USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 34
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He has held every office in his company, and is a member of the Exempt Association. Mr. Sayre has been urged many times to allow his name to be used for other and higher offices of responsibility and trust, but has always declined, being satisfied to look after the welfare of the schools of the city, in which he takes great interest.
CHARLES KURTZ,
member of the board of education of Elizabeth, was born in that city in October, 1861, and was educated in public school No. 2. At an early age he engaged in business with his father, Frederick Kurtz, and has become one of the leading and successful dealers in Elizabeth.
Mr. Kurtz became interested in politics early in life, as a member of the Democratic party. He was elected to the board of education in 1887, and has been four times re-elected to that body. He has always been on important committees, and was either the chairman or a member of the committee that proposed each new building. There were only four buildings when he came into the board, and now there are nine, including a separate high school.
In 1895-6 Mr. Kurtz was chief engineer of the Elizabeth fire department. He was married in 1887 to Catherine H. Laux, and their children are : Charles, Jr., Kate and Sophie.
PHILIP DIEHL.
The many valuable inventions of Philip Diehl place him among the foremost inventors, and are the outcome of the careful study he has devoted to thein all his life. His patents appertaining to sewing machines and electrical appliances number more than an hundred.
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Philip Diehl, at the head of mechanical construction for the Singer Manufacturing Company, and one of the officers of the Diehl Manufacturing Company, of Elizabethport, was born at Dalsheim, Rheinhessen, Germany, January 31, 1847. His father, Dr. John Diehl, was an eminent physician, and one of his brothers is a practicing physician in the state of Illinois. Philip, however, showed early in life, a preference for mechanical pursuits, and liis education was therefore directed in that direction.
When twenty years of age Philip Diehl came to this country and, after working in various machine shops, found employment, in 1868,
PHILIP DIEHL
as machinist with the Singer Manufacturing Company, then located in Mott street, New York city. In 1870 he went to Chicago, where he worked in the Singer Company's agency in that city until 1875, when lie came to Elizabeth and took charge of the experimental work in the improvement of sewing machines, at the company's factory in that city. To any one not familiar with the many kinds of work required of sewing machines, this work might seem to be unimportant, but the fact that the company is now manufacturing (and selling in every land on the globe) nearly a million machines yearly, embracing fifty-three entirely different constructions, and three hundred and sixty varieties
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of machines, -from the ordinary machines for family use to machines of every conceivable class for manufacturing purposes, including inachines with twelve needles, running by steam or electric power at high rates of speed,-will make it apparent that a great amount of study is necessary in adapting the machines to all the requirements of trade.
As above stated, Mr. Diehl is also the inventor of many electrical appliances, -such as electric motors, dynamos, electric fans, arc lamps, etc.,-which are manufactured by the Diehl Manufacturing Company. The headquarters of this company are located at the works of the Singer Manufacturing Company, where they do an extensive business, their products being shipped to all parts of the world.
ROBERT W. WELCH,
one of the leading insurance and real-estate men of Elizabethport, New Jersey, was born at Watertown, New York. Early in life he became a resident of Malone, New York, and was educated in the Franklin Academy. Subsequently he went to New York city and became a clerk in the employ of the once famous J. A. Underwood & Son, of Wall street. In 1870 he left home again to come to this city.
Mr. Welch is connected with a number of financial and other enterpises of Elizabethport. He was one of the organizers of the Union County Building and Loan Association, and is vice-president of the latter. He is has been chairman of the committee on valuation for both associations almost since their organization.
Mr. Welch was married, in Elizabeth, to Sarah Moorehouse. Their children are: Sadie M., who is an accomplised musician, both on the piano and violin; and Robert J. M., who is a promising young athlete of this city. Both children have positive and exceptional talent as artists.
GEORGE W. MACHLET,
vice-president of the American Gas Company, Elizabeth, was born in Baden, Germany, in 1835. He attended the common schools of his native land and supplemented the instructions therein received by a special course in mechanical drawing, subsequently completing his technical education in Switzerland. He began his business career by taking charge, for a time, of his father's business in the city of Pforzheim, state of Baden, Germany.
Mr. Machlet emigrated to America in 1870. He spent three years in Newark, New Jersey, and in 1873 engaged with the Singer Manufact- uring Company, of Elizabeth, with whom he remained one year. In 1874 he began the manufacture of jewelers' tools, and not long afterward
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organized his present business, the plans of which he conceived in Germany. Mr. Machlet's business venture has been successful from the beginning, and it has been pushed vigorously and uninterruptedly to the present time. From a small beginning it has developed to its present large proportions, its growth having been continuous from the start. In
GEORGE W. MACHLET
1887 it was incorporated under its present title, with E. P. Reichhelm, president ; George W. Machlet, vice-president; Robert Vom Cleff, treasurer ; and T. Dieffenbach, secretary.
The company give employment to thirty-six hands, and their goods find a market in all parts of the world. Their factory occupies a frontage of one hundred and forty feet on Spring street, one hundred feet on
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Lafayette street, and eighty-six feet on Elizabeth street, with spacious grounds around.
Mr. Machlet was married in Germany, and is the father of three sons, who are now associated with him in business,-George F., Adolph W., and Frederick W. They were all born in Germany, and, inheriting their father's sterling qualities, are constituents of one of the most reputable organizations in the state of New Jersey. In politics they are all Democrats, and in church and kindred interests they all contribute liberally of their wealth.
PAUL N. NOLL,
councilman from the seventh ward of Elizabeth, was first elected to that body in April, 1895, and was re-elected in April, 1897. He is a member of the poor and alms, fire, and printing committees, of which last named he is chairman. He is elected as a Democrat, and is one of the young members of that body.
Mr. Noll was born in New York city, March 7, 1862, is a son of Paul N. Noll, a German, and some fifteen years ago he entered the employ of the Singer Manufacturing Company, and is a machinist in that establishment. He was marred in 1889 to Catherine Saffrich, and has three children.
Mr. Noll is one of the directors of the Excelsior Building and Loan Association. He has been for twelve years a member of Washington Engine Company, No. 3, of which he has been secretary and treasurer. He belongs to Friendship A. B. Council, and to Washington Court of the Foresters, and has served one term as school cominissioner. He signed the committee's report for a paid fire department, and is one of the active supporters of that movement.
PETER GREEN FLEMING,
owner of the machine works of P. G. Fleming & Company, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, has an interesting ancestral history. He is descended from a Mr. Fleming of the north of Ireland. His earliest named ancestor, Malcolm Fleming, died in county Tyrone, Ireland, in the year 1736. His three sons, Thomas, William and Andrew, came to America in 1750. Williamn had one son who served in the Revolutionary war, and died in 1785. He is buried at Bethlehem Presbyterian church, near Clinton, New Jersey. William Fleming (2), eldest son of Andrew (2), was born May 31, 1833. His third son, Andrew (3), was born October 23, 1805, and died at Redington, New Jersey, March 1, 1886. George Fleming, second son of Andrew (3), was born at Milltown, New Jersey, February 12, 1845. His wife, Esther Ann Green, daughter of Peter Green, was born at Sergeantsville, New Jersey, November 16, 1850.
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They were married at Mechanicsville, New Jersey, December 24, 1868, and their eldest son, Peter Green Fleming, was born January 6, 1870.
Mr. Fleming was educated in the public schools, under the super- vision of his father, who is now principal of public schools of Junction,
PETER G. FLEMING
New Jersey. After leaving school, at the age of seventeen years, he was apprenticed to Kenyon Brothers, of Raritan, New Jersey, for four years, to learn the trade of machinist, afterwards serving two years as journey- man machinist in different shops.
In March, 1893, he came to Elizabeth, New Jersey, and opened a machine shop of his own, employing but one man to assist him. At
22
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this time, less than four years since the time he began, he employs from fifteen to twenty-five men. Such increase shows unusual energy and application to business.
Mr. Fleming's wife, Miss Ida May Barber, daughter of Rev. Alfred Barber, of Raritan, New Jersey, was born at Blackstone, Massachusetts, May 7, 1873. They were married at Raritan, New Jersey, June 21, 1892, and have two children, Myrtle D., born October 2, 1893, and Alfred Barber, born December 24, 1895.
WILLIAM H. RANKIN,
whose identification with the industrial interests of Elizabeth covers a quarter of a century, has been a most important factor in the substantial growth of the city. Prosperity depends upon business activity, and by the management of extensive manufacturing concerns Mr. Rankin has not only promoted his individual success, but has also largely advanced the welfare of the entire community.
Mr. Rankin was born December 27, 1843, acquired a common- school education, and in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, learned the carpenter's trade, but when the country became involved in civil war he put aside all business cares and personal consideration in order to stand as a defender of the Union. He enlisted in the three-months service and subsequently raised a company and was made captain of the organ- ization, which became Company I, One Hundred and Fourth Pennsyl- vania Infantry. On inany a southern battlefield he loyally defended the starry banner and the cause it represented, and when the war was over received an honorable discharge.
Returning to his old home, Captain Rankin resumed carpentering, which he successfully followed until 1868. In that year he began exper- imenting in the manufacture of roofing materials, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and, achieving success in that undertaking, he removed his plant to Elizabeth in 1873, and established an office at No. 91 Maiden Lane, New York city, from which point the business of the company is transacted, while the manufacturing is carried on in New Jersey. The trade has steadily increased and has now assumed extensive proportions, seventy men being now employed in the establishment, in the manufact- ure of roofing materials, rosin size, Rankin's patent painted felt for sheathing, roofing pitch, liquid roof-paints, etc.
Mr. Rankin is a man of broad capability, and his efforts have been by no means confined to one line of interests. He is president and treasurer of the Empire Target Company, also president and treasurer of the Elizabeth Telephone Company and director in the First National Bank of Elizabeth. He possesses superior executive ability, keen foresight and untiring enterprise, and, with a strong intellect to devise
WILLIAM H. RANKIN
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plans and a will to carry them forward to completion, along the lines of honorable business dealing he has achieved a splendid success.
In 1871 Mr. Rankin was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Bradin, and their pleasant home has been shared by their nephew, Robert L. Bradin, who has lived with them since four months old and who is now a clerk in the First National Bank. Mr. Rankin is a supporter of the Presbyterian church and kindred interests, and is one of the managers of the Elizabeth General Hospital. His charity and benevolence are broad but unostentatious; and his support is withheld from no movement which is calculated to advance the best interests of Elizabeth. In the Masonic fraternity he has arisen to the degree of Knight Templar. He takes a lively interest in sports afield and is a devoted follower of Izaak Walton. Thus, in his divided interests, of business, pleasure and social life, he has developed a symmetrically rounded character, which commands for him the esteem of all with whom he comes in contact.
JAMES OAKES,
ex-member of the common council of Elizabeth, was born in county Louth, Ireland, in 1840. He came to the United States in 1866, and spent the first six years with a Mr. Gould, in the drug business at Yorkville. He then came to Elizabeth and opened a drug store at 142 First street, where he remained eleven years, when he removed to his own building, at No. 168 Third street, where he conducts a large drug business. He is also an agent for all European steamship companies, in which line he is very successful.
Mr. Oakes has for many years manifested a good citizen's interest in politics, and has been prominent as a leader in the Democratic party. He was elected to the council in 1893, and was returned to that body in 1895. During his last term he was chairman of the committee on public buildings, and as such was a very active advocate for improve- ments in all public buildings and parks, particularly Jackson park, and was also a member of the committee on education. He was keenly alive to the importance of a good and effective fire department, and advocated appropriations to that end. He also showed himself to be a friend to the public schools, being a prominent factor in securing the erection of public-school building No. I, one of the finest in the state. He has also been a member of the school board. On the 5th of May, 1897, he was nominated second vice-president of the New Jersey State Pharmacy Association, of which he has been a working member for the past twenty years.
In 1885 Mr. Oakes was married to Mary E. Carney, of Newark, who was organist of St. Thomas' Church. They have two sons, Alfred E. and Walter J.
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HENRY CLAUSS
was born at Würtemburg, Germany, February 5, 1836. His parents were John and Barbara Clauss. After obtaining a good education in his native land Mr. Clauss came to America, in 1854, and settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Here he learned the trade of a baker, and began his business career by opening a bakery at the corner of Elizabeth avenue and Sixth street. He continued in business for many years, growing prosperous by close application to his work and the practice of strictly honest business methods. Not long since Mr. Clauss retired, his son, Louis C. Clauss, succeeding to the business.
Mr. Clauss is a gentleman of quiet, unassuming ways, earnest, active and successful in his undertakings. He is esteemed by his fellow citizens, as may be found in the fact that he has been twice elected to the house of assembly of New Jersey. He has always been a Republican in politics. In 1895 he became the candidate of his party and was elected by a plurality of one thousand six hundred and twenty-four over Mr. Green, the highest candidate on the Democratic ticket. In the following year lie was re-elected by a majority of five thousand one hundred and sixty-two. This was his first time to hold public office.
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In the discharge of his duties, fidelity and faithfulness to the best interests of the people marked his career as a legislator.
May 1, 1858, Mr. Clauss married Magdalina Seeger, who, like himself, was born in Germany. His son and daughter constitute the fruits of this marriage. In 1893 Mrs. Clauss died. She was a Christian lady, and, together with her husband, belonged to the German Methodist church.
JAMES OGDEN STILES.
The ancestors of Mr. Stiles were conspicuously identified with the early history of New Jersey, and, as prominent citizens of Union county for more than a century past, their record may, with appropriateness, be included in a work of this kind. The following is a curtailed account of the family, giving both the paternal and maternal lineage.
The original American ancestors of the Stiles family were established at Windsor, Connecticut, coming thither from Millbrook, Bedfordshire, England, in 1635. The direct line of descent of Daniel Stiles traces back through John, Isaac, John, William. Daniel Stiles, the grandfather of our subject lived in Flushing, Long Island, in early life, as did many of his ancestors, and subsequently moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey, there purchasing, in 1800, what is now known as the Stiles, homestead, a house said to be two hundred years old. The old house was torn down about twenty years ago and a new one erected on the same ground,-across from the Lehigh Valley Railroad station on Morris avenue. Part of the land was later bought by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in 1891, and part is still held by the Stiles family. Daniel inarried Phoebe Woodruff, daughter of Michael and Abigail (Magie) Woodruff, the latter being a sister of Michael Magie and an aunt of Rev. David Magie. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff were: Rachel, Fannie, Mary, Oliver, Phœbe, Elizabeth, Abigail, Margaret, Abner, Jonathan, Michael, Ward, and Morris. Daniel Stiles died near Elizabeth, November 24, 1810. To him and his wife were born the following children: John Woodruff, October 29, 1793, married Maria Williams; Oliver, February 22, 1795, died April 8, 1871; Morris, July 10, 1797, married (1) Hannah Vander- lipp, a minister's daughter, of Albany, New York, and (2) Lucy Everett. Of the second marriage one daughter was born, Caroline Elizabeth, her birth occurring in 1838. In 1885 she lived in New York with her second husband, and they later removed to California. Daniel Stiles had one daughter, Elizabeth W., born October 14, 1799, died August 20, 1869. Elias Wade Stiles, son of Daniel, was born February 23, 1809, married Mary Crane Bonnel, in Morristown, New Jersey, in 1843, and died March 20, 1886. This union was blessed with the following children : George Morris, born March 23, 1845, on the 17th of January, 1872, inarried Miss Mary Winans, died March 20, 1888, a daughter of Nathan Winans, of Union county, and they resided at Plainfield. Their children are two in
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number : Mary Edna, born November 6, 1876, and Alice Winans, September 6, 1880. William Wade Stiles, born April 16, 1848, was one of the first assistant bookkeepers in the Elizabeth First National Bank, serving in that capacity for two years. His death occurred on the 15th of April, 1872. Phoebe Elizabeth, born April 18, 1852, married Cyrus B. Crane, son of Asher Crane, of Caldwell, on the 9th of November, 1881, and died September 2, 1890. Two children were born to them,-Alice Stiles, March 8, 1885, and William Asher, September 2, 1890. Mary Alice Stiles was born February 8, 1857. James Ogden, born October 16, 1859, is engaged in the dairy business on the old Stiles liomestead, which has been in the family since the year 1800. John Woodruff, born December 23, 1866, follows the vocation of farming. On the 5th of July, 1893, he was united in marriage to Miss Goldie Virginia Dovell, and they have one daughter, now three years old, whom they have named Virginia Wade Stiles.
The parents of Mrs. Elias Wade Stiles were Aaron and Phoebe Allen (Meeker) Bonnel, the latter of whom was born in Elizabeth, on the 9th of April, 1796, and died in her native town on the 28th of March, 1876. She was the daughter of Stephen Meeker and Charity (Crane) Meeker, the latter being a daughter of Nehemiah and Esther (Woodruff) Crane, and a great-great-granddaughter of Stephen Crane, of England. The children of Stephen Meeker and Charity Crane Meeker were : Nehemiah, born in 1794; Phobe Allen, April 9, 1796; Esther, June 25, 1808 ; Mary, July 10, 1805, married William Stiles, son of John and Phobe (Crane) Stiles, the latter a daugliter of Captain Jacob Crane. William Stiles was born in May, 1804, and died in 1896. Charity, daughter of Stephen Meeker, married Nehemiah Sayre. Aaron Bounel was born in Morris county, New Jersey, on the Ist of May, 1794, and was a son of Elias and Mary (Wilkinson) Bonnel, the latter's father being a native of England. Elias was a son of Elias the first, who married Temperance Wade, daughter of Captain Wade, of Connecticut Farms, now Union county. Captain Wade lived opposite the parsonage during the Revolutionary war, when all the houses except three were destroyed by fire. The wife of Rev. James Caldwell was shot and carried across the street to the captain's house. The following are the children of Aaron and Phoebe (Allen) Bonnel : Mary Crane Bonnel Stiles, born January 21, 1821 ; Amanda, March 4, 1823; Stephen Meeker, December 11, 1824, moved to Michigan in 1856, enlisted in the war of the Rebellion, and was killed at the battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, 1862 : he left a widow and four children, the former dying in 1893; Aaron Ogden, September 3, 1827, located at Derby Depot, a few miles from St. Joseph, Michigan ; Elias, May, 18, 1850; Phoebe Eliza_ beth, May 21, 1833 ; Phoebe Asenath, April 7, 1840, became the wife of Ogden Woodruff and is living on Salem avenue. Twelve children were born to them, all surviving except three, one of the latter being Rev.
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Frank Stiles Woodruff, who died about two weeks after his return from Syria, where he had spent a number of years.
Michael Woodruff, the first, of Woodruff Farms, near Elizabeth, lived in what was afterward the almshouse. One cold winter's night, as he was about to retire, he saw in the bright moonlight the glitter of approaching muskets, and surmising at once that the British troops were stealing upon the slumbering city, he hastened out of the house, without stopping to dress, and gave the alarm in Elizabeth, and tlie British, who evidently thought to surprise the people by crossing the meadow, met with such a warm reception that they were forced to retreat. Mr. Woodruff remained from home for seven or eight days, and upon his return home he was arrested by the English and confined in what was then called the Sugar-house prison, in New York. Here he was kept for quite a while among other prisoners, who were daily con- deinned to death and taken out to be shot, and each day he was favored with the cheerful information that his turn would come next. However, an old neighbor of his, named Hendrichs, who, although a member of the British force, and on duty at the temporary prison, said he could not bear to have his old friend meet such a fate, and through his intervention Mr. Woodruff was eventually released and lived for several years after.
MELANCTHON W. REEVE,
president of the Elizabeth Ice Company, and ex-member of the common council of Elizabeth, has been a resident of that city for the past forty-eight years, having settled there in the year 1849. He was born on the old Orange poor farm, in Essex county, January 5, 1828. He worked on his father's farm till the age of sixteen, when he went to Newark, where he learned the carpenter trade and followed that occupa- tion in Elizabeth till 1866, when he engaged in the ice business with R. S. Williams. In 1888 the business was converted into a stock company, and was organized with M. W. Reeve as president, C. H. K. Halsey as secretary, and R. S. Williams as superintendent. The concern has a storage capacity of thirteen thousand tons of natural ice, and the output from their machine is thirty tons per day.
Mr. Reeve is the vice-president of the First National Bank, of Eliza- beth. He is the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Gardner) Reeve, the former of whom was born in Springfield, New Jersey, being the son of William Reeve, who was a farmer, and descended from one of the early ante-Revolutionary families of that locality.
Mr. Reeve was married, in August, 1849, to Hannah D. Addayson, who died April 18, 1896, without issue.
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CHAPTER XXI.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RAHWAY. [BY L. S HYER.]
HAT is now the city of Rahway is one of the oldest settlements in New Jersey. Tradition and the early records show that it was originally occupied by the Indians, and that is was especially visited by the tribes that went on their annual tours to the seashore, in the vicinity of what is now Long Branch. The path led across the river near where the water-works are now located, and the stepping-stones used in crossing are still visible.
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