USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Warren County, New Jersey > Part 24
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to cross the ocean home, when Mr. George Edwardes, London's leading dramatic pro- ducer, heard her sing, and engaged her dramatic services for a term of three years.
From that time Miss Firth's success has been phenomenal. She appeared in soprano roles in the "Girl from Kay's," in "The Duchess of Dantzic," which had a successful American tour, in which Miss Firth frequently sang the leading role of "Madam Sans Gene"; in "The Little Michus," and other Gaiety theatre successes, until the important role of "Nathalie," in the first London production of "The Merry Widow," was given her, June 8, 1907. Engagements followed in "The Dashing Little Duke" and other successes at the London theatres.
In appearance Miss Firth is tall and slender, with a mass of light-colored hair and a clear blond complexion. In addition to her beauty and dignified mien which she inherits from her mother, and the physical robustness and love of motoring and all out-door sports that call to mind her genial father, she enjoys the reputation of being one of the best gowned women in London. Up to this time her one regret is that her parents have not been with her to enjoy her success and the luxuriant apartments of her London home. Just to satisfy that home-sickness for "dear old Phillipsburg" Miss Firth takes the trip across the ocean every year, to spend a week with her mother and father at their home in Phillipsburg. During the past year she made an extended tour of the continent, staying for some time in Germany. Upon her return to London she assumed the leading role in "The Dollar Princess," a part she is now (July, 1910) playing with her usual artistic finish.
Nicodemus Warne, of Broadway, Warren county, New Jersey, is one
WARNE of the most respected and well-known men in the county, and ranks foremost among the agriculturists and stockholders of the state. His family, which is an old one in New Jersey annals, settled early in Middlesex county, and for the last four generations has been located in Warren county. Benjamin Warne, grandfather of Nicodemus, came from the vicinity of Woodbridge, and locat- ed the three hundred and three-acre tract of land on which his descendants have lived down to the present day. Here he built himself a log house and afterwards replaced it by a stone mansion, long known as the "Warne Homestead," and which is without exception one of the most picturesque dwellings in Warren county. He also built a gristmill, which after his death was torn down to make room for the present large mill, built by his widow, a woman of exceptional energy and business qualifications, who conducted the milling business, and with the aid of her children managed the farm for many years after her husband's death. Benjamin Warne died March 20, 1810, aged fifty-seven years; his wife, Hannah Mckinney, born September 30, 1769, died November 13, 1845. Their children were: I. Thomas, born September 23, 1796, died May 22, 1816. 2. Stephen, referred to below. 3. William, born June 20, 1800, died May 30, 1869. 4. Elizabeth, born June 4, 1802, died August 23, 1825; married Chapman Warner. 5. Richard, born July 1, 1804, died August 24, 1834; married, June 12, 1832, Keziah, daughter of John and Rachel (Larason) Van Syckel. He succeeded to his father's milling business and also established a tan-yard. After his death his widow married (second) his brother, Stephen. His only child, Hannah Mckinney Warne, named for her grandmother, was born November 9, 1833, and is now the widow of John F. Phillips, of Mercer county. 6 Nicodemus, born September 16, 1806, died in December, 1829. 7. John M., born April 9, 1808, died October 8, 1831.
(II) Stephen, son of Benjamin and Hannah (Mckinney) Warne, was born in the old homestead, April 3, 1798, and died there, January 1, 1879. He received a good common school education, and purchasing the interests of the other heirs, he obtained possession of his father's milling business as well as the farm. He was a man of strict integrity and strong religious principle, a member of the Presbyterian
& C. Brice
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congregation, first at Washington, later at Stewartsville, and was instrumental in build- ing the churches in both places. He was a Democrat in politics, served on the board of chosen freeholders for several terms, and in the state legislature, 1843-45. He married, in 1835, Keziah (Van Syckel) Warne, born April 4, 1811, died November IO, 1884, widow of his deceased brother, Richard. She was a member of one of the old and prominent Dutch families that settled in New Jersey, and was herself a woman remarkable for her sterling worth and Christian excellence of character. Their chil- dren were: I. Elizabeth, born October 21, 1836, now deceased. 2. Rachel, born No- vember 29, 1839. 3. Nicodemus, referred to below.
(III) Nicodemus, son of Stephen and Keziah (Van Syckel) (Warne) Warne, was born on the Warne homestead, where he is now living, July 3, 1841. He was educated in the public schools of Warren county, and then turned his attention to farming and stock raising, making a specialty of the breeding of road driving horses. The reputation that has been gained by Warren county horses is directly due to Mr. Warne. In 1885 he imported two Percheron stallions from France, and six years later two mares, and since then has been employed in the breeding of registered stock. The famous horse, Mack, one of the finest looking horses in that part of the state, is his property, and his farm of two hundred and fifty acres, exclusive of one hundred and seventy-five acres of meadow land, is well stocked with the best of cattle and horses. Mr. Warne is a member of the state grange and has served on the executive committee for eleven years. He is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Stewartsville Presbyterian congregation, as is also his wife Zerviah, who was born January 18, 1844, and whom he married June 6, 1866, daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Carpenter) Hulshizer. Their only child is Keziah Warne, wife of Edward C. Brill, now living in Stewartsville (see Brill).
Edward C. Brill, of Stewartsville, the first member of his family to become BRILL identified with Warren county, was born near Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, New York, September 22, 1865. He is the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Seaman) Brill. After receiving his early education in the public and private schools of Poughquag, where he spent his childhood, he took a special business course in the Hackettstown Collegiate Institute, from which he graduated in 1884. He then established himself as a breeder of thoroughbred horses and Holstein cattle, an occupation in which his father had already made a name. In 1885 he bought up his father's business, in company with his two brothers, J. S. and Charles, adding to his own, and conducting it under the firm name of E. C. Brill & Brothers, breeders of blooded stock, which continued until 1899, when our subscriber bought out his brothers' interests and continued until 1907, at which time he sold the farms to his brother, J. S. Brill, and removed to Broadway, Warren county, New Jersey, where he continued the same business. In 1910 he came to Stewartsville, where he now occupies the old Hulshizer homestead. While at Poughquag Mr. Brill made a number of trips to Kentucky, where he selected and purchased several of the finest thoroughbred horses he could find and brought them back to his farm, in order to improve his stock. He has also become one of the leading men at state and county fairs, and his services are in demand from Maine to California, and from Canada to the Gulf, as is witnessed by the many letters which he has received asking hini to serve as official judge and starter of these events.
In horses he makes a specialty of trotters and Percherons, and some of his stock has sold for as much as five thousand dollars and over. In cattle he makes a specialty of Holsteins and he has the reputation of having bred some of the finest in the world. Among these is the famous Holstein bull, Lord Netherland De Kol, said to be the greatest De Kol bull ever reared. Mr. Brill, although only in the prime of life, has
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performed fifteen years of successful work, and is now an official starting judge of the National Trotting Association. Since selling the farm, which is situated about twenty miles from Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, and on the highland division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, to his brother, Mr. Brill has turned consider- able of his attention to the work of expert judge and auctioneer, in which he is un- excelled, but continues his attention unabated to the production of the finest Holsteins to be found in this country, and at the present time (1911) he has the champion cow. for milk and butter in the state, with the world's record for seventy-five consecutive days. The cow was cared for during this test by Mr. Brill's eldest son, Warne HI., who excels in the breeding and care of Holstein cattle.
Edward C. Brill is a member of the New York State Breeders' Association, and of the National Live Stock Breeders' and Exhibition Association. He is an independ- cnt in politics, and a Methodist in religion. He married, October 14, 1891, Keziah, daughter of Nicodemus and Zerviah (Hulshizer) Warne (see Warne). Children: Warne H., born October 13, 1892; Jacob Wilbur, November 5, 1894; Henry Furman, January 28, 1898; Elizabeth C., August 25, 1903.
LA RIEW Jacob LaRiew, the first member of this family of whom we have defi- nite information, was born in New Jersey. The name is a variant of LeRoy, LaRioux, LeRoux, LeReu, and many other forms of the name have been found in this country, including Koenig and King. The first immigrants were among the French Huguenots, who fled from their country in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and by about 1680 at least three of this name were living in New York or New Jersey: Francis, at or near Albany, where there was a consid- erable colony of Huguenots; Jacques, on the Hackensack, in what is now Essex county, New Jersey; Abraham, on. Staten Island. The name has been widely spread in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky (which has a LaRue county), and Virginia. Abraham LaRoe, as he spelled the name, moved from Staten Island to the neighbor- hood of Hopewell, Hunterdon county (now Mercer county), New Jersey, and it is more probable that Jacob LaRiew was descended from him. Jacob LaRiew married Rhoda who was born in Delaware county, New Jersey. Children: Allison; Almerion, referred to below; Elizabeth.
(II) Almerion, son of Jacob and Rhoda LaRiew, was born in Trumansburg, Seneca county, New York, February 29, 1825, and died at Elmira, New York, March 2, 1887. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Republican, and his business was that of contracting house painter and paper hanger. He married, in Elmira, New York, June 11, 1854, Elizabeth Harriet, born in Elmira, February 20, 1831, daughter of John H. and Lucretia (Van Horn) Johnson. Her father was born March 29, 1788, and died May, 1867. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a blacksmith. His parents, Jeremiah Johnson, born in Virginia, and Mar- garet (Kline) Johnson, of New York City, were married in 1784, and had seven chil- dren. Her mother, Lucretia (Van Horn) Johnson, born November 1I, 1795, died April 4, 1868, belonged to the old Van Horn family of New York. She was baptized "Geesje" and was the daughter of David and Sarah (Van Blarcom) Van Horn. She was married in New York, November 14, 1812. Her grandmother, Sarah (Van Blar- com) Van Horn, born September 14, 1764, was the daughter of Isaac, born April 16, 1735, and Sarah (Cairnes) Van Blarcom, born December 16, 1735. Children of Al- merion and Elizabeth Harriet (Johnson) LaRiew: Charles, born April 1, 1855, now deceased; Susan, born January 18, 1857, now deceased; Florence, born November 5, 1859, now deceased; Frederick Jackson, referred to below.
(III) Frederick Jackson, son of Almerion and Elizabeth Harriet (Johnson) La- Riew, was born in Elmira, New York, October 6, 1867. He graduated from the
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public schools in 1881, and from Baltimore Medical College, Baltimore, Maryland, April 1898. He served his time as printer's devil with the Elmira Gazette, and became. a journeyman printer in 1887. In 1889 he moved to Washington, New Jersey, and be- came a member of the editorial and managerial staff of the Warren Tidings, a weekly newspaper owned and edited by Thomas Dedrick. Removing the next year to Dover, New Jersey, he became assistant editor and assistant manager of the Morris County Journal, a weekly Prohibition newspaper, published by a stock company in that place. In 1891 he removed to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, taking a similar position with the Daily and Weekly Times, a newspaper owned, published and edited by George C. Hughes. He returned to Washington, New Jersey, 1894, again entering the editorial and managerial staff of the Warren Tidings, at this time owned by J. B. R. Smith. Dr. LaRiew commenced the study of medicine and entered Baltimore Medical College . in 1895. During his vacation in the summer of 1896 and 1897 he was a member of the editorial staff of the Washington Star, a weekly newspaper owned and published by Charles L. Stryker. Having graduated as doctor in April, 1898, he immediately commenced the practice of medicine in Asbury, Warren county, New Jersey, where he continued until September, 1903. Then he disposed of his practice to Dr. E. H. Moore, and moved to Washington, New Jersey, in which place he is still living and practicing medicine and surgery. He is an independent Democrat, and was, in 1903, a delegate to the Democratic gubernatorial convention. From 1898 to 1903 he was in- spector of the board of health of Franklin township, Warren county, and since 1907 he has been a member of the board of health of Washington. In New York State from 1885 to his coming into New Jersey, in 1889, Dr. LaRiew was a member of the National Guard, being corporal in the Twenty-sixth Separate Company, N. G. S. N. Y. He is a member of Union Encampment, No. 57, of Washington, New Jersey, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of American Council, No. 64, Daugh- ters of Liberty, of Washington, New Jersey. Dr. LaRiew is a member of the New Jersey State Medical Society and of the Warren County Medical Society, of which he was president in 1902 and 1903; also of the Tri-County Medical Society and of the Lehigh Valley Medical Society. He is a member of the New Jersey State Sani- tary Association and of the New Jersey State Society for the Prevention of Tuber- culosis; also of the New Jersey State Alumni Society of Baltimore Medical College. He is secretary of the Medical Society of Washington, New Jersey. In addition to these professional organizations, he is a member of several clubs, being president of the Warren County Athletic Club of Washington; of the Washington Athletic Asso- ciation; a member of the American Automobile Association; the Associated Automo- bile Clubs of New Jersey, and the Warren County Automobile Club. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Washington. He married, in Washington, New Jersey, June 28, 1894, Helen Gertrude, daughter of William and Rebecca Helen (Beisel) Stites, who was born in Erwinna, Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, December 6, 1870. Her father, William Stites, was born in Phillipsburg, July 10, 1834, and died March 8, 1901, in Washington, Warren county, New Jersey. He graduated as a physician and surgeon from the University of Pennsylvania in 1868, and practiced his profession successively at Milford, Perry county; Markelsville, in the same county, and Erwinna, Bucks county, all in Pennsylvania, then, from 1874 until his death, at Washington, New Jersey. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was prominent in Masonic circles. Dr. Stites was one of the organizers of the Washington board of health, and was for many years its president. He was for some time a division surgeon of the Lackawanna railroad, and a member of the Warren County Medical Society, being president in 1892 and 1893, and a mem- ber of the New Jersey State Medical Society, the Lehigh Valley Medical Society, and the Tri-County Medical Society. He married, in Allentown, Lehigh county, Penn-
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sylvania, November 10, 1857, and had three children, Daniel B., M. Anna and Helen Gertrude, now the wife of Dr. LaRiew. Mrs. Stites was born in Allentown, October 9, 1839, and died in Washington, January 18, 1906; she was a daughter of Daniel and Mary Magdalena (Keck) Beisel. Her father was a farmer, and she was one of nine children: Rebecca Helen, Mary, Jonas, Frank, Hannah, Solomon, Angeline, Henry and Sarah. Dr. Stites was one of thirteen children of William Stites, born near Newton, in Sussex county, October 15, 1777, died in Phillipsburg in 1865, and Sarah (Rush) Stites, daughter of Benjamin and Sara Rush or Reisch, born near Easton, October 15, 1788. Their children were: Margaret, Lewis, Samuel, born June 23, 1816; Isaac, born September 4, 1818; George, born September 18, 1820; Rosetta, born Febru- ary 18, 1822; Catharine, born August 27, 1825; Anna Maria, born December 29, 1827, still living in Phillipsburg; Sarah, born December 15, 1829; Harriet, born June 6, 1832; William, mentioned above; Ellen, born February 6, 1837, still living in Bridge- port, Connecticut, and Valeria, born in 1839. The senior William Stites was a Lutheran, his business, that of manufacturing fishing nets and tackle. His father also Mrs. La- Riew's great-grandfather, was named William, born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in 1750, and died in 1778, his wife's name was Margaret; she afterward married John Hursh, by whom she had children: George, Anthony and others, most of them set- tled in the West. This William Stites was a Revolutionary soldier. He enlisted in the first battalion of Somerset county, New Jersey, and as a private under Captain Moffet; was wounded in the battle of Princeton, and died at Paulus Hook, New Jersey. His father, again named William, was born in Springfield, New Jersey, in 1719, and died at Mt. Bethel, New Jersey, in 1810; he married (first) Searing, by whom he had three sons: John, William and Isaac; and (second) Sarah, widow of Amos But- ler, by whom he had no children. The founder of the Stites family was John Stites, 1595-1717, a man as his long life would indicate, of wonderful physique. He came from England in the time of Cromwell, and was a physician and surgeon. He settled at Hempstead, Long Island. With him came his son, Richard, 1640-1702, a sculptor and painter. Richard had three sons, Henry, Benjamin and William, 1676-1727. The last named owned seven hundred acres of land near Springfield, Somerset county. He was a slave owner and a prominent man. Of his seven children : John, Richard, Hezekiah, Rebecca, William, Elizabeth and Benjamin, the descendant from William is given above. Child of Frederick Jackson and Helen Gertrude (Stites) LaRiew : William Stites, born March 23, 1900, now a school boy.
HUTCHINGS Benjamin Hutchings, the first member of his family to become
identified with Warren county, New Jersey, was born in Boston,
Massachusetts. He is said to be a descendant of the Ezra Hutchings who served during the Revolution. Benjamin Hutchings left Boston when he was a young man and settled at first in Hampton, where he married. Later he removed to Washington, New Jersey, where he became a successful and promi- nent man and a justice of the peace. He was a Republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in 1893, and is buried in Washington Cemetery. He married Sophia, daughter of Philip Crater, of Hampton, who was born in 1818, and died in 1890. Children: Ezra Judson, referred to below; Mary Elizabeth, married McNara, of Newark, New Jersey; Sarah, married William Hagaman, of Bloomsbury, New Jersey; Margaret, died in 1910, married William Thatcher, of Raymond, Nebraska; Philip, now deceased, served in the civil war; Birchstead, killed as a young man in a railroad accident; William, living in Wash- ington, New Jersey; Edith, married Edward Teats, of Brooklyn, New York; Emma, died in childhood; Peter, now deceased.
(II) Ezra Judson, son of Benjamin and Sophia (Crater) Hutchings, was born
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in Washington, Warren county, New Jersey, January 16, 1841, and died there, Jann- ary 9, 1905. He was educated in the public schools of Washington, and then took up the trade of shoemaker. He enlisted during the civil war, and was enrolled as private May 22, 1861, in Company D, First Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, com- manded by Captain Charles Sidgraves, Jr., and was discharged June 23, 1864. He took part in twenty-one engagements, and at the battle of Manassas was wounded and taken prisoner, but escaped. After his discharge he worked for nine months in the employ of the government, rebuilding railroads, and returned home in. May, 1865. The original order of the war department for his transportation from North Carolina to Washington, New Jersey, is now in the possession of his son, Monford E. Hutchings, referred to below. Mr. Hutchings then found employment with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, working at first in their freight depot at Washington and afterwards as trainman on a freight. When the Daniel F. Beatty Organ Company was formed he took a position there and remained until the firm went out of business, being foreman of the plant for about ten years. He then took a position with the Cornish Organ & Piano Company. He was a Republican in politics, and at one time served as street commissioner. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Improved Order of Red Men. He mar- ried, August 5, 1865, Emma, daughter of James and Hilda (Lance) Harding, who was born in Hackettstown, New Jersey, December 12, 1843, and is now living in Washington. Children: I. Esther, born May 14, 1866; married John Smith; chil- dren: John, Leslie, Woodford and Monford, of whom the last two are deceased. 2. Monford E., referred to below. 3. Philip, born April 2, 1868; a piano-maker, living at Richmond, Long Island; married Caroline Smith; children: Fern. Judson, Margaret, Lillian, Mildred, Oscar. 4. Oscar D., born August 8, 1874; living at Westfield, Union county, New Jersey, and foreman of the Aeolian Company's plant at Garwood, New Jersey; married (first) Arvilla Britton, and (second) Blanche Smith; children, one by each marriage: Lenola and Emma. 5. Benjamin, born April 8, 1881, a piano-maker, living in Washington, New Jersey.
(III) Monford E., son of Ezra Judson and Emma (Harding) Hutchings, was born in Washington, Warren county, New Jersey, August 1, 1867, and is now living in that town, where he conducts one of the largest and best stocked furniture stores in Northern New Jersey. He received his education in the public schools of Wash- ington, and then entered the employ of the Daniel F. Beatty Organ Company, with which he remained for twenty years and eight months. For seven years of this time he was in the experimental department of the company, his principal work being connected with the player attachments to pianos and organs, one of the most im- portant parts of the musical instrument business. In 1892 he resigned this position and spent two years in the furniture and undertaking establishments of C. S. Amer- man, and April, 1904, purchased the business from his employer. In 1902 he pur- chased the lot 45 Youmans avenne, Washington, from the Cole Land Company, and built on it his present beautiful residence. He has always taken a great interest in educational matters and has served for a number of years on the board of education, being chairman of the committee on textbooks and supplies, and of that on rules and regulations. He has been treasurer of the Baptist church in Washington for ten years, and a deacon for eight years. He is a member of Mansfield Lodge, No. 42, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Union Encampment, No. 57, of the Knights of the Golden Eagel, No. 12, and for eight years has been clerk and treasurer of the Modern Woodmen of America. He married, Angust 7, 1889, Ella G., daughter of John T. and Harriet (Williams) Smith, of Bloomsbury, Warren county, New Jersey, who was born there June 25, 1864. Children: Marion, born September 7, 1892, died July 7, 1895; Ruth S., born January 9, 1905.
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Jan Aertsen van der Bilt, the founder of this family, came to VANDERBILT America as early as 1650, and died in Bergen, New Jersey, February 2, 1705. It is uncertain whether the words "van der Bilt" represented a family name or have reference to the village of de Bilt, near Utrecht. If, as some authorities suppose, it is a family name, it is probable that Jan Aertsen, was a near relative of Adriaen Theunisz van der Bilt and Arijen Teunisz van Luijten, who emigrated to Rensselaerwyck in 1640. Jan Aertsen married (first), February 6, 1650, Anneken Hendricks, of Bergen, Norway, (second) Dierber Cor- nelis, and (third), December 16, 1681, Magdalena Hanse, widow of Hendrick Jan- sen Spier, of Bergen, New Jersey. Children: Aris Janse, died after 1711, married, October 6, 1677, Hillegonde (or Hilletje) Remsen; Geertje (or Gerretje) Janse, married (first) Jan Spiegelaer, and (second) Peter Bilyou; Jacob Janse, referred to below; Marretje Janse, married Rem Remsen, of New Lotts; Jan Jansen, Jr., mar- ried about 1733, Helena (or Magdalena) Lefferts, daughter of Leffert Pieterse, and widow of Gerret Martense.
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