USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume II > Part 40
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(VI) Enoch Perrine, son of John (3) and Ann (Stout) Perrine, was born in 1801, died in 1856; married, in 1823, Mary Ely, and among their children was a son, Thomas Ely Perrine.
(VII) Thomas Ely Perrine, son of Enoch and Mary (Ely) Perrine, married Harriet C. Magee, December 15, 1871, and they are the parents of Joseph Magee Perrine, of whom further.
(VIII) Joseph Magee Perrine, son of Thomas Ely and Harriet C. (Magee) Perrine, was born at Jamesburg, New Jersey, January 22, 1873. After attending public schools, he became a student at Peddie Institute, Hightstown, New Jersey, and later completed his studies at Coleman's Business College, Newark, New Jersey. He enlisted in business life as an employee of Wilkinson, Gaddis & Company, whole- sale grocers of Newark, New Jersey, remaining with that company three years. His next position was with J. C. Magee & Son, lumber and coal dealers of Jamesburg, New Jersey, with whom he remained three years. In 1896, with Frederick L. Buckelew, he bought the business, which was reorganized as Perrine & Buckelew, Inc., and is still the head of that corporation, dealing in lumber, coal and builders' supplies. Samuel E. Perrine, brother of Joseph M., is vice-president of the corporation. Daniel B. Malan, treasurer, and Jacob Wyckoff, secretary.
Mr. Perrine is also president of the First National Bank of James- burg, a director of the Perth Amboy Trust Company, and director of the Middlesex Title Guarantee and Trust Company. He is also vice- president of the Barlow Foundry Company, of Newark, and vice-presi- dent of William Dixon, Inc., New York City. Although but in the prime of life, he has accomplished much, and is one of the strong, influential men of his county.
Through his patriotic ancestry, Mr. Perrine has gained admission to the New Jersey Society, Sons of the American Revolution, and he is also affiliated with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. In church affiliation he is a Presbyterian, belonging to Jamesburg First Church.
Mr. Perrine married, in Newark, New Jersey, June 16, 1896, Edna Marie Dixon, daughter of William and Amelia Dixon. Mr. and Mrs. Perrine are the parents of three children : Marjory Dixon, Phyllis Magee, and Virginia Roberts. The family home is at Jamesburg, New Jersey.
EVERETT CLINTON ENSIGN .- When Mr. Ensign retired from railroad employ after thirty-five years of faithful service, he continued in the office to which he was first appointed a quarter of a century ago
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-secretary to the Board of Education of Woodbridge, Middlesex county, New Jersey, a town in which he first saw the light and where he still resides. He is a son of Samuel E. and Pamelia (Vining) Ensign, his father an old time teacher and later a general merchant of Woodbridge. He came to that town from Simsbury, Connecticut, where the Ensign family had long been seated. Pamelia (Vining) Ensign was of old Massachusetts family, she coming from Southwick.
The Ensigns of Simsbury, Connecticut, descend from James Ensign, born in England, who was among the first settlers of Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. The family was located in Kent, England, as early as 1395, and in Norfolk, Essex, and other English counties very early. James Ensign came to Hartford, Connecticut, with Rev. Thomas Hooker's colony, was among the original members of the First Church there, and ranks with founders of that city. He was a man of importance in the early settlement. Hartford was the family home of this branch until the fifth generation, when Moses Ensign, son of Isaac, moved to Sims- bury, Connecticut, that town giving him a grant of land as an inducement to settle there and ply his blacksmith's trade. He died there, May 12, 1816, at the age of sixty-nine. He was undoubtedly the great-grand- father of Samuel E. Ensign, father of Everett Clinton Ensign, of Wood- bridge, New Jersey.
Everett C. Ensign was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, February 27, 1858. and there yet resides, a man most highly esteemed in the town of his birth. He was educated in Woodbridge public schools, State Normal School at Trenton, and a business college at Newark, New Jer- sey. He began business life immediately after school years were over, his first position being with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in their Jersey City office. He remained with the Pennsylvania system thirty- five years, being connected with the maintenance of equipment depart- ment in the accounting division. He won many promotions and increases in salary, but finally, in September, 1914, tendered his resignation and sundered the associations of thirty-five years.
In 1899 Mr. Ensign was elected by the members of the Woodbridge Board of Education as secretary of that board, a position he has now held for twenty-two years. In 1917 he was appointed by the township authorities to rearrange an assessment system, and he has since con- tinued that work in addition to his, secretarial duties. He is deeply interested in civic affairs and public matters generally, and takes an active part in all movements that promise to advance the interests of Woodbridge.
Mr. Ensign is a Republican in politics. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum of Wood- bridge. In religious affiliation the family is connected with the Metho- dist Episcopal church of Woodbridge.
Mr. Ensign married, in Newark, New Jersey, Ida Ayres, daughter of John D. and Maria Ayres, her father a clay miner and dealer of Woodbridge, and of an ancient New Jersey family. Mr. and Mrs. Ensign are the parents of three children: 1. Everett M., who is now editor
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of the Life Insurance "News" of New York City, and secretary of the National Association of Life Insurance Underwriters. He married Evelyn Stout, of Rahway, New Jersey. 2. Ralph W., who was a mem- ber of the famous Seventh Regiment of New York City, and was com- missioned captain in the United States army during the World War, 1917-1918, stationed at Camp Upton, Long Island ; he is now manager of the Garden City Company, Garden City, Long Island. 3. Helen V., who has been a teacher in Woodbridge schools since 1904.
EDWARD A. PFEIFFER .- A great contributing factor to the prosperity of Middlesex county has been the vast deposits of clay of superior quality for the manufacture of fire brick, tile, drain pipe, terra cotta and other articles of common use. Edward A. Pfeiffer, now passed into eternal rest, was one of the men who aided in developing the clay products industry. For many years he mixed clay, and was connected with Henry Maurer & Son, at Maurer, New Jersey. His service with them continued for about thirty-five years, until his death in 1917. He was an important man in the business, and was held in high esteem, and had many friends in business and social life.
Edward A. Pfeiffer, son of John and Sophia (Waltz) Pfeiffer was born at Fords, New Jersey, July 27, 1865, died there, July 17, 1917. He grew up on the home farm and obtained a good public school education, finishing in high school. He later became interested in the clay business, and was a miner of clay. The business he established, and long success- fully conducted, is still managed by his son, who was trained in the business under his honored father.
In politics Mr. Pfeiffer was a Republican, and so interested in the welfare of his community that for fifteen years he served upon the Town Council. He was a devout church man, and long a member of the Presbyterian church of Metuchen. He was a member of the Masonic order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Royal Arcanum. He was interested in all of these orders, and in everything that was of interest and benefit to the community in which he lived. He was a good business man, citizen, a friend and neighbor, and above all a good home man.
Mr. Pfeiffer married, December 1, 1892, Mary E. Liddle, born at Fords, New Jersey, February 12, 1874, daughter of John and Margaret (Emmons) Liddle. Mr. and Mrs. Pfeiffer were the parents of seven children : Edward L., born December 11, 1893, died August 14, 1896; Russell E., born September 20, 1895, died January 29, 1897; Sophie I., born May 9, 1897, married Henry C. Koster, of Perth Amboy; Clifford O., born April 19, 1899, married Bess L. Warren, of Perth Amboy ; J. Spencer, born May 3, 1901 ; Elizabeth M., born January 24, 1904; and Robert W., born April 7, 1910. Mrs. Mary E. (Liddle) Pfeiffer survives her husband, and continues her residence at the old Pfeiffer home, between Fords and Metuchen, near the village of Fords, in which place she was born, and where her life has been largely passed.
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JOHN H. LOVE, PH. B .- The career of John H. Love became inter- woven with the history of Woodbridge High School in 1895, and since that year the history of one is the history of both, so far as is literally possible. A quarter of a century has elapsed since a committee from the Woodbridge Board of Education, after a personal investigation of Pro- fessor Love's work in other fields, reported favorably upon his appoint- ment to the principalship of the Woodbridge High School, and during that period the growth and advancement of the school and of the schools of the township of Woodbridge have been phenomenal, for since 1901, Professor Love has been supervising principal of all schools of the town- ship. He has won high position among educators, and is an honor to the teaching profession. He is of English birth and parentage, a son of William S. and Mary A. (Brindley ) Love, who in the year 1887 left their English home and came to the United States.
John H. Love was born in Hanley, Staffordshire, England, December 7, 1868, and there spent the first twenty years of his life. He was educated in the public schools and Teachers' Training classes, winning a Queen's Scholarship. He was for two years an assistant master of the Cannon Street School for Boys, and received the highest rating as a teacher. With this training and record he came to the United States in 1889, his first position in this country being as teacher of an ungraded school in Salem county, New Jersey. In September, 1890, he began a two years' engagement as. principal of the North Long Branch School, and in September, 1892, he began his three years' term as principal of the public school at Belmar, New Jersey. There he inaugurated a high school department, and brought the standard of the school to a par with other educational institutions of its class. Then came the call to Woodbridge, where a quarter of a century of most suc- cessful work stands to his credit.
In 1895, when Professor Love came to Woodbridge as principal of the high school, there were in the different districts of the township school buildings with a capacity mostly of one and two rooms, the only exception being School No. I, in Woodbridge, which had twelve rooms. The Six Roads School had one room ; Locust Grove, one room; Rahway Neck, one room; Fords, two rooms; Iselin, one room; and at Carteret there were four rooms in use. After six years as principal of the high school, Professor Love was made supervising principal of township schools and at once began a campaign for more, larger and better equipped school buildings, and for a wider curriculum, and a larger teaching staff. These results have all been attained through his unceas- ing, uncompromising efforts, and the benefit of his administration is in evidence in every department.
There are now nine school buildings in the township, with another in course of erection at Sewaren, all being of modern fireproof construction. These buildings contain eighty-nine class rooms, exclusive of manual training rooms, gymnasiums, auditoriums, and other special rooms. These are all modernly furnished and equipped, no better being found anywhere. Woodbridge has a high school and two primary schools, the
THE NEW YOR PUBLIC LIBRARY
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other schools being in Port Reading, Avenel, Iselin, Fords, neasbey, and Hope Lawn. About thirty-five hundred children of school age are enrolled in the township, and one hundred teachers are employed. Spe- cial supervisors, manual training, music and drawing teachers visit all the schools at stated intervals, thereby giving equal advantages to the children regardless of the school they attend. The members of the Board of Education, consisting of Howard A. Tappen, president ; E. C. Ensign, H. R. Valentine, Fred Bohlen, Charles S. Farrell, Maurice P. Dunigan, Melvin Clum, Louis Meyer, and A. B. Walling, have been absolutely loyal to the best educational interests of the township, acting in perfect harmony with the supervising principal, Professor Love. The Woodbridge township school system has no superior in the State.
Professor Love is a member of Township Professional Circle (presi- dent) ; the Supervising Principals' Association, of Middlesex county ; the State Teachers' Association ; State Council of Education, and the Na- tional Teachers' Association. He is a member and past master of Americus Lodge, No. 831, Free and Accepted Masons, and was formerly a member of other fraternal organizations which pressing duties com- pelled him to relinquish. He is president of Woodbridge Chapter of the American Red Cross ; senior warden of Trinity Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Republican, serving on the election board of District No. I.
During the War of 1917-18, Professor Love was commissioned sec- ond lieutenant of Company A, Woodbridge, New Jersey, State Militia Reserve, that company rendering notable service at the time of the great explosion of munitions at Morgan, near Woodbridge.
Professor Love married, in 1893, Anna H. Newcomer, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, daughter of Emanuel and Christiana (Hornberger) New- comer, of an ancient and honorable Pennsylvania family. Six children were born to Professor and Mrs. Love: Verna B., married William E. Lape, and resides in Evanston, Illinois; Gregory W., who during the World War, 1917-18, served in France as gunner's mate with Naval Battery, No. 4; Marian B., residing at home; Victor N., who served in the United States navy on the submarine chaser "Narada" during the World War ; Edgar, and Ruth J., both high school students.
In 1901 Professor. Love received from Illinois Wesleyan University the degree of Ph. B., and other honors have been conferred upon him for his work as an educator. This brief record of the life of John H. Love reveals a man of high ideals and devotion to every duty, pro- fessional or civic. He has won a host of friends in his adopted town, and is as favorably as he is widely known.
DANIEL POTTER OLMSTEAD .- In his Vermont home, St. Al- bans, Daniel P. Olmstead, president of the Evening News Company, of Perth Amboy, spent his youth, finished his school years and learned the printer's trade. His experience in the printing shop of the St. Albans "Messenger" was supplemented by a period with a large printing house in New York City, his residence in Perth Amboy beginning at the close of that period, February, 1898. From that date he has been intimately connected with the publishing business of Perth Amboy.
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Olmstead is an ancient English name of local significance, meaning a place or town by the green oaks; from Holm, an oak, and stead, a place. It is found under varied forms of spelling-Olmsted, Olmstead, Omsted, Homestead, Holmsted, Homsted, etc., but all of the early New England families of the name descend from James Olmsted, born in England, who came to Boston in the ship "Lion," September 16, 1632. In 1636 he went with the colony from Massachusetts and was one of the original settlers and proprietors of Hartford, Connecticut, where he died. He was evidently a man of means, as in his will he bequeathed fifty pounds to the Hartford church. Descendants settled in all parts of New England, this branch settling in Vermont, where Myron B. Olmstead was living at the time of the birth of his son, Daniel P. Olmstead.
Daniel Potter Olmstead, only son of Myron B. and Mary (Potter) Olmstead, was born in St. Albans, Vermont, May 7, 1871. He completed public school study with graduation from high school and soon after- ward entered the employ of the St. Albans "Messenger" as printer's apprentice, serving a term of four years. The next five years were spent with a large printing establishment of New York City, following which he located in February, 1898, at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, going there to take charge of the job printing department of the old Perth Amboy "Republican." He became financially interested in the "Republican," and continued with its job printing department for five years, becoming president of the newly organized Evening News Company, in 1903. The Perth Amboy "Evening News" has become the leading daily newspaper of Middlesex county, and since its foundation the company has been under the executive management of Mr. Olmstead, a practical printer and publisher.
Mr. Olmstead is a member of the board of directors of the Perth Amboy Savings Institution, a director and member of the finance com- mittee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and ex-president of the old Board of Trade, and interested in all that pertains to the welfare of his city. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Masonic order, affiliated with Raritan Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and Amboy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, having filled the office of high priest of the chapter. He is a vestryman of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, and a member of the Colonia Country, East Jersey, and Raritan Yacht clubs.
Mr. Olmstead married, in Brooklyn, New York, August 31, 1898, Frances Charters, born in Brooklyn, daughter of David J. and Alice (Stevenson) Charters, her father deceased, her mother a present resident of Brooklyn. The Charters family is of English descent.
RAYMOND R. MOORE .- For forty years prior to his passing, in 1899, Ellis F. Moore was engaged in business in Woodbridge, New Jersey, as a general merchant and hardware dealer of the firm F. & E. F. Moore, Hardware, dating from 1871. For thirteen years that firm, composed of Franklin and Ellis F. Moore, brothers, continued in busi- ness, Franklin Moore then selling his interest and withdrawing. As
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his sons came to suitable years, Ellis F. Moore admitted them to the business and when, in 1899, he was called to his reward, those sons, Raymond R. and Lawrence Moore, bought the interest of the other heirs, and the hardware business, with a Moore at its head, is continued in Woodbridge until the present, 1921, the firm name E. F. Moore & Sons.
Ellis F. Moore was a son of Lawrence Moore, who was born on Staten Island, New York, January 10, 1801, but at the age of thirteen crossed the narrow water that separates the island from New York, and henceforth made his home in the latter State. He learned the wheel- wright's trade, and in 1837 permanently settled in Woodbridge, Middle- sex county, New Jersey, where he died August 15, 1864. He conducted a very prosperous business in Woodbridge until his death, when his son succeeded him in the management of the business. Lawrence Moore married, March 11, 1823, Ann Hutchinson, who long survived him, she dying September 29, 1880. They were the parents of six sons and a daughter : Daniel, died in early childhood; William Henry, died at the age of twenty-three years; Francis, died in early childhood; Lawrence, a carriage maker ; Franklin, a carriage maker; Martha Ann, married, August 7, 1859, Isaac H. Harned ; Ellis F., of further mention.
Ellis F. Moore, youngest son of Lawrence and Ann (Hutchinson) Moore, was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, September 21, 1846, and died in the town of his birth, April 26, 1899. After his school years were over, he embarked on a business career, being but thirteen years of age when, in 1859, he became a mercantile clerk, becoming later a merchant in his own right and head of a general hardware business. He was twenty-five years of age when he and his brother, Franklin, founded the hardware business of F. and E. F. Moore (previously mentioned), of which, in 1884, he became sole owner and head, continuing until his death fifteen years later, leaving sons to succeed him and perpetuate the name Moore, which was brought to Woodbridge in 1837 by Lawrence Moore, his father. Ellis F. Moore married Rose Vennetee, and this review will now follow the career of their son, Raymond R. Moore, his father's successor in business, and of the third generation of this family in busi- ness in Woodbridge.
Raymond R. Moore was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, August 31, 1878, and there completed a public school course, after which he pursued a course of study in a New Jersey Business College, Newark, New Jersey, finishing with the graduating class of 1896. He was at once taken into the hardware store then owned and conducted by his honored father, Ellis F. Moore, and for three years he was a bookkeeper in that store, but was given every opportunity to become familiar with the detail of the business. Ellis F. Moore died in 1899, and in the set- tlement of the estate Raymond R. and Lawrence Moore purchased the hardware business founded by their father and uncle in 1871, and con- tinned it under the firm name of E. F. Moore & Sons. The brothers operated the business as a partnership until 1918, when Lawrence Moore withdrew his interest, it being purchased by Raymond R. Moore who
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now, in the fiftieth anniversary year of its founding, is sole owner of the business which in that time has not been out of the Moore name. His store is now located at the corner of Main and Fulton streets, Wood- bridge, but previous to 1918 was at No. 87 Main street for thirty-two years, the original store of F. & E. F. Moore having been on Green street (1871), next to the Masonic Hall. That building prior to 1871 had been in use as a store since 1856 and there, in 1859, Ellis F. Moore began his mercantile career as clerk. The business, of which Raymond R. Moore is the owner and head, is the only one with which he has ever been connected. He came to it in 1896 fresh from business college, and enjoyed the years of business training under his honored father before being called to its management. He was a youth of eighteen when he entered his father's employ, twenty-one when he became a partner with his brother Lawrence, forty when he became sole owner, and now, at the age of forty-three, has no other business interests. He has won the same high standing and business reputation that his father enjoyed, and is one of the representative men of his community.
When the outbreak of war between the United States and Spain, in 1898, called upon the manhood of the nation, Mr. Moore responded by enlistment in the Third Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers. He enlisted at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was honorably discharged at Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, November 2, 1898. He enlisted as a private and rose through successive promotions to the rank of captain of his company. When again, in 1917, the president's call went out for men to protect American honor and interests, and fight in the cause of justice and right, Captain Moore, although exempted by years, responded and was commissioned captain of Company C, Second Regiment, New Jer- sey Volunteers, and served from March 28, 1917, until February 6, 1919, when he was honorably discharged and mustered out at Camp Wads- worth, South Carolina, a veteran of two wars.
Captain Moore is affiliated with Americus Lodge, No. 83, Free and Accepted Masons, of Woodbridge ; Woodbridge Lodge, No. 153, Knights of Pythias; Rahway Lodge, No. 1075, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church of Woodbridge. Po- litically he is independent in his action, and scrutinizes with a keen interest the men who present themselves for public office and the meas- ures they endorse. He is public-spirited and progressive, while in patriotism he is of the finest quality, as has been proven.
Mr. Moore married, in February, 1908, Bertha M. Mundy, her par- ents former residents of Woodbridge. Captain and Mrs. Moore are the parents of three sons : Ellis F. (2), Raymond R. (2), and John C. Moore.
M. BURR MANN .- There is no more vital factor in the community than that of public education. The training of the youthful mind in the formulative stage along those lines which will prove most beneficial to it in later life is a task which to the community is a large and life-sized problem. The more intelligent and capable the men into whose hands the direction of education is given, the greater the value to themselves.
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and the world is the recipient of their training. The improvement in the quality of education and preliminary training has increased a hun- dredfold within the past few decades, due to an awakening on the part of the people to the absolute necessity of a good foundation on which to begin a career, and due also in a large degree to the demand for especially trained experts. In every city throughout the entire country are to be found schools of high standing, and at the head of these schools are to be found educators of the highest order. M. Burr Mann is one of these successful educators, and not only is Mr. Mann prominent in his profession, but in the public affairs of Dunellen he also takes a keen and active interest.
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