USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Warren County, New Jersey > Part 30
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
(III) Alma L., daughter of Bradford F. and Eliza (Coates) Lapham, was born in St. John, New Brunswick, September 19, 1853, and is now living in Phillipsburg, Warren county, New Jersey. Her girlhood was spent in St. John, where she received her early education in private schools. In 1881 she graduated from the Women's Medical College, Pennsylvania, with the degree of M. D., and since then she has been engaged in the practice of her profession, making a specialty of the diseases of women and children. She is a member of the Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Phillipsburg. For the past six years Dr. Williston has been city physician of Phillips- burg, and she is probably the only woman in the state holding such a position. She married, December 4, 1882, the Rev. Francis S., son of Judge Edward and Sarah (Mignowtz) Williston, who was born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, and is now (1911) living in Phillipsburg, Warren county, New Jersey. His father was born in Bay du Vin, New Brunswick, and died in Newcastle, New Brunswick, aged seventy- eight years. His mother was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and died at the same age as her husband, seventy-eight years. Their children were: Edward P .; Allan; How- ard ;. Francis S .; Hedley; Emily; Jane; Elizabeth; Maud and May Williston, and two others that died in infancy. The Rev. Francis S. Williston received his early educa- tion at a private academy, and then graduated from Mount Allison College and the Theological Seminary of Bangor, Maine. He was then ordained minister, and for three years pastor of the Congregational church at New Castle, New Hampshire. After this he held different charges under the Newark Methodist Episcopal Confer- cnce, filling various pulpits, and in 1897 came to Phillipsburg as a missionary on the Morris and Lehigh canals, working under the auspices of the Sabbath Association of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To this work he has devoted himself ever since. Chil- dren of the Rev. Francis S. and Dr. Alma (Lapham) Williston : 1. Cyrus Hamlin, born September 1, 1883, graduated from Lafayette College and is now instructor in science in the high school at Shamokin, Pennsylvania; married Levina Seitzinger. 2. Edward Bradford, born September 15, 1890, educated in the public schools of Phillips- burg, and a graduate of the Lerch Preparatory School of Easton, Pennsylvania. 3. Elizabeth R., born July 18, 1896, a student in the high school at Phillipsburg.
George Snyder, grandfather of Irvin S. Snyder, of Phillipsburg, was
SNYDER a farmer living near Nazareth, Northampton county, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Lutheran church and a Democrat in politics. At one time he lived near Harmony, Warren county, New Jersey, and here some of his children were born. He married a Miss Henry. Among his children were: Theo- dore, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania; Peter, of Easton, Pennsylvania; Sarah; Mary; Caroline; William; Nathaniel; Abraham George, referred to below.
(II) Abraham George, son of George and (Henry) Snyder, was born in Warren county, New Jersey, in 1839, died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in January, 1888. He was educated in the public schools and then took to farming, running a hundred-acre farm in Northampton county, Pennsylvania. Later he gave this up and removed to Bethlehem, where he engaged in the meat business. He was a member
333
WARREN COUNTY.
of the Lutheran church and a Democrat in politics. He married (first) Sarah C. Kachline, who died June 10, 1874, aged thirty-four years. He married (second) Sarah Krisley, who survived him, and is now living at Plainfield, New Jersey. Children, five by first marriage: Newton A., living in Easton, Pennsylvania; Irvin S., referred to below; Elizabeth, died aged twelve years; Emma, married Edward Myers, of Northampton county, Pennsylvania; Amelia, married James Dunn, now deceased, their only child, Myrtle, born September 13, 1901, is now living with her uncle, Irvin S. Snyder, referred to below; Harry; Daisy.
(III) Irvin S., son of Abraham George and Sarah C. (Kachline) Snyder, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1864, and is now living in Phillips- burg. He received a good public school education, and when eighteen years old went to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he apprenticed himself to learn the carriage painting trade. He served his time with the firm of Albright & Company, of that city, and re- mained with them for five years. In 1887 he came to Phillipsburg, where he set up for himself, and conducted a very prosperous business until July 1, 1899, when he sold out, in the following November, purchasing the hotel site at 566 South Main street, where he has continued ever since to conduct one of the best hostelries in the town. He is a Democrat in politics, and in 1905 was elected to the city council, where he served for three years with credit to himself and to the office. He has a large circle of friends and is most popular with every one who knows him. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church, and are very liberal contributors. They were among the first and the largest contributors to the fund for the remodeling of the parsonage. Mr. Snyder is a member of Chapter No. 111, of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of Easton, Pennsylvania, and of Teedyescung Tribe, No. 17, of the Improved Order of Red Men of America. He married, August 22, 1888, Laura E., daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Willever, who was born at Springtown, Warren county, New Jersey, February 26, 1865. No children, but they have adopted the daugh- ter of Mr. Snyder's sister, Amelia (Snyder) Dunn, referred to above.
HOFFMAN Godfrey Hoffman, the first member of this family of whom we have definite information, was a resident of Monmouth county, New Jer- sey. His father was the original emigrant from Germany, and his brother, Thomas, was a lawyer in Newark, New Jersey, where he practiced for a long time. Godfrey Hoffman married a woman whose surname . was Barcroft, Christian name unknown. Among their children was William, referred to below.
(II) William, son of Godfrey Hoffman, was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, and was a carpenter for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religion a Methodist. He married Caroline Silverthorn. Children : Augustus Cronce; Mary Frances; George Elwood; Ambrose Silverthorn, referred to below; Emma Reading.
(III) Ambrose Silverthorn, son of William and Caroline (Silverthorn) Hoffman, was born September 4, 1851, at Rosemont, New Jersey. Like his father, he works for the Pennsylvania railroad. He was baggage master on a train that was wrecked at Milford, New Jersey, October 4, 1877, and since June 11, 1888, he has been a passenger conductor. He is a Methodist in religion, and a Republican in politics. He married, December 27, 1877, Ruzilla Jennie, daughter of Daniel and Anna (McCann) Allen, who was born at Quakertown, New Jersey, July 31, 1851. Her father's ancestors came from Wales, her mother's grandfather from Ireland. Children: William Christopher, referred to below; Winfield Scott, born October 19, 1884, died March 21, 1886.
(IV) William Christopher, son of Ambrose Silverthorn and Ruzilla (Allen) Hoffman, was born at Trenton, New Jersey, March 31, 1883. He attended the public
334
WARREN COUNTY.
schools at Phillipsburg and graduated from the high school June 27, 1902. May 17, 1906, he graduated with the degree of doctor in pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemist from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Before taking this course he had been employed from July 8, 1902, to October 1, 1903, at Weaver's Pharmacy in Easton, and resigned in order to enter the College of Pharmacy, but worked there again during his first summer vacation. In the summer of 1905 he worked in Trenton, first for W. Scott Taylor and afterwards for the Miller Drug Company. On graduating he im- mediately took charge of Miller's drug store in Easton, which position he left in September, 1906, when he entered the employment of H. B. Semple & Sons as manu- facturing pharmacist and prescriptionist. October 15 following he purchased from John D. Hornly the store which he now owns and manages. Mr. Hoffman is a mem- ber of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church. He is a member of the Junior Order United American Mechanics, and of Kappa Psi national medical fraternity, in the latter of which he has held a number of offices.
He married, at Phillipsburg, September 23, 1905, Edna Catherine L., daughter of Howard and Sarah (Schmidt) Creveling, who was born in Phillipsburg, July 12, 1884. Her father is a shoemaker. She is one of three children, the others being, Alice B. and Ida May. Children of William Christopher and Edna Catherine L. (Creveling) Hoffman : Howard Ambrose, born July 6, 1906; Harry Teel, December 16, '1909.
WINKLER Peter Winkler, the founder of this family of his name in America, and the father of Lewis Winkler, of Phillipsburg, was born in Baden, Germany, November 8, 1839, and died in New Jersey, January 2, 1899. After receiving a fair education in the German schools he became a farmer and truckman. After hearing and reading a good deal about the United States he deter- mined to emigrate, and in 1870 came over to his country and found his way to Phillipsburg, where he obtained employment with the Andover Furnace Company of that place, being employed in unloading their boats. Two years later he sent for his family, and his wife and three eldest children landed in New York City on April 1, 1872, and four days later came to their new home in Phillipsburg. Mr. Winkler re- mained with the Andover Furnace Company for the next three years, but in 1875 ob- tained a position as foreman of one of the section gangs of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad, and retained this position until his death by accident in the per- formance of his duty. His gang at the time were employed in clearing the tracks of a heavy fall of snow, the drifts in some places being more than five feet deep. Mr. Winkler was obliged to cross the track, and owing to the drifts he was struck down and run over by a milk train before either he or the engineer was aware of the danger. He was an elder in St. John's Lutheran Church, Phillipsburg, for many years, and a Democrat in politics, in which he took a deep interest. He was a member of the I. O. O. F. of Phillipsburg, and the reputation he left behind him was that of a kind, home-loving man, who won the respect and esteem of all with whom he came in con- tact.
He married, in 1865, Elizabeth Waldbauer, who was born in Germany, December 31, 1842, and died in Phillipsburg, May 13, 1885. Children: I. Lewis, referred to below. 2. Peter, born in 1868; died in 1903. 3. Christian, now living at Mt. Holly, New Jersey. 4. Mary, married James Mutchler, of Easton, Pennsylvania. 5. Fred- erick, died aged thirty-five years. 6. John, now living in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania. 7. Rose. 8. Elizabeth, now deceased. And two children that died in infancy.
(II) Lewis, son of Peter and Elizabeth (Waldbauer) Winkler, was born in Baden, Germany, September 1, 1866, and died March 1, 1911, in Phillipsburg. He was brought to this country with his two other brothers, Peter and Christian, when he was only five years old, and received his education in the public schools of Phillips-
335
WARREN COUNTY.
burg. He started early in life to make his own living, working at first for the War- ren Foundry Company, but after a few months experience in the machine shops giv- ing up his place in order to become a cigar-maker's apprentice. He worked at first for August Schultz and afterwards for Peter Ritter, and at the end of seven years training under these men he went into business for himself, and opened a cigar store at II Union Square, Phillipsburg, where he did a successful and prosperous business until his death. Mr. Winkler was one of the men who advocated the establishment of a daily paper in Phillipsburg, and was one of the few who subscribed to the stock of the ill-fated Warren Democrat. He was also a stockholder in the Phillipsburg Water Company. He built his present home, which is on the corner of Davis and Mary streets, in 1895.
He married, August 10, 1890, Sophia, daughter of Christopher and Elizabeth Mayer, who was born in Germany, July 8, 1868. Her father, who was born April 8, 1829, and died August 16, 1877, came to America with his family and, establishing a bakery in Phillipsburg, became one of the town's most prosperous men. He was a Lutheran, and a member of the I. O. O. F. By his wife, Elizabeth, he had children : George; Elizabeth; Emma; Sophia, referred to above, and two others that died in infancy. Children of Lewis and Sophia (Mayer) Winkler: I. John Peter, born March 28, 1890, a machinist, living in Phillipsburg. 2. Elizabeth, born August 6, 1891, died September 2, 1891. 3. Lewis,, born August 29, 1892, graduated with honors from the Phillipsburg high school in 1910, now working in the machine shops of the Inger- soll-Rand Company. 4. Carl, born November 5, 1894. 5. James, born April 7, 1899. 6. Grace, born January 28, 1907.
SHIELDS Thomas Shields, of Hackettstown, New Jersey, the first member of
this family of whom we have definite information, died August 28, 1827, in his fifty-second year. He was a farmer by occupation, lived for a time in Washington township, but spent most of his life in Hackettstown, where besides farming he operated a distillery and did a drover's business. He was a Dem- ocrat in politics and a Presbyterian in religion, and it was owing to his efforts that the Presbyterian church was built. He left a farm to each of his sons, and to each of his daughters the equivalent in money. He married Sarah Coleman, who survived him many years, dying November 15, 1858, at the age of eighty-two years, eleven months. Children : Samuel; Mary, married Isaac Smith; William, referred to below; Sarah, married Robert P. Strader; Elizabeth, married Johnson Titus, of Phillipsburg; John; David; Isaac; Thomas, referred to below.
(II) William, son of Thomas and Sarah (Coleman) Shields, was born in Hack- ettstown New Jersey, September 10, 1803, and died December 12, 1882. He was left a small farm by his father which he conducted successfully and greatly enlarged, and although he started life with comparatively nothing he died a well-to-do and pros- perous man. He was a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian church, and a Democrat in politics. He served for a number of years as freeholder, and also as a director of' the First National Bank of Washington. He married, September 29, 1832, Anna, daughter of John Hance, who died about 1876. Children: I. Thomas, born October 5, 1833, died June 28, 1895. 2. Joseph H., born February 22, 1835, died November 4, 1835. 3. Sarah Elizabeth, born April 16, 1836. 4. John, born November 14, 1838, died July 2, 1883. 5. William, referred to below. 6. Mary Jane, born June 21, 1843, died February II, 1846. 7. Robert, born September 28, 1845. 8. Jennie, born July 3, 1848. 9. James L., referred to below. 10. Joseph H., born August 12, 1851, died July 25, 1873. II. Anna, born May 29, 1853. 12. Calvin, born April 8, 1855, died September 16, 1885. 13. Frank, born February 1, 1859, died August 6, 1859.
(III) William, son of William and Anna (Hance) Shields, was born in Warren
336
WARREN COUNTY.
county, New Jersey, March 12, 1841, and died there, July 6, 1899. He received his edu- cation in the public schools of Warren county and then went to New York City, where he took a business course. At the age of nineteen he returned to Washington and obtained employment as a bookkeeper for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company. Shortly afterwards he became manager of the railroad's coal- yards in Washington, and retained this position all' his life. He built the beautiful home in which his widow and son now live in 1871. For twenty years he was secre- tary of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church, which he established. In politics he was a Republican. He was a member of Mansfield Lodge, No. 36, F. and A. M., of New Jersey; of Temple Chapter, R. A. M., and DeMolay Commandery, No. 6, K. T. He married, November 16, 1869, Mary, daughter of James and Mary (Sharp) Stewart, who was born near Stewartsville, October 15, 1837. She is one of the three survivors of the charter members of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Pres- byterian church, which was organized in 1878, and it was mainly through her efforts that the $15,000 needed for building the chapel was secured. Her great-great-grand- father, born in Scotland March 1I, 1691, emigrated to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1720, and died there, leaving sons, Charles and George. Charles Stewart, born in Scotland, May 9, 1714, died in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1789, leaving a son Robert, born January 9, 1733, who removed to Sussex county, New Jersey, where he died July 22, 1809, leaving sons, Thomas and Robert, and two daughters, Mary, married Thomas Kennedy, and Sarah, married William Kennedy. His son, Thomas, grand- father of Mrs. Mary (Stewart) Shields, was born November 19, 1752, and died December 31, 1836. For a time he lived on the property left him by his father in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, but in 1793 he bought six hundred and forty acres in Greenwich township and settled there, becoming one of the most prominent men in the county, justice of the peace, judge of the court of common pleas, president judge of the first inferior county court of Warren county, and judge of the court of oyer and terminer. He married, March 19, 1778, Rachel Dewees, and left seven sons and two daughters. His son, James Stewart, left the farm given to him by his father, turned merchant, and in 1865 settled in Washington, New Jersey, where he became postmaster and mayor of the town, and a delegate to the Republican national conven- tion in Baltimore. He procured the charter for the Phillipsburg National Bank, and was one of its directors. He married Mary, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Sharp, who died in 1872, aged sixty-nine years. Children: i. John. ii. Sarah. iii. Rachel. iv. Samuel. v. Martha, married Theodore Hulshizer, and now living with her sister, Mrs. Shields. vi. Christian, married Robert Godfrey, of Washington, New Jersey. vii. Mary, referred to above. viii. James, living in Phillipsburg. ix. Edward, living in Stroudsburg. x. Jane, married Joseph W. Johnson, of Washington. Child of William and Mary (Stewart) Shields: William, referred to below.
(IV) William (3), son of William (2) and Mary (Stewart) Shields, was born in Washington, New Jersey, June 16, 1872, and is now living at Glenridge, Essex county, New Jersey. He graduated from the Washington high school, and then took a business course in the Poughkeepsie Military College, and when seventeen years of age went to New York City, where he obtained employment in the real estate depart- ment of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company, being put in charge of the loan desk, and in January, 1911, was promoted to the office of real estate manager of Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is a Presbyterian in religion and a Repub- lican in politics. He married, April 22, 1908, Carlotta, daughter of Charles A. Good- nough, of Evanston, Illinois, a vice-president of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad.
(III) James Lillie, son of William and Anna (Hance) Shields, was born on his father's farm, May 20, 1850, and is now living in Washington, New Jersey. He spent
337
WARREN COUNTY.
his boyhood days on his father's farm, and received his education in the township schools of New Hampton, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and in Pennington Institute. After leaving school he went to Washington, New Jersey, where he entered the em- ploy of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad, with which he remained until February 1, 1893, when he entered the employ of his brother, William, in his coal business. When his brother died he succeeded to the business and has been carrying it on most successfully ever since. Mr. Shields has dealt largely in real estate. After his father's death he bought up the homestead of one hundred and forty-three acres from the other heirs, also purchased a farm of one hundred and ninety-seven acres in Washington township, Warren county, known as the Samuel Shields farm; and in addition purchased of his brother William's heirs, the old Hance homestead near Stephensburg, Morris county, which originally belonged to his mother's father. He is a great advocate of temperance, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He is a member of Mansfield Lodge, No. 36, F. and A. M., of New Jersey; past thrice illustrious master of Washington Council, No. 7, R. S. M .; past eminent commander of DeMolay Commandery, No. 6, Knights Templar, and a member of Mecca Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S, of New York City. He married (first), October 5, 1875, Mary Alice, daughter of Dr. John V. and Catharine (Winter) Mattison, who was born May 14, 1854, and died August 19, 1877, without issue. He married (second), October 12, 1881, Lillie, daughter of John Bunyan and Caroline (Conover) Ramsey, of Clinton, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, who was born January 14, 1856. Children: I. Caro- line R., born June 5, 1885; graduate of the Hackettstown high school and Boston Uni- versity. 2. Joseph Cramer, born July 14, 1886; prepared for college in Washington high school, graduated from University of Pennsylvania, 1908; until 1910 with the New York Trust Company, New York City, since then with the Title Insurance Company, of New York; member of Mansfield Lodge, No. 36, F. and A. M., of New Jersey.
(II) Thomas, son of Thomas and Sarah (Coleman) Shields, was born in Hack- ettstown, New Jersey, February 15, 1809, and died in Beatyestown, Warren county, New Jersey, September 29, 1880. He was educated in the Hackettstown schools, moved to Beatyestown, where he lived all his life, turned his attention to real estate and farming, and when he died owned three large farms in Warren county and a fourth in Morris county. He also dealt considerably in live stock, buying cattle in Warren county and driving it to Newark and New York City. In 1868 he opened a hematite ore mine on his farm, and in 1870 opened a second one. Before 1877 he had also bought a third farm from the estate of Stewart M. Brown, and opened a third mine there. For several years he sold the ore at the mine, and it was taken to Hokendauqua, Pennsylvania; later he took it himself to Hackettstown and Stanhope to be smelted and turned into iron. He was a Presbyterian and a Democrat. He married, February 18, 1830, Fanny, daughter of Abraham and Anna (Gates) Claw- son, of Hackettstown, who was born March 3, 1812, and died in 1884, nearly seventy- two years of age. Children : I. Almira, married Richard Stephens, of Washington, and now living there with her daughter, Mrs. John B. Swazey. 2. Kate M., referred to below. 3. Emma J., married L. T. Labar, and now living on the old homestead in Beatyestown. 4. Mary, married Jacob Gulick, of Newark, New Jersey. 5. Susan, married Andrew Trimmer, of Anita, Iowa. 6. David, now living in Central City, New Brunswick. 7. William S., now living in Beatyestown. 8. Margaret B., married James P. Hendershort, of Newark, New Jersey. 9. Josephine C., married James M. Fitts, of Newark. 10. Sarah A., married Henry Carpenter, of Hackettstown.
(III) Kate M., daughter of Thomas and Fanny (Clawson) Shields, was born in Beatyestown, Warren county, New Jersey, and is now living in Phillipsburg. For over twenty-four years she conducted a bakery in Phillipsburg, which proved a most
338
WARREN COUNTY.
successful venture and enabled her to invest her profits in several of the best business properties in the city. In 1891 she retired from business, and since then has traveled much for her health, spending the greatest part of her time in Porto Rico. She has been a member of the Presbyterian church all her life, was one of the charter members of the Ladies' Aid Society, and has been secretary of that body for many years, She has been a resident of Phillipsburg since 1866. She married Edward Skinner, but is now divorced from him and has resumed her maiden name.
LARNED Stephen Holmes Larned, of Phillipsburg, belongs to the family which ha's played so prominent a part in the history of New England from colonial days, and Mr. Larned himself has played no inconspicuous part in the industrial history of Massachusetts, before he settled in New Jersey.
(I) His grandfather, Morris Larned, was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, May 23, 1786, and died there November 6, 1878. He served as colonel during the war of 1812. He was a woolen manufacturer and merchant, a tavern keeper and a farmer. He was a Universalist in religion and a Whig in politics. He married, November 25, 1810, Elizabeth Eaton, who was born January 7, 1790, and died July 26, 1890. Chil- dren : I. John Eliot. 2. William. 3. Thomas Morris, referred to below. 4. George Borden. 5. Cordelia. 6. Hannah. 7. Harriet. 8. Sarah. 9. Ursula.
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.