History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 63

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 63
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 63

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).

The first board of water commissioners, in addition to the ex officio members, shall be composed of Jacob R. Shotwell, De Witt C. Hough, and Benjamin R. Miller. The board was duly organized, and the works constructed and put in operation. The Rah- way water-works may be briefly described as fol- lows :

The pumping station is located on the North Branch of the Rahway River, at the point where the ancient Indian path leading from Amboy to Eliza- beth Point crossed, the stepping-stones used by the Indians being visible as late as 1856. The branch here is capable of a mean daily supply of nine mil- lion gallons of water. The city has no reservoir, the works pumping directly "against the mains." The building inclosing the works is a substantial brick structure about fifty feet square and two stories high. The machinery consists of two duplex compound con- densing engines (direct-acting) capable of pumping three million gallons every twenty-four hours. They are supplied by two forty-cight-inch horizontal tubu- lar boilers.

The present consumption of water in the city is one million gallons every twenty-four hours. There are twelve miles of mains, along which are distrib- uted one hundred and thirty hydrants, used in extin- guishing fire without the use of fire-engines of any description.

The board are Joseph W. Savage, President ; C.

L. Woodruff, Superintendent; W. Updyke Selover, Samuel Leonard, James T. Melick, Lineus High.

The water is filtered by an improved filter (a very ingenious contrivance), invented by Patrick Clark, engineer of the Rahway gas-works.

Manufacturing in Rahway .-- TAURINO FACTORY. -On the north branch of the Rahway River, near St. George's Avenue bridge, stands the ruins of a large brick building, formerly used as a manufac- tory. It was known as the Taurino1 Factory, erected by William Shotwell, a resident of Rahway, in 1814. On account of the embargo on British importations during the war, it was undertaken as a good invest- ment in the direction of home manufacture, and was so until the close of the war, when the business proved unprofitable and was abandoned. It was afterwards employed as a woolen-mill, a silk-printing establish- ment, and for many other purposes, employing many hands and being a great benefit to the town. It was destroyed by fire some fifteen years ago.

He built the residence known as "Shotwell's Folly," on the corner of Lafayette and Montgomery Streets. He was known as " Governor."'

Among the later operators were Daniel Stansbury, of New York, John Y. Van Tuyl, Samuel, Edward, and William Dudley ( brothers), Stone & Brown, then Thomas Hale, who converted it into a silk-factory. Then Daniel Wilcox took it and started carpet-weav- ing. After it was repaired from the effects of the fire which had destroyed the upper story, it was occupied as a carriage-factory by Denman & Freeman. It was finally blown up by the bursting of a boiler about 1870, and the ruin of it only remains.

The manufacture of carriages became an important industrial interest in Rahway quite early. It appears from Mr. Luf bery's letter describing the place in 1834 that the business was then considerable, and that trimmings and plated ware for fine carriages were also manufactured here at the same time. The great market for these products was the South, and so largely was the capital of the city employed in this industry that when the civil war broke out in 1861 and suddenly cut off this market, making it impos- sible longer to sell or to collect outstanding accounts in the Southern States, it had nearly ruined the place. Only the most substantial and energetic manufac- turers succeeded in passing through the trying ordeal and getting their business again on a prosperous footing.

The following are the principal parties who are en- gaged in the manufacture of carriages in the city at present :

HETFIELD & JACKSON, manufacturers of light car- riages, sulkies, etc., began business on Seminary Street in 1865. In 1866 they bought the shops of Acker- man, Nos. 75, 77, and 79 Irving Street, to which they have added from time to time as the exigencies of

1 Cloth made of bulls' hair.

254

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

their business have required. Their policy or govern- ing principle has been to compete with all parts of the world for the best light work, and they have made everything else subordinate to success in this direc- tion. At the Centennial Exhibition they obtained the international medal awarded by the United States Centennial Commissioners for two buggies, one skeł- eton wagon, and one sulky. Also at the State Fair last year they obtained the three first premiums on light work. They employ about twenty hands, and their sales average from twenty-five to forty thousand dol- lars per annum.

MILLER BROTHERS commenced the manufacture of carriages in 1859, building a factory on Fulton Street. The war broke out before they had fairly got their business established, and they were beavy losers at the South. They, however, struggled to recuperate their business, and since the war have produced as high as twenty thousand dollars' worth of work in a year, but usually their sales amount to not more than from ten to twelve thousand dollars a year. They are occupying the shops on Irving Street for many years the carriage-factory of the late William H. Flatt, which they removed to in 1871.

ANDREW JARDINE was born at Dumbarton, Seot- land, April 17, 1808, where his father, Andrew, grand- father, James, and great-grandfather, Andrew, spent their lives, reared families, and were active business men. The former was by occupation a wood-sawyer, and died at the age of eighty, his wife, Marion Cook, dying at the age of eighty-nine years. His grand- father was a machine-printer by trade, which he fol- lowed during the early part of his life in Sterling's print-works, but was a farmer afterwards, and at his death left three sons and four daughters.

The children of Andrew and Marian Jardine were Andrew, subject of this sketch; James, a block- printer in Scotland, visited this country during the Centennial, and died soon after reaching home, aged sixty-nine ; Archibald, came to America in 1839, was a block-cutter by trade, settled first at Lodi, N. J., was afterwards superintendent of the color-making department of calico-printing in a Philadelphia house, and retired in Rahway; Robert, came to Staten Island in 1833, is a block-printer by trade, and resides in Philadelphia ; Jane, deceased, was the wife of George MeIntyre at home, although some of her children have come to America ; and Elizabeth, came to America in 1842, and is the widow of Allen McLeish, of Rahway.

Andrew Jardine, subject of this sketch, learned the trade of block-printing at home, and served an ap- prenticeship of seven years. He was then a clerk in a grain and grocery store there for a time. Think- ing to better his condition in life he set sail for Amer- ica, the first of the family to emigrate, and landed in New York May 29, 1832. Not finding ready work to suit him, but willing to do any honorable labor that would turn an honest penny, for three years he was

engaged in selling milk in that city, and for three years following worked at his trade on Staten Island. In 1838 he came to Rahway, N. J., where for seven years he worked at his trade in the factory of Thomas Hare, but after the burning of the factory he was for two years in New York and Philadelphia. In 1847, returning to Rahway, he began paper-staining and making window-shades on his present site in a small way, which laid the foundation of what has become a business employing a large capital and a partner- ship concern. In 1854 his business had so increased that he built his present manufactory, which is fifty

MANUFACTORY OF ANDREW JARDINE & CO.

by twenty-five feet besides its additions, and in 1856 he introduced steam-power, and has since carried on the business of manufacturing wall-paper on an ex- tensive scale. Mr. Jardine continued in business alone until 1870, when Sylvanus White and his son, Freeland Jardine, became partners, under the firm- name of A. Jardine & Co. Mr. White withdrew after three and one-half years, and in September, 1873, Thomas M. Martin joined the partnership, the firm-name remaining unchanged. Mr. Jardine built a substantial residence in 1870 near the site of his manufactory, and now ranks among the representa- tive business men of Rahway. His sterling integ- rity, energy, economy, and judicious management, although unassisted in starting out in life, have been the levers to secure him a fair competence. His life has been one of activity, and unmoved by any desire for public place or the emolument of office. He is an attendant of the Presbyterian Church at Rahway, of which his wife is a member, and a contributor to all worthy objects.

His wife, Ann McKeehnie, born at Barhead, Scot- land, Jan. 10, 1803, came in the same ship with him, and they were married the same year they landed in New York. Their children are Freeland, before al-

Anas garance

Again ITherman

255

CITY OF RAHWAY.

Inded to; Thomas, carries on granite and marble- works in Rahway ; Isabella, deceased, was the wife of Andrew Main ; and Margaret.

JOHN L. FREEMAN .- The Freeman family is men- tioned as residents of Woodbridge by Rev. Joseph W. Dally, in his history of that township, prior to 1700, and hence were among its early settlers. John L. Freeman's grandfather, Daniel Freeman, is supposed to come from the same stock, and died Oct. 13, 1823, where his parents resided. His father, William Free- man, born Nov. 19, 1788, died Oct. 10, 1830, married Feb. 3, 1810, Phebe, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hinds, who was born Aug. 4, 1793, and died in 1864. William Freeman was a harness- and saddle-maker by trade, which he followed in Mendham, N. J., and Mor- ristown, dying in the latter place. He served in the war of 1812, and his widow, who survived him many years, received a pension. After his decease she re- moved to Newark, where she supported and reared her family by her own toil, and where she resided until her death. She was a devoted wife and mother, and a mem- ber of the Halsey Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Newark. John L. Freeman, born Dec. 27, 1823, in Morristown, N. J., was upon the death of his father obliged to do something for himself, and at the tender age of seven years engaged in spinning cotton at Rol- sonton Cotton-Mills, where he remained for two years. Between the ages of nine and fourteen he was kept in school by his mother at Newark. At the age of fif- teen he was apprenticed by his mother until he should reach his majority to Charles C. Hedenberg, a large carriage manufacturer of Newark. Here he remained for four years, when, upon the failure of that gentle- man in business, he was released from his indentures. For several years following he first worked as journey- man, then as foreman, and finally became general superintendent in various manufactories : at Newark, for Douglas & Post, Baldwin & Thomas, and Heden- berg & Littell, of the same place. and for John C. Parker and James Flynn, of New York.

He became conversant with all kinds of carriage- making with these various firms, and was now ready with capital of his own earning and experience to start business for himself. In 1855 he became a part- ner with Alexander Turnbull, of Newark, which, how- ever, continued only till December of the same year, when arrangements were made for a partnership with John C. Denman, of Rahway, to begin in the follow- ing May (1856). He acted as Mr. Denman's super- intendent until that time, and afterward until Mr. Denman's death, on Feb. 4, 1864, the firm of Den- man & Freeman carried on carriage manufacturing in Rahway on an extensive scale. From the latter date until Dec. 13, 1870, he had associated with him Rolph M., brother of his deceased partner, when, upon the decease of Rolph M. Denman, he purchased the Den- man interest in the business, and has since carried it on alone.

In 1872 he built his present carriage manufactory

on Irving Street, and he has continued a successful business since, making his shipments to the principal markets of this and other countries.

JOHN L.FREEMAN'S CARRIAGE MANUFACTORY

MANUFACTORY OF JOHN L. FREEMAN.

Mr. Freeman is one of the active, enterprising busi- ness men of Rahway, and has taken a somewhat active part in the local affairs of the city. He was council- man of the Fourth Ward for three years, is one of the Board of Finance, and a director of the savings-bank of the city.

His wife is Agnes, daughter of John Higginson, of Newark, whom he married in April, 1845. His only daughter, Mary E., died at the age of eleven in 1857, leaving an only son, Frank P. Freeman, who is in business with his father.

HOUSEMAN & McMANUS .- Firm established in 1872, and began business in a shop on Seminary Street owned by John R. Ross. In 1875 they pur- chased their present buildings, which were built and owned by Randolph Ross, who had carried on car- riage-making for several years, and had been suc- ceeded by his sons, Milan and Bedott Ross, who carried on the business up to the late civil war.

The present firm manufacture about twenty thou- sand dollars' worth of carriages per annum.

AYRES & LUFBERY, STEAM SAW-MILL, PLANING- MILL, AND LUMBER-YARD .- This firm are the suc- cessors of an old establishment, Joseph O. Lufbery and John T. Vail having built a saw-mill on the premises in 1827. The property, including the mill- site, belonged originally to Henry Moore and Henry Mundy. In 1827, Lufbery & Vail also purchasing the old Marsh property on the south side of the river opposite their saw-mill, erected a grist-mill and a mill for cutting logwood for dyeing purposes. In 1830, Mr. Vail retired from the firm and removed to the West. In 1833, Mr. Lufbery built a new grist-mill on the south side, and at the same time removed his logwood-

256

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

mill to the north side, attaching it to his saw-mill. From that time, however, he did little with it, as log- wood extracts began to come into use.

Mr. Joseph O. Luf bery continued to carry on these enterprises until 1846. In November of that year - Ayres, - Williams, and John H. Lufbery formed a copartnership under the firni-name of Ayres, Williams & Lufbery, and rented the premises for five years, at the expiration of which they purchased the property, paying therefor the sum of twenty thousand dollars. The mills up to this time had been operated by water, but in 1855 the dams were removed by an act of the Legislature, and the mill was converted into a steam-mill. On the 3d of September, 1868, the saw-mill was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt and in operation three months later. Mr. Williams died in 1865, and the year following the firm was changed to Ayres & Lufbery, and so remained until Jan. 1, 1868, when Thomas M. Martin was admitted, and the firm of Ayres, Lufbery & Co. continued until the retire- ment of Mr. Martin, Aug. 29, 1873, since which the style has been Ayres & Lufbery.

The business of this firm has varied somewhat, according to circumstances and the conditions of the market. The proceeds of the business increased from about $25,000 a year in 1847 to $100,000 per annum from 1868 to 1873, the most profitable period. Dur- ing those years they employed from fifteen to twenty men. Prices have since declined, so that boards which sold for forty-two dollars and forty-five dollars per thousand in 1868 now bring only about thirty dollars to thirty-four dollars. There is also less con- trol of the market and greater competition than for- merly, so that the business of the firm for 1881 amounted to about $30,000.

I. & J. LAFORGE carry on quite a large business in the manufacture of wheels, spokes, and wagon and carriage springs. They started on Cherry Street, near the depot, in 1865, making at first only spokes and wheels, to which they added the manufacture of springs in 1874. They purchased their shops of Samuel Sanders in 1870 ; run of 50 horse-power steam- engine, and employ about thirty hands. Sales in 1881 amounted to about $60,000.

Messrs. Ira and Joel Laforge were born in Wood- bridge, and have lived in Rahway since 1852. They have enlarged their factory by several additions, making it in all respects convenient for their large business.

GORDON PRINTING-PRESS WORKS .- The Gordon job printing presses are too well known to require a description in this article. There are probably ten thousand of them in operation in the United States to-day, besides many which have been sent to foreign countries. Mr. George P. Gordon, the inventor, was born in Salem, N. H., in 1810, and early in life be- came a practical printer. The well-known press which bears his name was invented in 1851, and was for a time manufactured in Rhode Island.

The factory at Rahway is situated in the central part of the city, occupying a space of about three hundred by three hundred and fifty feet in area. The main building, of brick, is thirty by one hundred and thirty feet, four stories high, with a two-story addition about sixty feet square. Adjoining the main building is the foundry, where the castings used in the manu- facture of the presses are made ; also numerous small buildings for the storage of lumber, moulding-sand, iron, and coal.

The machinery is driven by a twenty-five horse- power steam-engine; the buildings are warmed by steam, and communication is had between the various stories of the factory by means of an Otis elevator. The capacity of the factory for the production of presses is about six hundred machines a year; the average production in prosperous times is about four hundred presses per annum, and the sales amount annually to about $150,000.

Mr. Gordon died Jan. 27, 1878. The factory is owned by his daughter, Miss Mary A. Gordon, now in Europe. The business manager is A. Sidney Doane, No. 97 Nassau Street, New York. Superintendent at the factory and master-mechanic, Amos P. Barber.

The Gordon Opera-House was built by George P. Gordon, the inventor of the Gordon printing-press, and was erected in 1875. Mr. Gordon having plenty of means acquired in his successful invention, built the opera-house which bears his name more as a compliment to Rahway than as an investment of hopeful profit. It is said that a portion of his early life was spent in connection with some sort of a trav- eling theatrical company, and that he built the house partly as a reminiscence of that experience and of the value which he attached to amusements.

Among the prominent business places of Rahway is the printing and publishing house of W. L. Mer- shon & Co. (William L. and Samuel D.), established in 1875. Though so recent in its origin this estab- lishment is already one of the largest in the State, and is complete in all its appointments. To meet a steadily enlarging trade the enterprising proprietors are constantly adding to their business facilities. We here see under the one management departments for printing, electrotyping, and binding, with everything else belonging to a complete publishing house. The firm are proprietors and publishers of The Rahway Advocate, a semi-weekly paper, Republican in politics, which dates its origin back to a period of sixty years ago, when it was founded under the name of The New Jersey Advocate. Among their other publica- tions is Leisure Hours, a literary magazine, issued monthly, which has a wide circulation, with sub- scribers in every State.

Banks. - RAHWAY NATIONAL BANK. - Capital, $100,000. This is the successor to the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, chartered in 1828, and which closed its business in 1867, returning to its stockholders the capital and about forty per cent. in surplus. The

RAHWAY WHEEL, SPOKE &

LAY WASH

SPRING WORKS

I&JLAFORGEJE

RAHWAY WHEEL, SPOKE, AND SPRING WORKS. I. & J. LAFORGE. RAHWAY, N. J.

CARL

AGE

MANUFACTORY

CARRIAGE

FINE CARRIACES

D. B. DUNHAM'S CARRIAGE MANUFACTORY, RAHWAY, N. J.

257

CITY OF RAHWAY.

National Bank of Rahway was chartered in 1865, and purchased the banking-house owned by the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank. A. F. Shotwell, president ; Walter Fuller, Jr., cashier ; A. F. Shotwell, A. V. Shotwell, Joel C. Ayres, A. B. Wood, and Hampton Cutter, directors.

UNION NATIONAL BANK .- Capital, $100,000. Or- ganized in 1865. Jonathan Woodruff, president; Rob- ert C. Brewster, cashier ; Joseph S. Smith, Jonathan Woodruff, J. H. Durand, H. II. James, G. E. Ludlow, J. R. Potter, A. E. Woodruff, and R. C. Brewster, directors.

RAHWAY SAVINGS INSTITUTION. - William C. Squier, president ; Jacob R. Shotwell, Abel V. Shot- well, vice-presidents; Ross Vanderhoven, secretary and treasurer. Began business Feb. 19, 1851, on Main Street, opposite Cherry. George F. Webb, the first secretary and treasurer, died in November, 1860; and Dec. 3, 1860, his place was filled by the election of Joel Wilson, who served as secretary until May, 1870, and as treasurer until May, 1875, the offices being divided at the former date. John C. Codding- ton was elected secretary May 9, 1870; John Bowne was chosen treasurer in May, 1875, and Joseph S. Smith in June, 1876, remaining in office until August, 1879; Ross Vanderhoven was elected secretary in May, 1879, and treasurer in August, 1879. Joseph S. Smith and James B. Laing were chosen first and second vice- presidents at the organization. In 1854 Benjamin M. Price was made second vice-president, and Mr. Smith first. In 1855, Benjamin M. Price was chosen first vice-president and Mr. Laing second. In 1858, A. C. Watson was made second vice-president. In 1863, A. V. Shotwell and J. R. Shotwell were made respec- tively first and second vice-presidents, and have so remained ever since.

The bank building is the City Hall, erected and occupied in May, 1868.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CITY OF RAHWAY .- (Continued.)

Schools of Rahway .- SCHOOL LANDS .- We find the following in the Woodbridge town records touch- ing the school lands in Rahway :

" March ye 28, 1716. Then Lay'd out by ue under written (Purenant 10 a town Graut to the Inhabitants of Rahwack) two acree of School Land Begining att a white oak tree Markt on four eidee, standing by the Rode that Runs ye widow Jones' house ; thence running southwest and he west twenty-eight Rod to another white oak markt on four sidee; thence eonth southeast twenty Rod to a emall white oak markt ou four sides ; thence Northeast by East sixteen Rod to a Wallnutt tree markt on four sides; and from thence on a straight Lins to ye place where Itt began :

" THOS. PIKE, Lott layer.

" JORN JAQUES,

" GEOROE BROWN,

" WILL. ILESLEE,

" Committee."

This two acres of school land granted by Wood- bridge to the inhabitants of Rahway we presume was rented for the benefit of schools in the Rahway neigh- borhood. But it must have produced a very small income. The school lands of the township were rented and managed by a committee appointed from year to year by the annual town-meeting. In 1764 a fund had accrued from this rental amounting in prin- cipal and interest to £434 78. 9d. The increase from that time till the beginning of the Revolution is shown by the following table :

£ 8. d.

*. d.

1764. 434

1772

858

... ....

1765.

465

1773

900

...

17h6 ...

533

1774.

985

4 10

1767-69.

1775

1063

1770.

740

.. ..

1776.

1162

1771

794

During the Revolution the interest of the fund was devoted mainly to the war. In 1789 the interest of this fund, together with the tax on dogs, was appro- priated by the town to the " schooling of poor people's children."

FRIENDS' SCHOOLS .- Probably the earliest schools established in the settlement were those of the Friends or Quakers. The first school-house of the Friends was built on the same lot as their meeting- house in 1785, viz., on Main Street, on the place re- cently occupied by George Walker as a hardware- store. William Shotwell was one of the early teachers there. The building fronted the road (now Main Street), was twenty by thirty feet in size and one story high.

In 1804 another meeting-house was built by the Friends on Irving Street, and a school-house was erected a little south of it, which was removed when the railroad went through. It was a two-story wooden structure, and built soon after the meeting-house. Lindley Murray Moore (named after Lindley Murray, the grammarian ) was one of the early teachers. Then followed Eli Vail, Abel Marsh, Aaron Byllinge (a de- scendant of Edward Byllinge, one of the proprietors of West Jersey ), Henry B. Pool, Joseph Shotwell, and others. This Friends' school was for many years the only school in the place.

One of the old schools kept for many years was in the " White School House," so called, in Lower Rahway, opposite the residence of John H. Lufbery, in Grand Street. Alvan Fox, William B. MeGougen, Robert Dennis, and others were among the teachers.

A building called the " Academy" in Upper Rali- way stood on St. George's Avenue near Jardine's marble-works. N. Morse and John W. Seymour were among the teachers. It was abandoned about the time the districts were consolidated in 1848.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 63

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