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 53
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
found a new and particularly toothsome loaf of bread ready for them. The druggist waited in ambush to see the feast. There were case-hardened, sly old rats, with side whiskers, and young rats, with no history and no experience. After they had stolen the bread they were seized with a violent kind of remorse, and they went away from there, taking great burdens of agony with them. Some of them died tragical and painful deaths, and those that recovered moved away from the premises and took all their rodent friends with them.
"Traps, plaster of paris, strychnine, potash, broken glass, in use for ages, all had been laid aside. After two nights' use of this new compound no rats or mice were to be seen or heard on these premises for the next six months. The druggist began to sell his rat poison to eus- tomers of the drug store, and it proved so potent and powerful that he finally began to print his name on the labels that he pasted on the packages of poison. The name was E. S. Wells. As his business grew he cudgelled his brain for a name to apply to his poison. He had a more difficult time than the author of a novel experiences in finding a name for it. He lay awake most all of two or three nights trying to christen it, and along towards morning of the third night he gave up in despair, with the remark : 'Well, even if I can't think of a name for it, it certainly is rough on rats.' The words were an inspiration. 'Why not call it Rough on Rats?' he asked himself, and very naturally himself approved of the euphonic title, and before the break of day had composed that now familiar strain, and was singing it: 'Rats, rats, Rough on Rats : Hang your dogs and drown -your cats.' Rough on Rats, the world-famed exterminator, was christened, and the striking name did as much as the poison itself in making the fortune and fame of the strug- gling retail druggist. Now, the man who once worked for $2.50 a week and boarded himself, and later on for Stoo a year and his board, has an income of probably Sioo,ooo a year from his sales of Rongh on Rats and other preparations, and his expendi- tures for advertising are something fabulous."
Another incident that occurred in the life of Dr. Wells during his struggle with adversity, and never before referred to by him, was "that he was reared a Methodist. His present wife was bred a Presbyte- rian for several generations back. After his marriage he secured the privileges of half a pew at $25 a year in the First Presbyterian Church in South Bergen, under the ministration of Rev. Dr. French, but, owing ALBERT N. TROTTER. (Deceased ) First Superintendent of E. S. Wells' Rough on Rats department, from its earliest history to time of death, 1891. to his afterwards getting into very straitened cir- cumstances during the Seventies, and before the flood-tide of success had crowned his efforts, he was obliged to surrender his pew privilege, his family requiring every available cent for an existence. Few ever knew of the desperate struggle he had between 1874 and 1881. Too proud to own the cause of his withdrawal from the church, and too independent to return to it in pros- perity, 'there was thus spoiled, possibly,' as the Doctor says, 'an orthodox Presbyterian.'"
ARTHUR E. SANDFORD was born in Belleville, N. J., December 5, 1846. He was educated in the public school of his native town. He has been in the contracting business since he be- came of age. He represented Belleville in the Essex County board of freeholders from 1882 to 1886. On October 19, 1875, he married Cornelia M. Walsh, daughter of Cornelius Walsh, of Newark. He established his business in Jersey City in 1890.
FRANK M. STILLMAN was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., September 2, 1853. He was educated in the public schools of Bridgeport, Conn. In 1882 he located in Jersey City, and engaged in the contracting business with D. S. Cofrode, a prominent contractor. At the decease of Mr. Cofrode, which occurred in 1890, Mr. Stillman succeeded to his entire business. He is now a member of the well-known corporation of Sandford & Stillman Co., of which concern he is president. Mr. Stillman is a Mason, and is a member of several social organizations.
THE OLD LABORATORY OF E. S. WELLS, "ROUGH ON RATS " JERSEY CITY.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
NELSON J. H. EDGE was born in Jersey City about forty years ago. He is the son of Isaac Edge, 2d, who, as a pyrotechnist, achieved a national reputation, and is a grandson of Isaac Edge, Ist, who settled in Jersey City (then Paulus Hook) in 1806, when it contained but three houses, and who erected the immense windmill which for twenty years was a most important feature of the land- scape, and which now lives in the memory and traditions of our oldest inhabitants. Graduating from the College of St. Francis Xavier, New York, he entered the First National Bank of this city, but, attracting the attention of the officers of the old Mer- chants Bank of New York, he was induced to transfer his services to that institution. In 1887 a number of the most prominent financial men of New York determined to found a bank in the upper part of that city, which needed banking facilities. The Bank of New Amsterdam, a prosperous and rapidly growing institution was pro- jected, and Mr. Edge was called upon to organize and accept its management as cashier, which position he has since oc- cupied. He has filled numerous positions of trust and responsibility, in all of which he has acquitted himself with honor and satisfaction. In 1876 he enlisted in Com- pany F, Seventh Regiment. N. Y. S. M., in which he served seven years, acting NELSON J. H. EDGE. as paymaster. He is a member of old St. Peter's R. C. Church, which his family has attended since its foundation, and he was largely instrumental in raising the funds whereby the church
was cleared from debt and its consecration assured. In 1892 he was elected president of the Palma Club, the leading social organization of this city which has a membership of 500, and owns an ele- gant club-house, costing $40,000. His administra- tion of its affairs has been so successful that he has been re-elected for a third successive term. He is also a member of the Carteret Club, Hudson Democratic Society, Board of Trade and Seventh Regiment Veteran Club. In politics Mr. Edge is a democrat. In 1889 he was appointed by Mayor Cleveland trustee of the free public library, and reappointed in 1893 under the republican adminis- tration of Mayor Wanser for a term of five years.
SIMEON H. SMITH was born at Troy, N. Y., August 14, 1834. He left school at the age of fourteen to become a clerk in a general store at Williamsburg, L. I., remaining there from 1848 until 1852. During the ensuing four years he was SIMEON H. SMITH. engaged in the lumber business at Toledo, Ohio, . and for four years more at Chicago, Ill. From 1860 until 1864 he was in the commission business in that city. From 1864 until 1866 he was a correspondent in the First National Bank of Chicago. In 1866 he removed to Jersey City,
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and has been continuously connected with the stock-yards as cashier and superintendent to the present.
He was a member of the Jersey City board of aldermen from the sixth district from 1871 to 1875, and from the third district from 1889 to 1891. He was a member of the board of finance from 1881 to 1885, and was a member of assembly from the third distriet in 1891. He was ap- pointed city collector in 1894.
EDWARD Hoos was born at Newied, on Rhine, Germany, August 31, 1850. His education was obtained in the schools of his native place. In 1870 Mr. Hoos came to America and settled in New York City. Prior to his coming to America he had spent about three years in merean- tile business in Germany. After locating in New York he obtained a position in an upholstery establishment. After mastering that trade, and working at it for several years in various estab- lishments in New York, in 1872 he came to Jersey City, and purchased the furniture and uphol- stery business of Mullins & Schulz, at 133 Pavonia Avenue. He associated in business with Henry Lampe, and under the firm-name of Lampe & Hoos they continued for one year, when the part- nership was dissolved. Mr. Hoos retired from the firm, and took the management of the uphol- stery department for John Mullins, with whom he remained until 1877, at which time he again
EDWARD HOOS.
engaged in business for himself at 67 Newark Avenue. A partnership was formed with John Shehan, under the firm-name of Hoos & Shehan, which only continued for nine months, Mr. Hoos purchasing the interest of his partner. He re- moved the business to the old Metropolitan Hall building, at 71 and 73 Newark Avenue, when the present firm of Hoos & Schulz was formed. In 1885 Edward Hoos purchased the building and made extensive alterations.
In 1885 Mr. Hoos was elected a member of the board of chosen freeholders from the old third district as an independent demoerat. In 1886 he was nominated for assembly against Col. Diekin- son, but was defeated by about 147 votes, in a repub- lican district which had a majority of more than 900. In 1889 he was elected a member of the board of aldermen from a republican district. In 1891 Mayor Cleveland appointed him commis- sioner of appeals. Owing to his business affairs requiring his attention, he was forced to decline that honor, and since then he has taken no active part in politics.
Mr. Hoos has twice been married. His first wife was a Miss Dora Wilkins, of New York City, whom he married in 18;2. Seven children were born to the marriage, three sons and four daughters, and five of whom are living. His eldest son is a student of Prineeton College ; the second son graduated from Packard Institute, and received the New York World diploma for scholarship ; his eldest daughter is attending the Moravian College at Bethlehem, Pa., and his other children are pupils of Jersey City schools. Mr. Hoos' first wife died in 1890. In May of 1891 he married Miss Marie Renz, of Peru, Ind., to whom three children have been born, two of whom are living.
Mr. Hoos is a Thirty-second Degree Mason and member of Teutonia Lodge, No. 72, F. and A. M., and has been for four terms W. M., and is D. D. G. M. to the Grand Lodge for the Ger- man lodges of the State of New Jersey. He is also a member of Royal Areanum, Knights of Honor, American Legion of Honor, Jersey City Singerunde, Turn Verein, Jersey City Pioneer Verein, the Hudson County Democratic Society, the Arion Society, the Palma Club and Board of Trade. He is a trustee of the New York Bay Cemetery.
Mr. Hoos' father was a manufacturer of fine writing paper for the German government, his ancestors having had exclusive rights since 1735.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
JOEL W. BROWN was born at Rocky Point, Long Island, N. Y., December 18, 1836. His father was Isaac Brown, who was a well-known sea captain in those days. Mr. Brown received his education at Miller's Place Academy and Fort Plains Seminary, Montgomery County, N. Y., and in 1855 he taught school on Long Island. In 1856 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he remained two years. In 1859 he returned to the East, and for some years he followed the sea, being a master of a vessel engaged in the southern trade. During the War of the Rebellion he was captain of a vessel in the service of the United States government. In 1868 he decided to abandon the sea and follow mercantile pursuits. In that year he purchased a ship chandlery store in Newburgh. N. Y., which he conducted with considerable success for two years. In 1870 he sold out and engaged in the dry dock business at Newburgh, N. Y, the firm being Bulman & Brown. In 1878 the business was re- moved to Jersey City, where it was continued as 1 a firm until 1890, when the death of Mr. Bulman occurred. It was afterwards merged into a stock company, under the name of the Brown Dry Dock Company, of which Mr. Brown is president. It is JOEL W. BROWN. one of the most important industries in Jersey City, and gives employment the year round to a large number of hands.
Mr. Brown is a member of a number of social and other organizations. In politics he is a prohibitionist, and has been the recipient of various honors for office at the hands of his party, including those of mayor, State senator, assemblyman and freeholder. He has been a member of the State executive committee of the prohibition party for the past five years, and was a delegate to the national convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1888, which nominated Gen. Fisk, and also a delegate to the convention of 1892, which nominated the Hon. George Bidwell. He has for the past six years been a member of the county committee, and during the years of 1889, 1890 and 1891 was chairman of the board. He is an earnest, conscientious worker in the cause of prohibition, and has done much toward furthering the interests of his party. Mr. Brown is not a man who allows defeat of his party to discourage him in agitating his chosen political principles, and deserves much praise for his untir- ing efforts in that direction. Besides his deep interest in the prohibition movement, he is a member of the Bergen Reformed Church, of which he has been an elder for more than thirteen years.
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On December 19, 1865, Mr. Brown married Miss Hattie Woodhull, of Port Jefferson, Long Island. Three children have been born to them. all of whom are daughters. He resides at 53 Duncan Avenue.
GEORGE R. HILLIER Was born in Newark, N. J., May 29, 1840. When he was fifteen years of age he began a business life, which from the start was GEORGE R. HU.1.1ER. successful. He entered the employ of a wholesale drug firm in New York City, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. He then engaged in the drug milling business with his father, and continued in that capacity until the beginning of the Civil War. He was among
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for volunteers, and he enlisted in the three months' service in the Second New Jersey Regiment, Company C, under the command of Captain Grain.
In 186t Mr. Hillier married Miss Fanny D. Van Sann, a danghter of the late Isaac Van Sann, Esq. ; eight children were born to the marriage, two of whom are living, one son and a danghter, the former being the secretary of the company of which his father is president.
Mr. Hillier is a member of the Union League Club of Jersey City. He is also a member of the Carteret and the Jersey City Athletic clubs, and was president of the latter during the years of 1891 and 1892. He has been a member of the board of education, and served faith- fully for four years in that capacity. Under the new charter of Jersey City, Mr. Hillier was made a member of the board of finance commissioners, and is at present president of that body. He is a member of the Lafayette Methodist Episcopal Church, and is actively en- gazed in all movements of a charitable and religious nature.
S. D. MACKEY was born in Utica, N. Y., in 1845. He received his rudimentary education in the public schools of that place, after which he was graduated in 1861 from the Utica Acad- emy. After leaving school he began life as a clerk in a country store at Coxsackie, N. Y., where he remained until he was twenty years of age. In 1865 he accepted a position as a clerk on one of the steamers of the Reed & Powell Transportation Line, which he held until 1869, when he located in Jersey City, and has resided here ever since. After coming to Jersey City he accepted a position as a salesman in the cattle business for Coney & McPherson, the latter now onr distinguished United States senator from New Jersey, and a warm, personal friend of Mr. Mackey. After filling the above position twelve years, Mr. Mackey decided to engage in the coal business. He became associated with the late C. L. Northrup, and, under the firm-name of C. L. Northrup & Co., he continued to do business until 1888, when the death of his partner occurred. In May of that year the present firm of Mackey, Young & Co., of which Mr. Mackey is the head, was formed. The firm is composed of S. D. Mackey, Edward F. C. Young and W. V. Toffey.
Mr. Mackey is a member of the Palma, Carteret and Union League clubs of Jersey City. He is also a member of the council of Christ Hospital, S. D. MACKEY. and a trustee of the Children's Home. He is a member of F. and A. M. and several other organizations.
Mr. Maekey married Miss Carrie F. Squires, of Coxsackie, N. Y., in 1869. Two children were born to the union, both of whom are now deceased. He resides at No. 307 York Street.
Mr. Mackey is prominently identified with Grace Episcopal Church, and has been a mem- ber of the vestry for some years. Politically he is a republican, but is not actively engaged in polities.
JAMES S. BAILEY was born in Sterling, Mass., May 9, 1849. He received his rudimentary education in the public schools of his native place, after which he attended the academy of Worcester, Mass., and was graduated therefrom in 1867. After finishing his studies he decided to follow mercantile pursuits, and accepted a position with the firm of Sawyer, Hollis & Co., of Boston, Mass., where he remained until 1884, when he removed to Jersey City, and was made general manager of the Jersey City Beef Company, and later organized the corporation now known as the Jersey City Packing Company. The concern is one of the most important of its kind in the East. It was begun in a small way at first, but to-day it has a capital stock of $600,000. Mr. Bailey is the general manager of the company, and it is due to his business sagacity that the business of the establishment has attained its present extensive proportions.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Mr. Bailey has always evinced an interest in public affairs. He was a member of the Jersey City board of education, having been appointed by Mayor Wanser. He resigned that position April 23, 1894, and was appointed a mem- ber of the board of finance. He has made an efficient officer. He resides at 281 Eighth Street, and his family consists of his wife and daughter.
ROBERT WALLACE ELLIOTT was born in Dover, N. J., July 11, 1856. His ancestry is Irish, his father having been born in Belfast, while his mother is a native of Mauch Chunk, Pa.
Mr. Elliott received his education at Lehigh University. After completing his studies, he engaged in the mining business with his father, with whom he remained until 1879, when he ac- cepted a position with the Pottsville (Pennsylvania) Iron and Steel Company. On March 1, 1885, he located in Jersey City, having associated himself with the United Gas Improvement Company as cashier of that corporation. On August 1, 1886, when the consolidation of the gas interests of Jer- sey City occurred, Mr. Elliott was made the man- ager and agent in Jersey City. He has held that important position ever since.
ROBERT WALLACE ELLIOTT.
Mr. Elliott is a member of the Manhattan and Twilight clubs of New York City : a mem- ber of the Palma ; was chairman of the board of trustees of that organization. He is also a member of the Carteret Club of Jersey City, and of the Hudson County Democratie Society. He has been vice-president of the latter for two years. He was appointed a commissioner by Gov. Green to report on the advisability of erecting a State Reformatory.
Mr. Elliott has for a number of years been a member of the Board of Trade of Jersey City, and for three years was a trustee of that organization.
JOHN J. VOORHEES was born in New Utrecht, L. I., June 22, 1848. He comes of Dutch extraction. His father, Peter Voorhees, was born on the old farm at Flatlands, where his first an- cestors settled in 1660.
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JOHN J. VOORHEES.
Mr. Voorhees received his education in the public schools of his native place. In 1863 he accepted a position as a clerk in a country store, where he remained five years. After filling similar positions for several subsequent years, he accepted a position as assistant bookkeeper in the extensive establishment of the New Jersey Car Spring and Rubber Company of Jersey City. After his first year of service in that capacity in that concern he was promoted to the position of head bookkeeper. It was not long before his worth and ability were appreciated, and he was made secretary of the company, a position he held until 1885, when he was elected treasurer of that cor- poration, and in 1888 was made general manager. Since his advent to the latter responsible position, the business of the concern has been quadrupled. all due to Mr. Voorhees' liberal management of affairs.
In 1885 he was appointed a member of the board of education, and served three terms, five successive years of which he was president of that body without an opposing candidate. In
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
1892 he was a member of the condemnation commission on the County Road. He is a member of the board of directors of the Jersey City Fire Insurance Company, the People's Gas Light Company and the New Jersey Car Spring and Rule- ber Company. He is a trustee of the Children's Home, and has been president for the past two years. He is a member of the Board of Trade, and in 1892 was president of the board of directors.
He is a prominent member of the Jersey City Athletic Club, the Carteret Club, the Jersey City Yacht Club, Hudson County Democratic Society, and also of the Holland Society of New York City.
On October 14, 1874. Mr. Voorhees married Miss Annie M. Collier, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Three children have been born to the happy union. He resides at 57 Duncan Avenue.
WILLIAM HARNEY was born in Ireland, May 1, 181 ;. His parents removed to New York during his in- fancy. He was educated in the public schools, and began his business career in New York City as proprietor of a livery stable. He was also an agent for the California steamers. In 1849 he established a real estate business at York and Grove streets, Jer- WILLIAM HARNEV. sey City. In 1868 his son, Mr. W. A. Harney, was ad- mitted as a partner. Mr. Harney did much to advance the corporate growth and development of Jersey City by the successful handling of real estate on a large scale, and by inviting capitalists hither for a sate investment of their money, as well
as by offering inducements to residents to own houses and property of their own, not only for residence, but also for mercantile purposes. During his long, successful business career it has been justly a matter of record that no man ever had to wait five minutes for any claim for money he held against Mr. Harney. He married Mrs. Margaritta C. Mundy, ncc Voorhees, of Jersey City. They had three daughters and two sons, the latter only surviving, William A. and Herbert. He continued in the real estate business until 1890, when he died, on April 7th of that year, at Elizabeth, N. J.
WILLIAM A. HARNEY was born in New York City on February 10, 1847. On his twenty-first birthday he was admitted to partnership in his father's real estate business, and succeeded him after his death. He still retains the original office opened by his father in 1849, and has recently added an office in New York. He was married in October, 1868, to Miss Cornelia Hyer, of Jersey City, N. J. Mr. Harney is proprietor of the Bruns- wick Hotel, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
WILLIAM H. HARNEY was born in Jersey City, November 9, 1869. He was educated in the public schools and at Hasbrouck Institute. After completing his studies he engaged in the real estate business with his father, William A. Harney, Esq., with whom he is actively engaged at present. On October 9, 1893, he married Miss Jennie A. Dunlap.
WILLIAM A. HARNEY.
Mr. Harney is a member of the Valencia Boat Club, and the Harlem Club of Harlem. He is of the third generation in the real estate bis ness in Jersey City, founded by his grandfather, William Harney, established in 1849.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
HORACE CHENEY WAIT was born at Highgate, Vt., June 29, 1852. He was prepared for college at Hampton Institute, Fairfax, Vt., and Phillips Exeter Academy, N. H. He entered Harvard College on June 29, 1872, but, for financial and religious reasons, entered Yale in the autumn of the same year. He maintained himself by tutoring, and as principal of a graded school near New Haven. He graduated in 1876, and was called to a position at the Lawrenceville Sehool. At the end of a year he accepted a call to Hasbrouck Institute, and beeame financially interested in the institution. In 1883 he married S. Carrie Stow, and their only child died in infancy.
In 1886 he was professor of Latin and Greek in the Burlington Summer School, and in 1887 he was examiner at the final examination at Dart- mouth College, representing the trustees. He is one of the managers of the People's Palace, a trus- tee of the First Congregational Church, and is interested in the Hudson County Sunday-school Association, and the Chautauqua system of popular education. He is vice-principal of Hasbrouck Institute.
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