History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 156

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 156
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 156

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In connection with the are lamp, Mr. Weston de- voted a great deal of time to the study of the problem of running lamps in series, and was undoubtedly the first one to succeed in accomplishing this result. Ile had contrived a number of most ingenious devices to overcome the practical difficulties of making the lights burn equally, but did not as fully protect him- self by patents as he should have done.

The subject of the electric transmission of power has also engaged a good deal of Mr. Weston's time and attention. Practical work in this connec- tion was done by him as far back as 1876. In | tion, much resembling thin sheets of gelatine, which is sometimes used for decorative purposes. This material is derived from gun-cotton by a series of chemical processes which would be too tedious to de- scribe here. Having secured a homogeneous mass, he was able to seenre a perfectly homogeneous carbon,- a result which is of the utmost practical value, and which never before has been obtained. The influ- ence of this invention on incandescent electric light- ing will be very great, as it reduces the cost hy increasing the number of lamps that can be obtained from a horse-power, and from the high resistance of the carbons obtained it will also very materially diminish the size and reduce the cost of the conductors.

1878 he constructed several motors, which were used for the purpose of propelling electric tor- pedo-boats. They possessed remarkable efficiency, yielding results far beyond anything that had pre- viously been accomplished in this particular line, and received the warmest encomiums of the gov- ernment officers who had been directed to examine and report upon them. Many valuable patents have been the result of Mr. Weston's long-continued stud- ies and experiments in this comparatively new field of the electric transmission of power, and the inventions covered, with others now in process of development, constitute the most complete system that has yet been brought to publie attention.

Among Mr. Weston's more recent inventions, that of the preparation of tamidine deserves special men- tion. It constitutes, without doubt, the most valua- ble contribution hitherto made to the art of incan- descent lighting. Tamidine is a modification of the substanee known as cellulose, which forms the basis principle of most vegetable products. By a number of different processes, the fundamental features of which Mr. Weston has duly covered by patents, this substance is transformed into a gelatine- like body, to which the name above given, indicative of its origin, has been applied. It is a material possessed of many and valuable properties, and it has already found

it would be hard to conceive of a body that could more perfectly answer the requirements demanded than does Mr. Weston's material. It is remarkably homogeneous in structure, thus practically doing away with the necessity of any subsequent treatment for equalization. It can be cut and worked with won- derful ease, and the high specific resistance, elasticity and toughness of carbons prepared from it constitute by no means the least of its valuable features. Up to the date of Mr. Weston's invention of this material all carbons used for incandescent lighting had been derived from substances having a fibrous structure. Among those most commonly used are thread, bam - boo and paper. The carbons obtained from all these substances preserve their original structure. In the case of carbons derived from paper, the tibres are interlaced and bound together in a manner similar to the fibres of thread. Carbons obtained from thread possess the same qualities. In the case of carbons obtained from bamboo or similar substances, the fibre-structure is preserved, but the fibres lie parallel with each other, and the structure is still nneven. Hence, in no case had any carbon for the incandes- cent lamp been obtained which is perfectly homoge- neons. The advantage of such a structure, however, would be very great, provided it could be accon- plished. Recognizing this fact, Mr. Weston attacked the problem, and by an exceedingly ingenious process produced cellulose in a perfectly homogeneous condi-

About the time that Mr. Weston commenced the business of buikling dynamo-electric machines in Newark there was practically no money invested in this line of work in America. From that time, how - ever, the business has grown to such magnitude that it is difficult to estimate the actual capital invested in all the various branches connected with it. It is safe to say that it cannot be much less than fifty mil- lions of dollars, while the number of hands actually employed in the United States, either directly or indirectly, in this business is something enormous. In 1881 the Weston Company consolidated with the I'nited States Company of New York. This consoli- dation led to an increase of capital to one million

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EDUCATION IN NEWARK.

five hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Weston became the electrician of this company, which is called the United States Electric Lighting Company, and the company created the vast factory at Newark, covering a whole block, and employing, when running tull, somewhere near six hundred hands. The influence of this industry on the steam-engine business has been remarkable. It is estimated that somewhere near twenty-five thousand horse-power is used to drive machines of the Weston type for the various purposes for which they are used. There are three illuminating stations in the city of New York supplying lights by the Weston system, which, in the aggregate, use about two thousand horse-power. Two hundred and forty miles of wire are used for the circuits from these stations, and they cover a very large territory in that city. Similar stations have been built in various vities of the Union. The capital invested in this manner is very large, and the number of hands ac- tually employed superintending and maintaining the stations is very great. It would be impossible to enumerate in an article of this kind the in- ventions of Mr. Weston. It appears that he has filed applications for about two hundred patents, and that one hundred and fifty have been actually issued to him, and that all this has been practically accomplished, together with the building up of the enormous business, within a period of ten years This indicates that he is a man of great energy and wonderful fertility. His laboratory is the best equipped private laboratory in the world.

The Newark Electric Light and Power Com- pany .- This company is a local organization, and at- tends exclusively to the furnishing of the electric light to the consumers in the city. It was incorporated, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, Feb. 18, 1852, and has erected a large and costly brick build- ing at Nos. 31 and 33 Mechanic Street, where its offices and machinery for generating electricity are located. About two hundred and seventy are lights, each of two thousand candle-power, are used by merchants and store-keepers and in the public parks. Light is supplied to these lamps from twenty-seven dynamo machines, and six smaller machines furnish the elec- trical illuminating spark to about two hundred incan- descent lamps for in-door purposes exclusively. These dynamos run every evening from dusk until after mid- night, and for each incandescent lamp used during these hours the company charges two dollars per month to the consumer. They have plans in prepara- tion for a more general distribution of light on this system, intending to offer greater inducements to hotels, business houses, manufactories and the oven- pants of private houses to use the electric light in a much more general manner than is now done. They have facilities at the lighting station to largely in- crease the supply of light furnished to their patrons. A three hundred horse-power engine keeps the machin- ery in motion, which aggregates a light equal to five

hundred and forty thousand candles. In case of ac- cident, an engine of the same capacity stands ready in the basement to do the work of the disabled engine at a moment's notice. In this building steam arrom- pliches nearly all that is sought to be done, and from the nature of the work, but little manual labor is required. The company employ about twelve men in the various departments. The officers are as follows : George B. Jenkinson, president ; Marcellus Hartley, vice-president ; Philip N. Jackson, secretary ; Samuel S. Dennis, treasurer ; S. W. Morrison, superintendent ; Directors, George B. Jenkinson, Thomas T. Kinney. Edward Weston, Marcellus Hartley, Samuel S. Dennis, John D. Harrison, James Stokes, Andrew Kirkpatrick.

CHAPTER XLIX.

EDUCATION IN NEWARK.

THE early settlers of Newark, although not men of learning, were men of enterprise, virtue, and more than ordinary intelligence. Few in numbers at first, they not only carefully sought to keep their ranks unbroken, but just as carefully guarded ther ranks against the admission of persons unlikely to labor cordially for the common good. Their carly town records, briefly jotted down as a sort of temporary reminder, are wonderfully interesting, and through them we learn chiefly how, more than two hundred years ago, a few families, consisting of about thirty persons, founded a city now the most important in New Jersey, and among the most important of the Union. Their land having been purchased from the Indians, their habitations having been built, their local government established, their church erected, their mill constructed, and, in the course of ten years, their numbers considerably augmented, they gave their attention to what was deemed to be next in im- portance to providing for their immediate bodily, as well as spiritual, wants, and this was the education of their children. Short as the entry on the town rec- ords appears, it was significant of a determination to raise up a generation capable of carrying on the enter- prise which had been inaugurated.

It was at a town-meeting composed of the free- holders of Newark, numbering at that time sixty-five persons, that the following action was taken :

" ITEM - The Town's Men have Liberty to see If they can find a compe. lont number of holland and accommodations for a School Master in this Towy."

This was on the Ist of November, 1076, a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence.

The ' town's men," who were seven in number, and to whom this important matter was referred, were chosen annually, and answered to the aldermen of the present day, with this difference,-that while they

646

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

had no power to pass ordinances, they were authorized and expected to enforce the ordinances passed by the ; people at the town-meeting. They were exceedingly useful members of the community, and gave their personal attention to a great variety of things "for the good of the town." During this year they were empowered to act as a school committee, and as the first school committee of Newark their names may be properly recorded here. They were Thomas .Johnson, Stephen Freeman, John Curtis, Samnel Kitchell, Thomas Huntington, John Ward (the tur- ner) and Samuel Plum.

There is no record of the proceedings of the town's men as a school committee, but that they carried out the wishes of the town-meeting is to be presumed, for we find the following record in the minutes of the meeting hell on the 7th of February following:

"ITEM-The Town hath consented that the Town's Men should perfect the Bargain with the School Master for this year, upon condition that he will come for this year, and do his faithful, honest and true Endeavor, to trach the Children or servants of those as have subscribed, the reading and writing of English, and also Arithmetick if they desire it ; as much as they are capable to learn and he capable to teach them, within the Com- love of this Year, no wise hindring but that he may make what bargain he please, with those as have not subscribed. It is voted, that the Town's Men have Liberty to complete the Bargain with the School Master, they knowing the Town's Mind."

Pioneer Schoolmaster .- The name of Newark's first schoolmaster was John Catlin (spelled sometimes Catling), and, according to the town records, he was in sundry ways a very useful man in the community. He was one of the early settlers from Branford, and quite conspicuous in various matters of interest to the town. During the year- 1677-78 he held the office of town attorney, and in 1677-79, also in 1681-82, he was one of the town's men. After the year 1682 his name does not appear in the public records.

Pioneer School Legislation .- Before any men- tion is made of his successor we find that the General Assembly of the province took in hand the subject of education, and by the act of October, 1693, laid the foundation of that glorious system of public instruction which we at present enjoy, and which has been imitated in other lands. That quaint old act, passed nearly two hundred years ago, is in the following words :

" AN AIT for establishing School Masters within this Province.

. WHEREAS the cultivating of Learning and good Mannen tends greatly to the ground and benefit of Mankind, which have hitherto been much neglected within this Province. Be it therefore enacted by the Governor, 4 ouneil and Deputies in General Assembly now niet and Sembled and by the Authority of the same, that the Inhabitants of any Town within this Province, shall and may by Warrant from a Justice of Peace of that County when they think ft nud convenient, meet together and make choice of three more men of the Nud Town, to make a rate for the salary and maintaining of a School Muster within the wid Town, for so long time in they think fit , and the consent and agreement of the Major l'art of the Inhabitants of the mail Town, shall bind and oblige the remaining part of the Inhabitants of the mid Town to satisty and pay their Shares und P'ro- portion of the mid Rate : and in case of refusal or non-payment, die trem to be made npon the Goods andl C'hattles of sald Person or Persons so refusing or not paying, by the Constable of the mid Town, by Virtue ofa Warrant frion a Justice of the Peace of that County ; and the Distress BO taken to la wohl at a publick Vemdue, and the overplus, if any be aller payment of the mid rate and charges, to be returned to the Owner."

This inauguration of a free-school system proved very satisfactory, so far as we have any means of as- certaining, but the school committees provided for under the law, not possessing sufficient power, the act was amended in February, 1695, as follows :

"AN ACT for regulating of Schools.

" WHEREAS there was an Art made, Anno Domini Hi93. for the estal- liehing of Schools in each respective Town in this Province, and by experi- ence it is found inconvenient, by reason of the Distance of the Neighbour- hood, the said Act directing no suitable way whereby all the Inhabitants may have the benefit thereof. Be it Therefore enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives in General Assembly now met and Assenilded, ail by the Authority of the same, that three Men be chosen Yearly and every Year in each respective Town in this Province to appoint and agreo with a school Master, and the three Men so chosen shall have power to nominate and appoint the most convenient Place or Places where the School shall be kept from time to time, that as far as may be the whole Inhabitants may have the benefit thereof."

It does not appear from the town records that any school committee was appointed in Newark under the foregoing acts prior to Aug. 10. 1696. On that day the following action was taken by the town-meeting :

" ITEM-It is voted, that Capt. John Curtis, Mr. John Treat, and Mr. Theopilus Pierson, shall endeavor the obtaining a well-qualified Man for a School Master "

The old schoolmaster had evidently disappeared ; but whether or not he had served the people up to the last-mentioned date is not a matter of record. The school committee, doubtless, endeavored faith- fully to find another " well-qualified man," but appar- ently did not succeed in doing so until the close of the year. On the Ist of January ensuing the town- meeting chose a new school committee, consisting of Theophilus Pierson, Jasper Crane and Thomas Rich- ards, who were authorized "to agree with a School Master (probably the one just obtained by the old committee) to keep School in this Town for the Year, according to Act of Assembly."

Pioneer School-House .- The location of the first school in Newark is a matter that cannot be definitely . ascertained. It is not probable that it was kept in any building erected for the purpose, but more than likely that it was accommodated in some private house or in some illy-adapted shed. The town records furnish no clue to a school-house or to the location of one until Sept. 28, 1714, when, at a town- meeting,

" It was also ordered by Vote, yiye ohl floor in ye Meeting-house should be made use of for se Making a floor in ye school-house in the Middle of ye Town."

This school-house must have been originally built and occupied without the comfort of a floor, or it must have been so long in use that the floor was nearly worn out, for it is not probable that the pro- ple would erect a new and substantial stone church as well as a school-house in the same year. The school-house was undoubtedly built soon after the passage by the General Assembly of the acts establish- ing free schools, and when the old meeting.house, which stood on the west side of Broad Street, a little below Market, was taken down, its old floor was put into the old school-house, not only as a matter of econ-

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EDUCATION IN NEWARK.

omy, but of dutiful regard to Scriptural teachings. This old school-house stood on the south side of Mar- ket Street, on or near the spot now occupied by the " Boys Lanlging-House.

Schools Encouraged .- The town always encour- aged the building of school-houses. Thus we see at a later period, March 9, 1773, the town-meeting

" Voted, that a School hours may be built on any of the Common Law in Newark, and the particular Mare shall Ine where a major Part of the Sulmeriber in Value shall Appoint. Thomas Saffen in clemen Poun ler "

It is more than probable that this office had nothing to do with the school-house or the pupils, though the coupling of this appointment with the grant might not be regarded as altogether inappropriate.

As another instance of the liberality of the town in matters of education, it may be noted that at a town- meeting held March 14, 1775, it was

" Voted unanimously, that one acre and an half of Land in the Town Commons at the North end of the Town may be taken up for the I've of the new Academy lately orocted on said Land. Voted that Lewy Ogden Faq'r, William Camp, Inmac Ugden Esq'r, Cafe. Anthony Rutgers Jugeph Hod- den Jr., Samuel Hayes, and Joseph Alling, or any four of them, he a conntuitter to lay out une Aire and an half of Land, for the Use of the Academy in such Manner as they shall think proper."

Of this institution, which was destroyed by British marauders in January, 1780, further mention will he made.

Other grants of a similar nature were made to private persons who had associated together for the advancement of learning, and schools of a private as well as of a public character were beginning to multiply. In 1810 the population of Newark had reached four thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight but the form of government had from its first settle- ment remained essentially the same. The town- meetings were no more called by the sound of the · drum, nor were absentees any longer fined for ne- Fleeting their duty to the public; but it is easy to see, by an examination of the town records, that the ad- ministration of affairs was at this time in the hands of men of whom Newark has just reason to be proud. At a town-meeting held at Mosts Roff's court-room, April 11. IAlt, Joseph (. Hornblower (afterwards chief justice of New Jersey ), Silas Condit Edward Jones, Jame- Vanderpool, David Hayes, William Tuttle and Aaron Munn were appointed a committee to examine the poor-schools, and an appropriation of five hundred dollars was made " for the schooling of Poor children ; " and it was also resolved, " That Pour Children who have a residence be schooled." In April, 1815, a similar appropriation was made, and thus, year after year, appropriations were made for school purposes ut township meetings until 1536, when Newark was incorporated as a city.

Female Union School Established. - In 1822, through the efforts of a number of charitable Indies, a school for girls was established, under the name of the Female Union School, which was afterwards sustained in part by the public money. In 1828 the State

Legislature authorized by law the distribution of a portion of the income of the State school fund among the several townships of the State. This sum which was at first twenty thousand dollars, was afterwards increased to thirty thousand, then to forty thousand, and finally to eighty thousand dollars.

Bequests for School Purposes. - In 1:30 a le- quest of five thou and dollars from the estate of Thomas Longworth, deceased, was received by the town, on condition that the income therefrom be ex- pended for the education of orphan children. An- other bequest of four thousand dollars, from the estate of Stephen Sayres, deceased, was received by the city in 1836, the income to be applied to the education of poor children. The moneys obtained from these sources were used partly in establishing school- free to the children of the poor, and partly in paying for the instruction of poor children in private schools.

School Committee Provided for .- The charter of 1836 provided for the annual election of a school com- mitter, and gave the Common Council authority to raise money by tax for the schooling of peor children. In accordance with the provision of this charter, school committees were elected, but it was not until 1838 that any steps were taken towards the establish- ment of schools wholly under their control. In that year a public free school, comprising a male and female department, was opened in each of the four wards of the city. The public free school in the North Ward was located in the Washington School- house, on Orange Street; that in the East Ward in the basement of the Second Baptist Church, on Mar- ket Street, more recently known as "The ( Hleon ; " that in the South Ward in the basement of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church on Franklin Street ; the male department of the West Ward Public school was in the first story of Mr. Hedges' school-house, on Bank Street, now occupied as a colored church ; and the female department was connected with the Female I'nion School, at the corner of Maiden Lane and Hal- sey (then Harrison) Street. There was also a High School for boys in the second story of Mr. Hedges' school-house, and under his instruction. To this school pupils were admitted upon the certificate of the school committee. All these schools were en- tirely free and supported mainly by tax, but were conducted in buildings or rooms leased for that pur- powe by the city.

Public Schools Established. The inconvenience of this, and the impossibility of establishing any etti- cient system of public schools under such circum- stances, induced the Common Council to ask for further authority from the Legislature, and, accord- ingly, an act was passed in 150 entitled an " Act to establish Public Schools in the city of Newark." This was followed in Is1 by a further act. entitled " An net to incorporate the Board of Education of the city of Newark," and therein was granted all the authority that was necessary to establish and main-

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

tain an effective system of public schools. Under it Newark may now boast of free schools that cannot be surpassed by any city in the Union.

Moneys Expended for School Purposes .- From the time that the first appropriation of $500 was made for the "schooling of poor children," April, 1.14, until the incorporation of the city, 1836,-a period of twenty-three years,-$23,124.64 was ex- pended for school purposes.

From 1836 until the organization of the first Board of Education, 1851,-a period of fifteen years,-the sum of 888,712.92 was expended for the same pur- pose.

From the inauguration of the first Board of Edu- cation, in 1851, to the Ist of January, 1884, the sum total expended for education, including the erection of school-houses, is $4,863,029.23, of which sum 8723,398,73 was expended for school-houses, sites and furniture, now estimated to be of the value of $1,- 030,000.

First Public School-House .- The first public school-house erected in Newark was built in 1843-44, 1840 .- North Ward, John Whitehead, John HI. Jaques ; East Ward, Samuel 11. Pennington, Stephen Congar ; West Ward, Charles T. Day, and was located in the Third Ward, between lill and | John R. Weeks ; South Ward, Charles $, Macknet, Algernon >. Hub-

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 156

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