USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 58
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 58
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 58
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The Stangers continued the business for about five " one-fourth part of the Olive Glass -Works, at that
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HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
time so called, with one-fourth part of the new store- house and the lot whereon it stands." Aug. 21, 1818, Wolf conveyed a one-fourth part of the above-named property to Isaac Thorn, of Glassboro. About the same time, or soon after, Focer conveyed to Thorn his one-fourth interest. Sept. 12, 1821. Wolf conveyed to Thorn his remaining half. March 10. 1$24, Isaac Thorn conveyed to J. J. Foster the store-house lot with other lands. This transaction completes the history of the glass-works upon the original site.
The workmen had been gradually transferred to , and the business merged in the works owned and carried on by Thomas H. and Samuel A. Whitney, under the firm-name of Whitney Brothers. Thomas H. and Samuel A. Whitney were the grandsons of Col. Thomas Heston and Hannah, his wife, who was a descendant of an old Bucks County, Pa., family, whose name was given to Hestonville, now within the limits of Philadelphia, his wife having been a Clayton, whose ancestors, the Tonkins, eame over in the first ship that sailed up the Delaware as far as Burlington, N. J. Capt. Eben Whitney, of Ca-tine, Me., father of Thomas H. and Samuel A. Whitney, was a descendant of John and Elina Whitney, who embarked at London in April, 1635, and settled at Watertown, Mass., the following June. On his voy- age from the island of Madeira to Philadelphia, in 1806, he was wrecked off Cape May, losing his ves- sel and cargo. On his way between the wreck and Philadelphia he became acquainted with Bathsheba T., second daughter of Thomas and Hannah Heston, at her mother's honse in Glassboro, and afterwards married her, and, with the exception of five or six years, resided in Glassboro till his death, Feb. 3, ' 1823.
The works of Whitney Brothers are located about four hundred yards south of the original site. The first furnace was put in blast in 1813. It was erected, , other, and in the same line of goods.
together with the necessary buildings, by the sons of the original settlers, and others who had been in the
The monthly consumption of materials used in the manufacture of glass is about as follows: 300 tons employ of Heston & Carpenter and their successors, . sand ; 100 tons English soda ash ; 2000 bushels oyster- shell Jime; 75 bushels salt: 700 tons of coal; 300 eords of wood; 80,000 feet of boards, for packing- boxes; 400 tons of hay; 15 tons of German clay for pots ; 500 tons glass packed for shipment.
and John Rink, of Philadelphia. According to a record of a meeting of the shareholders, held Aug. 9, 1813, the following persons were elected to serve for one year, viz. : Daniel Focer, manager ; Levi L. Camp- bell, cashier and clerk ; John Rink, agent.
The firmn-name was Rink, Stanger & Co., and the works were named " Harmony Glass-Works."
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After the death of Mr. Miller, in 1831, his son, Jacob S. Miller, suceceded to his interest. In 1834, Lewis Stanger retired from the firm, and, with his brother Jacob and his son George, erected and started new works, about five hundred yards south of the " Har- mony Glas -- Works."
In 1835. Thomas II. Whitney, then the senior partner in the firm of Whitney Brothers, purchased a third interest in the business, and two years later purchased the entire works, since which period they have been owned and carried on by the brothers, who, in 1842, changed the name to the Whitney Glass- Works.
Since 1835 the furnaces have been enlarged to three or four times their original capacity. and the number of them doubled, so that the present produc- tions are eight times greater than in 1835, and are now the most extensive, best equipped, and produce the greatest variety of styles and colors of any works of their elass in the country.
The furnaces are constructed of Pennsylvania sand- stone, and fire-elay dug in this State. The works are in every particular of a very superior order, and bear the unmistakable evidence of having been erected under the supervision of praetieal glass manufactu- rers. A very interesting fact is that one of the oldest and most reputable houses in Philadelphia, that han- dles a large amount of glassware, commenced the pur- chase of hollow-ware made at these glass-works in 1781 (as the books of that date, still in their possession, show), and the proprietors have continued, from father to son to the third generation, to give all their orders, without exception, to the successors of those from whom the founder of their house purchased his first supply in this country. The grandfathers in the two houses dealt together over one hundred years ago; the grandsous, their successors, are still dealing with each
Connected with the glass-works is a flour- and feed- mill, steam saw-mill, planing-mill, with all the neces- sary machinery for cutting lumber for packing-boxes, for building, aud other purposes ; the blacksmith-shop has three forges for the manufacture and repair of tools, etc. A number of farms, aggregating one thou- sand acres, are cultivated, the products of which are
Focer was a practical glass-blower; Campbell had been store- and book-keeper for Heston & Carpen- ter and Edward Carpenter & Co. at the old works; Rink resided in Philadelphia, and had charge of the sales, the purchasing of supplies, and the financial . consumed by the employes of the works. A ready part of the business generally; Stanger, whose name . market is found there, at the window-glass works, and appears in the firm, was Lewis Stanger.
in the village for all farm products for miles around.
The employes of the Whitney Brothers number about four hundred, and occupy one hundred dwell-
Rink died in 1822, and was succeeded by Daniel II. Miller, of Philadelphia, proprietor of the Frank- lin Window-Glass Works at Malaga, N. J., ten miles ; ings belonging to the works. Many of the workmen, south of Glassboro, which were erected in 1814. however, own the houses which they oeeupy.
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TOWNSHIP OF GLASSBORO.
Thomas IT. Whitney, of Whitney Brothers, died May 5, 1882, since the foregoing sketch was written.
Temperanceville Glass-Works .- This glass-fac- tory is located in the south part of the village of Glassboro, situated on Grove, between Main and Academy Streets, and was built in 1834 by Lewis Stanger, who had in that year retired from the old firm and took in as partners his brother Jacob and son George. The locality was named " Lewisville," but the proprietors, being ultra temperance men, would employ none but those who belonged to the Temperance Society, and a wag of a clerk in the em- ploy of the old firm dubbed the place " Temperance- ville," which name that portion of Glassboro still re- tains, and probably always will.
In 1841 the Stangers, after a number of changes in partners, failed in business, when the property was sold to satisfy mortgage-holders, and purchased in 1842 by Whitney & Warrick, of the old glass-works. and Temperanceville became a part of the Whitney Glass-Works. The business was carried on by the old firm until 1849, when Whitney & Warrick di- vided property, or dissolved partnership, Mr. War- rick taking the Temperanceville property for his share. Mr. Warrick then sold the property to Eben Whitney, who conducted the business till 1856, when Mr. Warrick purchased Mr. Whitney's interest, and took in as a partner Thomas Stanger, when the firm- name became Warrick & Stanger. Up to that time the Temperanceville factory made hollow-ware ex- clusively, and was then changed to a window-glass factory, and in 1860 another glass-house was built, which doubled the former capacity of these works.
The firm-name continued Warrick & Stanger until July, 1883, when Mr. Stanger died, since which time Mr. Woodward Warrick has conducted the entire business.
The present capacity of the works is two hundred boxes of glass per day, and consumption of material six tons of sand and twelve tons of coal per day, thirty-five tons of soda ash per month, besides large quantities of wood for fuel and lumber for boxes. The saw-mill for the manufacture of lumber for boxes is connected with the glass-works, and is oper- ated by steam-power. Mr. Warrick employs in and around these works one hundred and twenty-five men, and owns a large store well stocked with goods | period resumed. Mr. Whitney's tastes led him in for the accommodation of his men and the public generally.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
SAMUEL A. WHITNEY.
their lives, three other sons having been born to them. John Whitney was a citizen of prominence, and filled many positions of distinction and trust. He died on the Ist of June, 1673, aged eighty-four years. In the direct line of de-cent was Sammel, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who resided in Castine, Me., where he married a Miss Cutler, and had children,-Samuel A., Henry, Eben, and Abigail, who became Mrs. Howe. Eben, of these sons, was born in Boston, Mass .. March 17, 1780, and married in Philadelphia, Ang. 27. 1807. Miss Bathsheba, daughter of Col. Thomas Ilestou, of Revo- Intionary fame. Their children were Abigail (Mrs. Woodward Warrick), Thomas Heston, Harriet (Mrs. Myles Synnott), Eben, Samuel A. The death of Mr. Eben Whitney occurred in Glassboro, February, 1823. aged forty-three years, and his burial in the church- yard at Swedesboro, N. J. Samuel A., his son, a sketch of whose life is here briefly given, was born July 7, 1819, in Gloucester County, and devoted his youth to study at a private school of the place. At the age of fifteen he removed to Haddonfield, N. J., and having determined upon a mercantile career he entered the store of Samuel Reeves. After a period thus spent he returned to Gloucester County and re- sumed his studies. His brother, Thomas H. Whitney. had meanwhile succeeded to the extensive glass manufacturing interests which were begun by his grandfather, Thomas Heston, in 1781 and 1782, and under his immediate eye he entered the works as an apprentice. After a period thus spent in labor he became assistant in the store connected with the establishment. Ilis abilities caused his promotion to the position of general manager of the business, and occasioned his presence in Philadelphia indispen- sable in connection with the warerooms of the factory located in that city. Here he remained five years, and on his return to Glassboro became a partner in the enterprise. under the firm-name of Whitney & Brothers. The business was at this date materially increased, extensive additions having been made in its varions departments. During the year 1856. MIr. Whitney and his brother, Thomas H., became exclui- sive proprietors of the Glassboro works, though the latter for awhile retired from the firm and left his brother sole owner, bis interest having been at a later
1855-56 to devote some time to foreign travel. In connection with the distinguished author and anti- quarian, W. C. Prime, he made the tour of Egypt, the Holy Land, and the East, deriving both relaxation and pleasure from the journey. His life and energies have been chiefly devoted to the conducting and pro- moting of his extensive business interests, which have left little leisure for affairs of a public character. Formerly a Whig, and later a Republican in his sired office, and invariably declined such honors.
Jolin and Elinor Whitney with five sons embarked from London for America on board the ship " Eliza- , political proclivities, he has neither sought nor de- betli and Ann" in April, 1635, and settled at Water- town, Mass. Here they dwelt for the remainder of Having been educated in the faith of the Protestant
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HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Episcopal Church, Mr. Whitney has ever been one of its most earnest supporters. In connection with his brother, he erected the attractive stone edifice belonging to that denomination in Glassboro, and contributes largely to the maintenance and growth of the organization.
1
HON. THOMAS M. FERRELL.
The family of Ferrells are of Scotch-Trish ancestry, the orthography of the name having originally been Ferral. James, the earliest representative in America, and the great-grandfather of Hon. Thomas MI. Fer- rell, became on his arrival a resident of Monmonth County, where he engaged in mercantile enterprises. He was closely identified with the struggle of the colonies for independence, and participated in many Revolutionary engagements, having at the close of the conflict attained the rank of captain. Among his children was William, born in Monmouth County, where he was both a merchant and an enterprising farmer. He married Miss Suran, and had children. -Steward, Perry, William, Sarah, and James. The last named was born July 4, 1819, in Port Elizabeth, Cumberland Co., N. J., and early removed to Glouces- ter County, where he has since resided. Mr. Ferrell's tastes led to farming employments, though at a later period he became interested in the mechanical de- partment of glass-blowing. He was united in mar- riage to Miss Emeline, daughter of Alexander Durr, of Philadelphia, and became the parent of seven children, of whom Joseph D., Thomas M., and Benja- min T. survive. Thomas ME., of this number, was born in Glassboro on the 20th of June, 1844, his father's house having been during youth and early manhood his home. His educational advantages were confined to the common and high schools of his native borough, supplemented by careful study and judicious reading at home. At the age of sixteen he began the active duties of life as an apprentice to a firm of glass manufacturers, and having served for five years in that capacity, followed his trade assidu- onsly in Glassboro. While thus occupied he was, in 1878, elected president of the Hollow-Ware Glass- Workers' Association of the United States, and held the position until January, 1883. This appointment resulted in the severance of his relations with the firm by whom he was employed, and opened a new and enlarged field of activity in a more public career.
His first official position was as a member of the committee of his township, to which some prestige attached from the fact of its former exclusive control by representative citizens.
In 1879 he became, at the urgent entreaty of friends, a candidate for the State Legislature, and was, in a district and county strongly Republican, elected as a Democrat by an overwhelming majority. He was re-elected in 1880, and in last chosen to represent his constituents in the State Senate. During these terms
he served on the committees on State Prisons, Banks and Insurance, Agriculture. Federal Relations, Elec- tions, Publie Grounds and Buildings, etc. Mr. Ferrell was the champion of many important measures in both the upper and lower house, chief of which was the introduction of the bill abolishing the store- order and shinplaster system in connection with the glass-workers' interests. He also introduced and -uc- cessfully carried through a bill which attacked and ultimately overruled the pass-book system, main- tained in the interest of the same industry. Ile was during the session of 1881 the author of the bill in- trodneing the election blanks as a means of facilitating election returns from the various districts. Mr. Fer- rell's abilities as a legislator caused him to be nomi- nated and elected to Congress in 1882, which honorable position he at present fills.
He is an active and enthusiastic Odd-Fellow, a member of Glassboro Lodge, No. 58, and Past Grand Master of the State. He is a member of Glassboro Lodge, No. 85. of Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is Past Master. The local assembly of Knights of Labor, No. 799, also claims him as a member. The latter organization he represented at their General Assembly, held at Detroit, Mich., in 18SI. He has ever manifested a deep interest in the cause of education, and served as president of the Board of Education of his borough. Since the age of fourteen Mr. Ferrell has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Glassboro, and for many years held official connection with it as class- leader, steward, and trustee. He is also greatly in- terested in Sunday-school work, and has at various times held the position of Sunday-school -uperin- tendent. Mr. Ferrell was married on the 23d of August, 1871, to Mies Emma T., daughter of Richard G. and Sophia Stanger.
JOHN REPP.
John Repp, the pioneer fruit farmer of Gloucester County, N. J., was born near Dayton, Ohio, Feb. 26, 1836. His family are, as the name indicates, of Ger- man origin, the great-great-grandfather of our sub- jeet having emigrated from there prior to the Revo- lutionary war and settled near Reading, Pa., where he located land and devoted his time to farming. Of his children, John Repp was born on the old home- stead, where he grew to manhood and followed farm- ing. He moved to Frederick, Md., where he spent the remainder of his days. One of his sons ( Daniel) married, in 1800, a Miss Elizabeth Reddick, and two years after emigrated to the wilderness of Ohio. and near where Dayton now stands located a farm. Not a tree had been cut, and with his own hands he cut away the trees where he built his home. His journey thither was by wagon and mostly through the forests. ITe located a large tract of land, and at his death, which occurred after he was ninety years old, lett
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Thom Ferrell
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TOWNSHIP OF GREENWICH.
each of his children a nice farm. They had seven girls and three boys, of whom David was born in 1$12. and grew to man's estate near Dayton. He married Miss Elizabeth Lesley, of Pennsylvania Patch parentage, by whom he had seven children, namely, Daniel, John, Joseph, William, Christopher, Mary Ann, and Samantha, all of whom are alive but Christopher, who died in the Union army. Joseph also served in the Union army, and was discharged after four years' service. David married for his see- ond wife Mrs. Barbara Terhune, who bore him three sons and three daughters. John Repp, our subjeet, moved in 1846, with his father's family, to Miami County. Ind., which was then an almost unbroken wilderness. Here he was put to work as soon as old enough, and had but little chance to acquire an edu- cation. He remained near his father's home, work- ing at whatever he could get to do, until he was twenty-seven years old, when, with a thousand dollars which he had accumulated, he came to Malaga, N. J., and bought fifty-four acres of land, with the intention of carrying out the ambition of his life, that of mak- ing a model fruit farm. This had been his aim from boyhood, and he felt that he was in the way to its ac- complishment. He put ont an orchard of apple- and peach-trees, but everything he bought was so dear that, before he eould realize anything from his or- chard, his debts became so great that he was forced to sell out, and he found himself without a dollar. He had been drafted during this time and had paid the three hundred dollars commutation money. In the spring of 1865 he engaged with Mr. Thomas Whitney as manager of his large farm near Glass- boro, which position he filled for eight years to the satisfaction of his employer. In 1872 he bought en- tirely on credit, mostly of Mr. Whitney, the farm he now owns, and which was then covered with stumps and brush and only old buildings. He had saved enough to buy the stock necessary to carry on dairy farming, which he has since successfully done in con- nection with his fruit farming. He was more than ever convinced that the soil of this part of Jersey was adapted to the successful growing of small fruits, and, against the advice of friends, in the face of ridi- cule and prophecies of failure and poverty, he again set out apples, pears, and peaches, in all ten acres the first year. While putting in trees men in passing were heard to laugh at him and say he was a fool. But a farm, one hundred acres of which is covered with every variety of fruit produced in this climate, a farm which, at some seasons of the year, gives employment to one hundred and twenty-five people, and from which he has this season sold eight thousand dollars' worth of fruit, is the result of his foresight and perseverance. And to-day sees the men who laughed at his seeming folly following in his footsteps, or trying to. He again became deeply involved, and would never have reached the coveted end but for the support of Thomas Whit- ney, to whom he owes a deep debt of gratitude. When
everything else was turned out as security, he insured his life for many thousands of dollars, and in that way obtained credit with which to carry on his work. lle has had an able assistant in his labor in his wife, who was Mrs. Sarah Jane Smith, daughter of Thomas Gifford, born at Malaga, Feb. 10, 1833, widow of John Smith, who was a gallant soldier, and fell mortally wounded at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Repp were married Jan. 6, 1869. Their children are Joseph. born Oct. 13, 1869: Albert, born April 28, 1872; and Charles, born March 1, 1874. Mrs. Repp had by her first husband the following children : Thomas, born Nov. 23, 1855; Ann Elizabeth, born Oct. 3, 1858 ; and John F., born Aug. 2, 1862.
CHAPTER XLII.
TOWNSHIP OF GREENWICH.'
Geographical and Descriptive .- This was one of the original townships, and was formed soon after the erection of the connty in 1686. As first set off, the township contained an area of abont one-third of the eounty as now constituted, but at present it contains only fourteen thousand acres of land.
The surface of the township is what might be termed level, yet some portions of it are gently nn- dulating. The soil is a light sandy loam, underlaid with marl, and quite fertile when properly culti- vated. The products of the township are disposed of in the Philadelphia market.
The town-hip is bounded on the east by West Deptford; on the southeast and south by Elist Greenwich; on the southwest by Logan township; and on the north by the Delaware River.
The township is watered on the northeast by the Mantua, which forms the boundary line between this and West Deptford ; Clonmel, Nehansey, Still Run, and London Branch Creeks, all rise in the southeast part of the township, and flow north westerly into the Delaware, which washes the north border of Green- wich. Repaupo Creek also forms the dividing line between this and Woolwich township. Rattling Run is a small stream crossing the southwest corner of the township.
Isaac Mickle, in his " Reminiscences of Old Glouces- ter," says, "The township of Greenwich is by some months the most ancient township in Gloucester County ; for we find apon the minutes of the County Court, under date of the 1st of March, 1694, the fol- lowing note: 'The inhabitants between Great Man- toes Creek and Barclay River request yt ye same di- vision be made and laid inte a township, henceforth to be called by ye name of ye Township of Green- wich ; and yt ye same be so recorded. To which yt: Bench assents, and order ye same to be done.'
1 By W. H. Shaw.
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HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
" The country about the Raccoon and the Repaupo having been settled by the Swedes, hundreds of whom still resided there when the English arrived, the town- ship of Greenwich was for some years by far the most populous of the six into which the county was in 1694 divided. In the seventeenth century most of the magnates of this part of old Gloucester bore such titles as Eriek Coek, Hermanus Helm, John Rambo, and Mons Loek. The Swedish language, religion. and customs were rigidly conserved for a long time, and even to this day many traces of the Swedish origin of the people of Greenwich are observable."
Pioneer Diseases and Remedial Agents .- Of the sassafras, which grew everywhere in great abundance, the aborigines, he tells us, used to make bowls; the Swedes used its root in brewing, applied it- pieces as a cure for dropsy, used it in decoction as a rinse for vessels in which they kept brandy and cider, and made their bed-posts of it to keep out the bugs. The bark of the chestnut-oak was used by the Indians, as a Swede told Kalm, for dying leather red, and the Swedes probably used it for the same purpose. The fruit of the persimmon-tree gave to the first inhabi- tants of Greenwich a very curious and palatable liquor, which is now, we believe, not made. They also distilled brandy from it by a very simple pro- cess. Pompions or eroeknalks, as the Swedes called them, squashes and calabashes, are also mentioned by our traveler as having been procured from the Indians and cultivated by the Swedes for household purposes.
The pompions and squashes they ate, the latter being served up on the edge of the dish, around the meat. Of the calabashes, they made in those days not only ladles and bowls. but plates for the' table. In holly-leaves, dried and bruised in a mortar, they found a cure for pleurisy, which terrible disease, in 1728, swept away nearly all the Swedes in the numer- ous settlements at Penn's Neek, where it broke out again just before Kalm's vi-it. The ague, too, in olden time was a much more dangerous enemy than now. Against this the Swedes employed, with vari- ous success, the Jesuit's bark. the root of the tulip- tree and of the dogwood, the yellow bark of the peach-tree. the leaves of the potentilla reptans, and several other indigenons preparations which they adopted from the Indians. As an antifebrile, they sometimes tied wisps of mullein or Indian tobacco around their arms and feet. The root of the bay- tree they used as a remedy for the toothache, which "hell of a' diseases," as Burns calls it, the Swedes brought upon themselves in consequence of the belief that nothing was good unless eaten as fast as it came from the fire.1
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