USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 61
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Mr. Westervelt is a member of the G. A. R., Roval Arcanum and Masonic fraternity. He is also one of the marshals of the Protective Society. Mr. Westervelt is the father of one son and two daughters. Arthur Bogert, Antoinette and Alice Irena. The son, Arthur Bogert Westervelt, was formerly in the American Exchange National Bank of New York city. for a period of twelve years, but is now with Harvey,
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
Fiske & Co., of New York. He married Henrietta H. Kohler, and has two children, Marian K. and Noeline.
AARON C. DEMAREST.
One of the projectors of the borough of Cresskill, and for a number of years prominently identified with town and county politics, is A. C. Demarest, member and secretary of the Bergen County Republican Committee. Mr. Demarest was born in Spring Valley, N. J. in 1848, and twenty years afterward went to Spring Valley, N. Y., where he operated a store for a time. In 1869 he came with his father, Cornelius A. Demarest, to Cresskill where property was purchased and a wagon shop built. The father died in 1885, about sixty-five years of age, since which time Mr. A. C. Demarest has conducted the business himself. From the time he first came to Bergen county, he has been more or less active in politics, having been permanently identified with the Republi- can County Committee during the past fifteen years, filling the office of chairman for two years and at present being secretary of the board. He was one of the organizers of the borough of Cresskill, and has been Assessor since its incorporation, and during the same time has been a member of the Board of Education, serving as District Clerk of that body. From 1895 to 1898 he was Freeholder of Palisades Township, and was director of the board during the last year of his term. In 1898 and 1899 he was made Assistant Journal Clerk of the House of Assembly for the State of New Jersey. Mr. Demarest is a member of the Odd Fellows, and is a Past Grand Master of that fraternity.
Mr. Demarest married.Miss Addie Cluss, daughter of H. H. Cluss of New Bridge in 1868, and has four children.
THE RICHTER MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
This company was organized in 1887, by Paul Richter principally for the manufacture of window shades, etc., the building having been erected for that purpose. William Jefferson Johnson, son of Josiah Johnson a Revolutionary soldier and claiming to be the only living son of a Revolutionary soldier, was the builder.
The manufacture of window shades, however, was changed to that of textile fabrics, for upholstering and interior decorations, the product of these articles at this time having a somewhat worldwide reputation and sale. Burlap the article manufactured by Mr. Richter, for interior decorations, made from manila or Indian hemp, was a coarse heavy material for wall covering or decoration which has been used in many of our best colleges, such as Columbia and Bryn Mawr, and similar institu- tions in the United States, as well as in hotels and halls.
Mr. Richter employs a large number of men constantly, and from burlap manufactures draperies, canvas, buckram, etc. Mr. Richter is a native of Germany. He has been in business for himself since he was seventeen years of age, and as a citizen of Tenafly has been honored with various positions of trust and responsibility. He was one of the
PAUL RICHTER.
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promotors of the borough government of Tenafly and has been a mem- ber of its Borough Council from the time of its incorporation, and is at present president of the council. He is also member of the school board.
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the most aggressive of the advocates of Woman Suffrage and a leader in the movement ever since she was a mere girl, was born at Johnstown, N. Y., November 12, 1815, received her preparatory education in the Johnstown Academy, where she studied Greek, Latin and the higher mathematics, with a class of boys. Although prepared to enter any college, these institutions not then being open to women, she finished her school work in Mrs. Emma Willard's Seminary at Troy, N. Y.
Mrs. Stanton's father was Daniel Cady, an eminent jurist, a judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, and a man of un- impeachable integrity. Judge Cady remained on the bench until eighty- four years of age when he resigned, having filled out a length of time hitherto unknown in a similar position. The mother of Mrs. Stanton, was Margaret Livingston a direct descendant of Chancellor Robert Liv- ingston, who administered the oath to Washington at his inauguration.
The Cady family consisted of six children, the eldest of whom, and the only son, died soon after the completion of his collegiate course. His father was well-nigh inconsolable, and at one time exclaimed to his daughter Elizabeth, then eleven years of age, "I wish you were a boy." This in a measure caused her determination to become as nearly like one in her aims and studies as possible. Gerritt Smith, her cousin, was an influential factor in the formation of her future career, and it was in his house she met Henry B. Stanton the notable author, philanthropist and reformer, whom she married in 1840. Previous to her marriage she had spent much time in her father's office, where she read Blackstone and Kent and often listened to the complaints of women who felt injured at not being allowed a voice in the care of their inherited property.
Accompaning her husband to the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London, she met among others who proved to be valuable acquaint- ances, the devoted and now sainted Lucretia Mott, a Quaker preacher, a woman of rare ability and religious fervor. These two energetic and aggressive women returned to America together, and in 1848 called a Woman's Rights Convention to meet in Seneca Falls, N. Y., on July 19th and 20th of that year. Mrs. Stanton had spent the years of 1845-46-47 at Albany, during which time she had used her influence toward inducing members of the legislature to vote for the " Woman's Rights Bill, " then before the public. In 1848 she had the pleasure of seeing this bill passed, giving married women the right to hold and control their in- herited property. Her work during all the years since have been along the same lines-Woman's Suffrage -- as a means to woman's so-called emancipation.
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It was not until 1869 that Mrs. Stanton became a resident of Tena- fly, N. J., where she immediately set to work to bring about reforms for the women of this State, and in 1880 caused a little sensation by attempt- ing to vote, leaving her ballot lying on the edge of the box, with the remark that, with the inspector lay the responsibility of refusing the vote of a citizen of New Jersey.
Mrs. Stanton is now living, more than fourscore years of age, and in 1898 published the reminiscences of her busy life, under the title of "Eighty Years or More, Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton."
Of her six children, Daniel Cady was at one time a member of the Louisiana Legislature, Henry Gerritt and Robert are lawyers, Theodore is an author, Margaret a professor and Harriet is an author and reformer.
Comparatively few persons, either men or women, live to the age of Mrs. Stanton retaining the mental and physical vigor she possesses.
EX-POSTMASTER GENERAL, THOMAS L. JAMES.
Ex-Postmaster General Thomas L. James, the present president of Lincoln Bank, New York city, is of pure Welsh ancestry. Both his paternal and maternal grandparents came to America from Wales in 1800. He was born and educated in Utica, N. Y., learning the trade of printer, in the office of the Utica Liberty Press. Subsequently he bought the Madison County Journal, a Whig newspaper, published at Hamilton, N. Y. In 1856, his paper united with the Democratic Re- flector, under the name of Democratic Republican. Mr. James' career in newspaper work, covered a period of ten years, and in the meantime he incidentally acted as collector of canal tolls at Hamilton for a year or more. In 1861, having been appointed Inspector of Customs, he removed to New York city. Later he was appointed Weigher, and in 1870 was made Deputy Collector and placed in charge of the Ware- house Division and the bonded warehouses of the port. His methodical and systematic manner of conducting business, in a few months estab- lished order and efficiency, where confusion and laxity had heretofore existed.
General Chester A. Arthur, who was then Collector of the Port appointed Mr. James a member of the civil service board of the Col- lectors and Surveyors offices, of which board he was soon after made chairman.
General James was appointed postmaster of the city of New York by president Grant, March 17, 1873 and was re-appointed four years later by President Hayes. Laving aside all partisanship he set to work to improve the postal facilities, succeeded in increasing the number of deliveries. He also developed the fast mail service, expediated the foreign mails and promoted the greater security of the mail generally, by various carefully considered devices. By conducting the office on purely business principles, he won the respect and confidence of both political parties. Upon the removal of General Arthur, from the office
CHARLES L. A. WENGER.
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of Collector of the Port of New York, President Hayes offered the place to General James, who out of courtesy and respect to General Arthur refused to supersede him. Soon after this, when David M. Key resigned the Cabinet office of Postmaster General, the president ten- dered the place to General James, but this too was declined. In the same year he was urged to go on the local ticket for mayor of New York, which he also refused. So widely known had the reforms in the New York post office become, that experts were sent from European governments, for the purpose of looking into the details of the manage- ment of the New York office. The post office authorities in England were disposed torank Postmaster James with Rowland Hill, Scudamore, Chetwynd, and others who accomplished postal system reforms.
When President Garfield selected his Cabinet, Thomas L. James was appointed Postmaster General, and while remaining in office but ten months, he yet applied business methods and rigid discipline the current of affairs, resulting in complete reform.
General James is a local member of the St. David's Society, an association of the Sons of Wales. He was president of this society two years, a position his son, Charles F. James, now holds. He is also a member of the Union League. He belongs to the Atlantic Yacht Club, the Englewood Club, the Tenafly Club, as well as to several church and commercial bodies.
CHARLES L. A. WENGER.
Charles L. A. Wenger was born at Alsace, now a German province. December 15, 1854. His father, Bernard D. G. Wenger, took an active part in the affairs of his locality, serving as collector and assessor, and in other official capacities. Charles was educated in the boys' school of his native place from which he was graduated. Mr. Wenger with true German foresight and thrift, became apprenticed to a baker, taking the full training of three years. He then worked at his trade for two years, coming to America in 1871. Here he settled in Closter, Bergen county, in 1874, engaging in business on his own account, which proved a suc- cessful undertaking. In 1893 he removed to Tenafly and bought the property on Washington street, where he now resides and carries on business.
In 1879 he married Miss Adeline Hincke. By this marriage he has four children, John W., Josephine, Lena and Adriana. His second mar- riage was in 1896, to Miss Freda Mulfinger. They have one child, Charles A. Before coming to the United States Mr. Wenger served in the French army thirteen months, in the Commissary Department. He is a Republican in politics and holds the office of Commissioner of Deeds, to which he was appointed by Governor Werts. He is a member of Alpine Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Odd Fellows of Englewood, and K. of H. Norton Valley No. 3638.
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JOHN J. HARING, M. D.
John J. Haring, M. D., was born in Rockland county, N. Y., March 15, 1834. His parentage was among the Holland Huguenot stock com- mon in that county. His education was pursued in the public schools and academies progressing to a stage fitting him for entrance to college, it being his original intention to complete a college course. A chain of circumstances turned him aside from this purpose and in 1852 he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. M. C. Hasbrouck, then the leading physician and surgeon in Rockland county. A year later he came to the office of Dr. Charles Hasbrouck, a brother of his former preceptor, then in an extensive practice in Schraalenburgh, Bergen county. His first winter medical course was in the University Medical College, his second in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, both in New York city. A third course was in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1854.
Invited to a partnership with his preceptor, Dr. Charles Hasbrouck, he accepted the same and for two years performed the larger share of the joint work extending over at least forty square miles of territory. At the end of that time the entire practice came into his hands by the removal of his preceptor to Hackensack.
For fifteen years Dr. Haring responded to all professional demands of this extensive field, he being the only practitioner within its limits. The amount of work involved in these demands was known only to him- self. Fifteen hours were daily spent in making his professional rounds. all of the tooth extracting, fractures, dislocations, and accidents gener- ally of the locality, came into his hands. In addition he was compelled to perform many of the duties assigned in recent times to the druggist.
With a view to restricting his professional field and taking advant- age of the developments expected from the construction of the Northern Railroad, he located at Tenafly thirty years ago, selecting a fine site and erecting upon it an attractive and expensive residence, where he has since resided and has pursued his profession with unabated activity and success.
Being of a practical matter-of-fact mental make-up, and not given to sentimental tendencies, he has pursued the even tenor of his way never resorting to any of the doubtful expedients often made use of in attaining popularity and professional repute. Naturally reticent and a stranger to the art of flattery, there is little about him of what is known as personal magnetism. Hence he has never courted social popu- larity and has been sparing in his selection of close and confidential friends.
In the domestic life he has found his chief source of satisfaction. and has attained to more than the average of its enjoyment.
Positions of public trust, political and otherwise, have for the most part been declined when offered to him. At the present time he is Presi- dent of the Health Board of his borough and chairman of the Medical Board of the Englewood Hospital. He is the oldest member of the
J. J. HARING, M. D.
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Bergen County Medical Society, having been associated with that body since its organization, over forty years ago.
Politically he has been in sympathy with the Democratic party, and has frequently and earnestly advocated through the public press some of its leading measures. His religious relations have been with Pres- byterianism, having been an elder for many years in the Tenafly Pres- byterian Church and clerk of its session. He is tolerant of the opinion of others and is of charitable tendencies, having cheerfully given an un- usually large share of time and labor without expectation of pecuniary reward. He is a writer of unusul facility, having made numerous con- tributions to various periodicals. Several years ago he published in the local weekly paper of his borough a series of papers, running through an entire year, upon the history of the eastern part of Bergen county, given reminiscences and personal observations of much interest, from which papers we have been privileged to quote in other pages of this volume.
One of the doctor's dreams (if he may be supposed to have any ) is, when he shall retire from active professional life, he may have the op- portunity and intellectual vigor to write just one book differing from any other printed, which will find favor with serious and thoughtful readers, and which may hold a permanent place upon their book shelves. This would satisfy the full measure of his future ambition. His large circle of acquaintances and friends we feel assured will be gratified if this cherished hope shall be realized.
COLONEL ABRAHAM G. DEMAREST.
The subject of this sketch was early imbued with the military spirit and at the age of 22, he recruited a company for the now cele- brated 7ist Regiment of the city of New York, which was then called the American Rifles. This regiment was organized during the " Know Nothing" excitement in that city, and was composed exclusively of American citizens. Colonel Demarest's first commission was received in 1853 from Horatio Seymour, who was then Governor of the state of New York. In 1855 he was again commissioned by Governor Myron H. Clark and again in 1857 by Governor John H. King. At this time owing to his faithfulness in attending to duty and his efficiency in matters military, he was appointed drill-master, and, during this time, it is a matter of record that he never was absent from a drill or a parade.
Those who remember the so-called "Quarantine War" at Staten Island and the " Dead Rabbit Riots" in the city of New York, may know that the Seventy-first Regiment was called upon, and, by its prompt and effective service, put an end to the unpleasant disturbance.
In 1860, Colonel Demarest removed to Cresskill, N. J., which neces- sitated his retirement from the New York militia.
The troublous times of the Civil War stirred again his military spirit, and, with old-time vigor, he recruited a company in Closter for the independent battalion of the Bergen County Brigade, and was com-
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missioned captain by Governor Charles S. Olden, in 1862. As soon as the company was formed he commenced to drill his men in his usual efficient manner, so that when Governor Olden issued his proclamation, calling for New Jersey's quota, under President Lincoln's call for 300,000 men, he had a nucleus around which to rally recruits for the purpose of forming a company, which he did by enlisting volunteers, and by Sep- tember 1, the limit of time given, had one hundred and fifty men recruited from Closter, Cresskill, Tenafly and Englewood. With these he reported at the rendezvous in Trenton, when they became a part of the Twenty-second New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, which left the capital for the seat of war, one thousand strong-eight hundred being from Bergen county and two companies of about two hundred men com- ing from Mercer county. The Twenty-first New Jersey Regiment, which was enlisted in Hudson county, under the same call, was enrolled the day previous to the muster-in of the Twenty-second, and proceeded to the front. When field officers were appointed, Captain Demarest be- came major, which rank he held until January 1863, when he was com- missioned colonel.
The Twenty-second Regiment left Trenton for Washington very hur- riedly, and was ordered into camp on East Capitol Hill. In a few days the regiment joined the Army of the Potomac and was stationed in the defences of Washington at the Chain Bridge, near Georgetown, which position it occupied until November 30, when it was ordered to the front.
During his connection with the army he participated in many of the hard-fought battles, until mustered out of service upon the regiment's return to Trenton at the expiration of its term of service.
After the war, Colonel Demarest had in contemplation the assist- ing in raising the Second Regiment of New Jersey Cavalry, which was afterward formed under Colonel Louis Karge, but the strenuous objec- tions of his family deterred him from the purpose, and he returned to the management of his mercantile business. Colonel Demarest is a prominent member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion; also of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Society of the Army of the Potomac.
FREDERIC L. COLVER.
Frederic L. Colver is of New England and New York ancestry, but was born in Milwaukee, Wis., October 13, 1863. He resided in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1866 to 1888, removing then to Tenafly, where he has since lived and built a home. His tastes early inclined him to the publishing business, and at seventeen years of age he began the pub- lication, in Brooklyn, of the "Philomathean Review," the official paper of the Philomathean Society, of which society Mr. Colver was one of the founders and presidents. This paper he succeeded with the "Brook- lyn Magazine" in 1886, organizing a stock company to publish this magazine, a department of which contained the sermons of Henry Ward Beecher and T. DeWitt Talmage. During the last winter of Mr. Beecher's life, 1886-7, he conducted a newspaper syndicate of Beecher
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articles. In 1887 the "Brooklyn Magazine" was succeeded by the "American Magazine," with Mr. Colver as manager. In May, 1889, Mr. Colver accepted the post of advertising manager for Frank Leslie's publications, after serving a short time as partner in a book publishing business. He was lessee and manager of Frank Leslie's Publishing House from 1895 to July 1, 1898, at which date he incorporated the business under the Frank Leslie Publishing House, with Mrs. Frank Leslie as president and Mr. Colver as secretary and treasurer. In June, 1899, Mr. Colver was chosen president and general manager. Since his removal to Tenafly in 1888, Mr. Colver has taken an active interest in
FREDERIC L. COLVER.
many public movements. In 1891 he started the Tenafly Library Society, now a growing and prosperous literary association.
In the spring of 1892, he was chairman of the committee from that society which raised the funds and built the Tenafly Hall, he acting as Treasurer of the Tenafly Hall Company. During the years of 1894-5 he was editor and manager of the "Tenafly Record." a weekly news- paper, and in the winter of 1892-3, he organized the movement which led to the incorporation of Tenafly as a borough in January, 1894. Mr. Colver served on the first Borough Council, and in 1898 was appointed
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a member of the Board of Health. He is an active worker and officer in the Presbyterian church, and a member of the Tenafly Council, Royal Arcanum.
Mr. Colver is married to Lillian Frances Warren, of Glens Falls, N. Y., and has one child, Frederic Beecher Colver.
HENRY B. PALMER.
Henry B. Palmer, first mayor of Tenafly, is a native of New York city and was born in 1840. He received his education in the city of New York, where he has also been identified with the firm of Barrett, Palmer & Heal, for years one of the largest dyeing establishments in the coun- try. The works of this company are at Nordhoff, N. J., and the business done by them is extensive. Mr. Palmer is also president of the "Old Staten Island Dyeing Establishment," the largest of the kind in the world. He came to Tenafly about the close of the Civil War where he has since resided. As one of the public spirited citizens of the new borough, he was elected its first mayor, and was subsequently re-elected to the position twice afterward, both preceeding and succeeding General James in that office.
PROFESSOR R. S. MAUGHAM.
Professor R. S. Maugham, principal of the schools at Tenafly, and Recorder of that borough, is a native of Jersey City and was born in 1859. His father Joseph B. Maugham, Supervising principal of Bern- ard township, Somerset county, N. J. came from England just prior to the war of the Rebellion, locating in this state, where his life since that time has been given to educational work. Being a teacher and a scholar, his son, the subject of this sketch, received from him a course of instruction and mind training equal to that pursued by those who secure classical degrees in our colleges of the present time. Possessing a logical mind and with a taste for scientific subjects, such topics as evolution and the science of life, has engaged his attention, both as a writer and a lecturer.
As an educator, however, he has devoted his energies, since eigh- teen years of age, to the work of teaching in the public schools, first in Tuckerton, N. J., then in Cresskill, for a period of six or eight years, coming here in 1887 where he has remained to the present time at the head of the Tenafly schools. He is public spirited and possesses qual- ities of leadership as in connection with many of the institutions of his adopted city will testify. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Tenafly, and was superintendent of the Sabbath school and organist of the church for a few years. He was recently appointed Recorder of the borough, and is otherwise identified with the government of the place.
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