USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 45
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Mr. Potter built his first cylinder press in 1857, making the draw- ings and a large part of the patterns for the same himself, and he continued to design his own presses until the rapidly increasing demands for his machinery compelled him to devote his time to the financial and general mechanical operations of the business, to which he has ever since given personal direction. After making his first cylinder press, with his illustrated circulars in his pocket, he canvassed for its sale, and, on getting orders, came back and built his presses, and then went out and erected and set them in motion. This he did for many years, and in doing it he became acquainted with probably more proprietors of newspaper and job-printing offices, than any other in- dividual of his time. Thus he not only sold his machines, but he also gained great experience in the needs of the presses, and in those characteristics which go to help the printer in the use of the press. In this way, gaining his information and embodying it in his machines, he built a press that had the reputation of standing at the head of that class of machinery. In his canvassing for orders his competitors gave him the credit of being the best salesman in the field, successful for the reason that he never promised anything for his presses that they would not do, and therefore gained the confidence of everybody with whom he dealt.
While retaining his office over Connor's type foundry, in New York, he had for an office companion, John F. Cleveland, a brother-in- law of Horace Greeley, and became also quite intimately acquainted with Mr. Greeley, for whom he had great admiration.
Mr. Potter's presses were built mainly in Westerly, Rhode Island, until 1865 ; thereafter, until 1879, they were built at Norwich, Connecti- cut. In 1865, the business having grown too great to be managed by himself alone, he took as a partner, Mr. J. F. Hubbard, and the firm
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name was changed to C. Potter, Jr., & Company. In 1879, after a very pleasant partnership of fourteen years, Mr. Hubbard's health failed, and he retired from the firm. Mr. Potter then built his shops in Plainfield, New Jersey, the main shop being two hundred and fifty feet in length, by sixty feet in breadth. Subsequently it was enlarged to 700 x 100 feet, and is still too small for the business. After the retirement of Mr. Hubbard from the firm Mr. Potter admitted to a share in the business Mr. H. W. Fish and Mr. J. M. Titsworth, and a little later Mr. D. E. Titsworth, all of whom had been long in his employ. Mr. Potter added to the class of presses that he had built the varieties of two-revolution, lithograph, drum-cylinder, and web-presses, and in each of these classes his machinery was unexcelled. He has been actively engaged in building printing machinery for a longer time than any man in this country, and to him is largely due its wonderful evolution.
In 1893 the company changed from a private company to a corporation, with the saine owners as before, and with a paid-up capital of five hundred thousand dollars, with Mr. Potter as president, H. W. Fish as vice-president, J. M. Titsworth as treasurer, and D. E. Titsworth as secretary.
Mr. Potter has never allowed himself to be tempted from his one special business of manufacturing printing presses, however strong the temptation might be. His aim has ever been to do well whatever he undertook, and for this reason, and because of his business ability, he has had a successful career. His generosity and his devotion to church and every charitable cause have kept pace with his progress in the financial world.
Mr. Potter was married in 1850 to Miss Sarah P., daughter of Martin and Mehitabel (Wells) Wilcox, of Ostego county, New York. Both families are proud of their colonial and Revolutionary antecedents. Four children were born of this union, -Eva P., the wife of J. M. Titsworth, is now deceased; Emergene, wife of D. E. Titsworth; Sarah Florence, widow of Alexander M. Ross, Jr .; and Mabel L., wife of William C. Hubbard, of Plainfield. The family are members of the Seventh-day Baptist church. Mr. Potter is president of the Seventh- day Baptist Memorial Fund, and also of the American Sabbath Tract Society. He has been president of the board of trustees of the Seventh- day Baptist church in Plainfield for many years, also a director in the First National Bank, of Plainfield, and, for several years, its president. He has been a resident of Plainfield since 1870, and was a member of its common council for two terms, but is in no sense of the word a politician.
RUDOLPH MITCHELL TITSWORTH.
The Titsworth family, which has been quite largely represented for several generations in New Jersey, is of English origin. A century
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RUDOLPH M. TITSWORTH
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or more ago two brothers, Lewis and Isaac Titsworth, settled in the southern part of this state. To the latter and his wife, Margaret Mitchell, were born thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. Rudolph Mitchell being the seventh son. He was born at Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey, September 26, 1820. Boys in his day were brought up to work, and at eight years of age lie began to earn his livelihood.
In 1831, being eleven years old, he came to Plainfield, then Essex county, now Union county, New Jersey, and was apprenticed to the tailoring trade, one of the leading industries of this section at that time. After learning his trade he, with his brothers, John D. and Abram D., manufactured clothing in Plainfield until the trade demanded a more important centre for operations, when the general offices were removed to New York city, the firin name being J. D. Titsworth & Brothers. This firmn was the first to establish a wholesale clothing house in Chicago, Illinois, the goods being manufactured in New York. The same parties, under the firin name of A. D. Titsworth & Company, were among the leading clothiers of Chicago until 1871, when every vestige of the large and profitable business was wiped out in the great confla- gration. During the war of the Rebellion they filled many large government contracts, and for several years branches were also con- ducted at Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. These were continued until 1875, when all partnerships were dissolved, Rudolph M. contin- ing the business in New York until his death, in 1892. For forty-six . years he traveled daily between his home in Plainfield and his business in New York, and at the time of his death had been a commuter for a longer time than any one from Plainfield. Mr. Titsworth was a man of marked business ability, and of very genial and bouyant disposition, and his business friends became his personal friends.
Mr. Titsworth was a resident of Plainfield for sixty-one years, and was prominently connected with the advancement of the place from the hamlet of 1830 to the city of to-day. He worked laboriously with Dr. Charles H. Stillman to secure the present school system of New Jersey. These two, with Randolph Runyon, composed, in 1867, the first board of education of Plainfield, Mr. Titsworth continuing a member of the board for eleven years, or until 1878. He was treasurer of the Plainfield College for Young Ladies, on Seventh street, during the time it was incorporated. He was one of the organizers of the Dime Savings Institution, in 1868, and a director from that time until his death.
In religious belief Mr. Titsworth was a Seventh-day Baptist, and for many years was a member of the board of trustees of the Seventh- day Baptist Memorial Fund, and a director of the American Sabbath Tract Society. He was a constituent member of the Seventh-day Baptist church of Plainfield in 1838, and was prominent in its support all his life.
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In 1845 Mr. Titsworth was married to Ann Eliza Randolph, a descendant of that well known family of the state from colonial times. To this union were born seven children, four of whom reached maturity. Mrs. Titsworth died in 1883, and a daughter, Anna E., died in 1891, leaving the three sons, Joseph M., Arthur L., and George B., all of whom reside in Plainfield, and are associated with the Potter Printing Press Company,-Joseph M. being treasurer of the company, and George B. assistant superintendent of the works.
Mr. Rudolph Titsworth died October 10, 1892, at the age of seventy- two years, and his remains rest in the family plot in Hillside cemetery. He was greatly beloved and respected by all who knew him. Although a progressive man, Mr. Titsworth was very unassuming, and to the needy and deserving a good friend and adviser, being a man of few words, but of large sympathies. An epitome of his biography can be stated in one sentence : He was a wise counselor and a peacemaker.
HON. JAMES E. MARTINE,
Democratic candidate for mayor of Plainfield in 1896, was born in New York in 1847. At the age of nine years Mr. Martine came with his father to Plainfield, where he has spent forty years of his life, and is probably known personally and by reputation better than any other man in either city or borough.
Mr. Martine attended the public schools of New York and Plain- field and in them received his elementary education. When Mr. Martine had attained the age of thirteen years his father died, when he left school to look after the interests of Cedar Brook Farm. From the Daily Press, Plainfield, New Jersey, November 24, 1896, when advocating Mr. Martine's fitness for the office of mayor of that city we abstract the following :
From the time Mr. Martine was old enough to read the newspapers he took great interest in matters of a public nature. He had a natural gift of eloquence, and before he was twenty years of age had become a factor in politics and has continued so. He is both aggressive and positive, but maintains his hold upon his friends, even though not of the same political faith. At the age of eighteen years he was prevailed upon by Governor Theodore Randolph, United States senator, to make a stump speech, and since that time every campaign, national or state, has found him on the rostrum advocating the cause of Democracy. Mr. Martine first entered the political field as a candidate in 1877, when he was nominated for assemblyman in the old Union county, third district. He served one term as member of the commnon council, and was largely influential in helping to secure the elevation of the railroad tracks. He was a member of the street committee. In 1893 he was nominated for senator against Foster M. Voorhees. In private life Mr. Martine's
JAMES E. MARTINE
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vocation is that of a farmer, and the sobriquet of "Farmer Jim," is not at all disagreeable to his ideas of courtesy. He is widely known as the "Farmer Orator." With his agricultural pursuits he has opened and developed as much residential property in Plainfield as any other man, and is now largely interested in improved property in the eastern end of the city. Martine avenue was named for him. He resides in an old- fashioned house on Cedar Brook Farin, near Watchung avenue, when an air of hospitality is always about it. Mr. Martine has never married.
RALPH I. TOLLES,
who is identified with one of the leading industrial enterprises of Plainfield, is a native of Bethany, Connecticut, where he was born on the IIth of April, 1852, the son of Isaac B. Tolles and Maria Buckingham Tolles. He received a common-school education, and, in 1870, effectively supplemented this discipline by a course of study in the Wesleyan Academy, at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, where he remained for one year, after which he was engaged for a time in teaching school in Bethany and Watertown, in his native state. In 1876 he engaged in the grocery and provision business at Naugatuck, Connecticut, where he remained for nine years, conducting a successful enterprise and developing a distinctive business and executive ability. In the year 1884 Mr. Tolles removed to Hoboken, New Jersey, where he accepted the position as manager of the Hoboken Beef Company. He retained this incumbency for five years, after which he became concerned in the wholesale commission business, at 518 West street, New York city, conducting operations, with a due measure of success, until 1892, when he removed to Plainfield, to engage in the wholesale beef and provision business with the great packing establishment of Armour & Company, of Chicago. He is recognized as one of the representative business inen of the city, and his success has not been an accident, but the normal result of consecutive effort and well applied ability. He traces his lineage to English origin.
In 1882 Mr. Tolles was united in marriage to Miss Frances E. Bouton, a daughter of George C. and Eleanor (Perry) Bouton, of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
HARRY GODLEY RUNKLE.
Daniel and Elizabeth (Richey) Runkle, the parents of Harry Godley, were natives of Warren county, New Jersey. They are of German origin, their ancestors having emigrated to the United States at an early period in its history. The ancestors of Mr. Runkle's mother were among the early settlers of Warren county, where they remained for several generations.
Daniel Runkle, the father, was a prominent business man. He was president of the Warren Foundry, at Phillipsburg, was president of the
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People's Gas Light Company of Paterson, New Jersey ; also a director in the Hackensack Water Company and a director in the Phillipsburg National Bank. His home was in Asbury until his death, in 1890. Mr. Runkle's mother is still living. He has one brother, living in Orange, New Jersey.
Mr. Runkle was born in 1858 and was reared in his native place, Asbury, Warren county, New Jersey, where in early youth he attended school, and subsequently was graduated from Charlier Institute, New York city. In 1877 he entered the office of the Gas Company in Jersey City, where he remained two years. He then went to Paterson, New Jersey, as treasurer of the People's Gas Light Company. Garret A. Hobart, recently elected vice-president of the United States, is the. president of this company. Mr. Runkle subsequently removed to Paterson, where he lived three years. In 1883 he removed to Plainfield, where he has since resided. He was made treasurer of the Plainfield Gas Light Company, and, sometime later, Mr. E. R. Pope and Mr. Runkle formed another corporation, called the Plainfield Gas and Electric Company, which purchased the electric-light plant and leased the gas company's works. He is now president of this company.
Mr. Runkle is a director in the City National Bank and Dime Savings Bank, and also a director in the Water Company. He is treasurer of the Union County Club, of which he was one of the organizers and the first president.
Mr. Runkle was married, in 1880, to Miss Jeannie F. Randolph, of Easton, Pennsylvania, a neice of the late Governor Randolph. They have two children, Daniel and Mary Gray.
In politics Mr. Runkle is a Republican; he is a member of the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church.
LEMUEL WRIGHT SERRELL.
The Serrell family trace their ancestors to Jean De Seres, a French Huguenot who escaped to England, about 1572, and entered the navy of Queen Elizabeth as John Serrell. One of the family was in the navy at the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, and resigned because he would not fight against the colonies. On the inaternal side, the grand- mother was a daughter of William Footner, who was born in Lymington, England, in 1730 and who died in 1827.
Lemuel Wright Serrell, the son of William and Ann (Boorn) Serrell, was born August 21, 1829. In the year 1831 his parents came to America and located in New York city, where they continued to live until the father's death, April 11, 1852. His mother died February 10, 1876, in her ninety-first year. Eleven children lived to mature age.
Lemuel followed the occupation of his father, that of a civil and mechanical engineer, the education and training for which he received
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LEMUEL W. SERRELL
CHARLES W. MCCUTCHEN
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in New York, where he lias since been engaged, almost exclusively, as a solicitor of patents. He has had the care of a great number of important patents, connected with telegraphs, telephones, electric lights, sanitary appliances, etc., as well as attending to the patent business of many large manufacturing concerns. He is believed to have been in the patent-agency business in this country longer than any other person now living. Mr. Serrell has for many years been a member of the Academy of Sciences and other societies in New York, and is a vice-president of the American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers, at Washington.
Mr. Serrell moved to Brooklyn in 1852, and in 1867 he became a resident of Plainfield and bought property on Plainfield avenue and East Front street, where he now has five houses besides his own residence and surrounding grounds.
He is active in home municipal affairs, and has served for a number of years on the board of health. In religions matters he has not been idle. While living in Brooklyn, New York, he assisted in establishing and conducting a mission, which eventually became the Sixth Avenue Baptist church. In Plainfield he is a deacon of the First Baptist church, and a teacher in its Sunday school.
Mr. Serrell was married November 28, 1850, to Eliza Jane Harold, of Hempstead, Long Island, a daughter of John Harold. Of this union five children are now living: Harold, who is associated with his father in business; George; Ella; Lemuel William; and Wallace Lincoln. Mrs. Serrell died January 15, 1889.
CHARLES WALTER MCCUTCHEN
was born in Williamsburg (now a part of Brooklyn), New York, January 5, 1845. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry on his father's side, his grandfather, Thomas Mccutchen, having been born at Newton Ards, near Belfast. William Moore Mccutchen, his father, was a native of New York city, where he was born January 5, 1803. His mother, Eliza St. John, was a native of Connecticut.
Mr. Mccutchen received his education at the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn. At the age of seventeen he entered upon a business life, becoming a clerk with Sawyer, Wallace & Company, at that time one of the foremost commission houses of New York city. Here he received a thorough business training, which proved invaluable to him in after years. It 1867 his family moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, where they have always since resided and where his father died August 1, 1889.
Since 1879 Mr. Mccutchen has been a member of the firm of Holt & Company, commission and flour merchants of New York city; a house which, established in the early part of the century, has always maintained a leading position in its particular branch of commerce,
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having been an important factor in the development of the export trade in flour and breadstuffs with the West Indies and South America.
ALEXANDER GILBERT.
Alexander Gilbert was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1839. He is the son of the late Thomas and Phebe E. (Mathews) Gilbert. His father, a native of Ireland, came, in infancy, to America, with his parents, who settled in New York city, where he grew up and was educated. In early manhood he came to New Jersey, where he married, and became a resident of Newark. Mr. Gilbert, the father, was an iron founder and inventor, doing business in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and at the saine time was associated with Mr. Barnett, the well known iron founder of Newark, New Jersey, where he continued until 1848, when he returned to Elizabeth, whence he subsequently removed to New Haven, Connecticut, where he was in business with Pierrepont & Mallary.
While there his son Alexander, the subject of this sketch, had the advantage of a preparatory school, intending to enter Vale College while his father was doing business in New Haven; but after two years they removed to Brooklyn, New York, his father going into business with Tuttle & Baily, with whom he remained until his death, in 1859. Mr. Gilbert's mother remarried, and her death occurred in 1886. There were eleven children, nine of whom are living. Of these Mrs. Ellis R. Meeker, of Elizabeth; Mrs. Dr. William H. White, of Bloomfield; Mrs. Willis D. Hager, of Orange; and a brother, Nor- inan L., of Caldwell, are all that remain in New Jersey.
While the family lived in Brooklyn Mr. Gilbert enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education. His first business experience was in the office of Tuttle & Baily, where he was employed three years. He entered the hardware house of W. N. Seymorn & Company, of New York, as cashier. After remaining three years in this position, he went, in 1859, into the Market Bank, of New York, as second assistant receiving teller. In 1863, when twenty-four years of age, Mr. Gilbert became cashier of the Market Bank, enjoying the distinction of being the youngest cashier in the city, and continuing to be such for a number of years. In 1890 he was appointed cashier and vice-president. In 1887 he was offered the presidency of the old Fulton Bank, but having declined this position, the two banks consolidated, under the name of Market and Fulton National Bank of New York, since which time he has been offered the presidency of several banks, -all of which overtures he declined, preferring to remain where he is. The last offer made to him was by the Southern National Bank, in 1896; this he also declined, when the business of that bank was also consolidated with that of the Market and Fulton Bank. These consolidations,
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The East Jersey HistoryCa
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which were brought about by Mr. Gilbert, were the means of making his bank one of the leading banks of the city. He was elected to the presidency of the Market and Fulton Bank in the latter part of 1896.
Since 1866 he has been a resident of Plainfield, New Jersey. He is treasurer of the Hillside Cemetery Association, of Plainfield, which he organized. In 1870 he was elected to the common council, serving a number of years as councilman, and being one of the commissioners for the revision of the charter of Plainfield. Mr. Gilbert was also influential in procuring the elevation of the tracks of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. He has been prominently connected withi all the early improvements, which have made the city what it now is.
In 1890 he was elected mayor of Plainfield, in which office he served until 1896, having no opponent in the last two elections. He declined renomination on account of pressure of business. In politics he has always been a Republican. In 1888 he was a delegate to the Minneapolis convention, and a member of the committee to notify President Harrison of his renomination. He is a member of the Union County Club, and vice-president of the Fulton Club, of New York.
Mr. Gilbert was a prime mover in the organization of the Y. M. C. A. of Plainfield, and was its first president. He has been a trustee of the First Baptist church, of Plainfield, for twenty years.
Mr. Gilbert was married in 1865 to Miss Louise F. Randolph, of Middlesex county, New Jersey, daughter of Isaac F. and Isabella F. (Randolph) Randolph, an old and noted family of New Jersey. Mrs. Gilbert is a cultured lady .; she is a Daughter of the Revolution and a Colonial Dame.
WILLIAM TITUS KIRK,
the efficient and popular sheriff of Union county, in whose fidelity to duty the law-abiding citizens place the utmost confidence, while the same quality awakens the fear of the law-breakers, is a native of Cornwall, Orange county, New York. He was born in 1864, being the son of John N. and Elizabeth Townsend (Titus) Kirk, the former of Scotch nativity, while. the latter belonged to the Society of Friends and was a representative of one of the old families of Orange county.
William T. Kirk, the only child of the family, was reared on his grandfather's farin in Orange county, New York, and attended the Friends' Seminary in New York city, for some years. He then went to Cornwall and spent the three succeeding years on a farm, hoping in the outdoor life to benefit his health, which had become impaired. Subsequently he resumed his education as a student in the Friends' Academy, Glen Cove, Long Island, where he remained for two years, when he entered upon the study of law in the office and under the direction of Luke A. Lockwood, in New York city, with whom he remained for three years.
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On the expiration of that period Mr. Kirk formed a connection with the German American Fire Insurance Company, on Produce Exchange, New York, with which he remained for two and a half years, and then entered the employ of Milliken Brothers, extensive iron contractors, in whose service he remained for nearly three years. He then embarked in business on his own account, in Plainfield, and has
WILLIAM T. KIRK
since been engaged in contracting and iron-building. He lias constructed nearly all the iron bridges and done nearly all of the iron work in Union county, and has done general contracting in iron all over the state. His high reputation in this line has won him a prestige that extends over a large section of the east, and his honor- able business dealing, trustworthiness and promptness have secured him a very liberal patronage. The excellence of the work which he supervises is such as to commend him to the public confidence, and his
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