October 12, 1865, married Kath- arine Briggs ; William (4), referred to below.
(V) William (4), son of William (3) and Rebecca (Johnson) Pedrick, was born at Rancocas, Burlington county, New Jersey, October 26, 1870, and is now living in Phila- delphia. He received his early education in the Philadelphia public schools and in those of Burlington county, New Jersey, and then entered the private school of Professor Will- iam Kelly, at Mount Holly, after leaving which he attended Temple College, Philadel- phia. He then entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, May 13, 1886, and has been since then in continuous service with them in various positions, and is now the railroad's district passenger agent at Philadelphia. He is a Republican in politics, and a communicant of the Protestant Epis-
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