USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 16
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Mr. Conklin had been President of the Board of Health seven years. and was serving as a member of the Board of Freeholders of the county. He was a member of the First Reformed Church of Hackensack, and was deacon in that body eight years, and also its treasurer. He was a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows, O. U. A. M., Red Mem, Wheelmen and of the Onitani Field Club. Mr. Conklin died in 1899.
GEORGE WAKEMAN WHEELER.
George Wakeman Wheeler, son of Charles and Jerusha . Bradley ) Wheeler, was born at Easton, Fairfield County, Connecticut, October 15th, 1831. The name Wheeler is one well known in judicial and legis- lative circles in the State of Connecticut. Stephen Wheeler, grand-
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GEORGE WAKEMAN WHEELER
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father of George W., served with distinction for some years as county Judge of Fairfield county. His father, Charles Wheeler, was member of Assembly of his state, serving also as Probate Judge of his county. Mr. Wheeler's only brother was a member of the State Senate and a judge in Louisiana, and continuing down the line, his son George W. Wheeler, Jr., is a judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. Mr. Wheeler was graduated from Amherst College in 1856, having taken his preparatory course at Dudley School, Northampton, Mass. After grad- uation he taught school for a short period after which he located at Hackensack, and conducted classes in Greek and Latin for two years. and following this, in 1859, became principal of McGee's Institute at Woodville, Miss., continuing in this position ten years. He was county superintendent during three years of this time, and also a member of the board of aldermen. Here also he assisted in organizing a local cavalry company of which he served as a member with the rank of major. In the Masonic order he was a prominent member being High Priest of Royal Arch Chapter. Mr. Wheeler has resided in Hackensack continuously since 1869, and where he for a time was associated with James M. Van Valen and Peter Bogert, Jr., as judge of the Common Pleas Court. For the past thirty years he has occupied his present offices, where he is engaged in the management of estates and as a broker in stocks and bonds. Interested in various institutions and or- ganizations, he has been president and director of Hall and Armory Association since its organization, was a director of the Bank of Bergen County, and the Hackensack Savings Bank; is treasurer and director of the Hackensack Cemetery Company; is a member of the State Geo- logical Board, and was for ten years president of the Bergen Turnpike Company, and later its vice president. For a long period he was a di- rector of the Hackensack Gas Company, and for twenty-seven years rep- resented the Home Insurance Company for Bergen County, but resigned in 1897, at which time the company as a proof of their appreciation of his service, tendered him a letter of thanks accompanied with the pre- sentation of a fine gold headed cane. In his religious relations he is an Episcopalian and in politics a Democrat.
Mr. Wheeler was married in 1859 to Miss Lucy Dowie, of Andes. Delaware County, N. Y. Their only children are Judge George W. Wheeler, Jr., of Connecticut, and Harry D., who resides in Hackensack, doing a commission business in New York City.
Mr. Wheeler is a man of culture and refinement; has been an ex- tensive traveller, and is a thorough and capable business min.
WILLIAM FAIR.
William Fair was a native of Scotland, emigrated to America with his wife, Mary Hume, and three children, Mary, John and Jane, and settled in New Barbadoes, now Hackensack, about 1785.
He was a cabinet-maker by trade, and carried on his business on the site of the Fair Homestead, in Hackensack, until his death, which oc-
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curred February 24, 1839, dying at the age of eighty-three years. His. wife died at the age of seventy years, September 23, 1824. Mary died unmarried, October 12, 1852, and Jane died unmarried, July 19, 1848. John was a successful merchant in New York for many years, and died January 5, 1854, aged seventy-six years.
George Fair, fourth child of William and Mary Hume Fair, was born in Hackensack, on the homestead, November 27, 1785. He received during his boyhood only a common school education, but the rigid home discipline of his Scotch parents early impressed him with habits of in- dustry, economy, and self-reliance.
At the age of fifteen young Fair became a clerk in a dry-goods store in New York city, where he continued for many years, and until he had saved enough money from his earnings to establish business for himself. With his elder brother, John, he engaged in the dry-goods trade on his own account in Vesey Street, New York city, where for many years they continued a successful trade. They invested of their surplus means in city real estate, which increased in value on their hands and gave both a large competency.
In 1859 Mr. Fair completed the homestead formerly occupied by his father, a substantial residence on Essex Street, where he resided until his death, which occurred October 16, 1868.
SUPT. JOHN TERHUNE
Mr. John Terhune, the popular and efficient superintendent of the schools of Bergen county, was born at Midland Park, this county, Au- gust 4th, 1846. He was educated there in a district school. Later he attended the New Jersey State Normal School, and subsequently East- man's Business College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. After being engaged for some time as an accountant and in mercantile pursuits, he took charge of the Midland Park Public School. He held this position for about nine years, until appointed to his present office, thirteen years ago.
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To Mr. Terhune belongs the credit of having popularized the ob- servance of Arbor Day in the schools of the state. He has given a great amount of labor, time and money for this purpose. The fine Arbor Day programmes which he prepared and printed at his owh expense for a number of years, have been widely distributed throughout the country and have received the highest commendation from teachers and school officers everywhere.
Mr. Terhune is also the author of the Teachers' Library Act for the establishment of professional libraries in each county, securing state aid to the amount of $100 the first year and $50 each subsequent year. The profit derived from the sale of his Arbor Day publications he donates to the Teachers' Library; he raised by subscription and dona- tions sufficient money to purchase 900 volumes for the library, which, with the cost of cases, printing, etc., has cost over $1000. This was the beginning of what has since proved to be a valuable library. In the library are to be found many valuable works on the history, theory and practice of education. When, in 1891 and '92, the Legislature of New Jersey made a special appropriation of $1000 for school library purposes, Mr. Terhune secured $810 of the money for Bergen county.
The teachers of Bergen county appreciate Mr. Terhune's labors for their advancement. A piece of beautiful silver service with which they presented him at his wedding anniversary, in 1892, bears the following inscription: "From the teachers of Bergen county to their County Su- perintendent, John Terhune, as a token of respect and esteem, and of their appreciation of his faithful services and eminent achievements in the cause of public school education."
Recently the teachers of the county presented him a valuable gold watch, very finely engraved.
"Educational Hall" has a complete teachers' library, from which the teachers are furnished with books free of cost.
DR. NELSON HAAS.
Dr. Nelson Haas, the efficient principal of the High School at Hackensack, is a son of Mathias Haas and Melinda Holgate, and was born at Chestnut Hill, city of Philadelphia, August 3d. 1838. His father was of German descent, a business man of strict integrity, who was, for sixteen years, a member of the Common Council of Philadelphia. His mother was of Welsh origin, the daughter of a prominent and success- ful business man of the city, and for seveenteen years a member of the State Legislature of Pennsylvania.
Two of Dr. Haas's brothers founded the Hightstown Classical and Scientific Institute and the New Jersey Collegiaie Institute at Borden- town, situated on a part of the old Bonaparte property. Mr. Haas be- gan teaching at the age of seventeen, having been educated in the schools of his native city. In 1859 he went to Port Gibson, Mississippi, as teacher of mathematics and physics in the academy at that place. but returned North after two years, when he was appointed Deputy
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Provost Marshal of the Ninth District of Pennsylvania, under A. W. Bolenius, who was succeded as Marshal by Thaddeus Stevens, Jr., dur- ing Mr. Haas's term of service. In the spring of 1865 he joined Com- pany B, Ninth Union League Regiment, Philadelphia, as First Lieu- tenant. After a few weeks he was made commissary of the brigade, and remained in the service until the close of the war.
Upon his return, Mr. Haas began the study of law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the office of General William H. Miller, and was ad- mitted as attorney in 1868. After a few months' practice at Harrisburg he removed to California, and opened a law office at Stockton, where, however, he had remained only a short time, when the death of his father caused his return East.
In 1871 he was tendered the position of principal of Washington Institute, District No. 32, at Hackensack, N. J., and continued in that
NELSON HAAS, PH. D.
place twenty-four years. Upon the organization in 1895 of a High School for the entire town, Dr. Haas was made its principal, and, in 1897, the additional duties of supervising principal of all the schools in the township were assigned him, which two positions he still holds.
MANNING M. KNAPP.
Manning M. Knapp is a native of Newton, Sussex County, N. J., and was born June 7th, 1825. He studied law in the office and under the direction of the late Colonel Robert Hamilton, being admitted to prac- tice as attorney in 1846, when he began practice in Hackensack, and was made a counsellor in 1850. The late Chancellor Zabriskie, at that time Prosecutor of the Pleas for Bergen county, resigned his office in 1850, because of his removal to Jersey City. Chief Justice Green, then pre- siding at the Bergen Circuit, appointed Mr. Knapp to prosecute for the State until the office should be filled under the constitution. Governor
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Fort appointed him in February, 1851, for a full term and by follow- ing appointments he held the office until 1861. During these years, he was building up a profitable practice in the county and state, taking high rank in his profession. In 1875, when Judge Bedle was elected Governor, he appointed Mr. Knapp his successor on the bench of the Supreme Court, his Judicial District covering the counties of Hudson, Bergen and Passaic. Hudson being made a district alone, Judge Knapp was assigned to this new field where he continued until his death which occurred on January 26, 1892. The Bar of the State in suitable resolu- tions expressed to the Supreme Court, "the universal sorrow felt at the pathetic death of Mr. Justice Knapp while in the discharge of his pub- lic official duties," and they further desired "to bear witness to his virtues, his learning, and the beauty of his character."
Judge Knapp was married in 1850 to Anna Mattison, a daughter of the late Captain Joseph Mattison of the United States Navy. Mrs. Knapp continued to make her home in Hackensack after the death of her husband, surviving both her children-the daughter, Anna M., wife of Walter V. Clark, of Hackensack, and their son, Joseph M. Knapp, both having died since the death of their father, and she herself, the last of the family, died in 1898.
JOSEPH M. KNAPP.
Joseph M. Knapp was born at Hackensack October 20, 1856. He went to Colorado immediately after his graduation from Columbia Col- lege in June 1878, hoping to overcome pulmonary disease, which was apparently making inroads upon his health. He was admitted to the bar and practiced law, residing in Colorado thirteen years. Believing himself restored to permanent health he returned to New Jersey, but not long after he declined and died on May 2, 1895. He was a man of bright intellect, high attainments and fine character.
DR. ABRAM HOPPER.
Dr. Abram Hopper was the son of a farmer at Hohokus, and was born April 26th, 1797. After taking an academic course of study in New York city, he entered the office of Dr. John Rosencrantz, at Hohokus, with whom he studied medicine one year, when he returned to New York, and continued his medical studies with Dr. Valentine Mott, at- tending lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which institution he was graduated at the age of twenty-one. The following year he began the practice of medicine, continuing to reside here the greater part of his life. He died December 14th, 1872. Making surgery a specialty, he was the only operating surgeon in Bergen county for many years, and gained an enviable reputation in that department of his profession. His wife was Euphemia De Wolf. They had five sons and two daughters.
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DR. HENRY A. HOPPER,
Dr. Henry A. Hopper, who was born August 8th, 1824, was gradu- ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City in 1847. His life was spent in Hackensack, where he became a prominent practitioner, and also identified himself with the best interests of the town. Like his father, he began practice when young, being only twenty-three years of age. He was one of the organizers and the first secretary of the Bergen County Medical Society, and was the organizer and president of the Hackensack Board of Health.
Dr. Hopper married Maria Colfax Ward, and three children survived him, one son and two daughters.
He was a member of the Second Reformed Church, to which he was greatly devoted. He died at the age of fifty-eight years.
DR. JOHN WARD HOPPER.
Dr. John Ward Hopper, only son of Dr. Henry A., was born Novem- ber 10th, 1856, and choosing the profession of his fathers, was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1879, having been grad- uated from the College of the City of New York in 1876. While in the Medical College, he took a special course in microscopy, afterwards, and for sometime making microscopic tests in the office of Dr. Alonzo Clark. It was his intention to eventually devote his time to surgery in which he was particularly interested. He was for eighteen months on the Surgical Staff of Roosevelt Hospital immediately after his graduation. Dr.
Henry Sands now asked him to take his Quiz-class, which he did for one winter, the first time it had ever been given to another. The following year he spent in Europe, principally at the Hospitals of Vienna and Prague, and during special work under Doctors Virchow, Schroeder and others. After his return he began practice here but died three years later, on June 30th, 1890, ending a line of physicians holding high place not only in the medical profession but in other walks of life.
PETER WARD.
Peter Ward was a member of the State Council when he died, and was captain of a company of militia during the Revolutionary War. His wife died in 1806 at the age of forty-six. Their children were Peter, John, Jane, Catherine, Thomas, James, William, and Mary. Peter was born at Campgaw, and married Maria, daughter of Robert Colfax, niece of General William Colfax, and second cousin of the late ex-Vice Presi- dent Schuyler Colfax. The children born of this union were Captain Robert C. A., Peter H., Sally Ann, wife of Harden Burgess; Harriet, wife of Chauncey Gooderich; Jane, wife of Abram Willis; Mary, wife of Anthony E. Fatin; Catherine, died young; Lucy, was first the wife of John Hall, and after his death, of Charles Bennett; John; Peryna, wife of Henry A. Berry; Maria, wife of Dr. Henry A. Hopper, of Hack- ensack; and Elizabeth, wife of John R. Lydecker.
Peter Ward was a Brigade Major under General William Colfax in the War of 1812, stationed at Bergen Heights and afterwards at Sandy
JACOB BAUER Commissioner of the 3d Ward Hackensack, N. J.
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Hook. He was a tanner and currier, a farmer and distiller at Campgaw. In 1812 he began to speculate, was unfortunate, and lost his property. He afterwards removed to Booneville, N. Y., where he engaged in farmi- ing, and died on Long Island. His wife died at the advanced age of ninety years, about 1877.
Captain Robert C. A. Ward spent his early life on the farm. In 1827 he came to Hackensack, and was employed by D. & J. Anderson, merchants, where he remained until the death of one member of the firm, John C. Z. Anderson, in 1836. He was employed by the Ander- sons in the coasting trade between New York and Virginia, dealing in wood and lumber. As early as 1832 he became interested with the firm in the purchase of some 3000 acres of land in Virginia, known as the "Green Spring Plantation," the residence of the Governor of the State, when Jamestown was its capital. Upon the decease of John Anderson, Captain Ward became a joint owner of the business and lands, by pur- chase, with the remaining partner, David Anderson, and the firmn was " Anderson & Ward" until 1840, when Anderson disposed of his interest to Captain Ward, and John Ward, his brother, became a partner, under the firm-name of R. & J. Ward. This plantation has supplied large quantities of wood for the New York market, and especially before steamboats began to use coal was the demand considerable, also supply- ing large timber for other purposes, besides having several hundred acres under good state of cultivation. John Ward died in September, 1871, leaving a widow and one daughter, who reside in Hackensack.
Captain Ward usually made two trips per month between New York and Virginia until the connection of his brother with the business, when he gave up the duties of the coasting trade to him. During the same year, 1840, Captain Ward purchased fifty acres of land in Hacken- sack, upon which he resided, having his house located on the corner of Main and Passaic streets, and where he carried on agricultural pursuits.
Captain Ward was one of the stockholders upon the rebuilding of the Washington Academy, was one of the Directors of the Bergen County Turnpike Company in 1852, when it was converted into a plank- road, and for several years was president of the road, and a stockholder of the New Jersey and New York and of the New Jersey Midland Railroads.
Captain Ward was united in marriage, September 2, 1841, to Har- riet, daughter of Garret Myer, and widow of John C. Z. Anderson, who was born June, 1803, and died October 23, 1873.
CAPTAIN JOHN WARD.
Captain John Ward was born at Campgaw, N. J., February 4th, 1819. Having become a resident of Hackensack in 1857, he did much for the good of the village. Energetic and public spirited he became one of the organizers of the volunteer fire department and was its first chief. He was also one of the originators of the Hackensack Library,
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and since his death a handsome bookcase to his memory was placed in the library especially for books of reference.
The Second Reformed Church owes much to his untiring efforts in soliciting aid for the liquidation of its debts and to his subsequent sup- port. Captain Ward was associated for some years with his brother Captain Robert Colfax A. Ward in the transportation of lumber from their Virginia plantation.
He married Leah Maria Quackenbush. They had two children, one of whom, a daughter, lives in Hackensack. He died September 16, 1872, and his widow died January 18, 1898.
GARRET ACKERSON.
It is not known at what date the Ackerson family was first lepre- sented in America, but it was many years prior to the Revolution. The first of the name was Garret. the great-grandfather of Colonel Garret G., who came from Holland, and settled at Old Tappan, in Bergen county, but subsequently bought a large tract of land at Pascack, upon which he placed his eldest son, John. The other two sons, Cornelius and Abram, at his death, became the possessors of the old homestead at Tappan. The name was then as now, often spelled Eckerson. John was born in 1743, and died at ninety-four years of age at Pascack. He married Garritje Hogencamp. Their children were Garret and Hannah, who became the wife of Nicholas Zabriskie. Garret was born in 1779. He married Hannah, daughter of John Hogencamp, originally from Rockland county, N. Y. Garret was something of a politician, was twice elected to the Legislature, and was a major in the old State Militia, and, with his command, was stationed at Sandy Hook during the War of 1812. He was afterwards a major general of the Northern Militia of the State of New Jersey, Bergen, Essex and Morris being then the only three counties in the northern part of the state. He had four children, John, Cornelius, Garret G. and James. Garret G. was born at Pascack, April 9, 1816, and educated in the common schools. George Achenbach was one of his teachers. He was a schoolmate of Jacob R. Wortendyke. Like many of the farmers of that day he engaged in other lines of business, having a cotton mill, a distillery and a store on the farm. The son took charge of these under the general superintendence of his father, until 1840, when he took a farm and established a woolen mill of his own.
The first political experience Mr. Ackerson had, was when he was elected Assessor. When but fifteen years old he became captain of a company of uniformed militia, and held the office for ten years. In 1895 he was elected county clerk over John N. Berry, the first clerk elected under the new constitution. This necessitated his removal to Hacken- sack. He remained in the office three terms, gradually becoming the leader of his party. He became counsellor and banker to many of the old people of that day, the vault of the clerk's office sometimes containing thousands of dollars in gold and silver awaiting investment. Soon after
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going to Hackensack he was made chairman of the Democratic Execu- tive Committee in place of Judge Garret Hopper, who had held the position almost ever since the organization of the Democratic party.
During the time that he was county clerk he raised a company of Continentals, becoming the captain, afterward being elected lieutenant- colonel of an independent battalion which had been organized by special Act of the Legislature. It remained in existence until 1861, when most of the men volunteered to form the Twenty-second State Regiment for service in the war. In 1858 and '59, Hackensack being without a rail- road, Mr. Ackerson and others subscribed a sufficient amount of money to build a road from this point to intersect with the Erie Railroad. The new road was known as the Hackensack Railroad. When Mr. Ander- son resigned the presidency of the road before its completion, Mr. Ack- erson was unanimously elected to fill his place and although sinking $10,000 each year for the first three years, it eventually became a pay- ing institution. He and Judge Zabriskie at one time assumed the per- sonal responsibility of about $60,000.
Colonel Ackerson was active in 1872, in organizing the Bergen County Bank which had George Achenbach for its first president, and at his death was succeeded by the Colonel who remained in office until the bank closed. April 1st, 1877, he took his seat as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, having been appointed in the winter of 1876- 77, by Governor Bedle.
Judge Ackerson married in 1837, Sophia, daughter of James I. Blauvelt and Martha Wortendyke, of Washington township, who was born July 4th, 1821. They had two children-Colonel Garret, Jr., de- ceased. and Martha, wife of B. F. Randall of Hackensack. Colonel Ackerson died December 12, 1891.
COLONEL GARRET ACKERSON, JR.
Colonel Garret Ackerson, Jr., son of Colonel Garret G., was born at Pascack, N. J., September 15, 1840. He was educated in the public and private schools of Hackensack, and in a private school at Claverack, N. Y., at that time conducted by the well known Alonzo Flack. In 1859 he began the study of law in the office of Hon. Jacob R. Wortendyke of Jersey City, and was admitted as attorney at the June term of the Su- preme Court in 1863. He immediately opened an office in Hackensack for the practice of his profession, and in 1878 was made counsellor-at- law, having been appointed prosecutor of Pleas for Bergen County in 1866.
In 1867 he was appointed judge advocate of a battalion of Militia in the county, and in 1872 was elected Captain of Company C, of the Second Battalion National Guards, resigning the office in 1875. He was appointed Judge Advocate General of the State of New Jersey, with rank of colonel by Governor George B. McClellan in 1879. At this time he was appointed President of the Hackensack Railroad. He was also for a time on the Board of the Hackensack Improvement Commission,
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