USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
Colonel Edward Thomas was born in 1736, and married Mary Terrill, the daughter of Captain Ephraim Terrill, of Wheatsheaf. The father of Mrs. Thomas was a man of considerable local importance, as the captain of the Essex County Troops of Light Horse. He appears as such in all the local celebrations of this period. He commanded one of the whale boats at the capture of the " Blue Mountain Valley," and was
311
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
also an active patriot during the whole of the Revolutionary war. The grandfather also of Mrs. Thomas bore the name of Ephraim Terrill, and her grandmother was Mary Hampton, the daughter of the Andrew Hampton who built the old parsonage of St. John's church, and who is said (by a carefully preserved family tradition) to have eloped from Scotland with a "Lady Margaret" Cumins or Comyns. Ephraim Terrill, the elder, was a son of Thomas Terrill (or Tyrell) and Margaret Dayton, and came to Elizabeth Town from Southhold, Long Island.
This ancient house was built before the Revolution by Col. Edward Thomas are eminent patriot and was for many years the residence fluvifamily. W.k.
The mother of Mrs. Edward Thomas was Phebe Winans, daughter of Dr. William Winans, afterwards surgeon of the regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas in' the Revolution. He was conspicuous for his devotion to the patriot cause, on one occasion giving his entire stock of medicines to relieve the sufferings of the troops under his charge. His wife was the daughter of Dr. William Robinson, a large land-owner near Rahway, who is described in deeds of that period as "Esquire," a distinction then of social importance.
Colonel Edward Thomas took a prominent part in the local history of Elizabeth Town. He is named in the charter of the borough. He
312
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
gave the land for the Northend school house. He owned the ferry to New York. The first meeting of the Library Association was held at his mother's house. He was a member of the "committee of observa- tion," was one of the commanders of the attack and capture of the "Blue Mountain Valley," saw active service with Heard's Flying Battalion on Long Island, was captured at his home on Elizabeth avenne (the old house now standing and occupied by family of Dr. Stearns) and was carried prisoner to Staten Island. His death, in 1796, was in part caused by privations endured as a prisoner of war. Colonel Thomas was a vestryman and warden of St. John's church (as was also his father-in-law, Captain Terrill) and represented the church at most of the earlier conventions of the diocese.
The children of Colonel Edward Thomas and Mary Terrill were: (1) William; (2) Edmund Drisley, an officer in the Continental line and an original member of the Order of the Cincinnati; (3) George Drummond; (4) Phobe, the wife of Captain John Reucastle, the steward of Princeton College under John Witherspoon, his old pastor, and afterwards a captain in the Continental line and an original member of the Cincinnati; (5) Robinson; (6) Margaret Winans, wife of Captain Job Haines, of the Continental line; (7) Sarah, wife of Beza Bliss, Esq., of New York city; (8) Henry Garretsen; and (9) George Cummins Thomas, the ancestor of all of the naine now residing in the vicinity.
George Cummins Thomas inarried Anna Reid Provoost, a lineal descendant of the David Provoost who came to New Amsterdam, in 1638, and was the founder of a family for many years prominent in New York society. Among thie connections of Mrs. Thomas on her father's side were James Alexander, the father of the so called Earl Sterling, Governor Burnet and Bishop Provoost. Among her ancestors of this family were the celebrated Lieutenant-Governor Jacob Leisler and his wife, Elsie, who was the neice of Annetje Jans, and step- daughter of Govert Loockermanns, one of the "nine men " of early colonial history.
The mother of Mrs. Thomas was Anna Bowne, of the well known Bowne family of Monmouth county, New Jersey. John Bowne and William Bowne, his father, were the original patentees of the Navesink patent, in 1695, coming to New Jersey from Gravesend, Long Island. Of this family was Captain John Bowne, the first speaker of an elected legislative body in New Jersey, and Andrew Bowne, the last of the proprietary governors ; and among Mrs. Thomas' ancestors were John Reid, the first surveyor-general and a member of the proprietors' coun- cil, and his son, Colonel Reid. She was also closely connected with the family of Governor Reading, and the Kearneys, Hartshornes, Cono- vers, Holmes and other prominent families of old Monmouth.
George Cummins Thomas was a distinguished and useful citizen of Elizabeth until his removal to New York, in 1833. He was an alder-
313
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
man of the borough, a vestryman and warden of St. John's church, a frequent delegate to the general conventions of the Episcopal church, and for many years represented New Jersey in the general meetings of the Order of the Cincinnati, a society to which he was always warmly attached and in which he held the office of vice-president of the New Jersey society from 1846 to 1865. After his removal to New York city, in 1833, lie was for many years a vestryman and treasurer of St. Mark's church. Both in New York and in New Jersey Mr. Thomas took a prominent part in local politics, but never became a candidate for an elective office. His elder brother, Robinson Thomas, was also a prominent churchman,-he was warden of St. John's church, a delegate to the general convention, and a member of the standing committee of the diocese. He married a neice of Daniel Webster, and moved to Kentucky, where his family still resides.
The children of George Cummins Thomas and Anna Reid Provoost were : (1) James P. Thomas, who married Eliza Carow, a daughter of Isaac Carow, Esq., of New York city : his only married child was his son, ·David Provoost, whose wife, Sarah Williamson, was a daughter of Vice- Chancellor Williamson, and whose children are Williamson Thomas and James Provoost Thomas, both of this city ; (2) Catherine, wife of Dr. Elwes, a surgeon in the United States Army, whose only daughter married Albert Smith, of New York city, and one of whose grandchildren is Mrs. Satler, of this city ; (3) Mary Ackland Thomas; (4) General George C. Thomas, of the United States Army, who resided at Georgetown, District of Columbia ; (5) Georgiana P. ; (6) Benjamin P. ; and (7) William Winans, who married Sarah E. M. Wade, a daughter of Colonel R. D. Wade, of the United States Army, and a descendant of Governor Thomas Mckean, of Pennsylvania, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence ; of Colonel and Judge Borden, of New Jersey, and of General Buchanan, of Maryland,-all of whom took prominent parts in the struggle of the Revolution.
The children of William W. Thomas and Sarah E. M. Wade are: (1) George C. Thomas, who married Mariam Clarke, of Erie, Pennsyl- vania; (2) William P. Thomas, who married Harriette C. Lyon, of Erie, Pennsylvania; and (3) Robert Mckean Thomas, of New York city.
William W. Thomas was a member of the class of 1832, Columbia College, and afterward the New York custom house, and was the assistant appraiser of the port of New York about 1840. He was the only surviving delegate to the New York convention that sent delegates to the national convention that nominated William Henry Harrison for president. In 1853 he formed the firm of William W. Thomas & Company, now in existence and the oldest custom-house brokerage firmn in New York. He retired from an active business life of nearly sixty years in January, 1890. He was a large property owner in Elizabeth and was connected for many years with its enterprises.
314
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
He was elected July 4, 1885, a member of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati, of which his father was vice-president. From the time of his election he never missed attending an annual meeting of the society, except one-the last.
He was elected a vestryman of St. John's church, April 2, 1866, and warden, April 14, 1879, becoming senior warden on the death of the late Francis B. Chetwood. His grandfather, Colonel Thomas, was warden from 1789 to his death in 1795. His father, George C. Thomas, was elected vestryman, April 15, 1811, and warden, April 19, 1813.
JAMES C. OGDEN.
James C. Ogden, for many years the leading undertaker in the city of Elizabeth, belongs to one of the oldest and most respected families in Union county. John Ogden, the ancestor of the family in New. Jersey, was one of the original patentees of Elizabeth Town, and was an influential and popular citizen. He resided at Stamford, Connecti- cut, in 1641, within a year after its settlement. In 1644 he removed to Hempstead, Long Island, of which he was one of the patentees. He was made a freeman of Southampton March 31, 1650, and was chosen by the general court at Hartford, Connecticut, one of the magistrates of the colony in 1656, 1657 and 1658. Later he became one of the original associates of Elizabeth Town, and, with his five sons, was one of the first to remove to the new purchase and erect a dwelling on the town plot.
Timothy Ogden, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a tanner by trade and operated a tan yard during Revolu- tionary times, on what is now Elizabeth avenue. His son, Moses, was a tailor. He was born February 6, 1774, and on December 6, 1797, married Rhoda Halsey. He died June 9, 1847. His son, John Ogden, was the father of James C. Ogden. John Ogden was born at the family residence, on Elizabeth avenue, September 11, 1799. In early life he became apprenticed to Colonel Elihu Brittin to learn the trade of cabinet-making, and continued to follow this occupation and that of undertaking during his life. He was an earnest and industrious man, of plain manners, and was a zealous and faithful member of the First Presbyterian church of Elizabeth.
His son, James C. Ogden, born August 10, 1831, was one of nine children, his mother being Joanna H., daughter of Aaron Ross. James C. Ogden attended the public schools of Elizabeth until sixteen years of age, at which time, owing to the necessities of life, he began work at the trade, under his father, as a journeyman, in 1847, and continued therein until 1859. From this date to the present time he has had charge of the business. Under his management the undertaking business has been considerably enlarged, the number of burials reaching
315
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
as many as four hundred in one year. In 1875 Mr. Ogden opened a large furniture store at 17 Broad street. The business at this place was successfully operated for twenty years.
Mr. Ogden represented the fourth ward in the city council from 1875 to 1879. He has been president of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian church for over sixteen years, and has served long and faithfully as one of the directors of the Elizabeth Savings Institu- tion; also as a director of the Library Hall Association, of which he is at this time vice-president. He is also vice-president of the Elizabeth Street Railroad Company, is one of the sinking-fund commissioners of
JAMES C. OGDEN
the city of Elizabeth, and has served in that capacity a number of years. He is the vice-president of the Citizens' Building Loan Associa- tion, is now serving his second term as freeholder of Union county, and is in many ways identified with the growth and prosperity of the city of Elizabeth.
Mr. Ogden was married November 26, 1856, to Miss Lydia Drake, who died August 26, 1873. His second wife, nce Sarah W. Halsey, to whom he was married January 4, 1877, died August 15, 1878. His
316
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
son, Frank Clark Ogden, is connected with him in business. On April 4, 1884, Mr. Ogden married Jennie M. Whitehead, daughter of John Whitehead, of the firm of Whitehead Brothers, New York city. By this marriage he has two children, Harold Crawford and Dorothy Marie.
ROBERT LIVINGSTON PATTERSON,
of Elizabeth, of the firmn of Lee & Patterson, general insurance agents, is a representative of one of the old and esteemed families of New Jer- sey, his paternal grandfather being Robert Livingston Patterson, the founder and first president of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, of Newark, all of whose policies, or certificates of insurance, bear at their heads the Patterson family crest.
The subject of this sketch was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, July 2, 1862. He was educated in the public and private schools of Plainfield, and in 1881 his parents moved to Elizabeth. In 1882 he went to Colorado and for three years was employed in the freight department of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, at Pueblo and Lead- ville. He then pre-empted a claim near Pueblo, Colorado, proved up upon it and securing from the government the title to the property. He returned to Elizabeth in 1888 and engaged in the real-estate and insur- ance business in Brooklyn.
Mr. Patterson is a Republican in politics, and was elected to the city council, from the twelfth ward, to fill the unexpired term of Thomas A. Doe, taking his seat April 15, 1895. He received his pred- ecessor's committee assignments, and gave the public business careful attention. In April, 1897, he was re-elected by more than double his first majority. He is a member of the police committee, and also of those on lamps, gas and water, shows and exhibitions, and printing.
Mr. Patterson is a member of the New Jersey National Guard. He served three years and a half in Company C, Fourth Battalion, Colora- do National Guard. After his return he joined the Third Regiment, New Jersey National Guard, Company C (Phil. Kearney Guard,) May 17, 1888, and was made right general guide, witlı rank of sergeant, June 4, 1891; sergeant-major, Second Battalion, July 14, 1893; battalion adjutant, with rank of first lieutenant, January 3, 1894.
JOHN J. GARDNER.
The election of John J. Gardner, of Elizabeth, at the April election of 1897, to represent the first ward in the council of that city, was an endorsement of official service well performed and a compliment to a faithful Democratic official. He was first elected to the council in 1895, and has been an active member of the committees (regular and special)
317
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
on railroads, health, police, and fire,-of which last he is chairman. He became connected with the fire department twenty-five years ago, is secretary of Truck No. 2, has been its representative for twenty-three years in the board of representatives, and has been president of that body for five years. He was one of the promoters of the plan to establish a paid fire department, and aided in defeating the trunk sewer proposition.
Mr. Gardner was born in county Down, Ireland, August 26, 1852. His widowed mother brought her family to New York in 1863, and five years later our subject entered the service of the Singer Manufacturing Company, with which concern he has ever since been connected. May 26, 1873, he was married to Margaret Collins.
JOHN D. BARR,
of Elizabeth, ex-president and ex-member of the common council of that city, was elected to that office in1 1894, and served one term. He was conspicuous in his opposition to the contract entered into by the city with the gas company, which contract the supreme court of New Jersey declared to be illegal.
Mr. Barr was born in Scotland, November 18, 1862. His father, Abram T. Barr, brought his family to the United States in 1868 and settled at Yonkers, New York. John D. is the youngest of his three children by his wife Isabella, nee Young, who is still living.
The subject of this sketch was graduated from the Yonkers public schools in 1878, and removing at once to Elizabeth, engaged with the Singer Manufacturing Company, where he is now employed as an adjuster of special machinery.
Mr. Barr never sought office, but when named by his political party as a candidate to make the race for the city council, he felt it his duty to accept. Mr. Barr is a Mason and is senior warden of his lodge. He is also an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias.
J. AUGUSTUS DIX.
Mr. Dix was born in Albany, New York, April 13, 1831. His father was Joshua Gore Dix, a descendant of Edward Dix, who came from England in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, becom- ing one of the first " proprietors." Of this same stock came Dorothea L. Dix, the philanthropist. His mother belonged to one of the best known Massachusetts families,-the Fishers, of Dedham, -and was a relative of Fisher Ames.
Mr. Dix received his early education at the noted private school of Charles H. Anthony, of Albany, and later attended the Albany Academy, where he had the benefit of such instructors as Dr. T. Romeyn
318
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Beck and Dr. Bullion, author of noted Latin and Greek grammars. At the age of sixteen Mr. Dix removed to New York, and became a student at the New York University. While there he took up the study of voice culture and oratory, and became so proficient that he soon received an appointment as teacher in those branches in a famous New
J. AUGUSTUS DIX
York school. His intention was to prepare for the law, but failing health compelled him to give up his studies. After leaving the uni- versity he entered the employment of George P. Putnam, the publisher, traveling extensively through the middle and eastern states and Canada, introducing into school libraries the works of Irving and Cooper. In
319
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
1854 he became a publisher, in partnership with Arthur T. Edwards, and with them were afterwards associated Fred. Law Olmsted and George William Curtis, the firm being known as Dix, Edwards & Company. They owned and published Putnam's Monthly and the Schoolfellow, the leading magazines of the day.
During the financial depression of 1857 Mr. Dix gave up the publishing business, and engaged in life and fire insurance, at the same time removing to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he resided until his death, October 13, 1894, with the exception of the interval between 1866 and 1874, when he was living in New York city. In 1860 he was elected a member of the city council of Elizabeth. During the same year he organized the famous Continental Hose Company, and became its first foreman. During the war Mr. Dix was active. He was one of the secretaries at the famous war meeting in Library Hall, in 1862, assisted in organizing the troops and taking them to the front, and acted for some time as paymaster of the Soldiers' Fund. In 1877 Mr. Dix made a lecturing tour of the state, giving talks in many towns on the subject of life insurance. The tour was very successful.
When, in 1879, the Elizabeth General Hospital was organized, Mr. Dix became one of the incorporators, and subsequently served as president of the board of managers, being a member of the board at the time of his death. About 1876 he assumed charge, as lay reader, of one of the missions of St. John's church, and a year later of Grace church, Linden, and conducted services at both points until a comparatively short time before his death. In 1880 he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Elizabeth, and so ably and satisfactorily filled the position that he was re-elected, year after year, for fourteen years, dying while in office. As a testimony to the efficiency of his administration, it may be stated that the schools of Elizabeth received a gold medal from the New Orleans Exposition, a gold medal from the Paris Exposition and a medal from the Columbian Exposition, at Chicago.
Mr. Dix was prominent in the Masonic Order, was Master of Washington Lodge, of Elizabeth, in 1884 and 1885; was a member of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, and the representative of the Illinois Grand Lodge in New Jersey.
Mr. Dix was a communicant of St. John's church, and represented it in the diocesan convention for many years. He was a trustee of Burlington College, a Fellow of the Geographical Society, New York, and a member of the National Educational Association.
In 1854 Mr. Dix was married to Julia F., daughter of Warren Rogers, of New York. Two children are now living, a son mentioned in the following paragraphs, and a daughter,-the latter being the wife of Eugene Jones, of Tarrytown, New York, the president of the Hecker- Jones-Jewell Milling Company, of New York.
320
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Dix was Joseph Louis, Count d' Anterroches, a French nobleman and a kinsman of Lafayette, who came to America during the Revolutionary war. The Count d' Anterroches married Mary Vanderpoel, of Bottle Hill, New Jersey, and subsequently settled in old Elizabeth Town, where he became the leader of the famous French colony living there during the latter part of the eighteenth century. During the "Whiskey Rebellion," in 1794, he was acting adjutant-general of the mounted troops from New Jersey, and some of his letters from the seat of war are in the possession of the family. Mrs. Dix is a half sister of Edward Y. Rogers, long the most prominent lawyer of Rahway.
WARREN ROGERS DIX,
son of J. Augustus and Julia F. (Rogers) Dix, was born in the city of New York, November 23, 1855. His parents removing to Elizabeth, New Jersey, in April, 1857, his early years were spent there. He attended a private school from 1862 to 1866, when the family returned to New York city, and he entered the famous Thirteenth street public school, of which Dr. Thomas Hunter was the principal. Here he attained the highest rank in his classes, and in 1870 successfully passed the examination for admission to the freshman class of the College of the City of New York, from which institution he was graduated with honor in 1874, receiving the degree of A. B., and being made a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. In 1878 lie received the degree of A. M. from the same institution.
In 1875 he entered the law office of Vanderpoel, Green & Cuming, in the city of New York, of which his friend, Robert S. Green, after- ward governor of New Jersey, was a member, and also became a student in Columbia College Law School, under the famous Professor Theodore W. Dwight. In 1877 he was gradnated with the degree of LL. B., and admitted to practice by the New York supreme court, as a counselor at law. Some time later he embarked in the practice of the law in New York city, and has so continued to the present time, but has remained a resident of Elizabeth, and in 1894 was admitted to practice in the New Jersey supreme court as counselor at law, and was also appointed master in chancery.
In 1880, when his father was made superintendent of schools of Elizabeth, Mr. Dix becaine associated with him in the work, taking a very active part until his private business required his whole time and and attention, whereupon in March, 1893, he gave up the school work. Upon his father's death, in 1894, he was prevailed upon to take the position of superintendent, but the work required more time and strength than he could spare from his other duties, and he resigned the office September 1, 1895, after a very successful administration. In 1885, Mr.
WARREN R. DIX
321
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Dix was chosen a member of the vestry of St. John's church, and has been annually re-elected since, and has, for many years, been clerk of the parish. He is also a lay reader, and as such frequently conducts the services.
Mr. Dix has been very actively engaged in the care of the extensive real-estate holdings of his brother-in-law, Mr. Eugene Jones, both at Elizabeth and Tarrytown, New York.
In February, 1883, Mr. Dix was married to Miss Elizabetlı LeRoy Clark, a daughter of Charles Augustus Clark, of Greenland, New Hampshire, a member of a family containing many clergymen of eminence,-among them the present bishop of Rhode Island, Dr. Thomas M. Clark. Mrs. Dix has been very active in charitable work in Elizabeth, being connected officially with the Home for Aged Women, the Woman's Exchange, the Needle Work Guild, the General Hospital, etc., and leads a very busy life.
Mr. Dix is the possessor of a collection of fine miniatures, which have come to him from his French ancestry, and also of many valuable autograph letters written to members of liis family, among them being letters from Lafayette, Madame Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, and from inost of the famous American authors of the last generation,-as Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, Greeley, Mrs. Stowe, etc.
GEORGE CHANNING TENNEY,
chief of police of Elizabeth, became connected with the police depart- ment of this city, as a patrol, in 1882. He was soon promoted to the office of sergeant, and in 1891 was made chief of police, being the only man ever taken from the force of that city and elevated to that position.
Mr. Tenney was born in Elizabeth in 1851, and there received his elementary education, after that attending college in New York city. In early life he entered the employ of D. Appleton & Company, of New York, and remained with this noted publishing house till he joined the police force of Elizabeth.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.