USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of Trenton, New Jersey : the record of its early settlement and corporate progress. > Part 55
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Newark, New Jersey, where he filled the dual position of instructor in the New Jersey Business College and executive of the commercial department of the Newark High School. In 1880 he became a joint proprietor of the college in which he had been instructor, but at the end of two years disposed of his interest and accepted a responsible position offered him by the Bradstreet Company, of New York. Mr. Drake's residence in Jersey City dates from 1883, in which year he purchased the Brown Business College, to which, in 1885, he added that of Gaskell's Business College, also secured by purchase, merging the two under the firm name of the Drake Business College, now justly recognized as among the foremost institutions of its kind in this country. Mr. Drake was elected to the New Jersey House of Assembly in 1894 by a large plurality. His total vote (Republican) was 25,184. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Incidental Expenses and a member of the Committee on Education. It was during his incumbency that the State Water Board bill first secured a vote of the House. Most of the bills relating to Jersey City came under his supervision and were in his charge. Mr. Drake is President of the Board of Trustees of the Y. M. C. A. and a member of the State Committee. He was one of the organizers of the Board of Trade, and has continuously served upon its committees.
WILLIAM HENRY LETTS was born in Hoboken, Hudson county, New Jersey, November 13th, 1852. He was educated at the public schools, and upon the completion of his studies embarked in the ice business, his present occupation. For many years he was a prominent and enthusiastic member of the Volunteer Fire Department, serving two years as Assistant Foreman and three successive years as Foreman of Excelsior Engine Company, No. 2. In 1882 he was nominated for Freeholder on the Republican ticket. The old Ninth dis- trict was a Democratic stronghold, but so great was his popu- larity that he was elected by a handsome majority. While in office he fully justified the opinion held by his constituents and displayed a high order of ability in conducting the affairs of the county. For five years he was annually re-elected to the Board of Freeholders and sustained his reputation for scrupulous in- tegrity during the entire period. In 1887 Mr. Letts represented the Ninth Assembly district in the House of Assembly where he showed the same careful and conscientious attention to his duties. In the follow- ing year he was returned to the Legislature by a hand- WILLIAM H. LETTS. some plurality. In 1892 he was appointed Fire Commissioner. Mr. Letts is a Mason and still resides in Hoboken, where he is universally respected.
JOHN F. MADDEN was born in Troy, New York, October 24th, 1852. His parents removed to Jersey City in 1854, and he has since made that city his home. Completing his educa- tion in the public and parochial schools, he entered the employ of Jewell, Harrison & Co., grain and commission merchants, of New York, and remained in their employ a number of ycars, leaving them to engage in the express business of Thomas Gross on the Cunard piers in Jersey City. His business ventures have JOHN F. MADDEN. been uniformly successful. In 1880 he bought the Park House at Grove street and Pavonia avenue, and in 1885 he bought the store at the corner of Coles and Eighth streets. At both places he still carries on business. His political career evidenced the wisdom of his constituents in nominating him for office. He was a member of the Assembly for 1891, when he served as Chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills, and in that year was appointed member of the Jersey City Street and Water Commission, serving three years, the last two of which he was President of the Board. The ability he has shown while in office, and the manner in which he looked after the interest of his constituents, were recognized by the national leaders as characteristic of the man.
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JOHN WAHL QUEEN was born in Mount Pleasant, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, February 20th,'1862. He received all the advantages of a finished education, graduating from the State Model School at Trenton in 1883, and from Princeton College in 1887. The following two years he remained at Princeton studying and teaching, and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He began the study of law in the New York Law School and in the office of Collins & Cor- bin, of Jersey City, and was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in November, 1893. He was elected to the New Jersey Legislature and served as member of the House of Assem- bly during the session of 1896. He was a member of the Com- mittee on Judiciary and Militia, and the leader of the Demo- cratic minority. He was the introducer of the bill known as the "Equal Taxation bill," and the masterly manner in which he handled that vexatious problem, not only led to the appoint- ment, by Governor Griggs, of a commission to investigate the taxation of railroad prop- erty, but raised him to the front rank as one of his party's leaders in the State. JOHN WAHL QUEEN. On January 1st, 1897, Mr. Queen formed a copartner- ship with Mr. George G. Tennant, of Jersey City. The firm is styled Queen & Tennant, and has offices in Jersey City.
PIERCE J. FLEMING was born in Jersey City, December 2d, 1863, and was educated at the public schools of that city. By profession he is an accountant. He was formerly em- ployed by the Wells, Fargo & Company's Express, but now holds the position of index clerk in the Hudson County Court House. In 1893 he was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen from the Second District, Jersey City, but resigned the year following, upon PIERCE J. FLEMING. receiving the Democratic nomination for the New Jersey Assembly. He was elected to that office by a total vote of 25,302, and served on the Committees on Elections, Railroads and Canals and Commerce and Naviga- tion. He was re-elected to the 1896 Assembly by a plurality of 4,406, and served on the Committees on Elections, Game and Fisheries and Ways and Means. Mr. Fleming is a member of several social and political clubs, and is the standard-bearer of the association which bears his name.
RUDOLPH F. RABE was born in Germany in the year 1841. He came to America when but fifteen years of age, but had re- ceived, in his native country, a thorough classical education which fitted him for the positions in life he has since so ably filled. He began the study of law in the office of Connable & RUDOLPH F. RABE. Elliot in 1862, and, graduating from Columbia Law School of New York, in 1869, was admitted to the bar of New York, at which he still practices. His firm, Rabe & Keller, No. 243 Broadway, New York City, has a very large practice in the courts of that city and embraces all the branches of the profession. Mr. Rabe has long been a resident of Hoboken, New Jersey, where he has extensive business and private interests. He was, at one time, one of the proprietors of the " Hudson County Journal," published in Hoboken, and is now President of the Second National Bank of that city. He was for many years a prime factor in the Democratic politics of Hudson county. Upon his return from a visit to
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his native country in 1873, he was elected to the New Jersey Assembly, in which he served four successive terms. In the organization of the Assenibly in 1877, he was elected Speaker of the House after an exciting struggle of two days. There was a party tie, thirty Democrats and thirty Repub- licans, but he received a number of Republican votes in addition to the unanimous vote of his party. The impartiality of his rulings elicited the expressed approbation of the entire House at the close of the session. During his career in the House of Assembly he served on all the important committees, and was Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary and the Committee on Commerce and Navigation. He was elected State Senator by a handsome majority, and served the full term, 1878 and 1880. While in the Senate he served as Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, and as a member of the Committees on Revision of Laws, Elections, Municipal Corpora- tions, and on the Joint Committees on Federal Relations and the Sinking Fund.
CARL H. RUEMPLER was born in Grossen Gottern, Ger- many, on March 12th, 1848. He emigrated to America on September 6th, and has made his home in Jersey City since 1873. By occupation he was a carpenter, but has for many years been the proprietor of the Court House Hotel, Jersey City. Mr. Ruempler always took an active interest in the Democratic politics of his adopted city, and his place was made the headquarters of the most prominent officials of that city. At the same time he never permitted himself to run for office, but was finally persuaded to do so in the fall of 1895, when he was the Democratic candidate for Assembly. He was elected by a plurality of 4,475 votes over the highest candidate on the Republican ticket, receiving the second highest vote on the Democratic ticket, and served on the Committees CARL H. RUEMPLER. on Claims and Revolutionary Pensions and Incidental Expenses. In the following year he was again a candidate for Assembly, and, while defeated, received the highest vote cast by any Demo- cratic candidate.
GEORGE W. DECKER was born at Pompton, Passaic county, New Jersey, May 12th, 1855, and was there educated at the public schools. He began his business career at the age of twelve years, as a steel worker in the shops of James Horner & Co., at the old steel works formerly operated by Peter M. Ryerson. He worked his way through the several departments of that branch of trade, and when sixteen years old entered the machine shop and became proficient in the trade of machinist and roll-turner. From his boyhood till the present day he has been deeply interested in politics. At the early age of twenty-two he was elected Treasurer of Wayne township and held that important office for three years. Shortly after his term of office had expired he removed to Newark, New Jersey, and worked at his trade in the employ of Benjamin Atha & Co. There he remained two years, leaving to accept a position with the well- known Jersey City firm of Spaulding, Jennings & Co., at the West Bergen Steel Works. At the end of three years he was promoted to the position of master mechanic, and since 1895 has held the responsible position of superintendent of that large GEORGE W. DECKER. establishment. At the charter election (in April, 1896) he was elected Alderman from the Eighth ward, Jersey City. Mr. Decker is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Jr. O. U. A. M., of which he is Past Coun- cilor, and a member of the Amalgamated Association of Steel and Iron Workers.
G
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JOHN HOPPER was born on the homestead farm of his father, in the Township of Lodi, Bergen county, New Jersey, March 2d, 1814. He is a son of John J. and Maria (Terhune) Hopper, and a descendant of a family who were among the oldest settlers in New Jersey. His father, who died in 1833, was a successful and enterprising farmer during his lifetime. His farm, comprising about three hundred acres, extended from Pollifly to Saddle River, and was occupied by his son, Jacob, until his death in 1889. John Hopper, the sixth of nine children, was brought up on the home- stead farm, and received an early education at the old Washington Academy, Hackensack, and at the Lafayette Academy of the same place. He was prepared for college under the Rev. John Croes, who conducted a classical school in Paterson, and by Thomas McGahagan at the Old Academy at Bergen Town, now Hudson City. He entered the Sophomore Class of Rutgers College, New Bruns- wick, New Jersey, in 1830, and three years later graduated from that institution, dividing the second honor of his class with Robert H. Pruyn, of Albany, subsequently Minister to Japan. Since 1851, and up to the time of his death in 1897, he was one of the Trustees of Rutgers.
JOHN HOPPER.
After his graduation he entered upon the study of law in the office of Gover- nor Peter D. Vroom, in Somerville, New Jersey, and remained there two years. He completed the study of law in the office of Elias B. D. Ogden in Pater- son, and on September 8th, 1836, was licensed by the Supreme Court, at Tren- ton, as an attorney-at-law and solici- tor in Chancery. On February 27th, 1840, he was licensed a counselor-at- law. He had already (November 10th, 1836) formed a partnership with his preceptor at Paterson, and the firm of Ogden & Hopper did a successful business until the senior member was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court. Mr. Hopper continued the busi- ness, and in 1869 took his son, Robert L., into partnership.
Ile was called repeatedly to fill public positions, and discharged the duties of office with uniformi fidelity and success. He was town counsel of Paterson from 1843 to 1847; surrogate of Passaic county for two consecutive terms, 1845 to 1855; counsel to the Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1855 to 1864, and prosecutor of the pleas of Passaic county from 1863 to 1868, and again
from 1871 to 1874. He served as State Senator from Passaic county from 1868 to 1871, and again from 1874 to 1877. In March, 1877, Governor Bedle appointed him Judge of the District Court of Paterson, and he continued in that office until January Sth, 1887, when he resigned and was ap- pointed by Governor Abbett to the office of President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Court and Quarter Sessions of Passaic County for the unexpired term of Absalom B. Woodruff, deceased. He was reappointed to this office by Governor Green on March 15th, 1887, and again appointed on April 1st, 1887, for the full term of five years. On April 1st, 1892, he was reappointed by Governor Abbett. He was appointed one of the Advisory Masters in Chancery, in 1879, by Chan- cellor Runyon, and has held a number of other positions incidental to his profession.
Judge Hopper was married on June 16th, 1840, to Mary A., daughter of the late Robert Imlay,
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a former merchant of Philadelphia. Fifty years afterwards he celebrated his golden wedding in the same house in which he had been married, and which has been his residence for half a century. The occasion was one which brought together a large number of the most prominent men of the State.
During the entire time that Judge Hopper was engaged in the practice of his profession he was recognized as a lawyer of ability, not only well read but possessed of those mental faculties that con- duce to the attainment of success.
JUDSON C. FRANCOIS was born in the city of Brussels, Belgium, in 1850. He came to this country with his parents when but five years of age, and has been a resident of Hudson county ever since. He received his education in the public schools of Hoboken, and very early in life began to take an interest in local politics. In the Tenth Assembly District he has long been recognized as a potent factor, where his best efforts have been devoted to furthering the welfare of that section of Hudson county. He was Treasurer of the Board of Fire Trustees of West Hoboken for three years, and a member of the Hudson County Democratic Committee for six years. For the past eighteen years he has been a constable. In 1889 the Tenth Legislative District comprised the townships of Wee- hawken, North Bergen, Union and the towns of West Hoboken, Guttenberg and Union, with a population of nearly 26,000. JUDSON C. FRANCOIS. The Assemblyman-elect, Edwin F. Short, for that year, died in December following his election, and Mr. Francois was chosen to fill the vacancy thus made, receiving 1,017 votes. He served on the Committees on Ways and Means, Engrossed Bills and Miscellaneous Business, and on Joint Committee on State Prison. Mr. Francois is still a resident of West Hoboken and a public-spirited citizen.
BLOOMFIELD HOLMES MINCH was born in Bridge- ton, Cumberland county, New Jersey, October 10th, 1864. He was educated at the South Jersey Institute, from which he graduated in 1883, and then took the business course prescribed at Bryant & Stratton's Col- lege. He began his business career, in the year follow- ing, of general merchant and contractor, at which he is still engaged in his native town. He has been actively engaged in political work ever since he became of age, but held no office until he was first elected to the Assembly of New Jersey in November, 1894. He received a plurality of 2,554 votes over Vanmeter, the highest candidate on the Democratic ticket. In 1895 he again contested the seat, and was re-elected by a plurality of 1,926 votes. In 1896 he again carried the county for the Assembly, receiving a plurality of 2,589 votes over Iredell. During his membership of the House of Assembly he served on the Committees on BLOOMFIELD H. MINCH. Banks and Insurance, Stationery, Commerce and Navi- gation, Printing and State Prison, and was Chairman of the Committees on State Hospitals and Municipal Corporations. Mr. Minch was one of the youngest members of the Assembly, but proved himself one of the ablest representatives ever sent to the House by his county.
RICHARD MORRELL.
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RICHARD MORRELL, the President of that most progressive, enterprising and prosperous mer- cantile house, Campbell, Morrell & Co. (incorporated), was born in Jersey City, January 27th, 1859. His father, Richard Morrell, was the senior member of the old and well-known firm of Morrell & Post, lumber dealers, of Passaic, and the founder of the large wholesale lumber business of Morrell & Vanderbeck, at Jersey City. Young Morrell attended the Mount Pleasant Military Academy, at Sing Sing, N. Y., and afterwards finished his education at a classical institution kept by Dr. Charles Spencer, at Passaic. At his own request, he began his business career in a banking house in Wall street, New York, where he remained until 1880. He, very early in life, gave evidence of the posses- sion of that business acumen now so pronounced and which has enabled him to reach a commercial height rarely attained by one of his years. . Upon leaving Wall street he formed a copartnership with David Campbell, Jr., former City Collector of Passaic, and thus laid the foundation of his present company, dealers in coal, construction supplies and grain. In a few years Mr. Morrell pur- chased Mr. Campbell's interest, and under his able and intelligent management the corporation, of which he is the President, controls the coal trade of Passaic and vicinity and supplies all the great mills and industries of Passaic and most of those in the other towns for miles around. The corpora- tion has grown until the city of Passaic is far too circumscribed for its activities. Its supremacy in the coal trade is not more firmly established than in the sale of mason materials. The company furnishes some of the largest contractors in the State. The company's plant includes a grain elevator in Dundee (at which place they do a wholesale grain business), unsurpassed coal-handling facilities, which includes switches and immense coal-pockets at the same location ; also, splendid dock privileges on the Passaic river, securing for them the lowest "water " freight rates, all of which not only enables them to lead competitors but bear ample testimony to the foresight and judgment of Mr. Morrell. Though Passaic is not the largest suburban city on the Erie, Campbell, Morrell & Co. is the largest and most active business concern on that railroad. Doubtless, in a wider field, Mr. Morrell would have shown still greater results, as his earnest spirit and good sense would make him an invaluable worker in connection with any enterprise of immense magnitude. Mr. Morrell is a mem- ber of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the People's Bank and Trust Company ; a Director of the Passaic Lighting Company, which controls the gas and electric light business of the city ; Treasurer of the Passaic and Newark Electric Traction Company ; a Director of the Passaic and New York Railroad Company ; a Director in an extensive lumber and woodworking company ; a Director in a dozen real estate corporations with large interests in Passaic and vicinity, and a member of several of the New York city exchanges. Mr. Morrell also takes a lively interest in charitable and public affairs, and is in all respects a live factor in the public life of the com- munity in which his lot is cast. In 1882, when only twenty-two, the citizens of the Second ward, dissatisfied with the nominees of the two old parties for the office of School Commissioner, induced Mr. Morrell to run as an independent candidate and elected him by a substantial majority. At the expiration of his term he was unanimously re-elected, having received the Republican nomination and the indorsement of the Democratic party. He served the full term of three years, and while a member acted as Secretary of the Board, and has the honor of being the youngest man ever elected to the Passaic Board of Education. Since then he has rendered conspicuous service in the position of Police Magistrate, which, as he himself says, he accepted at the earnest solicitation of Mayor Charles M. Howe, not for any honors attached to the position, but in order to study human nature. At the time of his appointment he was the youngest Police Justice in the State. He made a model magistrate, as he has the qualifications that made him a merciful judge, free from all vindictiveness, but fearless in the suppression of vice and just in the punishment of crime. Mr. Morrell was one of the organizers of the first company of the State Militia organized in Passaic, served the full term and retired holding a First Lieutenant's commission. He is one of the Governors of the Passaic Hospital Association, and also greatly interested in several other charitable organizations. On July 29th, 1885, Mr. Morrell married Josephine A. Willett, daughter of Ex-Mayor Willett, the President of the Passaic National Bank. Of this union two children were born, one a girl, Louise W., and a boy, R. Willett, the latter being now about two years of age.
GARRET A. HOBART.
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GARRET A. HOBART was born on the 3d of June, 1844, at Long Branch, Monmouth county, New Jersey. He graduated from Rutgers College and read law with the late Socrates Tuttle, in Paterson. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in June, 1869, and as a coun- selor in June, 1871. He served as City Counsel in Paterson in 1871. He was elected a member of the Assembly from the Third District of Passaic county in 1872, and re- elected in 1873, and was chosen Speaker of that body in 1874. In 1876 he was elected State Senator by a majority of 1,890, and three years later was re-elected to the Senate by a majority of 1,899. During his six years' ser- vice in the Senate he was twice its President and was a member of the more important committees, being Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1879 and 1880. In 1883 he received the nomination of United States Senator, and since 1884 has been a member of the National Republican Committee. In all these positions he served with conspicuous ability and great credit. In 1896 he was nomi- nated and triumphantly elected Vice President of the United States, and, with President-elect William McKinley, was sworn into office at Washington, March 4th, 1897. In 1896 he also received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Rutgers College, of which he is a trustee.
THOMAS MCEWAN, JR., was born at Pater- son, New Jersey, February 26th, 1854. He is a lawyer by profession, with office in Jersey City, but was formerly a civil engineer. He began the study of law in the office of Charles Strong, and attended the Columbia Law School of New York City. He was admitted to the bar of New York in 1881, and in 1889 was admitted to the New Jersey bar, and is a Master in Chancery. He was United States Commissioner and Chief Super- visor of Elections for the District of New Jersey from August, 1892, to October, 1893. He was a delegate from Hudson county to the Republican National Convention of 1892, and in 1896 was also a delegate to the Convention held at St. Louis. For fifteen years, ending January, 1893, he was Secretary of the Hudson County Republi- can Committee, and during that period was also a delegate to every State convention, and a dele- gate and Secretary to every Hudson county convention of his party. He has long been a THOMAS MCEWAN, JR. member and Secretary of the Union League Club, of Jersey City. He was a member of the State Legislature in 1894 and leader of the majority in the House. He was a member of Congress, for the term from 1895 to 1897, from the Seventh New Jersey District, and re-elected for the term from 1897 to 1899.
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