History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 131

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth county, New Jersey > Part 131

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which he derives a substantial income. The other is reserved for his private use and that of his family, consisting of a devoted and prudent wife and two interesting daughters, Alice E. and Florence M. The monotonous breaking of the surf upon the beach in storm and in calm was his lullaby. Born in sight and in hearing of the sea, he was inspired with a fondness for the ocean, and as he grew that fondness de- veloped into a feeling akin to passion. He never wearied of sailing in his boat and seek- ing the recreation and pleasure which it afforded.

Many years ago, while the life-saving service was in its infancy and a volunteer one, he be- came greatly interested in its workings, and was always at hand to assist in the rescue of the crews of stranded vessels.

When the United States government inaugu- rated the present system of life-saving on the roast, the position of captain of a crew for that purpose was tendered him. The highest ambi- tion of his life was thus realized; his dream of many years was fulfilled. He accepted the position-not from necessity, but from choice-

earnestness greater, perhaps, than any other in a like position. Realizing the dangers which awaited him, the arduous duties which devolved upon him and the responsibility of the high and sacred trust committed to him, he at once proceeded to gather about him a crew between whom and captain there must be a mutual con- fidence,-an essential factor to the success of this noble service. These men are professional experts in surfmanship and wreckcraft, and to this proficiency have added all the acquisition and experience of the trained life-saver. It is unquestionable that the skill and bravery they have brought to the performance of their duty have contributed in an immense degree to the great success under their captain, which has given the service the high rank it occupies with commercial and maritime men and with the people at large. Notable among the wrecks from which Captain Green has been instru- mental in rescuing the crews was the ship " Adonis," stranded March 7, 1859, from which all were saved. Another was the Red Star

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steamer "Rusland," stranded March 17, 1877; was found and deeently buried; Captain Green communicated with the friends of the drowned boy, and from them received expressions of gratitude and praise for his kindness to an un- known sailor boy. from this, too, all were rescued. The next was the unfortunate steamer "Pliny," from South America, from which all were landed in safety. Her captain, Mitchell, having lost his all, was taken to the home of Captain Green, and by Asa reward of his kindness and bravery, Cap- tain Green has in his possession many memen- tos and testimonials expressive of gratitude from the rescued, their relatives and friends, him and his kind-hearted wife hospitably enter- tained for several months. Then followed the ill-fated schooner "Light Boat," from which Captain Green and his gallant men landed the which will be cherished by his children as a

Capt. Fr. A. Greene.

crew in safety. This brave act was done at ' valuable and honorable inheritance. To detail daylight, and in the face of a terrible gale, on , the incidents connected with the rescue of the February 3, 1880.

The next and last rescue to which the skill and heroism of Captain Green and his men were called was the ship " W. J. Stairs." From her all were brought to the shore in safety save one, the cabin boy. This, the only loss of life that has occurred in the captain's experience, was and always has been to him a source of re- gret, although unavoidable. The body of the lad

passengers and crews of these vessels would be simply to record the deeds of self-sacrifice and heroism which are constantly repeated as occasion offers. Captain Green has, during his connection with the Life-Saving Service, rescued more than three hundred persons from watery graves. He is regarded as one of the most skillful, intrepid and humane officers in the service, with a thoroughly disciplined and loyal crew under his command.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

The American Life-Saving Service under its present elaborate system of relief is ten years old. Its development covers nearly a century. The initiatory movement was the organization by a few benevolent persons of the Massachu- setts Humane Society in 1876. In attempting to alleviate the miseries of shipwreck on the Massachusetts coast, small huts were built ; and in 1807 the first life-boat station was estab- lished at Cohasset. The society depended upou voluntary crews, but so much was ac- complished of value that some pecuniary aid was received, as time wore on, from both State and general governments. The magnificent work of the Coast Survey, begun in earnest in 1832, absorbed the resources of Congress for a decade and a half, during which period nothing was attempted in the way of life-saving except through volutary societies. A few public ves- sels were, indeed, authorized in 1837 to cruise near the coast for the assistance of shipping in distress, but it was through the movement in aid of commerce, which extended to the light- house system. In 1847 five thousand dollars were appropriated by Congress toward furnish- ing light-houses on the Atlantic, with the facilities for aiding shipwrecked mariners. The money, after remaining in the treasury two years unused, was permitted to be expended by

Through the pressure of a shocking event in 1854-the loss of three hundred lives off the New Jersey coast-a local superintendent was employed, a keeper assigned to each station, and bonded custodians placed in charge of the life-boats, which had been repeatedly stolen ; but the absence of drilled and disciplined erews. of general regulations, and of energetic cen- tral administration, rendered the record of the institution unsatisfactory, and its benefits check- ered by the saddest failures.

In the year 1871, Sumner I. Kimball suc- ceeded to the head of the Revenue Marine Bureau of the Treasury Department, under the charge of which were the life-saving stations. He made it his first business to ascertain their condition. Captain John Faunce was detailed to make a tour of inspection, and was accompa- nied a portion of the way by Mr. Kimball himself. The buildings were found neglected and dilapidated, the apparatus rusty or broken, portable articles had been carried off, the sala- ried keepers 'were often living at a distance from their posts, some of them too old for ser- vice and others incompetent, and the volunteer crews were in a quarrelsome temper with each other and with the coast population. Then commenced that vigorous prosecution of reform which has crowned the humane work with un- the Massachusetts society upon Cape Cod. In ' precedented success. Making the most of slen- the summer of 1848, the Honorable William der appropriations, and in the face of perpetual discouragements, this one man, the chief of a bureau, pushed on by philanthropie impulses and guided by unerring judgment, brought a complete and orderly system into effect. It was not the work of a day, nor of a year. It required patience, sagacity and rare powers of organization and government. He knew no office hours, working day and night at what many were pleased to consider a hopeless task. In his brain originated the idea of guarding the entire coasts of the nation through the planting of a chain of fortresses to be garrisoned by disciplined conquerors of the sea. It is a matter of public record, and generally known to the country, that through his practical devo- tion to the cause this has been so nearly accom- plished. A. Newell, then a member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey, incited by some terrible shipwrecks on the coast of this State, indneed Congress, through his eloquence, to appropriate ten thousand dollars for provid- ing surf-boats and other appliances "for the protection of life and property from shipwreck on the coast between Sandy Hook and Little Egg Harbor." During the next session a still larger appropriation was obtained. Twenty- two station-houses were erected on the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island, and although no persons were paid or authorized to take charge of them, and they were manned by ex- temporized crews, their value in several cases of shipwreck was so great that Congress made further appropriations from year to year, and stations and life-boats gradually multiplied. In reorganizing what there was of the ser-

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vice, he prepared a code of regulations for its through the long, cold, blistering days and the absolute control. The duties of every man employed were minutely defined. The lazy, the careless and the unworthy were dismissed, and men chosen to fill their places with sole reference to integrity and professional fitness. Polities was abolished. That is, experts in the surf were regarded as of more consequence to drowning victims than voters of any particular political ticket. The station-houses were re- paired and increased in number- as fast as the means afforded by Congress would allow; the appliances for life-saving were restored, and improved from year to year through the best inventions and discoveries in this or any other country, and a rigid system of inspection and of patrol was inaugurated.

The steps by which the institution reached its present plane of nsefulness would furnish an interesting chapter. The record of the first season on the New York and New Jersey coasts, where the new system first went into actual operation, showed that every person im- periled by shipwreck was saved. Consequently a commission, consisting of Mr. Kimball, Cap- tain Faunce and Captain J. H. Merryman, of the Revenue Marine, surveyed, in 1873, by order of Congress, the vast and varied coasts of the oceans and lakes, investigating personally the characteristics of the dangerous localities, and holding consultations with underwriters, ship-owners, captains of vessels and veteran surfmen. The report of this commission placed before Congress a minute account of the disasters to vessels on every mile of coast for the previous ten years ; a bill based upon it, prepared by Mr. Kimball, became a law June 20, 1874. It provided for the extension of the field of this great national work of humanity ; for the bestowal of medals of honor upon per- sons risking their lives to save others ; and em- powered the collection and tabulation of statis- ties of disaster to shipping, which, by reference to the periodicity of marine casualties, aided in determining the points most needing protection. and in various other ways benefited both gov- ernment and maritime interests.

dark, rainy and tempestuous nights of the whole wintry season a cordon of sentinels is tramping the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida on the look-out for endangered vessels. The hardships involved in these protracted marches, while all the world lies comfortably in bed, have no parallel in the employment of any other class of men. The beaches are often elad with ice, and at the best are pathless deserts in the night, and when lashed by storms are fre- quently cloven through with new inlets, while hills of sand are rent and torn away as the surf leaps furiously beyond its usual limits. The life-saving stations on the Atlantic sea-board are now within an average distance of five miles of each other, each crew consisting of a keeper and seven surfmen. At sunset two men start from each station, one going to the right, and the other to the left. They are equipped with lanterns and Coston signals, and each pursues his solitary and perilous way through the soft sand, in spite of flooding tides, bewildering snow-falls, overwhelming winds and bitter cold, until he meets the man from the next station, with whom he exchanges a cheek, to prove to the keeper on his return that he has faithfully performed his allotted task. The night isdivided into four watches. The keeper is required to register in his log-book the name of each patrol- man, his hours on patrol, the name of the patrolman from the next station whom he meets, the exact hour of meeting, and the direction and force of the wind at sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight, together with the events of each day. This record is sent to the chief of the service at Washington at the end of every week. These groups of seven beach guardians are, in a majority of instances, completely isolated upon the barren outlying strips of sand, separated from the mainland by intervening bays.

It is not a marvel that the American life- saving institution has taken a firm hold of the public heart. The territory which it guards -- ten thousand or more miles-is divided into twelve districts. The Atlantic coast presents one long succession of varied dangers, begin-

Comparatively few of the well-honsed inhab- ning with Maine, where the capricious currents itants of the land are alive to the fact that are forever playing sly games about the narrow

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

capes, reefs, sunken rocks and peaks of islands half submerged, paving the coast like the teeth in a shark's jaw, taking in Cape Cod, that great arm of sand forty miles outward and upward, with its half-sunken, ever-shifting sand-bars, the islands and the rough rocky points on the Rhode Island coast-dreadful to mariners-and the long, unpeopled six hundred miles of beach from Montauk Point, Long Island, to Cape Fear, North Carolina, terminating with the arid coral formation of the coast of Florida, five hundred miles in extent. The great lakes, a group of enormous inland seas, with twenty five hundred miles of American coast-line, are sub- ject to sudden and violent gales, which pile up seas so stupendous that anchored vessels are swept fore and aft, often causing their complete destruction ; while others, running for shelter in harbors, miss the narrow entrances, and are blown helplessly upon jutting piers, or the still more dangerous beach. The stations consist of three classes, severally denominated life-saving stations, life-boat stations and houses of refuge. Each of the twelve districts is provided with a local superintendent, who must be a resident of the district and familiarly acquainted with its inhabitants. His compensation is one thousand dollars per annum, with the exception of those on the coast of Long Island and New Jersey, who, having too many stations to look after to attend to other business, are paid fifteen hundred dollars apiece. These officers are required to give from twenty to thirty thousand dollar bonds as disbursing agents, being intrusted with the payment of the men under them in addition to their general duties. They are responsible for the selection of the keepers of the stations-a duty requiring much knowledge and excellent judgment-who are not, however, confirmed without the acquiescence of the inspector, who is supposed to have no local interests or preju- (lives. The crews are chosen by the keepers. The keepers and erews are examined by a board of inspectors, consisting of an officer of the revenue marine, a surgeon of the Marine Hos- pital Service, and an expert surfman, whose qualifications are well known, to determine by a judgment wholly impartial, their character, good health and general fitness. This board is em-

powered to dismiss all incompetent men on the spot, and require the keeper to employ others without delay. The whole work is under con- stant inspection. An officer of the revenue marine is the chief inspector, and assigns from his office in New York an assistant inspector to every district. The stations are visited fre- quently, and the men examined in the exercises of the apparatus drill, and obliged to give verbal reasons for every step in their opera- tions. They are trained with their life- boats in the surf, in the use of the life-dress, in saving drowning persons by swimming to their relief, in the methods of restoring the partially drowned and in signalling. Everything in and about the stations moves with military precision. When a wreck is attended with loss of life, a rigid examination follows to see if any of the men have been guilty of misconduct or neglect of duty. The keepers are empowered to pro- tect the interests of the government from smug- gling, and they guard all property that comes ashore from a wreck until its rightful owner appears. They are charged with the care and order of the stations and the boats and ap- paratus; and they must keep accurate accounts of all receipts and expenditures, journalize all transactions, and maintain all necessary corre- spondence with superior officers. Thus it appears they must possess a certain amount of education and high integrity, as well as surf- manship, intrepidity and commanding qualities. They are paid seven hundred dollars each per anmım. The crews receive fifty dollars per month during the active season, which upon the sea-coast is from September 1st to May 1st, and upon the lakes from the opening to the close of navigation, or from about May Ist to December 15th.

When the inmates of a station are notified by the patrolman that a ship is ashore, the keeper must determine instantly whether the condition of the sea will admit of the launching of the life-boat. Upon the Atlantic coast, much more frequently than elsewhere, the sea is too heavy in a winter storm for the use of the boat, and resort is had to the life-saving ordnance. The process of throwing a temporary suspension bridge from the land to the wreck, first sug-

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gested by Lieutenant Bell, of the royal artillery, in 1791, and matured and carried into practical effect by Captain Manby, of the royal navy, has been greatly improved during the last few years. The first gun in use was of cast-iron, weighing two hundred and eighty-eight pounds, and throwing a spherical ball with line attached, its extreme range being four hundred and twenty- one yards. This gave place to the Parrott gun,- weighing two hundred and sixty-six pounds- a slight gain-with a maximum range of four

best in existence. It was the result of experi- ments in 1878, Lieutenant D. A. Lyle, of the Ordnanee Department at Springfield Mass., having been detailed, by request of the superin- tendent of the service, to assist Captain Merry- man in solving the problem of the extension of the shot-line and a reduction in the weight of the gun. The projectile is fired over the wreck carrying with it a light line, by means of which the people on the vessel haul on board a strong hawser forming a bridge, over which they may

6. He Valentine

hundred and seventy-three yards. The first ball fired in the United States to save life is preserved in the museum of the Life-Saving Service with tender care. It was at the wreck of the "Ayrshire," on Squan Beach, in 1850. and two hundred and one lives were saved by its means. The Lyle gun, of bronze, weighing one hundred and eighty-five pounds, with a range of six hundred and ninety-five yards, or nearly half a mile, afterwards superseded all others, and was universally conceded to be the

escape to the shore by means of the "breeches bnoy," or by the life-car, which will carry several persons at once.

CAPTAIN CHARLES H. VALENTINE is the son of George Valentine and his wife, Katy Morris, who resided at Long Branch. He was born in 1825, at Long Branch, and spent his youth on a farm owned by Major Henry War- dell. At the early age of eleven years he went aboard a fishing-smaek as cook, and at the ex-

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

piration of the second year was engaged as a full hand. On returning to Long Branch, at the end of his eruise, he engaged in fishing both by hand and net, and this business proving both attractive and profitable, he has followed it for thirty-five consecutive years, having pro- vided for the purpose various boats and other equipments. He enjoys the distinction of being the first pound fisher on the coast. Cap- tain Valentine has been for twenty years con

and Ann Woolley. Heisa member of the Mason- ic fraternity, and identified with Long Branch Lodge, No. 78, of that order. He is, in his re- ligions preferences, a Methodist, and both a member and trustee of the North Long Branch Methodist Episcopal Church.

EDWIN WOOLLEY .- John Woolley, the pro- genitor of the family in Monmouth County, emigrated from England about the year 1660,

Edwin Brolly

nected with the Life-Saving Service, and during half of this period had charge of Station No. 4. Many eventful incidents occurred while filling this responsible office, his courage and judg- ment on these occasions proving the efficiency and value of the man and his services. This was especially remarked during oue of the severest storms on record, in 1881. He landed the first woman ever brought safely to the coast by the breeches buoy. The captain was, in 1855, married to Armenia, daughter of Tucker

and married Marey, daughter of Thomas Potter. To this union were born four children,-Ruth, (who married John Tucker, of New Bedford, Mass.), John, Thomas and William. William, the third son, in his earlier days engaged in whaling, at that time very profitable, and being snecess- ful, accumulated a considerable sum of money. James Woolley, son of William Woolley, and grandson of the first John, the emigrant, had five sons,-John W., Amos, Anthony, Wil- | liam and Jesse. John W., the grandfather of

S. M. Hendrickson

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Edwin Woolley, had but two sons,-John and Josiah. The former John had also two sons, Anthony and Edwin, the subject of this bio- graphy, of whom Anthony died at the early ige of sixteen years. Edwin was born on the 10th of October, 1830, on the homestead, which has since been his home. He improved stich opportunities of education as were offered at the public school, and early began the routine of farm-labor, to which he has since been acros- omed. During this period, however, the monotonous round of duty was somewhat varied oy the vocation of a teacher. In 1853 he in- herited the homestead farm, made doubly valn- ildle to him as the home of the family for six generations. Mr. Woolley was, in 1852, mar- ried to Mary Jane, daughter of David Morton, of Ocean township. Their only child is Laura (Mrs. Charles Worth). He was again married, in 1857, to Elizabeth Ann, daughter of Robert Havens, of New York, whose children are John Warren, William F., Ella, Marietta, Charles A. and Eunice. Mr. Woolley is a Republican in politics, and though indifferent to honors of a public character, has, from his interest in the cause of education, been induced to accept the position of school trustee of the township. He is both a member and trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Long Branch, as also trustee of the Centreville Methodist Episcopal Church and superintendent for many years of its Sunday-school.

SAMUEL W. HENDRICKSON .- Samuel Hen- drickson, grandfather of Samuel W., the sub- ject of this biographical sketch, was a resident of Cream Ridge, in Upper Frechold town- ship. To his wife, formerly Miss Alice Wikoff, were born children,-Peter; Rebecca, wife of Samuel Potter ; Tobias; Samuel; Alice, wife of William G. Hendrickson ; and Garret S. The last named of this number was born May 25, 1806, at Cream Ridge, where he grew to man- hood, and from whence he removed, in 1835, to Ocean township, having married, at Deal, on the 25th of December, 1830, Hannah Wikoff, daughter of Richard and Hannah White Wikoff, who were married in 1791. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hendrickson are Richard, born in 1831 ; Samuel W., born May 1, 1834 ; Clem-

ence E., in 1837; Harriet, in 1839; William H., in 1841 ; Julia, in 1846: Alice, in 1819 ; Peter, in 1851; and Harriet, in 1853. The death of Mr. Hendrickson occurred on the 5th of May, 1857, and that of his wife on the 25th of May, 1882. Their son, Sammel W., a native of Shrewsbury township, in 1835, when yet in his infancy, removed to Ocean township, where he grew to man's estate. He became a pupil of the district school at Deal, and later of the Ocean Institute, at Eatontown, after which his time was given exclusively to the farm, the manage- ment of which he assumed in consequence of his father's feeble health. He remained thus em- ployed until 1867, when the property, having been meanwhile sold, passed into other hands. Mr. Hendrickson was, on the 13th of Novem- ber, 1867, married to Josephine, daughter of Josiah H. and Ann Kingsland, of New York City, and has children,-Cora Sherman, born June 10, 1869, whose death occurred September 12, 1878 ; Auna Howland, born July 1, 1871 ; Raymond Wikoff, whose birth occurred March 13, 1882; and Alice Edna, born November 10, 1884. Mr. Hendrickson, since the sale of the paternal estate, has engaged in no active busi- ness other than the care of the property ou which he resides, embracing twenty-three acres of land, on which he built a spacious dwelling in 1868 and his present imposing residence in 1883. A Republican in politics, his official aspirations have been confined to the postmaster- ship of his neighborhood, which commission he still holds. Mr. Hendrickson is associated with the Reformed Church of Long Branch, of which both he and his wife are members, and in which he is a deacon. Mr. Hendrickson is justly proud of the fact that he resides upon ancestral land which has been for more than a century in the family.

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 131

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148