USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > History of Montclair township state of New Jersey; including the history of the families who have been identified with its growth and prosperity > Part 50
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Tourly to The Bine.
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IHISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
Plymouth Church Sabbath School. At a memorial service held in Plymouth Church soon after the death of Mr. Bird, many of his old friends and associates gave expression to their sentiments regarding their deceased brother and his life work. Mr. Robert S. Bussing said : "It was my privilege to become acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas II. Bird nearly fifty years ago, soon after they were married, meeting them for the first time as teachers in the old Bethel Mission Sunday School, then on Main Street, near the Catharine Ferry, and I soon learned to love Mr. Bird as a very dear friend. Among the pleasant recollections of my past life, especially those that relate to active Sunday-school work in the ok Bethel, will always be my association with Mr. Bird and his devoted Christian wife, both so very faithful to the welfare of the Mission."
Rev. Lyman Abbott said : " His life was framed in with prayer. It was his custom before he went to his business in the morning, the last thing, to kneel down in his room alone for a word with God, as one before he goes to his business stops for a moment to kiss his wife, and it was his custom when he came back from business to go back to that room and kneel down again and have a word of prayer with God, as though starting out in the day, he said ' I have come for my orders,' and as though going back at night he said, 'Here is my report.' What he said in that chamber, alone with his God, no one, I suppose, save himself and his God, knows. But he was one who carried the spirit of God with him, and who lived in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and whoever knew him, whoever knew his wife, whoever knew his home, needs no assurance that if happiness and usefulness are the tests and measures of success, his life was a successful one."
Mr. George F. Bell, another fellow laborer with Mr. Bird, said of him : " He was willing to serve but never wanted to be foremost. When I was ordered by Plymouth Church to go to the Mayflower and take care of that mission, and the only man that could be chosen for the superintendency of the Bethel was Mr. Bird, his being chosen I do believe was the cause of his leaving Plymouth Church and going out to New Jersey to live."
Mr. F. P. Blair said of him : " I think I never knew a man whose religion seemed to be more natural than Mr. Bird's. It was not put on ; it had not the appearance of being put on ; it was just the same apparently on Monday as it was on Sunday, and just the same all the week. * * * I think he was one of the most lovable and gennine men I ever knew."
Mr. Bird was for many years a deacon in Plymouth Church, and although exceedingly modest and retiring, was recognized as one of its leading spirits. He came to Montelair in 1873, and was for several years associated with Dr. Bradford in the work connected with the First Congregational Church. The Montelair Times said of him :
" Coming to Montelair with his devoted wife, he resumed the same line of work in which he had been engaged in the city, and for several years assisted in the conduct of the neighborhood meeting which has since merged into the Washington Street Mission (now known as the Pilgrim Mission). Mr. Bird was a retiring, unassuming man, but those who knew him could not fail to recognize the lofty ideal toward which he was constantly moving, and the devotion of his life to all things manly and noble. In all the relations which he sustained, in his beautiful home, in his business, in the three churches of which he was an honored member, in his work among the poor and the outcast who had nothing to give in return, in his walk among those who were fortunate enough to be his friends he was ever unassuming, carnest, loyal and helpful. There has never lived in our community a man who has left behind him a more spotless or a more honorable name."
Mr. Bird moved to Upper Montelair in 1881, where he made for himself a pretty and rural home. There is no attempt at display either in architecture or the surroundings. Everything has an air of simplicity and comfort, strictly in accordance with his own taste. The Gothic cottage partly hidden by the trees indicates the character of the man. In the world his light shown brightly through deeds of devoted charity and love, while he himself always remained in the background. The home is picturesque and pleasing to the eye, affording a fine study for an artist. Some of his happiest hours were spent in this delightful retreat. and here when the autumn leaves were falling, and nature was about to wrap herself in her winter garments, his spirit took its flight and he passed from earth to that blissful abode, a " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
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As soon as he decided to make Upper Montelair his home, he began laying his plans with others for the organization of a church, which should include Christians of every denomination, with a platform on which all could unite. The " Harvest Home " entertainments of which he and his wife were the leading spirits, formed the neleus for a fund for the ereetion of a church building. Besides the large amount contributed by himself, he raised several thousand dollars among his business and other friends, and when the building was finally completed, and through a misunderstanding it passed into the hands of another denomination, he went cheerfully to work without a murmur or complaint to raise funds for the erection of another building, which should become the property of a united band of Christian laborers, and at the completion of the building he went heartily into the work of building up and uniting Christians of every denomination under the one banner. This was the beginning of an enterprise which within ten years changed a little hamlet of some twenty unpretentious honses to a large and flourishing village of over two hundred houses-some of them costing many thousand dollars each-two churches, besides several public buildings. The action taken by the Trustees of the church he helped to organize express the sentiments of the whole community.
The Trustees of the Christian Union Congregational Society request the elerk to enter upon their records the following minute on the death of Thomas II. Bird :
" Mr. Bird died at his home at Upper Montelair, on Wednesday, the ISth day of November, 1891, in the 6ist year of his life and in office as President of the Board of Trustees of the Society.
" His associates have no words in which they can properly express the loss which has come to the Church and Society.
"For over ten years he has been a Trustee and President of the Board, and during all that time it is hardly beyond bounds to say that he has given to the Church and Society a full half of his strength and thought, and this when busi- ness and personal demands on him in other directions were pressing and intense. In its days of weakness as well as those of its greatest strength, his liberal hand and his wise judgment have been, under the Providence of the God he served, an unfailing reliance. In the vicissitudes through which it has passed, his wisdom, prudence and firmness, have been of an estimable valne. A faithful, true, courteous, forbearing, lovable associate, he combined the attributes of a true, christian gentleman. To the many expressions of love and appreciation which his death has brought from those connected with him in his other fields of life and work, we add this onr sincere tribnte, that our records may hear some witness of the beautiful, useful life of him who has gone before us."
F. W. DORMAN. A. B. HUNT, JR. H. LITTLEJOHN. C. W. ANDERSON. Trustees.
UPPER MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, November 25, 1891.
Mrs. Sarah J. Bird, nee Boyd, the faithful and devoted wife of Mr. Bird, worked side by side with him for nearly forty years. She first met him in Mr. Beecher's church, both having united with that church at the same time, being then strangers to each other. She began the work of her life at Bethel Mission, Brooklyn, at the age of sixteen. Volumes might be written of the work of the noble, self-sacrificing woman among the poor and outcasts of the great "City of Churches." Hundreds have been rescued by her from lives of shame and degradation, and gathered into the fold of Christ. Said one who has known her for many years : " The influence for good of Mrs. Bird over the Bethel people, in all the years gone by, particularly over the older girls and mothers of the children, will never be fully realized ; but I know scores upon scores will enthusiastically respond, at the mention of her name, 'God bless Mrs. Thomas H. Bird for her kindness to me.' "
Although it is more than twenty years since Mrs. Bird left Brooklyn, she has never for a moment laid aside her work at this mission, but every Friday she leaves her home in Upper Montclair to meet her class at the Bethel Mission.
Her work at Montelair and Upper Montelair in connection with her husband is familiar to the people of these localities. In addition to this, she started a few years ago a Wednesday afternoon class for women among the slums of New York City, which she carried on successfully for a long time, but was obliged to discontinue it in consequence of the imperative demands on her time elsewhere.
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
Shortly after her husband's death, Mrs. Bird opened a Sunday mission for men at 209 Madison Street, now moved to 105 Bowery, New York, where hundreds of hungry men are fed every Sunday, and at the same time the seeds of gospel truth are sown which often finds a lodgment in hearts prepared through these acts of kindness in relieving their temporal wants. It not infrequently happens that young men of education and refinement, who have seen better days, find their way into this mission, and their steps are turned homeward and upward to a better life. While Mrs. Bird receives occasional aid from other sources, the mission is mainly supported through her private resources.
DEACON DAVID BRAINERD HUNT.
DEACON HUNT is a native of Attleboro, Mass., where he was born April 7, 1814. He is a descend- ant of Enoch Hunt, one of the early settlers of Weymouth, Mass. His father, Richard, was deacon of the Congregational Church of AAttleboro for sixty years, and was interested in the founding of Amherst College, where his eldest son, the brother of David B., was educated. David B., the subject of this sketch, had only limited educational advantages-a few months of each year to the district school, and six months at the Academy. He began his business career at the age of eighteen in a Brooklyn, N. Y., dry goods store, and after clerking for some years he engaged in business for himself, but failing health com- pelled him to give up for a time, and he subsequently acted for others in the same line of business. In 1865 he removed to Montelair, where he resided for many years, and was one of the founders of the First Congregational Church. In isst he removed to Upper Montelair, which was then a mere hamlet. He was one of the leaders in the religious movement which led to the organization of the Christian Union Congregational Church in 1982, and since then has been one of its main supports. He has held the office of deacon since its organization.
Mr. Ilunt married, in 1541, Mary A. Gaylord, daughter of Martin Gaylord, of Lebanon Springs, N. Y. Two children are the issue of this marriage, viz. : D. B. Hunt, Jr., and Mary Charlotte, who married John HI. Parsons, Esq.
CHARLES HENRY HUESTIS.
JAMES Eustis, or Huestis, the ancestor of Charles Il., was one of two brothers who settled in Fairfield, Conn., abont 1660, and removed thenee to East Chester about 1663.
Benjamin, the grandfather of Charles HI., born in 1765, served in the War of the Revolution.
CHARLES HENRY HUESTIS, son of William and Diantha D. (Horton) Huestis, was born in Yonkers, N. Y., March 25, 1835. He was prepared for college but prevented by circumstances from entering. In 155 he entered the banking house of Henry Mendell, then located at 176 Broadway, where he remained until the breaking out of the Civil War, joined Company A, Seventy-first Regiment, and took part in the first battle of Bull Run.
Company A, to which Mr. Huestis was attached, lost heavily during the engagement, its com- mander, Captain Hart, being among the severely wounded. Mr. Huestis was subsequently attached to the Quartermaster's Department, under the command of Captain A. W. Putnam, U. S. A., and continued under his successors, General J. J. Dana and General (. Il. Tompkins, until the close of the war. Under the authority of his commander, General Tompkins, he raised a band for the Quartermaster's Department, and purchased all the instruments. This band was specially honored by Secretary Stanton after the fall of Richmond, who sent for it, and when the public announcement of the fact was made by President Lincoln, the latter requested this band to play " Dixie," the favorite tune of the Confederates.
After the close of the war Mr. Huestis went to Richmond with a party of capitalists, who bought the charter of the old Bank of Virginia, which was reorganized under the name of the National Bank of Virginia. He remained as an officer of this bank for about eighteen months, returning to New York in 1866, where he engaged in the stock and brokerage business, first under the firm name of Ilaskell
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
& Huestis. afterward Huestis & Webb, and later succeeded to the business of Wood & Davis. under the firm name of Wood. Ilnestis & Co., that being the present firm. He is a member of the New York Stock Exchange : also of the " Old Guard." which had its origin with the " Light Guard," the original Company A of the Seventy-first Regiment, of which Mr. Hnestis is a veteran.
Mr. Inestis married Miss Irene E. Mendell. daughter of Henry Mendell. Esq .. his old employer, who was a descendant of one of the old Massachusetts families.
In 1$$6 Mr. Huestis, while suffering from malaria, concluded to try the elimate of Upper Montclair. and after remaining a few months he recovered his health, and concluded to make this his permanent home. He purchased thirteen aeres. which comprised a part of the old Speer estate. and. with others. opened an avenue in front of his property. which they named Lorraine Avenue. He erected a beautiful villa, which is one of the attractive features of Upper Montclair. It is 66 by 40 feet : two and a-half stories high, the first story being of ruble granite, and frame work above: it has a round tower on the south west corner, and a broad piazza extending thence along the entire front. The location is one of the finest in the township.
LBue
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 014 207 417 5
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