USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 32
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The two hamlets of River Edge and Cherry Hill are in the borough of Riverside. Both of these places have been trading centres since a very early day. At River Edge there were two stores, one on each side of the river, kept by the Demarests. The wagon teams were constantly busy hauling wood to the place for transportation to New York, the stores there trading salt, sugar and molasses, they being among the products of exchange. The Demarests also had a mill on the river, used over two hundred years ago. During the trying scenes of the Revolution it was known as Old Bridge, and prior to the date of its present christening as New Bridge. Here it was that during the Revolu- tionary War, upon the evacuation of Fort Lee, the troops escaped from the British by crossing the bridge at this point and afterwards burning it,
The village is beautifully located on the slope of a ridge overlooking the depot and railroad, and at the present time is a brisk center of trade. A. Z. Bogert and J. D. Holdrum, each has a store, the former also engaging in the coal and lumber trade.
BOROUGH OF MAYWOOD.
The village of Maywood is situated on the Susquehanna Railroad sixteen miles west of New York and two miles west of Hackensack, and is in close touch with both of these cities through numerous trains that pass to and from them daily at this place.
The lands here were formerly owned by Daniel Ackerman, John Romaine, John R. Olds, Andrew Voorhis, James Berdan, David Berdan, Cornelius Van Saun and by Henry, John and Martin Terhune. It remained a farming community until Mr. Gustav L. Jaeger and Henry Lindenmeyer purchased a large tract of the land and began to plot it off for a village. In 18 - Mr. Jaeger purchased Mr. Lindemeyer's interests and from that time handsome new buildings began to be erected, roads laid out and macadamized and other improvements made.
Through Mr. Jaeger's efforts, and his money, the Hackensack Water Company was induced to extend their mains through the streets, the
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
Electric Light Company to put up lamps, and these with the internal improvements incident to the public spirit of the place has made the vil- lage a desirable one for a country residence.
The Borough of Maywood was organized in March, 1894. The offi- cers then elected were Clarence A. Breckinridge, Mayor; Gustav L. Jaeger, John H. Voorhis, John H. Cumberland, Charles Lydecker, Philip Thoma and David H. Price, Councilmen. Mr. David H. Price was next elected Mayor, and he in turn was succeeded by John C. Van Saun, who is now serving his second term.
The borough was taken out of Midland Township, and is in extent of territory one and three-fourths by one mile. The official vote cast here in November 1898 was ninety-one.
"THE MAAYWOOD ART TILE PAVELS & STOVES.
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MAYWOOD ART TILE WORKS.
The Maywood Art Tile Company whose works and land are situ- ated near the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad tracks, west of the Maywood station, is the chief industrial establishment of the thriving Borough of Maywood. This company was first organ- ized and the works built in the year 1890, under the name of the Elte- rich Art Tile Stove Company with Mr. Gustav L. Jaeger and Henry Lindenmeyer as principal stockholders. The object was the manu- facture of art tile stoves and grates resembling the ornamental European tile or porcelain stoves, combining with the artistic appearance, the more practical features of the American self-feeding and base-burning stove.
These stoves, however, not meeting with the expected favor and success, it was decided to go more extensively into the manufacture of art tiles for the general market.
The company was reorganized in the winter of 1892-93 and its name changed to that of Maywood Art Tile Company, when the manufacture
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
of art tiles was begun at once, under the management of Mr. Ernst Bilhuber. The tiles produced are the kind used in our modern buildings around fireplaces and mantels, in bathrooms, vestibules, wainscoting, etc.
The artistic product of this factory, has been successfully introduced. is well received by the trade and has been carrying the name of "May- wood Tiles" as a synonym of excellence of quality and beauty all over the country.
The greater part of the raw material used in this manufacture comes from the New Jersey clay beds, of which there is an abundance in many parts of the state.
The company is gradually increasing its output and furnishes steady work for some forty to fifty men, a good many of whom live in the neat
30
MAYWOOD SCHOOL HOUSE
cottages built by the Company for that purpose, in close proximity to the works.
THE MAYWOOD HOSE COMPANY, NO 1.
The Maywood Hose Company, No. 1, was organized May 10, 1893. an was the first public organization of any kind in Maywood. The first officers were William Widnall, President; C. T. Kuchler, Secretary; Georgia Jaeger, Treasurer: D. A. Speight. Foreman; E. J. Marsh, Jr .. Assistant Foreman. In July, 1895, the organization lost its house and apparatus by fire, and in September of the same year secured a new hose wagon, as shown in cut. Through the efforts of Mr. Gustav L. Jaeger. Ernst Bilhuber the company was materially assisted and the present hose house on Hunter Avenue, erected. The company at present has twenty active members and a number of honorary members.
MAYWOOD HOSE COMPANY NO. I.
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
COLONIAL BUILDINGS OF MAYWOOD AND VICINITY.
Maywood, and the suburbs of the county-seat, Hackensack, can pride itself on the possession of a large number of substantial old build- ings, being fine specimens of early colonial architecture, landmarks of the early settlements with a typical style all their own.
There seems to be three specific types of colonial architecture in this country. The English noblemen and their offspring, who settled in Vir- ginia and Maryland developed there an ornamental and pretentious style of architecture, while the Puritans in New England, being men of the most severe simplicity, built houses of a more modest and plain character. It was the Dutch who settled New Jersey, and more especially Bergen
E
A COLONIAL, RESIDENCE OF MAYWOOD
county, and here we find the greatest originality of taste and character in their colonial buildings, which are superior to both the other classes. If we remember that the Dutch settlers of Bergen county came from a country which at the time of their emigration represented the leading civilization of Europe in industry, commerce and fine arts, being the country of Rembrandt, Van Dyke, and the illustrious Dutch School, we find it quite natural that these people have shown culture and taste in their architecture, as is demonstrated in hundreds of buildings all over Bergen county. Besides the dwellings, we may mention as fine examples of their style, the churches and especially the First Dutch Reformed Church of Hackensack and the Paramus Church, of which we show illustrations elsewhere in this work.
Accompanying this sketch, we have shown a few prints of the houses in proximity to the Maywood Railroad station.
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
All of these houses were built in the last century. ' The walls are from two to three feet in thickness, of domestic red sandstone, and the mortar used is of the best quality, greatly superior to that in our modern masonwork. The interior woodwork is artistic and well finished. The doors and the necessarily deep window casings, are finely paneled. and
GUSTAV L. JAEGER
the mantel pieces well proportioned and sometimes richly carved. All is harmonious with no inartistic feature. The timbers and roofs are, without exception, of hewn oak most substantially jointed, and if no vandalism destroy these monuments of the early Dutch colonial time, they will stand and be admired for centuries to come.
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
MR. GUSTAV L. JAEGER.
Mr. Gustav L. Jaeger is a successful New York business man who has made Maywood his home, and where he owns a large tract of land. He is President of the Maywood Land Company and has built an elegant residence, the so called "Colonial Terrace." He has been in this country about forty-six years and has been in active business ever since, generally in the line of paper and its manufacture. He is a patron of a number of benevolent institutions in New Jersey and New York. As a practical and active man, he has taken out over seventy Patents, some of which are in world wide use. He was elected a member of the first Borough Council of Maywood and has been Chairman of the Finance Committee ever since.
RESIDENCE OF GUSTAV L. JAEGER
As owner of a large tract of land along the New York Southern and Western Railroad running from Hackensack Heights to the Saddle River, he has erected a number of houses, and all the modern improve- ments in the Borough, such as the water supply, electric lights and gas, as well as the macadamized streets, are due to his energy and liberality.
MR. ERNST BILHUBER.
Mr. Bilhuber of Maywood, was born in the south of Germany in the year 1849. He came to this country at the age of twenty and began work in New York, in his profession of designing and consulting engin- eer. In the year 1876 he served as secretary of the German Commission to the World's Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Through his con- tributions to European technical and industrial papers during this time he has helped considerably to make Europe acquainted with the high industrial development and achievements of this country. Later on he devoted his attention to manufacturing enterprises. The large Steel
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
Wire Works of R. H. Wolff & Co., of New York, of which concern he is a director, were built under his superintendence. In 1892 he interested himself in the Maywood Art Tile Company, of which he took the management. Since that time he has made Maywood his home, and has taken an active interest in its development and in all local issues of the borough. He served in the first Maywood Board of Education, and was chairman of the Building Committee, during the erection of the model school house, of which we publish a good view. He has been influential in organizing the first fire company of the borough, and in 1895 was elected to a seat in the Borough Council, and at the expiration of his first three years' term, was re-elected.
Mr. Bilhuber bought for his home one of the old landmarks, the the Brinkerhoff homestead, a substantial stone dwelling, next to the
ERNST BILHUBER
present railroad station, and has greatly beautified the grounds and improved the house both in its exterior and interior, keeping strictly to the spirit and style of its original architecture. His residence has the appearance of a substantial old colonial homestead of which there are many fine specimens to be found in Bergen county, worthy of preserva- tion and study.
JOHN C. VAN SAUN.
John C. Van Saun, Mayor of Maywood, represents an old family in the county who was here before the War of the Revolution. Cornelius Van Saun was the first to locate at Cherry Hill, where his three sons John C., Cornelius and David were born. John C. Van Saun was born in 1774 and died in 1849. He married Sarah Huyler, and moved first to Rochelle park and in 1832 to Maywood. Cornelius, his son, born in
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
1812, married Anna Moore of Tenafly. Their children were Sarah Ann, Jane Elizabeth, John C. and Henrietta John C. Van Sann, the subject of this sketch was born in 1839 and was raised a farmer, but has spent most of his life in public office.
Many years of his official career has been given to the interest of highways, as overseer of roads. He has served as Assessor ten years and has also been for two years freeholder of this township. In 1897 he was elected Mayor of Maywood and re-elected in 1899.
In 1862 he married Miss Margaret Amelia Moore. Their children are Cornelius J., now the Marshal of Maywood; Lizzie M., Anna Amelia . and Peter Edwin.
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RESIDENCE OF ERNST BILHUBER
Mr. Van Saun built his new house in 1894 in which he now resides.
EDWARD D. EASTON.
At Arcola, on the banks of the winding Saddle River near the site of the old Red Mill, where it is related the people of the county gave a reception to Colonel Aaron Burr, when, in the days of his youth that impetuous officer headed an expedition that drove the Hessian troops from this region, has risen a stately mansion, which serves both as an adornment to the country and as a monument to the achievements of one of the men that Bergen county has reason to be proud of. This is the home of Mr. Edward D. Easton. It was on this spot his childhood and youth were spent, and here he returned to make his home, when, still in the prime of manhood, he had won fortune through an industry and an organizing and creative ability, that overcame every obstacle.
Mr. Easton's father and mother, who came to New Jersey from Brooklyn in 1868, lived in a comfortable old house fronting on Paramus
EDWARD D. EASTON
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
road. Mr. Easton " grew up" here, attended the district school, but started out to make his own way in the world much younger than most boys do. His first employment was on the Hackensack Republican where he served nearly two years as reporter and editor. Having ac- quired a knowledge of shorthand, he did work in that line for various New York papers, as well as for his own paper. His shorthand accom- plishment led to his securing an appointment when barely eighteen years of age, in the Light House Board in Washington. This took him from Arcola, and thenceforward until his return in 1897; he spent only his vacation days in the old home. Mr. Easton retained his position in the Light House Board for several years ; but meanwhile had been gaining such a reputation as a stenographer, that there was a constant demand for his services in that capacity. This resulted finally in his severing his connection with the Government, in order to enter the more lucrative field offered in private work to a stenographer of superior attainments. Mr. Easton succeeds in whatever he undertakes, and he succeeded to such an extent as a stenographer that he not only came to be acknowl- edged by fellow craftsmen one of the greatest of them all, but also, be- came notable among them for having earned more money with his pen in a given time than any shorthand writer living. Mr. Easton first came into prominence as a stenographer in the Guiteau trial at Washington, the full and accurate report of that celebrated case, having been mostly the work of his pen. His excellent work there brought about his employ- ment by the Department of Justice and by other Government Bureaus in famous and protracted trials, notably the Star Route trials, which occu- pied upward of a year. During these busy years Mr. Easton found time to study law, and was enrolled as a member of the bar of the District of Columbia.
When a little over thirty years of age, Mr. Easton was able to lay aside his pen, having accumulated a substantial capital, and devote himself to what has seemed to be his life work, the development of the talking machine art. It is an interesting fact that the first men to appreciate the talking machine as a practical invention were steno- graphers, who saw the incalculable value of an instrument that would perform automatically, tirelessly and accurately, the work for which stenographers required years of training- that is, the recording and reproducing of human speech. Soon after the Graphophone patents were issued in 1877, and the talking machine became a practical thing. Mr. Easton organized in Washington the Columbia Phonograph Com- pany, which at first had for its territory the District of Columbia. Maryland and Delaware. Mr. Easton and his associates were practical men and began with a thorough knowledge of the instrument they had to deal with, and an enthusiastic faith in its future as well as a good stock of business sense. Through lack of these, the thirty other companies then organized gradually disappeared while the Columbia Company was successful in all its undertakings. Its operations soon extended beyond its original territorial limits and became world-wide.
RESIDENCE OF EDWARD D. EASTON
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
When the American Graphophone Company the owner of the patents was reorganized in 1895, Mr. Easton who had secured practical control of the talking machine market was made first general manager and soon afterwards President of the Company. At the same time that he entered with characteristic vigor upon the practical business-manage- ment of the company, he took charge also, as Counsel, of its local affairs and his wise management in that capacity contributed much to placing the concern on its present solid footing. A coalition was formed between his old company and the Graphophone Company, and Mr. Easton at the head of both came into control not of the market only but of the concern which soon became, under his direction the greatest manufacturing establishment in the world of talking machines. The remarkable strides made by the American Graphophone Company in three years under Mr. Easton's capable management are familiar facts to those at all acquainted with the condition of the industry. The establishment which at the time he took charge required only one end of a leased factory to house it, now occupies the whole of one of the largest factory plants in Bridgeport, Conn., the company owning the buildings and additional ground sufficient to duplicate the plant when necessary.
Through the Columbia Phonograph Company, under Mr. Easton's management, the American Graphophone Company is represented in most of the principal cities of this country, as well as in Paris, by handsome offices and salesrooms, in nearly every case occupying entire buildings. In the meantime, Mr. Easton having removed his business headquarters from Washington to New York, and having acquired the means to enable him to gratify his wishes, has returned to Arcola, the spot he has so long known as home. As a matter of sentiment, he has built his new home on the very site of the old one, and a part of the old house has been utilized on the new.
Mr. Easton has been twice married. His first wife died after a brief wedded life, leaving a daughter. In 1883 he married Miss Helen Morti- mer Jefferis, of Washington, the lady who now presides over the home at Arcola. By his second marriage he has four children, three daughters and a son. Mr. Easton is simple in his tastes, affable and approachable. His straightforward methods, unfailing courtesy and unswering loyalty to his high ideals of right, have gained for him the respect of the com- mercial world and attached his friends and business associates to him with bonds of the strongest character. Mr. Easton has been a great traveler on business and pleasure and possesses a varied knowledge of men and affairs that makes him a most pleasing companion. His home is noted for its hospitality and for the happiness that always dwells in it.
The house is simple but imposing in appearance, the style being Colonial. There is a broad veranda in front, spacious and delightful hall, parlors and general rooms on the first floor, and many commodious chambers above. The stable is built in corresponding style. Mr. Easton has about fifty acres of land attached to his residence. That
Jacobhan Buskirk
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
immediately adjoining the house has been laid out as a park with strik- ing landscape effects. To illuminate the house and grounds and the roadway between the house and Rochelle Park railway station, elec- tricity has been brought by Mr. Easton by a private line from Hacken- sack, and a long distance telephone connects the house by private line with Hackensack thence all other telephone posts.
JACOB VAN BUSKIRK.
The earliest ancestor of the Van Buskirk family in Bergen county, was John, who came from Holland, and located at Teaneck, now Engle- wood. He had two children, John and Cornelius. Both settled in Ber- gen county, Cornelius eventually removing to Staten Island, where his descendants still reside. John married Miss Rachel Dey and remained at the old homestead spending his life as a farmer. His children were: Peter, who lived on the old farm; Elsie, who married John Ackerman ; Jacob, and Elizabeth, wife of John Bogert, and John who also resided at Teaneck. Of these children, Jacob learned the trade of carpenter, but never made use of it further than to build a saw mill for his own use being a farmer all his life.
He married Catharine, daughter of Captain Abram Haring, a Revo- lutionary soldier. Their children were Sarah, wife of Stephen Lozier, John, Abram and Jacob. John removed to Staten Island where he spent the remainder of his life. Abram removed to River Edge, and died there a few years later.
Jacob who was born at Teaneck, July 26, 1807, spent his early years at this place, where for a period of more than twenty years he carried on the store now owned by J. H. B. Voorhis. Later he and his brother erected the mills afterward owned by his sons. He was active in the promotion of public enterprise, a director of the New Jersey and New York Railroad, and also a director of the Bergen County Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company.
Mr. Van Buskirk married in August 5, 1826, Miss Hannah Voorhis of Kinderkamack. Three children were born of this union, Jacob, Henry and Eliza C., who became the wife of Nicholas R. Voorhis. Mrs. Van Buskirk died September 8, 1879.
Jacob, our subject, was born July 23, 1827. He first attended the dis- trict school for a number of years, subsequently becoming a student in Lafayette Academy, Hackensack, where he paid his tuition by acting as assistant teacher. After leaving the Academy, he taught in the district school at Closter for a short time, and afterwards had charge of the school at Kinderkamack, from which place he was called to the principalship of Washington Institute, where he remained over three years. This was a fitting close to his short but successful career in the work of teaching.
Mr. Van Buskirk with his brother Henry now bought a half share in the milling business and formed the partnership of J. & H. Van Bus-
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
kirk. This firm eventually sold out to the "Hackensack Water Company Reorganized."
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The only offices Mr. Van Buskirk could be induced to accept was that overseer of highways, which he held for a period of twenty years; and the office of postmaster which he held about sixteen years, begin- ning near the time of the War of the Rebellion. He is largely inter- ested in public improvements in the Borough of Delford, of which he was one of the promotors, and to his business sagacity is largely due the success of that corporation.
Mr. Van Buskirk was married Februarry 16, 1853 to Miss Ursula Peack. There children were: Sarah Maria, wife of Jacob Van Wag- oner; Hannah Amelia wife of Huyler Voorhis; Catharine Elmira, wife of Francis H. Waite; Jacob Henry, who died in infancy; Peter Edwin and Arthur.
Mr. Van Buskirk is a strong Republican.
THE LE SUEUR FAMILY.
The Le Sueur Family has been well established in Normandy. France, for over seven centuries, and are well known in the cities of Paris, Dieppe and Rouen, and for four centuries were among the largest manufacturers of cloth in the latter city, where the business is conducted by their descendants. They were also well known in the liberal arts. Eustace Le Sueur the celebrated painter, born in Paris in 1617, and Jean F. Le Sueur, the composer of music born in Abbeville in 1763 were respectively brother and nephew of Francois Le Sueur, the Lozier ancestor who was born in Dieppe in 1625, and by profession was a civil engineer and surveyor, his name taking such forms with his descendants as Leseur, Lesier, Lazier and Lozier. He came from Dieppe to New Amsterdam in April, 1657, and was attended by his sister Jeanne, neither being married, but in 1659 Francois married Jannetie daughter of Hildebrandt Pietersen of Amsterdam, Holland. New Amsterdam was not to be the permanent home of Francois Le Sueur, he with about twenty others, mostly heads of families and freeholders, desiring to continue the language and customs of their mother country applied to the Director General and Council of New Netherlands for permission to purchase a tract of land adjoining the Great Kill or Harlem river. The number of applicants for the land being sufficient for a beginning, the Council granted their request. Ground was broken for the new settle- ment August 14, 1658, and it was named New Harlem by request of the Dutch Governor, Peter Stuyvesant.
In 1663 Francois, with several others, becoming dissatisfied, owing to the heavy taxation levied by the Dutch authorities, sold their prop- erty, and in the fall of that year went up the Hudson River to Esopus (now known as Kingston), but in the spring of 1669, Francois returned to New Harlem, now known as Harlem, a portion of the city of Greater New York.
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