USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume II > Part 25
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
Lance A. Edgar
49
BIOGRAPHICAL
agent for the Prudential Life Insurance Company, later becoming assist- ant superintendent of the company. In 1902 he was appointed manager of the Colonial Insurance Company, and two years later became man- ager of the ordinance department for the Prudential Insurance Company, remaining with this latter organization until establishing himself in the real estate and insurance business in 1904, which stands today a monu- ment to his tireless energy, his progressive spirit, tempered with the wisdom of conservatism, and his farsighted aggressive methods of procedure.
Mr. Edgar has always been loyal in his support of measures calcu- lated to benefit the city and to promote its rapid and substantial devel- opment. He was a director in the Young Men's Christian Association from 1902 to 1912, and at present, a member of the Board of Trade. In 1912 he allied himself with the Progressive party, being a warm admirer of Theodore Roosevelt. From 1913 to 1916 he was chairman for the Middlesex county organization of the Progressive party. He was elected assemblyman on the Republican ticket for Middlesex county in 1916, and reelected in 1917. During his first term, he was chairman of the ways and means committee, member of committees on claims and pen- sions, riparian rights, and joint committee on school for deaf mutes ; second term, chairman of committee on incidental expenses, member of committees on commerce and navigation, education and stationery, and joint committees on New Jersey State. Reformatory, and School for Deaf Mutes. He was active in: promoting good legislation, always in the interest of his constituents. He had the pleasure of speaking and voting for the local option ,bill placed on the New Jersey statute books during the session of 1917, and has always been a strong advocate of prohibition. He is a member of the Middlesex County Republican Committee.
Mr. Edgar became a member of the Board of Education of Highland Park, New Jersey, in 1913, and served this board as president from 1914 to 1916. He was one of the organizers of the Highland Park Building and Loan Association in 1908, and has served as director and secretary of the board ever since. In 1892, Mr. Edgar enlisted in the Second Bri- gade Signal Corps of the National Guard of New Jersey, and was honorably discharged from the service in 1897, having attained the rank of corporal.
He is a member of Palestine Lodge, No. III, Free and Accepted Masons ; Craftsmen's Club ; Tall Cedars of Lebanon; New Brunswick's Sportsmen's Club; Rotary Club of New Brunswick, as well as being a member of the Associated Automobile Clubs of New Jersey and of the American Automobile Association. His religious affiliations are with the Highland Park Reformed Church, in which he holds the office of elder.
On October 28, 1897, Mr. Edgar was united in marriage with Bertha Bodle Hoffman, daughter of Jeremiah King and Margaretta (Ramsey) Hoffman, of Clinton, Hunterdon county, New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar are the parents of a son, Joseph Hoffman, born August 20, 1898,
Mid-รก
50
MIDDLESEX
who is a graduate of Rutgers College, class of 1918, and is now (1921) a senior in Yale University Law School, and business manager of the "Yale Law Journal." The family home is located at No. 202 Grant avenue, Highland Park, New Jersey.
ADOLPH CLAYTON CLARK, as manager of the Raritan Copper Works, holds one of the most important executive positions in the State of New Jersey. The field covered by this large corporation includes practically all of the United States and many foreign countries, and makes it one of the most important concerns in the city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
The Clark family is an old one of Rindge, New Hampshire, where Mr. Clark's father, Adolphus Clark, was born. He manufactured min- eral water machinery, and conducted factories in Boston, Massachusetts, and in London, England. He died in Chicago, in 1918, in the eighty- seventh year of his age. He married Marie Antoinette Jewett, of New- port, New Hampshire, who died in Chicago in the eighty-third year of her age, within one week of the date of her husband's death. They had six children, the eldest having died in infancy. Those now living are : Adolph Clayton ; Mabel, wife of Dr. L. K. Beck, of San Antonio, Texas ; F. Percy, of East Chicago, Indiana; Florence Louise, wife of W. G. Speck, of Sidcup, England ; and Cecil J., of Chicago, Illinois.
Adolph Clayton Clark was born in Boston, Massachusetts, April 19, 1866. He was taken to England when a baby, as the elder Clark's business required his extended residence there, and his little family accompanied him. The boy, Adolph C., was eighteen years of age when he returned to America. He had enjoyed the best of educational advan- tages in England and on the continent, and upon returning to America went to Rhode Island and attended a business college in Providence for one year. Before becoming identified with the Raritan Copper Works, Mr. Clark was with the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Company of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for four years. He then served four years with the large shoe manufacturing firm of Thomas White & Sons, of Boston, Massachusetts. From there Mr. Clark went with the New England Electrolytic Copper Company of Central Falls, Rhode Island, where he remained eight years, becoming its assistant superintendent. This last position defined Mr. Clark's life work and interests, and when the company moved its works from Central Falls to Perth Amboy, becoming the Raritan Copper Works, he came with them as assistant superintendent. This was in 1901, and in 1905 he became superintendent, and in 1918 manager of the plant. The story of such a career might fill volumes ; the outline is quickly stated ; but Mr. Clark's position in the business world is thereby clearly revealed.
Mr. Clark is president of the Middlesex County Vocational schools, and vice-president of the Perth Amboy Board of Education. He is also an officer or director of the following organizations: The Raritan Trust Company, Perth Amboy; City Hospital; Spring Lake Hospital; the Young Men's Christian Association ; the American Red Cross; and the
51
BIOGRAPHICAL
Bathing and Tennis Club of Spring Lake, New Jersey. He is a member of the American Society of Mining Engineers; the Whitehall Club of New York ; the East Jersey Club; and the Bathing and Tennis Club of Spring Lake, New Jersey. He takes delight in all out-of-door sports, and is particularly interested in swimming.
Mr. Clark married (first) in Pawtucket, May 27, 1896, Mary Edith Carpenter, who died in 1904. They had three children : Harold Norman; Dorothy E., and Adolph Clayton (2). On June 27, 1906, Mr. Clark married (second) Frances Matthews Bates, of Binghamton, New York, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Miles J. Matthews, who lived for many years in that city. The family is Episcopalian, and they are members of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Clark is a vestryman.
WILLIAM NORTHEY JONES .- The Church of God stands as a symbol of human faith, gracing the common pathway. So in the records of the community the names of the clergy stand as exponents of the higher phases of human history. The Rev. William Northey Jones, rector of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, is a representative clergyman of that denomination, whose life is filled with beneficent activities. He is a son of John Winslow and Adelaide E. (Doldt) Jones, his father being a manufacturer, and at one time a member of the General Assembly of the State of Maryland.
Rev. Mr. Jones was born May 27, 1866, in Portland, Maine. Fol- lowing his elementary education, he entered St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, in 1878. He was graduated from that institution in 1884. He then entered Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, from which he was graduated in 1888 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then entered upon a post-graduate course at the General Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1891. In that same year Trinity College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Later he took a special course at Keble College, Oxford University, England. This splendid preparation for his chosen vocation served to make him an unusually forceful speaker. He entered at once upon a field of missionary labor in Montana, where he remained for two years. In 1893 he was called to the pastorate of St. Paul's Church, Evansville, Indiana, where he served for four years. In 1898 he became the rector of Grace Church, Manchester, New Hampshire, where he remained for seven years. He was next rector of Christ Church, Williamsport, Penn- sylvania. for a period of nine years. In 1914 he was called to St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy, which parish is still under his charge. He has won the esteem not only of his congregation, but of the public generally, and the church has enjoyed a period of uniform prosperity, both spiritual and material, during his rectorship.
Rev. Mr. Jones has repeatedly been called to serve upon ecclesias- tical missions and in bodies assembled to consider the problems of the church. He was examining chaplain for the Diocese of Indiana from 1893 to 1897. He was a member of the Board of Missions of New Hamp- shire from 1899 to 1904. He has served as deputy to the General Con-
52
MIDDLESEX
vention at three different times. In 1908 he was made delegate to the Pan Anglican Congress in London, England. From 1908 to 1914 he was president of the Board of Religious Education in the Diocese of Harris- burg.
Rev. Mr. Jones has also given generously of his time and energies to worthy secular objects. He was for seven years trustee of the Public Library of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and since 1915 he has been president of the board of trustees of the Middlesex County, New Jersey, Home for the Aged. His college fraternity is Psi Upsilon ; and he is a member of the Knights Templar, also a Scottish Rite Mason, the thirty- second degree. For many years he was prelate of the Commandery of Knights Templar. He is now past most wise master of the Rose Croix Knights, and chaplain of the blue lodge. He is a member of the New Hampshire Society of the Colonial Wars, a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and a member of the Colonial Country Club.
Rev. Mr. Jones married, October 11, 1894, in Brooklyn, New York, Carrie Louise Clark, daughter of Edwin Allen and Ann E. (Michaels) Clark. Their four children are as follows: 1. Allen Northey, who was graduated from Trinity College with the degree of Master of Arts; valedictorian, class of 1917, and served as a machine gunner for twenty- two months in France. 2. Sarah Mildred, who was graduated from Wellesley College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, class of 1921. 3. Theodore Winslow. 4. Eleanor Carolyn.
OLAF JACOB MORGENSON, city comptroller, is one of the rep- resentative citizens of Perth Amboy. Since coming to this community in 1895 he has espoused and given his earnest support to all movements calculated to advance the welfare of the city.
James Morgenson, father of Olaf Jacob Morgenson, was born in Denmark. October 24. 1846, and came to this country at the age of twenty-four years, settling in Kansas, he being one of the first six farm- ers to settle in that locality. He married Christine Olsen, and they are both living on the farm in Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Morgenson have been born six children : Olaf Jacob, mentioned below; Louis H., a resi- dent of Escalon, California : Dora, wife of the Rev. C. M. Olsen, of Den- mark, Wisconsin ; Julius C., of Lincoln, Kansas; Adolph F., of Vesper, Kansas : Helma, deceased.
Olaf Jacob Morgenson was born in Lincoln county, Kansas, January 21. 1872. He obtained his education in the public schools of Lincoln and the normal department of Elkhorn College, Elkhorn, Iowa. Imme- diately after graduating he took the State examinations, and in 1895 secured his State teacher's certificate, and subsequently became assistant principal of the Lincoln public schools, after which he taught three years in Elkhorn College, Elkhorn, Iowa, and then came to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where for twelve years he had charge of the accounting department in Trainor's Business College, and has specialized in this particular occupation of accountancy ever since. In July, 1920, Mr.
53
BIOGRAPHICAL
Morgenson, together with a number of other representative business men of Perth Amboy, founded the Perth Amboy Business College, Mr. Morgenson being made advisory principal. In 1916 he was made superintendent of the South Amboy Terra Cotta Company, which position he held until the factory was closed on account of the war in October, 1918, at which time he entered the employ of the Wright- Martin Aircraft Corporation in New Brunswick, first in the cost depart- ment and later in the auditing department in winding up the affairs of the corporation. On January 1, 1917, he was appointed comptroller and reappointed, January 1, 1920. He is a member of the Perth Amboy Chamber of Commerce, and in religion is a Lutheran.
On June 19, 1895, Mr. Morgenson was united in marriage with Laura E. Peterson. Mr. and Mrs. Morgenson are the parents of five children : Leland, born June 12, 1896, is production manager of the Underground Cable Company ; Edgar O., born December 12, 1898, is a student of electrical engineering at Pratt Institute, class of 1921 ; Wilson L., born June 24, 1909; Margaret E., born August 19, 1911; Donald R., born October 27, 1913.
CHARLES W. SEDAM was born September 10, 1855, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of Ryke R. and Anne Elizabeth (Cheeseman) Sedam. The family name was formerly spelled Suydam and is found in the ancient Holland records. This branch of the family began spelling the name Sedam in 1757. Ryke R. Sedam was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, April 5, 1820, and died here April 20. 1897. He was a building contractor for many years, and in politics was a staunch Republican. Mrs. Sedam was born October 5, 1825, and died in New Brunswick, May 15, 1890.
The education of Charles W. Sedam was obtained in the public schools of New Brunswick. For twenty-four years he was connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and since 1894 has been justice of the peace in his native place. In politics Mr. Sedam is a Republican, keenly alive to his responsibilities as a citizen, and taking an active interest in public affairs. In religion he is a Presbyterian and for ten years was librarian of the primary department of the First Presbyterian Church, of which he is a devout member.
Mr. Sedam married, February 3. 1880, Amelia M. Hudnut, who was born at Princeton, New Jersey, June 26, 1851, the daughter of Alexander M. and Sarah (Davis) Hudnut. Mrs. Sedam passed away at New Brunswick, New Jersey, February 27, 1920. To Mr. and Mrs. Sedam were born five children : Amelia M., born January 1, 1881 ; Charles W., Jr., born December 17, 1881 ; Fannie P., born January 24, 1884, died in infancy ; Walter C., a sketch of whom follows; Frank B., born February 9, 1890, died in infancy.
Mr. Sedam's hobby is automobiling. A man of most engaging per- sonality, true to his friendships, honest and impeccable in all the relations of life, he is highly respected and honored in the community. He is of a reserved nature and avoids ostentation in all things, finding happi- ness in the essentials.
54
MIDDLESEX
WALTER COOPER SEDAM .- Advancement in any of the learned professions is generally the result of individual merit, application and skill. When these are combined with ambition and a fixed determination to achieve success, the desired result is inevitable. Walter Cooper Sedam, although young in years, has achieved this enviable reputation in the legal profession and is numbered among the successful attorneys of New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Walter Cooper Sedam was born October 12, 1887, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of Charles W. and Amelia M. (Hudnut) Sedam (q. v.). He received the elementary portion of his education in the public schools of his native place and then entered Rutgers College, from which he was graduated in 1909 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He had in the meantime determined to adopt the law as a pro- fession and, accordingly, matriculated at the New York Law School of New York City. After completing the prescribed course, he graduated with the class of 1911 and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws, subse- quently entering first the office of Judge Peter F. Daly and later becom- ing associated with Senator W. E. Florance. On January 1, 1914, he opened offices at No. 40 Paterson street, in this city, and this has remained his headquarters ever since. He has built up an excellent practice, and has handled many important cases up to the present time, proving himself to be a most efficient and conscientious attorney.
Besides his legal practice, Mr. Sedam has interested himself in the conduct of public affairs in the community, and has become prominent in the local organization of the Republican party. In 1913 he was a candidate on the Republican ticket for the General Assembly. He is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and secretary of the Middlesex County Bar Association for the past four years. He frater- nizes with the Chi Phi fraternity of Rutgers College and also with the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity of New York. In religion Mr. Sedam is a Presbyterian and attends the First church of that denomination at New Brunswick.
On May 9, 1920, Mr. Sedam was united in marriage with Olga Dorothea Venino, daughter of Albert and Emily (Schumacher) Venino. Mr. Venino now resides in Orange, New Jersey, at the age of eighty- three years, and was the first maker of wax used for wax flowers in the United States. He was born at Kaiserslautern, in Rhenish Bavaria.
EDWARD WALDRON HICKS .- In view of the fact that he has been thirty years a member of the New Brunswick bar, and during ten of those years occupied a seat on the bench of the District Court, Mr. Hicks stands in no need of an introduction to his neighbors and fellow- citizens. Two years' service in the Legislature, and a year's tenure of the office of city attorney, further combine to render him a "man of mark" in his community.
John Hicks, grandfather of Edward Waldron Hicks, was a repre- sentative of an old New Brunswick family, and for many years was engaged in business as a butcher in his home town. The old Hicks
2 Halter ODedam.
NOW YORK Freak MERARY
55
BIOGRAPHICAL
homestead was situated on Burnet street, and was owned by Mr. Hicks, having been purchased by him from Commodore Vanderbilt. It is still in a good state of preservation.
Joseph Dunn Hicks, son of John Hicks, was born in New Brunswick, and during nearly all of his active life was associated with the Norfolk & New Brunswick Hosiery Company. He married Christiana Baisler, a native of New York State, and they became the parents of three sons: William Kent, who died at the age of sixteen; Frederick S., died in infancy ; and Edward Waldron, mentioned below. Mr. Hicks died May 25, 1919, at the advanced age of eighty-seven, and his widow is still living in New Brunswick.
Edward Waldron Hicks, son of Joseph Dunn and Christiana (Bais- ler) Hicks, was born November 19, 1868, in New Brunswick, and at- tended the New Brunswick High School, afterward studying law under the preceptorship of John S. Voorhees. In February, 1890, he was admitted to the bar, and at first practiced alone. Later Mr. Hicks became a partner in the firm of Voorhees, Booraem & Hicks, and the association was maintained until the organization of the firm of Florance & Hicks. This remained unchanged until 1901, when Mr. Hicks was appointed judge of the District Court, an office which he retained until 1911. Judge Hicks proved himself admirably fitted for the discharge of the important duties devolving upon him, and the manner in which he met his onerous responsibilities and solved the legal problems constantly submitted to him received the unqualified approval of all fairminded citizens. Since his retirement from the bench, Mr. Hicks has practiced alone, having his office in the National Bank building.
As a young man, Mr. Hicks became active in the political life of his community, always on the side of the Republicans. In 1895 and 1896 he represented his party in the Legislature, proving himself a faithful advocate and supporter of the rights of his constituents. In 1906 he served most impartially and efficiently as city attorney. He is a special Master in Chancery and a Supreme Court Commissioner.
The professional organizations in which Mr. Hicks is enrolled are the County and State Bar associations. He belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution, affiliates with the Masonic fraternity, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is the president of the New Brunswick Council of Boy Scouts of America. If he has a hobby, it is the game of golf, and he belongs to the Golf Club and the Boat Club. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
During the recent World War, Mr. Hicks served as chairman of the executive committee of the first Red Cross drive. He was also a mem- ber of the executive committee on the Liberty Loan campaign, and the Home Defense League, and served as an assistant to the Legal Advisory Board.
Mr. Hicks married, October 16, 1901, at Metuchen, Helen A. Mallory, born in Ohio, daughter of Robert L. and Ida (Baker) Mallory, who then lived in Metuchen, Mr. Mallory an agent and notary. Mrs. Mallory is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are the parents of two sons: Douglas Mallory, born July 28, 1902, a student at Rutgers College, class
56
MIDDLESEX
of 1923; and Malcolm Baisler, born December 15, 1903, in same college, class of 1924. One child died in infancy.
Throughout the twenty-five years and upward during which Mr. Hicks has helped to make the legal and political history of his county, he has shown himself to be a skillful and sagacious practitioner, a just and learned judge, and an able and disinterested political leader, a man of complex personality, versatile talents and high-minded ambitions.
CHARLES L. STEUERWALD, a prominent business man of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where he is engaged in the real estate and insur- ance lines, and a citizen influential in well nigh every department of the community's life, was born in South Amboy, March 1, 1879. He is a son of Charles and Emma L. (Herzog) Steuerwald, the former a native of Germany, born in the year 1852, came to the United States as a boy and located in Keyport, New Jersey. Later he removed to South Amboy, engaged in the hotel business and met with notable success and from which he retired in 1912. He is now living in South Amboy, a highly respected citizen. He has been for many years a member of the fish and game commission of New Jersey from Middlesex county, and takes an active part in public life. The elder Mrs. Steuerwald was born in Matawan, New Jersey, and now resides with her husband in South Amboy. They are the parents of four children, as follows: A child who died in infancy ; Ada Henrietta, who became the wife of Christian F. Straub, of South Amboy; Charles L., with whom we are here espe- cially concerned; Peter A. J., who is employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and resides in South Amboy.
The childhood of Charles L. Steuerwald was passed in South Amboy, and he has always remained associated with the affairs of that city, although his business headquarters are now located in the larger neigh- boring community, where he also takes an active part. He attended the South Amboy public schools, and upon completing his general edu- cation there entered the Coleman Business College in Newark, New Jersey, in order to take a commercial course. He graduated from the latter institution with the class of 1895, and immediately afterwards secured a position with the great wholesale dry goods house of H. B. Claflin Company of New York City. He made himself of great value to his employers, and rose to the rank of assistant general salesman during the time that he continued in their employ. Upon leaving the Claflin Company, Mr. Steuerwald went to Peekskill, New York, and engaged in a manufacturing enterprise in which he was successful and which he carried on for some time, but was compelled to sell out on account of poor health. After regaining his health, two years later, he accepted the position of superintendent and manager of the Gas Company in South Amboy. This position he held until the company was sold to the Public Service Corporation in 1910, when he resigned and entered business in Perth Amboy. Four years later he established himself in his present line, dealing in real estate, insurance and mort- gage loans, with offices in the Savings Bank building at No. 208 Smith
57
BIOGRAPHICAL
street. His organization was incorporated in the year 1915 under the name of Charles L. Steuerwald, Incorporated, with himself as president and treasurer. Since that time he has developed a very large and remunerative business, which is one of the most important of its kind in the city. Mr. Steuerwald is a man of broad-minded, public spirit, and has always been a conspicuous figure in the general life of the com- munity. He has established the South Amboy Trust Company, of which he is vice-president ; the Woodbridge National Bank, of which he is a stockholder ; the Investors' and Owners' Building and Loan Association of South Amboy ; and a New Building and Loan Association of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He is a Republican in politics, and though he has never sought public office for himself he is always ready to help the right man for the right place. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Young Men's Christian Association, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, the Raritan Yacht Club, East Jersey Club, and is devoted to many forms of outdoor sports and pastimes. At the present time, in connection with others, he is organ- izing a golf club in Woodbridge, New Jersey. In religious belief he is an Episcopalian and attends Christ Church of that denomination in South Amboy.
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.