USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Jersey City > History of Jersey City, N.J. : a record of its early settlement and corporate progress, sketches of the towns and cities that were absorbed in the growth of the present municipality, its business, finance, manufactures and form of government, with some notice of the men who built the city > Part 49
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
342
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
three branches of business, originated and developed by him, and under his direction, have proven very profitable, both for Mr. Carscallen and his business associates.
During the early Seventies the political changes resulting from consolidation made it necessary to call strong men to the management of business affairs, and Mr. Carscallen became a member of the city board of finance in its most trying time. He served in 1873 and 1874, when the financial depression made it difficult to provide means for carrying on the city government.
In 1873 Mr. Carscallen was nominated for the assembly, and was elected, after an exciting campaign, by.a majority of forty. His course as a member met with the approval of the citi- zens, and he was returned the following year. Contrary to party custom, he was renominated the ensuing year for a third term, and was elected by over four hundred majority. He was ehosen speaker of the house, and presided during the centennial year with credit to himself and honor to his constituents. He made a record for opposing jobbery and standing up boldly for all that was in favor of the taxpayers. His affable manner made him a favorite with all from Hudson County who had business before the legislature during the three years he served, and especially while he was in the chair. His rulings were notably fair, and he merited the commendatory resolutions and speeches . which are to be found in the official records marking the close of the session.
....
1
The business men in the upper portion of the city felt the need of a bank in the vicinity of Pavonia Avenue, and Mr. Cars- callen was one of the prime movers in establishing the Third National Bank. The stockholders chose him as one of the direct- ors, and the board elected him president. He knew what to do, and did it. The result is a strong, prosperous financial in- stitution. The bank has a large surplus, and its phenomenal success is largely due to the able management of its first and only president, for Mr. Carseallen is still in office.
Mr. Carscallen has been for many years a member of the New York Produce Ex- change, and was treasurer of the New York Hay Exchange. He is a director in the Provident Institution for Savings, one of the oldest and most prosperous savings GARRETT D. VAN REIPEN. banks in the State. He is a director in the Jersey City Fire Insurance Company, now in process of voluntary liquidation. He is president of the Jersey City Milling Company and, after forty-two active years, is still one of the busiest men and foremost citizens of Jersey City.
GARRETT D. VAN REIPEN was born in Bergen, now Jersey City, January 26, 1826. He comes of the old Dutch stock. When a boy, Mr. Van Reipen attended the old Columbia Academy of Bergen, and afterwards finished his education in a private school. Most of his early life was spent on the farm. In 1855 he engaged in the grocery trade. After following that business for three years he gave it up. In 1855 he was elected one of the first aldermen Hudson City ever had. He served one year. In 1856 he was elected mayor of that city, suc- ceeding E. R. V. Wright, who was the first mayor. In 1863 Mr. Van Reipen was re-elected, and filled that position continuously until 18;1. When Hudson City was annexed to Jersey City he was elected to the office of allerman, and was president of that body for two years. At the breaking out of the war Mr. Van Reipen was among the first who responded to Presi- dent Lincoln's call for volunteers in the three months' service. He went out as a lieutenant
343
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
and was made captain of Company A, Second Regiment, on the field. At the close of the war the regiment was reorganized as the Fourth Regiment, N. G., N. J., with Col. Hiram Van Buskirk in command, and Mr. Van Reipen was made regimental paymaster. In 1862 Gov. Olden appointed Mr. Van Reipen quartermaster at Camp Olden, located at Hudson City. He held that position until the end of hostilities.
In 1868, when the Hudson City Savings Bank was incorporated, Mr. Van Reipen was elected treasu- rer of that institution, and in 1870 he was made president and treasurer, and has presided in that capacity ever since, to the entire satisfaction of stockholders and others interested in the bank. In 1863 and 1864 he was a member of the New Jersey assembly, and in 1874 and 1875 he was a member of the Jersey City board of finance.
Mr. Van Reipen has been a director in the Hudson County National Bank for a number of years. He is also a member of the American In- stitute and the Holland Society, of New York City. He is a trustee of the Hudson City Savings Bank. a member of the county board for equalization of taxes, and has filled that position since 1873, the year of its organization. He has filled almost every RICHARD C. WASHBURN. local position of honor and trust, and commands the universal respect of the entire community.
On November 25, 1845, Mr. Van Reipen married Miss Carolina Westervelt, of Hacken- sack, N. J. Three children have been born to the union, one son and two daughters. He resides in the charming old home of his boyhood days, 553 Summit Avenne, Jersey City Heights. He is a member of the Bergen Reformed Church, and has been a deacon and elder in that congregation for a number of years.
--
FREEMAN A. SMITH.
RICHARD C. WASHBURN, president of the Hudson County National Bank, was born at North Castle, Westchester County, N. Y., October 7, 1831. He received a common school education, after which he was apprenticed to the brick-making trade, and in 1853 began business in that line on his own account, and still retains large interests in the manufacture of brick, being associated with his brothers at Glaseo, N. Y., and Jersey City. Mr. Washburn has served two terms (1874 and 1875) in the assembly. In 1876 he served one term as public works commissioner. He has been president of the Hudson County National Bank for the past five years, and has served as a director of that institution for fifteen years.
Mr. Washburn has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Amelia, a daughter of John Springstead, Esq., of Haverstraw, N. Y. Two children were the fruit of this marriage. His second wife was Miss Agnes Bartrom, of Dan- bury, Conn. Three children were born to the latter marriage. Both wives are now deceased. Mr. Washburn is a prominent member of the Union League Club.
FREEMAN A. SMITH was born in Jersey City, November 6, 1837. His father, the late David Smith, was one of the best known and one of the most highly esteemed citizens of this city.
344
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
He died in 1888, and had been a resident of Jersey City since 1821. During his lifetime he was president of the Provident Institution for Savings, and was one of the founders of that institution, and of the Jersey City Gas Light Com- pany, being secretary and treasurer of the latter company. He also held several other important positions.
Freeman A. Smith received his early education under the tutorship of the late William Leveritt Dickinson, of Jersey City. He afterwards attended the Columbia School of New York, from which institution he was graduated. After com- pleting his education he accepted a position as a clerk in a mercantile house, where he remained for some time. In 1866 he associated himself with B. F. Woolsey, and engaged in the ship-chandlery business at 107 Hudson Street, under the name of B. F. Woolsey & Co. The firm was continned until 1878, when Mr. Smith purchased the interest of Mr. Woolsey, and since that time has conducted the business alone.
At the death of Mr. Smith's father he was made vice-president of the Provident Institution for EDMUND W. KINGSLAND. Savings, and in May of 1893 he became president of that corporation. He was also made treasurer . of the Jersey City Gas Light Company ; both positions he still retains.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Carteret, Palma, New Jersey, Union League and Jersey City Athletic clubs.
EDMUND W. KINGSLAND was born in Jersey City, December 15, 1838. He received his early education under the tutorship of the late William Leveritt Dickinson, after which he at- tended the New York Polytechnic School, and was graduated from that institution in 1856. After completing his education he accepted a elerkship in the wholesale notion house of Lyman Cook & Company, of New York City, with whom he remained until 1863, and in April of that year he resigned, and was made general clerk of the Provident Institution for Savings, of Jersey City. He gradually rose by promotion, and in 1888 he was elected secretary and treasurer of that eoneern, a position he still retains.
In 1877 Mr. Kingsland married Miss Justine Bayard Blackwell, of New York City. Five chil- dren have been born to the marriage, two of whom are living.
Mr. Kingsland is a member of the Union League and Palma clubs, of Jersey City.
JAMES G. HASKING was born in New York City, March 7, 1844. After receiving a classical educa- tion he was given a clerical appointment in the New York Custom House, where he remained about one year and a half. In 1859 he located in Jersey City. In 1864 he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the Bank of Jersey City. His pro- motion was rapid, as his valuable services so well merited, and in 1885 he was made cashier of the JAMES G. HASKING. Seeond National Bank, a position he now tills. In 1879 he became a trustee of the New York Bay Cemetery, and in 1880 was elected treasurer of the company. When the new city charter was granted in 1889, Mayor Cleveland appointed
345
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Mr. Hasking one of the sinking fund commission for a term of two years. At the expiration of his term he was reappointed to that position, and in 1893 Mayor Wanser appointed him again for the third term. He is a member of the Palma Club, and was one of the organizers of the Hudson County Democratie Society. He is a member of Jersey City Lodge, No. 74, F. and A. M., and has been since 1868. He has been a valuable member of the Jersey City Board of Trade for a number of years, and was for some time vice-president of that organization.
Mr. Hasking resides with his family at 306 Variek Street.
PETER G. VAN ZANDT is a member of one of the oldest families in New Jersey. It was founded by Bernardes Van Zandt, who was born in Holland, October 3, 1700. He was an en- terprising man of good judgment and considerable means. He was tempted by the spirit of adventure, and came to this country early in that century. The date of his arrival has not been recorded. Then, as now, the county of Somerset enjoyed a reputation for fertility, and was well settled as a portion of the province of East Jersey. There, in Montgomery township, he selected a site for his future home. He bought 250 aeres of land, and built a com- modious farm house, which is still owned and occupied by his descendants, now in the fifth generation. Bernardes died on March 27, 1778. He was the great-great- grandfather of Peter G. Van Zandt, who was born in Hopewell, Mercer County, N. J., March 25, 1839. His parents re- moved to Titusville, Mereer County, while he was a child, and he received such edu- cation as the local schools afforded. This he supplemented by home reading and private study. He had just reached man- hood's years when the War of the Rebel- lion broke out, and he was one of the first to respond to his country's call. He en- listed in the Third New Jersey Regiment, under Col. Knapp, of Trenton, and the regiment was hurried to the front to defend Washington. After being eneamped in that eity a few weeks it was sent to Merid- ian Hill, and thenee to guard the bridge over the Potomac. It was one of the regi- ments detailed to build Fort Runyon, and during the first battle of Bull Run was guarding the supply train. When his term of enlistment expired he returned PETER G. VAN ZANDT. to his home, and there, on December 4, 1861, married Susan C. Bowker, a lady noted for her amiability and social qualities. She was the granddaughter of Dr. Stephen Clark, of Lawrence- ville, in his day one of the most noted and respected practitioners in that section of the State. One child was the result of this union, but they were called upon to mourn his loss at the early age of eighteen years.
Mr. Van Zandt inherited the business sagacity and enterprise of his early aneestor, and songht the larger field offered by the metropolis. He removed to Jersey City in 1864, and began business in Washington Market, N. Y., as a wholesale dealer in beef and mutton. Later he added a slaughtering branch, and carried on an extensive business. By good man- agement the enterprise was lucrative, and he wasable to retire in 1888 with a comfortable com- petenee. He was selected as a direetor in the Third National Bank soon after it was organized. and has aided in making it one of the strong financial institutions of the city. He has always taken an aetive interest in eivie matters, though he has not accepted any political position. He is a member of the Union League Club, and of Superior Council, No. 337, Legion of Honor.
346
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
GEORGE W. CONKLIN.
member of Bergen Lodge, No. 47, F. and A. M., of Jersey City.
R. S. Ross was born in Jersey City, November 2, 1863, and was educated in Hasbrouck Institute and Packard's Busi- ness College in New York. Ile received his early business training in the office of his father, who for many years was a broker and banker in Pine Street, New York. In 1887 he assisted in organizing the Third National Bank of Jersey City, and was appointed teller when it opened on May 2, 1887. On June 19, 1890, he was appointed cashier, a position he still occu- pies. He is a member of the Union League, Palma and Carteret clubs. He is one of the trustees of the Palma, and a member of the board of governors of the Union League. He is also treasurer of the Security Building Loan Association.
JAMES EDWIN HUL.SHIZFR, JR, was born at Broadway. Warren County, N. J .. August 7, 1869. llis father is one of the most prominent members of the New York Produce Exchange, and a leading citizen of this city.
GEORGE W. CONKLIN was born at Hack- ensack, N. J., January 24, 1846. He was educated in the Washington Institute and the classical school of Prof. W. Williams. In March, 1861, he entered the office of Hon. Charles H. Voorhis as a student of law. After remaining one year he decided to lead a business life, and accepted a posi- tion as clerk in the Mechanics and Traders Bank of Jersey City. He rose gradually to assistant bookkeeper. This bank closed business in January, 1865, and he became assistant bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Jersey City. He continued assist- ant bookkeeper until February, 1871, when he was appointed general bookkeeper. In April, 1874, he was made assistant cashier, and in 1879 elected eashier, a position he still retains.
He is a member of the Carteret, Union League and Palma clubs in Jersey City, a member of the board of governors of the Oritani Field Club of Hackensack, secre- tary of the Hackensack Improvement Com- mission, a director in the People's Gas Light Company of Jersey City, and in the Hackensack Gas Light Company, and for many years treasurer of the Children's Friend Society of Jersey City. He is a
1
R. S. ROSS.
347
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Mr. Hulshizer, Jr., received his earlier education at the Hasbrouck Institute of Jersey City, graduating therefrom in 1886. He then entered Columbia College of New York City, gradu- ating with the class of 1890, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts. While attending college. and at vacation periods, Mr. Hulshizer gained considerable experience in business in the employ of the Provident Institution for Savings of Jersey City, and in the office of Messrs. Logan, Cowl & Co., grain brokers, of the New York Produce Exchange, which since then has proven very valuable to him.
After Mr. Hulshizer graduated from college he entered the employ of the New Jersey Title Guarantee and Trust Company of Jersey City as junior clerk. By faithful performance of his duties and strict attention to business he, by gradual promotion, reached the position of assistant treasurer of that institution, to which he was appointed December 20, 1892. On the resignation of George W. Young, Esq., secretary and treasurer, July 20, 1893. Mr. Hulshizer was immediately appointed by the board of directors to succeed that gentleman, his previous duties fully fitting him for the position, which he still retains.
Mr. Hulshizer married a daughter of Mr. William Martin, of Jersey City, and resides at 78 Madison Avenue. He is a member of the Palma and Carteret clubs of Jersey City.
ISAAC EDGE. The influence of the French rev- olution was strongly felt in England, and many had imbibed the most radical notions of liberty and equality. Isaac Edge, a resident of Derby- shire, where he was born, February 26, 1777, was one of the most pronounced of liberty-loving Englishmen. Finding that his ideas were not congenial to his neighbors or the Tory govern- ment, then engaged in a desperate struggle with France, Mr. Edge, with his wife, formerly Miss Frances Ogden, and infant son, came to the United States in 1801. His business was that of miller, in which he engaged shortly after his arrival in South Brooklyn. In the year 1806 he came to reside permanently in Jersey City, then known as Paulus Hook. At that time there were but three houses in what is now old Jersey City-the tavern kept by Maj. Hunt, near the ferry at the foot of € Grand Street, or terminus of the Newark turn- pike ; the house of Richard Lyon, near the corner of York and Greene streets, and the barracks. Mr. JAMES EDWIN HULSHIZER, JR. Edge started a bakery, and soon did a large business. In those days life in Paulus Hook was simple and quiet. The river washed the sand-hill on the top of which the old fort had been built in the Revolution, and the meadow which lay between it and Ahasimus was crossed by but one road (known as the Causeway), now Newark Avenue. Mr. Edge was naturalized January 26, 1810. He built, near the corner of York and Greene streets, a residence for himself, and lived in it till it was destroyed by fire in 1811 ; he rebuilt it, and the building is now standing. He served as a private soldier during the last war with England, and although not continuously away with the army, at various times he performed active duty in the neighborhood of New York.
Always busy and energetic, he received from the Associates a grant of the block of ground where the Pennsylvania Railroad depot is now built, and commenced the erection of a large windmill about one hundred feet east of the present line of Greene Street, which he completed about the year 1815. Mr. Edge imported the mill-stones and machinery, and for years the mill maintained its reputation for the superior quality of its flour and meal. The great September gale in 1821 almost destroyed the mill and seriously damaged the bulkheads, so that Mr. Edge was almost ruined financially, but he restored and improved the mill with iron fans, and it worked till 1839. To make place for the railroad track, it was removed to Southold, L. 1 .. where it remained until within a few years. A fire finished the work of the mill, and left its reputation to tradition. For years Edge's mill served as a landmark for those approaching
348
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
New York by the river or from the sea, and it is yet remembered as a distinguishing feature of the landscape at that time by many now living, who would hardly feel complimented if elassed among the oldest inhabitants. Mr. Edge lost his wife, formerly Franees Ogden, to whom he was married in Chesterfield, England, and by whom he had eight children, six living at her death. She died in 1839 at the age of sixty-two years. After the death of his wife Mr. Edge was not engaged in aetive business. He was a great reader and independent thinker, and hav- ing an extraordinary memory as a controversialist, he was held in high respect among his neighbors and friends.
Jersey City had grown from a hamlet with a few scattered houses to a large, flourishing eity. The rail-ear had supplanted the stage-coach, and the steamer the easy-going sailing vessel. It took Mr. Edge thirteen weeks to eross the ocean, a journey he lived to see a Cunarder per- form to Jersey City in eleven days.
For years Mr. Edge passed a quiet, retired life, surrounded by his family. His sons, Isaae and Joseph, only had married, and each had brought up a large family, and his daughter, Alice, had married James Flemming ; so, sur- rounded by his children and grandehildren, Mr. Edge passed the closing years of his life, and on the 7th day of July, 1851, he died at Jersey City, after a continuous residence there of nearly fifty years.
He left surviving him his sons, Isaac, Benjamin, Washington and Joseplı, and his daughters, Alice Flemming and Elizabeth Edge, all of whom are now dead.
Benjamin Ogden died in 1871, and Washington died in 1880, neither of whom had ever married.
Previous to 1839 the manufacturing in- dustries seem to have been limited to two or three individuals, of whom Isaac Edge, proprietor of the windmill, was one, and Peter Sandford another. At that time Jersey City had next to no transportation facilities, and nothing to induce capitalists to invest in the manufacture of anything more than for home consumption. All the products of Edge's mill were consumed by the few denizens of the "Hoeek," and Sandford's bridge and doek business, that had been established ten years earlier (1829), was not known outside of old ISAAC EDGE. Bergen County. But upon the advent of the New Jersey Railroad and the Morris Canal, new life was given to the sand-hills of the " Hoeek," yet it was not until 1840 to 1848 that manufacturing enterprises, beyond the old pioneers, seem to have taken root in the sandy and marshy grounds of what is now the second city of the State, both as to population and industries.
One after another the railroads, the great populating agencies of the country, began to make the " Hoeck " their terminus, and in 1848 both population and manufacturing industries had inereased more than five hundred per cent. since 1829, the date at which Sandford established his works.
JAMES FLEMMING was born in the town of Tamworth, Staffordshire, England, May 5, 1804. He was descended from old and distinguished families of Kent, England. On his mother's side he was connected with the Digges and Wests, names noted in history during the reign of Charles I., and so well known during the colonial days of Virginia and Delaware, which latter State was named after Earl de la Warr, whose family name was West.
349
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Mr. Flemming's early life was passed in London, from whence he sailed in 1827 for New York, and soon after located in Jersey City. For several years Mr. Flemming carried on the business of builder, and erected many of the best houses in Jersey City.
Mr. Flemming was a man of strong character, of most unflinching integrity. with a keen sense of honor, justice and truth. He knew no compromise with evil ; nor could he be tempted to turn aside from the pursuit of that which he deemed a right or a duty.
With strong anti-slavery principles, he was a true humanitarian, and felt a deep interest in any movement for the elevation and betterment of mankind, and in no line did he make greater sacrifice and personal effort than to extend the temperance reformation. He united heart and soul in the Washingtonian movement to spread the doctrine of total abstinence from the use of alcoholic liquors as a beverage. He organized the Washington Society in Jersey City, and was its first president -- one of, if not the first, society of its kind in the State.
The late Dudley S. Gregory built, on Gregory Street, old Washington Hall, devoted exclu- sively to temperance meetings and work connected with the cause. This hall was dedicated in 1841, and for years was used for this good work, the society numbering at the elose of Mr. Flemming's presidency one thousand members. A fire ended the career of the old building made sacred by the temper- ance teachings of Greeley and the elo- quence of Gough. Mr. Flemming also organized the second division in the State of Sons of Temperance, and became its first officer, and subsequently the head officer in New Jersey, and a member of the national division.
Several times elected an alderman of Jersey City, and chosen freeholder, MIr. Flemming became identified with and one of the leaders of the "water-right party," whose object was to secure to the people of Jersey City certain privileges and con- trol over the shore, and to prevent the Gothic invasion of the rights of the people of Hudson County by the rest of the State. Had proper spirit been shown by its in- habitants from 1840 to 1850, Jersey City would not have been robbed of her dock facilities and valuable shore front.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.