History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 154

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 154
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 154

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STEPHEN GROVER GOULD was born in Caldwell, Essex l'o., N. J., Feb. 13, 1808. His grandfather, Lieut. Thomas Gould, was a resident of the same place many years before the Revolutionary war, and at the age of sixty took a patriotie interest in that momentous struggle, He was a man eminent for his piety and Christian works throughout a long life of nearly a century. Mr. Stephen ti. Gould's father was known as Gen. William Gould, and if he

held no such high commission, he was, at least, a brave soldier in the Revolution, and participated in the battle of Monmouth, Subsequently he repre- sented his county in the Legislature, and was for many years a magistrate, dying, at last, greatly estermed as a gentleman and a Christian.

At the age of fifteen young doubl left home for the purpose of becoming a clerk in the store of R. & J. ti. Baldwin, in Newark, N. J. Here he remained a little more than a year, when he left, and subsequently entered the establishment of Mr. William H. Harri-, where he fitted himself for the occupation of a builder and architect. On reaching his majority, in 1529, he began business as a carpenter and builder in conner- tion with Lewis M. Lindsley, with whom he con- tinued until 1835. Mr. Lindsley was his junior in years, having scarcely reached twenty-one, but both were industrious and enterprising, and although they began business with little or no capital, they were able, soon after the close of their first year, to pur- chase the property now known as Nos. 273, 275, and 277 Market Street for fifteen hundred dollars, paying five hundred dollars cash. The firm, though prosperous, was dissolved, as already stated, in 1835, Mr. Lindsley continuing the business alone, and MIr. Could be- coming associated with Mr. Sylvester HI. Moore, under the style of Gould & Moore, builders. The new firmn had been established searcely a year when the finan- cial troubles of 1836 began. It passed through them unharmed, because, as Mr. Gould said, when speaking of the matter, "I have always been cautious in busi- ness, believing it is better for children to ercep before they walk." The firm maintained its credit through- out those disastrous times, and by honest and fair dealings won an excellent reputation far and wide. Messrs, Gould & Moore continued pleasantly and profi- tably in partnership for fully thirty years, when they both felt a disposition to retire from active busi- ness. Accordingly, in 1865, they disposed of their joint interest, as builders, to relatives, one of whom hore the name of Gould, and the other that of Moore. A new firm was thus formed under the old style of Gould & Moore.

Mr. Could's great success as a business man, as well as his undeniable integrity, designated him quite naturally as a person eminently qualified to be in- trusted with either publie or private interests. Thus it happened that he became a corporator and one of the original managers, as well as vice-president, of the Howard Savings Institution, also a corporater and one of the original managers of the Essex County National Bank, of the city of Newark, N. J., both of which institutions have always borne exalted reputa- tions. He was likewise one of the corporators of the American Mutual Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany (now known as the American Insurance C'om- pany), of Newark, which was organized in 1546, and of which he became a director. In 1852 he was elected its vice-president, and in 1854 its president,

636

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

an office which he held until the time of his death. Referring to this matter in his private journal, Mr. Gould says: "I accepted the office of president of the American Fire and Marine Insurance Company that was organized in 1846, without capital or credit, by men not known as capitalists. At the time of my election it had accumulated about twenty thousand dollars but was still feeble, and had not fully the confi- dence of the public. My expectation was to occupy the position temporarily, until some matters could be arranged, but, contrary to my purposes, I was in- duced to remain." Again, in his journal, under date of Jan. 1, Is73, he says: "I still remain president of the Insurance Company where I have been for nineteen years. God has prospered it until it has become the largest in the State, with assets of over one million one hundred thousand dollars. I claim no credit or wisdom in its management. It is God and His providence that has done it all. My igno- rance I have seen and deplored, but the blessing upon the company has enabled it to assist me in helping the poor and in sending the gospel to the dark and benighted. Another cause for thankfulness in my connection with it is this: my associations have 'been of the most pleasant kind; not one of the many directors during all this time having ever cen- sured me for any act performed or duty neglected." Elsewhere, prior to the above date, he says: "With the growth of the company my salary was increased, and additional means for doing good thus furnished, and these I have never hoarded for my own gratifieation or vanity." And all this shows conclusively that Mr. Gould devoted most, if not all, his salary as president of the company to deeds of Christian love and charity. The high estimation in which he was held by the board of directors is shown by another entry in his journal, under date of April 23, 1878,- "This day fifty-five years ago I left my home at Callwell to enter the store of my brother-in-law, Robert Baldwin. This day also a memento has been presented to me on being in the presidency of the Insurance Company near twenty-five years. Valu- able as it is, it is nothing to the approval of the board of my action for so many years."

Mr. Goul] was often solicited to become a candi- date for public office, but always declined every political position except that of chosen frechokler, which he held for several years. In taking this office he seems to have had an object in view, for his first and principal care was to look after the unfortunate beings who filled the county jail, which at that time was sadly neglected. He used all his influence and power to secure a better state of affairs within the prison-walls. lIe introduced a library, organized a Sunday-school, furnished lecturers, and did everything possible to transform a den of iniquity into a school of Christian morals.

During the late Rebellion he exhibited the pa- triotie spirit shown by his father in the times of the

Revolution, and while his age and infirmities would not allow him to take the field, he gave freely of his means and influence to promote enlistments in the army, and by his efforts secured aid to the govern- ment of money to carry on the war.

At the early age of eighteen he united with the Second Presbyterian Church of Newark, with which he remained in connection for seven years. Subse- quently he was a member of the First Presbyterian, the old Free Church in Clinton Street, the Central and Roseville Presbyterian Churches, all of which he contributed largely to build up and strengthen. For nearly fifty years he was an elder, and although most of the time engaged in business that required the utmost vigilance, he never neglected the duties of this important office nor failed in his walk and con- versation to show himself a truly Christian gentleman.

Mr. Gould was married, in 1831, to Sarah A. Craw- ford, of Montelair, N. J., who, with one daughter, Mrs. Emily L. Ketchum, wife of Mr. George W. Ketchum, survives him. He died Jan. 29, 1883, after nearly four months of great suffering, attendant upon valvular disease of the heart. It has been truly said of him: "He adorned every position which he held, was a devoted and faithful hushand, a kind and affec- tionate father, and to all he was a dear and loving associate and sympathizing friend."

At a meeting of the insurance fraternity of the city of Newark, held soon after the death of Mr. Gould, the following, among other resolutions, was adopted :

"· Resolved, That by the death of Mr. Gould we have lost a friend and associate whom we held in the very highest esteem on account of the admirable combination in his character of those rare qualities, both of head and heart, which made his very presence a moral sunshine and ren- dered him a safe and valued counselor ; that we desire to commemorate the prudence, fidelity and skill with which he discharged his duties as president of the American Insurance Company, an institution whose great success, we are sure, ia dne in a very large measure to his wisdom and efforts, and at the same time to hear testimony to the fact, so pleasant for us to remember, that his magnanimous disposition was too large to allow him to think selfishly of his own company and interest alone, but that he emphatically seemed to carry out the injunction, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' "

The Firemen's Insurance Company .- This pros- perous and prominent institution was organized Dec. 3, 1×55, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. The first ‹directors were Charles S. Macknet, Mosts Bige- low, George HI. Bruen, Thomas W. Dawson, Daniel J. Colton, Varon Ward, Jr., Jonathan V. Nichols, Augustus R. Ball, Charles Parsons, Ithamar W. Bou- nell, Henry E. Richards, Charles P. Hall, David A. llaves, Alexander Pool, Algernon S. Hubbell, John C. Thornton, John P. Jube, Thomas T. Woodrutľ, Ezra Reeve, John J. Ross, William Phillips, Stephen G. Sturges, Orson Wilson, David J. Camfickl, Joseph O. Nichols, Erastus W. Roff, Washington A. Brintz- inghoffer, Daniel I). Benjamin, Edward R. Whitlock and Stephen B. Sanders. The first officers were: President, Moses R. King ; Vice-President, George H.

BANKING AND INSURANCE IN NEWARK.

Bruen ; Secretary, Samuel W. Bond. The first office of the company was with Messrs. King & Bond, on Broad Street, near Market. Its present office, on the northeast corner of Broad and Market Streets, is built in a very substantial manner, and yet is quite ornate. It has an iron front of about forty-four feet on each street, and there is a directors' room in the rear of the adjoming buikling on Broad Street. The offices are pleasant, light, well ventilated, handsomely fitted up. The marble used in the counters was imported ex- pressly for the purpose. The office building and land on which it stands was purchased by the company in 1882 for seventy-six thousand five hundred dollars, though it is supposed to have cost the bank people who built it nearly double that amount.

There have been four presidents of the company since its organization. Mr. King, who has been men- tioned as the first, died during the summer of 1856, and was succeeded by t'harles S. Macknet, who held the office until 1859, when Moses Bigelow was elected. He held the position until 1862, when S. R. W. Heath was chosen president.

A special impetus of action and prosperity seems to have been received by the company since Mr. Heath became president. It had, when he was clected, a capital of fifty thousand dollars and total assets of $62,855.70, and it has now a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, and assets of $1, 409,- 941.34. It has agencies in the principal cities throughout the country, thus adding to its strength by the diffusion of its risks, but at the same time its local business is the largest in the city. The progress of the company is well exhibited by the fol- lowing table showing the increase of assets from year to year :

Jan. 1, 1856.

Jan. 1, 1871 . .

. $516,382.40

1:58 ..

63,763.67

1>73 ..

621,098,79

1859. .

66,706.90;

1874 ..

708,122.75

1×60

59,356.111

1875 ..

80001, 200 45

1861. .

62, 17.3.112

1×76 ..

(MW), 1013,83

1x12. . .

G2,355."0

1877 ..

979,437.56

65,1 7.04

1-78. .

1,033,325.30

79.202.27

1479

1,104,139.66

147,961.17

1××1

1,208,200.50

1867

216, 664.31

1×M2

1,237,055.17

2211.706.74

1>3.

1,309,383.01

361,50.47

1,383,228.48

439,031,55

July 1, 1874 .

1,409,041.34

The present officers of the company are: President, S. R. W. Heath ; Vice-President, D. HI. Dunham ; Secretary and Treasurer, Charles S. Colger. The directors are as follows: S. R. W. Ileath, Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, John P'. Jube, Ben- jamin (. Miller, Stephen G. Sturges, Theodore Macknet, Thomas W. Dawson, Samuel Halsey, Algernon S. Hubbell, Aaron Ward, Col. Edward 11. Wright, James R. Sayre, Jr., Edgar E. Bond, John 11. Kase, John T. Leverich, Charles L. Jones, Lemuel Thomas, Henry J. Yates, Daniel J. Colton, Edmund H. Davey, George Watson, William P'hil-

lips, William JJackson, James Peckwell, Frederick >. Douglas, Albert Baldwin, Thomas W. Langtroth, Thomas Dakes, D. 11. Dunham.

Merchants' Insurance Company (formerly Mler- chants' Mutual Fire and Marine Insurance Company) was chartered under the then existing laws of New Jersey by an act of the Legislature approved Feb. is, 1858, with the following-named persons as incor- porators : Thomas Kirkpatrick, Henry N. Parkhurst, John Morrison, Samuel Smith, Oscar L. Baldwin, John McChesney, Silas Merchant, Caleb >. Titsworth, James J. Terhune, David C. Dedd, Ir., William M. Little, James W. Grover and George B. Guerin. The first officers of the company were Henry N Park- hurst, president ; Thomas Kirkpatrick, vice-president ; James W. Grover, secretary and treasurer.

The company was established on a permanent basis, with a guaranteed capital sufficient to meet all losses, and is still doing a safe and satisfactory business.

The directors for 1884 were Henry Powles, David C. Dodd, Jr., C. S. Titsworth, Horace Freeman, L. Spencer toble, Samuel Atwater, Lewis J. Lyons, John D. Harrison, William Il. Baldwin, G. Lee Stout, Thomas W. Adams, Jerome Taylor, Robert Drake, Matthias M. Dodd and Elijah Belknap. The office of the company is at 776-778 Broad Street, Newark

The officers for 1884 were : President, Henry Powles; Vice-President, David C. Dodd, Jr. ; Secretary, J. R. Milliken.

People's Insurance Company, located at No. 764 Broad Street, was chartered March 5, 1866, and fully organized September 27th of the same year, by the election of the following-named persons as directors and officers. Directors, John Metiregor, John M. Ran- dall, Andrew A. Smalley, William H1. Camp, Lewis Fagin, George B. Jenkinson, Jacob H. Dawson, Chris- topher Nugent, George A. Halsey, Adolph Schalk, Frederick G. Agens, Phineas Jones, Thomas Metirath, Abraham N. Reynolds, Christian Stengel, John M. Phillips, John 11. Meeker, Horatio N. Peters, Thomas O'Connor, David Anderson, Andrew Atha, James Dougherty, Philetus W. Vail, Daniel M. Lyon, Thomas N. MeCurter, Thomas Sealy, William A. Ripley, Francis Goken and Isador Lehman.

The officers for 1866 were : President, John McGregor ; Vice-President, John MI. Randall; Secretary, I. H. Lindsley.

The officers of the company for 1883-84 were George A. Halsey, president; George B. Swain, vice-presi- dent ; Samuel Meeker, Jr., secretary and treasurer ; William B. Glasby, inspector. The company closed up its affairs in Jas4, paying its patrons and stock- holders in full.

The New Jersey Plate-Glass Insurance Company, of 271 Market Street, was organized in 1868. The company, which deals in as well as insures glass, has a capital of fifty thousand dollars and its assets amount- ing to seventy-five thousand dollars. Edwin Hedden is

54,6:50.34

1872. .

550,866.10

1,159,106.50

173,41 > 49

638

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

president. B. G. Hager vice-president, and S. C. Hoagland secretary.

Germania Insurance Company, located at 781 Broad Street, was chartered March 16, 1870, and organized April 20, 1870, as the Germania Mutual Fire Insurance Company, with the following-named persons as directors : George C. Webner, Henry Sauerbier, Edwin Ross, Heury W. Egner, James M. Paterson, Dr. William O'Gorman, JJames L. Gurney, Dr. . I. A. C'ross, Benedict Prieth, Gottfried Krueger, ('hristian Miller, Tobias Wiedenmayer, John Otto, John W. Taylor, Ferdinand Kuenhold.

The original officers of the company were : Presi- dent, James MI. Paterson ; Secretary, Julius B. Buse ; Treasurer, George C. Webner; Surveyor, Theodore Ilorn.

The directors for 1884 were George C. Webner, Gottfried Krueger, James A. Ilay, Christian Miller, Peter Witzel, Horace Alling, Ebenezer C. Hay, Julius Stapff, George A. Halsey, George Ward, Jacob Kaiser, John M. Mentz. C. Klenschmidt, James L. Gurney and Theodore Horn.

The officers for the same year were: Julius Stapff, president ; Ebenezer C. Hay, vice-president ; George C. Webner, treasurer ; Theodore Horn, secretary and general agent.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America, located at 878 and 880 Broad Street, was incorporated April 3, 1873, and organized Oct. 13, 1875. Its ob- jeet was to offer insurance to the industrial classes on healthy lives, both male and female, from one to seven- ty-five years of age. Policies are issued from ten dollars to five hundred dollars and the premiums collected weekly at the homes of the insured. A feature of the business is that all policies are payable at death or within twenty-four hours after satisfactory proofs of loss are furnished to the company, in order that the money may be immediately available for the payment of fu- neral expenses and those incurred for medieal attend- ance. The success of this company has been phe- nomenal. It has issued nearly nine hundred thou- sand policies, paid fifteen thousand claims, amounting to over eight hundred and seventy-five thousand dol- lars, and accumulated a large amount of assets and a handsome surplus. The originally subscribed capital of the company was thirty thousand dollars, which has been increased to one hundred and six thousand dollars paid up. The assets of the company .Jan. 1, 1884, were $580,100,55.

The present officers are John F. Dryden, president ; Leslie D. Ward, M.D., first vice-president and medi- cal director ; Horace Alling, second vice-president ; JIenry J. Yates, treasurer ; Edgar B. Ward, counsel; and Edward S. Johnson, secretary; Directors, John F. Dryden, Leslie D. Ward, Horace Alling, Hon. Henry .I. Yates, Edgar B. Ward, Aaron Carter, Jr., Willian Robotham, James Perry, T. C. E. Blanchard, John T. Leverich, Alfred A. Reeves and Edward S. Johnson.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

STREET ILLUMINATION BY GAS AND ELECTRIC LIGHT IN NEWARK.1

Newark Gas-Light Company .- Prior to the in- corporation of Newark as a city the streets at night were left in utter darkness, and pedestrians had but the one alternative of running the risk of breaking their limbs in traversing the unpaved streets, or of illuminating their path by carrying an unhandy lantern, from which the dim rays of a tallow candle shed but a faint light to direct their steps. In a few months after the organization of the city government, in 1836, oil lamps were put up very sparingly in the principal streets, near the centre of the city. Several years passed with this insufficient means of street lighting, until, in 1846, the Newark Gas-Light Com- pany was chartered, and the people of the city were interested in the subject to a high degree. Neverthe- less, when the books of subscription to the capital stock were opened, on the 14th of April, it was looked npon by many as a chimerical scheme, and they not only stood aloof from the enterprise, but dissnaded others from embarking in it. The requisite number of shares, however, was subscribed, and as the work progressed steadily and uninterruptedly, its practica- bility became more and more apparent, and immedi- ately after the completion of the works a premium on the shares was offered and refused.

A contract was made with Mr. Joseph Battin for the erection of gas works to supply forty thousand cubic feet of gas per day, and lay four miles of main pipes for the distribution of the same, at a total cost of one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Battin was one of the foremost gas engineers and contractors of the day, and built the works in Albany, Paterson, and other large cities. He pushed the work so vigorously that by the 25th of December the manufacture of gas was commeneed, and it was supplied to a few of the stores and business houses. On the 5th of January, 1847, the pipes were filled and a general distribution made throughout the four miles of mains, the whole work having been accomplished in eight months.

The first officers of the company were as follows : Samuel Meeker, president ; James Keene, secretary and assistant superintendent ; John Van Wagenen, treas- urer ; Joseph Battin, superintendent ; Directors, James Keene, Joseph Battin, Beach Vanderpool, Isaae Bald- win, Jeremiah C. Garthwaite, Reuben D. Baldwin, Samuel Meeker, William Shuguard, and C. B. Dunean.

The city was then supplied at the same rates as charged private consumers. The first contract with the municipal government was made in April, 1851, and in 1853 there were 337 lamps supplied at the rate of $28,50 per lamp for two thousand two hundred hours; the rate charged now (1884), under a reeent

'By Henry Farmer.

639

GAS AND ELECTRIC LIGHT IN NEWARK.

contract with the two companies for five years, is twenty dollars for each lamp for three thousand three hundred hours, and $1.30 per enbie foot to private con- sumers. The city is provided with three thousand five hundred street gas-lamps, and is well lighted in every inhabited locality.

The present officers of the Newark Gias-Light t'om- pany are as follows : President, Eugene Vanderpool ; Directors, Ira M. Harrison, Edward H. Wright, Theo- dore Runyon, S. HI. Plum, Eugene Vanderpool, John R. Emory, Robert F. Ballantine, M. L. Young, John I. Young.

IRA M. HARRISON, a descendant of the early set- tlers of Newark, N. J., was born at Orange, Nov. 3, 1816. His most remote American progenitor was Richard Harrison, who lived in New Haven, toun., in 1664, and from that place removed to Branford, Conn., where he died. His son, also named Richard, and known as Sergt. Richard, in company with the Rev. Abraham Pierson and others, left Branford and settled in Newark, N. J., in 1666. The number of his sons was five, of whom the youngest was Daniel, who also had a son named Daniel. This was the father of Joel Harrison, the father of the subject of our sketch.

After receiving an education requisite for a busi- ness life, young Ira, at the age of eighteen years, entered, as a clerk, the store of Mr. David Hayes, in Newark, N. J., in which capacity he remained a few years, and then succeeded Mr. Hayes in business. As he increased in age and experience this field of operations became too contracted for a young man of his energy and enterprise, and we accordingly find him, after six years of mercantile life, at the head of a very extensive malleable iron foundry in the same city. This he conducted with great success for about ten years, when he disposed of his interest therein to Mr. David M. Meeker, lately deceased, and to whose estate the establishment still belongs.

Mr. Harrison did not on this occasion withdraw from active business, but, on the other hand, soon after embarked in another enterprise, becoming largely interested in the Chadwick Patent-Leather Company, of which he was elected president, and to which he sue- cessfully devoted his energies. At the head of this very extensive manufactory he remained as long as he continued to be one of its stockholders. On the organization of the Newark Tea-Tray Company in 1875, he became one of the stockholders, and in this enterprise, as in every other, he was a leading spirit. This flourishing establishment is still in operation. although Mr. Harrison is not at present connected with it. He is also very largely interested in the Newark tras-Light Company, and for many years has been a director and prominent in the management of that great corporation.

Though not an active politician, Mr. Harrison has, by reason of his great executive ability and his sue- cess as a financier, been twice called upon to repre-

sent the county of Essex in the State Legislature. On the first occasion, in 1860, it may be said, as an evi- dence of his great personal popularity and of his trustworthiness, he was the only Republican elected from that county to the General Assembly. In 1865 he was again elected to the General Assembly by a very handsome majority. In 1570 he was appointed United States supervisor of internal revenue for the district of New Jersey, but the following year, when the district was so enlarged as to include Mary- land and Eastern Virginia, he retired from the office. Of the Newark City Bank he has been a director since its organization, in 1×51. In Iss4 he was elected a lireetor in the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, of Newark, N. J. Of the South Park Presbyterian Church Mr. Harrison was one of the founders, and for more than twenty years one of its prominent officers, and the superintendent of its Sabbath-school. Although quiet and unassuming in his manners, he is a man of great decision, and is seldom thwarted in any of his purposes.

STEPHEN HAINES PLUM was born at Newark, N. J., Jan. 7, 1840, and is a lineal descendant of Samuel Plum, one of the colony from Branford, Conn., who settled in Newark in 1666. Mr. Samuel Plum was a surveyor and a man of considerable note, as may be seen by reference to the Newark Town Records. His son John, and grandson John, and great-grandson John, were all in a direct line the ancestors of Matthias Plum, the father of the subject of this sketch. The family came originally from Maldon, Essex County, England, and it is proper to say that many of the descendants, even as far back as 1760, spell the name Plume; and Mr. Samuel H. Congar, in his genealogical notices of the first settlers of Newark, speaks of Samuel Plum, above mentioned, as Samuel Plum or Plumbe.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 154

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840