USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume III > Part 6
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John Howe
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chase of modern fire apparatus for the local company, a donation he made in the name of his firm.
His long and valuable association with the First Baptist Church of Vineland forms one of the most interesting chapters in his life story, while his service to the denomination was such that his death creates a vacancy most difficult to fill. Becoming a member of the First Baptist Church in 1867, he was for eight years superintendent of the Sunday school, and at the time of his death was senior mem- ber of the board of deacons, to which he belonged for twenty years. He was liber- ally broadminded in his views, labored with strong devotion in all departments of his church, and followed the standard of his Master in sincerity and love. His long and untiring service in the local organization was equalled by his work in those associations whose scope is broader and whose problems correspondingly more perplexing, and for twenty-five years he was a member of the board of managers of the New Jersey Baptist Convention, and for twenty years a trus- tee of the West Jersey Baptist Associ- ation. There came from the lips of his pastor, Rev. A. Stokes Watson, at the time of Mr. Kimball's death a beautiful appreciation of his life and church ser- vice, which is in part quoted below :
The place which has known him in the House of God these many years will know him no more forever, but the sweet and sacred memory of his presence and his words, as well as the ex- ample of his faithfulness, will abide until this generation has been gathered to its fathers. Yea, and long after, for the children and the children's children will be told of him who, through summer heat and winter cold, while duties crowded upon him and the years multi- plied, was always found in his place in the House of God. As a citizen of this community he was known as one of Vineland's "grand old men." Every one loved him because he was interested in every one. Every one honored
him because of his sturdy convictions. He be- longed to every one, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant. The children were instinctively drawn to him and in him found a true friend.
For fifty years he lived here this beautiful brotherly life-a benediction of God. Many of us know how profound was his faith in prayer. Prayer was to him the way into a more intimate fellowship with his Heavenly Father-the instru- ment by which our wills are to be brought into harmony with the will of God.
Deacon Kimball had profound faith in "the eternal goodness." In his heart he sang with Tennyson in his "In Memoriam." Always fear- ful of himself he laid upon the goodness of God as his sole hope. His life was one long psalm of thanksgiving. His waking prayer was one of joyful praise for another day of privilege.
But there was another realm to which he be- longed-the home. What a home was that, dedicated to piety, chastity, and hospitality! What a heritage, his love, his precepts, the hal- lowed associations of all these years!
Great as a Baptist, greater as a man, greatest as a Christian, the world has had his life, the denomination has had his services, the church has had his counsel and fellowship, and the community his example as a successful Chris- tian merchant, and we may say of his relation to all these what was said of Phillips Brooks in his relation to Harvard University, "To them he gave his constant love, large service, and high example."
Myron J. Kimball married, June 3, 1869, Clara A., daughter of John Prince, who came to New Jersey from Maine. He is survived by her, one son, Eugene M., and a brother, Charles A. Kimball, of New York City.
HOWE, John,
Enterprising Manufacturer and Financier.
John Howe, who was prominently identified with the manufacture of paper in Nutley, was a native of England, his birth having occurred in Kingsbroncton, Somersetshire, England, on January 13, 1846. His parents were Matthew and Elizabeth Jane Howe. For forty-five
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years his father was superintendent of - public works in his native city of Cardiff, Wales, a position to which the subject of this review could have succeeded had he cared to remain in that country. His desires were otherwise, however, and led him to seek a home in America. He obtained his education in the public schools and served an apprenticeship at the papermaking trade in Cardiff, Wales, where he remained at that pursuit for seven years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Rumford, Essex county, England, where he was employed at the manufacture of paper for a short time, after which he went to Belgium and then returned to Cardiff. In that city, in 1865, Mr. Howe was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Gibbons, whose parents had removed to Wales from Cheltenham, England. To Mr. and Mrs. Howe were born four children, all natives of Cardiff. They were James J., who was born September 8, 1866; The- ressa Jane, who was born in 1870; Ed. ward John, who died at the age of six months; and John Matthew, who died at the age of three years. The mother of this family died in 1871.
In 1872, when Mr. Howe was twenty- six years old, he came to the United States, and from that time until his death, May 13, 1914, he resided in the vicinity of Nutley, New Jersey. He was married the second time in 1872, when Hester H. Marshall became his wife. She is a daughter of John L. and Mary Houseman Marshall, who had formerly resided on Staten Island. Two children grace the union of our subject and his wife: Edith S., born September 28, 1873; and Albert E., born December 10, 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Howe were members of Grace Epis- copal Church, Nutley, New Jersey. Mr. Howe was a faithful communicant of the church, as well as a very generous sup- porter.
The year of his arrival in this country he began a long association with the paper manufacturing industry, securing a posi- tion in the J. & R. Kingsland Mills, lo- cated between Nutley and Delawanna. Through succeeding grades of service he rose to a responsible station in the oper- ation of the mill, and when it discontin- ued business he possessed a fund of knowledge, experience, and capital that enabled him to establish himself as a manufacturer in partnership with Wil- liam R. Sergeant and Thomas J. O'Neil. The new organization was known as the Kingsland Paper Mills Company, and from the inauguration of the enterprise the manufacture of safety paper was its specialty, this paper particularly valuable to organizations in which records and transaction papers must be absolutely immutable. This firm enjoyed a success- ful and prosperous existence until 1909, when it united with the LaMonte inter- ests, whose mills were then the only other source of like line of safety paper. In the reorganization of the La Monte Com- pany, Mr. Howe was elected to the office of secretary, and continued in the admin- istration of the affairs of the office until his death, always a potent factor in direct- ing its affairs and in determining its busi- ness policy.
His business interests outside of the manufacturing of paper, to which he gave much of his best effort, were many and important. Financially interested in the Bank of Nutley, on April 28, 1914, he was the choice of the board of directors to succeed General Bird W. Spencer as chief executive of the bank, but had held office as president for but two weeks when his death occurred. He was a director of the Washington Trust Company and of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company, both of Newark, and was president of the Nutley Masonic Hall Association, also holding
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the largest single amount of stock in the last named organization.
A deep interest in the welfare of his town led hint to accept election to the Board of Freeholders of Essex county, in which he served two terms, and for the same length of time he was a member of the Nutley council after the change from township to town government. He was a member of the Masonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A life of useful activity, made valuable to his community by generously bestowed principles of strictest honor in business as he faithfully discharged his obligations as a citizen, so, he recognized and assum- ed his responsibility toward his fellows, and his helping, sympathetic hand cheered and encouraged many whose spirit had been humbled by misfortune. An editorial in the Nutley "Sun," bearing testimony to his worth and printed soon after his death, said in part: "Friends of forty years standing say that John Howe was never changed by success. He was the same friend always, and stories are told now, by those he helped that never were known in his lifetime."
Such was the character of the life and service of Jolin Howe, that at his death men in many walks of life realized a personal sorrow, a distinct sense of loss, for in the four decades of his association with the Nutley district he had won for himself secure position in the hearts of his fellows, even as he had gained a prominent place in the world of business. Attaining a place of leadership in the paper manufacturing industry, with which he was identified from the time of coming to the United States from his English birthplace, he widened his inter- ests to include financial and real estate operations. He responded to the calls of civic duty and held several offices, first under the township and afterward under
the town government of Nutley, was affiliated with the leading fraternal organ- izations, and allied himself devotedly with the best influences of the town for its most effective service. Honored and highly regarded during an active and useful career, at his death every observ- ance of respect and honor was paid him, and in general regret of those who knew him, the closing of the mills he founded, and the official action of the institutions with which he was connected, all Nutley mourned the passing of one whose value to the community stood beyond a price.
HUGHES, Robert Driver, Business Man, Active in Educational Affairs,
When the life story of Robert Driver Hughes has been told and the factors of its usefulness and success are reduced to keynote characteristics, these are found to be in his rugged honesty and conscien- tious observance of every duty. By all who knew him these virtues were observed in every relation, and whether in the field of business in Philadelphia, where he was for many years prominent in the fruit trade, or in the life of Wood- bury, New Jersey, his long time: home, he held the respectful regard of his fel- lows, whose confidence was his in un- bounded measure. His devotion to busi- ness brought him material independence and a recognized position in the fruit trade of Philadelphia, while in Woodbury he was known as a constant friend of every institution of which his town was proud, its schools and Kemble Methodist Episcopal Church his greatest care. His death, coming in his seventy-fifth year, removed from the Woodbury community and the business fraternity of Philadel- phia a member who in both places had walked all his life in uprightness and
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integrity, and whose death was marked and mourned.
A resident of New Jersey at his death, the State was also his birthplace, the Hughes homestead between Clarksboro and Paulsboro, Gloucester county, New Jersey, having been the place of birth of several generations of his ancestors Robert Driver Hughes, son of Presmu! and Sarah (Driver) Hughes, was born October 11, 1838, and while attending the schools in the vicinity of his home was his father's assistant in the agricultural operations the elder Hughes conducted on the home acres. He was one of a family of fifteen children, eleven of whom attained mature years, and youthful ambition led him at an early age to seek his own support, so that the burden of his parents might in a measure be light- ened. His first employment was in a general store in Glassboro, New Jersey, and he afterward moved to Woodstown, there entering the employ of Risley & Riley in a clerical capacity, his term of service in this establishment numbering several years. From Woodstown he went to independent operations in Philadel- phia, opening a place of business on Dock street and beginning dealing in fruits. He later moved his residence to Wood- bury, New Jersey, and from that place remained in charge of his Philadelphia business. During the years of his business activity in Philadelphia he never asso- ciated himself with any individual or concern, but from a inodest beginning built up a large and prosperous trade in foreign and domestic fruits through his own tireless and unaided efforts. His success was rejoiced in by all of his busi- ness associates, for his unswervingly honorable methods of conducting his business had won that meed of appreci- ation and respect only accorded one who
adheres to high ideals even in the strife of trade.
Although Mr. Hughes found enjoy- ment in business pursuits, those of his relations which probably gave him the most joy outside of his beautiful home life were his connections with the civic and religious life of his town. These and bis Philadelphia interests, for his only other business association was the oper- ation of a canning factory for a number of years, completed the orbit of his activity, and within its limits he accom- plished much of useful service. For twelve years he was a member of the Woodbury Board of Education, always retaining an interest in matters educa- tional, and he was one of the enthusiastic workers for Woodbury's first high school, turning the first spadeful of earth when ground was broken for the building. When fire destroyed the structure that his efforts had helped to rear, he led in the movement to raise funds for a build- ing to replace it. Part of his twelve years on this board was spent as its vice- president, and his planning and striving throughout this period bore good fruit in improved school facilities for his town. Kemble Methodist Episcopal Church had in him a loyal and sincere friend, and for a number of years he was president of its Board of Trustees, guarding the ma- teria! welfare of the church with fidelity and zeal. His home for many years was at No. 165 Delaware avenue, and his con- nection with Woodbury was one that at all times was a source of benefit to the community.
Robert D. Hughes married Mary G. Holmes, daughter of David and Caroline (Gibbon) Holmes, and was the father of Robert D. Jr., Malcolm, Carroll, and Wil- liam, the last two deceased. Mrs. Hughes survives her husband, a resident of Woodbury.
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SNEDEN, William S.,
Civil Engineer, Railroad Manager.
In 1657 there came from Amsterdam, Holland, to New Amsterdam (New York) Jan Sneden, arriving with his brother Claes on the ship "St. Jean Bap- tiste." Of the seventh American gener- ation, descendants of Jan Sneden, was William S. Sueden, of Red Bank, New Jersey, son of Samuel Sneden, a boat builder of Piermont, New York, and grandson of John Sneden, a soldier of the Revolution, whom tradition says, guided the captors of Major Andre with their prisoner, across the Hudson to Sneden's Landing, thence to the American lines, at Tappan, New York. The family home was at Sneden's Landing, Rockland county, New York, and one of the treas- ures of George V. Sneden, of the eighth American generation, is a desk upon which it is said General Washington wrote the order for Major André's execu- tion.
Samuel Sneden, of the sixth American generation, son of John Sneden, was a boat builder, and is said to have invented the centre board for sailing craft, and early in the nineteenth century he built at least one steam-boat. He married Maria Verbryck, daughter of Samuel Gerritsen Verbryck, an officer in Captain Ward's company of New Jersey State militia stationed at Hackensack, New Jersey, and after the war served for twen- ty-one years as a member of the New York State Legislature, granddaughter of the Rev. Samuel Verbryck, pastor of the Reformed Church at Tappan, New York, during the War of the Revolution, who later secured from the Governor of New Jersey the charter for Queen's (now Rut- gers) College at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a descendant of an early Dutch settler in New York.
William S. Sneden, son of Samuel and
Maria (Verbryck) Sneden, was born in Piermont, Rockland county, New York, January 2, 1829, and died in Red Bank, New Jersey, April 14, 1905. He obtained the necessary educational training, be- came a civil engineer, and spent his entire professional life in railroad constructive and managerial work. His first work was done for the New York & Lake Erie railroad, becoming in 1849 assistant engi- neer of the Dauphin & Susquehanna rail- road. After four years' service with that company he accepted an offer to go west with an engineering party bound for St. Louis, Missouri, and with that party he made the first survey for the proposed Ohio & Mississippi railroad. Later he spent three years in Virginia as chief engineer of the Fredericksburg & Gor- donsville railroad, and then returned north. He was chief engineer of the Northern railroad of New Jersey, 1857- 60, then spent six years as first assistant engineer, superintendent and lessee of the Raritan & Delaware Bay railroad, later known as the New Jersey Southern, a road which in 1874 he was for a short time in charge of as receiver, and general manager for the bondholders' trustees, who operated the road, until 1880. Mr. Sneden was associated with other roads, notably the Northern Central, the Jack- sonville, St. Augustine & Halifax River, the New York, Boston & Montreal, the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the road that proved the great factor in New Jersey coast development, the New York & Long Branch Railroad, built by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. This road, connecting New York with Long Branch, Asbury Park and the coast towns south as far as Point Pleasant, was lo- cated by William S. Sneden, and is the work by which he is best known to the residents of New Jersey. But his life was a long succession of equally import-
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ant work and potent in developing many "sections of the country. He did not con- fine his work to steam roads, but planned, surveyed and superintended the construc- . tion of several electric lines.
After settling permanently in Red . Bank, New Jersey, Mr. Sneden served on the board of water commissioners, and planned and was in charge of the erection of the reservoir and water works system that supplies Red Bank. His life was a busy, useful one, and all over this great land, east, west, north and south, stand monuments to his professional skill, con- structive ability and managerial wisdom. While never out of the harness entirely, his later years were spent in Red Bank in quietude and comfort. He was honored in his profession, belonging to several engineering societies, and was held in esteem by a very large circle of acquaint- ances in many states of the Union. He was a Democrat in politics, a member of the Dutch Reformed church in Piermont, but he was an attendant of the Presby- terian church in Red Bank.
Mr. Sneden married, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1850, Mary Elizabeth, born in Dauphin county, Penn- sylvania, March 21, 1831, daughter of Hiram Henry and Mary (Hochlander) Hetzel, descendants of old German Penn- sylvania families. Margaret Hetzel and her daughter, Susan Riviere Hetzel, of this family, were among the founders of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Major Abner Riviere Hetzel, husband of Margaret, was a graduate of West Point, an officer in the Mexican War, and the engineer who designed and constructed the Dela- ware Breakwater. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Sneden: 1. William Louis, born January 6, 1854, died December 25, 1897: unmarried. 2. George Virginius, born January 26, 1856. at Fredericksburg, Vir- ginia ; a resident of Red Bank, New Jer-
sey ; engineer, Maintenance of Way, New York & Long Branch railroad; married, October 26, 1881, Ella A. Curtis, of Holmdel, New jersey. 3. Annie May, born May 18, 1862, died August 22, 1904; married Edward Delafield Smith. 4. Riviere Hetzel, born September 5, 1866, died July 3, 1896; married Anna Grant Hubbard, who with daughter Doris Riviere survive. 5. Mary Hetzel, born January 2, 1871, died April 6, 1909. Mrs. Sneden, the mother of these children, died in Red Bank, New Jersey, June 29, 1904, her husband surviving her death but ten months.
KEELER, Morris H., Useful and Honored Citizen.
When there were performed over the body of Morris H. Keeler the last sad rites which had been held under his direc- tion over the remains of so many hun- dreds of Burlington county's people, Mount Holly and the county sustained a loss that was borne with sincere sorrow and regret. Although Mr. Keeler was far beyond man's average age, he occupied so sincere a place in the hearts of Burling- ton county's people and was the recipient of such earnest affection that the realiza- tion of permanent separation came as a universal grief. In church, in social life, and in his fraternities he held a place of honor and respect, and his long life was passed in ways of usefulness and service. For more than three score years he was engaged in undertaking in Mount Holly. first under his father's direction, then as a member of the firm of Thomas F. Keeler & Sons, and finally independently, and at his death in 1914 it was written that he had directed the funerals of as inany persons as were at that time resident in Mount Holly, more than three thousand. Seven months prior to his death he retired from the active manage-
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ment of his business, placing the respon- sibility upon the shoulders of his grand- son, Morris Keeler Perinchief, who for several years had been his trusted and capable assistant.
Morris H. Keeler was born in 1836, two years after the business of which he be- came proprietor had been founded in Mount Holly by his father, Thomas F. Keeler. Ile was educated in the Mount Holly schools, and when a youth of six- teen years of age began as his father's assistant in the undertaking business. The elder Keeler was likewise engaged in lumber 'and retail furniture dealings, and when Morris H. Keeler had gained sufficient experience to enable him to assume full charge of the undertaking department, a condition at which, because of his natural aptitude, he soon arrived, the firm of Thomas F. Keeler & Sons was formed. The sons were Morris H. Keeler and Samuel B., and under that caption the business was conducted until 1885, when Morris H. became the sole owner of the undertaking and furniture depart- ments, the latter of which he abandoned a few years afterward. His career as an undertaker, covering a period of nearly sixty-three years, was noteworthy not only because of the great number of Burl- ington county's residents he laid in their final resting places but also because of the long strides that have been made in that profession. Improved methods and modern inventions in the art and science of embalming have created a wide gulf between the undertaker of the past and the funeral director of the present, and in all things Mr. Keeler kept fully abreast of the times. Reliability and proficiency marked the work of his house, and his establishment maintained .worthy place as a leader in its line.
Successful as a man of business, Mr. Keeler was in intimate touch with the life of Mount Holly through many con-
nections, chief of which was his close identification with the Baptist church, which he served for forty-five years as a meinber of the board of deacons. He was also at one time treasurer of this church organization, and had performed much service and had filled many positions in the work of the congregation. He was a devout and generous churchman, and was also a member of the Mount Holly lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of .Elks and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. As rugged in character as he was in physical strength, he won and held the respect and regard of his fellows, and further endeared him- self to them by a personality and manner with which it was a joy to come into contact. The comfort and solace that he was able to bring to the many families, stricken by grief and saddened by woe, into whose circle he came at the most dreaded of hours, cause many to remem- ber him as one who, with kindliness, tact, and consideration, lifted, as far as mortal could, the cloud of gloom that had fallen upon their homes. His instincts were many generous impulses, and as through the years he translated these impulses into actions he gained for himself the love and reverence of all who knew him.
In January, 1914, but a short time be- fore his death, which occurred in Mount Holly, his birthplace, July 27, 1914, Mr. Keeler transferred the business, founded by his father and continued by him, to his grandson, Morris Keeler Perinchief. Mr. Perinchief was his grandfather's assistant during the last few years of Mr. Keeler's life, and since becoming the active head of the business has remodeled and refurnished the parlors on Main street, making them an ornament to that section of the city. Mr. Keeler was one of the managers of the Mount Holly cemetery, and there he is buried.
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