History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 68

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 68
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 68

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The banking-house (and residence of its cashier) is located on the corner of Church and High Streets, in a builling erected by the off Sussex banking corpo-

· Deceased.

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SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ration in 1823, and in which that institution trans- acted its business for over forty years. The counting- room is in an addition to the original building, and is of more recent construction.

DAVID RYERSON.

Joris Ryerson, great-grandfather of David, was one of the five sons of Martin Ryerson, who came from Amsterdam and settled first at Flatbush and after- wards at the Walabout, on Long Island. Joris, with two of his brothers, Ryer and Francis, first settled in the city of New York, and subsequently removed to Bergen Co., N. J., about 1701, and were the first settlers of Pacquanac. Joris Ryerson married Sarah Schouten, who died in 1743, by whom he had four sons and four daughters, -John, Martin, George, Lucas, Mary, Blandina, Elizabeth, and Ann.

Martin, son of Joris and grandfather of our subject, married Catharine Coxe, and settled in Hunterdon County, near Flemington, on the South Branch of the Raritan. He was a surveyor and one of the king's judges, also a colonel of the militia. He had five sons and four daughters. Of these children, Martin, John, and William A., with their widowed mother, removed to Sussex County in the year 1770, where each reared families.

Martin married Rhoda, daughter of Benjamin Hull, who bore him the following children, who grew to maturity : Jesse, David, Anna, Emma, Thomas C., and Elizabeth, who became the wife of Robert A. Linn. Thomas C. died in 1838, then a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and one of his sons, Martin, was subsequently a judge of the same court ; a second, Thomas, is a practicing physician in New- ton, N. J .; a third, Henry Ogden, was an officer in the late Rebellion; and a daughter became the wife of T. F. Anderson, of Newton.

David Ryerson was born Oct. 9, 1781, and spent his early life on the farm. Prior to his decease, Jan. 21, 1867, for many years, Mr. Ryerson was one of the most influential citizens of Sussex County. He was clear- headed and practical, slow and deliberate in forming his opinions, and firm as adamant in their mainte- nance. During a part of his long life he dealt largely in real estate. He purchased extensive tracts of land of non-resident owners, divided them into farms, and sold the latter to individuals at moderate rates, giving them long terms wherein to make payment. The re- sult was that among the scores of men to whom he sold upon such casy conditions hardly one failed in due time to pay in full. By this process waste lands were improved and plodding tenants were transformed into independent farmers. The amount of good ac- complished in this way by Mr. Ryerson cannot be computed. It is undoubtedly true that he invariably had a regard to his own interest, but, while subserving that, he ever aimed to put those around him in a way of bettering their circumstances in life. Possessing a judgment that was seldom at fault, he was an adviser

who could be relied upon, and out of the hundreds who sought his counsel and abided by it not one can rise up and say that he was not the gainer by it.

In early life, and to some extent in his maturer days, Mr. Ryerson followed the business of a surveyor, which he had learned from his father. The accuracy of observation and calenlation required in this pursuit was carried by him into everything which he did,- in his systematic mode of living, of transacting busi- ness, and of cultivating his farm and garden. For twenty-six years he was collector of Sussex County, and guarded its finances with unremitting vigilance. From 1831 to 1865 he was president of the Sussex Bank, and by his careful and cautious supervision contributed more than any other man connected with that institution to make it worthy of the public con- fidence and to establish its reputation upon its solid and impregnable basis. In 1829, 1830, 1831, and 1835 he was a member of the State Council, and dis- tinguished himself by laborious application to busi- ness and by a conscientious and intelligent discharge of his public duties.

As a man and a citizen Mr. Ryerson was very de- cided in his views and methodical in his actions. He was rigidly just in his dealings and discriminative in his charities. Any philanthropic project that met his full approval received from him a liberal benefaction; but if it contained aught that he considered objection- able, he was invulnerable to all appeals in its behalf. Unostentatious in manners, of fixed and temperate habits, self-reliant in all his enterprises, and inflex- ible in his purposes, he was a man of marked indi- viduality and fitted to be a leader in a community. In politics he was a Republican of the school of Bry- ant and Bancroft,-more a patriot than a partisan, whose highest aspirations were for the paramount unity of the nation, and who felt that no sacrifice was too costly to defend the government and perpetuate the great principles of the Declaration of Independ- ence.

His education was simply elementary, yet by read- ing, observation, and experience he acquired a large amount of knowledge. He was a clear and logical thinker, and, though unacquainted with the rules of grammar, spoke and wrote with remarkable precision and perspicuity. He had a retentive memory, and, from the fact that he was acquainted with nearly all the heads of families in Sussex County at the begin- ning of the century, his reminiscences of "olden time" were exceedingly interesting. He left to his children, besides a large property, the priceless legacy of a good example.

His wife was Mary, granddaughter of Joseph and Martha (Kirkpatrick) Linn, and daughter of Dr. An- drew Linn. Her maternal grandfather, Andrew Kirk- patrick, with his two sons, John and David, and two daughters, Martha and Elizabeth, and his brother, Alexander Kirkpatrick, with his family, removed from Wattie's Neach, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where

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they were born, to Belfast, Ireland, about 1725. In 1736 they embarked at Belfast for America, landed at New Castle, Del., crossed the Delaware at Philadel- phia, and wandered up through New Jersey, reaching Bound Brook. Finally they settled on the southern slope of Round Mountain, near Basking Ridge, in Som- erset County. They were all on foot, and there was no road other than the Indian path.

The descendants of Andrew and Alexander Kirk- patrick have filled many of the most prominent otlices in the State and nation, both as legislators and as judges, and many members of the family have been among the most prominent of the legal and medical professions.

Joseph Linn had eight children. Dr. Andrew Linn, third son, died at Newton, aged forty-four. lle practiced medieine in Sussex County and New- ton nearly the whole of his professional career. Ifis wife was Ann Carnes, of Bladensburg, MId., and sister of Thomas Carnes, member of the Third Congress from Georgia. His children who lived to maturity were Robert A., a merchant of Hamburg; Margaret, wife of Maj. William T. Anderson, for many years a prominent lawyer at Newton ; Mary, wife of David Ryerson ; Martha, who was first the wife of Hugh Taylor, and after his decease became the wife of Richard R. Morris, of New York; and Alexander, of Easton, Pa.

The children of David and Mary (Linn) Ryerson are Andrew L., died at the age of seventeen, a mem- ber of the junior class at Princeton College; George M., a graduate of Princeton and lawyer at Newton ; Emma E., widow of the late Rev. Myron Barrett, of Newton ; Margaret A., wife of Dr. Anthony Morford, of Nyack, N. Y. ; Catharine R., wife of William Mc- Murtry, of Newton; and Mary L., wife of Judge William E. Skinner, of Hackensack, N. J.

SAMUEL D. MORFORD.

Zebulon Morford, grandfather of Samuel D., a native of Wales, was born in 1722, and died in Cran- bury, N. J., Oct. 25, 1794. His wife was Susanna Barton, who was born in England, Sept. 25, 1727, and died, also in Cranbury, Jan. 15, 1812.

Zebulon Morford and his wife are supposed to have settled at Cranbury soon after their marriage, and there they resided until their decease. They had eleven children,-viz., John, Mary, Noah, Benjamin, Stephen, Zebulon, Susanna, Lewis, Theodosia, Charles, and Sarah.

Prominent among these children was Stephen, who married Mary Hamilton (whose parents are men- tioned with the Dentons in the "Republican Court"), of l'hiladelphia, Pa., March 17, 1779. He was one of the earliest volunteers in the cause of his country after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, having enlisted in August, 1776, being then in the eighteenth year of his age. Throughout the entire struggle, until the peace of 1783, he was an active,

efficient, and patriotic soklier, and ranked as major. On several occasions he was selected by Washington personally for the performance of duties difficult and hazardous, and acquitted himself to the entire satis- faction of the commander-in-chief. Ile was stationed as one of the guards over the prisoners taken at the battle of Princeton while they were confined in the college, and when they were marched to Philadelphia he was one of the souliers detailed to take charge of them. He was born Noy. 10, 1756, and died in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

Another son, Zebulon, was father of our subject, born March 30, 1759; married, Nov. 13, 1785, Mary Denton, who was a descendant of Denton Hall, of Warnell, County of Cumberland, England. The car- hest records of the Dentons are at Hempstead, L. 1. Rev. Richard Denton came from England with Win- throp in 1630, and at his death left four sons, one of whom led from Hempstead the settlers of Jamaica, L. I., another in a like manner settled Elizabethtown, N. J. Zebulon Morford died at Princeton, where he resided, April 2, 1841. His wife, born Dee. 5, 1765, died Dec. 20, 1843.

The children of Zebulon and Mary Morford were Susan, Mary (who became the wife of William Lit- tle), Samuel Denton, Charles, Harriet (married John Nichol), Josiah Firman, Robert C., and Evelina Bel- mont (who became the wife of Robert L. Weakley).

Of these children, one son, Josiah Firman Morford, born April 23, 1799, was graduated at Princeton, and soon after went to Tennessee, where he read law with Judge Crabb. After his admission to the bar hie lo- cated at MeMinnville, where he began a brilliant professional career. He had a mind stored with most historie reading ; besides, he was perfectly familiar with all the polite literature of the day. He was one of the best belle-lettrists in the State. Ile was a brilliant debater, and possessed high mental endow- ments and culture of character, but his shining virtue was kindness for and sympathy with the poor and distressed. In 1836 he was elected to the State Senate, and was made a clerk and Master in Chancery, hold- ing jurisdiction over ten counties; this position he filled with great credit for many years. In 1840 he was chosen as one of the Presidential electors on the Harrison ticket. His death occurred April 5, 1865.

Another son, Charles, came to Newton, N. J., while a young man, and for some time was engaged as a teacher. He died at the age of twenty-one years.

Samuel Denton Morford, subject ofthis sketch, was born Sept. 20, 1790, on the old homestead, at Priner- ton, N. J. He received a liberal English and business education in his native place, and during his early manhood was for several years a elerk in a bank in New York City. On June 25, 1818, he married Elsie, a daughter of Samuel do Reimer, and granddaughter of Peter de Reimer, of New York, and some two months after his marriage came to Newton upon the solicitation of some of the leading business men of

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the place, and organized the Sussex Bank, of which he was made cashier. He continued to fill that posi- tion uninterruptedly during a period of forty-seven years, and until his sudden death, which occurred April 11, 1865. He was buried at Newton on the afternoon of the day of the assassination of President Lincoln.

Mr. Morford's long continuance in connection with the Sussex Bank made him widely known among the business men of New Jersey and of New York City. His care and vigilance over all the interests of its finances, his skillful management and good judgment in the investment of its funds, in more cases than one received the indorsement of the stockholders of the bank in other ways than by mere resolutions of ap- provał. He was known to the people of Newton and Sussex County as a safe, prudent, and successful finan- cier, a skillful banker, and an honest man. With a disposition naturally social and a temper remarkably uniform and cheerful, he was successful in making friends and happy in retaining them.

Mr. Morford was a promoter of the best interests of society, and a member of the Presbyterian congre- gation at Newton. He was in no sense of the term a politician, but kept aloof from any office of a political nature, yet, as formerly a member of the old Whig .party, and subsequently of the Republican party, he exercised the right of suffrage with unswerving fidelity to his principles. His wife possessed those womanly qualities that grace the pleasant home, and reared her children under the influences of the Presbyterian Church, of which she was a devoted member. She was born June 13, 1795, and died Sept. 1, 1851. Their children are Charles Augustus, of New York City ; Anthony Denton, of Nyack, N. Y .; Mary An- thony, wife of Peter C. Adams; William Edwin, of Los Angelos, Cal .; Robert Halstead, of Minnesota ; John Henry Livingston, eashier of the National Cur- rency Bank of New York City at the time of his death ; Theodore, cashier of the Sussex Bank-now the Sussex National Bank-since the death of his father; and Harriet Eveline.

THE MERCHANTS' NATIONAL BANK.

This bank was established March 6, 1865, and began business June 1st, with a capital of $100,000, under the following management: Robert Hamilton, Dr. Franklin Smith, Joseph Coult, Zachariah H. Price, William H. Pinkney, George Nelden, Anson P. Rosenkrans, Christopher B. Van Sickle, William W. Woodward, Jacob L. Swayze, Luther Hill, John Linn, and William Snyder.

Robert Hamilton was its first president, and offi- eiated until his death, when Jaeob L. Swayze was chosen as his successor, and is the present incumbent. He was the first cashier, and upon his promotion to the presidency he was succeeded by John C. Howell, who is still officiating in that capacity.

The first teller, William II. Faull, served as such

from May 20, 1869, until Oct. 11, 1873, when he be- came connected officially with the North Ward Na- tional Bank of Newark, N. J., and so continued until his death, Aug. 14, 1880. He was born at Newton in January, 1854, while his father, the Rev. John Faull, was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of this płace. He was but fifteen years old when he became teller, and was under twenty-six when elected cashier of the North Ward Bank,-the youngest cashier in the State of New Jersey.

William H. Faull was a faithful and efficient bank official, a polished gentleman, of the strictest morals, and of unimpeachable integrity, whose demise was sincerely mourned in Newton, Newark, and wherever he was known .* In 1873, R. J. Nelden became teller, and is still officiating.

The bank was first located in a building owned by Mr. Swayze, on High Street; two years later it removed to its present location, on Spring Street, near the Cochran House, occupying the first story of the build- ing which was erected by the bank in 1867.

Most of the original directors are either deceased or removed; four only remain in the present board, and their names are the first four of the following list of members of the board of directors, as constituted in 1881: Jacob L. Swayze, Zachariah H. Price, Chr. B. Van Sickle, William H. Pinkney, Heury W. Mer- riam, Obadiah P. Armstrong, John J. Baxter, Daniel Vliet, Joseph Andress, Jr., Jacob L. Lawrence, Johu C. Howell, Samuel HI. Hunt, and Ralph Dildine.

The capital stock of the bank is the same as when first instituted. It declared a dividend six months after it was organized, and has done the same semi- annually ever since, without a single omission. It has been well managed, is on a firm basis, and has a clean record.

JACOB L. SWAYZE.

The progenitor of the family in New Jersey was Samnel Swayze, born in Southhold, L. I., March 20, 1689, and removed to Roxbury, Morris Co., N. J., May 17, 1737, where he resided until his death, May

# Ile was a young man of the most sterling probity, and added to a high order of business talent the faculty of winning and retaining friends. By the president of the board of directors of the North Ward National Bank, with whom he came in constant and close intercourse and inti- macy, he was highly esteemed, ns well for his fidelity and business capacity as for his genial nature and courteous domennor. He died at the residence of his father-in-law, Allen Ridgeway, in Middletown, N. Y., of consumption. Ile had been granted a furlough by tho directors of the Unuk, believing that a month's absence from his labors, with recreation in the open air, would restore his health; and it was not until a few weeks before his death that his father abandoned hope of his recovery, and se notified the bank officials. His remmins were removed to the residence of his father, nt New Springville, Staten Island, and were buried at that place on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 1880. A highly complimentary notice was published in the Newark Daily Advertiser at the time of his douth, and we are informed by an officer of the Merchants' National Bank of Newton that the character given to Mr. Fnull is not too highly drawn, but that much that is truthful might be added thereto. Mr. Faull was such a raro specimen of an honest man in charge of other people's money, In these days of moral as well as financial delinquency, that we feel we can do a public service by calling attention to the fact, and give it us wido u circulation as lies within our domain.

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11, 1759. His father was of Welsh birth, and with his family emigrated from Wales and settled on Long Island about the year 1660.

The wife of Samuel Swayze was Penelope, who was born in Southhold, L. I., Feb. 14, 1690, and died at Roxbury, Dec. 1, 17-16.

The children of Samuel and Penelope Swayze were Penelope, born July 31, 1710; Samuel, Jr., born July 4, 1712; Barnabas, born Jan. 12, 1715; Richard, born May 20, 1717 ; Israel, born Oct. 16, 1720; Caleb, born March 22, 1722; Johannah, born June 23, 1725; Mehitable, born July 27, 1728; Lydia, born March 4, 1731; Mary, born April 3, 1733. Mary, youngest daughter of Samuel, married John Seward, a captain in the Revolutionary war. Capt. John Seward was father of Dr. Samuel S. Seward, whose son was HIon. William II. Seward, Senator and Governor of New York, United States Senator and Secretary of State.

Barnabas, son of Samuel Swayze, Sr., removed from Roxbury or Chester to Hope township, Warren Co., N. J., in 1743, where he purchased some 800 acres of lund, a part of it lying on the present road leading from the village of Hope to Belvidere, and a part of it in the direction from Hope to Delaware Station. The purchase of Barnabas proved to be larger than he could handle and pay for, so his father said to the brother Israel, "You must go up there and take a part of it, and I will come up and divide it between you," which was accordingly done in about the year 1745. Nearly the whole of this land was then covered with timber.

From these two brothers-Barnabas and Israel- sprang the numerous family which since then has branched out over the United States in different directions from that locality.

Israel had four sons,-Joshua, Caleb, Jacob, and James,-born in the following order : Joshua, died at sixty-five years of age; Caleb, at fifty-nine; Jacob, at thirty-nine,-all in the neighborhood of Hope; and James, in Ohio, at eighty.

Caleb Swayze, one of the sons, had five sons and two daughters. One daughter died in infancy, the other at the age of nine years. Henry D. died Nov. 26, 1819, aged twenty years; Israel survives at the age of seventy-seven; James K. died May 15, 1878; Jacob died in 1838; and Caleb survives, aged sixty-six.

Israel Swayze, son of Caleb, and father of our sub- jeet, was born at Hope, Feb. 22, 1803, and married Mary Ann, daughter of John Lowrence, of the same place. She was born in 1801, and died in 1873.

Their children who grew to manhood and woman- hood are Jacob L .; Lydia, wife of Jacob R. Freese, of Hope; Alpheus, a farmer and merchant of Hope; Camilla S., wife of Prof. Ellis A. Apgar, State super- intendent of public schools; and Minnie C.

Israel Swayze has led a quiet life as a farmer, and has always been interested in all worthy local enter- prises of his township. As a member of the old Whig party he was active in placing others whom he thought

fit in positions of trust and responsibility, but was never solicitous of any place for himself. Since the organization of the Republican party he has been a firm supporter of its principles.

For many years he was a member of the Christian Church at Hope, and a promoter of religious interests and charitable institutions. Since 1870 his residence has been at Trenton, with his daughter, Mrs. Apgar.

Jacob L. Swayze, son of Israel and Mary Swayze, was born March 3, 1824, in the village of Hope, Warren Co. He received his early education in the schools of his native place. At the age of fourteen years he became a clerk in the store of his uncles, James K. and Caleb Swayze, at Hope. Here his natural business ability began to develop, and he soon became conversant with all the details of a general trade. Ile remained as clerk in this store until June 13, 1842, when he became a partner in the concern with his uncle Caleb, under the firm-name of C. & J. L. Swayze. This business relation continued until Jan. 4, 1845, when Mr. Swayze bought his uncle's in- terest, and carried on the store until April, 1847.

He relinquished business at Hope at this time, and from May 18, 1848, until April 15, 1854, carried on a general mercantile business at Stanhope, in Sussex County.

In May, 1854, he went to Trenton, N. J., and com- meneed the study of law under Hon. Martin Ryerson, who was subsequently a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

After one year Mr. Ryerson removed to Newton, N. J., and Mr. Swayze then entered the law-office of Hon. Mercer Beasley, now chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State, where he remained for three years, and was admitted as an attorney at the June term in 1858. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Trenton, which, however, on account of ill health, he continued but a short time.

In the autumn of 1858 he came to Newton, where he, in the spring of 1859, again entered into mercan- tile business, which he carried on until 1865. He was foremost in the organization of the Merchants' Na- tional Bank at Newton, is its largest stockholder, and was elected cashier, March 6, 1865, at the first meet- ing of its directors. Upon the decease of Col. Robert Ilamilton, its first president, Mr. Swayze was elected his successor, and retains that position in 1880.

In politics Mr. Swayze formerly held to the princi- ples of the old Jackson school, and never differed with the platform of the Democratic party, except on the question of slavery. He became a member of the Republican party upon its organization, and until 1872 unswervingly advocated its measures of reform. Since that time he has taken an independent stand on political questions, and east his vote and influence for what he conceived to be just and correct principles, irrespective of the men or party representing them.

Believing fully in a protective tariff for all Ameri- can industries, and protection to American labor, he

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ardently supported the election of James A. Garfield for the Presidency in 1880. He was a member of the Constitutional Commission that proposed amendments to the Constitution in 1873, and introduced a number of measures of reform, several of which were adopted in whole or in a modified form, and are now incorpo- rated into the Constitution of the State.

He labored earnestly, industriously, and zealonsly in favor of every reform measure that was introduced. He favored an eleetive judiciary, the abolition of the Court of Chancery, the abolition of capital punish- ment, woman suffrage, the equal taxation of all kinds of property and no exemptions (even for churches and institutions of learning), the election of State officers by the people, measures to prevent bribery at elections, and several other reforms; and he opposed a change of representation in the Senate and the creation of any new offices.

Mr. Swayze married, Sept. 10, 1860, Joanna, a daughter of Jonathan Hill, of Green township, Sus- sex County. Her mother was Joanna Price, an aunt of ex-Governor Rodman M. Price.

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 68

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