USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume II > Part 25
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Signed by the secretary, for the members of the association at the meeting.
H. B. WELLS, per J. W. Marshall.
J. EVART D. SILCOX, M. D., one of the leading professional men of Keyport, whose excellent train- ing and broad experience are factors in his success, is a son of John and Eunice (Quigly) Silcox. The father was born in Fieldsboro, Delaware, and was a miller by occupation, and the mother was a native of Media, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Silcox was born in Wallingford, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1870. He re- ceived his early education in the public and high schools of his native town. Taking a preparatory course at Temple College, Philadelphia, he was graduated from that institution in 1897. In the same year he went to the Transvaal, Africa, and was interested in the events of the Jameson raid while in that country, being identified with the Whit Water Rand Gold Mining Company. Return- ing to the United States he again took up his plans for a professional education, entering the University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, from which institution he was graduated in 1907 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Going to Chicago, he entered the Cook County Hospital, where for fifteen months he acted in the capacity of interne. He began prac- tice in Galesburg, Illinois, where he remained for a period of five years, then in 1913 removed to Key- port, New Jersey, and has since practiced in this borough with constantly increasing success. He now holds a leading position in the medical pro- fession in this county.
Dr. Silcox is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Monmouth Medical Society, of the New Jersey State Medical Society, and of the Practitioners' Society of East Monmouth. Fra- ternally he is a member of Caesarea Lodge, No. 64, Free and Accepted Masons, of Keyport; of Delta
Chapter, No. 14, Royal Arch Masons; of Corson Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar, of Asbury Park; and is also a member of Salaam Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Newark. Politically Dr. Silcox supports the Re- publican party, but has thus far declined leadership in political affairs. He was a member of the Penn- sylvania National Guard from 1888 until 1892. He is a member of the Keyport Yacht Club, and inter- ested in all out-door sports and athletics. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and an elder and trustee of the church.
On June 27, 1906, Dr. Silcox married, in West- chester, Pennsylvania, Louise Veit, daughter of George and Rosina Veit, and they have four chil- dren: John Frederick, born July 8, 1908, in Rio, Illinois; Louis Edward, born July 12, 1910, in Rio, Illinois; Charles Brenington, born June 11, 1914, in Keyport, New Jersey; and Arthur, born October 25, 1916, in Keyport. The older children are now pupils in the public schools of Keyport.
BURTIS ASHBURN AUMACK-One of the promising young men of Keyport is Burtis Ashburn Aumack, who is identified with the West Furniture Company, of this town. Mr. Aumack is a son of Captain Joseph Bailey and Lydia Hannah Aumack, and the father was a sea captain throughout his active life.
Mr. Aumack was born in Keyport, New Jersey, May 2, 1892. His education was received in his native State, first attending the public schools of Keyport, then Union, then taking a practical course at Coleman's Business College, Newark. Completing his studies in 1912, Mr. Aumack at once entered the hotel and restaurant business, at the same time carrying on a furniture store, and was active in these two branches of endeavor until 1918. At that time he disposed of his individual interests to be- come identified with the West Furniture Company, of Keyport, and is holding a prominent executive position in this connection. By political affiliation Mr. Aumack is a Republican, but has thus far taken little active part in the affairs of the party.
On May 25, 1913, Mr. Aumack married Julia May English, at Keyport, a daughter of William Edward and Mary (Bowen) English. Mr. and Mrs. Aumack have two daughters: Burtina May, born in Key- port, May 14, 1915; and Octavia Lydia, born in Keyport, June 6, 1916.
NATHAN JACKSON TAYLOR-To the man who carries an honored name, unsullied from the cradle to the grave, all honor is due, but the biog- rapher finds especial satisfaction in spreading upon the permanent records of a community, the life- story of the man who has begun life with an un- known name, and has carried that name upward and forward to a place of honor, making his name an example to those whom his influence reaches, of what one man can do alone-an example of per- sonal achievement. Such is the history of Nathan J. Taylor, who has risen entirely by his own efforts,
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Argi Taylor
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BIOGRAPHICAL
from a boyhood of obscurity, to a position of leader- ship in the world of finance of his native State.
Mr. Taylor is a son of Samuel Hall Taylor, who was born in 1829, and died September 5, 1916, hav- Ing attained the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. Samuel H. Taylor was a man of the highest integrity, a farmer of Howell township, this county, always a strong supporter of the Democratic party, and a faithful and devoted member of the Farmingdale Methodist Episcopal Church. He married, as a young man, Mary Elizabeth Borden, who was born in 1834, and died in 1876, at the age of forty-two years. To Samuel Hall Taylor and Mary Elizabeth (Borden) Taylor, were born twelve children: 1. Hannah, deceased, wife of Joseph Springsteel. 2. Charles, deceased. 3. Rachael L., deceased, wife of D. Forman. 4. Mary Frances, widow of John Conk. 5. Nathan Jackson. 6. Andrew, now deceased. 7. Adaline, wife of Elwood Dey. 8. Charles. 9. Eliz- abeth, wife of John Dorn. 10. Margaret, deceased. 11. Joseph, deceased. 12. An infant son, deceased.
Nathan Jackson Taylor was born in Howell town- ship, near Farmingdale, this county, June 26, 1858. His schooling was limited to the opportunities of the district schools near his home, and was begun in his native place and completed in the village of Green Grove, in Ocean township, also in this county, where he was employed during the summer months. But his education was not a matter of circumstance nor of circumscribed limits. With his future in his own hands from boyhood, Mr. Taylor has always appreciated the value and power of knowledge, and his education has been achieved, rather than re- ceived. He has made every object and every oc- casion a means of absorbing knowledge, and a step- ping-stone to higher attainment. As a boy he work- ed out on various farms in Howell and Ocean town- ships, and took his first step upward, in the field of endeavor with which he was most familiar. found- ing, when about twenty-one years of age, the Tay- lor Dairy Company. This venture was launched in Ocean township, and it proved a successful and permanent enterprise. But Mr. Taylor was not satisfied with the one achievement, although in con- nection with the dairy, he conducted extensive agri- cultural operations on a farm, which he had pur- chased. In 1893 he came to Asbury Park, removing his dairy business here, to a location on what is now South Main street, Ocean Grove. Mr. Taylor has taken a broadly practical part in the develop- ment of this part of the county since his residence here. He early became identified with various branches of business activity, and about 1916 turned over the dairy business to his son-in-law, as more important affairs commanded his time and atten- tion. In 1911 Mr. Taylor became president of Ocean Grove National Bank, which position he still holds. He was organizer of this institution, and has piloted it through the early stages of its career, and placed it in its present eminence in the financial world. He is president also of the Neptune Loan Company, and of the Consumers' Coal & Supply
Company, and president of Wortman's Crescent Launch Line.
Throughout his career Mr. Taylor has stood for all things that make for advance individually, and in those groups which by reason of a common resi- denec are bound together in common interests. He has for the greater part left leadership in public matters in other hands, but for four years served as a member of the School Board of Neptune town- ship. He is a Democrat by political affiliation. Fra- ternally he holds membership in the Improved Order of Red Men, Sitting Bull Tribe, of Asbury Park; also of the Royal Arcanum Club, of Asbury Park. He is a member of the West Grove Methodist Epis- copal Church, serves on the board of trustees, as president of the board, and is also a member of the official board of the church, and is a member of the Howell Society.
On November 3, 1878, Nathan Jackson Taylor married, in Hamilton, (Neptune City), this county, Annie Jackson, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bennett) Jackson. They have adopted a daugh- ter of Mr. Taylor's brother Andrew, Mary Eliz- abeth, now the wife of Ira Lane.
It is nothing more than repeating a truism to state that such men as Mr. Taylor are the ma- terial of which the fair structures of the New Jer- sey coast communities are built; the spirit of pro- gress in men of this calibre has made these towns what they are, and is a very part of their being. For the past twenty-five years, Mr. Taylor has been largely interested in real estate transactions, through this section of Monmouth county. His operations have been extensive, and large holdings have been taken over and developed, and at present, 1921, is developing a tract of fifty acres at Interlaken, New Jersey.
FREDERIC PALMER ARMSTRONG-Holding a position of trust in the financial world of Keyport, Mr. Armstrong is also active in fraternal and club circles. He is a son of Frederic Francis and Mary Emma (Sellick) Armstrong, and his father, who was proprietor and editor of the Keyport "Enterprise," is now deceased.
Mr. Armstrong was born in the family home on First street, Keyport, New Jersey, November 29, 1887, and received his education in the public schools of this town. After leaving school, in 1903, he en- tered the employ of the Keyport Banking Company, and has since continuously been identified with the same institution, filling every position up to cashier, the office which he now holds. He is also a director of the Keyport Banking Company, and of the Sec- ond Keyport Loan Association. Fraternally Mr. Armstrong is identified with the Free and Accepted Masons, and with the Woodmen of the World. He is a member of the Keyport Social Club and of the Keyport Yacht Club. Politically he supports the Democratic party, and with his family attends the Reformed church at Keyport.
On October 18, 1910, at Holmdel, New Jersey, Mr. Armstrong married Mary Jan Schenck, dangh-
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BIOGRAPHICAL
ness he is just approaching the beginning of that period of life which is called "life's prime."
Mr. Burrowes is a member of Mystic Brother- hood Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted Masons, (Red Bank); Hiram Chapter, No. 1, Royal Arch Masons, (Red Bank) ; Field Commandery, Knights Templars; Jersey City Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, (Jersey City) ; Salaam Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, (Newark, New Jersey); Tall Cedars of Lebanon, (Long Branch); Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, (charter member, Red Bank) ; Monmouth Boat Club; Deal Golf Club; Rotary Club, (Red Bank). He is an Episcopalian in religious faith, and is a Republican in politics.
In the Episcopal church, Red Bank, August 21, 1911, Mr. Burrowes married Isabel Edgeworth Thorn, of Montclair, New Jersey, daughter of George and Isabel Thorn, her father a constructive engineer. Mr. and Mrs. Burrowes are the parents of a son, H. Clark Burrowes. The family home is at No. 183 Broad street, Red Bank, New Jersey.
REV. JOHN LAWRENCE PITT-Among the younger men of the clergy in Monmouth county, New Jersey, Rev. John Lawrence Pitt, of Red Bank, is a well known figure, and as pastor of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church of this city is doing a good work. Mr. Pitt is a son of Rev. Sherman Grant and Ella B. (Lawrence) Pitt, his father also being a New Jersey clergyman. Rev. Sherman G. Pitt was born in Canton, New York, and is now pastor of the First Methodist Church, of Merchant- ville, New Jersey. The mother was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and is also still living.
Rev. John Lawrence Pitt was born in New Bruns- wick, New Jersey, March 4, 1894, but the removal of the family to Atlantic City placed him in the public schools of that community, where he also covered the high school course, and was gradu- ated in the class of 1913. Entering Rutgers Col- lege, he was graduated from that institution in the class of 1917, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, then having chosen his career in the same path which his father has followed for many years, the young man entered Drew Theological Seminary, at Madison, New Jersey, from which he was gradu- ated in 1920, with the degree of Bachelor of Divin- ity. While still in the seminary, Mr. Pitt filled the pulpit of a church near Lakewood for one year, and also a church at Seabright for a similar length of time. Coming to Red Bank in the month of March, 1920, Rev. Pitt has since had charge, as pastor, of Grace Methodist Episcopal church on Broad street. His work is counting for the up- building and prosperity of the church, and he is looked upon as one of the promising young men of his conference.
During the World War Rev. Pitt served in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps as instructor at Rutgers College, and also for a short period at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, with the Young Men's Christian Association. Fraternally, he is a
member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and of the Rutgers chapter of the Delta Upsilon, a national order. Politically, he holds an independent position, giving his endorsement to the party or candidate he believes best fitted to serve the welfare of the people.
Rev. Pitt married, in South Amboy, New Jersey, on May 23, 1917, Gladys M. Walters, who was born in South Amboy, September 23, 1896, and is a daughter of Joseph M. and Laura B. (Stillwagon) Walters. Mrs. Pitt's father is foreman of con- struction with the Pennsylvania railroad, but her mother is deceased. Mrs. Pitt is a graduate of Newark State Normal School. Mr. and Mrs. Pitt have one son, Lawrence Walters Pitt, born May 22, 1918. Mr. Pitt has one brother, Malcolm S., now attending Drew Theological Seminary.
LEMUEL EVAN DAVIES, M. D., of Matawan, Monmouth county, New Jersey, an eminent phy- sician, and medical inspector for the public schools of the town and township, is of Welsh ancestry, being the son of Rev. Joseph E. Davies, who was born in Llanarthney, Carmarthenshire, Wales, De- cember 12, 1810, and Mary (Evans) Davies.
Joseph E. Davies became a minister of the Gos- pel, ordained to the work of the ministry under the authority of the Calvanistic Methodist church. He married, in 1837, Mary Evans, and they were the parents of nine children: Jane L., born April 10, 1851; Eli J., born June 14, 1852; Anne M., born July 14, 1854; Eliza J., born September 10, 1857, married E. R. Aston; Margaret E., born July 80, 1859, died in childhood; Thomas C., born August 7, 1861, married Emily Williams; Salome H., born February 11, 1863, married W. C. Williams, Jr .; Roxanna H., born May 11, 1866; Lemuel Evan, of further mention. Rev. Davies died in Scranton, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1881.
Lemuel Evan Davies, youngest of the children of Rev. Joseph E. and Mary (Evans) Davies, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1868. He attended the public schools of Scranton, learned the printing trade and in due time became a mem- ber of the Typographical Union of that city. In the fall of 1890 he entered Pennington Seminary, of Pennington, New Jersey, where later he taught in the commercial department and prepared for col- lege for two years. Having decided upon the pro- fession of medicine as his life work, he entered Hahnemann Homeopathic Medical College, Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, in 1893, and received his de- gree of M. D. with the graduating class of 1896. He began practice in Montclair, New Jersey, in Sep- tember, 1896, when ill health compelled him to . abandon practice. For a year and a half he traveled in the interest of a New York wholesale drug house, then in the autumn of 1899, having regained his health, he located in Windber, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, a prosperous mining town of the bituminous coal region of that State, then in its infancy. He commanded a good practice there and stood high in the esteem of his community, having
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MONMOUTH COUNTY
assisted very materially in the development of the long prominent in this section as a mason and con- town, and was three times elected its treasurer. He continued in successful practice at Windber until September, 1907, when he removed to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where he remained for a year and a half, but was induced to move to New Jer- sey again, in June, 1909, this time to Hampton. Here he remained for three and a half years, where he enjoyed extraordinary professional suc- cess, being the Central railroad surgeon for that section, and medical inspector of public schools for that town and adjoining township of Bethlehem. Wishing to be further East, where he could have the advantages of the medical and surgical facili- ties to be had at the Metropolis, and the oppor- tunity being afforded him, at Matawan, New Jersey, on the first of December, 1912, he located at No. 186 Jackson street, where he has since remained and established himself in a successful practice. Dr. Davies is medical inspector of the School Dis- trict of Matawan township, and has won his way to honorable position both as physician and citizen.
Doctor Davies is a member of the Matawan Methodist Episcopal Church; and in politics a Progressive Republican. He is a past president of Washington Camp, No. 445, Patriotic Order Sons of America, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and a charter member of the same; a member of Minerva Lodge, No. 60, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Hampton, New Jersey; a member of Coronal Coun- cil, No. 1458, Royal Arcanum, and a former dis- trict deputy grand regent for Pennsylvania, for three years, and organizer of Windber Council of the order; a member of Columbia Council, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, of Matawan; a member of Matawan Lodge, No. 194, Free and Accepted Masons; and a member of Matawan Hook and Ladder Company. His professional societies are Monmouth County Homeopathic Medical Society, New Jersey State Homoeopathic Medical Society, and the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Dr. Davies married, October 27, 1902, at Newark, New Jersey, Julia M. Blake, born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, daughter of John M. and Mary (Mar- tin) Blake. Dr. and Mrs. Davies are the parents of three children: Dorothy B., born August 12, 1903, at Windber, Pennsylvania; Lemuel Van Len- nep, born May 8, 1905, at Windber, Pennsylvania; Mary Frances, born September 2, 1913, at Matawan, New Jersey.
OLIVER G. FRAKE-As the active manager of the firm of Erling, Johnson & Frake, Incorporated, Oliver G. Frake is bearing an important and broad- ly practical part in the progress of Red Bank, and in his capacity as chief of the Fire Department of this borough is ably filling a responsible position of public trust.
Mr. Frake was born in Imlaystown, Monmouth county, New Jersey, May 11, 1874, a son of William R. and Alice (Haley) Frake. His father was a na- tive of this county, born in Clarksburg, and was
tractor. The mother was born in Prospertown, Ocean county, New Jersey, and both are now de- ceased. Educated in the schools of Red Bank, where the family resided for many years, Mr. Frake, as a young man, learned the trade of mason with his father, then also learned the carpenter's trade. With this comprehensive equipment, at the end of six or eight years' experience, he started in busi- ness as contractor and builder. He was very suc- cessful, and with the breadth of opportunity he saw in this vicinity organized the present company to increase his facilities for handling work of this nature. With a capital of $100,000.00 they have since operated principally in this part of New Jer- sey, the business increasing rapidly from $5,000.00 during the first year to $150,000.00 in the year 1920. They handle everything in the line of building and construction work, moving buildings, repairing, etc., and cater to the higher grade of work, of which they have done a great deal, sixty per cent. of the building work done in Red Bank since their or- ganization having been in their hands. Not only do they do fine work, but they are equipped to turn out work in the shortest possible space of time. In 1917 the company erected a factory building for the Eisner Company, tailors, the structure being two stories in height, and 54x135 in dimensions. It was a rush order, and the building was completed, from start to finish, even including the cutting tables, in fifty-four hours. Another building was erected by them for the United States government, 60x112, two stories in height, with basement, and steam heating appliances. This building was com- pletely finished, and the steam turned on in twenty- one days.
Some of the leading contracts filled by this con- cern include, to mention them at random, the Ernest L. Brown residence, the rebuilding of the old Gib- bons residence at Silver Point, the Hazzard factory at Shrewsbury, an extension on the Conover fac- tory, a large store house at Middletown, the re- modelling of the Second National Bank building, Red Bank, and many other public buildings in this borough, all of the Eisner plant except one build- ing, the erection of the A. L. Davison carriage factory, Red Bank; the H. Raymond Eisner resi- dence, the George Sutton residence, the residences of R. F. Wilbur, Clarence White, Miss White, J. J. Leonard, J. H. Adams (remodeled), Warren Smack, and many others in Red Bank and the sur- rounding communities. The officers of the concern are Elias H. Erling, president; Oliver G. Frake, secretary and manager; Charles H. Johnson, treas- urer. They employ from forty to forty-five men. Mr. Frake, who is at the head of all their con- struction work, is a thorough mechanic, broadly capable in his field and eminently resourceful, in fact, afraid of nothing in the way of building prob- lems. In connection with their contracting busi- ness the concern also deals in lumber and building materials of all kinds, maintaining a yard on Leon- ard street, adjoining the Central Railway of New
Oliver & Firake
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Jersey tracks, where they have added (1921) a stair- building mill plant.
Mr. Frake's personal interests are as broad as his business activities. In 1919 he was elected assist- ant fire chief of Red Bank, then upon the death of the chief, was advanced to that office, and in 1921 was re-elected, almost unanimously, for a term of two years, as chief of the fire department of Red Bank. In this connection Mr. Frake has instituted many reforms in the department, not the least of these being the passing of the fire prevention ordi- nance, for which he was responsible, bringing it before the Council and persuading that body to adopt it. He was also behind the reorganization of the fire police, and is at all times alert to pos- sibilities of reform and general advance. He is a member of the Firemen's Relief Association, and is one of the appraisers of that organization. He is often consulted in appraisal of buildings, also, and is considered an expert in this line. Politically, he is a leader in the Democratic party, and he was elected to the Board of Commissioners of Red Bank, running far ahead of his party ticket.
Fraternally, Mr. Frake holds membership with Mystic Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted Masons; Shrewsbury Lodge, No. 72, Knights of Pythias; On- ward Council, No. 98, Junior Order of United Ameri- can Mechanics, in which order he has passed through all the chairs; Shepherds of Bethlehem; the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, of which he was a charter member; and has been financial secretary since the order was instituted in 1905. He was also a char- ter member of the Citizens' Building & Loan Asso- ciation, and has been one of the directors ever since its organization. Mr. Frake is treasurer of the general committee on the celebrating of the fiftieth anniversary of Red Bank Fire Department. He is also on the committee for the raising of funds for the moonlight excursion to be held in 1922. He has been connected with the fire department for twenty-eight years, one of the old time firemen of Red Bank. In his capacity as chief of the Fire De- partment, he is virtually inspector of buildings in Red Bank.
In 1899 Mr. Frake married (first) May E. Wood- ward, who died in 1914, leaving two children: Her- bert C. and Chester O. Mr. Frake married (sec- ond), in 1918, Helen Kraft. They reside at No. 134 Bridge avenue, and are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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