History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 46

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 46
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 46

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).

2 Murray's Notes, pp. 62-69.

3 Allison's Laws of N. J., pp. 198-201.

4 Ibid., I., pp. 203-14.

5 N. Y. Mercury, No. 209.

became engaged to an English lady, whom he mar- ried in Philadelphia in September, 1748. In his will, dated July 14, 1755, he mentions his wife Louisa, his son Andrew (whom he appoints his executor), his son Jonathan (chief justice of Nova Scotia), and his daughter Sarah, wife of Byefield Lyde, Esq. .

Joseph Bonnel, Esq., the first mayor of the borough, died in the winter of 1748. He lived in the neigh- borhood of Connecticut Farms, where, in the grave- yard of the Presbyterian Church, his remains are buried. A monument was erected over the grave with this inscription :

" Who knew him hving must lament him dead, Whose corpse beneath this Verdant Turf is Isid. Bonnel, in Private Life, in Public Trust, Was Wise and Kind, was Generous and Just. JD Virtue's rigid Path unmoved he trod, To Self Impartial, pious to his God. Religion'e Patron, and a Patriot True, A general Good, and private blessing too. What Bonnel was, and what his Virtues were,

The Resurrection day will best declure.

Joseph Bounel, Esq., deceased March ye 14, 1747-8, in ye 63d year of his age."

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE CITY OF ELIZABETH.

The City Charter .- The first charter of the city of Elizabeth was granted March 13, 1855, by act of the Legislature of New Jersey. The act required its submission to the people for their ratification or re- jection, which being done at a special election in April the city government went into effect on the 1st of May, 1855. By an act of the Legislature, ap- proved March 4. 1863, the charter was revised and enlarged to its present form, conferring upon the city the highest powers, privileges, and immunities usually accorded to such municipalities.

"With this change in its government the ancient town, until then of slow bnt steady growth, entered upon a career of rapidly-increasing prosperity. That portion of its territory which lay beyond a northwest line running from the mouth of Morse's Creek to the Galloping Hill road, comprising two thousand eight hundred and fifty-three acres, was set off to the town- ship of Linden in February, 1861. A small portion had also been lost on the north in the erection of Union County in 1857 ; so that the city now scarcely contains a tenth part of the area of the old borough in the days of the Revolution. . . .. But what is lost in extent is more than made good by compactness.

" The opening of the New Jersey Railroad, and sub- sequently of the New Jersey Central, with its noble bridge spanning Newark Bay and connecting the city directly with New York,-an accomplishment both feared and ridiculed some sixty years since by the

Mount Townley

Robert W. Townley was born at Springfield, N. J., on July 13, 1813, and was the eldest son of Richard and Ilannah (Wade) Townley. His father was a man of great free of character, energetic and industrious, and passed his life as a farmer near Elizabeth, where several successive generations of the family resided. The line of desecot of the Towaley family is trace- able back to an honorable origin in the mother-country, Eng- land, as far as the days of William the Conqueror. Col. Richard Townley, the eighth sea of Nicholas Townley, of Lit- tleton, England, and of Joanna White, of Northam, Sussex Co., England, took up his abode at Elizabeth as early as 1684, where he occupied high social position, and filled many offices of trust and responsibility. In 1685 he married Elizabeth, widew of Governor Philip Carteret. Ile was made one of Lord Neil Campbell's Council in October, 1686, and in the Revolution of 1688-89 adhered to the Stuart dynasty. In 1692, though a resident of New Jersey, he was appointed one of the Council of Governor Fletcher, of New York, and in 1697 one of the Earl of Belmont's Council. Ile was a usoful, energetic eitizen, and at the time of his death, in April, 17II, was presiding judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions. Almost wholly by his means St. John's Church was gathered soon after the beginning of the eighteenth century, his own house having been the home of the first Episcopal missionaries, and the place where the services of the church were held. The church lot was his gift, and he was the principal contributor toward the building of the church edifice.

The earlier years of Robert W. Towaley were passed upon his father's farm, where he received a common-school education at a neighboring district school. Subsequently he enjoyed a classical course of two years in Elizabeth. Ia 1828 he entered a general country store in that place as a elerk, and a few years later embarked in business on his own account. Ile continued in trade at Elizabeth until 1840, when he followed his brother, James W. Townley, to the West, and with him located at Fort Wayne, Ind., then in its infancy, where he beeaine one of the pioneer settlers of a section of that State which was then largely

inhabited by Indians. He engaged actively in trade at Fort Wayne until 1859, when he returned to Elizabeth to reside, re- taining his business interests, however, at Fort Wayne until 1870.

From the time of Mr. Townley's return to his native county he took an active interest in all matters relating to its material and social growth, and in the city of Elizabeth he was known as one of the must energetie and useful citizens. Possessed of great determination of character, inflexible, earnest in the per- formanee of the duties imposed upon him in both the private and public walks of life, he identified himself closely with the development of the community in which he resided. During the trying days of the great Rebellion he supported the Union cause with both his influence and purse, and actively assisted in the raising and fitting out of the troops furnished by his city.

During the years 1872 and 1873 he was a member of the City Council of Elizabeth, and in 1874 was elected mayor of the city, and re-elected in 1875 and 1876. Ile performed the duties of the chief magistracy with ability and faithfulness, and amid the municipal corruption of the period earned the approbation of all honest and fair-minded citizens by the rigorous discharge of his executive duties. Aside from politics he was closely identi- fied with various local institutions in Elizabeth, was a member of the board of directors and vice-president of the State Na- tional Bank, and connected with other local enterprises. Ile was a member and liberal supporter of the Westiainster Presbyterian Church, and contributed freely of his means to other evangelical and eleemosynary purposes. He passed away on Oet. 20, 1880, at the ripe age of seventy-seven years, leaving to his family an ample competency honestly earned, and the richer legacy of a good name acquired by the consistent prac- tice of those moral and social virtues which all admire and few emulate. Ilis widow, née Eliza II., daughter of J. J. Baldwin, of Newark, N. J., oeeupics the family homestead on North Broad Street. Ilis daughter, Abby Baldwin Townley, is the wife of Edward P. Williams, of Fort Wayne, Ind.

185

THE CITY OF ELIZABETH.

Newark people,-gave a great impulse to business here, and made the city still more desirable as a place of residence. The tract of land bordering on the bay, extending from what was so long known as the Old Point to De Hart's Point on the north, as soon as it became the railroad terminus,-but it was for many years, and still continues to be to some extent, for freight,-at once increased rapidly in value, in busi- ness, and in population. It is the depot of a large commerce, and has already a numerous shipping list.

" Almost immediately after the adoption of the city charter old farms were brought into the market, laid out into city lots, and met with a ready sale. The late Edward N. Kellogg, who died in New York Jan. 8, 1867, aged fifty-one, bought about three hundred acres of what was formerly known, mostly, as ' Wood- ruff's Farms,' laid it out in streets and parks, and offered it to purchasers. His example was followed by Messrs. P. B. Amory, Benjamin Harris, and others, effecting thus a wonderful transformation in the north- ern part of the city. A similar change has been brought about both on the west and south of the city. Neat and attractive cottages, spacious warehouses, extensive manufactories, and elegant mansions have sprung up on every road with remarkable celerity. . . . A thorough system of paving, sewering, and lighting the streets" was inaugurated in connection with other improvements calculated to render the city a healthy and desirable place of residence. Great facilities for locomotion were also introduced by means of horse-railroads on the principal thor- ouglifares. A spacious edifice of brick, occupied on the first floor as a market, and on the second as a city hall, costing eighty thousand dollars, took the place of the old Adelphian Academy, at the junction of Market Street and Elizabeth Avenue. A plentiful supply of gas and water, with miles of paved streets, and well-flagged crossings and sidewalks, afford the inhabitants all the advantages of city life.

The multiplication of churches and schools has kept pace with the population. The number of churches and missions in the city is thirty-five, while the schools, public, private, and parochial, are nu- merous. Elsewhere will be found the statistics of the schools and a history of each of the churches, ex- cept perhaps a few of the most recently formed.

The population of Elizabeth in 1830 was 3455; in 1840 it had reached only 4184; in 1850 it was 5583 ; in 1860 it amounted to 11,561; in 1865, with a re- duced area, it was 17,383; in 1870 it had increased to 25,000, while during the next decade about three thousand more were added, making the present popu- lation fully 28,000. The greatest ratio of increase was between 1865 and 1870.

From the city comptroller's report of Jan. 3, 1881, it appears that the receipts of the city from all sources for 1880 were $312,089.19, which added to a balance on hand, Jan. 1, 1880, of $16,028.79, makes the total

sum of $328,117.98. The expenditures for the same time, leaving a balance on Jan. 1. 1881, of $75,565.91, were $252,552.07. In order that the various interests of the city for which this money was expended may appear, we give the items as follows :

PAYMENTS IN 1880.

Board of Health .. $2,533.97

Streets and highways.

5,281.12

Fire Department.

3,271.29

Lamps and gas

10,468.83

Water aud hydrants.

3,644 52

Printing

711.11

Sewers and ha-ins.

1,283 95

Public schou]s.

50,283,16

Public grounds and buildings.

2.470.86

Salaries

8,001.88

Police Department

16,976.00

Poor and alios

9,517.13

Tax assessor8

3,06.3.55

Cruss-walks.

17.56

Contingent fund

5,920 19

Tax arrears ..

100.00

Public mørket

479 30

District Court

2,525 00

State and county taxes.

98,426 28

Printing list unpaid taxes.

5,020.80

Bonds for assessment.

21,953.57

Balance on hand Jan. I, 188I

75,5115.91

$328,117.98

CITY DEBT.

The city debt at this date is as follows :

Consolidated improvement bonds .. $2,432,000.00

Funded debt lanuls.

7.31,08H1,00

Fnuded assessment bwuds.

698,000.00

City improvement houds .. 250.500.00

Tax-areearage bonds.

241,000,00

School-house bonds.

90.000.00

Market-house bonds.

66 000.00

Almushouse Bonds 5,000,00

Temporary loans.

828,291.33

Contracts and awards.

18,684.40

Unpaid bills 1879 and 1880, estimated.

75,000,00

$5,435,475.73

To meet the above we have on our books :

Unpaid assessments .. Tax arrears,

$1,714,665.82

Unpaid taxes of 1×76

54.475.71

77א1

57.9-2.66

1×78

102,951 47

1879.

61,7 :0 42

1880.

94,841.44

City bonds

92,000 00

Cash ..

75,565 91

$2,424,406.91

Although this debt is at present a serious hindrance to the progress of the city, the improvements which it represents remain a substantial benefit. It is hoped that the time will soon come when some satis- factory settlement may be made of it, so that the usual enterprise and prosperity of the city may be resumed. This is all that is wanting to give a future to Elizabeth quite as promising as that of any of the other cities. of the State. The situation for manufac- tories is unsurpassed, the shipping and transportation facilities abundant, the means of access to any part of the great country, east, west, north, or south, as ad- vantageous as that of the metropolis itself, there not being an hour in the day when a train on one or the other of the great railroads may not be taken for any place to which it is desirable to go. Being within a few minutes' ride of the city of New York, on the best ordered and safest roads in the country, it offers great inducements for residence to men doing busi-

170,253 48

$252,552.07

186

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

ness in that city, who will find ample church facili- ties, good society, and good schools, things which are among the most essential requisites of the life which every true American seeks for himself and family. If we cannot add the prediction with which the ven- erable Dr. Hatfield closes his history of the old borough, that "the time is not far distant when every available building lot within the present bounds of the city will be occupied, when a large proportion of its meadow land, now flooded occasionally by the sea, will be reclaimed, and the humble settlement of 1664 will become one of the fairest and most prosperous cities of the land, the home of wealth, intelligence, refinement, and true religion," we may at least in- dulge in the hope that all these things may be.

We give below a list of the principal city officers since the adoption of the charter :

MAYORS.

May 1, 1855, to May 1, 1860, Elias Darby. May 1, 1860, to May 1, 1861, James Jeokine.

May 1, 1861, to May 1, 1862, James B. Burnet.

May 1, 1862, to Jan. 1, 1871, Philip Grier.

Jan. 1, 1871, to Jan. 1, 1873, Francie B. Chetwood. Jan. 1, 1873, to Jan. 1, 1875, William A. Coursen. Jan. 1, 1875, to Jan. 1, 1878, Robert W. Townley. Jan. 1, 1878, to Jan. 1, 1879, Jamee S. Green."

Jan. 1, 1879, to Jan. 1, 1880, Robert W. Townley. Jan. 1, 1880, to Jao. 1, 1882, Peter Bonnett. Jan. 1, 1882, Seth B. Ryder.

CITY CLERKS.

May 1, 1855, to June 2, 1856, William M. Whitehead. June 2, 1856, to May 1, 1860, Apolloe M. Elmer. May 1, 1860, to Jan. 1, 1875, Jacob Seiple.

Jan. 1, 1875, to Jan. 1, 1882, William R. Coleman.

CITY TREASURERS.

May 1, 1855, to May 1, 1865, Archibald S. Woodruff. May 1, 1865, to May 1, 1866, William P. Thompsoo. May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1872, Archibald S. Woodruff. Sept. 2, 1872, to Jan. 1, 1874, William W. Pioneo. Jau. 19, 1874, to Sept. 8, 1874, Thomas Carlton. July 13, 1874, to Sept. 8, 1874, Alfred De Witt. Sept. 8, 1874, to March 31, 1880, William D. Bruen. March 31, 1880, to Jan. 1, 1883, Charles C. Stevenson.

COMPTROLLERS.

June 12, 1872, to March 1, 1875, Henry Aiken. March 1, 1875, to March 31, 1880, Thomas B. Leggett. March 31, 1880, to April, 1883, Samuel D. Bowere.

Elizabethtown Water Company .- In 1854, one year previous to the adoption of the city charter, a number of persons whose names are mentioned below, seeing the necessity of an abundant supply of water, not only for the city but for the manufacturing inter- ests that might be induced to locate in the vicinity, procured from the Legislature an act of incorporation, constituting them a body politic and corporate under the name and style of the Elizabethtown Water Com- pany. The names of the incorporators are Francis B. Chetwood, Francis Harris, Jr., John D. Norris, George R. Chetwood, Reuben Van Pelt, Keen Pur- den, John Kean, John H. Rolston, Cyrus Manvel, and all other persons who might afterwards be asso- ciated with them for the purpose named in the char-

ter. The act constituted nine stockholders a board of directors for the management of the affairs of the company. The capital stock was placed at $200,000, or 8000 shares at $25 each, afterwards reduced to $144,000.

The supply of water is drawn from a receiving reservoir called Lake Ursino, formed by a dam thrown across the Elizabeth River at Parker road, about one mile from the city. At this point the largest pump is stationed, and is driven by a turbine water-wheel. There are two other pumps driven by steam located near the pumping basin. The receiv- ing reservoir has a capacity of a hundred million gallons ; the high service reservoir, at the corner of Chilton and West Grand Streets, has a capacity of about six million gallons ; and the pumping basin, on Westfield Avenue, has a capacity of about two million gallons. This latter is provided with a large filter in the centre, through which all the water for the city passcs. The company has about forty miles of street mains, which run to Elizabethport and sup- ply the manufacturing interests there, including the Singer Sewing Machine Works, Central Railroad shops, etc. The cost of these works was about one million dollars.

The present officers of the company are William Stiles, President ; G. M. Ross, Secretary and Treas- urer; William Whelan, Superintendent; L. B. Bat- tin, Engineer.

We subjoin the following analysis of the water, from a report made by Torrey & Eaton, chemists, New York :

"30 WALL STREET, N. Y., Oct. 7, 1873. " To the Elizabethtown Water Company :

" GENTLEMEN,-The following ie our report upoo the sample of water taken from the distributing reservoir of your company et Elizabeth, N. J., Monday Diorviug, Sept. 22, 1873.

"Five gallons of the water were taken froon the centre of the reser- voir and sealed in our presence by L. B. Battin, engineer, and sent to the United States assay laboratory, where the examination was promptly uodertaken.

"The total solid residue wae 3.5 graine United States standard gallon (of 58,372.5 gralos) ; loss by ignition, 1.5 graine per gallon, consisting of organic matter and carbonic acid.

" Its hardness is very elight, being equivalent to nearly 1.5 graios of carbonate of lime per galloo. Chlorine present, calculated as chloride of sodium, gave 1.2 grains per gallon.

" The ammonia and nitrogenone organic matter were determined by the Nessler test of Wauklyn aod Chapman, which is the latest, and he- lieved by most chemists to be the best method iu use. Free ammonia was .0007 graio iu the one gallvo, or .012 parte in 1,000,000. Albumin- oid organic matter .017 grain in one gallon, or 3 parte in 1,000,000.

" A comparison by means of the permanganate method was made be- tween the Elizabeth and Crotou water, which was quite favorable to the former. It contains 1-5 less of oxidizable organic matter.

"The water was tested for arsenic, lead, sod copper, but no trace was detected of any of these injurious substances.

" As the result of the above examination we give it as our opinion that there are no metallic poisous that can possibly be detrimental to the health of the citizens of Elizabeth, nor does the organic matter exist in sufficient quantity to indicate the presence of any injurious amount of sewerage.

" And, further, we eee no objection to its use ju steam boilers, or for general manufacturing purposes.

" Yours respectfully,

" TORBEY & EATON."

187

THE CITY OF ELIZABETH.

TABLE OF IMPURITIES CONTAINED IN ONE GALLON (OF 58,318 GRAINS), EXPRESSED IN GRAINS.

Inorganic

Volatile

City.

matter. and organic Total. matter.

Elizabeth

2.00

1.5

3.5

New York

4.11

0,67

4.78

Brooklyn

3.37

0.59

3,92

Jersey City.

4.58

2.86

7.44

Philadelphia

2.30

1.20

3.50

Boston

2.40

0.71

3.11

Syracuse.

12.13

1.80

13,93

Rochester

12 02

1,23

13.25

London

15.55

0,83

16,38

Paris.

7,83

1.00

8.83

AMOUNT OF SOLID MATTER REQUIRED TO REN- DER DRINKING-WATER UNWHOLESOME .- The drink- ing-water of the city of London contains 15.55 grains per gallon. This seems like an amount sufficient to make the water unfit for use, and yet it has been shown conclusively that even forty grains to the gallon would not do the slightest injury to any person drink- ing such water. In view of this the amount of solid matter present in our water can very safely be disre- garded.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CITY OF ELIZABETH .- (Continued.)

Educational .- THE OLD ACADEMY .- In the au- tumn of 1766, Messrs. Tapping Reeve and Ebenezer Pemberton opened a grammar school in Elizabeth Town. Mr. Reeve was afterwards the son-in-law of President Burr, of the College of New Jersey, and became principal of the celebrated law-school of Litchfield, Conn. He was the son of Rev. Abner Reeve, and was born at Fire Place, Brookhaven, L. I., Oct. 17, 1744. He graduated at Princeton in 1763, and shortly after was employed by Mr. Timothy Ed- wards, of Elizabeth Town, as a private tutor to the children of his deceased sister, Mrs. Burr, and so be- came a member of the Edwards family.

Ebenezer Pemberton was the son of Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, D.D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York, where he was born in 1746. In 1753 the family removed to Boston, but the father still retaining his love for the College of New Jersey, of which he was one of the founders, sent his son to Princeton to be educated, where with his classmates, Jonathan Edwards, Robert and Jonathan Ogden, he graduated in 1765. Jonathan Edwards being a brother of Timothy, of Elizabeth Town, and the two Ogdens being also of this place, it is easy to see how their classmate, young Pemberton, was drawn here, and became associated with Mr. Reeve in the school.

As was to have been expected the school succeeded, and in March, 1767, Reeve and Pemberton, masters of the grammar school in Elizabeth Town, "inform the public that they continue to teach the Greek and Latin languages," and that " a commodious Ilouse is provided in the Centre of the Town for the accommo- dation of a large School." It was also announced that "Gentlemen of Education in the Town will

frequently visit the School." The terms were five pounds per annum, and twenty shillings entrance for tuition. Board to be had in good families for twenty pounds a year.

The better to accommodate this school and to give it permanency, a number of well-disposed citizens subscribed seventy pounds, payable to the trustees of the Presbyterian Church in trust for the building of a school-house where the said trustees should order. This was accepted Aug. 24, 1767, and it was ordered :

"Tbat a proper House be erected on the uppermost end of the Burial Yard Lot Under the Care of Messrs. [Wm. P.] Smith & Spinning of this Board and Dr Mm Barnet & Nehemiah Wade of the congregation."

Any deficiencies, should the subscriptions made or to be made prove inadequate, were to be paid out of Mr. Joseph Ogden's legacy of £100.

" Voted That the Revd Dr Mr Caldwell, Mess's John Chetwood, Tim- othy Edwards, & Elias Bondinot & Wm P. Smith be requested to under- take the Business of Visiting the sd Grammar School during the first year, . .. once a Quarter or oftener if they think proper."

Such was the origin of the academy that formerly occupied the site of the lecture-room of the First Pres- byterian Church, and that was destroyed by the torch of the enemy Feb. 25, 1779. It was built of wood with a cupola. Mr. Pemberton left the school in the spring for a tutorship at Princeton, and Mr. Reeve in the autumn of 1769. They were succeeded by Mr. Joseph Periam (born in 1742), a graduate of the Col- lege of New Jersey in 1762, and "distinguished by a profound acquaintance with mathematics and natural philosophy." The Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, who formed his acquaintance at Princeton, " could never mention his name without admiration." In 1765 he was tutor of the college ; also in 1767 and 1768. The intermediate year was occupied with the care of a school at Princeton. Mr. Periam continued in charge of the school in this town for two years. In 1772-73 he studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, of Bethlehem, Conn .; was licensed by the Presbytery of New York in 1774, but the license was withdrawn in I775; was appointed in 1776 quartermaster of the First Battalion (Col. Ogden's) of the Jersey Brigade ; resumed the charge of the academy June 1, 1778, where he continued until his death, which occurred suddenly Sunday morning, Oct. 8, 1780.1

2 Trustees' Book. Dr. Spring's Reminiscences, i. 13; ii. 234-36. Holt's N. Y. Journal, No. 1240. N. J. Gazette, No. 26. N. J. Journal, Nos. 83, 86. Rev. Jed. Chapman, of " Newark Mountains," Aug. 14, 1772, writes to Rev. Dr. Bellamy as follows: " I have just an opportunity to write a line by Mr. Periam, who was formerly a tutor at Prince Town Colledge; he is a very ingenious young gentleman-I trust a truly humble and pious Christian; one whom I greatly love and esteem; a steady zealous friend to truth. He comes with the design to spend some time in the study of divinity with yon, and I trust upou acquaint- ance with him you will be pleased and think it of great importance to encourage and forward him." Dr. Bellamy writes to his son, Feb. 6, 1773, " Mr. Periam has become a very serious man since you saw him." l'roceedings of N. Y. His. Soc., vi. 175. lis license was withdrawn, probably because of his advocacy of the visionary immaterialistic theory of Bishop Berkeley, with which he was greatly enraptured. His widow, Elizabeth, also born in 1742, survived until April 5, 1803. Their son Joseph was for many years a successful teacher in this town.

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.

History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 46

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224