History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 163

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 163
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 163

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He has entered his eighty-fifth year, and is hale and hearty ; calls around every morning to see his children, who live near him; converses with the same fluency and strength of mind as in years long gone by ; walks to Blairstown, a distance of four miles, once or twice a week; and delights in entertaining his auditors with the scenes of his younger days, which he does in a very pleasing conversational manner.

He purchased the Walnut Valley Hotel property over fifty years ago, which he has owned till quite recently, when he sold it to his son, Charles Van- scoten. He still owns what is known as the Sipher farm, in this township.

Among the other officials from this township we find that Abram Wildriek was elected a State Sena- tor in 1866 and served one term; Samuel H. Lanter- man was in 1869 elected sheriff and served one term ; William L. Hoagland, elected surrogate in 1864; and Simeon Cook, elected county clerk in 1850.

XII .- MILITARY. WAR RECORD OF BLAIRSTOWN.

At the breaking out of the Rebellion of the Southern slaveocracy, in 1861, Blairstown township responded to the call for volunteers in a most noble manner, and when, in 1862, the conflict began to assume a more serious aspect, the township aroused from what might seem to be lethargy and put forth renewed efforts for the suppression of the slaveholders' rehellion.

Special meetings were held in 1862, 1863, and 1864, at which the fire of patriotism and loyalty to the old flag were plainly manifest in the resolutions passed and ways and means provided for filling all quotas called for from this township.

The following is a complete list, as near as can he ascertained, of the officers and men that enlisted from this township for the suppression of the Rebellion of 1861:

Major William C. Larzelier, John Stiles, Austin E. Armstrong, Charles C. Shotwell, Jacob V. France, John T. Robbins, Samuel C. Brown, Theodore H. Barker, Samuel C. Snover, William Aumick, John Brown, Jacob Guntryman, Elias Harris, David Carter, William H. Decker, Jacob Smith, William H. McKeim, Henry Oberkirch, Sum- Del Brittenheimer, Austin Emmons, David M. Emmons, William M. Emmons, Abram F. Lance, Theodore Maines, William Parr, George Quick, Abrahaor A. Rice, Nuthan II. Rice, Mannel C. Snover, Nathan- iel C. Snover, Austin Stiles, Urialı Stiles, Theodore H. Andresa, Con- rad Miller, Iliram France, David V. France, Alexander Mycre, Bal- tus Titman, George B. Kirkuff, Thomas Cooper, Lemnel Titman, James E. Ervine, Jonus Group, Lewis Vankirk, James Ervine, Jacob Kise, Richard France, Ira France, James Calvin France, Andrew T. Linaberry, Ralph Maines, Alexander Maines, Moses N. Maines, Wil- liam Hf. Bowers, Isane Harris, Joseph L. Bogart, Charles Beegle, John O. Martin, Isaac L. Lanterman, Jacob Rice, Isaiah Swezey, David Car- ter, George F. France, John W. France, William O. France, Isaac B. France, Frank Beegle, Condit Warmick, Joseph Losey, Philip Garria, George Decker, Jacob Anmick, George l'arr, Lorenzo Iliggins, An-

John d. Blair

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drew J. Myers, James Ryne, Joseph Bogart, John Robins, Joseph Gunger, William Shaw, Lyman Shaw, Isaac Shaw, Elias Harris, Jucob Smith, George II. Westfall, Abrain Swisher, Samuel Brown, Jacob I). Vaughn, Martin V. Rutan.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

ION. JOUN I. BLAIR.

The Blair family is of Scotch extraction, the an- cestral seat being located in County Ayrshire, Scot- land, where for six hundred years its members have been prominently represented. Early renowned for physical prowess and personal bravery, the Ayrshire Blairs for centuries claimed the chiefship of all of that name in the South and West of Scotland, their surname being derived, etymologically, from two words " belle" and "ayre," signifying "a battle- field." On the beautiful Ayrshire hills and fertile plains generation after generation of the clan have lived lives of usefulness and honor, and now sleep their last sleep beneath the blooming heather that adorns their native sod. Still another generation of the name now occupy the ancestral soil, manifesting in a remarkable degree the strong characteristics of their raee and lineage.

The family was early represented in this country in the person of several eminent divines and educational instructors, who, bred in the sturdy faith of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, with all the breadth of thought and scholastic learning that is so frequently mani- fested by their race, full of aspirations after liberty of thought and action and complete religious free- dom, sought the shores of America as an asylum and a home. They brought in their hearts the love of God, and came armed with that indomitable ambition, perseverance, and energy that has stamped the im- press of their individuality so indelibly on the institu- tions of America. The date of the first coming of the family to this country was about 1720, and from that period onward the Blairs and their relatives con- tinned to come from Scotland and North of Ireland to establish themselves on our shores. Rev. Samuel and Rev. John Blair were carly and prominently identified with Presbyterian institutions in the United States, and were both among the early members of the board of trustees of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. The latter taught a classical school at Neshaminy at an early period, was acting president of the College of New Jersey in 1767, preceding Dr. Witherspoon, and was the first professor of theology and vice-president of the college. Rev. Samuel Blair was elected president, and resigned in favor of Dr. Witherspoon. Elizabeth Blair, sister of Rev. Samuel and Rev. John Blair, married Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, an emigrant from Ire- land, and for many years pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Pequea, Pa., and was the mother of Rev. Dr. Samuel S. Smith, the seventh president of the

College of New Jersey, and the grandfather of Hon. John C. Breekinridge, of Kentucky.

Hon. John 1. Blair was born on the banks of the Delaware River, near Belvidere, N. J., on Aug. 22, 1802. His great-grandfather was Samuel Blair, and his grandfather, who emigrated to this country some time between the years 1730 and 1740, was John Blair. Samuel Blair married into the family of Dr. Shippen, of Philadelphia, who owned a large traet of land in Warren Co., N. J., including the mineral lands at Oxford Furnace. Near this tract John Blair located and passed his life. He was a man of force and character, engaged somewhat in lay-preaching, taught school, and became the owner of much land in the neighborhood of his residence. lle owned the Beaver Brook property, near Hope, of about five hundred acres, lived on Scott's Mountain, near Ox- ford Furnace, and married Mary Kline, of Greenwich, N. J., of whom were born five sons,-namely, John, Samuel, James, William, and Robert. John Blair, Sr., died in 1795, aged eighty-four years,

James, the father of Hon. John T. Blair, was born at Oxford, N. J., on Aug. 5, 1769. He passed his life in tilling the soil, living principally on the Beaver Brook property, where he owned a large tract of land, and where he died on Aug. 5, 1816. His wife was Rachel, daughter of John Insley, of Greenwich town- ship, N. J., who bore him seven sons and three daugh- ters,-namely, Samuel, now living at an advanced age at Chicago, IN .; William; John I .; Robert, a merchant at Johnsonsburg, N. J .; James, a leading man at Seranton, Pa. ; Jacob M., who resides in Wis- consin ; David B., who died at St. Augustine, Fla. ; Mary, who married Benjamin Titman ; Catharine, wife of John M. Fair, of Michigan ; and Elizabeth, who married Aaron H. Kelsey, a leading merchant of Sussex County. Mrs. Blair died on Aug. 23, 1857.

The life of John I. Blair is a striking example of how many and great things can be accomplished by the youth of the country, even in the absence of aca- demie or collegiate instruction, by the exercise of industry, perseverance, and integrity in business life. Born on a farm in Warren County, his life, until the age of eleven years, consisted of the ordinary routine of a farmer boy's experience, working on the farm in the summer season, and drinking in knowledge at the neighboring district school in the colder months. His school training ended at the age of eleven, at which period he entered the store of his cousin, Judge Blair, at Hope, N. J., to learn the mercantile business. He remained there a number of years, when, owing to the demise of his father, he returned home for a time and assisted on the paternal farm. In a short time he returned to mercantile life in Hope, where he remained until about the year 1821. During this time he passed one year in the store of Squire James De Witt, where he made himself espe- cially useful, and where, being brought into close contact with the forms and proceedings of law, the

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method of collecting debts, compromising suits, and the drawing of legal papers, he derived much prac- tical knowledge of business life. At the age of only nineteen he located at Blairstown, N. J., then known as "Gravel Hill," and established a general country store at that point, in connection with his cousin, John Blair. After two years the partnership was dis- solved, and trade continued alone by John I. Blair before he was of lawful age. Here he remained for forty years, attending closely to business and con- stantly extending his trade. During this time he had stores also at Marksboro', Paulina, Huntsville, and Johnsonsburg, N. J., in some of which his brothers, James and Robert, and his brothers-in-law, Aaron H. Kelsey and John M. Fair, who were all successful merchants, were partners.

During this long period of mercantile life Mr. Blair was constantly enlarging his business connections and unconsciously laying the foundation of his fu- ture extensive and far-reaching business life. He was largely interested in flour-mills, the manufacture of cotton, in the general produce of the country around, and wholesaled a great many goods to other stores. He was postmaster at Blairstown for nearly forty years.

It is not surprising that the growing business rela- tions of Mr. Blair to the general commercial world should gradually have drawn him into intimate busi- ness connection with some of the largest enterprises of the country. His acquaintance with Col. George W. Scranton and Seldon T. Scranton commenced as early as 1833 or 1834, when he assisted those gentle- men to lease the mines at Oxford Furnace, N. J., which had been operated before the Revolutionary war. Circumstances made it necessary for both to remove to Slocum's Hollow, now Scranton, Pa., where, on Oct. 1, 1846, was organized the Lackawanna Coal and Iron Company, of whose mills Mr. Blair was one of the proprietors, the others being the Scranton Brothers, Wm. E. Dodge, Anson G. Phelps, Roswell Sprague, L. L. Sturges, Dater & Miller, and George Buckley. From that day, when these men of strength laid the foundation of Scranton and set in operation the furnaces and railroad mills there, until now they have continued to be among the largest and most suc- cessful works of their kind in the country. The same company bought and rebuilt the road from Owego to Ithaca, N. Y., and opened it for business on the 18th of December, 1849. In 1850-51 they built the road from Scranton to Great Bend, then called the Legget's Gap Railroad, which was opened for business in Octo- ber, 1851, thus securing by means of their New York and Erie connection an outlet for their coal and iron.

In the fall of 1852, Mr. Blair and Col. Scranton had a conference of several days' length at Scranton, during which a plan was formed to separate the Leg- get's Gap or western division of their road from the iron company and consolidate the former with a new company, to be organized, and which was to construct

a road to the Delaware River. The latter was called the Cobb's Gap Railroad. At the suggestion of Mr. Blair, the appropriate and characteristic designation of the "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Rail- road" was given to the consolidated road. Mr. Blair located and procured the right of way for the road, and the entire line, including the Warren Road with its Delaware River bridge, the Vass Gap tunnel, and a temporary track through Van Ness Gap, was opened for business May 16, 1856. The Warren Road and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad now own the Morris and Essex Railroad, which, hav- ing been double-tracked and improved as to grades and curves, and almost entirely rebuilt by the pur- chasers, is doing a business such as was never dreamed of by its projectors. It is a part of a chain of roads nearly seven hundred miles long operated by one company, and reaching from New York City to Lake Ontario, with branches to various points in New York and Pennsylvania, the combined capital and cost of which is probably one hundred millions of dollars, and which transports nearly four millions of tons of coal every year.

The organization and construction of the Warren Railroad in 1853, in the face of strong opposition by the Morris and Essex Railroad, evinces the great busi- ness capacity and tact of Mr. Blair as a railroad man- ager. Books of subscription were opened by the com- missioners ; the requisite amount of stock subscribed for; directors and officers chosen ; the survey of the route adopted, and the president authorized to file it in the office of the Secretary of State; full power delegated to the president to construct the road, and to make contracts or leases for connecting with other roads; and the right of way through important gaps secured ; all within the space of two hours. Mr. Blair was chosen president, and the next day but one found him in Trenton filing his survey about one hour in advance of the agents of the Morris and Essex Railroad. The succeeding day saw him on the Dela- ware securing the passes. One day later the engineers and agents of the Morris and Essex Railroad came to the same place on the same errand. The former had already secured all the passes below the Water Gap. The latter struck for those in and above the Gap, on the New Jersey side, and paid exorbitant prices for farms, right of way, and two river crossings. Their vigilant competitor, however, caused the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to be constructed through the Gap on the Pennsylvania side, and, cross- ing the river several miles below, cut them off with their high-priced passes and crossings on their hands. A contest in the courts and Legislature of New Jersey resulted in sustaining the Warren Road.

It would be beyond the scope and limits of a work of this kind to pursue in further detail the various railroad and business enterprises of Mr. Blair, who is to-day one of the railroad magnates of America and the controlling owner in a large number of wealthy

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corporations. He is the president of the Warren, the Sussex, and the Blairstown Railroads of New Jersey, and a large stockholder in the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. He is the main stockholder of ten different railroads in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wis- consin, comprising about two thousand miles in extent, and is the veritable railroad king of the West. He has obtained two million acres of land from the govern- ment for railroads in that section, and is a director of six land and town-lot companies in the West. Ile was a member of the first board of directors of the Union Pacific Railroad, and a member of the execu- tive and finance committees, and constructed the first railroad through the State of lowa to connect with the Union Pacific at Omaha, employing ten thousand men for eight months. He has recently purchased the Green Bay Railroad, to Winona, some two hun- dred miles long, for two million dollars. He is a di- rector of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, has been president of the Belvidere (N. I.) National Bank almost since its organization, in 1830, is the main stockholder of the First National Bank of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a director in the Scranton Savings Institution, besides being interested in different direc- tions in silver-mining and smaller business ventures.

In all his business transactions, comprising millions of dollars, no one has ever questioned the integrity of Mr. Blair, nor successfully challenged his honesty of motive and purpose. He has ever manifested great concern for the interests and rights of others, and has been the donor of large gifts to private and public institutions. His personal donations have been sim- ply enormous, including the sum of about seventy thousand dollars to the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, of which he is one of the trustees, includ- ing the first endowment of a professorship, and fifty- seven thousand dollars to Lafayette College, Easton. Pa., including the endowment of the chair of the president. The Blair Presbyterial Academy, of Blairs- town, N. J., has cost, including both buildings, about one hundred thousand dollars, and was donated by Mr. Blair to the Presbytery of Newton. The build- ing is one of the handsomest of its kind in the State, is heated throughout by steam, and is supplied throughout with pure spring water and has every modern convenience. Provision is made in the en- dowment of the institution for the education of the sons and daughters of ministers of the Presbytery free of charge for board and tuition. Mr. Blair's other contributions to the enuse of education and re- iigion throughout the country have comprised thon- sands of dollars. Ile has ever assisted liberally in supporting church institutions of various denomina- tions, and in the eighty towns that he has laid out in the West more than one hundred churches have been erected largely through his liberality.

In politics Mr. Blair is a staunch supporter of Republican principles, but has found but little leisure to indulge in political office-holding or to mingle in the affairs of political life. His sphere has been a higher one, ministering alike to the prosperity of the whole people and to the material and commercial growth of the country. Ile was the candidate of the Republican party for Governor of New Jersey in 1868.

In his domestic relations Mr. Blair is especially happy, and his pleasant home at Blairstown is the abode of hospitality and comfort. He was married on Sept. 27, 1827, to Ann, daughter of John Locke, of Frelinghuysen township, N. J., and granddaughter of a Revolutionary patriot, Capt. Locke, who lost his life in the struggle for national independence, at the battle of Springfield, N. J. The issue of the union were four children, of whom De Witt Clinton Blair, of Belvidere, N. J., is the sole survivor. The others were Marcus L. Blair, Emma E., wife of Charles Scribner, the publisher, of New York, and Aurelia A., wife of Clarence G. Mitchell, of New York.

Perhaps it will not be deemed out of place to insert here the following published opinion of Mr. Blair in regard to the HIon. Oakes Ames, it indicating alike the warm regard of Mr. Blair for his friends and his independence of judgment :

" I cannot close without expressing the high respect I entertain for the memory of my late friend, the Ilon. Oakes Ames, now deceased. My dealings or business connections with him amounted to millions of dollars. A more honest man never lived. I was on the Missouri River when the news of his death reached that distant region. I left everything and reached his place in time to take a final look at his remains. He was the main pillar that carried the Union Pacific Railroad through and made it a sue- cess and a highway for the nations of the earth to pass over for all time. The patriotism of the nation ought to raise a monument to his memory on the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains, in sight of the line, to remind them of a second Samson, who died, as Samson of old, under the approbation of Providence."

Mr. Blair has now attained the ripe age of seventy- eight years, but is still hale and hearty, and still pur- suing the busy round of his duties with all the energy and force of his hardy Scotch nature. He is still ex- tending his business connections, and is now a lead- ing director in seventeen railroads and president of three, besides many other companies, in active charge of all of his private affairs, and daily adding to his ben- ofactions. When he shall have passed away no man in the country will have creeted to himself more last- ing and imperishable monuments. The impress of his individuality will be left for centuries on the land- marks and institutions of the country.

HOPE.

I .- GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

THIS is one of the interior townships of the county, and derived its name from the Moravian pioneers who located here in 1769 and gave that name to the locality in which they settled, which subsequently- became the village of Hope; when the township was taken from Oxford, in 1839, it was named Hope. It is bounded on the east by Frelinghuysen and Independ- ence, on the southeast by Mansfield, on the southwest by Oxford and Knowlton, on the northwest by Knowl- ton and Blairstown, and on the north by Blairstown, and embraces 30.17 square miles, or 19,309 acres of land. The population of Hope, according to the census of 1880, was 1570.

II .- NATURAL FEATURES.

The surface of this township is what might be termed mountainous, instead of hilly. The Jenny Jump Moun- tains cross it in a southwesterly direction, leaving its territory in a little northwest of Green's Pond. Mount Hermon, on its northwest border, is of such prom- inence that the post-office at that place was named in honor of it. All over the township may be seen knobs of limestone lending their ill looks to the other- wise beautiful landscapes and mountain scenery.

The soil along the valleys of the Pequest River, Beaver and Muddy Brooks, and Honey Run is very fertile, while that upon the mountain-sides is of a quality not to be highly recommended for its fertility.

Green's Pond is a beautiful sheet of water, one mile long by half or three-quarters of a mile wide, and named from the first settler in this township. It is located in its southwest part, in School District No. 66.

Silver Lake, so named from the clear, silvery ap- pearance of its waters, covers about 100 acres in the northeast corner of the township. Reed Pond is a small body of water a short distance south of Silver Lake.

Pequest River enters Hope at its southeast corner, flows northwest a short distance, when it turns to the southwest, and runs nearly parallel with the south- east line of the township, and flows into Oxford.

Beaver Brook rises near the north border and flows southwesterly through the village of Hope, thence into Oxford.

Honey Run rises in Knowlton, flows southeasterly, and empties into Beaver Brook a short distance above Beatty's grist-mill.

Muddy Brook rises in Blairstown township, flows southerly, and empties into Honey Run in the north part of School District No. 68. Upon all these streams are good mill-sites, some of which are occu- pied.

North of Hope village, and along the Beaver Brook, are 557 acres of what is known as "wet meadow."

About one mile southwest of Hope village, along Muddy Brook, is a marl deposit, where it is said to be four feet thick, under from two to four feet of muck. An isolated slate locality is a hill west of the Hope and Belvidere road, south of Honey Run. It is sur- rounded by low meadow-land, in which, on the north and east, the limestone crops out in occasional knobs. In the meadow south of the hill no rocks are seen in place, but south of the meadows the slate appears in the high hills south of the road.

III .- EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND PIONEER IN- CIDENTS.

The pioneer settler of what is now the township of Hope is supposed to be Samuel Green and family, who came from Long Island about the commence- ment of the French and Indian war. Just where Mr. Green located is not positively known, but is sup- posed to be in the best, or what he considered to be the best, part of the township, as he was a deputy surveyor for the West Jersey proprietors, and was supposed to know where the best locations were. It is supposed by some that he located near Green's Pond, from the fact of that sheet of water bearing his name. It is presumed by others that he located near what is now Hope village. Whichever place it was, he was the owner of a large tract of land cover- ing nearly or quite the whole of the present town- ship. His family, being on friendly terms with the Indians, who, being grateful (for once) for kindness received at the hands of the Green family, warned them of coming danger at the near approach of hos- tilities ; so that they temporarily removed until the war was over.

The next white settler of which we have any ac- count was Sampson Howell, who in 1767 or 1768 came in and settled at the foot of Jenny Jump Moun- tain, on the farm now owned by Jonah Howell, where he built a saw-mill, and subsequently supplied the Moravians with what lumber they required for their buildings at Hope village. He was a man of great versatility. He drove his farm and saw-mill, preached when occasion required, and yet withal was a "mighty

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 163

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