History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2, Part 12

Author: Cushing, Thomas, b. 1821. cn; Sheppard, Charles E. joint author
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 12
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 12
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 12

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The passage of the act for compulsory education. and the last and seemingly impossible vote requi-it to sustain Governor Bedle's veto of a hill involvir : thu unnecessary expenditure of several million- .. dollars, are due to Mr. Smith's efforts. He was al ... appointed to succeed Governor Olden as one of the commissioners to enlarge the State-House. Although the appropriation was exceedingly small, the editie was not only substantially constructed, but an unex- pended balance of appropriation returned to the trea -. ury. The commissioners received no compensation. Unt were commended by the Governor in his annu .. 1 message. Ile also participated in the Centenmal celebration in Trenton ; the plan and, with incidental aid, most of the details (except those especially per- taining to the ladies) were intrusted to him. The affair was regarded as the most brilliant and succe --- ful of the kind ever attempted in the State.

Mr. Smith's early editorial training wedded him to the pen, and in his leisure hours he gladly turned to literature. Besides contributing to the press, he has achieved literary reputation in this country and Great Britain. Among flattering recognitions may be mentioned his elvetion as a member of the distin- guished Powysland Historical Society of Wales, cor- responding member of the New England Historie and Genealogical Society of Boston, and honorary mem- ber of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Many of the principal colleges and public libraries solicite! and received copies of his historical, genealogiea !. and biographical works. He visited Wales in re- sponse to cordial invitation from the secretary of the Powysland Society, and was entertained and cou. Jneted through the most attractive portions of that beautiful and historically interesting country. Il: has been remembered as a friend by the soldiers, who have made him honorary member of several of their associations, and decorated him with their badges ; and on personal grounds he was tendered the position of aide-de-camp by the Governor.

After retiring front office he twice made extensive tours through the most interesting portions of Europe (of which be published accounts), and also variou- journeys in the United States and Canada. He was always fond of aquatic life, and on board of his yacht cruised ten summers through the sounds and bays and along the Atlantic coast, thereby becoming familiar with the sea in all its phases. He was very domestic in his habits, in the later years of his life rarely taking part in public affairs unless impelled by a sense of . duty. His fondness for art induced him to decor.it his home with many specimens, and an extensive library afforded him a resource of pleasure he wa- loath to relinquish. He was long a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and for several years a delegate to the Diocesan Convention. In the mid -: of a busy life he was called away on Jan. 27, Je-3 and an active and useful career was closed. The en- tire bar of the State was summoned by the clerk of the

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CITY OF SALEM.

supreme Court to attend his funeral at Trenton. the -enate also adjourned for the same purpose, and a large number of prominent and distinguished meu honored the occasion with their presence.

REV. DANIEL STRATTON.

Rev. Daniel Stratton was for about fourteen years pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Salem.

The present church building was erected during his ministry. On the right hand of the pulpit in this church is a mural tablet inscribed as follows :

Our l'astur. To the

Rev. Daniel strattun, for fourteen years the faithful and beloved pastor of this Church, This Memorial is erected by his bereaved Congregation. Born Sept. 28, 1814 Died Ang. 24, 1×66. He being dead yet speaketl.

Mr. Stratton was born in Bridgeton, Cumberland County (sixteen miles from Salem), Sept. 28, 1$14. He entered the sophomore class at Princeton in 1530, and was graduated when nineteen years of age, in 1533. Jle began his course in the Theological Semi- nary at Princeton in 1834, but was compelled by ill health to leave in his third year and go to Union Seminary, in Virginia, where he finished his studies, and was licensed to preach April 13, 1837, by the Presbytery of West Hanover, in that State.

In the mean time he had taught for nearly a year at the academy in Salem; and in the fall of that year be married Miss Eleanor C. Hancock, eldest daughter of Morris Hancock, Esq., of that city.

He began his work as a prencher of the gospel at Newberne, N. C., where he stayed for fifteen years, when he was called to the Presbyterian Church in Salem, and came back to finish his course where hc had begun it.

His ministry of fourteen years in this city was a very successful one, and the memorial inscription above quoted represents more nearly than is some- times the case the true feeling of the congregation to which he had so long ministered.

The best results of the life-work of so faithful and earnest a pastor and preacher as Mr. Stratton is not to be seen at all in this world; but the silent clo- quence of such a life as his is more efficient than that of any spoken words.

Mr. Stratton died on the 24th day of August, 1866, and was buried in the graveyard of the Presbyterian Church, not far from the school where he had taught and the church that he had attended thirty years before.

JOHN POWELL MOORE.

John Powell Moore, son of John Powell and Jane Westcott Moore, was born in Sayre's Neck, Fairfield township, Cumberland Co., N. J., Dec. 16, 1822, and was the second of several children. His father was a farmer by occupation, and the family an old one in Cumberland County.

With only a common school education to prepare him for the business of life, Mr. Moore, in 1850, at the age of eighteen, removed to Salem, N. J., and en- tered the store of Thomas W. Cattell, a hardware merchant ou Market Street, who was also at that time postmaster. In that position he remained for several years, faithfully discharging his duties to his employ- ers and winning the approbation of the public by his application to business, his uniform urbanity of man- ner, and correct moral deportment.

In 1856, J. J'. Moore and Samuel G. Cattell entered into partnership with Thomas W. Cattell. under the firin-name of Thomas W. Cattell & Co. Mr. Samuel Cattell retiring from the business after a few years, the firm continued as Cattell & Moore until 1866, when Alexander G. Cattell, Jr., took the place of Thomas W., and the firm beenme Moore & Cattell. At the expiration of three years the partnership ended, and John P. Moore assumed the business, in connection with the ageney of -everal life and fire insurance companies, and remained at the old stand until his death, Jan. 2, 1879.

Throughout his entire life 3r. Moore confined him- self closely to business, and held aloof from public and political affairs. Outside of mercantile pursuits, he devoted all his energies to the support of the cause of religion and the interests of the First Presbyterian Church of Salem, with which he united March 31, 1858, during the pastorate of Rev. Daniel Stratton. In that relation he was active, efficient, and useful, and was ordained elder of the same church Oct. 9, 1864. Hle took great interest in the Sabbath-school cause, and was teacher in the adult department for many years. He was especially successful in inter- esting young men in the church, and by a peculiar magnetism impressed them with the importance and value of religion as a factor in the successful pursuit of the affairs of life. Through his influence many young men were led to unite themselves with the church, his class of eight joining it about the same time.

Later he was made superintendent of the primary department, which position he faithfully filled as long as his health permitted. He had the rare gift of interesting as well as instructing the little ones, and he fully realized how important the trust com- mitted to his care.

For a number of years he was secretary of the Falem County Bible Society, and hell many offices of trust in the church. He led an active aml usem! life, and in the community in which he dwelt was · held in great respect for his integrity and upright-

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ness, and his sprightly and genial manner. He was devoid of all ostentation, and strove only to perform the humble duties of a good citizen, lending a cheer- ful support to all worthy enterprises, yet uniformly declining public places and honor.

In 1872 he was awakened to the fact that he was an invalid, and until the time of his death he devised ways and means to at least keep pace with fatal dis- ense, spending many months from home and business, and finding great benefit from a sojourn in a more healthful climate.

His decease, while still in the prime of life, ocea- sioned universal regret to the friends among whom he lived and labored, and by whom his rare qualities and wide usefulness will be affectionately cherished a- long as the incense of memory burns on the altar of hearts that loved him.

Thoma- Jones Yorke, son of Louis and Mary Jones Ile married, Dec. 29. 1858, Mary V., daughter of Job and Catharine A. Stretch, of Salem County, who survives him at this date :1853) with four of their seven children, viz .: Harriet Newell Moore, Jane Westcott Moore, John Powell Moore, Frederick Brauns Moore. Yorke, was born at Hancock's Bridge, Salem Co., on March 25, 1801. Having received a substantial Eng- lish education at the Salem Academy. he entered the store of his grandfather. Thomas Jones, in Salem, as a clerk, and in 1817 the counting-house of James Pat- ton, a leading shipping merchant of Philadelphia. Four years later he returned to Salem, and entered THOMAS JONES YORKE. into mercantile business with his uncle. Thomas Jones. Thomas Jones Yorke was a descendant in the fourth generation of Thomas Yorke, the ancestor of the pres- ent Yorke family in the United States, who emigrated from Yorkshire, England, about the year 1728, and passed the greater part of his life in the iron business Jr., under the firm-name of Jones & Yorke. This business he continued until 1847, when the pre-sure of other affairs, public and private, compelled him to relinquish it. Having held various local offices in Salem County, his broader public carcer was begun at Pott-town. Pa. He was a justice of the peace of 'in 1835, when he was chosen to represent the county Pottstown in 1745, and in 1759 was appointed by Governor Denny judge of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1747 he served as lieutenant-colonel in the French and Indian war, and in 1757 and 1758 represented Berks County, Pa., in the Provincial Assembly, Soon after he removed to Philadelphia, and was appointed to a judicial position by the Eng- lish government. IIe was married three times, and left a large number of descendant -. The line of de- scent, down to and including the subject of this sketch, is Thomas', Andrew2, Lonis3, and Thomas Jones Yorke4. The family was an old and promi- nent one in English history. Beverly Hall, near Ripon, in Yorkshire, being the family seat. Thomas Yorke, an ancestor of the emigrant, served three time, as high sheriff during the reign of Henry VIII., and Joseph Yorke, uncle of the emigrant, was Lord Mayor of Dover, and ambassador to The Hague in the reign of George II.

Sir John Yorke, Knt., was Lord Mayor of London, and was one of the trustees named in the will of Richard Whittington (>> well known in nursery story) to manage his hospital. He had ten solls, two of whom, Edward and Edmund. became vice- admirals in the English navy, and received the honor of knighthood. There is little doubt that Thomas was descended from one of the sous above named, as he (Thomas) named his eldest son, who i was a director.

was wounded in a naval engagement early in th .. Revolution, Edward. He was connected with Los! Gambier, one of the Lords Admiraity of England.

Andrew Yorke, grandfather of our subject, w ... born in the city of Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1742, au ! located in Salem, N. J., in 1773. He engaged in trade in the old brick building that is still standing on the corner of Yorke and Magnolia Streets. Atthe commencement of the Revolutionary war he took au active part in favor of the colonies, and was an aid to Gen. Newcomb during that trying struggle. 11. died at Salem in 1794. Louis, his second son, mar- ried Mary, daughter of Thomas Jones, an early merchant of Salem, and soon thereafter located in the village of Hancock's Bridge, where he engaged in store-keeping. He died in Philadelphia in 1809.

in the State Assembly. The year following he wa- elected member of Congress from his district, taking his sent in 1837, and continuing a member until 1-43. During his term of office occurred the famous " Broad Scal war." and it was also while he was in the blouse that Morse made his application to Congress for aid in building the first line of telegraph. He was one of the number who voted for the appropriation of forty thousand dollars for the construction of the Baltimore and Washington line. In 1853 he wa- elceted a member of the board of directors of the West Jersey Railroad Company, and was made secre- tary and treasurer of that organization. He held the- offices until 1866. when he was elected president of the road, and continued to direct the affairs of the com- pany with great success until 1875, when he resigned from oficial connection with the road, continuing, however, to remain a director. In his management of the affairs of the Cape May and Millville Railroad Company, and of the West Jersey Express Company. of both of which organizations he was also president, le maintained a policy of liberality and progressive. ness, and urged the same spirit in the conduct of the West Jersey Mail and Transportation Company, in that of the Salem Railroad Company, the Swedesboro Railroad Company, and the Camden and Philadel- phia Ferry Company, in all of which corporations he

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J. Jones Yorke

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CITY OF SALEM.

Besides holding the various positions already men- tioned, Mr. Yorke was for more than twelve years president judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Salem County, and discharged the duties of the place with ability and succes. During the late war he was in warm sympathy with the Union cause, and sup- ported with a willing hand all measures of a progres- sive and elevating character in the community in which he lived until his demise, on April 4, 1982. He was twice married,-first to Mary 1., daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Smith, of Bucks County, Pa., who died young, leaving oue son, Louis Eugene Yorke; and, secondly, to Margaret Johnson, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Jacobs Sinnickson, of Salem, who survives him. Of this union were born five children, viz. : Mary A., widow of De Witt Clin- ton Clement, of Salemm; Elizabeth S. ; Thomas J .; Margaret J., who became the wife of Dr. J. B. Par- ker, of the United States navy; and Caroline P. Yorke, who married William F. Allen.

His eldest son, Louis Eugene Yorke, was educated as a civil engineer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic In- stitute, of Troy, N. Y., and was subsequently em- ployed on the Pennsylvania Railroad Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and in 1860 was engineer on the Bergen tunnel. Resigning that position, he entered the United States volunteer army as a member of the organization during the term of its enlistment. He subsequently entered the regular army, and was com- missioned a captain in the Fourteenth United States Regiment. He was with Sherman in his march to the sea, was wounded in the Arkansas campaign, and at the end of the war, when holding the brevet rank of colonel, resigned his commission and resumed his profession. Hle died in Cincinnati in 1873.

WILLIAM CARPENTER.

The Carpenter family of Philadelphia and Salem County, N. J., trace their origin in this country to a period about the close of the seventeenth century. The Philadelphia branch are descended from Samuel Carpenter, and the New Jersey family from Joshua, the brother of Samuel. Watson's "Annals" informs us that Sammel Carpenter was one of the greatest im- provers and builders in Philadelphia, and with the exception of his associate, William Penn, was at one time the wealthiest man in the province. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and one of Penn's commissioners of property. His brother Joshua w.a. also a prominent carly resident of Philadelphia, ail an engraving of his elegant residence, which occupied a portion of the site of the Arcade building, is to be seen on page 370 of Watson's " Auna' :. "

Joshua Carpenter subsequently removed to the State of Delaware, where he ended bis days. ITis . grand-on William married Muy, daughter of Jerc - tuiab and Jane Powell, and had four children, viz. :

Mary. Powell, William, and Abigail. Of these, Wil- liam married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Eliza- beth Ware, born March 2. 1763, and a few years after that event rented a large farm in Elsinboro township, Salem Co., of Somvel Nicholson, Er. There he passed the remainder of his life. llis children were seven in number, viz. : Samuel, Mary (who married Thomas Hancock, of El-inboro), Abigail !who became the wife of John Goodwin, of Elsinboro). William ithe subject of this memoir), Elizabeth ( who married Wil- liam Thompson), Powell, :d Sarah Carpenter.

William Carpenter, to whom these lines are dedi- cated, was born in El-inboro township, April 4, 1792, and died May 13, 1866. He received only a common school education, and was thrown upon his own re- sources early in life by the sudden death of his father. After experiencing the trial- and privations incident to a life of hard labor and close attention to the ardu- ou- calling of a tenant-farmer in those days, he finally located on the Thomas Mason property in Elsinboro. and resided thereon for the long period of twenty-one years. He then purchased, in 1816, the Samnel Brick farm, in the same township, now occupied by his son, William B. Carpenter, and lived there until his re- moval later in life to Salem, where he closed his days. Ile was a man of decided convictions, plain in his master and habits, straightforward in his dealings, of Seventh Regiment of New York, and served with that . strict integrity, and held in general respect through- out a long and busy life. He was a regular attendant upon the meetings of the Society of Friends. Ile married Mary, daughter of Abber and Mary Beasley, and had children,-Elizabeth W. (wife of Joseph l'. Thomp-on), Powell (deceased), Anna M. (deceased ), William B., Morris H .. and John M. Carpenter.

RICHARD MILLER ACTON.

Richard Miller Acton is a descendant in the sixth generation of Benjamin Acton, the ancestor of the family in Salem County. The line of descent is Benjamin', Benjamin. Je .: (1695), John' (1728), Clement4, Benjamin 3, and Richard M. Acton 6 (1810). Benjamin' is believed to have emigrated from Lon- don about the year 1077, and soon after that date is mentioned in connection with the public affairs of Fenwick's colony. He was a tanner and currier by trade, an occupation in which many of his descend- ants also engaged, and also a land surveyor. In con- nection with this latter calling he is very frequently mentioned in the early neords of the colony. Ile purchased a lot of sixteen acres of John Fenwick, on Fenwick Street, now Last Broadway, and erected his dwelling-house therenn, where be continued to reside until his demise. He was elected the first re- corder of the town of New Salem at the time of its incorporation, in 1695, and in 1705 was one of the commissioners and surveyors in laying out a public road from Salem to Maurice River. In 1709, in con- nection with John Mason and Bartholomew Wyatt,

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HISTORY OF SALEM COUNTY.

Sr., he laid out a publie highway from Hancock's Bridge to the town of Greenwich. He subsequently did a large amount of surveying for the heirs of William Penn in Salem Tenth, besides being busily engaged in other public and private surveys through- ont his life. ITe married in I688 or 1689, and had children,-Elizabeth (1690), who married Francis Reynolds; Mary (1692), who became the wife of William Willis ; Benjamin, Jr. (1695), Lydia ( 1697). and Joshna (1700).

Benjamin, eldest son of Clement and Hannah II. Acton, father of the subject of this sketch, married Sarah, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth W. Miller, of Manningtou, and had a family of ten children, viz. : Richard M., born Feb. 2, 1810; Clement, born Jan. 8. 1813; Benjamin, horn September, 1814 ; Han- nalı Hall, born Feb. 10, 1816, married Samuel P. Car- penter, of Mannington ; Elizabeth W., born Sept. 23, 1818, became the wife of Franklin Miller, of Mannington ; Charlotte, born July 9, 1821, married Richard Wistar, of Mannington; Casper W., born Sept. IS, 1823; Letitia, born July 17, 1825, married John Wistar; Sarah Wyatt, born Sept. 3, 1827, be- eame the wife of Emmor Reeve; and Catharine, born June 22, 1820.

Richard Miller Acton was born in Salem, Feb. 4, 1810. His earlier education was derived at the com- mon schools of his native place and at the Friends' Academy at Westtown, Chester Co., l'a. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the tanning and currying trade at Wilmington, Del. After attain- ing his majority he returned to Salem, and establish- ing business for himself on the corner of Market and Howell Streets, continued to follow the occupation of a tanner and currier until 1817. For a portion of this period his brother Benjamin was associated with him as a partner. Since that date he has lived in re- tirement in his native place, devoting his time to ag- ricultural pursuits and to the discharge of the public duties that devolved upon him. He has always taken a deep interest in local affairs, and for more than twenty years served as a member of the board of trustees of the publie schools of Salem, a portion of that time holding the position of president of the board. He was appointed by Governor Randolph a member of the State Board of Education of New Jersey, and served in that body for several years. He has been a director of the Salem Library Association since 1845, and is president of the association in 1883. He is also president of the Salem Gas Company. He was for many years a director of the Salem County Mutual Insurance Company, and is a director of the Salem Railroad Company, now under lease to the West Jersey Railroad Company. Politically, he has served on the board of chosen freeholders, and in other local offices. In JEG4 he was elected to repre- sent Salem County in the Senate of the State, and discharged the duties of that important place with fidelity and to the general satisfaction of his constit-

neney for three years. During the trying days of ti .. great Rebellion he supported the Union cause by vus and influence, believing that the integrity of the na- tion was assailed and our national liberties threat- ened. In religious affairs he has been a life-lon: member of the Orthodox branch of the Society of Friends. He is recognized as one of the most useful and estimable of the citizens of Salem, and is hell in general respect. Hle married, on April 14, 1$35, Har,- nah Hancock Mason, of Elsinboro township, and a descendant of John Mason, who emigrated from Eng- land to America in 1683, and soon after located at Salem, where he became one of the large land-own- ers of the new colony. In 1696 he erected a substan- tial brick dwelling in Elsinboro township, where he removed, and which is now owned by Mrs. Richard MI. Acton. Of the three children of Richard M. Acton and Hannah Il., his wife, only one survives. viz., Mary Mason, wife of William C. Reeve, of Salem.

JOHN HUMPHRIES MORRIS.

The Morris family has been prominently identified with the county of Salem since its first settlement. Christopher Morris, grandfather of the subject of this memoir, re-ided at Sharpstown at an early day, where he filled official station for many years, and was a man of influence and prominence. Ile had three children, -William, Rachel, and Martha. The former was the father of our subject, and for a long period of time carried on the business of a merchant and general trader at Sharpstown. He also engaged in farming, and was a man of character and influence. He mar- ried Elizabeth Humphries, and had a family of eight children, of whoin John II. Morris was the oldest.

The latter was born in Penn's Neck township, Salem Co., July 21, 1814, and died Sept, 17. 1879. He en- joyed only an ordinary English education, and was carly inured to a life of toil upon a farm. Soon after attaining his majority he began farming on his own account in Mannington township, and continued to engage in agricultural pursuits until 1863, when he retired from active labor and took up his residence in Salem. In December, 1877, he purchased the interest of W. R. Hunt, successor of Hall, Dunn & Hunt in the oil-eloth works which they were operating in Salem, and embarked in the business of a manufac- turer. In May, 1879, he purchased the Fenwick Oil- Cloth Works, at the foot of Broadway. and, assisted by the practical advice and experience of S. W. Dunn, erected on their site the extensive buildings now oc- eupied by the Salem Oil-Cloth Works. There be en. gaged in the manufacture of oil-eloth until hi- demi-c, when he was succeeded by his son, William Morris, the present owner.

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History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2, Part 12

Author: Cushing, Thomas, b. 1821. cn; Sheppard, Charles E. joint author Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 920

Author: Cushing, Thomas, b. 1821. cn; Sheppard, Charles E. joint author
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 920