History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 137

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 137
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 137

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TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, of Bergen Point. Congregation organized in 1859. Church edifice con- serrated Sept. 4, 1862. Earliest rector, Rev. Franklin S. Rising. Present rector, Rev. Howard Arrowsmith. ST. BARTHOLOMEW MISSION, instituted May, 1865. The field was assumed by a church organiza- tion, the corner-stone having been laid Nov. 3, 1866. The congregation took for their title C'alvary Church, of Bayonne, March 22, 1867, and the edifice was opened for service the last Sabbath of June in that year. Location, Forty-fourth Street, between Avenues C and D. Earliest rector, Rev. Frederick M. Gray.

ST. Joux's Mission, instituted in 1872. Organ- ized subsequently as St. John's Episcopal Church. Location, Avenue D), corner of Thirty-fourth Street. The earliest rector was Rev. Washington Rodman. I'resent rector, Rev. W. T. Picksley.

REFORMED CHURCH .- The Reformed Church at North Side attracted residents also to its services from Bergen Point a century ago. In fact, that church and the church at Bergen were sharers in the services of the same pastor for many years. United in their purpose, they educated a student, sending him to flolland, where he passed four years in preparing for the ministry. On his return to this continent, in 1757, he assumed charge in September of that year, serving the two congregation- with great faithfulness, and declining to accept a call proffered him by other congregations. The period of his ministrations here exceeded thirty years. His successor at Port Rich- mond, in 1790, was Rev. Peter Stryker. The families of the congregations here mentioned used the Dutch language. Many of the gravestones in the cemeteries adjoining the churches show inscriptions in that lan- guage. The Holland language was the current speech in use during Dominie Jackson's ministry. Public worship under his guidance and of his prede- cessors was attended by no undervaluation of educa-

I Capt. Latourette was an export at the war, and reamed to enjoy the ever is that are mounted his little jaunt across the Kill to and from the church

THIRD REFORMED CHURCH OF BAYONNE CITY. -The corner-stone laid Oct. 12, 1873. The edifice is located on Avenue T, corner of Fourth Street. Rev. (. F. A. Klein, present pastor.

PEOPLE'S CHURCH .- The location, Avenue T, corner of Fourth Street. Pastor, Rev. H. W. F. Jones. The congregation worshiping in this edifice recently organized under the title of the First Presby- terian Church.

BERGEN NECK METHODIST CHURCH, instituted June 22, 1844. The corner-stone was laid and a church building erected in 1854. Name changed to the Mattison Methodist Episcopal Church of Bay- onne Feb. 26, 1868. Present location, Avenue D, corner of Oakland Avenue. Pastor, Rev. (. S. Woodruth.

WESTVIEW AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH, West- view Avenue, near Avenue D. The present pastor is Rev. J. K. Aylsworth.

LUTHERAN .- Twenty-sixth Street. Present pas- tor. Rev. A. P. Bechtold.

SAINT MARY'S, STAR OF THE SEA (ROMAN CATH- VI.10), located on Avenue C, corner of Twentieth Street. The edifice was consecrated March 18, 1860. Earliest incumbent, Pastor Callan. Present incum- bent, Pastor Thomas M. Killeen.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH .- This is probably the youngest religious organization in the city, and but little information could be gained relative to this church beyond the following item, which appeared in the Evening Journal of Jersey City, of the date of Oct. 11, 1874 :

" Yesterday afternoon the rite in connection with the laying of the cornerstone of the new edifice for the First Baptist Church of Bayonne were held at the site of the structure, on the corner of Bayonne Avenue and Venuef, Bayonne proper. The audience was mainly composed of ladies and children, and numbered in the neighborhood of two hundred. The services were opened by Rev. Dr. Folwell, pastor of the church, who delivered a short address, after which the spectators sang a hymn begin- ning with 'I Lasse Thy kingdom, Lord . The Rev. 1' S. Woodruff, pas- tor of the Mattison M. E. Church, reudn Scriptural lesson for the orcasion, and was succeeded by Rev Dr. Parmiy, of this city, who delivered an appropriate prayer. 'All hail the power of Jesus' name ' wus aung with u will at the conclusion of the prayer, after which Rev. Dr. Everts, of this city, addressed the gathering, his thome being an explanation of the Baptist faith And doctrine. livs. Dr. Taylor, of Newark, followed with an address of congratulation, and Ron. F. E. Osborne, of West Hulken, good a short address adapted for the services. The hymn commencing

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CITY OF BAYONNE.

with 'Joann shall reig sung by the ambience prior to udire by Rev Giro Nicholain, pastor of the North Baptist Church, the city. I . D. C. Hughes, pastor of the Summit Avenue Church, this city ; and I v A. W Falwell, of brix klyn. The past or then deposited the two of cold a within ihr stone, no ajmerial service being uberved, after which tre top nt me was Isid in place and the audience sang the I ag sartor Ius 1.\ rta jr u un ed the ben li toon."

Rov. I. N. Folwell was pastor of this church in 1834. Educational .- The town superintendent report- ing in 1963, remarks: "It is our purpose to call the attention of teachers to the importance of keeping accurate and reliable registers in their respective district -. " Few localities in the State could keep the teachers more active in this particular. Rapid advancement, the brisk increase, and spirited move ments of the young city put all on the qui rice.

Even the county superintendent had an opportu- nity here to exercise in due time all his numerot. functions. These were, with other duties of a finan- cial kind, to visit and inspect the schools, inform and counsel trustees, adjust district boundaries, examine and license teachers, suggest and direct in school matters. Matters of this sort, however, became rapidly complex in the new city. Accordingly, we soon find him suggesting a local board. Below ap- pears the Board of Education for ISat.

IU ARDI E ITUATION.

First Ward, 1 . 1. Lord present . 11.31 Brusk, Trong" W Conmuchas. See ind Ward, N. F Hayward, . A W Inf, & hastes Stillman. Third Ward, William It. Frevert. 1 .. F. Jor lan, Arthur ( Well. Fourth Ward, 0 F Schmaeder, M. M Kombricks, Jam - M Hugh. Fifth Ward, Janun Harley, Jamen Van Winkle Patrick Coffey, tima ge

No. 1 .- First Ward, Fifth Street, It. E. Harry mu's full. ) N . 2. Se und Ward, Avenne D., PG VE om principal, No. 3. Third Ward, Fourty-frost Street, E. 1. Fart paypal No 4. - Fourth Ward, Fifth Street, Vino Vie . Wolmon gos sequel No. 5. - und Ward, Twenty-enth street, 6 A Atwater principal

The following sums of money were asked for In the board for 1854-55: Buildings and repairs account School No. 1, 8250; School No. 2, 500 ; School No. 3, $300, and a bond for $1000 for the proposed alterations; School No. 4. $250; School No. 3. 8400,-total, St700. Salary ne- count, $25,000; school-book account, $2000; Stoves and fuel account, $1300; furniture account, $600; mcidental fund, $1000,-grand total, $32,600 for the purpose of conducting the city's five schools during the school years of 1884-85.

under the name of the Newark Bay Boat Club, has its mine trustees, with Sterling I. Haywood as their chairman. Officers for Jak) were Ernest (. Well, president ; Witham A Holmes, vice-president; tivorge G. Jewelt, treasurer. Leonard W. Anerman, recording secretary; Arthur t' Webb, corresponding secretary ; dummes R. Raymond, ogatain Eugene Macdonald, lieutenant

Fire Department. Regulations regar ling fire alarms, as announced in one of the official papers. August, Jest. giv, incidentally a view of the agency, serving here to protect property from conflagrations. The bulletin begins with announcing that the city is divided into five fre districts, these corresponding with the file wards. First District is the First Ward Second District is the Second Ward, and so on.

The City's Growth. - As years shp along, and a city in name gains more and more the compact ap- peurance becoming a city in reality, agricultural aspects will here be seen vanishing. Just at present, however, variel and many as are the appearance- that show a city to be advancing, there are still ample evidences of agricultural enterprise. The post-offices within the boundaries of the city are Bergen Point, Bayonne, Pamrapo and Van Buskirk.

The first is an Sixteenth Street, opposite the Cen- tral Railroad depot, t. T. Munn, postmaster. The second is on Avenue E, corner Bayonne Avenue, J. Murphy, Jr., postmaster The third is the Salters- ville post-office of years past, M. Mullancy, postmaster. The fourth is on New York Bay, about one mile east of Bayonne Station, G. Christians, postorister

Newspapers .- BAYONNE HERALD, an eight-page weekly, issued every Saturday at No. 13 Avenue D. The publication began Der. 25, 1x69, and it has reached its twenty-first volume. Editor and pub- lisher. 11. 0. Page.

BAYONNE Tours, E. Gardner & Sons, publishers. This is a four-page weekly, issued every Thursday. Vol. xiv. No. 50, appeared Aug. 28, 1884.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

SOLON HUMPHREYS.

Athletic Sports .- Any one casting a glance over Solon Humphreys, who has been a resident of Bergen Point, city of Bayonne, since 1856, is the son of the late t'ol. Decius Humphreys, and sixth in descent from Michael Humphreys, the emigrant from Lyme-Regis, England, to Windsor, Conn., in 1640,- a distinguished man of his time, whose descendants have been very numerous, and now constitute the largest portion of those bearing the name in this country Mr. Humphreys was born in t anton, Hart- ford Co., Conn., Ort. 27, 1821, and educated in the District High School of his native town, in Wright's the waters of the Kill you Kull on a pleasant morn- ing, then taking a tour along the main avenues of this city, will readily notice numerous evidences of recent enterprise. Quite a stress rests upon very uble exertions operating for the moral and intellec- tual progress of the inhabitants, athletic sports-the American game among the most prominent -gaining a share of attention ; aquatic entertainments also, the latter enjoyed by members of a brisk body that in 1883 dedicated a somewhat attractive club-house to the objects of their organization. This adventure, | Academy |Fast Hartford,) and St. John's College

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

(Annapolis, MId.) He was a clerk in the employ of the late Governor E. D. Morgan, in New York, from 1840 to 1845, and removed to St. Louis in 1845, where he engaged in the wholesale grocery and commission business, remaining nine years at that point. He married, in 1847, Mary Ellen, daughter of the late Edward Walsh, one of the most esteemed merchants of that city, and has one son, Edward Walsh Humphreys, born in 1848. Mr. Humphreys returned to New York in 1855, as partner in the firm of E. D. Morgan & Co., which partnership continued until the deccase of Governor Morgan, in 1883, when the busi- !

dation as director, as president in 1880-82 and as receiver in 1884. He was one of the original pro- moters of the great bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, which was constructed at a cost of up- wards of twelve million dollars, and was receiver of the bridge company in 1877-79. He was chosen president of the reorganized company 1879-81. Mr. Humphreys has been vice-president of the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad Company since its organization, in 1882, and was one of its principal promoters. He was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce in New York in 1873, and has been its treasurer since

James.

Ammeti

ness was continued by the surviving partners. He | 1878. He has been warden of Trinity Protestant was one of the original promoters of the Ohio and Episcopal Church, Bergen Point, since its organization, in 1859. Missouri Railroad, in Illinois, in 1851, also of the Iron Mountain road, in Missouri, in 1852. After his re- moval to New York his firm was the agent for the sale JAMES ANNETT. of the bonds of the State of Missouri, issued to its Alexander Annett, the grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, who was in religion a Protestant, resided near Newry, in the north of Ireland. He emigrated to America at an early date and became a boatman, and was drowned in the Hudson River, near Fort Lee, while pursuing his vocation. His children were Robert, James and one daughter. Robert was born in Ireland, and came when eight years of age to America. He removed from New York to Fort Lee in 1824, and purchased a large property, including the oldl railroads, and was in other ways interested in the roads of that State. In 1871 he was one of the active parties in the reorganization of the North Missouri road into the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad Company, and also, in 1877, in the re- organization of the Wabash road, and in 1879 in the consolidation of these two systems of railroads into the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company, with which he has been connected since the consoli-

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CITY OF BAYONNE

ferry-landing H. built stores, a steamboat-landing, memorable march to the sea, and at a period when it boats, etc., and contributed largely by his enterprise to was in great need of upphes Pluhp Elworth was married, July 3, 1565, to Mrs. Lydia Cranmer, daughter of John Willts, of West Creek, Jeran Co., N. J, and has children,- Hannah, Adelaide, Philip and Christine. He has for many years been engaged in the whole sale oyster trade in New York City, and conducts an extensive business which requires his personal attention during the scuson. Mr. Elsworth is more especially known to the public as the designer and builder of the fastest yachts sailing in American waters, if not in the world. These vessels have won all the prizes in their varying classes and conterred upon their leigner a reputa- tion of which he is justly proud. Among these yachts are the "Montank," "Comet." "Fanita " "Grayling," " Elephant," "Crocodile" and . Pes- guin." He embodies in his designs all of his ripe experience in bilding and salling vessels, and is justly acknowledged to have no superior as a builder of fast-sailing yacht .. Mr. Elsworth is in his pohti- cal preferences a strong Republican, but never as- pired to office nor found leisure for occupations aside from his legitimate business. the growth of the place. He also ran the sail boat "Corinthian," purchased of the late Robert L. Stevens, to New York. In Ist, Mr. Annett removed to Brooklyn, and remained until Is55, when Fort Lee again became his home. He was second in rank among the tax payers of Bergen County, and died in hi- ninety-fourth year. He married Catharine Moore of Bergen County, and had thirteen children, the survivors being Mary ( Mrs. James Reynolds], James, Catharine (Mrs. John F. Burdett), Hannah (Mrs. Washington Hawes , Robert, Mexander and ficorge W. James, who still owns sixty acres of the Fort Ler property, was born Ang. 6. 1-13, at Fort Lee, Bergen to. After limited advantages of education, he assisted his father in his various business enter- prises, and subsequently for many years managed his extensive interests, On the death of the latter he removed, in 1879, to Bergen Point, since that date his residence. He married Mary Ann, daughter of John Quinn, of New York, and had children, Eliza. Kate (Mrs. William Fury ), Clara (Mrs. Michael Henry), Lulu (Mrs. Andrew Donald) and James. Ile married a second time Mary, daughter of Stephen Burdett, whose children are Charles E. and Richard 1: 5. The former has for some years had charge of CAP1. 0. 1. WINANIS. large family interests in New York, and Richard C' S. has won some reputation as a promising amateur oarsman. Mr. Annett is in polities a Republican, and was during the late war astanch supporter of the gov- ernment, both with his means and influence. His reli- gious associations are with the Protestant Episcopa! Church.

PHILIP' ELSWORTH.

Captain G. E. Winants, a self made man, was born on Staten Island, N. Y. He is of Dutch and English ancestry, his progenitors having come to this country at an carly date. The family name on Staten Island, where most are tobe found, is spelled " W'inant, " in the south " Winan -. " in the west and north "Winan," but all trace back to the same sturdy stock. His father, Capt. Peter Winants, was lost at sea when young Winants was about nine years of age, being ship wrecked when on & home- ward voyage, the ship and cargo bring lost, and all the passengers and crew, except the mate and two sailors, finding a watery grave. The loss of this vessel and cargo, of which Capt. Winants was part owner and upon which there was no insurance, left huis widow and six children in comparatively indigent circumstances, there remaining only a farm, the homestead and a few thousands invested. Shortly after his deceaset his money was called in, reinvested by his widow and subsequently lost. Through such a chain of adventitious circumstances our youthink subject was deprived of an early education from books, but necessarily learned habits of industry, economy and self-reliance, the foundation principles of his future success.

Philip El-worth, the grandfather of the subject of this biography, was a native of Ocean County, N .J., and served as an officer during the entire period of the war of 1×12. He married a Mis Sea- man and had among his children a son William, who married Mary Pharo and had ten children, - Phihp. Joseph, Mary, William, Jane, Robert, John James Watson, Wesley and Abraham, the last two being deceased. Philip, the eldest of these children, was born in West Creek, Ocean Co., S. J., on the 27th of October, Fs2s, and remained at the place of his birth until 1840, when he removed with his parents to Hudson County, his present residence. His advantages for obtaining a thorough education were very limited, the schools of the county affording him opportunities for study, such as they were, during the winter months, while the summers were spent at That he has largely overcome this carly neglect may be gathered from either one of his entertaining and instructive volumes, " Journal of Travels Over the Continents of Europe, Asia and Africa and the Islands of the Sea," published in 1872, "Around the World," published in 1877, and other works not yet sea with his father. He early imbibed a taste for a sea-faring life, and before the age of twenty assumed command of a vessel, which occupation was continued until after the close of the late war. He had the satisfaction of taking the first cargo of provisions to Sherman's army at Savannah, Ga., after his in print He is widely known throughout New Jer-

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

sey and other places by his writings on travels, As he approached manhood his first choice was to follow the sea, a desire strongly combated by his excellent mother, who wished not her son to share the possible fate of his father. At eighteen, with a limited education and less than one dollar in money, he left the parental roof to carve out a fortune for himself. His first engagement was on a schooner as a hand before the mast, at eight dollars per month. In the hope of aiding his mother, who had done her all for him, he allowed his wages to remain for three months, and at that time was deprived of them through the dishonesty of the captain. He next procured a place at twelve dollars per month, soon made many friends by his activity and perseverance, and was rewarded at nineteen years of age by a few persons joining together and building for him a freighting schooner of forty tons burthen, named "Gilletta," with the proviso that as soon as young Winants could pay for any part thereof he should have an interest therein. After some three years he purchased this vessel, but shortly afterward he took on a cargo of plaster of paris, and was shipwrecked on Long Island Sound, nearly losing his life by the disaster, which swept away his all. Somewhat despondent, yet with undaunted courage, the young eaptain after a while succeeded in building a larger schooner, which he named the " Ellis Amanda." From this time fortune smiled upon his efforts, and he continued building and buying vessels until his fleet numbered fifteen, thus enabling him to conduct a large maritime trade, some being engaged in bringing pine wood from Virginia, others running to AAlbany in the lumber trade, and still others in the transportation of street sweepings and coal ashes. During the Rebellion Capt. Winants built and equipped five steamboats, which he chartered to the United States government for war purposes, one being placed in the revenue department of the port of New York, three on the roasts of North and South Carolina, and one carrying the United States military mail between New Orleans, Galveston, and Brazos de Santiago. At the close of the war he sokl out his fleet of vessels and retired from active business. For several years Capt. Winants had the contract from New York City for cleaning its streets. Ile purchased some thirty acres of water- front in Jersey City, formerly known as llarsimus Bay, paying therefor over one hundred thousand dollars. Nine-tenths of this land was covered with water, and ordinary vessels sailed over it in the pursuit of commerce. Here he deposited the street sweepings and ashes gathered under his contract in New York, and for ten years he was engaged in filling this land, build- ing docks, grading, paving and sewering the streets ren- dered necessary by the improvement, which added largely to the revenue of Jersey t'ity by way of taxes, ete. On this property are now located the tobacco- factory of P'. Lorillard & Co., one of the largest in the United States, the immense railroad terminal facili-

ties, besides other large factories and buildings, which have added greatly to the growth of Jersey City. A large part of this land Capt. Winants yet owns. lle is a large owner of real estate in New York City, Hoboken, Plainfield, Elizabeth and Bergen Point, to which latter place he came in 1872, and where he now resides.

L'pon retiring from active business he devoted much time to traveling, and, in company with his wife, made several lengthy tours, one around the work, traversing some twenty-seven thousand five hundred miles ; another, the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa and the islands of the sea, embracing some twenty thousand miles ; and a third, through Central America and along the border of South America, up the Pacific coast to San Francisco, crossing the conti- nent and covering about eleven thousand miles, hesides traveling in and through the West India Islands, Canada, Mexico and every State in the Uniou except Kansas, around which they went twice, and several of the Territories.

During these travels Capt. Winant- kept daily record, in accordance with a habit of some forty years past, an account of which he has given to the world in two handsome volumes, elaborately illustrated. While a resident of New York City he declined alder- manie honors on two occasions, as also other import- ant places of public trust tendered by the Democratic party, and has always been inclined to favor the man more than the party. As director of Union Dime Savings Bank, New York, for thirteen years, he aided largely in strengthening that successful institution. Capt. Winants' paternal grandfather, Jacob Winants, a wealthy farmer of Staten Island, felt called to preach the Word, and gave the remainder of his life to service in the Methodist Church as a traveling preach- er, always refusing financial aid.

Like his honored ancester, Capt. Winants gives largely from his abundant means to church and kin- dred associations, irrespective of sect or creed, besides educating young men for the ministry. He is an elder of the Dutch Reformed Church, trustee in the Board of Domestic Missions, delegate to the General Synod and one of the financial pillars in that denomi- nation. He married, Feb. 10, 1841, Miss Amanda, daughter of James and Abigal (Birdge) Miller, by whom he had four children,-Mary Frances (died in 1872, was the wife of George H. Hilyer, who died in 1877, leaving children,-Clarence W. and Frank Ellis), James M., Ellis Sebastian and John Frederick, the latter two deceased. The maternal grandfather of Capt. Winants, Capt. Garret Ellis, was one of the heroes of the war of 1776, an uncompromising patriot. He was arrested at midnight on Staten Island, and after being compelled to walk shoeless over frozen ground almost the entire length of the island, was incarcerated in old Fort Richmond, where he was kept a prisoner until the close of the war. C'apt. Winants' father, Capt. Peter Winants, was

Philip 12 Celsworth

GEHmanh

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

of similar patriotic heart, and served as adjutant in "the war of 1812. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, with unflinching patriotism, Capt. Wi- nants, although not going to the front in person when the nation was in distress and needed the full snp- port of all loyal citizens, gave substantial aid in the interest of the Union armies by his means and counsel, and thus was one of the pillars to support every measure of the government to suppress the Rebellion.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 137

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830