History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 117

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140

USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 117
USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 117

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John Lewis, aged eighty, and now Stanhope's oklest resident, was born in Morris County, and in 1815 came to Stanhope with his father, Richard Lewis, who in that year took possession as landlord of the tavern-stand opened in 1810 by Simeon Dick- erson. In 1815, Abram Hathaway and Josiah Mun- son carried on the upper forge as well as a saw- and grist-mill, while a Mr. Roland had the lower forge and a saw-mill. There were the tavern, a black-

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smith's shop, and perhaps a dozen dwelling-houses, but there was no store. Nor was there a store until 1817, when M. F. Dickerson opened a very shabby affair on the turnpike, upon a spot now occupied by the canal-basin. In 1819, Gamaliel Bartlett bought the upper forge, grist-mill, and tavern, and conducted all of the enterprises until 1825.

In 1823 the Stanhope post-office was established, and Gamaliel Bartlett appointed postmaster, the office being kept at the tavern, which was known as the Stanhope House. Andrew A. Smalley, who was the second postmaster, was a clerk in Robert Bell's store, and there the office was then located. The succes- sive postmasters thereafter at Stanhope were Charles Lewis, Edwin Post, A. G. King, A. A. Smalley, Elias Woodruff, John Van Arsdale, A. G. King, William G. Leport, and John Van Arsdale.

In 1823, Bartlett & Rhodes opened the second store, and after them it was kept by JJacob Lowrance and Mr. Van Deeren, but there was no place of trade worthy of much commendation until Robert P'. Bell built and opened his store in 1833.

About 1840 the iron-forges at Stanhope were aban- doned, because, doubtless, of the exhaustion of wood and fuel, but in 184] the iron interests were revived at that point by Edwin Post, of New York, who rep- resented the Sussex Iron Company (a corporation formed for making iron at Stanhope), and who then made what is alleged to have been the first effort known in the State of New Jersey looking to the treatment of magnetic ores with anthracite coal. 1le built upon the site of the present works two furnaces, rach 10 by 30, and each having a capacity of 10 tons daily. He employed water-power at the beginning, had a force of from twenty-five to thirty men. and. making an instantaneous success of the undertaking. added in no slight measure to the growth of Stanhope. In 1846 the company put in steam-power and moved prosperously forward until 1853. In that year l'ost experimented with franklinite, from which he pro- posed to make zine as well as iron at a considerable profit. Unfortunately, his apparatus exploded while the experiment was in progress, and the works, taking fire, were utterly destroyed. That ended the active operations of the Sussex fron Company at Stanhope, and until 1864 the property lay idle. The revival of the business in that year is narrated in the history of the Museonetong Iron-Works.

Before there was a resident physician at Stanhope doctors were usually called from Drakesville, Prob- ably the first doctor to take up his habitation in the town was Dr. John Dayton, who came in 1834 from below Morristown and remained two or three years. Dr. Isaac Munn, afterwards of Philadelphia, took the place left vacant by Dr. Dayton, and tarried about six years. Meanwhile, Dr. f. D. Mills came on and stopped nine years. Afterwards came Drs. Bell, Featherman, Hulshizer, Hedges, Struble, Neldon, Lamson, Davison, and Cochran. Of these the longest

in village practice was Dr. Hedges, whose term of res- idence extended over abont fifteen years. The vil- lage physicians in December, 1880, were Drs. C. K. Davison, C. R. Neldon, and C. F. Cochran.

Among the residents of Stanhope who have lived in the village forty years or more may be named John Lewis, A. L. Clark, Isaac Hathaway, Amos Smith, A. G. King, J. M. Knight, Joseph Bissell, and Wil- liam Atno.

Olive Lodge, No. 41, I. O. O. F .- Although not or- ganized until May 8, 1879, Olive Lodge bears the number allotted to a lodge organized in Stanhope many years before that, and long since dissolved. The charter members numbered five. Their names and offices were as follows: William Weller, N. G .; Samuel Peterson, V. G .; J. W. Campbell, Sec .; Thomas MeGinnis, Treas .; O. W. Elmer, G. In December, 1880, the membership was 50, and the officers were O. W. Ehner. N. G. ; J. W. Campbell, V. G .; William Weller, Sec .; Thoma- McGinnis, Treas.

WATERLOO.

Waterloo-so named, it is said, because of the plentiful supply of water thereabout-was known as Old Andover more than a hundred years ago, when there was on the ground a blast-furnace, a 4-fire forge, and a refinery.

The present village property was once a portion of a tract of 11,000 acres of Jersey lands owned by Wil- liam Penn and his brother early in the eighteenth century. About 1760 they sold considerable of the territory to Allen & Turner, two Englishimen, who in 1763 set up on the place now occupied by Waterloo village a blast-furnace, a forge, and refinery, which they carried on in connection with iron-works at An- dover. The forge stood upon a spot a few yards northeast of the grist-mill of Smith Brothers, and east of the forge was a grist-mill, whose ruins may yet be seen. The foundations of the old coal-house used by Allen & Turner are a portion of the present grist- mill.

The iron manufactured by Allen & furner was conveyed from the Museonetrong valley upon pack- horse, and mules through the woods to the Delaware, and thence shipped to market. The manufacturers were, however, unfriendly to the Federal cause during the Revolution, and as a result their works suffered confiscation, and contributed thereafter their product to the government. At these works, it is said, the government produced about the only iron manufac- tured in the country that could be relied upon inva- riably to yield steel for the manufacture of fire-arms.

Shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war the works were abandoned because of the exhaustion of the supply of wood-fuel, and for years thereafter the locality now called Waterloo was a barren waste. In 1790, John Smith, who had been u "boss collier" at the Andover iron-works, joined his brother Samuel in leasing the land lying about Waterloo, and engaged

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their brothers George and Daniel to assist them in farming the tract. There were at that time upon the site of Waterloo six stone and five framed houses that had been earlier occupied by the people engaged at the works, but which were then abandoned. The broth- ers selected the best of the dwellings for residences, and, in addition to their farming labors, engaged in the manufacture of flax in the old mill building. Before they had proceeded very far in that enterprise the mill was burned, and the flax business came to an end in that locality. The Smiths had a fifteen years' lease of the property, but at the end of ten years dis- posed of it to Isaiah Wallin and moved to Schooley's Mountain. Wallin farmed the place five years, and in 1805 John Smith purchased it and hired Joseph Wallin to work it.

In 1820, John Smith came from Schooley's Moun- tain and located on Lubber's Run, a mile above Waterloo, for the purpose of making iron in a bloom- forge. Settlements were few and far between in the neighborhood at that time, but about then other forges were set up on Lubber's Run at Columbia, Lockwood, and Roseville. Mr. Smith was assisted by his sons Peter and Nathan, and with them he also built a store and founded a small settlement at the forge, which took the name of Old Andover, from the earlier settlement farther down the stream. When the Morris Canal pushed its way to where Waterloo now is, Mr. Smith's sons abandoned the upper loca- tion and moved a mile down the stream. There they built a store, grist-mill, and tavern, and, as the local- ity became at once a depot for the transshipment from the canal for goods destined for the country north and west, business was brisk, and Waterloo thrived apace.

In 1849 a mule railroad was built from the Andover mines to Waterloo for the purpose of transporting the ore, and these shipments via canal at Waterloo, to- gether with the traffic with the interior by means of freight teams hauling goods from the Waterloo ter- minus of the canal, made the village a lively business centre. After the Sussex Railroad was built, however, all this was changed, and Waterloo lapsed into its present quietude.

The business interests of the village have always remained in the hands of the Smith family. Samuel T. Smith, Seymour R. Smith, and P. D. Smith, grand- sons of John Smith, who started the forge at Old Andover in 1820 and remained there until his death, carry on the store and grist-mill at the village, and, with other members of the family, control upwards of 2000 acres of adjacent lands, upon which there are numerous valuable iron-mines. Four hundred acres of the 2000 lie in Morris County ; the rest are in By- ram. The Waterloo post-office has been held by a Smith since it was created. Peter Smith was the first postmaster, and his son Seymour R. the second and present incumbent.

As already indicated, Waterloo of the present is but a small hamlet, but a quietly picturesque spot set

in a valley from which tower close at hand Schooley's Mountain and the Allamuchy range. About a quarter of a mile from the village may be seen the remnant of what was once an Indian graveyard, where numer- ous jagged headstones proclaim how the savages sought in their crude way to set a sign upon the last resting-places of their dead. These relics have been scrupulously respected by the Messrs. Smith, owners of the land, and, although the plowshare has freely invaded the domain about them, it has not been per- mitted to disturb the bones of the long-departed children of the forest.

Tradition narrates that just west of Waterloo there was once an important Indian village where grand councils and periodical celebrations called thither great numbers of red men from even distant points. To this day Indian relics, such as stone arrow-heads and hatchets, are frequently found in the vicinity.

In the churchyard at Waterloo is the grave of John Humphries, who came from Kidderminster, England, to America for the purpose of establishing the manu- facture of carpets. The first Brussels carpet put down in the national capitol is said to have been manufactured by him. He became wrecked in for- tune, and retired to Waterloo to spend the closing days of life.

VII .- INDUSTRIES. MUSCONETCONG IRON-WORKS.

In 1864 a company of New York capitalists pur- chased the property at Stanhope formerly occupied by the works of the Sussex Iron Company and the Stan- hope Iron Company, and, obtaining a charter as "The Musconetcong Iron-Works,"J J. D. Condit, of New York, being chosen president, with a capital of $500,- 000, began at once the erection of a large blast-fur- nace with a stack measuring 70 by 17. Dr. G. G. Palmer was placed in charge, and in 1866 the first blast was blown in. Ores were obtained from ad- jacent mining lands, and in 1868 the construction of a second and larger furnace was begun. In 1869 the works passed to the control of Messrs. A. Pardee & Co., of Philadelphia, who continued to operate under the old charter, and prosecuted the improvements begun in 1868. The second furnace, with a stack measuring 80 by 20, was completed in 1870.

The works as at present appointed are claimed to be equal to any in the country of similar capacity. The motive-power used is supplied by two steam- engines, which cost upwards of $50,000, and maintain respectively a 200 and 300 horse-power. The works proper occupy about 10 acres and employ a force of one hundred and forty men. At the mines upwards of two hundred men are employed. These mines are mainly in Morris County, although there are some in Sussex and Warren Counties. The company owns some of the mining lands, but rents the major por- tion. The ores are chiefly magnetic, and include also limonite. The total annual yield of the works ag- gregates 40,000 tons of pig iron, including "No. 2

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Foundry" and "Gray Forge." From 50,000 to 60,000 tons of coal are consumed yearly.

The officers of the company are A. Pardee, of Hazleton, president, and II. H. Wilson, of Philadel- phia, secretary and treasurer. Dr. G. G. Palmer, who took charge of the works in 1864, served as super- intendent until 1878, when he was succeeded by the present superintendent, E. S. Moffatt.

STANHOPE TANNERY.

Messrs. Sands & Chidester introduced the business of tanning at Stanhope about 1840. In 1854, C. J. Cottrell became possessed of the business, and in 1866 the tannery was burned. In 1867, J. H. Egbert built the present tannery, and, in 1868, C. J. Cottrell pur- chased it, and carries it on to the present day. He is mainly occupied in producing rough leather.

IRON-MINES.

Byram's soil is bountifully underlain with iron ores, which for more than a century have been utilized in valuable manufactures, and promise now to supply material for similar purposes for perhaps a century to come.

The Stanhope or Hude Mine, about a mile north of Stanhope, is worked by the Musconetrong Iron- Works, but is not counted on for a very important yield. The first openings were made there in 1802 by Jonathan Dickerson, who smelted the ores at the Lockwood forge and manufactured scythes, for which purpose the iron was said to be well adapted.

The Roseville Mine, at the centre of the township, is an old mine from which vast quantities of ore have been extracted. Since 1868 it has been worked by the Andover Eron Company.

The Smith Mine, two miles cast of Waterloo, is being worked by the Coplay Iron Company of Penn- sylvania. There are two veins measuring 8 feet and 4 feet wide respectively. The miners have in one gone to a depth of 150 feet, and in the other but 25. The Coplay Iron Company have been engaged there since 1869.

A mine a quarter of a mile east of the last named is operated by a New Jersey company. There are the Clarkson Bird Mine, east of Cranberry Marsh, and the Byerly openings, near Roseville, where red hematite is found.

The reader is also referred to the report by the State geologist for 1868, for much of interest in rela- tion to the iron-mines of Byram.

A so-called silver-mine was discovered near Water- loo in 1764, and, as the impression speedily gained that the ore contained silver, there was no little stir over the matter. Samples were forwarded for analysis, and when the alleged silver turned out to be iron pyrites there was much woeful gloom and conster- nation among many enthusiasts. Operations were conducted at the mine some years, and there was at one time at that point a small hamlet, as well as smelting-works.

There is a granite-quarry on the line of the Sussex Railroad, occupying a portion of the Applegate and Allis tract. Operations were inaugurated there about 1875, but the cost of transportation made the work unprofitable, and the quarry was therefore abandoned. The stone is susceptible of a high polish, and is said to be much esteemed for building purposes.

VIII .- LINKED WITH THE PAST.

The number of people between the ages of sixty and sixty-five living in Byram is fifty-two. There are thirty-six between sixty-five and seventy years, and twenty-six who are aged seventy and upwards. Those aged sixty-five and over are named herewith :

Mary A. Atno, 80; Andrew Best, 66; Mary J. Best, GG; Catharine Byrum, 74; Jonathan Bradbury, GT ; Martha Baldwin, 67; Joseph Difuko, 80; Sarah Dell, 80; Mollie Benson, 72; Clark Bird, 70; Abram 1 .. Clark, 70; Mary A. Clark, 70; Mury A. Clark, 67; Marin Coonrod, 66 ; Cornelius Corby, 71; Joseph Conn, 88; William Decker, 65, Eliza Duiling, 65; John Fountain, 70; Gideon Fisk, 85; Betsey Forgue, 70; Jonathan P. Hand, 68; Jacob Huyler, 66; Authony Heminover, 68 ; William Heldebrand, 80; Alfred Hulmes, 65 ; Lowin Heminover, 70; I-nac Hathaway, 72; Philip Haywood, 71; James Hamilton, 86; Margaret Hamilton, 74 ; George Ike, 65; Parmelia A. King, 74; Augustus G. King. 72; Auna A. King, 65; Alexamuler Lundy, 65; John Lewis, >0; Mary Ann Lewis, 71; Charity Mcl'on- nell, 72; Gabriel Metill, 66; Jumes W. McConnell, 65; William MeKuin, 69; Anun Mekaiu, 68; Joseph MeMickie, 65; Margaret Oliver, Ga; Mury Pittenger, 79; Martin Pruden, 70; Gideon G. Pruslen, 71; John Pollman, 74: Sarah Prickett, 68; Nancy Robin- 801, 65; Mathias Roloson, 69; Garrison M. Sandford, 71; Dennis Schoonover, 65; Maria Smith, 68; Amos Smith, 73; Caroline Smith, 70; William Smith, 71; Moses Tharp, 65; William Todd, 80; WH- liam Wright, 67; Jumes White, 76.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

TION. PETER SMITH.

IIon. Peter Smith was born near Schooley's Moun- tain, in Morris County, on Oct. 1, 1808. His grand- father came from England and located at Sterling, Orange Co., N. Y., about 1770. At this place he married a lady of American birth, but Dutch descent. lle afterwards moved to Andover Furnace. In 1800 his father, the late Gen. John Smith, settled near Schooley's Mountain, from which place he removed to Andover Forge, one mile east of Waterloo, in 1816, when the subject of this sketch was a boy. When a young man he commenced the mercantile business at Waterloo, and from that time until his demise, on March 12, 1877, he was closely identified with the business growth and interests of that section of the State. His brother Nathan, who at one time repre- sented Sussex County in the Senate and Assembly, was for many years his partner in his affairs, and the strong impress of the natures of these two, and their business taet and skill, were felt throughout their lo- cality for years. Mr. Smith enjoyed the implicit con- tidenee of the people, and was noted for that strict integrity and high sense of personal honor that char-

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acterized many of the old and true men of Sussex County. Though his business cares were heavy, and his strength ofttimes severely tried, be treated all with whom he came in contact with courtesy and kind- ness, and his pleasant smile and cheerful greeting were as familiar as household words. He was one of the most lenient of creditors, and it is said that he never brought a suit in the courts nor invoked the law to foreclose a mortgage. As a man, he was strong in his attachments, his devotion to his friends being ardent and unlimited.

In politics Mr. Smith was a Democrat, as was his father before him, and his duty to his State and county received that same conscientious attention which he gave to his spiritual and business affairs. In 1861 he was elected to the State Senate from Sus- sex County, and filled that position with ability for three years, and was one of the inspectors of the State prison for some years. For a quarter of a century he was a member of the county board of freeholders, of which body he was for several years the director, and the judgment and honesty of no mnan were more im- plicitly relied on than his. At the meetings of the board, so familiar had the face of Peter Smith become to its members, that, in 1876, when his official connec- tion with it closed, the absence was so perceptible as to cause general comment and regret.

In religious affairs Mr. Smith was a devoted adhe- rent to the doctrines and forms of the Methodist Church, with which he had united early in life. Starting in the service of God and in business life at about the same time, his successful business career and his devotion to the cause of religion gave him a prominence in the direction of religions affairs which few attained. He combined with superior business qualifications the purest personal integrity, and with his consecration to God, earnest activities in the ad- vancement of Christ's kingdom. The establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Waterloo, his place of residence, was largely due to his personal interest and liberality in the project, and throughout his life thereafter that organization found cordial sup- port and encouragement from him, and in his will he provided that the pastor's salary should be paid and the churchyard kept up. He was also largely inter- ested in the cause of the church and its institutions outside of his own immediate locality. He was ac- tive in the organization and erection of the Newark Conference Centenary Collegiate Institute, at Hack- ettstown, and at the time of his death was a member of the board of trustees of that institution and of the Newark Conference Camp-Meeting Association. He was also president of the Hackettstown National Bank, having filled that position since June, 1863. IIe was made a director at the organization of the bank in June, 1855, and for several years preceding his death had been the only member of the original board connected with the bank. As an officer of that institution he was prudent, and its success is, in a

great measure, attributable to his sterling integrity and sound judgment. He was also a director of the Hackettstown Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was systematic in all his business transactions, and as regards his personal affairs, it was a common remark with him, " If I die to-morrow it will give very little trouble to settle my estate."

Mr. Smith was united in marriage on Feb. 19, 1831, to Miss Maria Johnson, daughter of Samuel T. John- son, of Byram, who bore him a family of eleven chil- dren, five of whom are still living,-namely, Hon. Samuel T. Smith, senator from Sussex County from 1873 to 1876; Matilda A. Van Doren, wife of O. R. Van Doren ; Peter D. Smith, Seymour R. Smith, vice-president of the Hackettstown Bank, and N. Augustus Smith.

All of these sons and their sister occupy handsome residences at Waterloo, where they are engaged in successful business operations, and obeying well the dying injunction of their father, "Do your duty ; stand by the Church ; do all the good you can in the world."

Mr. Smith's warmest associations were those that clustered around his own fireside and in the sanctity of his own home, and, surrounded by a devoted fam- ily circle who administered every consolation which duty and affection could suggest, he passed away, after a lingering illness, on March 12, 1877. The news of his death was heard by many with peculiar sadness, and by none more than those Christian min- isters who, during forty years, found shelter and friendship beneath his roof.

HON. SAMUEL T. SMITH.

Hon. Samuel T. Smith, of Waterloo, oldest son of Hon. Peter Smith, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work, was born at Andover Forge, one mile east of Waterloo, on Aug. 16, 1833. He re- moved with his parents to his present place of resi- dence six years later, and attended the district school of his neighborhood in early youth. He enjoyed the benefits of academic instruction at the Wesleyan In- stitute, Newark, N. J., where his education was com- pleted.

At the termination of his educational training Mr. Smith assisted his father in the mercantile and mill- ing business until he attained his majority, at which time he purchased the entire business of his father and became sole manager and proprietor of the same. He continued to carry on an extensive trade, ranking among the most successful business men of Sussex County, until the year 1874, when he was succeeded by his brothers Peter D. and Seymour R. Smith, who, under the name and style of Smith Brothers, conduct the business in the same manner that brought success to their father and brother.

From the very commencement of his business life Mr. Smith was closely identified with the various in-

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terests of his town, always taking an active and prom- inent part in the politics of the county, and holding many positions of trust in the township of Byram. He has ever been faithful to the traditions and pur- poses of the Democratic party. For over twenty years he has been a member of the board of town commit- teemen, and during the war of the Rebellion the prompt filling of the town's quota of soldiers was due in a great measure to his energetic and patriotic efforts. From 1873 to 1876 he represented Sussex County in the State Senate, occupying while a mem- ber of that body a prominent and influential place among his fellows, and representing in a faithful and conscientious manner the constituency that had hon- ored him with its choice.

In all the relations of life into which Mr. Smith has entered he has ever performed his duties in a dignified and courteous manner, and with an integ- rity of character and high-toned sense of honor which none can question. Following in the worthy foot- steps of his honored father, he has identified himself in a prominent way with the institutions of the Meth- odist Church, contributing liberally to the success and efficiency of its organizations and holding an intinen- tial place among those to whose judgment, business tact, and fostering care so large a share of their tem- poral prosperity is due. He is a leading member and officer of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Water- loo, and in 1878 was elected president of the Sussex County Bible Society, a position which he still holds. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the Newark Methodist Episcopal Conference Seminary of Hackettstown and of the Newark Conference Camp- Meeting Association. JIe is now a director in the North Ward National Bank of Newark, N. J., and in the First National Bank of Washington, N. J.

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 117

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1140

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140