USA > New Jersey > New Jersey first citizens : biographies and portraits of the notable living men and women of New Jersey with informing glimpses into the state's history and affairs, 1917-1918, Vol. I > Part 50
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Judge Slocum is a member of the American Bar Association, the New Jersey Bar Association, Trustee of the Monmouth County Bar Association, and a member of the Monmouth County Historical Association. He is also a large stockholder in the Long Branch "Daily Record" and the President of that corporation.
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GEORGE THEODORE SMITH-Jersey City .- Banker, Manu- facturer. Born in New York City, on April 29th, 1855; son of Charles Tappan and Martha Elizabeth Smith, of Portland, Me .; married on April 25th, 1882, to Hattie Louise Young, daughter of Edward F. C. and Harriet M. Young.
Children : Natalie Young Smith.
George T. Smith is the chief factor in the First National Bank, the most important financial institution in Jersey City and one of the most potential in New Jersey and President of the New Jersey Title Guarantee & Trust Company of Jersey City and of the Joseph Dixon Crucible Co., of Jersey City. The New Jersey Title Guarantee & Trust Company is the first of its class in the state ; the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company has for more than a half century commanded the markets of the world with its products.
Mr. Smith was but seventeen years of age when he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ; and continuing in it until 1909,
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finally rose to be its General Agent in New York City. Mrs. Smith is the only daughter of Edward F. C. Young, who for more than one quarter of a century was a leading factor in the financial, political, civic and social life of New Jersey. He was of such dominant influence that it used to be said in the county that "all lines lead to the First National Bank." Mr. Young had been City Comptroller and a delegate to several National Conventions and in 1892 became a candidate at the Democratic State Convention for the nomination for Governor. Assured, at the start, of the nomination, he found himself, when Convention day arrived, confronted by an unanticipated op- position ; but his friends pressed his name upon the delegates, and in the balloting he had a vote just short of the majority he needed to win. The Convention, one of the most tumultuous ever assembled in Trenton, gave the nomination to ex-Senator George T. Werts, of Morris county. Gov. Werts and Mr. Young became fast friends after the nomina- tion was made; and Mr. Young contributed very largely to Sen- ator Wert's success at the polls.
When Mr. Young died the di- rectors of the First National Bank of Jersey City invited Mr. Smith to succeed him as its Pres- ident. He served as President of the bank until, because of the operation of what is known as the Clayton Act of Congress, he resigned in October of 1916, to devote himself, in banking mat- ters, to the Presidency of The New Jersey Title Guarantee & Trust Com- pany.
While Mr. Smith has never been particularly ambitious for political preferments, Governor Werts in 1895 appointed him to a seat on the Bench of the Court of Errors and Appeals. Subsequently he was persuaded to allow the use of his name as the democratic candidate for the Mayoralty of Jersey City in the campaign in which Mark M. Fagan made his first can- vass for the office on the republican ticket. At that time there was enor- mous excitement in Jersey City over the relations of the corporations to the local taxing authorities, and Mi. Smith's family connection with Mr. Young, who was then a director in very many of the largest corporations in the state, cost him votes that otherwise might have gone to him.
Mr. Smith has been quite as conspicuous in the church and civic life of the state as in banking affairs, is a Warden of St. John's Episcopal Church, and a member of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce. He is also Vice President of the Colonial Life Insurance Company of America, and Director in many financial and other corporations.
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Mr. Smith is a member of the Carteret, Jersey City and Bergen Tennis Clubs of Jersey City ; the Essex County Country Club, West Orange ; Knick- erbocker Country Club, Tenafly ; Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Scarborough on Hudson, N. Y., the Bankers, Lawyers, Traffic and Automobile Clubs of America of New York City, and the Church Club of the (Episcopal) Diocese of Newark.
JAMES SMITH, Jr .- Newark, (326 Ferry Street.)-Manufac- turer. Born at Newark, on June 12, 1851.
James Smith, Jr. was United States Senator from this state for the term beginning March 4, 1893 and ending March 4, 1899. It was he too who first gave to Woodrow Wilson, through the nomination for Governor of New Jersey, the introduction into American politics that eventuated in Gov. Wilson's attainment of the Presidency of the United States. The advance- ment of Dr. Wilson from the Presidency of Princeton to the Presidency of the nation was the culminating triumph of Mr. Smith's long activity in poli- ties and statesmanship.
Senator Smith had already become a prosperous business man of New- ark when he began to exhibit an interest in the movement for the upbuild of the city and in its politics. There were then, as there have been since, but few civic and citizens movements without his participation. In 1883 he ac- cepted a nomination for a seat in the City Council and was elected by more majority than the republican candidate against him had votes. It is a matter of history that his work in the City Council was in the direction of the substantial improvement of conditions in the city.
He was pressed afterwards to become a candidate for Mayor ; and even after he had refused to consent to the use of his name a City Democratic Convention put him in nomination and he was obliged to put his second declination in a form that was seen to be final. The convention that ten- dered him the nomination was that which named Schoolmaster Haynes for the office and Mr. Haynes was Mayor for several succeeding terms. There were. however, other departments of the city government in which Mr. Smith thought he could render efficient service for the community ; and when the Legislature created the City Board of Works, Mr. Smith became one of its members. He was the promoter there of the movement for the in- stallation of a new water plant for the city, and it was mainly through his energy that it was accomplished. Commissioner Smith supervised all the plans for its construction, carried on the negotiations with the East Jersey Water Company and attended to all the details of its introduction until water was turned in from the new supply heads. No public improvement has so much contributed to the aggrandizement of Newark as the replacing of the undesirable old supply from the Passaic River with the new supply from purer fountain heads.
Senator Smith's political activities meanwhile branched out from the city to the state, and he was soon recognized as a force by the state leaders. He became a member of the Democratic State Committee, and when the democratic joint meeting in the Legislature of 1893 hesitated to promote Gov. Leon Abbett to the United States Senate, Mr. Smith was made the
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caucus nominee instead and elected for the six year term ending in 1899. When his term closed, a republican legislature was in control of the State House and he was of course supplanted by a republican.
There was a fair prospect in 1910 of the election of a democratic candi- date to the Governorship provided the party put a commanding name be- fore the people. Senator Smith induced Woodrow Wilson, then the Presi- dent of Princeton University, to consent to enter the lists as an aspirant. The Senator had enough influence with the State Convention to carry Dr. Wilson's name through it and financed his election ; and Dr. Wilson's nomi- nation at Trenton in September was ratified by a plurality approaching 50,000 at the polls in November. His election as Governor was made with a view to his promotion to the Presidency of the United States, in the Na- tional Campaign then taking shape.
In the winter of the following year (1911), a successor to John Kean in the United States Senate was to be chosen by the Legislature. Ex-Senator Smith was an avowed aspirant for the distinction, and the democratic ma- jority of legislators who had been elected in the fall of 1910 were under- stood to be favorable to his candidacy. New Jersey had, meanwhile, adopt- ed what was called a "Preferential Senatorial Primary Law," under which the party electors were privileged to express their preferences among the aspirants for the United States Senate. The primary vote was merely ad- visory, however ; and Senator Smith, taking the view that the election of a Senator was a purely legislative function, failed to enter into the contest at the primary polls. James E. Martine of Plainfield, who announced himself as a candidate against Mr. Smith, had things pretty much his own way in the democratic popular poll. When the Legislature convened for the elec- tion of a new Senator, Gov. Wilson took the view that the popular nomina- tion of Mr. Martine made it incumbent upon the Legislature to elect Mr. Martine to the Senate, and his espousal of Martine's cause resulted in Sena- tor Smith's defeat.
By the time the Senatorial campaign of 1913 opened, the constitution of the United States had been changed so as to provide for the election of United States Senators by popular vote instead of by the legislatures; and Senator Smith became a candidate in the State senatorial primary. He was again opposed by President Wilson and again defeated. He has since had little to do with politics.
Senator Smith was educated at private schools and had a collegiate training in Wilmington, Del. For a time he was in the dry goods business there. He subsequently engaged in the manufacture of patent and enameled leather in Newark, under the firm name of J. H. Halsey & Smith. The busi- ness grew into large proportions rapidly, and the products of its plant were sold in the markets of Europe as well as of the United States. Mr. Smith became President of the Federal Trust Company in Newark and held that position for some years.
Senator Smith has been a delegate-generally a delegate-at-large-to all of the recent Democratic National Conventions.
J. SPENCER SMITH-Tenafly .- Merchant. Born in Sherbrooke. Canada, July 7, 1SS0 ; son of John R. Smith and Ann (McIntosh)
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Smith ; married on September 28, 1910, to Mary Lennox Ewing, daughter of Wm. and Catherine Ewing.
Children : Ewing, born Sept. 20, 1911; Graham, born May 11, 1915.
J. Spencer Smith is of Scotch ancestry, his father being from Elgin, Scotland ; his mother from La Praire, Province of Quebec, Canada. The family moved to the suburbs of Brooklyn and afterward in 1899 to Tenafly. Mr. Smith became active in local affairs on the democratic side, was largely instrumental in organizing the Borough Club of Tenafly for the bettering of local conditions, and in 1902 was elected to the Municipal Council, serving one term. He was elected member of the Board of Educa- tion, March 17th, 190S, has served continuously since, and is now the Vice President of the board.
Gov. Wilson in 1911 made him member of the Joint New York and New Jersey Commission to plan Port of New York development. Re-named by Gov. Edge, he has been made Chairman of the New Jersey Commission. Ap- pointed Harbor Commissioner in 1914, he is now member of the State Com- merce and Navigation Board, by successive appointments by Gov's Fielder and Edge.
Mr. Smith is engaged in business in New York, as President of the Smith & Nessle Co., distributors of food products at S2 Hudson St. He be- longs to the National Democratic Club of New York and Knickerbocker Country Club of Tenafly, and is an officer of the Bank of Tenafly.
OLIVER DRAKE-SMITH-Englewood .- Lawyer. Born in New York City, on June 7, 1854; son of Daniel Drake-Smith and Henri- etta Maria Richards ; married at Englewood, on December 4, 1879, to Mary Lydecker, daughter of the late Cornelius and Catherine T. (Van Blarcum) Lydecker, of Englewood. (Mrs. Drake-Smith died March 11, 1912.)
Children : Olive, wife of Oswald Kirkby-died December 16, 1910.
Oliver Drake-Smith has been a practising lawyer in New York City for forty years except for a short period in 1878, when he accompanied General John C. Fremont to the territory of Arizona, of which the latter had been appointed Territorial Governor, and explored with him a part of that territory and for a short time engaged in mining business there. He is of English origin on both father's and mother's side. Joseph Drake, collater- ally related to Sir Francis Drake, settled in Orange county, New York, about 1750. Mrs. Drake-Smith's father was a member of the State Senate in 1872, '73 '74.
Oliver Drake-Smith received his early education at the Churchill Insti- tute in New Canaan, Connecticut, at Gray's and Kursteiner's private school in Englewood, and afterwards at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and Columbia College, New York. He was graduated from Columbia Law School in 1875, served a clerkship in the law office of Miller, Peet & Opdyke and soon afterwards began the practice of the profession in New York City.
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Mr. Drake-Smith has been a director and officer of nearly every private corporation that has existed in Englewood, such as The Bergen County Gas Light Comapny. the Englewood Electric Light Company, Trustee of the Englewood Protection Society, Road Board and Fire Association, all of which have now passed out of existence. He is now a Director of the Pali- sades Trust and Guaranty Company and President of the Englewood Sewer- age Company, the Englewood Club and the Englewood Cemetery Associa- tion.
Mr. Drake-Smith has always been prominent in the councils of the repub- lican party of New Jersey. In 1879 he was elected to the House of As- sembly from the then second Assembly district of Bergen county, being the first republican to represent that district in the Legisla- ture. In 1882 and 1883 he was Chairman of the Ber- gen County Republican Ex- ecutive Committee. He has served as a member of the Township Committee, Township Treasurer, Presi- dent of the Board of Health and Road Board and in 1896, when Englewood was incorporated into a city, he was in March of that year unanimously appointed its first Mayor by the City Council. He served until May 1st, when the newly elected officers assumed their official duties. He has since served in the City Council and been City Treasurer.
Mr. Drake-Smith also served as Postmaster of Englewood for about a year during a bitterly contested political fight. The postmaster had been removed, without cause as he alleged, and many of the most influential men in the town became engaged in the resulting controversy. Drake- Smith, being on the deposed postmaster's bond, was, at the request of the authorities at Washington, sworn in and assumed the duties of the office until a successor was appointed.
He is a member of the Englewood and Knickerbocker Country Clubs, Englewood Club, Delta Psi Fraternity and St. Anthony Club of New York.
JOHN CONOVER SMOCK -Trenton. - Geologist. Born in Holmdel (Monmouth Co.) September 21, 1842; son of Isaac and
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Ellen (Conover) Smock ; married on October 5, 1874, to Katherine E. Beekman, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
New Jersey owes to John C. Smock considerable information as to her geological formations and the wealth of her mineral and water resources. He assisted Professor George H. Cook, who was the State's Geologist at the time in the work of the survey, having been Assistant Geologist in that work for twenty-one years between 1864-'85. After a five year period of service, as assistant-in-charge of the New York State Museum, New Jersey called him back to succeed Professor Cook as the State Geologist; and he served for eleven years in that capacity. In the succeeding fourteen years, until 1915, he was a member of the Board of Managers of the State Geologi- cal Survey.
Dr. Smock graduated from Rutgers College in 1862 with the A. B. de- gree, and in 1869-'70 studied in the Bergakademie, and in the University of Berlin. He was a tutor in chemistry in Rutgers College 1865-1867; and from 1871-1885 was Professor-electic of Mining and Metallurgy in the College.
Dr. Smock holds the A. B. and LL. D. degrees from Rutgers College and the Ph. D. degree from Lafayette; is the author of various reports on geological and allied topics and is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, of the Geological Society of America, of the American Philosophical Society and of the Royal Society of Arts, London.
HENRY SNYDER -- Jersey City, (11 Bentley Avenue.)-Educator. Born at Easton, Pa., on January 30th, 1858.
Henry Snyder, Superintendent of the Public Schools of Jersey City, is widely known among the educators of the country. He was, in 1914 and 1915, President of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association and was Chairman of the Committee on Military Education of American Youth which made its report on March 2, 1917, at Kansas City, Mo., to the department. He was Lecturer on School Administration in the summer session of the Teachers College at Columbia University in 1906; and in 1912, at the request of the Chamber of Commerce of Harrisburg, Pa., he made an investigation of the High School situation there and submitted a report that was followed by reforms.
Superintendent Snyder attended the public schools of Easton and graduated from the High School there in 1874 and from Lafayette College in 1878. In the College he was active in athletics and played on the College base ball team during the entire course. He was awarded the classical honor at graduation, is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity and holds the College degrees of A. B., A. M. and Sc. D. After his graduation he served as teacher and principal in the public schools of Easton and was for a number of years principal of the High School there. In 1887 he came to Jersey City to act as teacher of Latin and Greek in the High School of that city. In 1889 he declined the tender by the Brooklyn Board of Educa- tion of the position of teacher of Latin and Greek in the Boys High School
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of Brooklyn. He was appointed Principal of Public School No. 2 on Erie Street, Jersey City, in April of 1891. Eleven months later the Jersey City Board of Education elected him Superintendent of the city schools.
Aside from his work in connection with the Jersey City School System, Dr. Snyder has exerted a strong influence in shaping the State's school legis- lation. In the general revision of the school law and in the enactment of special school laws, such as for compulsory education, vocational training, medical inspection, teachers' pensions, etc., his advice has been sought by the State educational authorities and by legislative committees. He was President of the Council of Education of New Jersey in 1902 and of the State Teachers Association in 1906, and is a member of the State Board of Examiners which grants State certificates to teachers. The revision of the Teachers Retirement Fund Law in 1906 was the work of a commission of which he was Chairman. He was, later, a member of the Commission on Military Training in High Schools which made its report to the Legislature on February 1, 1917.
The Jersey City School System of to-day is practically the product of Dr. Snyder's supervision and leadership. When he was appointed Super- intendent of Schools, April, 1892, there were twenty-two school buildings, 435 teachers and 24,681 pupils. The total valuation of school property at that time was $904,387. To-day there are 39 school buildings, 1,100 teachers and 42,534 pupils. The total valuation of school property is $8,000,000. Dr. Snyder recognized at the outset, too, that no school system can be a good system unless it provided healthful as well as sufficient accommoda- tions, thorough ventilation and accurate lighting; and he has worked to create a sentiment that would make possible the replacing of old buildings with modern structures. As a result a number of the old fashioned build- ings have been replaced by modern structures and the old buildings have been re-constructed. The State School Law now requires school buildings of the character Jersey City has been building for many years.
Dr. Snyder has interested himself in raising the standard of teaching by providing better facilities for the preparation of teachers and by putting the appointment and promotion of teachers entirely outside the domain of favoritism. He has met with opposition along these two lines, but he has stood for thorough academic and professional training, for the appointment of teachers on the basis of merit alone and for their encouragement by mak- ing proved efficiency and fitness the sole test for promotion. To meet these conditions he has devoted a great deal of energy to securing better salaries, and was the author of the Act of 1900, which fixed compulsory minimum salaries for the teachers in Jersey City.
Dr. Snyder is the author of many pamphlets and papers on educational topics and in collaboration with the late Edward S. Ellis, of Montclair, is the author of a School History of New Jersey.
MELVILLE ELLIOTT SNYDER-Trenton .- Clergyman. Born at Kingston, N. Y., son of Jonathan and Maria Hannah (Van Gaas- beck) Snyder ; married at Camden, on April 30, 1895, to Elizabeth
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Roberson Street, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. A. Emory Street, of that city.
Melville Elliott Snyder was a member of the famous Elisor Grand Jury-the first in the State-that in 1911 investigated the official and poli- tical corruption alleged to be prevalent in Atlantic City and county. At that time drawing of grand juries was in the hands of the sheriffs alone. It was alleged that the sheriff of Atlantic county was drawing juries favor- able to ignoring charges of corruption in Atlantic City and county. A strong movement for reform was pressing for an investigation and for in- dictment where offences were disclosed. It was rumored that the sheriff himself was accused of certain election irregularities. Supreme Court Jus- tice Kalisch therefore declared him disqualified to select a grand jury, dis- missed the one he had drawn and, under an ancient law, appointed two elis- ors to select a new body of inquisitors. The Rev. Dr. Snyder, then preaching in Atlantic City and an active factor in the reform element, was a member of the grand jury thus se- lected. The results of its investigation are a matter of history.
The Rev. Dr. Snyder was also a member of the Gen- eral Conferences of the M. E. Church held in 1912 and 1916, serving on the secre- tarial staff on both occa- sions. He is a member and Recording Secretary of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the M. E. Church ; a Trus- tee of the New Jersey An- nual Conference and of Pennington Seminary; a member of the Board of Managers of the Centenary Fund and Preachers' Aid Society of the New Jersey Conference, one of the man- agers of the New Jersey Children's Home Society and was for several years actively engaged in the State Sunday School Association as Superintendent of the Home Department. For twenty-three years he was on the secretarial staff of the New Jersey Annual Conference-the last eight, Chief Secre- tary.
The Rev. Dr. Snyder is of Holland extraction on both sides. The fore- fathers of his parents came to this country before the Revolutionary war, settling in New York State, and served during the Revolutionary struggle. His father enlisted in the 156th Regiment, New York Volunteers, in the early part of the Civil War, and in three years of active service attained to the rank of Adjutant.
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The first four or five years of Dr. Snyder's life were spent in New York State, after which his parents came to this State. His early education was acquired at the local public schools. He afterwards attended Penning- ton Seminary. Later he took up studies in Taylor University, graduating in 1897. He was admitted to the New Jersey Conference in 1889, and or- dained deacon by Bishop James N. Fitzgerald in 1891 and elder by Bishop John M. Walden in 1893.
Dr. Snyder's first appointment was at Lumberton and Smithville where his three years of service attracted the attention of church officials by his success in developing the church both spiritually and financially. Next he was assigned to State Street, Camden, then a young but promising church. There the membership was doubled during the three years of his pastorate and the finances established on a solid basis. The next three years he served in Moorestown, and then, in 1898, he was appointed to St. James, New Brunswick, where he spent six years, and thoroughly renovated that beautiful building and paid the debt on it. Next, at Central Church, Bridge- ton, he remained but two years because he was unanimously asked for at St. Paul, Atlantic City. He began his ministry in the city by the sea in 1906 and remained seven years. In 1913 he was appointed to Hamilton Avenue Church, Trenton. After one year in that church, much against the wishes of the congregation, Bishop J. F. Berry appointed him Educational Secretary so that his efforts might be used in relieving Pennington Seminary of its embarrassing debt. The following year, 1915, Bishop T. S. Hender- son appointed him Superintendent of Trenton District. The ministry of the doctor has been marked by substantial increases in the membership of the churches he has served and by improved business methods in the handling of church affairs. He has always closely identified himself with all move- ments that make for the betterment of the community.
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